(PFS) GM Alice's The Blakros Matrimony (Inactive)

Game Master Alice Margatroid

Sorry for being kinda lax in IC posts lately. We're having some terrible bushfires here in Australia and, though I'm not near the most dangerous fire in the Blue Mountains, it's still been pretty stressful going lately.

Tomorrow is expected to be some pretty awful conditions; fingers crossed that nothing sparks up in my area.

I had been wondering if any of my Australian PbP pals had been affected by those fires. Hope it stays clear of your area, and settles down everywhere soon.

Be safe!

I hope everything turns out okay for you!

We're mostly just being over-prepared at the moment, as there is no fire currently in any danger to us, but considering that we have bushland on two out of the four sides of our home it's definitely not out of the question with the awful conditions today.

We've had two fires in the area in the past week and a half; the larger one was further out, but still blocked off the roads into the area, while the smaller one was only 5 minutes or so away from here (and took out power for a while - not to mention the single road into my town).

Such is the downside to living rural. :)

But I'm in no immediate danger, thankfully. Just worried. We're currently using our sprinkler system to water the fences and house, and have some bags and stuff all ready if we need to leave in a hurry.

Sorry for the brief hiatus. Things have calmed down here (primarily myself - but also the fire danger!) and I will be continuing as normal in the morning.

Glad to hear that!

Great - definitely ready to jump back in.

Welcome back!

I apologize to everyone though with my lack of posting. Work has decided to drop a veritable metric ton of work on my desk (i.e. 10+ defects, new functionality suite, etc.)

I'm trying to wade through the ridiculousness and get back to posting. But please bear with me :)

Wow, that's a pretty tough needle to thread on that faction mission. I know that it doesn't matter now that faction missions have been set aside, but it would be pretty tricky to accomplish that one. I'm not sure how one could make a good impression with the Blakros family but publicly support someone who claims the wedding is a political abomination rather than a match of love, complicated still further by the fact that Bedard is actually motivated by his own love for Michellia.

For what it's worth, I was trying to be supportive of him...

We might try to influence him further later on, but I feel for you, sometimes it's so tricky to pull a faction mission off.

Yeah, wow. We're supposed to side with someone who is trying to go against our mission?

Tell me about it. It's a very hard mission for the Andorans.

I was playing an Andoran paladin of Shelyn when I played this scenario. It was kind of like... I had nowhere to move on either side. You HAVE to help Bedard save face (according to your mission), but at the same time, how can you really oppose the wedding? Sure it's certainly politically motivated far more than it is romantically motivated... but they're a bloody rich noble family, why would you expect otherwise? Even Shelyn would simply pray that they can develop love in their relationship after marriage (whether with each other or with a mistress or some such)... and hell, as a paladin, my oaths say I must respect the proper authority, which is simultaneously the Blakroses (as we're at their wedding) AND Maldris (as my faction leader) AND Bedard (as a member of my character's government). Crazy stuff!

I wound up standing up and taking the blame for his actions - I had spent much of the influence time in what is effectively love counsel and claimed that I had not been good enough, that this was all just the rantings of a heart-broken old man. And I rolled a 1, so that didn't go so well, but my party members backed me up, so it worked out in the end... :P

Does the island count as part of Absalom for the purposes of a boon I have that gives a +1 bonus to any Intelligence or Charisma-based check in the city?

I figure we should grub for any bonuses we can get against someone who hates us with a -4 >_>

I agree, Mifune. Next time we make an effort on Bedard, I'd like to cast Guidance on everyone first - and hopefully I'll learn the secret that gets us a bonus, so we can further offset the damage I did by opposing him.

Honestly, I had given him up as a lost cause. But, if you all want to give it another try, Shel's up for it.

Well, you two seem to have Desmire in your pocket, so I figured I may as well take a stab at our disgruntled freedom fighter...

...as a Chelaxian potential Hellknight lol

LOL, awesome, Mifune. Should go swimmingly...

Does the island count as part of Absalom for the purposes of a boon I have that gives a +1 bonus to any Intelligence or Charisma-based check in the city?

I figure we should grub for any bonuses we can get against someone who hates us with a -4 >_>

I'll allow it.

Trys could always talk him down...

It would make sense to choose one of two paths for Bedard at this point : either try to apologise (diplomacy) or to coerce / shake him into a more docile state (Intimidate). In the latter case, I think Trys would be perfect for the job

I dunno. Even though I've got an awesome Intimidate score too, I figure we try to at least handle this kindly.

We're at a wedding, for Pete's sake. Let's at least try being nice xD

Will post in the morning; really tired tonight, sorry.

(I'm moving into my final exam period so I'm fairly busy lately. Hopefully will be able to keep up with things but there might be a couple of off days here and there.)

Let's discuss tactics before we act, shall we?

I had imagined we could all go (except Trys) to Bedard to try and apologize/make him realize his errors/etc. (using diplomacy. Since Kynrac's the best-suited for this, I'll start the discussion, you can join in and aid another if you wish, then conclude it and roll for the "main" check. What do you think? If I/we fail, we have Trys as a backup plan to remind Bedard that he should remain loyal to the Society, else... *tum dum dum*...

Just a couple questions:
- What was his weakness again?
- Do you think it would work if we suggested he'd become Michellia's lover? We've got some intelligence on that matter, the fact she might consider taking one. Is it appropriate? I'm thinking Andoran's chaotic good country, so they might be open to an unlawful act in the name of love.

His weakness is basically implied in the spectacle he caused, but is basically the fact that he was one of the potential suitors of Michellia (there were a number of them). Except, unlike most of the other suitors, he's wound up falling in love with her.. and then he got turned down by her.

Of course, the fact is, everyone (except Bedard) knows that a marriage like this is 90% politics and 10% feelings. If nobody stood up to talk Bedard down, he would have been laughed out of the ceremony by the crowd. :)

Go for it, Kymrac. Shel will jump in and see how she can help.

By the way, I'll be out from Friday until Monday afternoon, so please run Shel as necessary. Thanks.

At a Con this weekend where I will be running some games, so may not be posting much.

DM, trying to make a post in the gameplay section and it's not showing up for some reason. I tried a sense motive check on our young bride and only got a total of seven after modifiers.

Sometimes the Paizo board eats posts, they turn up after some time. But thanks for the heads up. Hopefully the messageboard monster spits it out soon. :P

Sorry! Been in a show this weekend so haven't been able to post.

Damn...really hoping that 39 damage from one attack is enough to take this guy down >_>

Otherwise, with the way Alice has been rolling, we might be down a Samurai lol

I did warn you that the combats in this scenario are nothing to sneeze at! They're seriously dangerous. Although yes, rolling high on Olaf's saves isn't helping. ;)

Also: as a heads up, I have an exam tomorrow, so my next combat update (unless everyone responds before I go to bed) may be delayed until some time after that.

This may have very well been the first time I managed to Challenge and pull off an Iaijutsu Strike...ever o_o

Also, on a side note, does anyone else picture a mobster with a Jersey accent when they see Trys going around and beating people up while threatening them? xD

:)
That's a different take. I had not thought of that before.

I understand it's Thanksgiving across the pond so I'll give a bit of leeway in posts across the weekend. Hope you Americans are enjoying your turkey!

Oh, right! Same wishes from Switzerland!

Mmm, grilled turkey is most excelent.

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted. Had a super-busy weekend and now am having some PC issues that I'm trying to resolve. I'll try to get back to normal posting schedule ASAP.

Any idea if 5-footing to the square below Terrill would be possible?

It seems like I'd be bypassing a table and what looks like a bit of elevation onto what looks like a stage.

No, you can't 5-foot step up there. That's a stage. You would have to climb or jump up there (or go around up the stairs).

I am going to be seriously challenged in trying to do anything to Arastrax. I buffed up good for the fight, but unless someone can give me ghost touch or something equivalent, I'm useless against him.

This fight is very much not fair indeed. There are still things you can do though - even if it's just aid another or flanking bonuses.

p.s., have you rolled a single attack roll above about 8 or so this entire game? Haha.

Don't you have an oil of bless weapon or magic weapon? It's a very handy item to have for any melee character, even very early on.

I do have a scroll of magic weapon - I had just forgotten that I'd be able to hit it with that. Thanks, Kynrac. Though I don't think I'll get through whatever DR it has if I'm only doing half damage to it.

I really should have held on to my judgement use for the day, it would help a lot here.

By this time you should have a Cold Iron Weapon. If you don't then clearly you need to go back to basic training. ;)
I mean, don't waste the scroll. You would be more helpful on Healing or Buff duty.

I actually have a second Oil of Bless weapon if no one else can hit the thing, but I would guess that Mifune can do something?

Yeah, I've been meaning to replace my fire-forged steel blade with a cold iron one, but haven't done it yet. And I can't heal or buff - I've cast all my spells. I'd rather waste a 25 gp scroll and try to help a bit - though I'll probably have to crit to make any impact.

I, on the other hand, do have a Cold Iron weapon...that I conveniently left behind >_>

And as for my lack of posts, apologies. Scrum manager has been breathing down my neck about deadlines T_T

No worries, I know everyone's busy at this time of the year. Just that we're incredibly close to the end of the scenario so I'm antsy to get it done. :P

That, and DM Feral will haunt me if I don't relinquish Terrill soon. Haha.

Since you seem to indicate we're close to the end of the scenario, I'm already rolling my day job.

Day Job (Profession Librarian): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

PFS #76446-1