The Two Barons (OOC)

@fossball: You might, however, want to be careful about revealing you ability to talk to and Command animals, many might think it 'magic' (which technically it is?) and 'unnatural', and you may get very negative reactions. Norbert would almost definitely know this about people.

You can assume that the other players' characters will be accepting of your abilities --else the game does not work-- but playing out that discovery and acceptance can be fun. The NPCs have no guarantee of being tolerant --they can leave if they don't like it-- so don't make assumptions about them.

I did not think it was that powerful and maybe next time I will remember it. Norbert will only use it when he is alone. His brothers also thought him queer for always talking to rats.

Thanks for the reminder.

Speaking to animals can be a pain for the GM --they seldom have anything worthwhile to say-- so the Command part may be more useful, but the Ability does say 'you can converse with...' so I don't want to cheat you out of your character's Abilities. You would still need to engage in all the social skills; just because you can talk to them does not mean they want to talk to you, or want to help you in any way, thereby its 'power' level is mitigated.

You would have some control over your dog anyway (due to the Pet Ability), but the Wild Ability definitely means you could expect her to do a lot more --or, at least, follow your orders a lot more-- than a regular dog. You will seldom need to work to convince your own dog to do anything you tell her to (if she can).

How big is the attic?
Does it have the same footprint as the rest of the house?
How big is the danger of setting the roof on fire with the candles (Norbert will be careful)?

I would assume it has to be. Let's say the roof above is steeply slanted, so getting to the outer edges means you eventually have to crawl (in the dust and other stuff), the middle part where you can stand up is at least as large as a bedroom.

You can see the shape of the house below reflected above. The angles of the roof cut into the 'attic' where there are external corners, a little brushing or probing will show you where the walls are (and you can safely step on them as well as the planks), the chimneys extend stone fingers up through the attic.

It might not all be packed full, maybe only the area around the access hatch is used for storage.
Almost none? Unless you leave a candle burning right under a beam for a long time.

The contents of the boxes, on the other hand, may well be flammable (and also and illogically inflammable at the same time) depending on what they are. But any reasonable level of carefulness should remove accidental fire as a danger.

@Airshark: You created the attic. What are you hoping to find up there? Merely answers about- or hiding places for 'her', or something more?

Good to know.

I thought about that after I mentioned finding lanterns in the house. Lanterns would be a good upgrade from y'all's torches, but the baron might be upset. No one will miss a few candles (no one important anyway, the servants might object, but they would do so quietly since they already steal the stubs:).

I just had a thought after my RP post.
Maybe it's worth looking at the papers in search of a building blueprint? Is that something people have in this made-up world?
That would surely reveal any hidden chambers.

As you say, the world is made up, so we can have such things even if they would not really be a thing in a typical medieval society of crude manual builders, using raw materials (you build the shape that fits the land and the stones you have).

This also presupposes that the eventually of needing a hidden chamber was something that was planned for generations ago.
Maybe we should summarise a thorough search of the grounds and buildings and get a definitive answer so we don't keep chasing this thread forever? A roll or two and then concrete information you can act on?

I had the same problem, but decided it was my GMly duty to resist for the sake of clarity, so went with 'opposition'.

You can't write such things. It's bad punmanship!

Whohw. Looks like I'm falling behind 😃. I'll catch up in a few hours.

To be honest, I didn't expect the attic to become such a big part of the story. But it's nice to see everybody is involved.

I thought it would go more like this.

[vagueGM]
You go into the attic, it's empty.
What do you do?
[/vagueGM]

Maybe we can use this to make a secret chamber roll?

It pretty much did? But I left the option for it to be something more.
You sorta already did and discovered that the only 'secret chamber' around here does not answer your questions. This firmly tells you that those are not the right questions, or this is not the right place at all.

As Roald is not the drinking type. He will speak to christian. Maybe someone else can talk to Wes and Will?

Instead of going back to the town, we could also do a stake out. Hide somewhere in the field and wait for the Baron to come back. (Of course he could be dead, or have fled)

Theo went with Roald, Phil will stick close to Norbert.

If Norbert is talking to the Crashers do they know him or his family? Any feelings? Do they share their booze? Narrate it.

Does anyone try to smooth over the staff, or ask about where the baron is?

Albert is following Norbert still.

I'm not sure what to do/ask yet.

There is a chance the 'heroes' Norbert was asking about are the other PCs, and that he was trying to be 'out of earshot' of them.

If so: does Albert want to spring out on him like that? It could defuse the current tension, but may be a bit unfair to Norbert. Norbert is a 'scout' and Albert is not the most stealthy nor athletic.

@fossball: Your input is needed here.

Albert was not trying to hide, if that's what you're asking. He was only following behind Norbert. As in right behind, moving together :)

I thought Norbert was going to go to Wes and Will. That's why I had Albert go with him while Roald was heading to Christian. But now it seems we are all in the same spot anyway. ;)