[[Sorry. Today was a day full of client work and yard work.]]

Brand's father looks confused and says slowly, "The sphere? ... Her magic orb was on my desk, and still is. What are you talking about, son?"

Brand smiles, "It's been a long night: so when, in this painfully slow process, did she take the time to discover how I was doing what I was doing? What could be seen in the magic orb, and where was I?"

[[Sorry. Today was a day full of client work and yard work.]]

No problem.

[[just checking, in the time she did this, she also identified the source of the spells as stones and not the gloves? ]]

[[No experience, I'm afraid.]]

"It was dark and I could see nothing," says Koric remembering. "It was after you left Fazal. Master Assam had explained to me that you were invisible, but that he could see you with his mage sight, and he was just expressing his surprise that you were not only somehow doing something impossible to sorcerers, but were also creating lots of mana somehow. At least I think that was what he said, you would have to ask him for the details."

Koric looks back down the corridor in response to a noise before continuing, "Then Madame Damass simply said, 'He has items concealed in his gloves. They look like multi-facetted stones.' Then, after a moment said something about never having heard of anything like them before."

Quote from phillberrie >>

[[No experience, I'm afraid.]]

"It was dark and I could see nothing," says Koric remembering. "It was after you left Fazal. Master Assam had explained to me that you were invisible, but that he could see you with his mage sight, and he was just expressing his surprise that you were not only somehow doing something impossible to sorcerers, but were also creating lots of mana somehow. At least I think that was what he said, you would have to ask him for the details."

Koric looks back down the corridor in response to a noise before continuing, "Then Madame Damass simply said, 'He has items concealed in his gloves. They look like multi-facetted stones.' Then, after a moment said something about never having heard of anything like them before."

"Well, that is disturbing news. I might need to speak to Assam after this is all over." Then he glances back towards the room, "As to Rawl, he could be highly incriminating given his past involvement, but is there some other matter at play here that means he needs to disappear?"

"Let me fill you in on some background," begins Koric. "Rawl has been my informer in the Donai Temple for a while and has provide good intelligence in the past. He came to me saying that he suspected that the Glory Rahni—who has just arrived in Constantine from New Nineveh—had something to do with the poisoning of the cistern in the Temple Ward."

Koric looks up the corridor again and then says, "His story checked out and also included information that implicated the Bank of Sorenden. The Bank stonewalled me when I approached them, and when Rawl told me that his superiors in the Temple weren't listening to his concerns, I decided to back his request to investigate the tunnel to find out what was going on, as I was suspicious as to why the Temple wasn't doing anything about the obvious threat to everyone's health from the poisoning of the water and the swarm of rats that had infested the tunnel."

"However, now that he's actually robbed the bank... As you might expect, his connection to me becomes... problematical, which is why I need him silenced."

Koric looks up the corridor again and then says,

[[ If this is in the direction AWAY from Sameena & co, then:]]

Brand retreats around a corner, skulks in shadows or whatever he can do, then leans in to speak in his father's ear and says "Keep speaking, but nod if there is something up the corridor that concerns you".

[[ Else: ]]

Brand nods, "Surely you can just say you knew he was up to no good, but needed to know what it was...so you gave him the rope to hang himself? The Temple will be eagre to cover up their part, I imagine. Or is there friction here I don't understand. You obviously know of Mannish."

[[ End if]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

Koric looks up the corridor again and then says,

[[ If this is in the direction AWAY from Sameena & co, then:]]

Brand retreats around a corner, skulks in shadows or whatever he can do, then leans in to speak in his father's ear and says "Keep speaking, but nod if there is something up the corridor that concerns you".

[[No.]]

[[ Else: ]]

Brand nods, "Surely you can just say you knew he was up to no good, but needed to know what it was...so you gave him the rope to hang himself? The Temple will be eagre to cover up their part, I imagine. Or is there friction here I don't understand. You obviously know of Mannish."

[[ End if]]

"Rawl is a handleader of the Donai Temple Guard," says Koric. "He may be a bully, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have friends in the Temple. However, of possibly greater concern is news getting to the Bank of Sorenden of my involvement in an action that resulted in a theft from their coffers. That could cause lots of political problems at home; my job is to protect such direct Sorendenese interests here in Constantine."

"After tonight, he probably has fewer friends at the temple. Attacking a Seeker is an unwise course of action, or so I surmise. What you say suggests that his entire team needs to be eliminated, since they were all briefed here, and all were presumably in on the theft (except, perhaps, the trapper)."

[[ Does Brand know they can talk to the dead? ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

"After tonight, he probably has fewer friends at the temple. Attacking a Seeker is an unwise course of action, or so I surmise. What you say suggests that his entire team needs to be eliminated, since they were all briefed here, and all were presumably in on the theft (except, perhaps, the trapper)."

[[ Does Brand know they can talk to the dead? ]]

[[Make a Religion check.]]

Religion: 12

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

Religion: 12

[[Brand does not know this. As far as he is aware, the Mithran pantheon mainly concern themselves with destroying the restless undead. You can make a roll for experience.]]

Religion XP: 22

"After tonight, he probably has fewer friends at the temple. Attacking a Seeker is an unwise course of action, or so I surmise. What you say suggests that his entire team needs to be eliminated, since they were all briefed here, and all were presumably in on the theft (except, perhaps, the trapper)."

[[ Does Koric know that they can talk to the dead? Obviously I wouldn't know, but it might be critical to his planning here. ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

Religion XP: 16

---

[[Add 5 experience points. I will also give you 45 experience points for the incident in the cistern.]]

"After tonight, he probably has fewer friends at the temple. Attacking a Seeker is an unwise course of action, or so I surmise. What you say suggests that his entire team needs to be eliminated, since they were all briefed here, and all were presumably in on the theft (except, perhaps, the trapper)."

[[ Does Koric know that they can talk to the dead? Obviously I wouldn't know, but it might be critical to his planning here. ]]

"Yes," says Koric, after a moment's consideration. "They should be silenced as well, I'm afraid. Can you do this?"

[[ Edit I just read this and it reads like a plea for more XP; it's not, it's just getting my head around Rawl etc.

Correct me if I am wrong here.

1. DnD 5e is designed around parties. The Seeker's sleep spell, while seriously powerful, would only take out 1-2 people normally, who would then be kicked awake. Assam's intervention nicely dealt with that.

2. Most of the online tools Ive looked at define an encounter by a 3rd level PC with 3 others of reasonable level as hard. This encounter had levels (probable) 3,2,1,1,1,1,1; making it insane to do anything but run..

3. Survival in a game balanced for parties, against an enemy group, pretty much requires being in a party, or having a substantial level difference. 3 half decent hits comes close to killing Brand on one round.

4. Assam's intervention notwithstanding, Brand is lucky to be alive.

5. My (guess) is Rawl is probably level 3 or 2, and his friends are probably 1.(no need to correct me here!)

6. Unlucky rolls attacking Rawl will kill Brand, even if he is invisible, and Rawl alone and asleep; Rawl is likely to have 2 or even 3 attacks per round.

7. Low levels with low hit points is a brutal part of any game.

Is this a vaguely reasonable interpretation of the world as DnD 5e makes it?]]

 [[ 45+5 XP added, new total: 1050 ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ Edit I just read this and it reads like a plea for more XP; it's not, it's just getting my head around Rawl etc.

Correct me if I am wrong here.

1. DnD 5e is designed around parties. The Seeker's sleep spell, while seriously powerful, would only take out 1-2 people normally, who would then be kicked awake. Assam's intervention nicely dealt with that.

[[All tabletop roleplaying is designed around parties. This forum-style play is also based around parties. However, play-by-post, which is more like I am trying to do here,  is oriented more toward individual play, and the setting has been modified to make this more viable. See the 'Non-Player Character' article in the 'Homebrew Rules' section on the world site to see how I treat zeroth level characters. Basically, a number of the people Brand has been interacting with so far are actually zeroth-level characters, including some of the spell casters.

Also, an average roll for the Seeker's sleep spell (rolling 5d8) would take out 2–3 characters using these rules, and more if any of them were Wizards or Sorcerers who only have d6s for hit dice.]]

2. Most of the online tools Ive looked at define an encounter by a 3rd level PC with 3 others of reasonable level as hard. This encounter had levels (probable) 3,2,1,1,1,1,1; making it insane to do anything but run..

[[While I agree that this would have been a hard encounter (especially considering the setting) if Brand were trying to fight the Rawl & co, or even the Seeker and his men, that was not Brand's mission, which is why he gained some experience beyond that given by skill-based experience rolls. Also, many of the people in the cistern were zeroth-level characters, which in this system makes them—not knock-overs—but nowhere near as competent with their weapons and skills as characters with a class.]]

3. Survival in a game balanced for parties, against an enemy group, pretty much requires being in a party, or having a substantial level difference. 3 half decent hits comes close to killing Brand on one round.

[[Normally I would agree with you, but his being Invisible would have made things a lot easier in a fight because most of the people in the cistern would have been attacking at disadvantage, especially against zeroth-level characters who don't have the to-hit bonuses of classed characters.

However, that's a little beside the point in this case. I play in a four-member party here on this forum and I can tell you with four players and one referee things take forever to do, so it's not something I want to start at the moment because of other commitments.]]

4. Assam's intervention notwithstanding, Brand is lucky to be alive.

[[That assumes that the Seeker would have killed Brand out of hand, which is unlikely considering his role in the Temple. Rawl on the other hand, might not have been so forgiving, but also wouldn't have had the Seeker's advantages.]]

5. My (guess) is Rawl is probably level 3 or 2, and his friends are probably 1.(no need to correct me here!)

6. Unlucky rolls attacking Rawl will kill Brand, even if he is invisible, and Rawl alone and asleep; Rawl is likely to have 2 or even 3 attacks per round.

[[Given the restricted environment of the tunnel, I suspect the same dangers would have applied even with a party. However, Brand's invisibility would have been a big advantage against Rawl and company, them not having anyone other than the trap finder with magic.]]

7. Low levels with low hit points is a brutal part of any game.

[[My preferred level of play actually. Relying on hit points to survive takes the thrill out of it for me.]]

Is this a vaguely reasonable interpretation of the world as DnD 5e makes it?]]

[[See my comments above about zeroth-level characters. Of the eleven characters Brand saw while in the cistern, there were only five that had levels in a class, and two of those had classes for plot reasons.]]

[[Good set of answers!

See the 'Non-Player Character' article in the 'Homebrew Rules'

Unfortunately I can't see that one, but I'm guessing it (and your later comments) explain your much earlier statement about the ability of the TK stone to kill people. At the time I said something about "killing the people Brand wants to kill", not really comprehending that his opponents were likely to be 0th level. My assumptio has always been in the 1-3 range, and the Seeker just confirmed that misapprehension.

Normally I would agree with you, but his being Invisible would have made things a lot easier in a fight because most of the people in the cistern would have been attacking at disadvantage, especially against zeroth-level characters who don't have the to-hit bonuses of classed characters.

While (dis)advantage is really nice, in a melee, unless he uses the greater power, he's visible to his enemy for an entire round: and with two groups of enemies in the cistern, he would have to time it carefully. His best bet might have been: (start invis), attack, disengage, run , (invis), move, ... rinse and repeat. With Greater, he'd just keep on attacking. But he'd want to be sure he controlled the fight and no more combatants arrived.

I play in a four-member party here on this forum and I can tell you with four players and one referee things take forever to do, so it's not something I want to start at the moment because of other commitments.

Yeah, I can imagine. I would find that unbearable, though the stress migh be reduced by having a 'team'.

7. Low levels with low hit points is a brutal part of any game.

[[My preferred level of play actually. Relying on hit points to survive takes the thrill out of it for me.]]

With your revised rules, it might well be fine. So long as statistics have a chance to win out (which it seemed to do with the fight against Vossel). A substantially reduced chance of instant death, allows you to try other tactics, or to bug out if necessary, which is what I find most fun, I think. Low-Mid-levels gives you that in DDO (still a death risk, but multiple ways to skin cats). Your low-power/low-level rules may also address that well, without having ridiculous firefights.

[[See my comments above about zeroth-level characters. Of the eleven characters Brand saw while in the cistern, there were only five that had levels in a class, and two of those had classes for plot reasons.]]

As I said at the start: good answers!

"Yes," says Koric, after a moment's consideration. "They should be silenced as well, I'm afraid. Can you do this?"

Brand considers for a few moments, "Possibly. I am tired, but I'll warrant so are they, and they are injured as well, which means time is of the essence. Perhaps if we could strike before they have a chance to rest, especially if they are slowed by the injured one." He pauses, considering, "Yes, that might work. But I assume you don't want an open fight in the streets..."

Brand pauses again, before continuing his train of thought, "If Rawl returns to the Temple, or stays with his men, then the risks are much greater -- and I may need backup. Either way I will certainly need help dealing with the bodies, and collecting...or returning?", he looks at his father quizzically, "...whatever they stole."

"I assume that you don't have anyone else here that we can trust?"

[[ I definitely need a hand crossbow! ]]

[[Just quickly, because I have to get ready to go to work. You should be able to see that article now. Sorry.]]

 [[ Yep, visible. No problem at all. ]]

[[Sorry for the delay.]]

"In an hour so so, yes, but at the moment, there's nobody here to do that sort of work," says Koric. "My trap finder would have been the first person I would have contacted anyway. Rima has disposed of bodies in the past."

After a moment's consideration, Koric then says, "I doubt Rawl will be going back to the temple after his activities tonight, so I think the best course is to wait until they go to ground somewhere. Then you and Wallus can go in and despatch them."

[[Wallus is the name of Brand's father's coachman.]]