Hi all! I've arrived in the US and am settling in. I haven't got reliable wifi or any furniture yet, so it'll be a little more before I can resume regular posting. Hopefully this will happen soon!

@GM - can we get a list of the 14 dead with occupations so we can talk about that OOC?

Side note: go Moira! What a great idea and plan! Glad we're helping to push it forward.

Given that Moira only knew her immediate family and friend who lived in Nightstone, it'll definitely be up to Claire and Thente to help on the whole decision here.  Though Moira is going to make a case to them to have her nephew be one of the two revived - it's going to make her feel hella guilty and selfish for doing so, but her kin need him.

Since Lady Nandar isn't being rezzed and Claire is undecided about her father (though she also has her own method for rezzing him outside of this deal if she chooses), I'm out of suggestions myself.  Moira has her friend, but it would likely be better/easier on her conscience if someone else was rezzed by suggestion.  Though in the case of Claire's inherited scroll and rez service with the church - do keep in mind that spell has a 10-day time limit on it, so if she wanted to try and use it on her father, it'd have to be done in the same time frame as we're working on now.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Mon 19 Aug 2019.

If you guys want, I can type up a list of NPCs who died and their occupations, with some room for embellishment by Thente/Claire. Not RN though, I'm basically in the middle of furnishing my apartment :P

I'd say focus on what you guys wanna extort get out of the meeting for now - more aid? More rezs (hard)? Nandar discounts on future rezs?

In that case, I'd probably say focus on getting more aid sent to Nightstone and ensuring that the Zhent threat is taken seriously.  That would be a much easier sell to work with and it'd really defeat the point of all this if we return to Nightstone later on to find the whole place is being shadowed by a criminal underbelly.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:09, Mon 19 Aug 2019.

Sure, I would say that's another persuasion check from Moira/Thente/Claire - each success will bump one of those points up a category. I'm intentionally not disclosing the DC here, but I would say its easier than the previous that Moira made :)

Since the checks -do- matter, I'll give another 12 hours or so for Claire and Thente to chime in. Claire -did- say she would be busy, so I'm willing to just roll a flat check for her without much dialogue (does anyone want to suggest something Claire might say at this juncture?) so we can move on soon :)

I'll get something up today. Last night was my TBT group and today was 1st day of Kindergarten for my oldest.

Sounds good! Hope you guys are enjoying the scene. I'm worried it's dragging too much :<

We should return to the plot sooner or later, but it's better that something of this story-based importance gets its fair screen time.  Plus it helps establish future NPC interactions and plot goals, along with giving the party a very easy driving hook to get involved in future dangers.  This whole deal pretty much assures that Moira is going to be throwing herself at any upcoming quest that has the potential reward of a quality diamond from here on out, regardless of other motivating factors.

Whiiiiiii~ch is a good thing considering the scope of this module's overall events.  A previous game I played on this module fizzled early because the party very wisely pointed out that contending with Giants was wholly outside their wheelhouse and they lacked any sufficient reason to take such a risk.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Wed 21 Aug 2019.

I know our overall pace has dipped somewhat from the early stages, but I'm fine with what we're exploring right now rather than hitting the main plot points.

Honestly, because we're doing things like what we're doing right now, it gives this game a greater feeling of verisimilitude to me. We're actively posting and following up on threads that in other games would be glossed over or handwaved, and I love it.

That said... part of the fun is leveling a character, and since that is mostly tied to plot, I DO want to get back to it sometime :)

@Moira - I love that your previous group just quit the adventure because "giants". That is very sensible :)

My TBT group last night were exploring a house that seemed haunted. DM expected us to find and fight a monster, but we bailed on that house... because it was creepy and seemed haunted and we didn't want to get lost in the weird labyrinth. So, unfortunately, the monster escaped the house and killed and fed on over half the village before we figured out what was up and stopped it... whoops! :(

One of the flaws of this module, which our DM has already mentioned identifying and working around, is that it doesn't really do much to make the player party actually want to get involved.  As written, it's sort of like "Well, here's our plucky group of adventurers.  Uh-oh, Goblins!  Some Orcs!" and then all a sudden it drops freakin' GIANTS on the party's plate at, like, Level 2 and just expects them to roll with it.  The entire scope of the story goes from "small town troubles" to "epic Lord of the Rings scale grand adventures" all at once and it's a lot to try and swallow.

That previous party all went "Uhhhh... this is outside our pay grade" and bounced off to do an entirely different module instead.  It's funny looking back on it, though it was a little annoying at the time.  ^^;  This is actually the longest-running SKT game I've been in purely because there's more concern being taken for making sure the characters are grounded into the story and personally invested into seeing events through.  To say nothing of the better pacing and characterization the DM's offered as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:09, Wed 21 Aug 2019.

I am crai. This is high praise >_< thanks guys

And yea the next meeting is intended (if it isn't obvious) to kick you guys back to the main plot again, what with following up on Stoor's death and other things maybe.

I'm not sure whats the exact pacing I want for this game, leveling wise, but I do want more opportunities for you guys to 'flex' at each level so to speak. We'll see how it goes :)

Whenever I do milestone leveling, I usually aim it to give my players a bump to next level at each major story beat regardless of what sort of physical action they've been up to.  That way the party always feels eager going into each new scenario since they've got something extra in their toolkit to play around with and it avoids people feeling like they're repeating what they've been doing for a given amount of time prior.

For example, once we leave Waterdeep (I don't recall whether we're going to return to Nightstone to check in on everything or just trust it's all going to be handled by House Nandar), that's usually where I would kick in a level up if I were the one DMing.  The idea being that we've basically completed the "Nightstone Phase" of the story and are moving into the next big part of the narrative with Stoor, so leveling there would be a capstone to chapter of the story.  It would also set us at Level 4, which would land us some Feats or general stat boosts, which would be extremely helpful in coming events.  But, again, that's just my personal take.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:02, Thu 22 Aug 2019.

If anyone has anything to add, now is the time. Else, just have your character respond/agree with the terms. IC-wise, the contract will not be signed until Lady Semiri Nandar has a chance to discuss the details with her patriarch, but for all intents and purposes you guys may assume the terms will be agreed to.

There will be a quick wrap-up scene, then I'll skip to the meeting with Stoor's mysterious employer.

Regarding leveling, I consider the 3rd level you guys just gained as the one that concluded the Nightstone arc. I would add that I don't intend to keep you guys in "Tier 1" for too long though, so don't worry about it :)

That said, for the sake of future planning - where are you guys planning to go after Waterdeep? Straight to Yartar via the land route to rez Stoor?

I believe that was the plan?  Take the Long Road north through Amphail, then head west at Triboar on to Yartar.  Moira originally wanted to stop by Triboar to give her friend the news of her ex's death, but with the resurrection plan in play, she's going to have doubts on whether it's the right thing to do.  I'd be willing to pass up on it to move directly onto Yartar in that case.

Regarding the current state of the rolls and negotiations: it looks good as far as I'm concerned.  Anything further seems like it'd be pushing our luck, unless Claire wanted to dial back some of her platinum to keep for herself.  The only point Moira would personally argue into the contract would be the reasonable reduction of cost for any souls who don't want to be revived.  Just detail work, but it'd be a contract for "the resurrection of 12 souls or fewer dependent on their wishes".
This message was last edited by the player at 01:37, Thu 22 Aug 2019.

I think straight to Yartar is the plan, yes.

The only wrinkle I know of is that Claire wanted to look for her brother while in Waterdeep.

I'm content with how the negotiations ended up. Honestly with the enormity of what Moira requested, I'm surprised we got as much as we did...

To be completely honest, I actually expected to either be turned down entirely and have it be Moira's personal quest to see it done, or even accidentally making an enemy of House Nandar because of wanting to rez the Lady of Nightstone.  Interfering in House politics is always a bad idea.  ^^;

So what're we looking at now?  A brief aside for Claire to look for her brother, maybe a chat outside the temple for a collective "what the hell was that?" at Moira for dropping all this on their heads, and then a narrative jump straight to Yartar?  Or is there going to be potential on-the-road events like with the Oni and the Inn for us to contend with on the way?  Narratively speaking, we're staying in Nightstone until at least the coming morning, so there's time for Claire to get in touch with her family while we're still here.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:44, Thu 22 Aug 2019.

Things I can do now:

-scene skip to outside the temple for discussion
-give you guys maybe a day or two to chat it out then open the next thread

Things later:
-side thread for Claire to look for her brother (I might do this in a PM depending on how private this idk

Do tell me your thoughts on this, I'll update in 12 hours or so.

OOC:
-regarding the travel, I'll also like the groups opinion on this.

I would like to have some elements of traveling and town interactions. But that can get really draggy between here and Yartar if we do too much. So I would like to know which system you guys prefer:

1) Town focus, with occasional "traveling interruptions". The party will effectively stop at every town along the way, so we will spend some time at each. Not everything will be plot relevant, but there will be at least some hooks and a some info gathering the party can do before deciding if to press on. Decision points basically come from NPCs and the town.

2) Travel focus, with more details about on road encounters, more unusual side tracks in the open wilderness, more "off road" adventures. Towns will have less time and focus, though there will still be hooks and info there as well as serving as rest stops. Decision points are more "forks in the road" than specific NPCs.

3) Quest focus, we basically fast traveling between locations, while I interrupt with unusual events "along the way". More mission based pacing, a bit less organic than the other two, but might be "cleaner" from a meta pov.

This isn't set in stone and can shift as we go along as the story or group dynamics neccesitate
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:02, Thu 22 Aug 2019.

If nothing else, it'd be nice to give the party a little time to narratively explore Waterdeep outside of errands.  Finally get Claire the chance to see the ocean, yea?  :3  We can say the group discussed their plans on which two folk to rez first during that downtime before things move ahead.

Regarding stops - I'd personally prefer it if stops made in towns or other locations on the way were done so only if there's a purpose to them.  That is to say, that they offer something concrete for the party to gain or lose.  If we're just stopping in for a handful of posts at each location for no other reason than to be there, then it could readily grind the pace down to a crawl.  I think it'd be a good idea to ask the group at each location for a case by case decision, seeing if we all feel like we want to hang around and do some poking around, or if we'd rather just pass along.  Maybe give some impression of what we might find there?  At the risk of being too meta, a brief checklist of things to make it seem worth our while might help.  Something like "you heard rumor there's a Wizard who lives here who might be interested in buying and selling" or "this town recently had a big festival and it's full of tourists from all over who might have news and gossip".  Just something to give us an idea of what we might be able to seek out and a general direction to pursue.

Yea that is exactly what I'm thinking. Rumors, hearsays, reputations about the town from traders or from previous towns. When you guys enter I'll give the some basic info + some potential hooks with bonus for anyone with the right background/checks.

Note that just because there is a hook, doesn't mean you have to pursue it, like the case with the kobolds in the sewers. I can promise though, that none of the ones I offer are 'pointless' - they're events that are happening in the game, whether as part of the local 'ecosystem' or in relation to greater things happening.

Sounds like you prefer 1) Moira? With a greater focus on NPC interactions and townsfolk. 2) will be more exploration based so to speak.

Well, I am a core CHA and DEX Rogue character build, so interacting with people is sort of what I do.  ;3  But yeah, so long as it doesn't bog down things or make anyone feel like we're spending too much time chatting and not enough time progressing.

It may also work well if we sometimes just break down such events to a simple dice roll and quick narration.  For example, say we go somewhere and Doderic wants to peruse arcane stuff, but there's nothing especially relevant there for a non-magic sort like Moira.  In that case it might do to use a quick bit of Downtime rules for Moira nipping off to find some work or distraction she can do to get extra coin for the road based on a table of outcomes.  Something like that would allow us to simplify non-essential stops for the sake of speed if we started feeling like things were dragging.

Also, because I've forgotten how we discussed it prior - are we using Downtime rules regarding things like Moira teaching the other party members skills, such as her Giant Linguistics 101 course?  Is that just a thing we assume is going to take place while they're traveling and then make a roll for how well it takes whenever we stop to camp after a given period?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:20, Thu 22 Aug 2019.

Pretty much yes, its going to be pretty loose - just like "oh we spent x days here, maybe some percentage of that can be spent towards teaching skills...etc". I would say you can't do multiple trainings at once, so giant linguistics is the main thing atm.

Once we hit specific thresholds, we'll roll for the degree of success. Does that sound good?

Works for me.  I believe the only other skill Moira noted to be teaching was showing Claire how to cook, but that can just be narrative fluff unless she actually wanted to try picking up Proficiency with Cook's Utensils or something from the effort.

Trying to wrap my head around everything happening/being discussed.
Doderic will follow Moira's lead (although he probably doesn't need to sign anything....)

We still have the Pavilion shenanigans to take care of. Depending on what we hear there we'll see if we can/want spend a few more days in Waterdeep.

Doderic will certainly make use of pauses in towns to scribe some scrolls.