I just picture Azlain, Magnius and Yaos walking through Corentyn or Macini or Egorian with this crouching monster that looks like The Violator from Spawn, waving ‘hi’ to people as they pass and buying hot dogs from carts and stuff, all casual-like.
(But people would just figure him for an Eidolon or something.)
....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.)
No problem. Don't worry about me.
He's really a sheep in wolf's clothing... Which begs the question: is Yaos a wolf in sheep's clothing?
Sort of.
Yaos looks like an upper class woman, very attractive and tends to dress elegantly. She is certainly much more dangerous than she looks.She is LE. However, she is not evil stupid. If you deal with her reasonably she is friendly and polite and she won't hurt anyone without a reason. She can be ruthless and if you do something like kill her husband and nearly kill her she can be very bad news indeed. But that is not all that evil imho.
And don't insult my eidolon Red Wing. Red Wing is nowhere near as ugly as The Bogeyman.
I just picture Azlain, Magnius and Yaos walking through Corentyn or Macini or Egorian with this crouching monster that looks like The Violator from Spawn, waving ‘hi’ to people as they pass and buying hot dogs from carts and stuff, all casual-like.
(But people would just figure him for an Eidolon or something.)
In Cheliax, this sort of thing can't be that uncommon.
Ima be honest, I really don't know what to do still.
We were in the middle of trying to decide our best course of action, and Ray was just like 'nah, these guys need to forced into doing something. No time for talk, only plot!'
And it really rubs me the wrong way. And, no, your explanations haven't made me feel any better. If nothing else, I feel like it just reinforced how bad of decision it was to push the PCs into what you wanted us to do.
I don't want to quit the game, but I am stuck.
I think the thing that aggravates me the most is you piled on too much for one night.
Winnow/Phandros could have waited a night. I really love all the intrigue and side plots, but we should be focusing on the Bellflower.
Magnius is a warrior, despite not having the 'proper' classes. It makes zero sense for him to allow his prey an extra day to prepare. We *should* have gone after Aaron right away. You shouldn't have the Winnow plot occur at the same time.
I can not see a logical, in game rationale for Magnius to agree to go with the others after some person who they may or may not be able to find, that may or may not be some spy for Nidal.
What makes sense is, he would show up at the house where he was earlier, realize the ruse, and go right out after Aaron.
Magnius/ All- [Yaos dons diplomatic mediator hat]
Am I mistaken that we are currently at a place in game that allows us to do exactly that?
We are at where the Bellflower agents were, having just met the Bogeyman.
Yaos has no real objection to doing things your way, even agrees as said when it last came up in game, and the Bogeyman wants to exterminate the Bellflowers too. I can't really speak for another PC but that is what he has said.
Why not just do that? It seems to get out of a spot w/o doing any real harm to anyone.
Is that OK with everyone?
I agree with Yaos; you three are at the abandoned church where Magnius saw Aaron Smallbridge and where Lucius Difax said Bellflower Network Agents sometimes meet.
More importantly, it is The Bogeyman who is with you instead of Lucius Difax — which was the bigger issue to me than spending the evening spying on Winnow for Kylian Phandros.
Why not have Magnius suggest immediately heading out of Westcrown to the marker he placed on Aaron Smallbridge’s tracks.
Ask The Bogeyman if he’s familiar with a hideout along the trail when you get to the marker and find the Halfling’s tracks, (he does, as the Bogeyman knows what Lucius Difax knows), and you can continue to follow Aaron Smallbridge’s tracks until the Bogeyman points out you’re close enough to get into stealth mode (lest you alert the Bellflower to your presence) and plan your assault.
The young wife is at Azlain’s mercy; it is up to him if he wants to hide this from the passing guards or not. In either case, she will divulge the whole story, her side, immediately upon prompting.
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Did Azlain just get a facelift?!
Naw, just a change of clothes. He's in uniform at the moment.
Good to know. I usually don't look at sources. It's on the SRD spell list, and it's a great non-lethal takedown spell, so i picked it.
I'll swap it out for something else.
I will get up a reply tomorrow.
Yaos removes diplomatic mediator hat and looks smug.
O Sycamore, Sycamore!
Stretch your arms across the storm
Down fly two greasy brother-crows
They hop'n'bop They hop'n'bop They hop'n'bop
Like the tax-man come to call
They go knock knock! Knock knock!
Hop'n'bop hop'n'bop
They slap a death-writ on his door
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Blind Lemon Jefferson
Yaos, how many times can you summon your small horde?
Also, Lemures don't have any poison attacks, they don't do anything, other than writhe in Hell, lol.
Crap. I was looking at Lemures and Dretches. I typed Lemure when I meant Dretch.
I have 13 uses of my Summon Monster IV SLA /day.
Fire elementals to burn down the tree, earth to burrow up from the ground to take them from within, dretches to poison them, magma mephits to block any visible exits via their magma pool/form ability, and then maybe a pack or two of hell hounds or dire wolves to hunt down any who escape?
You are starting to frighten me Magnius.
Aerial Leopards work really well too.
If Yaos is given time to prepare for a combat she is terrifying. Even only 30 seconds. I can make people invisible too.
This discussion is making my fireball instincts all twitchy.
I've been hanging out with Doomed Hero a lot :) There's a reason I suggested he join our game!!
You're gonna give me performance anxiety. I haven't even met the party yet.
Considering we've been gaming together for at least seven years, I'm pretty certain you're gonna be awesome!!
After all, Xanos and Anaxian don't mess around!!
But, do either of them old a candle to good ol Doc??
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Xanos and Anaxian are wizards. They know the virtue of conserving their resources. They aren't always subtle, but they were always mindful. Smart Wizards only ever take out enough to win.
Doc was a different mindset entirely. Overkill is the only kill. For that crazy dwarf too much is never enough. Victory is measured by the size of the crater.
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Anaxian dropped a massive meteor(several of them?) on that one keep. Sounds like overkill, and MASSIVE crater lolol
A bit of Metagaming here, in order to give Azlain a bit extra time to get with the party (with Itch, of course), I think it's better if I declare the wild, forested area in which you three are tracking Aaron Smallbridge is rough enough terrain that you'd have to lead the horses, not ride them. This way I've got six hours to play with -- because I want Azlain in before you reach Aaron Smallbridge.
Sound reasonable?
No problem here.
Player characters sitting out for long periods of time is a bad thing.
I'm sure Yaos can summon you a dozen or more ;)
If Yaos, Magnius & The Bogeyman want to roleplay a conversation -- strategy and tactics and/or who you are and why you're after the Bellflower, well, not only will it give Gameplay a bit of time to let Azlain and Itch 'ambush' you, it'll also help build up your characters rapport with each other. (For after the Bellflower encounter at the Sycamore.)
Works for me.
Here's the problem,
Unless a strategic conversation took place within sight of the tree, and not on the way, I don't think it's gonna really work to just talk to waste time.
Right now Magnius doesn't trust our misbegotten friend, and has zero reason for idle chit chat. There's also not much to really discuss as far as strategy goes, without knowing our actual target.
That said, if we can have our conversation while being in line of sight of the tree, but still en route, then that's totally cool.
Well yeah, you three are following Aaron Smallbridge’s tracks towards, presumably, this Sycamore The Bogeyman knows about that agents of the Bellflower Network have used in the past as a lair.
I just didn’t want you to segue to the arrival until I got Azlain there....
Most of what Yaos has to say strategically has been said here or in game.
As for talking to the Bogeyman, Yaos will continue to be friendly. Yaos mostly trusts him for this mission, the longer term is another question. And she knows the Bogeyman expects to frighten her, which she finds rather amusing given some of the things she can conjure to do her will. So Yaos is having fun being all friendly and welcoming.
Oh I know.
But he certainly looks frightening, and I would think he would expected somebody who looks like Yaos, ie a cultured and beauteous aristocratic woman, to be frightened of him. At least a bit. That is what Yaos believes in any event.
Jesus, a +35 intimidate roll is kind of extreme. I have not read the Vigilante class. What does the other identity do?
Yaos isn't hostile. It is partly pride but more just messing around. And once we get to know each other we are all on the same side.
I hope everyone enjoyed Mothers Day with Mom or children and family.
A quick note, with the end of the school year upon me I'm going to be quite busy wrapping up all that I could put on a back-burner during the year. As you noticed at the end of last week, my posting is getting a touch sporadic. I assume it will take me a good couple weeks now before I get all caught up -- but it shouldn't be too bad. I should still be able to post semi-regularly or regularly.
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Just some meta-game housecleaning and perhaps clarification or what have you:
I had to push things to get Azlain where he is now. I predicted that the young woman's little sad tale and horrible life would make Azlain roleplay a bit with her and the husband, creating an NPC resource Azlain could use in the future -- and more importantly, an opportunity for some tangled roleplay between PC, arse-hole husband, and pathetic, naive little wife. Alas, Azlain pulled off another instance of 'PC-does-what-the-DM-didn't-expect' moment and the encounter kinda crumpled in on itself.
But as it turns out -- that's even better.
Because the other PCs also pulled off the infamous 'do-what-the-the-DM-isn't-expecting' by going straight for the Bellflower Network instead of spying on Winnow at The Dusk Market first.
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Now I'm trying to accomplish quite a rearrangement, hustling Azlain to the group in the woods outside Westcrown. But it's all good.
The linchpin to this whole encounter (prior to arriving at the sycamore tree with the Bellflower Network lair, transient as it may be), is that Azlain is looking for a way to get on House Spartaco's good side because he could really use their help in searching the ruins he wants to search west of Gheradescci County. ....And Yaos and Magnius are allies of House Spartaco. ....And Itch really hates Yaos and Magnius and has blindly allied himself with someone he thinks is an enemy of House Spartaco. (Oops for Itch)
Anyway, here's hoping it all comes together well in the end!
You will quickly learn Doomed Hero, and thus Azlain, almost always 'does what the GM isn't expecting'. It's part of the fun of playing with him, as he comes up with crazy tomfoolery I would never dream of!! :)
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That reminds me- I need to have the "what counts as a ring of silver dust?" conversation again for this game. :)
I'm traveling to Philly tomorrow to work Wizard World Philly all weekend, I'll have my laptop but may not be able to reply much.
A question for the GM.
While we are in a city it would be a good time to cash out the treasure we collected would it not? And maybe see if we can purchase or even commission some magic items?
Which brings up another question, who was keeping track of it? I may have the list somewhere, or do you Magnius?
Oh yea. Crap. I totally forgot about that.
Ray, we had fully intended to sell loot, possibly purchase stuff and a few other things while in Westcrown.
That's no problem.
In the 'Characters' tab you can find "Monster Treasure" where you can see what you've got. I think it's one post of gold and gems and a few posts of those incriminating documents.
One thing you can do -- if you want to gear-up before you reach the sycamore and deal with the Bellflower Network -- is, after getting close enough to the tree and scouting a bit, return to Westcrown and trade your gold & gems for some equipment, then go back to the sycamore. Kinda like, you reach the sycamore now only for scouting purposes, then return to Westcrown to buy gear, only to return to the sycamore the next day.
Another thing you can do is go to the sycamore, encounter Aaron Smallbridge and any other Bellflower Network Halflings, and then return to Westcorwn -- hopefully with more treasure -- and gear up then.
. . . .
Incidentally, if you choose to scout the sycamore only (this first trip) and return to Westcrown, you can do your shopping at the Dusk Market, since you know its location tonight only -- and witness Winnow (from Pangolais) while you're there.
(Although, I'm starting to worry that, for as much hype as there may be building up for this guy, actually spying on him will be kind of a let down.)
A quick note, with the end of the school year upon me I'm going to be quite busy wrapping up all that I could put on a back-burner during the year. As you noticed at the end of last week, my posting is getting a touch sporadic. I assume it will take me a good couple weeks now before I get all caught up -- but it shouldn't be too bad. I should still be able to post semi-regularly or regularly.
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Still slammed — spent all day at work today — Saturday, thought I’d have time to post today at work yet ugh. Now exhausted and going to my Saturday night home game.
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I’ll get to a post describing the area where invisible Itch and Azlain are approaching the other three so you can build off that for your encounter.
Keep in mind please that, with the sketchy way I’ve managed this encounter (before Aaron Smallbridge), that we remember that soon we’ll have one group of allies (Itch not included). Thus, we can roleplay the tension and possibility of conflict but — removed from our PCs — we’re already on the same side. Metagame posts will be very beneficial in what has at least some potential to be a confrontational encounter. Obviously we know there won’t be any PvP even though the PCs don’t.
Anyhoo, sorry that probably isn’t very articulate but my brain is liquid muck right now and this has already taken a half hour to type. Hopefully Monday I can do a better job — and post in Gameplay.