The Arundel Information Caper (OOC)

Okay, thanks! Just wanted to make sure it was okay with you!

@vagueGM: Shall I roll now or wait to see if Emma can stall them first?

It looks like you are doing it no matter what... So you can give us a roll and we will resolve everything in one go. What are you proposing? Let It Out again?

Emma can roll Mislead, Distract, or Trick to Distract the Servitor long enough.

Jacob can decide if he wants to worry about 'Lady Halifax', or leave her to her own devices (and (eventually) reveal that there is more to her than meets the eye:).

Alright, entanglement incoming later... :)

That's what I was initially thinking although, now that I think about it, I think Keep Your Cool might work better in this context (to avoid the Servitors seeing that they found the secret tunnel) so I've added a Keep Your Cool roll to my post (And it's... a failure again lol :P)
Nice! :D

Urgh. Well done /close-sarcasm :)

Ignoring that we know it would have turned out the same, maybe you should have used your super-strength to move it back. :)

Do you have any ideas about what goes wrong? Can you not close the hole? Do you trap your friends down there? (We can see what Jacob does before deciding on that.) Is it something else?

And you might still have options to get away if you are willing to abandon Emma to her 'creepy guys'.

Hahah seems like I should have!
I mean, I think not closing the hole in time is a given for a failure... Maybe he trips on the steps while carrying the stone and drops it again? I'm imagining the Servitors hear a comedically-timed yelp and another crash right after Emma finishes speaking hahaha

Let's see what Jacob does and if he can mitigate some of the cost.

We don't want to invalidate Emma's 'confuse them for some time', though you squandered (most of) the 'opportunity'.

Sorry, guys, but tomorrow I'm leaving for a work trip until Sunday, so I will be OFF for the next 4 days, and won't be able to post again until Monday. You can put Jacob in NPC mode meanwhile, not to halt the scene.

No worries we will make a plan around Jacob.

I do not NPC PCs, only the play gets to say that they do.

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But we are separated, so we can leave Jacob undiscovered for the time being. Is that because Benji closes him in, splitting the party (remember, Jacob has other ways of getting out); or does Benji get caught red-handed trying to move the stone?

Personally, I’m happy to go with either option!

'K.

@Delirium, ignoring what Emma would prefer, would you rather see Emma caught with suspicious 'backup', or 'alone' with the Servitors (with Benji nearby, though she does not know that)?

A Miss is not necessarily a 'failure'. It is possible you bought him enough time to do the job, but not without cost... and the cost is that you get separated.
True. Shall we go with that? I can make all options work.

Honestly? I do not know.

It feels like we need a new Faction, none of the ones we know fit. They need to be active in London in order to be relevant to the story at large, but also have some claim to Arundel.

If anyone has any suggestions as to who it might be fun to encounter here, I am all ears. Else, if we would prefer to not introduce a new Faction I have some ideas about a few of the known ones who could work (though being out here is tricky). Feel free to suggest known Factions if you would prefer them.

So far it feels most like it should be Power, and that is what I suggested when talking about Studying a Place of Power earlier, but we can change that if there are better ideas.

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There are also members of Mortalis at this gathering, I don't think we are being taken to them, but maybe Emma sees someone she whose attention she can draw to her plight and who might help? She can try bring them into the scene if needed later. Maybe we see her spot them as we enter, but we can just as easily flashback to her noticing them when they are needed? Either way, we can roll Put a Name to a Face when they become relevant and see how easy it would be to get them onside.

I am disinclined to involve her and damage Benji's budding relationship with her. While she was running the gathering, she is definitely from London and not from here.
OK. We can use someone who already exists. Sorry for the potential name confusion, but The Surveyor seems apropos. (Introduced around here.)
Completely up to you, but Emma would logically know more Mortalis people given her background. You do have Let It Out Abilities that could be helpful.
Let's wait and see if it is necessary and deal with it then, then.

There’s been some discussion of Shelyna (and Lizabeth’s) family. Is it possible that Arundel castle could belong to their family (e.g. their parents or grandparents or more distant relatives)? That would explain why Shelyna held the meeting here and could explain the presence of the Servitors. It could complicate Benji’s relationship with Shelyna, but only if Shelyna found out (and complications aren’t necessarily a bad thing story-wise, anyway)