Greppa of Tartwater
First Post
Seasong, Orc fan
I can attest to that, he actually roots for them when we fight.
I can attest to that, he actually roots for them when we fight.
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seasong's Light Against The Dark II (May 13)
- Thread starter seasong
- Start date
Greppa of Tartwater
First Post
Chatham
Hello Peskara and welcome to the party.
Greppa's hoping that Chatham makes a comeback too, but that's because he has more...um...ulterior motives on his physique. But, unfortunately since Greppa has a habit for becoming infactuated with the unhealthily unatainable, my instincts tell me that the orc bard's resurfacing may come under less than happy circumstances.
Oh the pending drama!
Hello Peskara and welcome to the party.
Greppa's hoping that Chatham makes a comeback too, but that's because he has more...um...ulterior motives on his physique. But, unfortunately since Greppa has a habit for becoming infactuated with the unhealthily unatainable, my instincts tell me that the orc bard's resurfacing may come under less than happy circumstances.
Oh the pending drama!
seasong
First Post
Re: Seasong, Orc fan
On another note, WotC updated the official SRD on the 13th, and they took out mind flayers and beholders... both of which are the extradimensional "crisis threats" of my world. I've discussed the issue with my players and, since I am releasing all of my house rules and whatnot under OGL on the website, I decided to drop them from the world and replace them with new threats - a very different kind of eye tyrant (you'll see
) and a sentient ooze lord type of thing.
I have to. If I don't, who will?Greppa of Tartwater said:
On another note, WotC updated the official SRD on the 13th, and they took out mind flayers and beholders... both of which are the extradimensional "crisis threats" of my world. I've discussed the issue with my players and, since I am releasing all of my house rules and whatnot under OGL on the website, I decided to drop them from the world and replace them with new threats - a very different kind of eye tyrant (you'll see
) and a sentient ooze lord type of thing.
seasong
First Post
Those who have read the website may have noticed the beholders and mindflayers in the Races section. When I put the world together, WotC's "gentleman's version" of the System Reference Document included them... but with the understanding that things might be changed or removed. Use At Own Risk, right?
So I risked it, and used them. Now that the official SRD has been updated, however, they (along with the yuan-ti, carrion crawlers and a few others) are no longer available. That's fine - I understood
.
It does mean that I need to start working on alternatives, however, and this is the first part of that. The below is a patch for the website (which I will update as soon as I get a chance). Please replace the extradimensional races with these - instead of mindflayers, there are now eye tyrants (not the beholder kind); instead of beholders, there are now ooze lords; and the spiderkin remain.
Now back to your regularly schedule waiting for the story!
Extradimensional Threats
There exist at least three distinct "shadow worlds" which occasionally connect or interact with this one, and all are horrible. The primary known races of each are the eye tyrants, the spiderkin, and the ooze lords. Fortunately, they interact with each other about as often, and are weakened by their wars with each other. Each generally seeks to conquer all others, and many heroes have been made (and killed) in defeating their plans. Of course, humanity has had its own share of would be world conquerors who desired to take their worlds.
Eye Tyrants: Eye tyrants are humanoids named for the eyes all over their skull which, chameleon-like, dart in all directions. They have moist, amphibious flesh of dark and muted colors, are taller and far more slender than humans, and possess long fingers with which they are very clever. With a hood, skilled disguise, and very little light or closeness, they could likely pass for a particularly ugly human. Eye tyrants are known as powerful espers, and are one of the reasons that espers are mistrusted - not that a Theralis esper would ever work with eye tyrants, but the history of the eye tyrants shows just how the powers can be abused. Eye tyrants are cold and calculating, and seem to base their society on their strength as espers.
Spiderkin: Spiderkin are mostly humanoid, but vary from individual to individual. They can roughly be classified into four groups: completely humanoid (with minor arachnid traits), half humanoid-half arachnid, completely arachnid (with minor humanoid traits), and shapeshifters (who slip between the different categories). Spiderkin society is a loose coalition of inequality, broken up by family "houses" and full of treacherous political currents. In their humanoid form, the spiderkin resemble beautiful youths with patterned skin coloration and solid black eyes.
Ooze Lords: The ooze lords are not humanoid at all, but are instead massive pools of sentient slime, molds, oozes, algae and other "community entities". Most theories point to the ooze lords being spiritual entities which possess community systems of sufficient size and complexity, but there are no hard facts. Ooze lords operate in rough clans, with one particularly powerful, large and charismatic one attracting a number of lesser ooze lords around itself - they become a threat when the strong, charismatic ooze lord fancies some new territory in our world.
So I risked it, and used them. Now that the official SRD has been updated, however, they (along with the yuan-ti, carrion crawlers and a few others) are no longer available. That's fine - I understood
.It does mean that I need to start working on alternatives, however, and this is the first part of that. The below is a patch for the website (which I will update as soon as I get a chance). Please replace the extradimensional races with these - instead of mindflayers, there are now eye tyrants (not the beholder kind
); instead of beholders, there are now ooze lords; and the spiderkin remain.Now back to your regularly schedule waiting for the story!
Extradimensional Threats
There exist at least three distinct "shadow worlds" which occasionally connect or interact with this one, and all are horrible. The primary known races of each are the eye tyrants, the spiderkin, and the ooze lords. Fortunately, they interact with each other about as often, and are weakened by their wars with each other. Each generally seeks to conquer all others, and many heroes have been made (and killed) in defeating their plans. Of course, humanity has had its own share of would be world conquerors who desired to take their worlds.
Eye Tyrants: Eye tyrants are humanoids named for the eyes all over their skull which, chameleon-like, dart in all directions. They have moist, amphibious flesh of dark and muted colors, are taller and far more slender than humans, and possess long fingers with which they are very clever. With a hood, skilled disguise, and very little light or closeness, they could likely pass for a particularly ugly human. Eye tyrants are known as powerful espers, and are one of the reasons that espers are mistrusted - not that a Theralis esper would ever work with eye tyrants, but the history of the eye tyrants shows just how the powers can be abused. Eye tyrants are cold and calculating, and seem to base their society on their strength as espers.
Spiderkin: Spiderkin are mostly humanoid, but vary from individual to individual. They can roughly be classified into four groups: completely humanoid (with minor arachnid traits), half humanoid-half arachnid, completely arachnid (with minor humanoid traits), and shapeshifters (who slip between the different categories). Spiderkin society is a loose coalition of inequality, broken up by family "houses" and full of treacherous political currents. In their humanoid form, the spiderkin resemble beautiful youths with patterned skin coloration and solid black eyes.
Ooze Lords: The ooze lords are not humanoid at all, but are instead massive pools of sentient slime, molds, oozes, algae and other "community entities". Most theories point to the ooze lords being spiritual entities which possess community systems of sufficient size and complexity, but there are no hard facts. Ooze lords operate in rough clans, with one particularly powerful, large and charismatic one attracting a number of lesser ooze lords around itself - they become a threat when the strong, charismatic ooze lord fancies some new territory in our world.
seasong
First Post
Early Winter in Aglaonis
Once in Aglaonis, the group split up. Greppa needed to go through the library and mark out a better map to get to the hidden valley (as well as confirm what possible threats might be faced there); Athan wanted to chat up the local breweries, and introduce Arkos and Kyliados to beer; and Merideth wanted to talk with a local esper she'd been referred to. Athan managed to get a reference to a fur trapper who knew where the valley was and could lead them to it, and, after Greppa made a few last inquiries at the book repository, they got together to discuss it.
Greppa had the first question, "Will he want to know what we're doing out there?"
Athan grinned, "As long as it's not in his trapping zones, I don't think he'll care."
Merideth nodded, "Besides, we're adventurers. We'll just let him assume we're out there because we're crazy."
The trapper turned out to be a fur-wearing misanthrope who overcharged and disappeared as soon as they got there. Fears of questions or jumping their reward for finding the mine were quickly allayed... now the trouble was simply finding it.
The valley was a mile and a half long, a mere crevice in the mountains that housed it, and Greppa was fairly certain it was supposed to be on the northern slopes... but that was still almost a square mile of land to go over and try to find a small opening or evidence of the mine's location.
Ultimately, they decided to sleep on it. Greppa summoned a mud doll to watch over them, and everyone settled into sleep...
...and it was almost dawn when the mud doll began to wail, its voice pitching up and up, and as the grabbed spears and half-sat, looking around, an answering roar matched the mud doll's tone. It was a massive creature, easily three man-lengths long without the tail, a pair of huge wings, and a thick, ruffed neck. Lizard-like, but built more like a large-legged bird, its slate grey skin blended into the darkness.
It was a wyvern, and it was taking some serious offense to the mud doll. As they watched it, it attempted to bite, then stab with its spiked tail - the doll simply reformed and continued wailing. Finally, Greppa told it to hush... and the wyvern looked up at them.
Greppa at least knew what this thing was - a flying reptile that preyed on large herbivores and occasionally fought with armorcats for territory. Its tail spike contained a deadly venom, it hide was said to be as thick and tough as iron shields, and its bite was said to crush bones with ease. The only real weakness it had was that it was a clumsy flyer, due to the weight of its hide and oversized legs...
It seemed to be sizing them up, so Greppa took the opportunity to summon up a magical shield, and say, quietly, "Look out for its tail. Poison."
Then everything seemed to happen at once. The creature's tail darted at Greppa's face as he was casting, Athan and the Keraunesti hurled their secondary spears and barely nicked its hide, and Merideth began moving in from the side, trying to get close without provoking an attack.
The creature ignored the others - it focused entirely on the spell caster, biting and stabbing at Greppa. He began a more powerful spell, and yelled, "Retreat! I'll hold it!"
He intended to fly as soon as the others were clear, of course, but no one knew that - they just knew the caster was damned stupid. No one ran.
Then, three spears thunked into its hide from close-in, hard; Greppa unleashed his newest spell, sun bolts; and Merideth managed to unleash her worst life-damaging energies simultaneously. As spears pierced its hide, and brightly glowing missiles streaked through its wings and flesh to burn into the mountain behind it, and green lightning crackled along its ribs, the wyvern yelped, twisted, and took off into flight. They hadn't even seriously injured it, but they'd caused enough pain for it to retreat.
No one slept after that.
Once in Aglaonis, the group split up. Greppa needed to go through the library and mark out a better map to get to the hidden valley (as well as confirm what possible threats might be faced there); Athan wanted to chat up the local breweries, and introduce Arkos and Kyliados to beer; and Merideth wanted to talk with a local esper she'd been referred to. Athan managed to get a reference to a fur trapper who knew where the valley was and could lead them to it, and, after Greppa made a few last inquiries at the book repository, they got together to discuss it.
Greppa had the first question, "Will he want to know what we're doing out there?"
Athan grinned, "As long as it's not in his trapping zones, I don't think he'll care."
Merideth nodded, "Besides, we're adventurers. We'll just let him assume we're out there because we're crazy."
The trapper turned out to be a fur-wearing misanthrope who overcharged and disappeared as soon as they got there. Fears of questions or jumping their reward for finding the mine were quickly allayed... now the trouble was simply finding it.
The valley was a mile and a half long, a mere crevice in the mountains that housed it, and Greppa was fairly certain it was supposed to be on the northern slopes... but that was still almost a square mile of land to go over and try to find a small opening or evidence of the mine's location.
Ultimately, they decided to sleep on it. Greppa summoned a mud doll to watch over them, and everyone settled into sleep...
...and it was almost dawn when the mud doll began to wail, its voice pitching up and up, and as the grabbed spears and half-sat, looking around, an answering roar matched the mud doll's tone. It was a massive creature, easily three man-lengths long without the tail, a pair of huge wings, and a thick, ruffed neck. Lizard-like, but built more like a large-legged bird, its slate grey skin blended into the darkness.
It was a wyvern, and it was taking some serious offense to the mud doll. As they watched it, it attempted to bite, then stab with its spiked tail - the doll simply reformed and continued wailing. Finally, Greppa told it to hush... and the wyvern looked up at them.
Greppa at least knew what this thing was - a flying reptile that preyed on large herbivores and occasionally fought with armorcats for territory. Its tail spike contained a deadly venom, it hide was said to be as thick and tough as iron shields, and its bite was said to crush bones with ease. The only real weakness it had was that it was a clumsy flyer, due to the weight of its hide and oversized legs...
It seemed to be sizing them up, so Greppa took the opportunity to summon up a magical shield, and say, quietly, "Look out for its tail. Poison."
Then everything seemed to happen at once. The creature's tail darted at Greppa's face as he was casting, Athan and the Keraunesti hurled their secondary spears and barely nicked its hide, and Merideth began moving in from the side, trying to get close without provoking an attack.
The creature ignored the others - it focused entirely on the spell caster, biting and stabbing at Greppa. He began a more powerful spell, and yelled, "Retreat! I'll hold it!"
He intended to fly as soon as the others were clear, of course, but no one knew that - they just knew the caster was damned stupid. No one ran.
Then, three spears thunked into its hide from close-in, hard; Greppa unleashed his newest spell, sun bolts; and Merideth managed to unleash her worst life-damaging energies simultaneously. As spears pierced its hide, and brightly glowing missiles streaked through its wings and flesh to burn into the mountain behind it, and green lightning crackled along its ribs, the wyvern yelped, twisted, and took off into flight. They hadn't even seriously injured it, but they'd caused enough pain for it to retreat.
No one slept after that.
Barastrondo
First Post
You know, among our own circle of gamers, wyverns have such a (justly deserved) fearsome reputaion that "wyvern" has become something of a verb.
As in "seasong almost wyverned his whole party."
As in "seasong almost wyverned his whole party."
seasong
First Post
Eh, they coulda taken it, even with AC 9, DR 8/-, and 120 HP under my house rulesBarastrondo said:
. But it's a semi-intelligent creature, and it's not going to fight to the death if it can help it, particularly since it knows what a spell caster is, and it learned that there were 2 of them.
seasong
First Post
Quick side note: I've updated Greppa for 5th level, only two sessions late .
Which is just in time for the PCs to hit 6th level... between the groundmouth, the wyvern, the mine, and the coming war, it was inevitable, I suppose.
Was that a teaser? How about this: Somewhere in the dim future, a boulder rolls over Athan, Merideth tells a lie, and Greppa makes a sacrifice and turns down a different path of arcanist magic...
...and an orc tribe named Buhkruhk ('breaking cat', or armorcat) that scares even the Tattered Tribe.
.Which is just in time for the PCs to hit 6th level... between the groundmouth, the wyvern, the mine, and the coming war, it was inevitable, I suppose.
Was that a teaser? How about this: Somewhere in the dim future, a boulder rolls over Athan, Merideth tells a lie, and Greppa makes a sacrifice and turns down a different path of arcanist magic...
...and an orc tribe named Buhkruhk ('breaking cat', or armorcat) that scares even the Tattered Tribe.
Seasong your such a tease! I suppose your going to drag this out for an entire week as well!
Anyway, just letting you know that I've enjoyed the update, and I'm waiting on an updated PDF version so that I can print it off and read it to my fiancee! Right now we just got through the Temple. So get off your butt and get cracking!
Delgar
P.S. Help a poor DM out Gladiator Thread
Anyway, just letting you know that I've enjoyed the update, and I'm waiting on an updated PDF version so that I can print it off and read it to my fiancee! Right now we just got through the Temple. So get off your butt and get cracking!
Delgar
P.S. Help a poor DM out Gladiator Thread
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