House of Ainsley: Out-of-Character Discussion

Bearing in mind, for the next six weeks or so I am working a seven day roster. Tourist season and all...

Wraith wrote:

Ummm soo.....

without me having to read of the OOC that has occurred on and off for the last four years.... anyone want to catch me up?

Well, not all that much has happened, really.  Life kind of kicked me in the face a few times, but when last we checked, Karnoz was more or less coaxing some of the thieves guilds and street gangs in Kurvoss into going at each other's throats so he could have a clean run straight at Yorgo and pay the buzzard back for trying to cheat Karnoz out of his pay by setting him up to be killed by Trock Reik's City Watch, a change of circumstance which forced Karnoz to join forces with the very same man whom Yorgo had sent Karnoz to kill.

Gustov is still five or six years in the past, preparing to lead his small army into the now-historical Battle of Zelezo Ford (and I'm here to settle up on that).  The armies of Konegheim don't seem to think well of Gustov, his father Darrovan (not yet the Lord of Bardosylvania) and of Bardosylvania on the whole, so this may be Gustov's chance to show those Konegheimers what a real forest-fighting, river-fighting Bardosylvanian can do, all of which should be a wicked slap in the face for Konegheim's haughty, dismissive leadership.

Keitha is still dealing with the aftermath of joining forces with the cruel duergar (or "gray dwarves") to strike down three of the hated drow elves, whom she has learned were part of a larger party of slavers led by a manhuntress by the name of Lorthelytt with the aim of returning the dwarves to slavery in the Underdark; now that Keitha is involved, the drow will think nothing of putting her in chains as well, and if the drow are permitted to put the duergar back to work in their hazardously toiled mines, then a large portion of Keitha's forest could very well collapse into the Underdark, destroying much of Keitha's home while allowing gods-know-how-many monsters to escape the Underdark and roam the surface world unchecked.  Nor are the duergar fans of such an outcome; if the forest floor collapses, then Bardosylvania's scads of undead would be free to raid the Underdark, where the drow elves would surely throw the duergar to the undead in order to save themselves.  So now Keitha and her allies have taken the drow elves captive yet are now fending off a pair of ghouls who chased one of the duergar to the fray and were snacking on the drow elf whom they overtook before Keitha and her arrows interrupted their grisly feast.

Meanwhile, Sylvea is still staring at some graffiti; it seems that some deranged soul took some blood and scrawled "Bavatur is the gate" somewhere in the sewers where Sylvea just emerged after losing her zombie to the bitterly cold waters of the underground channel.  Whose blood?  Who knows?  Maybe Sylvea can run and find out, hint hint.  

(Also, some papers that Keitha liberated from those fallen drow elves turned out to be pages torn from one or more copies of The Cold Womb: Al-Shadan's Journal on the Undead.  While he lived and breathed a century past, Yurel ben al-Shadan was a Lebeqi paladin who spent most of his life hunting the undead, studying up on the undead and preserving his knowledge and revelations for future generations of those who would follow him in that endless hunt.  Unfortunately (though our present motley of villains and antiheroes may not know this), after Al-Shadan's final death from old age, his enemies — some of them living, but most of them not — wasted no effort in hunting down and destroying every copy of The Cold Womb that they could find.  So keep an eye out for pages from The Cold Womb; they could be quite valuable, if only to gain insights into the simplest ways to kill a bodak at minimal risk to yourself.   )

Wraith wrote:

Or, you know, tell me what their plans might be, considering the game.

I'm picking it back up again.  It's not easy; I let the campaign sit stagnant for so long that I'm fighting its inertia now.  It's still tempting to let it lie stagnant for even longer and sit around playing video games and being depressed, but that wouldn't be doing anyone any favors.  I just have to remind myself that I enjoy running roleplaying games and creating such little worlds of imagination, and that the fruits of reviving this campaign will be well worth the effort of blowing the dust off, turning the gears and getting things moving again.

Besides, I just took the proctored Exam 473 and passed with an 81.20% to get a job with the Postal Service and put this miserable prison guard job behind me.  Bear in mind that Exam 473 has a failure rate between 85% and 90%.  And yes, it was a very hard test.  But I always did test well, and I passed it, and now I just have to wait until the USPS checks my references, combs through my records and gets back in touch with me.  So I guess I don't really have as much to be depressed about now.  The game must go on.  

Come to that, while I was in Tyler after taking (and ultimately passing) Exam 473, I went Christmas shopping at Geek World.  And look what I found for $10 each:

One used copy of Sword and Fist, and one used copy of Tome and Blood!  Just as Song and Silence gave Bards and Rogues a ton more options as far as Feats, spells, Prestige Classes and more, these two books should lend a touch of pizazz (and plenty more options) for any Fighters, Monks, Sorcerers and Wizards in our party.  I know that this is pertinent to at least one of our player-characters...right, Tiger?  

Wraith wrote:

If y'all want, I can create a more "dnd" like setting for this forum. I don't really have a plan for the Vale anymore... so instead of having so many superfluous threads and topics and "rooms", I can clean it up a bit if you'd like.

Well, I really wouldn't want to erase any of the Vale's history on my behalf.  Every now and then, I'll go browsing through the old, neglected threads from a decade ago, just to see what some of these now-departed minds created and conceived, and perhaps wondering why they left the Vale or where they are now.  I always did like to familiarize myself with a bit of history.

But just for the sake of asking, what changes did you have in mind?

Wraith wrote:

Bearing in mind, for the next six weeks or so I am working a seven day roster. Tourist season and all...

Ah.  The holiday season, right?  Yes, it can be a real booger.  But real life comes first, as it should.

I'm just glad that you of all people found your way back; you're one of the Vale's co-creators, and it could never be quite as good without your heart and soul invested in it.  

Well, I'm home now, and I'm going to bed straight away.  Working Visitation at a prison on the weekend before Christmas?  You know that we were busier than the busiest!  I hate this job so much now.

But you know how every now and then, you create something or come up with something, but you forget about it, and then later you create the same thing again, and then you find the first thing you created?  Apparently that's what happened when I cooked up Kurvoss' three burgomasters and the thieves guilds, as I noticed when I was going through my past PMs with GD in order to get Karnoz's story rolling again.  After I get some tomorrow, we'll see about rectifying an inconsistency or three; with any luck, we won't have to retcon anything.

Stay tuned.  

Okay, I'm going to bed now because I'm working all weekend (as usual). But I'd be glad to make time to reply to Karnoz and Sylvea in the meantime. Between Christmas and traffic court (including my futile attempts to find a traffic law attorney in East Texas, alas), I didn't have a whole lot of time to bring them up to speed during the week.

And welcome back, everyone.

Thanks Ainsley much appreciated

And Happy Holidays !!

You're welcome.  And may 2019 prove to be a good year indeed.  

So I was sifting through my old notes for Kurvoss, and would you believe that I created Kurvoss' three burgomasters and her street gangs, guilds of thieves and other bands of criminals twice?  The first "edition" was with Tohol Gulobok (representative of the fishers, installed by the scale-rigging Barrel-Weight Pogies), Staroka Nor (representative of the Merchants Guild, installed by the burgling, pocket-picking Winter Magpies) and Riyarus of Pochva (representative of the carpenters and the masons, installed by the coin-counterfeiting Brass Ruble Gang).  And the Brass Ruble Gang used to hold considerable power in Kurvoss until the Barrel-Weight Pogies and the Winter Magpies started trading and distributing in counterfeit-detecting gear at dirt-cheap prices, just to hamstring the Brass Ruble Gang and erode their chief means of profit; it worked, and the now weakened and desperate Brass Rubles were scrambling to find a new illicit trade or racket by which to return to dominance, unlikely though the prospect does.  But better that than accepting the lesser fate of fading away and seeing Burgomaster Riyarus run out of Kurvoss on a rail, right?

At some point, I remade things to where Burgomaster Riyarus was supported by the Nevergreen Bingers (with no further mention of the Brass Ruble Gang), and apparently I replaced Burgomaster Tohol Gulobok with Burgomaster Mivus Sellvanich for some unknown reason....


I think I need to draw up a big, huge flowchart now.  What happened to Tohol Gulobok?  What happened to the Barrel-Weight Pogies?  Are the Winter Magpies still in the game in Kurvoss?  Is Staroka Nor still a power player?  Do the Silvergobs and Orsek's Arse-Fleas still exist?  How many different gaggles of scumbags are operating in Kurvoss, anyway?  How many can operate before the entire town collapses under the weight of so many thieves and swindlers and all their rivalries, and all the non-guild-associated commonfolk grab up what little they have left and scatter into the surrounding countryside, preferring to take their chances with the goblins instead?  

I hate it when I confuse myself.

Okay...breakfast first, then back to Gustov and Sylvea (again).  Stay tuned!  

There!  Now we're all caught up again.  

While I was adding Sylvea's Experience award to the Party topic, I remembered that I had forgotten to advance Karnoz's time and date; he's getting closer to dawn now (as the "Long Hours" are around 3:00 and 4:00 AM), and the date should have advanced a day at midnight.  I also needed to remove Draven from Sylvea's section, as the zombie had already died in the underground river.  All fixed now.

I have to head over to my parents' house for New Year's Eve, but I hope to have enough time tonight to crunch some numbers and figure out Gustov's money as well as everyone's present Encumbrance, and also to get back with GOOB and kick off his character creation.  The poor boy has waited for long enough.  

Happy New Years!!! Dont stress too much. I'm sure one day won't hurt haha! Just have fun!!

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I'm just a stickler for details like that. Many days make a decade, right?

Sent from Google Chrome because I'm old school.

I just have an App to access Illusion Vale when I cant use my browser. I have some pretty shitty reception at work so I work around it by using this thing. Apparently it has a footer stating that I used this app.... so yay.

Anyways, Happy New Year :-)

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Yeah, I know about social apps. I was making a funny.

So how is 2019 treating you so far?

Happy 2019 Everybody!!!

The fact that you had to tell me you were making a funny is how my 2019 Is going so far.

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The House of Ainsley wrote:

So I was sifting through my old notes for Kurvoss, and would you believe that I created Kurvoss' three burgomasters and her street gangs, guilds of thieves and other bands of criminals twice?  The first "edition" was with Tohol Gulobok (representative of the fishers, installed by the scale-rigging Barrel-Weight Pogies), Staroka Nor (representative of the Merchants Guild, installed by the burgling, pocket-picking Winter Magpies) and Riyarus of Pochva (representative of the carpenters and the masons, installed by the coin-counterfeiting Brass Ruble Gang).  And the Brass Ruble Gang used to hold considerable power in Kurvoss until the Barrel-Weight Pogies and the Winter Magpies started trading and distributing in counterfeit-detecting gear at dirt-cheap prices, just to hamstring the Brass Ruble Gang and erode their chief means of profit; it worked, and the now weakened and desperate Brass Rubles were scrambling to find a new illicit trade or racket by which to return to dominance, unlikely though the prospect does.  But better that than accepting the lesser fate of fading away and seeing Burgomaster Riyarus run out of Kurvoss on a rail, right?

At some point, I remade things to where Burgomaster Riyarus was supported by the Nevergreen Bingers (with no further mention of the Brass Ruble Gang), and apparently I replaced Burgomaster Tohol Gulobok with Burgomaster Mivus Sellvanich for some unknown reason....


I think I need to draw up a big, huge flowchart now.  What happened to Tohol Gulobok?  What happened to the Barrel-Weight Pogies?  Are the Winter Magpies still in the game in Kurvoss?  Is Staroka Nor still a power player?  Do the Silvergobs and Orsek's Arse-Fleas still exist?  How many different gaggles of scumbags are operating in Kurvoss, anyway?  How many can operate before the entire town collapses under the weight of so many thieves and swindlers and all their rivalries, and all the non-guild-associated commonfolk grab up what little they have left and scatter into the surrounding countryside, preferring to take their chances with the goblins instead?  

I might be able to offer my humble $.02 which you may of course take or leave....

As far as the thieves guilds in Kurvoss, I might suggest that while there may indeed be many how influential might they be or if they are even a real thieves guild at all?

Kurvoss is clearly a squalid and petty town so even the "large" guilds would be fairly destitute. Ironically, That may just make the opposing guilds even more territirial, vindictive and petty as they all squabble over what crumbs there are to be had. But for the sake of this discussion, let us assume that there are the "big fish" who actually leverage real control, influence and wealth in Kurvoss(or as much of it exists in such a dump) These guilds likely control smaller, less affluent "guilds" which have to pay a kick back to the larger in order to work their territory> IE, The Pine Street Corbies make a deal with Lefty's loose kneed harlots, The Harlots run six or seven prostitutes out of a crappy speak easy on the west side. The deal being, Lefty pays the Corbies 500 gold +10% of their profits every monty and in return, Lefty doesn't get his ass handed to him by the Corbies and may be given some overhead protection by the Corbies instead.
Lefty's Harlots in turn, also control The Toughguys, a gang of about a half dozen street thugs who run petty robbery and extortion on their streets. The Toughguys send their stolen loot to Lefty who fences the merchandice for 30% and the Toughguys keep the riffraff from abusing the harlots in exchange for "lady favors"... and so on and so on.

I could imagine that many of the "guilds" are mearly gangs of some sort, legitimate and otherwise, who are simply teaming up to keep their tiny piece of the pie going, by whatever means there is.

Hi there, Wraith! How are you tonight!

So it turns out that my website doesn't like me uploading certain tunes to my Music subdomain, possibly due to the file size. It didn't like the normal-length version of Sorrow's Distortion, for one, so I had to resort to a YouTube link, and while I was there, I figured, "Well, if I have to resort to a YouTube link, then I may as well make it link to an extended version." So there it is.

GD makes a fair point; perhaps the situation with gangs and thief guilds in Kurvoss is so chaotic and dog-eat-dog that it's nearly impossible to tally up an accurate list of all of them. The Rusty Nails may be a mere rumor, the Grandfathers may be content to operate from deep behind the scenes, Big Pickle's Knucklers may have barely started as a gang before poor leadership and/or poor numbers and/or disloyalty among the ranks let to them getting consumed or obliterated by rival gangs and guilds. So I can play fast and loose with the small fries, as long as the big dogs remain fairly consistent.

Anyway, back to all y'all. I guess I should turn in to bed soon. Surprise me with something, will you?

Yay! More combat!!!

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All those sound great! But I love my theme. I will be posting again tomorrow. Or maybe tonight. I dont know. I'm on my eighth week straight on a seven day roster so my brain's melting. Probably why I'm asking so many questions lol. Thanks for being a cool DM.

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You're quite welcome! And it's great to have you back after our mutual long hiatus.

(Alas, I'm a bit slow on the draw. You had already posted while I was mid-edit there, so...my bad. )

Erm….. I'm confused and a little lost on how many spells I can cast per day and also how many I have actually cast during the current adventure.

I really need to sit down and do a "Wraith-esque" character sheet for Sylvea so I know what's going on haha!!! I know I have a few options per my battle but I was wondering - the spell "Cause Fear" - does this work on the Undead? And what is the duration? I think Sylvea just wants to avoid active combat at the moment - she kinda needs to catch her breath, and get gone to the next part.

And/or "Command"

And also --

Just re-reading through my spell preparations - I seem to have a "Remove Disease" spell. Is that like a "Cure" spell? Can it be used on the Laughing Disease? IF so, why haven't I tried it before AHAHAHHAHAHA!!! - meh. OMG. I'm sorry. So so so tired.

Ummm…..oh wait. I just read it again. Didn't actually prepare that spell.

Gosh Darnit! Well that Plucks.

Wraith wrote:

Ummm…..oh wait. I just read it again. Didn't actually prepare that spell.

Gosh Darnit! Well that Plucks.

HA HA LOLLIES...  

Anyway, as a Level 5 Cleric with a 17 in Wisdom, Sylvea may prepare and cast up to five Orisons (0 Level spells), four 1st Level spells, three 2nd Level spells and two 3rd Level spells, plus an extra spell for every Spell Level (except for the Orisons) chosen from her Cleric Domains.  So:

0 Level/Orisons
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

1st Level
1)
2)
3)
4)
Domain Spell)

2nd Level
1)
2)
3)
Domain Spell)

3rd Level
1)
2)
Domain Spell)


To fill these spell slots, you prepared the following spells for Sylvea to cast that day:

0 Level/Orisons
1) Create Water
2) Cure Minor Wounds
3) Detect Magic
4) Light
5) Resistance

1st Level
1) Cause Fear
2) Command
3) Detect Undead
4) Obscuring Mist
Domain) Sanctuary

2nd Level
1) Ghost Touch Armor
2) Zone of Truth
3) Darkness
Domain) Identify

3rd Level
1) Sheltered Vitality
2) Animate Dead
Domain) Protection from Elements


And Sylvea has already cast some of these spells in the course of her adventure, so they've been expended and are no longer available for her to cast:

0 Level/Orisons
1) Create Water
2) Cure Minor Wounds
3) Detect Magic
4) Light
5) Resistance

1st Level
1) Cause Fear
2) Command
3) Detect Undead
4) Obscuring Mist
Domain) Sanctuary

2nd Level
1) Ghost Touch Armor
2) Zone of Truth
3) Darkness
Domain) Identify

3rd Level
1) Sheltered Vitality
2) Animate Dead
Domain) Protection from Elements

The Detect Undead spell was sacrificed so that Sylvea could spontaneously cast Inflict Light Wounds and heal Ariean.  So that's where she stands now.

Also, don't forget another Cleric ability which may prove useful at some point: Rebuke Undead.  So long as Sylvea has the consecrated black skull goblet (or any other holy/unholy symbol acceptable to Evening Glory and Her churches, sects and faiths), she may attempt to strike the undead with paralyzing awe, or perhaps even to temporarily enthrall them to her service if the power of her dark faith is sufficiently strong.  Rebuking Undead is an extraordinary ability based on a Cleric's Charisma; the higher the Charisma, the more effective Rebuking (or its Good counterpart, Turning) will be and the more often the Cleric may attempt to dominate the undead through faith.

As Sylvea's Charisma is a mere 10, she may only try to Rebuke Undead up to three times per day.  She has yet to Rebuke anything this day (or in the course of this adventure, for that matter).  Sylvea is free to complement any Rebuke attempts with the condemning, damning, admonishing, castigating, insulting or coercive words of her choice, of course.  

Thank you for that helpful reply. I shall have a post for you tonight after work :-) I'm in between shifts at the moment but I'm also in desperate need of a nap. So nighty night!

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You're welcome.  And g'night.  

Hey, things could always be worse than one laughing zombie chasing you up a narrow, ascending gangway, right?  Just take a look at what Karnoz has to deal with right now!  Don't envy him, right?  

(Speaking of which, I just noticed that I screwed up MapKarnoz048.jpg a wee bit.  I forgot to add windows to the new buildings!  Karnoz wasn't planning on smashing and/or leaping through any windows, was he, Drak?)


EDIT about those spells you were asking about:

Cause Fear:  For 1 to 4 rounds, one living creature becomes frightened, suffering a -2 Morale penalty on all Attack Rolls, weapon Damage Rolls and Saving Throws, and attempts to flee from the Cleric.  If unable to flee, the affected creature may fight.  Creatures with 6 or more Hit Dice or Levels are immune, and a successful Will Save versus Spells can also negate the effects.  Cause Fear and Remove Fear will counter or negate each other.
(At Sylvea's Level, Cause Fear has a maximal range of 35 feet, and the Difficulty Class to resist the spell with a Will Save would be 14.  It is subject to Spell Resistance (which Sylvea's Spell Penetration feat can mitigate).  The Cause Fear spell will not affect mindless creatures (such as slimes or shriekers) or nonliving creatures (including constructs and undead, both of whom are normally immune or highly resistant to mind-affecting spells anyway).

Command:  On casting this spell, the Cleric has one round to issue a simple one-worded command to the one creature targeted by this spell, and the creature must carry out the command to the best of its ability.  Typical commands for this spell include "Flee," "Die" (which causes the subject to merely feign death, not to actually depart the mortal coil...), "Halt," "Leave," "Fight," "Surrender," and "Rest."  (Words which aren't truly considered verbs — including but not limited to "Suicide" or "Gold" — will be ignored by the subject if used with this spell.)  If the subject would normally be inclined to follow the command — such as telling a coward to "Flee," a libertine to "Disrobe," a drunkard to "Drink" or a scholar to "Read" — then the subject receives a penalty of -1 to -4 on the Saving Throw to resist the Command.
(At Sylvea's Level, the Command spell has a maximal range of 35 feet, and the DC to resist the spell with a Will Save is 14.  Command is subject to Spell Resistance, and as it is considered a mind-affecting spell, nonintelligent creatures (such as giant spiders) are immune, as are constructs and undead.)