WotL OOC Thread II

[TristenC]

I think it's hilarious that Gregeddin is trying to 'rouse the troups' when Grubnick had to convince him to even come here in the first place

[JadedDM]

Well, from Gregeddin's perspective, Gobax is just a hireling--someone who is 'tagging along' to 'learn the ropes' which is why he keeps getting annoyed when Gobax gives orders (especially to him) or tries to exhibit any leadership at all. As far as he's concerned, Gobax is no more a member of the party than Yvette or Xyleena are (or were, as is the case).

Of course, the really funny thing is this whole quest, the entire thing, all started because Gregeddin wanted to get a free spell from Magnus.

[TristenC]

Lol, and now he's in favor of pressing on to risk the lives of his 'boon companions' (Haahque 1 hp, Tulbas 1hp) just to diasagree with the goblin (who currently has the most hps, one of the best ACs in the group, and perhaps the best chance of surviving the assault) because he doesn't want to follow his 'suggestions'... even though 'Gobax already said he'd be willing to go on and his only concern was for the injured...

Classy guy, that bard

[JadedDM]

Well, I'm trying to do him justice, but it's possible if/when mgbevan returns (he said January, and it's January, so...) he might end up taking the character a completely different direction. So I guess we'll see.

[TristenC]

Lol, I know, I'm not criticising or anything. It can be difficult to run someone's character in odd situations. Grubnick is just reacting to the character in his own way

[Chris1234]

When Shima get back to where he left his weapons, he looks around the bar area, checks for any messages (not expecting any but you never know) and then goes to his room.
He has a look at the dor to see if it.s been fiddled with and then, if all clear, steps in and (if all clear) checks the stuff he'd left in the room.

[TristenC]

Haahque still needs to check that chest in the sacrifice room

[Haahque]

So yeah, it seems to me like chasing after the thieves would be a bad idea right now.
- We don't know where they are.
- They're both fresh because they barely fought, while most of us are heavily injured.
- Everything Jaded's done up to this point tells me he doesn't want us to have that money.* (I've DM'd, I've probably used all of these tells, so let's take the hint)

• He never told us how much money there was, not even an estimate. We don't know if it was around 100 steel or 100,000 steel.
• Despite Haahqae stating that he was picking up some/all of the money in his posts multiple times, he never got any of it.
• The thieves ran away in the first possible opportunity they got, which they got shortly after we acquired the money.
• NPC's try to dissuade us from going after the money.

So what I'm saying is if we turn getting the money back into a quest with appropriate planning and preparation, we might be able to get it back, but just blindly running after the thieves who know where all the traps we've come across are will likely accomplish nothing.

[JadedDM]

Everything Jaded's done up to this point tells me he doesn't want us to have that money.*

I think you're reading too much into things.

He never told us how much money there was, not even an estimate. We don't know if it was around 100 steel or 100,000 steel.

That was because it was never counted. Yvette wanted to count it, but Arulia argued there was no time for that. It was enough coin to weigh down Haahqae if he tried to carry it all, as I pointed out. He's about 12 pounds away from moderate encumbrance and there were two potions in the cache (which weight about 1 pound each), so a minimum of 10 pounds worth of steel coins. Coins weigh 50 to a pound, so...easy math there to deduce it.

Despite Haahqae stating that he was picking up some/all of the money in his posts multiple times, he never got any of it.

I suppose two times counts as 'multiple' but he didn't really argue about it, either. Nobody else did, either.

The thieves ran away in the first possible opportunity they got, which they got shortly after we acquired the money.

Seems more like logical thinking on their part. Why would they wait until the second, third or fourth possible opportunity to run off?

NPC's try to dissuade us from going after the money.

Only Gregeddin has done that, and he isn't my mouthpiece (he's not even my character). Pen, Ismene, Felran and Ne-Chanz haven't weighed in either way yet. And the reason Gregeddin is against it is he's more concerned with his reputation with the church and Magnus than chasing down coin at the moment.

As for me, if you guys want to chase after them tonight, you can. I'm not stopping you. Or fight Belzor instead. Or go home, rest, level up, regain your spells and come up with a new plan. That's up to you guys.

[djhyland]

Yeah, I don't know. If anything, blame Arulia for losing the money. If anything, I see this as JadedDM outsmarting me (again!) when it comes to money. Arulia (and I) were more worried about wandering monsters coming in to ambush us while we were greedily counting the coins up--I mean, they had to know what was going on with the noise of combat and all. She (and I) weren't worried about the two of them stealing the money--for all she knew of them, they'd been well-vetted when hired, and I didn't take the hint of them arguing about the trustworthiness of the group should the money not be divided then.

[Chris1234]

Perhaps he's trying to get to a position where it's possible a new player (me) to connect with the party?

[JadedDM]

No, I'm not trying to do anything. That was my point.

Did Yvette and Xyleena intend to cheat the party if the opportunity arose? Absolutely, I knew that from the beginning after rolling up their personalities and their reaction adjustments to Haahqae. I didn't have any kind of plan for this, though, and neither did they. I (and they) were playing it by ear. An opportunity arose, so they took it. However, I did not manipulate things to make sure it happened. It's possible they could have been caught or thwarted. It's also possible a good opportunity would not arise and they wouldn't ever get the chance.

Had the party argued against Yvette carrying all of the coin, had they insisted the treasure be split up right then and there, had the cultist not been able to cast that darkness spell, had anyone noticed the two were missing sooner...then things would have likely played out differently. Also had Haahqae vetted them properly (he didn't even get their names when he hired them!) or learned his lesson from Raena and Burzan (which, not surprising that he didn't with his WIS of 3 and all), also, things probably would have played out differently.

Now I admit, as DM, having them escape with the loot was the favorable possibility because it gives the party a new objective and a further reason to continue working together (for a bit, anyway), is more dramatic and shows there are consequences to just hiring random people you don't know anything about and assuming they're trustworthy...but no railroading occurred to force this particular course of action and if they had been thwarted in any way, I would have not intervened to prevent it. That's just not my style.

[TristenC]

I gotta say, I've DMd a long time and I feel like Jaded gave us a reasonable chance to either keep/insist on the money and as soon as the magical darkness came up, I knew they'd be gone. Why? we don't know them from adam, one of them was injured badly in the first conflict, and they've stayed in the back the whole time (probably because they're low level), and (this is Meta and I shouldn't even say it) theyre NPCs not PCs! Frankly, I think he took a reasonable opportunity that any character not lawful (or Neut Good) might go for... And yeah, the weight thing was kind of a giveaway.

lol, Haahque hired them anyway so...

Now, let's go nab the 8i7c#3$!!!

hopefully not having a weapons pass will hinder them/slow them somewhat

[BishGada]

Tulbas counted the money. He also reported it if I'm not mistaken.
Also, I didn't think that they planned to cross the party from first they were hired but when they wanted to count the money and split it and someone told them that you will do it later and I think something like you still need to fight for your piece, and they said, "OK, right. Until then we will carry it for you." Then I strongly suspected they will steal it.
In any case it was about 600 steel and 2 unidentified potions.

Tulbas Erogund (Unknown location)
Tulbas tries a cantrip to make his voice sound different and then calls out to the guards through the door. But either it doesn't work or they don't hear him, because nothing happens. He doesn't find any openings in the ceiling, so starts working on the chest. There are no cantrips that can weaken wood, so he tries to force it open. Eventually he manages to smash open the lid by jumping on it. Thankfully the chest was not trapped.

Inside the chest are 600 steel pieces and two vials of liquid.

Tulbas collects a vial of ink, but he has no place to put it. His backpack and pouches are locked up elsewhere and the robes have no pockets.

Finally, Tulbas uses his last cantrip to make it sound like there is a struggle and he calls for the guards. Again, this seems to have no effect.

(OOC: Tulbas makes an open door check on the chest [TN 5] (1d20): 2, pass.)

[JadedDM]

Haha, oh, yeah. I forgot that part. The reason Yvette wanted to count it out there and then was actually because she was afraid Haahqae would try and run off with it all.