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

October thread for Journal entries about game sessions this month! Remember that Session XP and Treasure/Loot is cataloged in another thread, <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1861516/treasure" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1861516/treasure</a>... Journal XP Bonus is awarded for this thread. Post your Journal entries here. (You may also copy your Journal to your Character's personal logbook thread, but the XP award is based on posting it in the monthly Journal thread in the chronological windows of time, week to week between sessions.) Please write your own Journal XP Bonus proposal in chat. I'll review it and approve the XP amount and description. We'll use this thread for all sessions taking place in the month of OCTOBER 2015. This is the 8th consecutive month of Player Journals for this homebrew world. Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk (March 2015) Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk (April 2015) Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk (May 2015) Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk (June 2015) Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk (July 2015) Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk (August 2015) Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk (September 2015) . Link to Journals / Story / Notes / adventure talk (October 2015) . Opening the Window for Journals of October 5 session. Obtained pan lung dragon's treasures, 2 magic items, info and 80% of her gold, gems and jewelry. Next game: Back to Portlandio! Townie adventures. Then get your plan & alliance forces ready for action against the evil shark fort.

An OOC comment, "behind the senes" in deep roleplay: Because Horukh is a Count, he thinks in terms of regional stability. This is why he is absolutely behind taking all of the treasure from the slain dragon's site. Why? Any resource that the Challengers control is a resource that others do not. Giving that site to the Lizard King to make an outpost and then fort is fine, because it increases the military stability of the region, and creates a point for trade. Giving the remaining gold there as well would make for a monetary imbalance, and empower the Lizard Kingdom and its allies TOO much. Portlandio is a fine town, but it is no city-state (yet). The Lizard Kingdom is stable (even more so now), but if they think they have too much of an advantage over Portlandio they might attempt an annex of it. However, establishing the Portlandio border Trading Post AND the new outpost will split the Lizard Kingdom's resources enough to keep them busy spending time & attention on two projects, rather than eyeing conquest. The Challengers of Destiny need a base of operations, and Portlandio would be the best choice we have right now. However, to make Portlandio prosper (by bringing in more trade), Portlandio needs to be known more. So, buying items and materials we may need from down the Altan Main would be wise; slightly more expensive, but it creates a broader foundation that will not flood the local economy. Horukh wants his Kemetic Staff to be imbued with some powers. It is his holy symbol, but it is also, essentially, a stick. But imbuement will cost sacrifices and/or money.

Larry, Horukh is right to consider the long term. I say we implement a classic 4X strategy: explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate. I am inclined to claim territory somewhere. Ideally someplace defensible with strategic value. (Access to a ruined castle or old abandoned fortress would be a major plus.) From there we would create a simple holdfast and carve out our own kingdom. The other option is to seize Portlandio. Overthrowing the city council and creating a true independent city state. The easiest route would be through invasion or military coup. However, it would be extremely risky. Competing factions are often known to unite in the face of a common foe... But this isn't Mr. Rogers Neighborhood... Its Game of Thrones. If we don't move to take power another empire, faction, or person will.

Side note... Torvald just became a level 6 fighter! Gold I already rolled&nbsp;(found in the chat log)&nbsp;my HP increase : 5 + 4 bonus = 9 HP gain I also increased my THACO score by 1 Only thing I will need help with is determining my NWP - Is it increased by one or three?

SolidHybrid said: Side note... Torvald just became a level 6 fighter! Gold I already rolled&nbsp;(found in the chat log)&nbsp;my HP increase : 5 + 4 bonus = 9 HP gain I also increased my THACO score by 1 Only thing I will need help with is determining my NWP - Is it increased by one or three? his ultimate decision was +1/1 lvl, instead of +1/3lvls

Translation: Serpent dragon has been slain! - Party started hunting for hidden lair... Found after considerable search - A secret cavern - Submerged underwater... Equipped magical diving gear -&nbsp;Descended into murk - Encountered aquatic denizens... Schools of fish - A large eel - Coral reefs - Beds of seaweed... Attacked! - Medium sized -&nbsp;Predatory&nbsp;fish - Called alligator garfish - Quickly killed...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trudged deeper - Dear gods! - A shoal of giant gars! - Massive&nbsp;leviathans... Feeding frenzy - Snapping jaws - Razor teeth -&nbsp;Desperately fought off... Blood fills the water... (Giant garfish are simple but frightening creatures. Possessing a powerful streamlined body and razor sharp teeth; they are known to swallow smaller prey whole. Several of these aquatic beasts guarded the Pan-Lung dragon's treasure hoard.)

Swargen, Journal for 10/05/2015 session Played my part of hunter today, skinning and boning the massive dragon carcass into smaller usable parts. The rest of my companions also played hunters, finding the massive hidden horde the Dragon had gathered over its time in this world. I thought the time would be soothing, going back to basics of my hunting life; alas it was not to be. Giant things appeared out of nowhere, attracted by the scent of blood as scavengers often are. Wonderful timing again on the part of Moira and The Axe. That strange bird priest proved a mighty warrior as well, flying thru the water to strike, then taking to the sky, a true bird of prey if i have ever seen one. The travels will only become more intriguing, im sure and i look forward to life on the road with these grand warriors. - Thor Shield us and guide my Hammer as if your own.

Journal Notes 10/5 Swargen insisted on harvesting the dragon claiming that the body parts he could salvage would bring the party great wealth.&nbsp;It was rough fighting off the dragon, but Mora - who took the brunt it's wrath almost seemed un-phased as she began hunting for the beast's treasure. &nbsp;After searching for a while we discovered an underwater cavern, and after communicating with some of the fish via Fisher we confirmed that this is where the dragon lived. Everyone was finally able to put some of their acquired gear to use - adapting themselves to be able to navigate through the waters with ease. Initially the cavern seemed almost empty other than the few common sea creatures, but we eventually ran in to some giant and monstrous gar. Scary beasts - long bodies, gnarled teeth, and powerful jaws all used for one purpose - feeding. We were determined not to be their next meal barely surviving. Blood churned in the waters - both theirs - and ours. I sent Rhubarb back to the surface to check up on Swargen and then I climbed up on the only platform I could find - some kind of altar it seemed - and tried to rest while the others continued hoarding the dragon's cache. I was just about to enter a deep sleep when Rhubarb alerted me of danger on the surface - aquatic ogres. I immediately responded heading back towards Swargen - alerting the others on the way. Mora moved swiftly through the water beating me there and quite amazingly assassinated one of the ogres before he was able to react. Now outnumbered the remaining ogres fell shortly after. Exhausted, hungry, and now over encumbered a long rest and trip to Portlandio is in order. First on the agenda - Mama San's Massage Parlor.

Closed window for Journals of Oct 5. XP Awarded in Chat. Thank you Players! Opening window for Journals of Oct 12 session. Free'd the Lt Loyal To Che Won from a cage of the dead Pan Lung dragon's.&nbsp; Portlandio Townie roleplaying, crafting and world-building, group prep. 4 PC's in attendance: Airen, Swargen, Torvald, Horukh.

For everyone's enjoyment, Swargen's Theme, "The Storm," an orchestral piece by Jim Steinman.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/listen/4hpu1u9kfnnw67i/09_-_The_Storm.mp3" rel="nofollow">http://www.mediafire.com/listen/4hpu1u9kfnnw67i/09_-_The_Storm.mp3</a>&nbsp; Music For Fierce Norse Badassery.

Translation: After months of travel - We return to Portlandio - Town has grown in our absence... New buildings everywhere - Parted ways - Attended to personal business... Visited blacksmith - Comissioned work - Scale armor - Made from dragon's hide... Began forging new weapon - Dwarven greataxe...

Nice, Solid. Special Journal XP reminder notes from the DM, I will allow your participation in the Portlandio town map thread, or the Inn-renovation thread, to count for your Journal (and earn Journal XP) this week if anyone wants to use that instead. &nbsp; Paul and Larry are qualified for that (Plus Larry added a journal song/soundtrack regarding Swargen ), Chris Airen I'll count it if you worked on the map squares between sessions. Torvald is already journal'd (nice forging one!). Have not heard from Ryan on behalf of Sanvar in the last couple weeks of gaming. Jennifer if you see this message in time, wanted you to know --- read and contribute Mora's thoughts in the Portlandio Town Map thread or the Inn thread, today before game session, and you can still get Journal XP's this week without writing a story & picture per-se. Another Journal XP change -- Jennifer , going forward I will count Mora for Journal XP if Jennifer spends time on technical upgrades for our game, if you are able to create an external forum for our game, or each week that you can run a Twitch stream or OBS recording for us. In honor of this Game Master decision I am also going to award her 1 burst of Journal XP for creating our Discord voice server, because these outside-the-gameplay contributions take time, effort and expertise and enhances the game for everyone. &nbsp;Of course you can still also write story-journals and draw Mora -pictures any time for XP as usual in the Journal thread (but there is still the same cap on the total amount of Journal XP for the week). Thanks and see you all for game time in 1.5 hours. I made it home safely from my travels in time for game today.

Journal Notes 10/12 We rested before we headed back to Portlandio, and during that time we discovered that this dragon had been keeping a member of the local military as a servant to tend to her garden. We were able to free him from his enclosure and escorted him back to Portlandio. When we arrived in town I ALMOST got lost... in such a short time it has grown so much. New housing, new shops, and new people. Portlandio sure is growing fast. The first order of business to attend to was a BroDate with Torvald at Mama San's Massage Parlor. I suggested the brown eye special for Torvald, but it seems he prefers just the basic services. I do love the swamp, but what frog doesn't like to get pampered from time to time? Afterwards I paid a visit to Mave to sell off some of the herbs I had collected, and to purchase some more potions. I spent a little bit of time helping him in the shop and paid close attention to how he performed his craft. Later in the week it seems Horukh has planned out another "party," and Swargen seems to have acquired himself an Inn! All great accomplishments, but I hope that our mission does not get lost in the fray. Additionally I heard about a conjurer in the magic school that had been experimenting with some new spells, and couldn't resist spending most of my time watching him, sharing techniques, and of course experimenting myself! The most interesting spell was one he named "Acidic Surge." A small bubble of acid is conjured and as the caster focuses all of his energy into this bubble it then explodes releasing a quick, and powerful surge of acid. I have attempted it several times, but haven't quite been able to fully replicate it yet. I even embarrassingly enough destroyed some of his furniture in the process.... I had to bribe Swargen to take a bit of time away from building furniture for the Inn in order to replace the pieces that I melted away.

Closed window for Journals of Oct 12. XP Awarded in Chat. Thank you Players! Airen created a new spell where he conjures an acidic surge, that has effects equitable to the famous spell "Fireball" (in this case researched & converted to a Conjuration/Summoning instead of a firey Invocation/Evocation spell). Make sure you read that description of the spell research in his previous journal. &nbsp;I'm sure this will come up in a future game session. As noted previously, some Technical XP is now being awarded for alternative contributions like town-building and game building, alongside the Journal XP potential.&nbsp; Opening window for Journals of Oct 19 session. The party finally tracked down & solved the mystery of the pirate treasure map. It led to a magical mechanical submersible submarine called the Apparatus Of Kwalish ! ALL SIX PLAYERS participated for at least part of the session time today. Ryan has gotten moved to his new place and joined in for part. Swargen was able to play for part. Horukh was able to play the start before he had to jet. They can get the full XP per the treasure/loot thread. Torvald , Mora , Airen played all the RP (town and crabmen) and the fights (giant crayfish). &nbsp; Mora and Airen ended the session figuring out the 10 levers controlling the Apparatus Of Kwalish. Ryan &nbsp;we would've loved having you in on the discovery scene for this. You had to go today before they found the Apparatus , but it will be in-the-party for next adventure. I figured you would enjoy this discovery of a classic, legendary wonderous magical item. Airen &nbsp;took it for a spin with Mora co-pilot, and almost wrecked it once already.

Journal Notes 10/19 After attending to some things in town all of us gathered at Swargen's Inn for dinner. The Inn is surely coming together nicely - much better than the piece of crap it once was, but still a ways to go. While we waited for Horukh's cartographer to draw us a map to this "swamp base" of the sharkmen Torvald suggested that we keep busy and investigate a treasure map that we had discovered among Sanabel's belongings. Of course everyone was excited to discover what could be hidden there, and off we went! We eventually made it to where we were sure the map was, but nothing. Mora was intelligent enough to realize that perhaps the area was hidden by the tides. With her new "Manta Ray" powers she dove underwater and confirmed her suspicions - an underwater cave. We decided that it would be best to wait out the tide, and made our way inside once it became accessible. Sanabel clearly was using the tides as the primary defense of his treasure, but crabmen also inhabited this cave. The acted as more of an annoyance more than anything as they were obsessively attracted to any shiny metals that we carried. Torvald distracted some of them by throwing his favorite mug in the distance and Mora traded some silver with some others for some sea shell jewelry. Eventually however we made it to the end of the cave where we discovered a steel barrel. We expected there to perhaps be some hoard of treasure inside, but what we found was much more interesting. After some poking and prodding the barrel began to transform in to a giant lobster. After some more poking and prodding we opened the machine and inside there were two seats and a bunch of LEVERS! Mora and I jumped in and I immediately began pulling ALL OF THE LEVERS in rapid succession~! We backed in to the wall, almost attacked Swargen / Rhubarb, and eventually figured out what each lever did. It took a little bit of practice, but we were eventually able to learn how to operate this wondrous item and made our way back to Portlandio.

*** News flash!!! *** Drunken dwarf rampages Portlandio inside a giant mechanical crab. Story at eleven...

Translation: Followed pirate treasure map - Located grotto - Hidden in cliff side... Partially submerged - Climbed down inside - Fought off giant crayfish... Encountered crab folk - Peaceful - Harmless - Annoying creatures... Discovered ancient device... (Crab people... Simple but intelligent creatures. Lack of translatable language prevents further discourse. Easily bedazzled by shiny metal objects.)

Closed window for Journals of Oct 19. XP Awarded in Chat. Thank you Players! Those were great pictures especially Airen driving the levers in the Apparatus Of Kwalish sub. Outside-Journal XP was also awarded to Horukh for Portlandio town defenses discussion thread, and to Mora for technical contributions. Opening window for Journals of Oct 26 session. The party cleaned out a rougish problem infesting the staff in the sewers underneath Swarg-Inn's cellar. It seems some of the Chaotic Lizardmen leaders had formeted a revolt amongst the sewer-workers Horukh had hired, driving out the friendly Neutral workers, and installing several Evil stooges in their place. These included the leaders of 2 of the more-destructive political parties of the Lizard colony. The party killed one (the Chaotic Neutral Warrior "X") and Swargen captured another (the Chaotic Evil Lizard Wizard), and Mora one-shot backstabbed a Lizard Wizard Acolyte who was summoning swarms of Giant Rats using a magical Pipes Of The Sewers. DM Gold played flute in the voice chat to represent. Some fun / weird magic items were recovered. The party improved the grounds of the Giant Beard Money Pit Inn-vestment property, and strategy was made towards upcoming-weeks-adventures going to the Sharkmen Fort that threatens trade & regional peace.

By the way:&nbsp; Loopholes R Us: In the spell description for Geas it reads, " The creature must be intelligent, conscious, and under its own volition. " They're fake-outs!&nbsp; Both the Geas effects that hit Horukh were during seizures that he did not choose to induce.&nbsp; Gods of deceit and trickery indeed!

I would also like to award DM Gold bonus XP for his flute stylings, live and direct!

Horukh's Journal ,&nbsp; ( a part of Larry Dixon's continuing series of how playing a Lawful Good does not mean playing a boring twit ) :) The Question Of The Geases. The understanding of the physical world, the spiritual ways, the discorporate realms, the spheres of deities, devils, djinn and demons, are really a matter of puzzle-solving. They aren’t riddles just for the sake of riddles, as some people amuse themselves with. They’re challenges to be worked out based upon knowledge and intuition. So I have looked at the nature of the compulsions I was struck by. The closest analog I could find was a high spell called a “geas.” I brooded on this for some time. The essence of a geas is that it pushes someone towards an objective under pain of death. A geas can restrict a behavior or demand a behavior. However, this only made me suspicious. Most in this material plane are born into innocence and become evil by their own accord---by their own free will. As a priest, it is specific to my pantheon that I act by free will and I choose to do good if I feel that is what is right for me; I do not do good out of fear of being struck down by a pillar of flame. My deities know that if they wish me to do something, they can send a suggestion or an insight. So, to receive a geas---two! in fact--- is uncharacteristically heavy-handed. And, since they are compulsions, they deny me my free will, except for this one choice: Obey or die. Yet, the deities I work with the most, who have my trust, have made it clear that I should stay in action. The geases command me to take inaction. Therefore I conclude that the geases are false, sent by the evil gods of my pantheon or, perhaps, trickery by another, and in fact, they test me. Do I become a timid little bird shrinking away from a threat to the city, the people, and my compatriots the Challengers? Or do I make the free will decision to defy the geas, protect the people and my comrades, and die another day? The game pieces are on the boards of the gods, and we move by our free will while the gods bet upon the result. Let those who would lay the evil of a geas upon me see my defiance of them. I will protect, heal, and fight for my companions.

(by the way, I am a complete method actor, so when playing Horukh this is how I am dressed.) (One of my favorite pictures in the world.&nbsp; It's from some stage production in the 1920s, and the guy looks so Over It. I love that picture. It is an incredible piece of costume work, and yet he looks completely like he's thinking "Ten years doing Shakespeare. Now, I'm dressed as a giant chicken. F*ck my life.&nbsp; I feel like a complete cock.&nbsp; I--- ugh.")

Larry , I have read your thoughtful Journal (and funny Chicken-suit addendum) this week. Horukh - The Gods have heard your thoughts and interpretations. In circles above & below & all around us, some individual powers may even be searching on your behalf, scanning to find who issued the Geas (x2), under what power portfolio, authority or pretense? You may proceed with defying the 2x Geas! The Challengers go off to stop the Sharkmen Fort very soon. For the Journal-and-RP-stated reasons. Exciting to see how it develops. &nbsp; DM Notes.&nbsp;I don't view this as short-circuiting the Geas, but rather it's a way of playing out the consequences of Geas defiance. It leads to character development for Count Horukh The Silver!

Swargen, Journal for 10/26/2015 Well, there goes another threat to the party's health and prosperity. That dwarf, he is truely a warrior, many rats fell to his blade. And Moira, her skills at stealth and procurement of others items are astounding. I surely would have fallen had she not performed her arts so well. The bird, a tactician with no equal. If the tribes had one such as him to lead, as well as to design ships and defenses, we would become legend. All in all, the Inn is a safer place thanks to all of our efforts, and the rebuilding and repairs can continue on schedule. Onward to the next funding adventure for the metal that is softer than steel, but valued so much higher. These odd pipes may come in handy, perhaps i should learn how to play them.... - Thor Shield us and guide my Hammer as if your own.

Journal Notes 10/26 Swargen asked for our assistance to investigate the sewers below his inn after the lizardmen Horukh had hired to clean it out failed to report back. I was going expecting to clear out a few rodents here or there, but it seems the remnants of the lizardmen whose plans we interfered with back at the colony came to seek revenge. I recognized a few of them as leaders of their respective parties in the lizardmen colony and the others seemed to be lowly followers. It was a tough battle - they clearly have seen a fight or two in their time. One of them used a particularly powerful magic conjuring dozens of beastly rats using the tune of his flute, another a strong - agile warrior, and the other a powerful caster. Several of us almost saw our last day thanks to their ambush, but with Horukh's and Swargen's healing magic we were able to stabilize. A scary thought that they were able to get so deep under the town unnoticed. Perhaps Torvald and Horukh can work with the town to set up some kind of defense to prevent future attacks from the sewers.

Paul this is how Torvald imagines Swargen...

Closed window for Journals of Oct 26. XP Awarded in Chat. Thank you Players! Incredible tactical contributions from Horukh and Torvald in particular! As noted previously, some Technical XP is now being awarded for alternative contributions like town-building and game building, alongside the Journal XP potential. Opening window for Journals of Nov 2-3 session in the new thread! Planning & starting assault on Shark Fort Island!! New thread for November Journals, <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/2586087/post-jou" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/2586087/post-jou</a>...