Fiordelise |
I didn't read the posts directed at the other group, so as far as Fi is concerned there was precious little explained and a lot of running around trying to survive there.
Not complaining, just mentioning that I was deliberately not following the 'other team', if we're all happy that we'll have time to catch up and talk about it I can read through the last couple of pages again, if we'd rather catch up in character or give a summary so I don't have 100% information that's fine too.
Don't think there's anything missed off the list, though I'll post another reply if I do think of anything.
Byron Cheme |
For Byron, I've been thinking I'd also like to touch on his non-alchemical interests. I've been thinking he does some inventing on the side, and he needs a weapon other than his bombs--perhaps he could work on a custom crossbow of some sort?
I've also been realizing that maybe he should have some skills other than knowledge and crafting skills. This rather long day has probably given him the incentive to learn some other things.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
On the subject of long-term goals for Odebie, he had them but they were lost when myth-weavers was forced to revert. They were also running off the assumption we'd wind up going toe-to-toe with the Dark and its gibbering ones, rather than a more investigative campaign.
Hm. Lemme think for a bit; it's been tests all week and I'm a bit burnt out.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
So what does dead troll actually do?
Miner Cotren |
Troll styptic, but not so stupidly expensive in a world full of alchemists wanting to make the church happy.
I rolled 5 rounds of fast healing 2, so have 10 HP.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
Correct me if I'm wrong - I'm out and about right now, so I can't go and check - but don't Oreads eat earth elementals?
Miner Cotren |
The way I've been playing it is that oreads have the option of being lithovores, but you can eat other elens' food if you wish with no detriment. I imagine a more straight-laced worshiper of Forest would not partake of anything but rocks.
There's a decent proportion of oreads in the Dims Watch, so there's bound to be some oread fare around.
I figured that Odebie had eaten elen-food at least a few times since moving to Hearth, but feel free to correct me.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
He almost certainly had then; I had thought they were exclusively lithovores.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
Well, he had been asking more how the captain knew one had been put out rather than what one was, but his deflection makes sense given how I posed the question.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
Has the sylph eaten any of the food?
And... no. It completely skipped my mind; I'll do that after I wake up.
Byron Cheme |
Oh, whoops, completely forgot.
Byron Cheme |
Wait, no, I'd leveled up, I'd just forgotten to say I'm level 3 now.
Fiordelise |
Sorry was kinda waiting on someone else to do something. Always a bad idea, I'll have to get out of that habit.
Byron Cheme |
So... we've been interrogating this guy for over two weeks, and, unless I've missed something, haven't gotten anything interesting out of him. Are either of you enjoying this? Because I'll admit I'm not.
EDIT: Sorry, that sounded kind of whiny. What I mean to say is, this scene seems to be going nowhere. What is our goal, and what can we do differently to achieve it? Because we're just pointlessly spinning our wheels at present.
Miner Cotren |
Not whiny at all. I'm sorry it hasn't been fun, but this guy isn't going to give up info (assuming he even has it) just because you ask politely. You got the name Corazón pretty early, not sure what else is expected.
Byron brings up a good point - what is everyone's goal?
I'll freely admit I've had a tougher time with plot since Osric left - he was the glue that set the tone of "I'm passionate about getting Gasp off the streets and I've got investigation skills". Without him, the thread of the plot is...you guys had an intense experience last night, and you want to see it through.
I know it's my job as the DM to work with the group composition, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on your characters motivation to stick this out (Odebie's belief in law, Fi wants to perform heroics to better her family name, Byron is a sylph who wants Gasp ended, etc)
Byron Cheme |
Yeah, without Osric we seem to have a gaping hole in our party where our investigation skills used to be. We ended up hanging a lot of the party's cohesion and well-rounded-ness on him, so losing him has hurt.
Byron pretty much figures further discussion is pointless at this moment. And honestly, while he's definitely against Gasp, without someone he knows to draw him in it's kind of hard to keep his motivation centered on the plot. He's a scientist, an inventor, not a cop or an investigator. (That being said, I think I've gone too far on focusing his skills in non-adventurer things. I did pick up UMD last level to give him *something* a bit more useful than knowing everything to do, but it does require some items to use.)
Miner Cotren |
On the skills front: I'd be fine with you retraining some of those. It's nearly impossible to know how a character will pan out at 1st level, even moreso PbP.
Let's call the interrogation done, and I'd like you each to go do what your character would do - go back and invent, check on your high-society friends, etc. I will find a way to advance plot one way or another, but I think one of the problems we had coming into this scene was "the player knows to go here, but Fi and Byron aren't sure why they are here".
Fiordelise |
Hmm, should check on discussion threads before gameplay threads... Nevermind I posted what we're heading towards (i.e. leaving)
I get what you're saying, we don't seem to have any party cohesion at the moment, it kind of reminds of the trope from Call of Cthulhu, where the party creates an African tribesman, an English Professor and a Private Investigator....
For her part Fi has a few (short term) priorities at the moment.
a) Find a way to get her guest out of her cellar, without feeling like she's sending him to certain death.
b) Check Isabella (& company) got out of the colloseum okay and see if their relationships have suffered any damage because of it.
c) If she can find a way to uncover what happened/why/put a stop to it she will do what she can (she finds the idea of death-drugs abhorrent), but she's not really an investigator.
Byron Cheme |
I'm debating on what I'd switch some of Byron's skill points to... a lot of the skills that seem like they'd be useful are Wisdom-based, and, well, Byron's not very good at that... XD I may go for Heal. An interest in medicine and anatomy makes sense for him, and it seems more likely to come up than Knowledge (History).
Byron, to some degree, just wants to put this whole unpleasant episode behind him. They blew up the Gasp lab and put the alchemist running it in jail, and whatever conspiracy was behind it should be the Watch's job, not his, in his opinion. He'd much rather get back to experimenting with alchemical compounds and mechanical creations in search of a better weapon against the Dark. Of course, that's hardly helpful for adventure hooks. I may have to tinker with his personality a bit.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
If I'm honest; I built Odebie under the assumption the campaign would swing more towards fighting back the minions of Dark rather than an investigative campaign. That's not to say I'm not enjoying it, I am, but that was my assumption.
As far as motivation, Odebie is a guardsman. All this Gasp business has very much seized his attention, especially since it's so different from stopping young oreads from trying to kill each other, and he'll follow it through to the end. He's just really bad at getting to that end.
I don't at all mind playing the muscle but, in terms of moving the plot forward, Odebie is absolutely horrible at investigating. This is both due to his stat priorities and because of his few skill points; the Stonelord is a martial in the purest sense of the word. He's relying on the other characters to tell him where to go next, which is problematic now that our PI is gone.
Fiordelise |
Fi would be eager to be a light against the dark, her primary motivation is to prove herself (and by extension her family name) as more than doomed nobles, slipping ever deeper into decadence.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
I've a few ideas for where to send Odebie next, but I'm thinking it would be bad to split up the party for too long and I don't want to pull things too far off track.
- Odebie can go back to patrolling the oread neighborhoods in the Dims, waiting for something to happen to him or one of the others to come get him.
- He can go check out the ruins of the Arena in a search for clues.
- He can go talk to the Mister Guild.
Thoughts? Elsewise I'll just post what makes the most sense to me.
Fiordelise |
Not sure how to bring us back together, Fi can't really be seen keeping returning to the watch house and I'm not sure she knows where Byron lives?
I'm experimenting with adding notes to a OneNote notebook (prefer Evernote, but OneNote has web functionality so I can view it on other machines easier).
It's mostly for my benefit and is a work in progress, but I've opened it up for public viewing, just in case you want to check where my head is on a particular matter.
Mostly just adding 'contacts' to start with, but will expand it later.
Miner Cotren |
I'm honestly okay for right now with you doing your own thing - I think that part of the issue with the interrogation was A) characters not having anything to do and B) characters not having any rationale for being there outside of "the PCs need to meet up"
So, to let the story flow a little more naturally, I'm encouraging all of you to do what your character is interested in - I'll find a way to bring you back together eventually, but it's really fine if you spend a day in-game pursuing your own interests.
So for instance,
1) reacquainting yourself with with an NPC like Elfie
2) Checking up on Leoni
3) Checking up on your bro
4) Trying to patch things up with business contacts that your bro has fouled up in the past
would all be natural things for you to do, and I would find a way to put those into the plot.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
Steam Wastes or Steam Slums?
Also, apologies for my slow posting rate recently; it's midterm season. I have tomorrow (that is, Friday) off, so I'll be catching up on everything then.
Fiordelise |
Sorry, combination Easter visits and Paizo site playing up, not had chance to look this weekend.
Miner Cotren |
Dead Iron
A substance that grows from oread corpses buried in Great Forest. Typically harvested when it pokes out of the ground and then sent north to be 'planted' as thorny wall
Grave-robbers dig up corpses and take dead iron - this practice is considered profane by oread spiritual elders.
Used for barrels that are impervious to the boiling River, and occasionally as weapons against oreads. Dead iron that has been heated and processed in such a way is mildly toxic to oreads.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
My apologies at the delay; test today. Will post when I get home.
Fiordelise |
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Despite being off-work for school holidays I seem to have less time to keep up with online games. I'm not ignoring your post, I will fill out more background events as time permits.
Fiordelise |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
By the way I'd just like to post that I love the little details of this game, keeps my imagination flowing of what other imaginative ways ne-er do wells will think of to use dead elen's bodies.
Odebie of the North Tribe |
For some reason I can't open the 'Odebie' spoiler.