Completed Play-by-Post: In Search of the Sorcerer

[Grimgravy]

OOC

Not a problem. What exactly are Armigers? Men at arms, shock troops?

Spoiler

Strictly speaking it's a medieval term for an armor bearer, but it can also mean one entitled to bear heraldic arms. So I'm mostly being a twat and re-purposing the word to indicate an elite armsman who is of Hyperborean descent and thus able to bear the crest of a noble house (even if they themselves aren't strictly speaking a high-born Hyperborean noble). By contrast the bulk of the imperial legions are made up of local levies, conscripts and foreigners. Here in Odessos, the Armigers are the Exarch's (i.e. Governor's) elite heavy troopers.

OOC

Great. Elite troops with MORE armor we can't immediately use if we manage to knock them off.

"We don't have enough disguises for the lot of us, so it's a moot point for now."

 

[nikolokolus]

So how do you all wish to proceed? Sundown is probably about an hour off. You've also somehow discovered somebody's hidey-hole where they stashed a magical cloak of invisibility. Additionally, you've got enough rags and linens and robes to probably attire all of yourselves in the manner of beggars if you wish or there's enough materiel that if you really wanted to you could probably bury yourselves in discarded linens and rags and hide out in the alley for at least a little while.

 

[Grimgravy]

Question

Is the hidey-hole big enough to hide us?

OOC

If we can't hide in the hidey-hole, Rhenmyr will disguise as a beggar. I vote for heading toward the tower, If we get in we're safe for a while, if not we head to the sink or Father Inniros.

 

[nikolokolus]

The space beneath the stairs is probably big enough for one person to squeeze into (uncomfortably).

 

[Grimgravy]

"We can't all hide beneath the stairs. I doubt hiding in the refuse heaps would be of much use. I say we get moving."

 

[Helly]

"Let's go then... Give me that robe Marcan; if passing as beggars is what you think is best, I'll have to comply too."

 

[nikolokolus]

You all spend a few moments garbing yourself in a variety of rags, robes and linens in various states of repair; quite the motley crew. Sokrates is a still garbed in the cloak and appears as little more than a hazy blur when you look directly at him.

Are you all exiting the alley as a group or do you have some sort of other plan?

 

[Siveon]

OOC

Groups of beggars can happen, I suppose. Splitting up this fragile group would only get us into more shit anyway.

Then again, it's easier to blend in/hide when there's only 1 or 2 of you.

 

[Grimgravy]

OOC

Perhaps we can stagger ourselves. 2 in the lead, 2 a ways behind but within sight. Say 30-60 feet? Sokrates could go with either group.

 

[nikolokolus]

OOC

Just a heads up. This is absolutely the busiest time of the year for me. We're in major crunch mode until July 15th (a submission deadline). I'll try to hop on in the evening (GMT -8) to keep things moving, but posting from my work machine is just about out of the question and frankly I'm kind of mentally tapped doing 13 hours a day for the past three weeks.

Just wanted you all to know in case it seems like the quality of my writing is subpar or my creativity seems kind of shit.

 

[Grimgravy]

OOC

Not a problem. Take care of your mental health! That's too much time at work.

 

[nikolokolus]

So . . . You are all appropriately attired as beggars and gutter trash (or at least a good approximation). Do you split up or do you proceed as a group? Does anybody scout ahead?

While you stand in the alley frozen in place and listening to the commotion inside the building things on the street take a sudden turn. You can hear the rhythmic stamp of hobnailed feet on the cobbles at some distance (impossible to say because of the way sound echoes off of the predominantly sandstone and mud-brick buildings). Additionally something else catches your ear. You can hear a great tumult of some sort almost at the edge of perception - if you didn't know any better you'd say hundreds of people were yelling and screaming for some reason, but its far enough off that you can't really make anything else out from your current vantage.

 

[Grimgravy]

"Time to move. I'll scout ahead. Follow at my signal." Rhenmyr heads down the alley toward the tower.

 

[nikolokolus]

Rhenmyr pads softly down the alley and is able to poke his head around corner. From your vantage the alleyways continue on for a bit southward (dead ahead) but it's hard to tell where it might deposit you because of its twists and turns (these aren't really streets, just narrow gaps between the crowded buildings of the district).

Looking eastward down the side of the building reveals a larger east-west thoroughfare about fifty or sixty feet that off that seems to terminate at the building you just exited. In the far off distance you can make out a knot of people a few hundred feet away, there seems to be a great deal of pushing, shoving and the wails and screams you heard faintly before clearly seem to be coming from that direction. At this distance it's difficult to make out many details about who is pushing and shoving whom and why.

 

[Grimgravy]

Rhenmyr signals the others to join him. When they reach him he asks, "What do you think? South through the alley or east toward the bigger path and the commotion?"

 

[Helly]

"Let's test our disguises and try the bigger path!"

 

[Grimgravy]

"Continue living dangerously, eh? Good enough. Follow at my signal." Rhenmyr scouts ahead to the edge of the larger path.

 

[nikolokolus]

Rhenmyr cautiously creeps along the alley carefully picking his way through heaps of garbage, broken potsherds (roll a saving throw to see how silently you move).

 

[Grimgravy]

Moving quietly: To Save: [1d20] = 8

 

[nikolokolus]

You try to pick your way as carefully as you can through the debris, but unfortunately you're not as silent as you would like. However, despite the noise you make it doesn't appear anybody has noticed or at least no one has poked their head into the alley to investigate. You reach the edge of the street and crouch low behind some packing crates. you peer over them and and around the corner to the left and the right. Outside of a garish doorway about 60 feet to your left (in front of the brothel you just exited) you can see two heavily armed men with hoplon shields and spears standing guard outside the doorway. Their eyes are dead-set ahead as they stand at rigid attention. Based on their stature and garb you guess these are probably the Exarch's elite Armigers - Hyperboreans garbed in the scarlet and gold sunburst cloak of the Autarch.

Additionally, about 150 feet away you can see quite a mob of people shouting and cursing at a small group of a dozen or so Armigers who are formed in a line across the street holding the people at bay. Meanwhile a smaller number of soldiers appear to be dragging people from a building behind them. Laying in the middle of the street around the Armigers are about 5 or 6 still forms.

 

[Grimgravy]

Questions

So 60 ft to the left are two armigers standing at attention. Are they on the same side of the street as us (meaning they'd have to turn their heads to see us with anything but peripheral vision)? 90 ft beyond them is the protest line? Do I see any other cross streets intersecting this larger path? What's off to the right?

 

[nikolokolus]

Questions

So 60 ft to the left are two armigers standing at attention. Are they on the same side of the street as us (meaning they'd have to turn their heads to see us with anything but peripheral vision)? 90 ft beyond them is the protest line? Do I see any other cross streets intersecting this larger path? What's off to the right?

Spoiler

Give me a little bit of time and I'll whip up a map (I'll be done with work in about 5 or 6 hours)

 

[nikolokolus]

For clarity's sake I've spaced out the Armigers a bit, but in reality they are in a double rank, shoulder to shoulder interlocked in a shield wall across the street (it's tough to say what the front rank is armed with, but the second rank has their spears leveled through the gaps between their comrades).

Three Armigers behind them have dragged several people from the building to their south by hair, clothes, whatever they can seem to get ahold of. The aforementioned bodies (five) you see laying in the street are littered between the brothel's entrance (with the two guards) and the phalanx that's about 150 feet away (each hex is 10').

 

[nikolokolus]

One more quick note: The phalanx is 7 in front 5 in back and it doesn't cut off the street completely. There's about fifteen feet or so on each side that is open, but the angry crowd doesn't appear to be eager to break through at the moment.

 

[nikolokolus]

VTT game update

A quick FYI on the VTT game for a second. I'm trying to play around with schedules and such and coordinate with my cousin and his friend (and Siveon) to come up with a second option to the Sunday evening (GMT -8) twice-a-month game I initially proposed - only two people were going to be able to make it work which is OK, but It'd be nice if nobody that's interested gets left out. My alternate idea is to run a shorter weekly game on Tuesdays that would start at 1730 GMT -8 and go until about 1930.

Also I know I said earlier I was thinking of running a game set in the Elder Scrolls universe . . . well, fuck that. The more I've tried to wedge my ideas about a game into Bethesda's sandbox the more I realize I just don't give a damn about it and I think I just prefer my own homebrew world if it comes right down to it. So if anybody plays in the game (Siveon so far) it'll still be set in Theia and will run in parallel to this game, but it'll be using the BRP/Magic World rules instead of Swords & Wizardry. If that time works better for anybody that was interested, but wasn't going to be able to play before, let me know.