Once the conversation is done, i would, unless everone else is going to get out of there.
No problem, not trying to speed up people's RP, just putting it out so they can let me know in discussion if that's the eventual plan. Far as I'm concerned, the RP takes until eveyrone says 'OK, move us along GM'.
Right now my goals are:
1.) Roleplay a way for Selvan, Sammark, Alys, Alister, Reaghan, Elrohir, and Connor to get along. Does that mean we have Team Mintakia take Team McIntyre back to their "office"? I think that's what a combination of our teams would mean at this point.
2.) Find.Any.Magic.Items.Here! Argh! All this work and no magic items to prove our worth. There's gotta be some papers or hidden rooms or whatnot. We're already at dusk/evening, what's 3 hours more? I say go for it.
3.) Get enough loot to not need to buy anything we could have picked up for free. Connor's going to be loaded down with loot as he leaves, since he doesn't have to carry Alister now. Maybe Connor's "girlfriend" Mina at the Sotted Oyster could use a revolver. Connor has the Appraise skill to determine the best revolver out there.
Alister's also fine to search the place thoroughly, however long that takes, as long as he's not got a date or somesuch scheduled for tonight. :P
fine with speeding it up or taking 20, whatever the others want. other than that secret space, i dont imagine us finding much more
I'm cool with taking 20 and the 3 hours, especially with my high perception.
Hooray! We found the secret doors. Now if someone will tell the rest of us IC, Connor will come up with the bright idea of doing a "bucket brigade" with the lead bars in the crates. We don't need to move the heaviest crate (or 600 lbs.) by itself, we can disperse the weight evenly in the reinforced rooms!
The "normal" weight crates can be moved out into the main room to make space for the lead bars.
Selvan, did you search the two bodies in the stairway for tattoos? Because if you don't, Connor will before leaving.
I'll need to know which secret door you're trying to get to first, or if you're trying to get to both simultaneously.
Also if anyone is doing anything other than working on the secret doors, I need to know that too.
If Sammark or anyone else doesn't speak up about the secret door in Kol's bedroom, Connor will go help Elrohir in the western storeroom. I'll wait some more for others to speak first.
Hero the psicrystal will go back to watching on the ledge.
Reaghar will help in the bucket brigade
Just blast. We can't win for losing. Team McIntyre gets poison gas; Team Mintakia gets the goods.
Based upon the evidence (which Connor hasn't seen yet IC) we may have people taking the magical items to be destroyed and rerouting them back to the city to be sold. I don't think, given the crates' condition, that they are merely picked back up off of Ash island. But I can be wrong.
This kind of subterfuge would take a ship's captain, or a Customs official, before the crates leave the dock.
Oh, and by the way, if mdt allows Connor's warning to get out: we're either about to be hit by a squad of archers from a rival gang, or the authorities have come before we can inspect the magical items ourselves.
Or something else of your own making.
The warning can get out, but that's about all Connor can manage between heaves.
That smell is really really bad, with a capital UGH!
Thanks for the clarification, mdt. I vote we store the dead bodies in here.
Oh granola - you mean it's Clan Reville checking up on our non-job activities? :(
Man, Alister gets up and the dice get back to beating him down. :(
Ah. Given the weapons of choice of the crowd outside, I think this is just the locals voicing their displeasure over the non-gang war that just happened. We took too long searching. It's just what is.
I think, once Team McIntyre recovers from the gas, we should grab the best loot, and cut and run. We can now report to our "dead drops" and move on with the plot. :)
By the time Aly's and crew grab all the crates, make their way to the landing, and then stop after being attacked, about a minute or two will have passed, and the McIntyre people will have recovered, mostly. Anyone who threw up is sickened until they can get out of the smell for 15 minutes or so, but they're no longer throwing up.
There a reason we have to take any of the crates?
Up to you. :)
As long as you're sure they will still be here later if you leave.
Uh, if nobody else takes the crates Connor will try his best to take them. It's the only proof we have that we were doing our undercover job.
I'm definitely taking one.
I'm just saying that all we (mintaki) need is the info. If you're taking a crate you're taking evidence of a crime. And given the possibility our house might be searched by legitimate authorities well...
I see lots of reasons not to take a crate, but no good ones to lug a giant leadlined crate around that says "I'm contraband and don't belong to the people currently holding me".
If there's a mob to the south, then Connor is going to use mdt's layout of the entire building and recommend going down the stairs and going north, away from the mob.
And we can't let the crates go, Selvan. We'd end up hunting them down again...
Correction. You would. We'd just track their source. :)
We need a relatively harmless but convincing distraction to the mob below. Or to that female knight that got insulted when Selvan told her we were not just a rival gang taking over Kol's territory. Fighting one is easier than fighting 30 or 40, but once in the open air, we're in the open air. Thirty or forty pockshots notwithstanding.
I have tindertwigs, and we have lots and lots of gunpowder. It'd be easy to make a flash-bang grenade and use on the female knight, and then try to go for subdual. Or make several of them, and toss them at the crowd below.
Ideas?
She was jut an old woman last I checked, not a knight, but someone certainly rallied the people didn't they? Sheesh. Still a riot makes good cover for the wanton murder.
Smokesticks, thunderstones, things of that nature can help disperse the crowd harmlessly.
Though I'd avoid blowing a hole in the wall if our intent is not to harm.
A hole in the roof however....
It has been my experience that players see an old character, and never consider how they got to be old in a dangerous world. They just pigeonhole them the box labeled 'old, uselss, non-threat'. They never consider that the character may be a retired knight, or retired adventurer, and have deteriorated, but still very effective, skills.
It's also been my experience that players rarely make this mistake twice in my games. :) I once had a level 3 Magus beaten to a pulp by an elderly catfolk diplomat (noble 8/rogue 2) that he tried to rob.
EDIT : My wife is looking over my shoulder, laughing, and has the following comment : Nice knowing you boys, what are you playing next?
To be fair would any normal person see old lady holding flag of surrender and asking for protection see them as retired badass who rallies the people to kill the murderers who killed the local gang? Let's be honest here it sounds like she should have been the one to deal with this guy and protect her own community. Not us.
I mean geez didn't think Selvan failed the diplomacy check that badly. :/
You could go out and ask her...
There's logic, which I will be happy to explain, at a future date, if you think I'm being unfair.
Maybe. But I think we're beyond logic and into gratuitous structural damage time.
On the suddenly bright and hot side the two groups can bond over demolitions.
Orrrrrrr I just had a thought that Selvan did a very stupid thing and just explained what they were doing to someone with a high bluff check that knows more than they let on.
Oooooo let the parnoia flow.
Well, here's mdt telling us that the gods in Atalantia are all but forgotten, due to the fact they would explode and possibly crack the continent or world in two if they came close, and we have a very pious but common-sense knight praying before battle like a paladin.
So my money's on making as many flash-bang grenades as possible (Connor has 2 tindertwigs, I checked), and going for the open air above the mob.
That still leaves Sammark with a problem, however.
Well thankfully Selvan is grabbing an ally rather than an empty box. :P
And bear in mind that there is a world beyond our islands where the gods very much still are. Now if she starts casting spells than that's her problem. Though I get the itchy feeling this has nothing to do with rival gangs and more to do with the protection of a business interest.
I'll explain it (this time) after it's resolved. Mainly to earn trust going forward that I'm not doing things arbitrarily (usually have to do this once per gaming group, I tend to have convoluted plots that seem arbitrary until I explain the first one, and then everyone goes 'oh #*@&, no wonder' and next time I don't have people thinking I'm @#$*&# them over. :) It's usually them doing it to themselves.
Don't forget that we're Level One, and most of us wiped out all our psionic power points (and most of our hp and healing to boot) on the first battle. Now our choice is the Lady or the Tigers.
And I wonder if Team McIntyre can get to their night job at the warehouse in time, or if this is our night off.
If Selvan drops his box maybe beefy Alister can fly with it.
Don't forget that we're Level One, and most of us wiped out all our psionic power points (and most of our hp and healing to boot) on the first battle. Now our choice is the Lady or the Tigers.
And I wonder if Team McIntyre can get to their night job at the warehouse in time, or if this is our night off.
If Selvan drops his box maybe beefy Alister can fly with it.
You can have whichever one you want buddy I'm flying out and away. :P
Hey guys, still here, just very busy at work this week and next. I work at a rather large grocery store, so holidays are rough to post. I can't recall if I mentioned this already around Thanksgiving, but its the week before Christmas, so we're rather busy again, especially with more snow on the way.
I'll get a game play post later, right now I just want to crash, lol.
No problem, we'll probably be ready for another fast forward here shortly.
As the GM, I will just make the gentlest of suggestions that if you are going to throw the cask in a room and blow the roof off (such as into the fireplace) or on top of the crates in the middle west room, or if you are going to throw the cask onto the landing and detonate it, you might want to consider doing it sooner rather than later.
But it's just the gentlest of suggestions, I wouldn't want anyone to feel I'm dictating their actions. If you want to go fight you're more than welcome to.
Cross-posted from another game I'm running (I inherited it when the GM went south on us). Posting here for everyone's edification since it came up in the other game.
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Just a note, 9 days since Elijah last posted.
I usually allow 21 days (3 weeks) before I mark someone AWOL and put out a feeler for replacement.
Before that ever happens, I prefer to discuss how I handle it with the other players. This isn't me saying I'm doing it now, I'm just bringing it up due to the fact we went past the week mark.
What I usually do is reopen the Recruitment thread, ask for N characters (Where N is voted on by the current players), then I usually open the recruitment until I get either X submissions, or for Y days (usually 5 to 7). Either way, once the submissions are done, we discuss them in the discussion thread, and we vote (I get 2 votes, mainly because I have to deal with the crunch more than anyone else). :)
For example, if Munchkin were a PC who quit posting (highly likely given he's roasting alive), then I'd ask the group if they want to replace Munchkin, and if so, do they want 1, 2, or 3 new characters (I'll run up to 7 characters in a given game, prefer 4 to 6). If we're at 6, for example, and everyone say's 'nah, let's just go with what we have' then that's fine, we don't recruit.
On a related note, if a PC dies (and yes, it's possible, I'm sure you've noticed I don't tend to pull punches), then that player will be given the option of making a new character. If they choose to, great, no biggie. If not, we all say 'Awwwwww' and feel depressed, and then we go back to the recruitment from above.
Everyone ok with that? Questions?
As the GM, I will just make the gentlest of suggestions that if you are going to throw the cask in a room and blow the roof off (such as into the fireplace) or on top of the crates in the middle west room, or if you are going to throw the cask onto the landing and detonate it, you might want to consider doing it sooner rather than later.
But it's just the gentlest of suggestions, I wouldn't want anyone to feel I'm dictating their actions. If you want to go fight you're more than welcome to.
I certainly don't want to fight. She's sufficiently freaked Alister right out.
Re: PC Replacement: Everything looks fine to me, and I don't have any questions.
Sounds good to me as well. I'll ask any question as they arise.
Going to bed now, but seems like a high-tension moment. Reaghar will leave when the others do. with all haste, carrying the bottle of scotch and any firearms that he happens to have already picked up
Connor has "pulled the plug" as it were. Good thing he was last on initiative.
Look, at this point, we've overstayed our welcome. Not what I was expecting, but circumstances have made it plain there's a TPK in the hallway of the building, and at least one avenue of escape out the ledge.
Of course, all those 19s and 20s I've been missing for days will now show up with bottles and stones thrown at Connor as he flies away.
Re: PC Replacement: I'm okay with the policy. I tend to take PC death rather personally, but this is why I'm so cautious with characters.
Cross-posted from another game I'm running (I inherited it when the GM went south on us). Posting here for everyone's edification since it came up in the other game.
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Just a note, 9 days since Elijah last posted.
I usually allow 21 days (3 weeks) before I mark someone AWOL and put out a feeler for replacement.
Before that ever happens, I prefer to discuss how I handle it with the other players. This isn't me saying I'm doing it now, I'm just bringing it up due to the fact we went past the week mark.
What I usually do is reopen the Recruitment thread, ask for N characters (Where N is voted on by the current players), then I usually open the recruitment until I get either X submissions, or for Y days (usually 5 to 7). Either way, once the submissions are done, we discuss them in the discussion thread, and we vote (I get 2 votes, mainly because I have to deal with the crunch more than anyone else). :)
For example, if Munchkin were a PC who quit posting (highly likely given he's roasting alive), then I'd ask the group if they want to replace Munchkin, and if so, do they want 1, 2, or 3 new characters (I'll run up to 7 characters in a given game, prefer 4 to 6). If we're at 6, for example, and everyone say's 'nah, let's just go with what we have' then that's fine, we don't recruit.
On a related note, if a PC dies (and yes, it's possible, I'm sure you've noticed I don't tend to pull punches), then that player will be given the option of making a new character. If they choose to, great, no biggie. If not, we all say 'Awwwwww' and feel depressed, and then we go back to the recruitment from above.
Everyone ok with that? Questions?
Completely fine with it.
I don't have a problem with replacing dead pcs of mine, there's always a character concept I have that I wanted to try. Usually several.
As for missing players, that's fine too. I also prefer to have no more than 6 players. Although 7 are okay. And within that limit some fresh new characters are always fun.
I honestly didn't expect this kind of resistance to taking out a low-level street criminal dealing in illegal contraband. Sure, Kol had more than the usual hired guns, but okay, that might have been expected if the half-orc had a thriving business. The fine craftmanship in hiding the rooms, complete with traps? Not so much. Just how long was Kol in business to afford that kind of modifications? Weeks? Months?
The local businesspeople I can almost understand. The mob outside, however, is a tad unexpected. The Lawful Evil paladin with major powers coming up the hallway? That's out of left field. I mean, it's far, far more than Connor was expecting here. I thought this was a "kill-smash-grab" type mission and instead we appear to have stumbled into the local Mexican drug cartel branch stronghold.
Right now I just want everybody to get out alive. We can worry about the ramifications of somebody high up in Customs selling magical items to street thugs later.
Ok, as promised, my first and only 'here is what happened' without the character's earning it. Please don't mix up PC knowledge with Player knowledge, as some of this will impinge on game play.
As told, South Quarter is a pretty lawless area, and the local gangs serve as law/bosses. Kol was not a nice person. He was also a realistic NN criminal. To hold onto his area (the 3 blocks in each direction of his base), he did two things.
1) Brutally kill anyone who tried to take over.
2) Provide the local populace safety. No raping, no killing, no stealing.
He didn't do 2 because he was good, it was just business. They paid him money, he protected them, and they even protected him from Mintakia Security because he was better than the known evils 3 blocks over. Anyone broke his rules, gang members, locals, transients, Mintakian Security, he skinned them alive on the balcony, hung their skin out for a week as a warning, then tossed the body in the sealed room to mummify with the rest (the source of the smell Elrohir found). Kol had lots of money, but the need for security more than lots of equipment, so he spent his money on firearms (plenty good for what he needed) and security on teh building (reinforcing and reinforcing it over and over again until he turned it into a fortress kill-zone). He never expected to get what was the functional equivalent of a green Special Forces group assaulting him. He expected 20 or so gang members at most, and he'd have won against that.
When I set this up, I put in a good base of operations that would be useful to the PCs for 5 or 6 levels, if they chose to take it over. Part of that set up was setting up some resources for them to call on locally, if they chose to take it over. One of those resources was an expert in Magic, real Magic, not theoretical. Enter Vokragga, a 358 year old retired Scythe Knight, who moved here with her husband (an Elvavian) 105 years ago. I won't go into what a Scythe Knight is, that's for the PCs to find out if they are curious and do the research. Suffice it to say she was a fighter/wizard/eldritch knight.
Now, that's the setup.
When I did the setup, I determined the following possible outcomes :
PCs Lose : Kol wins, everyone who died makes new characters, and they start a new story, since Kol's would be shut down.
PCs Win : This could have several outcomes.
1) PCs take over the base as their own. The locals would be suspicious, but as long as they knocked heads as good as Kol, the local would be a deep support base for the PCs, and Volkragga would be a friendly resource for knowledge about magic.
2) PCs do a hit and run and are in and out quick. The locals get creamed by the local gangs, and the PCs make an enemy of Vokragga, but she has no idea who they are so just gets mad and spends some money trying to track them down.
3) PCs do a hit and run, but stay long enough to meet Valkragga. This can change the tone, she will want the PCs to take over.
3A) If they agree, we move to 1 as the outcome.
3B) If they refuse, but agree to stay on until something can be worked out, then they have a hands off relationship for a few months, and something is worked out.
3C) If they refuse, she'll be mad, and try to go rally the locals with the logic that if Kol got taken out by these punks, and the locals take out the punks, then the local gangs might hesitate to start a gang royal battle and chance getting taken out too. Note that Selvan telling Alys in earshot of Volkragga that the deaths of the locals was none of their concern ensured this one, regardless of his diplomacy check.
3C-i) If the PCs flee within an hour and a half of provoking Volkragga, they get away, as it takes her a while to convince the locals. Not to mention needing to study her spell book.
3C-ii) If the PCs don't flee in time, then the mob is incensed, and Vokragga has time to go dig her spell book out and dust it off, put on her old armor, and memorize spells. The mob blocks the two stairwells, and Volkragga waits in the hall until she gets word from the mob outside that the PCs have tried to leave, or until they come into the hallway. Then she goes on the attack, casting spells in specific orders (won't detail why, nor why she didn't used range spells, as that is something I want the PCs to find out in game).
So basically, the first half of the Kol plot went as good as the PCs could have asked.
The second half, through a combination of bad dice rolls (nobody could make a decent perception check), poor word choices, and personality clashes between both PCs and PCs, and PCs and NPCs, resulted in the worst possible outcome on part II.
I honestly didn't expect this kind of resistance to taking out a low-level street criminal dealing in illegal contraband. Sure, Kol had more than the usual hired guns, but okay, that might have been expected if the half-orc had a thriving business. The fine craftmanship in hiding the rooms, complete with traps? Not so much. Just how long was Kol in business to afford that kind of modifications? Weeks? Months?
...
I thought this was a "kill-smash-grab" type mission and instead we appear to have stumbled into the local Mexican drug cartel branch stronghold.
Yep, you hit the nail on the head. You basically walked into the local drug cyndicate's headquarters, and got into an open fire fight.
The local businesspeople I can almost understand. The mob outside, however, is a tad unexpected.
See above, it should make perfect 'Doh!' sense.
The Lawful Evil paladin with major powers coming up the hallway? That's out of left field. I mean, it's far, far more than Connor was expecting here.
Well, honestly, I didn't expect things to go that far south, even though I'd allowed for it in the setup. I rarely expect things to go quite so far south.
Right now I just want everybody to get out alive. We can worry about the ramifications of somebody high up in Customs selling magical items to street thugs later.
Yep, everyone's out, but also scattered.
Right, screw it. I'll drop the crate for the next attempt. We got one out.
You already got away with the crate (granted, I'd have assumed she dropped it once the knight was close).
*Neat things about what the hell happened*
Yeah, everything in that looks fine and makes sense to me.