The Gossip Board

[Dracos]

General: We need to start these things sooner.  I don't tend to think about them when my post session tasks include "Log, Stats, Feedback posts and discussion" and I only notice sunday night that 'hey we've had no discussion yet on what we're doing next?'.  Simple fix: Separate feedback thread and start here on wednesday a 'What are we doing next? Resolve midweek stuff here' ;P

and a big apology to dune >_>;; oh well, as this is already written before I saw that...posting.

Team Belgium from the beginning was my notion on where to go, glad we're all agreed there, though routes there differ :)  I guess my view differs as well.  I view Hardsoil as a sizable settlement.  One frontier style settlement.  The notion of it being able to meaningfully hold sizable amounts of territory seems ridiculous to me.  Expansionism also does.  The notion that hardsoil could hold their own if either side truly decided they wanted it seems unlikely.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe they have a standing military.  Maybe they're not as vulnerable as they seem and need to rely on passing adventurers.

I totally agree with rat's take that, in the absence of exterior forces, team Ogremoch will win solidly, if not by experience, then by alliances and treachery.  That's entirely why I view the gameplan being "how do we strengthen the effectiveness of the other side while keeping hardsoil mostly neutral", because I can't see Ogremoch's guys not just claiming the territory if they're allowed to fight their way up successfully.  Basically, I worry about the setup where Ogremoch and their allies mop up the xorn empire quickly.  A difficult/not worthwhile target when there's another army nearby is easy prey when the army is not an issue anymore.  So my thought is that the armies need to be so tired after it that they don't want to stay and loot whever they can.

My notion of partial alliance/overtures of friendship are largely on the concept that 'somebody is going to win eventually and since we want it to be side Xorn, let's establish early that we are our own side that they do not get to eat'.

In short:
A)Hardsoil must be uninviting to conquer.
B)The various powers must not be left having brought an army out to fight, victorious, and still hungry for more conquering.

at least that's how I see it.  I'm down with any direction that gets us there.  The whole bunch of stirring the kettle really is ideas based on achieving goal B, since I think right now we're heading down a road that goes:

A)We gather allies.  No one stomps hardsoil initially.
B)Xorn and Ogremoch + crew fight.  Xorn lose.
C)Ogremoch group now stomp hardsoil.

I'd much rather it be costly enough that nobody is in a good position to invade for a decade or so.  Enough time to solidify a non-expansionist mindset.

[Anastasia]

There's no need for an apology about it, Drac. It's cool, but I want to make a point about it.

[Dracos]

Stratusburg: The antipathy is noted. It will really come down to this; is Stratusburg confident that no matter who wins on the other side of the portal, it won't affect them? If the Xorns do, it probably wouldn't, and if Hardsoil comes out on top, they're good. If Ogremoch comes out on top, then what is presently a mild antipathy between earth and air could become a full-blown hatred, depending on the disposition of Ogremoch's church.

Aside, I really think you overestimate even Ogremoch's interest in crossing the plane.  I can't think that a power moving troops across planar boundaries is ever a small deal.  As far as we have seen, the lions share of his followers are earth elementals.  Going to the plane of air is unlikely to be their thing.  Sure, a possibility, but I really think that Stratusberg comes out largely alright in all cases as cross planar conquering just isn't seeming painted as a particularly worthwhile option.

Phrased differently:
If ogremoch was the elemental prince of fire, would you expect his minions to go try and conquer territory in the water plane?

[Sierra]

I do have a bad habit of waiting 'til Rat/Drac have said something to respond to, yes. I'm just gonna blame that on Mari being the most directionless PC in the group (as opposed to my own laziness, which is admittedly a viable explanation most of the time).

[Carthrat]

Hey, Team Belgium totally was my plan since session was over last week <_<

[Carthrat]

I don't expect Ogremoch to try conquering Stratusberg, but I can totally see him trying to make things harsher for the dudes on the other side via proxies and shutting down any hope of good relations for all concerned. The barriers to trade have been removed by us; propping up a new set would surely be against their interests.

The thing about actually getting proactive about involvement in the war is that if anyone finds out, they will not just sit around and let it happen. Team Belgium by necessity becomes Team Rome if Hardsoil starts playing the hardcore espionage card because I don't think you can really do that by half-measures. We couldn't just give the Xorns a little help; we'd need to make completely sure they win, and that would be an awful lot of work and require an awful lot of backstabbery and plotting. Apart from the fact that if Ogremoch finds out he probably won't leave Hardsoil alone anyway, there's also the fact that introducing chaos-spreading agents into the fray greatly increases the odds of the whole situation snowballing to new levels (and may very likely make Hardsoil a few entirely new enemies.)

[Carthrat]

I suppose that if we as independent agents try to just irritate Ogremoch into submission then he may not blame Hardsoil for it, but can we do that and simultaneously ensure Hardsoil actually is a tough nut to crack without giving it away? They've seen Adail; if they catch wind of any celestial allies showing up in Hardsoil, I have a feeling they'll guess who's responsible.

Basically, the big weakness with skullduggery on our side is that if/when people find out, any chance of claiming neutrality and hiding goes away. Since I don't think we can rely on success here, I think just hunkering down is the good option. If we can get around this (or just don't care)...

Another thing, btw, is that generally speaking it's easier to defend ground on this plane than take it, I mean it's made out of rocks. Okay, various parties can cheat and move through rocks, but it would make army management a real bitch, mark my words.

also, rome was a small village once!

[Anastasia]

Fun session. I had fun running the fight, which I'd have prepared for some time. I didn't imagine it would come quite yet, but oh well. At least you guys survived. What did you all think?

Adail, the arrow demon was going to FA you if it lived another round, the taunting got to it but it died first.

Kam, nicely done with that curse and Hatbot.

Nikkolai, nice to see you back! Hopefully it's permanent soon!

Mari, you survived. With your HP it's an achievement each session!

Knight, poison hates you. Conversely, possible SEIBA sword. We'll see.

[Dracos]

FOr the portion I was conscious, I enjoyed.  I'm sure we can find a way to shrink the sword down to Seiba size.  We really should have a feedback thread :P


FOR NEXT SESSION,

Kam retains interest in going to arborea and getting uncursed so he stops seeing black squiggly lines over everything.

[Carthrat]

Fight was scary, arrow demon was a nasty customer. If they'd spawned a distance away from us I think things would've gone differently... or maybe not, since both me and Kam can close in two rounds, tops. Scry'n'die has it's weaknesses. As usual, I wasn't scared so much for myself as for others, but the poison threat was pretty bad.

I'm down with going to Arborea too. It's a new plane, new chance to find a sibling, etc. Since we can't really use the sword and lugging it around would be a pain, I think we might as well leave in it Hardsoil and/or sell it, unless we quickly find a way to shrink it or something.

[Anastasia]

FOR NEXT SESSION,

Kam retains interest in going to arborea and getting uncursed so he stops seeing black squiggly lines over everything.

Up to you guys once you get back, assuming the trip back is without incident.

[Anastasia]

Fight was scary, arrow demon was a nasty customer. If they'd spawned a distance away from us I think things would've gone differently... or maybe not, since both me and Kam can close in two rounds, tops. Scry'n'die has it's weaknesses. As usual, I wasn't scared so much for myself as for others, but the poison threat was pretty bad.

I'm down with going to Arborea too. It's a new plane, new chance to find a sibling, etc. Since we can't really use the sword and lugging it around would be a pain, I think we might as well leave in it Hardsoil and/or sell it, unless we quickly find a way to shrink it or something.

I analyzed the differences in my prep and 30 feet was about optimal. Longer doesn't matter much because most of the party is fast and the elemental needs to close in anyway. It was a pretty tough fight - if Mari had been targeted by the arrow demon I was afraid she'd get in a deep spot of trouble, but the battle didn't work out that way. The elemental was definitely the hard hitter and the biggest thread of the fight, though the arrow demon wasn't a chump.

[Dracos]

Yeah, I concluded that the elemental couldn't be allowed to fight with anyone but me or knight.  It's damage and to hit were too dangerous if it ever decided to swing at say Mari or Adail.

[Anastasia]

Yeah, I concluded that the elemental couldn't be allowed to fight with anyone but me or knight.  It's damage and to hit were too dangerous if it ever decided to swing at say Mari or Adail.

Adail could handle it well enough with full AC whoring, but Mari was in a world of hurt if she got more attention from it. That blast-back property of the blade may have saved her life.

[Sierra]

It sure ruined the demon's.

And yeah, go back to town and rest up before Arborea sounds like the plan given that most of us came out of the fight significantly wounded.