(Commentary Thread) Ruceeglaelsktinag: A Study in Applied Christian Theology of War

[Draco Dei]

I have caught a cold that is wrecking my posting speed.

[Draco Dei]

"Also, we can as you stated before just stick to the shadows near her; it will be more difficult, but less risky, and we can always develop stories ahead of time for in case we get caught."
Word of warning: This sort of thing is something that D&D... well, it is actually pretty accurate in as much as "the chain is only as strong as its weakest link". Also, the more people there are, the more chance that a bad roll will ruin things.

I think that Hide is the skill for blending into a crowd, and it is definitely the skill for out and out skulking fro roof-tops and behind carts and such.

Also, keeping it up for several days means I'm basically going to assume that everyone rolled a 1, because that would involve hundreds of rolls if you meant to be following her around.

If you just meant you wanted to stake out the Orphanage from a distance that might be more practical in theory.

If y'all decide to after OOC discussion or something, we can say that your character just never said that part. (45 minute limit on edits is... 'suboptimal' for roleplaying, but we gotta take what we can get since this is probably one of the only sites where Roleplaying meets "yes, we actually allow religious discussion on this site")

[ForrestGump]

I was assuming something along the lines of a stakeout like you said, and that the orphan-keeper would be letting us know ahead of time places she would be at so that we could run stakeouts on multiple locations, or at least keep track of her.

[Draco Dei]

That is... quite some assumption.

That would require moving from spot to spot on short notice to keep the windows when she isn't being watched to a minimum, plus, when she is in town, she's often going to be in the middle of a crowd, which will greatly complicate things in terms of both keeping track of her and your abilities to respond (noting that several to most of you are spec-ed for melee rather than range IIRC). And that isn't even getting into the sight-line distances, which would depend on how twisty I decide the local streets are.

Not really seeing that being very effective, but perhaps I could be convinced.

(still sick in general, but feeling a bit better at this moment).

[Thomas Maltuin]

Thanatos's comment on assumption is accurate even if Umbris may disagree in-character. however, for gameplay reasons, we can make assumptions in-character easily, by communicating that we need clarification in here. This is only a suggestion and is given for the benefit of a flowing storyline. Umbris clarified in-character because there was enough confidence in the interpretation. (also, an interesting but perhaps trivial note: everyone DOES make assumptions in real life, however small. Therefore, it is not unrealistic to have our characters make some assumptions even when they don't like them as a general rule. That way they won't look like omniscient puppets. :3 just a thought.)

[Draco Dei]

Still sick, so I may be very much misinterpriting, but I will get this out there: I prefer if the players don't intentionally have their characters make tactical or philosophical errors, since both of those aspects of the game are more than hard enough naturally, without doing anything to make them harder.

[Draco Dei]

Feeling better.

One point of clarification for those who haven't run into the trope* before: The orphan-keeper falls under the category of what I'd call "just a stupid NPC". The idea is that if I made the allied NPCs any good with tactics, even if only to the point of knowing which information is actually relevant to give (rather than requiring you to draw it out with questions, or occasionally info dumping thousands of words, of which only a few sentences are of relevance), then it would rob you of the "high tactics" element I'm trying to create here.

*Probably NOT listed on TVTropes, but a similar idea.

In short, remember, she's an orphan-keeper, not a soldier. As for her ex-guards, they have a different reason for being less than completely helpful.

[Rational Gaze]

Are there are guards apart from ourselves/the former bodyguards at the Orphanage? If so, Thanatos will want to include them in on the defensive and protective strategies.

[Draco Dei]

Regarding your IC post: Don't SAY you are going to discuss it, just go ahead and discuss it.

EDIT: I hope you didn't mean you were discussing it in PM?

Regarding your question:
Nope, it appears as if the party and those four ex-guards are it... you might have seen someone else around town you could bring in on this, and I might make one of the children actually vaguely useful though. I had some vague idea that y'all would need some additional help, but I feel like I've forgotten half the reason why.

[Rational Gaze]

I announced that I wanted to discuss it because I'd rather have either Umbris or Razzik initiate the conversation since it seems Thanatos is doing most of the talking, and also to let you know what it is going to happen.

[Draco Dei]

Ah, I see. I would not have guessed that, but perhaps it was clearer to the others.

[Thomas Maltuin]

It would probably still be better to announce that in this thread in the future since we should be checking this anyway. Sorry for the delay. I'm wrapping up a semester and things have been a bit stressful at the house so this has slipped my mind just a little. I'll try to do better.

applying Rule #1 now:

Roughly how big is this fortress?

Are there any visible weak spots defense?

Perhaps I'm overthinking or missed something, but shouldn't the orphan keeper know why the orphans are staying at an old fortress rather than having to "assume so?"

STRATEGY:

We can discuss here a bit as well as in character.

I'm going to initiate a conversation with the guards. Hopefully they will be readily willing to work with us. I'm going to ask them a question or two.

[Rational Gaze]

I'm going to initiate a conversation with the guards. Hopefully they will be readily willing to work with us. I'm going to ask them a question or two.

The ex-guards? Because I had the same idea as you did and apparently they were it.[/QUOTE]
I guess you missed this bit, then. :-p

...it appears as if the party and those four ex-guards are it...

I actually had this idea before it was mentioned, though:

you might have seen someone else around town you could bring in on this...

[Draco Dei]

Going to post quickly, and hope the 45 minute editing limit doesn't bite me.

It would probably still be better to announce that in this thread in the future since we should be checking this anyway. Sorry for the delay. I'm wrapping up a semester and things have been a bit stressful at the house so this has slipped my mind just a little. I'll try to do better.

applying Rule #1 now:

Roughly how big is this fortress?

*Grins Sheepishly*

Ugh... you had to go and ask that...

Remember, this adventure is a lot more off the cuff and ad lib than something I had all planned out before y'all started on it.

I can't give you dimensions in feet, because I don't know them yet, and to figure it out I'd have to actually design the place. Which, of course, I am completely willing to do,provided we get to a point where I'm fairly certain we will actually need a battlemap. In fact, I may try it and find it to be too hard (including, but not limited to because of getting the opposing forces balanced) and have to either omit the actual combat to of the adventure that would otherwise occur at the orphanage, or just say "pay no attention to the man behind the mirror" when it comes to the match-up between the description and the actual battlemap in some regards.
What I CAN tell you so far is the following based on what you have seen so far (there will be more information I can give you later, based on what rooms the place actually contains):

-There is no curtain wall, separate buildings, etc. that you can see. I probably mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. This place looks like a dome (not exactly spherical, but definitely rounded (with two exceptions, one of which you haven't seen yet) of stone growing up out of the ground. The exception you have seen is a watch-tower.

-It also seems to be too big, both for four people to defend to maximum efficiency (not like there is too huge a front area, so much as there are more arrow slits facing any given direction than there are people to crew them), and for the number of people you know of who are living there.

On that note... I've decided that you definitely can legally use the children as look-outs and other such "passive" roles without making them any more legal for the enemy to shoot at (and, just because it happens to be housed in a fortress, doesn't make attacking an orphanage legal, although there MIGHT be additional circumstances that could change that IN THEORY). Not sure on the legal status of handing them spare crossbows and having them shoot at attackers.

<EDIT>Do keep asking any questions you have about the size and lay-out, just be prepared for the answers to be not phrased in the way you might be expecting, or even for me to flat out say "I can't figure that out yet".</EDIT>

Are there any visible weak spots defense?

Not that you can see YET. Well, with the exception above regarding inadequate defenders.

Of course, doing a careful walk-though some time in the next 24 hours would be the "heroic professional" (as opposed to "adventurer") thing to do.

I'd also discuss the architectural features with your employer. "Just a stupid NPC" doesn't mean she doesn't know anything useful, just that she doesn't know as much, and most of that is strictly factual, or within her specific areas of expertise.

Perhaps I'm overthinking or missed something, but shouldn't the orphan keeper know why the orphans are staying at an old fortress rather than having to "assume so?"

I'll give you this hint for free, especially since this is the first mission: Got any applicable skills that would allow you to determine the age of the fortress?

As for the orphan keeper not knowing why things are happening... could be an important clue, could be "I'm just a stupid NPC", could be somewhere in between. In any case, I stand by my statement that she says she doesn't know.

Oh, that reminds me... I may have asked this before, but: How familiar are you all with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? I ask only because there is something that is going to be easier to explain later by using an example from that show.

STRATEGY:

We can discuss here a bit as well as in character.

I'm going to initiate a conversation with the guards. Hopefully they will be readily willing to work with us. I'm going to ask them a question or two.

The ex-guards? Because I had the same idea as you did and apparently they were it.

I guess you missed this bit, then. :-p[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I think some/all of you need to work on your "reading for details". I mention this because it is the sort of thing that tends to result in costly tactical errors.

Examples:
"Where are her body-guards?" (Across the room, keeping an eye on things, like good body-guards would do.)

"What PRECISELY did she originally try to hire us to do?" (Replace her current body-guards.)

I actually had this idea before it was mentioned, though:

The extra defenders are another one of those things I'm going to have to work out when and if the time comes. For now consider them "Schrodinger's Reinforcements", and don't worry about them too much.

Again, I'm making up a lot more of this as I go than I normally would, because I was asked for a "training mission".

[Thomas Maltuin]

honestly, this kind of thing is why i hesitate to post sometimes, which can cost me days if i'm pressed for time. So, I'll try to read better. but I will more likely not post as opposed to make costly error.

ok. time to go IC.

also, no idea what skill would allow me to verify the age of a building. Maybe appraise? if so, it looks like I don't have it.