DM Alexander Kilcoyne's Sargavan Saga

Game Master Alexander Kilcoyne

I hope that's not a stupid tactical choice. Takes their ranged weapons out of play for a round or two while we deal with the ones already closing on us, but it also obscures our vision of exactly what they're up to. :P

Are all the hirelings in the second-to-last wagon, AK?

8^O

Come Okla! There can't be more than fifty of them! /Tundarr impersonation.

I hope that's not a stupid tactical choice. Takes their ranged weapons out of play for a round or two while we deal with the ones already closing on us, but it also obscures our vision of exactly what they're up to. :P

Are all the hirelings in the second-to-last wagon, AK?

Not all, but many. The civilians are all in the middle wagons, between the two of them.

Three to one odds, really AK?

I think it was a good choice Joana we have to divide them if we are going to get out of this trap.

Mind you I was considering the "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" option but I don't think these beasties can pull the wagons at much more than a walk.

Three to one odds, really AK?

AK and I were discussing everyone's probable fate yesterday: who'll end up in the slave markets and who gets sacrificed to demons, assuming we don't manage to fight to the death. So don't worry that he's not prepared for our ignominious demises! ;)

We could always run for it and hope they'll be satisfied with the hirelings and supplies. Tebati, at least, ought to be able to outrun them, anyway.

Having trouble applying the burst in my head. Tebati should be in range of the bless, but it looks like Qhude, Ansha, and Jeggare are just out of it; is that right?

We'll Qhude is now happy that he splashed out for Cure Moderates rather than just Cure Lights in potion form :)

Surely Jakob is merely complaining that the odds are too fair? - perhaps it should have been six full pirate crews arrayed against us :P

A clear look of respect is shot Kieran's way from several of the Bandu as it appears he plans to face just under a dozen warriors alone.

He will make a worthy sacrifice for Angazhan.

The hell he will. Over Tebati's dead body.

If they want a half-elf, though, there's a fat useless one driving the caravan she'd be happy to let them have at a discount.

:D, to be fair Jeggare's had more impact on the fight than Kieran so far, hes just not appearing to be as suicidal/brave right at this moment...

Plus he's probably the only one who knows exactly how to get where we're going, so I guess he's not technically worthless, even from Tebati's standpoint. Aside from the fact that he's an apologist for Sargava's policy of Mwangi slavery, however, he'd still be way down the priority list from Kieran. Like, on a whole other sheet of paper.

If you want to affect Kieran, Qhude and Ansha you can stand up and 5 foot NW, just a thought :).

He could stand from prone (move action), 5-foot-step (no action), cast (standard action) and fall back prone in his new square (free action).

Kieran's initative is before Jakob's, however, so he'll already have taken off running and be out of the area, regardless. I'll trust that AK's square-counting is right and that Qhude and Ansha could get in on the effect, though.

I went with a 'you snooze you lose' policy there unfortunately for the group- left the question up for a while but I wanted to continue updating so went with original point of casting and wasn't comfortable leaving it ambiguous.

I feel like it will look like I just copied Tebati here, but i've been waiting to use this tactic the entire combat :). The Bandu had a plan to raid this caravan and its in motion...

Aaaand now the back looks a little more blocked off :)

DM AK - are the rocks in front of Qhude just difficult terrain? - or are climb checks involved.

The first 5 feet is difficult terrain, any further needs a climb check. The 'S' line are the uppermost rocks.

With that said, you can effectively find a place to stand on the 5 foot below the S line too, so if you wish you can easily stand at any square of the R and T lines.

Thenjiwee's going to have to bug Jakob for some healing; he can cast a cure light.

DM AK - thanks for the clarification. One last question: if Qhude were to yell something, should that go outside of spoilers? - or with a Perception check for the Westerlings to notice?

I wondered about this, too, if one side was trying to communicate to the other side over the sound of a pitched battle. AK would have to set a Perception DC, I suppose, and then adjust for distance since we don't know exactly how far apart any of us are at any given moment.

Pretty much. Include it within your spoilers and i'll include a perception spoiler for the other side. For our sanity, lets assume sixty feet or less is an auto-pass...

Excellent good - since Qhude is likely to be succumbing to the white heat soonish, it will just be war chants and bellows from him. Will write it up as part of an East side spoiler and let you figure out what if anything makes it through :)

She a good girl from the East Side.

He's a bad boy from the wrong side of the smoke.

Tebati steams up the screen...and the jungle, with her native beauty.

Kieran doesn't know the meaning of danger....He really doesn't. He's kind of weird that way.

Can their love survive when rival tribes want the tear them apart?...literally

See WEST SIDE CARAVAN STORY in Technicolor.

/Movie Voice Guy

Too funny, Meowzebub! :D

Of course, if I remember my musicals right, that story doesn't end too well for Kieran....

But then, Maria wasn't a cleric. ;)

Personally, when I look at the spoilers, I keep wondering, where's Mamie O'Rourke?

heh, I'm DMing six games and playing in 17 others so don't feel like you're depriving me of anything :)

You're nuts, Mark. How do you keep up with it all? Do you have one of those jobs where you're just sitting around watching a computer screen and waiting for an emergency to arise, at which point you swing into action like a superhero?

Is this the moment when I say something like "It's not as bad as it looks... honest"

Not all of them are on a daily update schedule and have more of a slow burn feel to them, so not quite as bad as the numbers make out.

Job does indeed involve sitting in front of a computer screen most of the day (though sadly no superhero requirement) and evenings are reasonably similar (at least after our son has gone to sleep). Might get a bit rougher when our second arrives in a couple of months - but I don't find it takes too much time.

I was kind of hoping you'd stick around so I'd have the chance to play in a game with you. I really like the flavor of your characters, and that you are so willing to not optimize (Qhude's a great example, with his drug addiction).

Actually, that's one of the reasons I've continued to lurk around this game, because everyone's character seems so well thought out.

Job does indeed involve sitting in front of a computer screen most of the day (though sadly no superhero requirement) and evenings are reasonably similar (at least after our son has gone to sleep). Might get a bit rougher when our second arrives in a couple of months - but I don't find it takes too much time.

Figured. My brother-in-law is an electrician at a major airport, and a lot of his work hours are just sitting around waiting for something to break so he can get sent to go fix it. I think he spends most of his time playing Facebook games.

I don't know how you come up with so many character concepts. I guess most gamers have a cast of thousands in their head, just waiting for a chance to get out into a game; I think I have a cast of a dozen, maybe.

I guess most gamers have a cast of thousands in their head, just waiting for a chance to get out into a game; I think I have a cast of a dozen, maybe.

I have like, one character that keeps getting reused. Mainly because the ones she's in die out before I'm done with her. I think something broke in my head when I created Ansha, too.

I suppose I've a few things swirling around in my noggin but I don't really try and pin it down until a game gets opened up. The split is fairly good, I've bards and clerics and oracles and barbarians and a lore warden and a wizard and a daemon and an inquisitor...

Of all of them I probably find Qhude the most difficult to write for as well as one of the more satisfying.

Just a quick FYI - I'll be out of town and away from the internet for about 48 hours from the time of this post. Disappearing into the suburbs for the weekend.

Please take any DMPC actions if required to keep things moving along.

I am only in about 10 PbP's but seven of those are with Mark. Its like that old saying: keep your friends close and good role players even closer.

I seem to be like Mark. I don't shop characters around. Often I would read an announcement, see if the DM is reliable, note those who are applying looking for any troubling submissions, and then see what is not being covered by the submissions....then I usually do nothing. About 12 hours later, a story starts to develop in my mind and I then have to write it down and build the character. My characters are usually suboptimal with a flavor feat in the mix. N'bellocq is one of my more optimized characters, just from knowing this campaign was going to be especially tough. Current circumstances are proving that to have been a wise decision. :-)

"Only." :)

PbP circles are remarkably incestuous, a fact of which I take full advantage whenever possible. I'm no good at character pitches and backgrounds; most of the games I'm in were by invitation by people I've played with before so I didn't have to go through the audition process.

I'm technically in 8 games, although several of them barely have a pulse these days; sadly, a few months ago, they were all I could handle. I lose interest in games pretty quickly when the pace lags: have a hard time getting in character and lose immersion in the storyline until it's just a bunch of dice-rolling.

I haven't had a character concept just come to me in years; they all represent quite a bit of work, and it's frustrating when the character ends up not "clicking" in play. I'm an anti-optimizer and tend to make character-building choices which are virtually useless in-game just because they fit the fluff, so I have a lot of characters I love until initiative is rolled and then spend combat wishing I'd taken the boring pluses over the irrelevant story.* Current circumstances are proving that I'm screwed.** ;)

Personally, I had a hard time keeping my interest in three PbPs at once, let alone eight, ten or seventeen. I'd rather just cling to this one and hope that it lasts for years and years.

EDIT: And I do mean cling.

I hope all the spoilers isn't making everyone crazy. From my end, it makes everything look a lot more dramatic but if its a real pain in the ass for you all i'll think twice before running a situation like this in such a way again.

With a completely straight face I can assure you that the pain in your ass (keeping track of everything + multiple spoilers, etc) is probably much stronger than the pain in mine.

It is a cool way to carry out the fight and makes for some more interesting tactical decisions.

What Qhude said.

While it's driving me crazy not to be able to read them, I like the spoilers. Keeps me from even the possibility of metagaming by knowing what's going on on one side of the smoke or another. We're almost as much in the dark as our characters are.

I presume it will be okay to go back and read them all once the battle's over?

I agree. If you can pull it off, it is definitely worth it. Enjoying it immensely.

Yeah you can read them all once the fights over.

Not an issue from my end, I quite enjoy it although its time consuming. Only major derp was I forgot to have the warriors on the rocks act one of the rounds- lucky Qhude.

Managed to lose my post despite my Lazarus plugin thanks to an unexpected shutdown... Will get something up much later after I sleep.

Oooooh AK - you do know how to make a tempting offer ;)