Alright, so before I move on, I want to make sure I know where everyone's going. Feel free to play it out in character. Right now it's just:
Chellish Embassy: Zalika
Tour: Triel
Once everyone tells me where they're going, I'll make the next post.
I was under the impression that Maximo & Jonathan were going to go with Zalika.
I figured Jon wanted to, but actually asking to accompany them would be wise. I'm not sure on Maximo, since he clearly doesn't like the devils. If he could clarify, that would be great. I suppose Aramus has to go with the tour group too.
I was going to have Acharn invite Triel over to the Free Nations alliance people. I'll get a post up shortly. Sorry for dragging my feet. Would she be interested in that?
She could be, certainly. :)
You'd have to ask her, first.
I think talk can only get so far between Acharn and Triel. Some common struggle/action is probably needed to bring them closer together. Or what do you think Triel? Also, how do you want me to play towards her once they get closer? "Normal", reserved, sweet, forceful or something else entirely?
Just play him however you feel Acharn would act in such a situation. :)
Seeing as the alliance is just a grouping of different nations I would think there wouldn't be much in the way of common leadership or even command structure. How exactly would one go about joining the alliance? Sure we can talk to the Andoran delegation, but I'm not sure if that really lets Triel join the alliance itself. I guess I'm not sure what we are trying to accomplish here.
The Free Nations Alliance is just that, an alliance. They're still entirely separate nations, they just have treaties and agreements to stay united against the rest of the threats in the world. Kind of like NATO. Being a member of the Alliance is as simple as being part of one of those nations, though being an ally or friend to particular nations or people would simply be a matter of convincing that nation that you have good intentions.
Are we waiting on each other again? Is there someone specific we are waiting on to post The Faceless GM? What do you think about how things have been going so far?
Sorry, I just got back to college and I've been getting settled in to my new schedule. I should be getting a post up tonight.
Life has priority over games of course. Still it's nice to hear about what's occupying you, much better than staying silent. I see that you still replied really quickly though. You must be like me... "Too busy to make a proper post... But I can at least refresh my games to see if there is something new." Of course then in the time you spend refreshing over the course of a day could probably be used to make another couple posts if saved up to do in one go :P.
I'm a bit confused about the geography of things. How come Deskari is on the border with Andoran? I thought Taldor and Galt both were free and part of the Free Nations' Alliance while the remaining border to Andoran goes against Cheliax which now includes the previous Molthune and Isger. Have Deskari captured Druma/Five Kings Mountains/what remains of Kyonin?
One of the two major drow factions is allied with Deskari's horde. The Shadow lands cover all of Kyonin, most of Five Kings, most of Druma and parts of southern Razmiran and the River Kingdoms. It's Deskari's drow allies and some demons sent to aid them.
Ah, I thought it simply was a barren wasteland with ash and dust floating through the air making it nearly impossible to stay there (sorta like a permanent fog, just made out of ash, making it rather hard to breathe). I guess it makes sense that the Drow and their demonic allies moved into the lands.
The surface under the Shadow is constant darkness, preventing any sunlight from getting through. It seems to have been magically enhanced to keep weather or other magic from clearing it. This allows the drow to occupy the surface with impunity since one of their greatest weaknesses is blocked.
When I made Acharn I didn't realize that Deskari would be so closely allied with the Drow. His background fits so much better into things and being in the city now that I know that.
He actually wasn't at first. Then Triel proposed a civil war among the drow because some where throwing in their lot with Deskari after his ascension to godhood and some who remained loyal to Abraxas and Allevrah. It made so much sense that I adopted the idea.
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Yay! I helped with worldbuilding! :D
I don't want to come of as negative, I'm really enjoying the intro. However I do wonder how long we'll continue moving around without a common goal as a party. IMHO it costs a lot more effort out of the GM to run 2-5 different storylines rather than having everyone grouped up and just having to react to/plan for what the group does. Why you being so busy lately The Faceless GM that might be easier for you. My record for longest game where we stayed separate before the party finally joined up is 6 months.
This is also the reason why I suggested before that it might be a good idea to move us along straight to the conference rather than spending a day in preparation.
How are everyone else feeling about how the game is going?
I'd be good to bring the party together again for the opening speech and kicking things off if people feel like it would be better. I'm very much running things based on what you guys want to do. I have a general plot, but methods, aims, and goals are pretty much in your court.
I'm feeling ok about how the game is going atm, but I am heavily conscious of the fact that everyone else might be bored / want to move forward so I'm trying to accelerate things at my end. Zalika really only wants to finish chatting with the Winter Witches and then I'm good to go for the speech + full conference. Thats really where I'm at atm.
We can wrap up the conversation with Madame Ross quite easily--perhaps one of her subordinates could call her away to a meeting or some such so we can skip to the conference?
Hey does anyone know what happened to Maximo? He appears to be active in recruitment threads, and in various other campaigns but he also seems to have vanished from here :(
Yeah... I noticed. I'll send him a message and see what's up.
I see that he dropped a game in December, but there he sent a PM to the GM. He hasn't done the same here, so hopefully he still wants to continue.
Well after he did all that work to gather the group, people kinda just went their separate ways as they pursued their own goals instead of the group having the common one. I understand it can be dishartening to basically have your actions rendered useless... He did also post about that in the threads a few weeks back when it happened:
Maximo tags along behind Triel and Archan, but generally remains quiet. He wasn't sure what to do next, and felt lost on his next move. There wasn't much more he could explain about his dream, beyond what he spoke of. He had just hoped that when he found who he was looking for, whoever that was, that they would be willing to hear him out. But without any direction, he had no way of pushing towards whatever he was trying to accomplish.
Perhaps the best he could do was simply wait, react, prepare... for what, he had no clue. But perhaps it was better that way... his race was more about attrition and retaliation than actively pursuing threats. Why should he be any different in this?
As Triel and Archan try to negotiate their way past the guards, Maximo silently behind them. Ryx, meanwhile, curled around Triel's leg, watching the pair of guards quietly as they blocked the way.
He was all like "Let's fight the approaching evil". Then you encountered the priestess which went very much in line with that. But the encounter with Cheliax went pretty much exactly the opposite. Despite his warnings Zalika went off with them and Jonathan followed right after.
Hopefully he'll get back and we can continue with the game.
Yeah, I felt a little bad as to how that turned out, but Zalika has a (current) priority about protecting her nation, and she really isn't in a position to be choosy. From her POV, its a bit rich for people to complain that she's willing to working with a nation like Cheliax, when they haven't offered too much themselves in the way of viable alternatives.
I'm perfectly happy continuing this philosophical discussion while we wait for Maximo :)
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OH SUNNUVA-
Get ready boys and girls, it's story time!
"Once upon a time, there was a guy who played pbp games! As he was browsing through his lists of games, he couldn't help, but feel like he was forgetting something. As he did, he stared right at a game that was waiting on him to respond! But because he was dumb, he shrugged and thought that what he forgot must not have been too important!
Because he's an idiot!"
I'm really sorry, I completely forgot I had this game still going. I'm not nearly petty enough to quit a game because of adversity (heck, that's why I love playing kobolds). I'm just a moron. I'll be back in the swing of things.
Yay! Maximo's alive!
No worries Maximo, we missed you :)
"Thank heavens."
Yes, Maximo did just suggest lighting the fuse to a continent-wide time bomb.
Nope, he has no better plans than that one.
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I can just hear it now...
Madame Ross: "So... let me see if I can sum up your plan in one go: you want to tunnel into the Worldwound, which, may I remind you, is literally Hell on earth, finding a holy artifact that may not even exist, stealing said possibly non-existent artifact, waving it in front the assembled Demon Lords, and running straight into territory ruled by a creature that not even a god could kill permanently. Does that about cover it?"
And hey, I would LOVE to hear another plan, because typing all that out just made me realize how insane this scheme is.
Personally I think actually getting them to bring their whole army after us instead of just teleporting straight to us would be the hardest part :p
But with failing to know about such an artifact on a roll of 29, I have my doubts that we'll be able to find out if any such thing exists.
Well, perhaps if the demon lords are fighting for control, they would fight each other to get a hold of whatever we manage to steal (after all, the one who does would surely earn plenty of brownie points with his fellow demons, and who doesn't want that?) The whole prospect is a gamble, banking on the demons being too busy fighting each other and everyone else to really bring their best in chasing us down. Unless the potentially non-existent artifact does something to shield us locally from the demons' teleportation ability... dunno what would do that, but certainly would help.
Like I said, another plan is always welcome, because while pulling this off would probably make us instant heroes (walking into literal Hell and back out to tell the tale), it would also be insanely risky (like a chicken trying to eat out of a lion's feed pen... the food might be super delicious, but... friggin' lions.)
Infiltrating the Worldwound would be a really cool task. It's a mission on the epic scale I imagined for this adventure. Still, I don't know if the current circumstances make this possible at all. Our characters are also probably way too low level for a task of this magnitude.
As for another plan, I'm not sure it's within the capabilities of our characters to solve all the world's problems by themselves yet. I hope The Faceless GM have planned for how we can contribute until we can reach such a point. At the moment I don't really see what our characters can do to affect the situation much. I'm pretty much playing Acharn to react to the events transpiring until a mission or task pops up that he can help carry out.
I'll be blunt. Infiltration of the Worldwound has been in the cards the entire time, but at a higher level and once you have a few mythic ranks under your belts so you don't get slaughtered by the high level demons that live in the inner lands of the Worldwound.
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Oh really?
Aw, nuts, I went too far! X) I'm pushing an idea too early. Uhmmmm... uh... h-hey, we've got a ways to travel before the actual Worldwound! We can level up enough before we get there!
...I'll just go sit in the corner here.
Just a heads up Maximo. There is such an artifact that does limit demons teleportation, although it exists in the WotR Adventure Path, and I'm reluctant to name it in case people wish to avoid spoilers. That said, if it still exists in this game, its likely to be well guarded etc, so everyone elses objections still apply.
Just a heads up Maximo. There is such an artifact that does limit demons teleportation, although it exists in the WotR Adventure Path, and I'm reluctant to name it in case people wish to avoid spoilers. That said, if it still exists in this game, its likely to be well guarded etc, so everyone elses objections still apply.
Wait, seriously!? I was just pulling something out of my arse (because I lack the survival instinct the rest of my race has)! Then again, I've never gotten past halfway through book one, so I don't know when or what the thing is.
But seriously, I was just thinking of a way to make this plan (slightly) viable... and justifiable. But I guess the problem still stands, yeah... unless the GM wants to fiat something (probably not, I'm sure he has things planned out and this just screws with all that).
I guess we could turn out attention to Qadira and get us some new allies...
Oh I'm fully aware of this artifact. It and a few other artifacts from Wrath are on the list of things to recover when you make your incursion at higher levels. Honestly, it's a good plan, it just needs a little time to make the party strong enough to pull it off.
Well, I guess we should refocus on aiding Zalika. Any ideas on that? Because I've got nothing...
Or we could skip to the conference. I'm easy to please.
I can skip to the conference the moment I finish chatting with the Irrisen representative. I shouldn't be too far off.
Sounds good to me. Once things are wrapped up, I'll move on.
Hmm, can I roll a knowledge check or something to determine what this Irrisen representative would actually want, so I know if any sort of deal would be realistic. If its not, I'll simply make my excuses and leave.
She's playing politics with you. You can also roll Sense Motive to try to get at her underlying motives.
Err Jonathan, just checking that I have this right, but were we not all present when Acharn referred to you as a Grey Gardener. Didn't the ship already sail on that front?
Future heroes of the world, ladies and gentlemen!