Grum has been sitting steering the placid animals along the path for a while without really interacting with the rest of the group. A burly half-orc, with grey-green skin, a well-used dark travelling coat that you can just about see was originally some kind of green colour. He's been sitting with something of a scowl on his face (or at least, what you think is a scowl - you can't quite tell whether it's a scowl or just his half-orc facial structure), focusing on the road ahead, until he seems to choose to flick a switch in his head and engage with you.
Grum has been sat wallowing in grumpy thoughts. He's not used to travelling companions and usually prefers life on the road by himself. Experience has taught him that social interactions are not generally kind things. There have been some positive exceptions, but as a rule he has found people to be stubborn, judgmental, sometimes even cruel. He puts it down to his half-orc heritage, and has learned to use that heritage and appearance as a first level of defence - excusing him from social interaction when he chooses.
However, as he overhears the warm greetings offered by these people to each other, he begins to wonder if this small eclectic bunch of travelling companions, separated from wider society for a while, might be different. He doesn't expect it to be a long trip, perhaps a few days before Gundren pays them their fee and they're sent on their separate ways again, so clearly no lifelong friendships are about to be formed, but social interactions on this trip might be bearable - even pleasant, if he gets off on the right foot.
Then the dwarf appears, offering ale and meat. Grum's mind is made up. He takes the frown from his face, looks around at his companions, and says, "Sorry to be so sullen, friends. I wanted to make sure we got out of town and onto the road in good time. As it happens, these beasts don't take much to keep in check. You can call me Grum." He turns to the dwarf and nods, "You brought ale? Welcome aboard."
Bartholomew appears hesitant to approach or interact with the other characters at first, but after a while, he starts to join in the discussions. His accent is extremely unusual, and at times it is hard to understand him, but all in all he seems like a decent person.
<Squelch> nimbly hops towards the front of the cart and does a slight bow to the half-orc and the elf. <Young man's voice, slight lisp> "Yer name is that gross noise? Like, the sound? Well I can't do that. I'm just gonna call you Squelch. Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of the crew." He then hops back towards the dwarf. <Loud, boisterous male voice> "Ale is a gift from the gods, son! To reject it, well, its like spittin' in their face!" He holds out his black feathered hand expectantly.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PbP Lost Mines of Phandelver -Squelch (Kenku Grave Cleric)
What Lies Between - Cragworm (Goblin Oathbreaker Paladin)
Embers in the Dark - Martin "Uncle" Flintmore (Human Rogue)
Adventures in Esyldien - Khorzik Fume (Hobgoblin Transmuter) - retired
A Machine's Ambition- Canavar (Shifter Zealot Barbarian) - retired
What Lurks Below - Urmdir Volsung (Human Fighter) - retired
Callie - You begin to feel something on your hand but the wagon drives over a rather large stone and jostles for a bit and the sensation is gone. On the floor is a spider no longer than 2 inches, baring it's fangs at you. I need Callie (and anyone else that wants to except for Grum who is driving) to roll for initiative!
(This brings up a question we should answer now -- for my rolls I can do it in this thread and cover it with the spoiler tag or roll the dice irl, what do you guys think? I prefer to roll irl but I can certainly do it on here, so long as you promise not to peek ;). I wont use the poll on the thread because otherwise it wont go away so let me know with your next reply. We are still waiting on confirmation with our last character, the fighter, and I will give him until 10pm his time (EST) otherwise we will just continue with the main adventure.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Initiative: 24
<Squelch> draws his mace and attempts to smash the spider. Attack: 15 Damage: 5
(OOC: Final answer will be to do what is easiest for you - maybe a combination: roll irl, post important rolls for dramatic effects. I am new to PbP but hiding with spoiler seems weird and to create unneeded distrust (whether we peek or not). Again, do what is easiest for you. If tell me: "you are hit, subtract 20 hp" - I am not going to argue, I am just going to subtract it. If you tell me: "the baddie stabs at you: Attack: 7 Damage: 5" I will evaluate whether or not I am hit and subtract hp if needed. For initiative, seems like just rolling publicly is easiest. Yes, it gives us meta-game knowledge, but it decreases confusion if someone has to retcon their action because they were writing their post and the baddie's turn came up and changed everything)
(OOC: no idea why i got the "manipulated" flag. Edited to add attack / dmg after it seemed I won Initiative. Okay, figured it out - it didn't like me putting the rolls before my OOC text - please just assume I missed - it keeps rerolling every time I edit and original attack roll was something like 7)
(OOC: Thanks for the reassurance, just wanted to be clear. I rolled a 17 for the spider and it had +4 to Stealth, somehow sneaking up on Callie's 18 passive perception and then missing despite its advantage 8 (2/4 + 4 to hit). For things that happen in the background I will roll irl and then for combat and stuff that happen in front of the players such as traps and such I will roll on here, unless theres an issue with that.)
(Yeah, I'm happy with that. I definitely think that unseen things rolling stealth are best rolled elsewhere. That way, if our characters don't know something is there, neither do we. Likewise, I think the general practice on here is to roll attacks and damage in the thread, but as has already been said, you're the DM, it's really up to you.)
Brandor rummages through his pack and pulls two cups and one of the bottles. He hesitates then goes to hand them to Squelch. "Try'n spread it around a bit. It'll be a while afore I can make more."
Callie yelps and almost rolls off of the cart at the sudden appearance of the small spider, and immediately tries to sweep it off of the cart with her bow.
Attack: 4 Damage: 1
(Rolling the attack as if unarmed, because Callie is not using her bow as a bow right now! Also, how you're planning to do rolls is perfectly fine by me!)
As Squelch excitedly hops over to Brandor for some more ale as he hears Callie yelp and back away from a black arachnid creature, and he tries to swing at it but the cart thumps up and down again and his attack misses.
Brandor notices too on the other side of the cart and hands Squelch the tankards before lifting his foot above the spider, and without hesitation he brings it down onto the creature and the force splatters the spider instantly with a satisfying (or unsettling) , it's corpse now stuck to Brandor's boot
<End of Combat>
This short scuffle didn't seem to wake the sleeping human on the cart with you guys and the oxen didn't notice at all.
(Award yourself 2xp, or actually we can use milestone advancement at key parts of the story. So again vote between xp or milestone advancement with your next post as well! Also Kataklismik I think it just happens if you edit a post that has dice rolls in it but I trust you, to avoid it just post another comment instead of editing if it has a dice roll)
(OOC: I also vote for milestone, as it saves the players from having to keep track of XP and the DM from having to find the XP values for each monster)
(OOC: Milestones for sure. You decide when you think the party needs a boost.)
Brandor scraps his boot on the back edge of the cart, "Feisty lil bugger! Sorry if I brought that aboard but I think we all fared well n'ough."
The dwarf shoo's at the Kenku with his ale, mostly just wanting to get it out of his sight so he didn't have to think about not drinking himself. "Go share with yer driver, give'm my best"
(While XP does have some charms and uses, milestone is definitely less of a headache.)
Callie flinches when Brandor stomps down upon the spider, her bow poised to whack at the now very dead arachnid. "Ah- yes, er- yeah! Thanks..." She takes a calming breath. While she's learned more than a few hard lessons since leaving home, Callie has always had a deep fear and loathing of spiders. Too many eyes...
Still, Callie knows that she's forgetting something, something important, and recent, like- "Grum!" She suddenly shouted and whirled towards the hulking half-orc beside her with a huge smile on her face. "You told us your name!" She holds out a hand to shake and says, "I'm Calyvorra, but you can call me Callie! Pleased to meet you!"
"Same to you, too... ah- Squelch!"She stumbles for a moment over the kenku's strange name, but her enthusiastic handshake more than makes up for it.
Grum looks around, confused as to why everyone seemed to jump to their feet, combat-ready. He sees the black smudge that is left on the side of the cart and chuckles to himself, unable to decide whether this group are a little too jumpy, or impressively alert and ready for action.
"Callie. You too. I mean, not that you too told us your name. I mean, pleased to meet you too. Maybe that should've been 'me too', but then you might have thought I was saying I'm pleased to meet myself, so I- ...hmm, I don't make so many friends, people don't ever seem so pleased to greet me, I'm not good at this. Apologies."
Grum turns back to the oxen, frustrated at himself for not being more practiced at this stuff.
(Milestone it is! Also the sixth player may or may not be joining us -- I'll wait a bit more but please continue to RP to your hearts content until they get here.)
The winds grow quieter and the sun sinks further into the horizon, maybe one or two hours before sundown.
<Squelch> takes the ale from Brandor, hops towards the front of the wagon, and hand a cup to Grum and Callie. <Brandor's voice> "Go share with yer driver, give'm my best." <Young female voice> "Remember guys. Even when things are hard, you look out for each other. No matter what." He then approaches the human with the strange accent. <Old man's gravely voice> "You sound strange, son. Where ya from?"
Bartholomew looks around, a bit unsure of the best phrasing to answer the question.
”Oh, I’m not from around these parts.” He stops, then realises that he didn’t answer Squelch’s question properly. “I’m from the north. And by that, I mean really far north. I lived in a small village, but life there grew too boring, so when I was a bit younger I ran away and started a new life of adventuring.“ He stops talking and leans back against the side of the wagon.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Grum has been sitting steering the placid animals along the path for a while without really interacting with the rest of the group. A burly half-orc, with grey-green skin, a well-used dark travelling coat that you can just about see was originally some kind of green colour. He's been sitting with something of a scowl on his face (or at least, what you think is a scowl - you can't quite tell whether it's a scowl or just his half-orc facial structure), focusing on the road ahead, until he seems to choose to flick a switch in his head and engage with you.
Grum has been sat wallowing in grumpy thoughts. He's not used to travelling companions and usually prefers life on the road by himself. Experience has taught him that social interactions are not generally kind things. There have been some positive exceptions, but as a rule he has found people to be stubborn, judgmental, sometimes even cruel. He puts it down to his half-orc heritage, and has learned to use that heritage and appearance as a first level of defence - excusing him from social interaction when he chooses.
However, as he overhears the warm greetings offered by these people to each other, he begins to wonder if this small eclectic bunch of travelling companions, separated from wider society for a while, might be different. He doesn't expect it to be a long trip, perhaps a few days before Gundren pays them their fee and they're sent on their separate ways again, so clearly no lifelong friendships are about to be formed, but social interactions on this trip might be bearable - even pleasant, if he gets off on the right foot.
Then the dwarf appears, offering ale and meat. Grum's mind is made up. He takes the frown from his face, looks around at his companions, and says, "Sorry to be so sullen, friends. I wanted to make sure we got out of town and onto the road in good time. As it happens, these beasts don't take much to keep in check. You can call me Grum." He turns to the dwarf and nods, "You brought ale? Welcome aboard."
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilationBartholomew appears hesitant to approach or interact with the other characters at first, but after a while, he starts to join in the discussions. His accent is extremely unusual, and at times it is hard to understand him, but all in all he seems like a decent person.
<Squelch> nimbly hops towards the front of the cart and does a slight bow to the half-orc and the elf. <Young man's voice, slight lisp> "Yer name is that gross noise? Like, the sound? Well I can't do that. I'm just gonna call you Squelch. Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of the crew." He then hops back towards the dwarf. <Loud, boisterous male voice> "Ale is a gift from the gods, son! To reject it, well, its like spittin' in their face!" He holds out his black feathered hand expectantly.
Callie - You begin to feel something on your hand but the wagon drives over a rather large stone and jostles for a bit and the sensation is gone. On the floor is a spider no longer than 2 inches, baring it's fangs at you. I need Callie (and anyone else that wants to except for Grum who is driving) to roll for initiative!
(This brings up a question we should answer now -- for my rolls I can do it in this thread and cover it with the spoiler tag or roll the dice irl, what do you guys think? I prefer to roll irl but I can certainly do it on here, so long as you promise not to peek ;). I wont use the poll on the thread because otherwise it wont go away so let me know with your next reply. We are still waiting on confirmation with our last character, the fighter, and I will give him until 10pm his time (EST) otherwise we will just continue with the main adventure.)
Lost Mine of Phandelver - Dungeon Master
Initiative: 24
<Squelch> draws his mace and attempts to smash the spider. Attack: 15 Damage: 5(OOC: Final answer will be to do what is easiest for you - maybe a combination: roll irl, post important rolls for dramatic effects. I am new to PbP but hiding with spoiler seems weird and to create unneeded distrust (whether we peek or not). Again, do what is easiest for you. If tell me: "you are hit, subtract 20 hp" - I am not going to argue, I am just going to subtract it. If you tell me: "the baddie stabs at you: Attack: 7 Damage: 5" I will evaluate whether or not I am hit and subtract hp if needed. For initiative, seems like just rolling publicly is easiest. Yes, it gives us meta-game knowledge, but it decreases confusion if someone has to retcon their action because they were writing their post and the baddie's turn came up and changed everything)
(OOC: no idea why i got the "manipulated" flag. Edited to add attack / dmg after it seemed I won Initiative. Okay, figured it out - it didn't like me putting the rolls before my OOC text - please just assume I missed - it keeps rerolling every time I edit and original attack roll was something like 7)
(OOC: Thanks for the reassurance, just wanted to be clear. I rolled a 17 for the spider and it had +4 to Stealth, somehow sneaking up on Callie's 18 passive perception and then missing despite its advantage 8 (2/4 + 4 to hit). For things that happen in the background I will roll irl and then for combat and stuff that happen in front of the players such as traps and such I will roll on here, unless theres an issue with that.)
Lost Mine of Phandelver - Dungeon Master
(Yeah, I'm happy with that. I definitely think that unseen things rolling stealth are best rolled elsewhere. That way, if our characters don't know something is there, neither do we. Likewise, I think the general practice on here is to roll attacks and damage in the thread, but as has already been said, you're the DM, it's really up to you.)
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilationInitiative:17
Brandor rummages through his pack and pulls two cups and one of the bottles. He hesitates then goes to hand them to Squelch. "Try'n spread it around a bit. It'll be a while afore I can make more."
(If Brandor wins initiative he'll stomp the spider non-nonchalantly, Attack:21 Damage:5)
Oh I forgot the add the Spider's initiative: 16
Lost Mine of Phandelver - Dungeon Master
Callie's Initiative: 13
Callie yelps and almost rolls off of the cart at the sudden appearance of the small spider, and immediately tries to sweep it off of the cart with her bow.
Attack: 4 Damage: 1
(Rolling the attack as if unarmed, because Callie is not using her bow as a bow right now! Also, how you're planning to do rolls is perfectly fine by me!)
Initiative: 20
When it is Bartholomew's turn, he will cast Eldritch Blast at the spider (Attack: 23 Damage: 4)
Initiative Order:
As Squelch excitedly hops over to Brandor for some more ale as he hears Callie yelp and back away from a black arachnid creature, and he tries to swing at it but the cart thumps up and down again and his attack misses.
Brandor notices too on the other side of the cart and hands Squelch the tankards before lifting his foot above the spider, and without hesitation he brings it down onto the creature and the force splatters the spider instantly with a satisfying (or unsettling) , it's corpse now stuck to Brandor's boot
<End of Combat>
This short scuffle didn't seem to wake the sleeping human on the cart with you guys and the oxen didn't notice at all.
(Award yourself 2xp, or actually we can use milestone advancement at key parts of the story. So again vote between xp or milestone advancement with your next post as well! Also Kataklismik I think it just happens if you edit a post that has dice rolls in it but I trust you, to avoid it just post another comment instead of editing if it has a dice roll)
Lost Mine of Phandelver - Dungeon Master
(OOC: I vote milestone - easier on the DM)
(OOC: I also vote for milestone, as it saves the players from having to keep track of XP and the DM from having to find the XP values for each monster)
(OOC: Milestones for sure. You decide when you think the party needs a boost.)
Brandor scraps his boot on the back edge of the cart, "Feisty lil bugger! Sorry if I brought that aboard but I think we all fared well n'ough."
The dwarf shoo's at the Kenku with his ale, mostly just wanting to get it out of his sight so he didn't have to think about not drinking himself. "Go share with yer driver, give'm my best"
(While XP does have some charms and uses, milestone is definitely less of a headache.)
Callie flinches when Brandor stomps down upon the spider, her bow poised to whack at the now very dead arachnid. "Ah- yes, er- yeah! Thanks..." She takes a calming breath. While she's learned more than a few hard lessons since leaving home, Callie has always had a deep fear and loathing of spiders. Too many eyes...
Still, Callie knows that she's forgetting something, something important, and recent, like- "Grum!" She suddenly shouted and whirled towards the hulking half-orc beside her with a huge smile on her face. "You told us your name!" She holds out a hand to shake and says, "I'm Calyvorra, but you can call me Callie! Pleased to meet you!"
"Same to you, too... ah- Squelch!" She stumbles for a moment over the kenku's strange name, but her enthusiastic handshake more than makes up for it.
Grum looks around, confused as to why everyone seemed to jump to their feet, combat-ready. He sees the black smudge that is left on the side of the cart and chuckles to himself, unable to decide whether this group are a little too jumpy, or impressively alert and ready for action.
"Callie. You too. I mean, not that you too told us your name. I mean, pleased to meet you too. Maybe that should've been 'me too', but then you might have thought I was saying I'm pleased to meet myself, so I- ...hmm, I don't make so many friends, people don't ever seem so pleased to greet me, I'm not good at this. Apologies."
Grum turns back to the oxen, frustrated at himself for not being more practiced at this stuff.
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilation(Milestone it is! Also the sixth player may or may not be joining us -- I'll wait a bit more but please continue to RP to your hearts content until they get here.)
The winds grow quieter and the sun sinks further into the horizon, maybe one or two hours before sundown.
Lost Mine of Phandelver - Dungeon Master
<Squelch> takes the ale from Brandor, hops towards the front of the wagon, and hand a cup to Grum and Callie. <Brandor's voice> "Go share with yer driver, give'm my best." <Young female voice> "Remember guys. Even when things are hard, you look out for each other. No matter what." He then approaches the human with the strange accent. <Old man's gravely voice> "You sound strange, son. Where ya from?"
Bartholomew looks around, a bit unsure of the best phrasing to answer the question.
”Oh, I’m not from around these parts.” He stops, then realises that he didn’t answer Squelch’s question properly. “I’m from the north. And by that, I mean really far north. I lived in a small village, but life there grew too boring, so when I was a bit younger I ran away and started a new life of adventuring.“ He stops talking and leans back against the side of the wagon.