Ummm... hello guys! First of all, I'd like to apologize that my departure from this game wasn't as smooth as I'd have wanted it to be. My mental state has been deteriorating quickly from the day of my recruitment to the army, and what few weekends I got to go back home with internet connection I spent relaxing and mentally preparing myself for this arduous journey, so I never got around to updating you on my situation. I only managed to get an appointment with a military psychiatrist two and a half months later, and that meeting led to me quickly being reassigned to an office position in a base not far from home so I can go there and back every day, sort of like an IT job for the army, and I've been recovering since.
Well, now I'm back around, and I finally managed to open up the paizo website despite the mental difficulty of revisiting many moments from the past months of wanting to update you but being in too much strain to do so. I'm very happy to see this campaign is still around, and hope you're enjoying it and will continue enjoying it for a long time.
Though it pains me greatly to ask this after all this time, DM Brainiac, please remove me from this game.
Here's hoping I can play with you amazing people again one day, maybe when my service comes to an end and my mind is clearer. Until then, all the best and happy gaming. It's been a pleasure.
Bernal Iacomo / TheSuperDodo / Edo
EDIT: Sorry if I'm being obnoxious or childish, but I'm legit tearing up. This is the hardest goodbye I've had to say in a long time. I keep wanting to believe the game has been frozen in time since early April and I can just jump back in and continue and it's so painful to accept the truth. I'm so, so sorry.
"Seeing as Baroness Voinum has agreed to arrange for the guard to be off-duty when we need it to be, it sounds like stealth needn't be considered. We have the support of the people, and that's all the claim I think we need. I believe if Lotheed willingly abdicates, Gusairne will surrender to us peacefully as well, but I agree it might be best to seek a mandate from Abadar by way of Lady Paril. As loyal as Gul might be to Lotheed, he is more loyal to his patrol deity."
Before the Heirs set out to their confrontation in Lotheedar, Bernal rallies the people of Stachys to make their voices heard in support of the champions of the people and against the tyrannical Lotheed. The protest is a success, but does not emphasize Bernal's heroic role in the coup as much as he'd have wanted.
Organize Protest (Diplomacy), DC 25:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23
Bernal levels up!Epic sound effect
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Level up! 5 -> 6
HP up! 44 -> 52
BAB up! 5 -> 6
Base Fortitude up! 1 -> 2
Base Reflex up! 4 -> 5
Base Will up! 1 -> 2
New class feature!Rondelero Flexibility: At 6th level, as a full-attack action, a rondelero swashbuckler wielding a falcata in one hand and a buckler in the other can alternate between using his falcata and his buckler for each attack. This does not grant additional attacks or incur penalties as two-weapon fighting does, and does not cause him to lose his Armor Class bonus from his buckler.
Skills up! Acrobatics +1, Diplomacy +1, Escape Artist +1, Knowledge (nobility) +1, Perception +1, Perform (dance) +1, Sleight of Hand +2
"You have urged us to speak the truth, and nothing but the truth has been spoken. We do not seek to overthrow Count Lotheed and install ourselves as rulers, we seek to restore the sovereignty of the Taldan folk over their own lands; if Lotheed does not follow Empress Eutropia's way and does not cease his oppressive policies by way of diplomacy, then we are forced take action."
As Veleto apporaches, Bernal shuffles out of his bed, standing up on the opposite side of her. Still confused and tired, but now speaking with more confidence, he says, "I am sorry, the Duchess, but you must leave now. Breaking into the estate of Stachys is a grave offence to the security of the county of Meratt, and I might have to report this incident to Count Lotheed. If you do not wish for me to call for reinforcement, leave now."
After a short pause, he adds, "And if you can show me how you entered, please do."
"Our condolences for your loss, miss," Bernal says quietly as he shakes the girl's hand. "But it is a great pleasure to meet you too. Will the Baron be joining us soon?"
Bernal starts for his falcata the moment he notices a figure by his bed. "Who's there?", he slurs sleepily, as if not thinking about what he's saying. Once the scene becomes clearer to him, he quickly averts his gaze, sword still flimsily in hand; it takes him a few moments to recognize the Duchess. So much had happened since that little scandal, he'd almost entirely forgotten about it.
"I have to stop you right there, Duchess, but... how did you get in here?"
Indeed, I had to go out of town for a few days on short notice to sort some things out before my service starts. A soldier where I'm set to be deployed just got killed in a terrorist attack so they gave us a short course about how to prevent such incidents when we're on duty, but it certainly didn't help my motivation.
Bernal does not object to visiting the baroness. While he is worried at first that she might be trying to milk them for information she could against them when siding with Lotheed, he quickly concludes that this scheming is much unlike Voinum and that she is genuinely supportive of them, though for what reason he cannot tell.
"That would be brilliant," the Rondelero's face lights up at the baroness' proposal. "We seek for our coup to be as devoid of bloodshed as possible; if the guards do not defend the palace, I'm sure its residents would be much more willing to give in."
"Don't rush it, though," Bernal adds to Maya's proposal. "There is much to be done for Jambis now that its righteous Baron has returned, and we can handle Stachys ourselves well enough."
The duelist smiles at Telus and Mosle, the rush of excitement from seeing their plan work and the Baron transformed still pulsing in his heart. "But we offer any assistance you might need, and that we can provide, in restoring your realm to glory."
"As long as he doesn't know Mosle is approaching to kiss him, it is reasonable he would see anyone coming up to him as threatening. I know I would, especially in this kind of inhumanely greedy and paranoid state."
"I wouldn't be so sure, Maya. He seems genuinely worried for the well-being of his friend. As most nobles are today, he is corrupted to the core without even being aware of it, but there is still a shade of humanity to him."
Agree with divination first, to see if there's anything specific we can do to help our chances at breaking the curse. As Liam said, the question should be How to break the curse.
Just thought I should mention it, if Bartelby refuses to help Baron Telus, then when (if?) we save Jambis the population of New Towne, etc. is not only likely to support us, but be enticed to actively oppose Bartelby.
"Of course Liam, I am not suggesting any ill-advised or impulsive action; I'm simply saying we do not have all the time in the world and need to start making more headway towards our other goals. And while I do not think sending Gusairne to face the Spider Prince is the fairest of ideas, informing him and Lotheed of what is truly going on in Jambis could help us, in their knowledge, abilities and treasury."
Shortly after the inquisitor leaves, Bernal speaks.
"We managed to do a spectacular job of showing Gusairne what we want him to see today, but if rumours of the Night Swan's presence here have already reached him then it's a matter of time before other word comes up in Lotheedar, and we can't obscure the truth for much longer."
The duelist clears his throat and continues, though more quietly.
"Even if it means postponing dealing with the catastrophe in Jambis, we need to start making gears turn. Turning Stachys into a beacon of humanity is a fantastic achievement, but it's a mere step up the ladder we need to climb until Eutropia ascends to the Primogen Throne."
When the group returns to Stachys, Bernal composes a short dance performance depicting the transformation of a generous noble into a hideous demon; he does not mention the real-life inspiration for this act, instead describing it as a personification of corruption and sin causing Good to descend into Evil.
Hey! Sorry for my absence recently, it's been a turbulent week since I was informed by the army where I'm going to serve, a fighting position that doesn't fit me at all, and I was doing all I could to change my assignment but for naught. So I'm back for now, but I will begin my service on April 1st and from that point will likely only have less than an hour each evening to get updated and post.
Bernal clenches his teeth, wanting to help Doritan but knowing that his teammates can do much better than him. His job must be to get rid of the enemy.
Not sure if Doritan can flank, so I'll assume he doesn't.
Bernal mirrors Doritan's actions, assuming a defensive position with his buckler raised, ready for the spiders to make the first move before he can change to the offense by flanking with the Vigilante.
Not readying an attack, just going Full Defense to kick my AC up to 27. If one of the spiders charges at us up-front and the others does not we should be able to flank with a couple of 5-foot steps, but we'll see.
"Hey, maybe the spiders know something too," Bernal adds with a half-smile, though at this point getting useful information out of giant spiders wouldn't surprise him.
"Drugging and subduing the baron sounds like a plan that could work, though not only getting the appropriate substance would be a problem, we do not know what type of poison or what quantity would achieve the desired outcome. Whatever this monstrosity that the curse transformed the baron into, I doubt it has the anatomy of a human."
Bernal shakes his head, throwing a worried look at Katria.
"Abandoning Jambis is not an option. It might not be our area of governance, but it is part of Meratt, a part of Taldor; and the reconstruction of Taldor begins from the ground up. Leave the peasants in ruin, and toppling the aristocracy would have no use. I'm afraid slaying the baron is our only plausible course of action, should we fail to locate the hags that placed the curse on him."
"Though, of course," he adds with a heavy sigh, "news that the Heirs of Stachys have slain Baron Telus would certainly travel fast, and I doubt this will have a positive influence on our reputation, him being an inhuman abomination or not."
Bernal drops his shoulders as he continues weighing the options in his mind. I've said a lot, but took no steps toward reaching a conclusion. Not as I desired.
Bernal wakes up quickly and stands up, his sleepy mind only half understanding how Maya is handling the situation. Even as he slowly gathers himself, he is surprised that the men aren't become more hostile due to Maya's cynicism.
After the men answer his allies questions, Bernal adds, "it is most kind of you to offer to help us, gentlemen. If you do a good job, there might be something in it for you," he says with a grin.
"My mother used to say witches use crows and cats as their eyes, prowling the streets without being seen. I don't know how much truth there is in that, but I am sure that whoever laid this place to ruin is still keeping watch. We must tread carefully and expect resistance."
"Anything works for me, so long as I survive the night. Do any of you have the ability to remove curses, my magic-wielding friends? I believe the best source of information would be Baron Telus himself, if we can manage it."
"Keeping our courier hostage is some sort of response, albeit not one intended, I believe. We must go investigate the matter; whatever is happening in Jambis, it does not bode well."
"Getting the Baron to cooperate would be a major step up in our power relative to Bartelby, but in the worst case we could use the information of what is happening to him to our advantage. However, I do prefer we not go on any other ventures before the Night Swan arrives in our estate."
"I'd rather have my blood stay thick," Bernal says as he slides out of the snake's grasp. He retaliates with a swing of his falcata, the fear of not knowing how much the poison will affect him crawling up on him.
I think it's best if we keep Night Swan as a powerful contact in Lotheedar. We could use her as a distraction, stirring up trouble for Gul Gusairne and Bartelby to keep their eyes off of us while we're gathering loyalty, because they're sure to notice we aren't here "just" to help the commoners at some point.
"And who is better suited to abolish the throne than the one who sits on it? Once we have an ally who understands the people's needs on the throne per the current system, overhauling the system is a step away. Revolution can, maybe even must, be achieved, and it can be done without needless bloodshed. But we aren't hoping to sit in our state, making good with the people of Stachys, and suddenly have our clutches on the Primogen Throne; our plan starts smaller, here in the county of Meratt."
Before he further divulges information about their true intentions of overthrowing Bartelby, Bernal looks to his allies, hoping for affirmation that this should be said.
"I wouldn't stay in Lotheedar if I were the Night Swan. In fact, following what she learned from our encounter, I'm afraid she's going to pay the heirs of Stachys a visit; and seeing as they're not there, our estate could be in danger."
"I agree that telling the truth and trying to sympathize with the Milanite is the way to go, but all that is assuming the rumors are correct. What if the tailor isn't a priest of Milani after all? Approaching him on the subject is likely to raise suspicion."
Also sorry for not posting lately, though on my end it's because I was a bit too into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Now that I got to sink my teeth deep into the game for a while I should be able to let go a bit and return to doing other things.
The nobility must have really trampled this girl earlier in her life for her to become the Night Swan, but even she shouldn't be blind to the terrors of Galt.
As soon as he realizes there's no chance for reasoning with the Night Swan, Bernal takes off up the wall of the temple. He nearly makes it to the top, but can't find an appropriate foothold for the final stretch.
"I fear the day the Lion's Shadow fails to climb a wall," Bernal says as he pats Doritan's back. "No need to be nervous; just remember that our estate's, and to a certain extent Taldor's future, hinges upon what could possibly happen tonight."
The duelist then retires to Katria's side, biding his time until her sensor catches something.
"I wouldn't want to spend a night waiting on a temple's roof for a no-show, but if you trust that there is truth behind that witness's words then we should do it. First, though, we should make sure that we know how to confront the Night Swan - what we want to say to them and so on."
In addition to what Katria said, I think even from an in-world perspective the deities serviced in the temple matter to the townsfolk less than the temple's quality of life benefits, meaning they wouldn't really care whose priest is healing them as long as they're getting healed.
"Well then... you said we need blunt attacks on the ochre jelly, yes? Let's try it out", Bernal says as he closes in on the ooze, bashing it with his buckler.
"It may not show, but I'm trained in more than the falcata."
Bernal lifts his left arm, pointing with his right at the magical buckler the group found by the pump house.
"Most of my usual tricks I can perform with my trusted blade I can do with this too, though it shall obviously be much less efficient."
Bernal can use his buckler as a finesse weapon about as well as a non-main weapon gets, though we might be better off getting alchemists' fires or something.
"Slay a terrible creature in the middle of a lake to prevent its pollution? No worries, I'm an expert of the field. In seriousness, though, we will eliminate the threat to your home, and perhaps accost the count for this transgression."
"On a different matter, though, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the one who calls themselves Night Swan, would you?," Bernal asks with his eyes on Atratus' cloak of swan feathers.
"And you would think striving to raise Stachys from the ashes since our first day here would make them admire our dedication to the people, make them see we're not your usual parasitic nobles. Heck, except for some honorary titles from the Princess and Dame Crabbe, we aren't actually nobles!," Bernal rants as he inspects the surroundings of the missing décor for clues the intruder may have left, though his hopes aren't high.
"I was wrong about the Night Swan. I was expecting one of the romanticized hero-of-the-people types, one that could acknowledge us and our altruistic actions. But no, seems like we're dealing with your usual mislead zealot who hates the nobility for the sake of hating the nobility."
