Admin, OOC, and Launch Discussion

LOL

Yeah I really wish he could have gone to their aid before but fucking Bird & Phantom really had him tied up!

I'm just yanking your chain, I'm sure you would of skewered the bear and goat if you had the chance.

Honestly though and on hindsight, I feel like Ivor would be dead too if he'd gone in there.

It was definitely a shit sandwich, but from the get go we should have stayed coordinated and together, rather than allowing The Hive a divide and conquer opportunity. At the same time, it was also a bit of getting to know J as a DM, and I'm guessing we've all got a decent clue now on how lethal the game can be.

Alright, Player's Club. Speaking of underwater battles: it's time for either some redemption or some repeated history. Something is dying again in the dark depths of the Riac. Raising my beer right now to the party, hoping its not them who will be floating split open in the ruins of the Black Ziggurat in some soon rounds.

On Ep 1, first person in please roll Group Initiative. If bad guys are first, I have to say that I will probably stall until Monday. If you guys win initiative, then feel free to proceed on first come first served Attack Program for Top of Round 1. If that is the case, I'll catch up some tomorrow maybe if everyone posts up, but I might be pinned down on weekend activities.

If you can, describe some of the group strategy - how are they positioning, spacing, what elevation, using terrain, etc. so I can picture the layout of mobility, angles, and movement of the fight.

No obligations - if anyone is busy, its no problem to let it sit and just catch up on Monday.

My mantra for Bryn at the moment "Don't die in the water, don't die in the water, don't die in the water..."

Clearly, Kray wants some RC tail after this job is done.

Well, Kray's a team player, so if he's gotta take one for the team and nail a super hot witch with 200 years of sexperience, that's exactly what he's going to do.

Of course nothing bad could come of that, clearly, which makes it even easier to take care of business.

On a more serious note, now that I'm thinking about it, we are here to get Sorcha and return her to Zaituc, and RC is an obstacle to that at some point... so if RC had an unfortunate accident on the way, that might not be so bad. Might be more useful to keep her alive until the timing is better, to help us get to the title match.

Or we just play it straight and see what happens with RC. A few variables and developments in the mix there.

So, cleared some table talk with J... a retro camp preparation time wherein the group got together and went over the Rutcranna-Zaituc situation. Now Maeriks and Bryn would not have been part of this conversation, since Kray hardly knows them, but I want CB and Ox in on the convo for obvious potential showdown and decision making moments that are likely on the horizon.

Long story short, and I think at least X has gotten wind of this based on a post he wrote awhile back: RC insists to Kray that Zaituc is basically a demon/devil of some sort, and that he wants Sorcha for the purpose of offering her up for a rape/sacrifice type deal. That's it in a nutshell.

She's told Kray that Sorcha will be able to provide something more tangible as far as a kind of 'proof.' How tangible that 'proof' will be is a mystery.

Now, we were told not to trust RC by Zaituc. And she's speaking the same about him. As of now, I'm at this point: we've got nothing tangible, just he said / she said and finger pointing. So, for now, Kray's looking at it like a merc, he's made a deal, he's got a contract, and he knows Zaituc better than RC, and the Mercon family has know Zaituc for decades (how well they know Zaituc is another question altogether; Kray has spent time with Z less than time separate occasions, so Kray doesn't know him that well personally).

So we've got a contract, and I know that as mercs (at least Thorn, myself, and Ivor) that contract and our rep is a big deal. To break that contract... well, Kray would want zero witnesses. Period. House Mercon rep, personal rep as a merc, etc... he'd want that to remain intact.

As far as Bryn's reason for being in Tcho-Tcho land, I don't know. Maeriks seems like he would be inclined to side with RC, but I'm less than inclined to simply do so because Maeriks knows her, whatever the relationship is. If it comes down to having to off RC, or take Sorcha somehow, we'll need to RP some way for it to make sense to Maeriks.

It might go down where we decide that RC and Z are both pieces of shit and Sorcha needs to be free of them both.

Obviously we've got to get there first, but we'll have a decison at some point wherein we stick to the contract, or find a damn good reason to break it.

A damn good reason. That's Kray's personal stance on it right now. He's not going to betray Zaituc on RC's word alone, taking that kind of leap of faith. That's bastardly business there, real betrayer/backstabber shit.

Lastly, bringing it up now so that when the time comes, we can be ready for the decision, at least to an extent, depending on variables such as new info, developments, etc.

Are you rolling at disadvantage because these are ranged weapons and not thrown weapons?
Normal javelin range is 30/120, making Tcho-Tcho javelins 35/125 under water.

Ivor hates druids/witches so between RC & Z he's more inclined to side with Z except he knows handing Scorcha over to Z also means putting the kid within Scachan's grasp. Plus there's the contract. Ez is right, merc rep is big. For Ivor's part he's pretty new to it which can make him swing one of two ways: either adhere strictly to the Merc Code in an effort to build his merc rep, or toss the code out the window as old habits (those of a Dannein raider and those of a gladiator) come to the fore. I imagine a Dannein raider would be all about the Barbaric Code, which is what Ivor grew up with.

What's going to trump all of this is the fact that Ivor will not tolerate people being deprived of their freedom. This is in his Dannein blood, and has been reinforced by his enslavement in the gladiatorial arena. He's going to go with whichever will grant Scorcha her freedom even if it means killing both Rutcranna and Zaituc.

Agreed. I don't think Thorn knows either Z or RC very well, and at this point is focusing on getting the job done. He'll cross the morality bridge when he gets to it.

Tossing out a couple of pictures. None of these are what I think of as "direct hits" to give the exact look, but they do capture some part of what I hope to convey.

The Black Ziggurat is similar to this, largely overgrown by the Goatswood. It's stones truly are blackened though, whether by age or by original design is not clear. Also the lake comes right up to the side of the Ziggurat in our story, not pictured here, but hopefully that can be imagined.

Also I think that the massive size of the Black Ziggurat would actually dwarf this similar picture in the total scope of its immensity. I think of it as a truly imposing looming colossus of a structure, especially if pictured in its full form both above and below the water. But still, this picture gives me something in the way of similarity.


The ones below are the closest I could find of my mental vision of the deep ones. These are mostly out of era on the clothing, but pretty close I think on general features, although I think of the Deep Ones that we are facing as being darker skin tones, because of their origins.

The point overall is that though the Deep Ones are disgusting and repulsive and surely do not look like normal humans, they do not look like complete animals or monsters either. Some of their humanity can be seen in glimpses, as if they are humans that may have been altered, or a human group that descended into monstrous features over time. That origin is not clear, but they do not look like fish with human appendages and bio-structure, but more like humans with fishy features.

:D

It's a lonely club. I like to think of us as the kids who got beat up for asking the teacher if she was going to hand out the homework she had promised.

HAHAHHA

Ox, you could use your karmabit daggers and attack someone adjacent to anyone else.

Someone had thrown around the word finess for the javelin. I just wanted to know my options. And Bryn doesn't need someone adjacent... He likes it much better when they are alone...

Swashbuckler Rogue archetype is pretty sweet that way. Even if we were using Arcane Tricksters I would still go Swash, or classic Thief.

Lots of variables, and remember she's a child, so killing RC and Z means we need to find someone to raise the girl. Someone not being us.