All out-of-character stuff, including rolls via the dice roller, can be put here.

Some quick questions about the Ossylian military who are shadowing along... how far are they from me?  What are they 'walking' towards?  Do I recognize any insignias or badges or identifying marks?  I know it's night, and there may be distance, but I have a couple feats and skills that may give added info.  If not, no issue.  Also was I aware if my father and mother were home that evening, or were they out?

oh yeah, and what's a 'Gardax'?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:02, Sat 27 July 2013.

1) They are about 25m from you on average.

2) They are fanning out to engage any nearby guards, otherwise they are headed towards the house proper.

3) You cannot see any insignia's that would actually denote them as Ossylian military, but they are certainly moving in a similar fashion. Their gear is also very similar, save for the lack of unit colors or insignia.

4) Your mother and father are home as far as you know.

5) A gardax is a medium-sized predatory animal that can be trained in a limited fashion, similar to a dog. It would be like a reptilian canine or large cat, though it is warm blooded.

I want to summon a horde of lesser demons in the midst of where the soldiers are sneaking along.

If I need to roll, let me know what... it's been a while, the rules are a bit fuzzy on casting.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:40, Wed 31 July 2013.

I think Zelpuz quickly runs over to whatever is happening here, sounds like fun ;)
But if you want to keep it 'secret' since we don't really know what's going on there, maybe switch the settings.

fun???  They're invading my home =(

I could have made it secret but this way if Yuu explains the situation to you it will be expedited since you had the chance to read it.

Zelpuz and Vanyra are simply totally unaware of what is happening up top yet.

So what do you want the shadow minions to do exactly?  Attack the attackers or just be a nuisance or what?

Attack them, but more as a distraction to slow them down, make them break their stealth cover.

If it helps, as an outsider I am completely unreliable. ;)

So what do these goggles do?

dammit, i totally didn't see this post.  they see in the dark and can detect traces of magic (nether). Yuu used them before on a certain herb picking assignment...

I remember them ;)

When Yuu met a certain scary catgirl =D

Right, gotcha.

Just write if/how you want to proceed out of that shaft.

Hm, okay... I was expecting the shaft to take us outside the city... I suppose that would have been too easy!
Yuu will slip quietly out of the shaft, and look around to get his bearings.  Once he's figured out where he is, he'll decide on a plan from that.

Plus it would be a really long tunnel.  Ossylia is a pretty big place.

So which way do you want to go and how?
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:42, Tue 10 Sept 2013.

Which way would take me quickest out of this district?

Or... what is down each direction?

Sorry for the delayed response; work has been a bit of a shit show.

The fastest way out would be straight West further into the city, or you could head Southwest towards the ocean and skirt along the shore and docks area.

So aside from work being a shit-show my internet at work has pretty much been down for the last two weeks, resulting in me doing my internet work after work at home.  Not sure if it is entirely functional yet, but I'm trying different work arounds.

Anyways, I'll try to get back in this.  Trying to tie together a few in-game things here so it all works.

Any particular plan or change of course now?

All good about the delay man, think we've all suffered our moments.  Figured it was work related, but you hadn't said anything so figured I'd give a bit of a nudge on FB.

Are Freelancers, from what I recall, basically soldiers for hire?  Is their any moral code, or set of rules, or way of hiring them?

The Freelancers are basically a guild of professional adventurers/mercenaries.  They are not necessarily soldiers or of any particular profession; rather they are an organization of professionals who undertake often odd or unsavory missions for a monetary incentive.

The origins of the organization were after the fall-out of the Zhen Halan Empire, with so many soldiers, engineers, mages and the like out of work some banded together to help the fledgling nations of the day. The Freelancers, by definition, by no national affiliation and work as and absolutely independent organization for the betterment of all members (ie. employees). The later part of the above statement leaves much to be interpreted though, as ultimately it is the upper echelons of the Freelancers Guild that determine which jobs are appropriate or not.  Over their history though it has been generally perceived that they favor only themselves and not any particular nation.

While this may seem a rather cold outlook, the Freelancers have been know to undertake humanitarian missions of their own volition, and occasionally in contravention of a particular nation's mandate. To this end the Freelancers are seen as a more universal force, rather than nation specific.  It is widely rumoured among the elite of Kahluyn that the Freelancers maintain chapters on other worlds through the Nexus Gates, though this has never been confirmed.

Brett, can you give me a notice check for Yuu?

Rolled a 13.

What was the second roll for, fun? :P

I was trying to see if the rolls could be embedded into the chatbox

Ah, yeah.  No dice, no pun intended, on that one.

It would be nice if they had some kind of indicator to say if rolls had been made, similar to having new posts.

But I guess the best we can do is just insure that everyone puts the reason for the roll in that section in the roller and I can just check after asking for a roll.

So both Vanyra and Zelpuz would see what was posted in the IC channel.  Given the nature of the chase though Vanyra would see it one or two turns before Zelpuz since he is shadowing the guards, while Vanyra is up top, trying to keep pace with Lasrane's erratic route.

At the end of the day all parties will converge at this intersection.

Vanyra will have about 1 round to act until the pursuers show up and another round until Zelpuz appears.

At the appropriate time you both notice a) that Yuu is on your right and a bit further down the street and b) there are two more armed men a ways up the street on your left.

Vanyra is going to leap down upon Lasrange as he is departing the intersection.

I'm thinking you will need an attack roll, an acrobatics roll for the move action, and an acrobatics roll to lessen whatever fall damage might be incurred.

I'm guessing this attack would be a "full" action, though if it qualifies as a surprise attack, half of the full action would occur in the surprise round giving Vanyra another move action after the attack.

additional specifics:
The attack will be a leap-kick, so the normal damage would only be +3 (1 Str+2 Sneak Attack) which even if there was +3 more from 30 feet of falling would be on par for damage level of the current game.  The goal of the attack is non-lethal.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:23, Mon 04 Nov 2013.

Ok, I would consider this a Slam attack (pg. 158 of MM base book) instead; so you would get +2 to attack and +7dmg bonus (+4 for the move, considered accelerated, +1 for Speed or Leaping I, and +2 for sneak attack).  But we'll cap it at 6 for now.

Just make your attack roll as appropriate.  I'll let you know if you hit and the effects thereof.

With the damage you take from the slam (which is effectively the damage from jumping down and smashing into the guy from a height of 30' and a distance of about the same), you can reduce with an acrobatics check.  The damage to Vanyra is +6 / 2 = +3; equivalent of 30' of falling.  So make an acrobatics check after your attack roll, DC is 5, and every point over it you reduce the equivalent distance fallen by 1'.  So if you roll a 25 you would only suffer a +1dmg attack (20 greater than 5 = -20ft, so you only fell 10' = +1dmg).  Then just do your regular toughness check against that.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:59, Fri 08 Nov 2013.

Did Vanyra communicate her plans to Zelpuz? I thought that was mentioned somewhere. Then I would assume that Zelpuz is going to move (phase) to a position where he would be closer to the action, Maybe on a nearby rooftop with a good shot at Lasrange.

And how far is Yuu? Can we communicate with him? For example, couldＩhave phased to him, update him very briefly (or just say wait here a second) and go back to Vanyra?

And do the guards running after Lasrange look the same as the other two at the top of the street?

Your telepathy only works within perception range, so since Zel was not able to see Vanyra when she decided on this course of action then I would say he was not aware of her attack plan.

In fact her attack takes place about 2 turns before Zelpuz would arrive in the intersection, so at the immediate time you he is not aware of Yuu or the other guards.

For ease of reference later the other two guys up the street from Lasrane do not look like guards at all, and certainly do not look anything like the 5 guys chasing Lasrane.

Sure, let's just do that.
The shadowing should have of course been adjusted to the fact that Zelpuz actually can use the phasing to get around, so he probably would have maybe jumped ahead every once in a while, and more likely followed Lasrange than the guards and try to stay close enough to Vanyra (to prevent her hot temper to go wild and just kill him).
But I should have adjusted (i.e. write) my actions here.

Rolls made.

Acrobatics roll meant -20 feet, darn one more foot and it would have been 9 feet left to suffer no damage (only suffer damage from falls of 10 feet or more).

So the toughness save is vs 11, and I almost failed critically, yay!

Failing by 6 means bruised and stunned, lets hope she gets a round to clear her head.

Lets also hope that the phenomenal surprise attack roll knocks the guy out (it should considering he has no dodge and is at an additional -2 to defense).
This message was last edited by the player at 01:18, Tue 12 Nov 2013.

Brett:
I need some sort of Knowledge check if you want to determine which merchant company/faction these guys are from. Given Yuu's ridiculously wide range of knowledge, please make three checks: first a basic knowledge check at +4 due to Eidetic Memory, and then another Knowledge: Technology and then finally a Knowledge: Nether.  The last two are to see if these guys are in any way involved in the trade or development of technology or nether devices.

Erik:
Vanyra hit Lasrane like a ton of bricks; she is pretty sure he is not permanently damaged but she certainly broke something.  By the time she recovers from the stun of the attack the chasing guards will basically be there.

Jan:
Zelpuz can sort of decide where he wants to be at this time.  He can phase behind the guards, to a rooftop, or out into the street beyond (ahead of the guards).

Rolls made

So, how long does Vanyra's stun last exactly?  She stunned herself mid-round, which the book doesn't account for.  It says she is stunned until just before her turn on initiative in the next round.

Does that mean she gets a full action next round?  Or just a half action?  The book isn't quite clear on what happens when you get stunned mid-round.

I also should ask if we are doing the save versus stun option. (which she could still fail) :)

So do we need some initiative rolls now?

No save versus stun in this game; you are just stunned if you get hit with that effect.

Basically she loses a round of action with the stun, save for reactions, and takes a penalty to defense.  Since her attack was the end of the round, she would be stunned for the following round.  At the end of that stunned round is when the group of 5 guards arrive, and her stun would be over.

This would be the time for an initiative roll by all parties involved, once the 5 guards show up. All parties are at full capacity (save Vanyra who has one level of bruised), except for Lasrane who is unconscious.

Based on my initiative roll, I would say Vanyra was still a little dazed...

So yes, rooftop with good view on top of the 'action' (assuming i noticed something happening) and not too far.

Ok, initiative checks from everyone who has not rolled it already please.

Also if you have a preferred first action let me know somehow so I can tell you when/what to roll.

Stupid dice ;)
My preferred first action depends on what Zelpuz actually sees or how much of what is happening he realizes.

So basically, could you tell me what Zelpuz actually noticed (what made him get to his strategic position) and how much of what you described does he see? I am a little bit confused as who is located where at this moment. Am I right that Zelpuz phased up to a rooftop, pretty much the same position that Vanyra jumped off, he sees Vanyra getting up again and Lasrange still on the ground? The 5 guards that followed Lasrange are very close? And the other two are minding their own business?

Basically Zel would not have seen Vanyra's attack as he would have been in the process of getting to her position.  Once he phased to the rooftop he would see the aftermath, which has been described in the IC thread.  He would also note the arrival of the 5 guards into the main street and the two other armed guys further up the street on the opposite side of Vanyra and Lasrane.

For anything more than than you'll need another notice check.

Notice roll made.
Does selecting a color show up anywhere (for aesthetics)? I don't see that.

Ok, in addition to what I said you also notice that Yuu Jin is off to your right, beyond the 5 guards you were chasing.  He is staying off to the side and out of sight, sort of.

I also have no idea what that color selection of the dice does; it has never worked for me either.

OK, so just to make sure.
Zelpuz sees Vanyra getting up again, Lasrange is presumably knocked out?
And the guards are getting towards where the action happened, right? Did they see anything yet? If I understood it right, Vanyra waited for a moment when she assessed that she could take Lasrange out and pull him out of sight before the guards appear?

So, basically: What is Lasrange doing?
And how far exactly are the guards and what did they see so far?

As far as you know Lasrane is dead; he is crumpled to the ground and completely motionless.

The guards are surveying the scene at the moment but are very likely to move on Vanyra since she is over top of their target.  It will only take them a single move action to close the distance to Vanyra.

Is it Lasrane or Lasrange?  I was always typing Lasrange because that's what it was in the original posts.

And he looks dead or unconscious, not necessarily one or the other. ;)

It is Lasrane; always has been... the g doesn't even make sense! Any addition of the g in the past has been a typo on that person's part.  Check the first paragraph of chapter 1: LASRANE.

I've just been collating everyone's actions for this first round before putting something in IC.

When I read Lasrange, I was thinking it like... Las-range.  Could make sense....

Like a Laser Range!

Nice initiative roll btw; total opposite of what your companions rolled... which is probably good for them.

Some unfortunate rolls for you guys though on the part of the NPC's...

And then some extremely fortunate rolls by the NPCs for you guys; wow, talk about poetic justice.

Brett, you got pretty lucky with that one guy attacking you.  He failed his save vs. your spell, but then he rolled a one which makes him attack the caster, but then he rolled a 1 again for the attack!  I should probably have just had him crack his skull open after falling and put him out of his misery.

Then three of the guys were just going to act normally for this round, but that got severely skewed by the one guard who decided to randomly kill his partner.

In the end things sort of worked out like you wanted, but in a really roundabout way.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:56, Fri 22 Nov 2013.

By the way Brett you need a Nether Manipulation roll to save versus fatigue for casting that spell.

I'm not seeing a skill for it... does it have another name, or am I not looking in the right spot?

Awww... I didn't want anyone to die, just wanted to confuse them so they didn't get themselves dead =(

Poor guy trying to kill me... that'll teach him for picking on a kid!

In the campaign notes, it says its the Knowledge: Nether Manipulation skill.  Does that help?

Also, I'm assuming that I go after Zelpuz's action, correct?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:51, Sat 23 Nov 2013.

Brett: You should read the effects of your spells before you cast them then; one result of the confusion ability is that the target attacks the nearest target, and when you're dealing with non-name NPCs that can often lead to death.

Secondly, the guy that just missed you is still operational, but he has to recover from his failed attempt to kill you.

Lastly, Erik is correct the Nether Manipulation skill is under the Knowledge skill header; that's the one you have the massive skill bonus in.

Erik: Vanyra does go after Zelpuz, though they act very closely together.

Ok cool, it was named differently so I wanted to be sure.

I did know what the book says, but I think it works on the premise that the caster would optimally want the attackers to attack each other... with each level of dice roll building up to that.  I more or less wanted them to stand there drooling with confusion.  It's also why I asked if I could determine their confusion in the pm.  A compromise could be that I determine a cap, if they roll over that cap, it just goes to the max level I defined it as.  Kind of like pulling your punch as it were.

It's cool for now, something we can sort out for later.

So if that's a reasonable action, I'd like to create either a field of darkness between the guards and Vanyra (if they didn't see her yet) or a field of fire to give her some more time.

actually, if they are already running towards Vanyra, then I can as well aim at them or only very slightly in front of them so it'll block and hit them.

So of the five guards that were chasing Lasrane, the first was attacking Yuu and fell down (but will probably still be a threat), the second took out the third (run through with sword), and the fourth and fifth have focused their attention on the second.

The 2 freelancers up the road are currently holding their position, so none are heading for Vanyra right now.

?? Define goes after.
And ... i see i need to check in more. Remove the last two posts.
So, 2 freelancers standing around, 1 guard dead, 2 attacking the other, 1 on the ground.
Vanya standing up again and Lasrane (no g) is still not moving.
So far correct?
In that case, Zelpuz just stays in his  (hopefully strategically ideal) position ready to shoot at  whatever needs shooting at.

Also, could i put Lasrane in my pocket for faster transport?

Brett:  I gotcha.  I think you were looking for a different power/spell in that case.  Confusion is a simple random roll to determine the actions of the target, so even the caster cannot predict how they will react.  Part of the reason why it is a relatively cheap power to get, due to the unpredictability of it.

You perhaps wanted an AOE version of the Stun power of sorts.  That would have dazed the guards into inaction, or even render them unconscious if they fail their save badly enough.  Certainly something to keep in mind moving forward.  Another alternative is the Paralyze ability; pretty self-explanatory really, if you want a spell that will incapacitate foes without damaging them.

Jan: Vanyra is the the last person to act in this round as she rolled that lowest initiative; hence she goes after you.

We'll say Zelpuz is readying his action to shoot; so you can fire at any time until your turn in the next round.  This will also reset the order in which you act; you will act on all subsequent turns at the same point at which you use the readied action; if that makes sense.  Example, if you decide to shoot someone at the very beginning of the next round, then you will be first to go in all subsequent rounds (this prevents you from readying an action until next round and the getting 2 actions).

As for your dimensional pocket you certainly could put Lasrane in there and then do whatever.  You will need to touch him, and he'll stay in there as long as he is unconscious, but once he wakes up he gains a WIL save each round to try to escape.

Sounds good. If I do that, would i notice if he wakes up? And if he saves, would he just appear next to me?

No prob, Mike.  I do think that it was cheaper because the effect is random.... whereas Stun is an either/or, Paralysis is either/or. Where Confuse is random within the set of dice rolls, which makes it worth less because you can't control the effect.  Even if they fail against the spell, they may still have no effect, so double their save chance. My thought was merely that I could call a maximum effect on the power, in the same way that someone can pull their punch.  Calling a max level really only hurts my character, since I don't take full advantage of the power.

I'll go with whatever you feel though, just offering a counterpoint.

Is it my turn, or did someone have a better initiative?  Or is the cloud of confusion my action for the round?  I'm confused....

Yeah, the cloud was Yuu's action.  We'll keep the confuse spell as it is; we can make a new spell for Yuu to give you the desired effect.  With your dynamic sorcery power it only costs one point to create a new spell, and I think you have a couple spare at this time.

Then it was the guards' turn and they went.  The two guards facing the one that just chopped down the other are holding their action, but their attention is on the supposedly crazy guy.

Then it was Zel's turn and he is readying an action to shoot.

Now it is Vanyra's turn.

Once Vanyra acts it will be back to Yuu.

So the order is:
??? Zelpuz's readied action
1 - Yuu Jin
2 - Guards
3 - Freelancers (held action last time)
4 - Zelpuz
5 - Vanyra

OK, so depending on what's gonna happen, when there's a moment time, I'd like to phase to Lasrane and put him in my pocket. That is a little dependent on what will happen when he wakes up though, could he appear next to me ready to fight? Would he be slightly confused etc.

When he wakes up he will realize that he is some place weird and try to escape. When he does he will appear next to you and probably will not be very happy.  You are not sure how long he will be unconscious, but he certainly isn't moving now.

So were you readying to shoot someone or are you doing this phasing action?  You cannot do both.  When you ready an action, it has to be a specific action (ie. preparing to shoot someone who looks to threaten my comrades).  Since Vanyra has not acted yet I'll let you decide which you want to do; phasing to Lasrane, and casting him into your dimensional pocket will require your full round of action, alternatively you can ready yourself to shoot someone.

Vanyra turns Blur back on (free action) and runs over to Yuu to hit the guy on the ground (the one that attacked Yuu) with the blunt end of her weapon. Her standard move should be more than enough to get over there.  I debated whacking him with the shield, but nah...

(Blur went off because of the Stun - I just learned that she could have made a concentration check to keep it on as a reaction, but its too late for that)

Attack roll made.
+1 Base damage
+2 damage if the guy is not aware (because he fell and can't see her, because of her concealment, because her steps made no noise, because of the magic's effects, etc.
+? damage from weapon's blunt end

I assume he's flat-footed? (no dodge), possibly surprised? (no dodge, -2 def) prone (-4 def), and possibly stunned? (-2 on def).  Starting to feel sorry for him...

Edit: hoping those penalties do apply based on that attack roll ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:05, Mon 25 Nov 2013.

You do actually do hit with that roll, but only on account of the massive penalties the guy has for being prone and flat-footed.

We'll say the blunt side of your weapon is a +1dmg bonus, for a total of +4.

Before this all transpires though, let's see if Jan wants Zelpuz to phase down and grab Lasrane.

Let's say I do go to Lasrane, seems to be the best time to do that and Zelpuz is quite interested in taking him along.
Would I notice when he wakes up inside? And once i am down there, can I tell a bit more what Lasrange's status is (i.e. dead, about to die, likely to be out for a long time and seriously injured, or just pretending to sleep)?

Well since you already posted that you were ready to shoot someone and then wanted to communicate with Vanyra we'll say you'll have to wait until the next turn to go to Lasrane.

Once you are down there you can perform a Medicine skill check to ascertain his actual condition.  Otherwise the best you can do is determine whether he is dead or not, which would be pretty easy, but would still be your action.  So you could move to Lasrane and ascertain his condition and then next turn you could put him in your dimensional pocket.

Before that though you'll have to wait for Vanyra, Yuu, the Guards and the Freelancers to go.

Is it alright for Vanyra to quickly reply?  (is there time?)

OK, keep that as tentative plan for Zelpuz, let's see what else happens till then.

Ok, so who is doing what?  Is Zelpuz readying an action or is he teleporting down to Lasrane?

I know that Vanyra is going to smack the guy near Yuu.  A replay would be a free action so you could do it.

That's the plan, but since it's not my turn yet, i'll keep in ready to shoot position until then ... so depends on what's happening until it's my turn.

Yuu's going to grab his sister, and pull away from the madness, taking no shame in allowing catninja to screen them from dudes with sharp swords.  He'll probably pull her around the corner, then check up on the guy in the broken heap.

I can IC this stuff, just let me know when my action is, so I don't cross the streams (as it were)

Ok, we are back at the start of the round.

So first is Yuu.
2nd - Guards
3rd Freelancers
4th Zelpuz - can then teleport to Lasrane.
5th Vanyra.

Medicine check please for checking Lasrane's condition.

Rolled a 21, sorry forgot to add the reason

So it is Zelpuz's action now and then Vanyra.

Just heads up, you guys put a couple OOC posts in the IC channel.

Just saying ;-)

Crap.. my bad..  moving mine back here.

If that is just a move action for you to move down there, you might still have a standard action left. :)  (Like attacking, doing something, etc.)

So that's what happens, i'll scare Yuu :)

This message was deleted by the player at 19:02, Sun 08 Dec 2013.

So depending on either Yuu's answer or a quick estimate of Lasrane's condition, Zelpuz will just put him in his pocket. He'll probably do that anyways, unless he's either waking up now or about to die without immediate attention.

Would I notice him waking up inside the pocket? Or trying to get out? Or only realize when he appears again?

PS: I am not sure what to roll for a medicine check, so I did rolled a notice roll for a general sense of the situation and Larane's health. You can also use the roll any other way necessary (just subtract the +7 bonus). Nice roll though ;)

PPS: Somehow I keep thinking Lasrange.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:26, Tue 03 Dec 2013.

Jan:
If you do not have medicine skill you cannot make a check; it is a trained skill. With your notice check you can tell that he is not dead.

You would not realize when he awakes unless you have some special extra-dimensional sense since he is effectively in another dimension.

Vanyra:
The three guards are ahead and to your left about 30 feet. Two are effectively fighting each other while the other watches momentarily from a short distance away.

You are presently in the middle of the street so there are no near walls.  The guards are somewhat near the exist of an alleyway between two buildings, about 15 feet from the nearest guard.

Since this entire scene is taking place in the middle of a large street no one is obscured.

Sorry, I will indicate where people are below for clarification, walls on either side of this grouping (0' from Qwe and 15' from Guards 2 and 4)



Qwe

    Vanyra



                                           Guard #5
                                                        Guard #4

                                                        Guard #2






                     Yuu
              Lasrane   Zelpuz
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:36, Wed 04 Dec 2013.

Yuu moved Qwe to, "...the corner of the building out of harms way." near Lasrane so he could check on Lasrane.

So when Vanyra joined the rest of the group she joined everyone else.  That was her action last round, moving over there and saying something.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:02, Wed 04 Dec 2013.

No he didn't; he moved Qwe to the corner of a building and then leaped over to Lasrane using a move action.  There was no corner of a building anywhere near Lasrane for him to hide Qwe behind... hence after positioning Qwe he had to move over to Lasrane to perform the medical check.

Everyone is/was in the position indicated.  If you thought otherwise you were incorrect.

I'm not confident that's what Brett meant, though we can ask him.  I assumed stating the corner of a building was dramatic flair, especially since moving his sister 5 feet and then placing a fight between him and her doesn't constitute being out of harm's way (which seemed like the important part of the action).

P.S. check your private messages.

Zelpuz will try to do some mind reading on Lasrane, unless that is a futile effort at this stage, but I think Zelpuz would be a better judge for that other than me. Since he doesn't have any medical ability, you could use the great roll for mind reading, or I can make another, if needed.

That would be a futile move since he is unconscious; you would get some sort of messed up dream state at best.

I've already checked my PM's; I figured none of them warranted a response.

When we rp like this, I can of generalize the environment.  If nothing is specific, then I'll add my own details.  To me, Lasrane was cannonballed into the middle of an intersection.  Yuu and his sister were caught in between the guards and Lasrane, down one of the streets leading to the intersection.  Yuu cast his cloud, then pulled his sister around the corner, then ran/leapt/vaulted to where Lasrane was in the middle.  The idea was, she'd be out of direct line of sight of the guards, but still in line of sight with Yuu.

So was a little bit of both... if the intersection is big, then yeah.  If it was small, then... yeah.

Either way, yeah!

Btw what stuff do we have around on the street?  Any barrels, or crates, boxes, troughs, that kind of thing?

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was envisioning Brett.  The street is fairly wide, about 40' across or so, but since you were in the middle you could have moved to either side in a move action.

There are likely some barrels and crates around, certainly down one of the side streets.  Whether or not they are empty is another question.

Does Yuu know about Zelpuz's dimensional pocket? i somehow think he might from previous experiences, but I am not sure.

Also, so Mind Reading is purely passive, right? Is there a skill to look for information without someone thinking about it? That's more what I was thinking about.
On the other hand, maybe Lasrane is dreaming about all the things I want to ask him ;)

So it sounds like Yuu did take his sister over towards Lasrane then, otherwise he would have ran away from Lasrane, left his sister, and then back the opposite direction. This would have left guards indirectly between him and his sister and his sister would have been directly in their line of sight, which was what he didn't want.

I'm only trying to clarify since it seemed like this confusion nullified the actions Vanyra took, and I just want to figure out what she's doing as she's several rounds behind and did have other actions planned.

So assuming the girl appeared to be in a safe place as I assumed:
Vanyra took the action previously posted putting her by Lasrane (not by the other wall as in the picture)
In the round the first two guards started running off, Vanyra immediately moved back to the guard on the ground that she hit and made sure he is incapacitated, planning to keep him around for a bit as well.

If the girl was not in a safe place, the posted action is nullified and she would have done something else.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:27, Sun 08 Dec 2013.

Shame RPOnline has no option for a view-all doodle pad we could draw and edit to share.

Yuu didn't take his sister to Lasrane, he hid her around a corner, before running on towards Lasrane.  Your actions with Vanyra make total sense Erik, she was in a safe place... the guard would have you to deal with, and even if somehow he'd beaten you, he'd see Yuu, Zelpuz and a broken Lasrane in the middle of the intersection.  Qwe would have been around the corner, so safely out of view.

I'm not sure if Yuu knew about the dimensional pocket or not, but it's an important question what he does next.  If he knows, then yeah, he'd suggest that option as the quickest alternative.  If not, then he would suggest a makeshift stretcher using a nearby pallet or crate.


EDIT: Try this link: http://dosketch.com/view.php?k=3gSAqHhkAZqhluTeMuGi
This message was last edited by the player at 11:15, Sun 08 Dec 2013.

I'm fine with that, it just contradicts the other image.

If that's the case, Vanyra wasn't where she was indicated on the drawings, she was taking the actions I mentioned earlier.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:33, Sun 08 Dec 2013.

Where you moved up to us?

I assume Yuu knows (somehow i have a feeling I mentioned that before, but not sure), if not, Zelpuz will tell Yuu, because he does not want to sit around in the street to build a transport device. He is just concerned if Lasrange can be moved at all or not.

Yeah, as far as I read them Vanyra's actions made total sense, else I would have questioned them.

1) Yuu & Qwe were on the street moving south.
2) Lasrane bolts into the street, runs past Yuu & Qwe and starts heading north.
3) Vanyra pounces on Lasrane.
4) The 5 Guards show up on the east end of the street where Lasrane ran out from.
5) Yuu takes Qwe away from the guards and hides her around a corner when he casts his Cloud of Confusion spell.

6) The cloud takes effect, make one guard run over and attack Yuu, but he slips. The rest start fighting each other or are just confused.
7) Zelpuz appears on the scene.
8) Vanyra recovers, jumps over and smacks the guy who was attacking Yuu/Qwe.
9) Zelpuz moves to Lasrane and then is joined by Yuu, while the guards continue to fight each other.
10) Remaining guards run away.

So at Vanyra can be where she wants at this stage, be it near Qwe or over near Lasrane.  The thing above was for relative position only as I did not want to spend time drawing a map and uploading it.

By the way, I really liked the quick draw thing, seems very helpful to avoid any confusion, and i finally understood where everyone was ;)

Yes, Vanyra already took an action IC to move to Lasrane several rounds back, and after that she then went back to the knocked down (not stabbed) guy.  What she did next depends on what happened regarding the knocked down guy.

If no problems arose, right now she is by Lasrane and the rest of the group with the one guard on the ground under her watch.

She's like a whirlwind ;)

Hey Erik, is the moving Lasrane thing the IC post you wanted deleted?  Because I did delete stuff that we erroneously put in IC a while back.  I cannot find any post of Vanyra moving Lasrane's body, I'm also not sure when she would have done this save right at the beginning of the action, before she attacked the guard that attacked Yuu.  If she had the Guard would have had another chance to attack Yuu.

There is a map feature in the game but I think it just shows a map, and is not interactive... so pretty limited.

It is for reasons like this I want to look into a virtual tabletop program for our combats.  They are pretty low on system requirements so I could probably run it 24-7 on my little media PC at home.  That way we could keep the flow going like we do here, and it would have maps and shit to avoid confusion.  And some of the good ones have multiple chat window options to allow for IC/OOC channels that could just be cut and pasted into here.

With the holidays coming up I will do some further research and let you all know.

I'll just assume he didn't know about the dimensional thing, move things along

So after Vanyra bopped the prone guard by Yuu, Yuu and Zelpuz went to Lasrane, followed by Vanyra in this post:

Vanyra quickly moves back to Lasrane and says to Yuu and Zelpuz, "Lets get him out of here."

After that, 2 of the 3 guards left standing ran away, and then Vanyra went back to the prone guard she bopped.  She wanted to drag that guard (the prone bopped one) over to Lasrane, Zelpuz, and Yuu.

The question is open as to how that action goes down. I was asking in OOC about it because if he isn't unconscious, we would still be fighting, or if the angry guard objected, there would still be fighting, since she went to get that guy before the angry guard ran off.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:22, Tue 10 Dec 2013.

Oh, the guard... gotcha.  He is out cold, Vanyra smacked him good.  He will not be waking any time soon.

Jan you do not actually have to physically put him into the dimensional pocket.  You literally only need to touch him and he will magically be teleported into your dimensional pocket.  You still need to cast the spell though, but you could even use this in combat as it is a touch attack.

Normally the person would get a save versus getting put into your pocket, but since he is unconscious Lasrane gets no such save.

Ah, gotcha, even better. I'll adjust my action.

Please go ahead an IC the conversation, but what is your general plan of action here?  Just want to give you any pertinent information now, or to potentially kybosh something if necessary, so the conversation can move ahead smoothly.

Vanyra's thinking: safe house, tie up, interrogate.

I'd agree, with the addition of adding some basic care for them so they don't suddenly die.

I was operating on the assumption that Vanyra's place to stay in the city was out of the way and an ok place to do something like this since she would only use it for proximity and privacy.  Probably a small crappy place to stay, could be rented for cheap, or could be a rent-free something-or-other.

Not sure exactly where that might be in relation to where we are now though.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:48, Tue 17 Dec 2013.

Typically residences near the docks are pretty cheap since it is generally not a desirable place to live unless you have business there.  So if you had a small, cheap place it could very well be relatively near-by.

Vanyra would most likely have some rope back at her place, but if she feels she needs anything to tie them up, gag them, and cover their heads, she will grab whatever bindings and rags she feels she might need on the way.

Also, she sized up Yuu and the girl to guess how much they might weigh for the purposes of carrying someone.

You guys are enroute to Vanyra's place, I just stopped the exposition to allow your characters to discuss whatever they may wish while walking.

If you have nothing to say just let me know in this thread.

Actually for Jan, Vanyra wasn't talking about right now when Lasrane was in the bag, she was talking about the future, telling Zelpuz to be ready to prevent him from doing mind tricks (once he is out and being interrogated).
This message was last edited by the player at 03:26, Thu 19 Dec 2013.

As far as I can tell, the best way to do that is to keep him unconscious or beat him up all the time in a while to keep him from concentrating.
Do I know of any other ways? I don't think Zelpuz is good in that, and even if, I assume Lasrane may be even better.

Maybe we need to come back to this in IC then.

Well yeah, essentially one can use a telepathic power at anytime just like any other action... that's why Mespah are often considered so dangerous.  Tying them up and such would have no impact on their telepathic abilities, though denying them of their senses could since they would have to perceive you in order to attack you.  So blindfolding would be the obvious first choice, but a particularly adept telepathic could perhaps target you through sound as well.

This is the type of stuff they teach you at The Order of Ashes, since your job is hunting down rogue telepaths.

Also Zel's comment to Yuu and Qwe is awesome; total nonsequitur given the situation unfolding; reminds me of a Monty Python skit.

In reply to DJShirow (msg # 126):

That's exactly what Vanyra was hoping Zelpuz would know.  She doesn't fully understand these things and she's a little worried about what Lasrane could do.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:15, Fri 20 Dec 2013.

I like Monty Python, and Chiafung often tells me that my mind jumps too much.
Well, I was thinking that it's relatively calm now, and that they are basically following Vanyra, so it seems like something Zelpuz would start to think of.

Oh, and thanks for the explanation, yes, I assume that Zelpuz knows a LOT more about how to deal with Mespah than I do.

Vanyra attempts to read the siblings' emotional states.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:44, Sat 21 Dec 2013.

I remember you doing it once before with Yuu, what does it entail again?  Just curious what kind of information you'd be picking up and how, so I can emote something properly

Individual Will saves vs DC 16, failure means Vanyra knows your surface emotions (and you don't know its happening unless you have a sense that targets mental abilities and make a notice check).
Just remember that you don't know Vanyra can do this. ;)

nice description of your inside dialogue, I guess that means that Zelpuz walks along for a while waiting for an answer.

Thanks :)  It was Mike-inspired.

Rolls made, sending you a PM emote Erik
This message was last edited by the player at 09:46, Sun 22 Dec 2013.

Ah, just noticed that half of Qwe's thoughts were actually spoken.

I made a general Notice check, Zelpuz is still watching out for other people around, esp. if any of the guards are following.

While we are at it, and because Zelpuz doesn't know Qwe, I made a sense Motive roll.

Vanyra also does not know who the girl is, though she might be able to guess.  I'm wondering if there is a noticeable family resemblance, or another strong similarity such as clothes being worn, or a family crest.

Notice roll made here as well, it can be used for the general alertness or the measuring up of the girl's physical characteristics. An additional roll can be made if needed.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:15, Mon 23 Dec 2013.

Actually i think we saw her at Yuu's the other time, so you probably know who she is, but that's about it.

I'll leave Mike to respond to the rolls, but I read back over the logs, appears you never met her physically.  When you went to Yuu's estate, you overheard Yuu and a girl's voice having an argument, just before Yuu appeared for cookies and conversation.  Yuu said the voice was his sister's.

Ah, ok, i assumed we also saw her, so maybe we would recognize the voice, otherwise I guess we have no idea who she is.

Hmm, my game menu color just changed, maybe the dice roller color finally has an effect?

From the scene, you didn't see her, but Vanyra asked about her after hearing her voice arguing with mine at the cookie meeting.  So you might recognise the voice.

Vanyra only heard the voice due to special abilities, what she heard was handled in PM.

OK, so then I guess Zelpuz doesn't know who she is ... sometimes hard to remember.
I changed his question accordingly in game.

So i guess Qwe should reply next, unless we are at Vanyra's place already or something else happens.

I was waiting if Mike wanted to pipe in before emoting, in case he wanted to answer your guys' rolls.

Ah, i assume we are just walking along until he says something ;)

Mike's out of town since Monday so we may have to wait for his contribution.

I just got back into town.  So I will try to get my shit together and remember what I was going to have happen next.

As for the notice checks there is no one on the street where you are walking at this time.  It seems unusually quiet though; there should be some people about.

Vanyra would recognize the girl's voice to be the same as from Yuu's estate when she was previously there, so the correlation could be drawn that this is Yuu's sister.

For Sense Motive you do not detect any deception from Qwe. I'm not sure how much Qwe looks like Yuu, but I would imagine that they share some family resemblance and it would seem the most logical deduction that the girl is Yuu's sister.

OK, well, i'll leave it as it is. Zelpuz can assume she is the sister, but doesn't know, so it makes sense to ask.

Yeah, I would agree.

I'll have you guys arrive at Vanyra's place shortly unless there is more conversation to be had.  Since I will be out of town after tomorrow for a while I figure it best to get you guys there so you can figure out what your plan is from then on.

So if there is more conversation to be had prior to arriving at Vanyra's place please say it now.  I will be leaving town hopefully around mid-afternoon tomorrow so that will likely be my last post for a several days, unless I have some downtime to check it at the cabin.

Happy 2014, gents!

Happy 2014!

By the way, how old is Qwe?

You could ask ;-)

But she looks older than 6, younger than 12.

Ah, OK, good to know, that makes it even more obvious that she is probably his sister ... it's unlikely that Yuu is working part time at a kindergarden.

She also called Yuu her brother... just saying =)

Ah, well, I should read those posts more carefully.

So odd that only Yuu knows some first aid. Should put that on the 'to learn' list.

While they were walking, Vanyra attempts to emotion read Zelpuz, in a non-subtle way.

And while she is doing so, she looks him in the eye (trying to indicate that she has something to say).

I imagine he would naturally attempt to auto-resist any mental intrusion, so likely she would be blocked at first, but I will let Jan determine if Zelpuz will drop his mental defenses for the read.

Well OOC, it doesn't really matter if he resists, the point was more to get his attention mentally (if he catches on).

I'd say he'd keep his defense up (it's his training after all), but together with the 'hint' of Vanyra's look he'll catch on quick enough and re-establish the mental communication with her hearing some line like "Did you want my attention?".
Should we 'act it out' in game?

Well why don't we use a Private Message thread for it?  Just go to the Private Message tab, click Post Private Message and then at the bottom you can select who you send the message too.  Please include me in on it so I know what is happening.

Sure thing.

I just noticed that it says GM's automatically see all correspondence.  Want me to not select DJ Shirow and see what happens?

No idea; I guess you could send a trial message to Jan or Brett and I'll let you know if I can see it.

Sent Zelpuz a message, see if you see it.

I can see the PM; so I do have access to all player to player PM's... BEWARE!

replied

Just a reminder to everyone, Lasrane does not know who knocked him out.  The logical assumption for him would be that some of the guys chasing him knocked him out somehow, since he never saw Vanyra or Zelpuz during the chase.

If I understand correctly, Zelpuz can read minds?  And if so, how deeply does it work?

I have a thought on how we can question Lasrane.

Indeed; everyone knows that ALL Mespah have telepathic abilities, allowing them to read the minds of others.  The extent of this ability varies from individual to individual, and some even demonstrate an ability to directly influence the thoughts of others.

If you have a thought, you should tell us in game ;)

hah, yeah, just making sure Zelpuz, as a Mespah, can read minds... or be a waste of an emote =)

Trying to work out something with Mike, before emoting

Oh man, now you did it. ;)

Don't know why being asked to chill out and stop revealing comprising information is so rude though. ;P

And no, she wasn't trying to capture him for all those months.

And yes, she is moving to take Qwe out of the apartment.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:15, Tue 28 Jan 2014.

This is turning into quite the entertaining piece of drama... =)

Poor Zelpuz is gonna be acting referee here shortly!

Yeah, technically they have only been after Lasrane for about a week or so.  Though with how passionate they are, you'd think they've been at it for months.

Remember that technically Lasrane has done nothing to you guys; it was Zelpuz who missed the shot and blew up the warehouse which put Myyra into a coma.  Lasrane was just a person under suspicion by the Order, a possible rogue agent, which they found was working with a smuggling group.

My sense of timing gets totally lost sometimes.  I'll edit my post to better reflect 'reality'

Vanyra will do as she said she would (take Qwe to the roof) if permitted.

I'm fine with it, just waiting if Zelpuz wants to punch in

sorry, I'll add stuff tomorrow.

You don't have to if you want to let Vanyra leave the room. :)

Or you can just assume she leaves and make your next posts if you want.

I was just waiting for Jan to post a reaction to this shit show before I intervene with divine retribution... so don't get too far ahead of yourselves.

Sorry, sometimes there are just too many things to do. Usually I check / post at least once a day.

So, if Yuu talks back, than the actions with Qwe don't happen.  That's what I was asking about before.

Vanyra would immediately interrupt Yuu as he started to talk and take a different action.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:38, Sat 01 Feb 2014.

Go for it, we can adjust our posts I assume?

Anyways, Zelpuz will just stand back and wait for the verdict of Yuu about Lasrane's health, his gun at the ready in case Lasrane starts to move, otherwise ignoring the quarrel unless it gets too much out of hand.

Originally, Vanyra was going to interrupt Yuu if he started talking about stuff again, because she is very concerned about losing/wasting time. I will only worry about that in character if Mike says its important.  Basically, I'm trying to OOC be nice and not have my character prevent another player from talking (I'm assuming/hoping that talking is a "free" action that doesn't negatively impact events so that people can have their turn at speaking).

Though if Mike says that us talking might have a negative impact by using up time, than Vanyra interrupted Yuu when he said "But", and started with the phrase "But nothing,".

Message edited, message added.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:48, Sun 02 Feb 2014.

Oh, i just remembered. So Myrria is only in a coma because Zelpuz lit the whole warehouse on fire? I thought she was pretty beat up already and if I wouldn't have fired, she'd have been in maybe even more trouble.

No, Myyra was "fine" though stalking into a bad situation, when Zel fire a misplaced shot (you rolled pretty poorly if I remember).  The bolt from your rifle hit the chlornetherium and "BOOOOOM!"

Everything has proceed ok to this point except for the fact that no one has question why Yuu Jin and his supposed sister would be out in the middle of the streets of Ossylia in the middle of the night.  While Zelpuz and Vanyra do not know him that well, the DO know that he comes from a very privileged family and thus you would not expect him to be sneaking around in the middle of the night with his sister. I just thought I would illuminate this oddity for everyone, as their characters should recognized the bizarre nature of the meeting... it was not just GM's caveat.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:49, Mon 03 Feb 2014.

Thanks, I did try (if i remember right) to get some more information on why they are there. But I am not gonna beat it out of them right now, there are more pressing things to address, and it seems Yuu is the only one with some first aid knowledge. Plus info that might help Zelpuz.
And ... now you made me feel bad about Myyra (i seem to remember my own ways of spelling names here, I'll just claim that it's my german accent).

Lol; sure blame it on being German.  I may have messed it up a couple of times myself; it has been a LONG time since we have started this.

Yeah, getting of the street and away from the battle scene was certainly a more pressing issue at the time, and we kind of sped through the walk to Vanyra's place.

In reply to DJShirow (msg # 190):
"no one has question why Yuu Jin and his supposed sister would be out in the middle of the streets of Ossylia in the middle of the night"

That's why Vanyra was checking into their emotional state earlier.  She already deduced that something happened/is going on based on that, based on Yuu's distance during the walk back, based on other details that Yuu said, and based on Qwe's presence.  In fact, she acted on that knowledge IC with her concern for keeping the prisoners from knowing Yuu and Qwe were with them.

Yuu was a space-case on the walk back, and Qwe was scared, which was most of the reason there wasn't much talking.  Vanyra wanted to get them somewhere safe as quickly as possible based on their actions.

And as she just said IC, right now she is trying to deal with their captive guests first. She was hoping to get to all that after they secured their prisoners and made sure they couldn't hurt anyone or get away.

Don't forget that Yuu isn't the only one with knowledge of things.  He's gotten several details wrong by his assumption that he's the only one who knows anything.  He may know the bigger picture, but he hasn't been everywhere/seen everything Zelpuz and Vanyra have done. ;P

Just trying to expedite this whole scene... we're spending a lot of time on the minute of the characters actions.

So lets just construct the general plan of what you guys are hoping to do with this interrogation and then we can IC how it happens.

1) With both persons unconscious at the moment, how do you plan on waking them up?  Just a note; it will be considerably easier to wake the Shen Zue guy (he should probably have woken up already to be honest).

2) What is the line of questioning you want to pursue with a) Lasrane and b) the Shen Zue guy?  Just a general statement(s) of what you hope to glean from them, that way I can let you know if anything is off base.

3) How are you going to question them?  Simple questions, good cop-bad cop, going to rough them up, use mental powers, etc?

4) What are you going to do with them afterwards?

If we can get these answered in OOC then I think we can progress through this scene a lot quicker, and with just a few skill checks.

Ah, very good questions.
well, I don't really know yet, that's one reason why I would like to hear Yuu's story first ;)
For the guard, Zelpuz can do the "I am a Mespah, why were you hunting one of us" thing combined with as much mind reading as he can master (mostly bad cop, depending on how much he cooperates). Others can be present for questioning him.
For Lasrane it's a bit trickier. He will know why I was hunting him (does he know my voice? probably, right?). I don't know how much Zelpuz knows about his abilities from the order. So basically we'll be cautious. Maybe have Vanyra stand out the door ready to shoot if Lasrane leaves first (who knows). And again, probably mostly bad cop because Zelpuz is still pissed at him for getting Myyra damaged with his explosives (neglecting that it was my shot).
And question wise, for the guard as much as possible about why he was hunting Lasrane, what he knows about the whole revolt, how he/ his guilt is involved, what he thinks will happen etc.
For Lasrane it's pretty much the same, also trying mind reading if I can. And expecting more answers since he definitely knows more. And adding questions about if and how much the Order knows or is involved, how they thought they can get away with it, etc. Big picture questions and details about the current situation.

Afterwards, the guard I don't care, he should be kept blindfolded, i doubt he can recognize us again, well, maybe Vanyra. So maybe keep him somewhere for a while?
Lasrane, if I am convinced that the Order is not at all involved, hand him over to them (maybe in a different city if necessary), or, what's the typical punishment by the Order for crimes like Lasrane?

Of course this can all be adjusted depending on what Yuu has to say.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:03, Tue 04 Feb 2014.

1) We start them in different rooms, is fine.  We can use bad smelling shit/water to wake up the Shen Zue guard, although he can wake up and wait it out for all the issue it is for us.  Keep him gagged, tied, and blindfolded, and any advantage is still ours for when we're ready.

Lasrane will be harder to wake, because we more or less have to do it on his terms.  Anything we do could sink him into medical emergency.  I could try some nasty smelling shit as well, but going to be very random.

2, 3) The longer we interrogate without either of the 2 knowing who we are, the more interesting information we can gleam.  Once you've revealed the trick, the line of questioning and the answers will change, and we can't really go backwards.

Yuu needs information these guys have, and he's going to push to get this.  Very hard, if need be.

Did you guys ever read why Yuu and Qwe were on the street, or was that all done between Mike and myself?  Just asking so I know what I need to fill in.

4) Yuu is also super awesome, and just happens to be the inventor of a perfume released spray he unimaginatively calls "Forget Me"... it does what it says on the bottle.

We can use that on both men afterwards.

With Zelpuz's telepathy power he can communicate mentally with either Vanyra or Yuu Jin, regardless of where they are (within a 1000ft), so he could relay info.  Unfortunately, he would have to be in the same room or have a line of sight to be able to read your responses (as is the limitation with Mind Reading). But it does give you more options.

Too bad you guys don't have a sound proof window in the middle of the apartment.

How does my pocket work? Can two people go in and interact? That'd be a very neatly sound proof room ;)

Oh, and if it's the one where your parents sent you off, we can read that, but I don't remember how much of it i actually read.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:52, Wed 05 Feb 2014.

I'm not sure that they could interact.  It is not so much a big void that you have in your pocket as an extra-dimensional space.  So there would be no light or anything... not really sure if you would even be conscious in the traditional sense.

So I would say that you would not be able to conduct an investigation in the dimensional pocket.

Too bad, would have been cool, but kinda what I thought too.

Cool, quick filler in then:

Ossylia is undergoing a coup for power, of sorts.  Not of the King's family itself, but the sub-political groups.  Yuu's family is one of those groups of Fundamentalists... a group that sits in the middle of the other factions, and looks to maintain the status quo and move forward progressively.  The other factions are more aggressive in their expansionist outlooks.  Yuu's family is politically very powerful, so in order to give themselves a serious player, it was thought that one faction or another would try to use Yuu and Qwe as leverage to get the family involved for a particular side.  Hence Yuu and his sister being prohibited from leaving the family complex.

Earlier in the night, Yuu was outside on one of his thinking walks, when he noticed shadowy forms moving through the gardens.  He sounded an alarm and sent an army of demons to engage, alerting the House guards to the threat.  Yuu ran inside, found his sister, and moved up to meet with his parents.  They order him to take his sister and escape through a secret passage, and leave the city until shit worked itself out.  That was the last he saw before running into the night, sister in tow.

He doesn't know what's happened to his family or home, but with 2 people now in captivity who could fill some light on the nights attack, he's going to make sure answers are illuminated.  The reason: the Shen Zue are one of the political factions... the guard the team captured is one of that group.  It would appear Lasrane was on ill-footing with them.  Both prisoners could fill in information gaps to prove which faction it was that attacked his home, and what the intention was.

There's a few details missing, but at least you're caught up a bit, and have a bit better understanding what's going through the young mages head, and why the interrogation needs to be done with a specific objective.  At least from Yuu's point of view.

1) With both persons unconscious at the moment, how do you plan on waking them up?

**Vanyra is anticipating him waking up any moment, since she all she did was gently knock him out.  She plans to/wants to deal with him now.

2) What is the line of questioning you want to pursue with a) Lasrane and b) the Shen Zue guy?  Just a general statement(s) of what you hope to glean from them, that way I can let you know if anything is off base.

**a) Vanyra will let Zelpuz take the lead on questioning on Lasrane.  She wants to make it clear to Zelpuz that they should not mention the secret council as that won't give them any real gains and will only tip their hand to a potential future source of information.  The only question she knows enough to care about with this regards the magical stuff that blew up.
**b) She plans to ask the guard why he wanted Lasrane and about everything he knows as something is clearly going on. Why they are out tonight, what's the big plan, who's in charge, standard stuff. ADDITION: why they were after the kids.

**She also makes it clear she doesn't want to reveal information about each prisoner's existence to the other unless there is a direct benefit.  This has nothing to do with whether they remember later, it is simply sound interrogation technique: you don't overplay your hand.  Saying that, she doesn't necessarily trust that any magic potion would be guaranteed to erase the memory of a potential mental powerhouse like Lasrane.  Additionally, if Lasrane is turned over to the Order, it is conceivable they could retrieve any memories anyway, which we wouldn't want.

3) How are you going to question them?  Simple questions, good cop-bad cop, going to rough them up, use mental powers, etc?

**The guard should be fairly easy (hopefully) to interrogate with a combination of mental powers and physical intimidation (like at the tip of a blade), basically using her normal tactics and Zelpuz's in conjunction. She wants to question him first as she feels he will be ready sooner anyway.  And given his general low level of importance and minion-esque NPC status, the interrogation will probably be over more quickly.  His information would be valuable in dealing with Lasrane.

**With Lasrane, she will leave the methods up to Zelpuz more, but she will offer her physical assistance and experience.  She will be careful not to give him opportunities to mentally do stuff to her if she does use physical methods (like not touching directly etc). She will also avoid using her own abilities on Lasrane as it might give him an easier target (?).

**She will refuse to questioning or interrogation with Qwe in the room, as she feels it is completely irresponsible to enact or discuss these in front of a little girl (considering what she can do).  Vanyra is quite willing to ask questions Yuu is interested in, but she wants her and Zelpuz to conduct the interrogation.  Other than protecting them from the detainees, she doesn't feel that Yuu will be quite able to come across the right way being a kid without much experience in this sort of thing. They will have to figure out what they are doing with Qwe in the meantime.  That's why she originally wanted them up on the roof to be safe but nearby (and to keep watch).

4) What are you going to do with them afterwards?

**Regarding Zelpuz, Vanyra feels its up to Zelpuz really, though great care must be taken to not reveal our identities if he goes free or to the Order.  It could be highly dangerous later, and could get Zelpuz in serious trouble with the Order, which we don't want.  Regarding the guard, she doesn't really care too much, but she doesn't want him to go free with sensitive information about us or the kids. He clearly saw Vanyra and the kids, so there is an issue there.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:47, Sat 08 Feb 2014.

Vanyra uses Sense Motive on Yuu when he says the last thing he said, as she is trying to figure out whether he is crazy or purposely being obtuse.  She doesn't understand how he goes from being the one that she was trying to get to calm down and be patient and wait to the one saying that she was being crazy.  (might as well combine that with emotion sensing)

To answer Brett's question, I did read it. :)

Vanyra will also bring up the possibility of going after the "Captain" before his chip leaves and that if there is a moment, it would be possible to try and check on Yuu's residence.

Also, the line regarding Qwe and her hand needs to go, as Yuu did not let Vanyra start that course of action.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:17, Sat 08 Feb 2014.

So I think basically we are somewhat set, except we all have some questions about the details.
Yuu should give a summary in game, or at least say "Yuu tells them his story".
I'd say Zelpuz is all for figuring out as much as possible. No real preference in how to question them.
What i am most confused about is a) the damage to each of the two and if we can just keep them unconscious, or (from previous remarks) it sounds like Lasrane will be out for a long time and the guard could wake up any time?
And b) many things about rule details, how things work etc. But i guess that's on me to try to work it out.
So I say, let's just start questioning. After Yuu tells his story.

A couple additions, Yuu was never uncalm.  He was in a far away place during the walk, putting a few connections together. He was taken aback when his idea was completely ignored, and somewhat annoyed.  Vanyra gave him a hard time a few days back for 'hiding' information, now he has information to share, and she seemed to shrug it off.

The assumptions he made about the 2 prisoners didn't get a response, and he started to feel that because he was still young, his ideas weren't being listened to.  Being called an arrogant brat didn't help... after all, Vanyra's purpose is a personal grudge, and Zelpuz is actually just to take the guy back to his Order for questioning.  Yuu is actually the only one with a real, immediate, and his-entire-country-being-affected purpose to the whole thing.

The assumptions he listed were important, because they could help direct the initial form of questioning.  No one seemed to be trying to think anything through... with Vanyra specifically driven more by her emotions.  And then being told to go babysit his sister while the adults 'got on with business' as it were... made me lol, but for Yuu the idea of conducting an interrogation without useful and readily available information was tantamount to headless chickens running in random directions.  Hence the comment.

Just to clarify, the Shen Zue may not have been after Yuu or Qwe.  The guards were chasing Lasrane, Yuu just happened to be in the spot.  He saw Vanyra take out a Mespah, made a few logical leaps (ie it was probably Lasrane), and decided to halt the guards to give Vanyra and, he assumed a nearby Zelpuz, a chance.  However, the Shen Zue may be, as an organization, after the 2 kids... this is one of the things he wants to find out.  If they aren't, then it changes things considerably.  The relationship between the 2... blood runners vs shen zue... is very critical to understanding current events.

He doesn't know that you heard things during your spying.  If you want to throw that into the mix, it can only help, and there is actually time.  The Shen Zue guard can sit muffled in a room, and Lasrane certainly isn't going anywhere.  But the assumptions the 2 prisoners will make are still the same: The Shen Zue guard knows whoever has him has Lasrane.  He saw it.  Lasrane knew he was being chased by the Shen Zue, when suddenly his world went black.  Yuu thought to use this to the interrogation's advantage.

We can keep playing all this out in drama though... I'm having a lot of fun with it =)
When things blow up in my face, I can't wait to use the line.... "I'm just a kid!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:20, Mon 10 Feb 2014.

Oh, just on the magic potion thing... with Lasrane, why wouldn't you want the Order to know the things said during the interrogation?  Zelpuz is a member of the Order.....

yeah, this whole online rpg needs a bit getting used to, i often don't remember some post or skip over something that was important because something else was posted. I don't think Zelpuz meant to ignore Yuu. And he does want your info to get a bigger picture and figure out what to ask.
For Zelpuz, it's basically this: He want to make Lasrane pay for (Zelpuz) blowing up Myyria. And because that's what he does. BUT, coming to your second post, the Order ordered him to stop his pursuit of Lasrane, so that's why it's ... not necessarily good for him if the Order finds out what he does here.
Lone Ranger with a kid and a ... well, Vanyra, the heros to face a whole city blowing up. Sound like good odds.

Ok, that nicely fills in what Vanyra picks up from Yuu. Various shades of frustrated.

Regarding the Order, in addition to what Jan said, we have intel they might have a hidden agenda in this too. Don't want trouble from the Order. She did reveal directly that they know stuff Yuu doesn't, so this could come up any which way.

Regarding Vanyra's actions, she actually hasn't acted emotional at all except when Yuu talked back to her. Otherwise her actions and behavior regarding the situation have been calculated and emotionless. She may be after Lasrane for personal reasons, but to her its judgement and she hasn't shown any strong emotional connection to it.

OOC details:

Regarding Yuu, she has been treating him like a kid. Though you can't blame her as besides the cultural differences, he's probably not very large compared to her (6'1"), and her encounters with him were 1) lost in the woods, 2) dangerous prankster at school, 3) grounded by his parents, and 4) saved from guards on the street at night, brought back to her apartment with his sister, and then started prematurely talking plans (in her opinion) while she wanted to secure the situation. She perceived that as uncalm, as she asked him to wait and he wouldn't stop talking.

From her perspective, she saw the guard trying to attack Yuu and Qwe so she assumes they may want them as well. She in fact attacked Lasrane as a calculation since she was torn between following him and making sure Yuu and Qwe were safe. That's why after taking him down, she immediately went to them to help them.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:20, Mon 10 Feb 2014.

Wow, you guys post just a few things all week and the dump a ton on the weekend.

So just to clarify the skirmish with the Shen Zue guards; since Yuu cast a spell it would be immediately obvious that nether magic was used and it would be assumed that is the cause of the insane behaviour of them.  Remember at the same time the one guard attacked Yuu and Qwe the other 4 were killing each other; so it should be obvious that they were not have Yuu and Qwe, at least not originally.

I would also have to say I don't think Yuu ever got really angry, at least not in my interpretation.  He certainly raised his voice at one point, but that's about it.

Yuu's particular way of speaking may be slightly frustrating but we can say that is how all people of Ossylian high birth speak; cultural difference.  Like in Japanese you can say absolutely nothing concrete all day and that is perfectly normal.  It would make sense in that particular society as well.

As for the condition of the unconscious folk; I don't think you can 'gently' knock someone out with fists... I've never seen a boxer knock someone out nicely.  But I get what you are trying to say, and indeed the Shen Zue guy could reasonably be expected to get up at any time; if you used smelling salts or something it could work.  As for Lasrane a gentle tap on the cheek is not going to work, you'll need something better... like a medical intervention or you can wait this out.

Lastly, as for The Order lets remember (Zelpuz knows this and can fill the others in)that it is not some monolithic organization.  Rather it is more like a monastic order with various cells about the world.  The Chapter Masters are responsible for their own areas, largely independent of each other and the planetary headquarters.  So Zelpuz would be very skeptical of implicating The Order as a whole, but ultimately the evidence either way lays in Lasrane's head.

One more thing in your preparation for the questioning of Lasrane; The Order guards its secrets fairly well, and they will have developed ways of securing and questioning prisoners that are quite unique.  Now these techniques will be very effective, but they would also be telltale signs that the persons interrogating him are from The Order.  So it is up to you if you want to use these methods or not.

It is reasonable to assume that Lasrane, when he wakes up, and if he remembers anything, would assume that it is the Shen Zue that have him unless evidence points to something else.

Thanks, good point. So we should start with questioning the guard since Lasrane won't wake up for a while. And then we should let someone else (either Yuu or Vanyra) do the questioning with me just trying to use as much mind reading as possible without him noticing. If that doesn't work, we can use 'my' methods (i.e. the Order's).
So first we'll hear Yuu's story, then Zelpuz tells their story (i.e. what we heard underground etc, Brett, can you see that?), so we are all more or less on the same information level. Then Zelpuz would probably suggest that he should question the guard if he wants to. And after that we'll think again what we want to ask Lasrane and start with him ... if we can wake him up.

What Jan said was fine, though Vanyra will make sure no one forgets about the 6 to 8 year old girl in the room.  Depending on how this goes down IC, Vanyra will be doing some things while the "stories" are told.

Also, can Zelpuz really not participate in the interrogation if using his abilities? Kid or not, she's not sure Yuu's 'demeanor' and experience is conducive to 'doing the talking' in an interrogation.  Though as stated, she wouldn't be against asking questions he was interested in. He could whisper them into the air from anywhere nearby and she would hear them anyway.

Vanyra was stunned when the spell happened, so I didn't think she was aware of it.

She didn't think Yuu was angry, just talking too much and then talking back.  Heh heh, if all Ossylians spoke that way she probably wouldn't want to stay around (in Ossylia).

And yes, should have said 'gently' in quotes. Its not like she hit him repeatedly though or with a high damage bonus.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:46, Tue 11 Feb 2014.

When I was referring to methods used by the Order I was meaning methods of securing your prisoner, rather than questioning. They have techniques that would hinder the use of Mespah powers that others would not know of, so if you used them to prevent Lasrane from doing something you'd be more secure but he'd know whoever has him is from the Order.

The spell Yuu cast was a Cloud of Confusion so it lingers like a cloud, and also contributed to why those guys got so messed up since the were constantly under its affects.

Ah, ok, so for the guard, we are fine, I can do the questioning, I can even establish a mental link(well, i can read his thoughts) with Yuu so he can tell me what he wants to ask without having someone whisper. But unless Yuu's voice is obviously that of a child, I think he can ask the questions, and we can be 'backup'.
For Lasrane, how much difference would it make to just tie him up and blindfold him or do whatever else the Order would do? I assume that him being severly physically compromised and in pain and blindfolded will make it hard for him already. Would it be like a +2 bonus to save or a +10 to use techniques of the Order? If I (Zelpuz) thinks we can get away with questioning him without whatever the Order does extra, we should try that. It'll give us an advantage for now, we can always 'reveal' that we are from the Order at a later point if necessary.
Also, how much time does it take to 'apply' those extras? Could Zelpuz quickly do that if he notices Lasrane is getting through to others?

Here's a thought, I can create illusion spells.  My illusions are capable of imitating 3 senses... could I create a demon kind of illusion, and have it speak like a badass mother fucker?

Btw Yuu never intended to ask the questions, I think his voice would give him away.  It's not exactly a kids voice, but it's hardly got the depths of a full man's yet.  Can Zelpuz connect to multiple minds at the same time by chance?

And we are in a spot where Zelpuz and Vanyra both have foreigner accents, and Lasrane at least will pick up on it immediately.  The guard... the foreign accent is less relevant, as again, he would know that he's been captured by an unknown group anyways, and that the group that took him also took Lasrane.  So Zelpuz could do the talking without much issue.  Unless there is a concern his Mespah heritage would come through?

What I thought would be interesting, is again, the guard's mental response to Lasrane's answers... something that comes only from him hearing.  For Lasrane, I do think the best plan is to imply we're Shen Zue, and see how far we can take that.  We could even have him hear the muffled sounds of the guard nearby, and let him assume it's one of his captured comrades.  He may put up mental barriers from mind reading, but he'll be less on guard if he thinks we're a group who already knows about him and his activities.... which is indirectly true to a point.  Woot!

Yuu doesn't want his sister around either, he's all in support of that.

PS: Yuu did not talk back to Vanyra, Vanyra rudely ignored him.  Hmph!
This message was last edited by the player at 17:21, Thu 13 Feb 2014.

Indeed, Lasrane will be in considerable pain already and thus will be at a disadvantage.  The Order techniques largely use pressure points and distraction techniques to use pain and stimuli to prevent the person from concentrating and using their abilities.  They will always have their mental defense, but will have penalties to their offensive capabilities (probably -2 in addition to the wound penalties he already has), it would not take too long to do them.

The blindfold is a good start as without a targeting sense he cannot use his offensive capabilities on you.  Though you are also unsure of what his abilities actually are.

BTW, I'm going to Montana for the weekend and thus will not be around for posting.

Note that Vanyra did make sure to put good blindfolds on them, not ones that can slip down or off.  A large piece of fabric well-secured covers a larger area and doesn't easily slip off.  That was the "bags" she was referring to earlier as depending on her materials, one or both may cover the entire top of the head.

Any accent Vanyra may have might be so foreign that its not familiar. But she doesn't care about her voice being heard.  Not knowing where we are from and who we represent could be advantageous in its own right. Regarding the guard, the low level NPC, being more unfamiliar should work to our advantage.  Regarding Lasrane, he has "met" Zelpuz and could recognize his voice anyway. Also, if Vanyra is talking, Zelpuz can focus on mental avenues.  Vanyra is fine with doing the questioning; she does question people for her job, even if it is in a direct sort of way.

Because of accents and familiarity (and skills?) there is probably no one in the room who can effectively fake being a Shen Zue. And Lasrane is probably quite astute in that regard; I think it probably doesn't help our position to fail at an impersonation attempt.

Vanyra would suggest that if we want to know the guard's responses to Lasrane's answers, we question him again after Lasrane.  First, Zelpuz probably can not effectively monitor Lasrane and the guard mentally at the same time, and we really should have him monitoring the one person we are questioning at any given time. Second, he will have the same thought processes to any questions/answers whether he hears it from Lasrane or from us asking him directly.

Regarding any mental abilities Vanyra has (not that she's been forthcoming to Yuu yet about them), she will not use on Lasrane. Its probably too dangerous for her to make that connection with him.

And nobody was rude to Zelpuz,or was everybody? I am confused, but definitely offended.

Right, Sounds like somewhat of a plan. How much does Yuu know about the ties between each group and who is working with who? Could we be some affiliates of the Shen Zue?

In any case, it doesn't matter who we are, they don't get to ask questions. We ask the questions and we don't have to introduce ourselves. They can then assume whatever they want.

As for order of questioning, due to their different physical states, i think we should start with the guard, may also give us more ideas what we should ask Lasrane, who is most probably a more interesting and important source of information, if we can get any out. So let's start with the guard and see how far we get or if he really knows anything.

Then we question Lasrane, and I don't know if i can monitor two at the same time. Probably with some penalty but that may be OK given their states. Mike?

Shen Zue is a merchant guild, no different than any modern corporation in most regards... please do not treat them like some sort of special agency or anything. They just happen to have their own security forces. Besides knowing that they are a merchant guild and their primary businesses Yuu does not have any detailed knowledge on them.

Mind reading must be directed against someone like an attack, and therefore is not really an ability you can use on multiple people at once.  If you bought the area affect extra than you could, though it may be difficult to filter out all the thoughts arriving at once.

Ah, ok, too bad, and no, i don't think i paid extra for area effect, but maybe something worth remembering.

OK, so basically, the guard might know anything, but we'll question him anyways. And then see what info we get and go on with Lasrane.

Is that about right? Any additions/objections? So Yuu will tell his story, then he can either write questions somewhere for me to ask or whisper them in my ear or just ask them directly. The guy is tied up and blindfolded anyways, so he can basically just sit there and answer ... or not.

Anyways, so, does anyone have questions now that they want me to ask (I am assuming I will be doing the questioning)? And then let's get this thing started.

Nice, OK, so just to brief us, is there anything that you know and tell us about the workings of the city / guilds etc? Zelpuz will ask more details there, as far as we know (which will have been explained in the discussion) is that there are several groups and all want to be the new 'king', but all of them (nearly) seem to be pretty happy to start the chaos.
Can you see our story of how we followed Vernus etc? Zelpuz will add those details at some point. But I don't think he has any idea which fractions they are from, although he may have had a chance to see some guild symbols of the people that passed by Zelpuz in the tunnel, if they were wearing any and his or Venyra's eyes were good enough to see them, were they, Mike?

None of them were wearing any distinguishable marks or symbols.

Ok, for this questioning period I will need the following from anyone involved:

1) Diplomacy check, IF using a coercive, 'good-cop' method of questioning.

2) Intimidate check, IF using a threatening manner of questioning.

You can only do one or the other with one of you.  If two people are doing the interrogation I would say each of you can try one of the methods above, to play the good-cop vs. bad-cop routine.

3) A list of specific questions to which you want answers.

This round of questioning will only apply to the Shen Zue guard.

OK, I guess I'll start with bad cop (using taunt instead, i.e. bluff) since a female or kid bad cop from the voice just sound less convincing I would assume, also, I guess my bonus from being stunningly attractive for diplomacy probably won't apply, at least not as long as he is blindfolded.

What about rolls for mind reading, sense motive, notice?

Really? The female is less convincing? If that was IC you might have got whacked upside the head.

Ironically, Vanyra's Diplomacy skill is better than her intimidation, and her level of attractiveness would probably suit her better than Zelpuz's...

And Zelpuz is just going to ask a 7 year old to leave the room? :p

Yuu has like 0 in intimidate, but +8 diplomacy.  He's also +8 bluff.

Further, he's got Master Plan feat, and if people are comfortable following at least a bit of his suggestions, it can help skill rolls.

Btw earlier I asked if Yuu could make illusions speak with a voice of their own, as Yuu can have them seeded with up to 3 senses.  Would that be possible?


General answers I'd be asking questions for:
1) Why the guards were chasing Lasrane
2) What their interest in Lasrane is
3) What their interest in the Blood Runners is
4) What ties they have to the Blood Runners
5) What they know about the secret stash of Chlornetherium that exploded the other week
6) What tasks the guards he's stationed with given for the evening, key in on anything out of the ordinary

I doubt very highly he'll be able to answer most of these directly, as he is just a grunt.  But even grunts hear things, or their buddies do and then gossip a bit.  So we may need to find answers in a more round-about way if he doesn't straight up know.

I'd also make a point of telling him we have Lasrane and the other Blood Runner leaders, so we'll be determining the value of his words based of our 'discussions' with them.

A) Bluff is not an interrogation skill.  It will only help you if you are trying to lie to this guy (ie. convince him you are someone else or whatever), but it will not help you get information as such.  Interrogation skills are either Diplomacy or Intimidate, the former allowing you to change the target's attitude towards you.

Taunt is a combat specific action, and so has no real bearing here.

B) The attractiveness feat only has an effect if the target would consider your character sexually attractive, and thus 99% of the time would require the target to see you.

C) Yuu can make an illusion that speaks; you select which 3 senses are affected by the illusion and as long as you concentrate you can have the illusion do as you will.

I will get answer the questions once you guys give me the actual interrogation plan, ie. who is asking what and how?

Hmm, taunt is a skill feat, not combat, but yes, it says for demoralizing in combat, darn.

Ok, in that case Zelpuz would be not much use as a bad cop. So I guess we go for the more diplomatic approach for now, does the Fascinate feat help in this kind of situation or is it too threatening?

And Zelpuz is perfectly fine to leave the interrogation of the guard to Yuu, only assisting with his mental abilities. Or take over any role that he should. His interest in the guard is limited, mostly he wants to find out what the guard knows about Lasrane and why he (i.e. his guild) was hunting him. Everything else is just out of curiosity and to add to the picture of how much Lasrane, the rogue Mespah, has changed the happenings in the city (which the guard probably won't know), or how much the Order is involved (if the guard even knows what that is).
So basically, the same questions Yuu has, with more focus on Lasrane.

Right, so Yuu, do you tell us about the illusions (no need for vision i guess), and do you want to do the interrogation that way?

It takes me back to Vanyra's original suggestion for the guard that she acts as "bad cop", since she has no real qualms about it.  She doesn't have much Intimidation bonus (+1) but it sounds like more than anyone else.  And she isn't afraid to mix in actual physical actions to garner an increased effect.

OK, so you are bad cop, I am good cop, Yuu is the background mastermind, and Qwe will either sit in a corner covering her ears and eyes, go into my pocket, or outside (if that is safe).

Um... yeah, she's not going in your 'pocket'.  Sick man..........


And I'm cool with conjuring an illusion to do the speaking for me.  I can keep it flat, low, and Ossylian accented.  He'll be less inclined to think he can get away with shit if he believes the voice to be local.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Wed 26 Feb 2014.

Sounds good.
Actually Zelpuz also doesn't care much about where Qwe is (except for when questioning Lasrane)
*edited my last post to change that*

But for questioning Lasrane, he will insist on as few people as possible in the room, although having an illusion question him sounds like a good idea here too.

And no, the pocket is not a sick idea, very extra dimensional, nothing perverted about it, unless you are a 4-dimensionalist.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:53, Thu 27 Feb 2014.

The Fascinate effect does not really have an application in this situation; again it has a particular effect, that being to entrance someone so that they are not paying attention to other things.  I guarantee you that if you are interrogating someone they are paying attention to you anyways, so Fascinate would be pretty useless.

So who is going where and who is questioning who?  If you are all in consensus then only one post summarizing it would be fine.

Lastly, I'm gone to Mexico as of Sunday the 9th and will not be back until the 17th of March, so will not be checking the forum during that week.

I don't know what Qwe is doing, and depending on if Yuu is proposing the illusion or not, we will either do that or I question him I guess. Or did I miss something?

Yeah, that's why I am asking.  To me it would seem logical if someone went with Qwe outside, whereas sending her off by herself doesn't really seem like the best idea.

For the rolls I think the best way will be for the primary interrogator to roll their best skill and the others can assist them by rolling their skill of choice (Intimidate, diplomacy, etc.).  To assist you need to roll 10 or better to provide a +2 bonus, but if you roll really well (ie. over 20) I will probably give a +3 bonus.  You guys just have to come up with who is the primary interrogator and who is assisting.

If I can get the illusion to work like I've been thinking, then I would suggest that way.  Keeping the accent Ossylian in my opinion gives us a particular advantage.  Yuu has a high diplomacy and bluff... like +8 on both.  How is Zelpuz'?  And Vanyra can do her bad cop thing, although Erik, you were saying her diplomacy was pretty high as well?

Or hell, if we're all diplomacy ninjas, we could just nuclear blast this guy with a dose of best friendship =P

I only got +5 each or so, but I would assist more with the mental part.
So as long as your illusion works the way you think, let's do it that way, at least with the guard.

Vanyra's Diplomacy is +3 and her Intimidation is +1.  She generally uses more direct methods and/or physical persuasion in conjunction with other special skills if she needs to question someone.

So I'm sorta back.  Sounds like you will be using an illusion and then diplomacy to sway this guy to tell you stuff?

In that case I'll need the primary Diplomacy roll from whoever is leading and then an assist roll from those wanting to assist.

There is no save versus the illusion at this point.

Welcome back.

Since we use the illusion, I'd say Yuu is the lead.
For the assist we use our Diplomacy skill, right?

Should I also include the Mindreading roll and maybe a Sense Motive?

Result: +3 for Yuu, barely sensing any motives and most likely not able to read his mind.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Wed 19 Mar 2014.

Yeah, that is about the long and short of it.

Reminder to all that for Assisting another the DC is 10, and that yields a +2 bonus to the person you are aiding.  For every 10 points over the DC you get an additional +1.

OK, so I guess we are waiting to Yuu to check if he can summon his illusion and start the questioning.
I think Yuu will have to to the bit and we only jump in if we feel like it helps or have a question too, right?

Yeah, waiting for everyone else to make Diplomacy checks and such for this interrogation.

Yuu will also have to make a check on Nether Manipulation for the illusion spell, but I am assuming he will have no trouble with that.

BTW, I will be down in Houston until Thursday for a course and some meetings, so will not be checking as regularly as usual.

So, to clarify and summarize: Zelpuz and Yuu will question the captives and Vanyra will go up on the roof with Qwe.  I have IC actions prepared for Vanyra.

She has already packed up all her things and if they go on the roof she will open the window a little in the room so that she can hear what is going on.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:43, Mon 31 Mar 2014.

Ok.  That means we're just waiting on a Diplomacy check from Brett.

Rolls made:

Nether Manipulation: 29
Diplomacy: 26

Any other questions you had for this guy?

I think Yuu had some more about city affairs, the only other things I can think of is what he knows about other things happening in the city, like what he may have overheard etc. Not expecting too much from the guard though.

For the tactic questioning Lasrane, I'd say we go with a similar approach, except that after the first round of questioning by Yuu's illusion (or in person, or Vanyra), Zelpuz will 'reveal' himself and see how he will react to that.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:42, Tue 01 Apr 2014.

That's about all of use you're going to get out of this guy.  You don't sense he is lying to you, nor does he like you, but rather he's just filling you in on things, likely in the hopes of being released.

To that end, after the questioning what are you going to do with this guy?

If what he's saying and what he's thinking match up, then what he has said pretty much is as far as we can take it.  Was there no recognition at all regarding a hidden chlornetherium stash, or does it sound like the hidden stash at the warehouse is what got the Shen Zue's interest in the first place?

I would like to know if the Shen Zue are supporting or lean towards any of the political factions at play, and if any military strikes seemed to have been prepared from the night.  Anything from the barracks or equipment stashes he would have known about.

Once finished, we can take him blindfolded and gagged into a nearby alleyway.  Put him on his knees, and give him a good spray of Forget-Me juice.  Then unbind his hands, and walk away.

You likely provided him with more info than he was given regarding why they were after Lasrane when you mentioned the Chlornetherium stash.  He likely put the the two together, figuring they were tasked with finding Lasrane because he was implicated in the destruction of a chlornetherium stash.  As far as you can tell he had no real knowledge of the stash.

Without questioning this guy, Yuu would know that the Shen Zue are backers of the Novian faction. But due to their regular dealings with the military, how they relate to the Reforgers is a bit grey... well beyond this guards pay grade.

You guys forgot about Yuu's most emotionally important question which was mentioned earlier as one of the things you wanted to know: Why they attacked his house.

No he didn't; these are totally different guys.  There is no connection between Shen Zue guards and the Ossylian military (who attacked his house).

I was just going off of what Brett posted above in OOC:

"He doesn't know what's happened to his family or home, but with 2 people now in captivity who could fill some light on the nights attack, he's going to make sure answers are illuminated.  The reason: the Shen Zue are one of the political factions... the guard the team captured is one of that group.  It would appear Lasrane was on ill-footing with them.  Both prisoners could fill in information gaps to prove which faction it was that attacked his home, and what the intention was."

He wanted to question both prisoners regarding the attacks/factions and he said he wasn't sure who attacked his home.  (of course, I'm still reeling trying to understand the factions since Vanyra doesn't really have that knowledge)

Just to fill in a bit more... there are three main factions: Novians, Reforgers and Fundamentalists.  Each with a certain political and geographic objective, and each having a number of supporting groups and individuals.  Ossylia has existed this way fine, in the same way political parties try to sway the decisions of the head.  In Ossylia's case, the King.

Recently, two of the factions (Novians and Reforgers) have objectives they've been pushing a little harder than traditionally considered, though nothing quite open has taken place.  Simply more intense behind the scenes plotting and maneuvering.  Certain families supporting the Fundamentalists (which is a middle ground faction) have been approached from the two extremist factions to support their side, with rumors that these approaches were unsavory.  And rumours of a plot of serious nature has gone around..  Hence Yuu's grounding... so him and his sister wouldn't get kidnapped and used to sway his parents.  His parent are powerful individuals in the Fundamentalists.

The Shen Zue are a mercantile group, very large and powerful, that are officially connected to the Novian faction... comprised of a lot of merchant groups.  Yuu wanted to know which faction was the one that attacked his home (Novians or Reforgers), so hoped that this guard may have seen something that would implicate his faction as the culprits.  As it is, the guard doesn't know and has no knowledge of anything like it.  Which leaves Yuu still at point zero.  But whoever controlled that Chlornetherium stash probably was up to no good... and that's why he also wanted to push the questions to the guard about Shen Zue knowledge of the stash or not.

Yuu wants to know who (which faction) attacked his House, but this guard cannot give a clue either way.  Once Yuu knew which faction, then he'd have an enemy to point a finger at.  And work against.  The Shen Zue are a little complicated in that they have a lot of economic dealings with the Reforgers.  But violence is rarely good for business, so it's hard to say if the Shen Zue would be tempted enough to assist in a mini-political coup against powerful political families.

It's also the reason he didn't want the Shen Zue hurt, because they may actually be part of the faction against the one that attacked his home.

Gotcha.

Yeah, any useful information this guy had I've posted.  No specific questions need be asked in-game; we'll just go off the rolls unless there is something in particular you want to know. He's a no-name.

With Lasrane it will likely be a bit different, obviously.

I take it you guys are going to dump him in the streets somewhere?
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:15, Wed 02 Apr 2014.

Another thought about moving this guard; you could knock him out (using magic or whatever) and then Zelpuz could just teleport with him to some location and come back.  May take a few teleports, but would be quick.  You could do this after hitting him with the amnesia magic of course.

Sounds good and faster, let's do that. So now we can make a plan for Lasrane. I guess we go basically the same way (i.e. Yuu questioning, me helping) until we find that he doesn't cooperate anymore.

It would also be pretty quick for Vanyra to dump him somewhere, though more noticeable in some ways (carrying a body) but less noticeable in that she knows the area a bit and is stealthy.  Either way.

Ok, so same deal; how do you guys want to deal with Lasrane?

We should play out this conversation since he actually has a name and actually knows some stuff, so questions and answers will be particularly important.

Also it'll be fun to see how quickly I can fry the minds of your characters.

I go back to my original thought... let him think us Shen Zue until the gig is up, or we've extracted what we can down that path.  Once the gig is up, or we find it more beneficial for him to know us, then we shift our questions to it.

I'll nurse him until we can safely wake him up, but not much... I think his pain will be a great ally of ours.  He may have mental defences to subdue pain, but... having your ribs crushed is a hell of a distraction.

That's what I was thinking too. Yuu starts questioning the same way as before, with Zelpuz standing 'guard' to step in if he can and notices anything weird going on.
And then switch to Zelpuz questioning.
Now we just have to come up with all the questions we want to ask.

Ok.  You guys want to make another diplomacy check?  Might as well see if you can score some points through jibba-jabba at least.  You can start posting questions in IC if you like, or if you want you can post them here and I'll IC a summary of Lasrane's responses to those questions, and then you can ask follow-up questions as you like.

Keep the questions open and vague, like:

"You ran."
Like, not even a question, statement of fact.

"Something you want to tell us?"

"We do not take kindly to those treading on our market."

Shit like that.  Let him fill in the blanks, and use those to direct our questions.

Diplomacy: 26

All right, made the same rolls as last time. Kind of the reverse scores, good that Yuu is doing the talking first.
Question for the mind reading though, I'll try to do that unnoticed, obviously, is that possible with Mespah? I guess it depends on his 'education', right? How much was I told about that from the Order, anything?

And yes, sounds like a good plan, let's see if he answers / cooperates. Then we can continue from there. As before, I think Yuu should do the questioning to get most of the information that he wants first, then move on to the explosives and at last the involvement of the Order etc.

You can try to be subtle and probe Lasrane's mind, but there is a chance that he will detect you.  We'll be using the optional subtle mind reading rule from The Ultimate Powers book.

Basically you use a Mind Reading check versus his Sense Motive check.  If you win the target does not realize you are intruding, but if they win then they know you are trying to read their mind.

This is in addition to the mind reading check you have to make to get information; Mind Reading vs. Willpower (+ Mind Shield, if any).

So if you want to read Lasrane's mind you can try, but I will warn you that if he detects the intrusion your attempt at deceiving him as Shen Zue will likely be over.

Yeah, that's what I kind of figured. The question is if it's worth the risk.
What do you guys think? Zelpuz will raise that point in the preparation.

To also keep in mind, if he has the ability to sense mental things, he could notice without needing Sense Motive.

That too.  Typically speaking Mespah do not possess an inherent ability to detect mental powers, but that is not to say that they can't either.

I'm not sure it would be worth risking letting Lasrane know you are not the Shen Zue at this time, since that is part of your interrogation plan right now and there is no reason for him to think you aren't.

You guys can use sense motive yourselves during this interrogation to detect any possible lies Lasrane may attempt.

Yeah, I'm going to go with the whole don't chance giving the game plan away yet... we can always get 'rough' later.

Please follow-up based on Lasrane's responses.

Please note from previous IC that Lasrane was well secured and blindfolded before being removed from the void.   Vanyra was quite careful to do all that earlier.

After his first comment, "I don't take kindly to interrogations like this."  Could you cane him with something Jan, so we can retort with a "Would you prefer them like this, instead?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:29, Wed 09 Apr 2014.

With pleasure.

BTW, in case I can actively raise my mental shields, that's what I do.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:38, Thu 10 Apr 2014.

Your mental shields never go down.

The stick was just done for the first smart ass remark he made regarding his preference of interrogations, not something that needed adding with anything else he said.  I'm just trying to fill in dialogue trees I would like to see based on the answers to 3 of the points I'd suggested.

To his comment:
"Perhaps you would like to tell or ask me something?"

Respond:
"We are disappointed you ran from us.  Why would you do such a thing, Lasrane?"



To his comment about better things to do:
"Others do, but I have all the time for you, Lasrane."

Yes, sticking only happens for bad answers ;)

"We are disappointed you ran from us.  Why would you do such a thing, Lasrane?"

"Seriously? I cannot recall anyone I know that would subject themselves to assault and interrogation by a merchant militia in the middle of the night... so like all sensible people I ran."

Response:
"Like all sensible smugglers and their affiliates, you mean?"

I put that dotted line in just to signify a undisclosed gap/transition in the conversation.  Can treat them as two separate dialogues and then transition them later.

Nice, makes sense.

Next:
"Ah, yes, the chlornetherium.  Tell me... exactly... what happened with the little warehouse and how it came to be no more.  Your side, of course, Lasrane.  We've heard several sides over the last few days but I feel yours may be particularly telling..."

Responded.

I'll just post here each time I respond, since it does not appear to mark anything if I just edit a previous post.

Reply:
"Steal it away and keep it safe for a while...?"

Responded... for what it's worth.

Reply:
"Tut tut... stealing chlornetherium.  And you thought this would be a clever plan, because...?"

Replied.

For what it's worth, I made another sense motive roll (dang, should have done a mind reading with that) to see how much he's telling the truth, if he believes our story so far etc.

If you use mind reading you are potentially going to tip your hand... I thought you guys were not doing that.  If he detects your mind reading he'll know you are not Shen Zue, and very likely know you are Mespah.

You only get one sense motive check, unless you guys totally change topics.  At present you believe he is telling the truth with what he is saying.

Once/If you guys change the line of questioning you can get another Sense Motive roll.

Reply:

Laughs.  "But Chlornetherium is *our* trade."

As an aside, and a question for Jan... can Mespah in your Order send mental messages across distances?  Like, could this guy be trying to communicate with someone his location, like a beacon?

Usually telepathy works only on a line of sight basis, but there have been Mespah known to have the ability to communicate telepathically beyond such limitations.

Short answer is it is unlikely, but also not impossible.

Jan, Zelpuz can sense a slight change in Lasrane's demeanor as the conversation progresses. He appeared very straightforward at the beginning, but there is a degree of trepidation and uneasiness creeping in there now.

Yes, no mind reading for now, I just made another roll because the first bunch I made was kind of for a set of mind reading etc, which we then didn't use.

It's more likely that Lasrane starts to realize that he's not really dealing with a person questioning him would be my guess. Or maybe he just doesn't like where this is going or believe us anymore that we are actually Shen Zue.
Mike, can Zelpuz pick up on what may be the most likely reason for his uneasiness? If Zelpuz thinks Lasrane is trying any mental powers, he'll 'disrupt' him, if possible in a way that could be done by non-informed people like the Shen Zue (i.e. maybe press his ribs with the stick or so).

* Don't pretend to lecture us * a voice says in Yuu's head (assuming Zelpuz can do that), with that Zelpuz presses the stick in Lasrane's rips again, this time a bit harder than before.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:07, Fri 18 Apr 2014.

By the way, OOC OOC, happy 38 to Brett and Mike. :)

Ah, they should have a party together and invite us all, well, the other two of us.
Happy birthday.

Thanks guys! =D

We used to party together... hard not to when we all lived in the same place.  The little thing called the oceans is making that more troublesome these days.

Reply:
"Precisely, Lasrane." *stick poke in ribs for emphasis*  "It is good we do not have to lecture you on the rules of our system.  A system that;s been operating successfully for decades.  So, pray tell,  which authority in any right mind would take the conspiratorial ramblings of a broken and ostracised Mespah, over an official trading partner of the Ossylian military and government?"

As an aside, just thought we don't actually have to ever say anything about us not being Shen Zue.  When I've done with questions, I'll simply say to him that we have a friend of his here who is equally interested in answers.  Then Zelpuz can make his own introduction and line of questions.

I believe i joined one of your parties, or was I already on my way driving around the country... hmm, details escape my mind after a few years.

And yes, that's a good idea, then Zelpuz can 'hand him back' in the end.

Reply:
"Your name is ill regarded among circles of your kind."  Let a pause float there.

"But that is neither here nor there.  What information did you want to exchange, and didn't just feel like asking for?"

It's really confusing that updating doesn't change the date of the last post in the game thread.

Zelpuz will play the role of rib poking executer until Yuu signals him. Ideally, Zelpuz will start trying to do the mind read before introducing himself, at that point there is no risk of loosing information anymore.

Since that's an important role, what are the options for boosting the result? Take 10 or take 20 or something like that?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:09, Tue 22 Apr 2014.

Because it is an actively opposed roll you cannot take 10 or 20.  You'll essentially be entering mental combat; you can try to covertly do mind reading or just attempt the all out assault. Success on your check allows you to read his surface thoughts. Since we're using the optional subtle mind reading rules, if you are successful in the subtle check I will rule that the target does not to save against your mind reading check since they do not know you are there.  But any one with mental defenses would get to add that bonus to their Sense Motive check. So when you do want to start mind reading you may as well try to be subtle at first and see how that goes; if it fails you can try the brute force method.

Of course depending on your mind reading result there would be no point in verbally questioning Lasrane; if you successfully do a mind probe you know whatever it is he knows about a particular piece of information. This type of mind probing requires a constant battle of minds though.

With mind reading the target, if you won, gets a new check for every step up the time progression chart (after 1 round, then 1 minute, then 5mins, 20mins,etc.), and at each stage they get a +1 to their save.

So you 'could' gain a lot of info from a mind probe, but only if you can overcome Lasrane's mental defenses.

Oh, and I agree it would be nice if it would post the date since the last edit, and highlight the thread if there has been a post message that has been edited.

Just to clear up, Lasrane said he wanted to trade the Chlornetherium, for information 'we' had.

I asked him what information he wanted... ie What information of ours did he want, that he wanted to steal our own Chlornetherium to barter for?  Not the other way around, which is how it looks to be rp'd.

Yep, that's correct.  He simply does not wish to tell you about the information he wanted at this time. In other words, he apparently wants to keep his ultimate motives from you at this time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:15, Wed 23 Apr 2014.

So have I missed something, or are we not waiting for your guys' response to Lasrane?

As far as I know, I am waiting for Yuu to give me some signal that says 'i am done'. Until then, I'll leave the questioning to Yuu (i guess Lasrane might recognize my voice). Then Zelpuz will try to do some mind reading and see how far he gets. And depending on that, he'll start his own questioning or not.

Reply:
"And if we were to give you a reason?"

Sorry for the delays.  Overdosing on life again.

Reply has been posted.

Reply:
Yuu shakes a vial of his Elixir of Forgetfulness, letting the sloshing sound of the liquid content reverberate.

"A couple reasons.  We are going to heal you up. Lasrane.  We will nurture you back to reasonable health.  And then we will release you.  You will be free to go about your day.  The memories you carry with you, however, will depend on your continued willingness to share information.  You see, we have with us a chemical liquid... still in the testing phases, truth be told... but its effects have been proven quite potent even on sentient beings.  It erases memories... the more we feed into you, the further in arrears your memories fade.  An hour... a day... a week.... After dosing you with it, we will release the great Lasrane back into the world... short of a few key contemporary memories.

"We may do little to harm you, but we are not so sure others won't do the same... some far more grim than we would conceive.

"We are not the Shen Zue you think we are.  There are cells within, and we have questions of our own to be asking guild members.

"What information of ours did you want, in exchange for the Chlornetherium you were so bold as to think you could steal?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Wed 07 May 2014.

Replied.

Reply:
"We are." To his do what we will.

"And we are all under the gun.  A civil war boils and bubbles.  But you are not so important a player as your typical Mespah arrogance assumes.  You are but a piece in a rather large puzzle, a picture which can be seen with... or without... you.

"Again, what information did you require from the Shen Zue?  What we planned to do with the Chlornetherium, perhaps?"

Maybe this is starting to be the right time to try and read his mind?
Zelpuz just waits for the singal, if Yuu has more questions that he thinks will deliver answers, he'll wait.

Yeah, almost there.... you were going to be my reason number 2 =)

So I just added the responses to the end of the thread; as this edit is taking forever.  This way it'll be easier on everyone; just reply to each post as we normally would.

This message was deleted by the player at 23:51, Thu 08 May 2014.

Ah, that's better, now I can tell when something updated.

You can convert people with that stuff?

I have no idea what his response means actually... I thought it was just an explosive /shrug

No, Chlornetherium is a nether infused element crucial in making all sorts of magical devices, or magically enhanced items. It is normally very stable, until you hit it with raw nether energies (like a conjured fire blast); and then it goes boom.

It is crucial for making magical items for non-mages, as the latent nether energies it in provide a source of power from which can be enhanced.  It is used by many militaries to arm non-mages with nether weaponry.

Nice, my blast must have cost them more money than I'll ever see.

Oh yeah; that was a serious amount of cash that went up in smoke there.

I guess the easiest way to think of it would be a warehouse full of marijuana that you just blue up.  Albeit not a very big warehouse, but still a warehouse.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:37, Wed 14 May 2014.

Oh no, he may be not as bad as we thought ...

Yeah, that one was quite the bomb drop!

Just to make sure, the plan still is to start the mind probe before telling him about Zelpuz. That way, if I succeed, great, if not, nothing is really lost.

Ah right, so which question do you want me to ask for you to mind probe?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:46, Sat 17 May 2014.

Well, the idea would have been to ask about his involvement in the current events and how much he as a Mespah helped some fraction (in violation of the code of the Order etc).
Of course with the new development, I'd say more about the other Mespah and why he didn't report him to the Order etc.

So, the question is, can Zelpuz communicate with Yuu via telepathy? And without it interfering with either the illusion (just to make sure) or Lasrange being able to pick that up (should be unless he has some power I don't know of).

And then the question is, does Yuu give the 'signal' (some hand gesture they agreed upon I would say) that he is done?

I was just going to give a general signal, doesn't have to be elaborate... not like the guy can see.

Yeah, there's a LOT of shit he's telling us that could be elaborated on... very difficult to conduct an interview when the answers your asking for are the one's the victim is supposed to think you know >.<

Yes, just a hand wave or so would do.

And just write that in the in-game thread to let me know when.

I assumed you guys were already communicating telepathically.  It is a line-of-sight power; and no, other people cannot 'hear' your telepathic communication.

OK, one last question, is there a penalty for doing mind reading and communicating with someone else? And can I pick wich one gets the penalty?

Since both of your sub-powers in Telepathy are Concentration-duration powers, in order to use them separately you will need to perform a Concentration check each time you do.  DC is 10+Power Level. If successful then you could talk to one person while listening to the other. But if you fail then your powers shut down.

Also remember that for each step up the time interval (1rnd, 5rnds, 1min, 5mins, etc) the target of your telepathy gets another save (with +1 bonus, cumulative). So it is not easy to simply sit in someone's mind and keep reading their thoughts.

One option is to simply do a mind read immediately during and after a question and then exit, which will likely be before the time interval step.

Alternatively you can actively dive for information in someone's mind, which takes one round per question.  But the more guarded/personal the info the higher bonus they get to save.

So I am just waiting for Yuu to actually say he gave the signal, right?

AS far as I can tell.

Depending on how he answers, or how this goes, I'll either continue a couple more questions for you to mind read, or I'll simply introduce your presence.

Yeah, of course the important rolls go bad.
I am still unclear if I can take 10 or 20 on such rolls too. If so, I would do / have done that obviously. One day, when I have some time I may actually read the rules again.

Yeah, that was pretty weak lol

You can't take 10 on contested rolls like this; only on rolls where there is no stress or time constraints.  So any combat-like roll requires an actual roll of the dice.

So how are you doing this mind read?  Are you trying to be subtle about it, or are you just trying to read his mind overtly?  If it is the later he will know you are there as soon as you attempt to mind, but with the former you have a chance to avoid detection.

As subtle as possible, I want to try to avoid him detecting me. Until he detects me, we have an advantage, after that, who knows.
Once he does, we can try other things (not sure what, but I'll see).

Make a WIL save Jan.

As I imagine you suspect,  Zelpuz's clumsy attempt at mind reading was noticed... a lot.

Um, I think there's a mistake in how this is being carried out.

There isn't an attack roll to do Mind Reading, its just a power with a save.  Since the target cannot "dodge" the attack, there is no attack roll (hence why there is no mental attack attribute in the game).  Its an automatic hit with a save versus the effects.  It would only have an attack roll if you had put a disadvantage on the power that it requires an attack roll because its like a physical beam attack or something that can actually be dodged (which an immobile target couldn't do anyway).

Also, if there was an attack roll for this (which there shouldn't be), it would use the standard attack bonus, for which I bet Zelpuz has a rating higher than 3?  Power rating of a power determines strength of damage/effects and thus only affects the save, not the attack roll.

Vanyra, of course, is still listening in.  If she detects any funny business, she'll come down through the window pretty quickly.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:13, Mon 26 May 2014.

Check the House Rules section.

Since Jan wanted Zelpuz to perform a subtle Mind Read he needed to make a Mind Reading check opposed by a Sense Motive check (Lasrane).  If he had succeeded then Lasrane would not have been aware of his attempt to Mind Read.  That's what that roll was about.

Now, I shouldn't have actually rolled for Lasrane's save; I forgot that the Mind Shield provides absolute defense against any mind power under its rank.  So Zelpuz would now be aware that there is likely no easy way he can penetrate Lasrane's mental defenses. Mentally it would be like hitting a stone wall.

This second batch of rolls will actually be treated as a mental grapple.  The reasoning being that since both parties have Mind Reading, when Zelpuz attempted to read Lasrane's mind he started a mental grapple, but it was resisted and now Lasrane is attempting to reverse that grapple.  Hence the opposed roll... I would say that one's Mind Shield ranks would count in the defense of any mental grapple as well.  So really it would be Zelpuzs WIL check + Mind Shield Rank (+8 total).

Ah ok, that makes more sense.

Though, can Lasrane affect him through his own Mind Block then?  I guess its really a question of power levels, of which I don't know the exact levels involved ;)

Basically Mind Shield acts as the Protection power with the Impervious extra, but only against mental powers.  So if your Mind Shield is higher than the power trying to attack you, that power automatically fails.  But if that power is higher than your Mind Shield level then you add your Mind Shield rating to your WIL for the saving throw, or in this case the mental grapple.

Similar to shooting someone with a gun with +6dmg, but the guy is in Power Armor with an impervious protection rating of 8; your bullets would just bounce off the armor, with no save necessary.  The exception being attack powers bought with the penetrating extra of course.

Right, so Jan (Zelpuz) only had to roll if Lasrane has a power rating for mind reading higher than 8 (Zelpuz's Mind Shield).  That's what I was wondering, if so he's scary...

Also have to wonder about any wound penalties for Lasrane right about now. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:45, Tue 27 May 2014.

No, your WIL save does not count as Impervious mental defense... ONLY your rating in Mind Shield.  Zelpuz has a +5 WIL save AND Mind Shield of 3, hence a total of +8 for his saving throw versus mental attacks.  Any mental power with a rating of 2 or less would automatically fail against Zelpuz, but anything 3 or higher will require a save.

Sorry, my parents are here for a while, my responses may be very sparse until then. Will roll made, the rest I check later.
PS: Is there any modifier other than the normal will for mind reading?

PPS: Ah, you already answered that, so add +3 to the roll i made.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:32, Wed 28 May 2014.

Sorry for not responding with what is happening, but work has been crazy since Thursday.  Hopefully I will get something up by the end of the day.

Yeah, so I posted.  Jan, check your Private Messages.

Did he get the name Zelpuz from the counter-mental read?

Perhaps; no way of knowing really. You would know if someone is mind reading you, but if they are probing for information you would not know what they are looking for. But considering everything he just said, it is a decent leap of logic to surmise that battle of minds went the wrong way, and Lasrane gained some insight into who Zelpuz is.

Cool, just checking, cause I didn't remember his name being mentioned in the dialogue, so that would have been my first thought... he'd reversed something on Zelpuz.

Yep, I'm sure Yuu would have picked up on that right away.  The only other option being that Lasrane knew Zelpuz's name before, and perhaps knew something about him; then threw that out there.

So I guess I can read his thoughts, right? Nothing stopping me if he wants to, and given that I asked him stuff in his mind and we established that form of communication (I assume) he'd do it.

You guys have been communicating mentally the whole time already, but Zelpuz would have stopped doing it in order to attempt a go at Lasrane's mind.  So its a question of whether Zelpuz reinitiates it.

Of course, Vanyra would never approve taking off the blindfold, this guy's dangerous.

Yeah, this is really up to Jan and Brett as to how they want to play this out.  Zelpuz would have broke off his mental link with Yuu when he tried to read Lasrane.  But it only takes a second to reestablish the link.

As for the blindfold, Lasrane did not actually ask you to remove it.  As long as you can see him you can read his mind.  He is just suggesting that if you tell him your side of the story he will voluntarily lower his mental defenses and allow you to see what he is thinking; this would include anything related to the whole situation you guys are in.

Having said that it is possible that he could make up a memory/thought, though I will say doing so is much more difficult than verbally lying.  So if he were to try that he would have a significant penalty to Bluff, since you can see his thoughts as they are forming.  Just something to keep in mind, and Zelpuz would know this.

OK, always good to know what Zelpuz would know ;)
And yes, he didn't request it, but I was thinking to do that as a gesture of good faith since he seems rather cooperative. But yes, not necessary, that's why I checked with Yuu.
So yes, Zelpuz would have started also scanning for a 'response', since that's the way he communicated with Vanyra, it seems reasonable to go along the same line.

It was discussed previously in character that Lasrane could potentially take over anyone's mind.  That is why precautions were taken.  We don't really know his level of power.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:14, Wed 11 June 2014.

Yes, OK, so we'll just continue as is for now.

Ya, that's what I thought... i want to set up a precaution with Zelpuz, so I'll know if his mind has been suddenly taken over

Does Lasrane reply to "You have yourself a deal" ? Otherwise I'll continue with the dialog.

How likely is it that he can fool me in his thoughts? And what kind of rolls should I make other than mind reading?

It would be a Sense Motive check versus his Bluff check.  If  you are mind reading he will have a penalty to his roll.  But you have no idea what the actual probabilities are since you really don't know how good of a liar he is.  As a rule of thumb though he would essentially have to convince himself that his lies were true or you would read that he is making up the stories; hence it is quite difficult.

mind reading and sense motif rolls made.

Ok, you didn't need to make a mind reading check though as he is not actively defending against you.

Decent rolls for once though!

I'll send you a PM Jan with the mind read results.  It will be somewhat lengthy, just to warn you.  Hopefully I'll get it off to you tonight.

OK, I'll be heading to Canada (Quebec City) tomorrow, should be able to reply though.

That's not Canada... that's Quebec, lol.

Yeah, it will be a lengthy one, so if you need a day or two to think about your responses no problem.

Sorry, this conference involves more beer than useful to write a good response so far. I'll try to catch up tomorrow.

No worries.

Just so everyone is aware, Jan and I have been messaging back and forth about stuff... there was quite a lot for him to read over.

Jan's pretty busy at the moment, and I'll be away most of next week, so things may slow down for a bit.

So I'm back in real world now.

Ok :)

Interesting choice of words for an RPG game don't you think?

Sorry guys, I should be able to catch up a bit in 2 weeks latest.

heh, nice Erik

Np Jan

BTW Jan, in honour of Germany's victory in the World Cup you get an automatic 20 on your next roll.

Die Mannshaft FTW!  Great game; much celebration in Calgary after the win!

He probably won't read that message for another week, when the celebrations finally subside.

Probably not.  But it is archived at least.

Jan, this may be a good time to have a PC to PC conversation about what Zelpuz has learned, since I will not be around to play any of the NPCs.  Then you guys can formulate a plan on what you want to do next; there are a lot of avenues to explore.

Sorry for the long silence.
So wonderful, my next roll will be for a complete scan of Lasrane's mind ;)

Oh, and did you know that the German U19 team (i.e. all the players that are 19 now) just won the European cup too? So we may have good new players coming too ;)

So let's do some PC chatting.

I'll be hitting up the forum again regularly Jan, agree we can get some PC action in while Mike is yachting it up!

Some notes for Brett's post.

Actually, we already suspected the Order's involvement in the bad stuff because of what we overheard earlier in the night.  Vanyra has shared that fact in the catching-up conversations.

Also, if you actually did shut the window, Vanyra would be downstairs busting through it or charging through the door in a quick second.  She was listening in on everything through that window and it being open was her only cue that everything was still alright (noone was mind controlled).

Following that, she would not allow it to be shut so that she could keep tabs on the prisoner (besides, none of you would be able to hear things from the room to the rooftop or vice versa).
This message was last edited by the player at 02:30, Sat 09 Aug 2014.

Yeah, I remember hints of things not being hunky dory with the Order... even Zelpuz wasn't following his assignment as directed, but his answers made a pretty strong statement that things really were blatantly off.

For the window, I made Yuu close it after getting to the roof, so there'd be no need to charge through anything.  They're on the roof talking with Vanyra...  if they're talking about Lasrane, why chance he could hear our discussion?  And wouldn't just looking through the window to keep an eye on him be effective?

Those thoughts led me to the emote I made.