
Distan Baccini |

So... Bastion, Tika, and anyone else in the 'new' group (Ancian, I think?)you guys want to hammer out a brief backstory for why we're traveling together? I have a tentative character reason for Distan to be headed to Flamekeep (following up a lead on a case) so it could be something as simple as our having met on the road a few days back & deciding it's safer to travel in a group, but I'm up for anything more elaborate if you guys are.

Tika Swiftclaw |

I have a few ideas for my character seeing as how she is a bit of a street Urchin. Admitadly some of them are a tad more extreme than others (Things like her being caught by one of the group liberating a few coins from there purse and them taking pity on her or perhaps helping her out of a spot of bother after having been caught in the act of trying to do it to someone else) Like I said these are a tad extreme and not the thing for all groups so I'll wait and see what the others think.

Ancian Orien |

I'm okay with most ideas. It would make sense for us to have met on the road and decided grouping up is a good idea. Ancian is a traveler by nature and has been adventuring through the 5 nations waiting for his dragonmark to evolve, and would love the company.
Tika and Distan, if you want to embellish I'm open to anything.

Levis RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32 |

Should have known you'd find a way to work an elephant into your game...
It's always been a running joke back home, so I always drop one at some point!
1st character - Druid/Bard w/ Elephant companion
2nd adventure - Those two-trunked elephant men from Spell Jammer
5th adventure - Haunted Phiarlan Circus
Current PFS character - Vudrani summoner who basically summons an avatar of Ganesha!

Darius Kirisallin |

Well well well... How the mighty have flourished without me! -Grins- Hello all. Guess who is back in town? Finally got my connection sorted, my life straightened out and everything else in check. I am going to be around from now on so, Old Crew, looking forward to playing with you again sometime maybe. New Crew, nice to see ya'll in the game. :)
Levi, my friend, I must apologize to you personally. Damn world got the best of me for awhile. I'm happy to have gotten the opportunity to play alongside you. Thanks for that, and sorry I disappeared. See you around!

Monkeygod |

Well well well... How the mighty have flourished without me! -Grins- Hello all. Guess who is back in town? Finally got my connection sorted, my life straightened out and everything else in check. I am going to be around from now on so, Old Crew, looking forward to playing with you again sometime maybe. New Crew, nice to see ya'll in the game. :)
Levi, my friend, I must apologize to you personally. Damn world got the best of me for awhile. I'm happy to have gotten the opportunity to play alongside you. Thanks for that, and sorry I disappeared. See you around!
Levis, can we keep him?? PLEASE?!? Darius be good folk and I know for a fact he wasn't intentionally duckin us as I had emailed him about the game I have him as PC in and he never got back to me, then I found out he had a computer meltdown...

Darius Kirisallin |

-Puts up hand- And a real life meltdown too. I actually just found that email last night Monkey. Thanks for sending it. Is cool to know I got friends like you around here! :)
And thanks for trying to twist Levis arm. Hahaha! Glad to see Darius made an impression.
I will say, I am up for staying, if their is space. If not, I am cool stepping down. I was gone for months.

Vorik Kessler |

First thing that should be established is that the PCs are going to try and liberate Karrnath on their own, as it would be the course of action least likely to result in a lot of deaths.
Of course, we can offer the High Cardinal something solid in return for actually letting us attempt our plan.

DankeSean RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4 |

My copy of Five Nations is in storage, so I'm at a loss as to the personality of the cardinal. (Though I assume he's the greedy douche Levi's been playing him as.)
So, he's gonna want some profitable concessions here; maybe there's some valuable land on a disputed border or something.
As for what Kaiuss wants: well, I'm not sure how desperate and ready to soak the soil of his nation in the blood of his people he is. So I'm not sure what he'd be asking for; Thrane's full backing, or, maybe, just enough to covertly plant a small group (hi, us!) in Karrnath in a vampire hunting mission. We are so not of a vampire killing level, but I leave such problems to the GM. :-) So maybe diplomatic papers that grant us access to Karrhold, maybe some magical support & some kind of extraction method.
All of which will cost Thrane (and the Cardinal) less and presumably require less renumeration. Plus maybe the cardinal is simply politically savvy enough that having a grateful King on the throne of Karrnath can give him some extra diplomatic leverage at home? Perhaps enough that he'll have even more clout when butting heads with a certain child ruler than he already does?

Monkeygod |

My brother plans to chime in, but he's been busy at school.
I have to admit, "thinking like an exile" has me stumped. Not sure if you want me to think like somebody whose not aware of current events, or somebody who wants to avoid capture at any cost. Maybe even something else.

DankeSean RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4 |

So one thing that comes to mind- well, kind of a series of things.
Once upon a time treaties between nations would be sealed with arranged marriages and the like. Now, Jaela is young for marriage, of course, and I don't know if there's someone of equivalent age in Karnaath to betroth her too, and even if there were, as a theocracy rather than a hereditary monarchy it's questionable what the long term political gain of such an engagement would be. But then, there is still a figurehead royal family in Thrane, isn't there, that basically has no power but is purely symbolic? Anyhow, that might be worth considering as part of Thrane's price for the agreement.
And then, it dawned on me, Kaiuss REALLY has something big to offer. Since you mentioned he may be bitter towards his ancestral religion (Blood of Vol, I assume?)- what if he were willing to give a SIGNIFICANT amount of support for the Silver Flame should he return to power in Karnaath? Nothing so major as making it a state religion, but agreeing to support & tacitly endorse Flame evangelists/missionaries, putting his weight behind the building of churches and cathedrals in every major Karnaathi city, lining his court with a number of advisors from the church, etc.
This is the kind of thing Krozen might JUMP at. Expanding the church's authority eastward in a major way would give the man responsible for it a HUGE amount of clout. (And opportunity for financial gain, of course.)
So there's that.

The Bastion |

Not to be nit-picky, Vorik, but I noticed your AC is a little bit off. Yours is stated to be 24, but it should be 23, as you have a -1 Dexterity modifier. I was just looking through profiles, as I realized that there are now 2 rogues, and I figured I'd look at others as well.

DankeSean RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4 |

So... just as an explanation as to why Distan's taking a powder.
I'm not leaving the game. But I had a conversation with levi a few weeks back where I explained that Distan was feeling less and less appropriate to the campaign; ultimately I created the wrong character for the job. (He legitimately doesn't have any interest in being on a Vampire Hit Squad.) So, I asked if I could replace him with a better fitting character and got his approval (thus the character stat rolls above). I'll miss my little chatterbox detective, but I do have high hopes for my next character.