(3) Legend of the Elder Souls (Inactive)

Game Master mdt

Whoops, whole elf. My bad. Although you did get basically disowned by your parents.... :P

I think I'm lucky that my first character had a background that perfectly match (he's a compulsive liar. Turns out there's totally a background for that).

But I agree about the characters being an extension of their stats and such. Normally when I build a character, I go with some mechanical idea and then build the personality around that. I don't know if I had any expectations going in to 5e, but my opinion of it is probably hurt by my comparison of it to PF. It's also definitely hurt by the fact that it's not all online for free, and there's basically next to nothing for me to buy at higher levels due to a strong lack of magic items.

As for the horses, I will also let someone else decide. I can conjure a few to replace the ones we lost temporarily. And with my domain spell, I can up my speed to 40ft.

In the future, maybe we should use Carry Companion to turn them into figurines that we only summon when we need, hmm.

I have swapped out true strike for burning hands. :)

Johnny is assuming is Luna now has a familiar/animal companion, much like how his fox suddenly appeared.

I, however, am curious as to what actually happened. Did you trigger a raccoon trap in your thieves' den?

Raccoon Trap
CR 10.
Fat raccoon follows you around everywhere, eating all of your prepared food, and generally being both belligerent and spiteful.

Maybe Mythic Three just unlocked her spirit animal.

Doge is my spirit animal.

Raccoon is Raccoon.

You don't try to understand Raccoon, it just is.

Kind of like tree, or rock, or sun.

Does Liisa get a tree-person to go with Luna's raccoon?

Err, Neri, I think your spirit animal is Salamander? (Or, y'know, spirit outsider). Doge is Johnny's, Liisa's is Big Fat Lizard, mine is Yet Another Tiny Snake. Raccoon is thief animal, because it wears a mask and can pick locks.

@Raccoon - Liisa could *uhm* talk to it at least ?

@Lina: I'm quite aware. :P I was more talking about real life. Wow.

On the topic of it not listening, we could do a Maury episode or something. 'My teenage racoon'. Liisa can try to step in to teach it good life choices, before we eventually ahve to send the raccoon off to boot camp.

Actually, now that I think about it... do we even have money to hire a guide? :P

I think that'd have been brought up before now, if not. We could have hung out a little longer to gather things to bring down and pull another time on the volcano, if not.

We have some spare wealth left, and can bring some with us (maybe 1k gp for the road). Just let me know what to deduct.

@Luna - I just realized that if you don't really really want to bother with the raccoon, we could try and trick it to accept a Carry Companion spell. It would turn it into a small stone statue, like the horses, and let Luna decide when she wants to interact with it again : )

She'd rather try to get it to leave on its own before trapping forever but good back up plan

I think it is your sidekick actually. Not sure if you'll be able to get it to leave easily : )

Neri's plan is to just let Shadows and Flames know that we're in town, that way we have a Liaison of sorts when we need him/her.

Staying in town for a bit is fine with me and has my vote; we can gather information and such while we're here, and familiarizing ourselves with here might improve Johnny's compound.

Any thoughts against this? :)

Think we're just waiting.

Other than some talk of getting an inn, and spreading word looking for the Raptor, I wasn't sure what else you were going to do. If that's it, then I'll move us forward tonight.

I was actually somewhat in the position of mdt. While I did have Neri scamper off, I thought you guys would continue and decide things. That's why I asked for clarity over here on the plan, so he'd have some clarity. :)

I think we were going to do that, yeah. Liisa appears to want to rest before *mysteriously* interacting with the raptors more, Lina and Luna aren't very social, and Johnny doesn't speak the language.

Yeah, Liisa doesn't have any real goal just now, so mostly interested in sight-seeing and simply looking around inside this strange city : )

Luna doesn't really have any actions either

Just checking in—I think our only goals are to rest the night, and then tomorrow look for anyone who can give us verbal instructions to get to the barrier (and potentially any info they might have on the shape of the caves beyond)

How're you doing now, Kittiface? And what exactly does a Diabetic Episode entail?

Means my blood sugar is going up and down for no apparent reason. Not eating a bunch of sugar or carbs but it's spiking. Not an unusual thing.

Yeah, Neri can speak that too. (Also, what is the name of the language? I jotted down 'Raptorian' in one of my open slots for now ...)

@Ambush - If there is a church down here, they are probably going to need supplies from above ground. And in the darkness of a cavern, it is much easier to ambush the pesky priest-servants.

Especially if we prepare a few castings of Quench/Darkness (kill the lights) and Darkvision. Then a little bit of earth magic to fix the cave ... : )

Hmm... Another thought. Do we age in this world ?

It's a long hissing sound. Raptoran or Raptorian works.

You've been here less than a year... good luck figuring it out from that small sample. :)

Well, a starting point then. : )

Do our hair and nails grow?

Yes.

Updated Neri's supplies to reflect that the volcano staff has pulled 2.5k of mithral in his absence so far. :)

Basically, as soon as you hit more than 25% above WBL (as a group) the volcano stops producing anything.

Ah, alrighty. Make that 1k. :)

Edit: 10500/4x5=13125

Did the math for 4 instead of five a sec ago. Naptime OP.

So I still have a little more space.

Edit edit: Still at 2.5k. With 1125 left, max.

Will they be smart enough to stop pulling before they make the volcano angry?

Nope. Basically, it won't start producing again until your WBL = 80% of your WBL. The compounds resource production are basically a mechanism to keep you at WBL.

Hmm. If you assume crafted wealth, we're still under WBL (I think?); if crafted stuff counts full, we're over ours.

I think that he meant that the compounds that produce could manage 1/4x5 of our level -each-. And that doesn't include anything else we find and wear. If it does, I've been keeping up with the wrong stuff. :p

I've been keeping up with raw pulled amounts, excluding any modifiers due to crafting.

Paizo suggestion for self crafting is +25% of WBL, so that's what we're using. Thus the 25% above WBL.

So no, I'm not saying the volcano can pull that much.

I'm saying the compounds are a way for you to maintain WBL + 25%.

If you add up everything you own and wear on everyone, it should be WBL + 25%. If you're over that, the compounds stop producing.

Example :

Total Value of Items carried by Team RPTR (Level 5)
Blue 12,000
Charlie 8,000
Delta 9,000
Echo 10,000

Total value : 39,000

WBL for level 5, 10,500.
4 * 10,500 * 1.25 = 52,500

39,000 <= 52,500, so the compounds continue to produce. If Team Raptor was level 4, then the math would be :

4 * 6,000 * 1.25 = 30,000

39,000 >= 30,000, so the compounds are not producing anymore. They will start again if the team is at less than 52,500 when they hit level 5.

So, what I pulled previously doesn't matter, only what we have now.

Guess we'll have to do a teamwide audit. I think we've probably pulled too much, tbh.

Yeah, just checking back, Lina's math said we'd spent around 35k.

We also have a ring of sustenance, a mithral breastplate, ear rings of charisma, and an artifact floating around.

Couple that with a pair of heal spells and a bridge, and I think the volcano is tapped out.

I'm on a tablet, so if folks want to find the value of heal x 2, stoneshape, and earrings of cha, I think we'll have everything leveled off.

Mithral bp = 4250
Adamantine Pick = 500

How much have we spent on raptor hospitality? I'm not gonna get into base 6 prices. :p

Note your mythic weapons and armor don't count, only non-mythic items.

Yeah... including HP retraining, current party wealth is ~75,000 (the 35k was crafting costs). So no more mithral I guess.

Actually, if you'll give us a Google Sheets link (or if it's okay to just add to the Hell Village one), we could totally set up something for tracking party wealth, spells, skills, languages, and all that sort of stuff over there. I can't edit it with my kindle, but I'm sure it'll help a ton in keeping things straight and organized in one place you can quickly check (especially during combat!)

I'm perfectly fine with people adding things to the hell village sheet.

Sorry if Lina's a bit brusque, but her Charisma did recently drop from 10 back to 8...

I figure her main priority is asking questions that, even if they sound rude/suspicious, will gain us information quickly, without giving any info on us or where we stand in the whole pro-church anti-church shebang.

Also, she's not going to use her full name here. That sounds dangerous.

That's why Johnny didn't introduce anybody after commenting on it; he wasn't sure if other people wanted to use pseudonyms or anything like that.

I'm thinking of putting the bird in a stone-figurine shape like the horses. He's not smart enough to be trusted down here and probably wouldn't like it anyhow. She'll do that later, I guess : )

Neri's technically -is- a pseudonym. :) A runaway that keeps his birth name doesn't run away for long. :)

Huh, looks like an awesome moment to engage in either some Sleight of Hand or Raccoon whispery, sadly I am in a bit of rush. Heading out to the families summer home for 1-2 days without internet. (The weather was alot nicer then expected, but about to get not-so-nice.)

Sorry for the short heads-up and lets hope Johnny doesn't get rabies or something :P

You all did realize that there are 3 rings that Johnny managed to pick out of the backpack right?

Copper with Quartz Stone
Silver with no stone (Taken by the hooded woman as hers)
Gold with Seal

Not sure why Lina needed to sneak a peak at the seal, since Johnny still has it in his hand, but she managed to look without looking like she looked.

Mmhmm. I caught that. It sounds like if we keep the raccoon for another week or two, Luna will be at heavy encumbrance. :P

Ok, I'm re-recruiting for a game that has been going on for about 9 months now. We've gone through a lot of shakeups, and one previous recruitment. The group is down to 3 again.

Original recruitment thread is HERE. Use the character creation guidelines in the first 10 posts (note the issue with the stat arrays!).

Your character should be 4th level though, not 2nd. Again, NPC classes (Sans Adept). Modern world, with appropriate skills (including custom).

Your class will be determined in game. Once your character submission is approved, you should immediately begin RP'ing here in the recruitment thread. The existing players will be monitoring (and may drop by to play NPCs) to get a feel for you. They will make the final decision on who to take. We'll take 1-3 characters, as determined by them.

The bar is 'The Flying Dutchman', and is in New York. It is a cold blustery night with a storm going on, in mid March. All rain, no snow. Unseasonably heavy rain and lightning. You can be from anywhere, you were just in NY for some reason. The bar is one of those at the bottom of a stairway off the street (Think Cheers Bar from the Cheers tv show).

This is not, to my knowledge, a real place in NY. If it is, it's an unbelievable coincidence.

The link to original recruitment seems to have been overwritten.

What I remember, for people interested:

-The game is mythic gestalt, in an interesting homebrew world

-The catch: Characters start with (4th level) NPC classes. PC classes are assigned/chosen through story interactions — everyone will get a first PC class gestalt at the start of the game, with each PC classes being a rather powerful and mystical source power within the game world. We're in the process of acquiring second PC classes, but our characters are not sure yet just how possible this is.

-Because of the way the game has worked, retraining rules have been used. It would be unusual for a character from the "regular world" to start out with a feat like Weapon Focus (Greataxe), but characters have generally retrained feats once they learn how to use proper old-timey weapons.

-Class selections have been a little chancy, so I'd recommend focusing on a character's personality, strengths, and any skills or backstory that might help them survive in a tough environment, rather than building something that relies entirely on a single class feature.

Current Party (if I remember backstories correctly):

-Lina Passgard (mounted police officer-turned fighter/cavalier)

-Neri Voler (circus acrobat-turned magus)

-Luna Rook (criminal scout-turned rogue/alchemist)

Currently, the party has nobody especially wise or charismatic, and off the top of my head characters with skills in survivalism, medicine, cartography or investigation would all be interesting.

The starting arrays we had to choose from were
16, 16, 14, 14, 11, 8
16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 8
16, 15, 14, 11, 10, 10

Here's the link to the start of the old recruitment. :)

The above stat arrays appear correct after getting 'fixed' later in the recruitment. Also, I am -also- an Expert, thank you very much!

Since it isn't super clear, you start off as a person. From the real world. You'll be treated as a 4th level combination of warrior/expert/aristocrat.

When you get in world, you'll get the class you gestalt with. :)

Sometimes I hate how Paizo does links. Oh well, thanks Lina and Neri.

Bump! Nobody interested? I thought gestalt was super popular. :)

Well, I know -I- am, but I don't think you want two of me. :)

Don't have time to wrap my head around this, but I think it might be due to 2 big factors :
1) gestalting with an NPC class
2) not knowing which class you're going to be gestalting that NPC class with.

Just my 2 cents.

Hope you find someone :)

I really like most everything about the game setting. I'm passing on the inability to select my own class.

Dot & question - would you care to elaborate a bit on the plot and tone itself?

The characters, without giving away too much, will find themselves in a world they have never heard of, and will be the only ones that have Elder Souls. Those souls allow them to do things no regular mortal of that world can do. The world is in danger, though it doesn't know it. The characters will find this out in game, so please play them at the start as having no idea where they are or why they are there.

Is this going to be/is it a fairytale like world and story along the lines of Narnia or perhaps something darker like the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant? Perhaps even an eldritch horror story (Elder Souls =~ Elder Gods? :P).

I am sure I would find out by going trough the gameplay thread, but a brief glance told me it was 2000+ and that will take a while : )

Now, as an idea, I'd think some sort of real world 'magician' would be fun to play - you know the type that believes in voodoo and cards and star signs and what not. Add in a dash of con-man and I should have something that will be fun !

Inspiration : )

I'm not sure how apt the Narnia comparison is. I remember it as mostly sunshine and rainbows... but that was decades ago. I think probably a bit darker than Narnia. Our current goal is a little up in the air. Mostly, each character is following their own aspirations. I think your aspirations are a major part. (Neri seeks acknowledgement. Right now, he has a hero complex and is trying to fix everything :p)

As for random classes, I opted in -for- the idea of random, but it wasn't random at all (although Neri made it so.) There were strong hints of what you were signing up for when we arrived, so it is definitely gamable to get something not completely obscure. I also believe playing a 10 charisma sorcerer is so close to unlucky as to be virtually impossible. I don't -know- that that is the case, though.

Finally, what has happened is daunting to read over, but it's by no means necessary to reread. Neri likes to share what he knows, so once you're here, I'll definitely give you a synopsis and cliff notes. But bear in mind, what I 'know' may not be super accurate, as I tend to infer (often incorrectly!)

Yeah, Narnia was my sunshine and rainbows 'fairytale' setting (ignoring that the fairytales really tends to be ... gory). So a bit bleaker then : )

And I believe there was some ability to switch which class characters chose, but I may be misremembering.

Submission!

I always have big trouble with presenting my idea of the character and their background with a backstory - either it just doesn't feel enough or I just can't think of way to showcase/express a character trait the way I'd like. This time I tried one of those character questionnaires, we'll see how that works :P

Now, I'll add some more.

Liisa is a talented street artist - or more accurately con artist. You know the sort that runs shell games or 'helps' tourists while emptying their pockets.

Her choice of profession isn't from malice, but convenience. She didn't exactly do stellar in school, so it was either crappy low-paid jobs or relieving strangers of their money trough guile.

She has a burning interest for the occult - faeries or wiccans or norse mythology or whatever. She doesn't really believe in the stuff, but at a subconscious level she really hopes (except those damn tarot cards, always freakishly accurate!). Fixing everything with magic would be so much easier ...

Eagerly taking in question or suggestions, if anyone has any = )

Otherwise, pending a nod, I'll hit up a mock IC post at 'The Flying Dutchman'

Okay, I'm trying to wrap my head around this because it sounds interesting. So, let me get this straight:

1. You can choose among any of the arrays, correct?

2. Now you have these listed as the NPC classes in the OR:

Classes: Aristocrat, Commoner, Expert, Warrior

These are the only ones you choose from, correct? Where would the "cop"(Lina) fit in that? Warrior maybe?

And since Lina started out as a cop, how did Lina become this class: ...turned fighter/cavalier? Was it chosen specifically or randomly chosen?

And what happens if you choose warrior - and say you build your NPC as you would a typical warrior - but then when you make it to PC class you get hit with a wizard class? Now you're stuck being a wizard with a 10 in intelligence because you built him more warrior type. Would this be correct?

Also, you say you're down to three. Seeing how thunderbeard(What's up, thunder? Long time no see, bud. Glad to see Victoriana get picked up again. Even I was saying they had to pick her up. She's a good character) :) and Hotaru are still around, who's the third? Which one out of Eldon and Zoey dropped?

Okay, I'm trying to wrap my head around this because it sounds interesting. So, let me get this straight:

1. You can choose among any of the arrays, correct?

2. Now you have these listed as the NPC classes in the OR:

mdt wrote:

Classes: Aristocrat, Commoner, Expert, Warrior

These are the only ones you choose from, correct? Where would the "cop"(Lina) fit in that? Warrior maybe?

And since Lina started out as a cop, how did Lina become this class: ...turned fighter/cavalier? Was it chosen specifically or randomly chosen?

And what happens if you choose warrior - and say you build your NPC as you would a typical warrior - but then when you make it to PC class you get hit with a wizard class? Now you're stuck being a wizard with a 10 in intelligence because you built him more warrior type. Would this be correct?

1. Any of the listed arrays were allowed

2. Lina was originally a warrior IIRC

I'll leave the class questions up to MDT as I don't know what he wants kept secret but out of everyone that played no one got a class that just completely screwed you over, pretty sure he has some mercy on that.

Eldon was the one that dropped

Okay, cool. Thanks.

Edit: Are traits allowed?

2. Lina started as an expert/warrior, but I took over the character when someone joined the game. As someone with an interest in horses, she chose a class described as "knight" and wound up with cavalier levels—the fighter class was gained later, through the character making some foolish choices.

Our characters also have a pretty good idea of how new recruits would become a witch, wizard, or bard, but beyond that might have a bit of trouble differentiating between oracle and cleric or sorcerer and summoner. There is also possibly some in-game way to exchange classes, but we were pretty happy with ours.

Also, traits are allowed, and one drawback. (And I wound up taking Additional Traits as a feat)

Sorry for not responding all day, I was buried in work, and then flew back from Calgary (I'm making a trip to calgary every week for the next 2-3 months).

Traits are allowed, but refluff them so they make sense for the real world.

The only way to end up a wizard with a 10 INT is to force the situation (much like Neri did). The game will not trick you into something, but, if you get stubborn and try to force things, you might end up with a bad situation.

Even then, you're not completely trapped, as there's ways to overcome it, but it'll be some in character grief to do so.

Liisa's good to go to start doing 'mock posts' in the Bar.

doting.

There you have it. 18 dex, and 16 int was enough for MDT to try to stop Magus from happening, based on -other- things that were tied to that particular class. So there you have it, you're mostly safe. :)

Cursing like a seaman, Liisa stumbled trough the rain towards the door with the inviting 'open' sign. The thin jacket she wore was woefully under-equipped to deal with the weather and she felt soaked to the bone, despite having only wandered a handful of meters from the taxi. Her connecting flight from NY to San Francisco had been cancelled due to 'bad weather' and her travel agency couldn't book her on another flight until the day after tomorrow. And they couldn't be arsed to fix a hotel room for her either. Last freakin' time I fly on a budget airline! she though, despite that her drained wallet wouldn't let her fly anything bigger then a kite anymore. Not until she got to San Francisco and her new job. I bet it's sunny down there. she sighed and cursed the weather again.

With a slam she flung the door open and slipped in. Catching her breath and wiping away the water from her face, she looked around. The cab driver was right - it looked like a nice bar. And, more importantly, it was supposed to stay open until the morning. Perhaps she could try her luck then and scrape together enough money for a room somewhere. Ugh, that's a problem for then.

With another glance round the room, this time at the locals, she walked over and took a seat at the bar. With singing but fully understandable english she called out the barkeep, after getting his attention by slamming a wet crumpled 10$ bill on the desk. "A beer. And vodka. I need to forget your crappy weather for a few hours." In her current state, she could hardly go for pretty. Perhaps sympathy? With a miserable smile she added "I don't suppose you serve towels here too?"

Flying Dutchman

The bartender, a blonde woman in her middle ages, with some tats showing at the wrists of her long sleeved white shirt smiles. "Sorry, no. But there's a hot air hand dryer in the ladies room that can be turned to hit your face." She reaches for a bottle of vodka. "You want that beer and vodka as a vodka and chaser, or as a boilermaker?" She looks at the ten on the counter. "And sorry sweetie, you sound foreign. Money's not worth as much in the states as it is elsewhere, especially here in the big apple. The vodka itself is twelve dollars, the beer is six. So you need $18."

The Flying Dutchmen

Twelve bucks for vodka ? Perkele! That's even worse then back home... Her sharp inhalation turns into a cough as she fights down the urge to yell curses and flail her arms around. Typically, it didn't improve the situation anyhow... Patting down her almost liquid jacket, she managed to fish up another 10$ in the same shape as the first and add it to the other.

"Sorry, heard that the drinks where supposed to be cheap up here in the States." With an apologetic smile she adds "Probably didn't mean NY with that. Wasn't even supposed to stay here, but my connection got cancelled thanks to the weather." She swivels around in her chair looking for the ladies room. That hot air dryer sounded very inviting about now. "This way? Make them drinks separate, I'll be back in five." Maybe ten. Maybe I ought to fetch my drinks and just sit in there instead ...

After confirming the route and her drinks, Liisa heads over to the ladies room. The dryer was every bit as pleasant as she had imagined, and she lingered a bit longer then she said to the barkeep. Surely she wouldn't mind. With a combination of privacy and warmth, something she hadn't really experienced since she stepped inside the airport in Helsinki she took the time to check her pockets. Her packet of smokes was wet, but the foil inside it had protected the contents somewhat - still usable. Worse was the gooey white mess inside the back-pocket of her jeans. It had probably been a note or a recite of some sort. With a quick look around to make sure she was still alone she scraped the mess off on a nearby wall. Luckily, both her phone and her deck of cards seemed to have survived the ordeal. The deck was some sort of laminated plastic anyhow, but she had been a bit worried - yet when she shuffled trough it quickly all the painted symbols looked back at her sharp as the day when she bought it.

When she came back outside and gluped down her shot of vodka, she finally felt like a real person for the first time in many hours. The liquid spread its embracing warmth trough her body and she shivered in pleasure. "That felt good. Ain't going to lie, probably the best drink I've had in a while!" She glanced at the barkeep and sipped her beer. The blonde woman looked slightly like her mother, only cooler. Heh... The thoughts of mum with tatoos and serving in a bar evoked a chuckle from her. "So, anything fun going down here in the city? I've got tomorrow to kill..."

Ops. Turns out doing nothing in a bar turned into quite a ramble. Oh well ... :)

The lack of control over what class you get sounds interesting (but also, as I discovered, difficult to pick feats/traits for).

Question: What about archetypes for classes? Are they just not being used, also decided upon, or player choice?

Anyway, here's the crunch and background for my submission. I can start RPing some stuff when I get approval, and I can make an alias if selected. The background mostly focuses on fluff for traits, but I can add stuff if desired. Like his goals/motivations (which covers his drawback). I just didn't want to make it too long.

Question: What about archetypes for classes? Are they just not being used, also decided upon, or player choice?

We were allowed to pick our archetypes

The Flying Dutchman

A woman in her mid twenties with brown hair enters the bar she seems scared at first glancing slightly above everyone's head, maybe she had time to enjoy her old life for a moment before it happened.

Going to wait on the word from Mouse before I have her single anyone out unless you'd rather start now

On Archetypes: MDT also seems to be pretty friendly with doing interesting things to make stuff work. Like, I believe Jacob took an Undine Bard archetype, and there was never anything said of it in discussion or the like. :)

Of further interest, I've retrained Neri pretty much from the acrobat up. He's not been willing to let go of who he was up to this point (which Lina will probably say holds him back, in character and out :P), but he's actually probably made the most extensive use of retraining of anyone in the party. (As he's repeatedly tried to make things fit as best he can, but his 'daddy's clothes' are a little big for him. :P)

Your drawback might seriously come back to bite you at some point, though. :P

Reminder for Skills : Background : Your background is up to you, and it's the background that will get you in the game, if I run it. You can make any person that would reasonably exist in the real world right now. You will get a one time bonus to Skill Points based on your stat bonuses at character cration. For every positive point of each stat you have, you gain one skill point that must be spent on a skill associated with that stat. For example, if you have an 18 str, you can spend 4 skill points on Str based skills (for example, 2 climb and 2 swim). If you have more points for a stat than you can spend at 2nd level, you may 'bank' those points to spend them when you level up.

Please put skills in your submissions as this :

Skill Name +(Bonus) : # Ranks + # Stat Ranks + # Stat Bonus + # Trait/Feat/Trained/Etc

Example : Acrobatics +12 : 2 Ranks + 2 Stat Ranks + 4 Stat Bonus + 3 Trained + 1 Trait

Mouse is approved for RP, fix skills when able. Liisa, note the skill ranks above and apply them as desired. Note that max ranks is still 4.

Flying Dutchman

The bartender shakes her head. "Not really, there was supposed to be a community fair a block over tonight, but the storm cancelled it. There was going to be a concert in central park too, but again, cancelled." She chuckles. Then there's a strange banging sound from the wall behind the bar, and several pipes that come out of the wall begin to vibrate.

With a groan, the woman turns around and slams her fist into a large brass thermostat on the wall that looks like it was installed in the 50's. "Damn piece of junk, landlord keeps swearing he's going to replace it with a modern system. Sorry." She turns the thermostat up, and the pipes stop banging. "Circulated heat, hot water in the pipes, keeps the place toasty, but it's a b#%!! to keep working."

Your drawback might seriously come back to bite you at some point, though. :P

As in I should consider changing it or as in I have interesting times in my future? It seemed like the drawback that was most fitting for the character, but I could do just as well without it.

It was a cold, hard rain. Just the kind Johnny Slade liked. Except when he was forced to go out in it. He tried to turn up the collar to his trench coat even further to ward against the frigid water baptizing the world. He looked around for The Flying Dutchman: the bar his client's husband had been known to favor. It was another one of those cheating spouse's cases. After the last one he had sworn to himself he wouldn't take any more, but how could he say no to a dame like that? Besides, her money was pretty good. A little too good. Which probably meant it was a set up. But still. Business had been slow lately.

Finally spotting the place, he walks in, squinting a little in the suddenly bright light. His trench coat, now a dark tan, had managed to keep his clothes beneath remarkably dry. He looked kind of like he thought it was still the 40's, clean shaven with a white shirt, suspenders, brown pleated slacks, and brown oxfords. He briefly lifted his fedora to quickly finger comb his damp, short brown hair. All his clothes were clean and in good condition but clearly well used.

He spends a moment shaking off the spare water from his coat and taking note of the entrances, exits, and potential threats present. Satisfied, he strides confidently towards the bar, taking a seat. Slapping a twenty down, he calls to the bar keep. "Whiskey. Neat." When it arrives, he takes a large gulp before turning back to the woman seving alcohol. "Say doll, you haven't seen this man around here lately, have you?" He pulls out a picture of a mousey-looking man with narrow features and a thin mustache.

Flying Dutchman

The blonde bartender makes the whiskey as requested, and takes the $20 and returns $8 bucks. "I'm not your doll, bud." She says, archly, but looks over the picture. "Nah, looks like the type who'd do something stupid like call me babe or doll or honey, and I'd remember that. I always remember that."

As in I should consider changing it or as in I have interesting times in my future? It seemed like the drawback that was most fitting for the character, but I could do just as well without it.

As in... we've received a lot of promises of wealth and power, though some of us have been fine with what's offered.

Also... will saves have been pretty important in this campaign so far. I'd recommend the traits Carefully Hidden or Principled for anyone looking to choose one, if anyone thinks the personality fits. Principled specifically gives +2 vs. charm and compulsion (but -2 on bluff), which would hilariously cancel out all of Johnny Slade's other traits under certain circumstances.

Haha, Johnny is definitely not principled. His code of conduct is fairly flexible. I will rethink the traits though as I'm now concerned I'll get into a situation where I'm killing allies/random people for money and power.

On her response
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22 +1 if it's an opposed check

Johnny raises his hands in surrender, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "No offense intended do-- miss. From what I hear, he would be the type you'd remember. Or at least, them's the rumors. I've been tryin' ta find the truth-- or lack thereof-- in them. When's your shift?" He quickly continues with an explanation before the woman misunderstands. "I heard he's a reg'lar here, and if you haven't seen him perhaps someone on a diff'rent shift has."

To try to improve her general attitude towards him
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29 +1 if she could theoretically be attracted to him

No sense of deception from the bartender

The woman snorts. "I own the place. I don't have an off shift." She seems to have been mollified by the apology though. "I don't recognize him, so he's not a regular." She looks thoughtful. "You sure you weren't told the Raining Duchess? It's a bar about 8 blocks south of here, and 3 blocks east. Down by the docks. I wouldn't bother going down there right now though, the police raided it yesterday, it'll be at least a week before it's open again."

"Ugh, don't even mention raining." Came a voice from the door as a girl walked into the bar, shaking off some rain from an actual rain coat, before leaving it at a table near the the entrance, dangling over a chair. She then proceeded to stand by said chair as she flicked her hands back and forth over her shock of pick hair, causing what little wetness was actually afflicting her, after the coat had been removed, to distribute more evenly. She seemed not to even really notice the brunette, currently caught up in her own first-world problems.

With the raincoat off, everyone could make out a girl of probably half-asian and half caucasian descent, though obviously American, given the young-adult accent. She was wearing a black baby-doll tee with something japanese written along the rib cage in pink. On her left wrist was a spiked bracelet, while her right arm was covered in a multi-colored flower tattoo. Tight jeans, a good belt, and combat boots, a silver chain, and a pair of piercings - also silver - one in her ear, and one in her nose completed the ensemble.

"Concert's canceled, and a bus flipped over, so I can't even get back home." she said as she sighed heavily. "Even better, I forgot to charge my phone! I didn't expect them to cancel the concert for -this-." she motioned back outside, as she made her way towards the bar, pulling a handful of cash out of her pocket.

She pulls a pair of twenties out of the handful, and places them on the bar. She looks at the bartender for a moment, then seems to decide it's probably best to not push her already-stretched-thin luck, looking a slightly disappointed. She very much didn't look twenty-one, after all. "What do you have that's non-alcoholic?"

Then she looked to the other patrons. She grins at Johnny. "Nice kit. Very classy! I'm digging it! Noir party get canceled?" then looks to Liisa who looked to be having a rough night. "And... go ahead and get her another of whatever she wanted. Allowance isn't gonna spend itself."

@Skills - I have reformatted the skills now and added the attribute bonuses.

@Will Saves - Lucky me : )

@Lina - I looked over some of the posts at the start of the game, and Lina's google translate 'sweedish' was a fun touch. But just before I intrude, am I correct in assuming you are not the original Lina so to say? =)
____________________The Flying Dutchman___________________

Liisa sighs when the barkeep informs her about the cancelled events. Just my luck ... But then, she hadn't really expected much to be up in this trice cursed weather! With a thank-you nod to the barkeep, Liisa stared down in her glass. Eh, no use to mope around... With a hearty mouthful of beer she looked up and around again, retrieving her set of cards from her pocket and shuffling them. She had to make the beer last, and this always killed some time!

First she wiped the bardisk clean with the sleeve of her jacket, when the barkeep was distracted by the heating system. "Mmm, know what you mean" She had had the same arrangement in her apartment, probably with a similar dating. At least we don't have to freeze! she thought merrily to herself and dealt herself three cards. The fool, the hermit and death. Ain't that accurate! Quickly, before someone noticed, she scooped the cards back into the deck.

To find alternative ways of passing the time, she instead turned to watch the other customers. The local colour at the bar wasn't that exciting and the first of the new arrivals seemed pretty nondescript. A bit lost maybe, but nothing major. The second one to come on the other hand looked like someone straight out of a detective flick. And sure enough! Looking back at her drink, she turned her attention to eavesdropping on the conversation between the barkeep and the detective. The doll exchange gave her a small chuckle which she quickly drowned in beer. She continued to listen with half a mind after that, but the exchange wasn't terribly exciting after that.

But the third one trough the door was certainly a sight. She reminded her of something she would see in the clubs she frequented back home - or possibly the bathroom mirror say five-ten years ago. As the black/pink girl unloaded on the barkeep, the wheels in the back of Liisas mind started turning. Maybe if she played her cards right, she wouldn't have to find a hotel room for tomorrow. One night in a couch? Wouldn't mind! To the barkeep she ordered "Just a beer please." With these prices, I don't want to poison the well...

With a thankful smile she nodded at the pink girl. "Thanks." she said with a singing foreign accent. "I might be able to give you a hand actually ..." With a single smooth move she retrieved her phone from her pocket, unlocked it and slid it along the bardesk to her benefactor. "Got f!~*ed over by the weather too, cancelled my flight." With the brief comment, she hoped to sow a little seed. "I'm Liisa by the way, nice to meet you. What show where you going too ?"

Smartphone - all the text is in some sort of gibberish (Finnish) but the icons should be recognizable.

Hmm. I am fairly sure I noticed a post here from Phoebe that I managed to hit reply to, but it is gone now.

I'll just put my reply in a spoiler instead and cross my fingers :P

Johnny grimaces slightly upon hearing he didn't need to come all the way out here in this weather. However, not wanting to seem ungrateful, he smiles at the bartender anyway. "Maybe I got my info wrong. I'll be sure to look into it though." He raises his glass to her in a salute, this time taking a smaller sip as he committed the name of the other bar, and the directions, to memory.

I'm sure Mrs. Haverford said he went to 'The Flying Dutchman'. Maybe she was lyin'? Didn't look like it though. Coulda been he gave her the slip, comin' to a nice place like this only ta slip out the back for a shadier joint all quiet-like. I'll have ta look into it.

His thoughts are interrupted by the pink-haired girl. He raises an eyebrow slightly at her appearance but says nothing, merely returning her smile. "Seemed appropriate with the weather." Switching to his best movie star voice, he continues. "It was hard rain. Hard enough to wash the slime off the street." He decided to leave out the part where most of his clothes looked like this. Or his VHS player at home with its piles of tapes next to it. Because yes, he had a VHS player. It was one of his few, thankfully cheap, escapes.

Lessah: You're not crazy; I definitely have her post in my RSS feed. But since it disappeared, for now I'll go with the "it hasn't happened (yet)" response.

As Liisa passes her phone over to the new girl, Johnny catches sight of the foreign language. He looks briefly surprised to see gibberish, but then his face lights up. "Great security idea there! I never would have thought of it. Would try it meself, but I'm afraid I don't have the head for languages. Plus my phone is dumb enough I wouldn't be surprised iff'n it didn't have a languages setting. Works great as a doorstop though." His eyes sparkle in amusement as he takes another sip of his drink.

It was there! I pulled it out like 2 minutes after posting and stored it, so I could give OTHER people a chance to reply. :P I don't want to steal all the interactions! I'll go ahead and post it now, though, since all of you already got it :P I'm really self-concious about how much I post, especially since I did an intro without allowing Mouse to respond! Just to fix it, since I'm a bad: Mouse->This->Lessah

"Sweet!" Came the reply from the maybe-twenty-something teenager as she took the phone, beaming. "It's a lot better than looking for a payphone, and the taxi driver was going full-on-extortion. Wanted to get home, so either wanted me to pay double the fair, or get out. Out seemed better... I have no idea what any of this does. I'm gonna assume the phone one will do the phone numbers thing." she nodded as it did in fact bring up a touch-tone interface. "Just call and get them to send something out." she said as she's punching in the numbers. "Don't you just love how smart phones still use those old-timey ear-and-mouth-piece phones for symbols? It's like how they use floppy disk icons for saving." she grins as she continues to share her lack of brain-to-mouth filter, and her apparently-sunny disposition. She puts the phone to her ear. "And how our phones memorize all of our numbers for us, so we don't have to worry about actually being sure we have the right number until an emergency? Ugggh." she said as she handed the phone back, with the three-tone 'not a real phone number' response still coming out of it. "Maybe I'll get it later."

She slid in beside Liisa, given that she seemed friendly, "I honestly don't know. Momzilla thinks I could use some culture. So it could have been anything from Classical, to a blue-grass thing, to even more folky... all the way up to 'classic' rock. She's not really a fan of my tastes." she shrugs, "And dad obliges her, because dad does the working thing, not the kid thing." She holds out her hand, "Phoebe, though my friends call me Feebers, and yes, I know that is not at all an abbreviation."

I figure one way for her to get out is for her to actually remember the number and get a ride, but that may mess with things involving Liisa piggy-backing. :P And now for the reply!

"Scene? Iunno. I'm more into alternative stuff and stuff from dad's country. Techno's cool, too. I think I'd die without Dub." She instinctively reaches to pull out her phone, and has already swiped before remembering it's dead. She frowns for a moment, then shrugs.

"What about you guys, what kind of music do you listen to?"

I can't post a big reply now, but this might be Phoebe's sort of music then :P?

Feebs and I both approve! I love the big band feel.

The bartender eyes the underage girl, and just then the lightning strikes outside, and the front door rattles in it's frame. "Right, I got soda." She pours the girl a coke, and gets the beer for Liisa. "Due to the storm, you can order soda. No drink sharing. And the beer is on the house, you're not paying for it. And it's the last beer on the house." She tells Phoebe sternly.

The Flying Dutchman

Luna and everyone here was running out of time she had to find the ones she needed and get out, she spots the group of three talking and heads to them in a rush. Hopefully she can get rid of the girl with time and only take those without.

"Sorry to intrude but I don't have much time." She focused on the two with the lowest timers."I'm in need of help and quickly long story short can you handle yourselves in the wilderness?She glances at Phoebe."You should leave, now if possible."

What do I do when I've found the ones we need?

"Right..." Liisa grins at the man in trench-coat. She hadn't thought of that. Just one more thing to get used to here in the states. "It's easier if you grow up with the language."

Putting Phoebe's looks and the stereotype of 'Japanese dad' together, Liisa feels she has a pretty good guess at what country that would be! Thanks internet. Truly brings us all together... Conjuring her cellphone once again, she puts on a happy tune. Everyone could appreciate that - or am I completely out of tune with the youth these days? Shuddering at the thought of growing old, Liisa lowers the volume a bit just to be sure. "A bit of this and that. Not as much techno I admit, but a fair bit of industrial and synth.-"

When the nondescript brunette animates and comes at them, Liisa almost bites her tongue. It reminded her of a junkie needing a fix and she instinctively scooted a bit away from her. "Err - define 'help'?" There was certainly something wrong with that woman! Or maybe people are just more outgoing in this part of the world? She glanced briefly at her original companions to judge how they reacted. I could just play along a little... "I have hiked once and twice ..."

I think I'm going to drop the Power-Hungry and Charming traits. The former will be just a tendency to want power/money and the latter seems a bit awkward in terms of requiring everyone to have a defined orientation. I can post updated stats if desired.

Johnny smiles slightly. "As you might expect, I like blues and the occasional jazz song. I'm Johnny, by the by. Johnny Slade."

When the new girl comes over, he raises both eyebrows at her. "I'm more'n urban type myself. What kinda help were you lookin' fer?" If she needs help with th' wilderness, this seems an odd type place ta come. Ain't much wild here 'bouts. 'Cept maybe some of the people.

Phoebe actually put a bit of distance between herself and the girl. Combining being in a less-friendly part of town than where she lived (not that that was hard), with the way she acted... and she was fairly certain she didn't want to have too much to do with her. "I... don't think it'd be a good idea for me to leave right now. I think I'll finish my drink, and wait for my ride..." she trailed off.

Merp. Just dropping by to say that I'll probably switch my Cha and Int.

(Int 16 Cha 14 -> Int 14 Cha 16)

While I really like splashing skillpoints and such around, I think I may have a copy of every pathfinder Int-based character already running at the moment : )