Keeper's Quest

Rieverre wrote:Um. Kel?

And this is a 'crappy quality' one, as Nati admitted. Given that the one we've looted is supposed to be much better - look at Nati's reaction as well as the identification - _why_ exactly would we need to wait for an enchanted revolver?

Because an enchanted revolver designed to Seth's specifications would have such useful little things like "sights" and "rifling", to help with aiming and accuracy just to start with? As well as various little details like weight, smokeless powder, ergonomics, and a number of other things. Contrary to what you seem to think hitting a target with a gun is not all that easy, and that goes especially for weapons lacking all the benefits of modern firearms.

The fact that Nati managed to score a perfect bullseye on the other side of the room is *not* a testament to how easy it is to use the weapon, but a testament to *Nati's skill* with it.
Barring some stupidly good luck with the dice, it would take us who knows how much time of training to even get close to that, and as I said; we have other things to do. Such as learning magic, managing our dungeon, getting in the occasional sword- or melee-lessons, etc. With a properly designed revolver or similar handgun we'd also have to train in its use, but not nearly as much as with a blackpowder-pistol that lacks all of the advantages and aides of a modern firearm.

we could mention the idea of iron sites and rifling to Nati, if she's a markwoman then she would want to investigate something that useful.

I also think we should leave the pistol to Nati. She's the resident expert markswoman and would get MUCH more mileage out of it then Seth. I mean, it's common sense that the trained specialists should be the ones to get top of the line equipment of their specialization line, or at least that always how I've approached my RPGs 'til now.

The rapier and main gauche should go to Tesha, they're a good lightweight combo suited for a rogue like her.

The Durium shirt however I would be inclined to keep for Seth since it should be light enough to wear under our steel armor.

High quality equipment should be given to the Mongrel first, mostly because unlike goblins they would actually know what to do with them. Make it clear that we are interested in getting their old gears to equip our goblins with too, so they shouldn't sell them.

Nati also seems much more WANTING of that rapier. Also, the rapier is an entirely different type of sword than others. Renaissance Fencing isn't likely to be ANYTHING he's going to have a trainer for in the next forever.

Tesha is an infiltrator and assassin, she uses daggers... Think Rogue from D&D people... with the assassin prestige class.

The durium shirt I'd agree with keeping for seth if neither of them is particularly yearning for it. Since it's obviously light enough to secret under clothing.

EDIT: Give the girls what they want of the kit here that they can use, save maybe for the pistol and shirt. Frankly, the pistol because it's the quickest thing for Seth to learn of any weapon mentioned and the shirt because it's obviously fine armor that can be worn underneath clothing. However, with all the lookie loos around it might be better for the girls to just sort through all of it and take what they like.

Especially as Seth can hurl large magical attacks and doesn't really NEED the pistol to start with and Nati is molesting it.

Tesha specifically wants that knife and I believe Nati was interested in weapons Seth is never going to have a trustworthy trainer for aside from the pistol.

However, the shirt is made for a slender male and I think both girls have fairly substantial chests so it may not fit them to start with.

*COME ON* folks, pay attention to what the girls are doing with the loot/what they want.

In short, I'd say for Seth to keep the shirt - he can wear it under his robes or surface clothing without issue and with his protection ring it likely will provide quite suitable protection.

The rest - let the girls have what they want of it.

Rapier + Main Gauche ("Left Hand" in French if you were wondering) is actually a viable, existing martial style of French origin. Rapier also emphasize dexterity above all, making it a more suitable weapon for Tesha seeing as she is a close range focused rogue, so I do think she should get them.

No shit it's french; pay attention to the weapons Tesha already uses and her obvious preferences.

I highly doubt renaissance fencing is something she does since she doesn't even have any sort of long blade at all if I recall correctly.

Besides; fencing - not so great in real combat. Looks great in duels and all... but that rapier can't parry a more substantial blade in real combat without magic or some far superior material to the other heavier weapon.

It was adopted because it was popular, not because it was superior to the broadsword.

I'll back Godogma's votes & point(s).

Deathwings wrote:The Durium shirt however I would be inclined to keep for Seth since it should be light enough to wear under our steel armor.

Godogma wrote:The durium shirt I'd agree with keeping for seth if neither of them is particularly yearning for it. Since it's obviously light enough to secret under clothing.
However, the shirt is made for a slender male and I think both girls have fairly substantial chests so it may not fit them to start with.

Nati is highly interested in the chain shirt, which means she's either capable of wearing it already, or knows that it can be adjusted with little effort/expense.
I consider giving her the shirt a much better choice for a similar reason we're giving her the most powerful gun, or the Mongrels the first pick of the weapons; she and her gang will most likely be the first ones in the line of fire when things will go to hell in Skid Row, and I'd rather they have the best equipment they can get by then.

Also, remember that we already have the Avatar-ring for discreet protection. I asked Psycko about it, and he said that "the ring adds defense comparable to light plate", which means that adding a chain shirt beneath doesn't really do much, and we might rather see about getting Seth some normal iron/steel chain shirt later, and leave the enchanted high-quality one to Nati who can probably get much more mileage out of it.

In regards to the rapier, I'm somewhat ambivalent. It's possible that it and the main gauche were enchanted in a way that they work best when used together, but it's also a good point that Tesha doesn't necessarily know how to fight with the combination, compared to the two daggers she seems to favor. Plus, we already bought her a high-class invisibility ring, and will likely give her the high-class protection ring, so she can't really complain about favoritism all that much. I'm fine either way.

Well, I'm not set on Seth having to have the shirt. Nati could have it as well as far as I'm concerned and as long as he has time to get spells off doesn't really need more weapons than that life stealing dagger... as long as someone teaches him to use it.

With his ring he's doing okay for protection anyway. *shrug*

Besides, gifting all this stuff to Nati and the Mongrels as a whole is going to increase their survivability and also helps with other sneaky maneuvering as well...

Seth acquiring a pistol I'm all for however, even if it doesn't happen to be this one that Nati wants so much.

So, to try and sum things up...

Seth - enchanted sword, one of the guns (possibly least powerful one, mostly for testing and training)
Nati - most powerful enchanted pistol, enchanted chain shirt, enchanted rapier
Tesha - enchanted dirk, greater protective ring
Mongrels - rest of the weapons
Any weapons they don't find useful, Seth will take to equip some of his goblins with.

Also, we have 1 less powerful ring of protection. In my opinion, we can either give it Riith, to make sure our go-between doesn't get shanked easily, or we can see if one of our other minions can make use of it - Aladri, Gnarl, one of our DElves, whatever.
Personally, I think Riith is the best choice for the moment.

I'll second that.

EDIT: But I think Seth already has a magic sword, it's just too big for him to use effectively.... Probably made for a different race to start with and he wasn't bulky for a human to start with. If he got a regular broadsword he'd probably be okay, good ones weigh circa about 3lbs anyway.

He has what amounts to a two-handed sword for him. Some very heavy mace and axe, as well. The sword here should be something he can actually use somewhat efficiently, weight-wise, and if necessary we can still hand it off to one of our minions later.

A plan for later : we should really create ourselves a second body, a buff one. That way we can keep using our current body to play the part of Seth the Warlock while our new one would be the one we use when doing Keeper things. It would cut down on training time I think.

Psycko, how hard is it to create a body whole cloth ?

Kelenas wrote:So, to try and sum things up...

Seth - enchanted sword, one of the guns (possibly least powerful one, mostly for testing and training)
Nati - most powerful enchanted pistol, enchanted chain shirt, enchanted rapier
Tesha - enchanted dirk, greater protective ring
Mongrels - rest of the weapons
Any weapons they don't find useful, Seth will take to equip some of his goblins with.

Also, we have 1 less powerful ring of protection. In my opinion, we can either give it Riith, to make sure our go-between doesn't get shanked easily, or we can see if one of our other minions can make use of it - Aladri, Gnarl, one of our DElves, whatever.
Personally, I think Riith is the best choice for the moment.

This sounds like a good plan.

Once this is settled, are we ready to end the great shopping trip? It sounds like it's time to start working on our nefarious scheme to get the local Keepers fighting each other, in between training and gearing up our minions.

ShaperV wrote:This sounds like a good plan.

Once this is settled, are we ready to end the great shopping trip? It sounds like it's time to start working on our nefarious scheme to get the local Keepers fighting each other, in between training and gearing up our minions.

We're pretty much done in Skid Row for the moment, yeah. Though I think we still have to talk with the Mongrels about our plan for getting the Charms essentially for free, while at the same time making the Keepers suspicious of each other?

Edit:
The plan for the Charms I had proposed was this:
- First off, use the Mongrel's spies or contacts in one of the two gangs backed by not-Sidrian (ie, either Goldtooth's or The Guild), to manipulate some of the other gangmembers into placing a large order of Keeper-Charms with the local Warlocks. Alternatively, use disguises to make it look like the people placing the orders belong to one of the gangs.
- Second, use some people or contacts who aren't visibly aligned to anyone, or are known or "known" to be easily-bribed/bought, into spreading the rumour about a new Keeper. Make sure that the rumours are designed to be something people won't believe or take serious, but without being too obvious about it; grandiose and pretentious name/title ("Dark Titan Sargeras, Lord of the Burning Legion!"), boasts about previous accomplishments ("Conquered a whole world on his own already! Now he's set his sights on this one!") etc. Work with our advisors, as well as Nati and Tesha, for the best effect.
- Third, start counter-rumours in the various Keeper-backed gangs that the rumour about the newly-arrived Keeper are complete and utter bullshit, and are actually a cover for Devot/Nelfina/Sidrian to increase their own forces because they're planning something big and want to catch the others off guard.
- Fourth, have the newly-made Charms delivered to a location that is nominally neutral, but strongly affiliated with one of the two gangs backed by either Nelfina or Devot. There, have our Gremlins, working with Tesha and possibly Nati or anyone else highly capable in stealth, to intercept the shipment of Charms and steal it.
- Fifth, afterwards spread rumours about how one of the other Keepers obviously got wind of the delivery and had the Charm-delivery stolen for themselves, to prevent their rivals from increasing their forces, while preparing to step up their own gearing up for a fight.

I believe we should at minimum talk this over with Nati and Garrol, to get their input. We can also see if/how we can incorporate recent developments, such as our new spy (Slash), or the family we pissed off (Darkroot) into it.

Godogma wrote:I'll second that.

EDIT: But I think Seth already has a magic sword, it's just too big for him to use effectively.... Probably made for a different race to start with and he wasn't bulky for a human to start with. If he got a regular broadsword he'd probably be okay, good ones weigh circa about 3lbs anyway.

Mentor was human... he was just very large and very powerful... rituals will do that.

Deathwings wrote:A plan for later : we should really create ourselves a second body, a buff one. That way we can keep using our current body to play the part of Seth the Warlock while our new one would be the one we use when doing Keeper things. It would cut down on training time I think.

Psycko, how hard is it to create a body whole cloth ?

There are all kinds of Dark Alchemy that can create horrific and monstrous abominations. It would take some time and money spent to locate a warlock who can create such a body, and a hell of a lot more money to create the perfect host for your great maleficence, but it is possible... and such a body if properly funded would probably come out looking something like... well... the Fourth Overlord to be honest.

Mentor can tell you this IC if you bother to ask.

Kelenas wrote:

ShaperV wrote:This sounds like a good plan.

Once this is settled, are we ready to end the great shopping trip? It sounds like it's time to start working on our nefarious scheme to get the local Keepers fighting each other, in between training and gearing up our minions.

We're pretty much done in Skid Row for the moment, yeah. Though I think we still have to talk with the Mongrels about our plan for getting the Charms essentially for free, while at the same time making the Keepers suspicious of each other?

Edit:
The plan for the Charms I had proposed was this:
- First off, use the Mongrel's spies or contacts in one of the two gangs backed by not-Sidrian (ie, either Goldtooth's or The Guild), to manipulate some of the other gangmembers into placing a large order of Keeper-Charms with the local Warlocks. Alternatively, use disguises to make it look like the people placing the orders belong to one of the gangs.
- Second, use some people or contacts who aren't visibly aligned to anyone, or are known or "known" to be easily-bribed/bought, into spreading the rumour about a new Keeper. Make sure that the rumours are designed to be something people won't believe or take serious, but without being too obvious about it; grandiose and pretentious name/title ("Dark Titan Sargeras, Lord of the Burning Legion!"), boasts about previous accomplishments ("Conquered a whole world on his own already! Now he's set his sights on this one!") etc. Work with our advisors, as well as Nati and Tesha, for the best effect.
- Third, start counter-rumours in the various Keeper-backed gangs that the rumour about the newly-arrived Keeper are complete and utter bullshit, and are actually a cover for Devot/Nelfina/Sidrian to increase their own forces because they're planning something big and want to catch the others off guard.
- Fourth, have the newly-made Charms delivered to a location that is nominally neutral, but strongly affiliated with one of the two gangs backed by either Nelfina or Devot. There, have our Gremlins, working with Tesha and possibly Nati or anyone else highly capable in stealth, to intercept the shipment of Charms and steal it.
- Fifth, afterwards spread rumours about how one of the other Keepers obviously got wind of the delivery and had the Charm-delivery stolen for themselves, to prevent their rivals from increasing their forces, while preparing to step up their own gearing up for a fight.

I believe we should at minimum talk this over with Nati and Garrol, to get their input. We can also see if/how we can incorporate recent developments, such as our new spy (Slash), or the family we pissed off (Darkroot) into it.

Alright. How do you want him to outline this and does everyone agree with it?

i'm not sure about the plan. I'm getting a critical failure in the making vibe.

I like Kelenas' plan - it fits our current capabilities well, accomplishes several useful things at once, and will impress the hell out of our minions and allies if we can pull it off.

I don't think we necessarily need to see a long IC conversation about the plan, but we do need to discuss the details with our new allies and get their input. Getting all the rumor manipulation right will take a lot of detailed knowledge about people and current events in town, which we obviously aren't going to have.

I want godogma's feedback on it first. Before voicing my opinion.

In theory the plan seems like it should work, depending on the information we get from Nati and Gerrol about the state of things in the area already.

We need more information on how to set it up unless we allow the Mongrels to do the majority of the planning and execution - they're going to need to execute it and do a lot of the planning anyway...

One thing we may consider is incorporating the recent invents into it somehow.
We can use Slash as one of the means to spread the rumours, for example.

We can also see about raising some trouble for the Darkroots, perhaps by spreading the story that after a member of their family was killed and the perpetrator was let off scot-free, they're considering to switch allegiance from the Guild to another Keeper.

... this plan looks like it will go horribly, horribly wrong at some point simply by virtue of having so many points.

Let's do it. ^^

Rieverre wrote:... this plan looks like it will go horribly, horribly wrong at some point simply by virtue of having so many points.

Let's do it. ^^

Heh. Yeah, if we were doing a high-realism real-world RP I'd be worried about that too. But it seems like about the right level of over-the-top hijinks for a good AoI.

ShaperV wrote:

Rieverre wrote:... this plan looks like it will go horribly, horribly wrong at some point simply by virtue of having so many points.

Let's do it. ^^

Heh. Yeah, if we were doing a high-realism real-world RP I'd be worried about that too. But it seems like about the right level of over-the-top hijinks for a good AoI.

Actually it is a rather awesome AoI. Great example of how they SHOULD work...

Right. Don't think real world planner here. Think "Evil Mastermind."
If we ever master mind magic, I want to see if we can create an Avatar using his old ring, and then later on we use the triggers in her mind to help us subdue and corrupt her. Because that would be such an epic AoI that even the Dark Gods would be impressed.

Sadly, it probably wouldn't work out so well. But oh man, if it did. . .

As for discussing the plan, I would say *privately*, with only the ones who need to know at the moment; Mentor, Nati, Tesha, Garrol, potentially Riith (since she's our go-between anyway), and Gnarl via minion-bond. Talk it over in a quiet corner or room, without Kath or his son nearby. The earlier we can hammer out the details and get it implemented, the better.

We should probably think about something simple and direct that we can sneak in under the radar while everyone is distracted by the AoI.

Hmm ... what's the economy in Skid Row like anyway?

Robotninja wrote:Right. Don't think real world planner here. Think "Evil Mastermind."

And you win the Kewpie Doll!

If we ever master mind magic, I want to see if we can create an Avatar using his old ring, and then later on we use the triggers in her mind to help us subdue and corrupt her. Because that would be such an epic AoI that even the Dark Gods would be impressed.

Sadly, it probably wouldn't work out so well. But oh man, if it did. . .

Yeah... there's a good damned reason Mentor didn't do it...

Kelenas wrote:As for discussing the plan, I would say *privately*, with only the ones who need to know at the moment; Mentor, Nati, Tesha, Garrol, potentially Riith (since she's our go-between anyway), and Gnarl via minion-bond. Talk it over in a quiet corner or room, without Kath or his son nearby. The earlier we can hammer out the details and get it implemented, the better.

Everyone agree?

Rieverre wrote:We should probably think about something simple and direct that we can sneak in under the radar while everyone is distracted by the AoI.

Hmm ... what's the economy in Skid Row like anyway?

Please clarify this question.

Everyone agree?

ya