@Dragoknighte@rivaan@Remipa Awesome@Sigil@Arty Fox

Ladies and gentlemen, theys and inters, onlookers and participants alike; welcome to Thunderdome! Yes friends and associates, we are rolling into the wonder and mystery of unknown opponents of formidable strength, against which you would be wise to employ sound tactics. yes, these are new additions are similar to something in the basic Monster's Manual, but per usual, do not assume that the stat block will align. (I seem to recall an incident of this from a previous fight here that led to some confusion.)

To summarize, we are now entering Initiative Order. Please make your rolls in our Discord OOC Lounge and tag me there. Once a rotation has been established, posting rules change. To remind, the 7 day rule is temporarily suspended. When your character is up in the rotation, you have 48 hours to post or you will be skipped. Your character will automatically take the Dodge action, and we will move on. If you are skipped twice you are removed from the RP. At the end of your post, TAG THE NEXT PERSON. This process will continue until, however it ends, we drop out of Initiative Order.

I will post our Initiative Order here in the OOC Tab after everyone has rolled and then we can get underway. Best of luck to you all, and remember, this IS a winnable battle, but there ARE consequences for inaction and/or failure. It's time to roll some dice.

@Dragoknighte@rivaan@Remipa Awesome@Sigil@Arty Fox


Baronfjørd (23)
Guard 1 (22)
Marita (21)
Victoria (20)
Kathryn (18)
X2 (15)
Cavendish (13)
X1 (12)
Guard 2 (11)
Kosara (6)

And this means that we have officially moved into initiative order! Yay! This also means that Baronfjørd is up first, so... Your move. The post can be as elaborate as you need or as simple as a decent paragraph. Remember to put your rolls in the open in our Discord OOC Lounge, and also please remember to tag the next person in line. You have 48 hours from this post to finish up. Aaaaand GO!

@Sigil Actually figured I'd also tag you here since I messed up the tag in the IC. So yeah I posted, but forgot to tag you in the post.

@Dragoknighte@rivaan@Remipa Awesome@Sigil@Arty Fox

Edgelords and M'bladies, murderhoboes of all shapes and sizes, I wish to extend a warm and spiffy congratulations to you all, as we have officially LEFT INITIATIVE ORDER! It's been a little while since we've gone through this (about three months of a boss fight), so let's recap what this means:

Posting rules go back to regular cycles and characters have full range of action. Everyone's timers have been reset, and you all have seven days to get a post in.

Some of you are more damaged than others and resources are scarce. This is to be expected and might limit your viable options moving forward for the rest of the evening. However, now that things are either toast or missing with little chance of return, I feel comfortable explaining a few things for the curious, not that this is an exhaustive accounting of stat blocks or background that characters would not be able to access. In short, here's a glimpse, but there is a lot more:

The Rat Abominations were Flesh Golems, with a couple of caveats. First, as they were pieced together with fully hybridized wererat parts, they gained a flaw - Resistance to silvered weapons. Basically, a normal weapon, even a silvered one wouldn't do anything to a Flesh Golem, but these took half damage from them.

The Guards were standard wererats, but I gave them Rogue levels. Extra sneaky!

Cavendish himself was a wererat with Fighter (Champion) and Warlock (Tome) levels. He did not land a physical crit attack during the fights. Be very glad about this. I also gave him a couple of extra bonus abilities involving summoning and controlling rats.

NOW, to a little treasure business. Ordinarily I don't handle things this way, but I want a clear and fair distribution of the goodies this time around. So when you roll the Constable's body (or what remains of it), in addition to any mundane things that might come up from a search, specific items will find their way into specific hands:

Baronfjørd: Cavendish's shortsword slides right in front of you at the end, there.
Marita: The party Cleric finds a ring while pouring dust out of a glove
Victoria: Must content herself with a short stack of books she will find useful.
Kathryn: Has already claimed an item of noteworthy interest. Good for bonking.
Kosara: The Celestial Warlock remembers a pendant that she caught a glimpse of just before the fight started.

Per usual, tag me in Discord for rolls or judgement calls. We're headed back to RP portion of this and moving to chapter one's epilogue.

@Eviledd1984

I caught this earlier and am just now getting back to it.

For yourself or anyone else reading this with interest: Most anything you need to know is in the first post of the OOC. This is a generally good aligned series of adventures, and interested parties need to fill out the CS with rules provided. While I am taking applications, I might not necessarily bring in new characters immediately, as we are finishing an arc presently. New characters that enter play will have to do so within the framework of this setting.

Hope this helps you or anyone else peeking in for a moment.

@Dragoknighte@rivaan@Remipa Awesome@Sigil@Arty Fox

Ello ello, all. I am seeing some interesting bits of insight, some is accurate and some is ...less so... but all are valid and part of the D&D experience! If you're reading this, it means that the Update has been Updated, as fits my heathen proclivities. But getting to the story at hand:

What we've got now is a bit of a wrap-up. There are loose ends to tie up, things to get identified, rests to take, and people to check in on. To this end, if you all would, please discuss what you want to get done (that your characters can accomplish) or any other things that you want to look into. Splitting the party isn't out of the question, but just because the trees are thinning it doesn't mean you're out of the woods. Character to character discussion isn't out of the question, as always, and in fact might be beneficial in the short and/or long run. So please, discuss among yourselves in our Discord, hit me up for rolls and/or judgements, and let's get to some of these loose ends as expediently as possible, that we may proceed to the scene Epilogue and the horrifying, eye-puncturing setup for what comes next. When this arc comes closer to conclusion, I have things to distribute. Thanks!

@Dragoknighte@rivaan@Remipa Awesome@Sigil@Arty Fox

So yeah, that happened. First things first: Everyone has one additional day to post for this cycle. That out of the way, yah... Welcome to a more narrative experience. Have your characters react however they need to, request whatever roll you want in our Discord, and enjoy the semi-plot-relevant descriptors. If you did not intend for your characters to enter the Municipal Building or stay to one area, don't worry about it and just go with what is logical for him/her/they to experience.

Also, be thinking and discussing among yourselves how you're going to want to divvy up found items/treasure, if you're wanting anything. And of course, have in mind which direction to go next.

Thanks!

EDIT:
Kathryn's net didn't survive the onslaught of necrosis and death throes of the Constable. Just throwing that out there.

@Sigil

I'm sorry for the late response, if you do have a slot open please let me know. I have a neutral aligned character i had in mind.

@Dragoknighte@rivaan@Remipa Awesome@Sigil@Arty Fox

Due to matters discussed in our Discord, I need to go on a temporary hiatus from posting in roleplayerguild, among other things, before we can get into Acts Two and Three of the Avonshire campaign. Again, I apologize for the abruptness.

Before this, there are a few loose ends to tie off, starting with LOOT. We can assume that Victoria ritual casts Identify a few times and hands the items back in a timely fashion:

Baronfjørd: Cavendish's shortsword is, as descriptions imply, a Vicious Shortsword per standard rules.
Marita: The ring is a Ring of Protection +1, if we haven't all reverse searched the image yet.
Victoria: Her newfound books contain Ritual Spells, components, and spellcraft inks. Some of the rituals she can cast. There are also mundane but plot relevant writings to be revealed later.
Kathryn: Has acquired a Warhammer +1, Moontouched, which may have additional qualities to be discovered.
Kosara: The pendant functions as a Figurine of Wondrous Power, except that it summons a bright, very agreeable rat named Chauncy for two hours a day. I might increase that duration in time, depending on factors.

Sheriff Gregory will make good on his end of the bargain; 20 gold coins plus the special items requested individually. He will also offer (to the party as a whole) the wagon you borrowed to get to Avonshire and the draft mule pulling it, plus a stabling voucher honored within the realm.

Now, to leveling:

This has run far longer than I had expected, there is an abrupt cutoff, and now a hiatus before we continue so that I may get my personal affairs in order. So, EVERYONE GETS TWO MILESTONE LEVELS. Thank you for your patience, and here ya go.

I will remain reachable on our Discord. Please be in contact there with questions, concerns, help with character build, etc. I will still be there for the foreseeable.

Thank you also for coming along with me and helping tell this story. Act One is done, but we still have two more to go in the greater tale of Avonshire. When we return, I hope to see you all there.

In a show of gratitude, the last of a renowned family of Vintners have invited the victorious adventurers back to their estate to spend the coming winter in comfort. While they appear sincere, even lavish with their hospitality, they have yet to answer old questions, even as new mysteries - and possibly dangers - arise.

The Rose River Vineyard lays nestled in the heart of the Avonshire region, near the town of Southmoor, and produces some of the finest wines in the kingdom. The master of the estate has perished and his only direct living heir is too young to assume the responsibilities of family affairs. This detail, sadly, is the least of their difficulties.



Welcome back to Avonshire.

AND WE'RE BACK. There are a couple of things to get out of the way before I open the IC for new posts:

First off, I am opening the RP for one more player to join us, provided a fit can be found. Said player's character must abide by the rules as set in the initial post of this OOC. Second, the character must have a logical entry point and their presence must be believable, based upon setting and characters, PC and NPC alike. No dropping in your fire-tattooed mountain clan Half-Orc Berserker with ties to the great criminal enterprises of the islands of the Great Central Seas unless they have a hell of a reason to be in a (until recently) quiet and prosperous agricultural region in the heartland of a great Human and Halfling kingdom.

Secondly, due to the abbreviated rules concerning training, Kosara the Celestial Warlock gets a shiny new proficiency with "Vehicles (Land)", thanks to her studious observation and willingness to learn from our resident Bard. This is in addition to whatever else she has gained from the level-up.

And Third, as we get into Act 2, please detail in your first post how you spent the few days after the conclusion, work out any character interactions among yourselves, and let me know what interactions, if any, you need with named NPCs. Shopping goes by the PHB prices, as applicable. Let me know what you're getting before you make it official - I reserve the right to veto if I don't think this location will have the items in question. How did you acquire your new levels? Did you celebrate the victory? Mourn the dead? How did you train? Reflect upon your character's thoughts and actions during this time. But please make sure to end your initial post with your character en route to the Vineyard with the whole of the party.

One more point, and I cannot stress this enough - The setup for this part of the adventure, indeed all of the parts, is a bit railroady. These are the realities of forum RPGs, as opposed to usual TTRPG experiences. This Act takes place (mostly) in the Rose River Vineyard, estate, and lands around. Maybe a little in the small town of Southmoor, nearby. If your character doesn't accept the invitation to Winter in Wine Country, no problem. They will not be joining in on the adventure. Much like Curse of Strahd, you have to go to Barovia or the adventure doesn't happen.

Please, DO NOT POST IN THE IC UNTIL YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO START. When you have the go ahead, by all means, go ahead. Just remember to meet post minimums, though I doubt that this group will have a problem with that. Make sure to check with each other in our Discord before involving each others' characters in you posts. And above all, have fun with it.

Thank you very much for your patience while I got my migratory waterfowl in straight queues, and once again, WELCOME TO AVONSHIRE. Time to update those character sheets.

@rivaan@Shoe Thief@Sigil@Arty Fox

Well then! Here we all are; me writing this and you reading it, having just a big ol' time. It's been about a half a year or so since we've graced the shores of Avonshire with our presence, but if we ask our characters, did we ever really leave? Ah yes, the bonds of everlasting forum rpg-ing truly bring us together, in only the way that collaborative, slow paced, dice intensive storytelling can, no?

Okay, that mushy bit out of the way, those with approved updates to their CSs are free to post. Let's start this off easy, as we might be a hair rusty with our characters, so the first couple of updates are just going to be interaction. Remember, we are all on the road, en route to the Rose River Vineyard with Cecily L'Rose, her neice Lizbeth, and the rest of the party. Our Cleric is staying behind to assist with the aftermath.

And if another potential player wishes to put forward a CS for consideration (or an existing one resubmit), now is a nice slow part for it.

As a quick notation - alteration to character art or images will be allowed past the initial posting mark, so don't necessarily worry about having that done before you get back into the shenaniganry. So, Act 2, posting timer starts ...

NOW. Go get 'em.

@rivaan@Shoe Thief@Sigil@Arty Fox

If you're reading this, it means that the update has been posted. Of course, we knew this some twelve hours ago, and the reasons (as compelling as they are) were discussed in our warm and spiffy Discord. The short form being: Oops. But hey, it's not all bad! So let us look beyond the trivialities of when things happened as opposed to when they should have. Onward and upward, I say!

<ahem> The party had the opportunity to give themselves a group name and left it up to an NPC to fill in a temporary one, which in classic NPC fashion did so from their point of view and not the party's. Like when the media gets hold of a serial killer and gives them an almost tangentially appropriate name based upon only the evidence released to the general public by burned-out, borderline alcoholic investigators, but not quite. Maybe it'll stick. Maybe it'll grow on you. You know, like a rash or an unseemly bodily fungus. I don't know, I'm not a doctor.

But until that fungus corrupts your blood and takes over your brain, we've got an RPG to play! The journey continues south, past the more wooded and hilly areas and eventually into the moors of southern Avonshire. Think of a great expanse of mostly uncultivated land dominated by moss and bushes, with the occasional copse of trees to break up the monotony. The river which the road follows branches out in areas, making some of the lower land marshy, be it seasonally. Stick around the road and settlements, you'll be fine. Take this opportunity to roleplay a little before the fun begins proper. Discuss amongst yourselves. Ask pertinent, as of yet unaddressed questions of the available NPCs. And of course, above all, have fun.

Per usual, if you have any questions, need anything ruled upon, or just want to get a few rolls in for related actions, give me a nudge in our Discord and I'll get back at you as I am able. Huzzah!

@rivaan@Shoe Thief@Sigil@Arty Fox

Update is posted. Updated, even. We have survived the week, and that is spiffy enough to warrant a drink or three. As I've already started the celebration process, I shall leave it to you to catch up. But first:

To business!

If you wish to start a cookfire in the provided area, I'll need a skill roll: Survival, DC 15. In and of itself it isn't a difficult thing to do, but fuel must be foraged in a timely manner and the fire must be stoked to a point that cooking is practical. By that time it is more likely that people will be ready to leave, as the object was to get to the Vineyard before sundown. If one wishes to utilize magical means to get a fire going, you still have to gather fuel. But the DC lowers to 12. This represents ingenuity, quick action, and sharp eyes out on the moors in a place that has been picked through many times for burnable goods. (Many people in this position will carry fuel with them.)

For Baronfjord to take over the wagon, if he is inclined to do so, I will need an Intelligence check without Proficiency bonus. As the wagon is following another one and the road is obvious, the highly experienced mule will do more than half of the work for you. DC is 10. Does Baronfjord wish to learn the Vehicles (Land) proficiency over the course of this adventure? By house rules, if you're devoting repeated attempts to learn/use a tool proficiency, teachable skill, etc. and have someone/something that serves as a mentor and/or extenuating circumstances, you may pick up the tool, language, skill, ability, or whatever at completion of the Act. NOTE: Only one such piece of learning may be earned this way at a time. I will need to know ASAP if he IS taking over this one time, as it will influence Victoria's actions in the upcoming posts.

Oh yeah, and the mule you're talking smack about? Doesn't seem to mind, really.

Those bits of business aside, if you have any questions, concerns, calls for die rolls, or if you think I missed something, please be in touch in our Discord. Many thanks!

@rivaan@Shoe Thief@Sigil@Arty Fox

And here we are ladies and gents, and that interesting rainbow between. Work took me away from my drafting for far too long, but here's the update, all updated and spell checked for your perusal. So, let's get to it!

If Baronfjord wishes to take the wagon over as they had discussed, this round is a good time to get involved. The teacher in this scenario will attempt to get BB involved in several aspects of using a lannd vehicle, which involves hitching up animals, hobbling/unhobbling, getting started, etc., as opposed to just forking over the reins when it's time to go. Intelligence check without Proficiency bonus. DC is 12, and you have advantage as V is helping to begin with. Actually driving it, DC is also 12, but Dexterity instead of Intelligence.

There is time to finish a meal and get ready to leave before the other wagon overtakes the party's position. So long as no one suddenly finds other stuff they'd rather be doing that's a longer task, it's all good. Unless you can lure someone else into taking care of your stuff for you. So long as, at the end of your next post, the characters acknowledge the presence of the other wagon and the people surrounding it, you're good to go.

Per usual: questions, concerns, calls for die rolls, or if you think I missed something, please let me know in Discord. Huzzah!

@rivaan@Shoe Thief@Sigil@Arty Fox

So there's a little news with this update.

First off, I hope everyone had a warm and spiffy Mother's Day. Welcome back, and as we had a one-day hiatus, everyone gets an extra day in the rotation to post their minimum. Let the huzzahs rain about us like ...rain. Okay, I didn't think that last one through, but my point stands. Huzzah!

Secondly, as we're one PC shy of our usual number, I am ruling that, with every IC update, the one doesn't need to wait for two posts between your last one to post again. If you posted last or next to last before the update, feel free to go right ahead. Short form: IC Updates reset the two post rule.

Now back to the RP in general: The party has a choice in front of them. I've got stuff either way and your friendly neighborhood Bard isn't putting her word in unless there's a tie, so... Best of luck. Assume that the (now) caravan of three wagons are rolling along the road in the same direction you have been going so far. Mosswater has the lead, the L'Roses have the middle, and the Party's wagon brings up the rear. Baronfjord has his opportunity to drive the wagon now, with or without his teacher having to Save vs. Heart Attack at disadvantage.

Have fun!

@rivaan@Shoe Thief@Sigil@Arty Fox

Ladies, Gents, X-folk (with or without the superpowers, I'm good wither way), we find ourselves in the throes of another Update. And to them, I say, IT HAS BEEN UPDATED! I feel that Huzzahs are in order; and I say this with no shame. Whatsoever.

This update brings with it a new map, astute observers might have already noticed. It is sparce, even without my usual grid overlay. I'm going to attempt to show the map, and things upon it, as the party searches or makes appropriate checks. Maybe it'll stick, maybe it won't. We'll see.

The trip to this spot took up a chunk of the day in reasonably uneventful overland travel. If there is any downtime stuff to handle or pressing conversation, this post is a good time for it. So long as things end up at our location a little ways off the main road out in grain and sheep country, we're all good.

Per usual, hit me up in the Discord for questions, rolls, rulings, and the like. And remember: your characters are on a vacation (of sorts). Try to have fun with it.

(cue ominous noises)

@rivaan@Shoe Thief@Sigil@Arty Fox

Update has been updated, as befits the may of modern times. You will notice that it is remarkably short in comparison to most of my posts. This is by design. At any point in time, this can flip from Narrative to Initiative. But yet, there is a possibility to keep that from happening. All of this depends upon the actions taken by the party's individual members.

Nevertheless, all of the signs of some coming event are in play. Now you have to ask yourselves - Is this a trap? Is this an ambush? Is the perpetually grumpy Halfling and his more genial, personal, potentially very good friend's doing in some nefarious setup?

Regardless of what is going to happen, we all can guess that something indeed is going to happen. As such, here are the Out Of Character things you need to know:

- Looking at the map, the crossed bundles of straw are approximately five feet square. Use this to estimate your positions relative to one another and your surroundings.
- The fence around the field counts as one square of difficult terrain for counting movement. It is a rail fence and not designed to keep anyone out, so much as define a boundary.
- The mounds and depressions in the ground start about midpoint in the field from the road and spread unevenly to the right, disappearing under the thicker, untamped straw of harvested grain.
- The mound that Kathryn found (and is near to) is close to dead center.
- Please make an accounting as to the location of your characters on the map and let me know in Discord. If you need to download and put a mark on the existing map in the IC header, please do so.

SO! With all of that out of the way, provided an event is triggered I will put your character locations on the Initiative Map as best I can and we're going to roll with it. In the unlikely event of a peaceful evening out in the country, this shouldn't be an issue with any lasting consequences. Of course, hit me up in our Discord for questions, comments, rolls, or readings.

I wish you all and your investigation the best of luck.

(cue more ominous noises)

@rivaan@Shoe Thief@Sigil@Arty Fox

Welcome, one and all! This post kicks off the wonder and spiffiness of EPIC STABBING TIME. If you are not amazingly comfortable with stabbing, we can also offer packages including EPIC BLUDGEONING TIME, possibly something with EPIC BURNING TIME, or even a bit of EPIC MINDSHARTING TIME for those of us with illusion and/or psychic damage to distribute. In short, there are a multitude of EPIC packages for the connoisseur of planned encounter mischief. To wit, let's get the formalities out of the way:

To summarize, we are now entering Initiative Order. Please make your rolls in our Discord OOC Lounge and tag me there. Once a rotation has been established, posting rules change. To remind, the 7 day rule is temporarily suspended. When your character is up in the rotation, you have 48 hours to post or you will be skipped. Your character will automatically take the Dodge action, and we will move on. If you are skipped twice you are removed from the RP. At the end of your post, TAG THE NEXT PERSON. This process will continue until, however it ends, we drop out of Initiative Order.

I will post our Initiative Order here in the OOC Tab after everyone has rolled and then we can get underway. Best of luck to you all, and remember, this IS a winnable battle, but there ARE consequences for inaction and/or failure. It's time to roll some dice.
A note: Per usual, do not assume that the stat block will always align with the enemy I put in front of you. Or behind. Or underneath. You get the idea.

Now, just to get a few OOC things out of the way. (ahem)

As I'm sure this particular monster is known to many, if not all, of the people here (or the image can be reverse searched with minimal effort), I will go ahead and say that the use of Thaumaturgy to shake the ground when one suspects a creature with Tremorsense was a double-edged sword. They were hunting herd animals. Now their plan has changed. The one upside is that no one got surprised here, so there's that. The downside, well... best of luck.

Remember that the fence counts as five feet of difficult terrain as opposed to a full obstacle, and in your header remember to put the occupied grid coordinates down for your location. And as always, tag me in our Discord for rolls, questions, etc. And now, for Initiative! Huzzah!


(cue EVEN more ominous noises)

@rivaan@Shoe Thief@Sigil@Arty Fox


Baronfjørd (23)
Kathryn (19)
Kosara (17)
X1 (16)
Victoria (13)
X2 (8)
X3 (1)

^{(The following is a copy/paste from the Boss Fight from Act One. As it fits exactly, I'm not changing a thing.)}
And this means that we have officially moved into initiative order! Yay! This also means that Baronfjørd is up first, so... Your move. The post can be as elaborate as you need or as simple as a decent paragraph. Remember to put your rolls in the open in our Discord OOC Lounge, and also please remember to tag the next person in line. You have 48 hours from this post to finish up. Aaaaand GO!