DM Carebear's Events

[DM Carebear]

Greetings and salutations, fellow players!

Carebear is here to make your gaming experience (hopefully) more interesting and immersing.

I prefer providing slow-paced, highly interactive dungeon crawling experience for any type of adventuring group (or single character, for that matter) rather than mindless hack'n'slash with l33t stuff in the end.

General tips on how to behave if you happen to find yourself in my event:

RULES: I try not to be too strict when it comes to my own, personal rules of play. I want you to be flexible, to come up with your own ways of solving the problems I place before you, and to interact with the environment as you feel your character would. But there are three central points that I feel are very important, and which I must insist you take note of when you are interacting with me in one of my events:

The Golden Rule: I expect players to treat each other civilly, even when they don't particularly like one another. Ideally we'll all get along, but even if some of us do not, player-to-player cruelty or harassment will absolutely not be tolerated by either myself or by the others on staff. Remember that this is a game, and we are all playing it to relax and enjoy ourselves: The moment things become too heated between players (as opposed to their characters), I will intervene. If you are at fault, you will not be happy with my intervention.

Creative Solutions Create Great Roleplay: Roleplaying is collaborative storytelling, and I refuse to have my own storytelling hobbled by the limitations of a video game. I highly encourage you to interact to the situations I place before you with your own, creative, in-character solutions: If you wish to dive into the river to get away from someone -- do it. If you wish to cast a spell that isn't available to you in-game, but that exists in the D&D source material, and that your character has adequate cause to have access to -- do it. If you wish to climb a tree to get a better view of your surroundings -- do it (but be prepared to roll some strength, and, or, dexterity checks). In short, don't let the game stop your brain; approach everything as would your character.

The "No Sleeping While Slaying" Law: I ask that players do not rest during my events, except when I explicitly give you permission to do so. I feel that resting regularly during an event not only ruins the immersion, but also limits (if not entirely eliminates) the possibility of roleplaying certain situations (exhaustion and injury; healing by bandage or spell; etc.) and sidelines the importance of certain classes (particularly noncaster classes). Resting without permission will be punished with an experience penalty.

A few gameplay notes:

• Do not rush in OOC manner. I am a slow typer and I am still quite new to the DM client and all those yummy DMFI features, so I humbly request players to bear with me (pun not intended). You want your character to charge across the entire map? Or burst in a room Rambo-style? Emote it and wait for my tell before taking ~any~ gameplay actions. Similarly, please, avoid using transitions unless asked.
• Do not make ~any~ rolls unless I have requested them. It clutters the chatbox badly. I will, generally, take a look at your character's sheet and determine if the roll is necessary at all.
  If I did request a roll and you haven't recieved any feedback from me, it means that you have failed the DC and didn't perceive anything out of ordinary.
  Also, of special note are skills 'Listen' and 'Spot'. If I spawn an NPC right in front of you or if I emote that your party is hearing something, it means that you already have succeeded the DC (if there even was one) and you, absolutely, do ~not~ need to roll skills in that case to determine whether your character perceives it or not.

On a sidenote, I leave it up to players to evaluate me if they have had the chance to participate in my plot or even in a silly short encounter. I specifically request all participants to give any constructive critique they can provide after the event is over. (via forum PMs, of course)

[DM Carebear]

"Don't shoot the messenger!"

Plot synapsis:

A ship, bearing an important message, was headed from the island of Evermeet to the fortress-library of Candlekeep. The waters of Trackless Sea were far from calm as it was the moment when Umberlee's avatar had risen from the depths near Sword Coast. Unable to overcome the storm, crew lost all control over the ship and, eventully, crashed on a rocky shore in the depths of Cloakwood. Only a handful of sailors survived the shipwreck. They armed themselves and, after a short rest, headed deeper into the woods. A day passed but there seemed to be no end to the perpetually dark swamps. To make things worse, it seemed that some kind of stalker took interested in the beaten and morally broken elves. They felt its menacing gaze, but other than an uneasy feeling, they'd witnessed no indications of its presence. As a particularly dark and silent night befell the forest, a creature made its presence known. Mysterious sounds came from all imaginable directions, circling the group and instilling fear in their hearts. It toyed and methodically herded them in the darkness of the night. Losing all their honourable appearance, the armed group was madly fleeing, triggering traps and getting shot one by one by the unknown hunter. The elf, who was bearing the message, got separated from the rest and fled in another direction, deeper in the woods, where he got lost and, eventually, killed by the wildlife.

Part I

Event synapsis:

An adventuring party of four had accidently stumbled upon last member of the accursed crew in the Eastern border of Cloakwood. He was badly battered and was barely sane. Before the adventurers could even converse with him, a Lizardfolk shaman decided it was the right time to charge. Needless to say, he failed, but during the commotion of the fight, an arrow, shot from an unknwon direction, pierced the heart of the elf.

Adventurers gathered around the corpse and one of them was able to determine that the arrow is of drow origin. The party decided to follow a set of tracks the elf had left behind him. Once they ventured deeper into the woods, they came across another slain elf. A brutal slashing wound ran across his chest ((Spoiler: (party failed INT) This elf was slain by mistake by one of his crewmates)). Another body was laying few steps ahead, it was shot in the back, but somebody had carefully extracted the arrows. It indicated that whoever hunted the elves was very careful, methodical and patient.

While party was debating where to head now, as there were no traceable leads of tracks around, one of the adventurers, a mighty dwarven warrior, heard a sound coming from the bushes a bit further. He charged and in a few awe-inspiring mighty swings, hacked the bushes down only to discover, there was nothing.

While other partymates were complimenting on dwarf's bravery, one of the adventurers discovered very obvious tracks leading deeper into the woods. They proceeded until the tracks had faded out and came across a tree pierced with the very same arrow, with which an elf was slain. They surveyed the area but no additional clues could be found, the party went deeper and in each corner of the swamp, they came across a tree similarly pierced with the arrow. To the north, they have came across a grotesque sight. An empty tree trunk was filled with rotten severed heads. Trophies, most likely.

They decided to proceed in this direction. After hours of walking in a swamp, shrouded by foul fog, the adventurers were relieved to reach a much clearer part of the forest. The peaceful surroundings contradicted heavily with what they have witnessed before. They came across another elf, who was, much to everyone's surprise, still alive. He asked for water and food, the party patiently waited for him to sate himself and then started asking questions. The elf's responses barely made much sense, which ~could~ have been an effect of his condition, but the party quickly deduced that there was more to it than simple exhaustion. The elf turned out to be a doppleganger and was slain. Party scouted the area and found the remains of original elf, they also found the letter adressed to the First Reader of Candlekeep, sage Tethtoril.

With the letter in their hands, they followed their own tracks out of the dark depths of the forest, back to the center of the Cloakwood. On their way back, they noticed that all arrows have been carefully extracted from trees. Even the bodies of elven scouts were gone. It is clear that the mysterious stalker remains active.

The party proceeded to Candlekeep.

Part II

The party reached the Candlekeep and delievered the suffered piece of parchment. After a long discussion with Tethoril, to whom the letter was addressed, the party was rewarded with gold for their services and basically chased off the Keeps' premises.

Perhaps, if advenuters' arrogance didn't frustrate the old sage, they would have been rewarded with something more substantional than mere gold...

But for now, the true intent behind the letter was revealed...

((REWARDS: Gold, XP))

[DM Carebear]

"Brother's Love"

After several weeks of planning and preparation, two assasins —disguised as commoners— set out for the home location of their target. It was a long and wearying journey along the Chionthar, travelling by river boat as far as they could before continuing to the village on foot. On arrival, they came upon the aftermath scene of big festival and discovered most of the villagers to be asleep from overindulgence.

They quickly located the inn described in the client’s brief and proceeded inside. One of them fished the innkeeper and learned the target was passed out in a room on the upper floor. They made a small show of being respectively embarrassed and smug about hiring a room, and proceeded upstairs. Once there, they swiftly changed into their “work clothes” and snuck through the upper floor, avoiding the comatose patrons littering the floor.

They located the target in the second room they searched. Upon confirming it was him and checking their planned escape route, they facilitated the “accident”. They then made good on their escape, pausing only long enough to be sure of their target’s demise. They left the village before most realised what was going on.

The journey home would be long, and sombre.