Just wanted to ask, are you still here GM? Other players? Seems like this PBP died and I'm not sure why. Would have liked to continue this one!
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Hanna? You're up!
Just dropping a note midway that everyone has a +2 sacred bonus to hit and damage vs guants from Hunter's Blessing. Might help! Not sure who is adding it and who isn't.
Aradesh evades sideways as the giant rock barely misses her and Sivi, though it does dispel one the illusionary images protecting her. "I say we get him first. Shall we?" She flies lower and stops roughly 30 feet above purple, then a shadowy eye appears before the giant, who suddenly cries out in pain!
Aradesh flies forward, carrying Sivi below her, and stops about 40ft above the most eastern giant . She then casts a blast of magic that makes the giants more sluggish!
alchemical spell component rules for quick reference: https://aonprd.com/AlchemicalReagents.aspx Tanglefoot Bag
These sticky pouches can make a troublesome spell even worse.
Doses 1 (50 gp); Spells black tentacles, slow, web Effect Tanglefoot bags can be used as a power component in the following ways:
Slow (M) : For each tanglefoot bag used as a power component, you may designate one slowed creature as being affected by a tanglefoot bag. Web (M): Increase the DC of breaking free by making a combat maneuver or Escape Artist check by 1.
Down below, Aradesh sees the dwarf who insulted her hometown struggle to keep up and snorts. "I wonder if these dwarves live up to their race's reputation of giantslayers. At least Dolgryms seems like he can keep up with the rest of us."
Between verses, the gnome pauses briefly. "Hey, Aradesh. Do you have any spells that can erode the giants' strength of will? I have some useful illusion spells, but they work better on a demoralized opponent. I can't sing a Dirge of Doom and Inspire Courage at the same time." The shaman smirks. "Yes, I can break their minds - one at a time. It is a slow process, but it sounds like you have a plan. And speaking of slow..."
After casting her elemental protection ward on everyone, following a swift drop from the sky back to ground level, Aradesh turns to the newly mounted Cavalier. "All right, Pierre. I admit you exceeded my expectations." "Not that they were that high to begin with." "And as you're probably charging in ahead of us, you should benefit the most from this extra protection." She reaches up to touch his arm, and, should he allow it, she cast two spells that both harden his skin to the point of armor and form an additional holy ward of sorts around him! "Now go and impress me some more." She waits a moment to see if anyone comments on anything, then flies back into the sky. "Are all knights like him?" she asks Sivvi below her. "I can't say I've ever met someone so... 'flamboyant', I believe the word is, while actually having some skill to go along with it."
Aradesh takes note of the gruesome scene and bares her small tusks. But then she notes something off about the assailants. "Be careful! Something is wrong. They feel... magical. Since when do giant make extensive use of magic and dragons?" She calls out to those below, and begins flying closer. "Now... how to best make them wish they'd never crawled out of their holes today?" she mutters aloud, both to herself and Sivvi.
Small note in advance that I won't be able to post coming tuesday, I'll be attending a funeral.
"With your agreement, Sivi." Aradesh says, as her hair begins extending and slowly reaches towards the gnome. One end seems to animate to make a 'come here' motions and points roughly towards the center in between. Should Sivi move there, the different ends gently wrap around her like a harnass of sorts as the shaman begins flying with her carried underneath. "Let's give them some punishment from the sky, shall we?" Her small tusks form a mischieveous grin.
Small bump? Let's kill more giants! And their pet dragon, too. I think we proceed with the plan of intercepting the northeast group of giants? Could make a detour via the Rusty Dragon so that Pierre has his mount and his class features too?
"Then we have a plan. To the northeast entrance! We fight the giants there first. And to keep us safe as we go, a warding from lizards spewing acid from above..." The half-orc says, and is about to begin casting an elemental ward...
The shaman takes a moment to consider, then gives a tight nod. "A good suggestion. We draw its attention by killing its allies, and when it comes close, we fight it. We just have to hope the houses provide the people enough cover against the breath in the meantime." She glances back at the Sivi. "What do you say? We can simply fly up to it when it decides to come for us. Would your song still work?"
Seeing enough, Aradesh lets herself fall from the sky and skids to a halt mere feet off the ground. "There's two other groups of giants - one to the northeast and one to the north. The one up north is already moving into the city - the gate is down!" She quickly answers Hanna first. "The dragon is pretty far away by flight, at least a thousand feet and half that again. It will take almost a minute to reach by flight with your speed magic," She continues with Sivi's latter question first, " And while I agree it is the larger threat, how do we fight it as a whole group from the ground, Dolgrym? You mean to get closer on foot through the streets, and shoot it from below? In that case, I'd suggest going around slightly and fighting through the giants on the way there," She then asks the ranger, not feeling the need to point out every second counted. "Though If Sivi has a quicker plan to engage the dragon directly, I'd be happy to try it out. I can take one, *maybe* two others with me through the air to fight it right now. If it falls, perhaps the remaining giants would flee. That would leave the others behind to help out the townsfolk against the giants below."
"There have to be more! We heard attacks from multiple directions, and that was before the Dragon appeared!" Aradesh shouts back as she surveys the area through the chaos of at least that thing still attacking the town.
When the giant falls rapidly, Aradesh decides to quickly fly straight up to get a sense of the towns surroundings and the numbers and direction of attackers.
Seeing the flamboyant cavalier lived up to his claimed reputation - again - the shaman can't quite help but snort, amused. She wondered how many men out here displayed this type of behavior, and whether it was common. Her mind did an amusing foray into her native lands as she tried to imagine the savage to-the-death duels often fought for clan leadership, and how drastically different those would look if either fighter would preen *THAT* much every time they scored a hit. It was funny... ...But effective, apparently? "A good hit. Now, let's take down that remaining giant and focus on the dragon!"
Round 5 Aradesh golfclaps for Pierre. "Not bad. But you know there's a third one, right?" She continues her mental assault on the giant in the meantime! "We should start thinking about how to handle the dragon, too. I can protect us from its breath if we huddle up, and lift someone there through the air. Anyone have any other ideas for it?"
Have I already taken my Round 4 action? I’m a bit confused. I think so, looking at Sivi's posting history and counting the turns. I'll posts Aradesh' actions for round 5 and start doing the turn count along with them as Jack suggested. Should make it easier to keep track since it seems this might be a long combat with long distances travelled across Sandpoint.
Orcish (h)airlines, taking off! :) Puns aside, with sivi being a rapid fire archer, it does feel like a midieval fighter jet with two pilots about to engage a dragon, which is pretty high on the awesome imho :D Btw, @Hanna, you have a +2 sacred bonus to hit and damage vs giants and a +2 competence to thr same from sivi. Is that calxulated in? Might jelp landing those huicy hits :)
Aradesh can probably airlift you with her magical hair if you want to, Sivi :) It's a bit odd, but the Prehensile Hair hex counts as a limb with a current strengthscore of 22 which explicitely says that the witch/shaman can use it to carry heavy stuff without her head or neck suffering from the act. So... that has to mean the force of carrying magically doesn't transfer past the hair itself and that I can probably carry people in my hair through the air at normal speed?
From the air slightly above the party, Aradesh begins assaulting the giant's mind with fate-bending magic, willing it to succumb to ill fortune and clumsiness!
Wow, that's some pretty sweet damage on a hammer throw there, Hanna! So... we're at the end of round 3 now, and waiting on the giants to save vs slow/misfortune and act, with Pierre having already posted his attacks for the next round (4)? Just for clarity.
"Hmmm... At least he's not all talk." Aradesh thinks to herself, somewhat amused by Pierre's theatrics as he starts cutting into the second.
"Less talking, more fighting! Hah, I sound like a dwarf." Aradesh responds from the air, grinning slightly, just when a dragon, of all things, appears right behind her! "What in the- Is that thing with the giants!? Why would- No. Tyche! Quick - what is its weakness?"
She flies up to where she's out of range of the giants' melee attacks, 30 or so feet from the ground, gets 90 feet closer to the giants and...
Seeing herself fall behind compared to the others, Aradesh makes a few arcane gestures accompanied with a short incantation in the orcs' agressive tongue. The next moment, she appears to become weightless and begins taking to the sky in the middle of the group's charge!
The blurry images of the sprinting shaman all shake their head solemnly. "I'm afraid not. If it was just us, I could summon a large cloud to hide us from view. But that doesn't quite protect the villagers or their town. ...I suppose we'll just have to kill them. I won't let them take this town as well!"
Aradesh glances at the gnomish Illusionist during the run and grins as they cast the exact same magic to protect themselves. "You have good taste in spells, Sivi. Do you also have something to stop them from throwing those rocks, by any chance? Even if they miss, they damage the town."
"Wait! Don't go alone, you foppish fool!" Aradesh calls after Pierre as he zooms off waaaay in front with the enhanced speed of Sivi's spell. She grumbles some orcish curse words and casts a defensive spell of her own, then begins heading after him.
Aradesh freezes upon hearing the scream for help, but recovers quickly and immediately casts a spell while everyone is getting up from the table. The party can feel its desire to kill giant's rise! Then, she stands and flies closer to the door, stopping just inside the building. "So they're already here. Don't take too many risks. If you need healing, fall back to me." She looks at Hanna. "...Even you." She then shakes her head as she peers outside. "Though... How did they get here so quickly, and without warning? Did they capture this Shalelu...?"
Aradesh looks at the valuables brought before her. "You're taking a large risk paying us this much when we've yet to do anything. However, my thanks for this show of trust. I will invest in some items to keep us alive. If that will be all, I will finish my dinner and retire to my room. The road ahead seems long. Best head out with some sleep."
@Sivi, ah, there's a gnome specific supplement? Well, that'll be an interesting read! (Heads off to the store) On the marine travel front, there's this shaman/druid level 2 spell called Aquatic Cavalry which summons a school of large water horses with a 60 ft swim speed (120 ft double). Could we use packs of them to speed pull the boat forward? :)
I confess I don't know enough about gnome finer culture, though that seems an interesting point. Fey nature aside, given the whole compulsion to stay amused/not bored to fight off the bleaching, I image it's pretty hard to even capture a gnome's romantic attention for long? I'm sort of curious how their society and family structures function as I'd expect them to be very flighty partners. Or am I wrong?
"Hanna Ironhammer!", she says while snatching up her hammer from the table and hooking it on her belt. Her hand instinctually moves to the holy symbol at her throat as she seems to mutter a few words. "'Hanna' you say... Hm. Really? What a strange coincidence. That is the exact name my human grandparents gave me when I escaped the orc camp." She looks at Hanna and narrows her eyes, opening her mouth as if to say something else. Then she shakes her head slightly and reconsiders, instead focusing on Sivi's map and her enthusiastic explanation of the journey ahead. "Here's Sandpoint. While there isn't any direct access to the Yondabakari here, it's not far to Magnimar, which does a great deal of river trade. Even backtracking a bit to Magnimar, traveling by water will be faster than riding the whole way. I suggest we take a riverboat to Wartle. It's not much of a town, but if we're lucky we can catch a boat going north into Ember Lake. If not, we'll have to ride to Nybor and buy passage there." She traces a route north. "From Ember Lake we'll go up the Lampblack River to Ravenmoor. Strange town, they don't let outsiders stay overnight, but we can resupply there if necessary. That's the last stop on the river, so we'll have to ride from Ravenmoor to the Stairs. To answer your question, Aradesh, yes. In order to make maximum speed all of us will need mounts." Looking up at the group, Sivi beams and claps her hands together. "And there you have it! Any questions?" "It... sounds like a good plan?" Aradesh replies, still mulling over the map. "Though, I must admit, I've never travelled by boat before. Would it still take us two weeks to reach the Plateau going over the rivers?" she wonders. "And... should I prepare in some special way for these boat journeys? Are they safe?"
@Jack Daniels: I did a little bit of bookkeeping for Aradesh and her starting equipment/skills; as suggested above, I forewent her amulet of many fists to have enough money to buy a horse for the trip if needed. Also bought a few basic defensive scrolls and a handy haversack along with a wand of heightened awareness from the rest of the gold. On the skill front, I forgot that preferred spell requires 5 ranks in spellcraft so I dropped some ranks from sense motive into it. Finally, I changed one of her background skills from handle animal to craft alchemy. It seems to fit her backstory better, and she can actually craft potions for the party this way through the Cauldron Hex during downtime. If any of this goes against your planning or you want me to revert it, please let me know!
Dolgrym gasps "Poison?!?! No no no no! That's elf stuff. I meant something that would change the effect of the potions. Turn them bright pink, make them smaller, make them weaker. Something like that. If that happens to a few giants they won't want to use any potions any more." "Pink giants," Aradesh smirks, bemused. "I don't know how to do such a thing. But the mental image is very amusing. Thank you for that, master Dwarf. The other options might be more workable when we get there, yes. I wonder if Giants will eat shrunken Giants, mistaking them for humans. Another amusing image, I suppose." "It's quite a ways to the Storval Plateau from here, and it's a big place. Do you know where on the Plateau the giants are? There are two routes we can take up the Storval Rise depending on which part of the Plateau we're heading for. Both of them start with a trip up the Yondabakari River, which would be fastest on a riverboat." "I... am not overly familiar with this land, as you seem to be, Sivi. On my own, I would have flown there. Unfortunately, I cannot make others fall upward. If you say the best approach is by boat, we should do so. Can we walk the rest of the way, or do we need mules?" The half-orc shaman asks the colourful gnome. "Keep your money sir. Torag would bid me help you...even if 'SHE' is taking part. This weapon was created in the forges of Koldukar. We do not surrender to our enemies but die fighting. This weapon was made to fight giants, and Torag has placed me here for this task...so it would seem." "Okay. And your name is...? I don't think you've introduced yourself yet. Even among fullblooded orcs, that is a staple courtesy - regardless of whether they choose to slay eachother the next moment." Aradesh asks the glaring other dwarf with a slightly impatient tone. When the mayor seemingly accepts to pay the party up-front per Pierre's request, her eyes widen slightly, but she doesn't object.
Aradesh raises an eyebrow at Dolgrym's suggestion. "You mean to use poison on his potions or ingredients? An interesting idea, and not one I'd have expected from a dwarf warrior. However..." She glances back at the blue, translucent hare who was now sitting next to her and happily devouring his carrot. It looks up and lets out a series of chirping noises, after which he resumes eating. "Tyche says giants typically have very good 'health', for lack of a better term. They have to be, given that they tend to eat our ilk raw. They're also many times our own weight, and we'd probably need lots and lots of it. It's also a gamble on how we can get the leaders to drink it before it is found out. I do agree that killing the leaders seems the best approach, but feel it will probably come down to sneaking in or ambushing them on the move." She thinks for a moment and turns to the mayor."Your reward is very generous, especially for a small town. I would have offered to to do for free, but I'm afraid this Nosra the Divine is only the first in a longer battle. Shalelu wrote about leaders, as in more than one, uniting the tribes. We might need it to arm ourselves."
It's fine! I took it as a good writing prompt, so kudos from me. :) Though given what was said and with the event fresh in memory, i believe her reaction to it would have been quite strong. I'm fine with a Legolas Gimly approach for the campaign. Interestingly, Aradesh's human name is 'Hannah' and virtually identical to the Hanna's.
Pierre bows at the half-orc lady's comments. "So I may enlighten you, my dear. A credential is a qualification, achievement, personal quality, or aspect of a person's background, typically when used to indicate that they are suitable for something. I have many such achievements that I am sure the Fair Lady Ameiko is aware of, and some of them are even on the battlefield." Pierre chuckles and smugly arches his eyebrows at his last comment. When the seemingly foppish knight doesn't relent, and consequently starts the exact same act towards the male dwarf, the corner of Aradesh' mouth twitches upward in a small grin which she retains when he begins winking at her. "At least you are confident." She gives the muscular dwarven man a nod when he introduces himself, and is about to respond to him when... Any mirth that was directed at the swordsman quickly disappears as she sizes up the orc wench. "Well at least the giants have SOME taste...destroying that pest hole of a town." ...All the cheer drains from her face as she snaps around to this other newcomer. Features rigid with barely-contained fury, she reaches for her dagger just as Sivi and Dolgrym intercede. When they finish, her anger towards the female dwarf is lessened, but still very much present. "You... I have no idea who you are, or what you just shouted to the heavens with your screetchy voice. But I will forgive this blatant insult to the deaths and sacrifices of my loved ones only under the presumption of your complete and total ignorance." Drawing the dagger, she slams it into the table. "Look at this, dwarf. It's a hopeknife. This was given to anyone in Trunau reaching the age of puberty. Not to defend themselves against orcs, but to kill themselves instead of being captured by them - because even you should figure what happens to those. They tought suicide to their children . And mere weeks ago, a group of giants and orcs finally managed to sack the town. I won't regale you what I saw that day. But know this. If I EVER have the slightest inkling that you were aware of what your words meant, I will kill you. And no righteous god would deny me." After a good ten seconds of silence, she slowly sits back down. "... My apologies to the others present here. Nice to meet you, Sivi and Dolgrym. And Pierre. You seem you'd be good in a fight. ...Or claim to be, anyway," she adds the last bit with a touch of humor to the boistrous cavalier.
Hearing the swordsman's exchange with the proprietress clearly on her way there, Aradesh can only shake her head. "He is so dead." "What is a 'credential', and how does that help when your 'plan' seems to be running in and poking them with your sword - the same giants who are much larger than you and could easily smash you to paste before you ever reach them?" She asks Pierre as she sits down, clearly unimpressed. "That is, if you can even focus long enough to direct your other sword away from the nearest pretty woman?" She pulls back the wolf's hood and allows her shoulder-length jet-black hair to fall around her slender frame. "Aradesh, from Belkzen Hold," she says to the mayor, sheriff and other woman by way of greeting."I would say Trunau... but it was destroyed recently by their kind. Let's say I've killed my fair share of them in the defense." At this point, her backpack starts to shake, and the closed top seems to strain against some invisible force. Until a translucent hare sticks out his head from the bag. Aradesh sighs. "Right. He needs a... I mean, 'I would also like to order a carrot'." The hare seems to glare daggers at his master (?). "...Two." It holds her gaze for a few seconds then slowly nods, but doesn't go back down. The half-orc woman seemingly lets him.
All right, nice first posts, everyone! I wanted to drop a note that my posting this first week might be slightly less frequent as I have a one week vacation of sorts starting tomorrow, until the 13th of august. I will have some internet access and expect I'll still be able to post, it just might not be daily. And since this PBP is just barely starting I'll prioritize it over my other ones until I get back. I hope this is not too big of an issue?
Meanwhile, just outside the town's gate, a single woman falls from the sky and looks about to crash when her momentum suddenly halts just above the ground. "Is this Sandpoint?" A woman's voice asks from the resulting dustcloud, directed at the startled guards nearby. A moment later, she steps into view as she takes in the surroundings. Slender and seemingly unarmed except for a single dagger, at first glance Aradesh did not seem as threatening as most of her half-orc kin. In fact, she was even quite beautiful by most humanoid standards, despite or perhaps because of the unusually vibrant colours that formed her appearance; from her green as grass complexity to her Void-black hair and highly contrasting pearly-white small tusks. Her travel ware was mostly practical, though not less spectacular: study boots and a sleeveless brown dress formed the base, over which a breasplate and bloose were carried. Both of these more outward items were inscribed with dwarven runes, which doubled as the Orcs' own yet stolen alphabet. While the breastplate seemed to consist of a list of names which were all struck through save the last one - her own -, the bloose was much harder to make immediate sense of. Around her neck, she wore a necklace from which three dagger-length teeth were displayed, and the cloak seemingly *was* the pelt of a large wolf, the head of which she could wear as a cowl. Her otherwise most notable features were a tattoo of the sigil of Gorum on her bare right shoulder, along with a collection of faint scars of varying lengths. After a short exchange where she reveals the flyer she got from her contact, she finds her way to the Rusty Dragon Inn. Once in the welcoming hall, she sits down and glances around, wondering if this was really the right place. "My name is Aradesh. I was directed here to fight back against the giants," she states more than asks a passing waitress. Or whom might be a waitress? She wasn't entirely sure. Yet, she holds the other woman's gaze either way, awaiting an answer.
@Sivi Spiked pit sounds like a good spell, indeed! All right, I'll leave the Haste casting to you then. Plus, if for some reason any of her bonus spells still need to be changed, Aradesh can re-select them each day. I... ah, hadn't thought of the reality of travel to the plateau and what I should take :) Aradesh is really low on gold currently, but I can probably make some free for a mount, yes. Looking back, I can easily not take the amulet of many fists +1 as it doesn't really do much. I should probably instead get a handy haversack with some tanglefoot bags as alchemical components for Slow casting and use the remaining gold for a mount and some consumables. Also saves weight, which is a plus for a low str character. Thanks for the tip! Edit: @Pierre: I'll take a couple of Blessings of Fervor with me to still kind of have a haste effect in case something happens to Sivi or she is otherwise indisposed. For darkvision, I looked around for cleric or shaman answers but there do not seem to be any other than light-spells. Without using light effects as alternatives, as a single-ally wizard-only spell I don't think that Darkvision is currently worth one of the only three arcane spells Aradesh has. It could however be bought through a goggles of night for 12 k or a greater hat of disguise and changing into a race that has it.
Hey everyone, and thanks for selecting me! And nice to see you again too, Linnea! Moving from demons to giants are we? :) Seems like we have a pretty ballsy team here, with three martial melee characters ready to lay the smackdown on the much bigger guys. Can't say we lack for style, that's for sure! On that matter, Aradesh is intended as a healer and Swiss army knife for casting of sorts. She can take virtually any combination of shaman and cleric spells up to level 5/4 respectively, and up to three arcane spells up to level 3 can be added to her list as well to go along with her hexes. My currently prepared sample list took mirror image, haste and slow and has some staple clerical ones prepared to the side, with a focus on casting slow, which she can do spontaneously. If there's any spell people want or suggest, please let me know! Happy to see we have one bard I could share arcane casting duties with so that perhaps haste isn't needed? I was looking for a good way to target reflex on giants but couldn't find something better than Create Pit. Anyone have a good idea on that front?
All right, here's my (Trevor's) finished submission! Had a slight delay IRL. Still, though it might be last (?), I hope it's not least :) I believe the answers to all questions for the submission guidelines are in the background, appearance and personality blocks in the profile. Associated NPC's are in the background as well. I intentionally left open any particularly noteworthy Giants she might have noticed during the attack on Trunau or were perhaps seen negotiating with her father. Any BBEG that is convenient to the plot could be used here so that she has even more of a reason to hate them ;) If there are any questions I'm happy to answer them, if there is any time left for such. Good luck in the selection process, everyone!
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