GM Birch's Rise of the Runelords

Game Master Birch33

I didn't remember that you were carrying him. :P

Veryl, I had presumed, if everyone was okay with it, your rolls and coup de grace attempt could still stand, just after everyone had a chance to react -- I just wanted to be able to say something, and assert my right to play my own character. (Kalig offered Bruthazmus the chance to kill him himself or prescribe Ripnugget's death, and so she would want it done the way he requested it, so she would not in fact have gone along with Veryl until Ripnugget's name was written down.)

I was upset because godmoding is not cool. Not ever, even if there's a good intention behind it. Most RP communities I've seen, if it has one rule (besides don't post illegal/hatespeech/etc.), that rule is "no godmoding." Besides which, no one needs to justify their feelings. Feelings are feelings. End of story. I knew I needed to take a moment before I said something, so I did, rather than post something stupid. I think I probably made the right call. I'm saying this all to the group because I feel like if I say nothing, I tacitly demonstrate that it's okay to take Kalig's stuff or to presume her actions, and I don't want to do that.

If we're moving too slow, it's the GM's job to check in with the players and see what can be done to move things along. I was only just back from my vacation/conference, and it can be a busy time of year. Still, we are asked to post roughly once a day (except on weekends), and few of us, myself included, have been very consistent about that. If the GM wants to do something about that, that's his call.

Merwyn, my last post before the Ripnugget issue stated "Kalig hefts Ripnugget on her shoulder." If there's a way I could have been clearer, please let me know.

As to the GM's request for us to agree on a sequence of events, what happens so far works for me:

Veryl moves to kill Ripnugget, Kalig pulls away because she wants to be sure it's done in the manner Bruthazmus requested (write his name first), Merwyn offers Bruthazmus a chance to kill Ripnugget, and Horatio wants to continue the interrogation before doing anything.

I agree with the last--let's make sure the interrogation is fully complete before taking actions to kill anyone.

All I had to say on the matter was in my previous post. The only thing worth repeating is that I am sorry for upseting you and that it was not my intention to deny your character her actions. It was an honest mistake that I don't intend to repeat.

The sequence of events you suggested is fine by me, but at this point as per the last post I made in game Veryl doesn't plan to kill ripnugget himself, so we can forget that coup de grace roll.

No, you were quite clear; I just forgot. :)

I think the current sequence of events is fine.

Ditto. I am fine with current event order as well.

All good here.

Any more questions for the interrogation? I can't think of any, but I can't think of much of anything at all right now.

Also, I think I'm losing the ability to English good.

Birch, you okay? Know you're usually away weekends but it's Tuesday now...

Apologies for the delays...I'm in the middle of a house move and vacation - and the plan to have uninterrupted internet has been dampened by the news I'll have to wait 6-10 working days!

Please hum to yourself until normal service is resumed. I may be able to do some posting from my phone but my data is all on my laptop!

Can I whistle instead? Just to be different?

I'll be on a week long backpacking trip, so I will be away for a bit.

Ooh sounds fun Merwyn. Have a good time!

Also, good luck with the move Birch! Hope it goes smoothly.

Good luck with the move Birch, enjoy your trip Merwyn.

Sorry guys I've got a cold, if I start feeling better I'll make posts, please DM PC me as you see fit.

Feeling a bit better, but if I stop posting for 24 hours in the next few days, please do not panic and DM PC me as needed.

Internet back next Monday. I'll post between now and then as I can to keep things moving.

And then there was wifi! I have the Internet again – thanks so much for your patience…

I apologize for the unannounced disappearance. I've had a lot on my mind and felt like I needed sometime to sort things out.

I've decided I am quitting PBP, mostly for personal reasons and the need to focus on personal projects that I am not working on as much as I should. I am sorry for returning with bad news, I've had plenty of enjoyable moments with you all and wish you the best of luck.

I am really sorry to hear that, as Veryl was a great character, but I understand the need to refocus, absolutely. Take care.

On a note of people missing, however, has anyone heard from Merwyn or Horatio? I think Horatio's player posted to the CoCT thread not too long ago, so she should be around. Merwyn hasn't checked in in awhile, but we did have a long gap between action.

Wolfgang/Veryl. Understood. Real-life always comes first. You will be missed.

Aww, I'm going to miss Veryl. There was a great dynamic there I was looking forward to exploring more.

Kalig, I'm here, fret not. I've just been addled as all hell lately, thanks to illness, a breakdown, financial stress, study, and more issues arising around my sister and her s$@#weasel boyfriend. I'll get an in-character post up once I'm home from work tonight. Haven't seen anything from Merwyn.

Does anyone want to bot Veryl? He'd be useful as you go down into lower level(s).

I can bot Veryl if no one else wants to. I know I already post a lot so I don't know if that would be too much.

Have we lost Merwyn too? She doesn't seem to have come to the boards at all since she went backpacking, but that was a few weeks ago now. Hopefully she's alright.

If you are willing, that is fine by me, Kalig.

70% of the time I am posting by phone on break, so trying to do that for 2 characters would probably be a bit much for me.

Also, not sure about Merwyn either. Hopefully all is well and she is back soon...

Just as a reminder as we wait for her to post... Merwyn last posted nearly a month ago (saying she'd be away for a week). I believe, though I could be wrong, that we agreed if we were waiting for someone mid-combat to post that the GM would bot her. It might be better for someone to post for her (I'm already botting someone so I would rather not) so we can move forward.

If we don't hear from her by the time I get off work tonight and no one else has chimed in, I could bot her just to keep things moving.

Also good luck Kalig and Verylbot. Looks like you may be itfacing Nualia. Ish.

Hey all, just letting you know I won't be posting much for the next couple of days. Tomorrow I'm running back-to-back PFS slots at a local convention, and the day after is my birthday, so I'll have family stuff going on. Try not to move too far without me!

Have fun and happy birthday!

Yes, happy birthday Horatio!

Have a great time...

I realize both my actions might have been a waste, and I'd love some tactical advice from y'all.

I'm bearing in mind--half of you have fled, and while Nualia hasn't done much in part because of Merwyn's spells, she also hasn't said much even after the color spray wore off and all she tried to do was heal herself, which is generally a rather poor tactical decision--rather than take the risk of say, moving through the grease to get to a better spot, or cast a more harmful spell, or talk to the party (or curse the party, or what have you) as a free action. (And keeping attacking someone not really not fighting back seems unswordsman like.)

I also realize in the back of my head that meta-wise, usually encountering what who seems to be the big bad this early on usually indicates impostor, illusion, or Something Else but not a big bad fight.... but of course I am also trying to bear in mind our PCs don't know that (and aren't bards (save Horatio, who is fleeing) so don't have a mystical sense of narrative flow. ;) ).

In short, I'm torn between taking the opportunity to just kill all (even if Nualia turned out to be someone else or not what she seems, I don't think Kalig would care and Veryl might not think much of it either) while everyone's disabled, or find the group, regroup, and gather more information.

It also occurs to me AFTER posting my actions, that with both enemies down, we could just tie up Nualia (grease is dismissable], capture her, and take her back to town since she is very largely apparently disabled. Maybe something Merwyn-bot can consider, since she still gets to act before Nualia does next turn.

Thoughts?

A note to the GM---if Nualia does want to talk, talking is a free action and does not have to be on one's turn. :) (I realize she may not want to, just pointing out.)

She may not have be attacking (so far) due to being incapacitated, first by grease, then by color spray, and latest by the darkness illusion. She's taken several hits in that time, and may have needed the healing.

That said, it does seem to be going rather well for a BBEG with half our party out of commission.... rather too well. I'm not opposed to attempting to tie her up. However, Merwyn's rope is in her packs and it will take a move? action to retrieve it and another to get to her, so I'm not sure I'll be able to tie her up before she gets another turn - especially while concentrating on the illusion.

(Speaking of, I need to look up the concentration rules... wasn't expecting to play a caster. lol)

Thoughts? I could dig it out and toss it to Veryl or Kalig while maintaining the spell..

I'm a moron, I have a tanglefoot bag we could use to keep slowing her down.

Maintaining concentration is a standard action so you could move to retrieve. Birch's call as to whether you could toss it.

Kalig does also have some twine but that's pretty easy to break.

*sigh* Man, fear effects suck. So much for the brave Caydenite! *facepalm*

At least I think I can start running back soon. Gonna have to reread and see how many rounds I have left.

*growls* Hey! At least you're not supposed to be this wild and stoic bada** proud warrior. Abandoning companions while running for my life from a barking dog is seriously not good for either my ego nor the reputation.

Here's the plan: take car, go to Mum's, kill Phil, grab Liz, go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over.

By which I mean, kill Nualia, clear the place out, head back to the Rusty Dragon, drink ourselves senseless, forget this whole thing ever happened, and 'correct' anyone who brings it up.

Sound good? :P

Sounds... perfect.

Fear effects do suck. I remember a fight--might have been 3.5, not sure--where a creature's fear aura had no noted end to the duration. I had not noticed this--probably because my players had tendencies to never roll lower than 18s on saving throws and as it was a Will negates effect, I just read it as "this will have no useful effect on the party, ignore."

However, turns out one of the PCs rolled low for once on top of a naturally low Will modifier and ran for the hills. I had to figure out how to get him to stop because otherwise he'd get so separated from the group, he'd never find them again. If we'd had time for "find the rogue" sidequest we might have been able to turn it into something fun, but the timing was bad.

At least this one had a duration listed. I generally house rule that once you're something like 200-400 feet from the creature, you get a new save to stop running provided you're not actively being chased.

Come to think of it, you guys running at top speed -- 120 feet a round -- probably would have run back upstairs and heading toward the exit to Thistletop. I wonder if the elf ranger (blanking on her name at the moment) would notice...

To the best of my knowledge, if it's an aura effect (eg, a Dragon's frightful presence), the effect ends once you leave the aura. Of course, you need to make another save once you enter it again.

And it's entirely possible we would have bumped into Shalelu again, now that you mention it. Thistletop isn't exactly huge.

Point taken with regards the whole fleeing thing. Once you get up the stairs and half- way up the next set, it's fair to say you'll slow down and between you - pull yourselves together. I'll reference this now...

Ah, I had forgotten about that mechanic. Hopefully Miro can make the next save. Cmon racial bonus against fear!

I was thinking... with two players gone (it's been well over a month for Merwyn, so I'm assuming she's left for good), do we want to think about asking Birch to consider recruiting someone? I don't mind botting Veryl for now but wouldn't want to on the long term.

I fully realize it may not be necessary -- we have ranger, druid, bard, and rogue. An unconventional but pretty versatile party. We could stick it out. That said, we are slightly low on spellcasting, and don't have a lot of ranged options. Veryl had some useful/interesting stuff in his built but we still have a heavy damager in Breaca and someone as needed could take on the Intimidate role (and Knowledge Engineering).

An archer (but not another ranger) or another full arcane caster could in particular come in handy. More healing wouldn't hurt either, although I think Kalig and Horatio can handle it (but bards and druids are not healing focused the way say many clerics, oracles, and even paladins are).

I realize this is ultimately up to Birch and he may not want to bother--and I am totally cool with that--but just throwing it out there. I've been in a few games where sometimes GMs introduce new players without warning or input from existing players and that has always felt very jarring and hard to adjust to, which is why I'm biting the bullet in bringing the topic up.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Sounds good to me! Thanks.

I'm happy to take up the skills Veryl was covering - Intimidate works well for charisma-focused characters like moi, and Knowledge skills are a very bardy thing. I might not put a lot of ranks into it, but Bardic Knowledge helps there.

If we end up deciding to bring in more players, I'd only hope that nobody overlaps with me too much mechanically or conceptually. I tend to start feeling insecure and a bit useless if someone in the party fills the same niche as me. Though that's more one of my flaws as a person.

Spoony here's built for skills and performance, and not a whole lot else.

Sounds good to me too.

Yeah, I was specifically suggesting ranged or spellcasting (preferably blasty or summony) as it fills in niches we don't already have covered (bards are largely buffs and Will-save based stuff; Kalig's not summony because her archetype takes away spont casting of SNA, and while she has some direct combat spells, she's still more got a lot of natury and battle control stuff). Nobody likes to have their toes stepped on.

NOT a Summoner. NOT, NOT, NOT a Summoner.

I have a slight opinion on that score. A wizard that summons is fine, but I may have mentioned or hinted that I want NO Summoners.

Was I too subtle?

"Summony" -- not a summoner--they aren't full casters, and I was recommending a full caster. E.g., conjurer.

<devil's advocate> Birch just mentioned recently in another of his threads that he's not a fan of summoners. I think he was just clarifying that here, not assuming it was what you meant. =) </devil's advocate>

You've done a pretty concise job of narrowing down the gaps in the party, by the way.