The Da'mall - OOC Thread

[Zjackrum]

Link to the ICC Thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?664443-The-Da-mall-IC-Thread)


List of Characters:

Lorem Ipsum (https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/118430069) - Monk (Way of the Shadow) - played by J-H (https://forums.giantitp.com/member.php?34559-J-H)
Hallveig Sturlusdottir (https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/118469794), Path of the Giant Barbarian, played by TriciaOso (https://forums.giantitp.com/member.php?174590-TriciaOso)
Nettle Crimsonwood (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2878884), Rogue Soulknife Dhampir played by Awful (https://forums.giantitp.com/member.php?165241-Awful)
Kerykes Diophantus (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kaPsTDpjYAQFguPNeQouF2K_JMdr-BXwiWJ_mgHt-4s/edit), Cleric of Light, played by ProudGrognard (https://forums.giantitp.com/member.php?68500-ProudGrognard)
Shavriel Rolga (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2879124) Sorceress played by SwordCoastTaxi (https://forums.giantitp.com/member.php?231566-SwordCoastTaxi)

List of dead characters, and what killed them (more for record keeping)

None, but you checked! Hah!


Important NPCs and what we know about them

MORIENN AFFILIATED
Colonel Jorgan - Your "Handler" so to speak, in terms of the Morienn army
Hans - The innkeeper of "The Wandering Stranger"

KALO EMPIRE AFFILIATED
Jarakata Kalo, Emperor of the Kalo Empire

[SwordCoastTaxi]

I'm here and ready.

[Zjackrum]

Lol ok link to IC thread should work now :D

[J-H]

I'm here. Currently sick so may not post for a couple of days.
Also, I'll be gone Sunday->Thursday next week on a trip.

[Awful]

Did the city fall a few months ago or a few weeks? The recruitment thread says months, so that was what my backstory makes sense with; but the ic thread says weeks.

What equipment are we starting with? The big 16 says to be decided.
The standard equipment would give me a bunch of weapons, but I'd rather the cash for other things, since my psiblades and teeth are all the weapons I need.

Also, did you see my questions about using dex for my bite?

[Zjackrum]

Whoops.
Timeline is somewhere between like 1-2 months after the city was captured. The exact time wasn’t super important, but part of it being the city walls aren’t fully repaired yet.

Also sorry about the equipment question - yeah basic equipment for your class, whatever it may be. Don’t worry about tracking ammunition, spell components, water or food rations.

[J-H]

Lorem ipsum is latin filler text. Should I continue with the theme and pull some words out of the standard Lorem Ipsum for family members, or do we want to with something more thematic like anglo-saxon, frankish, or germanic names?

[ProudGrognard]

Hi,

I am also here. I have a tough two days ahead of me, but here!

So, equipment is like a 1st level character, correct?

Edit: Also, what is the Wandering Stranger? Obviously not the Chicken Coop.

[TriciaOso]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1188494815319564288/1207389977080635412/Capture.PNG?ex=65df788a&is=65cd038a&hm=5876121cc4143670e87851046ed60e6051ccc4c7b40c907 15340dfbd238b0ce9&=&format=webp&quality=lossless

Havleig Sturlusdottir (https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/118469794)
Hill Dwarf Giant Barbarian
AC: 14 HP: 38/38
PPer: 13 PInv: 9 PIst: 13
Conditions: --
Concentrating: --


https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1188494815319564288/1207378746143678484/image.png?ex=65df6e15&is=65ccf915&hm=1ddbacab41f934e02cd60410de50f1570cbd7d022a0ac63 9385391f0097590b6&=&format=webp&quality=lossless

Havleig Sturlusdottir (https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/118469794)
Hill Dwarf Giant Barbarian
AC: 14 HP: 38/38
PPer: 13 PInv: 9 PIst: 13
Conditions: Raging
Concentrating: --


#8B4513

[Zjackrum]

If you want to use +dex for your bite lets say that's fine, and see how it goes.

The Wandering Stranger is another inn. I had a sudden inspiration and wanted everyone to start at The Chicken Coop. No reason why... ;)

[SwordCoastTaxi]

I'll have an IC post up this afternoon.

[J-H]

Do we know this guy? Him openly identifying himself in a public place is a bit unwise unless he's confident in everyone there.

Since Lorem still lives with family in the city, he's probably not going to be giving out his full name and life story to random resistance members.

Were those two interested like on alert because we're possible hostiles, or just because they're the guards?

[Zjackrum]

lol although it may not always be the case, Jorgan is on the level. Your character can be suspicious of him if you want, but he’s a legit Morienn army guy. I guess maybe I didn’t write his introduction well enough.

The perception check doesn’t have the insight to tell you if the two men are Morienn soldiers or kalo soldiers, just that they saw you enter and are definitely not just casually drinking and talking. Sometimes checks like this can be a warning of something important, or they can just be a bit of flavour text.

[Zjackrum]

I actually don't have a good idea how someone would prove their identity... I gave Jorgan an insignia to indicate he works for the military and has some rank. I think really people would likely already just know each other, although maybe forged documents would be a thing as well. It's entirely possible someone could kill Jorgan, steal his insignia and pretend to be him.

And wow - I made that history check mostly as a joke. Can't believe how badly everybody rolled.

[J-H]

We're all making up the insurgency as we go along, but hopefully the enemy isn't good at it either. Things like modern police procedures, evidence assessment, etc., is all quite recent. I expect both sides to be sloppy up until the divination spells start coming out.

[ProudGrognard]

We're all making up the insurgency as we go along, but hopefully the enemy isn't good at it either. Things like modern police procedures, evidence assessment, etc., is all quite recent. I expect both sides to be sloppy up until the divination spells start coming out.

This. Also, historically, police as a specialized force appeared in the UK in the 19th century. So yes, we are all still learning.

And Kerykes so far has rolled badly, but the dice giveth, and the dice take away

[SwordCoastTaxi]

lol although it may not always be the case, Jorgan is on the level. Your character can be suspicious of him if you want, but he’s a legit Morienn army guy. I guess maybe I didn’t write his introduction well enough.

The perception check doesn’t have the insight to tell you if the two men are Morienn soldiers or kalo soldiers, just that they saw you enter and are definitely not just casually drinking and talking. Sometimes checks like this can be a warning of something important, or they can just be a bit of flavour text.

Your introduction was fine. It's normal that the players and characters might be suspicious of a new NPC especially during this time of war. I haven't revealed it yet IC but Shavriel is a professional pessimist :smalltongue:

[Awful]

Police as an organisation back then wouldn't really be the issue, but the concept of spying and counterintelligence was far from new; consider the roman frumentarii (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frumentarii), which began as a courier organisation and developed into a dedicated spying agency for the emperors until their disbandment.


I actually don't have a good idea how someone would prove their identity... I gave Jorgan an insignia to indicate he works for the military and has some rank. I think really people would likely already just know each other, although maybe forged documents would be a thing as well. It's entirely possible someone could kill Jorgan, steal his insignia and pretend to be him.

And wow - I made that history check mostly as a joke. Can't believe how badly everybody rolled.

Well, presumably, rather than contacting us directly, there would have been a chain of contacts leading from Jorgan's organisation and whatever existing structures or organisations that exist already in the city. So if the contacts who arranged this meeting are trustworthy, (and if they were criminals, Nettle knows which are trustworthy due to Criminal Contact) we can go in with relative expectations that we're not going to be immediately stabbed.

Of course, there's conventional forging documents (also something Nettle can do), there's killing and replacing, there's just using captured insignia from when they captured the city, there's magical disguises, there's remote listening and mind control...

It's hard to be sure when magic is in the game as well. If we Circle of Truth'd him, we could know for 90% sure that he, at least, was genuine, but you can't really do that in the middle of a pub.

[ProudGrognard]

Well, presumably, rather than contacting us directly, there would have been a chain of contacts leading from Jorgan's organisation and whatever existing structures or organisations that exist already in the city. So if the contacts who arranged this meeting are trustworthy, (and if they were criminals, Nettle knows which are trustworthy due to Criminal Contact) we can go in with relative expectations that we're not going to be immediately stabbed.

Of course, there's conventional forging documents (also something Nettle can do), there's killing and replacing, there's just using captured insignia from when they captured the city, there's magical disguises, there's remote listening and mind control...

It's hard to be sure when magic is in the game as well. If we Circle of Truth'd him, we could know for 90% sure that he, at least, was genuine, but you can't really do that in the middle of a pub.

On top of that, I am not sure how large a city this is. It may well be that the man was known, and that Nettle knew him by reputation or on sight. It could also be the case that Kerykes knew him from his father, who was a Captain in the Guard.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

This site is a problem. Way too slow and I may need to drop this game because of it.

[TriciaOso]

Yeah, the site has been bad.

I am also a little confused about the current interaction/how to proceed.

Hallveig introduced herself, somewhat cagily, as a janitor. The others introduced themselves as asked, and admitted they were angry about the situation but didn't explicitly mention being revolutionaries.

Jorgan said, "You're all fools for trusting me, good thing I'm legit. Also I can't believe you want money for doing this, smh."

Hallveig responded with, "I never brought up being a revolutionary and I never asked you for money. You are the one who brought up both of those things."

And now Jorgan has said, "Fine, fine! I'll pay you! How much?"

I don't feel like I have a handle on this conversation or how to respond.

[Zjackrum]

Wow I totally misread that - I thought you guys were negotiating for money, which sort of made sense.

Jorgan wouldn’t really be famous or well known unless you served in the Morienn army, which would be separate from the Corsand city guard. So unless people really want to role-play getting to know him, we can either sort of assume for the sake of keeping things rolling that we all trust Jorgan…?

And yes I realize there is a bit of rail-roading here - I was hoping to avoid some of the unnecessary drama of being suspicious (as obviously your characters would be) - maybe it would have been easier to say you already knew Jorgan from before. It sort of depends on whether you’d like the freedom to do as you wish without prompting from me, or if you’d prefer being part of the llarger story line of the Morien / Kalo war - a lot of what I’ve prepared is various missions for Jorgan to send the group on.

[TriciaOso]

I'm totally fine with trusting Jorgan.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

I'll post for Shavriel today (away from pc).

[Zjackrum]

We’re about to jump into combat and I just wanted to check that people are still here and interested - haven’t seen everyone posting, which might be due to boredom or might be simply due to not knowing what to say.

[ProudGrognard]

Hi,

I am still here.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

AFK but posting IC in a moment.

[ProudGrognard]

Waiting for a chance for the others to post.

[ProudGrognard]

In case it is not clear, I propose that we split, check this place out individually and then meet again at nearby place - if the DM does not mind me inventing a fountain- to make plans.

I also asked for a pouch, because we will be needing a place to make plans, and Kerykes will propose we rent an out of the way place to meet and make them.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Sorry Zjackrum but how much starting gold did we have for gear?

[Zjackrum]

I was pretty vague with specifics in terms of amount of gold everyone had because I didn't want to stifle anyone's creativity - enough to buy standard equipment, but not really enough to buy magical equipment. I'm also not really enforcing carrying weight. So if there's specific things you're looking to pick up, just let me know and I'll approve it or say no. If it's something you could reasonably be expected to carry, thats fine, but I don't want someone to have 100 healing potions, or 1000 feet of strong rope.

[TriciaOso]

The main thing I was hoping to pick up, equipmentwise, was a breastplate. It's mundane but pretty expensive compared to the starting armors.

[J-H]

We have no enemies visible, just the knowledge that some are out front and some are out back, right?

[Zjackrum]

Yup pretty much.
Also whatever is out the back door beat a perception check by Shavriel’s familiar.

[J-H]

Does breaking down the back door succeed?
Can't really post until I know if it does.

[TriciaOso]

Or, on a similar note, does it look like trying to break it down is working but needs more oomph? I can rage and Get Large to try and knock it down, but if the chair bounced off with no effect then I don't really want to spend the rage/take damage from a burning door.

[Zjackrum]

Whoops. Was wondering why nobody else was posting.
Yeah the door falls apart with mild pressure - it’s just a regular wooden door.

[J-H]

That plus being in initiative time with no clear opponent or direction yet. I posted to get get us moving out the back now that we know.

[ProudGrognard]

So, Kerykes is heading out through the back door. If a Perception is needed

Perception
[roll0]

[SwordCoastTaxi]

I'll probably regret this but why not :smalltongue: She's moving very slowly to avoid being heard.

[J-H]

Perception [roll0]

Nice rolls on the Perception and then the attack... I think I got a nice hit in for 10.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Perception: [roll0]

So we can see the distortion or was that just when the invisible person attacked? Can we discern its location exactly? If so I can attack it.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Okay wait a minute: I didn't post because I was waiting to see if the invisible person made their DEX save vs. Kerykes' Faerie Fire. To see if they become visible?

[Zjackrum]

The faerie fire never happened because the grease spell knocked Kerykes prone. Fortunately enough party members were unaffected and they managed to kill the humanoid caster in one turn.

[Zjackrum]

For the record I was assuming either the party would hunker down in the bar or rush out the front to flee and/or fight. Meanwhile the wizard outside at the back was going to set the back door on fire and after a few rounds the whole inn, so when the party rushed the back door, it was just one guy out there. I did some random rolls off-site to determine number of enemies and where they were.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Hunh? How could they when .... yeah. I need to step aside from this because based on reading the IC and when players are posting nothing is making sense. Have fun guys.

[J-H]

The faerie fire never happened because the grease spell knocked Kerykes prone. Fortunately enough party members were unaffected and they managed to kill the humanoid caster in one turn.

How does being knocked prove prevent him from taking his turn?

[TriciaOso]

Not to pile on, but it would help in making sense of the sequence of events to know where enemies fall in initiative in addition to ourselves.

EDIT: Also, just for future reference, as a barbarian Hallveig has advantage on dexterity saves when she can see the cause. It doesn't really matter in this case, since my initiative was so low and the guy was probably already dead anyway.

[ProudGrognard]

I also have questions. Why did the wizard go first? How come he did not appear after dying?

In any case, I believe this is more freewheeling game that I would enjoy. Thank you, Zjackrum, for the opportunity, must I bow out.

Have fun, everyone.

[Zjackrum]

Alright then… I thought I kind of admitted I’m not the greatest DM… are people still interested in continuing?

[TriciaOso]

Alright then… I thought I kind of admitted I’m not the greatest DM… are people still interested in continuing?

Honestly, even after ProudGrognard and SwordCoastTaxi backed out I was waiting to see how this conversation went; I thought if J-H and Awful were still in we could continue, even if a Barbarian - Rogue - Monk party is pretty limited. But this is a pretty disappointing response to the questions people asked.

Blowing off all questions about rules or even the sequence of events by declaring that you never promised to be a good DM definitely isn't the way to become a better one. I think I'm going to drop as well.

[Awful]

Man, I've had some real trouble getting on the forums lately, what's -
Hurm.

[Zjackrum]

Yes I suppose that’s valid too - I thought being knocked prone caused a character to basically lose their turn and screw up their movement. I couldn’t add initiative to the general lineup without giving away the number of enemies.