Homebrew system thread II, part 2

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 1#p3732141

That's the latest update of my character sheet. Larric's magical abilities at that time, and this was back in November in real time, before we investigated the mounds on the mountain:

Passions 8
Water 4
Insight 8

Wits 10 (from 9)
Substance 9
Air 11

So you've overestimated the Wits/Air numbers by a few points, unless we got some XP since the last time we talked and I forgot about it. Or something else happened to increase his powers, likewise.

So maybe not quite so high as the outer ring of the seventh circle, unless of course we got XP and I forgot about it... in which case I'll be more than happy to bump him up a little, toward that standard.

I'll have to think a little more about IC actions; head's in a tangle today.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

I may have been overestimating, but I think you did get XP immediately after the resolution of the buried outpost- directly following a horrendous kaboom is always a good moment for a learning experience- and it is higher than that; the things that go with the passions (or extrovert- social if you prefer) are fire, water, happiness, entity (remember the euphemism alert for that one?) and insight.

On a game design/playtesting note, the guild needs to be more important than it has been thus far- why it hasn't is actually a metagaming issue; rogues, renegades, PC's generally, get more experience points and grow in ability faster than pillars of society. People who stay at home and behave like good citizens are left at a competitive disadvantage.


Total digression, there was a sci fi game, GDW's 2300 AD, that had a species of alien that behaved so much like that it must have been deliberately set up that way; the Vah (known to humanity as Kafers)- their biochemistry was strange, their brains only operated at fractional, ticking over capacity, retarded by human standards (whatever the clinical definition is of that, sub- 70- IQ I think) much of the time- until affected by the alien equivalent of adrenalin. Stress kicked their minds into supernormal function, in the face of danger they became significantly more intelligent than human average- 120-130 for the average grunt with veterans going much higher than that. Naturally, they were danger and thrill seekers of a high order, and peace being equivalent to lobotomisation they were pretty warlike, too. Imagine being a teacher in a Vah classroom...

[Fiji_Fury]

OOC: Hey ECR... while after the tower went ka-boom would have been a great time for xp, we didn't do it at that point. Unless I've seriously missed a message somewhere, we haven't recieved xp since just before entering the underground remnants of the tower on the mountain. Or are you referring to the underground fortress, which predated my participation in these shenanigans.

IC: Carefully noting the condition of the temple foundations and rebuilding efforts, Dale withdraws for the time being and goes in search of Larric. He has much to consider and even more to do. The task he's set for himself is daunting to say the least. He will seek the company of the living and ponder over his options.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Who would he go see about finding what stuff de Berrey has? Also, where are the bodies? He could probably have de Berrey's armor sold for a decent amount.)

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah, I'd been meaning to ask about the XP thing, actually.

If anyone can find the posts where XP were formally awarded, feel free to tell me, but I don't remember them and I've been keeping a continuous log of character changes.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Hm. Looking back myself, I thought you had- some were given out before you went in, but not afterwards. Let me see- more game design note work, for a session the normal take should be, trying to systematise it, 0, 1 or 2 in each of three areas; general fun had, playing in character and acting on the plot. This is an attempt to be more judgemental and not just go 'Ah, whattheheck, five for everybody' as I quite often do.

On the other hand, it was quite a learning experience. Four, and anybody want to make a case for more? Dirt- I don't think he's spent the last lot, not fully, and Fifi still has two (four now) unspent.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

I like that system. The other thing that's logically merited is some kind of guidelines for what constitutes a "session." Just as an example, there are at least three logical points for us to have received XP between November 15 and today:
-The moment after the magic circle exploded
-The moment after we got the door full of poison down to Sir Alfred's estates.
-The current moment, after we've resolved (semi-resolved?) the issues associated with the de Berrey lands.

This is not to say XP should have been awarded each time, but some kind of consciousness of just how much action properly goes in one session would be helpful. Roughly how many fights, how many social encounters? How many characters have to activate a major ambition?

That's really important online, where each 'session' can stretch out for weeks or months. I imagine it would remain helpful around a tabletop. Sometimes, three hours of gameplay might contain one rather dull slog and a bunch of player arguing about a plan; other times, the same three hours might contain a great deal of dramatic and plot-advancing events, numerous encounters of importance both social and militant, and so on.

Personally I think the 'amount of fun had' would be at a 1.

The 'playing in character-' well, I feel like I was pretty solidly in character, so were Fiji and Kaelan and Panzer. I played an alchemist who knows his chemicals well, and his magic not quite so well. Dale was the recovering death-priest, the slayer of abominations, and played it to the hilt. Dirt was the surprisingly cerebral ogre, who laughs in the face of danger and occasionally tries to eat it. Sir Alfred was the good-hearted but entertainingly oblivious knight we've all come to know and love.

So I might call that a 2.

"Acting on the plot-" ah, that can be interpreted so many ways. In the radar sense, we were "on the plot:" our actions were reasonable and prudent in light of our motivations, we made mistakes but they were the mistakes of a certain kind of IC character not of a foolish OOC player. In the literary sense, not so good: we acted on the plot at times, but at other times the plot acted on us, with de Berrey playing us like a violin pretty much the entire time we were there. A party savvier about Kuquanese politics and politics in general might have avoided a lot of unnecessary bloodshed, although in hindsight I am NOT relishing the idea of our yeomen and peasant militia taking on the tough deserters who posed such a problem for the baronial troops outside Qulan gate.

So yeah, calling that a 1 is fair.

The award of 4 is sensible if we assume that all action from the moment we entered the ruins on Mount Honeycomb to the moment we came back through the gates of Qulan is a single session of play.

---

IC: Also, ongoing revised draft of Larric's "character sheet." I'm taking notes every time on what I spend points on, and why.

Factoring in:
+4 XP gained after the first day, after the fight in Coroghan and reaching Caer Edric, and the fight with the renegade guardsmen.
+6 XP gained after the second day, after fighting the elves and reaching Qulan with Radulf.
+7 XP gained after the third day, after the duel between Alfred and Sir Oliver, after the Horrible News and Radulf being executed and the horrible elf-curse and the madwoman in the steel bikini and the madwoman with the fiery demon horse and second through forty-seventh sight (go figure, it seems as if the third day was somehow more even more psychotically eventful than the second...)
+6 XP gained after the fourth and fifth days- Master Owell's murder, going out in search of the baron, fighting the unlucky bandits, fighting the dark elves, going down into the First Age fortress, fighting Kardren's advance guard (how relaxing...)
+5 XP for the sixth and seventh days- the fight with that pair of elves, meeting Dale, watching the distant battle that wiped out the southern elves, heading up the slopes of Mount Honeycomb and fighting a dozen mutants.
+4 XP for the seventh, eighth, and ninth days- going into the Black Towers stronghold on Mount Honeycomb, fighting it out with the skeletal guardians, blowing up the magic circle with Aburon's help, hauling the mass of chemicals down the mountain on Dirt's shield, returning to Sir Alfred's family estates, dealing with the attempted chemical-thief, taking Norden troops to try and restore some order in the de Berrey lands, chasing de Berrey madly back to Qulan, first on foot and then in Strongarm's aircraft, the battle at Qulan gates, and dealing with the aftermath of that.

---

Days One through Seven elided

Day Seven Through Nine
Larric continues to advance his knowledge and understanding of magic. He's been spending a lot of effort lately on chemical manipulation, the practice almost has to be good for him. He's also learned a good bit about structures and patterns of magical force, and about rune-magic (some of it he'd rather not know).
[That's about all I can do with four]

1 point to increase Runes from 11 to 12
1 point to increase Thaumaturgy from 7 to 9 (I am still in the 0.5 points to bring up to twice default, right?)
1 point to increase Air Magic from 11 to 12
1 point to increase Substance Magic from 9 to 10

---

Larric Smith

Temper 13
Determination 10
Resist Magic 13
Resist Persuasion 10

Fellowship 10
Bargain 10
Human Perception 10
Oratory 7
Politics 6

Charm 13
Animal Handling 10
Banter 11
Persuasion 13


Logic 14
Evaluate 10
Perception 16
Runes 12
Thaumaturgy 9

Creativity 14
Alchemy 17
Composition 9
Scrounge 10

Education 9
Craft: Bookbinding 10
History 8


Strength 9
Club 9
Brawl 9

Endurance 10
Resist Injury 10
Resist Disease 11
Athletics 5

Agility 11
Dodge 11
Riding 6
Crossbow 11


Passions 8
Water 4
Insight 8

Wits 10
Substance 10
Air 12

---

Advantages:

Allies: -1 AP
Larric has friends and contacts among the alchemists of the region within which he's traveled, which is large but not that large; they have very high respect for him professionally, and generally like him...

Supernatural Awareness: -2 AP
Although the way Larric perceives supernatural effects can be rather odd; if there's such a thing as synaesthesia of the second sight, he's got it.

This is a relatively recent experience for him, and he's still not entirely comfortable, or sure he can tell truth from illusion, when it comes to things like auras.

Disadvantages:

Code of Honour: +2 AP

Phobia: +2 AP
Fear of dead bodies, more so than normal for a medieval society. Symptoms include brief incapacitating bursts of the shakes, loss of the initiative in combat, and periodic die roll penalties.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Panzer, as far as seeing what stuff de Berrey had, try searching the corpse, that's about it. Anything else would be at the village, or at wherever he called home, and that the king's army would have got to first.

Dale will return to the castle some time before Larric does- Alfred should still be there unless he goes tearing off anywhere in the meantime. What's Dirt up to?

Oh, one session- for internet purposes, I think I should have thought about this beforehand because my inclination is to call one 'session' one major event, one episode if you like. As far as plot goes, I tend to wing it so what can be given out there may vary- if things go in strange and interesting directions, if the players surprise me, that's probably grounds for a high award actually.

This may mean, technically, I owe you. Fix it later.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Where are the bodies? Speechifying, hitting things, cuneum formate, and resistance to injury, I suppose, in the last few days.)

Alfred Norden

Temper – 13
Interrogate – 15
Intimidate – 12
Resist Magic - 15

Fellowship - 10
Oratory - 13 (+1)
Politics - 4

Charm - 11
Courtliness - 12
Resist Persuasion - 10

Logic -12
Perception - 15

Creativity 12
Tactics - 16 (+1)

Education - 13
Survival - 15
History - 10

Strength -15
Maul - 19 (+1)
Brawl - 10

Endurance - 13
Resist Injury - 16 (+1)
Resist Disease - 11

Agility - 12
Martial Arts - 15
Athletics - 10

[Simon_Jester]

IC:

Larric doesn't surprise the guildsmen quite as much with Wits 10 Air 12 as he would with Wits 12 Air 14, but hopefully puts on a respectable showing in terms of potential and skill. Not professional-caliber overall, but respectable within his three core areas (he doesn't count Passions-Water as one of those).

He also reprises his baffling response to a lightning-spell: "I'm sure it works well enough, but why did you write it backwards... is this a test?" After about two rounds of the professional wizards having no idea what the hell he's babbling about, he shrugs and completes it back to front, anode-to-cathode, like they seem to want him to.

The tests of Substance magic go similarly strangely, with Larric showing relatively high sophistication at manipulation and fine distinction of one chemical substance from another (does Alchemy provide an augment there?)... but at the same time, he shows reluctance bordering on supernatural terror at the idea of even attempting transmutation of the elements. He remains firmly convinced that there's a very, very energetic Sword of Damocles hanging over that whole subject, and refuses to consider trying it without supervision and coaching.

Insight- Larric's a reductionist. A very, very, very reductionist thinker, and it shows in his approach.

Aaaand... entity- this being a training circle, Larric considers trying to summon a tiny carbon micro-elemental, in the same spirit that a budding fire-mage might try to light a candle... but decides to table that for later. After making himself look foolish with the Air spell and his superstitious dread of transmutation of the elements, he figures it would probably take too long to explain and the circle's probably not set up for it in any case.



Assuming all that gets done with without further incident, Larric stretches a bit at the end of being put through his paces, shakes his head a little, then his eyes refocus on Sihulam, as he scratches his chin (rasp, rasp; he hasn't had a chance to shave since night before last, come to think of it. Oops.)

"So, where would you say I stand?"

[Fiji_Fury]

DING! Level Up Information:

- Standing inside that abysmal mystic circle in the Black Tower was surprisingly mellow for Dale's health; +1 AP & Skill to Resist Magic
- Communing with the skeletal acolytes in the Black Tower and most recently with the Spirit of a Knight of D'nor in the graveyard counts as practice; +1 AP & Skill to Shadow Speak
- The Mystic Shield has come in handy and is now in Dale's possession; +0.5 AP (+1 Skill) to Shield
- Some pretty weak attempts to search out what's going to happen next mystically; +0.5 AP (+1 Skill) to Consequence
- Sword play has been pretty consistent and on occassion deadly; +1 AP & Skill to Long Sword

That should account for my 4 AP at this time. I'll list all of my character's attributes and such below and would appreciate if Simon_Jester and ECR can confirm that I've done the mystical skill increases appropriately. I think I understand them now, but not 100%.

Temper (14) - Determination (10); Intimidate (10); Resist Magic (14 + 1 = 15); Resist Persuasion (10)

Fellowship (10) - Human Perception (10); Oratory (5); Politics (8)

Charm (11) - Allure (8); Courtliness (9); Persuasion (12)

Logic (15) - Evaluate (10); Perception (13); Runes (10); Theology (12)

Creativity (11) - Musical Instrument (12); Tactics (11)

Education (12) - Culture/Human (12); Legends & Lore (13)

Strength (11) - Athletics (14); Brawl (9); Shield (4 + 1 = 5)

Endurance (13) - Resist Injury (13); Resist Disease (11); Survival (8)

Agility (15) - Dodge (13); Stealth (10); Long Sword (13 + 1 = 14); Dagger/Knife (12)

Mystical Abilities
Ponderances (5) - Sense (7); Consequence (3 + 1 = 4)

Talents (4) - Motion (4); Life (4)

Divine Magic of D'nor (3) - Shadowspeak (6 + 1 = 7)

Advantages
+1 AP = CAST IRON STOMACH: apparently, past diet and/or training have led to a tolerable appetite for any food, regardless of how poor its quality (this does not represent a preference, but rather a stoic acceptance of edible material)
+3 AP = SUPERNATURAL ALERTNESS: in tune with the flow of mystic energies in the world; as a consequence, is particularly perceptive
+2 AP = Empathy: perceptive of people’s feelings, though not of their thought processes or cultural context
+2 AP = ATTUNED: (+1 to all rolls) “MAGICAL DISBELIEF” hostile magical effects directed at the character are more likely to unravel or be reduced in effectiveness (does not gain a bonus in effectiveness for area of effect, traps or systemic environmental factors)

Disadvantages
- 4AP = SECRET: Complete social & personal amnesia; no recollection of details from past, nor of how this happened in the first place (it is highly likely that the actual cause is dangerous and uncomplimentary)
- 3AP = CODE OF HONOUR: “A man is only as good as his word”; due to his amnesia, the core of who he is and what he has is spoken word... he is loath to lie or renege upon a promise, although able to do so (just not willingly or easily)
- 1AP = PHOBIA: Rats, snakes, foxes and crows; suspicion that they carry disease and are the eyes and ears for sinister forces
- 3AP = EXILE: wherever the character is from, he has burned many bridges and perhaps has fled from realms familiar (although “familiar” stands as a relative term given amnesia)
- 3AP = ENEMIES: unknown origin to character (may or may not be related to case of amnesia) – may have formerly been friends or associates who were/think they were betrayed

I think that puts all the cards on the table now. As a character, Dale is very bewildered and concerned about the apparent unravelling of D'nor's temples and wardens. We shall see where this takes him... (my money is on nowhere good given the Disadvantages listed above).

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The numbers look good- Alfred goes out to explore the battlefield, look for anything of value that can be used, and finds that at least a couple of the bodies have been scavenged already, stripped of their armour and weapons. Sound of looters making off into the distance.

The rest of the stuff is usable though- a few personal possessions that they probably looted to begin with, rings and pendants and coin, issue items like spare shoes and uniform, bag of ration flour, that sort of thing. Some of their loot is of value, although it was clearly stolen in the first place.
de Berrey himself was lightly armoured, skirmisher's reinforced leather as were most of his troops; there's actually a rather confused priest, very young and not entirely on the ball, of Valdemiron you think, trying to organise some kind of burial detail, and from the way he's muttering to himself trying to remember how the rite goes and not succeeding.


In the circle then, to go into more detail, there's another use of Substance the guild seems to have thought of- to purify and refine, separating out one from another. One of the guild's jobs is to defend the security of the mint, which includes stopping chancers and rogues trying to pay for things with conjured or transmuted money- or for that matter fool's gold and like cheats. Larric's scruples do disappoint the guild and perhaps he would be better not explaining exactly why he has them. (Especially do not tell Njal, or he will attempt to invent the nuclear salt water reactor.)

At the end of it all, 'There was a lot there that passed you by, didn't it; what you're good at you are good at, but there is a breadth of talent, so much more to know. There's certainly no bar to your joining the guild on that basis, but we want to go over this in more detail- are you staying at the castle?'
Assuming the answer is yes, they'd be happy for you to stay and chat, but they also want to go over that in more detail without Larric looking over their shoulders, and the chances that nothing has happened to the rest of the group are not high.

[Simon_Jester]

In the circle then, to go into more detail, there's another use of Substance the guild seems to have thought of- to purify and refine, separating out one from another. One of the guild's jobs is to defend the security of the mint, which includes stopping chancers and rogues trying to pay for things with conjured or transmuted money- or for that matter fool's gold and like cheats. Larric's scruples do disappoint the guild and perhaps he would be better not explaining exactly why he has them. (Especially do not tell Njal, or he will attempt to invent the nuclear salt water reactor.)

Larric does not explain the consequences he fears of transmutation- the incident where he tried to make the substance he knows as "horrible fiery death metal" and got a result even worse than expected, to the point where he's quite glad he did it in an abandoned sand quarry on the outskirts of town.

The part he would say- he once tried to transmute tin out of iron and found it... "It was like trying to pick up Qulan castle on my shoulders and run it up the mountain. Hard, and not like 'I could with practice,' more like 'don't even try, you'll throw your back out before you budge it.' There's a trick to it that I don't know, and I haven't gone back to try again without finding out what it was."

The purify-and-refine angle reminds Larric of the "Smith's Gas Mask" enchantment he's been throwing around since back up in the mountain.

At the end of it all, 'There was a lot there that passed you by, didn't it; what you're good at you are good at, but there is a breadth of talent, so much more to know. There's certainly no bar to your joining the guild on that basis, but we want to go over this in more detail- are you staying at the castle?'

It was what Larric knew he didn't know, that made him so interested in the Guild- the possible insights into what he really wants to know about the world, that he might find through the right magic, in particular.

"Yes. Shall I come back later, or..." his chin twitches a bit, he's not sure what the other possibility is.

Assuming he gets an answer like "we'll send a minion with a message," or "come back an hour before sunset," or something like that, he makes ready to leave and return to the castle.

[Simon_Jester]

So Larric arrives at the castle- if we stick to the laws of narrative causality, he gets back after Dale's encounter at the cemetery, but while Alfred is still out watching a priest of Valdemiron attempt to do funeral rites.

I wonder, is it actually possible for him to screw this up badly enough that we end up having to fight the deserters all over again...

Meanwhile, Larric, feels reasonably confident as he leaves the guild- the wizards' assessment of his abilities squares quite well with his own, so he figures they'll do what he considers the sensible thing, which is to accept a new applicant and introduce him to safe handling practices.

He presumably runs into Dale- Dale may have decided to save time by waylaying Larric on his way out of the wizards' guild, or be waiting for him at the castle.

"Hullo, what's the matter, you look like you've seen..." Larric pauses and realizes that for a priest of D'nor, "seen a ghost" is a very likely part of the job description. "Let me back up. What's the matter?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Narrative causality, Larric and Dale have both been doing involved, time consuming things, Alfred not so much, Dirt-?

Simply making the assumption that Alfred writes quite slowly should cover some of it, stripping and burying the dead (with a funeral service delivered by a confused Valdemironian acolyte, who spends most of the time trying to shoo Dirt away from the "drum kit" and most of the rest going 'um...') should account for the rest.

What the guild want to do is sit down and have a good hard think about the politics of it all, thaumaturgically speaking Larric's a shoo- in, no problem there at all.

It's the policy of taking in hedge wizards, how to manage it, that they need to do some serious plotting about. From that human perception (which really was very good), Larric is in serious danger of finding himself the poster boy for the new plan- one way or the other. They'd basically like him to go away for a little while so they can think of what it is. If he wasn't more or less competent and sane it would be easier, they could afford a no.

'We'll send a messenger to the castle.' is the word, 'If not tonight then first thing tomorrow morning.'

On the way back, somebody (one of the sherriff's men if no-one else) will be able to point him in the direction of Alfred, out at the battlefield, at more or less the same time as Dale gets there too.

[Panzersharkcat]

Alfred would be helping bury them, too. Due to the dead, even if some of them were kind of assholes. He'll be keeping a lookout to make sure other looters don't try to take his loot and for the deserters to return.

[Fiji_Fury]

Responding to Larric's question about how he's doing:
"Things are not well. I must find others of my Order, but they have scattered, leaving their work unfinished. The more time passes, the more that work will accumulate and the further conditions will deteriorate. If the spirits of the dead remain unheralded into the next world, they will begin roaming ours. The results would be... unpleasant."

Dale walks with Larric, presumably toward where Sir Alfred is.

"How did your business go? Better than mine, I hope."

<Leaving time between this question and whatever Larric chooses to share as they walk, but posting Dale's reaction to the bumbling priest now>.

Upon arriving at the battle site, Dale's expression darkens. He takes in the scene and observes the Preist of Valdemiron fumbling through the WRONG funeral rites... and doing it badly at that. He makes the connection between this man (or his like) and the sad state of D'nor's temple near the graveyard. Glaring daggers at the Priest, Dale steps forward himself toward the prepared bodies and begins to complete funeral rights that are not just symbolic, but will actually release these souls beyond the veil.

OOC: I know Dale has a long series of memory problems and uncertainty about his past, but he's piecing more and more together as time goes by. His Theology skill is 12 and I rolled several times to see how chance would influence his ability to perform these rights. (I rolled 5, 5, 5, 12, 10, 4; it might have been more interesting had the dice really indicated things were screwed up, but instead they worked cleary and repeatedly in favor of this plan. If ECR wants/needs to make his own roles for the proficiency of Dale's actions I will gladly embrace the results, good or bad).

[Simon_Jester]

En route, Larric explains that the wizards put him to the test, and it looks like they don't exactly know how to handle a man showing up at their doorstep and asking to join, who doesn't need to be taught absolutely everything from the ground up. He hopes that doesn't turn into trouble. That's about all he did while Dale was out walking and Alfred was out sifting the battlefield.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

As the acolyte- still a novice really- priest is shoved out of the way, he protests a little but that is quickly silenced by various people, including Dirt (Kaelan, are you really that busy?) glaring at him.
Then the basic problem starts to happen. Dale's muscle memory of the last time he did this comes flooding back, and bringing all the other memories with it. Of one of the rocks his patron broke on.
Disaster and hobson's choice- damned if you do, damned if you don't. The terrible alternatives of the dead, and the critical part that being mourned, and being remembered, plays in keeping them at rest; and the falling out with the rest of the pantheon, the shouting, screaming matches, the literal fight as Dale's colleagues- himelf in there somewhere- tried to bludgeon some sense into them, that the were asking for the impossible.

One of the reasons ancient, forgotten graves are so dangerous, and people much thought of in life have to be sat on especially heavily to make sure they're dead, a technicality normally kept from the public and in fact from most of the other gods- the source of the power of the rites. It's not all from within; in fact, hardly any of it is.

Most of the power needed to lay the dead properly to rest, send them on to the appropriate afterlife and make sure they stay there actually comes from the mourners, the fellow believers, the rememberers. The gods receive this power, and put it to work on the world through the priest who channels and directs.

When there is no-one but the dead, to bury and to mourn the dead- what then? That is when the unquiet, uneasy dead walk again, unfortunately- the people whose lives were not finished, who left something undone. Untimely, violent death is good for making ghosts. Not so much the battlefield- anyone who at least theoretically accepts that they're taking a soldier's chance should lie in their grave without too much unrest- but the murdered and assassinated, there is usually trouble there.

So as things started to happen, as the empire's peacekeeping troops preferred to make deserts and call it done, there were arguments among the representatives of the rest of the pantheon, what to do- arguments that Dale remembers being on the losing side of. Leave them to lie, we have the living to worry about. Infighting- backstabbing. Too much to do, nothing to do it with, all in opposition, even your so- called friends. Desperation, and strange decisions.


Dale has to be helped up, and held up, to finish the rest of the service which he does more or less in a daze, but from the feel of it sliding together an adequate one. A faint thread of confused, embarrassed, ashamed divine presence there at the end.


When that's done, Alfred had a list, did he not? Perhaps worth looking at and deciding what to do now.

[Kaelan]

OOC -
Yes, I really am that busy!
Just back from taking Easter off with the family & in-laws, Swiftly followed up by the manic in-tray at work (holiday cover is anything but, usually along the lines of "call back and get hold of him next week" with the paperwork left in the In-tray). Anyhow, back to the game and the mountain of back reading...
Character point spend will be in the next post, but won't be anything drastic. I'll trawl back thru the pasts posts for ECR's original stats for Fifi and do her's (its?) at the same time.

IC
This is why the ogre method of treating the dead is so much better. Hard to rise back and cause problems when you're a small pile of poo...... If Dirt was at the gravesite he would be handing Dale a fork, knife and plate with a side of garlic to deal with this problem.

Dirt was accompanying Alfred up until the point when he handed over the sword to offset the latest expense of our adventure, which strikes him as kind of backwards. He was under the impression that adventurers normally returned to town with more cash than they left. This group of humans does appear to be doing it backwards.

Leaving Alfred to discuss the finer points on the legal side of things, he heads back to the former site of battle to join in the 'recovery' process. Resisting the urge to make a set of drums and totem poles as this may cause more problems for poor Alfred than he already has, and Larric may get upset if he saw them (let alone Dale, but Dirt is unaware of that yet), even though this will result in the dead dispersing and not howling the area with tales of our victory in battle as they should be doing for the next few years.

If he manages to scavenge enough coin\saleable parts etc he will return to town and approach a metal smith with a view to finally getting his chain suit assembled so as to prevent future swords sticking in his arm. After that, window shopping and sightseeing to get a feel for this new town that he has arrived in for the first time. Where he eventually ends up I will leave to ECR pending on what convenient to the party (Alfred returning/the graveyard/ elsewhere?)

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Alfred's list, and the council of peace/war/stuff/whatever that we hold. Presumably Alfred lays it all out.

After the Sheriff gives his response, he'll find paper or parchment to scribble down any loose ends and to consult with the rest of the party on anything he may have missed. Mind you, this is a list of everything (well, at least trying to list everything) left undone from the very beginning.
-The men of the woods
-The civilians of the town de Berrey and his men were encamped in
-de Berrey's surviving men
-Ridebert's legal problems
-Rohal's whereabouts
-Informing people of the destruction of that monster producing place, if he hasn't already, unless it's not wise to mention it
-Elves solved, unless things have been forgotten
-20th Cataphract and the orc [Strongarm, the one with the airplane? -SJ]
-Lisanna's presence at Lillehammer
-Rescuing the boy de Berrey
-The town Alfred was encamped in
-General law and order stuff in de Berrey's land, including making sure Captain de Berrey's men don't go there to attack

[/quote]"All I know is, it's been too full a week for me to want to go traveling anywhere in a hurry. Maybe can't be helped, though. We know why Lisanna went to Lillehammer, we brought her there to burn out that pile of poisons. Wish I'd been on hand to help assay, but some things can't be gotten past." Larric rubs his chin, now with five days' beard growth- he's really got to find a place and time to shave. Forgot to do it at Lillehammer. Aargh.

"Question is, are you in such a hurry to get back to Lillehammer and the de Berrey lands that we can't stay here for a night? I think maybe I'd better, speaking for myself. On the one hand, aye, what's left of the deserters might go back there. On the other, there's still the militia and the yeomen, and with so many hurt or killed, and both villages roused against them, I don't think what's left of the bandits can just walk back in like they own the place. And on that count, the peasants have the boy de Berrey safe, aye?

And besides, if you want answers to questions that you'd ask here, we're going to have to hang around here long enough to find someone to ask. Your cousin, I doubt Dame Andrea'll be in shape for it. Tamarin's been beaten, I'd like to know who did it- to remember for later, if nothing else. Your cousin's still in trouble, too... the verderer? Lautern's probably not happy about what happened at the battle either, any more than you said the constable was."

Larric now shakes his head; a lot of our allies are in bad shape and we don't seem to be doing them many favors. He wants to hear what Alfred thinks, and the others, though Dirt's advice will probably be most useful for horrible comedy and "Okay, now we know the opposite of what we want to do" effect.

[It's not that he's wrong, it's that either he's wrong, or everyone else is wrong and he's right. Even Larric is starting to give up on telling which is which. ]

If Alfred has misgivings and wants to go back to Lillehammer at once, Larric suggests: "what if the horsemen who came with Dirt and Dale go back with a message? What do you want done there, while we're here? He waves in the direction of Lillehammer and the de Berrey lands [which, as yet, don't have a convenient name I can recall]

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Caen for the de Berrey lands, if they haven't been named yet? I don't think Alfred's shaved in a while, either. What would razor design be like in this era? I imagine straight razors wouldn't be invented for a while, let alone double edged safety razors.)

"Aye, the boy de Berrey is safe and I doubt the deserters have the tactical wherewithal to pose significant threat to Lillehammer. And right, Strongarm. You'd think it'd be a name I'd remember. He can wait. For Lillehammer, I'll leave instruction. There is much left undone in Qulan and my estate can manage for the time being."

And now to draft a message home.

[Fiji_Fury]

Seems ECR guided Dirt back to the burial site at our previous battle.

Dale shakes from the exertion of the rites and his most recent disturbing revelations.

"Gods, if every rite feels like this I can see why the others fled," he mutters, holding onto Dirt for support.

More clearly he addresses the Priest of Valdemiron. "We should speak, you and I. The temple of D'nor in Qulan has been desecrated. Without offering condemnation for any involved, what exactly do you know about it? Where is your senior priest?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Actually, you've got me there on the subject of authentic shaving implements for this period- although there are references to roman barbers using something of the sort, so I think you can call it a fashion thing; blades suitable for the task follow fairly directly behind someone deciding that it's the in look.

Dirt has been scavenging, and has found several shiny things; some of the looting was therefore his fault, although Alfred will be unaware of this.

I haven't really described the general shape and layout of Qulan, have I? The castle mound, more or less camel/potato shaped, is actually close to the centre of town- in fact it more or less is. There's a (formerly) well paved wide road around the foot of the mound, looping round it, which serves as a market street and town square in better days, (and on bad days as a cleared killing ground for the bolt- throwers, archers and catapults on the walls of the castle- the pacing isn't very neat at the moment.)

major roads branching off there to the gates and to the lakeside, where Ikhran's temple and the boatyard and docks are. Northeastern quarter is facing the mountain, full of things to do with wood- sawmills and timber yards and such. Closer ot the docks is more generally crafting and industry.

Dirt wanders around a bit, before noticing that people are quite scared of him. Not actually scream and run away scared, but quiver and back off, definitely. Does find a smith, and strikes quite a bargain. Take a couple of days, though. Dirt will have to expain to everybody, in some cases repeatedly, that he's not with the Striking Phoenix- apparently they did have some ogres in their ranks riding rhinoceri. (Now there is an objective.)

Craftsmanship is something that dark elves would never do; simplicity. Get something solid up as quickly and as uncomplicatedly as possible. Lots of rough work- most of it more reminiscent of ogre work than the caverns actually. People trying to get on with life, trying to survive, not much joy and energy about the place.

Eventually he attracts the attention of the law- a group of the verderer's men come to escort him back to the rest of the party. Talking to them a bit, they're quite interested in dirt and ogre life in general, and especially the svartalfven caverns. What's he trying to extract from them in return?

The peasants have the lad safe, I can't think of Caen without thinking "Normandy"- the small river and valley that it ran through were the Pava, yes?


'Desecrated?' the acolyte says, not comprehending. 'We were trying to build, are you saying it's wrong? Did we- Archpriest Dor'Vaht will be, I don't know but the temple will. The mailed fist and crown.' Points in its' general direction, It'sa ctually fairly close to the main loop at the centre of town.

[Fiji_Fury]

"Thank you acolyte. I will seek out Archpriest Dor'Vaht."

Dale is irritated at the Priest of Valderimon, although he is keenly aware there are still missing pieces from the events of the recent past. There is also a distinct possibility that the temple's shape is not the responsibility of the servants of Valderimon but instead the Striking Phoenix or other forces. To Dale, it has been desecrated. This acolyte of Valderimon seems to think the temple is being rebuilt, and perhaps a fair job of it is planned. The Archpriest may be able to attend more capably and fully to the needs of the gravesites and the burial rites of the passing souls until members of D'nor's order can be brought back to the duty in Qulan. I expect that conversation to be frustrating and perhaps even dangerous, but time will tell.

"It would seem I have further immediate business in Qulan. Before I return there, is there anything crucial I can assist you with Sir Alfred?"

Note: Aside from the beginnings of a possible friendship here, Sir Alfred's star seems to be rising in a land which needs steady and just hands. If Dale can help Sir Alfred with that, and Sir Alfred can support Dale's work at the same time that would be a win-win situation. Let us see if that is possible...