Random DM nagging.

[Anastasia]

I saw it. One point - we'll be using the non B3 gestalt, as that was kept for the sake of being grandfathered in. So dipping over wizard 10 on the other side of the gestalt won't fly.

[Ebiris]

Gotta be honest, I'm not massively into the planar diplomacy thing either it was just the best of those options. I guess as far as what group to work for goes, the Mercane could be interesting. Neutral enough to play all sides, cut-throat enough to break kneecaps when people screw over our merchants?

[Anastasia]

* Anastasia nods.

I'm just fishing right now, none of this is for certain. Regardless, none of these will be long games, more of a palate cleanser from B3's long haul than anything else.

[Yuthirin]

I'm with Eb on the mercane. Mercantile diplomacy sounds fun.

[Anastasia]

Could work if we do that. How do Mercane enforcers and diplomats sound to the rest of you?

[Iron Dragoon]

I saw it. One point - we'll be using the non B3 gestalt, as that was kept for the sake of being grandfathered in. So dipping over wizard 10 on the other side of the gestalt won't fly.

Reshuffled.

[Anastasia]

What's it look like now?

[Iron Dragoon]

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Side 1	Side 2
Wizard 1	Factotum 1
Wizard 2	Factotum 2
Wizard 3	Factotum 3
Wizard 4	Factotum 4
Wizard 5	Factotum 5
Wizard 6	Horizon Walker 1
Wizard 7	Horizon Walker 2
Wizard 8	Horizon Walker 3
Wizard 9	Horizon Walker 4
MotUH 1	Factotum 6
MotUH 2	Factotum 7
MotUH 3	Factotum 8
MotUH 4	Factotum 9
MotUH 5	Factotum 10
Wizard 10	Horizon Walker 5
Wizard 11	Horizon Walker 6
Wizard 12	Horizon Walker 7
Wizard 13	Horizon Walker 8
Wizard 14	Horizon Walker 9
Wizard 15	Horizon Walker 10

[Anastasia]

C&M post with a minor Selunite outsider. Basically what Balyss would've become if she died in B2.

[Anastasia]

A few thoughts as I work on things.

1. I'm working on behemoth monsters from the ELH, making it a template and removing the outsider part of it. It's not quite a make a kaiju template, but sometimes you want a giant creature to run amok, and that's okay. I'm aiming for low epic with it - though of course what you apply it to can change that.

2. Cor, working on greater divine power or whatever it was again. Whip up a version that isn't untyped bonuses. I'm honestly unsure of where we were on it on back and forth before, it's been awhile so I'd rather just start a bit fresher on it.

3. The planned day game will be short for sure now, aiming for about 2 months. I really do need some more time to recuperate for a longer, more intense game. I have various projects that I like but aren't viable right now because I need more downtime. I'm still open for game ideas too, in case you someone hits a home run on one. Some of the lukewarmness over the ideas I tossed out didn't help, but honestly? B3's reception was lukewarm in the planning phase and look how that worked out*. Don't get me wrong, I want honest feedback, but execution and effort can draw players in, y'know? I feel if we get an idea that works for me and players who are willing to give it a try and buy in, there's usually decent odds things will work out. It doesn't always (hi Lost Realm and arguably B5, though I view that one as mixed but positive overall in retrospect), but I feel like you players are more than talented enough to work with things and grow around them. Vastwoods is a great example of that.

4. Evening game is very tentatively shaping up to be Iddy-focused, to ease our timing issues and possibly integrate Yuth in well at some point (or at least leave that as a possibility). This won't settle until I work the other game's details out.

5. Speaking of, that homebrew system hasn't been worked on much since i just haven't had the inspiration (it's been on other projects), so that may be pushed back. We'll see, I may wake up and hammer a ton out in one morning. Really, I'm struggling to find the tone and words to explain how it works with clarity and conciseness. I find myself relying more on examples instead.  The system makes sense to me (it should since I built it from the ground up), but that doesn't mean I'm good at explaining it. If anything, it can be harder since I take things for granted that I just get about it.

* I remember having to argue and cajole for parts of B3. It's one of those things that's ironic in retrospect - okay okay, there's a smidge of I told you so, but mostly I am just amused by how things hold up in hindsight. Life's funny like that.

[Anastasia]

Today's postings:

1. Once I finish the behemoth template, next up is a booster pack of some kind. Suggestions are welcome. I'm thinking general epic feats for the future, as well as gathering a lot of the more prominent epic feats together for such a pack, but it isn't set in stone.

2. On reflection, Ram is the most likely B3 NPC to show up in the immediate gaming future, as I feel he never got any chance at all. I liked his build and gimmick a lot, too. Of course that's contingent on a lot of things, so take it for what it is.

3. I'll probably write a few flavor articles to elaborate on what happens in the aftermath of Aurora's liberation of Lifasa. Some of it's only hinted at, such as Lixer potentially taking over Avernus as Lord of the First. These are a bit down the road, as I'm working mechanics right now, though.

4. Have a preview of behemoth creatures.

Size and Type

The base creature's size increases to Colossal. Type is unchanged.

...

Fast Healing (Su)

The Behemoth gains fast healing equal to its hit dice + 100. If the base creature already has permanent fast healing, it stacks with this fast healing.

Unnatural Vigor (Su)

The Behemoth shrugs off wounds that would injure a lesser creature. If an attack deals damage equal or less than the Behemoth's hit dice + 50, the wound instantly heals in a surge of positive energy. There is no limit to the number of times the Behemoth can heal in this fashion.

Perfect Vitality (Su)

The overwhelming life energy of the Behemoth grants it immunity to effects that would injure its life force or prevent it from healing.

The Behemoth is immune to ongoing bleeding damage, such as from a bearded devil's infernal wound ability.

Damage that cannot be healed normally (such as vile damage) can be healed normally by the Behemoth.

The Behemoth is immune to ability damage, ability drain, negative energy damage and energy drain.

While not a true regenerator, the Behemoth can regrow lost limbs and extremities through its fast healing.

Behemoths don't have a lot of the standard defenses of epic creatures, like damage reduction or spell resistance. They do their own thing instead, based on the fact that they're essentially forced flukes, having a connection to the Positive Energy Plane far in excess of what should be possible for a creature. As is often the case, they were first created by a wizard and generally aren't natural - or at least weren't before.

[Anastasia]

Today's update:

1. Behemoth creatures are nearly done. A fluff preview:

Behemoths.

A rare type of animal grown to vast proportions as a result of magical experimentation. Through means not currently understood or reproduced, the animal's ability to draw in and store positive energy is expanded by an order of magnitude. Unlike normal, this does not result in the death of the animal, but instead it grows into a giant with unfettered and vast life energy.

- Elder Magi Tepen, retired scholar of Aurora.

Hardly! 500,000 gold is a pittance for the service provided. Finding an animal that can withstand the process is the works of decades, even with magical aid. I tell you that you're getting the best deal you'll ever get for a prospective transformation. You want to save money? Spend a century trying to find a specimen yourself. Each failed attempt will have you cleaning animal guts out of your laboratory. Did I mention that failed attempts end explosively?

- Cregar, Mercane Biologist.

It just wouldn't die! We kept hitting it, but the wounds healed faster than we could hurt it! Not amount of encouragement made up the difference. Master, listen it wasn't my fa-MASTER!

- Heldae, former succubus bard.

2. Right now, I'll probably and tentatively be presenting game ideas in the second week of April. It might move a bit depending on how things go. Day game will likely be one scenario to chew through in a few months. I'm leaning towards a one shot sort of situation spread out long, details TBA.

3. Past that, I'm gearing up for something in Balmuria's epic or divine levels. Maybe B1r, maybe something related. It'll just be a question of when I'm ready for it. B3's plot and credits left a ton of hooks to go in a lot of directions there, along with C&M posts providing more.

[Anastasia]

With any luck, I should have the first of a flavor series called the Fall of Bel up tonight or in the morning.

Now I hear Bel's gone and done. No one really knows for sure, but that's the big rumor. Can't get a devil to talk about it - most aren't around, few I did stumble on got real nasty when I even brought it up. Plus I heard 'bout that Aurora thing. Heard ol' Bel got his face pushed in there. Got demoted, bet you he did.

So what the fuck happens to Avernus?

[Anastasia]

The fall of Bel, part 1.

This is a series of pieces covering the current events in Avernus. Each one will show more information and get closer to what happened. Part one is a mercenary captain only involved in passing with the events on Avernus.

Yeah, it started something like this.

Me and the boys were holding Hillsfire Crag, a nasty little shit part of Avernus. More'n'usual, 'cause the fireballs don't rain there for some reason, it was full of the shit of war. Corpses, blood, spirits and more. Most of 'em don't care much for the devils, the spirits that is. So they hire out defending it from demon assholes. Do a good job and you get paid on the regular and a minimum of shit, and the demons haven't been hitting it too hard lately.

Yeah, yeah, I'm getting to it. You'll get your money's worth, mercane. It's recon for the main story, think of it like that. Or lubing up your asshole for a solid gold cock to fuck it. Preparation, you get it? Don't want to fuck this up before it's begun or we'll have to do it again and waste everyone's fucking time. You get that, do a job and do it right the first time.

Now the downside is that there's this cunthole of a devil that serves an overseer, makes sure we aren't fucking around on the job. Knows how to deal with the spirits good'n'well. Gives 'em the gaze and they back off from him. Creepy fuck, all bony and looking like he's two days dead from starvation. Screw up in front of him and you'll serve him as a corpse. Necromancer, yeah. Name's Ung, ugly name for an ugly devil.

Anyway, we're holding the crag like we always are. No demons around today, haven't been for a few days. Tossing the dice, losing too much money to my second in command. Then thump. It's the sound that gives away a teleport, 'specially when it's a horned devil. They're heavy and you can hear the ground groan. Devil's beaten half dead, bleeding and armor's been totaled. Bellows for Ung, demands he come with him on the command of some uppity up. Didn't catch the name, was probably some unpronounceable shit in Infernal.

No, I don't remember, and you'll have to pay extra to utter a single spell word on me. How much? 800. 800. Look, you're the one who wants to know some dead devil's name. 650 or nothing. Deal.

I remember now. The name was Ajojorul the Bleak, with the title spoken in Infernal. I suspect a telepathic followup, but I cannot confirm that.

Ugh. Fine. Creepy shit. Isn't natural, that sort of magic. Anyway, Ung hurries up...and fucking blasts him with a wilting spell. The one that draws the water out of you, usually leaving the poor bastard a dried out husk if it gets you. Kills the horned devil right off, dead in front of us. Now that got all of us on our feet, weapons out, because that's some serious shit. Devils don't just kill other devils like that in front of witnesses, they got rules'n'shit. Or they don't do it in front of us, prissy bastards. Like their shit doesn't stink.

Ung turns around to us, tosses us a bag of holding full of gold and tells us to get out of here. Head to the portal five miles west, the guards will let us through for free and that our contract was concluded. If we stay it's on us what happens to us. Then he's gone, but not before saying that devil loyalists will be comin' to hold the crag in an hour's time, and won't tolerate anyone who isn't loyal here.

So we did the only thing we could - smelled shit in the air and took his advice. Had to break camp hard, leave some things behind, but we got out of there. Now the fucked up part is the fireballs. They weren't there. Never fucking seen that before there. Never. Creepier than the rest of it, it's like they weren't aiming for us. Isn't right, you ever been? The fireballs in Avernus have a way of aiming for you. Like they want your blood. Not that day, though.

What's worse is that a good chunk of the band got sick on a fucking five mile walk, isn't natural. Some real mage shit, shivering and burning up at once after feeling fine not five minutes ago. Started dropping weight fast - Fat Chuck must've shed a good 50 pounds on a 5 mile hike.

Gate's also fucked up and wrong. Now I knew the devils holding that gate, heard it's a 90 year posting. So it's the same faces - but not that time. Different squad was holding it, lead by a fucking pit fiend. Oversized unit, 900 holding it instead of 90.

Yeah, ain't sure about the number, but that's how devils do it. I'd bet my nuts that it was 900 of the fuckers on the dot.

So as I was sayin', different squad and they'd seen some fighting. Wounds, damaged gear, all that shit. Yet they just let us through, no questions asked. Didn't even try to give us a hard time. Right on through the portal and it dumped us in the fucking Astral instead of Acheron, and then closed behind us. Devil move, but they paid damn well to get us out of there. Best part is that the sick people got better right off in the Astral. Looked like shit but they weren't sick no more.

Now a few weeks later we're back home and I do some pokin' around, hear about what happened in Avernus. Contacts are fucking spooked - the ones of them I can find, the devil ones aren't there to be found. Word is Bel's gone and done. No one really knows for sure, but that's the big rumor. Can't get a devil to talk about it - most aren't around, few I did stumble on got real nasty when I even brought it up. Plus I heard 'bout that Aurora thing. Heard ol' Bel got his face pushed in there. Got demoted, bet you he did.  So what the fuck happens to Avernus?

Yeah, that's it. 'bout all I know about it.

Yeah, sure, you're paying so I'll answer.

Don't know. Had a Tempusman with us before, couldn't do anything about the spirits. Didn't react like the undead. Guessing it's easier to pay us than solve it, but it could be bullshit. Just guessing.

Didn't catch any names. They were decent about it but ready for battle, tense. They weren't gabbing, none of that like nervous human soldiers. All steel and iron. Even the pit fiend seemed on edge, never see one of those red bastards anything but smug.

No, none of them died from that sickness or since then. Not even Fat Chuck's put on the weight he lost, though. Shit, think he's still losing weight and the fuck can eat an entire pig for dinner.

Lixer? No, Ung never mentioned a name like that. Think he's oh...damn, an Archduke one of the fancy nobles? Prince of the Undead? Sure, sounds right.

Undead? Didn't see any besides the spirits there. No, they were about the same, annoying but you get used to them.

That it? Great, where's my money?

[Anastasia]

A Behemoth Cat is up in C&M. Mostly a test for future things.