The Missing Island - Out of Character Discussions
I expect there to be several sessions in this story arc that require lots of planning and preparations. Of course many of those plans will dissolve upon first contact but they still need to be worked through so the group can be prepared for many of the eventualities they will face.
To be clear for everyone. Although the confusion would be fun Blue Gill = Ozzy. I know you are finding rumors and bits of info that could be seen as contradicting that. Take those for pieces of the puzzle. I do not want you to chase down blind corridors that will end up totally fruitless.
Just trust me on this Ozzy IS Blue Gill.
BOB
Well, Morria can do what she wishes (is that a pun?) but Paul is dead and if she chooses to recreate or fix the control crystal, it will belong to Morria or the DragonSlayers in general. I would sugest it be part of the party pack so no one person can put the rest of the party in this situation, unless the crystal is destroyed again.
The simplest wish is generaly best, IMHO. "I wish this crystal (while holding the parts) had not been destroyed"
John
12-11-2009
So, it was nice to have several people in who were committed to getting some ideas going. The plan Fritz came up with to kill off Blue Gill and have Rave takes Blue Gill's form and place was a neat idea, but ultimately we seem to all agree that it isn't the way to go. Mike's idea is to approach Ozy in a straight-forward manner and just talk with him. I think that is a good idea, and could definitely work in our favour. My suggestion to that is that the meeting needs to be in a neutral place - wherever that might be.
John also had a very good idea - to tip off the heads of the syndicates that will be affected by Blue Gill taking over the spice trade completely. That way, they can band together to deal with the problem - if they so desire - and the Dragonslayers have nothing to do with it. My addition to that plan is to go back to that Dream Mage, the one our lower level henchies went to early in the arc, and have her plant the knowledge in the dreams of those particular syndicate heads. That way, Ozy cannot know that we had anything to do with them finding out what he's up to.
Moirra will be spending her Wish on getting Paul's control crystal back in one piece (and working order). Any help with wording the Wish appropriately would be welcome. Once that is done, she will go to the Dream Mage and set that part of the plan in motion.
Kaz
12-11-2009
Just briefly, because I'm running out of immediate time, one of the most important things that Khan and Moirra found out when they questioned Octavia was that Blue Gill/Ozy did not have anything to do with the the Dragonslayer name being sullied. That was purely Octavia's choice. Ozy wasn't even thinking about the Dragonslayers. He has not been going after them. He has not been doing ANYTHING regarding them. The DS were dragged into this whole mess purely by Octavia (thanks to Ramone).
What we do know is that Blue Gill/Ozy is trying to control overland trade as well as oversea trade. The way it seems is that he's specifically trying to control the spice trade. His plan has nothing to do with the Dragonslayers. So, to be honest, we don't really have any reason to be going after him!
Also, we need to stop sending LJ back to get stuff from Blue Gill. Sure, with any luck BG will one day kill LJ and put him out of our misery, but each time he goes back it gets Ozy more annoyed with the DS. (That's purely my opinion, feel free to disagree, but LJ DID say that BG was more annoyed when he realised LJ was getting stuff for the DS.)
Kaz
Mike will not be here for our session on 12/4
BOB
11/24
John I agree with you. I want the game to be A) Fun B) Interesting C) Challenging.
I am frustrated that it seems the Players are telling me that they are not having fun because they are not either done with the adventure already or because it is too complicated or because I am leading people by the nose/railroading them into doing things. I do not know how to make it both easier for everyone AND be less restrictive/more open than it already is.
I think that the Players need to talk to each other to figure out exactly what you all know, what you all want to do about that knowledge, and how you plan to increase your knowledge/find the missing pieces.
This is the story arc that deals with meeting and attempting to defeat the big bad guy at the end of the story. I am sure that each Player knows things that other Players do not. I include Guy and Kaz in that mix as well as Mike, Lorie and John. Each can see different parts of the puzzle and can contribute to solving this. Because everyone is not contributing and or asking questions (not the right question just any questions) lots of things are being missed. Asking "what happened the times you encountered Ozzy before" would have given you the information about guessing previous levels. John's comment about the dwarf child was very informative, but he did not elaborate and when I prompted him to he said if others asked about it. No one did so that still is not added to the puzzle.
It is supposed to be hard to finish this, just like it should be hard on an NPC who wanted to attack you in your home and kill off your group. This is what playing high level characters is all about.
If people only want to go through dungeons killing things then everyone should have been very happy to be in the Underdark - and we all know how that turned out.
I have kept the maps painfully few so there are zero issues with clues from any of that. I keep putting links to various parts of this site in to help guide thoughts without spoon feeding anyone.
I will be ready to play next Friday (Dec 4) and continue along with the story arc. Or if everyone wants to just chuck it in because playing high level characters is not fun then we can start over.
The next Dragonslayer Era is called "Starting Over...." for a reason. The group will be at a cross roads no matter what with the conclusion of the current Era no matter how it all turns out.
I do hope that there can be a lot of discussion about this on the Story Arc in and out of character discussion pages as well. I will post this over there as well.
BOB
9/5/09
I know it may be a bit early to discuss this but I have some questions about the Missing Island Adventure.
To begin with where did Lord Jocquin get the map to the Dungeon you guys went after to get that pearl?
Obviously Jocquin found Blue Gill so maybe if we can find Jocquin we can find Blue Gill. If not Jocquin then maybe someone that went on the adventure with him.
Did anyone ever ask Valedianna who was the ghost that possessed her?
Do you still have all those pearls and questionable magic seaweed from that adventure? How did they get in that giant shell?
How did the ghost get there in the first place? Why did the ghost need to get out of there in the second place?
If Jocquin won the pearl he got from Blue Gill in a card game doesn't that sound suspicious? Especially since he returns right at the time when Blue Gill's scheme to ruin the DS'ers name starts?
We know that pearl was not magical and it was given back to Jocquin, but do you think it may have potentially been a plant by Blue Gill for some reason?
Is there possibly a famous card game in the Island Kingdoms that we could attend to meet Blue Gill or infiltrate his group?
To bad we don't have that pearl that Jocquin had because then we could use it to scry for Blue Gill. In one of the treasuries are notes of Ozzymandius and his band. Can we get to them and peruse them for clues?
What is going to happen if Jocquin actually gets the pendant from Blue Gill and he finds out that Finglas did not get the pearl for Kylia? Will he then push his claims to be her husband to higher levels? Could it be that Ozzymandius knew that Finglas failed and that he allowed Jocquin to win the pearl to flaunt his knowledge in our faces?
What statements did Meleager make that related to Jocquin? Could there be an additional tie between Jocquin and Ozzymandius we are missing?
If Smokey the Bear craps in the woods and uses Thumper the rabbit to wipe his butt, does that mean we have to start calling the bunny Stinker?
9/1/09
Hey Guy,
Just so you know I think these are all awesome ideas. I haven't really commented on them because I have been concentrating so much on on getting us out of the underdark. Also FYI at this moment the only ones who can create potions are Paul (dead) and Finglas. I think you are on the right track for the group and if you are willing to be patient I will give my full opinions on your great ideas "IF" and "WHEN" we get out of the underdark.
Fritz
here are some items that would be useful- Potions of Water Breathing,Potions of Water Movement, Potions of water Adventuring (which combine the effects of both of the above potions),Rings of Freedom. I'm sure there are more and if I find them in my searches ill be sure to post them.
Ok finally got a break to do something besides work and Ive been thinking a lot about things we could really use on this adventure and some things for every adventure. An item that we could really use all the time is Elixirs of Life and I'm talking about in mass quantities. they might keep us alive for a lot longer. Things we can use for this adventure include things that allow us to breathe underwater as well as items that grant Free Action so we can move a lot easier underwater. Other things we can use include gear that would help us pose as either pirates or sailors (light armor, cutlasses, sailors clothes things like that.)well those are my ideas as i think of more ill put them up lets try to get some kind of plan going so we dont have any deaths this time lol.
Guy
8/18
War.
War never changes.
mikE
7/20 If not everyone heard, we got the names of the people who besmirched the DragonSlayers name. Ozzie, the arch villain of BOB's world. Actual we have only had bad timing in interrupting his plans a couple time. The one direct fight, he started. None the less this is the adventure we are on. I, for one, do not think it should be thought of as a war or combat oriented adventure. We are the good guys and as I said from the beginning, what they did hardly hurt the DragonSlayers enough to go through what we have already gone through. I am not saying leave it be, but lead with the head not the fist. I appreciate Finglass is the leader in the game, but an adventure or course of action as far reaching as a war with other high level characters has to be discussed by the group as a whole, out of character in addition to any in character discussions.
Enjoy
John
7/21
First off if you have not done so go read the chat log to understand the full encounter with Melenger. There is also only that conversation if you do not want the before and after effects.
I will opine here that A - you have already started to interfere with him (Ozzy) in the past; B - He apparently escalated that to this level; C - You as always can decide what to do next
When you return to the surface as the end of the story arc Deep Dark Dangerous we will slip directly into this The Missing Island story arc. That story arc will start with reassessing who you are as a group, what you want to do about Anterias' rescue mission (and perhaps who is still alive after the Underdark encounters) and then how you plan on dealing with the information you gathered in your meeting with Mel. You have a ton of options and some things will be done here on the site and some will be on Friday nights.
This story arc may take 10-20 sessions to complete by the time it is all said and done. This is a classic adventure of infiltrating into a powerful person's lair and dealing with all the issues associated with that. Think of the old classic Slaver modules and series like that - only this time it makes sense why you would actually want to go there and do that.
BOB
