The Two Barons (OOC)

Out of character chatter about The Two Barons can go here to avoid cluttering up the Roleplay thread.This is for longer questions and answers related to that Roleplay, general rules questions not answered in the Help! thread can go in General.

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They are waiting for you, at a point where they guess you are bound to pass for either baron, unless you let it be known which baron you were going to first.

If you took a while to get going they may have been waiting for a while, but they will not show their irritation to you (you never said to meet at dawn, that was Daryl's fault:).

Did you check on your convalescent companions at the healer?
What is your attitude toward the healer? Do you trust her?

Albert gulped down the potion from the healer pretty quickly, so I'm going to say he trusted her.

Will wait for Roald before dealing with HP rolls and Daryl's reply (in case Roald has something to say or do before you leave or get to the NPCs).

We might also have Norbert there.

Sounds like a plan

I'm very sure we wouldn't leave without talking to the captain. Seeing Asha and the captain in better shape than yesterday will increase the trust Roald has in the healer's capabilities.

Didn't read the RP thread. But Albert's action matches my idea.
Will RP in the morning 😉

We can assume that happened, unless you want to play it out? The are both doing much better.
If we are not interested in being suspicious of the healer, then Albert and Roald take 1 extra dice on you HP roll this morning for being 'attended to by a healer'.

What time is it? Did you lie in and keep your newfound followers waiting?

Yes. Sleep, breakfast, visit the healer, some time before noon I would say.
Did we get some rations from the inn?

HP roll 2d6, keep the highest.

You feel well rested and athletic. (Athletics Skill comes back.)
Yes, a picnic lunch for the two of you.

You should be able to get the baron by evening.

Hp roll
Edit: yikes

Wow, your lungs coming back to beat you?

Ha!

Somehow centipede-sized undead are even scarier.

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@fossball: I am keeping Phil's replies shortish so as to allow Norbert to mostly interact with the other PCs. If you do want to engage with Phil (or any other NPCs) more deeply/extensively, we can make that happen.

I was just thinking:
Who is actually leading the group, and do they know the way or are we just wandering aimlessly? :D
Is it Daryl?

If by 'leading' you mean walking in front and showing the way, then I think that is Daryl. But he is just following orders, so not, of course, 'leading' as in 'in charge'.
Any of the locals (Norbert, Daryl, Theo, and presumably the other three) would know how to get where you are going.
Daryl has indicated, and any locals can corroborate, that you are heading in the right direction, and that it might be possible to get there and back before dark, though that completely ignores any time you will need to spend dealing with the baron, or any delays (or slowness) along the way.

Alright :)
(Yes, I did mean leading as in 'showing the way')

I figured, but language can be confusing so I used more words to avoid more words...

Just making sure: Keep it 'on' or off? On because of danger, or off for now because of getting some air?

Which fields specifically?

On, because of possible danger ( in Roald's mind)
Having seen Daryl's sword skills, he thinks it is best to have a layer of metal round Daryl's skull.

Fields: I imagined the path towards the baron's mansion (farm? Castle?) passing through fields and small patches of forest.
If you had something else in mind I can change the fiction.

Was just trying to ''spice up'' the walk since we are using it to get to know each other and not just skipping to the Baron.

Gotcha. Just making sure. That is an easy type with opposite meaning (much like 'not' and 'now':).
Wait?! He has 'skills'?! :)
Nope, quite fine. Just checking if there were any specific fields, or if the baron's place was surrounded by fields or something.

If we want to jump to our destination we can say that the next set of fields are the baron's. (This was also one possible interpretation for fields that could require Daryl to put on the helmet, maybe so he looks impressive for the baron. But there is a better than average chance that people at the baron's will know (of) these locals.)
Some of the party members would be very offended if you accused them of 'skipping'.

I think he means Daryl's sword's skills. As in "Let's hope at least the sword knows what it's doing."
:p

I meant '' Daryl's swords kills'' they look sharp enough....
( Yes he has one of them hidden in his trousers)

Ah, yes. Of course. Most swords know what they are doing and most swords have kills. :)

Do we want to move on to the baron, or have a --probably nonlethal-- event before we get there?

I'm fine with skipping to the baron, if Norbert has no more questions.

From the different rumors we offered, which ones did we end up hearing around town? Or can we just throw in any of them in conversation?

They are all feasible. A few of them are unlikely to common knowledge rumours, but that makes them even more likely to be true.
If you think it will help the conversation, throw in any rumours --including new ones-- as you like. Also feel free to bring them up among yourselves and speculate about them as you like.

If we want to speak to the locals before hitting up the baron we can say you have heard about a farmers' resistance and maybe track them down.

If we are going with the farmers' resistance, then @fossball can tell us if Norbert knows about these revolting farmers, or if his family does, or if his family are involved, or if his family are not involved. This will depend a lot on how much fossball wants to have their family on screen (at this time). If Norbert is not out 'in', then Daryl or (possibly more interesting) one of the bodyguards can introduce you.

Else we can always go straight to the baron and roll to see what sort of welcome you get.

Norbert doesn't really know if his family is involved. The last months he kept mostly to himself, he would even be surprised if his family wil notice his absence very soon (He also has no idea how they will react).

Norbert did hear some talk around the table about the Barons but the only thing he remembers is his father saying there all come from the same great-great-grandmother who had twins that didn't get along. She had an affair with a magic-user and that is why the sons a so ugly nowadays. But Norbert figures that people always add magic to a story if they don't like the people in it.

Cool.

As a player, though, you get to decide if they feature in the story. If we end up with a farmers' resistance you are welcome to discover some of them there, or find that they are opposed to it, or anything you like.
Interesting.
Are they actually 'ugly'? I might flip a coin when we first meet.
So true.

I like the idea of talking to the resistance first.

Nice, This was also something TheGenerator suggested.
We might be able to use it to get them back on speaking terms. We will need some proof though.
ancestors

We will need an introduction, I doubt they will speak freely to the strangers who will meet with the baron next.

I would assume they both deny any ancestral connection with each other?
You would need some proof, but would then need to be gentle with your presentation of that proof, or find a clever way to use it instead of trying to just tell them.
True, true.

Of course they don't know you are off to meet the baron next.

I can see many ways to end up with the resistance, not all of them put you in a position of power, though.

What do you want to do?

@fossball, feel free to chime in with Norbert's opinion on Albert's question about the baron's fraternity.

Don't worry about 'truth', you can tell us what you have heard or what you suspect and, if it looks interesting, it might turn out to be true, or 'true adjacent'.

Very subtle. :)

If we decide as players that we want to go to the resistance, say so and I can get us there.
I am not sure any of the NPCs will really know about it, but can force it that way if we want, else I can arrange any number of other ways to get in contact with them.
If we want, we can do a roll (+CHA, probably) to get and NPC to open up about it and make an introduction.

option:

we encounter a villager and ask about the overgrown road and ill maintained fields. And maybe he tells us more than he intended when he sees we share his feelings about the way things are being governed in this place. (+cha)

You have villagers in your party, they are more likely to trust you (since you have the mayors official backing) than some random in a field.

I thought everyone that came with us was from the town we started in.
Maybe I missed something 🙂

I thought everyone that came with us was from the town we started in.
Maybe I missed something 🙂

Everyone other than yourself and Albert are from the village you just left. You have the mayor's son, and his two 'bodyguards' who look a lot like farmers, Daryl who is a local farmer's son, and your fellow PC, Norbert who is a local sheep farmer's son.

It does not look like Norbert is you way into the resistance, but his presence will have an affect (probably positive) when you meet them.

I think Airshark means a villager who is closer to the baron than the ones we have with us.

But yes, please get us to the resistance, as far as im concerned :)

Yes, I considered the baron's fortified farm a village. Hence the confusion.

Fair enough.

Do we want to see if one of your party can help, or encounter the resistance out here without an introduction? Either route can get you involved with them and either can get you trusted by them based on rolls.

I guess help from someone within the party would make for an easier conversation.
But I'm fine with the other way too.

I was thinking maybe we get ambushed by the resistance as they had set a trap for the baron, but catch us by mistake. That could get us talking.

Just a suggestion :)

Absolutely, though easier is not always more fun. :)

That was, in fact, my primary plan.

Am I becoming predictable? :) Nah, I always tell my students 'go with the obvious choice'.

Great minds... ;)

Is that the saying? I thought there was another one... :)

😅

If no one wants to be the one to mention the timing on the overgrown road, we can assume one of the farmer-type bodyguards mentions it.

If we are not planning on exploring this line of enquiry right now we can keep that for later and I will introduce the resistance now.

We can use this poll to speed things along. Feel free to discuss the options or provide other options rather than just voting.

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I'm doubting between what I picked (they know nothing) and the "other" option. The other being: "they know we've been sent to handle the situation" not necessarily in anyone's favor

Very true. That is sorta the default, and what they will soon find out (maybe from the locals with you), so it is much the same as your pick, just with less strenuous need to convince them you are not their enemy. (This nuance is one reason I dislike polls and prefer discussions.)

Selection noted.

If the resistance has any connections in our village they will be aware of Roald and Alberts mission. So to me that is the most obvious choice. They might be a little bit coy about it to get more details. But having the son of the mayor along makes it pretty official.

Precisely: "If". That is part of the question on hand.
They will eventually be aware of that, but they might not have heard anything from the village yet, though, news of what happened last night may well have not gotten to any of them in the field. If we don't want a little drama at first (which is fine, if you do, and fine if you don't) then we can quickly reach the point where they are filled in.

That 'connection in the village' can easily be from the NPCs we have with us, so we don't need to worry about the slow dissemination of information in such low-tech societies if we don't want.

Trust, however, will take time, no matter what.

Going to build on the two-thirds answers.

Rolling for range (distance) and disposition (attitude) to set up the meeting.

Range:
A range of 1 would put you right on top of each other, surprised and likely to lash out no matter the disposition.
A range of 6 would put you far enough apart that you will have plenty of time to plan for or avoid a meeting. (I have taken Awareness and Survival into account).

Disposition:
A disposition of 1 may make them inclined to be hostile (which does not mean they have to attack).
A disposition of 6 will see them welcoming you, or, at least, being willing to listen.

sorry for being absent.

If I'm too late with my reply, just ignore it.
I selected: they believe we will help the baron. But option 1: they know nothing, can also work. when they see a bunch of armed strangers, they probably will put the puzzle together.

Everybody always assumes the worst, up to us to change their mind in thinking that we will not be helping the baron against the resistance. (not sure of this sentence)

In my opinion, it will all depend on what the resistance profits the most from. What is their ultimate goal?
Getting rid of the baron, or establish peace and economical prosperity.
If they want to kill him, maybe we can persuade them that they would be better off with a strong leader in a stable economy. And we will be trying to accomplish that.

No worries.
What you said still fits with what we went with, and there are interesting tidbits on there that we can incorporate into their reactions.
With a Disposition of 2, that makes sense.
So true. Though what the 'worst' is can vary a lot. :)
Pretty much. At least you have time to plan and prepare and arrange the best approach.
True in theory, but you just don't know enough about the local politics to know if that means keeping or getting rid of this particular baron and risking it with 'the devil they don't know'.
Are you saying you will be trying, or that you are trying to convince them that you will be trying?

Hehe, the latter at first. And than we'll see how things work out. 😉

If there is a way to sneak up on them, Norbert will ask if anyone wants to tag along and he will check how big the group is and maybe get a feeling for the "vibe" in the mob.

Hopefully that is answered in the RP. If not, ask as many questions as you need about the fiction or the mechanics of how to do the sneaking (mechanically you probably 'just do it', but your actions in the fiction may call for rolls which we will deal with as they come up).

I would say Norbert does the talking at first, since he is a familiar face.

Is that ok?

We will all chime in afterwards anyway probably 🙂

It looked like you were thrusting Theo forward, but he can not roll dice, so one of the PCs needs to take responsibility for how it goes.

The dice roller does not need to be the person talking or taking the lead, but they do need to do something to alter/define the situation. Remember that farmers don't live in the village, and might not respect the village mayor, or his son, but if you roll well, then that approach will be a good one.

Roll it, fossball :)

The pressure!

Fiction first though. :)

Norbert has a +1 on cha. But I don’t think he will be very close to Theo when they meet the resistance. So that might not help.

Most dice rolls are 2d6+1 (for CHA), those 1d6s we have been rolling since you joined are The Die of Fate, which is outside the normal resolution system and don't care about your character or their characteristics.

If you plan to roll plus Charisma, add another d6 to bring this up to 2d6, then we can add the +1 to that.
It does not have to be at the time the meet. Your roll can have bee to do something before we get there, anything to prepare things or change the situation.
Tell us what you are doing, show us the fiction and then we can see how it helps, the dice will say how well it goes, but we can not judge that without knowing what you are trying to do.

Norbert will keep himself to the background for now.

If Albert introduces himself Roald will do so next. then the resistance can tell us their names. And spare Theo the embarrassment of not knowing who is who.

I think you used my character's name instead of yours. Haha! :D

Yeah, we ended up with lots of berts in various forms, I was getting worried when the innkeepers names came out of the generator, and then figured we should probably change his name after we got Norbert, the nearby baron's name as pronunciation changes that might help.

I often advise players not to pick names that start with similar sounds, as that regularly results in the wrong name being used, but similar endings should not be a problem once we get used to the names.

(Unsurprisingly) Albert is doing a lot of talking. Seems to be me we need a CHA roll to see how well he can cover for (poor confused?) Theo and get the lad to follow his lead, and whether the farmers are accepting of strangers at this crucial time of their man-oo-vers.

Hey, look at that, I didn't roll a 1 on either dice. It's a miracle! :D

I need more sleep, I guess. I believe next tuesday I have a few hours sheduled :)

I think we're going to need an NPC list in the wiki section. I'm starting to lose track of who is who.
Do you have an overview of he NPCs, vague? If not I'll try to make one this weekend.

I hope that helps.

I avoided actually doing introductions of all the farmers' resistance but we can get to know any of them as we need.

So the mayor asked us to 'talk' to the barons. But also is planning on kidnapping her. (Daughter of the Baron possibly)
This kinda gets in the way of each other.

Unless we let the resistance take 'her'
And we bring 'her' back, that should give us some credit. And maybe a way to convince the baron to burry the hatchet.


Or am I misreading anything?

After edit. I should have used ' in cahoots' somewhere. Always wanted to use that word.😁

Probably. But that is not your fault, everyone is acting as though they all know what everyone else is up to, so there are not many explanations going round. It does sound like all these things will get in each other's way.

While it is not clear, you don't really get the impression of 'kidnap' when Olaf says 'go in and get her', but that is still possibly what they have planned. Let's add that idea as a more concrete reality.

The mayor did not seem to care how you went about resolving the barons problem. 'Talking' was your plan.

You could also interpret it as the baron having kidnapped someone (Or something? ;) Some refer to cars as 'her') and they are taking 'her' back.

Thanks!
I'll add more if I feel the need to.

Alea iacta est.

Since the mayor instigated the attack, he cannot blame us if things go south (in dealing with the baron)
I say we join the attack and pick up the pieces afterwards in a diplomatic way.

Anyone a better suggestion?

excusatio non petita accusatio manifesta?
Nope. :)

What do these peasants have as weapons and armor? Any makeshift shields and such?

Hunting bows and farming hoes? Pitchforks and torches? Some might say 'nothing'.
Thick clothing? Leather aprons?
Sure, clumsy boards and wagon wheels? Bales of hay?

@fossball
This post looks like something you'd need to roll for.
The way I usually do it is, if it's something that I think would require a roll. I would word it with "tries to..." and "hoping...".
To use your action as an example:
Something like that explains what you want to do, but it doesn't make it a fact. So based on your roll it can still go both ways.

I'm not sure which stat I'd assign to this action though. But since most of your stats have a +1, and I'm pretty sure it's not +STR, any stat will do ;)

It's a balancing act, don't worry about pushing it too far, that is the best way to find the boundaries. We can always dial it back next time, or, if it comes to it, go back and edit the post to remove anything too out there.

There was a lot in that post. It is not a problem, but I might have broken it up a bit to allow time to see how each step went. For instance:
Upon reading that convincing argument I was inclined to have the guard run away. Now, with them injured in the arm, they are definitely going to get out of here, so you achieved that goal, but you did also make an enemy in the process, so... swings and roundabouts? Rolling the dice on this may have given you better or worse outcomes, so it balances out.
I won't ever (never say 'ever', there might be extreme circumstances where anything can happen) take you Pet away, it is part of your character, but the more you use it as a weapon, the more you risk it getting hurt. You might lose the use of the dog for a bit, but that creates cool stories, which can be fun.

Is there some kind of "thinking" roll? To get a better read on what's going on. As a player I'm a bit stumped, but it's more about my character's brain being able to understand.

Can we get a bit of a map on this situation? A rough drawing with the immediate area would do. I'm not sure which gate has been breached. At first I thought it was a gate to a meadow, but then there was mention of guards above the gate. So is it a castle?

Your characters did not do anything to try to work out what was going on. In fact they deliberately played along with the resistance's assumption that they were 'in the know', thus confirming their involvement.

Therefore, your characters are even more confused than you are, so they probably can not do any roll to work out what is happening until you take serious action to do so. They do definitely know that something is not right, that there is confusion within the resistance about what is happening, and that this attack might be... let's say 'ill considered'.

Either this farmer is lying to you --and you can see no reason why he would-- or they are confused about what is going on here.
Obviously ask any OOC questions to get the players clear about the situation. But currently the situation is that your characters are confused. I can clarify what they know, but if they want to clear up their confusion they will need to work for it.

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You only know about your gate, the other (front) gate is on the other side of the buildings, so you can not know how things fair over there.
Exactly.
Single guard, gone now.
The palisade fence looks new and makeshift, similar to what the village had. The gate looks similar too. It looks like these were built a little before the village did their's, but it is still just a wooden fence around the manor house (some might say that that is how castles are born?).

The guard was sitting on nothing more than a platform that let them look over the fence to the outside. You know for sure that there they left since you can see the whole platform.

There is no one on this side that is threatening you. All the action (and attention) is focused on the other side.

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Sorry it is confusing, but the characters actively avoided learning anything, so things have spiraled around them.

Hope that helps. Ask as many questions as you all need.

No worries :) I know it's not deliberate. The info about the palisade makes things much clearer now :)
That's definitely true. That's mostly due to the fact that it didn't seem like a situation where we are in a position to come across as clueless. We are trying to get the resistance on our side, which it looks like they already are right now.

I did try to ask more info about the attack in a "I'm not clueless" kind of way. But the answers to that just raised even more questions :P

And then the attack started, so the time for questions is now gone. Then again, I don't think we could have changed the course of action. It was too late for that already.

That's why I thought, maybe Albert can take some time to reflect on the different pieces of info he's gotten and get a clearer view of what's likely going on.

You have a moment of quiet now. This courtyard is a place you could use for contemplating... but events will progress without you.

Sounds good. I might do that. ty :)

Thank you for all the advise. I often feel uncertain when it is "my turn" to add to the story. I will keep my posts shorter and will try to get a feel for when a roll is needed.

Norbert will go trough hell for his dog. I as a player would be OK with losing the dog, I don't mind my character becoming weaker. Especially if it were my own fault, not if he were hit by lightning :)

I really enjoy the game, the plottwist that is unfolding is great. The comment from the man who got hit by the bolt gave me goosebumps. Keep it up guys.

Good to know. We would discuss it first and make sure everyone is alright with such things.
Agreed. "Rocks fall, you die" is seldom fun for anyone.
Since it is part of the character's fundamental makeup, I would usually have some way to regain that 'strength'. Pets can be replaced with other pets, but that would require time and effort.

Mechanically the Pet has no HP or anything like that, so any 'damage' would be handled in the fiction. If Norbert takes HP damage, you can always narrate some of that as being from the dog if it makes sense, or we can just assume the dog is about as hurt as Norbert is, or we can leave the dog out of such things if people are squeamish about seeing animals get hurt. The player can choose on a case by case basis.
I figured as much. I would be more inclined towards creating a situation where Norbert and the dog can get to roleplay some trauma rather than simply hurting the dog for mechanical reasons. Your putting your pet at risk could result in her becoming timid or scared, or ceasing to trust you, then you would need to spend some time rebuilding that relationship. Albert has his god which has similar story-prospects, the player and their actions/choices would shape how much these things come into play.

I got invited to use DALL-E, and generated some images of the 3 of us:I tried to add a palisade, but that didn't turn out well. :)

This is not DnD. Splitting parties is mainly a problem there due to the way encounters are 'balanced' based on the assumption of party size, and the clumsy mechanics around hit point attrition and sudden death.

Any fighting here is optional, and you don't need to engage in combat unless you choose to. There is very little resistance to The Resistance.

Who specifically is Roald talking about here? Who does he term 'the one in charge' and which 'other two'?

Theo and the guards.
As the son of the mayor he blames him, probably not right to do this.

Roald thinks the mayor is playing a game with our party as bait or collateral damage for his own gain. Wether Theo is in on it, or being used himself... In both cases it would not fall well with Roald. To them the mayor is a stranger, but Theo should know better (if he is being used)

As son of a butcher he would say. '' there's more here than meats the eye'' 😁

I thought that might be the case. And that the lowered voice was to exclude Theo from the conversation. We can assume that worked easily enough in all the confusion. Only those who you want to hear will hear what you are saying.
Time will tell.
Urgh, you really butchered that saying. :)

vague, should I write the whole conversation with Theo, or do an OOC summary (short list) of what we know and what we think is going on?

We can play out as much as we need, and summarise the rest?

Interesting conversation so far :)
I'm trying to think of who else it could have been. Though it may be someone we don't know yet.

Was at any point specified that 'her' was a person? Could be a beloved pet, right?

Quite likely, you are new here. :)
That is a possibility, or even a beloved tool of some sort... but you got the slight impression it was a person.
Someone did mention 'kidnapping'.

... which could mean 'stealing baby goats'? Or 'baby goats sleeping'? Probably not.

It would be pretty funny (OOC) if it turned out to be something like Theuderic's long lost teddy bear, Mipsy :P
IC, probably not so much. lol!

The door to the wine cellar is pretty obvious. I assume you are looking for a hidden trapdoor of some sort? If so you can roll for it. Such a roll would probably be +WIS or +INT purely for the searching (depends on whether you are using your senses, or logic to find a likely place) or +CHA if you want help from a servant (or want to not have the servants think you mad:). If you are trying to avoid them noticing that you are doing this search just narrate that happening, it should not need a roll.

@Airshark Roald's play for leadership is noted. On a 7-9 things mostly work out as you directed, but let's maybe see how @fossball's search goes before we deal with how the NPCs fair.

Based on how things go, people will have noted your leadership and it will affect things going forward. So this Leadership roll mainly ticks a clock.

(Note that, if you had rolled a 6- we would have had to bring in a GM Move by the rules, there is no provision for not doing so, so rolling when a roll is not needed carries risks. It was fine this time).

Remind me where they said that? I believe we spoke about it --as an option-- out of character but don't recall that happening in game. We can easily say it was said if we want it to be true.

It was here.
It doesn't specifically say it was for the resistance, but Albert assumes so.

Fair enough. There were enough suggestions that that is a completely logical assumption given the disjointed facts the PCs have.

As a side note; If possible, I'm trying to do some sort of Discern Realities move (to use DW terms). If I didn't hit any trigger for such a roll, let me know and I'll have Albert rejoin the others.

I tend to prefer actual investigative and conversational RP over Moves that 'provide answers'. I don't see a DR Move giving Albert anything more than what you have discerned so far (i.e. all the info DR might give has been given for free already).

Fair enough. I thought playing back the recent events in his head would have him pick up on a subtle, yet significant, thing that happened or was seen somewhere along the line. I was also trying to play to Albert's strength, which is wisdom :)

But if there's no new information to gather, I'll have him go and find the others instead.
Would it take me a while to get to them, or can I just find either Roald or Norbert in my next post?

Having done so will reflect in the types of things he learns going forward, which is part of the reason I needed to clarify the accuracy of all the details he is putting together.
Indeed, and Awareness. If he asks the right questions he will get commensurately valuable answers. Possibly a roll will be called for, but I don't like hiding information behind dice, not if you need that information to proceed.
Super easy, barely an inconvenience. It has not been long and they are right there in the house. Call and they can answer, or you can just run into them on the way to whatever is next.

Do we want to take a look upstairs, or do we assume the guys Roald tasked with searching up there report adequately?

Oh, that's good to know :) I was afraid my last few posts had been a bit useless. Thanks!
Great, I'll get to it.

I will ask for the report in game, than we can decide if they searched well enough. Having found nothing on the ground level I would like to take a look upstairs. If the 2 men say "we found nothing" I'll take a look myself. If they come back with a more detailed report we know they searched thoroughly and more investigation is not necessary.

I'm sorry I was quiet for a few days. I am in the middle of a job change and for the teacher doing so in October is pretty strange and stressful.

Norbert is pretty naïve when it comes to rich people and adventures. He is still very young and most of his experiences focus on sheep and berries, but he will learn quick enough. His curiosity will probably bring him to many strange and exciting places.
Luckily he is not a cat-person so he doesn't know that saying.

No worries. Hopefully it settles and is not too stressful. Let us know if we need to accommodate your pacing, but it has been fine so far.

I made some stuff up, if there's anything that fits your scenario, great! If not... also great ;-) in that case the attic will be empty and the building lay-out is not "off"
The rooms in the house have very high ceilings!

I went along with it. Norbert is ready for action or diving out of the way for doves. Either way suits me :)

Hatch... Not latch. 🤦😁, Should have looked it up.

I assumed the latch released the hatch, so went with that one, but did not fully open the hatch in case you were only interacting with the latch... begrijpen?

If you want to go up there, you can, else you can also decide that no one has been up there in a long time and it will be messy (though your clothes are still rather messy already, so maybe that only matters to the others in the room with you?).

@Fossball ' climbing on Albert's shoulders'
Is Albert there? Or did you mean someone else.

Because if Albert is there, and dust is there... Then the coughing will be there too. Not so much fun if the cougher is your support.

I assume Albert is headed up there, so he can have arrived whenever that is convenient.
You think there are coffers up there, in the attic?

I do NOW

Damn these Freudian lips. :)

I am sorry, I meant Roald. I even checked, but to no avail.

So if Norbert manages to stand on Roalds shoulders he wil peek onto the attic and climb up. Norbert doesn't expect to many problems with all the dust.

Go for it, that should be easy enough. It is fairly dark up there, but there is some sunlight slanting in through gaps in the tile roof so you don't need a torch for simply moving around (if you are careful), and someone can grab lanterns from the house if you need to see more detail.

Do I need to (can I) edit the post with the wrong name?

Go ahead.

The rule about not editing is mainly to keep things clear and consistent, but if you need change something, just make sure to tell everyone that you did (or are going to, as above).

Oh crap, I missed a lot of posts this weekend. Trying to catch up asap :)

You are quite the Dahl-e

Not the worst time to fall behind.
You trying to imply that there is an ettin in the manor? :)

I sure hope not! 😅

Me too.

@fossball The bird is gone now, but there will be other chances to speak to animals if you want. If that is how your Wild Special Ability works here.

I had not put it there for your Ability, and only noticed after you went up there that that was even an option.

@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. ;)

Norbert was asking about the other pc’s. He is not looking for trouble, but this was a very weird episode and they look like the leaders.Norbert was trying to be quiet, Phil might not be. I am ok with being overheard.

Does it help if I remove the part of Albert trying to change the subject? He could ask the same thing without having heard all of that. It would not change what was said.
Either way if fine by me.

Phil was not trying to be quiet. So we can say that Albert hears Phil's meltdown and rushes over. That way Norbert does not 'look like a fool'.

I didn't realize I was making Norbert look like a fool with my post.
I edited it to make it a coincidence.

Also, if you (Fossball) wish to say more to Phil before Albert arrives, feel free to. Just add 'Before Albert arrives...' to your next post. If I remember correctly, from vagueGM's tips, posts don't always have to be chronological.

We know you did not mean any harm. Everything looks good now, I think.

Great! :)

What time is it? Maybe we can try to spend the night at Christian's and try to figure out more.
If I remember correctly we had to hurry a bit to get to the Baron before dark. (or was it there and back again?)

You could still make it back to the village before dark, but would have to make haste.

Crashing at Christian's could be interesting and might probably yield more information and I suppose he would not object to housing the heroes for a night.

I'm still not sure on how to accomplish our mission. The initial idea was to talk to the baron. But I guess that ship has sailed.
Or we could go back if the baron returns and try to spin the story.

The next thing Roald will ask is where (or how) he or Olaf gets his orders from.

If you choose to stay with Christian you will have time to approach that question in more depth tonight. Else you can ask now and get a less detailed answer.

Let's hear from the others first.

Would Norbert be welcome there? I think he could sleep in the fields tonight, but it would be weird for him to sleep with Christian. And where would Theo and friends go?

I assume anyone the heroes say is part of their group would be 'welcome' ... enough.
If you, as a player, want that to happen we can say they only want to offer 'beds' to the official heroes. But that does separate the party for a longish time so we will need to work to fill both story-paths equally (which is fine (until the end when timing can get messy:)).
How so? Is there history between these families? Does he know who you are?

Again, it is up to you if there is, and whether that means you have to sleep elsewhere, or whether that adds drama to your stay at Christian's.
If you have to sleep elsewhere then that may be interesting and we will address that, else they will go with the group.

Ok, Norbert will just sleep where the group does. Thankyou.
I don’t think there is a need for extra drama.

Is there anything anyone wants to do before getting/going to Olaf's? [ref]

Is there anything you want to do before Olaf gets back home?

I don't.

I'm fine.

I can't do that. I did not see this coming until I wrote it. If you had had more success (is that the right word? I don't think it is.) at the baron's then we would be on a completely different track.
If we can call it that. I am just reacting to what the players do, and moving the world forward in a way that, hopefully, 'makes sense' (which is a tall order when the theme is that nothing is making sense). :)

I love it. However it came to life.

Little bump, I've been quite busy too. Will write something tomorrow.

Cool. No worries.

Sorry for the delay on my part as well. Been spending too much time with other hobbies. I'll do my best to post once a day again.

---

Is Olaf laughing off the mistake or is he angry?

Embarrassment leads to anger, not sure what anger leads to, but it can't be good.

I think I just broke my "words per sentence" record!

Question for @Airshark and @Fossball:
I'm thinking of having Albert snapping and letting it all out. That way we wouldn't have to tip-toe around 'the mission' anymore. But it might mean that Olaf, Chrisitan and Olga send us packing.

Do you guys think it's a good idea or not? I don't want to ruin things you may have planned.

I was hoping that Nixon would initiate such an event.

Like:
- Nixon doesn't know who we are
- the real adventurers are waiting at the right baron
- some other thing that would expose us.

But if that was not vague's plan, we can also get it over with now.

I am fine with Albert snapping.

Who is Nixon?

Sorry, I was a bit behind. Reading the forum explains the forum :)

Dunno

Any preference, vague?
Another person we'll have to pretend to know about? :P

Nope. I can cope with whatever you throw at me. :)

The truth is that there is no other set of 'real' adventurers, you are it. But that does not mean that there is no 'fake news' that you not them and that there is a real group out there. But I had not 'planned' anything of that sort, so that will only come to pass if you decide you want to make that into a thing (adding yet another complication that needs to be unwound:).
That will have implications. I am glad I did not get round to replying to Roal about the next meeting.

How you handle this will affect what happens next... significantly. Let me know OOC if you are not barging ahead with this lie.

I think we may need a poll

So Olaf knows Nixon.
Maybe comming clean will help.

From what Christian has said ([ref] and [ref] for instance) you get the impression that only Olaf knows Nixon. You may have to read into it a bit, but you get the impression that Christian slightly resents that he does not get to meet their informant.

Maybe Christian will be upset to learn that you also know Nixon, if you lie about that.
But Olaf might not be willing/happy to introduce you if you don't. He seems like the sort to value the power such a contact gives him.

Whatever you do, we will make it work. There may (finally) be some dice involved.

It has been done.
Do I need to make any rolls?

The only 'misread' is that no one implied that the mayor 'sent you to join the resistance'. That was speculated upon by the player's characters, and sorta agreed that you all wanted to continue with that mistake. Everyone pretty much claims the mayor does not know about them in any significant way.

If you still want to keep that bit in here, they will deny it. How big a deal it is is up to how you react to that denial.
Probably, but it depends on what you are trying to achieve. We may need a bit more before a roll is properly triggered, but I fear we may degenerate into a shouting match unless something calms the situation.

The best a roll could do now is reduce how pissed off everyone else is about your 'lies'. Maybe we need that to allow the scene to continue? Maybe +CHA; and on a 6- you get kicked out of the house (into the night and the rain); on a 7-9 you are allowed to spend the night in the barn and could try to talk again tomorrow and will have the night to maybe work out some more clues; on a 10+ you can continue the conversation now, but they are still pissed, or come back to it tomorrow morning when everyone is a little calmer; on a 12+ you can continue now and maybe they laugh off the misunderstanding?

Maybe someone else can add a bit more that changes the stakes and gives you a better roll?

I guess it's something Albert might believe to be true (up until now). If it gets denied, that's fine. I don't think it should be a big deal. It would also create more credibility towards Theo.

I like the idea of that CHA roll. I was thinking in the same direction :)
I'll add it to my post. I trust your judgement on the outcome.

I will be away for the next week and a don't know if I will have acces to the internet. It may sound weird but I guess Airshark and the Generator won't be too surprised to hear me utter these words. I'm still using 1990's tech for my socials :)

Norbert is off to bed, so I hope it doesn't is too much of a speedbump for you guys.

No worries. We will work around Norbert for now (mainly by just ignoring him:). Let us know when you get back and we can slot you back into the action and see what he may have been doing in the background-meantime.

If you try to spy on Olaf and Christian, tell us how (here on in RP).

If you choose to just shelter in the warm barn, and leave before morning (Olaf does not look like an early-riser), you might be done with these guys for now, but will be on your own again.

If you choose to stand watch on them someone will need to brave the elements and eschew the shelter of the barn, but you may learn something new (or just 'something', for a change).

We can decide in OOC what you want to do, or you can just act in the RP.

Is this a truth or a perceived truth by Olaf?
If I recall correctly, we had just met the resistance when someone shouted that 'the other side' is already starting their attack. Reference here.
So, I'm not sure what he means with 'following you'

Tricky question. You are quite correct in your recollection, that is what happened. But you got the impression throughout, and from everyone, that they thought it was your plan they were following. (one ref that comes to mind right now)

Hmm, that is also true, yes :)
Tricky indeed.

Is it still possible for Albert to help with the dishes? Out of respect and thanks to Olga he'd like to do that. But maybe tensions are a bit too high for that right now. If it's obvious from the expressions of everyone's faces that that's not smart to suggest, he won't even mention it.

You have been kicked out.

While it is possible you could sneak back in and do the dishes, you better not let the men see you.
Olga might be distracted enough by dealing with the kids while the men argue that she does not do the dishes tonight.

Oh, I see. This is the outside kitchen door, not the inside ^^
I didn't realize. That actually makes more sense now that I read it again.

3 options for Roald

- he falls asleep
- he has a hell of a night and therefore an awful next day
- he hears something outside that might get the party back on speaking terms. ( Wolf that attacks cattle, burglar, child in peril while going to the toilet, ...)

Looks like we posted together, no conflict in my opinion.

Nope, no conflict. I just thought you were really quick. :)

Feel free to add another post if you want to address NPCs' points directly before going to bed.
Let's see what Albert does. We can roll the die of fate to see if anyone notices anything, or you can roll with WIS to take charge of noticing something (though you would need to add to the fiction to justify that, current action leave it up to fate).

For some reason, in this instance, if we roll the Die of Fate, I think I will hide the outcome at first, but that is usually not my style, so we will see in the moment.

If you want Roald to hear something outside, that's fine by me, Airshark :)

I think Albert has had enough spotlight for tonight :P