Let's Go Steal a Dungeon (MotBM OOC/Planning)

Off bay half a billion years, but otherwise yes, exactly.

I think yeah, Alabaster probably knew at least Sarnai before the heist, they don't seem quite like the type to be recruited by reputation in the way that Lyriae might be.

 

...man, how the fuck did I mess up that badly. I know the Cretaceous period ended ~65 mya, and I likewise know that Wiwaxia were Cambrian. and I'm not super clear on geological periods, but I definitely know that the Cambrian predates the Cretaceous. by a lot. lemme try again. if I'm not completely mistaken, Wiwaxia were early-mid Cambrian, which is... 500 mya? ish? if that's right, see, I know that. what the hell, Past Me. (if you're wondering why I have heard of Wiwaxia when I don't know when the Cambrian was, it's 'cause I looked them up a while back when you mentioned your username was a kind of prehistoric animal, so yeah. what species is the lil guy in your icon, by the way?)

...does Alabaster use they/them pronouns? I just realized that I've been thinking of them (and probably referring to them) as male, which upon further reflection is not supported by any evidence whatsoever. my brain apparently thinks that Alabaster is Indubitably a male name??? oops. sorry, Alabaster. also, I'm curious, since I hadn't really thought about it—what do you mean exactly when you say Lyriae might be recruited by reputation?

 

'Wiwaxia sp.' really, because there's not sufficient detail in it to distinguish to species. I usually go for W. foliosa places Wiwaxia is taken because W. corrugata is usually taken too and anyways it sounds better.

I meant that if you're gonna do an art heist, the person who the theives guild has been trying and failing to take out for years looks like a good person to tap

#i am willing to abandon things like proper capitalization and punctuation in casual typed conversation #but hell will freeze over before i fail to correctly format a scientific name

 

Liron's reputation is for blowing up her research lab in increasingly interesting ways. bc of that, all of her spellbooks and notes have been thoroughly fireproofed. and waterproofed, after one particularly notable explosion

 

it makes me very happy that there are places on the internet where both "Wiwaxia" and "W. corrugata" are taken. like, whatever you are interested in, rest assured that someone else out there is probably into it too, and probably more than you are.

hmm, good point! I guess I didn't think she'd be widely known outside her city, and I was assuming that the area in which the party's adventuring is fairly far from there. also, she isn't actually famous for anything terribly applicable to an art heist, unless your art heist strategy is, like, "seduce the guards into deactivating the security" or something. but I definitely like the idea! if everyone thinks it's feasible I think it would be cool to have her be independently recruited to the party.

 

Everyone should be able to contribute something to the heist! Just off the top of my head:
Lyriae: info-gathering (blueprints, watch schedules, etc.) from off-duty guards and locksmiths; Athletics expertise; color spray, sleep, and mage hand legerdemain; City Secrets for getaway route
Liron: locate object, dispel magic, levitate
Stella: Probably the most directly applicable: Stealth + thieves' tools + 20 strength/16 dexterity solves a LOT of problems
Sarnai: History expertise (actually knowing that the painting exists and what it's worth); info-gathering
Alabaster: speak with animals (pigeon reconnaissance), misty step

I should also mention that this isn't, like, stealing from a museum. You've looted the private collection of a deeply nasty nobleman. That should assuage any doubts from the Good members of the party.

 

Sounds like we provide leverage against colossal jackasses. Sarnai also offers deadpan lies (+9 deception woot)

Still need to decide the other two languages... elvish? what else?

 

Lyriae's +10 on Persuasion checks, no joke. she can talk the party's way out of anything. she's also +7 stealth, proficient with thieves' tools, and 18 Dex, so she can definitely contribute to the actual burglary part.

 

let's go steal a dungeon

 

Realized a characterization thing earlier, with my sense of Sarnai's relationship with her parents and that high deception skill...

She totally pretended to be a wizard to her family/neighbors for at least several months. Had a book filled with spells, spent time peering over it in the morning, demonstrated that she could cast spells... Not sure yet when or why the lie ended.

 

Stella would offer her skills at Intimidation for dealing with colossal jackasses too, albeit less deadpan and more very overt punching threats. And stabbing threats. And just a lot of angry threats in general.

Also, question: I know there is a mage's school, but is there a Colosseum or a similar fighting arena-style pit in the city? I was considering having her a former Gladiator who recently earned/bought her freedom or escaped, but I can work with another background if that's more suiting to the campaign?

 

@missoyashirou That's absolutely fine. It's a megadungeon -- I think it's not a spoiler to say that most of the campaign will take place in the megadungeon and so the outside world is loosely defined enough that players can pretty much do as they like (within the D&D paradigm of heroic-fantasy-mashup).

 

Let's get this party started

 

couple quick logistical questions: how should we make OOC comments? in this thread, or in the other thread with some kinda distinguishing markings? what tense and person should our IC posts be in? and how long would you say a typical post should be? (also, your prologue still has a [roll d8 to determine phrase] in it. not sure if that's directed at the players, or?)

 

OOC comments: if they're lengthy, put 'em in this thread, but if it's just a clarifying question about the environment or a couple of dice rolls, you can put them under a spoiler in an IC post.

I'm used to present-tense third-person as in "Lyriae stabs him."

the d8 was just me being cheeky and indicating that I'd randomly determined the phase of the moon. Most of the time when I roll on a random table I won't actually tell you.

 

@swirlingflight @Wiwaxia @thegrimsqueaker @missoyashirou it seems like we're getting started with the IC stuff, so I think it's high time we hashed out our characters' prior relationships to each other. I for one do not want to have to figure out what relationship someone has with Lyriae from what they say to her and respond accordingly. relationships that I think have been established so far are as follows:

• Liron and Sarnai went to the same wizarding college and presumably met there and have since kept in touch.
• Alabaster "probably knows at least Sarnai" from before the heist; no other details of their acquaintance have been specified.
• if this sounds like a good idea to everybody, Lyriae was specifically recruited by a preexisting group for the heist and did not know anyone before the heist-planning. (this could be changed if someone thinks their character would be likely to be acquainted with Lyriae.)

so thus far Stella's relationship to the group has not been clarified, and I think that even the characters with established preexisting relationships should clarify beforehand what kind of relationship it is. it might be helpful if people could do a quick rundown of how their character met the other four characters and what they think of each of them/what their interactions are usually like? don't feel obligated to, though, that's just a discussion.

also, @swirlingflight's the only one thus far who has responded to my plea for 5 gp to get a herbalism kit for Lyriae, and they said they'd chip in but couldn't pay all of it. anyone else have a couple gp to spare? healing potions are probably going to be very important in this campaign.

and finally, just because I am paranoid, I would like to go through the players' and characters' pronouns one more time. please tell me if I've got yours/your character's wrong!

Frood: he/him
Wiwaxia & Alabaster: they/them & they/them
missoyashirou & Stella: she/her & she/her (also, @missoyashirou, do you have a nickname you'd prefer to be called by? your username as is is pretty long)
swirlingflight & Sarnai: they/them & she/her
thegrimsqueaker & Liron: they/them & she/her (@thegrimsqueaker, do you have a preferred nickname?)
me & Lyriae: he/him & she/her (call me eP or Eso if you'd like)

 

can confirm that i (swirl or sf or swirlingflight) prefer they/them or she/her.

sarnai's straight-up she/her.
she knows liron from wizarding college [details to be hashed out as relevant]
she "probably knows alabaster" by at least running into each other in the competitive world of creating music
i'm cool with lyriae being hired specifically for being a Professional Thief, as opposed to these adventurers dabbling in thievery.
and i'm still willing to donate up to 2gp max toward the herbalism kit.

 

assuming my character has any gp, they'll chip in (what do I roll for this?)

Liron uses she or they pronouns, and isn't too picky about it (like me, tbh). for nicknames, they don't really have one besides "boom" among certain members of the faculty, and I go by grim, squeaks, or LE (but that one less since I got into homestuck ^^;;)

@swirlingflight should they have been acquaintances, or should Liron have had a reputation of some sort? (I'm assuming Sarnai's the one who recruited them)

 

If you took the automatic gear from your class and background, then one of those should include a money pouch with a given amount of gp in it.

A few of us opted to roll our money, which means we didn't get any of the automatic gear, but had to purchase it. (In my case, that may have been a mistake. I rolled all 1s. Oops.)

I agree that it should be one of those two! Not sure which of the two is best.

 

What Swirl said. Think it's from Sage in your case.