Agents of Cheliax Abroad (Inactive)

Game Master Molech

Azlain,

I have an idea for getting you with the others but it's kind of an ace-in-the-hole I've been saving for this group's roleplay in Westcrown. Even if you decide that you don't want to ask Grand Count Marcus Phandros about House Spartaco, that's okay.

Really, the only thing tricky for me will be if you decide to go to Gheradescci County without the PCs -- and then off to the ruins west of Gheradescci in the Badlands. I can still DM it, but it could potentially become problematic.

And let me know if you have any concerns or questions or comments, etc. One of the problems (I'm learning) with PbP is that all the table-talk that helps us get through our homegames doesn't really have an outlet here. I think occasional metagame conversations in Discussion are vital -- where I'm messing up, where a Player is confused, where we're going too fast or too slow, the good parts, the weak parts, etc.

It'll help us make playing here much better.

I've added a new Tab to the Campaign Info page. It has a list of noble Houses that are most prominent in the Longmarch Archduchy under ArchDuke Kettermaul Charthagnion (of Corentyn).

Take a gander if you are interested, or as a reference; it's pretty bare-bones.

Obviously, House Charthagnion is listed first as it's the current Seat of the Archduchy. Two of the Houses beholden to Charthagnion, including House Spartaco, are listed underneath it.

Following are the most powerful Houses, each with lesser Houses beholden to them.

Finally are the second most powerful Houses, some with lesser Houses beholden to them.

. . . .

Obviously there are Great Houses not Seated in the Longmarch Archduchy, such as House Porphyria, House Leroung, House Battori, House Sarini, etc., etc. Some of these have a presence in Longmarch, just as some of the Houses Seated in Longmarch have a presence elsewhere in Cheliax.

Finally, the list in the Campaign Info tab is NOT comprehensive. There are other lesser Houses in the Longmarch Archduchy. But for our purposes, it is a good list.

There's nothing RAW about the complexity of the message, just that with a DC 20, you can pass along complex messages.

Hence my asking. I've had some GMs allow several full sentences, and others allow a series of two or three word 'mini sentences'. I've also had at least two GMs base it all of the success of the roll, where if you beat the DC by 5(or 10 and more) you can increase the complexity and length of the message. So, if roll a 30(or 35), you can pass along a rather long, decently complex message.

Passing along secret messages is definitely going to be something Magnius will employ quite frequently, especially since he auto beats the DC of 20 without a roll, and the point of the game lends itself to being secretive, or subversive.

So it's not something I can really hinder you with. Surely with our higher Ability Scores and streamlined Skills I can justifiably bump up DCs a little bit -- but if RAW is DC 20 (based on the 20 point buy and less streamlined Skills) I can't reasonably go higher than DC 26 or so.

A PC should be able to accomplish what Magnius wants without my calling shenanigans.

I would prefer if you would roleplay it. IE., use language such as "farmer" or "tiller" and speak in metaphor; be creative. And then maybe come here to Discussion to clarify to me and the other Players exactly what it is that you're saying, just in case I'm too dense to understand.

I think it's fair for a DM to ask the recipient of such a message to make an INT check (or Linguistics or Sense Motive check) in cases where the characters don't already know each other -- such as this case. (I feel that once the PCs are together for a while these things can be auto-passed; it makes sense that the characters, spending SO much down-time together, would constantly be talking about things like combat tactics and contingencies and non-verbal communications.)

And I'm confident that, in the same way Magnius' Bluff bonus is such that a roll is unnecessary, Lucius Difax's Linguistics or INT or Sense Motive bonus is such that his roll to understand what Magnius says would auto-succeed.

In other words, be creative roleplaying what you say, then come here and make sure we understand what you say.

I have a bit of reading to do!

For the OOC record: Lucius definitely understands that Magnius would like to continue this discussion in private!

Furthermore, I agree with all that DM Ray wrote about how to bring the characters together without it seeming too contrived...

@ Azlain,

Obviously if there's anything else you want in the Phandros Manor, go ahead. Or if you just want to head back to the Parego Spera. Don't worry if you're not sure -- it just so happens an NPC is looking for you, and will find you eventually, probably sooner rather than later.

But I assume you'll go back to the stable wherein your undead steed is kept -- or maybe a place like The Gargling Gargoyle to hire a mercenary or two before going to Gheradescci County, or even Taranik House to get a couple soldiers. Obviously my NPC will intercept you with another offer.

@ Yaos, Magnius & Lucius Difax,

Well, you're in the same place -- now it's just a matter of describing your PCs.

Yaos has a thing as a snoop this evening -- spying on a powerful agent of Pangolais in The Uskwood north of The Infernal Empire. This to seal an alliance with a bastard of House Phandros, Kylian.

Magnius is confident that his marker in the woods north of Westcrown will be fine for another day -- and Lucius knows where some Bellflower Agents lair from time-to-time a bit northwest of the city as well -- if you get him on board.

Hey Magnius DM Ray suggested we discuss if we wanted to pretend not to know each other at "The Gargling Gargoyle". There is no reason Yaos needs to do that, but in my post arriving I had her avoid Magnius so I didn't mess with something you may be trying to do.

Ray, you're killing me here with always assuming Magnius is 'powerful looking' or otherwise dressed to impress.

He's not. I don't overly concern myself with descriptions on what my PCs wear(in any game), unless it's important to the scene.

Right now, he's probably wearing what passes as nice looking casual wear. After all, he went back to the condo, and then decided to go have a drink. Granted, his intent was to go learn about Lucius, but that doesn't mean he went in full battle armor mode.

Heck, he's probably unarmed, save for a small dagger or something equally easily concealable.

Ie, he's absolutely not trying to stand out or draw eyes.

Oh okay, my bad. It's an easy fix -- easy to say the commoners are not noticing you at all and just paying peripheral, casual attention to Lucius Difax (who is well known and just got out of Countess Tanith Oberigo's carriage).

Thus the two of you can have your conversation/ introduction without every peasant in the place trying to go unnoticed eavesdropping.

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I just remember a long time ago a description of you in HellKnight-like armor or something -- you know how first impressions can stick.

This time I'll remember.

We have another undercover hellknight? Cool. :D

Hey Magnius you missed my last post, which was a question just for you. It reads-

Hey Magnius DM Ray suggested we discuss if we wanted to pretend not to know each other at "The Gargling Gargoyle". There is no reason Yaos needs to do that, but in my post arriving I had her avoid Magnius so I didn't mess with something you may be trying to do.

I just realized the damn auto-correct has been changing my "Barbatos" with "Barbados" -- and while I love the little Caribbean isle, damnit I meant Barbatos! please forgive the past error.

@ Azlain,
I'm hoping that my gambit here with Itch will work. The Imp approached you because he heard (from *someone*) that you are an enemy of House Spartaco. Obviously you are not an enemy of House Spartaco and, in fact, you're hoping to gain an ally within House Spartaco so you can use their lands as a launching point for your quest in the badlands west of Gheradescci County -- and get some help from Spartaco to complete that quest.

So it boils down to this -- my Imp is tempting Azlain to strike against an ally of Spartaco but you actually want to become an ally of Spartaco (even if just temporarily). My gambit being, well, wanna betray an Itchy Imp?! It could be a good way to make an ally of Spartaco....

Anyway, that's my gambit. If Azlain isn't interested that's fine; you said he was going to the Gargling Gargoyle -- there's always the possibility of you coming up with a way to make allies of the PCs there.

I'm honestly not sure if Magnius would wave Yaos off or not. Either makes sense, though I am currently leaning towards somehow letting her know not to come over, at least just yet.

Magnius- Yaos is currently ignoring you. She figures if you want to speak to her you can and she does not have anything to say to you that is at all urgent. So for the moment she will let you be.

House Battori is a tiny House that has always served Thrune directly. It seemingly has no ambitions to grow into any other parts of Chelaxian politics; it sticks to its service to Thrune. It does not marry its few members to other noble Houses or create alliances; it does not stretch its few resources throughout the empire. The few members of House Battori simply plot at the behest of Her Infernal Majestrix.

And they traffic with Devils much more than other Chelaxians. Almost none of the memebers of House Battori are fully human. Tieflings, Cambions, Alu-Fiends, Half-Fiends, Pactborn, etc. comprise the Bloodlines of House Battori.

The founding patriarch was Manius Battori I. Manius III is still alive and is believed to have a home in Westcrown where he is doing *something* for House Thrune. Battori individuals are powerful, either in magic or combat. And they marry based on loyalty to Hell, Thrune -- and individual power.

And not a bunch you want to cross, see the actions of Yaos and Pavel Battori in my characters history.

Why all the details on House Battori just now DM Ray?

In Gameplay Lucius Difax rolled a Knowledge: Society for it.

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House Battori is actually not my creation. Another Player, now absent, created House Battori for his PC. I was so intrigued with it that I really wanted to include it in my campaign setting. The Player and I spent quite a few posts working out the concept for House Battori, with me pretty much just accepting or slightly altering or providing suggestions to his ideas. And during Recruitment, 'Joynt Jezebel' decided to adopt House Battori for her PC, Yaos.

Yes, I recall. that was Manius Battori I think.

Ray, Lucius just asked Yaos "Battori... I believe that your family owns an estate in Parego Regicona?" and I don't know the answer. :(

I looked for the stuff on House Battori and can't find it here or on Manius's profile.

I was wondering the same thing -- I was hoping Yaos would answer for me ;)

I'm confident that Battori would Not have a place in Westcrown. The House didn't really exist prior to the Thrune Ascendancy when Westcrown was the capital so they wouldn't have 'old money' property in Westcrown. And their small size and one-track purpose would indicate that it's less likely Battori would invest in Westcrown. Additionally, I put that little Arvanxi condo in Parego Spera for you guys to use because I felt it would be good to keep the group's assets limited -- that is, the assets you're getting for free because of background rather than roleplay & XP. Finally, when Manius Battori III left our PbP I decided I could use him as a good NPC ally for the group later on (I really like the background he designed for the House.) -- and I'd like to introduce Battori on my own terms. (It helps that Yaos is only peripherally a Battori -- by marriage and a widow -- and also that the House isn't Joynt Jezebel's creation so I can have a little artistic license without stepping on the creator's toes.)

Obviously I wasn't too concerned if Yaos answered "Yes" and was wondering if she would. But now that she's put it in my hands,-- "No."

I would like Azlant (and Mendacius) to attempt a Perception check, please.

(You can roll here, if you wish, to keep Gameplay more roleplay and text-full.)

Az Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (12) + 16 = 28 (30 total with Aid from Mendy)

Mendy Perception (aid another): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

DM Ray- Thanks for clarifying that.

Since there seems to be nothing around about House Battori we have access to except for the small amount in my character's background, which can be found on my character sheet under "History", the very last bit. I will leave remaining invention in your capable hands.

@ Lucius Difax,

With your Knowledge Society result of 24 (on 16 April), you are aware of the information provided here in Discussion on 18 April, eight posts ago.

Hope that helps.

(Your Society result of 9 means you don't recognize the chunky Maralictor with the scar on her face and the morningstar. Nor do you recognize any of the prisoners. And your result of 26 seems to be the same check you made earlier for House Battori. Let me know if I am wrong.)

@ The Gargling Gargoyle,

Yaos Battori, Magnius and Lucius Difax are together and have a bit of privacy as everyone else is watching the HellKnight procession of the heretics move toward Taranik House.

I'm hoping you three can come up with in-character reasons to join. Magnius knows Lucius Difax's help would be very valuable in tracking the Bellflower Network agents out of Westcrown -- except that supposedly Lucius Difax is a good guy.

Perhaps this diversion to the Parego Dospera at night will reveal if Lucius Difax is a good guy or not, whether he may be willing to hunt down Bellflower Agents or not.

In any case, if you three don't come up with a roleplaying scene that joins you, even if it's kinda banal, I dunno, I guess I can segue it and move it to the nighttime in the Parego Dospera where you're together scoping out The Dusk Market for the Pangolais agent.

Let's see what the next couple days IRL does for our Gameplay posting.

April 16th - Knowledge of Battori √
April 17th - Oblivious to the identities of the Maralictor and the prisoners √
April 23rd - The roll was to see if Lucius knows anything about Winnow and/or the androgynous gnome and wayang duo, which could be useful...

My posting will be sporadic this week -- tons of work and play will be eating my Paizo-time.
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But it looks as though we've got a good bit of action upcoming:

Azlain I assume will follow the young beautiful woman to figure out if she's guilty of something or not.

Yaos, Magnius & Lucius Difax will likely go to the Dusk Market in Parego Dospera to spy on the Pangolais agent, Winnow.

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Then, when Yaos, Magnius & Lucius Difax (or the Bogeyman) decide to leave Westcrown to hunt down the Bellflower Network agents, Itch and Azlain will follow them and we'll get the group together!

Once all four of you are together (I assume Itch will be dead by then.) You can ambush Aaron Smallbridge and other Halflings -- hopefully the ones you're hunting -- as a group of four.

@ Lucius,

Oh, now I understand. Yes, I was wrong.

Lucius Difax (with a 26) has never heard of any agent of Pangolais named "Winnow." The very accurate description Yaos has given of Winnow does not strike any chord of familiarity for Lucius Difax.

The description of events above works for me!

For the record: my plan is to spy on Winnow as Lucius, but to hunt down the Bellflower agents as The Bogeyman...

I have a very busy few days, and all my free time last night went into updating other games. Since this game didn't seem to need my immediate reply, I opted to put off posting till today.

As far as reasons to follow beautiful young women go, that one's better than most.

So the question at The Gargling Gargoyle is thus:

Do you spend tonight spying on Winnow (from Pangolais) in the Parego Dospera -- in order to seal a long term alliance with the Phandros Bastard (Kylian Phandros) who seems to be building quite a potential power block despite no official resources from his House? Then, tomorrow morning go find the marker and tracks Magnius flagged to trail Aaron Smallbridge -- hopefully with the extra information the goody-goody Lucius Difax can provide?

Or do you ignore the long-term alliance with Kylian Phandros and immediately set out to find Magnius' marker and the tracks made by Aaron Smallbridge, presumably of the Bellflower Network?

In either case, Lucius Difax has given you a "path" in Westcrown that leads to the Bellflower Network in the Parego Dospera as far as he knows. And I believe he's willing to accompany you to spy on Winnow from Pangolais.

I'm going to go ahead and jump-the-gun in Gameplay for Magnius, Yaos & Lucius Difax. If I cross the line we can retroactively dismiss my Gameplay post, no harm/ no foul. But it seems to me like it's stuck in a quagmire. I probably haven't been forthcoming enough in my descriptions. But this way, the little entanglements that I'm interpreting as keeping the game from going forward, well, I'm just going to plow through. Read through the Gameplay post I'm putting up (in a few minutes) and see if the decisions going forward are acceptable; I'm hopeful and confident it is okay.

....Meanwhile, Azlain, sorry about the delay. I haven't posted for the young woman yet because I didn't want you to get too far in the timeline ahead of the others.
(Yet another reason for my pushing the other strand forward in the Gameplay Thread.)

All good!

I've made it so that Magnius, Yaos and The Bogeyman can introduce themselves however they want, roleplay a nice dialog -- and then go straight to where the Wayang and Gnome couple were seen on the first night entering Westcorwn.

It is thus up to the Vigilante on whether The Bogeyman accompanies Magnius and Yaos this night and continues with them tomorrow when everyone leaves Westcrown to hunt down Aaron Smallbridge -- or if The Bogeyman leaves Yaos and Magnius tonight and Lucius Difax shows up later at the Dusk Market to help spy on Winnow.

Ya know.

Real life is a thing.

I took a few days off posting much to catch up on some Marvel movies, so I could watch Infinity War this weekend.

We all took a break when you went to the Superbowl and were away from game for well over a week, with no complaints.

Perhaps I could have posted that I was taking a few days off, but my plan was to post last night, but I ended up getting super tired, and forgot.

I think this time around it’s my trying to figure out the Vigilante’s intro into the group. The ‘Good-guy’ persona ended up meeting with the PCs first and it’s like, Wait a sec, why would ‘Good-Guy’ join the evil PCs?!

Add the ‘Kylian Phandros side trek’ that builds a future contact prior to the Bellflower hunt and I just wasn’t sure it was going to untangle itself.

This way I just plowed through, got the ‘Bad-guy’ persona in front of the PCs, and got us out of the quagmire I dumped us in. Hope I didn’t use too much force.

Well, Magnius was going to suggest that it made more sense to go after the Bellflower, because he had an idea there was a Hellknight looking for him.

Which means, he has time to prepare, gather allies, etc, were we to wait. Also, horses would greatly cut down on travel time.

Now, that isn't an option, and I don't know what to do with Magnius.

I haven't even read gameplay yet cuz I'm annoyed you forced us into something that Magnius wasn't keen on doing before pursing their actual mission.

It makes far more sense to go after the Bellflower first. What is one noble vs an entire rather influential house.

Also, I know you're super into all the minor intrigue, and side plots, and that's really awesome, and I love it too,

But were you not JUST complaining about how long it's taken us to complete the primary plot and get us out of Cheliax?

Now we're gonna waste even more time going after shadow boy...

As for the 'Good Guy PC', well that's partly on you for accepting a PC who is part time good aligned, in a game of evil PCs.

However, it's also on us players to resolve the 'why would the good guy PC join evil ones.'

For starters, Lucius doesn't know Magnius is evil or rather, at least he isn't aware of any evil intentions from him.

Even if he was, there's literally countless stories about a good guy going along with evil. Maybe the good guy intends to stop them, and decides the best way would be to pretend to go along till he's able to reveal his true intentions?

Not that it matters, because Lucius isn't even a real good guy.

I am good either way. Either The Bogeyman goes along with you to kill the Bellflower agents or Lucius spies on Winnow. I leave it to Yaos and Magnius to decided as they've been around for far longer!

Lucius would be the spy only because he said he would be there. But I do foresee The Bogeyman become fast friends with Magnius and Yaos, and eventually revealing his double identity to facilitate intrigues and interactions...

:)

Mind you, Lucius could easily not show up given that he gave Magnius and Yaos a false trail!

I think that I am developing RGP schizophrenia...

Magnius - I can see what you are saying about being railroaded. And I can see the sense in your reasoning about going after Smallbridge first.

However, I think the bit with the Wayang is going to prove fairly brief and we should go with the direction taken in the gameplay thread for now.

I knew I was pushing it when I posted; that’s the reason I said what I said in Discussion just before I posted. But I do think what I posted was okay. I've read your post a couple times now, and while obviously I want to make the game as fun for everyone as I can, I just don't understand the level of anger -- or is it frustration? Either way. Magnius can still do what his plan has been to do. (I think; ....I hope.)

I know you said you were busy this week and may not be able to post, but my assumption was based on the interplay between Yaos, Magnius, and Lucius Difax – I felt it was getting stuck. I know you guys could have gotten through it yourselves; I just ultimately decided it would work better if I pushed it through.

One of the things I'm learning about PbP is how difficult it is to judge these kinds of things. I've been hopeful for more metagame dialog here where we can go over this kind of stuff.

….So we can reiterate.
I really think it will help us to go over this, try to get on the same page. This is a long term campaign, afterall, and the more communication the better.

I said, you recall, that I was concerned about spending too much time in Westcrown because I'm avoiding spoilers on Council of Thieves and, because I haven't read that AP that takes place in Westcrown, I'm both limited in how far I can research and how much I can create without stepping on y'all's toes (and my 'future' toes) by going all out with Westcrown development. But I absolutely agreed that it was better to let you guys really get into it and create some contacts and allies. I'm pleased with the NPCs I created that you can call on later in the campaign, from the bastard Kylian Phandros to the actual House Phandros to others. There could be times in the future when you're in Rahadoum or Isger or Diabel and you come up with a plan to contact Kylian Phandros or House Phandros,.... or Captain Black or someone else. I feel that it's a good thing to develop relationships with multiple NPCs.

Plus, as you’ve remembered, I was concerned the game wasn’t moving forward enough. My description in Recruitment was for leaving Cheliax – I had no idea it was going to take so long before that happened. As it turns out, I’m really loving developing all the Game-of-Thronesesque NPCs and their plots and goals here in Cheliax, and I hope you have too. But I was a bit concerned this wasn’t turning out to be the game you signed up for. That was the second reason I stated for my *initial desire to get out of Westcrown asap. But now that we’re here – and especially that it’s such a perfect place to introduce our two new PCs, I’m all in. (Even though I’m still limiting what I read on Westcrown so that I can one day play through CoT.)

Back to our situation….
Look at it this way too, Magnius went out to talk to Halflings and got a lead on Aaron Smallbridge. Yaos meanwhile went out to contact some of the NPCs that caught her interest. If Yaos doesn't get equal opportunity to follow through with her roleplaying gambit, then she just wasted what turned out to be a couple weeks of posting. It's more important that I make sure everyone can pursue their various gambits and that their effort isn't wasted -- especially considering that there will be times where the PCs -- or a PC -- do go off on a tangent in the future that has really no value and I can't figure out how to make it drive the game forward. Thus, in situations where I can think of ways to make your decisions go forward, I have to try to let them do so. This was a great opportunity to let the PCs make lasting contacts and allies – or enemies.

In our current situation, I knew I was jumping the gun only letting a couple days go by -- and posting on a weekend which I usually don't -- but I really felt that things were sticking. Metagame, I knew that you could (and probably would) do Both things, check out Winnow to make a potential long-term contact, and still take care of the overall campaign plot-direction of tracking down the Bellflower agents. That's why I did it.

Nonetheless, I have to earn your confidence that your decisions drive the game forward -- Yaos needs to know her pursuit of Cpt Black and Kylian Phandros and even the thought that my Wayang and Gnome couple could be a thing. Same with Magnius and Azlain and the Vigilante. And I think that it is working (though I'm struggling with the Vigilante).

Moving forward, because Lucius Difax and Magnius are still new to each other, there is clear opportunity to use the 'HellKnight looking for you' gambit. I just want to give the Vigilante the venue where he can choose if Lucius Difax or The Bogeyman is put in the forefront. But I'm pleased with the inclusion of all of our PCs. I really like this group, and am only disappointed that we lost Manius Battori III and Alfred Ensbridge.

Anyway, let’s all try to keep these metagame conversations going. I think it’s important that we communicate. And Magnius, please, I hope this (too long) post better articulates my reasoning for bulldozing forward and that you can accept my decision.

To be clear, my intent is for The Bogeyman to follow these fair folk, and eventually to reveal the Lucius identity in order for everyone to take advantage of his sunny disposition!

As for above... My perhaps unpopular opinion, for what it's worth, is that the GM can ultimately decide to do as he or she wishes. That being said – and I'll take note for my own campaign – perhaps a good idea would be to warn players ahead of time that the plan is to move things along? Basically, it gives people time to tie up loose ends and prepare. Food for thought :)

To be clear, my intent is for The Bogeyman to follow these fair folk, and eventually to reveal the Lucius identity in order for everyone to take advantage of his sunny disposition!

OK.

I assumed as much, but I did think that it would be funny if Magnius and Yaos were like "no, we're good, thanks"!

:)

Or in the best murder hobo tradition, we have him outnumbered and he looks like he may have treasure and/ or magic items. Murder him to death immediately.

The old "sorry, we thought the PC was the villain" gambit!

You gotta admit the Bogeyman looks the part.

He's really a sheep in wolf's clothing... Which begs the question: is Yaos a wolf in sheep's clothing?