Deadwatch Embers - OOC Thread

[-J-]

Ok - not too sure of the set up but here are my goals. I want to make sure that when the creature turns to look at me he's not looking at Heulwen, i'd also like to position my self so that if i miss i'm not going to stick one of the chicks (that would be awkward....) So whatever combination of move/attack will get me that is super. Hopefully it will take it a round to get to me, but i don't think i'm that lucky.

Numbers and stuff -
Offensive tactics - +1 to hit, for a total of +6 to hit...maybe a super ninja strike bonus if the Dread Lord on High is feeling beneficent :) - and a mighty 1d4+3 dam

[Gralhruk]

Oh, truly, I suck. If there is a wrong choice to be made, then I seem to manage it. Sorry you guys are by yourselves :(.

Nice posts though :).

[-J-]

meh no worries - I'm sure Heulwen will make it ;)

[Kelemyn]

I should've said something earlier, but I'm going to be away from the boards until after Christmas. It's just a hectic time of year for me.

If anybody has the time, by the way, it would help me out a lot to go over what Aleina's group learned about the crazy cleric that lives in the woods here. I don't remember much about it anymore.

Happy holidays everyone!

[Cadrius]

J and BP - Your updates are fresh off the conveyor belt.

Kel - No worries.

Gral - Get your damn posting solution in place.

I have some time off over the holidays to travel home, but I'll be bringing my laptop with me in case any updates need writing. For those that will be occupied for the next while--enjoy! I hope you all are able to spend your time in a happy place.

[-J-]

Cad I sent you a PM about my next post

[Gralhruk]

Sorry guys. Things are crazy. I'll be around after the holidays.

[Cadrius]

I love Heulwen's pragmatism. Updates will be arriving shortly.

[Black Plauge]

Pragmatics tend to live longer than dreamers.

[-J-]

True but they're seldom remembered

[Black Plauge]

Being wanted and being remembered are seldom a good combination.

[Cadrius]

Hooray. Gral has posted. I'm brewing the responses as we speak.

[Gralhruk]

Hey, it only took me two months.

[Gralhruk]

Sorry Kel.
What, no sorry for me?

[Kelemyn]

Oh Cadrius, I hope you saved that post! I should have told you that you didn't need to delete it. I'm pretty sure it could've been fixed.

And sorry I didn't notice before now.

I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do, by the way, just haven't had time to get back with you.

[Cadrius]

No "sorry" for you, Gral, you fiend!

And no worries, Kel. I keep all of my posts saved in various word docs. I'm just awaiting the background details so I can clean up the beginning of it.

[Gralhruk]

Foiled again!

[Kelemyn]

Uh, background details... Right. I'll get right on that!

[itches]

Aswad, Heulwen

He lends his shoulder to the borderline comatose woman, and when that proves insufficient, he lends his back. Weak fingers clutch at Aswad’s dirty tunic. His beard itches, the black stubble coarse on his neck, and he catches Heulwen’s eyes light upon the scars and calluses on his hands.

Hey, stop using my name in vain.

[Black Plauge]

Considering all uses of your name are in vain...

[Cadrius]

Too weary to speak, Aswad simply stares across the waving field of corn toward the barn. A brief gust makes the broad leaves hiss like the surf. Standing at the edge of the golden green ocean of waving stalks Aswad drinks in the breeze. The wind is cool and damp and pure. For a brief moment the Sarcosan's universe consists only of the wind, the sound of singing corn and the cool drops of water from overhanging branches.

The girl draped across his back stirs, and he can feel that brief taste tranquility turning sour. The farmers would not be able to handle the Fell, if they could he wouldn't be standing in the woods with one of their daughters slung across his back like some prize buck. He glances over at Heulwen and Cytaill. They had already done more for these strangers than could have been expected.

That left him. The image of the blackened undead snapping the goblin's neck flashes across him mind, and he can feel his guts turning cold.

Beautiful and bleak. Nice job.

[itches]

If you like it so much quote it (http://online-roleplaying.com/forums/showthread.php?p=297095#post297095)!

[Cadrius]

If you like it so much quote it (http://online-roleplaying.com/forums/showthread.php?p=297095#post297095)!

What's hilarious is that your link points back to this thread.

But your point remains the same. I'll get right on that.

[itches]

Wow that's epic failure right there. I'm off to commit seppuku.

[-J-]

I'll be your second itches ;)

[-J-]

and thanks =)

[Cadrius]

Kel, Gral - The post has been restored. Have at it.

[Cadrius]

and thanks =)

You're welcome. I don't give props nearly enough to the players of this game, so you all should expect to see more recognition in that thread.

[Cadrius]

Two out of three updates are done. Give me a little bit and I'll be caught up again.

[Cadrius]

Ah, caught up.

As someone who grew up with two labs that I loved dearly it always kills me when something bad happens to Cytaill.

[Kelemyn]

Darn it, Gral! We're missing all the pumpkin-flinging action!

http://smilies.vidahost.com/contrib/Bizkit/pumpking.gif

[Gralhruk]

It's like the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but with more orcs and less horses.

[-J-]

Nicely done btw cad. Aswad gets some farmer's daughter action...the halfling gets a flaming pumpkin...seems fair to me =)

[Cadrius]

I'm just glad it didn't get too many eye-rolls.

[Kelemyn]

Oh no way! I loved the pumpkin head the first time Aashya saw him and got creeped out by him. :)

[-J-]

i agree - its got a very gothic feel which is always cool.

[itches]

Hey, J was trying to peek behind the DM-screen! I caught him red handed! :devious:

http://star.walagata.com/w/itches/peek.PNG

[-J-]

lol - yeah. I clicked on it not even looking across to the "Private". I just saw "A place for the rest of the cast" and for some strange reason thought that it was for past characters.

[Cadrius]

You're half-right. I moved the old characters there, but also use it as a place for NPCs, critters, and dice rolls.

[Gralhruk]

So, do I have any inkling what the stuff in the vial is? Knowledge checks / Augury / whatever I have to try and figure it out. Where the hell is Lyr when you need him?

[-J-]

it where he hides his WEEEEEED man

[Cadrius]

I hear the Miraleen has all the good stuff.

[Kelemyn]

Just wondering... should we hold our posts so as not to interrupt the flow of the combat in progress?

[Black Plauge]

Well, with Cadrius' rate of updating, that would mean you could safely take the next few months off. Planning a major vacation?

[Gralhruk]

Baiting the DM whilst in the midst of combat is perhaps unwise.

[Cadrius]

I thought about suggesting a preference for quality over quantity, but that wouldn't be true.

Post away. I'm being more vigilant about updating. Two weeks between posts is, unfortunately, a dramatic improvement for this game.

[Cadrius]

So, do I have any inkling what the stuff in the vial is? Knowledge checks / Augury / whatever I have to try and figure it out. Where the hell is Lyr when you need him?

It's Grrrrrrrrrrrral!

Sorry, bad joke.

G-man, check the Gdoc.

[-J-]

sorry for the delay- i'll try to get something up tomorrow

[Cadrius]

I'm back from my ever so brief vacation to the sunshine state. Updates will be brewing shortly.

[Black Plauge]

Wound Points, that's the one that's tough to heal right?

[Cadrius]

Ack! Typo. That's supposed to be Vitality (the not-hard-to-heal points).

[Black Plauge]

Ah, okay. That changes things a bit.

[Black Plauge]

Is the scarecrow still within charge range?

[Cadrius]

Yep, it sure is.

[-J-]

if Aswad becomes aware of the scarecrow he will move to intercept.

[Gralhruk]

Watch out for the cowardly lion. That bastard won't scruple to stab you in the back.

[Kelemyn]

So all of us in Aleina's group will be looking around to see if we can pick up the trail again. Aashya will also be looking for signs of disturbed earth.

Hey, I was kind of hoping that Aleina would disregard Aashya's advice and keep that vial. It's hard not to think of it as treasure even if it's sure to cause more trouble than it's worth!

[Dirigible]

The real treasure is giving Cadrius one less in-game excuse to torture the characters :)

[Cadrius]

It's like you're inside my head.

More updates coming, folks.

[Kelemyn]

For some reason I read this line as:
Once again she finds its golden nuts...
which really cracked me up! :fun:

[Gralhruk]

Especially with a halfling . . . :).

[Cadrius]

I can't believe I wasn't the first one to see a potential testicle joke. I must be slipping.

Updates have percolated. I'm going to give 'em an edit tomorrow and then get them up. I'm eager to see how Aleina and Aashya react to this one.

[Gralhruk]

Excellent as usual, Cad. I fear I am more confused than ever, though :).

[Cadrius]

That's half the fun.

All will become clear. Or not.

[Gralhruk]

So, Knowledge(Arcana) at +8, Spellcraft at +9, and Knowledge(Nature) at +10.

[-J-]

Meh - lets just find and and gank him so Aswad can get back to the ladies...

[-J-]

So BP is Heulwen by the rain barrel, or did she head for the well? I imagine that the rain barrel would be at least a bit more secluded than the well

[-J-]

The folded bit of leather has 20 of the best arrow heads Aswad can make sewn into it.

[-J-]

Aswad is going to go back to the area the we encountered the Fell and begin to search for it (trying to do so quietly so he can get the drop on the thing).

[Cadrius]

Alas, poor Aswad, I knew him well.

Or not at all.

Updates are percolating as we speak. Expect some freshly brewed posts in the not-too-distant future.

[Cadrius]

Sorry for the delays, y'all. Had to deal with some life stuff. Will resume the good fight shortly.

[-J-]

No worries =)

[-J-]

I forgot to say that i hope everything turns out alright =)

[Kelemyn]

I was trying to figure out if we made a thorough search in an effort to pick up the trail that we followed out here in the first place. I can see where Aleina suggested that we search the perimeter. But I think before we actually got around to doing any serching, Soradur (??) found the scarecrows.

So I guess what I'm asking is - do we need to search for the trail or have we determined that the trail has been lost?

[Cadrius]

Rhotha'ah discovered the trail that lead to the hangman's tree.

(Here's how I pictured it)

http://www.theemergingbutterfly.com/OAK%20TREE.JPG

I don't recall a search for any other trails. But I can make the next post go in that direction.

After I write updates for the Odd Couple, of course. :)

[Gralhruk]

Well, we followed a trail to get here - we thought it from was a girl with blond hair. We found this place instead. When the crazy hermit wasn't home and Aleina proved a poor detective, I decided that maybe we should just keep looking for the girl, so I said something like "We search the perimiter of the clearing for some continuation of the trail we followed to get here". Rhothzilla found the scarecrows. I guess we might as well take a look around the clearing and see if we find any trail leading away from this spot before we go back and look for the original trail. If that makes sense.

[Cadrius]

Happy Assyrian New Year...or April Fool's Day for the non-Assyrians here.

[Cadrius]

J - Aswad has yet to be seen and possesses the element of surprise.

[-J-]

Sweet!

[Gralhruk]

Aswad has yet to be seen and
possesses the element of surprise.
Of course, the same could be said of the other five Fell.

[Cadrius]

Other five? That's an optimistically low number.

[-J-]

Sorry i've been dragging my feet - i've been wicked sick for about the last week and a half. I'll try to get something cogent together this week

[-J-]

Iacta alea est

So for tactics...If he wins initiative in a round he will hold his action until the creature gets into melee range then strike with improved trip - if that hits he gets an immediate follow up attack against the prone foe. He'll then stay and threaten the creature's hex - its a move equivalent to get up and it provokes an attack of opportunity (which he'll take and for his attack he'll use improved trip to keep the thing prone)

If he looses initiative he'll try to maneuver to get some cover and use combat expertise to give himself a +2 to AC (lowering his subsequent attack by 2).

Improved trip - +7 to hit (+1 from steel blooded) Only need to succeed with a melee touch attack in order to initiate trip. Aswad has a +7 to the contested Str roll (+3 from strength, +4 from improved trip)

Attack - +6 to hit 1d6+4 damage (Fell is at -4 AC and Attack when prone)

[Cadrius]

Hey y'all. I haven't forgotten about you. Updates will be coming forthwith.

[Cadrius]

I use "fey" in that last post not to indicate the presence of a supernatural being but in the definition "doomed; fated to die."

[-J-]

I LIVE! ....

now what? um...lather rinse repeat?

[Gralhruk]

It's nice to know the Fell have a sense of humour.

[-J-]

I will continue as above - trying to keep the fell on the ground to minimize his ability to punch in my face.

[Gralhruk]

Aleina is keeping an eye out for tracks, traps, malevolent undead, and anything else that might be of interest. If she makes it inside, she'll search and try not to get herself killed.

[Kelemyn]

I know I ought to do an IC post here but I've just been so busy. I'll try to get something posted today or tomorrow. (But if Cad gets around to posting sooner than that, it's fine. Aashya plans to precede Aleina into the shack this time.)

[Cadrius]

I've got a steaming pot of updates brewing right now.

[-J-]

sweet!

[Gralhruk]

Savory!

[Kelemyn]

Umami!

[Black Plauge]

Spicy!

[Dirigible]

Knowing Cadrius, bitter.

[Cadrius]

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said: "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter-bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."

-- Stephen Crane



More to follow.

[-J-]

Love that poem!

Anyway - enough of this whole "playing things smart" crap. The lion's son is going to go out swinging.

Full melee - TWC with steelblooded on the first strike

+5/+4 to hit, 1d6+4/1d6+1 damage

[Kelemyn]

Blue silk? That must be a rare sight! What type of person does Aashya think would wear silk?

[Cadrius]

Blue silk? That must be a rare sight! What type of person does Aashya think would wear silk?


Given Aashya's condition, the only silk she likely recalls seeing was the occasional rare bolt shipped or smuggled by the gnomes. Its practicality in the Westerlands is virtually nil, but the Sarcosan nobility of the south still like to masquerade as royals.

[Black Plauge]

Fey? Did you perhaps mean Fell?

In any event, unless something happens to stop her, Heulwen will continue to follow Aswad's tracks until she finds him.

[Cadrius]

No, I meant fey, but not in the classical D&D sense of the word.

BP and J are up next in the updates. Should be done shortly.

[-J-]

Alas...poor Aswad. I knew him Horatio...

[Gralhruk]

I hear life as a charred, lusty fell isn't so bad. Of course I hear that from this guy (http://online-roleplaying.com/forums/showpost.php?p=57996&postcount=44).

[Gralhruk]

So, not that things are moving terribly quickly but I'm leaving for vacation soon and I won't be back until August 10th.

[-J-]

I live!

Although i don't know how Aswad feels about being rescued by a little girl who one-shotted the thing I spent tens of seconds beating on...

[Gralhruk]

How about "grateful"? :)

[-J-]

Oh come on... where's the angst in that?

[Kelemyn]

AND the little girl slaps him! That's... awesome. ;)

[Black Plauge]

Little girl... Hmmph!

Heulwen may be the oldest PC left (Alenia's age isn't on her character sheet).

[-J-]

well...you ARE little....and you ARE a girl. ;)

[-J-]

When you get a sec Cad i'll need to know how many (or how few) WP/VP I have. Right now i'm assuming that i'm barely conscious.

[Cadrius]

Welcome, Cadrius.
You last visited: 28th of August, 2008 at 23:01


That speaks volumes.

My friends, it's about time that I pulled the plug on Deadwatch. I do this with a heavy heart, but it's all too apparent that I can't do justice to your efforts or the game as a whole when we go months without any updates. It is for no lack of desire, and certainly for no lack of respect for each of you, but it is instead something that seems to be beyond my ability at this time.

I've come to love each of the personalities you've played. They have breathed life into this bleak world, and I'll miss each of them: Lyr, Aleina, Feyd, Aashya, Aswad, Heulwen, Rhotha'ah, Dun, and even Elennir. It has truly been a privilege to work with each of you--I cannot say this enough. I feel blessed to have had the caliber of colleagues to work with on this story, and I grieve for having to let Deadwatch slip into the dark, but it's the right decision. By no means is this an indicator that I'm retiring from the ORC, it's just the realization that I don't have what it takes to run a game right now.

I could wax philosophic about how this came to be and what I need to change, but I'll keep it short.

You all have been fantastic, and I could not have wished for a better set of players. Thank you for all of your effort and patience. If there are any loose ends about the story you'd like to know about, feel free to ask.

[Gralhruk]

Now cracks a noble heart . . .

I suppose I can't say I didn't have a feeling it was coming, but I am greatly saddened nonetheless. Cad, it was a great game - in no small part due to the effort you put into each and every post. I've loved playing in this game with all of you.

Now I'm going get drunk and sing "Somewhere over the rainbow".

[Black Plauge]

If only time was a salable commodity.

[Dirigible]

Khaaaaaaaaan!

This may have come up in-game, but I've only been skimming since I left... whatever happened to Lyr? Was he eaten by Fell? He was eaten by Fell, wasn't he? They just yummed up his tenders. Made sweetmeats of his sweetbreads. Made vittles of his vitals. Didn't they? Didn't they?!

[-J-]

Now I'm sad. Its like a dark, angst-filled part of my soul is just...gone

=(

[Kelemyn]

I'm sorry to see the game end also.

Um, there are a ton of loose ends that I'd like to know about. Where do I start? I think you should just explain everything to us. Start with the Pumpkin Heads. :)

[Gralhruk]

Yeah, there's a bunch of stuff I'm curious about: Lucien, the Hound, Soradur's connection to Aashya, the mystery of Dura Aben, Lyr, the crazy hermit we've been tracking, the charred Fell . . .

And that's just what I can remember off the top of my head.

[Kelemyn]

Geez, I'd almost forgotten about the Hound. Yes, I think that Cad should just write out the whole story from beginning to end for us. We want ALL the details. That won't be a problem, will it? ;)

[Black Plauge]

Only if we want it any time soon.

[Cadrius]

The Charred Fell

Loruk's retelling was mostly accurate. A number of townsmen were cuckolded by a legate years earlier during the mysterious construction of a church within the middle of the woods. The men of Fairbrook rose up against him and were cursed with the legate's dying breath. As they died in the fire that gutted and ruined the church, they rose again as scorched, lecherous fell. Their torment was to roam the forest, looking for brides for the fallen legate.


What Happened to Lyr

Lyr set off into the forest to find Aleina and the others to spread word of what he'd found in the barn. Along the way he met someone else though. Someone beautiful, far too beautiful to be of this world. She made even Aleina look like a plain farmhand.

The magic pulsing through her veins struck a chord that reverberated through his soul. It fueled a yearning that left him powerless. Without a second thought he followed her deeper into the woods.


Dura Abben

Dura never made it beyond Fairbrook. He rose one night, still feeling as if a dream, and walked beneath the shadowy boughs. It was there that he met Lyr's enchantress. He listened to her web of lies and sweet promises and abandoned his wife and son. His shack, or what remains of it, still stands.


More to follow.

[Cadrius]

The Woman of the Woods

Her name is Belle and she has spent the last several thousand years growing increasingly mad. Izrador's fall poisoned the land and it affects those that are most closely connected to it first.

For a long time she had been content luring young men into the depths with sweet words and fluttering lashes. She murdered each of them. Some hanged, some drowned, some had their throats cut.

This all changed with the charred fell. They let her punish the humans in new ways.

Pumpkin Head

A magic construct created by Belle to spy upon the village. She is loathe to leave the boughs of her home these days. Possesses a crude, but cunning, intellect and delights in fire.

The Hanged Figures

Cude representations of the characters created by Dura Abben.