Chapter 9: Q&A / Discussions

[Jeff]

...And here's the thread for Darren to bitch and moan in, and to request maps for all situations. ;D

[Darren]

Can I see a map of where Kal is on the ship, and how awesome he is in relation to everyone else? Thanks!

[Jeff]

Do you want it to be an animated gif, that shows how the entire map (and by extension, the world) revolves around the axis point that is Kal's icon?

[Darren]

Jeff, please. Why would you put so much work into showing something that is so universally self-evident?

[Ken]

I'm still cracking up at how Kal's eulogy somehow managed to be all about him. Classic. Nicely done.

[Darren]

What? No....it wasn't....it wasn't supposed to be. Is that how it sounds? Damn....maybe I'm too much like him for my own good.

[Jeff]

No worries, Darren. I didn't really take it that way, nor does the crew.

[Joe]

Ken, you make me laugh. Then again, so do you Darren. Kal is the greatest natural (versus un-natural) straight-man in Eberron.

[Brian]

Jeff:

Actually, just a quick thing here: The Speak With Dead ritual isn't just yes or no questions. Condign's even seen it at work before.

Oh, bite me.

[Darren]

At least it's not me this time!

[Ken]

Aug 15, 2011 14:17:03 GMT -4 Brian said:

Oh, bite me.

Careful there, big guy. Considering who we're facing off against, Jeff could easily make this come true...

[Ken]

Aug 16, 2011 15:49:29 GMT -4 Darren said:

And perhaps this discussion should move to the Q&A thread from here....

Yep. So far, these options for questions have been tossed out for consideration:
1) What are the names of Krez's allies in Stormreach?
2) Who commands (or What is the name of) the airship that attacked the Merrow Down?
3) What were the names of the people around you when you began the flight to attack our ship? (A very specific wording of Kal's first suggestion.)
4) What was your destination? (Kal's other suggestion. This would need to be made VERY specific, I think, to be effective.
5) Where does Krez plan to rest during his first day in Stormreach? (Belarin's half-serious, oh-what-the-hell suggestion if there's nothing else.)

Question #1 is my top choice, as it might give us some advance notice of folks to watch out for in Stormreach -- and possibly take them out before the Patriot docks. The drawback, as with most of the questions, is we don't know how much the halfling knew of Krez's plans or allies.

Question #3 is good, as it might also give us the answer for Question #2.

Question #4... I don't know if that helps us much. The halfling's destination may have nothing to do with what we're doing. Again, it would have to be carefully worded.

Question #5? Only worth asking if we get a detailed response to Question #1. And if that's happens, I think it's definitely worth asking. ;D Imagine what we could to Krez's safehouse if we had a day's headstart. Drawback: It's quite possible that the answer will be "The Patriot," which will be docked.

Toss out your thoughts! Any other question suggestions?

[Brian]

Okay, here are my thoughts.

I'm assuming we are too far out to sea for the halfling to have flown in on the wyvern from the mainland. That means he was on another ship for some length of time prior to his mission. Again, I seriously doubt Krez would confide in a mercenary--and who else would he send on this mission but an expendable thug--someone who could be captured and questioned. So maybe we should limit our questions to whatever the halfling could've seen on his ship that would help us.

Now, not that we saw much of the ship while rescuing Syrdan's elf-babe, but I don't remember a wyvern there. Nor another airship anywhere nearby.

Maybe we should find out if The Krezster has more than one ship? I mean, what if he has a small flotilla of ships which he uses to carry his minions? Could you imagine the damage we could mete out if we were to actually sink one of those ships--should they exist?

Sure, I also don't remember seeing other ships nearby. But sailing just over the horizon--which I think is twelve miles if Eberron is the size of the earth--might not be that difficult.

Another may be something like this: "Other than Krez, who or what did you see on your ship which you thought could be your the most dangerous ally?" We may get an idea of Krez's got up his sleeve.

Lastly, if all else fails: "What is your favorite color?" ;D

[Dave W.]

My fav is still the allies question.

I'm wondering if "who is your sire?" would be included in that.

I think we should risk the assumption that the halfling is a fairly trusted ally. If he's not then I'm not sure there's anything all that useful we'll get out of him. If he is and we don't ask pointed questions we miss the opportunity to get the good stuff.

How about "What is Krez's goal on the continent of Xen'Drik?" I mean we're assuming he's after the same artifact. I'm not sure that's a great question, but if we're stuck for another.

Or maybe "What does Krez know about the artifact" (okay, forgot the name). "Or what has Krez said about the artifact" if the whole thing is rules-lawyery...

Love the "favorite color" thing... got the image of the halfling being flung off the ship...

[Jeff]

Aug 16, 2011 20:11:19 GMT -4 Dave W. said:

Love the "favorite color" thing... got the image of the halfling being flung off the ship...

Except that if you ask that question wrong, the warforged'll be flung off the ship.

[Joe]

You might also want either Streko or Kal to ask the questions. He may only speak in the halfling tongue...just covering our bases, so to speak.

[Jeff]

Actually, Histra has to ask the questions, as the performer of the ritual. But if the halfling answers in Halfling, you can all hear it.

[Ken]

Jeff, here's where we need your Eberron tech know-how. Based on what we know of the distance that we still have to travel, how long would it take an airship to fly from the Xen'drik coast to our position?

Why I ask:
Let's all keep mind that it's been a week since The Bloody Patriot Affair (I suddenly got a Man From U.N.C.L.E. vibe). With the proper ritual ("Arcane Telegraph"!), Krez presumably wouldn't have had a problem describing our attack to his allies on Stormreach (more Emerald Claw guys?), requesting aerial support, and getting the airship out to our position. Yeah, I don't think that wyvern came from the Patriot either, Brian. It probably came from Xen'drik ("probably" is why I've asked to Jeff above to confirm whether it's possible), and so I believe we should risk asking about Krez's allies (or perhaps the halfling's allies) in Stormreach. If Krez did get word out, they could already be preparing a reception for us if we beat the Patriot to the shore.

[Darren]

My problem with your first question, Ken, is that that seems like the kind of thing that a hired mercenary isn't likely to know. I think we should assume that this halfling's situation may have been very similar to ours; that is, he may not know more about Krez and his allies than what he has learned while on this voyage. So I think it's worth limiting our questions to the types of things that might have been picked up or discussed along the way.

I think it's safe to assume that Krez would not discuss the names of any of his allies with people he hired. But it is safe to assume that the people he hired would talk to each other. So we can ask the halfling who else was on the ship (descriptions and names, if possible). We can ask what Krez intended for the halfling to do upon their arrival. We can ask if the halfling was traveling with Krez on The Patriot, or if there are other ships in Krez's entourage. We can ask if Krez mentioned the Eye of....erm....something. Azeroth?

Anyway, does that help people consider other questions?



EDIT: Okay, I simul-posted with Ken, and if the assumption that the halfling came from Xen'drik is true, then the above applies somewhat less, but still has some validity to it. I would agree with Ken, at that point, that asking about Krez's allies in Stormreach might be valid. It's also worth considering that if Ken's theory is correct, the halfling might not have been hired directly by Krez, either. So it might be worth asking the halfling who hired him.....

[Darren]

That's valid, Ken. The reason I mention descriptions is because just having the names of the people around him might not do us any good. If I said, "Ken, who are the people in your office?" and you said, "Well, there Bob, Jenny, George and Carl," that wouldn't really mean anything to me. But if you said, "There this big guy, Bob, and then there's pretty Jenny with the blonde hair, and George...he's crafty, you should watch out for him. And Carl carries a giant two-handed sword...."

That might help, y'know? I don't think it's pushing it to say, "Tell us the names and descriptions of the people you were traveling with?" and assume that is one question.

I feel like we're getting three wishes from a genie and we have to be super specific with our wording because otherwise the genie will twist our wishes around.....

[Ken]

Darren, actually, I agree with your first point that it might be better to ask about the halfling's allies. If he is from Stormreach, then that's juicy info to have, especially since we might encounter them before our next round with Krez. And if the halfling's list of allies overlaps with Krez's, so much the better.

Update: Ack! Darren and I are simul-posting! I deleted my previous note after seeing his, but not before he responded to that post! Backing away from the monitor before I confuse matters further....

[Darren]

Geez....Ken and I keep posting at the same time. My second post up there was in response to something Ken said but then apparently deleted.

[Jeff]

Stormreach is X number of days away...with Morsha's direct magical help. X + 1d4 days without it. That would have to be a very strong wyvern with a camel-like hump or two on its back to store water in to have flown from Xen'drik precisely to where you are in the great big sea.

Note that the Patriot was not an airship.

[Brian]

Jeff:

That would have to be a very strong wyvern with a camel-like hump or two on its back to store water in to have flown from Xen'drik precisely to where you are in the great big sea.

Also, unless the halfling's mission was a suicide one, I'd have to assume the wyvern planned on flying back to Xen'drik. I think that puts us back to the attack having come from somewhere nearby.

[Darren]

Okay, so go back to my message 6 posts ago and what do we think?

[Ken]

Yes, I'm aware that the Patriot is not an airship. But we KNOW that an airship was present. I'm referring to this passage:

Aug 9, 2011 23:01:27 GMT -4 Jeff said:

The wyvern, wounded and screeching, evidently struggled back into the air and disappeared, leaving its dead rider behind. Anng, who never once left the ship's helm, despite his grief and rage, was the only one to see what drifted above the Merrow Down during this whole assault: an airship. This seems to have been Krez's means of catching up with the Merrow, and it is therefore likely the airship is in league with the Patriot.

I'm aware that a wyvern couldn't have flown the distance. But it could have been on the airship. So again, would our characters have any idea how long it would take an airship (not our ship, not a wyvern) to travel from Xen'drik to here?

[Jeff]

Nahh, your characters wouldn't know distances of this sort or the speeds of ships. You've been told a traditional ship takes a month get from Sharn to Stormreach. An elemental galleon, 2 weeks. An airship is much faster (maybe just a few days), but the winds of the Thunder Sea are difficult to account for. That's the best I can give you.

[Ken]

Okay, that's fine, Jeff. Thanks. I really just wanted to know if it was possible for an airship to get from Xen'drik to our position in 6 or 7 days, which is sounds like it is.

If the answer was "no," then the line of thinking about Krez's/the halfling's allies in Stormreach would be out the window. So that's still information we might be able to get.

[Ken]

First off, I apologize if it seems like I'm hogging this conversation. I'm just "thinking out loud" and am open to suggestions. I also don't want us to get stuck here.

Dave W. had a good suggestion regarding the plans for the Eye. A lot of this depends on whether the halfling and the wyvern were or were not aboard an airship that may have flown here from Stormreach. It's a reach, but if it's true, it could have the biggest payoff. If he was simply a grunt who came from the Patriot... well, his information probably won't be as important.

My recommendation? Base the first question on the premise that he was on the airship from Stormreach. Our second and (possibly) third questions will depend on the halfling's answer. Thus...

Q1: "What are the names and descriptions of your main allies in Stormreach?" (Histra can tell us whether "descriptions" is pushing the envelope.)

If the answer indicates that, hell yes, he does have allies in Stormreach:

Q2: "What is the name and location of the place in Stormreach where you usually receive orders?"

Q3: "What plans are you aware of regarding retrieval of the Eye of Azalar?" (A variation of Dave W's suggestion.)

If the answer to Q1 indicates that, nope, he didn't come from Stormreach, we should aim for smaller-scale but still potentially valuable info about the Patriot and Krez himself, along the lines of what Brian suggests above. So:

Q2: "From what location did your wyvern launch its attack on our vessel?" (If it wasn't from the airship, it would be good to know.)

Q3: "Who are the full names and vocations of your three most powerful allies aboard the Patriot?" (A slightly bigger version of Brian's idea.)

OK, that's it from me. Unless someone feels strongly otherwise, I think a bold first question and a two-track approach to the remaining questions is best.

[Darren]

I think that approach is about as good as we can get right now with the limited information we have. I say go for it.