The wind in her hair (OOC)

Out of character chatter about The wind in her hair can go here to avoid cluttering up the Roleplay thread.This is for longer questions and answers related to that Roleplay, general rules questions not answered in the Help! thread can go in General.

Add a link back to the post in question so we can have context. After posting you can right-click on the orange header and select 'copy link address' (or whatever your browser calls it), then paste that in your OOC post.

I did not notice the Survival roll till I went back and checked now. Adding a roll later does not notify us, so it helps to drop us an OOC message to let us know.

With a 9 we can say you managed to scrounge enough along the way that you are not starving when you arrive at the unwelcoming village, so you don't have to deal with that before you can do anything else.

Ok. Sorry 'bout that. I thought you would notice since you suggested it ?

Not sure if everyone would be on board with this, but it might be a cool idea to find Raynor's symbol on all the weapons that have had the glow. It could help us convince someone in the future, or be a bad thing if the wrong person sees it. Maybe it can slowly expand as we do things in favor of Raynor and eventually turns our weapons into holy relics.

What do you think?

I have no objections.

I don't understand the first sentence. (Language problem)

I thought that might happen. It was a badly crafted sentence.

Roald spoke about the law, he is saying that the law is a thing that happens elsewhere, in bigger cities, that your being some sort of 'official guard' means little out here.

There is a hint of wistfulness in his tone, as though he would prefer to live in a place where the law does control things.

The second part is also referring to the 'law' you spoke of. He is implying that his neighbors are being a problem and that there is possibly work for you if you can enforce some 'law' on them.

Hope that helps. Reach out if I can do more to clarify things.

---

I had not planned for this guy to be such an unpleasant person. But as soon as he opened his mouth, it was clear he is a ass.

I saw your post too late, vague. Although, I don't think it matters that much.

I don't think it changes anything, no.

They have probably heard of all the same gods you have.

For 'reasons' that are not clear yet, he probably would not mind all that much if you helped one of his neighbours with some conquest. And he might not even care which one. Anything to end the feud between Chlodomer and Childebert that his village is stuck in the middle of (and which he assumes you must know about, it is the most important thing in his life after all).

I assume we are trying to 'bluff' him with the threat of moving on to the next place? But that is an option if you choose to do so... not that I am promising any friendlier a reception from them. The only places you could get to today are the lands of Chlodomer and Childebert (technically farmers), he is not lying when he says there are no other villages around.

If you are trying to call his bluff to get let in, you may have to offer something of value (maybe a promise to help with his troubles, or something similar?) and make a roll. At worst (the uninjured among) you will not be allowed in and have to go to speak with the farmers, unrested and still hurt.

Ah, I guess we misinterpreted the trouble they were having, so our bluff isn't really working.
What do you want to do, Airshark?

I too thought there were neighboring villages, not just farmsteads.

I suppose the characters could have made the Same mistake.

Since Roald is getting quite pissed, maybe someone should step in before he starts throwing rocks. ?

It could work, but they do need to think you have value before the threat of taking it away will influence them. Make them an offer.
Yep. Logical mistake. But he has corrected that assumption by telling you there are no other villages.

With the fact that you heard the names 'Childebert' and 'Chlodomer', and all the rest you have observed, Roald may be able to Decipher the meaning, even if just enough to drop a hint about those names and "resolving troubles". That may be enough to justify a 'convince' roll.
Say the word and I will do exactly that (the stepping in part, I am not planning on throwing rocks:).

Word


Maybe the captain can defuse the situation.

He... does not talk to ... women!Let me know if the captain has to defuse Roald. Maybe based on a Decipher roll?

I forgot.


I'll give it a go.

Oh boy


Someone is clueless.....?

Money talks ?

Wait, Albert has gold?! That will do it. You can just pay for services.

Where did Albert get gold, though? There were some opportunities to try picking up gold, but the party was busy with other things and that gold was risky. I did not notice Albert taking that golden risk, but I am happy to be wrong.

A long long time ago.

Fair enough. You giving away your gold? That will do the job. (no change!)

We never determined how much you got from that (we were leaving it to see the final tally when you got out). If you are willing to say this is your only gold coin we can assume you have gold, else we should roll for the value of your coins. If we roll you might get more than one gold, or you might get less, or only silver, GOLD will get his attention more than 20 silver will, even if they have the same theoretical value.

I wasn't planning to use it for its monetary value, tbh. I know this goes against the way of WoDu leveling, but I'm not sold on the idea of buying skills. (pun intended)
So, sure, let's say I use this gold to convince the ppl. And there will be change! A change in their attitude ;)

Wasn't that the first rule of FFA club? :)

Nice one

Hehe, I guess it is :D

Remember that Skills (in this case Decipher) mean that you don't fail on a 6- (even if it is a double 1 (ay-ya, these dice!)).

Roald is welcome to assume the worst of Theuderic and let that flavour his interactions, and interpretations of what is discussed, but I won't be imposing any (immediately obvious) penalties for the Move.

Two minor notes, that don't matter much or affect things:
So far as the characters know there has been no 'name change'. Ahsa still responds to the name Asha as she always did, and we have not seen any introductions, but if we did, she would call herself Asha (which I can not type anymore... wow, that was fast:).

The spelling is just a hint --in this written medium-- that something is slightly different, but as hard for your characters to notice as the letters were for the players.

---

You found water in the forest. And there is water here if you want to wash down the medicine.

I completely forgot about that. You're correct.
I will change/remove that part of my post.

You could still be thirsty.

Do we feel the effects of the medicine right away? Is it beneficial?

It feels like 'medicine', so no immediately noticeable effect.
If it is real (do we want this suspense?) you will get an extra die on your HP roll for 'being attended by a healer' (cf. rule).

Villagers don't often have 'spare' clothes. That is a luxury that we take for granted but only the rich would conceive of a few hundred years ago.
Not if you have no intentions of abusing the mayor's 'generosity' and rekitting yourselves on his dime. :)

I thought about it ;) but I think Albert would be wise enough to realize that might come back to haunt him.

Almost like he is learning the rules of the game he is in? :)

Not that that is not a thing you can make happen, but it will require some RP work, and possibly someone else walking around naked for the day.

That almost makes me want to make it happen!

A bit of hyperbole there, sorry. Presumably they have something to wear on wash-day? But it will mess up that schedule.

Do we want to keep our old clothes? The tailor was just waiting for your conversation to finish, but we can bring him in or skip him, as you like.

I kinda wanna skip to the dinner. The tailor would just be a delay. If there is a way to get some temporary clothes (off screen) just for the dinner, that would be nice. If not, old clothes will have to do.

'Temporary clothes' from peasants/villagers would require some work, so we can say that the innkeeper has had yours brushed off (they had dried on the trip here) and can have them washed tonight while you sleep after the dinner (assuming that works out).
He can either have been called and you turn him down, or we can say you canceled that and he was never called. As you like.
Can do. @Airshark, say the word and I can skip us to there.

That works :)
We can say the tailor was unavailable for some reason. That way we don't have to retcon anything and don't need an interaction either.

Skip away, skipper!

Still here, little occupied with the Holliday ?

Cool. How long is this 'holiday'? We can wait, or do we need to work around you?

Until Friday. I'll post something tomorrow or the day after.


Probably not as many words as the 2 of you ?

We look forward to the spirit and quality of your words, we don't ask for quantity.

I have nothing to add until Roalds questions are answered :)

I will get on them soon.

No rush, just wanted to let you know

The mayor has given some speculations that may factor into the story going forward.

There will be people in town who definitely have (possibly conflicting) opinions. I am sure there will be many at the inn willing to talk. Unless you want to play out those conversations, you all can tell me a handful of rumours you hear, which ones you believe, which ones your characters hope are not true, and any you players particularly want to be true. I can try make some of them be true.

They neglect their lands. So I would assume the loyalty of the farmers is quite low. They probably have to pay a lot of taxes for the barons to be able to buy all the land. This would be nice if we get in too deep

- One of the sons' father is from the other family
- There is an argument about who will be the next baron.
- legend has it, there is a treasure burried somewhere on the land.
- one of the barons is a notorious drunk.
- there is some sort of underground resistance of the farmers.
- there is a mage involved
- one of the barons (and family) is extremely religious

you can decide true or false


Is this what you had in mind?

That sort of thing, yeah.

Maybe things like the Farmers' Resistance can be learned about in play, if your solution needs bodies.

The players can decide if they want this to be a armed conflict, or more of a political family drama... or if there is a supernatural element behind it.

I would prefer it to be a diplomatic thing, but if it includes a some combat, that's fine too.
We don't technically have to lead the resistance if there is one. We can supply information for their cause and stay out of the battles.

- One of them is (or used to be) a customer of Roald's father (the butcher)
That might give us an advantage.

- The feud between them is based on a lie.

- The 2 families actually come from the same ancestors.

Cool.

Of course, some of those are unlikely to be heard as rumours, but are likely to be true in the end.

I too would prefer not to get into battle (again)

Are we done at the mayor? Do we want to go back to the inn, or elsewhere?

Can I ask for an aid action from Roald? ?

+WIS seems good enough.

Let's wait and seen if Roald also feels nervous enough to be overly watchful. There is no real 'aid' mechanic, but two sets of eyes are better than one.

@TheGenerator: Do you want to do anything more with the captain Bimi, or should we skip to seeing if Roald needs his sword? [ref]

We can move on :)

As a player, I like it, and think this could be very fun :)
As Albert, I'm going to need some convincing first.

Cool. So we make it happen.
What sort of convincing would be appropriate?

You don't get the feeling this is going to involve fighting, so it should be 'safe enough' to take him along.
Daryl is local (you can assume or ask), so he might be able to provide (unreliable) 'local-knowledge' about the 'barons' or whatever else.
He looks big and strong. He might be able to help.
Making friends is good?

...

Raynor might like it if you proselytise?

Any of the above will do.
Gonna wait for Roald to reply to the situation.

Cool.

@TheGenerator: Do we know the '3 virtues of battle'? Are they something that it is even remotely possible for Daryl to discover?

I have no idea what they are or should be. But there probably are 3 virtues somewhere in Raynor's scripture. Albert probably knows them, or knew them at some point.

It's one of those things where it's more about the effort than the answer. :)

'Scripture', you say? (GM scribbles notes, pay no attention)
That he can do.

GM scribbles notes... Ominous music plays in the background

I wouldn't stress about it. :)

---

What next? Is there anything you guys want to do in town? Do you want to play out chatting with the locals (if you don't we can assume you did, and flashback to relevant rumours as they become relevant).

---

If you want to skip ahead to tomorrow and the visit with the barons, we can jump to that.

The question still stands: Which one do you go to first? We can flip a coin. Do you care if the unmaintained trail you came in on was on the land of the one you visit first? We can flip a coin.

My thoughts:
Can we do a roll to find out some 'gossip' around town? That would give Daryl some time to come back and join us.

I'm also fine with roleplaying the info gathering.

Then we can head to one of the barons. Perhaps the gossip can help us decide which one to talk to first. But I don't think it matters much.

Could do? Or you can just tell me what you hear?
Whenever you are ready, he will be ready. If you leave tomorrow morning, he will be there (though he may not have slept, so you will have a cranky teen to deal with:).
It really does not matter. The townsfolk will not have anything more concrete than the mayor had. Any rumour/gossip you get from them could probably apply to either baron as easily.

Actually, that is one relevant piece of information:

All the rumours you gather in town seem to apply to either baron as easily as the other. Everything you hear about one, someone else has similar/same rumours about the other.

The gossip could be useful to give some kind of leverage when needed.
Which of the barons we see first... Doesn't matter.
There is nothing special I'd like to do in town. For me we can skip to the barons.



Roald doesn't drink alcohol, sometimes this makes it harder to fraternize in a bar. People seem to distrust others that don't accept their treat. If it is convenient for you, now or at the barons or any other time in the future, you can 'spike' Roald's drink. This will make him violent and trying to pick a fight.

Alrighty, let's skip ahead then to where we're leaving to see baron Childebert (I think that was one of them, I didn't double check)

I call them both Voldemort.

I don't think that helps :p

Will do.
I have to check each time. I don't think it matters. :)
Many of the locals would agree with you, if they had any clue what you were talking about. :)
For sure it does not help eliminate confusion. :)

I was reminded about that earlier (first time at the inn), and thought about pushing a little there, then at the mayor, then again back at the inn now, but the time was never right, and I did not want to force it...
Thanks. I was planning on asking for permission before doing anything on this topic, in case it was a sore point (but then don't make it part of your character:).
I was thinking of just that point with a baron or two, but we can make it a bigger deal if you are interested.
I am not a fan of taking away player agency in such a way, but am happy to offer the player the chance to say their drink has been spiked, or that they 'did not know that drink was alcoholic, it does not taste alcoholic'.

Are you interested in having this happen? Maybe not now, since that will turn this 'diplomatic, fact-finding expedition' into another fight, but there will be plenty of times when that could advance the story.

An inn/tavern is a better place to let it happen than at a baron's or mayor's dining table. It won't contribute much to the story, but could lighten up a dull moment ?.

Noted.

I'm honestly not sure what to do with this. I'd be happier if you picked a few rumors (from our suggestions or your own). I'll roll with whatever is thrown at me.

Alternatively, if you really want us to come up with these suggestions. Can we just throw them in during conversation with a baron, instead of beforehand?

---

Can I go ahead and RP the next morning?

Let's keep what has been suggested in mind --some of those have become truth, but are unlikely to be rumours from the town-- and discover them when they come up in the story. sort of thing.
What do you have in mind for the next morning? Anything specific, else I will get onto jumping us to meeting Daryl on the way the baron.

Oh, I was just going to do something like "Hey Roald, you ready to head out?". Just to make it clear that I'm ready to start a new day.
But feel free to do so in my stead :)

Been trying to, for nearly two days... It will happen soon. :)

Were you waiting on us or not had the time yourself?
In case of the first, I have no problem with a nudge ever now and then ;)

Sorta using 'waiting for you, and for new players' as an excuse to not admit I was busy. :)

Haha :P

I don't expect you to post something right after us. So don't feel yourself pressured if it takes some time. Everyone has a life outside gamersplane... Well... Almost everyone. ?

You can also stop posting in the middle of my night shift ??. It sometimes feels you're always ''on''. That's of course nice for me, but again, I don't expect that from anyone. So now you also have an explanation why I write things at odd hours.

Roald wants to know what all the fuzz is about. And since they are passing the healer...
Also, I don't think the people will object when the famous adventurers cut in line. ?

Any objections?

That's fine by me :)

Are we planning on seeing the mayor too? If so, I'm guessing we won't get to the baron by night fall.

I don't think we will have that choice.

You can definitely choose to not go see the mayor, you can slip out easily enough. It will have consequences, but you can do it, and it might be a good idea in the end (he will bluster, and waste time).

If you are quick with your checking on Ahsa and the captain, you can still make it to the other baron by nightfall.

It is your choice.

Oh. Ok.

Thought the guards would be 'escorting' us.?

Norbert asked the dog to wait int the woods until the sun is high the next day. It should be able to take care of itself. He realises it is not a great disguise but it will have to do.

Good plan. Any attempt at disguise will be made much harder with your recognisable dog at your heels. :)

Presumably you are most worried about your family 'catching' you? So maybe it does not matter too much if someone else recognises, you unless they also think to tell your family you are in town?

Would your family have 'raised the alarm' about your absense? Or would others not think much about seeing you? Give me a general idea of how they would normally have reacted to your being gone... for about two days now. There are other factors that may sway their reactions, so I may adjust your answers a bit.

The man will hurry out in a moment, not wanting to keep the heroes waiting. So you can skip to that and go into the back room if you want.

The healer won't stop Norbert if you bring him with you. Ahsa does not know him, though, so sending him in first may have interesting results?

I figured the order we go in would be Roald, Norbert, Albert. I think that would be fine :)

You can all three go in together. It does not matter who enters first, unless it is the stranger (Norbert).

It is only the visitors that are going in one at a time.

Understood. Since Airshark went in first, I'll let him lead.

We will wait and see how long the other two spend with Ahsa before we decide how much Norbert can glean from the people in the queue.

I hope fossball is OK with my dragging their character around. If Norbert was not going to speak to the mayor, or wants to ask him other questions or take a different approach, we can adjust or add things.

This is completly fine for me, it speeds up this scene about a week.
Norbert would not ask to many questions fearing makeing the mayor suspicious.

So, are we heading to the baron? We can ignore the implication of 'two hours' [ref] in Norbert's investigations around town and say there is till just enough time to get there at a reasonable hour.

What exactly do you tell --or not tell-- Norbert about Ahsa (née Asha) and the change in her behaviour? He would not find her current situation strange, but you might not know enough for sure to 'bad-mouth' her.

Mostly the fact that she was very shy and insecure before. Then after we found her again she had a sudden rush of self confidence. Not that that's a bad thing, but it was strange for sure.
Albert doesn't have a whole lot to go on.

OK, so you are telling about the 'personality change'. Good to know.