Burkhardt of the Versed Vows's page

Indeed. Ashe/Hadran/Taka/Havark, it's been real! Probably going to be a while before I look for a game on the boards here again, but I hope we play together again someday.

Rednal, thanks for the fun couple years! It was good to game with you, and thanks for the hard work you've put into keeping your games going as long as you did. Take care!

Alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic. :-D

Ah dang it! Never actually hit post today, just left the text in the browser window. Anyway, all I said was "Excellent. :-D"

Hey all, took a little longer to get my feet back under me than i thought. There's a little confusion in what I tried to communicate as my plan, I think? The plan I came up was to be as follows:

Hadran: Turns invisible, goes to the tree to find the gem, then finds us outside the town.
Burkhardt: Stay out in the open with Midfoviing & Erstehund. After the point where I'd guess that Hadran was 75% of the way to the tree, I'd cast gravity's bane, then channel energy to harm outsiders and get their attention. Then I signal to Midfoviing, who picks up Erstehund as we fly over the wall and out of the settlement. While/after fighting off those who give chase, Hadran catches up to us and we use the map to get out of here.

Is that more clear?

Hey all, I'm on vacation and won't be getting home for another week. I'll be able to post probably Wednesday or Thursday of next week.

His fingers run down to Hadran's chest, giving him a slight push and a playful grin. "I'll let you get a head start, make a commotion once you get some distance."

"Midfoviing, on my mark I want you to pick up Erstehund and prepare to fly off over the wall over there; I'll be right behind you."

I'll wait until Hadran's been gone about a minute, allowing him extra time to get to a position further from me where he won't be trampled, and then cast gravity's bane, then the round after that I'll channel energy to harm and then fly straight up 15 ft (gravity's bane gives Fly 30ft.)

Right, and so invisibility has a 5 minute recharge. Which means we could have 2 going at a time, tops.

My plan to distract would be to channel energy to harm evil outsiders (as per the Ubro spirit), then fly away with Midfoviing and Erstehund past the wall and then get some distance, so that hopefully we're only followed by flying demons. It's not a great plan, but it does sound like fun! ;-)

Err, our magic is innate and recharge based now, eh? So you wouldn't be able to burn a bunch of castings at once necessarily; but you won't run out?

"No, I'm afraid he's as permanent fixture to this plane as we are for the time." He stepped in front Hadran and reached up, fingers gently playing Hadran's hair away from his neck. His gaze wandered the terrain of Hadran's face as he thought, letting the hot breath of his words fall on the fellow god's neck. "Perhaps... the rest of us create a distraction; and you save your magic for getting in and out with the stone? We meet beyond town's edge, deal with the demons that follow, and we use the map to take us to our next destination?"

Yeah, wasn't asking about problems with Burkhardt's sexual orientation; just referring to the Burkhardt/Hadran interaction specifically :-)

And tell you what Rednal, you don't stress about posting and I won't either: do what you gotta do, we'll be here ;)

Burkhardt frowned. "I worry even a sewer system is all too orderly and pleasant an idea for demons, but it's a good place to start."

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (17) + 17 = 34 | Looking for sewer grates or drains or even what would qualify as a restroom for a starting point.

I'm still here! And very patient. Seems like you're pretty busy these days Rednal, but I'm alright continuing the game at whatever pace works for you :-)

Ope, wasn't watching this thread most of the week.
Achaelous Binding Check vs DC 16: 1d20 + 10 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 10 - 4 = 11 | That's a poor pact, and I'm bound by the personality influence.

So with that in mind, one piece of my personality influence is that I long for the touch of people I find emotionally & physically attractive. I've decided Burkhardt is bisexual, and while he's not interested in Hadran in any emotional sense, I think he'd certainly find him physically attractive. Acting in accordance with this would involve Burkhardt being a little touchy-feely with Hadran.

However, if that is something that would make either of you uncomfortable for any reason, then I can argue that Hadran's not his type, no biggie. My fun shouldn't come at the expense of someone else enjoying the game.

The ritual Burkhardt performed before going over the wall went a bit awry. Though he barely telegraphed the difference, to those who knew him well, something seemed off. Abyssal energies had twisted his binding diagram, allowing Achaelous to gain a foothold within his spirit.

"Hadran, I must warn you. I'm feeling a tad more... impulsive than you might be used to. I may struggle to move towards our objective with the subtlety it requires. I trust in us regardless." He leads them towards the tree, working to weave around the stalls, merchants, and patrons in a way that wouldn't attract attention.

Notably, the other part of the personality influence is a desire to take the things I desire by force. For your reference Hadran, I don't have to play in accordance to these influences, but every time I don't, I have to make a DC 16 Will save or suffer a cumulative -1 to ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and AC for 24 hours.

Burkhardt nodded, and followed behind Hadran. "I don't know about illusions, but do you suppose a bit of mist and a moment of flight would be enough to get us past?"

Would be thinking about binding Achaelous to use obscuring mist to give us cover on the walls, and then using gravity's bane to give us the flight needed to vault over the side. Is there any reason that shouldn't work, i.e. like there's too much wind to use the mist effectively?

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (13) + 17 = 30

(:

Ubro Binding Check vs DC 17: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21
Taking the Vestigal Bond

"Let's look for the subversive path. I fear they'll smell the good on us before I get a word out edgewise."

Yeah, look for a place where we could get around patrols. Either a sewer, or if there's some place that'd be conducive to flying over or burrowing under.

Ahh, we sure do. So WhiteUnggoy the player didn't realize this before we embarked but I feel Burkhardt the character surely knew... and under that circumstance, he wouldn't have waited until we arrived to bind Ubro. Rednal, are you open to a mild retcon there so I can roll without the penalty? I'll wait for your response before rolling.

Burkhardt felt his stomach lurch as the Abyss stabilizes around him. His bones immediately ached, as if the rest of his wanted to retreat within along the marrow. More than anything, it served as an emphatic reminder that He Did Not Belong Here.

"Jokes aside, the sooner we leave the better." Burkhardt said. "Hadran, what can the map tell you about the gem's location?"

"Of course, of course." Burkhardt mentally reviewed the summoning ritual for Ubro as he waited for the map to transport him and Hadran to their destination. He also winked at his ally's easy humor. "Yes, I believe the charnel-flowers are in full bloom now."

Okay, I'm usually a bit of a nerd for the aligned outside groups but that particular psychopomp's description wasn't ringing any bells for me. :-)

"This information will be infinitely useful in our task, Keeper. Thank you. And yes Hadran: let us not delay any longer."

Am I to believe this is Pharasma?

Burkhardt bowed deeply, and then offered his hand. "Burkhardt, it's a pleasure and an honor."

Take us away!

Burkhardt re-centered his hat before flipping to the next page.

"Sound advice, but no, just a bit of water first." Burkhardt reached for his waterskin and drank deep. Then, chuckling quietly, he picked up the singular tome, kicked his feet up on the table, and flipped to beginning. "Some god I'd be if I couldn't stay up all night to read a book. Oh, but would you mind swinging by the inn, let Midfoviing and Hadran know what I'm doing and where they can find me?"

He beamed a big smile and clapped his hand on her shoulder. "Nia! Good eye! This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. This is an excellent find! Thank you!" He laughed and jostled her around in his excitement.

Welcome back! :-)

Burkhardt nodded and took the book. He began to flip through it.

Did she find something special for me? ;-)

Burkhardt laughed and looked up from his research. "Could you imagine the chaos if every exceptional person worked with clay and every average one pursued magic? Unbelievably intricate architectures made to diffuse countless errant fireballs. I think the ratios of skill and interest work rather in the world's favor. But, no... you lost me a little bit." He tugged at his sideburn as looked back down at the page. "I mean, I see how you took the conversation to writing surfaces, but I don't know where you're going with it."

[b]"That's true. I wouldn't knock the craftsmen though. I've talked to both brilliant and average potters in my time, and the best among them found so much value in exploring the depths of their own creativity than the vistas of the world. It's not a worldview I relate to, nor is it a kind of people who came to pray at my alters... but I have an appreciation nonetheless.

Burkhardt let out a good laugh at that. "What a charmed telling! The chance encounters that lead people to their fields of interest are usually much more mundane than that. Though I get the impression that nearly nothing about you would be described as mundane."

Burkhardt shook his head. "No, odd as it is, given my purview. I knew it once, but so many things are still outside my grasp." He begun to methodically scour the shelves of the library. His eyes scanned the titles on his left and right with startling ease, and without slowing he would infrequently would pull a tome they passed to add to his pile. "Forgive me if I asked before, but which spirit did you first discover? And how had you come to learn of them?"

With Hadran's absence, I'll then not push past this roleplay (as I was attempting to do). But as mentioned in our other game, I'm gonna take this opportunity to let relax about posting and will display a sense of urgency behind it either. :-)

Burkhardt eyed Nia suspiciously before gently (but firmly) lowering her hand from his mouth. "Alright then. Might simply be best to be thrown headlong into research, then." Burkhardt responded more soberly through their continued conversations, as even on breaks during research was he preoccupied with questions of Nia himself: questions he was not yet ready to press. Was Nia's knowledge of... I'm not sure if it is even safe to conceptualize the name Nia spoke... but was Nia's knowledge of her one of the Paradox Incarnate's reality-bending jokes. The girl has accumulated an impressive amount of obscure knowledge by a lich's standard, and yet seems so young.

Burkhardt grinned. "Indeed they would, and they'd be right. And I'm sorry, who showing up?" The 'name' that Nia spoke tickled something in the back of Burkhardt's mind. He wasn't sure he'd heard the name before... but it lightly tugged on some fundamental cord within him.

"That's right. I'm sure we've created quite a buzz across Absalom and this sort of shockwave will have the strength to carry itself far. But I welcome it. When I awoke, it was to a multiverse that had no knowledge of me. Even Erstehund, herald and core component to my mythology that he was, didn't know my name. No spirits recognized me. This will bring danger of course... but this is better."

Burkhardt blinked. "Well, it's not every day you see a freshly-minted deity, even with a history like mine. I was rather taken with the whole event, and spared little thought for my own concerns.

"And it's Ubro, actually..." he corrected just a moment before Nia escaped from easy ear-shot. "Midfoviing, would you mind keeping an eye on Hadran at the inn as he recovers? Here," he said, fishing out a few coins, "use this to buy yourself something big and meaty to eat when you get there."

"Truer words, Nia. Midfoviing and I will be bringing him back to the inn so he can get some rest, and then I'll be back to the library, researching a..." He hesitated for a beat, but recalled the context they had met Nia under. "... a spirit in preparation for our next job. Care to tag along?"

Of course, of course. Gotta give you grief either way. :-D

"A fascinating tale; as the origin of any god rightly should be. I've no other pressing matter at this time, so I won't keep you. I do think, however, that the day is coming where Hadran & I will find ourselves in need of all the allies we can manage. I hope when it does, we might count you among them, Iodell. Farewell." With that, he renewed his flight and followed down to where Midfoviing took Hadran. He also took a moment to see if Nia would follow, or if she had slipped away in the midst of Hadran's divine blast.

My bad, I thought that we had like, line of sight to her meant I could reach her: that she was technically outside of the cathedral. But the gambit payed off.

"Midfoviing! Can you come bring Hadran down?" Burkhardt called. "Congratulations on your ascension, Iodell. I'm not sure what Hadran meant by soulstones..." he lied, so rarely as he does. In the heat of Iod's attack and the exaustion after, he's certain that Hadran must have forgotten that the church had asked for their discretion in the matter. [ooc];-)

"Well anyway..." he paused. "Not that it matters, but curiousity begs that I to ask you: what is your exact relationship with Iod? Is it... biological?"

Ohh nice idea, I like. Yeah, in regard to playing concepts, I do appreciate the continual reminders. With triple gestalt AND mythic abilities, there's so much character sheet to pore over that remembering to think outside of the box can be a challenge.

Burkhardt climbed up to where Iodell stood, and placed his hands upon her shoulders. "𝕱𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖘𝖊 𝖜𝖍𝖔 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖉 𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖋𝖆𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖎𝖓 𝖍𝖊𝖗, 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖘𝖊 𝖜𝖍𝖔 𝖋𝖎𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖎𝖗 𝖋𝖆𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖎𝖓 𝖒𝖊, 𝕴 𝖘𝖊𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚. 𝕸𝖆𝖞 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖇𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖋 𝖇𝖊 𝖆 𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖇𝖎𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖚𝖘 𝖆𝖘 𝖜𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖚𝖑𝖉 𝖉𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝕬𝖇𝖘𝖆𝖑𝖔𝖒 𝖋𝖗𝖔𝖒 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖋𝖔𝖊." He let loose any restraints he held upon his essence to become a pure conduit of divine power.

In a similar fashion, I want to pull out the stops and supercharge Iodell's caster level (under the assumption that she is using a protection sphere ward here), and allow any of the physically/spiritual exertion she's going through be shared by me. I don't have a lot of expendable resources to go through, but a possible consequence I could see here is that my divine essence becomes 'hot' for a few days, heavily discouraging or preventing any spirits from making a pact with me. That work?

Naturally, naturally.

"Nia, welcome! An unexpected pleasure to see you here, but a pleasure nonetheless. We're in good company, Iodell." Burkhardt considered his options from here.

Well, playing to concepts... would I be able to use diplomacy or truenaming to make a deal with the universe that would bring Hadran and myself through to the other side of the barrier? If nothing else, smashing his face against gods ought to slow him down a little.

Okay! Cool, yeah, I'll be going ahead in both games then, so have some fun tooling around with it. :-P

So, Rednal, how do you feel about your players going through adventures that have been spoiled for them. It has come to my attention that the pharasma quest that you’re about to send us on is the same module my fiancée has been prepping for an upcoming game that I’m in... I’m good with doing it in both games, but since I realized that this was coming, I thought I’d bring it to your attention and hear your thoughts.

Seeing that Hadran had successful gotten Iod's attention, Burkhardt thought it better to stay put...

Same! ;)

While Hadran shouts at the thing above, Burkhardt considered the kind of space he'd need to start a binding ritual.

Would I be able to do that from my current location, or is there perhaps another area large enough on the cathedral for me to start that?

"Iodell! Is that you?" Burkhardt boomed. "For a moment, I was worried that Iod thought the whole of Golarion to be their daughter, but they must mean you! I'm not sure how to distract them: what are you waiting to stabilize?"

Burkhardt moved brace himself against the peak, hoping to find a nook or cranny to slide into. If Iod verbalizes his answer to Hadran, we may be tossed around again. Once in place, he prepared to recite gravity's bane for Hadran's benefit were he to be tossed from his position.

Burkhardt groaned as he picked himself up from the other bodies. "Let's take a more direct route. Midfoviing, could you hoist Hadran aloft? As for me, ɥʇɹɐǝ ǝɥʇ ǝǝןɟ ןןɐɥs ʇǝǝɟ ʎɯ."

Trailing Gravity's Bane (TDC 18): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (11) + 14 = 25 | TDC +4

I have Fly 30 ft. (perfect) for 2 minutes, and intend to fly directly at the fungus. Not sure how high in the air it is, so if I need to recite gravity's bane multiple times, let me know. And if there is no obvious strategy for what to do once I'm up there, I'll aim to perch myself atop the Starstone Cathedral's peak, provided I don't believe there to be any anti-magic fields surrounding it.

Ahh, sorry, my brain apparently skipped some important bits of info there!

As the pulse drummed in his ears, Burkhardt frowned. "Or perhaps just a god we wouldn't much like."

Indeed!

Burkhardt laughed at the sight, excited by the prospect of what the omen meant. "10 gold says that someone just passed the test! Thrilling! A god of My Word, I must continue my research to be done in four days, but I completely encourage you two to follow where your curiousity leads you."

Well currently my bonuses are exceeding the base DC so we'll see if I ever even need Xalen... :-)

"Then there is no time to waste. We will return here when ready." Burkhardt waited for Taibhill to drop the barrier, then hurried off, plunging deep into the libraries of Absalom.

Cool, thanks for the tips! +5 to DCs to reduce it to 1 check/day rather than 1 check/week, eh?

"I'd need four days." Burkhardt stated plainly.

"Very good, very good. While I understand haste is always appreciated, could there be some time for us to prepare before we depart? The day to due some shopping, and then perhaps a few more to do ready some of my more unusual countermeasure?"

Haven't looked at my options yet, but I bet there's a spirit or two to research that'll suit me well in the lower planes.