LSO OOC Thread II

[GreyWolfVT]

less that 85% so looks like you survived

[HorizonsDream]

That was a close one, Rax.

[Rax]

Yup. The dice roller either loves or hates me ATM.

[Daos]

Okay, XP is up.  Kalana leveled.  All I need from you Horizons is to roll her HP.

I went ahead and removed Johannas from the party roster.  We'll just say he failed his resurrection survival check.  My understanding is that Gravity won't be returning to this game for another 2-3 years, at best, so we may as well just remove the character.  He can roll a new one if/when he rejoins.

[HorizonsDream]

jpkaBwvw1d10 HP Roll1d10

[Bishgada]

May 11, 2020 14:46:07 GMT -8 Daos said:

Okay, XP is up.  Kalana leveled.  All I need from you Horizons is to roll her HP.

I went ahead and removed Johannas from the party roster.  We'll just say he failed his resurrection survival check.  My understanding is that Gravity won't be returning to this game for another 2-3 years, at best, so we may as well just remove the character.  He can roll a new one if/when he rejoins.

We will need a healer. Maybe we can recruit some NPC from the church, or an adventurer. And maybe there is a real life player that would like to join.

[Rax]

Daos

The DMG suggests that wizards should receive 50 XP/spell level for spells cast to overcome foes or problems. Imrich went pretty much all out with his spells in the Crimson Wolf quest - shouldn't he receive some XP for that?

Some instances of spell use that I think should qualify:

Using knock to open doors for scouting and opening a back door into the hospice during our attack

Fly to help Senllip scout undetected

Detect magic in the apartments to check for illusions

Hold person on the slavers at the hospice and apartments (I'd even include casting on the leader. It didn't work, but the DMG doesn't say the outcome must be successful and if it had worked, it was our last, best chance to rescue the last batch of captives)

Scare to drive off the swordsmen in the warehouse

Blind to help take out the elven lieutenant

Alter self to bypass the grease fire and attack the crossbowmen (and potentially airlift Kalana out of trouble if she'd allowed it)

Create water to help protect himself and Kalana from the fire

Earlier - detect magic to ascertain the Rose's pendant is magic, which could be an important clue in the feyr investigation.

[GreyWolfVT]

May 12, 2020 3:01:47 GMT -8 Bishgada said:

May 11, 2020 14:46:07 GMT -8 Daos said:

Okay, XP is up.  Kalana leveled.  All I need from you Horizons is to roll her HP.

I went ahead and removed Johannas from the party roster.  We'll just say he failed his resurrection survival check.  My understanding is that Gravity won't be returning to this game for another 2-3 years, at best, so we may as well just remove the character.  He can roll a new one if/when he rejoins.

We will need a healer. Maybe we can recruit some NPC from the church, or an adventurer. And maybe there is a real life player that would like to join.

Jaeron can be a healer when I don't forget to pray for spells and post what spells i take. He is a Cleric and a Fighter after all for this purpose without being stuck as a straight up cleric. 

Also following Rax here the PHB also indicates that a cleric with a WIS of 16 gets bonus XP as well. Not entirely sure if this has been being applied but Jaeron does qualify for the following quoted from the 2e PHB. "A cleric who has a Wisdom of 16 or more gains a 10% bonus to the experience points he earns."

[Daos]

RAX:  The DMG suggests that wizards should receive 50 XP/spell level for spells cast to overcome foes or problems. Imrich went pretty much all out with his spells in the Crimson Wolf quest - shouldn't he receive some XP for that?

I'll look into it.  But Create Water isn't a spell he can cast, it's an innate racial ability.  And I'm not sure using a spell that fails to work really counts as 'overcoming a problem.'

GREYWOLF:  Also following Rax here the PHB also indicates that a cleric with a WIS of 16 gets bonus XP as well. Not entirely sure if this has been being applied but Jaeron does qualify for the following quoted from the 2e PHB.

Correct, which is why I added the 10% in the sub-total of his XP.

Jaeron Dernfog (Fighter 5/Cleric 5)
Discussing nightmares with Saren - 100 XP
"Speaking" with Rose - 100 XP
Removing the Red Hawks from the Azure Palace without violence - 300 XP
Discussing ale vs tea with Senllip - 100 XP
Discussing a plan - 200 XP
Defeating Crimson Wolf guards - 24 XP
Defeating Crimson Wolf transporters - 65 XP
Defeating Crimson Wolf Lieutenant and crossbowmen - 195 XP
Defeating Crimson Wolf defenders - 147 XP
Defeating 54 HD worth of enemies - 2,700 XP
One Year Anniversary - 1,000 XP
Sub-Total: 2,465 XP/2,465 XP (+10% Cleric only)
TOTAL: 2,465 XP/2,712 XP (5,177 XP)

Otherwise, he'd have received 2,465 XP for each class.

Here are my notes for the chapter:

Title and Theme
The title of this chapter, Serenity, referred to the name of the city they are in. But it also showed that things were not as 'serene' there as the name might have suggested.

Nightmares
Only Kalana and Jaeron received nightmares, because they were the only ones I could find anything really traumatic in their backstories. Although some of the others did have bad things happen in their pasts, they didn't seem terribly affected by them, so I didn't count them.

Red Hawks
As earlier stated, the Red Hawks were trying to bait the party into a fight. Had the party actually fought them (and even worse, killed them), Aguru would have been furious. He told the party four times not to use violence (which made it all the funnier that somehow Horizons thought he gave them permission to use violence if they wanted). Aguru not only would have refused to pay the party, he would have insisted they pay for the raisings of the ones they kill, which would have sunk the party into even further debt!

Bayla Who?
I created Bayla as a potential henchman for any PC who was interested. However, in the weeks they sailed together, nobody showed the slightest hint of interest in her as a person. So I figured nobody liked her, which is fine. Not every NPC catches the party's interest. So I quietly removed her. And it had seemed like the party had all forgotten about her, until they eventually remembered she existed (but seemed to have forgotten where she had gone or where they had last seen her). Now, suddenly, everyone is talking about what a valuable and well-liked part of the crew she is, so...now I don't know what to think. I imagine she's just as confused as I am about it. Anyway, the party can always try to re-hire her later on, but they shouldn't feel obligated to.

Involving the Sheriff
As the party was quick to involve the sheriff, everything they did was on the up and up. They could have proceeded without him, and in doing so would have been able to take all of the coin from each battle with the Crimson Wolves, but anyone they killed would be raised at the temple and the sheriff would have been furious at them for taking the law into their own hands (especially if things had gone poorly).

Johannas' Death
What were the odds of Johannas being struck by two crits in a row, both dealing 15 damage? Well, I suppose it was a convenient way to write him out of the story, although it would have been better if he had survived longer than that.

Vox Machina
Not sure if anyone noticed, but as a sort of in-joke, all of Aguru's deputies were named after the players from Critical Role:  Johnson (Ashley), Riegal (Sam), Ray (Marisha) and Mercer (Matt).  I've been watching the first campaign lately, so they were on my mind when I had to suddenly come up with some minor character names.

Nameless Wizard
We never did learn the wizard's name, but the party now has a new enemy.  Perhaps this will be their primary goal when they leave Serenity?  Or maybe hunting him down will be put on the backburner for now.  I'm honestly not sure what the party plans to do once they finish in the city, so I guess we'll see when the time comes.

Divine Favor Updates
Kalana gained favor with Octhanus for dealing with the Red Hawks non-violently.  Jaeron and Imrich both earned favor from Gonto for immediately wanting to get the sheriff involved when they stumbled upon the Crimson Wolf operation.  Imrich also gained favor from Renos for using an unconscious body as a shield, and for using an unconscious body as a projectile.  He also got favor from Crizza for using that final Hold Person against the party's wishes to give up.

Party Goals

Kalana
01. Redeem herself through doing good deeds (though it might not ever been enough).
02. Confront Tethys.
03. Return to Shadowshore to face the music of what she did there.
04. Get to know Toven better.
05. Help Julak and Toven solve the mystery of the zombie plant people.

Kalana tried and failed to work on her first goal, which I'm sure she will beat herself up over later.  Did you want to change, add to or remove any goals from this list?

Senllip
01. Find a way to visit his child at least once a year.
02. Keep in touch with Athel and his old guild. Maybe run some errands for the guild while traveling the seas.
03. Explore new continents.
04. Advance in command on the Blue Lightning.
05. Meet the Son of Crizza.
06. Meet Senrik.

Senllip did not make any progress toward any of these goals this chapter.  Did you want to change, add to, or remove any goals from this list?

Jaeron
01. Check back in on Samwen and the church.
02. See more of the life at sea, as well as document more of other cultures/the adventures of the Blue Lightning.
03. See more new places.
04. Meet others of the Gonto church in other lands and learn their histories.

Jaeron did not make any progress toward any of these goals this chapter.  Did you want to change, add to, or remove any goals from this list?

Imrich
01. Gather as much information on the Son of Crizza as possible.
02. Consult with his family about the Son of Crizza.
03. Take down the Son of Crizza.
04. Investigate the undersea war.
05. Consult with family about the Dictator of Gunn.
06. Take down the Dictator of Gunn (without causing mass chaos).
07. Strike against slavers and pirates.
08. Take down a major slaver or pirate organization.
09. Protect Immerfort.
10. Take down criminal mages.

Imrich attempted goal 10, but ultimately the wizard got away.  Did you want to change, add to, or remove any goals from this list?

I'll throw up the new chapter tomorrow.

[HorizonsDream]

I was already thinking about hiring an NPC dedicated healer for the ship so that Jaeron didn't have to focus solely on healing. The money that they got was going to go to fixing up most of the ship, and then hiring a few people.

Her goals are still basically the same except that she has every intention of confronting that wizard whose name they don't know. She's getting pretty sick of the slave organizations, but I'm pretty sure the Crimson wolves are now first on her list when she decides it is time to do something about them.

[Rax]

And I'm not sure using a spell that fails to work really counts as 'overcoming a problem.'

The phrasing used is that the spells are cast to overcome foes or problems. I read that as casting in an attempt to overcome a problem, much like the requirement for a cleric to get XP for casting spells is that they do so to further their ethos. Neither of these descriptions say that the attempt must be successful.

[GreyWolfVT]

Yes lets have Jaeron changes some goals since I am not sure he will ever make it back to the island that Samwen is on. 


01. Write a letter and have it sent to check in on Samwen and his church.
(let's change this to write a letter and have it sent to Samwen checking in on him and the church)
02. See more of the life at sea, as well as document more of other cultures, and new places & the adventures along the way. of the Blue Lightning.
(dropping the part about the Blue Lightning since it does not appear we will be reuniting with that ship any time soon).
03. See more new places.
Help others in new places. (Changing this entirely since it in a way is similar to #2.)
04. Meet others of the Gonto church in other lands and learn their histories.
Meet other churches not of Gonto and learn their history. (Adding something to this one.)

[HorizonsDream]

So while we are waiting on the next chapter, I figured we could discuss what we are going to do next.

I figure that we go to talk to the Sage so that we can hopefully learn how to help the refugees. Once that is taken care of, I figure that we can use whatever money we managed to get from both the failed slavers quest and the refugee quest to hire a few crew members (including a dedicated healer), and cover most (probably not all) of the repairs on the ship.

That leaves us to where we are going next. Now, Kalana has her own personal quests that can be pursued, but she kind of needs a push in that direction. Since no one knows of her past (and she isn't giving up that information easily), I'm probably going to need to work on some sort of plan with Daos on how to trigger that to happen.

The continued search for the Tiaru is a must since Kalana is worried about her old crewmates (and her stuff is on that ship). That means probably heading back to Tu'Valie.

Kalana is going to want to go after the Crimson Wolves at some point too, especially after that encounter with that wizard. They aren't exactly prepared to taking on even a small slaver organization right now, but sooner or later Kalana is going to want to make it happen.

If anyone has any other ideas, let's hear them!

[Rax]

May 12, 2020 12:49:01 GMT -8 Daos said:

Bayla Who?
I created Bayla as a potential henchman for any PC who was interested. However, in the weeks they sailed together, nobody showed the slightest hint of interest in her as a person. So I figured nobody liked her, which is fine. Not every NPC catches the party's interest. So I quietly removed her. And it had seemed like the party had all forgotten about her, until they eventually remembered she existed (but seemed to have forgotten where she had gone or where they had last seen her). Now, suddenly, everyone is talking about what a valuable and well-liked part of the crew she is, so...now I don't know what to think. I imagine she's just as confused as I am about it. Anyway, the party can always try to re-hire her later on, but they shouldn't feel obligated to.

For my part it had a lot more to do with there being plenty of other stuff going on than any particular like or dislike of Bayla. Sometimes socializing with NPCs just isn't a priority and or I don't feel like posting chit-chat just to show my PC being sociable. I'd have been happy to have such interactions happen off-screen until we had an actual need to bother Bayla, for instance by requesting her help on a quest.

As for Imrich's goals, dealing with the Crimson Wolves would combine 8 and 10 and could now be moved into second or third place. There's a clear and present danger to deal with as far as he's concerned and he's pretty sure the party can deal with the wizard if we can get the drop on him.

Kalana is going to want to go after the Crimson Wolves at some point too, especially after that encounter with that wizard. They aren't exactly prepared to taking on even a small slaver organization right now, but sooner or later Kalana is going to want to make it happen.

Imrich will also want to complete the investigation of the mysterious deaths, but taking down all or most of the Crimson Wolves is high on his list of priorities after that.

There are twenty-odd Crimson Wolves in custody on the island right now. Even Aguru and the Octhanians should be able to see the value in getting them to spill the beans on the operation here, how and where the slaves were transported, the larger state of the Crimson Wolves organisation and where they're currently based. They can probably even tell us their leader's name!

[GreyWolfVT]

Certainly the Crimson Wolves are bumped to a higher level even on Jaeron's side. He already thought they were a fairly decent concern priority 6 now they would be probably a top 3 for him out of 10. The Bloody Chain slavers are now a level 10. Comparatively what has been said, learned and seen in person of the two groups the Wolves pose a far greater threat. Probably his top priority would be rejoining the Blue Lightning though at this point he has lost a lot of hope of that happening. Helping others is always his number 1 or 2 focus, as well as documenting things and histories.

I have no better ideas yes certainly fixing the ship renaming it and setting sail is a good plan.