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I know Brianna and I were fine calling it. I don't think there's the history here to justify pulling in a GM to salvage this run. I like Darius and his backstory, but I hardly had the time to become invested. It sucks when games fall apart, but it's just part of the PBP life.
I feel more similarly to Brianna. I'm loving this game, but the long wait really breaks my immersion, and by extension my enjoyment, of the game. So 3 and 4 are how I'm leaning. I won't quit if people want to keep playing, though.
Ditto, I'm around!
Darius came across an old friend of his from his formal schooling, Rose Jhaeltero. Rose was a student of the same set of instructors that Pratis had hired for him. She was young, hardly nineteen years old, but Darius was always older than his classmates due to starting his formal education late. Between his being older, and coming from a poor background, Darius did not find many friends during his days of tutelage. But Rose didn't seem to mind. She found his dedication to study, both of book and weapons admirable, often his partner for both. Their friendship pushed them each to improve, placing them at the top of their class. Darius had not seen Rose for months, since he began being The Fiend, but she stopped by his shop that week. "Hi Darius. I wanted to come see you sooner, but there has been a lot of upheaval in the Court of Coin since the Night of Ashes. There are rumors that the Victocora were targeted for their stance on Thrune. The families that are quiet, or Thrune detractors have spent the past week figuring out what to do." She looked down briefly, "But I'm just making excuses. I know they were like family to you, and I haven't been able to make it out sooner." Darius tries to keep his still unsettled feelings about the Victocora in order, and to not betray that Rexus was still alive. "I'm sure precautions had to be taken. I know your house has been openly contentious with the Thrunes before. It's good to see you too, it's been far too long." He tries to casually add, "It sounds like the Court aren't the only ones reacting to Thrune being here. I've heard rumors of rebels coming together, organizing to oppose Thrune." "I've heard some similar rumors, but I've yet to really hear of anything happening. I'll be listening for them though. If Thrune faces organized resistance, perhaps Kintargo won't bend to them yet." Rose said more matter-of-factly than optimistically. "Before I forget, I've been trying to read up on the history of Kintargo recently. Normally the Victocoras had all the best books for that, but... that's not an option anymore. I was hoping you might have some! Darius was taken back by Rose's request, it seemed almost... blatant. To hear of rebellion, to look for the past when Thrune had just come into town, redactors ready. He knew he found someone who could be sympathetic. Darius went into the back and came back with a couple new books. One was a fairly dry history of Kintargo, but covered all the major events since the city's founding. The other was the text Darius dug up after realizing he'd heard the name of the Silver Ravens before. It was a book about the civil war and the Thrune ascension, but focused on Kintargo's rebellion and its rather lax control that came from it. He figured he'd be hearing more from Rose soon, after the Ravens' next big exploit. She was rather clever, he was confident she'd figure out his message. After packing up the books for Rose and a few more minutes of catching up, Rose made her way out Darius's shop.
Darius makes his way back to his bookstore to open shop, already a little late. I'll need to arrange for someone to cover the basic duties of the shop if this progresses. After running the shop until close, Darius rested up quickly and brought out the Fiend. He expanded outside of Redroof, familiarizing himself with the surrounding neighborhoods. He knew the Nursery and Redroof as well as anyone, probably better. But as the Rebellion picked up, he would need to know more of the city. Especially if he were to be entrusted as the strategist for the Rebellion.
The Fiend could make use of those boots, if nobody else wants them.
I prefer the idea of a Secrecy rebellion, but it didn't seem the direction we were heading. The Fiend might be able to make decent use of the boots if nobody else was particularly inclined. But selling them for gold is also welcome
Based on our roleplay goals, Gather Information on our next activities and Recruit Supporters seem to best fit our goals. Thoughts?
Darius had changed out of his Fiend disguise once he'd left the basement. "An excellent cover for our rebellion, Brianna. I agree a bold move to get people talking is an excellent idea. Especially before Thrune knows to expect us. However, we have to make sure to pick something we can pull off. We have a lot of enthusiasm, but it's compensating for a lack of skill. I suggest we take a day or so to gather information of possible targets."
I do like the rebllion rules quite a bit, but I think discussion on the rebellion actions may prove to take a lot of time from running the RP. PBP is slow enough with this many players. I don't want to take over week to resolve a rebellion phase. I'm fine with it running in the background in general (assign roles and resolve rolls), only bringing it to the forefront if a rebellion action will affect rp considerations.
Having a kid tomorrow, so I'll probably be pretty unavailable for a few days. Just feel free to skip past the Fiend or bot him in combat if I haven't posted in a day.
The Fiend searches for the source of the terrible smell. The smell of rotting meat is disconcerting.
Darius wakes up from his rest, goes downstairs, exchanges pleasantries with Laria, and gets a cup of coffee before heading to the back room to finish it. Darius will cast Light on Adun's gauntlet (if he accepts), and then casts Heightened Awareness on himself before descending into the hatch.
"With all the fuss the past few days, I don't think anyone will notice if my humble bookstand is closed another day. I'll take you up on your offer to rest here, and I can proceed later this evening." Darius takes a small portion of the meat and cheese. While he didn't seem tired before, the suggestion of rest left him visibly more tired. "If there is not more to discuss, I think I'd like to get get some rest."
"Secret tunnels beneath the city would undoubtedly be useful. Could we see them?" Darius didn't like the idea of messing with the livery further. A place to meet that was less conspicuous would be excellent.
Darius stands up and offers the halfling his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you properly Ms. Longroads. I've been in your shop before, but not often." "It seems evident you and the Victocoras were somewhat close, if Rexus comes to you with confidence after the Night of Ashes. I'm sorry for you loss, the city is lesser for losing them." "They paid for my education and treated me with great kindness; taking up their cause and protecting their city is perhaps the only way I could repay their generosity. I will do whatever I can to help rebuild the Silver Ravens," Darius finishes his thought with renewed conviction. After a short pause, looking at the loot, Darius then adds "The figurines are perhaps a little too on the nose, aren't they?"
Darius noticed Carl taking charge with identification, leaving that to the more skilled appraiser. Instead, he looked over the trove himself for any such key, but did not notice one. "We could always smash it if it's not magic," Darius added bluntly. "Obviously, I'd prefer a cleaner solution, but it's worth mentioning. I doubt we can afford to not learn whats inside."
The Fiend removes his disguise once the group is out of the livery. Darius happily follows Rexus to the coffeehouse. He'd been here a few times, usually after his studies, or for a meeting with Pratis, but he did not often have coin to waste on the shop. Rexus seemed to trust the proprietor and vice-versa, Darius was curious what the shop's relationship was to this resistance. He quietly nodded after the invitation to the back room, and went there quietly, their discussion was not one for the front of the shop.
Darius readies to aid Blue Thorn with her strike.
No idea what it means either, but seems fine.
Since we stalled out, I figured I'd check in here and see what's up. Is Agnes waiting to see if the rest of us have food? Sadly it's an urban game, and it seems after looking over our sheets, only Agnes and Reynard have rations. Just want to see what's blocking us and keep us moving.
Well, I'm going to go ahead and follow up that and add a sheet there to track spell preparation and usage. I never really like tracking spells in the profile.
Darius was quite confused by Carl's attempted implications. Whatever he was a part of definitely kept secrets well. "Despite our different origins it does appear our magic is similar. "I was trained in magic by the Victocora's tutors. However, I pursued broad studies and have proficiency in the martial arts as well. I'm curious to see how they will develop differently. "We can certainly share any magic we come by. It will be a large help. For now, my book is quite limited."
"We're not needed until night. It might be best to not loiter together in the city all afternoon. The dottari will definitely be out in force tomorrow." Darius then added, "I'll be off as well. I trust Brianna will get Adun a suitable mask, but if anyone needs anything from me, let me know. Of course, I can also be found at the Motalis bookstore in the Redroof Market."
Impressed by Brianna's terse haggling and forceful demeanor, Darius begins to view the half-elf more fondly. "I knew her offer was low, but you certainly wasted no time calling her out. I can be persuasive, but usually it goes quite slowly. That haul should certainly help get us back in fighting order for tomorrow."
"I can make it out to armorer's to sell off what we have." Darius announced, taking the very unsubtle hints the attendant was dropping.
We actually have 100 gp sale worth. If we're getting stuff at cost, a potion and 4 scrolls sounds good to me.
"Seem we have enough worth here for about 4 scrolls. I'm loathe to give it all up, but Rexus needs us in fighting form tomorrow, and I can't imagine we'd have better luck elsewhere." Darius says, taking Carl and Brianna aside.
"The Abadites would certainly heal us for our coin. We might be able to convince the Shelynites to help us at a lower cost. I'm not sure we have enough to pay the Abadites full price. Besides, the Shelynites are a bit closer."
"I'd be happy to help escort you back to cover. I could use some healing myself. This seems like more than Brianna should have to heal. Once the riot subsides, I like Mr. Copperplate's plan of visiting the Shelynites. Perhaps we can offer them some of the gear we lifted off those thugs."
"I could sell off the gear in the market tomorrow, I work in the market in Redroof. It's not terribly much, but anyone showing up tomorrow will get their cut."
"I've already told you I'm not at your disposal. It's not the same as your pain, but I loved them as family, too. The day will come where Barzillai will rue his choices."
Darius exchanges a simple greeting with each of his new allies as they introduce themselves. He reads over the scroll. Hearing Adun's thoughts he replies: "Nobody is until they try, Mr. Wulle. Success or failure is another matter entirely, but we certainly won't be if we don't even try to protect our city from what is happening. "Luckily, it seems like we've all taken this first step already." He adds, trying to not seem grim. He then turns to Rexus, "I had heard of the Silver Ravens, rebels during the old civil war. Ever since the Night of Ashes, I'd been looking for more on them, but I could never find books with more information on them. Hearing that your parents were in such an Order would explain it. I must have read it in one of your libraries by chance over the years. Or perhaps Pratis wanted me to know of them as well."
I added the enemy loot to the loot sheet, if you plan to use anything go ahead and remove it from the sheet.
Still so surprised Rexus is alive, Darius moves to embrace his patron family's only remaining scion. However, the man's obvious confusion reminded him of his guise. Darius dismissed any minor magical components of his disguise and removed the horns, and wiped some of the red makeup that covered his skin. Despite all the strangers watching on he removed his disguise; he knew all the strangers with him were certainly no friends of Thrune. Under all the Tiefling make-up stood what appeared to be human with dark hair in his late 20s. His features were softer than they had appeared to be a moment ago. "You may not remember me terribly well, but your brother changed my life. He paid for my education, he let me lead what was a comfortable life before Thrune came to suffocate our city. Being unable to save your family during the Night of Ashes is my greatest regret. Whatever I have to offer is at your disposal. Thanks to your family, I hope my skills will prove useful to you." He then turns to the rest of the group. "I guess I'll introduce myself first. I am Darius, but I've also been operating as 'The Fiend of Redroof.' I am a battlemage of sorts, I've been cutting my teeth stopping some minor crime in Redroof, but Barzillai is the real goal."
After getting some clarification on the Victocoras, Darius is running a bookstore. He sells the range from penny comics to a small selection of scholarly texts.
I dropped a loot sheet format I use in another game. It should handle most of the work for getting and selling loot. It's pretty simple, but it's been pretty effective for us.
Darius looked in the mirror, wondering whether to go as himself, or The Fiend of Redroof. His social identity had known ties to the Victocora, it certainly wouldn't be out of place for him to be at a protest after their recent and suspicious demise. But how would he attract other dissidents in an identity as bland as Darius? Darius put on his chainshirt, tied his rapier's scabbard with his belt, so it hung behind him, rather than at his side. He knew he would look terribly silly in his robe, trying to disguise all of his gear. Perhaps this would be an unworkable ruse? Settling on attending as the Fiend of Redroof, he went down the stairs of his apartment through his little shop, turned the sign to "Closed" and made his way to a nearby quiet alley.
@Reynard I feel like we would certainly know each other. Partly as just vigilantes working in the same area, and in our social identities. Darius doesn't spend a ton of time in the nursery anymore, as he hides his heritage. But as two slum kids interested in education and close in age, we've probably met at least a bit from a while back. He'd also certainly have donated some extra books to your library. Our stories line up incredibly well for us to know each other.
@Adun
@Brianna
@GM Bugman
@everyone
When I get back home, I'll do a little more digging through your profiles for more possible threads. Excited to be in this game with all of you!
Brianna's post made me realize I never formalized Darius's "Reason to Protest" either. He's there to "Protest the Government". The arrival a Thrune lord of the heel of such a disaster seems an unlikely coincidence. Especially with the previous Lord-Mayor vanishing so suddenly. There is something nefarious afoot, and with House Thrune behind it, the very essence of Kintargo is in danger. The day of the protest, Darius wears some casual robes, in his civilian identity and heads to the protest, ready to do his part to let Barzillai know that he's not welcome in Kintargo.
I went back through Darius's story. I made the mistake of typing it up late last night when I saw more Warlocks coming in. It needed another pass, I'm now happier with it. @eriktd Chill Touch does work with Mystic Bolt without Spellstike. I was listing 2 different synergies (with a comma separator), but it's not particularly clear. 1) Chill Touch can apply over multiple bolts to increase their damage to a respectable 2d6 with a mino debuff. 2) Spellstike can use Mystic Bolts to do additional damage while still hitting touch AC Thanks for putting it out there better. Magus VMC has numerous benefits, aside from just weapon enhancement, Magus Arcana are really rather excellent. As for the witch list, the Spellstrike on the VMC still only allows the use of spells on the Magus spell list, so I believe this still aligns well.
Well, I'm sad to see that so many Warlocks came out of the woodwork all of the sudden. That said, I mentioned I'd drop a character as well, so I'll get in on the Warlock party. Darius is a Tiefling, passing as a human in his social identity, where he suppresses what few features he has present. But in his vigilante identity, he accentuates his features so that he can distance himself, but also embrace a part of his heritage he so often lies about. With the arrival of Barzillai Thrune, he predicts Tieflings are about to start having a much worse time in Kintargo, and he knows it is time to act. He's definitely more combat focused, with a Variant Multiclass in Magus and some use of actual weapons in addition to bolt. |
