Palathadric

Brilliant!

I think Sandy said they could still keep their reputation with the other houses since they'd be, sort of, supporting undercover. Not sure if this is just wishful thinking, though. I do recall Sandy mentioning something like that somewhere.

Quest 69 should have won an award for biggest crackpot team ever. Was Erik the only one with his head screwed on? Of course, perhaps Dreyrugr did, but he was a vampire so that automatically makes him a crackpot.

Hmm...that is a class I might be able to get on board with.

Is it crueler to tell you or to leave you guessing? I did.

I look up, surprised that the first person approaching me was not immediately recognizable to me. "Perhaps, perhaps not. Then again, what does it matter in the greater scheme of things." I look around for Thormy.

Brilliant work! I didn't really get a chance to vote for as many categories as I would have liked to, but all is well that ends well and this has been brilliant. Great work, all! Thanks for putting this all together WBD and thanks to all those who were involved. Next time, I insist, we have a "best traitor" category so Pretzel can win something.

There are no Expert Classes that one can flow from Cleric into. Seriously, Necromancer is, sort of, but becoming a Necromancer, seems to me, to be a major roleplaying decision. The same with Minstrel. I think once we start getting into the 40s then people will start going High Cleric, but yeah, the Expert Classes aren't exactly a golden age for Cleric-based builds.

I walk aimlessly through the streets of Eubric, my life feeling void and meaningless in light of recent happenings. I try to reason things over in my head, explain away my failings, list my good deeds...it doesn't help. My mind wanders to Heroica Hall, but I can't bring myself to go back. What can I possibly have to go back to? I am ruined as far as Heroica is concerned. I seriously contemplate leaving, going back, never setting my feet on Eubrican soil again... ...but just as those thoughts enter my mind, and my hand instinctively reaches into my bag of holding to pull out the exact number of coins needs to pay my fair on the next vessel out of Eubric, my hand feels something else instead, something that did not belong in my bag of holding. What in the world? I pull the item out to find Thormanil's Medal of Glory. I can't catch a break, can I? I think but not with those exact words. "The last thing I want to be known as is both a traitor and a thief. Perhaps I can steal into the hall and place the medal somewhere when no one is looking," I tell myself. Slowly, I make my way back to the hall, holding the medal out in front of me as if drawing power from it. Half stumbling, I enter the hall and look around. "I miss it already," I mumble.

Why do I feel that you're directing this at Pretzel?

Not taking into account the part where Pretzel already was a step ahead and purchased said broomstick.

That's why she quests with Pretzel, so she can borrow from his endless stream.

No love. No love.

No, Seriously? Ugh!

That just hurts.

Sorry about that Sandy! I know things were difficult for you, so I hardly blame you for how things turned out. I hope your move is working out alright.

Enemies who refuse to be converted by Pretzel are the worst!

Okay, I need to add my centimes on 135. I just wanted to say, that when I saw that I was chosen for this quest to kill Baba, my heart kind of soared. It just felt like such a worthy quest for him with such an obvious “bad person” after the mess that was 127 (no offense Zepher! ) When I found out I was destined to be the traitor (not sure if my Wolfgang rep was the determining factor or if it was assigned to me randomly) I was a little disappointed. However, after thinking about it, it kind of made sense to me. Obviously, Baba is a really powerful mindflayer and this quest was never going to be easy and straightforward. I thought it would probably be bad sportsmanship to decline the role, because I was unwilling for Pretzel to be mindflayed, so I accepted the role. How bad could it be, right? Well, not that great in the end. I don’t think I am one who complains a lot about faults and things in quests, and especially not while the quest is on as I tend to assume that the QMs know what they’re doing and don’t want to be nagged consistently about little issues or worries of ours. But on this quest, I probably should have mentioned things to Sandy more. Obviously, Sandy can’t look at what he does from everyone’s perspective, so maybe it would have been good for me to do. Then again, I always feel it’s a bit like cheating for a player to “advise” the QM. Anyway, it did not take long for me to realize why I have always found reasons for Pretzel to go along with the party in other quests even when his actions seemed against what his character would do (Heck, he’s fought the Order Imperial twice now, and they are probably the organization he should like the most), I did not find myself enjoying the quest very much at all. Again, I must apologize to Sandy for not mentioning anything. I guess I just figured that the reason I didn’t enjoy the quest so much was because I had so much looked forward to putting down Baba beforehand. More importantly, though, it just felt weird interacting with any of the party members. I mean, Pretzel was being controlled by a freak so it just seemed impossible to have a meaningful conversation with anyone. Maybe I could have played it differently, but also not having my own agenda for Pretzel, stopped making the choice for my roleplaying being “what would Pretzel say at this point,” but “what would benefit Baba’s motives.” I think the NPCs could have been cool if Pretzel had gotten to interact with them in his right mind, especially Rastaban, considering that Pretzel has quite a respect for dragons and all that. However, as others pointed out, there were very few NPCs that we could interact with on any level throughout the quest. To top it off, our party seemed relatively quiet, but I suppose that can be expected without Pretzel spearheading the conversations and debates and with everyone focused on the seriousness of the mission. I guess I have to echo what Quarryman said in that the quest was far too battle heavy. I wonder if I, as the traitor, would have been able to enjoy it more if it had not been. I didn’t take the breaking of the Healing Staff very well either. I didn’t moan about it too loudly, but I think at that point I was already pretty frustrated. The rule of no “PVP” (I’m not sure when that changed or if I missed something as I got the impression it wouldn’t be allowed at all) made it difficult for Pretzel to have any influence on how things went. I mean, there are only so many things a player can do to make “stupid” choices without being obvious (and having Flipz pointing out how I could be making better use of my equipment ). I did what I could in trying to use less effective weapons on the creatures, not loan out my equipment, etc., and getting the heroes into battles, but there’s only so much one can do without resorting to PVP or being obvious. Regarding the Healing Staff, I was obviously using it so that Zaniah would die, I am just surprised nobody hollered about this before Sandy posted the results. The fact that Zaniah didn’t die and I lost the Healing Staff on top of it, bothered me a lot. Seriously, I had been hunting for a Healing Staff since after my first quest and would have bought it immediately had I had the money at the time (before it was even discovered how broken they were), and then mine gets destroyed without getting a chance to use it, but I suppose I am to blame there too, though again I was just trying to use what I could to influence the quest without being obvious. I couldn’t say “I pour potions into Zaniah’s throat and then accidently pour a venom inside as well.” The fact that I didn’t know that we were supposed to reject Syrma’s offer for being our guide, made me try to take action to prevent that, and the loss of the Healing Staff made me feel like I was being punished for trying to play my role, which already wasn’t that easy for me to play since, as both a player and as Pretzel, I really wanted to see the quest successful. I’m not sure what you had planned for the night if Pretzel hadn’t been on the first watch, as it would probably have been strange to only open a thread when he was, but I think it was done alright. I kind of liked having to “dispose” of Johon and get him distracted, but honestly as far as the story was concerned, I don’t see why Baba couldn’t have had one of her other emissaries ring the bell. I think somewhere around this point I began to believe that the party had been warned that there was a traitor and I worried that all my posts were…well…telling. I also do want to apologize for complaining about Nerwen and Namyrra’s strength. Honestly, though, with the strength of our party, even the Farfarello battle seemed to be complete walkover (maybe I am finally beginning to realize how enemies feel when they throw their best at heroes and are still rebuffed with ease ) and Namyrra was getting stronger after every battle. I knew that to have any chance against the party, I would have to knock her out, but that too was no easy feat considering her immunities. By the time we fell into the labyrinth, I just wanted to get things over with. I kind of wanted to see what lay in the other treasure chests, but I think I mainly just wanted to get the party to the demon so we could call it quits. Anyway, the labyrinth thing was interesting and at least provided me with something different to do. Again, I’d like to apologize for not having Pretzel attack sooner. At this point, I was frustrated with myself for not doing more to make Baba’s quest successful and I worried that if I would just come out as the traitor and throw the bombs that I would just be letting my player feelings override what I should have been doing as a PC under Baba’s control. Your trip made things difficult as well, because there was no way that I was going to post in thread that I’d throw a bomb and then have to wait a week for the opposing party to strategize as to how they could neutralize my damage. Looking back, you probably should have kept the initial ruling that Pretzel had to make his actions in thread, but if Pretzel were pulling out a bomb, it’s not like the party would suddenly think, “he’s going to blow us up.” I don’t know if I should have expected them to separate “player knowledge from character knowledge” either of if it would even apply in these circumstances. At the end of the day, I think that the battles were probably too easy. Others have said otherwise, and there were certain dangerous specials, but it’s not like the party was ever in serious danger until Pretzel intervened. What can I say though, our party was awesome! Of course, a harder battle may have just meant more a clean sweep for Pretzel. I probably have more to say, but not that comes to mind right now. I think a lot of the problems with this quest could have been prevented with better communication between the QM and the players, and I apologize for not doing my part, being the only player “in the know.” I wish I had done things a lot differently so we all could have had a more enjoyable experience. Sandy, I do appreciate your trying new things and keeping us on our toes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Trying new things is hit and miss most times. To the party, I felt really crumby betraying you all as a player and as a PC. I think if we had gone through this quest together then it would have been a really bonding experience for our PCs, even if we had failed. Now, I don't know, but probably not so much. I didn't really know that the mind controlling thing would reveal itself to the party when I betrayed them, so I felt pretty certain that I would have to retire Pretzel after this, because I just couldn’t see anyway that he could walk into the hall again after doing that. I think I might do otherwise now, though he would still hesitant. I really would love to quest with all of you again, especially Swils who I had never quested with before (that I remember ), since we didn’t get much of a chance to interact properly in this one. Of course, Nerwen is always great to quest with and Namyrra has to be one of the most terrifying heroes out there. PS: If I made some mistakes or portrayed things incorrectly, I apologize. No offense intended to anyone. If this quest did one thing, it certainly shattered Pretzel's belief in himself and his strength. Not even sure how to begin roleplaying for him right now.

Karie always seemed the dominant force.

And about everyone that shares his face.

As a player, I am drawn to the idea of Guts becoming king. It really just has seemed like his destiny since the beginning. As a PC, though, Pretzel hardly knows Guts and Guts would certainly not be one of the first he would give his support too.

To be fair, Sandy did initially state that I would have to post in thread unless I was manipulated by the clown. That's why I held up doing so for so long. I always was looking for a better time.

My gold should be 2205. Just noticed here it's at 953. Then I get 52 gold here, And then my gold goes to 105 here instead of 1005.

Lorcan and Umbra for King and Queen!

Sleep is underrated and extremely powerful. I think there are also fewer enemies that are immune to it. The thing is that the Scrolls of Sleep, Blindness, and Confusion (sometimes) all block free hits, which can be vital.