This is where we can discuss things out of character.
Trying to create my character
So...the Dancing Lady
But TPK's are no fun unless well-deserved, so I knew more than three years ago that we were going to handle this a bit differently...
I'll post the results of your encounter with the Dancing Lady tomorrow..
I do have a hero point so I can re-roll as well I think.
Well, now's the time if you want to spend it.
Sure.
Just out of curiosity, why are you murdering Piotr's kinky date? Not saying you shouldn't, just probing Mikhail's psyche. She hasn't actually hurt anyone. Y'now, yet.
Well, she seems to be messing with our minds as I believe you do know when your targeted by a mental effect. That and since she is in the middle here I am guessing she was ruling over all the other evil fey. Is it a prejudiced. Sure. Am I ok with that. Yep.
I recently watched an episode of Star Trek: TNG. Counselor Troi is possessed by an alien intelligence. She stands up and goes to say something and Worf already has a phaser drawn and pointed at her. "Easy!" I was thinking. "Is it standard practice in the Federation to draw down on anyone who stands up a little too quickly?"
While "evil fey" is a pretty good bet, the Dancing Lady's not really done anything besides seduce Piotr and act unconcerned about it. She's not so much "messing with your minds" (in the sense of a spell or psionic assault) as "so beautiful you can't look away."
This isn't to criticize your choice; I just want to understand Mikhail's reasoning.
As I once told my Amber DRPG players. "Sticking the knife in a player character's back is only half the GM's job. The other half is asking 'how's that knife feel?'"
Sorry I realise I posted my last post under the wrong Alias (Holys) from another game. I don't appear to be able to edit/delete it now. Will take a little getting used to!
You might find it useful to use Oladon's Campaign Tools Extensions for Chrome or for Firefox. I use the Firefox one. It lets you set a default alias in each campaign, select custom avatars, sort your aliases in nifty ways, highlight threads where there are new posts, and all kinds of other cool stuff.
The default alias for a campaign is a godsend for someone like me who is in a great many campaigns.
Take your hero point back! I want to see what happens!
To be honest, you probably don't. I'm mostly giving Thomas a hard time for the fun of it.
But if Mikhail wants his Hero Point back, you can all find out what your GM considers an acceptable alternative to a TPK...
Nah, I am good with not knowing.
Sorry I realise I posted my last post under the wrong Alias (Holys) from another game. I don't appear to be able to edit/delete it now. Will take a little getting used to!You might find it useful to use Oladon's Campaign Tools Extensions for Chrome or for Firefox. I use the Firefox one. It lets you set a default alias in each campaign, select custom avatars, sort your aliases in nifty ways, highlight threads where there are new posts, and all kinds of other cool stuff.
The default alias for a campaign is a godsend for someone like me who is in a great many campaigns.
Thanks! I installed it but it is still defaulting to Holys. Do you know how to use it? I can't find much of a manual; I open the 'options' page of the extension and 'auto-select alias' is checked, but it's not defaulting my posts here to Ahran. Do I have to do something more so it knows which alias belongs on which campaign?
I've found that you need to post a few times with the alias you want to use. It should designate a default for that thread after a few times.
Thanks, I will be patient and see what happens. :)
When you post and select the alias you want to use, a little non-descript icon appears to the right of your selection. If I recall correctly, it looks sort of like the stylized outline of a human head and torso. Hover over it and it will say something like "Make Default". Click it.
Hmm, I don't have anything like that, on clicking or on mouseover. I am on Chrome so maybe it is different. Perhaps it will just sort itself out!
Caw!
I want to make sure you guys know to check out the information on the Campaign Info tab. I'm working on it all the time and I'm in the midst of adding a "Dramatis Personae" section.
Guys if you missed it she is not grappled anymore. In fact its almost impossible for me to keep her grappled. So you may want to close your eyes and not watch her dance.
You're right. She's not grappled. I missed that she got her turn.
So if she gets her turn and a standard action, she can start dancing again. Closing our eyes might work. So might tripping her or somehow throwing a cover over her. Maybe ongoing damage, like setting her on fire? Or somehow denying her that action, like grappling her again. You get the flank bonus now if you try it.
Alister is also hoping that getting hit by a bane weapon leaves her in a less sexy mood.
Even if you can't keep her grappled, grappling her forces her to take a standard action to escape and another to start the dance. That forces her to choose between dancing and a full attack.
Also, burning someone to death for the crime of extramarital sex seems a tad extreme. Try to avoid out-of-character knowledge.
For your amusement:
Are we using Hero Points? I cannot remember.
We is!
I cannot remember Piotr's current number of Hero Points.
What can I accomplish by spending a Hero Point? The +8 luck bonus, coupled with (possibly) an Aid Another from Corb, would mean a 15+ is still needed to escape from the vines.
Could Piotr slip a hand free by spending a Hero Point?
He is still naked and without his spell components, so could not cast any spells that he has memorized.
Ha, that cat link is funny. Mine would behave that way. (And probably enjoy the experience of sledding down stairs!)
If/when Ahran can break free from the vines, I was intending that he'd come over and cut you out. At least you'd be free then.
Yeah, if the fey is no threat anymore, Alister will try to cut you free.
Here is what you can do with Hero Points..
However, she's down for the count. It would be a waste of a very rare resource.
Family is in town for the weekend. No guarantees on regular posting.
That's okay. They can play NPC's. :-)
So we seem to be at a bit of an impasse with the Dancing Lady...
Should we discuss here what to do?
It seems to me that it would be unjustifiable to try to kill her. So do we just let her go and part ways for now? (Bearing in mind it's possible that she could presently leave of her own accord anyway.)
So I apologize for a bit of this. Any awkwardness in this scene is mine.
I knew from the start that I wanted her to be more, and to tie in with the larger story. As I think you guys know, Kingmaker is the single most popular Adventure Path, but the biggest complaint about it is that the villain isn't even hinted at until the 6th installment, which feels like a weird, tacked-on left turn after all the kingdom-building. So I've been trying to integrate the overall story right from the start, looking for characters who can serve the larger narrative. The Dancing Lady is one of those.
However, the big risk for the GM in revealing too much is that the players decide "well, there's a villain over -there-, so let's go there now" (and get killed) or "well, we know there's a villain who wants X, so let's create our kingdom around that idea." The ideal balance is to let the story of the kingdom-building unfold as the PC's see fit, but lay enough groundwork so that when the villain appears, you think "yeah, that makes sense. Oh -that's- what all this meant," rather than "say what, now?"
So, the Dancing Lady can lay hints, but she's not going to say "look, there's a dragon in cave #257 and he's planning to steal the princess and become a god" or whatever. Plus, I think fey are probably mercurial and hard to interpret by nature, so I'm sort of intentionally having her be vague.
So, I hope she's at least interesting!
I am all for killing her. But some people may be less inclined and I am pretty new to say it too bluntly. :P
I think this has been done well. She's currently a prisoner, but she's tipped her hand that it won't be for long. While Alister would think to hold her prisoner, something tells me we'll never get to that point. I expect something suitably fey-like, like fading with the sunset or...didnt she say something about the moon? Becoming a moonbeam maybe. I hope not a werewolf.
So that means she toying with us for now. She's giving us some hints for her own amusement. Alister (and I'm assuming Aristu) will not execute her. Alister might not like her and doesn't in any way see her as his mother, but she is still family.
So for now I think we hold her prisoner and try to learn as much about her and the fey queen as we can. Maybe we should ask her about the trolls. Thorn seems to be a piece of the puzzle too...
-Posted with Wayfinder
Are we really sure that she is your mother? Looks can be altered. Divination is a thing. And the company she keeps is pretty poor.
And the company she keeps is pretty poor.
That's a pretty harsh assessment of Piotr. :-)
Even if it the Dancing Lady did not appear to be his mother, Aristu would not be in favor of killing her. As it is, he is probably about 75% convinced that she is/was his mother, and there is no chance that he would agree to harming her under the present circumstances.
Ideally, I'd like her to agree that if she wishes a dalliance with citizens of Stagfell that she content herself with asking them, rather than compelling them. If we could convince her to inform us when she sees movements of trolls in her neck of the woods (as Tiressia and Melianse have agreed to do), that would be useful.
I agree that this has been done well, and she is certainly an interesting character! It is because of this that it is a difficult decision of how to proceed.
Ahran also doesn't think that execution is a valid option now. I like the idea of asking her to play nice. Maybe we'll need to come back from time to time to check that she has done so.
Ahran has +4 Diplomacy, +5 Intimidate, +12 Bluff so may not be the best person to lead negotiations here. And due to the fact that he's also new to the kingdom, is not so comfortable speaking on behalf of everyone here. So perhaps Alister/Aristu are best-placed to lead?
I'm heading out tomorrow on a week long trip. I don't expect to be able to post. I'll see you guys later!
Have a good trip!
I cannot open the maps for the kingdom - the ones hosted on http://www.theeurth.com.
Yeah, looks like I need to renew my domain.
The Theeurth site is back up.
I will be heading out of town for the weekend tomorrow, returning Sunday evening. I won't be able to post until Monday evening.
So when we conclude our search of the ruined keep, we should certainly finish exploring this hex (assuming we aren't already finished). We should also explore the hex to the Northwest (0715) while we are out this way.