Where is the drow currently being held? A proper prison?
I would say we spread two rumors - one that he is being transferred to the old tower and one that he is being transferred to another prison. Then we send guards to watch one, while we do the other. With luck the criminals will hear both and have to divide their forces, giving us an edge.
@GM: Regarding the location for Diguri that Tomlin knew of from before, does Tomlin remember where that was? Was it actually looked into or was the investigation just dropped?
The location was a small apartment, deserted when the city watch looked into it and void of any clues. It had shown recent use, but whoever had been living there vacated it and cleaned out whatever may have been there. They kept an eye on the place for several months, but nothing ever came up.
The drow is currently being held in a cell below the southern gate house at the western gate of the city.
Sadly, Aurelion is out of town again for the rest of the weekend (yes, he travels a lot). GM, would you like me to just take over for him for the weekend? He did say he would post but...well, he hasn't been. I'm sure he wouldn't mind me posting for him, but I won't if you would prefer to. I hate having everyone wait for us. I really do feel bad guys! =\
Go ahead and post for him.
Ha! He finally posted. =) Maybe he'll keep it up.
I'd say we spread two rumors, one that we are moving the drow to the old abandoned tower and another that we are moving him to a secure prison in three days time.
Which location will he actually be moved to?
Will the group be moving him? Leaving that up to the guards to move him? Other?
@Valdr: what's your reasoning behind spreading two rumors?
My thought would be to spread a rumor that the drow will be moved to the abandoned tower in three day's time, and that the abandoned tower is secretly a govt prison (hence the reason for the move). In truth the drow never moves at all, we just double the guard there at the last moment. The party then escorts one of our own (whomever would have the best disguise check to pass as a prisoner-hooded drow) in disguise as the drow to the abandoned tower and we hole up there to await whomever comes.
I'm not married to this plan, criticize at will! If we do it this way though, we should also scout out the tower in advance to ensure there aren't additional complications.
I like Tomlin's plan. Certainly we don't want to put the drow at real risk, and putting out multiple rumors would only lower the chances of success on our part, as we would have to split up to keep an eye on both locations.
I'm quite fond of Tomlin's plan, too.
sounds good.
My thoughts were Tomlin's plan, but with a modification.
The reason for the two rumors was to split the assassins. We know that there are (at least) four of them. That could prove dangerous especially if they get the drop on us. As such, we'd spread the rumor about the abandoned tower and one of the other guard houses.
We then send out a patrol to the old ruins (without actually entering - after all the rumors could be true) and we have an escort bring the "Drow" (I was thinking I'd be disguised as the drow - thanks to my hat of disguise, but anyone could do) to the other prison. Meanwhile we keep the drow in his current location, but maybe more him to a deeper cell just in case they check for such a deception.
See my thoughts were that we force them to split up, while keeping our unit together.
@Valdr: I doubt the 4 will split up to track the two rumors. They may plan to go after both in one night, which could be really bad news for the guards at the false location. If you're suspecting more assassins than the 4, then a two locations plan would have merit but I'm thinking it's "just" the 4.
Valdr may have the best diguise check with his hat, especially given that he is also medium sized. So Valdr being the decoy-drow makes sense.
I'm not sure I'm as fond of fighting the 4 in front of the old ruins. That gives them better escapability and an easier time getting the jump on us. We don't need to go deep into the ruins (inside the front door might work fine) but it would seem to me that we should scout out the old ruin before we go in either case.
The larger consensus looks to be in favor of a single location. Which location then is the question. The prison or the abandoned watch tower?
I think the consensus is the abandoned watchtower. We would spread a rumor that it is secretly a holding facility for govt prisoners and separately spread a rumor that the drow would be moved in 3 days time. The drow stays put where he is, with extra security precautions there. The party then goes to the abandoned watchtower with Valdr disguised as the drow.
The part(s) of the plan we haven't totally ironed out yet deal with the "2 locations" angle and where to plan on being attacked by the assassins. Barring additional info from Valdr, I'm still voting for just using the watchtower and not involving a second location at all. Likewise, I still believe that we should plan to make our stand just inside the abandoned watchtower rather than outside. The day prior to the transfer we should also scout out the watchtower to eliminate any "haunted house" wildcards.
UNRELATED: @GM, the page's summons for the Merchant Guild...where we expecting this? Is this related to the idea for them to be able to give their guards more latitude?
You and Valdr had indicated you wanted to talk to those they had investigating the Jumai incident to trade information.
Okay, unless I hear anything contrary by tomorrow afternoon I'll put out the rumor that the drow is being moved to the abandoned watch tower, 3 days hence. Which would be the day following the public meeting.
@GM: Could you describe the relationship between the Merchant's Guild and the Mageocracy a bit more? I'm particularly wondering how keen some of the Tower's more radical elements are regarding the Merchants having anything resembling a semi-autonomous police force of its own. Is this embraced? Just accepted? Frowned upon? Against the law? Just wanting to get an idea of how enthusiastically the mageocracy would embrace our group working this closely with an exterior unit.
It is accepted. The Merchant's Guild has a fair bit of political influence. It is expected though they any measures they take within the city would involve turning things over to the city magistrates for prosecution.
The mage's would 'like' to see the guilds power diminished, but recognize such as unrealistic. The merchant's do need their caravan guards, and personal guards for shops/persons.
One way to think of it is in the fashion movies/tv shows typically portray the relationship between private investigators and police. The police view the PI's as a bit nosy, sometimes getting in the way, not always entirely ethical, but in a case like what you are in now they do provide additional resources to help solve the crime.
That relationship has been strained of late because of increasing tariff's and increasing crime, but they have had a working relationship for many years.
While we wait for the DM's explanation of that. I am going to go ahead and drop my illusion. Ultimately it will avail them little to know what Valdr "really" looks like and it will help toward generating some trust. We can play our hands close to our chests for the most part, but I don't want to resort to threats just yet. If they will cooperate in this, who knows what else they might assist us with.
I am not going to out tomlin or tunny however. Better if they think Tomlin a high ranking beauracrat and Tunny a guardsman.
Tavrus, I didn't mention this previously as Valdr would be loathe to employ necromancy, however maybe we need more information and your talents are the only means to obtain it. Perhaps a Speak with dead could be of use to us? Surely we have access to the body of at least one of the individuals murdered? They might know who murdered them and why.
I can memorize that spell up to 2x/day, will eat into some healing. or i could get scrolls.
The spell allows for up to 1 week to pass. Why don't we fetch two of the bodies from the recent murder string and begin questioning them?
Ideally before we move the drow or other such activities where your spells will be needed for other things.
The Speak with Dead idea is a good one. One spell ought to give us some quality info.
Good call Valdr. I will do that GM. Bring me which bodies and what questions.
Maybe Valdr should stay behind when others go to the tower? Last time all of us left the city a ghastly string of murders was committed. I am merely worried that while we are away, the rats will 'play'. I could call for backup from the merchants if needed.
Maybe Valdr should stay behind when others go to the tower? Last time all of us left the city a ghastly string of murders was committed. I am merely worried that while we are away, the rats will 'play'. I could call for backup from the merchants if needed.
At present I'd like to discourage this. I'm not anticipating any activity happening that Valdr would be able to get involved with or take part in over the next two days (game time) - so it would likely result in you sitting on the sidelines while the rest of the group looks into the tower.
Very busy in RL right now, sorry for lack of posting. Will try to get something up later today.
Yeah, I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to drop out of this game.
With my school and work schedule only promising to get busier from here on out, and a new computer giving me a wealth of other things to do, I just don't have nearly as much time for PbP games anymore.
I want to thank you all for letting me play with you, and especially you, GM Ascension, for putting all this together. I wish you all the best.
Goodluck, Akane, sorry to lose you, but I totally understand. Even when I do have time I forget to post too often. =\
Thanks for the heads up Akane.
I will GM run for character for now. If anyone has a friend they believe would be interested in joining let me know.
i shot a message to a friend of mine. not sure if he is looking for another game, the one he was in with me kinda died out (GM disappeared)
@Valdr: Great new pic!
Thanks. I was never very happy with the old one.
yeah i was thinking the same thing myself, new picture is much better.
the only problem with the good pics is that many people use them. for instance, Tomlin's picture is being used by PCs in two of my other games. so i get a little confused sometimes.
@Tenro: agreed. Hard to find one just right. Actually, Tomlin's pic is way more anime than I really think of him, but when you go halfling ninja your options are limited.
So...this is the point where if we were sitting around an actual tabletop that I'd be looking for input from the other players. Any thoughts on how to handle the folks we've found in this tower?
I have no idea who these people are, so I think we need to parlay with them, much as it could be dangerous.
They could be squatters, bandits, or curious adventurers. Possibly something worse as well. I think we need to see what their purpose is here and divine the truth from them, but without revealing our own affiliation. 'Maybe we are but adventurers exploring the rumors'
Just a FYI, been pretty busy at work lately, with some expected overtime coming up. I should be able to continue to post once a day, but if I end up missing a day that is why.
Also I will be out of town from June 8-15. I may be able to post some, but probably very limited.
Not sure at all what the purpose of these guys are. It looks like they might be lepers or something who have hidden out here.
I'm not too intent on attacking them without cause - So I will wait for Aurelion's diplomatic approach first.
I think I'm going to give the banter one more round too, not sure what to make of this just yet. FWIW....Aurelion has a met -1 in Diplomacy, so this may not go anywhere.
The talking is up. Adzak wanted to kill the first one up through the hole.
I was waiting a while, but my character is finally doing something along the lines of what he was designed for. Magical attack and support, with arcane knowledge.
Elsewhere in the world right now there is a major battle going on (a PvP fight). Currently it is running at the rate of about one round of combat every four days real life time because of the very back and forth style of the combat with interwoven initiatives and AoO's. (i.e., one or two players take a turn, the other side has one or two players take a turn, etc).
First question then - would that pace be okay for you or would you like to see the pace a little bit faster? Note that for myself I'm indifferent to the pace - for me the game runs at whatever pace the players post at (and I have time to keep up with if they are posting multiple times per day).
If you want to see it faster I have a couple of ideas on this.
First: Players are paired in groups of 3 for initiative on each side.
So for example, if the six people in your group roll a 20, 15, 10, 8, 6, 4 for initiatives then I average three initiative scores each.
So the players who rolled 20, 15, and 10 get an average init of 15 – and all 3 players move on the 15 initiative. Likewise the players who rolled 8, 6, and 4 get an average of 6, all acting on init 6. This will still leave potential back and forth between groups, but will reduce it to a maximum of 2 alteration sets per round instead of a potential maximum of 6 per round.
Second: 24 hour posting time limit. At the point when I indicate it is your turn to take an action you have 24 hours to post an action. (not counting time over the weekend – Saturday and Sunday - or major holidays such as upcoming Memorial day). If you do not post in that time frame I could either make you auto-delay your actions (this could be bad as potentially if you are out for a couple of days you could completely miss your turn). Or I post actions on your behalf – I can almost guarantee you I won't make the choice you yourself would make, so this could also be bad for you. Of course if you expect to be out of town you can let me know and ask another player from your group to take actions for you during the interim, or give me instructions of what to do anticipating as best you can how the battle might play out while you are gone. e.g., cast a buff spell if our group is all close enough together, or cast disabling spells on enemies within 30', or what have you.
Thoughts?
both ideas sound good. other pbps i am in do one or both of those things.
I agree, both those sound good, though I actually lean in the direction of number 2 - for while my character is terrible at initiative, I would not want to spoil the needed high initiative of someone like Tomlin, who relies on getting the drop on someone.
We should have left the demons alone here - then the dang assassins/thieves could have fought them. Of course, why or where these demons came from is a question that our superiors will likely want answered... if we survive.
I would prefer Option 2. As Valdr indicated, for some characters (selfishly, mine included) initiative can be fairly critical and would rather not get lumped in.
I agree with option 2, although I fear that may be problem for me... I'll just have to try to post more often. =)
I wonder what two groups are in PVP combat? Or could it be inter-group combat? My guess would be that the Merchant's found a lead that we missed and/or the group we've been hunting found the merchants and thought they were us.
I hope all this effort to set up this trap at the tower doesn't end up being for nothing. Still, maybe we will discover why demons are here.