So, let me make sure I understand what's going on in the IC thread:
1) We've gotten briefed on the booty by the Pathfinder.
2) Derek has come back from defeating a gargoyle, and has the offer of the gladiatorial pit combat.
3) We can talk to the Erinyes head.
4) We're turning the corpus of the Shadow Mastiff over to someone.
5) We're about to talk to a sisterhood of assassins.
6) We've got a manorial meeting (that I don't remember the particulars to) to go to.
Which of these options are we doing? :) I don't need a justification - they all sound fun! I just need to know which head space I need to be in. :)
I think we're hand-waiving turning over the shadow beast corpse. Appario mentioned doing it. I think we need to wait to be contacted by whoever asked us to do it in the first place.
The manorial meeting was just a random rumor. It did not seem to have any connections to anything yet. I don't know how important it is to much.
Currently we're checking with the assassin cult to see about getting the Pathfinder remains they have. Hopefully they'll agree to just sell them to us or trade them to us. Afterward I suggest we look for the Pathfinder loot.
Tomorrow I'd like to do the gladiator thing.
The day after, Delvehaven!
OK - I had assumed we were going sneaky-style into the assassin cult building, hence my most recent post....
I think the plan is, if the assassins shut down our request and don't immediately attack us you ninja-types can sneak in and get what we need.
Besides it doesn't hurt to hide some of our forces during negotiations in case things turn to violence.
It's hard to roleplay creatures with an Int of 4.. It probably shouldn't even have known what ashes or urns were :)
Int 4 is rough.
'Pots' would have been a good word too.
Pots would have been better :)
In case someone is unaware of Golarion-months and -years: Pharast and Erastus are months, equivalent to March and July. 4622 is a year, and the current year is 4709.
Very old dead people.
Did you sleep at all last night?
I did, eventually, but that reminds me I really should be going to bed now :)
Operation:Sneaky would have been easier with the potion of gaseous form you found in the demiplane, but sold off :)
(you would have needed to buy one more in order to pick up the proper urn, of course, but the encounter would have become trivially easy)
For what it's worth, I'd prefer the PC-centric plan rather than the NPC-centric plan; I don't want the NPCs to be stealing the spotlight!
Livia would make for a good backup plan in case Yahirma's plan backfires or falls apart, though.
I tend to agree, that's why I asked.
But Derek started it and Maddok is a man of action!
Someone would have to tell Livia what they want her to do, in any case (all Derek did was say she was useful to have around). A lot of half-formed plans have been thrown around IC, and the last one that was properly expressed involved her helping Appario :)
Done!
By the way, the diplomacy plan would have worked perfectly if Derek's original attempt had instead suggested they had an assassination target and wanted the Sisters to handle it, or that they wanted to schedule a cremation :)
(I'm pretty sure most places that hold urns nowadays wouldn't be likely to sell them to anyone who came knocking either! Of course, the fact that the Sisters of Eiseth are particularly fanatical about keeping their urns doesn't help.)
When honesty fails trickery will have to suffice!
Speaking of trickery, it's time for me to catch up on posts and draft a tricky bit of bluffing wordcraft.
Edit: Oh no! Did my workday push us towards an alternate plan?
Edit: Oh no! Did my workday push us towards an alternate plan?
Something did, but I'm not sure what, exactly. I was looking forward to seeing what Yahirma could come up with :/
Ah well. I can return later with some of the others to swindle them out of their Asmodean riches at a later time.
I don't know about you guys but this whole situation seems to be dragging, badly. This seems like a silly thing to lose momentum on. I'm starting to feel as stir crazy as Maddok.
If this functions exactly the same as Speak with Dead we're looking at five questions. In the interest of moving things along here are some suggestions.
1. What is the Delvehaven Oath?
2. What defenses were put in place after Thrune occupied Delvehaven?
3. How can those defenses be bypassed?
4. Is the artifact Bisby brought back still in Delvehaven?
5. Where is the artifact within Delvehaven?
1. What is the Delvehaven Oath?
2. What defenses were put in place after Thrune occupied Delvehaven?
3. How can those defenses be bypassed?
4. Is the artifact Bisby brought back still in Delvehaven?
5. Where is the artifact within Delvehaven?
Great questions.
I've just had a busy weekend. Back now, but not sure I should be the one to activate and use the candle. However, now that I think about it, I could - there is no reason why not. However, it wouldn't necessarily be in character.
Maddok, if the others don't chime within a reasonable time period, I'm happy to just do it.
This definitely isn't the kind of thing Maddok would initiate.
Breaking down doors - Sure.
Hitting something in the face - Probably.
Activating a crazy magic item to commune with dead people he has no direct relation to - Not so much.
With some of those questions in mind, I should be able to initiate.
More: Depending upon what we know of our ashes' alignment, somebody else might want to instigate. The Speak with Dead ability grants a Will save to avoid answering questions if the caster's alignment is different from that of the spirit. I can bring this up in character.
Good catch on that, Yahirma.
One of the reasons why this has slowed down a bit is because Are has been busy too.
I don't think we have any way to discerning the pathfinder's alignment. Just give it a shot.
I think Are has been around. He's just been waiting on us to actually do something.
I think Are has been around. He's just been waiting on us to actually do something.
Yes, but it didn't help that I was too tired when I came home last night to check if any progress had been made, which would probably have helped matters.. Beyond that, I've checked in several times each day.
By the way, as for the questions to ask: Any questions related to things happening when Thrune sealed Delvehaven would be wasted. That happened about 30 years ago, while Coriana Heavenscape died about 100 years ago.
(Ailyn said earlier that she didn't think the dead Pathfinders would have much useful information about how to get into Delvehaven, but they would probably have useful information about the areas Thrune couldn't breach).
Remember also that speak with dead uses the deceased person's actual memories from when he/she was alive.
I'll be heading out to work within about half an hour, so other may feel free to ask another question or two in that time. I figure we'll need to refine the list of questions a little to adjust for Coriana's time of death.
Based on her first response, a possible replacement question: When we recover the Venture Captain's remains, how would you prefer the two of you be laid to rest?
I still need a contact email for Derek.
Just so you guys have an idea of what to look forward to:
That leaves one question, so make it count!
Maddok, that link only leads to a login screen; you might want to make it public :)
I didn't make it public because I didn't want the whole internet stealing my picture quite yet. =P
I flagged it to allow you guys to access it by email. You should be able to view it by logging in with your yahoo address.
Looks like the forums are back up.
If the link I gave above doesn't work after you login with your yahoo address, I'll go ahead and just make it public.
Sorry, not been paying much attention to the OOC for a bit, a contact email eh? But I don't have a yahoo address.
It doesn't have to be a yahoo address. That's just what Are had.
I just need a contact email address from you.
That was a well-timed Shield, heh.
Look at those damage rolls!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
For those of you in non-Thanksgiving celebrating countries, Happy Thursday!
That was a well-timed Shield, heh.
Look at those damage rolls!
That was exactly what I thought, too :)
It ended up not being important for this round, but here's a bit of rules interpretation to contemplate:
"Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, it takes only half damage from a corporeal source (except for channel energy). Although it is not a magical attack, holy water can affect incorporeal undead. Corporeal spells and effects that do not cause damage only have a 50% chance of affecting an incorporeal creature."
Would the application of a feat such as Command Undead be subject to the miss chance seeing as it is also a use of Channel Energy?
I considered that, but ended up going for the "spells and effects that do not cause damage only have a 50% chance", since the exception for channel energy is only listed for damage-dealing sources.
I'm not sure if that's the correct interpretation, or if all uses of channel energy should be exempt from reduction and miss chances, but it seems to fit the language.
Maddok/Feral has a friend who's interested in joining our game, but I'd like input from everyone before inviting him. So, let me know if you think an additional player would be a good thing or if you'd rather not have more players than we currently do.
The suggested character is a cleric of Abadar, based around ranged weaponry, magical support, and strong knowledge skills in almost all areas.
The player has been in a couple of other PBPs, and has posted frequently and well in those.
As an example, he played Daxter in this Cult of the Ebon Destroyers game.
Another quality player is always welcome - though I am finding that for a campaign that ostensibly requires people to check in once a day, I pretty much have to keep this thread open on a browser tab and hit "Refresh" about twice an hour.
Which is fine when it's slow, but it's murder when I'm supposed to be doing my job - which involves generating a lot of text elsewhere.
It's...disheartening...to come back to this campaign and find that it's got 73 unread messages since my last post in the morning and I'm checking in the evening.
I'm still pondering this.
My initial desire to keep the group we have. I prefer smaller groups and like the dynamics and relationships we've built. It's taken us a while to get to this point and I want to enjoy it more.
It should be also said that I know the proposed new player (having played the entire Eyes of the Ten retirement arc with him) and know he's a good player and will be an active and responsive poster.
I would welcome the proposed new player as a replacement if someone were to leave.
It's...disheartening...to come back to this campaign and find that it's got 73 unread messages since my last post in the morning and I'm checking in the evening.
It's funny to see that as a complaint. Most people on these boards would kill for a game that moves at the healthy pace we keep up most of the time. I actually like waking up and seeing that a bunch of progress has been made since I was away. I wholly understand real life responsibilities taking priority over a silly game but its unfair to ask four to five other people to stop having fun because one person has work/familial obligations/vacation/whatever.
I tend to agree with liking smaller groups more (my preference is actually even smaller groups - three or four people) but I believe the person I'm recommending will add a lot to the game and it worth giving him a chance.
It's worth mentioning that he's actually turned down a couple other CoT games because he wanted to get in on this one - largely because of the amazing progress we make.
I tend to require a fair bit of time to develop a sense of how I fit into a party and how the characters interact. Now that I have a strong idea of where Yahirma fits into not only the group but the setting, the prospect of shaking up the pool a bit is accompanied by a dose of wariness.
In retrospect I am impressed by how well Maddok and Yahirma were incorporated and welcomed into this game. Another game I was in recently was declared inactive. Partly this was because the players did not post often. In part it may have resulted from opening recruiting to drive more energy into the game. This brought in characters that conceptually overlapped with existing characters, and the party dynamic/feel shifted in an uncomfortable way. Another game I took part in died in a related way.
I bring this up because I would prefer to avoid casting such ripples into our growing web of relationships. Having two Abadarans might work out, but I also value Appario's role as "The Abadaran" - the unquestionable recipient of all questions relating to money and market strategies.
Ultimately, I feel alright with either route. There will be some shifting and adjusting if another character enters the scene, but I can hardly say no to having a cleric on hand to handle the divine utility spells.
It leaves me more room to pick up wacky magical tricks.
Are, Derek, Semenya, and Appario did an amazing job of integrating Maddok and Semenya into the game. I browse the boards quite a bit and I believe ours is the best one going. I know we can continue this trend even with a new character.
I believe inactivity or low activity is the death of play-by-post games. I don't think any game can ever suffer from players that are too enthusiastic or post too much. I wouldn't worry about that being the case with this game.
I also don't believe you have to worry about there being too much overlap with Peter's character (that's his name) either conceptually or mechanically. Our second Abadaran will have some decidedly different views on the teachings of Abadar from Appario. I ran Peter's character by Appario first-most and we predict some hilarious debates on the values of 5% interest rates over 7% interest rates.
I also agree that spreading out the divine support/utility would be great for Yahirma. I'd like to see her focus more on her wacky voodoo/spirit tricks.
Also I updated the loot document with a second tab that has the stuff we've recovered since the knot for those of you, like myself, that has a hard time keeping track of those things.
I welcome good, strong players. I am cautious about disrupting group dynamics.
So, my vote is "cautiously in favor."
I also wouldn't mind - from Semenya's backstory perspective - having Del Vane show up again as an NPC and person who relays information to folks. (Del was one of the original six players, of whom Derek and I are the remaining two.)
Also I updated the loot document with a second tab that has the stuff we've recovered since the knot for those of you, like myself, that has a hard time keeping track of those things.
A link to Maddok's loot spreadsheet can now be found in my profile and in the Campaign Info tab :)
wand of divination (13 charges)
Oh, the world just became a brighter place. I do love Divination and divinations.
I'll have a think about it tomorrow, Sundays are good for considering.
After a bit more consideration, I think I'd prefer not to add another member, but would be overly sad if we did.
My reasons are thus:
1) I really like the dynamic and group that we have.
2) I would worry for pacing and the ability of everybody to participate and contribute if we added another quick poster to the group. Already, we move quite quickly at times, but I don't want the lower rate posters to feel like they are missing out or feel overwhelmed by the rate of posts when they come back.
I don't share Maddok's fear that this game will disintegrate for lack of posts, but I think it's more likely that some players will feel annoyed by overposting and their inability to contribute because things might go too fast.
On a side note, although I can see some humor in having two Abadarans in the group, it would my preference to have them come in with a different deity/focus. Upon thinking of it moreso, I really like the freedom I have in interpreting and creating Appario's vision of Abadar's domains and don't want to have my shtick (admittedly, this is somewhat selfish) stepped on.
I, of course, will acquiesce to the will of the group and DM Are and appreciate the opportunity to express my opinion.