So ...
Rather than running a combat with all 180 (or however many) people in Newspring, I'm going to assume that the vast majority of the people are engaged elsewhere, that there are several skirmishes going on in different places.
Last time it was all PCs v. bad guys, but there were 12 PCs which I thought was more than sufficient. But, it keeps you from getting a feel for the NPCs capability and that bond that comes with fighting off one of DM Nerk's Annoying Ambushes(TM). This time, I'm offering you a menu of NPCs to choose from.
Bern Hearthseeker
Edmund Thayer
Ingwe Obuti
Manari
Melilla
Captain Pamodae
Ranaz
Rhyfelwr
Sandra Thayer
I'd not going to run ALL of them, and my (metagaming) purpose here is to give Donatello and Ysanne a little baptism with fire. So if you can just pick one or two (or none) that you'd like to play with. Don't worry about their relative strength, the enemy's strength will be adjusted to suit the final group.
I will get the map up probably in a day or so, but at the moment, it isn't really going to be much help.
I'd like to see some NPCs in action that we haven't to date. Ingwe, Melilla, Pamodae, Rhyfelwr and Sandra in no particular order.
Shush, Cueta. You're not even here.
I'll take your suggestions under advisement, but I do hope your fellows have a clearer understanding of "one or two" means.
Edit: yes, I'm in smart@$$ mode today.
Sandra and the goblin are both at the beach already.
*Hangs head in shame, goes back to kindergarten...*
Really, those are the NPCs that intrigue me, 'cause I haven't seen them in action yet. One or two or even none, if the others want to see other NPCs, is fine with me. However, I assume if Ranaz joins the fight, it will be as a zombie for the other side, so I'm going to veto that option.
We're pretty light on front-liners in this grouping, so another melee type would probably be good though. Sorala tried it last fight and it didn't go too well for her...
I'd like to see Rhyfelwr and Sandra in action. Runner-up is Edmund in place of Sandra.
Also if these are the elves attacking how the s+#% did they get over here so quick? If it's the bugbears that are mad at us stealing their pork... well... oops.
Wow, you guys have been busy.
I think going to loot reclaim supplies from the various places while we have a boat and crew is a fantastic idea. We can always go back and settle the Portress at another point, too.
And if I had to pick an NPC: Bern or Edmund are my first choices, I think.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if we do this, the elves are going to notice, and may increase our threat level towards them. They tested our defenses and saw we have teeth, so they are likely carefully monitoring what we're doing (perhaps even magically, though scrying spells are higher-level and the good ones aren't available in P6). If we start cruising around in a ship it might alarm them enough to commit resources to squashing us. Just a thought.
Hmmm, arrow through the chest of Ranaz... they may have already noticed.
The question is, does Vallen go... he's kind of busy with the glaives... but he would want to go to the Portress... but Istiel wants to see the coast... I'll have to think about it.
I love me that racist elf, but if we can get Pomadae on board (*drum roll*) with the plan it has got to be Vallen, right?
1) He gets to visit Portress again, and maybe learn lots of new interesting things about demonic dwarves and demonic dwarven architecture.
2) He gets to find a lot of mundane tools, supplies, and other crafty stuff.
3) He maybe gets to break down the Harpy wreck, if it still is there. Remember how sad Vallen was that he missed that opportunity?
Bonus points: we stop at Bugbear beach and diplo the bugbears on the way.
Bern Hearthseeker +1
Edmund Thayer +1
Ingwe Obuti +0.5
Manari
Melilla +0.5
Captain Pamodae +0.5
Rhyfelwr +2.5
Sandra Thayer +2.5
Donatello & Ysanne still to vote.
Cueta, since there were more of them, I made your votes count for less.
@ Vallen: You guys have unloaded 200 goods, 1000 food, 53 people, plus a buffalo, a dog, a small herd of goats, a scorpion and a plot device barrel of ale from the Wasp's Tail, and started schlepping all of it over to Newspring. So they had some time.
I'd rather have him continue work on the glaives so that he can start making equipment for us when they're done, but if everyone wants him to go, I can find a reason.
He would loooove to work on that magical gate that's for sure.
Oh he remembers the Harpy Wreck. He's still mad about that!
@ Vallen: You guys have unloaded 200 goods, 1000 food, 53 people, plus a buffalo, a dog, a small herd of goats, a scorpion and a plot device barrel of ale from the Wasp's Tail, and started schlepping all of it over to Newspring. So they had some time.
... true. Well. If these are elves, I hope no one accidentally attacks Manari. TOo bad our rangers aren't here, could track their movements back to their sloop and try to capture it.
I just knew making Perception my lowest skill was going to screw me over! Okay, Don is too distracted by his 'Familiar'.
Does Don lose his action entirely, or just drop init below Sorala and Vallen?
Have worked with lose entirely because it is the easiest to fix.
I think in this case he'll just lose the action.
I don't run strict initiative, because of the PbP format. I group the badguys and NPCs on one initiative count so I can do one big post for all their actions, and then the players get to go whenever they can post, rather than waiting on schedules to align, etc. If someone doesn't post for 24 hours when everyone's waiting, I'll 'bot them.
TOo bad our rangers aren't here, could track their movements back to their sloop and try to capture it.
Vada has survival...
Battle Bison to the rescue?
I'll vote with the majority, I'm still new in town and don't figuratively or literally know any of those NPCs
Combat trained! Yeeha!
Combat trained! Yeeha!
Your post in the gameplay thread disappeared?
@DM Nerk: Sure :)
Are you okay if I run Saltpeter (within reason). She's a guard dog, not a combat dog.
Happy for you to if you like.
You said she'd been unloaded, I figure that's what distracted Don.
Well we're about to see if they're elves, or really lucky with their saving throws. Cause elves are immune to sleep magic.
Knowing is half the battle, right?
Was having lunch and reflected that as gardens do not produce meat, if we only built gardens we would push Newspring to vegetarianism by default.
Then I remembered the foragers: so vegetables, fruit and insects, from the sound of it.
There is trapping and hunting involved as well. And... a giant mountain of pork.
If the elves were on that sloop like I think they are, I believe they didn't enter the bay because they were afraid of anything, but instead parked their ship where no one could see it, and went up the coast to attack us. Very elfy.
Given that use of tactics, I'd bet all of my 11gp they are now trying to lure us into an ambush in the woods. To battle, wheeeee!
Maybe they just want to steal your pork?
Tomag will spontaneously learn teleport, come back, curbstomp every single one of them, and then teleport back to exploring.
Ain't NOBODY stealing the pork he almost died for.
If they were trying to ambush us would they have been hiding so well?
Donatello
Yes, you should run Saltpeter in combat situations. I have enough to deal with and I always think it's a dick move when DMs run a player's creatures. That said, the dog is just a dog, not specially bound to you by a class feature or something, so I will not hesitate to take the wheel if I think you're abusing it.
Ysanne, all that applies to you and Bebop as well. Additionally, let's remember that Bebop is the most powerful character in the game right now.
Thanks
There were a bunch of crossbows being handed around a page or so ago. Are they still in this area? I'm guessing not.
Otherwise, this is where all the unloaded goods were being put?
Would anyone object to Septimus claiming a crossbow after this combat?
No objection from me, Septimus!
Crossbow it up!
I'm actually perfectly willing to say that Donatello and Septimus grabbed crossbows already.
I'm actually perfectly willing to say that Donatello and Septimus grabbed crossbows already.
Excellent.
Vallen, I agree Kal'Tos would be incredibly helpful right now, between his ability to ignore difficult terrain and being able to cast longstrider he would chase this guy down in no time.
As usual Nerk's incredible storytelling has presented us with an enigma. Is this an elf? Why are they wearing the black bird's feathers? If it is an elf, is it a rebel? Or do they simply wear the bird's feathers because they were given them? Perhaps some kind of special forces ranger elf that work with the black birds...
I still believe they are leading us into an ambush, but if they are not... why attack? Gorilla tactics to spread fear?
So many questions. I don't know if we're going to be able to catch it, It's all on Ysanne now. If Ysanne gets into range this round, she could try a sleep again? She was out of range last time. Unless she has some mounted awesomeness in store for us.
Thoughts on feathers:
If it is an elf, the feathers could be freely given, or the elves get the power from the black birds by some sort of hunter / cannibalism ceremony, or they just happen to live near some birds that they hunt and use as part of everyday existence, and the rest is hobgoblin superstitious mumbo-jumbo.
I think we're headed into an ambush as well.
I'm unclear on how far the sniper just fled. If it was difficult terrain and he actually ran as in x4 speed, then there's no way I can catch up because Bebop cant run in difficult terrain (only druids and a select other few can) which would lead me to guess the sniper is an elf or druid (but not necessarily).
If the sniper just double moved 30' because most can't run in difficult terrain, Ysanne can spur Bebop to run him down and spell harass him/her a little but it would only be a round or two tops.
Yep, he double moved (30') If I said run, sprinted, dashed, whatever it was pure flavor, not to be confused with a declaration of his action.
The bad news is, I'll be on the road til Wednesday. Posting will be lean.
Just checking with this (sorry)
There are a bunch of goods and foods but not many people on the beach right?
Reason:
Don's a caravan guard by training, so I think he's seeing this as a raid.
Run one fast archer at the caravan. Start shooting. Caravan guards give chase, leaving the caravan lightly guarded. Then your raiding party comes in and takes everything they can grab.
Meanwhile the fast guy gets on a horse/boat and bolts.
Obviously if the beach is empty of anything to nick then this reasoning does not make sense.
Vada's a simple farmer (who is now really good at getting mad at stuff) so if he hears somebody yell to keep watch over the goods, he'd probably stay put (because he's the furthest away and if everyone else is having trouble catching him, he probably won't make any difference).
The goods and food and people are mostly at the beach, though some of them have started moving off towards Newspring.
I don't know, Vada. With your speed you may be the only one who can catch him.
Normally I'd agree, but you all have like 60' feet on me, and we'd be like 200+ feet down the beach before I catch up with everybody.
yeah, I guess that is true.
Unless someone tells him otherwise, he's going to keep chasing the assassin, though. There were others back at the boat, right? He might not think they're pretty much undefended if he leaves.
Damnit Nerk! You knew we'd go straight to google translate, didn't you?!
Thinking about the whole Drover thing. I know it seems a bit strange, but...
I was looking for a Team that was trained in Sailor and either Profession or Crafts. Didn't mind so much about the weaponry as I figure we'll probably end up going crossbows anyway.
There were surprisingly few teams with these skills. Sailor and Driver were the two obvious ones.
There doesn't seem to be a Hunter team. I guess they didn't expect a need for it. Possibly it is a "Craftsman" team. Archer doesn't seem right as you'd expected a Hunter to be able to survive in the wild.
It's possible that the Scavengers have some people who have effectively become hunters over the last month.
Rangers would be ideal, but I've noticed UC is really stingy about letting anyone have PC class levels.
Doing Guards we could upgrade later would have the advantage of giving us a militia we could use to repel attacks.
Perhaps the easiest is Laborer Teams. These wouldn't be hunters, just a Work Gang slowly doing the work we need done. Number of people would then be an issue, I guess. We could always sell them off as we reach 100% on farms. As food gets better we could convert Salvagers into new Laborers.
There is an Archer team, which I believe would suffice.