[Name Redacted] (Inactive)

Game Master Shadowtail24

Merry Christmas. :)

Merry Christmas to all.

Merry Christmas!

I'm going to wait for reaction posts from everyone before continuing.

Welcome to combat! Only took you about 2 months to get to fight

For PBP combat I basically run initiated be in blocks:

goods guys with init higher than the bad guys
bad guys,
Good guys with init below the bad guys.

Under this style, everyone who has an initiative ahead of the bad guys can post, even if someone else in the group might have a higher init. I’ll reconcile ahead of the bad guys post and then we’ll move on.

Since this this fight had the bad guys last in initiative, everyone can post when the round begins. For this combat, Edmund and Ziera are acting in the surprise round. Please let them act before posting for round 1
I’m only on my phone but I’ll will provide a grid layout for the fight as well. For fights like this where spacing will matter I will include a grid. For gifts where it won’t matter I might skip it.

Good luck!

Oh snap, time to bust some heads!

Hmm... This proves somewhat troublesome as I'm currently in my social persona. If I used my vigilante abilities (which are my only real combat abilities), then we would have to silence or kill everyone who saw me due them, which depending on the circumstances Antonio could be morally against. I could try turning to my vigilante persona, but considering that it takes a minute, combat would be over by then.

Shadowtail, would it be possible to fire spells from behind the door to the private room in order to conceal myself?

Not likely. The angle doesn’t really give you a view of where the action will be occurring. It also appears that Payk will be remaining behind in the room at least.

I'm ok with silencing/killing everyone, just so you know. 10 rounds does seem about 5 rounds too many, I agree.

Could still thematically make sense for you to disappear and reappear after he fight. There are rooms upstairs you could transform in. Right now the party has a memory of the Azure Avenger and not you, but would be unlikely to put it together on this one appearance.

The ole' infamous Superman puts on his glasses and becomes Clark Kent and no ones the wiser...got it. :)

Gray, it is more of Antonio, being good, not being willing to kill innocents such as the bartender. If the intruders are supporters of Thrune or cutthroats, Antonio will certainly not have a problem. As is, Antonio doesn't want to reveal his identity to any strangers and certainly not his enemies, if one escapes.

Shadowtail, that seems like a good course of action. I might grab the quick change social talent later on, and, if necessary, the immediate change social talent.

Can’t see the map. Is it set to “anybody with a link”?

And Ziera show her bow again in round 1, so I think the bad guys are up. :)

Can’t see the map. Is it set to “anybody with a link”?

It was not, I set it that way now.

And the first battle is complete. It was a little confusing and mismanaged. Some of that was unintentional, but quite a bit of it was playing out the NPCs as they would act. It should have given you a chance to understand how each of the NPCs might function in combat, and what role they can help with. You’ll likely only have one or two of the NPCs with you for future battles, and it will usually be your choice who it is. That is not to say that this battle was set up just so that you could learn about the NPCs.

Special mention to Edmund, this battles MVP.

This battles theme song was “I fell in the Pit” by Andy Dwyer on Parks and Rec.

Gray, the juxtaposition of Gray versus Zane is making me laugh really hard right now. "Smiles thinly" versus resting his green eyes on the fair bard and winking at her. Cracks me up. ... Gray is creeptastic. Just don't stab me before we get back at the Thrunes. :)

I aim to please, milady. Just practicing my writing chops. :)

Are we waiting on anything, or is everyone ready to get to the Ball?

No idea, but everyone else seems to have stopped talking.

I think I'm ready for the Ball,if everyone else is. I'm of a mind to make some mooky. After a bit of touching elbows with stuffy aristocrats.

I was waiting on Edmund, who seemed to feel strongly that we needed to find the traitor(s) before the ball... but given the difficulty of doing so, I am fine with moving on, as long as Edmund is. I still think his plan will work (although of course Thrune (or whoever) might send bad guys into the Ball to try to kill us ahead of time. If so, that should be quite a battle scene.

If we don’t think we have time for the plan, then the ball it is. With any luck, the bad guys won’t want to risk looking weak by launching an unsuccessful attack on us.

You can continue to RP at will, just let me know when you’re ready to move on.

Ok, i need to clarify here. Right now everyone in the group (PC and NPC) including Tarken know about a post ball meeting at sarini’s glory. Though you didn’t widely share that information, Antonio and Vince both heard it and Vince took the initiative to inform the others. Technically Sydney doesn’t know it but she does know to follow her familiar, that Payk still has.

At the.current conversation with Tarken did Edmund give a different inn for a meeting place?

Are Ziera and Gray headed to sarinis glory or a different inn that Ziera scouted?

Edmund gave a different inn, the one they were planning to give Tarken when they were going to give out two false inns to Tarken and Antonio to see which one was the traitor.

Edmund is winging it folks. He knows he screwed up and is floundering trying to fix his mess.

On the other hand, if Tarken isn’t a traitor, it could still be one of the others, and this could still help them figure out who.

I was assuming we were going to scout out the 'false' inn that was supposed to be for Tarken. I'll let Ziera confirm that, though.

Ha, Edmund, winging it is fun. :)

Ziera is at Sarini's Glory, and although Tarken knows the real inn from blasted Vince, Edmund provided a false meetingplace to him just now. He didn't ask about it though, so not sure if he is confused or what.

As for the knowledge of the rest of our group: unless it was judged unacceptable, we did widely share the information... I told everyone that I could spot *other* than Tarken (and the people in the library who already knew, or were informed later). From page 12 of the gameplay thread:

Ziera grazes on the refreshments as she looks around the room, wondering where Gray and the others had gotten to. She does spot a few of the group, and starts working the room, quietly passing on the information about the meetingplace, sometimes in person, sometimes by remote message, telling the others about the meeting that evening, but not telling Tarken anything yet, or anyone standing with him.

Let me know if it is okay to inform some of the others (the ones not in the library (and not Tarken)) this way rather than through individual dialogue. Figured it would speed things up in advance of the meeting, but if you need any of it to be more clear or spelled out, please let me know.

Sydney also knows, without having to follow her familiar, because of our agreement that she give a report at the inn. This one is from page 11, under one of the Ziera/Sydney spoilers:

After waiting for a reply, if Sydney agrees, she tells her the meeting location (the real one).

Ok, missed where you told Sydney the inn.

Alright Wdmund, I’ll need a bluff check about the meeting switching to a different inn.

I’m in a fire drill at work and have other plans tonight so i might not be able to post until tomorrow. Feel free to add other comments or questions to Vince in that time.

All, just so you know I have an outstanding PM to the GM on information about Moloch and exactly what kind of relationship he has with Asmodeus. GM Shadowtail, please feel free to respond in the discussion thread, if you find it appropriate.

I’m glad you said that because with the new layout I’m not even sure what would show up as an indicator that i have a PM.

The relationship between Asmodeus and Moloch isn’t terribly important for this quest. The important traits are that both are associated with hell and Devils, as just about everything in Cheliax seems to be, including you mercenary associate Vince. The diety Bince has a contract with is a little irrelevant, but for a Cheliax quest Moloch makes sense.

I am waiting on posts from Edmund and Antonio

Since this is a pretty pivotal decision I’m going to hold off on opinions from Vince, Alden, or Adrien and let the party decide. I’ll put them back into conversation when a path is established.

It occurs to me I never gave Tarken back his weapon... but I suppose with the suspicion cast on him, maybe I should keep it a while longer?

Yeah. He's probably mad that he got sent on a wild goose chase last night anyway. I think you should just keep it.

You guys, the fact that this guy knows very little about what we actually need to do and that we aren't close to the level needed to destroy the contracts concerns me.

We *might* be able to do the assassination now, but since we can't act on his information now, why? We agreed to do it, but the timing wasn't specified. Since we can't get our memories back for like 3 or 4 more levels, I say let's wait and kill her then. He won't be happy, but he doesn't have a lot of choice, and maybe he'll be motivated to collect us some better information.

Only problem with that is I have no idea what to do in the meantime. Theoretically, I suppose, we spend three or four levels (this is for a better caster than I by the way... Bards don't get Greater Dispel till 13th level) getting to know the town and who we are again, but by that point the memories become moot and we've moved on. Maybe we should go to some nearby ruins and level up first. ;)

If we can't get our memories back, then we seem to be at a permanent disadvantage, and someone is hunting us down and we don't even know why. Doing this assassination now accomplishes nothing towards that end, but only places us in much more danger. I sincerely am out of ideas here. Anyone else?

Well, while we cannot destroy them, we may still be able to take them. It'll likely be more dangerous, with scrying magic and such targeting us, but it will have around the same effect: since the Houses cannot know whether the contracts are safe or not, it will be just as chaotic.

Of course, the better solution would to be just to destroy them. While we can't do that, we might be able to find someone who can.

I can get Greater Dispel Magic at 16th level, and Edmund can get it at 12th. Regardless, its going to be a while before any of us can cast it.

What about hellfire? That does it on its own. Maybe there’s a local source we could gain access to (or find ourselves a portal down under).

Good ideas.

Stealing the contracts will help us create chaos; good point.

I suppose that is another question. Are we trying to destroy all the houses, or just take down Thrune? If we are only going for our memories, we could focus on the animagi rather than the contracts, but taking the contracts gives us additional ways to destroy Thrune (the only motivation I personally can remember), or take down the whole system (definitely not against this--averse to contracts with Devils on general principles).

Hellfire is lower level than greater dispel (as long as you can cast evil spells), and good point that there could be a source somewhere. Portal to hell sounds scary, but at least it is something to investigate. :)

We still run into the problem of him knowing very little about the animagi or the locations, but general places to look are ... something.

Sorry for dithering. Do you guys want to throw the dice and just go try killing Alana Thrune, or is there anything else you think we can ask/try, or some way to make a better plan? (Gray, you mentioned infiltration. Do you have an idea there?)

Honestly, to me this assassination attempt seems foolhardy, but my brain hurts from trying to figure things out, so I guess at this point, I'm happy to just jump into a battle. Even if it turns into a TPK. :)

I hadn’t even realized hellfire was a spell until you said that. Only 4th level, they could manage it with a scroll.

Yes, hellfire ray is a specific spell. It's not the only way to invoke it though. You can know check planes or arcana to know other ways.

Hellfire is 3rd or 4th level. Hellfire ray is 6th level, which is way harder. But yeah, hopefully other ways too.

Hellfire normal is a 3rd party spell and not applicable here. Hellfire bomb from an alchemist is a thing though.

I almost forgot to mention: for dungeon dives, you can, and really are encouraged, to bring a Taishan member or two with you. Sometimes it’s necessary to bring a certain person, like Vince on the Alana mission, but mostly it’s your choice. I don’t scale the dungeons for count of people, so you’ll fight the same enemies with 4, 5, or 6. I do cap it at 6 though, 7 or more people on a dungeon dive is too clunky.

The dossiers for the party members are available in the gameplay tab of you want to review those.

We already have members with us, don't we?

Vince and Payk are there. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to bring Vince and Payk, but you certainly can.

I'm kind of inclined to bring Vince - because of his contract, he may be forced to come along anyway. While he's not as sneaky as Payk, he'll be helpful in combat.

Vince seems a good martial type, which is what we're lacking. And Payk along couldn't hurt...if anything we could throw him through doors to get blown up if it comes down to it. LOL

I thought Alden was also here... didn't he say he was in on this? Or maybe it was the other A guy. One of them. I could be imagining it. Don't have time to go back and look till after work.