[OOC] Heart of Darkness (Part II)

[purplerook]

I have a post planned for Kosev.

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by purplerook

I have a post planned for Kosev.

Sweet!

[Mindsiege]

I looked into it and silvering a weapon is at the least a four-day process, but in all likelihood it takes a bit longer. Has Kosev silvered many weapons in his time? If he has narrative expertise in that particular craft, I won't require a roll to convince Boanagh to spot the silver, but if this would lead to experimentation where Kosev would need several attempts to succeed, Boanagh is too much on thin ice to allow it.

@purplerook:
Depending on how you view Kosev's capabilities, he and Boanagh could plan ahead for him to do the full smithing work during the upcoming downtime. Basically I'm fine handwaving any DCs as long as you tell me that Kosev has silvered weapons many times in the past.

@secretID:
I think thorough interviews of this outpost's population are also something that would be appropriate to resolve as part of the downtime. It would also give Jimmy something to do while Kosev is occupied. Are there any weapons that Jimmy would like a silvered version of?

@both:
Boanagh won't have answers to everything what you've been asking him in this scene. Would you prefer to have the current discussion privately and I give his limited input or would it be okay to move the scene to meeting a few more elders where a few more points could be elaborated on?

[purplerook]

Originally Posted by Mindsiege

Depending on how you view Kosev's capabilities, he and Boanagh could plan ahead for him to do the full smithing work during the upcoming downtime. Basically I'm fine handwaving any DCs as long as you tell me that Kosev has silvered weapons many times in the past.

Of course Kosev has no experience Silvering Weapons. Given that PCs cannot sell to NPCs, and Kosev does not have any silvered weapons, He has not silvered weapons before. The crafting system that we are using does not have DCs for success or any training requirements beyond tool proficiency.

I honestly do not understand where any of this scene is going anymore. I would be fine paying the 100 gold to get a slivered weapon.

[Mindsiege]

I was trying to explain that we're not doing the downtime post yet. That's going to happen soon and I'll say it very clearly in the GM instructions.

From your last post I gathered that you preferred Kosev to silver his current weapon himself rather than accepting Boanagh's offer of finding you something new from the colony's belongings. And while I didn't want to steal Kosev's thunder as he's in my mind a more than capable smith and arcanist, I felt like I had to confirm with you that it makes sense for Kosev to silver the weapon himself.
There will be no DCs for anything regarding regular downtime transactions, the point of my question was to figure out if Kosev should attempt silvering the weapon himself, which realistically is not something he can succeed at without a chance of failure unless he's done it many times before. If you're saying that he can't do it without a DC, then I figure Kosev would have to explain to Boanagh that silvering the weapon by himself might take longer than Boanagh would consider acceptable to wait for. At that time Boanagh would make good on his word and simply find a silvered weapon appropriate for Kosev among the darkling's belongings.
You also wouldn't have to pay anything for the silver or a silvered weapon, because Boanagh is offering this benefit to your group freely.

To be clear, I'm just trying to keep our narrative plausible while making sure that your characters are getting all the benefits that we can give them. I figure that any character with smithing proficiency could reasonably be able to learn to silver their weapon and do so in two months of time, it's just that during this downtime in the colony you're working with a lot less time. I'm not intending to keep any benefit behind any DC, but if Kosev can gain his new weapon without throwing realistic time constraints out of the window, I think that's preferable.

Lastly, Kosev has been a character for quite some time before he arrived in Westhaven. He also had highly exclusive training as a war wizard, tasked to excel in all fields that he has been taught. To me it would have been absolutely plausible that he is experienced in silvering weapons and that it simply hadn't come up yet in the time that he's been in the West Marches. Basically this was me giving you the option of choosing the lore that fits your character into the current scene how you had envisioned it.

Is all of that acceptable to you?

@edit:
Apologies if I might have raised the idea of Kosev silvering the weapon himself in the past. It's only occurred to me today that this doesn't make sense without the appropriate backstory support.

[secretID]

Originally Posted by Mindsiege

I think thorough interviews of this outpost's population are also something that would be appropriate to resolve as part of the downtime. It would also give Jimmy something to do while Kosev is occupied.

Er...yes? I'm not sure if you were looking for agreement to something. There are questions here related to the degree of organization in this community. If this were happening in Westhaven, I would assume that authorities would have already done this kind of analysis. This community seems much less organized, but I don't know how much less. Maybe they've already mapped all incidents, maybe they at least have a good list of the incidents, maybe that would require many interviews, or maybe they can't even make a map at all. If a lot of information gathering is required, I would think that would be pretty tedious to play out, because at first the goal is just a map of all incidents, including timing. Really, were I the leadership I would just make a public announcement that all should go to Elder Jones and report to them all disappearances of which they are aware, including location and timing if knows.

Originally Posted by Mindsiege

Are there any weapons that Jimmy would like a silvered version of?

If it's literally no cost or trouble, he's happy to have his rapier silvered, but otherwise no.

Originally Posted by Mindsiege

Boanagh won't have answers to everything what you've been asking him in this scene. Would you prefer to have the current discussion privately and I give his limited input or would it be okay to move the scene to meeting a few more elders where a few more points could be elaborated on?

I'd rather meet with those who have the answers.

[purplerook]

@Mindsiege, your set-up was just too good - The Darklings and Boanagh specialize in silver mining, leading Kosev to a Forge. It seemed to cry out for Kosev to forge something. Then after I posted, you changed the rules on forging.

I don’t know how we do it in game, but I think that we need to do a couple of things - Information collection/organization and gearing up.

Information:
1) We really need to get what our character know or can figure out organized. There have been drips and drops of what is happening (e.g., attack small groups not solo, attacks closer to center of the
2) Scene of the crime visit of few locations where the Darklings have disappeared and see what clues are available
3) Do some analysis - e.g., Timeline, Location, Who was killed, anything missing
4) We need to determine - Method how are the being slain and Motive why are the being killed

Gear
1) A list of what we want
2) This is not a full treasure downtime. We need to understand what is available in terms of treasure and purchases
3) Silvered/Magical Weapons. I doubt that the Darklings are going to have Str heavy weapons laying around.
4) Level up spell selection. Jimmy and Kosev need to coordinate spells - particularly cantrips, and based on what other gear is available.
5)If possible scroll creation - use scrolls to expand both spell options and number of slots

[secretID]

I agree with all that.

Re Gear #4, since Jimmy isn't leveling up, that's Kosev's call. I'm happy to discuss that OOC if you want, but I have no great drive to be involved in your decisions.

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by purplerook

@Mindsiege, your set-up was just too good - The Darklings and Boanagh specialize in silver mining, leading Kosev to a Forge. It seemed to cry out for Kosev to forge something. Then after I posted, you changed the rules on forging.

Hmm, I'm sure given enough time Kosev would have done great smithing work. I don't view this as me changing the rules but rather this interaction simply doesn't fall under downtime rules. I'm not sure what the PHB or DMG say about smithing, but I figure there would be some kind of limitations to it as well that would make it better not to attempt it at the moment.

Originally Posted by purplerook

Information:
1) We really need to get what our character know or can figure out organized. There have been drips and drops of what is happening (e.g., attack small groups not solo, attacks closer to center of the
2) Scene of the crime visit of few locations where the Darklings have disappeared and see what clues are available
3) Do some analysis - e.g., Timeline, Location, Who was killed, anything missing
4) We need to determine - Method how are the being slain and Motive why are the being killed

I think the next scene will get us further in that regard and then the limited downtime will help too. I'll get that started with the next GM post.

Originally Posted by purplerook

Gear
1) A list of what we want
2) This is not a full treasure downtime. We need to understand what is available in terms of treasure and purchases
3) Silvered/Magical Weapons. I doubt that the Darklings are going to have Str heavy weapons laying around.
4) Level up spell selection. Jimmy and Kosev need to coordinate spells - particularly cantrips, and based on what other gear is available.
5)If possible scroll creation - use scrolls to expand both spell options and number of slots

The current outpost that you're in is surprisingly well supplied because it has things lying around that the Dubh Catha clan uses to trade with other factions inside the West Marches. If you give me a list, I'm optimistic that most desirable items will be available for either purchase or as part of your adventure treasure. In terms of spellscolls, your characters are both able to create them under the normal downtime rules, however you'll be limited to creating scrolls of your known spells.

[purplerook]

I apologize. I never should have agreed to continue into HoD. I have lost my initial enthusiasm for this story line. I’m going to withdraw.

[Mindsiege]

@secretID:
Give me some time to figure out a way to write Kosev out of the story. If you're still up for it we're going to finish this as a solo adventure.

[secretID]

Sure. I'll go look at our PMs for what we decided if PR were to drop.

We talked about possibly bringing in my 7L tank PC Urdo, else supplementing Jimmy with NPC(s). I think you didn't like my 4L tank Prrup-tik. I also have my 3L mini-Kosev Arrogaio, but he would have some trouble keeping up.

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

We talked about possibly bringing in my 7L tank PC Urdo, else supplementing Jimmy with NPC(s). I think you didn't like my 4L tank Prrup-tik. I also have my 3L mini-Kosev Arrogaio, but he would have some trouble keeping up.

Right you are, that's what I remembered too. To specify, I preferred the solution with NPCs over introducing more PCs because it will come with less impact on the original narrative, but basically, I'll leave this decision to you and what would be more fun for you. And I guess it also depends on whether you're allowed to run more than 1 PC per adventure, though I personally don't see a reason why not. You're certainly not taking anybody's player slots by entering them into HoD II.

I've talked a bit with purplerook and it sounded like I'm good to go with NPCing Kosev for the rest of the adventure, meaning he will remain at the colony outpost with Alysha until he eventually returns to Westhaven (depending on what happens to Jimmy with or without him).

Originally I envisioned Jimmy and Kosev to be the same level to realign balancing during combat, but since I'm going to have to rework that anyways, I might as well allow you to level Jimmy during the upcoming downtime. Just one level though, because I don't think there is a good explanation for too much of a power boost in this short amount of time.

I'll still need a little bit of time before I'll continue posting, but what are your thoughts so far?

[secretID]

Some of it turns on the question of what an NPC will be in this situation. If, say, the only or main NPC is Kosev, and you're running Kosev, it may be awkward to have the DM also play my key combat ally.

If I'm running the NPC, then I'd rather play Urdo for a few reasons because I just prefer him, and I miss him. (I don't see an issue with playing 2 PCs in this situation either.) A nice thing about Urdo is that he has very little to say, so I wouldn't have to talk to myself all the time. But if you want Kosev to be around regardless, then I guess I should just run Kosev to simplify things...?

Re levels, I think Jimmy only has one level coming to him anyway, right? Beware that I'll probably take Warlock 5 and get 3L spells. Urdo is currently 6L, BTW, since I haven't adjusted him up yet.

[Mindsiege]

I might have explained badly. Basically I'll do the same with Kosev that I did with Alysha and Glanlaniel, NPC him until he is properly sidelined. Which will be very soon after we pick up the narrative.

The idea with NPC sidekicks would be you getting some additional stat blocks to play based on who's around to be recruited for helping Jimmy on his quest now that his original team has forsaken him. That's something we'd play out, meaning something Jimmy would work towards. Any NPC that you can convince to follow you will be under your control only during combat. Obviously I'd already have a few candidates in mind that would be easy to net.

If you would enjoy revisiting Urdo, I do have a little side hook prepared to fish him into the narrative. It would be a bit more of a deus ex machina than recruiting allies, but it can be facilitated. Otherwise, I'm probably not worried about 3rd level spells for Jimmy. The combats after this are less threatening than during the second lane route and with fewer bodies on the PC side than originally planned, I don't mind giving Jimmy a bit more of an edge. But I can leave this as your decision, lvl 6 will make combat easier. I don't think that it will break the narrative, although if you're also adding Urdo it might become too easy. We might want to hold off on the Jimmy level-up then.