DrK Crimson Throne OOC

[DrK]

Hopefully it's good enough!

21 wounds on top of the arrows! plenty good enough

[wilphe]

Assuming we have the time and don't get interrupted thinking like this:


Search his body - see if there is a key for that padlock.

Take anything valuable and portable - Winfred wants the Ledger as it might prove "interesting".

Check the pockets of all the clothes giving her an excuse not to be the one opening the chest

Examine the hatbox

Check out that pile of junk outside

If the clothes are worthless see if they can go to the Temple for the children

For the croc it can either go to the Temple or dude who was running the lizard stall. They can have the meat but Winifred wants the skin

If we need help to move stuff there is the skiff and can also impress our prisoners in exchange for their stuff back and/or their miserable lives

[rax]

Insanity check (1d100)[75] vs. 55 (WP 35, Easy difficulty +20)

+1 IP it is.

[wilphe]

We did manage to open the strongbox the ledger was on right?

Also I went from "that's not a great haul but maybe its worth something"

to

"there is way too much money here for us to get to keep any of it"

Partially also because I am worried we haven't been told when to use our special fortune point

[rax]

Okay, not sure how to react to everyone just shrugging their shoulders and going "Eh, so we got our job from a ghost?"

@DrK
I know this adventure is an adaptation from Pathfinder, and obviously familiarity with magic and magic-related creatures is much higher in Pathfinder than in Warhammer, but what level of "unnatural" things should I expect Cassian to be familiar with or have encountered before. Is Cassian overreacting to this discovery or is it in fact intended to be unusual even by the standards of Golarion?

[Haval]

Well at least Andrei's a wizard. Lore of Death has spells for talking to the recently dead and seeing spirits so I figure he's seen them demononstrated. The question would be is there anything more going on here that we aren't aware of yet.

Admittedly I've never played pathfinder so this level of blase might be inappropriate.

[DrK]

Well at least Andrei's a wizard. Lore of Death has spells for talking to the recently dead and seeing spirits so I figure he's seen them demononstrated. The question would be is there anything more going on here that we aren't aware of yet.

Admittedly I've never played pathfinder so this level of blase might be inappropriate.

Andrei may have encountered minor spirits or seen low level undead but this level of ghost manifestation would be extremely unatural

Okay, not sure how to react to everyone just shrugging their shoulders and going "Eh, so we got our job from a ghost?"

@DrK
I know this adventure is an adaptation from Pathfinder, and obviously familiarity with magic and magic-related creatures is much higher in Pathfinder than in Warhammer, but what level of "unnatural" things should I expect Cassian to be familiar with or have encountered before. Is Cassian overreacting to this discovery or is it in fact intended to be unusual even by the standards of Golarion?

It would be considered really weird to get orders from a ghost. Especially at your comparatively "junior" level

[wilphe]

Winifred is firmly in "this is very weird and creepy but this whole thing was weird and creepy already and there isn't anything I can do about it right now so I am going to try and keep my focus"

Being hired by Zellara's ghost would be less disturbing to her than being setup by an unknown third party capable of impersonating her

Not to mention they've already dealt with a crocodile that they've seen eat children and Lamm was obviously Not a Nice Person so she expected to find something gross

[wilphe]

It would be considered really weird to get orders from a ghost. Especially at your comparatively "junior" level

She might then bottle it up and freak out later

[rax]

@DrK
Asking for a straight OOC answer here.

I feel Cassian would want to bring Zellara's head with him to turn her over to the Pharasmans for a decent burial, but it feels like the scene is building towards us being swept up in events that won't let us choose our own way/destination for a while. Should I just have Cassian react differently in order not to cause unnecessary derailment?

@everyone else
Wouldn't it be easier to bring the loot along by stuffing it in one or more of our backpacks? We all have them, after all.

[wilphe]

I get the impression that there is more than we can reasonably take.

And 100% want to take zellara with us

[DrK]

@DrK
Asking for a straight OOC answer here.

I feel Cassian would want to bring Zellara's head with him to turn her over to the Pharasmans for a decent burial, but it feels like the scene is building towards us being swept up in events that won't let us choose our own way/destination for a while. Should I just have Cassian react differently in order not to cause unnecessary derailment?

@everyone else
Wouldn't it be easier to bring the loot along by stuffing it in one or more of our backpacks? We all have them, after all.

The next bit is actually pretty free roaming/ sandboxy so if that's what feels appropriate then by all means please do that. The next section has a couple of pre-determined set pieces to lead onto the next section

[rax]

I get the impression that there is more than we can reasonably take.

And 100% want to take zellara with us

I wasn't suggesting we bring anything but the fancy items that DrK listed individually. I doubt there'll be any trouble sticking them in one or more backpacks.

[wilphe]

Well:

We found that list, and then it seems we started opening boxes and found

As you all search the room the keys you found on his belt help open up some of the boxes allowing you to find some of the jewels and expensive looking items.

Which appears to be more stuff and is going to take time to scoop up

And apparently there are still boxes we can't open

So even if we can carry it all I'm not sure it's a good idea to hang around trying to

That said if there are boxes we can't open we should probably try just to check though I guess we have everything of plot significance

[rax]

That doesn't read to me like we found mountains of stuff that can't just be tipped into a backpack, but I'm sure DrK can clear that up for us.

[wilphe]

We still have the acid, if necessary Winifred can burn off the hinges on any boxes we can't open.

[DrK]

Sorry I had not made it clear. The summary of the loot was all the "good stuff". In other boxes, bags and cupboards is more or less worthless crap.

[wilphe]

If I understand correctly - we are at the top of the map and the cathedral we want to get to is at the bottom?

[Deadguy]

I'm sorry all, but I feel like I should tell you instead of just ghosting. I'm pulling the plug on all of my gaming. I need to focus on other things.

[wilphe]

Goodbye and good luck

[rax]

Sorry to hear that, but thanks for dropping by to let us know. There's way too many ghosts in PbP games. Best of luck with your other priorities.

[Haval]

I'm sorry all, but I feel like I should tell you instead of just ghosting. I'm pulling the plug on all of my gaming. I need to focus on other things.

Good luck. Real life comes first and all that.

[wilphe]

I am greatly enjoying the evolving relationship between Cassian and Winifred btw

[rax]

I am greatly enjoying the evolving relationship between Cassian and Winifred btw

Quoting Gandalf was a bit much, though.

On a more serious note, why did you bother setting up an if/then post if Winifred was going to release the prisoners anyway? And what's her actual bother with just leaving them to their fate?

[wilphe]

Well Cassian isn't stopping her - he had the option.

Partial lack of ruthlessness on her part, also pragmatism

If you kill people who surrender to you - word gets around and then people stop surrendering to you - or accepting your surrender when you offer it.

Our quarrel was with Lamm in any case and leaving them alive makes it look like a neater job done by professionals and possibly makes it less likely to attract official attention.

It might also leave with less of thirst for vengeance than if we just leave them to die and they escape

Also there is killing an evil person just sends them to the evil gods, giving them the chance to repent gives them the chance of going to the good gods (if that works in this cosmology)





I assume at this point that quote is proverbial even if you aren't in Middle Earth through a process of interplanar cultural osmosis

[rax]

What's Cassian supposed to do - physically restrain her? If she's not going to listen to his arguments about why we should just let them be, why would he imagine that she won't just go right ahead and release them as soon as he lets her go?

Regarding the point about not killing people who've surrendered, Cassian and Winifred are in agreement, which is why he's never advocated killing them.

For Cassian's part, he's not concerned with appearing "professional" because he's not looking for work and he's not afraid of what any officials might think. He also doesn't believe Lamm or his crooks have any friends that would stand up for them once they've been taken down and he believes his station as the son of (low-ranking and foreign) nobility will protect him.

As for the crooks seeking revenge, Cassian doesn't for a second believe that they won't do that just because we let them go now. These are evil men with no morals - they'll perceive Winifred's actions as a sign of weakness, not decency.

The last point doesn't work for him at all. People that need killing deserve that, no matter what theological consequences it may have.

Anyway, strictly OOC, I hope Winifred isn't going to be like this all the time. If she continually acts against Cassian's perceived better judgement and does so to his face, he's not going to see any point in continuing to associate with her. As things stand, she's just a bossy serving girl - no one who's opinion he has to care about.

[wilphe]

We he didn't say don't do it

He said it will be on her conscience not his, I read that as go ahead not my problem


OOC:

It's unlikely - she's currently going along with burying Zellara even though she'd rather sneak away and lie low and deal with that when there is not a riot going on, but if your character concept involves a strong element of "The other PCs should do what I say" bear in mind there is no IC reason for us to do so and OOC we didn't sign up for that kind of game.

There is nothing wrong with a noble plus entourage game but that isn't what this was billed as

[rax]

I'm sorry, wilphe, but I don't understand what you're asking of me here? You started by having Winifred declare her intent to release the prisoners unless anyone had any objections. Cassian objected and explained why he didn't think they should be released. Winifred argued with him and decided to release the prisoners anyway.

How did Cassian not say "don't do it" short of ordering her not to do it? Nothing about the way you've played Winifred so far has given me reason to expect that she would ever accept a direct order, so the only remaining option would have been to physically restrain her. That was never on the books because I didn't see that ending well IC or OOC.

It's unlikely - she's currently going along with burying Zellara even though she'd rather sneak away and lie low and deal with that when there is not a riot going on, but if your character concept involves a strong element of "The other PCs should do what I say" bear in mind there is no IC reason for us to do so and OOC we didn't sign up for that kind of game.

There is nothing wrong with a noble plus entourage game but that isn't what this was billed as

I don't see that I've played Cassian in the manner you're describing and I hope that's not the impression you've taken away from the game so far. The only time I had him say "not on my watch" was when Evelina tossed out the idea of just burning the fishery down with everyone in it.

For any other actions of consequence, I feel I've been careful to have Cassian ask the other PCs if they're willing to follow his lead and/or assist him. I've also not had him push on with any course of action over the clear objection of another PC. So no, IMO you don't have to worry about that.

Anyway, I hope this clears up how I've been perceiving Winifred and how I hope I've been playing Cassian.

[DrK]

@Deadguy. Sorry to see you go.

@All. Sorry for the slowdown, my project is reaching some critical points in the manufacturing process so been really busy. I'll be spotty for a couple of weeks before normal service resumes

[wilphe]

No problem

Rescue seems out of the question, but redirecting the crowd into not killing them immediately seems possible