Balthus Tauran |
FYI, I'll be out all day so don't expect any posts from me until later this evening. Please bot me as necessary. Balthus will chop and Slasher will bite.
Anthuria |
Not to say that it isn't obvious at this point, but Anthuria is definitely a Grass-type.
Definitely! Total flower child... It explains her usual state of cluttered confusion.
Amund Basurto |
The idea of Balthus taking a selfie next to a dead critter with a big smile on his face is freaking hilarious. Just so you know.
Also if they were a hundred pounds less I could dead lift it. And I would totally help drag a beastie back but there needs to be a good reason to do so.
Amund Basurto |
I hear gold works better than a tooth Balthus ;)
But seriously if the old man wants to get his mack on he should be able to do so on his own merit :D
Lord Perry Arizian |
Perry's questions/interrogation:
Mainly asking questions and admiring the drake's loyalty, and eliciting information off.
1. We know that you have a wizardly master. Who is he? Or she...not being presumptive or anything...
2. Why does your master claim this vale?
3. We are willing to let you go on the following terms: You tell us where he is, inform us about his defenses, and vow (on pain of death) to never return to harm the fort. As you've seen, it's a hard nut to crack.
If he is loyal
How I wish we were the ones who aided you.
Noble dragon, you repaid your debt by fighting for him. Is a man's blood that much more valuable than yours?
With the appropriate schmoozing check.
Rationale: Information and a pacified (and honorable/noble, apparent by their will to keep fighting) foe is better than another corpse to question.
Amund Basurto |
Perry just so you know that feather token I used keeps it chained up for a whole day. So there is still one tied up.
Lord Perry Arizian |
@GM: Did the drake give his name? Perry would ask for that during the questioning.
So instead of calling me dragon in your tongue, you call me dragon in some other tongue.
Can we please discuses the questions in game from now on?
Somehow I missed seeing that question.
It seems everyone else did as well.
Here's my case for the bargain:
We now know the following from the deal:
With the above information, Perry can prepare a Divination to learn more about the possibility of their assault's success.
But all in all, I would prefer if he could get more information.
Anthuria, can you cast Scrying?
Amund Basurto |
Weekends usually slow down for most people so that is probably to blame. I only asked that we go over it in game for the character interaction. I like that stuff.
I also like the idea of maybe adding a Drake to my list of beast buddies :D
Jetta Stahle |
Jetta is kind of busy grappling an alligator, so she can't really weigh in on the debate. She'll wait to see what Perry's plan is before deciding whether we should leave the drake alive or not.
Lord Perry Arizian |
Perry relays his plan in common after Anthuria casts Prest.
We head to the stone-house/fort and take Enrico and a few archers with us. We commission/conscript a cart to carry the ballista to follow us.
Once we come near to the fort and the drakes meet us, Enrico conjures an illusion to turn the corner with a blast of war-horns, showing an illusion of a contengent of the Army of Exploration.
Since drakes have difficult grasp of the passage of time (by virtue of long lives and ignorance that such a time where the armies existed is long past), several of them might desert (especially with Jetta rolling Intimidate on the helm). The brave drakes we shoot down with the ballista and archers then engage in melee as the 'army' moves to besiege the fort.
In the meantime, the vanguard (us) break in, engage the enemies within (or focus-fire the wizard if he deigns to appear), and storm the fort.
This is a preliminary plan, of course. Once the fort's design is clearer and the defending forces are known, it could change.
@GM: Perry wants to look like a Taldan battle-priest, by the way. As a noble of Cheliax, he could sort of trace his ancestry to the conquerers, amirite?
Lord Perry Arizian |
Oathmaking: the Video Game.
@GM: Can I invoke Abadar's name and use my own power to impose some Quest-like effect?
In other words, if he consents to not do whatever I ask him to (three times, by the way, could there be some way to enforce it?
GM Rennai |
@Perry - He'd most certainly look fairly similar to the Chelish Empire's soldiers; it's been a few centuries, but any differences that emerged wouldn't be that remarkable.
And of course there's a way to magically enforce orders - it's called quest. :P Though it eludes me why the greater version is on the cleric spell list, but the lesser isn't; I'd be willing to let Percival essentially have lesser quest on his spell list as a level 4 spell, although I can't remember if he's got an open spell slot left to prepare that. (Syrriolth is 7 HD, so he'd be a viable candidate for the spell.)
If not, or if you'd rather not spend the spell slot, his word and Sense Motive's what I've got for you. (For what it's worth, he'll agree to the oath, and your Sense Motive check says he's being truthful in swearing it. Gameplay post to that effect will be up soon.)
@Anthuria - Let's say two more castings of Enlarge Person, to give a comfortable twenty minutes of interrogation time plus the time of the fight.
I'll get Perry's questions answered in Gameplay, but give a little more time before moving us along so that everyone can have a chance to chime in on releasing v. exterminating Syrriolth, or to get any questions in.
Lord Perry Arizian |
Perry must've been quite the prankster when he was a kid.
@GM: Can the plan fly?
@Jetta: Well, either he's a prankster or it's just me thinking like an illusionist instead of a cleric.
Why can't clerics cast image spells anyway? An image of the deity/promise of good afterlife/etc. does not seem that out of the way...
Edit: Wait, Chelish army, not Taldan exploration. My mistake.
Jetta Stahle |
Why can't clerics cast image spells anyway? An image of the deity/promise of good afterlife/etc. does not seem that out of the way...
Well, those do tend to fall into the "bright and flashy" category that's traditionally the purview of arcane casters. Unless you are cleric with the right domain, of course...
Balthus Tauran |
GM, would you agree that Anthuria's Photosynthesis ability should allow her to regenerate her spells after only 2 hours of rest? The ability states it reduces the need to eat and sleep as if wearing a ring of sustenance, and that item specifically allows regeneration of spells after only 2 hours.
I know I'm not the GM. :)
Best case scenario (depending on the 'real' GM) is that you would still need to 'rest' (sleep), right?
I mean it's not like every two hours in the sun, you regenerate all your daily spells.
Otherwise, my next PC is a verdant sorcerer. :)
Jetta Stahle |
"A token that creates an anchor that moors a craft in water so as to render it immobile for up to 1 day."
I think you can deactivate it before the 24 hours are up. Otherwise, it wouldn't be too useful as an actual anchor.
Amund Basurto |
I assume so but the last time I saw one in play it was held to the 2 hours. Not sure the item is meant to be used as a normal anchor but as a way to render something immobile.
Balthus Tauran |
Amund, did you just flip-flop?
I thought you started out being outraged at Balthus for wanting to kill the drakes.
And now you are mad at Percy for letting it go?
Maybe I misread your earlier comments but if you did end up supporting Balthus, let me know and I'll follow up IC.
Amund Basurto |
If I remember correctly I told you our word was given The whole groups when the offer was made and Amund will stick to it even if he does not like it. Amunds actually preference would be to kill it. One life for many. He killed the one you were pulling trophies off of.
The creature was a slave. But taking its kin and wearing it might be to big of an insult.
GM Rennai |
@Anthuria - I'd be fine with Photosynthesis allowing her to regain spell slots after two hours of rest - as you said, it works as a ring of sustenance.
@Amund - I'm fine with being able to dismiss the anchor token, or simply untie the rope that was holding it on. The description does say "up to one day".
Lord Perry Arizian |
@Anthuria: Sorry for not replying. I meant the spell Scrying, as we could attempt a probe on this wizard fellow.
But Commune with Birds might help instead to give us a general idea about the place.
Lord Perry Arizian |
I would like to clarify that any plans or offers Percival makes here out of character are translated in-character/plot once GM Rennai has sufficient reason to believe it represents what we want to do.
The reason I state them out of character is for three good reasons.
1. It allows a degree of GM oversight when something can/can't be pulled off
2. It also allows tactical discussion to not clog up the main gameplay thread (which will become pages of considering who goes where and does what)
3. It also consolidates discussions for time-saving purposes, since not all of us post on a daily basis. That shaves off at least three RL days of back-and-forth banter. Those add up, and time is a thing in PBP that stagnate storytelling.
I realize that the offer (OOC) was made one day before it was acted upon IC. That may have been too short for everyone to contribute to.
If objections were made, Percival may have opted for the less reliable but more decisive Kill-and-Speak With Dead approach--although diplomacy got us much more than Speak With Dead would (being limited to three questions and spell slots we don't have).
The question is this: Is our usual system working?
Amund Basurto |
I do not mind it. Weekends tend to slow down for people and posting it on the weekends then acting is to fast. Give it more than a day. I personally prefer to discuss it in character for the character development and interactions. But I do understand that it does slow things down.
This is the fastest moving PbP I am in. Others have a higher posting rate but this one goes faster. Modules seem to do that anyways.
At least wait for a few players to give their opinions first I suppose?
Balthus Tauran |
I am fine with the plan and execution. You can't always get what you want.
However, I do not why you think that OOC posts are faster than IC posts.
I'm with Amund in this one and would prefer the plan discussion IC.
Jetta Stahle |
I'm fine either way, though I might lean slightly in favour of Amund and Balthus. Since we aren't really on a strict timetable or anything, I don't see why we would want to 'save time' at the expense of roleplaying opportunities. Having these discussions in character ensures that everyone gets to weigh in, and our dear GM has done an admirable job of stopping us from getting mired for too long, if at all. I see no real danger of stagnation. Of course, once we've agreed on a general plan in character, we can discuss the fine, mechanical details here in the discussion thread. That's worked quite well so far.
GM Rennai |
Quite reasonable and mature discussion. Sounds good. Part of that's on me this time, too - I moved along with Percival's plan without taking into account that it was the weekend.
Sudden promotion opportunity (interviewed today), sudden workload increase, sudden dentist appointment, sudden sleeping issues...life really needs to stop happening all at once. I'll catch up later tonight. Thanks for your patience lately, everyone - it's been a hell of a roller-coaster ride for me, with no way to see it coming.
Lord Perry Arizian |
Hypothetical situation:
Abadar is moseying around his divine court, dispensing divine justice, and mapping out Axis's new district. He gets a message from an Axiomite.
"Lord, your servant Percival Aldeferi Arizian is asking for an Animate Dead spell. Apparently, he intends to animate a drake corpse to haul it back to his base."
"Is it for commerce purposes?" Abadar asks without looking up.
"Indeed it is."
"That's enough, isn't it? Approve the spell."
Ping!
"Well, let's see how this necromancy thing works, shall we?" Percival says with a curious grin.
Elsewhere in the multiverse
Pharasma crushes a crying ball, and murmurs, "Undead rats! Curse you, Abadar, and your efficient corpse-disposal policies!"
GM Rennai |
I'm pretty sure that precise exchange has happened more than once. In fact, I'm pretty sure Abadar has the frequency and feel of Pharasma's communications memorized, just so that he can screen her calls every time his followers have done that sort of thing.
I'm sorry...my receptionists just aren't up to snuff lately...it tends to be the newest petitioners who get the job, and they're still adjusting to their new spirit natures...
Lord Perry Arizian |
I'm just thinking Urgoatha feels betrayed at this point.
"How come he can do it?!"
"Prepare for a-smiting, giant skeleton-woman!"
What antics will the gods of Golarion engage in next? Will daddy Aroden come back in time before Rovagug breaks out of the basement? Will little Groetus finish Majora's Mask in time before school starts? Will the love-hate relationship between Iomedae and Asmodeus end in a happy, mutually-fulfilling relationship?
Tune in next episode for the conclusion of the 'Age of Broken Prophecy' arc of Gods of Golarion!
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What else do they do when the adventurers are not around to see?
It's up for us to know, and you to find out, on Moondays from 6 to 7 on the Grand Absalomian Station.
If this is an actual in-universe TV series in Starfinder, I'd tune in.
Amund Basurto |
Sorry! I know I poked the game and then vanished. I got sick at work and then slept so much.
If I am remembering the rule correctly you need special feats to do most crafting with actual dragons. Bones have to be magical enchanted to negate the fragile quality.
Jetta Stahle |
Sorry for not posting earlier this week. Courses have started, and I've had to stress over some other school stuff as well. Ugh.
Lord Perry Arizian |
@Jetta: Stress is the unacknowledged brother of diligence...
It happens to be something Percival seems to be grappling with right now.
@GM: I am aware that some NPCs may have something to contribute (namely Father Apar or Oakbrow), but it does not seem in-character for Perry to involve them. More of a suffer-in-silence type, that man.
The man is thinking about casting another divination for the good of the Realm, but is afraid of what'll happen.
GM Rennai |
Seems I'm joining in the chorus of "sorry I haven't posted" messages - sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days! Still figuring out job/promotion stuff, still getting workload out of the way, still have sore throat/cough/earache, and now I'm looking at a possible relapse of the stuff that put me in the hospital. It is a fun, fun time to be me. :D
Amund Basurto |
That is an understandable reason to be not posting. Don't go into the hospital, that would be bad.