I’m sorry for not posting lately. I was surprised with extra shifts and am working doubles at least till Christmas.
GM, a couple of clarifications please.
How many soldiers are still observable on the ground in the compound? It sounds like Maka has finished off the troop along the northern fence that her token is next to, but Im not sure how many more there are and where they are or how scattered they are.
How on fire are the two long barracks on the west side of the compound? Do they need more attention from the elemental, or can it move on to the buildings on the east side?
There aren't living soldiers on the ground right now, but we haven't reached the troop initiative again for soldiers to flee out of the burning buildings yet. :D
The buildings are on fire, but it's a pretty small fire right now (one 5' of roof on each). So it depends on how on fire you want them.
If we take out the guy with AOO I am thinking Bulvi might man the machine gun and turn it on any viable targets he can spot? But I am open to better suggestions.
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I'm going to be away from home today through the 30th, so my responses may be sporadic.
Hey guys, I might just start having time again. Holy cow, I’ve worked such hours before, but doing fast paced physical labor the whole time is just a killer.
Naturally, It’s not my turn. :/
Maka, start of combat is ill-defined, but it makes more sense for the start of combat to be when you know there is a combat rather than when the first attack or spell occurs. It would have been nonsensical for you to have had a lower defense in starting this encounter because the lower defense is supposed to represent being surprised that combat is erupting around you, but you were not surprised because you knew there was going to be combat before getting started.
Not every GM goes with that for some reason, but just something to keep in mind.
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And thank you Quasit for posting, and not killing, Selena while I was gone. :)
Hope everyone is doing alright in the new year.
Am I forgetting the time? I thought this was all during the morning, which means we could spend an hour on each machine and still have plenty of daylight left to go hunting.
To say nothing of all the time we would need to fill if we waited till morning.
I believe it is late afternoon. We waited just long enough for everyone to refresh after a rest.
But I could be wrong.
We definitely should not sleep in the camp. We can teleport in and out easily so there is no need to even give Rasputin the chance to scry and fry us.
And I'll be out of town Friday through Monday, though I'll likely post again tomorrow, if necessary.
Sorry, I had a busy few days and forgot you guys were waiting on me. XD
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I guess I'm going to just keep talking to the kids and testing out what they know and how they react to things until we can get a handle on what their deal is.
I think Quasit probably also feels some affinity for Anastasia. She grew up in a difficult home and had a brother who often was her protector. Emotionally she wants to believe in these kids, but her head is telling her that their story doesn't quite add up.
On a related note, once we clear the camp and before we turn off the machine, I think we need to stash them somewhere to keep them out of harm's way before we face Rasputin. The Hut is the obvious place, but if Anastasia is indeed of Baba Yaga's blood, it's possible she could actually commandeer the Hut from us and strand us here. Or the Hut might be the safest place to keep Anastasia away from Queen Elvanna, who would probably want to kill her. What do you all think?
I think the Hut is a good idea. I doubt that, even if she can, Anastasia would ditch us here and it's a pretty safe haven.
but her head is telling her that their story doesn't quite add up.
If I had a nickel for every time finding children in a dungeon-like environment had a positive outcome, I would have zero nickels.
I'll second the hut. It's the safest place and it might have some sort of reaction to them.
Also, should we take them to see their ghost mom? I don't know what is worse, getting to talk to your ghost mom or missing the chance to talk to your ghost mom.
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Also, should we take them to see their ghost mom? I don't know what is worse, getting to talk to your ghost mom or missing the chance to talk to your ghost mom.
I'd have to go back and re-read our encounter with the Tsarina. But my memory of the interaction suggested that mom was pretty confused, as befits a tormented spirit. I don't think mom 'recognizing' these children would definitively mean that they were who they said they were. The kids already seem to know about their family getting executed, so I don't think anything useful would come out of the interaction aside from possibly really freaking them out.
The one useful thing might be if the Tsarina in a moment of clarity looked at the children and declared that 'those creatures are not my children!' but again, given her confusion, I'm not entirely sure we could trust that.
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I can’t talk in gameplay right now as I’m currently away scouting the next building…I agree, Q, while I think taking them to the Tsarina might bring clarification, I could also see it create more confusion…
I have one observation on the children. I can see why Rasputin would’ve resurrected Anastasia as she’s a potential heir of Baba Yaga and he might have need of her…but the boy I can’t figure. If I read right, Kal only found signs of resurrection on Anastasia and not Alexei…but the Tsarina said only Anastasia lives so she must know of her daughter’s resurrection but she made no mention of anyone else in her household being alive…thus I’m much more curious of him than I am her…
While I would love to be able to blame recent storms here for me not posting that only interfered with the electricity and the internet for the last part of me not posting.
I could shotgun blast knowledge checks to figure out what Alexei is/might be but I've got a little in a lot of skills. It might be better if the GM checks Bulvi's skills and rolls hidden in a spoiler.
I'm currently traveling, so my posts may be more sporadic than usual.
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I'll be back home tomorrow, updates will probably follow on Wednesday.
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Whoops, I thought I'd said. It's an amulet of proof against detection and location.
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Hmm. I thought I posted in here but now I don't see the posting.
Sorry to be so MIA the last many days. We had a death in the family and it took some time to deal with and to deal with the dealing with it.
I should be back now.
Just caught up with the posts but now I need to think about what to write.
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(I should really learn what Poker hands are good... XD)
Hmm, if I’m remembering correctly, this is the hierarchy of poker hands:
Royal Flush (A thru 10 of the same suit)
Straight Flush (5 consecutive cards of the same suit)
4 of a Kind
Full House (3 of a kind along with a pair)
Flush (5 cards of the same suit)
Straight (5 consecutive cards of mixed suits)
3 of a Kind
2 Pair
Pair
High Card
Sorry to hear that, hope things get better.
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I have not…actually hadn’t heard of it till now…
A guy I used to play PBP with on another site developed a Chrome plug-in that would use formatted headers for your characters; I would’ve used it more but I use Safari since I play primarily from my iPad/iPhone…not sure if that’s what you’re looking for though…
I'm unfamiliar with the tool.
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I think we're roughly ready to move ahead to the next morning. We're keeping a watch for the Headless general overnight and we're stowing Anastasia in the Hut with Tezuzu, and we're returning to the compound on foot tomorrow morning (no need to teleport now).
For disabling the machine, I'm planning on having Quasit take 10 on each terminal. With Findurel assisting (+2), that passes a DC 40, and we've consulted the blueprints and Viktor for whatever bonuses that might be worth. That really better be enough. Imagine if a party didn't have a rogue for this part!
I'm still worried about those Spellcraft checks on the machine stations. Remind me, do we just need one successful check or a separate check at each of the 4 terminals?
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The check DC's are supposed to make sure you have to find the blueprints and talk to Viktor before you try to shut down the towers. I'm not going to have you fail just because none of you have good spellcraft.
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Beware the Ides of March!
Not only is today the anniversary of Julius Caesar’s assassination, it is also the anniversary of the day Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne and ended the Romanov dynasty. Unless Rasputin manages to get Anastasia onto the throne, I guess.
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It is also my mother's birthday. A fact Fin was probably also unaware of.
In college, me and my 3 best friends all had birthdays in November.
My aunt, uncle and cousin also had birthdays in November.
My Father-in-law's birthday is 3 days before mine (in November) and is the same day as another of my former friends.