The Dark is Rising - WotW Part I (COMPLETED) (Inactive)

Game Master Darkness Rising

The Doctor smirks and pads, barefoot, to the door. This is the first time any of his companions have seen him shirtless, and it is not what might be expected. While quite thin, every inch of his exposed flesh shows the outline of taut, corded muscle. Normally easily dismissed as a weakling academic, it is obvious now that that could not be further from the truth.

Silently, he places his ear to the door to listen for disturbance, then eases it open and enters the hall.

DMD - I think my last post got missed, as it was right before the page turned. Does the nice corporal have anything to say?

Starday 29 Neth

The dwarves are awake at 6 in the morning; they depart almost immediately for Fort Balentyne. They will work there until 8 in the evening, at which point they will return to the tavern and resume drinking.

Following breakfast, the town of Aldencross is yours to explore. You have gold, you have goods to trade, your time is - for now - your own. Where will you go?

The sun is not shining (it is, after all, late Neth) but the clouds do not look threatening and it is not raining. As you traverse the town, getting your bearings, you see that - as Bellam indicated - the local businesses are open, and there is a smaller version of the usual market. This is the day when the citizens of Aldencross have the town to themselves; as outsiders you therefore attract (friendly) attention: everyone smiles at you and wishes you a "good day". Small children run and play in the streets, laughing. People seem happy, contented, cheerful.

It is a typical small Talirean town. Its only misfortune is that you have come to pay it a visit.

After a pleasant breakfast, Felrin decides there’s no time like the present to learn more about the defense of Fort Balentyne. His companions will have little cause to go calling at the fortress, and will thus likely focus their attentions this morning on the village. And perhaps I’ll spy Corporal Grant, and he can put in a good word for me, after I fed and favored him last night.

Felrin sets off for Balentyne, still clad in his simple travelling clothes, with his mace, dagger and bow clearly on display, as if he’s nothing more than a would-be guardsman trying to make a good impression. Arriving at the fortress, he approaches a guard and says diffidently, ”Good morning. I’m after a post in the regiment, can you tell me who to speak to? Or if Corporal Grant is about?”

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Ottakar begins the next day bright and early. He washes and shaves with cold water from the basin after performing his daily exercises and meditations. He dresses meticulously, despite the fact that the iron circlet he will put on could and will allow him to appear however he likes. Lastly he spends a handful of minutes carefully mixing esoteric ingredients from his portable kit, pouring the resulting mixtures into sturdy brass vials, sealing said vials with a few drops of wax, then cleaning and restoring every item to its rightful place, just so.

Before he leaves his room, he stands and concentrates until he knows his outward image has shifted to that of an elderly Varisian man wearing slightly rumpled professional garb. He steps out into the hallway, firmly pulling close the heavy wooden door and locking it with the heavy iron key Tkaara had handed him the night before.

He is downstairs, calmly sipping tea when the dwarves tramp up from their cellar rooms and out the inn's front door. Once he is sure that all of the dwarves have left, he takes one last sip of tea and stands, walking slowly and stiffly across room. He takes a moment to glance around and make sure none of the few people awake at the hour was looking his way, then wills the extra ingredient he had poured into his tea to take effect, blending his form to match his surroundings. Then, moving slowly so as to not attract attention, he sneaks down the stairs to investigate.

Once down in the cellar, Ottakar moves over to the door he believes to be occupied by one Engineer-in-Chief Captain Eisenbauch, removes a small leather roll from his doctor's bag, and selects from that a pair of short metal probes. Assuming that the locks in the inn were likely of a kind, he had studied the grooves of his own key and room lock carefully in order to guide his efforts now. Bending to his task, he applies the same careful precision he does to everything he does, deftly manipulating the lock until the tumblers fall into place.

Ducking inside, he gets directly to work searching the room for anything of use, in particular the map he overheard the dwarven overseer mentioning the evening before. When he finds the map he quickly copies it as best he is able. No cartographer, he nonetheless applies his eye for detail to carefully note dimensions, layout, and most especially any notes regarding the fort's defenses. Once finished, he carefully returns everything where he found it, tucks his notes away, and exits the room. Using knowledge gleaned from opening the lock, he quickly relocks it before stowing his picks once more.

As he leaves, he glances once consideringly at the blank wall where he knows there lies a secret door, but decides he has already been too long away and that such an investigation will have to wait for another time. Sneaking back up the stairs, he waits for an opportune moment to return to his table as if he had just been away to answer nature's call, taking his seat and sighing to himself as he waits for his companion to come downstairs to join him.

This narrative was written all in one chunk to save time, making a lot of assumptions about success. Obviously if any of my checks failed, or the situation was not ideal, edit as necessary: if it is too crowded to make it to the cellar stairwell, ignore the whole thing. If he thinks he can make it but is spotted and questioned, he angrily demands to know where the lavatory is kept, dropping the blending spell and hoping the observer merely considers it a trick of the early morning light. If he fails to open the lock, that of course ends the venture there. Just let me know how things went and I'll go from there!

As the two faux nobles descend into the common room and find a table to sit, Erevan/Craigh looks at Etna/Jenna as he waits for their breakfast to come.

"I take it you thoroughly enjoyed your bath? I will admit that after our trip here it was a very welcome luxury," he remarks in agreement, making small talk while they wait for the others. He then leans in a little closer and lowers his voice to almost a whisper, his illusionary face and the smile that graces it making more or less sure that noone pays him much thought. "So, I suppose the dwarves will have to wait until they are off their shift and get back to drinking. It hsould serve to loosen their tongues even further, in fact.

Clearing his throat a little, he adds in a more normal voice, sounding excited at the prospect of seeing the town, "So, until then, how about a bit of sightseeing, dear cousin?"

Tkaara, who had been awake most of the night, now finding it almost impossible to sleep during the night, arrives well after the dwarves have had their fill and left. Her hair is disheveled and her eyes sunken from a lack of sleep, and probably from a few too many drinks the night before.

Seeing the daylight, she groans and orders a stiff drink to go with her breakfast. When she has finished, she looks at the Doctor.
I'm going back to bed. See what you can learn about the area, BUT and she gives him a very strict glare, that is made readily apparent for anyone else in the room. If you buy anything, OR get distracted by the military history of this place like you did in Farholde, you don't want to know the whipping you will get.

With that, she finishes off her drink, looks at the food, which she hardly touched, and heads back up to the suite.

"Oh, you have no idea, Craigh! I thought I was going to die if I went another day without a bath!" Jenna replies cheerfully to her cousin, picking up and sipping her drink. "Yes, I think that is for the best." Etna adds, she adds nonchalantly, but making sure that no one aside from Erevan could hear her.

_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_

Once they're done with their breakfast, Jenna goes around town with her cousin to buy some food for their "picnic". In the meantime, she chats with the vendors at the market's stalls to pick up some gossip about what's going on in Aldencross or information on what's to see there.

_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_

Heading out of town with Erevan, the ifrit waits for them to have walked some distance away from Aldencross, out of eyesight and in the middle of nowhere, before changing into an appearance more suited for someone that was selling seal furs.
"Winston, stay here with Erevan. I'll be back in a bit." the ifrit says, donning her backpack and the leather armor (or something that could be glamered into it), now a raven-haired woman with sharp features and a scar across her right cheek.
"Do I look like a seal hunter enough? Maybe I'm missing a bow or something similar: I'm not very believable armed only with a dagger." she asks to her "cousin". Assuming he complies to give her the longbow, the disguised ifrit makes her way back to town.
I just hope I don't have to fire this thing...

After reaching Balentyne, Etna makes her way to the general store to sell the furs, trying to get a good price for the hides of the mammalians that were going to fund the Lord of the Ninth's rise to power in Talingrade.
Or just to get some money, for those people that don't have a flair for the dramatic.
I guess that buying something to eat won't cost that much, right?
Diplomacy (Information): 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29
Diplomacy (Furs): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21 Lost the +3 bonus because Winston is with Erevan.

Erevan obliges, handing armor and bow to Etna to do as she has in mind. As the ifrit leaves, leaving Winston with him, the golden-eyed man looks down at the loyal dog.

"Well," he says with a little smile, "how are you doing? All is well, I take it? The change of scenery to your liking?" He does not know why he is talking to it... or is it him? But then again, pets always seem to evoke such reactions out of people. There is something about them that makes one try to talk to them. Of course, answers or an actual conversation are hardly forthcoming.

With a sigh, he resumes his walk about town, dog in tow. "Well, while your... err, Etna does her thing, shall we see what more we can find out about this charming little place?" He moves from one merchant to another, perusing their wares and showing a bit more interest here or a little less there; all in all, a noble on a trip away from home seeing what this new town has to offer and what souvenirs he may find to take back with him. And all the while, he asks questions about it and the fortress and the people of both, letting slip on occasion how this place or somewhere close by was once home to some ancestor or other and would it not be nice to learn more about it and them? One's past, after all, may very well define one's present or even future. Or in other words, a somewhat easily bored noble has found something to busy himself with and appears rather enthusiastic about it.

Winston keeps staring at Etna while she leaves for the city, turning to the golden eyed man when he talks to him.
"Woof." he replies, looking Erevan straight into the eyes, his expression betraying much more than a glint of intelligence.
If he could talk, Winston would have liked to say that no, he couldn't stand the place: the whole "dumb dog" act was way too irritating (and he had no idea how Mistress Etna's companions were managing to keep theirs up), he hated having to walk around and not stay cozy at home, and he was probably never going to taste that wonderful lutefix again.
But most of all, the dog didn't like the situation Etna had got herself into at all: she could have taken a boat and fled away to the continent, to safety, but instead joined forces with some...bizarre cultists that sent her on a suicide mission armed only with a circlet and a magical purse.

Unfortunately, as he didn't have vocal chords fit for saying that, Winston is forced to "Arf Arf." at Erevan, following obediently after him as they went back to the town.

Being the winter season, and especially with the low clouds, Tkaara awakes much earlier than usual. Her eyes no longer bloodshot, or at least as bloodshot as before. When she is able, she has a tub of warm water drawn and takes a long bath, hoping that Ottakar managed to keep his facade up during the day.

Once she finishes her bath, she dresses and, after using the circlet to appear as a moderately well dressed woman, or perhaps a bored woman in a place she really does not wish to be, she heads down to the common room, probably at about 5 p.m. before the dwarves arrive.

Seeing the innkeeper's wife, she flags her over and orders a glass of red wine, she used to like white, but red has struck her as more appealing over the past months. She sips it and then listens to any other travelers or locals, preferable locals, who may be present, while waiting for her companions to return from their days adventures.

If any guards arrive, she will listen to their conversations to see if there are any discussions of the captains or other Balentyne officials.

After covering much of the distance to the fortress, Felrin slows his pace, beginning to have second thoughts. What if Lord Havelyn sees through my disguise, or I'm unconvincing in my tale? It could bring my time in the service of the Dark Prince to an abrupt end...

He turns and makes his way back to town, considering how he might best put his time to good use. Arriving in town with no clear plan, he opts to take a stroll around, turning to his right as he passes through the gate and following the street heading north. Crossing the north road out of Aldencross, Felrin arrives at the town church and decides to take a closer look. If nothing else, I’ll learn the name of the Mitran priest who will be dying here in a short while…

DMD – can you tell us what #8 on the map is, since Felrin just walked right past it? It’s not on your map key.

Grumbling to himself about the "nerve of that bloody woman", the Professor wanders outside into the glaring morning light and stumps along purposelessly, eyeing the town with contempt. After a few minutes of aimless wandering, he encounters his first townsfolk, a grubby urchin he does not bother to sex.

"You, child," he calls out. "Come here; I wish to learn more about the flora found hereabouts."

***

He returns to the Lord's Dalliance minutes later, scowling fiercely. Who would have thought that a child raised in a Mitra-fearing town such as this would have known such colorful invectives? Based on some of the urchin's suggestions as to where he might find flora to study, he surmised the brat might make a good go at the study of anatomy. Either way, it was obvious that whatever Tkaara expected him to divine with this ridiculous cover, he would have no luck simply asking. Better, he thinks, to put his time to work on something that would be more certain to prove of use. Thus decided, he returns to his room and spends the day working on translating the dwarven engineering schematics into something more conventional.

Semi-Retcon
When Tkaara awakes in the mid-afternoon, she cleans herself as best she can, and then heads out to find the Doctor engrossed in his copying.

I take it you endeared yourself to the locals? She says with more than a little sarcasm and mirth.

I shall socialize this evening to see what can be learned.

Tomorrow we will head out together. I take it you made it clear that public speaking is not your forte. Together, we will seek out knowledge of the environs hereabouts. Once I find one or two people for your to work with, I will leave you to your devices, and hopefully with a few coins, will keep you from being sent home twenty minutes after leave. With any luck, we will find a sage or someone knowledgeable of the area. You can then divert the topic from the local flora and fauna to things of greater interest, mainly the local military, its history, perhaps who build the fort and how many attacks it has fended off. Pretty much anything of that nature. With luck, we can find someone who has books on both subjects so that you can divert your attention after I leave you, with a bored look, for the day.

Starday 29 Neth - Morning & Afternoon summary

Erevan spends time in the marketplace, picking up rumours and gossip. He hears that Lord Havelyn, the Commander of Fort Balentyne, is a gloomy sort; he almost never socialises and disapproves of his soldiers coming into Aldencross. However, he has the sense to realise that soldiers are soldiers and need time to relax and unwind.

He also hears about 'Mad Martin' - apparently a semi-hermit like figure who lives in the raven's loft and looks after the birds. "Says he knows each one by name, I'm told. Strange one. Even has his meals in there!"

Etna manages - under another guise - to sell all of the furs and ivory, getting the princely sum of 1575 in gold in exchange. She hears that Balentyne's wizard, Magister-Captain Tacitus, has been spending a lot of time in his laboratory, studying something allegely brought out of the Frozen North on the last expedition; and that although the church here in Aldencross is nice enough, the chapel at Balentyne is the place to be on a Sunday; apparently, the stone saints that adorn the walls actually sing

Felrin has second thoughts about the idea, but does get a view of Fort Balentyne for his trouble*.

On his way through Aldencross, Felrin passes by a large, detached town house (no. 8 on the map). Nobody appears to be at home at present, although the house is clearly well-tended.

He passes by the church, stopping briefly to examine it in more detail. A silver plaque proclaims it to be the Church of St Alden, a minor member of the Mitran canon (they have an interminable number of worthies). Felrin meets with the priest in charge, a Brother Justin of Travismere; the man is friendly and does his best to answer Felrin's questions as best he can - but he refers endlessly to Father Donnagin of Fort Balentyne; it's clear that he is in awe of the man. Brother Justin is able to satisfy Felrin's curiosity as to the house. "Ah, yes, that is where Captain Mott and his wife Kaitlyn live; although Captain Mott is obviously very busy - he spends most of his time at the Fort. His wife is very active in charitable committees in town; she is well thought of, I believe."

Ottakar spends a productive day examining the copies he made from the dwarves' drawings. He is sure that in two more days he will be able to prepare a full map of the Fort.

Tkaara spends the day resting, in preparation for the evening.

Evening

Once the sun has gone down, Tkaara dresses in a reasonable outfit, benefitted by the (hat?) of disguise, and heads down to the common room to see what Starday evening has to offer. After ordering a drink, red wine, she finds an obvious place at the bar and watches as the locals, and soldiers, come in to spend some of their hard earned cash. She does not plan on playing the trollop as many of the other ladies appeared to be doing the night before, rather, she will be the attractive one playing hard (slightly) to get. She will spend the evening having soldiers purchase her drinks, but will make sure that most of the alcohol ends up in flower pots, the floor, or anywhere else but her stomach.

Whenever possible, she will direct the conversation toward happenings in the area. For instance, anything new and interesting in the fort, or the lands about Aldencross. Any scandalous rumors about important figures in town: captains in the fort, local guard leaders, the mayor, clergy, and anyone else of note. After all, gossip usually has more than a little truth in it.

Despite Tkaara's best intentions, once she is confronted with the alcohol the effort of will involved in deliberately spilling it is too much, and the cravings of her body are too great.

Once she has finished selling all of the pelts, Etna heads out of town and, once she's reasonably away from prying eyes, changes into her Jenna disguise. Going back into town, she rejoins with her "cousin".
"We've fools to wrap around our finger, cousin." the ifrit whispers to Erevan.

Once they enter the Lord's Dalliance, the noblewoman tries to aid his cousin in striking up a conversation with the dwarves: Craigh was certainly enthusiastic, but there was a reason if Jenna was going with him. Enthusiasm could only get you so far.

Thinking back on his efforts for the day, Felrin is a bit frustrated. He manages to find a quiet moment to discuss his day with Erevan, over a pint in the common room, out of earshot of any eavesdroppers. ”I thought I had a clever plan to learn a bit more about the inside of the fortress,” he muses. ”I decided it was too big a risk, but I have another idea. Timeon told us that all the servants at the fort live in the village. I’m going to see if I can meet one or two, maybe get hired on that way – or ‘replace’ one of them if I have to. What’s your plan?”

A bit later:

Felrin orders up a simple dinner and takes a moment to engage the innkeeper’s wife. ”A nice meal,” he says graciously, ”thanks very much for it.” He pauses, then asks, ”Do you mind if I bend your ear for a moment? As you might have heard, I was thinking of signing up with the regiment at the fort, but I’m not so sure I’ve got enough experience. Still, I’d like to try to find some way to work there, maybe make my way into the guard over time. I’d guess the servants that work there live here in town, no? Any chance you could point me in the direction of someone who works there, so I could see about hiring on?” He shrugs and adds, ”It’s not quite the soldiering life, but a fellow’s got to start somewhere, right?”

Having been up since very early in the morning, Ottakar takes a light supper and retires for the night. He cannot wait until he is able to return to a more comfortable nocturnal schedule.

"Well," Erevan replies to Felrin, "my... heh... cousin and I are going to be chatting up some dwarves. They seem to have knowledge of the fortress and its foundations and are in fact here to actually test the stability with siege engines, I believe." He shrugs. "They may know a thing or two that we could use. Or they may just be too drunk to make any sense. We will see."

Sunday Morning

As suggested by the innkeeper’s wife, Felrin makes his way the next morning to the Iverson residence. He stops along the way at a bakery to buy a Mitran suncake, and notes with a quiet smile that the raised lines of dough on its surface, depicting the light of Mitra shining forth from the sun, look quite a bit like the ridges of bone that rise from his skin, driven by his infernal blood.

Setting aside these thoughts for the moment, he arrives at the Iverson home and knocks on the door, introducing himself politely. ”Good morning, you must be Edith,” he says to the older woman who answers the door. ”Mrs. Barhold, at the inn, suggested I talk to you. My name is Dav, Dav Mulson. I’m new here in Aldencross, and trying to find a place. I had thought of serving in the guard, but I’m not sure I’m really qualified, so I’m hoping to land a place working in the fortress, on the staff, you know? And, well, I was wondering if you might be able to put in a good word for me?”

He holds out the box containing the suncake and says, ”I brought you a little something. Might I come in, if it’s not too much of a disturbance of your Sunday?”

Starday 29 Neth

Evening

Night

Sunday 30 Neth

Morning

Erevan & Etna

You are woken by Eponine, the Barholds' daughter, bringing you tea and coffee. You breakfast in the officers' room behind the bar, where Eponine waits on you attentively (if a little shyly).

Just as you are finishing, two well-dressed (upper class, but obviously not noble, Etna can tell with her practiced eye) citizens enter, ushered in respectfully by Bellam, the innkeeper, who then tactfully withdraws.

"May I offer you a very good morning, my Lord, my Lady. I am Dominik Vallinson, Lord Mayor of Aldencross. I learned of your arrival yesterday, and I can only apologise for taking so long to make your acquaintance - I was overseeing a tour of my lands outside the town yesterday." He gives a self-deprecating chuckle and an airy wave of his hand. "This is my wife, Vanessa." He gestures to a woman of good looks and - by her keen eyes - obviously considerable intelligence; she nods to you respectfully, but not obsequiously. "I believe my husband was going to invite you to join us at the Chapel in Balentyne, rather than attend the local church," she murmurs, in a not-so-subtle prompt to her husband, who seems rather awestruck by meeting genuine nobility.

"Hmm? Oh! Yes, yes of course - we are just on our way to the Chapel; would you care to join us?"

Felrin, Ottakar, Tkaara

Not being of noble birth, you take breakfast in the common room, along with the dwarves; this is their one day off a week, and their idea of a holy day appears to be to start drinking before it's light and continue drinking until it is no longer light, or until unconsciousness takes them. They don't appear to be fussy about either option - or quiet.

Bellam and his wife Rose serve you intermittently and apologetically, in between running flagons of ale to the dwarves. "I'm sorry, masters, mistress, but I forgot to tell you last night - we only serve breakfast on Sundays, and then we're closed until dinner time. However, Mama Rosie's will be open after church, and I highly recommend her cooking. Will you be joining us for church?"

Tkaara, less bleary eyed than usual, looks to Bellam.
Yes, I was planning on attending. Do you attend the fine chapel here in town? Or the one that I have heard rumors of in the fort? I understand that the one in the fort is truly a spectacle to behold.

Fort: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Once more, Tkaara has been unable to stave off the need for mind altering stimulants, and has again chosen to partake in some of her Honeydust.

Bellam nods, with a bow of his head. "You are correct, mistress, the Chapel in Balentyne is amazing to behold, so I've heard; but it's a military site, and access is by invitation only, I'm afraid." He eyes her doubtfully. Drugs haven't really got as far into the countryside as Aldencross, but Tkaara's behaviour is sufficiently odd to draw his attention; however, the customer is always right, and he affects not to notice.

Tkaara sighs.
That is too bad. I love the grand cathedral in Gastenhall, and even had the pleasure on seeing mass in Matharyn once. It was sublime.

With that, she leans back and stretches in a perhaps too seductive a manner for this early in the day.
What time is mass? I will have to clean up a little. One always wants to appear her best before the Lord.

Bellam is faithful to his wife (particularly when she's in the room with him), and therefore more-or-less averts his eyes as the attractive, platinum-blonde woman stretches to best effect. "Hm? Oh- if we leave in the next 30 minutes, we should be fine, mistress."

"Oh, a fine morning to you too, my Lord Mayor," Craigh greets the couple, "and one to you as well, Vanessa." Gentleman that he is, he takes the woman's hand and places a small kiss on it. The gesture is simple enough and performed gracefully, despite some sort of discomfort the noble appears to be feeling this day, if his half-closed eyes and the expression on his face are any indication.

"Please, do forgive me," he says, his tone apologetic, "but I... I did not sleep all that well last night. I think I may be coming down with something." He looks at his breakfast. "I have always found that a hearty breakfast does wonders for my health and disposition, but I think this time it may have made matters worse..."

"I will have to decline your most gracious invitation, Sir, Lady," he continues. He appears to feel sincerely bad about it. " I think I will attempt to perhaps sleep it off. Staying in for now may be the best option, I fear."

Tkaara looks to the Doctor/Professor:

Professor, shall we go and sing our praises to the Lord? Who knows, afterward we may find some other parishioners with knowledge of the northern plants and animals.

Tkaara will go upstairs and alter her appearance, if ever so slightly, into a cleaner and more proper appearance for church. She will also loop her hair up into a more conservative bun, but leaving enough strands straggling to gather in wandering eyes.

Disguise: 1d20 + 5 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 5 + 10 = 22 <-- +10 from hat of disguise <-- if a Bluff is more appropriate, then add +7
--> probably do not need the disguise, it is more a roll to put herself together in an appropriate, but subtly not appropriate fashion

"I am pleased to make your acquaintance." Etna smiles cordially, curtsying to the mayor and his wife "I am Jenna Arrington, and this is my cousin, Craigh Albercroft." she gestures to the disguised noble. "Aldencross is really a lovely town, I have to say. And so peaceful!" the ifrit skillfully feigns interest.
Jenna rolls her eyes at Craigh "Unlike my cousin (it's the pastries that makes you feel like that, I doubt that eating more will do you better) I would be delighted to join you on your offer. I even heard" the woman puts an hand over her mouth, trying to contain her excitement "that the very stone saints in the chapel sing! Is that true?"

On hearing that breakfast will happen at lunchtime, Felrin thinks with some longing of the suncake sitting boxed in his room, but decides it has a higher purpose to serve. "I'll be going to church," he says simply, "and I keep hearing that Rosie's has good food, so I'll go there too. Then I can visit the Iverson's afterwards."

He returns to his room and alters his appearance slightly, making it look like, for lack of a comb, he spit on his hand a few times and brushed his hair flat, aiming to look earnest. He does take care to make his clothes clean and neat in appearance, but keeps them the simple garments of a young man trying to make his way in the world.

Discussion thread for the first chapter of our saga...

Might want to keep the old thread active until everyone has dotted here. Some of the new players might not know where to find this.

Done

Here!

Ready and Wicked!

Here as well.

Except for Felrin's character I believe we are ready to go. I know he is at a con all weekend so it may be a minute before we get his information squared away. Meanwhile does Tkaara or Erevan have a portrait or do you want to just use your avatar picture?

The gameplay thread is now open... all characters can participate except for Felrin. Once Felrin is done with his character sheet and has been approved I will let him join in.

Just didn't want to hold up everyone that wanted to jump in and start chatting.

Please make sure you read the posting guidelines in the campaign info tab. Lets keep OOC here as much as possible, if you have to add something ooc in the gameplay thread then please make sure you spoiler it.

Have fun...... and good luck to everyone.

Lol - this is about the closest I can find. Unfortunately, she is already a main character in the campaign I believe.

Tkaara - close image

I really cannot find someone who fits the appearance I want. I think that the avatar I am using is pretty close, and seems to have that "I don't give a damn about you" look.

If I see another, I will email it to you, but have spent quite a bit of time and just do not see what I am looking for - probably because I have no clue how to do the search I need to.

Here you go.... lol

Very Soon

Looks pretty close. Has the more pale whitish blonde that I was looking for.

Wasn't quite sure how to start the IC. I assume that we were already individually branded. Not sure if one was put in the cell first, or all at the same time. Since it is a common chain, it could be either.

Are this chains able to block magic like the ones in the Royal Court, or are just mundane shackles?

They do not have any anti-spell properties, however they do restrict movement enough that you can not use any spell that has a somatic component, so you are limited to verbal spells only.

Spell like abilities that require no components can be used. You just don't want to attract the guards that are nearby.

Sorry about my silence, ladies and gentlemen. Yesterday was the second busiest day of the year at my work, and then some friends just HAD to get together for drinks and Cards Against Humanity. :P Back now, though, let's get our game on.

Erevan Cale and Tkaara Fiakben have been added to the campaign website as well as Erevan's token has been updated on the map to reflect his new portrait.

Hi all - recovering from a weekend at a local con, I'm mostly done with Felrin but need to take another look at a couple of things as well as catch up on PbP's. Hope to have him final this evening or tomorrow.

Hello again - working on Felrin, most of the way there. I'm wondering how many of us have taken the option to boost our race builds a bit. In looking at some of the alternate tiefling abilities, which seem to be the most logical things that he might add, there are several that make some sense: +1 natural armor due to his weird bony body (this could also be DR 2/piercing or some such); appear human (because it's what he does); barb dagger, again from the bones; claws, and a few others.

Before I go down that road, I'm trying to get a sense how much others have done so.

TL/DR: did you spend Race Points? If so, how many?

Leaving Erevan's Racial Qualities intact, I added the following Racial Traits: Advanced Strength (4 rp), Darkvision 60 Feet (2 rp), Low-Light Vision (1 rp). The additions bring him up to a total of 16 rp, seeing as how humans are a 9 rp race. Keep in mind though that I am not going to be taking any of the feat chains, thus I had a limit of 18 total rp; otherwise the total is 13.

I took the Focussed Study racial ability, but dropped the bonus into Profession(barrister), so, not a lot of benefit there. I get additional a Skill Focus at levels 8 and 16. It is worth 4 RP, but did not affect her humanness much.

I am going the Path of the Vampre, so was limited to 13 RP.

I took the Curiosity racial ability: it has some nice bonuses, but was mainly for flavour. Keeps me at 13 RP, so I can take a feat path if I want to later on.

Beginning to wish I'd taken Darkvision, though... :)

I added the Flexible stat modifiers, and the traits Gregarious, Emissary and Skill Training(Diplomacy only), bringing me to 12 RP.

It's good to have rerolls on social skills with 2 digits at first level. :D (Okay, Diplomacy is still at +9, but that will change as soon as I scrounge up the money to summon back Winston :P ).

Pah, amateur - I already get +12 on Cha 17 (for information gathering, anyway)... A smile, a kind word and the occasional forged signature gets you a lot of information ;)

The re-roll, I will concede, is a nice thing to have :p

Hi everyone, this is the new thread - post thoughts, comments, queries here. Per my PMs, the game is scheduled to restart on 1 March; I will have ploughed through the books by then and be ready to move forward with taking over Talingarde. You're welcome to come too, of course.

In the meantime, I've put some information about myself in my profile so you know what to expect; if you have any questions please ask. I've put some of the house rules that I follow there as well so they shouldn't come as a surprise later on (obviously the 'no third party materials' rule is waived to the extent that we're playing a Fire Mountain Games AP).

I'm also going to be putting some information into the Campaign tab; please do take time to read it since (i) it helps with player character immersion in the gaming world; and (ii) this is an Asmodean campaign - failing to read the print can have ... consequences. (AKA: read the flavour text, b!tches!)

Ready to burn down a couple of LG nations!

By the way, are we keeping the Victorian flavor and the homebrewed feats?

Homebrewed feats: yes, yes and yes - you need change nothing from what was previously arranged with DMA.

Victorian flavour: I've had some thoughts in that direction. As you will know from reading the mountain of text in the Campaign tab (it's ok, you have until the end of the month), Talingarde has basically two strands of nobility: House Barca, of elven blood, the ancient rulers; and the more recent House Darius, human and Mitra-worshippers.

The pious Darians haven't been in power that long, and so they were keen from the very beginning to disguise this fact and to adopt the trappings of nobility and courtliness. They therefore affect a great refinement; since they're the ones in power, anyone who is anyone (or who wants to be anyone) has adopted their manners of dress and speech. Everything is modesty and circumlocution, from table manners to clothing. They are in effect the Victorians.

By contrast, the Barcans know that they're noble: they don't have to pretend, they have ancestors they can trace back over a dozen generations! Elven generations, at that! These come-lately Darians are just another trial to be endured. Barcans do as they please, they speak as they please and they dress as they please. The only thing they can't do right now is worship as they please, since the Darians have outlawed all the other gods but Mitra. Who knows (oh, that would be me! I know!), maybe one or two Barcans haven't even given up their Asmodean practices.

Barcans especially enjoy swearing and cursing in front of Darians, in the knowledge that their Barcan noble blood will basically give them special status. And it seems to work; the Darians do their best to pretend that they didn't hear or see anything offensive.

This accomplishes two things: it creates genuine tension between the two Houses; and it subverts that "oh-aren't-elves-so-sparkly-and-refined" mentality that I despise (and which Shadowrun lampshaded so mercilessly).

Thoughts?

Thanks for taking over. If you could start the gameplay thread, that would be great so that we can dot it to make it show up on the Campaign's tab.

FYI - in case people do not know this. You can "dot" a thread, and then immediately delete the post, and the thread will still show up on your campaign thread. Doing it this way avoids having multiple "dots" clogging up the start of the gameplay thread.

I really dig the Darian-Barcan thing! It also fits with Golarion Elves being usually Chaotic aligned.

I like the write up. Will try to get through more of your background later. Have to go back outside before too long. Someone has decided that it would be fun, looks up at the sky, to dump several feet of snow on us. About 3-4 feet on the ground around here right now, deeper where it has drifted.

The Darian-Barcan animosity seems sort of like and old money vs. new money struggle you see in the US. The old money (Rockefeller, Carnegie, Kennedy, etc.) sort of looks down at the new money as a bit of an annoyance that will run its course and go back to being poor and in worn out shoes before too long. Until then, the Jobs and Gates of the world will have to be politely dealt with.

Yeah, that's pretty much it, if you imagine the additional annoyance of Jobs and Gates as zealous puritanical kill-joys...

Good luck digging yourself out of the snow; if we get more than a couple inches the whole place round here shuts down; can't even imagine a few feet of it!

Etna: I wouldn't rely on the 'usually Chaotic aligned' bit - or the 'Good' for that matter. Just a word to the wise wicked ;)

EDIT: Regarding the gameplay tab, I'm hoping to get the current thread transferred in so we can literally pick up where we left off, with our Doctor's critical fumble!

3-4 feet? I've seen snow four times in my whole life! D:

And I skimmed trough the campaign info: if it's the one that's in the books, I've already gone trough it when I applied in DMA's game and when I looked trough a recruitment for another WotW game here. I'll still read it again to refresh my memory. :D

Well and good. Everything seems to be in order. Now for the universe to decide to have a grand joke on us by having DMA return on March 2nd...

@AU: yes, that would be fairly typical...

A few more thoughts

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MAJORING IN SOCIOLOGY
===========================

The victory of House Darius over House Barca was nearly 100 years ago, which is about the same distance as the First World War is to us. All the humans who remember it first-hand are long dead, as are most of their children. The Barcans of course are elven/half-elven (>95% half-elf: the line occasionally breeds true elves but not often). There are elderly Barcans still living who fought in that war, and almost every one of the current generation lost a parent or uncle.

In other words, the humans who are now running things are the 3rd or even 4th generation removed: they regard the war as ancient history. So the Darians are pretty much unaware of any animosity the Barcans might have for them and would be astonished to know the reasons for it.

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CHRONICLES OF THE FORSAKEN
===========================

I need some help from you guys in keeping this campaign going and making sure that we keep track of stuff (there's a huge cast of characters here and they all matter - for a given value of 'matter').

What I would really appreciate is if you could (either individually or collectively) run a document (ideally a Google docs so I can then link to it in the Campaign thread) that lists all of the named NPCs you encounter. This can be as detailed or as sparse as you like. A sample could be as follows:

Tomas Blackerly (DECEASED): Sergeant in charge of Branderscar prison. Cruel and cowardly, he held the Forsaken down and laughed as he branded them. Kept the prison in bad order - we heard rumours of gambling and at least one guard was drunk on duty. Etna's review of the paperwork revealed that he was committing fraud on a significant scale. Attempted to ambush the Forsaken as they searched his quarters and almost killed Felrin. Died fighting to the last to prevent their escape.

How many details you include and how you order the list (deceased vs living; or by where they were first encountered; or by whose side they're on(!); endless possibilities) is completely up to you but if you can keep it up to date that would be really appreciated.

As a sweetener, for each named NPC you list, I will add 50 XP to the group's total; I will add a further 50 XP each time there is a significant update to an NPC already listed. So for example, I would have awarded 50 XP for initially listing Blackerly, and a further 50 XP when you updated to include his death and how he died.

So far, in addition to Blackerly, you have encountered the Warden (Matthias Richter), Grumblejack, and Sir Balin of Karfeld; and the Doctor has encountered Tiadora. Additionally, each of you (including Hecate) has a number of named NPC's in your backstory. That's a lot of XP waiting to be awarded!

This creates further immersion in the game world and allows us to remember who is whom later down the line: "The tall, angelic warrior glares at you sternly and snarls: 'now you face justice, you killers of Blackerly!'"* "Wait, who's Blackerly again?" "Dude, you remember, that guy who branded us back at the beginning." "Uh... Oh. Right. Him."

*This is not a thing that is going to happen, FYI

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LOOT OF THE FORSAKEN
===========================

DMA did a great job of listing who had what, but that isn't something I can see myself being able to keep track of.

if one or all or indeed any of you can put a document together that lists who has what, I will add 250 XP to the group's total for its initial creation - and a further 50 XP each time there is a significant update.

Your cooperation is appreciated. Have an Infernal day.

A question: What about DMA's house rules? You know, the ones about Hero Points and natural 1 and 20.

Oh, and a second one about your own house rules: Are natural 1 a failure even on skill and ability checks? And if yes, what about natural 20 if that is the case?

Villain points - yes, definitely; in fact as play re-starts you are about to earn the first ones!

House rules - my rules on nat 1 replace those of DMA: i.e. no critical fumbles (life is complicated enough) in combat, but for skill/ability checks there is always the possibility of failure, no matter how many bonuses you have. Natural 20 is always a success (assuming that what you were attempting is actually possible!) - I didn't make that clear in my house rules and will amend them. Thanks for spotting that.

However, a nat 20 in combat is not going to be an automatic critical - we will be reverting to the RAW on that (i.e. if you roll a nat 20, roll again to confirm the critical).

Hope this isn't too complicated; I realise I'm posting a lot right now, but I wanted to give enough time for everyone to read it before play re-starts.

I'm still around to answer questions, but the 'info-dump' is now (I think) completed.

Finally, if anyone's not happy, please let me know asap - we're here to have fun, after all!

What I would really appreciate is if you could run a document that lists all of the named NPC you encountered.

Like this?

Apparently one must request access to your doc.

Now? It should be possible to edit it, too.

Hi gang - glad we'll be able to keep this going, whatever happens come March 1.

A question/comment for our brave new DM, related to your profile info - as we've discussed before in this group, we have a number of us who benefit from flanking, and who will benefit from it even more over time. If it's possible to to have maps for the combats, it will make a big difference. Sometimes a fight is quick or simple (one combatant in an open space) and the map doesn't matter so much - but it's funny how rare such fights are.

And one more comment about your profile info, while I'm at it - sounds like this will be fun!

Etna, that is brilliant. Thank you. Adding 200 XP to the group now.

Everyone, don't forget the NPC's from your ten-hour background; I'd hate for all that work to go to waste...

Felrin: understood and yes, flanking can make a huge difference - the difficulty is running such maps from my phone. Can we trial a narrative system? In other words, you say "I move to flank so-and-so" and I will then play it that they are flanked. Of course, if there is a fight with a number of good guys, then you may take an AoO as you move to a flanking position; but I will warn you if that is the case.

If that doesn't work, I will reconsider and look at possible alternatives.

Glad you like it! I'll update it later/tomorrow with one of Etna's important NPCs: we have 2 weeks before we restart, so we have time. :)

By the way, someone wants to do the loot list? I really wouldn't even know how to start in formatting that (maybe Excel?).

Here is a question for you all: do we continue as is, or do we invite one of the alternates who did not originally make the cut?

Can we continue as-is for the time being? Taking over the campaign is going to be tricky enough without adding more variables.

Later on, we can see.

Well enough. Okay, Asmodeus demands order regarding the character list. Do we want them listed in chronological order (and then do we put all the characters from backgrounds first?), or would it be more convenient to list them alphabetically? Also, will need a color to represent those who are not necessarily allies, nor enemies, but, as far as we know, are still alive...

I say we put all of the background characters before the one we listed, maybe with something to separate the two.
What about green as a color for the other characters?

There. I have added NPCs from Ottakar's background.

More XP added to the group.

I'm still around BTW, if you have any questions, despite not posting frequently - I'm alternately reading, thinking and laughing maniacally: whoever wrote this AP is a genius! So many opportunities for TPK - erm, I mean, character development...

List adjourned with Etna's three important NPCs!

I will go trough the gameplay thread and start compiling the loot list.