Full Disclosure:
I am a straight cis white male. There are many things I do not fully grok about issues of gender and sexuality. It is not at all my intention to offend or be bothersome in any way. As such, I will let you folks take the lead. Please forgive me if I screw something up with regard to any such issues.
The point of this encounter should be that Sefina is overwhelmingly sexy to anyone who cares, but obviously let's respect anyone's boundaries when it comes to identity, sexuality, or any sort of force or sexual compulsion. Play things out as much as you are comfortable, but I would never want to compromise you or cause any pain related to these subjects.
I very much appreciate your saying that. You've always handled such issues with care and I very much have faith you will continue to do so.
ETA: My thought is to play this up with more humor than creepy reaction or manipulation.
I know Paizo themselves have avoided things that involve lustful compulsion and the like since the time S&S came out, knowing it can be awkward for some players. Out of curiosity I looked up the 2e version of the nereid and they completely got rid of the beguiling beauty aura, and changed her "drowning kiss" ability to "drowning touch."
On responding to posts--I'm sorry if I'm coming off as needy there. In particular, if I make a die roll, I do appreciate a pointed acknowledgement of the roll (especially if the roll is good! ;) ). (I try to do the same when I GM, though I'm not sure I've always succeeded.) I acknowledge it can be hard in PBP when responding to multiple posts.
I truly, FWIW, was unable to interpret your posts as a response to my rolls (and at times to other players'). I'm not sure if I'm just not picking up on it or what. The only reason I have kept pointing it out is because I'm waiting on the results as it may inform my next action.
Not coming off as needy. I tend to process those sorts of things in my head when I probably should process them more explicitly in PbP games.
Sorry I was quiet. Some unscheduled (as in we didn't know about it) maintenance by Comcast made things annoying.
I'n going for humor here too. Because why not? Sometimes we're our own worst enemies right?
BTW will be slow over the weekend. Got a lot going on!
Sal will drool and Riori will play it cool. Bot as needed.
Currently without electricity. Might be a week to get restored. I’ll post when I can.
Ouch. Stay safe.
Power is back on and will likely stay that way. Internet is spotty and my cable is lying on the ground until at least Thursday morning. But for now I'm functional.
In other news, why do Nereids, who have an aura based on seeing them, have a poison that blinds people?
I wonder if that is a relic of an older edition. Maybe their beauty blinded people. That would fit with mythology, I think. I'll have to grab my old monster manuals.
Mythologically they were just nice, very beautiful ladies who were the daughters of Oceanus, god of the sea. Though I think some broader nymph myths refer to men being beguiled by the Nymph's beauty.
I believe there was a myth of someone who was blinded because they witnessed a goddess bathing (Googles...)--ah, yes, Tieresias, blinded by Athena because he saw her bathing. But she gave him the gift of prophecy in compensation.
I expect it's a matter of the monster designer trying to fold too much into one monster concept, and/or making them more threatening. A lot of D&D (and ergo Pathfinder) monsters often blend stories together to create a monster profile.
BTW I remember at some point someone saying that monsters with aura capabilities can choose to suppress their aura. But that might be a house rule. I'd say if it was (Su) they could suppress it and (Ex) they can't.
Wednesday through Sunday I'll be travelling to New York City with slightly fewer than 100 teenagers. Wednesday I'll be on an overnight bus trip, so if the wifi is working I'll attempt to post.
Otherwise talk amongst yourselves.
(You will not be able to edit directly but you can add comments).
Only Ekote can use scroll of transmute rock to mud, and assuming the scrolls of water breathing are with it, they are probably all arcane, so all should go to Ekote.
None of us really use cutlasses, but Sal is proficient and could certainly hold onto it while they are adventuring on the island in case she runs into yet another disarm-happy foe. Then it seems like a good thing to hand to an NPC on the ship unless we need to sell it for the money. Sal likes her ranseur best but is happy to hack at monsters with whatever she has to hand.
Looking at the loot we never divvied out from the fight on the Chelish ship (now on loot sheet very belatedly), I was thinking she probably should have taken the Headband of Intellect +2 (sense motive). She doesn't have a headband, and the extra skill points don't hurt. She'd probably also grab the three masterwork handaxes, they are better throwing weapons than her two ordinary daggers. We should hold onto the Chelish signet ring in case we'd like to forge a document. The +2 Heavy Darkwood shield could go to Riori... she has a +1 quickdraw light darkwood shield I'm half tempted to prefer since it is easier to draw and has no ACP, but more AC is never a bad thing. Not that we would have access to this loot pile at the moment (presumably it's on the ship) but just don't want to keep forgetting about it.
I'm with you on that assignment of goods. Ekote doesn't need the headband. Thren can wait for one a bit longer to find one that suits her needs better. I'd say sell the cutlass when the time comes. We've generally not had a lot of loot at any time, then gotten a load and then bought stuff. I'd rather we have some coin honestly.
Thank you so much for the attention and detail to your camp plans. The tone that comes through is that that was pleasant and not onerous, but regardless, I appreciate it. (Having a rough week in the midst of two very busy weeks at work, so any mental/emotional relief is welcome.) One of the things that I somehow miss from earlier editions is dealing with simple problems. Maybe it is just that I don't play enough at low levels, but I miss games where things like sleeping and water in the wilderness were important.
And here, where the adventure is taming a "wild" island (trying not to think too much of the post-colonial implications of settling a "deserted" island where indigenous people are clearly living), it seems like keeping track of such things is worthwhile.
I read once (in a National Geographic, I think) about an expedition into this isolated valley in South America. Real lost world stuff, a place where no humans had been for a very long time. Lots of unique species discovered and all that. But the image that stuck with me is that the group on their first night in the valley prepared celebratory cups of hot chocolate and then turned in. (I've always assumed that there was liquor involved that they didn't report.) One of the people left a tin mug of hot chocolate residue sitting out while they slept, and overnight ants and cockroaches scoured it clean. I don't know why, but that image always stuck with me.
I love outdoorsy stuff so I actually got carried away writing it up (though I expect Sal would be a much better camper than I am.). Glad you enjoyed it; was worried maybe I went overboard. I like getting into these details sometimes--it's hard to strike a balance between focusing on the details in a fun way and getting lost in the weeds over tracking resources. This was fun.
Sorry your work is rough; I'm hitting a super busy patch too so may be slow for a couple days (in fact I shouldn't have written as long a post for Riori as I did but needed a moment :) ).
I am glad that you had such level of details. Thren has enough sense to come in out of the rain. I think. But how to camp? Ha!
I know the stealth checks aren't super impressive but I am hoping the Survival check to id a path safely away from the anaconda might help...
If not Sal will console herself with another giant monster fight...
Busy weekend, will post tonight
I will be offline starting tomorrow save periodically until Monday; please bot as needed.
I've been playing far too much Tears of the Kingdom, and looking at the detail on the map, I see the sword and shield on the ground, and all I can think is, "Quick, grab it and fuse it before the Hinox gets us!"
That's almost as bad as me walking along and seeing flowers and still asking myself what Skyrim potion they make.
I'm an amateur herbalist so I get into internal arguments with Skyrim about what the herbs actually do versus what they say they do. For example, re: lavender. It seems perfectly sensible to me that a flower with real life antiseptic properties should be used in a healing potion or resist disease potion, but no, it's resist magic, ravage magicka, fortify conjuration, and fortify stamina.
Well, the lack of any magi makes it hard for us to know if it could really fortify conjuration....
Speak for yourself. ;)
Yeah, my levels don't include conjuration spellcasting. Got nerfed for being OP :P
Everything ok, Lathiira? You're usually quick to post.
Any word on what is going on with Lathiira? I'm increasingly concerned.
Me too. I have tried texting and emailing. Sometimes his work gets really hectic but that normally doesnt keep him away for long.
If I don't hear soon I'm going to try to reach out to some mutual friends/contacts and see if they've heard anything.
I have spectacularly awful news that one cannot convey well in text:
Allen (Lathiira) died last Friday. His funeral is this Friday.
Unfortunately, the mutual acquaintances I had with him, I had a falling out with one of them, so they'd lost my primary contact info. I reached out to them today and received the news. Apparently likely not long after he posted, he walked to work as he always did, and got hit by a car whose driver fell asleep at the wheel. He was flown to shock trauma and was in treatment for his injuries, which included breaks in both legs. As is a common risk for extremity trauma, he died of sepsis.
He was a good friend to me for a long time so I need some time to process this.
But I can say right now, as original GM, I think I would like to close this game, and let it end with him.
That is truly awful and horrifying. I'm so sorry for your loss. I've lost a few friends to unexpected violence, an it is a different sort of loss than other ways, at least in my experience.
Of course I'll shut this down. We were here because the two of you were such a great team, and I wanted to keep that going.
I'm sure I can't do much for you, but if there is anything I can do let me know.