Sorry guys, I am in the field for business, no net here (Nigeria), returning to Lagos (Internet acces) on Friday, will resume posting then.
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Seeing that Lorald has sprung into action, Aran forgoes any notions of trying to remain stealthy. He goes over a log that hid the creature's den, hoping to find clear line of sight to his prey. Spotting the strange creature he fires off a bolt towards it, before trying to recall if he has heard something about it earlier.
Not sure if Aran have a clear line of sight to the bear-owl or not? With heavy crossbow it is obvious I have it in short range bracket, but not sure if I have LOS?
Aran will position itself right next to the entrance to the lair, reminding his compatriots that we do not know for sure that the beast will come from that direction (let's call lower left corner south-west) and that it (or they) may actually come from the opposite side, indicating different muddy paths.
Even after few days spent in the company of Valkus, Aran was still not used to his oratory escapades. When the bard finishes talking, Aran stands there confused, not sure if Valkus is expecting an answer of a kind from him, or anyone else for that matter. Finally Natalya intercedes, and Aran nods gratefully in her direction before heading of to prepare his ambush position. As a seasoned hunter, he does his best to make sure that his friends are not in each other's line of fire, but it is rather clear that Natalya's experience have already taken care of that, while she was setting up the "kill zone". Therefore, Aran does his best to find any appropriate spot (if there are any good ones left) and lies in for a wait, his heavy crossbow at the ready.
Guys sorry for no posts during the last 4 days. My company decided to send me in the field, and in Nigeria internet is not really available in the rural areas. Just got home, tired as hell. Will go to the office in the morning and start regular posting then (10-12 hours from now). Cheers.
Fairy folk! By Desna's sacred garments, I... - Aran tries to resist the effects of fairy music.
No PM's here, and I stated my position clearly - after admitting Natalya to the group, I would not like any more changes to our group composition, if possible.
What is this - we have as much people as a Calistrian gathering in mid-winter? - being clearly distraught by the events transpiring, Aran tries to escape into his comfort zone. Purposefully avoiding the communication with the newcomers, aside from a curt greeting to Anton whom he knew from before, the ranger tries to understand the story behind the tracks and dead bandits. He tries to read the tracks, as well as to check the site in details for any missed clues.
Seeing that the newcomers are staying (at least a bit), he simply asks: "So, since we're not moving right away, will someone help me bury the bodies. Bandits or not, we should send them to Pharasma's embrace proper way"
+1 to all stated above. I do not support the idea of receiving any new members into this group (as clearly stated before), nor would I like to see anyone leave the group, unless she/he has chosen so. So let us get back to playing/exploring.
@Natalya - sorry for the "direct approach" by Aran, I am trying to play him IC as he is (raised by Medvyed's, very distrustful of outsiders, especially fairies), but still I hope it does not affect your enjoyment of the game. I believe you are aware that this is in no way directed to you as a player, simply trying to role-play Aran's xenophobia. I took the liberty of reading your character's fluff (description), but I did not want to go so far as to assume that you are a dhampir, Aran has never heard of those.
As usual, Aran is a little distraught when Natalya shows up. He murmurs a brief greeting, and sets about his work. Later on, in the evening after he had a chance to better observe the newcomer's delicate features by the firelight, Aran understands that she is more than a typical human. Blunt as he is, he approaches Natalya and addresses her: "You look strange. Might you have some fairy blood in you maybe?"
Just a small clarification - as Lorald already stated, I believe there's no "friction" in Orlovsky/Lebeda team. My comment was purely based on how I envisioned Aran (he has a rather chaotic streak), and it is in no way related to any of my current team members.
Angry at himself that he did not properly react during the night encounter with the wolves, Aran offers to lead his comrades in search of those animals (in the morning, not during the night). "I could try tracking them. For a while it should not be hard, with horse's carcass leaving a big bloody trail. Plus, after they've eaten they will probably be asleep, their stomach's full. You want me to track them, or to lead you towards south-west?"
I am rather late with catching up with this discussion, but finally I read through the backlog. My preferences: Kingdom alignment - strictly Neutral Good (but as always, will go with whatever majority decides). Aran is having a very hard time with Lawful alignments. Potential roles based on Aran's DEX attribute as well as my preferences: Marshal, Royal Enforcer, Spymaster (in that order of preference). In addition, I would be perfectly fine with not having a role in the kingdom, being a "free agent" of a sorts. So if we have too much contenders for the role, feel free to leave Aran without an official role.
Earlier during the day:
Hearing Gareth's request, Aran does his best to try and determine if he can deduct anything more from the tracks.
"Sounds like a long road to go, so we should start immediately. Should we explore and map on our way to there?" - Aran asks no one in particular.
"Where's that bladeberry grow, in which direction?" - Aran asks the hermit before he turns towards Lorald - "If it was anywhere in our direction (the unexplored area), I'd say we have a deal, eh?"
Aran listens patiently at the exchange between the strange looking hermit and his friends, his interest focused more on their surrounding than the scene in front of him. Still, even with his attention pointedly elsewhere, Aran's senses are trying to detect if the potion maker is telling them the truth, or there's something else involved.
Ready also
I am with Marlani - I am willing to support purchase of CLW wand with whatever I could scrounge.
Aran was quite most of the time, as usual. He simply adds: "I agree with you Lorald, let us go and meet this hermit."
Sorry for the delay - I'm here but travelling, posting from phone, will be with proper internet in about 12 hours from now.
That kind of a wand sounds like a great idea - if we can find&finance it, feel free to count on Aran giving his share/part.
The same here - nothing has changed (although the letter is written in a very nice way - btw, I am going to assume that Lorald have shared it with us in-game). From what I remember, there were more "votes" to take her than not, is that correct? As I already stated, I will not stand in the way of any decision this party takes, as long as we're all having fun. So if you girls&boys decide to accept her, I am perfectly fine with that, although Aran would still vote against it. Now, on another matter, what do we do with the mine? We have now 400gp split six ways, is that correct? Plus some spare equipement we could sell maybe (whatever happened with that spellbook btw?), plus Oleg paid out the "store credit" (was that 75 gp each?). Just trying to get my character sheet fixed finally, so would like to list the adequate money/equipment. Based on what they might have available from "special items" in the trading post, I am more than willing to either loan my share of money to anyone in the party should she/he need it to purchase something good, or to potentially ask for a loan if that is something Aran could use.
As usual, Aran is rather reserved and not very talkative. He nods appreciatively when Marlani states that she will list all of party as the involved in the claim on the mine, and proceeds to listen to the exchange between Lorald and Oleg. Finally he chimes in: "So, we staked a claim to the mine, but at this point there's not much we can do about it. Could we maybe send a word to one of our houses, asking them for support - to send a team of miners or something. Honestly, I am not certain how much, if at all, would House Medvyed be interested into something like that, but we could try. Or, we could maybe pool our money and try to finance the expedition our-self? We do have a bit of money in here from the reward, plus the payout from the in-store credit? What do you think?" Aside from that, Aran asks Oleg to show them the few special items he mentioned, and then wanders off to check the bounty board. "Oleg, do you remember by any chance if the Antlers or the other team are interested in any of these bounties? We do not want to be in their way, nor we want someone to be in our legs all the time..."
"Not sure if or how we can claim it, but I'll sure as hell give it my best to camouflage it properly. Also, I'd need some time after we finish here - we left more than enough tracks that anyone who might check for those will understand that there was something here" Aran does his best to first try and cover the entrance to the mine, before escorting everyone out and trying to cover their tracks. He does not make their tracks simply disappear, but rather tries to make it look like that the party simply passed there without stopping.
Aran will try to support Lorald in this leg of the trip (if possible).
Just a normal crazy weekend for me, I guess. On weekends I am very slow (if not impossible to post) due to combination of me travelling around which usually leads to lack of internet and abundance of alcohol :-) Now let me read up on the game thread and post finally
If I understood GM correctly north bank is the unexplored territory. We think alike in here, just need clarification which bank is explored and which is not, then I guess we agree to remain on the explored bank for the night. Leveling up tonight (thanks for the tip) :-)
Aran would suggest that they spend the night at the south bank, as this is the area they have explored and they are acquainted with, and then in the morning to cross the river and continue exploring north-west.
After the agreement was made, Aran takes his vanguard position and leads their team forward, first they focus on exploring the immediate vicinity of the cobold mine, making a wide circle around it, mapping the surrounding before leading his party towards the west. Sometimes after making the camp for the night, Aran addreses the party: "Not sure if you have noticed this, but there are still traces of silver in the mine. It's not yet exhausted. Thought you should all know that." From the previous dealings with kobolds, you are probably aware that Aran was not comfortable around them, and would probably be much happier if the group dealt with them in a different manner, but for the time being he is not vocal about it.
I am for, as long as we "explore" every one of those hexes on the way back.
I thought to send this as PM to all, but I guess the discussion in here (if any discussion is needed) will be easier. Regarding "The whisper" Lorald got - personally I would not be to happy to have the mentioned "whisperer" joining us. From what I have seen so far, we have a very good cohesion and dynamics within the team as is, and I'd like to keep it that way. Also, Aran is a bit hard to trust "newcomers" (hell, he's still adjusting on current team members) so that would influence as well. But putting my gloomy, paranoid character aside - as always, fun of the game is at #1. So if you boys and girls would like to do it, I will gladly accept your decision. Just wanted to voice my opinion clearly. Listening to you folks now...
Unlike Anton, Aran seemed to pick up quite different lessons from the Medvyed's. Only a dead kobold is an honest kobold reverberates through his head, lessons taught long ago by the paranoid but still strong family of people that leaved right at the doorstep of Gronzi forest. Abiding to that lesson, Aran spends the night unlike most of his friends, refusing drinks and offers of food from kobolds. Being a real "party pooper" he goes so far as to remain awake and on watch even while most of those present were happily sleeping. Finally somewhere before dawn the tiredness in his limbs overcomes his fear of a "kobold ruse" and he falls asleep, with crossbow in his lap. Waking with a small startle, he notices that majority of last night's participants in the revelries are either still asleep or having a hangover. Rising up slowly, the ranger tries to find Lorald and the rest of team Orlovsky. Once (much later, when) everyone is finally awoke and ready to leave, Aran voices his opinion. "I said it once, and I'll say it again - thank you for your help with the mites. However, we do not seem to function well together. We're a large group and I guess that's normal. Let us now go our separate ways. State where do you want to go Antlers, and I'll lead our team in the opposite direction."
Aran does not even have to think - he allows his reflexes to act as he was trained. Just a split second behind Lorald, Aran's bolt flies and strikes true at the surprised shaman.
Now this will sound that I'm "supporting" Josef solely on the fact that we do the same job (another IT mngr. here), but I do understand and relate completely. No fun whatsoever in reading 80+ posts I've gone through so far :-( If you guys do not mind, I would suggest that we part our ways (with team Antlers) the moment we finish this. And one more thing - since when is everyone such a bloody Gandhi when it comes to kobolds and dealing with them? :-) Honestly, I'm thinking that Aran, coming from Medvyed family might have a different (more hostile) attitude towards the little buggers. I hope you guys would have no issues in me trying to roleplay that.
Guys just FYI, posting this across all my PbP's here, still in the field (my 3rd day) returning to civilization tomorrow morning, will start posting afterwards (12-16 hours from now). Sorry for delay.
Surprised by the sudden turn of events with appearance of the other team, Aran nevertheless does his best to show some basic courtesy. Nodding around and saying brief "Thank you's", Aran only displays a bit more affection while greeting Anton, whom he knew from before. Still, once when there's a heated exchange between Lorald and some members of the other group, young ranger silently sides with Orlovsky kinsman, following him deeper inside the cave to help him explore, despite his severe wounds. In a way, he was choosing the "easy way" because he was very much unused to interactions and being around such a big group of people, especially their somewhat more unusual members. So, Aran picks up his heavy crossbow, making sure it is still functional, and proceeds to check the fallen bodies of mites and their leader, before heading after Lorald and Gareth. "Too much folk for my taste" - he simply states to Lorald as he takes his position at the back of their small column.
Once again, Aran reloads his crossbow and shoots it straight into the open maw of the arachnid monstrosity.
Aran was "down" along with what seems like half of Africa yesterday. There was some issues with main country link towards Europe (or something alike) and we did not have any internet access yesterday anywhere. Really sorry for that guys :-(
Somehow I do not think that anyone is coming to help us. I'm more with Josef on this one - maybe we simply bit more than we could chew? On an unrelated note - I do not know if Aran is to act again, or do I need to wait for GM's summary post?
Seeing the huge centipede acting in complete disarray obviously hurt by Lorald's accurate shots, Aran realizes there's not much time to waste. Donning his shield, he feints towards the remaining mite, going first with the shield in order to properly mask his attack. The creature in front of him was neither fast enough nor had the proper weapon, and it's small dagger does not provide adequate defense for Aran's lightning fast sword.
Seeing that they are being almost overwhelmed by the enemies, ranger decides that he can not use his huge crossbow properly in these confines anymore. He stows his bulky weapon, and with lightning speed produces a thin, long sabre with which he proceeds to slash towards the mite in front of him.
"Something is coming from behind us!" Marlani shouts Spurred by Marlani's shout, Aran casts a glance behind them while reloading his crossbow, trying to discern any potential danger in the gloom of the tunnel.
Not noticing anything, the ranger responds "There's nothing there. Focus on the enemies ahead!" He fires at the ugly arachnid creature in front of them taking great care not to hit Valkus.
Just logged on, really sorry for the delay. I saw that Aran was dmpcd, thanks a lot Mardavig, that's completely along the lines of what he would really do.
Similar to Gareth, Aran did not understood a lot from kobold's babbling, so he was more than grateful for the clarifications provided by his comrades. Seeing that everyone was getting ready to return to the lair, he exclaims "Just a moment!", as he heads to retrieve his heavy crossbow. In the confines of mites lair, it was equally challenging to use both the short bow and the big, unwieldy crossbow. Since Aran was used to his contraption and was partial in using it, he makes sure that it is working properly, before nodding his readiness to proceed.
Looks very nice, only thing is that I think that we started from A-1, not A-4 (if I understood GM correctly)
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