All PCs will get Stalwart Pact cast on them at some point during the 3-day interim (see me if you actually want to do some RP surrounding this). The Pact takes effect when you reach half HP or lower and awards the following benefits once it activates:
- You gain 30 temporary hp
- You gain DR 5/magic
- You gain a +2 luck bonus to saving throws
The pact is permanent until activated. Once activated, the effects last for 12 rounds.
The following NPCs will also receive the Pact:
Carter
Dieter
Sarari
The Eye of Anubis: OOC Thread
-
Kaitou Kage
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2115
- Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:53 am
- Location: Here and there
- Contact:
-
Nathan of the FoS
- Fiendish Enforcer
- Posts: 5247
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 3:39 pm
- Location: San Francisco CA
Its nice that the big hairy, angry man found time to start his own charitable grant giving trust...Nathan of the FoS wrote:OK, I am taking 125 gp from the Sascha Fund for Underequipped Healers to complete my scroll purchases. Just so as y'all know.
"I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space..."
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space..."
Devereaux: Devereaux was the NPC that has been with the party the longest. Introduced as a somewhat comic figure, we got our first hint that there was something wrong with the eccentric professor in a cut scene, where we saw into his past-nothing specific, but a confirmation of the terror the reader suspected Devereaux lives in every day. The most disturbing part is at the very end, where we learn that Devereaux was avoiding the baleful glare of the corpse of an angel, which has been following him around the whole story. This is important for two reasons; first, it firmly establishes where Devereaux begins, an unwilling seer of the Unknown who tries to hide from the sanity-shattering visions he's delt with his entire life, and second, it shows us that he is eventually going to have to confront this aspect of himself, as his cowardly way of handling things is ultimately just putting this confrontation off.
In a way, he's an inverse of the classical Lovecraftian hero; he is a madman filled with secret knowledge who is trying to restore some sense of sanity to himself. Unfortunately, like so many of Lovecraft's protagonists, he hits a little snag along the way. While his endearing blend of eccentricity and cowardice had preserved him for a good while, Devereaux fell victim to the fell temptations of the Dread City. We were all looking inward that chapter-and what Devereaux saw caused him to break, a little. Unfortunately, we were unable to see this until it was nearly too late: Devereaux had surrendered to his inner demons, and we learned that his connection with the Other was strong enough that the Things waiting could use him to creep over into our dimension. Fortunately, if there's one thing the Expadition group is good at, it's piecing something broken back together. Defeating Devereaux's nightmares without killing him was important, and the effort the PCs put into keeping him in the loop is similarly so. Is he saved? No, not completely-the sinister time lost book aside, Devereaux has not entirely surpassed his fears, but he has a shot at doing so for the first time in, well, a while at least.
Cavendish: Okay, so. Cavendish's development.
In Chapter 2, he's a sadistic manipulator who enjoys causing pain and suffering. Chapter 4, ditto, but he's also good at blaming us for his actions. Chapter 7, he's a false lead, belling the greater threat of Ronolph itself. Then we don't see him again until Chapter 11, where, well. Ultimately his character has not overtly changed or developed over the conflict; what has changed is how he feels about the Expadition. He's gone from seeing us as toys to seeing us as a legitimate threat to his plans-why else would he go to such lengths to break our will?
Cavendish never really gets frustrated or enraged with the group, and the only indication that we get under his skin is the increasingly personal nature of his attacks. Even before Mandisa, we had Lia's father's death, and his musings about going after Otto's wife eventually showing us that Cavendish has gone from a general threat to a personal nemesis for the whole of the group. I think his personality is best summed up in an exchange between he and Tomas recently; Tomas insists that while Cavendish did manage to hurt, or, really, cripple the paladin, ultimately good won that struggle, because Mandisa was alive, and had a chance to rebuild her life. Cavendish stopped, agreed, and remarked that after this is all over he'll have to pay her a visit and see how she's doing.
Meneshante: As the Anubite, this mysterious figure was the first recurring antagonist we publicly met. (Cavendish attempted to bribe a PC, but that was off camera.) She fits the Javert model of enemy, a shadowy pursuer who believes our quest is wicked and intends to visit suffering on our heads for daring to do so. But even early on, the Anubite seems to change her mind, either timing her attacks or hints of her appearance to lead us into challanges or situations where the Expadition could help. This strange give and take between pursuer and pursued continued until the Dread City, where we learned the true face of our masked enemy.
Well, we learned what she looked like, at least. I don't think anyone but Beherith has seen the real Meneshante, the being at the core of the figure. Witch queen of the impossible desert, damned slave of Anubis, manipulator of gods and devils alike: what we do know about Meneshante is that she is unmoving. She has shown no regret for the pain and suffering she inflicted on the world, only a desire for her pain to end. She has shown no remorse for the pain she inflicts on those around her, as is made plain in the case of Harris; the man is cursed by some fell will to care about this heartless person, and Meneshante shamelessly takes advantage of it to keep his considerable talents in the Expedition's camp. Was the woman always so ruthless, or did her enemy removing her heart and making it the home of a fiend change her? Is there nothing of that awkward, oddly endearing little apprentice priestess that Meneshante started our her life as? We have more questions than answers about this figure because she did not develop, she simply endured.
Vedarrak: Rene Belloq with a bigger posse. The guy's only major development is what he learns from getting fooled by Cavendish-he's absolutely ruthless with the Expedition despite our saving his miserable life, because, well, evil people are jerks like that. What interests me about Vedarrak is his mixed loyalties: is he more loyal to Drakov, the Fraternity, or some hidden master? This is one character I feel we'll be seeing again; he's had too much screen time invested into him to just be a third tier villain we never get to face off against. In a way he is sort of the anti-Peteller: he came in late in the game, but had the benefit of a lot of screen time and many chances to show what a bastard he is, where the old man just sort of ignored us for nine chapters.
Sebastian: If Devereaux is the unreliable narrator given form and depth, Marchand-Reiner is an intriguing departure from the Snape archetype. Standardly, the Snape of a group either really is a bastard traitor, or is secretly helping the protagonists and unable to show that he or she is an okay guy sort of. Sebastian was probably not with any of the sinister groups trying to kill us, but the guy was never much of a help, either, content to stand on the sidelines and be as much of a jerk as he could possibly manage. At one point Tomas just up and asked him, "Are you seriously going to do anything on this trip other than bitch?" and while I was not involved in all of the side scenes, it seemed like a fair criticism.
Of course, then the guy got shot by his faithful grad student, and everything changed. Now, all of a sudden, Sebastian was, well, human. He was someone who desperately needed our help to rebuild his confidence. We were worried when he was just quiet instead of obnoxious. Unfortunately, his luck was about as consistent as ever, and we ended up poisoning the poor guy, learning about his wicked aunt, and overall probably doing more harm than good. But maybe even that bumbling attempt to help saved Reiner, because we have the guy's crowning moment of awesome to look at: The rat song cut scene, where he finally stopped being a victim and started being awesome. Without Reiner, I'm pretty sure Carter at least would be dead, and we would've ended up skewered by Falkovnians. So, unlike the standard, Sebastian really suffers for his being a total jerk, but gains strength from that suffering in a way more traditional for protagonists to endure. And for the record, Tomas is entirely sincere about his promise to, as soon as things calm down, punch his great aunt in the face for being such a witch.
In a way, he's an inverse of the classical Lovecraftian hero; he is a madman filled with secret knowledge who is trying to restore some sense of sanity to himself. Unfortunately, like so many of Lovecraft's protagonists, he hits a little snag along the way. While his endearing blend of eccentricity and cowardice had preserved him for a good while, Devereaux fell victim to the fell temptations of the Dread City. We were all looking inward that chapter-and what Devereaux saw caused him to break, a little. Unfortunately, we were unable to see this until it was nearly too late: Devereaux had surrendered to his inner demons, and we learned that his connection with the Other was strong enough that the Things waiting could use him to creep over into our dimension. Fortunately, if there's one thing the Expadition group is good at, it's piecing something broken back together. Defeating Devereaux's nightmares without killing him was important, and the effort the PCs put into keeping him in the loop is similarly so. Is he saved? No, not completely-the sinister time lost book aside, Devereaux has not entirely surpassed his fears, but he has a shot at doing so for the first time in, well, a while at least.
Cavendish: Okay, so. Cavendish's development.
In Chapter 2, he's a sadistic manipulator who enjoys causing pain and suffering. Chapter 4, ditto, but he's also good at blaming us for his actions. Chapter 7, he's a false lead, belling the greater threat of Ronolph itself. Then we don't see him again until Chapter 11, where, well. Ultimately his character has not overtly changed or developed over the conflict; what has changed is how he feels about the Expadition. He's gone from seeing us as toys to seeing us as a legitimate threat to his plans-why else would he go to such lengths to break our will?
Cavendish never really gets frustrated or enraged with the group, and the only indication that we get under his skin is the increasingly personal nature of his attacks. Even before Mandisa, we had Lia's father's death, and his musings about going after Otto's wife eventually showing us that Cavendish has gone from a general threat to a personal nemesis for the whole of the group. I think his personality is best summed up in an exchange between he and Tomas recently; Tomas insists that while Cavendish did manage to hurt, or, really, cripple the paladin, ultimately good won that struggle, because Mandisa was alive, and had a chance to rebuild her life. Cavendish stopped, agreed, and remarked that after this is all over he'll have to pay her a visit and see how she's doing.
Meneshante: As the Anubite, this mysterious figure was the first recurring antagonist we publicly met. (Cavendish attempted to bribe a PC, but that was off camera.) She fits the Javert model of enemy, a shadowy pursuer who believes our quest is wicked and intends to visit suffering on our heads for daring to do so. But even early on, the Anubite seems to change her mind, either timing her attacks or hints of her appearance to lead us into challanges or situations where the Expadition could help. This strange give and take between pursuer and pursued continued until the Dread City, where we learned the true face of our masked enemy.
Well, we learned what she looked like, at least. I don't think anyone but Beherith has seen the real Meneshante, the being at the core of the figure. Witch queen of the impossible desert, damned slave of Anubis, manipulator of gods and devils alike: what we do know about Meneshante is that she is unmoving. She has shown no regret for the pain and suffering she inflicted on the world, only a desire for her pain to end. She has shown no remorse for the pain she inflicts on those around her, as is made plain in the case of Harris; the man is cursed by some fell will to care about this heartless person, and Meneshante shamelessly takes advantage of it to keep his considerable talents in the Expedition's camp. Was the woman always so ruthless, or did her enemy removing her heart and making it the home of a fiend change her? Is there nothing of that awkward, oddly endearing little apprentice priestess that Meneshante started our her life as? We have more questions than answers about this figure because she did not develop, she simply endured.
Vedarrak: Rene Belloq with a bigger posse. The guy's only major development is what he learns from getting fooled by Cavendish-he's absolutely ruthless with the Expedition despite our saving his miserable life, because, well, evil people are jerks like that. What interests me about Vedarrak is his mixed loyalties: is he more loyal to Drakov, the Fraternity, or some hidden master? This is one character I feel we'll be seeing again; he's had too much screen time invested into him to just be a third tier villain we never get to face off against. In a way he is sort of the anti-Peteller: he came in late in the game, but had the benefit of a lot of screen time and many chances to show what a bastard he is, where the old man just sort of ignored us for nine chapters.
Sebastian: If Devereaux is the unreliable narrator given form and depth, Marchand-Reiner is an intriguing departure from the Snape archetype. Standardly, the Snape of a group either really is a bastard traitor, or is secretly helping the protagonists and unable to show that he or she is an okay guy sort of. Sebastian was probably not with any of the sinister groups trying to kill us, but the guy was never much of a help, either, content to stand on the sidelines and be as much of a jerk as he could possibly manage. At one point Tomas just up and asked him, "Are you seriously going to do anything on this trip other than bitch?" and while I was not involved in all of the side scenes, it seemed like a fair criticism.
Of course, then the guy got shot by his faithful grad student, and everything changed. Now, all of a sudden, Sebastian was, well, human. He was someone who desperately needed our help to rebuild his confidence. We were worried when he was just quiet instead of obnoxious. Unfortunately, his luck was about as consistent as ever, and we ended up poisoning the poor guy, learning about his wicked aunt, and overall probably doing more harm than good. But maybe even that bumbling attempt to help saved Reiner, because we have the guy's crowning moment of awesome to look at: The rat song cut scene, where he finally stopped being a victim and started being awesome. Without Reiner, I'm pretty sure Carter at least would be dead, and we would've ended up skewered by Falkovnians. So, unlike the standard, Sebastian really suffers for his being a total jerk, but gains strength from that suffering in a way more traditional for protagonists to endure. And for the record, Tomas is entirely sincere about his promise to, as soon as things calm down, punch his great aunt in the face for being such a witch.
-
NeoTiamat
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 4119
- Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 5:00 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Just a little something to cap off the 4th of July. After all, it's practically patriotic. 
Ravenloft GM: Eye of Anubis, Shattered City, and Prof. Lupescu's Traveling Ghost Show
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
-
Rock of the Fraternity
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 6844
- Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 1:16 pm
Thanks 
It came about because Id created that gem from scratch for the maps, but its so small you cant see it, so I though I could make into into a bit of artwork itself.
I was also trying out some new effects in Photoshop fro something else (the cosmic nebula and ghostly smoke effect) so thought Id chuck them in.
The Anubis head is a retextured and touched up sketchup model.
It came about because Id created that gem from scratch for the maps, but its so small you cant see it, so I though I could make into into a bit of artwork itself.
I was also trying out some new effects in Photoshop fro something else (the cosmic nebula and ghostly smoke effect) so thought Id chuck them in.
The Anubis head is a retextured and touched up sketchup model.
"I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space..."
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space..."
-
The Whistler
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 1454
- Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:38 pm
- Location: Southshore
-
NeoTiamat
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 4119
- Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 5:00 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Your timing, Whistler, is impeccable.
And it's Combat Time! Sort of.
I would ask that everyone make sure that their character sheets are up to date, they've finished their shopping, all the little housekeeping is up to date.
Also, for people who have ongoing buffs, make sure I've got the buffs listed correctly at the bottom of the post. I went off your spell-lists, but if I've made any mistakes, now is the time to correct me.
And it's Combat Time! Sort of.
I would ask that everyone make sure that their character sheets are up to date, they've finished their shopping, all the little housekeeping is up to date.
Also, for people who have ongoing buffs, make sure I've got the buffs listed correctly at the bottom of the post. I went off your spell-lists, but if I've made any mistakes, now is the time to correct me.
Ravenloft GM: Eye of Anubis, Shattered City, and Prof. Lupescu's Traveling Ghost Show
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
-
Kaitou Kage
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2115
- Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:53 am
- Location: Here and there
- Contact:
-
Kaitou Kage
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2115
- Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:53 am
- Location: Here and there
- Contact:
Important! Loots and Stuff
The following PCs will have received certain "gifts" from Kuzan to help with our final battle.
Charles
3x Mass Cure Light Wounds (Bard) scrolls (1d8+13)
5x Cure Critical Wounds (Bard) scrolls (4d8+10)
1x Cure Light Wounds wand (1d8+1)
Tomas
2x Remove Paralysis scrolls
1x Remove Blindness/Deafness scroll
1x Cure Light Wounds wand (1d8+1)
Carter is receiving a whole stash of scrolls and a wand just in case.
Can anyone else in the group use cure light wounds wands?
The following PCs will have received certain "gifts" from Kuzan to help with our final battle.
Charles
3x Mass Cure Light Wounds (Bard) scrolls (1d8+13)
5x Cure Critical Wounds (Bard) scrolls (4d8+10)
1x Cure Light Wounds wand (1d8+1)
Tomas
2x Remove Paralysis scrolls
1x Remove Blindness/Deafness scroll
1x Cure Light Wounds wand (1d8+1)
Carter is receiving a whole stash of scrolls and a wand just in case.
Can anyone else in the group use cure light wounds wands?
I was gfogin to get one but other things had priroity and in the end couldnt afford oneKaitou Kage wrote:Does anyone besides Tomas have an ongoing Death Ward effect?
Sascha will take a cure light wounds wand if theres one going. Although I dont think he can use it whilst raging, it might be nice to kep him alive once he calms down...
"I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space..."
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space..."
-
Kaitou Kage
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 2115
- Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:53 am
- Location: Here and there
- Contact:
Sure thinglostboy wrote:I was gfogin to get one but other things had priroity and in the end couldnt afford oneKaitou Kage wrote:Does anyone besides Tomas have an ongoing Death Ward effect?
Sascha will take a cure light wounds wand if theres one going. Although I dont think he can use it whilst raging, it might be nice to kep him alive once he calms down...
One more thing, make sure we don't just barge in willynilly when we get to the final showdown. I have a bunch of spells that are going to help us out quite a bit during our pre-combat buff session, and I'm sure a few others have some useful stuff.