[OOC] Death & Taxes

I don't think we're "storming through", so much as trying to perform under perceived pressures.

We know (or, at least, I think):

1. We intercepted 3 cultists from coming here, and took their place.

2. We can reasonably expect the rest of the Hootenanny is probably expecting those 3. Time pressure.

3. We were told that anyone here likely knows we're here now, cuz of the noise we made. Increased time pressure. And an awareness pressure/an expectation from anyone here to perform as the 3 missing cultists would.

4. Presumably that expectation is to return to the Hootenanny. Now we know maybe/probably with the boy.

So, hanging around out here, questioning Anzila, could seem odd to those waiting. Cuz:

1. It's taking too long.

2. Why would 3 cultists who know what's going on need to sit and talk with the prisoner?

3. It's extremely risky, because our ignorance would almost surely tip off Anzila that were intruders.

4. Who knows what else is going on? They could have Jacey on an altar ready to sacrifice. They could be performing a ritual to summon some unfriendly force as a part of the Hootenanny.

It doesn't seem, to Bruv, like there's any room for investigation at the moment...

Fair enough. I was joking with the suggestion of steam-rolling through and picking up the pieces later, by the way. ;) . It is good to hear how things are being perceived from the players' point of view. I'm a firm believer in providing alternative avenues to gain information, I just wanted to make sure we weren't having a disconnect on the idea that talking to folks is a viable strategy if you want to pursue it.

There are four/five of us and they expect three, so that could be an issue 🤔 Nera could get off scene an "get the boy" (or find o what he was running from )

Bruv proposed 2 of us stay with Anzila/to watch our backs, while 3 go through the door.

I don't think splitting up so far as/distant from each other to go get Melchic is wise at this point.

My $0.02

Remnant has been pretty quiet, and Somebox says she's unable to contribute very regularly. We can assume those two are staying in the room with the weaver if you three want to move on to other parts of the house.

Or... temporarily "remove them" from the scene. That would give us the "don’t tell me you didn’t get the boy" lame evil minion troupe to use ;)

Hopefully Remnant will be back soon. Somebox mentioned needing to scale back, so her absence (though sad) was expected. But, yeah -- you could also leave them outside to keep an eye on Zymph. The weaver's in a cage, after all. Just let me know what room(s) you're headed to.

Also, I'll note that NOT responding to the weaver about the boy is going to set off her alarm bells. Whether she can do anything about it in her present state is another question.

I think it makes sense from a narrative perspective to leave them with her and the rest of us investigate the remainder of the house, keeps the characters close by if the players come back. The only slight wrinkle in things is if Hildar moves longer than short range from Tronus (and Bruv for that matter) that the Mask will drop off of them but I'm assuming most of the house would class as being pretty short range ish unless it's a lot bigger than I'm thinking

I'm here not needed to assist in the current roll so I've been quiet.

Meta: Weaver being in the cage for any reason either the screw up of being related with the pig spider incident or something else isn't something we 'have' to know or figure out. She's not an innocent though so if we're keeping someone here so she doesn't start alerting others from her cage I'm just as soon to knock her out either through blunt force or poison. Speculation on what we don't know is just that though until we see something to verify. Oddly enough we have jurisdiction to wage war in my opinion on the possibility of use of forbidden or dark magic. Religious freedom excuse for sacrificing people for a good reason also gets a dwarf fist to the face. If they want to squabble legally after the fact I think it'd be interesting since that doesn't seem part of the MO for a 'normal' village.

Short version: Disable Weaver's Consciousness lets press on

Yes, that could be done. I had the feeling somebox would be away longer-ish, so removing Nera while answering the weaver's question about the kid seemed a good way to go.

Now, putting her to sleep is a good way, specially since we have the point. We can make it look like she overdosed. There is the risk someone comes in and doesn't buy it, which could be a problem (specially with the mayor later on when he finds out).

I agree we have to open the door and find out what is happenign on the other side. However, we have to keep in mind that Zymph was ok wirth teeling about this place, so there are some chances nothing is going on here (we may have been played).

Additionally, I just though that 3 could go in (because we are replacing a party of 3) and one could pretent to be on the weaver's side and gain her trust.

I'm fine with staying back with Nera[afk].

OK, so I'm hearing:

1) Put the weaver to sleep somehow. (If this is the plan, please all roll Cool for initiative and we'll resolve.)
2) Leave Tronus and Nera in the room with her as lookouts.
3) Check out the rest of the house. (It's a small farmhouse, so no worries about keeping Tronus and Hildar within short range of one another.) So, which room first? Junk room, crawlspace, or door opposite the entrance?

So all the normal combat rules applying to magic makes it seem like spells could be Dodged, Parried and/or Blocked? That accurate?

For spells using the Attack action, yes. I think the default assumption is something like magic missile or a fireball, all of which could conceivably be dodged, blocked, or soaked. For something more esoteric, Curse would be more appropriate, or Conjure of something that attacks in non-standard ways.

In light of how absurdly hard it is to NOT kill someone in this system/setting, I guess we probably should have just went for Wounds and flipped a Story Point to have her not die...

We literally have no way to not kill her besides me, I'm assuming? Or does anyone have Stun weapons?

Is it too late to retcon my spell to not be Non-lethal, Bob? I don't care about the extra Difficulty die. Take the roll as is, but just have it do Wounds?

I don't think it's all that dire yet. You've still got Nekurr and Nera's go. Nekurr could do Curse + Despair, which would reduce her Strain and Wound Thresholds by Nekurr's ranks in Knowledge (Lore). Or he could just bash her with a blunt object, declaring it to be stun damage. Likewise, Nera can bash or shoot something blunt with her bow. Then, next round, she can't take actions, so Bruv can do another non-lethal attack spell.

At this point, bringing her down below strain threshold is inevitable. It's the despairs and threats you roll in the process that you have to watch out for!

Ok, didn't know if that was an option or if the weapon would have to have a Stun quality..

Sorry, clarification: unarmed attacks by default can be declared to be inflicting stun. Melee weapons have to have Stun Damage quality to do this, though. Punch and kick away!

Not sure I understood. Shouldn't it be if above half strain?

Actually, you're right! Sometimes I fall into the D&D mindset of envisioning a pool of strain or HP that gets depleted, whereas this game does the opposite. You start at 0/X Strain and Wounds and then accumulate toward your max. With Desperate Recovery, you have to be past the halfway point toward your threshold before it kicks in.