Lies and slander, Simon. I'm vicious. Just for that, you can lug around the kid while you try to save the world. That's much meaner than killing her off to free you up! ;)
Dorial and Nimeon, having gathered all the evidence they can without actually leaving their companions behind, return to the ruin to find a very relieved Simon with two living patients and two reluctant assistants debating just what to do now.
half-elf (Per +12 | Fort +6 Ref +7 Will +3 | AC 16 (F12/T14) | CMD 16) With Mutagen: Perc +11, Will+2 AC=20/14/16, CMD=16
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Dandi stalks about the house, chittering and frowning as she "talks" to Wraith.
spiderspeak:
"All I'm saying is you could at least consider it. I thought you wanted to have children of your own some day. It would take the spinning duties off your shoulders quite so much and I..."
half-elf (Per +12 | Fort +6 Ref +7 Will +3 | AC 16 (F12/T14) | CMD 16) With Mutagen: Perc +11, Will+2 AC=20/14/16, CMD=16
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He sounds so...normal. So sane. She turns, then, facing him but her eyes not quite reaching his face, not daring to.
"...other night." She nods, swallowing hard. "Me too." But they didn't. His pale chest broadened again in her mind, greasy black fur spreading like mold across it. His body breaks and those horrible bulbous pulsing eyes stare back from inside her memory. Her own reflection wavers tiny and fragile in their depths, the only targets in a sea of rage. His...hers...He's ruined it! Ruined everything!
Her fingers curl tightly around the edge of the table, resisting the urge to throw herself at him, scratch those damned eyes out. Her hair, still in its braid, coils and flicks behind her. But she doesn't dare, doesn't call out the beast from its slumber. He could bite me...kill me in an instant...or worse...he could....
She shakes her head, flinging the images against themselves, letting them shatter into today...But he didn't...not then...won't now. See how sorry he is? How bad he feels? She gives a shake of her head and tries to smile. It is a miserable thing, weak, nothing, but she offers it up, the best she can do. A last ditch effort to hold on.
"N-no..it's ahh,"ok....it's ok...it could be.... she wants it to be, wants so badly the nice normal family she'd been building in her mind, the one she's dreamed about. It's so close...if she just tries hard enough, it could be...
half-elf (Per +12 | Fort +6 Ref +7 Will +3 | AC 16 (F12/T14) | CMD 16) With Mutagen: Perc +11, Will+2 AC=20/14/16, CMD=16
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“Oh good, you couldn’t sleep either? misery loves company, hmmm? Still, she can’t help smiling a little to have him join her.
“I had the weirdest drea….” Dandi’s nose wrinkles at the stench as she turns towards him, finding a nearly naked man instead of the companionable friend she was hoping for.
“Ba-rrie?” Her throat goes dry as her mind refuses to believe… Just another nightmare, just like before… just another nightmare not real…not realnot…...
“OhgodsNO, please!” In her head, it’s a shriek, a loud Clarion for the others. But her body lets her down….again. Barely a breath, a wheeze, no more than that as her lungs try to hide in her throat.
He shoves the tables out of his way like kindling and the one she hadn’t realized she’d been leaning on breaks against a wall. She’s sent sprawling, bent and bloody, but not quite as broken where she lands in one corner.
It is nothing compared to the HIM. Ridden by his Curse, he falters, arches and breaks, arches and breaks reforming again and again in front of her eyes…. noNOnoNOnoNO!!!!! The word pulses like the rocketing pace of her heart but serve no purpose ricocheting alone in her head.
He stands, his back to her. She knows now is the time to move…walk…RUN…scurry…scream…Cry….but she is frozen, caught like a fly between abject terror and horrified fascination. His narrow shoulders are long gone, broad muscle and unnatural fur in it’s place. He heaves, his breathing a warning she can’t ignore and can’t bring herself to heed. She can smell her own fear now, and a small dark voice in her head laughs at her previous reaction to his scent. not so different afterall….
Like some crab with her hands awkwardly beneath her, she begins to crawl….quiet as a mouse, quiet as a mou… Toolate TOOLATE!! He turns…Pulsating eyes of red and black, wild and throbbing and staring daggers right at her.
half-elf (Per +12 | Fort +6 Ref +7 Will +3 | AC 16 (F12/T14) | CMD 16) With Mutagen: Perc +11, Will+2 AC=20/14/16, CMD=16
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Little by little, step by step, she makes her way to the neverending night at the center of the web.
He grows large, filling her view. His shadow swallows her path; strange things swim in depths of Him. She should be afraid, a wise woman would think twice. She soldiers on, one clinging thread at a time. Her past twists in upon itself, mocking her, the scenes playing out in surreal vibrant color, only to be sucked dry to a black and white nothing again and again.
In the corner, Fondo two-steps with a goat, his mouth growing horribly huge as he laughs while she stumbles over the strands.Vibrant red to maroon to gray, dead and gray and grasping the goat like a lifeline....gone.
Barael, working in the lab next to her, friendly smile as they talk potions and poisons...his hands, paws, curl to claws, knocking a vial from her hand, the equipment from the table. the scene covered in fur of gray and white and black...and gone....
Nickolay, stern and steady, a soldier in bearing if not in title, talking to his blade before it turns and talks back, his blood falling vibrant and red then seeping to black that takes her sight.
Briar, calm to the point of cold in the warrens side by side. Enraptured by the magic, no matter how small. The wall breaks and a thousand harlequin spiders pour through, swirl him up in the multitude of magical hues, then pull him under, into the depths of the river, washed out, gray to white to .....nothing.
"someone clean her up" Soothing cooling hands in the darkness, bright cleansing healing from beyond the veil. His voice comforts from the darkness...then chokes, coughs, hacks...and dies away.
"Charlie!"
The black abyss shudders, laughter rolling out in waves that shake her precarious balance. Web loops about her, tying her tight, cutting off her air. Her rainbows dance behind her eyes, rocking with the laughter, mocking from within, "did you think it would last?"
Strangled, she claws her way, closer, closer...
Large wings unfurl behind Him, more than twice His own considerable size. Wide spread, they block the night, shimmering with a silvery glow. Her light, his shadow, mingle and meld and become something else again."Who...who am I? and why?"
"Follow the web, feel the line, we will see you through in time..."
half-elf (Per +12 | Fort +6 Ref +7 Will +3 | AC 16 (F12/T14) | CMD 16) With Mutagen: Perc +11, Will+2 AC=20/14/16, CMD=16
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through the trembling haze...
"Follow the web, feel the line, it will see you through in time..."
Her feet dance over the webbing that stretches out, her eyes drawn to the huge black spider in its center. Below her, the spiral slips away into eternity, and above her as well, but she is caught somewhere in between.
"Charlie, your kit, please."
"Jalkara Kal! Father, I..." Failure overwhelms her and her feet stumble and falter upon the strands.
"Jel'enedra!"............"What can I do? What do you need? Do you need anything? Anything I can do?"..."Kuraf'te!"
The webs warp and waver, sending her sprawling. Faces loom up from the darkness, Elven, Varisian... Other. They mock, poisonous spittle flung in her face. "Get up, little one, get up!" He beckons, coaxes, that undeniable presence in its center and urges her to fight, to cling when she would otherwise fall down, or up, onto the spiral coil that awaits. So cling, she does.
"You can do it!"
The webs collect her, stabilize, set aright, but she must crawl onward, forward. Little by little, the faces fade, and she finds her feet again. And Jalkara Kal awaits.
Andrea Brandt
Venture-Lieutenant, California—Central San Joaquin Valley
aka verdigris
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What a con! I was thrilled to see the Northern California PFS community come together for this incredible weekend. All those people mentioned above? They are every bit as great as the others have said. Maybe even more because we were so busy, no one could ever see everything going on at once, but no matter where you looked, there was someone somewhere going that extra step to make sure others were having fun and having a blast in the process.
We had brand spanking new GMs that jumped in feet first to run games. We had experienced players helping new ones get settled in to play. We had veterans sharing their minis and maps and pens and space; whatever it took to make sure everyone played.
I didn't see him mentioned so I want to give a special shout out to Richard Flynn, VL from Sacramento. Though not scheduled to be there, he came down to lend a hand and was right there in the thick of things with the rest of these amazing people.
We have Bookwyrm in March, Conquest Sac in April, and then the big one, Kubla Con on Memorial Day weekend; I can't wait to work and play with everyone again.
Andrea Brandt
Venture-Lieutenant, California—Central San Joaquin Valley
aka verdigris
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Howie23 wrote:
It's looking like I'm just gonna be around for the flea market this year, but will toss my opinion into the ring that this is a fun, very accessible convention. Highly recommended.
That's too bad, Howie. I was looking forward to getting to play with you again.
Mogre, I'll second (third? fourth?) what everyone else has said, Dundracon is amazing and whatever time you can be there, you should definitely give it a whirl. The PFS crew in this area is amazing, and nothing shows that more than the way they come together at a con.
Lets see, a dancing pig with spots that fascinates people. This is a little gonzo for my likes.
I dont think the game mechanic was the right choice. How would a dancing multicolored pig make people like the owner more?
I think the writing was good however.
Thank you for your critique. Your thoughts coincide with Jerry's that it was too much whimsy for this competition.
I do want answer your question regarding the charm person effect:
It is a fey pig, created using the fey animal template from Land of the Linnorm Kings. Using this template, a 0-3HD animal has either faerie fire or charm person as a spell-like ability. In this instance, I went with charm person. The multiple colors were from the hypnotic pattern spell. As for the dancing, well who wouldn't stare at a dancing pig?
Porcine Pendant Aura faint illusion, faint transmutation; CL 3rd
Slot neck; Price 3,500 gp; Weight —
Description
This whimsical, multi-hued crystal pendant in the shape of a pig spins at the end of a silver chain. Once per day, the wearer may disconnect the pig from the chain and toss it to the ground. Doing so transforms the pendant into a small fey-touched pig, covered in spots of pink, green and blue.
The pig waddles up to 20 feet away and begins to dance. For 1 minute, it frolics and spins, creating a pleasing blur pattern of color that fascinates those within 20 feet. Upon completion of the dance, humanoid viewers’ attitude towards the pig and its owner shifts 2 steps closer to friendly unless they succeed on a (DC14) Will save. In addition, the pig’s fey-touched charm allows the wearer to make a Diplomacy check at +5 to convince affected creatures to do things they would not otherwise do, as per the charm person spell.
The pig returns to pendant form one round after the completion of its fascinating dance feature and must be connected to the chain and worn around the neck for 24 hours before it may be used again.
Construction Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, carry companion, hypnotic pattern, craft jewelry; Cost 1,750 gp
Woohoo my item was actually seen. I was worried since I never saw it...and it wasn't culled....but still a failure Que Sera Sera.
havoc xiii, your item was NOT a failure. By submitting, you most likely battled and triumped over demons of self doubt, time thieves, and holiday madness. Just by submitting your item, you pushed it past the failure mark. Further, if it wasn't culled, that means you were in the TOP 75% of the entrants. That isn't failure; that is progress. Next year awaits.
Thanks Eric! Your dedication was never in doubt, but this is pretty spectacular.
I count 810 on this list. I've copy/pasted it to a googledoc document. If anyone knows of any that aren't on this list, I'd love to add them to see just how complete a list we can get.
Andrea Brandt
Venture-Lieutenant, California—Central San Joaquin Valley
aka verdigris
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Thanks Mike, it was inspiring:
too long email sent out to Bay Area Pathfinders Society, due to said inspiration:
So, what did everyone else think of Mike's blog post today?
It made me want to do more, reach out more, and get those conversations started with our local group of players on how best to move forward in growing PFS in our area.
I thought about that, and thought about old players, new players, and the players yet to be, and I realized that we don't get perfect players coming through the doors; we have to take what we get and turn them into great players. This is an important part of building our lodge (at least in my mind) and it’s one I need to remember and wanted to share.
Some of our more experienced players (including me) get so frustrated with the new ones. They have poor etiquette and don't always do what's right. They may not know the rules, or realize that getting your own CLW wand is like announcing to your companions that you care enough to take care of yourself, “you're one of us”.
I get it, I really do, but attrition is a very real threat to the lodge; we'll have three tables, talking about four and in a few weeks we're scraping together one again. The biggest resource isn't the scenario or the map packs or dice; it's the people that come in the door every week. And the best thing we can do for us and for them is train them to be the players we want to play with.
I am not saying that urging someone from the group is never an option, but diamonds don't spring from the ground cut and polished and set, and excellent players aren't born (or hatched) Someone, somewhere, trained them. And now it's our turn.
OK, so that's quite a bit from me, what did you get from Mike's post?
Andrea Brandt
Venture-Lieutenant, California—Central San Joaquin Valley
aka verdigris
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Speaking only for myself, I appreciate the restraint so that we can have nice things on the chronicle sheets and as boons. I think cool named magic items and prestige classes can be particularly awesome on chronicle sheets. I do like the idea (not sure if you're using it, since I wasn't at GC, but I like it none the less) of having boons earned during play that you can apply either to that character or to a new one.
"While recounting tales of your adventure at XXX, you inspire a trainee to focus on YYY. This boon may be applied to any new character created within the next 6 months. When that character has been created, fill in the number below and mark off this boon by date "today+6months". Or some such.
I agree that people like to know things, but sometimes it's just so cool to get something you never expected.
Andrea Brandt
Venture-Lieutenant, California—Central San Joaquin Valley
aka verdigris
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Josh Spies wrote:
Nobody else should have to help you do your job.
I'll have to disagree. It's not my job to keep you on your feet. That's your job. How you decide to do it is up to you. You don't have to know anything to pop a potion. It's more expensive that way, sure, but you can go that route. The wand is cheaper, and shows the people you're playing with that you're not there just to use up their resources, so they might be more likely to be generous with their actions and work your wand for you if need be. For instance, I play an oracle of stone that *can* work a wand of clw. But it's not why I made him, and not my first go to for fun.
That said, most people are nice people and will help others. They shouldn't be penalized for being nice by being expected to pay out over and over again for someone else's fun.
Congratulations, Mike and thank you to all the participants this year. It was amazing to follow along and I'm looking forward to seeing all of your future work.
Andrea Brandt
Venture-Lieutenant, California—Central San Joaquin Valley
aka verdigris
1 person marked this as a favorite.
KestlerGunner wrote:
I think this is getting into territory of creating too many rules.
I'd be happy with something like this:
b) In organized play, non-magical animals can be reskinned as different non-magical animals for character backstory reasons.
For example, a character can ride a pig and use the stats for the riding dog. A character cannot ride a hellhound and use the stats for a riding dog.
Where a character class (totem druid, totem barbarian) explicitly mentions the species of the animal companion or familiar species choice, this companion cannot be reskinned.
I like this. Sorry, no reskinning just sounds counter-creative.
