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Ardran is currently ready for action, I just dont want to be the one "pulling the trigger" either by initiating hostilities or by failing a bluff.
Ardran can perhaps contribute by being a distraction, but in character Ardran would rather leave this to the subterfuge specialists. He will have more then enough time in the spotlight once violence breaks out in this encounter or another one.
Can we have a map? Ardran would be subtle jockeying for position at this point, as he is unaware of any preparations made to have one non compromising crate. I was considering using ghost sound as a distraction, but since the mithrans almost certainly have vision on him and ghost sound is V/S/M, it would be obious he is casting a spell.
Orders Sir? Ardran asks Opal-Balin to support the ruse.
I am worried about getting sunk from range, which they are unlikely to do as long as their prize crew is on board. Our odds to prevail are better in a melee then at range. Captain, do you reckon they have Ballistas or other such engines? Also, imagine you could blast fire at them, doing a bit less damage as a hit to the face from my bardiche but fire, 3 times, what are the targets you would hit? Range is just 30 feet sadly
Ardran plots, how to fight this, wracking his brain. He knows others are more capable at bluffing then he is.
Lure a prize crew on the ship? Which they will do anyway? Perhaps you can bluff you way out.
Yeap! Its like saying "eh, that dungeon was easy!" :)
Eh, you've got +13 disguise with the iron circlet, +10 to bluff and sense motive, decent diplomacy and sense motive and stealth synergy. You aren't a lead face character but you are far from untrained. We should try to keep you from being alone in a room with n inquisitor, but with support, you should be fine. Thanks for the vote of confidence :)
Captain Kargeld I presume? Permission to come aboard? Assuming he assents. We are indeed to offer massive violence against any boarders, should measures such as guile fail. He pauses eyeing the captain as he ascends, his assembly of weaponry clanging. Hmm, it is never wrong to learn, and your people are clearly more able seafarers and shipbuilders then mine, if this fine vesell is any indication. If you or your crew wishes the assistance of a pair of pretty strong hands, all you need is request. I would alas note that I have no naval training.
Days:
Ardran comes from a hard place and is used to a hard living, he handles the travels with little difficulty. He appreciates Opals efforts to ingratiate herself, and assists her indirectly by taking attention on him, frequently showing his physical strength when assisting the crew in various things. He is incredibly polite while he does so, but seeks to create a situation in which Kargeld and crew, likely erraneously, see him as the main threat in case of violence. He does sing and perform at evenings, offering up some Besmaran warsongs he heard from travelers. warsong: Sabbaton Bismark From the mist, a shape, a ship, is taking form And the silence of the sea is about to drift into a storm Sign of power, show of force Raise the anchor, our flagship's plotting its course Pride of Besmara, a beast clad in steel
Into formation, the hunt has begun
She was made to rule the waves across the seven seas
I am not personally skilled with ships, I am however both capable of burning a ship, and maybe capable of flying when we get to this point of our journey. The more my soul is strenghtened by deeds, the more I can manifests my ancestors capabilities. I believe it is similar for the rest of you?
A third option is that we pretend to be an inquisitorial retinue, one that may include the loyal and valiant Sir Balin the Failin. Whom I would likely impersonate. One of you is the inquisitor, perhaps you Aenil? The rest are other member of her retinue. We have two different tasks, delivering the goods and infiltrating the castle, perhaps we should utilize 2 different cover identities? Ardran proposes
Assuming I heroism Opal, its a +17 in the check if I also aid another.
After the cardinal and Thiadora have left: Does anyone have skills in forging documents? I have some skill at it, but it is likely that others amongst us have greater capabilities.
Also, what should our cover stories be, both regarding Captain Kargeld and regarding possible Mithran ships be? He poses an open question.
I would note that I Pmed the "dialouge" to the GM for approval, which you obviously couldnt know. He requested alterations, which I of course added. I then posted it.
It is often ponderous or slow to have actual verbal back and forth in play by posts, so sending the GM a PM with a proposed dialouge, getting feedback from him, implementing that feedback and then posting it is something that, as far as I know is done pretty frequently.
@Opal
I also think that you are overestimating the DCs required to know these things. They are arguably easier because these are powerful entities.
Knowing actuall physical capabilities of Nocticula or Baphomet? Thats where their CR actually factors in, and Ardran thus has no idea whatsorever.
My Lord Cardinal, may I ask some questions of tactical nature? First, do you wish for any Amosdean involvement in the affair to be known, or shall hells involvement be kept hidden from sight? Due to a degree of similarity of symbology, owing to a lack of creativity, between a certain demon-turd of real estate fraud and the Emperor of Hell eternal, we could leave hints of that entities involvement, directing possible countermeasures by the inquisition into a direction of futility and wasted resoruces. Ardran proposes
Second, we will be moving on a non-Tallin ship, through waters controlled by the Sun-Sucker Navy. I have some skills in linguistics appropriate to forgery, but I do not actually know how writen sun-sucker inquisitorial orders look like. If I had something to base a forgery off, and if we can come up with a legend, we could like be able to bypass Sun-Sucker naval patrols. He asks a second question Third, is there any pre arranged contact procedure with Sakarots forces? and a third one, he then sips from his telekinetically raised wine glass, showing that he is done asking. Kn. Planes DC 15 Demon Turd of real estate fraud:
Clearly referring to the Demon Lord Baphomet. The Iraen are quite familar with Demons, and have some rather spicy names for the ones they dislike. Kn. Planes DC 20:
You are reasonably certain that Baphomets full mocking name amongst Iraen is "Baffled-Määäähhhhd, Demon Turd of Real Estate Fraud, motherf!&~ing and intellectual property theft." It is surprisingly accurate. Kn. Planes 25 and sense motive DC 27: You believe that Nocticula and Baphomet are currently in a state of relatively open war. Baphomet is probably the demon lord hated most by hell, and Ardran clearly wishes to emphasize common enemies other then Mithra, in an attempt to improve his position and standing.
In this case, no trashtalking. Enough intelligence and kn planes available to know that a bearded devil he can trashtalk, a barbed devil he cannot. I did state that he stays mum if he isnt certain about it being a bearded devil.
Just some polite trashtalking.
If Ardran identifies the devil as a Barbazu bearded devil: If not he stays mum. And here I thought operation hell knight test is a go
I think I can manage, give me a moment, we Iraen are a fairly violent culture but... He pauses, grinning We are using this to train vocal relaxation Absolutely no murdering done in this one, its fairly harmless, although there is a fair bit of innuende. ::Using Russian for Iraen::
because long: Ой полна полна кoробушка [Oh my box is heavy, heavy] Есть и ситцы, и парча. [I've got calico and brocade] Пожалей, моя зазнобушка, [Take pity, my sweety] Молодецкого плеча. [On this young guy's shoulders] Выйди, выйди в рожь высокую,
Цены сам платил немалые,
Вот уж пала ночь туманная,
Катя бережно торгуется,
Знает только ночь глубокая,
TLDR: Tl;dr - song is about a merchant with blue balls [полна, полна коробушка == my box is heavy, heavy], convinces a village girl Katya to meet him at night in the rye fields [в рожь высокую//там до ночки погожу == in the tall rye, i'll wait until night], he whips out his junk [все товары разложу == i'll lay out all the goods], she's impressed [все боится передать == she's afraid of overpaying], they bang [как поладили они == how they settled], it's good.
Izabella notes that Ardran, surprising for someone his size, sounds akin to an operatic Bariton. While the songs he uses in battle all have a strong martial theme, according to him his weapon song simply requires this,
He does note that his tribe has a policy of foot soldiers singing along with a skald, to make it less obvious who the skald is, but that this is probably less useful in the context of this group.
Question: Who does not have darkvision? I actually red up the rules on the darkness spell, and its quite potent if we have darkvision and our foe does not. mechanical talk: Interesting task be the cardinal, how would I effectively employ the capabilities of my increasing half Balorness on the battlefield? To start with, having 2 claws, fangs and a horn from my performance enables me to be rather deadly and very close ranges, giving me an obvious mean to switch from being a mobile focused spring attack fighter to becoming fully focused on inflicting massive amounts of damage. I can switch from Bardiche to natural attacks by simply dropping the bardiche and unloading on a nearby foe. The ability to fire 3 scorching rays per day mostly removes the need to carry much of a ranged weapon supplement, although having a proper composite longbow is still useful. I do see through darkness, including the spell darkness, but not deeper darkness. Thrice per day, for 4 minutes, I essentially get the capability to blur or better against non darkvision capable adversaries, if light conditions otherwise are convenient. I can simply cast this on my armor or weapon, or on a stone, fling that stone somewhere and use this, perhaps coupled with some type of accoustic illusion, as a potent distraction. Smite good is obviously a potent ability, in part to counteract smite evil. As the most obviously evil looking member of the party, I will likely get smote a lot, and payback is always sweet. I look forward to employing wings in battle, but it will take me some time to properly utilize them. Given my physical strength, I believe that under the affects of ant haul, I could likely make the entire party air mobile. Vezura should be able to fly at the same time I get to do so, Izabella weighs practicually nothing, and Opal and Aenil are both on the lithe side as well. Note, aerial combat is to be avoided, especially while carrying the rest of the party.
Lustfully eying getting wings and +2 to three phyiscal stats in one level.
Ideas: Lust Phantoms (which actually are PCs, kind of) get this at level 12: Aura of Ecstasy (Su) When the spiritualist reaches 12th level, the lust phantom emanates an aura of ecstasy. All creatures adjacent to the phantom must succeed at a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 the phantom’s Hit Dice + the phantom’s Charisma modifier) or be shaken and staggered each round that they remain within the aura of ecstasy. Creatures that succeed at this save are immune to this phantom’s aura of ecstasy for 24 hours. My idea: when our Lustfull Opal reaches Xth level, she gains an Aura of exctasy, which she can activate or deactivate as a swift action. As she progresses in levels, its range increases and it inflicts increasingly harsher penalties. Lets make it modular and have her choose how what her aura inflicts and a days start. She gets a debuff pool, scaling with hit dice, and can fill it with multiple weak debuffs (f.e. Shaken, dazzled, under effects of bane) or fewer strong debuff (staggered). If she gets sufficiently telekinetic and kinky, add entangled. We can adventure with her by moving into her range, making or failing the will save, moving out of her range if we failed and rinse and repeat until we are immune for 24 days.
I mean, the ability probably cant be turned off, because it would be far too powerful if it was targetabble, representing the combined effects of a well regarded hex (evil eye vs AC, also note that the penalty to CMB and CMD is effectively -4), a level 3/4 spell (crushing despair) and the negative effects of rage (level 3 spell, it is also a bit similar to infuriating mockery ability of an urban skald), without expending resources. Its a constant safe or suck, and if you fail you are effected with crushing despair on steroids + negative effects of rage, also on steroids. Perhaps make it less debilitating but targetablle and scaling with levels?
During training:
spoilered because kind of long winded, feel free to read though:
I must say the the infernal troop command manuals are interesting my Lord Cardinal, in some cases they are close enough to our own doctrine of "Nachtkrieg", or "Night-war" in common, in others they could come from another world. Ardran says, as he was summoned into the Cardinals study
I would not recommend adopting this practice. It works because the daughters of midnight are essentially in charge of our tribe, and it is thus in their direct self interest to pursue victory. Having them as auxillaries would invite betrayal. Ardran continues, his intonation not too subtly implying his displeasure at "them being in charge". Perhaps, at some point, some more equitable arrangements can be found, concerning your peoples tribal leadership? The cardinal offers with a quite benign smile I do not believe that including me in such arrangements is currently prudent, Lord Cardinal. Ardran pauses
I am weaker then you, Lady Thiadora, or Walks-in-Shadow, but I am not an idiot Ardran thinks
With Opal during training: Opal would notice Ardran repeatingly stepping into her lustfull aura, and then out of it, as to to ascertain its range, and to slowly immunize himself to it.
Their appearances are certainly less obviously weird then ours. It is likely that they shall be given infiltratory missions, while ours may may be more violent and hands-on. He regards the other knot as he offers silent toast, not interrupting the Cardinal. To vengeance and victory He speaks, rising, answering the toast. Alfson? Literally Son of an Elf? Ardrans eyes perk up, hearing Dosans full name. He has only introuced himself as Ardran, as "Ardran Skuggason", literally "Ardran son of Shadow" would give away his tribal affiliation to one of a related culture.
This, I hit harder then a freight truck, without precise strike.
Stealth synergy giving use the ability to get surprise rounds is probably stronger. It also isnt neccessary the case that we are flanking.
Ok, two small sized cat Ladies, with differentially sized Cats. Apparently both of them can heal, so we are set on that front.
What is that Lust Aura, and why does it dare to affect one associated with Nocticula? I lived and fought side by side with an Alu, and she wasnt as intense, need to be careful around that one. He thinks as he looks at Opal. Possibly seeing Aenil deliver a cut to Thiadora, he seeks to be away from her, to not get caught in the blowback. I wonder if anyone else here has artistic inclinations
Interesting Ardran thinks
Maybe I can use this to guess the distance from which Thiadora can read my mind He hears Thiadora's chuckle, from apparently 2 different distances, at the same time. Eh, f*%@ me, thats not going to work. Did I just think *f$@+ me* while being aware of her reading my mind? Ugh.
My unerstanding is we all take the same teamwork feat. We do have a telepathy provider in the party, so bonded mind imho loses some degree of greatness. We pretty much have 2 frontliners, me and Aenil, and while precise strike is nice to have (if I make use of my natural attacks, its potentially +4d6 damage per turn), 3 party members would only gain limited benefits from it.
Stealth synergy in party of 5 means that we can reasonably expect the stealth roll itself to do 15 or higher (83% chance). This overestimates its effect a bit, as it will not always be the case that all of use roll a stealth die, but this compares will with the odds of noone rolling a 1 without stealth synergy. Seems it is somewhat equivalent of a +14ish stealth bonus.
Oh my a fanatic Ardran chuckles I do not know my fathers identity, there are some candidates certainly, alas my tribes, the "Midnight Lions" unusual forms of courtship frequently serve to obscure our tribemembers patrilineal descent.
I have a degree of infernal ancestry as well, during a period of cooperation with the tribal totem of the "Steel Wolves", pledged to Lords Dispater, Moloch and Belial, as well as Lady Eiseth. There was an exchange of bloodlines so to speak.
He pauses, adding: The positive thing about the more distant relationship with the source of my Abyssal power is that well, attempts to utilize my blood in an attempt to summon Lord Angothane are doomed to fail, on account of me not being his direct issue. As such, creative plots like, summon Lord Angothane in central Matharyn by sacrificing me, run away, and watch the fireworks from resulting from an angry-Balor-that-used-to-be-runelord-of-wrath in a city full of obnoxious sunsuckers, are not going to work.
sense motive DC 25: You are almost certain he is saying this addressed primarily to someone else he presumes to be listening into the conversation, not to you.
Seeing Vezura Huh, another half Demon? This one owing fealty to Dispater? Perhaps the rumors of Malacoda, Malebranche of Bastards heritage arent unfounded. In an Ironic turn of events, everyone knows Malacodas father is Dispater, but the identity of his mother is unknown, Lady Nocticula being probably the spiciest candidate. He pauses, lost in thought. Perhaps Mrs. Vezura, we can discuss our respective ancestries? It is unlikely for us to be related of course. He offers politely.
If I may pose a question, Lord Cardinal Ardran speaks after signing. I have been made aware that something called "Hellknight" exists, to my understanding, these compose number of orders, and the main criterion for gaining entry is to best a Devil of appropriate strength in single combat.
He proposes.
Ardran has "summon instrument" and "play instrument" as a spell which gives him full ranks in any instrument (for currently 40 minutes, its a relatively plentifull level 1 spell though).
If I go for the stealth trait, mine is going to be a 4(ranks)+3(dex)+2(traits)+3(class skill)for a +12, factoring in ACP a +9. Of course, if we go stealth synergy I can use the 4 skill points elsewhere, like kn. skills, and it basically gives me +2 init as well which is great. Stealth Synergy is thus my favorite. The problems with escape route in Play by post are this: It requires to not be using group initiative, because it gets annoying to arbitrate if people move at the same time, which they are likely to do.
Skill wise, Ardrans gets 9 skill points (4 base, 2 int, 1 human 2 to background skills) to distribute per level, which is a lot of skill point budget.
Having played up to that point a couple of times, his relationships to various NPCs: All of them obviously GM approval --Probably has a degree of competition with Wulfstan, as the 2 resident Strongmen. Would pride himself on being a lot more intelligent and knowledgeable then Wulfstan is. --Would get along with Trick, often playing the "liars game" with him, which is kind of "true or false" but with booze and darker. --Would flirt with Elize to piss off Wulfstan. --Has a competition with Trick to ship Track with another partymember. Neither of them make much progress. --He would be pretty deferential, polite and even courting to Thiadora, anything less gets him thrown through a wall or worse. --was interviewed by Thiadora as she wanted to brush up her spoken Abyssal. She offered to "instruct" him in infernal, an offer he foolishly accepted. He subsequently got thrown at a wall, everytime he mistook the infernal 3th person accusativ-superior with the 3rd person accusative-differential. He did pick up infernal really quickly though. Traits: I kind of want to keep my will saves as a weakness, partly because Ardran feels very powerful to me, as such I am looking at stealth as a class skill or +2 initiaive traits. Teamwork feats:
Teaching the Sunsuckers the folly of their monotheist and exlusionist ways has indeed been a long held ambition of mine Ardran speaks in a sonorous tone.
Their wile and hypocrite ways of sacrificing to their insipid idol the worshippers of effectively anyone else indeed demand of a severe chastisement, and I am happy and honored to offer my humble contribution to this effort. He continues in a dramatic fashion If I wasnt reasonable at acting I would be rolling my eyes Ardran looks into the Cardinals eyes, sensing a good bit of wry amusement. Obviously sees right through me but likes the style, good. His eyes then meet with Thiadora's icy green orbs, as he was about to expand his dramatic tirade further. Yet under her gaze May the sunsuckers pay with blood for blood, and with death for death. And we will collect with interest.
Ardran is an Mixed (Infernal and Abyssal) Urban Bloodrager (stacking 2 compatible archetypes) on one side of his Gestalt, a spell warrior (Skald Archetype) on the other, and recently found out he is part Balor, by sacrificing a Mithran priest and having his legacy get fully reignited. He will keep progressing along these 2 archetypes. Mechanical TLDR concernign the archetypes: --Urban Bloodragers can keep performing while raging, in contrast to most others. It also fits his more suave then Barbaric personality.
--Spell warrior does not mess with allied spell casting, making it the most party friendly skald type, especially in a party where everyone can cast some spells. It does give up spell kenning sadly, making him less flexibile then he would normally be.
Here I am, lets give the sunsuckers a good taste of their own "burn everything" medicine yes?
In terms of joinkable class abilities half her level, Ardran currently has:
Stuff the party would have picked up while escaping the prison with Ardran: Personality:
Appearance:
Capabilities:
There were indeed 2 who bore this name, one of them being another half demon, the other one The half Demon Pauses, eyeing Isabella Brighteyes without any hostility and with curious interest
He pauses Precisely where does thee hail from? He asks formally and politely in a cultured deep Bariton, sipping some wine via a mage handed wineglass. Sense motive DC15: You get a sense that he is polite to a fault, likely because his culture is exceedingly quick to take offense and feel compelled to avenge insults, real or imagined.
Ardran looks around at the group of fellow escapees. This will be both hair-raising and entertaining.
Altered background complete. He is not a pyromaniac, but he does consider himself a self trained expert in setting things on fire. Branderscar burned, the chaos generating opportunties for him or others to take out the Warden and the seargent, taking their heads. The village supporting the prison burned even better.
@GM I will alter his background to be the "normal", committed undeniably evil crimes and sent to Branderscar to die there. My current idea is that his people led a raid on a Monastery close to the Caer Bryr to put a stop to its missionary activities (and to "liberate" hostages from other Iraeni tribes that were "educated" there).
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