I had posted in the IC thread before I had read your post about Flashbacks.  I think that I will not bother to spend a fate point on a map, I'll just go with general familiarity with similar warehouses and where they would keep secure storage.  You can decide how far off that will be, perhaps with a luck roll.  If I arrive and it is way off, perhaps there I will spend a fate point to find an inventory map at that location.

Good call.

I deleted that post because, on thinking about it, I think it's more involved than it needs to be.

I don't see why you couldn't simply Create an Advantage right now and simply give the history behind it... to justify how you were prepared for just this eventuality.  You could also burn shifts of the "Indebted" stress-track to have procured a map.  There's a few ways to approach most problems.  While I like complicating things, it isn't always necessary.

---

However...  To create an advantage, you still need to roll for it.  If you're saying that you want this layout to be similar to one he's cased and infiltrated, that seems fair.  Roll Burglary vs at Average(+1) or better to succeed.

Succeed and you know where you're going...   Tie and you succeed with a cost, you get turned around and have to start avoiding the internal guards.   Fail and you got it all wrong and you will face the internal guards.


Also note: (from message #1 on the Dockward thread)


If this is the same construction, then your Trylor-Duun warehouse would also have been a covered shipbulder's site in the early days of Druvir.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:03, Sun 24 May 2020.

So, would this be a good time for 'Ola to self-compel "Ignorant of the Wider World?" The monks might have taught him the importance of stopping bullies.

My first instinct is to head back to regroup with Etz and Cara, but it is technically useful if 'Ola beats up Brollox and brings him back trussed to Cara and Etz instead of to the city guard :-)

Sure.  Anything that creates drama is probably a good thing.

Amd another fight at the Blue Sails?  That'd be sure to create drama.

Shall I mark it down?

@Manaolama:
Do you want to go ahead with getting into it with Brollox?  If so, please write up whatever actions you're taking...

@Etzagith
Etzagith took the vellum sheets with the royal seal & the cat figurine.

Now we just need to figure out what the vellum sheets contain.

And the cat figurine...  that's such a nice wide-open invitation...

Well, not a fight, yet :-) But definitely an intervention.

I'll take that FATE point, then.

Done.

Also:  Character placements:

Blue Sails Warehouse

• Manaolama
• Cara  (Outside)
• Brollox, the Butcher
• Migram, the shopkeeper
• Young boy

Dockward boarding/ale-house

• Etzagith
• Commoner and Veiled woman

South Side (outside healers)

• Arui, Nathan
• Yvon and Ivor

In Limbo

• Garland

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:33, Thu 11 June 2020.

@Cara at the Blue Sails Warehouse

Describe the Action: Play up the big loud distraction that Manaolana is making.
Roll the Dice: 23:33, Today: Cara rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice ((-1, 0, -1, 1)).
Determine Approach: If that ain't Provoke, I don't know what is.  Puts my total at +3
Choose an Action: Create the Scene Aspect Not Another Brawl?

Unmodified Provoke(+3) to Create an Advantage Not Another Brawl?

What action is Cara taking to play up the big loud distraction that Manaolama is making?    At the moment, he's approached Brollox in the doorway of the Blue Sails Warehouse and had shown great restraint in ignoring the Butcher's offensive tone, then suggested he might have a job for Brollox...

At the moment, all I'm seeing is the words to Manaolama "The bigger a scene this makes, the better.  Make it clear we don't appreciate poachers.".  Was that intended to provoke a brawl?  I just... haven't seen a big loud distraction yet...


Then...

Describe the Action: Slip away while everyone is distracted
Roll the Dice: 23:34, Today: Cara rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice ((1, 0, -1, 1)).
Determine Approach: Stealth, brings the total to +2
Choose an Action: Is that Overcome?

Stealth(+1) + 4dF(+1) == Unmodified Stealth(+2)

The book text does say that Stealth can be used to overcome in any situation that primarily depends on you not being seen., So, yup.  It applies.

As I didn't set any kind of target and it's outside in broad daylight in a public place where nobody really has any reason to be watching for her, I'm willing to let it stand.

Of course, there's Yvon (one of the Blue sails guards) returning from the Healer, and two of three egregore watchers atop the Blue Sails Warehouse (hey, you brought them into being!) and with Nathan's arrival, there are probably one or two additional Blue Coats in the area.  Though they're not right there....

Still...  all of this hinges on having some sort of big loud distraction.

@Etzagith

He quickly followed after, but stayed off to the side and then slipped in the through the freight entrance and stepped into the darker side. 

To get through the freight entrance, you're still going to need to pass Migram, Brollox, Manaolama and a young boy with a water-pail.  It's a pretty sparse front room, and Etzagith did just leave via that same way.    Migram rolled Notice(+4).


Etzagith used a spell-chit.
I'm pretty sure I had a discussion about "having the right tool" somewhere, and this would narratively justify the use of it.  I'm having difficulty finding that discussion...  And I really do want to be consistent, here.

Having the right tool shouldn't relieve the character from taking an action or rolling.   Otherwise, it's always "oh, I've got a spell chit for that" and we never actually deal with any tension.  Boring.

As the use of such a narrative mechanic is altering the flow and play of the narrative, I feel that it should either still require a roll or require a fate-point to introduce a fact into the narrative (that he had just the right spell-chit to do what he wanted).  This also serves to limit just how often a character can pull out "just the right thing" (limited to number of fate points).

Thoughts?
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:20, Wed 17 June 2020.

Ok.  I won't try to stealth past.  I'm actually looking to get someone to yell at me so I can find the voice I will recognize, the one who said that they only have to manage until nightfall.  Once I identify him, I'm going to be glad to start trouble.

BTW, it was Liza that left, if anyone spotted her, and it is Etzagith entering, and he is wearing a cloak that is recognizably one of Duke whathisname's ducal guard.

Edit:  Sorry, posted too early.

I'm glad to make a roll.  I'm not sure what skill to use, though.  I know that we talked about having a few spells that could accomplish this sort of thing; I was ready to have a lore ability spent on illusion type magic, but you said that would be covered by ritual magic and that we could have some rituals that were kind of pre-cast and activate.  I realize that we never worked out the mechanics, and I'm glad to do so.  I do agree that such a thing should be limited, somehow, and I'm open to how you want to do it.  Otherwise, I agree, it's just a boring open-ended problem solver.

I actually was doing this a little to force us to have this discussion.  If it turns out not to work, I'm fine with that.  I mostly just want to get to a confrontation with the right person.  There are some interesting role-playing options if he starts out thinking I am one of the duke's guards, but there are lots of other approaches, too.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:28, Wed 17 June 2020.

Okay no stealth.  MY bad for not reading your entire post.

Liza or Etzagith... it's still two unidentified/unauthorized individuals moving through the warehouse right past the shopkeeper.  The Warehouse is not pubic property.  Access is controlled until such a time as there's a ship in port loading goods in or out.  And then there's a warehouse foreman on-site overseeing operations.

So, right on.  Etzagith is going to definitely garner attention.



and I found the reference I was looking for:
Etzagith character Creation thread, message #16:
I'm not sure what you want us to do for equipment.
I'd rather not list everything out.  That just seems like more tiresome work that we don't actually need.    One of the beautiful things about the fate system is that you--a player--can declare narrative details by spending a fate point.    Having a Standard Operating Kit seems fair, though.

You want to counterfeit a insignia of East Pennryn.

That's definitely supported by your high concept ( Chameleon: The Gentleman Thief ).

Please roll Knowledge(+0) or better to correctly recall and reproduce the ducal guard insignia for East Pennryn.

I see drama with success (stirring shit up among the factions), and failure (potentially gets caught out as imposter)

That sounds fair, except that I don't have a skill called Knowledge.

07:40, Today: Etzagith rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Reproduce duke's symbol (Scholarship?  +0).

Of course, I rolled -1.  If, by Knowledge, you meant Scholarship (+0), it's a hard fail.  Or we might use Investigation or Crafts (both +2), it a slight success.  I'm really happy either way, a good confrontation would be fun, now.  I'm looking forward to trying out some of the stealth in combat mechanics we discussed.  Bwahahaha!

Scholarship is the same thing.  Somewhere along the lien, I suppose I changed it--probably to differentiate it from Lore a little more.

Investigation doesn't really apply--he's not seeking information.

Crafts talks about the detail and quality of his work, which is excellent.

It's just not quite the right symbols... the falcon on the crest is facing dexter, not sinister (right, not left). Or he used Or instead of Argent (Gold instead of silver) as one of the supporting tinctures.

Sounds right.  Go ahead and confront Etz.  My response will depend heavily on whether or not it is the same voice I heard talking about sundown as a deadline.  Remember that you said he sounded drunk.

Is Migram the voice I heard before?

No.  The voice you heard before was in the warehouse proper.   You snuck past him and Brollox on the way out.  I know what you're after.  I'll let you know.

In reply to Control (msg # 45):

Oh!

I was trying to influence Manaolana with that Provoke roll.  Was that wrong?

Not wrong, just not clear.

You described the action as "Play up the big loud distraction that Manaolana is making.".  I just don't know how she was doing that.   I need an action to tie to the dice-roll.

In addition, I hadn't seen a big loud distraction (yet).  I was hoping to go there, but Manaolama turned it into a potential job offer and Brollox is nothing if not greedy.

Or were the words, "The bigger a scene this makes, the better.  Make it clear we don't appreiate poachers." intended to piss Manaolama off, thus provoking him into something?

I'm obviously confused.

Could you elaborate on this a bit? I'm not clear at all on how you were trying to influence this or how to use the Aspect you just created...
This message was last edited by the player at 07:52, Thu 18 June 2020.

I think that the issue I'm having is that it's counter productive to her secondary goal.

Cara wants Manaolana to make a big stink, so that she and Etz can sneak further into the warehouse.  I also did it this way because I wanted Mana to have some chance in the limelight.

Question for Etz and Mana

Would you prefer that Cara is part of the big noisy distraction so that Etz can sneak by?

Or would you prefer that Cara leaves Mana to be the distraction and tries to join the Lurk in lurking?

It looks like sneaking by is out of the question.  I'm ready to knock some heads.  :-)

Edit:  That is, of course, for you folks with actual battle skills to knock some heads.  I'm ready to sneak around, throw an occasional punch from the shadows, and support you as I can, or at least to applaud.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:42, Fri 19 June 2020.

As Manaolama has now left the game, I prefer that Cara go sneak with Etzagith.

That means I don't have to write up a scene of multiple NPCS (Manaolama, Brollox, Migram, Yvon, a little boy) all fighting each other.

Sorry.  I missed that he had left.  Damn!  When did that happen?  So who's still here?  Arui, Nathan, Cara, and me?  And the first two have yet to meet the second two.

What do you think of this approach?  We wrap up this scene, get some info out of the warehouse that causes us to head back to the castle and check in with Stefan, and Arui and Nathan similarly find some information that also causes them to head back.  Then we drop the NPC'ed characters and head out again.

Yeah.  Cara, Etzagith, Arui & Nathan.  That's correct.

What do you think of this approach?  We wrap up this scene, get some info out of the warehouse that causes us to head back to the castle and check in with Stefan, and Arui and Nathan similarly find some information that also causes them to head back.  Then we drop the NPC'ed characters and head out again. 

Yeah, I think that works nicely.  Thank-you for voicing it.

I've placed an ad, so we may get some others inbound soon.   I'd like to keep it at around 6 players.

I'm concerned that Nathan hasn't logged in for a week and a half.  Another week and a half and I'll probably need to Hiatus him.  That makes him and Garland both gone...

Also, I think that, yeah... it's getting time for a more visceral physical set of conflicts.

So, with the intelligence that Etzagith has purloined, we can start to metgame set-up the next set of scenes.

here's what's on the table for what we've created:

Current Issues or Ideas - Potential Storylines

• The Queen's twins are still missing. (via Menkliia & Stefen)
• Someone or a group of someones are hiding somewhere in the Blue Sails Warehouse (via Etzagith)
• The First Sieversi (possibly an Almani artifact?) is in storage in the Blue Sails Warehouse.  It is contracted to be moved upon the Cormorant, a ship due to arrive in port within hours, probably shortly after sunset.  (via Ruis via Cara)
• Who or What is the Almani?
• Etzagith stole a sheaf of papers from the Blue sails Inner Vault, that had Churthan's Ducal seal talking about transport of prisoners (Etzagith)
• Etzagith also stole a volcanic-stone figurine of a black cat from the Blue sails Inner Vault (Etzagith)
• The Blue Sails Warehouse appears to have "lost" the vast majority of Tarenti goods kept for barter (Arui)

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:30, Sun 21 June 2020.