This thread is for out of play discussion like what spells to get next level, and devising ways of breaking the action economy. You know, wizard stuff.
Shiny.
I know some of you are ready to get started. Please be patient for just a bit longer. As soon as the last person is in, I will kick off the story properly. Hopefully by tonight or tomorrow.
Hello everyone - I'm glad to be on board, at least until Shadwell suffers a horrific and hopefully exotic demise! I've managed to finich the background section on Shadwell's profile, though it is of an unfortunate length. In gameplay posts in other games I've been putting all my mechanical and ooc stuff behind a spoiler like this:
As of yet I've received basically 0 feedback on it from other players, so I keep doing it. If anyone would prefer that I put the relevant die rolls and whatnot along with the main text of my posts, feel free to pipe up and I will happily do so! If anyone gets tired of Shadwell sneaking around all the time while thinking up large quantities of expository internal monologue, feel free to cast glitterdust and feeblemind on him!
Now let's cause some trouble - wizard style.
Erp. Sorry about my silence/slowness. Just (uh or rather a few days ago!) got home from 4 months abroad so I've been catching up with friends (aka boardgames and trash talk).
I'll make a proper profile and so asap : )
"The book is yours as a reward for you demonstrating your prowess for our patrons. The only thing I stress, is that you study the book yourself. The Terrapin would not be pleased if you were to sell it or even pass it off to trusted friend or master." She shoots a knowing glance toward Nixx.
Boy, am I glad I picked a familiar that can read, and not a chicken or something :P
Fun fact: Nixx already has more then twice the Cha of his master already ...
@Shadwell - Feedback:
It would work, as long as you are clear on if we are supposed to look or not. If you put both hidden information (like 'I cast Charm Person') and open information ('the spellcraft DC to find out what I cast is X') it can be quite bothersome, given that we would spot the 'secret' info as we looked at the open one, if that makes sense.
Perhaps two spoilers?
Something like this:
Would be useful for stealth for example, so that we can actually know what our Per score needs to be to actually notice you, without finding that out in a sentence just next to the DC : )
@Mysterious/Alexis/Nixx - No worries on reading any spoilers. I generally trust people to keep personal knowledge and character knowledge separate, and so don't consider much "secret"; especially with Shadwell, since otherwise many just wouldn't be able to read my posts!
That said, since this campaign is based around a bunch of power hungry wizards of unquestionably a/immoral fiber, if I feel that something is especially important enough to keep totally secret from the other players, I'll just PM the DM about it.
Now that the campaign is officially starting up. I should go over a few things.
First, feel free to take your entourage with you on your adventures, but you will have to find suitable lodging and transportation for them. Sometimes you may not want to draw that much attention to yourself. Like with this mission for example. You can still bring them, but keep that in mind.
This first mission is fairly open ended. I don't have a specific encounter that you will be forced into, so don't feel like you have to save all your spells for the encounter. Unless someone does something really stupid, you should be able to choose your time and place of battle, if that's even the route you choose to go with.
There will be plenty of reconnaissance opportunities. I will probably be giving a lot of information out selectively, so don't assume the party knows what you know. Feel free to share as much as you like. I hope spreading info this way will help promote team communication (and suspicion?).
Consider how your presence will affect events. You are starting out as rich wizards, so unless you disguise yourself, you may be recognized. Also keep in mind that you recently performed magical feats for a rather large audience from all over. Some of them may have been from Palin's Cove.
Most of this probably goes without saying, but I come from a background of playing a lot of PFS, and my PFS players have a habit of killing whatever is in front of them.
The large magical feat of dancing in front of an closing door. Clearly this has done much to improve Alexis reputation as an upstanding and powerful magician :P
Also, sorry for being a bit slow again. My progress was hampered by the fact that it was very hard to combine smug, a bit unlikable and not twisted abomination from the nether planes in one alias picture. This one was somewhat ok, but I'm still not in love with it.
And I will be bringing some of my sidekicks with me, especially the human casting one. So hard sometimes to interact with people when you are a tiny dragon :P
Additionally, someone stole my name, so I had to add a title. Not sure if I keep this one or change into something else...
I know what you mean. This is the closest I could get for a turtle...
Hmm. Just a random thought - Palin's Cove is a fairly industrious city. Mayhaps we could arrange some little calamity and then make sure most of the Hell Knights unfortunately perish somehow?
Maybe a fire at their clubhouse or perhaps a gas leak? Some poisonous fluid that accidentally made it the way to their morning tea :P?
Apologies, but I won't be able to post in gameplay until tomorrow due to time constraints, so Shadwell will remain quiet 'til then. How uncharacteristic of him!
No worries Shadwell. I'm sure everyone will be busy scheming. Thanks for letting us know.
A dragon.
Yes, I am aware of my magnificence. Try not to swoon too much.
...wait what do you mean you meant the other dragon?
:P
@Nixx: Pretty dragon, nice dragon, very formidable you are!
I've added some fluff to my profile under the "Motivation" spoiler. It's short, but hopefully gives you a good idea of where I'm headed and some ideas to work with. I'm open to suggestions.
Incidentally, the "Necronomicon" that Izithrael is interested in isn't the necromantic variety from Evil Dead, but more like Lovecraft's original literary version, dedicated to the secrets of the Old Ones.
Switched to another portrait. But this one almost feels too vampiric... Hmm I have to think some more.
Dot, for some reason this Discussion thread was not coming up for me when it was updating.
Message could work if he cast it on you while you were visible, maybe he waited in the common area and zapped you as you came in. Then he could just spam the message over and over. In shadwell's case, he was probably not seen, so may not have gotten the message.
Message could work if he cast it on you while you were visible, maybe he waited in the common area and zapped you as you came in. Then he could just spam the message over and over. In shadwell's case, he was probably not seen, so may not have gotten the message.
This.
If I am not able to bring everyone, oh well... Myth is not exactly the most social fellow.
Sorry for the delay, weekends are bad for me pbp-wise; I'll have a post up today.
Basically my thought is as following; if the Nails are truly corrupted and being bought and wielded as the elite of the city sees fit, doesn't it seem unlikely that they are messing with the Terrapin Order's operations simply out of duty?
More likely, I feel, is that someone wants a competitor removed and simply bribed the Nails into the right direction.
Thus - to really *fix* the problem, we might have to go a bit deeper then simple extermination of the local Nails. We might have to find who's pulling the strings and make sure they simply don't find new pawns to fling at us.
(Or, you know, we could of course *just* do what we are told and deal with the Nails. But extra credit and all that :P)
All this is merely a theory at the moment of course, but it makes sense in my head.
Thoughts : )?
You may well be right Alexis. As we get into our initial investigations maybe we will uncover the puppet masters, if there are any. Or we may get paid a second time to do the same job later on :-)
I'm out of town on businesses. I'll have more for you on Saturday.
I think, after the suggested reconnaissance, rabble rousing with the druids seems like the most realistic option.
Although that dragon is the next item on my "do want" list.
Based on our current info, I would agree that pushing the druids and the Order of the Nail into open conflict seems the easiest option to divert their attention elsewhere. Depending on what sort of info we get from further snooping, discrediting the Nails' entire organization in Palin's Cove may also be possible, removing their ability to effectively pursue further investigation into the Terrapin.
In response to Nekare's question, I'm certainly on board for this campaign, just dodgy on weekend posting. I also don't want to just spam daily gameplay posts without the action moving on; I'm not all that experienced with PbP, but don't feel comfortable just stating a day's worth of actions before the current scene is resolved.
Perhaps we can institute a stated time frame for posting in RP situations after which we assume silence means nobody has anything else to say and we're free to move forward? Or Contentious GM can insert scene breaks to move action forward as he did during the setup of the Terrapin's trials?
My intention for Shadwell's next course of action is currently to investigate the keep's open market portions during the day and sneak into the Nails' section of the keep at night to search for documents related to the interrogation of the Terrapin's agents and the Nails' investigations into the druids of the area. If it seems safe to do so, I'll also have him grab some spare uniforms, badges, and other paraphernalia to assist us in any deceptions against the druids.
Any thoughts or suggestions on this are welcome here or in character on the gameplay thread.
Hello guys!
Sorry for my slowness/silence, moving into a new apartment tomorrow and the process was a bit messier then planed. The result being that my mental resources required to plot evil plots are greatly diminished.
Theoretically, things should be back to normal pace after tomorrow : )
As often happens, events conspire to slow down threads. I was gone all last week, and then got food poisoning. Perfect timing. I'm on the mend, and information should start flowing more readily now. Don't worry, you'll see action soon enough.
As often happens, events conspire to slow down threads. I was gone all last week, and then got food poisoning. Perfect timing. I'm on the mend, and information should start flowing more readily now. Don't worry, you'll see action soon enough.
That's A-okay, GM. I see this campaign as a more relaxed story, one that doesn't require an involved post every day--and that's a good thing. It's a nice break from my more involved APs.
But, I do feel a little lost at the moment. IX doesn't have commune, and even with clairvoyance and seek thoughts, Shad is by far the better sleuth, so I'm just sort of floating, waiting for a course of action to materialize.
Yeah, it's a bit more laid back. I also mean it to be a little sandboxy, so if you get an itch go ahead and scratch it.
Will update my next set of actions later tonight.
So, is the plan to frame the druids for an attack on the Nails, frame the Nails for an attack on the druids, or both?
So, is the plan to frame the druids for an attack on the Nails, frame the Nails for an attack on the druids, or both?
Both.
The plan seems to be falling in place now. If you start getting bored or lost, need more info about the town, or need a change of pace, just shoot me a PM, and I'll see what I can do to living things up.
Right now I'm trying to wrangle everyone going to the woods together. There are still a couple side excursions going on, but that can wrap up as we set out for the woods. It's been 4 days now I believe in Palin's Cove.
Sorry guys! Been pretty busy with school.
I'm thinking Seraphim will be one of the ones to actually attack the druids (hello, fire? Explosions? Awesome!), and will have her come along with the initial meeting with the druids.
Definitely checking out defenses, weak spots, targets, etc.
I would argue that it does actually take some guts to summon the fiends of hell just for profit. But each to their own ... :P
My bad guys, this next week is Spring Break and I was just busy finishing some school.
We ready to get this thing back on the road?
Yes indeed. I seems to have managed to acquire some high tier druid inciting substance. But more on that once I actually have it in my greedy clutches (or more preferably, somewhere where I *won't* have to touch it ... :P) and you are back again.
So... I haven't posted in just over a month and all I've missed is three to four rounds, during which two PCs have acted. I admit I find it difficult to stay engaged with such a slow posting rate, especially with a character as based on planning and prep as a wizard; whenever I go to post I have to go back and review what spells I have prepared and figure out what I was thinking/planning when I chose them.
Contentious, any chance of the pace here picking up if I jump back in? Is there some sort of secret war raging behind the scenes via PM that I'm just not engaged in?
@Overlooked - I can only answer for me; the things Alexis did instead of tagging along happened in a few pms. But that is mostly finished. Mostly.
Sorry, everyone. I've been somewhat bad at keeping things moving. I'll have more soon. Thanks for your patience.