Mended Wall's PBP for beginners (Inactive)

Game Master Hoary and Wizened

Mended --

How likely is it that Laurel would have enough supplies for me to "restock" my healer's kit? And would it be at the full %/use rate?

Argh. Shoulda gone with 13 Int. lol

For the record, Illiam said he wanted to try to get information from Vade that would help them, not that he wanted to ask for Vade's help. I mean, I can see how someone more honest than Illiam might make that assumption (especially knowing Illiam as little as the other characters do), and he'll probably take a more direct approach with Hildrinsocks, but it was an incorrect assumption. You can learn as much from what someone doesn't tell you (especially if they refuse to tell you) as you can from what they do tell you, particularly when the not-telling is followed by breaking in and spying.

Mendedwall, just to clarify a couple of things:

How high are those walls?

Where is the cemetery, exactly? I've been picturing the north side of the hill, near the label that says "The Perch." It's likely the people up on the hill will want to know what's going on when they see the fire burning near its base.

For the drill, I'm picturing something like this: http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/hand-drill-1.jpg
But depending on how advanced this medieval fantasy world is, they could also have this style: http://oldtoolheaven.com/hand_drills/drillimg/d3lg.jpg
I just want to know what to expect if/when Illiam gets his hands on one, and how to describe it to Dolok, since he doesn't seem to know what it looks like.

Walls are 10' in the district 15' on the outside as they are already on the descent of the hill a bit. Cemetery is actually off of the map to the right of the hill. Basically after the very edge of the map the cemetery begins. If people are milling about the perch at that time of evening/night and see the fire or smoke coming from near the cemetery, yes, they'll probably ask the local guard or sheriff to investigate, but if the magistrate has given his permission, the guard and sheriff will already know what's going on, and tell the people not to worry about it.

As for the drill, it's the first one, except not with changeable bits. There would be one bit approximately one half of an inch in diameter.

@Syrus: Laurel has everything necessary for restocking healing kits. At present she'd still charge you full price. Of course if you are instrumental in helping cure Falcon's Hollow? ...

For the record, Illiam said he wanted to try to get information from Vade that would help them, not that he wanted to ask for Vade's help. I mean, I can see how someone more honest than Illiam might make that assumption (especially knowing Illiam as little as the other characters do), and he'll probably take a more direct approach with Hildrinsocks, but it was an incorrect assumption. You can learn as much from what someone doesn't tell you (especially if they refuse to tell you) as you can from what they do tell you, particularly when the not-telling is followed by breaking in and spying.

Planning on finding out what Sharvaros Vade is up to whether it's sanctioned by the authorities or not, eh? Don't forget, he helped fight off the Fey that were trying to deter human settlement. That means he was casting magic several years ago already... Just sayin'

Thanks. I'll also be wanting a detailed description of the tower, but I assume we'll get that when we arrive.

Of the tower, wall, gate... That'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm out for the night. I'm also going to wait on a Baradim check-in post before I narrate the beginnings of the interaction with the illustrious halfling Magistrate Vamros Harg. Your honor, may it please the court...

I may have missed your answer to this earlier question, Mended, but I wanted to re-post it to help me make sure I got your answer:

Would Kairon be able to incorporate guidance with a use of Blessed Surgery? Or should I just use it as my fallback after BS uses are expended?

I don't have a problem with you getting a +1 on your uses of blessed surgery. If you do that it should look like this:

Guidance & Blessed Surgery: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 6 + 1 = 9
Guidance & Blessed Surgery: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 1 = 10

Then you'd get to use the higher of the two rolls for whatever the Heal check was for.

Wow, dice algorithm did not like me there! Hopefully your results are better. :D

Athena cannot speak, nor is she as intelligent as a human. She could scout as you say, though I cannot see through her eyes. I do not know if she can pass on a lot to us.

However, I do not think it is a wise to risk a confrontation with Vade at this time. He was involved in founding this town and fighting Fey to do so. He seems to be some kind of spell caster and perhaps a powerful one at that. If we are killed or captured there will be three fewer to assemble the cure for Blackscour. We can head for master Figueroa's to borrow a drill however.

Once again, the voice of calm reason comes from an 18 year old girl. :D Girls do mature faster than boys, and in my own experience, girls that have lived through much difficulty mature even faster. It's almost like girls are built to mature under stress... Funnily it seems that men are built to digress into immaturity at every possible occasion. :D

... Funnily it seems that men are built to digress into immaturity at every possible occasion. :D

Hey now! However truthful that statement may be, I still don't really care to hear/read it! ;)

Well, it is an 18 year old girl played by a 56 year old man, so it does not prove a lot about people generally.

Female humans definitely go through puberty early than males, so they certainly mature earlier in that respect.

There is a phenomenon called "parental children" who find themselves in difficult situations, like with parents with mental health, drug or alcohol problems. They are often the older child and take care of the younger ones. They are particularly mature and also do well generally given their poor circumstances. I don't know that parental children are more likely to be female.

My thoughts, and here I am departing from science, is hardship at a young age may cause a child to mature to cope, or they may find another way to cope that is much less fortunate. Or they may not cope at all.

Btw, I'm actually starting to suspect (I, the player, not my character) that this Vade guy is a red herring. I mean, we know that there's a necromancer about, and there's a guy doing magic in a tower only a stone's throw away who nobody in town has even seen the guy in who-knows-how-long? I don't care if he helped build the town, the Sheriff should be knocking on his door, not just us.

In fairness, the Sheriff wouldn't know about a necromancer yet (unless, of course, he's in on it), but he should realize the possibility pretty quickly...

Illiam, I think your train of thought proves one of two things: 1) You're a genius, or 2) You just out-thought yourself. :D I'm not telling which. You'll have to wait to find out.

Illiam, I think your train of thought proves one of two things: 1) You're a genius, or 2) You just out-thought yourself. :D I'm not telling which. You'll have to wait to find out.

I've been told both before, so that doesn't exactly narrow it down :P

In my mind, the real question is how lazy the writer of this module was, and how long it's supposed to last. I'd say that if it's meant to be a single-level module, it would probably take some hand-waving to explain away Vade's suspiciousness AND introduce another villain, but if we're not supposed to find this necromancer while we're still level 1, then surely he is a red herring. But I digress.

Let no one ever accuse me of not overthinking things. And don't tell me the answer to the single/multiple-level module thing. I don't want to know.

As Dolok is trying to reason with the two guards, he accidentally insults both of their mothers.

As Dolok is trying to reason with the two guards, he accidentally insults both of their mothers.

Literally LOL. Good one Illiam.

There are guards at the gate, but there are no guards on top of the wall, are there? Have we seen anyone patrolling the outside? Also, the wall looks like it's made mostly of wood, maybe with stone columns, is that right? Illiam will already be working on a new plan.

but if we're not supposed to find this necromancer while we're still level 1, then surely he is a red herring..

Let no one ever accuse me of not overthinking things.

I am very proud of being told I was overthinking matters. By my philosophy tutor.

Remember- every necromancer is a romancer.

I once ran a campaign in a self created world where all the herrings were red.

every necromancer is a romancer.

That joke would work better if you start it with "in the end."

Hey Mended Wall.

Chillel is becoming more sympathetic to Saruman's stance on halflings by the minute.

How much use would conducting medical experiments on a halfling be in finding a cure for Blackscour in humans?

If we fail to stop the illness due to some indiscretion by an overly confident and curious halfling, would it be possible to continue the campaign with another theme? Being exterminating all the halflings on Golarion?

Illiam

I am not annoyed with Illiam, but Chillel is getting very frustrated with him.

Well, Illiam and I are both getting sick of arguing about it, so he's offering a compromise.

Well, it has been accepted.

However, the f***ing die rolling program hates me. :(

If it was up to me Dolok wouldn't knock on Vade's door either. But that is unlikely to do much harm. And it's his character not mine.

Athena can probably make another pass to try to see better. That is, assuming nothing happened the first time. Better let Mendedwall narrate what she did/didn't see first.

I might take 10 on that. Damned website.

There are guards at the gate, but there are no guards on top of the wall, are there? Have we seen anyone patrolling the outside? Also, the wall looks like it's made mostly of wood, maybe with stone columns, is that right? Illiam will already be working on a new plan.

Since Illiam hasn't been in The Perch he won't know much about it, these are questions he could ask Dolok, who has permission to come and go from The Perch as he pleases. The wall is a double layered palisade of sharpened logs, braced, as you saw, at intervals by stone columns. It's been built to withstand armies. There are never fewer than five two-guard patrols moving about inside the wall of the hill. This is because Thuldrin Kreed's manse, the Lumber Consortium headquarters, the town's only blacksmith, and several buildings that hold the premiere merchants and their goods are all housed up there, not to mention Vade's tower. As for outside the wall, Sheriff Deldrin Baleson and his deputies make regular patrols through the streets, and outside the wall. Chillel would even know that. Falcon's Hollow is a town that never rests comfortably. They live with the constant threat of monsters coming out of the woods, or Fey skirmishers trying to wreak havoc in a continued attempt to get the humans to leave. Few attacks have happened recently but that has not kept the town from their vigilance.

Baradim nods at the halfling's judgement, looking towards the others. "Let us find the signs we are looking for then with the widow." He turns and head out with heavy footsteps, the guisarme held with a casual grip against his shoulder. Once he was outside, he would whistle for Kanga to follow him before looking at the others. "We have shovels, right?"

This is a little disappointing.

I had thought Baradim was the sort of man to call a spade a spade.

Can we clarify what time it is? I was under the impression that it was only a few hours before sunset, but Chillel seems to think that it's not yet noon.

I had suggested to Illiam that we return to Jack'n'Napes for lunch when you got back.

But it is rather early for that, and we are pressed for time.

I agree with Illiam on this one. What time of day is it? I also believe it to be a few hours before sunset.

Well, unfortunately because of the split of the group we're dealing with two different times. Dolok, Chillel and Illiam are sitting at about 2:30, whereas Lunarinus, Kairon, Baradim, and Goruck are at around 3:30 PM as they exit the tribunal with Vamros' judgement, because they had to stand and wait in the antechamber. It's possible that as Chillel, Dolok, and Illiam sulk away from The Perch, that they would have had time to stop and talk to the envoy as they wait. Otherwise we have slightly dissecting timelines. If Illiam, Dolok and Chillel can think of something useful to do for an hour, they could meet up with the other group just as they are leaving the tribunal.

Regardless, it's well past lunch. If anyone cares, the current day is Erastus 11, 4712 A.R.. This means that there is quite a bit of daylight left, as the sun won't set until 8:53 PM. Of course they don't reckon time with AM and PM, but those times are or the players to recognize. In game I usually talk about the number of hours of sun before and after its zenith.

Once the group out of sight of the guards and well outside their earshot, Dolok, how hard would it be to get behind the tower and use this Illiam indicates the newly acquired drill to drill a hole through the wall, so that I can see through to the inside? Are there guards that patrol outside, or directly behind the tower, that we would have to worry about?

Just so everyone is aware the palisade of doubled up logs that is the wall around both The Perch and the main town is 3 feet thick at its narrowest and 6 feet thick at its thickest, where the thickest logs are connected to each other. Illiam, your drill is not capable of drilling a hole in the palisade at any point. Building walls, yes, but the palisade, no. Also, Vade's tower is cut and mortared stone, two feet thick, and three stories tall, the door is wooden, but it is behind an iron portcullis. Like I've said several times. Vade does not like to be disturbed. :)

Wait, the tower is only 3 stories? So the floor of the top level is 20-ish feet off the ground, with the roof maybe 30-40 feet up. Is that right? How far is the base from the wall?

Also, we have roughly 6 hours of daylight left (more or less, depending on the group)? I'm not sure where, but I got the impression that sunset was only 2-3 hours away at this point.

Daylight Savings Time, perhaps?

Daylight Savings Time, perhaps?

I would hope that this medieval fantasy realm, unlike our world, would be civilized enough not to bother with that useless crap :P

Seriously though, so that puts us a couple of weeks after the summer solstice, right? That does change my plans, some. So, about what time am I supposed to meet Brickasnurd?

Wait, the tower is only 3 stories? So the floor of the top level is 20-ish feet off the ground, with the roof maybe 30-40 feet up. Is that right? How far is the base from the wall?

Yes, that is right. The base of the tower is ten feet from the wall at the narrowest points, and roughly 15 to 20 feet at the furthest angles.

As for daylight, there are about four hours until dusk, where the sun sits low on the western horizon and the light changes from predominately bright to predominately dim, at that point the deputies will begin lighting the lamps on the main streets. If I recall correctly that's when Brickasnurd said he usually closes his shop? After that time, there will still be dim light from the sun for about another hour and change. After that the sky would begin to show the first stars and start the process of changing from dark blue to black.

Why do I feel like I was just teaching a meteorology lesson?

Yes, the summer solstice was just a couple of weeks ago in game time.

Ok, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks.

So, if I'm understanding the layout correctly now, in which everything is a lot smaller than I originally thought, Illiam can just stand outside the wall on the northeastern side and cast detect magic, and the 60ft cone will cover the entire building? Illiam would probably be satisfied, for now, with that information, even if he can't identify the schools of any magical auras he would see. If I realized that, Illiam might not have even bothed going to the front gate.

... Also, Vade's tower is cut and mortared stone, two feet thick, and three stories tall, the door is wooden, but it is behind an iron portcullis. Like I've said several times. Vade does not like to be disturbed. :)

I'm getting the strong impression that the DM is telling us were NOT getting into Vade's tower unless the DM wants us to. I also get the impression we should not waste resources or time on this any more. But, maybe that's just me.

I don't need to get inside, at least not for now, if I can blanket the entire building with a detect magic spell. I was assuming it was too big and too far from the outer wall for that. Of course, Illiam won't realize that until the layout is explained to him.

Ok, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks.

So, if I'm understanding the layout correctly now, in which everything is a lot smaller than I originally thought, Illiam can just stand outside the wall on the northeastern side and cast detect magic, and the 60ft cone will cover the entire building? Illiam would probably be satisfied, for now, with that information, even if he can't identify the schools of any magical auras he would see. If I realized that, Illiam might not have even bothed going to the front gate.

You do realize that your not going to detect any magical auras inside the building don't you? 2 feet of stone thick walls, WILL block the detect magic.

Perhaps we can get around this.

Maybe if we get a robust butterfly net and set one of us on one side of Vade's Tower to catch Illiam. Then we can set up a trebuchet on the other side and fire Illiam over the roof of the tower. He can cast detect magic before he is loaded. And the roof will not be so thick or solid. Should work.

Nope, a shovel is an ancient and powerful Orc tool. Can dig things, make things, destroy things, kill things. It is magnificent.

Ah, that was hidden in a paragraph that looked unrelated in the spell description. 1 foot of stone does block it.

We'll have to go over some ideas in-character, but it sounds like I'll have to get up to a door or window somehow.

That's assuming the other characters don't just talk Illiam out of it.

It will have to be someone else. Chillel has said all she can on the topic.

Honestly, at this point, I don't think it's going to happen. Once Illiam gets the information, he probably won't be able to think of anything they can do. Even the wooden walls are thick enough to block detect magic, so we can't even use it on the outside of the building unless it's through the wooden gate (which can't possibly be 3ft thick like the walls and still able to move, too bad Dolok didn't think of that while he was there). Just waiting for the opportunity to realize that in-character.

Assuming that realization comes relatively quickly, he'll be looking for another way to find some other useful information before he meets Brickasnurd. Maybe trying to find that ranger that Cirthana mentioned, Milon Rhoddam.

You seem to have discounted my genius butterfly net and trebuchet plan.

You seem to have discounted my genius butterfly net and trebuchet plan.

Yes, but only because I want my character to survive. And because there is less than zero chance of finding both of those things in town. Also, Illiam wouldn't be in range long enough to learn what he wants to know.

Upon reconsideration, you are right. At least I am attempting to solve the problem.

Yes, but the problem was originally created by Illiam's distrust of everyone and everything around him... :D

OH MAN!!! I can't wait until the envoy and Baradim meet back up with the others and tell them what they found at the grave site... :)

Footprints aren't *too* ominous . . . .

Yet.

:D