Just popping in to say that I'm dealing with a head cold, so I won't be making any updates until I'm less fog-headed.
Hecate's 21 is enough to either turn the tattoo into an accidental-looking scar OR incorporate it into a simple, similar design. The runic F could turn into an A or R, for example.
I'm heading back to bed now. Keep up the good discussion/planning. It's tough to be evil in a LG world, but you're doing a nice job. :-) Next time I post, I'll have some Knowledge results for Hecate.
Gets some sleep. You need the rest XD
@Robin: the nun suggestion (with implied vow of chastity) was a joke; sorry if that wasn't clear.
And I'd sort of assumed that Grumblejack isn't coming: for an infiltration/sabotage mission, he stands out like... well, like an ogre ^_^
Get well soon, YBD, and lead us on to more evil things!
Get well soon, YBD.
@Grumble: Well, he can at least accompany us to the Bugbears, if not to the captains untimely death.
@Nun: I took it quite serious, in that it's a reasonable explanation for not talking.
If they somehow figure out a mute asmodean is burning down stuff, having a reason not to talk may be valuable - plus a nun may easily attach herself to some other women for travel, not feeling save, alone.
Robin wouldn't be keen on "being a nun"(and not even primarily because of chastity), but I think it would be a valuable backup-ID.
So OOC, I would request that Hecate creates one, keeping it secret for now. It may have been a joke idea, but it's one that may come in handy.
Ok, so Grumblejack comes with us, but we leave him with the bugbears.
Primary ID: Hecate as inquisitor, Robin and Saranda as clerics.
Backup IDs: Hecate & Robin as commoners (possibly siblings*) and Saranda as minor nobility - the fact we're not in common is a feature, not a bug. It means we won't all be associated in case one of us gets caught.
*I really, really don't want to be in for something there >_<
Other backup ID = Robin as nun, but she doesn't know about it right now.
Other thoughts/suggestions?
Aye, I think Grumble could learn something from the most brilliant, gifted and murderous bugbear of his generation.
They ought to get along just fine...i believe their approach to dealing with Talinguard-Problems is quite compatible.
He can team up with them, then rejoin us when the mission is done.
@ID's: each having independent ID's may make sense. But in cases where we need to stick together, or are trying to get into places we are not supposed to be, it's easier to go as a group and bluff once, than go separate and bluff three times.
Plus if an inquisitor, a nun, and a noble daughter ALL need access to the armory within 1 or 2 hours of time, it may raise a few more eyebrows than if an inquisitor with her squire and a cleric accompanying her needs access.
Know what I mean?
The separate ID's are great for not drawing attention...but by the time we need to get things done, or need to infiltrate together, we'll want to stick to ID's that bond us.
E.g. if I'm an idiot, and you're my caretaker-sister, maybe Saranda is our Cousin and we're travelling to our uncle together, who is willing to take me in, so that Hecate can live her own life, instead of taking care of her retarted sister, after our parents died.
We have to travel with our cousin so someone is always awake and keeping an eye on me, otherwise I could walk of and do something stupid.
Maybe Saranda is the daughter of a minor noble in that case, which also explains why he can afford to take in a girl that is effectively a full-time-job.
That kind of thing, which places us all together, makes sense that we stay in one room(so we can plot), you both can "share" responsibility, with Saranda not doing as good a job, not being used to it(allowing me to wander off and listen in on people)...maybe she would even want Robin to get lost, because she's not fond of having a retard sister all of a sudden, just to let her cousin enjoy life.
Maybe with the cleric/oracle, rather than inquisitor(which would assume arms and armor, which I think would give you spell failure?), you could be the healer/apothecary, and Saranda is our guide?
And then a third set of nun/inquisitor/squire, if we need to make a getaway/escape(and if you're out of spells, spell failure won't mean much to either of you. Funnily, Robin would be the one to still not wear armor, despite being the one who technically COULD wear full plate and still cast.)
That's my suggestion, at least, I'm open for others, and fine with individual "roles", but I do want complete "sets" that allow us to go to places together, not split up.
That all makes sense, you've clearly put more thought into it than I have. Let's go with that.
Hey, it was your ideas, credit where credit is due.
I just was invested into the idea of using infiltration tactics from when I created Robin, so I may have pondered once or twice how it could work out as a team. *shrug*
Watch us plot things out and then only work with one set of ID's for the whole time we're there ;)
(Plus, if you are both taking care of Robin, you have an option of handing me over to Saranda and flee, if you want ;) )
OK, imma post something in-character along those lines.
(Plus, if you are both taking care of Robin, you have an option of handing me over to Saranda and flee, if you want ;) )
*files away for future reference*
:P
hehe.
no need to file that away.
Also, you are still my sister, and if Saranda is busy elsewhere, you are stuck.
This "fake exit" simply allows me to push Hecate farther than I would otherwise - *friendly grin*
But in all seriousness, I think it'll work out nicely(and if things go in a direction...any direction, really, that you'd rather avoid, you can always drop a note in discussion).
Heh. I'm fairly relaxed about stuff (generally). I'm curious to see what you have in mind...
Hecate would rather not know, of course, but it's a PC's lot to suffer :-)
Ah, Robin is quite impulsive. I have no idea yet what she'll have in mind. ^_^
Also, just realized that sign language may be doubly helpful. Because we could probably communicate with a few "key gestures" we agree on beforehnd without people catching on.
I'm talking really simple gestures here that could fit into normal body language as well. But if we know, we may be observant enough to make sense of each other, even with others around us, unable to catch on.
It's a GM call, of course, but I was thinking something like a "Bluff to transmit secret message"-thing, where it's almost impossible to intercept(unless they know the language), and hard to catch on THAT information is being transmitted at all...as per, unless we draw attention, communicate by taking 10 with no real chance of being discovered, as long as we keep the message very short.(1-3 words) (somewhat like thieves/cutpurse sign language).
I'm game for that. I'll post later l. PT still hurts.
I'm enjoying this scene quite a bit. ;-)
I understand; it's very Lawful Evil, to want others to suffer along with you. Good stuff :-)
YBD: I think we're ready to move on - glad we're entertaining you! I look forward to seeing what I got on those knowledge rolls.
Information dump complete. :-) I'll wait for confirmation that you've seen it before I advance gameplay.
Thanks, I'm good to continue.
I made a simple loot tracker and linked it under the map. It'll be your responsibility to keep up with it, though. Any loot that you take for yourself should be listed in your individual profile. That way, whatever's in the tracker can be considered a "party fund." Or not. What you do with your ill-gotten gains is entirely your concern. ;-)
Thanks a lot, much appreciated!
That's great, I'll see if I have time today to get it up to date. Thanks YBD!
Updated, I think - I've put a column in showing where in the gameplay thread the loot was listed, for future reference.
We have a huge amount of unsold stuff; hopefully we can offload it somewhere (ideally somewhere they won't look too closely at the markings on the armour and shields!).
In the meantime we each have 428.67 gp of actual cold, hard cash - this is on top of the stuff the Cardinal gave us.
Thanks again for setting it up, YBD - my google-fu skills are lacking.
Thanks a lot, Hecate. I tried to "upgrade" it a bit.
I would also suggest individual/claimed loot to not be listed with the other things...
I further suggest a formula of
(Disposable Cash+(Hecate Loot+Robin Loot+Saranda Loot)/3-Personal Loot)/3
to calculate personal pocket money.
(It sums up, across all 3, to (Disposable Cash*3+(Hecate loot+Robin Loot+Saranda Loot)*3/3 - (Hecate Loot+Robin Loot+Saranda Loot))/3, or Disposable Cash/3.
Alas, it is weighted to give more spending money to those who have claimed less, while not usually leaving people "dry" completely. If we manage to get someone into "negative", then that person needs to be indepted to someone else.
(e.g. Robin would write "Debt Hecate -250" on her personal loot, and Hecate "Debt Robin 250" on hers, effectively transferring funds - it sounds complicated but it's actually rather simple and I'll gladly handle it if it comes up.)
Also, that Ring is pretty. Did I mention I'm vain?
I'm about to make your day even better. ;-)
Over the course of your training month, you can safely dispose of everything except the armor/shields. That should bump up your available wealth by quite a bit.
Yay.
I say we keep the potions, the holy symbol, the fine whiskey and the masterwork lute?
Everything else can go, in my opinion.
Do we know WHY the bugbears are receiving weapon shipments?
Are they lacking skill in forging weapons and armor?
Or raw materials to do so with high quality?
If the latter, The Fire-Axe may be very thankful for some Mithral.
(Or we could try and get them to outfit Grumble with it)...generally it seems wasteful to sell it but no strong feelings there.
You haven't been told the reason. Such things are not for mere underlings to know. ;-)
In that case I'd tend to keeping the mithral for now - I think the bugbears may be happier about it than we about 1000 GP party fund.
Even on the off-chance that we end up gifting it to Sakkarot over a bottle of good whiskey(which we also brought), once they start rampaging, burning down and massacer-ing the general population beyond the watch-wall, it may be good if someone high up in their command chain remembers to make sure we're not among those ravaged by hordes of frenzied bugbears on the warpath.
Thanks, YBD! That's really helpful.
Agree on keeping potions, symbol, whisky, lute and mithral. I see Robin is taking the ring. I've marked the other stuff (apart from the armour/shields) as "sold" and transferred the loot into the "Cash" column.
Robin: I don't quite understand the formula. With everything sold, Saranda and I have 845.72 in cash, while you have 1100 gp of stuff as well as 479.05 of cash. That doesn't look like it can be right to me. Can you re-check?
@Hecate: It's not an "absolute distribution", it's a "weighted distribution".
We can do absolute as well, if you want. Currently, it's more set as a "rubberband"-type effect, rather than a hard cutoff.
Try, for example, adding something worth 1000 in your slot, too, and reducing blackerlys loot by 1000, and see how it changes.
It's meant as a guideline more than a harsh restriction, as we would usually aim to pool our resources to get people outfitted better. But either is fine with me.
I'm find with anything you guys come up with.
I prefer the rubber band, but regardless, I added an "absolute" tracker as well. It even reduced your available cash accordingly to prevent taking negative values into account. That way, you both get the amount stated, and 15 more beyond that before we're on equal footing.
The reason I don't like THIS variant, btw, is that as soon as there is a slight discrepancy in equipment value, and little spending cash available, things kind of break by people going into negative absolutes.
This encourages people to keep spending money on hand, and while SOME may be reasonable, I am not very fond of that kind of handling things.
Up to you, though, Hecate...you took the work of filling stuff in, so you get to decide how we handle distribution.(because I'm fine with either, and Saranda too)
No, that's fine: now you've explained it, I can see what you were doing and it's a really good idea. Let's stick with the 'rubber band' approach. Thanks for doing the formulas.
Last chance to buy/sell stuff before the Frosthamar casts off. If you're taking advantage of the opportunity, let me know what you're getting. If you're not interested, let me know you're ready to move on. Grumblejack will be sailing with you, by the way, so no need to worry about the sailors getting handsey. ;-)
Think I'm ok; I have bedroll/blanket etc already.
All aboard! Look shipshape, you lubbers!
*trips over gangplank*
Just waiting for confirmation from Robin/Saranda. :-)
Oh, can we place personal effects on the ship? How much is a barrel of lamp oil? You know, for their final voyage complete with Viking burial?
*smiles*
More seriously: I think I'm ready. I wanted to take the opportunity to look through mundane equipment again, to cover for any necessities that may come up...but realistically, that would only have been to not place that burden on Hecate's shoulders alone, because as a player I like to be prepared...but it would hardly be very much in-character.
Robin would not REALLY plan ahead. She's more of an...impulsive problem-solver.
So, good to go.
That's fine, and very in-keeping with Robin's character - but if you (OOC) think of anything we might need then do let me know; I (sadly) don't have Int 20... :-)
Hehe, that's why I wanted to look over it...if I had taken note of anything, I would have mentioned it in discussion. Alas, work was busy and I was busy making a character for Zeitgeist :)
So yeah, I'll not take it easy simply because Robin would ;) But I simply did not manage to check...so it's fine, I THINK we are ready...and if we plan on infiltrating, we may get to shop there, too...and we don't know what will happen during the journey, anyway ^_^
I'm just glad I have you and Saranda with me.
(and Grumblejack, of course).
I'm just glad I have you and Saranda with me.
(and Grumblejack, of course).
Ditto - you'll need to explain to Hecate on occasion how life/the world actually works ;-)
Ready and cant wait to cause mayhem. XD
Is Grumble's race generally "evil" or criminal?
We took him with us from a prison, but I figured if their whole race was outlawed, there would have been none of his kind to put in prison in the first place.
Unless Grumblejack is a flat "giveaway" we could pass him off as a convert/bodyguard...the dear captain can't expect 3 ladies of the faith to travel on their mission without any kind of protection? And, honestly, those sailors are rather unsavory sorts who would not inspire much confidence if our fate was to be placed in their hands...
In general: I'm with you, test our documents, see if we can talk our way out. Not only can we test our documents, but the patrol ship won't be missed, either...unless the bugbears are skilled pirates, a ship going missing may cause questions to be asked?
Or is another faction involved, conducting piracy in the region and making patrols necessary in the first place?
With the rebuild, currently, my destructive blast is short-ranged. I WANT to get long range on it, but it seemed more important to get a tanky companion for those cases where battle is unavoidable.
So, 35 feet, I'm afraid. Rather than sails, I may be better of blasting their boarding group when they close in, during a surprise round.
Ogres are uniformly evil. Like the other monstrous races, they've been almost entirely eradicated from civilized areas and are considered "kill on sight." The Savage North, of course, is a different story.
Ok, so technically we have no reason to have him on board, and with a kill-on-sight basis, combat will be unavoidable?
Because from the earlier question about validity of a girl-cave, I assume it's also not really possible to hide him - so the most effective handling would probably be to hope for a surprise round?
Or could a "savage north"-captain have one as a crewmember to make loading and unloading much simpler?
I know Hecate probably needs a knowledge-check, but we can still throw some ideas around to check their validity...
I'm willing to try and bluff, but having some "setting knowledge" in-character could help make a decision, especially if Hecate adds some more detailed information ;)
Could always say were using him as a study for the church. Such a creature sailing back north for study purposes and release it. It's make no sense to kill such a possible rare find. Also, we may able to avoid them inspecting cargo if we manage to pull a bluff or two that we are in the church.
Also won't be able to post until much later today.
My Bluff modifier is the same as Saranda's: +9 (Robin's is higher, but she can't speak).
I'd imagine that the presence of an ogre is a serious negative to whether our lie is believable or not - plus, we don't know if our documents are any good.
OK, let's try the parley option. That will at least get them close enough for Robin to blast the sails if anything goes wrong. We absolutely CANNOT have them escaping to report on us.
Aye, I can't speak. But I could pretend that Mitra has gifted me with the ability to speak directly with people of the faith, so that the secrets of my mission are not heard by wrong people's ears. I'd say you give it a try, and if it seems to go downhill, I can try to salvage the situation...if that still goes wrong, I'll try and get a surprise-round.
With my Eldritch Heritage, my Bluff is +18.
(The lie is impossible –20...if he is not trained in sense motive, I could tell him I'm his long-lost kid sister he grew up with that a nasty mage made him forget about, with a good roll...(that's not what I want to tell him, just saying that even unlikely stuff could well sound reasonable...))
Oh, also, my small snake-companion will be called and take refuge with the boxes, below a blanket/sail or the like. Maintaining via concentration until they close in.
Heh. Ok, what about pretending Grumblejack is tied up? We could say that he's our prisoner, that we're escorting. We're not at liberty to say where - I'm an Inquisitor, after all. I'm not going to be questioned by some uppity captain!
Common Knowledge: nobody goes to the Savage North. It's a desolate wasteland filled with monsters. There are no civilized people there. To venture beyond the Watch Wall, you have to either be touched in the head of up to no good. As for Ogres, they're impossibly strong and possess an animal intelligence. They also eat people. If you see one, run and hide until the Knights can kill it.
I considered that, but I didn't bring along Ogre-sized Manacles. If you bring it up in-game, we could probably have Saranda or Robin borrow the headband to him, make him dress up like a bondage sla....prisoner.
But only rope would probably not seem very realistic...i'd rather pretend he's the captains "loading crane" he keeps around for heavy labor and to scare of pirates, keeping him save from being killed on sight, in turn.
@YBD: Well, good thing Asmod....Mitra touched me in the head, then! Because that's where we are headed. The brave Sir Balin himself gave us a holy mission of the faith, to be a shield for Talingarde....
OK, I'm going to try and bluff this out. Robin, when it all goes wrong, remember to burn their sails first. They must NOT be allowed to get away from us.