Let's Pathfinder: "The Lost City of Barakus"

[Rex]

Centuries ago, a race of humans built an elaborate underground city beneath the Duskmoon Hills called Barakus. These were a magic-loving people, and for hundreds of years they dwelled peacefully in their subterranean home, delving into the arcane arts. Eventually, however, one of their number, a necromancer named Devron, rose to great power and transformed himself into a lich. The wizards of Barakus banded together, and after a great struggle, banished him to a prison far below the city. Before his banishment, however, Devron forged the helm of power, which he could use to restore his power at some future point.
Though Devron was locked away in a magical prison, the wizards of Barakus knew that someday he might use his powerful magic to somehow free himself, and so they created a weapon, the sword of Kell, which a mighty warrior could use against him. Because they wanted control over who got and used the sword, it was forged such that it would be all but useless unless empowered in a specific room in Barakus with the use of three orbs of power which were themselves powered by three “flames” — small geometric shapes scattered throughout the city. The idea was that the three elders of the city must agree on a champion before they offered their flame: without complete agreement, the sword was useless.
However, before a suitable champion could be found to battle Devron, the lich played a risky gambit. At great expense to personal power, he summoned a stone of madness, which erupted through the floor near the gates to his prison. This magical stone had the power to drive all sentient creatures mad. This it did, and the good people of Barakus soon destroyed themselves, and the city fell into ruin.
Centuries passed. The stone of madness’ power diminished and most of the city was freed from its effects. Eventually, creatures from the Under Realms and the surrounding wilderness began moving into the city and using its many halls and chambers for their lairs.
The lost city of Barakus is now a massive dungeon, filled with creatures that have their own designs and desires. Many of the inhabitants over the years have altered the layout of the city slightly to fit their needs, and hundreds of years of monstrous habitation has left the city’s once-great halls filled with forgotten treasures and un-sprung traps.
Of course, Devron still dwells deep beneath the earth in his magical prison, and as is the wont with trapped liches, would like nothing more than to escape his prison and find his helm of power, which would restore the power he lost during his captivity. While exploring the city, the PCs may decide to find the sword of Kell, empower it, and go after Devron. The battle between the PCs and the lich is likely to serve as a climax to this adventure. Along the way, it is possible they will locate the shield of dividing, a powerful tool against magic and fire secured in the dungeon by one who sought the sword.

Of course, that's only one of the many adventurers that await players in and around the city of Endhome. Barakus is a very long campaign, designed to be started with first level characters. It will be my first time GMing a Tabletop game, though I can thank @Dwayna DragonFire for her help and patience.

Right now, we're looking for a group of two to four players that can meet once per week at a date and time that will be decided later, based on people's available times. We'll be using Roll20 and Myth-Weavers for the game and our character sheets, respectively. Accounts there will be made during set-up. However, people wishing to join the campaign will need to have Skype! We will be using it to aid in communication.

If you've ever played Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder is the middle step between 3.5E and 4E. It's not as ball crushingly hard as 3.5, nor is it as easy as 4. As your GM, I will be doing my best not to get you killed, but I can't stop you from going of the rails and into danger, if you so choose. Characters are about as fragile as they are in 3.5, though they are stronger to compensate for this. If the threat of character death isn't something you can tolerate, this may not be the game for you. Characters can be resurrected, but it costs a lot of money to do so, and thus not something that we'll be able to do for some time.

However! There are dozens of species, classes, and builds you can play, hopefully you'll always find something that interests you! If grand adventure tickles your fancy, I hope you find interest in this one. If you have any questions, you can find me in Chat, or send me a PM.

 

[Tailon]

I'm interested, available Sunday-Friday

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

I'm available anyday but Sunday, and I'm usually busy nights, especially Thursday and Friday. If we can all work something out, I'd totally be into this.

 

[JadaDoesArt]

This sounds fun. I am avaliable all day Tuesdays and Wednesdays, or any time before 3pm (Central) except for Sundays.

 

[Shiny Motley]

I'll join, why not~ I'm free before 2pm central MWF and after 4:30 TTH; weekends are a bit iffy with me as I usually have a lot of homework due on Monday and Tuesday.

 

[Rex]

Okay, so with five players now showing interest, I feel up to starting to work out the various bits of information needed. We are still open for one more player, however! First off, classes, we are kind of in need of a healer, as four of us have decided what classes we want to use. Does Jada have any specific classes she desires, or is she up for being said healer? Alternatively, the sixth player will have to heal.

Secondly, times! Everyone is available Tuesday, by the sounds of it. How does the following time sound:
6pm Eastern / 5pm Central / 4pm Mountain / 3pm Pacific

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Sounds good to me. Also maybe Wednesday mornings would be good, but it does seem like everyone's available Tuesdays.
By the way, I'll be playing a Sorcerer :3

 

[Shiny Motley]

I mean, as witches are relatively flexible, I think I can act as a healer? 5pm central sounds fine for me, as well.

 

[Tailon]

Tuesday at 3 is just fine by me.

 

[Brendan Savem]

I previously said that I'd probably not be joining this, but after some reconsideration, and some pre-character creation. I decided to join in as your sixth adventurer.

You want a healer?

You're getting the healer.

 

[Shiny Motley]

Whelp, guess I can build my witch differently now XD good thing I haven't actually started soing any in-depth character creation yet

 

[Rex]

6pm Eastern would be 11pm GMT. If that's acceptable for Brendan, I'll lock us in for Tuesday!

 

[Brendan Savem]

11pm is theoretically fine, though that does put a limit on how long I can remain in a session. As long as sessions don't take over 4 hours though, it should be okay.

 

[Rex]

4 hours is probably pushing it as far as session length goes, so I wouldn't worry too much there. Just to be clear to everyone, we're locked in for Tuesday at 3pm Pacific / 5pm Central / 6pm Eastern / 11pm GMT. Character creation will be ironed out tomorrow, Tuesday, February 2, for those of you who don't have one, if you can make it, with the goal of starting the campaign Tuesday, February 9.

 

[Shiny Motley]

Going to be dropping out of the game due to family/academic/what have you reasons. I'm pretty upset by this development but there's not much I can actually do about it.

 

[NerdyNinja]

What exactly is it?

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

What exactly is it?

It is a Tabletop RPG called Pathfinder. What that means is that we're all sitting down together (typically at a table, but in this case over the internet) with character sheets, a map, rolling dice and chatting about the campaign that the Game Master makes for us. Pathfinder is the system that will determine a characters statistics and abilities, which will help us determine the total result of our dice rolls. That's the easiest way to explain it, as it is a very complex game that has a large set of rules. Hopefully this helps.

 

[NerdyNinja]

Cool! I'd like to join if you guys have some empty room

 

[Rex]

Can you meet us right now, we're doing character building as we speak?

 

[NerdyNinja]

In actualaity, no. But I can do some things with the computer. Plus where I am, it's reallylate, i'll be going to bed soon.

 

[Rex]

If you can't work with the set times, then you probably won't be able to join.

 

[NerdyNinja]

Oh! that's ok, just wanted to ask.