Due to increased constraints on my time, I'm going to have to drop out of this game. Feel free to do whatever you'd like with my character to make his exit fit in with the story or have someone else take him over. Sorry all.
Search Posts
Wiping the blood from his chin, Bao Xu spits on the fallen Giggles and scratches his belly as Briar looks to his wounds. As the elf checks his ribs, Bao Xu winces in pain, "Argh, that one smarts. You don't have any more of that healing magic do ya buddy? This big ox down here put quite a spin on that weapon of his."
FYI - I'm on vacation this week so posting will be sporadic, but I should be able to keep up fine with our current pace.
Taking note of Orlando's spell taking effect, Bao Xu turns to the Sorcerer, "Nicely done man! You set em up and I'll knock em down!" Turning back to the dazed Gnome, he levels a roundhouse kick followed by a heavy haymaker.
Bao Xu turns to Briar as his wounds begin to knit themselves together, "Thanks buddy!" he exclaims as he dashes across the room and levels an elbow smash at the knife-wielding youth.
@DM:
Bao Xu crashes back against the wall as the heavy flail nearly caves in his chest. Spitting out a gout of blood, he grits his teeth and swings a right cross towards the thick jawline of the thug, missing by mere milimeters as the large man steps back in time to dodge the blow, smiling as he does so. His smile, however, is soon broken as Bao Xu's knee drives upwards into his groin. Grinning through bloody teeth, Bao Xu laughs, "That's knee-man to you, ya big oaf!"
I'd also prefer bolded speech and italicized thoughts for the same reasons Painlord posted, but it is ultimately the GM's decision and I won't complain either way. Why don't you like doing it? Is it just the hassle of adding [b] tags?
As the man steps away from the door frame, Bao Xu follows up his uppercut with a knee to the midsection. As the thug stumbles back into the adjoining room, Bao Xu sees the man's companions readying themselves for battle. Noting that stepping into the room would lead to him being surrounded, Bao Xu holds his ground, waiting for the next of the villians to try their luck.
Winking at Briar and the others, Bao Xu moves up to a position next to the door and prepares himself to strike whoever is turning the knob as soon as he comes onto the scene. 'Heh heh, I'll show this guy good. Soon as he comes through the door - Pow!'
"Sounds good to me!" says Bao as he sizes up the doors. Holding up three fingers, he counts them down - two... one... and as the final finger drops he levels a side kick at the door, but is unable to make a dent. 'Stupid door... mess with me will you? I'll show you good!'
Trying again, he slams his full weight into the door with a running shoulder slam.
Bao Xu shrugs and leans against the wall, "I'm mostly good at punching stuff, but sometimes I kick things too. And this one time this big old half-orc was giving me guff down at the pub and I totally headbutted that guy. Basically I'm best off in the thick of it where I can do some real damage."
Bao Xu cracks his neck and looks at his companions, "Alright, so we're going then? We should go in that side door, I say. Element of surprise and all that. Thanny, you want to take up the front and I'll keep close behind?"
Bao Xu arrives around the same time as most of the rest of the party, in much the same state as the previous evening only having remembered this time to fill up two jugs of grog before leaving and has both of them on his person, though he has already emptied one by the time he comes to Lancet street. Seeing Briar's chalkboard drawing, he walks over to the elf and says, "Hey buddy!" slapping him once more on the back and admiring the chalkboard. "That looks pretty good!" After Orlando tells the party all he knows, Bao Xu chimes in, "More questioning? C'mon man, let's just bust in there tonight. It seemed pretty quiet at nighttime and we've pretty much gotten a lay of the place. Let's smash down the door before old Lammy gets wind of all of our questions."
As Briar mentions scouting, Bao Xu slaps him on the back and says, "I'm with you buddy! Maybe we can grab a drink after we scope the place out. I've never met an Elf before! Is it true that you guys live forever? Anyway we should get going. You can take some tips from me Briar, I'm as stealthy as a mouse and as perceptive as a... mouse with good eyesight. Anyway, see the rest of you guys tomorrow or something."
Bao Xu sits quietly and listens as Zellara tells her tale and the others weigh in on the situation. His mirth is taken away and a dark mood comes over him as Lamm's villainly is discussed and the wine flows. As Zellara proceeds with the Harrow reading, he finishes the last of the drink and leans in to watch. As the cards are drawn and laid before him, he feels a sense of urgency overcoming him and as the reading concludes and the others begin discussing their course of action, he slams down his cup and stands up from the table, declaring in a loud and slurred voice, "Zellara! We're gonna find this guy. And when we find him, he'll get what's payback comin' to him. You guys want, we could head on down to the tavern and ask around a bit? I know a few guys from the docks who might know some stuff..."
I'll add my vote to the pool for a 24-hour push. I'm not on a ton on weekends, but I'm usually able to check for activity at least once a day.
Bao Xu looks up from his wine as the woman enters the room and his foul mood is immediately broken. After she introduces herself, he replies, "Hey Zellara, I'm Bao Xu. But I guess maybe you already know that? Anyway, I'm glad to meet you. I hear that we might have a common enemy so whatever we can do to help eachother with that problem is good news in my book."
I'm on pretty erratically on the weekends myself as I'm not really tied to a computer like I have throughout the workweek, but I try to check and post when I can :)
In response to Briar's words, Bao Xu simply shrugs and says, "It would be a little hard to look away when I'll be in there with you buddy. Lamm deserves whatever he gets and more as far as I'm concerned..."
Well the more posting the better in my book! :)
Looking a bit surprised at Thaniel's speech, Bao Xu replies, "Whoa, you know Lamm? Well I'm liking the sound of this more and more; I've been wanting a piece of that old codger for years..." Finishing his cup of wine and pouring himself another, Bao's eyes take on a harder cast as he stares into his drink. "When I was just a boy, Gaedran Lamm stole me away from my family, from my homeland, and put me to work in one of his warehouses. He was a cruel old bastard and a damn mean boss, but I got along fine for a while until one day he decided I wasn't working good enough and he beat me senseless and left me for dead... I tried to fight back, but I was just a kid... Well I'm not a kid anymore..." Looking up, he continues, "If you guys are out to get Lamm too, I'm with you all the way."
C'mon guys, Party #1 is outposting us like crazy. Let's pick up the pace :)
Seeing Aleixica's nervousness, Bao Xu tries to comfort her, "No need to worry, I'm sure our host'll be along soon enough. Why not take a load off and enjoy some of their wine while we wait!" Not waiting for a response, he pulls out a chair next to his own and moves a cup of wine over in front of it, smiling brightly up at the lady.
As the others file up the stairs, Bao Xu joins them. Once inside, he takes in his surroundings and is immediately drawn to a seat at the table. Grabbing up the bottle of wine, Bao Xu pours out a cup for everyone present before laying into his own. "Well hello here! Look's like we've been laid out a pretty cozy welcome. I like this place already!" When Declan reveals himself, Bao Xu is unfazed, but not uninterested. "The same message? I don't know man, mine was pretty personalized!" he continues with a chuckle, "I mean, unless all of you happen to have it in for old Gaedran Lamm!"
Indeed. Weekends are usually a slower posting time for me too as I do most of my weekday posting from work so I don't mind a bit of a lag especially as things are looking promising thus far :)
Responding to Briar's question, Bao Xu holds up his card and makes as if to speak, but is suddenly caught wordless as a fantastically beautiful woman walks up and introduces herself, followed by a strange cloaked man heading for the door. Recovering his wits, he brings to bear his most charming grin (which isn't nearly as charming as he thinks it is) and says to Aleixica, "Why hello there! What's a lady like you doing in a place like this? Oh yeah, the card... Well, I have one too! It looks like we have something in common! I'm Bao Xu, and I am a really great guy. You and me, we'll get along great! We should probably follow that other guy and head inside. You guys saw that guy too right?" Assuming no one disputes him, Bao Xu motions up to the door and says, "Well, ladies first!" before following.
Haha thanks. Bao Xu is fun to play :)
Bao Xu watches the light-haired Chelaxian man advance on his position and turns to see the hooded Varisian coming from behind and the Elf looking down on him from the doorstep. 'I'm surrounded! Spinning about in circles trying to take in all of his assailants, Bao Xu begins to feel a bit dizzy and stops himself, holding his arms out for balance. When the Elf speaks, Bao Xu replies, "No way buddy, I don't live here. Wait, did you say something about a card? Wait, did you say something about a drink? Perhaps we should become better acquaintances!" As the second stranger with a card in hand approaches and the elf introduces himself, Bao Xu chimes in, "Jeez fellas, if we get any more people with cards showing up we can play a hand or two! Anywho, good to meet you Briar Kal-sa-dar, son of various other plants and animals, I'm Bao Xu!"
The walk has been a little longer than Bao Xu remembered and his jug of grog is nearly empty by the time he reaches Lancet street. 'Man, I should have brought that second jug...' he thinks to himself as he looks up at the old house. Habitually scratching at his jawline, he pulls the Harrow card out from his pocket and studies it closely, shifting his gaze back and forth between the card and the house. His eye catches on the elephant painted on the card and he grins for a moment remembering a joke Jareth told him earlier. He starts to chuckle absent-mindedly as he flips the card over and squints to re-read the text, slowly muttering the words as he reads, I know... what Gaedren... I hate that guy... has done... to you. He has wronged me... as well. I know... where he dwells... yet cannot strike at him.... Come to my home at... 3 Lancet Street..." He looks up at the house and continues reading, "At sunset." He looks up at the sky, squinting as he stares into the setting sun. Looking back down at the note he stares a moment longer before his vision readjusts and then goes on, "Others like you will be there... I don't see anybody else... Gaedren... I hate that guy... must face his fate... and justice... must be done. Well that sounds good to me!" he shouts out to no one in particular, shoving the card back into his pocket.
As he moves to mount the steps, he hears movement coming up the street and turns to face whoever is coming, striking a martial stance and shouting out to the unknown being, "Who goes there!
Bao Xu is having a rough morning. Last night at the Sticky Mermaid he entered into a drinking contest with a Shoanti from out of town and had one two many pints of grog... or perhaps it was seven too many. Either way, his head aches something awful. As Bao Xu studies the card in his hand and reads the message on the back, he looks up at his coworker quizically before slowly sliding the card into his pocket and continuing his work. Throughout the day, his thoughts are racing, 'Where'd this thing come from? Who in the hells sent it to me?' He can't concentrate and almost drops a crate of pottery he's unloading off a Magnimarian freighter, catching a load of chaff from the foreman. After work, rather than starting his usual rounds of the Old Dock's taverns, he takes a long pull from a jug of grog that he keeps on his person, tied to a rope hanging around his waist, and heads toward Lancet street, determined to find out what this business is all about.
Heh, yeah I figured it fit with Elves being as they are :P I mostly just recognized the picture as she's an NPC in the Rise of the Runelords path that I've DMed a lot of.
Briar the Lesser is also completed, but open for commentary or questions. Hooray! I was refraining from commenting, but the fact that your old picture was actually a lady npc was mildly confusing me.
Haha, I'm just joking with you, it's fine if you want to keep that face. My RL group picked up some of those NPC cards a while ago and we just have a series of long running jokes regarding that picture. :)
Speaking of languages, I dropped a skill rank in Climb to put a point in Linguistics since Bao Xu would definitely have know Tian before he got shipped to Korvosa and eventually learned Common while he was here. EDIT: Or if I'm able to get Tian for free, I'll take it!
I think Bao Xu is done. Let me know if anything looks odd. Thanks for choosing me :)
You have definitely crafted a very interesting character and I like the way you moved him into the story. A few standard questions I’ve asked most everyone else, but, how does your character feel about Korvosa as a people and a city? Does he resent all of the Chelaxian people for taking him from his parents? Or is his revenge focused clearly on Lamm? Has your character developed into a patriot of Korvosa or would he rather see it burn? Basically, I would like a deeper elaboration on your motivations and desires as a character. Having spent his formative years in Korvosa, Bao Xu considers it his home. It may not be the nicest home in the world and it certainly hasn't always been kind to him, but this is his city. I think he kind of has the outlook on Korvosa that I'd attribute to a working class New Yorker who might complain about the city or the government at times, but will always root for the Yankees. His hatred is pretty focused on Lamm, but he's probably run into a bit of persecution as a foreigner and is quick to lash out at racist locals when he's in his cups. He does however try to keep himself in check and realizs that most of the commoners of the city have been dealt similarly poor hands as himself (though he might understate how bad he's had it) and tries his best to get along with people. He prides himself on his Tian heritage and sometimes dreams of going back to his homeland and searching out his family, but is pretty settled in his life in the city and any wild hares he may get about travelling are usually sedated by the booze before he's able to get his plans off the ground. Really at this point in his life he's just living day to day. He doesn't really know if he'll ever get the opportunity to strike back at Lamm or even how he'd going about doing so, but if the opportunity arose he would definitely jump at it.
Ooh, I missed it earlier, but I can also vouch for Tarlane as a great player. He plays in my Savage Tide campaign as Lerith :)
Though I am afraid to say so as I don't want to risk my spot, I'll have to agree that 6 is probably the most I'd recommend going with. That said though, if you are feeling super ambitious the running two games thing sounds like a grand idea to me.
Ohh man, I just realized that there is a Barbarian Drunken Brute in the running. I'm imagining that a Drunken Master and a Drunken Brute would have some rather interesting times together! Also, thanks Rellen and Barcas for the recommendations :) Also, here's a random probably uninteresting moment in the life of Bao Xu as an extra example of my writing and an attempt of my own to get a feel for the character. He's starting to remind me of my drunken college student/dropout nephew-in-law and I'm not sure how I feel about that. A Tale of Bao Xu: Bao Xu awakens to the sound of cannons firing outside his door, 'The city is under attack!' He wakes with a start. He soon realizes that the horrifically loud noise is not an armada of ships bent on Korvosa's destruction, but something knocking far too loudly on the door to his flat. "Calm down out there, I'm coming!" he yells, swinging his legs out of his straw bed and bringing the world to a more vertical state of being - a bit too quickly for his stomach, which lurches uneasily as the final round of drink from the night prior threatens to come back to greet him. He sits still for a moment with his head in his hands, trying to soothe the pounding from within as the extremely loud door-knocker resumes his unsteady rhythm. "I said, I'm coming!" he shouts at the door as he rises to his feet. "Who comes knocking at a man's door at this time of the morning!?" he complains as he opens the door and is forced to cover his eyes as he is blasted in the face by the blinding brightness of the the midday sun.
Standing before him across the entrance to his flat is Jerik Kaemlis, the landlord of Bao Xu's tenement here in Old Dock. Seeing the familiarly furious face of the grizzled old man, Bao Xu backpeddles, "Oh, sorry Mister Kaemlis, I didn't realize it was you, heh." "You're late with your rent Zoo." says the cranky old fellow in a flat and rattley voice. Wincing at the old-timer's mispronunciation of his name, Bao Xu replies, "Is it that time again? Hold on a sec, let me find it." Turning away, he scans his room, his eyes passing over the piles of empty bottles and eventually settling on a wooden dresser in the corner. Moving over to the dresser, he rummages around a bit before producing a small pouch of silver pieces, which he brings back around to the door. "Here you go Mister Kaemlis, sorry about that, I lost track of the days I suppose." he says as he brings to bear a sheepish grin. The old man snatches the pouch out of Bao Xu's hand and turns to leave, calling out over his shoulder, "I don't have time to babysit you, Zoo. If you want to keep living in this flat, I expect you to pay your rent on time from now on!" As Bao Xu closes the door behind the cantankerous codger, he thinks to himself, 'I need a drink.'
Alright, I present Bao Xu, human monk and drunken master. I ended up deciding a drunken master fits more with the crummy life Bao ended up with and also makes for more of an urban monk. Everything is in my profile (still have a little formatting and proofreading to do) and I'll post his background here. I'm imagining this character as if Sammo Hung played a drunken master and was really young and an orphan turned drunkard barroom brawler. As for me, my name is Kacy, I'm a generally cool dude who posts rather regularly on here. My current games are: DM Barcas' Kingmaker (playing as Zander)
Background:
Born in the distant land of Tian Xia, Bao Xu travelled to Varisia when he was ten years old. His family had spoken with a travelling merchant from Korvosa who had talked them into paying him to take young Bao to a martial arts academy in the west where he would learn to be a master martial artist able to start an academy of his own back home. Unfortunatley, the merchant was an unscupulous man who had no intentions of carrying through with his word and upon arriving back in Korvosa, he sold Bao off as a slave to a local criminal named Gaedren Lamm. While in Lamm's employ, Bao was tortured and forced to work hard manual labor day and night. Though his back was strong, Bao was never the smartest of children and frequently made mistakes in his work, ultimately causing Lamm to beat the poor boy to the brink of death and dump his near-lifeless body in an alley.
Though severely injured, the now 12-year-old Bao survived the beating and lived for some time on the streets and back alleys of Korvosa, begging for coppers by day and rummaging for scraps of food by night. After three years of living like this, he was able to find work as a dockside laborer, but squandered most of his pay in the many bars dotting the Korvosan waterfront. Having lived with violence throughout his adolesence, Bao was quick to swing a fist and participated in many a barroom brawl, usually coming out on top during such encounters due to the half-remembered training he had received from his father as a young boy. In the darkest hours of the night when his workday was through and the bars were closed down, he often drunkenly trained in his flat, remembering the old forms and improvising new ones, honing his skills for the day when he would track down old Gaedran Lamm and seek his revenge. EDIT: Also, as he just mentioned, I play with Rellen in Barcas' Kingmaker game and can thoroughly vouch for him as a great player! |