Sweet, custom gravestone. I'll be the first person ever, much respect :P
Being honest though, Talia probably has more of a fear of being taken / captured alive. At least there's an afterlife to share with her parents, being captured alive and idk, enslaved or something would feel worse waking up in the morning knowing you failed every single day.
I updated Makkatat as well :)
I think my plans are set to visit Hermit and then maybe take on Jungle Runners day after (I have limited Teleport spells). Nothing major, but I'm keeping an open mind.
*Makes mental note to incorporate Talia getting taken captive into the story.*
As I indicated in the gameplay thread, feel free to do something besides attacking another goblin tribe (though you could certainly do that if you want to) but you will need to reach some sort of consensus before I can move things along.
Bring it on, Talia takes no prisoners :)
Updating my preference for the next couple of days to be Teleporting to visit Hermit D1, killing Jungle Runners D2, and then working on a variation of Uruelleths idea towards weakening the tribes. I just think we need a ton more information on them before we could implement it Day 1.
I'm fine with those tasks.
What's our goal with the hermit? To figure out what's up with him or make an ally? Or did you have something more specific in mind?
To not get squished like a bug?
I know that he is a Sylph but very few people know this guy exists let alone his power level. He saved us waaaaay back when our boat blew up, and I suspect he probably created the wave that wrecked the slave ship Jaxira was on (but thats a hunch on my part - no evidence).
So ideally, I want to make him an ally, but I want to know more about him - theres a chance he knows something useful. I guess there is a slim chance he is hostile (you could argue he put us on an island with Red Mantis) but I think the whole 'saving us from drowning' thing is worth a try. Its unlikely to take the whole day - leaving time for something else if we wanted.
I'm reading along, but it seems like y'all are still working out the details of your plan. Don't let me interrupt your flow. :)
The way I see it, got two options for tomorrow. We cannot do both these things in the same day (since I can only have 2 Teleport spells per day).
Option 1.
Teleport to see the Hermit tomorrow morning. This option is really good if anyone else has stuff they want to do that day that doesn't require my presence, since I don't *think* I'd need everyone present for my chat with Hermit.
Its also unlikely to take the whole day (unless the Hermit has teleport traps and I get stuck) and doesn't really drain my spell list, so I could use (say) the afternoon to scout the Goblin Tribe with Polymorph / Disguise / Illusion spells. I guess other people could help scout with me as well but I'd probably just be doing a flyby / swimby since I think ground level will have the most scouts on watch.
Option 2
Eliminate the Jungle Runners. This would probably require combat + interrogation spells (plus Teleport), the whole party and might take most of the day - especially if we are interrogating someone leaving limited time for much else. On the plus side, its taking on the Red Mantis head on and gives us a break from monkey goblins which might appeal to some people.
***
We can do both of these on different days, but what do people want to really do first. I don't really mind what we do, but the quicker we decide the quicker we can move on, push through these 7 days or so and start crushing the rest of the goblin tribes.
Hermit first is fine.
dammit you beat me by 90 seconds
GM just a heads up that things look promising after that interview (apparently I'm a preferred applicant - gotta love HR). I'll definitely update you if activity takes a dive, but assuming referee checks come through OK there's a chance that I could probably be inactive for perhaps a week while I give notice / find somewhere to live / move / start new job.
No changes as yet, but if I suddenly go radio silent for a few days its probably just me juggling a few things at once.
That's exciting! Thank you for the notice. That'll be a good time to see that Talia is abduc-, ehem, see how creative I can get in botting you!
On a related noted, I'll be out of town this weekend (7/5 through 7/8). I'm going to Canada (hi Kilarra!) so I expect to still have internet, but there's a good chance I won't be able to post as often as I normally try to. So if I disappear during that time, that's why.
Talia is too annoying to be abducted :P After a day I bet that the Mantis have enough and just drop her off with the party with a note saying 'do not return'.
Have fun in Canada! I'v heard that its beautiful, but that's really about all I know about it.
Yeah, there's kind of a kill-on-sight thing going on, so that also makes things difficult.
Thanks! First time visiting, so really looking forward to it.
I'm sure you'll have fun. I liked Canada, been to Montreal, Toronto, and Waterloo/ Kitchener. If you're near Toronto it's worth visiting the CN Tower and the falls (IMO the view is better on the Canadian side).
Just popping in to say sorry, it's been crazy busy this week. Probably won't have a chance to post against for another few days.
Also, have fun in Canada! Where are you visiting?
Thank you for the heads up, Kilarra.
I'll be in London (Ontario) and possibly Toronto. Thank you for the tip about CN Tower, Talivar! I'm definitely planning on visiting the falls on my way back (on the Canadian side).
Traveling this weekend, so sorry for the radio silence. I'll be able to post in the next day or so.
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Back from Canada, so regularly scheduled updates should resume.
Got to see the CN Tower at Talivar's recommendation. It was fantastic. I also acquired an abiding love for Tim Hortons, so there's that.
Wouldn't be Canada without Tim Hortons!
Oh and did you go right to the top?
The Skypod? Yes, and I was scared out of my mind.
Awesome! I hope you had a great vacation.
It was great. It's also good to be back. Definitely plan to visit again at some point.
I got the job :)
My new start date is August 12th and apparently they help you find a place to stay as part of moving down, so it might be a lot less stressful than I expected but if I'm a little MIA in 4-6 weeks time I'm probably preparing/moving/adjusting. I think realistically though, if accomodation is easily sorted my activity should hopefully remain mostly unchanged - it doesn't take me too long to make a post.
Congrats!
I'm taking the family on holiday next two weeks. Should have internet but giving you a heads up in case that doesn't work out.
That's awesome, Talia! Congrats!
Enjoy your holiday, Talivar!
On that note, from July 25th through until the end of July I'm going to be busy and very unlikely to post. We've got family coming into town from the States.
Well done! Hope your move is a lot less stressful than your last one.
Since we're all sharing our vacation plans, I'll go ahead and mention that I'll be out of town 8/8 to 8/17 on a trip with family to Alaska. While it's a little early to say definitively, I suspect we'll just have to pause the campaign during that time as I doubt I'll consistently have internet and want to try to maintain an equal standard for all my campaigns.
I'm going to have to think about Talivar's reaction to all this. Well intentioned but it's rubbing salt in the wound.
Also we're kinda sticking our necks out here! What's the plan, knock the ants nest over and see what comes crawling out? That could escalate quickly.
K so basically my vision is the ace in the hole. They dont know I have it.
If they are both Mantis, then yeah, we should jump straight into combat. I think though that just one of them is Mantis, and therefore I want her to trust what I'm saying, so that she believes us and not him when he denies it. I also want to see her reactions to see if shes also Mantis or basically reliving Kilarra's story.
We could, simply jump to init and attack but it probably turns into everyone in the room against us and I'd rather not make it hard for ourselves. The less combatants, the easier it is to take this guy alive before he exits stage right.
I'm planning on dropping the hammer down next post. Feel free to be pissed at Talia IC Talivar - shes planning to apologize for bringing it up at the end of this conversation anyway since she knows its wrong.
I'm a little unsure of how I should act here. You say I see no fault in Erandlon's words. However, Uruelleth knows that Talia can see into the past, since she's described an event in his own that there's no other way she could have known about.
So is Uruelleth now forced to either question his own sanity along with Talia's, or is he to simply believe that she's crazy and haul her away to some asylum?
Or is he allowed to believe his own experiences and knowledge over someone who has every reason to lie?
I mean, it's not going to be like this, is it?
;-P
I read it as more "you cannot sense Erandlon is lying" but you can probably use your own judgment from what you know about Talia to make a judgment / action call if she's saying the opposite.
What I dont get, is Erandlon's argument. He claims that I'm insane by coming to the island and wanting to find the Citadel - and yet spends the whole conversation comforting Talivar about his abducted daughter, which is in of itself a reason to do the above.
I'm not sure what to do here, I was expecting combat to break out but it didn't (yet). Talivar reckons the pact is insane and so by extension he agrees with Erandlon. Not that he'd trust any doctor on this island.
Uruelleth, Talia's interpretation of the situation is basically correct. You don't sense any lies from Erandlon, so you basically have to choose between him and Talia, or else try to ask more questions (or something else). Part of the reason for mentioning those things as well is that, from your perspective, there's not really a justifiable reason to attack any of the other people in the room, so hopefully it provides a bit of a moral quandary as well.
Okay, good to know.
Reason why I was concerned, in another game I once had a character get bluffed by an NPC I'd dealt with before, and based on prior experience had no reason to trust or believe him.
I think he wanted me to follow him somewhere (which of course would have been a trap or ambush). My character refused to follow him anywhere, and even though I thought she acted appropriately, the GM got upset and said I basically ignored the roll. He even went behind my back and said I wasn't a good roleplayer.
For the sake of the game, I gave him my mea culpas to avoid a lot of sore feelings and to avoid arguments, but it's now made me aware there's different expectations for the Bluff skill.
No worries. You don't have to ignore your companions, unless you want to, of course.
Communication is hard. Not being able to see everyone's faces makes it even harder. Thank you for being willing to ask about the matter (and please feel free to do so in the future about other things you may have questions about).
Now if ALL of you had believed Erandlon's words, you might have some explaining to do. ;)
K I'm ready to Dominate Erandlon.
And then I guess to be fair tomorrow I'll hit myself with Dominate Person so Asheda can play Truth or Truth...after we deal with Erandlon.
This is point of no return, so whats our plan RE Walking away vs Fighting
-I want to fight, trigger Surprise Round, Evil Eye the bloke, win init and slam him with Misfortune. Slumber is out because he is a half elf but I can still Evil Eye --> Misfortune --> Dominate Person which is effectively a three round victory since I'll just tell him to answer the truth and that stops hostilities (hopefully).
Some of us want to leave though, in which case, what is our next move?
- (Opinion) Ash probably isn't going to turn on him. She isn't going to be paranoid, or question him, because she unquestionably believes him. She isn't (to my knowledge) rolling SM against my words (which would have dinged truthful) which points to her not wanting to believe. I think its great if she comes to her senses but I see hell freezing over before that happens. This is without the mind altering things Erandlon is probably doing which brings us to...
-Only Psychic Surgery (which I'll never have access to) or maybe Break Enchantment could fix a memory modification spell. Break Enchantment is one full minute of casting though and judging by how uncooperative she and him are, there's no way they agree to submit to a casting.
-I cannot use divination spells like Share Memory to show Ash the truth. Its blocked by the magic is the island. Erandlon has no such issues and could probably show her an altered memory.
-I can vision quest, but that is only going to happen tomorrow at the earliest, and I don't see the value. We already know Erandlon is Mantis and we have the vision to prove it - this issue is that Ash still wont believe us. We came to her with an actual vision from her own memories and she still gets convinced by one bluff check from Erandlon. I could spy on the conversation once we leave, but its going to be "Sorry about the crazy interruption, lets proceed" and unlikely to get much value.
-I don't like leaving the building directly, because we entirely lose control of the situation. Erandlon can leave on his own, and if he can goes head to head with my Sense Motive, he can probably go head to head with my Perception as well. He could easily cut his losses, decide its too risky to continue being a Jungle Runner, optionally murder Ash, and head back to the Citadel. I doubt he comes after us himself, when its four on one and we know that he is Mantis and are thus prepared.
-Alternatively, Erandlon leaves with him his clients and they go wherever they need to go. I cannot track them, there's no divination options while on the island. I also don't think tracking them works because confronting him again in the jungle brings us right back to this situation, with the bonus of looking like stalkers.
Talia doesn't mind walking away, but she would need to see *some* benefit towards doing so and I'm struggling to find an alternative angle.
I think we might have to chalk this one up for a loss Talia.
Nope. I'm not in favor of leaving until Erandlon is a corpse.
He's infuriated Uruelleth with his "I don't have to debate you because I call you crazy" shtick, and if there weren't witnesses he'd have slaughtered him already.
So, he's going to flip the script and call him stupid, using the same tactics. Let's see if Ruel can provoke the guy to combat.
But if not, I'm fine with attacking first. He's a dead man.
When you say loss Talivar, what actually do you want to do?
What is Talivar's next move?
Talia is also on board with calling Erandlon and idiot and / or trash talking the Red Mantis to get a rise out of him. It would be an easy thing to call them incompetent.
So Talia and Uruelleth both seem in favor of attacking and Kilarra and Talivar both seem against it. Since there are only four of you (an even number), you'll probably need to talk it out some more. I would prefer you reach a consensus (or at least more of one) rather than someone making a unilateral decision.
I'm interested in hearing Erandlon's response because (and this could be arrogance) I might have him in a box here. Also if he wants us to leave, its odd he wont give us what we are asking for - theres little reason to resist.
Hopefully this opens up the conversation further.
Talia: Talivar wants to deal with Erandlon without collateral damage if possible. He would have preferred a subtler approach too, preferably one that didn't involve his family - at least not without forewarning.
@All as a reminder we have another angle on Erandlon.
I'm not sure if the little video Talivar is playing will help at this juncture with things getting heated. Erandlon might deny everything and dismiss it as fake news or maybe he'll panic...
o lol, I forgot all about that.
ZZZ my bad
Hmm they really don't want to fight...
Hey Talivar, just something for you to think about (cos I'll forget months down the road), you could check out the Magic Trick feat for either Obscuring Mist or Fireball. Something different to look into if you were bored with standard choices.
Also, I'm a bit more relaxed about backing out, knowing we get a second bite at the apple. It does mean that we dont get Ash as an ally (I mean, what are we going to really do? Show her his corpse?) since there's no way to prove he is Mantis but hey - its an option.
I still prefer picking a fight now, because if I get Domination off then we can prove he is a lying snake in front of Ash.
EDIT
Actually what we could do, is meet up with him later at the ambush site, kill him, and then I can take his form, go to Ash and 'admit' to her (as him) that I'm a Red Mantis assassin (plus some bullshit about wanting no more secrets etc), and therefore indirectly drive her towards us as an ally. This is manipulative in the extreme, but it is an almost surefire way of having her be an ally.
Magic trick is quite flavorful but the cluster bomb fireball trick is badly written. It doesn't have a limit on how many mini fireballs can be created and is ripe for abuse. The obscuring mist one seems fun and I love the visuals for the floating disc trick.
Re this situation if you're feeling really cheeky we could offer to guide the others although we know nothing about them or their intentions.
Overall I want to deal with Erandlon but not at any cost. I'd prefer to 'leave' and follow him when he goes to report (which he absolutely will do as a major priority) ideally preventing that from happening. I don't want to pick a fight where we will be pitted against otherwise neutral NPC's (that's what will happen if you use domination here).
Leaving decision up to Talivar.
From July 25th through until the end of July I'm going to be busy and very unlikely to post. We've got family coming into town. The week after that I'll be working towards a very important deadline and won't be posting as often as usual. Feel free to bot or skip me as needed. I'll check in when I can.
Thanks!
Roger that, Kilarra. Don't work yourself too hard!