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Daishain's D&D 5e: Side Stories - Page 4

Poljen frowns, but in a good-natured way. "I saw you speak with Lia. So when she says my advice is good, you accept it? Bah! Learn to trust Poljen!" By now he is grinning wide. "I am indeed wise in many ways, though it pains her to say so," he says, nodding in Lia's direction, despite the fact he is loud enough for the entire group to hear this last part. "Now come! We must find these blackguards and free the people they have taken from Greenest. That must be our top priority. Not preening for the beautiful women that surround us!" He encompasses Lia, Mari and Elyria (Tallis too if she is still there at this time). "We shall impress them with our fortitude and skill, rather than pretty words! Ha!"

Stories Side e Dragons and Dungeons Daishains

Out of Character: : This is the kind of thing I am thinking of. This is merely a suggestion at this point. If people like it, we can refine it, or even toss it and start over with everyone working on it. The idea is it takes place during our next adventure, during the six month jump Daishain has mentioned…

In Character: :

The Silver Blaze were making headway. The bandits they had been trailing back to their hideout had suddenly spotted them and turned to fight. But they did not reckon on the Blaze's skill, and possibly their numbers. The Blaze had just whittled the enemy down to equal numbers when two of them bolted. Cratol turned from his most recent downed foe to wade into the fray and help his comrades, when Geoffroy called out, "Cratol! Poljen! Do not let those two escape! They'll warn the others!" Cratol and Poljen glanced at each other and Poljen turned back, about to argue, but Geoffroy just waved once more. "GO!" The barbarian and and the monk turned and darted after the fleeing bandits. A couple of hundred feet down the trail they found their quarry, waiting with two more of their numbers, springing a small ambush. Normally the bandits expected this tactic to cause their prey to hesitate, but Poljen and Cratol never paused, slamming into them with a savage fury. Poljen suffered a couple of strikes, while Cratol blocked the most serious attacks on him, and soon they had dispatched their opponents. Before they could catch their breath, Poljen just said, "Back! No doubt they split us on purpose and this was just one ambush." The pair turned and once more ran as fast as humanly possible.

They came back to find the Blaze indeed had been surprised by more of the enemy, and were barely hanging on. Geoffroy and Onwen were down, Lia was apparently out of spells, Velon was fending off two attackers, Fay was being forced slowly backwards to a large rock by the enemy commander. Elyria stood astride her brother's prone form, trying to find a moment to heal him but was hard-pressed by foes. Poljen managed to gasp out the word, "Bounce!" to the monk, who slowed just a step. The tall man of the mountains continued forward a couple of steps and dropped to a knee, his shield held at his shoulder. One of Velon's attackers moved to attack Poljen, who ignored him and allowed the strike to hit, so as Cratol jumped up he could use the shield as a springboard with a boost from Poljen. Cratol slammed down one of the men threatening Elyria and Geoffroy. Poljen turned his fury on his attacker… the final blow of the fight came from little Mari, stabbing into the commander's kidney from behind.

The next day, the townsfolk were allowing the Silver Blaze to celebrate. They were no longer being swamped with well wishers, and were sitting about a large table, outside the tavern. Poljen was fetching the next round, and no doubt flirting outrageously with the barmaid as was his wont. Geoffroy was still sullen and finally said, "I am sorry to have led you all into that ambush."

"It's not your fault, brother. None of us knew they had spotted us and were planning their own trap," said his faithful sister.

"Maybe, but I also made the decision to send Cratol and Poljen off. Right into their hands, as it were," Geoffroy replied.

"Yes, but they were the right ones to send as it turns out. And we came out the victors. No harm done," added Fay. That's when the the tray of drinks dropped to the table with a clatter. Poljen held his own large mug, a dark look on his face, turned and walked away. The bard snorted. "What's his problem this time? Feeling guilty he wasn't there when the ambush hit? Or upset he missed a chance at more glory?" Fay could feel Mari's eyes boring into him. "Yes, My Lady?"

Mari sighed loudly enough to be heard over the crowd noise. Instead of answering him directly, the young rogue turned to her mentor. "Lia, you have known Poljen longer than I. Has he ever put his own desire for glory ahead of the welfare of your group?"

Lia shook her head. "No. He certainly desires glory, but he seems to find more joy in keeping us all alive and safe. I think he views himself as if he were everyone's big brother, ready to face every danger because he believes he can best survive it, not because he wishes to be known for it." She paused, "I suspect you have an idea why our easy-going friend seems suddenly angry. Go ahead."

Mari nodded. "I do. Poljen was leading the Silver Blaze as well as he could. Back in that cavern he made a decision, one he probably still feels was right, despite how some of the rest of us feel, and ultimately the Blaze won the day. For his mistake, he was criticized. In fact, Fay essentially threatened to not join the team if Poljen remained in charge. Poljen made his case, on his own. Some of you said you would be okay if he stayed in charge, but no one stuck up for him in a strong manner. And rather than really fight for the position, he swallowed his pride and stepped down." Mari turned to Fay and said, "I wonder if your dislike of him has truly blinded you to his sacrifice. Don't you see? He stepped down to make sure the team did not lose you and possibly your mother! He does have a great deal of pride, but for the good of the group he walked away from it." She then turned to the rest of the group. "And after Geoffroy's first poor decision, everyone is offering him words of consolation. What did Poljen get? Rightly or wrongly, I suspect he feels he was not given as fair a chance to redeem his decision as Geoffroy obviously is."

Out of Character: : Now here is where everyone can add some more, and maybe speak with Poljen. I hope this helps explain why Poljen might not be over all the ill feelings generated recently.

Daishain's D&D 5e: Side Stories Archive Pathfinder / D&D

Out of Character: I have been trying to stay out of this as much as I can. But while it helps display some of Poljen's frustrations here, and I know you posted it as a work in progress, but I don't see this as starting on a good note.

Paul, consider for a moment the tale you posted here. You've set it up such that Fay, for some reason continuing to be blindly critical of Poljen in particular, so disgusts those close to him they turn on him instead. The obvious next step is Fay either admitting he was wrong from the start under the pressure, or continue being stubborn to the point of being ostracized.

I don't see this as helping the issue, just the opposite. From my perspective, Fay does need to recognize where he went wrong, but so does Poljen, and they both need to learn trust and respect for each other. Shaming one side into backing down won't achieve that.

Please, help me fix this. This has been by far the best group of players I have ever worked with. To watch the group get torn apart by what started as a simple disagreement has been incredibly frustrating.

Page 4 Stories Side e Dragons and Dungeons Daishains

Out of Character: I don't deny Poljen is taking it too far. But if Fay offered something along the lines of an apology, while still disagreeing about Poljen's call in the cavern, that would go a long way to settling down Poljen. Believe me, he understands why most everyone questions the decision, even if he would do the same thing again in the same circumstances if he were making the call. But he feels very ill-treated afterwards, and is especially upset that most of the Blaze did not offer him any consolation, save for Lia but that was at his own prompting.

Stories Side e Dragons and Dungeons Daishains

Out of Character: Please check the top of page 259 in the support thread, and take another look at some of Fay's responses in the main one.

Daishain's D&D 5e: Side Stories

Out of Character: Paul,

Okay, I'm done walking on eggshells. Did you even read Fay's response in the Q&A thread? He specifically apologized. I guess that was not enough. So here is my reply to your post.

If you look a few pages back in the Q&A thread, you'll see Fay apologizes and then thanks Poljen for his leadership. Then he thanks him for all his actions to come now rather than as Poljen does things because then all he (Fay) would be doing is saying thanks. That means Poljen does a lot… and I specifically say that if it isn't clear. I thought that was pretty magnanimous. You then decided it would be best to smear Fay's face in it, helped by Lia and Mari… which I'm quite sure would not happen. But I don't want to talk for Kyrroeth or Lia. I thought I was pretty giving there considering you called me a jerk a few posts back without actually saying, "Hey Den, you're a flipping jerk." The only thing I took exception to was when Poljen said he'd discipline Fay. That would never happen and what I said would happen would. I would hand Fay to the Dungeon Master with the proviso that he be Poljen's enemy forever.

[By The Way], regarding your post where you assumed the role of Mari and had her say, "I wonder if your dislike of him has truly blinded you to his sacrifice," Fay does not dislike Poljen and he never has. Maybe you should go back and read a few of the early posts where Fay tried mightily to befriend the big man.

Now a few more points because I've been holding back and I will no longer. When Fay joined the team we did some good stuff. He helped kill a dragon. He had a few good shots. That's called lucky rolling and I know that. When Poljen did his acrobatic leap to put the beast down for good, Fay walked over to him and slapped him on the back and told him how great that maneuver was. Poljen absolutely ignored that. I figured you missed it and let it go. Then, Fay managed to save the group by sheer good luck when we freed the prisoners in Greenest. He happened to be at the right place, at the right time, with the right spell. No one thanked him. Instead, the thanks he got was Poljen talking to Lia saying that Fay was acting too much like a leader. Again, Fay didn't get worked up about that. In fact, I suggested to Kyrroeth she should have Lia really rip into Fay.

On the road to the cave Poljen shot down every suggestion from Fay. If it came from Fay it was invariably a bad idea. Let me tell you a bit about me, I was in Afghanistan when there only about 100 other Americans and I led hit and run raids there. The group could have done the same. But Poljen said no, and after some argument Fay relented. And then, Fay thanked Poljen for his leadership and apologized for how he acted.

Then came the cave, Fay watched as Cratol played with eggs round after round and his leader said nothing. Fay managed to get the thing to retreat and counseled we withdraw. I changed that when Fay saw that Poljen wanted to stay… and Fay backed him. Go read the posts. Then Poljen went and ran at the thing without giving orders. Real leaders would be court martialed for that. Do those posts get overlooked? Cratol didn't move to help until Fay finally had enough and yelled at him. And you saying Fay didn't give Poljen a chance to tell Cratol is BS. Fay gave him many rounds worth of chances.

Also, Poljen knew we'd win? What is that? We won either through sheer luck, probably not, or through the kindness of the Dungeon Master. I'm going with the latter. And [By The Way], Fay hit that thing round after round and no one thanked him. He used every spell slot he had to kill that thing. I'm guessing he did more damage than any… maybe. I can't know for sure because I wasn't counting nor was Fay. He was working for the team. Fay didn't ask for thanks, because team's don't need it. Curry doesn't thank Durant for every basket.

After all that, I still put a post in the Q&A thread where Fay apologizes to Poljen and thanks him. But then you write a post where the Blaze is getting beaten and you and Cratol save the day. Nice and subtle. Fay's backed up to a rock, barely holding his own. God, that Fay, he can't do anything right and never has done a thing for the team. Good thing Mari is there to help him.

And I'd like to add, when leadership is good my characters have zero issues. Den sometimes leads and sometimes follows, often trying to push others up front. Ildrahil is absolutely following Bastion, only offering suggestions here and there. Grohg, well he's a special case. He's very young and looking to be tutored on leadership. But he has zero issues with your character and is following Corren and Leo with only the occasional suggestion and question.

So, I'll take Fay out of this campaign. I'll roll up a new character that doesn't have this history, even though I don't think this is all or even mostly Fay's fault or mine. Why? Because this is a game. But know this, this next character won't kow tow to anyone either.

Daishain's D&D 5e Side Stories - Page 4

Out of Character: Abbninja, first of all I wish to offer at least one sincere apology. I missed the apology in that post in the Q&A thread. I can only offer the lame excuse that it is one word among many in a post that I was still treating as speculative, since we had not had a sign that Lia had spoken to Fay on Poljen's behalf, or that Fay had actually spoken to Poljen. But as I say, that is a lame excuse. You were offering an apology and I simply missed it. So I am heartily sorry for that.

You make some good points, and some I feel a reflexive urge to argue, but I am not going to. I think we have both let this go too far, and while I don't think either of us deserves to be forced out, I am going to ask you and Daishain to discuss it amongst yourselves. If you wish Poljen to stick around I will promise not to be so pigheaded. If you prefer he leave, I will depart without a fuss.

I also want to apologize to all the other players who are not doubt sick of this drama. You did not sign up for this, and I am sorry for my part in it.

Daishain's D&D 5e Side Stories D&D / Pathfinder Archive - Page 4

Out of Character: I absolutely do not want you or Poljen to leave. Nor do I want Fay to leave. I want to move forward and work as a team. I, for my part, apologize to you for Fay's stubbornness… he gets that from me. And to everyone else for this going so far.

Now, shall we go kick the butt of some of Tiamat's miserable minions. And maybe we don't need the six month jump? Maybe this time will will give everyone a chance to work things out? Or we could do the jump too. I am absolutely open here.

Edited: Abnninja on 13th Jun, 2017 - 3:17pm