WotL OOC Thread III

[spyguy1503]

Shims almost dying is really making this dungeon take forever.

[JadedDM]

Nah, he's only at around 50% HP. He should probably stop taking the frontline, though.

[JadedDM]

(OOC: if it's now ninth watch, how long is it until the scheduled meeting? Seeing as how the first post of this thread says that the meeting was scheduled for third watch, did I screw up royally by not reading carefully?)

The meeting was at Third Watch, yes. It's why I had Miriam keep pressing for a time (in the hopes it would prompt someone to go look it up) and why I kept counting down the hours (e.g., "It is now Second Watch. It is now Third Watch. It is now Fourth Watch", etc.). I've no idea how Arulia got it in her head that the meeting was at night. In fact, I thought that was why she was rushing so much in the beginning, even skipping out on breakfast, because she knew the meeting was early.

"Sure. Let's check out this side first." He carefully opens the nearest door.

Spyguy, can you clarify this for me? Did Ne-Chanz cross the bridge and open the door there? Otherwise, I'm not sure I parse this post. He says he wants to check out 'this' side first, which suggests he hasn't crossed the bridge yet, but then you mention going for a door, but the only door is on the other side of the bridge.

[Haahque]

Haahqae was never told what time the meeting was; all Arulia ever said was "Tonight".

Reading back, the meeting would have happened before Arulia even decided to bring Haahqae along (finally).

Was there any chance of Haahqae doing anything this chapter at all? I'm still searching for anything that he could possibly do that wouldn't just make his situation worse.

[JadedDM]

Was there any chance of Haahqae doing anything this chapter at all? I'm still searching for anything that he could possibly do that wouldn't just make his situation worse.

Of course, depending on what it is he wants to do. Are you suggesting I'm deliberately intervening to stop him from accomplishing anything?

[Haahque]

I'm pretty much saying that I'm lost as to what to do. Haahqae has tried many different things to accomplish the things that he wants to accomplish (on a list that is fairly public), and I don't feel like anything he's done has had any significant chance of even progressing him towards those goals this chapter. I also can't think of anything that he can do in the future that can significantly progress him towards any of the goals.

I somewhat feel like every time Haahqae has any success at all, somehow his situation manages to get much worse as a result of factors out of his control.

[JadedDM]

Trying to figure these things out is a large part of the game. The city being occupied cuts off a lot of options that might have been available otherwise.

It's true that Haahqae does not seem to consider the consequences of his actions. I chalked that up to his poor WIS score. For instance, he seemed to think that the army would not notice his robbery. Or if they did, they'd just shrug it off as inconsequential.

I think part of his problem is he keeps bouncing from one to the other. He also gets very easily distracted. I assumed that was also due to his low WIS.

Despite this, I'd say Haahqae has made better progress in his goals than anyone else. I suppose it might help to define 'significant' progress. Where exactly did you see Haahqae at by this point in time?

Perhaps it would help if he focused on one at a time? Assuming he's capable of staying that focused long enough to do so. Although perhaps the others could help him do that, if he asks. He has a lot of ambition but doesn't think things through, doesn't consider the consequences and is easily derailed. Having others to help keep him on track and plan ahead better might help.

We're only on page 17 of this chapter, so there's still plenty of time to accomplish something.

[djhyland]

The meeting was at Third Watch, yes. It's why I had Miriam keep pressing for a time (in the hopes it would prompt someone to go look it up) and why I kept counting down the hours (e.g., "It is now Second Watch. It is now Third Watch. It is now Fourth Watch", etc.). I've no idea how Arulia got it in her head that the meeting was at night. In fact, I thought that was why she was rushing so much in the beginning, even skipping out on breakfast, because she knew the meeting was early.

All right, this is all my fault. I didn't read the first post correctly, and just assumed that Arulia's meeting was in the evening. I can't say why exactly: maybe meeting thieves in an abandoned building sounds like something likely to happen at night. Maybe I thought that Arulia going and meeting the thieves by herself was a bad idea and incorrectly assumed she's have time to get some help.

And no, I didn't get the hints that time was passing.

The question now is how to deal with this in game. Does Arulia suddenly realize that she's missed her meeting like I realized it? I mean, I feel like I've wasted Haahque's and TristenC's time where their characters could have been doing something useful. Having Arulia suddenly tell them "okay, I messed up, go home" seems stupid, but having everyone hang out waiting for the time that Arulia thinks that she's supposed to meet the thieves knowing that they're not going to show up is worse. Any ideas?

[TristenC]

I'm good either way. Waiting or not. If Haahque reported tracks indoors she might wonder if they had come at a different time and suddenly realize it was supposed to be third watch.

As for 'time wasting', don't worry about it. We all do stuff like this from time to time

Now that we have a footprint trail, grubnick might suggest they try to get a certain Minotaur associate of theirs to try to scent-track it or something

[JadedDM]

I suppose the easiest thing would be to have something happen that interrupts and distracts them? I'm not sure what yet, though.

[Haahque]

Haahqae did report the tracks inside; that is part of the "he reports everything non-magical that he found"; which, in turn was everything that he found (he does not mention the detect magic spell in any way/shape/form).

As for wasting Haahqae's time. I really don't have a clue what he could have been doing that would actually have been productive. It appeared that he was on yet another dead-end path with his attempt to get Myriam and Jaymes and himself* together to talk about stuff that could possibly lead to ideas of how to free Ismene; neither of them seemed at all interested in coming up with any plans; nor even in moving the conversation to somewhere less public.

*Three people, as he saw it, who had a fundamental disagreement of values with the army being in power, who all had very solid reasons to dislike and/or want vengeance on the army in power and who were all quite capable of plotting and holding their own in battle.

[JadedDM]

It appeared that he was on yet another dead-end path with his attempt to get Myriam and Jaymes and himself* together to talk about stuff that could possibly lead to ideas of how to free Ismene; neither of them seemed at all interested in coming up with any plans; nor even in moving the conversation to somewhere less public.

That's not how I remember it.

Haahqae asked Miriam what her plans were for the day. She said she was looking for work. He hinted he had some prospects for her. She asked him outright if he knew of a job then, and he said:

“But for a job, I’m afraid I don’t have much. I’ve spent nearly the whole last week trying to help Ismene in any way I could possibly think of, but I haven’t even been able to find her. All I’ve heard are rumors that I’d rather not recite here.”

So in other words, no, he didn't. (He seemed to be implying here that helping Ismene was a job in itself, but I'm not sure how that works. Who would pay them for it? Ismene herself? All of her coin was confiscated.)
Despite that, Miriam invited them up to her room, with a warning of how dangerous it would be to be seen meeting with her in secret.

"Perhaps we should retire to my room then," Miriam suggests. "We can speak privately there, but if the army is spying on me and sees me speaking with you two, they may well consider you targets, as well," she warns. Indeed, the kapak seems to be glancing to their table several times, taking note of both Haahqae and Jaymes.

Haahqae first wanted to introduce them to Arulia and Grubnick instead. Then they started talking about the whole Yvette and Xyleena thing, which Miriam felt was too reckless and Jaymes had no interest in. Then the PCs left.

So it seems unfair to say Miriam and Jaymes had no interest in speaking with him in private. They were willing, and even invited him to do so, but he got distracted.

[Haahque]

Despite that, Miriam invited them up to her room, with a warning of how dangerous it would be to be seen meeting with her in secret.

I had gotten the impression that Miriam didn't really want to meet him in her room and was thus warning him away from doing so, especially not in her own room (where walls are thin and spies are likely to be plenty). That she had suggested it was a just a response to Haahqae's angling to find somewhere else to speak.

Perhaps I had misinterpreted that.

Haahqae's going off to talk to Arulia/Gobax was primarily because I didn't want their characters to have run all over the city in 7-10 pages of posts just for Haahqae to turn a blind shoulder to them and walk away without even speaking to them. I've been picking up a number of hints that Haahqae will need help from the other players in rescuing Ismene (although I can't really see how most of them would have the motivation and means to help him), so I was trying to increase player-player collaboration in the hopes that it would help him rescue Ismene. Thus his reaction of being rather ambivalent about the Yvette case, despite having worked hard and been so keen on it before; it was no longer a priority for him, only something that he would begrudgingly do because he didn't seem to be making much headway on the Ismene problem. It did fit well with his own view of his own morals.

The emotional breakdowns were because he hasn't heard/seen anything to make him hope that Ismene would ever be free in the future and it's been a gnawing at him all week, he's been losing sleep over it and is becoming a little unhinged. Something I feel is rather realistic in a situation like that, but really isn't fun.

(for the IC; I think we're waiting on Arulia to continue our plotline right now)

[spyguy1503]

Sorry, I'll investigate the hallway we haven't explored yet.

[djhyland]

(for the IC; I think we're waiting on Arulia to continue our plotline right now)

Well, how do you want to do that? Should Arulia say that the meeting is at tenth watch, or slap herself on the head and suddenly remember that it was earlier?