Chapter 13: Q&A / Discussions

[Jeff]

You know, for chatter.

[Darren]

Shorak should totally loot that body.

Kal would do it, but it would be unseemly.

[Jeff]

I'd rather Kal say that...

[Dave B.]

Shorak has already chosen to ignore the body.

[Darren]

Apr 18, 2016 13:55:33 GMT -4 Jeff said:

I'd rather Kal say that...

Kal would never say it. It's completely out of character for him.

[Darren]

Apr 22, 2016 13:59:04 GMT -4 Dave W. said:

Adamant gently returns the girl's hug, until Kal admonishes her. He releases her but just before he stands, one eye-gem flickers then goes out completely and then immediately lights up brightly. It's clearly not a thing he has practiced much but the effect of a wink is conveyed.

He returns to examining his hammer.

---

party pooper

If it makes you feel better, *I* felt awful writing it, but it seemed like something Kal would say. And really, he's doing it for her own good. If something happens to us and she ends up in the Deneith enclave, they're not going to stand for that.

[Jeff]

Don't worry, I like to think I'm better than all of you at separating player and character behavior. I know what's what.

[Dave W.]

Sorry, Darren, that was meant in fun... I should have emjoi'ed it...

I actually love conflicts between the characters... PC contention doesn't imply Player contention...

[Darren]

Oh, I know. I just felt like I had to explain. I've grown very close to Kal over the years. He and I have been together a very long time.

[Jeff]

Apr 24, 2016 10:40:07 GMT -4 Ken said:

What about the pendant that Belarin was wearing but which Condign took after Belarin started acting weird (relative, I know)? Does Condign still possess it?

Good question.

Histra warned against wearing it when returning to Eberron, but since Condign's sickly condition was purged at the end of yesterday's long rest, we can assume he removed it then. We might have even said so. Either way, it would be returned to Histra.

[Jeff]

Oh, I'm mixing necklaces up.

[Brian]

I am too. I'm talking about the one Histra gave Condign, which he would have returned to her before traveling back to Eberron.

Ken's talking about the eye pendant we found in the lighthouse. I think Condign still has it.

[Jeff]

Right. And Ken's referring to the eye talisman gotten from the Lighthouse trove:

ashlock.proboards.com/post/25222/thread

Turns out Kal took it. It's in his inventory.

[Joe]

Damn you, Kalarian d'Deneith!!

[Jeff]

Apr 26, 2016 6:06:05 GMT -4 Brian said:

Condign nods to Streko. To the others, he says, "We will meet you back here as soon as possible."

With Streko in tow, he leaves for the bank.

One quick aside: Anyone going about the city without Shorak—or Rinti, for that matter—will be slower-going in finding their way around. Stormreach is a confusing maze at the best of times. Now it's rainy and dark. Shorak knows the city very well, the rest of you have to go on your memory of following him around and remembering landmarks. And there's no Stormreach Uber.

If there was, it would probably be called Uber Hulks.

[Jeff]

With spiky studded leather armor on, Belarin has firmly set off down the path of looking like a bad-ass.

[Brian]

All we need is a cowboy, a fireman, a policeman....and Richard Simmons.

[Ken]

Dolurrh definitely left a mark.

[Dave B.]

Didn't we gather a whole bunch of coins in Dolurrh at some point? I remember Shorak scooping up a fair amount of coins at one point. The lighthouse, maybe?

[Ken]

Jeff: I've removed Nerrin's clothes from Belarin's inventory (I grayed them out, actually). Once he ditched the Nerrin persona and burned the identification papers, he wouldn't be carrying the clothes around anymore. In fact, considering the severity of the injuries he suffered during Nerrin's final night, I'd say that the clothes are effectively ruined.

So that's 4 pounds of weight freed up. When I removed the number from the weight row, the total encumbrance on the sheet properly recalculated.

EDIT: I also finally added Belarin's new spells and invocation to his sheet.

[Darren]

May 2, 2016 21:02:50 GMT -4 Dave B. said:

Didn't we gather a whole bunch of coins in Dolurrh at some point? I remember Shorak scooping up a fair amount of coins at one point. The lighthouse, maybe?

Kal is carrying 500 gp on him from that, in addition to what we have in the bank.

[Ken]

Yes, all the coinage that we grabbed has been accounted for on our character sheets, as described here (see Jeff's post at the bottom of the page):

ashlock.proboards.com/thread/243/chapter-12-shadows-dark?page=78

[Dave B.]

So, for some reason, the 500gp that Shorak grabbed never showed up on his sheet. I took care of it and I will edit my last post.

[Ken]

Jeff: Would any of us know whether vampires are able to walk around in the day if the sun is completely obscured, as in Stoker's tale?

[Jeff]

May 3, 2016 0:49:43 GMT -4 Dave B. said:

So, for some reason, the 500gp that Shorak grabbed never showed up on his sheet. I took care of it and I will edit my last post.

Sorry and thanks, Dave. Been a while, I can't quite remember how I handled it at the time.

May 3, 2016 15:09:47 GMT -4 Ken said:

Jeff: Would any of us know whether vampires are able to walk around in the day if the sun is completely obscured, as in Stoker's tale?

Right. Common folklore suggests they can't go about during the day, but more scholarly lore and this very's own practical experience says that they just can't tolerate direct sunlight. It would have been as dark as night (which it nearly is now) for them to safely move above outdoors. Just gray and overcast could still do them harm as plenty of sunlight filters through the clouds.

Remember, when the party raided the Patriot and rescued Lerrhana, it was daytime, and the mere act of going into the hold roused Krez from his coffin. So vampires seem to need some kind of rest and it makes sense that it would be daytime, but that doesn't mean they can't break that rhythm if they need to.

[Jeff]

Not particularly urgent at present, but since this crops up from time to time, I figured now might be a good time to talk about something.

May 3, 2016 21:45:34 GMT -4 Darren said:

"Either way, we have our own business to attend to and should be moving on."

May 4, 2016 4:58:44 GMT -4 Brian said:

"I would feel safer in armor. Could we finish that business first?"

May 4, 2016 9:24:54 GMT -4 Ken said:

"Let's be off."

I can't emphasize enough how I look for action words as opposed to implied actions through dialogue. Dialogue is all good—keep doing it!—but my instinct at the moment is just to wait until the group decides as a whole and then someone takes initiative in saying they lead the group on—probably Shorak, since he's been doing the leading in Stormreach thus far.

That said, I don't want to make the game slower. I just don't want to move things along based on dialogue alone because that encourages you guys to keep doing only implied actions. Now, I know this party doesn't have a leader—in fact, I've never played in a D&D game where any group would ever accept one. (Which is kind of a shame, but at least it fits the characters.) But, for logistics reasons, it might be good to still designate a player character as the group's meta speaker. When they say they prompt the group to move along, then I'll go with that—that way we don't have to wait for a chorus of consent. BUT, if any player disagrees with that spokesman's decision to move, it's on them to speak up quickly.

What do you guys think?

You should all decide about this, but I'm happy to recommend. If you don't like this idea, that's okay, but then I will wait for every player to give the "okay" once a new direction has been laid on the table. If you do like this idea, then you need to pick who that person should be (and the role can always change later). Based on this campaign so far, I'd recommend Condign, Kal, Shorak, or Belarin. Adamant and Streko tend to follow the group decisions, though they don't hesitate to speak up when they have a suggested destination (like Adamant does currently with visiting the temple of the Sovereign Host).

My reasoning:

• Condign because he's a man of action and a battlefield tactician by nature—and of course because Brian is very active.
• Kal because he probably thinks of himself as the party leader already even if the others don't.  You may have noticed that many assume he's the leader initially when they meet the group, based on his dragonmark alone.
• Shorak, especially now, because he knows the way around Stormreach better than anyone and literally has to be a guide for now.
• Belarin because he's somehow the most bard-like and tends to be the most talkative anyway.

Thoughts?

[Brian]

I'm fine with appointing a meta-leader for the sake of game expediency. I agree that no one person is the "leader," though Kal fashions himself one, and Condign sometimes assumes the role just to annoy Kal.

And this could also speed up the gameplay, I believe, as we may not be looking at a 24 hour turnaround to simply leave a bank or a shop or whatnot.

[Dave W.]

I'm fine with trying it. If it doesn't work out we'll reassess.

We may see an increase in the occasional short posts that go back in time just to put our little RP touch to a scene the group has already moved on from.. but that does happen now anyway.

Generally Adamant is a natural-forged follower. (okay that line doesn't contribute much to the discussion I just liked the phrase) In role-play he generally looks to Kal and Belarin as the group's leader.

But, I'd like to point out that the party leader player doesn't need to necessarily be the same as the party leader character. Hmmm, maybe if we call it party facilitator...

Anyway after all that noise, yes, I'm fine having Brian lead us.

[Ken]

Ditto to all that. I'm cool with Brian taking point, also.

[Joe]

I'm fine with Brian leading the way. If Streko has anything to say, he will. He's still a bit traumatized by that Plane of Death thing...