Difference between revisions of "Communication"

Revision as of 06:42, 22 January 2007

Doesn't the Queens party have a pair of boxes that can shuttle messages to one another over infinite distances?

Also, the Brooklyn party has a cup that can send things to a dungeon in Aege from anywhere on the plane. Unfortunately, no one is ever in Aege. But still, you get the idea. I guess the now retired Tobin hangs out around there. We could give another party the cup, then the Doodya could tell Tobin and Tobin could tell someone else? In anycase, returning missives would be tough, because the cup kind of empties to a point in the middle of the room.

Kerry: Here's my short-term ideas-

• Messenger - I know both the Following Alexander Party and the Brookyln Party have druids. Messenger is fine provided we have a "drop box" and we know where we will be at a specific time in the future to pick up a reply. The limitation is distance. You get a max of around 90 miles/druid level. I think that puts most of us out of range of one another, at least for now.

• Magic Mirror/Magic Font/Clairvoyance - You can read through these spells, and they have the advantage of no distance limitation. If we can make a scheduled time to view we can pass messages one-way, or two-way if both sides have the spell. I think only the Queens party has this capability, though Harald can Clairvoy if he knows a location to aim for.

• Polymorph Other + Charm Person - This would get around the limitation on distance and intelligence that Messenger has. The idea would be to charm someone and then secretly polymporph them into a giant eagle or other fast creature. Tell them that we can fix them, but we need some component/information from our confederate far away. The polymorphed fellow then flies off with our message/package and brings back a return shipment to a predetermined place at a set time. Scrying could be used to make sure everything is going OK. This has the advantage of being able to deliver even large things, and a person is more adaptable than a dumb bird. The downside is that Hal would screw it up for sure.

- Chris: Yeah, also, I think it might fuck with most of our alignments (at least for the Brooklyn party) to kidnap some stranger, hypnotize him, change him into a giant bird monster, and then black mail him into flying around the world.

Long term-

• Use the boxes the Queens group has. I know this is an uphill struggle, but the benefits would be huge. Hell, give one to the Brooklyn party if you don't trust me. More communication is better, period.

• Dream - If someone can get Nimue's spellbook she has Dream. That would be a fine way to convey info from one group to another in real time.

• Spell research - If anyone gets enough money to build a lab they can research spells. I bet a Telephony spell would be around 4th level, maybe something like 1 rd/level, 1 person/3 levels, no distance constraint, must be a willing and known recipient (use crystal ball table for sucess rate), verbal communication only, blocked by lead, must concentrate, material component two cylinders connected by a piece of string.

tcm: the Masons have a mail system set up. you can send a letter from anywhere to anywhere else, but it'll cost you one gp per mile, which can get pretty damn expensive (fucking Eorl). more importantly, we rarely know where other parties are (in game), with the sole exception of Eorl, who's ensconced himself in Chrysopolis.

also, Sam's cleric Anna may have recently acquired a message-type spell where she can send a short message (i'm talking really short here, like two-words short) to anybody in the world. there is no distance limit and the recipient knows immediately who sent it, but like i said, it's a super-short message and the aforementioned recipient would have no way of contacting Anna back.

however, Reynaldo has Magic Mirror so that he can check in on whomever he likes, and he's thinking about learning to read lips so that maybe we can somehow communicate with a combination of spells (maybe Anna sends a short message and then Rey casts Magic Mirror and Eorl or whoever answers back). but things like this would take a lot of high-level spells to just ask one question and then have it answered. although, if another member of another party also has Magic Mirror (or a similar scrying spell) then we could scrye each other and write messages on the ground or whatever. a 10th century instant messaging, if you will. the only problem here is coordinating such an event. besides the fact that nobody not in his immediate party knows Rey even has Magic Mirror (unless JC told Harald or something) and Queens party certainly doesn't know if anybody else has a scrying spell (except maybe JC), we can't just invite somebody to chat. we'd have to figure out a way to coordinate this so that both members with scrying spells knew to cast the spells at a specific time. Anna's messaging spell may come in handy there....

well, those are some of my thoughts.

Kerry: Anna's spell could be used to give Harald a location ("Scry Kebnegard") so that he could then Clairvoy. You could then Magic Mirror Harald and we can write stuff. You would have to give a specific location or else have some sort of sign visibile from the air and then I can focus in with a second spell. JC updated Harald on your adventures and spells, so this could work out in game.

tcm: also, the limit on the distance those boxes can message has yet to be determined. however, i would prefer they stay in Queens party because they've come in real handy to us whenever we've needed to coordinate a two-pronged attack. the breaking of the siege of Novgorod would not have been possible without them, for example.

Chris: Well, I think the first problem we'd have to over come, at least for us, is that none of us know who you are, let alone where you are. I mean, Eorl has at least met some of you guys, but, as you say, he's not even traveling with the Brooklyn party anymore. I'd say the surest way to set up some longterm, permanent system of communication between the parties would involve face to face meetings. Maybe not all at once, but Noah always has some trick up Eorl's sleeve, and if you guys were to sit down with him. Arben and Xenon are also, possibly going to be retiring to Chrysopolis, making it kind of a hub of semi-retired PC's and a the anti-octopus movement.

There's no way to call for a convocation of parties, unfortunately, and I'd hate to have whatever leads you guys are following go cold so you can trudge back to C-Town. But basically, I don't know, if you're like us, you kind of have a laundry list of things you could do, and you cross off the list whatever is the closest or most interesting. If that's the case, I would just add, "check in on ol' Eorl in Chrysopolis" to the bottom of the list.

Kerry: That's been on my list for a while now. We may stop by after Cairo, since we'll be fairly close then. If we get a better means of transport we could be there sooner. I have to deliver some princesses to various spots around the world, so we'll be by sooner or later.

tcm: same here. there's some money waiting for us in Constantinople (which Wong insists we go get after Kebnegard), and Chrysopolis is only a hop, skip, and a jump away from there.

Kerry: So, Mr. tcm, I advise that you try out Anna's new spell next time you are in a locale that Harald knows, ie Kebnegard or its environs. I will also try my Charm/Poly plot to get a message off to old Chysopolis.

Noah: This is all super-good news which is like to make me weep with joy. Martialis is also now 7th level druid which gives him a really good range with the messenger spell, provided he knows where he's sending it. It should also surpise no one to learn that a lab for spell research is planned for Chrysopolis. Eorl is in the process of bringing in a boatload of dough to facilitate the construction. In any event, I think we have enough different ways to jury rig a system of communication before a more reliable route is determined. There is an awful lot of info that needs to be shared between parties.

Any way we can get the text of Anna's new spell - like, can she send messages to people she's never seen, or will people who don't know who she is still know the circumstances under which the message is being sent (i.e., it's Queens party doing the sending)? Is the text limit two words? Because there's an awful lot we can do with even two words...

Awesome!