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Dungeon Keepers

I've been very busy lately. IC posts can take an hour to write, and often I don't have an hour to spare for simply RPing.

Dungeon Keepers

I've been playing a lot of Terraria recently.

Sanctuary

Zachary managed to get back to his carriage then get his carriage back to the Winters estate with little more ill event than getting his shoes waterlogged from wading through then ankle-deep water in the underground car park again. Driving in to the estate he saw Mathias on the patio practising some form of martial art. Zachary gave him a curt wave and nod and drove on, allowing Mathias to continue his practise, and parked the carriage behind the garage this time, out of view. He took the items he needed out of the back of the carriage and carried them in to the workshop, where he took out his tools from his bag and resumed work.

While Zachary had gathered ample experience in jury-rigging mis-matched parts together during his year of post-apocalyptic survival engineering, this sonic weapon was not going to be as simple as sticking some wires together and welding one bit onto another. It needed to be robust, reliable, effective, and of presentable quality for he was doing this on contract after all. As such the daylight hours came to an end well before his project did and, while the shed had lights, it did not have heating and the bitter cold of the outside was now creeping inside with the sun unable to stop it any more. This made Zachary wish he still had his jacket. Cold was not the only thing getting at Zachary, though, as he became more acutely aware of the hunger pains in his belly. He hadn't eaten since breakfast. With the elements against him, Zachary was forced to retire from engineering for the night and finish tomorrow.

He crossed quickly from the shed into the side entrance, flitting through the snow flurries with the indirect dusk light hardly helping visibility. As soon as he entered, he was welcomed by warm air and the smell of freshly cooked food. He closed the door behind him promptly to keep the warm air from escaping into the cold wind outside, a key Warshiran etiquette. Inside the kitchen were three people, cooking and preparing food. They turned their heads to him when he entered, and one asked, in a polite manner, "Who are you?"

"Zachary Mason. I'm an engineer, hired this morning by Matthias Winters," Zachary replied.

This response seemed to satisfy the cooks. "Welcome to the clan, then. You're just in time for dinner. Head through there and you'll find the dining room. Food will be out in a minute."

Zachary thanked them and entered into the dining room. It was decadently furnished, with paintings on the walls, a richly-coloured table with matching chairs, plates, cutlery and glasses already set out on the table, and a fine carpet. There were also many people in this room, presumably also people Matthias had brought into his clan. Zachary joined the throng and introduced himself to a few people. It was not long before the door to the kitchen opened and in came the cooks with serving bowls and platters of food and jugs of water. Everyone moved to take a seat and once the food was placed they all gave themselves a helping of what they wanted. As Zachary got a serving for himself, he realised that he had not had a cooked meal like this for a long time. For months he had been living off stolen military aide rations with the occasional canned food item as he could find it. All the fresh food had either spoiled or been eaten in the first few weeks. Even a stockpile of food such as might be in the Winters mansion could not sustainably feed a large group like this for a year. With that in mind, Zachary closely inspected and analysed his food.

On his plate he had pasta with a tomato sauce and kidney beans, with a side of corn soup with shreds of chicken. On the table he could also see a bowl of fruit salad, made from diced and stewed pieces of fruit. It did not take him long to notice a pattern- these are all canned goods, save for the pasta itself which is stored dry. Tomato sauces are often canned or bottled. Kidney beans are a common canned good, as is corn and chicken soup. The shreds of chicken were like those found in cans, as no whole chicken pieces were present. The fruit in the fruit salad were not freshly cooked but instead tinned fruit. On the table there was no salad, no meat aside from the small amount of canned chicken, nothing requiring fresh, perishable ingredients, save for a few herbs used as seasoning which could have easily been grown in a small herb garden (he'd actually seen a few herb gardens which had started to grow wild out in Sovereign). Zachary concluded that the Winters were resourceful enough to have scavenging groups to collect large quantities and varieties of canned foods, strong enough to hold on to such a stockpile, and with skilled enough cooks to make the food appear fresher than it actually is. Any fresh food, and beverages other than water, that they do have would be in short supply, and thus only brought out on special occasions.

Zachary enjoyed his meal, and the company of the other people. After dinner he inquired as to where he would be sleeping and whether he could have a coat. He was shown to a dormitory, filled with beds and mats on the floor. It clearly had not been originally designed as a dormitory, but obviously the mansion lacked the number of bedrooms required to house as many people as it currently did, so they had to make do. The members of the household also found for him a spare coat, which he thanked them graciously for.

As the house settled down, Zachary went to bed along with most other people. While the mattress he had been sleeping on before was reasonably comfortable, he found that these beds were a lot cleaner. Another perk of living in a mansion with people playing specific roles rather than living as a hermit in a dusty underground grotto. And so he slept comfortably, more so than he had for a very long time.

Sanctuary

I had been hoping to gain some information about the Winter's mansion from Godfather before posting, but I guess I can just make it up as I go along.

Dungeon Keepers

@KabenSaal, While Runecrafting may be efficient, it still costs energy. So does fighting off a swarm of ice demons. And terraforming an entire continent. Summoning 'lesser' spirits and using their power to help summon more spirits until you gain infinite energy is somewhat cheating. While an entire continent may be out of reach for Emily, I'm sure she could manage to convert at least her little corner of Hell into the fiery pits she wants, given time and effort, of course, and having to put up with invasions from neighbouring demons.

@Trapezoid, your encounter there is developing quite nicely. Capable heroes always makes Dungeon Keeping more exciting.

@Cavalier, when you're ready you could also respond as Conquest to my post as Calvartem.

Sanctuary

So, is everybody super busy or something?

Are Co-GMs Useful?

In my experience, having co-GMs in my roleplay has been invaluably helpful.

These co-GMs weren't picked so much as helpers, but are instead collaborators in the RP itself. We had RP'd together a lot before, so we knew and trusted each other. We had RP'd in the previous instalments of the series, so we all knew what was going on. From the advice above, this matches up with good choices for co-GMs.

If you have a co-GM, it is important to be in constant communication with them. Have a dedicated Conversation thread. All the GMs need to be in on the plot and what twists you have involved for everyone, or else they can't be helpful. If you are not in agreement, you will have a hard time moving forwards, so be sure to settle any outstanding issues.

Co-GMs help in many ways. They share the responsibility of the GM, meaning less demands on you. If something pops up in real life and you can't post, or can't post regularly, then they can carry the RP along without you (another important reason for them to be 'in' on the plot and direction). If your timezone is out of sync with the rest of your RPers (a common problem for me), then your co-GM may be in a better position to make immediate responses if need be. They can answer questions for you. Co-GMs not only fulfil administrative roles, but also roleplaying roles too. If you have characters/groups which are important plot elements (and not controlled by normal players), then assigning some of them to each co-GM (and yourself) will grant each character/group a unique voice and make interactions less limited by your personal writing skill. If you need help deciding on how to move the plot forwards, having a chat with your fellow GMs can brainstorm good ideas and even develop ideas you did even not think of on your own. Co-GMs would also prevent you from becoming a dictator that ruins everything for the players. You keep each other in check, and ensure that everything done is good.

There is the matter of how many players you have. I would suggest that it is a bad idea to have more GMs than players. Because you plan with your GMs what you intend to do with the story, having more GMs than players can change your RP from feeling like a roleplay to something more like a collaborative novel. The whole point of GMing is to develop a story with players and characters who respond genuinely and often in unexpected ways to the events you throw at them. RPing is very much an organic process.

Dungeon Keepers

Excellent entry, Golem

Dungeon Keepers

When Calvartem was in sight of the town he stopped and surveyed the scene. There was the blue ocean, tinted red in the tainted sunlight, with several ships of various sizes in it. Pebbles and gravel lined most of the beach in this section of the coast. As for all towns, farms had been made around it. More importantly to Calvartem, the town was well fortified, but it seemed more equipped to defend for the sea rather than land. Regardless, it would not be easy. Cannons, watchmen and even those red-robed fire mages were present on the walls. Unlike the last fortified town this one did not have a keep, but it was larger which suggested a greater potential defence force.

Before Calvartem could hope to assail this town he would need a sizeable force, and for that he would need to either find or create a sizeable number of corpses. Calvartem himself was too conspicuous to get close enough to spy out any graveyards without having to either fight through or alerting the town's defences, so he summoned a group of imps. These small, shadowy, ghostly forms have the element of stealth, and do not raise immediate alarm on sight, making them acceptable for scouting and spying, although Calvartem realised that he would need to devise a more effective method of espionage for future.

"Split up and find and locate any crypts or graveyards in or around this town. Do not get caught. Report back to me," Calvartem ordered. The imps silently drifted off to obey.

Conquest, with his ability to levitate above the ground, would soon catch up to Calvartem, and see him standing next to Shadowmane with a small hill between him and the town. When Conquest arrived, there was a few moments' pause before Calvartem briefed him on the plan so far. "I have sent out imps to scout the town, identify where they keep their dead. Once I know those locations, we charge to them. You deal with guards and soldiers that stop us. I raise a horde from the graves, and we charge to the next crypt. It will only be a matter of time before my horde is large enough to overwhelm the whole town."

After a further wait, the group of imps returned in ones or twos. To each Calvartem granted speech, and they gave their reports, going to the top of the hill and pointing to the town to provide locations. Along with the location of a graveyard outside the walls and a crypt inside the walls, the imps also reported of a Paterdoman church, busy water-front marketplace, law enforcement, and a small naval/army base. Once the reports were done Calvartem waved them back to the Void. "The way to the graveyard should be mostly clear. This is good."

He then swung up on to Shadowmane and, without need for any words, they galloped towards the town. He quickly joined a road and raced down it towards the graveyard. However, his presence did not go unnoticed. The men on the walls saw the skeleton riding the horse of shadows at unnatural speeds, and they had heard reports of a Necromancer relayed out of Paterdomus, so they were swift to respond. A couple went off to raise an alarm, while the rest who were on the walls (not that there was a huge number) readied their arms to fire upon the Necromancer. Muskets, crossbows and fireballs whizzed past Calvartem, who was quite difficult to hit due to Shadowmane's speed and agility, but in the first few moments a musket ball did sink in to Shadowmane's thigh, with little effect. Calvartem would be at the graveyard soon, but cover there from the walls was negligible and he would be stationary there. The defenders would even be able to aim one of the cannons on the wall at him and his soon-to-be hoard once he stops.

Dungeon Keepers

Once you wrap things up you can get the Carver to reply to Zadok.