Alex, welcome back! Please make a Streetwise roll at -2 (for being a new stranger) to see how well your attempt at high-class hob-nobbing does. I can't think of anything else urgent, but read the last week's posts when you can and let me know.
Wouldn't high-society education be more appropriate? Anyway:
So, 7 I think?
Sorry, didn't realize you had that listed. Since that was my bad, you want to use the pretty good d4 roll of 7 (Success with no Raises), or re-roll with a d6 (still at -2 since you're new in town)?
ALL - don't forget you can spend Bennies on non-combat rolls as well!
No, I'll stick with the 7. Thanks, though.
"I think we'll need to get into practice of sleeping near each other. So unless our female cohort has a specific objection, taking a single room might be more beneficial to us in the long term. We'll just need to be mindful of each others privacy."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Alex - you were able to get in a club and meet with some of the local big-wigs, but made no solid contacts yet.
ALL - so you go to the baron's mansion the next day, and after making you wait an appropriate amount of time for someone of his stature, you are ushered in. You see a very thin human with a white beard, but either it's prematurely white or he looks very good for his age. He speaks rather rapidly, but sits perfectly still :
"Thank you all for coming to see me about this task, its has just become MUCH more urgent and critical. I sent the previous groups out to try and find (and, er, neutralize) this new leader of the local Orc tribes, K'Plech is the nearest I can pronounce it. Over the last several months he has been pulling several tribes together and organizing them, and trying to take back land that we fairly traded for back in his great-grandparent's time. So far it's been limited to raiding livestock, or occasionally terrorizing a single homestead.
But I've just recently received information that he intends to attack an entire village, Roxbury, which is a couple day's west of here. I'm doing my best to pull together a militia force here, but that could take a couple of days before we're ready to leave, and we're no fighters. Trained reinforcements from WeMadeIt are going to be several more days' later still.
I need a small team of people to get to Roxbury *fast*, and help them organize a defense. They are pretty well protected already, what with the wooden barricade around the town, but the people need to be organized and also have a plan of escape if need be.
What do you say?"
K'Don, please make a General Knowledge roll (equals your Smarts), minus 1.
The night before, Marko sat by himself, creating a fetish. Thanks to K'Don, he had a sample of hairs and a fang from the alpha wolf they had killed. He carefully wrapped the hairs around the tooth and then adhered them with a mystical epoxy he had created from honey, a drop of his blood, the sweat from his brow, and the crushed chicken bones from their "dragon wings" dinner.
And throughout the entire process, he chanted quietly.
"Magic. Flesh. Wisdom. Bone. Knowledge. Blood. Truth. Soul. Magic. Flesh. Wisdom. Bone. Knowledge. Blood. Truth. Soul."
When the others gave him odd looks, he merely shrugged and subtly pointed to the open spell book before him. But he never broke the chant.
Eventually, his compatriots left him to his litany.
"Magic. Flesh. Wisdom. Bone. Knowledge. Blood. Truth. Soul."
On and on, he chanted for over an hour. His voice sounding hoarse and otherworldly, but his cadence remained steady and deliberate. Magic always came with a cost - always. And this time the cost was his own resolve. But this new power could save himself and his new friends. And weighed against that, the price was a paltry one indeed.
"Magic. Flesh. Wisdom. Bone. Knowledge. Blood. Truth. Soul."
And then suddenly, the mundane became arcane. His fetish was complete. He took the treated tooth and attached it to a leather cord. He tied it around his neck and wore it as an amulet.
And then he smiled and collapsed. He never felt himself being lifted into his cot.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Marko fiddled with the fetish around his neck. He found himself a little suspicious about the Baron, offering such a large reward, purely out of the goodness of his heart. But in the end, that didn't matter. He couldn't stomach the idea of letting people die, when he could do something about it.
"Of course, we'll help."
-Posted with Wayfinder
If Arabella has noticed or is upset by Alexander's cooling attitude toward her since her revelations, she does not show it. So far, you've not seen her make any particular effort to develop any romantic relationships with Alexander or anyone else. She does flirt with him a bit, but this is perhaps just to motivate him to do something she wants him to do. But she seems to be just another one of the 'guys' when it comes to the group interaction. She has never mentioned a boy-friend (or girl-friend). She seems focused on her science and having fun in the new world.
As for the baron's reward, she remains quiet in order to let the others weigh in. She has no particular skill at fighting, but the others in the group can open multiple cans of 'whu-pass', so she is confident if the others agree, we can make a good go of it. She knows she can be most useful getting the people of the area to work together, and her goggles might be able to make a small different in the fight itself.
She tries to remember the name K'Don mentioned as the nemesis he is seeking to get revenge on. She figures his reaction will determine what the group does, so she keeps an eye on him. She also tries to read the baron for sincerity.
Result = 5, 1 success
I think I missed the part where we ge paid
Arabella - by the book, Notice is used as D&D's "Sense Motive", but I just found a suggestion by one of the game developers : "use a Notice roll to detect that something is 'off' about a character, then a Streetwise roll to determine *what* it is (duplicity, anxiety, fear, etc.)". Let's try that.
As far as you can tell, he seems to be conducting a business transaction. No need for a Streetwise roll.
K'Don - you do not recognize the name of the new Orc leader. If you want to discuss payment, bring it up in character by talking to the baron!
The baron briefly looks at each of you in turn, and says "Does this one (gesturing at Marko) speak for you all? Do we have a deal, then?"
"Actually we tend to leave matters of business to Miss Steele, here," Marko said while pointing to Arabella.
He felt sheepish speaking up like that. That definitely wasn't something he would have done before coming to the New World.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Arabella looks a bit surprised to be in the leadership position, but she adjusts quickly. She asks the baron a series of questions to get a better sense of the odds of what the group would be asked to do. This is also a bit of a stalling tactic to give everyone more time to make an informed decision.
"How many able bodied men and women are able to fight in the village?
What weapons do they have?
How many orcs are expected to attack?
Do the orcs have guns?
Can you provide weapons for us to take to the village to distribute?
Finally, what and when would we be paid this reward we've heard of?"
How many able bodied men and women are able to fight in the village?
"Last I heard, maybe a couple dozen."
What weapons do they have?
"I don't know - I would guess a few swords and spears, but mostly clubs and hoes. The vast majority of them are farmers."
How many orcs are expected to attack?
"I don't know."
Do the orcs have guns?
"I don't know."
Can you provide weapons for us to take to the village to distribute?
"I can spare a few swords or spears, but that won't help them much if they don't know how to use them, and we'd be taking weapons away from people here who can."
Finally, what and when would we be paid this reward we've heard of?
"*IF* you're at Roxbury when I get there, and the people are alive and the village is prepared, you'll get 100 gold, total. As well as all "spoils of war" from defending them."
Arabella looks at the others and asks, "Who's in? I'm willing but you guys are the ones who will determine if we can succeed."
Marko quietly nods his agreement to Arabella.
-Posted with Wayfinder
K'Don scoffs "HAH, Farmers, always moveing into land were the soil is good for growing, but never go prepared to protect themselves. Normally, I'd say they are getting what they asked for... BUT, the pay just so happens to be enough to protect these pansies."
"We will need to get there quiclkly, if we are to have any chance to prepare a defense. I'm packed and ready to go so lets have at it"
Alexander appeared increasingly alarmed as the Baron explained what they would be up against. When the group drew aside to discuss their engagement in the venture, he protested, "Now see here! I may be a gentleman of fortune, but I am not a soldier of fortune! It may not require an army to beat back the orcs, but certainly it will require more numbers than we may muster! It's of no wonder that the previous groups who have taken on the task have vanished! I cannot, in good conscience, allow young Connor into such an arena of war, whatever his skills may be. Unless, perhaps, we DO manage to muster enough men to keep him safe - and in such a case, we should ask for recompense for that expense from the Baron as well. He seems well-heeled enough to have the money on hand."
K'Don thinks to himself, Yup, a "Dandy" for sure. Haven't even started and already he's making excuses for why not to try.
Arabella wasn't sure about this venture. The money was good, but it could be ten times as good and still be worthless if she died attempting to earn it.
Marko's magic and Connor's mental attacks could take out a lot of enemies and that might be enough to spook the rest. The settlers, aided by K'Don and Alexander could probably put up a fairly good fight against the rest, but without knowing the number of enemies we might face, it could easily end in a massacre. And what if the orcs had shamans who could wield their own magic against the settlers?
Her heart went out to the settlers, but a part of her blamed them for putting themselves into such a vulnerable position. She had no love for orcs, but this was their land once and she knew enough about people like to Baron to know that his version of a "fair trade" might actually be tantamount to naked land grab.
Plus she found it hard to believe that the mining interests of people like the baron were not defended by a small army of decent fighters. Why wouldn't they spare some of these resources to help the settlers? It smacked of bad planning and greed. Instead of risking their own resources, they try to bribe a group like us to save the day. The more she thought about it, the less she liked the situation.
So she remained silent and made no attempt to persuade Alexander to agree to this. If he and the others agreed, she'd go along, but if things went south, she did not want it on her conscience that she pushed anyone into it, particularly with Connor too young to understand the potential risks.
"We all understand that you are concerned for the welfare of your brother. You want to protect him, and rightly so," Marko said as he put a comforting hand on Alexander's shoulder.
"Personally, I doubt the Baron's intentions are completely altruistic. Regardless, there are people caught in the middle. I don't want to fight, but it feels wrong to leave them there to die."
"So, I'm going. Alone if needs be."
Marko then awkwardly pushed up his glasses, an action that belied his serious tone.
"Besides, maybe we can find another way. Negotiate a truce, or convince the settlers to leave - something."
A few comments :
they are trying to take back land that we fairly traded for back in his great-grandparent's time
So the situation between Orcs and humans has been peaceful for a long time, and now this has suddenly happened. From what you can tell, it's K'Plech that's causing all the problems.
Actually, splitting up the party is much *less* of a problem in PbP than it is sitting around a table. So if K'Don wants to go off on his own, with no backup, into hostile territory (BWAHAHAHA...darn it, I've *got* to stop saying that out loud!), I have no problems with that. But the town is 2 days' travel (on horse) from here, so you might want to get to the area first.
And I'm assuming all the conversation has been taking place in front of the baron.
In what follows, keep in mind that the age of "adulthood" in earlier times was more like 15!
Also, waiting to hear what Connor has to say about being "protected" from such a venture...
The baron says, "Whether some or all of you go is irrelevant to me, but the boy looks like he is almost a man, perhaps he should start deciding his own fate.
Regardless, I need to get a team of competent, *brave* (casting a disdainful look at Alex) people to Roxbury as soon as possible. Think what you like of my motives, but I will not let a town of innocent people be slaughtered for no reason!
I am willing to outfit you with horses since you have none of your own. You may keep them as well if Roxbury does not fall."
Going up to Marko, he says "I found them." with absolute certainty that they're the right pair, and hands them over.Marmo takes the glasses back with a grateful smile. "Thank you!" he practically giggles as he puts them back on.
[dice=Notice]1d6
[dice=Wild]1d6
"Thank you very much for helping me. I'm Marko."
All of the above just appeared in my "preview" this morning. I didn't write it and I'm not sure how it got here. Any one know anything?
K'Don looks at the Baron and asks "Your Excellency, may we have a few moments in private to discuss this?"
Arabella remains silent, waiting to let the discussion between the half-orc and the two men (three men, if Connor counts as one) to reach a conclusion as to who's going and who is not.
As the noise increases, and Alex expresses a desire to keep Connor out of harm's way, the boy's eyes flutter open from where he sit dosing, and as the Baron comes to his defense, Connor gets the idea, too, that he is almost a man, and quickly jumps up. "I can take care of myself!" he insists. "If people are in danger, we must help them." He looks up at Alexander in a pleading sort of way. "If we don't, who will?"
Marko and K'Don, do you want to add anything?
Marko laughed.
"Yes, and let's not forget your bodyguard here," Marko said as he offered Wind Dancer a piece of dried fruit.
"You'll keep Connor safe, won't you?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
While by no stretch of the imagination a soldier, Alexander was no coward, either. In the face of Connor's question, he had no good answer. Still, he knelt to look into the boy's eyes. "This will be a dangerous path to take, Connor," he said, his tone serious. "What could I tell your mother if something happened to you?"
"Yes, and let's not forget your bodyguard here," Marko said as he offered Wind Dancer a piece of dried fruit.
"You'll keep Connor safe, won't you?"
She looks at the bit of food being offered, then cocks her head at the big, listening intently. After a moment's thought and just before glomming onto the fruit she declares, "Ssssff. Prrtkallykz, prrtkknnr."
K'Don looks at the boy (until he passes the age of assention) and state
"So does the Boy wish to become a Man, if so, he must pass the tests that will make you a man. Are you willing to take these tests? After which you will be able to make your own decisions (looking at Alex) and not have to listen to anyone but yourself."
"This would make you a man in my eyes and you will have earned the name "Connor", if that is your chosen name. OH and you can keep you pet for the tests it seems to be glued to you anyway".
If you become a man you must put away childish things and you will be expected to be responsible and FOLLOW DIRECTIONS AS GIVEN"
If you don't do as instructed you will have to deal with me.
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!!"
She stops chewing for a few heartbeats and stares at K'Don, eyes narrowed.
She looks at the bit of food being offered, then cocks her head at the big, listening intently. After a moment's thought and just before glomming onto the fruit she declares, "Ssssff. Prrtkallykz, prrtkknnr."
When she hears WindDancer, her eyes narrow and she looks intently at the small creature. She also keeps an eye on Connor, to see if he takes any action that seems to be in reply or response to the ... could they be attempts at words?
When K'Don describes tests of manhood, Arabella thinks to herself, This might be a good thing for the kid. I wish I could go back in time and nominate that bully Ned Saunders for the honor. I bet it would have reduce him to a quivering bowl of spotted dick.
As she regarded Connor trying to stand tall and take a move toward being an adult, she thought, If he were a bit older, I'd give him my own test of manhood. Suppressing a grin, she continued to listen to the discussion, determined to wait until Alexander had made his decision before indicating hers.
When the group drew aside to discuss their engagement in the venture...
Sorry, I missed that little bit. Let's just say the Baron has better hearing than you thought.
The group comes back to the baron's desk and indicates their assent. He picks up a bell and rings it.
"Excellent! My secretary will show you to the stables and give you food for 2 days, and directions. Once you get to Roxbury, find a priest named Adelmar, he's in charge. You must leave within the hour, all I know is that the Orcs intend to attack in a few days!"
The secretary does as indicated, picking the horses for you (if you're any judge of horse-flesh, they are the oldest ones in the stable, but still of good breeding).
Arabella nods her assent once Alexander agrees to go. She is uncharacteristically quiet from this point on. This challenge is taking her into completely uncharted territory and she is more than a little concerned for everybody's safety. She stops at the appropriate shop to pick up an extra ten sets of shot and powder. She otherwise just quietly sets about making sure she has all her gear.
Marko stared at the line of horses before him. He had never ridden one before. He hoped he wouldn't break his neck.
The stableman talks anyone who has never ridden a horse thru the basics. You all discover that the horses are mild-mannered (possibly from age) and well-trained.
Otherwise the trip to Roxbury is without incident. You arrive after two days' travel in heavy rain, in the late afternoon. Everyone is soaking wet, and probably VERY saddle-sore!
From a distance, you see a 6'-tall palisades (tree-trunk fence) sitting atop a gently sloping hill. Surrounding the base of the hill on three sides are fields which have been made rather boggy (Difficult Terrain) by the rain. Beyond the fields is a cleared area some 20 yards wide. Small tree stumps litter the terrain, but are too far apart to hamper movement. Past the cleared area lies a very heavy forest. So thick are the trees that even in daylight there is a penalty for Dim Lighting, and so heavy is the ground vegetation it is also Difficult Terrain. The road you've been traveling on stops at the settlement and goes no further.
As you get closer to the settlement, you see to your horror that the fence is not completed! There are a couple of 10'-or-so wide gaps.
Riding in thru the unguarded, open gates (at least they're in place!), you notice *no one* wandering around (but no dead bodies, either). There's smoke coming out of virtually all the chimneys, and dogs, chickens, geese, etc. aplenty.
You see seven buildings, made of wood with thatched roofs : one very large, long rectangular building, a small smithy, four nondescript smaller buildings, and a religious temple.
What do you do?
Alexander's pleasure at the idea of Connor going through some barbarian manhood ritual could lie in a very small place. "If we get through this, he'll be a man without any need for such nonsense," he sniffed.
***
The silent fort was unnerving; Alexander had expected folk to be on the alert. "Halloo there! We've come from town to aid you. Let us speak to the mayor!" Sore though he was, he didn't slide off his horse just yet. You never knew when a quick getaway would be needed.
No response.
As before, she alternates between circling lazily over the group and riding on her little-big's shoulder.
She is stretched out and relaxing when the settlement comes into view. She stands and stretches, looks at Con-nor pointedly for several heartbeats, then launches into the air. Spiraling over the group first as she gains altitude, she then begins soaring over the area and the settlement.
With her keen eyesight, she notices that everything's wet. :op