So far I'm considering having Tobias take a quick carriage back home to see if he can work his Docker roommate for any relevant information before taking the boat to the Pine Island docks and searching there.
Was thinking that maybe somewhere near the East Bank might be a good meeting point for either the dockers and the cloudwood rebels bands if they both happen to actually be involved in this weapons deal but that's all I've got so far. Not sure where other people are planning to go, so I'd figured I'd give my opinion and maybe get the ball rolling.
As I have a couple of things going on for the next couple of nights in addition to work, I'll say that I'd like to give us a mini-hiatus until Friday night to sort out what you each want to do here in Discussion. Then I'll need to roll forward with as much as you all are providing for me.
As an added incentive for rooting this smuggling deal on the night of 3 Summer, it appears IF you can succeed in this aspect of your mission that the party will gain 3rd Level! So that's something to look forward to.
Is there anyone interested in going to interview Ford Sorghum and Travis Starter with Gemma?
If the DM says there is enough time to scout around Pine Island and visit the Goodson's Estuarial Reformatory then Emerson would go with you.
I'll go around interviewing with Gemma. Gotta watch out for more assassination attempts. ;)
For those going to Goodson's Estuarial Reformatory, you're gonna like this one - the prison is actually a refitted prison barge and is anchored in Lower Flint Bay just off the Pine Island shoreline. You can only get to it by boat. Neat!
Sounds like we can kill two birds with that one stone.
We probably won't have to split up at all.
After reviewing the past week's discussion ideas and such, how about I run the short-term split as follows:
* Jesselle, Tobias, Anneca: Info Gathering in Pine Island District
* Gemma, Emerson, Fethryth: Visit Goodson's Estuarial Reformatory (prison barge)
Sounds good? I'll calculate the times for you and get each group started - obviously the group doing Info Gathering will need to each specifically state their Diplomacy: Info Gathering specifics and then make a roll for 1d4 hours of work.
I'll then say you all will meet up on the East Bank of the Stray River District, where you can plan next-steps from there.
Anneca's got pretty poor Diplomacy skills, so she might be better off trading with Emerson (+8). I think her high Intimidate would be better-used at a prison barge.
Jesselle and I should be able to handle diplomacy on Pine Island, I have +10, think she has +9, so I wouldn't worry too much about that Anneca, but I can definitely see how your intimidate might work better in the prison barge.
Sounds good all! My apologies for the delay in getting the scene going, but working on it now and I'll go for the 4/2 split there.
I will be posting after work today.
I'll be posting tonight - the group at Goodson's will have a bit of a skill encounter challenge in fact!
All right! Anneca has started the skill encounter challenge at Goodson's Estuarial Reformatory with Ford Sorghum - let's have Fethryth or Gemma post in for Round 1 as Anneca's partner. Emerson will be on the other group for Travis Starter with Round 1. Good?
Well, this round did not go my way. I was wondering, could I try something a little unorthodox next round? I have a small bottle of brandy as part of my Chirurgeon’s Kit. If I offered him a drink could I get a bonus to my roll?
Anneca - Fethryth - Ford Sorghum (Round 1 finished, Goal 1 succeeded!)
Emerson - Gemma - Travis Starter (not started yet)
@Fethryth: Well you certainly can (and it may affect the DC for second goal), so Fethryth can still be pertinent to this interrogation.
I'll run a post to summarize the Goal 1 / Round 1 elements with Ford Sorghum, and then lay out what Goal 2 entails...
Keeping the dialog going but waiting for Gemma's roll before I continue.
I want to double check something. Since I failed to establish Rapport does that mean I have to try and do it again before I move on to Goal Two? Or does Anneca's success cover for me as well?
I want to double check something. Since I failed to establish Rapport does that mean I have to try and do it again before I move on to Goal Two? Or does Anneca's success cover for me as well?
Good question! It's a team effort, so per the challenge encounter if one constable makes the check it counts as a success for the round, even if the other fails.
Are we allowed to use Aid Another in this challenge?
Are we allowed to use Aid Another in this challenge?
Sure! If that's how you want to play your round, that's acceptable.
Looking to catch up some posts tonight after a long weekend away. The Anneca & Fethryth encounter challenge appears to be won, so I just need to get you some posts back and forth on what you want to glean from him. For Emerson & Gemma, it appears Gemma has to make a good Sense Motive check or they will not extract any info yet in Round 2 for their interrogation.
So to be honest, I'm having some trouble sorting out how to give Tobias and Jesselle something, as it seems too general in what they're looking for to me. So I don't want to have them spend another 1d4 hours only to find a random "smuggler" of widgets that won't give them anything useful. I'll see what I can spin on this creatively later this evening.
My intent was to work my way, through conversation from a general "shipping" query to hinting that I might need arms for something. The purpose was to be general since going into a bar that seems unwelcoming and asking about high profile illegal smuggling operations seemed like a bad idea.
If you have a better idea, or a suggestion I'd be more than happy to follow that instead.
My intent was to work my way, through conversation from a general "shipping" query to hinting that I might need arms for something. The purpose was to be general since going into a bar that seems unwelcoming and asking about high profile illegal smuggling operations seemed like a bad idea.
If you have a better idea, or a suggestion I'd be more than happy to follow that instead.
I'm struggling with it, but that's really on me to be a bit more creative. Let me see if I can give you and Jesselle something to work with.
Updating soon to bring you all back together
To all players--Gemma's inclination would be to try and find this House Elf person next. Thoughts?
Definately. I think it would lead to the location we're looking for.
Sandbox in PbP is hard, and though I think you all could chat with each other a bit more in Discussion on it, I think you've all moved things along pretty well. We're on the cusp of some neat stuff, so in the interests of that I've put you all back together and moved you forward a bit with some successful rolls/checks to put you in front of the locale of 'The House Elf' in the northernmost section of Pine Island. It's assumed you all have filled each other in on what you've discovered. Also, you still have Ian Smithe and the Audacious moored at the Pine Island Docks waiting for you, watching over the two prisoners that were freed from Goodson's Estuarial Reformatory.
So I'm thinking some of us should go in the House Elf shop while some stay outside looking for any suspicious activity. What do the rest of you think?
I think that's a solid plan. 3 go in, 3 stay out?
I'm a little bit gone this week, so feel free to skip past me if necessary.
Stella knocked out our power. At a friend's for now but we should hopefully have it back by tonight. Will update as soon as I can.
Stella knocked out our power. At a friend's for now but we should hopefully have it back by tonight. Will update as soon as I can.
Eesh. Good luck there!
I'm a little bit gone this week, so feel free to skip past me if necessary.
Well the good news is that Anneca's outside the place, so not much going on out there at the moment!
You know, I picked spells specifically to psychically charm people into helping us but I've been terrible about actually getting in on those scenes, my abysmal post rate doesn't help. I apologize for that and will make astronger effort to increase my post rate.
If it's any consolation, the campaign is moving from this rather open-ended investigation & discovery on the day of the 3rd, to an action & encounter flavor as we get to the evening. So everyone make sure you're up on your powers and items and spells, because the afternoon/evening/night of the 3rd should be interesting!
The question right now is, can you defeat/catch/subdue 'The House Elf' and his allies? Like most Zeitgeist encounters, there's a lot going on in this one!
I plan on getting my post in this evening.
Okay...that could have gone horribly wrong for Gemma!!! Whew!!
Is there any additional planking that we can throw on top of the trap door panels?
Also, does the save DC change since we know the traps are there?
Is there any additional planking that we can throw on top of the trap door panels?
Also, does the save DC change since we know the traps are there?
No extra planking, but an Acrobatics DC 10 check to pass by each of these squares will do it, though a failure will force a Reflex DC 15 save as if the trap is tripped. I'll post that in the next set of combat notes.
Danisca Wareye is visible to Gemma and Emerson correct?
Danisca Wareye is visible to Gemma and Emerson correct?
They are now ... my initial call for dim light over there was that Emerson wasn't fully up on the second floor and adjusted to conditions up there, but with Gemma moving forward and the wife moving closer I'm just declaring normal light conditions. Technically there are not light sources up there, but the main workshop room below the planks is illuminated.
Note that Danisca had a readied action last round, which is why she now goes ahead of Emerson in the round order.
Well, if I'm going to have two enemies roll 20's against me on the same round they might as well be badgers. xD
Honey Badger don't care!
Normally I'm not holding exact initiative order in our combats, but I think it makes sense that Emerson should go first to end the round before Gemma kicks off the next round.
@Emerson: So don't forget that Fethryth has given Emerson her Skyseer insight boon for this combat. He needs to choose Attack Roll, Saving Throw or Skill Check and roll a d20 for it, which he then can opt to use in place of rolling that check. Obviously if it's a poor roll he won't use it. It's like 'Hero Point Lite' in that you have to choose the specific type of roll and roll it ahead of time and pocket it for the remainder of the combat.
Updates to the combat tonight after work!
Okay gang, let's start speeding up these combat rounds a bit. Due to some circumstances it appears you're going to have a long encounter, so I want to increase the pace here.
I'll be able to update posts tomorrow (Wednesday) night, and then Friday evening followed by Sunday morning, so those are my windows of opportunity to advance Round 4 into Round 5.
I'll be home tonight around 8 EST, should have a post up a little after that.
Cool, I will do some prep but hold for that
My appointment tonight cancelled, so I'll be able to update tonight when I get off work.