Kingmaker

Game Master Rackal28

Happy Holidays everyone!

Happy Holidays!

And yeah, I was rolling shockingly well for the Stag and no one else xD

Glad that shot missed in the end, I was worried I had killed one of my favorite characters xP

Happy holidays! Sorry I've been absent, and I'm glad for the light tricks on the Stag lord's shot.

Yeah, as a GM, keeping track of light is one of those things that I tend to forget if I'm not thinking about it. Nevertheless, it's good that lack of low-light/darkvision is working in our favor. I'd say for once, but Meneas is the only one who doesn't have either.

Wake us up! Signy smells a potential convert! :)

Erastil is lukewarm oatmeal. Cayden Cailean is hot egg and bacon on a flakey, melt in your mouth biscuit with a spicy Bloody Mary on the side.

We're about to!

In good news, I don't get the impression that he's an antipaladin, unless he's really good at lying.

Also, mmm, Bloody Mary...

Best comparison of gods ever Signy omg xD so savage

I'm just anticipating a scene like this between Akiros and Signy now.

Ha! Well I do have a fair amount of disdain for Erastil for being the second most boring deity after Abadar.

I'm not familiar with Hadestown so I hope I don't disappoint. Who's supposed to be who in your little adaptation?

Signy: Orpheus
Brental: Hermes
Akiros: Eurydice

I highly recommend Hadestown. I first heard some of the music back when I saw Anaïs Mitchell for the first time in 2012, and was thrilled when it made it to Broadway. I'm hoping to see it live at some point.

Darn! I was hoping it was Hades. Orpheus is alright though.

I've heard good things about Anaïs Mitchell and Hadestown, but I'm lazy about going to the theater. It's kind of embarrassing since Portland is a fairly good theater city.

Ah, I missed the link in your post. Dumb question.

Best comparison of gods ever Signy omg xD so savage

Ouch. :) Now I want to labour that metaphor just for more giggles. As far as breakfasts go, I wonder where Yuelral fits in. Maybe some sort of fun granola (kinda good for you, but not, like, in a boring way), and some colourful, hippie-chick tea, as befits an earthy girl with a thing for crystals? XD

Signy: Orpheus

Brental: Hermes
Akiros: Eurydice

I highly recommend Hadestown. I first heard some of the music back when I saw Anaïs Mitchell for the first time in 2012, and was thrilled when it made it to Broadway. I'm hoping to see it live at some point.

Oh gosh, don’t tempt me!

Darn it, now I’m wondering how I would cast all of us. I think Lina would probably like to play Persephone, but her better half would be better suited for that, so maybe a Fate? Along with Morof? Mages – especially enchantresses and illusionists – seem like they’d be interested in pulling a lot of strings.

Oh dear. And does that make Meneas, as our resident dangerous person one really doesn’t want to mess with, our Hades?

I just borrowed my local library copy of the Broadway cast recording it was pretty awesome. There are a few bits that I missed from the version I'm more familiar with, but that's just nitpicky, obsessive fangirling, and overall I very much prefer the Broadway version, at least to the extent I know it.

... unwilling to allow one of their number to go off alone with a potential threat...

I thought of that, but I decided that it was just that tiny bit more amusing to me if, as far as Lina knows, Signy keeps disappearing into the woods at night to get up to gods knows what while everyone's sleeping. At least this time there probably aren't weird plants involved. :)

<Eye Roll> "Yes Dad." Meneas is such a dad.

I'm rather proud of Signy's pitch. I managed to work in the title of a Nirvana song, a line from a Gin Blossoms song, and the title of a Battlestar Galactica episode. :p

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm sorry for the delays, everyone. Dealing with a move at the moment, which is being more of a bother than expected - two readers downsizing and having to deal with their libraries is a nightmare scenario, and our fridge just died, while the situation out in the world makes repair/replacement tricky, especially out in the boonies where I'm.

Hopefully things are settling down a bit! We got a new fridge yesterday, and are staring down the packing things into boxes with a bit more conviction.

So wait, what exactly is the plan? Are we going with the prisoner gambit?

I believe that's what you all have discussed, unless there are any objections?

I don't mind, but Meneas would object. If everyone's agreed OOC, I'd be happy for Meneas to grudgingly agree.

I'm seeing it as our best shot since it neither requires half our magic or half our HP just to get inside. It also allows us to start the fight while the bandits are still dispersed across the fort.

As for the prisoner-sneaker split, I think Signy +1 is best for sneaking. At night Signy can probably get in through the tunnel undetected. Morof seems to me the best +1 since he can use invisibility on himself to help on his stealth. Meneas has the problem of either having to separate from Veil so she's already inside or leaving her behind. Even if we had a crane to get her down to it, Veil won't fit through the tunnel.

Going with Signy +2 just doubles the chances of miserable stealth abilities all around mucking things up. Meneas going in with the captives also simplifies the story Akiros will have to tell. He's bringing in the known foes and doesn't have to explain anything running counter to expectations. I'd imagine he has poor bluffing skills.

The other option would be having Meneas show up with Veil and Vod at the gate after things are going inside and the bandits are distracted. It does have the extra complication of forcing the inside crew to make it to the gate to open it before the the whole party is in the fight though.

I mean, while she couldn't fight in the tunnel, she could probably walk through it - squeezing doesn't really affect out of combat, if I remember rightly. But yeah, getting her down into the tunnel would be tough, and there's no guarantee that it's not like, a ladder on the other end.

Signy and Brental have already used the tunnel, she even oiled the door hinges outside. There's no ladder on the other side. If you think about the fort as sitting on a mound this makes sense. But getting a horse lowered through a roughly 5' square entrance outside without being noticed? That ain't gonna happen.

Without going back to reread, the tunnel was described as tight and narrow. Signy and Brental weren't literally squeezing I don't think, but close to it.

Edit: Actually I did go back and look. The tunnel terminates inside at a door under the stairs going up to a tower.

Good luck with the move, Quennessaa! When my wife and I moved last summer, our respective libraries were probably about half of the weight in the truck.

Yeah, Brental is pretty committed to going in as a prisoner. I have a new spell plan (different than the ones I made up before) depending on how easy or difficult it is to get our weapons and armor back to us. My fantasy actually work better if it's harder to get his things back. I'm kind of excited to unveil it. Lina will join Brental, pretending to be the archer that took the pot shots.

Morof, Signy, and Vod will be infiltrating from outside, probably through said tunnel. (Vod can also breathe underwater if you want to try a partial aquatic approach.)

It's up to Meneas which team he wants to join, and where Veil is going. I think any of the three options is fine.

We're splitting the party! Rejoice, GM!

Hmmm, I still haven't heard from Morof... It's been almost two weeks since his last post.

I'll message him.

Meneas is inclined to ask someone to open the gate for him and Veil once they're in, but personally, I think that's impractical. I'd say... it's probably more believable if he's captured, much though he feels his mystique would suffer.

Not that he plans to let any of them get away to spread stories.

I'm here! Catching up!

Really sorry for my absence. I think things are starting to stabilize!

Yay! Welcome back Morof. I was starting to worry >.>'

Sorry again. Happy new year!

In the last weeks, I have moved and hosted family. There is still furniture to buy, but I think the worst is over.

But Meneas wasn't captured. He disguised himself as a prisoner. It's all about branding! He's daring, unconventional, and clever. There's nothing Meneas won't do to come out on top! Just let Signy tell the story and his mystique will be fine, even better than before! :p

Fair enough. xD

She won't utter a peep about the sulking. :p

Welcome back and continued best moving wishes!

I'm amusing myself at the moment by considering what our merry band would look like in 2nd edition. I propose the following thought exercise (assuming free archetype rules):

Brental: Druid (Animal Order) x Linguist or Marshall
Lina: Magus (Laughing Shadow) x Witch (Curse patron) or Poisoner
Meneas: Ranger (Precision edge) or Fighter x Cavalier
Morof: Wizard (Illusion school) x Herbalist/Alchemist or Cathartic Mage
Signy: Warpriest Cleric x Swashbuckler (Wit style) or Aldori Duelist

It's not perfect, but we could do a decent conversion.

Huh. Neat idea, and I think that sounds about right for Meneas.

I know what you're going through Lina. I'm terrible at culling books; I seem to keep everything forever.

Example: The United States and China by John King Fairbank. Copyright 1948. Fairbank was a prominent Harvard historian of China who wrote the book a a short history of China and policy prescription for how to deal with the (at the time) recent communist takeover. At the time it was published he was accused of being "soft on communism" and was denied a visa to visit Japan in 1949 due to possible communist sympathies. By the late 1960's he was accused of being an apologist for western imperialism.

Why do I have it? It was a garage sale find and impulse purchase.

Have I read it? Only a few pages. Will I ever read it? Almost certainly not.

Why do I keep it? Well, someday I might be writing a novel involving the U.S. and China during the middle of the 20th century, and I may need to understand a "centrist" view of the relationship between them at the time. If I get rid of it I'd never be able to find another copy. It could happen! You don't know!

There's no Inquisitor in 2e? The horror!

Hey, Meneas said they might have had some Trojen virus try to get on their computer from the roll20 map so.... we're just not gonna use that until I can figure out what's going on.

Well that's discouraging.

I checked a couple of places to see if anyone else was reporting the same thing, then loaded up a virtual machine to see what would happen. I did not get any kind of ping when I logged in, but that's still worrisome.

Hm, yeah, bad news indeed.

Ah! I think there are some gray areas in the plan that we're seeing in different ways. My understanding of how things are supposed to work is this:

1. "Prisoners" go in with Akiros and are confined to a room in a building at the rear of the fort. Later on, he brings them their stuff and they arm.

2. Sneakers enter the fort after dark and enter through the tunnel. They make their way to the room where the "prisoners" are confined to link up. Then the attack begins.

It seems you're thinking the attack will start immediately, without time for you to arm. I'm thinking you could have hours waiting before the attack begins.

We need some clarification on these points from Akiros I guess.

Actually, if it's possible for the prisoners to go in before morning (looks like I missed Akiros saying that's what he wants to do), it could speed things up and help out a lot. If the sneakers can use the arrival of the prisoners as a cover to go in while everyone is distracted, it would help greatly by making the stealth we need easier to match.

It also shortens the time inside since the trip from the tunnel door to the "prisoners" must be done when it's dark. Still, there should be time for rearming once inside whichever group Meneas is with.

My understanding is the same as Signy's. Brental can start the attack without his arms and armor, though, if he has about a minute and a half to prepare, which is why he put his items in the Bag of Holding for safekeeping.

See, I didn't think there would be much hang-time in how long before the deception was uncovered, honestly. To say nothing of the fact that if we do get uncovered before the plot is ready, things would be very bad.

But that is a much more reasonable sell, I suppose.

Maybe I'm overthinking all of this but I'd say the perfect time to start the attack would be to wait at least a half hour after the prisoners are tucked away inside to let everyone in the fort get relaxed and bored again. That's if that doesn't put us past sunrise. I think we want to start in the dark even if we don't finish in the dark.

I'm not sure the deception will be discovered before we're ready to start unless it happens immediately. If the prisoners just act sullen and depressed and keep quiet, they'll be put away out of sight by Akiros quickly enough. After that's done there isn't much that could blow it.

All four of the spellcasters will need at least an hour to prepare their spells. It's also still the middle of the night, so a little bit more shut-eye will be necessary for both Lina and Morof to get their requisite 8 hours. We do still have 4 potions of lesser restoration that we can pop to negate the fatigued condition, but those would be better used to heal ability damage that could still happen.

Also, yes swift girding. I have never seen that spell before, but it is delightful. I can just see Morof carrying all of our armor in the bag of holding, dumping it on the ground, and instantly suiting us all up.

Signy is a divine caster so she needs 8 hours, but it doesn't have to rest. Of course if you don't want her grumpy...

I don’t think Lina’s cast anything today, so she’s ready to go, more or less. And, fortunately, she’s currently got a shield up her sleeve, so even if she’s uncased from her armour… How serendipitous!

See, I didn't think there would be much hang-time in how long before the deception was uncovered, honestly. To say nothing of the fact that if we do get uncovered before the plot is ready, things would be very bad.

She’s not brilliant at prevarication and silliness yet, but she can try her scrap of Bluff to buy some time, if it comes to that. Looking ahead, if folks like Akiros think Lina’s annoying now, wait until she can get glibness running in a few levels. “She can’t … possibly be serious, can she?” :)

On a related note, I love the little details you’re sketching out for these bandits, Rackal! These guys are a lot of fun to hate already! And Akiros and Meneas squaring off to see who can pull off the better grimdark Bruce-Wayne-iness (though, of course, Meneas has his fey side) is delightful. Or whoever. I’m drawing a bit of a blank for appropriate pop-culture references.

I also love the personalities of the bandits! This has been a lot of fun.

Also, to be fair, we probably did get a relatively early start at sleep if Signy waited until nightfall to commence her attack. That didn't take overly long; we had some tactical discussion and then called it.

So it depends on Rackal's call, but if we're commencing the assault before dawn (after some initial prep time), then we may still have time to manage rest and spell prep.

Also, Signy, I don't think you need 8 hours. I can't find anything in the CRB (https://www.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?Name=Preparing%20Divine%20Spells&Cate gory=Divine%20Spells) or the Inquisitor's rule set to suggest that divine casters need more than the hour of prep.

"A divine spellcaster chooses and prepares spells ahead of time, but unlike a wizard, does not require a period of rest to prepare spells. Instead, the character chooses a particular time of day to pray and receive spells."

Wrong thread, Morof. :P