RAWR!

Revised note above... I'm going to extend Season 2 and work through the Droaam Military atop FriendFell because that sounds too fun to skip. I know t's not really important to the players about seasons or not but as DM, I like to find solid breaks between phases of the campaign.  I think it helps reset the clock of game's pacing as a solid end and beginning for more sense of closure and accomplishment, and it's an opportunity for me to skip the clock ahead in game a bit or a lot to advance other untended storylines that when ripened can stand out as natural What's Next.  

Here ya go.. Wind Emu vs Black Poodle <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1507407636221106/videos/1" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/1507407636221106/videos/1</a>...

Hey Fil, two things: 1) I had completely forgotten my magic item. &nbsp;I want to make sure I understand the mechanics. &nbsp;My understanding was that it was some kind of staff that I could use to cast witch bolt as an action as normal, and as long as it hits it would continuously hit them with a witch bolt for the minute without me needing to take further actions and doesn't need my concentration. &nbsp;Is that correct? 2) Level 11 gives me access to the Word of Recall spell. &nbsp;In order for me to use that, I need to first "designate a sanctuary by casting this spell within a location, such as a temple , dedicated to or strongly linked to your deity." &nbsp;Is there anywhere currently that you think would fit that description? &nbsp;If not, is there somewhere I could cast the Hallow spell to get it to that point?

Mahewa T. said: 1) I had completely forgotten my magic item. &nbsp;I want to make sure I understand the mechanics. &nbsp;My understanding was that it was some kind of staff that I could use to cast witch bolt as an action as normal, and as long as it hits it would continuously hit them with a witch bolt for the minute without me needing to take further actions and doesn't need my concentration. &nbsp;Is that correct? 2) Level 11 gives me access to the Word of Recall spell. &nbsp;In order for me to use that, I need to first "designate a sanctuary by casting this spell within a location, such as a temple , dedicated to or strongly linked to your deity." &nbsp;Is there anywhere currently that you think would fit that description? &nbsp;If not, is there somewhere I could cast the Hallow spell to get it to that point? 1 - Lightning Rod of Pain = when triggered, this foot long metallic rod telescopes up to 10 feet in height.&nbsp; The rod can either be spiked into a surface prior to telescoping, or stabilizing feet can be extended at the base of the rod to stand on its own.&nbsp; when activating the Rod, designate a target within 30 feet.&nbsp; a bolt of lightning extends from the Rod to the target, dealing 1d10 lightning damage per round until the target leaves range.&nbsp; There is no duration or concentration necessary; the rod can effectively electrify the target forever. 2 - awesome... but no, there's no pre-established locations that would pass as a sanctuary.. yet. My recommendation would be to designate your sleek new ship as your sanctuary... but the necrodrive is decidedly UNhallow technology.&nbsp; If you bind an air elemental to the ship, that would give the ship itself enough "street cred" with Princess Chan to be a viable Hallow location, and establishing it as a sanctuary.&nbsp; Hint: you have stolen 2 books from the Bishop of Woe... One is a Record of Servitude that has a 150 year history of various Named Elementals and the timing of their service.&nbsp; The other is The Book of Servants that have a list of different Named Air and Water Elementals, as well as 3 different rituals.&nbsp; 1st ritual: Rites of Service - This is effectively a lowered DC Planar Binding spell ritual that affects air and water elementals 2nd ritual: Elemental Bondage - This ritual binds elementals to ships, structures, and items to imbue them with elemental sentience.&nbsp; 3rd ritual: Elemental Purging - This ritual exorcises possessing spirits from objects and people 1. Use the 1st ritual to summon and influence an air elemental to serve your cause 2. Use the 2nd ritual to bind the air elemental to the ship to replace the necrodrive 3. Cast Hallow to make the ship a sanctuary 4. word of recall hilarity ensues I grant free spell components of significant cost (ie the 1000g materials for hallow) on the first casting, and then you'll need to earn favor to get more resources for future casting. The rituals in the Book of Servants also have expensive material component requirements that you'll need to find or favor to get access for use This can amount to a fair side quest to secure resources to pull this all off... it's wednesday afternoon now in game before your long rest... you've got about 36 hours til Super Thursday begins tomorrow night.&nbsp; If you want to try prioritizing this before attacking the vamps... that can burn our next session.&nbsp;

so there's your fallback career Mahewa if this adventuring thing don't work out. traveling Air Cleric preacher doing tent revivals. ... this sunday at the county fairgrounds... can i get a hell yeah ..

lol a huge colored tent on an installed mast on the back of the spider If he does convert the ship he'll have to get rigging on the legs and lose the grappling ram or install masts for the elemental to pull on. interesting quandry.

Head's up... new recruitment thread up in the LFG forum <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/3102854/dnd5e-darksun-slash-eberron-slash-spelljammer-hybrid-campaign-sunday-6-30am-pst-11th-level-plus/?pageforid=3102854#post-3102854" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/3102854/dnd5e-darksun-slash-eberron-slash-spelljammer-hybrid-campaign-sunday-6-30am-pst-11th-level-plus/?pageforid=3102854#post-3102854</a>

Jason has jumped into the 4th seat... George and i went to college with Jason, so this is pretty awesome.

As people might have read, Gang and I acquired a squid ship. &nbsp;The main purpose of that acquisition is that it uses an air elemental rather than a necro drive, so I can cast hallow on the ship and then use word of recall. &nbsp;Word of recall will allow me to instantaneously teleport the party (or at least everyone within 5 feet of me) to the ship from anywhere we might be. &nbsp;But there are other benefits. &nbsp;"Celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead can’t enter the area, nor can such creatures charm, frighten, or possess creatures within it. Any creature charmed, frightened, or possessed by such a creature is no longer charmed, frightened, or possessed upon entering the area." &nbsp;So things like vampires can't get within 60 feet of the center of our ship and anyone under the thrall of a vampire brought on our ship will be cured without me needing to use a spell on them. Additionally, we can have one of the effects below. &nbsp;When it says affected creatures, I could make it apply to certain races or followers of leaders or deities (like Varias or the Devourer) but I don't think I can say it just applies to anyone hostile to us. &nbsp;Darkness, Daylight, or Silence could be useful if they could be turned on and off, but not so much to have on at all times. &nbsp;I don't feel like we use or get attacked with specific types of damage enough to make the energy effects all that great. &nbsp;I don't see much use in Everlasting Rest. &nbsp;Extradimensional Interference would prevent interplanar travel, which is something our enemies love to do. &nbsp;Courage or Fear could possibly be useful when someone tries to board us. &nbsp;Tongues could be useful if we need to talk to someone, but that's something I could cast if I need to. &nbsp;Or, per the spell, Fil could offer other options. &nbsp;Thoughts? Courage . Affected creatures can’t be frightened while in the area. Darkness . Darkness fills the area. Normal light, as well as magical light created by spells of a lower level than the slot you used to cast this spell, can’t illuminate the area. Daylight . Bright light fills the area. Magical darkness created by spells of a lower level than the slot you used to cast this spell can’t extinguish the light. Energy Protection . Affected creatures in the area have resistance to one damage type of your choice, except for bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing. Energy Vulnerability . Affected creatures in the area have vulnerability to one damage type of your choice, except for bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing. Everlasting Rest . Dead bodies interred in the area can’t be turned into undead. Extradimensional Interference. Affected creatures can’t move or travel using teleportation or by extradimensional or interplanar means. Fear. Affected creatures are frightened while in the area. Silence. No sound can emanate from within the area, and no sound can reach into it. Tongues. Affected creatures can communicate with any other creature in the area, even if they don’t share a common language.

I don't think friendly air elementals would be blocked by the spell's repulsion effects.&nbsp; Just putting that out there. I personally would want tongues just so you don't have to ever worry about communicating in your own temple.. but I'm a people-pleaser. Mostly, I wanted to post that I'm giddy about this weekend's session, and all the horrible, horrible things that may occur.

I'd second the Tongues thing. If you want to use the Ship as a mobile church then that would allow you to minister to *anyone* regardless of native language. Also if you want to set it up as a place to negotiate that both parties agree on as neutral territory ... a church sounds pretty solid.

This campaign started on August 16 2015 at level 1. Assuming I don't miss any more weeks due to horrible horror...&nbsp; by October 2 we'd be theoretically ready for level 21... which of course doesn't exist. That's 28 weeks away, so not a high-pressure issue yet..&nbsp; but it popped into my head so I figure it's worth putting into group consciousness now that this story line does have an end (...of one sort or another...) in mind, and retiring the characters for a new campaign's beginning is my plan. I figure once we hit level 20 we'll play a few sessions maxed out until whatever mischief the team is in gets resolved and then look at retiring the campaign for a new beginning elsewhere in the world.&nbsp; That's not a hard deadline, so if once we hit level 20 it takes 3 or 6 or however many sessions to resolve the current focus of adventure-- that's fine... but once we hit 20 we're on a timer to end. On this same subject... I will propose that if there is a Total Party Kill for whatever reason moving forward that we start over at level 1.&nbsp; As long as 1 player survives and the team wants to keep on this path of adventure then i'm fine with new heroes coming in at whatever level we're at, but you can all also opt to retire the survivors and start over if y'all want. Regardless of how it flows, whoever is currently playing in the game automatically keeps their seat for the new campaign.&nbsp; Further thoughts: I've never played or dm'd a game that escalated levels as fast as we are.. 1 level every 3 sessions is a break-neck pace compared to any previous edition of DnD.. and a lot of other game systems out there... and I'm honestly LOVING it.&nbsp; 5e is balanced well enough that me admittedly having no idea what your characters are going to be able to do next month is fun as hell and keeps me surprised.&nbsp; I'm content with the combat ratios I've been maintaining with the enemies you've been encountering.. I feel like the amount of punishment I've been dealing has been fair yet legitimately threatening.&nbsp; The DC's, AC's etc all seem to be scaling up very smoothly as we ramp through the levels without a real sense of lack for any of the characters. level advancement is fast enough that I haven't felt "stingy" on magic loot...&nbsp; I imagine you are just getting familiar with what your characters are now able to do right when you earn a new level, so the characters themselves don't really get stale either. meh.&nbsp; enough ranting for now.&nbsp; feedback / thoughts appreciated, though not required. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the game. :D

i remembered why Bebe's band's name sounded familiar . "He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament." - attuning to the bracelets during rest. let's see what those are good for besides being hammered into a pair of brass knuckles - the plan for keeping the poodle pup alive: commune with nature to locate either a) a poodle bitch that has recently dropped a litter (and is still alive), b) a regular dog fitting the same specs, c) a milk goat (much easier to run off with then a cow). if there's a ping on a bitch then Speak with Animals + Animal Handling / Persuasion is an option to place a foster pup. if that don't work and a goat can be pilfered i guess I'll have to bottle-feed Rodrigo. and no. definately not casting speak with animals before milking the goat. there are some lines even i won't cross. - obvious concern: we need to figure out how to keep the vamps down for good. i'm all out of poisoned daggers. possible sources for reliable intel ? Droaam military .. Varias .. augury .. the druid organization .. kidnap a low level vamp and go with the "progress requires experimentation / compliance will be rewarded" approach? - related Note: Frank the Legend needs to re-die. in hillarious fashion, as to require renaming him into Frank the Pincussion. - building up an immunity to wyvern poison is going to be a thing. seeing as "The maul formerly known as Graal's" is a steady source of that Feng's gonna self-harm with a purpose during downtime. Dammit. should have picked up some MaLaZe records to listen to.

.... here's a question. if Mahewa gets his mobile Sanctuary, confessional and Coffee shop up and running ... AND if he chooses the superspecial extra shiny effect of it to be "Everlasting Rest" ... AND&nbsp; if we were to snatch ohh ... let's say Meri, Graal and Bloody Poodle by the short and curlies and then recall back with them (or their corpses, whatever works) INTO A CHURCH.... how much would that fuck up their shit ? at that point in time hallowed ground + absence of coffin to reform in + the "do not pass go, do not collect 400$, do not become undead" rule of the mobile Sanctuary (Manctuary ?) should keep them down for good ... maybe ?

The bracelets are rather unusual... . The right bracelet&nbsp; has little grooves shaped like elongated teardrops. A slow drizzle of a silvery resin fills the indented grooves and harden once full to look exactly like the other blowdarts Meri has in her robe pockets.&nbsp; When the resin needle is picked out of the bracelet it causes 1 point of radiant damage to the wearer.&nbsp; There are 4 grooves that will secrete up to 1 blowdart each per day for a total of 4hp of damage if collected. The left bracelet has a smooth mitrhil-resin groove and insert hole-- needle-thin.&nbsp; The blowdart tips fit into the groove perfectly.&nbsp; when you insert one of the needles it pricks your wrist for 1hp of piercing damage and absorbs the blood droplet caused by the wound. The process leaves Feng feeling unfulfilled... a nagging sense that the needle is seeking more than his blood when inserted into the left bracelet, but unable to fathom what it is.&nbsp; Overall, he feels fatigued after exploring the bracelets.&nbsp; At least a short rest is needed to recover from the fatigue, which will also remove the attunement-- the item is, in effect, rejecting the Barbarian as a host.

thoughts about Sunday's game? &nbsp;

my vote is to start researching and twisting arms until we figure out how to make sure the Vamps stay down for good. every time they come back we're going to have to get that much more creative (and lucky) to pull off a win (again). and we already looted their shinies so it's not even a financially sound businessplan to keep shredding them. we have a bead on Meri, Graal, Mystery Vampire Lady X (probably Bloody Poodle) which accounts for most of our high value targets.... the one person conspicuously absent is Frank the Legend. What i'm trying to say is ... saving the world, getting in good with Droaam, earning the ship, cleansing the continent of an undead menace in the making ... that's all fine and dandy. But we gots to kill Francis. for real. That guy left to his own devices and given a decade or two of brooding and sparkling will turn into Bloody Poodle II - Poodle Harder. at this point i'm taking for granted that we're in the clear with our hoity toity admiral as far as our pledged support in the reacquisition of Blood Crescend (which i am tempted to start calling croissant du sang. they capitulated to vampires. if that ain't french i don't know what is.) getting verbal confirmation would be nice though. also insurance papers on the ship, title, DMV registration, that sort of thing.

I think next time we go out and come across one of the "named" vampires we need to make sure we leave enough in the tank to make it down to their beds to finish the job. Whether we need to just start hanging out in their caves doing sweet skateboard tricks and drinking White Russians waiting for them to wander by or just be aware on the quickest route to there so we can finish the deed.

There's some magic gear needing attunement that I think we can start the game with in case we have any slow arrivals to the skype. the scrolls and blood vials seem pretty straight forward, and I already statted the Butterfly Maul 1. bracelets not fully identified 2. Feyfire wand 3. the amulet 4. the ring 5. rune-carved fangs 6. that dagger Gang picked up during the wind-demon fight .. I think that's everything.&nbsp; Probably a half hour of discovery to be had here while you guys recalibrate during a long rest. And Ellis is right-- you've ended vamps by staking them in their coffins while in the process of recoalescing. &nbsp;&nbsp; There may be other means, but this is one you've seen work.

what did you guys decide to do with the scrolls and vials of blood?

Scrolls and Vials and Rings and Puppies, oh my. I believe the scrolls were chucked in Chuck & Mahewa's direction, the vials were unclaimed and hadn't been identified yet since noone was willing to do shots of O negative or needed a transfusion. which is a good point, actually ... IF they are the vampire version of mag. potions and not just a snack in case they get hungry ... can living people use them ? Chuck could maybe drink them via fangs ... the rest of us could either chug them and hope to not get space aids , or mainline them (and not share needles and hope to not get space aids) ... and if they are regular snack packs of blood.... what did those undead bat-stars use for blood thinners to not have their food turn to curdled sludge? are the vials enchanted with a spell of tupperware? my general approach to potions is waste not want not. if we can get some use out of them we should, right after we figure out how to use them in the first place without suffering adverse effect (again. space aids.). as far as the scrolls are concerned ... i wish Mahewa and Chuck the best of luck with those. if there are fancy shmancy rituals that call upon powers no mortal should meddle with it might be a good idea to teach someone else in the group those as well (in case the first caster dies or gets stuck in Narnia) speaking of. the ritual to cross over to the spirit side. i'd be interested in picking that up eventually during downtime. Feng's got a basic understand of rituals since he can chug out a couple of them (and has done so in the past) but this is foreign mojo so figuring out the necessary skill rolls and DCs to perform the spell would be nice (which i think Mahewa already has written down somewhere). in other news. Feng grabbed the Fey ring that Gang wanted no part of. Putting it on and attuning to it lets me speak to & read Fey (which also includes blinkdog poodles). Handy as fuck, but i'm stuck with it since i can't take it off anymore. The ring also called me the chosen one and mentioned that further instructions would be forthcoming. i'm kinda hoping that those aren't along the lines of "kill all the jews". that could get awkward. Rodrigo the puppy. The pregnant bitch we pilfered has about 2 weeks until the place will be littered with pups. Meanwhile i'll do my darndest to keep the pup alive and sweet talk the adoptive mother into help keeping it alive. Not ever being in a puppy farm again should be hella motivation. i'm gonna assume that having a puppy in a pocket is a really bad idea for an adventuring murderhobo. those things are fragile, or so i hear. keeping it on one of the ships seems like a decent alternative. which one of the two ... don't know. Gang and Mahewa can put in their two cents on that.

Fey can't enter the Hallow unless mahewa caveats them.. but with elementals already caveated, no puppies on the squid decks. scrolls were a slew of spells... I have them in my notes.&nbsp; I'll find em by game time. blood has not coagulated. ANYONE can perform a ritual.&nbsp; the skill check depends on the spell: divine or arcane = wisdom or intelligence accordingly.&nbsp; skill in arcana is good for proficiency bonus to arcane and religion is good for proficiency bonus to divine. The ritual caster feat allows proficiency bonus to be applied to rituals of any sort, plus grants you rituals (not a bad feat at all, really.)

First: 4 scrolls - dispel magic, clairvoyance, telepathy, planar binding - Planar BInding is Wizard usable so could just scribe it to Chuck's spellbook and then cast it whenever we felt like it instead of as a one off scroll. Second: dibs on the vials of blood Finally: what kind of puppies (four legged variety)? I'm partial to labs

Lab is fine with me. Good farm dog. Go ahead and copy the spell into your book!&nbsp; I'll assume copying consumes the scroll but I won't allocate any cost other wise... just need a short rest to do it. .... And without further direction, I'll assume the task at hand is to storm the underground lair and snuff some vamps... Adm. Heron could lend extra muscle to the task if the team wanted to endenture yourselves to him...?

yes. dusting the vamps for good is the plan. we're on a timer at this point so heads will have to roll. getting into Heron's debt right after we've cleared our account with him doesn't sound like a good idea. plus extra people in close quarters would be more of a hindrance then help. if we can put them down and keep them down BEFORE the tidalwave then so be it. i'd like the flooding to be plan B in case we fail and die or have to run like hell. Mahewa summoning&nbsp; an ornery water elemental (and maybe blessing it, holy water style? ... water elem with a little pope hat ... hehehehe) to do the spincycle thing before we enter might be a good idea ... since that takes more then three rounds to cast.

Assuming that Mahewa has been thumbing through the books he stole from the Bishop in his spare time.. there's some nasty Water Spirits that had been summoned nearly a century ago to Wrath of God all over some waterfront fishing communities in Aundair where the inland sea still exists... summoning one and binding it for this task is a pretty finite contract to propose... 2 in particular. 1. Undertow-- a Greater River Spirit 2. Raging Crest-- the Elder Spirit of Tides Being aligned with Princess Chan won't be to the team's advantage when negotiating with either one of them... but they likely have more fire WaterPower than what Mahewa would be able to produce from normal summoning spells.

Planar Binding - 5th level abjuration casting time 1 hour, duration 24 hours (10 days with 6th level spell slot). With this spell you attempt to bind a celestial, an elemental , a fey or a fiend to your service. I bet the river spirits would be classified as an elemental.

Undertow might work for our purposes. we've unfucked the stopped up underground river which should buy us some goodwill so we don't have to cattleprod it into doing our bidding. ... for a splitsecond I considered that a Greater River Spirit may be overkill .... but these ARE vampires and we ARE extremely tired of their shit .... nonetheless we should keep in mind that destruction of biblical proportions in enclosed spaces may lead to unexpected drowning.

Ya ellis... definitely elementals. &nbsp;

So, unlucky level 13. &nbsp;+5 proficiency and level 7 spells. So now I can transport instantly to the shadow or other planes. &nbsp;I can also restore lost body parts. To keep in mind, I'll also mention Heroes' Feast, a 6th level spell I have. &nbsp;I can bring forth a great feast of "magnificent food and drink". &nbsp;After taking an hour to eat, everyone gets these benefits for 24 hours: cured of disease and poison, immune to disease, poison and being frightened, makes all wisdom saving throws with advantage, and gains an extra 2d10 hit points. &nbsp;It has a cost component, though, so I can only cast it once unless we get favor with someone who will provide us with gem-encrusted bowls worth at least 1,000 gp. &nbsp;That immunity to disease and poison sounds awesome, though. Also, Fil, can you add me another pet character sheet? &nbsp;I can now conjure a Couatl, which, while I don't know how to pronounce that word, looks pretty kick ass.

will do!&nbsp; We're now entering what is traditionally the "broken" tier of gaming, where the characters start getting all sorts of immunities and passive counters to normal DM douchebaggery... please be patient when I completely forget your characters can counter most of what I come up with to "challenge" you.&nbsp; :P

Thanks! &nbsp;When you do, please make sure to give me control so I can fill it in. And I don't know what's overpowered about making the entire party immune to disease and poison for 24 hours and then summoning a 12-foot holy serpent that has several damage immunities and 120 feet of truesight and can fly really fast, heal us, and bite enemies, injecting a poison that knocks them unconscious. &nbsp;Also, if I wanted it to for some reason, it can shape change into a humanoid or beast.

yer 13th level now... I guess I'm supposed to be throwing all sorts of HORRIBLE things at you now.&nbsp; I can oblige.&nbsp; Cuatl sheet is available.

I should have posted individual threads for everyone a long long time ago but hey i'm thinking about it now. i ll start putting tidbits in there for you each to enjoy as I think of them.. be welcome to use them to flesh out your characters if you wish.

George: i just got my shit sorted for the trip to berlin in a couple of weeks. good news is that i'll probably make it home in time for the game on sunday that weekend George: well, end of the month, really, but may flies by in germany. too many holidays. can't get anything done Ellis: Good if you leave so it's just me and gang, expect to come back dead as no shits will be given as no one will be around to stop the killing sprees Ellis: Sprees. Plural George:yes. i am well aware of both of your intrinsic nature and the fact that you must have gotten fuck-ectomies at some point. ability to give fucks: none. Ellis: Soz, medical condition, not our fault George: you mnetally euniched bastards Ellis: Don't blame the victim

lol pretty sure mahewa is around on 29th... though if he isn't the Grimm Team of chuck and gang going Rogue would be a fun tangent one-shot.

Without Grimm keeping them in check, expect to rework the map to add "Half of" above at least one of the cities.

Just to put it out there for everyone... This will be episode 13 for season 3 this weekend.. I plan on closing the season at the end of the 5/15 session and begin season 4 on 5/22.. I am assuming the team's objective this weekend is to get back to the Temple Ship one way or another to reunite with Mahewa and refocus priorities for season 4.&nbsp;&nbsp;

so with the beginning of 4th season next week, I will assume we will be spending the start of the session looking over the different outstanding plot lines that I've listed and look at how much of a priority each is to the group. This is a pause&nbsp;for us to step back for a moment and re-enage the campaign anew This is also an appropriate moment to decide if there's a new path altogether the team wants to pursue. &nbsp;The list of plot lines is simply to help the team stay focused on potential objectives to acheive if they are of interest.&nbsp;

LFP post is now live <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/3495745/lfp-d-an" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/3495745/lfp-d-an</a>...

question regarding the " Commune with Nature " spell / ritual. from what i understand the actual mechanics involve one local nature spirit being summoned, after which 3 questions may be asked regarding google maps properties of the surrounding area. makes sense. a local nature spirit would know details about its hood. so it's a combination short distance messenging to whatever local target is available at the time and translation services between both parties for the length of the spell, followed by a compulsion to appear and answer 3 queries, after which it can go back to whatever it is nature spirits do when noone is looking. i'm wondering if the same spell can be used to get a hold ofa local spirit for the purposes of communication without intent to press it into service or require information. something a druid might do if he/she/it wants to set up shop in an area for any length of time and is attempting to be a good neighbor. the spell equivalent of a polite knock and a fruit basket ?

it can be played that way. &nbsp; RAW: "You briefly become one with nature and gain knowledge of the surrounding territory." so... no nature spirit required, but we've been using it as a RP opportunity to promote spirit awareness. &nbsp; I would wonder the results of a commune with nature and a influence/friendship skill roll with benevolent intent. &nbsp;

either interpretation works, i.e. either: - "become one with nature" - basically temporarily get the benefits of being a lowgrade elemental spirit of wherever the §$%&/( you happen to be standing at the time of the casting ... or - " literally commune with nature" - say hello to the local OG nature spirit .... there is always potentially the Totem Warrior spin on things, as in : one of your chosen totem animals drops by when you call/commune and acts as an intermediary to get info for you if given the chance I'd go for talking to the local spirits and roll the dice on diplomacy/persuasion to get on friendly terms, maybe trade favors. i'd put a lot more trust in the word of a mountain then in the promises of a night hag.

ha nice totem aspect is how we've been playing it when you aren't in a hallow space denying fey access to visiting you ... and i'm fine with diplomacy rolls in the future to perhaps embellish one of the aspects of information you're seeking.

Karl just got his name added to my shitlist with permanent marker. will those fuckers never learn. crazy athasian necro dwarf wants to raise a titan. we kill him. bloody poodle has an R&D sideproject in titanraising. we kill her. do none of the high level NPCs get the pattern ?

I don't think any of these guys have been sharing notes at all.

the one reason people like us succeed at foiling plans is because there isn't a regular newsletter for main villains. who knew they were one copy of MS Office and a laserprinter away from global domination all this time.