Latir and Maximilian: Willard gives you both a blank stare, since it's rather hard to read his face or his mood when he isn't guffawing, and sets the bags down quietly. Elizabeth gives him a warm pat on the arm and he lets out a little "Gwor." before waddling away. Although a bit perplexed, Elizabeth keeps smiling and informs Latir that it is <X> Day, less than a week before your Council Hearing.

"Did you need some help? And... is something wrong?" She steps up to Maximilian and disarms his tense, alert pose by gently tapping the tip of his nose, having to reach up to do so.

Karvan: As you finish speaking with Gran and move to leave, he lets out a sudden snort-burst of steam! "What ho, who is this, one of your comrades? I did not see this one amongst the carnage of the sewers." Wanda's cheek-bone panels right beneath the eyes flip over to a very light blush. "I... I'm just an administrative assistant. Good day to you, sir."

Gran rushes up to the bars and presses against them, glaring down intently. It's a small wonder he was able to step into the cell at all. Being close to the bars, Karvan alone can hear what may be a Warforged tic, an attempt to whisper that is simply a slightly less audible speaking without any of the subtleties of... well... subtlety. "Seize the initiative, seize the win..."

Gran: "Miss, would you accompany me to the Bard's Festival tonight?"

The bottom half of Wanda's face switches to blush and she immediately stammers out. "I'm sorry, you're not my type."

Discharging a wave of steam, Gran is not deterred! "What is your type, then?!"

Wanda takes a half-step back, entire face red-paneled. "T.. th.. I.. I've never thought..."

Gran: "If you don't know your type, how can I not be it?!"

Wanda nearly yells. "A-a-a-an honorable man! That's what I like!"

Gran relents and takes a half-step back, eye-panels dropping in his usual stern, unmoving deep thought. Or arrogant paying-no-mind. It's hard to tell them apart. Then he reaches forward and seizes the cell door and gingerly plucks the entire door-frame out of the wall with no damage to the bricks! He steps through the opening, 180s and sets the frame back in place. The precision is stunning: removed or set improperly, it'd be loose or damaged. But the door retains enough pressure to deter several large men without a battering ram. Gran then 180s again and is now glaring straight ahead through Karvan, down at Wanda.

"You stammer and carry on as though you hope the Universe will accept your bashful offer to "do something" about Agrin." STEAM BLAST! "A MAN EARNS WHAT IS HIS." And with that, Gran storms out of the Headquarters on some great mission.

Wanda watches him go with an utterly baffled stare. "Uh..." Looks to Karvan. "Uhm... h... he was upstairs." And she leads you to the next guy you obviously need to interrogate today, a real seedy looking Kobold in a snappy trench-coat and hat sitting on a stool. He'd probably be smoking if his arms weren't behind his back in shackles.



Beatrice gives you a curt wave as she looms over the Kobold. "This berk fell right fer the gem ya set out."

Kobold: "Ya wouldn't a' missed it."

Beatrice: "I didn' miss ya, ya rat!"

AHAHAHAHAHA I'M BACK AND I FEEL CREATIVELY CHARGED

Latir and Maximilian: The animal pile coos, purrs and generally agrees with Maximilian's good attentions. Elizabeth shifts her grip upon the rake to the opposite side and tilts her head, bangs falling over one of her eyes as both curve pleasantly to match her smile. "You must have been doing something extraordinary to react like that to a mild sedative!" Without missing a beat she turns back to raking leaves and branches up into a small pile and then proudly bringing them aside to produce a clean lake-front. She sets the rake against a tree and seems to look to the lake as though it would understand the significance of such actions.

A massive round shadow drapes itself over Elizabeth as a much wider tree trunk steps around the side of the house, holding several large crude sacks tied shut with thick ropes. The skull-faced treant flexes branches that function as thick arms, the vacant hollows of it's eyes occupied by floating wisps of blue flame that seem to wink in and out of existence to simulate blinking as it stares at you two.

Bertam: As you finish up your breakfast, a torrent of idle thoughts seems to wash over you during the entire length of it, quickly turning your pleasant repast into a minor ordeal.

<"'Ow long do they expect me ta sit 'ere?!">
<"WHAT WAS THAT!? O.. Oh.. j.. just a door.. p.. phew..">
<"Bunks? A slop-house? Really? Is this some kid's idea of an army?">
<"OHHHHHHHHHHHH~ MY FOOTWORK IS LIKE LIGHTNING~ I'M THE SUPER-FASTEST, OHHHH YEAAAAAAH~ NASTY STAINS, WICKED DUST, TAKE THAT~ BROOOOOOM SWEEP~">

As Enrique shuffles past the nearby doorway sweeping a broom, you feel that this may become a bit old. Shortly, the owner of the timid voice makes his way in, a small older Gnomish gentleman that Ilex helped awhile ago and seems to have simply hid in the headquarters ever since. He's dressed in the same formerly nice royal blue robes of an Academy mage's style, but they seem to have grown filthy and developed a bit of an odor. He nervously helps himself to some food, almost spilling the oatmeal as he does. Humphrey, you vaguely recall as his name...

Ragjen: Well now, if Lily isn't around for a bit of companionship, you wager a straight-laced gal like Ziti would be. Of course, you're also standing in front of Lily's apartment and a mere door-lock is all that stands between you and any natural nosiness you may possess.

Karvan: Gran... doesn't move. Small strands of steam rise from the rifts between his collar and his neck and slowly fall, as though he was producing mist. "Dispose of Agrin? With lofty ideals and a sense of Justice?" The next strands come out rippled, snorted through! "Even the lowest of the City Lords possesses ten times again your connections, lizard. He will summon his other champions to tear you apart. He will beg Lord Reinbach to defend him for mutual survival. And finally, he will drive his slaves to die on your sword in case it slows you down." The steam stops coming out. Gran rumbles! "You have nothing. You are weak." Hissssssssssssss. The steam floods out and resumes it's normal flow.

Before Gran might step out of his cage or anything, you hear a nervous "Uhm" from behind, and it seems Wanda has come down to see you. "Karvan, could you... help me? Beatrice still wants us to talk to... the thief she caught skulking about.." She seems to be looking around you every so often at Gran, clearly intimidated.

Tikka and Morgiana: The tells for the Spirit Guard came to you via Passive Insight: they're hard to miss, but nobody else would wear the armored bracers and anklets barely hidden beneath sleeves and in boots. The second Gnomish gentleman in this post, a middle-aged fellow with a balding crown of wispy white hair greets you warmly! "Ah, Miss Alibert! You're always welcome in our circle... come, come." He produces a pocket-watch from his chest-pocket and pops it open, upon which it separates into about 3 distinct clocks and a floating 3-dimensional representation of dozens of arms aligning and passing through dozens of hemispheres that overlap. After checking it briefly, he leads you into the building. The Eladrin fellow frets about with clear anxiety on his face but waits outside.

The building is very old and a bit poorly kept, layered in dust and with cobwebs stretching out of corners. After rounding a corner and finding some long winding stairs, you're led to the second floor which has no ceiling, as it opens up into the 3rd and 4th floors in a grand sweeping archives, with great shelves stacked with hundreds of bins of ledgers, scroll cases and miscellaneous loose notes. Sitting cross-legged in mid-air near a large L-shaped desk occupying a corner, Millicent has shed the distinct apparel of her station in favor of some rather common-looking clothes, with a soft brown-hued vest over a buttoned white shirt and a pair of nicely tailored trousers. In orbit around her are at least ten separate scrolls and mixed books opened to various places, with animated bookmarks tucking themselves in or pulling themselves out at her discretion as she works in a blur.

The Gnomish fellow whispers up to you, not wanting to disturb Millicent quite yet. "I trust this is a matter of some import... your hearing is soon and we're still willing to negotiate with Holsten Holdings." He looks over to Tikka and starts a bit, but catches himself. "How rude of me, we've not been introduced. Horace Hogswen at your service." He reaches up to accept Tikka's hand and shake it firmly, but always politely!

Blah blah east coast blah blah hurricane blah blah power outage.

Alright to those of you who actually care enough to read this and feel bad about it, and particularly those of you who posted in this thread but didn't bother to post in the actual game threads  , I'm just gonna call a brief hiatus. Get your asses back in the saddles next Sunday.

I'm not sure how to explain... I mean, Niku covered some of the reasons, but also, I think there's two things: first, I'm better off in a group. I just feel more motivated when I have someone to bounce dialogue and ideas off. A back-and-forth can keep things moving. Second, I think I'm getting mixed messages here. I thought that the gnome, the Shadow Guard and Fenwick were Important Things. I thought I'd investigate, but this post:

Quote from: Doom on October 22, 2012, 04:27:42 AM

Quote from: Bongo Bill on October 22, 2012, 01:08:21 AM

I am starting to get the feeling that asking us, or at least asking me, to take narrative (as distinguished from strategic) initiative will be a fruitless endeavor.

There's a difference between asking you guys to drive the narrative of the story and asking you guys to have even a passing interest in any part of it. Or, honestly, asking you guys to even bookmark the active thread and check it once per day.

I mean, I could just skip time ahead immediately to the Council Hearing, but I was sort of hoping the entire year of build-up and the reveal of a bunch of plot in the Labyrinth arc might have motivated anybody to do some proper preparation against Firebrand. Or to even have the give-a-fuck to inquire as to how to purchase a plot for a mountain. Or much of anything, really.

seems to indicate that I'm not investigating the correct Important Things, so I'm feeling hesitant.

I'm pretty sure the Gnome, Fenwick and the Shadow Guard have been largely ignored, but I have all the plot ties and many events in mind for them if pressed.

They are important things. Almost anything you press and investigate is an Important Thing, the difference will be what it leads you towards and whose side it could put you on. My complaint was against people not investigating anything at all and hoping I'd feel fit to, I dunno, railroad them if they post every so often to acknowledge that they're alive. But if you're worried about investigating "interesting but not important thing" while Important Thing goes to Hell, I won't let that happen except in cases of incredible apathy or ignorance. If you're investigating something, you're on a right track among many.

If you're better in a group, don't let people be passive or "polite." Simply grab somebody and force them along with you to what you're investigating. Bertram would have been a fine fellow to lasso in to your current task. If somebody is feeling camera-shy, throw their ass into the spotlight. You can even be bold and assertive, it's easier to correct an overreach then to sit back and wait for an under-achiever to get anywhere. Bump into Tikka and draw her into your story or have a plan that involves somebody else's talents or wits.

Also Buge you're one of my favorite actors but you seem to have the slowest posts, updating once per week on average(like right now, where you're up to bat in Final Countdown in 4 days and counting!) I'd really appreciate it if you could try to check and post once every 1-2 days!

Oh, do you mean when I personally contact people to try to convince them to post?

Yeah... after awhile I've just been doing what works. I really wish you guys could just check the threads once a day, doesn't matter when, just once. I personally hate contacting people unless I want to casually chat with them or they want to chat with me, it feels obnoxious to myself. Contacting for quick IRC/IM conversations is good, but having to chase after somebody's posts like their mom drives me up the wall and made it really easy to let the most chronic slackers see themselves out the door.

Exception for Ragjen who owns.

I've been trying to defer to the other characters, give them a chance to shine a bit.

Never do this, if anybody cares enough to fight you for the spotlight they're not showing it by everybody simultaneously trying to pass off the spotlight.

They're not Guards!

as a pair of surly looking Cat Thugs sneak along the hallways

Do you really think Firebrand would hire on the furballs that attacked you yesterday?!

I get the feeling quite a few of you are out of the loop? As somebody who frequently is myself... well... it's just really noticeable, I guess. I think we're up to a month for what should have been a week of casual conversation. To say nothing of the fact that aside from R^2, nobody has any actual motivations, it seems.

And before they say it, I know Malikilial and Joxam are workaholics. I dunno what anybody else is about since they never particularly tell me.

Veihj looks startled when you remove his hiding place. Kobolds... may be ticklish. "No! I.. I wouldn't do that! But don't you think, uhm, it's sort of incredible how many people there are... uhm, like Sir Rtirrson?" He shows you the letters. Each is personalized and different, so he's not saving time by copying messages or using a form letter. They're addresses to Barinsath of the Wardens, Millicent Tousk of the Academy, and Devlin Ward of Pelor's Church.

"They all follow their own wills and they attract followers, and even without those people behind them, they're incredibly scary and powerful." He fiddles with his quill and his bound arm. "S... so I was hoping to ask them about their success."