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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Detail Editing
Unfortunately for Sylvia, it's Group A that has to signal Group B, since they have the longer way to go, so they can assume (but not see) that Group B is ready when they are.
Also, to cast dire prognostications on your plan, I think the point of sneaking up on the camp was so that they didn't know they were being attacked until they were actually being attacked, whereupon it would be too late. Creating an artificial warning may cause them to pop out for a perfect potshot, but we've been trying to prevent such warnings for a reason methinks. Granted, with everyone in position with a ranged weapon (except those who don't--Ramathu and Aria, I think) it might be fun to watch the first couple go down as soon as they pop out, so if everyone likes this plan there's no reason not to (if Group A can signal Sylvia to set off the alarm)
As for which side of the divide Aria rests on, that can be easily switched if Junn would rather not have her and Aria would rather be on the other side. She was mostly added because she had the best chance of keeping quiet and keeping up of everyone left, to strengthen the numbers, but if Junn intended to have few numbers, it makes all sense for her to be with the main group.
Note that any signals given by Achuak or Junn don't necessarily have to be big, flashy, or automatically start the conflict. It could just be a 'hey, we're ready over here' to let the others know to start. Or you could start combat as the signal, which would have everyone catching up their initiative rolls in media res.
Posted on 2012-01-30 at 06:38:32.
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Topic: Kingmaker Campaign
Subject: Ambush! Again! It seems to be working so far.
Moving slowly through the darkness, taking care not to trip over some errant root or be snagged on a low-hanging branch, the party stalked toward where the camp lay. The light of a small camp fire flickered between the trees, illuminating the shapes of some half dozen tents viewed through small gaps in the forest clutter.
Sylvia let out a small, involuntary shiver at the sight of the fire. The night was cooler, and if they could see anything at all, they would probably see their breath floating away.
Achuak was the first to notice that the wagon that lay across the side of the road during the day was absent. Whether the camp’s tactics had changed or they simply stored it for the night, it was a waste of time to stand around speculating now.
The party split into the pre-discussed divisions, with reminders to stay safely hidden and out of sight until the signal was given. Sylvia, Ortlieb, and Sordin went one way into the night, relying on Ortlieb’s vision and woodlore to arrive them safely, while Achuak led Junn and Aria silently to the west watch post to take care of business.
With the fresh spring growth beginning to bud, the square shape of the platform was just visible as a silhouette against the backdrop of the stars. While a single bolt from his crossbow would likely be sufficient to finish off whatever guard was posted there, the mechanisms of Achuak’s crossbow were a riskier noise than the soft twang of a bowstring. Instead rather Achuak guided Junn’s sights to where he could clearly see the platform with his keen cave-dweller eyes.
Once he was satisfied that Junn’s arrow would fly true directly over the platform and hopefully into whatever surly outlaw was stationed just out of sight, he let the elf draw and release a shaft into the night.
They waited half a breath. No scream. No meaty thock. Barely the soft whoosh of the arrow’s flight and the creek right flowing south to the river.
Quickly Junn plucked another arrow and fired again into the same space, to similar results. No alarm raised—no shouts of a man realizing he was being fired upon. Time to investigate further.
Entirely invisible and in near perfect silence Achuak crept to the base of one of the trees supporting the platform. There was a rope ladder hanging down from the platform. If there was a guard up there, it was sloppy work leaving a backdoor. Achuak put away his crossbow and climbed the ladder, stopping at the top to re-arm himself with one hand before he took a peek.
There was no one on the platform. No cause for alarm. He climbed back down and spotted one of Junn’s arrows nearby, sticking out of the ground. He took it back to Junn and told them the news. Instead they made their way around to the northern side of the camp, Achuak preferring to hop across the stones in the stream visible to him than brave the water, even at only a foot deep. At a height just up of two feet, one did not take any depth of moving water lightly.
Soon their group was in position. Invisible from here they knew that the other group must be ready in position somewhere behind the log benches on the south side of the camp.
The camp itself was a haphazard collection of tents and logs to sit upon strewn around the central fire with no sense of purpose or design, and a loose pile of kindling to one side. Of the tents, the largest was back from the fire a bit further than the rest—likely for Kressle and her first lieutenant. The second watch platform, standing above the camp itself was visible from underneath, but the top was obscured from the ground.
It was now or never. What was that signal again?
This here is a map of the camp, with some notes in the description.
(Those logs at the bottom are seats, not blocks like the ones to the west. They only prevent charging, and you can cross them by spending 5ft. of movement to hop on (in addition to the movement it takes to get across). This watch post doesn’t dangle a ladder. That fire is big enough to hurt if you tried to walk through it. Those logs around it are obstacles like the aforementioned benches at the south. The platforms are 20ft up. The tents open on the narrow end, let’s say the one closest to the fire (maybe the next update will show where the flaps are  You can walk underneath the trees—those branches just show you where they cover and are otherwise mostly inconsequential. Just don’t try to walk through a trunk.)
(In case you were wondering about that signal, one suggestion points out that Aria knows a couple of light-producing spells that may be of use. Use, that is, to make me have to calculate more illumination radii and draw in more of the map.)
(Oh, as for placing, Group A is probably near that one large tree at the top, while Group B is probably just off the map to between the two large trees on the bottom. Feel free to designate a square around one of these areas as your spot. First come first serve. (For Group A that's A23 through C26 Group B can use letters Y, Z, and AA, numbers 26-30)
Posted on 2012-01-29 at 23:47:00.
Edited on 2012-06-15 at 22:28:59 by Sibelius Eos Owm
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Nyro's Link
I'll just retry it here and see if that will bring a suitable alternative to people
Junn's Battle Plan (note carefully the faint lines that show where each team should go)
and...
Here is the actual map now that you've gotten there.
Junn seems to want to take Achuak on a stealth mission around the camp to take out that watch platform. Perhaps with one other person (probably some one who can see very well in the dark, rather than one who has to stumble around)
So the tentative teams are (which I will assume as I do up the post):
Group A - Achuak, Junn, Aria
Group B - Sylvia, Sordin, Ortlieb-Ramathu
Ortlieb has better night vision, but Aria is more likely to keep up some stealth, and Ortlieb has to keep track of Ramathu, though other ways are possible.
Posted on 2012-01-29 at 20:34:06.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Of plans led astray
So 'immediately' turned out to be less prompt than I expected, but in my defence, when I heard that there was going to be a response, I deferred to make sure everyone had a chance to see the plan and maybe comment on it, but then about a week kinda floated by and here I am
So we're going to move on with Junn's plot unless someone desperately hates the idea so bad. It kind of combines the two main possible ways in that I was thinking you might take... at once! Anyway, point is, it seems to work best.
At least in theory.
Posted on 2012-01-27 at 22:38:24.
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Topic: Kingmaker Campaign
Subject: On the Road Again? Or maybe on the off-road again?
Pharast 4
Northern Narlmarches
Thorn River Camp
Even two days old, the hoof tracks in the soft ground along the thorny riverbank were still easy to follow for any casually perceptive tail. Led by Ortlieb and Achuak, the Greenbelt party continued downriver.
In the first hour of travel, Junn’s keen eyes spotted a ford across the river ahead which could open up the forest on the southwest side of the river. With renewed caution about possible bandit activities, Achuak was sent ahead to have a look, avoiding the risk of attracting undue attention.
The small kobold vanished into the underbrush with scarcely a sound, and returned moments later with even less warning. Ahead there was a shallow creek that joined the Thorn no more than a dozen feet past the ford, with a narrow trail following along side it to the north to where a wagon lay across the way. The tracks, Achuak says, lead up the path along the creek, not across the ford.
Ortlieb took stock of the land. The ford would be invaluable to any bandits seeking to control travel through the area. It was likely no coincidence that the tracks turned here. The camp itself was probably not too far from the ford on the north bank.
If the plan was going to be to find the camp and ambush it at night, it would seem they had come to the close of the first task. All that would be necessary now would be to send reconnaissance to determine the exact location of the camp, and to find a place to wait until nightfall.
Achuak seemed more than adequately capable of completing that first task, maybe sending someone else quiet who could keep watch in case he needed backup, so he himself could take care of finding a suitable spot not too far off but not so close that they risked a premature encounter. After perhaps he though he might like to go hunting in these new woods; familiarize himself with the wildlife on his own and bring back something to eat, perhaps.
(To speed certain processes along: Achuak observes the camp from nearby bushes, completely unnoticed. He identifies that there are no less than eleven bandits in the camp currently, counting the two wounded, the man with the mask, and the leader, and that the camp is on high alert. Apparently Happs was right about drawing the whole camp back and setting a double sentry.
(Achuak draws a quick mock-up of the camp’s layout and, to apparently everyone’s surprise, the camp is not a fort, but a simple tent-and-clearing camp, but with less tents. There are two watch platforms that he could see erected among the trees on either side of the shallow creek, each manned, which is why he didn’t dare venture closer without the cover of night.
(You successfully await nightfall without detection and under the cover of near absolute darkness lit only by the stars and the half moon, filtered through the treetops, you return to the ford once again lead by the acute night-vision of the kobold and half-orc. From here you can see the light of a campfire dancing among the trunks and leaves.
(I leave you there to comment on or refute on what I’ve given your characters to do so far while I get some sleep. I plan to launch pretty much immediately next post into the results of Achuak’s subterfuge, followed by, according to plan, stealthy raid.)
And here’s Achuak’s drawing in the dirt. I sure hope you didn’t expect much, because it isn’t =3
(Oh, btw, I happened to decide that Achuak’s gift of a rabbit yesterday could make a lovely stew for you, thus sparing you all a day’s rations).
Posted on 2012-01-20 at 09:19:12.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Never fear!
Huzzah! I'm back! Again!
I just had a short bout of having very little time for teh Interwebz and such things on it, namely the kind of time I would require to eke out one o' these blocks of vaguely coherent text I like to call 'posts'.
I'll be getting right on that, sirs and madams.
Posted on 2012-01-20 at 06:45:30.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Lemme do some math for youze =3
Let's see. A few months ago there were once about a dozen or so bandits that came to Oleg's, using the full force of the camp to intimidate them into submission.
You had captured four, two of which have returned, plus Lloyd. Assuming no other gains or losses, you can probably expect 9 bandits, two of which still injured likely, one leader, and one traitorous bastard. This is if the full force of the camp is at home at the time (and given the warning they got, it probably will be).
This might seem like a lot, but that's only about 2:1 odds (slightly better, but the leader probably evens it up), and you are Hero-level characters. That doesn't mean you should have it easy, but with some amount of surprise (if you're not spotted before things can get hairy) it could be doable. Note that I don't actually know how doable, I'm just applying a little metagaming to real-world/standard fiction logic. Feel free to let your own logic run on from what your characters know about the situation.
Posted on 2012-01-15 at 08:49:29.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: DM's solemn duty is to throw wrenches at the best laid plans and see what happens
Zeakol means 'Syl', not 'Fel', but that's a side-note.
I just wanted to drift in here and point out that this plan currently forming involves giving the camp an extra day to plan out and prepare their reception. Whether you think this is any cause for concern is up to your own judgement--after all, they are already preparing anyway, so who's to say the exact benefit of further time? I know I won't 
As for 'weapon relocation', I'll just go ahead and say that trying to take their weapons would probably be more risky than beneficial. Other things to screw them up should be good, though.
Posted on 2012-01-13 at 21:50:27.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Didn't quite see that coming
Hehe, I betcha y'all thought I was gonna crank out a post for Monday, didn'cha?
*sigh*
So did I... I was so naïve back then...
Between school, work and a case of a condition I call 'CMAS' (Compulsory Movie Attendance Syndrome), I was unexpectedly waylaid. In any case, don't anyone feel the need to await my kickoff.
There have been some vestiges of planning discussion going on, but it would be good to whip up some concrete course of action soon (in or out of character as you see fit, but I find little behind the scenes details like planning work best in Q&A, or at least it does in my imagination...
(I bet Communism was a pretty sweet idea back when it was in Marx's imagination.)
BUT ANYWAY! When you wake up in the morning and head down the river, you can follow the tracks to where the bandit camp lies in wait, and finally cast your gaze upon it for yourselves. The show. Has. Begun!
No, srsly, shoo. Get out of my head. I need to sleep there.
Posted on 2012-01-12 at 07:06:51.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: As a heads up to all my peeps out there
With school starting up again for me on the 9th there next week, that's when I'll start up again after the holidays. (Well, okay, I didn't really plan for everything to shut down over the holidays, but that's just how it happened, and to be expected, really )
I know a couple of you are eager and raring to get going even before then, so if you see the chance and feel up to it, by all means jump right on in, the water's... filled with lizardmen... but that's okay, I'm sure it's a pleasant temperature!
I think the next stage we're looking at here is planning for your assault on the Thorn River camp.
Posted on 2012-01-05 at 22:25:10.
Edited on 2012-01-07 at 08:05:07 by Sibelius Eos Owm
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Topic: Kingmaker Campaign
Subject: Nothing more than a quick Ret-con; carry on with your plotting.
After eight hours of walking without sight of the traitorous Lloyd and the bandits, it was beginning to seem unlikely that they’d catch up to them before they made it back to camp. Nevertheless, knowing that their quarry was injured and thus limited in travel capacity, they decided to press on should the bandits be only a few hours ahead of them.
By the time the Greenbelt party came to the river, an hour had passed and hopes had dimmed somewhat. The tracks in the soft ground around the narrow thorn-lined river were not difficult to spot, even for the untrained, and Ortlieb could even point out where the original party’s passage going north was still marked. It seemed they had passed this way not so very long ago, as short as a few hours, by Ortlieb’s guess.
In all likelihood, that meant they did not manage to catch the bandits, they reasoned. Following the river downstream was the last and shortest leg of the journey, and with a few hours lead on them, it was more than likely they had already made it to camp. Moreover, Junn was beginning to look haggard from the pace they’d been keeping up, and all were beginning to feel sore from the forced march.
As they discussed plans for making camp for the night, a small green kobold made his move and stalked forth out of the bushes to introduce himself to the group, rabbit carcass in tow.
Posted on 2011-12-28 at 09:25:00.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: You want to vote? This is not a Democracy, IT'S A BENEVOLENT DICTATORSHIP!
I suppose if Achuak was going to follow them for an hour or two, he could just as well follow them for 6 hours before showing himself.
You'll have to wait for further updates from me about the river and the fatigue itself, since I was planning to get to that part after Achuak was met and interacted with. I suppose you could still chatter amongst each other, though.
Posted on 2011-12-26 at 09:47:18.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Oh! Oops!
Oh! I completely forgot to correct Shades' post where Achuak remarked that Junn was looking tired--At this point you've only been traveling for just upwards of 4 or 5 hours. It will be much later that you actually come to be fatigued.
(Note that when that happens, Junn is in fact strongly affected; 6 non-lethal damage.)
This happens near the river.
Posted on 2011-12-25 at 22:30:38.
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Topic: Kingmaker Campaign
Subject: Achuak Zhinar, the Green Walker
The tracks of three of the horses ran straight to the southwest, directly toward the forest. Every few miles Ortlieb would stoop to check some feature of the plain invisible to the others, confirming the bandits’ heading, but each time he came to the same conclusion, that they were travelling toward the forest.
When they were about a mile or two from the edge of the so-named Narlmarches in their third hour of travel, the party came upon a man, coming from the west. As he got closer, they recognized him for one of the two men having lunch at the Post when they first arrived.
“Hey!” called the man, “You coming from Oleg’s? You wouldn’t happen to have seen a foul man named Breeg Orlivanch come by that way in the last few days? He was supposed to be out here laying his traps. My partner and I have been trying to find that vile son of a worm. It seems he got lost out here.
“Not out of the goodness of our hearts, mind you. The nasty leech owes us money, but he hasn’t shown his face in almost two weeks. Mayhap he’s finally run afoul of something meaner than him, or one of his stupid set-ups got him.”
He thanked them for their help and headed back north to the Post after confirming that he hadn’t seen any bandits coming his way. (If you want to talk to this guy more or roleplay out your responses, go ahead and ask him something. I essentially just provided him his answers and asked the automatic default question that would have been on the party’s minds, thinking to keep us on track this time and not to completely halt y’all for another round of posts).
Thereafter they entered the forest proper, perfectly oblivious to the silent tail they picked up at the forest’s edge.
---
Achuak moved between the trees silent as a shadow, always staying within earshot of the group’s conversation, but never coming close enough to risk being spotted. Of all the warm-bloods he had ever seen roaming the area, these were easily the strangest lot.
The one in front, which he recognized as their tracker was massive, with dark green hide reminiscent of his own scales. It had long tusks growing out from its lower jaw, and very long black hairs coming out of its head. He supposed this one was like a creature he’d heard about before, an orc? Next to the orc was a much smaller one, closer to his own size, but all covered in black hair. It wore no clothing—perhaps it was a whelp? Achuak was rusty on warm-blood lifestyle.
Following it were two of what he suspected were females (remember: when dealing with mammals, look for the mammaries!), but one had hair of what Achuak understood to be extremely unusual colouration among mammals.
Finally, bringing up the rear there were two warm-bloods, the first that came close to three times Achuak’s height, with strange, pupil-less eyes and pointed ears, and the second having different skin colouration from the rest of the humans, but looked nothing like the orc.
His sharp eyes made note of their weapons. A club, a knife, and a handful of darts on the tracker. The juvenile was unarmed, but appeared very strong by its movements. The shorter female carried three knives, while the blue-haired one had a spear and a sling with a pouch for bullets. In the rear the tall one, who he now thought looked an awful lot like the description of an elf, carried a longbow and a sword longer than he was tall, while the last carried shorter versions of the same equipment.
He took the time to learn their names. Ortlieb, Aria, Sylvia, Junn, and Sordin. Finally, armed with his careful study, he decided it was either now, or never. He slipped out from the undergrowth in perfect silence and struck.
---
A small bipedal lizard stepped out of the bush suddenly, a few yards ahead of them. It had dark green scales and red pupils, and wore a miniature version of the leather armour that garbed the majority of the party. On its back was a crossbow near as long as the kobold was tall, and he (you supposed it was a he) wore a sword scarcely any bigger than a dagger, with a knife that was even smaller. In his outstretched hand was a dead rabbit.
“Achuak not want to fight with warm-bloods; bring gift.” He set the rabbit down before Ortlieb. “Achuak knows what warm-bloods are looking for. Achuak can help. Warm-blood Ortlieb can find prey, but petisse Achuak can sneak up on prey and lay traps. Only Achuak ask warm-bloods to help Sootscale clan after.”
Posted on 2011-12-23 at 12:13:19.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Hey-o
Alright, time to go back to the first page, have a look, and decide what to do. Having looked this stuff up, it seems Ortlieb is actually a good enough tracker simply to the penalty for moving at full speed and still manage to keep an eye out for their trail.
Oh, and the Forced March I mentioned earlier. Simply put, if you travel for more than 8 hours in one day, you have to push yourself to keep going by making a Constitution check that increases every extra hour. Failure means you take non-lethal damage and become fatigued (healing the damage removes fatigue) after that hour. Most of the party has a good chance for being able to make 2 hours until they're run down, unless they make an unlucky roll, and three is definitely possible. Longer is feasible, too, if those who succumb to the rigours are healed with a spell right away.
(Oh, and you can still push on if already fatigued, you can't run or charge, Str and Dex are at -2, and further failures result in exhaustion (larger penalties, halved movement). Both conditions are easily remedied by a good long rest.) All that's left for you to decide is how long you want to march each day. One final note, if you had mounts, they would be taking lethal damage for a forced march, so you generally only want to do this while on foot).
Posted on 2011-12-22 at 23:20:28.
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Topic: Kingmaker Campaign
Subject: Getting ready to launch this ship.
Ortlieb delivered a solid smack to the padlock, but it refused to budge under even such a forceful blow. Not to be deterred for long, the half-orc adjusted his plan of attack and instead brought his club down upon the otherwise unprotected top of the box. The first blow splintered the wood and caved the top, and the second completely shattered it.
Taking a second to clear out the debris, Ortlieb found that the chest was indeed filled with coins. There were only a couple hundred total, but the majority were gold, with a couple handfuls of copper and one or two silver here and there. There was also an envelope tucked into a sheaf along the back wall of the chest, containing Lloyd’s copy of the Greenbelt Charter. He must have stuck it in there to forget about while keeping it safe.
“There’s that mystery solved.” Oleg had been keeping a comparatively level head in the face of the treachery, though it was likely more due to being so gloriously upstaged by Sylvia in two languages than any real efforts to maintain his temper. “Now, I mean to see those three bastards hanging from my walls, if that could be arranged. I’d let you take Claptrap, but he’s getting up there in age and one horse won’t sit the five of ye, much less adding the gorilla.
“With their wounds, I doubt they could have looked after all six horses—they likely mounted themselves and set the rest loose, so if you see any, you can try to bring them back. Priority goes to those traitorous cutthroats, though.”
(Unless anyone has any objections or further things to do, you can all get started on your run right away. One advantage you have over the foregoing company is that you can undergo forced march whereas Lloyd’s company can’t maintain too harsh of a pace or risk injury. Also, though, you have to either track them (no major difficulty, but might slow you down a bit) or try to cut them off on the way to camp by picking a direction on the map and running that way.)
Posted on 2011-12-22 at 23:00:28.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: I've got a way of thinking about it...
I suppose you could put it this way: What did she do to Happs before that she's not going to do this time?
A: Stop after only two. 
Oh, and besides that, I think pretty much everyone is in agreement about hunting down the bandit camp, hopefully taking down Lloyd along the way if you can make it far or fast enough. I just wanted to check if everyone who wanted to say something about this has (and give a chance for those with nothing to say to say 'carry on' out of character).
Oh, and if anyone wants to take turns bashing the chest lock with something, let me know. Alternately, you can just try to cut past the middle man and smash open the chest itself, but then you don't have a chest to play with. Btw, it's details are Small Chest, 25lbs empty (~30lbs current), 2 cubic feet of storage space.
Posted on 2011-12-21 at 19:39:32.
Edited on 2011-12-21 at 20:31:47 by Sibelius Eos Owm
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Topic: Kingmaker Campaign
Subject: Two dilemmas
Tanya looked down from meeting Sylvia’s intense eyes, while Stefan looked for all the world like he wished he could turn invisible–not likely given a dearth of arcane training.
“They left late last night. I don’t know when exactly, but the moon was high in the sky. Definitely early morning. I guess they’re going back to camp–we didn’t see which way they went, they closed the door before they left.”
Stefan was nodding along to everything Tanya said, staring at his feet.
Meanwhile Ortlieb set Lloyd’s chest on one of the tables with several shifting metallic clinks. The padlock on the chest was nothing special, but without the knowhow, it was useless to them to speculate on picking it. Breaking, was another matter entirely, however, if it had to come to that.
(I don’t actually have my notes on me–anyone trained in picking locks? Aria? If not, you can start smashing things if you want to try that. Or you could go personally fetch the key from Lloyd’s cold, dead body, but that would be a bit of work I suspect.)
(Oh, and there are pretty plain tracks all over the yard leading to the doors, which are actually open wide enough for horses, not just men. After that is where the trail gets fun.)
Posted on 2011-12-21 at 09:47:19.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: To be specific
Well, antitoxins are to fight against poison, so I guess that means he's at least a little protected from you. Granted, there could be another motive for his cunning theft (cleverly disguised as a lawful transaction, but we know it was theft because he's a bad guy).
Posted on 2011-12-21 at 06:02:44.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: the Chest
Lloyd's box, if moved or shaken, gives off the sound of clattering metal, like chain mail or a lot of coins.
Also, I just wanted to point out that Happs' second Fire Flask was claimed by Lloyd before he skipped town, and he also bought both of Oleg's antitoxins.
Posted on 2011-12-20 at 22:59:52.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Alright
After a quick scamper about, it turns out everyone is full health either by a curing magic from Ortlieb or Aria, or simple natural healing.
Also yeah, I meant to mention last night (I was tired, okay? XD) that Ortlieb and Aria found Sylvia up a tree again. Maybe did a little bonding along the way, as you see fit. She didn't run off too far (you know, there is actual wilderness out there. The wise don't face it alone and unprepared.)
What other loose ends did I leave undone?
I was originally expecting to have the trial later that day, but then the fight broke out and each side went their separate ways and I forgot all about the timing of the trial. Turning back to have a look, it makes sense to delay it until this morning--at least until we found that half had escaped and the other two had chosen to stay behind.
Now you can decide one of two things--have the trial now and let Happs, Lloyd, &co. get (more of) a headstart, or delay their judgement until after the traitors are tracked down.
Posted on 2011-12-20 at 21:31:26.
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Topic: Kingmaker Campaign
Subject: Trogdor comes in the night! Owait, wrong nocturnal visitation
Lloyd grumbled when Sordin roused him for his turn at the watch. He grunted perfunctory acknowledgement as the holy bowman made small talk, and grumbled some more when he helpfully threw some more wood into the small fire burning in the stone pit. He hoped that his divine powers couldn’t somehow penetrate his thoughts and read his mind. Lloyd wasn’t exactly well-versed in magic, divine or otherwise.
He set himself down on the bench and glowered into the darkness until the Garundi man went to bed, and after that, glowered some more, for good measure. He waited a full half hour before he decided the paladin wasn’t going to reappear to do some other helpful deeds. At last, he stood up and stalked around to where his pack was carefully hidden away with everything he could carry on his own. Regrettably he would have to leave his strongbox behind, but he doubted he would have much use for it where he was going. A bribe, maybe. Maybe it would be taken from him regardless.
---
Ortlieb was never woken to take the last shift of the morning. While naturally an early riser, he could tell right away that he’d missed his watch. Something was amiss. He rose, leaving Ramathu to catch the rest of his beauty sleep.
Who was supposed to wake him, he wondered? His shift was right after Lloyd’s, he knew. There was no one in his bed. Had something happened to the crass man? The massive orc squeezed through the door out into the yard. There was no sign of anyone in the dawn light. Something was definitely amiss.
---
Tanya sat awake in the dark of the hut, knees curled into her chest. It was cold outside, and the hut was not especially weatherproof, but it was tolerable. She’d be sleeping outside back at the camp, anyway. What kept her up when the others had taken to snoring was what the doctor had said when he tended to all their wounds earlier.
Beside her the lad, Stefan, gasped and jerked awake from some bad dream. He had barely moved but he groaned when the pain struck him again. He looked around to remember where he was. When he saw Tanya up too, he sat up.
“Thinking about what the doctor said?” he asked. Before that morning, Stefan’s way had been cock-sure, enamoured of his own ability. The typical youthful sureness of their own immortality had been shaken for him. He was still coming to terms with it.
She nodded in the dark. “Yes,” she said when she realized. “I’m thinking we can’t make it far with your guys’ wounds. We’d probably be caught, and even if we made it, we would never get a second chance with this lot. You saw how they handled us out there. They might just have a chance at Thorn River, and where would we be if they found us there a second time?”
There was a sound of metal scratching on metal outside their door. The lock was being picked, anyone with a turn for the less legal arts would recognize. The others awoke at once as the door swung open, letting in the dim light of the gibbous moon.
The shadow that had released them stood imposingly above them with his long beaked mask. “Let’s move. Don’t take all night about it—and be quiet.” The latter he tacked on as Happs renewed his moaning of pain. Sure he was the worst hurt, but Tanya was beginning to doubt he was hurt quite that badly.
Happs and Nikodim stepped out first. After a brief hesitation, Tanya said. “No. I’m staying.” She hardly believed she was saying it for a second. There was a heavy chance of dying either way, better off fighting for your life while you could, right? What was it that made her decide to stay?
“What?”
“I’m staying.” She reasserted. This mad notion that had taken her seemed more certain of itself now. “You can go on, I won’t raise an alarm.”
Beside her Stefan spoke up. “Me too.” Madness was infectious.
“Fools,” Niko muttered, as he was prone to do.
Their releaser was more prone to the pragmatic approach. “Suit yourself.” He closed the door again and there was a sound of the lock being slid back into place.
---
“What in the name of the gods?” Oleg’s shout immediately roused the rest of the sleepers most of the way to consciousness. When they stepped out into the yard, they found Ortlieb and Oleg standing before the storage hut, Oleg was holding the door open.
Only two of the prisoners remained, and a quick self-check proved that Lloyd was missing among their number, with the great gates to the Post left hanging open no wider than a man. Clearly, he believed his lot was better thrown in elsewhere.
Oleg was already noisily probing the remaining bandits—the woman and the boy who was attacked by Ramathu—for details on the escape.
(Yes, you may in fact, take it that Lloyd has forsaken the party. The good news is he will be replaced with a far more agreeable and fair bit more entertaining party member. The bad news is, well, Lloyd's an ass, but we knew that already. Your options right now involve tracking the fleeing folk down, however far they made it in the night, or just jumping on horses and riding posse-style south to where they are no doubt (probably) headed. Also both of the remaining bandits are just healthy enough that the slightest physical strain won't kill them off. Can't someone do healing magic? I thought we had one at least.)
Posted on 2011-12-20 at 12:44:10.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Onto the next part, maybe.
Alright, everyone has posted at least once or so, so I just wanted to say that I'll be moving things along pretty soon here. Clearly, if there is anything left that you feel needs to be covered direly, you can with backpost.
It seems everyone's about had their say and issues thrown up. To leave it go on much longer would mostly just be to restate points and continue the discussion for RP purposes (which again, could be done in backpost).
By the way, as previously mentioned, unclaimed merchandise from the looting of the bandits is sold to Oleg. Don't worry if you later want in on some of this, you can still buy it back at the same price. The stuff that is to be liquidated is: -Leather Armour (4), Longbows (3), Short Sword (3)
In other words, all the useless items that a well-armed party has no use for usually =3
Y'all get another 10(4) + 75(3) + 10(3) = 145G to Total Party Loot
Posted on 2011-12-20 at 05:25:21.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Oh also
Oh, also, while I have your attention, we should probably start deciding quickly what we're going to do next. It's been fun 'n' all, but to actually progress in the game we have to eventually set off in a direction and Make Kings... or something like that. I'm a little fuzzy on the details.
Anyway, after the 'trial' we get to decide which way we want to point our feet. We have two options, that I see. Well, I guess many options, but two that matter.
1. Trace down the bandit camp ASAP (in whatever fashion we deem so necessary, whether using one of the captives as a guide, tracking with Ortlieb, or picking a direction and going until we find it.) Simply adventure as fast as possible to eliminate the Thorn River Camp (by that name alone, how many people can look at the map and guess it's location? There are a lot of rivers, mind you, and the map is outdated.) and deal with things there before exploring and mapping the rest of the Greenbelt.
2. Picking a random direction and begin mapping immediately. To clarify, your mission is to thoroughly explore the area, which is different from simply passing through the square (we didn't work that out at first in our first game... we were exploring three hexes a day XD). Maybe find the bandit camp like that, maybe find them when they come back for revenge one day to the fort.
Posted on 2011-12-18 at 08:30:30.
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Topic: Kingmaker Q&A
Subject: Haha
I love how both characters are accusing each other of being childish while being terribly childish themselves XD
I hope things don't all fall apart with this conflict (that's the point at which I'd have to step in and tell people to behave).
Interested to see how the rest are going to react to this shebang. I get the sense that Sordin or Ortlieb might try to mediate these flaring tempers, but I don't know their characters yet exactly.
As a final cautionary note from the GM's dispute-solving handbook, while it may be 'what your character would do', sometimes it's not always to the best advantage to stick hard to that idea. After all, your character is still under your own control (well, there are debates about how much your character is under your control after it takes on a life of its own, but if curbing those self-destructive tendencies would be irreconcilably out-of-character, then, as Shades suggested, perhaps a new character would be better).
Anyway, those are my two-moderating-cents. I hope we can keep the dispute within control enough to still move on. After all, party-conflict just adds more spice to the plot!
Posted on 2011-12-18 at 08:11:15.
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What game do you own the 
Return to Charadun - Q&A
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