Sweet! Looks like the party is assembling.
I will wait a few days to see if the player's guide will come out so you can finalize your character details before we begin,
Wow wow, Caraid is 16, Shadow is 19, Rudrik is 20, how old is Nime? For reference, Calendula is 45, and was 29 when she set off for the Worldwound (though I might make it a lot longer ago, so she still would have been filled with youthful optimism)
I think the like entirety of this party is much much younger than her. I'm the weird sick "old" lady fisherman with lots of scars, who wears just bundles of scarfs even in the summertime. It's nuts to think I'm traveling with a 16 year old (that might be how old she was when she pledged herself to Lastwall)
Nime is 60 something, which isn't very old by Undine standards but pretty old for humans!
Caraid will be taking a level of rogue at 2nd (mostly for that sweet sweet weapon finesse) so we should have traps etc covered quite nicely!
I actually joked to Itze that Caraid was going to end up travelling with a party of much older ladies - at least its not ALL like that :)
I think Calendula was a much more idealistic teenager than Caraid though - he's had a pretty sh*t time of it so far! [As will be seen when I finish the backstory!]
In addition to having a combative I'm fine relationship with Nime, I think Calendula would know Rudrik's family pretty well: it's taken her a lot of unlearning to not look at an orc or half-orc and remember defending Lastwall from the hordes of Belkzen, but she no longer looks at any one being with prejudice. Perhaps she assists his mother with her work on occasion, or works land that they do also.
Yep, Nime is 68. For Undines, she just entering adulthood.
I was discussing it with Caraid and was surprised to see that Undines (and the other half-elementals) have a longer potential lifespan then elves.
I've edited my backstory some to have been here since before the aforementioned storm that preceded Caraid's birth, current date is 19 years but if that's too far back for Nime it can be, you know, anywhere between that point and 16 years.
Also are we taking average gold or may I roll for it?
I pulled the flashback post I made.
If Calendula arrived before the storm then she was there before Nime. I'll rethink their first meeting and post later.
Rough timeline (feel free to add to it)
-19 yrs: Calendula arrives in RC.
-16 yrs: Caraid born, massive storm.
-6-12 yrs: Nime arrives in RC.
-10 yrs: Mysterious ship sinking
-1 yr: Caraid's father dies in an unexplained accident.
0 yrs: Game begins.
I went with average gold, but since thats 1d6 for Kineticists I didn't stand to gain much! :)
I'm popping a little post up in gameplay for anyone who wants to engage in a bit of pre-game RP!
The mysterious ship sinking was actually 10 years ago, in 4708. Current year is 4718.
Caraid, if your father died recently, maybe could Calendula have adopted you? Dunno if you have a backstory already lined up tho, but it does fit a connection in and I'm finding it difficult to explain why I would hang out with a child
Also, DM, I'm just going to assume I can roll for starting gold since I rolled in the last recruitment, let me know if I can't do that.
x10=140
You can roll or take average.
Caraid, if your father died recently, maybe could Calendula have adopted you? Dunno if you have a backstory already lined up tho, but it does fit a connection in and I'm finding it difficult to explain why I would hang out with a child
Also, DM, I'm just going to assume I can roll for starting gold since I rolled in the last recruitment, let me know if I can't do that.
[dice=Starting Gold]3d6x10=140
I'm sort-of, not really being adopted by Nime already :) Although since Caraid is now orphaned maybe Calendula checks in on him now and again, just to check he's ok? He's also very, very tough so she could give him paid work on her little farm?
I'll have my backstory posted once Nime checks it - since it involves her too :)
The draft version looks like this though:
Appearance and Personality
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Caraid, at sixteen, is a tall, fair haired youth with the strong features and weathered skin typical of the people of Roderic’s Cove. In the winter months his skin proves to be pale, the only feature of his appearance inherited from his Chelish father, apart from his purple-flecked grey eyes. He is generally considered handsome, but even the most casual observer can see evidence of a difficult childhood in the form of the numerous scars that crisscross Caraid’s arms, legs and throat. The most spectacular one is up his left arm, an angry mass of scar tissue which nearly doubles the thickness of his arm and generally precludes him from wearing sleeves.
Despite his physical health and attractiveness Caraid lacks confidence in himself. Always polite and generally quiet he is liked, but not well known, to anyone in Roderic’s Cove and tends to smile and excuse himself as soon as he can in most social situations. The notable exceptions to this rule are his friendship with the undine Nime, who fulfills a slightly ambiguous role as a surrogate older sister/mentor, and if questioned about his father and the latter’s fatal accident. This is the only topic which can usually cause Caraid to show his temper and his usual response to questions about his father is ”I’m glad he died! He deserved it!”
------------------------------------------
Background
------------------------------------------
Although the Shory Empire fell centuries ago the idea of flying cities and mankind living in the clouds has fascinated scholars ever since. One such scholar, named Daedrius, had originally come to Varisia in order to study the ruins of Thassalion and settled in the sleep town of Roderic's Cove in order to do so, but soon abandoned the history of Thassalion as 'turgid' 'over-studied' and 'a waste of time', turning instead to the history of Shory and attempts to recreate some of their aeromantic technology.
Originally from Cheliax, his natural arrogance won him few friends, but one of the people who saw him as more than an entitled upstart was a local girl named Carai. Her sweet temper and kindness soon impressed Daedrius and the pair married. Daedrius never abandoned his studies but Carai proved to be a good influence on him and he was gradually accepted into the community. When Carai announced that she was pregnant Daedrius was delighted and confidently prophesied a blissful future for their family. A new breakthrough in his studies occurred at the same time and everything seemed to be going well for Daedrius.
Unfortunately this was not to be. On the very night his wife went into labor one of Daedrius' experiments went wrong, creating a storm, the like of which Roderic's cove had never seen. When the birth went wrong Daedrius was unable to summon help, and for all his knowledge he was unable to help as his wife died in his arms, leaving behind a new-born infant boy.
Almost as if to mock his father the boy, named Caraid for his mother, grew up in superb health, rarely ever suffering a day of illness. With his father's fair skin and his mother's golden hair Caraid was a handsome child and the old wives of the town confidently predicted that he would be 'a real heart-breaker' when he grew up.
Unfortunately for Caraid his life was less than idyllic. Daedrius soon came to associate his son with the death of his wife and often took his anger out on the boy. Unbeknownst to Caraid his father had recently discovered a deep cellar beneath their house, containing strange symbols and worked stone of a kind Daedrius had never seen before. All that Caraid knew was that he was forbidden from going into the cellar, and when his father came out he was always in a worse rage than normal. As he grew older Caraid suffered numerous beatings at his father’s hands, leaving him with scars all across his body.
The only bright spot in Caraid’s life was Nime, a young undine who came to Roderic’s Cove because of her professional interest in his father’s work. She was a breath of fresh air, kind and friendly in a way he had never experienced before and Caraid soon loved the awkward and gangly woman as the older sister he had never had.
Matters came to a head however on Caraid’s fifteenth birthday. His birthdays, or the anniversary of his mother’s death, were always bad times for Daedrius, who would be even more morose and angry than normal. Having heard his father going down to the cellar early in the afternoon Caraid had taken refuge on the roof, where he was normally out of sight and mind for his angry father. Unfortunately, that night Daedrius simply didn’t calm down and, as night fell and storm clouds gathered over the cove he came looking for his son with wrath in his eyes.
Caraid never explained exactly what happened, but as a storm force gale buffeted the town, Nime came to investigate drawn by the strangeness of the winds across the town. She found Daedrius’s broken body on the steps in front of his house, clutching a shattered rod which she recognised as a part of his experiments. Caraid was standing on the roof, curiously untouched by the winds blasting past him, cradling his left arm – which was marred by a horrific, cauterized burn, as though he had been struck by a blast of electricity.
By this point nobody in Roderic’s Cove mourned Daedrius’s passing, and the general opinion was that Caraid could now get on with his life under better circumstances. He and Nime continued to live together, in an ambiguous arrangement which no-one in town, least of all Caraid himself, could define but both seemed happy enough and that was enough for the time being.
Appreciate it, DM. Also, gotcha, Caraid. Doubt she would check in much if her offer to take you in went unaccepted, but she would definitely offer work fishing and farming with her.
Sheet is almost done, adding class features and feats. I would like Fey Foundling as a feat, with the thought behind it that I was found in the fields of battle among a tangle of marigolds (Calendulas), and adopted by a pair of paladins who viewed my arrival as answer to their prayers, but this is potentially OP for a paladin.
This works well with my established backstory and my Faith trait Chosen of Iomedae.
I love taking drawbacks regardless of getting a third trait out of it; I have chosen Scarred, giving me a whopping -5 to Disguise and -2 to Bluff.
I would also like to take the regional trait Linebreaker, which is specific to Belkzen but the flavor text for it says that it is gained for having been raised along the border of Belkzen and Lastwall, and even though she is a citizen of Lastwall's capital of Vigil, I imagine she spent sometime at the front lines before receiving her call to the Worldwound.
While I've posted it on my alias, here also is Calendula's appearance description.
Her face is a mess of scar tissue, most notably a large line extending from her right brow to the crown of her head where she once took an orc's ax. Another few lines cut through both grey eyes at a variety of angles, either cut into her flesh or burnt there. One burn in particular is in the shape of her helmet's visor, left there by a misplaced blast of clerical radiance on the fields of Sarkoris. Her long aquiline nose is bent and broken, with a thick scar running across it, touching an additional slice on her cheekbone as well. Her lips, surprisingly full on her bony, sallow face, are scarred through twice as well, with another cut across her chin.
Lastly, across her neck is the clear image of chains, left from an attack by a demon cultist in the Worldwound. He had summoned eight chains from the fouls of the Abyss, they sprung from the ground and whipped her. One knocked off her helmet, sending her falling to the ground, where all eight encircled her and began to squeeze. The life had nearly left her when one of her men distracted the cultist just enough for her to wriggle out and escape.
She has aged well considering all she's been through, though with her high cheek bones and strong sharp jaw in combination with her sunken eyes and cheeks, both always looking bruised from her thick and diseased blood, she still looks almost skeletal.
Forever cold from that same black blood, she bundles herself in rags and scarves no matter the season. She typically wears a simple tunic and working pants, not caring for how she looks.
Her fingers are long and hands are thin, rough and calloused, just as scarred as her face, and on the palm of her right hand, she wears the Sword and Shield Marks of Vigil, a shameful reminder of broken oaths.
Sitting always at her hip, even when fishing or tilling fields, is her bent and rusty longsword, gifted to her by her parents long ago, when they pledged her life to Iomedae for her. Though the craftsmanship is excellent, it has not been treated, sharpened or cleaned in nearly twenty years.
-19 yrs: Calendula arrives in RC.
-16 yrs: Caraid born, massive storm. Nime arrives in RC.
-10 yrs: Mysterious ship sinking
-1 yr: Caraid's father dies in an unexplained accident.
0 yrs: Game begins.
Here's the first draft of Nime's background:
Nime was born on the last day of Neth, 4650, to a small ondine family in the city of Magnimar. Her family saw immediately that she was marked by the gods - one leg was lame and it was clear that she was amphibious. She was destined to follow the revelation of water and spend her life interpreting the divine signs of the sea.
Nime disagreed at her first opportunity and every opportunity after that. Upon reaching the age of speech, she revealed that she could hear a voice on the wind. As she grew older, she realized that Shelyn was speaking to her. Her parents began to get used to her vanishing and being found up on some bluff or clifftop overlooking the ocean enjoying the wind on her face.
At the scant age of 30, Shelyn's voice told her to leave Magnimar. For the next year she wandered the Lost Coast, finally settling down in Sandpoint. She met a man by the name of Marcus Miln and, to her eventual heartbreak, she fell in love. He was a simple baker and ten years her senior, but she was entranced. She spent the next twenty two years ignoring the whispers of the wind - telling herself that she was happy and denying the inevitable.
As the creeping effects of age slowly began to take hold of her love, Nime continued to deny it. Eventually the day came when she could no longer lie to herself - the day she buried him. To ease her broken heart, she surrendered herself to the words spoken on the wind. Words that said to go farther north.
She arrived in Roderick's Cove on the same night the winds screamed at her. For the first time in her life, she took to the water to avoid the wind's touch.
By the time the screaming stopped the next morning, Nime was certain that despite the painful experience, this was where she was supposed to be. To her confusion, she discovered that during the night, one of the village women had died in childbirth. She was sure this wasn't a coincidence, but the voice on the wind remained silent on the meaning. The voice still told her many other things, but she kept most of them to herself.
She has been in Roderic's Cove ever since. Many take pity on her, seeing her as touched in the head and not quite sane. Ship captains no longer find it unusual to find her on board their boats in the morning as they prepare to head out for a day of fishing. "I'm supposed to be on your boat today," she says to them and they simply smile and nod. The fact that she has a divine gift of healing has turned her into something that some people see as a good-luck charm.
She continued to make time in her daily wanderings for the child that she felt an undefined attachment to, Cariad. Creating a minor scandal, she actually moved in to his house after his father's death.
With the new information, Nime and Calendula likely know each other as people more from fishing trips than from Nime's oft refused attempts to provide clerical ministrations. After Daedrius' death, it probably occurred to Calendula to offer Caraid work fishing and farming through Nime on such a boating trip. Like "next time you're supposed to be here, bring the boy," or s/t
Looks like this is all coming together nicely (I'm Scarred too Calendula ;))
@Theo: sounds like a good link. Caraid would have made the effort to keep coming to see Theo when he was in town, even after Daedrius and Theo's father stopped meeting. Theo's a fair bit older but Caraid would have gone along with what he wanted to do, so that works out nicely! :)
Don't forget to post in War for the Crown while you finish up here! Need actions for Maria and Melodie. ;)
It looks like it will still be a few more days before the Player's Guide comes out, but I think we can get things started while we wait. The campaign traits just tie you to Roderic's Cove and possibly some of the NPCs there, but it seems like your characters are already pretty fleshed out. The traits will just help round them out a little bit.
I'll put up the first gameplay post shortly.
EDIT: It looks like you've already started posting! The site didn't inform me of new posts. No worries, my first post will just be setting the stage for things to come.
Here is the article about Roderic's Cove. I will add this link to the campaign info tab.
There we go - profile done, still got some of his sheet to sort out but it's really just gear.
Actually... speaking of gear. I just bought all the important stuff - a spear, a sorcerer's kit and a spell component pouch (I doubt I'll be needing that any time soon courtesy of Eschew Materials but if I don't grab it now then I'll realise I need it at the worst possible moment) - and I've hit a small issue.
I have 55 gold left over and no idea what to spend it on!
ADVENTURING GEAR
A potion of cure light wounds for 50 gp is never bad.
Ooh, yeah; a healing potion wouldn't hurt (hah; irony!). Especially since I have no armour aside from a spell, a Dex of only 10, and only seven hit points.
... the first time it'll be used is when one of you guys is pouring it down my gullet, isn't it? :P
Wait... s$$*. I took the Rich Parents trait - I have almost a grand to spend!
This may take some time.
Wand of cure light wounds? ;)
Possible, but then I won't be able to afford a Noble's Outfit and accompanying jewellery which I really want to have to start with. I can just bring a mountain of potions, if anyone's got ideas of what sort, otherwise it's just gonna be a half-dozen or so CLW ones.
EDIT: Plus I don't have any ranks in Use Magic Device so a CLW wand would most likely blow up in my face. Literally.
EDIT2: Okay, done. Half-dozen healing potions and I made his spear masterwork. Either someone else can use it when he's good enough with his claws or it'll be a backup for when he's run out of claw use for the day. Or we sell it, cross that bridge when we come to it.
I only just now remembered that if we are in "faux late medieval Europe" there would be neither potatoes nor corn.
Eh this is after Ruins of Azlant (or rather Andoran's attempts to colonize the New World, seeing as the AP may not be canonical to this one) so the ersatz Napoleonic exchange has already begun in earnest
also the Shoanti are flavored after native Americans to a large extent, so who says they can't have corn?
Edit: Irrisen canonically has potato vodka, if not from the new world, maybe they first got potatoes from Russia and spread them down the west coast through trade
Andoran has had a colony in Arcadia for at least the past 40 years, enough time for such foods to spread through Avistan. But that's all just nitpicky--it's a fantasy world, after all, where fish-women talk to the wind, so having potatoes and corn doesn't break my suspension of disbelief. ;)
Heh, Calendula, looks like we posted at the same time. I deleted the original post and reposted it after yours.
Hey; player's guide's up.
EDIT: Leaning towards the Intrigued by Thassilon trait, but re-flavoured to more reflect what he's picked up as part of his family's arcane work. So he himself isn't intrigued but he's learnt a fair bit courtesy of his older sister and parents (not so much his older brother; he's more of a tinkerer).
Hell yes, I'll be picking the Spirit Touched trait, as it's the only one that really fits
Hmm. Anyone wanna be Close Allies?
I'm pretty sure Cariad and Nime will be taking Close Allies, although I don't want to assume.
According to the description, With Brainiac's approval, it can apply to more than two and I would have no issues with Rudrik being included in that. We'll see what Cariad thinks tomorrow morning.
My second choice would be Audrahni's Ally. Nime might as well be a Forlorn.
In fact, I wouldn't mind taking a Drawback (Sentimental) to take that trait as well.
*looks at Brainiac with big puppy eyes*
Maybe, Nime. Give me a chance to read them over first--either later tonight or tomorrow.
The save bonuses from both traits wouldn't stack with each other, Nime, but if you want to go this route, you can replace the benefits from Audrahni's Ally with a lesser effect. Perhaps a +1 bonus to an appropriate skill?
For common ground with Audrahni, there's a couple of things. Nime is originally from Magnimar (4650-4680) and, as mentioned, she shares the same dilemma as the Forlorn
For a question, she would have asked, "What happened to your parents?"
How about a +1 Trait bonus to Knowledge (planes)?
Well if I'd seen this beforehand I would SO have built something around Accidental Clone - that would be serious fun!
Close Allies is fine. Are we friends, siblings or lovers Nime? ;)
Yeah, that Clone trait is a hoot, would've definitely done that.
It's not too late to change your character if somebody wants to do Accidental Clone. It's my fault for not wanting a few more days to start. Usually the traits are so drastic.
You could either have your new character show up to help with the investigation, or retcon the beginning scenes. Alternately, I could work the trap into one of the early dungeons, having the events happen in-game, though it might be several weeks or months IRL before we get to it.
Regarding the Sihedron Heroes, would we have to have some interest or connection with one? Because I was thinking for Theo he could be a fan of one character idea I had for Shattered Star - a swashbuckler who competed in the Serpent to support his wife and daughters. There's also the detail that said swashbuckler's tiefling daughter would be about Theo's age, her dad could get her tickets to the VIP spectators area where she could've met Theo...
Hey; I'm dumping most of the social interaction skills so I need to find something other than magic to put Theo's 18 Charisma towards. :P
You don't have to a connection to any of the Sihedron Heroes, but your stories and theirs will intersect at some point in the future. It would certainly add interesting RP opportunities!
Speaking of the Sihedron Heroes, if any of you have played Rise of the Runelords or Shattered Star, post the info on the previous PC you want to be one of the Heroes. Or you can come up with a brand-new (old) hero. :)
Well while that swashbuckler's still fresh in my mind - I'd pictured him as being the sort of showy kind of fighter and almost frustratingly-upbeat about things at times (not quite to Scanlan Shorthalt levels, but half the trouble his opponents would have fighting him is just getting him to shut the hell up) - think kinda Spiderman-y for how mouthy he can be in a fight. Family guy too, but with him and his wife being mild devotees of Arshea... let's just say that while their hearts belong to each other, their bodies are another matter.
He and his wife are both human, but both of their daughters are demon-spawn tieflings and they were aware enough of the relevant statistics to know that that shouldn't happen normally so they contacted a priest. Turns out their house used to belong to a demonologist and some of his work had left... let's call it "abyssal radiation" for lack of an easier short-hand, saturating some of the house. Normal radiation makes you sterile, this stuff has something of a different effect.
Can't think of anything from Shattered Star that he would've had a big involvement in (at least not off the top of my head; been years since I read through that AP and, even then, it was skim-reading at best). I know he would've been too cautious to trigger That Trap at least.
I can stat him out for you if you'd like. Can't promise it'd be quick (feats and gear bog things down like crazy when it comes to 17th-18th level characters) but it'll happen.
I won't need stats for him for a while, so just his backstory and personality will suffice.
I'll throw something together on the weekend for him. Plus it'll give me stuff to use if I ever find a Shattered Star campaign.
Nime, I PMed you the answer to your question about Audrahni's parents. A bonus to Knowledge (planes) is fine with me.
Oh, hm. Well, I am in two different Runelords games. In one I play a young human exploiter wizard who loves sailing and magic and is currently being stalked by the evil ghast guy. In the other I play an aasimar cleric of Reymenda who is kind of a counterpoint to Nualia, she was badly injured and her husband was killed in a goblin attack against the outlying farmlands but after that tragedy she found solace with the Lady of the Martyred Womb and is working to protect Sandpoint from the goblins locally. She too has a set of angry scars on her abdomen, where she was stabbed repeatedly by goblin spears, and they have rendered her barren, but she is trying to rise above the circumstances of her tragedy, the opposite of Nualia.
In Shattered Star I'm playing an aasimar bard (arcane healer) who is a devotee of Arshea, the genderfluid empyreal lord/lady of sexual liberation and acceptance.
I haven't finished either AP, though.
They all sound like great characters. I'd say pick your favorite!