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Viscountess Margarett Erskine wrote:

Perhaps Ranveer or Lionel? Don't think we've had much from them as central to a scene.

Ranveer is no diplomat, so the ball is an unlikely spotlight event for him. Not to say he'll be a background character, but actions not words are more his forte.

So be bad at it. We won’t judge. Having your character outside their comfort zone being themselves can be a lot of fun to write even if the mechanics say your bad at it.

Honestly the name slips are great and it's fine. Posted, not entirely happy with it but don't want to hold things up.

I'm on mobile and tomorrow is the wife's birthday, feel free to roll stuff to keep up momentum!

"I am no more than I was and no less either. My oaths are binding, sir, and if you lay a hand upon me you will never see the empire again except to stand trial. Such oaths as I am bound by do not include submitting myself as a servant of foreign powers, in fact they quite stringently preclude obligating myself to another monarch. It is not insubordination to refuse to compromise my integrity to my cousin's empire and her crown LTC. Additionally our mission isn't to attend a party, although perhaps your briefing differed? My name, such as it is, has never been yours to use, or trade, or barter, or offer, no matter your incautious tongue. You may speak foolishly to the very world, and then be amazed at the results when the world chooses to hear your foolishness.

She tilts her head, her smile the brilliant white of aggression then turns away from him.

Still, gifts lended or not, your choices are binding upon you and are your own. This is a moment of decision, it seems, and I trust each of us to be the captain of their soul. If you insist on attending, I shall attend under my own name and free will, in order that I might uphold what oaths I have made to queen, empire, and friends. Perhaps I am over cautious, but the old tales have lasted this long for good reason. I do not trust, and you should not either, the gentle language or the sleeping wood."

She laughs lightly at Chantal's humor, and agrees.

"I'm sure you'll have fun dissecting me if all goes terribly awry. Please remember I am obliged to have an open casket funeral, so leave my smile intact. Ideally, of course, such won't be an issue for many many years, and we will have stories to tell our grandchildren. You were always the insightful scientist, were you not? Still, I'll not abandon any of you."

Margarett steps into the wood, her thoughts straying between affectionate worry for her friends, duty to her oaths, and a carefully unspoken fear. For friendship, a brief thought of Median, Chantal, and Angus, family, her father, sister, and queen the empire. a bustling hive of castles and cities and industrial countrymen and women. Finally, the last thought just as the trees close around her. The stories say the fey are always honest, and never kind. This pine might be the puck, and we have let him advise us. What fools we mortals be, indeed. She shivers.

I'm going to be busy tomorrow so posting slightly ahead of where we are. No rush to move on, but if we do move on there's the important bit I need to get in for Margarett. She doesn't trust Pine to be benign.

Some of the old stories of the fey have them treating kisses as favors owed, but Margarett doesn't have a good way to tell the others that. Similarly, arriving as guests could be anything from acknowledging pine as the head of our little group, to quite a bit worse, or better.

Assuming that Pine runs out of exposition and the next scene is the ball, Margarett is going to try and get some of the party to arrive independently or as her guests, and hedge against potential fey tricks.

Similarly, offering the companions that may have indebted themselves to pine the chance to indebt themselves to someone human as well. If Cash/Lionel take or decline the trinket, feel free to fluff it as a reasonable tiny animal figurine or bit of jewelry that suits your character. Margarett has some generic "wardrobe/jewelry" budget so whatever you like works.

Neat scene!

Margarett winces, but doesn't say anything as Cash digs for information, instead pulling out a pair of golden trinkets. When the conversation with the pixie finishes she presents them with a strange formality as she offers them to the two men.

"Hunt and Green, I lend you these treasures. You shall need to repay me at a time of my choosing in the future. Please keep them with you, always. I might not accept an alternative. You may inform others of the debt, but not the terms. I believe this favors you, slightly."

If they take the trinkets, she relaxes, but if either demurs she tucks that trinket back into her gear and away with a sigh. In either case she steps towards the edge of the clearing, intent on leaving without turning her back on 'Pine'.

"We should be on our way then, I'd rather arrive at the ball under my own will, aegis, and title, and some few of us have other affiliations that might be best served by not arriving as a group. A merry parting is a good parting."

"So many ways to twist nay turn a language to deceit an one should choose. Yet any turning must be true, any deceit must have some basis, any trick must have it's treat." Margarett muses, then singsongs softly to herself, an old rhyme, now warning.

"A thousand and a thousand and a thousand years may pass and yet this will be so, the only certain bargain is the one you must forgo. A kiss, an invitation, a walk amongst the wood, asking little, seeming harmless, mean they ill or mean they good? A roving bit of nonsense, or a rhyming bit of sense, a wonder to behold it is, and leaves us still with less. The trick of every treaty be it simple or complex, is to find the certain wording that you know can be abused, and make certain of your wording that it might only be used. So be careful what you wish for bonny girl, and dainty lass, for the kiss that is your payment might be chaste or might be..."

She stops, and stares hard at pine, before very deliberately shifting her focus to look at her friend.

"I think you are going to need to be very precise indeed, and I will not be bartering kisses. Alas that we didn't think to bring glass beads."

As angus turns to the group Margarett smiles.

"The wonders of old tales and new experiences combined. Remember to offer a gift, if he claims this as his home. You're doing well."

As her companions turn back to the fey, she keeps her eyes open and lets them run over the surroundings. Dangerous place, even the air is full of stale enchantment like a polluted breeze. Her friends are in their element here, she notes, and then her eyes narrow a moment before she shrugs. So polite! Old Median would never have asked for assistance. Still, even now she finds herself liking this new friend in her old friend's body.

This game feels like it's going to want a discord and possibly a wiki by the time we're done.

Figured out most of the mechanics, now working on building a cohesive statblock that is easy to read. Still fiddling with background details and thinking about maybe being a priestess of the Egyptian Trinity instead of just Horus to give some more details to get right and wrong between Horus/Osiris/Isis in history and Horus/Osiris/Isis in wherever we are and make it easier to fit together with whatever bit of society exists. Also I have all the random fluffy companions at this point because pbp makes it trivial to just alias them up so why not.

So other than my Librarian, we have:

A cheerleader going premed who was the gifted overachiever through primary schooling but never learned to buckle down and handle hard stuff until university showed up and she had to learn. (Ouch, cuts deep) Then she found out that the multiverse was real and she's now a middle aged dude with various talents far from home, better buckle down. That sounds like A+ body horror freak out material.

A WWE star abducted by fate to be even MORE over the top. (Brava) I love the image this paints of a martial arts wuxia master or just initiate with one great insight who's soul ascends, while the body remains. The universe or whoever is in charge that day decides to to replace the soul with a loose one from the next universe over. They're in a hurry, so they run a generic "who's roughly the closest approximation of this young master" and abducts a WWE star who thinks this is "All according to my plans". Please work in a bewildered "I know kung fu?" and we're going to need a whole cartload of arrogant young masters for you to wallop at some point because oh boy.

A dutiful lawyer passionate about this one specific law. (Seriously this nails so many law students) I appreciate the acrobat/gymnast childhood being set behind her to focus on her law studies as she is trying to change the world through slow and accepted means. Then after an imaginary bowl of rice (which she dutifully washes by hand and puts away) and doing her nightly exercises she goes to bed and wakes up as a hyper optimized ninja gaiden character. Like, the only way this could be more anime is if the orc was your new body's uncle also infiltrating the village but his disguise was so good you thought he was actually an orc. Looking forward to Naomi's response to this nonsense. Also A+ on the tattoo theming, I'm sure having living moving tattoos spread across her new ultra-gumby body will reassure your methodical girl.

Then there's a man who believe in self-visualization as the key to success (oh boy narcissism/self-delusion ahoy) going to bed knowing his luck is going to change and suddenly waking up far far far outside his likely definition or imagination of what success looks like. Poor Joe, now he is an elf, and his Mom and brother are very far away. Sounds like a lot of growth potential, and such strong story hooks.

”Lieutenant? Are you all right?”. Margarette considers his far stare a moment then steps clearly in front of him and speaks in a crisp tone. ”Sir, you have a mission. Remember your oath.”. Behind her, the pixie and angus continue their discussion. She gestures finally to Cash and Median. ”We must keep ourselves alert, it seems. It’s as if the very air serves to sap the will and capture the imagination. The sketch is a good idea, sir.”

"They seem to have had a wonderful evening. Are they even breathing? The air is foul, how can they sleep?"

Artemisia is impressed with the patron's ability to sleep in the stench, and sets her magic to work cleaning up the signs of the last evening's festivity and subsequent acts of self preservation.

"That halfling had more vomit than weight, how isn't she dehydrated after all of this" she gestures to the smallest patron with the largest contribution to the filth, who sleeps angelically as if on a mattress of clouds, against the hard bar.

"I doubt they saw anything, but if they did surely they can't remember? Is it kinder to wake them or to let them sleep it off?" At this she turns to Par, as if certain he knows precisely the answer.

Margarett rolls her eyes at Angus and translates some for her companions.

"Angus is introducing us. He's offered English, French, Greek, and Punjabi as languages of choice and mentioned that I understand him, although who can truly understand Angus?" the last is humorous and she smiles lightly.

"For now, much like the willow, we abide. LTC, Lionel if you would keep watch for additional visitors?" She speaks softly, not drawing attention to the intent stare of Ranveer or Cash's journaling.

That reminds me, if we get a lull during or at the end of the investigation our party should sit down and swap notes and coordinate scribe scroll/spellbooks. Artemisia could easily memorize fly. (Her forbidden schools are necromancy/enchantment). In the interim it’s not awful using 2 slots on one fly for when we need to get someone into the air.

A post for our next night of rest.

I feel like rp without plot progression/purpose can be one of the ways to death spiral pbp games so never feel bad for moving on from scenes to the next to keep plot moving. I like fluffy rp a lot, perhaps even too much, but I think we all want to make it to the abyss not stall out in tea parties with middle management.

Margarette smiles and nods.

"I think that's a fine idea. Good to see you in your element here."

She glances over at the constellations and her smile widens.

"Ah, how convenient it must be to study the sky like it is a painting, with no concern about the light from our observation. It certainly puts some of the old theories of the cosmos into a different perspective. I wonder if that implies a twisting of space, much like the portal, that must therefor circle the world upon which we rest? Was our own humble Earth thus once?"

Lizardfolk diplomacy is hilarious, hopefully Val gets us a pass.

”Median, if she hates me it is only because she cannot be me no matter her accomplishments. I can respect that, the empire can be cruel. It’s fine, I offered her a chance to behave informally, she declined, and so now she gets to be a talented but common servant for the rest of our time here until she shows signs of thawing. It’s simpler, if not what I prefer.”. She sighs and sits up.

“At least we now no longer need inquire of her opinion than Cash would of his manservant’s outside their respective areas of expertise. Truly, a shame that her arcane insight is so easily done without. If she decides to level accusations or spread rumors we simply hold to the truth, you are under orders of the office of the wardens. Hopefully, some time here will have her mellow, but we can do without if not.”

She looks over at her friend a moment and shrugs.

”Still, she’s right to stay moving. We should be about our business. If nothing else it will let them tell us delightful lies. I must admit, the idea of you and poor ms dupoint being involved previously will at least make it easier to hold my smile for this performance. Oh don’t scowl. It is much more likely to have gone in the opposite direction than you worry. She would have been corrupted by you, if anything, not the other way around. Just imagine her on her knees begging for your academic insights. If it troubles you, she wouldn’t have been the first or the last, and you likely told her no. You wouldn’t even help me with history of alchemy, and we’ve been friends forever.”

She heads toward the door.

”You have this, just keep breathing.

meeting

At the meeting, Margarett takes extensive notes, and asks for an accounting of individuals within the walls, events, and supplies. She assembles a ledger, timeline, and dossiers accordingly. Looking over it at the end she remarks.

”This isn’t going to be a short visit. I think we’ll want to focus on establishing the logistics to support ourselves here. Right now we are dependent on the door, and entirely ignorant of what lies beyond sight of the walls, not to mention these sapling incursions. Pavement, plowed fields, and a secondary set of signal towers and walls all seem reasonable goals for the settlement, but that will mean quarrying and tilling and other such resourceful occupations and we do not know how or where to do such things. We will need to survey, in force, and hopefully among these less militant members of the community their will be the knowledge to build what must be built here. The ledger is a start. Thank you, sirs, for your diligence in assembling it.”

"I believe there are organized peoples here, but that they are wholly responsible for the failure to thrive of the local garrison? I doubt that. It's almost always someone who thinks they know best, without knowing much at all, ordering his men to cut down the trees and wondering why the druidic orders and the tree lovers hate him."

She rolls her eyes before following her friend's example.

"Honestly, I fully expect to be told the project is over budget, men are missing, large swaths of planned construction is not completed, and it is all the fault of the missing men who were led astray by forces unknown. It will be a pleasant surprise if any of the errors to date are bluntly stated, with remediation successfully underway. Remediation not being 'I told some privates to wander the camp with hatchets in case of trees.', to be clear. You know how the game is played by the middling managers at Got, and the army isn't any different in their games. Someone, somewhere, must be found to blame for failures, that promotions might continue to flow."

She shrugs elegantly.

"It's why I thought I'd been volunteered, honestly. Mar's make good sacrifices for the empire's excesses, and we tend to fix things before we get blamed." For a moment she sounds bitter, but then her tone turns wry. "I'm sorry you were voluntold instead and it's your reputation on the line, but I would be a liar and a poor friend if I didn't admit I was somewhat relieved. Maybe the director expects this to turn out better than my first impression. What do you think, Chantal?"

I haven't spent the last of my gold or filled in the spellbook - I'll do that if selected but it's the sort of thing that seems worth doing once the party is clearly identified.

^5 fellow sliding in at the deadline submission

Cash remains fantastic. A reply will be coming but it may be late in the weekend. Imagine, my dear fellow an entirely monopolized production line, with only the product exposed to the world, a product the world has an endless hunger for…

SM: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15

At Median’s apartment.

Margarette helps Median pack, folding each garment with a precise ease, then slotting a tiny flatiron into the case. She chuckles as the places the various tools into their hidden storage.

”To think father thought my time shadowing the valet was useless.”

A moment later she swears. Drat it all Median, she’s going to poke. She didn’t give you anything that day at tea, at least not that you told me. You were irritated all week because she’d said she had something as an excuse to have a companion for the rutgidge folly, and she took you to tea afterwards as an apology. Perhaps she meant to bring your sense of humor. Honestly, this is going to be impossible, you know that.”. She picks up one of the plants and moves it to the balcony. As she returns, she continues.

”The sooner you feel comfortable bringing her into your confidence the easier this will be. She’s one of the best of us, for all she isn’t a warden. Honest, Loyal, True. If you get her word, she will never break it.”. She moves another plant, careful of the thorns, then considers the easel and begins to break it down.

“She simply cannot get along with politicking and so she washed out when she tried for the AD posting, then left for the Order. It’s a better fit, everything in the order is tests and scores. Of course, that’s the downside of telling her. Tests, and an endless series of questions. At least we’ll be outside the empire, soon.”. She places the last of the painting supplies away, and snaps the case closed, before turning to look at Median and the trunk.

”I’ll keep you safe, whatever you decide, but you can’t stop me worrying any more than you can keep this secret forever. It would be good to have more friends. I’ll get this downstairs, and let you say goodbye. You know the maid will tend the plants.”. She leaves Median alone to think amidst her many missing memories, and takes the chest down the stairs with an easy grace that startles the doorman. When he looks at her she smiles brightly.

”Lovely day for an adventure, thank you for holding the door Samuel.”

The train, a conversation in,progress

”Cash, even you must admit that the endless frontiers exist to be ruled, and that rulership involves tending to the long term. You’d never have made a fortune with an eye only on the short profit, something always goes wrong and that type self destructs. We’re surveyors, for our varied interests. I just want us to keep the long term profit in mind while we go looking. Fields and streams might not seem interesting beside gold and magic, but they endure, and grow crop year after year after year. The wealth of nations, is land. All else flows from there, no matter the small achievements along the way. What lands would you seek for the empire? Or any of you? The traditional award for bravery is fief, and sudden, so best to think on it. Our small holding on the other side of the door is just the beginning, and the empire won’t make the mistake we made in the Americas”

Sorry to hear work is stressful, that is always the pits. Hopefully elfgames help. I’ve included an updated conditional attack if you want to include bow fire results with the Wight leader’s actions, and I’ll include those results in Artemisia’s next post in gameplay.

Initiative Tracker, Round One

Muziel (26), Par (22), Sabella (17).
|—Undead Mooks (16)
|—|—K’Tak’Ktah’hal (11) Just went
|—|—|—Undead Leader (10) Up now. His +7 bonus breaks initiative tie with Artemisia
|—|—|—|—Artemisia (10), Valeria (4) Conditionals - kn relig (15) then Ready/Fire the bow, Glaive and wait for Aoo

Conditional
kn religion: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15
If his turn or this roll indicates he’s a spell caster, ready bow fire to interrupt spellcasting, else full attack to fire the bow 2 times at wights. Shoot at the most injured wight with each shot. After firing (either via readied attack or full attack) free action to hold the bow with one hand, allowing her to AoO with cestus if needed.

bow #1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
bow #2: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

For a moment she is utterly disarmed. ”Ah, thank you director, Truly. ”. She nods, then is saved by the least likely, before the moment can become awkward. As Median offers respite she nods agreeably, relieved, then rushes to accept.

”Of course Median. I would love to see your home again before we leave, especially if you still have that painting of the cosmos, I know you left a good deal of your family’s things in trust, but even with the grounds closed you must still have the painting. That reminds me, perhaps we should check your bequest to the warden’s library? Or did you keep the merlinjournels? I know you were conflicted. Truthfully I think you have a point that we should not rely upon them, but even you must admit they are firsthand if colorful accounts of someplace that sounds quite like the fey. We can read aloud while you pack, it will be like old school times.”

She grins at Chantal winsomely. ”Come along and try to forget that Charles is alone in your laboratory. What’s the second worst he could do? Lose himself in the great beyond?”. Her tone is teasing, but not mean.

Oh now she has to like the director, tricky, and poor Median getting voluntold that she's in charge. Oof, that DC on knowing anything about the LTC is probably not happening, so I guess Mar's comment about colonel's was prophetic. Neat stuff.

I'll save another post for after we're on our way to avoid crowding the thread. Anything else we need to get done here GM Kaz?

The vampire comment, I am laughing.

Crosspost with cash, ah well. We need to get into the field so I stop writing a page of dialogue every post. Margarett is long winded. Did my best to give people hooks to hang off of as needed, feel free to retcon.

I think Margarett would be fine as a confidant if you want her as such, she'd have likely been worried that you were losing yourself in the project so if past you presented this as a chance to start over or a fresh beginning and asked her for help in the case that something went wrong that would probably resonate. She's a firm believer in redemption, and would not hold current you accountable for any, prior, transgressions. She'd probably be horrified that her friend didn't share the plan ahead of time, but it's happened now, best make the best of it. It's pretty easy to throw together a reasonable history of interaction either at University (Göttingen was my choice for Margarett) or in the Wardens themselves in these last two years.

She wouldn't view helping Median as hiding a sorcerer. After all, the law says a sorcerer must be under observation by a Warden, not that a sorcerer must be publicly declared. Similarly, the law seems to suggest a punishment for the creator of the sorcerer, not the sorcerer themselves. As the creator has vanished into so much smoke, that problem is behind us. Margarett is Lawful Good, not Lawful Stupid. As long as you don't go missing, she has no obligation (as I understand the rules in play) to report you. Should you go missing, she'd probably report you to the Director. She'd also, of course, encourage you to self-report once you feel settled enough in yourself to decide this is the life you want.

Went ahead and made a figure for Cash since it was mentioned, :)

Cash is great and I sincerely hope he is literally dropping victorian era capitalist gang signs every time he says money.

Margarett mulls the situation and then speaks quietly but assuredly.
diplomacy if needed: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

"We will do our best to return, alive, in this same number, and in good condition Director. I would request, for my companions sake at least, a writ to that effect, if you please. If we are to swim in the ocean beyond the Empire, best to have clear instruction to return and report to you to help smooth any undue appearance of immodest profit or traitorous ventures?" She smiles tightly, her eyes glittering, then continues.

"If the games you allude to are afoot, then having written instruction to return is almost certainly more important than written instruction to go. I suspect, if as you say we are meant to fail, that at least some of our interactions with the army may be misunderstood and the simplest remedy to such territorial disputes is the age old mantra of every loyal vassal since the dawn of Empire."

Her voice becomes clipped, clinical, and dreadfully bored. It drips with polite deference. "I'm sorry sir, but I must do my duty as I have been commanded, and my commands include orders to return and report to Director Ratcliff. I'm sorry I cannot answer questions, please direct your inquiries to Her Majesty's Wardens of the Wyld." She nods brightly, and shines the genuine appearance of being nothing more than a fresh and dutiful child, a head full of empty thoughts. After a moment, she adds in a gentler voice.

"Distasteful as I might find playing the part of the witless but obedient servant, it still sounds so much better than the alternatives. Accusations and confusion and general brouhaha that one might imagine could occur should some colonel somewhere decide his jurisdictional pride demanded concessions from you, or to" she gasps "interfere with our duly ordered duties sounds precisely like the sort of avoidable trouble you'd prefer we decline to engage in. Don't you think?"

"Admittedly, if you prefer we take the fun way...there are always more colonels seeking commission, are there not?" she teases.

I'd imagine that both Margarett and Angus attended the Braemar Gathering in their time - it was quite the social event for the Highlands and Scots nobility, particularly as Queen Victoria herself often attended.

That's a good point, and as Margarett's courtesy title is Viscountess Braemar she'd absolutely have attended once she was of age if only out of curiosity. (I missed this gathering when doing my research, now I have more amusing reading to do)

I haven't headed down the heroforge path because I don't know if they can do multicolor features (heterochromia/ombre), which is one of the flavor elements I have in my notes but realize I haven't added to the profile yet. (Time to fix that) If it can do color fades, feel free to give it a shot. In terms of equipment, a rifle and spellbook are the more important bits. She has ancillary blades because her older brothers insisted but she's much more likely to shoot someone than try to fence with them.

Hello everyone! I nominate Stealth Synergy as the teamwork feat because having the entire party pile their stealth ranks together with the single highest roll for stealth checks seems on brand for government agents.

I didn’t look over the teamwork feats exhaustively. I spent most of the week figuring out the genealogy/history of the various houses of Welf and nearly missed getting my crunch sorted, so if I am misreading or overlooking something obviously better please mention it!

About Margarett: in combat she’s a moderately efficient gunmage. The plan is a lot of spell combat, not a lot of spellstrike. I didn’t take the maximum murder options, so we’re not intensifying spells. Maybe in the future we’ll try our hand at buffing/debuffing, for now we have daze and shoot someone as our usual action. Outside of combat she’s approximately a bad wizard with better physical scores than the typical bookish elf.

Her skills can move around, but she needs to keep linguistics/know-nobles/spellcraft, and should not pick up sense motive to align with her background as it stands, which is a fair chunk of her skill points accounted for. If someone else has knowledge skills we can specialize, if no one else has knowledge skills I’ll add more to get identification checks.

Languages right now are Aklo, Aquan, Common (English), Draconic, First Speech, Greek, Skald (Scottish).

Excited to read more of each other’s backstories now that we know who the party will be.

Elaine nods, pleased to have a traveled guide at hand. ”Maps are one thing, a guide who has walked the sand another. We are in your care, and will do our best to keep you safe. May your journey return you to the heart of your home.”. She speaks very formally at the end, inclining her head politely. As she does, she catches sight of the two men meeting and pauses.

Elaine then turned her head their way, tilting it this and that, in the manner of a bird. After a minute spent observing the small men and their animated hand gestures, she startles as she murmurs. ”Ah, that must be some language, and now they are friends.” Joining a new caravan was somewhat like a meeting between Antloids, she decided. With less predation, of course. First a period of acclimation, then soon the guards would work together to protect the hive. She nodded to the koa and kreen, then motioned them towards the two shorter mul.

Settling herself comfortably, she began practicing the hand motions, not entirely correctly. Aloud she commented, ”Im afraid you will need to be patient with me, my hands are somewhat over large for this, but it is so graceful. A useful thing, I think.”

While I know combat broke out, Sabella is still waiting on a hopeful reply to her questions.

Join team tea and conversation!

Artemisia’s laughter rings out at the mention of Opera and she struggles a moment to control herself. ”Oh, lady Valeria, I do apologize but the last opera I saw was a comedy of errors involving an investigation into devilry and well.” she gestures broadly at their varied troupe.

”When you mentioned dressing the part, I just couldn’t hold it in. In a sense, are we not all living such a performance right now, to the amusement of our many observers? An idle, but amusing (or perhaps alarming?) thought.”. She grins again, before nodding to Master Rufram to continue.

“I would be willing to stay in a guestroom, and thank you for the offer, but I would not think of intruding in your laboratory or storage or put you out further on our behalf. No! It would be exceeding rude! Your space is your sanctuary and rightly so, Master Alchemist. I think we must therefor stop to arrange lodging. You say whitecap is reasonable, then it must be so.”[/b]

Name: Thomas
Alignment: Neutral+
Basic Concept: Samsaran Cultivator trying to escape reincarnation by defying the heavens
Role: Some blend of combat/magic or skills/magic not hyper optimized into one niche, plus entirely too much remembered “soul magic” (to be determined later) for their own comfort.
Why they sold their soul: To gain the power to manipulate a soul, specifically theirs which was proving recalcitrant, so they could cease reincarnating on golarion and move beyond.
How and when they died: They thought they had figured out how to rend the cycle of souls, they were wrong, whoops.
Their fatal flaw: Nihilist Narcissism and Nascent Necromancy

"Now we get to see if they throw arrows and burning things at us or if they let us in. Ah, the simple joys of homeownership."

"Duly noted."

Dolgrin begins looking beyond the newcomers towards the tavern, while he doesn't normally drink, the return to form of more talking less doing elves has convinced him it might be a good idea as well.

"Mitleid care to find out if the tavern is still selling swill? I think a warm meal of non-wolf and some ale might be just the thing after today's experiences. Oh and they might have warm water as well. We should investigate."

He moves past the newcomers with a smile and a friendly wave, turning as he walks calmly backwards.

"In the morning then. Glad to see help arrive for the ferry, it's quite the wilderness out there but also a land of opportunity. Note knows we've seen wonders, and horrors. Oh, and don't go down the well. F&*! if we know what that means, but it's pretty clearly a terrible idea if the people who wrote it thought it was the best advice they could give on the myriad host of unpleasantness out there."

He gestures vaguely in the direction of the wilderness, then smiles and waves again.

Long day today - dolgrin's trying to be friendly here, sorry if tone is internetted

I'm gonna vote 5, as I like lower level games and 5 is always a good place to hold it.

Normally this would be me, but with the size of the world and the number of 'broken' things, it might be kinda fun to play in the big leagues for travel magic. Having it as a monster of the week sort of game with some teleportation out to the current pain point (everywhere) seems pretty in keeping with the general description. It also lets us do the hide in the shadows thing, which in a world where not only did the antagonist win they won disasterously across all fronts, might be a good plan.

So I'll say if the plan is to really dive deep into one of the various broken bits of golarion, let's go level 6, but if the plan is to see the world as it is changed by failure, we should aim for 10, where our wizard can have Teleport. The best part of this? Failure chance on teleport is like an open invitation to the GM team to throw us into something new and cool that we didn't even know about.

I am thinking about a scythe wielding rose for this I think. We all agree RWBY is magical girl, right? (somewhere between Ruby and Weiss I think.)

Ok having looked at the two NPCs in the players guide and thought about it more, I think I'm definitely more interested in profession/craft stuff than being related to the crime syndicate, so Ameiko it is. Shelyn worshipping is an easy fit, time to figure out class.

I'm thinking about younger sibling as my character's campaign trait. I'll figure out which of the two NPCs I like better once I have a feel for her. Sneaking out of the house/inn to follow along on adventure! Leaning Ameiko now that I say that, since she seems chattier.

Hrm.

oops that should be Alice not daphne. Pre coffee internet use is dangerous.

Alice calms down, and summons a light to examine the wagon by.

Magical tail is so bad it's depressing. Flavorful though.

I'd like to vote against actual PvP because it usually ends poorly in PF. Having the groups influence each other via events in some fashion gets the same interaction without bogging down in winners, losers, and rocket tag pvp. Avoid the trap of 'we scry the other party and summon bugbears' or 'roll initiative to shoot one another' in favor of the more compelling story options of cheliax (or whoever) secured the mine, the rest of you have to make do with what you carried out->later gnolls attack the mine cheliax needs help->The consortium secured the mine with their gnollish allies but cheliax made away with... It has the same feel of competition for resources/story without generating 4-5 losers in any given interaction.

Just my 2 cents.

My reasons and justifications for playing Hailey are listed in detail on page 12 of this discussion thread.

Yes, I'm a fan of Hailey. Debuffer/blaster is an interesting role, and it fits her nicely.

I did mean to ask if you were going into theurge at some point or if the cleric start was just a dip for (very nice) things like channeling. My next few levels are going to be wizard to try and qualify for Eldritch Knight by 7.

Incidentally if you want to avoid patching up the rabble. Remember False Life is Necromancy, and strictly superior to CLW for any number of reasons not least of which is the delicious flavor. The image of hailey keeping a bit of enemy A around as ectoplasm so he gets punched in the face One Last Time seems believable, and it even feels like a joke she might pull on any of the boys. Here! Wear this totally not a flesh sack made from heart tissue, it will keep you safe! Yes it's going to burst when you get hit, better it than you! You can wash up afterwards. No, I don't have one that's cleaner, that wouldn't work at all.

Anyways, she's fantastic.

Another three bit necromancer spouting threats? Really? What is it with this place and the sloppy use of magic. Why, a simple message would have served. Or even a summon. Leaving the birds to die after their message has been delivered is unprofessional, and unsanitary.

Bendalis begins shoveling the crows into a pile.

Don't just stand there looking at them, someone help me set these on fire.

She points at Grint.

You! You look like you're a sturdy enough workman, go fetch some wood.

Seeing hailey she smiles widely.

Thank Shelyn, there's always a priest when you need one, and even a follower of Nethys if I don't mistake that symbol. Fortunate indeed. Would you mind saying a small prayer for these.

She gestures at the now piled crows.

Even if their waste shows the lack of talent of their summoner, they died for magic's sake, and we should at least give them that much respect before we incinerate them.

I have no idea where this side of bendalis came from, but rolling with it. SLOPPY WORK OFFENDS THE ELF (and the gods)

Burnout happens when you get bored. It's not a function of one vs two threads. It's a function of interesting players, posts/sessions, and real life commitments. The best salve for burnout is making friends with the internet strangers in your game.

Best of luck with your decision.

You did say we could pitch ideas right?

1 - Take the premise of time hopping from chrono trigger, replace time periods with settings, hop around from hopeless catastrophe to hopeless catastrophe through the Realms/Golarion/Athas/Greyhawk/etc. Talk shop with gary gygax in the Index of Editions at the End of Time.

2 - Wouldn't it suck if you were flagged as a legal target of Summon Monster I? Take a normal adventuring party in <Setting A.>. Make them legal targets for <Setting B> summons, with the restriction that they always come as a group. Feel free to thread some hints of what is going on in <Setting B>'s adventure, but mostly focus on the party and their continued attempts to unflag themselves so they can live 'normal' lives.

3 - The world already ended, and a desperate race through the illithid/elf portal is all that kept your tribe alive, pick up the pieces and lead your colony of survivors on this strange new world. Hexcrawl an island/subterraneous/ocean kingdom.

Wren Glasswright wrote:

Best of luck in the future then, you should show us a picture of your garden!

Thank you! I'll try and do that. I'm from South Carolina and we love to garden down here!

Definitely looking forward to it. I've been looking at my roses all morning trying to figure out how to draw a glass rosebush for wren.

Recruitment is closed

Thanks for your submissions everyone! I'll have my decisions up in a few hours or so if stuff stays this slow at work.

You have a tough time ahead! Good luck.

I'm Ash's cleric, and I need to rescue my sister!

1. Wren/Elf/Cleric/Core/Hierophant (Love/Defense/Imagination Shelyn Domains including the trait. Naive, because everyone can be redeemed.)
2. See Alias
3. See PM
4. Support/Reach Cleric. Combat is to be avoided, when it can't Bow/Glaive from the middle, favoring redemptiom/reform over vengence/justice.

Going to bed, I'll check in the morning for questions but I think you can get a good feel for my sleeping beauty being rescued by her sister.