RttToH: Chapter Four: From the Tomb, Into Shadow. (Game thread, ICC)

[nijineko]

{{{since andry is leaving, she will be taking the items that are personally useful, plus the items we cannot use; to use, or convert, or trade... however she sees fit.

the fact that these came from the tomb of horrors might be of use in 'boosting' the value, or at least ensuring full value for trade. come to think of it, at some point in the future, it might be worthwhile selling information about the tomb... but perhaps not until we manage to remove the necro-hazards at the very least. i'm also thinking it might be wise to flood the tomb with a bit of the runoff that pook is using to terraform the swamp.

some consideration must be given towards sectioning off the sphere of annihilation, and / or using it for a drain to control any excess of flood water in the tomb. also, if it is in fact a gate, and we can determine that fact for sure, then egress should also be considered, as well as controlling whatever the "least of the form" is... hmmm, another possible source of revenue, that. since i'm thinking that dust is the least possible size of a physical form (at least from a fantasy/symbolic macro-view), we should collect all that it is possible to do. i hope tina knows unseen servant, clean, or prestidigitation. we'll need suitable containers for them. maybe vials or some other stopper-able container. if the dust turns out to be the answer, mix it with some sovereign glue to ensure that we cannot lose it.

the death-gild is almost enough alone to foot the material costs of a true res. trading the opal for an equivalent amount of diamonds might be a more possible method of converting the opal. perhaps with an envoy from the elemental plane of earth. or with certain kinds of dragons, whom are known for valuing such gems. outsiders (preferably of the good persuasion) might also value such a gem, plus be able to marshal an equivalent value of diamonds. and be more willing than dragons might.... if we could find an outsider who is known to value opals in particular....

we must be sure to have andry take careful note of any family or relatives so that we can follow up on our former comrades. it might also be wise to only release the funds directly to whomever will be performing the raise attempt, so that we will be fulfilling our obligation to our comrades, and not simply providing a relative an easy out on a personal debt. andry, assuming her willingness, can be our agent in this regard, and we can repay her efforts in this regard with some additional task or quest on her behalf... assuming we survive.

gunther has received the oil of bless weapon, the cloak of the bat, the greataxe, and the longspear. also, looking towards his ac, we can use the remainder of his share to pick up the following: ring of force shield, amulet of natural armor +1, ring of protection +1, vest of resistance +1, a blueshine enchantment for his 'armor'-skin, and a least armor crystal of mind shielding. that will leave him with 135.5gp.

if everyone would like to chip in a small portion to boost the effectiveness of gunther's equipment... for another 6k either his amulet or ring can be increased to +2, the vest will cost 3k to achieve the same effect. for 4500? the crystal can boosted to lesser, for 9500 it can be made greater, with better protection for gunther versus mind-affecting things. path and prii can chip in 5k towards that.

regarding gunther, his awakening in the new form, rp or no? the gathering of the equipment will take a bit of time, as will the arrangements to transport them, even via teleporting. i am fine with a casual rp of the events i'm describing, up to you and mato. during all the clean-up and preparation for or next expedition might be a good time to intro mato's new characters.

i imagine that they will be met by pook shortly after they enter the region and are clearly heading towards the tomb area. he is likely to have various means of receiving warning of intruders set up as well. give me a chance to briefly roleplay the new him. might be fun, plus a good way to bring mato's characters up to speed. ^^

with the reworking of pook to a more suitable (and playable) form, he can remain on tap as a backup if need be, as well as safeguard our back. he can make use of the greater stoneshape to thoroughly entomb the necro-hazards, and set antipathy effects to ward away evil types while he is working. he will continue to rework the tomb entry area, reshaping the hill to be less identifiable, leveling the academy, and eventually the town as well, using the worked stone elsewhere to facilitate his terraforming. he will also be using omen of peril during the clean up to avoid anything too serious.


thoughts, comments, anyone?}}}

[Midnight]

A bit of role-playing:
Grunther wakes groggily in his new, massive body. He flounders around, breaking nearby furniture with his strength, and says in a strange, deep voice, "What happened? Not feeling so good."

<I assume the other PCs explain the bad news and good.>

Grunther cries for a while and says, "What do I do? People will hate me. I look like something horrible."

<After reassurance, he decides to continue adventuring.> "What else can I do? No one will want me here anyway. No one will even believe I'm still me."

<He does appreciate the new equipment and his new strength.>

Then the party continues.

[nijineko]

{{{what does the new body look like again? classic warforged? hollow suit of armor? or something else? i'm wondering what could be done to personalize his new body, or some other idea may occur to me....}}}

[Midnight]

The body is that of an oversized warforged: A humanoid body of alchemical flesh, sinew and steel, 8' tall and massively built. Bear in mind that warforged as such do not exist in this campaign world; the description of "warforged" is for the players, not the characters.

[nijineko]

we should pick up a glamoured enchantment on his armor-skin, so that he can make it look like clothing, that's fairly cheap too. (if i didn't already have that done...) we should also see if he has any house symbol or mark that refers specifically to him, and make sure that's permanently inscribed onto his armor-skin. i wonder if anyone has thought of the potential lifespan of a construct.... i'm for picking up a headband of intellect for gunther sometime too.

[nijineko]

out of curiosity, how far along has pook gotten in the time that the rest of the party has been down below? given that he 'is' a treant, and that he will have one to three treants assisting him depending on a number of factors, plus summoned nature's companions and/or elementals as needed for spot efforts, i imagine that he could have gotten fairly far along in the renovations. what sights greeted everyone when they climbed out of the tomb?

as i recall it, the first focus was clearing out all opposition, then the academy, followed by the town, and then surrounding landscaping. the amount of firepower that pook could come up with is somewhat scary, so i doubt that he will meet much resistance.

[Midnight]

A renovated landscape greets the party. The Black Academy has been restructured, open to the sky and airy. One sealed Necrohazard room remains. (The party encountered it earlier and decided not to open it. It contains some sort of necromantic hazard that even the necromancers were cautious of.) The necromancers have been completely cleared out, scattered to the winds rather than fight the overwhelming, victorious party. The town is starting to be more like a normal town.

Although corrupted by necromancy, the swamp was a natural swamp. So rather than drain or flood it, Pook and the others undertook to dredge it and properly dispose of the many hazards buried underneath. (They used their strength and many animated trees to dredge up the buried foulness underneath.) The various undead have been defeated, dead bodies properly buried (and with correct rights, thanks to Andree). The swamp is returning to its natural state; a few birds fly around.

About Grunther: There is no dragonmark. I repeat: I use "warforged" as a shorthand for "alchemically created living construct"; it has some of the abilities of what we think of as warforged, but there is no race of "warforged" as such; his body is a unique living construct.

[nijineko]

dragonmark? what dragonmark? i don't recall referring to any dragonmark. and i did get the "warforged-like" comment the first time... did i mention something that made you think otherwise? ^^

[Midnight]

You're right; what you said was "we should also see if he has any house symbol or mark that refers specifically to him, and make sure that's permanently inscribed onto his armor-skin". Somehow I misread that as indicating a dragonmark. No, he has no house or personal symbol. If someone cares to inscribe one, though, he would not complain.

[nijineko]

let's work with him to come up with one he likes (and is able to remember and write himself)

(as a side note, and just some thoughts on the matter, a druid might preserve or destroy a swamp depending on the nature of the swamp, how it came to be, and how it affects the environment. if this particular swamp functions as a filter for other watersheds, or as the original natural home for various plant and animal life, then preservation might be in order. if however, it was the influence of the college or town or tomb that caused the decay of previously existing marshlands into swamp or some other such similar condition, then destruction would be more harmonious with nature.

i'm not intending this as a suggestion that you change anything, just thinking about your description provoked some philosophical musings. stuff in the line of pruning plants to enable them to reach full growth, and pine forests reproduce best after a forest fire, not to mention the fertile properties of ash, and so forth. ^^)

i still think picking up an headband of intellect for Gunther would be a "smart" investment. ^^ at least bring him up to 10 if we have enough.

Pook will definitely send messages along to other members of the Verdant Grove, appraising them of the corruption and recent cleansing, the scattering of the polluting and nature-corrupting necromancers, and the need for guardians, or at least observers to ward against any regathering. he will likely also indicate the need for an heirophant and/or planar-based druid/ranger to help with something(s) (unspecified) unnatural to this plane and natural settings.

those who do not have means of sustaining themselves magically will need to restock supplies. {{{i'll make a series of survival checks after a while...}}} and it might be wise for everyone to stock up anyway... never know when something unexpected will happen.

are there any other sources of funds that remain untapped? i wonder how much the seer would pay for the tomb's location.... ^^ or perhaps for the story of it all. but not until we have it all set up correctly.

[Midnight]

The swamp is natural. R.e. Grunther: He chooses a stylized left hand, symbolizing what he lost in the Tomb and regained thanks to you.

Grunther's Int is 6, so a +4 headband would bring him up to 10. Can the group afford it? Figure out the finances. Or Grunther can rework his treasure share to include it.

You can resupply with normal food, etc. easily enough at a city not too far away. Remember that you were warned to be prepared for cold. You don't need to be too specific about supplies--Grunther has a bag of holding, after all. Just mention how much food, etc. each person has.

The seer might be interested in the Tomb's location, but it's not worth THAT much to him--a few hundred GP, perhaps--say 200.

[nijineko]

path and prii can contribute 5k towards enhancing someone else's equipment-such as the headband for gunther (though, now that i think about it, some of that might have to go towards food, actually). i'm not sure what everyone else's starting totals were, nor what additional equipment they might have purchased with their remaining left-over treasure share, so i don't know what their final totals were either. ^^

i think as npcs, they fall into your purview, but if you want me to spend the left overs for the npcs on equipment and such, i can go ahead and do so.

[Midnight]

I was checking with you because Grunther is not competent to make his own choices r.e. equipment. I don't know what I was thinking about the cost; of course it should come out of his share.

[nijineko]

oh, well, then we should get the +4, and then he should be capable of making more informed choices... theoretically. perhaps some coaching, and since his style is pretty much hack and slash and don't worry about the little stuff, we should tailor his equipment to his reflexes, regardless of his intellect, at least at first.

[matosapanajin]

i like that idea with the divination thing, and possibly for helping understand the clue of least form