Thank you. Though I think we need a consensus for how to do the 'bonded mind' communications. Bolded italics, perhaps? I think it would be useful to at least indicate it in the writing.
I tend to favor bolded italics for telepathy-like speech. However, you could also put Bonded Mind communications in a spoiler tag that everyone can read.
I agree we need a way to easily indicate it in the writing.
BTW, going by the d20pfsrd bit on magic item slots for familiars, considering that Faila is both capable of carrying things in her claws as well as speaking intelligently, is she going to be able to use wands and air-drop alchemical splash items? (Rods and staffs are more than a little oversized for her, and actual weapons ... seem ludicrous.)
Oh, and remember -- and spend!! -- that we got money from the mithril. 200 for Sir Gallen and whomever (Cole or Demlin) got the cloak, 401 for the rest of us, and 201 for the 'minion outfitting pool' for Grumblejack and Timeon. By all means, use it!!
Yes on the air-dropping alchemical items, no on the wands. Ravens have similar attributes, and are unable to use wands, so I'm going to rule that Faila cannot use wands. Air-dropping alchemicals is fine, but only one at a time. Otherwise, we'll be debating about whether or not swallows can carry coconuts to Britain.
Well, though I might argue on the ‘intelligent spellcaster’ part — Faila’s Int will surpass mine, and maybe Lutor, and she already casts ‘guidance’ — I understand completely and am totally fine with your ruling. :) Bomb away!
There is now a battle map for the Frosthamar. Please place yourselves on the boat. It will be somewhat crowded.
Damn that's a small place for a big ogre. Undoubtedly has to keep to the centerline most of the time. If I can ask, where do we usually remain, fore or aft?
Yeah, the publisher came out with the map of the boat in a later installment than they did the actual adventure, and it's the only map they actually made with 5' squares - every other map is 10' squares.
You are wherever you want to be. Odenkirk steers from the aft, and the crew work along the sides, but you can be anywhere else on the boat.
Hey guys. Am going camping for a couple days. I'll be back on wednesday and able to post then.
Fair deal! Drive safe!
A few thing came up this weekend which was set to be quite busy as it was (including my car breaking down) so free time for PBP hasn't been in abundance. I will be posting tomorrow in all my games. Sorry for the delay.
Sorry all, home computer died on Friday night. I then had 2 days of work training to start the week and have been playing catch up. I will be back to normal tomorrow sorry for delays.
I've been away myself.
Cole, no objection to you taking the agile breastplate. It may even help a disguise. ;)
Did Lutor successfully cast enlarge person on Gallen, as per my last post?
It goes off at the beginning of your next turn, due to the 1 round cast time, so yes, Gallen is enlarged. He doesn't have a lot of space, though.
That's fine, just checking.
Oh Cooooole ....
I meant to post yesterday but the site was down for maintenance.
To all my games, two pieces of news:
1) I'm currently job hunting, though that is going well. That said, I might have less free time than usual.
2) I'll be at a gaming convention this weekend, so I'll likely be less active online.
Back from war. Spent the morning on work emails. Have a meeting this afternoon so will make a game post tomorrow looking forward to getting back on track.
Welcome back!!
I will be out of town this weekend, beginning this afternoon. We'll be on hold until Monday.
Okay. All the best.
I'll be in a new job on Monday. :)
Yay!
A heads up. I won't be available to post at all on Friday, and I likely won't have much availability until Sunday evening or Monday evening.
For fits and shiggles, I've created a 'Way of the Wicked' Discord channel at http://discord.gg/cK9te8R. Feel free to spread the link around to others playing the AP, and be certain to ask for a Book I role. ;)
Nice one, have signed up.
I'd like to congratulate you on asking Timeon about his backstory before you get to the point where you're ready to venture into Aldencross. The other group had quite a surprise once they got that close.
I'm sort of regretful it took us this long; ideally we should have conversed him into familiarity/acceptability inside the Nine Lessons. :P Never got around to it, is all. :)
Ok I've been struggling to get my head round this out of character maybe I'm misunderstanding Hel's ploy... in a nut shell is she trying to push the tactic of going "Hey Timeon we're going to do some really bad stuff in your old home town. Prove yourself to us by giving us loads of information so we can more efficiently and thoroughly do bad things to your friends and family?" -I just feel like I must have missed something somewhere in the exchange because this feels like an extraordinarily tough sell.
No, you're absolutely correct in that's what she's essentially saying. And you're also absolutely correct in that this is an extremely tough sell. But let me explain my logic.
Right now, Timeon is LN -- not LE. In my opinion, (and thus in Hel's) before we get too much further we have to solidify him as being one of us, Lawful Evil. All things considered, I doubt we'd be able to break Balentyne in one night, not with the information we currently have, so it'll definitely be an extended thing, at the very least in the gathering of information. Us being there is really all that Timeon needs in order to know that Bad Things Are Going To Happen. He is the one person (so far, anyhow) who can put a severe spoke in our wheel just by speaking to someone who isn't us. All he has to do is walk up to practically anyone and say, "These people bear the 'F' of Branderscar Prison, killed Sir Balin of Kierkegaard, and are Asmodean devil-worshippers." We'd be detained immediately on suspicion, stripped of oour disguises, and thoroughly discovered -- unless we managed to escape, which would be almost as good as proof itself. In Aldencross, after 8 generations his family is likely related in one way or another to almost everyone who lives there, whether by blood or by marriage. On the road, all it would take is one merchant; possibly even just one peasant.
Unless and until we finish converting him, he can't be trusted alone anywhere. One moment of regret might turn into two, he talks to someone, and blam, our cover is blown. And to be entirely honest, I can't think of any good way of being able to prove that he's ours in mind, body, and soul except for him to be confronted with the knowledge that we're out to destroy the Balentyne garrison and open the fortress gates for a rampaging horde of bugbears whose second act will be to obliterate Aldencross and everyone in it, and still choose to help us.
IMO, it can't be under any sort of threat or deception; to truly join us, he has to do it (whatever 'it' is going to be) with full knowledge of the consequences, and yet still choosing our path of ruthlessness, structure, and domination. I don't say that he can't agonize over the decision, (I at least would be willing to state that we would not kill him for answering otherwise, which would be true in at least a limited sense) but I wouldn't put any pressure on him except for time -- and I'd suggest going with a parallel to the knightly vigil, making it 'we tell you tonight and ask our question ... and you must give us your answer in the morning.'
If we're going to overnight with the Fire-Axe, I think that might be the perfect time to do it, because if he tries to run, the bugbears will be certain to catch him for us. (Well, catch, kill, and eat, but waste not, want not ...) And we can honestly say we'd take him with us no matter his answer. And if we want, we can have someone available for guidance of some sort -- each of us on two-hour shifts, perhaps, ready to speak of what we know, each to our own specialties and particular reasons for hating the Mitrans.
So really, it isn't much of a ploy -- it isn't anything of a 'ploy'. However we decide to handle him, get information out of him, unless we convert him of his own free will, he'll remain a danger to us, however subtly that danger presents itself. And it really is the ultimate tough sell, as you've pointed out.
Ok, on top of that I was worried you were pushing for on the boat still and was thinking that I did not want him spilling the few beans he has to the sailors.
It would take some damn careful manipulation to pull off, though I'm thinking Lutor could be convinced. He would see less need to corrupt Timeon swiftly if the squire remains expendable in his eyes.
Yeah, Hel wouldn't want to do it in front of the sailors either -- probably don't have the privacy, and 'spill the beans' stuff too. And I think I need to be extra-clear: this cannot be manipulation. Too much is riding on us thinking that Timeon is ours when, because of some obscure mis-handling of him, some fact we omitted, some manipulation he's discovered the un-truth of, he's actually going to expose us to the local gendarmerie. We need to give him the facts, all the facts, and while we may perhaps give our opinions ... we cannot withhold anything from him. He has to choose evil, of his own free will -- irony, considering the position of rightful domination in the catechism of Hell. ;)
We must, in essence, show him that he stands on a cliff with a forest-fire at his back, and that his only chance is to jump off ... and then sit back and watch, and answer his questions about how hot and terrible the fire is, how dangerous jumping off the cliff is, until he goes ahead and jumps.
Just a sequence that poppied into my head:
Timeon: Will I ever see my family again?
Wesh Meloi: They will likely be some of the first people slain by the bugbear horde pouring through Balentyne after we open the gates to them. Slain if they're lucky; this horde has ogres like Grumblejack in it, too. While I don't see the need to spare you the pain of that knowledge, we don't think you could keep it to yourself, even if you were fully on our side.
Timeon: Do I have to swear my soul to Asmodeus?
Demlin Tursei: Of course not. If you don't, you will simply never be fully trusted, and one of us will always be with you, watching for your betrayal. Including Grumblejack, who is relatively smart for an ogre -- smart enough to know that an order from us supercedes anything from you. I'd be willing to bet that he'd see that as an attempt from you to escape -- which of course it would be -- and he'd eat you on the spot.
Timeon: But what about the mercy of Mitra?
Hel Blackfist: My hand is proof of how merciful Mitrans are, if they even suspect you of devil-worship or cooperation with those they see as foes of Talingarde. My birth-parents, good Mitrans both, believed that knowledge was important, and kept texts forbidden by Markadian the Zealot's inquisition -- an inquisition raised because he needed a foe to unite the people against, not for any evil act on anyone's part, but because he needed someone to blame for Markadian the Immortal's madness and kingslaying -- the second crime he himself performed. I was committed to the fire for nothing more than being the child of parents who themselves were burned at the stake for nothing more than believing knowledge must remain pure, true, unaltered -- that knowledge must remain knowledge, and not be purged or, worse, rewritten to satisfy the political needs of some maniac wearing a gold hat. Worse, when I escaped the flames they then gave me to a sadist woman who beat me daily for no reason and a salacious man who raped me nightly, both of these things for years. You have fought against and killed Talirean soldiers, good Mitrans all; do you think that is somehow less than the innocence of that young librarian girl? That you'll somehow escape the mark of the Forsaken?
Timeon: But they were attacking me!! I was only defending myself!!
Lutor Messa: As I was only defending myself and my family's honor -- but really, you could have refused, could you not? Put down your sword and refused to fight? But instead you fought with skill, and killed with that skill. You wish to please your new Knight master, to show him you are learning your lessons well. I am certain under the influence of the spells that compel truth you would say this, that you feel pride when he tells you that you have done well, when Wesh nods in approval at a clean stroke of your sword, when Demlin applauds at a subtlety of your speech, or Hel at your alertness and cleaving to your instructions. You take up the sword at Sir Gallen's command, and sheathe it when he says. You take the orders of Forsaken, and kill Mitran soldiers of Talingarde. In the eyes of their law, the only thing that seperates you from us is the brand on our skin.
Timeon: So ... what would happen ... if I did swear myself to Asmodeus?
Cole Hale: Then your soul would be his. And you would bind yourself to Sir Gallen, and through him to the rest of us, as we have bound ourselves to Cardinal Thorne -- mind, body, and soul. I expect Sir Gallen would have some things to teach you, and would likely ask me to consecrate you as a knight-attendant of Asmodeus ... and you would probably be the second member after Sir Gallen of the Hellknight Order he looks to return to prominence.
Timeon: A knight ... a Hellknight?
Sir Gallen: A knight-attendant. As I have not yet had the opportunity to re-establish the Order, of course you would not be a Hellknight. But unless you give yourself over to us in all things by way of my service, you will never be such -- you can never be such, never more than a petty-squire holding a stirrup, never trusted, never without a minder ready to catch your betrayal.
Sir Gallen: Squire Timeon ... is that really all you want from your life?
Timeon: Is that all true ... ??
Grumblejack: Grumblejack not know. But tough little 'uns of Asmod'us never lie to Grumblejack, help Grumblejack leave chains and stone pile, squash blue 'uns. Will squash more. Grumblejack trust tough little 'uns. Maybe you try that, 'cause blue 'uns not so good, huh?
In Hell Knight terms a knight attendant would be an arminger.
I just have to accept if it doesn't go well we'll have to kill him. I was hoping for more time to slowly bring him round but it is what it is.
To be fair, by taking the Squire feat, Sir Gallen, you do have an edge on the conversion that the other group does not.
I don't think we'll actually have to kill him any time soon; depending on where we have to go after breaking Balentyne, and how much contact we have with other Talireans, we may have plenty of time to work on him. It's just ... I dunno. Maybe it's just me, but Grumblejack was easy -- in order to gain his loyalty, we just needed to break him free, he was already inclined to slaughter Talireans. With Timeon, well -- we can't trick him into accepting, otherwise it isn't a true conversion, you know? He has to walk into it with his eyes wide open.
OTOH, theoretically he could convert to the service of his Master's god, i.e. Abadar ... though to be totally honest, I'm not sure if Abadar would really have antipaladins. (Of course, he has paladins, so ... six of one, half-dozen of the other for that case, so I suppose he could.)
And unfortunately, we've already sold the mithril; it's how we each got 400gp to spend before we left on this little boat trip. (See the loot page, which I haven't kept up to date, and forgot about right up until this conversation was taking place. Phantom, would it be possible to put a link to it in the header?) Unfortunately, going back I don't see the nobles' outfits, but ... I dunno. Would anyone like to surrender theirs for the good of diplomacy? ;)
My mistake for not clarifying - the outfit you were given when you arrived at the manor after escaping Branderscar was a noble's outfit.
I've put a link up in the header. Let me know if you have any further items you would like to trade.
I forgot to mention you do have a +1 trident from the triton fight - I don't recall what you did with that.
It was only a year or so back I found the bit where they noted Abadar had Paladins and that was odd for a LN deity. But in Gallen's case he's an antipaladin that worshipped Abadar rather than an Antipaladin of Abadar if you get my meaning.
Going to see if I can't learn a few words of Yutak before we let them go. (Gotta get training somehow.) And yeah, I totally catch the difference, Sir Gallen. :)
And, uh ... anyone hear from Demlin lately?
Oooh -- was working on revising/updating the loot tracker, came across Cole taking the mwk agile breastplate (as is useful for him -- we need to figure who can best use the second cloak of resistance +1), and suddenly realized we can trade his chainmail, another 150gp.
By the by, are we getting straight-across barter, i.e. 795gp 5sp (or 945gp 5sp with the chainmail), or half that value, and we'll get the full value of the ivory when we sell it?
There's a specific ratio for certain items. No one made the Appraise check for the value of the ivory, so I don't want to spell out specifically how much you're getting for each. Nothing is going for half value, though. I guarantee that.
I will say that when you sell the ivory, you will get full value for it.
I'll also say that your OOC estimate of the value of the ivory you're getting is low.
Are you adding the chainmail to the sell pile? What about that +1 trident?
And no, I haven't heard from Demlin lately, but I anticipated this might happen. Regardless, we're past the point I can work new characters into the game right now, so Demlin will move to NPC status temporarily until either their player gets back or until we get to the next point where I can work new characters in - which won't be until the end of Book 1.
I'd be happy to sell off the chainmail and trident... magic weapons are nice to have at early levels but the horn seems like it could end up being something pretty cool.
Sorry guys, I went on a weekend vacation last Thursday forgot to post about it. Went to Canada and back. I'm back now catching up.
Hey everyone, I’ll be out of town May 16th through the 19th. I may be able to post some, but can’t promise it. Please bot me as needed.
@All: My free time is going to be quite limited over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I might be able to post later on over the three days, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to.
To confirm, does anyone have alchemical fire?
Hel has the ingredients, but not the stuff; I didn’t figure I could set up alchemical shop on the ship, but I could with the arrows, so ...