Still battling a little sick, so just now getting around to posting. I fell rather behind on all my games, so yesterday was spent playing catch-up.
Two games needed most of my attention, and I didn't get around to replying here.
I suggest we suggest Stella come with us to the Count and we ask the count for titles/status. He has more actual power than Stella, and anything we get from here will need his acceptance to be useful in the area anyway.
Check my in game post, lol
@ Alfred,
Sorry I don't really have tons and tons of detail for the peasants. Designing Gheradescci County, and even 'sorta' designing Francesco Phandros' servants, I didn't really go into the small folk too much. I spent most of time time on the nobility, their relationships and personalities, and how the political and economic and social structures are in relation to the various NPCs, both on the local scale and for the Infernal Empire.
But I'm starting to like Ennahvail -- and since it looks like you're interested in continuing this course, I will start developing some of the small folk in more detail at Castle Spartaco. (Just remember that for my own verisimilitude, there can really be only one or two interesting small folk for every 100 or more banal peasants. ....You know, unless one's a Spy or Vigilante! ;)
Castle Spartaco here we come!
I can feel a major attack coming on.
@ Alfred,
Sorry I don't really have tons and tons of detail for the peasants. Designing Gheradescci County, and even 'sorta' designing Francesco Phandros' servants, I didn't really go into the small folk too much. I spent most of time time on the nobility, their relationships and personalities, and how the political and economic and social structures are in relation to the various NPCs, both on the local scale and for the Infernal Empire.But I'm starting to like Ennahvail -- and since it looks like you're interested in continuing this course, I will start developing some of the small folk in more detail at Castle Spartaco. (Just remember that for my own verisimilitude, there can really be only one or two interesting small folk for every 100 or more banal peasants. ....You know, unless one's a Spy or Vigilante! ;)
I don't really need too much detail for most of them. Currently, I am really only wanting Ennahvail to show she can be useful as someone to do non-violent yet time consuming tasks like shopping, writing and delivering of semi-important messages, occasionally provide some critical thinking skills.
The other 4 people I only want to bring along to help secure Magnius' and Yaos' standing as nobility, complete with servants to do menial labour for them, and a well polished halfling (myself) as a steward or seneschal for them.
Since I don't really want to come out from under Yaos and Magnius yet, at least not officially, I was also hoping Ennahvail would eventually be useful as a spy of some sort for information gathering. Basically the start of my own personal net of people I can count of for information.
It's funny, after you posted in Gameplay and I decided I needed to do more work on the small folk, one of the first things I considered was how to give Ennahvail her first Class Level and whether it should be Rogue or Vigilante.
We'll see how it roleplays out.
I was thinking about seeing what sort of capabilities Ennahvail had, possibly training her. But I don't want to "steal" Alfred's NPC.
Well, as someone who first posted in Paizo under the Anglicized-Hebrew spelling of Moloch, I'm obviously intrigued with the ArchDevil. Even though for me he'll always be 'Molech' in gaming and 'Moloch' in Greek.
I admit to preferring the Moloch (Molech) of D&D from Dragon 75. But Paizo's Ashen Bull is cool, too.
This guy who's with you know, well, I have no idea if he'll become a long-term NPC or not, if he'll be friend or foe to you or not -- but he is one of the ones I really like.
Well, hopefully my 40(42 if he's a Hellknight) diplomacy has made him at least indifferent to me.
As a fellow warrior of Hell, he's definitely somebody I wouldn't mind being a long term NPC.
I thought I would raise some thoughts on the Baroness Stella's latest proposal. She wants us to become her personal s$@~-kickers and then she is going to reward us.
I can see why she likes the idea. We will be taking all the risks. And then she will reward us. If she can. And she keeps her word.
I don't think she is deliberately making promises to us she has no intention of keeping.
But this does not strike me as an ideal arrangement.
Secondly- GM Ray- I thought we were going to meet a bearded devil.
I have been having a rather long think about the local political situation. A few fruits of this.
1 Varni, where Baroness Stella's central source of wealth and power lies has one major problem, a lack of water. Water that runs off the north face of the Eismonts flows into the Maeistas River that ends in a delta around the ruins of Rachikan. That is a lot of water, though not all of it comes from Eismonts run off, the river flows from far north.
Physics dictate that water flows down not up. Therefore there must be run off from rain falling on the Eismonts that flows south. Ditto from seasonal melts of snow and ice, if the Eismonts are high enough to have snow caps. There essentially must be water flowing from the mountains and probably more than enough for Varni. It is just a matter of finding it and perhaps damming or re-directing it.
If this can be done it must improve the value of the Barony, there being ample water for the town and perhaps enough for agriculture.
2 Despite what Stella says there is a distinct limit to the titles her barony can hand out.
3 There may be some point in visiting the cosmopolitan village of Valeschi, the one ruled by a Kitsune, with Catfolk and Half Elves amongst it's inhabitants. It is rather in the wrong place, but still...
4 I have no problem seeking out and bringing to justice [read killing off] the Bellflower Agents that killed Phandros. Stella's thinking in having us do so is sound. They are no push over however.
Sorry about moving past the Barbazu, Vrinides. He guards and oversees the gold mine while the Bone Devil, Khorridaina, (& Mud Elemental) guard the vault.
I mixed wanting to get the game moving forward (and back to Castle Spartaco where the decision to go had been made), and wanting you guys to know what was still left at Varni.
I kinda pushed awareness of Khorridaina and Vrinides on you because I wanted you to know they were there. Y'all hadn't asked or inspected the place and I honestly slipped up the chance to have some of the small folk or soldiers mention them in passing.
So I just had Baroness Stella go to those locations with you right before the trip back.
There are also the two figures who were talking to Baroness Stella and her dad Viscount Mogranzini when you first approached Varni. There has been no further sign of them. And my assumption is that you've forgotten of their existence.
I'm reasonably confident that you guys will choose to revisit Varni and perhaps speak with Vrinides or Khorridaina, not to mention the other figures, when you decide it's good for you.
And yes, Stella's proposal is better for her than it is for you.
Whether or not she realizes that in her naivete is unknown. As is knowledge of her potential ability to reward you.
She's definitely ambitious. And she's got some sorceress-bloodline in her if she can ever call it up. And Varni does have gold in them-thar hills.
....But it is all potential, nothing stable.
And it's expensive to pay Queen Abrogail (and Archeathen Kettermaul, and Count Vocaturo) royalties to keep the Title of a Baroness.
On Yaos' points:
1) This is something that I had never thought of until y'all mentioned it a while back. Water in the Eismonts flows down, east and west: The eastern flows into Gheradescci County where Count Vocaturo makes sure it provides for goat and pig and chicken, grape and tomato and eggplant, and the agriculture not produced for export to the other places in the Longmarch Archduchy.
If you guys want to explore a way to divert some of the western-flow south into the Eismonts, that could certainly be something that could make Varni more livable.
Baroness Stella is bringing in a Diviner, and if he finds water underground, then it will be much cheaper. But the key to Varni is gold, not water.
2) Put an exclamation point on the end of Yaos' sentence and it'll be perfect. I'm not convinced putting it in bold is necessary, but certainly an exclamation point.
3) It is, afterall, Baron Valsecchi who Count Vocaturo sent to find the Bellflower Agents who assassinated Francesco Phandros. ....You've gotten a taste of what it's like for a Barony to have to pay royalties up the hierarchy; it may make you wonder what the Valsecchi Barony does to earn its money.
4) If you guys go for it I'm willing to play it out, of course. I've still got all their stat-blocks.
In any case, it feels like the campaign is finally starting to come alive for you guys as well as me. I 'think' you're starting to be fluent with who's who (though there's more) and what's what. ....Equally important is that what you're talking about now, any move forward, can result in Chelaxian Nobility well above House Spartaco & Gheradescci County learning of your exploits and taking notice.
And that will lead to Queen Abrogail Thrune come calling.
Sorry for the delay.
Between Paizo being down as often as it's been up, and my own schedule getting tight this week, I haven't posted. I was ready thrice to continue and the Boards were down. And I'm all the sudden busy.
Later today I may get back here to reintroduce Castle Spartaco and move Gameplay forward -- assuming Paizo stays up. If my meetings run late or I get really busy it will be Monday.
No worries Ray, Paizo has been having trouble for over a week now.
Either here or in Gameplay would be a good place to start brainstorming some ideas on how you want to get this accomplished, depending on whether you discuss plans in character or out-of-character.
There is a time issue, of course; both Baron Valsecchi and House Phandros agents are also on the hunt.
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With experienced Players, especially at higher levels, I'm all about introducing a challenge without creating a solution-- experienced Players always seem to think of ideas on how to succeed. I do try to guess what the PCs will try to do, and I've thought of a few ways you can attempt this.
But if you guys get stuck without an idea on how to proceed, because that will hurt the continuance of the PbP format (no one does anything for a while), I'll introduce a couple possible ideas through an NPC or something.
But I'm confident you guys can come up with a host of ideas on how to get this done.
We have a few options that I can see;
1 - Myself and Ennahvail go out looking for sympathizers in the city, if there are any.
2 - Find a wizard to scry the bellflower agents and see if we can get a location based on what we see.
3 - Find Valsecchi and try to use his activities to let us get a lead
4 - Find the people Phandros sent and use their activities to get us a lead
5 - Travel somewhere with known Bellflower presence and just kill them all/interogate some and turn them in.
6 - This is a last resort option - find some capable looking halflings and kill them regardless of their affiliations.
What do you guys think?
Huzzah Alfred!
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Regarding option 1, the little town of Spartaco has approx 850 people, no luck there. And if it could work, it would be extraordinarily difficult to keep that info from finding its way to the Count. But you can absolutely go to Corentyn -- the seat of the Archduchy -- and search there. Or Macini,... Or Hinji,... etc.
Regarding option 2, again, bigger communities than a backwater, rural County abound.
I can give basic info, and even detailed info, on other Chelaxian cities with Knowledge: Society checks. Corentyn, Macini, Hinji, Westcrown, Westpool, etc.
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Finally, if you go to the 'Characters' tab in the campaign you'll find "Monster Treasure." One of the posts has the intelligence you guys found in Francesco Phandros' personal items, intelligence on some high-up folks in other communities.
That kind of information is quite valuable to use to blackmail or exploit or what have you. I was thinking you guys could use it later, after you kill some Halflings (either the right ones or others), to further get in the good graces of Count Vocaturo -- or perhaps the Archduke, ArchHeathen Kettermaul Charthagnion of Corentyn himself.
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I hadn't thought of options 3 or 4 but they both seem viable.
I have been having internet connection issues. :( It hasn't affected my participation in this campaign yet, but it could.
Please "bot" me if needed.
If you guys decide to head to one of the cities, let me know whether Ennahvail is to stay in Spartaco to quietly gather info around town for you or if you want her with you on the road (where it'll be more dangerous).
Regarding the other cities, Corentyn and Westcrown are a bit bigger (more possibilities) while Hinji and Macini are a bit smaller. I can give more info with four individual Knowledge Society checks. House Phandros is primarily in Westcrown and House Charthagnion (the Archduke) is in Corentyn.
Lord Sabino Aranovitch and his wife Emilia (formerly Spartaco) will be going back to their estate in Corentyn in another day or so -- if you want to travel with them or avoid them. There is only one road (path) to Corentyn from Gheradescci County.
...Or, if you want to question Count Vocaturo a bit more, just post the question(s) in Gameplay and I'll reply. This goes for his wife Countess Olivia as well (She's formerly of House Charthagnion in Corentyn.), or Baroness Stella Spartaco -- or even Sabino or Emilia (It seemed like the conversation earlier with them was just becoming small talk; I may have erringly jumped the gun by cutting it short.)
...And as always, post in Discussion if you have any ideas or suggestions or concerns. I think the game is yearning for a decision-maker or two (or three) to say, 'Well that sounds good were trying that,' to get us going.
Of course, since you just did that with the 'Let's get some info from the villagers in Spartaco' and I mentioned that it was too small a community to give you anything, pretty much cutting you off, I should reiterate that that's still what we need.
I'll go ahead and post in Gameplay the strikeout for info gathering on Bellflower Agents in Spartaco....
Hey Ray, um, important question. Does our game take place before or after the Glorious Reclamation freeing Westcrown?
Cuz, if it's before, yea, Magnius has family in charge of that city. And it might be a good idea to not only make use of familial contacts there, but to also make use of the Council of Thieves.
Thinking Westcrown is our best bet, especially since that's where Magnius is from.
Unfortunately, Council of Thieves is one of the APs that I really want to play so I never read the volumes as they came in the mail each month. And even now, years later, I'm still hoping to play through CoT. So the AP stands idly on my bookshelf. I *think the 'Glorious Reclamation' refers to events in CoT but alas, I cannot open the link as I'm avoiding Spoilers.
And, um, I'm also avoiding Spoilers from both Hell's Rebels and Hell's Vengeance. ONE DAY I will find a DM to run those campaigns for me. But until then, I want to be as completely shielded from those campaigns as possible.
Consider the events in 'Agents of Cheliax Abroad' to take place shortly before or during the events in CoT and/or HR & HV. They do take place (at least in my homegame) After Curse of the Crimson Throne.
I use the 3.5 Companion Cheliax: Empire of Devils, and the Campaign Settings: Hell Unleashed, and most significantly, Cheliax: The Infernal Empire. I'll also use other sources from time to time, modules or the Wiki or other campaign setting material I have, from PFS Scenarios to the Inner Sea Guide. Admittedly, I have grabbed the 18 volumes of the three Cheliax APs I'm avoiding to look up one or two things (I glazed over the Kintargo article in Hell's Rebels, for example, and read over a couple of the support articles from CoT over the years).
I thought I remember being more up front about it back in y'all's Recruitment, but, looking at it, it's just a line or two in my OP for Recruitment in the Metagame Spoiler at the end of the first post.
Westcrown can be a great choice, come Monday afternoon or Tuesday when I get back to this campaign I'll go ahead and post y'all's travel to Westcrown and give a description of the city upon approach.
Obviously, if anyone has other ideas -- or wants to do anything else here in Spartaco -- give it a shout-out by then.
I know Yaos is struggling with her computer, but she's given her blessing to bot her if need be. Hopefully the next couple days (combined with the last couple) will have been enough time for you guys to propose other ideas or questions.
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Man, I can't wait till we get to level 9, I really need to put some points in Local and Society lol. Thankfully, I can still make them untrained, but it would be nice to have a rank in them too.
As for this game, I freakin love it! I wouldn't have gone out of my way to message you like I did to try and get you to come back if I didn't. And I don't think the pace is too bad overall. We've had some lulls, but that's life. We've moved really well, in my opinion.
The only downside is there's a lot of NPCs to interact with, but that's also one of the major pluses of the game. We just need time to make connections with them, and possibly forge lasting alliances.
I know we're not gonna be in Cheliax long, but I don't think that should prevent from gathering allies while we're here, where we can take fullest advantage of our nobility, deeds, etc.
I am enjoying the game. Due to the nature of the game it is a bit slower, but I find that a good thing currently. Having started a new job back in September and trying my hand at running a pbp I am finding myself a but more stretched for gaming time than I would like.
Going to Westcrown sounds like a solid plan, especially if we already have connections there.
Yoas's internet availability issues went quite close to driving Yaos into insanity or homicidal fury but seem fine now. How long that will last is another question.
I am also in favour of heading to Westcrown. Some mundane detective work their may be promising.
On the speed of play, well if patience is a virtue then PbP will develop that virtue splendidly. And this kind of campaign is slower by nature, and this is exaggerated as PbP planning and interacting takes more time too. Me, I am patient by nature [well, often] so this comes fairly easily. The negative thing is trying to keep all that is going on in the campaign in my mind. I tend to forget things and have to go back and check. I know I had some brilliant ideas [well, at least good] back when we were brainstorming when this campaign was in the planning stage. Haven't the foggiest what they were now, will have to go back and check.
I too am looking forward to level 9. I get another level on my summon monster SLA and another feat, both very important. This is repeated at level 11 and at level 10 I get 4th level spells and Aspect, which is much better for a Master Summoner than a vanilla summoner. So I grow a lot over the next 3 levels.
For me, I'm really enjoying the game as well. I didn't realize how long it would take us to get here; my experience with PbP has taught me that it goes molasses-ly slow -- but I did think we would have gotten to Queen Abrogail sending you abroad by now.
As for pace, I find that there are times when I'm really jazzed about the game and want to post and reply, post and reply, get tons of roleplay up so of course, I post,.... And then wait. And wait. And it's like I'm hovering over my computer for the next several hours desperately hoping for someone to post so I can reply -- and post and reply again. Obviously, PbP doesn't work that way.
--Because there are other times where I have twenty minutes or so to post and/or reply, but I'm just not in the mood. So I get back to work or something. ....The concerning moments are when I have one of those lolls where I just don't have the interest or energy to post here, followed by a couple days of work where every minute of my day is scheduled and I eat breakfast/lunch/dinner all at once at 6 pm. Then all the sudden I gotta get my Saturday homegame session prepared and maybe even prep a PFS Scenario for strangers at the LGS. Or maybe gold takes a bit hit or jumps up and I'm furiously trying to buy or sell to make (or avoid losing) money. ....Next thing I know it's been seven days and I haven't even thought about this game.
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How can I make the various NPCs more easily memorable? I didn't really think there were too many NPCs.
Now it'll be up to you three to ply the chandler for information on Szomniaro on the down-lo.
Good luck!
I can't give a bonus on Knowledge: Society checks regarding Westcrown for background reasons. If you check is low it indicates that Magnius just didn't pay much attention to the significant goings-on in the city when he lived there. In that manner it's not much different than the Americans who can't name their Senator or know in which State District for the House of Representatives they live in (I live in the Florida 16th.). The ones who don't know the history of their state or name the mayor of their city. Heck, or the ones who can't give directions to various places in the city or even know street names.
I can't give a bonus on Knowledge: Society checks regarding Westcrown for background reasons. If you check is low it indicates that Magnius just didn't pay much attention to the significant goings-on in the city when he lived there. In that manner it's not much different than the Americans who can't name their Senator or know in which State District for the House of Representatives they live in (I live in the Florida 16th.). The ones who don't know the history of their state or name the mayor of their city. Heck, or the ones who can't give directions to various places in the city or even know street names.
Heh, out of curiosity, both for this game, as well as any I run(I have one active atm, with a potential second and possibly even third on the way), I asked in the Fans of d20PFSRD group what they thought about such a bonus.
Pretty much every reply was to either give a bonus, lower the DC a fair amount, or just give the info to the player.(As I was asking specifically for GMs opinions).
As for NPCs, we have:
Stella
The two 'specialists' from the caravan from Varni to the Castle.
Two devils(I believe)
Several named characters from the Phandros caravan.
A few important(ish) characters around Varni
The Count.
His wife.
Sabino.
His wife.
Plus a few other various and sundry nobles/relatives of the above NPCs.
All told, I would say we have at least around a 12-15 NPCs, not counting the potential 3 mages as they were just introduced.
We could easily have around 20 total.
Ok, so not counting the two other devils, wizards, clerics, and hobgoblins(plus others)
We have 17 named and introduced NPCs.
That's a fair amount, considering we've only just begun and haven't done anything seriously major yet.
We really need some time to establish some more serious relations with some of the NPCs.
Magnius would definitely like to try and ally with Dagreb and Mog for example.
Freakin Dagreb being hostile towards us before my diplomacy roll was totally unexpected.
Don't forget about Phandros's retinue. They were all NPCs before we massacred them.
Don't forget about Phandros's retinue. They were all NPCs before we massacred them.
I'm not including dead/enemy NPCs, because you can't really ally or work with them, lol.
Well,... from Francesco Phandros' cadre was an Imp Familiar who survived. Months ago I decided what he would do were he to escape Manius Battori III who was hunting down the random soldiers who ran away, and Itch (Vaelin's Familiar).
Vaelin was Francesco's clerk, the gestalt Expert/ Adept (of Barbatos). And his Improved Familiar, Itch, could make a reappearance.
Finally, the Halfling Bellflower Agents (Arlo Yellowknuckle, Avarin Littlehat, Arnam Goodkin, Avalia Greenheart and Amina) could be another encounter if you track them down as opposed to just killing a few random Halflings or actual Bellflower Agents who aren't the ones who assassinated Francesco Phandros.
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In general though, a good number of the non-combat NPCs you meet in a campaign only last a session or two. In my head I'm thinking that the Spartaco nobles are likely to last a while and there's potential for other nobles such as ArchHeathen Kettermaul Charthagnion or Marcus Phandros to become important. But who knows if we'll ever see Stella's Bone Devil or Count Vocaturo's wizard or Dagreb or Itch or Baron Valsecchi or Tad Voram ever again? Sure, one or more of them could become very important, of course. Or they could fade to nothing.
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All that said, I will make an effort to provide more dialog, more roleplay. Hopefully these NPCs will better come alive for you. At least enough for you guys to start making this Sandbox your own.
I'll post some dialog from Ennahvail to Alfred, Stella to Yaos and Dagreb to Magnius before you depart for Westcrown. And if you want to bring up any dialog with another NPC, just ask for it -- Magnius is gathering info on Szomniaro from the chandler now.
I had a look at that dialogue. I believe Yaos is present. But I decided to leave the talking, or most of it, to Magnius. Partly because his diplomacy is better, partly because it is his baby and partly because I don't have much to say.
chandler = candle maker
oynter = oil seller
apiarist = beekeeper (honey seller)
cobbler = shoemaker
tenter = unskilled laborer / assistant
I think those are all the trades I introduced that may need explanation.
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I hope this helps flesh out the town and further makes the NPCs become a living part of the campaign.
I know you guys said you did this info-gathering, but I figure it'd be a good way to start Ennahvail off as a more important NPC. Who knows if anything she learned will come to anything?
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I'll let these play out and then, when the three of you are together again (after these NPCs are roleplayed a bit more), I'll have you as a trio come upon an informal gathering of Lord Sabino Aranovitch, Emilia Spartaco-Aranovitch, Dagreb, and some other folks as they are discussing their imminent travel from Castle Spartaco to Corentyn, with a whole bunch of gold and stuff owed to Archduke Kettermaul.
apiarist = beekeeper (honey seller)
Is there a word for the beekeeper's daughter? Apart from deceased. :(
With the chandler I'm giving the opportunity, at least I think I am, of providing an NPC who knows a bit about Szomniaro who you can squeeze some information out of -- while you stay discreet by using a guise of casual conversation with a nobody. It's up to Magnius how you want to try to word your questions to Chandler, about Szomniaro, to get that information while still keeping it in the guise of small talk.
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With Ennahvail I'm trying to open up some options. I can see her developing into a Vigilante. One level in the Class is really all you'd need, I think, for her to really help you guys.
But I want to be clear that if Alfred prefers, she can also come along and, I think become a Rogue.
Of course, I'm open to other suggestions as well.
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With Stella Spartaco I'm trying to keep the big picture in mind while also starting to focus on a potential plan, after you guys play out your plans for the Bellflower Agents.
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Again, it's perfectly acceptable in a campaign such as this -- and even encouraged -- to come here with metagame and out-of-character thoughts and concerns and ideas and what-ifs.
Yea, was busy over the weekend with family hence no posting. Will get on that shortly, but it might need to wait till after I run errands with my grandmother.
Again sorry, really busy. I had a bit of free time Tuesday but I used it to buy a Super Bowl ticket and airfare just in case my beloved Vikings go. (And if we lose in the playoffs I'll just sell the ticket for a profit.)
Hopefully later today or tomorrow morning I'll be able to read your posts again and reply in-character. I'll also put a description of Macini in the Campaign Info tab based on your Knowledge Society: 24 check.
I understand about having a life.
Waiting...
I'm not sure how much back I am -- I'm trying. I'm slammed at work with a million-and-one things in my 'in-box' as it were, meeting after meeting after meeting getting ready for end of the semester stuff.
Then, on Thursday, my sore eye turned into a mild case of conjunctivitis so I had to leave work early, miss Friday, cancel my Saturday and Sunday campaigns, and just stay in bed. Never fret, though -- through blury, scratchy, hazy, mucous-dripping eyeballs I still managed to watch the great West Point put another year of whoop-ass on Navy, and saw my beloved Arsenal and Vikings. ...I figured I should also be able to look at my computer screen enough to get back to our PbP but work emails came first and, honestly, stretching my eyes for this game didn't seem like a wise decision considering I was suppose to be resting them.
I'm back at work now, mostly better -- at least no longer contagious -- and I am crazy busy. But I'm making an effort to get some posts out to you guys -- MONSTER THANKS for your continued patience.
Wehn I get home tonight, Yaos, I'll make sure I pack my material on Macini to take to work tomorrow so I can include what you know of Macini with your Knowledge result of 24. I don't have any of my campaign material here at work today.
....Oh and, YES, I DID buy a ticket to the Super Bowl! Go VIKINGS!