Aww... Hastos and Sera are starting to get overprotective of each other. "I'm the badass here." "You're not the only badass here." 🤭 It's cute.

I'm gonna assume that's all the feedback I'm going to get about the puzzle challenge. I'll average the encounter as Medium, splitting the difference between the two assessments.

In this case, since no one solved the puzzle, and I had to step in to get the game moving again, I'm not going to give XP. But your characters now have better insight as to how the Blue Dragons that occupied this den think. So you can all have Heroic Inspiration.

I keep getting an error when I try to post IC. Testing a text only post here to see if the graphics are an issue.

Yeah... something is wrong with the thread. I'll post here for now, and repost IC when the thread is fixed.

Sprout Black steps timidly forward, and the others start to follow. Their wobbly walk on rounded leg stalks make them immediately endearing. Sprout Black stops about 10' from Merkas and figits with their fibrous digits on their hands, looking upward at the odd blue creature before it. For reassurance, it looks back at its friends, who are slowly, and awkwadly making their climbs over the rocky outcropping. Most of them are wiggling their mushroom caps again.

Seeing their young behave so boldly forces a much larger Myconid to come out of hiding. Walking under the protection of the cap of the massive mushroom crackling with electric energy, it supervises the situation with protective hostility. It doesn't seem to be making a move to attack, but its glare indicates unease about this intrustion to the youngling's playtime.

Yeah I can’t post at all in the other thread either.)

(Rolled:15 for Alert Feat trained with Ororana DC10. For Merkas to notice the older one watching) 

Merkas smiles genially, bemused at the small one’s curiosity before looking around calmly for an older Myconid that may be able to communicate with the party. Seeing the one off to the left he waves and moves ten feet closer to it without turning his back completely to the group of youngsters. 
“Hi, these younglings sure are sweet. Could you maybe help us to understand what happened in this cave? May e what happened to the old dragon that lived here? We think theres some magic poisoning happening from this old den and want to help fix it.” 

Looks like the IC thread is working again. I transferred the last posts over to it. Anyone have any more trouble? 

So... Alert Feat isn't really useful anymore, now that we've changed the way initiative works.

Origin Feat

You gain the following benefits.

Initiative Proficiency. When you roll Initiative, you can add your Proficiency Bonus to the roll.

Initiative Swap. Immediately after you roll Initiative, you can swap your Initiative with the Initiative of one willing ally in the same combat. You can’t make this swap if you or the ally has the Incapacitated condition.

Swapping your initiative with one willing ally only works in turn-based initiative. To acoomplish that in our current initiative system, you can simply request that the rest of the party (in the IC) hold for your signal and have faith that they'll comply.

I was looking at it more for the boost to perceiving the other Myconid, specifically the part of the feat that keeps you from being surprised. 

Ah... it's different in the Legacy version! I see it now!

Always on the lookout for danger, you gain the following benefits:

• You gain a +5 bonus to initiative.
• You can't be surprised while you are conscious.
• Other creatures don’t gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you.

Ok... I'm going to allow this, but instead of gaining a +5 to Initiative, you'll gain a +5 to Perception. And since more Myconids have entered the scene, I'd like you to roll a fresh Perception check with that +5 bonus.

I'm going to make it so that, if the Myconids start attacking, Merkas will get a Reaction round as well. Any Myconids you don't see with your Perception check will not have Advantage on their attacks either.

Also... not to be pushy, but MrUncleTio and Larskolstad, giddyup. Hastos has barely moved since defeating the golem. I haven't seen a post from you two in days.

With the +5 that makes it a 22 Perception check. 

I honestly forgot there was a difference between the legacy Alert and the 2024 Alert. Still getting used to the differences between the two. 

Going forward which do we want to use? 

Either... both... but it would make things go faster if you declared which one you want to use. Based on their descriptions, they're entirely different feats, just with the same name.

Also, if you like, I made a modified character icon for Merkas. It includes his facial scars from the burns and makes him look even more intimidating. You don't have to use it, but here it is, if you want.

I'll message you Merkas's results next.

You're 23 days into the quest now. I updated the Campaign Notes to reflect as much. Every 7 days, you can make 2 new Bastion Turns. Currently, you Bastion Orders are Deploy, and Recruit. By the end of it, you'll receive an update about the progress your guild has made and receive funds accordingly. The guild has 5 more days to Deploy and Recruit. For simplicity's sake, each month will last 30 days, so I don't have to remember which calendar month (in Dragonlance Lore) we're in. If y'all want me to keep it more accurate to the Krynn calendar, I can do that, but help would be appreciated to find the rules on that.

Quote from Inexorabletruth >>

Either... both... but it would make things go faster if you declared which one you want to use. Based on their descriptions, they're entirely different feats, just with the same name.

Also, if you like, I made a modified character icon for Merkas. It includes his facial scars from the burns and makes him look even more intimidating. You don't have to use it, but here it is, if you want.

I'll message you Merkas's results next.

 Boy Merkas is going through some stuff, that smile is starting to look deranged. But it fits so yeah we can use that going forward. 

Quote from Inexorabletruth >>

You're 23 days into the quest now. I updated the Campaign Notes to reflect as much. Every 7 days, you can make 2 new Bastion Turns. Currently, you Bastion Orders are Deploy, and Recruit. By the end of it, you'll receive an update about the progress your guild has made and receive funds accordingly. The guild has 5 more days to Deploy and Recruit. For simplicity's sake, each month will last 30 days, so I don't have to remember which calendar month (in Dragonlance Lore) we're in. If y'all want me to keep it more accurate to the Krynn calendar, I can do that, but help would be appreciated to find the rules on that.

 Good to know where we’re at. I think sticking with 30 day months is fine. 

Okie dokie. I've contacted all players at this point.

Larskolstad still hasn't checked in and we're getting close to a week of inactivity. MrUncleTio, you're updating, but I get the impression life has got you tangled up, and you can't post frequently. That's ok. I'm just taking stock. Hrothbert_Neruca, you're obviously active and invested, and have stated that you are eager to keep the game going.

However, one frequent poster, one infrequent poster, and one absent player isn't enough to move forward, so I'm going to take charge of Sera and try to play her as true to her character as possible:

• Gruff and vulgar
• Notably horny for Hastos
• Lawful Good
• Prefers to fight with Sacred Flame and her sword.
• Tends to take the lead on social situations, but prefers a support role in combat.

With any luck, Larskolstad will return to the game and can have the character back. But in the meantime, I'm going to reopen recruitment. Three players is the bare minimum for a campaign I'm willing to run, and that means three active posters, who are checking in at least every other day. I can competently run the game with up to 10 players. Be advised, once the new players are recruited, there's going to be an adjustment period. Some players won't last for more than a few posts. Some players will take up a lot of "mic" time so they can establish their place and lore within the game. Some players might even change the vibe and direction of the game. But this game is no longer a homebrew module. It's more or less a sandbox with a background plot. So it's fine if the game changes. What I don't want to do is lose your interest in the game. Sera is the last member of v1, but Hastos was there for part of it, and Merkas has been a lovely addition to v2. You've worked really hard to co-create a vibrant world with me, and that deserves lots of credit. So, PM me if something isn't working well. We can workshop solutions. I won't boot a player unless they've gone inactive or they're being toxic. But I will make corrections in the game and outside of the game to make it work.

Furthermore, if you know of a player whom you think would be a good addition to Ibahalii Vriwhulth, the Reaper of Glory, please let me know! They'll get first dibs, of course. I invited one player already, but they ultimately decided the game style wasn't a good fit for them. Ultimately, I'd like to recruit 2-5 more players. They'll show up as guild members who moved up the ranks quickly and are ready to serve the cause. Ideally, we'll find the recruits before we even leave the Blue Dragon's Lair.

Here's the link to the Recruitment thread if you want to take a look.

It's been a little over half a day, and we've gotten several views. 27 in fact!

Play by Post is a dying art, and not a lot of people are up for the slow pace of the game. Not even a month has gone by IC by our one-year anniversary, which was yesterday. 😅 But to be fair, this crowd RPs the absolute sh*t out of the game, and I love y'all for it. Even so, that's about on pace for PbP, and some players would rather wreck an entire dungeon in a single 4 hour session. The world I live in doesn't work like that. I've been working on this single round for about 2 hours now, and I have a headache from sitting in the same place that long. My spine can't do that. 😅

And those who have jobs in Texas often have irregular hours. You can't schedule a fixed day each week, because your days off change from week to week, and half the time, you get called in on those days off. It's so frustrating trying to run a live campaign with half your party each week because the other half can't make it. 🤷‍♀️ With any luck, there are other players on this forum who feel the same way.

My bad about Barkly not having the surprise round. So used to having her actions with mine I didn’t even think about it. Thanks for catching it and flowing with the narrative. 

Is that one year since I joined? Or from the beginning of v1? 

V2 has been going on for a year. Check post 1 of the IC. 😊

We've got a bite! A new player seems interested in joining. I'm gonna let them ask some questions before sending the join link. If they want to know what class to play, do y'all have a preference?