Errant Road- discussion thread

For the Rules, Character Workshop, and other general discussion of the game.
Browncoat
Errant Scholar
Posts: 132
Joined: April 23rd, 2012, 8:00 am

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Browncoat »

I"m unclear on what tavern Angrist started a brawl in, it was never named
They kicked me out of the asylum. I miss the jello.
User avatar
Jack Rothwell
Teller of Tales
Posts: 2405
Joined: June 17th, 2010, 7:35 am
Location: Liverpool, England

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Quick question, how come the Eisenfaust are suddenly wanting to take down the Black Guards ships? I thought they weren't concerned about them unless they were death-dealing top of the line monsters.
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Alberich »

Now that they have finally been alerted to just how huge a threat the Ralkin/Black Guards are, and how incredibly fast their power is growing, I should think the Eisenfaust want to wipe out Ralkin everything, down to and including any mangy little Ralkin dogs that may be around.

(I think Graybeard's point was that, if they'd had those top-of-the-line monsters, the Eisenfaust would've been alerted well before the PC's showed up. In fact, assuming the Eisenfaust aren't blind, I should think they were already on alert and planning something, and the new information pushed them over the line from "alerted" to "alarmed.")
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Graybeard »

Alberich wrote: (I think Graybeard's point was that, if they'd had those top-of-the-line monsters, the Eisenfaust would've been alerted well before the PC's showed up. In fact, assuming the Eisenfaust aren't blind, I should think they were already on alert and planning something, and the new information pushed them over the line from "alerted" to "alarmed.")
Correct.

The Eisenfaust are actually being portrayed a little out of character here. For one thing, they are generally highly competent, at least the upper echelon. This line --
Random Eisenfaust hood wrote:"I guess it's the same in any world," he said. "You take that great ship you got there, you swim with the sharks. The shnooks' tubs, they sleep with the fishes."
-- would have been improbable coming from anyone far enough up the organization to be making significant decisions. For another, the Eisenfaust are considerably more magically adept than the Gewehr, as can be seen from the sequence where they were introduced. (This is consistent with something Poe said once, about Farrel eagerly scooping up what magic they could from Tsuiraku.) If they wanted the Ralkin ships fireballed, they'd have ample resources to do it themselves, stealthily and without relying on an unknown quantity (that's the polite word...) like Anna-Lisa.

We can play this for laughs, and I'll try to create a few with Anna-Lisa, but playing it straight, it would be unlikely for an assault on the Ralkin ships to develop out of this exchange, for several reasons. That doesn't mean it couldn't be happening in the background. On the other hand, they are also subtle enough to mount a false-flag operation, and that produces some possibilities here. Let's see what we can do with that.
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
User avatar
Jack Rothwell
Teller of Tales
Posts: 2405
Joined: June 17th, 2010, 7:35 am
Location: Liverpool, England

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Quick question. Does anyone know any info about the relationship (if any) between the people in charge of Port Lorrel and the elven community?
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Alberich »

In Jargalan's adventures I assumed there weren't any -- from what we've seen the Rangers in Farrel simply go around killing half-elves without asking anyone's permission, and since the "gangs" that run the country aren't world powers, there's no percentage in the elves opening diplomatic relations with them. (If they trade for food and raw materials, they'd probably get those from Veracia and the NC; if they lost enough arrogance to trade for manufactured goods, they'd probably do that with Tsuiraku.)

Tsuiraku gets a full time ambassador. Veracia gets ambassadors who show up and leave for parts unknown, but even the Patriarch doesn't know how they come and go, or where to. The Eisenfaust are so far down the scale from Veracia I'd be surprised if they get anything.
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Graybeard »

Jack Rothwell wrote:Quick question. Does anyone know any info about the relationship (if any) between the people in charge of Port Lorrel and the elven community?
The answer could be whatever we want it to be; it's free-form, after all. However, most consistent with the behavior of both elves and Farrelites would be that there is no such relationship. Lorrel is a long way from the elven homelands, and the elves have no compelling reason to keep track of what's happening in Farrel the way they do with Veracia and Tsuiraku. Presumably they would have some kind of (no doubt arrogant...) diplomatic interactions with the country of Farrel and what passes for its national government, but that is headquartered in Isabel, not Farrel, as far as we know. Truthfully, we just don't know that much about Farrel from Errant Story itself, so we're making a lot of this up as we go along, but Isabel does appear to be the most important city in the country, so let's just call it the capital and go from there.
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Alberich »

However, most consistent with the behavior of both elves and Farrelites would be that there is no such relationship.

Now that I think of it, that also makes the most sense with regard to the Ralkins' behavior as well - if Aleron was hoping to build up his power without being stopped by the elves, he'd naturally go to the place where the elves don't have a diplomatic (or any other) presence.
User avatar
Jack Rothwell
Teller of Tales
Posts: 2405
Joined: June 17th, 2010, 7:35 am
Location: Liverpool, England

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Ok, so, group splitting up in the Pupper Masters thread, opinions/thoughts/ideas on this?
Alberich
Noble Knight Protector
Posts: 1892
Joined: October 5th, 2008, 9:58 am

Re: Errant Road- discussion thread

Post by Alberich »

Sure. Tamina knows what a Matriarch is and is a sweet soul who wouldn't want to see Port Lorrel torn up by the thing, so she'd stay. She might even know something about how to kill them.

Jargalan doesn't give a damn about the good people of Port Lorrel, or any kind of people anywhere as far as I can tell, and he wants to kill the errant's riflemen before they get a chance to recharge, and besides that stop him from raising another army of too-too powerful allies, and on top of that he's very fast (esp. if he uses mana-assisted jumps), so he's on pursuit.

He'd probably call on Drusia to join him, but I think Drusia would stay with Tamina, both because she's Tamina and because Tamina would be squealing out to her in Kobold that we need to kill this right now! She might, however, call on Angrist to join Jargalan.

She might do this, and Angrist might go, for three reasons: (1) because every human he knocks out with his nonlethal attacks is someone Jargalan won't kill with his very, very non-nonlethal attacks, (2) he's the fastest runner in the group and the best at pursuit, and (3) who knows, if they run into real trouble and Jargalan is exhausted or badly wounded, there might just be a chance to kill the son of a bitch.

Udo will probably stay with Tamina. She's Tamina and, besides, Udo isn't exactly a track star. And a couple of riflemen died in the initial assault, so there might even be a weapon Udo can use here.

Khoo's been going along with wherever most people go, and since most people love Tamina and hate Jargalan, I think he'd stay - besides which I don't think he has the motivation to pursue into the unknown.

You asked for thoughts; those are mine. (You've already told me by PM that the group splitting up here is part of "the plan" for this adventure so I won't even raise the issue of whether the good guys should concentrate their forces instead of splitting up.)
Post Reply