*arrives a bit late with coke and M&Ms, shares with Alayi and Kor*
What in the world are you thinking, Rufus?
You could always do something insane, like ask him...
Yeah I've been enjoying this as well. I do have my concerns here and there but as long as everyone can keep things from getting TOO heated I'm ok.
I think that the .... level .... of antagonism between the two, while palpable, is also well within bounds of civility... (if only because they are speaking about each other without the other's understanding). And I while I think that they will never be friends, they will in time at least have more understanding of each other's motivations. If anything, this is very entertaining as a social experiment, eh?
Might post something IC later on saying what Alayi and her other two apprentices are doing.
... Oh boy.
Um. DM. I think I just broke my brain looking back at my skill choices.
A lot of Castor's fluff, and my general idea of him, ran on him being a good listener, though not a skillful speaker.
And then I went and forgot to pick up Sense Motive, somehow.
Would you allow me to swap Spellcraft for it now, before we get much further in the game?
I have an IC post mostly wrapped up that I'll post once this is resolved. (Because it impacts said post.)
This has been interesting, that's for sure. It's going to need to come to a head sooner or later (probably sooner, I'm guessing). After that, the two will need to either come to some sort of mutual understanding, or there'll be a physical altercation...
-Posted with Wayfinder
Heh... Alayi would be willing to be a mediator in an official dual between you two... which would, in its own right, grant some form of understanding (provided Castor is able to heal you guys before the loser bleeds out). ;)
Hey guys, just chiming in as it's been a couple of days since my last post. Hope everything's fine with you and your other campaigns as well (alas, the GM of my other Serpent's Skull campaign has just put the game on hiatus due to family problems - I really hope it's nothing serious).
: I know your pain. I too always tend to put some ranks into Sense Motive, even to the detriment of other, more useful skills; for some reason, neglecting to do that gives me the idea of having to play a "gullible" character. So to say.
: keep mediating like that and you'll become the closest thing this group has to a "heart" in no time :) Just dropping this to say I've been really enjoying how Korinne's been acting throughout this whole ordeal, empathic and level-headed. A pity Xelani's not there to witness that.
: the point you've brought up about the River Freedoms and having our (hopefully) future fledgling kingdom pay some respect to them in order not to appear as would-be conquerors is very interesting. Once the group is re-united, I'm looking forward to delve deeper into this issue IC.
: I'm also up for a bit of roleplaying as we wait for the Away Group to return. If that's okay with you, I'll wait for your post and respond accordingly.
That is fine, was planning on taking them to the back two catapults to begin removing broken pieces from them (I am assuming that the front two, having been in better shape, are probably stripped of broken pieces now... if not they will instead continue working on the removal of those pieces). And my Serpent's Skull ended for similar reasons last week as well... must have been the week for it.
I don't really have issues with playing a more gullible character, but in Castor's case, it really was part of the base concept, and it's his one real 'in' to the social play, so it's pretty important to me.
Considering you have the highest Wisdom of any of us, I would hardly consider Castor as gullible. He might not have quite as much experience sifting through BS as some of the rest of us, I.E. those who have ranks in Sense Motive, but he would hardly qualify as gullible.
Experience with the rest of us would definitely qualify as reason for putting additional ranks into Sense Motive come next level.
Unfortunately, because my roommates are out of town for the next week and they left behind a sick cat I am likely not going to be able to post once I get home as I wll be stuck planing my butt on a chouch in the hopes that said cat will calm down enough to actually eat some of her food. Long story...
Yeah, the worst case scenario is that I'll take a hit to my other skills to adjust that. It does bother me to have one one misplaced skill point, though, which is why I figured I'd go ahead and ask if it was okay to fix my error.
(The game is still only beginning, by PbP standards, and the skill hasn't come into play yet.)
"I can not imagine such going over well with Lady Alayi or, particularly, Lady Xelani. I do not foresee them taking action if it is what the rest of us have decided, though. Thoughts?"
Can't speak for Xel, but Alayi will have the following thoughts:
1) If the rest of you are for sending her to Brevoy for justice, she will not object (esepcially given she does not seem to want another option) or intervene... none can argue that she brought the sentence on herself.
2) While she will not think her less of a person for her lack of a hand, Alayi will not be able to train her in anything she knows (well, except dance maybe... and even that will be hampered in part because of her being disarmed). So between having students already and not having a tailor made rehab skill to teach her she won't have alternatives herself to provide.
(Subnote for two: even if she did have both hands, Alayi would view her attitude as being poison to her current batch of apprentices. After all, she would be undermining Alayi's efforts to get her four-six ex-bandits to stay that way.)
3) Her ultimate sin to Alayi will be unrepentance. While she will appreciate her being honest about it, it also means Alayi can be all in favor of sending her back to Brevoy in chains... if not just having her hung at Oleg's under the official presiding of the guards.
So bottom line, short of her changing her tune about repentance and wanting to live a different life on the way to Oleg's, Alayi will shed no tears for her.
"I can not imagine such going over well with Lady Alayi or, particularly, Lady Xelani. I do not foresee them taking action if it is what the rest of us have decided, though. Thoughts?"Can't speak for Xel, but Alayi will have the following thoughts:
1) If the rest of you are for sending her to Brevoy for justice, she will not object (esepcially given she does not seem to want another option) or intervene... none can argue that she brought the sentence on herself.
2) While she will not think her less of a person for her lack of a hand, Alayi will not be able to train her in anything she knows (well, except dance maybe... and even that will be hampered in part because of her being disarmed). So between having students already and not having a tailor made rehab skill to teach her she won't have alternatives herself to provide.
(Subnote for two: even if she did have both hands, Alayi would view her attitude as being poison to her current batch of apprentices. After all, she would be undermining Alayi's efforts to get her four-six ex-bandits to stay that way.)
3) Her ultimate sin to Alayi will be unrepentance. While she will appreciate her being honest about it, it also means Alayi can be all in favor of sending her back to Brevoy in chains... if not just having her hung at Oleg's under the official presiding of the guards.
So bottom line, short of her changing her tune about repentance and wanting to live a different life on the way to Oleg's, Alayi will shed no tears for her.
You might as well have been speaking for Xelani. Without even a modicum of repentance (even one born out of fear) according her the same treatment we gave to the first batch of bandits would probably be a futile endeavor - if not outright dangerous.
Agreed, a death wish spoken in times of distress tends to be an unreliable clue of a person's true character (particularly when said person feels like a cornered beast whose words have nothing to gain her anymore), but unless her attitude fundamentally changes, there's little that can be done; and that before even taking into consideration Arawn's observation about the Levetons having to share their roof with their one-time tormentor.
If, on the other hand, the GM wants to give her some hidden depths to explore, perhaps because of Castor wanting to better assess her nature and her story before making a decision... by all means, I'm all for giving it some more time. In the meantime, should you opt not to give her any mercy may I once again renew Alayi's suggestion of having her executed at Oleg's instead of sending her back to Brevoy (where she would end up hanged anyway)? Other than working as a PR coup both with the prisoners and the Levetons, it would be a sign that we're able to administrate justice by ourselves, without having to rely on external authorities. After all, if it's just a matter of jurisdiction it might be worth noting that her crimes have been committed in the Stolen Lands, which are technically part of the River Kingdoms, rather than in Brevoy...
hey guys, Apologies for the delay in posting. Been a bit busy with RL issues.
@Castor: I am ok with that change. Depending on the speed you guys go, it may be a while before you hit level 2 and I'm ok if that was you're original intention.
Thank you, I much appreciate.
An OOC response to Rufus' thought processes - Kor made that comment since from her perspective, she's mostly seen the two of them ignoring/overriding each other on what to do and how to go about it at every turn. Based on general observations (and generalizations) of male behavior in the past as well as not having a direct link to either one's mind, a power struggle seems the most likely explanation to her and is what she went with.
I'm sorta waiting to see what Castor and Arawn do before posting since their actions will influence hers somewhat.
Oh I'm not saying there isn't jockeying for dominance going on. I'm saying 'To Rufus' it is less about dominance & more about not being anyone's 'hired killer'. I did point out that he has the lowest Wisdom of anybody in the group after all & part of how I play his low Wisdom is not necessarily being that good at 'self reflection'...
Korinne making that comment is going to be one of the reasons why he is able to see it. Much as, in the first Campaign, one of the other PC's calling him on what happened when he lost his temper during the first bandit interrogation was how I handled him learning some other things in that one...
Hey guys. Just to let you all know, I'm going to be bowing out of this game. There have been some personal things and IRL stuff that have broken my concentration and damaged my ability to enjoy playing. It's become more of a chore for me to come and post, rather than the fun and excitement I should have been feeling.
Not all of it is bad, though! When I say "personal things" I'm referring to things like, "My wife is pregnant with our first child." and, "I'm finally able to rebuild my wife's computer so that we can play WoW together." So don't worry about me.
In truth, I'm apologizing, for leaving. I hope you all continue on and have a blast with the game. I love all of the characters chosen for this, and I really wish I could have seen it through to the end. I may still come back and lurk and catch up from time to time, if I get a free moment.
Irnk: To be clear, I do love Rufus, and wish I could stay to witness he and Arawn hash out their differences. I think we could have been better off without the OOC bickering, and I apologize for my part in that. I just want you to know that I'm not excluding you from my statement above.
Have fun, all! Perhaps we'll meet again, on the fields of battle. I hope so.
Sorry to see you go, Arawn. Good luck with everything.
Congrats on your child man! That is a great reason to have less time, ;)
If you and your wife ever find yourself on the Eonar or Cenarian Circle servers drop me a line ;)
As has been said, your first child is an unequalled reason to find your 'free' time disappear. I wish you both all joy & many enjoyable raids together, or whatever the two of you like doing on WoW.
I am sorry to hear that the game was becoming a chore, but I am pleased to learn you have more enjoyable, though more exhausting, chores to replace it with.
Castor, would you consider praying for this spell this morning? Oh, crap, we don't have Happs' body, nevermind...
Even if we did, protection against death effects for one hour wouldn't do us much good.
(We can have a ceremony for the man without needing to involve a spell.)
That is a very interesting spell, though, I will keep it in mind.
Sorry about being so late with that post, been a hectic few weeks. Next few will also be a bit busy, but I hope they will be more... stable at least.
@Rufus: I'm answering you here since, after my previous post, I feel I have nothing to add to the discussion IC. By all means, there's nothing wrong with pushing; indeed, it is the very thing that moves a PbP forward.
(Also, I'm sorry to hear about your recurring RL problems - here's to hoping they get better sooner rather than later!)
Also looking forward to interacting with you (and Korinne and Castor too), as I feel that after the "tumultuous" discussion we had at the very beginning, splitting immediately after never gave our characters the chance to properly get to know each others. As I anticipated, I'm planning to have a talk with you about the River Freedoms, and the general principles that move Rufus in his endeavor, which I'm rather curious about both IC and OOC.
Re: prisoners. My vote would be to keep the able bodied "small fries" busy both as Alayi's apprentices and digging the moat (an effort which would require some serious manpower). Kressle, on the other hand, can meet whatever fate you wish. I don't want to be that paladin that tries to push her morality on the whole group, so I won't chime in on the matter. That said, if Castor (if I understood well) would like to have some more time with her to reach his decision, Xelani would support him. If not, she would respect whatever decision the group actually responsible for bringing her down would take.
With Oleg taking a stand the way he did, Castor is convinced that we should indeed send Kressle to Restov.
Sorry to hear that your off table problems are resurfacing again, Rufus... I sincerely hope that they do have a peaceful and speedy resolution.
My one disappointment with 'People of the River' was that Paizo didn't do what they did with 'Varisia, birthplace of legend' and publish more Campaign Traits for previous AP's relevant to the book.
Granted, there are a LOT more Varisian AP's than there are River Kingdoms AP's, but a sidebar with a couple would have been nice.
The more I think about it, the more it occurs to me that Rufus'/my reasons for not wanting 'Brevic Justice' in the Riverlands may wind up being a lot more 'meta' than we want to deal with. It is just before class for me right now, but I will be posting more later today. Expect a long out-of-game post.
Before we get too embroidered in potentially lengthy legal discussions, are there any objections to the following points?
- We send for parts from Restov, whatever Alayi requires to better fortify this outpost. Money can be taken out of a sort of "common stash"
- We let Kressle decide on her fate, her options being being sent to Restov, most likely to the gallows OR be executed here, in the Stolen Lands OR die standing in combat against Rufus;
- Come tomorrow, we start exploring the Greenbelt
No objections.
Sounds right to me, though for that last bit... perhaps we should start with finding those mites that have Svetlana's wedding ring.
I concur, that or the bear are our strongest (only?) leads as of now... Though I have to admit, I'm a bit scared of facing them before hitting at least 2nd level :shivers:
Oh, and I still have to ask Kesten if to cash that bounty we need to handle the bandits to Restov or if proof of defeat is sufficient (AKA: do your apprentices count towards it?)... If it's the former, then we might already have enough money to place those orders...
You can also go to the bandit fortress...You guys do have an entrance way into there but I will admit, it is EXTREMELY dangerous to go there at this point.
To save a simple question: You just need proof that they have been "dealt with". Also, there was a typo. I said 8, you only need 6. So just showing Kesten that you've captured 6 bandits is enough. You are currently at 7: 4 Minions, Happs, Kressel, 1 minion from Kressel. So if you just mention to Kesten about it, he will put in the "request for reward".
Before we get too embroidered in potentially lengthy legal discussions, are there any objections to the following points?
- We send for parts from Restov, whatever Alayi requires to better fortify this outpost. Money can be taken out of a sort of "common stash"
- We let Kressle decide on her fate, her options being being sent to Restov, most likely to the gallows OR be executed here, in the Stolen Lands OR die standing in combat against Rufus;
- Come tomorrow, we start exploring the Greenbelt
I am in full agreement with all these points.
Edit: One of the big complaints about Kingmaker on the forums is that the final installment kind of comes out of left field, there is so little foreshadowing...
The fact is, the fact that in all that time that Rufus mentions the Stolen Lands have so effectively resisted 'civilization' when all the lands around them have not is really the biggest foreshadowing of the final installment there is.
Yes, I just gave away, or at least hinted at, some of the meta-plot of this AP...
You can also go to the bandit fortress...You guys do have an entrance way into there but I will admit, it is EXTREMELY dangerous to go there at this point.
Yeah, that was screaming so loud I was afraid of even mentioning it :)
To save a simple question: You just need proof that they have been "dealt with". Also, there was a typo. I said 8, you only need 6. So just showing Kesten that you've captured 6 bandits is enough. You are currently at 7: 4 Minions, Happs, Kressel, 1 minion from Kressel. So if you just mention to Kesten about it, he will put in the "request for reward".
Nice. So we can, say, have this "request for reward" sent even now and specify that we'd like it part cash, part... ugh... parts for catapults, oil, spikes etc.?
@Rufus: understandable, and even without knowing of this particular "theme" in advance it stands to reason that there's something out there who has always spelled the doom of anyone trying too hard to tame the Stolen Lands. For the time being, one of the meta-meanings of my last IC post was: let's start small, so that when we face progressively stronger foes we'll be ready for them (which is, well, the pattern of every level-based RPG ever created, after all). As of now, if I recall correctly from the Player's Guide, we're still the rookie team sent out to survey the "n00b zone".
I also think it would make more sense to expand out from Oleg's. This way, we can count on not having nasty surprises on the way to other places later on.
At this point, even though it would seriously suck, I will laugh my ass off if Kressle takes the 'die fighting' option & manages to kill me in the process...
It would be seven different kinds of hubris...
So, that rogue... vanilla or were you thinking archetypes?
Since there seems to be a consensus (at least as far as the more pragmatical matters are concerned), I might want to have a post up later asking Oleg for permission to better fortify this fort and Kesten to send a request for reward to Restov, to be paid both in cash and tools (I'll leave it to gmGM to decide how much those would cost, even a very rough estimate).
I'll let Rufus (or anybody else who captured her) talk to Kressle to present her the various options.