Praying loudly to Nethys Jask, who had been delaying to step in for Joll at the door, raises his holy symbol aloft and sends healing energies pulsing forth. Dragolan's wounds ease somewhat, but so do Kloraks, and the healing power cannot reach Quinta. Jack's blade skewers the primate's spine and it slumps limp to the floor as he withdraws the knife with a twist!
Both of Alexite's arrows find their mark, but they barely seem to trouble Klorak, and he only laughs madly as he shakes off Dragolan's magics. "I'll try to help hold the door Joll, go!" Jask says, glancing nervously over at Klorak. Quinta sees a monkey scamper down from the window and scamper across to her poking her gently with a single tiny digit that sends a current of crackling electricity surging through her body causing her excruciating agony and making her hair stand on end! Ishirou still pulling his armor on cries out pointing towards the window, "The witch she's outside the window chanting some spell!"
The small group of five Pathfinders had arrived in Port Freedom with only days to spare, having been called in urgently by Venture Captain Finze Bellaugh after his original team were killed in mysterious circumstances. All around them throngs of dark skinned Mwangi natives - dressed in an array of exotic styles including cloaks made of banana leaves, or even just loin cloths - and smaller, but more orderly groups of pale skinned, oft sunburnt Cehlaxian descended colonists. The noise is deafening, and an array of exotic scents mingle with the festive pandemonium teaming up for an assault upon the senses. Venture Captain Bellaugh strokes his greying beard as he looks the team over, "I'm sorry I've not had more of a chance to prepare you my friends. All I can tell you is that you will be avenging brave men, and upholding the honor of The Society if you can win this thing. Be on your guard, and take note of my annotations to the map, I don't know the tiniest sliver of the dangers you will likely face, but I've some ideas that might speed your course. Now..." The sound of two dozen shrill trumpets erupts over the noise of the crowd quelling it as ahead of the six assembled teams a litter is upon which a man dressed in a magnificent peacock feather cloak, and wearing a gleaming silver breastplate with a longsword strapped to his hip, stout but obviously muscular Sargava's nominal ruler Baron Utilinus. The Baron raises his hands and speaks, his voice obviously magically enhanced as it rolls out effortlessly across the thousands strong crowd, "People of Sargava, and of all Golarion, welcome to the greatest race known to man! This year's Sargava Chalice will be bigger and better than ever before, for this year we have called teams to take up the gauntlet! And consequently the course has been made longer and tougher than ever before. So without further ado let me present the teams! First we have The Sargavan team, brave men who will show that native and colonist alike we are one people brought together and surely claim victory," there is uproarious cheering, "then we have a team representing our friends and allies The Free Captains of the Shackles. The Pathfinder Society have managed to gather a team of substitutes after their candidates were slain in a tragic accident, we wish them luck honoring their fallen. The Aspis Consortium brings forth the best team money can buy, I'm sure," a group of men dressed finely and showing no evidence of feeling the days pounding heat, everything about them seems sleek expensive and efficient and they do not appear impressed by the occasion. "Then we have a first a team of Elves from far off Kyonin! And finally we have the condemned a team of convicts who will win their freedom if and only if they secure victory!" The Baron takes a deep breath as excited murmuring fills the air and then continues, "The race will begin with a...
I tend to think the fighter is the wronged party here, unintentional though it is. You had a happy group with a good fighter, the oracle brought in an element that any good aligned character could reasonably be expected to object to. The OP was understandably excited by the opportunity to weave in an intriguing story element, but as DMs we have to let our players dictate a great deal of the story and the fighter was never onboard.. I would direct your players to this thread, you've expressed your feelings clearly and I think the fighter would see you are taking their feelings into account, etc. Then I would tell the oracle that you would only consider allowing such a deal if the rest of the party was onboard, and allow the imp to flee, while giving the fighter a chance at killing it. Probably just have the invisible imp escape while promising to return, etc. I also assume the party are friends IC? Can you imagine a situation where you would allow a friend to walk away so you can gain an evil servant? Even if you believed said creature to be redeemable? I cannot.
The Karoun:
The Karoun are the third largest wasteland tribe, numbering somewhere between ten and twenty thousand - the most reliable estimates seem to think its slightly closer to twenty. They have a hierarchical structure based upon combat prowess and a Priesthood of Erastil which share power, currently the Priesthood has been in the ascendency.
The current leader of the Karoun is named Yandeer Toothless, and in his late fifties he still wins in the arena, though he now only accepts a single challenge a year. He is Toothless because his teeth are fused into one solid mass that gives him something akin to an internal beak which he uses to devastating effect in battle. His chief rivals are his son Yandeer the Reaper, and the eight foot giant known simply as Bloodgore. The Karoun are raiders, and sheep and goat farmers, they also raise and train many ferocious beasts and monsters which they sell to armies, nobles, arenas, and menageries. They keep Manticores for themselves and the most feared of their warriors ride these beasts into battle, some Manticores are even regarded as tribe members, though many others are dumb beasts. Ten years ago the tribe had a number of dinosaurs imported at great expense and they have been trying to breed these creatures.
Pavro moves over and shuts the doors, "Hey Quasit, I'm guessing you are a fan of that Lamshtutu godish thing. Well let me tell you what we are going to do to her temple, firstly I'm going to paint it pink, and have people carve cute little figurines that open up to reveal more inside, and call them Lamashtu the mommy of monsters. Then I'm going to have the place consecrated, and every year we'll give the kiddies mommy of monsters toys and bake quasit cookies and laugh at your silly little waste of a lifetime. How long have you been down here, decades? Centuries? Wow, and I thought I was wasting my life, you are positively the saddest little thing I've ever heard of, good grief, I can see why you wouldn't want to show your face in hell of wherever it is you quasit types come from... You are an embarrassment!" While Aressa moves across to take a position adjacent to him scanning the air.
I use Golaripedia for the most part, here is their page on the Shoanti, but they don't range near the world wound I'm afraid. I think they are about two thousand miles away in Varisia, but then a lot of people come to the wound to fight demons so you can justify a characters presence by giving them a reason to want to fight them. The Land of the Mammoth Lords is right next door, geographically speaking, but those tribesmen are Kellid not Shoanti.
I'd say a good dose of unambiguous evil is called for, demons, evil dragons, undead, give him something he can heroically dispatch.
Sorry WarDriveWorley, you are quite right that sounds awful when I read it back, my apologies, it came out much snootier than I intended. Um, lets go with its essentially ignored in favor of balance. The cost of the masterwork quality and any magical enhancement remains the same. Its a rule, and not one thats invalidated by the section its been placed in. I suppose you could assume it only applies to magical armor, but it seems a very odd interpretation, so large masterwork barding pays 4 times masterwork cost, where +1 large masterwork barding does not, making the +1 set only 550gp more. My understanding of english reads that sentence as being splittable into two assertions; one, the cost of the masterwork quality remains the same; and two, the cost of any magical enhancement remains the same.
Presenting Darsis Valdane, serial killer, kinslayer, and swordsman. He'll be a straight fighter, taking the feats Quick Draw, Equipment Trick Heavy Scabbard, and Improved Initiative. For traits I'll likely take, reactionary, and history of heresy for my traits. I'll try to raise his int at some point so he can start Improved Disarm, otherwise he'll be a basic heavy armored falchion fighter. I'll knock up an alias tomorrow. Personality:
Darsis is cold and calculating, he seems mild mannered, rarely gives into his anger and will back down if it makes sense to do so. He feels numb to emotion, and the only times he truly feels are when he is killing or when he sees someone overindulging, addicts are animals and deserve to die, gluttons are animals. Darsis will kill other people - which he defines, basically, as those who affect the world rather than let it sweep them along - but only to a purpose. Animals he has the right to kill, but people must have a reason to die. Background: At age six Darsis Valdane was rescued from a maddened cult of Zon-Kuthon followers after being forced to torture and slay his two older brothers and his sister. His father, Baldan Valdane, an Inquisitor of Abadar who had foiled the cults schemes previously, tried to beat the darkness from his son, and managed to impose a code of sorts.
But Baldan Valdane was an arrogant man, who believed there were animals and there were people, and being born a thinking creature was not sufficient to warrant personhood. A person Baldan believed shaped the world, while an animal reacted to the world. An animal caught in a bear trap would gnaw of its own foot, or surrender, a person caught in a bear trap would endure the pain, and feign unconsciousness waiting for the trapper to come and then taking its chance to slay them once it was freed. Darsis grew loathing his father and harboring dark thoughts, and found that killing relaxed him, and made him feel something other than numbness. Eventually his father discovered his collection of animal tongues under the floorboards and beat him viciously, making him spend virtually all of his time at the local Church praying for absolution. Then his father began to drink. And as Darsis watched him descend into addiction his respect for the man withered and died, as did Baldan's right to be treated as anything but an animal, an animal who had hurt him... So Darsis set a bear trap inside the privy. And when the old man was caught he doused the privy in oil and burned him alive inside it. A person would have found a way out of the situation, but the animal that was his father did not. Killing animals is not murder it is slaughter, and a persons right. Darsis sold their home and enrolled at Blackblade's fighter training school in Absalom. His money ran out more swiftly than he could have imagined, but he found work at an abattoir, learning to kill and cut meat which he found soothing and informative. He proved an adept warrior and swiftly mastered a signature style of fighting that involved careful use of blade and scabbard in conjunction. In his two years at the school he dispatched a dozen human animals, refining his techniques there to, and taking to soaking a piece of red silk in each victims blood and stitching it into the lining of his fathers cloak. He was forced to flee Absalom after he saw the Watch breaking down the door to his rooms, and took the first ship he could afford - to Talingarde. In Talingarde he quickly found work as a bodyguard, and enforcer, for a local money lender named Gerrius Dreel. Dreel had him do some terrible things to debtors, animals who could not meet their obligations, but the man was an odious glutton whose stench offended Darsis. Then one day Dreel lost a huge sum in a card game, and did not pay Darsis on time, he could have paid after making a few collections of course. But fair is fair, a loan shark should know the consequences of not paying when owed. Darsis slew Dreel's other two bodyguards before they had a chance to react, tied the glutton to a stake and slow roasted him over his own fire place - with an apple in his mouth. Honing his blades to razor sharpness in rhythm with the pigs squeals. Three days later he was arrested in his rooms. He is not sure how he was caught, he butchered the meat making it virtually unrecognizable and sold it to a sausage maker. Nobody saw his deeds that he is aware of and he was not known to have any enemity towards Dreel. But a person adapts and Darsis Valdane is no animal, he is a person, he is a butcher.
Inspired by Gerik's song Alexite's falchion skewers the electric lizard sending it slumping to the ground. The remaining lizards give an alarmed chirping screech and begins glowing brighter, sparks fill the atmosphere around them and the group begin to feel their hair standing on end as sparks fly back and forth between the two remaining lizards.
Lydran moves out and hurls a glob of foul smelling green acid at the lizard, but having to take his companions into account it falls wide of the mark hissing upon the rock. Gerik withdraws and moves over to stand by Jask eyes wide, though he still continues to sing, "What good is a lizard?
Init Order:
Gerik - gone. Alexite - is up! Jack Sasha Dragolan Ishirou Joll Shocker Lizards Jask Quinta Lydran Aerys
Joll downs the injured lizard with an almighty crunch and another of the creatures blinks in puzzlement as it senses something ominous occur as Dragolan's magics settle upon it. Ishirou darts out of the shelter and leaps up on top the rock bringing his katana out in a vicious slash that glances of scale with a crackle of sparks. The lizards screech and begin to crackle alarmingly, then bolts of blue lightening burst from each towards the Tian! But Ishirou turns the momentum of his failed strike into a flip pushing off with his free hand sailing over the bolt and landing squarely upon his feet! The doomed lizard scurries forward and sends sparks cascading for Dragolan! Seeing a comrade injured Jask raises his holy symbol and cries, "Nethys show them the true powers of the Lord of all Magics, renew my friend!" Pale blue light streaks forth clinging to Dragolan's wounds and his injuries begin to heal, scabbing over with pale ash which swiftly drops away. Aerys leaps to her feet getting a bite on the shoulder for her troubles from the lizard beside her. Grunting she sets her feet and slugs the beast in the jaw, sending a couple of jagged teeth flying!
Init Order:
Gerik - gone. Alexite - gone. Jack - gone. Jask - gone. Sasha - gone. Dragolan - gone. Ishirou - gone. Joll - gone. Shocker Lizards - gone. Quinta - is up! Lydran Aerys
Gerik begins to sing, gaining his feet and hoping as he clutches his injured foot, "Lizards crackle lizard crack,
How many lizards are worth a jot,
Init Order: Gerik - gone. Alexite - is up! Jack Jask Sasha Dragolan Ishirou Joll Shocker Lizards Quinta Lydran Aerys
I'd say Mirror of Opposition is the only truly viable option for what you want without houserules. Ideally get two, and use the second mirroron your duplicate from the first. Then find a way to imprison your first duplicate without killing it, or allowing the second duplicate to discover its location, etc. Bust out your diplomancy and convince the duplicate to aide you in exchange for revealing the location of its foe, or even that it should drop its quest and simply team up with you. Of course there's a lot of DM interpretation required even here, and the question is why is the duplicate mtoivated to kill its originator? If its a simply unavoidable magical compulsion thats fine, but if it must destroy all copies in a Highlander stlye, "there can only be one," deally then this plan would not really work. Essentially it should work if it would only attack the duplicate it was copied from, but not if it would attack you to.
"Sun sweet! I like that, and it sounds deliscious. You can teach me the proper stuff then Staryth and Jeggrim can teach me to swear - okay hon? I don't think you can say you speak a language you can't swear in. As for Shelyn, well she's easy, try to be happy, enjoy beautiful things, and create them if you have the talent, and value love," she clasps her hands together and looks up sighing heavily ina pantomine of love sickness. "Zon-Kuthon is her half brother - he's an evil god now, but he did not used to be. And got this glaive called Whisperer of Souls that is supposed to ascend to godhood itself when it feeds upon 100 powerful souls, and then begin a new era of blood and murder. But Shelyn wrested his the glaive from him, and is even now working to free the souls trapped within it, turning it from a thing of horror into a thing of beauty. Supposedly anyone who looks upon Shelyn sees their perfect ideal of beauty, so presumably you would see a dwarven lady with, well, um what do you look for in a dwarven lady Jeggrim hon? Staryth? A glossy beard?" Marianne's tone is genuinely curious, and she pats her glaive in illustration as she talks about Whisperer of Souls.
Do you have the time and inclination to DM a PBP game in exchange for getting to play in several more? Then this thread might be for you! I propose that we get a group together here of, say 5-7 people each willing to DM a game in exchange for getting to play in the other group members games. So for running 1 game you would get to play in four or more. Its a big commitment timewise, but you would get a little more freedom with characters - get to play what you want with no pressure to fill a conventional role, etc. - and we could discuss what games each of us would run, perhaps allowing you to persuade someone to run that adventure you've always wanted to play in. Ideally we would be looking for DMs with at least a little experience. My preference would be to form a likely group of interested individuals first and then move over to a discussion thread where we consider what adventures we would like to run/participate in. We need not be limited to APs of course, or even published modules, if you've always been intrigued by the dissapearance of Nex, or can't get enough Eberron there's a decent chance someone might be prevailed upon to run a game involving them. Any takers?
Pavro is up bright and early, being one of those annoying people who don't seem to do hangovers. He had breakfasted with Ameiko before dawn, who was quite astonished to see him out of bed at such an hour, and was out with the sun seeking out a crate and bothering poor Hayliss Korvaski into giving him some material scraps. This being done he hires a couple of burly types to haul a crate he has borrowed from the ever obliging Ameiko up near some of the stalls and clumsily nails a piece of cloth across its opening - after placing a large cushion inside the crate. Despite his early rising he is still busily scrawling upon the side of the crate when the festival starts. The crate reads, See the amazing Sphinx! Definetly 120% real! Summoned by the magical prowess of Pavro the Magnificent Master of the Arcane! Pilferer of the Planes! Only 1 copper piece! Once a few curious onlookers have glanced at the box Pavro flips on his favorite wide brimmed hat - purple with a large blue feather in it - arranges it to a jaunty angle, which happens to completely cover his forehead and calls out to the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me, Pavro the Magnificent, maginificent maker of magical monsters to dazzle you with my powers! All one hundred thousand percent real, and definetly not the results of clever trickery! In a moment I shall summon forth the fearsome terror of the sands, the mysterious reciter of riddles, the marvelous and mysterious Sphinx! And those of you with courage in your hearts and but the smallest of coin might gaze upon the beast for a moment. But before that to give you a taste of my power.." Pavro swirls his arms and chants in an eery ominous voice and then makes a throwing gesture. A dog appears as if from nowhere some ten feet from the young Deverin and barks looking to Pavro and then trotting over to sit by his side. "Yes I Pavro Deverin have the power to cast forth my will beyond the realms of mortal man, and summon forth small dogs and such!" Pavro mugs, winking and playing up the role of genial sheister, as he yanks the curtain aside to reveal the crate as empty save for a cushion. "And now I shall call forth the dread beast itself, it will require but a minute, and I must ask you to stay back while I bind it to my will!" So saying he begins to twirl his left index fingers around as if winding an invisible length of twine around it calling out strange seemingly nonsensical words and rolling his eyes up into the back of his head occassionally. At the last moment he steps forward and twitches the curtain closed just as a spotted feline claw lashes out from behind the curtain accompanied by an angry growl. The dog of course vanishes even as the creature appears... "Have no fear I shall quell the savage beast!" Pavro calls crawling into the crate revealing the briefest flash of a shadowey form within. Hidden behind the curtain the summoner grins at his eidolon Aressa, as he produces a piece of scrap cloth and ties it around her neck in what he hope might be taken as a crude seem. "Told you I'd be able to get you to the festival Ress," he whispers smugly, even as he ties an exotic looking Varisian shawl over the Sphinx's glossy black shoulder length hair covering the glowing rune upon her forehead, much as he has the one on his own. The Sphinx glowers at him, a practised look, and then sniffs haughtily, "This was not quite what I had in mind. But I should have grown used to being disappointed by you I suppose." "Everyone gets there in the end Aressa love, you are just a little slow that's all," Pavro replies winking as he crawls back out and swiftly pulls the curtain to. "One at a time please, one at a time. Friends and pretty ladies get a peek for free!"
"I say we cremate him, digging a grave or finding stones for a cairn is going to take an age whereas there appears to be plenty of wood close to hand. I'll just, ah, remove his armor, once I have cleaned it with a bit of presidigitation it might be usable... As I said unsavoury, but if there is even a chance it could save someone from a fate similar to this fellows its worth a little, ah, grubbiness to me. If any of you would be good enough to gather some wood, I will prepare the body. If nobody strenuously objects he carefull removes the hobgoblins armor, being as respectful as he is able with the corpse, and looking distinctly nauseated. Once it has been removed he chants, "Sousicodalaixekcitsilajarfalacrepus!" Waving making an odd little twitching of his fingers as he does so, and sending an array of purple transluscent bubbles rushing from his fingertips. First the bubbles wrap around his hands, leaving them gore free and pristine, then they rush about the corpse itself, removing the grit, dirt, dried blood, and dog drool, and finally they scour the armor leaving it gleaming. Colwin examines the armor to see if it is need of repairs with a craftsman's eye.
I've decided to run an AP, and sought out one that does not seem to be doing the rounds on the recruitment forum - and which I am consequently not in as a player. Having read through the first couple of modules I am very impressed and believe it will be a great deal of fun. What I am looking for:
Mechanics:
Maps: There will be maps, though I have yet to decide via what medium, previously I have used photoshop to edit existing maps and give them a grid, but I will be looking at other options. About me: I am an experienced DM, and have run a number of lengthy PBPs. I am English and on GMT, though I have a somewhat vampiric schedule. I tend to work long hours on Saturdays, but will probably be able to post at least once. I tend to favor tough games as a DM and player, but I'll be trying to stick closely to the encounters as written for this game. I plan to run the entire AP, but will give us a short break between each module of the AP, probably a week - players may continue to post in this time, as may I, but it will hopefully be downtime for both us and the PCs. Recruitment Deadline I will recruit until Wednesday the 19th at the earliest, and see how many applicant I have at that point. If I am satisfied we would begin play that night - which is why I would like to see all character sheets fully completed and ready to go. Roleplaying in this thread: Is perfectly acceptable, ensure you have read the Player's Guide first and you may RP with each other, or the crew of the Jenivere as detailed in the Players Guide, towards the end.
Colwin gives Leotian a thumbs up, with a goofy grin, and then cautiously makes for the hobgoblin taking care to circle out well away from the dog. Eyes flickering nervously between the standing and slumbering hounds he makes his way to the corpse and, if no danger presents itself, begins to examine it in detail. Pulling disgusted faces he looks for any possessions, identifying marks, and tries to determine how the creature was dressed.
If Leotians empathy fails:
"Oh my its a hobgoblin, I believe, are they rascally? Potentially certainly. And, ah, not to be crass, but it does appear to be wearing one of those, um, chainshirts, I imagine they are pretty expensive..? Oh dear, I'm really becoming quite callous aren't I? Colwin says peering over Aldaara's shoulder.
"Perhaps a display of, ah, power is called for? Let's see, ah, excuse me dogs? No, no, that will never do... Heed me flea bitten curs, begone or I shall roast the lot of you!" The wizard says sending a twenty foot torrent of flame shooting up from his finger tips. Gibbeous emits a series of soft hoots, which as suspiscious type might take umbidge at. Good one boss, they are shitting it now, huh, huh.
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