Travels amongst the Border Princes (WFRP 2e) OOC

[dojango]

No, the causeway is armless

[rax]

Oh good, I was worried that the causeway was going to turn out to be trapped or something.

[LarsWester]

No, the causeway is armless

Too bad was hoping for something of Pietro to send to Morr's house.

[rax]

@dojango
Just in case I'm misremembering - Marina and Zdenko are the couple, right? Pietro was their friend/brother-in-arms?

[dojango]

correct, yes

[rax]

I had some time on my hands, so I read through the IC thread to check up on what we've explored so far. As near as I can tell, the following are the only paths we haven't explored yet:

1. The first cavern we entered had exits to the west and to the south. We went west, so we haven't explored the southern exit yet.

2. Heading up the stairs, there was a corridor in the first lift room. The corridor led into the mesa and was blocked by a wall.

3. Climbing up the lift shaft led to another lift room and the Dwarf dwellings. There were two halls (or exits/entrances?) that were also blocked by walls. The main entrance was blocked because the roof had been collapsed on top of it.

4. Going down the stairs led to the cavern we're in and the only way forward appears to be the causeway we're on.

Ergo, after finding out what's at the other end of this causeway, the only open passage we haven't explored is back in the first cavern we entered.

Does that check out, dojango?

[LarsWester]

My question is where does the mining occur in this place? We have seen no sign of active mining yet right? Am I off in expecting to run into some sort of active operation? We haven't seen any signs of recent activity only very old activity but it is possible that these lizards have consumed everything. The way the are going after the larger corpse makes me wonder if they were responsible for picking clean all the skeletons we found.

[Haval]

Any ruins of the mining operation might be further down. On the other hand whatever happened to clear the Dwarves out of here might have happened long enough ago that any tools or machinery have been scavenged already.

[dojango]

1. The first cavern we entered had exits to the west and to the south. We went west, so we haven't explored the southern exit yet.

correct

2. Heading up the stairs, there was a corridor in the first lift room. The corridor led into the mesa and was blocked by a wall.

3. Climbing up the lift shaft led to another lift room and the Dwarf dwellings. There were two halls (or exits/entrances?) that were also blocked by walls. The main entrance was blocked because the roof had been collapsed on top of it.

Also correct. You also could see up into the surface through wells and uh, garbage dumps. Also you found the fortifications overlooking the trails, which had exits to the surface.

4. Going down the stairs led to the cavern we're in and the only way forward appears to be the causeway we're on.



Also the first part of the mine is the mine that is still being worked, the workers were absent when you went through. You also found some places where there was mining in the past and a bunch of old mining gear in the storerooms.

[dojango]

Quick perception roll for Severin (1d100)[54]

[rax]

@dojango

The exit to the passageway is covered with brush and spiny plants, although some of it seems broken aside. Severin emerges into the afternoon light and finds himself at the bottom of a sinkhole maybe 20 feet deep. The sides are steep and covered with brush and small trees, and the bottom of the hole is covered by loose sand. It looks like something or someone has torn up some of the spiny plants to eat...

Are the spiny plants that have been torn up the same ones that are described as covering the exit to the passageway and being broken aside? If not, where are they - if I'm understanding the description correctly, there are no plants on the floor of the sinkhole, only around the sides?

What would it take for Severin to try and determine whether the plants appear to have been torn up and eaten by animals or Halflings/Humans?

Does it look possible to climb out of the sinkhole using the plants covering the sides?

[dojango]

There are a variety of plants. They cover the sides of the sinkhole and the bottom; after all, that's where the most water is going to be. The spiny plants are cacti that look to have been bashed apart to get at the pulpy flesh within. It should be easy enough to climb up the sides of the sinkhole since the sides aren't perfectly vertical.

[dojango]

I'm traveling all day today so I'll get a post up tomorrow.

[rax]

Curse Severin's lack of Follow Trail skill!

Does he think that Gabriele would stand a decent chance of crawling through the passage as well, or is she very likely to get stuck even if the loses anything bulky before trying?

[dojango]

It would be a tight fit, but probably. It's not impossible to get through, just you'd have to leave behind your gear and really long weapons to get through. Like crawling through a really narrow culvert.

[LarsWester]

Harman did try to strike up small talk with Zdenko and Marina. More just to let you all know I am following the threads.

[rax]

FYI, I'm probably one or two posts at the most from having Severin rejoin Harman and the others, then we'll need to decide what to do next. Confront the lizards by ourselves or report back and leave it up to Sol to decide what to do next?

[rax]

I'll be away on a trip from tomorrow afternoon till Sunday. I don't like posting from my phone and I'm not sure I'll be bringing my computer, so I may be incommunicado for the next couple of days. Assume Severin goes along with whatever course Gabriele and Harman decide on.

[LarsWester]

Just checking that I didn't miss a XP handout since joining the adventure. Some questions about advancements and things out of character.

How do you handle XP spends? Do they need an in character rationalization or not? I.E. Harman can gain Speak Language (any). Does he have to in character find a tutor to teach the language?

Would Harman know where someone with magical capabilities would be located?

Where could Harman get a dwarf to teach him the language and culture?

[Haval]

I don't think you've missed any xp.

Technically Torendil the former PC might still be around.

We haven't actually met any Dwarves. I think a community of them might have been mentioned as being in the east somewhere but I don't remember the details.

[dojango]

Yeah it's about time for some XP. Let's say 400 XP for exploring the caves and reporting back successfully. I try to shoot for 'breaks in the action' as it were so you don't have an "I know kung fu" type of moment where you just all of a sudden know something new. I was thinking we'd have a few weeks or months of narrative 'down time' after this arc wraps up so you could narratively explain why you learned dwarvish or engineering or surgery or whatever.

As far as magic is concerned, since it hasn't come up we haven't really talked about it, other than the obviously magic apple tree (magic effect on the special table, in case you were wondering). A gossip check would probably be needed to start tracking down someone who knows about it, since even though you aren't in Imperial lands magic users still aren't trusted and they try not to advertise their presence.

What the party has learned so far about the dwarves is they mostly live on the eastern part of the map, with a few colonies in the Krulava valley. Le Houet said that she doesn't do business with the dwarves 'any more'.

[rax]

Ooh, XP - shiny!

[LarsWester]

Yeah it's about time for some XP. Let's say 400 XP for exploring the caves and reporting back successfully. I try to shoot for 'breaks in the action' as it were so you don't have an "I know kung fu" type of moment where you just all of a sudden know something new. I was thinking we'd have a few weeks or months of narrative 'down time' after this arc wraps up so you could narratively explain why you learned dwarvish or engineering or surgery or whatever.

I went and spent 300 of the 400 xp raising Ag, Int, and Fel as I feel that this are easily explainable by just getting better in the attributes over time. I am saving 100 to spend on something like learn dwarven language.

[rax]

I added +10 to Severin's WS, +5 to his WP and finally bought Follow Trail, so we're not totally reliant on Gabriele for that all the time.

Also, is there anything special I should note about the dagger Severin found or is it just plus one dagger?

[dojango]

It is a good-quality dagger. The kind of dagger that a rich merchant or minor noble would stab you with.

[rax]

Ah, Severin's making his way up in the world if a toff could now be arsed to knife him!

[Haval]

Had to check my working. I make it 2200xp but I might be due a reread of the thread.

Spending on +5 Wp, Ride and Sharpshooter to close out the career.

[LarsWester]

I was told to build Harman with 2200 xp from the start.

[rax]

Didn't we start with a couple of hundred xp above the free advance? Though it does seem that Severin has more advances listed than I've tallied xp, so I might have to check back on that as well.

[LarsWester]

So Dwarf Shieldbreaker, Elf Seaman, Halfling Servant or Human Riverwarden. A good set of choices, all told. Like I said earlier, you'll have 2200 exp to spend to catch up to the other players.

So I started Harman with 2200 EXP based off this. We just got awarded an additional 400 EXP. So I have the total at 2600 EXP. Since Dojango says the 2200 was to bring me up to you two I would assume you also have 2600 EXP at this point.