Ysgard RP Discussion Thread

[Nimue]

Reading back through the posts I'm not sure this was made clear, but I was intending that Farrun would travel back to camp with the rest, in order to make sure that they got there, and to grab a horse and the queen's writ to bolster his bandit-capturing authority. I don't think it would shorten the travel time significantly to have him cut through the forest to Ilstenford rather than traveling along the road.

I'd like to give Troia a chance at that deer before nudging things along--feel free to say if you won't be able to post, Tom--but on Wednesday night I'll be putting everyone back at the campsite.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Chrissy is right about Addy's state of mind (which I think is obvious to all, but just saying). She doesn't care if the deer lives or dies, and will attempt her brave facade on the walk back. She'll have her axe in hand as she walks, and she'll keep her bow shouldered.

 

[tbgg]

I'm *brand* new to this site, but I just completed reading the story thus far and it looks like something I'd LOVE to try. I saw the bit about needing a character profile and I've poked around reading the world info - should I PM the profile (once I've written it) to Nimue?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Yes.

And you may end up having to edit. This can be a good thing.

 

[Nimue]

Yes, please! And welcome!

I'm sorry, you guys--almost a week late with that promised post--ran headfirst into the post-holiday slump. Work is a Sisyphean struggle. I'll make an honest effort to write tonight, though it may not also be finished tonight.

 

[Ireth]

No worries, Nim. Life happens. ^^

 

[tbgg]

When my character, Elannor, meets everyone, she's going to come across the camp everyone is returning to before they get back. She likes to "acquire" things, and I'm wondering if any/everyone would allow her to "acquire" something of theirs at the camp. (Don't worry, prove yourself friendly and she'll give it back.)

 

[Ireth]

Rikhard doesn't have much in his possession at all, so he's probably not a good target. His most valuable possession is a family heirloom which he wears all the time so others can't take it from him. Just so you know, if Elannor ever spots said heirloom and plans to steal it, Rikhard WILL steal it back. One way or another. He's already had to do so once before, from an evil pirate captain.

Unless, in theory, Elannor is willing to give it back if he asks nicely (or pleads urgently if necessary).

 

[tbgg]

If you read her profile (and I saw you did, Ireth), she normally does give things back when asked nicely. I didn't put this in the profile, but she's like a childlike ADD kleptomaniac who needs a certain amount of watching from her friends. She often doesn't take things because she needs them, but because she finds them interesting (and she finds lots of things that way). I figure that trait can get the group into some fun scrapes!

 

[Nimue]

One interesting point from earlier in the rp is that it's been established that the party's bags have been spelled by Farrun against theft--there's a charm to shock a thief, keep the bags intact, & alert Farrun, basically. However, this only covers the general supplies, things that are stored in the waggon. Something being worn or stored in a personal knapsack (up to interpretation--you guys can decide whether or not your character's stuff was all in the waggon when Farrun spelled it) wouldn't be covered by it. So yeah, up to you!

Farrun isn't carrying a whole lot, and the only "interesting" things would probably be his weapons. His other stuff he would've definitely spelled against theft.

Of course, Elannor is welcome to trip the spell! I can give you details about the effects of it, if you like. It's rather likely that she would, going for the obvious target, unless she's intent on picking pockets. Could be interesting if that happens while Farrun is in Ilstenford. He'll be driven to distraction at some point, I'm sure.

 

[tbgg]

Well, Elannor tends to "acquire" things that fit into her pouches, so unless it's something fairly small like a sling or dagger that she could wad put in there, weapons won't actually be that interesting to her. And you have to understand...if she found a sack of diamonds and a potato that looked like the moon and had to choose only one of them to "acquire", she might actually find the potato more interesting, given that the diamonds all kinda look alike. On the other hand, if the sack of diamonds had some fancy embroidery on it, she might grab that because she found the sack interesting and not because it had diamonds in it. For her to take a diamond, there would have to be something interesting about it besides its value - maybe a unique sparkle or cut. So we're dealing with a very quirky little thief here.

Let's see if anyone else has a knapsack not in the waggon that they wouldn't mind letting her pilfer. If not, she can trigger the trap while Farrun is in Ilstenford.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Addison has a starmetal globe in her purse. No, not a likeness of the planet... it's a shock trap, which you know if you read the whole thing. But it's probably prettier than a shiny potato, and likely something Elannor has never seen before. (There's also a charred half of a shocker, which Addison should probably throw away.) If she gets that out of Addy's purse and gets caught, well... if Addison catches her in the act (Huntress, believably alert, though less than usual on this night so also believably to preoccupied), she'll likely not zap Elannor if she cooperates. If not, well, the lightning is usually nonlethal.

 

[DMThaane]

Loke has a few things (elven rings on his fingers, elven locket, blackened steel dragon pin) but it would be almost impossible to take anything he was wearing. Attempting to slip the rings would probably only net a sprained wrist but having a go at the locket would go very badly. The sling in his saddlebags, any of the travelling food he brought, or his personal coins stash would be easier targets but none of that is unique or interesting.

Incidentally, Loke would be a very bad target to steal from. He's watchful, somewhat standoffish, distrustful of strangers, and he's a experienced warrior with crazy hair and dragon tattoos who's armed to the teeth.

 

[tbgg]

But it's probably prettier than a shiny potato, and likely something Elannor has never seen before. (There's also a charred half of a shocker, which Addison should probably throw away.)

Elannor would definitely find the shocker interesting, and maybe the charred half-shocker, too. I don't see that as being a good choice for her to take on their first meeting, because Elannor wouldn't have any chance to see it first and think Ooh, shiny! unless maybe she were to see Addy move it from one place to another, and then she might try to grab it while everyone was sleeping.

Thing is, I'm really liking the idea of having her try to take it at some point AFTER the first meeting and get shocked by it. If you read her profile, Elannor doesn't always show appropriate caution, and trying to "acquire" the shocker and getting shocked strikes me as a good opportunity
a) for the gods to try to pound more caution into her head.
b) to show a couple of different aspects of her character.

 

[tbgg]

Hey Legendary:

If Addy doesn't want the charred half-shocker, can she give it to Elannor at some point? Or maybe Addy can throw it away in a place where Elannor can pick it up? She'll stuff it away in her pouches, and it seems to me like maybe it could be useful later - maybe the party meets someone for whom the starmetal or one of the components that creates the lightning has some value, and then Elannor can go frantically searching through her pouches looking for it and all the while some danger is drawing nearer to the party.

It's just a thought, anyway...

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I suppose it could work. Addison is able to control how much lightning comes from her axe, but I think the shocker needs to release all lightning once opened. So far, Addison has only redirected lightning, making it lethal to a single target but also destroying the device.

Addy's kinda moody because she just killed people for the first time. She's no stranger to combat, but has never had to end a human life herself. When she's back to her old self, I think she'd be willing to part with her broken shocker. (Also, I won't keep her moody for so long. It's no fun!)

 

[tbgg]

Incidentally, Loke would be a very bad target to steal from. He's watchful, somewhat standoffish, distrustful of strangers, and he's a experienced warrior with crazy hair and dragon tattoos who's armed to the teeth.

Thaane:

Elannor has some experience of her own - she successfully stole from Dwarven bullies in her childhood and Yvalhyn guards in her teens, so she's not intimidated by the idea of stealing from an experienced soldier. And as a thief, she's stealthier than the average joe (or jill). As to the locket, Elannor's only 4'2", so she's not likely to be able to reach it unless Loke is unconscious or sleeping. It seems like something she might want to try taking from him if he were in either of those states, but not right away, and if he asked her nicely to give it back, she would.

Something I think would be fun to do with someone writing a warrior-type character who was willing would be to let Elannor take an item from him and lead him on a merry goose chase trying to get it back, lobbing some of her creative insults at him while he makes a lot of threats and curses at her and doesn't get anywhere. Elannor is extremely sensitive about being called a thief - she TRULY doesn't see herself as one and if someone calls her one, she won't give their item back unless they apologize for calling her a thief, she believes it's a sincere apology, AND they ask nicely to have the item back. She's pretty adamant about that. As my idea goes, ToughWarriorGuy finally asks nicely for the item, but doesn't apologize, so Elannor refuses to give it back. A female member of the party finally intervenes, respectfully asks Elannor for the item, and with much grumbling about ToughWarriorGuy's lack of apology, Elannor finally gives it to the female, who returns it to ToughWarriorGuy. That might be frustrating for ToughWarriorGuy, but it would also be much more dramatically interesting than her grabbing something and just getting caught, especially for Elannor's introduction to the party. Later on, I think it would be only fair that if there were some moment where Elannor's antics (and she's definitely prone to them) might cause unneeded problems for the party, that I allow ToughWarriorGuy to pro-actively put her into some kind of hold while she squirms and protests and struggles to get free.

Loke might not be the right character for that - I think it depends on where you see his story arc going. I can tell you that of all the characters in this story, I've found Loke to be the most difficult to like - partly because he IS so stand-offish, and partly because male warrior characters are, in general, harder for me to relate to, unless, like Farrun, they have something like a dragon companion to help make them more accessible. I feel like I can't get a bead on what Loke's about as a person, though you've thrown in a few interesting hints - I very much want to know the story behind the locket, because I sense some important info about Loke as a person there. If the party were to be betrayed from within, Loke is the one I'd tend to initially suspect, because he's so stand-offish that I have to question whether he's emotionally invested in the party's quest. I can also tell you that when Loke went and danced like a crazy man at the faire, there was a moment where Addy said she liked (or respected?) him MORE for doing that. I can tell you that as a reader, I had exactly the same reaction to him in that moment. And I can tell you why - it's because he finally unbent enough to stop being so standoffish and came and showed a little humanity. So if your aim for Loke is for him to wind up as a sympathetic hero, letting Elannor get the better of him in the immediate term (and keeping her in check at a crucial moment later on) would be one way to help him make that transition. On the other hand, if his foray outside of his usual self-imposed stand-offishness at the dance was only a momentary lapse and he needs to remain a more distant character for story reasons, that's okay too.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

That was Bendalitz who was dancing crazily.

 

[Nimue]

Haha, I'm getting the inkling that you are a planner? The thing I've found about these thought-out scenarios in rp is that sometimes they make it into play, and sometimes they don't, and sometimes they make it in but turn out completely different than you had imagined. In this case, I'm not sure that either of the strictly-speaking warrior types would react to theft by chasing & cursing, etc. Farrun doesn't lose his temper too easily, and I'm imagining Loke would also react a little more coolly and with a more efficient threat of harm (as a guess). Actually, she might get the best rise out of Einan? Or Addy, maybe. Definitely depends on people's mood. It's far from impossible to tick Farrun off, but he wouldn't have any issue with apologizing for insults. Maybe if she got him truly angry (ie if it was a situation where the party was in danger) he'd break out the practical sorcery.

And LS is right, it was Bendalitz that broke out the flail-dancing (and existentialism) at the festival, though Loke also had his moment of silliness, thanks to a lot of mead and some tolerant NPCs.

Aaaand what I really should be doing is finishing that post so we actually have a scene to mess with...

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I think the trick to planning is to be flexible. I find that planning is good preparation, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned if you let the characters be themselves.

I planned to have Addison be completely crushed by dwelling on her first human kills. Chrissy's conversation led to a question about erasing memories, and that led Addison to stop trying to evade thoughts of what she'd done. Now I think she'll deal with it. It won't be easy, but she should be able to shoot straight whether at man or beast.