Yeah no kidding!
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I don't know about everyone else, but I'm pleased that Fin had a hot streak with the dice roller when it came to making the tattoo checks..
Yeah, I was happy with that lucky streak as I didn’t want to screw anything up with the tattoos as they’re more personal….
Every check over a twenty! Fin might be able to go pro with the tatt thing after this is all over…
Now watch, everything evens out, so my first few attack rolls in the next book might prove abysmal…
@Selena: wasn’t sure if you wanted the group tattoo or not, so I put your’s in a spoiler if you do choose to get it…
Maka would pretty much need to drag Selena into it, mostly because Selena sees it as pointless and would rather keep working on... whatever surprise she working on. After all, her next body won't keep the tat and it seems rather unseemly for a noble (downright scandalous jn fact). If Maka did somehow drag her into it, she wouldn't have much interest in what it looks like.
Drag Selena to a tattoo? And get turned into a frog?
Zorka still with us? Does she say anything about the men in cages?
Saki, Selena will stop you from opening a cage if you try.
You've seen no sign of Zorka yet in this room.
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She usually just kind of appears out of nowhere, but I think we found her once coming out of the fireplace, which seems to be a constant in the cauldron room. We could look in there if we want to try and find her. But again, I don't think she's going to help us. Sweeping is the only task in her job description. It'd be like trying to get a Teamster to do something on his lunch hour.
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Arriving back at the hut after an overnight celebration at the Centaur camp, Fin was in a great mood. Upon leaving cursed Artrosa, he had been able to send Oparal a message via Tezuzu’s magic, letting her know approximately when they’d be arriving; she promptly responded saying she would be there. To top things off, Fin was able to dance at the Centaur camp, one of his favorite activities…
After freeing Ratibor from Baba Yaga’s hut using her book they retrieved from Artrosa, Fin went out to the porch with Izzy, sat down, scratching between the croc’s eyes, and watched for Oparal’s approach. A few minutes later, Ratibor came out on the porch, all packed up and ready to leave the hut and journey back to his home…
”Fin…I’ve already thanked the others and said my goodbyes. I know we didn’t get off to a good start…but thank you…”
Fin grinned at the man. ”No worries, my friend. I didn’t like you much either to start with; many a time I wanted to put an arrow in your eye. But then I figured if I’d been guarding this damn hut for a thousand years or so, I wouldn’t be pleasant either…”
Ratibor grinned slightly before going on. ”Here, meant to give you this when you arrived…but when you mentioned you had the book, slipped my mind,” he said handing him a note with a wax seal. He saw the his name etched in the Elven style, knowing it to be Oparal’s handwriting…
Sensing ill news, his heart sank. Sighing, Fin looked up to Ratibor, somberly asking, ”When did it arrive?”
Ratibor answered. ”Less than an hour before you arrived…I saw her approach and toss it on the porch, but she had disappeared by the time it took me to open the door…hope it’s not bad news…I’ll be going now…”
Fin clasped arms with him. ”Farewell…safe journeys, my friend…”
As Ratibor walked away, Fin sat back down, staring at the letter, turning it over and over between his fingers, as if delaying reading it would make it go away…finally, he opened it and began to read…
My dearest Findurêl,
Where to begin? So many things have happened in the days since I replied to your message. I was truly excited to receive it and couldn’t wait to see you again…and the others as well…but mostly you. My good friend, the gnome I told you I traveled with previously, Kromgnite, had miraculously recovered from his injuries due to our crash, so it seemed nothing could prevent me from joining you…alas, I was wrong…
When I had packed my things into my backpack, I went to tell Kromgnite goodbye…and he cried. When I went to comfort him, I cried as well; we had journeyed long together and he had been my friend for many years…
He confessed that he loved me…and didn’t think he could go on living without me…I was surprised by his passion…but then it dawned upon me, that I loved him as well…and I could not leave him alone…I knew if I tried to tell you this in person, my resolve would fail and I’d leave with you, hence this note…
I will not try to justify this to you…but I want you to know my feelings. My feelings for Kromgnite are no stronger than my feelings for you…but I’ve known him so much longer. And, while I know you’re very fond of me, I know he loves me…and his occupation at present is a lot less dangerous than yours, Fin…
I will say so long, for now, but not goodbye…we Elves live longer than gnomes and other humanoids…perhaps we’ll meet again in later years…or decades…or even centuries. If so, you’ll find me much the same as I purchased a ring similar to yours…
Sorry for disappointing you…
Till we meet again,
Oparal
Fin doesn’t realize till he’s finished this letter that he’s been weeping…drying his tears, he hears this faint, flute-like music coming across the wind from the south. He perks up hopefully, and then, after murmuring, ”Izzy, stay,” he goes dashing off to the south, following the sound of music…
As Fin gets closer to it, the music suddenly stops…and so does he, listening for it to start again…but it never does…and, after a while, he knows it never will. Knowing Oparal from before, he doesn’t bother trying to track her as she never left much in the way of tracks before, she was too skilled for that…
Morosely, Fin walks slowly back to the hut. When he arrives, he sits on the porch, looking off to the south, his eyes red. Unconsciously scratching his animal companion between the eyes, he murmurs lightly, ”Everybody leaves, Izzy…everybody…leaves…”
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She picked the gnome? Fin needs to up his game.
Yep, he’s lost women to an arrogant Elf lord, a Razmiran bolt, and a sickly gnome…and Sakitu has been mighty quiet since we left Spurhorn. Erastil might be sending him signs to take his monk training more seriously, mayhap a vow of celibacy or the like is in order…perhaps Fin can perform an act of penance at Castle Anthrax to right things… ;)
Wrong castle. Trust me. That's where you go to become an incubus. :)
Don't worry though, I won't bore you love stories. Selena hasn't had any. I need to get around to telling stories of her growing up, but it just takes so long and I'm stealing time to write anything at all.
It's even worse now, as at the end of the week, I'm stuck with only uber, and in need of a primary job again. Anyone know a good one, preferably in a red state that isn't super hot and deserty in summer?
Death to all gnomes! The good for nothing monsters!
:)
Seriously Fin, You're not going to see how Quasit or I react in order to determine if what he said was hostile? What if he was just asking our names?
Frankly, I'm guessing he wants the gingerbread. Seeing as how we ran into Otik, I think we have four branches to clear, Otik, and as Otik seems unlikely to be seeking a lost heritage a man, kids in candyland, and a woman with a doll (sounds familiar I think).
GM, is Otik small enough to fit through the doorway?
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Fin fired at the vines, not Potato Head…can’t imagine a scenario where 4 vines moving towards us are friendly…as the only one who spotted them, I figured it was better to act now than let ‘em potentially grapple us and say, “Oops, my bad, I saw ‘em but waited to see if they were friendly.” Fin was grabbed and nearly killed by a giant plant at Artrosa, he’s much more likely to act in this situation…
I forgot to mention, the Knowledge (Nature) check was good enough to recognize Otik as some kind of mutant mandragora. Otik looks too large to fit through the fireplace you came through.
Fin, I wasn't necessarily calling for initiative right now. If you want to shoot the vines before they get closer to you, you can, but combat wasn't about to start otherwise. I'll let you decide base on that if you want to retcon the shot.
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If anyone is feeling like Quasit jumped to the offensive pretty quickly here, they are probably not wrong. Those who know her pretty well would recognize that she normally would try a bit longer and perhaps even wait for the creature to initiate combat in this situation.
Whether this is the product of her experience with these sorts of situations or whether she's just not in the mood to mess around at the moment, I leave to the observer's judgment.
I think we got basically all the info we were going to get from the potato and he was definitely going to try to eat Quasit.
Elvana and a Black bearded monk, both Baba Yaga's children, have been inside this particular instance of the hut. Might not be a bad idea to have Quasit go first to be on the lookout for traps going forward. Check doors before opening and rooms before entering.
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If anyone is feeling like Quasit jumped to the offensive pretty quickly here…
Yeah, I was surprised at you, Q, Fin never does that…
I was ready to fire when the vines started creeping towards us, not getting nearly eaten by a plant again if I can help it. Plus it looks like it speaks a language that none of us do so gonna be hard to communicate…think continuing this would just have him eating up all of y’all’s rations and then still wanting to eat Q…
It seems like a puzzle encounter to me. Have the right key and you unlock the puzzle.
The only question is whether the reward is simply avoiding a fight or if there's a benefit unobtainable by fighting our way through.
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Maybe, but it doesn't really feel that way to me. I think he's served his purpose -- he's let us know he's a child of Baba Yaga, he's referred to a brother (who is likely the Forsaken Son) as a black-bearded monk. If we don't get our usual RavenVision about where the next key is, we at least have a person to search for now.
Plus I wanna see what's in the box. Hopefully it's not Gwyneth Paltrow's head. Or any of her GOOP products.
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@Kal don't forget your Will save not to throw up.
Hey look, a Fin and Maka fight scene is in the new John Wick
So just to give a little perspective. With the extra attacks from Haste Saki has added 161 points of damage. And that number will only go up as the fight goes on.
Granted there are two crits in there, but extra crit chances are just another advantage that Haste provides. And because the extra damage from haste easily ended this fight 2 rounds earlier than without, the party is saved from a decent amount of potential damage and status effects.
All of that for the low, low cost of a 3rd level spell slot.
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I really liked John Wick 1.
I liked John Wick 2 just fine, but I don't remember as much of it. Ruby Rose was a badass, too bad they made her mute.
John Wick 3 was a really long sit for me. I found a lot of it just silly.
John Wick 4 was like, f$$@ it, all we care about is stunt fight sequences. Let's just give Keanu a single word to say every 30 minutes and then have lots of overblown cartoonish fight choreography. But Donnie Yen was great, of course.
I really hope the rumors about John Wick 5 are unfounded. There is nothing more to do with that character.
Yeah it's crazy how realistic and grounded the first movie seems compared to where we ended up. Like at this point 19% of the world population seems to secretly be an assassin just waiting to shoot someone.
I doubt we'll get a John Wick 5 but they'll probably keep making movies in the universe. We'll also almost certainly get a John Wick prequel covering his impossible task. If not a whole damn prequel trilogy.
Having played through some tomb of horrors and other nonsense death dungeons, I'm paranoid that the darkness portals are going to split us up. Some of us go to the next room, some of us go to the spike trap as acid starts to fill the room. And also our gear didn't teleport with us. Also there is a troll that is immune to acid. Actually he's empowered by acid.
But the spike trap room people are the lucky ones. Everyone else just goes through the next fireplace portal but this time it's a sphere of annihilation...Hey could we poke some stuff with a 10ft pole?
Yeah that sort of nonsense isn't very conducive to a plot, but I can't help but worry.
:p
Don't worry Saki, I'll bring you back to life. You might end up as a manly dwarf though.
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I guess then we'd see if Fin's love is more than fur deep.
You know, it would be some amazing roleplay opportunities. And seeing a burly bearded dwarf acting like fluttershy would be hilarious.You don't mind dying for our entertainment, do you Saki?
Ride the blast is going to be so great for flanking set up for foes not immune to flanking and sneak attack. Either way it's amazing for Maka's action economy to be able to charge up a blast and get within Melee range.
@DM I'm mostly fluffing it as part of the Flame Jet stuff for thematic consistency, but Maka can actually turn herself into fire as part of her attack. This serves as a mini teleport effect and allows her to get through anything she could send a fire blast through. So she could get into/out of cages or the like.
When Selena's turn comes around, she'll try to determine if the spiders are an illusion.
Talk about Spider monsters.
@Selena The spiders don't appear to be illusions.
It's entirely fair to talk about me. Ye've been very patient but it's beyond things just being hectic, I'm just completely out of the habit of checking the forums. It's that kind of, I'm wrecked or busy and say "Oh yeah I should post but I'll get to it in the morning." And then I don't or it's piled up to a huge amount of posts which makes it more daunting to catch up. Or as happened a little while back I do try to post but the site wouldn't let me log in... and I wander off back to real life.
If I am holding things up which I often am I'd hate to see Bulvi just abandoning the group but having him actively adventure might not be working the best either. And he's taking a chunk of the loot which I'm not even spending on gear. I don't know if there's an in between solution where he stays behind at the hut and guards things, maybe poke me when there's downtime RP back at the hut and I can do a post or two.
Like even in the current fight I am trying to figure out if there's anything aside from the swarm for him to fight. There's so many times I'm checking over and trying to catch up and kicking myself for missing moments that would have been great to respond to that he would have but I'm not even asleep at the wheel.
How would people feel about that? I didn't try to read through the three hundred posts but I see we are fighting in Baba Yaga's hut, maybe we can use it as an excuse for his change in role but I don't fully get the context just a spider daemon has rocked up.
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I will tell you right now, my preference is for Bulvi to stay in the party as a full member.
Bulvi is an original member of the group, and he shares the full story of our adventure so far. He remembers Yu Khan and Alleria. Bulvi is engaged in a friends-with-benefits relationship with Maka. And as a rogue, I'm usually counting on a big tank type holding the monster aggro so I can do my sneak thing. Plus, when Bulvi does pipe up, you write him well and add his unique dry sense of humor to our banter.
Ultimately this is about whether Bulvi's player is enjoying the game and has time to participate. I recognize that sometimes I get carried off in little roleplaying frenzies that stack up dozens of posts in short order, not to mention long backstory asides, and you are not the only person to find that amount of posting daunting to sift through.
I can live with Bulvi as a strong silent type as long as he's ready to go for combat situations. In those cases, the GM is trying to coordinate a fast moving action sequence, and really needs everyone to be checking in at least once a day.
Would it help if we sent you a private message when combat begins, to let you know we need you? And that you just need to skip to the end of the forum to respond to the tactical situation?
Sounds like beginnings of burnout. I've been dancing around that line myself. We believe in you Bulvi! :)
I'd second I'd prefer for Bulvi to stay around.
I don't know that leaving Bulvi behind with the hut is a good solution though. Based on the past AP books, the group will likely be away from the hut for weeks or months in game time and the better part of a year in real time.
I do appreciate it when I get prompts over discord from people, Maka more recently and Fin quite a bit in the past for fights. People have done a good job botting Bulvi at different points but no one knows your character as well as you.
I think I need to get disciplined and get into a routine for checking and posting. I used to sit down and spend one hour a day posting in various PBPs
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I do appreciate it when I get prompts over discord from people, Maka more recently and Fin quite a bit in the past for fights. People have done a good job botting Bulvi at different points but no one knows your character as well as you.
I think I need to get disciplined and get into a routine for checking and posting. I used to sit down and spend one hour a day posting in various PBPs
I don’t mind doing that Bull, I was afraid I was being a pest…I’ll continue to do that if you can put up with it as I’d like Bull to stay on as well…
Almost to Ft Worth; long day…
I do appreciate it when I get prompts over discord from people, Maka more recently and Fin quite a bit in the past for fights. People have done a good job botting Bulvi at different points but no one knows your character as well as you.
I think I need to get disciplined and get into a routine for checking and posting. I used to sit down and spend one hour a day posting in various PBPs
I don’t mind doing that Bull, I was afraid I was being a pest…I’ll continue to do that if you can put up with it as I’d like Bull to stay on as well…
Almost to Ft Worth; long day…
Woot! Almost to where I am!
I'd say let's meet up, but I'm too ugly. One look and you'd keel over from the horror. :)
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I totally want Bulvi to stay! What was he called, Honey Bunny?
I feel you on the post catchup thing. As well as the "oh, I could have posted there, and there, and there..." Too many times I do a fast-forward type post.
You all are patient enough with that with me so I expect you would be with Bulvi too.
Speaking of travel. I'm also traveling this weekend. But I'll try to stay online and keep up.