Distressing, but Jake is following the Professor's superior knowledge here and basing his instructions on that, so...if it's one-way for humans/sacrifices, this could end badly. Note that Jake's first instinct was to shoot the gate up!

We could on the other hand, wait for any already insane villains to come back through the gate then ambush them.

I'm not entirely sure I like the idea of gate-drunk heart-exploding sorcerers on one side and those wandering ghouls we heard down the passage on the other...Jake's aggressive and protective by nature like an actual terrier, but he's still a New York cop at heart and will protect his comrades first and treat the public as a trolley problem: if he thinks something is pointlessly suicidal he won't encourage those with him into it.

We came down here to stop the ceremony and save Grey Hair: if neither are possible, locking the sorcerer types in their boardroom for a while so they have to use power gained by sacrifice on getting out (if they can!) rather than grander nefarious purposes seems more sensible to me than fighting them at almost the height of their effectiveness, even if we take all three known to be the worst threats out by surprise in the first round. That's just my take, though - if Arthur's still around I'd like to know what he thinks.

If it seems possible to save the sacrifice and not subsequently starve to death with him in an unknown pocket of Hell, Jake is certainly game to try.

In case it is lost in the subtext, I've been trying to gradually explain the Professor's willingness to go down these increasingly fraught pathways by an inexplicable curiosity, and a drive to know more, regardless of the cost - somewhat akin to perhaps a Lovecraftian character. So though it may make no sense for this egghead with no weapon skills to be going through a gateway with a shotgun, that's what is driving him.

So he'll probably go through regardless, but I'm just stating the options.

Oh, that's plenty clear, though I hadn't quite realised he was willing to sacrifice others to poke the weirdness. Jake may or may not feel a need to bonk him over the head, but I'll hold off on making dire decisions awhile in case Arthur comes back, since the Cast List says he looked in a week ago.

Keeper, do you have any opinion on how long it would be fair to wait? I don't want to exclude someone for being really busy for a bit or hold the game up right near the end when we've already spent something like a month over a few in-game minutes.

I'm not sure he's willing to sacrifice others to poke the weirdness part; if anything, he's trying to give other people an 'out' if they need one, or offering other options.

And likewise, Keeper, I'm also willing to wait on a busy player as we get deeper into things here.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:54, Wed 19 July 2023.

Well, Jake seems to have wound up sort-of in charge through sheer force of aggro a decision-making personality, and he's just reiterated that his motivation, leading, is to rescue someone he doesn't know at great personal risk; if someone he does know imperils himself, I think it  can be fairly easily predicted Jake will feel compelled to go after him into even more dangerous situations, possibly dragging Arthur along too.

That is, if Jake doesn't think he can one-man-army through a situation with a little more Luck than is common to expect, he's not going to just sit by and let anyone squishier attempt to do that. I mean, this lad is trying to protect the ghost, and she's not even stabbable.

Please don't take this as criticism or a request to tone down a cool character arc, by the way, just extra perspective: I'm quite game to die a terrible death if that's where we wind up, that's Call of Cthulhu.

First, let me thank everyone for their patience. As each of you can obviously sense, the game is drawing near to a conclusion. I greatly appreciate each of you sticking around.

Here’s my plan: I’m going to give Arthur another day or two to chime in. If I haven’t heard anything by Friday, I’ll roll things forward.


Aw, c’mon! Be positive! What could possibly be waiting on the other side of the gate?

I'm almost positive it is going to be a social encounter.

Is it cake?

I’m having a melanoma site on my shin scooped out today. Not sure what that will mean for sitting at the PC for a few days.

Just focus on getting better, Sully. This will be here. Praying that that procedure goes well!

Thanks.

Procedure came off without a hitch but a bit restricted and kind of fatigued when I do much.

Feeling hale and hearty by now, I hope? I was going to say I thought we'd lost the Prof. and as such intended to express the hope that we (the players) knew Sully'd got out, at least, but he seems to have been about last week, so...maybe our side still gets an ending? Probably not a good one, this remains an exeedingly stupid plan in terms of self-preservation, but still.

https://probablybadrpgideas.tu...py-someones-gotta-be

Please pardon the delays. I've had the craziest few months, literally doing the work of two people at work, and was on the road for five weeks with my family, capped by attending Gen Con (all the while being nagged not to attend Gen Con).

I checked in here, but somehow didn't realize it was my turn. But I'm here now, and I have taken a turn.

Glad to see you back! Alas, are you in quarantine now? I hope the con proved worth it.

Very interested to see what a critical failure in Anthropology looks like.

I tested negative for COVID thankfully, so no quarantine here. I preferred it last year when they required vaccination and masking, requirements that they dropped this year. I wore my mask whenever I was in mass crowds, but that's about it.

The con was definitely worth it. I saw friends, and played a lot of games.

Okay, just a quick check: Busyness has kept me from attending to this game as I should have. My sincerest apologies. However, if interest remains, I would  like to bring it to a conclusion for those still present. We’re actually quite close to a denouement, for good or ill.

If those still about could let me know if they want to finish things up, or simply proceed with closing up shop, I’ll proceed accordingly.

Either way, my thanks to everyone for taking part.

I'm totally down to play until the end especially with us this close.

What he said - we've struggled with the end, for sure, but  we're still here! We can wait.

I'd very much like to continue my thread and combat with the foe.

FYI: I seem to be suffering a run of bad luck (did I step on a spider?) that includes my faithful laptop abruptly ceasing to turn on, leaving me with only a slightly broken inherited iPad for home internet access.

So if this game updates and I'm mysteriously lagging for a while/making slightly rushed-seeming posts at lunch, that's why.

My apologies for the brief silence.

I moved into a new residence yesterday, so most of my personal belongings remain in boxes at the moment, a situation I’m slowly rectifying. :) As well, there was a hiccup with getting my internet set up, which required a tech to come in and install a new broadband jack, but all is well on that end now.

I should be able to get things moved forward later this evening.

Happy house-having! I hope you've got your bowls out and pictures up, Keeper.

Hey, Professor, did you hallucinate posting again? Saw you seemed to be about a moment there.