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Forever_Peace posted:I should mention that we might suggest some supplies instead of cash back from Oleg early in the game here to help him grow the place a bit. Teonis wanted the shield, and the party could probably use the food and water he has lying around. Yeah I at some point will need empty potion bottles, if I wanna get heavy into the Herbalism Kit->potions of healing business. And I'll need a Chain Shirt if Oleg can scrounge one up. Should we just make wishlists of poo poo we want, and then have Oleg trade the poo poo we don't want until he gets those things for us?  Edit: Also, to-do list: 1. Waterboard some people 2. Go to Daggermark and look for robbery/shakedown victims 3. kill poo poo and heal the barbarian 
P.d0t fucked around with this message at 08:12 on Jul 9, 2015 |
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Jul 9, 2015 06:52
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quote:Clive barely manages to suppress a look of utter horror when the banker suggests paying taxes on the book price of everything they just found before giving it to Oleg anyways free of charge. See: things that didn't happen .quote:Summary of the above fluff for an approach to loot that lets us handwave away vendor trash while simplifying this whole tax thing, in a way that should let us avoid the wrath of the swerdlerds (but who knows because literally all of it is made up). Incorporates suggestions from everybody on IRC and chat thread. If this sounds good to everybody we should be able to move through loot stuff pretty quickly in the future without getting deep in the weeds. Just as a clarification, in 5e gems can be used interchangeably as cash, they have fixed values and that's why I include them in the monetary taxation numbers I put out along with the raw silver from the amulet . I never had any intention of, nor did I, including gear we keep or stuff given to Oleg for kickbacks in the tax math.
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Jul 10, 2015 16:21
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A Darker Porpoise posted:Just as a clarification, in 5e gems can be used interchangeably as cash, they have fixed values and that's why I include them in the monetary taxation numbers I put out along with the raw silver from the amulet Sorry! Trying to do my best to keep up with minimal handholding, I'm sure this won't be the last rookie mistake I make as I learn the ropes. Thanks for explaining D&D economy on IRC. Edited to clarify that the ooc box is basically a summary of what you already suggested and that we can get back to the fun stuff.
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Jul 10, 2015 16:56
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It's no big deal . Rpg economies are usually dumb and broken anyway haha, especially in older dnd when you start examining the ridiculous wealth divide between PCs and NPCs, or how broken the economy is when you go into shitville and buy the one magic item they have that was handed down from their great great great grand pappy that was brought up by the DM because one player is behind on their magic item allotment, suddenly this shitfarming community has more money than all of the commoners in the world combined .
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Jul 10, 2015 18:08
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Waador posted:
 Autumn is a known herbalist, too 
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Jul 11, 2015 04:23
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"I work for a herbalist, who runs his business in Daggermark. Happs was showing me how secure the area was, and how 'under control' they had the region, because my boss wanted to set up a business relationship with Kressle and her crew. There's a plant native to this area that's hard to procure in Daggermark, and my boss wanted to corner the supply on it by funding Kressle to ensure this region stayed under control. In the longer-term, we were going to work out a deal so that my boss is the only one who gets regular shipment of the product out of the region."
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I'm fine with letting Domingo go, he's clearly dodgy, but not in a way that threatens us directly.
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Jul 11, 2015 17:44
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Angrymog posted:I'm fine with letting Domingo go, he's clearly dodgy, but not in a way that threatens us directly. Ditto, though there is a possibility he could be useful in luring out Kressel first. Any ideas on that? Taking away their homefield advantage of pit traps, canopy blinds, and hidey-holes seems like a good idea.
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Jul 11, 2015 18:09
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Forever_Peace posted:Ditto, though there is a possibility he could be useful in luring out Kressel first. Any ideas on that? Taking away their homefield advantage of pit traps, canopy blinds, and hidey-holes seems like a good idea. I think that that would be too unpredictable - it's not as if we have any actual leverage on him or any way to compel his loyalty.
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Jul 11, 2015 18:53
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Angrymog posted:I think that that would be too unpredictable - it's not as if we have any actual leverage on him or any way to compel his loyalty. Well that's potentially fixable. In game theoretic terms, he's an abducted witness - he has information that could be damaging to us (the abductors) if released to the right people, and we have him currently under our physical control. If both parties are rational actors (lol), the optimal solution is for the witness to give the abductors something verifiable that is at least equally damaging to him, moving the standoff into a sort of M.A.D. detente where all parties can then just walk away. Typically, philosophers have discussed things like compromising photos or proof of criminal activity (for the witness to yield to the abductors in exchange for the ability to walk), but in this case something like a Domingo-signed letter to the Stag King describing who he is and how he and Kressel went behind his back might suffice. Whether or not that all would be worth it probably depends on whether we can think of a use for him to lure out Kressel, though.
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Jul 11, 2015 19:21
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Running a fairly gross fever right now so my posting will be limited to short junk until that breaks. I'm hoping that Kressle will have come looking for her missing crew and we'll run into them on our way to the bandits, if we go to the kobolds and can get them to join up we could use them as an ambush on Kressle, we'd have to strike out pretty soon to arrange that though. My personal preference for how to deal with the bandits is to recruit the kobolds into our new empire and prime them for an attack on the bandits. Make a ruckus at the front of the bandit base by bringing a cart loaded with "tribute" in the form of our money pile, while the bandits are focused on us the kobolds sneak in and wait for our signal, on a whistle blow or something we begin the attack from the outside while the kobolds creep over the walls from the back and attack from the inside. It was also said that they sometimes put wandering bandits up, so we could go in under the pretense that we're bandits, our sneaky people could poison the bandits supplies while the rest of us get a party going, people start to get sick and we spring an attack. Bonus points if it's done in a combo with the 'bolds. I'm fine with doing work for Domingo's bosses. Realistically we're probably going to get an encounter or two in the time it takes to get to the kobolds/bandits so we're likely to be level 2 if not well on our way to level 3, so survivability isn't too big of a worry for me.
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Jul 12, 2015 02:29
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From what Brute said, I don't think we have the time to go to kobolds and return to Olegs before Kressle gets suspicious. We might have the time to go to the kobolds and then Kressle's camp. Being another group of bandits working for The Stag Lord might get us into their camp, though I think we'd be best off prtending that Jergo and maybe even Clive are kidnap victims rather than part of the group. We could also just ride there fast and attack before they're starting to become concerned about the tax collection.
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Jul 12, 2015 09:30
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Brute says it'd take 3 days to get from Oleg's to the camp this is true if you hold a normal pace, Kressle isn't likely to get worried until after the 4th or 5th day, she has no reason to immediately suspect Oleg, a man whom she knows to be a simpering coward who folded immediately to her demands, so she'll likely go from place to place on their tribute line checking for incidents. So we have 3 freebie days to get to the 'bolds and a full fourth day we can spend befriending or subjugating them before either setting up an ambush or leading them to the bandit camp. After day 4 ends Kressle will apparently start getting worried, day five comes along and we're either slaughtering bandits in their camp or waiting for them to make the trip to the kobold camp where we slaughter the bandit filth. I am 100% okay with using Jergo as a fake hostage, he'd be easy to pass off as a juicy target, dude is the adopted son of a fairly well known merchant family and has a ring that says as much as well as being a member of a prominent bank who is carrying his symbol of office on him .Looking at the distances could in fact get to the kobolds and back to Oleg's before Kressle is even starting to get worried though it would be massively dangerous for us, if we pushed at a fast pace we could be there and back in 4 days (Day 1: 30 miles south Day 2: 20 miles south 10 east and then the reverse back on the next two days.), it's just that we'd be at a -5 to our passive perceptions so the local wildlife could get a drop on us easily. We could do it faster if we really pushed but then there's a big chance of us inflicting fatigue levels on ourselves and those just suck.
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Jul 12, 2015 10:57
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If I was Kessel I'd probably send a couple of scouting groups out to look for the tax party rather than march off with a full band again, that way they can cover two locations in the same amount of time rather than having to ride a loop. Do we have a map online already, or can we start annotating the one from the Kingmaker Players guide?
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Jul 12, 2015 11:01
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Any thought to setting up an ambush at the toll bridge? I suppose it would be wise to try and figure out where Kressle is most likely to send a search party first, assuming we want to wait for them to show up, rather than the more direct approach.
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Jul 12, 2015 16:48
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P.d0t posted:Any thought to setting up an ambush at the toll bridge? I suppose it would be wise to try and figure out where Kressle is most likely to send a search party first, assuming we want to wait for them to show up, rather than the more direct approach. Possible, but risky with regards to the safety of Oleg's.
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Jul 12, 2015 17:03
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Theres a toll bridge? I feel like you all have a map I don't.
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Jul 12, 2015 17:06
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Teonis posted:Theres a toll bridge? I feel like you all have a map I don't. Waador posted:
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Jul 12, 2015 17:10
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"My name is Brute, sir. Brute Grayson. I'll do whatever you want, just please don't hurt me." He waits for the gnome to ask his questions before responding, "His name's Domingo, I don't really know the guy very well though. He's not part of our crew, but he comes to the camp once in a while to speak with Happs, or our leader Kressle. He seems to come around every other month, and has been doing so for about half a year now." The man shrugs his shoulders, "I don't ask questions about that sort of thing, Kressle doesn't take too kindly to people sticking their nose into her business. I didn't want to lose my tongue, or my hands, or ...worse." He offers an apologetic look, and tries to offer something of value, "Domingo hasn't traveled with us before, that was new this time around. I got the sense that Happs was trying to show him how we had this area under our thumb, between Oleg's place, the old man's toll bridge along the Shrike, and the kobolds." He looks around, apparently trying to get a sense of whether he's saying is good enough for Jergo and the others, "Domingo was talking like he was going to part ways with us after we showed him Oleg's place, as that was the last stop on our tax collection run. It sounded like he had someplace else to be, maybe someone to report back to? I don't really know." On the subject of their encampment, he offers, "We used to move our camp every couple of weeks, Kressle said it was better to be cautious. Lately she's changed her mind, though, and we've been fortifying an area at the base of the Thorn river, about forty miles southwest of here. Hollowing out trees to hide in, building hunter's blinds in the canopies, making a few pit traps of our own, actually, too." He looks nervously back to the area that has since been filled in, where he was nearly buried alive, "We've been using shovels and good old-fashioned physical labor to do that, though. Would've been nice to have some magical talent to get that job done in a day, instead of a month." He laughs, "I went to a lot of work to get out of trench-digging duty, truth be told. It cost me a lot in bribes of drink and coin to switch out my shifts for tax collection duty instead. All along, I thought that gypsy woman was talking about the work we were doing in the camp. Who would've thought?"
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I think if we're going to jump Kressle we'll probably want to do it on the road to Oleg's. If we range out too far there is the dice's chance Kessle goes another way or passes before we're ready. Plus we don't know anything yet about the toll bridge or the gnolls so spending time with them gives us less time to set things up. There is also the danger of getting banged up by random encounters the farther we move away from Olegs. I'm not exactly sure the mechanics of finding an ambush spot are going to work in a table top game. I'm hoping Jorag having a fairly detailed map will help us. The more elaborate the set up the more time it's going to take. So keeping it simple with pit traps and sniping spots is probably the baseline. It would be ideal if we could find some sort of high ground or gully that they have to go through. Even better if we can somehow box them into it and pick them apart at range then send Gorog in to clean up. edit: I seem to be on another planet. You guys know what I mean. Gorom, kobolds, and the little gnome. Trast fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Jul 12, 2015 |
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Jul 12, 2015 17:53
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According to this information, an ambush at the toll bridge is a waste of time, as Kressle might not even go that direction. To be honest, if I was waiting for my men to return and they were late, I would not follow their trail as I could potentially be chasing their tail. I would take their route in reverse, hitting up their last stop first, and so on, so I would be more likely to run into them sooner. If Oleg's is the last stop on their tax run, that would be the first place Kressle would check.
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Jul 12, 2015 17:54
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Teonis posted:According to this information, an ambush at the toll bridge is a waste of time, as Kressle might not even go that direction. Yeah, that too. I think we ought to just motor for Kressle's hideout.
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Jul 12, 2015 17:59
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Make it so!
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Jul 12, 2015 18:12
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OK, I agreed to get things moving too. Thoughts on the bandits: I'm more than happy to try to social our way into camp and catch them by surprise, but I think one potentially major advantage might need to be sacrificed in order to do so is the ability to try to fight them in the dark. From what we saw, most of the bandits were human, and Kressel sounds human, while most of our group can see in the dark (Clive and Daimon excluded, I think). I'm assuming that the bandit camp will be lit if they're awake at night. In contrast, we might be able to lure a few of them out if, say Jergo and I (or really Jergo and anybody or even Jergo alone - as ADP says, he's a juicy target) set up camp for the night uncomfortably close to the bandit den while the rest of our party hides. I'd guess they'd send at least a few folks out to investigate. It actually works in our favor if they find the whole thing suspicious and try to sneak up instead - that means they won't have torches lit already. Also, we wouldn't have to deal with hidey-holes, pit traps, and canopy blinds, which is preferable. With luck, we'd also get to the bandits in two batches, rather than all 11 at once. Might be worth a try?
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Jul 13, 2015 13:49
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As previously mentioned I am on vacation for most of July and August, so will be focusing on the game during that time. However, I've made plans to be in Halifax from July 17th to July 21st, and will be in Montreal from July 25th to July 27th. I expect I'll have my laptop with me and will be updating while on location, but likely only in the evenings or early mornings, and probably won't be able to be on IRC during that timeframe. So expect a bit of a slowdown in posting throughout those two weekends on my front, though it won't grind to a halt unless my plane crashes or something. In which case I'm sure this will be one of my many regrets. Anyway, just wanted to keep you folks in the loop.
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Jul 13, 2015 19:51
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Enjoy. I'll be off without internet for 9-10 days in October, but that's a long time away.
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Jul 13, 2015 23:59
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Forever_Peace posted:set up camp for the night uncomfortably close to the bandit den while the rest of our party hides. I'd guess they'd send at least a few folks out to investigate. This seems like a really good option to me, especially if we happen to find one of their "hunter's blinds in the canopies" and can use it against them. Autumn obviously would volunteer for the black-ops stuff.
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Jul 14, 2015 04:29
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P.d0t posted:This seems like a really good option to me, especially if we happen to find one of their "hunter's blinds in the canopies" and can use it against them. Cool! Here's a concrete suggestion then, to work as a potential starting point: - Take the "safe" path towards the bandits. Try to arrive near evening on the last day. - Once we get relatively close, tie everybody's horses into a packhorse chain and load the saddlebags with dirt and/or rocks (make em look totally stuffed). - The rest of the group splits off on foot to shadow Jergo and the horses (and Daimon maybe?). - Jergo and Daimon set up camp for the night uncomfortably close to the bandits (in a good ambush spot - maybe with some trees and shrubs around) and start making some kind of unholy racket. Something impossible to ignore. Rest of the group hides someplace sneaky nearby and waits. - When the bandits come to investigate, we extinguish the campfire and go bananas. If they have torches, ranged folks could probably stay outside of the zone of effect, and I'm happy to run around kicking dirt on any they drop (human characters probably not good for much else in the dark). But really, even if the darkness thing doesn't work out, we hopefully don't need to take on the whole group at once (though it is likely we'd need to take on two bunches in quick succession), we have the benefit of neutral ground, and poo poo if we're lucky, maybe even a surprise round.
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Jul 14, 2015 05:03
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Forever_Peace posted:- Jergo and Daimon set up camp for the night uncomfortably close to the bandits (in a good ambush spot - maybe with some trees and shrubs around) and start making some kind of unholy racket. Something impossible to ignore. Rest of the group hides someplace sneaky nearby and waits. Alternate: We set up a campsite and then minor illusion a big sound, then while everyone is in the bushes or what have you, Jergo and Durnem cast some minor illusion cardboard cutouts of themselves and the group springs the ambush without the danger of them just shooting us on sight .
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Jul 14, 2015 05:27
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A Darker Porpoise posted:Alternate: We set up a campsite and then minor illusion a big sound, then while everyone is in the bushes or what have you, Jergo and Durnem cast some minor illusion cardboard cutouts of themselves and the group springs the ambush without the danger of them just shooting us on sight Now i'm picturing Homer Simpson punking George Bush Sr.
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Jul 14, 2015 05:39
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ADP and I hashed out a few ideas for the present encounter. Any in particular jump out for you folks? 1) Sneak some ranged folks up to the point across the river from the bandit pair (cover provided by Jergo and Clive as needed) and sniper them to death with a surprise round. Pros: low risk. Cons: might be more bandits hiding on the far side that would now be alerted (and could even run to warn Kressel if these bandits are hers). 2) Send some folks to jump over to the far side of the river at the skinny point to the East, then flank/look for other bandits. Pros: more flexibility. Cons: splits up party. 3) Simulate the sounds of Happs fighting a Troll or something and shouting for help. Pros: The bandits come to us (good if the bridge is rigged). Cons: if it doesn't work we've lost the element of surprise. 4) We all jump the gently caress across the river directly on top of the bandits. Pros: metal as gently caress. Cons: Horses get left behind and we might all fall into the river and drown. 5) Jergo the pit wizard strolls on up and offers to help them dig those holes. Pros: hilarious, and ADP has already written a pretty boss poem to introduce himself. Cons: Possibly suicidal 6) Clive hits the pair with "sleep" and we just meander across. Pros: We get across silently and get to chat with the bandits on our own terms. Cons: relies on good rolls (lol). Thorvun will be displeased when the bandits get killed after. There are probably more that may or may not have just seen us do this. Things we should probably consider: there's probably more bandits around (there are 5 shovels), I think the tree bridge is really shady (do we send a horse across first?), there could be more hiding in trees etc. (who has the best active perception? Make a roll!). Forever_Peace fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Jul 14, 2015 |
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Jul 14, 2015 14:00
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How do we know that there are five shovels, and which side of the river are we on? I thought that we were on the same side as the bandits. Not entirely sure how the tree bridge works? Is it a giant hollow tree that we walk inside?
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Jul 14, 2015 15:02
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Re: #4. Why would we not jump the river on horseback, they have way better chance to make the jump? Regarding the side of the river. I assume we are on the north side, as we were traveling south. Ps: Gorom is suggesting #2, but after additional scouting.
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Jul 14, 2015 16:26
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Teonis posted:Re: #4. Why would we not jump the river on horseback, they have way better chance to make the jump? re: Jumping - It's 30' from bank to bank - that's 10 meters - the horses would be landing in water of unknown depth and strength onto bad footing even if it was shallow. I'm sure there's probably a good reason why they're using a rubbish tree to cross rather than just fording it.
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Jul 14, 2015 19:40
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Forever_Peace posted:ADP and I hashed out a few ideas for the present encounter. Any in particular jump out for you folks? OK between this thread, the main thread, and IRC, as far as I can gather we have a vote for 2 (Gorom), a vote for 1 and/or 6 (Daimon says "hit them from this side of the river" which are these two), a vote for 1 and/or 5 (Jergo - ADP expressed positives for both of these but didn't firmly commit to any particular plan that I saw, so he's welcome to clarify), and a vote for 3, 5, or 6 (Clive's preferences - 2 and 4 look less promising in the rain). Might I suggest that a combination of 1 and 6 (i.e. put the sleeper on the ones we see and sniper any left before crossing on the log) or 1 and 5 (i.e. Jergo tries to social his way into revealing who/what else is on that side of the river before we strike) satisfies the greatest number of PCs so far. Pending input from pdot and Trast, it sounds like we go with one of these.
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Jul 14, 2015 23:29
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I would be interested in sending the bat over to the other side to see if it can find anymore bandits lurking in the trees. If there are only two bandits I would vote for the direct approach: cast sleep and snipe at range as needed then cross over using the log bridge (we'll test it out of course.) If there are more than two bandits I vote to cross at another point and flank them. Bypassing them is an option but I feel like lowering the bandits numbers plus gaining more information is worth the risk. There is of course a small chance that these guys aren't bandits and just rangers. Then Jergo's comedy option would be pretty entertaining.
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Jul 14, 2015 23:37
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Trast posted:I would be interested in sending the bat over to the other side to see if it can find anymore bandits lurking in the trees. I considered that they may not be with the bandits as well, killing them would be unjustified.but you could ask the horse...
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Jul 15, 2015 01:09
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Teonis posted:I considered that they may not be with the bandits as well, killing them would be unjustified.but you could ask the horse... I'm not sure if the horse is going to know. But as was reminded to me the rain and forest are going to make it real easy for me to sneak close to the bank of the river so I can scout ahead.
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Jul 15, 2015 01:10
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They have bandit tokens so they are clearly bandits , If you're innocent you shouldn't wear bandit clothing  .
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Jul 15, 2015 01:22
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Well, good luck to Autumn and Jergo.
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Jul 15, 2015 11:50
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Yuuuup
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Jul 17, 2015 16:11
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Sorry your awesome tent move got ruined. It seems that these guys aren't bandits and Jorvan doesn't want innocent people dying. Though we might still have to kill them if they are kidnappers or bounty hunters instead of simple trackers looking for someone's dad.
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Jul 21, 2015 15:21
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