Phillip Hargreaves |
Just a quick note that I'll be on tour this weekend down to Singapore for an under 7s rugby tournament... so it should be a hoot. Downside is that it might curtail my general propensity for verbiage and long windedness... though I should still be online of occasion.
Phillip Hargreaves |
Just in case Phil isn't making the case plainly in thread - he's offering his own twisted kind of olive branch here... as in giving Gristav and Snake an opportunity to in essence save the kitten of Micah / women.
Just so you the players know - his intent at the meeting with Croat's men will be to prove his alibi and bargain for them to give him a period of time (likely 24 hours or so as we'll need to have the subplot dealt with before Sunday night :P) to furnish them with the killer.
Braddon Hurst |
Unsurprisingly Braddon, the chaotic neutral murder hobo, is rooting for Phil's plan.
That said, if Gristav and Snake do want to try something helpful, noble and/or honorable, Braddon can tag along to help if you need the muscle. Phillip's unlikely to be in any real danger whereas Rotgut wasn't supposed to be safe during the day. So Braddon could join them and we'd lose three characters instead of two when Joana sends the assassins after us. :-)
Javell DeLeon |
Just in case Phil isn't making the case plainly in thread - he's offering his own twisted kind of olive branch here... as in giving Gristav and Snake an opportunity to in essence save the kitten of Micah / women.
Just so you the players know - his intent at the meeting with Croat's men will be to prove his alibi and bargain for them to give him a period of time (likely 24 hours or so as we'll need to have the subplot dealt with before Sunday night :P) to furnish them with the killer.
Okay. That'll work.
Gristav |
Phil's point hadn't read as an olive branch, to me. I'm glad you explained it as such.
Give Gris the clues, he might suggest there's an extortion afoot in Betta's backyard. Finding the throatcutter might make us an enemy of whoever _he_ works for, but it's justice, and it might make a friend of whoever's sees themselves as the rightful extorter of that zone.
But if Ethel's not to be questioned, it falls to Phillip to find motivation to solve the murder, not the acquittal.
Or, yes, not, is also an option.
Are we the sort of men to find offense, in murder, in our shadows?
Phillip Hargreaves |
Is Phillip the sort of man to find offense in a person he doesn't really trust and has been known to make fairly poor value judgements on both people and situations blathering freely about what he is or isn't involved in? - yes.
Does he explicitly mind being on the periphery of a murder? - no.
Does Phillip care about getting a potentially 'innocent' man lynched? - no, as long as it removes the 'threat' to him and Ethel.
Have a second thought on Phillip's desire to protect Ethel from inquisition - I'd posit that it shows a bit more humanity / compassion than Gristav's used to seeing from the halfling... and mirrors his own desire to protect the Rag's End wastrels.
To be honest, Phillip could've resolved this plot thread without involving either Gristav or Snake. Mark the player knows that the direct method would have created intra-party friction, and is contrary to the way in which Gristav and Snake operate. Hence he raised it to you in character and in a way that allows you to act upon it.
All I would suggest is lets baby step it through.
Step 1a - Phillip gets his head out of the noose and gets a stay of investigation for Ethel. He'll also hopefully get a few more details on the actual killing as breadcrumbs.
Step 1b - Gristav and Snake look into Rag's End and establish whether the wastrels can be absolved; and whether there is involvement from the leftover thugs.
Step 2 - Reconvene and swap information. At this point once Gristav and Snake have a tangible reason for the Rag's End wastrels to be out of suspicion then there can be the mexican standoff between the two.
Step 3 - we either follow the evidence trail, or Phillip goes off and does something thoroughly CN that Gristav and Snake don't need to know about but still solves the problem.
I think Snake / Javell's on board with that idea - does Gristav see the logic in it?
Gristav |
Gris doesn't see that they're suspect at all, they were escorted from the shop by their parole patron, and walked home, where the patron spent some time with them. They hadn't time to get back and murder.
Unless they were desired as alternate scapegoats. One can put a frame around most any picture.
Gris started with logic: Who is near the murdered woman? Finding the truth of the matter is the point. Finding a scapegoat is simply beneath us. And likely, worth less XP.
That said, agreed.
[Bill Murray]"Baby stepping, to Rag's End..."[/Bill Murray]
Phillip Hargreaves |
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For Gristav's player's benefit:
"But it must be that man!" Ethel insists, looking up at Phil with wide eyes. "The crazy one who kept talking about blood! He was in the shop on Fireday! Oh, Phil, thank Desna I left when I did!"
"Oh." Ethel sobers, having forgotten the earlier incident in the recent excitement, and settles to a slower pace at Phillip's side. "That was ... odd. There was a man who knocked at the door, like he thought he was at someone's house instead of a shop. Or maybe like he was collecting for the rat catchers. I think that's what Betta thought it was, because she had me go see. They don't like her at all since she got the dog and stopped paying them. There were three of the filthiest people with him; maybe they were rat catchers. A woman and a girl and a man dressed in nothing but what looked like a piece of sailcloth. The one man said they wanted to buy clothes. I let them in because I knew it would discomfit Betta. But the woman ... I had thought her dress was just dirty, but when she came in, I realized she was covered with blood, just covered. And the man in sailcloth started rattling on about blood and vengeance. I don't think he was in his right mind. The first man bought a ready-made work dress each for the woman and the child, and we bundled them out of there as quickly as we could. But Betta wanted to close up in case they came back; she thought they were dangerous, up to no good, said they might come back and cut both our throats." She shivers.
They were paroled yesterday not today - they've potentially had all the time in the world.
Ipso facto they are suspects.
Phillip Hargreaves |
Gris started with logic: Who is near the murdered woman? Finding the truth of the matter is the point. Finding a scapegoat is simply beneath us. And likely, worth less XP.
Simply for clarity - Gristav thinks it's beneath him - Remember that Gristav's morals =/= Phillip's morals
Javell DeLeon |
To be honest, Phillip could've resolved this plot thread without involving either Gristav or Snake. Mark the player knows that the direct method would have created intra-party friction, and is contrary to the way in which Gristav and Snake operate. Hence he raised it to you in character and in a way that allows you to act upon it.
Thank you, Mark the player. ;) *Nods in appreciation*
I think Snake / Javell's on board with that idea...
Yep.
Phillip Hargreaves |
And I'm on board too. Braddon is prepared to go with Snake and Gristav to run Rotgut in the night, or guard Phil while he frames us for his dirty work. ;-)
With hand on heart "But I would never do that.... not enough profit in it" :P
Joana |
Gristav |
Sorry to have fragmented. Once Tendal made himself scarce, and Snake made himself plain...
I could have Gristav return, having forgotten (gasp) his staff. He's that preoccupied.
Or if Tendal went with his plate to his room, he and Gris might again coincide.
I will do whatever is needed to support the narrative.
Gristav |
And if Snake got down, he might lighten up.
But let me observe Gristav-style, that Thuvalia sequestered herself away from breakfast when Dayn went missing. She might be carrying Dayn's torch.
:-)
Just kidding. It's obvious that Bojasc was in there, is why she refused breakfast.
If you guys think Gris is tiring to read, take comfort that he's tiring to write, sometimes.
Joana |
When the party splits, I try to make sure everyone at least has someone to talk to rather than just spectating on a scene their character isn't a part of.
Also would help if I weren't so crazy-busy right now so the scene could move forward faster. Unfortunately, I'm not likely to get much of a chance to breathe until the end of next week. I'll likely be limited to one update a day until then. :\
Javell DeLeon |
Note to Self: Need to start shipping a Snake / Thuvalia romance...
Lol!
I'm thinkin' Phillip has done quite enough. Is Snake having to be slave boy to Queen 'Do As I Say' not enough for him? I mean, c'mon! :)
Snake may be her type- I mean, Volo wasn't exactly royalty... :-)
Let me guess, Volo was some type of low life thug, right? Which would totally make your quote a good one. Lol! :)
Braddon Hurst |
Javell, you can look these things up in the campaign info tab-
"Volo, Sczarni operative and lover of Thuvalia Barabbio, leader of the bandits who robbed the Gold Goblin, now deceased "
Granted there's so much material there, Joana need to alphabetise and index it but it is there.
For more information on the brief life and times of this once proud figure, I've put together a little memoir. Enjoy. :-)
Gristav |
<knife wound in upper back>
[ghost-writ]"Yes, I see why I was suspect, what with my famous leaping skills"[/ghost-writ]
:)
Javell DeLeon |
<knife wound in upper back>
[ghost-writ]"Yes, I see why I was suspect, what with my famous leaping skills"[/ghost-writ]
:)
Well, I will freely confess, not only do I more-often-than-not not understand what Gristav is saying, I really have absolutely zero idea what this might pertain to.
Joana |
I think it would be fun to run an all-Vigilate party with different specializations with a Mystery Men type set up in Curse of the Crimson Throne or Council of Thieves: a league of would-be superheroes trying to save the city. I'm not sure how well it would work with only one member of party being a Vigilante.
ZetaGilgamesh (Tendal's player) had a PC in a Carrion Hill PbP I was in whom it would have fit perfectly: He was a mild-mannered herbalist by day, dashing gentleman cat-burglar by night. Sadly, his backstory never really came into play during the game.
Javell DeLeon |
After reading up on it a bit, it sounds cool to me. Mainly because it reminds me of a superhero. And I'm a HUGE superhero fan.
It's so Bruce Wayne/Batman, Clark Kent/Superman, Barry Allen/The Flash, and so on.
Seems it would be difficult to pull it off as a DM seeing how it strikes me as leaning more heavily on the roleplaying side(and let's be honest, folks, there aren't too many DM's on these boards that involve themselves in roleplaying the way Joana does. Not saying there aren't ANY... just saying there are very few). I really don't see how a Vigilante would fit in a Rise of the Runelords type AP at all. It would definitely have to be in a Thieves or a Crimson Throne type AP setup for sure.
Mystery Men was a pretty funny movie. That's basically what a team of Vigilante's would be: Mystery men, Avengers, Justice League, etc.
Gristav |
Such a declared team of vigilantes narratively begs for a patron and a theme. And the end of Leon, playing just now here, offers this:
He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He don't play for respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance
I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart
He may play the Jack of diamonds
He may lay the Queen of spades
He may conceal a King in his hand
While the memory of it fades
I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart
I'll offer further, that only an Ace or a Fool, might best a King. So a handful of fools, might beat any hand.