Can we do anything before Thursday?

[Mike]

Seriously, how much can we take care of here before the game starts on Thursday?

Dothan's 3-day adventure in Sandpoint is already done. You guys got as far as looting and disposing of corpses. I assume you're pretty much done there and the plan is to start back in the morning, showing up in Sandpoint on the evening of Neth 20. We'll do our usual party for the returning heroes, share info, divvy up stuff if needed, etc. Then we make a plan.

We know where Jorgenfist is. And we know a bit about it. Gunrus is on friendly terms with Dothan, and we can get more info if anyone thinks of questions to ask.

Gunrus is still a marauder who attacked Sandpoint and needs to be brought to justice somewhere (like Magnimar)... if we plan to take him there. Just because he and Dothan are on great terms doesn't mean his loyalties aren't still with his god-king or whatever.

We only vaguely know what Tik***** might have been looking for, we can put our heads together and ask more questions.

Everyone just leveled up, do people need down time to deal with anything? Does anyone have personal business in Sandpoint that they need a day or two for? Do any of you have anything left you need to do in the giant camp before you start back?

Of course, getting things done here is predicated on the idea that you get back to Sandpoint uneventfully, so we would need Darcs to sign off on that.

[Zen]

Not sure if there is anything we can do... I think planning to take Gunrus to Magnimar, possibly after investigating whatever leads Dothan dug up about what T-Dog was looking for in Sandpoint, sounds like a good starting point. I'm pretty sure that most of us could use to re-supply with some magical stuff and the shops in Magnimar are just better equipped. (I know that Eldthor wants some more Giant Bane arrows, at least. I have a list of things I might want to shop for:

Pliant gloves
Ring of Protection +2
Winged boots
Shoes of the lightning leaper
Glove of Storing
Kinsight goggles

If i can find any of them...)

[Elle]

One preliminary question: I have no idea where we are on the map right now. How close are we to Thistletop? Is it worth a drop-by on the way or would that be in a totally different direction that takes us out of the route home?

1) Along the journey back to Sandpoint, talk to Samadriel and Annamanue more about their back story. Partly this is because I'd like to hear more about their backstories and they could just post it up here whenever. You know, what brought them to the point of being in that little boat above the dam when we joined forces? What do they want out of life going forward? Where do they want to be over the next weeks, months, and years?

Partly this is because I'd like to carry out in-game the plan others mentioned earlier: change the group name, adopt a banner and symbol, sign a new agreement to share our efforts and treasure, talk about our immediate and long-term goals. This gives Dothan and Hal a chance to inform the rest of us about what happened while we were chasing down the retreating giants. What is Jorgenfist and how close is any potential threat? Is M. associated with the lamias and others we fought before, and if so, how?

2) Help escort giant back to Magnimar for regular trial. I don't think it would hurt for a number of us to do this, simply because news will have reached them already that we've slain a dragon in Sandpoint, and people will be talking (I assume dragons are a big deal and big news even for a big city like Magnimar). Better that we go in person. We now have an excuse for another audience with the Mayor, to talk about defense against a potential repeat of an invading force of giants. The giants were fierce even without a dragon buddy. Sandpoint will need some help, especially if we've been given a Fort to deal with.

And that brings me to: figure out what the documents regarding the Fort actually MEAN. Do we own it? Are we tenants? Do we have specific duties? What about the Black Arrows? Etc. I don't think we can decide how to move forward unless we have more information about our options. Depending on what we decide to do next, we might want to enlist specific people from the city to work with us (see below). If we don't own it but it's a Magnimarian outpost, maybe we can persuade the Mayor to invest in development of mining operations out there. City gets a share and townspeople get jobs and wealth. In other words, we would never see this cash as personal loot, but it would be money in the form of things like letters permitting the hiring of laborers for some job, and the city backs their salaries.

Magnimar trip also gives everyone a chance to do things related to leveling up and shopping.

3) Return to Sandpoint for two things:
3a) Investigate environs related to what the giants were searching for.
3b) Develop long-term safety plans for the town in light of the new information about threats from giants. Where before Dwyn wanted evacuations, now she wants to get everyone organized so that if this happens again, they've got options. It still seems like a good idea to hide some people underground, since giants aren't going to easily fit en masse into the subterranean tunnels, and even if they try to plug them up with rocks, we can have lots of points of access with narrow openings and grates.

Sandpoint is also quite vulnerable to the attack we saw - they basically cross the river and walk on in! So we need to start the people building better defenses and setting up a regular watch outside of town. I'd like to hire an engineer or something - a person from town with skills in building walls or ditches or trebuchets or whatever might help the people maintain some basic defenses if their group of happy helpers happens to be absent when an attack occurs. If we could find someone like this, we could also employ that person to work at the Fort on developments for the Dam, Mines, and the Fort itself.

4) See preliminary question above: if we haven't been to Thistletop yet, send a party to Thistletop with some gifts, to check on our not-always-good-and-pure neighbors and make sure they're living productive and happy lives, rather than being turned against the town again.

[Tahlvin]

tl;dr. Will try later.

[Tahlvin]

Okay, had time to read all that. I agree with the general to-dos: Head back to Sandpoint, check on Thistletop, head to Magnimar with the prisoner and go shopping, search Sandpoint for T-Diddy's object-du-attaque. I would prefer no interaction with the Magnimar Lord Mayor,if possible, because he's a dick. And yes, let's use some of this time to update the group name/charter/etc. How much of that is handled in-session Thursday, how much is handled on the boards, and how much is hand-waved, I'm open to whatever everyone else wants.

[Eliahad]

I think I'm best suited to searching Sandpoint, and besides, it's definitely what Illian wants to do. Find out what the Giants are looking for and get it the hell(s) out of Sandpoint. In fact, he would be willing to stay behind and start searching (taking 20 in every location, that's a 43 on perception, what, what?) He swears that he will wait for everyone to get back before engaging anything beyond locating the thing.

Oh wait, I just realized that there's something he /might/ want to do in Magnimar...nah, Bevaluu is probably still on her journey. Nevermind!

[Elle]

I'd like to play out in-game whatever happens when we search for T's target in Sandpoint.

I'd also like to discuss where we go from here when we have everyone together to play. But maybe we can handle some of the preliminary nuts and bolts on the boards, like whatever info is exchanged when we meet up to trade info with Hal and Dothan (can we just assume we did that?), and what exactly is said at the Rusty Dragon as we sign a new group charter (ditto?).

Mike's question raises this issue for me: are we at a juncture where we need to start cultivating other kinds of resources? After killing a dragon, quite publicly and famously, our characters are all getting to be sort of big deals in the local area. That comes with consequences that are hard to play out in our brief window together, but that may require some time in the storyline to process. I decided simply to deal with the weirdness that arises from leveling up to 10 over a period of multiple YEARS of play (and seriously, how awesome is this game, people?!!!) even though the actual in-game time is a matter of a few months. However, we're reaching a point where things really do take time to develop in-game too.

For instance, Dothan's reputation has to be getting around by now. If you think of the biggest musical stars EVER as being in the high teens and level 20, Dothan has to be at the very least an extremely popular performer known to many. Pathfinder abilities get really exaggerated compared to D&D, but if you think of it as "she's halfway to developing her fullest potential as an all-time Legend at level 20", then she's like early-albums Prince or something. She's like "Saving all my love for you" era Whitney Houston or "Pon de Replay" Rihanna. Yeah, she hasn't had that many opportunities in a few months to perform in public (part of the timeline weirdness we have to accept), but when she does? She's building a fan base. She might have autograph seekers and stuff.

Likewise, how many Paladins are level 10 in our area? Hal would be rising in the ranks if he were stationary in Magnimar. He's way past the Sheriff of Sandpoint. People in this area don't yet know who Samadriel is, but if they did know of her powers, people from every outpost from miles around would be bringing in sick relatives in hopes of seeing her. At some point I think we need to spend a little time addressing and developing this aspect of our leveling up.

[Tahlvin]

[Elle]

[DMDarcs]

Assume no problems getting back to Sandpoint.

As far as notoriety goes, your exploits are known in the southern half of Varisia. Keep in mind that it does take time for word to spread, however, so people aren't automatically going to know exactly who you are. Sandpoint, you're a big deal. Turtleback Ferry, you're legendary in the sense that you did something awesome, and then disappeared. Magnimar, you'll be more known as taking down a criminal cult and Ironbriar, but the general populace is not going to necessarily react to you.

[Zen]

Well... We need to be more disorderly in Magnimar so the general populous knows who we are! (Just kidding...)

[Mike]

Or Dothan needs to compose several epic songs about our exploits and perform them on the stages of Magnimar. Now, if I could only find a free month to compose and practice and start booking theaters...

[Tahlvin]

[bralbovsky]

So, I think there's just a little that has to wait for Thurs.
Beginning with big picture stuff, if there is a king of varisia, to whom do we owe fealty as lords of this fort? Directly to the king, or the mayor? I'd just as soon ignore the mayor as well, since expediency seems to be his priority, and I feel like he, at least, thinks he's playing us. If our exploits have earned anything politically, I'd just as soon send to the king (assuming he's a stand up guy) and throw in with him independent of Magnimar. That would increase our jurisdiction, allow us to ignore the mayor with appropriate impunity, and maybe establish a better, more stable context for our ranks/reputation/collective and individual status.

Magnimar has the goods, and justice is important, but is this giant a POW or a captured brigand? To be fair, no townspeople were harmed in the making of this film. We have clear intent, but we can't charge him with murder. We should recall that when we determine his fate. Our personal exposure to Magnimar's justice system does not fill me with confidence that we should leave the decision to them. A shopping expedition would be useful before we try to attack the giants. We could send requests that maybe get answered Thurs, if that's on the plan.

The giants' loyalty/morale/ethos? Are they mercenaries, true believers? We still do not (at least I don't) understand why everybody involved in this has to be tattooed or carved or branded with this symbol. Does it make some magical difference in where their soul ends up? If it tips the balance against us, would a mass erase scroll or an erase wand be a useful object? Or is it just some distasteful fashion trend? If Gunrus is not really loyal to the magic user, but only afraid, what steps might we take to isolate the troops from their "leader?" I'm sure he has an inner circle, but can we siphon off the ground troops? Just for trivia (not really) do giants eat humans?

Rebranding, which requires we meet up.

Current loot, which includes giant stuff and dragon remains, anything Dothan discovered, etc The water creation stone in the bag might be a tool they planned to use to unearth their target (assuming their intel was right) Their presumption seems to be that it was portable (although giant portable isn't necessarily human portable).

Of the above, much of that is just Darcs deciding what we can know. When together, we should spend a few minutes deciding what's up with Gunrus (given what we know), maybe some small minutes on rebranding details, and whatever it takes to run the search (again given what we know from research, etc) Then we can shop and maybe begin the giant expedition.

[Mike]

Only recently settled by colonists from the Chelaxian Empire, the wild frontier of Varisia is composed of rural communities, independent city-states, ruins, and uncharted wilderness.

Alignment - Neutral
Capital - None
Ruler - None
Government - Unaffiliated city-states
Demonym - Varisians
Adjective - Varisian
Languages - Common (Taldane), Shoanti, Varisian
Religions - Abadar, Calistria, Cayden Cailean, Desna, Erastil, Gozreh, Lamashtu, Norgorber, Pharasma, Urgathoa, Zon-Kuthon


The mayor is the ultimate authority.

[Mrs.Darcs]

I have a shockingly light workday, maybe I can find time to write Samaidriel's story....wouldn't that be novel.