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Bill T's Second War of the Burning Sky: Shelter from the Storm [more spoilers than you can shake a stick adorned with ribbons and kerchiefs at!]
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<blockquote data-quote="Bill T." data-source="post: 8059213" data-attributes="member: 6795693"><p><span style="font-size: 22px"><strong>Dramatis Personae</strong></span></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Basel</strong>, an Innenotdaran (aka grey) elf evoker who has been attending Gabal's school and previously made his living as a baker.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Dämmek</strong>, a human swordswoman with keen senses and the Living Blade.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Gusle</strong>, a seela bard who recently escaped captivity from a circus. This player has been through the first few chapters already, so she's aware of the seela and can fill Torrent's role as guide.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Jesús Tillamook</strong>, a half-elf cloistered cleric of the Stormbringer Phoenix, a sect of the Stormchaser Eagle that is dedicated to finding the Aquiline Heart so that they can reincarnate the Eagle.</li> </ul><p>On the beach, the heroes discover that the sailboat they had arrived in is gone, and a Shahalesti dinghy sits on the shore instead. There's no sign of Judson. They sleep peacefully enough, and in the morning they get Shalathana, the Shahalesti who survived attacking them, to sail them to Seaquen in return for being handed over to the Shahalesti ambassador to the city when they get there.</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>There's an ambassador?</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Anyhow, this proposal seemed good enough to me. Shalathana had been considering putting the dinghy in irons when they got near a Shahalesti warship, but getting handed over seemed about the best she could hope for. Unbeknownst to the heroes, the attack on them was completely unauthorized and so she's apt to be in a fair amount of trouble when she returns to her ship.</em></p><p></p><p>When the heroes arrive in Seaquen, they immediately run into a group of Shahelesti on shore leave. The Shahalesti are confrontational, but Basel manages to convince Shalathana that she doesn't want to watch the heroes mow down more of her fellows.</p><p></p><p>They then run into a group of Ostaliner cavalry beating up on a couple of Ragesian orcs. Jesús inexplicably and transparently makes an excuse to flee the scene. The remaining heroes confront the Ostaliners, and Gusle threatens to make the situation ugly, and so everyone else backs away, leaving the Ostaliners with no one to pick on.</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>This is the first hint of the sectarian strife in the refugee camps, although the heroes were a bit confused about what the Ostaliners were saying.</em></p><p></p><p>The heroes make their way once again to the Lyceum, where they drop off Shalathana and meet up again with Jesús. They quiz him about why he ran off but don't get any particularly enlightening responses. They also learn from Simeon that they should talk to Ogoth in the morning about the lingering damage from the snake's poison Gusle is still suffering from.</p><p></p><p>After a long day of travelling, the heroes are looking forward to getting back to Lee's island and collapsing. Alas, Drimma is looking for them. She explains that the rat infestation has taken a dire turn: A few people wanted to try to capture the rats for food rather than poisoning them, and set for on a fiendishly clever plan to capture them. Alas, the plan apparently went awry: One of them fled, another one lies in the brewery basement being gnawed on by rats, and the third turned herself into a large rose bush. Everyone agrees that <em>tree shape</em> is unlikely to last the night, so they work on a rescue plan. After several blind alleys involving spells not prepared today, they eventually decide that a combination of <em>wind wall</em> and <em>glitterdust</em> should do the trick.</p><p></p><p>So, they head into the basement. Jesús steps in and sets up a wind wall and Gusle dusts the rats with glitter. Alas, the glitter is insufficient and the wind wall irrelevant, and the rats swarm Jesús. The rose bush, on the other hand, realizing that a safe escape is at hand, turns into a goblin and flees up the stairs.</p><p></p><p>Basel realizes there's precious little in the way of flammable materials in the basement, so shoves his way down the steps and chucks a <em>fireball</em> into the far corner. The rats flee into the various cracks in the basement walls...except for one, who sits down and stares with interest at Gusle. The goblin, who the heroes decided to call Rosie, casts <em>Speak with Animals</em> and discerns that the rat thinks Gusle is a friend but knows that he can't touch her. They eventually come to agree that the rat can climb up her armor onto her shoulder without fear, and so he does so. Everyone throws out names for the rat, but Rosie's suggestion, Sparky, wins the day. Drimma starts helping the brewers patch up the walls of the brewery basement to keep the rats from returning.</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Mission accomplished -- but just barely. After dragging them by the ear to fight the rat swarm, it's still up to the NPCs to deal with the bigger problem. And they had to track down the swarm to begin with! I'll give them credit for fighting the (double-size) swarm, but I don't feel I can give them credit for eliminating the threat of fires.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>On the other hand, I'm gratified that they named the rat Sparky. It seemed like the logical choice to me, and I used it the last time I ran the adventure, although some of the other names thrown out were good, too. The whole point of this side quest, from my perspective, was to get Gusle a rat to take as a familiar when she gets to sixth level.</em></p><p></p><p>There's still a bit of clean-up that needs doing besides patching up the basement: Rosie wants help burying her friend, and the heroes want to donate the charred rats to the hungry refugees. In the process, Dämmek learns that goblins' perform a simple sky burial on their dead, and the others learn that orcs enjoy eating rats -- and how to skin them if you want to eat them after they've been fireballed. <strong>Finally</strong>, the heroes return home and sleep soundly.</p><p></p><p>The next morning, they heroes decide to head to the south shore. As they make their way between the city and the refugee camps, Laurabec intercepts them. She hems and haws a bit, but eventually comes around to asking for their help. She explains that the refugees are at each other's throats, and that she thinks that pantheistic temple would help unite the refugees and reduce tensions.</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Laurabec is uncomfortable about talking to Jesús. From her perspective as a Knight of the Aquiline Cross, the Stormbringer Phoenix cult largely consists of people looking for vengeance.</em></p><p></p><p>"Hey, then, let's invite them all to dinner and make a pitch!" say the heroes.</p><p></p><p>"Uhm, wouldn't it be a good idea to learn a little about them before you go talk to them?" asks Laurabec.</p><p></p><p>"Hey, yeah, let's go invite them each separately to dinner!"</p><p></p><p>"Uhm, wouldn't it be a good idea to learn a little about them before you go talk to them?" asks Laurabec.</p><p></p><p>"Hey, yeah, let's go talk...."</p><p></p><p>"Uhm...."</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>I had a really hard time staying in character in this conversation, as the players didn't seem to get that they ought to learn about who they're going to negotiate with before they speak to them. I suppose I should have let them blunder in with at least one negotiation and then used it as a Teaching Opportunity. It'll be interesting to see if this lessen sticks when they reach Bresk.</em></p><p></p><p>Once Laurabec gives a brief summary of the figures involved, the heroes spend the next several days learning about the sects and their leaders. Jesús puts himself in charge and starts inquiring about the leaders they think are most amenable to being swayed, with the hospitaliers being at the top of the list, but eventually inquiring about all of them (but avoiding the Ostaliners until they've exhausted all the other lines of inquiry). They also ask around about some mysterious monks that have apparently segregated themselves from the refugees and that have a single among them who speaks to others. They get only limited information about the monks, but gather reasonably complete and detailed information about the eight sects who Laurabec thinks should participate in the temple. Basel, in particular, is surprisingly effective at digging up information. Jesús also spends a little time inquiring about "himself" (to everyone's confusion), and is surprised to learn that he's much more likely to be welcomed rather than arrested. On the other hand, his inquiries regarding his own sect are largely inconclusive.</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>I was surprised and thrilled by how much everyone enjoyed the "gathering information" game in general and how Jesús took the lead and moved everything forward, setting goals, choosing targets, and digging for information outside of the mini-game. I was worried that he'd be marginally engaged, but he really enjoyed it.</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>I don't understand why the dice decided Basel is so good at gathering information. This is not the kind of thing wizards are good at!</em></p><p></p><p>Having decided he has learned everything he can about the parties involved, Jesús starts to write up a plan. Some of the heroes think that they should split the difference on the temple's location, locating it both in a central, defensive position, as the Ostaliners want, and at the shore as the people of Seaquen would prefer -- and connect the two with a mini-pilgrimage to entice the druids. Jesús is not impressed by this idea.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, Basel realizes that he'd been confused about how a <em>lyre of building</em> works and that it would be a good way to build the temple. Confronted with how they might get to Naizelasa to ask about the lyre and the choice of going by land or sea, Basel suggests they choose "None of the above": He thinks that Laurabec should fly Gusle out to talk to Naizelasa, avoiding both the fleet and the Shahalesti patrols. After all, this is Laurabec's bright idea!</p><p></p><p>We plan to play on the 17th next.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bill T., post: 8059213, member: 6795693"] [SIZE=6][B]Dramatis Personae[/B][/SIZE] [LIST] [*][B]Basel[/B], an Innenotdaran (aka grey) elf evoker who has been attending Gabal's school and previously made his living as a baker. [*][B]Dämmek[/B], a human swordswoman with keen senses and the Living Blade. [*][B]Gusle[/B], a seela bard who recently escaped captivity from a circus. This player has been through the first few chapters already, so she's aware of the seela and can fill Torrent's role as guide. [*][B]Jesús Tillamook[/B], a half-elf cloistered cleric of the Stormbringer Phoenix, a sect of the Stormchaser Eagle that is dedicated to finding the Aquiline Heart so that they can reincarnate the Eagle. [/LIST] On the beach, the heroes discover that the sailboat they had arrived in is gone, and a Shahalesti dinghy sits on the shore instead. There's no sign of Judson. They sleep peacefully enough, and in the morning they get Shalathana, the Shahalesti who survived attacking them, to sail them to Seaquen in return for being handed over to the Shahalesti ambassador to the city when they get there. [INDENT][I]There's an ambassador?[/I][/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][I]Anyhow, this proposal seemed good enough to me. Shalathana had been considering putting the dinghy in irons when they got near a Shahalesti warship, but getting handed over seemed about the best she could hope for. Unbeknownst to the heroes, the attack on them was completely unauthorized and so she's apt to be in a fair amount of trouble when she returns to her ship.[/I][/INDENT] When the heroes arrive in Seaquen, they immediately run into a group of Shahelesti on shore leave. The Shahalesti are confrontational, but Basel manages to convince Shalathana that she doesn't want to watch the heroes mow down more of her fellows. They then run into a group of Ostaliner cavalry beating up on a couple of Ragesian orcs. Jesús inexplicably and transparently makes an excuse to flee the scene. The remaining heroes confront the Ostaliners, and Gusle threatens to make the situation ugly, and so everyone else backs away, leaving the Ostaliners with no one to pick on. [INDENT][I]This is the first hint of the sectarian strife in the refugee camps, although the heroes were a bit confused about what the Ostaliners were saying.[/I][/INDENT] The heroes make their way once again to the Lyceum, where they drop off Shalathana and meet up again with Jesús. They quiz him about why he ran off but don't get any particularly enlightening responses. They also learn from Simeon that they should talk to Ogoth in the morning about the lingering damage from the snake's poison Gusle is still suffering from. After a long day of travelling, the heroes are looking forward to getting back to Lee's island and collapsing. Alas, Drimma is looking for them. She explains that the rat infestation has taken a dire turn: A few people wanted to try to capture the rats for food rather than poisoning them, and set for on a fiendishly clever plan to capture them. Alas, the plan apparently went awry: One of them fled, another one lies in the brewery basement being gnawed on by rats, and the third turned herself into a large rose bush. Everyone agrees that [I]tree shape[/I] is unlikely to last the night, so they work on a rescue plan. After several blind alleys involving spells not prepared today, they eventually decide that a combination of [I]wind wall[/I] and [I]glitterdust[/I] should do the trick. So, they head into the basement. Jesús steps in and sets up a wind wall and Gusle dusts the rats with glitter. Alas, the glitter is insufficient and the wind wall irrelevant, and the rats swarm Jesús. The rose bush, on the other hand, realizing that a safe escape is at hand, turns into a goblin and flees up the stairs. Basel realizes there's precious little in the way of flammable materials in the basement, so shoves his way down the steps and chucks a [I]fireball[/I] into the far corner. The rats flee into the various cracks in the basement walls...except for one, who sits down and stares with interest at Gusle. The goblin, who the heroes decided to call Rosie, casts [I]Speak with Animals[/I] and discerns that the rat thinks Gusle is a friend but knows that he can't touch her. They eventually come to agree that the rat can climb up her armor onto her shoulder without fear, and so he does so. Everyone throws out names for the rat, but Rosie's suggestion, Sparky, wins the day. Drimma starts helping the brewers patch up the walls of the brewery basement to keep the rats from returning. [INDENT][I]Mission accomplished -- but just barely. After dragging them by the ear to fight the rat swarm, it's still up to the NPCs to deal with the bigger problem. And they had to track down the swarm to begin with! I'll give them credit for fighting the (double-size) swarm, but I don't feel I can give them credit for eliminating the threat of fires.[/I][/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][I]On the other hand, I'm gratified that they named the rat Sparky. It seemed like the logical choice to me, and I used it the last time I ran the adventure, although some of the other names thrown out were good, too. The whole point of this side quest, from my perspective, was to get Gusle a rat to take as a familiar when she gets to sixth level.[/I][/INDENT] There's still a bit of clean-up that needs doing besides patching up the basement: Rosie wants help burying her friend, and the heroes want to donate the charred rats to the hungry refugees. In the process, Dämmek learns that goblins' perform a simple sky burial on their dead, and the others learn that orcs enjoy eating rats -- and how to skin them if you want to eat them after they've been fireballed. [B]Finally[/B], the heroes return home and sleep soundly. The next morning, they heroes decide to head to the south shore. As they make their way between the city and the refugee camps, Laurabec intercepts them. She hems and haws a bit, but eventually comes around to asking for their help. She explains that the refugees are at each other's throats, and that she thinks that pantheistic temple would help unite the refugees and reduce tensions. [INDENT][I]Laurabec is uncomfortable about talking to Jesús. From her perspective as a Knight of the Aquiline Cross, the Stormbringer Phoenix cult largely consists of people looking for vengeance.[/I][/INDENT] "Hey, then, let's invite them all to dinner and make a pitch!" say the heroes. "Uhm, wouldn't it be a good idea to learn a little about them before you go talk to them?" asks Laurabec. "Hey, yeah, let's go invite them each separately to dinner!" "Uhm, wouldn't it be a good idea to learn a little about them before you go talk to them?" asks Laurabec. "Hey, yeah, let's go talk...." "Uhm...." [INDENT][I]I had a really hard time staying in character in this conversation, as the players didn't seem to get that they ought to learn about who they're going to negotiate with before they speak to them. I suppose I should have let them blunder in with at least one negotiation and then used it as a Teaching Opportunity. It'll be interesting to see if this lessen sticks when they reach Bresk.[/I][/INDENT] Once Laurabec gives a brief summary of the figures involved, the heroes spend the next several days learning about the sects and their leaders. Jesús puts himself in charge and starts inquiring about the leaders they think are most amenable to being swayed, with the hospitaliers being at the top of the list, but eventually inquiring about all of them (but avoiding the Ostaliners until they've exhausted all the other lines of inquiry). They also ask around about some mysterious monks that have apparently segregated themselves from the refugees and that have a single among them who speaks to others. They get only limited information about the monks, but gather reasonably complete and detailed information about the eight sects who Laurabec thinks should participate in the temple. Basel, in particular, is surprisingly effective at digging up information. Jesús also spends a little time inquiring about "himself" (to everyone's confusion), and is surprised to learn that he's much more likely to be welcomed rather than arrested. On the other hand, his inquiries regarding his own sect are largely inconclusive. [INDENT][I]I was surprised and thrilled by how much everyone enjoyed the "gathering information" game in general and how Jesús took the lead and moved everything forward, setting goals, choosing targets, and digging for information outside of the mini-game. I was worried that he'd be marginally engaged, but he really enjoyed it.[/I][/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][I]I don't understand why the dice decided Basel is so good at gathering information. This is not the kind of thing wizards are good at![/I][/INDENT] Having decided he has learned everything he can about the parties involved, Jesús starts to write up a plan. Some of the heroes think that they should split the difference on the temple's location, locating it both in a central, defensive position, as the Ostaliners want, and at the shore as the people of Seaquen would prefer -- and connect the two with a mini-pilgrimage to entice the druids. Jesús is not impressed by this idea. Eventually, Basel realizes that he'd been confused about how a [I]lyre of building[/I] works and that it would be a good way to build the temple. Confronted with how they might get to Naizelasa to ask about the lyre and the choice of going by land or sea, Basel suggests they choose "None of the above": He thinks that Laurabec should fly Gusle out to talk to Naizelasa, avoiding both the fleet and the Shahalesti patrols. After all, this is Laurabec's bright idea! We plan to play on the 17th next. [/QUOTE]
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Bill T's Second War of the Burning Sky: Shelter from the Storm [more spoilers than you can shake a stick adorned with ribbons and kerchiefs at!]
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