I'm half-tempted to tell them we attempted to summon a Succubus for our Boys night, then negotiations deteriorated :P
But I think that would not be a good idea.
Certain neighborhoods of Bannerhold. Though I should say this man has a "don't be so loud" look on his face as well.
DC 5 seems rather low to me -- perhaps we were envisioning different windows? I was thinking of one of those multi-pane models where no individual piece of glass is more than about 4x6 inches. Particularly since she wasn't violently smashing it, I don't think it would make all that much noise.
Though I'll readily grant that it might depend on how far the pieces fall and whether they hit a solid surface at the bottom. I went over and over my inventory looking for something sticky or any way to keep the bits from falling down and just had nothing at all that would work.
And yes, Mel will be happy to put a point in Disable Device, just as soon as we level again. So, that may take a while. Last level was just over a calendar year, if I recall correctly.
Condition 1:
Condition 2:
Of course, it's not optimal, but it serves it's purpose - can't add another layer AFAIK, though.
Window: That said, you DO have a candle on you. You could use some wax to attach it to the window, then use it as a handle - even if you push it in, it should not fall down and give you a chance to place it on the window sill.
Maybe a 50% chance for that to work?(Failure indicating that the pressure applied weakened the connection and the piece of glass fell down anyway.)
Huh! Good tip. The BBCode implementation on this site is ... quixotic.
The candle is a good idea, though of course it's too late now.
Also, I think that the candles I bought are at the house currently. I'll be sure to grab a couple of those later and stash them in the haversack.
For what it is worth Harold does have a pretty good disable device, but rolled terribly. Feel free to grab some though!
Mel's shopping list:
Mel, I do like those ideas and they may very well come in handy. But I did say you can use the retraining rules to retrain a skill point as well.
Yup! I saw that.
In the name of clarity, let me just say it straight out: I don't like revising characters once they're in play.
Adding new things is fine. That lets you show growth and development. But I dislike altering things that have already happened, because that's changing not just who they are, but who they were.
So, as you can probably surmise based on that, I'm not really a fan of the retraining rules. I have no quarrel with people who like them, but they're just not my cup of tea.
Well, just to offer another viewpoint:
Retraining allows you to more clearly define who you are. Not in the form of revision, but in hindsight.
When actual play helped line out where the character you have anticipated matches up with the one you envisioned, and where not.
I think in the specific case, it's that "Disable Device", by RAW, cannot be used untrained.
To even have a basic idea of how to properly sabotage things, use a glass cutter on the window, pick a lock etc...you have to know at least some elemental aspects, you can't just wing it with an ability check.
So having Mel doing those things implies that she DID have some prior knowledge, or looked into such topics - hence shifting a skill point you found was misplaced over into Disable Device would make your actions RAW-legal and represent her current state - who she is, true, but also who she was to arrive here.
Hi everybody, just an FYI, I'll be out of cell range from Thursday until Monday. BOT me if needed :)
Today my House on Hook Street GM informed me that she's calling it quits. She didn't go into much detail, but apparently I've done several things that the writers of the adventure did not anticipate, and she can't figure out how to proceed with the adventure.
She's fairly inexperienced as a GM. I could probably help her, but as the player I'm not eligible. I suggested some time ago that she post on Reddit or the Paizo forums or both seeking advice. I suspect all she really needs is to talk it over with some people who are familiar with the module, so she can explain what's going on and what the block is and get some feedback and ideas. But to my knowledge, she hasn't done so. I think she's afraid to. I'm not sure why.
So ... that sucks. I hate leaving things incomplete.
Seems a cursed module.
AFAIK, my first ever game on the boards also went belly-up only a few months ago, while we were doing House on Hook Street as an insert.
*looks at Harold*
That said, sorry to hear it - I understand your feeling.
AFAIK, I found that my players never really stuck to the Adventures Plans. Trying to herd them back to remain within the constraints of plausible plot development did not work in a believable sense. So I moved over to a different style of GM-ing.
I detailed the world, some locales(cities and generic elements(e.g. a roadside inn) to be inserted where needed), and characters(many of which are responsive, and some of whom are active actors.
Then I simply let them loose. They are free to go and do as they please, but the "active" actors do forward their plots and plans and influence the world they are in.
I find that the outcome is much more organic. They may find some unorthodox way to stop a ploy, but the details are ultimately not relevant for continuation of the plot - what's important is how the "Agent" that was behind that machination reacts to it - based on the information he has.
He may try and move forward with an overall plan, or compensate for what has failed, go after the meddlers, or even try again with alterations in place. (e.g. if you REALLY need to kill that king, you don't give up just because one assassin failed).
It may sound "complex" because you have to react on-the-fly and consider responses to events for various NPC's, but ultimately, for me, this free-flow works a lot better than trying to stick to a pre-defined storyline that depends on players operating within certain constraints.
And usually you have plenty of time to think about possible reactions while the players actually put their plan into action.
Maybe your inxperienced GM wants to give it a try - just throw the remainder of the module out of the window and wing whatever happens next :)
I tend to have a flexible approach as well. My goal is to create plot and opportunities with at least one clear plot hook for the players but flexibility if they want to try something completely different.
:(
Sorry Turion. It's true - I feel really bad about it. I had a semi-sandbox and running it was killing me, and I thought going the module route would help. It was nice that it had maps, but just editing them for combat seemed to take so much time.
On the other hand with Quarantine I started running my tabletop using Roll20 - and while it was a pain at first I was shocked how much some of their features helped. Weirdly Hook street was essentially the third incarnation/generation (with multiple GMs) of that game. I've been vaguely wondering if Roll20 would be enough to help get round some of the problems.
For the record Hook street is a pretty complex module. It reuses locations in some very clever ways, has NPCs plotting and lying, requires the GM to remember a lot of pages of backstory to know what each NPC knows if/when they get questioned, and had me worrying about interpreting the map wrong.
I think it underestimates the players - or at least my players - the monsters seemed pretty easy, and the PCs managed to question a character who knew way too much.
Fantastic story if played right, I think, but not an easy module.
@Mel: I'm happy to talk to your GM if it helps - if nothing else I have read the module and can sympathise.
Ah, Donald, I did not mean to guilt-trip you(even if those summary-epilogues never came) - I had a fantastic time while it lasted and pretty memorable moments.
It was fun while it lasted, thanks again for running it -
Kazador looked expectantly at Mel. He didn’t like the idea of using anything tied to demons, but he trusted the judgment of her and Turion. It didn’t occur to him that he was breaking one of the core tenants of his people.
That's a pretty awesome spell, esp if you can quicken it.
Turning a dwarf into a cannonball is a timed honored tradition. No problems there. :)
If only I could afford Reach Metamagic.
Had great fun with a Sorcerer and a Staff of Quicken with that spell in the past. Opening round would be slinging both melee fighters up to ~800 feet right where they needed to be(and a few surprise rounds were gotten that way - favorite with the Druid spotting in Bird Form and indirect Fire(a grey zone, but Rule of Cool-handwaived) for simultaneous impact).
One Human Invulnerable Rager(without Pounce) and a Dwarven Warpriest. Really great for Sieges, too.
Also, because I spent a good part of the last 1.5 hours reminiscing: I REALLY miss proper table games -_-
(Don't get me wrong, play-by-post has it's own charme and I enjoy myself greatly here, too, but sitting at a proper table with a couple friends is simply not "reproducable" that way.)
and THAT said - man, I miss being young, when I had friends and time. Now I have no time and most of the friends I had are no longer even in the area. I made myself feel old and sad at a ripe old age of "before-turning-40". Yay.
Yeah I miss table gaming greatly as well.
Sorry it took me so long to get a good post in. I'll confess to not having read "The Boys" arc as closely as I might while it was happening, since Mel wasn't there. So I had to go back and review, and work has been crazy busy lately what with trying to complete four major projects simultaneously while half the staff are furloughed.
Also, this Book of Whispers thing is stupid complicated. In order to communicate two ways you have to have two of them: one to write in and one to read. I got hung up on the phrase about tearing out the "backside of each page" from it. What does that even mean? Pages have a front and a back side, it's true, but what, do you have to do in order to separate the back side of a page from the front side of a page? Slice the page down the middle somehow? Bah!
Anyway, it occurs to me that we effectively have a channel of communication with Davis' handler, whoever that may be. Perhaps we could use that in some way. Give them false information, or something.
@Turion for Fyrtor's comment: No worries, I had been quiet for a while and I figure Fyrtor while he is able to do some pretty powerful magic is not very well educated in formal magic. It probably makes him nervous, especially with Hal's worries and having just fought an demon that spawned out if the thing. Wanting something decided quickly fit, even if Fyrtor's usually pretty level headed.
@Mel: I'm happy to talk to your GM [about the House on Hook Street] if it helps - if nothing else I have read the module and can sympathise.
I finally managed to touch base with her, and she's amenable to this idea, so I am going to take you up on it! Check your PMs.
Ahem. Congratulations are in order for Dr. GM.
Congrats! Out of curiosity what are you now a Doctor of Brookside? :D
Well, they do need a new one ...
Congratulations!
Haha. Thanks! My PhD is in Biology --> Ecology --> Infectious dsease ecology --> How resources (food) influence host ecology and evolution and creates surprising epidemic outcomes.
E.g. some host species become infected while eating (like sheep with gastrointestinal parasites). As a response, lots of host species slow down their feeding rate if they know parasites are around. If hosts overgrazed their food source before, slower feeding can mean a LOT more food to go around. Thus, adding parasites (which kill hosts) can actually increase host density. This is called a hydra effect, after the mythical monster.
Hydra effects have been shown to be possible in mathematical models through other, similar mechanisms. But there isn't much experimental evidence of a hydra effect and no evidence with a deadly parasite driving a hydra effect. I show this mechanism with a mathematical model
and a population-level experiment.
And Mel is totally right, the town of Brookside desperately needs a new doctor. Their old doctor is not being a very good physician right now...
Congrats! A huge milestone reached
Congratulations, Doctor!
Only infectious disease specialist I knew about so far was Mister Fauci, and only from media.
Hope you can evade orange turdweasels in your further career.
Can't get much more applicable to the real world than that right now....
So in case it wasn't clear from my last post, Melia's proposing that we use the secret letters from the book as a scrying focus to try and scry on the person who owns that. She thinks Túrion is the one who's likely able to do such a thing, but actually Fyrtor is also capable -- it's a fourth-level Druid spell, and he's got those.
Having Fyrtor do it would also be cheaper, as we would not need to buy a scroll and an expensive arcane focus. Fyrtor could do it with nothing but time to prep the spell and a bowl of water.
I'm also on board for going and reporting our findings to Turick, though Mel herself is a little worried at the prospect of interacting with him directly. Alexander saw through her disguise pretty easily, which has made her cautious about extended interactions with people in general. Count Turick has a known hatred for elves. If he managed to see past her disguise it would cause capital T Trouble.
Ok I mentioned Fyrtor could do a scrying, thanks for the heads up Mel. As far as not wanting to meet Turick that makes good sense, probably best not to, unless we want to play our hand now and bring you and Turion as elves but from avinox.
I concur...cheaper to have Fyrtor try it.
The question is - do we want to?
We do not know who that person is - for a minus 10 on DC, or at most, have second-hand knowledge for -5 on DC.
We have no likeness or picture, and I doubt the letter qualifies as a "possession" of him.
In summary, there's a really good chance that s/he will make his/her save. And that means s/he is aware someone was trying to use magic on him/her. If we try repeatedly(once per day - as per limitations), we may even be set up.
(e.g. target arranges for false information to be provided, then willingly fails the save)
That aside, it's 1 minute per level - so there's a good chance we'll just catch whoever it is napping with their head in a pillow or something of the sort :)
Just saying, if we do have other approaches, we may want to go there first. People who's lives depend on secrets tend to take magical espionage very seriously...that includes increasing their security and being more careful - that means other avenues may be harder to navigate once they know we tried scrying.
Just a reminder that you have reason to believe there are interesting things involved with the linen shop and Harold basically came to town due to his vendetta against the people running it.
Helping a friend move. More from me later today.
I'm moving several hundred miles now through Thursday and don't have internet set up at the new apartment yet. So I'll be able to keep up with posts a little bit but less frequently and not as well.
We appear to have effectively ground to a halt here. Partly that's been due to the GM's incredibly busy few months. Not throwing shade! Becoming a parent, getting your doctorate and moving to a new state all in six months would be enough to poleaxe anyone even if there weren't a pandemic and a major economic crisis going on. Probably with an alien invasion armada and a planet-killer asteroid waiting in line. Seriously, 2020?
Anyway!
We need to do something. Making a game work takes player input every bit as much as GM input.
And I for one do not have any particularly clever ideas at the moment, more's the pity.
Hal, you mentioned something about taking down the linen shop because they might be reaps. I'm okay with that. Could you elaborate a bit? Do you want to trick them? Kick down the door and start kicking butt in plain view of everyone and their dog? Abduct one of them to pump for information?
Aye, it MAY be easier to maintain momentum if we do things together.
I simply listed out the open points I had that are, unfortunately, separate - the research at the book store(+book buying), the visit as a trainer, and the information retrieval at the brothel.(plus arrangements).
In all cases it would be weird if I show up with a couple extras, but at the same time, I don't want to abandon those leads simply because it may be more efficient for posting rate to stick together. *sigh*
I meant to leave it up to GM, as I don't know his schedule or how much time he now has available - if we can do things in parallel or maybe just adapt the schedule(oh wait, all those things were tomorrow really...)
Let's proceed as a party for what you are doing this morning. We can put what individuals are doing this afternoon in spoilers (which means you're not allowed to die or be captured in the morning :P ). We had a pretty successful little experiment with everyone doing their own things in parallel but I don't want to push our luck with that.
@Melia: essentially he was looking to do scouting, mostly via Divination (specifically Insect Scouts) and stalking customers. If he can lay eyes on someone with a falcon ring they become a valid target for things like Ears of the City.
Incidentally, one of the RP points with Hal is that while he wants the Reaps gone, he's not actually all that keen on just killing a bunch of people. On the other hand he's not sure what else to do. He's also not entirely sure whether the PCs are killers, but they sure do seem fine with killing demons and things. While he'd participate in a frontal assault, I can't seem him suggesting it. I realise quirk might get annoying for people, and I can try to tone it down if it does.
I'm fine with scouting and potentially taking down the linen shop. I have a pretty effective set of non-lethal spell preped if we decide to go that route.
@Fyrtor: sounds cool. We could scout this morning and try to take it down late tonight (when hopefully the civilian employees have left). I don't want to push this though.
let's push to get our momentum back! please do this IC! :D
Well, if you can identify a target, I am pretty certain I can make them talk...so lets go...
My apologies for my own lack of performance. I’ve dropped out of two games due to life, and am doing my best to stay active in the remaining.
Insect Scouts does take a long time to pay off - but they'll find Harold later. We can absolutely do something else in the meantime. I didn't think we were looking to break in until tonight anyway, we're just at the scouting phase.
Yeah this is a hard time of year to keep momentum. Let's just do our best and be patient with each other. The momentum will come back if we do.
That's fine with me. Just let me know what you guys want to do now.