[OOC] Graveyard Shift

This is the place to post questions, comments, or discussion about the first adventure we'll be running, "Graveyard Shift." Smaller OOC comments are fine for the IC thread; just put them in OOC tags. But this thread can be for more in-depth questions or conversations.

So I'm trying to figure out how long everyone has been working at Argus so I can figure out if my character has worked with any of the other characters before. So far I've got that that Nera is new and that's about it.

CESN has established that Nekurr has been around for awhile. Mengus and Hildar are currently up in the air.

As I mentioned, I don't want to prolong this initial information gathering. I'd like each of you to just give me a general idea of what information your characters are looking for and how they intend to get to it. (Do this in the IC.) I'll then tell you what skill checks you need to roll. More than likely, in each case, one character will do the roll with assistance from the other character (skilled assistance or unskilled depending on who is paired up; I'll let you know.)

This is also a good time to remind you of Story Points. You currently have six of them. These can be used to 1) enhance your rolls (upgrading a green in your pool to a yellow) or to handicap an enemy (upgrading an enemy's purple to a red). 2) They can also be used to power your Heroic Abilities. Each of you has one of these; for 2 Story Points, you can use it. Some of them may come in handy at this stage of the adventure. 3) Finally, Story Points can be used to influence the narrative. I fully encourage you to take advantage of this! For instance, you might say, "I'd like to flip a Story Point to say that today just happens to be a major Catfolk festival in Nornholt, so Catfolk are all over the place right now. That should make it easier for me to sneak around." Or, "I'm flipping a Story Point. As luck would have it, my ex-partner is working the front desk of the constabulary."

Be creative! Story Points flow back and forth between players and GMs, so if you don't use them, they go to waste (and the game is much less fun.)

Happy XP Day, everyone! As I explained in Session 0, I'll award XP both monthly and at key story milestones. It's August 1, so everyone gets 5 XP to spend on anything you want. For those of you who are new to the system, 5 XP is enough for Rank 1 in a Career Skill (so one of your Career Skills without any ranks in it yet) or for a Tier 1 Talent. You can also bank the XP to use it later if you prefer, but you'll have to wait until another XP grant in that case (so no taking Toughened in the middle of play when your character is down to 1 Wound, etc.).

Please post here to let me know what you're doing with your 5 XP once you've decided. (Also don't forget to update your character's point total on your character sheet.)

I will not use it

I will bank it for now.

hey! XP day :D

I may buy Deep pockets: Once per session, your character may use this talent to produce a small but narratively useful item from their pockets, backpack, or similar receptacle (it turns out the item had been there the whole time!). It fits the character and seems like widely usable :D Luckily, Nekurr keep all sort of stuff in his backpack!

Sounds good so far! Remnant, mcneils5, and arMedBeta, let me know what you're planning to do with the 5 XP.

Incidentally, most months, the XP will be a bit higher, we haven't played for a full month yet, so 5 seemed about right.

I think I might pick up knack for it. Not sure which skill yet, but I'll mark it on my character sheet.

Always a good choice. I like to pick up at least two ranks for my own PCs. (And I hope folks have noticed that I don't shy away from the setbacks, so this is never a bad buy in my games.)

I'm banking it for now, might go with a 10 XP spendature first, the 5xp reviewed options don't seem too necessary yet I've looked into. (There's a shopping list and I don't see anything yet that immediately catches my fancy).

Also I am enjoying the old man Tronus and young lady Nera dynamic so far.

I agree, they make quite the duo.

Banking Hildar's XP for the time being

Figured this may be better here than clogging up the IC thread.
Ok, I get that for other things but the Utility action does not have any additional effects you can tack onto it (such as boosting it's range) and on page 214 of the rulebook theres this section:

A check to cast a utility spell should always be Easy. If that check seems too easy for what you want to accomplish, then what you want to do is probably beyond the scope of utility magic!

If you're cool with adding aditional effects onto Utility then that's fine by me but RAW it seems to go against the intent of that action.

You're right about RAW, but we can play it by ear. I guess for the light at medium range, they'd suggest the Conjure action? If it looks like someone's abusing Utility, I'll say something. But extending range or number of targets affected or whatever doesn't seem game-breaking to me.

A few notes on magic (since CESN has come up with lots of good possibilities for Nekurr):

Detecting whether the prints are magical: Hildar already did this, and they didn't get detected, so there's nothing inherently magical about them. Using magic to determine whether they were created by a magical being is another question.

The default rules don't really say how to do something like this. It's arguably a Utility spell, but some GMs have created entirely new magical actions around Scrying and Divination! Let's say the default difficulty would be Easy (P) with another P for the time since the tracks were made (about a week ago), yielding a difficulty of PP. If you do this, I'll upgrade once with a Story Point, for a final difficulty of RP.

As for improving your knowledge with spells, Augment is a basic function of both the Divine and Arcana skills, and it's very powerful! For an Average check (PP), you (or another engaged target) gets to add an ability die (G) to all checks until the end of your next turn. You can even maintain the effect by expending a concentration maneuver each turn, so in a narrative scene like this, basically, you could just keep the effect active constantly unless something bad happened (like rolling threats). So, yes, by all means: Buff yourself or your allies with Augment as much as you please.

Last one! I'm off until the 17th or something like that. I'll try to post but my posts will be more confusing and I won't be able to search the proper names and facts on my mobile. Hopefully it will not be too disruptive :D

Thanks for letting me know! Have a great holiday(?), and try to check in when you can.

I wanted to let you all know I've removed steef99 from the game. The game's stated expectations ask players to post regularly, and to let me know of any extended absences. Unfortunately, steef99 has disappeared a few times now for days on end, and he never really seemed to be keeping up with the story. I hate to remove a player, but we all put a lot of effort into our online games, and we deserve each other's full respect.

Let's assume Mengus has stayed behind at the Dribbage house and will meet you at the road when you're done with the Thistlerocks.

Well, it's unfortunate but probably for the best in this case.

By the way, happy September! Everyone gets +5 XP for the monthly award. As before, you're free to bank it, or to spend it on something. Please drop a line here to let me know what you do with it.

I think I'll bank it, if noting else because I won't have much time to check stuff :D

Using it and the 5 I already had banked and taking 2 x R1 Talents - 'Grit' and 'Desperate Recovery'

A quick note about social combat: Don't forget your full range of options. If your character specializes in Deception, lie away! If you are good at Leadership, appeal to authority (E.g., "We are licensed inquisitors from Argus Inquiries. Now if you'll kindly just answer a few questions, we'll be on our way.") You have more options than Charm, Coercion, and Negotiation (although those are sound choices, too.)

I'll bank my 5 for now. Looking at Know Somebody though.

Banking my 5

I'll spend my 10 to acquire knack for it in deception, stealth, and perception.

You'll need to buy the 5-point rank first before you can get the 10-point rank. You select one skill the first time, 2 more the second. (Or did you already have the 5-point rank and I'm overlooking it?)

I'm misinterpreting the price, I assumed it was 5xp per rank. In that case I'll just have the first rank for deception.

Ranked Talents get upgraded each time, a T2 Ranked talent would be T3 for the next rank, Rank III of Knack for it would be T3.

It is 5 XP per rank, but it gets a bit better at Rank 2 and up. Rank 1 (5 XP) gives you one skill, while Rank 2 (10 XP) and up give you 2 additional skills each time. So, yeah, if you never bought Rank 1, you'll need that first.

Okay, my understanding is now much clearer, thanks.

As a couple of you are headed back to the dog pens, I wanted to remind you about the X-Card. That is, please let me know (either here or in private) if animal endangerment or harm is something you'd rather avoid in the game. I'll keep any unpleasantness PG-13, but the dogs can fit into the mystery in many different ways, so you won't ruin the mystery by stepping in.

I should be fine with most stuff ;)

Thanks for the heads up Savagebob, I'm not personally worried but will let you know if things start veering in that direction.

Thought I'd pull this out of the IC thread to avoid cluttering things:
Right, on this point my understanding is once I give them an order they will just keep doing it. So in this case on my last turn I spent a manoeuvre and told them to engage the dogs so I'm assuming I don't need to spend another manoeuvre unless I want to change their orders (still need to spend the manoeuvre to maintain them in play though), is that how you read it?
No, I'm happy to keep it as an option to spend a single Threat to 'dispel' them. Didn't occur to me that was an option but it seems to balance things quite a bit better in my head :)
Well the conjure action says "This action represents the ability of a spellcaster to animate objects or create items (or even allies) out of thin air and the aether." so I'd say the option to have them be 'borrowed' from somewhere might be a good option for a Despair or high number of Threats on a roll (that said if you want to say it works differently in your game I'm cool with that, just wanting to get the potential consequences down of summon-spam lol).

Last thing I want to check is did you want me to 'drive' and track the status of anything I summon or did you want to do it? I'm assuming it's me to keep things manageable for you but wanted to double check before I start posting their actions

I looked around, and there seems to be disagreement on this in the community. The lenient option is that a Summon Ally effect only requires one command, and the creatures keep doing that command so long as it remains possible. The more strict interpretation is that the creatures need that command to be repeated each round; if not, the default summon rules come into play: "the creature behaves in the best approximation of its natural instincts (as determined by the GM)." Because there is a lot of concern out there that Conjure is overpowered, I think I'm going to go with the more severe interpretation for now. We may relax this if we find it too onerous.

I know that's kind of limiting in this encounter, since Hildar can't really see what's going on due to the thick forest, etc. But on a more "normal" battlefield, he'd still be able to spend both maneuvers to maintain his summons and cast another spell each turn if he wanted. In fact, there may be things he can do from his position just at the edge of the woods that I haven't thought of.
I agree. Having someone get mad about missing Ironbound is something I as GM would generally reserve for threats or despairs on the casting roll. Let's leave it ambiguous now; maybe Hildar isn't quite sure where these things come from. That leaves this door open without pinning us down to anything. (But I won't default to this option for a standard, passed roll like you made this combat.)
I'm cool to let you handle it for now. The Conjure rules seem to imply that the GM does this, but there are already so many moving parts in this encounter that I'm happy to let you play the two Ironbound (and future summoned creatures, too).

Just wanted to apologize for the delay. I've got a busy day at work with lots of meetings. I'll hopefully get things back around to a PC slot this evening sometime.

Responding here since there's a lot to go through! :) So, Lyssie is an NPC. Per the rules, she's at least incapacitated, but if she's dead or not is up to the GM. I'm going to say ... this is a horror fantasy game. Don't get your hopes up. That said, I'm open to a Story Point being used to give one of you a chance to make a Hard (PPP) Medicine check to stabilize her, or a Hard (PPP) Divine check to magically revive her. BTW, Resurrection is also possible, but it's a Formidable task (PPPPP)!
To attack the dogs in the clearing, Nekurr will need to expend 1 maneuver to move to Engaged range, which is a subset of Short range. The same would be true if he wanted to heal Lyssie (see above) without adding another P for being at short range.

"Engaged" really just means that you have gotten close enough to something to interact with it. For melee, it means you've moved up close enough to strike, while taking care that your opponent doesn't hit you in the process. As a Half-Catfolk, remember that you get one free Move maneuver each turn, and this can be to Engage or Disengage from another character (or minion group, like the dogs).
If you wanted to use Leadership to rally Barvek, that would be your action this round, yes. In that case, you wouldn't get to attack, so it's your call whether it's better to weaken the dogs a bit more or embolden your ally a bit more. (I think, all things considered, it's better to leave Barvek be, since one setback isn't too too taxing.)
Yes, if you want to attack with your dagger, that would look like this: 1 maneuver to Engage (free for Half-Catfolk); 1 maneuver to draw dagger; 1 action to attack. Assuming you want to maintain your Augment on Barvek, that will take 1 extra Concentrate maneuver, which will cost you 2 strain.

One final though: Don't neglect your Divine magical attack! You'd probably do more damage attacking from Short range with Divine. It's an Easy (P) check from short range, and it does 4 damage (your Willpower score) + 1 per unconcealed success. On balance, probably a bit more potent for you than the dagger, plus it keeps you out of the thick of things.

ok. I'll need to rethink my post them :)
I was not going for magic because my strain is getting very high very quickly. Casting a spell now would bring it to 10/13. But for healing I could try that. so, I can move, flip a point, and cast healing for YGGGPPP (or a GGPPP medicine...) and still keep Barvek's augment then, right? not many points available though...

Just one SP required. In this case, it's for a narrative effect: To declare that Lyssie is not dead, but merely at death's door.

I think I copied it from the wrong post :(

😱😱😱Lets pray he’s lucky enough for the dogs to die before that!!!

Hahaha! Well, Tronus and Nera could thin the herd considerably depending on what they do. :)

So far it's one vote to head back to town. Please chime in with what you want to do so we can (potentially) bring the session to a close.

I opted for town, we totally need to come back to the graveyard after dark obviously since the undead are sleepy lazy slowpokes.

Yeah, looks like we have a consensus to head back to town. We'll resolve Hildar's investigation of the dogs (and anything that results from it), and then we can move on.

And with these dark revelations, we bring Session 1 to a close. We'll begin Session 2 with the light of morning dawning, and Vizeron Dribbage still very much missing.

Everyone receives 20 XP for completing this session:

[5] Preliminary research
[5] Interviewing Olarie Dribbage
[5] Interviewing the Thistlerocks
[5] Fighting the demonic dogs

Of the 25 I have banked now,
Knack for it Rank 2 - Perception/Leadership -10
Swift T1 -5
Parry R1 -5

Sounds good. I will note that if it's not obvious yet, Fright Checks should be expected. If you have a weak Discipline, it might be worth looking to find ways to bolster it. That said, your allies having good Leadership will also help in situations where someone is freaking out.

I added a custom talent (Dark Inquiry) to add Discipline and Knowledge (Forbidden) to your career skill list. For those of you new to the system, this kind of talent is useful if you anticipate putting more than a rank or two into one or both of the skills offered. If you only anticipate putting a single rank in, though, it's usually best to just pay the out-of-career tax of 5 XP per level.

Well I'm a firm believer in foreshadowing, and being strong willed, so I shall buy:

Knack for it R2 (Stealth & Ranged)[10]
Swift [5]
Dark inquiry [10]

Will likely get a rank or two of skills next, I'm pretty geared up in talents.

Going to work toward Improved Inspiring Rhetoric, but I'm getting (with my extra banked 5xp):

Inspiring Rhetoric [10]
Challenge! [5]
Coordinated Assault [10]

OK, just keep in mind the warning I gave about fear checks. Barvek's rolling one green to resist them.

Sorry about my continuous failure to memorise the system :(
Could we have the 3 ways to spend XP on the OOC resource page? I can't see to find the file I was using for that :)
(how much you pay for a career or non-career skill, talents and the other thing that could be bough... HP? )

Also, I've already got Discipline as a career skill, do I only get half the benefits of Dark Inquiry, or his there a some sort of double/overlap benefit?

Skills and Talents are the two ways for in campaign XP to be spent.

Talents cost Tier Number x 5xp, with a need for more of the lower tier before you can purchase one or one more of a higher tier.
2x Tier 1 talents are needed to spend on the first Tier 2 for example

Skils cost New Skill Rank number x5XP for Carrer. 1st Rank would be 5 (1x5), Rank 2 would be 10 (2X5). Non Career would add +5 to the new rank acquired, Rank 1 would be 10 (5 like above but +5 since non career), Rank 2 would be 15 (10 like above but +5 since non career).

At character Gen would could buy state boosts, otherwise you need the buy the Tier 5 Talent Dedication to upgrade one characteristic once and then when you rebuy the talent you can't use it in the same characteristic again.

HP and Strain can be bought via talents that are Tier 1 for the first one (they're rankable but get more expensive since they rank up 5, 10 (if you have 2 tier 1 talents) at rank 2, etc)

ah ok. So, in summary, the options now are just:
* buy talent (5x tier with restriction of +1 more talent of the tier below)
* buy skills (lv *5 with +5 penalty for non career)

Thanks :D

Buying the following:

5xp Skill Increase-Discipline 0-1
10xp Talent: T2 FLASH OF INSIGHT
5xp Talent: T1 Quick Draw

buy discipline to rank 1+2: 15xp
buy probing question talent: 10xp
keep the same 5 xp (from before)

Everything looks good so far, folks. I'll get the next session started very soon.

Happy October! Please accept your 5 XP monthly bonus. Please let me know if you're spending it (and how) or banking it. And those of you who haven't spent your session XP, please let me know what you buy with it.

I'm taking Block T2 to spend down to zero on XP. Field Commander and Leadership next.

Maybe instead of getting Coordinated assault, I'll get Dark inquiry and spend my monthly xp on a first rank of discipline

Getting discipline 1 as well.

by the way, we all got the strain down to 0 right? (wounds as well?)

Banking the 5 for Hildar

You are back to 0 strain, yes. Wounds heal at 1 per day naturally. But since Nekurr was with the monks, we can assume they gave you a healing potion to get you back up to full. (I think you were down 5, and a potion heals 5.)

So, sounds like y'all might want to return to St. Durvin's Cathedral to get advice? Or ask for backup? Or do more digging on Dribbage's history with the order?

St. Almar's is another major order in Nornholt, although we haven't established much about them other than that they're popular among Gnomes.

And, of course, all evidence so far points to the cemetery. The dog tracks came from there. Dribbage notes in his journals that he loved to read there at his "favorite spot." The intruder at the house came from that direction.

Tronus had a contact he wanted to possibly follow up with regarding the statue in the study, although that was before you all came to your realizations about Dribbage's dark inquiries.

Just let me know where you'd like to go, and whether you're traveling in a group or splitting up.

Have weighed in with Hildar's opinion in the IC thread

Nekurr didn't play much of a role on the criminals or statue parts and so he thinks that clues are in the cemetery and just wants to find something not shouting demons there :) he would however, check the local clerics for more info if he was to stay in town

I figure we find proof to ask for assistance from his former order, they are partially to blame I feel.

So am I right that the consensus is to go to the graveyard first, then the cathedral if you find proof of demonic activity there? I'll narrate you over that way later today unless you tell me otherwise.

fine for me :D

I think that is best.

Sounds like the proper procedure.

Other questions for this guy?

Remnant, ArMedBeta, you two still with us?

I think the decision you all have to make now is whether to break into the crypt or to try to gain entry through legal means. There are potential repercussions to either decision: potential legal troubles in the former case, lost time in the latter.

Not sure you're out of this decision. I mean, gee, did the groundskeeper just leave his stuff sitting there unattended?

Drink his booze!!! Help him help himself, and yourself to several fingers of rot gut.

Hey everyone, life has gotten pretty busy and I don't think I'll be able to continue playing. Thank you all for the fun experience. I really enjoyed playing with you!

Very sorry to see you go, arMedBeta! It's been a pleasure having you in the game. Barvek is a really fun character. You have a spot waiting for you should things ease up in the future.

By the way, folks: Happy November! Here's your 5 XP monthly award. Please let me know how you intend to spend it, or if you want to bank it for later.

Bank for now.

I'll bank for now, and I'll look at the options when I have some more time :D

I wanted to let everyone know that I've recruited a new player, emsquared, to join us. He's a longtime Gamers Plane user who frequently GMs Star Wars here, a game that uses the same system as Genesys. I'm excited to have him on board! We'll introduce his character when it makes sense to do so.

Hey everybody! Lotta familiar faces, stoked that SavageBob has invited me to join this game.

Look forward to catching up on what's happened, and figuring out how my PC might fit in.

Also, just realized I still need to do my Heroic Ability... is it okay to ask what everyone else ended up taking?

Welcome aboard emsquared! I picked Paragon - Stealth.

I think all character sheets should be publicly viewable; that's my preference in games I GM, anyway. Nekurr, our priest, has Foretelling, which ties into his worship of the goddess Fortuna. Hildar, our Elf mage, has Paragon - Arcana. Tronus, our Dwarf fighter, has Influential, representing his stern way with words.

This is a good reminder though: You've all surpassed 50 earned XP! That means you all get 1 Ability Point to use to choose an upgrade for your Heroic Ability. I know not all of you have the book, so here are the options:

Duration: The ability lasts 1 additional turn.

Frequency: You can now use your Heroic Ability twice per session. (Requires 2 Ability Points, so if you want this, you have to bank this one.)

Power: Your Heroic Ability is now the Improved version.
*Foretelling: While this ability is active, you may reroll one skill check relevant to a question you asked the GM.
*Influential: While this ability is active, your character only needs to spend Adv Adv to trigger a "critical remark" (see the sidebar on page 123 of the Genesys Core Rulebook) and inflict 5 strain on the target. Your character can inflict multiple critical remarks with a single check.
*Paragon: While this ability is active, you may remove Setback of your choice from the results of checks using your chosen skill.

Secondary Effect: When you use your Heroic Ability, it does something extra: Devastating (+2 damage on your attacks while the ability is active), Diminish (enemies add Setback to checks within short range while your ability is active), Drain (when you use the Heroic Ability, enemies within short range suffer 2 strain), Empowered (when your ability is active, you add boost to all checks), Empower Allies (when the ability is active, allies within short range add boost to checks), Rejuvenation (when your ability is active, you heal 2 strain each round), Rejuvenate Allies (when your ability is active, all allies within short range heal 2 strain)

Story: Your Heroic Ability only costs 1 Story Point to use, rather than 2.

Should being the operative word here ;) a couple are but I had missed where somebox had written theirs. See it now.

So, Paragon, the Know a Thing one, what about the dwarf and wizard?

Paragon (Arcana) for Hildar, and Influential (cause extra strain in social combats) for Tronus.

Empowered sounds pretty handy, I'll take it.

Hey mcsquared! welcome to the mystery :D

Getting to answers per session instead of one could be a big boost for investigations actually... I'll probably bank this for now

Hi Emsquared! Huh, didn't realise I'd not shared Hildar. I've done it now if anyone wants to take a look.

As for XP that takes me to 10 unspent so I'm buying a T2 talent - Signature Spell

Hildars Helpers
Conjure (1), Additional Summon (+1), Grand Summon (+2) Summon Ally (+1)
Base Difficulty of above would be 5 dice, down to 4 due to the Talent or 3 with the wand.

Thanks for the welcome, all!I kind of want to make it hard on Bob, and take the Foretelling one...

Seems also helpful for investigations, but not completely doubling up on something we already have. But man do I hate dealing with these kinds of abilities as a GM :P so I understand if there's a veto waiting for me on that.

CESN's character has Foretelling, so it would be doubling up, technically. But we can run with two forms of divination if that's what you want! It's limited to yes/no questions and doesn't give you the evidence to prove what you find, so there's still plenty of room to work with two foretellers.

My bad, away from books.

I thought there was one that was like "You know facts." and then another that was like, "You can see glimpses of the future." I'll revisit tonight.

Ok, I was interchanging Foretelling and Know All the Facts.

I'll do Sixth Sense. Animals seems the obvious fit. Not a tremendous mechanical difference here between any of them, but fits thematically!

Starting cash roll

Vizeron-gollum still speaks :o the shocking revelation!!!

So, I get the impression that these earth fiends' special attack is a tad unfair or OP? My thought was that they really only have a chance of pulling it off when at full strength (4 minions), but I'll see if it might be tempered a bit. I want this combat to be challenging, but I'm hardly aiming for a TPK.

I was honestly more surprised by the Story Point flip that did 10 Wounds. But I figured; "It's a SP tho, so hopefully a one-off thing, and I had a chance to recover, I just botched the roll. Movin' on."

But then combined with the Brawl attack that bypassed Dodge and Defense, and yet also wasn't subject to the flaws of Magic either (am I wrong? isn't it harder to cast magic if you're Engaged in melee? honest question, I'm way away from books, just thought I remembered seeing that in a list or table), and it just made me feel like there was literally nothing I/we could do or have done.

I may have missed a Healing option tho too... Does Terrinoth have anything like a Stimpak? A quick and dirty 5 Wounds recovered in a Maneuver?

I think I'm the only one who's in danger of being out in one shot, so I don't think we're really in that much trouble, but also, it just seemed like I had zero mechanical options to have ameliorated in advance, or to improve currently, my situation.

Also, Bruv's a little proud, so he's not gonna cry out for help or anything, so had to emote his distress ;)

No, I'm glad you brought it up. It's a home-brew critter, so it's not playtested. Typically, minions can't cast magic at all since they don't have strain and can't voluntarily suffer wounds. So this is a special ability and not magic in the traditional sense. There's a method to the madness, and I don't want to give the game away yet. But with that said, there should be some ways to resist; you're right. :)
The Health Elixir costs 25 silver and acts as a basic stim-pack (5 wounds on first use per day, then 4, 3, 2, 1). This and other potions are in the Terrinoth book, or in the equipment encyclopedia compiled by Drainsmith and findable online. If you missed this during character creation, I'm fine with saying you have one on hand; add a second for a SP flip.
Yeah, my bad if the encounter's been unfair. Again, there are things that can be done to improve the situation that y'all haven't done quite yet. But you don't have much choice when they're earthquaking you to death. :)

Dang, yea I swear I looked during character creation, but all I found was like "Healing Herbs" or something that gave a bonus to Medicine checks. Must've just scanned too fast by it or something.

I’ll heal... is there any difficulty? Even if I can make a full post, I can roll during the weekend;)

Yes, you can! The check is Easy (P) if you run up and touch Bruv (engaged range). It's Average (PP) if you stay where you are (at Short range). You heal 1 Wound for each uncanceled Success, +2 since you have a holy icon.

Hildar is on 7 out of 11 Wounds so he’s definatly also in one shot territory lol

If I’d been able to cast more than one spell in 4/5 then things might have been going a bit better for our side lol

Yes, the dice have been very unkind!

By the way, it's a new month! Everyone receives +5 XP that you are free to bank or spend as you see fit. Just drop me a line to give me an idea what you're doing with it.

Incidentally, the Genesys Expanded Player's Guide just came out. Drainsmith has already updated his "Talent Tome" with the new talents from it; these all pertain to magic, so those of you playing casters may want to check them out. You can find the news tuff by searching that document for "EPG". The link is in the OOC Player Resource Thread.

I believe I am banking it for now.

I will purchase the 2nd rank for ranged with my 10xp, probably get some other skills up afterwards.

Let's see if I get this right. I should have 15xp now and I can buy level 1 knowledge lore Desperate recovery tier1 and maybe component casting?

Just going to bank the XP for now - the Expanded Players Guide hasn't landed over here yet, looking forwards to going through it once it does (or the PDF once that drops on Drive Thru)

I was on deck for Field Commander so I'll take that, due to our gnome departing I can go with my original build and take Inspiring Rhetoric next pass.

That all sounds right. You could also go straight for Knowledge (Lore) Rank 2 (5 XP + 10 XP) if you wanted to bump up your magic that way. Hold off on Component Casting for the time being; my Expanded Player's Guide arrives today, so I'd like to get familiar with that talent and whether it assumes some sort of secondary magic rules we may or may not decide to use.

I see. the alternative would be +1 Knowledge (Lore) and +1 Divine :D

Squirting holy water from a waterskin will be a Ranged (Light) attack with a range of Short: Difficulty Easy (P) at Short range, or Average (PP) from Engaged range. It's an improvised weapon, so you add automatic Threat to the result. I'd think it has Limited Ammo 1, as well, meaning you only get one use out of each waterskin unless you refill them. What effect it will have is an open question, since you haven't identified these creatures yet. :)

(Identifying the creatures is a Hard (PPP) Knowledge (Forbidden) check if anyone wants to try. This would count as your action for this turn. Two boosts since you've seen them in action, setback for confusing conditions.)

As for the downed figure, that character is unconscious, but not in danger of expiring just yet, as far as you can tell.

You can certainly try a Medicine check, healing spell, or health elixir to see if that brings the Nemesis back to consciousness. But if the figure is undead, as some of you have suspected, standard healing won't help. If the creature is mortal, they will.

If you want to restrain the figure before doing any of this, that's an Easy (P) Coordination or Skulduggery check, since there won't be any resistance. (This also counts as your action for the turn.)

So, four PCs are up. Are we at a loss for what to do? It is true that the minion enemies seem to keep coming. But remember that when you're stuck in a combat encounter, there's always the option to "Notice a single important point in an ongoing conflict" for a measly 1 Advantage. But you have to try something first to get that 1 Advantage. :)

oh it :) just needed some night sleep ;)

I was going to go last since no real hurry on my end. I would add as a true neutral, for things to crit they must succeed.

Figured I'd type here instead of the main thread. At the moment should we try to block off the other exits? I don't think running away is a good idea for multiple reasons. Nera can't really help with the whole blocking if it involves physical force (well she can try).

if there are no more targets, I think picking up whatever the unconscious figure has. It was taking it to the big grave/stone thing where the creatures are coming from. Maybe even tied him up as bob mentioned :)

Sorry, folks, if this encounter has been confusing or unclear. My hope was to create a combat encounter where the goal was not "kill all the things" but rather "stop more things from showing up." But it looks like folks are struggling to figure out what to do. I've left some hints in the IC. There are tons of unknowns here, but all it should really take is a bit more digging on your part to figure out some of the answers.

It was a little but then I felt that added to the 'feel' of the encounter. The main issue for me was that although Hildar knew something was happening underground there doesn't seem to be (or at least I didn't read that there was) an easy way to get down there to get a better look at things....plus he had a bit of a rough run during that fight lol

Yes, the dice didn't cooperate much for our inquisitors! Getting down into the tunnels might have been a bad idea once the critters showed up. Had you opted to explore them before that point (in person rather than with the dog), it might have revealed other information, but nothing you can't tease out now.

Hey, folks! I wanted to help talk you through the conundrum you're in. Investigative games are unique in that when you are at a loss for what to do, often the answer is to find a way to get more information. Of course, that tactic is complicated somewhat by the fact that more Ynfernael monsters may start spouting forth at any moment. But see below for some help clarifying what information exactly you lack and some ideas of where you might find it. (Ignore this is you have a clear idea of what you want to do.)Good luck!

I'll remind of you of what you found by skimming his private journal, as well (last session; we can say Nera has it now):

I also liked emsquared's idea of maybe splitting to keep some guards on the graveyard.
Not that Nekurr would that those changes ;)

Ah, I forgot ermsquared posted that! Well Nera is certainly up to help.

OK, I'll advance the story soon as if that's the plan unless we hear a different plan within the next couple hours

We haven’t seen the portal yet, is there any way to know it is actually closed?
Ideally, we'd take vizeron out of the portal range and check it is closed, before abandoning Nera ;)

You'd need to devise some way to actually see the portal, yes. Otherwise, you'd just have to infer that it had gone dormant or closed by judging how many monsters show up (or don't).

I just realized it's the weekend, so folks may be away, so I will wait a bit before advancing. But it sounds like you all will post at least two folks by the portal (Nera and Hildar, perhaps, so the summoned snakes can stick around), while the others take Dribbage into town.

Can I have a change of heart and not take dribbage to durvin? :D
(After we made him cry 😈)

Just read the other post ;)

Oh I'm for taking him to Durvin to also guilt shame them for being part of the problem like a evil mother in law...

Yeah, sorry if I jumped the gun on sending him to St. Durvin. That seemed like the consensus. He really had them between a rock and a hard place, since he was up to no good, but they need his cemetery. Who knows what'll happen now that he's basically wrecked the place.

I'll go ahead and give out adventure rewards. Please continue with any questions you have in the IC (or here) in the interim. Why don't we aim to start the next inquiry after the Christmas holiday has passed? That'll give us time to finish any mop up and for you to choose how you want to spend your XP and gold.

You all get +35 XP. (This includes your January 1 award; might as well give it out now in case it puts you over the hump for something you want to get.)

[5 XP] Dealing with the gravedigger
[5 XP] Investigating the crypt
[5 XP] Fighting the fiends
[5 XP] Interrogating Vizeron Dribbage
[10 XP] End of inquiry bonus
[5 XP] January XP award

In addition, you get 900 silver from Lady Dribbage and 300 more from the clerics, for a total of 1,200. We can assume this is split 6 ways (Barvek, Bruv, Hildar, Nera, Nekurr, Tronus), so you get 200 silver each. [I know Barvek is no longer with us, but I've compensated for him with the bonus from the clerics to preserve narrative coherence.)

The thistles could train 'guard dogs'...

Nice, I'll check out the options tomorrow.

Skills
Ranged 1 -> 2 (10xp)
Perception 1 -> 2 (15xp non-career)
Coordination 0 -> 1 (5xp)

Talent
Tier 1 - Quick strike: 1 boost to any enemies who haven't taken a turn in combat yet (5xp)

-10XP Hunter T2
-10XP Inspiring Rhetoric T2
-10XP Leadership 1>2
-05XP Quick Draw T1

Between Field Commander and eventually pumping Inspiring Rhetoric I'll shift likely to a defensive control combatant if we get into the thick of it. So possible cheaper aims or movement and strain recoveries while protecting the squishier younglings (Soom Tm)

Looks good! Yeah, you can assume a few weeks pass between this inquiry and the next. You presumably all do some more mundane jobs in the meantime, too.

This is also a good time to touch base about how we all felt the first adventure went. Over all, I'm happy with how things turned out. My GMing wasn't perfect, but I appreciate your willingness to roll with things when the game may have dragged or gotten confusing.

Areas where I think I miscalculated:

1) In wanting to give you an exciting and engaging final confrontation with Dribbage, I deprived you of the chance to investigate more about what he was doing in the cemetery. This forced me to kind of have Dribbage and Lady Argus give you the info dump about what the plan was (dig the tunnels to avoid the wards, desecrate all the graves from below to then neutralize the wards, experiments with the dogs that fail, sacrifice own body parts to get the gate open). In retrospect, maybe I could have pushed the final confrontation back a day or so in-game.

2) In part to rectify #1, I thought you'd likely try to capture Dribbage alive and interrogate him. But by making him monstrous, I sent an in-genre signal that he was a monster to be slain. When you attacked him upon first confronting him, I had to scramble to ensure you still got to get some of the information out of him. In retrospect, I could have signaled better that maybe your target had done some "body modifications."

I'm always open to constructive criticism, so if there was something you didn't enjoy or where you got confused, I'm all ears.

I thought overall it went very well, there were multiple locales to explore and a good mix of investigating, exploring, and combat. I liked how you gave all the NPC's traits which could be used in social checks too, very fun. You already know about me getting confused during some of the riddles, but that's a personal problem.

Yeah I felt it went very well from my perspective. Everyone seemed to be engaged and have opportunities to shine.

I'll advise about XP spending in the next day or two (not got much time at the mo due to family/holiday stuff) once I've had chance to look over new things in the EPG (is everything in there fair game or is it best to check first?). I also hit enough XP to gain an Ability Point to spend to upgrade my Heroic Ability so I'll have a think about that (will probably go with a Duration upgrade though)

Yeah, understood about holiday stuff. I'm hoping to get the next inquiry started before the New Year, but I'm assuming we'll be slowgoing until then.

The stuff in the Expanded Player's Guide is fair game, but do ask if you want something from a non-fantasy setting (including the Age of Myth one, as I don't think it's balanced vis-à-vis Terrinoth). I'm happy to add Mask and Transform to the spell list. I'm thinking Predict won't derail the game, but I reserve the right to remove it if it seems to ruin the fun of an investigative game.

Once I take a moment to look at things, my XP expenditure should be put together pretty easily. I had a plan through my first Tier 5, just haven't had a chance to look at it between holidays and things. Apologies.

No worries. Do take a look at the stuff in the EPG, though. There's quite a bit in there that is explicitly aimed at Primalists.

Don't have it yet :/

Hasn't shown up, or maybe hasn't stayed on the shelf long enough, at my FLGS for me to get it.

With the 5XP I had banked, I think I'm going with:
[10] Tier 2 Second Wind
[15] Battle Casting
[05] Clever Retort
[10] Block

Sounds good. You can see the new talents in Drainsmith's Talent Tome in the meantime if that helps.

The Ensorcelled (T1), Improved Ensorcelled (T2), and Supreme Ensorcelled (T3) talents let you boost your social checks due to your magical aura. Kind of fun for that primalist who smells of the wild or growls when they talk. (These three also work with Divine and Arcana, but they'd be narratively interpreted differently.)

Druid (T3) lets you add the Summon Ally condition on any Conjure spell you cast.

Face of the Wild (T3) lets you maintain the Transform spell (new spell -- lets you assume animal shapes with Primal skill) without spending Concentrate maneuvers each turn.

The one that is perhaps most helpful to you might be Innate Focus (T3): While not using a magical implement, your character increases their base damage from Attack spells by 2, and when casting other spells without an implement, your character may decrease the difficulty by 1. Strain suffered also goes up by 1, however.

Since you've opted not to use implements, this might be a good pick up for you. Battle Casting will be good, too, if you decide to buy better armor. That's the fun of the talent pyramid, I guess -- forces you to make tough calls!