Last night's session:
Toral DP
Mollie DP
G F
Janis hireling
le bouche hireling
Z F
Pita hireling
Mika hireling
Fabrino hireling
Derick F
Jimbo hireling
Zigfried trained baboon
Several days aboard the junk Haiyan. The wind freshened. Mermen swam alongside serenading the ship the first night. A sea hydra was spotted a long way off and avoided. Toral managed to Heal Pita (lesser miracles had failed previously). When he did she vomited a huge spider. The party dispatched it with little trouble.
They finally determined that the wolf pelt allows a person to turn into a wolf. Then things started turning sour.
G and Z took turns turning into a wolf and tormenting the prisoner Isabelle. This almost caused a confrontation with Roger. Z also took the dead spider and threw it into her cabin. G snuck in and bled her then healed her with his obsidian blade.
Finally, at all the terrified screams of the prisoner and the howling of a wolf, the laodah refused to pilot the ship, the crew refused to sail it. The ship was adrift.
The party hatched the fabulous plan of drawing the laodah away from Roger. He wouldn't go. Toral commanded him to go. Once away, G attacked Roger to subdue. Mollie Held him. He was taken below and tied up. The party had just come into view of Mont St Brise, City of Terraces, City of Pilgrims, City of Bells. The harbormaster's ship is coming out to meet them.
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Some Thoughts
What a train wreck. I have no idea why the few players instigating this waited until just before reaching the destination city before physically assaulting all NPCs involved. If they'd wanted to take this course of action, why not before, when Roger was sick with the plague? I can only think they were panicking, thinking they had to save Isabelle before they got to the city. But they could have talked with Roger and found out more about what would happen with her. It wasn't like she was going to be burnt on the beach, immediately. I think they are used to getting their way and feel entitled. There was a childishness to it.
Anyway, Toral's player was trying to hold back the fighters in their chaos and finally gave up and went along with them. I think he will be disappointed when his golden halo disappears and he loses all petition ability. He's going to have to atone for this somehow.
I did think the point when Mollie Held Roger was pretty badass. She's a petitioner like Toral, but more of a pagan. I asked her what it looked like when she did it, she said "Black rainbows."
But the party is going to be in for some trouble now, they're about to be inspected and have a dude tied up below decks that is in a holy order of which this city is the seat!
they are used to getting their way and feel entitled
ReplyDeleteI've had my fair share of players like this!
Is this the group of newer players?
ReplyDeleteI had a guy who used to pull the most bizarre stunts. He just didn't care. It was so weird. I could never figure out what was going on in his head.
I don't know if it's going to be good for your game or not, but this feels totally right to me as maritime legal history. Harbormasters were responsible for life in the harbor quarter as well as on the water, so I'd have him arrest the whole lot and let the courts hear what the crew have to say. After quarantine... does the ship show any sign of plague? If so, 40 days to stew, if not then the option of lying to the authorities about that, too. The authorities could paint great yellow daubs on the hull to mark it potentially disease-ridden.
ReplyDelete... I'm still trying to figure out what they thought they were doing terrorizing the heretic. could they just not resist the wolf costume?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments.
ReplyDelete@-C: Any advice? whatever happened?
@Christian: Yes. The ones pulling the shenanigans anyway. I think a useful thing I learned in my teens was banter and joking about doing things can be just as fun as actually doing them in game which might ruin things. These guys don't seem to get that yet. "Wouldn't it be funny to turn into a wolf and scare the prisoner?" = actually scaring the prisoner. Course these aren't good examples because most of what they were doing seemed immature to me.
@Richard: You would be the supreme nautical DM. I'm not sure what will happen if I try to arrest them, they may just resist to the death. I'm no sure what would happen in the legal system, either, if they gave themselves up. I'd have to figure out some stuff.
As far as plague, probably not since they got cured. This city may be a little different in regards to sickness too as it is a pilgrimage destination for the sick and maimed.
The wolf question has a bunch of answers. 1) Yes, they wanted to try it. 2) When the crew seemed unnerved by this "witchcraft" of a wolf at sea, the players seem to like that and kept pushing it. 3) The prisoner wasn't exactly cooperative because she didn't mind dying as a martyr, the body is but a husk after all, and the players were trying to screw with her and soften her up. 4) but at the root of it was one player in particular who seemed very annoyed by the fact that these npcs had strong beliefs and were not willing to change their sense of honor/ethics/morality to suit his whims.
Will the fact that this stupid plan causes problems for all of them open said player's eyes? I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if he railed against the unfairness and injustice of the whole situation.
Personally, as a player, if he just railed, I'd do the same thing he did to Roger, but toss him overboard once he was tied up. Of course, that doesn't help you, but at least you've got sympathy.
ReplyDelete