Gileus was still in his apprenticeship when Lady Jastian arrived, so no tattoos.

Quote from: Justin Alexander;599428SGT. LLEWELLYN

There have been Llewellyns in Oakhurst for as long as anyone can remember or the stacks of tombstones in the church basement can attest. And more than a few of them have been charged with the protection of the little village and the surrounding farms. But now there's only one: Sgt. Llewellyn.

(It's said that there are a few Llewellyns working as weavers in Southcourt, of course. But Sgt. Llewellyn has never paid much heed to the city and its paid little heed to him.)

Over the years, Sgt. Llwellyn has faced a fair share of troubles: The winterfire skeletons that rose from the old cemetery (which is why the tombstones are stacked in the church basement now and the town doesn't keep a cemetery any more). The dark Entmoot that chanted its way through Witch's Hallow. A nip of lycanthropy out on the east farms. But he's always found a way to rally the people around to make a stand against that sort of thing when a standings been necessary.

He's a comfortable sight for the folk of Oakhurst: He makes his thrice daily walk-abouts 'round the village and rides out through the farms at least twice a week. He carries carrots and lets the kids feed his warhorse Justice. Everyone knows his mithril shield and shirt of chain (both signs of the sergeant's office; the title "sergeant" in these parts being used by any chief lawman for reasons of history that no one gives much thought to). The sword he keeps strapped to his side is his, though: A family heirloom that everyone knows will never lose its edge and remains spotless after several generations. Just like the spotless Sgt. Llewellyn never loses his edge.

Cudberct, the local innkeep, works as a frequent deputy for Sgt. Llewellyn. Llewellyn's learned to trust his expertise, although there's a number of other young lads who work deputy duty as the need arises.

Llewellyn's also got a good working relationship with Mayor Vurnor. They both take great pride in making Oakhurst the best little village it can be.

Decision Time: Do you want Sgt. Llewellyn to be involved in the Old Ways. Or are the Old Ways just some strange hillfolk beliefs that you tolerate / hate?

That is awesome.

I am not sure what the 'Old Ways' are, did I miss that in a previous post?  Preliminarily, I would say Llewellyn is familiar with the Old Ways from his family's history in the area, and has learned to respect the beliefs of the hillfolk (and perhaps has some faith in it as well) as it keeps feuds with the village to a minimum, and makes dealings with the hillfolk easier overall.

My background doesn't seem to have changed since I posted it, so it looks good.  I enjoy being a somewhat mentor to Hasor, as well as probably a bad influence.  I encourage the town youngsters to adventure, while Cudberct is trying to dissuade them.

Castellan, I'm going to hold on to my leadership feat until the dice start rolling, at which point I'll drop it (and possibly my Stealthy feat) for something else, so long as that's okay with Justin?

Quote from: Opaopajr;599457Last sentence of my character sheet post that you linked:

Right. Reading. Knew I was forgetting something.

Quote from: StormBringer;599493I am not sure what the 'Old Ways' are, did I miss that in a previous post?  Preliminarily, I would say Llewellyn is familiar with the Old Ways from his family's history in the area, and has learned to respect the beliefs of the hillfolk (and perhaps has some faith in it as well) as it keeps feuds with the village to a minimum, and makes dealings with the hillfolk easier overall.

The exact details of the Old Ways are a little sketchy at the moment, but what we know is that they're draconic in nature: Dern Nacre, the local healer, is a follower of the Old Ways. She tends the dragon circles around town and her face bears the green draconic tattoos of the Faith. She speaks the dragon tongue (Draconic) and quite a few folks back up in the hills speak the same.

I'm figuring it'll end up being old school druidic with a dash of Mythos cultist or vice versa, depending on how things develop. It could even be both depending on which followers of the Faith you're talking about.

Quote from: Josh;599508Castellan, I'm going to hold on to my leadership feat until the dice start rolling, at which point I'll drop it (and possibly my Stealthy feat) for something else, so long as that's okay with Justin?

That sounds fine to me.

I'm adding approved/updated character backgrounds to the opening posts in the IC thread (with additional cross-reference links to character sheets for easy reference).

The IC thread is looking good. I think I've seeded enough ravine-related info that you guys can continue steering you own way towards mounting the expedition; if locals need some lore confirmed, just let me know and I'll fill in the blanks. Warclam: You can either check in with Kerowyn Hucrele before heading to the inn or head directly to the inn; whatever works for you.

We're still waiting for either a thumb's up or "that sucks, change it" on character backgrounds from DonEsteban, Tanthius, Greyknight, and Warclam.

After that we'll have another round or two of prep activity and then we can get a hard frame from the scene at the inn to the adventure site (or whatever works transitionally).

Yeah, I went and did my IC post before the background stuff. Whoops. Normally I'd want to take off the armour and weapons before doing errands about town, but if there's fresh news of the sprats I might need to just head out again. I shall adjust my actions accordingly.

Gah, forgot about that initial post. I'm pretty into the wolf bit now, I think I'll stick with it. I hinted at a few things in the IC post, though a more intelligent person than I might have gone ahead and said them... let's remedy that now.

I see Haddon as being torn between the traditional lifestyle of his kin, adhering to their taboos and customs to an extent, and the allure of settled life. In fact he finds neither, gripped with a wanderlust that takes him away whenever he nears peace. Your description of his habits is excellent.

The wolves he travels with tend to be children of his older companions when they are too weary to keep wandering. Ashur is a youngster, daughter of Haddon's longtime companion Mala. Three years ago Haddon and Mala rescued an elven maid as you describe, and her father's hunting hound and Mala became enamoured with each other. Together they bore a litter of pups, seemingly wolves but for their great size and strength, and the forest green of their eyes.

Haddon stayed among the elves for some months, but eventually he felt compelled to move on. The girl's father gifted him with the eldest and boldest pup, Ashur, as well as an enchanted silver amulet that gilds the wearer's tongue to even the most willful of beasts [silver holy symbol, +1 competence to Handle Animal].

How's that sound?

That looks great Justin. Just a couple quick additions to tie me into other characters:

Two years ago, one of Cudberct's horses became extremely sick. Dern Nacre did what she could, but didn't expect the beast to last the winter. The newly hired Hasor refused to let one of his charges die, and spent nearly every waking hour nursing the horse back to health. Cudberct was touched by his efforts, and told Hasor that the horse's life was in his hands: if it lived, it would be Hasor's forever. When the southern wind heralded a new spring, he named the newly healed horse Notos, and yearns to ride him into the great unknown.

His success in the face of Dern Nacre's grim expectations, combined with his budding religious ideas and general disinterest in the Old Ways, has caused a rift between the older healer and Hasor. He now spends a great deal more time talking with Winthrop than he does learning from Dern.

Warclam/Tanthius: Awesome. Love the tweaks.

I feel that, although he talks big about travelling and adventure, Winthrop is moderately sheltered.  He knows the area within a hundred miles or so of town extremely well, but may have never travelled beyond that.  Compared to Cudberct, the seasoned war veteran, Winthrop seems idealistic and less world-weary.

I'm not entirely sure why he's stayed so close to Oakhurst, when he's a scout that talks of adventure with such reverence.  Partially, he's attached to his books, and his friends in town, and he likes being known as the knowledgable woodsman.  There could also be some sort of unrequitted love with a member of the town - I had mentioned that he likes to call upon Dern when he's in town, that could be because he's just interested in being a gentleman and in dragon lore, but if it fits with the story (and she's of approximately his generation) he could have some sort of one-sided interest in her - yet another thing he can commisserate with Hasor on.

Ultimately, though, I think that Winthrop has an unease about the unknown.  Much like his fear of water has kept him from following his dream of being a sailor, he's more comfortable travelling the areas he knows so well than venturing further out.  That's why he leads an expedition into the Ashen Plain every few years, but has never set foot in the Citadel.  He's expressed a lot of interest so far in battling the goblins, because that's a foe that he's fought before, but nothing but hesitation at mention of the Citadel.

For Winthrop's religion, I put down "Academic Agnostic".  I think that, like most other types of lore, Winthrop is fascinated with religion, new gods and old ways alike.  He knows that magic exists, and that there are powerful beings that grant it, but not being a practitioner himself, he doesn't feel they affect him in any distinguishable way.  

I am going to replace either Leadership or Stealthy with Precise Shot.  I had forgotten about the -4 penalty when firing into melee, plus Precise Shot lets me take Ranged Pin/Disarm later (his BAB wasn't high enough at level 6 to take one).  It's unfortunate that those feats aren't on the Scout's bonus feat list, since they're from a different book, so he would have to wait until level 9 to take them (which we may never reach).  Ah well.

Quote from: Justin Alexander;599607The exact details of the Old Ways are a little sketchy at the moment, but what we know is that they're draconic in nature: Dern Nacre, the local healer, is a follower of the Old Ways. She tends the dragon circles around town and her face bears the green draconic tattoos of the Faith. She speaks the dragon tongue (Draconic) and quite a few folks back up in the hills speak the same.

I'm figuring it'll end up being old school druidic with a dash of Mythos cultist or vice versa, depending on how things develop. It could even be both depending on which followers of the Faith you're talking about.

That sounds cool.  I haven't played a straight Fighter-type in ages, so I think I will go with the original plan of no magic.  Familiarity with common phrases, gestures, and rituals to fit in with their culture, and something of an open mind to their beliefs.

My background looks fine!

Quote from: Justin Alexander;599428CERTH THE BAKER[/u]
Question: You described Certh as "devoutly religious"? Do you want that to be in the Old Ways of faith or would you prefer being devout to some newer religion which would generally imply an antagonistic (but not necessarily hostile) relationship with the Old Ways?

I left it vague until I could get a grip on the religious part of the setting.  I read your info about the "Old Ways", what about the "New Gods"?  Somebody mentioned Fharlanghn I think, are they just the Greyhawk pantheon or should I create something?

He will most likely be following the pantheon (whatever it turns out like), although probably as a whole rather than a specific deity to the exclusion of the others.  I don't expect that he regards the Old Ways as "invalid" as such, just... different.  I can expand on the latter point more clearly if I know more about the pantheon: for one thing, why are they the "new" gods?  Implies that something happened at some point to bring them into power, and that something is likely to be important to such discussions.

Should we set up Macros in case of combat v. scheduling difficulties? Like, a pattern of automated responses according to Locale>Gear>Combat? It'd be a shame for this to collapse due to contact with our first combat.

Even something as simple as "I hit the nearest enemy with my axe! I do this until I die or battle's over," might help.

I was under the impression that we would all give our actions for a round at once, then Justin would do out the rolls and mechanics. I assumed we would give a few conditional options: "I attack the nearest goblin" or "If all the archers are down when my turn comes up, I drink a healing potion. Otherwise, I throw another axe at an archer."

FINAL CALL for DONESTEBAN: Check your PMs and review your background.

Quote from: greyknight;599881I left it vague until I could get a grip on the religious part of the setting.  I read your info about the "Old Ways", what about the "New Gods"?  Somebody mentioned Fharlanghn I think, are they just the Greyhawk pantheon or should I create something?

Greyhawk, Greek, Egyptian. Whatever works for you: The New Gods have a number of "heavenly abodes" scattered here and there around the world -- Mt. Olympus, the Golden Citadel, the Jade Pyramids of Sefa -- but have also been known to walk the world with frequent regularity. Some are aloof; others are familiar demigods ruling from earthly thrones. The only thing that joins them all together is their ability to serve as a conduit/master of divine energy into faithful followers.

They are distinct from the Elder Gods: They are one part Lovecraft's Outer Gods, one part Derleth's Elder Gods, and one part "New Gods from cultures so old their mythology has been broken and then forgotten" (or possibly "they were once New Gods, but now they have ascended to an even higher plane").

The Old Ways kind of lay off to one side of all this "god" business. The dragons -- particularly the Old Dragons -- are something else entirely. (And the modern teachings of the Old Ways are bastardized from that in any case.)

Feel free to extrapolate from this how you like and I'll add it your background info.

DUNGEONCRAWLING PROCEDURES

Next order of business, let's hash out some basic dungeoncrawling procedures. (This will speed up exploration portions of the 'crawl.)

(1) Marching Order. By default I'm assuming two people per rank and 5 feet between ranks unless you tell me otherwise. Who wants to be in which ranks? Generic responses like "in the front", "in the rear", or "in the middle" are also acceptable and we'll work out the details from there.

(2) Watch List. If you end up camping in the dungeon or outside, who's standing watch? Watches are 4 hours long unless you feel strongly about some other organization. I assume 2 watches of activity followed by 4 watches at night. So, effectively, given 4 watches who's on each watch?

(3) Party Caller? Do you want to make one person responsible for navigation decisions during exploratory parts of the adventure? If so, who? (Usually this would be someone in the front rank of the marching order.)

I've got the party's speed marked at 20 feet. Nobody's moving slower than that, right?

And I think that should do it, unless there are any other general "protocols" you want to establish. (For example, you could establish a protocol like "the group always stands 30 feet away from the guy opening a door in case it's trapped". Or "we tie ropes off to each other to prevent people from falling down pits". Or anything else of that nature.)

Quote from: Tanthius;600105I was under the impression that we would all give our actions for a round at once, then Justin would do out the rolls and mechanics. I assumed we would give a few conditional options: "I attack the nearest goblin" or "If all the archers are down when my turn comes up, I drink a healing potion. Otherwise, I throw another axe at an archer."

Yup, that's basically the plan: People send me their current tactical intentions (with greater or lesser degrees of specificity) and then I play out and resolve the combat until I reach a point where it feels like tactical intentions would be or could be changing. To start with, that'll probably default to resolving one full round.

It's been an efficient method for resolving combat for me in the past. If people can commit to checking the thread once per day, most combats can be resolved in under a week.

Marching Order: As one of our trackers, Ashur should be in front I think. When not riding him, Haddon should be behind him with the other squishies. Unless we want the heavily-armoured warrior-types in front?

Watch List: We'll grab last watch, unless anyone else feels strongly about it. Haddon is a morning spell-preparer, so it meshes well.

Party Caller: Winthrop perhaps, as our woodsman?