Mother Vangelis's page

"Aw, son -- you could have just left him tied up. Now who knows what he's going to tell his buddies. Well, probably doesn't make much difference anyways; we'll be out of here soon."

Mother coils up the bit of rope and puts it back around her shoulder.

"There'll be plenty of time for jokes once we get out of here," Mother Vangelis says cheerfully as she follows the others, leaving the bound goblin behind.

"The pump room sounds good to me; I don't fancy climbing up a waterfall myself. If they're are some nasty critters in there...well, we can be plenty nasty, too!"

Mother finishes tying up the little creep. "Yeah, what're you two jawing about? Let us know if he needs a little 'friendly persuasion'."

Mother grabs the goblin's legs and starts squeezing him into a small package. "Psst -- do any of you folks speak Gobbo? We can ask this critter what's going on down here. I got him just about tied up, I reckon." She reaches around to grab her coil of rope.

Pin attempt: 1d20+11=28 -- note that goblin's CMD is reduced by 2 because of Dex penalty

1d20+5=8

Mother rushes forward, biting back a whoop of excitement, and grabs one of the goblins in a hammerlock. "Alrighty, now let's see you get out of this, you little so-and-so," she mutters to herself.

CMB check: 1d20+8=18, assuming any of them are still alive

"Sounds good to me. Those gobbos won't know what hit them..."

Mother Vangelis gets ready to launch herself into the pile of debris and do some good, ol' fashioned goblin strangling.

The side passage blocked with debris.

"goblins..." Mother mutters as discreetly as possible, flicking her eyes in their direction.

Perception: 1d20+2=19

"Don't worry, darlin'," Mother tries to reassure Waif. "I'm sure we'll be out of this place and having a nice bath in no time!"

"Well, I'll be snookered," Mother Vangelis comments as she squats back on her heels. "For a sewer, there's one heck of a lot of traffic down here. Big feet, little feet, spider things and who-knows-what! O.K., lead on, folks!"

"Let's see if anything left any footprints or somesuch. I doubt anyone has swept the floor lately!"

Mother casts an eye on the tunnel so see what clues she can find.

Track: 1d20+5=20

"Well, I would say that my particular area of expertise has to do with getting into places or situations where I do not usually belong and then getting out of them mostly unscathed, preferably without being noticed."

"Are you suggesting I keep a close watch on my purse?" Mother Vangelis says with a crooked grin. The danger surrounding her doesn't seem to have dampened her sprightly spirit.

Here's what Waifrin suggested: "Marius, Raven and Morisino ahead, then Zerabeta and Mother Vangelis, then herself."

"Nice to meet you, Brother Akorian. Sorry it wasn't under cleaner circumstances!" Mother wrinkles her nose, although the smell doesn't truly bother her that much.

"I feel better knowing that you're around if we have to tangle with a mess of them shadow things."

Mother heaves on the rope, but her hands are covered in some sort of slippery crud and they slip off.

"Oh, fiddle." She mutters to herself.

1d20+2=5

'Mother' laughs. "I'm willing to go last, but it looks like everyone else is bucking for the position! Well, I don't have any magic charms, and this old body doesn't have enough strength to fight a dozen Hellknights, so I might as well head on to the sewers. You kids follow right behind, you hear?"

"The sewers!? Well, it can't be any worse than the time the goats got a bad dose of the stomach worms. That's a couple of weeks I'll never forget." 'Mother' shivers at the thought, but steels herself for the frantic trip ahead.

"Maybe Ralf was right -- there's no place like home, and excitement isn't all it's cracked up to be!"

Mother Vangelis goes and looks out the back. She grunts with displeasure and shakes her head.

"Can't say I like the look of that; there's a Hellknight out there, all right." She thinks about all of the problems the Knights have caused for the folk of the Turanian Hills and scowls.

When the door opens to admit the youth

What youth?

Mother Vangelis frowns: whether in consternation against House Thrune or the wild talk is anyone's guess.

"Now, I believe in 'live and let live'; that's what Ralf always says, and I agree -- most of the time, leastways. But with these shadow critters roaming the streets -- the streets where my daughter Lucy lives, by gum! and where we country folk have to sell our goods -- there's not much chance of that." She leans forward intently while speaking, glancing at the faces of the other assembled parties, then leans back in her chair.

"Course, I never met no nobleman from House Thrune, nor do I think I ever will. So I can't speculate on what they might do with devils in their spare time; I'll leave that to you, dear." She gives Waifrin an earthy wink.

Turning to Janiven, she asks: "So, do you have some kind o' suggestion to get rid of these monsters, or is this just a hot air party, so to speak?"

Recognizing that the current line of discussion has run it's course, Zarabeta turns to regard the newcomer in the expensive armor.

Her judgment is premature, however, since Mother Vangelis moves over and takes Zarabeta's hand in hers, patting it sympathetically.

"You poor, poor dear! To have lost a father so young... My dear, you have my sympathies. I know what it's like to lose someone close; my own daughter, Maisy, she drowned when she was just a little girl. I still think about her every day." Her eyes are melancholy for a moment, but that soon clears.

"You can call me 'Mother'; that's all anyone has called me for -- well, for a long time now, never mind you how long!" She chuckles. "Or if you're feeling formal, you can call me Missus Vangelis, but most folks just call me Mother, including Ralf -- that's Mister Vangelis."

"Janiven invited us, yes," she says quietly. "I'm Waifrin, this is Marius. We aren't looking for ... excitement, though. That can get very noisy, and noise can attract more trouble than it's worth."

"What's the big secret? That there's monsters roaming the streets at night? That's a laugh! Or is it a secret that you're meeting someone? You could've just said 'no', darlin'." A pleasant smile covers Mother Vangelis's broad, homely face; she's seemingly unworried about any cloak-and-dagger shenanigans.

"Howdy folks!" Mother cheerfully yells across the room to the newcomers. "You look like you're ready for action. Did Miss Janiven invite you to dinner, too? I was just talking to Sonny here about those night beasts. Strangest things, dontcha think? I had a close scrape with one m'self. I've wrassled plenty o' critters -- bulls, wolves, even a bear once -- but I'm not sure I'd like to tangle with one o' them, I'll tell you that for free!"

Mother Vangelis arrives early to the tavern and bends the bartender's ear.

"Say, isn't this the life! No more milking goats in the morning, no sirree! Why, I slept until dawn this morning; I feel downright lazy. The last time I woke up this late, I was down with the grippe." She takes a hearty swig from a mug of hot tea, careful not to scratch the bar with any of sharpened cleats attached to her leather jerkin.

The bartender grunts as he polishes a bit of glassware. "You don't say."

"Yup, that's true. But I guess I earned my rest today. Last night I has a close brush with some strange beastie. It was bothering a young'un, it was. Well, I grabbed a handful of that kiddie's shirt and flipped him over my shoulder and I run for it! Now, if it was something like a wolf, say, I woulda grabbed that critter by the scruff of the neck, stuck a knee in his stomach, and hog-tied him in ten seconds flat, believe me." She slaps a coil of rope that's draped over one shoulder with a twinkle in her eye.

"You don't happen to know anything about these night critters, do ye?"

This should also free up our resident ranger in regards to skill choices, right Mrs. Vangelis?

Sure, although I'm not sure I can think of 8 (or 9) skills from the ranger skill list that tickle my fancy. :-)

O.K., I think I'm about done my character for now. Do we have a projected date for when the game will start?

We could use a rogue at some point but we'll have to see what happens ...

I'm going to be taking mostly ranger levels, so I should have plenty of skill ranks to invest in Disable Device (if necessary).

Here's the character I'm working on. I haven't put the background information up yet, though.