WotL OOC Thread III

[Haahque]

Does Haahqae have a contact with the orginization of the people who set up the chairs/hired the guards etc for him to talk to? Does he have any arrangements to meet them before the performance, or is it just expected that he'll show up and everything will run smoothly?

[JadedDM]

There was no organization. He hired a couple of carpenter apprentices to build the stage, and since it's done and they are already paid, they've likely returned to their shops.

As for security, he wanted to hire baaz soldiers for it, right? So they'll be coming from the barracks when the time is right.

[Haahque]

Ah ok, that makes sense.

I was sort of assuming that Haahqae had gotten a permit, hired guards and got the stage made/set up, and found someone to collect for paid seats all with the same agency, probably the government, for the performance. But if he did everything himself then that works too.

So I guess that means he has to go find someone to collect money for seats now? Or does he have someone for that?

[JadedDM]

Wasn't he planning on having Tulbas do that? Or am I remembering incorrectly?

Assuming I'm not, then he'd need to find a replacement.

[TristenC]

Well this could get interesting... *tries not to look at Kendra*

[Haahque]

Tulbas he was planning on having participate in the performance itself, which would have made him (probably) too busy to do the collection.

Since Tulbas didn't show up to rehearsals, he's sort of been kicked out of the performance completely, can't rely on someone to collect money if he can't even be trusted to show up to practices.

That feeling you get when you're pretty sure your character is going to get screwed over yet again, but there's no in-character way of preventing it.

[TristenC]

i feel your pain. Same way I felt when Haahque and Gregeddin got KO'd... But a goblin's gotta do what a goblin's gotta do...

[HorizonsDream]

Well this could get interesting... *tries not to look at Kendra*

Oh, it most likely will be interesting. :p

[Haahque]

As a brief note: Haahqae tends to juggle torches (he has 3 torches selected specifically for juggling), he's also been know to juggle knives and flaming torches, but in this show he doesn't want to break any weapon-laws, so he'll stay away from those.

[Haahque]

So I'm looking into the future and it seems to me to be rather easy for Haahqae's "safe" plan of putting on a well-intentioned performance for the troops to siphon off some money from them to turn into a complete disaster for him, due to planned attacks on the audience. This is somewhat distressing for me, as I'm quite keen to end Haahqae's more then a year long spree of failing at everything and getting nothing done, both in terms of character goals (which involves both loot and xp), both small (performance, heist, familiar, research, Ismene) and large (Life's quest).

In my opinion, given Tethy's words to Kendra, it sounds like he's aware of the show, and is ready to blame Haahqae (the performer) if it should be attacked. This would be rather unfortunate for all of Haahqae's short term plans, and he would much rather NOT be a convicted felon in hiding, nor a guest in some dingy cell for an indeterminate amount of time. (Which could easily end in him being a convicted felon in hiding).

It also seems to me that during the attack, whomever Haahqae hires to collect money for the show will have a hard time to get the money to Haahqae in the aftermath, no matter how it turns out, meanwhile they would have a very easy time taking the money for them-self. Haahqae's inveseted quite a lot of time and money into this performance, and he would rather like to cover his costs, even make a little bit of profit if possible. It would be vexing if he once again loses all that time/money without any rewards except for new enemies (he has enough of those already).

These problems, Haahqae cannot work to solve himself, because he has no reason to even suspect that anyone might attack the show.

The attack, it appears, is quite important for TristanC's character development, and it's unfortunate that in progressing his character it has to cause these problems for mine, however he's been quite accommodating in trying to help Haahqae out of this situation, as long as he can keep in character and can perform the attack as planned.

So what I'm looking for is ways that:

1) to find a way for Haahque to keep the money
2) To find a way for Haahque not to take the blame.

For #1, it seems that Haahqae's best hope is to meet with Kendra before the show, and to have her collect the money, or watch over the collecter of the money to make sure they don't run off with the money.

For #2, again it seems that Kendra might hold some sway on this part (by talking to Tethys and/or deciding on if she wants to arrest Haahqae), or Grubnick can try to help via methods of attack him haahqae directly but not lethally, having Haahque fights back, or if Grubnick is captured he would deny Haahque's involvement, but there is no guarantee he'd be believed.

[JadedDM]

I thought we already discussed and settled all of this? I told you, when presented with a list of possible consequences, I always choose the one that is most interesting for the player, the group and the game as a whole. So if, for some incredibly unlikely reason, Haahqae is blamed for the attack and arrested for it (which again, I don't see likely as happening unless Kendra reports to Tethys that he was responsible, and why would she do that?), then it's not the end of his story, just a new development to make things more interesting.

Is there some reason Haahqae can't just collect the coin on his own?

[Haahque]

The reasons Haahqae can't collect the coin on his own are as follows:
- The main problem is that he can’t collect from any latecomers. In a perfect world everyone arrives on time… but the world isn’t perfect.
- He also wouldn’t be able to do warmups that are involved in most performances, as he would be busy collecting money
- Collecting the money personally would make the show look like a smaller/lower budget performance then the magnificent show he wants it to look like.
However, if he’s willing to lose any profits from latecomers (and/or deny them entry), figure out some work-around for warmups and lower his standards for his performance, it is theoretically possible that he could do the collection himself.

(While I understand what you're saying above, and it does make me feel better about this... can you blame me for trying to actually trying to have it go (not poorly), instead of relying on GM mercy for it to not be an absolute disaster?)

[BishGada]

Haaque, if it is any comfort, Tulbas should have been dead by now. Twice. According to my actions. So the only conclusion is that the GM does show some mercy.

[JadedDM]

(OOC: I must say you surprised me. I assumed it will be more of the same but with the other spells, and I never thought of preparing for difficult conditions for spell casting.
That made me think of four things (some overlap your ideas):
1. To 'improve' casting conditions, I think Cantrips can help (wouldn't they?), but then Magnus which seems clever enough to consider bad conditions, would be so dismissive of it, no?
2. I thought also of training under stressful conditions, such as wounds, insects bites, threats from the other spell caster or other annoyance. It is similar to your ideas about impaired spell casting just include not only the senses required for the spell casting but also the moral, fear, pulse, sweat or disturbance of senses that are not crucial to the spell itself.
3. Combination of spells. (I misunderstood the meaning of impaired util I finished reading the sentence and thought of it as "pairing" / combining spells in a beneficial way).
4. Alternatives for spell, assuming lack of materials or the ability to use some of the spell components. Also alternative of components to accomplish the same spell but under different conditions.

Thanks.

1. Cantrips face the same limitations as regular spells do. For instance, if you can't see your target, you can't use a cantrip on them. If you can't speak, you can't use cantrips at all (they all require verbal components). And so on. So if you are in a situation where your speaking is impaired, for instance (someone gags you), you can't use a cantrip to make it easier to speak, because you need to speak to use a cantrip.
2. Yes. Although there's no mechanical penalties for things like fear, sweat and so forth, it can be assumed Magnus teaches him how to deal with things like that.
3. I don't know what you mean by 'combining spells.'
4. Some spells do allow for alternative material components, as described in their spell description. Sleep, for instance, can be cast with sand, rose petals or crickets. Normally, though, substitutions won't work. Spells require exact adherence or they fail. You put emphasis on the wrong syllable, you make one wrong hand gesture, etc., it won't work. So for instance, using salt or sugar instead of sand in a sleep spell will cause it to fail. Or if you have sand, but it's wet and clumped together, the spell still fails. Things need to be exactly perfect for magic to work.

[Chris1234]

@Jaded,
Hi there, can you give me guidance on how dwarves in general (ok and specifically an outcast like Shima) is likely to relate to Gully dwarves?
e.g. would they be generically viewed as vermin (or monsters) to be disposed of on sight similar to how one might treat a rat (or a Gellatinous Cube, if it doesn't nab you first)?
Or more like a less intelligent version of "enemy humanoids" such as Orks or maybe Drow? (ie still something to be disposed of).