Chapter 7: Q&A / Discussion

[Jeff]

Mike: Bracers of respite healing now updated in my post and in your hit points.

[Mike]

Thanks. Amending my own post as well ... forgot oath of enmity gave me a re-roll against the gnoll!

[Brian]

Let's compare two statements:

Belarin:
Quote:
"CONDIGN! I think I love you!"

Kal:
Quote:
"With me, Condign."

Yes, for Condign, that is the funnier of the two comments.

What Belarin doesn't know yet is that, in the Demon Wastes, his statement qualifies as a marriage proposal. ;D

[Mike]

Why am I suddenly picturing Belarin as David Cassidy? ;D

Condign, I think I love you
So what am I so afraid of?
I'm afraid that I'm not sure of
A love there is no cure for ...

[Ken]

Oops, hadn't meant to put that in the IC thread. That's what I get for posting before my first cup of coffee. Brian, so you're saying that the Demon Wastes are much like the Appalachians, yes?

Mike: I failed my San check on that. Well done.

[Dave W.]

I have to agree... Epic SAN fail. Though David Cassidy with horns seems oddly appropriate...

[Dave W.]

On the other topic, if Kal says something aloud about taking Rejie alive, Adamant will use non-lethal force. I don't think he's going to come up with that one by himself though...

[Darren]

For what it's worth, Dave, I don't think we need to bother trying to capture Rejda now. It was a nice plan when I thought he was our last target, but apparently Jeff is going to just keep throwing enemies at us until we finally run away.

[Jeff]

No comment. Except...just think of me as a PEZ™ dispenser of monsters.

[Mike]

Dec 20, 2010 1:00:50 GMT -4 Darren said:

For what it's worth, Dave, I don't think we need to bother trying to capture Rejda now. It was a nice plan when I thought he was our last target, but apparently Jeff is going to just keep throwing enemies at us until we finally run away.

Oh, no. You don't get to say "never mind" now.

You wanted this guy captured, and by Crom, the avenger's capturing him.

[Darren]

God love ya if you can make it happen.

Actually, that might not be bad. I mean, sure we ticked 'em off, but if we can take a hostage, maybe Boromar can negotiate a cease-fire in exchange for Rejdar.

Of course, these are people who employ trolls, so they'd probably just as soon see him dead.

Now I'm getting into monster psychology......

[Dave W.]

Btw, i forgot but my bolstering strike also gives me Wis (3) worth of temp hp.

[Brian]

Darren:

OOC comments, I really do think we should try to limit the number of people negotiating with the Boromars to a minimum. We have a tendency to all say things to try to keep in the conversation, but our words are somewhat at odds with eachother, making it difficult for Jeff to interpret what it is we really want. Kal has a reasonably high Diplomacy skill, which is why I put him forward to lead the negotiation. If we choose one or two others in the group with a high skill to assist his rolls, and we discuss beforehand exactly what it is we're going for, I think we've got the best shot at getting what we want.

Works for me. ;D

[Ken]

Works for me, too. Belarin is better at lying, anyway. However, Belarin does perceive himself as Kal's consigliere at times, so there may be a few insightful whispers.

[Mike]

Works for me as well.

Need to read more carefully through the recent posts to figure out exactly what we need to be strong on in negotiations, but this caught my eye:

"Good catch," he says to Syrdan with a smile. "Just leave 'im here," indicating the floor.

If the rest of you guys are okay with this, fine ... but Syrdan is not exactly willing to simply hand over Rejda to them out of the sheer goodness of his heart. Not without getting some time to question him first - and that questioning would only take place with others in the group present. And that excludes Varna.

And if he is to be simply handed over, that shouldn't be a freebie.

[Darren]

I definitely agree, Mike, that handing him over isn't free. If we question him, though, what are we hoping to find out? We may have to sacrifice something else that we want from the Boromars in exchange for being allowed to interrogate him.

Besides knowledge of where Lehranna is and maybe information on who 'Z' is, is there anything else we're trying to get?

Kal's got his own personal mission, but I don't think the Boromars can help with that.

[Jeff]

Hey, I came up with another good use for the DE Wiki. Archiving knowledge checks. I know this should go without saying, but please roleplay in keeping with the results of your monster lore skill checks.

darkechelon.wikispaces.com/

[Mike]

The Boromars may have to sacrifice something else in exchange for them being allowed to interrogate him.

Fixed you post, Darren.

He's in our custody. As far as Syrdan's concerned, the group doesn't need to ask permission to do anything with Rejda.

As for questions - what about a simple "what's really going on?" and following up with the details? Syrdan would like a story that's not filtered through Varna. At this point, he trusts Varna about as far as he can throw, well, Adamant.

(No offense, Jeff. It's a general rule of mine - as a player, I rarely trust NPCs ... and Varna isn't exactly a virtuous paladin . And when I'm a DM, players sure as hell shouldn't trust them. )

[Jeff]

None taken, Mike. It means I'm doing my job.

[Darren]

Fair enough, Mike.

The only thing is that, so far, the bargain was for us to provide muscle in exchange for the necromantic spell. So they upheld that part. Now, yes, Rejda is our prisoner, but I don't know how much use he really is to us except as a bargaining chip with the Boromars. We could refuse to turn him over, but then I'd guess that they will not feel it necessary to do anything else for us in return.

It's noted, though, that you'd prefer an opportunity to question him privately, first, so I'll attempt to work that into the negotiations.

What else do we want to try to get out of them?

[Ken]

As Belarin pointed out, the presence of Silvermist is a pain in the butt, but there's little to be gained by bringing that up here. However, we could ask that the thug half-orc Trag be kept out of our hair. Dealing with his bad attitude caused Adamant and Kal to use abilities that might've come in handy during the just-completed fight.

[Dave W.]

Dec 22, 2010 8:31:10 GMT -4 Darren said:

Again Kal smiles at Streko, implying much but also filled with genuine affection.

It took me three or so reads of this passage for the 70's porn music to subside... that might be more a reflection on me than Darren...

Now the the important post:

I'm good with one speaker. Addy's Diplomacy is only +6 so there are probably better helpers...

As for what we'd like to know, I'd only add if they know something about the Karn Captain.

Remember in the negotiation, Rejda is a HUGE liability for us. We have no way to keep him. We need to either dump him on these halflings or find a quiet place to slit his throat and dump the body (that's not Addy speaking there btw). We don't need to be running from Medusas for the rest of our stay in the city and I don't really think he leads us anywhere on our current quest.

One last note: we're out of rounds, can we take a short rest while all this chatting is going one?

[Brian]

the one human who could diplomatically talk our way out of this and into a stronger position

Just as an FYI. I believe Kalarian has a pretty awesome Diplomacy modifier, but Condign's is +10, which isn't too shabby either.

[Ken]

There's a brief pause as a new idea grinds it's way through Adamant's mental gears, "or is this a mating behavior?"

Oh great, Adamant is asking the Eberron equivalent of a Klingon if roughness is part of a mating ritual. This should be fun.

[Joe]

Sometimes, Streko wonders why he even bothers....LOL!!

[Jeff]

I await the group's decision regarding Rejda before moving on.

[Mike]

Since I'm pretty much the only one interested in questioning him (and I'm not even sure what I'll get out of him), I've amended my original thoughts on the matter. Besides, I don't want to sidetrack the adventure.

Syrdan will be turning him over, unless anyone objects.

[Darren]

I'm good with that, Mike. And I agree....I don't really see what we can get out of him, and apparently he's not a worthwhile bargaining chip.

Syrdan can give the official go-ahead on that.

[Ken]

Sounds good. A pleasantly disposed mob second-in-command is likely to be much more helpful to us than a hostile enforcer like Rejdar.

[Jeff]

If you have anything more to do or say to the Boromars, do so now.