LOL, no worries. I cannot think of how Dilana would chime in plus maybe it keeps party size a mystery.
Yep, still here.
Yeah, I'm still here. Didn't want to spoil your chat.
Sorry, I've been back at the Hospital having a number of tests and it's knocked all the energy out of me.
Should be back tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.
And I managed to get Covid. Doing fine now but it cost me a week. This is my first time getting it. Two weeks back flew out west and it turns our airports are not yet save. Mostly a mild flu but even mild, flu sucks.
Hope you're getting better.
Its crazy slow. Now I have a wracking cough. But I am getting better.
Sorry, too tired to update.
It seems to have gone very slow and silent in this book. Does anyone have questions or concerns?
Sorry, I've not been as active as I should perhaps. These last few weeks and the coming three months I will be very busy trying to meet an extremely important deadline for work, as in making/finishing my medical specialisation. I cannot stress enough how important that one is for me and my writing time has been suffering as a result, along with how my activity across most PBP's has decreased recently. I'll admit to being guilty to prioritising campaigns that are active with remaining time, and from march 2 to march 16 the only one making any posts here was Elrys, which felt a bit demoralising to me. I realize that scene was the phone conversation but I suppose part of me wanted to see if someone would step forward to take over to plan the incursion into the castle. I'm not sure if everyone here is busy or less interested in this campaign or such; while I would like to continue it would help if there was a bit more pushing/active action from the others in the coming time.
I also had one question of the info dump:
"There are two other advantages to infiltrating the Palace of Fallen Stars, and Elisa informs you of both. First, a secret tunnel to the Technic League compound is somewhere in the palace's dungeon, and securing it would give you a stealthy way to invade the compound from below."
What does this mean, exactly? Is the technic league compound our goal, with Unity inside, and this is below the palace? Is there a secret entrance into the castle from below? As in, from the sewers or such...?
To use the words of the book itself.
So, you need to get into Silver mount. The only way in is under the control of the Technic league. As you all know they are a bunch of bastards and leaving them behind to try and screw you over is not a good idea.
Which is why your first move to to either get the Black sovereign out of their control or neutralize him. With their puppet either hostile or gone the League will be very distracted trying to regain control of the city.
I am traveling until Sunday night but also I am retiring at the end of the week and should have a lot more time in the very near future.
I admit to sort of having lost the plot a little. I don't know much about the political movers and shakers in Numeria so the various groups are a bit confusing. Raktar is also not a particularly political/interpersonal character so the making contacts and forging alliances thing isn't really his bag. I'm trying to stay engaged as best I can.
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I'm undergoing the procedure to hopefully fix my heart rate tomorrow morning. Busy preparing today. So no updates till Monday.
All things going well things should settle down and regular posting will return.
If I have time I'll post some options to get things moving again over the weekend.
It seems you all are a little lost on how to proceed?
The Black sovereign is the leader of the Barbarians who control this part of Numeria. He is the also puppet of the Technic league.
You want to get into Silver mountain and deal with an AI who is trying to attain Godhood. He plans to wipe out all those messy organic lifeforms so it would be a very bad thing if he succeeds.
The Technic league controls the only way to enter Silver mountain and are a bunch of bastards anyway.
The Black Sovereign is controlled by his addiction to Numerian fluids. You've killed Doc Hellbroth who produced the fluids. Now you have the option of curing the Sovereign of his addiction, or removing him.
Either way the resulting chaos of a suddenly hostile Black Sovereign, or a battle for the vacant throne will keep the Technic league busy while you infiltrate their compound and find what you need to get into Silver mountain.
The procedure worked well.
It's called a Cardioversion. They slapped sticky pads over my chest. Hooked them up to wires, and gave me lots of nice sedatives. I was waiting for the electric shock and was confused when they started removing all the wires?
"Is something wrong?" I ask. "No. it's done. Worked perfectly!"
So I didn't even notice the procedure taking place. I was a little sore and ached a bit after the sedative wore off, but have been fine since then.
Heart beat is steady now and I'm having less problems walking or standing up for too long. So I'm very relieved.
Sounds like progress which is great to hear. Lets hope this does the trick.
Sorry, it's Easter and Family is in town. No update.
Still got Family around, enjoy the holiday where ever you are.
Ok. What is your thinking on dealing with the Black Sovereign?
Kill or cure?
Would you prefer to skip dealing with the palace, have me speedrun it and have you get back into the combat heavy part of the book?
My thinking is trying to persuade him back into his right mind, if that doesnt work, then kill him. I am assuming our mystery contact over the intercom is the Queen.
If no one had anything else I assume we just walk in and enact the plan; cast invisibility sphere out of sight and walk into the restricted section
I agree with trying to cure him. IC the Technic League is the organization that enslaved Olimpia and depriving them of this asset sounds great to her.
Works for me too.
The Technic league control him through his addiction to Numerian fluids. So a Heal spell would end the addiction.
However there is a League captain in the palace as liaison, and the Black Sovereign is surrounded by guards, loyalty questionable.
A plan for getting to him, freeing him and maybe needing to keep him alive till he purges the League sympathizers would be a good idea. :)
Agreed. It might be hard but if we can get him and his people on our side we’d be in a much better position to take on the League.
I wonder if he desires to break his addiction...
No update due to an appointment at Cardiology for a checkup after my Cardioversion.
No problems, looks to be going well, but lots of time having to wait.
Sorry, no time to update tonight.
Sorry, no time to update.
Apologies for my silence. The number of pills I'm currently taking has caused my acid reflux to flare up again.
I tried reducing the number of anti-inflammatories I was taking but that left me in a great deal of discomfort.
After consulting with my Doctor the anti-inflammatories have been changed and things seem to be settling down enough for me to be able to sleep properly again.
So hopefully things will settle down and regular posting can resume.
That sounds like a lot of no fun. I deal with acid reflux and it is quite uncomfortable. Do what you need to feel as good as you can.
Hey everyone,
I wanted to drop a note, for the next six weeks I'll be working heavily on finishing a scientific study I'm writing. It's the last thing I have to do to finish my medical specialization and there is a strict deadline for the middle of june. While I'm on track for that, it is taking a lot of time and energy next to work. I have to prioritize it greatly during free time and as such I will be less active until it finishes. I'll drop by to write when I can, but please assume I'll be very busy and bot Elrys on major decisions when it is needed. I'm sorry for the inconvenience and hope to be back to full posting soon.
Best of luck to you Elrys.
My daughter-in-law seems to be about where you are Elrys in a similar process. She has completed 4 years of medical school, 5 years of surgical residency and now is completing (done in July) a year of fellowship to specialize. Somehow managed to have two kids in that total process.
It is ANZAC day here in New Zealand. No update today.
Medical training can suck at times.
I did five years in medical school, two in Foundation training, a year out of training after I didn't get a post, then five years in microbiology specialty training.
That is a lot of schooling Raktar. What do you do with all that training? And what does it mean that you didn't get a post?
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I'm a consultant in medical microbiology - consultant being the senior level UK post, equivalent to an attending in the US. I've been a consultant for about 5.5 years now and I've got lead roles in paediatric microbiology and infection prevention and control, as well as the day to day stuff that microbiology entails - our main role is to help investigate, manage, and treat patients with infection.
In the UK after graduating medical school (which is 5 years for most people but there are fast track graduate entry courses which are 4 years) you have to complete a two year Foundation Training programme, which is generally pretty broad and encompasses multiple different specialities. My FP was orthopaedics, diabetes, acute medicine, psychiatry, and obs & gynae. Once you've done F2 you can then apply for specialty training in order to develop specific competencies and skills with the outcome generally being a consultant post.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm pretty lazy and as such I wasn't a great medical student or a great junior doctor, so when I applied for my specialty post after F2 I didn't get one. I took a year out of training - there are always more juniors needed than there are training posts so I did a year as an acute medicine doctor outside of a training programme - and then reapplied to microbiology with a better CV and a better knowledge of what I wanted to do. Lots of juniors take one or more years after completing Foundation training, either to work abroad for a while or to get more experience in other areas, before deciding what they want to do for the rest of their careers. I hadn't planned to, but it wasn't the end of the world.
Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting to me, especially watching my daughter-in-law go through similar schooling. Just to clarify my understanding, do you have/use the title of doctor?
Less relatable question, but maybe more fun: What did you think about the game turned show - The Last of us?
No update tonight.
Ok. You're in the Palace. You have two choices:
1. Find and either cure or kill the Black sovereign. Throwing Starfall into Chaos and distracting the Technic league.
2. Find and deal with Gartone. The Technic league captain based in the Palace to monitor the Black sovereign.
What are you doing?
My advice is to deal with Gartone first and then deal with the Black sovereign with less interference.
Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting to me, especially watching my daughter-in-law go through similar schooling. Just to clarify my understanding, do you have/use the title of doctor?
Less relatable question, but maybe more fun: What did you think about the game turned show - The Last of us?
Yep, I'm a doctor. I don't see patients any more, but I've got the same qualifications as all the other doctors, just in a less patient-facing specialty.
I've neither seen nor played The Last of Us so I can't comment I'm afraid. Though if you're looking for a microbiologist-recommended movie about infection then Contagion is excellent - it's a fairly realistic scenario and has some reasonably good science in it.
I think we need to be able to get to the Black Sovereign with as high a chance of possible of converting him to our side, so going after his handlers seems like a good first step.
Agree - lets get Gartone and then try to heal/convert the Black sovereign.
You are looking at the 2nd floor. C36-C39 is where the Technic league is based. The public isn't permitted to enter this area so you'll need to stealth or trick your way in. :)
We could abuse Dimension Door since we can all easily take 1d6 damage if the location is off a little. Of course GM_DBH could shunt us someplace worse but its a bad, rule abusive, option.
I have now added the Palace 2nd floor map up top. No comments of how forgetful that was thank you. :)
I assumed it was just part of the GM mystique!
dimension door would involve a lot of guesswork and we might end up in the middle of a guard room or something, which would sort of spoil it. I think Elrys' plan of invisibility is a good first shot.
I'm running behind today so no update I'm afraid.
Just a heads up that I'm off on holiday on Thursday. I'll be away for a week with just my phone and iPad - I'll try to keep up as best I can but normal posting will resume on Monday 22nd.