I can second that recommendation; I picked up Midnight Riot a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Tomasz himself is based on Ferdinand Ossendowski; a man who actually plays a bit role in the Laundryverse as the designer of the Sleeper in the Pyramid's prison. Anyway, he wrote a few travelogues, one of which, Beasts, Men, and Gods, is on Project Gutenberg. Highly recommend it if you enjoy biographies or non-fiction; the man lived an interesting life.
Thanks for the tip! I'll check it out.
BTW, Sam, Pierce, Tomasz, Mina, you are up.
I've been listening to Midnight Riot at work again to pass the time a bit faster and one thing I've been really appreciating is the relatively relaxed pace of the book. The main character, Peter Grant, is very much a cop and leads are just as often tracked down with good police work as through magical means.
It's also a nice touch how he is decidedly not God's gift to the wizarding world and how clearly the limits of magic are laid out so that it is more of a tool than a device for shoehorning in deus ex machina.
And I ended up buying it as well.
I'll move things around, botting Mina and Pierce if needed, in about 12 hours.
Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I've had family issues with the hurricanes
Don't worry, I hope everyone is safe.
Your recap: after the shots, you can see your colleagues going in, then Tomasz leaping back out, drawing his gun and firing. There's a sickly yellow mist seeping out of the door.
Sorry, Pierce, I might have used the wrong words, the main door is already open XD
L and Mina still up (unless L still wants to use his actions queued from last round)
Also, I have a busy few days, I'll likely update tomorrow.
Ya, figured I'd just roll a fort save and use my queued actions as they wouldn't have changed.
Something I love about this game is how I can use all those creepy items and spells from the horror supplements.
That is in fact cool
Do any of us have the capacity to heal the wounded?
I have a healing power and you guys have radios
@Sappy - In this universe, what happens when you try to teleport while you, or you're clothing, is tied to someone? I'm more than happy to make a spellcraft or Kn. Arcana check for this; I'm thinking of ways to prevent an escape attempt.
@Everyone - Does anyone have a way to magically (or mundanely) track someone? If so, an escape might be just what the doctor ordered.
I seem to understand that one can teleport out of bindings or handcuffs as would teleport out of a grapple, albeit needing to pass a concentration check. A dimensional anchor spell is a surefire way to bind her, otherwise you'll need to break her concentration: a solid hit or an electric shock as soon as she starts casting could work.
Maybe we could put a thumbtack in her hand or feet
Your hands and feet have lots of nerves but not much bloodflow, so the pain might also make it harder to consentrate
My immediate plan for restraining her involved the application of nonlethal, painful damage from my panoply of blades. I can keep an action readied to hit her with one if she starts casting during the interrogation. When we're done... well the punishment for spying during wartime is pretty straight forward.
Anyone here know if the constabulary commonly keeps boats?
Presumably at a marina on the river.
It's likely they would, as a coastal city.
I'm thinking, if the storm lets up before she wakes up, we could take her a mile out before starting the interrogation. That way she has nowhere run.
Again, though, if we can reliably track her then it'd be better to let her escape and lead us back to her friends. Maybe, with the appropriate K. Arcana or Spellcraft checks Tomasz can set up some kind of tracking ritual?
I could also roll knowledge psionics
We are talking about sailing out at night in a snow storm somewhere that has a hostile expansionist power patrolling the waters. I think a cell and someone watching for magic is currently our best bet, unless the tracking ritual idea flies.
Tracking is encompassed by the Divination school/sphere. I'll brush up on rituals.
Also remember that you have got some info from the IRA leader as well.
Likely update in a handful of hours.
There's also the seer school for psionics, with trace teleport and defect teleport
Yeah, I spoke of update, but there's not much to be updated right now, other than the magic item.
About the ritual, it would take more time than you have to research one. So a divination spell, either arcane, spherecasting or psionics, is still your best bet.
Whenever you choose where to go, I'm ready to proceed.
*evil anticipatory chuckle*
I've no divination magic, so it looks like we're stuck with an interrogation. Anyone have any other last-minute suggestions before we roll with the cell idea?
Definitely we should put a thumbtack in each of her fingers and toes to make her roll concentration checks if she wants to cast at any point
And her arms should be tied behind her back, and she should be searched for her material component pouch
Also maybe call headquarters and ask them if they have any divination rituals on hand?
I'm not used to having a headquarters to call
Not sure what protocol is
Right, let's take her to the cell and I'll ready myself to interrupt any spellcasting she tries with a suitable level of violence. We're still not likely to get anything out of her. I'd be willing to try the thumbtack thing but only one.
Alright, I'll move you to the barracks later or tomorrow (unless I misread and you want a Constabulary cell, if so tell me).
For contacting headquarters you can use your radio, it has magical codes for encryption, but rituals are a bit complicated, they take some time to learn and use, a couple of days at least.
Probably a good idea to learn them though, in case something like this happens again
Tomasz will happily work on that ritual (I'm going camping towards the end of next week / into the weekend and won't have internet access).
Everyone up and running? (although Mina seems to have disappeared again)
Sorry for some reason I didn't get a notification number thing
I'm going to be out camping Friday-Sunday; please bot me as necessary.
A pardon, I was waiting to see if anyone wanted to jump in on this first.
Also, an important note, I'd motion to keep our IRA captive out of the spy's view.
Fun fact: had you tortured her, she would have summoned a rather nasty ooze from her blood. Well done.
Sorry gang, silly forums decided that I didn't deserve to be alerted of new posts again.
Ah, what would Paizo be without bugs? Welcome back!
It occurs to me we never established the boundaries of the Laundry’s geas. Can you give us some operating rules and what our limits are before we can expect to say bye-bye to our immortal souls?
Sure!
The basic rules are:
- Don't willingly expose to magic someone who isn't aware of its existance, nor provide proof of its existance.
- Don't discuss informations pertaining to a specific clearance level to someone who is not cleared to it.
- Exception to the above: you could speak of magic with Hilde, because she was a sorceress, even though she had no Laundry clearance; you can consider anyone who knows of the existance of magic as cleared to the basic UNDERGROUND STUDENT level.
- Should any U.K. citizen get to know of the existance of magic, refer them to the Laundry for conscription. Analogue rule for the Black Chamber for U.S. citizens. Residents of other countries must still be acknowledged in your reports.
I probably forgot some cases, but in spirit they boil down to "maintain the masquerade and do not expose or go against the Laundry".
Also to note, the geases are blocking: your body would refuse attempts to break them, you would feel it kicking into activation, and it would be signaled to HQ. Should you fight against them, that's when they would start harming you.
Sorry, Paizo.com decided to log me off a few days ago and I hadn't noticed until now. I was not getting any new post indicators.
It still randomly logs me off and won't let me edit my posts
You are getting to the adventure's climax. Make sure you're ready for a fight.
Also, I have three ideas to develop for the next one: we can do them one after another, out of order or skip some. Tell me what you think of them.
You'll be able to change character, if you want to.
The ideas are:
- Operation Anthropoid (Czechoslovakia, June 1942): assassination attempt on senior Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich. Covert op with native agents.
- The Belt on the Sand (Egypt, July 1942): recovery of an artifact from a tomb. Exploration, combat archaeology, Indiana Jones references.
- Unforgotten Draculesti (Romania, March 1942): covert action in Transylvania; town defense, storming the castle.
Would we level up and/or gain extra equipment as pay for winning (assuming we will win)
I would really like to add a level of gunslinger and vital strike feat)
All three of those ideas sound like a lot of fun.
-Operation Anthropoid: I might throw together a Grammaton Cryptic for that as a more dedicated sapper/infiltrator.
-The Belt on the Sand: This definitely sounds like Shrike's bag.
-Unforgotten Draculesti: Would probably suit Shrike pretty well, though I might put together a slightly more monstrous character for the sake of making this a proper monster mash. Of course, everyone knows vampires aren't real so that might not pan out.
I think the order listed looks good.
Regardless, I plan on taking a hard look at Shrike's build and seeing if I can get some more mileage out of his skills by tweaking a few choices.
Yes, you'd get a level and some better gear. Slightly better.
woo
then I'll keep pierce then :)