The Darkest Corners

Game Master Nidoran Duran

Monster-hunting campaign using Korvosa as the background for urban fantasy.


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Still here!


"Good luck one and all"

in best tinny Tim voice


Here I am!


As expected, none of the people who checked in were people I was worried about. It was more the people on page one who posted a character, said a background would follow, and then vanished.

I'm going to be sitting around restlessly all day since exams are all done. I'll try to channel it into productive stuff like writing ahead so I'm not staring at this thread with my eye twitching and wanting to pull the trigger. If party selection does happen today, let's say it's going to happen in about 15 hours-ish, at 8:30 EST. Or tomorrow morning at the asscrack of dawn, to give people the night if they need it. We'll see what happens.


I quiver with anticipation.


I'm here, leveled to two, crunch done, working on background now.


Backstory:

I’ve always been able to see them. Ghosts I mean. Not saying I see them all the time, but when they want to be seen, I’m the one staring straight at them. Creeps people out, which is probably why I was stuck at the orphanage until I was almost old enough to work.

No one wants to adopt the creepy quiet girl who sees things that aren’t there.

Until someone does. And yes I was way too happy and excited about it to even question what a weird older man living alone would be allowed to adopt a 15 yr old girl, or why he would want to. All I cared about was that I had a home. One of the few things that made me happy back at the orphanage was reading, since the other kids all thought I was weird, so when I saw the old man’s Library I thought I was in heaven.

It was a pretty sweet life for a while. The old man had a lot of money and didn’t ask me to do anything weird. Not only was I able to go into the library whenever I wanted, but when he noticed me reading books about ghosts and life and death, he started showing me some of his personal collection on the topic. Turns out he was fascinated with it too, and had all kinds of secret tomes on the other side of the veil as he called it.

He taught me things, spirit magic, he called it, little tricks like lighting a candle, how to feel the presence of a ghost or other kinds of entities like it, even how to see them as long as they had a physical form. It was a strange kind of bonding experience that brought two people most of society kept at a distance a little closer. Or so I thought.

The night before my 16th birthday, he told me that he was a part of a society that was tasked by Pharasma’s church to study the veil and keep it intact and that with all the promise I’d shown, he wanted to indoctrinate me at a ceremony the next night. I was so excited I don’t think I slept more than an hour.

When the time arrived I felt like a princess. He’d had some younger female members, acolytes he called them come to his mansion to prepare me, sacred baths, mystic symbols drawn in henna on my skin, a ceremonial robe, as bizarre as it all was it felt special. Until I drank something and woke up naked chained to a freakish altar dedicated to Urgothoa with 50 chanting cultists around me and a priestess standing over me with a scythe.

Turns out, I am special. I’m tied right into the veil between worlds, and by killing me as I became a woman, at the peak of whatever ceremony they were performing, they’d create a permanent tear in it, allowing all forms of undead through.

I should have been terrified, but the only thing I felt was rage. All around me I could see ghosts. Not the sad or quiet peaceful ones, the angry hate filled ones that want to make people suffer, and somehow, as the blade was about to fall I gave them what they wanted. I gave them the cultists. I told them to kill everybody in that room and somehow that’s exactly what happened.

I’ll never be able to forget what I saw that night, or the sounds of the screaming. After it was all over, the angry ghosts left, but I was still surrounded by others, for some reason tied to me now. I commanded them to free me and they did, even helped me as I ran like hell from that place.

I’ve never been alone since, wherever I go I can see into the spirit world, talk to them, command them when need be. They aren’t always willing, but I’m not always nice about it either. I figure it’s either a gift or a curse so I might as well do something with it. I help people. People who have problems with things going bump in the night.

I’ve learned a lot, studied the books I took before I left, learned from other people in the field even been taught a few tricks by ghosts who had something interesting to teach. Hell I even killed a vampire once, she was pretty new to it, but it turns out if you can hide from them, you can get them by surprise and kill them like anything else.

I guess I hunt the dark creepy things out there so other people can go on living their perfect lives. I’m fine being a freak, normal is boring.


For your consideration: Ryven, monk, refugee from Nidal.
(I'll make a new alias if accepted.)

Background:

The peasants of Nidal are little more than chattel. And, in some cases, cattle…
Ryven was born on the estate of a centuries-old vampire, near the southern edges of the Uskwood. By the time he could walk, he knew the abject terror and hopelessness that were the norm for the shadow-haunted people of his country. He knew that his life could be snuffed out – drained from red holes in his neck – at a moment’s notice, and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.

The event that would become a pivotal influence in his life happened when he was ten years old. In the middle of the night, the villagers were awoken by the sounds of thunder and fire, and by flashes of lightning and bright, golden lights. A running battle was moving through the town: devotees of Desna, led by a priestess wielding a starknife, against dark-armored troopers and shadowcasters. The outsiders were giving ground in a fighting retreat, and were obviously worse for wear. Finally, a ball of dark fire exploded in their midst, and they scattered.

One of the estate-master’s Dark Children was in command, and had been wounded by the golden light of the Desnan priestess. He began indiscriminantly grabbing villagers to slake his thirst. Ryven’s terrified mother chased him off to the barn to hide. When he entered the darkened building, he was grabbed from behind and a strong, gloved hand was clamped across his mouth. The terrified child did not even attempt to struggle, panic freezing him into a statue, waiting for the stinging in his neck that he knew must come next…but never did. A harsh, male, foreign-sounding voice hissed in his ear:

“Be still child. I will not hurt you.”

When the stranger sensed Ryven’s weak compliance, he released the terrified child and turned him around. Ryven saw a mail-clad warrior, blue tabard in ruins, bleeding cuts and strange, frosty burns on his exposed skin. The warrior saw the terror in the child’s eyes and grimaced to himself. He knelt, and began speaking rapidly. Nidal is not the whole of the world, he said. In other places vampires are monsters to be put down. There is love and light and joy. There are gods other than cruel Zon-Kuthon, and they do not demand such sacrifices from their worshipers.

To the fascinated Ryven, the foreigner may have spoken for hours. In truth, perhaps three minutes after Ryven closed the barn door behind him, it burst open again, and the vampire and shadowcasters dragged the man away.

Ryven knew, even then, that if he breathed a word of the stranger’s words, he would be a red meal for his masters. But a strange thing had been kindled in his heart: hope. That brief glimpse of a world without darkness and terror kept him going through the years.

He was a quick, strong, clever child, and was spotted by a recruiter for Nisroch’s Silent Shroud. At the age of thirteen, he was carried off from his home and family to their grim training house. For the next several years he was trained and tortured, forged into a weapon, both eyes and hands of the Shrouded One. He never quite broke completely, though – his memory of the foreigner still burned within him. Eventually, before his final oaths and the ceremonial removal of his tongue, he became aware that he was unlikely to survive the next few weeks: his hidden resistance not so hidden, it seemed. Mustering his courage – better to die in an attempt at freedom than murdered quietly in his bed or tortured to death in the dungeons – he made his break, ambushing and stunning his trainer and bolting away from his brothers. He raced to the docks and leapt aboard a departing foreign ship. The captain would have happily thrown him to the harbor, but one of his passangers – a secret priestess of Shelyn – interceded.

He disembarked in Korvosa, awed and overwhelmed by the freedom and scale of the city, and gradually set about building a life for himself. He settled into the Shingles, doing whatever labor he could find, and had a reputation as a quiet, hard worker. He regularly visited the heart of the city, finding peace in the meditations and rigors of the temple of Irori – the monastic traditions at once familiar and strangely peaceful.

Ryven hoped that with his escape from Nidal, his greatest achievement and his adventures were behind him. He was near twenty years old, having been in the city almost two years, when he feared that it might not be so. Folk from the shingles began to disappear – first the streetfolk, then others among the poorest. The Guard, of course, had no interest in finding the cause, so Ryven began to observe the twisting allies at night, a silent, watching shadow. Eventually, he sighted the predator – an unnaturally silent, pale, red-eyed shadow of a man, feasting on the blood of a beggar.

The Guard laughingly dismissed his stories of a vampire in Korvosa – a bogemay for Usulav, they scoffed. Ryven worked feverishly at night to keep victims away and off the streets, but still more disappeared, more bloodless bodies found floating in the harbor. It was not unitl a half-dozen uncontrolled vampire spawn went on a bloody rampage, put down at the cost of dozens of civilian and guard lives, through the shingles that the watch believed him.

So, perhaps the Guard were not going to respond to what they thought were cries of ‘wolf’ in the night. Very well. Ryven took to his training with the Irori masters intensely, vowing that Korvosa would not become Nidal, under the heal of undead masters…


Description:

Ryven is now about 21 years old, and is fairly unremarkable. He has spent a couple fo years laboring outside in the sun, and, while he is not bronzed like the typical Kellid, he no longer shows the typical pale pallor of the people of Nidal. His unremarkable brown hair is clipped very short, his features somewhere between Chelaxian and Varisian, and his eyes a dark brown. He is a little shorter than middling height, and not particualy bulky – one would ned to see him without his shirt to see the tight, developed musculature that his monastic training has left him with – as well as the countless fine scars. He is quiet and reserved, still somewhat shy, and his Taldan still has a bit of a Nidalese accent. When not actively in conversation or action, he stands almost disturbingly still, and a clever observer might notice that he does not seem to blink as often as most people.

Crunchy Bits:

Ryven
Human (Nidalese) Monk 2
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +10
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 untyped)
hp 15 (2d8+2)
Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +5; +1 trait bonus vs. divine spells
Defensive Abilities evasion
--------------------
Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +4 (1d4+3/19-20)
silversheen hand axe +5 (1d6+3/x3)
unarmed strike +4 (1d6+3)
Flurry of blows unarmed +2/+2 (1d6+3)
Ranged shuriken +3 (1d2+3)
Special Attacks flurry of blows, stunning fist (2/day, DC 13)
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 19
Feats Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Skill Focus (Perception), Skill Focus (Stealth), Stunning Fist
Traits history of heresy, world traveler
Skills Acrobatics +7, Climb +7, Disguise +2, Escape Artist +7, Knowledge (history) +6, Knowledge (local) +7, Knowledge (planes) +3, Knowledge (religion) +7, Perception +10, Stealth +10
Languages Common, Shadowtongue, Vudrani
SQ ac bonus, stunning fist (stun), unarmed strike
Combat Gear Oil of magic weapon (2), Alchemist's fire (2), Holy water (2), Oil (5), Sunrod (5); Other Gear Dagger, Shuriken (15), Silversheen Hand Axe, Artisan's outfit, Backpack (10 @ 26.5 lbs), Bandolier (9 @ 9 lbs), Bedroll, Belt pouch (1 @ 0 lbs), Blanket, Candle (20), Candlestick, Chest, small (28 @ 15.68 lbs), Disguise kit (10 uses), Flint and steel, Mug/tankard, Peasant's outfit, Silk rope, Teapot, Waterskin (2), Wooden Stake, 48 GP, 5 SP, 6 CP
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Special Abilities
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AC Bonus +2 The Monk adds his Wisdom bonus to AC and CMD, more at higher levels.
Deflect Arrows (1/round) While have an empty hand, negate one ranged weapon hit you are aware of (unless from a massive weapon).
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Flurry of Blows +0/+0 (Ex) Make Flurry of Blows attack as a full rd action.
History of Heresy +1 save vs, divine spells
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Stunning Fist (2/day) (DC 13) You can stun an opponent with an unarmed attack.
Stunning Fist (Stun) (Ex) At 1st level, the monk gains Stunning Fist as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the monk gains the ability to apply a new condition to the target of his Stunning Fist.
Unarmed Strike (1d6) The Monk does lethal damage with his unarmed strikes.

Character notes:

Traits: World Traveller more reflects the police-like training of the Silent Shroud, rapidly getting to learn an area, than actual broad travel.
History of Heresy: While Ryven repsects the Irori monks’ skill, his upbringing still leaves him wary of worship and religion. The monks do not press him, and he keeps respectfully silent on his religious experiences and preferences.
My (the player’s) intent with Ryven is a stake-out sort of investigator, observing or tailing quarry. He knows he is weak in interpersonal skill-based investigating. I plan to focus mainly on the Monk class, but, if the skills seem to warrant, he may take a dip into rogue or urban ranger.
I'm using Herolab, and, lacking a Nidalese ethnicity option, I've used Chelaxian. There does not seem to be any mechanical adjustment.


Ryven, an ammendment...

Supporting Cast:
Most of Ryven's contacts would be his poor niehbors in the Shingles. After an intial period of awkwardness, the neighbors on hsi street 'adopted' him, and he helps them out however he can, growing rather protective of them. His elderly, cantankerous landlady, a couple of "Baker Street irregulars" - observant urchins, well on their way to their first level of Rogue, a widow and her kids. One of the lower ranked guard officers in his area, that saw the monk's value after the unfortunate spawn rampage incident, has been known to consult with him, very quietly, on occasion. He is also close with the monks of the temple of Irori.

I can certainly flesh out s few specific NPC's if accepted.


Everything looks about right for you guys. I'm assuming the two people from page one who've vanished aren't going to un-vanish, so now we're just waiting on Hager's stuff and maybe Cruentus's crunch; honestly I could make my judgements without the crunch, depending on when what is posted.


Sorry! Sorry! Just...busy you know.
I'll have it tonight. Human Swashbuckler (playtest) with level dip to Bard (Archivist).


And description and visual.

Description:

Rhia

Slender with a build belying her inner strength, Rhia possesses an almost ethereal air, projecting an aura of someone at once there and somewhere else. Her supernatural abilities lead her to often be looking at things others are unable to see leaving her gaze slightly unfocused, as if perpetually distracted.

With her stature and build, slight yet still femininely curvy, she would seem not only somewhat delicate but harmless were it not for the slight chill that seems to surround her, pricking the goose flesh of those nearby and the occasional aura of menace tht arises from time to time, usually when she is angered, accompanied by objects being knocked over or thrown around seemingly by nothing.

Rhia favors filmy robes of light gauzy materials, making use of the ghostly forces at her command to protect her from physical harm..

A beautiful young woman with an unnerving gaze, both ancient and piercing, one cannot help feeling both drawn and uneasy in her presence.

Her body is covered in tattoos of mystic symbols and patterns, magical sigils that enhance and reinforce her control over the supernatural forces she wields.


(Yao Xin here.)

The final countdown has begun. Good luck everyone!


Oh, my bad, sort of lost track of things. Camris and Morgan are also on the "waiting for" list, so this'll probably happen tomorrow while I go to sleep unreasonably early. So, tomorrow morning at an absurd hour I'll make final party selection.


The final countdown it is!

Good luck everyone!


Cruentus Angealous
Werebat-kin
Level 2 witch

Str:10
Dex:14 (16)
Con:12
Int:20
Wis:8
Cha:10
BAB:+1
HP:14
Initiative: +8
AC:
Class features: Familiar (Greensting scorpion, +4 initiative), Hexs (misfortune, cackle), Patron (shadow)

Racial features: Racial skill bonus +2 (perception at night, fly), Spell like ability (obscuring mist 1/day), Low light vision, Change shape 4/day

Feats: Bat Shape

Skills: Bluff (4), Fly (7 or 8), Knowledge arcane (9), Knowledge history(9), Knowledge nature (9), Knowledge planes (9), Knowledge dungeon (6), Knowledge religion (7), Knowledge engineering (6), Knowledge geography (7), Knowledge local (7), Knowledge nobility (7), perception (0), spell craft (9)

Traits: traumatic shift (+1 bluff and bluff is a class skill), reactionary (+2 initiative)

Spells/day: 0(4/day), 1(4/day)

Spells: 1st level (cure light wounds, enlarge person, mage armor, reduce person, unseen servant, obscuring mist, frost bite, silent image, burning hands, strong wings, summon monster)


Sorry it took so long for the post, I was having difficulty settling on what exactly I wanted to play. I settled on witch for several reasons. First being team capability. This will allow me to buff, debuff, and heal. Second I like the flavor of a guy turning into a bat, flying around cursing things. That being said I think it fits in the whole "fighting fire with fire" thing I was trying to accomplish. This way he can embrace the powers latent in his curse to make something good of it. I havent done equipment yet but that is literally all i have left.


Ahh, sorry for making ya worry, GM mate. I was all geared up to start making Hager... and then Paizo Superstar happened and I forgot all about this while I went gallivanting off to make a stupid little item.

Sad to say it's far too late now, but good luck to all of ya. This looks to be an awesome set-up to a campaign and I want to see what becomes of it. Again, good luck people.


Hager Snarleman Smith wrote:
Ahh, sorry for making ya worry, GM mate. I was all geared up to start making Hager... and then Paizo Superstar happened and I forgot all about this while I went gallivanting off to make a stupid little item.

o O like give us a link Hager to your Paizo Superstar stuff :)


Camris here, this is my crunch.


zomblisham wrote:
Sorry it took so long for the post, I was having difficulty settling on what exactly I wanted to play. I settled on witch for several reasons. First being team capability. This will allow me to buff, debuff, and heal. Second I like the flavor of a guy turning into a bat, flying around cursing things. That being said I think it fits in the whole "fighting fire with fire" thing I was trying to accomplish. This way he can embrace the powers latent in his curse to make something good of it. I havent done equipment yet but that is literally all i have left.

That reminded me of this. Ahem.

*scene*

"Are you alright Master?"

"No Renfield, I'm not alright. What was that maniac drinking? It taste like, the Vulga River at low tide."

"Come Master, let me help you up."

"No Renfield, I'm finished, I'm through. I couldn't even scare a field mouse at twenty meters. In a city where, taxi cab drivers live in little cages, who's afraid of a bat anymore."

"Come Master, let me help you up."

"And I'm not even a bat, I'm a black chicken. I'm a yen-ta with skinny legs. Get your hands off me, you myopic dwarf."

*scene*

Free cookie to whoever can guess the movie.


Ohh! Ooh! I know this one! It's that dracula parody, isn't it?


@Hager: No worries, it happens.

@Dara: Love at First Bite.

Anyway, final party selection time. Took me about an hour of working things out, but the party as it stands is:

-Anastasia Botnick
-Ausk "Laznist" Orleos
-Dara Shadeshard
-Ophelia Hale
-Shang the Apothecary
-Walther

Congrats everyone who got picked, sorry to everyone who didn't, but I'll keep some of you in mind in the event anyone drops early on and we need a replacement.


Good work guys well done
Best of luck with the game :)


Spooky GM wrote:

@Hager: No worries, it happens.

@Dara: Love at First Bite.

Anyway, final party selection time. Took me about an hour of working things out, but the party as it stands is:

-Anastasia Botnick
-Ausk "Laznist" Orleos
-Dara Shadeshard
-Ophelia Hale
-Shang the Apothecary
-Walther

Congrats everyone who got picked, sorry to everyone who didn't, but I'll keep some of you in mind in the event anyone drops early on and we need a replacement.

Thank you! Looking forward to the game.


Yes! Thank you! I look forward to playing with you all!


Discussion thread is live, so everyone who was picked, please report in.


Thanks! - heading over to discussion now : )


Congrats


Congratulations all who got in

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