Even the RPOL website is slow these days - maybe it has the Covid drags too?

Fully understand how you're feeling.  Everyone has lower capacity right now, even when the workload isn't higher.  Mental energy is consumed just from the presence of the threat and the world being crazy.  (Though I'm grateful as a Canadian to be expending slightly less energy this week monitoring a certain election :>)

Something we could possibly explore is creating a thread for "legends and lore" where anyone who wants to make a post can throw out a bit of personal or world history (true or not).  That would still give the occasional adrenaline surge of "Oooh, a new post" without forcing anyone to move the story forward.

Games are to provide distraction, not extra work.  At some point you'll feel like virtually pounding the heck out of your spear over a roaring magical flame.  If you happen to visualize something else as you're describing the pounding, that's ok too :>

Until then, feel no pressure.  I'd much rather a slow game than lose you as a player!

If we do add a new thread, my vote for a name would be "Legends, Lore and Dreams"

Thank you for keeping us updated Eryn. I will hold off until at least Monday before I update the IC thread again. Keep taking care of you. I imagine posts will start flowing more smoothly again once we get past the info-dump stage of discovering the sanctum.

Ilura, your thread idea sounds good to me! Give me a moment to post it.

I plan to try and get a new IC post up within a day or so, but we'll see.

And I obviously haven't gotten anything going in the new thread I asked for :)

Ah, the joy of crazy life...

Well, I managed a rough outline of a post, but I will need to put the finishing touches on it later. I should definitely have it up sometime this weekend though. Something to look forward to.

Just want to chime in and say I'm still alive, though my schedule these past two weekends have simply been: "sleep".

I occasionally find it in me to sit down and write a little, but I tend to draw a blank. Writer's block, essentially. Not sure how to proceed at the moment. I don't wish to halt you guys completely while I'm offline, but I realize that we're in a critical planning phase for the next leg of the journey.

Feels like I have a little mental fog swirling still. I hope it goes away soon so I can return recharged to 100%.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:49, Wed 25 Nov 2020.

Being alive is much superior to the alternative!

Thanks for checking in.  I think most of your actions for the first bit are sort of taken care of.  And depending on how our opposition tackles the maze, we might not have the full 7 days to use anyhow.  So in the near-term, posts can mainly be for color.

I hope to post my plans for the next day or two of game time (premised on the presumption that no immediate action is needed to deal with those in the maze) before end of week.

Glad you are hanging in there!

We can assume Eryn has been making use of the forge and the library in the background while Ilura and Chance do other stuff. Eryn will probably want to do her purification ritual at some point during the group's stay, but we can postpone that until you are ready in real life. We can say there is a specific ingredient for the ritual that takes a few days to prepare.

If everything goes well, these are the new stats your hirelings will have on day 7 of being at the sanctum. I left in their descriptions from my notes, just because.

---

Name: Westley
Description: Ambitious, gullible, overconfident. A Member of the Order of the Ambitious, from Markhain. Like all Order members, he is a show-off keen on making himself look good, often in a reckless manner. His crest is a man holding up a mountain.
Loyalty: 2+1 (3)
Cost: Fame and glory
Skills: Minstrel 3+1 (4),  Protector 1+1 (2), +Warrior 1 (1)

Name: Silas Massasauga
Description: Silas is a human man with a muscular physique, many piercings, and tattoos that cover his bare head and chest. He has several venomous snakes that writhe around his arms and neck, and he claims to be a sword-swallower too.
Loyalty: 1+1 (2)
Cost: Thrill of Victory
Skills: Warrior 4+1 (5), Protector 2+1 (3)

Name: Opal
Description: Opal is actually a small gargoyle, about the same size as Thomas. They have an opaline, toad-like body, with claws and batty wings. The gargoyle has a happy demeanor and protective attitude. They like to perch on shoulders to be able jump into harm's way at a moment's notice.
Loyalty: 2+1 (3)
Cost: Good Accomplished
Skills: Protector 4+1 (5), +Burglar 1 (1) (From watching all the traps and contraptions the people deal with within the maze.)

Name: Lady Mirrorsheen Addlesnap Smokewisp the Second
Description: Lady Mirrorsheen is a graying fairy with dragonfly wings, a sparkling dress, and a tiny magic wand. She is also about the same size as Thomas. She has a bit of a haughty attitude, but is a skilled practitioner of fairy magic and devout believer in the "Way of the Fae."
Loyalty: 1+1 (2)
Cost: Uncovered Knowledge
Skills: Adept 4+1 (5), Priest 2+1 (3)

Why would Westley's Minstrel skills go up and Warrior skills remain the same if Silas is training him to fight?  (I don't really care that much, just curious.)

Westley had 0 warrior skills before, so they did go up. His minstrel skill also went up because he had been using it in other situations earlier in the adventure. Plus he has gained awesome new stories and is training his fighting skills with a circus performer.

I've had a post half-finished for a week.  By tomorrow, I expect to clear my deck enough to finish it.

I hope all are doing ok.

No worries. I'm not going to pressure anyone to make any posts until probably mid January. December is a slow posting season at the best of times. And this year is NOT the best of times for many.

We are all doing ok at my house though. So far.

Well, so much for my plans for posting in a timely fashion.  I hope everyone's enjoying a bit of holiday time with family, even if it's in a more limited way, and that everyone is safe and well.

I'll be a bit slower to respond than usual (last 3 weeks weren't 'usual') as I'm trying to keep screen-time to a minimum.  After that, I hope to be able to return to a more typical posting rate.

Pandemic measures, cabin fever, winter depression, isolation, Christmas... it's been a busy month. Now that I've found some time and energy to sit down and write again, I'm finally able to continue here. I've posted my actions for day 0 and 1 in the main game topic, plus a schedule and other plans for the remaining days.

Please note that I won't be truly available as I used to be until around the second week of January, but I'm looking forward to getting the ball rolling again!

Hope you are all doing well during the holiday. Sounds like things are mostly in order for you, so that is good. :)

Lighting yourself on fire sounds like a fun way to start the new year... :)

Glad to know you're well and have had a chance to recover a little bit.

I can try to invoke Luciny's blessing on you before you undertake the tough part of the ritual.

If you have a bit of time, I would *love* to have my rapier and/or dagger imbued with a bit of magic - primarily so that I have something that's effective against targets that are only vulnerable to magic weapons - ghosts, certain undead, etc.

I'm not sure that the "turn part of the target into crystal" and "turn target into rations" are going to be terribly compatible effects?

Thanks, I'm doing much better now that I've been able to relax for a couple of weeks.

Blessings would be appreciated!

I should definitely have time to work the forge for other items such as your rapier. I don't think my Blacksmithing move allows me to transfer effects to any item except my own Signature Weapon, but I could work in silver or help with ritual casting if we wish to attempt enchantment by some other method.

I imagined a stab would turn the entry wound area brittle, while the rest of the beast is otherwise fit for consumption. But of course, if these effects are incompatible I'll just pick one or the other.

I was assuming it would need to be a ritual of some sort.

Glad to see some new posts! It may still be a few days before I get a new reply up though. Possibly even as long as the end of the weekend. We'll see. I am hoping Chance will check in again too, but he hasn't logged into the game since Nov 9. So again, we'll see.

Sorry it is taking me so long to get a post up. For some reason I am having a horrible time working up the motivation to tackle a post that would be up to my standards. Not sure why. Hopefully inspiration strikes soon, but even if it doesn't, I am aiming to get a post up within the next day or so. Sometimes I just have to bash through the brick wall that is my writer's block. Not easy to do, but I am usually happy with the results afterward. ;-)

Happy bashing and no worries.

I have made significant progress on a post, but I will need to finish it tomorrow. Ran out of time (instead of motivation).

As always, let me know if I missed anything.

Eryn,

What are your thoughts on re-starting the Order?  (Happy to have Chance's thoughts too, if/when you're able to connect again.)