Yeah, our characters have worked together before but us players are still learning to work together :)
In social situations I'd consider the person with the highest modifier the "primary" roller for a skill and everyone else that rolls as aiding another. For Diplomacy that would be Noctifer.
In general I'm not going to punish low-charisma characters for talking. This part of the module is investigative and people who don't talk won't have much to do for a lot of it. So even if there's some random situation where Ussaile is the only one that talks and a Diplomacy roll is required, I'm not going to say "Gotcha! Your -1 Diplomacy is the roll that counts!" Instead I'd say something like, "Okay, this is going to require a roll. Noctifer, you haven't said anything yet, mind jumping in?"
So now you all have a better idea of what's going on. Anya is going to want to meet with you so I can fast-forward to that meeting whenever you're ready. (Assuming your characters are willing to walk into a plague-ridden town, which I hope they are. If not I'm going to have to do a lot of very fast improvising.)
If you don't want to meet with Anya right away you can also ask the guards more questions, wander around the perimeter of town to see if you find anything interesting, or surprise me.
Investigation progress
*Anya (daughter of our client) is - by all accounts - fine and still alive
*There's a plague in town, origin unknown
*town is in quarantine
*people are scared, and blaming the local fetchlings (charmingly referred to as "shades")
*The Baron has recently fired his fetchling servants, for reasons unknown
Anything else I've missed?
EDIT - Jassminder can walk into the town without fear of infection: paladin.
I'd add:
*Bonfires surrounding the town for unknown reasons
*The Baron was acting strange long before firing the fetchlings, also for unknown reasons
That should cover what you've learned so far.
Oh yes, thanks! I've edited my game post to ask about the fires :)
If you want you might add these items to the list although they might not be important or become part of another aspect of the investigation:
- Who is the Baron meeting with?
- What/who is giving the Baron the idea that fetchlings are in a "nefarious plot" against him?
- The town is sealed off but why wouldn't the messenger just have the guards (or a servant) bring him Anya's letters to Fabia?
- Does Baron Rex Dentho have any holdings, agents, interests, etc. in this area? He's the guy who was going to marry Anya before Stepan.
- The status of the fetchlings both fired from the manor and otherwise especially Renza, a maidservant Anya was quite fond of.
Yep, throw them into the mix
- The town is sealed off but why wouldn't the messenger just have the guards (or a servant) bring him Anya's letters to Fabia?
The answer is probably here:
”’Bout that, yeah,” his wife agrees. ”Last fella I saw coming from that direction was Henri, the one that usually delivers the post. Instead of stopping by here he headed south towards Pangolais and I ain’t seen him since. Doubt he’ll come back. Karpad’s a s*@#hole of a town if you ask me. Been there once and couldn’t wait to leave. There’s almost as many shades as people lurking around…er, no offense meant to you sir.” She bobs her head at Marcus.
The Postman saw the plague and just noped out of there, and never looked back.
Xanther found the relevant paragraph :)
FYI please don't take this pause as some sort of hint that you shouldn't give Anya the letter. I just figured I'd give you all a chance to take in the scene while I write up the Text Wall of Plot Exposition.
- The town is sealed off but why wouldn't the messenger just have the guards (or a servant) bring him Anya's letters to Fabia?The answer is probably here:
”’Bout that, yeah,” his wife agrees. ”Last fella I saw coming from that direction was Henri, the one that usually delivers the post. Instead of stopping by here he headed south towards Pangolais and I ain’t seen him since. Doubt he’ll come back. Karpad’s a s#%*hole of a town if you ask me. Been there once and couldn’t wait to leave. There’s almost as many shades as people lurking around…er, no offense meant to you sir.” She bobs her head at Marcus.The Postman saw the plague and just noped out of there, and never looked back.
It's what seems to be the case but it never hurts to find out.
I can't get a post up, but if we do split up, I think Ussaile should travel with Marcus only because she's human and may calm folks down versus Marcus + a Tiefling or Half-Elf.
I agree with that. Also, if splitting up is going to give you a headache, GM, feel free to say so and we'll stick together - I don't want to make things more difficult than they need to be :)
I wouldn't recommend it. Most of this part of the module is safe(ish), but there are a couple combats that could prove deadly if a lone PC stumbled into them.
Understood. If we can't investigate everything at once, what's our first priority?
I'd say we start with where we are, and then move outwards.
Which is to say, start with the Baron Manor we're in, and the people in it.
After that, move on to Kayalhi which is just down the road, according to the map.
Then cross the bridge over the the Town Watch and the Temple.
Works for me!
So the general plan is to track down Captain Groy. Do people want to head straight for the town watch or follow Nocfifer’s suggestion of going to the temple first and trying to bring Miklos along?
Thinking aloud here, but if we do grab the Cleric, we have to be careful about not using class features which give away our... good-ishness
Jassminder has an aura of LG, not much she can do about that - undetectable alignment is a 2nd level spell for paladins so it's out of reach for her.
Jassminder has run around Nidal long enough to know that her aura isn’t likely to be a problem. Small-town clerics aren’t going to waste time preparing Detect Good unless you’ve already given them a reason to be suspicious. Even if Miklos is actually an inquisitor and gets Detect Alignment at will, given the state Karpad’s in he’s unlikely to look gift adventurers in the mouth.
And if all else fails, we can beat him into submission.
:)
Hello,
I'm posting this to all of my active games that I have been in a car accident and injured my right arm – unfortunately I'm right-handed. The hospital had difficulty processing the X-rays so they couldn't "see" a fracture and they think it's a sprain. By the way something is popping/grinding in my shoulder, they're full of BS. For any games just starting if the GM wishes to remove me I won't object. I hope to be able to type (like I am now) but I don't know how my arm will feel going forward.
My goal is to still read and post but probably much shorter and any investigative posts, questions, etc. will have to be handled by other players. If the GM wishes to keep my PC in the game feel free to post my combat and skill checks with the appropriate modifiers. The archer will shoot from range, the cleric heals, etc.
I hope to post again soon. :)
Shadow Dragon
I'm sorry to hear about your accident. Hopefully your shoulder gets feeling better soon.
Noctifer is definitely still in this game. Post when you're feeling up to it and don't worry about it if you aren't.
@Noctifer/SD - that sounds horrible, I'm sorry to hear it. Look after yourself and I hope you get the medical care you need.
Get well soon.
Also, do we have your permission to bot Noctifer?
Get well soon.
Also, do we have your permission to bot Noctifer?
Hah that happens when I'm actually running my PCs!
The paranoid rambling reminds you of a memorable encounter you once had with an amber ooze. A companion ingested it without realizing and grew more irritable and suspicious every day. By the time you realized what had happened and arranged for a cleric to remove the amber ooze from his body, he was convinced that you were trying to kill him. You had to knock him unconscious to get him to submit to the procedure.
heheheh - that rules out Ussaile, so let the dice decide
Xanther it is then :)
I'm in the middle of something else right now but I'll get a post up later on.
"You never seem to get sick Jessminder, see what's going on."
I don't know if that's just a typo on your part, but it's jAssminder, not jEssminder.
It was a typo. I teach a student named Jesminder.
d3 Xanther it is then :)
The dice are mocking me. Picking the one PC who actually has Purify Food and Drink.
I don't know if that's just a typo on your part, but it's jAssminder, not jEssminder.
There is an Ass joke in here somewhere, but I'm too tired to grok it.
d3 Xanther it is then :)The dice are mocking me. Picking the one PC who actually has Purify Food and Drink.
I don't know if that's just a typo on your part, but it's jAssminder, not jEssminder.There is an Ass joke in here somewhere, but I'm too tired to grok it.
Maybe that's why you learnt it lol.
I wanted some in-character justification for letting Jassminder know that this disease causes Charisma damage. Congratulations Xanther on being the (un)lucky winner of the resulting Noodle Incident prize!
Remember when I said I would warn people in advance if social situations required rolls? Yeah, that time has arrived.
You have two problems here: Captain Lucian Groy and the mob. Both will need either to be talked down or fought in order for the fetchling to get out of this square alive.
Here’s how talking will work. Each “round” you’ll have to decide two things: whether to use Diplomacy or Intimidate, and whether you’re trying to influence Captain Groy or the crowd. Whatever you decide it will be a group action with one primary roller (Noctifer for Diplomacy, Ussaile for Intimidate) and everyone else Aiding. There will be no penalty for failed Aid attempts.
Having Miklos along grants a +4 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy checks against Captain Groy. (They’re friends, the sane part of Lucian wants to listen to him.) His presence grants a +2 circumstance bonus to both Diplomacy and Intimidate checks vs the crowd. (He’s a respected member of the community but they’re also a little afraid of him.)
If you want to fight it’s a lot simpler. We’ll just roll initiative and go from there.
(Walking away is also an option but one I don't think most of your characters would take.)
Finally, while talking and/or fighting are the two ways the module anticipated this encounter going, if you have another idea for how to resolve the situation please do suggest it!
Her smile drops when she sees the scene in front of her, and she curls her lip at the crowd. "Really? A lynching? This isn't Galt, you know - the penalties for taking the law into your own hands are... well, this is Nidal. Do you really want to find out?"
Actually since Groy is in fact Captain of the Watch, wouldn't this count as an official execution rather than a lynching?
In other words, Captain Groy is the law.
If the team decides to go with intimidating the crowd, Xanther's Intimidate check is the same as his diplomacy, a grand whopping +3, so just recycle the barely passed aid another roll.
...not without due process. Nidal may be Evil, but it's LE. There are rules.
(I could make a reference to RL examples but I'm not going to)
You're sort of both right. This isn't a lawful execution by any means, but due to Captain Groy's involvement the crowd believes the law is on their side.
I'll wait a few more hours before responding in-game to give Marcus and/or Noctifer a chance to post.
Noctifer will always choose talking over fighting because who wants to get their hands dirty? Plus you can get hurt and all that... 8)
Also, to shuffle around skill points to put more into Diplomacy, his 1 rank in Intimidate didn't make the final cut so he's at a -1 to Aid on Intimidate which is why he'll always go for Diplomacy. Plus it made sense RP-wise for the character.
Great job everyone! The encounter isn't quite over yet, (you still have half the crowd to convince/scare off), but you've gotten Captain Groy to back down. If you roll another successful Diplomacy check against him he'll start actively helping you; otherwise you can just scratch him off the list of immediate problems and focus on the crowd.
For those who didn't read the spoiler, Ussaile saw a Tallowed woman trying to hide from the crowd and running toward the darkness instead of away.
For those who didn't read the spoiler, Ussaile saw a Tallowed woman trying to hide from the crowd and running toward the darkness instead of away.
Which brings up a point we should discuss: how to handle spoilers. I'll have my PC either say it then or, if the situation is awkward, etc. tell the others later. But some players and GMs prefer the other players not read spoilers unless their PC 'hit the DC'.
While I don't care if you all read each other's spoilers, I would prefer you not act on the information inside unless you've been told about it IC. This doesn't have to be elaborate. Something like "Xanther tells everyone what he knows about ghosts. " would be fine.
Right now you all know Ussaile sensed "something," (because that's what she told you), but IC wouldn't know what.
On a related note: who (if anyone) is following Ussaile/Xanther into the alleyway and who (if anyone) is staying in the town square?
Jass is staying with the fetchling woman (someone should probably get her name, yeah?) and presumably Marcus is too. The others seem to be following Ussaile.
Noctifer is following Ussaile to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble. :)
I posted assuming Jassminder and Marcus stayed in the square while the other three went into the alleyway. Nizeh is not on the map, but if it matters she's standing a directly behind Marcus.
@Jassminder: You still have either a move or standard action left due to the surprise round.
Ah, right. I don't think I have line of sight from where I am so I will do another 4-square move. Should be able to see them now!
How many shadows can Xanther see? 4?