Chapter 9 [Negotiations in New Briar]

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Day 23 – Guest Compound

6pm – Chancellor Brock sits down with Captain Whimsir and Staff Sergeant Shaw to discuss the arrival of the Nemedoran envoy. Pleasantries are first exchanged, which lead to questions of a personal and professional nature but none too prying. Eventually, the Captain directs the conversation to matters at hand, “The Hydra is undergoing a historic shift. Change can be difficult for some but needn't be for those willing to adapt. Nemedor marches toward Greater Vallest and has no quarrel with those outside its path. Quite the contrary. New Briar is not alone in receiving an arm extended in friendship. My own Sergeant can attest to this. Whose brother gave his life toward this aim along the western head. My esteemed Chancellor, the friendship we seek is one of mutual benefit and shared responsibility.”

The Chancellor responds without hesistation, “New Briar has grown in many ways since ground was first broken at the edge of the marsh several years ago. Blood and sweat and tears were sacrificed by all but none in vein for the Gods have smiled upon our determination and ingeniuty. Their guidance has uncovered brilliant rewards beneath our feet and brought magnificent protectors to our skies. Our city is young but hardened. Our people hail from many lands but stand united within these walls. Our spirit is strong and has overcome all manner of odds. We have thrived with the opening of every new chapter, we will continue to do so, and one thing that life in the Blackfens has taught us is... that we can never have enough friends.”

With the groundwork laid down, Captain Whimsir presents general details for the Chancellor to provide the council. Nemedor wishes to purchase raw mithral mined under New Briar and seeks no more or less than a fair price for the vast amounts it desires. Additionally, Nemedor is willing to provide the city aid toward the exploration of resources deeper inside the Blackfens in exchange for a percentage of any valuable discoveries. Furthermore, Nemedor may be able to negotiate for the release of New Briar citizens captured by D'henna forces in Ione. Finally, the Captain reemphasizes that Nemedor wishes to hold no domion over New Briar but instead hopes to establish a peaceful relationship of shared respect.

Chancellor Brock listens with a warm but unrevealing face. He thanks the Captain for coming to New Briar under the flag of friendship and promises to share all her offers with the council. Adding only a reminder that New Briar is an indepenent city-state with no aims other than to prosper and provide for its citizens. Therefore, all its means share these ends.

* * * * * * *

7pm – Chancellor Brock and his guard lead the foreign officers back to the dining hall where the rest of the Nemedoran escort have been waiting while servants finish cleaning up after the welcoming feast. At the entrance of the compound, Corporal Sahme is returning from a walk with a member of the local militia following not too far behind.


[OOC: The NPCs present are Captain Nola Whimsir and the Nemedoran soldiers/grunts, Chancellor Brock and his personal guard, servants, and militia members guarding the compound.

New Briar is governed by a three-member council consisting of the Mayor, Guildmaster, and Archcleric. Each is appointed through different means, but all must approve of the Chancellor who serves as a representative for the council. Chancellor Brock is a half-elf. His six-person guard consists of 4 elves, 1 human, 1 dwarf.

New Briar grew during a time of peace on the Hydrahead Peninsula. The city as a whole has not felt the ripple effect of war until more recently (though, some of its citizens had been affected elsewhere before peacetime). It is believed that if New Briar officials can be convinced that a shift in power across the Hydrahead Peninsula is inevitable and in a way that is harmonious to them, they can be swayed to establishe a trade agreement for mithral.

New Briar sent a few hundred approximately 250 people (militia, heroes, volunteers) to help defend Ione from the invading D'henna army, but Ione is falling.]

[reefwood]

New Briar (population ~3,500) is surrounded by a smooth-shaped stone wall standing 20-ft high. Nearly a third of the city sits atop what was once marshland with the rest jutting out into the plains. The majority of private residences and shops are located inside wooden buildings, but most city-owned structures and those with wealthy sponsors are composed at least in part of stone (smooth or blocks). The threat of dragons and other flying monstrosities keeps the city spreading outward, and even downward, rather than upward. Few buildings rise more than a few stories, but many have at least one more level below the surface for additional space and protection.

Like most other settlements on the Hydrahead Peninsula, New Briar strongly values its independence. Both from greater Vallest and foreign powers. Not that it wants to be isolated or insular, depsite its remote location. Quite the contrary. Unlike the major cities of the Hydra, and even many of the smallest villages, which have been around for decades or centuries, this city continues to grow. While it does not want to be ruled by others, it exudes a warm air of welcoming to those who come in good faith. Especially since it is the newcomers who often arrive to mine the mithral, shape it into wares, and export these goods to new locales - all of which contribute to the burgeoning prosperity.

A free spirit and bold attitude are often associated with those who make their way to a frontier as historically perilous as the Blackfens. These qualities can be found among the citizens of New Briar, but they are also tempered by a strict rule of law. It is a rather orderly society, perhaps surprisingly so for being at the edge of such a foreboding and mysterious wild.


[OOC: Humans, elves, and dwarves are the dominant races with half-elves as the largest minority followed by gnomes and half-orcs. Other races can be found in insignificant numbers.

Knowledge (arcana) 19 on bronze dragons: They are excellent swimmers who can breathe underwater and are usually found along coastlines. Their breath weapon can shoot a line of electricity or a cone of repulsion gas. At a young age, they can speak with animals and even turn into them or humanoids. Meanwhile, older bronze dragons gain a mastery over water and emanate an electrifying aura. Finally, these magnificent creatures are often good-natured and known for keeping their word.

Profession (military) 12 on Aarthyx & Grixyl: This pair of adult dragons serves as a constant defense against the lingering half-breed spawn of the Acid Queen. They patrol the air and waterways around New Briar.

Profession (military) 29 on militia: New Briar had no need for a standing army in its early days. Monsters in the Blackfens were the greatest threat. Everyone able-bodied pitched in to drive them off, and local heroes hunted down the more persistent threats. As the village grew, a townguard of a few dozen was established to help maintain order until about two years ago when it was expanded in size and scope to help ensure the security of the mines and resulting wealth. The local militia doubles as a cityguard and now boasts 300 members. Still a young force but one with several veterans seasoned from past wars. Though, two-thirds were sent to Ione to help defend against the invading D'henna forces and with them went the most experienced militia members. Losses were expected and approximately 100 new members are already undergoing training. In the meantime, local temples have assigned about half as many templars to serve as interim cityguards, and mercenary guilds – which mostly disbanded when the brozne dragons arrived – have begun to reemerge.

If you have more specific or other questions about all this, feel free to ask.]

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[OOC: Mission Equipment

As part of a diplomatic envoy, you have the option of using certain "elegant" items provided by New Briar. The first item is clothing - padded noble clothing - which indicates that you are a foreigner on some sort of official/ambassadorial business related to the city, and it is padded to provide some protection (counts as light armor). The other item is a decorative blade that is meant more for show than battle, so it is bulkier than a normal blade and imposes a -1 penalty to attack & damage because gems and showy design make it somewhat unwieldy.

Padded Noble Clothing (AC +1, Max Dex +8, ACP -0, ASF 5%, 15 lb, light armor)
and
Decorative Longsword (1d8, crit 20/x2, -1 attack/damage, 6 lb)
or
Decorative Shortsword (1d6, crit 20/x2, -1 attack/damage, 3 lb)

NPCs: The attached spreadsheet file has the stats for your Captain and the grunts without their normal equipment. Each grunt has been given the padded noble clothing and a longsword, and these are included in their stats. You can switch out the longsword for a shortsword if you wish but cannot have both. Also, the 5% arcane spell failure does not affect the grunts because the archer/Ranger casts divine spells, the swordsman/Fighter doesn't cast spells, and the mage/Bard can cast in light armor without worrying about arcane spell failure. And the Captain actually has +2 padded noble clothing since she is the head honcho, though, she chooses to carry no blade.

PCs: As second in command types, you actually can select +1 padded noble clothing (AC +2), and you may select either blade, but neither a cleric or sorcerer are proficient with martial weapons, so you would take a -4 penalty to use the longsword or shortsword.

Feel free to look over all the stats of your Captain. Especially since during the next session, she will be more under the control of the players than the DM. Of course, I will takeover whenever the need arises, and depending on how things play out, she may not even be in most of the scenes with the players.]

Attachments:

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[OOC: Negotiations

Part of this next chapter will be to negotiate the terms of a trade (and step toward a peace) agreement between Nemedor and New Briar. In terms of game time, this could take up a small or large chunk of the adventure. I think (and hope) it will mostly depend on player interest. If players want to focus on this, it could take a while to complete, but if players want to focus on other things, hopefully this doesn't take too long.

The negotiations will cover several topics, each with their own particular rules and terms (to be outlined later or at game time), but the basic idea to win is the same for all of them: roll high on Diplomacy. The paragraphs below outline the overarching parameters for debating topics and how to end negotiations. But first, a few phrases:

• open topic - still debating the topic & current terms can automatically change if negotiations end
  
• closed topic - an agreement has been reached & terms cannot be changed unless re-opened
  
• re-opened topic - treated the same as an open topic
  
• ongoing negotiations - topics may be debated, closed, re-opened
  
• negotiations end - the terms of all open topics fall in favor of the side with the most points

Negotiation Rules
All topics remain open (unresolved) until they are closed (resolved). A topic may be closed after one hour of debate, but the decision to close a topic must be made at the start of the hour. Though, there is no limit on the amount of hours that may be spent debating any topic during ongoing negotiations. Only one topic may be discussed per hour, but the debate may switch every hour between different open topics. Any topics left open will still require one hour to close. The terms of a closed topic cannot be changed unless it is re-opened. Any topic may be re-opened but at a cumulative -5 penalty to Diplomacy for each time it is re-opened.

Each day presents a possible 8 hours of debate. The negotiation day (8am-5pm) is split into two 4-hr sessions with a 1-hr lunch break at noon. However, each side is allowed to call one short recess (20 min) per session, and this time does not count as debate time. An opposed Diplomacy check is made at the end of each hour of debate, and if the hour is not complete at the end of a session or day, it continues at the start of the next session or day. If both sides took both their recesses (80 min total) on the first day, this would only leave 6 hr, 40 min for debate. Therefore, only 6 Diplomacy checks would be made on this day, as opposed to the possible total of 8 checks, and the next Diplomacy check would come 20 minutes into the second day because that is the end of the 7th hour.

Each hour of debate ends with an opposed Diplomacy check. The winner gains an advantage, and terms for each topic are handled separately, but the respective daily and grand totals of the Diplomacy rolls for each side also play a role. The side with the higher daily total gains a bonus of 5 points for each hour of debate won that day (i.e. 4 hours won x5 = 20 bonus pts), so there is the potential to gain more bonus points if there are more hours of debate, but the losing side gains no bonus points that day.

A call to end negotiations may be made by either side once it gains 600 pts. Ending negotiations requires one hour of debate and one last Diplomacy check, so in a close race, the point-leader could change with this roll. Also, no open topics may be closed or their terms changed during this ending hour. The grand point total determines the terms of any remaining open topics. If Nemedor has the most points at the end of this hour, they receive the “good” terms for any topics still open. If New Briar has the most points, Nemedor receives the “fair” terms for any topics still open if it has at least 600 pts, or “poor” terms for any topics still open if it has less than 600 pts. Alternatively, a side with 600 pts may keep negotiations open and call them to end at a later hour or day, but this still requires one last hour of debate and Diplomacy check. Finally, the other way to end negotiations is to close all topics because doing so automatically ends negotiations regardless of the point total of either side.

* * * * * * *

Captain Nola Whimsir negotiates for the Nemedor. PCs may sit in as aides to provide assistance, such as an Aid Another bonus, but they can only join at the start of a session or leave at the end of a session. They cannot join or leave in the middle of a session. When not in a session, PCs are free to perform other tasks or explore the city under guard or explore outside the city on their own. It should be noted that Nemedorans cannot leave the compound during the night (8pm-5am), and negotiations will take up the majority of the day (7:30am-5:30pm, includes time to reach the negotiation site). This may not matter unless there is something a PC wants to do during the day that will take multiple hours but thought this should be clear just in case.

Nemedor wants the negotiations to go as quickly as possible because it is in the middle of a war, so the sooner it can gain access to the mithral and devote resources (such as the Captain and PCs) to other issues, the better. The less days you take, the more Reward points you earn, but also, gaining better terms for each topic also earns you more Reward points, so you want a good balance. In theory, negotiations could end in one day if you close each topic with only one hour of debate because closing all the topics is one way to end negotiations, and there will be less than 8 topics. However, you would probably have to roll awesome just about every hour to get good terms for Nemedor, and it is a bit of a gamble because if you want to spend just one hour on each topic, you have to decide to close the topic at the start of the hour (i.e. before making the roll), so you may be stuck with a poor result. And even if you do have time to re-open a closed topic, it comes at a -5 penalty to Diplomacy for being wishy washy. Though, closing topics quickly may be a good way to speed through negotiations if players want to focus on other things, and it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll do poorly. Part of it is just luck, and long negotiations wouldn't guarantee the best terms either.

If you want to see the rules of specific topics, I can post them tomorrow, but if you won't have time to look at them, I'll wait to present them at the session.

EDIT: The final terms of each topic will have "real world" repercussions, but how much these come to affect PCs later will partly depend on the direction they choose to take the story after this chapter, and how much it matters is mostly based on personal preference toward the topics.]

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Negotiation Stats

Here are the current terms and Nemedor's point totals. All topics are still open, and New Briar only has 531 pts.

Mithral Amount: 50% (good)

Mithral Cost: 27% (fair)

POWs: 100% (terrible)

Citizens in Ione: Travels, citizens, families, politicians (terrible)

Resource Exploration: n/a

Briarbog: Immediately (superb)

Time: 2 days (great) --> 3 days (good)

Day 1 Total: 292 +20 bonus = 312
Day 2 Total: 290 +15 bonus = 305
Grand Total: 312 +305 = 617

In retrospect, the end of negotiations probably shouldn't automatically default all the open topics to any particular setting. It would make more sense for the open topics to simply shift by a certain degree depending on how much the winning side wins by, but we're already at the ending, so I don't want to change it now. Plus, this whole system has been a total experiment, and I was partly just curious to see how it would play out. I have enjoyed it (and the ideas players have brought up too) and gotten a better idea on how to tweak things if I do something like this in the future.

[Rabbit]

I enjoyed it too! And I am a little curious as to how this battle will play out and how we that might effect negotiations.

Because we started to initiate a closure to negotiations but can that be haulted. Could the results of this fight effect be used as leverage against one group or another at the table tommorrow?

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Sept 13, 2010 10:30:32 GMT -5 Rabbit said:

I enjoyed it too! And I am a little curious as to how this battle will play out and how we that might effect negotiations.

Because we started to initiate a closure to negotiations but can that be haulted. Could the results of this fight effect be used as leverage against one group or another at the table tommorrow?

To be honest, I don't have a mechanic worked into the system for halting the end of negotiations, or even halting an hour of debate. But I am open to roleplay having an effect, such as when Sahme doubled his Aid Another bonus through good argument and the attempts to sway individual Council members. I will give this some thought, and if you want to find out what happens, go ahead and try it

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Day 26 – Trade Agreement

On the behalf of Nemedor, Captain Nola Whimsir and her aides successfully came to terms on a trade agreement with the Council of New Briar for a portion of the mithral mined below the city. The negotiations delved into other topics as well, and all are outlinted below.

Mithral Amount (good)
Nemedor will receive 50% of the raw mithral mined by New Briar.

Mithral Price (good)
Nemedor will pay 23% of the base price for the bulk purchase of mithral as opposed to the standard 33% cost of raw materials.

POWs (good)
Nemedor has agreed to bargain with D'henna for the release of POWs from New Briar who were captured in Ione but were not charged with serious crimes (25 people) or counts of terrorism (15 people). This includes POWs who surrendered under reasonable conditions (20 people) and even those who were somewhat more problematic before or after capture (40 people). Therefore, a total of 60 POWs are expected to return to New Briar.

Citizens in Ione (good)
Nemedor has agreed to bargain with D'henna to allow most citizens of New Briar, past and present, to return to New Briar if they so choose. This allowance will extend to those in Ione on business or pleasure and even ex-New Briarans who now reside there permanently. However, those who choose to return may not bring family members who were never citizens of New Briar. Nor may they return if they served in the Ione government. The number of citizens eligible is not yet known, let alone how many will actually opt to return to New Briar.

Resource Exploration (good)
Nemedor has persuaded New Briar to explore for new resources deeper in the Blackfens. To assist in this effort, Nemedor will provide 30 soldiers to help safeguard the exploratory teams and any sites of interest uncovered. In exchange, Nemedor has a right to 20% of any valuables discovered.

Clean Up Briarbog (superb)
Nemedor does not want any unsavory elements in Briarbog to interfere with the mining of mithral or the exploration of new resources. New Briar has been persuaded to begin an immediate effort to bring greater security to the neighboring shanty town.


[OOC: There are a few things to go over here: what the negotiation results mean for players, mission equipment, rewards/spoils, leveling up changes, listing the major NPCs of this chapter, and remembering where things left off.


Negotiation Results
Successfully negotiating for the mithral has opened the path to potential perks that will be available if the agreement holds up. Securing a large amount of mithral means that the time limit for mithral will be reduced by 5 days, and earning the reduced bulk price means the PCs save 10% off the mithral cost of any mithral items they select. These changes will probably begin being measured on Day 26 but are not currently available to PCs.


Mission Equipment
The items provided by New Briar - Padded Noble Clothing and Decorative Weapons must be returned. They will remain in the compound/villa for the time being.

Additionally, these items were provided by the Nemedoran army at the start of the previous chapter (Ch. 8) to each member of the diplomatic envoy:
Heavy horse
Any type of saddle (riding 25 lb, military 30 lb)
Any type of masterwork barding (weighs twice as much as humanoid Medium armor)
4 potions of resist acid (ignore 10 pts acid, 30 min; CL1)
4 potions of hide from undead (Will DC 11, 10 min; CL1)
2 oils of magic weapon (1 min; CL1)
2 potions of cure moderate wound (2d8+3; CL3)
2 potions of cure light wounds (1d8+1; CL1)

Brion and Sahme also each received an amulet of sending. For the time being, you may hold onto all the Nemedoran items.


Rewards/Spoils
You may keep any spoils earned. No more rewards are earned as of yet, and you can read more about that in the next section.

EDIT Brion Shaw is promoted to Master Sergeant, and Sahme Sweetwater is promoted to Staff Sergeant, and both receive 3 days of 9th-level income for their duty on Days 24, 25, 26.


Leveling Up
PCs will have the opportunity to level up after every other Chapter, but this will be based on their performance. The success of each mission will result in a rating: superb (5), great (4), good (3), fair (2), poor (1), terrible (0). As you can see, each rating comes with a point total, and we can call these Advancement Points (APs). A total of 4 APs are required to gain a new level, so two fair ratings would do it, as would a one good rating and one poor rating, and APs reset to 0 after a new level has been gained. Wealth increase is also tied into APs. A total of 6 APs are required to earn the entire standard increase between levels. Therefore, you can still gain a level even if you don't earn full rewards. Also, there may sometimes be additional factors related to specific missions which influence rewards. And this info will be added to the Misc Info post in the Officers Academy thread.

Also, each chapter has its own point system. This chapter had seven point categories: the six negotiation topics and a seventh category of days spent negotiating. Players earned a Good rating (3 pts each) for five topics and the days as well as a Superb rating on one topic (5 pts) which gives a final score of 3+3+3+3+3+3+5 = 23 pts. 21 pts were needed for a Good rating, and 28 pts were needed for a Great rating, so you come away with a Good rating for Chapter 9. It is only this final rating (not the 21 pts) that affects advancement. The Good rating provides 3 APs, so you are three-quarters of the way to gaining a level (4 APs) and halfway to earning full rewards for 10th-level (6 APs). When you reach 10th-level, the APs will reset to 0.


NPCs
The Council of New Briar is composed of 3 members: Mayor Donovan Reegan (middle-aged human), Guildmaster Prah'el Moonleaf (adult elf), Archcleric Kilvir Stoneroot (old dwarf), and their representative is Chancellor Brock (middle-aged half-elf).

The bronze dragons contracted to protect New Briar from black dragon ilk are Aarthyx and Grixyl. They are both adult dragons, though, their exact ages are not known. The PCs also met a bronze wyrmling named Nimuux and a supposed bronze dragon of undetermined age who went by the name Lady Karryx.

Also, the bard mage met a scholar named Lamar (old human) at the library, and Sahme met a magic shop owner (adult elf). All these names will be included in an NPC List post in The World thread.


End of Chapter
After negotiations, the diplomatic envoy enjoyed a celebratory lunch with the Council from 12pm-1pm. Then, they arrived at the Mages' Guild in search of Lady Karryx at 1:30pm. She arrived at 2:30pm and led them to Nimuux at 3pm outside the city. Nimuux was given 3 potions of cure light wounds in exchange for being taken to the location of the lillycups (i.e. “yellow tails”). The purple flowers only bloom at night, and everyone will rendezvous at 7pm near the shacks in Briarbog where the diplomatic envoy first encountered Nimuux.

The Chapter 10 story thread will be posted later today.]