Search Posts
"He certainly does have very poor manners, Porablum, but I'll ask him! Try not to hurt him, everyone, I'll see if there's some way we can discuss this like decent folk!" Bazikian concentrates for a moment, drawing on his gnomish heritage. Animal speak: "Hold, good weasel! Why are you attacking? We mean you no harm! If you're hungry, I have food to share!"
Bazikian looks intently at the gem among the smashed pieces of the doll. "Well, what do you make of that, Porablum?"
Congratulations Brom! Hope everything goes well from hereon!
"What a brilliant idea! Let's get right to it!" And Bazikian immediate casts around for an implement with which to begin smashing any parts of the doll bigger than an inch or two into smithereens.
Bazikian smiles as Porablum appears, ands nods welcoming, but initially seems quite lost for words. As Porablum introduces herself to the group and begins examining the doll, he moves forward with the rest of the party. "Oh, they're really not great at communicating at all, and I must say, it's a pleasure to have another gnome about. Really, what with the lack of humour, and the killing of helpless captives, and the general perverse determination to bring themselves to the brink of death at least twice a day, these humans and elves are really... well, they're not that bad. But they aren't gnomes, that's for sure. My name's Bazikian, anyway," he beams holding out a hand. "So this doll, as it turns out, is about as creepy as it gets," he rambles on. "I think it bewitched my friend Brom here for a while, although he seems to have recovered, and it was quite agile and dangerous with its little weapon, which seemed to do more than just physical damage when it struck Easlis here, and all in all I think we're much better off without it. Did I hear you say you saw butterflies? They weren't blue, were they? Desna's been sending me visions of blue butterflies to follow, which is how I ended up here with this lot, but I haven't spotted any in a while." He opens his mouth to continue talking, then pauses, remembering he just asked a question about the all-important butterflies and that he should probably wait for a response.
Thanks Brom, and congratulations and all the best for your new child!
Bazikian quickly reloads his crossbow, then squints at the doll. Tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth, he pulls the trigger...
A gnome oracle for a gnome cleric, excellent!
Bazikian steps up beside Brom as he picks up the doll. "Be careful," he warns softly, and Brom can see the gnome's eyes are glowing faintly as he gazes at the doll. Bazikian continues on in an uncharacteristically serious voice. "It is magical. It uses conjuration, but also enchantment. Be wary that it doesn't ensnare your mind."
As he moves forward behind Gimli, Bazikian waves a hand in front of his eyes and murmurs to Desna.
Bazikian manages to scamper up the ridge, approaching the hut warily with the rest of his companions.
Bazikian's little legs move as quickly as they can through the snow, but he can't quite keep up with Grim. "I've got a bad feeling about this," he mutters, and he pulls forth his holy symbol, calling on Desna's fortune for him and his companions.
Hey folks, no secrecy required, Bazikian will be leaving the game :/ Apologies to everyone, especially our GM, who is doing a fine job. Unfortunately, I'm finding it very difficult to manage all five of my PBPs (two of which I GM), as since joining or starting each of them I've been lucky enough to start running two live campaigns. As this is the most recent game I've joined, and in the earliest stages of the campaign, this is the one I feel I need to quit. Others may follow, but I hope not. I'm more than happy to keep playing until the GM can find a suitable replacement, even if that goes beyond this encounter. So no need to rush any decision-making processes. Sorry again folks - it's been fun!
Bazikian starts moving out with Grim, his focus on the girl. "This seems very weird," he whispers loudly. "That girl isn't acting like you would expect a little girl to act, and this is a pretty strange place for a child to be hanging around. At what's with those chicken legs?" he asks incredulously. "I've never seen anything like that before! That must be some kind of magical chicken hut. I wonder if it lays huge eggs that hatch little chick huts. If you could farm those you'd be rich! Who wouldn't want a chicken hut? It would be perfect for people like me that live on the road..." Bazikian continues to waffle on in his loud whisper.
Bazikian watches the interactions of the newcomer with open interests, squinting in confusion when anyone speaks in Skald. As the party gets moving again, he scoots up next to Hjorleaf, shakes the immense warrior's hand with his tiny one, and introduces himself, his sentences characteristically running together. "Hi there, my name's Bazikian, nice to meet you! I heard you say you'd never met any fey, well you have now, because little do most folks know, gnomes are fey in Golarion, which is the main point of difference between us and gnomes from Wizards of the Coast settings, where they're really just weird halflings... but enough about me! Where are you from, the north like Grim? Seems pretty cold up there, is that why you've come here, because it's really cold here now, it isn't usually, but I guess that's what we're all about now. I hope you don't find this too personal but I thought I'd ask, just trying to get a read on people now after certain unfortunate events, but do you like to murder helpless captives? And do you find that you have certain tendencies towards pre-judging people of different races or species, particularly based on their appearance? For example, assuming that members of a particular species are evil or must be destroyed simply by virtue of what form they were born into? Now, there's no wrong answers here, because let's face it, we're a bunch of misfit adventurers working together to get things done that no one else has the skills, or the will, to get done, so hey, just gotta find a way to make it work, am I right, but it'd be nice to know where you stand on this stuff before we reach a critical juncture and then all of a sudden you're taking a stand for cold-blooded murder when I didn't really see it coming from such a nice person, know what I mean? So, do you, for both questions? Or even just either? But preferably both." He looks up at Hjorleaf much like a puppy does when walking beside a large dog, eyes shining with the excitement of someone new, legs pumping to keep pace, tongue hanging out a little from both his exertions and his breathless tirade.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, must have been a hell of an accident. Hope you recover well Brom, and as quickly as you may!
"Does anyone have any idea exactly what this creature is?" Bazikian asks the group in general before they move on.
Bazikian makes one last attempt to shoot the creature with his crossbow as it flees.
Hi folks, sorry for the lack of posting on my part, it's been a hectic time for me with lots of travel and work over the silly season. Over the next couple of days things will be largely returning to normal, so I'll be back on board from now on.
Bazikian quickly reloads his crossbow and fires again at the creature.
Thanks GM!
Fearful for his friend, Bazikian begins to advance, drawing his crossbow and firing as he strides forward.
"Hold on Brom, I'm coming!" he hollers as his crossbow bolt narrowly avoids striking his companion in the back of the head.
Hi GM, I know I've kinda missed the boat here, but before I dropped out to focus on my paper I was hoping to get cold iron stuff too (crossbow bolts and mace, as I assume starknives wouldn't be available). Would it be possible for me to do that? If not that's completely understandable, but I thought I'd ask.
Hi folks, paper submitted, normalcy slowly returning. Just did the catch up, waiting till it's Bazikian's turn to open up some holy whoopass on this blue thing :)
Hey folks, sorry for the extended absence, just dropping by to say that while I'm currently in an academic hell of my own making, the damn thing is due Monday, so boom or bust I'll be fully back on board then. Apologies again.
Just a heads up folks, inside the last two weeks till my thesis is due, so stuff's a bit crazy on my end till that's all done. I'll do my best to keep up, but feel free to bot me at any point!
I get where Grim is coming from, but that's a pretty complete and unreserved apology from Brom right there.
Hey all, just to be clear, I'm not foreshadowing any PvP with Bazikian's moral outrage at Easlis's killing of the fey, just playing up the tension a little bit. One of my favourite love/hate (hate/hate?) relationships as a young reader was between Raistlin and Sturm in the original Dragonlance novels. It never came to into play in any other way than heated exchanges between the characters in non-combat situations, but I found it compelling when it came to the fore. I often play badass or strictly rational characters, but with Bazikian it's all heart, so just embracing and enjoying that to the full with no intention of any real schism :)
I'm not a massive loot lover- one of the things I really like about 5e is that there's no expectation PCs get any loot at all - but in PF character wealth is kinda baked in the the game. Brom, pretty sure you have hundreds of gold worth more treasure than anyone else currently. We probably need to discuss as players how we want to handle loot distribution. As Grim says, if Brom as a character gets to unilaterally decide to do what he wants with loot he finds, that means other characters get the same right to decide. Having said that, I think there are better ways to do it than "character finds, character decides". However we do it, though, we need to be generally consistent. For me, I prefer rational player discussion based on general parity without sacrificing the "best use" principle. I.e. we try to keep our character wealth levels roughly even, but if there are two wicked (and valuable) items that suit a magus perfectly, then it makes sense to give them to Easlis, as that will benefit the party the most. Thoughts?
GM:
Bazikian sips his tea while he listens to the Elder share his wisdom. "I'm not sure how much bigger I can be - I'm really very small, didn't you know - but I'll try, Elder. It's just that I feel so strongly that Desna wants me to fight evil, fight it with every little bit of me. I know that She's happy for me to fight with violence against those who do evil, but only to answer violence, and only when words and other actions won't work. Well, when it comes to Easlis, words don't work. He doesn't listen to anybody. Should I just then ignore his evil actions because he's on my side? Evil is not just something our enemies do. I will try to do as you suggest, but I still fear that if he continues down the path of evil I will need to intervene." He stands up, looking troubled still, but resolute. "I need to be prepared when the time comes. I will pray to Desna for bravery. Thank you Elder." With that, he steps out of the Elder's chamber and out of the temple. Bazikian heads to the Stoat, looking forward to an ale and some hot, home-cooked food.
Bazikian has been rather quiet for most of the exchange. He nods in agreement as Nyalis outlines his plans for the night. "I'll meet you there later,"he says, gathering his things and making for the door.
GM: Troubled by Easlis's murder of the fey and unsure how to deal with it, Bazikian seeks counsel. He heads to the temple of Erastil to see Elder Safander and hear his wisdom. Entering the temple, he feels an immediate wave of calm wash over him, but his underlying unease remains. Bazikian finds the Elder praying in his chamber, and knocks softly on the door jamb. He greets Safander, then explains that he is troubled and needs to talk to somebody. "We succeeded in our mission, but... at a cost. My companion, Easlis, murdered a captive fey in cold blood. It was locked in a cage, and he just stabbed it to death! I... I sort of tried to stop him, with words, but he wouldn't listen. And then I got upset with him. He just... doesn't care. All he cares about is... winning. At any cost." He sighs. "But then again, we stopped the immediate threat. The town is safe, at least for the moment. And the fey wasn't very nice, not very nice at all. He was probably an evil killer. But now we have to go into this portal, and face more enemies, and I'm sure we'll get into some other situation where Easlis will want to kill creatures, or torture them, or some other horrible thing, and I don't know what to do. I don't know how to stop him, or even if I should try to stop him. But I was always taught that evil never cures evil. I don't want to be evil! I don't want to do evil, I don't want to let evil be done, I don't want to be any part of evil!" Breathless and upset, the little gnome looks up at Elder Safander, his eyes teary, his face blotched. "I just don't know what to do, Elder. Tell me what to do!"
Bazikian supports Grim's statement. "Yes, these men have been very helpful since the necromancer was defeated. It felt like we had liberated them as much as captured them. I daresay, once they've proved their trustworthiness they would relish the chance to swing a sword in support of Heldren rather than for the cruel fey."
Bazikian looks up at Easlis searchingly, hoping for some sign of contrition or acknowledgement of his evil act the night before. Seeing none, he drops his eyes, sighing. "You can count on me, Easlis. You can count on me to give my life in the service of Heldren, and all good folk. You can count on me to draw the fire of our enemies so that you and the others can accomplish deeds that I cannot. You can count on me to fight tirelessly against evil. And you can count on me to tell you when what you are doing is wrong, and evil." The little gnome looks Easlis straight in the eye. "The real question is: can I count on you? Can I count on you not to become a monster as you fight monsters? Can I count on you to hold to the good while fighting evil? What you have demonstrated so far is that I cannot." He shakes his head, his expression one of deep sadness. "If we become evil to fight evil, we aren't doing good. We are doubling evil. And that is what I am here to fight." With that, he shrugs the half-elf's hand from his shoulder and goes to pack up his bedroll and gear in preparation for the day's travel.
Bazikian wakes and once again takes on kitchen duties, working away with the former bandits to prepare breakfast for all. The little gnome is no longer teary and blotchy-faced, but he isn't his typical bubbly self.
Hearing Nyalis outlining what the party knows, he stands up, face morose. "Yes, we must warn the village. We wouldn't want any murderous beasts descending on it." He gives Easlis a look that is both sad and a little angry, then turns on his heel and heads to his bedroll, still wounded and exhausted both physically and emotionally.
Bazikian breaks away from Easlis with a sob and runs over to Brom, burying his tearful face in the human's shirt.
Bazikian watches Easlis talking tough to the fey and holds his tongue, hoping it's a bluff. He waits, giving the fey a chance to speak up and give them some more information, but as Easlis goes to throw the creature onto the fire he breaks. "No Easlis, you can't!" Bazikian's voice breaks, and tears start to leak from his eyes as he dashes up beside the half-elf. "You just can't! Battle and self-defence is one thing, but if we do this we're just as bad and evil as they are!" He tugs at Easlis's sleeve. "Please," he whispers in a small voice. "Don't do this. Don't be a murderer."
Bazikian remains in the room with the caged fey, regarding it sadly.
"I'm sorry, but it seems we can't let you out. My friend here doesn't trust you, you see, as you're not really telling us anything at all. And we're not all that worried about you killing us, to be honest, as we've dealt with attacks from your kind before. But the question is, why would we let you go? What possible benefit is it to us, compared to the many risks that letting you out poses?" Bazikian shakes his head. "I'm sorry, I'm fey as well, and I'd hate to be locked in a cage, but my friend has a point: we'd be fools to let you out." Bazikian gives the fey a commiserating look and spreads his hands.
Bazikian observes and listens to the creature closely as it responds.
Bazikian nods to Easlis. "Yes, what you say is true, but knowing one cat doesn't mean you know all cats. My family were attacked by an elf once, when I was a child. And yet here I am, travelling and fighting alongside two elves! It's possible this one is caged because it's not like the others. Or at least, it refused to do the wizard's bidding. We should see if it can be useful to us." He then turns to the fey creature.
Sylvan:
"Like I said, I'm Bazikian. I've no mind to harm you - in fact, I'd like to help you - but my friend here is the nervous type. Why are you in that cage? And what in the name of Desna's going on here?"
Bazikian takes to cooking duty with enthusiasm, clattering around in the kitchen with the reformed bandit. When the meal is cooking away he heads upstairs to see what the elves are up to, arriving just as they open the door. "Oh, what's this, then?" He pokes his head into the room, seeing the fey. "Hello there, my name's Bazikian, what's yours? Were you a captive of the necromancer here? We've just put a stop to him. He wasn't very nice, but I imagine you know that. Some of your kind attacked us earlier on today, are you going to attack us too, or can we be friends?"
Cleric level 2 Well that sucks. Guess that's where my FCB is going. Total of 6. +1 BAB, Fort, Will Skills (2): Diplomacy, Heal That's all my choices. Boring level for me, looking forward to 2nd level spells and a better HP roll next level :)
|
