Session 2b: Unlikely Allies

[C. Steven Ross]

Your first attempt, laughable. Your second attempt, heartfelt and sincere, but also heartbraking, like a little boy trying to impress his parents.

But the fourth attempt! You finally showed that backpack who's boss! A dozen annoying pinpricks and frustrating failures gets you to complete the repairs.

Mark an attempted Peasant test, gain a check, and also gain the Angry condition.

Dice didn't love you this time, but thinking about it I probably would have gone for the risk and earned a check, too, if it were me.

END TURN 6
Next Turn ends the Session!

[Marullus]

(Does that mean he had success-with-a-cost? So he is Angry, but the backpack is usable?)

If we're done with this room, I suggest we put the body up on the clay slab for the other hobgoblins to see-or-interr, and then go check the library for Daedra information/weapons.

Are we done in this room? I think we were asked to specify what we were searching for in the debris of the floor, which I'm not sure we've done. Garen is most adept at looting rooms for treasure, right?

[C. Steven Ross]

Correct! It is a failed test, but Norgrim gets what he wants - a repaired pack for Rand.

[Rusty Tincanne]

...heartfelt and sincere, but also heartbraking, like a little boy trying to impress his parents...

Poor Enoch!

Being perched so high, Rand could not see Norgrim as he worked on the pack, but he could tell by the increasing frequency and volume of the dwarf's cursing that his mood was souring. So as the pack was tossed in his face he knew that teasing his short companion was out of the question. Instead, he held the pack out at arms length and nodded. "Quite serviceable!" Rand stowed the silver disk/hammer in his backpack along with the remaining candles, leaving him with an empty sack in his hand.

"Garen, if you want to keep the old man's staff, we can redivide our possessions. Same goes for the rest of you."

I am still open to searching the room for statue heads and a weapon for Garen if you all want to.

[thesniperknight1]

I can search the room if you want to and I already do have a dagger so that should be enough for me now

"Thanks, but a stick isn't really what I am used to in fighting but.....this room is filled with all sorts of things that can prove to be of use to us", since the gem is probably the only thing of coin value in the room, Garen begins searching the room, moving his way through the water to each corner and running his hands along the floor on the way, for any survival items like torches, food, cloaks and such and if he stumbles onto weapons or valuables then all the better

[Rusty Tincanne]

"Don't forget to keep an eye open for statue heads."

The stick would add +1D to this scout test, at least.

[C. Steven Ross]

Make an Ob 7 Scavenger test (dungeon scavenged items, something useful).

[thesniperknight1]

Wow, well I can say with all certainty that this is an impossible test, even with help from everyone and the stick it gives me 6D and with exhausted I can forget about it. Well, I am going down alone

Garen goes around the room pretending to know how to scavenge and refusing any help to save his pride as a thief who should know how to work with whatever he has. (Use trait against myself)

[C. Steven Ross]

Unfortunately in this game, finding anything useful in a dungeon is extremely difficult! Mark a failed Scavenger test and a new check.

Garen bends down as low as he can, careful not to take in a mouthful of the foul black water, and swishes his hands around the floor surface looking for something good. You find dirt and rocks. Furthermore, your explorations have attracted the giant eels again! The creature move in, emboldened by what they think might be prey, and snap onto your fingers!

END TURN 7
Two torches burn out

END OF SESSION

[C. Steven Ross]

REWARDS

Did you take action in service of your character’s Belief during the session, even though it may not have been the wisest or easiest path to take?
OR
Did you play against your Belief in a dramatic fashion — if you made a decision in the game that’s counter to what you believe — and you let everyone know about your inner struggle through your performance of your character?

Did you work toward accomplishing your Goal, but didn’t quite accomplish it?
OR
Did you accomplish your Goal during the session?

Did you use your Instinct and that benefited the party?

Who was the MVP of the session? MVP stands for “most valuable player.” Who made the crucial roll so the party could face down the big problem besetting it in the session.

Who was the Teamworker, the player who worked the hardest to keep the group together and in good shape?

Who wins the Embodiment award? Who roleplayed in a believable and entertaining manner throughout the entire session — describing all their actions in vivid detail or bring their Belief, Goal,Instinct and alignment into play in a new and entertaining way?

[Marullus]

Yeah, it was kind of a dirty move. The description implied there was a reasonable chance of success. Had it said "the waterlogged morass is full of detritus, but by miracle it might contain something of value" we would have acted differently.

Did you take action in service of your character’s Belief during the session, even though it may not have been the wisest or easiest path to take?

Ulrich's belief is "Offense is the best defense." I believe he acted quite dramatically in service to this belief by ending the egomaniacal, treacherous, scheming hobgoblin's life.

Did you work toward accomplishing your Goal, but didn’t quite accomplish it?

His goal is to recover the Daakan artifact, which is guarded by the Daedra. He pursued this with vigor, but we are not there yet.

Did you use your Instinct and that benefited the party?

He did use his instinct to benefit the party, making a poultice for our poor cleric. He failed the test, so I don't know if it counts.

Who wins the Embodiment award?

I nominate Norgrim for Embodiment.

Who was the Teamworker, the player who worked the hardest to keep the group together and in good shape?

I nominate Rand for Teamworker.

[thesniperknight1]

Did you take action in service of your character’s Belief during the session, even though it may not have been the wisest or easiest path to take?

Yes, Garen made a firm decision to help those slaves because it's what he conceived as the humane thing to do, even though it's a great inconvenience.

Did you work toward accomplishing your Goal, but didn’t quite accomplish it?

Garen worked towards his goal of robbing the place for what it's worth but haven't done that yet, he stole a very high priced gem though.

Did you use your Instinct and that benefited the party?

Not really, didn't help all that much.

Who was the MVP of the session? MVP stands for “most valuable player.” Who made the crucial roll so the party could face down the big problem besetting it in the session.

Norgrim with the drive off conflict!

Who was the Teamworker, the player who worked the hardest to keep the group together and in good shape?
Rand, he tried his best to keep everyone included and help at every possible opportunity

Who wins the Embodiment award? Who roleplayed in a believable and entertaining manner throughout the entire session — describing all their actions in vivid detail or bring their Belief, Goal,Instinct and alignment into play in a new and entertaining way?
Ulrich, with his encounter with the hotgoblin sage espically

[Rusty Tincanne]

Did you take action in service of your character’s Belief during the session, even though it may not have been the wisest or easiest path to take?

Rand stood by his convictions throughout the session this time, stepping forward to convince the goblins to help us, working to convince the rest of the group we should try to rely on the hobgoblins and later engaging Drum-Haak in conversation. Each instance (questionably) proved Rand right, gleaning useful information from each party and a decent place to sleep.

Did you work toward accomplishing your Goal, but didn’t quite accomplish it?

While he didn't get much useful information or tools to help his cause, Rand did engage both Ghaldaar and Drum-Haak, mining for helpful hints at banishing the Daedra. This worked better with Ghaaldar, who updated our map, allowing us fast, safe passage through part of the dungeon.

Did you use your Instinct and that benefited the party?

Rand directly used his instinct to convince goblins to help us - or at least not hinder us.

Who was the MVP of the session? MVP stands for “most valuable player.” Who made the crucial roll so the party could face down the big problem besetting it in the session.

While I agree Norgrim did a bunch of great things (saving Rand again, patching my pack, driving off the eels, etc, I would say Ulrich was the MVP, taking on the mantle as team captain in the persuader conflict with the hobgoblins and and eels, and later dispatching Drum-Haak singlehandedly, thereby avoiding a chance of danger to the rest of us.

Who was the Teamworker, the player who worked the hardest to keep the group together and in good shape?

I appreciate the nominations and certainly would love the rewards that go with it, but just to throw out a different opinion, Norgrim gave up a check to save Rand, then mended his pack. He also offered helping dice as often as they could be offered. That might just be having the right skills for a dungeon, but I think it is more than that.

Who wins the Embodiment award? Who roleplayed in a believable and entertaining manner throughout the entire session — describing all their actions in vivid detail or bring their Belief, Goal,Instinct and alignment into play in a new and entertaining way?

I don't have a clear vote on this yet. Ulrich certainly had lots of embodiment going on with his defense of the group and descriptions . Garen had a couple of really great embodiment moments, particularly when bantering with Ulrich (early on) and later discussing the plight of the slaves. And though there isn't a lot of description going on behind it, Norgrim's character really shines through throughout the session, letting us get ourselves into trouble and then stepping forward to save his new clan members. So it is up in the air right now. You all did a nice job and I look forward to more characterful descriptions in the next session!

If all that is approved by Steven, so far I have 3 Fate and 0 Persona earned. (and if I get a persona, I am almost ready to level up! )

[Rusty Tincanne]

Thought it might be worth noting that multiple folks can earn the Embodiment award. Just not all of us.

And I think you can get Embodiment along with either MVP or Teamworker.

If we wanted to game the system, we certainly could. And it seems like most of this game encourages such behavior, so...

[Enoch]

Did you take action in service of your character’s Belief during the session, even though it may not have been the wisest or easiest path to take?
OR
Did you play against your Belief in a dramatic fashion — if you made a decision in the game that’s counter to what you believe — and you let everyone know about your inner struggle through your performance of your character?

My Belief was to protect the "clan"...I attempted to reach an agreement with Drum-Haak to avoid a potentially dangerous conflict.

Did you work toward accomplishing your Goal, but didn’t quite accomplish it?
OR
Did you accomplish your Goal during the session?

I worked toward recovering the heads, both in our dealings with the paladins and with Drum-Haak.

Did you use your Instinct and that benefited the party?

Hahahaha, no. My Instinct ended up breaking the door to our camp.

Who was the MVP of the session? MVP stands for “most valuable player.” Who made the crucial roll so the party could face down the big problem besetting it in the session.

I'd have to say Ulrich, mostly because he managed to avert a conflict with Drum-Haak.

Who was the Teamworker, the player who worked the hardest to keep the group together and in good shape?

Rand. We just need to get him better boots.

Who wins the Embodiment award? Who roleplayed in a believable and entertaining manner throughout the entire session — describing all their actions in vivid detail or bring their Belief, Goal,Instinct and alignment into play in a new and entertaining way?

I'd have to say Marullus/Ulrich. Killing the mage irritated Norgrim, but it was very much in keeping with his character, and he seems to have a good sense of "who he is". I also really liked Garen getting belligerent when we met Ulrich, but showing a different side with the slaves.

[Rusty Tincanne]

So far:
Embodiment: 1 vote for Norgrim, 1 for Ulrich. Enoch and Rusty Tincanne have split votes.

MVP: 2 votes for Ulrich, 1 for Norgrim. Marullus hasn't voted yet.

Teamwork: 3 votes for Rand. 1 vote for Norgrim.


I will be offline for the weekend. Back on Monday!

[Marullus]

Thought it might be worth noting that multiple folks can earn the Embodiment award. Just not all of us.

And I think you can get Embodiment along with either MVP or Teamworker.

If we wanted to game the system, we certainly could. And it seems like most of this game encourages such behavior, so...

So far:
Embodiment: 1 vote for Norgrim, 1 for Ulrich. Enoch and Rusty Tincanne have split votes.

MVP: 2 votes for Ulrich, 1 for Norgrim. Marullus hasn't voted yet.

Teamwork: 3 votes for Rand. 1 vote for Norgrim.


I will be offline for the weekend. Back on Monday!

Steve - which is it? Does only one person get it or can multiple?

[C. Steven Ross]

Actually...

I wanted to thank everyone very much for playing in the game, but I am planning on bowing out for a good long while from Play-by-Post. I've had a few months of easy goings at work making this possible, but the spring and summer are going to be busy and I just can't afford to be distracted, and I can't abide by half-assing a game!

Of note! I'm putting out this adventure in a pretty substantial way in about 10 days or so (waitig for final art to come in). It will be hosted at - ddeadventures.wordpress.com

Again, thanks for playing, happy gaming!

[Rusty Tincanne]

Damn! I have been working on a plan to use my instinct to charm our new batch of eels using Drum-Haak's corpse! Alas. It certainly is a cliffhanger-of-an-ending.

Thanks for the introduction to the world of Torchbearer, Steven. It was a steep learning curve that I enjoyed (despite the pain and lost sleep). If you consider starting this adventure up again, shoot me a PM or email (through this site). I'd love to see how Rand evolves. And to see him reach level 2!

[thesniperknight1]

well, it was nice playing with you all. Thanks for the experience