Whatever happened to...?

[Cind]

Maristen was awesome.

[Large Hero]

I loved Maristen. A sensitive soul. Glad I convinced him to leave the Byn (hah!) and join Kadius! My PC didn't help Maristen very much, but Mari had the best mentor you could ask for in Macian. What a fool I was for not playing with Maristen and Macian more! Sadly, my PC was too busy being a crazy person and a pawn of nobles and templars. Getting Way'd by Qoriya wasn't a comfortable experience, let me tell ya.

- Rulon K.

[Lizzie]

I never saw him show up, even though Puppy was sitting on the bench, which faced the balcony which he must have climbed up in order to reach her. I never had a chance to type "look figure." I checked back on the log, and there's absolutely nothing there. The guy wasn't there, then all of a sudden he was attacking her (or she?) and then she was dead.

Why must the killer have climbed up the balcony?

Because she closed the curtain when she got there. So he was either already there and hiding on an open balcony with no place to actually be hidden in broad daylight, or he climbed up after she got there, also in broad daylight with no way for someone to miss someone climbing over a balcony to stand right in front of them.  Though upon further thought, it could've been something magic.

[WithSprinkles]

 

Thanks guys, it makes me all happy thinking back to then and knowing you had fun too.

My character was intimidated by yours ICly, Large Hero, but he never forgot him and was grateful to have gotten hired (by all rights you probably were looking at me like I was a doofus or potential gicker when I said I liked playing with flowers). When Mari was given those blood-stained bands, it helped strengthen a core part of his personality in regards to care and respect for hunters that had been beat into him in the Byn. Even when he gained his ring, he kept Kor's armbands.

Those words recall almost halcyon times, sleepyhead. 

[WithSprinkles]

She was on the balcony of Red's, just chillin out by herself, sitting on the bench. The curtain was closed. She'd been parked there for several minutes. I was alt-tabbing to check out a website at the time, back and forth every 10-20 seconds. I tabbed back to the game and noticed a hooded figure was attacking her.  By the time I had a chance to type "stand" it was all over. I never saw him show up, even though Puppy was sitting on the bench, which faced the balcony which he must have climbed up in order to reach her. I never had a chance to type "look figure." I checked back on the log, and there's absolutely nothing there. The guy wasn't there, then all of a sudden he was attacking her (or she?) and then she was dead.

(winces) Must have sucked to tab back and see you were in a fight. I try to not tab so I can't see the screen unless I figure I'm with people I 'trust' or 'secure'. Otherwise, I shrink my web browser so it fits half the screen and overlay it over half the game client so I can see if the game starts scrolling and someone is talking to me or something starts happening.

My character liked Puppy, but didn't trust her at ALL. He was damn sure that he was outmatched by her when it came to scheming and plotting, so he made sure to keep things casual. Especially after one incident that involved an employee of his that had him second guessing himself. It was well done overall.

[palomar]

I loved Maristen. A sensitive soul. Glad I convinced him to leave the Byn (hah!) and join Kadius! My PC didn't help Maristen very much, but Mari had the best mentor you could ask for in Macian. What a fool I was for not playing with Maristen and Macian more! Sadly, my PC was too busy being a crazy person and a pawn of nobles and templars. Getting Way'd by Qoriya wasn't a comfortable experience, let me tell ya.

- Rulon K.

What was so uncomfortable about it? Once was about contest prizes and the other about making an arrangement to meet after he was transfered north. Maybe it was the timing that second time. Other people had far less comfortable conversations with the old lady over the Way, I assure  you.

[manipura]

I never saw him show up, even though Puppy was sitting on the bench, which faced the balcony which he must have climbed up in order to reach her. I never had a chance to type "look figure." I checked back on the log, and there's absolutely nothing there. The guy wasn't there, then all of a sudden he was attacking her (or she?) and then she was dead.

Why must the killer have climbed up the balcony?

Because she closed the curtain when she got there. So he was either already there and hiding on an open balcony with no place to actually be hidden in broad daylight, or he climbed up after she got there, also in broad daylight with no way for someone to miss someone climbing over a balcony to stand right in front of them.  Though upon further thought, it could've been something magic.

Or they could have shadowed her in, which in that environment I would imagine entails RPing staying a step or two behind, using the folds of the curtain to your advantage to stay unseen before slipping fully onto the kill side of the curtain.

Or they could have unlatched the curtain and snuck onto the balcony then latched it again.

Code Select Expand


emote unlatch curtain
sneak e
latch curtain
hem keeps back, partially shrouded in the folds of the curtain while watching ~puppy
kill puppy

Edit: Or like you added in your second post, it could have been magic.

[Lizzie]

Latch wasn't a command then. She also had max scan/listen, and theoretically, she would have seen anyone behind her, because she had to close the curtain - behind her.

I should emphasize - I had ZERO problem with her being assassinated. I was absolutely fine with it. I think the scene would've been more fun for me with some context (like an actual emote, or even a tell puppy "Hah, finally got ya!" not an hemote that I might have missed), something before the beep. Whoever did it, I have no "problem" with it at all. If I did, I would've filed a player complaint, and I didn't do that. So it's all good.

[manipura]

Latch wasn't a command then.

I'm pretty sure it was.  There's a GDB thread stating changes to latch/unlatch from May 2014 and I'm very sure she wasn't killed before 2014.

Omitted in my initial post and conveniently left disabled in the first push yesterday... mea culpa.

Delays are now applied to 'slip', 'palm', 'unlatch', and 'latch'.

As with most new features, I try to balance out positives with negatives so that players need to make choices.   Here's one in the interest of time vs. stealth. 

I hope that this will dissuade those folks who are aliasing their 'get', 'put', 'open', and 'close' commands to their stealthy equivalents from doing so.  I find this practice wrong for many reasons, but perhaps coded delays will make those folks think twice about what it really means is happening IC.

Hide and sneak is frustrating when you're the one not doing the hiding or sneaking.  But when you're the one not hiding or sneaking, you also have no idea of knowing whether the sneaky is hemoting and semoting the fuck out of the scene.  I've always thought the best assassins are the ones who go in and out without leaving a trace of who was there or what happened.  Just because your max scan didn't see them, doesn't mean they didn't hemote extensively or have a long conversation of thinks with themselves.

I don't really want to derail the thread any more than it already is, I just wanted to point out that this is one of those times when you can't really say "this happened, this didn't happen" because it was a sneaky scene, and you really don't know what happened on the other end of things.

[Delirium]

If you are sitting down or otherwise preoccupied you will take a large negative to your perception (scan).

This is to reflect that you are not constantly moving about on high alert.

It's not his/her fault you weren't paying attention. For all they knew, you were preoccupied with Waying or something. A great time to strike.

Why not just assume the best of your fellow players and accept that you got a cool death people actually talked about?

[Riev]

Whatever happened to the Guild Leader that Ratface took OVER for? The wide shouldered one that said " fokin' " all the goddamned time?

Apparently, as with all things, I came in right at the end of a really awesome crew of people, and I wasn't "in the know" enough to figure out what actually happened with them all. Just that they died, and I was left with nothing.

[BadSkeelz]

Whatever happened to the Guild Leader that Ratface took OVER for? The wide shouldered one that said " fokin' " all the goddamned time?

Apparently, as with all things, I came in right at the end of a really awesome crew of people, and I wasn't "in the know" enough to figure out what actually happened with them all. Just that they died, and I was left with nothing.

Sounds like Wanderer?

[Riev]

Yeah! That was him. I could never remember that name.

Ratface caught him doing some stuff, that he assumed was enough that Wanderer put him in charge just so he would keep his mouth shut. Then all the people who did stuff, and helped Wanderer out, died off slowly, leaving Ratface almost nothing to work with and ICly (and OOCly) not know how to run any sort of crime syndicate.

[Barzalene]

Maristen and Macian were joys to play with.

[Refugee]

Even though many PCs with whom I spent more time with have come and gone, when Maristen passed something went out of the game for me.  My PC might talk to him once a month but he was just always there, and it's still sad that he's not.

[BadSkeelz]

After a hilarious contract with him as my Byn Sarge, I always pictured Maristen as Caspian Wint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45dC75qwmB4

<3

[Fathi]

I loved Maristen. A sensitive soul. Glad I convinced him to leave the Byn (hah!) and join Kadius! My PC didn't help Maristen very much, but Mari had the best mentor you could ask for in Macian. What a fool I was for not playing with Maristen and Macian more! Sadly, my PC was too busy being a crazy person and a pawn of nobles and templars. Getting Way'd by Qoriya wasn't a comfortable experience, let me tell ya.

- Rulon K.

This whole class of Kadian PCs were so much fun. Rulon, Siamaca, Maristen, and Macian. I was really disappointed that the role I was in at the time meant I couldn't interact with them as much as I wanted to.

Speaking of merchants who were around at that time, whatever happened to that port-wine stained Kuraci agent? I sadly cannot remember his name. Mr Gorbachev looking guy.

[Dar]

Whatever happened to the Guild Leader that Ratface took OVER for? The wide shouldered one that said " fokin' " all the goddamned time?

Apparently, as with all things, I came in right at the end of a really awesome crew of people, and I wasn't "in the know" enough to figure out what actually happened with them all. Just that they died, and I was left with nothing.

I still facepalm myself when I remember what happened to Wanderer and his uhh companions.

[Is Friday]

I remember Maristen. Wasn't he Lucith Borsail's boy toy? Heh.

My PC didn't have too many in depth interactions with him, though. Kitt left him alone for the most part.

[WithSprinkles]

Even though many PCs with whom I spent more time with have come and gone, when Maristen passed something went out of the game for me.  My PC might talk to him once a month but he was just always there, and it's still sad that he's not.

(grins) We'll bump into each other again sometime, maybe Refugee. That's the best part of this game. It's like meeting the same person as they reincarnate (even though they might came back really, really different). He left the game, I'm still wandering around in it. <3

(pokes Badskeelz and grins) Silly.

Maristen was head over heels for Lucith, but he didn't really go spreading it to keep things professional, though he didn't lie either. I was trying to go through my logs to see who introduced them, because I think it was Ellandris (moment of awe for that sharp-minded, red-haired Valkyrie who was NOT afraid to whip out a blade and fight). He was devastated when the man died and had limited interest in anyone else after.

My character wanted to stay pretty far from yours, Friday. He thought she was pretty unpredictable and potentially crazy. Those rare time we sat peacefully and she calmly spoke to him though, were wonderful. He thought she was very smart and wished he could speak on her level. I was grateful for those moments. Then we'd get back to.. is she going to unlock this door or am I going to have to climb out the window? 

[sleepyhead]

(grins) We'll bump into each other again sometime, maybe Refugee. That's the best part of this game. It's like meeting the same person as they reincarnate (even though they might came back really, really different). He left the game, I'm still wandering around in it. <3

Hey, that's my headcanon! That no PCs ever really die, they just get reincarnated (when you create a char, that's your character's spirit inhabiting a former VNPC)

I know it's silly, but it makes me feel better about a beloved character's death.

[Barsook]

Was Maristen your first PC, WithSprinkles?

[WithSprinkles]

Yeah, he was. Thank you guys for being patient with my newb butt when I flubbed or just giving me a good Zalanthan kick to get me moving again.

[valeria]

My character wanted to stay pretty far from yours, Friday. He thought she was pretty unpredictable and potentially crazy. ...

I still laugh every time I remember her stealing that potted plant.

[WanderingOoze]

I feel like I remember the name Maristen. Was he ever inside a wagon that got crashed by certain poorly shouted directions?
I feel like that was the guy piloting. But I might be remembering
wrong.