Post Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk here (May 2015)

Sanabel defeated! Surely the pirate network is routed if not decimated now. They will trouble Portlandio no more, right? At last the party discovered the sea-cave portal used by the pirates (PICTURED), and looked out to the open ocean, causing you to wonder. Was Sanabel truly the mastermind of the pirate activity? Is there another pirate captain aboard their vessel at sea? Sanabel mentioned something about Thoma having a step-sister? Just before Airen the Bullywug pierced the illusionist's heart with his spear. Meanwhile Kaz and Beartram return to the Selkie's cave with the sea lion habitat and tell them the pirates have been cleaned out. "Oh good," say the Selkies, asking another question to make certain you completed the task. "So you cleared out those Heavy-Boot Men who ride the row-boat, AND the ones who drive that large caravel ship out on the sea?" Congratulations! You have passed Part 1A of this adventure. We completed the first half of the first module, in a famous and well reviewed 3-module series. Part 1B awaits. After that, Module 2, Module 3, if the party chooses to pursue this storyline. (Other plot hooks and modules are meant to be competing for your interest and options, and plenty of side quests along the way as well.) You can row out to the pirate ship next in Part 1B. First you can go to Portlandio to resupply (buy, sell, trade, make things), gather information, recruit help, and possibly report the pirate activity to authorities (town council? Sheriff?), or investigate Thoma. Another option is going into the Cold Marsh swamp area to investigate Vessik the lizardman and his dealings with the pirates. Either way, the roadmap involves Signaling To the Pirate Ship using the bullseye lantern in 2 nights time (in-game time), and then followup with rowing out to the pirate ship, perhaps to board them and take them out (if the party wants to try). Any Format Journals welcome and encouraged week to week, session to session. Post in this thread with any kind of current journal, diary, story, encounter notes, illustrations. Even Google Images are fine if you want to illustrate a scene. This is in regards to the ongoing game play. Focus on the latest session. This can be written from the perspective of your PC, as a story, or otherwise. Any style of on-topic post is welcome. Short or long-form replies are equally acceptable for the journal threads. I will award Experience Points bonuses for 1 Journal per Player per Session, and potentially dialog with Players regarding story-developments for a bit of Play-By-Post gameplay during the week in between game sessions. The window to post your journal and get XP is open until the start of the next game session. We'll use this thread for all sessions taking place in the month of MAY 2015. Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk (March 2015) Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventures talk (April 2015) Start here... First there is a picture of the ocean view looking out the sea cave, after defeating Sanabel and his pirate loading crew. This is the song you heard with the Pirate voices chanting Pink Floyd and the party adding the Stayin' Alive chorus mashup part! A couple weeks ago Sandoval asked if the party would be staying alive in the pirates' caves. That's when I queued this song. The "Dancing Lights" were on, controlled by invisible DJ Sanabel. You heard this in your mind... <a href="https://soundcloud.com/mixessss21/pink-floyd-vs-be" rel="nofollow">https://soundcloud.com/mixessss21/pink-floyd-vs-be</a>... Post your Journals for May 5 session this week...

Journal notes 5/5 session WARNING: LONG ASS POST AHEAD While Beartram and Kaz went to play in the pond I continued reading through my book staying mindful of the direction where I saw the flaming creature. After a while they returned claiming to have come across a herd of animals who live in the cave. Beartram, feeling a connection with them offered to dispatch of the pirates that have been disturbing their home. As we regrouped and began to move forward I was immediately drawn towards an array of lights to the south and began dancing while moving towards them – following the flickering image I saw before. All of the different colors… they were entrancing - That is of course until another damn pirate cut me with his blade. Instinctively I pierced him with my spear, pinning him against the wall, while Torvald dealt the final blow. It seems he is quite quick to react in dangerous situations. At this time the flickering creature dissipated – it now clearly seems to have been an illusion created by Sanabel. As we investigated the remainder of this chamber it seems to be a dead end, and we began back tracking towards the torch light. As we were doing so a gust of wind swooshed from behind us knocking out any light source around, I was blind. Instinctively I immediately began fumbling through my backpack trying to find my flint + tinder to re-ignite my torch while asking Torvald what he sees – having read somewhere that dwarves have impressive vision in the dark. At this time it appears that several gnolls began to encroach upon us. It sounded like the others in our party began shooting arrows at them, but I couldn’t be sure as it was still pitch black, that is until our new druid friend cast some magic on a rock – illuminating the area. At this time I became entranced again with an array of magnificent colors. They were so beautiful and exotic I couldn’t help but to gawk at them – completely forgetting about our current predicament. Once they faded away I was able to see that the others were already well under combat with some gnolls, pirates, and Sanabel – clearly another one of his spells. It seems that they also were under some sort of spell as most of them stood there motionless – only their eyes moving side to side watching us as they were hacked down. It seems Sanabel also fell under this spell as the rest of the party was able to tie him up. To prevent him from being able to cast any more spells on us Sandoval shoved a piece of material in his mouth, and I grabbed his pouch of spell components. We interrogated him and got some information – such as Thoma (current house owner) is aware of their presence here, and that the time to signal the ship is in 2-3 days from now. Other than that he kept trying to sweet talk his way in to being set free (who could blame the guy – it was pretty apparent he would die otherwise). Growing tired of his attempts to persuade us in to setting him free I pierced his heart with my spear pushing off of him with my foot to pull it back out ending his life. At this point some of the party began investigating this room where there seems to have been several more weapon caches as well as other items of interest while the other half of the party, including myself, pushed on through the hallway. There we dispatched of another small group of pirates and discovered additional caches of weapons as well as what seemed to be the sea entrance to this place. It makes sense now – as the tides rise (the times we found on the notes before) this area becomes accessible allowing the pirates to smuggle the goods covertly. After examining several weapons amongst the cache I detected one of the tridents as being magical. I spent some time examining it – attempting to use my spellcraft to identify what type of properties it might hold – and had no success. I began to put it away when I heard a voice inside my head – this time it wasn’t Kryikh. My initial thought was that Sanabel was not the only magic user working in this operation – but surprisingly this trident has a conscious of its own. Apparently eager to show me its power it suggested we go “fishing.” Without thinking twice I took it with me and dove in to the water. It had been a while since I had moistened my skin so the dip in to the ocean was quite refreshing. After swimming out several yards we came across a school of fish who seemingly stopped and turned towards us – unusual since schools of fish would generally see me as a predator and flee. The trident then asked me what I would like the fish to do – amazingly enough he was able to command them. I told him to allow the fish to carry on. After returning to the surface to catch a breath I dove back down again and used the trident to hunt a larger fish – it has been a while since we have had a fresh meal and I can’t think of anything better than a fresh fillet o’ fish. It was incredible how easily it cut through the water. It would normally take me dozens of attempts to spear a fish while under water, but this spear seemed to be unaffected by being in the water. An amazing artifact indeed. It turns out that the trident prefers to be called Fisher, and has agreed to accompany me for now. As I returned once again to the surface I noticed our new druid friend, Beartram – still transformed as a bear, looking at me curiously from the ramp. I assured him that I was ok and just wetting my skin – as I offered him a big chunk of my catch before storing the rest. While I may tell the others of Fisher in time, I am keeping this to myself for now. Believing that we had cleared out all of the pirates, a few of the others and I were interested in exploring the few remaining rooms that we had not checked yet. We pressed forward as the others continued to search through the cache of items below. The first room that we checked seemed to hold nothing of importance. I tried looking out the window towards the ocean, but was only able to see the trees and the starry sky. The second room we entered we encountered several weasels. It seemed that this is where they had been living. Normally I would have just killed them, but respecting Beartram’s affinity with the animals we decided to take the less lethal approach. As we were leaving the room I left the weasels the remainder of my fish I had just caught as an apology for disturbing them. The next room we entered seemed to be used for storage. Tons of crates, bags, and even a chest or two were storing items. We spent a good amount of time going through the containers and found a few interesting items among all of the regular household things - a decent amount of coin, a helmet which seems to be magical, and a cursed fucking broom. After sensing magic from the broom I continued to investigate it further – having read about wizards who flew around on magic brooms, I figured I would see if it would be something that could help Kryikh out. UNFORTUNATELY, I found what was apparently a command phrase. Of course I had to try it out – uttering the words “lets fly baby” – which caused the broom to fly me in to the ceiling, pound me to the ground, and then begin swatting me in my eyes. If it were not for Torvald securing the damn thing it probably would have killed me. How is that for a headline? Brooms Aren’t Only for Sweeping Floors or Swatting Flies – THEY WORK ON WIZARDS TOO! My next impulse was to burn the damn thing. If it weren't for remembering how depressed Kryikh was about not being able to fly I probably would have – perhaps he has more knowledge on such items and can control it. The last room we entered was also unfortunate as it seems to have been a perfect climate to grow yellow mold – dangerous stuff. We then decided to check out a wall that seemed slightly different at the end of the hallway. After all of us checked it out we determined nothing was off about it, and headed in to the library to rest / browse through some more of the books.

"and a cursed fucking broom." lol sorry i missed the fun.

To be honest Gray, for me some of the best moments of the session were in the play-out when the first people left. It was mainly looting, but there was a lot of surprise and laughter in it. Gold was definetly at his best when describing various ways the broom was mocking Airen, doing a lot of actual damage in the process. Afterwards I proposed just giving Kryikh the broom without telling him anything so we could watch another wizard being owned. Torvald and I had quite the laugh at Airen's expense, until we realized he might actually die if we didn't step in. Of course, when we did step in, we rolled just as bad as the whole evening... (although we got initiative on the broom, he rolled 1 but we came to -1 mwuhaha)

Good thing we hadn't come to that room earlier..... had I not been lvl 3 R.I.P. **Thinks of ways I can get back at brooms**

KRYIKH'S JOURNAL -- STILL IN THE MANSION, BUT HAVING DEFEATED THE ILLUSIONIST SANABEL A breakthrough! Studying the various books we have found, my magical abilities have progressed to a new level. I believe I am now ready to cast much more powerful spells. First, having studied Sanabel's spellbook with Airen, as well as the illusions in this place, I believe I have succeeded in assimilating the formulae for making myself and others invisible … and I think I can probably produce a hypnotic pattern similar to that which Sanabel successfully used to paralyze most of our party. These are both powerful magics that should serve our party well. But much more exciting is the progress I have made in transmutations. After studying the secrets of alchemy, I believe I have discovered a way to alter my person, far beyond my existing powers of disguise. I think I can use this spell to – at least temporarily – regain some ability to fly. I will have to experiment with this when we get back to Portlandio. I continue to study the books here at the mansion. Meanwhile, we seem to have put an end to the smuggling operations under the mansion, and have defeated the local mastermind, the illusionist Sanabel. The final battle was as chaotic as usual. We had planned to deceive Sanabel somehow, to gain information from him, but in the end he discovered us first, and paralyzed most of us with an extraordinary display of coloured lights in an hypnotic pattern. I had actually been studying this same spell from the illusionist’s own spellbook … I realized what he was doing, but was unable from falling under the glamer myself, as did most of us. We would have been doomed if not for Kaz and Jaxon, both of whom resisted the spell. Jaxon cleverly cast a spell of us own, which held the smugglers fast in place. Then Kaz barreled into the illusionist and his minions and knocked them down like a bunch of skittles. The rest of us were able to break free and defeat our enemies, and all the usual chaos broke loose. Beartram turned into a bear but slipped and ended up in a hairy heap with Kaz. Torvald was doing what he does so well, and seemed to enjoy the enlargement magic I had cast on him. I had decided not to go around hitting people with my staff so much, but when I saw a frozen, wounded gnoll right in front of me I couldn’t resist. I almost managed to miss him, and would have if he hadn’t been frozen. Torvald cheered as I cracked the gnoll in the face. How strangely satisfying such activity is proving! Finally, Sandoval managed to tie up Sanabel, and we were able to find out a bit more about the smuggling operation before dispatching him. It seems we have two days rest, before we confront the rest of the smugglers, and some of their lizardman allies.

Yeah Airen getting pwn'd by an animated broom was PRICELESS ... Heck even Gold's description of several events was comedic GOLD . All in all... a very fun if frustrating session (DAMN you dice!).

Must be my lucky week.... cursed broom in this campaign.... and bag of devouring in my other....

Aww... It's okay Frogman. You at least you got a nifty Trident +3; an ego weapon too! Should make up for the broom smack down.

Translation: Druid - Bull - Wandered off towards sea cavern - Rejoined later - Went with Frog - Investigated flaming man Encountered room of strange lights - Pirate hidden within - Ambushed! - Quickly dispatched Headed down other passageway - Towards torch lights - Hallway goes black - Magical darkness! Dark shapes move within - Gnolls! - Rushed forward - Secured high ground - Others prepare for battle Burst of strange light - Stunned! - Hypnotized! - Unable to resist! - Magical spell - Illusion captures party Sanabel! - Henchmen attack - Jaxxon reads scroll - Magic binds foes - Bull counters! - Fumbles blow Bull tumbles down slope - Knocks several down - Druid shape shifts - Massive black bear! - Charges! Spell wears off - Elf quickly binds Sanabel - Killed remaining enemies while stunned Interrogated Sanabel - Dodged questions - Revealed few hints - Something more at hand? Heard noises beyond - Surprised pirates - Loading cargo from boat - Quickly dispatched Looted bodies - Investigated hold - Crates - Barrels - More weapons - More ingredients Frog finds magical trident - Elf takes magical short sword - Frog goes fishing - Returns with catch Explored upstairs - Missed rooms - Store room searched - Arcane helmet found - Magical broom stick Frog tests - Flies! - Falls! - Broom assaults - By Moradin! - Funny sight - Pulled off - Returned to normal (Torvald is unhappy with his combat performance this round. He takes pride in being the party's shield. Missing to many easy blows is embarrassing for a trained dwarf warrior. Torvald will be spending a good part of the coming down time sharping his weapons and training daily.) (But first a good hearty meal, stiff drink, and good night's sleep...)

A BONUS JOURNAL FROM KRYIKH: TOWN DOWNTIME To save a bit of session time, I thought it would be good to post ideas about what we want to achieve "between adventures". So, in our upcoming downtime, here are a few of the things that Kryikh wants to do in town: -- he wants to find a safe place to store the Philosopher’s Egg. He will go back to the magic school where he used to work, and ask discreetly ask whichever mage he trusts the most there if they will help him understand the Egg, and also look after it for him while he is adventuring. If there isn’t someone there who he trusts, or somewhere safe to keep it at the school, he will come up with another plan. --- his next priority is to cast Identify a few times to ID some of the magic items we have found . the pearl one unidentified potion the black sooted stone anything else that others are holding? -- he wants to attempt to summon a familiar. -- Then he wants to get stuck in to his magical researches. This first of all means studying the various books he has brought back from the mansion. He will use the spell Suric’s Swift Perusal to speed his researches. Again, he is first of all trying to find a way to heal his damaged wing, then trying to find out about flying magic, and then transmutation in general. Basically trying to find a way to get flying again through alchemy/transmutation magic. Details on the books he wanted to study were here: <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1809174/post-journals-slash-story-slash-notes-slash-adventure-talk-here-april-2015#post-1859849" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1809174/post-journals-slash-story-slash-notes-slash-adventure-talk-here-april-2015#post-1859849</a> -- In his “time off” from all this study, he is going to experiment with casting Alter Self to allow himself to fly. -- finally I’m wondering if there is any special equipment people think we might need if we are going to be going to sea …

"We went deeper in the cave. I decided to go to the sunshine, I heard some animals there. Kaz, our minotaur followed me. I think he has a nice character. He seems to be a kind of a druid like me, but in another way. I made it through a sandy area to some nice animals. They were kind of different and I haven't met them before. I tried to get in contact with them but I am a man of the woods. I have to admit, that I get used to the salty water and I like the smell. Beneath the creatures were another kind of them, with pretty faces and very intelligent. They called themself selkies and the roughly 30 others are sea lions. I had a pretty good conversation with them and I promised them to clean out the house so they can live their life. I went back to the party. We were going to explore the rest of the cave. We found a strange room with many coloured lights and strange music in it. I didn't saw everything because I wasn't in front. And then there was again a fight with Gnolls. These things are really kind of annoying but no problem for our fighters. We went further and encountered Sanabel with more Pirates and Gnolls. He set us under a spell and I saw more colours and a small Dragon in my bag. I wanted to take some herbs but the dragon was protecting them. I didn't know that there some kinds of dragons that are so small. He left when the spell went off. I felt that Sanabel would lead me to my revenge. He is not the person I am searching for but he is kind of a key to him. I revealed my shapeshifting ability to help the others in the fight. We fought down Sanabel and after some questions we killed. I don't like killing but sometimes it is a necessary evil. We went forward in the caves. I stayed in bear form. I like it more to be an animal It is kind of satisfying to eel nature in the way the animals do.There were some more pirates. Our dwarf, I think Torvald is his name, stood in front with me. He is cute! We overpowered them and then he cuddled me. I think I like him. After the end of the cave we found a small beach. Our Frog went directly in the water with a trident he found. I also went to the water - just in case of trouble. The frog came back and brought some fish for me. I think his name is Airen. I am not quite sure about him. He is talking to this trident. Maybe frogs have such skills. Now I am sitting here, watching the waves, the sun, enjoying the smell of the sea after the fights. I like the peace of this area. But this peace is kind of a chimaera. In two days will something happe here. I hope it will lead me further to my revenge. I would really love to end this vengeance. I don't like it, but I have to do it for my parents." -- Thoughts of a druid, part two -- I hope you enjoyed it and i hope there aren't to many mistakes in it. I haven't read it twice. And just for the lolz:

Just a side note - the conversation with the trident was telepathic and you don't know about it yet ^.^

"He is cute! We overpowered them and then he cuddled me. I think I like him." I can't help it. I just want to ride a bear into battle... Imagine the terror... Oh yeah!

While Kaz was confronting Sanabal and Gnolls he thought he smelled a women and another person near by in another passage out of there. After the encounter was concluded and a dagger/ Athalme was found on Sanabel, whent to investigate that smell and found no one was around.After that we went back in to talk about what we were going to do, due to it was getting late and a lot of us need some rest.

But first, some quotes from Gold you rolled exactly what you needed so it's a confusing, moderate sort of success (When Airen rolled to see if the flame boy was actually an illusion) Sandoval finds something, so I actually have to go find what Sandoval finds I just want to say, Gold, you were great last week, especially in what is officially after-session time. The way you did the narrative during the broom scene, I really wish I had recorded that. I would've put it online and I bet it would've gone viral. I laughed for 30 minutes straight. You were an incredible DM :) Sandoval's Tales Episode 6 - The Real Danger It all started out quietly enough. I found some wood, so I've started fashioning a bow for myself. My current bow, while effective, is large and cumbersome. I need something smaller to suit my fighting style better. I've also started working on sheaf arrows with the arrowheads I bought from Mitel. I found out my arrows with wooden points are not suitable against armored opponents, hopefully this will remedy that. But then it happened. All hell broke loose as we ran into some Gnoll scouts again. I managed to loose an arrow on one, and I managed to hit him in the dark, but soon afterwards I was mesmerized by those pretty lights that appeared in the darkness. I forgot everything that instant, When I woke up, I realized we had run into Sanabel. For some reason both Sanabel and most of his crew were motionless on the ground. I reacted immediatly; I made my way to Sanabel as fast as I could and tied him up before he could release any more spells. Because the others were taking care of the pirates and Gnolls, I had Sanabel in bonds before he came back to his senses. We gagged him to be sure he was no longer any threat to us. Meanwhile I couldn't help but to glance at Torvald once in a while. The Kenku casted a spell on him just before we went into battle, which enlarged the Dwarf quite a bit. He was actually very impressive this way, and stronger than ever. Once again I felt good these guys were on my side. It made me think - what would happen now everything is over? Would they stay together, or would we all go our separate ways? Of course we tried to question Sanabel. It was hard to see if he was thruthful, but he mentioned the Lizardmen need their weapons for defensive reasons, and Thoma, or at least a woman who is apparently his sister, is involved in this operation. We are pretty sure there is a ship out in the bay, so this operation seems to be bigger than we thought. If I were any smarter, I could've maybe figured out right then what the bigger picture was. Alas, my mind failed me once again. While Sanabel was hardly dangerous in the end, we found out the real danger of the house was in the items that we found after our battle. We found two cloaks, to which I am strongly drawn for reasons unknown to me. When I saw the cloaks, I felt a strong urge to wear them. Even the second one, which was all torn and rotten. That one actually made me sick. Some yellow dust was on it, which I inhaled. I tried to back away, but once again my foot shot through the rotten floor and I got stuck. The Minotaur rescued me from worse. The other cloak was magical, but for some reason I lost interest in it when I found out its effects, and passed it on. The Minotaur got it, which, in retrospect, seems an obvious play of the forces of nature. I will have to search my memory, or whats left of it, for any particular reasons why cloaks are so important to me. I did decide to change my armor. The chainmail was wearing me down, so I took the leather armor from one of the pirates. While I am now more vulnerable, I feel a lot more nimble. The best and worst item we found was a broom. Airen said something like 'let's fly baby!' and suddenly the broom went into the air, smacking the Bullywug straight into the roof and back on the floor, where it proceeded to smack some sense into Airen. I mean, who tries to fly a broom? Torvald and I applauded its efforts for a while, until we realized there was actually a chance Airen might die. We tried to get the broom under control, but the Dwarf and I didn't have our night, we fought like Orcs. Ultimately we succeeded into bringing the broom back into submission, but Airen acted strangely after that. He found a trident that seems very powerful, but I think the Bullywug is talking to it as if it were alive. Has he gone crazy? Either way, I will try to convince this group to stick together. I feel we were brought together for a reason and will need eachother in order to survive.

XP XP bonus for the latest journals so far, add to your Edit Bio tab in the game! +500 XP (Airen "long ass" Journal of May 5 with Broom-slap frog graphic, and new digital mashup Bullywug portrait with Trident "Fisher") hypnotoad +420 XP (Kryikh Journal of May 5 battle defeating mastermind illusionist Sanabel and leveling up in spell power, with bird-alchemy and pirate sea cave images, plus town-planning for next session organized in a whole bonus journal) +420 XP (Torvald Journal of May 5 with dwarven runes and an image of the dwarf sitting down after clearing out the pirate cave) +250 XP (Beartram Journal of May 5 with the druid talking to selkies in the sea cave, then introducing the party to his ability to shapechange into a black bear) +300 XP (Kaz for a shorty journal of May 5) +0 XP (Sandoval thanks for the journal, came in late so no bonus XP but thank you and will read it) Responses... to be expanded in-game talk Tuesday. Enjoyed these conclusions you guys wrote up! I will respond more directly in-game, as we move across the bridge to the next adventure. Kryikh concluded, Sandoval managed to tie up Sanabel, and we were able to find out a bit more about the smuggling operation before dispatching him. It seems we have two days rest, before we confront the rest of the smugglers, and some of their lizardman allies. And then Kryikh outlined some additional thoughts for this upcoming Tuesday session, and all that sounded good. Torvald mentioned, Towards torch lights - Hallway goes black - Magical darkness! Interrogated Sanabel - Dodged questions - Revealed few hints - Something more at hand? Torvald will be spending a good part of the coming down time sharping his weapons and training daily. Beartram said, he talked to the selkies. They have one more thing to say to you, so I will emphasize it this week.

Window is open for Journals of May 12 session. It is OK if you want to make a shortened Journal this week (Optional), to save time for working on your PC Backstory, since we will call for posting Backstories soon . I will even let your Chat Comments as-copied from the log below, serve in place of your journal, if you at least respond with some kind of comments about the session in this thread. :) Kryikh, Chris Airen , you guys could probably make a Journal this week focused about your Familiar ritual. I think it would make a great journal topic. I'm tickled to find out what you are thinking about your new Familiar spirit pet result, and see how it plays into the gameplay. Just don't slack on preparing your backstory. Continuing to Encourage Players to Think about backstory, or start writing it in your word processor to make it thoughtful, edited twice-over, and ready for posting. I'm not saying this needs to be grammar-perfect or super long, just readable and descriptive will do the trick, like you all have accomplished with Journals so far. Remember the Arc of this game is based on starting "weak" and developing in-game as you level-up and become, potentially, someone's heroes. Your backstory is about your humble beginnings as well as your motivation to become a survivor, but should especially demonstrate a glimmer of your character's big heart, aspirations, potential. Show their early germ of the personality and tell their timeline leading up to party formation. I know you will all delight me & any readers with your Backstory, because I've seen how funny and interesting your characters are, and your weekly journals set the bar these last few weeks. It's a fact that every single PC in this game would NOT exist if it weren't for your individual imaginations and styles coming together for this. We are making a story that no one else could make but us. I'm proud of this campaign group and what we've accomplished so far, and standing on the launch-deck of the next adventures. Chat Log was active today! Here were some of the funny moments for your memories, excerpts from the chatlog with post-game follow-up DM Responses in italics added for this forum post. We undertook a very eclectic, unique game session, with lots of elements, bridging the party between major arcs of the early adventures. I think everyone had a lot of fun except for Beartram who missed the session because of work! First, this might be the quote-of-the-day from Sand, Sandoval (Hans): there's humanoids in the water.. omg I need to get more into d&d Ha! Ha! That really made me laugh. Yep. The ocean covers more of the world surface than the land does. The ocean contains more treasures, more monsters, more politics, more dungeons, than even the surface OR the underdark. The underwater ocean is the 2nd biggest spatial environment on the planet (1.3 billion cubic kilometers of ocean, compared with 4.2 billion cubic kilometers of sky-atmosphere). The selkies mentioned there are Shark-Men, Mermen, Tritons, Catfish-Men, and Crab Men down there, to name a few, all of whom would utilize the pirates' weapons cargo, especially the tridents, if they can get their hands on them. Of course the Selkies themselves are good-oriented Seal-folk, another water-borne humanoid. You still don't know which of the other species are good or evil actors in this. Their disposition and politics is completely foreign to everyone in the party (even the druid, even the bullywug)... but it's fair to say Shark-Men and Crab-Men don't sound good. Kaz: Gold, I found a good dwarven tune on you tube today Kaz -- can you post that youtube on the forums or send it to me in a PM? Thanks. Gold. Torvald (SolidHybrid): Get an Oilskin cloak Sandoval (Hans): just dont get wet Torvald (SolidHybrid): I got it Kryikh (Gray): also water/wineskins Kaz: whale oil Kryikh (Gray): Torvald's Barrel! Kaz: . Torvald (SolidHybrid): lol Kryikh (Gray): Keep Torvald dry by putting him inside the barrel. Kaz: . Sandoval (Hans): if fat and water don't mix, the dwarf will probably float Torvald (SolidHybrid): Summons a familiar... Accidentally gets a PIT FIEND Sandoval (Hans): probably :) Kaz: what tv show? Kryikh (Gray): Robin of Sherwood from the 80s. great show. Kaz: ok grey think it would be on Hulu Kryikh (Gray): might be on youtube Sadly youtube has deleted the full episodes of the show. It's hard to find it online for sale or streaming. The episode I wanted (SEASON 3 EPISODE 11 "RUTTERKIN" where Rutterkin is the name of the Pig Familiar), could not find it online. Luckily I have an old recording, so I just used a camera to make a short edit of the Rutterkin clip. Kaz , I will send you the link to watch this partial-episode from my private dropbox. If anyone else (Beartram, Torvald, Sandoval) wants the Robin Hood TV link about Familiars, just ask Gold . Gray and Chris Airen have already watched it before the "Find Familiar" game session today. For anyone wanting the entire Robin Of Sherwood series, here is the official DVD, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ROBIN-SHERWOOD-COLLECTION-Mi" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/ROBIN-SHERWOOD-COLLECTION-Mi</a>... More Chat Log Fun! Now with Familiar Sounds Sandoval (Hans): I would do that with my regular pets tbh :) does she have a mustache? Kaz: OMG this is a good 1 Torvald (SolidHybrid): Bak bak bak bak! Sandoval (Hans): somehow the picture in my head is you doing those sounds Torvald Torvald (SolidHybrid): LOL yeah Im a goofball too Hilarious. Want to listen to that audio track again? Here it is (and then more of the chat log, after this). ENJOY. Note: Only 25 people have found/listened this track on Soundcloud in the 1 year since she posted it. This deserves more attention. <a href="https://soundcloud.com/emily-elizabeth-35/my-dad-m" rel="nofollow">https://soundcloud.com/emily-elizabeth-35/my-dad-m</a>... Still More Familiar Chat Log Entertainment! Sandoval (Hans): this session is really making me appreciate familiars a lot more in a future campaign I will definetly play a magician flying jellyfish are the worst Torvald (SolidHybrid): Its a Hanar Sandoval (Hans): that baby there is just sick tbh, what is it doing there? that is obviously not his mother it makes some kind of sense, if the familiar only becomes scentient when the bond is formed Torvald (SolidHybrid): Mr. Jay will see you know Kry Sandoval (Hans): HEAVILY [ quoting the DM telling the Mages to invest heavily in components for Find Familar ] lol Sandoval will donate some of his posessions if necessary Gold-DM (GM): nice Sandoval (Hans): well my pets cost me a least a hundred bucks a month on food haha Kryikh (Gray): 2 Emeralds worth 50GP each. (leprechauns) ruby (25) gold ear-ring (25) Gold ring - 75GP (pirates) 1x Ruby – 330GP (Sanabel) Torvald (SolidHybrid): I want a pet that takes care of me Sandoval (Hans): Yeah. Well my kid eats what we eat and feeds what he doesn't want to the dog lol I will donate some gold earrings and a gold disc to both Airen and Kryikh to help them a bit total of 4 earrings and 2 discs that I will take from my tab Gold-DM (GM): thanks sand Kryikh (Gray): thanks sandoval Sandoval (Hans): with total of 160gp worth* Airen (Chris): 630gp of gold gems jewlery Torvald (SolidHybrid): The Dwarf sighs... Waste of good wealth. Mages and their ways... Kryikh (Gray): rolling d12 = 12 Sandoval (Hans): natural 12 must be good Gold says nope, natural 12 is a bad result in this case, he doesn't get a familiar today. Torvald (SolidHybrid): Fairy dragon is good ... Gold-DM (GM): Something responded -- player's choice what it was -- but after 1 day you don't feel bonded with it so it's UnFamiliar (Check again for a new match after 1 day in-game, or next session IRL, whichever comes first) Sandoval (Hans): looool your comparisons always just show the real world is more messed up than D&D Hans I was wondering if you remember what was said that you responded with that comment above? I'm trying to remember what Hans was referring to when you typed "your comparisons always just show the real world is more messed up than D&D", if anyone remembers? Kaz: go with the real looking dragon go with a mosquito Torvald (SolidHybrid): Mule deer... fast runners Kaz: . Kryikh (Gray): rolling d12 = 12 Gray rolls his second Natural 12 in a row. Sandoval (Hans): noooo DM lets Gray roll again for not repeating the identical result. Kryikh (Gray): rolling d12 = 2 Sandoval (Hans): nice Kaz: eagle is good Torvald (SolidHybrid): Owl Kryikh (Gray): OWL Sandoval (Hans): I agree definetly the owl hehe Kaz: nice Sandoval (Hans): grats both! very nice Torvald (SolidHybrid): Both fit the characters Sandoval (Hans): Bring me back some nice rosewood from the forest please Kaz: so we have a faerie dragon and an owl Gold-DM (GM): YEP! Confirmed! Torvald (SolidHybrid): great choices Gold mentions that the faerie dragon is like a "My Little Pony" with wings. Sandoval (Hans): do you really want fairie wings? lol Torvald (SolidHybrid): Friendship is MAGIC Gold: ^ . . ^ "Friendship is MAGIC" was my favorite chat moment tonight when I glanced at the chat and saw that, I had to mute myself from laughing then. At the ending encounters of May 12 session Some of the parts Kryikh missed in the later section of the session.... disposing of pirate weapon cargo in the mansion well; took out an orc party and interrogated one orc for info... and then encountered a troop of 6 lizardman movers who were looking to claim some pre-paid weapons purchased. Another funny part from the Voice & Chat was Kaz asked the captive Orc if he was affiliated with the bad Tanzanian Orcs, and the orc said "No" his clan had not gotten with any of the Tanzanian hottie orc ladies for generations, he was stuck up in the frigid North orc tribes. Sandoval responded in the chat that he wouldn't be able to get the image of orcs mating out of his head. [ To the Lizardmen who tried to bully / arrest Airen and tried to confiscate 8x Tridents from the Mirror Imaged Airen appearing as a group of bullywugs all with the matching tridents ] Torvald (SolidHybrid): You can pry his trident from his dead cold webbed hands Lizards - COPS version of the Swamp And finally, a great pic of "Helm Of Underwater Action" was posted by Chris Airen. You can see that helmet pic in the Treasure/Loot thread. Enjoyed the session! Respond with discussion / comments / or even make your response serve as your Journal this week if you want to.

Having explored the remainder of the house and taken out Sanabel the party decided to rest as we awaited the right moment to signal the pirate ship off the coast. It seems what 'haunted' this place was Sanabel's magic as all eeriness seems to have dissipated. During this rest period I was able to spend some time reading "The Magical Properties of Herbs and Flowers by Mage Tenser". Some very valuable information on different types of herbs and applications for them! Kriykh decided to head in to town with Jaxon to stock up on supplies before we attempted to signal the pirate ship - or so that's what he said. I believe the real reason he wanted to head back to town was that he was afraid of breaking the philosopher's egg - he handled it so carefully - obsessed over it really... I even thought I heard him call it.... his precious. We all have our obsessions I suppose. In this rest period I was also finally able to accumulate enough herbal components to summon a familiar. I performed the ritual, such a costly one, and waited. After waiting for a while I waited some more. I had waited so long that I began to doze off and have strange dreams - one after another. When I awoke I was greeted by a odd creature, a faerie dragon. Apparently the dreams I was having weren't dreams at all, but rather an intrusion of my mind. This faerie dragon was drawn to the magic of my ritual and had cast a mysterious spell on me. Some sort of test - seeing how I would react in different situations - to judge my character - to see if I would be a worthy companion. I passed his test. He disclosed this to me once I awoke and offered to make a bond with me - warning me that this bond would be forever - and that I should think twice about it. I was enthralled by this creature - such intelligence. Without hesitation I agreed to his bond and we connected - on some....other level. It is as if he has become an extension of me... or perhaps I became an extension of him, Rhubarb that is - Rhubarb is his name. During this time it seems Torvald and and Kaz were arguing about what to do with the weapon cache while Sandoval went off in to the woods. They all agreed that it should be disposed of in some way, but were unsure of how to do so without it falling in to the wrong hands. Several ideas were discussed and then I suggested that we dump them in the well above where jade dispatched that snake - I hope she just continued on her quest to find her master and wasn't kidnapped by the pirates. We eventually agreed on that option and Kaz/Torvald hauled them up and disposed of them. Not too long afterwards we encountered a group of orc's. In an attempt to intimidate the orc's I casted mirror image on myself - making our party look much larger than it really was. We ended up killing them off. Kaz grappled the last one while Torvald interrogated him. During that time I became surrounded by another group, lizard men this time. Oppressive as always they attempted to bully me in to giving them my weapons. Of course I refused and began attacking them as there seemed to be no alternative. Oddly enough they ended up retreating. Unusual for lizard men. Not really wanting to have fought in the first place I chose not to pursue.

Had to reduce the resolution so roll20 would let me throw it up, but who can find sandoval?

I swear finding Sandoval is like "Where's Waldo?" in that Chris-pic, but if anything, it demonstrates how well the elf can hide in the forest settings. Is he in the top-middle, near the nose of the last bullywug mirror-image? That mashup picture is phenomenal. What a scene. Will get a full-resolution version into the tabletop. The "mirror image" gang of identical Bullywugs cracks me up, and the lizardmen shuffling away with their tails. So good. Chris is going hard with that Journal-Game. I'll go ahead and dispense 3rd Level Top Journal XP now for that effort, +510 XP (Airen for May 12 Journal with 2 custom digital pictures: Airen with Rhubarb his new familiar faerie dragon, and a scene pic of the whole party with a mirror imaged bullywug that confused and routed a battalion of lizardmen movers as Sandoval drew one-third of them away from the action) Here I'll provide a screenshot of the early findings from May 12 session. You saw Airen's bullywug footprints leading into the water where he went fishing. You saw a set of bird footprints (turned out to be Kenku sized, matching Kryikh), which Sandoval determined had taken-off by running and taking-flight. Kaz had smelled a bird and a female person. You saw another set of footprints, Sandoval determined them to be human female. She took off flying somehow. Kryikh compared the thrust-burst-patten in the sand with his knowledge of Airbending (from a scroll in his Origin story, recently confirmed from the book about Earth Air Water Fire from the Alchemist laboratory).

Indeed - that is where Sandoval is. In the full res image I made it so he blended in well as that is what he said he was doing =) It just makes it almost impossible to see after it made me reduce the file size to post = / I did however send you the full res pic via google drive so hopefully that one is a little easier to spot.

Sandoval's Tales Episode 7 - New boss in town We are on a roll. Ever since we've eliminated Sanabel and the last of the pirate crew, we seem to have brough peace to the mansion, and we now dominate this stretch of woodland. Kryikh and Airen gathered an enormous amount of herbs and starting performing a ritual. I've heard about wizards doing this to summon a familiar. Whatever creature responds can form a special bond with the summoner, creating a companionship for life. It makes an Elf think. I've always considered Elfs to be loners at heart. Even though we form communities, we never share our true selves, except maybe with our spouse. Suddenly a strong sense of melancholy overtakes me, and long lost memories from my past seem to wash over me. It all happens in seconds, and the memories fade away soon after. Confused, but at the same time strangely at peace, I decide to venture into the forest as well. Mitel and Beartram decide to come along, although they keep their distance, sensing my mood. I run into a felled Rosewood tree, and find a branch that seems to radiate a need to start a new life as a bow. Have I just found MY new companion? I thank the fallen tree for its sacrifice and ask nature to bless the branch I found. It doesn't take long for me to run into a band of Lizardmen. They seem to be waiting patiently, and I decide they must be here for the weapons. That was to be expected. Is this feeling of safety we all have just vanity? I realize my companions have strayed far from me, and since I cannot face this party on my own, I decide to retreat. Suddenly the woodlands are filled with travelers. I find a bunch of tracks that look Orcish. I decide to follow them but lose track after a while. The three of us turn back towards the mansion. When we reach the edge of the forest, we notice a band of Orcs have appeared near the mansion. No doubt these are the same that left the tracks. We notice Torvald, Airen and Kaz outside and decide to take up position within bow range. No doubt, the Dwarf and Minotaur will seek the confrontation with these vile creatures, and when they do we'll hit their rear and crush them. It executes perfectly. We seem to have found our mojo again, and just as the minotaur bullrushes the Orcs, Mitel and I start raining arrows on the confused enemy, that all but routes within seconds. Two come towards the treeline where we are hidden, so we shift positions quickly. While Airen renders some of the Orcs useless with an impressive spell, Kaz and Torvald release their mighty force upon the unlucky few that happen to be near them. Seeing those dead Orcs fills me with a feeling of righteousness, and we take out the ones that are dumb enough to seek us out before they fully understand what's hitting them. Interestingly, the Minotaur leaves one alive for questioning. Does he not know Orcs? Of course, the Orc is only mocking us, and my anger grows. I try to hold back, but when the Minotaur actually proposes an alliance with the Orcs, I execute that piece of green scum. Seeing Torvald just as angered as me, I quickly calm down. Just in time. As we turn away from the corpse we notice the Lizardmen have appeared, and are surrounding the Bullywug. He manages fine, in fact suddenly there's five of him. I realize these Lizardmen are of more value to us alive than dead, if they seem reasonable enough to cooperate, so I retreat back to the woods and try to lure them. Two take the bait as I pretend to be one of the pirate smugglers. I instruct Mitel and Beartram to ready their weapons and hide until I whistle. When I take a last glance at the rest of the pack, I see they Torvald and Kaz closing in, and even more identical copies of Airen have appeared. I walk as far as I need to to distance us from the battle that is indubidly taking place by now. I whistle. Another plan executes perfectly. As Mitel and Beartram appear from their hiding place, weapons drawn., they attract the attention of the lizardmen, I draw out my buckle knife. I start talking: "I'm afraid my fellows have killed the other lizardmen you were traveling with. Now I'm very sorry my comrades felt the need to use violence, but I'm a reasonable Elf. The only thing standing between you and certain death is ME. We have taken over Sanabel's smugling business, So I suggest you cooperate with me." I know I have them now. They sputter in protest a little, but I will hear none of it. One of the lizardmen seems reasonable, and I think I can use him for my plan. When I decide they are submissive enough to no longer be a threat, we begin to walk back. To my surprise, we run into the rest of the Lizardmen, led on by our allies. One is severly wounded, but they are all alive and willing to work with us for the time being. Time to head back to town! When we get there, the first thing I get are materials for my bow and arrows. I decided to craft a short bow, with sheaf arrows in order to be able to piece armor better. When we were up against those Orcs, I couldn't help but notice these hunting arrows don't quite cut it. This bow will be something special, so I ask Torvald to help me find the local smith and turn those gold trinkets I found into a handle for my new bow. We have at least a full day to spend in Portlandio, and I will make the best of it.I belong in nature, but there's nothing like a big town to do business. I will not go into any details, as some tricks of the trade are better kept secret, but rest assured I spent my time there well, preparing for my next move.

After defeating Sanabel and his minions. we took all the junk and tossed them into a outside in the front lawn. with Kaz's sensitive nose the party found some who were looking for the . The party quickly took care of the orcs and noticed that there were six lizard men chasing after the Bullywug from the woods down the hill. The lizard men were here to collect the that was supplying them with and Sandoval said we would talk them to where they were if the Lizard men told us more about Vessik and his involvement with Sanabel and the pirates. After the battle with the Lizard men Kryikh hands Kaz a pearl and tells him it is a pearl that grants the wearer a bonus to his wisdom, and Kaz accepts it most appreciatively and says thanks in return.

your comparisons always just show the real world is more messed up than D&D Hans I was wondering if you remember what was said that you responded with that comment above? I'm trying to remember what Hans was referring to when you typed "your comparisons always just show the real world is more messed up than D&D", if anyone remembers? I'm not entirely sure Gold. I think we were talking about the humanoids living in the ocean and you compared it with something from modern society, but somehow whenever you make such a comparison I just notice how weird modern society is, and the D&D-side of the comparison seems more normal :) By the way I really enjoyed reading all the posts and looking at the pictures. It was hard to find me in the forest picture, even though you'd think I'd know where I had hidden! I suppose I just look like a tree. Gold, we need to start recording the voice chat because it seems like almost every session there's some quote from there we forget. I bet it would be fun to record all the sessions and after a year of playing, mix together a track of some of the best moments on Skype. Put some nice illustrations with it to back it up. Now I don't know how to do any of this but I bet the end result would be hilarious.

KRYIKH'S JOURNAL FOR 12 MAY SESSION Would have written more for this one, but trying to get back story done too this week … So much has happened in the last few days, but I haven't had time to write it all down yet. By far the most important thing to happen, though, is that both Airen and I have successfully summoned familiar companions. Having completed our other tasks in town, Airen and I both went outside town to try to find familiars. We went out to the forest where we first met, with Jade (I wonder where she is now …) Airen travelled on, back into the swamplands. I stayed in the forest. I collected leaves and berries from various trees and bushes. I smeared my feathers with berry juice, then burned the leaves in a small brazier I had brought with me. I then threw in all my treasure—I had ground up all my gold and gems in town before I left. Sandoval also proved again what a good friend he is, when he donated some of his own gems to aid with the ritual. I buried the residue from the brazier under an ash tree. Then I cast alteration magic on myself, which allowed me to fly for a while. I flew around the forest several times, before perching myself back in the same tree. And then I waited. And waited. At dusk on that first day a beautiful mule deer wandered into the clearing below the tree, and looked up at me. But it soon wandered off. And so I continued to wait, all night and all the next day. And nothing came. And then, at dusk on the second day, she flew straight across the glade to me. A beautiful owl. I cast my alteration spell again and we flew together. Then, when I had to land, she continued to fly, but I was still with her. I could feel the wind in her feathers, hear all the creatures of the forest through her ears, and see through her eyes—as bright as any day, it seemed, even though by then it was midnight.

Translation: Damn crazy mages! - Summoned creatures - Familiars - Performed ritual - Wasted good wealth! Frog called forth - Small dragonling answered - Has fairy wings - Harmless trickster - Still must watch for mischief Bird attracted great owl - Fitting creature - Two birds - Flocked together (laughs) - Wonders - What can it do? Destroyed weapons - Dumped in well - Elves - Druid - Wandered off into forest - Heard voices - Very close Orcs! - Foul - Evil creatures - Hated enemy - Moved to ambush - Overheard - Searching for something - Or someone Surprise complete! - Charged forward with Bull - Two slain outright - Elves attack - Arrows rain down - Orcs break Killed another - Bull wrestles last - Subdues - Interrogated - Creature knows little - Bull lets it go free! - Bloody beastman! Orc runs - Elf shoots down - Damn good shot - No love lost - Only good orc is dead one! By Moridan! - Now we got lizards! (sighs) ... Torvald's writing seems to have suddenly stopped mid sentence.

Today was a restful day. I spent the morning catching up with Mave who let me know of some lizardmen who seemed to be trying to buy weapons + potions in bulk. My guess is that since we threw the last shipment down the lizardmen are looking for alternate sources to supply their cause. I am itching to get back out to that boat as well as to pay Vessik a visit - it feels like they are prepping for some sort of war. As much as I would love to rush in to investigate these things I know this trip in to town is necessary for us to prepare - who knows what we might encounter. After visiting the potion shop I ran back in to Sandoval who brought me to meet some gentlemen. It seems he is trying to convince them to give us a reward for dispatching the pirates. I have no interest in the reward - I am only interested in unraveling this plot which could potentially be harmful to the bullywugs or Portlandia - although I wouldn't say no if they offered it. They seemed to agree on paying us a reward if we were to bring them the ship or large caches of goods - they were particularly interested in Fisher, but I have no interest in selling him. Upon agreeing to terms I headed in to the port to take a swim. I was beginning to become a bit dehydrated so it was extra refreshing. After my swim I sat at the edge of the docks reading Tenser's book on herbalism as I waited for the others to finish their business in town.

XP for last week (May 12) Coming Soon... DM is editing this. Players CHECK BACK HERE LATER All you guys' journals from last week are really cool, even the shortened ones. Really fun to read your write-ups. Window is open for Journals of May 19 session roleplaying in the town of Portlandio Even though Chris Airen beat me to the posting and already posted his for the new week :) I will respond later in the thread for that one above! The digital illustrations though.. hahaha!

While we were town getting supplies and information. Kaz went on his own to look at some locations to building a church/ garrison for Lathendar across the bay from the Greek church to fortifying the inlet to the town from wrong doers. After a while waiting for some attention in the Business Administrative building in town, Kaz was getting heated up and chose to leave pissed off. Proceeding to the Greek church to ask the same idea if they would like that idea. while there he discussed a trade off for a donation and they agreed to it. What Kaz gave them was a Pearl of wisdom and what they did in return was make a Holy symbol out of Rose quartz, a bigger than normal Stole of protection and a Magical Flail. After acquiring the new equipment and donating the Pirate's Coagulation powder to the two temples, Kaz passes on 3 belt pouches of the powder to Kryikh, Airen and Sandoval. offering for into and and BELT POUCHES 1. 2. 3. 4. Right click on the style you like and save it for your Coagulation powder Kryikh, Airen and Sandoval

KRYIKH'S JOURNAL: Portlandio Kryikh has been very busy in town, so this week’s journal is a bit scrappy, but count yourselves lucky that you can read it at all. This is what his journal actually looks like: Kenku script written on strips of treated wood or bark : My friends and I have spent a couple of days in town, preparing to take on the smugglers. I visited my friend Archaj, the professor of transmutations at the magical college in town. He has agreed to keep the philosopher’s egg safe for me. We placed it in a trapped chest, wizard locked it, and buried it under the floorboards in his study. I have not told him that I also have the black and white residues—for his own safety. I spent time with Jaxon and the other clerics of Zeus and Poseidon at the Temple. Kaz gave me a pouch of coagulation powder, which no doubt will come in very useful if I keep getting into hand to hand combat. I have also been thinking a lot about the airbenders. In the cove under the mansion we found what looked like the tracks of a kenku and an airbender taking off. The airbender may have been the owner’s sister. I remember what I overheard the Gray Claw masters discussing back in Alta—some kind of alliance between them and the airbenders. So, evidence of airbenders here is both intriguing—because I want to know more about this method of flying—and disquieting, because of their links to the Kenku airmasters. I have been mercifully free from my past here. I hope that is not about to change.

Translation: Went back to town - Elf requested help - Wanted golden handle - Rented smithy - Smelted gold into bars Elf worked bellows - Pitiful effort! - Work interrupted by gnome - Wormy fellow - Distraction from work Elf talks with gnome - Not interested - Feels good to labor - Almost as good as killing orcs - Spent wealth Bought sturdy dwarf plate mail - Enchanted battleaxe (Torvald usually enjoys the company of gnomes. This one however was too shady & talkative for his like. Besides any true gnome should know to never interrupt a dwarf working. It felt good laboring around the crucible; smelting gold into ingots. Maybe the blacksmith could use a hand between adventures?)

I am so far behind on responding to Journals! Sorry about this. Two things have conspired together, Real Life has been busy, and Game Prep has been taking my time. In Real Life I'm quite busy this week and especially next week (first week of June) with work and travels. In the game, since you guys are moving to the next phases of adventures (out of town, out of the old mansion), now I'm preparing a lot of new Maps, pages, NPC's, monsters, treasure, and magic items.... and of course the associated Pictures and Sound Effects for our multimedia style game. The effect of the late Journal XP is probably: Several PC's might jump up a level when I issue the XP for Journals May 12 & May 19 together later. XP for last week (May 19) Coming Soon... DM is editing this. Players CHECK BACK HERE LATER All you guys' journals from last week are great! I read every journal and enjoyed them all. My goal is to TYPE responses but if I don't get around to typing direct replies, at least be assured that your changes and actions from the Journals are taken into account for the world. The Homebrew World will respond in-game. Window is about to close for May 19 journals, open for Journals of May 26 session advancing by rowboat to investigate the pirate ship that's called "The Sea Ghost" New information - hint, above! ("The Sea Ghost"). I will explain more in-game today. Kaz found out some info from Black Sails Trading Company. Sandoval found out some info from Southern Seas Trading Company. Torvald made some new allies in the Blacksmith shop. Kryikh keeps discovering more & more from the books he is reading, from the Mansion. Airen is preparing some cool spells and has already made an illustration for today's game plan. You will see. Beartram the druid spent the past week wandering in the High Copse (forest North side of Portlandio), in bear form. When he returns to the party he seems slightly dazed and barely remembers how to revert to Human form. He changes back into a human and his speech sounds mostly like growling for the next few days.

Warning: Another Long Ass Post - (I wanted to be fairly detailed so that Hans / Kryikh could see what they missed) After preparing ourselves in town we headed down to the beach. While there we came across some priests of Poseidon who were trying to ward off sharks as there have been multiple attacks recently. Disturbing thought considering that we are about to venture off in to the water – good thing I have made a new companion in Fisher. Kaz then stumbled upon a corpse of a half shark half man. I have never seen one before, but Fisher seems to believe that they are evil and spend their time trying to corrupt the balance of the ocean – something to be cautious about and perhaps revisit later. Sandoval pulled out several of the shark teeth, believing that they could be fashioned in to some lethal arrows, and then Kaz threw the body back in to the ocean. There were a few people visiting the beach, and having just heard of the shark attacks I warned them of the danger before heading off to prepare. Once we discussed our plan we decided to depart a little before midnight. Torvald went back to town to recruit the blacksmith’s son/daughter to assist us as the rest of us prepared. Upon returning to the beach the people that were playing in the water before we left were huddled around the corpse of one of their friends. She was bitten by a shark and less than a 1/3 of her remained lying in front of us. I suggested that they put up signs to warn others to prevent the same from happening. One of them seemed to be receptive, but the others were intimidated because I was a bullywug – I suppose they have had encounters or heard stories of my more troublesome kin. I didn’t see a point to continue any further and turned towards the boat. As we were about to depart the priests of Poseidon blessed us and our boat. Mitel and Fergul went off to the mansion where they would signal the ship around 2am – hopefully drawing out some of the pirates from “the ghost ship.” During this time we rowed out to sea under the veil of the night sky attempting to stealthily board the ship. Kryikh’s familiar proved useful in scouting the deck which allowed us to determine that the pirates did in fact react to the signal – sending out a crew of 8 pirates with some cargo towards the shore. Several miles out I dove in to the water and speared a fish in order to release blood in to the ocean. I was attempting to lure in predatory ocean creatures that Fisher would be able to command to assist us in our assault on the boat. I suppose I should have asked Fisher if it was within his capabilities before I attempted such a crazy idea – but after realizing what I was doing he explained to me that even though he can control sea creatures within 120’ once we left the water the control would be broken. My bright idea ended up being… not so bright as I noticed the shadow of what seemed to be a large shark approaching. I immediately swam back to the boat apologizing to the others explaining to them that I attracted some sharks and telling them to avoid the water. As we approached closer to the ship Kryikh took flight – it seems that he was able to unearth the knowledge needed to repair himself from the books in the library, although not to his full prior capabilities – and casted a magical sleep upon the scout in the bird’s nest. This allowed us to approach the ship. I slid in to the water and conjured up a ladder made of cloud. As we ascended upon the deck the pirates did not notice us as they were looking towards the shore. We coordinated our attacks using hand signals and quickly disposed of the pirates on deck without making too much noise. During this time Rhubarb followed Kryikh’s familiar to the mast of the ship where he tied the boot laces of the pirate together and dropped his bow in to the ocean. Once the pirates on the deck were taken care of Sandoval skillfully maneuvered up the mast and took the life of the pirate in the bird’s nest so that he wouldn’t be able to “sound the alarm.” Worried that more pirates might have heard us - I barged in to the closest room, and signaled the others to follow. Kryikh disagreed – believing we should go through a different set of doors, but seeing as how I had already opened the door I wanted to clear it out. The first two sets of doors simply led to the boat’s kitchen and store room. I noticed the sausages hanging, and seeing as how I hadn’t eaten all day I grabbed one to snack on while I loaded some rope in to my pack. As we opened the third door we encountered what seemed to be the sleeping quarters of a group of lizardmen. Our presence alone did not awake them – but there seemed to be something nested on the wall that awoke them. Trying to avoid another battle and conserve some spells I tried another bright… yet not so bright idea. I pretended that I was sent in to the room to grab them – it was time to take the cargo to shore and they were late! Some of the lizardmen seemed to be receptive, but a few of the others did not like receiving orders from a bullywug. After my attempt to intimidate him in to complying failed I casted mirror image – completely filling this already cramped / crowded room surrounding the hostile lizardman in an attempt to further intimidate him in to compliance. This obviously did not work as he honed in on the true me and slashed me pretty good. Sandoval then attempted to convince them to go along with my plan throwing around Vessik’s name, but again the few lizardmen that were hostile would not back down. We ended up killing the 3 – and had a conversation with the other two. During our conversation with the remaining two lizardman we uncovered that the reason the lizardmen were attempting to acquire such a mass quantity of weapons was to defend their people. Apparently the sharkmen of the deep have been plotting to invade inland which would be bad news for everyone. I then asked why they did not just go through the proper channels to bring in the weapons through the port instead of smuggling them in with these pirates. The sissy lizardman, an ambassador for his people, stated that they had tried to purchase the weapons in town, but were denied so they went through an alternate route to supply their people. I sensed that their intentions were true and completely believed them. We came to an agreement that they would assist us in taking over this ship – at which point we would bring it in through the harbor / decide what to do regarding the weapon cache. They both agreed. We now are headed back towards the deck to rejoin Kryikh and the others – while Torvald keeps a close eye on the two lizardmen.

I was really tempted to scale the PC's/NPC's down in the picture above.... but Gold said it was cramped..... hopes this helps to illustrate that =P

Thanks for that journal Chris, it was entertaining and helpful to catch up. Your Photoshop skills are improving as well :-)

Yes, Chris, thanks for the detailed account, really useful. Glad you found something interesting at that end of the ship ; ) KRYIKH'S JOURNAL -- MAY 26 SESSION [With added seafaring vocab!] We rowed out in the night to the Sea Ghost to take on the pirate/smugglers. Airen summoned sharks. First I sent Strix to scout the ship, then I was able to take off and fly round it myself -- my studies of the books found in the mansion have helped me to heal my wing enough to fly for a short time. I sprinkled sand on the lookout's head and cast a sleep charm which knocked him out -- Rhubarn dropped his bow in the water, adn later Sandoval climbed to the crow's nest and finished him off. Meanwhile a battle had started on the ship's desk. I landed on the poop deck and joined in. A pirate seemed to think I was there to talk to the Captain and offered to go and get him. I knocked her out. Perhaps I should have let her bring him but I was worried he would bring reinforcements. I'm intrigued as to why she thought I was an accomplice -- there must be Kenku working with these people. This would fit with the marks we found in the sand in the smuggler's cove. After we dispatched the pirates, Airen and most of the others explored the rooms to the fore of the ship. I was anxious to go aft and find the captain, but it seems they found some valuable information and allies. It seems things are more complicated than we thought.

Translation: Why did I come? - Water everywhere - No place for a dwarf! Give me solid earth - Sturdy rock - Deep caverns - Not deep ocean Churning tides - Rolling stomach - Dizzy head - Sickness Why did I come? - Fools hope of loot? - Loyalty to friends? Thankful - Pirate ship ahead Safer than this small boat - Fight ahead - Should calm nerves Dear gods - Creatures below - Huge fish - Gigantic maws filled with teeth Sharks! - Why did it have to be sharks... (Torvald has fought many creatures. Orcs, goblins, even Ogres and Trolls. Nothing has unnerved him this much as the trek across the ocean. Even a boat filled with pirates and the unknown is more reassuring. Spurred by hopes of loot, he desires to get in and out quickly; getting back to dry land. The huge sharks below and tales from the lizardmen of "Sharkmen" rising from the deep make it even worse...)

Side note: Oceans hold great mystery for dwarves. It is something few experience; let alone cross. Being the unknown, there exists all manner of tall tales. Stories usually designed to entertain or frighten the youngsters. Occasionally a traveler or merchant will speak of vast wealth lost below the waves; waiting to be claimed. Older dwarves scoff at this notion; why go into the depths when the earth holds the same... Plus the clanhold has more pressing concerns. Sometimes an inquisitive gnome, working within, may daydream a way to ply the watery depths. However, no records exist of one openly divulging such methods. Such a boon would be... Revolutionary! As a child, Torvald loved to hear the storytellers. You can be sure he heard many tales about the ocean... The creatures & wealth that reside within. Myth and fantasy can be powerful things when facing the unknown.

Working on Past Journals XP awards for what was overdue PLUS the latest week Journals (May 26). +800 XP (Kaz Journals of May 12 after defeating Sanabel and got a pearl, and May 19 session in town upgrading rose quartz into holy symbol and got Flail) +1660 XP (Torvald back journals - May 12th Familiar summoning; 16th Time in town; 26th Pirate ship assault) MORE TO COME, WORKING ON THIS. DM Gold says "Working with the Players to get you guys writing up your own Journal XP lines, and get approval from the DM, to help with the bookkeeping on this aspect of the gameplay." Still Owe Journal XP To: Kryikh Sandoval Beartram Airen THERE IS A NEW THREAD FOR JUNE JOURNALS Opening window for June 2 session journals in this other thread: LINK <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/2033466/post-jou" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/2033466/post-jou</a>...

Hey guys - I want to apologize for missing last session with no warning. I was up almost 2 days straight working long hours for this re-model. I actually got home early today and was on 1 hour before game time, but passed out. I don't even remember going from my computer to my bed, but apparently I did. Feel terrible =( Again.... Sorry =/ I look forward to seeing what happened in your journals.

That's okay Chris. Thanks for letting us know. We look forward to playing again next week, with you. Gray is tentative for next week, may have to miss. See also, new Scheduling thread is posted. Also, new Journals thread is posted for June Journal entries.

I will get everyone squared-away on Journal XP, and make sure everyone is properly Leveled Up, at the start of next session (June 9). We will instruct and practice with everyone, to do as SolidHybrid did at the end of this recent session, working with the DM to write your own Journal XP line and get the XP amount and verbiage approved from the DM before adding to your Character Edit Bio.

Catching up past Journal XP. +420 XP (Sandoval May 12 Journal about finding Rosewood bow materials, fighting Orcs, tricking Lizardmen, going to Portlandio) +500 XP (Airen for May 26 Journal with 3 custom digital pictures: Ship assault, "crows nest", and "cabin party) +500 XP (Airen for May 19 Journal with 2 custom digital pictures: Mave's Potion Shop and the "portly swim") More to come +420 XP (Kryikh Journal of May 12, summoned Strix the owl familiar) +420 XP (Krikyh Journal of May 19, about downtime in town, stored Philosopher's Egg with Archaj at the magic school) +420 XP (Kryikh Journal of May 26, party sneak attack on Sea Ghost, cast sleep on lookout, brawl on deck ) The ones for Kryikh are also repeated in the June thread.