The First Sacrifice (OOC)

Yes he will mention it whenever he has a moment alone with Albert

I think we are a bit outnumbered to take on the forest witches.
Is there time enough to get to extra swords? Olaf maybe?

If the reaction of these guys is anything to go by, Olaf may be equally reticent to cross Olga. But he did before --though only when the thought she was sleeping and would not know-- and was the recipient of a miracle healing, so there is a good chance you could get him, and his brother too probably.

Getting there and back, especially with weakened Daryl, will be tight. But it can be done.
You need to (sorta) pass the village on the way to Olaf. So that gives you an opportunity to talk, make your decision, possibly gather more information there, and 'spend' it there.

Let's see what the rest has to say. Maybe they would rather go to the forest right away

We can assume Roald mentioned the gold and his doubts to Albert (easily somewhere where Norbert and Daryl don't hear, if you want) so Albert can use that information to decide.

The players can then decide if they want to take the Level or act on their characters' consciences or if the characters also think it is justified (and how).

If we're going to spend gold to get more people, I'd rather get some of the baron's guards :P They would (hopefully) be more competent. It's also close by.

I agree with vague. If these guys are too scared to go, chances are most villagers will be as well.

If not the guards, I say let's risk going in with just the 5 of us. (I think that guy I healed is coming too, right?)

If you spend the (village's?) gold on get more people that counts as 'throwing money at the problem' to (more) safely overcome a threat (as mentioned in the first character creation post). This won't level you up.

50 Gold is exactly 1000 Silver, so it is precisely what you need to level up, any amount spent from there will stop you from reaching Level 2. You can spend anything you still have from your personal funds (in new gold coins if you want, it is fungible) to recruit, but I don't think you have much.
That might be an option. You would need to play that out, though. You would need to gain their trust --they let those people into the manor and may have been with them, these guys implied that the baron was against you after his meeting (with Nixon?) last night. But 50 Gold coins goes a long way towards buying 'loyalty'... but only the type of loyalty that can be bought, though.

Depending on how you approach it: It would probably take Gold to get them to listen to your proposal, but then come down to a roll or two to see if they come with you or if you 'wasted' that Gold which you can't get back. In that case the Gold is buying you the right to speak. You could also try to persuade them to let you speak, and then use the Gold as an incentive to join you, which has the advantage that you don't (necessarily) lose the Gold if they don't like your offer, but with the difficulty of needing to convince them to not attack you long enough for you to talk to them (and after).
Correct. He is a true believer and did not appear at all afeared of angry wives.
On a meta level (which is alright) you guys know that you will be able to find a way, whatever you choose. You also know that Leveling Up is better for you in the long run.

You characters, though, would probably be much happier with some help. They don't know that the odds will be 'reasonable' (or that none of this really matters?:).

Olaf and Christian are a fairly safe option, the risk there is that you will have less time, and that you (especially Daryl) will be tired when you get to the action.

Since Daryl ended up here --and had no way of knowing you were coming here-- you can guess that the cages are closer to this side of the valley than Olaf's, so you will have to trek all the way there and back again if you want those two.

Oh ok. I thought you were hinting at doing this. Never mind then :)
I agree.

@fossball: As a player, are you happy with the unusualness?

Remember, you don't have to attack people. Maybe Norbert is coming to realise that after maiming three people? It may be possible to solve the upcoming situation without a fight?

I can add copious warts... but warts don't witches make, this is not Salem!

Depends how big the duck is? Though I don't see the reasoning behind the comparison. :)

It's fine by me. Norbert feels he has a lot to prove and the men he looks up to are always very encouraging if he applies violence before they have to (in his eyes).
It will end at some time and it will be interesting to play.

What if we go in by ourselves and send someone asking for help at Olaf's?
If things go south, Olaf and Christian might be there just in time to save the day.

We could give the messenger a gold coin with the promise of a second if he gets the help? Should be a trusty messenger though...

Olaf implied that people over this side of the valley don't much like him. That does mean that those people, at least, know who he is (though not necessarily where he is?), even if it complicates the chances of them reliably taking a message to him, or being believed.
Two Gold coins is probably more than any of these guys would ever see in their lives. It will definitely get their interest. The promise of 'one now, anther after' might even keep them loyal?
Yeah? Good luck with that.
You have exactly the right amount of coin to Level Up. If you give any of the Gold away you won't be able to do that. There is a chance you might be able to find 40 Silver (2 Gold) during your next actions at the camp (but, OOC I can tell you, there is a fair chance you wont be comfortable taking it).

A bit of concerted effort will easily get you that sort of amount so you can level up soon afterwards (if you keep the village's Gold).

I actually thought about writing replacing the 2 coins with loot from the camp.
But I forgot about it

It may be possible (though so far getting that sort of amount seems to have been a challenge:).

You may also be able to get some money out of the mayor, both for any work you have done on his baron issue and maybe for getting his daughter back.

If everything goes swimmingly you may be able to get that sort of replacement amount... but you will still be Level 1 when you go to the camp and face whatever is there.

It seems like whatever we do will have a downside.
- Getting more help ourselves puts the 'kids' in more danger and costs us time
- Spending money can hinder our character progress
- Sending a messenger is unreliable
- We go without help, which would make a fight harder. But we're not even sure there will be a fight.

My preference is to just go and see what the situation is there. If need be, we can still send Daryl back to Olaf for a cavalry party.
It's the least complicated thing to do.

Such is life.
Probably not really. You have the time to get there 'in time'. It is more likely to make your task harder since you will have less time to scout and plan, but that need not be a bad thing. In character you can't know that the two day timelimit is probably safe and that things are not likely to happen off-screen in this case, but OOC you can know that this choice will mainly affect how much time you have when you get there.
True. Then the choice is about whether you take the 'gifted' Gold and Level Up first. This is hard to do in he forest since it involves Coin, but you are still at the inn, so it is an option (even if the exact mechanism does not fully make sense without time and a big city, but then we are not actually playing Barbarian of Lemuria, so we are handwaving the exact mechanics on that).
And it turns out Limpy (though he now needs a new nickname) knows Olaf, and could be persuaded to put aside his prejudices and carry a message (no Gold needed), just in case you don't want to make poor, tired Daryl do it. That does mean you are gambling being one man down on the chance of being two men up.

I figured he'd be the best one to send cause it removes him from immediate danger :) Tired is better than hurt.
Would it be an option to give the men in the bar all the gold to invest in the town. Would that give us the level up? And maybe, since we're showing such faith in them, they might want to join us after all?