|
DM J - Hardin told Grib to meet him at the temple of Iomedae in three days, and gave him a wooden groat with the Clegane crest on it, told him to ask for Dogface.
Day 1: Sewer running
Day 2: Arael's rescue
Day 3: Current day
Day 4: Meet at Temple?
I'm giving a heads up so that I can quiz Areal on this and make sure the timing works out with what you've got.
(The Clegane estate is a full day's ride away - so Hardin can't go visit family just yet without missing that meeting with Grib.)
That will work fine, Hardin - pretty much everything Arael's got simmering right now falls into the "this needs done at some point pretty soon, but it's not an EMERGENCY" category. We can certainly give enough in-game time for your meeting with Grib on the morrow.
Edit: Just 'splain it to Arael, and we should be fine.
Keep this with your cloak. You can tie it around your neck and pull it up to cover your lower face when we are operating. That way, people that see us would have a hard time identifying us, and we may be forced to kill fewer witnesses...
ROTFLOL!
Sorry for the late notice, but I've got to go to NYC on business today -- found out at the last minute. So I'll be unable to post much until this afternoon or evening.
Crazy work.
No problem, WW -
I've been terrible lately, I am absolutely consumed by reading as much about RPG Superstar as I can, and as such I've been somewhat neglecting my PbP's. Sorry about that. I know some of you might be doing the same thing. MoB, I saw that you submitted something last year - I liked it.
Every time Freya calls Sarien "street rat," I get that 'meet our hero' song from Aladdin running through my head. Good times.... :)
Joana - you know you're doing a bang-up job of running a 17 INT character when you occasionally make the GM feel stupid! LOL!
"Mommy and Daddy" - ROFL!!
I apologize if it feels like I'm railroading you guys even a little bit, I'm really not trying to. You're welcome to go "off radar" and tackle things however you want to. The NPC's have their own ideas about what might be best, but they are speaking with their own mouths, not mine. Just wanted to throw that out there - I think Kingmaker has ruined me to the concept that a "railroady" adventure can still be fun, so I guess I'm just apologizing for that, in effect.
Warning - with the holidays coming up, I may be a trifle slow to respond on things. I may also be faster depending on time of day. :)
I know tomorrow afternoon Central time is generally a good time for back and forthing with posts dealing with Grib. After that it gets iffy.
Joana - you know you're doing a bang-up job of running a 17 INT character when you occasionally make the GM feel stupid! LOL!
"Mommy and Daddy" - ROFL!!
I apologize if it feels like I'm railroading you guys even a little bit, I'm really not trying to. You're welcome to go "off radar" and tackle things however you want to. The NPC's have their own ideas about what might be best, but they are speaking with their own mouths, not mine. Just wanted to throw that out there - I think Kingmaker has ruined me to the concept that a "railroady" adventure can still be fun, so I guess I'm just apologizing for that, in effect.
In character, people with a system of morality amuse her. She considers them all either necessarily hypocritical or utterly incapable of living in the real world. Witness Arael's worrying about the families of the Hellknights but not those of the bandits. (Although I personally can see the disconnect between taking a job to feed your family within the system, however corrupt, and one without, it's not a distinction that matters to Freya.)
Out of character, I've been on the other side of the screen too many times not to recognize a DM trying to keep a group of PCs from getting themselves killed by going after someone they're not intended to go after yet. I've had far too many PCs in my own games saying, "Hey, let's go take out the crime boss who's 8 levels higher than us, whose lair is not mapped and minions aren't statted out, and who is entirely peripheral to the storyline." It leads either to a TPK or to a heck of a lot of work for the DM rearranging encounters, coming up with replacement NPCs, trying to rescue the storyline, etc. :)
Out of character, I've been on the other side of the screen too many times not to recognize a DM trying to keep a group of PCs from getting themselves killed by going after someone they're not intended to go after yet. I've had far too many PCs in my own games saying, "Hey, let's go take out the crime boss who's 8 levels higher than us, whose lair is not mapped and minions aren't statted out, and who is entirely peripheral to the storyline." It leads either to a TPK or to a heck of a lot of work for the DM rearranging encounters, coming up with replacement NPCs, trying to rescue the storyline, etc. :)
Ditto. Of course, the PCs can't act otherwise since they don't have the metagame knowledge or experience to know any better. As a player I'd rather just kick some goblin ass than go up against the mystery woman but in character Sarien's inclined to go straight to the heart of the matter.
Anyway, I'm not particularly bothered by the more railroady nature of this part of the AP. Sometimes that's the way things go.
@AdAstra: Gotcha. I'll have the goblin back-and-forth set up for this afternoon.
Re: Railroading: I'm really glad you guys are OK with the way things are going. Just know that I'm doing my best to not cram the adventure down your throats, so to speak.
Sorry to disappoint; I've been out for the last 5 hours. I'll try to catch up so Freya gets in her recommended daily allowance of snark. ;)
Let's just hope Grib doesn't like the taste of centipede...
Let's just hope Grib doesn't like the taste of centipede...
Maybe Grib had better hope the centipede doesn't like the taste of goblin. ;)
How many temples of Iomedae are in Westcrown?
Do they have their own kitchens, or do they buy from local bakers? An argument can be made that they buy from local bakers due to economies if scale. On the other hand, nothing builds up forearm and shoulder muscles like kneading enough dough for a small military units...
In terms of plot development/derailment, how much of a monkey wrench is turning Grib's Tribe into allies for you? I'm having a hoot with it. Hopefully the other players are as well, so I don't steal too much of the spotlight.
(I now have this image of Hardin teaching Grib and Fiosa how to do Combat Expertise or Dodge as self defense training.)
Afterall, when it's time to deliver a come-uppance to Ulvauno, can you think of a better way to send the message that he's not worthy of our attentions than having Grib handle it? :)
I think even Freya might appreciate that...
How many temples of Iomedae are in Westcrown?
Three, although this is by far the largest. Iomedae "inherited" Aroden's temples and numerous shrines in the city, and as such holds the largest non-infernal footprint within Westcrown (and indeed, Cheliax as a whole). While the populace has largely been cowed into paying at least lip service to Asmodeus, the worship of Iomedae is fairly robust.
Do they have their own kitchens, or do they buy from local bakers? An argument can be made that they buy from local bakers due to economies if scale. On the other hand, nothing builds up forearm and shoulder muscles like kneading enough dough for a small military units...
Indeed. I'll say that this temple, at least, has kitchens, due to it's size, and it's nature as a sort of base of operations for Iomedaen worshippers.
In terms of plot development/derailment, how much of a monkey wrench is turning Grib's Tribe into allies for you? I'm having a hoot with it. Hopefully the other players are as well, so I don't steal too much of the spotlight.
It's a monkey wrench, but that's why we play the games :-)
Glad you're enjoying it! I think the others are fine - as someone said earlier (I think it was MoB), every game has spots where some players shine more than others - this is your time. I know I can speak for Tao's player when I say that he's pretty much the strong, silent type, and we shouldn't read anything into his radio silence. besides, he's in my weekly game, so he's not going anywhere.
(I now have this image of Hardin teaching Grib and Fiosa how to do Combat Expertise or Dodge as self defense training.)
Afterall, when it's time to deliver a come-uppance to Ulvauno, can you think of a better way to send the message that he's not worthy of our attentions than having Grib handle it? :)
I think even Freya might appreciate that...
Actually, I think this little alliance has a very narrative feel to it which is both complimentary to and born out of the AP itself. It's not an anticipated response, but, we'll do with it what we may!
There will be an in character post a bit later, so that Sarien and Freya can be snarky directly. :)
Possible scenes in the future:
The Enemy Of My Enemy Is Not My Friend; He's A PR Opportunity
A) Armigers get sent into the abandoned areas to either find rebels or clean out the Goblins of Gomluk's Clan. Who have made life inhospitable.
B) The Liberators (possibly with us) bail them out.
This does three things:
1) It reduces the Goblin Threat in the abandoned part of town.
2) It hopefully makes the lawfully constituted authorities look incompetent.
3) It makes the Liberators look like heroes.
Hearth and Home
Very simply, Grib asks Hardin for help - something injured members of his tribe, someone's sick, etc. Hardin goes down, heals, and takes the opportunity to do a little evangelizing.
The Undoing Of Ulvauno
At some point, Ulvauno will cross a line. I have few doubts that Freya could turn him into a puddle of festering goo without using any spells at all.
You know, lean up, act coy, let her centipede crawl into his ear. Cast a Fear spell that causes him to publicly soil his pants.
And then she stops playing nice...
However, having Grib available might be useful in that scene - though I see Ulvauno as Freya's 'set piece antagonist' might the same way the others see Grib as mine.
If the campaign runs long enough for me to hit 7th level, Leadership is on my wishlist for feats there. I'd be greatly amused if Grib was one of my cohort.
I can't speak for the others, but I will certainly be around until you hit 7th level :-)
With the holiday tomorrow (today? Man, when did it get THAT late?), I won't be around, I don't think. I will be back on Friday, and I'll try to be more active over the weekend.
Minor minor quibble for Joanna and Wander Weir:
One of the things that bugs me in D&D type games is when the shorthand for a character becomes the name of the class. EG "The Bard does X, the Paladin does Y." Or "I look at the Paladin..."
This is especially problematic with characters who have 'support roles' like cleric, druid and bard. They don't do anything flashy or ninja-like, they just sorta cause people to stop bleeding or provide ill defined game mechanic buffs. :) You have to work a little harder to make a cleric into a character rather than a walking bandage dispenser.
Mind finding a couple of different shorthand terms for Hardin other than "priest"? :)
The implication of a Lawful Good goddess of war are a little brain breaking when you examine them deeply.
"If we keep the men away from the whores, morale will suffer. Just make sure that the whores submit a price list to the command post and that it's honored, and make sure that men who abuse them are punished for battery."
I understand what you're saying but I'm voicing Sarien's prejudice when he refers to Hardin as the priest. He's just as likely to call Hardin the noble, which he finds to be equally distasteful. Anyway, the point is, it's intended to be an insult because he thinks so little of the faithful and nobility in general. So far, Sarien hasn't seen Hardin as anything more than the roles he has been given in society, both of which make him naturally distrustful. But if you prefer goody-two-shoes or boot-licker of the divine, accommodations can always be made... :)
Regardless, as a player I consider Hardin to be far more than just the support guy. It's just in roleplaying Sarien is naturally inclined to be as irritating as he can to people in Hardin's position.
I understand what you're saying but I'm voicing Sarien's prejudice when he refers to Hardin as the priest. He's just as likely to call Hardin the noble, which he finds to be equally distasteful. Anyway, the point is, it's intended to be an insult because he thinks so little of the faithful and nobility in general. So far, Sarien hasn't seen Hardin as anything more than the roles he has been given in society, both of which make him naturally distrustful. But if you prefer goody-two-shoes or boot-licker of the divine, accommodations can always be made... :)
Regardless, as a player I consider Hardin to be far more than just the support guy. It's just in roleplaying Sarien is naturally inclined to be as irritating as he can to people in Hardin's position.
Ditto. "Priest" and "holy man" are equal nicknames and equally dismissive in Freya's vocabulary. You'll find Freya actually very rarely uses people's actual names, preferring instead to use annoying nicknames, i.e., "street rat," "foofy," "massive manbeast," "mummy and daddy": Refusing to use (or even learn!) people's real names maintains emotional distance. You'll correspondingly notice that she does actually use Hardin's given name on occasion, an indication that she might really value him as a person somewhat, probably due to their past acquaintance.
@Wander: Now do you know what I mean? This thread is... You know as a matter of fact I'm no longer old enough to keep reading this thread! You all need some kind of Rating or something, this is just...just...as Wander put it so eloquently,
EWWWWWW!!!!! :)
Hey, team -
I owe you all an apology - I spent all night last night getting a map together, threw it on a USB stick...and promptly left the USB stick at home. As a result, there really won't be much to do today. Spend time on your other threads :-)
I heartily apologize. It's a nice map, though! Just wait till you see! *sigh*
J
I owe you all an apology - I spent all night last night getting a map together, threw it on a USB stick...and promptly left the USB stick at home. As a result, there really won't be much to do today. Spend time on your other threads :-)
I heartily apologize. It's a nice map, though! Just wait till you see! *sigh*
No problem. I did exactly the same thing with my lunch, so I know the feeling.
Don't sweat it. We appreciate you dumping all this time and effort into the game for us!
Just lets Freya sleep in longer. ;)
Just lets Freya sleep in longer. ;)
Yeah, all it really means is that the wagons are going to have to go back and forth for longer than expected before the bandits bite at the lure.
Hey, everybody -
Just wanted to drop everybody a note and let you know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth - I've just been very, very busy with beginning of the month duties at work and two kiddos at home.
We'll pick back up here shortly. My sincerest apologies, again.
DM, are we waiting on you for a map or initiative, or can Freya and Rauno react?
The two longbow lackeys also advance, and, seeing no other target of opportunity, train their bows on the shify rogue.
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23Ouch. Confirm?
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
Oh my. Damage:
Crit: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 x3 = 9 Damage
Regular: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 514 damage total
Hey, DM, I just noticed this. I think I caught a math error that might help Sarien out. Unless I've missed something somewhere, that crit on the longbow should have been 2 x 3 = 6, not 9. That's 3 extra HP he shouldn't have lost, I think.
Ah, you're absolutely correct, my humble apologies. It doesn't change the narrative, he'll still be down, but he'll be a bit better off at any rate. I'll throw a note in the game thread, in case he doesn't see it here.
Apologies. Teh maths r hard.
I can certainly appreciate 3 extra hit points. Thanks, Joana!
OK, so I think we should talk quickly about what your expectations are for obscuring mist. The way I generally rule this IRL is that if you're standing on the edge of the mist, you can see out and they can see you, although both parties have a 20% miss chance. The wording of this spell stinks, imo.
"A misty vapor arises around you. It is stationary. The vapor
obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. A
creature 5 feet away has concealment (attacks have a 20%
miss chance). Creatures farther away have total concealment
(50% miss chance, and the attacker cannot use sight to locate
the target)."
Since you're only 5 feet in to the area of effect, that's why I rule it that way. However, I'm much more concerned with the spell working the way you expected it to than it working the way I think it should, so allow me to ask; is that interpretation in-line with everyone's expectations, particularly yours, Joana?
That interpretation makes sense to me. It's not a solid wall on the edges, after all. Btw, I like your cube of obscuring mist on the map. :) Having to make maps on the computer certainly exacerbates the problem of circular spell effects in a grid-based world.
Yeah, that's really just me being lazy. It works to your advantage, anyway. I'll be using that interpretation of Obscuring Mist going forward (creatures on the edges can be seen, and attacked with a 20% miss chance, which they are also subject to if they attack out of the mist) going forward. I probably will give it it's correct shape, though :-\
"Fine," Freya shrugs. "If no one else cares he's dead, why should I?"
Ouch! :)
"Fine," Freya shrugs. "If no one else cares he's dead, why should I?"Ouch! :)
Hey, at least she cared enough to ask. Everyone else was just fighting all around him, stepping over his unconscious form....
That's what I have for Freya, too.
|
|
I honestly figure that we'll level when DM J says we do, so I don't sweat the individual XP awards. :)
What I'd like to know is this:
1) Hardin was bluffing about turning these guys over to the Knights of the Rack. Well. Sort of. He was hoping that Freya or Rauno would have a better idea.
(This is one way I'm trying to show off the differences between Hardin and Freya/Rauno. Hardin is better at making a good decision fast, because in combat, a decision right now is usually better than the perfect solution too late. But thinking of longer term solutions should really be the forte of our brainier party members.)
(I will cheerfully make suggestions OOC on this thread if you guys have problems.)
2) Hardin is now hoping that Sarien's 'street rat' abilities include shaking down people for information. Hardin's too diplomatic. Assuming that he actually lived, Hardin will cheerfully point out the guy that did in Sarien, and then say "No, no, I didn't hear anything...."
3) If Sarien isn't up to it, we'll have to find a way to smuggle them to SOMEPLACE secure, keep them isolated, and run "So and so has already talked; why don't you make things easier on yourself..." gambits on them. Or make sure their bodies are never found.
Interrogation scenes can be fun, but they tend to be about as fast as footraces through hip deep setting concrete in face to face sessions, and are likelier to be worse than that in PbP. And if they aren't fun for the majority of people playing in them, then they tend to founder.
Does anyone have ways to extract information from these guys?
Does anyone have a good idea for what to do with them after we've (presumably) wrung the information out of them that will be more useful to us than simply killing them?
I'm really hoping that this gives Sarien and Tao a turn to shine, playing Good Cop, Bad Cop and "You don't want to get the uptight Iomedean cleric involved. Trust me." respectively. ;)
On XPs: One PbP I'm in doesn't track XPs; the DM just tells us "Bing! You leveled up after that encounter," and it works out well. Of course, that involves the DM either keeping a running XP total or following cues in the module that say, "PCs should be x level at such-and-such a point."
On interrogation scenes: Rather than playing out the whole thing, we could do a little scene setting dialogue, then make the relevant rolls, list the questions we want answered, and have the DM give us the clues he wants us to have, with the understanding that fluff-wise there's more give-and-take going on between the characters. Kind of an interrogation montage. Freya can learn charm person, although she doesn't have it now, if we wanted to hold them overnight.
On what to do with the bandits: In a perfect world, we could frame them for Arael's rescue and deflect any heat that might be looking for us. Maybe dress them in green cloaks and put an incriminating note in their pockets or the map Janiven drew of the Hellknights' route to the citadel, with the bridge and turn-off marked?
Charm Person would be useful, so is Hypnosis (another favorite spell of mine).
Of course, we could mention to the leader that we're holding his children as a guarantee of his good behavior...
Rauno rolled a pretty good bluff in the game thread. Let's hope they don't have high Sense Motives.
Freya's last 5 d20 rolls have been single digits. I'm hoping that portends a long streak of good dice luck later.
Freya's last 5 d20 rolls have been single digits. I'm hoping that portends a long streak of good dice luck later.
I've had the same problem in another pbp. One can always hope. It's frustrating that you can't just grab another set of dice like gaming at a table.
FYI, we are approaching some of Hardin's in character boundaries.
1) He left prisoners that he feels responsible for the well-being of with Sarien. Hardin feels that he made the least bad choice on that...but there's a part of him that is secretly afraid that the wagons will arrive empty and a story about how they broke free and were killed trying to escape. Or suffered five unfortunate simultaneous cases of hemorrhagic kidney punctures when using a bush to relieve themselves.
Indeed, one of the reasons why he's NOT going to the Temple of Aroden this evening is because he's really afraid that might have happened, and he at least wants to meditate and seek guidance before he confronts that possibility.
So, if something happens to the prisoners, you've got an evening where Hardin isn't around to get your stories straight...
2) Joanna, Hardin is clinging to the hope that Freya didn't realize just how deeply and profoundly she insulted him. But that bit about "Maybe I'll forgive you. But not tonight?" And being scrupulously fair about putting the decision (and its consequences) in her lap?
Yeah, Hardin feels he's owed an apology. Big time.
I'm having a bit of a rough time with the concept that Hardin is just going to make a decision (keep the bandits alive, tie them up and throw them in a wagon) and race off to have another entire scene of dialogue with Freya without the rest of us having the chance to intercede or respond.
It's as though Sarien's response to Hardin's actions never happened, or happened as Hardin ignored him and rode away. Which certainly isn't going to make Sarien particularly inclined to simply obey Hardin.
And on top of that, forcing Freya to retcon her own actions seems a little bit uneven as well. It'd have taken time to have the interrogation and follow-up conversations, see that the bandits are in a wagon and all the weapons brought together and stored in the second wagon.
So at the moment, I'm not entirely sure how to handle the situation. Does Sarien cause a fuss as he'd be inclined to do with Hardin riding off willy nilly like that? Or do I just let it all be bygones and forget my character's natural response and roll with it?
Honestly, I'm not sure what the right answer is.
Probably, the right answer is for me to give things a fair chance to proceed, and not move it along so fast.
Your concerns are duly noted, I apologize. Please consider that my fault.
And handle it however you think Sarien would handle it. That said, I am growing slightly concerned about the aggressive/confrontational nature of the roleplay. It's something that most adventuring parties go through, but they usually gain a mutual understanding of each other and grow together from the experience. I am slightly concerned that that's not what's happening here on all fronts - but that remains to be seen, we are, after all, 2nd level. By all means, carry on - but do let's try to not become so dysfunctional that we actually can't function, eh?