War for the Crown with DM Vayelan

Game Master vayelan

Amandine and Chana, could you give me some suggestions as to who I should interact with? I'm indecisive here

Lady Sittas!

For all the other chatting candidates, we've either made a solid impression on the ones that are potential allies, or we've come to terms with them being antagonistic. Lady Sittas came into the roster late, but she seems like the kind of person that could also be a good ally. But since she came in so late, we haven't had the chance to influence her yet.

Baroness Voinum may also be a good candidate. We've had some success influencing her, but she seems like a tough person to get on your side.

I'm using Chrome's Paizo Campaign Tools. That's a very cool picture. I hope he hires someone to prestidigitate him every time he so much as smells something unsavoury.

Uh, what is your problem with Medieval Ed Sheeran?

Can't believe I didn't know about this up until now. Unfortunately, as I couldn't add one, I can't overlay it. Oh, well. Fingers crossed at Paizo fixing the issue soon.

@Everyone: Sorry for taking a while to get a post up. It's been a super busy few days and I'm knackered. I'll post tomorrow for sure.

@Olivia: Yeah, as Chana said Lady Sittas and her Lieutenant would be good for starters. Amandine's first round will be going to Okerra. After him she might try to make some headway with the unfriendlies.

I work for the Oregon Department of Human Services. We're expecting to be hit with maybe the biggest rush of benefits applications ever due to statewide service sector closings.

I'm going to be pulled off my normal job to help process intakes somewhere between sometimes and a lot, and it's possible overtime could become involved.

I don't know what this is going to do to my availability right now, posts from me could become spotty at times depending on how things unfold. It's getting pretty crazy right now.

Understood! Do what you need to do.

Government workers are really getting slammed right now with benefits applications in my state too. A friend of mine works on the government IT side of things in my state and is getting a heavy workload.

Stay safe Amandine. And thanks for doing what's actually a really important job right now - making sure a whole bunch of families are able to get by during the crisis.

Yeah! Kudos to you and the work you're doing, and everyone understands how important this is right now. Here's hoping it all goes as well as it can, for everyone.

Don't worry, Amandine. Take take of those real-life heroics of yours. We'll be cheering for you.

Real life heroics > D&D heroics

Thanks everyone! Stay safe and well yourselves!

Ugh. Meant to post on the weekend, but I'm in an essential field and was working all weekend.

I think I came out wrong - Bartolo was merely commenting that the house doesn't have any servants, hence why he's currently camping outside and waiting for the people to arrive. The idea that he'll be doing menial work himself would be doubt amuse him.

It's okay Bartolo, it'll all get ironed out soon enough. For one thing Amandine doesn't know about the letter yet.

Also I don't think anyone would describe Amandine as a warm fuzzy. What do you say everyone? Any votes for Amandine being warm and fuzzy? Raise your hands... Heh heh.

Warm only because she's hotttttt

I may have wall-of-texted here, but I was trying to reply to as many questions as possible! Sorry!

Or maybe not ironed out super quickly. Dude.... <shakes head>

I did pre-text that that he's noticed that, and he swore that he'll keep what he noticed a secret before any deals were mentioned. Explicitly so.

That said, you're the established team, and I'd hate to step on anyone's toes, so I'll give a summary post and then you can let me know if I should go.

Bartolo, I'll let you in on exactly what Amandine is thinking.

1. Bartolo noticed something irregular, but the fact is that Amandine and Chana do have legal papers entitling them to the Betony Estate. She isn't bluffing about taking the matter to Lotheed if needed, but she really doesn't want to because....

2. That aside he could cause trouble and undo some of the work they've put in locally over the past couple of days. Gossip kills.

3. Bartolo has said he won't say anything, but so what? He's earned no trust yet so there's no reason to believe him. Especially when what he said carries an implied threat of challenging them as Betonys.

4. Bartolo talks like he wants in on a scam they're running. Amandine sees what they're doing as an important and delicate operation in support of Princess Eutropia. Very high stakes. Bartolo's interests don't match their own and he certainly can't be let halfway into things. Therefore he must be out rather than in. Too much is at stake.

5. If Amandine thought Bartolo was a serious threat to their operation, Amandine would not give a second thought to planting him in a shallow grave out back of the manor.

In short, don't come on so knowing and heavy. Build some trust first :)

That's perfectly clear to me (the player), but the character was conceptually designed to be an intentional distraction in social encounters - the loud smokescreen for otherwise subtle characters, and going heavy was the idea. When you go big or go home, sometimes it's the latter!

The legal papers are a little irrelevant, since nobody wants to kick up a stink, true.

My thinking was that in Taldor, loud and large noblemen can get away with large amount of brashness and 'laddishness' and that being part of Bartolo's public persona was a theme I wanted to explore. However, someone swearing on their honour is (from my point of view) a massive, massive thing in a traditional, chivalrous place like Taldor - being an oathbreaker being worse than being dead, since when you're dead at least your family doesn't try and erase your existance.

All the information I've had so far was pointing towards a scam, until Bartolo recognised Olivia as a Vernisant, at which point he went to offer his assistance to the people affiliated with someone he's heard of having as having a similar mindset. The building of trust was supposed to be the relation to Betony, the desire to better Merratt and, most importantly, the oath.

Warm only because she's hotttttt

Oh well plain-looking Dro'gan gets ignored...

Oof, for whatever reason I had a hard time following the trains of thought in character. And also between the gameplay and discussion threads.

Anyway, our OOC goal here is to form the Dream Team (TM), but in character the existing group has thus far been very much opposed to stuck up and/or airheaded noblemen. This makes it difficult to suddenly do a 180 and embrace a character posturing with brashness and 'laddishness'. Like, I'm going to do my best in character to try to explain it away, but its a stretch.

Also this bit:

Exhaling loudly, Bartolo crosses his arms. "I'd like to get some gold in my pocket and some connections in my books. From what I gathered, Merratt is currently being sucked dry in taxes, and I'd hate to restore the region only to have my money be funneled into some idiot's pocket. This could be my blood talking, but from where I'm standing, you'll profit off having a loud noble around, and I'll profit off not having to search for another place to start my organisation in." His smile grows smug once again. "And if you find a better accountant than I in Merratt, I'll eat my hat."

Is hard for me to work around. Bartolo is so focused on earning money for himself when our upcoming goal is the exact opposite - enriching the common folk.

Anyway, I tried to create some openings in gameplay for the newcomers to make their intentions clear. Hope that helps.

Also, I'm positively baffled why you had Bartolo immediately start threatening us about our identities.

Its a personality trait. He's a blusterer. He Blusters:

blus·ter /ˈbləstər/

verb: bluster; 3rd person present: blusters; past tense: blustered; past participle: blustered; gerund or present participle: blustering

talk in a loud, aggressive, or indignant way with little effect.
"you threaten and bluster, but won't carry it through"
Similar: rant

thunder
boast
brag
swagger
be overbearing
lord it
vaunt
bray
crow

(of a storm, wind, or rain) blow or beat fiercely and noisily.
"a winter gale blustered against the sides of the house"
h
Similar:
blow fiercely

blast
gust
storm
roar
rush

noun: bluster

loud, aggressive, or indignant talk with little effect.
"their threats contained a measure of bluster"
Similar:
ranting
hectoring
thundering
threatening
threats
bullying

Sorry about the delay - I was updating my games yesterday, and I got called out for work, after I finished work. I'll try and get a response asap.

Quick update, the guy who was supposed to replace me on call is quarantined since this morning, so it might be a bit longer before I can post. Still confident I can post today.

I don't think we will melt before you get back. Do what you need to do! I can't wait to see the two of us in combat together...that should be interesting!
=)

I hope everyone is well.

I've just finished catching up on reading the gameplay posts. I'm proud to see that everyone seems quite invested in roleplay.
I will post my own update in just a moment.

You were gone?

=/

I appreciate you adding knowledge depending on our backstories. It's a nice touch and shows you care and remember our origins.

I appreciate you adding knowledge depending on our backstories. It's a nice touch and shows you care and remember our origins.

Thank you. I really appreciate such encouraging feedback.

I've been developing some ideas to better engage my players across the games I run, so I'll be working to incorporate them more often moving forward.

Yeah, broadly speaking I've come across two types of GMs with PbP games.

The first type is great at storytelling and atmosphere, but tends to be flaky in keeping the game going. Eventually those games tend to close, mostly because of GM burnout I think.

The second type is great at keeping a game going and moving along at a clip. They don't tend to do much more than run it by the number though so the campaign isn't very rich or interesting.

You do a really great job at hitting a good balance between the two. We don't get painfully bogged down and sidetracked, and it's a much more alive environment to inhabit.

Thank you!

The question came up a while back but I didn't comment at the time.

I think it's best we explain Bartolo as a visiting friend. It actually bolsters our Betony cover to have a Talbot friend from back in the city coming to visit. Dro'gan works perfectly as a member of the household staff of some sort. Our own Sir Guisarne more or less. :)

Dro'gan works perfectly as a member of the household staff of some sort. Our own Sir Guisarne more or less. :)

That's the idea! Dro'gan would rather be unobtrusive and visibly invisible.

=)

Although unfortunately I'm thinking he's a bit more like a cross of Lurch from the Addams family and Riff Raff from Rocky Horror.
=/

Just finished watching Record of Grancrest War on Netflix.

I have to say, I'm pretty picky about anime, but this one was pretty well done. Very into our vibe in this game too: It's only a couple of years old , but it really helped me get a good read on the kind of political game we are playing in here in Taldor.

Just finished watching Record of Grancrest War on Netflix.

I have to say, I'm pretty picky about anime, but this one was pretty well done. Very into our vibe in this game too: It's only a couple of years old , but it really helped me get a good read on the kind of political game we are playing in here in Taldor.

Thank you for the recommendation. I'll look into it, but considering my already long watchlist, I make no promises.

As a further clue regarding the sword, you may recall that Baroness Voinum is considered a local historian.
Thus, another possibility is consulting her for information.

So I've just suggested a play date. I've truly done it all in Pathfinder now. Since there's nothing left to achieve I suppose I should just retire and cherish the memories of my glorious career. :p

Have you gotten married yet?

Does de facto count or does it have to be legal?

Well. Dro'gan isn't ordained or anything, but Olivia could officiate I guess since she's a Paladin?

=)

Wait, are we talking about Okerra? I won't claim that certain things haven't crossed Amandine's mind, like, over and over. But not that... yet.

But that would be one heck of a Political maneuver. Wouldn't it? =)

To Amandine's way of thinking it would be one heck of a political straitjacket.

Dro'gan has ways of getting out of straight jackets...

Amandine WILL get better at combat y'all. When (if) she gets to level 4 Investigator she'll finally get Studied Target and Studied Strike.

Hey y'all, my IRL wife (Photinè) and I moved to GA mid November which accounted for the start of our absence; the move had us WAY busier than either of us expected, then around Christmas there began significant construction on our street that disrupted our internet connection for several months.

I'm glad to see that the game didn't die and I miss y'all but I am sorry to say goodbye to Greenly. If a space opens back up and Greenly didn't die fighting the Iron Lash or something, lmk and I'll gladly return. Until then, conquer Merratt ladies.

Hey y'all, my IRL wife (Photinè) and I moved to GA mid November which accounted for the start of our absence; the move had us WAY busier than either of us expected, then around Christmas there began significant construction on our street that disrupted our internet connection for several months.

I'm glad to see that the game didn't die and I miss y'all but I am sorry to say goodbye to Greenly. If a space opens back up and Greenly didn't die fighting the Iron Lash or something, lmk and I'll gladly return. Until then, conquer Merratt ladies.

I would certainly welcome Greenly back.

@Bartolo: Looks like I misread your post about healing? I thought you were asking if Amandine and Chana needed healing OR if Bartolo could use it instead. If Bartolo has extra healing to spare, sure Amandine would like some.

Greenly! Hey, good you hear from you! I'm glad you and Photine are well. I hope you're happy with the move. Would love to have you both back!

Oh! Sure, I was offering one of the CLW's to be used on either of you. I unfortunately only get two spells/day, the downside of being able to swing a hammer like that. I gave one to Chana already, although I think I can spare the second one for Amandine. It's definitely not beyond Bartolo to sit and enjoy his well earned wounds.

I'd also be happy to invest in a wand of Cure Light Wounds, which I feel might last longer here than in other campaigns.

EDIT: And here I forgot paladins had Lay on Hands... nevermind!