I'm not sure if any of you guys play D&D, but since I've been playing it lately I thought I would do some of the character alignments fo… morer FoT. Based on my own opinion, of course.
This is a very interesting idea! I myself have actually put some thought into such a thing, though I'm far from an expert on alignments. The RPG I mainly play doesn't use them, so I never saw any alignment stuff in action, though I do enjoy such things a lot
Lucas Flowers: Neutral Good: He started the story as Lawful Good, then after Mullendore's torture I think he was Chaotic Good for awhile. Even though he is currently under Mullendore's custody, yet again. I believe he's closer to a Neutral Good, but he could also pass for Lawful Good.
Neutral Good does fit for him, yes, though after Mullendore's torture he indeed had a brief episode as a more chaotic character, arguably even bordering on being Chaotic Neutral at his lowest point. Right … [view original content]
I'm not sure if any of you guys play D&D, but since I've been playing it lately I thought I would do some of the character alignments fo… morer FoT. Based on my own opinion, of course.
Mathea: Neutral Good: Definitely, I think it is obvious why she is this.
Lucas Flowers: Neutral Good: He started the story as Lawful Good, then after Mullendore's torture I think he was Chaotic Good for awhile. Even though he is currently under Mullendore's custody, yet again. I believe he's closer to a Neutral Good, but he could also pass for Lawful Good.
Leonard Constantine: Lawful Good: I think Leonard has been Lawful Good for the whole story.
Harris Flowers: Lawful Neutral: This one was really tough due to him being so complex, and I'm pretty sure Harris went through half of the alignments throughout his time in the story. Over all I think he is closer to Lawful Neutral than any other alignment.
Samuel Harrington: Chaotic Neutral: Another tough… [view original content]
John
The taproom was nearly empty, as John walked through it like a caged animal. Thoughts were racing through his mind, keeping him from… more just dropping down despite his exhaustion. His hands were clenched, cold sweat running down his forehead. Janae was gone. Not dead. Gone. He had spent hours searching the city, crawled through piles of bodies in the constant fear of finding her among them. But she wasn't. His maiden fair was gone, without a lead. And somehow, this was almost even worse.
Every once in a while, he looked up, glaring at the few other people in the room. The chubby barmaid was there, trying to clean the mess the Ironborn had left. A dozen people had died in this room and she looked clearly sick from watching the stains of blood that had been left from where the city guard removed the bodies. John knew, her mother was in the backroom, recovering from the beating she took. Occasionally,the pretty barmaid would come out of t… [view original content]
John
The taproom was nearly empty, as John walked through it like a caged animal. Thoughts were racing through his mind, keeping him from… more just dropping down despite his exhaustion. His hands were clenched, cold sweat running down his forehead. Janae was gone. Not dead. Gone. He had spent hours searching the city, crawled through piles of bodies in the constant fear of finding her among them. But she wasn't. His maiden fair was gone, without a lead. And somehow, this was almost even worse.
Every once in a while, he looked up, glaring at the few other people in the room. The chubby barmaid was there, trying to clean the mess the Ironborn had left. A dozen people had died in this room and she looked clearly sick from watching the stains of blood that had been left from where the city guard removed the bodies. John knew, her mother was in the backroom, recovering from the beating she took. Occasionally,the pretty barmaid would come out of t… [view original content]
I'd love to see Saerya again but honestly I'm not that fond of Daghan.
To be fair here, I should reveal that John's main intention is to see Saerya. While he is arguably friends with Daghan by now, he would only seek him out here so that he can arrange a meeting with Saerya. John knows that she's the well-informed one in their group. Though I should also say that you're going to see Saerya regardless in the near future The same applies for Daghan, whom I have also planned to give some role in this chapter, though likely less prominent if John does not seek him out here.
[Go with Aylard to Lucas] I'd love to see Saerya again but honestly I'm not that fond of Daghan. Besides John can evaluate the situation him… moreself, though I highly doubt they'll let them see Lucas.
[Pay Keat the full sum] If they can spare the gold they might as well.
Yeah, it would be one monster of a campaign, but to be fair, if I can write a story of such length, I can just as well dungeonmaster it
Oh god, I can already see it right before me, having not only the antics of these wonderful characters, but also all kinds of player shenanigans. I must write it down! Take a look at these...
Me: Alright, it's time to introduce his new character. Guys, keep in mind that you don't know this character yet. Okay then... you are sitting in the tavern, over a few beer. You talk a little bit, speak about how your respective day has been, when suddenly, you see this weird-looking guy, kinda shady, with really greasy blonde hair, pale skin, unsettling grey eyes, one of it twitching a bit, he wears a long, brown overcoat and is eyeing Ilish in a creepy way. What do you do?
Player of Richard: I want to approach him and I'll speak to him in-character. clears throat
"Well met, friend! You seem trustworthy. Would you care to join us on our noble quest?"
Me: Uh, keep in mind you really don't know anything about this guy...
Player of Urid: Ah, he's a Player Character. Come on, we've known him for years. No way there's anything special about his new character. Likely just another sword and board fighter as always.
Player of Wolfius: Uh... sure... sword and board...
Player of Dante: Wait, why exactly are we keeping up with that Leo guy? Can't we just kick him out of the party?
Player of Leo: Whoa, why that?
Player of Dante: Well, you're the one making everything awkward. I get you want our characters to have this rivalry thing, but I'm really not buying any of it. It doesn't make sense for my character to keep you around.
Me: Well, keep in mind that Leo is the only one who can identify Alys...
Player of Darreth: Eh, we know how she looks, she's sitting right here at the table. If we see someone looking like her, we can just go ahead and ask her for her name.
Me: You can certainly try. But remember that she doesn't want to be found.
Player of Dante: Eh, that's no problem, I got pretty high Perception. I bet I can spot it if she's lying. So, can we kick Leo out of the group now?
Player of Kersea: That Clayton guy, he's really an ass... Can I kill him?
Me: Well, keep in mind that his boss keeps your sister hostage.
Player of Kersea: Ah yeah, my sister, the NPC I've never even met outside of my character's backstory. Nah, I want to redo that. Can I retcon it? Besides, she's probably dead already. No way that Butterfly is keeping her alive for so long. So... can I kill Clayton?
Me: Okay... But keep in mind that he is a high-level assassin. The guy is considered a group encounter in my notes.
Player of Kersea: Yeah, but he trusts me, doesn't he? I bet I can totally backstab him.
Me: He does, but remember that you don't have your knives with you right now. You left them at the camp.
Player of Kersea: Crap... but wait, there's this thing... I still got a vial of Wildfire. Remember, I got one for that quest!
Me:... you have a vial of Wildfire.
Player of Kersea: I backstab him with the Wildfire!
Me: Can you even do that? There has to be a rule against it.
Player of Kersea: Nu-uh. You can backstab someone with throwing knives, so I'm sure you can backstab them with a thrown wildfire bottle as well. So, can I?
Me:sigh Sure, go ahead, make a roll...
Player of Kersea: 23
Me: 23 hits...
Player of Kersea: That's... 300 points of fire damage, plus an extra 50 points of fire damage per round. Is he dead?
Me:discreetly burns half of my notes Well, considering that he has about 120 hitpoints... yeah, he is pretty dead...
Me: You're standing in the courtyard, the other soldiers around you. It's getting dark, chilly. From the direction of the city you hear the sound of battle. The soldiers around have expressions ranging from nervous to excited. The princess walks in front of you and she's making a speech...
Player of Drent: I seduce the princess!
Me: Wait... what?
Player of Torrence:rolls eyes Here we go again...
Me: You... want to seduce the princess... in the middle of the courtyard, while a battle is raging on in the city?
Player of Drent: Uh-huh.
Me: Well, she's kinda busy leading an army, so, I'm afraid that one's not...
Player of Drent: So, I don't even get to roll? The rules clearly say that I can try it.
Me: As I said, she is too busy to pay attention.
Player of Drent: Does that mean you go against the rules? Come on, at least give me the roll!
Me: Fine... go ahead, roll. But you got to roll seriously high and keep in mind how she will react if you fail...
Player of Drent:rolls Natural Twenty.
Me: Oh fu... well, I said it before, she is a bit preoccu....
Player of Drent:Natural. Twenty.
Player of Jenna: I would like to enter a rage.
Player of Saerya: Jen, you're playing a servant in this campaign, you're no longer the barbarian.
Player of Jenna: Wait, then how am I supposed to survive that encounter?
Me: Well, servants are not a physical class. I think Sae has a very high charisma score.
Player of Saerya:grins 21
Player of Jenna: Charisma? Ugh, I don't need that dump-stat. You sure I can't rage? Then how am I supposed to win against this... what are you again?
Player of Wolfius: Uh... a rogue, I think. Level 12.
Player of Jenna: Level 12? What the fuck Liquid, I'm a Level 1 character! Do you actually want me to die here?
Me: Uh, well, erm... Richard! You've arrived at the castle. You see Wolfius attacking your daughter, what do you do?
Player of Richard: What? But I didn't even want to... I run away of course!
Player of Jenna: Excuse me?
Player of Richard: Come on, I took two levels as a fighter. No way I can beat a Level 12 character. It's either one PC death or two and I'm cutting my losses here.
Player of Jenna: I'm playing your daughter, you jerk!
Player of Richard: Hey, my character's got like, three other children, I think. I bet he won't even notice. Besides, I'm not a fighter.
Player of Jenna: You're the closest thing we got!
Player of Leonard: I knew my character should have stayed in Raynoldsfair, or whatever it's called...
Me: Guys, look who's here, it's Maya!
Player of Maya: Hey guys, sorry for being late! What's going on?
Me: Well, you're here just in time. I got some super interesting stuff for you to do in this session. Right now, you're in...
Player of Maya: Oh, I forgot to say, I gotta leave early today. Dinner with the family at 7. Can we do it so we play half of my stuff in this session and the rest next time? Yeah? Awesome! Okay then, where are we right now?
Me: Alright then, Erik, what are you going to do?
Player of Erik: Can I attack Jaron?
Player of Jaron: Wait, what? Why would you do that?
Player of Harpy: Yeah man, not cool. We're your allies.
Player of Erik: Well, I'm Chaotic Neutral, so it's in-character for me to do that.
Player of Jaron: Pretty sure that's not what Chaotic Neutral is all about...
Player of Erik: Pretty sure it is! I'm Chaotic Neutral, so I can do whatever I want. And I want to attack you, because that's what my character would do.
Player of Mullendore: Not going to lie... that is kind of a dickmove.
Player of Jaron: Man, I got like, twenty HP left. If you attack me, you'd kill me. That's not Chaotic Neutral, that's Chaotic Evil.
Me: He got a point, you know... Erik, I'm changing your alignment to Chaotic Evil.
Player of Erik: Yay, that means now I can murder them!
Me: You can certainly try. But Samuel has the higher initiative. Samuel, what are you doing?
Player of Samuel: Well... it says Chaotic Neutral on my character sheet. Does that mean I can kill them as well?
Player of Erik: Yay, Murder-Bro!
Player of Harpy: Oh fuck... uh, wait guys, look, I'm Chaotic Neutral as well. You don't have to kill me...
Player of Erik: Pretty sure it said Chaotic Good just a second ago and you just wrote Neutral over it...
Player of Harpy: And look, Jaron's Chaotic Neutral too!
Player of Jaron: What? No, I'm totally Chaotic Go... oh... oooh, yeah, I'm totally Chaotic Neutral. We're all Chaotic Neutral.
Me: Ah, screw it... yeah, if that means you don't kill each other, you're all Chaotic Neutral.
Player of Erik: So, we're all Murder-Bro's? Awesome! Let's go and kill something. Liquid, how many EXP do we get for the High Septon?
Awesome comment, amazingly analyzed between you two but to be honest even after reading all my thougths are dominated by one part of a sente… morence:
but if FoT would be a campaign and I'd be the GM
Good God that would be a long campaign. Not to mention the player number!
Well to be fair, if Forum of Thrones was a real life D&D campaign, the players would have like hundreds of hour sessions and you wouldn't get any sleep since you have to plan everything.
Player of Erik: Can I attack Jaron?
I sense some foreshadowing coming in the future xD Better keep an eye on Erik.
Player of Samuel: Well... it says Chaotic Neutral on my character sheet. Does that mean I can kill them as well?
Oh that's easy. Just present the player with an option to get to see Ryder if he betrays the group and boom. Instant backstab.
Yeah, it would be one monster of a campaign, but to be fair, if I can write a story of such length, I can just as well dungeonmaster it
… moreOh god, I can already see it right before me, having not only the antics of these wonderful characters, but also all kinds of player shenanigans. I must write it down! Take a look at these...
Me: Alright, it's time to introduce his new character. Guys, keep in mind that you don't know this character yet. Okay then... you are sitting in the tavern, over a few beer. You talk a little bit, speak about how your respective day has been, when suddenly, you see this weird-looking guy, kinda shady, with really greasy blonde hair, pale skin, unsettling grey eyes, one of it twitching a bit, he wears a long, brown overcoat and is eyeing Ilish in a creepy way. What do you do?
Player of Richard: I want to approach him and I'll speak to him in-character. clears throat
"Well met, friend! You seem trustworthy. … [view original content]
Yeah, it would be one monster of a campaign, but to be fair, if I can write a story of such length, I can just as well dungeonmaster it
… moreOh god, I can already see it right before me, having not only the antics of these wonderful characters, but also all kinds of player shenanigans. I must write it down! Take a look at these...
Me: Alright, it's time to introduce his new character. Guys, keep in mind that you don't know this character yet. Okay then... you are sitting in the tavern, over a few beer. You talk a little bit, speak about how your respective day has been, when suddenly, you see this weird-looking guy, kinda shady, with really greasy blonde hair, pale skin, unsettling grey eyes, one of it twitching a bit, he wears a long, brown overcoat and is eyeing Ilish in a creepy way. What do you do?
Player of Richard: I want to approach him and I'll speak to him in-character. clears throat
"Well met, friend! You seem trustworthy. … [view original content]
Well to be fair, if Forum of Thrones was a real life D&D campaign, the players would have like hundreds of hour sessions and you wouldn't get any sleep since you have to plan everything.
Ah, I'd probably just wing it and make stuff up as it goes, though having about two-hundred players with me would make things seriously hard regardless. Some, like the player of Dimitri, would get the serious short end of the stick. This would probably go well up until the first player does something I have not expected (such as backstabbing Clayton with a vial of Wildfire), at which point I'd get a nervous breakdown
I sense some foreshadowing coming in the future xD Better keep an eye on Erik.
Well, he is still waiting for his payment, isn't he? Can't hurt to be careful around a sellsword who hasn't been properly paid
Oh that's easy. Just present the player with an option to get to see Ryder if he betrays the group and boom. Instant backstab.
Indeed, if Ryder is involved, then Samuel wouldn't even think twice to take that option. He's a perfect Chaotic Neutral character
Well to be fair, if Forum of Thrones was a real life D&D campaign, the players would have like hundreds of hour sessions and you wouldn'… moret get any sleep since you have to plan everything.
Player of Erik: Can I attack Jaron?
I sense some foreshadowing coming in the future xD Better keep an eye on Erik.
Player of Samuel: Well... it says Chaotic Neutral on my character sheet. Does that mean I can kill them as well?
Oh that's easy. Just present the player with an option to get to see Ryder if he betrays the group and boom. Instant backstab.
Glad to hear it And it was so much fun to write. Hmmm, maybe I should do more with this idea...
Is this a citation of that guy that was submitted years ago with the same name of the Ironbro aka Ser Torvin Hale?
Actually, no While there is indeed a Torvin Hale in the waiting list, he is completely unrelated to Torvin. This is actually about the oldest little in-joke this story has, something I am pretty sure only a handful of readers will get. It's no secret that I receive the occasional character that is not supposed to be a serious character. The first of these joke-characters and therefore the most famous one is a certain Ser Jar-Jar of Binks, who is obviously based on the infamous character from Star Wars Episode I, who belonged to the Gungan race. I always wanted to feature that guy, given how long ago he has been submitted, but never got the chance until now. Therefore, Torvin's player is going to play as Jar-Jar in future settings
This was hilarious!XD
Player of Torvin: sigh It's okay... well, I gotta roll a new character now. Though I got a sheet prepared alread… morey, can I play him?
Me: Sure, what kind of a character is it?
Torvin: Well, it's a Level 4 character, a Gungan knight...
Is this a citation of that guy that was submitted years ago with the same name of the Ironbro aka Ser Torvin Hale?
Player of Kersea: That's... 300 points of fire damage, plus an extra 50 points of fire damage per round. Is he dead?
Me: discreetly burns half of my notes Well, considering that he has about 120 hitpoints... yeah, he is pretty dead...
Me: Fine... go ahead, roll. But you got to roll seriously high and keep in mind how she will react if you fail...
Player of Drent: rolls Natural Twenty.
Don't you just hate it when that happens. And with how insanely planned FOT has been........I'm pretty sure you would eventually go delusional. I can just imagine several players becoming insanely overpowered and 'perfect' in the world and killing each other for power or destroying everything.
Me: Sure, what kind of a character is it?
Torvin: Well, it's a Level 4 character, a Gungan knight...
This reference is so beautiful.
Yeah... it's probably for the best that FoT is not a campaign. At the same time, I totally want this to be a thing now.
I do also but I am sure the GM Liquid would probably go insane eventually.
Yeah, it would be one monster of a campaign, but to be fair, if I can write a story of such length, I can just as well dungeonmaster it
… moreOh god, I can already see it right before me, having not only the antics of these wonderful characters, but also all kinds of player shenanigans. I must write it down! Take a look at these...
Me: Alright, it's time to introduce his new character. Guys, keep in mind that you don't know this character yet. Okay then... you are sitting in the tavern, over a few beer. You talk a little bit, speak about how your respective day has been, when suddenly, you see this weird-looking guy, kinda shady, with really greasy blonde hair, pale skin, unsettling grey eyes, one of it twitching a bit, he wears a long, brown overcoat and is eyeing Ilish in a creepy way. What do you do?
Player of Richard: I want to approach him and I'll speak to him in-character. clears throat
"Well met, friend! You seem trustworthy. … [view original content]
Dangit, I was going to make a Ser Jar Jar of Binks joke. Now I just need to wait for a mention of the evasive Mike Rotch, and then I'll pounce with a humorous joke. Just you wait.
This was hilarious!XD
Glad to hear it And it was so much fun to write. Hmmm, maybe I should do more with this idea...
Is this… more a citation of that guy that was submitted years ago with the same name of the Ironbro aka Ser Torvin Hale?
Actually, no While there is indeed a Torvin Hale in the waiting list, he is completely unrelated to Torvin. This is actually about the oldest little in-joke this story has, something I am pretty sure only a handful of readers will get. It's no secret that I receive the occasional character that is not supposed to be a serious character. The first of these joke-characters and therefore the most famous one is a certain Ser Jar-Jar of Binks, who is obviously based on the infamous character from Star Wars Episode I, who belonged to the Gungan race. I always wanted to feature that guy, given how long ago he has been submitted, but never got the chance until now. Therefore, Torvin's player is going to play as Jar-Jar in future settings
Don't you just hate it when that happens. And with how insanely planned FOT has been........I'm pretty sure you would eventually go delusional. I can just imagine several players becoming insanely overpowered and 'perfect' in the world and killing each other for power or destroying everything.
Well, as someone who is very much into dungeonmastering, yes, this can be a bit irksome, especially when tons of planning goes out of the window. That said, we got a pretty nice saying around here that is translated to "No idea survives the first contact with the player", meaning that the players will always find a way to act unpredictably and that even the best idea shouldn't be planned in too much detail. I do consider myself a relatively good dungeon master and eventually came to terms with these things, so nowadays I actually kinda enjoy the things my players surprise me with. I have also found ways to include my plans without scrapping them in their entirety should something unexpected happen. That said, as a DM, I got plenty of ways to prevent them from becoming overpowered, so that's not as much of a problem. Though I bet not even I could make the Targaryen's less overpowered...
I do also but I am sure the GM Liquid would probably go insane eventually.
Admittedly, a campaign of such magnitude would drive everyone insane. I don't think a single Dungeonmaster is capable of managing over a hundred wacky players, though it is kind of fun to think about the possibilites. I for one would love such a campaign, despite the dangers it holds for my already questionable mental health
Player of Kersea: That's... 300 points of fire damage, plus an extra 50 points of fire damage per round. Is he dead?
Me: discreetly burns… more half of my notes Well, considering that he has about 120 hitpoints... yeah, he is pretty dead...
Me: Fine... go ahead, roll. But you got to roll seriously high and keep in mind how she will react if you fail...
Player of Drent: rolls Natural Twenty.
Don't you just hate it when that happens. And with how insanely planned FOT has been........I'm pretty sure you would eventually go delusional. I can just imagine several players becoming insanely overpowered and 'perfect' in the world and killing each other for power or destroying everything.
Me: Sure, what kind of a character is it?
Torvin: Well, it's a Level 4 character, a Gungan knight...
This reference is so beautiful.
Yeah... it's probably for the best that FoT is not a campaign. At the same time, I totally want this to be a thing now.
I do also but I am sure the GM Liquid would probably go insane eventually.
[Search for Daghan] As other readers have stated, I think Aylard would be better off going to see Lucas alone and would probably be a more powerful scene. Plus, we do need Daghan's and Saerya's help anyway.
[Pay Keat the full sum] Gregar is right, Keat did what we asked him to do and it isn't his fault Irving screwed up. Let's be a man of our word (or a woman of our word ) and pay the man what we promised, especially if we have more than enough to do so. Although, I still don't like how he bitched out of the fight like that.
John
The taproom was nearly empty, as John walked through it like a caged animal. Thoughts were racing through his mind, keeping him from… more just dropping down despite his exhaustion. His hands were clenched, cold sweat running down his forehead. Janae was gone. Not dead. Gone. He had spent hours searching the city, crawled through piles of bodies in the constant fear of finding her among them. But she wasn't. His maiden fair was gone, without a lead. And somehow, this was almost even worse.
Every once in a while, he looked up, glaring at the few other people in the room. The chubby barmaid was there, trying to clean the mess the Ironborn had left. A dozen people had died in this room and she looked clearly sick from watching the stains of blood that had been left from where the city guard removed the bodies. John knew, her mother was in the backroom, recovering from the beating she took. Occasionally,the pretty barmaid would come out of t… [view original content]
John
The taproom was nearly empty, as John walked through it like a caged animal. Thoughts were racing through his mind, keeping him from… more just dropping down despite his exhaustion. His hands were clenched, cold sweat running down his forehead. Janae was gone. Not dead. Gone. He had spent hours searching the city, crawled through piles of bodies in the constant fear of finding her among them. But she wasn't. His maiden fair was gone, without a lead. And somehow, this was almost even worse.
Every once in a while, he looked up, glaring at the few other people in the room. The chubby barmaid was there, trying to clean the mess the Ironborn had left. A dozen people had died in this room and she looked clearly sick from watching the stains of blood that had been left from where the city guard removed the bodies. John knew, her mother was in the backroom, recovering from the beating she took. Occasionally,the pretty barmaid would come out of t… [view original content]
John
The taproom was nearly empty, as John walked through it like a caged animal. Thoughts were racing through his mind, keeping him from… more just dropping down despite his exhaustion. His hands were clenched, cold sweat running down his forehead. Janae was gone. Not dead. Gone. He had spent hours searching the city, crawled through piles of bodies in the constant fear of finding her among them. But she wasn't. His maiden fair was gone, without a lead. And somehow, this was almost even worse.
Every once in a while, he looked up, glaring at the few other people in the room. The chubby barmaid was there, trying to clean the mess the Ironborn had left. A dozen people had died in this room and she looked clearly sick from watching the stains of blood that had been left from where the city guard removed the bodies. John knew, her mother was in the backroom, recovering from the beating she took. Occasionally,the pretty barmaid would come out of t… [view original content]
You know I personally don't remember anything about Keat, heh. Not good.
Well, he hasn't been much of a presence so far and given the number of characters, he's likely among the more forgettable so far. Though he should gain in importance in Book 2, I'd be surprised if he won't leave some sort of an impression on you in a couple of chapters. For now, he didn't do too much, though here's a summary of his involvement in the story:
Gregar hired him in Chapter 6, when Maya decided that further diplomatic approach would be fruitless, not with Harris and Sherryl in power. So, Keat was hired to bring them into the archive and help them steal the documents, which he indeed did. While leaving the archive, he and Gregar were spotted by the city guard though and taken prisoner, thanks to Irving falling asleep and failing to warn them of the approaching guard. Unfortunately, Keat was the one carrying the documents, so they were confiscated when he was imprisoned. Maya managed to free them, by striking a deal with Orys Baratheon and Daemion Stratford during the raid, but of course the documents remained with the city guard. During the skirmish against the Second Sons, which saw the escape of Rodrik and the death of Aldrik's direwolf, Keat panicked and decided that his chances of survival would be better alone, so he took off. Maya had the choice of either stopping him, or stopping Aldrik from chasing after Morgrem, the Second Son who killed his wolf and she decided for the latter.
[Go with Aylard to Lucas] I don't want Aylard doing anything stupid plus maybe John can get the important information we need for him to kno… morew.
[Pay Keat the full sum] It's only fair. He did his job.
You know I personally don't remember anything about Keat, heh. Not good.
One thing I can already tell you about the first choice: You will likely get a rather emotional scene from this. It also means that Lucas will have one additional part in this chapter, because otherwise, this meeting would have been told from John's PoV. Maya meanwhile made a choice I wouldn't have quite expected. I was pretty sure you'd pay him half the sum, or none at all. However, this was a more consequential choice than you might think, far more consequential. Naturally, Keat will be very happy about this, but it will also affect something beyond the relationship between him and Maya. You'll see it in time
The next part is hopefully going to be out today. I still have some writing left to do, but I hope to finish it quickly. If it's not done today, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until late tomorrow, because the majority of the Sunday will be spent with my RPG group. But anyways, this next part is going to be the second for Jaron in this chapter. Last time you saw him, he and his group, consisting of Harpy, Samuel, Lanford, Erik and Ayden, returned to their hideout, where a beautiful reunion between Ayden and Taria took place. Slightly less pleasant was a talk with Erik, who was understandably a bit upset about not being paid the coin he was promised despite the danger he put himself in. For now, Jaron managed to keep him patient, by promising to repay him in the future, once everything is sorted out, something he agreed to. He was also offered a job by Lanford, who was impressed by the sellsword's skill and knowledge about weaponry. Both, Lanford and Erik, then took off to discuss the terms Erik would work under. Ayden and Taria meanwhile opted to stay in the hideout, whereas Jaron, Harpy and Samuel prepared to leave for the Burned Man's mansion. However, Samuel also reminded Jaron of his part of the deal they made in Chapter 7, where Jaron would help him something in the future. This something is namely Samuel's revenge on his brother, Ryder, who has killed their parents and their two siblings years ago, for mysterious reasons. To find out where Ryder is located exactly, Samuel has made the plan to force the information out of another guardsman who is friends with his brother, Farris Flowers. Samuel wanted to use violence to achieve this, though Jaron, having doubts about such a brutal method, decided to bring up the possibility of simply talking to him first. We'll see how Samuel will react to this pretty soon, as the next part will start directly where this one left off.
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not if there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “That's not how the world works”, he replied sharply. “At least not how it should. It's only as long as we don't try another way” He shook his head. “I don't want to harm this man. From what we know, he never did anything wrong”
Samuel sighed, slight annoyance in his voice. “Conspiring with my kinslaying brother doesn't count as anything wrong now?”, he asked sharply and the sudden revelation caused Jaron to pause, as he stared at Samuel, eyes wide open. The sellsword realized what he had let slip and he clenched his fists. “I don't want to talk about it”, he answered. “Ryder took everything from me. Let's keep it at that”
Jaron gave him a nod, deciding not to push this any further. “Perhaps Farris doesn't know”, he stated. “Your brother... he could have lied to him. If what you just told me is true...” Samuel cut him off, with a vicious glare. “It is”, he barked and Jaron gave him another nod. “I'm not questioning it”, he clarified. “I just mean, what kind of a man would lie for such a... piece of shit? If we tell him the truth, maybe Farris agrees to help us”
“Maybe”, Samuel agreed, before he rolled his eyes. “Alright then. We got better things to do than arguing” He raised a finger. “We give this a try. Exactly one. I will get my answer, one way or the other, so it doesn't matter to me if your way succeeds or not”
Jaron allowed himself the hint of a smile. “Thank you”, he stated and Samuel sighed. “Expect this to be a one-time deal”, he snarled. “If Farris cooperates, fine. But anything beyond that will be done the way I want it to be done” He sighed. “Should have found less scrupulous help. That Erik guy wouldn't have objected”
“Erik's not a knight”, Jaron stated. “You get more than just morals with me. I had a knightly mentor, got training far beyond anything Erik ever had” Begrudgingly, Samuel gave him a nod. “You stood your ground quite well against the Tom. Against me even”, he admitted. “But you better not hesitate when I need that skill of yours”
Without a further word, the two men turned to Harpy, who was standing at the other end of the hallway, looking at them with hollow eyes. “We should go”, she said thinly. “I... can't deal with this place. Not right now. Let's just... go to the mansion”
Jaron gave her a nod, before he glanced at Samuel. The sellsword gave him a nod in return, expressing his approval of such a decision. “It's not too much of a detour to the harbour”, he replied and with this, it was decided upon. Jaron walked past him and towards Harpy. Wordlessly, she put her arm around his back. “Let's just get out of here”, she whispered and he put a hand onto the back of her head. “I'll just say my goodbyes to Ayden and Taria”, he replied.
She pulled away from him, though she nodded thinly. “I'll wait outside”, she answered quietly, before she walked towards the door. Samuel followed, exchanging a brief look with Jaron and leaving him free to enter the room he had left Ayden and Taria in for one last time.
Taria was still lying in Ayden's arms, both looking up as he entered the room. “How's Harpy?”, she asked and Jaron sighed. “Not good”, he answered. “She's... taking this even worse than I thought” Taria gave him a reassuring smile. “Give her some time”, she told him. “If you ever had a future, she will stay with you. This won't ruin it”
“Taria is right”, Ayden said and she smiled at him. “I'm always right”, she replied slyly and he gave her a quick nod, before he shifted his attention back towards Jaron. “What I mean is, you two have been through too much to let this be the end of you”, he added. “Just make sure she stays safe. Maybe leave this godforsaken city”
“Maybe I will...”, Jaron agreed. “What are you going to do?” Ayden and Taria exchanged a glance, before he shrugged. “First, we'll recover. The last hours have been hard for both of us. Then... we'll see. I wouldn't want our child to grow up here. But beyond that... hell if I know” Sluggishly, he rose from his seat and approached Jaron. “I told you before, if the day comes where you need my help, I shall be there” The two men exchanged a strong handshake, while Taria gave Jaron a bright smile, before he turned around, back into the hallway, out of the building and their lives.
Harpy and Samuel were waiting outside, several feet apart from each other. Whereas Samuel was standing right next to the door, Harpy leant against the opposite wall, half-hidden in shadows. Silently, she raised her head as he crossed the street and he saw the distraught look in her eyes. She was exhausted, physically and emotionally and without saying a word, though still at a slow pace so that he could follow, she started to walk down the street.
Jaron walked by her side, a hand on her shoulder. She allowed it, though did not reciprocate the gesture. More than once, he felt her tensing up whenever the city guard passed them. But none of them actually looked into their direction. They were just normal citizens to them. Invisible and no threat.
It didn't take them long to reach the mansion. Harpy stopped walking for a moment as the cold, lifeless building came into view an Jaron glanced at her. “Are you sure it is a good idea to remain here?”, he asked softly. She shook her head. “It's my home”, she replied. “Or... it has been”
As she started to approach the building, Jaron followed, though he noticed that Samuel remained behind on the street, to wait for him. The two crossed the front yard of the mansion and as they walked closer, Jaron felt uneasy, watching the deserted building. It felt like approaching a grave and in this moment, he knew that they couldn't remain here.
Surprisingly, nobody had done any further looting, at least as far as Jaron was able to tell. Perhaps this part of the city wasn't as rotten as the rest of it, or perhaps the citizens had too much of a respect for the man who used to live here. But the sight was terrible enough already. Broken doors, ruined furniture, it was empty and cold.
“What are we going to do now?”, Jaron asked softly and Harpy stopped, having already crossed half of the room. “I really need some time”, she told him. “There's a lot I have to do, now that he's...” She cut herself off as her voice shivered. “And I need to think of the future. What I want”
Jaron tensed up, as he averted his eyes. He felt a strange fear, the kind he had felt only once, almost a year ago. The loss Ser Matthos had left in his life still cut deeply. And it was the same fear again, the fear of losing someone that meant the world to him. “What...”, he started to say, though she was faster. Crossing the distance between them before he could finish his sentence, she reached up and gave him a kiss.
Taken by surprise, Jaron raised his arms and needed a moment before closing them around her. As he took a step back, she took it with him, before she their lips separated again. For a moment, there was something else in her eyes. Hope? Love? Her smile was thin, but it was the sweetest expression she had ever shown in his eyes. “I hope this answers your question”, she said.
Still a bit baffled by the sudden display of affection, Jaron only gave her a nod. Slowly, her smile was gone again, replaced by the grim expression. “I couldn't do this without you”, she admitted and he pulled her into a very brief hug, before she pulled away.
For a moment, they looked each other in the eye, before Jaron spoke. “I... should leave you then. Samuel's waiting”, he said. “Are you sure you're okay with this?” She gave him a quick, understanding nod. “I need to be alone for a while”, she assured him. “Not long, just... just enough to get some rest. To take care of a few things” For a moment, she put a hand onto his chest. “When you have dealt with Samuel, come back to me, jorraelys”, she whispered.
Exchanging one last, loving look, Jaron turned away from her and left the building, to head back to Samuel. The sellsword raised an eyebrow as he saw him, looking surprised enough for Jaron to give him a questioning look. “You're smiling”, the man explained and Jaron's expression turned to a frown. To this, Samuel rolled his eyes. “Not anymore, it seems. Is everything okay between you and her?”
Before Jaron was able to answer, the sellsword had already started to walk, down the road that would lead them to the harbour and to Farris Flowers. He had a good pace and Jaron had to walk faster than usual to keep up with him. “I'm surprised you care”, he answered and Samuel shrugged.
“Perhaps you don't know me”, he stated calmly. “Otherwise you wouldn't have suggested that we speak to this... acquaintance of Ryder first” He sighed, slightly frustrated. “I will give it one shot, but I won't allow it to risk everything I've been working for” Jaron looked at him, as they slowly left the main street behind, turning to the maze-like alleyways that cut through Oldtown. “Think about it”, he argued. “If you tell him what you told me, why would he cover a man like your brother?”
“Maybe they are friends”, Samuel argued. “I know that would be the least I'd do for mine” Jaron raised an eyebrow. “How many friends do you have?”, he asked in disbelief. Samuel sighed. “There was one”, he revealed and narrowed his eyes. “You killed him. Remember Jaylon?”
Pressing his lips together, Jaron decided to avoid the sellsword's glare. “Beyond that?”, Samuel continued and as Jaron glanced at him, he saw that the harsh expression softened slightly. “No... not a friend” Jaron sighed. “Well, perhaps it's not too late to make some”, he answered. “What are your plans after this is over?”
Samuel seemed surprised by this question, as it took him a moment to answer. “After this is over...”, he mumbled. “Honestly, I don't know. I've been doing this for a decade now. This has been my goal, my life” Jaron raised an eyebrow. “A decade is a long time to keep a grudge”
“It's not a fucking grudge”, Samuel growled, though not with anger, but frustration. “To answer your question, I don't know what to do. If this ends today... I really can't tell you. I met a girl a couple of days ago... maybe I'll get to know her a bit better”
Jaron smirked at this comment. “Never took you for a romantic”, he said and Samuel sighed, though slightly more light-hearted now. “Never was”, he replied. By now, they had reached the harbour of Oldtown, which was slightly less crowded than usual for this time of the day. Nonetheless, the cacophony of voices and smells, both pleasant and rotten, already reached Jaron's ears, though he wasn't even close to the main street of this part of the city.
Samuel's slightly more relaxed expression had hardened again, especially as he spotted someone in the distance, just entering the small side-street they were walking through. It was a member of the city guard, his white tabard clearly visible in the light of the day. He was a young man, with light brown hair and a short beard, probably only barely older than Jaron himself.
“Is that Farris?”, Jaron asked quietly and Samuel shook his head. “I don't know... would be quite a coincidence though” His expression grew darker. “But I know how to find out” The way he said this alarmed Jaron, who tried to grab the sellsword from moving, though Samuel was too quick. “Samuel!”, he hissed.
“I got this”, the man replied sharply. “Stay behind, I'll deal with him” He continued to approach the young guardsman and Jaron followed. “Samuel, don't...”, he hissed again, as the sellsword reached for his belt. Though the guard quickly noticed them approaching him, he remained oblivious of the threat he was apparently in.
“Seven Blessings”, he greeted them. “May I help you somehow?” Jaron gulped as Samuel, still a hand on his belt, gave him a nod. “You may indeed”, he said, before he reached not for his sword, but for his purse. “Captain Farris Flowers?”
For a moment, the guard was taken aback. “Uh... no, I'm not Captain Farris. My name is...” Before he was able to continue, Samuel cut him off. “Splendid. I am an... old friend of his. Trying to get into contact. You don't happen to know where he's patrolling?”
The guard hesitated, slowly narrowing his eyes. “He's one of the higher-ups”, he said. “Not really supposed to tell you where he's patrolling. The men at the Hightower might be able to tell you more, though you need an appointment. I can help you with making one”
Samuel shook his head and a surprisingly benevolent smile appeared on his face. “I believe you can help me a bit more directly”, he said and raised the purse. Pulling out a golden coin, he presented it to the guardsman. “There's ten golden hands and fifteen silver in this”, he explained. “You can have it all if you tell me what I want to know”
The guard's eyes widened. “That... how many? That's...”, he stuttered and Samuel gave him a nod. “I know. Twice of what you make a month. You're young... thrice maybe? A good deal”, he stated. “But only if you help me first. Captain Farris Flowers. Where is he?”
Now, the guardsman bit his lower lip, clearly tempted by the offer. Finally, with a sigh, he extended his hand and Samuel put the purse into it. “He's patrolling down by the warehouses. It's not far, you can't miss it. Just follow the main street into that direction”, he explained, as he pointed down to the south. “Though... you're not really an old friend, are you?”
Samuel smirked. “Does it matter?”, he asked and the guard shook his head. “Not really”, he admitted. “But the man you're looking for, he's a beast. Taller than both of you, more muscles than you two combined. You'll recognize him when you see him. And well, if you're out for trouble, I bet he can deal with whatever you wish to stir. If you got any problems with him, you better think twice before starting a fight”
This time, Samuel patted him onto the back. “We'll keep it in mind”, he replied. “Thanks for the help” Without a further word, he continued his way into the direction the guard had told him to take. Jaron threw a glance at the thoroughly confused, though somewhat happy young man, before he followed after his companion.
“That was...”, he muttered and Samuel gave him a calm look. “You expected me to beat the information out of him?”, he asked and after a moment of hesitation, Jaron gave him a nod. “Certainly didn't expect you to buy him off”, he answered and an expression of slight smugness formed on Samuel's face. “Butterfly paid well, always. That was probably the only good thing about him”, he explained. “The other Solvers, they wasted it, but me? I'm a man of few needs. No booze, no whores. I saved a lot of coin. Perhaps one day I can start a new life with it, if this ever ends”
They turned to the main street, facing the harbour basin, with its armada of colourful ships from all over the world. On a better day, Jaron would have stopped for a moment, not only to take in the colours, the display of foreign lands, the exotic ships and their even more exotic sailors, but also because he was nearly stunned by the stench that came with hundreds of people on a narrow street, selling all kinds of good.
Shaking it off and forcing himself to go ahead, he followed Samuel down the street and it wasn't long until he realized something. They were going down a direction he remembered all too well. The moment he decided to kill Butterfly, it would haunt him for the rest of his live. Of course, it hasn't been him who did the deed, but he could have prevented it. And everything that had happened afterwards... Jaron couldn't help but to feel responsible for it.
It wasn't long until they had left the crowd behind, moving through the far less populated warehouse area. Just being here caused bad memories to flare up again. Robb, impaled by Butterfly. The false crimelord himself, living and dying a pawn in a game he likely never even understood. For some reason, he had to remember the last look Martin had given him, so resigned to his fate, yet defiant to the bitter end.
Jaron sighed, as he glanced down at his hands. He spotted a tiny remnant of red there, though he thought he had washed it all off before, the Burned Man's blood, back when he killed him. An act of mercy, but what good was that now? And for him, who remained when so many had given their lives...
“Judging by the description, I'd say that is our man”, Samuel said, interrupting his thoughts. He pointed down a small street between two large warehouses and Jaron laid eyes upon a tall man. The chainmail failed to cover his massive arms, exposing scarred flesh, while the tabard was barely enough for his broad frame. A mane of dark hair gave him almost something wild, an impression only strengthened by the greatsword on his back. The guard even wore a second sword, a smaller, one-handed blade, likely to be used whenever he needed a weapon as quick as possible.
“The guard did not lie”, Jaron said, slightly intimidated by this sight. “Hells, I wouldn't want to pick a fight with that guy. Are you happy now that we try it my way?” Samuel raised an eybrow. “Depends on your results”, he answered. “I could take him, easily so. Fought men like him for all my life. In this city, there are three, maybe four people who could win against me and this man is not among them”
This bold statement caused Jaron to raise an eyebrow. “I'd love to see this, honestly”, he admitted. “But for now, try to avoid a fight. He doesn't look like the surrendering kind of guy and he's no good to you dead” Samuel couldn't say anything against this logic, so Jaron proceeded to approach the large guardsman. He noticed that Samuel remained in the distance, something that wasn't quite reassuring.
“Captain Farris?”, he asked as he came closer. By now, the guard had spotted them and had stopped patrolling. Putting both hands onto the hilt of the sword on his belt, he gave him a stern nod. “This is me”, he replied. “How may I be of service?” His voice sounded deep, yet there was a surprising cockiness in it, a light-hearted tone Jaron had not expected.
“We're looking for a man, a very specific captain of the guard”, he was quick to explain, as he noted distrust beneath the light-hearted voice. Clearly, this man was already trying to find out what danger he would pose, the same for Samuel, who still remained a couple of feet away. “We've been told you might know where to find him. His name is Ryder Harrington”
Instantly, he noted a change in the man's stance and the way he looked at him. For a moment, the distrust flared up openly, as Farris narrowed his eyes. “That depends who is asking”, he growled as an answer. He took a step forwards and Jaron took a deep breath, as he looked up into the bearded face. “Boy, I advice you tell me the truth now. Who are you and what do you want from Ryder?”
[Tell him your real names][Come up with fake names]
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
[Come up with fake names]
I'm obviously not going to tell at a captain of the city guard that I'm the man that worked for a crimelord while my partner is the famous Fang of Shadow that worked for Butterfly.Otherwise I really doubt that things will go as Jaron planned and we will follow Samuel plan.
RT:
Despite I like the moment between Jaron and Harpy it seems a little dumb leave the girl at The Burned Man mansion since it seems really far to be a safe place.
It seems a little late from Jaron to make the "I'm an honourable knight" speech after he had work for a crimelord more or less a month
Samuel see Jaylon as a friend?That was a little unexpected since each of them never show to see the other as a friend in the few parts that they were together
Samuel bribe a young guard and, despite the young man give himself an excuse to accept the money, I can only expect him to become ten years later a corrupt guard!XD
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
Despite I like the moment between Jaron and Harpy it seems a little dumb leave the girl at The Burned Man mansion since it seems really far to be a safe place.
Well, it as at her request after all. That said, neither she nor Jaron are actually thinking straight right now, quite the opposite. There are surely more safe places in Oldtown. At the same time, with the Solvers in complete disarray, at least Harpy thinks that nobody is out to look for her right now. On top of that, this is the place where she at least feels safe. But yeah, you certainly got a point. Objectively, there would have been better hideouts.
It seems a little late from Jaron to make the "I'm an honourable knight" speech after he had work for a crimelord more or less a month
Actually, this situation is something else. Jaron is of course far from the ideal of a law-abiding knight. However, his past actions all had, at least in some capacity, the motivation to do good. In terms of D&D Alignment, he'd be a classic case of Chaotic Good. Even his killing of Butterfly had at least partially the motivation to prevent the crimelord from being a danger to others ever again. This however is a completely different situation. What Samuel suggested is to torture a man who is, for all Jaron knows, completely innocent of any crime, only to get information for an already morally murky quest of vengeance. That would be the first action not even he could justify. At heart, Jaron still is a knight and though circumstances forced him to give up part of his ideal, he still wishes to turn around from that, as this part and your last decision showed.
Samuel see Jaylon as a friend?That was a little unexpected since each of them never show to see the other as a friend in the few parts that they were together
It is a bit complicated between these two. They certainly aren't friends in the classical case. The times they interacted with each other, they have been rather aloof. However, for Samuel, who is a loner and has no actual friends to speak of. Therefore, Jaylon was the closest thing he had for a friend. With Jaylon, things were quite similarly, which was also why he has previously agreed to help him when the time comes to confront his brother.
Samuel bribe a young guard and, despite the young man give himself an excuse to accept the money, I can only expect him to become ten years later a corrupt guard!XD
Well, isn't taking bribes the very essence of being a corrupt guard? So, that guy was certainly far from honourable Though, he was also in the presence of two armed men, so just taking the coin and leave would have been very bad for his health, something he was quite aware of in this moment. He could have given them wrong directions, but since he is an Oldtown guard, he knows how quickly he can piss off the wrong people, so he decided to go along with their request and get a nice sum of money in return.
[Come up with fake names]
I'm obviously not going to tell at a captain of the city guard that I'm the man that worked for a crimelord whil… moree my partner is the famous Fang of Shadow that worked for Butterfly.Otherwise I really doubt that things will go as Jaron planned and we will follow Samuel plan.
RT:
* Despite I like the moment between Jaron and Harpy it seems a little dumb leave the girl at The Burned Man mansion since it seems really far to be a safe place.
* It seems a little late from Jaron to make the "I'm an honourable knight" speech after he had work for a crimelord more or less a month
* Samuel see Jaylon as a friend?That was a little unexpected since each of them never show to see the other as a friend in the few parts that they were together
* Samuel bribe a young guard and, despite the young man give himself an excuse to accept the money, I can only expect him to become ten years later a corrupt guard!XD
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
[Come up with fake names] I get the feeling here that Farris is firmly on Ryder's side. So, telling him their real names is a very bad idea, because he will just see them both as criminals.
Anyway, great part, the moment between Jaron and Harpy was nice
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
[Come up with fake names] May as well be safe rather than sorry here. Jaron should try to get more of an idea on who Farris is before telling him anything that is true.
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
[Tell him your real names] I have a feeling that if we lie and tell him our fake names it will definitely come back to bite us and the consequences will be even worse. I know this probably isn't the best idea considering Jaron's past, but like I said, I'd rather face lesser consequences now than potentially face much larger ones in the future. Kind of similar to how I chose when Lucas had the choice to sign Mullendore's confession a few parts ago. I'll regret this choice a lot if the fake names were to actually work.
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
[Come up with fake names] I would like to think how this scene would play out if we do tell Farris the truth.
Jaron: Apologies good ser. My name is Ser Jaron, and next to me is the infamous sellsword Samuel Harrington. You know, the brother of the man who murdered his entire family and taking shelter at Oldtown. If you can just tell us where he is hiding, that would be great.
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
Why I suspect that this is how the next Jaron part will be?
If it is not a problem for you I want to add to your scene:
Samuel: That's it. Doing it my way.
Jaron: Wait Samuel!I still have to remember at this captain of the city guard that each of us worked for two different crimelords of his city!After I explain that to him is 100% sure that he will believe any words that we say to him and trust us like we are his own brothers!
Samuel: (facepalm) I really should have asked Erik help for this mission
[Come up with fake names] I would like to think how this scene would play out if we do tell Farris the truth.
Jaron: Apologies good ser. … moreMy name is Ser Jaron, and next to me is the infamous sellsword Samuel Harrington. You know, the brother of the man who murdered his entire family and taking shelter at Oldtown. If you can just tell us where he is hiding, that would be great.
Farris: Uhhhhh...
Samuel: That's it. Doing it my way.
If Farris isn't aware of who Mullendore really is, I would like to have a trade of information. They tell Farris about Mullendore, and Farris tells them where Ryder is hiding. Judging from how Farris is, I expect him to be surprised by this information.
Why I suspect that this is how the next Jaron part will be?
If it is not a problem for you I want to add to your scene:
Samuel: That's… more it. Doing it my way.
Jaron: Wait Samuel!I still have to remember at this captain of the city guard that each of us worked for two different crimelords of his city!After I explain that to him is 100% sure that he will believe any words that we say to him and trust us like we are his own brothers!
Samuel: (facepalm) I really should have asked Erik help for this mission
[Tell him your real names] This whole approach depends on the possibility that Farris is a good man, if we expect him to take this risk the least we can do is be honest.
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not … moreif there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “T… [view original content]
Damn it, you just spoiled the massive Book 2 twist, about Farris' true identity as Harris' good twin brother. I had this super huge storyline planned out, at the end of which it turns out that Harris was actually the good twin and then Farris battles against Aegon Targaryen and Dimitri the Wise atop the Hightower and there would have been dragons and explosions and it would have been epic. Now I can scrap that part of the storyline entirely
I would like to give him a fake name for Jaron and the real one for Samuel, but hey honesty is the best policy.
To be fair, that would be a pretty good option I myself haven't really thought about. Then again, it's not as if Jaron's name is so well-known in the city. The Burned Man hasn't exactly made it public knowledge that he is now working with a bastard hedge knight. Samuel is the name he will recognize though.
Ha ha no Samuel. No no no. She should be dead, but alas, she is only hundreds of miles away.
And soon it'll be even more than just hundreds. It's safe to say, Samuel's plans for the future won't exactly work out all that easy, if you can even call them plans. Though he has taken a liking to Raenna and this is the closest he has ever been to actually make genuine plans for his future. It's a shame that this, of all situations, has grown so complicated.
[Tell him your real names] I would like to give him a fake name for Jaron and the real one for Samuel, but hey honesty is the best policy.
… more I met a girl a couple of days ago... maybe I'll get to know her a bit better
Ha ha no Samuel. No no no. She should be dead, but alas, she is only hundreds of miles away.
Indeed, there is a possibility that such a thing is indeed going to happen. From way ago, back when he first appeared, Farris has mostly appeared to be a rather honest guardsman, so if he isn't in league with Butterfly, then he should be highly interested in such information. Only question is if he is willing to put this information above Ryder's well-being. Maybe he requires even more.
But well, one way or the other, you will see it pretty soon. Both routes should hold some interesting moments for the following interaction, though I can confirm it won't exactly happen as you may think it will. It could go either way of course, but it's unlikely to happen exactly like this
No problem! Actually I thought of an idea.
If Farris isn't aware of who Mullendore really is, I would like to have a trade of information… more. They tell Farris about Mullendore, and Farris tells them where Ryder is hiding. Judging from how Farris is, I expect him to be surprised by this information.
Comments
Awesome comment, amazingly analyzed between you two but to be honest even after reading all my thougths are dominated by one part of a sentence:
but if FoT would be a campaign and I'd be the GM
Good God that would be a long campaign. Not to mention the player number!
Great Analysis Arrodor
[Search for Daghan]
[Pay Keat the full sum]
[Search for Daghan]
[Pay Keat half of the sum]
To be fair here, I should reveal that John's main intention is to see Saerya. While he is arguably friends with Daghan by now, he would only seek him out here so that he can arrange a meeting with Saerya. John knows that she's the well-informed one in their group. Though I should also say that you're going to see Saerya regardless in the near future
The same applies for Daghan, whom I have also planned to give some role in this chapter, though likely less prominent if John does not seek him out here.
Yeah, it would be one monster of a campaign, but to be fair, if I can write a story of such length, I can just as well dungeonmaster it
Oh god, I can already see it right before me, having not only the antics of these wonderful characters, but also all kinds of player shenanigans. I must write it down! Take a look at these...
Me: Alright, it's time to introduce his new character. Guys, keep in mind that you don't know this character yet. Okay then... you are sitting in the tavern, over a few beer. You talk a little bit, speak about how your respective day has been, when suddenly, you see this weird-looking guy, kinda shady, with really greasy blonde hair, pale skin, unsettling grey eyes, one of it twitching a bit, he wears a long, brown overcoat and is eyeing Ilish in a creepy way. What do you do?
Player of Richard: I want to approach him and I'll speak to him in-character. clears throat
"Well met, friend! You seem trustworthy. Would you care to join us on our noble quest?"
Me: Uh, keep in mind you really don't know anything about this guy...
Player of Urid: Ah, he's a Player Character. Come on, we've known him for years. No way there's anything special about his new character. Likely just another sword and board fighter as always.
Player of Wolfius: Uh... sure... sword and board...
Player of Dante: Wait, why exactly are we keeping up with that Leo guy? Can't we just kick him out of the party?
Player of Leo: Whoa, why that?
Player of Dante: Well, you're the one making everything awkward. I get you want our characters to have this rivalry thing, but I'm really not buying any of it. It doesn't make sense for my character to keep you around.
Me: Well, keep in mind that Leo is the only one who can identify Alys...
Player of Darreth: Eh, we know how she looks, she's sitting right here at the table. If we see someone looking like her, we can just go ahead and ask her for her name.
Me: You can certainly try. But remember that she doesn't want to be found.
Player of Dante: Eh, that's no problem, I got pretty high Perception. I bet I can spot it if she's lying. So, can we kick Leo out of the group now?
Player of Kersea: That Clayton guy, he's really an ass... Can I kill him?
Me: Well, keep in mind that his boss keeps your sister hostage.
Player of Kersea: Ah yeah, my sister, the NPC I've never even met outside of my character's backstory. Nah, I want to redo that. Can I retcon it? Besides, she's probably dead already. No way that Butterfly is keeping her alive for so long. So... can I kill Clayton?
Me: Okay... But keep in mind that he is a high-level assassin. The guy is considered a group encounter in my notes.
Player of Kersea: Yeah, but he trusts me, doesn't he? I bet I can totally backstab him.
Me: He does, but remember that you don't have your knives with you right now. You left them at the camp.
Player of Kersea: Crap... but wait, there's this thing... I still got a vial of Wildfire. Remember, I got one for that quest!
Me:... you have a vial of Wildfire.
Player of Kersea: I backstab him with the Wildfire!
Me: Can you even do that? There has to be a rule against it.
Player of Kersea: Nu-uh. You can backstab someone with throwing knives, so I'm sure you can backstab them with a thrown wildfire bottle as well. So, can I?
Me: sigh Sure, go ahead, make a roll...
Player of Kersea: 23
Me: 23 hits...
Player of Kersea: That's... 300 points of fire damage, plus an extra 50 points of fire damage per round. Is he dead?
Me: discreetly burns half of my notes Well, considering that he has about 120 hitpoints... yeah, he is pretty dead...
Me: You're standing in the courtyard, the other soldiers around you. It's getting dark, chilly. From the direction of the city you hear the sound of battle. The soldiers around have expressions ranging from nervous to excited. The princess walks in front of you and she's making a speech...
Player of Drent: I seduce the princess!
Me: Wait... what?
Player of Torrence: rolls eyes Here we go again...
Me: You... want to seduce the princess... in the middle of the courtyard, while a battle is raging on in the city?
Player of Drent: Uh-huh.
Me: Well, she's kinda busy leading an army, so, I'm afraid that one's not...
Player of Drent: So, I don't even get to roll? The rules clearly say that I can try it.
Me: As I said, she is too busy to pay attention.
Player of Drent: Does that mean you go against the rules? Come on, at least give me the roll!
Me: Fine... go ahead, roll. But you got to roll seriously high and keep in mind how she will react if you fail...
Player of Drent: rolls Natural Twenty.
Me: Oh fu... well, I said it before, she is a bit preoccu....
Player of Drent: Natural. Twenty.
Player of Jenna: I would like to enter a rage.
Player of Saerya: Jen, you're playing a servant in this campaign, you're no longer the barbarian.
Player of Jenna: Wait, then how am I supposed to survive that encounter?
Me: Well, servants are not a physical class. I think Sae has a very high charisma score.
Player of Saerya: grins 21
Player of Jenna: Charisma? Ugh, I don't need that dump-stat. You sure I can't rage? Then how am I supposed to win against this... what are you again?
Player of Wolfius: Uh... a rogue, I think. Level 12.
Player of Jenna: Level 12? What the fuck Liquid, I'm a Level 1 character! Do you actually want me to die here?
Me: Uh, well, erm... Richard! You've arrived at the castle. You see Wolfius attacking your daughter, what do you do?
Player of Richard: What? But I didn't even want to... I run away of course!
Player of Jenna: Excuse me?
Player of Richard: Come on, I took two levels as a fighter. No way I can beat a Level 12 character. It's either one PC death or two and I'm cutting my losses here.
Player of Jenna: I'm playing your daughter, you jerk!
Player of Richard: Hey, my character's got like, three other children, I think. I bet he won't even notice. Besides, I'm not a fighter.
Player of Jenna: You're the closest thing we got!
Player of Leonard: I knew my character should have stayed in Raynoldsfair, or whatever it's called...
Me: Guys, look who's here, it's Maya!
Player of Maya: Hey guys, sorry for being late! What's going on?
Me: Well, you're here just in time. I got some super interesting stuff for you to do in this session. Right now, you're in...
Player of Maya: Oh, I forgot to say, I gotta leave early today. Dinner with the family at 7. Can we do it so we play half of my stuff in this session and the rest next time? Yeah? Awesome! Okay then, where are we right now?
Me: Alright then, Erik, what are you going to do?
Player of Erik: Can I attack Jaron?
Player of Jaron: Wait, what? Why would you do that?
Player of Harpy: Yeah man, not cool. We're your allies.
Player of Erik: Well, I'm Chaotic Neutral, so it's in-character for me to do that.
Player of Jaron: Pretty sure that's not what Chaotic Neutral is all about...
Player of Erik: Pretty sure it is! I'm Chaotic Neutral, so I can do whatever I want. And I want to attack you, because that's what my character would do.
Player of Mullendore: Not going to lie... that is kind of a dickmove.
Player of Jaron: Man, I got like, twenty HP left. If you attack me, you'd kill me. That's not Chaotic Neutral, that's Chaotic Evil.
Me: He got a point, you know... Erik, I'm changing your alignment to Chaotic Evil.
Player of Erik: Yay, that means now I can murder them!
Me: You can certainly try. But Samuel has the higher initiative. Samuel, what are you doing?
Player of Samuel: Well... it says Chaotic Neutral on my character sheet. Does that mean I can kill them as well?
Player of Erik: Yay, Murder-Bro!
Player of Harpy: Oh fuck... uh, wait guys, look, I'm Chaotic Neutral as well. You don't have to kill me...
Player of Erik: Pretty sure it said Chaotic Good just a second ago and you just wrote Neutral over it...
Player of Harpy: And look, Jaron's Chaotic Neutral too!
Player of Jaron: What? No, I'm totally Chaotic Go... oh... oooh, yeah, I'm totally Chaotic Neutral. We're all Chaotic Neutral.
Me: Ah, screw it... yeah, if that means you don't kill each other, you're all Chaotic Neutral.
Player of Erik: So, we're all Murder-Bro's? Awesome! Let's go and kill something. Liquid, how many EXP do we get for the High Septon?
Me: That's it, Torvin, you're taking fifty points of piercing damage.
Player of Torvin: Crap, I'm at minus ten now... Means I'm dead.
Player of Edward: Oh shit... damn it, sorry mate, I didn't want to kill your character!
Player of Torvin: sigh It's okay... well, I gotta roll a new character now. Though I got a sheet prepared already, can I play him?
Me: Sure, what kind of a character is it?
Torvin: Well, it's a Level 4 character, a Gungan knight...
Player of Sadie: Wait, how was I supposed to win that encounter? I'm Level 8 and you put me against a freaking Level 16 Fighter?
Me: Well, you're still alive...
Player of Sadie: Yeah and my character has lost a hand! I'm a Level 8 Fighter, sword and and board, that's all wasted now.
Me: Uh, I can understand you're angry, but that's what the rolls said and...
Player of Sadie: Rolls, huh? Well, then I want to reroll. New character. A mage this time.
Player of Noelle: Remember, this is a low-magic campaign. There are no mages.
Player of Sadie: Wait, no mages? Gods, this campaign sucks!
Player of Dimitri: Well, what am I supposed to say? The DM hasn't interacted with me in 2 years!
Player of Ilhan: Be lucky you're still alive, bro. I mean, PC death in the second session? Not cool, bro, not cool.
Player of Wolfius: Guys, I like the campaign...
Player of Jenna: Yeah, that's because you play some PG min/max shit. That Rogue/Warg combination is overpowered.
Player of Wolfius: Hey, don't blame me. I wanted to play World of Darkness.
Player of Sadie: Screw this. You know what, I'm out. Guys, I'm making my own campaign. Anyone up for a round of Shadowrun?
Player of Jenna: Can I play a barbarian in it?
Yeah... it's probably for the best that FoT is not a campaign. At the same time, I totally want this to be a thing now
I sense some foreshadowing coming in the future xD Better keep an eye on Erik.
Oh that's easy. Just present the player with an option to get to see Ryder if he betrays the group and boom. Instant backstab.
This was hilarious!XD
Is this a citation of that guy that was submitted years ago with the same name of the Ironbro aka Ser Torvin Hale?
Ah, I'd probably just wing it and make stuff up as it goes, though having about two-hundred players with me would make things seriously hard regardless. Some, like the player of Dimitri, would get the serious short end of the stick. This would probably go well up until the first player does something I have not expected (such as backstabbing Clayton with a vial of Wildfire), at which point I'd get a nervous breakdown
Well, he is still waiting for his payment, isn't he? Can't hurt to be careful around a sellsword who hasn't been properly paid
Indeed, if Ryder is involved, then Samuel wouldn't even think twice to take that option. He's a perfect Chaotic Neutral character
Glad to hear it
And it was so much fun to write. Hmmm, maybe I should do more with this idea...
Actually, no
While there is indeed a Torvin Hale in the waiting list, he is completely unrelated to Torvin. This is actually about the oldest little in-joke this story has, something I am pretty sure only a handful of readers will get. It's no secret that I receive the occasional character that is not supposed to be a serious character. The first of these joke-characters and therefore the most famous one is a certain Ser Jar-Jar of Binks, who is obviously based on the infamous character from Star Wars Episode I, who belonged to the Gungan race. I always wanted to feature that guy, given how long ago he has been submitted, but never got the chance until now. Therefore, Torvin's player is going to play as Jar-Jar in future settings 
Player of Kersea: That's... 300 points of fire damage, plus an extra 50 points of fire damage per round. Is he dead?
Me: discreetly burns half of my notes Well, considering that he has about 120 hitpoints... yeah, he is pretty dead...
Me: Fine... go ahead, roll. But you got to roll seriously high and keep in mind how she will react if you fail...
Player of Drent: rolls Natural Twenty.
Don't you just hate it when that happens. And with how insanely planned FOT has been........I'm pretty sure you would eventually go delusional. I can just imagine several players becoming insanely overpowered and 'perfect' in the world and killing each other for power or destroying everything.
Me: Sure, what kind of a character is it?
Torvin: Well, it's a Level 4 character, a Gungan knight...
This reference is so beautiful.
Yeah... it's probably for the best that FoT is not a campaign. At the same time, I totally want this to be a thing now.
I do also but I am sure the GM Liquid would probably go insane eventually.
Dangit, I was going to make a Ser Jar Jar of Binks joke. Now I just need to wait for a mention of the evasive Mike Rotch, and then I'll pounce with a humorous joke. Just you wait.
Well, as someone who is very much into dungeonmastering, yes, this can be a bit irksome, especially when tons of planning goes out of the window. That said, we got a pretty nice saying around here that is translated to "No idea survives the first contact with the player", meaning that the players will always find a way to act unpredictably and that even the best idea shouldn't be planned in too much detail. I do consider myself a relatively good dungeon master and eventually came to terms with these things, so nowadays I actually kinda enjoy the things my players surprise me with. I have also found ways to include my plans without scrapping them in their entirety should something unexpected happen. That said, as a DM, I got plenty of ways to prevent them from becoming overpowered, so that's not as much of a problem. Though I bet not even I could make the Targaryen's less overpowered...
Admittedly, a campaign of such magnitude would drive everyone insane. I don't think a single Dungeonmaster is capable of managing over a hundred wacky players, though it is kind of fun to think about the possibilites. I for one would love such a campaign, despite the dangers it holds for my already questionable mental health
[Search for Daghan] As other readers have stated, I think Aylard would be better off going to see Lucas alone and would probably be a more powerful scene. Plus, we do need Daghan's and Saerya's help anyway.
[Pay Keat the full sum] Gregar is right, Keat did what we asked him to do and it isn't his fault Irving screwed up. Let's be a man of our word (or a woman of our word
) and pay the man what we promised, especially if we have more than enough to do so. Although, I still don't like how he bitched out of the fight like that.
[Go with Aylard to Lucas]
[Pay Keat the full sum]
[Go with Aylard to Lucas] I don't want Aylard doing anything stupid plus maybe John can get the important information we need for him to know.
[Pay Keat the full sum] It's only fair. He did his job.
You know I personally don't remember anything about Keat, heh. Not good.
Well, he hasn't been much of a presence so far and given the number of characters, he's likely among the more forgettable so far. Though he should gain in importance in Book 2, I'd be surprised if he won't leave some sort of an impression on you in a couple of chapters. For now, he didn't do too much, though here's a summary of his involvement in the story:
Gregar hired him in Chapter 6, when Maya decided that further diplomatic approach would be fruitless, not with Harris and Sherryl in power. So, Keat was hired to bring them into the archive and help them steal the documents, which he indeed did. While leaving the archive, he and Gregar were spotted by the city guard though and taken prisoner, thanks to Irving falling asleep and failing to warn them of the approaching guard. Unfortunately, Keat was the one carrying the documents, so they were confiscated when he was imprisoned. Maya managed to free them, by striking a deal with Orys Baratheon and Daemion Stratford during the raid, but of course the documents remained with the city guard. During the skirmish against the Second Sons, which saw the escape of Rodrik and the death of Aldrik's direwolf, Keat panicked and decided that his chances of survival would be better alone, so he took off. Maya had the choice of either stopping him, or stopping Aldrik from chasing after Morgrem, the Second Son who killed his wolf and she decided for the latter.
The Voting is closed!
John is going to search for Daghan
Maya is going to pay Keat the full sum
One thing I can already tell you about the first choice: You will likely get a rather emotional scene from this. It also means that Lucas will have one additional part in this chapter, because otherwise, this meeting would have been told from John's PoV. Maya meanwhile made a choice I wouldn't have quite expected. I was pretty sure you'd pay him half the sum, or none at all. However, this was a more consequential choice than you might think, far more consequential. Naturally, Keat will be very happy about this, but it will also affect something beyond the relationship between him and Maya. You'll see it in time
The next part is hopefully going to be out today. I still have some writing left to do, but I hope to finish it quickly. If it's not done today, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until late tomorrow, because the majority of the Sunday will be spent with my RPG group. But anyways, this next part is going to be the second for Jaron in this chapter. Last time you saw him, he and his group, consisting of Harpy, Samuel, Lanford, Erik and Ayden, returned to their hideout, where a beautiful reunion between Ayden and Taria took place. Slightly less pleasant was a talk with Erik, who was understandably a bit upset about not being paid the coin he was promised despite the danger he put himself in. For now, Jaron managed to keep him patient, by promising to repay him in the future, once everything is sorted out, something he agreed to. He was also offered a job by Lanford, who was impressed by the sellsword's skill and knowledge about weaponry. Both, Lanford and Erik, then took off to discuss the terms Erik would work under. Ayden and Taria meanwhile opted to stay in the hideout, whereas Jaron, Harpy and Samuel prepared to leave for the Burned Man's mansion. However, Samuel also reminded Jaron of his part of the deal they made in Chapter 7, where Jaron would help him something in the future. This something is namely Samuel's revenge on his brother, Ryder, who has killed their parents and their two siblings years ago, for mysterious reasons. To find out where Ryder is located exactly, Samuel has made the plan to force the information out of another guardsman who is friends with his brother, Farris Flowers. Samuel wanted to use violence to achieve this, though Jaron, having doubts about such a brutal method, decided to bring up the possibility of simply talking to him first. We'll see how Samuel will react to this pretty soon, as the next part will start directly where this one left off.
Jaron
It took Jaron a moment to pull himself together. He couldn't do that, couldn't be idle when Samuel suggested such an approach, not if there was the chance to prevent it. He swore an oath once. This had to mean something still, despite everything that had happened since then.
“There must be another way”, he finally said and Samuel raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”, he growled, cautiously and Jaron looked him in the eyes. “I don't want to harm this man”, he admitted. “And there has to be another way than that. Perhaps he will tell us the information”
To this, Samuel chuckled dryly. “Surely he's just going to betray his comrade”, he spoke in a mocking tone. “It's always astonishing how far removed from reality you knights think from time to time. Maybe I don't want to harm him. Maybe I don't care. It doesn't matter. This is how the world work”
As he spoke, Jaron's gaze hardened, turning into a momentary glare. “That's not how the world works”, he replied sharply. “At least not how it should. It's only as long as we don't try another way” He shook his head. “I don't want to harm this man. From what we know, he never did anything wrong”
Samuel sighed, slight annoyance in his voice. “Conspiring with my kinslaying brother doesn't count as anything wrong now?”, he asked sharply and the sudden revelation caused Jaron to pause, as he stared at Samuel, eyes wide open. The sellsword realized what he had let slip and he clenched his fists. “I don't want to talk about it”, he answered. “Ryder took everything from me. Let's keep it at that”
Jaron gave him a nod, deciding not to push this any further. “Perhaps Farris doesn't know”, he stated. “Your brother... he could have lied to him. If what you just told me is true...” Samuel cut him off, with a vicious glare. “It is”, he barked and Jaron gave him another nod. “I'm not questioning it”, he clarified. “I just mean, what kind of a man would lie for such a... piece of shit? If we tell him the truth, maybe Farris agrees to help us”
“Maybe”, Samuel agreed, before he rolled his eyes. “Alright then. We got better things to do than arguing” He raised a finger. “We give this a try. Exactly one. I will get my answer, one way or the other, so it doesn't matter to me if your way succeeds or not”
Jaron allowed himself the hint of a smile. “Thank you”, he stated and Samuel sighed. “Expect this to be a one-time deal”, he snarled. “If Farris cooperates, fine. But anything beyond that will be done the way I want it to be done” He sighed. “Should have found less scrupulous help. That Erik guy wouldn't have objected”
“Erik's not a knight”, Jaron stated. “You get more than just morals with me. I had a knightly mentor, got training far beyond anything Erik ever had” Begrudgingly, Samuel gave him a nod. “You stood your ground quite well against the Tom. Against me even”, he admitted. “But you better not hesitate when I need that skill of yours”
Without a further word, the two men turned to Harpy, who was standing at the other end of the hallway, looking at them with hollow eyes. “We should go”, she said thinly. “I... can't deal with this place. Not right now. Let's just... go to the mansion”
Jaron gave her a nod, before he glanced at Samuel. The sellsword gave him a nod in return, expressing his approval of such a decision. “It's not too much of a detour to the harbour”, he replied and with this, it was decided upon. Jaron walked past him and towards Harpy. Wordlessly, she put her arm around his back. “Let's just get out of here”, she whispered and he put a hand onto the back of her head. “I'll just say my goodbyes to Ayden and Taria”, he replied.
She pulled away from him, though she nodded thinly. “I'll wait outside”, she answered quietly, before she walked towards the door. Samuel followed, exchanging a brief look with Jaron and leaving him free to enter the room he had left Ayden and Taria in for one last time.
Taria was still lying in Ayden's arms, both looking up as he entered the room. “How's Harpy?”, she asked and Jaron sighed. “Not good”, he answered. “She's... taking this even worse than I thought” Taria gave him a reassuring smile. “Give her some time”, she told him. “If you ever had a future, she will stay with you. This won't ruin it”
“Taria is right”, Ayden said and she smiled at him. “I'm always right”, she replied slyly and he gave her a quick nod, before he shifted his attention back towards Jaron. “What I mean is, you two have been through too much to let this be the end of you”, he added. “Just make sure she stays safe. Maybe leave this godforsaken city”
“Maybe I will...”, Jaron agreed. “What are you going to do?” Ayden and Taria exchanged a glance, before he shrugged. “First, we'll recover. The last hours have been hard for both of us. Then... we'll see. I wouldn't want our child to grow up here. But beyond that... hell if I know” Sluggishly, he rose from his seat and approached Jaron. “I told you before, if the day comes where you need my help, I shall be there” The two men exchanged a strong handshake, while Taria gave Jaron a bright smile, before he turned around, back into the hallway, out of the building and their lives.
Harpy and Samuel were waiting outside, several feet apart from each other. Whereas Samuel was standing right next to the door, Harpy leant against the opposite wall, half-hidden in shadows. Silently, she raised her head as he crossed the street and he saw the distraught look in her eyes. She was exhausted, physically and emotionally and without saying a word, though still at a slow pace so that he could follow, she started to walk down the street.
Jaron walked by her side, a hand on her shoulder. She allowed it, though did not reciprocate the gesture. More than once, he felt her tensing up whenever the city guard passed them. But none of them actually looked into their direction. They were just normal citizens to them. Invisible and no threat.
It didn't take them long to reach the mansion. Harpy stopped walking for a moment as the cold, lifeless building came into view an Jaron glanced at her. “Are you sure it is a good idea to remain here?”, he asked softly. She shook her head. “It's my home”, she replied. “Or... it has been”
As she started to approach the building, Jaron followed, though he noticed that Samuel remained behind on the street, to wait for him. The two crossed the front yard of the mansion and as they walked closer, Jaron felt uneasy, watching the deserted building. It felt like approaching a grave and in this moment, he knew that they couldn't remain here.
Surprisingly, nobody had done any further looting, at least as far as Jaron was able to tell. Perhaps this part of the city wasn't as rotten as the rest of it, or perhaps the citizens had too much of a respect for the man who used to live here. But the sight was terrible enough already. Broken doors, ruined furniture, it was empty and cold.
“What are we going to do now?”, Jaron asked softly and Harpy stopped, having already crossed half of the room. “I really need some time”, she told him. “There's a lot I have to do, now that he's...” She cut herself off as her voice shivered. “And I need to think of the future. What I want”
Jaron tensed up, as he averted his eyes. He felt a strange fear, the kind he had felt only once, almost a year ago. The loss Ser Matthos had left in his life still cut deeply. And it was the same fear again, the fear of losing someone that meant the world to him. “What...”, he started to say, though she was faster. Crossing the distance between them before he could finish his sentence, she reached up and gave him a kiss.
Taken by surprise, Jaron raised his arms and needed a moment before closing them around her. As he took a step back, she took it with him, before she their lips separated again. For a moment, there was something else in her eyes. Hope? Love? Her smile was thin, but it was the sweetest expression she had ever shown in his eyes. “I hope this answers your question”, she said.
Still a bit baffled by the sudden display of affection, Jaron only gave her a nod. Slowly, her smile was gone again, replaced by the grim expression. “I couldn't do this without you”, she admitted and he pulled her into a very brief hug, before she pulled away.
For a moment, they looked each other in the eye, before Jaron spoke. “I... should leave you then. Samuel's waiting”, he said. “Are you sure you're okay with this?” She gave him a quick, understanding nod. “I need to be alone for a while”, she assured him. “Not long, just... just enough to get some rest. To take care of a few things” For a moment, she put a hand onto his chest. “When you have dealt with Samuel, come back to me, jorraelys”, she whispered.
Exchanging one last, loving look, Jaron turned away from her and left the building, to head back to Samuel. The sellsword raised an eyebrow as he saw him, looking surprised enough for Jaron to give him a questioning look. “You're smiling”, the man explained and Jaron's expression turned to a frown. To this, Samuel rolled his eyes. “Not anymore, it seems. Is everything okay between you and her?”
Before Jaron was able to answer, the sellsword had already started to walk, down the road that would lead them to the harbour and to Farris Flowers. He had a good pace and Jaron had to walk faster than usual to keep up with him. “I'm surprised you care”, he answered and Samuel shrugged.
“Perhaps you don't know me”, he stated calmly. “Otherwise you wouldn't have suggested that we speak to this... acquaintance of Ryder first” He sighed, slightly frustrated. “I will give it one shot, but I won't allow it to risk everything I've been working for” Jaron looked at him, as they slowly left the main street behind, turning to the maze-like alleyways that cut through Oldtown. “Think about it”, he argued. “If you tell him what you told me, why would he cover a man like your brother?”
“Maybe they are friends”, Samuel argued. “I know that would be the least I'd do for mine” Jaron raised an eyebrow. “How many friends do you have?”, he asked in disbelief. Samuel sighed. “There was one”, he revealed and narrowed his eyes. “You killed him. Remember Jaylon?”
Pressing his lips together, Jaron decided to avoid the sellsword's glare. “Beyond that?”, Samuel continued and as Jaron glanced at him, he saw that the harsh expression softened slightly. “No... not a friend” Jaron sighed. “Well, perhaps it's not too late to make some”, he answered. “What are your plans after this is over?”
Samuel seemed surprised by this question, as it took him a moment to answer. “After this is over...”, he mumbled. “Honestly, I don't know. I've been doing this for a decade now. This has been my goal, my life” Jaron raised an eyebrow. “A decade is a long time to keep a grudge”
“It's not a fucking grudge”, Samuel growled, though not with anger, but frustration. “To answer your question, I don't know what to do. If this ends today... I really can't tell you. I met a girl a couple of days ago... maybe I'll get to know her a bit better”
Jaron smirked at this comment. “Never took you for a romantic”, he said and Samuel sighed, though slightly more light-hearted now. “Never was”, he replied. By now, they had reached the harbour of Oldtown, which was slightly less crowded than usual for this time of the day. Nonetheless, the cacophony of voices and smells, both pleasant and rotten, already reached Jaron's ears, though he wasn't even close to the main street of this part of the city.
Samuel's slightly more relaxed expression had hardened again, especially as he spotted someone in the distance, just entering the small side-street they were walking through. It was a member of the city guard, his white tabard clearly visible in the light of the day. He was a young man, with light brown hair and a short beard, probably only barely older than Jaron himself.
“Is that Farris?”, Jaron asked quietly and Samuel shook his head. “I don't know... would be quite a coincidence though” His expression grew darker. “But I know how to find out” The way he said this alarmed Jaron, who tried to grab the sellsword from moving, though Samuel was too quick. “Samuel!”, he hissed.
“I got this”, the man replied sharply. “Stay behind, I'll deal with him” He continued to approach the young guardsman and Jaron followed. “Samuel, don't...”, he hissed again, as the sellsword reached for his belt. Though the guard quickly noticed them approaching him, he remained oblivious of the threat he was apparently in.
“Seven Blessings”, he greeted them. “May I help you somehow?” Jaron gulped as Samuel, still a hand on his belt, gave him a nod. “You may indeed”, he said, before he reached not for his sword, but for his purse. “Captain Farris Flowers?”
For a moment, the guard was taken aback. “Uh... no, I'm not Captain Farris. My name is...” Before he was able to continue, Samuel cut him off. “Splendid. I am an... old friend of his. Trying to get into contact. You don't happen to know where he's patrolling?”
The guard hesitated, slowly narrowing his eyes. “He's one of the higher-ups”, he said. “Not really supposed to tell you where he's patrolling. The men at the Hightower might be able to tell you more, though you need an appointment. I can help you with making one”
Samuel shook his head and a surprisingly benevolent smile appeared on his face. “I believe you can help me a bit more directly”, he said and raised the purse. Pulling out a golden coin, he presented it to the guardsman. “There's ten golden hands and fifteen silver in this”, he explained. “You can have it all if you tell me what I want to know”
The guard's eyes widened. “That... how many? That's...”, he stuttered and Samuel gave him a nod. “I know. Twice of what you make a month. You're young... thrice maybe? A good deal”, he stated. “But only if you help me first. Captain Farris Flowers. Where is he?”
Now, the guardsman bit his lower lip, clearly tempted by the offer. Finally, with a sigh, he extended his hand and Samuel put the purse into it. “He's patrolling down by the warehouses. It's not far, you can't miss it. Just follow the main street into that direction”, he explained, as he pointed down to the south. “Though... you're not really an old friend, are you?”
Samuel smirked. “Does it matter?”, he asked and the guard shook his head. “Not really”, he admitted. “But the man you're looking for, he's a beast. Taller than both of you, more muscles than you two combined. You'll recognize him when you see him. And well, if you're out for trouble, I bet he can deal with whatever you wish to stir. If you got any problems with him, you better think twice before starting a fight”
This time, Samuel patted him onto the back. “We'll keep it in mind”, he replied. “Thanks for the help” Without a further word, he continued his way into the direction the guard had told him to take. Jaron threw a glance at the thoroughly confused, though somewhat happy young man, before he followed after his companion.
“That was...”, he muttered and Samuel gave him a calm look. “You expected me to beat the information out of him?”, he asked and after a moment of hesitation, Jaron gave him a nod. “Certainly didn't expect you to buy him off”, he answered and an expression of slight smugness formed on Samuel's face. “Butterfly paid well, always. That was probably the only good thing about him”, he explained. “The other Solvers, they wasted it, but me? I'm a man of few needs. No booze, no whores. I saved a lot of coin. Perhaps one day I can start a new life with it, if this ever ends”
They turned to the main street, facing the harbour basin, with its armada of colourful ships from all over the world. On a better day, Jaron would have stopped for a moment, not only to take in the colours, the display of foreign lands, the exotic ships and their even more exotic sailors, but also because he was nearly stunned by the stench that came with hundreds of people on a narrow street, selling all kinds of good.
Shaking it off and forcing himself to go ahead, he followed Samuel down the street and it wasn't long until he realized something. They were going down a direction he remembered all too well. The moment he decided to kill Butterfly, it would haunt him for the rest of his live. Of course, it hasn't been him who did the deed, but he could have prevented it. And everything that had happened afterwards... Jaron couldn't help but to feel responsible for it.
It wasn't long until they had left the crowd behind, moving through the far less populated warehouse area. Just being here caused bad memories to flare up again. Robb, impaled by Butterfly. The false crimelord himself, living and dying a pawn in a game he likely never even understood. For some reason, he had to remember the last look Martin had given him, so resigned to his fate, yet defiant to the bitter end.
Jaron sighed, as he glanced down at his hands. He spotted a tiny remnant of red there, though he thought he had washed it all off before, the Burned Man's blood, back when he killed him. An act of mercy, but what good was that now? And for him, who remained when so many had given their lives...
“Judging by the description, I'd say that is our man”, Samuel said, interrupting his thoughts. He pointed down a small street between two large warehouses and Jaron laid eyes upon a tall man. The chainmail failed to cover his massive arms, exposing scarred flesh, while the tabard was barely enough for his broad frame. A mane of dark hair gave him almost something wild, an impression only strengthened by the greatsword on his back. The guard even wore a second sword, a smaller, one-handed blade, likely to be used whenever he needed a weapon as quick as possible.
“The guard did not lie”, Jaron said, slightly intimidated by this sight. “Hells, I wouldn't want to pick a fight with that guy. Are you happy now that we try it my way?” Samuel raised an eybrow. “Depends on your results”, he answered. “I could take him, easily so. Fought men like him for all my life. In this city, there are three, maybe four people who could win against me and this man is not among them”
This bold statement caused Jaron to raise an eyebrow. “I'd love to see this, honestly”, he admitted. “But for now, try to avoid a fight. He doesn't look like the surrendering kind of guy and he's no good to you dead” Samuel couldn't say anything against this logic, so Jaron proceeded to approach the large guardsman. He noticed that Samuel remained in the distance, something that wasn't quite reassuring.
“Captain Farris?”, he asked as he came closer. By now, the guard had spotted them and had stopped patrolling. Putting both hands onto the hilt of the sword on his belt, he gave him a stern nod. “This is me”, he replied. “How may I be of service?” His voice sounded deep, yet there was a surprising cockiness in it, a light-hearted tone Jaron had not expected.
“We're looking for a man, a very specific captain of the guard”, he was quick to explain, as he noted distrust beneath the light-hearted voice. Clearly, this man was already trying to find out what danger he would pose, the same for Samuel, who still remained a couple of feet away. “We've been told you might know where to find him. His name is Ryder Harrington”
Instantly, he noted a change in the man's stance and the way he looked at him. For a moment, the distrust flared up openly, as Farris narrowed his eyes. “That depends who is asking”, he growled as an answer. He took a step forwards and Jaron took a deep breath, as he looked up into the bearded face. “Boy, I advice you tell me the truth now. Who are you and what do you want from Ryder?”
[Tell him your real names] [Come up with fake names]
[Tell him your real names]
Hell, if we're already going for the diplomatic good guy approach, might as well stick to it.
[Tell him your real names]
[Come up with fake names]
I'm obviously not going to tell at a captain of the city guard that I'm the man that worked for a crimelord while my partner is the famous Fang of Shadow that worked for Butterfly.Otherwise I really doubt that things will go as Jaron planned and we will follow Samuel plan.
RT:
[Tell him your real names]
Well, it as at her request after all. That said, neither she nor Jaron are actually thinking straight right now, quite the opposite. There are surely more safe places in Oldtown. At the same time, with the Solvers in complete disarray, at least Harpy thinks that nobody is out to look for her right now. On top of that, this is the place where she at least feels safe. But yeah, you certainly got a point. Objectively, there would have been better hideouts.
Actually, this situation is something else. Jaron is of course far from the ideal of a law-abiding knight. However, his past actions all had, at least in some capacity, the motivation to do good. In terms of D&D Alignment, he'd be a classic case of Chaotic Good. Even his killing of Butterfly had at least partially the motivation to prevent the crimelord from being a danger to others ever again. This however is a completely different situation. What Samuel suggested is to torture a man who is, for all Jaron knows, completely innocent of any crime, only to get information for an already morally murky quest of vengeance. That would be the first action not even he could justify. At heart, Jaron still is a knight and though circumstances forced him to give up part of his ideal, he still wishes to turn around from that, as this part and your last decision showed.
It is a bit complicated between these two. They certainly aren't friends in the classical case. The times they interacted with each other, they have been rather aloof. However, for Samuel, who is a loner and has no actual friends to speak of. Therefore, Jaylon was the closest thing he had for a friend. With Jaylon, things were quite similarly, which was also why he has previously agreed to help him when the time comes to confront his brother.
Well, isn't taking bribes the very essence of being a corrupt guard? So, that guy was certainly far from honourable
Though, he was also in the presence of two armed men, so just taking the coin and leave would have been very bad for his health, something he was quite aware of in this moment. He could have given them wrong directions, but since he is an Oldtown guard, he knows how quickly he can piss off the wrong people, so he decided to go along with their request and get a nice sum of money in return.
[Come up with fake names]
[Come up with fake names]
Plot twist: Captain Farris is Harris' identical good twin
[Tell him your real names] I would like to give him a fake name for Jaron and the real one for Samuel, but hey honesty is the best policy.
Ha ha no Samuel. No no no. She should be dead, but alas, she is only hundreds of miles away.
[Come up with fake names] I get the feeling here that Farris is firmly on Ryder's side. So, telling him their real names is a very bad idea, because he will just see them both as criminals.
Anyway, great part, the moment between Jaron and Harpy was nice
[Come up with fake names] May as well be safe rather than sorry here. Jaron should try to get more of an idea on who Farris is before telling him anything that is true.
[Tell him your real names]
[Tell him your real names]
My gut tells me this is the best option for 'diplomacy' unless were talking post modern....
[Tell him your real names] Jaron isn't well known for being a great liar.
[Tell him your real names] I have a feeling that if we lie and tell him our fake names it will definitely come back to bite us and the consequences will be even worse. I know this probably isn't the best idea considering Jaron's past, but like I said, I'd rather face lesser consequences now than potentially face much larger ones in the future. Kind of similar to how I chose when Lucas had the choice to sign Mullendore's confession a few parts ago. I'll regret this choice a lot if the fake names were to actually work.
[Come up with fake names] I would like to think how this scene would play out if we do tell Farris the truth.
Jaron: Apologies good ser. My name is Ser Jaron, and next to me is the infamous sellsword Samuel Harrington. You know, the brother of the man who murdered his entire family and taking shelter at Oldtown. If you can just tell us where he is hiding, that would be great.
Farris: Uhhhhh...
Samuel: That's it. Doing it my way.
Why I suspect that this is how the next Jaron part will be?
If it is not a problem for you I want to add to your scene:
Samuel: That's it. Doing it my way.
Jaron: Wait Samuel!I still have to remember at this captain of the city guard that each of us worked for two different crimelords of his city!After I explain that to him is 100% sure that he will believe any words that we say to him and trust us like we are his own brothers!
Samuel: (facepalm) I really should have asked Erik help for this mission
No problem! Actually I thought of an idea.
If Farris isn't aware of who Mullendore really is, I would like to have a trade of information. They tell Farris about Mullendore, and Farris tells them where Ryder is hiding. Judging from how Farris is, I expect him to be surprised by this information.
[Tell him your real names] This whole approach depends on the possibility that Farris is a good man, if we expect him to take this risk the least we can do is be honest.
Damn it, you just spoiled the massive Book 2 twist, about Farris' true identity as Harris' good twin brother. I had this super huge storyline planned out, at the end of which it turns out that Harris was actually the good twin and then Farris battles against Aegon Targaryen and Dimitri the Wise atop the Hightower and there would have been dragons and explosions and it would have been epic. Now I can scrap that part of the storyline entirely
To be fair, that would be a pretty good option I myself haven't really thought about. Then again, it's not as if Jaron's name is so well-known in the city. The Burned Man hasn't exactly made it public knowledge that he is now working with a bastard hedge knight. Samuel is the name he will recognize though.
And soon it'll be even more than just hundreds. It's safe to say, Samuel's plans for the future won't exactly work out all that easy, if you can even call them plans. Though he has taken a liking to Raenna and this is the closest he has ever been to actually make genuine plans for his future. It's a shame that this, of all situations, has grown so complicated.
Indeed, there is a possibility that such a thing is indeed going to happen. From way ago, back when he first appeared, Farris has mostly appeared to be a rather honest guardsman, so if he isn't in league with Butterfly, then he should be highly interested in such information. Only question is if he is willing to put this information above Ryder's well-being. Maybe he requires even more.
But well, one way or the other, you will see it pretty soon. Both routes should hold some interesting moments for the following interaction, though I can confirm it won't exactly happen as you may think it will. It could go either way of course, but it's unlikely to happen exactly like this