Night's Embrace: Part 1--A Touch of Darkness

[Rystil Arden]

Agh...I give up. I am weak, and need guidence.

GM - Can we get a hint? Not about the tracking down of the girl and mage and all. That's good adventuring. But this whole "You're broke and unemployed and there are wolves after you," thing... Are we missing something that should be obvious? Are our brains just collectively failing? It's really starting to strip the polish off the chrome here...

Just thought I'd put in my bid.

Well, there's a reason that adventures go adventuring and kill people for their stuff, I guess. Like many adventurers, you guys didn't take any Profession or Craft skills (correct me if I'm wrong on that), so other than your ability to fight (skills used as a guard or soldier), as first level characters, you don't really have much of an advantage on a common labourer, and if any labourer with the gumption to go asking around for a day or two could get a significantly better job than that, well, then there wouldn't be a slums full of poor people, right?

If you can beat the mage, though, I suspect you should be able to loot enough of his stuff to be okay. Other than those mentioned above, most ways to make money involve either training in a Profession or Craft or else a fair sum of money up front.

Without a job, if you need a bit of money now, you may be okay on that front--Sulannus probably has good enough credit, if she reveals her family name, to warrant a loan.

 

[Shayuri]

Arr...the ironic part is that I often DO take a Craft or Profession skill. But as idle noble, Su actually doesn't have any such skills as part of her background. Hee hee.

I chortle at it.

And of course, she has IC reasons not to flaunt her family too. Bahahaha!

But you are correct, sir. Find the mage, sell his swag. It's the Adventurer Way. Thanks for the cheer up.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Arr...the ironic part is that I often DO take a Craft or Profession skill. But as idle noble, Su actually doesn't have any such skills as part of her background. Hee hee.

I chortle at it.

And of course, she has IC reasons not to flaunt her family too. Bahahaha!

But you are correct, sir. Find the mage, sell his swag. It's the Adventurer Way. Thanks for the cheer up.

That actually is pretty ironic But yes, killing people and taking their stuff is the adventurer way!

When I ran this for my FtF group, they actually didn't have any money problems at the start, but later, a somewhat-eccentric NPC actually suggested to them to do an unrelated sidequest involving rumours of treasure and danger just to get richer and more powerful when they were afraid they weren't strong enough to defeat their enemies

 

[Boddynock]

Well, Kelloran has Profession (Innkeeper) +3. I just assumed that trying to find any sort of work in an inn would be compromised due to whatsisname's influence - you know, the one who took over the Armpit.

'Nock

 

[Rystil Arden]

Well, Kelloran has Profession (Innkeeper) +3. I just assumed that trying to find any sort of work in an inn would be compromised due to whatsisname's influence - you know, the one who took over the Armpit.

'Nock

Ah, it might be possible for Kel to find another job at an inn or tavern, but it isn't easy to find one that pays well, especially for someone just starting out who they don't know if they can trust. It almost certainly wouldn't be enough to pay for everyone though, but it could do for Kel at least.

 

[Boddynock]

Ah, it might be possible for Kel to find another job at an inn or tavern, but it isn't easy to find one that pays well, especially for someone just starting out who they don't know if they can trust. It almost certainly wouldn't be enough to pay for everyone though, but it could do for Kel at least.

Hmm, well that might be worth considering if everything else draws a blank. So far the adventuring life hasn't proven to be very ... lucrative.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Hmm, well that might be worth considering if everything else draws a blank. So far the adventuring life hasn't proven to be very ... lucrative.

Adventuring tends to be pretty bang and bust. It's like winning the lottery, I guess, and maybe that's why you see so many thugs with good weapons--they could have been adventurers down on their luck

 

[Boddynock]

RA, I'm starting to get a bit bummed about all the dead ends. Is there anything you can dangle in front of us to get us headed in the right direction? I know I'm probably just being obtuse but I'm beginning to feel as if there's no way forward. This game has been limping along for a while now - and I'm worried that players will just fade out. I've enjoyed it, though, so it's not one I'd like to lose. So some encouragement would be very gratefully received!

OK, so getting that off my chest, what are our ways forward?

• We could join the longshoreman's guild, and actively seek work on the docks. After all, if we're keen, which we are, that'd be a perfect excuse for us to be approaching people there.
• It's already clear that Gather Information won't work, because we don't have enough cash to fund the enquiries.
• Kel could try and find a job in one of the inns or taverns, and use his position to Gather Info ("How about another drink, on the house? Just don't tell the house! Now, about this mage ...")
• Kel and Titus could go off and pick some pockets - Kel lightfingering and Titus providing some muscle if Kel gets into trouble. Then we would have to explain where the money came from to the others. (Bloody paladins.)
• We could go back and hit the Armpit ... but I got the feeling whatsisname could wipe the floor with us, no trouble.
• I still think Gather Information would be our best way forward. We just need to come up with the readies!
• Have we already explored the question of a Wizards' Guild? Would there be any way to track the movements of a visiting mage?
• Wait a minute? Wasn't there some promise of shared information from the watch captain (or somebody)? I admit it - I peeked - but the others might have forgotten this lead.
• If that's a possibility, can we just fast forward to the time when they can go and pick up that information ... and get out of this bog?

 

[Rystil Arden]

I think you have a lot of good ideas here. Gather Info could be quite useful. There wasn't a mage guild in this city, but you could definitely look for a loner mage to help you out--want to try a Knowledge (Local) on that? The guard captain was going to get you some info--I believe a list of persons known to be missing currently.

 

[Boddynock]

Moved to the RG thread.