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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
I was mostly curious if he's heard of the place at all, or if it's a complete mystery. Either way, he'll definitely take this deal. And I hope we'll investigate; it's sure to be horribly dangerous lots of fun!
Forbidden Lore: Warp (71): [roll0]
Yep, that seems about right. I knew that Evaluate roll was too good for me. :smalltongue:
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
All you'd know offhand is the really common stuff. It's one of the Stations of Passage in the Maw, it has an ominous name, people don't like to stay there for too long.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Leon
How large is the statue and do we have any idea what the material is.
Roughly two meters. Some variety of stone.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Hilarious. I was the first to post in this thread as a player and forgot to sub to it and wondered why everyone was quiet...
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Yeah, I've done that. It's why I always keep the sub to the old threads for a while, just in case.
Anyways, I believe I need a roll here. The Astropath is casting at Fettered strength, in order to avoid phenomena.
[roll0]
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Destro_Yersul
The one painting, especially with Anika's mention of Landunder, did get Macharius thinking, though. He'd heard of some art gallery or other getting destroyed on that planet, shortly before it was supposed to open a new exhibit. Details had been scarce, of course, and a lot of the promotional materials had mysteriously disappeared. Actually that whole sector had been briefly locked down, come to think of it, and the signature looked right... this painting might have been by the same artist. Macharius couldn't recall his name at the moment, though, and if anybody really knew what had happened there they weren't saying.
Oooh, I forgot all about this, but Sun Lee told Anika and Kennoch about this way back at the banquet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Destro_Yersul
From there, the conversation turned away from business, and towards art. Apparently there had been some interesting developments on Landunder, recently - one of the major art galleries had been destroyed in some sort of incident. Nobody knew exactly what sort, and any attempts to gather more information had been stonewalled immediately. The lack of detail and shutdown of all inquiries probably meant the Inquisition was involved somehow, but of course that sort of thing was impossible to prove. The upshot for the traders was that a number of works by famous artists had been lost, and surviving works had thus greatly increased in value. The Monk looked pleased to hear this, saying he owned several. Lorenzo asked Echo if the Castermires had much interest in artwork.
Sounds like a plot hook to me! Might be fun to look into it. Or at least get a great price for this painting, since it's now rarer than before.
Also, in that same banquet post, Morwenna had some investment advice that Macharius might want to think about, while we're on the right planet for it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Destro_Yersul
"Sibellus is the prestigious spot," Morwenna said, "but Tarsus is where all the money is. I have a contact with House Krin. Open an account with them, and buy in as an investor on some of the trading houses. Then you make money no matter what's actually being sold."
She smiled. "I also have a short list of companies I personally feel are worth buying into. They're from across the sector, but all of them are traded on the Scintillan markets. Tesseract is an interesting one - they're out of Gunpoint, and have just acquired an agreement with the Mechanicus for the manufacture of high-end civilian vehicles. I've seen some of their aircars. Most luxurious."
Speaking of plot hooks in general, do we want to try doing anything about the Spire Stalker proactively, as opposed to just seeing if they attack us (which would be a hell of a coincidence) or Anika's family while we're here? I suspect Destro might've just mentioned it as setting fluff, but I'm happy to help bring down a famous serial killer for fun and profit. Investigating the issue could give us a cool reason to meet Hax. Surely we'd be well-rewarded if we can manage it (well, assuming that the killer isn't his niece, in which case we might be in a real bit of trouble even if we succeed).
Whoops, misread--or misinterpreted--Destro's post a bit there. I thought he meant that the Astropath was seeing God-machines busting up cities on the half-planet, which seems like the sort of thing you might well find on a Chaos world, but on reflection I think that was meant to be what Zylane sees of Alessaunder and his ally's plan, yeah? Sounds like they're ambitious indeed. I edited to reflect that.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Good recall, Blarghy! I'd forgotten about that. We should definitely look into the painting more. I'll edit my post to have Macharius not say to leave it- he's been far too reasonable lately. And yeah, I was thinking he should go invest once we finish up here.
As to the spire stalker, hunting him/her/it down would be good fun. It would also do wonders for our relationship with the nobility, and possibly garner us some favors.
Very coincidentally, I was just reading through the Black Crusade books this week for ideas and thought that half-planet sounded really cool from its writeup.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Oh, the Hollows is great. The whole Screaming Vortex is great, IMO. Like I've said before, I'll be plenty satisfied to just fight Alessaunder anywhere; that was part of my thinking with my pitch to Destro, having him based aboard the Bitter Truth, so that he has flexibility in terms of the plot. Could show up wherever is most convenient, if need be. I definitely get why most of the command staff would prefer to not go poking around with Chaos. But...I would be quite delighted if we grow very powerful, build up a huge fleet, amass an alliance of other Rogue Traders, Navy ships, Astartes, and the Inquisition, and lead our armada into the Vortex to raze the Gloaming Worlds, lay siege to the Hollows, shatter the Castermare fleet, capture or kill Alessaunder himself, and then run like hell. :smallbiggrin: I have no illusions that we could properly conquer and purge the Screaming Vortex, but I think that eventually we could deal a lot of damage to it, make Calixis and the Expanse a good bit safer as a result, and be known as Big Damn Heroes for our legendary efforts. For the glory of the Emperor!
But that's certainly years and years off, so until we're even ready to entertain the possibility, I'll just enjoy my daydreams. Misson is a much more attainable matter for the foreseeable future, and Quinn, and Port Davis, let alone general exploration and our basket of side projects. Tons and tons of things to do.
The "shadow" that the Astropath spoke of is quite interesting to me, of course. Kennoch hasn't mentioned this yet, because he himself doesn't know much about it, but Alessaunder was exiled for some forgotten matter about a half-millennium ago. Similar to Kennoch himself, but we'll get to that in time. Around the same time, the Castermires had to abandon their home planet, downgrading from a Magisterial House to Nomadic, from which they've never recovered. I left it up to Destro to decide what happened and how Alessaunder was involved, so this is a delightful mystery to me, one I look forward to digging into. Among the Castermires, only the top elders would perhaps know anything about it, and only Alessaunder himself is old enough to remember personally; Kennoch's grandmother and Novator is probably just a third of his age, and all his other relatives would be even younger. The "shadow" may or may not be related or central to this issue. What could possibly scare a 600-year-old formerly-pure-genes-turned-Renegade Navis, Champion of Chaos, Novator of his House, allied to heretek archmagi and who-knows-what-else? I can't wait to find out and help stick a metaphorical bolter in whatever passes for its face.
But again, years and years off, I'm sure.
More immediately, if we have any success with the Spire Stalker, perhaps we could use that goodwill in part to turn Scintillian nobility against Quinn. Even Hax himself, which seems like a serious blow to the whole Quinn dynasty. Macharius could "casually mention" his concerns and troubles with the guy and seriously mess up his business in Calixis. Speaking of, to remind you about something else when Macharius goes to make investments:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Destro_Yersul
The Rumour Mill
Anika's overtures to the Kasballica returned quickly. Malfi was relatively nearby, and her friends remembered her fondly enough. As it happened, Quinn's ship had passed through the system recently, and he'd made some property purchases before continuing on. Unfortunately real-estate speculation wasn't exactly a smoking gun, but his next destination had been Vaxanide. While that world did have legitimate industries, it was a little out of the way unless you were already heading Spinward, and its chequered past spoke of other, less savoury opportunities as well.
Could be worth asking about (and then attempting to sabotage), if Macharius gets the chance. Anika tried to dig into the matter, but I don't think she got an answer, at least not that I can find.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Haval
Astropathic message to Morwenna
'I was wondering if I could prevail on you to give the name of whoever's handling your property investments. Your suggestion for Macharius to invest in something obvioisly have merit, but we would like to keep an eye on whatever business Tristan Quinn is currently involved in back in Calixis. Failing actually placing someone on his ship I'd say asking enough of the right people will have to suffice for now.The man has been spreading scurrilous rumours about Macharius and we are currently delayed as a result. I suspect it's only a matter of time until all this turns violent.'
Destro, did I miss that response, or has Morwenna's reply just not arrived? That could be a possible cause for concern, by this time. I wonder if Macharius's special lady could be in trouble.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Blarghy
Oooh, I forgot all about this, but Sun Lee told Anika and Kennoch about this way back at the banquet.
Sounds like a plot hook to me! Might be fun to look into it. Or at least get a great price for this painting, since it's now rarer than before.
It's actually a slightly cheeky reference to another game that I ran. You guys are welcome to go look at Landunder if that's what you want to do, of course.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PotatoGolem
Very coincidentally, I was just reading through the Black Crusade books this week for ideas and thought that half-planet sounded really cool from its writeup.
Abort! Abort! GM secrets discovered! <insert klaxons>
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Blarghy
Destro, did I miss that response, or has Morwenna's reply just not arrived? That could be a possible cause for concern, by this time. I wonder if Macharius's special lady could be in trouble.
Nothing more sinister than my memory, I'm afraid; I'd forgotten you had sent her a message. Her reply should be arriving shortly.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Destro_Yersul
Abort! Abort! GM secrets discovered! <insert klaxons>
Security Breech in Sector DM
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Blarghy
Oh, the Hollows is great. The whole Screaming Vortex is great, IMO. Like I've said before, I'll be plenty satisfied to just fight Alessaunder anywhere; that was part of my thinking with my pitch to Destro, having him based aboard the Bitter Truth, so that he has flexibility in terms of the plot. Could show up wherever is most convenient, if need be. I definitely get why most of the command staff would prefer to not go poking around with Chaos. But...I would be quite delighted if we grow very powerful, build up a huge fleet, amass an alliance of other Rogue Traders, Navy ships, Astartes, and the Inquisition, and lead our armada into the Vortex to raze the Gloaming Worlds, lay siege to the Hollows, shatter the Castermare fleet, capture or kill Alessaunder himself, and then run like hell. :smallbiggrin: I have no illusions that we could properly conquer and purge the Screaming Vortex, but I think that eventually we could deal a lot of damage to it, make Calixis and the Expanse a good bit safer as a result, and be known as Big Damn Heroes for our legendary efforts. For the glory of the Emperor!
Yeah, I really like the Screaming Vortex. It's weird and gonzo and a nice blend between real and unreal. Haha although entering areas like that tends to have... negative effects. How many people stay sane and loyal trying to fight in the Eye? That would be a bad-ass end to that storyline though.
In any case, I should buy some Sanctified weapons if we're going to be fighting Chaos. Can never have too much holy water/fire! Maybe take the Witch-Finder career path? Destro, did we capture any psykers on our pirate ships an/or do Navigators count for witch-finding?
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PotatoGolem
Yeah, I really like the Screaming Vortex. It's weird and gonzo and a nice blend between real and unreal. Haha although entering areas like that tends to have... negative effects. How many people stay sane and loyal trying to fight in the Eye?
That's why we try to enlist the Astartes, Inquisition, and Ecclesiarchy! Get that professional help. Although by the time it ever becomes relevant, I would hope we'd all have very high stats, resistances, bonuses from special items, and whatnot. I don't see it happening any time soon.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PotatoGolem
Yeah, I really like the Screaming Vortex. It's weird and gonzo and a nice blend between real and unreal. Haha although entering areas like that tends to have... negative effects. How many people stay sane and loyal trying to fight in the Eye? That would be a bad-ass end to that storyline though.
In any case, I should buy some Sanctified weapons if we're going to be fighting Chaos. Can never have too much holy water/fire! Maybe take the Witch-Finder career path? Destro, did we capture any psykers on our pirate ships an/or do Navigators count for witch-finding?
Hmm. I think for something like a career entry, and especially with the way Witch-Finder is worded, I'd prefer to have it play out more directly than as a result of something like boarding actions. I'd say Navigators would count, but you would need to fight and incapacitate one on a more personal level. If that's something you'd like to work towards, I can keep it in mind.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Blarghy
That's why we try to enlist the Astartes, Inquisition, and Ecclesiarchy! Get that professional help. Although by the time it ever becomes relevant, I would hope we'd all have very high stats, resistances, bonuses from special items, and whatnot. I don't see it happening any time soon.
Yeah, that would be a sweet end-(or near-end-) campaign battle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Destro_Yersul
Hmm. I think for something like a career entry, and especially with the way Witch-Finder is worded, I'd prefer to have it play out more directly than as a result of something like boarding actions. I'd say Navigators would count, but you would need to fight and incapacitate one on a more personal level. If that's something you'd like to work towards, I can keep it in mind.
Makes sense. I hadn't really thought about the ACR until now, but he will now look for some witches to subdue before we work our way up to slapping daemons. Luckily, Echo wants us to go to the Witch-Cursed World, which sounds like a good place to find a hostile psyker or two. Non-lethally defeating a psyker is probably the bigger problem- Macharius will have to switch tactics a bit. A thunder hammer isn't great for taking people in alive.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Well, that's two 1s on my shopping trip, sadly neither for the Null Rod where I needed a 3 or less.
Summary of certain purchases: Blessed Edge on all melee weapons Macharius and the Praetorians have, Condemnor bolters for the Praetorians, at least a common-quality witch lance, an Eos Star Amulet, and Rosarii for the Praetorians. The Emperor felt extremely strongly about the bolters and Rosarii. Praetorian quipment is only enough for the 5-man team, not the eventual 100. They can live with regular bolters and no force fields.
Rolls where Opposed Commerce might matter: psyk-out grenades for both him and the team, better-quality witch lances
Definitely no: the Null Rod :(
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
I rolled some dice. Macharius was able to buy one Psyk-Out grenade for himself.
Also man, you guys have bought a ton of stuff recently. I'm going to say no more equipment acquisitions for a while, until your funds have had a chance to rebuild.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Destro_Yersul
Also man, you guys have bought a ton of stuff recently. I'm going to say no more equipment acquisitions for a while, until your funds have had a chance to rebuild.
Was waiting for that.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PotatoGolem
Makes sense. I hadn't really thought about the ACR until now, but he will now look for some witches to subdue before we work our way up to slapping daemons. Luckily, Echo wants us to go to the Witch-Cursed World, which sounds like a good place to find a hostile psyker or two. Non-lethally defeating a psyker is probably the bigger problem- Macharius will have to switch tactics a bit. A thunder hammer isn't great for taking people in alive.
If Destro is willing to allow Navigators for the prerequisite, Echo would love the help catching a Castermare. He's already got his eye on a few, based on Sargon's information. I'm sure that battling a proper psyker, lethally or not, is a lot tougher though. They seem pretty scary. Not as scary as an average nameless ork, perhaps, as we've seen firsthand, but still quite deadly.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Blarghy
If Destro is willing to allow Navigators for the prerequisite, Echo would love the help catching a Castermare. He's already got his eye on a few, based on Sargon's information. I'm sure that battling a proper psyker, lethally or not, is a lot tougher though. They seem pretty scary. Not as scary as an average nameless ork, perhaps, as we've seen firsthand, but still quite deadly.
Yeah orks are serious business, and are a key reason I've upgunned my bodyguards so much. They can now fight battle tanks or Troop-quality orks. Maybe we'll stick to punching out Navigators.
Also, sorry for the delay in posting- thought I'd posted, but apparently I just wrote the reply and never hit submit post.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PotatoGolem
Also, sorry for the delay in posting- thought I'd posted, but apparently I just wrote the reply and never hit submit post.
I've done that. All good.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
https://forums.giantitp.com/showsing...&postcount=309
I was going to check where we were on the Visscher subplot and I found this. I think it predates Echo finding out about it from Sargon but still, Morwenna has a Visscher Navigator.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
You didn't capture Sargon until well after the party, but yes. Morwenna's Primus is from House Visscher.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Ooooh. I missed that entirely; nice catch! I'd agree to contacting Morwenna about it, but I still think we should track down the Pyrel before we talk to her, or Winterscale or the Magos-Commodore. I stand by my earlier prediction that the news will be better received if we have proof, in the form of an impersonator we've caught red-handed. We have every right and reason to target Misson's pirates, so nobody can fault us for doing that much, and once we've confirmed Sargon's information (he may well be wrong or outright lying; can't dismiss those possibilities), we could think about who else to approach. Furthermore, if we're lucky, Mayes might have another map fragment, and possibly a waystation we can add to our collection. I assume/hope that it would be easier to find one of Misson's bases--and therefore the pirates who use it--than the ship itself, so we could approach it from that angle.
Also, looked back and found this bit of info, to add to our consideration:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Destro_Yersul
Re: The Pyrel: Anika has heard of this ship. Sargon meant what he said quite literally. It's a Hellbringer-class light cruiser, under the command of another of Misson's subordinate captains.
I assume a light cruiser would be a nice addition to the fleet!
I wanted to add, though, that we don't have to rush to this next unless you all just want to. I'm fine with asking for information in the background as we go about other business. I was actually thinking that it could be fun and profitable to have a look at our colony when we get back to the Expanse. See how it's developed since the last time we landed and spend a chapter doing some proper exploration of the planet. Destro mentioned that he has a bunch of notes on the place, and we've hardly examined it at all. Just something to consider, along with any other possible adventures the rest of you might want to suggest. I definitely don't want to monopolize our endeavors (even if you've been chasing Misson's people since before I came to the game anyway). I think pirate hunts are delightful, but so is everything else this crew gets up to, so I'm happy to do whatever, so long as we get back around to Echo's business eventually. The Castermares probably won't invade and devastate the Imperium while we amuse ourselves with other pursuits. :smallwink:
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
I should say in passing that a Hellbringer is a Chaos vessel. In game terms it might only count as a very old ship with some bad associations, but that also includes the Sting.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
I'd put it at worse associations than the Sting has. A known and active Chaos class of vessel.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Yeah. I can see that going one of two ways depending on Destro. I don't think it's something that Anika has any reason to know though.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
I guess all of our ships would have negative reputations, since we don't take them off of nice people. I would hope there's some means of "purifying" a bad vessel. They take decades or centuries to build, so just sailing them into the nearest star seems like a waste. Surely the Navy and other such organizations have protocols for redeeming them when they're captured. If we're unable to do it ourselves, maybe we can sell those sorts of ships to the Navy or whoever. In the worst case, we could probably break them down for materials, but that strikes me as a bit of a shame, if there's any way around it.
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Mere pirate vessels can be just refit and have the Databanks purged if needed but an actual Enemy vessel would be destroyed and Any sensible person wouldn't crew it otherwise
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Re: Sea of Stars - OOC III
Ok, selling the statue to colleges is worth 50 Achievement points. They're not rich enough to afford you even one point of PF, but they are convenient and not illegal. Shall I put those towards the Terminus?