HT Player DS Character Name Type Status/Notes Sex -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- R1.John Haight.......HY..Arawn.............Druid .Normal/Alfar .. Ma --.Tobie Bonahoom....YY..Fremea............Sidh....Normal/Faerry.. Fe W3.Mark Murtha.......HN..Kell..............Trader..Normal/Human....Ma W2R2.David Sanders.....HN..Kiet.Sunan........Acrobat Normal/Human ..Ma R4.Wout Broere.......YY..Unali.............Ninja...Normal/Human ..Fe R3 Panthera..............Pyandalgor........Hunter..Normal/Human....Ma W3R4.Alex Koponen......YY..Z'leyra...........Healer..Normal/Human ..Fe --.Fukishtu.NEwsome......Npc...............Chief...Normal/Human....Ma --.Lucria.Cegra..........Npc...............Hunter..Normal/Human....Ma Animals: Corona [Eagle] Z'leyra Game Web Site - http:/nrgcomputers.com/pbem/ Public posts/actions to pnpgm@list.powersandperils.org (mailing list) Private emails (not public actions) to pnpgm@comcast.net Game Update #61 sequence (file #452) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Admin Notes: None. ---------------------------------------------------------------- [Recap] [None] ------------------------------------------------------------ [New Stuff] [Decalis 24th, 1634TH] [Kell's IBT] * Kiet's IBT [Decalis 25th] [Morning - Cholan's Tavern] The group meets up together now that everyone is back in Sivas. The debate on journey options continues for hours. But Z'leyra is being more restrictive on her needs this time. Mainly due to the issue of food and water. But Kiet just sits hack not really worried about such things for himself or his horse. [4:30 pm - North Sivas] Kiet plans to do some spells and commune with the spirits. But doing so in the city clouds things to him. His master always taught him to actually in nature to commune with nature. So the hills around Sivas are a great choice. In the south there are too many clusters of farms and homes. In the west there is no real good hills. In the east it is a dangerous side of town. So the best is north of the city. So Kiet heads to the docks and the hills in that area. There is a place that teenagers use for night fun but during the day it is clear so he chooses that hill. It I is a great place to see the sun go down and up as well. While Arawn is the heavy prayer person in the group Kiet does some small chanting and meditations as he collects rocks for a focus circle. It is not needed for the spells but it is said to allow a focus for the gods. A virtual campfire a good could commune with a person and parlay. Once he is in a state of solemn contemplation Kiet casts his spells. First he purifies the circle with magic. Then he calls for the sky spirits to teach him some information. Next he forms a pact with the air elementals so he could learn more knowledge. The wind blows through his hair and clothing making him cold but it seems to make his blood run as he feels the powers of the air guardians all around him. Then he asks his question on learning. Finally Kiet sits on the hill and watches the sun set. Soon teens would be coming for love. But he watches ships dock and leave. He watches the flight of gulls as if in some great hive of the world's nervous system. Kiet realizes that people are just so small in this great world. Only a small bump in the great scheme of things. This is why folks like him and his friends must help the world. Climans, flying castles and ships and the Vong have been threats recently. What will come next? Why can't it just be a bad merchant with bad teeth instead of some great power or being? Give him a simple beggar who tries to kill the king compared to Ezam the vampire helping to control the Zen'da with Vong like control pills. A bit after the sun sets the first teens a couple around 15 or 16 climbs the hill. They both see Kiet and glare at the old man who sits there. Kiet gets the idea and heads to Z'leyra's place for the night. [Decalis 26th] [Morning] Kell is off shopping so Kiet enters the workshop with permission from Z'leyra to make a new silver token. Kiet needs to learn blacksmithing or even silversmith to do these things well. Maybe later he'll learn those skills. The only skill prepared to help him is his jeweler skill and that's not quite the same in forging. But making a simple round token is easier when a coinsmith only needs a circle template. But Kiet knows to make anything more complex will be difficult to impossible. Kiet finishes and trims the new silver token. He repeats this and does 3 more for a total of 4 new tokens. [11:15 am] Kiet leaves the manor to go do some shopping and a bit of lunch. He spends most of the afternoon going through the various markets and exploring. He enters some gem shops and looks for worthless gems to buy The dealer is a bit confused as the garbage is not much on demand. He sells those bad gems for the peasants. But Kiet explains he can practice on the bunch of them for his own skills. The dealer nods and then offers a batch of gems. He shows a box of 12 worthless gems but does say once he puts them in cheap jewelry he can at least make 20 copper from the bunch. But with overtime making the items he might get 30 copper from the poor peasants. So Kiet haggles for that range. Kiet doesn't understand why these gems being worthless are that high but figures even a dealer can sell garbage if dressed up nicely. Kiet knows the dealer does have to make some return of his investment. Finally Kiet pays 22 copper which is the lowest the dealer can do. Kiet adds a high quality medium sapphire gem to his box from the shop. The dealer charges 14 copper for it and Kiet knows that's probably half of what its valued. But a customer came in the shop and the dealer didn't have time to haggle it higher. Kiet knows that any of these gems can't be used for magic but they can be used for practice. [Decalis 27th] Kiet continues his shopping spree in town. He looks for any good winter survival gear as well as more gems. Most shops discard the worthless gems but he does find some more options that are cheap. Of course the dealer tries to sell him high quality expensive gems worth a good week's visit to a Inn. But Kiet declines and confuses the dealers almost to the point of enjoyment. After lunch Kiet notices he is being followed. He is no great city survivalist but even he can tell he is being followed. There is plenty of noise. Finally after a half hour Kiet turns around and yells at the horse to stop following him. The horse with a very cheap saddle and rope seems to like Kiet. After the 3rd shop the horse tries to nudge up against the acrobat. But Kiet tells him to leave But the horse continues to follow the acrobat through streets and markets. Folks just figure he is Kiet's horse and does not bother him. Though they find the dangling rope leads show that Kiet is too lazy to lead the horse. An hour later annoyed, Kiet checks the horse for marks but finds nothing. The old horse seems to be a simple horse from the plains. Kiet finally grabs the rope leads and finds a city guard. He hands the horse over to the guard. Kiet walks away wondering why the horse likes him. For the horse his master was a farmer from the east who came to town and got drunk. The farmer now robbed of his boots and coins by boys spends the next few hours looking into the late evening hours. [Decalis 28th] Kiet collects two of the new tokens he made and places some spells on them. He first places a ward on the coin to activate from a verbal command. He then casts a sustenance spell upon the coin and locks the ward in place. He asks Kell to watch the spells to ensure at least if he can sense if the spells worked or not. He places the wards on two of the four coins. The token could feed 2 adult males with a bit left over or Fremea for over 2 weeks. So Kiet is happy to create such useful things rather than magical toys that collect dust. [2:14 pm] Kiet is doing more shopping in town for more winter supplies.. He buys a warm blanket for his horse. He is told that one dealer has light blankets weight wise but as warm as heavy ones. So he finds that dealer. Kiet uses the excuse after lunch to visit the ranch he was where he met the seamstress. The rancher explains that most horses are barned so blankets are just for a barn. But maybe one day they'll make custom fit blankets that wrap around a horse. His daughter has been working on that for some time and trying to make it cost effective. After the ranch visit he is walking down a street when he sees 7 men and women dressed in Bahmotin style clothing it looks like. They are arguing and hollering about some merchant who has a evil eye who is trying to sell a elixir that will cure all woes. Kiet is not amazed by the demand for such so called cures. But the evil eye thing scares most peasants. In Ticasi you would probably never see this. Education is the way to improve things. In most times the evil eye is nothing more than a scar or a sagging eyelid or even a odd pigment. But peasants see it and run away like cats in the rain. [Decalis 29th] Kiet spends the morning doing more shopping. His goal today is a tarp for his horse. Most in the city do not use them as they have barns or overhangs by homes. But on the cold plains it might make some difference. Kiet finally finds one that is suitable. It is a green and brown tarp. Dealer says some hunters use it for dogs or a horse. But it is a bit expensive at 10 copper but worth it. It is a lean-to tiki style tarp that will fit over a horse with 3 triangle points for place retractable poles in the ground. Kiet realizes the poles themselves are the most expensive part since specially built. Though if exposed to weather and such they are not as durable compared to full normal iron style tent poles. Kiet returns for lunch at the manor as the cook seems to like him - well his wife does but the cook is oblivious. Kiet does not want to cause trouble but the cook did promise some original Lemasan meal he learned about. For the rest of the afternoon and into the evening Kiet practices his jeweler skills on the worthless gems. [Decalis 30th - Janaq 1st] For the next 3 days Kiet practices his jeweler skill at the manor and odes little leaving the grounds. Kaylle loans him a book in Katai on jeweler skill. Kiet finds the style from Katai is like the great gem Teos. But Katai sees gems and jewelry more as functional. In the west they tend to be more for decoration and status. [Janaq 2nd] Arawn invites Kiet to join Kell learning from him the art of jewel crafting at the library. While Kiet is far more experienced, Kell is not. So Kiet is shown some tricks on cutting gems. [Janaq 3rd] Kell is not being taught today so Kiet learns from his book and himself the art of jewel craft. [Janaq 4th] For the next few days Kiet joins Kell learning from Arawn the use of jeweler. As Kiet is heading back to the manor late afternoon he is wearing only a set of warm clothing. In the city it is not practical to wear chain mail. Same thing to not bring his javelins or shield. But he certainly would carry his daggers. [5:17 pm] As Kiet heads down a side street, just this very morning just after lunch Kell was attacked by a gang. So Kiet is cautious. Kiet even walks in the middle of the street to avoid the bushes and such along the road. This set of streets there is no or light traffic as its residential homes. But as Kiet passes a nice two story home 3 youths jump out from behind a bush and is 10 feet away They demand his nice boots should be theirs. Kiet refuses as the nice boots are a gift. Plus they have smaller feet. The boys draw long knives and approach. Kiet raises a hand and points it at the bush they were just by and it goes up in flames. The boys startled look to the skies for that stray lightning and see nothing. The boys are not afraid by Kiet at least but from a storm. First two swing daggers but Kiet dodges deftly and the third misses entirely. Kiet thrusts his own dagger into the third man's upper chest doing 4 points of damage. The three boys thrust again at Kiet. First missing by a good foot. The other two do get close but Kiet ducks and weaves to avoid the blows. Kiet twists and dives using a move he saw Unali do and stabs the first boy in the upper left chest killing him instantly. Kiet raises his arm to flame one more but the boys turn and run away. Kiet could toast one but it would be not self defense at this point so lets the boys flee. Kiet checks the dead boy and finds he is around 19 or 20. Not a boy but not a man yet. He finds no coins or anything of value and tosses the rusty knife away. Kiet leaves the body and doesn't care to find a city guard to explain. If questioned he'll give his case but he doesn't want to waste that time now. Kiet wonders what is going on in this city with gangs attacking hapless citizens twice in one day. [Janaq 5th - Janaq 6th] Kiet and Kell continue learning or practicing their jeweler skill with Arawn at the library. [Janaq 7thh] Today Kiet prepares his gear for the next day's travel. [Afternoon] Kiet returns to the lover's hill and does the same set of spells he did when he got home. He gains knowledge from the spirits and watches a sailboat race from afar. [3:31 pm] Kiet is heading back from the hill when he enters a warehouse area with light traffic. Suddenly 4 youths come running up behind him. One says they killed his friend and Kiet will die. Kiet turns around and sees 8 more coming from the other side of the street. Then Kiet turns left and sees a half dozen more. Kiet suddenly feels outnumbered. He can't bluff this time or fight. He counts 21 thugs surrounding him. Kiet realizes the oldest in his early 30s must be the leader and raises his hand to flame the guy. The guy screams as his ring burns the leader to a crisp. The twenty others do hesitate but it gave time for Kiet to activate his boots. Kiet runs between three who grasp for him but do not catch him. Soon a chase is on with 20 chasing poor Kiet. But Kiet's magical boots are twice as fast as these kids. Kiet turns the corner of a alley and enters. He then activates his jump spell from the boots and jumps to the second story window ledge. He grabs the windowsill as he hears the kids coming. But he activates the spell again and jumps across the alley to the nearby roof and leaps onto the roof some 22 feet away. Kiet lands with a tumble and then runs to a side ladder to prepare to leave. The kids confused begin to scour the streets but do not look inside warehouses as they seem to be locked or with workers. Soon the thugs give up and move away. Kiet descends when he spots a patrol of 3 city guards and decides to walk back further south with them. He suspects he was followed or at least watched but is given a ride in a wagon by a farmer. Kiet watches behind and unless the thugs are on horses knows he has lost them. To ensure he ducks into a tavern for a few drinks and watches the door. Then leaves out the back happy that he has eluded the gang. He wonders if he should warn the others like Kell but since he'll be gone for a few weeks maybe a month the gang might just give up entirely. Near the manor he waits some distance away and sees no one around then enters the manor. Not wanting some angry gang storming the manor. That would be good for Z'leyra's hospitality. [8:07 pm - Z'leyra's manor] At the manor the cook explains dinner will be late and will be light. He doesn't explain why but it seems some big secret. Kell is in the workshop finishing up his new helmet when Kiet notices Cholan and a few others enter the manor and move swiftly inside. Cholan explains and Kiet grins. A tired Kell exits the workshop and is told by the manor guard that he should clean off first before going inside. The Mistress needs an audience in the dining area. Confused Kell does so but doesn't know why Z'leyra needs to be so format tonight. Kell enters the manor and heads to the dining hall and notices the hallway is dim with no candles lit. He enters the hall and notices a single figure with back turned sitting down in a chair. Kell enters and thinks it is Z'leyra. Kell steps inside and ensures his tunic is clean and looks for a candle when suddenly he hears - "surprise!" Kell whirls around looking for a weapon when he sees at the open doorway a group. They rush in with lit candles and begin to swarm Kell. Kell hears "Happy birthday!" Kell groans as he didn't know anyone knew his birthday was a few days ago on the 3rd. As the room is lit up with candles he is shocked to see some of the party there now with him but also folks he has not seen in a long time. Cholan is standing nearby with a wide grin with that mustache of his. Cholan says, "a little birdy told me it was your birthday. It is short notice and a bit late. But this surprise party was my idea. I invited 3 of your friends from Ba'ru. I knew you were sad not going to Ba'ru so I bought some here. I asked Damon to fetch them and they arrived just a few hours ago. Damon will take them back on his ship back up the river when you leave." Kell stands there for the first time in his merchant heart unable to speak any words. Kell sees his sister! Emili de Yunn Ko'Tho. She looks to be also a half elf and in early 20s. She is smiling and holding a bottle of Ba'ru fine wine. Kell looks to see his best friend - Kranus Aaron Ki Morash in his late 20s and a pure human. He stands like he is a warrior but holds nothing but dagger on his belt. Kell glances to Kiet who is now his best friend but realizes he can have two. He notices Kiet grinning as well. Then Kell sees another old friend - Daisy June Sherms about same age as his best friend. She is a pure human and stands in a bright red tunic. She is holding a book that kell will learn is her gift. A book on Ba'ru metal crafting history. Kell is sad to see no family other than his sister but he is beaming. Before he speaks the cook rushes in with plates of Ba'ru sausage stew which is one of Kell's favorites. The party lasts for hours as they share stories and drink a lot of booze. Z'leyra hopes they will be sober to leave tomorrow but she plans to leave in the afternoon so should allow them to get coherent. Actions? Comments? Next Update....Monday?? GM: Kiet's IBT was easy compared to most. But his gear will take time. Not because he has tons he does not. But because its spread over several versions of sheets which is partially my fault. :< So hope to finish that this weekend and start Z'ls IBT next week. I added Kell's party as I noticed his birthday in his sheet and realized I forgot to do something about it. So it was fun to add for Kiet's IBT. Not sure who party wise can be there until I get your IBT done but it will be Jan 7 8- pm so will try to work it in your IBTs. Still have many missing IBTs not turned in. :< GM: Sheets from stone age to computer age. When I started this pbem it was not 1999. But I actually did a few games in the '80s on my BBS (Bulletin Board System). Back then VGA was new and everyone had a simple text editor which could do ascii. Thus that was the common format and thus the easy format. Frankly I liked that format since it was fast to edit and search. But now we have a couple who have sheets in spreadsheets. This is fine but it has pros and cons. Pros: 1. Easy math allowing sheet to update states 2. Allows macros if needed 3. Efficient in terms of the math work Cons: 1. Takes longer to load up each sheet rather than a simple editor 2. Doing a half dozen sheets at once means loading various tabs/windows. While I could just use a simple 2 strokes and load up a sheet. So managing more than 1 sheet is more difficult. 3. Searching for certain things in long sheets take longer in a simple spreadsheet rather than a text file so a simple find is a bit easier. IMHO. 4. Not everyone may have access to a spreadsheet program. Though openoffice and such is free. I think I'll look back at this issue as Kell had his spells in a sheet and Kiet has gear. So I had to do tweaks to get things done. I was very good at spreadsheets 20 years ago but now not so I'll have to learn the software on doing the math again and come up with a sheet that works to my standards. If I leave text files it will be slower and that will be a factor time wise in updates. I do realize that the 'lines' in the text files which were readable back long ago by 90% of editors are now only readable with 10% (unless you know the editor). So it looks like junk in most editors (though for me its fine). I am willing to reconsider the spreadsheet option but I'd like some votes. So let me know what you would like Text, Spreadsheet or other. Keep in mind in some doc format like pdf or rtf is even harder since you edit something and that info gets garbled unless you know how to use said editors and its not a common method in terms of user experience. Which format would you like your sheet? Do you have access to spreadsheet program? I could even strip out the lines and make it purely text but of course that would lose the 'form' (ie how it actually looks like an actual character sheet. I could with some effort even do HTML format but I'd have to take time to format the common sheet but it would not do math for us. I tend to also see issue with spreadsheet dealing with pnp math. Ie pnp math says RU but their round up is not the actual math for some odd reason. I've seen a 4.4 round up to 5 when in actual math it is 4.5-4.99 to 5. So that alone would be a tweak to take in account. So let me know I'll consider these changes and finally enter the modern age if you guys desire it. Majority will rule here. GM: * Expenses Expense Price Notes Token material - 35 CC For tokens (4) Worthless Gems - 32 CC Practice Sapphire gem - 14 CC Practice Other expenses - 51 CC Total - 132 CC * Items made: Item Notes Silver tokens (4) 2 Magical Worthless Gems (17) For Jeweler practice Sapphire Gem (1) High quality, Sapphire Gem medium size * Experience Spell/Skill MEP CEP Expertise Notes Elemental Powers 28 - 14 Fighting Dagger - 26 4 x2 Jeweler - - 21 +2 ELs Knowledge 50 - 20 x2 +12 Expertise Purification 24 - 8 x2 Sky Knowledge 96 - 32 x2 +15 Expertise Sustenance 8 - 4 x2 Ward Pact 120 - 60 x2 Total 503 26 +1 MEL!!!! GM: IBT Details: [Dec 25 - Jan 7 (Leave Jan 8)] Player IBT Sent in Processed Arawn Yes [#4] - Fremea No - Kell Yes Completed Kiet Yes -Need to work on Gear Unali No - Pyan No - Z'leyra Yes [#3] - Chief Yes Yes lucria Yes Yes GM: Distances: (to remind myself later) Sivas to Village by Land: Path Hexes Distance Sivas to Maren [Road] 12 240 miles Maren to Cholchara [Road] 9 180 miles Road to Marentia Fort 3.5 70 miles Option-to Ba'ru City 3 60 miles Fort to Village [Plain] 21 420 miles Option: Ba'ru to Village 23 460 miles Total: 910-950Miles depending on Ba'ru visit Sivas to Village by water River to Village 31 620 miles River to Village 5 100 miles Total: 720 Miles Village to Kameran border (roughly) Zen'da Plains to Border 43 860 miles These are rough estimates and I may be off a few hexes. These are various options. So let's say ship wagon/horses by barge up river. So let's assume a simple barge doing 10-20 miles per day. Might even do more with good winds. Let's assume 15 on average. That's 40 days. Ok. So shipping ahead of time may not be a good option. :) How about going to Ba'ru and getting supplies there? Wagons? Horses? That is the closest large city to the village. If prepare is done at start of IBT and say a person ships those items (wagon/horses from Ba'ru) to village then would need only cross 460 miles. At 25 per day would be 19 days. Almost in the IBT time period. As GM I'm only trying to cover options. You guys have to do some serious logistics to decide. Mainly the horses and/or wagon/food. To fit within the 2 weeks. Above there are some option as well. Chion if in town could be swayed to help as he could probably teleport 2-3 wagons in one jump.