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Brother Laurence, seeing nothing of interest yet in the underground cavern, calls down a calamity on their quarry. From somewhere above, a heavy rock falls on Hyve.
Brother Laurence, seeing that others seem to have matters in hand, looks around to see if there is anything else here, or an alternative means to the chute of returning to the upper level.
Brother Laurence looks at the table covered in alchemical equipment and immediately thinks of Oswald's actions above. Deciding that they will have to search through them later, he follows the others down the passage, making his way carefully.
Brother Laurence hears the commotion below him, but his reaction seems delayed. Once Eudomonia and company clear the ladder he proceeds carefully down to the bottom, despite Valkarian suddenly dropping past him. He nods sagely when the halfling informs everyone about the ambush.
Brother Laurence intones some mumbled words over the corpses (something about asking the gods to ensure that their suffering in the afterlife leads others still living to make better choices, before they too run out of time), and then proceeds to the church. He sighs at the crowds of panicked citizens. "I do not suppose my words would improve matters," he says quietly, "but it is a shame that we can do nothing yet to quiet the city's fears."
Brother Laurence quickly follows and speaks a word of consternation. He calls upon his calamity god for something to stop the ghoul's flight.
Sneaky little guy! I figure I should wait to see if anyone else wants to try talking before I launch another lightning strike at it. So I'll wait for everyone else to move first. Just FYI, I'm going on vacation for a few days and so my attention might be a little divided until the weekend. Feel free to decide what Brother Laurence does in my absence if I don't post in a timely enough fashion. :)
Brother Laurence doesn't recognize the creature or anything meaningful about its surroundings, but he knows an undead when he sees it. He begins muttering what sounds like an invocation to Groetus and calls down a brilliant yellow flash of lightning in the same square as the enemy.
While the others are looking at other features of the underground crypt, Brother Laurence examines the sludge.
Brother Laurence shrugs and refreshes his orisons, also descending.
Brother Laurence remains with Oswald while the others enter the noisome chamber. He frowns. "What is it?" he asks.
Brother Laurence looks up at the sky as if he is only registering the weather for the first time. He nods absently. "Aye, we should see what our colleagues have been up to while we were here. Perhaps they have solved the mystery all on their own?" He giggles softly to himself and follows Edalmir and Galileo back to the building.
Brother Laurence notes the telltale signs of addiction to a hallucinogenic drug in their witness, and resolves to share this information with the others once they are done questioning him. He recasts guidance.
Looking around at the buildings surrounding the scene of the carnage, Brother Laurence's eyes widen slightly. "These are residences that surround the alley-- I wonder if the people who live there saw anything?" He looks seriously at his fellow Pathfinders. "Perhaps we should try to interview them?"
Brother Laurence sees Valkarian preparing for battle and warily does the same. He casts three spells and taps himself with a wand before following behind the arcane fighter.
Brother Laurence follows behind, gazing at the destruction with a sickened expression on his face. He goes to the tent and gives the bodies a cursory once-over.
He returns to share his findings. "The damage done to these people is terrifying. The first body was flattened by a single crushing attack to the chest, caving it in. The second had his back broken. The third, a Crow, was twisted twice around at the waist, leaving his arms broken in so many places that the bones might as well be jelly." He grimaces, his eyes wide.
I’d caution against getting scrolls of alarm, animate rope, and glitterdust because the former spells have durations that are too short (1st level spell scrolls are cast at caster level 1) and the latter is likely to be easily saved against (scrolls are also treated as cast with a minimum ability score). I’m not sure the ability to cover an invisible creature in glitter is worth that much gold, especially when there’s alchemical creations (or even just a pinch of flour) that do it as well.
Brother Laurence in a nutshell:
"Help! Get me out of this nutshell! How did I end up here?" More:
Don't say that Brother Laurence is mad... say rather that he is inspired. He believes he has been touched by a deity, made a prophet by Groetus to shepherd this doomed world to its best possible end: a new world that will rise from the ashes of the old, where everyone earns a place based on their behavior in the previous lifetime. He sees the many flaws in this life, and instead of fixing them he hopes dearly for the improvements of the next. Repent, he believes, for the end is nigh.
His greatest difficulty is in just holding back and let destiny take its course. Since he believes that divine judgment matters, he feels compelled to help others find the perfect afterlife. His community is important to him, and he wants to help the people of Carrion Hill both spiritually and physically. He's familiar with the way Ustalav seems to breed weird cults with terrifying obedience to evil beings, and he began to notice the feeling of Carrion Hill becoming even more dark and insidious a few years ago, before he left to join the Pathfinder Society. He always intended to come back, and he hopes it is not too late. Eldritch horrors and other evil outsiders interfere with the cosmic plan, and Brother Laurence believes that Groetus wants him to fight against these interlopers whenever possible. The Great Old Ones don't get to destroy the universe: that's Groetus's job. To that end, he's been working on his martial skills at the asylum and now feels ready to return to his home town and see what can be done. He wields potent tools to serve and protect his deity's domains, as well as the group of ragtag individuals with whom he has formed an uneasy alliance. His fervent belief and dedication to his vision of kingdom come make him seem naive and almost childlike to others, and his ugly mismatched appearance (neither elf nor man) hints at an ostracized and troubled childhood. His social skills are almost nonexistent, though he is at least very perceptive. He is somewhat paranoid of strangers, and ever since the lodge assigned them to the same company he has always deferred to Galileo for "face" interactions. Brother Laurence nods pensively. "It wasn't always like this, this deathly-- almost shrunken-- reflection of a city. Something has changed. Maybe it's the people? Or maybe it is just that I have changed. I do not know. But yes, the place does cry for attention, does it not? And we must respond, for duty or for hope. Or fate-- perhaps we have been called here for some greater purpose?" He scratches his misshapen nose and looks at the manor entrance. "Shall we?"
Somebody really knows their Bards. I have a 10th level bard (Dawnflower Dervish) in a Legacy of Fire campaign, and Pageant of the Peacock is incredible. But that's a dance/act masterpiece, and works best if you're heavily invested in Bluff and no Int-based skills. I'd say her best spell is probably heroism because she casts it on everyone at the start of an adventure and it typically lasts for the whole thing. Consequently I always think moment of greatness is going to be amazing but in practice I never have time to cast it because I'm always doing Inspire Courage and then full attacking.
Timely Inspiration is usually redundant with Inspire Courage. Gallant Inspiration usually gives some incremental benefit. Not for combat, but a +2 competence bonus is nice on skill rolls that you really need to pass.
Oh, another pretty awesome masterpiece is Arrowsong's Lament (oratory). Especially with this group where we don't have a wizard, being able to "memorize" spells off of a scroll or out of a spellbook is pretty damn cool. Unfortunately, we're not high enough level for it to work with wizard-only spells, but there's lots of good spells on the bard list like alarm, heroism, invisibility, or mirror image that you could switch out as needed.
Sure! Here's a few scroll suggestions: comprehend languages (for eldritch writings not known to man)
A lot of good bard spells are swift/immediate action spells, or depend on caster level, which means they aren't great for scrolls. But spells like moment of greatness are almost better on scrolls, so if you're thinking of switching out for some, I recommend: alarm (good for camping in dangerous places)
The build requirements say we can take a campaign trait, subject to GM approval of course. I assumed that meant any campaign trait? Getting 3rd-level spells would be nice if you went with either cleric or druid. I think if you have a strong idea you like you should try to make it work. :)
Here's my first pass at a build! |