General OoC discussion

Remember that Theran has a herbalism kit, so if he tries to stabilize Chase on his turn, he can use the kit and make the roll with ADV.

The life of a front liner.

Assuming he gets to 3rd level, I was going to have Aanbo take the Way of Mercy. He'll punch some hit points back into you!

Myrtha should have stayed in the corridor, her AC is probably her best quality under these circumstances. She can soak more attacks without risking the collective hp pool. But these dudes are pretty rough: Derek one-shotted Reptile, H.A and
Traver attacked twice per round and took over 30hp to take down, etc.

As we enter into an interrogation scene, I’ve gotta say we shouldn’t neglect checking out Derek’s torture chamber as well. Might find all sorts of incriminating evidence there.

It wasn't exactly a "torture chamber."

It was a bedroom where he kept a victim bundled in linens that he seemed to just stab a lot with the stilleto we found on him. Maybe some blood, but I don't think it's going to be too overwhelming.

Oh, I’d thought Derek had pimped his torture cave. Anyways it might be worth a look…

Yeah, I'm somewhat to blame for that. I called it "Torture Location" in the post in the map thread. Those names are from what Theran's crazy-fast spider scuttle revealed of the various rooms. Derek had rented a normal room (albeit a little on the larger side) and when Theran first saw it, Derek was in the act of sadistically killing someone. But the party has since returned to that room; it's where Theran got the lockbox.

Referencing the maps in that post, Theran is currently in the "Dining Room" on the second floor, Myrtha and Chase are in the "Barracks" with Lhari (with the adjoining door open so that Theran can run in and help if necessary), and Aanbo is in the "Common Room" on the ground floor.

Also, I just wanted to let you all know that as soon as it is clear that you are heading back to Hochoch to train/gain levels, my plan is to re-open the recruitment thread to see if we can add 2-4 more players/PCs to the party, so that we have some more Dungeon Busters ready to join you on the return trip.

Sounds good

Reinforcements would be good, indeed.

But before we set off for Hochoch, we’ll need rest. And Myrtha wouldn’t want to rest at the Inn, or stay too long there. There are still the tunnels spreading from the cellar. Perhaps the party could hole up down there, and seek another exit. Either that, or we head out, with the prisoners, and take them all to the mayor, before leaving the town.

I admit, Aanbo doesn't feel like returning to Hochoch with so much unfinished business. I fear for the safety of Alan and the Mayor, too, as well as anyone else that hasn't yet been kidnapped/converted.

However, I do realize that we're such a small team and Orlane's corruption is very deeply-rooted. If we head back to Hochoch, I'd feel better if we could at least talk to the Mayor and Alan about trying to get more help.

On a meta level, I'm all for recruiting new players.

Seconding what CancerMan said, because that's pretty much where Theran is at. As a player, leaving makes sense. As a character, leaving now is a terrible idea.

I know I am unconscious but yes it does seem like a bad time to leave Alan and the Mayor and Ramne. Maybe Joesph headed back for reinforcements.

I’m afraid Joseph has been kidnapped. I thought of speaking to the mayor because we have these prisoners we don’t want to kill, but can’t carry along with us, and can’t just leave behind. But IC I don’t think Myrtha knows anything of what transpired with Aanbo and Chase, so this is metagaming on my part. In her mind we split away from the party to hide the body, got into a fight in the taproom, got Reptile killed, you guys showed up, turning the tide of combat, and then it’s been one long skirmish till now.

So it sounds like you want to interrogate the prisoners, get out of the Golden Grain Inn, find a place to take a long rest, talk to the Mayor (not necessarily in that order), and then eventually head out to Hochoch to check in with the Dungeon Busters and train.

All that said, how would you all like to proceed?

With regards to the prisoners, I'd offered to summarize the outcome of the dialogue, but if it would help more, I can create a side thread for the conversation/interrogation. That would allow us to conduct the question-and-answer with Lhari (and Hamiff, if he wakes) in parallel with the group trying to find a different place to rest. Any other ideas?

Do you all want to tell each other in character what happened since you split up, or do you just want to summarize?

I am snoozing so won't be much good in that department

I can't speak for everyone, but Aanbo would tell the others everything that happened to him and Chase. He'd identify people that did not appear corrupted, such as the Mayor and Alan. He'd also say what happened to the Constable and how they left them alive, yet disarmed and bound, hopefully to sow confusion as to why the "outsiders" didn't kill indiscriminately as accused.

So with that in mind, I'm okay with a summary. We can RP the discussion if people feel like hiding something, of course.

A summation is fine. Theran isn't looking to hide anything that happened.