Calath Incenial's page

At some point, Cal will attempt to get Gorax alone and chat with him a bit. Definitely NOT at dinner, but preferably before it, since he knows that Kyrie is fairly adamantly pro-booze.

"Ey there, Gorax. Mind sharin' a word wit' me over a cuppa clean water?" Cal hands the big man a mug filled with clean, clear water. "I havn't said nought 'bout this before to ya, but now with Miss Kyrie taggin' along, it seems we may have a bit of a fight waitin' to happen between you two. I know ye've got a special hatred fer alcohol an' spirits; mind tellin' me why that is? Mebbe if I can unnerstand where you're comin' from, I kin help head off any more problems in th' group."

---

After that conversation, back with the group...

"So, do we have any leads as t' where t' head out next?"

"Kobolds 'round here don' tend t' be th' depend'ble sort, fer sure, but iff'n they hold their word I ain't got anythin' against 'em. I guess we'll just see how th' dice land when we run 'cross 'em again, won' we?"

"I think Gorax has 'im good idea. Let's head back t' Oleg's, but let's finish up a'splorin' this area 'fore we go. The radishes'll keep for a few days."

Cal stays back and to the side, leaving as clear a firing lane as possible to the most threatening-looking kobold, but he does not make any overt hostile actions to spoil Sia's attempt at diplomacy.

"We kin empty out one o' Donkey's saddlebags an' put 'em in there, push comes t' shove." Cal supplies.

"Actually," Cal responds to Gorax's fears of a mate to the slain giant spider, "Spiders don' really live in groups, usually. I' fact, the females tend t' eat their mates... Still, I'm as eager t' get away from 'ere as you are."

Kingmaker (and all other Pathfinder APs for the Pathfinder RPG, as opposed to the 3.5 ones) assumes the medium/normal XP progression. We won't level until 2,000 xp.

Vermin are mindless and immune to charming, aside from corner cases like the vermin-centric druid archetype.

"Jus' shine a light down th' hole an' I kin fill it fulla arrows. It's easier t' hit when I don't hafta worry 'bout hittin' you lot." Putting actions to words, Cal steps up to the edge of the hole and fires an arrow straight down the tunnel to embed itself in the arachnid's chitinous body.

Attack roll: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
Miss chance from concealment: 1d100 ⇒ 25
Damage roll: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

EDIT: Heh, forgot Cal speaks with a hick accent.

Is it visible from the top of the trap door? If so, Cal can just shoot it. It's even still in point blank shot range.

Cal already has a readied action attack and damage roll posted, however I doubt a (modified) 11 will hit.

Cal moves farther to the side and readies another arrow to fire if the spider emerges from its lair again.

The chances of me hitting with a total of -5 to hit are basically nil, so Cal will ready an action to fire if it moves out from cover.
Readied attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Readied damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Cal's wariness apparently does not extend to giant spiders, but once the surprise wears off, he circles around to get a clear shot on the thing in its lair and lets loose an arrow that whistles and thunks into the thing's barely-visible body.

Moving around to get into Point Blank Shot range and with a line of sight unobstructed by the party, if possible.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Confirm the crit: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Not sure if that confirmed, so I'll roll damage three times and you can either take the first if it didn't, or total 'em up if it did:
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

By the way, spiders bleed clear. It'd be very hard to tell whether there was ichor on a sword or not with just a quick glance.

Cal stands from where he kneeled to examine the skeleton. "These weren't killed by hunters, either the two-legged or four-legged kind. The bones are too intact to have been killed by sword, axe, claw, or bite, and a hunter would have dragged the carcass away. My guess is that these were all killed by poison or magic, and whatever killed them is still nearby; else, scavengers would have comes for the marrow in the bones. We had best be on high guard."

Cal readies his bow just in case, then examines the skeletons.

Not sure which skills would matter, so I'll just go down the list.
Heal: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Knowledge (Nature): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12
Survival: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 27

Fortunately, we have magic.

Cal kneels over the still-unconscious mule and says a prayer to Erastil. His hands glow white briefly, and the mule's wounds start to close visibly.

Cure light wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
1 first-level spell remaining until morning.

Ah, gotcha. It was really kind of irrelevant anyway; he missed badly even with the charge bonus, and was close enough to have just moved and attacked. A melee fighter he's not, but he doesn't have Precise Shot yet so he'd actually have had even worse results with his bow.

Cal takes another stab at the wolf as it tries to drag the mule away, but misses once again.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

So far as I know, Atapax, there's no cover penalty from allies for melee attacks. That's described in the ranged attacks section. It makes sense, too, if you think about it. Polearms in multi-rank formations were the most commonplace weapon/formation in warfare up until rifles, even lasting past the advent of cheap guns. Pikes would be used three or four ranks deep.

With the wolves both engaged closely with the mule, Cal's arrows would have as much chance of hitting a friendly target as an enemy. So, he instead scoops up his longspear and charges right up behind Kyrie, stabbing at the same wolf. He misses badly, however.

Cal actually does get flanking, thanks to having a reach weapon.
Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Unfortunately, a 7 is gonna miss anything but an ooze.

Technically it's -4 firing into melee, not -4 darkness. Just sayin'.

Cal starts awake at the cries of alarm, stumbling to his feet and calling light to his fingertips almost instinctively.

Move action to stand, standard action to cast light.

Taking the OOC discussion to the OOC thread...

I'm honestly not sure what all the violence is about, either. I could see a little push to get him back outside or whatever, but a gutpunch made me a bit confused.

Kyrie rolls her eyes in disgust as Gorax retreats into the hut, then turns to look at Estruven and Cal. "Is he always this much of an oaf when people don't agree with him?" she asks.

"Only 'bout booze. Think 'e's got some issues in 'is past with it. I try not t' stir th' pot too much with 'im on it, but we've 'ad a spot of trouble about it before. If you or Sia or someone can't talk some sense inta him, I guess I'll have t' try myself some time. Nothin' wrong with respectin' the drink, but nothin' wrong with drinkin' in moderation, neither." Cal responds quietly. "He's a good man 'bout everythin' else, just gets real upset real quick at smellin' a stiff drink."

Cal sees Sia's expression and holds his hands up in front of himself as if to ward her off. "Hey, dun look't me! I jus' said th' water tasted good!"

Yeah, I got my APG PDF the minute it became available (well, minus the time it spent to actually buy it) this morning. For the record, Atapax, Cal will stay as an Inquisitor. I might change his spells around a little bit though, with your permission. There's some cool Inquisitor spells, and I dunno that divine favor will ever see much use with its standard action cast time and rounds/level duration.

"Oi Cal, you all right over there? S'alright here, you can have a sit down if you like."

Cal favors Gorax with a smile and a nod and comes over to him, slinging his bow over his shoulder as he goes. Once he settles down, he pulls out his waterskin and takes a sip of clean water. "One thin' t' recommend 'round here, no cities means no foulness in th' water. Y' kin almost ferget what good clean water tastes like up in Restov."

Is anyone else tempted to respond to Miracle M...... the crazy potion hermit, "We're the Brute Squad"?

Sorry, can't help but see Billy Crystal, here.

Cal keeps watch for outside threats, content to let Gorax protect Sia from any immediate threat from inside the hut.

Calath Incenial wrote:

I won't get my copy of the APG until the 4th when I can buy the PDF :( And I have to say, I'm not happy about what they did to the Inquisitor according to the preview and errata threads. It seems like a really hasty, last minute, not well thought out change to me.

I haven't read through the Inquisitor yet, but I can tell you that if you feel strongly enough about it that you want to alter your class, say to a ranger of some kind, I'd be fine with that.

I'll reserve final judgment (no pun intended, heh) until I can look over everything in the APG. Very likely I'll stick with Inquisitor, though. I still like the class, I just think the change to Judgments were dumb.

I won't get my copy of the APG until the 4th when I can buy the PDF :( And I have to say, I'm not happy about what they did to the Inquisitor according to the preview and errata threads. It seems like a really hasty, last minute, not well thought out change to me.

Yeah, Cal's not going to sit around on his duff for a week, either. He'll try to convince Gorax to come back out with the group a few ways:

"When I was in Brevoy I had a particularly vivid dream about an overgrown temple of Erastil guarded by a huge, angry bear. Upon waking from the dream, I felt an irresistible tug to the south, and realized that Erastil had given me that dream. The tugging led me here, but then it stopped. Soon after, I learned about you all and your charter from Svetlana. I've also heard rumors of “lost temples” to Erastil in the Stolen Lands. I think that I was sent to ask you to look for just such a temple. One guarded by a large bear."

"Lost temples? T' Erastil? That's right strange. Elk Father's not known fer havin' temples out in th' wilds. He's th' shepherd of villages, not th' guardian of th' wilds, like th' Wind an' th' Waves. Even stranger t' have a bear fer a guardian. Not I'm callin' you a liar, mind; I jus' find it right strange. Fer sure, if I come across any such place guarded by a bear, I'll let ya know."

----

Cal chuckles at the reunion. "Well, Sia, guess ya can't complain too much 'bout restin' up a day, now, can ya? I take it you two know each other? Mind introducin' me?"

Eh...the more I read, the more of a stretch I find it to call Erastil a "nature diety" per se. He's very much a god of civilization, just one of the smaller, rural civilization that has to be concerned with nature. Since weak alcohol will, at times, be the only safe thing for a community to drink, he's probably got no opinion on regular indulgence as long as it doesn't interfere in day-to-day life.

I didn't say Erastil was the reason for Cal's views on alcohol. In fact, they're a copy of my own views. Alcohol is just weird. Cheese can at least be explained by carrying milk in bags made from animal stomachs.

Ditto for Cal. He's not going to hide something that may provoke a strong reaction from a friend, but he's not going to bring it up, either. Cal's not a strong drinker, anyway. He mostly drinks water, or fruit juice if such a luxury is available. Rotten, processed fruit juice seems somewhat against the natural order of things to him, although he'll indulge to be polite.

Strangely, he has no such problem with rotten, processed animal juice (aka milk -> cheese). Possibly because cheese has no mind-altering effects.

Surely Cal as an inquisitor would be the best person for the post you describe Sia, and a rougue bogey would be the Royal assasin, every royal house should have one. especially as this one is gonna shadow dance.

Spymaster, High Priest, and Marshal are the roles best-suited for Cal. He's not going to want to be High Priest, though. Honestly, Marshal is probably the best fit both RP and mechanicswise (the Marshal's job is to organize patrols and enforce justice in wilderness regions; he adds his Dex or Wis mod to the kingdom's Economy score).

Welcome to the team :)

Cal certainly doesn't hide his allegiance to Erastil. He openly wears Old Deadeye's holy symbol. He doesn't preach around or try to convert anyone actively, but (like with the elk at the creek) he freely references Erastil's teachings and interprets omens for signs of Erastil's favor. It should become obvious to Johd fairly quickly that Cal is a follower of Erastil, if perhaps not that he's a priest.

Cal would prefer not to stay more than a day or two -- the fort is as secure as it's likely to get for the moment, and the party has a job to do. For the time spent at the fort, Cal will do a bit of hunting in the vicinity, just enough to repay Svetlana for the food, and keep an eye on the prisoner both to ensure he is being treated fairly and humanely and to make sure he is working with his full attention to the job, not slacking off or shirking. Hard, but fair, in other words.

He'll also want to talk with Oleg and Kesten about the prisoner's punishment; what he suggests is to have Norbert work as a common laborer for whatever duration Oleg feels is sufficient restitution, within reason, and Cal will leave money with Oleg to cover his meals and, at the end of his sentence, to pay him back wages as a common laborer (1cp/day, as I recall). That way Norbert has both positive and negative incentive to stay, rather than flee, and he'll have a solid nest egg to pay his way into honest work when he works off his debt to Oleg, rather than being destitute and left to banditry again.

Calath nods at the guard captain. "Aye, that'd be perfect. 'E's got a debt t' society needs payin' off, an' hard labor t' build up that which 'e worked t' destroy is truly fitting. I believe 'e's tellin' th' truth about 'is circumstances an' not really wantin' t' be a bandit, but 'e still must repay all the ills 'e's done. An' let me say, 'tis a relief t' see you all here. We kin go off an' do our sworn duty now without fear fer Oleg and Svetlana."

When Gorax calls him over, Cal gratefully takes a seat, as well as a bowl of Svetlana's lovely cooking. "Thank'ee, ma'am. Yer cookin' is truly heavenly t' a soul as has been wanderin' in th' wilds with naught but 'is own cookin' t' keep 'is belly filled." He favors her with a warm smile.

Cal lets Gorax tell the story, only interjecting when the big man forgets something, when asked for input, or when he feels he has some special insight.

Cal would rather get back to the fort; don't forget we're carting around the goods the bandits stole from Oleg, plus a prisoner. I'd rather not have to deal with either if the radishes turn out to be more complicated than a simple find-and-dig.

Cal stays quiet during the encounter with the fey; he's clearly still mulling over the altercation with Yossian, although he does his best to keep the mood light while the cheerful little sprites are present. He doesn't speak much at all, only responding in short but polite sentences when spoken to, until the next morning.

Over breakfast, however, Cal notices the elk browsing nearby. "Erastil favors us t'day, friends. Look there; fer elk t' be so near an' yet unafraid, that' a sign o' His favor. We should leave soon before anythin' happens t' frighten 'em off."

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

Siarani Lodovoka wrote:

Actually, it does. I assumed that no one was actually carrying enough to be unable to move, so I locked carrying capacity to Light Encumberance...

Maybe I'm confused, but everyone's "Unmounted Carrying Capacity" shows 33lbs, the light load limit with a stength score of 10.

Yep, you're right. I never noticed because Cal's strength IS 10.

"I don't object t' huntin' fer the radishes, if only ye'll tell me where t' find 'em. They ain't none too common. I'll keep my eye out fer 'em as we move, sure enough, same as I've been doin', but we'll find 'em when we find 'em. If we do." Cal shrugs.

I just used Pony stats for the spreadsheet. Seems a close enough comparison.

Works for me.

Carrying the OOC discussion over into the OOC thread --

By the way, there's no "no cost for failure" restriction on taking 10. That's a take 20 restriction. The only things that prevent taking 10 are threats or distractions, assuming the skill can be taken 10 on (which Survival can).

By my numbers, we have ten pounds, and Norbert gets to eat too so he'll be having Yossian's share. It's one pound per person per day, which I assume includes some amount of packaging (jars and such) which isn't actually edible. And if we explore while using survival, it'll take five or six days to get back to Oleg's. The math is dicey enough that I don't want to chance it, especially with delays being possible.

According to the party inventory sheet, there are 10 pounds on Draft Horse 1 and 5 pounds on Calath's Donkey. That's 15 pounds/3 days (with 5 people being fed).

That also assumes you can take ten. I probably wouldn't allow it, since there are immediate consequences for failure. Ata's call though.

Even with a 1 on the die roll, he still comes up with enough food and water for 2 people. As long as he rolls at least a 6, he can feed everybody. That's a 75% chance, and any extra food he gets from rolling an 8+ can be carried over for a day or two at least to make up for deficiencies. I don't think it's much of a risk, personally.

With the horses (and donkey) back and loaded, and Yossian off on his own, Cal drops down out of the tree and sets off as the point man and scout for the party.

By my numbers, we have 15 pounds worth of trail rations, which is enough to feed 4 people for almost 4 days (I'm assuming that if Yossian isn't going to be found til he wants to be, he's also not going to be eating our food, and he can easily take 10 to hunt for himself). In addition, Cal can take 10 on a Survival check and get a 22, which is enough to feed seven people. So, really, he only has to hunt about every other day to keep us out of the trail rations.

Cal's eyes follow Yossian into the woods warily, then snap back to Norbert.

"Well. Now as that's outta th' way, I s'pose I should say that defendin' you was a matter o' principle more'n anythin' else. I'm no follower o' th' Dawnflower, t' believe even demons can be redeemed, but ye're no demon. If ye're sincere in repentin' o' yer bandit ways, I fer one will accept that. If y' try to pull th' wool over m' eyes, though ... well, Old Deadeye's servants have a long reach out here in th' wilds. Don't expect t' be greeted with open arms by anyone ye've helped rob, but I won't tolerate anyone offerin' violence t' you fer it fer as long as I'm convinced y' really do regret yer actions an' want t' change yer ways. Ye'll need to make amends fer what ye've done, but th' Horned God knows men are fallible creatures an' he forgives those as honestly seek forgiveness." With his piece said, Cal returns to his duty of keeping watch for threats from outside the camp.

"And damn straight we had a choice. Like I said at the fort, we could've given Oleg some gold ter pay off the bandits, followed 'em, scouted their camp, found out how many they was, whether they had mages or priests, what their habits was. And then we could have made a plan ter suit us, rather than chasin' after 'em and hopin' we can get away afore they organises against us, which is what we is callin' our 'plan' at the moment."

"Oleg don't even deal in goddamn gold. No one has gold out here! Why would 'e have gold? Th' bandits would be suspicious righ' off the bat at that moronic thought! Likely they'da searched th' place jus' t' be sure Oleg weren't hidin' nothin' else from 'em, and then we'da been found out anyway! An' even if they hadn't, they'da just taken the gold an' the furs, an' ye'd have done nothin' but helped 'em by stayin' outta their way. If y' hadn't freggin' interfered in th' questionin' of th' prisoner, we mighta found out all that info ANYWAY! Now it's sure we won't; great goin', Mr. Mighty Helpless People Slayer!"

Actually, on reflection, the way you show that you repent of being a bandit is to stop being a bandit.

And the way you show that you are a Good character is by giving them that chance. Ergo, by insisting that it's impossible for a bandit to repent, and that they should all thusly be killed in cold blood without any chance to defend or redeem themselves, Yossian is neutral or even evil. An actual good character would prefer to let an evil man go free than to harass, torture, and execute in cold blood a man who was forced into bad circumstances but is truly repentant.

I ask again, would we even be having this discussion if they were goblins.

You clearly havn't seen the goblins-in-Thistletop thread. I argued about pretty much this exact thing for ... uh, well, the thread went to like 600+ posts if I recall correctly. And yes, it was about showing mercy to goblins.

Cal glares down from his post up in the trees. "How can y' even know that? Y' weren't even in th' camp when she was talkin' to 'im! Y' were chasin' off after a runner y' hadn't a chance in a hundred o' catchin'! An' as fer th' 'sob story', yer a blasted fool t' even mention it right out in front of the feller! If he was tellin' the truth, y' just totally alienated 'im an' likely lost us a source o' information, an' if he was lyin', now 'e knows you suspect him of it! Goddamn foolish of y' either goddamn way!

"Anyone wit' half a brain could figger out that we's clearin' th' way fer settlers. Why would Restov hire a buncha adventurers to clear out unclaimed lands if they didn't have aims on claimin' 'em? An' if they's gonna claim these lands, they's gonna want to send people here t' settle, so they have friends on their border 'stead of enemies. Y' may be a woodsman, but I didn't think y' were stupid.

"As fer th' Stag Lord -- blasphemous as that is, an' I plan t' let him know that on th' point o' my arrow -- what else would you have had us do? Let the bandits pillage Oleg's while we sat aside and cheered 'em on? Would y' have joined in when they raped Svetlana, eh? I hope not, or we's gonna come t' more than words. Assumin' not, we had no choice but t' attack th' bandits at th' fort, an' that right there set us against th' Stag Lord -- not that we weren't set against 'im from the start, thanks to the charter you brought up. Once we took care o' th' raiders, we had t' move against this camp immediately; th' raiders not comin' back woulda let 'em know things'd gone wrong, an' then they would've attacked the fort in force! Y' think th' Stag Lord's gonna tolerate people sayin' 'no' t' his men? Th' war was started before we ever got here, man! Use yer head!"

Cal spits in disgust, then motions to the bound bandit. "An' now that we've aired all our dirty laundry in front o' th' captive, what d' you think we should do? Torture his information outta him? Think careful, now. You already made him yer enemy when he was at least actin' like he might be a friend." The priest's glare cuts into Yossian from above. "An' think quick! Who knows how far th' bandit lord's camp is from here an' how quick th' runner will get there? I fer one would rather be in Oleg's fort if they's gonna come at us in force."