Doug M's Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

sure ill go. I think Xen deserves the day off considering the AWESOMENESS that he has provided

Start a whore house? Then push the vice way up?

That's for when House Darius is overthrown, and Talingarde lies at your feet. Prostitution, slavery, gladiatorial fights... whatever floats your boat.

King Markadian and Princess Bellinda are the Royal House Darius?

With House Barca being close relations of the blood and House Richter being maternal relatives to the King.

Do I have that correct?

Dren on your activities for the day 3 before the night we check and enter the inn's cellars, would you consider posing as a young dwarf acolyte, a traveling priest and then making contact with the dwarves living in the inn?

I hope we did not break DM.

Did we get a warranty?

King Markadian and Princess Bellinda are the Royal House Darius?

With House Barca being close relations of the blood and House Richter being maternal relatives to the King.

Do I have that correct?

The King and the Princess are House Darius, yes. The Queen died in childbirth many years ago. The Princess (who is widely popular) was declared Heir Presumptive by an Act of Succession a couple of years ago -- she inherits unless King Markadian takes a second wife and fathers a son. Which he shows no interest in doing.

House Barca was the previous ruling dynasty. The main branch got wiped out by House Darius but a cadet branch that switched sides halfway through the civil war was allowed to survive. The Barcans have shown no signs of scheming for the throne, but they definitely enjoy an exalted social status -- they're still one of the oldest and most prestigious noble families, and don't you forget it. A number of them are half-elves. The Barcans have a well established habit of marrying cousins, which critics suggest has not done wonders for the mental acuity of their last couple of generations.

Dren on your activities for the day 3 before the night we check and enter the inn's cellars, would you consider posing as a young dwarf acolyte, a traveling priest and then making contact with the dwarves living in the inn?

Unfortunately my alter self ability only lasts up to 4 minutes, not enough time to pull off something like that.

Ok, I am just waiting for us to explore the basement for this day. I am back and can post responses thankfully

House Barca was the previous ruling dynasty. The main branch got wiped out by House Darius but a cadet branch that switched sides halfway through the civil war was allowed to survive. The Barcans have shown no signs of scheming for the throne, but they definitely enjoy an exalted social status -- they're still one of the oldest and most prestigious noble families, and don't you forget it. A number of them are half-elves. The Barcans have a well established habit of marrying cousins, which critics suggest has not done wonders for the mental acuity of their last couple of generations.

BTW, the Barcans were neither Lawful nor particularly Good. They weren't evil, either. True Neutral, most likely -- their main interest was in staying in power. A lot of stuff was legal or at least tolerated under the Barcans, from prostitution and slavery and duelling to open worship of Asmodeus. Of course, all these things have since been firmly outlawed by the Darians.

Cуровую зиму wrote:

With House Barca being close relations of the blood and House Richter being maternal relatives to the King.

The King and the Princess are House Darius, yes. The Queen died in childbirth many years ago. The Princess (who is widely popular) was declared Heir Presumptive by an Act of Succession a couple of years ago -- she inherits unless King Markadian takes a second wife and fathers a son. Which he shows no interest in doing.

The King's wife, presumably a Richter, was not brought back to life via spell? That's certainly interesting.

I wonder if the cardinal could be a Barca. Due to Sir Nonus, Edmin has no great love of the Barcas as well.

The Richters are related to the King's mother, not his wife.

And, nice catch on Sir Nonus. Yes, he was a pretty typical Barca. There's a reason they're not runnning things any more. Not only did they tend to be arrogant and a bit dim themselves, but they prized good looks, fancy pedigrees and the ability to look good in uniform over brains, courage and competence. The quality of Talingarde's officer corps may have declined in the last generation or two, but they're a bunch of tough, hard-bitten tactical geniuses compared to the aristocratic nincompoops who were put in command under the Barcans.

If there's anything positive to be said about the Barcans, it's maybe this: they were a lot friendlier with the nonhuman races, especially elves and dwarves. Not that the Darians are hostile to elves or dwarves! Not at all. But the Barcans... mingled, more. People were a lot more likely to have elvish or dwarven comrades or friends, and most educated people spoke elvish (if you were literary, artistic, or magical) or dwarven (if you were in engineering, finance, or the military). Today, not so much.

This door is definitely as tough as the captain.

Drawing blanks.

I have literally hit the wall.

We'll have to leave someone there every night. We can rotate in shifts. Judge/Morsum, Dren, Xen and perhaps Jax although his stealth isn't super high (+7 I believe).

Edit: Sorry he has +11 when in no armor!

But who would use the tunnels now?

Cуровую notes from day 2 and 3.

The current fort is about 250 years old. There was an earlier fort, but it was pretty completely destroyed. The early Barcans stabilized the current northern frontier -- parts of the Wall long predated them, but they built the current system of fortifications and towers (and also withdrew almost all humans and dwarves from the Savage North).

The Triple Empire actually occupied all of the Savage North for a while, enslaving many of the monsters and binding them to service. That was more than a thousand years ago, though.

Heck I do not know who would use this tunnel. If everyone here is so good then they would not need it unless some one had spies or some other nefarious reason to pass with out anyone seeing.

Its possible no one is using it. We have to keep trying and thinking of ways to get in though, and a few hours of sleep lost won't hurt anyone.

GM stated it shows signs of use...

I think we should definitely take turns keeping a stealthy eye on it to avoid the fatigue penalties.

I think between Morsum and I we can keep an eye on it. The concern is that someone wanders in and sees us standing there, would most likely raise a servants eye. My stealth is pretty good, as long as there is somewhere we can put ourselves we can stay out of sight.

I can't follow servants and watch this though.

Jax has a +11 stealth, which is good enough for sitting behind some boxes once every few nights.

I miss the sheer volume of posts we used to have.

At least we'll always have Branderscar.

This is partly my fault -- the last little while has been v. distracting. Will be trying to get back in a more regular groove.

Also, I have the impression that any long-running PBEM campaign -- and ours is pretty long-running; nine months now -- is going to have fast periods and slow ones.

Actually, this is probably in the top 10% as far as speed goes. I have been in some pbp campaigns for 2 years and we are just reaching 5k posts. After 9 months in this one we are pushing 8k which is way ahead of average. Also, everyone here has been very diligent about posting, and more importantly, telling others when they will be away so that we are not all waiting for someone to act. That is the most common annoyance with pbp I have found, waiting for the one slow player to post their next action in combat and the like.

Anyway, kudos to all, and particularly DMDM, for keeping this game interesting and moving at a very nice pace.

Yeah, this is by far the fastest posting game I've been in and it keeps my interest in it high. Hard to stay interested when there is only two posts every three or four days.

Have we thought of any ideas as to the riddle? Can we roll Int checks for hints?

The problem is usually not two posts every three or four days. It is when there are two regular posters and a reliable DM, and 2-3 slackers who only posts once or twice a week. If the whole game is slow, it is annoying, but doable. If it is half the party moving like molasses in January and the other half like lightning, then it is excruciating.

When I saw the posting speed you guys were doing for the prison break I will admit that I was intimidated.
I wouldn't have been able to keep up with that pace very long and keep my job :).
I had been in a couple of fast posting games (they were still about 1/4 speed of this one) that eventually slowed down to a crawl and it drove me nuts as I was having a lot of fun that eventually just became your normal run of the mill PBP. I am enjoying the entire group, the interactions as well as the posting speed. Hopefully everyone can keep up the pace, including you Doug.
So far you have really done a great job with the PBP. I can tell there are a lot of your custom touches on the AP and I am know everyone appreciates all of the effort and story-telling that you have been doing.

There have been a couple of calls for you to run another PBP and I am sure it is tempting. Just consider the impact to this PBP before you make any final decisions. My other PBP's slowed down because the GM's thought they could handle more than one PBP, then it became another and eventually they ran 3-4 slow PBP's vs. one fast paced PBP. Just food for thought.

And judge, that is the situation I am in with the PBP I am running and it is very frustrating...

When I saw the posting speed you guys were doing for the prison break I will admit that I was intimidated.

I think the fast pace helped with the atmosphere and to ramp up the tension of breaking out.

And indeed much thanks to DM for keeping up a fun and interesting game.

It may be worth ambushing the Cleric who travels from town to town.

He has had some accident before so it will not look overly suspicious, and it may draw one of the other Cleric's from the fort out to fulfill his duties.

Add to our notes regarding the fort

Found possible escape tunnel under the Lord's Dalliance

Captain Mott (married to Katlyn) One of the three officers? - are wives of the officers and soldiers in town?

Soldier named Fredegar (pious Mitran)

I'll put this spoiler in my character sheet as well.

I am all for an ambush. However, how do we take out a cleric without covering him in burn marks, slash wounds and other damage?

Just feed him to the Ogre, he just disappears then...no one will know what happened to him. Maybe it will draw some men out to look for him.

i agree with the ambush, it will be a nice reunion for our Special Ed

Our current plans in motion -

The whole group is keeping and eye and ear out for Nimpy.

Secret door located under the Lord's Dalliance is being watched with Alarm spell and rotating sentries.

Cуровую has made two personas for herself, a very religious and spiritually eager young woman, as well as an older 'cat lover lady'.

Cуровую has suggested we ambush the local Cleric as he makes his way around the area of the neighboring villages, the Cleric has had a mishap before.

Cуровую suggested later on we draw forth the old BF of Edmin, by saying Edmin wants to meet in the next town and have him wed Edmin and his new lady. This is right before the bugbears attack. The Cleric will hopefully bring soldiers with him.

Cуровую wants to find out how to send a false message, either by raven or messenger, and have either key officers or a significant number of soldiers sent on either a wild goose chase right in the middle of the bugbear army without the soldiers having the protection of the walls.

Cуровую wants to destroy the rookery or at least the ravens so no help can come when the bugbears attack the fort.

Suggested that the Judge come into town as a member of the Inquisition to rattle the members of the fort.

Xen has made a persona of the local bar reveler.

Xen has secured poison for use on the fort's food stores and water supply. Alchemist bought all Xen's stories, is convinced there is a 'rodent' problem.

Xen has befriended some of the soldiers and may 'enlist.'

Dren is following servants hoping to get into the fort. Xen will most likely go with him.

Jax has made a persona for himself as a painter.

Looking into the Bard who is performing in 5 days.

The Judge has made a persona for himself as an employee of a noble.

The Judge is working on the dwarves after Cуровую had difficulty and Xen actually got thrown out.

Did I miss anything?

Wow, that's pretty thorough. nice.

Only comment is that Edmin is a wanted criminal of some repute. Not sure if the "old friend marry us" routine would work.

The marriage suggestion sounds like an obvious trap for the cleric to me. They could just as easily send a messaenger to that town and set the city guard there to check it out.
They are probably under pretty strict orders to NOT leave the fort as it would weaken the defenses.
They might then wonder why he would send such as message and think it might be to try and draw him out thus putting them on heightened alert...

Only comment is that Edmin is a wanted criminal of some repute. Not sure if the "old friend marry us" routine would work.

Again that's the premise of the letter we send.

Lets stop and read between the lines for a minute.

We have to assume the npcs are living breathing people too, the cleric may have remorse over the years, he may very well seek Edmin out. And if not ...

We want the Cleric to take half the soldiers out of the fort on a wild hunt for Edmin. I am not sure how I can explain this deception any further.

zimu you have silent image right? When the time comes we open the gate to the other side of the wall and put a silent image of it being closed there, just have to keep the concentration

That is a COOL idea! Except, as is par for the course, I don't have that spell! Xen purchase a scroll I will cover it, I really could use that spell!

We have a few ideas and plans in the works. Can everyone come up with one additional idea for how we can weaken the fort?

We don't have to use all the ideas but we can at least start a brainstorming session.

The downside to that is we will have to make sure to tell the bugbears somehow b efore hand. They're not smart and the silent image will show up for everyone.

Sounds fair enough.

Jax you could have said your painting was inspired by the under appreciated 'master' Bref.

You drop the image when they are 50 ft from the tower...I am assuming ou rocket signal will cause them to attack, even if it seems hopeless, they will be assuming we disabled the tower in some way.

As far as ideas, I really want to see how the secret door in the Inn turns out before making any suppositions or too many plans. It's tied to the reading and I think offers us the best chance to cause major chaos in the tower as a group.

I also want to scout out the tower and see how it is set up, troop positions, etc.

Agreed, but we have hit a wall for now, literally, and don't want to waste time.

Hmm can Jax try and contact his girlfriend via a dream?

For our great DM and others who GM online, the Judge, Bref, I believe, have you sen this pbp thread?

i had not

I have not seen that, but am having a tough time with the campaigns I am in due to time constraints. I will have to hold off on that I think at this point.