Doug M's Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

Some how Rosa knows what Bref will say if she asks him,
"Shall we burn this place down?"

do tell!

I need a rhyme for it.

he would actually push to free prisoners who might be useful, and then in his debt, then burn it down.

and after he takes blackerly's eyes

Jax wouldn't be fond of it if the building is still architecturally attractive. It used to be the citadel of a noble, right?

Not that he'd argue against it much--although he'll smuggle any of the paintings and sculptures located in the Warden's room out first.

My point of view is on the gameplay thread. It's shorter than a Bond villain's monologue but longer than a Bond girl's inhibitions.

There will be time for great fires soon enough, and Bref, one day, when we have this Kingdom bending it's knees to us, we may very well give you stewardship of this former keep.

Lord Castilian Bref has certain ring to it.

You can call your guardsmen 'Brefeaters' and sharpen all their teeth into fine points.

Cуровую all that was OOC , sorry just need to make clear. I do not think any PC in game has talked of burning the place down as yet. if you PC is mousing then happy with that, always seems to fix this kind of thing, saying that in OCC I said it would be Rosa's intent to burn the place down.

Basically your saying lets not burn our prison down to the ground,
As one day we can reused the building, we can not hold this keep now when we go it falls back into the other sides hands. They will use it now as a base to hunt us and later in the war that may come as a place to fight us from, so unless you wish to retake it, lets burn it down now. Leaving it intact gives them some thing and burning takes some thing away.

Your views are valid, but Rosa would see walking away and letting the other side keep the place as weakness.

Having said that this may all be mute with one sentence from the GM saying no, time, opportunity, resources mean they get it back any one. But its Roses intent to try.

As for a goblin keep.

Do Goblins lay plans that far ahead hehe, Like giving a 4 year old a candy bar and saying Don't eat it and I will give you 3 bars tomorrow,

Rosa = Big bonfire today.

Cуровую = keep tomorrow.

would love to see the looks on Bref's little toothfilled face wile his goblin mind works over that one. hehe

Pretty sure Bref would eat the candy bar, then hand feeding him the candy bar, then the child.

lol

yes. yes he would.

Though don't forget Bref is actually VERY smart underneath his gobliness.

INT 16

Whatever position he winds up in in the future he better have a crown

Cуровую all that was OOC , sorry just need to make clear. I do not think any PC in game has talked of burning the place down yet.

Don't villains get extra Experience Points for monologuing?

:)

On more immediate matters, we have a few things going on right now:

Once we get information from the guard, and determine it's validity, we now have to decide how to best escape.

Would trying to bring the ogre as an ally be worth the trouble? Would it even ally with us, or would he just throw his rage on the first people he sees? It is tempting to try to bring him along but then we would most certainly lose any pretense of stealth.

I for one think stealth is our greatest ally at this point, and would like to keep that advantage as long as possible. If Bref and the judge's shadow wish to take the lead ahead of us I can throw a Message spell up on the goblin, to at least keep each group informed of what's going on. Alternatively we can try to Charm one of the guards to lead us out of here, using Alter Self to help sell the deception.

My main concern is I doubt we have enough time before our 'hosts' decide to join this party.

As a player I think our stealth guys already have the whole stealth thing covered Cуровую, Its why I have Rosa, keeping out of their way and let them get on with what they do best.

With the Orc, take him of leave him, Rose would not think twice about leaving him but for the fact he could be of the Faith, Horns Devil type good chance he is, so Rosa will get him awake to check with his chains on then go from there, but happy to old back wile some scouting is done.

edmin. You ride the ogre w a lance and I will ride you with a lance

I'm running around this morning, but should have a little time to sit down this afternoon. Watch this space.

Doug M.

Lol - I am in another campaign, Heart of Journeys, with an ogre and a goblin in the party. I keep recommending that the ogre throw the goblin gunslinger so that he can perform a Flyby Shooting. Not sure if this would require a special feat, but it would be fun.

Now I am getting War-hammer Flashbacks

Hey - I didn't go with a strange race for my character in that campaign. She is you basic blue haired tiefling fighter/oracle/sorcerer/dragon disciple. I figure that if I go crossblooded I can get her strength to the 40-44 range 20+4(DD)+6(Orc Bloodline)+6 (Belt of Strength)+8(Giant Form II). Not sure if there are any other racial/morale/circumstances/luck type bonuses. But that together with Transformation should make her moderately formidable in combat. Not bad for a sorceress.

A brief side word on goblins and other monstrous races in Talingarde.

The Lawful Good monarchy has a pretty straightforward policy with these guys: reform them if possible, otherwise either kill them off or drive them out. "Drive them out" means to the deep forests of the west or beyond the Wall to the frozen North.

Ogres got pretty much wiped out. There used to be a cult of ogres that worshipped some death god or daemon or something; that didn't help matters. So, the ogre in the cell is a rare, endangered beast.

Goblins: there are a few of them around, from tribes that surrendered and agreed to reform their ways. Many goblins in Talingarde are Neutral rather than Neutral evil. They're still sneaky, hungry little freaks, though, so they're not very well integrated into society. Most are garbagemen or rag pickers; a few run little shops or such. There's a lot of prejudice against them.

Bref, I suspect you consider yourself something like the next step in goblin evolution: The Smartest Goblin Ever. The logic might go something like this: ancestral goblins were wild and free, but reckless and foolish; modern goblins are civilized, but domesticated and downtrodden; you, the Future of the Goblin, have synthesized the best of both, being savage and amoral but highly intelligent. I think you got pulled into the conspiracy because you were a leader of the goblin community in the capital, and there was some notion of using goblins as spies and agents. (They may be widely despised but, hey, nobody notices the garbage collector.)

It's up to you what you think of other goblins now. Are you the Redcloak-like savior of your people, or do you despise most of them for not being as smart and ambitious as your amazing self?

I think that Bref would try to convince them of the error of their ways. If that did not work, he would eat the dissenters.

Oh I will raise all goblins to my goblinly-awesomeness. Most likely through careful breeding. Find the smartest female goblins and breed them with the smart male goblin. Me mostly.

I see my people as an untapped resource of enormous power. Wild as we are we are not very strong, but if I could organize them, teach them, train them...step 2...step 3=profit.

I am trying to find a balance of keeping the gobliness going, while keeping in mind that I am very smart.

I was drawn in to the conspiracy as you said, but then I tried to organize my goblins to take the lead and install myself. The problem was I overestimated my own abilities to teach them. My plan was good, just the execution of the others was bad.

also I am really regretting that I did not take the goblin trait that gives a bonus to AC once per day as an immediate action instead of reactionary...I think that would have made for delightful moments when he really shows that he is still a goblin...o well. Unless you are ok with a retrofit. I don't think it would have altered my initiative order. But it is no big deal either way.

judge I eat all dissenters...I mean what else do you do with them?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - I think that eating the dissenters accomplishes both #1 and #3, and even #2 to some extent. I wholeheartedly support you. . . . Oh, and if you have any blood left over, let me know, I prefer human, but will accept more exotic types if offered.

Make them undead. Reduce, Reuse, Reanimate.

It wouldn't make a difference in any of the play so far, so I would allow you to swap out that trait if you want to.

Doug M.

Done.

going back through and looking at the goblin traits, I think my level 3 feat might just have to be extra traits.

Probably pick up Color Thief, and Goblin Follhardiness

On the questions: I'm away for 2-3 hours, then back online this evening (Election Night in the US). So unless I hear otherwise, I'll just go through the Judge's questions in order, rolling to see at what point the guard passes out.

Doug M.

Sounds good. We can always try to revive him. Or just leave him stable and chained in the cell.

Locking him in the cell seems like a good idea. Jax doesn't care too much if they leave him dead or alive, but prefers to stick by what's already been told to the poor guy (that he would live).

Here's to villains with some morality

Edit: I noticed we took the armor from the two dead guards but not from the living one. If there are no objections, after finishing interrogating him, I'd like to take his armor for Jax.

Edit 2: Bref, when speaking of Flame Spawn, you mean, Rosa, right? Just trying to be clear.

Going to do occasional bits on PC background.

Rosa, you were born human. Yeah, that's really unusual. You got traded to Hell as a child. Which usually results in a dead child, and let's not look to closely at the details. In your case, though, you got collected by a powerful devil with an interest in the detailed mechanics of warping and corrupting the innocent. Most of the stolen children still ended up dead anyway -- testing to destruction, type of thing -- but some came out alive, but changed.

You've probably internalized a thoroughly Hellish mindset more than anyone else. (Which you seem to be RPing just fine so far.)

Note that there may be alumni of the "Finishing School" out there.

Doug M.

Cool GM Doug M thats just how I see Rosa, sold and then Changed,
Its why I like her with not Tail and looking some what odder then most Tefs (not that any look alike) Jax could be a full blood brother for all Rosa knows.

Warped by LE is mad and bad, like it a lot

I have her looks as Female / Androgynous she seems some what starched
super thin and tall.

Race - Devil warped Tiefling (outsiders, native)
Age - She really has no idea of her age, she knows she very old but that means nothing has she spent most of that time as a mindless test subject. She has some odd Physical Features

Hair - Animate White hair (can not wear a helmet)
Skin: - strangely colored Gray
Eyes: - other (Gray/white)
Build: - unnaturally light & Tall Wight - 60kg 6'6"
Other: - Androgynous
Other: - unnatural temperature (Cold)
Tail: - None
Horns: - None

And now others like her,
OOoo plot candy thats even better lots of plot hooks for later.

edmin. You ride the ogre w a lance and I will ride you with a lance

For the win!

That would be awesome!

Further to Rosa. The Finishing School was run by Kindly Stepmother. KS (you didn't understand then, but know now) is an erinyes devil. A fairly senior erinyes devil.

Erinyes are fallen angels. Here's the thing: many of them /do not think they are fallen/. No. They have simply become enlightened to certain higher celestial truths. Like, that it is necessary to flense and clean and purify creation. And that fire and pain are necessary tools for this. Not only are they still serving the highest standards; they're doing it in the most difficult place possible -- Hell.

This is, of course, insane. So basically you spent your childhood (along with other captured children) in the care and power of an intense, mad fanatic.

This may also explain the whole demons/chaos thing. Killing demons is one of those things (punishing the deserving wicked is another) that briefly allows erinyes to be sane and whole.

(But why were you sent on what was basically a suicide mission? Good question. Good question.)

Doug M.

She knows that Hells work with plans with in plans, she is not mad like the Erinyes Rosa was just has faith and Discipline, the core idea she holds is that she is doing what is necessary to keep the all of reality falling back into the abyss.

It looks like you've got about all the answers and all the resources you're going to get out of the cell block.

So what now? Plan?

Doug M.

Also, Jax and the Judge are proposing to lock up the guard and leave him be? Everyone else fine with that?

Doug M.

did any one say we would not kill him, I have an idea.

I'm ok w that.

Someone proposed using Charm Person on him, that's not a bad idea either.

I like the charm idea. he would be of much more use and easy to control.

Right, except he's unconscious now. You'll need to use some sort of healing to get him back up and around.

Doug M.

Heading straight for the exit is going to present some challenges in and of itself. I'm not saying "don't try killing everyone"; if you think you can pull it off, go for it. But be aware that it's the higher risk strategy.

Wanting to kill Blackerly is of course totally reasonable and consistent with your characters. Where, oh where could he be.

Doug M.

Continuing a slow stroll through PC backgrounds (assuming you all don't get yourself TPKed and render it moot).

Sir Edmin spent a lot of time in the north, including fights and raids beyond the Wall. Lots of monsters up there. Beyond the Wall is where all the things that didn't belong in Lawful Good Talingarde got pushed. Most of all, you fought the bugbears. F&!!ing bugbears. You hate those things... nothing that big should be so quiet and sneaky. The hairy bastards love nothing better than using terror tactics... ambushing scouts and leaving their mutilated bodies as warnings, stalking sentries like beasts, using terror to drive men mad... you need iron nerves and a very cool head in bugbear country. That said, you also have a grudging respect for them; they're cunning and competent foes who, on the rare occasions when you talk to them, will keep to a deal.

Not sure what part of the kingdom Sir Edmin is from, but he's minor nobility. Does he have family still alive? You decide.

Doug M.

I was actually thinking of Charming another guard.

This way we eliminate (if he fails the save) another threat, secondly we don't waste healing magic, thirdly that guard may be handy in combat if we get him to believe he is our friend.

There is also the added possibility that the other guard will know other bits of information.

Most of us aren't very sneaky. I'm afraid our luck will run out if we get into too many fights and someone will shout/draw attention/use a horn.

That's why sending Bref and Morsum into the Barracks to slit some sleeping throats may not be a bad idea.

I was wondering who I had been at war with, bugbears sound great.

Yes, my family is alive, I had thought about that before. Of course I have been cut off they would not even come to my trial.

The Al'Roth standard is a white horse on a green field, once I am out of here I will change mine to a red horse running on a black field.

Were any of us incarcerated because of Forgery? I took Fraud as my crime and I was wondering who had the highest Bluff skill.

GM Doug, what would it take to say forge paper work allowing for the release of some prisoners, cast Disguise Self to look like Blackerly and Order some guards to escort the prisoners past the wall?

Edit: oh wow! We all posted back to back, it's 7 AM here and I'm trying NOT to study, why are all of you up?

In response to a few questions - I have +11 Bluff - My charisma and social skills are prety good.

As far as forgery goes, forgery is not Bluff based, but rather Linguistics I believe.

I dont sleep much, and I have to be at work at 0700 Central Time.

As an FYI, while I am a big fan of metagaming and making things easier, but less fun. I really do not think that any of you, or perhaps one or two at most, know about the layout of the prison yet. I was questioning the prisoner, while Jax, Bref and Rosa at the very least were with the ogre most of that time and then Edmin went also. Thus, only me and Zima? (need to remember the shorthand for your name) would have heard most of what he said before he passed out. This is also why I did not chime in on the discussion with the ogre until I was finished with the prisoner.

This is also a reason why splitting the party in pbp should be minimized as much as possible.

Forgery is Lingustics based. Are you thinking of doing the Classic Star Wars Prisoner Transfer? You'd need disguises for at least some of you (you have three guard uniforms now), Bluff, and either forged documents or a password -- maybe both.

Doug M.

Jax was incarcerated for forgery and has a decently high linguistics skill