Formatting and GM questions all set.
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Going with the Aether Kineticist. They make decent skill monkeys and can throw innocuous items with ridiculous force. It's a pretty good fit with Tshilaba's character concept and I've always wanted to try it. He will be able to hit up a variety of roles, from face to skill monkey to debuffer and possibly a bit of a tank in combat. I think it should suit me fine, and remain true to the unique flavor of the character.
I'm in, but I might need to make some adjustments. I had so much fun with Tshilaba the last time I played him, I just gotta try again. Technically, Card Caster and Eldritch Scion don't stack, so my original build is invalid. But I am looking at other builds possibly, so we'll go with whatever I can come up with.
Hey Salsa! How'd that comic thing work for ya?
Following Lou into the hut, he clucked his tongue in sympathy when he saw the skeleton. "Well, at least now we know why she was so grumpy. We'll have to give her a proper burial in the morning." He began to look around a little. "It's not much. but it's dry. If we're lucky, we'll have clearer skies tomorrow. Standard watches again?"
He smiled at Archie, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Well, go and knock." Said the Varisian. "Some shelter might be nice if it decides to go and rain. I'll go with you if you like. It'll be interesting."
No need to do a map if you are pressed. Theater of the Mind is a perfectly fine way to do battles if need be.
The fortuneteller absentmindedly flipped a card between his fingers at they walked down the trail. Breakfast had been amazing, as had the meal the night before, it really helped to have a cook along the way, and the best part of it is that he hadn't even paid for any of it. Of course, he was doing work here too, just work he wasn't used to. He'd traveled plenty, of course. Running around with Varisian traders as far back as he could remember, but they never went looking for trouble. But the cards had told him things were changing. They weren't wrong. Tossing a card up in the air, only to have it vanish there, he spoke up in what he felt was an inspiring way. "Well, we knew this was going to be dangerous. I'm ready for anything."
Not being one to be shy, he looks right into her eyes as she blushes, and smiles in spite of himself, rubbing the back of his head as she looks away herself. She kinda acted like her bunny, skittish and nervous. Maybe in a couple of months she'd be more comfortable around the group... but then again maybe not. He ignored her statement about his math, and answered her final question. "I'd recommend at least a month between readings. Sometimes the moon affects things, and we'd be into a new month astrologically, which can have an affect as well. As best as I can tell, the journey we're on right now is going to mean big changes for everyone, so it's likely we'd have something happen by then as well."
With his eyes rolled back in his head, he completely missed her reaction to the cards, and so he had been quite unsure about how well he'd done the reading until she apologized. That was a good sign. "Nothing to be sorry for, O Exotic Erudite Esoteric Enigma. You've done nothing wrong to me. Sometimes the cards come on stronger and sometimes they are more passive." After finishing his collection he reached out and collected his cards from her proffered hand, he took the opportunity to look into her eyes, speaking reassuringly to her. "As one who also values knowledge, I won't share the reading with anyone else. Not only because it's bad for business, but because I tend to be a bit forgetful." He laughed a bit at his self-deprecating joke and his nimble fingers shuffled the cards when a worried look came on his face. He glanced about and found another card in a bush nearby and he beckoned it with a finger until it came up and rested among the rest of them and again his easy smile returned. "What you do with the knowledge the cards revealed is up to you, but if you feel the burden is too much to bear, you can always talk to your sister about your reading, providing she tells you what hers was. That would be a fair trade indeed." Heading back over to his paper and ink, he offered an addendum. "Readings can change over time as well. Don't think of it as a final fate or anything. It's just where you are now. If you're interested or confused, feel free to come to me for another reading. Since I don't have any change, I'll give you another one on the house sometime in the future."
Sense Motive DC 15: Tshilaba actually believes that one gold is worth two readings, not three and change. It's possible he's actually terrible at math.
I think you'll like it. :)
No lookin':
The fortune teller gladly grabbed the gold piece, letting it slide down his wrist into his loose sleeve as he shot his hands in the air in a flourish of movement designed to impress. Since there was no table, he opted for the eastern yogi table, since his previous and more mundane folding table had gone up in flames just a few days previous. Placing one foot on the ground, balancing on just his toes he bent his attached leg completely and sat on his own heel. Bringing his other leg across his knee, he smoothed out his pant leg and dramatically began shuffling the cards on his leg as if it were a table. This kind of fortune telling was exceptionally hard, but she'd offered a gold, so he was going to go all out. The Foreign Trader
Tshilaba was genuinely confused. This was an odd assortment he'd never had before, but he did his best to bring it together. "The Foreign Trader has an animal friend, and deals in secrets. The Peacock speaks of a fleeting beauty that must be preserved, but there is a price. The Vision tells me your secrets are a source of power, or madness." His eyes rolled into the back of his head. It was a risky move, since he couldn't see the client anymore, but most people thought it was impressive enough to listen. "You are at a tipping point. The secrets that you keep are valuable to you. But must only trade secrets, not give them away. Preserve this well, and it will bring you power. Make a poor trade, and you will feel like you've lost your mind." And then he fell over onto his back,his arms flailing and his cards flying through the air. His leg he was sitting on had fell asleep, and he no longer had control over it. Extending it gingerly, he began to collect his cards though his magic, with a confused look on his face. "Sorry, that's the best I can do. It was a puzzling case..."
Tshilaba veritably pounced in front of her immediately, in a display of his almost unnaturally fit physical form. Crouching down dramatically, he encouragingly whispered at her while flashing a set of cards she'd never seen before. "Oh, but it is worth it, it is! It will be the best three silver you've ever spent. It's dangerous though. Some people don't want to know the truth. But I can see the light of discovery in your eyes, you're willing to brave this frontier aren't you? He had somehow produced a small cloth bag that almost looked like what a peddler would have as it half stood up at the edges about two feet from the hem of her dress.
The inking continued uninterrupted as he listened to her explanation. It was a nice gesture. He thought it should be returned, so he thought a more thorough explanation of himself as well. "When I was a younger man, I gave my heart to a similarly strong girl and she broke it. I'm not in any hurry. Nor am I in any rush to experience anything like that again. Just because I'm attracted to her doesn't mean I'll do anything at all, much less something rash. I've learned that lesson." Hopefully that would ease her mind a bit. Tshilaba was comfortable enough to sit through the silence with her as she smoothed her skirt and he continued inking. When she asked her second question, he was much more prepared to hear it, and was able to make no mistakes this time. "It's easy to judge by appearance, and sometimes I invite it. Most of the time it's to make money. I've hit a glass ceiling with my fortune telling because of it as well. Everyone thinks the best fortune tellers are middle aged to older women. Given the choice, I go hungry. Others see me as an easy mark, or a poor man, or a trickster depending on their mood. Most people are deeper than their surface, though and beauty is more than skin deep, as the saying goes. Thank you for your warning. I'll keep it in mind." After he finished, just a few seconds more and he was done with the back. He levitated it with a finger and spun it at a medium speed to enhance the drying of the ink. "And don't worry about ruining any cards, it was my mistake, and I've made plenty."
Lost in his own thoughts, and having broken out his card making materials, Tshilaba was inking the back of a card while keeping his ears attentive to the jungle around him. When Liera spoke up, he startled a little, making a minor mistake. Thinking about removing the slight defect for only a moment, he knew that it wasn't good enough. Cards were more sensitive than that. He picked the piece of paper off of the lap table he was using and flung it across the camp, out into the night, slicing down leaves and vines until it rested out of sight. Keeping his eyes distant, and slightly melodramatic, he fidgeted with his pen. Although frustrated, he spoke calmly with a hint of wistfulness. "There are plenty of things people told me I couldn't do. I don't listen to them, I listen to the cards. When I feel like they've let me down, I find later that I've merely misinterpreted them." Looking over at the witch, he smiled. "It's just as easy to misinterpret people. Perhaps more so." He waved a playful finger over in her direction. "I'll refrain from commenting on how well you know your sister, but you barely know me, much less what I'm capable of, or even what my motivations are. You're certainly free to judge me by appearances, for what that's worth." Smiling, he returned to his inking on a fresh card, wondering how long it will take her to realize the bloodstains on the blouse were gone and wondering what kind of reaction he might get.
Taking the bloody ears from the woodsman, he cleaned them up with magic before sticking them in his pocket. No need to have goblin blood all over him or dripping down his leg while they went down the trail. Tshilaba moves forward in the line a fair margin, staying tight with the rest of the group. The troupe he used to travel with had whistles that they used to find each other if they got lost, and if they made another excursion into the swamp, he might have to look into getting one or two of those. Then of course they might not come back after their excursion, as they were looking to get the job done. He thought about consulting the cards about it, but he thought again and figured it would be more fun for it to be a surprise. Well, that and his hands were busy.
The fortune teller was primarily interested in helping clean the shirt. He was able to do it at a distance, and in about six seconds. Mending it was something she was able to do herself, he'd seen that. But then he noticed her new garment was terribly revealing and suddenly decided it was better to wait for her to ask for help. Yes, that was the best plan.
Tshilaba smiled at the reunion with the raging signal fire behind him. "I think we're fine barring the laundry issue. Nothing that can't be mended in any case. We simply got separated from you fine forward fellows along the nearly non-existent trail. I'm glad you found us, or we would have been wandering around for quite a while." "Good news though. We found some goblins!" He pointed down at the dead green little creatures, and noticed Awd nibbling away. "Hey, don't let her eat the ears!"
Spoiler:
The fortune teller watched the poor creature clawing at Shelby, but feeble in it's attempts, he actually felt a little pity. Drawing another card, he spoke "Succumb to our desires. Obey, sleep and receive your comfort." As the card spun toward the creature, the ant queen on the card reached toward the target with accepting arms, and the card itself embedded itself in the monster's skull.
As the goblin ignores him, the fortune teller does a near vertical acrobatic spin with the card in his hand, catching the goblin on the top of it's large green head, carving out a four inch deep paper thin cut right into the center of the skull, behind the ear. It crumpled in a heap next to him, and suddenly he found himself free from entanglements. It was time to sweep into action.
He ran with high knees through the underbrush, swinging the eclipse card sidearm as soon as he got a clear shot. It slid right into the strange creature like the one from before through the armpit to rattle about in it's chest cavity. "Your darkness has come, You're outnumbered and you're terribly ugly. It's time for you to be put out of our misery."
Tshilaba continued his assault, especially now that he has help. As he prepares his card swing, Jin nearly stabs him and it throws off his movements. He stumbles back in the soft ground and nearly goes down but manages to regain his footing. Even then he still managed to nearly down the goblin as his card slipped inches from the goblin's belly. He sent a quizzical eyebrow at the Tian, but didn't really wait for a reply. He didn't think she really was that mad at him from before. Or maybe she's jealous... no that couldn't be it.
Swinging the eclipse card like a dagger, the dark sphere on th card actually extended away from the surface of the card and extending hi reach by several inches, it soon made an odd hole in the goblin's cheek. Not really spending any time thinking about this waas working in the fortune teller's favor. "And you can't even see it coming." he intoned in his semi-dramatic voice used to impress customers.
Instinctively, the fortune teller knew what the blessing was, and chose a defensive blessing as he sought to gain the goblin's attention. He tossed the card in his hand, with the centaur racing at the goblin, pulling a spear as the card itself embedded itself in the center of the Goblin's forehead, where small rivers of blood formed and snaked their way down the goblin's face. After he did so, he trudged through the swamp to stand by Archie's side, flipping another card out of no where.
Which Card?:
Wisdom
Lawful Evil The Eclipse! A dark spot shaded the sun on this card, with hordes of zombies rising within the untimely twilight. "Your doom is certain." He speaks, towering above the bleeding green wretch before him.
I'm hoping they were not first level...
Lou is about 60' away from the nearest goblin, it's all difficult terrain. He's about another 60' from the nearest of the other group, (that's me) and we have goblins right up on us. So you'll probably be stuck doing a double move to get a whopping 30' if you want to be in Melee, or you'll have to pull a ranged weapon out and shoot from there. Also, there are 8 goblins in between our two groups, 5 about halfway between and three up on our group. The Other Monster is about 50 feet to the side and coming towards the smaller group.
Top left corner Lou.
The fortune teller had his card appear in his hand as he saw the Goblins come in on them. Too close for his normal throw, he instinctively spun in a circle, leaving a golden and crimson line of energy trailing behind the card at the end of his extended arm. The line flew right across the exposed neck of the Goblin in front of him, and a razor thin line appeared across it's skin. He didn't know how deep it was until it started oozing blood. The picture side of the card depicts a centaur collecting junk, but as he's animated, he begins throwing his collected garbage and shouting at the goblins in a fierce manner.
Which Card?:
Thanks for letting us know.
Well, we're ready when you are.
I think Salsa is cooking up a map for us on this one.
I hear that news event is really newsing it up lately. But they could do better if they listened to my inane advice.
Tshilaba was actually enjoying the heat of the fire, although the humidity made it less pleasurable than he'd liked. The real difficulty was paying attention to much of anything. He'd grown up in a culture where dancers were the standard of beauty. Sweaty, muscular, lithe, standing right over there, he did job of averting his eyes. The last thing he needed was pushing her farther over the edge. She was starting to calm down, and the fire was helping things, she hadn't snapped at him in nearly twenty minutes.
Thanks for wrapping this up. I'm getting sick of spoilers :P: The fire kicks up nicely, and the fortuneteller is happy to see that he no longer needs to use up one of his trump cards. The fire kicked up high and quickly, to the point of where it was a bit too much to keep one side toward it at all times. He turned like a sausage at the spit to keep from burning, but ended up with a smile on his face. "That should help them find us! Perhaps everything else out here too!"
We know who we are:
As the others start gathering wood for a fire, Tshilaba starts putting away his card making materials. Before he had finished, however it was becoming obvious that they were unlikely to find anything dry enough to make a fire happen naturally. But he had a good idea that might just work.
His minor magical effects from the spell were still in effect. He did his best to keep the prestidigitation spell ready for any such mishap. It was a terribly useful spell, able to do all sorts of little funny things. Once he was able to clean wine out of his white shirt without leaving any stain at all. If he were able to do that, he might be able to work some kind of drying action on leaves and twigs. It just would take time. He tried it on a muddy leaf that was next to the log he was on, and sure enough, it did clean off the mud as well as the dampness. "Bring the kindling here anyway." He said as he waved the dry leaf in the frustrated lady's direction. "I can dry some of this stuff out." He cleared a small patch of soft ground from other things and began drying and tossing kindling into a pile at his feet. He made sure he took his time as the others gathered more and more materials. Explaining himself, he spoke with a dramatic gesture. "The larger the fire, the more smoke they might see. This was a good idea!" Waiting until they had made significant amounts of kindling, he threw other more substantial sticks on top. He'd helped do fires before with his troop, and this particular one was a royal mess. But it wouldn't matter because he had one more trick up his sleeve.
If it don't light normally: "Give me a little room to work my magic." He said as he directed the others away from where the flames would lick. Muttering some word in ancient Thassalonian passed down from generation to generation amidst his people, he spread out his hands and a sheet of flame shot out, encompassing the dry kindling. Lighting it up quicker than he anticipated.
Mal-Adjust... oh whatever. My group.: The fortune teller shuffled his cards and put them away leaving the trio of them sitting on the log with a long awkward silence. Even the swamp felt uncomfortable enough to try and fill the void with extra noise. Frogs were croaking, birds were squawking, fish were splashing and the air was stifling.
For a while he was contemplating asking Archibald if he wanted to have his fortune read, but even he was able to realize how bad that could be. The problem was that he didn't really have much else to offer. He hadn't really killed anything yet, much less any goblins which were worth something in bounty. He couldn't fix his cards magically like Shelby could, although thought he might be able to get the knack of it if he kept working at it. As long as he thought about work, though, he felt better about the situation, and pulled out his cardstock. It wasn't the best environment for drawing, but he was down one card from before, and it was about time for him to do something to replace it. Sure he had other decks, he had made plenty of cards before, but there was just something unsettling about a less than full deck that he thought he could spend time on. The backs were always easy to ink, since he'd done so many. When he first began making decks, he had placed his own individual design on the back of every card and he had gotten so aware of how it looked, he could tell immediately when it was wrong. Not everyone could tell, but many of the cards he ended up using for decoration by tossing them into solid wood had ever so slight defects in the back alone. He'd do the rest for practice, and then he effectively destroyed them so they'd never be misused. He'd taken to cutting the cards out of the sheets of paper by magic, it was much better than doing it by hand and it made a more even cut, but he still inked by hand. There was just something to it that made it soothing to his fragile nerves. The card he was working on was The Idiot. It was just like an idiot to get himself lost and separated from his group. He had learned to identify with every card, to invest understanding and emotion into every card, because that was the only way they would be honest. Honest cards were the best cards after all, since people came to them for truth, it wouldn't do for them to be spurious.
He never really should have tried it. Here was not the environment for drawing, and he never even got to the front of the card before it was unalterably ruined. With a sigh, he lifted the card out of it's sheet with his magic, throwing it about forty feet away just to have it make the solid knock as it halfway imbedded itself into a tree. The whole process took only a few minutes but it was obvious that something else needed to take place here. If only he had more patience.
Mal-Adjusted Party (Sorry you got lumped with us Archie...): The fortune teller arched an eyebrow. He shouldn't have been surprised due to the fact that there was no immediate danger so her guards were all up, but that was particularly petty. The fierceness of her actions as she hacked through the undergrowth made him reconsider his previous conclusions. Maybe he needed to press her a little bit or maybe not. The cards would tell him.
Not really keeping it a secret, he pulled out the lot of his cards and shuffled them well. He drew three cards and looked at them to see if he could determine himself a pattern. = The Cyclone
The Cards spoke well. This tempestuous strumpet was on the cusp of momentous change and imminent danger. Either he could allow her to continue their course and lead them into further peril, or he could follow her into uncertainty. It seemed rather clear to him. He simply had to endure his lady tongue. The first thing he did was sit down, finding a log that wasn't likely to leave a stain on his clothes. He didn't really seek their halfling companion for support, but before he spoke he shot him a look of apology. "Your enthusiasm for finding the path is getting us further into difficulty. It would be better if we didn't continue to make it more difficult for us to be found by our party." For a second, an angry faced Jin flashed in his mind, and then he knew he was taking the right path. There's no way she wouldn't be seeking them out.
Mal-Adjusted Party: Tshilaba had been lost in thought all morning. Most of it was things in the past. Things his mentor had been telling him about the cards, and how they seemed to always applicable to every situation. If only he had listened to them before, he'd have saved himself from quite a bit of heartache.
He had trailed off to the back of the group, mostly because he didn't want to have a fight with any of the ladies again today. But before he knew it, the party had lessened somewhat and there was just one halfling, and two humans heading along the trail. This didn't bode well, and as Shelby seemed determined to get them where they needed to go, he let her take point. But he wasn't very good at keeping his mouth shut, even when it would get him into trouble. It wasn't too long before he opened it again. "You know, this kind of reminds me of when Shalelu found me. I'm sure she's feeling better by now and eager to kill some goblins herself." He very clearly wasn't terribly bothered by anything that had happened so far, including getting lost.
Being around the back of the building considering his position, he gazed wistfully out into the swamp. These changes were difficult. He'd had his share of arguments before, and usually did well due to his quick tongue, but he'd always had trouble with the ladies. One of these days, he'd have to see if he could change his cards about that. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he nearly missed the fact that his group was leaving, and he hurried off behind them as they went.
I'm in the same boat as Shelby. Although I went out the other door to give her some space. I'm ready whenever.
Ooh, ooh! I'll be Azula.... No, no I'm just Sokka.
"It's because I'm an ass that she's so conflicted. But if I was any less, she wouldn't be attracted to me. It's like it's been said. 'Hate and love are mysterious neighbors.' The real opposite of love is indifference." He pushed off the wall with his back and stood to his full height. He walked over to the skillet and pulled a piece of bacon off and blew on it a little to calm it's angry sizzle. "It's good that you want to stick up for your friend, but I've done nothing wrong. If you don't believe me, fine. Just don't blame me when it goes south." And with that he sauntered out the other door, taking a bite of his bacon. With doubters like this, who knew when he was going to get another meal?
Sense Motive 18: His proverb is totally made up on the spot. He believes it's true in principle though.
After spending years with the Szarni, traveling around from town to town with tempestuous and passionate people, Tshilaba had only come to one conclusion concerning the zealot. He leaned back against the wall and sighed, fiddling with the newly fixed card in his hand. "Isn't it obvious? She's got a crush on me. She's still working it out, though. I just got to give her space to see if she wants to do anything about it. If you tell her I know, she'll just get mad." He tossed the card in the air and made a grabbing motion toward it as it seemingly vanished into thin air. "Don't worry. By the time her sister is ready to go, she'll be ready too. She won't let a little thing like emotions get in her way when it comes to goblin killing."
So that was how it was done. He thought to himself as she knitted the card back together. He'd have to learn that particular trick for himself. When she thanked him he genuinely looked surprised, especially since she runs and hides back in the corner with Jin. An act of generosity was not something he expected from the cheapskate, but it's probably why she was so nervous about it. Maybe she wasn't cheap with everything. "That took guts to thank me like that." He said loudly across the room. "But, I'd do what I did for anyone, so no thanks is needed. On the other hand, it would cost about three silver in materials to remake that card, so I'll consider your debt paid. It was a pleasure doing business with you." Of course, this would also mean no more public censure of her miserly ways, which he would admittedly miss. Still a kindness that wasn't at least somewhat repaid would leave him in a bad place when dealing with the harrow.
The fortune-teller noticed her musk first. Her constant practice gave her the smell of a dancer when she came up close. Of course, warning flags were waving like bushes during a hurricane in his head. Verbal sparring was one thing, but this up close and personal thing made him a bit uncomfortable. Of course, he didn't want to show it. It might be bad for business. She already had a grudge for some odd reason.
Concerning the card, he was a little hesitant to pull it out, but whatever reason she had couldn't ruin it anymore. Besides, he could just draw a new one when he got the time. "Ah, the locksmith? He's had better days." He pulled out the card remnants from his pocket, holding it gingerly in his hands. "I'm able to clean them up, but I can't really fix them yet. That magic is yet beyond me. To be honest, I'd never really thought about fixing them after I threw them before."
Tshilaba had eaten his fill the night before. Conversation was light and not terribly stimulating so the Varisian had spent the night contemplating the arcane. As a result, he fell asleep way before normal. It was nice being in a house today instead of the swamp or even his tent. He even had a decent watch period with Liera, though neither of them talked much. Breakfast was cooking, and if Tshilaba's mood was irrepressible when he was hungry yesterday, today he was effervescent. "Good morning O Undaunted Diplomat Dilettante. You look like you've slept well."
The fortune teller smiled as his words spurred the young Iomadaen into action. She was just so feisty, it kind of reminded him of... No better not think about that. It's time to move forward. Tshilaba went outside and sat down on the soft ground and shuffled his cards, absently tossing one into the air and catching it. For some reason he felt a bit morose. He'd always enjoyed the fact that when he tossed his cards into wood they'd at least still be visible. But now that he'd started killing monsters with them, the cards were destroyed and their artwork was lost. Something had to be done. He went back into the house and dragged the body out and retrieved his Locksmith card, piece by piece out of the wound. It had lost much of it's consistency, but he was pretty sure he'd gotten the whole thing. Using a magical trick to clean it from blood, he used it again to clean off his clothing and make him smell fresh after the day's walk through the mud. He placed the bits of card in a pocket and thought about working on trying to use that magical trick to try to piece the card back together. Perhaps it would serve as a fine diversion while he waited for food to be prepared.
The fortune teller had come back in after a quick chat with Lou. "Well, it seems to be settled. We'll stick around for a little while at least. We've got a cook, but he doesn't mind handing it off if you're exuberant. The old guy you haven't seen yet is liable to be entirely disagreeable, but I think the rest of us are ready to settle down for a bit." With that he seemed to notice the lady passed out against the wall. "Some of us more than others."
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