Notes & Discussion

Hey everyone! I'm stickying this thread so that you guys have a place to leave notes, remind yourselves of potential adventure hooks, and discuss the general direction of the party and things your characters would like to do next. 

Naeris will look up Cragmaw(sp?) Castle at the shrine of luck whenever she gets the time. (Also need to look up if Shield and/or Mage Armor are on warlock spell List - Edit: they are not. *sad face*. Guess Naeris will be looking into ways to work around that, then.)

Shavix said: Naeris will look up Cragmaw(sp?) Castle at the shrine of luck whenever she gets the time. (Also need to look up if Shield and/or Mage Armor are on warlock spell List - Edit: they are not. *sad face*. Guess Naeris will be looking into ways to work around that, then.) Luckily, you have Mage Armor at-will now (man, warlocks are so freakin' awesome). Browse your spell list and see if there are any defensive-ish warlock spells you'd like to infuse into the staff and let me know -- we might find a way to replace those! ;)

Well, Naeris' Armor of Shadows only works on herself. Unless you mean the incantation allows her to use mage armor as normal with the staff? (I wholeheartedly agree, warlocks are friggin' awesome ;D) Shield would have been so damned nice! But I don't really want to waste a whole level just to get access to it through the staff. As for warlock defensive-ish spells, there's Armor of Agathys and Protection from Evil and Good. I guess with a bit of imagination Charm Person could fit in as well? It'd certainly be a funny addition considering the party's history with the staff's previous owner. :P But Naeris doesn't actually know any of those spells, so how would she go about infusing the staff with them?

Shavix said: Well, Naeris' Armor of Shadows only works on herself. Unless you mean the incantation allows her to use mage armor as normal with the staff? (I wholeheartedly agree, warlocks are friggin' awesome ;D) Shield would have been so damned nice! But I don't really want to waste a whole level just to get access to it through the staff. As for warlock defensive-ish spells, there's Armor of Agathys and Protection from Evil and Good. I guess with a bit of imagination Charm Person could fit in as well? It'd certainly be a funny addition considering the party's history with the staff's previous owner. :P But Naeris doesn't actually know any of those spells, so how would she go about infusing the staff with them? Good question. You'll have to keep an eye open for opportunities that may arise. For now, though, a staff that gives you +1 AC is nothing to sneeze at!

Ummm okey. I thought we were playing today. (the schedule sayed "sunday"). I gather that it was normal time instead?

elias n. said: Ummm okey. I thought we were playing today. (the schedule sayed "sunday"). I gather that it was normal time instead? It was, Elias. I'm sorry for the confusion; I thought I'd updated the "next game" schedule. We missed you! :( But you should have a total of 975 experience now (right, guys?) and should be raising to level 3. Next game (and all games, unless we decide otherwise) will be on Saturday at noon.

elias n. said: Ummm okey. I thought we were playing today. (the schedule sayed "sunday"). I gather that it was normal time instead? Man, I am sorry you missed out because of such a misunderstanding. Chuck forgot to update the game schedule, so it was showing Sunday last week. The day Chuck had to cancel. The time and day of our session was decided in the "Sunday Session Canceled" thread. I guess it was mostly just assumed we'd return to our "usual time", so there wasn't really that big of a discussion about it. Fuzzus said: Good question. You'll have to keep an eye open for opportunities that may arise. For now, though, a staff that gives you +1 AC is nothing to sneeze at! Very true. I like the rate of Naeris' AC in this game. It's gone up every time she's gained a level! xD But she's definitely going to spend some time trying to figure out ways to exploit the staff's other properties as well. Oh, yeah and I assume she can use the glass staff as arcane focus the way she's used her old staff? 

Shavix said: Oh, yeah and I assume she can use the glass staff as arcane focus the way she's used her old staff?  Yes, you can. Though does your pact item become your arcane focus, or are the two things different? Speaking of your pact item, how did Naeris come by her Book of Shadows, and what does it look like?

Way I understand it from the PHB, the Book of Shadows simply has to be on her person for her to cast the cantrips and it doesn't say anything about it serving as an arcane focus at all. I'd guess the two things would be different. Sort of like a wizard's spell book? And that is a very good question. Humm... I don't suppose she could just have woken up from a particularly unpleasant sleep and found the book serving as her pillow, having mysteriously appeared some time during her sleep? The Book of Shadows would then look like a tattered, old book bound in black leather with what looks suspiciously like the skin of a distorted face adorning the back cover. The pages inside appear to be pieces of parchment of varying age and size loosely stitched together and the book is tied closed with a leather cord that looks like a pair of dried, black, boneless fingers stitched together with a nail still attached on each end of the cord. Some details of it appear a little bit fuzzy, as if viewing a distant memory or a dream.

Shavix said: I don't suppose she could just have woken up from a particularly unpleasant sleep and found the book serving as her pillow, having mysteriously appeared some time during her sleep? I actually think that is wonderfully in tune with her patron and sounds just like something I'd have suggested. The description is horrifying and alien -- nice work. :)

Shavix said: Way I understand it from the PHB, the Book of Shadows simply has to be on her person for her to cast the cantrips and it doesn't say anything about it serving as an arcane focus at all. I'd guess the two things would be different. Sort of like a wizard's spell book? And that is a very good question. Humm... I don't suppose she could just have woken up from a particularly unpleasant sleep and found the book serving as her pillow, having mysteriously appeared some time during her sleep? The Book of Shadows would then look like a tattered, old book bound in black leather with what looks suspiciously like the skin of a distorted face adorning the back cover. The pages inside appear to be pieces of parchment of varying age and size loosely stitched together and the book is tied closed with a leather cord that looks like a pair of dried, black, boneless fingers stitched together with a nail still attached on each end of the cord. Some details of it appear a little bit fuzzy, as if viewing a distant memory or a dream. Something like this?

Yeh, something like that. But the face on Naeris' book is a tad less chunky and obvious. Maybe a bit more like this, just without the teeth at the bottom:

So I think it might be good to kind of sort out what are characters are doing in town (which I think Aviana had a great way of starting us off with that and doing some research for finding Cragmaw's Castle), and then we can also figure out what our next plan is together and hopefully make the best use of the time we have on Saturdays. So I was going to say Raynor would be speaking with Mirna regarding Thundertree to hopefully get any and all information that he can regarding the town and source of the Undead that overran it.  After that he would go around town trying to get the same information as well as any additional information regarding the first cave that we all went to (and almost died in), as well as any helpful information about the creatures that occupy it. In regards to what we do next, personally I think we should go clear our that first cave, after speaking with the shop keeper, she would be able to better supply us, and we would be able to get better equipment if we went ahead and cleared out that area.  Plus it would allow the village to be able to protect and provide for themselves much better against any future threats. I would also love to go to Thundertree to clear out the Undead and give the people back there town, to give us multiple towns and locations that can provide support in the the upcoming battles.  But that's another situation to worry about later. Either way I think we should take care of at least the first cave if not the first cave and Thundertree before going toward Cragmaw's castle, because from the sound of how things are ramping up, Cragmaw's Castle is going to be one hell of a battle, and taking care of any other scenarios beforehand would only make us better prepared with Weapons, Equipment, Skills, and Experience. Just what I think personally, I would love other input as well as what other characters might be up to, and side quests they may like to go on :)

Actually now that I see the world map that Chuck awesomely popped up in the game with, it might be best to save Thundertree for after Cragmaw just because of the location, and it might not be the best path to take to try to backtrack to Cragmaw later.  But still I think it might be best to clear out that first cave before moving forward to Cragmaw for the same reasons as before.

RJ M. said: Actually now that I see the world map that Chuck awesomely popped up in the game with, it might be best to save Thundertree for after Cragmaw just because of the location, and it might not be the best path to take to try to backtrack to Cragmaw later.  But still I think it might be best to clear out that first cave before moving forward to Cragmaw for the same reasons as before. Note that the Cragmaw Hideout is the first cave y'all found, the one where you rescued Sildar. Cragmaw Castle has not been revealed yet, because Naeris hasn't yet actually done her research in town. :)

Oh... well then pretend my last message doesn't exist lol... because then Cragmaws hideout (aka the first cave) works out perfectly to be on the way to Thundertree  😊

I'd say we clear the cave, resupply in town, then head to the castle and leave the undead town for later. Even if we cleared it fast, it would take a while for people to find their way back and rebuild the ruined town and what not, so it wouldn't be much use to us right away. And who's to say what that spider would get up to while we dilly-dally. He's got our employer and we won't likely get our extra pay if that guy winds up dead before we can get to him. Oh yeah, I keep forgetting. In addition to looking up Cragmaw castle, Naeris will want to look up any info she can about that forge of spells or whatever it was called that got lost in the mines and that the dwarven brothers were looking for. If the spider wants it that bad, it's gotta be something seriously sweet and the more we know about, the better.

Zaradur will visit the tavern Pip's father owns to inform them know the Redbrand have been dealt, he will also go speak to the mayor that we taken care of them too and see if he has any valuable information about Cragmaw castle or the Black Spider.    The barbarian likes to help too :) haha He will also to visit taverns, inns, brothels, any social businesses and speak to the owners about they heard their customers speak about anything to do with Cragmaw castle and the Black Spider or anyone that might know about that kind of information, like an info broker or an adventurer. :p 

Wait I take that back, Zaradur isn't very good being that social since he was pretty much an outcast so instead of doing all that Zaradur will kust pitch the idea to the group and see if anyone is willing to go and do the speaking while Zaradur is in the back like a bodyguard! Haha

Mystery box said: Wait I take that back, Zaradur isn't very good being that social since he was pretty much an outcast so instead of doing all that Zaradur will kust pitch the idea to the group and see if anyone is willing to go and do the speaking while Zaradur is in the back like a bodyguard! Haha I was gonna say, just remember that Zaradur isn't as scary as he thinks he is. :D FYI, I'm taking note of the actions that everyone is doing in downtime and will call for any necessary rolls and whatnot at the very beginning of (or slightly before, if we're all there) next session.

Elvalur can go with Zaradur and do the talking, after he restocks his arrows.

Fuzzus said: Mystery box said: Wait I take that back, Zaradur isn't very good being that social since he was pretty much an outcast so instead of doing all that Zaradur will kust pitch the idea to the group and see if anyone is willing to go and do the speaking while Zaradur is in the back like a bodyguard! Haha I was gonna say, just remember that Zaradur isn't as scary as he thinks he is. :D FYI, I'm taking note of the actions that everyone is doing in downtime and will call for any necessary rolls and whatnot at the very beginning of (or slightly before, if we're all there) next session. He likes to think he is! 

Shavix said: I'd say we clear the cave, resupply in town, then head to the castle and leave the undead town for later. Even if we cleared it fast, it would take a while for people to find their way back and rebuild the ruined town and what not, so it wouldn't be much use to us right away. And who's to say what that spider would get up to while we dilly-dally. He's got our employer and we won't likely get our extra pay if that guy winds up dead before we can get to him. Oh yeah, I keep forgetting. In addition to looking up Cragmaw castle, Naeris will want to look up any info she can about that forge of spells or whatever it was called that got lost in the mines and that the dwarven brothers were looking for. If the spider wants it that bad, it's gotta be something seriously sweet and the more we know about, the better. Solid point Aviana, I think this sounds like the best plan, unless we have a very important/impending need to clear out Thundertree first, we shouldn't wait on going for Cragmaw's Castle. Clearing out the cave, stopping back in town, and then going for Cragmaw's Castle sounds like the best plan, anyone else want to add anything? Also, I'm hoping that since the cave is "Cragmaw's Hideout" it will give some solid information on Cragmaw's Castle :)

Once in back in town, Sigrun is going to split off from the group for a while. She will commune at the Shrine of Luck, and then slip off to somewhere that has flowers? Maybe a clearing in the nearby forest with wild flowers or just really pretty nature. She needs some time alone to work through her feelings at seeing a mother fear for her children (which reminds her of when she lost her son) and to pray to Sune (so she can learn her leveled up spells/abilities). 

Oh yeah, just remembered Naeris actually got two magic scrolls Zaradur took from Iarno's corpse. She'd wanna take a look at those sometime.

Just got word that I might have to work a little bit Saturday morning, but should hopefully still be done before we start, just in case I run behind at all, but if it comes to that I may try to multitask since it would be from home so just kind of jumping between google hangout and my skype office call until it's all set lol.

Dammit, RJ! I'm tired of your shenanigans -- you're off the team! >< That's fine! If you pop on a few minutes before starting time and let us know how much longer you expect to be, we can wait if it's not too long. Doubt it'll be a problem. :)

Yeah my company is doing a big update to their website and they want to do it Saturday morning so if there's any issues, hopefully the amount of traffic to the site won't make things worse (btw I'm a web engineer in the non-DnD world), but most of it should be fairly on autopilot, and I'm mostly online there for support.  So even if it does run a bit over into our time, I should be able to play while keeping a semi-attentive eye on things for work, but if I don't talk for a minute it's probably because I'm responding to someone talking to me for work, but really hoping to have my full undivided attention on our session.

Just for Helm :) 

Saving that one for my meme collection. :D

This message has been approved by Helm 

I'm going to be a few minutes late due to work

Anyone remember our 2nd session? I'm having trouble recalling the order of events, especially while we were in town. And I can't remember where 2nd session ended and 3rd session started.

General overview I know we got to Phandalen, met with the people at the tavern/inn, asked around.  I believe Elvalur and I followed someone we thought might be sneaky, only to find them doing nothing important.  Sigrun went to the shrine in town and talked with that sister, while Raynor and some others went to the buy supplies from the coster.  Then the Redbrands attacked in the town square, and we took them all out, got some info from people about the Redbrands.  Tried to coordinate an attack on a tavern where the Redbrands were apparently hanging out, only to find it empty except for the tavern owner.  Got more info and made our way towards that one farm, and the little boy showed us the back way into the Redbrands hideout, Sigrun got a little reminiscent of Osol when being around the child, Raynor gave him an arrow since he aspired to be an adventurer, and Zaradur followed suit by giving him a big ass spear to carry back.  We all attacked that one eyed creature once in the cave, until Naeris spoke with it and realized it wasn't a danger to us, convincing all of us to stop attacking, and it gave us more info on the caves.  We first cleared out the few Redbrands in the east room, after Sigrun and Helm managed to use their background in Dwarven Stonecutting to find the hidden door.  Helm almost drowned trying to retrieve his axes from the water, Zaradur and Helm then intimidated the last Redbrand to give us more info on the enemies within the cave. That ended session 2 I believe, right before we had to take on the bug bears and stuff in session 3. I may be forgetting some bits, and some of the finer details, but I think that was the broad overview of what happened.  I think I might be forgetting some bits with Zaradur and Naeris, but not sure.  Also not sure if that was the session that Sigrun made the Shrine to Sune.

Thanks for the overview, RJ! :D I remember Sigrun wasn't with the rest when they turned in the supplies, 'cause I remember Raynor getting her share for the pay for her. I just can't remember if that was when she went to investigate the shrine, but then I couldn't make it fit with the Redbrands attacking her there with everything else. So, we all went to the tavern/inn? And was that when Pip told us about his friend or was that later? Sigrun didn't make the shrine until after we cleared out the Redbrands' hideout. 'Cause the carnelians she used were from the treasure Iarno/Glass-staff had hoarded.

Shavix said: Thanks for the overview, RJ! :D I remember Sigrun wasn't with the rest when they turned in the supplies, 'cause I remember Raynor getting her share for the pay for her. I just can't remember if that was when she went to investigate the shrine, but then I couldn't make it fit with the Redbrands attacking her there with everything else. So, we all went to the tavern/inn? And was that when Pip told us about his friend or was that later? Sigrun didn't make the shrine until after we cleared out the Redbrands' hideout. 'Cause the carnelians she used were from the treasure Iarno/Glass-staff had hoarded. I'm pretty sure Sigrun was at the Shrine, the Redbrands confronted her, and we heard it from inside the coster, but I can't remember if anyone else was with her at the time. I believe that's were pip let us know everything And yup, that makes a ton of sense, I forgot about those carnelians.

Shavix said: Anyone remember our 2nd session? I'm having trouble recalling the order of events, especially while we were in town. And I can't remember where 2nd session ended and 3rd session started. Check out "Session 2 follow-up" I listed some events that I remember.

Mystery box said: Shavix said: Anyone remember our 2nd session? I'm having trouble recalling the order of events, especially while we were in town. And I can't remember where 2nd session ended and 3rd session started. Check out "Session 2 follow-up" I listed some events that I remember. I did. It's been very helpful, but it didn't help me much with the actual order in which things happened.

I'm pretty sure Sigrun was at the Shrine, the Redbrands confronted her, and we heard it from inside the coster, but I can't remember if anyone else was with her at the time. Yep! She was as the Shrine of Luck, spoke with the sister, and that's when some Redbrands came along. 

Man, you guys remember things far better than I do -- but then, I think I'm probably the old man of the group. So, so old. :)  Aviana, thanks again for doing this; it's really awesome! I'm going to review your posts and see if there's any DM asides I want to add, but I'm definitely going to post them to the AP thread.

Fuzzus said: Man, you guys remember things far better than I do -- but then, I think I'm probably the old man of the group. So, so old. :)  Aviana, thanks again for doing this; it's really awesome! I'm going to review your posts and see if there's any DM asides I want to add, but I'm definitely going to post them to the AP thread. Awesome! :D

Hey everyone. I was writing some more for the diary, but I'm unsure if we spent a day traveling from Neverwinter to Thundertree. Does anyone remember?

MatB said: Hey everyone. I was writing some more for the diary, but I'm unsure if we spent a day traveling from Neverwinter to Thundertree. Does anyone remember? Thundertree is about a day's travel from Neverwinter, so yeah -- you'd spend about a day traveling along the river.

Ok, thank you :)

I might be a few minutes late

Chuck, if I remember correctly, we got two magic scrolls off Iarno's body, but I never found out what the scrolls were. If you have the time, could you look it up or something?