Off the Beaten Track (OOC)

OK. That is important to know so we can know where to focus our effort.

Sorry, did an edit while you posted that. I'll move it here.

I think it might be best to simply delay here, let the others do what they want to do outside, and wait for them to catch up with Cook. Better than Cook charging ahead and forcing the others to deal with that. Let's just say those vines were thicker than originally thought and Cook is dealing with those until the others catch up?

OK. Let's say that Cook is far enough inside that the rest can consider him 'inside' and out or earshot till they join him. Then we can see if he had done anything when they get there.

If anyone wants to talk to Cook before entering the temple can get arrange that easily enough.

I'm happy with this being known. It would make sense for Rook to know about it if he was a frequent visitor.

Albert can just respond to the call for a priest and then we will all know, irregardless of who knew what before.

Is there any way for Albert to "offset a curse" as Rook suggested? I don't think it really translates to any part of my character sheet. (except if undead are involved)

You could always try persuade Raynor to do that for you? Isn't that what prayer is?
That feels like a +CHA roll?

Gotcha, I added it.

What are you trying to achieve?
What is Albert hoping for, but more importantly, what are you wanting?

Seeing as there's been mention of the temple possibly altering the group's behavior, I'd say some sort of warding from that effect. Maybe it could translate into seeing an oncoming threat just in the nick of time, where otherwise we'd be too preoccupied to notice.

Something in that direction. I'm fine with leaving this up to your discretion. It doesn't have to help right now, just somewhere down the line.

OK. I am trying to come up with a way to 'fix' the Cook conflict, while not making him into more of a 'bad guy' than he already is.

I am scrapping the 'slow reveal' so everyone can participate in the solution.

You would have discovered something along the lines of this:

• Cook has some aspect about him that disrupts magical effects.
• A long time ago (in your father's time, or your father's father's time? (or, like 30-40 years ago?)), an (unspecified) enchantment was placed on the temple to keep people safe from its influence.
• Coincidentally, Cook has been in the area for a few weeks, and his presence has disrupted the protection, allowing people to become aware of the temple.
• This has changed the bandits behaviour from normal highway-robbers to tomb-raiders. But they --as a group-- have not found the temple, though they have schismed and suffered.
• Something has stopped Cook's aspect temporarily. You are all clear-headed again. Even Cook who is not all that clear-headed, was made worse by the temple's influence and can operate better with it turned off.
• The captain seems to have felt the draw of the temple from further away than most. There is some connection there which none of us understand.

This is just a suggestion on my part, but it might be helpful if Cook was able to communicate with the group in words as well. If there was some interaction, some conversation with a bit of give and take where Cook discusses what he's thinking, it would be helpful in making some sort of group bond.

Hopefully we can arrange for Cook to be more human with the mind-fog being lifted.

I'm not really interested in "fixing" Cook - whatever that means. I like Cook. Cook needs to not be in the spotlight so much, shouldn't be a distraction or PITA, needs to be helpful to the story, needs a reason to be in the story. None of that requires changing Cook. If we still feel broken Cook is a problem, I prefer to kill him off. I think he can work, but I'm fine if you guys feel different.

Still waiting for the others to get inside before I press on too much (again).

Could we maybe reverse that? The power of the temple messes with peoples' mind. Cook's power stops the temple from influencing him. Cook sees other's being influenced, which allows him to recognize an old evil in the temple that has gotten loose and which he'd want defeated. Cook's power maybe helped free Asha from the enchantment when she got closer to him.

Or am I stepping on toes again?

And one last FYI, I leave on vacation next Friday, will be gone for two weeks. So maybe you don't want to expend the effort.

That's fair enough, it's your character after all :). Could you describe how you see Cook being part of the group in a way that he's not just there because they are, in a way, forced to take him along? I think it would be nicer to want to be together in stead of the "ugh, we don't like him but he's here because we need him" scenario. Or is that exactly what you're trying to go for?

I'm asking because if I know what your view is on this, I can change my play style accordingly. At the moment I'm assuming Cook will become more friendly and reliable in the future so Albert is kinda going easy on him so it doesn't escalate into an unfixable argument in-game. Also it might become a hassle to RP arguments between them all the time, slowing down the story. What's your take on this?

And then? What would Cook do? How would Cook work with the party to defeat the old evil?

We could maybe do that. But that is a lot of rolling back of events, and we need to know that it will work before expending the effort.

How do you see this working? The biggest problem we are seeing is that Cook does not feel like a 'person', they don't talk to anyone (or at least not coherently) and the others can not understand them nor form a bond with them.

'Talking' is just the obvious example of this and not the whole picture. He feels more like a mcguffin or item to be puzzled over than a character with his own motivation. If you can tell us what you want to achieve with the character we can try to make that happen.

Also think about why the other characters would want to keep someone like what you have in mind around. 'Useful' is not a good reason, they need to want to for the basic RPG-party-dynamic to work.

Nobody is forced to take Cook along. That's on me. If the others decide it doesn't make sense for Cook to be there, that's fine. Cook seeming to know something about the temple seems like a good reason. Why does Cook want Albert or Rook to come along?

Why do you expect Cook to be more friendly or reliable? He hasn't been unfriendly or unreliable so far. He was an asset in getting to the temple.

Yes, constant in character arguing would be a hassle. Did I miss a Cook argument somewhere? Not sure why this is a concern.

How would Cook work with the party to defeat the evil? I don't know yet. Don't we play to find out? Cook wants this evil defeated. Why do Albert and Rook want to be involved with this temple? Seems like Cook has more reason than anyone else.

I'm not seeing what "rolling back" is needed. The temple influenced us all, Cook's weird power counter-acted it for now, we press on. Maybe I missed something.

Cook's motivation is to survive, which is difficult in his condition. And also, to defeat the evil in the temple he seems to have experience with. What's Albert's or Rook's motivation? Seems like Cook has more motivation than anyone other than maybe the Captain.
Waaaa? Being useful to the story is not a good reason? Why do they keep Raistlin around? Why do they keep Han Solo around? Why do they keep Wolverine around?
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The temple influenced us and created some bad behavior. Cook's weird power counter-acted it, for now. Cook has had some experience with this thing, whatever it is, but doesn't fully remember it in his condition. He knows it's Bad and wants to stop it. Can we not move on from there?