ZEITGEIST (Inactive)

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

Be safe!

While a gunshot will definitely get everyone's attention it does run the risk of a panic which we'd then be responsible if people get trampled in the chaos.

Anything I do will be blatantly supernatural in nature, which might spook them into shutting up but again runs the risk of a panic.

How about we start singing the national anthem? In the movies it usually works...
Anyway, the thing to do is separate the rabble-rousers from the crowd, so I think we should avoid debating them in public, so that they may not spread their ideas. We probably have the authority to perform an arrest, but we should synchronize ourselves: four one of us taking out the dockets in one swoop while the others distract the crowd (perhaps me and Corynne, the most charismatic).
Otherwise we might take the direct way of facing them in open Diplomacy/Intimidate/fistfight, to try and belittle them in front of the crowd.
"Let's solve this like men." "But you're a woman."
We can also get the assistance of a soldier or a policeman with us in a handful of seconds, thanks to the Prestige 2 we have with Risur. Final option I can think of, I have a handful of coins just waiting to be thrown in the crowd for distraction, or we may bribe the agitators to get out.

I'm with the take down. Half the people seeing us here are expecting us to eliminate any troublemakers.

Shouldn't we at least try asking them to leave peacefully? Baring steel in the middle of a large crowd shortly before the King arrives seems like it could end very poorly.

They're looking to cause a commotion, I'm pretty sure that asking ain't gonna solve anything.
--
"I thought you were studying at the Battalion, princess, not the Love and Rainbows Academy of Friendship." scoffs Alice between her teeth.
Dear me, Alice can be unpleasant sometimes. By the way, what are the rules about swearwords? None/some/all?

I agree with Alice. If someone wants to start a fight, they aren't going to leave peacefully. Best thing to do is take them out quickly and efficiently, before they can spread their trouble.

If nothing else, there is an outstanding warrant for the arrest of Coulton. if Dafton objects, he can be arrested, too. (Breach of the peace, inciting a riot, etc.) Take them away from the crowd, if necessary they can be released later, though if there is a serious charge against them, they should not be.

If it comes to blows, it comes to blows. We already have grounds for holding several of them, after all. Per the second spoiler post after the successful "good cop, bad cop", we could arrest and hold Mercliffe and Iscalio and for public intoxication.

Alright, so it looks like we have a majority in favor of arresting them and escorting them away as peacefully as possible. I believe that the most martial ones (me, Ell, Az and Jeb) should proceed to the arrest proper, while Corynne and Miselle keep an eye on the crowd. If push comes to shove, we all know how to deal nonlethal damage.
Otherwise, Jeb is right now the best at Diplomacy if we need to placate the crowd, because of his Inspiration ability, so maybe Corynne could telekinetically lift someone in the air.

...we all know how to do nonlethal damage.

Er... um... *blushes furiously*.

Alice Kildare wrote:

...we all know how to do nonlethal damage.

Er... um... *blushes furiously*.

Same situation here. I have a better chance to hit by taking the standard -4 penalty than using a bludgeoning weapon. However, if you have the standard Finesse (I think you forgot to write it on your sheet) you can apply it to all light weapons, including cestuses and brass knuckles. Nevermind, just checked and you aren't proficient, we are too lethal for our own good.

I also have a related GM question. Swashbuckler Finesse is restricted to light and one-handed piercing melee weapons. The morningstar is both piercing and bludgeoning. Does it mean I could use it for both Finesse and Bludgeoner? RAW seems to suggest it, but it feels slightly cheesy.

Well, this campaign really wants us to be non-lethal, and when I asked about the Unreasonably Big Gun I'm using (which of course does Bludgeoning and Piercing) and how I would theme doing non-lethal with it (I'm using rocksalt crystal ammo...yes, I know it doesn't actually work like that) he was fine with it.

Quick check-in as we still have power. Corynne won't be lifting anyone for a while. CL 7 for a Medium object/creature of I recall correctly. Swashbucklers can use Finesse and Bludgeoner with a morningstar, though. RAW is weird like that.

However I can have a ghost perform a standard action once per combat and they are considered Ghost touch, so that grapple, disarm. Also if I start hurling small objects at people can I apply bludgeoner?

"Once per combat, as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, you conjure forth a spirit from a creature that died within the last five minutes and within three miles of your current location. The spirit appears in a space you choose within 25 ft. of you, and performs a standard action of your choice. Any attack it makes count as having the ghost touch weapon property."

In a city this big with a population this dense someone dies in an alley regularly.

Well, this campaign really wants us to be non-lethal, and when I asked about the Unreasonably Big Gun I'm using (which of course does Bludgeoning and Piercing) and how I would theme doing non-lethal with it (I'm using rocksalt crystal ammo...yes, I know it doesn't actually work like that) he was fine with it.

Rocksalt shotgun is awesome.

Hmmm, I hadn't noticed that bludgeoner needs a bludgeoning weapon. Guess I'd better get myself a club or somesuch.

Or we could just use our hands and grappling, unless someone draws a weapon. Drawing a weapon implies the intent to use lethal force (even if we don't do that), I'm not sure that's the message we want to send to the crowd unless they see we are drawn upon.

I guess we should have all bought some truncheons. My problem is that without finesse (and that means piercing) I am quite bad because of my low strength.
Well, we may lose prestige with Flint, but our duty is to King and Country. Hopefully we will demoralize or frighten them enough to prevent a brawl.

It's kind of the only reason I bothered carrying a melee weapon, though once we're higher I can use bludgeoner with people.

Well, I'm still alive. Didn't even lose power. :-)

Bludgeoner works with thrown rocks and such. Basically, if your attack deals bludgeoning damage, you can make it nonlethal without a penalty. I'm pretty flexible. :-)

And for all of the law enforcement officials who forgot to get saps, tsk tsk. *shakes head disapprovingly*

It's no problem; fists deal bludgeoning damage, and I always carry my fist with me. Also, I can pick up some handy item and use it as a club

And for all of the law enforcement officials who forgot to get saps, tsk tsk. *shakes head disapprovingly*

I thought about it, but my rapier has a +6 to hit, then non-lethally it would have a +2 to hit, while a sap would have a +0 (low strength yeah)... Just didn't consider the psychological effect of stabbing someone non-lethally. Oh well, I still have my cestus.

As things appear to be heading toward combat, I'll put up an editable map in the campaign header.

EDIT: Map is up. Corynne's avatar link has a bunch of pictures, so I took my best guess. Jeb didn't have a picture in his profile, so I used his Paizo avatar. Feel free to change the pics if you have a better one. :-)

The dark areas at the top/bottom of the map are buildings. There's also a crowd present, but they'll back off to give you room to fight if/when things get violent. Miselle's automaton is not present, as it's currently being used to scan the crowd for individuals matching the threat profile.

If I started speaking, would they listen to me for a minute? If so, I could try to Intimidate them to influence their attitude.

Related: will the Signature Skill feat be available?

Signature Skill is only available for Rogues.

Regarding attitude influencing: they're literally seconds away from swinging at you. The only reason I haven't rolled initiative is because you have the option of walking away. If you try talking, they WILL attack.

Hopefully Az and Corynne will have a chance to see why they're getting flagged down before the fighting starts.

Posting in a moment. And the image is the right one.

Have to hand it to Coulton, he is brave. Having a clearly unhinged woman in uniform screaming at me would make me back down before you could say "withdraw"

Yeah but he knows that in a public setting we're going to come off looking like jack booted thugs. Also with everyone's attention drawn to the shouting and screaming the majority of witnesses will look at it as we struck first.

TBH, the encounter's set up to make a violent outcome a near certainty. Although Alice is certainly helping it along. ;-) I think we found the hotheaded cop. XD

Shouting, drawing weapons, rambling about the war, I fear that I'm becoming Walter from The Big Lebowski. However, right now I have this scene in mind.

"Did she use three panache points or only two?" Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a rapier, the most powerful one-handed weapon in the world and would pierce your head clean through, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?

I don't think that we have any grounds to arrest Dafton, we should release him and hope this does not sully our reputation.

Now you're worried about our reputation?

Hey, spooky, didn't see you getting toe to toe with the deckers or getting your arm cut! And what should we have done, let them insult us and look like pansies?

When I get involved you don't see "me" do anything. Weird $#!+ just happens.lol

Now, Now ladies; let's not fight among ourselves.

Would I see Grimsley now, or has he disappeared in the crowd?

He's still close by, so you can get to him pretty easily.

OK. By the way, I'd like to tell all of you that, if you don't like Alice's actions and behaviour, you are free to tell me. I'm trying to act in character as much as possible, and she's ill-tempered, quick to action and prone to take charge. I understand that this may prove unpleasant, this is one of my first campaigns, so I'm still trying to fine-tune how much I should push and how much I should slack. I welcome any kind of feedback and I am ready to tone down some aspects and dial up others, I don't want to hog the spotlight or steal the scene to anyone.

Don't worry, Miselle will have no problems calling her out on anything she does wrong.

I think of her as being like Riggs from Lethal Weapon. Might be effective but not gonna make a ton of friends anytime soon. The movie, Mel Gibson version though.

I'm finding the new TV version a lot more likeable and easy to relate to.

And no stranger to proper law enforcement procedure, if Corynne thinks she's crossed the like she'll let her know.

All right, I just don't want anyone to enjoy the game less because of me.

Miselle will have no problems calling her out on anything she does wrong.

Oh, there would be sparks.

Since we have Prestige 2 with Risur, we could call in a favor to get four officers or soldiers as backup in a few hours, earlier with Diplomacy or Intimidate. Do we want to have someone ready in case things go pear-shaped?

That's why I mentioned the plainclothes officers. ;-)

So, in case of emergency we could bark them orders, right?
I'm running in my mind a million ways things could go wrong, possibly even forcing us to requisition the Audacious.

Precisely. :-) Zeitgeist is really good at predicting possible PC actions and usually will have resources available if you make a point to look for them.

Miselle is a mechanist. Ellena's is studying at the military academy. I was in the Navy. We need someone to pick up Craft(clothing) and we can do Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor.

Jeb can do thinker, is that close enough?

Hah, yeah.

Sorry for the slowness of my replies. Sickness and work have left me with little energy to do anything but sleep. I literally just took a 5 hour nap. I have the next three days off though, so with a little luck I'll start to recover.

Hope you feel better soon.