On the Road (OOC)

I am uncertain, but if Calum is ready to follow her, she would probably go to the Captain's side and then try to go to frontlines - primarily to stave off the attackers with other guards, as well as, possibly, save those who have been brought down already.

That is what I was asking. What we see in the fiction is a bit of a logical leap with no substantiation. It is OK for her to know/suspect the truth, or even for her to have had a discussion with the other PCs where they relay their suspicions, but we did not see any of that. I would prefer to play out such an interaction with the other PCs, but that could be done in a flashback.

It is always hard to judge how much to explicitly narrate in these posts, too much and it gets repetitive and boring, too little and it becomes hard to gauge a proper response. Hence the questions.
Sorry if it came across as accusatory. I am also trying to balance how much meta-knowledge I provide, the right amount varies from group to group.

Given the above, let's say he will.

LizzyPinkHood: Just to be clear, given the above discussion, then I say in the RP 'there is no way your character could know this, but..." that is a standard phrase, used all the time and not directed at you personally.

It occurred to me after posting that it might seem to be a dig at you. It was not meant that way and was used out of habit, possibly insensitively at this exact time. Ignore this if you did not thing that. :)

Rezart: What sort of opportunity is Rook looking for?

With an 8 you can go ahead and narrate some small advantage (possibly in position or effect, or lethality, or impressiveness, or subtlety, or subterfuge, or something).

It won't turn the tide of the battle on its own, but you may be able to find a single vulnerable target (for a one hit kill on a good medium roll), or save another guard (with a distraction or an assist). Anything on that sort of level that interests you is fair game.

Well, it's dawning on him that Callum appears not to be going anywhere. And none of the attackers seem to be slinging stones, so there's gonna be questions. So the optimal version of this opportunity for him would be something where he could get into the battle, shank a bad guy from behind without exposing himself to danger, and in doing be seen saving somebody important (like the guard captain or the wagonmaster), and just hide away his sling. So a partial that gets him some of that stuff would be good.

Rezart: You are welcome to find an attacker bearing a sling unless you think it will be particularly interesting to have someone work out could only have been you. In the heat of battle things happen, so I don't foresee any immediate repercussions from that shot. This is free and does not affect the opportunity you find unless you turn it into a big thing.

Anyone you save would become important, the level of effect this would have on someone like the captain is less than on a novel guard. The merchant is hidden in his wagon and not coming out till things are resolved.

You can narrate the fight moving within reach of your shanking, or move into the thick of things and probably lose concealment without seek another place to hide. Hiding will diminish any "oh, my hero, you saved me" effect, of course.

LizzyPinkHood: Is Leesha heading towards the captain as suggested by Meht in the last post? It is up to you.

---

Rezart: What do you want to do? It is up to you what sort of opportunity Rook finds with his roll. It depends on what you are wanting to achieve.

You can still go after Calum, he is primarily your NPC even though he has glommed onto Leesha for now.

Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I misunderstood your earlier post. I didn't realize you were waiting for me to frame the scene. I'll post something in a few minutes.

No worries. We are finding our rhythm and 'communication is hard'.

Either frame the scene or let me know what you want to get from your roll and I can frame it. Whichever you prefer.

Razart: You got this. :)

That is 1 damage after armor. It is unclear if you did any real harm to the bandit (failed hack and slash) but you did impress the captain (from the previous roll).

Depending on what you do next, the captain will start to organise things (with a small bonus (to effect) from your having her back).

Another 6... Rook does not have this... And no XP on a miss in this version :(

He needs to get his hands on a finesse weapon, but I'm guessing that would be sort of a specialty item?

You just need to learn to roll better... But I don't have any tips for how to do that... Well, I do, "be a PbtA GM and stop rolling", works for me. :)
Nope. Just misses on a miss. :)
The stat you roll with depends on the fiction more than the item (though the item is part of the fiction and a dagger can 'finesse').
I thought about this with your '9 on hack and slash but a 1 on damage' and how an 11 would make a difference, but your description was not conducive to ruling it as an attack with DEX, that option will not always be viable and seldom in stand-up-put-down fights, but you can try to arrange the fiction such that you can benefit from it. The attack from above also sounded like a STR attack, but was borderline --especially with your opportunity to set it up-- so I ruled low-impact consequences with the reward of 'captain's notice'.

Rook is not a lucky guy, at all...

Wow! You are not wrong about that.

Combined consequence is a little more harm, but also the revelation of a bigger truth...

What's Rook's situation right now? Did he just get hit, or did he get tackled?

They both hit Rook, but were not very effective due to the distraction and the sand and Rook's running away (or trying to), so only 1 harm total after armor (armor does not always apply, but it does in this case (did not for your first hit from above, but that missed:)).

With a 5 you will not get clear of them, but they do not have you pinned or anything. Runcold is pissed about the sand in his eyes and will give chase. Fenslow might get distracted by Calum, but will probably follow Rook, and Calum might follow Fenslow, no way for you to know (even I don't know:).

There is no evidence that Calum has recognised Rook yet.

Rezart: With a 10 Rook can break contact with the two bandits pursuing him. They will turn to deal with whatever is nearby.

The 10 also gives you some control over what Calum does, though he wants to stay near Leesha.

We can also wait to see what the others are doing, if you want.

I think waiting for the others is probably the right thing to do. Rook is going to want somewhere to hide and catch his breath.

I'm a bit stuck sorry - I was hoping for Meht to talk to the captain with Leesha, but that interaction has passed, and I'm not sure where Meht is in the action at the moment. I am keen to coordinate though: I'm personally most interested in us acting as a party with occasional individual side forays rather than primarily acting as individuals. Otherwise the combination of PbP, primarily-individual play, a slightly rotating cast, and us not knowing one another outside the game means I lack a bit of context re what to do, as someone new to the game. But no worries if that doesn't suit what others are interested in - I can see that PbP may make that a little more difficult.