This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
At the sudden outburst of noise, Elsie perks up, moving her hand to just below the front of her hip, where her revolver rests. That concealed carry license is a godsend, she thinks. She slips into the House of Mirrors after Lily, looking around the confusing viewscape.
Perception: 9
"Lily?" she says, not quietly, but it's not a yell. If she sees whatever is in front of her, the smoke, mirrors and hands, she draws her revolver.
Initiative: 5
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DnD Beyond PbP Characters:
Tayla Varan, Water Genasi Monk:A licentious daughter of a licentious union, out to live and love in a war-torn world. Campaign:The Eagle's Eye Elsie Conway, Human Roguelike: A normal university student in a modern world, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Campaign:The Advent of Shadows
Elsie would see the hands, but not the smoke (smoke is in the center of the room, and there is a miniature maze of mirrors to get to it).
DM Screen
Cultist Stealth 18
The smoke continues to solidify into a figure of some sort.
The cultist's turn passes.
Elsie steps inside, I'm assuming staying near the entrance for the time being. Please correct me if you went further in.
Charlotte is unable to break free from the grapple.
If your name is bolded, you may act now. If you do not act by the time of my next post (at least 1 day), you will be assumed to be heading towards the exit at half speed if you are currently inside, and waiting just outside if not.
Round: 2
To Act: Rhodri,Hands, Lily, Smoke Creature, Cultist, Elsie, Charlotte
Location:
Rhodri is almost halfway out (40%), Charlotte is at the center (grappled), Lily is mostly out (80%), Elsie is at the entrance.
Hands are almost everywhere, Smoke Creature is forming at the center, Cultist location unknown
(Sorry for the delay, the last couple of days have been really busy. I meant to post yesterday but then forgot 😔)
Weekends suck for me, as always. I'm rearranging the initiative a bit so that the baddies all act together after everyone has went to make things easier on the updates front.
If your name is bolded, you may act now. If you do not act by the time of my next post (at least 1 day), you will be assumed to be heading towards the exit at half speed if you are currently inside, and waiting just outside if not.
Lily gasps softly as she sees Charlotte grappled in the center, held by the hands coming from the mirror. She bites her lower lip, pans the camera over toward her, watching the girl closely. She hopes to God that she would be able to pull herself free and run. Her legs were tensed however, ready to run in and grab her to pull her out herself. So much raced through her mind at all this, it was hard to tell if this was reality or a horrible nightmare she was unable to wake from.
Charlotte made another attempt to break free of the hands. [Acrobatics (again): 22 ] This time, she slipped through their grasp. "Alright!" Charlotte said, estatic to be free. "Don't wanna get caught again," she muttered, stepping gingerly towards the door.Spotting the smoke figure, she reached for her main weapon of choice- her father's old revolver. She loaded it, just in case she needed it today. Which she probably would.
[OOC: Movement is half speed towards the door. Finally free!]
OOC: It just occurred to me that "taking it slowly (half speed), you think it will take about half a minute (5 rounds) to navigate out. If you try to move at more than half speed, make an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check, DC 15. Success means you move normally. Failing by 5 or less (meaning you rolled a 10-14) means you move half your speed before having a close call and needing to stop to get your bearings, and failing by more than 5 means you crash into a mirror," is probably equivalent to "the house of mirrors counts as difficult terrain. Furthermore, taking the Dash action requires a DC 15 Acrobatics check. Failure wastes the action. Failure by more than 5 means you crash into a mirror."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Elsie slips in front of the group of people gathering at the door, her revolver already drawn, but down at her side. She takes an almost defensive stance, as if she's body-blocking the party from whatever threat is inside the House of Mirrors.
"What the **** just happened there? Is everyone alright?"
She slips next to Lily, giving her the Help action.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DnD Beyond PbP Characters:
Tayla Varan, Water Genasi Monk:A licentious daughter of a licentious union, out to live and love in a war-torn world. Campaign:The Eagle's Eye Elsie Conway, Human Roguelike: A normal university student in a modern world, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Campaign:The Advent of Shadows
I'm a bit confused as to what you're trying to do @CatalinaG; mostly everyone is still inside the building per my above post:
Rhodri is heading back in (20%), Charlotte is at the center (grappled), Lily is mostly out (80%), Elsie is at the entrance.
With the changes from the past couple of posts, this is now
Rhodri is mostly in (20%), Charlotte is heading out (20%), Lily is mostly out (80%), Elsie is next to Lily (80%)
So, basically what I'm trying to say is that "group of people gathering at the door" isn't quite accurate. If you'd like to adjust your post, please do so. :)
Also, the Help has a couple of modes (specific ability check or combat), what sort of help are you giving?
(Bit of a sad announcement to make, but @Toothless needs to bow out of here for at least a little while. After we're done with this scene I may re-open recruitment to try and get a couple more players in, or we can proceed with 3 -- up to you. I'll be piloting Lily until the scene is over.)
DM Screen
Cultist stealth 14
(These attacks resolve against your AC. If they hit, you are grappled. To escape the grapple, attempt an Athletics or Acrobatics check against DC 12 as an action).
A hand reaches out of a nearby mirror to try and grab onto Charlotte: 21
A hand reaches out of a nearby mirror to try and grab onto Lily: 9
A hand reaches out of a nearby mirror to try and grab onto Rhodri: 17
A hand reaches out of a nearby mirror to try and grab onto Elsie: 6
The smoke creature finishes forming. It looks like a shadowy visage of a person, with glowing yellow eyes. Its hands are unnatural, looking more like bestial claws than human hands. It looks at Rhodri and Charlotte menacingly.
Open if your passive Perception is 14 or above
You catch a glimpse of another man sneaking behind the mirrors, heading towards where Lily and Elsie have their backs to the wall. You think he'll be able to catch up to them next round. He appears to be holding a long knife of some sort.
Round: 3
To Act: Rhodri, Lily, Elsie, Charlotte,Hands, Smoke Creature, Cultist
Location:
Rhodri and Charlotte are together and pretty far in (20%), Lily and Elsie are together and mostly out (80%)
Hands are almost everywhere, Smoke Creature is at the center, Cultist location unknown
Charlotte spotted a shadowy figure heading towards her new friends. I don't need this, she thought to herself, switching her gaze between the shadowy creature and the advancing figure. Charlotte landed on the best option she could think of."Lily! Elsie! Watch out!" she shouted at the two women before struggling to aim her revolver at the creature. She felt the hands try to constrain her, but she managed to shift into a good position to aim. [Attack roll: 15 ] [OOC: I hope that hits....]
[Damage on hit: 14 ]
[OOC: The grappled condition doesn't say anything about preventing/giving disadvantage on attacks with ranged weapons, so I assumed it was okay. If I need to do a reroll with disadvantage or something, let me know. If I couldn't attack, let me know and I'll edit accordingly.]
I'm running the hands as more of a trap/hazard than a creature, but normally if you are within 5 feet of an enemy when doing a ranged attack, you attack with disadvantage. Being grappled has no bearing on this. In this instance, you're fine. Source
What I meant was the Help as an Ability Check action and the group forming thing was simply a bit of narrative to explain her closing with Lily.
Elsie's eyes narrow and she snaps up her pistol, certain that this isn't a thing that's supposed to be here and that it's absolutely hostile as she rolls deftly out of the way of the grabbing hands. She feels it graze against her and a chill runs through her body, numbing her bones, as she shakes it off and comes up on one knee. Hearing Charlotte fire her sidearm, she smiles a little bit.
"Good choice in weapon," she mutters.
From her position, she sights rapidly at the creature and squeezes the trigger of her own revolver.
Elsie fires a shot at Smoke Creature! To Hit: 18
If Hit:
10
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DnD Beyond PbP Characters:
Tayla Varan, Water Genasi Monk:A licentious daughter of a licentious union, out to live and love in a war-torn world. Campaign:The Eagle's Eye Elsie Conway, Human Roguelike: A normal university student in a modern world, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Campaign:The Advent of Shadows
Sorry for the radio silence, but after some long and hard thinking, this game just isn't really working out the way that I was hoping it would. I wanted to have 3 separate but simultaneous campaigns that were able to interact with and affect each other, and due to the slow nature of PbP, it unfortunately doesn't seem possible. The investment on my part needed to run 4 campaigns at the same time ended up being more than I could manage as well (in addition to these 3 threads, I run a weekly game on roll20), and I've been largely responsible for the game grinding to a standstill. I may try again in the future once I have a better grasp on what is needed (and probably cut the scope down to 2 threads), but for now I'm going to apologize and shelve this game.
Once I collect my thoughts and figure out where I want to go from here, I may open up recruitment for a more typical fantasy 5e game (probably won't be for another month or so). All of you are more than welcome to apply to that, and it will be using the campaign management tools on D&D Beyond (instead of the nightmare of managing character sheets in 5 different places for these threads).
So once again, I duly apologize and wish I could be the bearer of better news. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know either here or in PM. I'm especially interested in any feedback you may have, both positive and negative. Things you liked or didn't like about the campaign, how I posted updates, etc. This feedback will be helpful for when I try again, so that I can provide a more fun-filled environment for everyone.
It's a shame to see this campaign end. I was looking forward to finding out who the Big Bad was (I was only half-hoping that it was Cthlulu), but hey, time management is important. I really liked how the mirrors and hands provided obstacles in an otherwise normal, very escapable enviroment. Nice touch, in my opinion. Anyways, thanks for the game, despite how short it was. I look forward to potentially playing with you all in different PbPs and whatnot.
I start singing "Oh My DM" to the tune of Clementine, and then stop because I can't come up with any other lyrics.
On a (slightly) more serious note, I thought you did a great job (except for the Devils Went Down to Georgia incident), I've adopted at least part of your spoiler system in my games, I really enjoyed it, and I'll jump at the chance to play in another of your games if I have a spare character slot at the time.
The Parting Glass:
Of all the money that e'er I had I spent it in good company And all the harm I've ever done Alas it was to none but me And all I've done for want of wit To mem'ry now I can't recall So fill to me the parting glass Good night and joy be to you all
So fill to me the parting glass And drink a health whate’er befalls And gently rise and softly call Good night and joy be to you all
Of all the comrades that e'er I had They're sorry for my going away And all the sweethearts that e'er I had They'd wish me one more day to stay But since it fell unto my lot That I should rise and you should not I gently rise and softly call Good night and joy be to you all
Fill to me the parting glass And drink a health whate’er befalls And gently rise and softly call Good night and joy be to you all
But since it fell unto my lot That I should rise and you should not I gently rise and softly call Good night and joy be to you all
So fill to me the parting glass And drink a health whate’er befalls And gently rise and softly call Good night and joy be to you all
Good night and joy be to you all.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
It's a shame to see this campaign end. I was looking forward to finding out who the Big Bad was (I was only half-hoping that it was Cthlulu), but hey, time management is important. I really liked how the mirrors and hands provided obstacles in an otherwise normal, very escapable enviroment. Nice touch, in my opinion. Anyways, thanks for the game, despite how short it was. I look forward to potentially playing with you all in different PbPs and whatnot.
Not a bad guess.
It was Hastur -- the only minor clue you got to that so far was the fact the spooky ghosty thing had yellow eyes, and Hastur is associated with the King in Yellow. There would have been more subtle clues as time went on, but nothing truly definitive. The goal was for thread 2 to piece together the disparate clues and red herrings to figure out what's really going on before too much bad things happened to thread 1 and wiped all of you out.
A long time in the past, Hastur's soul was split into 20 pieces and kept prisoner by the souls of mortals. One of their descendants would inherit this soul fragment upon birth. Should one die while holding a fragment inside of them, it is released and returned to Hastur. In the intervening time, 7 such fragments have been returned, leaving 13 still in mortal bodies. 7 was enough for Hastur to begin planning, however, and he arranged over centuries to collect the rest of the fragments in one place so he can finally be set free. Additionally, he managed to corrupt one of the still-living holders of a fragment and use him as a vessel. This person founded the Disciples of the Faith and is helping fast-track Hastur's plans to collect the 12 remaining souls. Those in thread 3 were contacted via dreams to join the Disciples, and were on an introductory mission to capture another person holding a fragment and perform a ritual to release it. Some if not all of the PC's in thread 1 also hold fragments inside of them.
While killing them is enough to restore power to Hastur, performing rituals on them while alive can unlock magic powers for the PCs in thread 3 and the cult in general, as it can imbue them with some of that power as well. In game terms, this is how the members of thread 3 would learn spellcasting, being able to do a wide variety of freaky effects (pretty much all of the spells would be homebrew and likely involve rituals to cast versus simply expending an action. The mirror/hands thing was an example of such a spell).
Only the upper echelons of the Disciples' leadership know of Hastur's true identity, they put on a front for everyone else that they are being contacted by the God of the Old Testament, who is especially vengeful due to sinners having locked his power away. This lets them lead initiates and acolytes to execute their plans without risking revealing exactly what is happening to the outside world. To further ensure safety, they do not initiate new members until they have been touched by Hastur via their dreams and therefore be less likely to defect. Thread 2's main goal was to pierce the veil the Disciples have been putting up and learn what is going on there -- their starting mission would have lead them to capturing someone at the middle of the totem pole, at first believing it to just be a human trafficking ring.
Thread 1's goal is simply to stay alive and not be captured as things seem to be literally out to get them. Everyone else (those who do not have soul fragments or have been touched by Hastur in their dreams) are unable to perceive the magic and other things happening to you, resulting in largely everyone you go to for help deriding you or thinking you mentally unstable. Until thread 2 makes their breakthrough, the police would have largely ignored you -- the recording Charlotte made would have been a great reveal in that regard. Any of you watching it would see the freaky stuff plain as day, but anyone else watching would just see a bunch of mirrors in a dark room, no hands, no glowy stuff. Eventually the plan was for threads 1 and 2 to combine and collaborate to take out the Disciples (by which point the PCs in thread 3 would likely be in the upper echelons if not the leaders), leading to a climactic final encounter.
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OOC: I'll wait for the bad guys to take their turns before taking mine.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
At the sudden outburst of noise, Elsie perks up, moving her hand to just below the front of her hip, where her revolver rests. That concealed carry license is a godsend, she thinks. She slips into the House of Mirrors after Lily, looking around the confusing viewscape.
Perception: 9
"Lily?" she says, not quietly, but it's not a yell. If she sees whatever is in front of her, the smoke, mirrors and hands, she draws her revolver.
Initiative: 5
DnD Beyond PbP Characters:
Tayla Varan, Water Genasi Monk: A licentious daughter of a licentious union, out to live and love in a war-torn world. Campaign: The Eagle's Eye
Elsie Conway, Human Roguelike: A normal university student in a modern world, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Campaign: The Advent of Shadows
Elsie would see the hands, but not the smoke (smoke is in the center of the room, and there is a miniature maze of mirrors to get to it).
DM Screen
Cultist Stealth 18
The smoke continues to solidify into a figure of some sort.
The cultist's turn passes.
Elsie steps inside, I'm assuming staying near the entrance for the time being. Please correct me if you went further in.
Charlotte is unable to break free from the grapple.
If your name is bolded, you may act now. If you do not act by the time of my next post (at least 1 day), you will be assumed to be heading towards the exit at half speed if you are currently inside, and waiting just outside if not.
Round: 2
To Act: Rhodri, Hands, Lily, Smoke Creature, Cultist, Elsie, Charlotte
Location:
Rhodri is almost halfway out (40%), Charlotte is at the center (grappled), Lily is mostly out (80%), Elsie is at the entrance.
Hands are almost everywhere, Smoke Creature is forming at the center, Cultist location unknown
(Sorry for the delay, the last couple of days have been really busy. I meant to post yesterday but then forgot 😔)
"Ach, crivens! Noo I've go' tae rescue th' bleedin' damsel i' distress, an' I'm nae sure o' gettin' oot meself!" Extremely reluctantly, Rhodri turns around and rushes back to Charlotte.
Acrobatics: 10
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
[OOC: Should I wait for the baddies to go, then? It's been a while, so I was wondering.]
Weekends suck for me, as always. I'm rearranging the initiative a bit so that the baddies all act together after everyone has went to make things easier on the updates front.
If your name is bolded, you may act now. If you do not act by the time of my next post (at least 1 day), you will be assumed to be heading towards the exit at half speed if you are currently inside, and waiting just outside if not.
Round: 2
To Act: Lily, Elsie, Charlotte, Hands, Smoke Creature, Cultist; (Round 3) Rhodri
Location:
Rhodri is heading back in (20%), Charlotte is at the center (grappled), Lily is mostly out (80%), Elsie is at the entrance.
Hands are almost everywhere, Smoke Creature is forming at the center, Cultist location unknown
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InsiderLily gasps softly as she sees Charlotte grappled in the center, held by the hands coming from the mirror. She bites her lower lip, pans the camera over toward her, watching the girl closely. She hopes to God that she would be able to pull herself free and run. Her legs were tensed however, ready to run in and grab her to pull her out herself. So much raced through her mind at all this, it was hard to tell if this was reality or a horrible nightmare she was unable to wake from.
Charlotte made another attempt to break free of the hands. [Acrobatics (again): 22 ] This time, she slipped through their grasp. "Alright!" Charlotte said, estatic to be free. "Don't wanna get caught again," she muttered, stepping gingerly towards the door. Spotting the smoke figure, she reached for her main weapon of choice- her father's old revolver. She loaded it, just in case she needed it today. Which she probably would.
[OOC: Movement is half speed towards the door. Finally free!]
OOC: It just occurred to me that "taking it slowly (half speed), you think it will take about half a minute (5 rounds) to navigate out. If you try to move at more than half speed, make an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check, DC 15. Success means you move normally. Failing by 5 or less (meaning you rolled a 10-14) means you move half your speed before having a close call and needing to stop to get your bearings, and failing by more than 5 means you crash into a mirror," is probably equivalent to "the house of mirrors counts as difficult terrain. Furthermore, taking the Dash action requires a DC 15 Acrobatics check. Failure wastes the action. Failure by more than 5 means you crash into a mirror."
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Elsie slips in front of the group of people gathering at the door, her revolver already drawn, but down at her side. She takes an almost defensive stance, as if she's body-blocking the party from whatever threat is inside the House of Mirrors.
"What the **** just happened there? Is everyone alright?"
She slips next to Lily, giving her the Help action.
DnD Beyond PbP Characters:
Tayla Varan, Water Genasi Monk: A licentious daughter of a licentious union, out to live and love in a war-torn world. Campaign: The Eagle's Eye
Elsie Conway, Human Roguelike: A normal university student in a modern world, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Campaign: The Advent of Shadows
I'm a bit confused as to what you're trying to do @CatalinaG; mostly everyone is still inside the building per my above post:
Rhodri is heading back in (20%), Charlotte is at the center (grappled), Lily is mostly out (80%), Elsie is at the entrance.
With the changes from the past couple of posts, this is now
Rhodri is mostly in (20%), Charlotte is heading out (20%), Lily is mostly out (80%), Elsie is next to Lily (80%)
So, basically what I'm trying to say is that "group of people gathering at the door" isn't quite accurate. If you'd like to adjust your post, please do so. :)
Also, the Help has a couple of modes (specific ability check or combat), what sort of help are you giving?
(Bit of a sad announcement to make, but @Toothless needs to bow out of here for at least a little while. After we're done with this scene I may re-open recruitment to try and get a couple more players in, or we can proceed with 3 -- up to you. I'll be piloting Lily until the scene is over.)
DM Screen
Cultist stealth 14
(These attacks resolve against your AC. If they hit, you are grappled. To escape the grapple, attempt an Athletics or Acrobatics check against DC 12 as an action).
A hand reaches out of a nearby mirror to try and grab onto Charlotte: 21
A hand reaches out of a nearby mirror to try and grab onto Lily: 9
A hand reaches out of a nearby mirror to try and grab onto Rhodri: 17
A hand reaches out of a nearby mirror to try and grab onto Elsie: 6
The smoke creature finishes forming. It looks like a shadowy visage of a person, with glowing yellow eyes. Its hands are unnatural, looking more like bestial claws than human hands. It looks at Rhodri and Charlotte menacingly.
Open if your passive Perception is 14 or above
You catch a glimpse of another man sneaking behind the mirrors, heading towards where Lily and Elsie have their backs to the wall. You think he'll be able to catch up to them next round. He appears to be holding a long knife of some sort.
Round: 3
To Act: Rhodri, Lily, Elsie, Charlotte, Hands, Smoke Creature, Cultist
Location:
Rhodri and Charlotte are together and pretty far in (20%), Lily and Elsie are together and mostly out (80%)
Hands are almost everywhere, Smoke Creature is at the center, Cultist location unknown
Acrobatics to break grapple: 9
"Ach, crivens!"
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Charlotte spotted a shadowy figure heading towards her new friends. I don't need this, she thought to herself, switching her gaze between the shadowy creature and the advancing figure. Charlotte landed on the best option she could think of. "Lily! Elsie! Watch out!" she shouted at the two women before struggling to aim her revolver at the creature. She felt the hands try to constrain her, but she managed to shift into a good position to aim. [Attack roll: 15 ] [OOC: I hope that hits....]
[Damage on hit: 14 ]
[OOC: The grappled condition doesn't say anything about preventing/giving disadvantage on attacks with ranged weapons, so I assumed it was okay. If I need to do a reroll with disadvantage or something, let me know. If I couldn't attack, let me know and I'll edit accordingly.]
I'm running the hands as more of a trap/hazard than a creature, but normally if you are within 5 feet of an enemy when doing a ranged attack, you attack with disadvantage. Being grappled has no bearing on this. In this instance, you're fine. Source
What I meant was the Help as an Ability Check action and the group forming thing was simply a bit of narrative to explain her closing with Lily.
Elsie's eyes narrow and she snaps up her pistol, certain that this isn't a thing that's supposed to be here and that it's absolutely hostile as she rolls deftly out of the way of the grabbing hands. She feels it graze against her and a chill runs through her body, numbing her bones, as she shakes it off and comes up on one knee. Hearing Charlotte fire her sidearm, she smiles a little bit.
"Good choice in weapon," she mutters.
From her position, she sights rapidly at the creature and squeezes the trigger of her own revolver.
Elsie fires a shot at Smoke Creature!
To Hit: 18
If Hit:
10
DnD Beyond PbP Characters:
Tayla Varan, Water Genasi Monk: A licentious daughter of a licentious union, out to live and love in a war-torn world. Campaign: The Eagle's Eye
Elsie Conway, Human Roguelike: A normal university student in a modern world, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Campaign: The Advent of Shadows
Sorry for the radio silence, but after some long and hard thinking, this game just isn't really working out the way that I was hoping it would. I wanted to have 3 separate but simultaneous campaigns that were able to interact with and affect each other, and due to the slow nature of PbP, it unfortunately doesn't seem possible. The investment on my part needed to run 4 campaigns at the same time ended up being more than I could manage as well (in addition to these 3 threads, I run a weekly game on roll20), and I've been largely responsible for the game grinding to a standstill. I may try again in the future once I have a better grasp on what is needed (and probably cut the scope down to 2 threads), but for now I'm going to apologize and shelve this game.
Once I collect my thoughts and figure out where I want to go from here, I may open up recruitment for a more typical fantasy 5e game (probably won't be for another month or so). All of you are more than welcome to apply to that, and it will be using the campaign management tools on D&D Beyond (instead of the nightmare of managing character sheets in 5 different places for these threads).
So once again, I duly apologize and wish I could be the bearer of better news. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know either here or in PM. I'm especially interested in any feedback you may have, both positive and negative. Things you liked or didn't like about the campaign, how I posted updates, etc. This feedback will be helpful for when I try again, so that I can provide a more fun-filled environment for everyone.
It's a shame to see this campaign end. I was looking forward to finding out who the Big Bad was (I was only half-hoping that it was Cthlulu), but hey, time management is important. I really liked how the mirrors and hands provided obstacles in an otherwise normal, very escapable enviroment. Nice touch, in my opinion. Anyways, thanks for the game, despite how short it was. I look forward to potentially playing with you all in different PbPs and whatnot.
I start singing "Oh My DM" to the tune of Clementine, and then stop because I can't come up with any other lyrics.
On a (slightly) more serious note, I thought you did a great job (except for the Devils Went Down to Georgia incident), I've adopted at least part of your spoiler system in my games, I really enjoyed it, and I'll jump at the chance to play in another of your games if I have a spare character slot at the time.
The Parting Glass:
Of all the money that e'er I had
I spent it in good company
And all the harm I've ever done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To mem'ry now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be to you all
So fill to me the parting glass
And drink a health whate’er befalls
And gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be to you all
Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They'd wish me one more day to stay
But since it fell unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be to you all
Fill to me the parting glass
And drink a health whate’er befalls
And gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be to you all
But since it fell unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be to you all
So fill to me the parting glass
And drink a health whate’er befalls
And gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be to you all
Good night and joy be to you all.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
It was Hastur -- the only minor clue you got to that so far was the fact the spooky ghosty thing had yellow eyes, and Hastur is associated with the King in Yellow. There would have been more subtle clues as time went on, but nothing truly definitive. The goal was for thread 2 to piece together the disparate clues and red herrings to figure out what's really going on before too much bad things happened to thread 1 and wiped all of you out.
A long time in the past, Hastur's soul was split into 20 pieces and kept prisoner by the souls of mortals. One of their descendants would inherit this soul fragment upon birth. Should one die while holding a fragment inside of them, it is released and returned to Hastur. In the intervening time, 7 such fragments have been returned, leaving 13 still in mortal bodies. 7 was enough for Hastur to begin planning, however, and he arranged over centuries to collect the rest of the fragments in one place so he can finally be set free. Additionally, he managed to corrupt one of the still-living holders of a fragment and use him as a vessel. This person founded the Disciples of the Faith and is helping fast-track Hastur's plans to collect the 12 remaining souls. Those in thread 3 were contacted via dreams to join the Disciples, and were on an introductory mission to capture another person holding a fragment and perform a ritual to release it. Some if not all of the PC's in thread 1 also hold fragments inside of them.
While killing them is enough to restore power to Hastur, performing rituals on them while alive can unlock magic powers for the PCs in thread 3 and the cult in general, as it can imbue them with some of that power as well. In game terms, this is how the members of thread 3 would learn spellcasting, being able to do a wide variety of freaky effects (pretty much all of the spells would be homebrew and likely involve rituals to cast versus simply expending an action. The mirror/hands thing was an example of such a spell).
Only the upper echelons of the Disciples' leadership know of Hastur's true identity, they put on a front for everyone else that they are being contacted by the God of the Old Testament, who is especially vengeful due to sinners having locked his power away. This lets them lead initiates and acolytes to execute their plans without risking revealing exactly what is happening to the outside world. To further ensure safety, they do not initiate new members until they have been touched by Hastur via their dreams and therefore be less likely to defect. Thread 2's main goal was to pierce the veil the Disciples have been putting up and learn what is going on there -- their starting mission would have lead them to capturing someone at the middle of the totem pole, at first believing it to just be a human trafficking ring.
Thread 1's goal is simply to stay alive and not be captured as things seem to be literally out to get them. Everyone else (those who do not have soul fragments or have been touched by Hastur in their dreams) are unable to perceive the magic and other things happening to you, resulting in largely everyone you go to for help deriding you or thinking you mentally unstable. Until thread 2 makes their breakthrough, the police would have largely ignored you -- the recording Charlotte made would have been a great reveal in that regard. Any of you watching it would see the freaky stuff plain as day, but anyone else watching would just see a bunch of mirrors in a dark room, no hands, no glowy stuff. Eventually the plan was for threads 1 and 2 to combine and collaborate to take out the Disciples (by which point the PCs in thread 3 would likely be in the upper echelons if not the leaders), leading to a climactic final encounter.