GM Levi's Eberron PbP - For King and Country
Game Master Levis

Something I need to straight out for my backgroun (I apoligise if it has already been mentioned) How long ago was the last war?

So... Bastion, Tika, and anyone else in the 'new' group (Ancian, I think?)you guys want to hammer out a brief backstory for why we're traveling together? I have a tentative character reason for Distan to be headed to Flamekeep (following up a lead on a case) so it could be something as simple as our having met on the road a few days back & deciding it's safer to travel in a group, but I'm up for anything more elaborate if you guys are.

That works for me. I don't have any particular reason to be anywhere, so anything works for me.

I have a few ideas for my character seeing as how she is a bit of a street Urchin. Admitadly some of them are a tad more extreme than others (Things like her being caught by one of the group liberating a few coins from there purse and them taking pity on her or perhaps helping her out of a spot of bother after having been caught in the act of trying to do it to someone else) Like I said these are a tad extreme and not the thing for all groups so I'll wait and see what the others think.

I'm okay with most ideas. It would make sense for us to have met on the road and decided grouping up is a good idea. Ancian is a traveler by nature and has been adventuring through the 5 nations waiting for his dragonmark to evolve, and would love the company.

Tika and Distan, if you want to embellish I'm open to anything.

If you haven't posted in the play thread and you are new - please do so asap!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Have a brutal day!

Levis, I'm gonna have Ancian make a knowledge (local) to see if he can recall anything about this specific day or why their may be a parade in Flamekeep. He is a traveler after all and as a character tries to keep up and remember things like this lol.

Should have known you'd find a way to work an elephant into your game...

Should have known you'd find a way to work an elephant into your game...

It's always been a running joke back home, so I always drop one at some point!

1st character - Druid/Bard w/ Elephant companion
2nd adventure - Those two-trunked elephant men from Spell Jammer
5th adventure - Haunted Phiarlan Circus
Current PFS character - Vudrani summoner who basically summons an avatar of Ganesha!

My brother, Ancian, currently has no internet. He'll try to post later tonite.

Well well well... How the mighty have flourished without me! -Grins- Hello all. Guess who is back in town? Finally got my connection sorted, my life straightened out and everything else in check. I am going to be around from now on so, Old Crew, looking forward to playing with you again sometime maybe. New Crew, nice to see ya'll in the game. :)

Levi, my friend, I must apologize to you personally. Damn world got the best of me for awhile. I'm happy to have gotten the opportunity to play alongside you. Thanks for that, and sorry I disappeared. See you around!

Well well well... How the mighty have flourished without me! -Grins- Hello all. Guess who is back in town? Finally got my connection sorted, my life straightened out and everything else in check. I am going to be around from now on so, Old Crew, looking forward to playing with you again sometime maybe. New Crew, nice to see ya'll in the game. :)

Levi, my friend, I must apologize to you personally. Damn world got the best of me for awhile. I'm happy to have gotten the opportunity to play alongside you. Thanks for that, and sorry I disappeared. See you around!

Levis, can we keep him?? PLEASE?!? Darius be good folk and I know for a fact he wasn't intentionally duckin us as I had emailed him about the game I have him as PC in and he never got back to me, then I found out he had a computer meltdown...

-Puts up hand- And a real life meltdown too. I actually just found that email last night Monkey. Thanks for sending it. Is cool to know I got friends like you around here! :)

And thanks for trying to twist Levis arm. Hahaha! Glad to see Darius made an impression.

I will say, I am up for staying, if their is space. If not, I am cool stepping down. I was gone for months.

You're in! We missed you! :)

Hahaha! I missed you all too! :D How do you want me to join back in?

Keep watch until they leave the Cardinal's presence. When they leave, you can find them - a surprise that you survived!

Cool! :D Can do!

First thing that should be established is that the PCs are going to try and liberate Karrnath on their own, as it would be the course of action least likely to result in a lot of deaths.

Of course, we can offer the High Cardinal something solid in return for actually letting us attempt our plan.

Okay, at this point in time, I want you to keep in mind something. Kaius III has been out of touch with the real world for sometime (I've already made a small mistake in assuming he knew who the current keeper was, and such but, eh.). Think like an exile! :D

My copy of Five Nations is in storage, so I'm at a loss as to the personality of the cardinal. (Though I assume he's the greedy douche Levi's been playing him as.)
So, he's gonna want some profitable concessions here; maybe there's some valuable land on a disputed border or something.
As for what Kaiuss wants: well, I'm not sure how desperate and ready to soak the soil of his nation in the blood of his people he is. So I'm not sure what he'd be asking for; Thrane's full backing, or, maybe, just enough to covertly plant a small group (hi, us!) in Karrnath in a vampire hunting mission. We are so not of a vampire killing level, but I leave such problems to the GM. :-) So maybe diplomatic papers that grant us access to Karrhold, maybe some magical support & some kind of extraction method.
All of which will cost Thrane (and the Cardinal) less and presumably require less renumeration. Plus maybe the cardinal is simply politically savvy enough that having a grateful King on the throne of Karrnath can give him some extra diplomatic leverage at home? Perhaps enough that he'll have even more clout when butting heads with a certain child ruler than he already does?

Anyone else have input? I know this is a big move, so talk it up.

And to answer you Sean, I don't think Kaius wants war, but he definitely wants to be leading Karrnath and to lead them to true freedom (aka, get gramps off the throne!), so think about that.

I don't really know of anything that might work.

My brother plans to chime in, but he's been busy at school.

I have to admit, "thinking like an exile" has me stumped. Not sure if you want me to think like somebody whose not aware of current events, or somebody who wants to avoid capture at any cost. Maybe even something else.

Just try. It's your game.

Keep in mind:
1. He's desperate, but not stupid.
2. He's been separated from current events.
3. He's angry, likely towards his family and the religion he believes they are loyal to.
4. He believes that his action will be best for the country.

So one thing that comes to mind- well, kind of a series of things.

Once upon a time treaties between nations would be sealed with arranged marriages and the like. Now, Jaela is young for marriage, of course, and I don't know if there's someone of equivalent age in Karnaath to betroth her too, and even if there were, as a theocracy rather than a hereditary monarchy it's questionable what the long term political gain of such an engagement would be. But then, there is still a figurehead royal family in Thrane, isn't there, that basically has no power but is purely symbolic? Anyhow, that might be worth considering as part of Thrane's price for the agreement.

And then, it dawned on me, Kaiuss REALLY has something big to offer. Since you mentioned he may be bitter towards his ancestral religion (Blood of Vol, I assume?)- what if he were willing to give a SIGNIFICANT amount of support for the Silver Flame should he return to power in Karnaath? Nothing so major as making it a state religion, but agreeing to support & tacitly endorse Flame evangelists/missionaries, putting his weight behind the building of churches and cathedrals in every major Karnaathi city, lining his court with a number of advisors from the church, etc.

This is the kind of thing Krozen might JUMP at. Expanding the church's authority eastward in a major way would give the man responsible for it a HUGE amount of clout. (And opportunity for financial gain, of course.)

So there's that.

That seems like the best option, really. much better than anything I came up with. IN fact, I couldn't really come up with anything. THat's what my vote goes toward.

Unfortunately, Vorik would be absolutely against such an idea. Unless there was a swap of sorts, where a member of his family and thus a follower of the Nine, Six and One, went to Flamekeep.

Such an exchange may very well be possible.

Well, figure something out, you don't have to agree on it. Things change, and it will all be played out over the course of the game. :)

Madness, I tell you!

Sadly I dont think there is much Tika could suggest other than kick out the old guy and put Kaiuss back in charge (She dosent really know much about politcis, religion or running a war.

By tomorrow night, I would like one of you to make an offer to the Cardinal (as Kaius III). Let's get this moving! :)

Ancian would definitely agree to the swap of religious influence in the kingdoms.

I apologize for bein absent for so long, school has gotten very busy and i had a business conference last weekend so i couldnt get on here. I'll be more vigilant going forward

Darius, you can be waiting in the room they have returned to, I'm sure someone will catch you up.

Not to be nit-picky, Vorik, but I noticed your AC is a little bit off. Yours is stated to be 24, but it should be 23, as you have a -1 Dexterity modifier. I was just looking through profiles, as I realized that there are now 2 rogues, and I figured I'd look at others as well.

Suitably grand entrance? Hmmm.... Maybe so! Lets see what I can cook up! :D Glad to be back!

Suitably grand entrance? Hmmm.... Maybe so! Lets see what I can cook up! :D Glad to be back!

Good to have you back!

For Levi:

Looks good Sean! :)

Levis, did you ever get my PM?

Levis, did you ever get my PM?

Checking it out now.

So... just as an explanation as to why Distan's taking a powder.
I'm not leaving the game. But I had a conversation with levi a few weeks back where I explained that Distan was feeling less and less appropriate to the campaign; ultimately I created the wrong character for the job. (He legitimately doesn't have any interest in being on a Vampire Hit Squad.) So, I asked if I could replace him with a better fitting character and got his approval (thus the character stat rolls above). I'll miss my little chatterbox detective, but I do have high hopes for my next character.

And here's the new character in question. :-) Background & other fluff stuff still needs writing, but his stats & stuff are mostly done.

Glad I read this before I posted in the gameplay thread.

Yeah, I realized I left a potentially ambiguous post there and might wind up starting an in-character anti-Cardinal rebellion, so figured to quickly rectify that here. Actually think I'll put an OOC disclaimer on Distan's previous post.

That would probably be best.

Just so y'know, Levis, you've got a PM waiting for you. It's not too terribly important at the moment, though, so feel free to take your time responding to it.

Hey, Levi!

In the evening you are met by a man outside of the gates of the city. He is your contact from the church.

Am I being too obtuse if I ask if Hugh's the man in question, or is he still offstage?