Well I have no idea where I'm at, so I guess I'll wait for the next round-up. Color me another shade of confused in our ever changing, fluid interactive dynamics.
__________________ Training and work are limiting posting - apologies to all my games!
DM: "Why do you have so many characters?"
Me: "Because I never embraced the strategic value of running away."
Sorry Starbin, entirely my fault, I got confused with Aquarius and Malaina off doing things and forgot where you'd ended up. But I'm pretty sure you did end up in the courtyard and are now with the main group in the Rising Sun. Alternatively you can do your own thing if that isn't what your character would do.
@Eagle eyed Cal
If it helps you formulate a response, Selena may have offered to run a rope up the wall next to the balcony to help the complaining party escape the increasing crowd.
@'Lan I found an interesting city map online with a bunch of annotations, how about this guy?
Sgt/Aquarius: I regret to inform you that Phaedrus do not in fact work in the library... he does spend an inordinate amount of time there though. It is plausible that he has a specific area though (if he has to rent it, I can reflect a small amount on my character sheet). I work in the market - primarily when I need coin - where there are many more people wandering about who may decide to have someone record something - contract, receipts, notices from guards, or letters to run.
a'Lan: how much is a standard fare for drink? and how much would a study space cost - that seems like a good investment that Phaedrus would have made, though I didn't think of it during creation.
Sdream: that looks really good, I'll have a quick check to work out what goes where, but for the moment, replace the Aldig Quarter with the Castello, C7 is where you had your meeting with the Guildies and Scuvvs, C31-33+ C45/46 is the library. The bar you're in is B10.
Jodah: a drink would be 1cp. renting a space, in the library I assume, would be 5sp for a year.
Sdream: that looks really good, I'll have a quick check to work out what goes where, but for the moment, replace the Aldig Quarter with the Castello, C7 is where you had your meeting with the Guildies and Scuvvs, C31-33+ C45/46 is the library. The bar you're in is B10.
Take a look at edits so far: (warning, 1 MB jpeg, the editable 9MB Gimp xcf is at the same location)
I figured the library and it's administrative building (merged a bit over time) would not the the hoity toity one used by the ruling class, but a memorial project by a previous Archa to serve the merchant and industrial district across the bridge in Faulestadt (which has since gone a bit downhill). Thus, it may have an active secondary scribe market and wider variety of illicit connections. (Market + merchant stuff 31-33).
There's a whole lotta german on this map - dwarven stonecrafters must have had a big hand in planning streets and sewers (Cleyana must have splurged on a lot of buildings that aren't very flammable).
Will save versus whatever type of CC is used (let me know if it stops just physical actions, speech also, or even purely mental actions)
Will save: (1d20+4)[22]
Ok, I should not need to know that, that probably counts as his surprise round (as I was clearly not expecting comabt. Want to roll initiative (reroll mine if you want, I got a 13 when I took off after him initially), and have Selena yelp (you can decide the audability of that, and clearness of line of sight for the others on the roof).
So everybody has 30 seconds after my squeel while I track and watch the magic signatures... but only some of you seem active.
Fade and Cal seem to be trying to figure out what happened (they still have several turns after they get some responses on their spellcraft checks from 'Lan).
Glanror was at the bar, and has yet to respond to my wandering off saying I was going to check out the stranger Cal noticed.
Maliana WAS in a separate time and place delivering the first few messages, if there was an option for her to have delivered the first, and then planned to meet us back here to see the parade from the inn before delivering the rest, that would be good to know. In any case, Mal, please let me know how it's going for you, or if you want 'Lan to give you more info.
Aquarius IS in a separate time and place following a lead from the alleys in Fade's Scribe's Library study across the street from the merchant guild and scribe market. It looks like 'Lan is ready for you to bluff your pitch to dig info from the lady and her 2 men.
So that's everybody, please post.
PS- Sorry I grabbed cop attention right before you jumped over. It had been 6 days since anyone else posted on the roof so I was working on the idea I might be suddenly alone facing an encounter designed for 4.
So sorry...went away for a weekend and came back to find I no longer had a computer...or a bunch of other stuff...eeekkkk...the last while has been way too RL...
I hope that I'll be able to regularly be online, and I've watched from afar what is happening, and it does seem that the party is still dealing with the mess I caused, so I'll assume (without anyone becoming a donkey) I'm still delivering letters. If I'm close enough to let Selena know that I've delivered the first and ask what I might be walking into before I come up I'll do that, but if I'm out of range, and the second delivery is closer I'll do that instead...
not sure what to put IC until I'm more clear about where Mal is at...
PS- Sorry I grabbed cop attention right before you jumped over. It had been 6 days since anyone else posted on the roof so I was working on the idea I might be suddenly alone facing an encounter designed for 4.
Not a problem, Phaedrus has a contingency in place for being found by authority figures. I'm somewhat happy I get a chance to do this, it means that a piece of my character development gets to be used. All I'm worried about right now is who this blue cloaked figure is and what he wants...being primarily mundane, I have few defenses against casters.
Looking forward to an updater on Mal and Crystaleena, obviously when she next comes in range we'll update her on our progress as well (although unless something dire happens, I think she can finish her deliveries).
Selena's been involved in plenty of crimes since she has been back, but to her knowledge isn't actually wanted for any of them.
She doesn't have any spells or effects 4th level or higher that would leave auras for longer than a few seconds, however she may be discounting how rare wall running is, if anyone happened to see her use her signature move (usually she would already be on the roof when helping with a job, but it may have occurred).
Attract stays active for hours, but she generally does not worry about that as in her mind it is less coercive than a good diplomat and should be totally legal. (This is true, but unlikely to be viewed the same by others).
The 1 mile communication radius covers basically the whole city (at least if the map so far has an accurate scale, and it probably has a fairly fuzzy border where communication slowly fades, rather than a precise cutoff.
So we probably can't use the border to pinpoint each other, but we do have a sense of where the other is (places my crystal has been count as places I have been for the purposes of teleportation).
PS - Nobody has mentioned the auras on the Archa yet.
especially Abjuration, Conjuration, and Enchantment
I can see strong Abjuration and Conjuration spells as part of a defensive array... but Enchantment?
3 Possibilities:
- Some sort of odd buff, like amped Aid, or "symbol of inspire loyalty"
- A shapeshifting stand-in, enchanted for further compliance
- The archa is a mind-controlled figurehead (who knows for how long)
1) I will likely be scarce this week. I am burning the candle at both ends to get everything done IRL, game time will be difficult to find.
2) I am intentionally not going to read sdream's posts until the next time Sel and Phaedrus are in the same area again. This is because of how isolated Phaedrus is right now and I don't want to think I know something. I say this because if there is something I should know, but probably don't OoC please PM me so I am aware.
Jodah: Noted and noted.
I have adjusted my last IC post to hide the conversation with Selena and so you do not need to read her information to get yours.
Once this conversation is done, you could give some vague ideas about Phaedrus's plans and then I'll NPC him if the game slows down too much. Don't worry, this is only a game after all.
Last edited by al'Lan Mandrag : 04-24-2012 at 03:00 PM.
PS - Nobody has mentioned the auras on the Archa yet.
especially Abjuration, Conjuration, and Enchantment
I can see strong Abjuration and Conjuration spells as part of a defensive array... but Enchantment?
3 Possibilities:
- Some sort of odd buff, like amped Aid, or "symbol of inspire loyalty"
- A shapeshifting stand-in, enchanted for further compliance
- The archa is a mind-controlled figurehead (who knows for how long)
Well, Cal doesn't have anyone to mention it to ... everyone seems to be gone, or not paying much attention. So where he was trying to find the invisible person, he ended up finding all the buffs on the Archa
As for enchantments being bad, I agree that very few arcane enchantments are 'good' for the subject (heroism is pretty much it from the basic set). However, clerics have a few that could be common, and make sense (aid, zone of truth, divine protection, and sign). So, we could still look for possible issues there, but realize there are some explanations available.
__________________ Training and work are limiting posting - apologies to all my games!
DM: "Why do you have so many characters?"
Me: "Because I never embraced the strategic value of running away."
Woops sorry guys, made a mistake with the auras. Altered it in the IC post- yes there is an enchantment spell, it's just not as strong, and there are other auras which are stronger.
Is there someplace we should go to catch plothooks or is this more a sandbox type thing where Mal and Fade go investigate their guild problems, I go check on my roommate, and Glanror and Cal pursue their own interests?
Aquarius, Fade and I have been diligent about jumping on possible plot hooks, and we're just being told to go away and mind our own business. How 'bought we get a quest giver up in here?
If you're not sure what we would all be interested in, just put the basics here, and everyone can come up with some reason for their character to get involved.
To summarize: I'm sorry if you feel this way, I didn't want to be too railroad-y and there are things coming.
I have something to make you more interested in the general plot, as well as an upcoming quest, but atm you are all in different places etc.
But I will make sure that you have more to go from now on. Constructive criticism is welcome.
Last edited by al'Lan Mandrag : 04-28-2012 at 12:33 PM.
I understand it's not an easy job herding cats, especially when you need to let them feel like they aren't being herded at all.
I was just surprised when the two leads and the deliveries didn't lead to anything obvious and I had no idea what to do next.
It's every player's job to find a reason for their character to work with the others, they just have to understand what events are important to hookup to.
It seems like most of the party is loosely (or tightly) rogue affiliated except Glanror. As a minor noble, he seems ideal to have political hijinks he may need some trusted roguish assistance with.
(And if he stays completely missing, he can easily become main questgiver NPC).
I'll let Fade check out the small body (probably the kid, sadly, what he's doing in the Costello is another question).
PS - I guess Cal is politically entangled as well, and could get missions from the elves via his half of a sending stone pair (MIC 184).
From my perspective, I keep getting lost in the spread out nature of our group. I'm never really sure who is in the same area, and when I finally get a handle on it, we split up again! I guess I went into the first part thinking we were there to stop an assassination attempt, but was a little surprised when our group decided to stage an attack ... Funny enough, Mal's arrow may have changed the entire encounter with the person on the roof (making it feel like a dead plotline). For Aquarius' part, I didn't really understand his purpose or plan, so that side trip just confused me (which is easily done). I'll try to be better about regular interaction, but I won't always have the luxury of whirlwind posting that some of the folks get into ... I just treat that as part of Cal's arrogance.
I'm just relaying personal observations that are automatically biased ... Cuz they're mine! I wasn't trying to judge anyone, or tell y'all how to play. I've got enough of a challenge trying to play my own!
Other than that, game on!
__________________ Training and work are limiting posting - apologies to all my games!
DM: "Why do you have so many characters?"
Me: "Because I never embraced the strategic value of running away."
Ok, well you weren't the only one who was confused by Aquarius' plan- what was that by the way, the NPC got confused and left as a result, and yes Malaina's arrow did change what was happening. But with that out of the way, and hopefully the team getting back together, some of those problems may be mitigated.
Staging a fake assassination to ward of the real thing was definite thinking outside the box.
As for Cal's expedition, he uncovered that a leader of some of the scuvs works out of the same inn that one of the copies of the letter was sent to (savant's repose). Good lead followup.
It seemed like his followup was digging for more information and trying to get recruited as assistance, risky.
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Re: 3.5 Political Adventure OOC
Re: 3.5 Political Adventure OOC
