Character Concepts & Campaign Info

It actually reads like something Zangua ate.

Man ate some bad ice is all.

Edit: Jinx!

Sigh, this is gonna be Wormfellow all over again.

Hey, just promise us you'll freeze time for the rest of the main plot, and I will happily go explore every sidequest that comes up ;)

It's like Skyrim; who cares that the greybeards summoned me when I can go become the lord of the thieves guild? It's not like Alduin's going anywhere...

My opinion:
dandy, we're pretty flush right now. I highly recommend the chain shirt, or better if stealth isn't a factor to you, unless it's a style thing. Another AC point is always good.
I'd suggest Command. Depending on your choice, you could make great strategic moves with it, allowing anyone engaged/capable to make an attack, which means: finish someone off who's almost dead, facilitate Mordred's 3d6 Sneak attack, etc. The catch seems to be that it must be a weapon attack, so it's useless to help spellcasters pitch in, but still a nice addition to your arsenal. Better than Menacing Attack, imo.
Distracting Strike. Opening up an Advantage for one of the group's next attack rolls on said target could be very advantageous (I specify attack rolls to delineate that only spells using attack rolls can be used with this- Firebolt, Shocking Grasp, Chilling Touch, etc). A nice tactical move would be to use Distracting Strike to open up advantage for Felor to use Guiding Bolt, which would do damage and allow the next attack to have advantage as well. A synergistic chain reaction of good tactics, if executed properly.

In my mind, Jarl Balgruuf must have been wondering why it took the dragonborn months to follow and walk 50 feet from the throne to Farengar Secret-Fire.

Yeah... bad ice.

I'm all for avoiding the Wormfellow effect, and all for exploring side quests. In the Badgerways, my vote would have been for going deep...

If the main plot advances some, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. From a gamer's perspective, I don't think all the cool side stuff is meant to sabotage us from completing the main story line. Besides... isn't a main story line a thing of perspective?

And yeah, I know the group has personal ties. but, I have to say, having recently read the group's adventures a couple of weeks ago, the Badgerways were the best part so far. I would have loved to have seen what else was down there.
+1. And you don't even have to freeze it. As long as it's still doable. Even then, I might have gone Badgerways over Zora as part of a D&D dungeon delving enterprise. Dungeons are where it's at.
Yeah. No doubt. I'm sure the Jarl waited on many a console's owner to finally return to the main story. I think he might have waited months just for me to meet him about going to see Farengar, IIRC.

Honestly, the video game completionist in me is DYING over all the stuff we've missed/might miss in the future. I'm the kind of gamer that talks to every NPC, goes on every side quest, and tries to get every hidden item before the final boss. If I'm at a split path in a dungeon, pick a direction, and then find out that's the way I'm *supposed* to go, I'll turn around and take the other path just to see what was down there. But when playing d&d... it's not just exploring dungeons and combat. I have to remember it's roleplaying as well, so I have to do what makes sense for my character to do. and not only that, there's the sense of "if we do extra stuff, time progresses and things change". In a video game, that would just mean I replay the game several times so I see each "path". Can't do that here, so I'm just trying to go for the "best" ending. As much as I wanted to go see what Wormfellow was, I was afraid if we took the time for that detour, by the time we found Zora she'd be dead or captured by the 6PC. It just didn't make sense for the party to abandon her to investigate weird tunnel graffiti. I want to do side quests... but not if it means we might get the "bad ending" or even an inferior ending.

I don't go around drinking strange liquids! I might get turned into gas!

Also, yeah, since we got the extra 500GP I'll take splint armour instead of chain mail. Please subtract an extra 125GP from the funds. Someone else can take the ring of protection (maybe one of the squishier characters).

Totally agree with thedandyman - PBO if you want us to investigate the cool sidequests, don't make such an exciting and seemingly-time-sensitive main plot! ;)

Final bit of loot stuff - I will take 2 spell rings. That leaves 1 spare? (Morded 1, me 2, Ezeriah 2).
edit: I still don't quite fully understand how these rings work though. (Can they hold more than one spell each? Can someone else use the ring if I've put a spell in it?) I'm going to put Level 3 Cure Wounds in one, and Level 2 Hold Person in the other.
Is Fjorgyn, Goddess of the Wilderness, She Who Is Implacable As The Mountain, As Powerful As The Glacier, sending Zangua messages?!

Mordred closes his presentation of this quarter's financials for North Bload Sphere Hunters, GmbH with an announcement of anonymous tax-free donations of 10 GP to the Shrine of Culsu to repair their recent damage and 41 GP to the Hazard Guard Pension Fund. That leaves us with a nice round 700 GP in the corporate coffers to start the new fiscal year.

Thanks for doing the admin rocksteady!

Agree!
PBO has said that we need to charge the rings as an explicit in-game action. I'm sure that is because they are perfectly safe and have no demons that pop out of them whatsoever.

It is much appreciated. One less thing to worry about, assuming Mordred isn't skimming, as thieves might be prone to do. I always thought it was interesting that the party thief was also the accountant... :)

My +3 Green Eyeshade of Accountancy makes it easy. And Mordred is a thief, not a banker, so he won't be cooking the books.

Lol. That's a comfort.

Some thoughts on Side Adventures...
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Which is exactly why you don't pass it by!
Which is up to you! As a GM sometimes I've noticed that players can fall into the trap of playing their character as if there is a 'script', doing what they are 'supposed' to do, or 'what makes sense' for their character. Characters aren't stagnant, alignment is malleable, and even good guys can say "Wait just a minute, what is this?" What makes sense for your character to do, is exactly what you want them to do. Which should be whatever seems like the most fun, as that's the point of the game. Also, to be clear, I'm not implying you are on a 'script', but it does happen to players.
Then you deal with that later. Time progressing doesn't have to mean the book gets closed on that plot thread. And, if it does, then I'm sure Octo would have something just as good or better to move along with. He's playing the game too, here to have fun, albeit with more control.
Which doesn't mean it's the end of the story, it just evolves. Again, if Octo allows that door to close, then I'm sure other doors would open. He has an entire world of his own creation, at his beck and call.
Perhaps not. But what does make sense is getting the most out of what Octo offers us for adventure, which to me means checking that stuff out. And, much like a video game sometimes, you can suspend 'reality' to an extent, trusting that the main quest will still be there. The difference here, I think, is that the story might evolve if we do so, being less stagnant/fixed than a video game, as our choices help dictate exactly what the main story is all about.

From a gamer's perspective, I check out the side quests because I'm almost 100% sure that the DM didn't put the time and effort into designing them with the intention of snuffing out the main plot thread, if we choose to follow them (remember, time and effort went into the main plot as well). They may even be designed to lead to even more interesting 'main' threads, or threads that compliment the already existent main plot.

I doubt Bload and the rest of Octo's world is one dimensional, with us on 'the Rails'. If we chose to, I'm sure Octo would even let us flat out walk away from the 6PC and all that. Not that I want to. He might not even like it, depending on his personality and DMing style. However, I think, in the end, we can have our cake and eat it too.
To me, the 'best ending' for any RPG is the one that provided the most fun throughout the entire gaming experience, whether or not the 'bad guys' win. A big part of that is not looking back on the adventure and wondering "What was Wormfellow about? What was the Goblin City like? What could either of those have led to, something more?" Which, as of now, we're looking back at those questions, which might never be answered, wondering what we missed.

When I think about great stories, one of them is The Hobbit, which I'm guessing many of us have read. Is the final showdown with Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies pretty awesome? Most definitely. However, thinking about that adventure, from start to finish, what makes it all so amazing, and far more interesting, is all of the stuff that happens on the side. The Trolls by the cave of loot, getting attacked by the Goblins when they took shelter in the cave, Bilbo getting left behind to deal with Gollum (sparking an entire main plot thread of its own, the Lord of the Rings), Mirkwood Forest and the River Elves.

Of course, to be fair, all of those are events that happen to Bilbo, which he reacts to. The difference for us is that Octo is, at times, giving us events that we can allow to happen, via 'side quests'. Meaning, we can make the entirety of the adventure more interesting, when and if we choose to do so. If Bilbo avoids even one or two of the events mentioned above, the Hobbit isn't nearly as good of a story.

Ultimately, I'm going to trust that Octo's side quests are there to fully explore, to enrich our adventure, rather than serve as distractions that completely close the door. Doing so will add depth to our adventure, and might even open up new doors to other grand adventures as well.

In that case I will edit my recent post with a "during the day Felor tried to charge the rings".