@Eliphas: Alternately, if there's a front door or something, we could do a enter that way while he and doggie are distracted by the shadow. It can't talk, but it can manipulate objects, throw things, and otherwise be a nuisance.
@GM: Does the tannery have a front entrance? I know you mentioned the gate control when I was skulking around earlier, but I don't think you stated how the owner gets in and out when it's closed.
Hm...I figured they lived on the place? Like, the Tannery and a House enclosed by a fence or something?
I agree that a map would definitely be helpful in plotting-
@Cloaked One: you are at the front gate, which is the main entrance (it's the one with the wooden panel that protects the lever). Round the back, behind where the man with the crossbow is, you found the gap in the fence. Exactly how much of this information you shared however is up to you ^_^
Also, I'm not familiar with the shadow talents - don't think they're core? They're not disallowed, but can you let me know if they permit a saving throw, and if so, against which save (Fort/Will/Ref)?
Thanks in advance :)
@GM: If the gate lever is INSIDE the fence, how does our target get back in if he has to go shopping or whatnot? Even if he lives on the premises, I would assume he leaves on occasion.
Re: shadow talents - they're from the Nyctomancer's Handbook but are fully detailed on the SoP Wiki. In the case of Shadow Lurk, it essentially turns my shadow into a slightly-buffed unseen servant for 10min. Think Disney's Dr. Facilier. XD
@get back in: I would have figured the gate is open during the day, and only gets closed down at night, when he's inside?
@Cognita: we do have locals...does the Tanner live and work there alone? Does he have family? Live-in-apprentices? Dayworkers from the village?
I know it said something about him paying good salary, so he's not running the place as a whole alone...
@Cloaked One - ah, I misunderstood. Thought you were going to try and animate Louslik's shadow ^_^
Eliphas is correct - gate is shut at night, open during the day.
Give me a knowledge local roll and I'll tell you what you know :-)
Oops, just realised Neryssa did a know local roll already, got an 18. -_-
Louslik doesn't live there, but he may as well do given how much time he spends and he sometimes works so late that he ends up sleeping there. No family or live-in apprentices, but a couple of night-soil workers cart their stuff up to the tannery first thing in the morning. The rest of the workers (around 2 dozen or so) live in town and work regular hours at the tannery.
We may have to kill the dog. But I can take out the man without killing him with non lethal damage so he doesn't die. Anyway to get the crossbow away from him?
-Posted with Wayfinder
I think the crossbow will not be much of an issue if Sameen can use her shadow tricks....he can't see in the dark, so he would have to both guess a spot correctly and succeed on the miss roll.
Incidentally, that should also help us knock him out with the "invisible attack" bonus to compensate for the nonlethal damage.
Mostly I'm worried about doing it quickly...if he manages to make a ruckus, we may have to abandon the plan before other people show up...
The tannery is situated more than a mile out of town, due to the smell. It'll be a while before anyone shows, even assuming they hear anything.
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ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL MY GAMES
The wife and I are currently in the path of Hurricane Irma. As such, we may be evacuating. We'll know for sure by Friday, but I wanted to give everyone a heads-up in case we suddenly stop posting for a while.
Good luck to both of you, no matter if you stay or go!
Yikes! Very best wishes to both of you. Looks like a bad one.
Stay safe and keep us updated as you can.
Update: we've decided to wait out the storm, so the last several days have been full of stockpiling drinks/snacks/water and making sure our valuables are securely locked up in our 'safe room.' The cats our prepped, and we have some anti-anxiety medicine for them if things get too crazy. We'll see how things go today and tomorrow. We're not too worried though; we're near Orlando, so there's no large bodies of water around, and there aren't too many large trees around our apartment.
Well, best of luck, again. Been to Orlando once, was fun. Even though I didn't get to go to Seaworld because 9/11 happened that day(). Quite a tale by itself(including tornado warnings, cancelled flights, car rentals and greyhounds), but, spoiler alert, I eventually got back home safe and sound.
It was a great holiday, and while I have no basis for comparison when it comes to american cities, I liked Orlando. Everything was so spacious, wide and flat :)
Before I ramble on: I hope this tale also has a happy ending for you two despite bad stuff happening elsewhere-!
We're alive! No power, and internet's spotty, but that's expected. Funny: the only fallen tree in the entire apartment complex landed on my wife's car. No apparent damage, thank Gozreh, due to how it landed. One of those "missed by millimeters" situations.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Thanks for letting us know, I was starting to worry slightly.
The TV pictures, though. Man, that looks bad. We just don't get anything like that over here at all.
I have to admit, this is slightly frustrating.
Not just about my characters 'fun' or what passes for that, but right now Eliphas feels like some common burglar/thief. There's no "message" sent. What they are doing is act like petty criminals.
Burning the place down might have been slightly excessive, admittedly, but cutting of a single finger?
Eliphas has no reason to acknowledge 'Me' as any form of authority, so actually, his most likely reaction would be to stare into her eyes and cut off the finger anyway.
But that would be openly opposing/antagonistic(in response to open opposition/kitty-threats) - so I feel that needs to be addressed in discussion lest we end in a deadlock courtesy of 'mutual threats' and 'no pvp'(mind you, I don't want pvp, just to make that clear).
I understand 'Me' is neutral, and I'm fine not doing evil for evils sake, but there needs to be SOME lasting impression beyond 'I was burglared' for this guy - whatever form it takes(honestly, I am open to suggestions there).
And I'd rather not cast 'Discern next of Kin' on him and take the Scenic Route back to our employer.
Ugh. Sorry. Cold. Feel terrible.
Anyway... yes.
I agree. The start of this AP is not the best, and it's almost the exact opposite of WotW (maybe that's the point?). You don't start out as notorious criminals busting your way out of jail.
Sorry about that. I could have rewritten the AP I suppose.
So. Patience. Soon you'll be doing evil, rather than just common burglary :D
@Cognita: No, it's okay, I understood it as a sandbox. Something of a 'do as ye will' thing. I could totally see a group just waltz in and murdering the guy straight up not even asking if he should survive.
But I felt 'blocked' in utilizing the sandbox by opposition in-game. Valid opposition, certainly, especially from a neutral character. But opposition that puts me into a difficult spot. As chaotic evil, I shouldn't really care a lot about a companion not wanting me to proceed with a planned action for no other reason than 'it's wrong to do so'.
But then, I don't want to play a selfish-sociopathic stereotype of chaotic evil that is the reason the alignment is usually banned in regular campaigns. That's why I figured I'd bring it up in discussion.
As said, in-character, I should simply ignore that last part and cut that finger off(I already submitted to not burning the place down), but that would kind of invalidate 'Me's actions or force a response from her - either way there's friction.
So really, I'm looking for input on what kind of action Me (and Neryssa; I feel Sameen doesn't care, in a good way) would be willing to accept that gives this whole action some 'meaning' beyond common burglary.
Something of the sort that will make Louslik reconsider his life choices, rather than assume some robbers got him and going out to buying a new dog tomorrow and moving on in his life.
Know what I mean? Eliphas want's his actions to have impact, not just being a tool.
There seem to be chances to have an impact here, but the most effective ones are denied.
He wants to be able to leave here tomorrow, then come back 5 years later and find what he did tonight changed something. Right now? It was just a common robbery with no real long-term impact.
Heh. It's ok, I understand.
What about painting 'pay your taxes' across the wall of his office?
...using the blood of his dog as the 'paint'?
Pretty sure he'd get THAT message :D
...Thoughts?
Actually was waiting for input from Me on it :)
An office graffiti seems a bit 'juvenile delinquient', but it's an option.
In that case, I would try and use 'Discern next of Kin', then paint a small picture of his family below, and possibly(if he has a core family) add 'or someone else pays' in smaller font size below.
(Could be explained away to 'Me' that the rulers always demand their share..if he does not pay, others need to pay more to cover for him - and that is simply a reminder that his own loved ones will suffer having to pay his share of the taxes...)
I dont care if you paint it, thats fine. It will just cause tension between our characters until shes corrupted. As long as youre fine with tension.
Also; sorry it took me so long to post, Ive been preparing to GM another game and kinda got lost in it. >.>
The wife is sick, so she probably won't be up to posting for the next few days.
I'll post tomorrow.
Been a couple very busy days.
And get well soon @ KatsuneSage.
OK, thanks for checking in and letting me know this isn't dead :)
Sorry you're sick, YBD-BD, get well soon!
Couple more hours, I'll post in morning(~9-10 hours from now).
Not sure whether you have other questions/interactions, or whether to move us on.
Not sure what's going on with Paizo servers either but that's out of my hands
I'm good. Seems straightforward. Show up and show presence. Eliphas gladly shows presence. He's a showman.
Will be more interesting how, for example, Sameen handles it. Or someone more socially awkward(Neryssa).
As in, I'm good to go, but others might have more questions, there.
OK, well assuming the others are ok with it I'll post something tomorrow to keep things moving
I really don't want to have to do this, but my job's limited my free time to an extent that I can't keep up with all of my campaigns. Even in my longest-running and most-active games, I can't even maintain a daily posting rate. As a result, I find that I need to downsize until my situation improves - unfortunately, that won't be until March or April, so I'm afraid that Sameen will have to retire from the campaign. Best of luck, and may much Vengeance be unleashed on Hell's enemies.
I am sorry to hear that(but I did write that in the other game already).
That said, March or April is only a few months - so if you only want to take a hiatus that may be an option?
I suppose that may also depend on the fate of 'Me' - while your jobs limited free time is unlikely to extend to YBDBD, many couples in role-playing I knew were 'package deals'.
So...just wondering? Will 'Me' be around, with a option for Sameen to return at a later point if time allows?(I think 3 Gestalt Chars should be able to tackle a couple challenges)
Just wondering how things will be from here on out.
I may be mistaken, but it would seem that it was a couple's activity for them, and with Sameen gone, Me has disappeared as well.
The question, then, is what this means for us/this game.
I am fully willing to continue, but that means we either need to:
a.: have someone else joining to fill the roles
b.: rebuild to cover the roles(we currently have 3 caster classes out of 4 total) - probably something like Antipaladin/Oracle and Rogue/Caster...or along those lines.
c.: add a class and go tristalt - thats a bit of a powercreep, but if we had 4 gestalt chars it doesn't seem unreasonable, especially considering action economy.
d.: bring in 2 more characters played by us OR animal companions/familiars(if gestalted into one, they can be reasonable useful/powerful...maybe a demonic benefactor bestows them upon us)
Of course, we could also pack up and call it a day, but since you did suggest a game on PM, I figured I would suggest to take this opportunity.
Sincere apologies for delay in replying! Between the forums going haywire and my own work, it got a bit crazy. I'm now back.
Sorry to see you go, YBD, but I understand completely, I had to do something similar recently. I'll mark you as inactive.
Eliphas - looks like it's just the 2 of us! I'm open to suggestions :D
Running the game plus a DMPC is probably enough for me, I don't think I could run another PC as well...
I'm still here, let me know what you wanna do.
EDIT: if memory serves, you were having troubles with Eliphas in terms of motivation and general build - if you want to scrap him and do something different, or even a different campaign, we can do that. YBD picked Hell's Vengeance as he's already in the other APs I have (Carrion Crown/CotCT) but if he's not here then we can move to whatever works for you :-)
Just on that last point:
Nope, neither had troubles with motivation, nor build.
I had a problem writing up a proper backstory, but that was mostly due to unrelated issues keeping my mind occupied.
And with the build, Feats were tight, because I wanted to do the Dimensional Attack chain AND armored casting - no trouble though, just no Feats left to 'flesh out' other stuff.(like Gory Finish stuff).
I'll think some more, and we can decide together where we are going.
Understood - maybe I was just projecting my own difficulties! Look forward to hearing what you think.
Still here - if you decide you don't want to/don't have time to continue with this campaign, lemme know and I'll mark it as inactive so it doesn't clog up your campaign screen.
Not at all...just taking it easy for the time being.
Also got a PM to reply to ;)
It's a busy time IRL right now(my job gets more...hectic - around holidays), and we'll likely have to decide on how to proceed before we can progress anyway.
So yeah, I was taking it easy until I have some time to sit back and think about things.
But I'll definitely want to continue.
That's fine, take your time, I'm not going anywhere XD
Best of luck with work and other RL stuff
Still here :) Just checking in ;)
Been ill with the flu over the last week, only did sporadic posting in most games as a result.
I need to rebuild 2 other characters in running games(one to utilize Spheres of Might, the other for...reasons.), but once that is done, would likely tackle this :)
Do you have any preference between those options still 'open'?
Add more people?
Rebuild characters?
Add a third class(tristalt)?
Just continue as-is?
Sorry, slammed with work at the moment - still here.
Honestly, not fussed about options and I'm happy to continue as-is. Re-building encounters by depowering them/taking away monsters is much, much easier than re-building the other way. It shouldn't be a problem to run with only 2 PCs.
If you want to rebuild, be my guest. I'll probably have Neryssa look at the advanced Conjuration options at some point - going into devil binding and whatnot. Having a couple of Bearded Devils tag along will power up the party nicely :)