DM Vord's Zeitgeist Act I - Portents of a Starry Sky

Game Master Vorduvai

Ifris is throwing a grenade and Willem needs healing while he helps with the oil. That arrow salvo did not help.

DM Vord, are the hand grenades timed based or impact based?

Can Willem help with the oil with just strength? He currently does not have Engineering or Soldier.

So Zeitgeist friends, as of today I am starting a massive conversion for my company to transfer data and infrastructure over to a new company as part of a merger process. I'm eager to write up the final results and scenes of our epic struggle here on Axis Island to get everyone finally together and to the final third chapter, but it may be sporadic here over the next few days. We'll see if I can't eek out the final results of Axis Round 10 today, and then I'm working on getting your scene changed with you all coming together at last. Bear with me!

I already feel your pain IT wise.

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm having computer issues so I'm stuck posting from my phone. Please bot me as necessary.

Looking to get some time tonight to get the story moving again! I appreciate your patience as I work through some major project stuff this weekend.

No problem. We know how it is.

I'll write more tomorrow evening to narrate the finale of the fleet making harbor and landing marines at the lighthouse, but in the meantime you may post if you'd like with what has already been written before you - whether on ship or in the lightouse. No more combat actions are needed at this point, so you can be descriptive and flavorful, but don't start up any more combat rounds please.

Woot! Okay so...uhh...so you can talk to each other now if you want...

So this can go any number of ways...I'm VERY interested in seeing how you all play out what is a PIVOTAL discussion for all the characters going forward. I would encourage all the players to really get into this one with both frequency and good role-playing of your characters, and make this scene shine! The characters are all elite constables of the R.H.C., though obviously they are coming into this from very different perspectives.

I will continue to role-play Ifris and Johnathan (and Rutger Smith heh) on this, as I understand their motivations and intentions most clearly.

The only thing I'll say game-mechanics-wise for now is that neither Ifris nor Johnathan can be intimidated into submission.

Sorry all, I tried to post yesterday but Jess got one in that made my post sound weird so I deleted it and Paizo's network can not handle the Twitch load so it seemed every time I tried to post, the Boards were seriously lagging. I will post today if I am unhindered.

Having some issues with my ISP wich is making things twice as difficult to get a decent post in on top of Paizo being awfully fickle the last few days. I should hopefully have a post in later today if all goes well.

I am sure Willem would have remember the second part of the mission but I certainly don't ... lol. Too long ago and too many things going on ... lol

No worries:)
We were told to find Nathan Jierre (Lady Jierre's nephew or cousin, I think) and make sure he made it back safely. That was from her specifically but I was under the assumption that it was part and parcel with freeing Axis Island. Hence "We're not goin' anywhere for a while" thoughts.

So I'm waiting for all PC's to chime in after this last round of NPC interactions, particularly since I owed some spoilers due to rolls and recent interactions and such. Due to Gemma's last post I may NPC Captain Smith here real quick, but the conversation is still open to all.

Had a work delay and so will post tonight to get you all going again to post-dawn of 13 Spring!

So this is the final and smallest chapter of the first adventure in the AP, at the conclusion of which there is NOT a level increase. Because of this I've been thinking of what incentives would give you a nice conclusion to the first adventure that has admittedly run long. So when we finish out the events of 13 Spring and end the first adventure, I'll be doling out the following:
* Another stipend increase (a good one, this is planned by the AP before going into the second module)
* Full replenishment of Hero Points! Some of you don't have any (Emerson cough), but if you do you can have fun using one or both of them, as I'll replenish you back to two for completing this epic mission.
* A special PC boon (which I will keep secret for now until you complete the adventure).

My review of this last chapter is that it "could" take one real month to close out, perhaps three weeks, but it depends of course on all of our posts as well as a few choices made in-game.

Now that everyone is together I'm encouraging you to post with an eye to character-to-character interactions as well as to me and the NPC interactions, as you'll all be working together in Flint Branch for the second adventure. The rest of Spring season passes as an interim before the second adventure's start in Flint, but the groundwork interactions you lay down now would be helpful.

Hey all I want to apologize for not posting the last few days. I have hardly been in a mood to be on my computer let alone write/post. I got laid off from my job Monday so I am no dealing with that (the hurt, anger, panic, etc.) and attempting to find a new job as fast as I can knowing that it does not work as fast I as I would like it too.

So if I am not all with it the next few weeks, that's why. I will try to post more as I am feeling it.

Eesh. Well Songdragon I can definitely understand the feelings around that, and I appreciate the disclosure here. It's definitely hard to work creative writing when you've got situations like that going on, so no worries here.

I think everyone has kept up their end of the "bargain" so to speak in the posting - I'm just excited to see you all gel and move forward with your characters in the story. For me, Zeitgeist is a tremendous RP experience, but of course with unexpected flame-outs by 3 of 4 prior players it has not been able to hit full stride. The story is more complicated than other AP's by far, so it also requires certain players that can RP a wide variety of scenarios effectively and care about nuance. I think we finally have that now, so I'm keen to see how it progresses from this point.

It's OK, real life first!

Although not even nearly as important as your situation Jess, my firewall video card burnt out the night before so I spent most of last night trying to see if it was really burnt out or it just had become unseated from heat. In addition, I tried another older video card and still no dice. I ended up booting the computer without a video card to get my internet back online without having to re-IP a lot of things and move cabling around. Lucky for me, the Firewall Software has a GUI interface and secure shell command line as a back-up. Lastly, I had to order a new and cheap video card.

Today at work I have to call Cisco Technical Assistance Center because an upgrade did not go well and I need to find out if it is a bug or I did something wrong.

Hi Jess. Sorry to hear about that. I've been in your shoes so I know first hand the challenges. I pray things will get better for you quickly.

So sorry to hear that Songdragon:(
Hope all gets better for you quickly!

Just a note to remember the rules of the R.H.C. as it relates to recovered items during a mission or investigation. As you cannot easily turn recovered goods right now to a R.H.C. Branch quartermaster's office, you can certainly use what you've recovered on your mission. However, if you want to keep it permanently you must allocate stipend funds to it. Otherwise, it gets turned in to the quartermaster armories and storerooms. What we'll do after this first adventure is to keep a list of any special goodies that get turned in BUT that you may want to requisition for later when you have more stipend funds to work with.

Of course, if you use up a consumable before it is turned back in, well that's just using what you need to perform the mission! For items recovered as well as "extras" you were given to perform the mission, you should asterisk (*) them in your profile or otherwise indicate they were recovered or assigned, so that you know what has to get turned back into the R.H.C. when appropriate.

Finally, if any of you are trying to intentionally "skim off the top" and keep something of value that should be turned in and reported to R.H.C., please PM me so that I can keep track of that. Be warned, however - remember that the Noses are always watching!

I'm really sorry to hear that songdragon. Take the time that you need, real life comes first. I hope you find a new, better job soon!

Updating the scene tonight - you'll have time at that point to dispense out the rest of the items you've acquired and identified, so perhaps any discussions of that can occur here beforehand if/as desired.

For using recovered items and with the difficulties of having everyone talk it out in PbP, let's say that unless there is a contested item that players need to talk about in discussion, you can add it to your character profile - please use a (*) or heading denoting its temporary status as I've seen Tobias and Anneca have on their profiles.

After this first adventure I will come up with an "items recovered but not claimed in the quartermaster's" kind of sheet, which you all can use to requisition items later when you have more stipend funds. Since we're not doing a classic party loot distribution concept I don't think we need a loot-split spreadsheet.

So far it looks like:
Willem: 1 CLW Potion, Sorkana's cloak of elvenkind, Sorkana's ring of feather falling
Emerson: bag of marbles
Anneca: arcane scrolls (?)
Jesselle: Ilton's Boots of Elvenkind, Sorkana's MW dagger, antitoxin, bag of marbles
Fethryth: eladrin book of poetry (no turn-in need)
Tobias: none yet
Gemma: none yet

There are still 3x CLW Potions, the 1x Gaseous Form Potion, and the sneezing powder. I'm assuming the small-sized armor/blade and the poisoned normal daggers are items the constables aren't trying to use, though that's a guess of course!

If it's okay, Gemma would like a CLW potion and the sneezing powder

EDIT: Given the way the story has moved in the last couple of days, Anneca and Fethryth can consider their mage armor to still be in effect right now.

Many thanks, I was wondering about that :)

I'd actually like to take the poisoned daggers. It's highly unlikely that the greenblood oil would kill that eladrin but it might slow him down.

I'll post tonight since I can not move my piece right now.

Had some work issues last night, so looking to get things going tonight once I get home.

So we know when Anneca, Tobias, Willem and Emerson are out of the effect and will be able to act. Jesselle is close but needs to see if she can get out in her Round 3. Fethryth and Gemma need to see when they get out starting in their Round 2 actions.

Once I know this, we'll be able to resume combat starting in Round 2 with who is able to act.

Thank you, I thought you only rolled (1) save

Yeah, it's kind of tricky, and technically the save "should" occur during the start of Ghillie Dhu's turn IF you are still in the area of effect, though for PbP that really forces it to be drawn out. So it's kind of like this:

Something like that. Fun!!!

Okay, so just Fethryth to see how Round 3+ goes to get out of the effect, and Gemma needs to conduct her egress actions as well starting from Round 2.

Though we're still waiting to know if Fethryth gets out of the entangle effect on her Round 3 turn (just go ahead and post that when ready), I have Round 2 prepped and ready to go, which I'll post in the morning. Tobias is in the hedges but cannot act in Round 2, and the air elemental has taken its turn in accordance with Anneca's Round 1 instructions. Anneca will be the only PC to act in Round 2.

If there's no threat, Anneca will just make her way around the radius of the entangled area, working towards AS25. So if you want to just have her move and go straight to Round 3, that's fine. It should take her one round to get to AW24 and a move action in Round 3 to get to AS27.

If there's no threat, Anneca will just make her way around the radius of the entangled area, working towards AS25. So if you want to just have her move and go straight to Round 3, that's fine. It should take her one round to get to AW24 and a move action in Round 3 to get to AS27.

I already had the Round 2 post ready to go, but I can always post that action tonight when I get Round 3 going.

At this point everyone can post free-action speech if they'd like - certainly you can shout and try to coordinate as you all try to get out of the entangle spell.

If you are considering an action that would disrupt/delay your entry into the rounds, please PM me so we can coordinate the impact to the overall combat.

Apologies...not going to ret-con it but Gemma is not out of the entangle but she would have still spoken out and said what she did regarding Anneca and Tobias.

Xynen just checking - isn't Tobias at 6/19 hp after that sneak strike by Blixx?

OUCH! Feel the love Tobias? ... :-)

Hey all, I took the deep plunge and no longer play MMOs, I ended my SWTOR subscription on March 8th. Of course, I can not completely give up computer gaming and play single player games like XCOM 2 and Fallout 4 but at least I don't have to worry about schedules and the endless grinding ... :-)

Yes that's correct. New laptop and the number pad is smaller than I'm used to. Thanks for catching that, of course now my HP is accurately reflected so that's fun.

Okay so in looking at Emerson's turn (from AR36), I'm going to rule that it stands as written. Technically it was a -2 out of the first range increment (25' for pistol shot), but Point-Blank Shot would add in another +1 hit/ +1 damage. Due to the height of the fey on top of the hedge and its tiny size (and the rule of cool), I'm going to rule that firing into melee penalty won't apply here. So Blixx is at -2 hp.

Now for everyone who has ranged weapons and doesn't have Precise Shot, please make sure you understand the penalties for a normal "firing into melee" penalty and how it applies (though it doesn't in this particular case).

Yes that's correct. New laptop and the number pad is smaller than I'm used to. Thanks for catching that, of course now my HP is accurately reflected so that's fun.

I'm rooting for ya! Be careful though, as these fey play for keeps :)

OUCH! Feel the love Tobias? ... :-)

Hey all, I took the deep plunge and no longer play MMOs, I ended my SWTOR subscription on March 8th. Of course, I can not completely give up computer gaming and play single player games like XCOM 2 and Fallout 4 but at least I don't have to worry about schedules and the endless grinding ... :-)

Congratulations Anderlorn!

Honestly, as Cromlich and I could attest to since 2011, it's a great decision and a liberating experience to get away from MMO's. I wrestled with it for quite a bit, but ultimately I found it was a profound change to let me do things that were more fulfilling to me...including getting enjoyment out of PbP's and creative writing as a more healthy fulfillment of free time. I did play a lot of Skyrim though, and a bit of Civ from time to time, but as you stated its easy to hit the pause button on non-MMO games.

Cheers!
Vord

Yes, that is something that I will never do again. I think playing MMO's was the closest thing I could compare to substance abuse without actually taking drugs. Glad you kicked the habit.

Yeah yeah, just blow away poor little Blixxy! He didn't do anything to you (well, actually, yeah he did) and was just playin'...just playin' with thorns and spears and things!

I wanted to extend this link to an earlier discussion post on a group-based real-time messaging option for the game. Strictly optional of course, but sometimes communicating in a group message chat can be quicker/easier than posting for certain game questions or coordination elements. Right now there are three players plus myself in the message group. If interested just PM me!

Yeah yeah, just blow away poor little Blixxy! He didn't do anything to you (well, actually, yeah he did) and was just playin'...just playin' with thorns and spears and things!

It would have been sooner if I knew I could act even if I was off the map. But it is cool, Blixxy is still dead... :-)

The constables can (a) head up the body-filled main stairs up to the fourth-story observatory level, (b) use the key and access the southern service balcony to head up to the roof from the tower’s exterior, (c) split up and do both or (d) run away in cowardly shame to wait for the marines. What do you decide to do?

D ... Run away like a screaming little spoiled girl or momma's boy ... ;-)

My real vote is A because that may force the attacker into a (2) front war which almost equals a loss every time. In addition, we can use the bodies as cover depending on how they fell and perhaps reloads for our weapons. I know, Willem only sees the dead as a tool ... shame on him ... lol

Gemma's vote is for A. Any chance to kill something at this point. She feels jipped with Gillie Dhu.