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Messages - Teshi

1
D&D / Re: D&D 5E Game Sign-up: The Hired Help
I'm in.
2
D&D / Re: Google Hang-outs
I'm up for anything, if timezones can be made to cooperate.
3
D&D / Re: "Winter of our Malcontents" PG & Chat Thread
Hi!

So, I think we clearly need to just go on hiatus here.  I'm both back to regular full-time work and teaching a college course, so my days are stuffed and I don't have time at the moment to make a dedicated attempt at rebuilding forward momentum.  Can I suggest we table this for now, and revisit it in the spring if there's any interest in resuming then?

Chaos, if you wanted to start your game (here or elsewhere) I'd definitely be up for playing, though :)
5
[Now I want breakfast.]
6
[Arcana check for whether anything seemed off to me about the dream? 17+11=28]

Definitely.  It felt external to you, rather than something arising from your own subconscious, and oddly compelling.  Unfortunately you take a significant penalty to your check due to being asleep at the time, so you can't pin down more than a certainty that it was unnatural.
7
Despite Val's misgiving about the inn, that evening the service is good, the other patrons keep out of your way, and you settle in for the night without event, unless you count "excellent stew and passable stout" as an event. 

There is one oddity:  that night, Pepper, Oleg and Karlach all dream of the lake.  It calls to each by name, in a voice that echoes like old friends and lost loves.  Each in his or her dream stands alone on the shore, the mist curling around, soft and smooth as silk, while the waters rise up over bare feet, calves, knees...not icy, as one would expect, but comfortable and inviting, smelling not of fish and old duckweed, but of freshly laundered pillows.  They each awaken from their dreams just as the water engulfs them entirely.

Val and Mari experience no such visions.

The following morning, the inn serves an excellent breakfast!

[Okay, what are you guys up to in Irontown today?]
8
D&D / Re: "Winter of our Malcontents" PG & Chat Thread


Stupidly beautiful drive, but I'm home now and settled back in.  Okay, let's get this thing rolling again.
9
"Um. Great.  Thanks. " I'm completely nonplussed. 

"I'll get my Master."

The bartender gives Val a very deadpan thumbs-up.
10
I scan the rooflines looking for likely spots for sniper nests.

Where would I want to be if I needed to shoot everyone coming out of the tavern?

You would need to be across the street.  You'd also need to take into consideration the wooden awnings along much of the street, which could be used as cover if a person were moving too fast for you to get them right as they exited. 

The rooftops are fairly sharply angled, the better to shed snow, and are currently slick from late-autumn precipitation.
11
D&D / Re: "Winter of our Malcontents" PG & Chat Thread
We made it to Deadhorse!  Also here is a bear I saw.  Tomorrow's goal:  wading in the Beaufort Sea

12
[Hello?]
14
D&D / Re: "Winter of our Malcontents" PG & Chat Thread
Phone posting, yo.

Speaking of phone posting, I'm heading up the haul road to the north slope later today.  So depending on how far we make it each day, I may or may not be able to check in daily.  I will try!  But I should be back by Sunday or Monday - I plan to do something terrible to all of you then, so be ready for that, mwahaha. 
15
I look around trying to discern his meaning.

"I'm sorry, it's been a long day. I don't get your meaning."

[Diplomacy: 11 + 12 = 23]

"That's a no, then," the bartender replies, and quotes Val the surprisingly reasonable price of one galifar per night, meals extra, plus a nominal fee per board of steed or servant.
16
[Insight: 3 + 5 = 8 lol]

Probably everyone is just shy and modest!

Quote
I go up to the bar.

"Good evening. My Master," I emphasise the capital M, "requires lodgings with good food and a private dining room. Can you accommodate him?"

The bartender nods.  Almost lazily, he inquires, "Does your party require any special accommodations?"
17
Deciding that discretion is the better part of valour I approach the more subtle of the two inns.

I walk into the taproom and look around.

[Perception: 12 + 8 = 20]

The interior is homey, with a crackling fire, but quiet; the handful of patrons sit in twos or threes, or alone, most nursing mugs of dark beer.  Behind the bar a florid middle-aged human man polishes glasses in the traditional pointless barman's activity. He nods to you as you enter; no one else spares you more than a glance.  You notice that most of the clientele seems rather well-dressed, a bit surprising since the inn itself is nothing fancy.
18
[I look around for a suitable lodging:

Streetwise: 8 + 7 = 15

Perception for anything nasty: 6 + 8 = 14]

You spot two likely inns right away - one, creatively called the Irontown Inn, is right near the highway gate, its large sign, broad frontage and prominent location making an obvious play for the out-of-town traveler.  You also spot a more subtle place, the entrance tucked between two shops, the neatly painted sign depicting a fox going to ground, no particular name listed, just a bland subtitle:  "room and board."

You don't see anything more threatening than your own group, with the exception perhaps of the looks on a few passer-by faces as they pretend not to see Karlach's traveling aura or Mari and Fluffy's ghostly appearance.  Most Karrns are quite good by now at pretending not to see certain things but not everyone is a brilliant actor.

[Perception to look for likely places of cover if suddenly we are ambushed from the root tops: 1D20+13 = 11+13 = 24]

You could readily duck into one of the taverns along the street, or beneath the broad awnings where it appears street vendors may set up during the daytime hours. 
19
D&D / Re: "Winter of our Malcontents" PG & Chat Thread
"root tops" *snigger*
  I considered giving a literal answer...
20
Indeed, Mari is attracting some furtive fearful stares, though it seems being accompanied by a group treating her as nothing odd somewhat mitigates the impact of her spectral appearance.
21
D&D / Re: "Winter of our Malcontents" PG & Chat Thread
The mountain pic is near my house; the "lake" is down by Valdez, fwiw.

<3 Alaska
22


You push the mounts hard on the well-maintained highway.  The terrain grows increasingly rugged, and the foothills of the Icetops begin to become more prominent,  but the road itself is smooth and straight, and you reach the edge of Irontown by late evening. 

Unlike most walled cities in Khorvaire, which feature sprawling farming, industry and villages beyond their edges, the country leading up to Irontown is largely devoid of civilized activity, other than the occasional placer mine or roadhouse.  The town's stern stone walls loom tall, the land edging them scrupulously cleared of brush and buildings even now as it would be during wartime.  You note that rather than using Lake Dark as a natural barrier and incorporating it into the town's defenses, the encircling wall separates Irontown from the waters.  A curious choice, given the expense and difficulty of building and maintaining such a barrier, when nature could do the work for the defenders.  Mists from the lake lick against the wall in the deepening gloom of the falling night.



Despite the forbidding exterior and surroundings, the highway gate is thrown wide open, lit by welcoming torches.  Bored-looking national soldiers man guard points and local militia weave among the trickle of entrants, keeping traffic orderly and chatting with drovers about travel conditions, but no one moves to stop or question you as your steeds wearily work their way into the town - it is peacetime, after all, and your appearances are nothing to excite consternation. 

Your immediate impression of the town once inside is one of somber order.  You hear the faint clank and rumble of industry, but the forges appear largely quiet at this hour, and with deliveries largely done for the day, the streets are open and easily passable.  Modest stone buildings, most two or three stories, tidily line the streets, the warm glow of lamps showing through curtained windows - you take as a sign of prosperity that most of them sport glass panes, not wooden shutters or oilcloth.  The friendly smell of woodsmoke reminds you of the prospect of a comfortable hearth and a warm dinner.  The occasional clusters of Karrn pedestrians, in thick wools and furs, bustle along the sidewalks, going visiting, making for neighborhood taverns, or heading home for the night.  You do notice that few seem to be walking about alone.

[All right, friends!  What's next for your group?  What are you looking to do here in Irontown?  Are you looking for lodging?  Are they any points of interest you are keeping an eye out for?  Are those of you who are comfortable in darkness going to continue your explorations overnight?  Let me know!  Throwing in a Streetwise check has the potential to get you more detailed leads as well.]
23
D&D / Re: "Winter of our Malcontents" PG & Chat Thread
Thanks, guys :)  I'm on this now!
24
Hey, guys.  I'm really sorry for going quiet this last week - been kind of a tough one and I haven't been feeling very creative.  Busy day today, but I'll move things along this weekend, promise :)
25
[Okay!  Give me your marching order toward Irontown, and any checks you'd like to be making as you ride.]