Nevynxxx's CotCT (Inactive)

Game Master Nevynxxx

"Very well, that is two stops. One at an apothecary and one at my house. I believe my daughter can play a role in this assault. I'll give her a note and have her deliver it to Kroft. That should give us a half-hour head start, and by the time the Guard arrives, it should be over one way or another. Then they can take any prisoners away and examine the evidence themselves. Does that sound reasonable?"

If it does, Roj is ready to head out.

"Hmmm... I'm not so sure about that Roj. What if the Guard doesn't find the evidence there? After all, it might be somewhere else; wouldn't *we* be the ones in trouble then? And the guy, we know he has powerful friends. They could have us arrested, and Kroft surely wouldn't help us, since she wouldn't want the Guard associated with the strike against Devargo. Hmmm, Roj? I would keep the Guard out of this for the time being. If we find evidence, we can then bring it to Kroft ourselves. What do you say guys?"

Besides they are too busy to take prisioners themselves... remember last time? Too busy to gather in their very own. Don't bring your daughter into this Roj, or Kroft for that matter.

He pauses.

Tactics? I say me and Erik here charm the two guards outside the boat and tell them we'll cover them and ask them to go find an inn to rest in, then we board and clean house... I mean boat.

"I hadn't thought of that, Borden." Roj strokes his beard, thinking hard. "I do not think the Guard would arrest us for what we're about to do, but I agree. I guess Alitsa would be safer to not be involved, especially with the Arkonas potentially tied to this. So, Erik and Borden charm two guards, get them to leave, and then Erik goes in, disguised. We walk in, try Erik's plan to get Devargo quickly, and then take it from there?"

Heading toward the door, Roj mutters under his breath. "I just hope none of this plan falls apart...Seems pretty complicated to me..."

Erik seems equal parts excited and nervous. He holds his hands behind his back to keep them out of sight, and follows Roj to the door.

Let's go shopping! One antitoxin each?

Bit of a busy day today, I'm not in work and it's smallest's birthday. Will post when I get some time, but may be later on.

Ok, your plan is simple enough. I'll need diplomacy checks/spell details for the guards. Drop the anti-toxing from your funds, unless of course it's coming out of the group stash? It's easy enough to find in Korvosa, costs 50gp.

Drop the anti-toxing from your funds.

Done.

Done.

Details are that we close without torches with the others laughing and talking to Mask Erik and my spell casting. I charm one at DC13 and EriK I believe at DC14 then Erik and will ask the guards to step away. If it works, great, if not then I'll charm again on one of them.

What time are you doing this? Evening, night, deep into the night?

The situation is very much as it was in day light. You can see a few guards patrolling about, as well as the two at the end of the pier. One of them you recognise from the other day. It's much more noise after dark though, the patrons all seem to have drunk a bit more, and gotten a bit louder.

3am-ish?

Roj has also purchased an antitoxin.

Erik has also purchased an antitoxin.

Erik approaches the Eel's End in disguise, wearing the form of an honest halfling trader, a leather apron over his front, a small pack over one shoulder. As he draws within the radius of Charm Person's range, he mutters and gestures, and unleashes the spell on the distant guard.

Impossible to see except as a very faint distortion of the air to those who know what to look for, Erik's Mage Armor spell gives the young mage an added level of protection.

The roguish ex-pathfinder casts his own spell at the other guard.

One of the guards grins at you as though he knows you. The other pretty much ignores you.

Borden casts again at the one ignoring him.

Basil waits patiently for the signal to begin the assault...

Up to now, you've wandered up, and not said a word. Even if you make them friendly, they don't know what you want ;)

Erik hesitates, glancing up to Borden, and then steps up to the guard he's charmed and points down the wharf.

"Evening, friend. Special message from his Highness. He wants you and your mate here to head over to the Medusa's Head deeper in Old Korvosa, and pick up a sack of coin that Red Tom is holding behind the bar." Erik grins up at the guard, his halfling face winking conspiratorially. "He said if you go quick, you'll get two gold for your efforts, right out of the coin purse itself."

The first guard nods, and is about to move away. The second looks at you suspiciously, "You've come the wrong way to have come from the Boss. He's usually asleep by now anyway."

Bluff please

The second guard pipes up, "Usually, but these guys know him, they must have been off doing a job for him or something."

"Exactly," says Erik, nodding to the friendly guard. "We're just now making it back after the rounds. You know how it goes."

Erik hesitates. "But if you're not interested in a little extra gold, I can tell the Boss you didn't want to go and let you explain why you disobeyed his orders in the morning. I'm happy to get paid a little extra and go in your place."

Bluff check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

The first guard looks at Eric, and at his friend, and shrugs. "Ok. Nabeela, Niamh, Take these posts, we have a job to do." he shouts, and two of the other guards, one female, one male, move up to guard the end of the pier.

They let you past unimpeded.

That was nice work Erik, well done!

Borden gives the new guards a npd and boards, waiting for his party mates to join.

Basil follows on behind Borden, calmly venturing aboard as if he had nary a care in the world...

Quiet night?, Borden asks the new guards as the old guards head off into the dark.

Gwen follows in silence, trying not to draw too much attention.

Erik shoves his hands deep in his pockets to keep them from shaking, and follows alongside the others, stepping up onto the deck and mentally reviewing the next stage of the plan.

"I'll, um, go on ahead and position myself, yeah?" He looks from Borden to Rojerick, then nods. "Right. Give me a minute and I'll be in place."

So saying, he makes his way into the Spider King's throne room, following the familiar path. Once inside, he tries to unobtrusively figure out where best to stand so as to have the most of Devargo's men positioned to be hit by a well aimed blast of Color Spray.

I think Erik thinks Roj is somehow 'in charge' of this group. Nope, not at all.

Roj nods at the halfling. "You be careful, now. We'll be in in a minute or two." To pass the time, he wanders over to look at some of the ladies. Sarenrae forgive me, but it's been four years since Eydis died. A man can look, even if his honor won't let him go further, right?

The Guards on deck obviously notice Erik wandering in, but don't raise or move.

Erik curses quietly under his breath, then heads over to the bar and slides a silver coin across the scarred wood to the tender.

"Evening my friend." He climbs onto a stool so that his halfling self can see over the bar. "Would you know where his Highness Devargo's at? I've pressing business with him."

The man slides the coin off the bar and palms it quickly. "Same place he is every night this time: A bed. What you drinking?"

"I'll have a glass of elven claret." Erik pauses a beat, and then shakes his head. "Just kidding. Ale will do me. Be right back."

He hops off the stool and then insinuates himself through the crowd and back out onto the deck, where he approaches the others.

"It looks like the King of Spiders appreciates a good night's sleep. He's already abed." Erik looks from one party member to the next. "What do you think? Should we offer to take him a glass of warmed milk?"

How many guards and guests? We need to charm one of them to get the information as to where the king is I think, maybe even escort us there... Can you manage that Erik? I can use but one more spell today, he whispers to the young man. We'd need some noise near us as a group - laughter like a joke being told to mask the spell casting somewhat

You serve your master well, Jabba, I mean the spider king, will surely reward you

There don't appear to be many guards inside, outside there are 8 or 9 about the place, difficult to tell. There are plenty of people in the small room and the knifsies game is making a good bit of noise.

Erik bites his lower lip, mind whirling feverishly as he concocts plans and discards them. He glances worriedly back at the entrance to the throne room, then across the deck. With supreme effort, he forces himself to relax, and smiles a genial smile for the benefit of anybody watching.

"There's perhaps two dozen people crammed in the throne room, but almost none of them are guards. Here. Give me a moment to gather a little more information. I'll be right back."

So saying, the halfling steps back into the throne room, and heads up to the bar to claim his ale. Before hopping on his seat, he looks around to see if there are any of Devargo's men guarding a door as if to prevent unwanted entry.

Then, hopping up on the seat, he takes a sip and leans forward to get the tender's attention again.

"Friend, maybe you can help me. I'm a new hand on Devargo's crew, and I don't want to embarrass myself by asking the other guys stupid questions. I've got to get an important message to his Highness. What's the quickest way to get to him?"

Erik pulls out another silver coin, and taps the bar suggestively with hit.

"Ha! My small friend. You wait 'till morning. Last guy tried that, never came back."

Erik puts on a suitably depressed expression. "If I wait till morning with this news, I'm definitely dead. It's that urgent. Where should I go?"

He fumbles in his belt pouch, looking cautiously from side to side as if to make sure nobody's watching, and draws out a gold. "Here," he says, setting it next to the silver. "I'm that desperate. Can you help me out? I'm in real trouble here, friend."

"That's what the last guy said too. Though to be fair, I knew a guy waited till morning once too. At least he didn't scream for too long once the spiders got in his throat." He takes the proffered coin, and points to the door Devargo used earlier, set into the side of te deck, opposite the bar.

"That door though there, if there's no guards around, you'll get through it. What's down there, I don't know. But that's where Devargo goes at night."

"Great. I feel like I'm in some kind of nightmare. Killer spiders, a boss that might kill me for waking him, or kill me for not waking him too. I'm starting to rethink my career options."

Erik heaves a fatalistic sigh, then grins at the bar tender. "Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh? Thanks for the advice."

With that he hops off the stool again, and makes his way back out to the group.

"We could be in luck. The entrance to Devargo's private chambers are through a door in his throne room. And there aren't many - if any - guards in there. We might be able to simply walk in confidently and let ourselves in."

"Eye little man, life with the King is like that. I'm told it's the same in high society Korvosa as it is in Old-Korvosa."

"We could be in luck. The entrance to Devargo's private chambers are through a door in his throne room. And there aren't many - if any - guards in there. We might be able to simply walk in confidently and let ourselves in."

"Great job Erik! I'll keep my tools ready just in case we need them to open the entrance. You'll have to cover me in that case guys, give me time enough to work my way through without people noticing!"

Erik flashes Gwen a nervous smile, obviously pleased with the compliment, and then looks to Borden for his take on how they should proceed.

Borden looks a bit surprised at his look. Whatyerlookinatmefer, he mumbles back. Lead on - I think ya got the right plan... I just think we follow you one at a time a minute apart and we wait until we are all there, quietlike mind you. I'll follow you first.

The door is unlocked. It would appear that people just know not to come this way. The bar tender looks askance at Erik, but shrugs and get's on with cleaning a mug out.

The stairs bring you down to a corridor that runs along the hull, ending at a door, and a right turn about 20 ft in front of you. It's pitch black and as the door behind you closes the hubub of the room above quietens down.

We have all swallowed our antitoxin, haven't we? If not, I think this would be a good time.

It certainly sounds like a good idea ;-)

Yeah, I'm assuming from now....

Borden drinks his antitoxin then casts light

Gwen drinks her antitoxin too.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

Does Gwen see or hear anything? Add +2 to the above against humans.

So far:

Helaman - Human Bard
Grand Moff Vixen - Wildblooded (Sage)
KakkarottoZ - Human (Shoanti) Monk
Wolfgang Rolf -
Peter Harrah -
Death Keeper(?)

Borden walks into the grey featureless room.

Awwww C'mon, he protests, not this dream again!

Interested to see if people think we need me to be a diplomancer/skill monkey - in which case I will stay Vanilla bard, or if a mystical-warrior type (sorta magus-y BUT obviously buffing you with Bardic performances instead) is a better fit for you guys. Read my character profile and get back to me and I'll read yours. NORMALLY I'm a 15pt build AP guy but I do enjoy those rare times I get to play with a 20pt build. I don't normally do bards but am working out of my square a little - if you have any insights into the arcane duelist, please share.

Also torn on the whole campaign trait thing too - wondering if I am better as a recovered addict and its +1 fort save or the +2 to my bull-s&!% skill

How free are we on the SECOND trait? Would it be possible to take the campaign trait of another campaign? I refer specifically to the Mummys Curse one that lets you find traps... why? It fits the character but ALSO in case we are minus a dude with Trapfinding

I am going to go with an Investigator, I'll post with the character and details later on.

Waiting on Peter and Death Keeper, then?

I am going to go with an Investigator, I'll post with the character and details later on.

In that case I'll count on you for trap finding and knowledges. I'll re-jigger to Arcane Duelist.

Wolfgang Rolf wrote:

I am going to go with an Investigator, I'll post with the character and details later on.

In that case I'll count on you for trap finding and knowledges. I'll re-jigger to Arcane Duelist.

Happy to be of service :)

How free are we on the SECOND trait? Would it be possible to take the campaign trait of another campaign? I refer specifically to the Mummys Curse one that lets you find traps... why? It fits the character but ALSO in case we are minus a dude with Trapfinding

Very free. But the rules say only one trait of any given type, and campaign is a type.

Restrictions

Waiting on Peter and Death Keeper, then?

Yep

Class: Ranger (Archetype Urban Ranger)

Trait: Jaded, +2 vs Fear

Trait: Missing Sibling: I would like to alter this to friend, if that is okay with you Nevynxxx?

I am currently making my character so :D

Puffing on a fat and noxious cigar, Alex rubs his chin and taps his fingers on his jawbone...

"All I gotta do is visit the marketplace and buy myself a few things and then we can get on with this. Sorry about the hold up"

Death Keeper

Well, at least the dream isn't just me any more... but it DOES seem to be a bit of a 'sausage fest', Borden comments drily.

That said a trip to the store does seem reasonable - better make one myself

Checking in. Still working out the full backstory. Also still working on the crunch.

Alex adjusts his breastplate, and taps his small club on the table, feeling the heft of his weapons and other equipment, smiling at the other people in the dingy tavern.

Ahhh.... Much better

Will have something ready after I get some sleep.

Alex adjusts his breastplate, and taps his small club on the table, feeling the heft of his weapons and other equipment, smiling at the other people in the dingy tavern.

Ahhh.... Much better

I like the character - its a good'un.

dont know what to get for my other level 1 feat - suggestions?

Death_keeper, yeah, tweaking to friend isn't a problem.

Looks like we are getting somewhere.

Oh and what are you thinking of doing about healing?

You have skill monkey, some arcane, some buffing, but nothing much by way of healing yet....

I'll take CLWs but Bandaid is hardly the role I want or am able to play.

Yeah, from playing in APs, it's something worth considering as a group.

dont know what to get for my other level 1 feat - suggestions?

"To be honest, I think a little extra training on the...diplomatic side, would help oil the wheels and let us move about a little easier" Alex's expression and inflection make it clear that his view of 'diplomacy' is too many people double talking to try to steal the gold out of each others pockets.

I'll take CLWs but Bandaid is hardly the role I want or am able to play

Alex stares across the murky atmosphere of the tavern and exhales a viscous cloud of smoke to add to the already polluted air"Well, playing as the 'Bandaid' of the group is the one part of the group that'd be most heavily protected, as it is I think that our siege weapon" glances at the sorceress, "takes that spot."

Yes, you're a sage, but Alex is not the 'politically correct' type

Fast learner is a good feat for melee-oriented skill monkeys because it allows you to get the skill point and hit point every favored class level.

I'll take CLWs but Bandaid is hardly the role I want or am able to play.

Wand of CLW. I can easily take UMD and have the appropriate stat to activate it. Whether or not I make the DC to use it is something else entirely.

Or the bard could do it, since that's on his spell list and he could swing it about without UMD until we get to like Heal.

This is Wolfgang's character.

Hold up: Lazlo is a wealthy vigilante who was spurred into becoming a detective and a fighter by the death of his family? Is Lazlo Batman?

Glad I wasn't the only one to think that...

Well I fairly obviously borrowed some things from Jason Todd in the making of Askan here, so that would be kind of hilarious. Though I guess the rapier makes someone like Zorro an equally likely source of inspiration.

LOL, I won't lie there are some similarities, but if we are going by super hero comparisons I think Lazlo is closer to Rorschach or the Punisher. To his credit though Lazlo did try to solve the problem of crime in Korvosa through other means and at one point he did consider becoming part of a legal organization tasked with keeping the peace, but doors kept closing in his face and finally he found himself without wealth and resources...just him and the streets, so I'd say he would naturally lean to vigilantism. I don't know if I would call him a hero though, yes he cares about Korvosa and its citizens a great deal, but the lengths he would go to insure the safety of both are far, far from heroic.

Me and Lazlo are gonna butt heads, cause while I know that evil needs to be stopped. I know how to stop before the shadow I chase is the one I cast.

Characters butting heads on certain issue adds to the flavor of the RP in my opinion.

@Askan you're right, the rapier does make it seem like Zorro is an inspiration, but I mostly went with because I thought nobles who did not enter any sort of real martial training, still probably practiced with rapiers and had a dueling instructor.

Oh, we are going to get along swimmingly. If we're all Marvel characters I guess Askan is Luke Cage, Borden is a poor magical Tony Stark, Alex is a bit like, I don't know maybe Moon Knight and that makes Vixen... Talismen?

You fail, because I am the watchman

Helaman - Borden Read - Male Human (Absolom) Bard(Arcane Duelist)
Grand Moff Vixen - Wildblooded (Sage)
KakkarottoZ - Askan "Fastfist" Rhodes - Human (Shoanti) Monk
Wolfgang Rolf - Lazlo the Vigilante -
Death Keeper - Alex Stride - Human Ranger
Luke(?)

I still only have two of you hooked into OP too, would be nice to get you all in.

Human Ranger (Urban Ranger)

Helaman - Borden Read - Male Human (Absolom) Bard(Arcane Duelist)
Grand Moff Vixen - Wildblooded (Sage)
KakkarottoZ - Askan "Fastfist" Rhodes - Human (Shoanti) Monk
Wolfgang Rolf - Lazlo the Vigilante -
Death Keeper - Alex Stride - Human Ranger (Urban Ranger)
Luke(?)

There you go, just for completeness....

Still mulling things over, but at present, considering either Ranger 2 / Rogue X, or Oracle of Battle (although please note, that if I select the latter, he will *not* be a 'healer' - they make great self-buffing fighters).

We are in need of a healer... We have plenty of damage. Both magic and non

Here's the thing about making a healer, don't make the character so it does only that. Read some of the class guides. Now I don't expect anyone to base their build solely off of said guide, but they do provide many insights that I have not invested as much thought in. They go purely by the numbers where as I go off of part numbers and part role-play potential.

Make a character that does more than just one thing. That's what the healer guides tell me when I read them. I personally like one of the oracle guides a lot for this. It still goes mostly off of a numbers perspective, but the author gives advice on other things to round out the character. If all you do is make a healer, then you will be standing around most of the time waiting to heal. Therefore, make a character that can heal well, but also do other things too.

It makes a lot of sense to me. Don't worry about skill overlap as there will be times when we need to use the Aid Another action. Depending on the specific action, that means a lot when getting more than one +2 bonus.

I appreciate the suggestions, but as Helaman can attest, I have some small experience with character design ;-)

From a numbers perspective, being solely focused on healing means that you are on the back foot, as it were, from the get go - if all you are doing with your actions is undoing the actions of the opposition, you are not being proactive, and are fighting a losing battle - you will run out of spell slots, before opponents run out of the ability to swing their sword arm.

My favorite form of 'proactive healing' is to prevent the damage in the first place, by ensuring that the opposition goes down quickly and efficiently.

Now, I am not saying that I wouldn't heal party members in combat (since keeping melee fighters up helps with our DPR, for obvious reasons), but neither would I expend all (or even most) of my slots per day on healing - using buffs to prevent damage / ensure opponents go down faster (particularly as we get to higher levels) is more efficient, especially once the party can start to afford Wands of CLW for out-of-combat healing.

I just wanted to be clear, and up front about this, so people did not become annoyed later on.

Even if he's not a bandaid Oracles still get all the cure spells or inflict spells automatically.

Coolio - I also like Oracles of Battle... They be mean.

And Luke knows his way around the system :)

As for poor mans Tony Stark? Faugh! Borden is his OWN hero!

GM any hope of opening a recruitment thread and asking for a healer? I mean if you are willing to go with six characters, seven isn't that different.

Asking someone to do nothing but be a bandaid is pretty lame, especially since Luke's oracle would be able to functionally do that already.

I think we'll be ok Lazlo - Oracle and Bard TOGETHER can cover the healer role just fine. Restoration, cure disease etc may be tricky but we'll cover that in due course.

Also moving back to Vanilla bard as I think we have the Melee sewn up well enough - thats NOT to say I don't want to mix it up in hand to hand but I think a Vanilla bard will be a better addition to the group and is closer to what I originally wanted Borden to be.

I really want to acquire a Mithril breastplate though...

As for some "core" bard skills? I'll get those at level 2.

Guess we're waiting on Vixen.

There are plenty of options, someone takes a cleric level, or you buy the healing you can't do yourself. You are in one of the biggest cities in the world for 90%+ of this AP, so it shouldn't be the problem that it would be in say RuneLords, where you spend time away from civilization.

We shall see how it goes, but for now I'm happy enough. The main thing is having someone who can bring people back from the brink to get them properly healed up later, and you have that covered with a bard and a cure wand.

Okay lets clear up a misunderstanding here. I am not asking anyone to be a band aid, especially not in a game like Pathfinder. My idea of a healer in this game is pretty much what Vixen talked about a few posts ago. I don't think its a coincidence that most healers in the game have 3/4 BAB, can wear armor(In the Cleric's case Medium armor) and have access to a decent selection of weapons. If you are just sitting at the back and healing then you are ignoring a big part of your class.

Now that that is hopefully cleared up we can return to the topic, when I asked the GM to find us a healer, I was asking for what Vixen and I described. Yes the Oracle and Bard could cover the healer role, I am even planning to get the infusion discovery and start passing around healing extracts, but at the end of the day it isn't like having someone who is WILLING to heal, not be a band-aid but heal.

As for the GM's options; I am not taking a level in cleric, and it would unreasonable to ask someone to do so if they don't want to, buying the healing on the other hand means that we are cutting into our gear funds, so we are going to suffer for not having a healer one way or another.

Come to think of it, the GM doesn't even have to open a new thread he could just ask any of the people who wanted to get into the game but couldn't if they'd be interested in playing a healer.

No need to be sensitive Lazlo. I'm cool. I'm not taking your words negatively. I do like the idea of having you with some infusions to pass around - that would be great.

Pretty psyched to play... any suggestions on spell choice? Its CLW and grease but I am thinking Charm Person or something else may be a better THEMATIC choice.

I am happy with feat choices atm.

I have 25+ gp left... any ideas there as well? Think like a Pathfinder (thats what I am, albeit a 'failed' one).

I am thinking of adding a whip... its a fun weapon and I can try some combat maneuvers with it.

Yeah, Laz, I really do think we are fine with what we have there. bear in mind that with 6 players, XP is getting spread thinner, which means I'll have to be putting a few side quests in to the keep you int he right place level wise, that will lead to extra cash to make up for any healing spend you may need.

That said, if yu are making extracts, you've already reduced that cost...

I'd never say "X you need to take a level in cleric" it's just an option out there if someone wants to take it.

It's good that we get this pinned down before we start, but I don't think there's anything more to worry about now.

Just get these final characters in, and then I'll kick off the main thread.

I'll hire an Igor. He can stitch us back up :)