It's always been low, or seemingly lower than average.

That must mean there are a lot of critical hits waiting...

Challenge accepted: I typed in the single rolls into excel and got an average of 10.6, so I think its OK :)

Though those last few rolls are really bad!


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I thought since a First Lance was just a team leader that the other two positions would be the only true "people-in-charge" types.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Thu 02 Feb 2017.

Well at present Vanyra is just some random person off the street who walks into a police station and asks to see the Sergeant or Captain for some information about the town.

Remember the Freelancers are an interplanetary mercenary force, so they're not in the habit of divulging info to anyone. And there is a chain of command to work through.

A rough breakdown to modern military equivalent ranks:
Lancer = Private/Corporal
Lance Sergeant = Sergeant
First Lance = Lieutenant
Lance Commander = Captain/Major
Chapter Lance = Colonel/General

Vanyra would probably notice at this time that she's speaking to a Lance Sergeant.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:49, Fri 03 Feb 2017.

Sorry, I made a bad assumption that the clerk was aware my ID had been checked.  No matter.

And with that explanation of ranks, then a Chapter Lance is a bit much. (I removed Chapter Lance from the post - it doesn't change the flow of the conversation)

Does Vanyra know the names of Yuu's parents?  Maybe having picked them up at some point?

And how big are these books?  Dozens of names, hundreds?

And... if handing one to Zelpuz is a huge no-no, I will edit that out.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:04, Wed 08 Feb 2017.

Also, is it ordered in some way? Would make it easier to look for people of interest, such as Yuu's parents, Yuu, Lasrane ... and if I can't take a look, I'll message Vanyra to also look for Lasrane and possibly the Order master (just out of curiosity, you never know).
If there are no complaints or strange looks, Zelpuz moves forward to look through the second book.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:49, Wed 08 Feb 2017.

BTW, Zelpuz also looked for himself ;)

I interpreted Mike's post as indicating that Zelpuz got to look too :)

Definitely need to look through them for anyone we know.  That's not too many people so it shouldn't be too hard.

When they get to look through it more, Vanyra will also want to pay attention for jobs she might want to take, or major players related to the coup.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:05, Fri 10 Feb 2017.

Yes, Zelpuz got to read them too. I figure the second time through you'll read through the books together (two sets of eyes being better than one), and that way with Zelpuz's photographic memory you'll be able to recall anyone of note for later.

Copying this in from a post Brett made in Chapter 5:

"...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...  [Yuu's] 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)...

The Shen Zue are a little complicated in that they have a lot of economic dealings with the Reforgers...

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."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:07, Sat 11 Feb 2017.

So Governor Jin said that special forces aligned with the Reforgers were the ones who attacked Yuu's parents.  Possibly only some of the Reforgers. (message 58, Chapter 6 IC)

Did he also say that it was the Reforgers who closed the city?

Yep, and any names that we may know should also pop up as interesting to Zelpuz. If there are any, Zelpuz will tap at the picture, look at Vanyra questioningly and convey whatever information he has telepathically accompanied by "Isn't this a guy we saw in the pub?"

OOC Correction: Vanyra saw two meteors falling towards the city, and a different scene of the city in flames. She never actually saw the meteors impact the city.

OK, I fixed the meteor details.

Did Governor Jin say that the Reforgers closed the city?

That is correct. Yuu likely explained at some point that the Reforgers are a more militant faction of the government, composed of various officers and their supports. The Novians on the other hand are a mercantile faction that seeks expanded trade and loosening of regulations to that effect. The Fundamentalists are in the middle, as you'd expect.

So there is still a coup going on.  Interesting.

If you want to pursue that line of questioning in IC you can do so, but you're barking up the wrong tree on this one. The Freelancers DO avoid local politics like this when at all possible, and have a reputation of neutrality to maintain. Furthermore, their command structure and levels of information security clearance would prevent the sergeant from revealing anything he did know to Vanyra or Zelpuz on the matter. They may very well know something but they wouldn't be divulging that information.

So, how do the freelancers handle politically motivated bounties?  I only ask because helping a coup capture dissenters could be seen as a political action.

I was originally thinking Vanyra was trying to speak to someone higher up to try and figure out what is going on with the factions (is a faction in control or winning, is there a faction that is losing, are there areas where one has taken over).  There was the possibility that she could share some of what she knows to help obtain that information (leaving out the parts about Yuu).

Knowing something of who is doing what and where could be important to the collection of bounties, though I acknowledge that they may leave people to figure that out on their own.

So the Freelancers are essentially a massive interplanetary mercenary organization that formed centuries ago after the fallout of the Golem Wars and the dissolution of the Zhen Halan empire. To that end their primary focus is in acting as a private military force for those willing to pay for one, the only rule is Freelancers never fight other Freelancers, even if they're on opposing sides of a conflict.

Over the years though they've expanded their services into other markets, like protection, bounty hunting, law enforcement and exploration. Because of this expansive role they began to interact more and more with those outside the company proper and the regular chain of command. This eventually developed into a two tier membership scheme; the first are the regular full-time members who are part of the chain of command and are salaried. The second are the myriad of contractors and affiliated members, who do not have formal rank and are not regular employees. Rather they have an alpha-numeric rank based on their skills and past reliability, and are paid per contract at a rate commensurate with their rank. Naturally these independents come from all sorts.

So when it comes to bounties and similar jobs the Freelancers will take in all sorts of contract requests as they are a reliable known entity, but they may or may not act on it depending on the situation. Even if they do not officially act on it they do provide the opportunity for their independent agents to execute it, with the understanding that the Freelancers did not formally endorse or support the action. In such cases the Freelancers will only take a small flat amount from the contract as an administration fee, while the agent gets to keep the rest. In officially sponsored contracts the Freelancers will pay the agent a percentage of the contract.

I figured that's where Vanyra was going with this and that's why I put in my comment; they have no idea who she is and thus would not trust her with any information they had if they had any. If she was a ranking member it may be different.

You are right.  That changes things, but its OK, I can salvage it since she was just information gathering so far anyway.

Yeah, I just made the comment so we didn't try for a couple pages of text to resolve the conversation in IC. There is still considerable intel you guys have gathered from being here about the state of things and who is or isn't wanted by someone.

So, looking for anyone familiar.
-criminal elements
-important people: physically familiar, or familiar by name (like Yuu and family)

Also looking for any contracts that might be easy to do for her right now

Not sure what Zelpuz might have to add

Since I really don't know who your characters may or may not know I'm actually going to throw this back at you guys in a sense; there's no one pertinent to Yuu's situation or the coup as you know it in those books. There may be someone you know or recognize in there, but if there is you'll have to tell me who it is and explain why you know them, what they do and a possible reason why they'd be in that book. The reason doesn't have to do with the coup at all.

Ok, I only meant the named characters encountered in the context of this game.  The circle of 'criminal' elements we encountered or royal family people or people from the Order or things like that.