Anauroch: Empire of Shade OOC

[rax]

@Bel

Hey there,

No I'm not sweating it. The Harpers can certainly be over the top in their parlances and intrigues, it's part and parcel of their propaganda and being just about the worst kept secret in the Realms. So yes a lot of it is intentional, and a certain amount of scoffery is to be expected, even among the populaces of Faerun.

I'll post the truncated backstory and some other info, to get a sense of the character's central tensions, and to give some meta-knowledge to help facilitate things a bit, spoilered for anyone that wants it. but I'll leave off a few things and not include the sheet just yet, as there's at least one more big reveal coming later on.

And I'll just add that it's difficult to play the 'in-the-know' guy without coming off slightly condescending to the table (bards also, to a large extent) if it isn't also mollified by a bumbling wizard archetype, which Ixtalan certainly isn't. I totally accept that, and the attendant baggage that comes with it. I do think some of those challenges are made worse over text, where delivery and context can be hard to infer off the page.

I'll note that Aubryn specifically finds it hilarious to tease people he finds stuck up or self-important. He's a firm believer in the idea that it's healthy for everyone to be able to laugh at themselves. This currently makes Lune an immediate target for his mirth - Harper or not.

In a wider sense, though, it's also important to keep in mind that this group consists of highly experienced adventurers, who have likely handled a vast array of dangers in their day. For his part, Aubryn also literally rubs shoulders with some of the main movers and shakers west of the Sea of Fallen Stars. As a result, he's highly unlikely to be either shocked or impressed by any "secret knowledge" Lune may have, the people he knows, or whatever missions he's been on before. If Lune pushes the "I'm mysterious and know more than any of you"-schtick too far, Aubryn will likely conclude that Lune thinks he's better than the rest of the team, something which will not engender respect on his part.

[BelGareth]

Mechanically speaking:

he is a monk
he can channel ancestors that grant:
-bonus to hit/damage + immunity to fear
-bonus to hide/move.s + sneak attack (2d6)
-Eldritch blast (4d6 at 60ft)
-bonus to saves (+4) and DR 8\cold iron

He can only channel one, in two levels he can channel two at a time.

His last ancestor will be unlocked next level, and that one is spicy...can't wait.

[Nines]

...snipped

Spoiler: Re @Rax

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Regarding Aubryn's opinions on Ixtalan's personality, I suppose we can agree to disagree a bit there. One man's cultured is another man's pretension, and I'm sure the characters would come to similar conclusions. I guess I would just be more concerned whether Rax the player holds those beliefs, rather than just Aubryn. If that's the case, and it's just being veiled through the lens of the character, then yes I would be more concerned of potential issues downstream. Hopefully not, though.

As to the knowing Elminster bit, he's a seasoned, ranking Harper, of course he knows Elminster. That's basically canon as El used to lead the Harpers at one point (for anyone who doesn't know). I wasn't really going for cool factor there, I was 100% foreshadowing the reveal. But I can definitely see how it could come off that way though, to be fair. It sincerely wasn't my intent. I was simply leading up to the Harper reveal and using the tools supplied by the GM to do so. If I hadn't, the reveal really would just have been a 'gotcha' moment, which would have been in poor taste and unsatisfying for everyone.

As to the point about secrets, I think there's maybe a misunderstanding of the 'knowledge guy' archetype from a gameplay perspective. It isn't about impressing anyone RP-wise, but rather, that's I, Nines, simply playing the numbers on my sheet. With multiple rarefied, passive knowledge skills in the 30s that's just pure mechanics, expressed through the RP pillar of play. But I'm willing to chalk it up to the difficulty of reading intonation off the page. If I was able to voice act those scenes, I think they'd come off quite differently. When Ixtalan goes off on a knowledge binge, please read him in the Q from James Bond voice, and I think you'll get it. Not condescending, just informative, and decidedly British about it. I hope that helps with where I'm coming from on that.

Further to that point, the real power of the 'knowledge guy' mechanically is that it allows the other players to bring in their meta knowledge of the game and bring it to bear (I assume Aubryn doesn't have 30 arcana, but Rax probably knows plenty about Shades), by having a character who does have that knowledge in-game to relay it to their own character, because they spent the build points on it. That's the real gameplay advantage and value-add of the archetype as it empowers everyone else at the table to play 'better', but in a plausible way. It's no different than mechanically rolling identify checks for monsters, it's just expressed via the roleplay pillar, and often sans dice.

As for the mysterious bit, I really wouldn't worry about it. From a writer's perspective, the 'johnny mysterious ' angle has a built-in expiration date. The essence of mystery lies in the reveal, so you can't do it forever, and that sounds like what the concern is. It will pass. You can't play the leather-coat wearing guy ad infinitum, eventually you have to go somewhere with the character.

all the best,
Nines

Edit: Spoilered due to solved.

[BelGareth]

Nines, you can delete posts you make, edit the post and then above the text box is an option to delete

[Nines]

Perfect, thank you!

[rax]

Well, as you correctly point out, communication is difficult and I believe you may have misunderstood what I was getting at, so I'll give it another shot based off your reply and then hopefully we'll understand each other better IC and OOC.

Regarding Aubryn's opinions on Ixtalan's personality, I suppose we can agree to disagree a bit there. One man's cultured is another man's pretension, and I'm sure the characters would come to similar conclusions. I guess I would just be more concerned whether Rax the player holds those beliefs, rather than just Aubryn. If that's the case, and it's just being veiled through the lens of the character, then yes I would be more concerned of potential issues downstream. Hopefully not, though.

The pretension Aubryn is reacting to has nothing to do with how cultured Ixtalan may be or not. It's a reaction to how he carries himself and speaks to the group in this post. In the midst of a request for information from Elminster (i.e. the quest-giver) about the availability of a map, he pops in to kill off that line of inquiry and his explanation is that he will deal with entry and reconnaissance and he is used to operating behind enemy lines by himself or in small groups. Ixtalan doesn't come across as offering an opinion or advice, he is instructing people as if they are newbies at this sort of thing when everyone in the room is an experienced adventurer who's here by invitation.

Ixtalan next reveals himself to have deceived the group by pretending to be someone else when we arrived and commands everyone to address him by his codename. He offers an explanation as to why his deception is necessary, but the way he presents it, it comes across as: "I'm a really important secret operative - so important that the people we're going to be dealing with are actively on the lookout for me, unlike you people, who have probably been picked by Elminster because you're beneath their notice."

I don't know if this is how you wanted Ixtalan to be perceived, but it's how I the player read your post and therefore that formed the basis of Aubryn's reaction.

As to the point about secrets, I think there's maybe a misunderstanding of the 'knowledge guy' archetype from a gameplay perspective. It isn't about impressing anyone RP-wise, but rather, that's I, Nines, simply playing the numbers on my sheet. With multiple rarefied, passive knowledge skills in the 30s that's just pure mechanics, expressed through the RP pillar of play. But I'm willing to chalk it up to the difficulty of reading intonation off the page. If I was able to voice act those scenes, I think they'd come off quite differently. When Ixtalan goes off on a knowledge binge, please read him in the Q from James Bond voice, and I think you'll get it. Not condescending, just informative, and decidedly British about it. I hope that helps with where I'm coming from on that.

This, I think, is a clear misunderstanding. My point above about "secret knowledge" relates to the next sentence about Lune playing the "I'm mysterious and know more than any of you"-schtick. This is again about presentation, not the substance of what anyone knows through OOC or IC means. I.e. if Lune continues to play coy about his identity and capabilities, while hoarding his knowledge and only disseminating it when he sees fit, then Aubryn will conclude that Lune either doesn't trust the team he's on a life-and-death mission with, or he doesn't respect them enough to treat them as equals. Or to put it another way, the more Lune/Ixtalan comes across as "handling" Aubryn, the more friction there will be.

Re the 'knowledge guy' archetype in general, I have no problem with that IC or OOC. It's great to know that we've got someone along who can ace all the knowledge checks and Aubryn certainly respects learning as well.

As for the mysterious bit, I really wouldn't worry about it. From a writer's perspective, the 'johnny mysterious ' angle has a built-in expiration date. The essence of mystery lies in the reveal, so you can't do it forever, and that sounds like what the concern is. It will pass. You can't play the leather-coat wearing guy ad infinitum, eventually you have to go somewhere with the character.

I'm happy to hear that you're planning on moving on from the "international man of mystery" angle. It can be interesting in literature, but I will freely admit to finding it an extremely boring role to have in a party of PCs, especially when said party is only going to be working together for a single adventure. With that said, Ixtalan is your character and obviously you must play him in a way that you find interesting and fun. If you can accept that this may lead to friction with other PCs, then we'll be fine, I think.

All the best in return,
rax

[Nines]

@Rax


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Spoiler: Re On the post

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You're mostly spot on, Ixtalan isn't interested in debate, if he has a solution to offer he assumes it's the best one, and his word alone on that should be good enough, as he sees it. That's definitely IC intentional, as per my response to Bel.

The interpretations I'm a little concerned with are, for example, the assertion of him shutting down the line of Inquiry. From OOC table level perspective, I hope it's clear I'm not forcing anyone to desist. But IC, he doesnt need one, he'll take care of it, and that's that. You got it, It's intentional. I'm also unsure of your usage of the the word 'instruct' here, as he isn't telling anyone to *do* anything (which i agree would be an OOC problem). Quite the opposite, he considers the matter resolved IC by his *own* assumption of the entry/recon role.

On the command thing, IC, the character is effectively Harper brass (a field officer, as alluded to in the white text in the post) and isn't accustomed to debate or having to explain himself, or working with 'contractors' from his perspective, as it isn't typically done that way in Berdusk (it's the exception rather than the rule in the western Harpers, per the canon). So yes that IC presentation is intentional, and it's exemplified well there RP-wise. It's actually a peek into his mindset, when he drops the facade.

From an OOC perspective, I'm a veteran writing this and frankly that wouldn't even be considered impolite by military standards. I actually softened it a bit compared to the real thing, but I completely realize it's abrasive to civilian ears, and yes it's intentional, IC presentation-wise.

But overall you're mostly spot on, and if he engenders a strong emotional response in the reader (IC) I'm entirely okay with that, it's largely by design. What I don't want though, is player (OOC) upset if they feel at all that it's being done to them or their character, as that's definitely not my intent at all and I would want to address it immediately. Otherwise, as a writer I'm overjoyed that he's been so impactful and emotionally charged (yes even negatively).

I just wanted to be clear in case there was something OOC mainly that was going on, or some other interpersonal offense being committed perhaps unwittingly on my part.

Spoiler: Re On everything else

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I really appreciate the candor about personal likes and dislikes here, and the considerations given to player agency and being open to multiple IC outcomes, that really heartens me. I'm not really sure which way things will go, but I'm so glad to hear that you aren't expecting a complete change or a resolution out of whole cloth.

I'd really love to see how Aubryn and Ixtalan's relationship develops, especially after they get in a couple of scrapes together. I'm comfortable with the current tension, and would like to continue as is, and hopefully my explanations here helped a bit, even if nothing changes. I just really wanted to make sure there wasn't some other interpersonal thing going on at an OOC table level that was eluding me.

Lastly, On the I.E. section of Aubryn's thoughts, thank you. This is super helpful to understand the IC logic that you're working with on him, and I think it's reasonable given the characters and situation. I'm still due to post a truncated backstory for Ixtalan, but I've just been swamped the last few days. So hopefully once that's up, we can both have some more mutual understanding to work with and build it out. Looking forward to it.

So glad we had this talk, and if there's anything else, don't hesitate.

Edit: Spoilered for length.

[Nines]

Regarding my last post,

Just to be clear, Eryn neglected to mention the precise nature of her aerial abilities when given the chance by Doria, thus Lune is unaware of it, and hence his disregard for the suggestion. He would probably approve of the covert nature of her bird form, and be likely to incorporate it into a plan if she were to offer that information, but that's obviously up to them.

[Palanan]

Very good to hear from the DM, I was getting a bit concerned.

That said, as a player I’m extremely confused about the situation in Myth Drannor. Maybe it’s just the week I’m coming off of, which was highly trying and mentally draining; but my understanding was that Myth Drannor had been taken over by evil forces, the city is swarming with deadly monstrosities, and we should proceed with extreme caution from the moment we arrive.

But now it sounds as if the elves are back, they’re putting up trellises with flowers and all we have to do is stroll in, order an elven latte and ask politely for the nearest portal. I may have been overassuming in terms of the swarming evil forces, but even so I’m still not clear if the city is being actively contested, if the elves have reclaimed all of it, or if there’s something else going on.

My impressions have probably been shaped by references in the FRCS, where Myth Drannor is described as “the richest and most dangerous adventuring site in all of Faerun.” I’ve been resisting the urge to look up a map of Myth Drannor, because I was hoping we could get that in-game, and I’m doing my best to avoid spoilers from other sources. But at this point I’m still very unclear about the situation on the ground.

[Nines]

Palanan makes some good points above. We should probably establish exactly what meta knowledge the group is likely to have on the current state of Myth Drannor, because I was also under similar assumptions as those.

If however, it is considered public knowledge that many beasts have been cleared from the areas of the city, then that would change things. Ixtalan would still be concerned about alerting the Shadovar to our arrival, but he has other ways of more direct entry as well, that could prove more expedient for all involved.


Edit: since things have progressed, but I don't want to double post.

@Palanan
It really wasn't my intent to be patronizing with that verbiage. Ixtalan is 54 and the turn of phrase was more about his own agedness than It was directed at Eryn. I can remove it if you like, or if it's triggering at all. I apologize if that was case, and we can both backtrack if necessary, and I'll avoid it in the future. Just let me know.

[rax]

This is what the Grand History of the Realms has to say about the state of Myth Drannor in 1374 DR:

Mirtul 13: Lady Sarya Dlardrageth, matron of House Dlardrageth, summons Malkizid, an exiled archdevil, to Myth Drannor.

Mirtul 24: Lord Seiveril Miritar of Elion, leader of the Crusade from Evermeet that rescued Evereska, convenes a Council of War in the ruins of Myth Glaurach. The commanders of the Crusade agree to travel by way of the portal network discovered by Araevin to Semberholme in hopes of defeating House Dlardrageth once and for all.

Eleasias 17: The Crusade battles the legions of House Dlardrageth in the Vale of Lost Voices.

Eleasias 18: Malkizid is banished. House Dlardrageth retreats from the Vale of Lost Voices.

Eleasias 20: The Crusade surrounds Myth Drannor.

Eleasias 22: The Crusade overruns Myth Drannor, and House Dlardrageth falls. A handful of fey’ri escape. Seiveril Miritar is slain.

Eleasias 27: Fzoul Chembryl meets in secret with Jezz the Lame of House Jaelre and representatives of the Auzkovyn Clan. The three groups agree to work in concert to destroy the Fair Folk before they can truly reestablish Myth Drannor.

Eleasias 29: Fzoul Chembryl orders Scyllua Darkhope to seize control of the Moonsea Ride by establishing a series of fortifications along the road south from Hillsfar.

Eleint 3: Skirmishes erupt along the Moonsea Ride between the Zhentarim and Myth Drannor. Masked drow support the Black Network with targeted assassinations. This marks the beginning of the Cormanthor War, pitting the Army of Myth Drannor against the Army of Darkhope and the Masked Brigades (Vhaeraun-worshiping drow of House Jaelre and the Auzkovyn Clan). In the months that follow, a series of increasingly deadly raids and counter-raids are mounted by each side.

There's nothing specific about events in Myth Drannor during 1375 DR.

There's more details than this, but from the events described above, we can surmise that Myth Drannor (the city) is now under the control of the elves. However, the Zhentarim and drow contest this control so there's ongoing hit-and-run fighting around the city. There's no mention of the shadovar operating openly or in alliance with any of the factions in Myth Drannor.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by rax
There's more details than this, but from the events described above, we can surmise that Myth Drannor (the city) is now under the control of the elves. However, the Zhentarim and drow contest this control so there's ongoing hit-and-run fighting around the city. There's no mention of the shadovar operating openly or in alliance with any of the factions in Myth Drannor.

Thanks for this, and for the summary from 1374.

It sounds like messy urban warfare, which would certainly merit a travel advisory. Eryn probably wouldn’t know these details, but she does have a strong interest in as much advance planning as possible.

Also, if the Zhentarim are in play, we should probably hear about that from Elminster as well, unless the drow have already turned on them and fed them to giant spiders by this point. Either way, this is exactly the sort of detail that Eryn would like, given that Elminster himself has just told us that magic doesn’t always work where we’re going.

[rax]

It’s possible there’s warfare going on in the city but it could also be happening in the forest beyond. Since Elminster offered to teleport us directly to the city and our DM hasn’t mentioned ongoing warfare I think we can assume that’s not something the module will require us to deal with.

IC Aubryn is prepared to take the risk, but because he finds her questions fundamentally sound, he does feel it’s up to Elminster to allay Eryn’s concerns rather than having the rest of the party convince or override her.

[Palanan]

Thanks, rax.

I'm waiting for the DM to respond, both IC and OOC, before posting any further.

[Goby]

@Bel,

That light blue text is pretty hard to read. Not sure if anyone else has issues, but I have to zoom way in on a tablet, and even on a monitor it's tricky. Not sure if you'd care to change it, but just wanted to mention it.

Wouldn't want to miss the wise musings of a monk just because I failed to read what you said.

[BelGareth]

I’ll change it, thanks for letting me know.

Test
Test
Test

[paradox26]

Sorry for my absence. I was finishing a sheet for Bel's game, then got busy with real life, as so often happens.

Nines found me an issue of Dragon magazine with a map of Myth Drannor, and I included the whole page because it includes a bit of info about the city as of the year 1375, bringing the info you have posted up to date. To summarise, yes the elves basically control the city, but other forces are still fighting over control of parts of it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

[Nines]

I made sure to run it by the DM first, as I wasn't sure on spoiler content, just to be safe. But Rob Lazzaretti is pretty legendary as fantasy cartographers go, so it was a delight to find. I had been deep diving Eric L. Boyd's work in FR for another project I was working on here on the forums, so there was a bit of kismet involved as well.

It looks like the fey'ri of House Dlardrageth and their allies control a small eastern block of the city, even after the summoning and defeat of the arch-fiend Malkizid in 1374DR. The masked drow and the Zhentarim still wage war, but mostly through espionage and sabatoge inside the city itself. The monster population has melted away, as the elves have been purging the place of alhoons, phaerimms, and the like as the city was reclaimed. From the source, "...open combat in the city limits is rare, with most of the fighting taking place in the surrounding woodlands". But overall, the insurgency and the elves are in a stalemate situation for the moment, since the end of the last crusade, so it probably won't affect us too much.

Hopefully it helps, and also serves as a gesture of goodwill after the bit of IC map to-do. To illustrate that I, the player, am pretty flexible, even if Ixtalan/Lune can be a strong personality on things.

[rax]

@paradox26

The teleportation post doesn't really tell us much about where we've ended up. Is there anything noteworthy about the glade at all, or an indication as to which way we should be heading to get to Myth Drannor proper?

[Palanan]

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I appreciate the map, but it sounds like most of Eryn’s other questions and concerns have been glossed over.

At the very least, we should have something from Elminster to show the Coronal to convince her we’re actually here on Elminster’s business. And I agree with rax that we don’t seem to have any clear way to find her from where we are. Unless someone has a spell called “Locate Coronal,” we’re still going in effectively blind, and without the benefit of any scouting or other advance knowledge.

We also haven’t done any tactical planning before we jumped into the LZ. At the very least, the group—since we’re not really a team yet—should have basic tactics in place for what to do if we’re attacked on arrival, and how exactly to proceed once we’re inside the city. And we should’ve spelled up before jumping to the glade, since for all we know we're one round away from hard contact.

I understand that OOC everyone wants to dive into the action, but it’s hard to play Eryn as I’ve envisioned her without at least trying to address these issues beforehand.

[BelGareth]

Please feel free to begin doing so, I imagine it’s much like you keep asking and the rest of us roll our eyes and keep walking.

I personally would like to keep the momentum, which is crucial for pbp game longevity, those are all great things, but they seem to be IRL game things, it’s much harder to do in pbp. And typically on my experience, the players will do this in the ooc, assuming it’s down time conversation between the pc’s.

[Goby]

What edition of Dragon mag is that? I have a friend with a collection, might try to get a copy of that issue.

[rax]

It's #359, the last one produced by Paizo.

[Nines]

I'm with Bel on this.

PbP needs all the help in the momentum department that it can get, not only to hold player interest, but also the DM's who has a story to tell. It's very different than tabletop where the strategizing must take place beforehand. Its best done concurrently in the OOC thread for PbP.

I'm all for facilitating forward play, hence Ixtalan's recent IC actions, as I missed most of this discussion between posting here last and drafting his IC response.

Honestly, we've had two full weeks of RP, great introductions, established both rapport and tensions, it's far surpassed many starts I've had, regardless of format. Even as the resident diplomancer among us, I think everyone's had their fill for awhile, myself included. Switching pillars of play up is healthy overall for interest and longevity, especially with three melee who certainly came to roll some dice.

My recent IC actions are mostly me as a player being conscious of that, and having had plenty of spotlight time already. It's time to move on. Also, I already had the spell prepared, so not using at this point would kind of be metagaming, having seen the map OOC and knowing as a player that the tower isn't far.

[Palanan]

Seriously, folks, hold up a moment.

Before we all go off and randomly do our own things—as it seems like we’re going to—can we take the bare minimum time before the teleport to cast a few spells? Because we really don't know what we're jumping into, and it just makes basic sense to be prepared before we leave.

[Nines]

If the DM says 'you teleport', you don't get to time him out. Do it when we land, as I did.

If he interjects and we get jumped, it's fine. I'll adapt in a way that works, it isn't more than a round or two of actions.

[BelGareth]

Seriously, folks, hold up a moment.

Before we all go off and randomly do our own things—as it seems like we’re going to—can we take the bare minimum time before the teleport to cast a few spells? Because we really don't know what we're jumping into, and it just makes basic sense to be prepared before we leave.

(just making sure, I am not coming across as rude or beligerent, i truly hope im not)
Go ahead and cast those spells, Adama doesn't have anything like that, but would be happy to wait 30 seconds to let casters buff, that is incredibly reasonable, and everyone is probably used to it.

[paradox26]

@paradox26

The teleportation post doesn't really tell us much about where we've ended up. Is there anything noteworthy about the glade at all, or an indication as to which way we should be heading to get to Myth Drannor proper?

The glade has a pathway leading east. You are currently to the west of the city. Sorry, I am winging it a bit here, as the module assumes you are coming straight off the last module. Elminster will have told you you were approaching the city from the west, as that is the safest area.

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I appreciate the map, but it sounds like most of Eryn’s other questions and concerns have been glossed over.

At the very least, we should have something from Elminster to show the Coronal to convince her we’re actually here on Elminster’s business. And I agree with rax that we don’t seem to have any clear way to find her from where we are. Unless someone has a spell called “Locate Coronal,” we’re still going in effectively blind, and without the benefit of any scouting or other advance knowledge.

We also haven’t done any tactical planning before we jumped into the LZ. At the very least, the group—since we’re not really a team yet—should have basic tactics in place for what to do if we’re attacked on arrival, and how exactly to proceed once we’re inside the city. And we should’ve spelled up before jumping to the glade, since for all we know we're one round away from hard contact.

I understand that OOC everyone wants to dive into the action, but it’s hard to play Eryn as I’ve envisioned her without at least trying to address these issues beforehand.

The Windsong Towerkin rings are rare, and will be considered as proof that you come to the city as friends of the elves. Your map will have the Coronal's Tower marked, so you can find her if you need to.

Incidentally, sorry I glossed over your queries IC. I honestly didn't read them in enough depth, as I was trying to catch up with a bunch of posts.
I will answer your queries IC as a flashback using a quote.

As for planning, go ahead. I jumped ahead because I thought everyone was done talking. By all means, spend some time, either in character or here in the OOC thread, talking about tactics and casting preparatory spells. I don't want to hurry anyone. As posts have already been made beyond the teleportation post, though, it might be worth either posting OOC, or else splitting the post into both before and after teleportation moments. Or you can just mention that your post is taking place before the teleportation, and I will take that into account too.

I have seen tension rising in the game, so I will just ask everyone to make sure to stay calm and considerate of each other, and respect each other's right to be here. I don't want to lose anyone from the game. Thanks.

[Palanan]

Thanks, DM. It’s worth having spent a few minutes pre-teleport to work out who would like which spells active when we arrive.

It would also help if, OOC, we worked out some basic combat strategy for whenever we get ambushed, which would have been founded on a quick discussion back at Elminster’s before we jumped out.

For her part, Eryn is very definitely not frontline combat, so she'll be focused on keeping others upright.

[BelGareth]

Thanks, DM. It’s worth having spent a few minutes pre-teleport to work out who would like which spells active when we arrive.

It would also help if, OOC, we worked out some basic combat strategy for whenever we get ambushed, which would have been founded on a quick discussion back at Elminster’s before we jumped out.

For her part, Eryn is very definitely not frontline combat, so she'll be focused on keeping others upright.

Adama can try and protect the casters and be a back up for melee, we def have some heavy hitters, who will want to run into combat.