# Dromus (One) OOC Thread



## Kelleris (Oct 28, 2004)

Yaargh.  Well, here we go, then, a thread to replace the cluttered and really slow planning threads.  I finally decided to get on my keister and post it when it occurred to me that the lack of an OOC forum to ask questions may have contributed to the skipped day.

Anyway, here we are.  I'll start:

Everyone might want to make sure they read my last post carefully, and ask questions if you have them.  I tend to "hide" clues in my posts for people to piece together if they can manage it, and this is one such post.  I like challenging my players to make inferences from the evidence I give about what's actually going on in a scene, and I'd like to use this as a test case to see whether or not you can spot the tidbit in question.


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## DemonWolfZero (Oct 28, 2004)

I hate your clues Kell 

Anyways, I just wanted to say, "SON OF A CRAP!"

Also, I'd like to properly establish exactly where Adinal is behind Narine.  I didn't intend for him to be right on her heels, so he might not have even reached the door yet for all I know.

Edit:  Isida:  Narine can now talk with Adinal at the normal rate, only without having to make a sound.  This will last for the next 70 minutes.  If I am actually forced to enter combat, I might take the time to Mindlink myself to all the rest of y'all if we're all in range.  Maybe we can creep them out by entering combat without making a sound except slashing, breathing and blasting, eh?


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## Mad Hatter (Oct 30, 2004)

Here's what I get from the hint:  the goo is too well spread to have been thrown by the baddies we can see,  from where we can see them.


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## rangerjohn (Oct 30, 2004)

Mad Hatter said:
			
		

> Here's what I get from the hint:  the goo is too well spread to have been thrown by the baddies we can see,  from where we can see them.





I'm not sure the baddies are what they appear.  First there is the 'tangle foot'  there is a reason it is kept in bags.  It dries and becomes brittle when exposed to air.  Then there is the fact that the 'guards' are duplicates down to there facial expressions.  You think we might be dealing with an illusionist?


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## Mad Hatter (Oct 30, 2004)

I would say no, we are not dealing with an illusionist.  It may be hard and brittle but we heard fighting and it wasn't there when we entered.  Therefore we either have an invisible person, or someone smeared the tanglefoot bag between when we entered and when the Fop showed himself.  From how they present themselves I conclude that they also aren't from the Tower Sorceire and neither are they Droman guardsmen.

But you do have a point, let's see how the others weigh in.  I would suggest that we try diplomacy (i.e let Adinal handle the issue) and see if a spellcaster can _see invisible_.  Also, I can send the monkey to scout the room.  If it is an illusionist, what would you suggest?


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## Kelleris (Oct 30, 2004)

Okay, here's the map.  A couple of notes, though.  You are all on the "landing" outside the original room at the moment.  The room is suspended about 15 feet off the warehouse floor, and takes up a 15-foot by 15-foot area there.  There is an additional 5-foot margin running around it, so the 16 squares in the far upper right all have a "second floor" of sorts.


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Oct 30, 2004)

Well, if it is an illusionist, than killing or badly hurting the fop will take care of that, now wouldn't it?


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## rangerjohn (Oct 31, 2004)

_ If_ he is the illusionist.  As for the map, the numbers, are you saying thier are that many people in those squares?  Or is that you way of noting what squares they threaten?  Also, where are the stairs and tangle foot?


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## Kelleris (Oct 31, 2004)

The stairs (and attendant goo) are the fifth and sixth squares from the far upper right corner.  The numbers represent one person, of course, or there'd be an awful lot of guys around.  Each boxed-in area is one five-by-five square (and takes up 9 characters).  The NPCs are arranged in a ring (and you will be too) so they can be easier to pick out from mere terrain features and so they can surround the terrain icon when they're in a square.


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## Kelleris (Nov 2, 2004)

Hmm...  Zerth, I sent you the spoiler-texted stuff you wanted, right?  Having trouble remembering now...


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## Zerth (Nov 2, 2004)

Yes, I got email from you, Kelleris.


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## Kelleris (Nov 2, 2004)

Good deal.  Just suddenly couldn't remember.  Weird.


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Nov 2, 2004)

Narine will be continuing with her readied action to _death urge_ the fop.


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## DemonWolfZero (Nov 3, 2004)

I apologize for taking so long guys.  I had a busy weekend and yesterday I was just dead, and today was busy again.  But Kelleris basically did what I was going to do anyway.  I might have tried something with his Spoilertext to me, but my bad, I was too late to do anything.

Oh, and I apologize for Adinal doing that as well.  He's kinda hoping to let his vanishing cause some confusion by making the guards think he teleported.  Even if they didn't send some of their numbers to catch him before he "escaped", his sudden re-appearance might cause some confusion as well.


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## Kelleris (Nov 3, 2004)

It's fine, Demon, I wasn't really particularly annoyed with you.

If you want to redo that turn, that's not a problem.  I mostly just put that bit in as a placeholder so we could get on to some actions for round 2.

If you _do_ stick with the _time hope_, do you want to shorten the duration?  7 rounds is quite a long time in a battle.

Also, even if you don't change your actual action, there was something you wanted to say, wasn't there?  You could also make a quick fyi regarding the contents of your spoiler tags to a nearby character, and see if they want to run with it.

Just throwing things out here...


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## Jolmo (Nov 3, 2004)

Kelleris said:
			
		

> (OOC: I'm ruling that nobody is flat-footed here, since you were all just waiting for the battle to be joined. Lucky for you, Cagthail.)



 Actually, he has Uncanny Dodge. 

Would you prefer me to post the next action before or after you post for the guards? Their actions could change a lot of things...


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## DemonWolfZero (Nov 3, 2004)

I'll probably come back from Time Hop in 4 rounds if I make the Wisdom check.  Other than that, I wanted to say "If you want me, you'll have to catch me first!" and THEN use Time Hop, to further the illusion that I Dimension Doored or something.  Adinal is hoping that they'll atleast split up to find him, making our combat odds better.


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## Kelleris (Nov 3, 2004)

Okay, then, Demon.  Make a Psicraft check and roll an "aid-yourself" check with Bluff, and we'll see how convincing you were.

Oops, forgot about uncanny dodge...

Hmm...  Why don't you post what you think you'll do, and I'll let you change it after I post the guards' actions?  Two of them will be attacking you, and the other will be tumbling past to engage Illira.  Is that all you need, or do you need to know whether or not they hit you?

Narine, I added your actions into the summary post, so you can go ahead and give your next round's actions now.  You won't know if the death urge took effect until the captain's turn, however.  He goes before you, though, so (off the record) he rolled a 17.  You didn't list a save DC (did you surge?), but I suspect that will be enough to make the save.


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## Jolmo (Nov 3, 2004)

Do they draw melee weapons, shoot their crossbows at melee range, or first back away and then shoot? Knowing whether they are disarmed or not would also help, but that isn't as important.


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## Kelleris (Nov 3, 2004)

Drop the crossbows, and then attack in melee.


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## Kelleris (Nov 4, 2004)

Jolmo, I need to know which guard you're parrying, unless you're planning on trying for AoOs instead.


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## Jolmo (Nov 4, 2004)

Well, I did mention AoOs in the post. Or A'soO in any case. 

Hopefully I can keep them disarmed, so they'll be unable to attack altogether instead.


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## Kelleris (Nov 5, 2004)

Okay, "I'm sorry" time.  This week's been really unpleasant on my end, and the slowness has been compounded by a poor organization as far as the combat goes.  As a result, We've only gotten through two combat rounds this week, when it should have been more like four or five.  My apologies to you all, and I'm going to be a little more organized about this in the future.

This is how it will go: after I post the results of this combat round, I will give a short description of what the NPCs are doing in the OOC thread.  That's no guarantee that I won't need to ask for changed combat actions, but it should help with this "who's waiting for who to post?" nonsense.

More immediately, I need an action from Narine and a standard action from Kestral.

EDIT:  Crap.  I had the post all typed up, and then I lost both the post and the edited map.  *sigh*


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## rangerjohn (Nov 5, 2004)

Kelleris said:
			
		

> Okay, "I'm sorry" time.  This week's been really unpleasant on my end, and the slowness has been compounded by a poor organization as far as the combat goes.  As a result, We've only gotten through two combat rounds this week, when it should have been more like four or five.  My apologies to you all, and I'm going to be a little more organized about this in the future.
> 
> This is how it will go: after I post the results of this combat round, I will give a short description of what the NPCs are doing in the OOC thread.  That's no guarantee that I won't need to ask for changed combat actions, but it should help with this "who's waiting for who to post?" nonsense.
> 
> ...





I posted it in the playing the game thread.  Or are you saying, I can do more than I posted.?


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## Kelleris (Nov 6, 2004)

You posted a more-or-less free action warning, plus a move-equivalent action to use planar geometry, and you still have a standard action remaining.


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## rangerjohn (Nov 6, 2004)

Ok,  I do the jump, but not the attack then.


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## Kelleris (Nov 6, 2004)

Okay, barring further developments, the guards will continue to attack their targets from last round, with the exception of guard 4, who will likely be trying to avoid being stabbed by Kestral, and attacking back in response.  The captain will finish his "spell."

The two guards on Cagthail will be drawing a fun little item called an "elemental cluster", and tossing it at him while moving back a bit for some breathing room.  It's basically a vial of alchemist's fire, combined with an additional d6er for each element.  At least you have cold resistance...


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## Jolmo (Nov 6, 2004)

Kelleris said:
			
		

> The two guards on Cagthail will be drawing a fun little item called an "elemental cluster", and tossing it at him while moving back a bit for some breathing room. It's basically a vial of alchemist's fire, combined with an additional d6er for each element. At least you have cold resistance...



Isn't that a full-round action (prepare to throw splash-weapon, provoking AoO), an attack (throw splash weapon), *and* a move action (they have nowhere to take a 5-foot step away from me)?

And just so I understand the rules for it: Once they manage to throw it, a touch attack determines if they hit me directly for 4d6 damage or a square next to me for 4 damage? Then I can try extinguishing it with a full-round action and a DC 15 reflex save or take another 4d6 damage?

Also I was wondering, do the guards move like they were wearing leather or metal armor? I'm trying to find an estimate of their ACP, mostly to know how likely they are to succeed in tumbling away from me. Perhaps I could judge how close the one who did was to failing as well?


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## Kelleris (Nov 6, 2004)

Move action to "draw" the item (it's kept handy) while moving away, standard action to make one attack.  They have a BAB of at least +1, so they can move and draw a weapon at the same time.  SRD under "draw a weapon": This action also applies to weapon-like objects carried in easy reach, such as wands.  There isn't really anything they have to prepare to use it, either - it's like a nonmagical, jury-rigged bead from a _necklace of fireballs_.  Less of a vial of liquid and more like a thunderstone.

You will probably get an AoO against them as they pull back, however, since they aren't withdrawing and any tumble checks will be made through congested terrain.  And both of their primary weapons are on the floor in front of you, so I'd say you've got the upper hand at the moment.

You can make a Perception check to see how bad their ACP is, as well as a separate one for the guy who tumbled past you earlier.


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## Jolmo (Nov 6, 2004)

OK, I just looked at the SRD and saw 'Prepare to throw splash weapon' listed as a full-round action but on second thought they probarbly just mean turning a flask of oil into a splash weapon.

Just one more question  if I get an AoO when they move away, can I use that to knock away the clusters or don't they pull them out until they've moved away?



			
				DemonWolfZero said:
			
		

> Maybe we can creep them out by entering combat without making a sound except slashing, breathing and blasting, eh?



 Seems like they're doing just this to us, perhaps they even use telepathy. Of course, we haven't really talked much to each other either...


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## Kelleris (Nov 6, 2004)

Hmm...  Hard to say.  They don't move and then pull them out, or pull them out and then move, so there's no hard-and-fast way to decide.  How about a -10 penalty to slightly overextend yourself and manage it?  You'll have a slightly lower bonus than they will, but it's still within the realm of possibility.


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## Kelleris (Nov 6, 2004)

Isida, is Narine willing to zorch a party member with that lightning attack?  It's going to be hard to aim otherwise.  Also, I'm not particularly familiar with psionics, so I need to know exactly which power you are manifesting.

Also, I rolled for the previous wild surge, and this one.  I got a 20 and a 21 on the percentile die.  Feel like you're pushing your luck yet?


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Nov 7, 2004)

I am not willing to hurt a party member... yet.  I will try to only hit bad guys, taking out only one if that's what she can get.  I am using the power _energy bolt_.  I rolled for my damage on it, and I edited it into my previous IC post.  _Energy bolt_ is a lot like _lightning bolt_ in terms of effects and stuff.


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## Kelleris (Nov 7, 2004)

Cool beans.  Just so I know, what would provoke wanton electrocution of party members for the, ah, greater good?


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Nov 7, 2004)

Probably something involving the end of the world as Narine knows it.  Or mind control.  One of the two.


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## DemonWolfZero (Nov 7, 2004)

Ooh, Mind Control?!  Who?!

Oh...sorry.  Over-enthusiastic telepath here.  Don't mind me.


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## Kelleris (Nov 7, 2004)

Mind control, you say...

*scribbles notes*


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Nov 7, 2004)

Kelleris, you can roll the wild surges if you want, I was just trying to do my own rolls like you asked me.  

(Looks worried at the other's enthusiasm for mind control...  )


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## Mad Hatter (Nov 7, 2004)

I'd be afraid as well, Isida.  Demon is well a demon with the mind control stuff, he is after all a thrallherder.


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## Zerth (Nov 8, 2004)

Where exactly are the fires, that are heating up near Illira? Can you point the squares on the map, Kelleris?


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## Jolmo (Nov 8, 2004)

Was there actually anything damaging sticking on me from that attack that I needed to spend a round getting off?


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## Kelleris (Nov 8, 2004)

The fires are the blobs of lower-case Fs just above the center of the map.  Feiran missed one of her _phlogistic hammer_ attack rolls - one I rolled for her - by just enough to hit the cover (she was firing through an obstructed square).

The fire shouldn't be a huge problem unless this combat goes on for quite an unusual length of time.  Something to keep an eye on, though.  At least you'll get rid of all the evidence!

Jolmo - No, the attack is basically a jury-rigged _fireball_.  It's patterned along the lines of the vial of acid-sparkstone-thunderstone series.  Adding a DC 15 Reflex save to the mix would be a bit much, I think.


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## Jolmo (Nov 8, 2004)

So I didn't actually take any action last round?  

There are no lower-case Fs on the map... 

As the perception checks take actions, ignore the first two and just see if they have more elemental clusters.


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## Kelleris (Nov 8, 2004)

*palm, meet forehead*

Erm, no, you actually didn't.  I was going through the IC posts, and I did all the actions I could find, but all I got were your attacks of opportunity.  I also forgot about 

And just so I'm clear (seems to be a problem today): 1 Perception check = 1 free action.  3 Perception checks = 1 move action.

Can you tell I'm new at this?    

The map seems to have been the wrong version of the right file.  I'm completely losing it...  The correct version (should) be up in the round summary post now.  Sorry to ask for the re-download.   :\ 

Does anyone have any ideas for how I can better organize this?  I'm apparently having a harder time than I realized keeping track of everything.


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## Jolmo (Nov 8, 2004)

OK, so in the _previous_ turn, I'll take a five-foot step to H2, flanking with Kestral, and full-attacking guard #4. Damaging AC 32-29: 7, AC 28-22: 17, or AC 21-0: 23. And be ready with AoOs should #1 & #2 return for their weapons.

Oh, and I did understand about the perception checks.


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## Kelleris (Nov 10, 2004)

Right.  I've been wondering where everyone was, and it occurred to me that you're probably waiting for the guards' actions.

Guard 4 is...  well...  Guard 4's in trouble.  I suppose he'll just keep attacking, after making a Perception check to ID the most injured of Cagthail and Kestrel (not hard).

Guards 3 and 5 will continue to attack Illira, moving backwards if necessary to keep away from her melee attacks.  They'll split up to deny Narine another twofer with her energy bolts.

Guards 1 and 2 will be using tanglefoot bags to try to pin down Kestrel.

The Captain.  Well, he's buried under rubble, isn't he?

The fire's "turn" happens last, so I'll just do that when it happens.

Now then.  I'm looking for turns from Cagthail, a very large elephant lady, a reckless wilder, and a reaction shot from Adinal when he reappears at the end of this round (though he doesn't get to actually do anything).  I think that's everybody.  Am I right?  Oh, and Isida, could you give me a quick sketch of how your servant reacted to all this, so I can figure out where he is and if he's out of danger?  There's enough collateral damage flying around for it to matter...


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## Mad Hatter (Nov 10, 2004)

Kell, you didn't resolve Terak's attacks.  Since there is no logical way that he can know which guard is 3 or 5, roll random and pick one for him to attack.  He's sent to help Illira.


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## Kelleris (Nov 10, 2004)

Terak didn't get to go last round, and I haven't done this round yet.  He didn't get to go last round partly because he had to move fairly far and partly because he wasn't sure to go after without your direction.  I'm sure you've had to discipline him in the past for accidentally eating an ally, eh?


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## Mad Hatter (Nov 10, 2004)

Well there was this one time when Terak decided to play fetch with the skeleton cohort of an ally...

And the one time when...

But I track your meaning.


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## DemonWolfZero (Nov 11, 2004)

So I should be posting a non-action round-summary for Adinal?  I.e any reaction checks he might make such as Perception/Sense Motive, etc?  Mostly just Perception I'm guessing.  As to Mathilde's actions...I'm not sure yet.  Lemme look at the initiative order to see if Cagthail AND the guards go before her or not, then I'll get back to you.


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## Kelleris (Nov 11, 2004)

Yeah.

This is taking too long...


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## Kelleris (Nov 13, 2004)

Okay, my current system is not working here.  It's taken almost a week for this round alone.  I doubt that's normal, but am I wrong?

If not, this is what I propose to do:

We will go through the round in initiative order.

Everyone has one full day to post their actions, and you can of course ask me any relevant questions out-of-turn.

If more than a day passes and no actions are forthcoming, I will either skip your turn or do it for you, depending on how lazy I feel.    

If you would like to post before your turn, go ahead, but only if it's an action that you will only change if something really bizarre happens.


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## Mad Hatter (Nov 13, 2004)

Sounds like a good plan, Kell.  We'll sort it out.


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## Zerth (Nov 13, 2004)

Sounds ok to me. Combat in PbPs can be very slow sometimes. One thing you might also consider is rolling initiatives for everyone and list them in the initial DM post before fights. There's really no need for a full round of posts from all of the players just to ask them to roll initiatives.


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## Kelleris (Nov 13, 2004)

That's a good idea, Zerth.  Hmm...  Anyone else have any suggestions?


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## Zerth (Nov 13, 2004)

Did you forgot to add an updated version of the map, Kelleris, or are you planning to do it later? I'd like to see it before posting my action for the next round.


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## Kelleris (Nov 13, 2004)

Just a dingbat.    

I did the post, realized I'd forgotten to post the map, resolved to upload it, and then got distracted.


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## Jolmo (Nov 13, 2004)

Do those Tanglefoots stack? I.e. am I at -4 to attacks, -8 to Dex, and quarter movement? Does attacking the goo remove those penalties as well or is that just to be able to move again if you got stuck?

The activation round counts towards the Surge duration, right? If so, this is the last round that it will be active for me. And I believe last round was the end of Kestral's.


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## Kelleris (Nov 14, 2004)

You know, I've been wondering that myself after I used it.  I'll say yes, the penalties stack, but 30 points of damage or two DC 17 Strength checks will negate them.


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## Jolmo (Nov 14, 2004)

How much time does the Strength checks take? A Move Action each?


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## Kelleris (Nov 14, 2004)

Escaping a net and a _web_ spell are both full-round actions, so I suppose this should be too.  However, I'll let you make one DC 19 Str check for both bags instead of two separate ones at DC 17.


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## Kelleris (Nov 14, 2004)

Hey, rangerjohn, when did Kestral activate his touchstone ability?  It takes a standard action like all spell-likes, of course.  I think I remember you spending your first round surging and using the touchstone ability.  Is that correct?


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## rangerjohn (Nov 14, 2004)

I didn't, I misunderstood "at will".  So he is still at 5 lethal 2 non-lethal.


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## Kelleris (Nov 14, 2004)

Ah.  Well, can't blame you for that when I couldn't even manage to scroll down your character sheet to the feats section, eh?


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## Kelleris (Nov 16, 2004)

Some of you seem to be under the impression that there's a fire in the middle of the room (rapidly spreading), and some don't seem to be laboring under this apprehension.  There is, in fact, such a fire.      I just realized how unrushed the guards seemed in my last post, so it's partially my fault.

Demon, Hatter has a good point.  Might not be a bad idea to time hop the fire and go out by the bar exit.  You'll have to walk by the guards to do so, but it seems like they're on the up-and-up.  Also, if you check the map there's a lot covering the door.  Some of it's from the fabricate, and that you can manage, but a lot more of it is from the fact that the entire second floor is now on the ground floor.

Zerth, is Illira willing to take some fire damage to get to the exit faster?

Isida, will Narine still use the power stone, or will she try walking now that things have (surreally) calmed down a bit?

The guards are all moving to start excavating the Captain.


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## Kelleris (Nov 16, 2004)

News:

Your brethren have set out upon their epic quest.  They're currently staring at an imp.      This is contemporaneous with you (more or less, these obviously aren't the same day since it's raining in your game).  Depending on how big a part of my setting you blow up, the two groups may come into some form of contact.

Anyway, here it is: On a Spider's Advice


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Nov 16, 2004)

If there's a clear path to the door, she walks.  If not, she _dimension doors_, then blasts a path through.


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## Zerth (Nov 16, 2004)

Kelleris said:
			
		

> Zerth, is Illira willing to take some fire damage to get to the exit faster?



 I think not, because she feels she's taken enough damage for one fight, thank you.


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## Kelleris (Nov 20, 2004)

Unfortunately, Demon has been having trouble lately, which is a good part of the reason that the thread's been a bit sluggish.  I thought I would post his e-mail to me, so you would know what's going on:



			
				DemonWolfZero said:
			
		

> The reason I haven't been on for a while is because on the 15th my computer got a virus.  On the 16th, I wiped my Hard Drive.  Not to mention I've been working on a group project, extra credit work and rushing them both to be able to make it to Austin on time and see [a good friend] off on time.
> 
> So I have justifications.  But that doesn't really help my game case much.  If you think I should be written out [a possibility I had raised], go ahead.  I'd still love to play, but I can't guarantee my online commitment for the rest of this semester.  Will it be possible to write me back in later?  If necessary I will wait for you to have an opportune moment for it to happen.




My offer was that I would write him out and back in if necessary, but if I could get two posts a week from him I would try to work around his schedule.  Sorry for the difficulties, but I guess they're inevitable.

~Kelleris


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## Kelleris (Nov 20, 2004)

I should also say, I'll decide what to do with him by the end of the day, and either do his turn for him or write him out sometime late this evening.  I apologize again for the delay.


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## Kelleris (Nov 29, 2004)

A quick note: I'm sorry I haven't been around lately.  I won't be able to post much, if at all, next week either.  It's that time of the semester for me, so any writing time I have would just be better spent working on one of several essays than typing up posts.  My games will resume normal speed (*cough*) after the 7th or so of December.  Sorry, everyone.


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## Ashy (Nov 29, 2004)

No prob at all, Kelleris - school comes first....  

(can you tell I'm a dad????)  LOL!


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## rangerjohn (Nov 30, 2004)

Thanks, for the heads up!  Good luck on the essays.


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## Kelleris (Dec 8, 2004)

UPDATE:

I have finished the essays.  Yay!  The difficult one came out to have 42 footnotes, though.  For a philosophy paper, I think that's a good sign.    

I have a German final and a pile of assignments for tomorrow, however, so I'm not out of the woods yet.  Check this space on Thursday evening, and we'll pick up where we left off.  I look forward to starting again!


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## Ashy (Dec 9, 2004)

Best of luck!


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## Mad Hatter (Dec 13, 2004)

The earplugs are like ipod earbuds except they are made of a transluscent, blue crystal.  They aren't very noticeable, but they can be seen with a good spot check.  The nostrum is delivered via a very nasty looking hypodermic needle.  The hostrum itself is a green sludge.  

By the way, Jolmo, you can read the spoiler in my latest post.


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## Jolmo (Dec 14, 2004)

I might be confused, but the synergy between reservepoints and healing to nonlethal damage seems to work oddly.

Since recovering nonlethal damage costs reservepoints, if you heal a wound, you have to heal it again later to recover those points.

But if you only heal half the wound, you spend only half the amount of reservepoints, since you recover 1 lethal and 1 nonlethal for each reservepoint.

Since you recover nonlethal wounds 24 times as fast as lethal wounds naturally, it seems odd to pay the same fare for them with these points.

Of course, they do still heal 10 times faster with the points, maybe it is worth the trade... I'll just throw this out anyway so I'm sure I understand it correctly.


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## Kelleris (Dec 17, 2004)

Hmm...  Well, I'll think about it.  For now, the reserve rules are still doing what I want them to do (letting me abuse you and then get the game moving on), so I won't fiddle with them immediately.  But thanks for bringing that to my attention.  I'll figure out something to do.

By the way, I still check this thread regularly.  I just wasn't sure how to respond at the moment.  Thanks for the heads-up, though.


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## Kelleris (Dec 24, 2004)

I'll be offline for a few days, as I'll be dropping off the face of the earth (and into Abilene, Texas).  Merry Christmas to everyone, and sorry for the hiatus.  It was probably inevitable, though...

*cough*  Lotta dust around this here thread.     I'll try to liven it up a bit after I get back.  Table talk is one of the best things about D&D...


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## Kelleris (Jan 9, 2005)

Okay, I'm back now.  My "few days" turned into a couple of weeks, and I apologize for that.  I got back from Abilene right before the New Year's Eve celebrations, and a combination of business and bad internet connections has kept me from posting since.

In more positive news, I'm heading back to Baylor tomorrow, so I'll have my beloved high-speed connection back and no more social gatherings to distract me.  So we should be back on track...

Expect a fairly lengthy post in both of my Dromus threads tomorrow evening, after I move in and set up my computer.  If you don't get one, feel free to post a stick with which I may beat myself.


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## Zerth (Jan 9, 2005)

If you haven't noticed, rangerjohn dropped out from all of his games, which unfortunately means no player for Kestral.


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## Kelleris (Jan 10, 2005)

Bleh.  Hmm...  I'll probably retcon him out in a bit, then, unless I have a great idea for something specific to do to him.  Anyone have any ideas?


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## Kelleris (Jan 10, 2005)

Okay, here's the deal.  At this point in both games, I figured I could take a moment to give you guys a long, descriptive post, a city montage to help set the tone.  But I've got writer's (DM's?) block at the moment, and I'm having trouble improvising something appropriately flavorful.  It's always better to show than tell, after all.

So, I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas for evocative landmarks, since you have a handy tour guide for the time being.  The mood I'm looking for is similar to that of Sigil or Waterdeep in terms of a large (okay, incredibly huge), magically (and technologically) active city.  There are some specific points that I wanted to emphasize, though:

Dromus rests on unsteady foundations - all those plots and counterplots can make things confusing and impede progress on occasion.

The place has something of a frontier feel to it - weapons are allowed to be carried in almost all districts, and there's constructions being done all over the place.

Planar magic is very common and important here.  The rainstorm you're in is actually semi-well-lit because the rain derives from lightning gates in the sky (for instance).  All Droman weather is some conflux of planar forces.

Hmm...  I'll try to come up with something tomorrow, but submissions are being accepted.


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## Kelleris (Jan 12, 2005)

Where the heck _is_ everybody?!  Just waiting to notice I'm back, or have nothing to say?  Even a curt refusal to talk to Kyra or the guards would be something...

Hope I haven't lost more than one person...


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## Kelleris (Jan 12, 2005)

I just realized that my last post was only late Sunday anyway...  Seems like longer.

Oh well.

(I'm spamming my own OOC thread.    )


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## DemonWolfZero (Jan 20, 2005)

You are a sad monkey Kelleris.

As for landmarks and evocative imagery...  There's always the city blocks that Adinal lives around, with their Machine Bosses and the like.  You could bring in images of the Tower Sorceire or the Craftsman's Guild, I imagine they're both extremely striking edifices.

Things we might see...Technologist equivalent of Unseen Servant walking around serving drinks at the Sheets to the Wind?  Magic-savvy cooks using unstable planar stuff to power stoves?

I got nothing.

Also...I'm back!  YAY!


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## Kelleris (Feb 2, 2005)

Heh.  Lost this thread for a bit in the server move.  I'll use some of your ideas, Demon...  I did get to describe the Tower in the other game thread at least.  I aimed for a sort of corporate mage tower, a combination glass-facade skyscraper/chaotic portally place.

Well *I* liked it!    

In any case, I meant to post tonight, but it's after 4 in the morning and I'm coming down with something again.  Stupid thesis chapter.      I'll update both of my threads early tomorrow afternoon.


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## DemonWolfZero (Feb 3, 2005)

For your information, Kelleris:  http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/583/583917p1.html

Drool or dread Kell, what is it?


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## Kelleris (Feb 3, 2005)

Odd place to post this, I guess.  Not on IM enough for ya?

Hard to say.  There really wasn't much there, so I'm going to withold my verdict for now.  I get the ominous prickly-bumps of doom thinking about it, though, so maybe that's a bad sign...

Weren't you supposed to post this morning?


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## Kelleris (Feb 12, 2005)

Hey all.  I necromancered this thread because I wanted to talk to you guys about how the game's going, what you'd like to see, and other such matters.  We've been playing since late last October, with almost a month off for Christmas, and I hardly even know whether you lot are enjoying the game or harboring secret thoughts of nasty-wishing toward me.

I'll start with a few comments.  First off, something I noticed in another thread here at ENWorld: I don't like killing people.  It's something I've felt vaguely bad about for a while, but on thinking it over I've decided that I'm okay with merely beating you to within an inch of your life.

When I'm imagining a scene involving potential character death, I try to set it up so that your combat prowess determines how well you can navigate through the scene.  To take an example from here, I would have been surprised if anyone had died in the original warehouse fight, but the lucky crits from the guards did keep you from either permanently getting them off your back or capturing the guard captain.

Although I suppose burying him under a building is a close second!    

Another thing is my fondness for conspiratorial situations.  I know this annoys some people, but I like dropping hints, as the flurry of spoiler text recently indicates.  All of you have bits of a fairly large puzzle, and I keep doing this in the hope that someone will one day have an epiphany and unravel the goings-ons that plague you.

I think of Dromus as having elements of a less-sinister Delta Green sort of game.  Any given situation will have layers and conspiratorial elements, but it's not my intention to make the whole game dark and furtive with these aspects.  I don't know how well I pull off my goals in this area.

So those are a few of _my_ concerns.  What do you think about these, or other issues?  Are we moving along quickly enough for your tastes?  Would you prefer less combat?  More?  Is there something I'm doing to step on your toes?  Does the setting feel real enough for you, or do I need to add more description and background action to my posts?  Maybe you'd like more in the formal campaign setting documents?

I'd love to hear your comments, whatever comes to mind!  I see this first foray into PbP gaming as a learning experience as much as a leisure-time activity, so I really appreciate any constructive criticism you've got for me.


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## Jolmo (Feb 12, 2005)

> I hardly even know whether you lot are enjoying the game or harboring secret thoughts of nasty-wishing toward me.



 I'm really enjoying it so far, and hope it will keep going.


> I don't like killing people.



 Well I don't particularly like dying, so that should work out well enough 


> I'm okay with merely beating you to within an inch of your life.



 Hmnph 


> I think of Dromus as having elements of a less-sinister Delta Green sort of game. Any given situation will have layers and conspiratorial elements, but it's not my intention to make the whole game dark and furtive with these aspects. I don't know how well I pull off my goals in this area.



 I don't know anything about Delta Green, but the rest pretty much fits the image I've gotten of Dromus.
---
For some more general comments, I really like the action parts. How much the scene changes with every round; how they aren't just about standing about swinging swords and slinging spells until someone wins; and how they feel challenging enough that a bad decision might well be fatal, but balanced enough that we _should_ be able to overcome, unless bad luck starts playing tricks on us.

The only things I've thought of as negative are when it feels like we have too little to work with, like the very beginning of the adventure where we tried to come up with ideas for what to do with the amulet (before you made those big idea posts) or after the first fight when trying to get to the Sheets. I think what made it worse for me was that, from a meta-gaming perspective, we couldn't really fail. I mean the game just wouldn't make any sense if we didn't come up with any plan or get to the tavern. Those situations didn't last long though, so this is really a limited complaint, but it's honestly the only thing I could complain about at all.

Combat, I think, work much better now that we're not playing them a full round at a time as it doesn't require as many contingencies. And you rolling all initiatives should save some time, in fact I think you should make all rolls where everyone will make the same kind of roll and we cannot know the results ourselves just from seeing the number; like perception rolls and such.

Overall, I very much like the game, the speed is good most of the time, there is a balanced amount of combat, there has been plenty of descriptive text, both before and during the game, so, while I wouldn't mind reading more, I don't think anyone could expect it.
---
In the current situation, the reason I didn't make that attack was actually that I didn't think anyone was close enough after having backed up to the gap, Cagthail isn't really reluctant to hurt them, but there wouldn't be any honor in killing a bunch of street toughs so he won't hurt them more than he has to. They seem to be mind controlled or something, and he does consider himself a hero after all, even if it is more important that others do so.


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## Kelleris (Feb 13, 2005)

Heh, whups.  Delta Green is a Call of Cthulhu setting - basically Majestic 12 - Greys - Illuminati type conspiracies with the addition of the Mythos in the background.  One of many inspirations, though I've never actually gotten to play it.

Glad you like the fights, Jolmo!  This one should be getting equally messy in a round or two.      I'm not a fan of the "wearing them down" method of encounters, so most of them are going to pretty painful, if all goes according to plan.  It never does, but that's the goal.  That's why I like the reserve points thing, despite some weird interactions - you don't need to stop right away even if one battle goes pretty badly.



> The only things I've thought of as negative are when it feels like we have too little to work with...




Yeah, that's the most common problem I have with my tabletop games too.  I can just never tell how many ways you could put the pieces together.  Everything pretty much is a conspiracy, of course, but it can be hard making it difficult, but not too difficult, to unravel.

Maybe I could try to have three or four fairly clear possibilities for this sort of thing, but leave you guys to pick which one you'd like to pursue?  I'd like to just let you go and see what happens, but I can see that would be frustrating with limited knowledge.  And I can't really expect you to reread the thread looking for clues, eh?

What do the rest of you think about this stuff, and the game in general?  Particularly interested in Isida and Zerth's opinions, since I can always annoy Hatter and Demon in person...


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## Mad Hatter (Feb 13, 2005)

I feel so utterly loved, Kell.     Anywhoosle, I pretty much echo Jolmo on this one.


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## Zerth (Feb 13, 2005)

That was indeed a great post by Jolmo. I really don't have much to add and agree on every point he brought up. For my part, I like this game a lot. Your DMing style is very different from the most PbP DMs and that's different in a positive way.  I really like how you constantly give each one of us players personal information, that we can choose to share with the others or not. That requires effort and I appreciate it very much. Helps to build up that "aura of conspiracy" feel, that you seem to have fallen in love with. 

Sometimes I've been a little lost as to what to do. It's both you not giving clear alternatives and me still trying to figure out this wonderful setting you have created. Yes, we definately don't want to go back and check what's been said earlier in the thread. Throw us sorry players a bone once in a while - PbP is slow by nature and sometimes it's hard to maintain focus even without the DM keeping you guessing most of the time. 

But all in all, I'm enjoying the game very much. Easily one of my better PbP games ever and I've been around for some time, you know.


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## Kelleris (Feb 15, 2005)

Sorry for the accidental mini-hiatus, I got lazy yesterday and busy today.

I see you guys have mastered the twin motivations of the DM, though: vanity and sadism.    

As for the common complaint here - the confusion I sometimes inflict on you - I can think of a few things that I could do about that.

One, I could post some purely OOC ideas of what to do on this thread to help you get your ideas together and organize the information you get in character.

Two, I could go back over the thread at some time in the future (probably early-middle March) and write up a little summary of the action you could use, and try to highlight significant details you may have overlooked in it.

Three, and this is the one I would prefer, you could simply tell me when you're getting that what-the-hell feeling and I could field questions in this thread.  In fact, if you've got any right now, I'd be more than willing to have a go at them.

EDIT: Woo!  700 posts!  That feels like a milestone for some reason...

And there's something else I thought of.  How do you actually feel about the conspiracy-type stuff?  My goal is to keep everything behind the scenes consistent and throw in details that you can piece together for leads.  I don't know how much anyone besides me likes doing this, though, since the whole premise pretty much precludes the obvious sort of clues (such as the Awfully Convenient Journal) that I'd employ if it was critically important that the party get something.


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## Mad Hatter (Feb 15, 2005)

Three is the only one of those options that I like, Kell.  The other two kinda make me feel like a tool.    And more importantly, it would feel like you're doing too much.


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## DemonWolfZero (Feb 15, 2005)

I am enjoying the game immensely, though my usual complaint applies:  You know your setting better than we do.  However, in some cases, our characters are as familiar with sections of your setting as you are (atleast in their own circles).

For instance, Adinal is a somewhat adventurous fellow who has Feiran as a semi-regular associate.  He might understand what your two most recent clues to me were.  But I unfortunately can't.  If there's one thing I'm horrible at, it's the Sherlock Holmes schtick.

I need to be beat over the head with the clue stick before I get what's going on.

Hmm...what's the netiquette for discussing IC clues in an OOC thread?  Do I put em in spoiler blocks?

Cuz I'd love to discuss my clues with y'all and keep it OOC until I can discuss it with everyone IC.


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## Kelleris (Feb 16, 2005)

Uhm, okay.  So I need to make up some rules for this stuff?

Okay, there are a couple of sorts of discussions that can be had here, so that's the best way to organize this.

If you want to discuss IC clues with the rest of the party that were just out there for everyone (say, the boogeyman's limp) just throw it out there and I'll make some comments if it seems like a good idea.

If you want to tak about stuff that was in a spoiler with the rest of the party, like the explanation of the boogeyman's symbolism I gave Adinal, put it in spoilers like so: Your Character Name (OOC): [sblock] [/sblock].  You can optionally direct it at just the people you want to talk it over with, as there are some dissension-spurring bits I've given out.

And there's another tricky part, too.  I'm already trusting everyone not to read spoilers that don't belong to them, so I'll open the field to metagame questions as well, like "is the boogeyman Kyra?"  I have no idea whereyou wouldget that idea, but just for example.  Think about these and ask yourself if you really want to know the answer.  I'm willing to let you metagame if it'll make the game more enjoyable for you to have some special insight into the situation, within limits - there are any number of sources of inspiration I can attribute it to in-game anyway.

Does all that sound okay?


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## Jolmo (Feb 16, 2005)

Kelleris said:
			
		

> Cagthail, Illira, and Feiran are up next!



Isn't that Feiran, Adinal, and Cagthail? Or did I miss something? I've assumed it was so and waited for those before me as well.



> _As for the common complaint here - the confusion I sometimes inflict on you - I can think of a few things that I could do about that._



 Three sounds good to me too.



> _How do you actually feel about the conspiracy-type stuff?_



I do like it, as long as we aren't _required_ to figure too much of it out. (Which you kinda said wasn't your intention anyways.)


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## Kelleris (Feb 16, 2005)

> Isn't that Feiran, Adinal, and Cagthail? Or did I miss something? I've assumed it was so and waited for those before me as well.




Gah!  Thanks for the catch.  And I typed that twice, too!  Dang.  Well, yeah, of course you're right.

And I was wondering why nobody had posted in the IC thread...


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## DemonWolfZero (Feb 16, 2005)

To clarify, can OOC discussions of IC clues be done in here in this format? (warning, read at your own risk until Kelleris responds to whether or not this is the right format):

Adinal (OOC [sblock]So Adinal knows that our 'Boogeyman' is in fact dressed in a manner similar to Dromus' local representation of the 'Death' figure.  If he were hooded with skeletal fingers and carrying a scythe, that would be the equivalent to us in real life.  But, this being Dromus, 'Death' here also has a little of the Far Realms associated with him.[/sblock]

Testing the waters here, I'm not sure if this discussion is actually OOC (i.e we're chatting about what's going on around our virtual table), or if this is to eventually be transformed in IC discussion we do later...or what?

I'm still a tad confused about this, as you might have guessed.


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## Kelleris (Feb 17, 2005)

This will be like table talk, basically, or post-game chit-chat if that's how your group does it instead.  I may make some or all of it "over the campfire" stuff later on, but otherwise just assume that this is the result of the average party Intelligence of 16.2 and average Wisdom of 12.4 at work.  Plus, y'know, strange dreams, demonic whispers from the dark, sudden intuitive insight and memories of that day pappy told you to stay away from the blue fungus.

Everyone can go ahead and have a gander at the OOC stuff Adinal posted, especially since the always-convenient mind link means he could share it in-game whenever he felt like.

Demon, the format I was thinking of was more like Adinal _to_ whatever people you wanted to have a look at the information, or maybe just your character name if you just want anyone who feels like it to take a look.

Makes sense?


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## DemonWolfZero (Feb 18, 2005)

Okay, so here's my first real discussion post.  Trying to be polite here, not sure if we're all okay with the "around the table" talking yet.  So I'm gonna put it in spoilertext for now, I would appreciate if all those that are okay with table-talk please say so.  If all are fine with it, I'm just gonna have my "to the whole table" messages out of spoilertext.

Adinal:  [sblock]Okay, so under the tavern or wherever exactly this crawlspace is, Adinal has noticed that the material of the tavern wall is dripping into the muck.  From previous experience with Kelleris' DMing and his infatuation with the Far Realms, I (Demon) have a feeling that our Boogeyman is atleast familiar with the Far Realms.  Of course, the Far Realms can be blamed for a lot of things.  The last time I dealt with them, it involved a giant incendiary fungus that turned into a carp when I killed it.  Feiran met a 6-headed cockroach and gave it a tummy-rub till it told us what we wanted.  Of course at the time she also had a gem shoved into her face and eyes in her palms.  We have many reasons to not like the Far Realms.

So yeah, it's possible that he knew we were in the tavern by spying on us somehow through the walls, and that whatever he did has weakened the walls to a degree.  Does anyone else have any evidence to support a Far Realms theory?[/sblock]


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## Mad Hatter (Feb 18, 2005)

In the spirit of things...

Feiran
[sblock]Demon, that was Aris with the Shard of Sharuk that held the entrapped spirit or essence or whatever of the Uduvuum (sp?).  That tummy rub lasted a few hundred years as well.  Aris had eyes on his palms; do you know what kind of nightmares are generated when you see up close and personal a tummy rub like that?  Alpha (the cockroach *wink wink*) liked white carnations; it helped his digestion.  And I too believe this to be heavy far realms as well.  

While Feiran was in the tavern, she noticed a worm thing on the table.  And because I, Mad Hatter, enjoy experimentation almost as much as I enjoy critters, placed it into a scroll case I have and took a sample of the green grog.  I told Adinal in game that I thought Narine had been infested with a parasite.  There was this glowy, bulbous thing trying to penetrate her skull.  It succeeded and she had a creepy far away look that.  It would be this point in the horror movie that we'd hear ominous music and blatant foreshadowing.  For those of you who don't know, two of my previous characters have been parasite infested so I was metagaming a little .[/sblock]  

Demon
[sblock] I was doing a count with Kell some time ago over msn and came to the realization that there may or may not be at least 3 other versions of Feiran.  Kell refuses to indulge my curiosity and simply tell me "Yes, there are" or "No, there aren't".  Count with me, my friend, we have: Feiran with the orcs (You remember the orc leader that was half naked for our obligatory battle because we came in after an apparent orgy/drink fest?), Feiran with the parasite that she acquired at the Floppy Willy (Was that the name, Kell?  I seem to remember the tavern's name to be something like that due to the endless jokes that are now crowding my head in remembrance.), and last but not least, Feiran with Chiald's spit where she met the half-elf stud.  See?  Four Feirans total.  I find this to be all kinds of awesome.  [/sblock]


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## Kelleris (Feb 19, 2005)

Blargh.  I'll wait for some direct questions and speculation before I interject, but I do want to point out that "Ilmordan'" (nice name, by the way) is considerably higher up on the scale-o-scary than children's fables.  He's less of an under-the-closet figure than a symbol of something the average adult in Dromus takes quite seriously.  You wouldn't really talk about him to children in that nannyish sort of way.

Or are you just dissin' my guy's street cred?


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## Mad Hatter (Feb 19, 2005)

He's dissin' your guy's stret cred, Kell.  You should do something _drastic_ about that.  Drastic and mean spirited.


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## DemonWolfZero (Feb 20, 2005)

a)Your post didn't seem clear enough to me as to how scary Ilmordan is supposed to be.

and b)Adinal is completely non-superstitious to the point of being disgusted with the idea of people indulging in such urban legends as "Death himself walking the streets of Dromus".  It really doesn't matter how serious other people take it, until he experiences it, he won't REALLY believe.  He isn't afraid of Ilmordan (whether he IS the real thing or not) cuz he's too anal in that particular facet of his personality.  Hell, it could be a Trait from Unearthed Arcana, "Non-superstitious - +4 to will saves against fear effects cuz you don't fear what may not be real."

I need sleep.


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## Kelleris (Feb 20, 2005)

No biggy.  It's not like I can expect adventurers to be sensibly frightened of _anything_, much less something like this.  Especially since...

*cough*

Well, yeah.


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## DemonWolfZero (Feb 21, 2005)

God I hate you.


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## Kelleris (Feb 21, 2005)

Why?  My diversive clue-type things?  C'mon, ask me something, anything!   

Remember, this is a putting-things-together kind of deal, so the description of Ilmordan is either just one thing or needs to be divided into a couple of smaller things before you can try to arrange it like a puzzle.


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## DemonWolfZero (Feb 21, 2005)

Anything, eh?

Okay, so I've already gotten the idea that Ilmordan was probably not using the weakened Sheets' hull to spy on us (atleast not directly), but finding out about the hull so soon after meeting Ilmordan seems too coincidental.  I'm trying to figure out ways he could've weakened the hull and my brain is leaning towards Far Realms and Chaos Magic (can't remember if you decided they were an acceptable branch of magic users or not).

That limp of his, can Adinal tie the limp to anything recent in his head?  Or theorize a reason for it?  Cuz the only injured people I can think of were various soldiers of the Guard and the Captain himself, but it seemed like the Captain or his guards weren't gonna be coming after us too soon, which leads me to believe that this is another interested party.

Could the hull weakening be semi-natural?  i.e. based on Droman planar weather?  Same goes for the worm Feiran mentioned.

The drinks we were passed, are there any ways we could find out who sent those to us?  Checks we can make OOC representing us scanning our memories later on in the adventure or something.

Beyond that, I dunno.


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## Kelleris (Feb 22, 2005)

> Okay, so I've already gotten the idea that Ilmordan was probably not using the weakened Sheets' hull to spy on us (atleast not directly), but finding out about the hull so soon after meeting Ilmordan seems too coincidental. I'm trying to figure out ways he could've weakened the hull and my brain is leaning towards Far Realms and Chaos Magic (can't remember if you decided they were an acceptable branch of magic users or not).




That's probably for the best, anyway, as chaos magic is generally restricted to NPCs anyway, though there's always a chance you could learn it yourself later on.  There are spells of the usual arcane variety that could manage these effects, if you care to look for them.



> That limp of his, can Adinal tie the limp to anything recent in his head? Or theorize a reason for it? Cuz the only injured people I can think of were various soldiers of the Guard and the Captain himself, but it seemed like the Captain or his guards weren't gonna be coming after us too soon, which leads me to believe that this is another interested party.




The guards would have no interest in pursuing you unless you come to their attention by doing something illegal or extremely noisy.  The Captain might, but you don't know how bad his injuries were or how he would round up an unruly mob.  Probably your best bets are to brainstorm amongst yourselves and (in-game) try to figure out where your assailants hail from.  With that information, you could at least determine whether the Captain's interference is likely, by looking at the travel distances.



> Could the hull weakening be semi-natural? i.e. based on Droman planar weather? Same goes for the worm Feiran mentioned.




Could be, almost anything could be, but you doubt it.  It's too purposeful and convenient, and the formation of the wood looks placed just to prevent your escape via that route.



> The drinks we were passed, are there any ways we could find out who sent those to us? Checks we can make OOC representing us scanning our memories later on in the adventure or something.




Sure, Wis or Int checks at your preference.  You could also look back at the read thoughts result from the barmaid; there were some clues in there.



> Beyond that, I dunno.




My recommendation is wild theorizing.  How else would you deal with conspiracies?


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## DemonWolfZero (Feb 25, 2005)

Hey Mad Hatter, something for you OOC:  [sblock]Your tiger is where I am on the other side of the Sheets.  It would be in my and his best interests for you to activate your Tiger-talk thing and tell him to go with me.  More than that is in my spoilertext in this thread if you want to know why.  If you'd rather keep the mystery, this is very much a "Do you trust me?" movie-style situation.  If you wanna know WHAT I'm doing that requires him to follow me, check out the this post's spoilertext.[/sblock]


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## Mad Hatter (Feb 25, 2005)

Adinal- [sblock]I activated _mindlink_.  As soon as Kell gives me details, he'll go with you.  I didn't order it already because I had already taken, im, too many actions.  So I'm gonna wait for the others to go ahead and post before I do so.  Is that cool with you?[/sblock]


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## DemonWolfZero (Feb 25, 2005)

Feiran:  [sblock]Yes.  Well that was a waste of a spoilerblock.[/sblock]


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## Jolmo (Mar 13, 2005)

Kelleris, I meant the note in the other thread for next round, when I should hopefully be out of reach from the ground, and perhaps able to get to a neighbouring building or in through a window to the second floor of the ship. Is the second floor crowded as well?

I guess it's time I posted some random thoughts on the goings on as well, so here goes:

I don't think Ilmordan is someone we've met already, for it to be the captain, he'd have to first recover, then find out where we went, then get there, and _then_ rally a mob. We pretty much got here without delays and I don't think we spent long in the tavern either (?) so it seems unlikely. Unless he has some weird Far Realms timeshifting ability that is.

Ilmordan might be from the Far Realms or just pretending to, he hasn't done anything weird enough for normal magic not to suffice I think. Does anyone have any clue as to whether the invisible boomers are controlled by him or not?

Did the amulet have anything to do with the Far Realms to begin with? I'm guessing that Ilmordan has some way to sense the amulet, thus the looking through the wall while ignoring those who were outside, and finding us in the first place. Both being from the Far Realms could be an explanation, or just a spell like locate object I guess.

And for later, what do we know of the amulets location? Did Kestral just leave, claiming no knowledge of the amulets whereabouts, or has it done random jumps between us before, so we'd expect it or something?


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## Kelleris (Mar 15, 2005)

Ah, okay.  Well, the second floor is not too badly messed up, but you'll have to find a window and get in, of course.  You also don't know what the Sheets has in the way of back ways out.

Well, you've already established that the amulet is a sentient magical item, and it's powerful enough to be of the "mysteriously disappears" variety.  It hasn't jumped in this PbP game, but it did once in the tabletop prequel.  As for why it's not hopping off onto innocent bystanders, well, there are a few reasons.  One is that the average charisma of the party makes it an attractive place to be for the entity of the amulet.

I'll also just note that the stuff you mentioned about the captain means that he would need to be a spellcaster with...  odd connections to say the least to pull off what he did.  So you should be able to look into that pretty easily at least.

"Invisible boomers"?  I'm never going to get to name anything, am I?     Well, Ilmordan has not given them any vocal commands yet, so there's that to work with.  And you have two psychically sensitive people in the party, for whatever that's worth.  Probably your best line of thought is considering how the boomers' actions match with what Ilmordan's presumed purpose is.

Kestral was basically sneezed out of existence (easy way out), so you shouldn't have to worry about him any more.  I didn't give him the amulet, anyway - one of you carries it - and though he may show up as an NPC in the future he's not part of the plot at the moment.

The amulet's connection to the Far Realms is existent but tenuous at the moment.  Adinal knows it's wanted by a sizable cult, but whether that's just because it's a powerful magical item or whether it does something specific FRy isn't certain.  Also, the Tower Sorceire wants it pretty badly, and it's absurdly illegal (high treason illegal) for them to muck about with Far Realms artifacts except in a very controlled environment with lots of power-center oversight.


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## Jolmo (Mar 21, 2005)

Kelleris, Isida will be disconnected for about 3 more weeks according to this post.


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## Kelleris (Mar 21, 2005)

Well nuts.  Can you tell I don't skim the TtT page very often?      Uhm, I was wondering why the no-posting.  I'll think it over and decide what I want to do with Narine, since Isida is, ah, missing a session.

I assume a 3-week hiatus would be a bit much.


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