A Few Days Relaxation

[Thomas Fulmer]

((OOC: Eric/Ragnar seem pretty busy with college, so I'm going to move forward and just assume he does all the relevant talking to his father, etc))

When the party returned to Ebersfjord, they were told that the Frost Giants had come every night while they were gone. As such, when nightfall approached the village was preparing itself for battle. Weapons were being sharpened, extra patrols were sent out to scout and a little less drinking than normal was taking place in the evenings.

Someone asks why they drink at all and Ivar says, "Sharp blades, sharp minds, and courage are what succeed in battle." He perhaps means liquid courage? In any case, the Wodinfolk force looks intimidating. About a third of the warriors stay awake and set up ambushes near town. After a few hours another group wakes up and goes out to take up ambush positions while the first group returns to sleep. Everyone will join the fight if an attack happens.

Other than Sirius or Figol who are standing watch with Violet, anyone who wants to join in the ambush groups may do so. There methodology is simple, each group has several pole weapons. They charge the same giant to knock it down, then reset for the next one while the swords and axes chop it up to make sure it's really dead.

In any event, nights one and two are uneventful. ((PM to Sirius/Figol))

The third night, things feeling at least slightly less dire, Ragnar and Ivar come by and leave with Annadin, Thariania and Calima for some sort of presumably exclusive party. When they return well after midnight they are all stumbling around drunk, banging into things and generally making a noise nuisance of themselves... except Calima who seems quite sober and is helping the others back to bed. Ivar heads back to his room while Ragnar, Thariania and Annadin pass out. For anyone who wakes up and is curious, Calima explains that Ragnar got engaged to Runa and it was quite the drunken party. Anyone who doesn't care enough to wakeup (I picture Darc rolling over, mumbling something about mammals and going back to sleep) will get the news in the morning.

The morning is 46 Winter. Annadin and Ragnar are hungover, Calima is tired but otherwise fine. Thariania seems far more chipper than she should be considering the hangover Annadin and Ragnar have from that party. It is windy and cold outside but the sky is clear.

At the witches cabin, Sirius and Figol check the book first thing and find that the spell has begun transcription into the book. The tower seems to have been transcribing most of the night and at a pretty good pace. Figol and Sirius don't know how long the spell is so they can't easily guess how long it will take to finish. Strength requirements are listed as 10 for part one of the spell with a maintaining cost of 1 point every 10 turns and another 10-20 strength when part 2 is successfully cast from the book, they don't explain the range. They apologize for the high strength requirement but said they didn't have time to make it more energy efficient. They also comment that they didn't have anyone to test it on, but in theory they think it will work. The wording is more hopeful than certain in the opinion of the two mages.

In any event, the two suspect they need to start figuring out where all the strength is going to come from since whoever is casting part 1 and maintaining it will also have to cast part 3 since only bracelet users can read from the book -- which means Figol/Sirius can't split the cost via taking turns or aid spells.

--GM / Thomas

[Nils Lindeberg]

Grim will definitely be spending the nights outside the village hunting for giants with his pet crow Runin. He will not try to take them down by himself but will warn the ambush parties, and join the fray once a giant has stumbled to the ground or turns his back to Grim. Going in with his two cesti snarling like a mad dog shredding them to bits in HTH combat. He will not use any seiding since it will most likely spook the other warriors more than it will help. Unless things go badly of course. He will cast Reverse Missiles on himself if he gets chased while out scouting or an illusion to distract any followers. An illusory giant attacking his friends in the back can also be fun, especially if Grim has seen them arguing or not getting along while spying on them. But he will not do this in front of the woodin warriors. 

During the day he will sleep in his cave and visit the village outskirts and his former traveling companions to keep up with any news. Given time he will start to cast the bones and the seiding drum will be heard more often, in order to find out more things about the enemy and their location. He will also try to keep an eye on the seiding around the Völva and the sleeping southern enchantress. If asked he will offer what assistance he can manage, but it won't be much since he can't cast the spell himself and Wodin hasn't bestowed the gift of Aiding others with strength for their miracles yet. He will pray for their success of course and any large animals he finds while scouting will be turned into sacrifice and then food for the village. If anyone mention that they have the Aid spell, Grim will invite them to experiment with calling forth larger elementals. Every year there is talk around the village of raising a burial mound, since they need both planning and time they are quite costly. But with a large enough earth elemental it would almost build itself. And it would be a nice surprise for the village leaders and maybe a way for Grim to get back into their good graces. Being part of a group has given Grim a longing for acceptance again.

/Grim  

[dpo...@comcast.net]

IVY.  when times come, he will walk about the  town with his  equipment , Just in case. He may stop and listen to tales, or speak with some one , about the general area. Always returning to their  quarters to warm up or eat. he will, skrt the  edges of  town during the second  night, to see if he  might spot any giants, other then that, he will stay at the quarters  after the sun goes down./

---

From: "Thomas Fulmer" <tful...@gmail.com>
To: "mithras-TFTRPG" <mithras...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 7, 2015 5:42:58 AM
Subject: [Mithras][Q2:TheCult] A Few Days Relaxation

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[Thomas Fulmer]

As with his previous trips around town, Ivy finds the townsfolk fairly welcoming. It's common knowledge that the party is guests of Lord Ivar and that they saved Runa's life, and the Wodinfolk are hospitable to guests in the first place.

He has no trouble starting up conversations. Most "tales" are people boasting of their personal prowess in various battle situations or legends about gods and ancestors. If you are hoping to gain specific information just let me know and I'll give you more details on anything related to that he learns.

The warriors do stop Ivy from roaming around at night. They want him to either join one of the ambush groups or stay in doors until a general summons to fight comes up. They are afraid moving around too much at night near the perimeter will result in false alarms. He could join a scout group if that's more his style, less fighting, more searching. They mostly seem amenable to an elf in such a capacity (They very much believe in stereotypes).

--GM / Thomas

[Thomas Fulmer]

The warriors don't particularly like the plan of Grim wandering around near the village at night (See the objections to Ivy). But they aren't going to stop Grim from going back to his hermitage. They find him uncomfortable to have around.

Grim is welcomed to the witch's home anytime he wants to visit. He knows the witch's apprentices have aid spell (They are, after all, apprentices). He asks the witch and she doesn't remember this particular spell anymore. The apprentices aren't available to raise a large elemental. The witch is using them to keep up all the trail twister spells near town directed at the frost giants. 

While the warriors don't know all the details, they know the witch helps keep frost giants at bay. Grim knows they use trail twisters to drive frost giants into warrior ambushes or into the cottage's dark forest where they can dispose of the giants with magical trials. Between trailtwisters, giant disposal and the day to day magical needs of the village, the apprentices don't have time to contribute to a public works project. Although the Witch is amenable to the idea come spring.

Send me a PM on his bone casting -- the standard stuff, what questions does he actual want answers to and how much time per day he's willing to dedicate.

--GM / Thomas

--

[David Bofinger]

Vesser shakes her head. "Short-sighted -- we're trying to get *Violet* back into play on our side. How many trailtwister spells is a mage of her power worth? She'd pay for the cost the first night we had her. Unless they think our magic won't work."

"I remember the magicians saying we should buy magic batteries, we did some of that, right? If we pool all our magic batteries do we have enough strength for this?"

---

David for Vesser

[dpo...@comcast.net]

Ivy would enjoy that, as  far as 'info'...he  is  merely taking in what he can learn. You never know what information , might come in handy, or....what stories  are just plain fun to remember, for retelling   when he goes home.

---

From: "Thomas Fulmer" <tful...@gmail.com>
To: mithras...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Saturday, November 7, 2015 5:12:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Mithras][Q2:TheCult] A Few Days Relaxation

[Thomas Fulmer]

((OOC: Not sure what you mean here, they were declining the use of their fatigue for summoning Grim's large earth elemental to use in servitude to build a burial mound. So far as I've seen no one has asked them about using fatigue to help Violet, or even briefed them the details of the spells requirements))

IC:

Assuming this will be brought up by Vesser or someone else now, the witch listens carefully to the request, "Do we know that our aid magic will work on your mages? I suppose we could test it with a small amount of energy.."

She considers the situation carefully, "We'd need to work with your mages to figure out how much time and strength this would take. We won't know if the Frost Giants come until they come or don't unless Grim were to get a word from Wodin, so we can't afford to be totally depleted of power, but your lady Violet is a guest in our house and a patient under our care, so I think we'd be duty bound to help as much as we can."

--GM / Thomas

[Thomas Fulmer]

Ivy gets a few stories about raids against elves. They mostly seem to respect elves for their level of proficiency in arms and rapid maneuver. It takes many years to get that level of skill with bows and such. They all seem to agree if elves weren't so cowardly they'd be a great army. (fighting from range/hiding is cowardly in their view -- although they are fine with ambushing, so long as the end result is an open fight)

One of them tells a story about a raid on an elvish village. Apparently they saw elves from the sea gathering heavy supplies and assumed their village must be near by. So they sailed away so the elves would think they'd not been observed, then sailed back two nights later and went ashore. They found the elvish village, captured a few dozen slaves and stole some elvish shiny magic thingie. The capturing of people/items is mostly secondary and they seem to have no interest at all in whatever the shiny magic thingie was. He spends the vast majority of his story talking about the sharpness of various blades, the number of warriors he laid low (Probably exaggerated) and the heroic deeds of valor demonstrated both by Wodinfolk and by elvish warriors. 

One particular elvish warrior ran out of arrows, and rather than run for safety he jumped from a tree into the midst of the Wodinfolk, dual wielding small axes.He managed to kill a warrior and wound three more before being taken down. The Wodinfolk in the group all agree he'll be fun to drink with in Valhalla.

Ivy thinks he has heard of this particular attack. Elves spread a lot of gossip and also don't get raided much because they tend to stick inland in deep forests, so there aren't that many raids to be gossiped about regarding Wodinfolk. It was about two or three years back. He didn't know anyone in the village personally. Most of his friends and family killed in raids were at the hands of Dwarvish forces.

--GM / Thomas

[dpo...@comcast.net]

Ivy listens with the attention of  not only learning about the people, but learning the stories....he doesn't  seem to mind what they think of Elven hit  and run, You can kill more enemies  if you stay alive, then you can dead...so he'll shrug off  any  comments  and nods , as he  knows  its their view... He will ask qurstions  now  and then, of  how and  why the  Nor-folk and giants came to be such hard  enemies to each other.

---

From: "Thomas Fulmer" <tful...@gmail.com>
To: mithras...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Saturday, November 7, 2015 9:25:39 PM

[Thomas Fulmer]

The men try to explain all the giant history but have trouble with it. Ivy gets the impression they really don't care why they fight the giants, they just take it for granted that they are supposed to fight the giants.

One of the men yells, "Thora!" and a girl of maybe 9-10 years of age wearing the seemingly standard issue Wodinfrau furs and skins skips up quickly from where she was shopping. She's introduced as the warriors daughter and he tells her that Ivy wants to know about why they fight Frost Giants.

She looks proud to have the answer and begins to lecture Ivy on the point, "You see, elf, long ago, when the cold winds first met the warm winds, there at their meeting were formed the first of giants, their god Ymir. From Ymir was born a race of giants who were destroying our middle lands, both with their great strength and abundant numbers. Odin Alfather and his brothers went to war, killing Ymir and destroying his abomination of a race. Their deaths so numerous that the mountains form of their corpses and the oceans formed of their blood. Only a few of the more cowardly giants escaped this death in battle and fled to the cold winds. There they repopulated the giant race in the frosty north. We, the Wodinfolk, were put here by Wodin to keep the Frost Giants from escaping their frozen wastelands, for this cowardly version of their race was unworthy to battle Wodin again, but were still enough to be a challenge to us mortals."

The man patted his daughters head and simplifies the story for Ivy by saying, "There, you see? We are supposed to fight Frost Giants. The gods want us to do it."

He shrugs and takes a drink of mead from a skin he was carrying around, "Who am I to question the gods, I'll just keep doing my part."

--GM / Thomas

[dpo...@comcast.net]

  Ivy smile a bit at the Young one's pride, and  listens to the tale. He Nods to her,"..Thank you, Thora, We do not see many giants  in our lands. Thus, I was wondering why they would choose to attack settlements....and now? I know." When the warrior adds his comment,"...Indeed...I feel the same way towards the  Sisters, they can come in most useful, when battle is joined."

---

From: "Thomas Fulmer" <tful...@gmail.com>
To: mithras...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Sunday, November 8, 2015 5:48:20 AM

[Neal Setchell]

Figol reflects on Vesser's comment: "I think we still have one battery, but it won't be enough. However you do remind me that I think we have two Aid rings, that we would employ during our exploding gem manufacturing."

Figol asks one of the witches helping Violet recover, "We may have a way to assist in her recovery, using some very tricky 'southern magic'.  We're only able to attempt it, however, if we can pool more strength together.  We have a spell most apprentices learn, which allows them to share their strength with another spell-caster, or a circle.  I propose we test it, if you are willing.  Sirius..."

Figol will confer with Sirius on bracelet usage and observation of how the aid might be used. 

Figol

[Thomas Fulmer]

The Witch Woman talks to Figol while she's making her rounds with Violet, "My apprentices all have the magic you describe. I insist they learn it if they come to train with me."

"If our magical energy can be transferred to you, which we can easily test, I'd allow that to save the girl. But we need to be smart about it. Our magic is important to battling the frost giants. We'd have to do this early so my girls could rest up before evening in case of an attack."

"Unless the rings you describe were made here, you'd need that impressive bracelet you carry to use them. Since presumably your spell caster will need that, I doubt the rings will be of much use to you."

--GM / Thomas

[Neal Setchell]

Figol gives the Witch a short bow, thanking her. "I agree, we should do a simple test.  Perhaps early tomorrow morning would suffice, if the spell we must follow is complete.  And my thought on the rings would be for any such of your apprentices that were not familiar with sharing strength.  I'm not sure they would work, that would need testing too."

Checking over the book, Figol will see the spell's progress, then work with the witch to test it out, first receiving the strength, then choosing to cast an illusion of a perfectly healthy Violet standing nearby.

Figol

[David Bofinger]

Vesser: "*Still* have one battery? Did we lose one?"

"Or are you saying the others are empty? Can't we recharge with Aid rings and Wodin's ring together?"

--

David for Vesser

[tragic...@aol.com]

Ekie was quiet, listening before now speaking up "we have more then one battery. We were smart enough to purchase more remember? They should be charged already though. Plus we have Violet's battery as well, if she doesn't have a spell against its use."

"I agree that what we should do needs to be done quickly and in the morning. Seems the frost giants attack at night."

Ekie/Kelley

Sent from my HTC

[Neal Setchell]

OOC: I tried to take a quick peek at the loot log, I really can't remember how many batteries we have, but I'm sure it isn't enough for this task.

BIC: Figol shrugs, then looks to the Witch to see if they are ready to test out an Aid transfer.

Figol

[Nils Lindeberg]

Grim will patrol the village like he has always done, far enough away from the warriors so as not to irritate them. He knows how to avoid the trailtwisters and the scouts' usual patrol routes. When he find the enemy he leads them to the trailtwisting backyard of the witch or lead them to the warriors ambushes, but warns them ahead of time and then stays in the background. Taking out those jotuns that flees or retreats. He wants the warriors to see him fighting the giants from time to time to remind them that he is on their side. But he doesn't want to ruffle their feathers by sneaking around their picket lines.

When at the witches place and he hears about the aid ring. he says, "Might I try using one? Maybe I can get it to work with the power the Allfather gives me."

When he hears about the witches reluctance to share their strength in case it is needed at night. Grim will tell them, "I can cast the bones and tell you if there will be a night without giant attack, and we can use that day for the ritual." If they agree he will cast the bones and meditate on the question: "Will there be a giant attack on the village before dawn tomorrow?" He will ask this every morning, and warn people if there will be, and tell the witches and the rest of the group if the day and night is auspicious for a draining ritual casting.

(OOC: Grim never intended for the witches to get involved in the raising of a mound, that would defeat the purpose of him and the outsiders showing their usefulness. And it is definitely not something that should be done now, but maybe later when Violet is up and the frost is gone.)

[David Bofinger]

> whoever is casting part 1 and maintaining it will also have to cast part 3

OOC: Do you need the bracelet to maintain a spell, or can you cast one and hand the bracelet to someone else while cont8inuing to maintain it? Did we ever test that?

--

David

--

[Thomas Fulmer]

OOC: The GM of course is not perfect and very busy, so perhaps I didn't update something at some point. BUT, here is what is on the master party inventory sheet:

Item	Quantity	Owner	User
2fST Battery	1	Figol	Figol
2fST Battery	1	Sirius	Sirius
4fST Battery	1	Sirius	Sirius
5 Point ST Battery	1	Party	Ekie

The 2fST batteries were loaned from the Magii Temple early in the game and were going to be returned, so perhaps they are supposed to be gone. But for the sake of benevolence and because their value to this equation is minimal, we'll assume they were loaned back out again.

Violet has a 20ST battery in the things that Sirius took from her after she fell (needs a partial recharge). So far as Sirius can tell with spellsniffer her items don't have any dangerous protections on them, and he and Figol used her book safely. No other items have been tried though.

--GM / Thomas

[Thomas Fulmer]

Grim has no trouble sneaking about. The bones are favorable for tonight and he does not believe there will be an attack by frost giants, continuing the trend from the last few days.

((Results: Will there be a frost giant attack before dawn tomorrow > No ))

((I updated to Frost Giant from "giant" there are no other giants around and leaving it as "giant" allows for ambiguity of raids vs large scale attacks as opposed to frost giants which I think is what you were asking))

Grim can try an aid ring, but in general southern magic items simply don't work here unless held by someone with the bracelet. A few experiments seem to confirm this is the case. The rings will work for Grim or anyone else if not in the mist as they don't require any southern magic training.

--GM / Thomas

--

[Thomas Fulmer]

After a few tests, it seems you can't maintain a spell without the bracelet. Spells that don't need maintaining for a few turns remain, but the wizard no longer controls them. Figol tested this by casting an illusion. Once he took the bracelet off it just stood there and he couldn't use the illusion's senses. It then vanished after a minute. While in general an uncontrollable spell is worthless, FIgol notes this may have distraction value some day.

--GM / Thomas

[Nils Lindeberg]

Grim will go to the witch, bow respectfully, leave a couple of dead rabbits on her porch and say, "Greeting honorable mistress, I have tidings. The bones revealed the Old Man's best guesses to me, there won't be any frost giant attacks today, nor this night. I hope you can gather your apprentices on such short notice and maybe help the travelers perform their book sejding on mistress Violet instead. I will try to be of any assistance that I can, but without the knowledge of how to cast the Aid spell, I doubt I will be of much use. Unless you have the miracle of divine Aid carved down with proper runes or in the vulgar tounge of the southerners? If so, I would like to lend my strength to the task as well. I assume you have the required ingredients prepared in your workshop for such a minor miracle? We would of course have to practice once or twice to get the timing right since book reading rituals takes time to perform."

/Grim

  

[Sirius Mason]

Sirius will begin recharging Violet's battery. Sirius has a 4st battery ring and a 2st battery amulet on his sheet.  I don't recall having the time to return the batteries.

Richard / Sirius

[Thariania]

Thariania has been out most of the night each night either drinking at Ragnar's party or watching the skies. She wakes up around noon and joins the conversation.

When she catches up she says, "Great, we'll probably need Violet awake and healthy before too long. What with frost giants, dragon riders and fire falling from the sky and what not."

Thariania drinks from her water skin and looks a bit refreshed. She adds, "Looks like fire in the sky anyway, had to watch for hours and only saw maybe a second or two of it. No wonder the witches hadn't seen it with all their day to day work."

[Thomas Fulmer]

In summary,Sirius has:

--His own strength

--33 ST in batteries

--The four witch apprentices have aid spell, but at least 25-50% of their combined strength has to remain for the routine magic use, so Sirius can probably count on at least 25fST from this source, maybe a little more

The spell will likely be finished sometime in the night or early morning based on their current progress and notes. So if Sirius is comfortable moving forward, all the key players for the spell agree to be ready to go tomorrow morning for a first attempt.

Based on the strength range provided, Sirius expects to need between 35-45 ST assuming he does not fail the spell. If he were to fail the second spell he'd need another 16 strength in reserve to absorb the failure loss and maintain spell one long enough to try spell 2 again. Failing spell 1 is trivial since you could just wait a few minutes and try again.

Sirius -- let me know if you are ready to proceed in the morning or if you want to seek out more aid. The Witch suggests Grim or a ship could be sent to another village and perhaps be back with another few apprentices within a few days. This is her best guess for more sources of energy.

I assume Grim will want to cast bones again about attacks for tomorrow night based on this information. After a few hours in the woods he comes back with another favorable response that the Frost Giants are not expected to attack.

--GM / Thomas

[Nils Lindeberg]

Grim will definitely cast the bones to see if the giants will come or not and tell everyone that will listen.

If he can borrow a book with the aid spell written in proper runes he will cast it from the book and try to time it so he is ready to back Sirius up if need be.

He can't provide 16 fST on his own, but he can help the apprentices with their daily chores so they might be able to squeeze out a few extra fST if needed.

If they can not he will call on the hairy strength of Wodins's Ulfheadnars and hope it will be enough to give Sirius another shot at completing the ritual. But he will only do this if all other options are exhausted. One does not call for the Spearwielder's help unless one has done everything in one's own power first.

If he gets hold of a book and some ingredients, he will tell Sirius, "I have your back if help is needed. Try to time your ritual with mine. Aid is a new ritual miracle for me and it will not be rushed."

/Grim 

[David Bofinger]

> he can help the apprentices with their daily chores so they might be able to squeeze out a few extra fST if needed.

As can most of us, with the use of a couple of rings. If and when Vesser hears about this she hesitantly volunteers to provide Aid for the routine magic, if that frees up fST from a witch and improves the chances of getting Violet back on her feet.

--

David for Vesser

--

[Thomas Fulmer]

Brilliant, GM hadn't even thought about party members standing in for apprentices for the witch using the aid rings ((+10 exp for out maneuvering the GMs otherwise very close fatigue calculation)). 

After Vesser proves this works with an aid ring to help the witch cast a spell, she approves of the plan. All her apprentices can help Sirius so long as she has at least the same number of party members willing to serve as her apprentices while her girls rest. She greatly prefers female apprentices so Vesser, Ekie and Thariania if they'll all agree. She'll accept Grim (who already volunteered) too as he can wear the bracelet/ring combo as well.

Barring objections from Ekie or Thariania, Sirius has an extra 25fST available to him from the other two apprentices. Enough that he could try the second spell a second time without much concern. A third would be tricky still.

Ready to move forward if Sirius is

--GM / Thomas

[tragic...@aol.com]

Ekie has no objections. 

Ekie/Kelley

Sent from my HTC

----- Reply message -----
From: "Thomas Fulmer" <tful...@gmail.com>
To: <mithras...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [Mithras][Q2:TheCult] Re: A Few Days Relaxation

[Nils Lindeberg]

If Grim can use the aid ring, with the bracelet, then there won't be a need for a book and ingredients. He will be ready to step in for a third attempt should it be needed with extra fST from Odin's blessing.

/Grim Ulfhednar

[Thomas Fulmer]

He won't be able to help with attempts via this method. People can only use the bracelet to help the witch while Sirius is not casting with it.

With that said, by remaining available to help the witch later (or before) with the gear as an apprentice Grim is indirectly providing 15fST for the spell since otherwise the last apprentice wouldn't be released from her regular duties.

--GM / Thomas

On Fri, Nov 27, 2015, 14:02 Nils Lindeberg <018.5...@telia.com> wrote:

If Grim can use the aid ring, with the bracelet, then there won't be a need for a book and ingredients. He will be ready to step in for a third attempt should it be needed with extra fST from Odin's blessing.

/Grim Ulfhednar

--

[Sirius Mason]

Sirius is ready.  He has read through the spell a few times and made notes to aid him where necessary.  He gives Figol a program so he can orchestrate the aid spells without breaking concentration.  Figol will need to follow along as Sirius reads.  

Good fortune, 

Richard / Sirius

[Thariania]

Thariania nods, "Sure, I can play apprentice for a day. Sounds fun. I've never pretended to be a Wodinfolk witch apprentice before. I'll get Calima to do my hair appropriately."

She looks at the apprentices and asks one of them, "Who made your dress?"

Thariania will run into town to get a similar one.

[Sirius Mason]

For clarification:  Sirius will want to use as much of the aid as he can early on, but later in the casting, when it is harder to start over, he will use his own strength and the batteries.  This way, if they fail early, it won't take nearly as long to restart.

Good Fortune,

Richard / Sirius

[Marianne Sette]

Calima waits for Thariania to get back from town with her new dress. She thinks of an idea on how to do her mistress's hair. She says, " I'm sure it will be easy enough to whip up a do." 

She adds, " I am available, Mistress if there is any way I can help at the witch's cottage."

Calima/Marianne

[Nils Lindeberg]

Long time no see?

[Thomas Fulmer]

Nils et al,

I'm still alive obviously and my vanishing from Mithras is nothing new at this point (Sorry). 

This current gap started in late November. For those curious the gap went this way:

Pneumonia (Kid, kid, wife, me in sequence were hit back to back) this was about 3 weeks of misery followed by a multi-stop business trip followed by final exams followed by searching for a new job (January), finding a new job and leaving a job (February), starting a new job (March). All while taking a Calculus class. (I also have a third kid on the way, although that isn't keeping me super busy just yet)

Additional complicating factors were being de facto party leader in Thail during that time while the regular leader was on a side quest and the fact that two of my most active players in Mithras were super busy in real life as well.

My problem with Mithras is rarely replying (I can do that from my phone even when I'm not at my computer for a week at a time which is normal), it's doing admin enough to keep the game afloat - ie making maps, doing experience, keeping the calendar up to date, etc (Need to be at my computer for blocks of time for almost all of that).

I'm probably in a spot right now -- comfortably in new job, almost done with my college class, etc -- where I could get the game moving again. But I find my self frequently having to apologize to you guys for absences and such. So if everyone is ok with me having to do that (This won't be the last time) then I can probably move Mithras forward again within a week or so and keep it moving for at least the next few foreseeable months. I just can't promise it'll be the last time I get overcome by life and can't keep up with game admin and such.

I talked to Richard and know Sirius is still around and available. I know Don is still around as he's said multiple times he doesn't mind breaks. Nils you are apparently still around and able. John and Eric were both super busy end of last year, not sure how they are doing now.

Haven't heard for anyone else on status -- but if people aren't sick of me yet, I can probably move things forward again shortly.

--GM / Thomas

On Sun, Apr 17, 2016 at 3:15 PM Nils Lindeberg <018.5...@telia.com> wrote:

Long time no see?

[Brenda Fredrick]

I'm here and willing to continue.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[dpo...@comcast.net]

in All the games I run, one first Rule is  RL comes first. I'm always around, and can/will reply with in minutes of  seeing a post that concerns my characters. You take the time to  do what you want/need. You run the Game  as you can, to make sure you are having  fun as well.

 

 Most folks will continue on, those  that do not, are most like, having RL issues of their own!

---

From: "Thomas Fulmer" <tful...@gmail.com>
To: mithras...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2016 4:26:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Mithras][Q2:TheCult] Re: A Few Days Relaxation

[tragic...@aol.com]

Oh wow! Super crazy! But that's wonderful on the next child! I'm still around too, I was starting to get a little worried about everyone. But of course, life comes first. I look forward to when we can pick up again.

Kelley

Sent from my HTC

[Neal Setchell]

Hi Thomas,

Congrats!  Great news!

Breaks are OK, Figol will just hit the book some more  :)

Neal

[David Bofinger]

It's OK. Nobody's going to try to force you to GM when all that is happening. Among other reasons, because a GM in a really miserable mood is a terribly dangerous thing. :-) Remember what happened to Alderaan? And that GM only had haemorrhoids...

Stay well.

--

David