Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="darkbard" data-source="post: 9613803" data-attributes="member: 1282">PRITCHARD registers the skeletal creature’s submission to him, slayer of its nemesis that he be. Calling the creature to his side, he growls, “Come!” and points at the bare earth beside him.When it obliges, he growls a second command, “Heel!” This time he curls his hand in an upward fist, and the skeletal creature half-collapses beside him on what remains of its haunches.Since the creature has already demonstrated submission, I don’t think any roll is necessary to get it to carry out these actions, with nothing essentially at stake. But correct me if you feel otherwise!As the half-man half-canine looms into view, PRITCHARD meets its gaze under the gauzy moonlight.“You have returned to the site of your people’s crimes, have you not?” he calls out. “Once a great evil befell this place, giving rise to the necrotic energies you have seen at work here. The sacred waters of the flowing river held the worst of this malevolence at bay, but your people’s felling of trees and similar transgressions have weakened the forest’s natural defense against this evil. “So it is good that you come here in atonement, for we have cleared the path for you, ridding this copse of the enemy that bested you.” At this, the diabolist gestures at the skeletal wolf beside him in clear indication of the power dynamics at play.“The pack takes care of its own. It purges the weak and reclaims its den from the competitor.” His voice takes on a droning, hypnotic quality. “I honor your desire for atonement, which must begin with the release of your once packmate from its torment of undeath.”Building off that earlier Spout Lore result (interesting but on me to make it useful), Pritchard is trying to convince the werewolf that its reason for returning to this copse is to atone for its people’s defilement of a once-sacred space … and that atonement begins with putting an end to the skeletal wolf and its pathetic existence!FIREBRANDWhen you introduce a new idea to an NPC, roll+CHA. On a 10+ they believe the idea to be their own and take to it with fervor. On a 7-9, their passion fades after a day or two. On a miss, they respond negatively, speaking out against the idea.r4,4 +2 CHA +1 forward from acting upon status as accepted alpha from the skeletal wolf (how much worse does that make my betrayal of it?!?) = 11.I think Firebrand is at play here since Pritchard did the detective work to establish what might have been the sequence of events leading to this moment but this knowledge was not available to the Uthgardt werewolf. If not, perhaps this is a simple Persuade move; if that’s the case, I think the fictional positioning has been established for such through the DBSM’s routing of the pack, our triumph over it, and the skeletal wolf’s submission to me as alpha.Boy, do I feel like a jerk right now. Pritchard has a weird moral compass.Actually, there is a bit more we wish to accomplish in this scene before we move on!As the Uthgardt warrior turns to leave, PRITCHARD reaches out and grasps the beefy fellow by the forearm.“Wait!” he exclaims breathlessly. “I do wish us to be pack-friends. Will you share a toast of brandy with us, in the traditional manner of my people, as formal allies? We have boar jerky for the members of your pack….”Meanwhile, TWYLL has managed to halt the uncontrollable shaking that had come over her since the werewolf first appeared … and she was taken back to that fateful day amid her people long ago.There were tales among the drow that just as the surface elves differ from her people–reliant upon the light of sun or moon for sight, weakened not strengthened by the constant competition and jockeying for power that defines drow society–the werefolk of the surface differ from those of the Underdark–natural shapechangers in service to the moon goddess, Selune, instead of wicked creatures struck with the curse of lycanthropy. She looks at the pack-leader for the first time not as a thing, a thing of irredeemable wickedness to be feared, but as a person as complex and as nuanced as her companion here.—Once the Uthgardt and his pack depart, the drow prepares a small fire atop the bluff, from where the duo can survey any approaching interloper, and sets a kettle of wolfsbane collected from the riverbank and cardamom from her small cache of spices brewing. Knowing the pack is far enough away for her to shed blood without their immediately picking up its scent, she runs the blade of the dagger gifted to her by the Uthgardt across her palm, jarred by the acuteness of the pain coupled with the heady workings of the tea. This ought to clear the last lingering fear and confusion wrought by the echoes of tragedy!Pritchard’s overture is genuine. Ever since his prayer was answered, he feels transformed, a being agitated by pent-up possibility, now palpably invigorated by the raw animal masculinity of the Uthgardt.He expends 1 Adventuring Gear for the brandy and 1 rations for the proffered jerky for the pack. (He is now down to 1 and 3, respectively; and 14/17 HP for those keeping score at home.)Twyll inflicts r1 HP damage to herself in the ritual bloodletting and expends 1 Adventuring Gear and a bit of time after the Uthgardt has left to collect enough wolfsbane for her tea to clear her WIS debility. She is down to 2 Adventuring Gear, 4 rations, and is at 13/17 HP.She also Spouts Lore about the nature of werecreatures, drawing upon tales of the differences between surface and Underdark creatures of this type. She's trying to draw a distinction between shape changers of the honorable sort, like the Uthgardt here, and those infected by lycanthropy as a curse, recalling both the evil werewolf from her youth and rumors of Valindra Shadowmantle’s desire to use shapechangers (eg the Neverwinter Nine) to infiltrate Neverwinter's government. SPOUT LOREWhen you consult your accumulated knowledge, roll +INT: on a 10+, the GM will tell you something interesting and useful about the topic at hand; on a 7-9, the GM will tell you something interesting—it’s on you to make it useful; either way the GM might ask, “How do you know this?”r6,6 +1 INT = 13! Something interesting and useful, please!</blockquote>

Verification