It will rain again tomorrow (OOC)

Out of character chatter about It will rain again tomorrow 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! or Resources threads can go in General Chat or here is they are directly related to the RP.

Add a link back to the post in question so we can have context. After posting you can right-click on the orange header and select 'copy link address' (or whatever your browser calls it), then paste that in your OOC post.

If you guys want to finish up any things with the previous scene —have any conversations on your way home, or make plans, for instance— you can do them in the old thread, or simply allude to them in the new one (we can assume we all agree to reasonable plans).

If you don't go home, or wherever I put you [ref], we can change that.

You tell us if you lost anything important. I did not show anything getting sucked through [ref] and don't know the contents of your shop. There are no mechanics to handle this, and no impact to losing something (the only things we can take away from your Establishment are the Investments, and they are on a different scale:).

Anything you lose would be inconvenient in the fiction, and be something you need to RP replacing or doing without. If it is significant enough, maybe it could be used to try scry the other side?

It seems like this is happening the following morning, after you slept?

I like this! I probably need someone like Mark who can help with tracking the item though? (just threw that idea in the RP thread)

Are we talking about the same girl? It sounds here that you are talking about Josephine instead? That makes more sense as to why you said she was not allowed in the Sanctuary without you.

Do you want to change the subject of these posts to be Josephine? Do you need to prevent her from sneaking into the Sanctuary often?

Do you want to change one of the names so they are not so easy to mistake for each other... or do you want to lean into the similarities? [ref]

Which one do you want this to be about? Josephine makes more sense with what we have and we can probably do more with her in this situation. Shall we just change the names in our posts?

I changed mine to refer to Josephine as well.

Sheffield is in the north of England, almost on the other side of the country. That is where his family live [ref] (only mentioned because that is all he knows about these 'drone things'), not where the unmodeled part of his London Underground model is.

I did not define where in London it is, just 'model train diorama of the nearby part of the London Underground' [ref]. That way we can work it into our other activities, and we can also ignore that there probably is nowhere in London that is not covered by cameras.

The bit he can not model is around about your area, so you should be able to go check it out and see why people can not map it.

Its a small thing, just don't want you buying buss tickets. :)

Hey, just to let you know, tomorrow I'll be flying all day and most probably won't be able to post. Will do on Friday if that's finally the case!

The issue is that you are not doing anything do allay her concerns, nor offering her anything, while at the same time you are —due to the Misses on your rolls— acting in a concerning way. It is a tricky situation, maybe we should have thought about it a bit more before we got here.

It is a bit of a stretch, but I will use this create drama-to-be-revealed-later with her new Debt [ref]. We still have the Eternal Hunger roll which could make this go very bad. :)

I wish this system had Major and Minor Debts like Undying, but we can treat this as 'you owe me big time' and reflect that when it comes time to Honor that Debt. That is why we are told to write down what we Owe people for, not just the number, and why the Cash in a Debt Move demands we name the specific Debt. What we ask for needs to be commensurate with the scale of the original act or they can laugh at us and ignore the unreasonable demand.

With a mixed success I will choose ‘You heal 1-harm’ and ‘Your prey doesn't suffer 3-harm (ap)’

One would hope so. :)

Clear your Faint head wound.

I’m Australian actually! There’s quite a bit of crossover between British and Australian English so I assumed they would call them bandaids in England too, but I guess not!
To clarify, he didn’t bite her on the hand. I imagine he bit her just a bit below the actual wrist joint (where one might wear a watch for instance) so I think she could probably cover that up with long sleeves if she wanted

Bandaid is a brand name in England, but if you say 'band aid' most will probably think of the music charity first. :)
Understood. Her hospital uniform is going to be a problem long sleeves are not allowed as they are thought to increase infection rates [ref].

Based on blood donation there will be some bruising today.

I figured. I saw you were not on the site at all, so did not bug you about this one game. Good timing for it, with us separated it did not slow anyone else down. :)
OK.
I think we should rectify that. Let's meet her soon.
OK. We can all learn together.

You can always use your Sanctum to do such spells. The downside, in this sort of case, being that you can not move with it, so you can only get a general location.

gnomius will be away for two weeks, so we can pick this thread up when they are back.

@Stalker05 (or anyone else) Do you have any ideas where this unmapped location is? Do you have any ideas about how somewhere in London could possibly be unmapped?

If not, I did a bit of wandering around on google maps and found somewhere that could be interesting to explore.

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I also found this video that was worth watching (possibly at high speed) to get a feel the for the city: RAINY LONDON WALK ☔️ Westminster Bridge to Victoria Station · 4K HDR

I mean Stephano showed us a model and the areas near yet; Mark been a resident would probably be able to guess where it is? I think Mark will sent a location close to the designated place and meet Jena there.

Yes, Stefano showed Mark and the others where his problem area was.

The question is to the players: Where is it?

OOC we know there is nowhere in London that is not covered by cameras, but, for the game, we will pretend somewhere is, and that something is prevent it being mapped and also probably preventing people from noticing or talking about it. This is the first you have heard about this. Only a true nerd would see through the veil. :)

@oopsylon: You have a lot of freedom to shape the scene. How many people would you like to have searching Lizabeth's flat [ref]?

We can have a chase, or a hunt. You can set up the start of that. It could go either way, of course, but if you want to be the hunter we can make that happen.

@Ysolde: Originally you implied that Bev was a doctor [ref] and I have played her as such. You did later allude to her getting her practitioner licence [ref] which I did think implied 'nurse practitioner' but I overlooked that inconsistency. Now you are heavily implying that she is a nurse, or at least studied nursing rather than medicine [ref].

We should nail this down. Is she a nurse or a doctor? It may affect what she can help you with.

Do you want to do anything else with this scene? You sorta rushed through it and are now trying to sleep. What is Bev doing?

Yes, still waiting for where you are meeting Jena at the unmapped area, [ref] and [ref].

If you don't have any thoughts about an interesting area to set this I can define the location.

We are not playing 20 questions. :)

It can be anything you like if you think you have an interesting idea. It is significant enough that having that gap in the model bugs Stefano enough that risking his job was an even trade, but that could also just be because it is a significant location, or just be his OCD?

I have no plans, you can play with this as much as you like.

Do you have plans for where this is?

This place does not quite fit but shows up as a 'green place with trees' on google maps.
Google Street View shows fuzz and camera problems, though, and there are a lot of such gaps around here (if you squint).

What you describe could also be Green Park, or St James's Park, or Hyde Park [map], but they have less Underground infrastructure.

We don't need to know exactly where it is, but we can draw fiction from the surroundings and names of what we do have.

I think Benji’s mostly just curious at the moment so he’s just going to try to sneak up on one of them to see what they’re doing

My bad it was late. As I tell myself whenever I’m writing bad fan-fix "expand"

oopsylon, as indicated [ref] [ref] they are about to run unless you do something to stop them. You are not in the middle of a conversation. :)

The obvious mechanic to get them to stick around and talk would be to Persuade an NPC, but that Move requires that you have something to offer them, some leverage. If you can't think what you might offer them, then maybe a roll of Figure Someone Out could provide a hint.

The way you go about Figuring Them Out and Persuading them (if you get the chance) will dictate what happens, including how hot they leave on a Miss. This might turn into a tense conversation on a Hit, or, on a Miss, it could become a chase (with them fleeing in haste) or a hunt (with them leaving quietly and your, possibly, following clandestinely to see where they go). We can try shape it how you, the player, prefer to have it go, but what you do in the fiction will be the determining factor; so far you are keeping it 'low-action' [ref].

Benji doesn’t see any need to escalate the situation right now— he’s trying to talk to them but if they just run away that’s okay too (as you said, he can try to follow them). Now that you mention it though, could this work as a trigger for Persuade an NPC? The leverage being that he knows they are looking for something and that they haven’t found it yet (otherwise they would have left already)… He is offering to help them find what they were looking for.

OK, yeah. That can work. Your actions have been intriguing enough that Amira, at least, is keen to know more about you.

Narrate and make the roll and we will see how it goes.

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If you want, this situation may open itself up to Put a Face to a Name, though it may be the other way round and you may be wanting to Put a Name to a Face to see if you can recall anything from their appearance. Maybe this Move will come later as you study them, we shall see.

Sorry for the absence. I have to deal with some flooding in my basement and I’ve been very busy fixing the sump, wet dry vac, throwing stuff out, etc.

Then let's set this as the green area between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. [map].

It is not a large area, but includes parts of the Circle Line and the District Line, and Temple Station, so it is of interest to train enthusiasts.

Someone really has to do something about this rain... but that is an in-game issue. Your real-life flooding takes precedence, good luck with that.

Where does Rhiannon go next? To check the demon-stones you left with Charles? I will assume so and set that scene later if I don't hear differently from you. Take your time.

Yes, that’s next on her agenda.

oopsylon, if you are not being genuine in your offer to contact them with what you learn from Lizabeth [ref], then you will need to roll to Mislead Amira.

No matter what, nothing binds you to keep this promise if you later find out details that make you change your mind. They will remember, of course, but probably would not be all that surprised.

Which options for Mislead do you think are most appropriate for this scene? Benji is trying to get information out of them by playing dumb/naïve

• What are you actually Misleading them about?

Are you pretending to be incapable of using email to contact them (a feasible lie given your clearly outdated style:), or are you lying about contacting with them Lizabeth's answers at all? This will influence the later fallout.

• What sort of information are you trying to get?

Are you wanting something less ephemeral than a disposable email address? They didn't hesitate and were prepared for this sort of thing, so they are somewhat 'professional' and would provide you with a —similarly untraceable— cell phone number (which could force them to meet you again later rather than expecting you to send them pictures via email or something). If you insist on a physical address, they will give you a dead-drop location or PO box (which you could stake out if you wanted to). You will have to work a lot harder to get them to give up their anonymity.

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Whatever the above answers, bear in mind that Mislead does not get you information, but it can Create an Opportunity —maybe for them to drop their guard and reveal something, or maybe for you to be able to followup with a Persuade (for something reasonable)— or could Expose a Weakness or Flaw in their tradecraft from which you could learn something (Possibly via Figure Someone Out, though it will be hard to get more from them than I have already revealed, given your (apparently open and honest approach) they have been surprisingly open in return, if light on details).

I don't think Benji is necessarily lying about either of those things— he genuinely doesn’t have an email and he hasn’t decided yet if he wants to share whatever Lizabeth tells him with them, but it’s a possibility — but, throughout the conversation, he has been deliberately playing up certain aspects of his personality to appear helpful and naive to hopefully get them to share more than they might otherwise. He’s fishing for any information he can use to figure out who these people are/who they work for (so maybe Create an Opportunity to Figure Someone Out would be appropriate?) but obviously they’re not going to share that directly

Shall we say ‘create an opportunity’ and ‘confuse them for some time’ then?

Then your offer to do so is a lie. Either you intend to do what you say or you can't promise it (you can always change your mind later, when you learn more details, but that is an issue for that later time).

I already treated your words as honest, so it feel disingenuous to go back on how they have acted, but that does not dictate your choices. We will say they believe you and deal with any lack of follow-through later.

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The fiction so far does not support your getting them to tell you more information, so maybe we take those two options to mean you have the opportunity to follow them when they leave —thus maybe learning something, possibly via Figure Someone Out— and they don't become suspicious of you and take active measures to lose you as a tail?

If you did not Confuse them for Some Time then they would take immediate, active measures to evade you and you would have to work hard to follow them.

Does that suite you?

Don't say you want to do it. Do it. :)

Focus on the fiction first. Show us what you are doing and we will see if any Moves apply and need to be rolled. You are a Wizard, you can detect the presence of magic, so you might not need to roll that Move if you roleplay how your character is investigating this and are happy with what the roleplay shows you, you can then decide you want more details and open your senses by Letting it Out if it comes to that.

Don't jump to Moves and mechanics and dice, use the fiction first, it is safer. If you want to do a Move, you can shape the fiction such that that Move gets called for, that is fine, but you still need to first do the fiction in order to set up and trigger the Move.

Hey guys, I'm back! Give me some time to catch up and I will post ASAP. Hope you had fun while I was out, and nobody got bitten by any hell hound! ;-)

Someone got bitten, but they are keeping that under wraps. :)

Glad to have you back. Take your time catching up. Ask any questions you might have.

I hope we are all seeing the same strange effects on Google Maps. I see blanks in the Street View locations I linked, and I can not enter the top of Temple Lane [street view], I just bounce off an invisible wall.

I know that we are merely seeing bits where the Google Street View cameras did not go or shoot, but we can amplify this and play with the area as we please.

Sure, that works for me :)

This sure is giving a very good immersion to the gameplay.

I am not keeping up to my agreement just due to a whole lot of things so I think I will have to drop. Sorry everyone.

Sorry to hear that, but we completely understand.

If things change later, let us know and we can look at bringing Rhiannon back into the story. If you leave, we will fade her out of the active events and leave her state nebulous —I usually don't turn PCs into NPCs and don't want to play your character and have them do anything you would not have done— this way you can pick her up again if that is ever viable for you.

Do you want to play out an exit scene? Or shall we just say you were called out of town for some undefined reason?

Ouch! Sorry to hear that, Ysolde, I was really enjoying your character.

OK, I am caught up with the pending messages, but not sure where in time should I start with Jacob, vagueGM. If I understood correctly, Mark can talk to me in the evening about that tracking spell, but otherwise I have the rest of the day "free"? Do you want me to start right away or wait until I am synced with the other players?

We are all out of sync.

Mark's scene is set some time after late morning the day after (hours after) you were on the tracks, we never needed to define exactly when, and it might be afternoon? @Stalker05, do you have a preference about what time your walk in the park is happening or can we set it whenever we find a good time?

Benji is still playing out 'last night', after his running away, so we can finish that scene and jump him forward easily enough or interrupt your sleep and bring you into that scene.

@Rhiannon is in the afternoon, but we are probably losing her, so don't set scenes with her till we know if Ysolde wants to do a farewell.

No need for you to wait, if you want to link up with another player let us know and we can arrange it. If you have ideas about what Jacob would do after the adventure on the tracks, we can do that.

Sorry to hear that, Ysolde! I’ve really enjoyed playing with you

Do you, the player, want to make up and pursue one of your character's goals? If not we can try to link you up with another character. Maybe with @Stalker05's permission we can pretend he said 'afternoon' and you can follow up and find them doing what they are doing now? Or we can ignore your blocking post and have Benji get you involved with their morning activities? They have to 'work' during the morning rush hour, but have a friend getting out of jail 'at 07:00' right in the middle of that peak time, just saying (a friend who just happens to work with 'lost items' 240m from your statue, also just saying:).

The demon assault was mainly for the Demon Hunter to get involved. If we are losing them we can fade that into the background. But you can also take up the task of dealing with them, either because they have your cross (and book) or because Rhiannon asks you to finish the job when she leaves.

Rhiannon mistakenly thinks they are here to take you back to hell [ref]. I say 'mistakenly' because her impression was part of the consequence/price of the Partial Success [ref], hence the demon's sense of 'satisfaction' [ref] at her getting that impression. You know that they can not drag you back to hell, but that is a secret.

They did target you, though, so it is personal. It would make sense if you wanted to take care of them, and get your stuff back, or just get answers.

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I am also struggling with your Scheme. I did not have anything from Jacob to base it on —new as he was— so I took the opportunity to introduce a Faction of Wild to fill out our ranks. Doing a task for them will get them on your side, possibly as an information source, but if you don't want to do that one, we can see about coming up with another.

However, you will need to provide me with the sort of things you want to be doing. Each Scheme is about the equivalent of a whole 'Level' of Advancement, so they are not easy or quick and all you have done is go to the lady who lost her book and try to ask her where it is.

One possible suggestion would be to go ask your friend, Dr Williams from the university if they have any ideas? You could maybe Hit the Streets (with Mortalis) and roleplay that meeting?
I am not seeing mechanical means of getting answers like this from 'your library' (you don't have the Staff or Regular options which could logically be used to answer questions), but I do see that you can Appraise and Forge things, so, if it comes to it, you might be able to pass off a copy of the book if you can't get your hands on it directly (fool an NPC who is promised something you don't have yet?).

I could have Benji call in his debt on Jacob to ask Jacob to pick up Lizabeth from the police station/keep her safe for a bit, if you would like to talk to her about the lost book @gnomius

They have my book, not my cross, right? The cross is the stuff they were theoretically looking for, but it was the book that was sucked into the portal.
Yes, Jacob definitely wants answers, and why that wizard who plays with demons was looking for that cross. I'm okay with following this thread, but I need Mark and his tracking spell for this one.
That sounds like an excellent idea, although I don't want you to lose one Debt (mechanically speaking) for something that actually benefits me. Returning Debts is supposed to be painful. :) So, if vagueGM agrees, you can just ask Jacob but I don't think that would count as paying a Debt.
No, no, I'm fine with this cheme, it's just that I'm a little bit dry with ideas. But Lizabeth is a good start, and I guess the other cameras we haven't checked yet would be my next step. Dr Williams is another good idea, I'll save that one for later, thanks!

They have my book, not my cross, right? The cross is the stuff they were theoretically looking for, but it was the book that was sucked into the portal.
Yes, Jacob definitely wants answers, and why that wizard who plays with demons was looking for that cross. I'm okay with following this thread, but I need Mark and his tracking spell for this one.
That sounds like an excellent idea, although I don't want you to lose one Debt (mechanically speaking) for something that actually benefits me. Returning Debts is supposed to be painful. :) So, if vagueGM agrees, you can just ask Jacob but I don't think that would count as paying a Debt.
No, no, I'm fine with this cheme, it's just that I'm a little bit dry with ideas. But Lizabeth is a good start, and I guess the other cameras we haven't checked yet would be my next step. Dr Williams is another good idea, I'll save that one for later, thanks!

Right, right. The cross what what they were looking at, not what they got (accidentally).

I assume you have, since then, moved the cross to your 'secure venue, impenetrable by intruders and thieves'?
We can link you up with Mark once you are done helping Lizabeth.
They are sorta meant to benefit you, in a way. One way that this situation is 'painful' is that you don't get the mechanical benefit of Marking Advancement for Night (Benji's Circle) since you already Marked that, Benji does get the benefit of Marking your Circle.

This is also what Debts are for, games where players help each other's character without reference to the Debt Moves often run into problems later when those become the primary driver for Advancement, in the early game Put a Face to a Name is the main way to Advance (and you can do that with Lizabeth when Benji approaches you about her).
Especially if you are about to Mark Mortalis with Lizabeth. Save Williams for when you can get double benefit from Hitting the Streets with him :)

No, it’s cool with me! Like vagueGM mentioned, I get to mark Wild for advancement this way :)

Okey dokey, I'll cross out a Debt then.
Hahahaha! Love it.

Both of you now only need to Mark your own Circles. :)

You may be ready to Study a Place of Power. If you want to narrate how you do that we can see what that reveals.

You can tell that this is the work of the Power Circle.
I have no plans for this, I was hoping for player input on what was going on, but can make something up if needed. Some possible ideas have to come to me as we explored.

Sorry for the delay! I’ve had a really busy weekend. I’ll get a post up tomorrow!

Quite alright. It happens.

@gnomius, are you deliberately refusing to or avoiding telling Kenedi your name? That is not helping your case to get her to release Lizabeth to you.

Now she wants to see some form of ID before continuing the conversation. Remember that you are a Forger, so you can easily have false-IDs, but also remember that she is an NPC that you may need to deal with again in the future, so fake identities will complicate that.

@oopsylon: We did not talk about it at the time, but you probably Owe Kenedi a Debt for her coming to you with information about Lizabeth [ref]. Agree?

Sure, that's fine with me!

Not at all, I'm fine with giving her my real ID (after all, I asked if I needed to sign any form, and I was going to sign with my real name). I don't see any reason why I should use a fake ID, riiiiiight? Now you're making me wonder! ^_^'

No, no. It was just that you were not giving her your name, even after she asked. I was needing to know if that was deliberate or if you just missed doing so.

Awesome.

That sound like it might be Hit the Street? They are Wild.

No doubt that you know them, but do you want to roll Put a Face to a Name to see how well you know them since this is the first time, on a high roll you might have a Debt you can call in or know something to motivate them, but on a low roll you might Owe them a Debt, complicating the situation. A Debt would mainly be useful as leverage to motivate them to answer you, and can add +3 to any attempt to Persuade (though you would effectively only get a +2, since you are already at +2 and the max is +4).

Your choice of going to Boadicea and Her Daughters while chasing three women is interesting, and adds layers to their response. Remember that NPCs are not there to serve your questing needs, they have their own motivations and need a reason to agree to help you unless it aligns with their interests.

Do you want to continue this back and forth of 'pulling teeth', or are you trying to avoid roleplaying this scene? Either are fine, but I don't want to skip it if you want to play it out slowly, but I also don't want to make you play out a scene you are not interested in.

If you want to play it out, say so and I will have the sergeant take the next step and wait for your, possibly taciturn, response, and so on until we resolve the scene or you say you are done with it. Currently you have not done enough to Trigger any Moves, or to get her to allow you access for fictional reasons. Think about how you would deal with real police in real life, and how they might respond to actions such as those your character has taken. Treat the world and its inhabitants as though it and they are real.

If you want to skip it, I will assume you give answers that lead us to a point where we can move on (naming Benji, for instance), but that will mean I put words in your mouth.

Both are options, but I don't sense that you are engaging with the scene. Let me know the route you want to take

Excellent roll on Study a Place of Power, but remember that that Move (no matter you well you roll) can only reveal what you could learn from the actions you take.

Until this point you have walked around and looked at stuff, mapped the phenomenon, and not much else, I will include that in any description I give, but this last part sounds a lot more 'active' and a lot like '• detect the presence and function of magical items or spells' that is part of your Let It Out suite of abilities.

If you are just continuing to use your passive wizard's senses then I will narrate based on that, if you want to add a roll for Let it Out, you will get a lot more (with all its potential downsides:).

Please let us know after you have made a change to the post, the site does not properly notify us about edits. I cheked after you posted this OOC, but that was minutes before you did the RP change, so I had to guess and come back.

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Seems like you a rolling the a boss! :)

With Let It Out, on a 12! (which is a 10+:) you get to ignore one of the costs, either the Corruption (though you seem to be collecting that:) or the Complication. I can tell you that the Complication will be of the 'Social' nature —as mentioned in the Costly Abilities section of the Options for Let It Out in the Notes spoiler, this is one of those times mentioned where 'the complications reveal new elements in the scene'.

• What is your choice?

Nah, you have just used up a few 4s and 6s, there are still plenty of 5s and such around to cover the other weak numbers. :)
Mark it on your sheet.

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There is more information [ref] available from this Move, what you learn still depends on what you do in the fiction going forward.

Your sense is accurate, Jacob sees this just as an inconvenient interruption of his current schemes, and just wishes to deal with the bureaucratic part and take this lady to the bookshop, where she will be safe. You can safely press fast forward, unless you had something interesting/unexpected planned.
Perhaps I misread the situation, then. I don't see why she wouldn't allow me to just take Lizabeth. I don't have RL experience in picking up someone who has been arrested... :) ... but I thought it was enough with saying "hey, I'm taking this person" and if the person agrees, that's all.

Of course, once I get to talk to Lizabeth, then I would let her know I'm a friend of Benji's, and he asked me to pick her up.

PD: Loved the dragon surprise!!

I don't really care what Jacob wants, in a way it is my job to make his life difficult. But if the player does not want a scene then we skip it and focus elsewhere.

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Because neither she nor Lizabeth know you, you have not mentioned Benji, and:

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There is a dragon statue right there where the google photos glitch out. Seems like I had to take that and make it something more. :)
The dragon's face is even blurred out, see for yourself. :)

Of course.
I've added a Put a Face to a Name roll and a Hit the Streets roll to my post

The question is going to come up:

• What did Lizabeth find that caused all the trouble?

Does anyone have any ideas?

Maybe some kind of powerful/dangerous magical artifact that was lost in the Thames long ago?

Without Rhiannon we have the choice of letting the plot point with the demon bits and the members of her Hunter's Society drop. They or Shelyna can take care of that in the background.

But if we want to deal with that ourselves, and keep Charles and Jordan around, we can do that too.

Decide amongst yourselves.

I am sure that statues near the river banks know Lizabeth. Seems like this might be enough to justify a Persuade to get them to tell you more.

Add that roll, either to the existing post or in a new post with some more persuasive talking.

Sorry, yesterday was a complicated day (and all my troubles seemed so far awaaaay), and I couldn't get to post.
I'm all in for bringing in more magical artifacts from ancient times!
In my opinion, we probably have too many threads right now, so we can safely leave this one in the background. But I'm happy whatever way this goes.

Sounds nice. :)

Added the persuade roll!

I think we all know Mark's motivations. But are you —the player— wanting to get something out of this? You defined your relationship with Shelyna, but it does not sound like there is any way this will get her to... be more receptive to your amorous advances.

My impression is that she will know fully well what you are doing, but, from your descriptions of her, she will politely ignore it?

Sounds interesting. Before we deal with any mechanics and complications, what are you trying to do?

Are you trying to trick Stefano into believing you have what he asked for? He is a detail oriented person, so he will notice any discrepancies, and he needs enough images to build a model from, so a single photo will not be enough. Nothing says you can't have more than one at a time? Right? But the Notes on Channeling for the Spell do say:
If you are experimenting, then you are welcome to try it and see what comes of it. Do remember, though, that the last time you tried probing the effect with your magic someone contacted Shelyna and put pressure on her to call you and ask what the bloody hell you were doing. But will you roll over for whoever that was? Up to you.

What happens depends a lot on why you, the player, are doing this.

I'll wait to see if Benji is catching up with us in the timeline before posting. :)

Yeah. Benji's next post can be at your place, but we can also frame a scene at the station that moves the story forward before you get together.

We can get together and then drive story; or drive story first, which might interrupt getting together. It is up to you guys.

@Stalker05: Do you want to quickly resolve the immediate issue with Josephine and free you to be able to join the others, or do you want Mark to find there is an issue he has to deal with regarding his Ward which may keep him separate from the others for a while?

If you had something planned for the station, feel free to interject it before Benji leaves but otherwise Benji will pack up and head to Jacob’s

We could tell him this is an MI6 secret venue, protected with 'ultra secret' anti-surveillance tech, and he should just forget about it.

You are not 'needed'. I am asking you if you want to pursue your own thing or join the others. The story can be set up for either option.
That is my question. She did not come home last night and did not make it to school —Mark was lied to by her friends, but he does not know that until you investigate.

I am asking the player if this is an issue that needs Mark's attention now (a search and rescue, maybe?), or if you want me to turn it into an issue for later (disciplinary action, maybe?). I can easily have her arrive home now, thus freeing you up to worry about other things, or you can find your character derailed into dealing with your Ward.

It is up to you.
If we don't deal with her now, then we will leave it for later, but she is a person, so she needs personal attention if she is to play a significant role in the story. Let me know how much screentime you want her to have, and when you want to have it.

I have no 'plans', this is not that sort of game. The players drive the story. I was asking you if you want to have an encounter before going to Jacob. It might suggest answers about the Lizabeth item, but might also just slow down the progress there if you meet someone with a vested interest, especially if it is someone like Elliot Parry [ref] who comes demanding your time.

We can decide to make it a quick scene (though promising 'quick' is naive in the extreme:) or you can head to Jacob's and we can arrange to take it from there.

That might work to put him off, but also might get him even more interested. Depends how it goes.

He will still want 'payment', though. Telling him 'that thing we promised you, it is impossible' does not absolve you of your 'debts'. :)

Modelers are patient people, so we don't need to deal with this right now.

They can definitely manage without you.

Okay, no worries! In that case, Benji will head to Jacob’s
We’re good right now, I think, so feel free to focus on Josephine😊

Sorry, guys, I've been just involved in a last-minute trip, and won't be available until Wednesday.

It was morning and you have just finished breakfast, and I was wondering how you would approach the school at such a time.

If you wanted to wait till after school that is fine, maybe you spend some time with Jena, tutoring or asking questions or something? Or maybe it was late morning (you did get to bed fairly late) and school ends early afternoon today, or something?

Up to you.

Is it possible to Put a Face to a Name with factions instead of individual characters? Which Circle I should roll if this is the case?

Factions are a new mechanic, I don't recall the book saying anything about this question but it seems like an obvious extension of the Move.

Roll Put a Face to a Name with Wild. (I now the 'Night Sisters' name is confusing, and we may change it, that is the name the kept feeling right when I put them together (before they had a Circle).)

A magnificent 11, aaaand this is my 4th Circle to mark. :-)

Let me know if you want to chip in now, vagueGM, or how much narrative freedom I have about the Night Sisters.

Now you clear all of them and take an Advance. Take your time picking the Advance, but you can start Marking the Circles again immediately.
You are welcome to tell us what Jacob has heard and how he has dealt with them in the past. If anything does not work we will have him learn where he was mistaken, in an appropriate way (OOC if we have to).

About Advances:
Does this mean that I can take any Advanve from the standard list, or a Corruption advance or payout instead?

When you Advance you can take any of your Playbook's Advancement options, when gain Corruption Advance you can take any of your Playbook's Corruption Advances, when you complete a Scheme you can take any of your Scheme's Payouts.

They are each a separate thing, unless you have an option that says you can pick from another list, you can only pick the list in question.

In this case you Advanced through regular Circle Advancement, so you get to pick from the Advancement list:
Given how slow PbP can be, I am open to discussing taking the 'After five advances ...' options right away, on a case by case basis. Most of them are not the best choice this early in the game, though, so sticking to the regular options 'Available at the beginning of play' is usually a good idea, but if another one fits your character better, make your case.

Got it. So, the Dark bargain Move from the Tainted playbook looks like a lot of fun, and definitely in line with Jacob's character concept. Would that work?

Sure. It is completely up to you if you think a Move fits with your character concept. We have not seen Jacob making deals, but maybe this Move will bring that aspect of the character to the fore?

You will have to convince people to enter into a Dark Bargain with you, it does not look like a thing that benefits them in many circumstances.

You only ever get two Moves from Other Playbooks, so be sure to read these Moves carefully, and read the Notes on the Move as well.

---

You don't have a Patron, so —each time— you will need to tell us about which (presumably demonic) entity you call upon to enforce these deals.

Great. This is how I see it: as Jacob works for himself, he usually closes deals using 'standard' methods, basically relying on the Debts mechanism. He saves his ability to enforce a dark pact just for special occasions, as every time he does, he risks getting unwanted attention from Hell.

Let's take it then. I think it will be a good source for additional drama.

PD: May I ask you to help with adding the Move to my sheet? I'm afraid to break it if I try... ^_^'

Nice. Just so long as you are happy taking a Move you won't use often.

You can also claim this fiction, but save taking the Move till you actually want to use it. I would let you use it once on the promise that you are taking the Move at the next possible opportunity.
Absolutely. :)
Done. Tick it in both places if you are taking it now.

Don't forget to clear your Marked Circles.

Thanks! Ticked and Circles cleared.

Don't worry, I'll take it now and make sure to use it as soon as an opportunity arises, as I said, just for the sake of adding drama to the story. :-)

Remind me what this is about? When was Josephine 'taken'? Is this to do with the thing with Benji tempting her?

Yeah, I meant that background story.

OK. You will need to fill in some of the details about what happened if it becomes relevant.

She was out when you got back last night (or early this morning). You phoned her and she indicated she was at Eclecis Enchante [ref]. The owner-guy confirms that she was here last night [ref].

You did check, her bed had not been slept in and she did not eat the dinner you left for her nor take the food you prepared for school [ref].

Remember that you have a lot of creative freedom. You can choose to make a scene more or less important by how you narrate it.

When you say 'He checked the second floor pub and then called a cab' that presumably puts an end to the scene, making it unimportant, but also yielding no information —we have to assume you found nothing. If you wanted to spend more time 'checking', this gathering place sounds like it could be A Place of Power for Mortalis? If we make it such, you could take the time to Study a Place of Power if you describe your character doing so.

It is fine if you want to first head to your Sanctuary and scry for Josephine's location. You might get a better read on a Place of Power when it is in use, empty, you will only get the vaguest suggestions but any consequences will be mild.

I am just saying this because you went to the effort of creating a place, came here to investigate, and then skipped out on using any of the mechanics. (I did think about asking you to Hit the Streets to get answers from the bartender/owner, but had already typed his answer and found that he was loquacious and unlikely to not answer you, and that Move can complicate things).

Also, remember that I don't have 'plans'. I don't actually know where Josephine is, or what sort of trouble she is in, if any. You get to steer this as much as you want, if you want it to be a big deal we make it a big deal, of you want to find her back home (and the only trouble is that of discipline) we can do that. You can decide if you want to steer the tone of the problem, or the magnitude of the problem, both or neither, and how much. Let me know.

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If you are skipping back to your Sanctuary, then what is Jena doing? If you want her around for the next bit she can wait at your home and join you after your Sanctuary work, or you can try again to persuade her to come in and help you —there is a damsel in distress!— or whatever you want.

Apartment, huh? I forgot you had one. :)

What is your apartment like? Is it part of your Harbour? Are you taking her to your Haven (and adding her to you Web)?

Are you doing anything else? As a meta discussion and suggestion (because we are 'new'), you need to Mark the Night Circle, do you go to any of you fellow vampires (or maybe Elliot Parry?) to ask around about what the grapevine has to say? It is intended for you to steer the story such that you get to Mark the Circles you need.

I don't know if we saw the question over in General...
If you saw it but chose not to answer, ignore it again. Feel free to answer in private via PM if that is needed.

No clue... yet. Like you, I am supposed to 'Play to Find Out'. :)
It happens. It is not a problem, you get to decide how much you want to put in, but the amount you put in influence the amount you get out. The more flavour your provide the more flavour we get to react to and and it multiplies.
Urban Shadows is not a game about 'solving problems' ('quest' based) it is more a game about 'living with problems' ('slice of life' based) and the consequences of how we tried to solve them. It is about your character, not about a mission. Josephine is a part of your character (part of your sheet), but mainly a part that causes trouble not one that helps you (Jena is there to be an asset), so you have an especially large amount of narrative freedom when it comes to her.
No worries. It should be fairly easy for you to do with the resources in your Santuary. Having Jena to help will fulfill one of the requirements, but there will be other options.
Do that. :)

It is not part of his Haven, but I imagine it’s near the station. I don’t think he spends much time there (he sleeps in his Haven). It’s mostly a space he uses to entertain dinner friends and store his stuff. He has an upright piano, a couch, some chairs and a table, but no bed or TV. He has hung paintings over the windows to keep out the sunlight.
The building is old and has a mouse problem (Benji keeps leaving biscuits out for them and removing the bait and traps that building management leave in the hallways and stairwells).
Yes, I was contemplating coming up with a Night NPC to hit the streets with instead of Boadicea when pursuing Amira, but I thought the statue thing was more fun. Benji doesn’t like Elliot so I don’t think he would be very inclined to go to Elliot for help unless he had some hint that he was somehow already involved. At the moment, Benji’s plans are to bring Lizabeth back to his apartment, go back to her place to pick up some clothes and her tortoise and whatever else she wants, and then try to get some answers out of Lizabeth about what happened. At some point he probably wants to sleep and stuff too.

Agreed. :)

It also brought us the Horse which you are looking into... (Jacob might also be interested in this, but mainly because there appears to be statue of Byron by the Horse:)
We can provide just such a hint if you want. That was along the lines of what I was thinking of inserting into your scene before you came to Jacob's, but, as you can see, that would probably derail the situation. Say the word and we can have a lackey of Elliot's waiting for you near your apartment.

Sure! Let’s do that :)

Yourself and Jacob can decide who is going, and deal with any discussion that happens before you head there.

When you are ready, post yourself approaching your place, including means of transport and any relevant details like direction, location, and description of what we see.

If you are concerned about about Elliot's lackey knowing you have Lizabeth with you, then we might need a Keep Your Cool from you to spot them in time to take action to avoid them seeing you before you are ready.

I don't know how you lost Josephine, maybe give the rest of us some description to work with, and me something about what happened so Jena can react appropriately. You can flash back in Mark's memory of the events, just enough for the situation, was Jena involved in how you got Josephine back? If not does she wish she was?
I'll allow it this time. But note that this is not usually enough to meet the trigger for Persuade and NPC, As the notes on the Move says:
There is almost enough in the promise that you will always save her, but it is stretching the terms of the Move, and maybe implying things you did not want to ... or even mean to... imply? Like that that promise of ongoing protection is contingent on her helping (a threat (even if unintentional))?

There is going to be some price to pay, but remember that Jena is part of your sheet, and you created the tension of her not wanting to enter the Sanctuary, so you have a lot of control over what happens here, I just don't want to throw that whole plot-line aside based on one roll, especially if it is not strongly justified in the fiction. Let me know how you want to play it.

Can I do a Put a Face to a Name to see how well Benji knows the statue of Lord Byron/if they owe one another any debts? I know we’re going to get interrupted at Benji’s apartment by one of Elliot’s lackeys anyway, but I figure it might be useful later

Yeah, we can consider this 'the first time you meet or hear about them'.
Well, 'later' would be more useful. You may get to roll Night when dealing with Elliot (even though he summoned you, you can still treat it as Hit the Street since you want to know what the knows about the Lizabeth goings on).

It is stretching the definition of 'the first time' but we can save the Byron roll for when you go to meet the statue, that way we get the benefit of finding out close to the time if things will go well rather than getting to plan ahead... and we get the benefit of getting to Mark that Circle once you have cleared them all. This is presuming we are doing this next, we can't 'save it till later', I just hate to punish you for mentioning it right before you head out rather than when you are going to do it, and we already established that Elliot was going to disrupt your plans.

Unfortunately I think we have established that Jacob does not know the statues. After time has passed and we can start having him roll since he may have heard of whoever we deal with next, off-screen, now that he knows they are a thing. Agreed?

Okay, I’ll wait until we meet Byron then :)