Dec 9, 2020 3:29 pm
ahah true :D far too many system being played simultaneously on GP.
[OOC] Death & Taxes
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Dec 16, 2020 4:39 pm
Here's where I'm coming from with the legalese:
1. Our job/authority is to find the taxes and the taxman.
2. We found the Taxman murdered, may or may not yet find the taxes.
3. Immediate priority becomes securing all suspects in the murder, so that someone with authority to try suspects for murder can do that. Basically, we need to take suspects back to the Baron, right? Which our suspects for murderer and accomplices are the cultists and anyone who knows about this place; Skeeter, the two townsfolk who were with him, Anzilla, and now clearly the Mayor, who knew she was imprisoned here and is likely somehow involved in all this.
4. Once all suspects are secured, we gather more evidence, interrogate, whatever.
It's not our job to sort all this out, and carry out a trial here, UNLESS anyone is unwilling to cooperate with our legal authority (which is again, to find the taxes, and now to secure suspects), in which case it seems like we're good to forcibly secure them, and even kill them if they fight back.
That's where I'm at.
1. Our job/authority is to find the taxes and the taxman.
2. We found the Taxman murdered, may or may not yet find the taxes.
3. Immediate priority becomes securing all suspects in the murder, so that someone with authority to try suspects for murder can do that. Basically, we need to take suspects back to the Baron, right? Which our suspects for murderer and accomplices are the cultists and anyone who knows about this place; Skeeter, the two townsfolk who were with him, Anzilla, and now clearly the Mayor, who knew she was imprisoned here and is likely somehow involved in all this.
4. Once all suspects are secured, we gather more evidence, interrogate, whatever.
It's not our job to sort all this out, and carry out a trial here, UNLESS anyone is unwilling to cooperate with our legal authority (which is again, to find the taxes, and now to secure suspects), in which case it seems like we're good to forcibly secure them, and even kill them if they fight back.
That's where I'm at.
Dec 21, 2020 10:23 am
OOC:
sorry for the slow response!
Dec 21, 2020 2:09 pm
Well the way Hildar is operating at the moment it boils down to the following
1) the mayor seems trustworthy due to previous checks so Hildar is willing to at the very least just give him the benefit of the doubt.
2) the weaver is obviously guilty of something hence why she is locked up but whether that something is directly related to our investigations/the fate of the taxman remains to be seen (seem likely that she is spider-momma though)
3) unless we find something concrete linking the mayor to the murder of the taxman he still has the legal authority to decide what happens to the townsfolk here abouts and we would be on very dicey ground even detaining people for questioning without his permission.
4) if we can prove who killed the taxman we should be able to press the case that we can take them back with us to answer to the baron. Beyond that we can at least take the account of his fate back and report in and leave it to the baron to decide and enact any punitive measures.
To be fair we don't even have the authority of the baron here. One of his staff sent us to investigate on the quiet as (from the way I read it) she didn't want it to be known she had sent the taxman here to collect a large amount of taxes that he seemingly absconded with as she would probably be on the hook for it. I doubt the baron even knows we are here....or who we are at all for that matter.
1) the mayor seems trustworthy due to previous checks so Hildar is willing to at the very least just give him the benefit of the doubt.
2) the weaver is obviously guilty of something hence why she is locked up but whether that something is directly related to our investigations/the fate of the taxman remains to be seen (seem likely that she is spider-momma though)
3) unless we find something concrete linking the mayor to the murder of the taxman he still has the legal authority to decide what happens to the townsfolk here abouts and we would be on very dicey ground even detaining people for questioning without his permission.
4) if we can prove who killed the taxman we should be able to press the case that we can take them back with us to answer to the baron. Beyond that we can at least take the account of his fate back and report in and leave it to the baron to decide and enact any punitive measures.
To be fair we don't even have the authority of the baron here. One of his staff sent us to investigate on the quiet as (from the way I read it) she didn't want it to be known she had sent the taxman here to collect a large amount of taxes that he seemingly absconded with as she would probably be on the hook for it. I doubt the baron even knows we are here....or who we are at all for that matter.
Dec 21, 2020 11:09 pm
Yea, I had lost sight of the on-the-down-low part.
Well, as far as the impending fight goes, we'd already put Skeeter (and the other Creepers) out in the course of our investigation, so if/since they're attacking us for something we've already done, Bruv's gonna defend himself.
Well, as far as the impending fight goes, we'd already put Skeeter (and the other Creepers) out in the course of our investigation, so if/since they're attacking us for something we've already done, Bruv's gonna defend himself.
Dec 22, 2020 3:09 pm
Question: does a Crit inflicted while doing Strain damage still kill, specifically a Minion? :P
Or is it just considered a knockout?
Or is it just considered a knockout?
Dec 22, 2020 3:55 pm
emsquared says:
Question: does a Crit inflicted while doing Strain damage still kill, specifically a Minion? :POr is it just considered a knockout?
Dec 23, 2020 9:17 pm
SavageBob says:
local criminal matters are handled by local judiciaries across the baronies. OOC:
Killing a tax colection is a local crime? Technically, she killed an agent of the Baron so it could be considered an act against the Barony no?... I suppose that would be the social conflict :D
Dec 23, 2020 9:19 pm
CESN says:
OOC:
Killing a tax colection is a local crime? Technically, she killed an agent of the Baron so it could be considered an act against the Barony no?... I suppose that would be the social conflict :D
Dec 29, 2020 3:53 am
Hey, folks! I'll respond to the recent posts in the IC soon. I'm staying with relatives with terribly slow Internet, but I should be able to get a faster connection tomorrow. I'm not upset with any of you if it came across that I was. But I will respond more thoroughly, hopefully sometime tomorrow.
Dec 30, 2020 2:12 am
Hey, folks. Finally got a spare moment to try to catch up with some of the questions and comments y'all have been posing. So I'll address things in several parts:
1) Did the mayor and his Night Creepers hear Bruv call out about the animated scarecrows? Have they heard the fighting between Bruv and the other Night Creepers out front?
I was operating under the assumption that they did not hear the warning called out, as they were just coming in the door and being surprised at finding the lot of you inside. However, Tronus and the other inquisitors would have heard it, as they were already inside and not adjusting to a completely surprising situation.
Then, judging by the narrative emsquared gave, Bruv was using fisticuffs to put the Night Creepers down, so I was assuming muted noises from that altercation that the mayor probably wouldn't have noticed due to being presented with the body of Kellis Isle -- a much more important development for him than some fighting outside. (Important to note here is that Skeeter was not left on the porch, but rather "near the porch," so close or far enough for the fighting to be heard (or not) depending on narrative necessity).
From a meta-gaming perspective, I was trying to leave the door open to you to parley with the mayor some if you wanted to. I've been trying to give you opportunities to interrogate folks to get more information on what's going on, so I didn't want to foreclose that possibility prematurely. But this leads to...
2) What does the evidence point to (or not point to ) so far?
So, you have all ascertained that there's a secret meeting going on behind this old house. You have determined that the way this village worships the goddess Aris (a nature goddess represented by a dove) is strange. However, idiosyncratic worship practices are not unheard of in isolated backwaters like this, so on its face, it means nothing that they think of Aris as a blackbird or crow. Nevertheless, you have also determined that black birds and the dark side of nature are associated with a dark goddess called Harridan. So maybe there's Harridan worship being hidden under Aris worship. If that's the case, it's possible that only the folks at this gathering know of the truth.
You know that Harridan is sometimes allied with a spider goddess called Arachne.
You know that the pig had spiders in it, the mayor was upset about it, the weaver was put under house arrest afterward, the local spirits indicate there's an internal rift happening among the people who meet at this house, and that at some point Anzila was brought to this house, where the mayor plans to execute her. You assume she killed your man, Kellis Isle, but you don't know whether the mayor knew that or not. He claims to have not known.
So now he comes in with some Night Creepers brandishing weapons. Tronus takes that as a provocation to fight. However (and perhaps I didn't explain this well narratively), those weapons were not necessarily meant for you. They were legitimately surprised to find you in the house. They sensed y'all doing magic (due to a despair) and assumed Anzila had gotten free. So to find y'all instead was actually something of a relief. So, let's not be mistaken - the mayor is not pleased you're up, around, and snooping. He made it clear you were to sleep through the night, and he'd pay your your back taxes in the morning. But finding you in the house instead of a freed, magic-using weaver, he has extended an olive branch (albeit one that you perhaps don't want) and asked for your help bringing the weaver to justice (albeit as they are defining justice).
Now, it sounds like Tronus's aggression was due to misreading the weapons as being intended for you, coupled with Wayland's anger at seeing you out and about. I perhaps didn't make it clear enough that he was asking for help (whether sincerely or not) and not attacking you. That was intended as an opportunity for you to, potentially, play along to get a better understanding of what you're up against. Does he have more people somewhere? Is anyone else in danger? What is the beef between him and Anzila? That's why I asked for a Coercion check -- to see if you could cow him into backing away from executing Anzila, at least enough to reveal more of his plans.
It's possible you would still want to attack him and try to get into a position where you could interrogate him after a fight, though. And that's fine.
3) Are you doing something wrong? Am I doing something wrong as GM?
Short answer: no, but our expectations may not be aligning completely. That's fine, but it's also not a bad idea to bring the misalignment to light.
Meta-rumination: Y'all have a tendency to punch first and ask questions later (or not to ask questions at all). I'm not sure if that's just the fact that you all prefer to lean into the fantasy, sword-and-sorcery bits more than the investigation bits that interest me more. But there have now been several points in the story when you could have tried to get a clearer picture of what's going on but instead chose to avoid talking to people. Perhaps this tendency is due to a sense that talking can be dangerous. Well, yes, it can be. But on the other hand, being in the dark brings its own dangers. And as a fantasy-Cthulhu mashup, the interpersonal bits are just as important as the magic-and-blades bits, or I've intended for them to be.
Narrative-wise, you're broadly right that a dark cult is at work in this village. But there's a lot more to it, and I don't want it to seem like a "punishment" if, for instance, we do a big scenario-ending fight here with the mayor and then you learn that something really bad has happened because you didn't try to get a bit more information before you attacked him.
That said, we can still make it work, and make it feel satisfying, I think. We can totally fight the mayor here. So if that's the plan, let's get those remaining initiative rolls. Ultimately, it's your story, so it's my job to give you what will hopefully be a satisfying conclusion!
1) Did the mayor and his Night Creepers hear Bruv call out about the animated scarecrows? Have they heard the fighting between Bruv and the other Night Creepers out front?
I was operating under the assumption that they did not hear the warning called out, as they were just coming in the door and being surprised at finding the lot of you inside. However, Tronus and the other inquisitors would have heard it, as they were already inside and not adjusting to a completely surprising situation.
Then, judging by the narrative emsquared gave, Bruv was using fisticuffs to put the Night Creepers down, so I was assuming muted noises from that altercation that the mayor probably wouldn't have noticed due to being presented with the body of Kellis Isle -- a much more important development for him than some fighting outside. (Important to note here is that Skeeter was not left on the porch, but rather "near the porch," so close or far enough for the fighting to be heard (or not) depending on narrative necessity).
From a meta-gaming perspective, I was trying to leave the door open to you to parley with the mayor some if you wanted to. I've been trying to give you opportunities to interrogate folks to get more information on what's going on, so I didn't want to foreclose that possibility prematurely. But this leads to...
2) What does the evidence point to (or not point to ) so far?
So, you have all ascertained that there's a secret meeting going on behind this old house. You have determined that the way this village worships the goddess Aris (a nature goddess represented by a dove) is strange. However, idiosyncratic worship practices are not unheard of in isolated backwaters like this, so on its face, it means nothing that they think of Aris as a blackbird or crow. Nevertheless, you have also determined that black birds and the dark side of nature are associated with a dark goddess called Harridan. So maybe there's Harridan worship being hidden under Aris worship. If that's the case, it's possible that only the folks at this gathering know of the truth.
You know that Harridan is sometimes allied with a spider goddess called Arachne.
You know that the pig had spiders in it, the mayor was upset about it, the weaver was put under house arrest afterward, the local spirits indicate there's an internal rift happening among the people who meet at this house, and that at some point Anzila was brought to this house, where the mayor plans to execute her. You assume she killed your man, Kellis Isle, but you don't know whether the mayor knew that or not. He claims to have not known.
So now he comes in with some Night Creepers brandishing weapons. Tronus takes that as a provocation to fight. However (and perhaps I didn't explain this well narratively), those weapons were not necessarily meant for you. They were legitimately surprised to find you in the house. They sensed y'all doing magic (due to a despair) and assumed Anzila had gotten free. So to find y'all instead was actually something of a relief. So, let's not be mistaken - the mayor is not pleased you're up, around, and snooping. He made it clear you were to sleep through the night, and he'd pay your your back taxes in the morning. But finding you in the house instead of a freed, magic-using weaver, he has extended an olive branch (albeit one that you perhaps don't want) and asked for your help bringing the weaver to justice (albeit as they are defining justice).
Now, it sounds like Tronus's aggression was due to misreading the weapons as being intended for you, coupled with Wayland's anger at seeing you out and about. I perhaps didn't make it clear enough that he was asking for help (whether sincerely or not) and not attacking you. That was intended as an opportunity for you to, potentially, play along to get a better understanding of what you're up against. Does he have more people somewhere? Is anyone else in danger? What is the beef between him and Anzila? That's why I asked for a Coercion check -- to see if you could cow him into backing away from executing Anzila, at least enough to reveal more of his plans.
It's possible you would still want to attack him and try to get into a position where you could interrogate him after a fight, though. And that's fine.
3) Are you doing something wrong? Am I doing something wrong as GM?
Short answer: no, but our expectations may not be aligning completely. That's fine, but it's also not a bad idea to bring the misalignment to light.
Meta-rumination: Y'all have a tendency to punch first and ask questions later (or not to ask questions at all). I'm not sure if that's just the fact that you all prefer to lean into the fantasy, sword-and-sorcery bits more than the investigation bits that interest me more. But there have now been several points in the story when you could have tried to get a clearer picture of what's going on but instead chose to avoid talking to people. Perhaps this tendency is due to a sense that talking can be dangerous. Well, yes, it can be. But on the other hand, being in the dark brings its own dangers. And as a fantasy-Cthulhu mashup, the interpersonal bits are just as important as the magic-and-blades bits, or I've intended for them to be.
Narrative-wise, you're broadly right that a dark cult is at work in this village. But there's a lot more to it, and I don't want it to seem like a "punishment" if, for instance, we do a big scenario-ending fight here with the mayor and then you learn that something really bad has happened because you didn't try to get a bit more information before you attacked him.
That said, we can still make it work, and make it feel satisfying, I think. We can totally fight the mayor here. So if that's the plan, let's get those remaining initiative rolls. Ultimately, it's your story, so it's my job to give you what will hopefully be a satisfying conclusion!
Dec 30, 2020 10:31 am
Thanks for clarifying things. From a personal perspective I've been holding off having Hildar go into more social engagements because he's not very well suited to them so I've been playing it that he hangs back a touch and prefers to let some of the more talky types lead on those kind of things. I've a line that I've been mulling over trying to go down but I've not had much time this last week or so to get on here....will try to put something up in a bit
Dec 30, 2020 12:10 pm
OOC:
that is a great summary! I’m ok with Nekurr being feed to the goat men if that is what’s coming. Any end can be a good end :DDec 30, 2020 3:04 pm
Yea, I think 1. and 2. all jives pretty much with my take on the situation.
The only difference might be in the meta-rumination part.
I kind of fall where Remnant did: there's clearly something dark and evil going on here, the more we obey the procedure and laws of "polite society" (which the dark and evil things clearly do not) the more we're putting ourselves and others at risk.
We could have just went to sleep, gotten the taxes the next day, and walked away with or mission technically accomplished. That's where following the letter of the law, and just doing out job, would have taken us.
But I don't think that's particularly fun or interesting in this case. So where we're at is, to use a term of your own Bob, we have to be the Big Damn Heroes if we really want to do GOOD here. And that means doing what it takes to make sure no one else gets hurt.
I feel like we've done a ton of investigation, and gotten all the information we need to know that something far beyond a dry legal tax situation is going on here. So if we continue to try to pretend like we're just addressing a dry legal tax situation, we're seriously endangering or ability to prevent the dark and evil stuff from continuing to disappear people.
If this ends with the cabal of Creepers dead, and Bruv imprisoned because he didn't follow the law when preventing dark, evil cultists from continuing to look people? I'm ok with that.
The only difference might be in the meta-rumination part.
I kind of fall where Remnant did: there's clearly something dark and evil going on here, the more we obey the procedure and laws of "polite society" (which the dark and evil things clearly do not) the more we're putting ourselves and others at risk.
We could have just went to sleep, gotten the taxes the next day, and walked away with or mission technically accomplished. That's where following the letter of the law, and just doing out job, would have taken us.
But I don't think that's particularly fun or interesting in this case. So where we're at is, to use a term of your own Bob, we have to be the Big Damn Heroes if we really want to do GOOD here. And that means doing what it takes to make sure no one else gets hurt.
I feel like we've done a ton of investigation, and gotten all the information we need to know that something far beyond a dry legal tax situation is going on here. So if we continue to try to pretend like we're just addressing a dry legal tax situation, we're seriously endangering or ability to prevent the dark and evil stuff from continuing to disappear people.
If this ends with the cabal of Creepers dead, and Bruv imprisoned because he didn't follow the law when preventing dark, evil cultists from continuing to look people? I'm ok with that.
Dec 30, 2020 3:11 pm
[ +- ] OoC Sea of Text
1) Another way to put this is you should talk things out while Bruv is outside in the thick of it. Didn't address this at all.
2) I'll skip the religious side of things since judgement from Tronus would look to someone like Hildar who'd make an educated guess.
Pig incident she's put on house arrest and the pageant must go on lets not look at it too much is the feeling I got at of the event at the time. She went from house arrest to being in the sticks to be judged and executed for her 'crimes' of doing creepy pig stuff and killing Ilse. I don't assume she killed Isle, why put someone in a cage a few feet away from the area where she offed someone by way of hungry baby spider. So without knowing all the facts another interpretation is she got caught and she's a scapegoat. Immediately saying she's the one at fault and she needs to be immediately executed by his authority, legally, etc. Seems suspect in the moment which is why he's going to get maimed. He mentioned our job was to get the backtaxes or find out what happened to Isle and his whereabouts if it was paid. He said it was paid. He was the last one to see him alive (unless the village who isn't cunning or deceptive was purposely let on or coached to tell us that, but I don't think that's the case). If they were paid and he left the place he's now dead and found so that's why the taxes for ten years hasn't been delivered. It looks suspicious and him pinning blame on the spot.
Update: Also Nekurr is picking the story apart... Nekurr (we all know the Tronus n Nekurr situation if he's making sense to Tronus... well good luck bud)
I took the provocation to fight since from what you posted they pulled weapons after finding out Aniza is secure and he (the mayor) needs to see what has happened in the next room. I'm not sure how you want to have me interprete that differently either we're lying about her being secure or they're for us specifically.
They should be surprised we're up we should all be knocked out by now.
Mayor not pleased we're up, around, and snooping. Tronus would counter he's pissed the thought of giving us a sedative poison we didn't ask for or agree to take, being attacked when we see suspicious people that if they were on the up and up he would have stated before the fact if he transparent about things. It's customary to snoop when someone with no cards to play after being caught still attack those trying to bind wounds or threaten suicide. That isn't normal behavior, even for a scared villager out in the sticks, unless you got something to hide.
I don't see it as an olive branch from how it was portrayed so far. What your describing as 'justice' is conjecture and it's on us to say that's legit due to proof or call pig poop legalese no?
I don't think Tronus is a sly type of fellow he doesn't do very cunning things, the most of it was stating something and purposely looking another way because Nera 'might' do something in the gray or illegal. That said it's possibly for someone charming to smooth things over but that's never been Tronus in the group is he going to be prone to violence? That's a lot of things that don't add up and he's from his perspective still being given the run around and someone is at leas to him lying to his face. Is it a religious order form his God to kill her or his duties as an official?
3) I don't think it's really Y'all but certain people like me but I'm not playing a talking sly charming or cunning guy it's on the up and up. If that doesn't work there's other options. This one honestly sounds more like you're only prefer so much play agency in certain situations which if that's true honestly just say 'only solve this obstacle with the following skill sets'. It's a fantasy setting eating something could possibly give us the trots and we're honestly rolling vigilance checks to not go fetal from dehydration and strain damage to our systems of pooping for days.
We only know what we know in the game. I'm under the impression there's good people in town but also people that when injured try to lash out and threat suicide if their demands aren't meet which doesn't seem okay or normal. I'm also under the impression the guy blowing smoke up my butt in front of me should be given a pass from what you're saying or those good people in town might end up dead or something worse. If you're going to go soft meta threat honestly just say don't do something and we can edit or if you like if people aren't playing the way you want ask them to leave. No hard feeling if it's me bud. Players, at least me, are going to play a character, you're going to play the story. That doesn't always gel but I think that's okay if you just want players that are going to play on a track for a script that's fine let us know.
2) I'll skip the religious side of things since judgement from Tronus would look to someone like Hildar who'd make an educated guess.
Pig incident she's put on house arrest and the pageant must go on lets not look at it too much is the feeling I got at of the event at the time. She went from house arrest to being in the sticks to be judged and executed for her 'crimes' of doing creepy pig stuff and killing Ilse. I don't assume she killed Isle, why put someone in a cage a few feet away from the area where she offed someone by way of hungry baby spider. So without knowing all the facts another interpretation is she got caught and she's a scapegoat. Immediately saying she's the one at fault and she needs to be immediately executed by his authority, legally, etc. Seems suspect in the moment which is why he's going to get maimed. He mentioned our job was to get the backtaxes or find out what happened to Isle and his whereabouts if it was paid. He said it was paid. He was the last one to see him alive (unless the village who isn't cunning or deceptive was purposely let on or coached to tell us that, but I don't think that's the case). If they were paid and he left the place he's now dead and found so that's why the taxes for ten years hasn't been delivered. It looks suspicious and him pinning blame on the spot.
Update: Also Nekurr is picking the story apart... Nekurr (we all know the Tronus n Nekurr situation if he's making sense to Tronus... well good luck bud)
I took the provocation to fight since from what you posted they pulled weapons after finding out Aniza is secure and he (the mayor) needs to see what has happened in the next room. I'm not sure how you want to have me interprete that differently either we're lying about her being secure or they're for us specifically.
They should be surprised we're up we should all be knocked out by now.
Mayor not pleased we're up, around, and snooping. Tronus would counter he's pissed the thought of giving us a sedative poison we didn't ask for or agree to take, being attacked when we see suspicious people that if they were on the up and up he would have stated before the fact if he transparent about things. It's customary to snoop when someone with no cards to play after being caught still attack those trying to bind wounds or threaten suicide. That isn't normal behavior, even for a scared villager out in the sticks, unless you got something to hide.
I don't see it as an olive branch from how it was portrayed so far. What your describing as 'justice' is conjecture and it's on us to say that's legit due to proof or call pig poop legalese no?
I don't think Tronus is a sly type of fellow he doesn't do very cunning things, the most of it was stating something and purposely looking another way because Nera 'might' do something in the gray or illegal. That said it's possibly for someone charming to smooth things over but that's never been Tronus in the group is he going to be prone to violence? That's a lot of things that don't add up and he's from his perspective still being given the run around and someone is at leas to him lying to his face. Is it a religious order form his God to kill her or his duties as an official?
3) I don't think it's really Y'all but certain people like me but I'm not playing a talking sly charming or cunning guy it's on the up and up. If that doesn't work there's other options. This one honestly sounds more like you're only prefer so much play agency in certain situations which if that's true honestly just say 'only solve this obstacle with the following skill sets'. It's a fantasy setting eating something could possibly give us the trots and we're honestly rolling vigilance checks to not go fetal from dehydration and strain damage to our systems of pooping for days.
We only know what we know in the game. I'm under the impression there's good people in town but also people that when injured try to lash out and threat suicide if their demands aren't meet which doesn't seem okay or normal. I'm also under the impression the guy blowing smoke up my butt in front of me should be given a pass from what you're saying or those good people in town might end up dead or something worse. If you're going to go soft meta threat honestly just say don't do something and we can edit or if you like if people aren't playing the way you want ask them to leave. No hard feeling if it's me bud. Players, at least me, are going to play a character, you're going to play the story. That doesn't always gel but I think that's okay if you just want players that are going to play on a track for a script that's fine let us know.
Last edited December 30, 2020 3:18 pm
Dec 30, 2020 4:48 pm
Remnant, it seems you're taking my comments personally, like I'm upset with you. I'm not! I enjoy having you as a player. I appreciate all of you and don't have a problem with how you're playing except in one dimension.
This one thing boils down to this: To get a clear idea of what's going on, you have to talk to dangerous people.
That's really it. Everything else is just details.
You are all right to suspect something really bad is happening. But it's more complicated than "mayor's up to no good." You're at the part of the Bond movie where the villain spills his evil plan. But you have to get him talking to get him to do that.
My intention with this conversation was simply to clear the air, not to chastise you as players. (You're all great.) Let's get to the fight. It should be fun, so let's get to it!
ETA: Still lots of ways you can still "talk to dangerous people" if you fight the mayor, so we can preserve the option to "win" the adventure even if you take him out. E.g., keep him alive so you can talk to him afterward (actually quite genre appropriate), resuscitate Anzila to interrogate her, keep one of his cronies alive so you can interrogate them, resuscitate Zymph so you can interrogate him after the fight, send Nera off to scout the larger area, use your narrative symbols to learn more about what's going on (triumps, etc.)... Just throwing out possibilities.
This one thing boils down to this: To get a clear idea of what's going on, you have to talk to dangerous people.
That's really it. Everything else is just details.
You are all right to suspect something really bad is happening. But it's more complicated than "mayor's up to no good." You're at the part of the Bond movie where the villain spills his evil plan. But you have to get him talking to get him to do that.
My intention with this conversation was simply to clear the air, not to chastise you as players. (You're all great.) Let's get to the fight. It should be fun, so let's get to it!
ETA: Still lots of ways you can still "talk to dangerous people" if you fight the mayor, so we can preserve the option to "win" the adventure even if you take him out. E.g., keep him alive so you can talk to him afterward (actually quite genre appropriate), resuscitate Anzila to interrogate her, keep one of his cronies alive so you can interrogate them, resuscitate Zymph so you can interrogate him after the fight, send Nera off to scout the larger area, use your narrative symbols to learn more about what's going on (triumps, etc.)... Just throwing out possibilities.
Dec 30, 2020 5:12 pm
I'm under impression we're just not going in the direction that you think is best to get an answer/clue/result. Mind you we've stumbled through a lot so to speak as a party in the last adventure. Tronus for example always blamed Nekurr now... but if he's making sense well hold up now he's got a point makes for something interesting. This kid dropped a mausoleum coffin lid on my foot and stood there wondering what to do. *shakes fist*
To get a clear idea I'd counter we need to get what we can and come to a conclusion with all the evidence gathered we might be wrong since we missed something and that might bit us in the end but we can only get what we get through gut feelings, blatant things, and clue we actually find through rolls that may or may not be actually helpful. depending on who says it multiple people can say that other person is the bad guy and/or at fault it's not me.
But I'd say we can talk things out ICly with a cup of tea later when Bruv at least is in a safe place and before Nekurr drops something else important in a poop patty.
To get a clear idea I'd counter we need to get what we can and come to a conclusion with all the evidence gathered we might be wrong since we missed something and that might bit us in the end but we can only get what we get through gut feelings, blatant things, and clue we actually find through rolls that may or may not be actually helpful. depending on who says it multiple people can say that other person is the bad guy and/or at fault it's not me.
But I'd say we can talk things out ICly with a cup of tea later when Bruv at least is in a safe place and before Nekurr drops something else important in a poop patty.
Jan 3, 2021 4:42 am
Mentioning Harridan definitely gets his attention! But I think in tandem with Tronus's ultimatum, we're still facing combat unless a social check can be made to get him talking. The difficulty is as I outlined in the IC, but you'll get boosts for bringing up Harridan. So roll versus RRP with 4 boosts (Tronus + Nekurr + Tronus), and 2 for bringing up Harridan. 6 setbacks for his motivations.
Otherwise, we can go into combat. (Again, I'm not miffed at anyone!) In that case, consider using narrative symbols to get him to spill more information about his plan if you'd like. Or keep him alive to interrogate after the fight. :)
Finally, Happy New Year! I realize I completely let December pass by without XP, so please take +10 for the New Year.
Otherwise, we can go into combat. (Again, I'm not miffed at anyone!) In that case, consider using narrative symbols to get him to spill more information about his plan if you'd like. Or keep him alive to interrogate after the fight. :)
Finally, Happy New Year! I realize I completely let December pass by without XP, so please take +10 for the New Year.
Jan 3, 2021 11:09 am
Well I threw one last roll out there and got a lot better than I was hoping for on it. Was thinking Leadership on the check because Hildar is trying to use the Authority of the Barron to take charge of the situation without any overt threats but like I said on the IC post he's at 2 x greens on every Social skill so I'll leave it to your discretion as to what skill is best from a narrative perspective. Definitely wanting him to monologue a bit if the success warrants it.
For no particular reason before we kick things off Hildar is dropping 20 XP to pick up the T4 Talent 'Teleport' from the EPG lol
Oh and happy new year to everyone too! Hope you've all had a good one!
For no particular reason before we kick things off Hildar is dropping 20 XP to pick up the T4 Talent 'Teleport' from the EPG lol
Oh and happy new year to everyone too! Hope you've all had a good one!
Last edited January 3, 2021 11:09 am
Jan 3, 2021 7:51 pm
I'd ask that you hold off on Teleport for the time being -- I'm not sure that one will be permissible. I'll review it and get back to you; still trying to get back on my feet after the holidays!
So, the roll, as I see it, needs to reflect the things that have been said:
Tronus: You're doing dark and forbidden things, so stop or we'll stop you by force.
Nekurr: Better listen to him.
Hildar: We insist you let the baron's courts handle this. And what's up with this Harridan worship?
Maybe the best thing to do is to let the roll stand as is -- technically Tronus could have improved Hildar's roll by contrbuting Presence 3 and Leadership 2, but the Dwarf's approach was more threatening, so I'm inclined to consider it worth a boost, but not a full skilled assist. (There's stuff in the Expanded Player's Guide about what to do when PCs use conflicting social approaches on the same target in the same encounter—I need to check that again, but let's go with this for now.)
So, the roll, as I see it, needs to reflect the things that have been said:
Tronus: You're doing dark and forbidden things, so stop or we'll stop you by force.
Nekurr: Better listen to him.
Hildar: We insist you let the baron's courts handle this. And what's up with this Harridan worship?
Maybe the best thing to do is to let the roll stand as is -- technically Tronus could have improved Hildar's roll by contrbuting Presence 3 and Leadership 2, but the Dwarf's approach was more threatening, so I'm inclined to consider it worth a boost, but not a full skilled assist. (There's stuff in the Expanded Player's Guide about what to do when PCs use conflicting social approaches on the same target in the same encounter—I need to check that again, but let's go with this for now.)
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