i.jason's page

Reine had simply watched. Standing towards the back of the ship, with Broom and Des, Reine had been more alert for an ambush than she had been interested in the one survivor that had been so... fortunate.

"I don't like this," Reine had muttered to her two companions. But really, what Reine didn't like was how quiet the other two had become. Ever since the discoveries at the estate, both Broom and Des had seemed to become more and more withdrawn.

Nothing felt right to Reine. Nothing had felt right since waking up in that damned asylum.

She closed her eyes, sighing.

Who were they? Who had they been? What were they - what was she becoming?

Reine stopped to examine that thought.

In the past, it would have ridden on a wave of fear.

Fear of the unknown, fear of loss, fear of fear itself.

But now?

None of that.

Where before she'd have had to make an effort to control the fear, to mask it with rage, in hopes that the rage would be strong enough to beat back the terror, now Reine just felt the pool of power inside of her roil as more fuel flowed into it.

Reine was different now. So very different.

So, too, were those she'd begun to think of as friends.

At the very least, as fellow survivors.

But even now, Reine felt their detachment.

From Desdemona, that was almost normal. The small noblewoman had regularly drifted into and out of periods of aloof distance, but she'd just as often come back. Sometimes in terror, sometimes just when something grabbed her interest, like the books in that bookshop.

But Broom? That one had been a bundle of curious, weird, friendly energy and enthusiasm since the moment Reine had first met? - re-met? - her. To see that one stare into the distance so passively, rather than throwing herself into every mystery, or obsessively cleaning and repairing every surface of the boat? It was well-nigh heartbreaking.

Reine shook her head, shaking herself off of this train of thought.

"I'm going to join the others up front, see who this mysterious 'survivor' is. You two, stay and keep an eye out back here."

When Broom didn't leap at the opportunity to explore a mystery, and Des didn't immediately take umbrage at being told what to do, Reine sighed again.

She walked away from the two small women, towards the bow.

She arrived just in time to hear the survivor declare his wish to stay aboard their ship.

"You mean you wouldn't prefer to swim?" she asked him. Her tone was sarcastic, and yet musical at the same time. To the stranger - like almost everyone who first met Reine - her voice sounded like it should be that of an angel. And though her face was that of a very lovely (if pale) human, the set of it was hard, and her eyes looked Thraag over like she knew he'd stolen something.

There was something frightening about her, though she made no overtly threatening move or gesture. Even the smile that crossed her face was... it didn't seem welcoming, so much as that of a cat who had just welcomed a mouse into her front room.

"I know I wouldn't want to make that swim, anyway."

Daymar reached into the well of arcane power available to him and once more vastly increased the speed and reactions of himself and his companions.

"No time to waste, if Basdemar is in trouble," he urged his companions.

Use his ring to cast Haste on himself, Kel, and Levn. If Levn plans to ride (rather than fly), he'll put it on Levn's horse, also. Adds 30' to all speeds. Which means Kel actually flew 90' this round. Then he'll take a Move action to secure Kel's horse to his own.

Daymar grumped about being woken up in the middle of the night. Once he'd been told it was for a goat, he stopped talking, gave Alfric a flat look, and turned to go back to bed.

Know:Nature: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27

Unless that knowledge check tells him relatively definitively that the sound of a bleating goat in this area is Not Normal And Must Be Investigated (and/or gives him some clue as to what danger might actually be present), he's probably going back to bed. If Levn or someone convinces him it's important and/or interesting, he'll stay awake and go investigate with the crew. But in any case, he's not going to be casting spells until he knows this isn't a wild-goat-chase.

"I'm not sure how it's my fault that you haven't yet acquired the skillset required to think more than thirteen moves ahead in a game based almost entirely on strategic thinking. Which is, by definition, thinking ahead."

Daymar didn't sound upset - he rarely did - but the man he was talking to clearly looked upset. Of course, Daymar also seemed completely oblivious to this - as he usually was.

"All I'm saying," the white-haired elf continued, sounding relentlessly factual, "is that if you want to get better, you need to learn from your mistakes. The good news is, when you play with people who are better than you, there is inordinate opportunity to steepen the learning curve, and improve your skillset that much faster. And, clearly, I am much better than you are, so you should be much better by the time we reach Varnhold."

As usual, Daymar was somewhat startled when his opponent abruptly stood up and stalked away, muttering about "arrogant elfs."

Daymar, a little short for an elf, simply sighed, shook his head, and began to pack up the pieces of the game. "At least he didn't flip the board," he remarked to the rest of the group sitting nearby.

Kellen, I think the oxen are towing barges (they walk on the land beside the river, tied to chains pulling barges that are in the water). Not sure there'd be wagons, as everything the caravan needs would be on the boats. @Levn: No worries! Sadly, no one's likely to say, "change of plans, let the elf win."

My interwebz got taken out again (hotspotting ATM), but should be back tomorrow evening, so my dude (Elf Diviner, Foresight focus, "big brother" of Levn) should be done by Saturday evening at the latest (I'm building him old-skool with pencil and paper right now).

A couple of notes: 1) The kingdom/Duchy is Veteris. Pâza is the capitol city. 2) It almost seems like, if everyone has a connection to Levn, that we could easily be Levn's smuggling "crew..." :-)

Poor Broom. How'd she get stuck with all these bloodthirsty murderhobos?

"Interesting," Reine said, checking the back of another drawing. "There are notes here. If someone who knows a lot more about magic than I do were to spend some time with these, it might make some sense. Be worth some money. Maybe we should collect them.

She looked around the room, at the pages posted and scattered...

"It would take an hour, wouldn't..." Suddenly, Reine stopped, and turned to Broom with a smile on her face.

"Broom," Reine said, holding up the two pages to show the smaller woman the notes written on the backs of them, "Someone needs to collect all of these pages, and then put them in the right order. If they do that, they'll have a book that tells secrets to summoning creatures from beyond. Does that sound like a project you or your servant friend would enjoy?"

Can I just take a moment to appreciate Broom for her faith and optimism?

She just saw Reine and John (in particular) struggle to defeat a single unconscious person who wasn't even standing up, much less fighting back.

The very next fight that starts (one she thinks isn't necessarily one we should be fighting, even), and she's absolutely confident that Reine and John are more than capable of taking out 5 opponents who are actually awake and carrying weapons.

I like Broom. :-)

"He's safe," Reine told the poppet before her, her voice oddly gentle, with no trace of the anger that normally drove her. She knelt down on one knee, bringing herself closer to the poppet's level. She set the lantern down carefully on the floor between them.

[b]"You told him to run, and to hide. He did that, and found safety. There are others with him, protecting him now. He remembers his brother, brave and strong, and together, forever, will two knights ride together in his memories. You have done well, Debis. Rest, now."

Well, this is either her most eloquent moment, or the moment when the thing turns into a swirl of deadly shards and papers and launches at her for being dumb enough to put the lantern down...

Add 1 to all of the results if you're the type of GM that lets a player use Guidance on checks like these
Perform:Oratory: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
Perform:Oratory: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Perform:Oratory: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Perform:Oratory: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Izra spent a good portion of the down time telling stories. Some at the Tooth and Hookah, for (mostly) appreciative audiences, but also some at the church, at the behest of the Sisters, and some in private booths, or street corners, to "interested parties," willing to pay for information. Some of those "interested parties" received slightly inaccurate, or less complete versions of her stories, depending upon how trustworthy (or competitive) she thought them to be.

She'd be ok with seeking out Panhet. She's not entirely sold on the "give the ring back" plan, but the seeking out, she can get behind.

Finally, he will go complain about the efficacy of his charms to the seller in the market. :P

"Oh, a thousand pardons, good Master, I had thought you were like the tourists! Seeking only charms that would fend off the weak spirits that are irritated by those who would gawk and point at the detritus of their once most noble lives. I had no idea, brave and strong Master, that you were so stout of spirit, so brave of soul, and so strong of limb that you meant to actually enter the tombs! Oh, bravest of Masters, I am a pox upon my ancestors for my stupidity! They surely hang their heads in shame at what I have done! What you need is over here! In this box I keep the most powerful of charms!" Shifty, secretive looks about, voice lowered, as he beckons Koshukhep closer, to avoid prying eyes and ears...

"These charms (blessed by the High Priests of the Ancients, themselves!), these are the only charms that a ma - er... person as brave and puissant as yourself should be wearing into danger! Very rare! Irreplaceable! Of such power are these, that I would not normally even think of parting with them for less than a small fortune in golden coins. Why, if I were to sell them for their true value, I would bankrupt the Prince himself! But for the honor of my ancestors, to repair the disservice I have done to you, Great Master, I will - I insist upon letting you have one of them... for a ruinous price. Only two hun-...er... ONE! One hundred coins of gold, and this platinum *cough*coated*cough* lion pendant, blessed by Grand High-Priest Kazulum himself, in the year before the Great Plague, when Wati was just a small collection of tents around the temple, can be yours. Guaranteed (guaranteed, I say!) to deflect all but the strongest of spirits that may wish to haunt the wearer! I could normally trade this pendant for the entire stock of the herdsmen down the way, but for you, because of the debt I owe you, I could be convinced to part with it (only for you! - Tell no one that I gave you such a deal, I beg you, or it would ruin me!), for... ninety! Ninety golden coins, a pittance! My wife will threaten to divorce me, and my children (the twelve of them!) will eat nothing but gruel for a week, because of the sacrifice I am making to make good my stupidity from before. But I am prepared to make this sacrifice, my good Master, if you will but let me make it up to you in this small way!

Ulciscor couldn't help but look towards the sky when Kevkas fell, and the plant-thing disgorged more enemies.

"If I'm just here to witness these people receiving Retribution for something they did, please let me know, Lord, and I'll stop wasting Your time," his complaint was soft, and (mostly) in jest. Stepping forward, he called upon the Doombringer in earnest, as he knelt and touched the fallen Kevkas on the shoulder.

"Yea, he who lieth down and letteth his enemy prevail, who striketh him once, inviteth all of his enemies to strike him, alway, and take from him all that he hath. And he who giveth unto his enemy all that he hath shall not be entrusted with more by the Lord, for he hath proven himself a poor steward."

CLW on Kevkas: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

"So get up, you big lug," he said to Kevkas, with a smile, "and teach these things what a mistake it is to oppose us. They're slow learners."

5' to D22 (map updated), drop Entropic Shield for CLW on Kevkas (that should put him at 5hp and awake).

EDIT: And for the record, that's the last time he can do CLW today, since Prot:Chaos is a Domain spell, and can't be dropped. Just an FYI :-)

Sometimes, you're right, they can't. But far more often than not, they can, but aren't. Especially when the reason for creating one is that the player "wanted to" do something, or "my character would have _____."

If the party (or another character) has done something that your character would have objected to, or even moved on to a different room of the dungeon before you (the player) were able to have your character do something they probably would have done, the best thing to do is roll with it. Come up with a reason that your character would do so - perhaps he was distracted and forgot, perhaps he had deep misgivings, but bit them back, or perhaps the others just turned and walked away before he built up the courage to actually speak (if nothing else, remember that all people sometimes act "out of character," for any number of reasons in RL).

PbP and RL don't always mesh. It's one of the things that makes PbP/PbEM different from tabletop gaming. The way to look at things that helps to keep a game from getting bogged down in "wait, I would have done/said X, which would require a reaction, and means we need to stop, go back in time and address that, and then retcon everyone's actions..." is this: "RL means that we sometimes get to find creative ways for our characters to deal with situations that they wouldn't have otherwise. Which is sometimes frustrating, but always a great chance to stretch ourselves as writers/players."

Around the table, it's easy to do a "Wait! let's talk about this first," conversation. The objection happens near-instantly, the conversation (usually) only takes a few minutes, the DM says, "OK, so what actually happens is..." and on you go. In PbP/PbEM, the objection often doesn't show up for hours or days, and the discussion takes days or weeks. People get frustrated and/or bored, the fun goes away, and games die. Which sucks for everyone. "My character would..." often results in the character never being able to do anything at all, ever, because the game dies - and they die with it.

I tend to think of RP games in the same way as I do improv acting ('cause that's kind of what it is). The primary rule of Improv is "yes, and." In the scene, no matter how wacky, unexpected, or counter to what you were doing/saying/planning something that someone else comes up with is, you don't say "no, that didn't happen!" You say "yes, and then X!" (Quick Example: the colored documents thing: I had Jae say someone was filling out the wrong forms - instead of objecting, the other player said, in effect, "yes, I am! And I react this way to it..." and it became something that added color (pardon the pun) to the game.)

I have ZERO problems with Tarvak objecting to the delay (in fact, Jae was going to suggest that we all go sooner, as well). ZERO. It's good RP! I like him starting to find his spine (in fact, the primary reason for Jaelynn pushing him the last two times was to give you someone for Travak to react to. I love that he's already moving from complete milquetoast to "objects but is easily shot down - grumblingly." The scene where he finally says something along the lines of "No, YOU listen..." and/or the scene where he gets massive praise from the group for having shared a good idea will be fun!) and on top of that, it's at least partially tactically sound.

My only objection is that you moved it back to before Aziel jumped in, and that it was so directly counter to the action that had already been taken. It would have been just as easy (and less disruptive to the game flow - while also allowing for the tension of Aziel being in the water alone...) to go this route:

Tarvak had wanted to object to what seemed to him a Very Bad Idea, but the impulsive Aziel jumped into the water before Tarvak had even realized what she was going to do. "Wait-!" he said, but it was too late. She was gone. "This is dangerous, he said to the others, instead. "It would take us a couple of minutes to get to them, which means if they're fighting something, it'll all be over by the time we can get there. If they are all dead, following them will do no good, and we'll be heading right into whatever attacked *them*. You guys who studied the map - is there ANY other way to get to where we need to be? If so, we should try that since we *know* the original plan hasn't worked."

Visibly deflating a little bit as if he'd exhaled from a deep breath, he added "That's just my two coppers, anyway..."

At which point, Jae (or one of the others) would probably have nodded, and said something like, "No time to discuss it. Aziel is in the water alone. Go, we'll be right behind you."

Tarvak expresses his opinion, and the scene moves along. And Aziel's player (as well as the rest of us) realizes that, if they want to have Aziel be part of the discussions moving forward, they may want to have Aziel pause, briefly, before actually doing things like jumping into an ocean to follow a rope that may or may not take her into an ambush - without backup. :-)

The timing challenges that come with PbP as a different medium than table-top, or even PbEM, games are part of what makes it unique as a medium, and that uniqueness is part of what makes it fun. If we choose to roll with the timing challenges, and "slant" our characters' actions towards moving the game along, and keeping the party together, we'll almost always be building a stronger game. And we (the players), as well as our characters, will be learning how to better work together as we go.

And with strong players - like all of the players in this game - making such choices, the game will be stronger, flow better, and probably last longer - you know, unless we all get our characters killed. ;-) The strongest, most long-lasting games I've ever played in followed this philosophy, and created some of the best stories I've ever had the privilege of helping to create.

My apologies for possibly creating a kerfuffle, but I felt the need to express WHY I feel the way I do, as well as (hopefully) clarifying that I'm not trying to attack anyone, just explore what might be a bit of a new perspective for some folks, and share a philosophy that, more often than not, makes for stronger games.

Thanks for listening. :-)

Hey there!

Hopefully things have improved over the weekend. Sending good thoughts!