Sorry to burst your bubble, but I wanted to avoid the whole 'you can't afford a sending spell from the greedy Waukeenites who have already stuck their necks out for you four times this adventure'. It wouldn't do for your group to be thrown out on your ears, and this way you can once more leave Jade bhind in the safety of the temple while you search for the Angry Red Wizard you passed in the street yesterday.

   Otherwise, yes you are correct. :)

   And OOTS rocks. I am using the tshirt photo "Your d12 cries itself to sleep" as my Facebook homepage pic. :P

This message was deleted by the player at 02:50, Fri 11 Sept 2009.

I love oots...and xkcd

DM Lobo - "afford" a sending spell?  Getting Jade to safety is now their problem, not ours (*)...  Let's see how they react...


William - Funny you should mention that.  I discovered xkcd just last week - it is absolutely awesome.  Yeah, so I can be a geek sometimes :)

* - By which I mean that the dragon would have greater expectations from the temple of Waukeen (a well-resourced temple that has grown fat off of the sea-based commerce that Filaux has protected over the decades from piracy) than from a group of foreign adventurers that don't owe him anything.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:57, Fri 11 Sept 2009.

   I'm not usually fond of posting 'what ifs' before the end of the adventure, but since you insist on trying to be right about your position, here goes.

   Posession of Jade is nine-tenths of the trouble you'll be in. Try to remember that the high priestess of this town has probably been in personal dealings with the dragon in the past, and as an expert shmoozer, will likely be able to say almost anything and have Filaux take her side over yours, despite your [mostly true] statements and protests to the contrary.
   Really, it's a game of mental chess: you rescued Jade and brought him to the temple, where she will claim she insisted you leave immediately for the island of the dragon, but your early success made you headstrong and you insisted, donated, and prayed your way into leaving him in their care for 'only a short time, during which you promised to bring the kidnappers to justice'. You've stolen the resources of the church [the warden Kraansh], abused the city watch [by making them respond to two separate combats you've initiated in town], put citizens in danger through your actions, disrupted trade in the town [which is an actual crime punishable by flogging and fines], and even involved a paladin in your personal crusade to gain the favor of this dragon - which you know nothing about. The temple of Waukeen owes Filaux nothing, in part because it *is* his protection of the trade routes that helps the dragon's own allies in the area. A known dragon's lair is a very tempting target, and the temple has provided much in the way of protection over the years.
   That's the rough outline of how much trouble you could be in, but aren't. Politics is a dirty game, and when it comes to a merchant-run town, unscrupulousness goes hand in hand with diplomacy. :|

   So, once you get this message off to Filaux you'll see how he reacts to the situation, and hopefully it all works out for the best for all parties involved. Of course this is an open adventure and you could choose some other route than a messaging by a wizard.

I still like my idea.

What was that bit about being brave or foolish though? I didn't get it - so I left it out?! :)

*shrug*

IC, Lyssander is frustrated that, after having incurred multiple casualties in the process of bringing Jade to the temple, where ample resources exist to contact Filaux at once and arrange for a pick-up, the group is now being sent off on a dubious errand to try and secure the services of some wizard who, for all that Lyssander knows, could already be in the employ of one (or more) of the evil factions.  (It doesn't help that, on an OOC basis, this strongly resembles a "go-fetch" type sidequest - though, I assume DM Lobo has something a little less straightforward in mind ;))

However, having brought Jade to the temple and made clear that the boy is now the Waukeenites' responsibility, Lyssander will go along with the errand - to the Thayan, the temple of Lathander, or whatnot - he just isn't very motivated to exert himself or take any risks in order to procure a spell that the Waukeenites can very well cast on their own.

Taran, feel free to take up the leader's mantle if you wish; the paladin Narvil seemed to have that position previously, but he, err, converted to NPC status, and I am not really interested in having Lyssander fill that void.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:03, Fri 11 Sept 2009.

Taran as a leader? Sure, if nobody has any objection to following a character trying to be even more "good" than a Paladin =)

   And there, finally, is the root of Lyssander's frustration. "He made it clear that the boy is now [their] responsibility."

   Lyssander seems to assume, and perhaps this is a great RP personality quirk, or perhaps it is a carryover of the player's unbridled enthusiasm for playing such an interesting character, that when he speaks, it is both of utmost importance and irrefutable logic. He helped save the boy and, like any good unwed teen mother who doesn't want her new child, unceremoniously plopped him on the steps of the local church. :P He sees no reason to have to do this in any other fashion than the way he wants it done, which, when viewed objectively, is a mere one and a half steps away from the logic tyrannical rulers use when whipping their peasants for failing to double their yields in a drought.
   Now, it is in keeping with your alignment and supposed moral compass that you [priest] are trying to see this through to the end. You [the group] have tried at nearly every turn to 'do the right thing'...yet, when faced with an obstinate and uncontrollable higher power, namely the political and religious-social machines that form the spine and guts of Phent, you prefer to carry these [semi-] outstanding thought processes and arguments on in OOC, rather than confront the Waukeenites directly IC and find out all this for yourself. XP...it's good for the soul. :)

   I do so love to write these long-winded posts, and I of course don't like seeing players weep in frustration; the next step is cursing, and the one after that is quitting.
   I also don't subscribe to the notion of handing the players XP in a can, or letting everything go their way in ANY adventure. Truly, if things went the way of PCs then there would be no need for heroic classes or PrCs...everyone could simply be farmers and professionals and go out dragonslaying. Lol  :D

   My next post will be delayed until tomorrow night, most likely. :(

I do not appreciate the ad hominem comparisons to tyrants and unwed teenage mothers who abandon their children.

Also, I very rarely curse.

[Private to DM Lobo: Look, I'm not aiming to pick an argument here over who is more right.  Objectively, you're clearly right that the temple has enough clout to cause the party no end of trouble, up to and including framing them for anything that happens to Jade.

This is about me trying to give you candid feedback (which I feel you've earned), in both the IC and OOC threads, about Lyssander's - and, related but not identical, my - reaction to this set-up.  Yes, the temple can refuse, probably with some impunity, to cast the sending on their own.  (I don't know why - IIRC there is no costly material component, and it isn't like they have a buyer lined up to hire every last 4th-level spell slot they have, so there is no opportunity cost - but let's set aside the question of their reasoning.)  But getting jerked around at the whim of some corrupt bureaucracy (A) is not a strong motivator for Lyssander, and (B) does not engage me as a player.  Take my feedback for what it's worth, and do whatever you want.]

   So here I am watching Matrix: Reloaded, and I think I had an epiphany. Either that, or a minor stroke.

   Anyway, Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus are in the lair of the vile little French information pimp and have just been dismissed. Standing in the elevator they wonder among themselves why they don't have the Keymaster. Did they do something wrong? Did they not do something they should have?
   No, declares Morpheus, what happened happened for a reason and could not have happened any other way than the way it did.

   After reading your posts [private and otherwise] I have decided to go ahead and end the adventure with one more post, tomorrow. This was, for simplicity's sake, a 10-chapter quest, and the party has found a way, despite my design and wishes, to skip ahead from chapter 6 to the end of the book. It would be wrong of me to force-feed additional, unnecessary side quests upon you just to get the full effect of the work I've done out in the open.

   No further postings are required until after my own, tomorrow night.

OK

*wonders* Ok, should be interesting to see at least.

will post an update tonight

IM still around

and Nice post so far...nice indeed. LOL

Has the game gone into hibernation for winter?

Waiting for everyone's next move =)

Is dead?

*pokes with stick*

We don't know where Lobo is. Maybe his internet is down again or it's something more personal. We expect him to come back some time.

Is not dead.

Aye, not dead.  Just... taking a little nap, is all :)

*finds a soft pillow to wait*
Might as well get comfortable.

Well, it's been over a month.  At this point, we're completely uncertain of Lobo's intentions.  He has not responded to rMails and hasn't checked into RoA threads since September 18.  If any of you would like to look for another region, feel free.  Also, please add 100 XP for waiting this long without any word from your DM.  If you plan on staying for a bit, please post so here but leave another message if you change your mind and find another region.  Thank you for your time, and I am very sorry for the inconvenience.

Lyssander - this incarnation of him, at any rate - will be sticking around for a while longer, in the hopes of picking up the campaign where we left off, upon DM Lobo's return.

Ditto Lyssander

I'm waiting for more than one game to kick off, so no rush here =)

Just to give me an idea, how long are you willing to wait?  We have no idea if Lobo is coming back or not.  I don't want to go into details, but we just can't guarantee this is a computer issue or anything.

I'm wondering because I was considering starting or picking up another region once I get off the current meds I'm taking that make me kind of loopy and need to know if you guys will need a new DM and/or a new region fairly quickly or way into the future or what.