GM Rednal's Northlands Saga Complete (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

Work is kicking my ass atm. I hope to be able to resume regularly scheduled posting tomorrow or Wednesday.

Welp, I've made a tactical error. You need either Read Magic (which is part of the Divination Sphere, and thus not something I have) or Spellcraft (which you can't do untrained) to activate a scroll.

Whoops. Looks like it'll be a while before I'm fixing the armour.

Oooooooooooor you could just activate it anyway, realizing this is an abnormally user-friendly item. 8D ...The wraiths aren't the type of entities that will let you borrow things you can't actually use. Functionally, we're ignoring the pre-requisites for activating the magic items.

Well, if you're going to make it all easy...

Well, it does seem weird if the Campaign heavily discourages you from doing something, then dangles some carrots in front of you going "if only you had not listened".
So, yeah, as said, I'll take it as an excuse to put some points into associated stuff and be better prepared for a next time(wether there is or not), but generally, I'm with Rednal on that one.

Traveling for work the next couple of days. Please bot as needed.

Do we have a map of the occupied settlements? Or a description?

Flavour note: I'm thinking of amending my background, going further away from the Norns (as it's Asta's theme) and going more toward Tyr/Tiwaz.
Is that alright? It hasn't come up much in conversation yet.

He is one of the deities in the setting. ^^ I have no particular problem with it.

(If you want to have met a Paladin, though, let me know so I can give you the personalized details. XD There's, like, five of them. ...In the whole Northlands.)

For the record: @Gameplaycomment: Yeah, one reason I 'showed' the wand to them previously during a rally, to introduce them to the 'simple' idea of fiery disintegration for enemies, rather than surprise them with it in an applicable situation.
Secondly: There's more honor to be had in proper combat. Not intending to sling fire at these guys as long as regular slaughtering works fine.
Thirdly: Don't be frustrated, ladies :) PbP is slow. I know Sigurd WILL eventually learn to appreciate your gifts, and trust you, if not the source of your powers, sufficiently to overcome his cautiousness. It will just be a few more months, I'm certain. But I very much believe most of our magic will turn out to be party-based for when we operate independently.

Mm. XD When it's just the party, I suspect the group won't have much trouble accepting your magic. There are also some people - like the traveling Wise Women, who are druidic and have nature-based powers, and the five or so Paladins in the Northlands - who are more familiar with it and won't be bothered by casting since they can identify spells on sight. Most Northlanders really aren't experienced with casting, though. Magic's not a part of the local culture like it is in most settings, and it's usually associated with evil unless it comes from a well-known priest, hero, or wise woman. And even of those, most priests get basically no magic throughout their entire careers, and plenty of heroes only have levels in Fighter. XD

Many people will assume any magic being worked on them is hostile unless they reaaaaaally trust the source. They don't know the limits like players do - but they do know stories of mind control, which is anathema to their ideals of independence, and of stuff like groups of warriors being slain in an instant by fiery explosions. The wand is at least mostly tolerable because they think of it as "a gift from the dead to be used against our mutual enemies and returned when its task is done" - since they 'get' the idea of heroes of old protecting their descendants, it's on more-familiar ground for them.

No worries, I figured as much. It was either: buff the party, shoot arrows, or do nothing. I figured shooting arrows at bad guys that can't fight back was pretty inglorious, and I'd rather not do nothing, so I hoped that the ship trusted Asta, but realized it may not fly.

My fast healing can be bestowed upon you, if you so like, and I can give everyone teamwork feats, but after this show of hostility I'll resort to casting axe for the rest of this battle, at least until we need some extra kick.

^ I'll take it!

@Rednal: Only Asta had an action before enemy acts, so I believe gameplay is ready to update.
(Notification provided for your convenience, not because I'm in a hurry.)

Notifications like this are always good, and indeed, encouraged. XD By which I mean "50 GP for everyone." If I don't respond with the usual evening update and I haven't mentioned it ahead of time, then by all means, DO let me know.

Poking Asta.

Ugh, sometimes I'm an airhead. Apologies, post incoming...

Work being mean. I hope to get caught up tomorrow.

I'm away from my computer so I'll properly update tomorrow (a complex combat post is beyond my phone-fu). If you'd rather move me, I'll act as before, intercepting the first blow meant for Asta (the most wounded of us all, I think).
Also, Full Strike is a tension technique unique to the Coiled Blade Warrior Archetype, allowing for a swift-action attack.

Aye, Blommhilde already pointed it out, the Coiled Snake Tension Techniques are slightly different from the regular Striker ones.

Speed Step(which does exist in regular Striker) in particular will effectively allow me to "pounce" targets after I manage to build up some tension in a combat - but until Level 6 the extra Attack from the Coiled-Blade-exclusive Full Strike is preferable.

Full Strike: The coiled blade may make an attack with any weapon he is wielding as a swift action.

I can add the Tension techniques to the profile if you'd prefer?

Probably a good idea. XD If nothing else, it makes it easier for both of us to reference what you have.

Aye. Will do so in the next few days.

You can, however, attempt Perception or Survival checks to track them through the fog.

So, what kind of action are those? Can they be done passively, as in, as part of the previous action of trying to follow them? Or are they active actions and we would need to try some hide and seek-game where someone actively spots, then directs the others?

I posted that in gameplay as well, but would be good to get an answer before the update, I guess, as I have no idea what I can or can't do.
If it's the latter, I would attempt to direct Blommhilde to one Priest, and Eydis + Asta to the other(in a pincer)...anything I would need to roll to get them to understand directions? Or anything I would need to roll to actually know who's steps I am hearing?

Normally, skills are Standard Actions, but go ahead and do them as part of a Move Action (so if you succeed, you'll be able to follow foes and then attack with a standard action). ^^

Aye, aware they are usually standard actions. Alas, since this is Sphere Magic Fog, we are talking about a field of medium range, so give or take 150 feet radius.
Plus, they are actively trying to avoid us. So I think in pbp that could bog down a bit unless we simply disengage, wait for the fog to lift, re-charge, and rinse and repeat until they are out of spell points :)

I had assumed the "attempt to follow my target" would prompt a passive check for anything needed(the perception/survival) - as a player I did not know of the necessity to add these checks at the time of posting.
So I was afraid we were doing the sluggish thing of standard-action pinpoint, move action to close distance, watch them withdraw elsewhere.

Yeah, technically it should be harder to find them, but it's PbP. I don't want to have a month going "you checked X direction and they're not there, try again?" or anything. It might be more accurate to the RAW, but it's not helpful to the fun. XD

*poke*

*poke Asta*
(just to include a name in the poke) :)

I've been absent these past few days for medical reasons.
Apologies for any inconveniences that may have caused.
I am still recovering, but hope to catch up and get back to posting again soon.

Good luck with everything Sigurd. I hope you're better soon!

Hey all, the flooding in south texas got our neighborhood. I'm out of town but driving back now. Don't know the extent of the damage yet but I may be gone a bit.

Bleh, flooding. DX Here's hoping things aren't damaged too badly.

Flooding is not fun. Hopefully as is well.

@Rednal: You did provide some input, but I think this is a moral dilemna that very much depends on the setting.

Burning down the village would change little, and the ones forced into servitude can rejoice in freedom. Great. That still leaves the others.

Now, are we in a softer norse world, a regular norse world, or a harsher one(as could be dictated by the gods and magic actually being REAL.)
What would Jarl Olaf have done?

There's literally tons of options, and I would like to advocate whichever one seems most 'fitting' in the setting...

a.: simply take the plunder, then sail home, let the freed slaves and survivors resolve the issue among themselves.

b.: warn the former slaves against althunak, task them with taking over the village and praising our gods!

c.: go and slaughter the woman and children, eradicate the place from future maps.

d.: leave a contingent of warriors to scour the surrounding area, while transporting those woman and children we catch quickly to the other, first settlement as thralls?

e.: return to the first settlement, tell them, and let them go take the thralls they want or deal with them as they please?

f-z...etc

The wraiths you accepted items from suggested that you show no mercy to the followers of Althunak. That includes their family members, who would absolutely have been indoctrinated to seek Althunak for more power whenever they needed it. Is that fair to the kids? No, not really. But many in the North would consider it a kindness to end their lives before they doomed themselves with their deeds (sort of like a Paladin who accepts the repentance of a foul person, then beheads them before they can doom themselves again - harsh, but in the long run, probably better for them). The gods are generous to the souls of children.

You can also attempt divinations to seek the will of the gods.

(The slaves are not followers of Althunak, by the way. They're local tribesmen who got conquered and don't particularly appreciate it. They also have no knowledge of you and are considerably more afraid of you than you are of them, given how you just slaughtered the people strong enough to take them captive.)

Word of warning: I'll be travelling and moving for the next few days, so my presence here will likely be spotty.
Please bot as necessary.

Good luck with the travel/move! That's a beast to undertake!

I'm good with moving north if everyone else is.

Given how hot it is, I would certainly...

Oh, you mean in the game. Yes. Let us escape North. The cold, cold North.

Right? Every damn day here in South Texas is 100+ degrees F. The locals call it La Canicula.

Ugh. I'm not sure I could handle that. XD; Not without some serious AC, at least. It's bad enough where I live (and having to mow a steep hill doesn't help any).

Britain isn't quite that bad. It's been 32 degrees celsius/89 Fahrenheit today. It does bear keeping in mind that we're simply not used to these temperatures for long periods, and almost nowhere in the UK has air conditioning. Not homes and not most places of buisness. All the buildings are also designed to keep heat in, for Winter.

...send cold.

Ugh. I'm not sure I could handle that. XD; Not without some serious AC, at least. It's bad enough where I live (and having to mow a steep hill doesn't help any).

Oh yeah, no one doesn't have AC down here. And there's next to no hills, so that's a plus. I don't spend much on luxury, but one we've afforded ourselves is a lawn guy, because that is a brutal chore in this heat. My lawn basically wouldn't get mowed from May - November if I didn't pay someone to do it XD

Britain isn't quite that bad. It's been 32 degrees celsius/89 Fahrenheit today. It does bear keeping in mind that we're simply not used to these temperatures for long periods, and almost nowhere in the UK has air conditioning. Not homes and not most places of buisness. All the buildings are also designed to keep heat in, for Winter.

...send cold.

Oof, yeah, not being acclimated to weather makes it rough, especially when buildings aren't designed for it. I can't do winter anymore even with heating!

Hope some cold air gets to you soon!

Aye, same in central europe :P
31 degrees today - and as Eydis says, the bad part is a.: no AC by default, since that kind of temperature is usually a spike.
and b.: buildings tend to heat up and keep the heat, for winter - so tend not to cool down even if you try and utilize night air(windows open - at 1 am currently, room temperature 28.5 degrees with an outside temperature of 23 - it's in the walls...)
That is not a temperature that provides restful sleep :P

One of the reasons I sleep in the day. By morning, when I go to bed, it's finally cooled down.

Looks like we've hit a bit of a snag, are we all ok with exploring the village?

I've only gotten notifications for three of you - has someone still not posted?

I'm good with exploring the village. Sigurd hasn't posted in a bit, but I got notification in another game that his player was on vacation and left when the boards were down (and thus couldn't let anyone know), so I expect they'll be back soon.

Aaaaah. And yeah, the boards going down messed up. XD

It's been a little while - we're all healed up from the last fight, right?

And is there any non-magical buffing we can really do to prepare?