Dannylonglegs

When was that? The Po Brothers? ~Insectoid Aristocrat

With a gust of wind, Sylph Solanum blew into the room. He walked towards his lonely corner of the Hall, and almost sat down, but then noticed a new Quest on the board. He stood back up and signed up for Quest 69. "Hopefully this'll be easy. I'd love to blow through a quest after such a hard one-day-war."

Thanks for running such a long Arena battle WBD! Sorry my evil scheme made it so. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Thanks! If I hadn't had awesome, intelligent players like you all, I might have even had to make Fleur spit out that she was actually Ave! Allot of the plot worked off so well because you all caught my clues and applied them! Thanks again, and I hope Fleur doesn't come off as a Villain Sue. She's reckless, but she's also willing to bail-out excess water if she's on a sinking ship, which, as a result of the party's actions, she was. Also, I hope everyone enjoys the name of the quest in hindsight. I definitely agree that I screwed up that last battle. I overcompensated for Amorith's power, and then bad luck screwed you all over. I'm sorry you guys expended so many consumables on that. I didn't mess with any of the rolls at all. I thought I'd balanced it well enough at the time, but then the rolls were consistently bad. In hindsight, I don't think it was well-balanced, but your rolls still sucked. Thanks! I'm glad no one got suspicious when I asked what loot everyone wanted. Also, I'm glad you liked the theme's balance. I like puns, references and alliteration, as anyone who observes my actions over a period of time might observe, so I'm glad I didn't flood the feel with them. (I'll admit, I was worried the newt TF scene would break the serious feel, but I'm glad you don't think it did. Although, I wouldn't mind. It was hysterical.) As a rule, I tried to make the plot-important fights as serious as the particular characters were (Marty was a serious jerk who was seriously obsessed with himself and intent on screwing over the PCs who defeated him, and Fleur was a serious depressed heartless loveless tragic villain who would stop at nothing to get money or die trying, but conversely, the Po Brothers don't take their actions really seriously, and really only care about each-other, and therefore snarked the place up rather heavily and came off as semi-comedic sociopaths. However when the cards were down and they realized they were in actual trouble, they took you guys seriously.) and then I let the optional fights get more puns and joke/reference characters to keep them interesting. I understand exactly how you feel, having a silent mysterious "Anti-Hero" figure as my own character. I'm glad you stepped up to the plate, and I feel that those moments from you really played out well, particularly chopping off the heads when Karie's semi-innocence and lack of jadedness wouldn't let her. I feel like Dreyrugr really developed well during the Quest, so I hope to see where he goes from here. I'm sure I didn't rig it! that was just crazy bad luck. Just like those three 6s in a row. You can't make rolls like that up! I'm glad that Dreyrugr is taking what he's experienced in battle and applying it to his class choice then. It does seem realistic. Thanks! I'd be more than glad to host you again! You really helped solve the mystery on the Quest. I had hoped someone would look around. I really wanted to foreshadow the Arsonist so that he wouldn't seem like an big behind-pull. And I'm glad you put your reward monies to good use. You could probably sell that scroll to someone (Flipz or me-when-I-get-more-dough) too. I think that one should walk away from a quest with at-least 200 gold for restocking and buying equipment. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Thanks! Those complaints are all extremely understandable, and actually, I share the same opinions. The time transpired like this: each battle was around 5 minutes and it took about 5 minutes to get from x to x and had nothing to do with IRL time. Sorry if that diminished the fun to an extent. As I've never tried a timed event like this in my time as a DM, I had little experience with it, and now I know it can be relatively hard to make enjoyable. I don't anticipate making another time-mechanic-dependent Quest again. I actually employed them for the most part to help add to the open world effect and add fairness to catching Fleur, but I think I implemented them somewhat poorly and perhaps should have emphasized the narrative more and less the mechanic of it (or vice versa and been 100% clear on what was what). I also agree with the loot and I wondered if someone was going to call me out on that. I used weapons instead of gold for the guards to add realism, but I think, again, that maybe just giving potions and gold would have been smarter. The first crossbow add-on was actually something of a mistake on my part. the Silver crossbow was supposed to be intrinsically better at targeting were-folk, but I forgot to include that. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Ooh! Or a plague! Plagues are terrifying! ~Insectoid Aristocrat

As an add-on, I'll provide a little insight on how your actions influenced the plot, and maybe a bit more NPC/plot analysis: Had you disbelieved Marty's lie about the Po Brothers, you would have gotten a chance to fight Fleur (or, rather, Abe) allot earlier. If you had gone to the Po Brothers right after Marty, and had gotten all their info and gone to the Market and waited, you would have encountered Abe making a deal with some cloth merchants. She would have called a mob of peasants (different from the mob you could have fought) You would have gotten a chance to fight her at level nine w/out her luck for a few turns as she tried to get out of dodge. She would then have betrayed Dice as she ran away, leaving him for you to find as you chased her. Since you believed Marty, despite my attempts to indicate he was lying (His insistence that he never lied, his dying cockiness, the fact that he thought for a second before answering you. He's a lying bastard!), You accessed the side quest of hunting down the Po Brothers. In terms of necessity to Fleur's scheme, Marty was a big part, as the rumour spreader, but in terms of involvement, he wasn't as involved as the Po Brothers or Dice, both of whom knew (to some degree) who was behind it and what the scheme was. Had you not killed him, and let him meet up with Fleur, he would have brought another 5000 to the table, allowing Fleur to buy another 30,000 worth of cloth. Had you actually killed the Po Brothers, I'd have been sad. Good thing you let them go! They were second only to Fleur in terms of plot-involvement, having been the ones in charge of executing it for the most part. Father Caine (who's name rather obviously meant he was a bad-guy) was simply a greedy clergyman in charge of "The People's Church" in the Church district. He was likely brought into the fold by Fleur, who would have recognized him as a reliably dirty scoundrel due to being in charge of the church's finances for 6 years. As a dirty coward and an obnoxious, corrupt bigot, he was set-up to die. Had h gotten to join Fleur, he would have supplied her with that 5000 you all returned to Sister Lucile. On a side-note, I tried to make most of the characters you had to kill rather reprehensible. I always find it semi-unrealistic when you have to kill innocent guards to advance the plot.The guards (and very-much the dock workers) at the end that you had to fight were part of the moral dilemma of chasing Fleur. Fortunately for your morals she made it a "fight or get locked away in prison or killed" decision instead of a "kill these guards or I escape" decision. You still killed those poor dock-workers though. The optional battles were there to build up the climax mostly and to show the effects of Fleur's heartless bid for money. All of the combats were related to the chaos that she unleashed by exploiting the politics of Brendenton for her benefit. The riots caused the prison break (although it's possible that would have happened anyways because of the dopplegangsters) and of course the riot battle you all skipped. It also caused the were-raven mobsters to violently assault the fisher's guild--exploiting the surrounding chaos to mask their crimes--and the mad wizard's bid attempt at revenge--he would not have attempted to overthrow the lord with his undead army had the town not been revolting. The were-newt battle actually didn't have much to do with Fleur . And obviously, the two criminals attacking Che Qi were related to Fleur twice over in that they were targeting on of Fleur's sellers and they wouldn't be attacking him if the city weren't in chaos. Your choices in the optional battles also affected the final battle. Had you not fought any of them, you'd have caught Fleur with her pants down: the 'reward' for sentencing Che Qi to death and letting those murderers and mad mages run free. She would be level 9 and not lucky, still on the docks as the ship loaded. You would probably have killed her in a curb-stomp battle. had you only fought 1, it would be similar. 2 or 3 battles would have resulted in a battle similar to the one you got, but with a longer escape timer. I gave you the battle for 4, and I think it was a bit broken in two ways. At that point she was supposed to have a high likelihood of escape, but I still think that it didn't work out how I would have liked it. I should have had a very strong battle for you to deal with on the ground with high-hp guards (100-200) (and maybe 1 or 2 more of them) and higher SP on the dockworkers who provided 1 round less flex-time, and then had an easier battle in the ship with slightly lower HP minions (70-200) and a slower join time. I wanted you guys to get to Hell's heart. Had you done 5 battles, the get on time would have been impossible. Maybe you'd have two rounds without the dock workers. With 6+ fights you would have gotten to the dock only for Fleur to be sailing away. You would have gotten a chance to talk with her and gotten a motive rant, but she would have been the unfought. Captain Quint, aside from being an obvious reference to Jaws, will also probably show up again. I think I'll take him the way of Ahab, and he'll lose his leg to the Great White Sharktopus at some point. I may have him employ Heroica to deal with some sea monsters, or if anyone else wants to host a quest like that, Quint's all yours. He doesn't have to be this world's Ahab though. He could just as easily be a humble badass sea monster hunter. The Arsonist was set up for the end, and even if you hadn't hesitated to fight the criminals, he would have had an escape timer or maybe just automatically escaped. In that respect, I'm glad you all hesitated. He would have been much bigger and badder had you not had such a disastrous encounter with Fleur (and had I not needed this over before my last final) so I hope that wasn't too anticlimactic. He probably should have been buffed. I was also hoping for a little more interaction between the Arsonist and Drake, considering I gave Drake some info on him because I felt like it was knowledge Drake would know due to his backstory. I'm not sure what I expected though. He was just a mad man with mad goals and a mad case of pyromania... It's a good thing you all killed him. As for the future of Fleur, she will show up again in at least two quests. At the moment, her organization, Beyland Enterprises consist of "Me, myself, and I" or, rather, Abe Beyland, Fleur Montesquieu, and several other aliases. This will change, and she'll gradually accrue actual business partners. For the moment though, she's smart enough to pull off her one-woman-business. If anyone wants to feature a corrupt corporate backer who's unrelated to the Houses, who could be portrayed in an unsympathetically negative light, Fleur's reckless, ruthless and willing to screw anyone over for money and power, with sights for the top and an insatiable apatite. She's above actual theft, but she's not above rigging the race or coincidentally investing in a theft occurring. Cookie for whomever can, in private, get the reference in her most commonly used last name. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Because the sheep are scum! ~Insectoid Aristocrat

And now I'll wrap it up with some talk about the PCs (the best part of the Quest)! (and maybe some talk about the plot and whatnot) Kintobor (Karie): You were awesome! Not only were you a fine party leader, but you were as active as myself, which might not be 100% healthy. Your ingenuitive approach to many of the challenges I pitted against you, and the fact that you really understood what was going on dispite the heavily convoluted plot, really improved the game. I'm very pleased I chose you to be the PL. Your subtle approach to dealing with the NPCs in the begining (and trying to seduce poor Vinny) made for excellent and rather realistic interactions, and you always managed to perform exquisite damage control for Drake's nonsense. Also, your decision to pickpocket Al made the battle with them much more interesting and really highlighted their personalities more! Also, your interaction with Nessa was one of the best parts of 62! I agree with Flipz that you two would make a hysterical couple. Your bickering and eventual warming-up made the quest 10 times better. Also, turning you into a Newt was great. Hilarity insued for sure. (and hopefully will continue to... ) Also, I must commend you on figuring out that Fleur and Ave were the same person. I'm pleased that someone caught onto that (Although, I actually thought that it would be Dreyrugr). I imagine that at one point Fleur was sort of similar to Karie, an innocent, freedom/fun-loving con woman, but that changed slightly when she fell in love with Dice, and then was torn to peices when "Dice died." She might even have gotten over all that and moved on, had she not then been forced into a loveless mariage with a businessman who couldn't see past his own nose... making her an obsessed, selfish, self-loathing, ambitious bundle of angst... All in all, you were a great addition to the team, and allot of fun! HerrJJ (Nessa): You were also Awesome! Many of the things I said about Kinto could be said about you too! Your interaction with the NPCs was great, and your interaction with Karie was fantastic as well. I worried that you would be frustrated with Karie taking the lead on many things when your character obviously wanted to be party leader, but Nessa took that frustration very well and your bickering with Karie made the Quest much funner! I'm interested to see how your story arch continues. I was initially unsure what to make of the two voices in your head, but now I can't wait to find out what happens with them. Will you ever get your gem back??? As far as character interactions go, yours were great, and I felt pretty bad that your attempt at subtlety was lost on the banker. Turning you into a Newt was also great, and the picture you supplied for that was just I liked your interactions with Dill the best I think, and that last question you asked him was perfect... he won't accept responsibility for Fleur's hatred though. Overall, you were Awesome! Vash the Stampede (Dreyrugr): Also Awesome! You interacted extremely well with the NPCs and always asked all the right questions! I feel that you understood what was going one most of the time, which was a joy. While you weren't a huge part of the bickering between Nessa and Karie, you still managed some great RP, and you were a pleasure to host for. Dreyrugr's character is interesting. I always like to see anti-heroes, and your character certainly fits into that category, and dispite his lack of goody-two-shoesiness, you still manage some biting remarks at Fleur, which was great! You actually surprised me with some of the things you remembered. I forgot that I'd given the Arsonist a wanted poster, and you certainly deserved that reward. I'm surprosed you went Black Knight after you seemed to be headed towards Assassin, so I think it'll be interesting to see where he goes from here. Overall, It was a pleasure to have you Legobodger (Amorith) You were great! I list your character as the chick, not because he's feminine or anything, but because he never got overly involved in the interparty bickering. He was a steadfast voice of reason throughout. I liked your character and his interaction with the NPCs, and I'm interested to see where he goes. You weren't as vocal as Nessa or Karie, but that doesn't mean you weren't a great addition to the party. Ballancing battles around your character was admittedly rather difficult, and it didn't help that you rolled a 1 almost every first round. And now I fear you might be a little too well protected with that cloak I gave you. I think you'd make a great Magic Knight with the tools you have, but I agree that character-wise, Sage seems the logical choice. XxlRocka (Drake) Drake was certainly interesting. you made several of the character interactions potentially hostile, and added some interesting dynamics to the Party. That's not to say I didn't enjoy hosting you. your character's quite interesting. Do you have plans for how you'll develop him? At the moment some of the references he makes seem somewhat confusing, so I'll be intested to see how they make sense with his character overall. Thanks for being a part of the Quest! ~Insectoid Aristocrat

No worries! Take your time. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Are we going to finish up this Arena battle anytime soon? ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Obviously XX. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Errata: (WIP) Map of Brendenton (Priceless) Spider Coin (worth 1 gp) Identifiable as a symbol of Mercutio by anyone who would know what that is. Otherwise the same as any other coin. Scroll of Newtity (Turns Target into a Newt. Target is minimized, all attacks become (Bite, usable by anyone, non-ranged, WP=Current highest WP item, *Poisoned*) (or Bite, Damage equal to Level. Deals *Poisoned* effect.) If target is an enemy, its Type becomes “Aquatic, Vermin,” Effect lasts one round if cast in combat, or about one minute (probably) out of combat) (those immune to minimization or those who are already Amphibians are immune.) (Costs 10 Ether) (Usable only by those who have been amphibians) Cloth can be sold to the market in Eubric for the stated price. Raven-Slayer Bolts (+3 to WP. of crossbow vs. werefolk (removable)) (Takes a turn to remove. Applied to a Crossbow) Newty Mag (+4 to WP of crossbow vs. Aquatic vermin (removable) (usable by ex-Amphibians only) (Takes a turn to remove. Applied to a Crossbow) Ranger's Cowl (SP: 2) (Headgear, usable by rangers only) Impervious Shield (SP: 5) (Grants immunity to Fire) (Imbued with a Ruby) Oil of Newtism (+4 to SP vs. Aquatic Vermin (usable by ex-Amphibians only)) (Applicable to an SP granting item) Tasteful Newt A delicious fried newt (Grants Blessed Effect) (Consumable) Writ of Service (Good at any blacksmith's store for a weapon upgrade) Crow-Claw Dagger (WP: 6, 50/50 chance to stun enemy on successful attack, Usable only by rogues) Gloves of the Undead Assassin (For every enemy the wearer kills, the wearer regains 5 HP, Usable by anyone, Handgear) Net (if used in combat, 1/3 chance to slow enemy, 1/3 chance to be useless, 1/3 chance slow self, lasts 3 rounds, retrievable) (If currently slowing an enemy or self, it cannot be retrieved until the slowed effect has worn off. Remediable (after remedy it becomes retrievable)) Scroll of Ice Armour Coats player’s armor in a layer of ice for one battle at the cost of 5 ether. Enemies have a 50/50 chance of being frozen(stunned) in place for the next round after player rolls damage or special damage. Damage and effects done by enemy are calculated before the freezing effect. Crow-Cursed Cloak (SP: 6 Suitable for Mages or Rogues) Newtralizer exactly like a neutralizer. It's just Newt flavored.

Alright NPC time! Yes, I will be using TVTropes for this. Craw Fee: He was not originally part of the Plot, but I needed to kill some time because I wasn't ready for you to move on, so I figured I'd foreshadow the rumour, and I liked the character so much that he became Marty's secondhand man. Also, I wanted to show Marty's tentacles a bit, to make it more realistic that he could spread the rumour so quickly. Marty: A self absorbed Jerkass. He was supposed to be at mini-boss level power, but amusingly enough, you guys creamed him. I really enjoyed playing for him, although I did worry that you would actually take his insults to heart. I really wanted you to hate him. The worse they are, the more satisfyingly they fall. At the time I was worried that he'd come off as too similar to Endgame's Apprentice. He really started the theme of appearances not being accurate. Hot Guys are Bastards, and The Informant (his Sin from the 7 is Pride) (Wrong Genre Savvy: he thought he was the Knowledge Broker) Lawrence Dice: He's a calm and collected traveling merchant. Based on Kraft Lawrence from Spice and Wolf. Yoro: She's a haughty woman who's Dice's traveling companion... She's got a non-plot-related secret. Based on Holo from Spice and Wolf. Don Ba: Obviously. The Po Brothers: I love these guys. They were a deadpan snarking pair of badasses named after their iconic items. They're hired killers with no problems killing for money, but they're not awful guys (although Al's a bit of a sadist... I could see him doing some good old cold-blooded torture). They're honourable thieves who know when they've been outclassed and they do love Each Other. I would love to see them again, but I have no current plans for them. As Mercenaries, they could work for anyone for the right cost. Those Two Bad Guys, Psychos for Hire (although they do have redeemable traits), mildly Red Al and Blue Ed, but certainly Birds of a Feather Fleur, Ave, Abe Beyland/Hinckwell: She's Dead. This was her last dance. She died in that storm. What lived on was the soulless Tragic Villain, having sacrificed any chances she had of being happy after years of mourning and resenting while married to someone incapable of showing affection. She did it all for Hate of Dill, Envy of Dice's happiness, and Greed to fill her hollow innards. She's not coming back. Three Aliases, One Character (And as a result...), So very much Pyrrhic Villainy, became Unfettered due to her Dark and Troubled Past and when it turned out that Rumours of Dice's Death were Greatly Exagerated and she saw his Travelling Companion Yoro, she began her Start of Darkness. (Greed, Wrath, and Envy) The Arsonist: Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, not to mention, a Pyromaniac and Axe Crazy to boot. Made for a lovely, though anticlimactic battle. ~Insectoid Aristrocrat

I agree wholeheartedly. While strictly speaking Fleur did fight, she was intended to be a non-action Big-Bad, and was only able to fight due to her buffs. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Ain't that the truth. Other than my Big Bad, my own quest had relatively few female characters, although, that's more to do with limited materials than anything. Ja Ba, Sister Lucile, That One Woman in that Crowd... ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Hmmm... ~';>5."`They're onto us Endgame! They must be Assimilated!-*/9^,`~ ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Conditional actions: Blind Alex, BR unless he's blind for more than two-three rounds, in which case, fire arrow, FR.

So it looks like I won't be able to get up the rest of the Analysis until tomorrow at the earliest, so feel free to post your thoughts on the Quest, 62ers (and anyone else who wants to). ~Insectoid Aristocrat

I concur. I may just get an account to help you guys. In the meantime though, someone needs to apply this trope to poor Karie. (Yes, even the period is a different one.) ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Yes, and I want to see her use that Scroll I gave her at-least once. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

She does claim to be the World's Greatest Pick-Pocket. I'll do more Analysis after I eat. Feel free to comment now if you want, Kinto. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

Before I start on battles fully, I'll talk about how I tried to work a skill challange in for each of the Class traits at my disposal. Given I had a Ranger, a mage, a knight, and two rogues, I had a nice distribution of skills. The Market Scene was supposed to challange diplomacy, but A. Drake never tried it, and B. I liked the RP that was going on, so that became less of a skill challange and more of a chance to RP. I think I liked what happened there. Since Flee isn't really useful outside of combat, that was a great chance for the savvy rogues to shine. The Maze served as a challange of A. getting through the maze, or B. using class skills to do so. I would have allowed the bridge production idea. I thought it was a good one. And, of course, the Ranger challange was speaking with the mice. (I did rush that a little, so, sorry again, HerrJJ). Battles: Since this was my first Quest, I made a few mistakes in terms of the balance of several of the battles. Overall, I think most of them were good, but a few were too easy or too hard, considering the narrative purpose they served. In hindsight, nearly all of the plot required fights featured joining combatants. 1. Facing the Face: My first combat! This was way too easy. I underestimated the true power of the dark side mages. Aside from that, I really enjoyed the banter in that combat. It finished too quickly though. I wanted Marty's villainous breakdown to be a slower descent. (and also I wanted the knife pun guy. ) To improve it, I would give everyone higher HP and increased the rate of combatants joining. 2. Cloak and Dagger: My Favorite fight (and my favorite NPCs)! It was ballanced quite well I think for the mini-boss fight it was meant to be. It took the right amount of time, and I got in the right amount of snark and exposition to flesh out the Po Brothers. Amusingly enough, The battle might not have been the same (or as good) if Karie hadn't pickpocketted Al. That was great! I don't think I'd change anything from this battle. The Optional Battles: These were all slightly less serious and more random than the plot demanded combats. 'Doesn't mean they weren't fun. 3. Jailbreak/Jailbirds: The Doplegangsters were a reference to Shadows and Draggy during Mafia, and I thought that was pretty funny. Again, I gave the mooks too little health, and Amorith killed them all on the first round. mechanically, the two doplegangsters were better matched than the Po Brothers, both of which had a fun dynamic. 4. The Nameless Riot Battle (I can't believe I forgot to give it a name. ): You skipped it. It was designed to require the use of bombs, which would have been interesting. 5. Mobster Mash: relatively generic Battle with some nice loot. You skipped it, so nothing to say there. 6. My Big Fat Greek Undeading: This battle turned out much more hillariously that I imagined it could have. What I thought was an innocent Monty Python reference sealed the Quest's place in history as having one of the funniest sequences of innuendos ever. Hopefully 69 can remove that splotch from my record (good luck). Mechanically, I think the battle worked out well (and hillariously), but the fact that I rolled 3 6s in a row was certainly interesting. 7. You litterally asked for it: This was a sort of consolidation prize for my mistakes in the maze, and it turned out better for you than it would have otherwise. Thinking back on it, this fight was actually a stronger version of the last fight to a degree. Mechanically, not much to complain about, it wasn't supposed to be very challanging. 8. Honour before Fortune: This was supposed to be a rather generic battle with reasonably strong enemies, but with the moral dillema of rescuing Che Qi or catching Fleur. You chose Che Qi. I think this battle might have been a little too strong for what it was, but it wasn't bad all-in-all. 9. My biggest mistake The Confrontation with Fleur a. Fight or Flight: This was way too easy, and if your rolls hadn't been absolute shit, you'd have creamed it. I should have lowered the amount of time each dock worker grants you to 1, and raised their healths. b. Live or Let Die: This was way too hard. I should have put the Calling all Crew to one every other round. c. Sink or Swim: You would have fought a baby Kraken. I was going to wait to see what happened to make Stats for it. 10: Burning Down the House: A fun little Giant Space Flea out of Nowhere that I had planned from the start to ensure that you had something to fight if you missed Fleur. I Nerfed him to hell after the disasterous battle with Fleur, so he might have been a bit anticlimactic. Sorry about that. ~Insectoid Aristocrat

What? That's just more convenient than me going back and changing my action depending on where Alex hides. ~Insectoid Aristocrat