Dec 4, 2010

Looking at the top of tower now submerged beneath the Persimmon Swamp, the party descended into darkness. The stairs ended at a floor opening up into the ancient castle. They began making their way through the ruins, setting off every single trap with one exception. They almost avoided a trap, but they backtracked to set it off. They also found a room with a beholder inside. There was a great debate as to whether they should fight the beholder. It was eventually decided that they would not because there was something about the fate of heavens and the empire waiting on them or something of the sort.

They eventually found their way to a lower level where they were quickly beset by invisible ninjas. Ninjas, it turns out, can be very dangerous when they are invisible, which is probably why they are so often invisible. Were it not for the Invisibility Purge from the priest, there's a good chance we could have ended the campaign now and perhaps started another one years from now in a world ruled by some sort of evil deity that is not limited by the contracts of Lord Ao. Oh well. The party did eventually kill off the ninjas except for one who ran down a hallway lined with terra cotta warriors. The terra cotta warriors were statues, but who knows what would have happened had the party attempted to enter that hallway. Instead, the wizard cast a Force Cage around the fleeing ninja, trapping him among the statues. This was a fairly ridiculous situation, so the rogue killed another cook.

The party also found a room converted to a shrine to Komoku, a god of the Isles of Wa. That isn't the sort of thing they expected, but they pressed on, using this magic mumbo jumbo to transport themselves past the hallway of terra cotta warriors and one bored ninja. They moved into a large room, bypassing a perfectly normal door. Inside the room they found a whole lot going on. In the back was a large humanoid bound in white chains, near death. In the center of the room was a tall man of the orient. He wore great green armor and bore two weapons. He stood proudly, as if eager to fight. He fully extended his katana and traced a half circle on the stone, which sparked angrily. At this point in his life, the samurai was not familiar with the threat of flanking rogues with overly powered weapons, so his confidence was apparent. Next to him was a woman, a powerful woman. She was occidental and carried a battleaxe and war hammer. There was also a man in a simple black robe with the stature of an oriental, but his face was hidden. They would learn this was a wu jen. There was another woman in red robes. She was half drow, but it looked like the human half was western, and it's with comments like that how we realize "half drow" is a ridiculous thing to say.

The party was prepared for this battle, so even the two hidden ninjas didn't make it too difficult for them. Still, the half drow escaped through some combination of Dimension Door and who knows what else. She was a sorceress, and it stands to reason that they will see her again.

The captured humanoid was Fa Kuan, one of the Nine Immortals of Shou Lung. He was bound in the Ivory Chains of Pao, which cut off his ability to sense his worshipers. Without that access, any deity subject to Lord Ao will eventually die since the new contract of the gods since the Time of Troubles. It also prevents the god from using his powers, but that alone will not kill them. Fa Kuan looked starved, but the moment the chains were released he surged with power. He said that he had been tricked by the Royal Vagabonds. He was called away from his home on by some falsified summons. The ninjas crept into his temple, killed his priests, and donned their robes. They clasped the chains on him in surprise when he returned, and then he was brought here, helpless. He was told Chih Shih was already dead, and a lead-lined chest was waiting next to him to capture his spark. He was grateful to the party, and gave them a small trinket. He then vanished.

The party then found a cave off this large room. It was once the den of several blue dragons, presumably the homeless dragons the party encountered upon first entering Shou Lung. Much of the hoard had been spent, but some wealth remained.

The party then returned to the capital of Shou Lung where they were immediately brought before the emperor. The Son of Heaven walked down the aisle towards them, and then kneeled. The court gasped, but the emperor explained these people had saved a god and removed the threat to Shou Lung. Fa Kuan had told him what had happened, and they were to be rewarded. After swearing fealty to the Son of Heaven, the emperor made them Lords.



Each has been given about 20,000 acres on roughly adjacent lands in southern Hungste. They may change the names of their lands if they so choose. They also have a few key stewards whom they should name. Perhaps they would like to design their homes. Some wealth comes with the lands, of course, which is roughly 50,000gp. However, much of this is necessary to maintain the lands. They should not spend more than about a 1/3 of it. If well run, though, they should expect about 5,000gp to play with each year. They will also find many, many offers of marriage from noble women and offers to do other things from less noble women.

Marchosias met with a man who proposed human trafficking to Waterdeep. He killed the man and then took over the business. CN my ass. He then began establishing a shadow network and establishing a police network that was as crooked as his horns. He has to expect some dice will determine whether or not he will become the fastest fall in the history of the empire.

Eron began discussing magical crap with Moose. He thought that perhaps the forms of magic were related and he could figure out how to steal a spellbook in the guise of helping out young wizards. He also began building a wizard's tower. He plans to rule fairly and establish law.

Yenrab began bringing a proper religion to Shou Lung by building a temple to Talos. He is going to be very angry when he learns how much it costs to build a temple. Maybe he could find a way to make it out of sand and then his the sand with lightning. Either way, it's expensive. Given their similar views on the world, Marchosias offered some partnerships with making some money, but Yenrab decided to try out lawful good for a little while.

Similarly spending a lot of money, Sunny began building a monastery. This will likely receive more visitors than the temple to Talos, but it's going to be way more expensive. He will likely have to start small and build as more young men come to learn the Way of the Twirling Dwarf.

Signy started training young warriors in the art of the a weapon soon to be banned. SHE HAS ALSO NOT SUMMONED HER SILVER DRAGON YET BECAUSE SHE IS FUCKING RETARDED.

Tyrone explored all of his lands in great detail. He also invited his peasants to come listen to his stories and music. They haven't been very productive, but they really love him.

Please remember to ask me for shit you're going to buy beforehand.

If you happen to be someone building something, please keep in mind you really don't have much money. Figure to start a monastery is going to be 15,000gp, a wizard's tower will also be around 10,000gp (assumes significant work on the part of the wizard), and, just to start, a temple will be 20,000gp. Consider that your down payment.

Evil empires are relatively cheap.

Summoning a dragon takes a long time, and even then she can't hang out very long.

Signy thinks the emperor might appreciate the training of reliable and loyal soldiers...

Summoned in 70 seconds. Destroys enemies in about a minute. Stays for about a day.

Yes, he would. Or making loyal soldiers better fighters.

I have wanted to summon many times and frankly forgot. Geeze! Don't you think I LOVE having such a neat thing?

And yes, that is exactly what Signy intends to do for the emperor and his kingdom. This would make her a defense contractor of sorts. She will need to construct accordingly and hire/train assistants.

How much should she take out of the spending pool? She might also ask the emperor to reccommend a couple of loyal subjects to train as assistants?

Hey, like I said, I released any of the girls (or boys, I suppose, unless they want to go get to know Eron) who didn't want to be there.

My police network isn't intended to be crooked as its basis for operation. I know that almost all police networks operate with some bribery, although the plan wasn't to have mine operate with this as a founding principle. My thought right now is that they're a ruthless force that uncovers plots detrimental to the "good" of the fiefdom(?), and makes sure that the creators of such plots never live to see the Chinese.....errr, Kara-Turan New Year. Maybe I need to appoint a slanty-eyed Dick Cheney as head of my network. They're certainly open to finding new and exciting ways to infiltrate those that oppose them. Punishment is quick and severe. Building on what Hoppara told the party about how failure is dealt with in the Kara-Turan society, whole families of the discovered traitors may be wiped out as a lesson toward any who, in the future, may feel that such traitorous actions are warranted.

These Many-Hued Peacocks and Royal Vagabonds seem like decent organizations to be on good terms with. Not allied, per se, as their goals don't align with mine, but I need to make sure that they don't think that the Shadow Well is against them just because they helped out the Shou Lung empire. Using some of his new-found wealth and power, Marchosias will have his shadow network provide him inside information about the two organizations, and arrange for some lavish gifts to find their way to the heads of the two groups.

Unfortunately, Marchosias's first choice for a "number 2" was named Bertok, and that man was ripped apart by a rainbow-clad pansy in the form of an umber hulk. We haven't really met many other unsavory characters that the party hasn't dispatched. At this point, Marchosias will need to use his newfound (hopefully) acquaintances in the two above-mentioned groups to find promising, rising stars who are looking for positions in an up-and-coming new government where laws are nebulous at best and loyalty to the good of the state is valued above (almost) all else.

The school is on the same level as the monastery.

Marchosias... yeah, you're evil. Neutrality was a filthy whore you toyed with, but you were gone well before the dark before the dawn.

So a cool 15k later, Signy is in bidness!

I may expand as an animal trainer at some point, but meh...

So how much to add a +2 to my armor and to have elemental cold damge (or something) to the chain?

That depends on the current bonuses on the armor and the chain.

There are two types of magical enchantment.

Type 1: What it had when you first picked it up. This is what everyone gets when they pick it up. It has nothing to do with any of your stats or feats.

Type 2: What you get by leveling it with damage.

I need to know what Type 1 is. Type 2 is irrelevant.

So tell me the magical bonus on the armor and the Type 1 magical bonus on the chain, and I'll give you the costs.

Ok, I looked in my DM guide thingy.

The chain: +1 to hit and +1 to dmg. 2d6 lightening (don't know if that was type 1 or not, but it has it).
-I would like to add Holy.
Armor: Mithril breast plate +2.
-I would like add some fire resistance.

I suspect it came with the lightning damage. I don't think I would have bothered giving you just a +1/+1 weapon.

So to add Holy to your weapon it will be 28,000gp.


Fire Resistance has 3 options.
Standard: Absorbs the first 10 points of damage per attack, 18,000gp
Improved: Absorbs the first 20 points of damage per attack, 42,000gp
Greater: Absorbs the first 30 points of damage per attack, 66,000gp

Thanks.

Signy will add Holy to the chain. She will need to think about the armor options.

Just keep track of your money. Remember, you have some serious expenses and you should not be spending much of your "wealth" since you sort of need that to keep the water flowing.... you know, pay the peasant who pumps it.

Unless the rogue has been taking Signy's pre ownership wealth, she really has not had any major expense until now.

I have been keeping track.

Ok.

We should check with the rogue... I mean, he has a sleight of hand of 92 or something and the highest spot in the group is something like 3. He can pretty much take whatever he wants.

She had the funds wired to several Swiss accounts for safe keeping.

I control both the Swiss and the wires themselves. Sorry.

Liar! The Swiss are true neutral.

Different kind of neutral, buddy. Sorry.

Maybe that's been the confusion.

So the Swiss are evil neutral?

No, they never put their cars in gear. They just roll around until all their cars eventually end up at the lowest point in Europe (Italy).

Okay, not sure if I should post this here, but since it seems the most relevant, here we go.

So before we head out to certain doom, I would like to pick up two potions of greater inviz, and two fly potions. I would also like to buff the enchantment on my armor to a +2 from a +1.

I am also going to let the person that had been living in the main house continue to live there, as I am moving into my temple to Talos so that I can personally oversee the training of my priests.

Oh, and I would also like world peas.

Thank you, and looking forward to Saturday.

I'll get you the costs soon. The potions of greater invis are going to be substantially more expensive than they are in the book.

Also, while your plan for living in the temple is nice, keep in mind that it's not done yet. The construction is well under way, but it takes a while to build that sort of thing.

Fly potions cost 725gp.

Greater Invisibility potions are 5,000gp.

If you're wondering why they are so expensive, there are several reasons.
1) They aren't even listed in the book. There's a reason for that.
2) I consider the spell to be a level higher than it is described in the book.
3) The are illegal in pretty much every nation. Black market only.
4) I'm an asshole.

The upgrade on your armor is 3,000gp. If instead you want to go from +1 to +3, it will be 8,000gp.

Sweet mother of ogre-jesus. Okay, we'll skip the greater inviz, and go with the +2 to the armor.

This plan can not fail.