Thug Muggers in the City 10/16/22
Table Talk:
Now that everyone is leveled up, it’s time for a level up prize! Last time it was acorns with dice inside, what’ll it be this time? Finger puppets - with dice inside! Diedrik (Cypress) got a cute little black bear. The store did not have snakes, so Ashley (Sorin) got a little alligator, that’s close enough right? The store also did not have squirrels, so Brooke (Ari) and Sarah (Rae) got little beavers that look like squirrels if you kinda squint a little at them. Each little finger puppet also had a Chessex KOP06231 16mm Opaque d6 White/Multi-colored pips inside, continuing the pride dice theme.
I also explained to everyone that i got a preliminary map made up for the Church of Glorious Gods that morning to help visualize any scenes there. I dropped the image in our Discord for Diedrik, and so that people could zoom in for more detail.
The rest of our table talk here was actually stuff we talked about in our discord server during the week.
I got some lore and backstory written up for Bostra (here). I also got a page put up for all the City of Nibiru lore here. I am hoping to finish some stuff on the founding, layout, and politics of the city soon. But, for now, it is just a convenient housing of all the passages so far, also some maps, and my early DM notes.
I also did some work on the website here, to make it easier to navigate and better formatted for sharing with anyone online that wants to read it – or that players want to force it on.
Lastly we now have emojis and stickers in our discord server. I actually streamed the making of these on my Twitch where i sometimes stream map and world building, for anyone interested in watching how that happens. All of the characters pictured below were made using a Rogue Cat Designs picture maker on Picrew.me (found here). The art all belongs to Rogue Cat Designs, i only did some formatting.
‘I’m a werewolf,’ she says, and lets it hang in the air like a challenge.
‘Like… right now?’ I ask.
It’s the middle of the day and a girl with a Misfits tattoo on her neck is sitting on my couch.
‘No,’ she says. ‘When the moon is full. You know… a werewolf.’
I set my clipboard aside for a second.
‘So, when the moon is full,’ I say, ‘You get all hairy and rawr and like… eat people? Or whatever?’
‘It’s not like that,’ she says, as if it’s something basic she’s trying to explain to me. ‘I’m a psychic werewolf.’
‘Like… you’re a werewolf, but… you’re also in the X-Men?’
Her eyes light up. It’s a conversation she’s had at bars a hundred times.
She loves the look on people’s faces. It’s all well-rehearsed. ‘No, it’s not like that,’ she says. ‘When the moon is full, my wolf spirit takes over.’
‘Your… you have a wolf spirit?’
‘We all do. Everyone does. Even you. I was born with the ability to access mine. I can’t control it around the full moon, though. The lycanthropy is too intense, and sometimes I just have to… give in.’
‘This is a lot to unpack. So, when you give in, is that when you eat people?’
‘No, most psychic werewolves don’t hurt anyone. Some do, but they’re ostracized. If we went around hurting people, we’d be hunted to extinction.’
‘Okay. If you don’t hunt and eat people, how does your lycanthropy manifest exactly?’
‘I get angry. And it’s harder to resist my passions.’
‘Your passions?’
‘I eat voraciously. I yell at people. I have a lot of sex. I take what I want. The wolf spirit is raw, animal urge.’
‘So… every full moon, you transform into… an asshole?’
-Clark Vandermeer —Jason Murphy, “Killer Candy: Chapter 5”
Chapter 7: A light easy morning of infiltration
🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿
Chapter 7: A light easy morning of infiltration 🎲🗡️🔔✨🌿
We start off with a Constitution Roll, just to see who wakes up first.
Sorin, your mind clears as you wake from your meditative resting state, the veil of misty dreams parts and you once again see the real world.
What do you do?
Ashley: “I throw a pillow at Rae saying ‘Hey wake up?’”
*silence*
Really? I mean… really? Alright, make an attack roll i guess.
Rae, as an elf you don't exactly sleep. Like Sorin, you meditate and your ‘dreams’ are visions that are overlaid onto the reality around you – a bit like hallucinations. They usually involve your surroundings, but this one is more vivid than usual.
You see one of the training fields at the monastery where you grew up. This particular field is decorated in gray with red outlines. One of the masters is demonstrating. He moves seamlessly through several different forms.
Now the dream changes.
You are on the balancing beam behind where the master stood. You recognize this. This is a dexterity challenge. A large boulder on a rope acts as a pendulum. It swings back and forth as you walk the beam. It is one of the challenges you have always been good at.
The rock swings but you duck out of the way with a cocky smile. In mid-flight the boulder shifts to the side, re-aligning with you. You duck again, again the boulder changes course, swinging directly for you. You begin to panic now, you move to duck a third time and the boulder slams into you. It feels like a cheap hotel pillow.
You wake up as a pillow slides off your face.
What do you do?
Sarah: “I throw the pillow back at Sorin as hard as I can.”
Really? Really you guys? Ok make an attack roll i guess.
The pillow lands on the floor with a “puff” sound.
Ari wakes up, and then immediately rolls back over. Cypress wakes up, and starts getting his belongings together. He takes clothing and gear down from wear they hung, getting his pack arranged, etc.
Sorin succeeds on a very dumb Athletics Roll, and leaps from his bed, across the room to land on Ari’s bed. Ari is understandably startled, and as she reflexively jerks around, her horn cuts into Sorin’s exposed ankle for 1 damage. Then, winning the Contested Strength Check, Ari knocks Sorin off her bed, and onto the floor. Sorin’s head smacks against the leg of the table taking 9 non-lethal points of damage, one less than an actual injury.
Cypress lifts his pack back on the bed, puts his heavy belt of gear on. He buckles on his pauldron and steps over Sorin’s face as he lies there on the floor, rubbing his head. When he walks by Cypress glances at the scrape on Sorin’s leg in the air and says, “Don’t let that get infected, or I'm just letting it fall off.”
Sorin goes pale, and suddenly finds another reason to be very glad Rae and Ari went to the bathhouse after several days living in a sewer. With a gulp, Sorin grabs his bag and heads out of the room, pleading after Cypress.
In the public room of the Nort Gate Inn, we all sit around a worn wooden table. Raelle-the-Cheap is snacking down on some dry rations, while everyone else is enjoying this morning’s special. The special is a potato hash, with a vegetable relish, and smoked bits left over from last night’s roast. It’s nothing too fancy, but it hits the spot.
Sorin is attempting to ‘feed’ Akris. That is to say, The wizard is lifting bits of food up to the snake’s mouth… before they fall through the incorporeal body and back down into the bowl. Sorin absently takes another bite for himself and finds that the bits that have gone through Akris taste stale and drier than the rest of the bowl.
“Alright,” Cypress says, taking charge, “we need to make a plan this time. Last time everyone ran off their own way, and look what happened. So, What all do we need?” He counts on his fingers. “Someone to get into the Church of Shadows, and someone to touch base with the Priests from the Church of Glorious Gods.”
Ari and Rae look gloomy and chastened. They stare down at the table.
“It shouldn't be one of us that goes to the Church of Shadows.”
“Sorry, we really screwed that up.”
Sorin attempts to cheer them up saying, “Don’t worry guys, I can go.” Then through a mouthful of stale-tasting hash, “I’d make a great convert.”
There is a moment’s pause and Cypress says, “Ok sure, let’s see how well that works. After all, I should be the one to go to the Church of Glorious Gods and talk to them, since they already know me.”
Everyone gets their plates piled up and takes a last drink. We all stand up and walk out of the Nort Gate Inn.
In the courtyard, out in the early morning light, it dawns on Rae (hehehe get it!?) and she asks, “Wait, What about Akris? Won’t he snitch on you?”
Everyone's heads turn to look at the little flying snake. He grins and hisses, “I’dss make a greatss convert!” drawing out the words in a sing-song echo of his master.
Diedrik: “Ok wait, I want to make a religion check to see if a Flying Snake would actually fit in with their beliefs or not?”
Ok, roll.
Deidrik: “Nat’ 20.”
Ok, with a nat’ 20, you know that the whole Flying Snake thing isn’t the problem. I mean he talks and that’s weird, but the real problem is just Akris. A core feature of his personality is to narc on people. He will, without a doubt, give Sorin away – AND, he will think it’s hilarious. You can try to make rules he has to follow like “no talking” but he will constantly be looking for a way around them to rat out Sorin.
Cypress’s eyes narrow at the little snake. Akris’s wings falter for a second and Cypress states, “You’re already trying to figure out how to get him caught aren’t you?”
“SssSss What? Me? N-nesvser? You gotss the wrong guyss. I ssswear to youss I’m honessst I’d nev-”
Sorin’s hand closes around the snake’s mouth as he lifts it off his shoulder, and passes it to Cypress. “Cypress, can you watch my snake for a day?”
Cypress takes Akris and gently curls his tail around his staff like a caduceus.
Akris hangs his head and mutters, “Awe man, andss I hadss a whole thingss planned out. It wasss gonna be hilariousss.”
And, with that, Cypress, Ari and Rae walk off to the Church of Glorious Gods while Sorin watches them go – then he chuckles and heads south across town to the Church of Shadows.
Chapter 8:Cypress, Ari and Rae go to church.
🎲🗡️🔔🌿
Chapter 8:Cypress, Ari and Rae go to church. 🎲🗡️🔔🌿
We walk into the Church of Glorious Gods and we are immediately a little bit embarrassed. We realize right away that there is a religious service already underway here in the main atrium. The platform full of pews and chairs is facing the Altar on the far side of the church where a woman is sensuously bathing a Jade statue of a minotaur (Anchoro The Defender Of The Lost if you’re wondering).
It might be worthwhile to take a moment and go over the layout of the Church of Glorious Gods. The building is set up in a large outer ring divided into sections. To the left of the stone doors is a clerk's desk with one of the Priests of Glory (the organization that runs this building) behind a stone countertop. Near them is a table with various holy symbols, statuettes and offerings. Left of him, past the wooden dividing wall, is the altar to Chauntea. The stone statue stands on her earthen mound in front of two beautiful stained glass windows. Surrounding her little hill is a small fish pond and some very green grass.The rock of meditation sits halfway submerged in the water. Continuing around the circle to the left, is the statue of The Traveler. His outstretched hand with the lantern is clearly visible from the door. The area of The Traveler has several benches and even a few hammocks hanging by the back walls. Next is a dark partition that we can’t see into. And then, an altar bathed in purple light from stained glass windows where a woman with a washcloth is – as mentioned – bathing a jade statue of a minotaur, and murmuring in a sultry voice about big muscles. On the other side of the circle is another long, narrow area, but this one has a few windows where we can see cracks of golden light. Next to that, on a slightly raised brick floor is a statue to The Sisters with torches lit around it. On the other side of The Sisters is a well lit area mostly taken up by a large bronze statue of a fish. And on the other side of this, is another help desk with a priest and another table of various relics.
The center circle (or rather central octagon) of this room is a wooden platform, raised one step up from the ground. It has several lines of benches, couches, chairs, and pews all facing the same way. This platform actually moves between services. It has a mechanism hidden underneath that allows it to rotate and face any of these altars during a particular service. This way any particular congregation can face their priests and God without the risk of dropping a holy statue and breaking a holy arm, or having to find nine able bodies, sixty feet of rope, three pulleys and an indoor crane to move twelve thousand lbs of solid bronze fish.
Diedrik rolls a Religion Check to see what all Cypress can figure out about everything going on. 20.
The people on the main platform are separated into three rough groupings. The ones towards the front altar are wrapped up in the service taking place as the woman moves her washcloth slowly down the waist of the minotaur statue. They are shirtless and kneeling, running wet sponges over their chests. The other groups look impatient. Some are tapping feet, looking at the light coming through the windows, or just trying to keep small children settled. There are some small clusters of people around the outside ring as well, mummering to themselves and looking over their shoulders.
With a religion roll of 20, Cypress can tell that all these groups are essentially waiting their turn with varying degrees of patience and respect.
The people over by the shrine to The Traveler are the most calm, sitting in chairs and reading books – one lady is even snoozing in a hammock. On the other side of the spectrum, over by the golden statue of a fish, a man in a large pope hat shaped like the head of a fish, is in an angry whisper-shouting argument with one of the Glorious God’s Priests.
Cypress drinks in this chaotic religious scene of people trying to be divinely revenant, and turns toward the help desk.
At this same moment, Sorin is walking out of an alley near the Church of Shadows. He is near the back of the building, walking around to the front when he notices people milling around in much the same way as they were yesterday. He pauses to get a good look and is vaguely surprised to realize that many of these faces look somewhat familiar. Is this the exact same crowd that was here yesterday evening?
As he walks toward the front of the church he finds someone in the milling crowd to ask “Um, excuse me, do you know if this service is open to the public?”
The man gives Sorin the disdainful glare of a devout worshiper looking at a ‘holiday catholic’ before muttering, “lapsed believer,” and walking away.
Sorin stands there with an open mouth stammering out a feeble apology, when a hunched old woman comes up and taps Sorin on the shoulder.
“Oh, don’t mind him, young man. If you need someone to go with you, I'll gladly walk you.” The little hunched woman looks up smiling at Sorin, and he gratefully takes her arm, letting her lean on him as they walk to the tall iron doors at the front of the church.
As the two of them walk up to the open doors, making small talk, Ashley has to make a Perception Roll, and Sorin gets very nervous. It looks like a different priest from yesterday, so that’s good, but the lady standing across from him in a pastel cardigan looks very familiar.
Meanwhile, in the Church of Glorious Gods, Ari and Rae are doing their best to keep absolutely still and not embarrass Cypress. They walk behind him as he goes up to the stone clerk counter, noticing the look of recognition on his face as he sees the priest there.
Cypress walks up to the counter, and Rae and Ari breathe a little sigh of relief. Clearly this is one of the priests Cypress knows, so no problem… right?
But, the priest looks tired, his eyes almost glassy. His voice is a little hoarse as he says, “I understand that your service is important, and even extra important on a day like today. We are trying our hardest to accommodate all groups as best we can. I apologize, but we cannot advance the time tables. All services must go in the order posted at the doors.” He says it with the air of someone on auto-pilot who has clearly explained this hundreds of times today already, and knows he is just going to half to keep repeating it.
Rae and Ari’s relief vanishes as Cypress gets a slightly haughty expression of ‘uh, don’t you recognize me’ and looks at the clerk. He takes a deep breath and then puts his bag on the countertop, opening it just enough to show the priestly tabard for the Church of Shadows hidden inside.
The clerk’s eyes widen and he takes a second look at Cypress, letting out a soft “oh” of recognition. Thinking fast, he winks at the halfling and says in an overly loud voice, “Yes sir, I understand, I will get the relics you need for your private ceremony and meet you over by the statue of Chauntea.” To Ari, he seems to be furiously winking and nodding by the end, clearly this is a man with no experience in subtlety.
From behind him, Ari and Rae see Cypress nod and walk over to the grassy area between two wooden walls. They hurry to keep right behind him, afraid to get lost in a crowd where they are all too likely to make a hugely offensive mistake – like sneezing on a prophet or stepping on the holy toe of a living saint.
When Sorin walks up to the doors, the woman with the pastel cardigan holds out her hand. It’s only there to shake hands with everyone coming in, but somehow it also manages to bar his way with the social pressure of a thousand staring strangers. She looks at him and says, “Oh hey there hunny, I don’t think I recognize you. Are you new?”
Sorin’s brain is a deer in chariot lanterns as he stammers out, “Um, er, no I uh.. It’s just been a few years since I've been able to attend services.” He smiles as the little voice in his head says, ‘oh yeah, smooth, you’re all set now.’ He moves to walk inside, but the hand is still there – threatening him with friendliness.
“Oh,” Karen’s eyes glaze a bit in confusion, “But,” her gaze hardens, “you weren’t here last night?”
Sorin swallows involuntarily, he can feel every human, elf, gnome, orc, and dwarf eyeball in an eight mile radius staring at him. “Um, well you see ma’am, I wanted to be here, but um,” he picks at his student clothes, “it’s my teachers, ma’am. They’re not so big on all the religious stuff. They said I could leave when I was done, but I think they assigned so much knowing I couldn’t make it in time.” He feels his way in the lies and continues, “But I thought it would be better to attend this morning than not at all, especially as I try to get back into it.”
Ashley, roll Persuasion for me against her Insight roll. 10 and 17.
Karen’s eyes stare deep into Sorin’s soul before she says, “It must’ve been several years since you’ve been here.” The words hit like a slap. “This is the spring ceremony, dear. It’s a two part service and since you missed the sermon last night in darkness… well to only attend the morning’s light ceremony. I’m afraid you’ll be terribly off balance.”
So, Ashley the roll wasn’t high enough that she buys it and you’re in. But it was less than 10 apart, so not low enough that she’s kicking you out. Basically, you have one more roll to try again, but you need to make an argument with details about the religion itself to win her over. After yesterday, everyone is a bit on edge, so the stakes are pretty high.
Sorin gulps.
Over in the Church of Glorious Gods, Cypress takes the moment’s rest while waiting for the priest to come over, and kneels in front of Chauntea.
Diedrik: “I’m gonna pray for her help here with this whole situation, getting the priests on board and everything.”
Roll Performance for me.
The face of the Goddess appears to Cypress, smiling. For some reason though, he still feels a distance from her. Her smile falters and she turns to the side, her head turns farther around, and suddenly it is the vision of the sister Goddess Saylee (Cypress’s new goddess with the druid level) smiling back at him.
Ok, I’m gonna give you another chance here, so roll again. 3.
As Cypress begins the prayer to Saylee this time, the priests walk up behind him and one gently clears their throat to announce themselves.
Cypress sighs and stands up.
The priest from the counter has brought his champion from last time over to talk with Cypress. They nod to Cypress and ask what he has found out.
Reader, i'll spare you the very long explanation, but Cypress recounts his talk with the Constable and his “imprisonment” which led to his assignment in the sewers. He recounts his conversations with Bostra and his combat with the Thugs. Cypress shows the patch of rank as well as the rats sewn in the black and white tabard. He walks them through his suspicion that some members of the church are in league with this gang of Thugs, and asks about any knowledge they have about the rat symbols.
The priests confer for a minute, but neither of them can place any of the rat symbols. “If only we had a way into the Church of Shadows, I don’t know enough to really make a guess.”
Cypress smiles a sly smile and waves to his companions standing awkwardly in the corner. “This is Ari and Rae. They’ve been helping me in the sewers, but we have a fourth friend – who is at the Church of Shadows as we speak.”
Sorin gulps. Suddenly he cracks. He starts to shake a little his lip quivers, but inspiration has finally come to him. “Do you mean I really can’t be here either?” He says letting his voice break as if on the verge of tears. “I’ve been trying so hard to practice balance, I try to learn in the school even though they hate religion, and I’m trying so hard to keep my faith even with that life of learning…” he coughs and trails off covering his face.
Alright, I like the play, and the plea for balance in life, good job, roll again. 19 and 6.
The hand that was barring Sorin’s way is now on his shoulder, gently rubbing it. Karen’s soft voice is gently soothing as she says, “I understand dear, I’m sorry. I misunderstood, of course you can come in for the service. In fact, after the sermon why don’t you talk to one of the priests and ask them for guidance. After all, finding the most difficult balances is what they train for.” She smiles, and gently guides Sorin inside.
Success! The group gets 25 XP for that. I think talking to a ‘Karen’ definitely counts as combat.
The inside of The Church of Shadows is dominated by a large black and white pyramid. It stands almost two stories tall, and is so imposing it is hard to really take in the other details. The pyramid is painted all black on two sides, and all white on the other two sides. The line between them is so crisp, and done with such precision, that it might as well have been painted with a razor blade. On all four sides, the matte paint is so pristine, it looks as though dust is simply forbidden to land on it.
Around this imposing fifteen foot artifact, are some simple wooden benches and pews. On each of the four sides there are three rows of seating. The back row, up against the wall, has high backs and some cushions. Most of the elderly patrons are in these rows with a few blankets tucked behind crooked backs for support. The middle rows are simple wooden church pews, plain wood and mostly taken up by families gathered in their nicest clothes. The rows closest to the pyramid are simple wooden benches; they look newer and less worn. Mostly occupied by single merchants and young adults, these benches seem newer than the rest, like they were recently added due to an increase in membership.
Across the room from the large iron doors, on the other side of the giant black and white pyramid are three statues. A man in armor, a man in robes, and something between them we can’t make out from here. To the right of this massive pyramid, in a small unlit alcove, is a smaller black and white pyramid, only about four feet high.
Sorin walks into this large open room and stares in awe at the large black and white stone mass in front of him. He looks up towards the darkened ceiling, and sees a single chain dangling over the tip of the pyramid. Then as he goes to take a seat, he hesitates, and reaches up to his ear.
With oddly perfect timing, Cypress, Ari and Rae all hear a whisper in their ears. “Ok, I’m inside the church. But, um, Cypress? Where should I sit?”
Cypress puts a hand to his ear and whispers,”What are the options?”
“There is a large pyramid in the middle. There are seats on every side, so I have to pick a side. Either front by the doors on the white side, the back on the white side, the back, on the black side, or by the doors on the black side. Um, but people are starting to look at me.”
“Ok,” Cypress thinks out loud, “You missed the ceremony in the dark, right? And this is the light ceremony? Then sit in the back black side, to balance out the darkness you missed last night.”
“Perfect, thank you Cypress.” Sorin whispers and then the stone earrings are silent.
Cypress lowers his hand and turns back to the priests. Both are looking very impressed, as far as they can tell, this is a very sleek, professional operation.
The priest from the counter taps his chin and says, “I can't do anything today with how busy we are, but I'll look into our records. I’ll see if I can find you any information on those rat symbols.” He nods to the other priest.
The second priest nods back, takes a key out of a hidden pocket and hands it to Cypress. “This is the key to our cellar from the sewer grate. It’s too busy for us to get you down there today, too many people would see. But this way, at least you can come back in through that path if you need to.
Congratulations everyone, like any good roleplaying game, you now have a key to a cellar.
Chapter 9: Sorin Goes to Church.
🎲✨
Chapter 9: Sorin Goes to Church. 🎲✨
As Sorin sits on the pew, between a merchant, and a young girl who smells like stables, we hear the room slowly go quiet. The soft susurration of murmuring voices fades out and Sorin sees all eyes look to the chain dangling from the ceiling. Sorin tries hard to peer into the inky darkness of the rafters, but no matter how hard he squints, he can’t make out anything.
While Sorin is staring at the chain above the pyramid, small cracks form in its sides. We see thin lines of light around the corners widen, as doors open. On all of the four corners of the massive black and white pyramid, doors swing out. Sorin makes a mental note of the hidden chamber revealed inside the structure. From these doors step four priests, in their half-skull makeup and black/white slashed robes. They close the doors behind themselves and suddenly, the room seems much darker. There is still late-dawn light coming in ribbons through the windows, but the room itself has a dark and heavy feel to it, as if the shadows in the ceiling rafters are slowly climbing down around us.
The priests stand stock-still. Backs straight and rigid, legs apart like soldiers on parade. They face the congregation, with their backs to the hard edges of the pyramid. While Sorin was watching these priests emerge and stand in front of the crowd, something has been climbing down from the rafters. A figure in priest robes hangs from the chain in the ceiling. It hangs there unnaturally, the black and white cloth of their tabard hanging UP like something has gone wrong with gravity. The figure climbs down the chain, but looks as if they are using the effort of climbing UP. A moment later, they are hanging right over the center. The sharp point where the pyramid’s sides meet is just below them.
Slowly, they reach a hand into their cassock and pull out a round board. The board is checkered on one side, the other has something like a hypnotist's spiral on it, all in harsh black and white with crisp clean lines.
The robed figure reaches up/down and gently places this disc on the point of the pyramid. They cautiously remove their hand, balancing the disc on the exact center or the point.
Suddenly the figure’s arms are thrown to either side, there is a blink of magic and the chain is gone. The figure in priest robes falls.
In mid air, they flip, and land with bare boney feet on the disc. The robes flutter down around them. They are facing away from where we sit with Sorin, so we only see the back of the robes, when the figure begins to slowly turn.
They left out a soft dry cough, clearing their throat.
And the sermon begins.
“‘Why were you holding hands? Is it weird Jesus stuff?’ Zeke says, recoiling from me like whatever happened might be contagious.”
-Ezekiel "Zeke" Silver —Jason Murphy, “Necromancers on Drugs: Chapter 3”
Table talk:
During the part where everyone was discussing what to do with Akris while Sorin was at the Church of Shadows, I went over a little of the mechanics of Summon Familiar (how we are using it), and how Akris functions. Basically, Akris’s personality is his own; it comes with his spirit from the demonic plane. His body is linked to his soul and only he can possess it. But that body is held together in this world by Sorin’s will and magic. So, at any point, Sorin can dispel Akris and he will no longer exist in the plane. He can then materialize Akris by casting the spell again, recreating the body and bringing Akris back into it. That only takes 30 minutes (a long action out of combat). Because of that link, whenever Akris is re-aporated he will always be Akris. To get a new familiar with a new animal form and/or personality, Sorin will have to sit down and do the long casting again.
I don’t know of any hard written rules or mechanics for praying in D&D 5e, so i decided to make a simple structure and went over it with Diedrik (Cypress). The reason he rolled a Performance Check this time instead of a Religion check, is that he was specifically asking for something. When he is just praying to pray and see what comes, that will be a Religion check. So Religion (D20+INT[1]+Proficiency[2]) for an open ended prayer, and Performance (D20+CHA[2]+Proficiency[0]) for a prayer asking for something.
Our last topic was to figure out some details on the new Stones of Far Speech. Are they on all the time, hearing everything? Do they activate with a code word, like “Hey Stony”? Can it be changed or is this decision locked in? After throwing around several ideas, we landed on this:
The Stones of Far speech have three settings to choose from; a physical touch (requires hand to move), a voice phrase (requires being heard), or a psychic link (not the best “connection” with some words cut off). Players can change the setting anytime during a rest or when not taking an action. That way, they can set up a voice phrase before combat, or a psychic link before getting captured, or a physical touch before a stealth action. Once activated, the active stone broadcasts to all stones in the set (these four) automatically. They do not hold the notification to be heard when chosen, it is just instantly heard in the character's ear for anyone with a stone in this set.
