Crimson Nib

e19 Tomb Raiders - Take II

Embers from a Chimney

Join Mick and I as we chat about, the Pyramid of Cobal and the untold dangers that lurk within! The Grey Company boards the Pallid Court’s sandship and plots the course to the Pool of Blood; but they don’t go far before Elbrim pays Captain Bonita to make a pitstop at the ruins of Anu Asir. Horrible skill checks find aid and advantage from the Pallid Court’s ship, and the Grey Company finds entrance into the ruins pyramid. Once inside the oppressive atmosphere weighs heavy on the company, stifling sound, dampening moods, and finding surprise around every corner. Within they find creepy crawlies, monsters, traps, and astonishing discoveries. Do you wanna know more?

e18 A Colville Stronghold Cont'd

Embers from a Chimney

How does one convince their fellow players to build and fund a stronghold? How does a GM incorporate “player industry building” within their sessions? “Your bartender is skimming from the till, and poisoning your patrons!”, this is a random table generated result, what might these industry random tables look like? Should a GM ad-lib an encounter from these table results? How many tombs must players raid to have enough coins to build a fortress? Revenue from tomb raiding, or run a franchise of pubs? What place does economy building have in West Marches?

e17 A Colville Stronghold

Embers from a Chimney

How does one implement a campaign where a player can spend their hard-earned adventuring moolah to buy a business, and then profit from earned revenue, or declare bankruptcy because they foolishly payrolled the losing political party? To dominate a campaign by sword and spell, or to build an empire where adventurers become your paid employees? What will you do when your bartender employee is skimming from the till, and poisoning your patrons? Or what happens when your farmers grow nothing but kale? You’ve bought a tavern, then a smithy, what’s next? Buy the farm or the brothel? Do you wanna know more?

e16 Role Playing Stupid, no Clever

Embers from a Chimney

How should a DM reward XP for role playing super bad / good Intelligence or Wisdom stats? The Grey Company moves to their new studio apartment after a meat-grinding day in the Growling Sanctuary! Captain Deuteronomy returns to haunt Callidus’ past. Many decisions lie before this wanna-be-intrepid group, but what is the smart move? Help the princess, or the Pallid Court, to deal with the Dogs of Bastet, or learn what has Elbrim so distracted? Once decided and a direction has been chosen, how far can one be carried with a bribe and a lot of charisma? Do you wanna know more?

e15 Make the Wizard go first!

Embers from a Chimney

Although SABR’s last words to Sil had been harsh, it had given him a modicum of peace from her barrage of pranks throughout the night. A shrill scream breaks his reverie, and on discovering its origin, SABR wakens Elbrim. The irrepressible Ownka, now battered, arrives at the tent, on orders to take the Grey Company back to the Sanctuary. Oraqi looks down at each of the holes in the chamber floor, watching the River of Sand speed past; Elbrim says, “It’s safe Callidus, trust me! You should go first, I am sure there is nothing to worry about and those raging currents of sand wouldn’t hurt a fly!” Carnage, cats and yellow dust, tell me, do you wanna know more?

e14 Morning Tomb Raid, Evening Vampire Ball

Embers from a Chimney

There it is, somewhere down there, the next step! Bloody riddles! Bloody decoys! Bloody traps! It is then that the newest member of the Grey Company catches a hint of some whispered insight and their path is laid bare. Must all dangerous tombs be preceded by long dark halls, with sand that moves when there’s no wind? What the hell is a Imy-ut Ushabti, and oh Gods, why is it vomiting scarabs? Let’s call it a morning, retreat home, and put on our Sunday formals, there’s a ball to attend! Now what’s this? To enter we must give blood? Do you wanna know more?

e13 Growling Sanctuary of Ghast-liness

Embers from a Chimney

How to avoid becoming sand-touched, and the correct way to use a Quaal’s Feather Tree token in the River of Sand. Can an invincible, a mighty gearforged with precious clockworks, face the terror that haunts his dreams … sand? What does a party do when the next step is certain to be booby-trapped, and there’s no rogue? What are “smart words” to use when facing a gnoll-werecrocodile, your pixie familiar is face-palming, and you’ve just let slip … treasure! Do you wanna know more?

e12 A Pixie named Sil

Embers from a Chimney

Elbrim’s patron has sent a present, what form does it take? Whereas the Kell brother’s past returns with a vengeance; oh how a haunting would have been preferable! Then arrives an affable gnoll named Oraqi, having found the Grey Company by following a Pool of the Sky vision, followed by the Princess Karima, anxious to have the Grey Company deal with a growing threat! How big is this threat and what agency funds the Princess? Can they connect the dots and help the Princess Karima, thereby earning the plush river Nuria studio apartment she promised? Do you wanna know more?

e11 Wherefore art thou Sweet Hasna

Embers from a Chimney

Post-fireball, Callidus is the last standing member of the Grey Company; he counts on luck and uses the chaotic Vril Stone, nearly falling to a feedback backlash! Seriously wounded, the Grey Company hasn’t a leg to stand on when they face Zubayr’s sister, the Sweet Hasna. Can they challenge her and claim the corpse of her brother? Will Callidus’ documents, bribed from the Dome of the Divine Face of Bastet, prove stronger than Hasna’s documents, sealed by Councilor Akman-Sut? Will the gearforged paladin SABR, prove to be the straw that breaks the camel's back? How will the Grey Company face their benefactor the Princess Karima, and who is trying to escape notice by hiding in a coffin? Wanna know more?

e10 Fireball vs a chaotic Vril Stone

Embers from a Chimney

Can the party help the Princess Karima recover the corpse of her friend the Scholar Zubayr? Will the Kell brothers become dinner for a cannibal? Has Callidus learned to control his vril stone? What mystery can a dead man solve? How are the Dogs of Bastet involved this affair? Wanna know more?
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