Random DM nagging.

[Yuthirin]

How to fall in love

Creepy.

[Anastasia]

The Urgalun Question

This book is written as a dialogue between two figures, known as Professor and Student. The structure is unvaried in the book, with each segment following the same structure. Student asks a question, Professor answers it back with a seemingly nonsensical question and Student answers in a way that incorporates both questions. The subject of the questions revolve around the Urgaluns, which seem to be some sort of nomadic humanoids. An example is as follows.

Student: Professor, how do I get the sheep the Urgaluns stole back?
Professor: Student, how many raindrops fall in a summer storm?
Student: Professor, to get my sheep back, the blood of Urgaluns must fall like rain in a summer storm.

The answers show a marked tendency for violence to the Urgaluns. Several times the solutions posed advocate bloody reprisals on the Urgaluns.

[Anastasia]

Man's Best Friend

This book is a beautiful book of bright, colorful images of dogs. It is light reading and is relentlessly sunny. This book is great for cheering people up and has enough information to function as a masterwork tool for Handle Animal or Heal checks regarding dogs. This grants a +2 circumstantial bonus to these checks.

This book also makes one want a dog as a pet, though this seems to simply be a natural effect of reading a nice book about dogs.

[Anastasia]

I haven't forgotten about Afina buying shortsword mastery, but she hasn't gotten back yet. Remind me when you get back, Afina.

[Anastasia]

Cor, what tweaks were made to Sovereign Speaker for Balmuria? I'm drawing a blank.

[Corwin]

You still pick a pantheon of some sort (the original idea was for the Triad). You let me swap out the prereq feat with an 'Initiate of X' one, with the idea that you follow one deity in that pantheon and by extension the rest of them as well. And when a pantheon is noticeably smaller than the Eberron one (or they all share a couple domains), you waivered the 2 domains per deity limit for practical reasons. Alignment-wise, it should be whatever makes sense for the pantheon in question.

[Anastasia]

Right, thanks.

[Anastasia]

Mirajane won't be finished for a day or two yet, so here's a preview.

[spoiler]

Favored Soul 10/Divine Oracle 10//Sentinel 19/Barbarian 1

Casts as a 20th level favored soul with access to the Oracle domain.

Unearthly Sentinel

These rare Sentinels are not the defenders of the natural world, but eternal spirits that endlessly fight against evil. They gain abilities that aid them in fighting evil and are less redundant with their innate gifts.

2nd: Lose Resist Fiendish Lure, gain Alight Gaze.
5th: Lose Celestial Minion, gain Heavenly Purity.
8th: Lose Dispel Evil, gain Redemption.

[Anastasia]

Attention!

As mentioned on IRC, barring something going wrong y'all are leveling up after Saturday's session. If you want/need anything prepared for this coming level, now's the time.

[Anastasia]

Mirajane'll be done tomorrow. She's finished except for spells, but I'm too tired to sort those out. As her classes and development was dependent on who raised her, she'll have a spell list highly similar to Jaela's and Hanna's. Oh, and it'll have the Oracle domain spells mixed in too.

Her Sentinel spells will be dedicated to Battle Blessing quickened buffs. This is meant to emulate Jaela's use of quickened spells.

[Anastasia]

If you are reading this, then the Father is active in Creation. May all the Gods of justice, righteousness and compassion have mercy on your soul, for the Father will have none. Read well, for I pray that the information here will lead to the end of the nightmare. Should you not end the nightmare, then the Father will be freed and only the Gods themselves may be able to stop him.

The Father is the spawn the Pale Mother and Demogorgon. The details of his parentage are unclear, but it is said that Demogorgon consumed the afterbirth and perhaps a newborn child of the Pale Mother. This afterbirth was not digested, but instead became a rotting tumor between the necks of the Prince of Demons. A frenzy came over Demogorgon, an absolute hunger as he slaughtered and devoured countless demons under his command, the tumor growing ever larger. Eventually, the tumor ruptured and the Father emerged on the wings of a holocaust, in the stinking mires of Abysm. Aameul desired to consume the Father as well, while Hethradiah desired to torment the abomination they had unleashed. In the argument that followed, the Father was able to escape.

The above paragraph is correct as far as I have been able to discern. The massacre and consumption of Demogorgon's thralls has been confirmed by lore from multiple survivors. However, the information about the Pale Mother's role in this is far less reliable.

The Father is an abomination cursed by his sire and unwanted by his distant mother. He is forever cast out of the Outer Planes. Instead he is cast into the mortal realms. Unlike other greater demons, his presence does not wound the mortal world. No, the natural world rarely notices him and never recoils from him. He was cast into my world, wherein he established himself as a spiritual leader and attracted the veneration of thousands. But no mercies came from his worship, no everlasting life beyond that of flesh. His wisdom lead to the reduction of sentient mortals to cattle. The greatest heroes of the world came to face him, to put an end to this madness.

But the Father was all powerful.

Ultimately, I was one of the last heroes left. I gathered the few remaining, and sought not to destroy the Father, but to contain him. By Oghma's wisdom and the sacrifices of every other soul who opposed him that day, I sealed the Father away into my holy symbol - a book. Exhausted, I took this book to the farthest reaches of Valgadda, which are no more. I sought to seal this book away until the day Creation is no more. Yet that night the Lord of Knowledge spoke to me in my dreams, telling me that the Father would one day corrupt his prison and be free once more. The seal will not last forever. Should the Father be free again, he will return to the mortal world. He will return and again there will be feasts. Mortal life will become that of animals, awaiting slaughter.

Kill the Father. Only a weapon forged by a smith born from neither father or mother and made holy can destroy the Father. Unfortunately, one must be strong enough to use this to tear him asunder. We were not. The scythe that rests with this book is one such weapon. It was made by the Glasae Queen, Empress of the Fey Marches. She was born of her own desire to exist, coming fully born into the world. If you wish to slay him, you must free him from this book at dawn in the mortal world. The ground must be consecrated and hallowed, as well as inlaid with seven circles against evil and seven more against chaos. When dawn's light hits the book, he will be freed. The true form of the father is a vaguely human body of mouths, standing four dozen feet tall. He does not move as much as flow, mouths devouring each other and the space around them.

As to the actual battle, all who oppose him must have their minds completely protected by nothing less than the spell Blank Mind. Anything less will result in the complete shattering of the victim's psyche into unrecoverable madness. Even then, the strain of viewing the Father will inflict great mental trauma. This trauma in particular damages traditional priests, though those who cast from personal magnetism fare better. Of magic, lightning, cold and sound have no effect on his true form. Fire affects him, though he is resistant. Acid damages him greatly, but does not inflict mortal wounds. Life energy, strangely and for reasons I cannot discern, damage the Father. Of physical, the Father's true form has no discernible anatomy. Trained warriors that rely on well aimed blows or single, overwhelming strikes (such as from the scythe, to my great lament) are largely ineffective. Manufactured weapons, save the scythe and those like it, are consumed on striking the Father. Woe onto the fool who attempts to claw, punch or bite the Father, for they become his subsistence.

The Father's main strategy is to flow over his victim and consume them whole. Those consumed whole are consumed in body and soul, forever lost. Those who survive quickly transform into abominations, smaller versions of the Father that in the end consume themselves into spiritual and physical oblivion. In his time leading the souls of entire nations to oblivion or damnation, he became learned of clerical magic. His spells carry the same consumptive effect as his bite, though on a slower scale. Divine intervention is the only way known to reserve this process.

The Father also possesses two special traits, one from each of his parents. He has the ability to dominate the minds of the weak, breaking them to his will like his accursed father can. From his mother is the madness on sight explained above. I believe that the Father is in some small way similar to the Pale Mother beneath her ever-shifting veil. Further, the research into forbidden lore regarding the Pale Mother suggests that her origins do not come from this Creation, but from Beyond. It may be that means to battle back the spawns of madness beyond our Creation could be effective against the Father. I do not know, for such means are vanishingly rare. However, there is one flaw in this premise. The Father is a priest. The Beyond rejects divine power and is nearly immune to it. This may be nothing more than addled speculation of madmen and demons forced to speak the truth.

You who read this are my hope. Angel or devil, saint or sinner, I care not. End the nightmare. No more feasts. Kill the Father.

Amen.

[Ebiris]

Firesoul Mage 5//Scout 10. +1 SR, +11 hp, +1 bab, +22 skills (+7 swim, +1 all others), Blindsense 30ft, Burning Focus +2, Flame Savant, +1 9th level spell known (Iceberg FF 101), +1 8th and +5 9th level spells per day.

Epic Crafting taken as my feat.

Does Afame get improved by Afina becoming epic?

[Anastasia]

Won't get to NPC level ups for a few days, just FYI.

[Merc]

Levels: Duskblade 21 // Factotum 4
HP: d8 = 4 (280 HP > 293 HP)
BAB: Improves to +21 (gain another attack on full attack)
Saves: no epic saves at 21. No change.
Epic Feat: Automatic Quick Cast
Racial abilities: +1 SR
Duskblade abilities: Spell Power improves to +6. Learn Disintegrate (level 5 spell). +1 CL
Factotum abilities: Arcane Dilettante improves (2 spells). Gain Cunning Strike
Skills: +16 skill points, I retrained some points of skills I wasn't using (such as sleigh of hand) and focused skills a bit more.

Rukkig:
HP: Improves to 146HP
BAB: Improves to +21 (gain another attack on full attack)
Saves: no epic saves at 21. No change.
Familiar abilities: +1 NA, +1 Int, +1 SR, Familiar Spell (Disintegrate)
Skills: See Ithea

Sheet updated, along with some purchases/upgrades.

[Anastasia]

This is going to suck, but there's no sense beating around the bush. For various reasons of his own, Cor no longer wishes to play in Balmuria 3. Cor's welcome to elaborate on those reasons to y'all privately as he wishes. Beyond allaying any fears you may have that it's the fault of other PCs, and it's not, I'm not going to put words into his mouth about it. Suffice to say he's set on this. This is a serious blow to the game and is a loss. In light of this and other reasons to be elaborated on below, I'm choosing to end Balmuria 3 here.

My reasons for doing so are many. Cor's decision to drop from Balmuria 3 was the catalyst, but there are several other reasons that prompted me to make this decision. First of all, losing Cor is going to leave Eb stranded alone on daytime sessions and further exasperate the day/night divide Balmuria 3 has suffered. I don't feel this is acceptable nor is it a reasonable situation to put Eb into.

Second of all, this day/night split has nearly doubled my DMing load. While I'm all for DMing and having a good time, I'm running over 20 hours of sessions per week. This often takes up multiple rooms and requires an immense amount of time, focus and energy from me. While I have great vigor for the things I enjoy, it is not unlimited and I feel I'm going beyond my limits. As a result, greater burnout and DM stress has accrued.

Third, I'm tired of D&D. I love the gameworld, system and all of that, but I need a break from it all. Enough is enough and I've had enough. No other way to say it.

Fourthly, when/if I get another job it will likely be an evenings job. As a result this will be an immediate problem for Merc/Yuth's side of things. While this isn't an immediate concern, it will likely be one sooner or later.

Fifth and finally, I feel Balmuria 3 has suffered from too much to do and not enough DM to go around. This is related to the second problem and has led to various unpleasant delays. The amount of sheer work and effort to keep this running has exceeded my capacity as a DM.

I'm not happy about this, but I feel it's the best choice to make in a bad situation. Before anything else, I'd like to thank each of you for your hard work contributing to this game. You've poured just as much into this as I have and you all deserve credit.

So what happens now?

In the immediate term, I'd like to spend a few days wrapping up loose ends and providing this saga a coda. This Friday I'd like to spend for a chance for you all to tie up any interpersonal issues with NPCs and the game world. If you'd like to talk to someone, go see something or do something you haven't had a chance to, this is the time for it. I don't want to do anything climatic or combative. This should be a chance to get resolution with people or things as well as a chance to have a final go around with any of your favorites. Participation in Friday's session is optional. I'm not going to force anyone to do it, though I do have suggestions for things to do if you would like inspiration. Try and keep your list of things to one day's session worth of things. If you absolutely cannot manage this, I'm willing to do a second day after Saturday, but I'd prefer not to.

Come Saturday, we'll do one final scene. This will be a chance to send the game off on a good note. It'll provide inspiration on what your coming adventures your characters will face as well as an ending. If you can't make either Friday or Saturday, speak up ASAP and we'll work something out.

In the short term, I'm going to take a few weeks off. This will last until mid-late December, giving me a chance to recharge my DMing banks. I'll be around chat as normal, though not as attentive as usual. I'll be going through my notes to post various things of interest as well as doing some writing and analysis of the game for those curious.

In the long term, come late December I intend to (possibly) run one or two short games. These games will be in any system but D&D and will be intended to last 2-4 sessions. This will be a chance to switch things up and will depend on if I can rustle up enough players. Merc has the last week of December off, so that week will likely hold one should these short games come through. Once these are done, I'll be looking at various options for another big game. Right now I haven't made a decision on anything about this yet, nor will I in the immediate future. More information will come about this later. Likely questions and answers are below.

So why did Cor leave Balmuria 3?

Ask him yourself. It's not a huge flameout or any grudges against you all. We don't hate each other and there's no simmering dramatic bloodfeud about to erupt.

Why aren't you having Cor post about it or explaining why yourself?

I prefer to keep this manner of thing off the boards. It ages poorly and can often be embarrassing for all concerned in the future. Call it discretion.

Why not bring in another PC to replace Cor/Jaela?

While a possibility, I decided that this wasn't an option I wished to take at this time. I don't want the extra work of finding someone and integrating them into a long running game on top of my normal responsibilities.

Will Balmuria 3 ever resume?

I don't know. Anything's possible. If the will's there in a few months, it is possible. If you're set on wanting to resume Balmuria 3, say so now. What material I release and post about will vary depending on if that looks like a realistic option or not. For the record, I'm neutral on the prospect as of right now. If you are interested, for fuck's sake say so since this is absolutely the time to speak up. If everyone's on board with that, this might turn into a loooong break instead. I don't want to raise anyone's hopes, but if everyone does want to do that it will get fair consideration.

Yes, this is me leaving the door open.

What material will be you be releasing/what writing will you be doing?

I'll be posting various DM notes, summaries, material and other things of interest to the party. I'll be explaining various parts of the mythology and how the cosmos works, as well as analysis of characters. I'd like to write about the various NPCs, as I had to put a hell of a lot of work into them. I also may do a final feedback post, but that may prove too much trouble to bother with.

Who was your favorite/least favorite PC?

I make it a matter of policy not to answer this question. I enjoyed each character. Make of that what you will.

Who was your favorite/least favorite NPC?

Depends on when. My two favorite overall were Kascha and Simmer. Kascha's a joy to play and a massive change of tone from most characters. Simmer's likewise straightforward and her alien mindset proves entertaining. For the record since Cor mentioned thinking Sylvie was my favorite, I'd like to dispel that. While I enjoyed her as a legacy character, I found her position in Balmuria 3 to be difficult and often unpleasant to RP. She is in the top 1/3rd or so, though.

My least favorite was probably Drena. I feel he was a victim of lack of spotlight+lack of interesting things+lack of PC interest.

You know, it's bullshit that with all the effort to get to epic, we stop right after reaching it!

You're right. The irony is not lost on me. I could have a few hundred hours back if I knew this was going to happen, as I put that much time into epic level design. I also apologize for having y'all level up for no reason. The timing of this sucks. For what it's worth, I felt the system was holding up fine. Well, beyond saves, but that's more of a problem with the method we chose to use for them.

Will you be leveling up all the NPCs one last time?

Probably not, unless there's considerable response to the prospect of resuming Balmuria 3 at a later date. In that case I will, so that I won't have to refamiliarize myself with them then level them up.

Questions welcome. I'll be glad to answer any questions you have about the game world, pending any that feel inappropriate depending on the prospect of ever picking Balmuria 3 back up.