GURPS Banestorm redux

Culture
282

Yeah, but as Sasha himself said those guards chasing Hayu were way out of town which is not normal, and unlikely to be for any totally legit purpose. And on top of that y’all killed one of their own.
It’s not going to be guards coming to make an arrest and put the offenders on trial, they’re not going to care about “self-defence”.

It’s also not about getting through town, it’s about said guards and elven assassins not being able to pick random townsfolk and say “You seen a beardless dwarf, a goblin, another dwarf and some humans who look like [discription]” and have the reply be “Oh that lot, weird bunch they were. Saw them down the docks talking to Dishonest Al about hiring a ship.” Then trundling over to the docks and asking where we went. Rinse and repeat until they catch up to us.

The elves at least, being the campaign bad-guys, are going to find us at somepoint because GM. But there’s no point in making it easy.

As for the horse that where the people with the good lying skills do something like this;

Liar one “Hey stablemaster, I found this horse with a brand wandering around about yay-far out of town*, wounded and all saddled up, and am turning it in like a good citizen.”

Liar two " I just happened to be passing by, completely unrelated to Liar one there, and overheard you talking about a branded horse. Let’s have a look, whoa I recognise that mark. Those people offer a reward for their missing horses, especially if they turn up fully saddled minus the rider. I’m heading to [place that groups from] anyway, I’ll give you [twice horse value] as your share of the reward I’ll get when I take it in, Liar one."

L1 “Sweet, but can you make it quick I have to leave immediately for reasons” L2 “Shit, I don’t have enough on me. Stay right there while I go get the rest from my friend/room I just checked into/other” runs off.

L1 "Look stablemaster, I really, really need to go. How about you give me [1.5x horse value], I’ll leave it with you and you’ll make an easy [.5 horse value].

Hamster wheel turns in stablemaster’s head L2 was really quick to offer [2x horse value] I could totally negotiate for even more money.
Stablemaster " Sure." – impatient sucker, can’t even haggle----

end scene.

  • Yay-far being somewhere around where the fight with the guards took place
283

Re: the horse
Sasha’s somewhat painfully honest so it’s best to do that sort of thing away from him. It’s not that he’s against lying per se, he’s just really bad at it.

Re: sneaking/disguise
I’m not sure what you could do to make him less noticeable. Given that

the trading post is not walled. It’s just an inn (with attached stables), some cattleyards and the docks. The terrain is flat and clear;

I’m not seeing much that needs sneaking through.

We could send Hayu and/or you in to book passage and the rest of us join when it’s ready to go.

If you really want him to participate in the disguise plan, frame it as a demand of Fate that he must endure. He’s very big on Fate having tied them together so this is the way an unscrupulous person can manipulate him. The downside is that he will then consider you to be part of Fate’s plan as well.

284

I have had Thwip try to appeal to Sashas sense of not wanting to put a goblin in a hole

285

It is really hard to come up with a plausible excuse for a successful disguise roll in Sasha’s case, without a fake beard which we don’t have. And I don’t particularly want to have to come up with one - best I got a this point is scarf/face covering + Helmet = bog standard dwarf at a glance, or trying to make him look like the Peter Dinklage type dwarf rather than the fantasy race kind. But the second one isn’t exactly any less noticeable in this situation.

That’s why Eoin asked if he could sneak in the first post the disguises were brought up in. But Sasha never answered, so Eoin had to assume he couldn’t sneak and make the best of it until Sasha vigorously objected . (I also genuinely don’t know if Sasha is any good at Stealth)

Speaking of which…

Just means it won’t take long to get through, there’s still people there. Keeping out of sight even if it’s just by basically quickly ducking through town to jump on the already lined-up boat is still going to need a stealth roll to avoid them seeing you. Which I’d really prefer they didn’t.

I don’t care how Sasha does it. I’m just trying to convince you to explicitly tell the GM he is doing something to avoid being spotted, or at least not letting them get a clear look from close enough to see he’s clean-shaven. Otherwise the GM will assume you’re just strolling on through.

It’s like how Daaksyde and William_George apparently didn’t explicitly say they kept the probably enchanted with containment/anti-detection spells box the ring came in, so Wanderfound ruled they’d tossed it.

286

It was too hard for Thwip to swallow the box.

Anyway, between Sasha’s mad monk vibe and Ranar’s heavy armory, I figure they’d both pass for hired mercenaries/ bodyguards for a Goblin courier carrying a fancy sword or two for a collector.

Which reminds me, how well known are the Haddaton upper class?

287

Shame, I get the impression he could do with a few more square meals

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289

Thanks folks, make sure to tip your waitresses. I’ll be here all week.

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290

Here? Not well, apart from the top echelon like Prince Crivelli. Even with the Prince, the locals would recognise the name but not the face. A visit from the ruler of Cardiel would be a major international event with a lot of hoopla, though.

You could probably get away with claiming to be in the employ of a Cardien noble, but you’re all a bit too scruffy to pass as nobility yourselves.

291

Yup.

There is a potential risk of the staff at the inn demanding to know where their horses went. There is a potential risk that the horsemen chasing Hayu might have alerted the trading post to guard for fugitives. There is a potential risk that someone may recognise the horse’s brand or take alarm at the wound.

Apart from that, it’s all clear. If you approach from the riverbank and are quick about it, you could probably get on board a ship without the staff at the inn noticing. Doing it without the horse would make that much easier. Hiding the weaponry probably wouldn’t hurt, either.

292

I was thinking more like “I have a delivery for Sir Cowflop, noted collector of things.” if asked by those with authority.

Or maybe invoking the name of some minor celebrity bishop or priest?

Though I agree with the get-a-move-on idea

293

To be blunt: the trading post is just a trading post, but your GM has interesting things planned for Hadaton. :slight_smile:

294

I thought we were all ready to pull off our daring A-Team like mission?

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Things the GM needs to know before proceeding:

  • Are you all going with the get-on-a-boat ASAP plan?

  • Are you trying to take the horse with you?

  • If not, what are you doing with it?

“Dump the horse, get on a boat and go” I can do immediately.

Anything involving selling the horse etc requires me to know specifics about what people are actually going to do, not just what they might do (for which several mutually-contradictory suggestions have been mentioned).

297

Right, the horse.
I was picturing this place all wrong, there’s a lot less people about than I thought so the con is out.

If there’s no objections, disguises and fancy weapon prep here where no-one is watching closely, before the dash for a boat.

If we dump the horse here it’ll just get found, so once the disguises and weapons are sorted here
Eoin will take it to the stable master with a story about finding it wandering near where the skirmish happened.
He’ll either just hand it over, or try for as much money as he can quickly negotiate for it. Depending on what people of Yrrth would generally find less suspicious. Then join the others on the boat to Hadaton.

But, if there are objections just drop whatever part of that is an issue. I’m pretty much good with whatever gets the game moving again.

Edit: Actuallly, bugger that let’s dump it and go to get this train rolling again.

298

Agreed. I think Thwip and Ranar can cover the beggars? Let’s do that

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299

Time to work out what you plan on doing once you reach Hadaton. And the chance for some roleplaying posts on the narrative thread as y’all get to know one another.

300

EDIT:

I decided to pass the buck instead. :stuck_out_tongue:

301

Google translate has just told me that I mentally mispronounced Eabd’s name the entire time he was in the party.

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