Acaciano's page

Acaciano took the appearance of their foes at least as well as anyone, and maybe better than some. If nothing else, he'd sworn to fight their kind, and that vow gave him something else to hold on to as they advanced.

He clicked at Heartwood, their joyous reunion now cut short, and signaled to advance and attack, before following suit himself.

Acaciano's hate for the undead and concern for the King and the balance of the partygoers & servers mixed in with his delight, albeit confused delight, at seeing Heartwood and his intrigue at being in the First World. Looking around, strange as it was, there wasn't anywhere else they could be.

He flitted back towards Heartwood, making some clicking noises at his friend that weren't dissimilar from ones he might use were he still in his own body. This form could actually manage the common tongue, but it was unsettling to most who heard it and truthfully he didn't have anything to add that have already been said. He knew it was unlikely to be an easy fight, but hopefully there wasn't much better that he had to other than the form he already wore so that would have to do for now.

Acaciano, still in Mi-Go form, glances around the cave, shocked at the development but unable to communicate anything verbally with the others in this form, and unwilling to return to his own body just yet; the threat was unlikely to be over, and while a Mi-Go body wasn't good for talking, it was good for fighting.

As Amavin darts forward through the air, Acaciano follows on her heels, using the last of his hasted speed to keep pace as they move towards the cave entrance. For his part, Acaciano actively stays vigilant, preparing for the worst.

Great shot, Darg!

Acaciano, thankfully untouched as of yet by any of the intruders, completes his summoning, bringing into existence three glowing fire-beetles a dozen paces out. Flitting on their awkward wings, they make for the closest Devourer.

'They won't stop them, but maybe they'll slow them down!' he thinks.

His spell completed, Acaciano turns in the air and makes straight for the door, intent on following the King and his new countrymen, and using his greatly enhanced speed to do so, taking the lead and scouting ahead as much as he's able once the path is opened.

Just a(nother) reminder TWO, but neither of my characters are still where their present positions on the map indicate; I can't modify their placement through Google Docs from the tablet I use for my Internet access. They have moved though, and I noted their exact movement paths using the handy coordinate grid you set the map against.

moved you.

Comfortable with his place at the King's side, and not intending to leave it, Acaciano begins to weave a spell. Confident it won't in and of itself save them, he hopes if nothing else that it buys them the smallest amount of extra time. He begins speaking the words of the spell, and instead of his own voice, an alien string of clicks and buzzing sounds comes forth. Just as well.

I'll assign the extra point for Acaciano, thanks.

As for Tai, I'll correct the naming discrepancy on the boots. As to the other one, it is 'Mark', not 'Mask', good catch. The cost comes from the scaling item rules, and I believe, is correct at 525.

Acaciano:
Power attack → Fast Healer

Heartwood (Plant Companion):
Power attack → Powerful Maneuvers

Tai:
Power attack: → Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades)

I'm game.

I think we're all invested here. Let's try to be patient and let the DM come back. I doubt they're gone for good. It was probably just a busy week.

emphasis mine. exactly this.

As the King unleashes his manacle, a flurry of ideas run through Acaciano's mind, each a different form he might take. He opts for the strongest and strangest, given the gravity of situation. Hopefully the other party-goers and Krádira loyalists wouldn't be bothered by it. For good measure, he offers a loud scream of "For Krádira, for the King!" just before his mouth melts away, his body quickly becoming some large, fungal mass, complete with wings and wicked claws.

Taking to the sky just above the dais, wings buzzing, Acaciano takes in the scene, and waits for further instructions, or actions by the King.

Regarding Fire and Grease specifically, since we're going Mythic at some point, Mythic Grease is flammable, which sort of requires that non-Mythic Grease NOT be flammable.

Regarding the general case: I'm against mixing spell effects, as it really throws off the intended game balance. Might a lot of wind move things from the air? Maybe. I'd rather hand-wave it as 'magic does what magic wants' than open that can of worms.

By that logic --that is-- if lighting grease on fire makes it worthy of a mythic spell, we probably shouldn't add other riders and things onto spells without AT LEAST requiring an investment on the part of the character. Otherwise we're just basically just handing out free Spell Focus and Heighten Spell to people.

Seems more problematic than helpful. If we were having a hard time being flavorful, maybe, but that doesn't seem to be a problem so far.

Seems unlikely, but I'll agree that would be VERY unfortunate. When they had the issues the other day they mentioned having backed up things first, and I'd be REALLY surprised if they hadn't done the same thing this time. If it's not SOP, Acaciano will eat his hat.

Ah! I searched every page of Gameplay, Discussion and Recruitment for 'Shape' but never 'shaping'. Dang! And good finding skills!

Moving back to the nitty-gritty though, Acaciano, as a Treesinger Druid, can't turn into animals: only plants. SOooooo, as I'm not really sure what the distribution of plants in Brevoy & The Stolen Lands is, mind if I post a few suggestions, and you approve or disapprove? I've tried to stick with more plants from temperate forests, fields, and plains for these, and I've put down a few more rare samples of which maybe Acaciano is aware? Feel free to ignore completely.

TWO,

I thought we'd talked previously about which shapes one would be allowed to assume with Wildshape, and possibly basing this off the 'Monster Lore' use of Knowledge: Nature or something like that. I can't actually find where we had that conversation despite looking very, very hard for the last 30 minutes, so maybe I'm imagining it?

Either way, since I'm about to shape in to something, figured it was a good time to bring it up! I was thinking 5+CR or 10+CR as a take-ten Knowledge Nature DC seemed a fair way to represent what a Druid (or anyone else Wildshaping for that matter) had either encountered or been made aware of; what are your thoughts on the matter?

edit: maybe impose a penalty to the check for funny/different subtypes?

What the... Acaciano’s as surprised as everyone else initially, but quickly turns to cursing as the party is crashed by whatever the hell these things are. Amavin’s description lends him some small measure of comfort, but not nearly enough.

”Protect the King!” he shouts, dropping off the back of the dais and moving along the back to where King Chalm stands. He presents his manacle up towards the king, begging him to be freed:
”My Lord, let me free to prove my loyalty to Krádira.”

@Lyda
I hate being that guy but, I think you need to have some sort of vegetation for Entangle to work until you get the Mythic Version?

Bring it!
:)

Acaciano fiddles with the Magethorn Manacle on his arm at the continued talk of spellcasting, and nods along with the group. It seemed his concerns were all being discussed, and the right ideas mentioned.
He'd leave it to the king to decide important matters of course, and for smaller things, if he felt like the conversation was moving too far away from the right choice, he'd speak up. For now though, he was content to watch.

::King Chalm's initial request::

"It would be our honor, my King," Acaciano replies, "to scout at the vanguard."

Tai chips in, "Indeed it would, King Chalm. The snows and their drifts will have Krádira's best interests at heart."

=============================

::Transportation/Messages::

Acaciano offers his opinions, including one very bad pun:
"Let's not count any options out just yet. If we've magic that works and it can be spared, so be it. If it's better to melt a path, we melt a path. For what it's worth, I can move through the snows faster than most can walk a summertime road. Though I expect the easiest solution of all might be Deneb, the fledgling postmaster of Krádira."

Acaciano makes his to the front at the time he name is called, moving directly and professionally, and wearing what he hopes is a professional, somber look. He was a bit nervous to be giving the version of the oath with the exception, particularly as he wasn't sure how much respect for The Green Faith was actually in the room, but he worked to make sure it wasn't noticed.

"I, Acaciano Karbashewsky, son of Dáma Katerina Karbashewsky, being of sound mind and without reservation, and excepting only my oaths to The Green Faith, swear fealty of mind, body, and soul to the King and People of Krádira. Should my oaths to The Faith come into conflict with my oaths to the King and People of Krádira, I will go to my lord King that I may return unto him the titles, duties, rights, responsibilities, and privileges which he has granted me, that I may be released from the oaths I here swear unto the true and loyal service of The Faith. With this sole exception, I swear to bear loyal and true service to the King and People of Krádira, and to honor, preserve, protect, and uphold the laws, justice, and mercy of and for the People of Krádira against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegience to the King and People of Krádira. I swear to faithfully execute the charges given to me, to protect and guide the people over whom I am granted rulership, guarding them in times of peril, nurturing them in times of peace, leading them in times of war, and governing them always with justice tempered by mercy, as the gods give me the wisdom to so do. This I swear to do until my final death, the world's end, or my lord release me."

I'm here! Moving this weekend so I'm computer-lite and hesitant to post this from my phone. Definitely within the weekend though, if that's ok

GM, your comments in the recruitment section always worry me so much... Like what's going to happen to our groups? This is kind of worrying to me! ;)

Still, I suppose we won't be in suspense for too much longer.

Same! I'm gonna be really sad if my colleagues die, as will, I suspect, Deneb, who's making lovely progress with Jem!

Mmm yeah, same as Lyda here. Still dotted, but not seeing updates.

Not to be that guy, but they are, they're just presented on the pfsrd only as an animal companion option, which has all the same info just super compressed as compared to the full entry; Nethys gives the full bestiary entry as presented in Hell's Rebels.

I'm usually a pfsrd user myself (and Patreon supporter for that matter) but as I've been researching plant shape forms for Acaciano, I've found Nethys to be more help.

Deneb:
How about a Giant Raven?

My suggestion -- if you're not already doing this, which is how I found the Giant Raven -- is to search Archives of Nethys for the following term: "Fly "+"medium"+"animal".
The responses aren't perfect, but you definitely narrow down your search to a reasonable field.

Best of Luck!

Confirming that Jem from Voice of Trees is a halfling. There's a link to her with a very brief description on my page.

Good luck with the eye!

::Druids::

"Good advice, my friend. I'll be seeing you around, either way, I should think. Cheers."

As Deneb makes his way off, Acaciano glances around the party, taking stock of the situation. Sipping his drink, he plays absentmindedly with the Magethorn Manacle attached to his arm.

::Druids::

"Errrr no," Acaciano replies, following Deneb back to Common, but a bit caught off guard, but recovering quickly enough.

"Same problem, I suppose. This expedition will be the longest I've been around a such a large group of people in who-knows-how-long."

"Druids"

Acaciano laughs good-naturedly at Deneb's inquiry. After a second or two, he replies, still smiling.
"Onest, ni allaf ddweud yn sicr. Pob lwc, er."

@Deneb

RE: Jem

I had a line a post or two ago describing her physical appearance, I'd assume that includes either her actual race, or enough context to figure it out.

RE: Honor Codes

Probably a lot of room for flexibility and interpretation for individual instances of rule-breaking. Thanks for the feedback.

::Druid's Pow-Wow::

"Mae hi ddylai fod, ni allaf ddychmygu byddai hi'n gweld ei eisiau. Nid yw llawer o gyfleoedd ar gyfer y math hwn o beth sy'n dod eich ffordd."

::Druid's Pow-Wow::

Acaciano listens carefully to Deneb, and seems to think carefully before responding.

RE: Druidic

Seems to me like a case-by-case basis is probably best, since unlike some class features, you don't just 'poof' and learn the language; someone needs to teach it to you and that's partially reflected in the increased 'training time' for the class.

In Lyda's case, I think it's probably in the range of neutral-to-acceptable, at least as far as Acaciano is concerned- particularly given her family situation.

If instead she was a total and complete lone wolf who grew up alone, and knew no one, I'd protest more, even if you got past the "where'd you learn this" part. But between her familial relationship (which itself could have led to further interactions with other Druids) and the facts that she a) does a lot of 'Druidic' jobs in her community/region, and b) has been gifted some level of magic by Nature, I think Acaciano is willing to look past it.

That said, he'll probably not use the language to talk to her (at least not right away), and he won't be teaching it to Tai, either.

On an unrelated note (hence the second post), GM, what's Acaciano's initial reaction to Deneb's statement regarding Lyda's father sharing the Druidic language with her. I've always played that such a thing is VERY frowned upon, but I've never actually came across it in a game.

I'm down for skipping dinner and more conversation. There's only so much polite small-talk RP one can do before running out of things to say. I think the things that need to happen, at least from my unenlightened perspective, either are happening currently or have happened already.

I would, however, like to get our oaths down in writing, as it were.

I wouldn't stress about it, William. This was advertised as a politics-heavy game. And I think Lyda's 100% right about attrition. I'd rather there be attrition NOW than after a bit when it would affect the story more.

Acaciano's half-smile briefly flourishes into the full thing, as Deneb replies, proving his suspicions to be correct.

Tai, for his part, sees Acaciano and Deneb talking in a language he can't understand, and breaks away wordlessly, to walk around the party.

Don't think Acaciano ever established that Deneb was himself a Druid, but he's pretty nature-oriented and has a big Roc, so this seems like as good a litmus test as any.

::Deneb, Acaciano, Tai::

Acaciano wears half a smile even as he shakes his head at the exchanging of terms. Feelign torn between two worlds is nothing new for Acaciano as he contemplates the stark differences the practical, pragmatic life he's been living, and the one he flashy society into which he was born.
And the terms are set...How long has it been since I've seen a duel, anyway?

"Heh," he grunts softly, but loud enough that Debeb can hear.

Thinking to myself: 'So William sort of sounds like a jerk...'
*Looks up 'Order of the Flame' *

Carry On!

PS: good job on the duel setup RP guys!

Hrm, Languages:

Druidic -> ??
Sylvan -> ??

"Deneb! Nice to see a friendly face." Acaciano calls back, as the Halfling pops up, saying hello.
"It appears a future colleague of ours has gotten himself into a bit of hot water. Though to be honest, I'm almost surprised it took this long for a duel to be challenged."

Tai chimes in, caught up in the excitement and novelty of the evening's affairs. He's spent the last few years of his life bonding with the wilderness, but he did still grow up in Brevoy, admiring the fancy, upper-crust lives of the the dueling elite.
"And that's not the half of it! Some folks are saying they booted a group from the trip already!"

As ripples of the challenge work their way out from the center, where William, Kaellin, and their opposition stand trading barbs, eventually Acaciano and Tai take notice. Slinking towards the action, they silently take note of the goings-on from a front row seat.

"Keep an eye out, how this is handled will be a good sign of the rest of the trip, I think..." Acaciano whispers to Tai in a hushed voice.

Hey TWO, unless it's easily accessible somewhere else, or there's a reason you're not doing it, can you add the Group Names to the "Characters, Fame and Honor, Rolls, Etc." spoiler at the top of the page?

::László, Acaciano, Tai, Etc::

Acaciano nods in agreement with Tai, then gestures to one side. Through a few crowds of people, he's pointing at Darg, as described to him by Tai. "Yes, and I believe that to be him over there?"

Tai, seeing him, confirms.

"Well, László, if you're off now, I'll say it was lovely meeting you. I'm sure we'll run into each other again shortly," Acaciano says, politely offering the man a chance to go meet Darg before he gets lost in the crowd.

:László:

"Well, I've met a few, mostly in passing, but we have gone out of our way to meet some of the followers of Erastil, and they seem to be a good, if lively, bunch."

"From what I've seen though, and I'll admit there's maybe a good bit of wishful thinking here, they did a good job of filtering out the less-than-loyal applicants. I suppose we'll see just how good a job they did in the coming months though, won't we?" Acaciano smiles grimly. He's a generally a hopeful man, but he's a realist first.

"Whatever happens László, I can tell you we'll be here, on the right path. So stick on this path, and you'll have at least us as allies."

::László::

"Ha! Not so much, no," Acaciano quips back, confirming what László knew of the Green Faith's appreciation for man-made boundaries.

"But I'm still enough of a patriot --you heard my introduction, as you said-- to want this mission to succeed. It'd happen with or without The Voice of Trees, but I truly believe we'll all be better off with Nature as our ally. So I suppose you could say my aim is the same as everyone elses: the help our new King be best positioned to succeed."

Acaciano plucks a handful of drinks from a passing server's tray, and doles them out to those interested.

"So tell me László, how many of my Green brothers have you met? A fair few?" Acaciano appears genuinely interested.