Grand Line Adventures OOC (one slot open)

Still keeping track of topic, will post Sixty-Two's reacton in just a bit.

It's a bit of a delayed reaction due to shock, you see, and by definition such things require a delay.

Trying to parse together the "scent evidence" and things are getting a bit confusing:

tygerburningbright wrote:"...the trail heads leads into an alleyway before returning to the original course."
"The sent that you are tracking appears to hace mingled with the sent of a second pony from the beginning of the alley. The original appears to have paused infront of the dumptser before turning around. The sent of the second pony matches the sent of the blood but the strong smell of the dumpster covers up what ever is in it."
"you can tell that the second scent went through the alleyway before colliding with the scent you are tracking.

The main question I have is if this is a blind alley (dead end) or one that connects two streets? And if it is a connecting alley, did Shinestone's scent start from where we came in or the other side?

If it's a connecting alley (Shinestone started at other side)
-Shinestone enters alley from far end, minotaur enters from "our end"
-They meet in the middle, minotaur kills Shinestone
-Minotaur dumps SS in dumpster, cleans up, leaves the way he came

If it's a connecting alley (Shinestone started at our end)
-Shinestone enters alley, minotaur follows
-minotaur catches up to SS, kills, dumps, leaves

If it's a blind alley:
-Shinestone enters a dead-end alley (Why?), Minotaur follows
-Shinestone turns around, bumps into minotaur, etc.

If it's a connecting alley (Shinestone started at other side)
-Shinestone enters alley from far end, minotaur enters from "our end"
-They meet in the middle, minotaur kills Shinestone
-Minotaur dumps SS in dumpster, cleans up, leaves the way he came

this one only they meet at "our end" rather then the middle

Thank you for the clarification, Tyger. Well, the "Five-Fingered Exploding Heart" theory seems to be the most likely,IMO. The main question at this point is if the minotaur who killed Shinestone is the same one who Zenith saw.

Lynt, you may need to remove the whole "bumped into" info, or the meta info on where the scents went: Torque can't smell the scents, and Shallow didn't tell him yet.

I don't think Torque used any OOC knowledge that can't have been gathered from Shinestone himself.

Shinestone wrote:I don't really know... The last things that I remember are going on a supply run and bumping into a Minotaur then nothing just everything goes dark."

Shinestone, I understand this may be unpleasant to think about, but can you remember WHY you entered this alley?"

"I-I think I was trying to take a shortcut..." Shinestone calls out from the end of the alley.

For the whole bumping into issue, I think the bump happened on the street, very near the alleyway (the minotaur going one way, the pirate another way, they bump accidentally, minotaur is pissed, pulls him into street, kills him, dumps body, leaves).

Speaking of which, since Shallow did his parents burial rites himself, I assume he knows what/how they died - Do the wounds on the pirate match, or are similar in nature to that of his parents?

Psst, Zarhon, I think Shallow's probably going to be a better comforter to 62 in this situation than Torque is.

edit: Or I could do it, I suppose. 62 and Torque have developed more rapport so far.

Lyntermas wrote:Psst, Zarhon, I think Shallow's probably going to be a better comforter to 62 in this situation than Torque is.

edit: Or I could do it, I suppose. 62 and Torque have developed more rapport so far.

I edited in a response for 62. Not sure how to address the whole "illusion of safety on island shattered", other than by having him accept it and motivating him to help fight the bad truth.

EDIT: And then you made one that kinda does the same, I guess? Spiffy, though I think we're just confusing 62 now, by giving him the same speech twice.

Kinda unsatisfied with Shallows response though: seems a bit non-comforting, but can't think of a better response that would fit or be non-patronizing. I guess you sometimes be rough to help comfort others? Its how you really help with grief in the end.

EDIT EDIT: I'm not sure if Torque has reason to know of Shallows nose abilities.

So I've got my response post mostly ready, and as selfish as this request might be I'd like to ask you guys if you could hold off on posting.

I have a request to make of our PH, and his response will subtly determine what exactly the content of my next post will be.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:So I've got my response post mostly ready, and as selfish as this request might be I'd like to ask you guys if you could hold off on posting.

I have a request to make of our PH, and his response will subtly determine what exactly the content of my next post will be.

Fine by me. Our posts were essentially waiting for your response anyway.

Zarhon wrote: EDIT: And then you made one that kinda does the same, I guess? Spiffy, though I think we're just confusing 62 now, by giving him the same speech twice.

Kinda unsatisfied with Shallows response though: seems a bit non-comforting, but can't think of a better response that would fit or be non-patronizing. I guess you sometimes be rough to help comfort others? Its how you really help with grief in the end.

Same message, different flavors. Yours deals with more of "for everything there is a season" and that sadness is a part of life. Mine better presents "how to make it right" and, importantly, gives the choice. Granted, 62 is a PC, but from our perspective, he's just a guy who likes pirate stories and apparently is willing to deal with our weirdness. It's up to him to deal with the grief, and it's up to him to choose to try and do something about it. Together, our speeches work well.

Zarhon wrote:EDIT EDIT: I'm not sure if Torque has reason to know of Shallows nose abilities.

Well, they've been friends for a while. I'm not sure if Shallow has necessarily shared the "how my parents died" story, but I'm guessing Shallow has done at least one case of "I know all the ingredients of this stew just by smelling it" to show off.

Lyntermas wrote:Well, they've been friends for a while. I'm not sure if Shallow has necessarily shared the "how my parents died" story, but I'm guessing Shallow has done at least one case of "I know all the ingredients of this stew just by smelling it" to show off.

Yeah, I don't think Shallow shared his parent's story, or his motivations, or the purpose of his jar, or his note to anypony yet. I assumed they were friends for a short time (a week or so? He was a migrating gravedigger up till now, so it's kinda tricky keeping friends unless he traveled with Torque/Zenith/Konorad in a group, who seem a bit weird bunch to travel with, pre-piracy), but if you say they've been for a while, I guess the "nose trick" would make sense then.

Speaking of Konorad, I think he has yet to introduce himself to 62.

If he does so relatively soon I think we can all agree to pretend he introduced himself much earlier.

Zarhon wrote:

Lyntermas wrote:Well, they've been friends for a while. I'm not sure if Shallow has necessarily shared the "how my parents died" story, but I'm guessing Shallow has done at least one case of "I know all the ingredients of this stew just by smelling it" to show off.

Yeah, I don't think Shallow shared his parent's story, or his motivations, or the purpose of his jar, or his note to anypony yet. I assumed they were friends for a short time (a week or so? He was a migrating gravedigger up till now, so it's kinda tricky keeping friends unless he traveled with Torque/Zenith/Konorad in a group, who seem a bit weird bunch to travel with, pre-piracy), but if you say they've been for a while, I guess the "nose trick" would make sense then.

Z2 came up with the idea that we are all sort of "migrating" and happen to bump into each other once in a while (Torque sells inventions, Konorad's looking for the next heist, and Zenith...Zenith's playing hero in whatever town will let him. Zenith and Torque have the most run-ins, Torque met Konorad through Zenith, and Shallow met the gang through Torque.

In my head, Zenith and Torque originally met when they were trying to both get the attention of the crowd on an island. Of course, there's Zenith's account of events, and then there's Torque's account.

Zarhon wrote:Speaking of Konorad, I think he has yet to introduce himself to 62.

Yeah, I was thinking that maybe he hasn't introduced himself on purpose, or that 62 isn't aware of him yet. He wasn't on the deck when 62 looked for the first time, and when he did, he quickly hid and observed from a distance. He doesn't exactly trust this "number man", and his experience is that he works best when his "opponents" don't even know he's there. He's been shadowing us as we've been walking along, disguising himself as a passerby, waiting to pounce if this stranger "tries anything stupid."

But that's my opinion. We can hash it out.

Zarhon wrote:
Speaking of which, since Shallow did his parents burial rites himself, I assume he knows what/how they died - Do the wounds on the pirate match, or are similar in nature to that of his parents?

The wounds are very similar in nature to thoses of his parents.

Lyntermas wrote:

Zarhon wrote:Speaking of Konorad, I think he has yet to introduce himself to 62.

Yeah, I was thinking that maybe he hasn't introduced himself on purpose, or that 62 isn't aware of him yet. He wasn't on the deck when 62 looked for the first time, and when he did, he quickly hid and observed from a distance. He doesn't exactly trust this "number man", and his experience is that he works best when his "opponents" don't even know he's there. He's been shadowing us as we've been walking along, disguising himself as a passerby, waiting to pounce if this stranger "tries anything stupid."

But that's my opinion. We can hash it out.

That is prehaps the best short term explanation that I have heard.

Sorry it took a bit for me to respond - in all honestly, I just woke up about an hour ago.

Off to sleep early, so don't expect too much for the next 12 or so hours. Guessing were waiting for Tyger's scene change (and/or Zenith/Konorad).

Edit: In the meantime, 62 can have another panic attack a fun conversation with Shallow (Tyger, 62 might need some info on that topic)!

With the latest Flight/It's Witchcraft errata, I'm fairly certain that some of our characters may have been rendered a bit gimped. What is your say on this, Tyger? I can see three ways of going with this:

- Update and live with it (and hopefully have IW arcana roll DCs set to "very very low")
- Update and everyone gets another utility talent for free, to keep things the same as they are now / somewhat balanced.
- Ignore the new rules and stick with current talents as they are?

option 4 wait for the dust to settle down while just for now useing the old rules.

*Looks at Player's Handbook* Wait, what are you guys talking abo...-7 PENALTY!?! That's new. Also, what was the progression with Flight before? (I never built a flying character so I don't have a frame of comparison).

-15
-10
-5
0
+5

tygerburningbright wrote:-15
-10
-5
0
+5

And now it's:

-10
-5
0
Roll Twice

Thanks for the clarification.

You know, Z2 hasn't posted a lot in this campaign recently, although he's been posting elsewhere. Maybe the captain willing to delegate the "busywork" to the others, while he waits for perfect opportunity to be awesome.

Yeah, for a captain, Zenith isn't really doing much of an "active" role (did he twiddle his hooves while we were in CSI mode?). Shallow or Torque might need to take over, if he's planning on just getting the "action" segments.

University = Lots of books and students/scholars = Lots of flammable materials and panicky innocents with no means of defense
Bombs = Fire + Wholesome destruction
University + Bombs = A bad mix. Also, terrorism, yay!

It's simple math, people.

I'm guessing we're waiting for a wholesome description (yay nat20s) of what sort of "chaos" is going on, exactly.

Best guess: An all-out fight between Reflector pirates, the Marines, the minotaur, and any revolutionaries, plus any villagers/students/scholars/teachers who got caught in between.

Edit: Included Shinestone in my post - If any Reflector Pirates are here, we need to know. Hopefully, we won't have to fight them to keep them from harming any "good guys", if they're the Morganeer type.

Edit edit: Would Torque/62 be the type of pony that would take glee in seeing a university burn to the ground (mostly out of bad experiences / spite with such)? The mentality of a student ritualistically burning their no-longer-ever-needed-notebooks-for-hated-classes/courses springs to mind.

That was...poor wording. I'll clarify in my next post.

Also, how is Shallow going to get into the open window that's on the THIRD FLOOR of the west wing? Are you going to earthcraft some stairs for us?