Pretty's page

So guys, any news on Red?

And you, how are you doing?

Meouth.

Haven't seen him post in a while indeed. Including in some other games.

I'll have family around here for the next two weeks, so please forgive me if I miss some days of posting.

Well, in my opinion the problem is, if we clear just the hexes around the city and the lake, we will take much longer to clear the others father away, because we will have to cross the ones already cleared. That to say, strategically speaking, it's less time consuming to go Q9>P9>O9>P8>Q8 than to just explore Q8 and head back home, then come back for the others later. But that's just my point of view. If we are to explore O9 later, for example, we would have to cross 5 hexes just to get to it, plus 5 more to come back.

Pretty does not miss the city much, one would guess. Although there's not much to do aside from riding and sunbathing, she still seemed at ease here. "I'm ok to go forward into the uncharted if you are, but the other way is just as fine."

That means, as long as we keep doing something she's fine with it.

I go with Option 3. Any way we spend more time in the wild, the better.

Now that they solved that little scaly problem, Pretty wondered if they should proceed or go back to the city. "Nice job with the Horses Milo." She sounded sad, though. "Maybe we should take the large path back to Haven, heading into the woods to get to know a little more about this area. They didn't eat our rations, so we still have a lot of supplies to guide us through one or two weeks, if need be. If we keep returning to the city every problem we face, it will take us ages to do this..."

Welcome to the next-always-worse-than-the-previous system, Windows!!

Are we going back or exploring further?

Pretty does not have much problem carrying her stuff. Even with the things that were in the horses I would be close but not quite at heavy encumbrance.

Pretty does agree with Maja, but she sees that's for a reason. "Yeah, we are a moving house basically. But of course, we do that to prepare for the varied situations we might find ahead, so I guess we didn't really have an option."

Regarding the tribe she does not really care anymore, since there is a lot of concern about them already. She does not follow the party to the eggs, but rather scouts around the place. Pretty finds it really funny that Sera suggested that they eat alligator meat. She for a second imagines Milo, being suggested to eat Nix's meat to survive, after the wolf died in battle. She shakes her head at the notion, not wanting to tell anyone off at that moment. And perhaps the lizards were different than them, right?

Pretty is deeply disappointed, but maybe he could motivate him to learn something new, who knows. "Unleash the necromancer in you? Evil laugh and all? We could also use that to talk with that dead guy in a tomb."

The tiefling finds it funny that the wizard would boast about like that. At least now part of their problems were solved, or so she would make believe after putting the wizard in an uncomfortable situation. "So that's awesome! We can go back to the island and our mighty wizard can talk to the ghost and see what's going on down there. Problem solved!"

Pretty feels some compassion for the female, but she really doesn't want to get involved, so she keeps her distance and let the other Kings and Queens of old do their thing, while she focus on taking some notes.

Suddenly she asks a question to anyone who would answer. "How do we talk to a ghost?"

On my behalf I think we're pretty much decided, aren't we?

"Now that they mentioned the possibility of getting into another tribe, I guess we could just let them go and be done with it." It seems to Pretty that they are not that valuable as a knowledge source, nor as a shield from the south. "Just let them go with what they wanna carry, some weapons and the eggs, if they want it?"

"I'm also against involving the Sootscale." But Pretty seemed determined to have them as contacts for the future. "Maybe you have the wrong idea about alliance guys. What I mean is, we don't kill them, and they pay some tribute to us. They are good enough to grant us info, I think. And we need info. Plus, they can somehow shield our village from some of the incoming threats from south. Take a look at what they have told us so far. They seem open to communication."

She shrugs. "So I've stated my viewpoint. It's up to you."

Red, is the red spot on the world map up-to-date?

I'm not sure if that's supposed to make me happier or angrier ^_^

BTW, Did I manage to find my stuff Red?

Pretty sees they are not bad folk. They were just following nature's first law, the survival of the fittest. She was still pissed off about her horse, but she could not hate them, not after such straight answers. "Thank you for your information, Sir, do you have a name? Our cycle is different than yours, you see. We don't eat meat that talk to us, specially the one who answers in such a straight manner, as you have. Please continue answering my questions and I'm sure we will come out of this respecting each other for our strength."

"Now who's this Stisshak you speak of?"

"And what does this King of the Forest look like? Is he aggressive?"
______________________

Party
When the party gathers to talk about the future of these Lizardfolk, she states her point of view. "I think we should get to an agreement with them. Let them live, as long as they respect our ruling and don't eat meat that talks back, right? I mean, I know they are dangerous and there are probably female underground, and eggs in the hut, but we've shown enough power to make them wary for a long time. Plus, we could build up an alliance in the long run, right?"

Loot Sheet updated.

Whoa, Pretty was happy to end the battle without a scratch. Even better, no one drooled over her. So the day was saved once again. Still, there was much to learn from the prisoners, and she would do her best to obtain that information from them.

But before that, while the group ties the remaining lizardfolk she tries to find her belongings, since she left a lot of valuable thinks in her pack. "Don't kill them. Let's try to extract some info about these places."

Pretty feels like breaking the 4th wall, for a change. "Let them live so they can breed and multiply, so 1st level adventurers can come here and kill them to level."

Pretty keeps driving the attention of the alligator, slicing it in a defensive way while hoping it would not be tired of trying to swallow her whole. Soon it would be the material to a new fancy purse.

Dagger Haste: 1d20 + 12 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 12 - 4 = 11 Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Dagger 1: 1d20 + 12 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 12 - 4 = 14 Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Dagger 2: 1d20 + 12 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 12 - 4 = 24 Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

AC 28 Fighting Defensively.

Since everybody seemed to be rushing towards Milo, Pretty kept dancing with the alligator, more to distract it than to actually kill the poor thing, since her blows were not what one would call powerful.

Dagger Haste: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19 Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Dagger 1: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20 Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Dagger 2: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23 Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

AC is 25 indeed, 23 regular +1 from haste and 1 from Independent Combatant.

I would like to know if the yellow one is dead or not before taking actions, since If Idris moved to the other one I might also do it.

This was not going as planned. These alligators had been left out of the calculations, and now they were halting their movements. If Pretty left that one unattended he would probably seek someone not as fast as her. On the other hand, if the thing managed to bite her, things could get ugly.

While she thought about to do she dispelled the darkness around her, since it was not doing any good anyway, and took a step south, getting closer to her team.

Dismissing the spell is a standard action guys, I've already acted. I usually cast darkness on my dagger, so I can drop it or throw it aside, but I didn't state it this time, so let's consider it having me as center.

I'll drop it next round, don't worry, but haste won't benefit me enough to be worth a round of your actions Sera.

"Damn!" Thought the rogue, now that she found a match to her darkvision. This could not be a piece of cake forever, of course. To make matters worse the alligator was huge! She glanced at its teeth while looking for a soft spot to put her daggers in, but without a proper distraction for the monster she would have to slowly make ground meat out of the reptile.

Dagger 1: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 9 + 1 = 22 Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Dagger 2: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 9 + 1 = 17 Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Very slowly, it would seem...

Indeed hope you're getting freaking famous, rich and happy with your new occupation!

Pretty thought it was a really luck shot, cause this guy could not be different from the other ones, could he? He could not see in the dark, as she realized when she easily struck, twice.
Dagger 1: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 9 + 1 = 27! Damage: 1d4 + 1 + 3d8 ⇒ (4) + 1 + (8, 3, 8) = 24
Dagger 2: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 9 + 1 = 23! Damage: 1d4 + 1 + 3d8 ⇒ (2) + 1 + (4, 5, 3) = 15

Am I hasted too?

So do I. We can go back there and we're stronger and wiser!

I'm still around. Red is probably having trouble, since we was posting once a week and now has vanished.

If anything happens let us know!

Pretty and her cloud of shadows move towards the next prey, tumbling around the huts to approach a poor soul behind, ready to strike at it in a second.

Double move.

This was too easy. Pretty almost felt ashamed to be so effective against this poor carnivorous beasts. But of course, they made their decision, and it was pretty clear the lizard folk did not want to talk to them, or they would not have taken the horses. Now, since the alarm was raised, it was up to them to finish this with no causalities on their side. So Pretty stroke once swiftly, still benefiting from the cover of the darkness, then left the hut without even checking if she killed the poor thing or not.

Dagger 1: 1d20 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 11 + 1 = 29 Damage: 1d4 + 1 + 3d8 ⇒ (2) + 1 + (4, 8, 2) = 17

Gosh Red, are you ok? Is everything ok over there?

Glad to have chosen a good strategy, Pretty steps up to the two poor souls who were in front of her and tries to kill them both at once. It was just a matter of time before they perished. She just hoped the noises she heard outside were soldiers coming her way, and not towards her friends.

Dagger 1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22! Damage: 1d4 + 1 + 3d8 ⇒ (1) + 1 + (2, 5, 7) = 16
Dagger 2: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29! Damage: 1d4 + 1 + 3d8 ⇒ (3) + 1 + (1, 3, 4) = 12
Confirmation: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29! Extra damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Confirmation's Confirmation: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13! Extra damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 Yes, I'm just kidding, remembering my Mage the awakening times...
Plus the bonus from Independent combatant on all of them. Plus from no dex if they don't see me and so forth.

Readied action to shoot an arrow at any lizard folk who come out of the hut Pretty is in.

With my Darkness spell-like ability you won't see anything there Milo, better choose something else.

I looked for it but I didn't find anyone answering if they have darkvision or not. I'll take my chances and draw the monsters attention either way. They don't stand a chance against me! If they can't see in the dark, that is.

Pretty should study more about the ability to see in the dark of other creatures. Lacking that knowledge, she would have to take her chances. From afar she looked at the other huts, but they were too close to the fire and she would be noticed. Better to be noticed when you are close to the enemy, then. She is THE independent combatant, after all.

The stealthy rogue draws even more from her dark inheritance as she drains the light around her, sending everything around her to a pitch black tone.

I figure that using darkness will be a surprise action and combat will start, right? If we win initiative here are the 1st turn actions, to speed it up. I don't know if they will shout on their turn or something like that.

Round 1
Pretty moves in with deadly intent, aiming at the throat of the one who's closer to the door.
Dagger 1: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28 Plus the bonus from Independent combatant. Plus from no dex if they don't see me and so forth.Damage: 1d4 + 1 + 3d8 ⇒ (2) + 1 + (3, 5, 8) = 19

Hit the road Jack, and yes come back once more once more once mooore!

Common, Pretty needs to slit some throats!

Fi-fi-fi-fi-first blood!

Pretty sees the next shackle in line opens in her direction, so she tries to go closer to the fence where the darkness is deeper. Slowly she looks back at her companions and moves to the next one, knowing they were ready to act in case of trouble.

Purple path on the map.

Here am I. Glad to see you guys once more.

I'm also still here, really busy these days but I'm hopeful.

Ramage-Ramage-Doo
Where are you?
We've got some work to do now!

Are you ok man?

Sorry, I've been a little busy lately. Let's go.

Pretty doesn't need any extra safeguard actions. She is always carrying light weight and moving like a shadow, so that was natural to her, but she could not say the same about the heavily armored guys from their crew. I believe I can take 10 on both checks, right?

She will wait for at least one other party member to climb to the top before going down the other side, and will do so as smoothly as she can, using a rope tied to the top of the logs to help with descend. When she's there, the rogue will help two or three party members get down before telling them to wait and moving into the darkness to hunt! She will move into the tents one at a time starting with the closest one. To do this she will activate her darkness ability to protect herself better, and then assassinate any unfortunate soul in there. Every soldier she gets is one less enemy to fight in the open.

At least two of them would be able to climb the wall at a time, then. "The same equipment we had back on the island, a climbing kit."

Taking liberties, since it's already Saturday.

The Lords move away from the camp, as best as they can guided by the experienced Milo and his faithful sidekick, who also try to cover the party tracks. They make slow progress due to the darkness, but with some help from the tiefling they manage to find a spot after half a mile or something close to that they find a spot to sit, where they could discuss their plans and better use the information Pretty gathered from her scouting.

The adventurers use their vast horse-roasting experience to predict how much time would the meat take to be ready, and then will wait for another hour before returning, knowing that this time would probably be enough for most of them to sleep, hopefully even the guards that were supposed to be watching the gate.

Then they will approach south, very slowly to remain undetected. That advantage point was chosen because it's far enough from the fire to guarantee them some cover from the darkness, especially from the guards on the gate, who will probably the most alert ones. The Red arrow. They will use their climbing equipment to go over the gate, letting Pretty go first to use her darkvision and darkness ability to check the perimeter inside, and then Milo and Maja, who are great at ranged combat so they could take out anyone that sees them and possibly avoid an alarm. Then the others will come, but they will probably leave Nix outside to watch their back and to drive the attention from anyone. Can you give a complex command to make Nix run if he's been spotted Milo?

If everything goes according to plan the rogue will try to stealthily kill some enemies inside the nearby dwelling, but otherwise they will see what happens.

Sure! She informs everyone of what she saw.

She nods at the several options. "I like the option to let them sleep first. There are several of them, and we know they are very strong, judging by how easy they carried the horses. The better the plan the lesser the risks. I don't like that mud thing, tough, Milo. It could attract the attention of all of them. If we want that, it would be better to kill one or two of them from afar already. I think we can find some gaps through the wall to do a coordinated attack like that, eliminating some of the enemies before they get a chance to retaliate. Then we could wait away from them, since if they want to come at us they will leave part of their numbers behind. Still, I like the sleeping plan better. Let them rest after their meals, and then we strike!"

Hey man don't worry, I'm not sensitive!

I was actually just copying Sera's internal "I told you so" monologue. ^_^
It's always fun to do that!

Pretty could also express her feelings that they did bad leaving their horses unattended, but those pointing finger situations never led anywhere. So she focused in the current problem.

"Whatever is there is abominable and cruel. It doesn't even know how to handle horses, the most docile creatures. Give me some minutes and I'll use the cover of darkness to scout around that fort and see how many enemies and guards I can find through the gaps." She waits for a confirmation from the flock, though.

Gosh, I hope he recovers Dove. Hang on tight!

Pretty is now at 1k posts!! Yay!

"Damn!! I knew we were taking too long!" Pretty's feelings never lie. But there was no point in mentioning that right now, so the rogue turned to seek for any sign where the captors went. She was pretty sure it were the responsible for the footprints they found before, but maybe it was something else.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
K.Geography: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

She tightens a fist, specially when realizing her things are all messed up, aside from some daggers and a shortbow that were taken. And a dead horse, of course there was that too. "I can't wait to give them some payback."

"Standing out here all alone is as dangerous as going inside. The same monsters who attacked us before can influence whoever is outside to lock the others inside and then we're screwed. It's a good idea, Maja, but I think we should just leave and try to do something to seal the place, for now." She will try to reactivate the locking mechanism using her unique skills. "Do we have magic to cover the entrance?"

The FIRST immovable rod is out of the way, not the second... I think

I'm also dying to find out what's beyond that door, Dove, but Pretty has her own reasons, and they also sound good to me. Regarding the counter-productivity I feel rather the opposite. I've once got into a place in a different campaign, and it was highly above our power. The thing was, we realized the scenario (gm) has been telling us that the place was definitely above our heads, but we didn't listen. We were so curious about what was deep in that hidden chamber that we didn't care about the consequences. Were I the gm, I would definitely put that diary there, and to me it clearly indicates we should not go in right now. It's sandbox after all.

Pretty feels sorry for making Sera seem so down, but the rogue had something the leader didn't seem to. Fear. "Yes I'm afraid of this place, and I'm not ashamed by it. If I'm alive today was because I accepted fear. I've heed its warnings and ran away several times. I've survived to tell the tale. But all I hear from you guys is hey I will save you, even from yourself, everything will be fine! I appreciate it, guys, I really do." She shrugs. "It's more than I ever had. But that's precisely why I'm not in the mood to face certain death so soon. I don't think that you're misjudging it, Sera. I think that's not judging the conditions but rather being too thorough in the prosecution of one's duties..." - she points at the skeleton leader - "like that guy was. Holy lords I can picture you writing that very same page! But of course, everything will be fine, as the beautiful fairy tales! A happy ending!"

"Thanks for stopping to listen to me. I hope I've not disappointed you guys, but you know we're not much alike." She looks through Sera's eyes. "You've never really felt what despair is like, have you?"

The rogue turns and crosses her arms to argue with Milo, sometimes screaming at him. "If I'm alive so far it's because I CAN THINK! Pay attention around you, Milo! What do you see? Were you ok with the trap at the door? Did you feel nothing on it? If someone LOCKED something down here and build a trap with that much power, why do you think they didn't kill whatever is behind that door? Yes, because they COULDN'T!! They weren't powerful enough, and neither are we, as we couldn't even realize that trap existed!" Her voice softens as well, but not much. "Nothing is forcing me to leave you. I don't want that too, but what we're doing here is stupid, and I've learned being stupid kills you! How many died in here already? Have you counted how many men did the Sahir Scouts had? I see six bodies in here, plus the ones who escaped, and double that number that were left behind, so what, 20 men? 40?"

She looks at Sera. "Have you stopped to think what would happen to your good folk if we perish down here, Leader? Would they ever know what happened? Would they survive whatever leaves this place? They will have no idea of what's coming! You're making the same mistake that guy did!" She points to the skeleton that was holding the book some time ago. Her voice is dead serious when she tries to repeat what was written there. "I have always been too thorough in the prosecution of my duties, and I could not leave a threat festering in this hall! So now I'm freaking dead!"

Even from Kivan she once more tries to seek help. "Wizards usually say that knowledge is power, and right now you have NO power against what's behind that door, do you? Why don't you tell us something about this place so we can prepare ourselves better? Do you really wanna go in there blind as you are right now?"

She points at herself. "Now you say I am the one playing right into its hands? Are you out of your mind? A guy leaves a journal explaining how freaking powerful something is and you want to completely ignore its advice and do it either way? What, do you think whatever is in there wrote that diary, by any chance? To trick us to leave it locked for eternity?"

Pretty opens her arms, outraged. "Since when do you seek death so eagerly guys? What would happen if we had tried our luck with the Stag Lord as soon as we learned about him?! We were smart enough to battle the guy when we had more experience and knowledge about it, and the world didn't fell apart because we waited a couple of weeks longer. What's to say of this place, that probably stood untouched for ages? I'm sure that trap up there can be reactivated if we try it. We have names, information, and finally some clue of what happened here. We have a chance. Let's go back, study about these place, this squadron, even this damned book for gods's sake!"

Finally Pretty looks at the priest, trying to get some help from her. "Common Maja, you said yourself that perhaps we should heed this man's advice! And please don't agree with Sera just because she's the leader Idris, tell them how you feel about this!!"

She doesn't even turn around this time. "Unless that ally is me and I kill you. You remember the allips, don't you?"