Search Posts
Linard, glad that Harper handled the Gelik situation competently, gives him a nod before moving on beside Kalis to address the Tien man.
"At the same time, the camp should not be left unattended at any time", Linard adds. "Someone has to keep watch, preferably two people. If anyone is familiar with making alarms or traps, they could set up a couple, just let us know where they are."
Get well, Nix! We'll just wait here.
Linard's crossbow was an unwieldy weapon against the nimble snake, and he was so startled he didn't even manage to fire once, leaving his companions to deal with it. After the incident he went quietly, feeling somewhat guilty for that. Because of that, he resolutely refused to rest and fervently continued to help building the camp, as a sort of self-imposed redemption.
I don't think that while we explore the jungle it will be very hot all day. First of all there should be plenty of shade, then there is the magical water. Having previosly attempted to run this book, I seem to remember that it devoted quite a bit of text to specify when the Fortitude saves would kick in, and when they wouldn't. I think that for an overland travel, we could just say we stop for a rest when we get too hot, and resume when the heat fades, averaging out the movement speed to slower than normal. It's only when we are doing rounds in the hot conditions that the Fortitude saves come into play. Also, have we assigned the camp roles to the NPCs, other than Jask?
"Don't worry, creating water and purifying food should not deplete my magical powers. However the other purposes are also important, so I'd rather not stay behind as the camp cook." Linard adjusts his crossbow as he says this.
to Nngara: "I can conjure some water, at least enough to not have anyone thirsty. I can also assist in making the edible things we find actually safe to eat." to Jask: "Brother, you have suffered from great injustice. My deity Abadar does not tolerate injustice. I will help you set your life right, and assist in implicating the corrupt." Linard volunteers for the last watch.
Linard's face is changing from surprise to anger to resolve, as he skims through the pages. Finally he slams the logbook shut and speaks through gritted teeth:
"Water breathing and water walking? Why didn't the captain use them himself when the crash happened? Unless he had more of those, and got to safety with their help." Also, while Harper was fiddling with the lock, Linard was browsing through the captain's log book, hoping to find some clues to the recent events.
Linard shakes his head. "More corpses... Looks like we should be thankful to whoever helped us escape the ship alive." He kneels over the cook's body, checking for symptoms of unnatural death, and sure enough, founds some pretty quickly. "It was poison all right, but probably not from the food, or it would have killed us too. Looks like the poor man was bitten by a huge snake. But how could it have avoided everyone for so long? Has anyone ever seen a big snake on the ship? Or perhaps it's another kind of sea dweller?"
"The first mate's dead - that's a shame. He looked like he was well able to take on a sea scorpion..."
Linard closely inspects Alton's body for a minute, then straightens up, thoughtful.
Linard clasps his holy symbol and touches Harper before he attacks the crustacean. "May Abadar guide you."
Gm Nix, could I please ask you to put up the link to your Google Drive into the campaign description, so that it shows at the top of the page below the campaign name? Many thanks.
Not trusting in the power of his muscles, Linard reconsiders and removes his armor, leaving it on the clifftop, before climbing down.
Linard carefully approaches the rope and tests it before committing to the climb. He exercises extreme caution while climbing, ending up on the deck after the others are already down.
He raises his voice, shouting over the noise of the waves and wind.
RSS feeds also don't work yet, which is a pain for me.
Linard takes offense at Nngara's comment.
To Jask: We all have common enemies on this island and should trust each other. Whatever you had to answer for on the mainland can wait until we actually get there. I will not be your judge. I agree we should set you free. Can anyone actually open this lock?
Linard looks disapprovingly at Jayem.
Linard tends to those who are still unconscious , then gets his gear from the pile and assists in distributing the rest of the possessions to their rightful owners. "I have spotted tracks near the bodies and the pile. Someone must have dragged us out of the water."
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 1, 1 melee touch, 2 ranged touch):
This is not a placeholder, this is what Linard actually has.
Linard is going to the dinner unarmed, having left his weapons and armor in the cabin. He takes his holy symbol with him everywhere, and curiously enough he has his own set of silver cutlery, and a sturdy portable salt shaker, which he uses to spice up the bland ship food.
Linard kept cheerful mood throughout the trip, seemingly immune to sea sickness even through the most severe storms. He kept polite but distanced relatioship with other passengers, often reluctantly finding himself in the role of mediator between the sarcastic gnome Gelik and the more easily offended passengers. The relief came in form of an archaeologist named Harper, with whom Linard occasionally spent free time talking about the history of religion during the times of Aroden. Linard was dressed simply but smartly, with dark grey pants, black woolen jacket and a white cotton shirt. He drinks diluted wine in moderation and does not smoke.
Sorry, weekends tend to be slow for me. I'll post the intro now.
Linard is of medium size, 5'8'' and 170lbs.
I'm cool with using GDrive; I'll PM you my email shortly.
Checking in.
Very well-put, Tirion. I'm still here.
Welcome Tark! Have a look around the jungle, make yourself comfortable, have a chat with the cannibals :)
So, that leaves Nngara, Harper and Linard ready to continue. Are we going to look for a DM and then have the DM recruit more players? Or are we going to have NPCs assist us? Or are we going to call it a day?
The decision is certainly yours, GM Poisonblade. Good luck in whatever you do and perhaps we'll meet in another game. If anyone is still interested in salvaging this game, please respond. We can fire up a search for a new GM or I can humbly propose to run it myself. I tried it once on GitP boards and it fell apart in a roughly the same way as this one. Since then I've taken over a CoT game on these boards and still run it. I am satisfied with how it goes and was pondering running another one anyway. You can check it out here to see how I run things. Caveat: it is NOT a fast game. The party has gained half a level in half a year. But I enjoy it a lot nevertheless.
"I think that in the jungle the perceived safety in numbers is deceiving. Same as in tight city streets, really. We will attract more attention from the local wildlife this way, and if cannibals attack, we will just be tripping over each other. Five is really the optimal number, and if five people go exploring, that also means five people will be defending the camp, so they will be able to stand up for themselves. Won't you, Aerys, Ishiro? I think as long as we get four or five people ready to set out, we can go and leave the others to harvest wood and prepare dinner for our return. For a small share of the treasure we find, of course."
Wait, what the heck is going on? It's been 27 hours since my last post and we've had another drama unfold? Really? GM Poisonblade, I really like your GMing style so far, but in my opinion (not that it should matter to you) you have to re-adjust your expectations. We're all complete strangers, from all over the world, different age, with daily jobs, families and friends. Of course there will be moments of disagreement or simple miscommunication. People will drop for weeks or sometimes months due to various IRL problems.
Similarly, if you've been silent and waiting for us to be proactive, it means that YOU haven't been proactive in engaging us into a situation which calls for interactions. (I'm fed up with this 'proactive' BS at my daily work where it's like a mantra, to be honest). We are thousand miles away and engaged in dozens IRL tasks, it is not the same as looking meaningfully at your players across the table to let them know you expect something from them. Use OOC to ask us to respond IC. It may be considered faux pas in a real table where it breaks immersion, but in PbP you're not going to reach this immersion level by default, so it's OK to sometimes use the most simple and effective prodding tricks. There are also PM's to ask people what's going on. Finally, players who join a PbP should expect GM to occasionally take over their characters when they can't keep up the pace, because it only means the adventure continues forward and they will get to shine elsewhere. From what I've seen on these boards, PbP games take about a year to finish one AP book, and that is best-case scenario. This is also the reason why players are not always eager to engage in idle chat - because they are impatient to know what happens next, and it's just normal. Same as you are impatient to know what the players do next. Sorry for the rant, but I liked the start of the game too much to just let it go. If you don't feel like continuing, that's OK. But please make up your mind and try to not go from 'no problem' to 'rage quit' in three hours, it just feels strange.
"Didn't Harper mention a lighthouse? That seems like a fitting target. If we enable it, we can get the attention of other ships which pass by the island."
Awakened by the shenanigans around the camp, Linard approaches Ishiro and Angada.
I've seen a system where another equal share is assigned to hold the items which can benefit everyone (such as money for transport or healing potions). This way we get 6350/6 = 1060 gp each and the party fund holds 1050 gp. Another thing which is not clear to me is if it's better to count items at purchase value or at sale value. Because if you get a +1 sword you can use, it's equivalent of spending 2000gp to buy it. But if you're not proficient in it, you'll have to add 1000gp to swap it for one you can use.
As a character, Linard would probably be all for fair trading, no free exchange of items, etc. As a player, it bores me to no end, and is detrimental to the party success. I will try to enforce equal splits if we come to find something of pure monetary value, but the combat items should probably go to whoever uses them best.
"This does fall in line with what happened to us and to everyone else. Whoever served the food and wine to us all wasn't the real cook. The real cook was murdered several days ago. The murderer somehow took his identity and used it to poison us. Who was it - someone from the crew? A hidden passenger? Or even the captain himself? Not sure we'll ever know.
"On the ship, we have found the bodies of the first mate and the cook. The cook's death we cannot fully explain, but we have last seen Alton last night when he left to feed you. He happened to have puncture wounds on his body, as if dealt by a rapier - but it could have been a dagger as well. Do you know anything about that? Can you tell us everything you've seen last night before the crash?"
"Sure. Can I have my mace back first, please?"
Linard tries hard not to throw up at the sight of whatever remained from Rax. "Need... Fresh air..." he mutters as he gets up to the post designated for him by Nngara. He closes his eyes for a moment as he prays to Abadar: "If it is by Your will that I die on this island, please guard me from a savage end like this one."
|
