Next Session

We will be moving our next session to the second sunday in January to accomodate the holidays. I really hope everyone can make it. We will be starting a new chapter in the adventure path. And Jason will finally unveil the name of his new character. It'd better be badass.

Its a +2 weapon.

Summary

A little further exploration of Gaedren's fishery led you to a spider's nest in the bowels of a rotten ship before you returned to Yargin Balko's office.  Unfortunately for Jaysac, you were unable to find any information within his files with more information about your expulsion from the acadamae.

Upon leaving the fishery it is apparent that something has gone very wrong with the city:

     Korvosa is in flames.  Smoke rises on the horizon.  The frantic clang of alarm bells sing out in harmony with a multifarious cacophony of screams, the clash of steel on steel, moans, and even the periodic detonation of arcane power.  A wing of Sable Company griffon riders swoops overhead, angling toward Castle Korvosa at a breakneck pace.  One of the badly wounded mounts rains blood down on the street around you before it succumbs and crashes headlong into a statue, taking its rider and itself to a bone-crunching demise.  The others don't slow or even look back toward their fallen comrade.  
     Amid the chaos the voice of a Korvosan herald cuts through the din:  "The king is dead! Long live the Queen!" only to be shouted down by ragged cries of "Hang the Queen!" and "The usurper whore must die!"  
    You can even see contingents of an outside military force, Hellknights from the Order of the Nail, clad in dark iron armor and horned helms putting down rioters and looters.  
   Every time you venture into the streets you face angry mobs, Imps and Pseudodragons gone wild, mad prophets, and many other dangers.


You return to Zellara's home, where her spectre appears to you and explains that she brought you together to see the city through the coming disaster.


Among the encounters you've had in the streets thus far you encountered Grau Soldado.  At first glance he seemed like nothing but a filthy drunk but under the grime, vomit, and mud you recognize him as a formerly well liked Watch Sergeant.  He manages to slur through an explanation of his problems, and further explain them when you sober him up at the temple.  In short he was involved in a love triangle with two other important figures in the city: Vencarlo Orisini and Sabina Merrin.  Orisini is one of Korvosa's most talented sword-fighters who tutored Grau in his youth.  Grau was not the only exemplary student; Sabina Merrin was a student that Orisini became completely infatuated with.  Unfortunately Grau was also smitten by Sabina.  To complicate matters further, Sabina is far more interested in Women than men.  Eventually this lead to a three way confrontation of frustration and misunderstandings, with Grau successfully engineering a duel between Orisini and Sabina, a duel that resulted in the loss of two of Orisini's fingers and a scar on Sabina's cheek.  Sabina left the school, and when Orisini discovered Grau's hand in the events, expelled him in a rare rage.  


Currently, you are resting at the temple and recuperating from the effects of some nasty poison.

March 6th session summary

I promise I will write it tomorrow.

Fun with Poison

So there's a fair amount of debate on exactly how poisons work in PathFinder, when they take effect, how they stack and when the saves take place.

The official PRD has a section on Afflictions with a subsection specifically about Poison. After combing the message boards, there's a fair amount of debate along with several interpretations/suggestions on how they should work:

• The closest official word is in the Poisons Thread as that's the only one with any comments from Bulmahn (the lead designer). But toward the end he seems to reconsider his stance a bit but never posts back any revisions to his initial view.
  
• FarmerBob has a good post in this thread arguing the point to track the poison on the initiative count where it was contracted as opposed to the player's initiative count. For simplicity the RAW has it tracked at the player's turn and Bulmahn also has a post in the previous thread as to why that's the case.
  
• FarmerBob posts another pretty detailed example of how he runs poisons here, though this interpretation makes them considerably weaker than the word from Bulmahn in the first thread. Basically, his interpretation makes a character fail 2 saves before they end up taking any of the effect of the poison. If we think poison is too powerful, this is one way to weaken it a bit.
  
• Nethys has a post in this thread that also has an interesting variant interpretation compared to the RAW (though her example of the RAW is wrong, from the other threads it's pretty clear the Initial Round of her example should all be DC 14 saves). Her version ends up in a lot fewer rolls and less damage in the first round but the stacking of multiple hits has potentially greater overall effect due to the increased DC.

I mostly just wanted to gather this together in one spot and allow this post to be a place for any discussion we may have on the topic.

Ibolath Mini

Probably not the greatest mini I've ever painted (sorry Brian), but it was still fun.  The cloak turned out pretty cool.  

1st Session

Korvosa, the Jewel of Varisia, has long sparkled on Varisia's southern shore.  Established 300 years ago by Cheliax at the height of that empire's expansion, the city now commands its own destiny.  A line of Korvosan kings and queens emerged to rule the ciry, establishing an infamous seat of power -- The Crimson Throne.  Rulers have sat upon the Crimson Throne for more than a century, and the city has flourished.  Yet the monarchy always seems on the brink of disaster.  The Crimson Throne is not a prized to be won -- it is a curse.  no monarch of Korvosa has died of old age, and none have produced an hear while ruling.  Even though King Eodred II controls Korvosa more fully than any previous monarch, that control remains tenuous, and many secretly count the days until their latest king falls to what they call the Curse of the Crimson Throne.

     Your adventure began when you found a Harrow card somehow placed upon your person by unseen hands.  This card has a personal invitation written in a feminine script, beckoning you to come and meet with "others like you" who all have a past colored by Gaedren Lamm.  Upon traveling to 3 Lancet street, you find the humble dwelling of a Harrow Reader.  Inside, you find a motley group who have all received the same summons.  Your host, Zellara, enters after you have all had time to interact with each other.  She gives you the whereabouts of Gaedren, explains the losses she has suffered at his hands, and implores you all to bring him to one form of justice or another.  

     Before sending you on your way she performs a Harrow reading telling aspects of your collective past, present, and the possible future.  All seemed grim.  

     You travel to the Old Fishery where Gaedren has taken residence.  Just as you remembered, he continues to exploit the young and helpless for his own ends.  Now he has begun an operation where those too un-skilled to pick pockets are forced to work in horrible working conditions processing vile ingredients into chum and "dock dumplings."  While investigating the building you are discovered by the most disgusting dog you've ever seen, Bloo.  A fight breaks out once Bloo alerts Hookshanks Gruller, a mean little gnome, and Yargin Balko, Gaedren's fence and business manager.  Orphans scatter once Hookshanks and Yargin are defeated.  You then encountered Giggles, a demented half-orc overseeing more workers.  Once defeated you discover that Gaedren's lair is below the fishery.  He is shocked to find a flock of his former Lamms come to pay a visit.  Firing a bolt at his pet crocodile to put it into a frenzy is his misguided concept of a defense mechanism.  Your short combat with him ultimately ends with him meeting the fate he sent plenty of others to; a snap of Gobblegut's jaws.  

Among his treasures you find an incredibly valuable brooch.  So valuable in fact, that you recognize it as a possession of Queen Ileosa herself.   It was famously pickpocketed from a theif, who stole it from a jeweler that was contracted to repair its clasp.  

Most shockingly though you find the rotting head of Zellara along with  her Harrow deck upon Gaedren's Night stand.  Its clear that she has been dead for weeks.