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Hm. Well, Strange Aeons is at the top of my list, but you don't own that one. Carrion Crown would be second, though honestly, I'm not crazy about the 1700s Earth idea. Reign of Winter is probably next in line, but I'd rather play something that everyone is less familiar with.
I dunno. The earlier levels can be painful, but taking them away kind of takes the whole "little guys become the big damn heroes" thing a lot of APs have going on. That and I'm not a huge fan of having to do a huge amount of shopping during character creation. :P Legacy of Fire is the only one I can think of in which book 1's plot could easily be removed. Legacy of Fire Spoiler: Kardswann and the McGuffin plot sword can be moved to a later book where they'd be more relevant. Thus, the whole "save the village from the gnolls" slog could be skipped entirely.
Are there any modules or APs that you've really been itching to run? If it's something that you really wanted to run in the first place, it might take off a bit more easily.
Yeah, I'm up for giving something else a try.
I'm sorry to lose Cai'nan and I feel bad about not posting, but I am still interested in continuing this if you're willing. It's just a matter of seeing if Salla is still with us and trying to pick up some momentum again.
Ciervo lets out a very dry chuckle, as though Salla had just told him a mildly amusing joke. After a moment however, he looks back to her with a very pronounced frown. "Ah. You're serious. Well then." He looks to the chief and his compatriots, trying to determine their best course of action if things came down to a fight.
Ciervo somehow manages to make climbing out of swamp muck look graceful. He occupies himself with extracting a few more leeches from his legs, while keeping a wary eye on their rescuers. His suspicious nature made it difficult for him to just assume that these were good samaritans. "Kobotonese? Is that some Polyglot dialect?" he asks the others, frowning when he hears the man's broken Common.
Ciervo removes one of the leeches from his leg with the edge of a knife and holds it up to his eye, before flicking it away with a sneer. The bloodsucking creature invited a comparison that he did not care to contemplate. With no time to raise an argument, he dashes after Cai'nan, drawing another dagger just in case.
Since I wouldn't get another sneak attack die any time soon otherwise, I'll go ahead and grab Accomplished Sneak Attacker.
"I've read of them in a bestiary, once," Ciervo comments, frowning at the sight before them. "The pictures were fascinatingly ugly. The details, on the other hand, were rather lacking. "Unless the thought of lying beside an 11-foot-tall monstrosity excites anyone, I suggest we find somewhere else to settle down."
Ciervo hops off the side of the boat and onto the jungle's threshold. He peers through the trees with visible disdain; hardly a stranger to traveling through the wilderness, his experiences were enough solidify his opinion. The captain's mention of jungle beasts elicits a very quiet groan (or sigh?) from him. "Stick around for as long as you're comfortable, and we'll see about making it worth your while," he says without taking his eyes off the treeline, making yet another promise that he wasn't certain they'd be able to keep.
Ciervo weighs his gold pouch in his hand, finding that it still has quite a bit of heft to it. Hm. Perhaps I should have started with a lower price. He had based his 2,000 gold piece offer on some of the going rates Unafe had quoted, but he might have underestimated how desperate Hormond was for a job. "All kinds of loot to be found out here. Plenty of buyers, too," he adds, wanting to avoid saying anything that would be incriminating. At the same time, he didn't want them to come off as too suspicious.
Hm. Perhaps it would pay to be less suspicious for once, Ciervo thinks as he watches Salla slinks off. The dhampir glances about, looking for someplace they could stick around without looking too overtly suspicious. "So we wait, then."
"Our enemies are either unaware of our arrangement, or they haven't visited here yet," Ciervo surmises, seeing nothing amiss with the captain or his ship. He looks to the others, not entirely convinced that they are safe. Knives in the dark, everywhere. "Do you think we should see about hastening our departure? I'm sure we could convince them by... sweetening the deal."
"We should be avoiding contact with the Umbral Court at all costs," Ciervo asserts, shaking his head. The fact that Nidalese agents had already managed to burn down their safehouse did not bode well for their mission. "It is entirely possible that they're in league with the Mzali, or even with Walkena himself." "We should speak to Hassan, find out what he knows. He might be able to tell us where Nieford went. Failing that, perhaps we could persuade Hormond to depart earlier."
"All right, then," Ciervo answers as he moves to regroup with the others, before adding without needing to, "Be careful. They might already know that we're in the city, if not exactly where we are." The rogue saunters off, hopefully saving time by taking a more direct route back to the burnt-down shop.
"Understood," Ciervo replies simply, still looking down at Hassan. He lingers for a few moments to give Salla a more considerable lead before turning to follow.
"That was reckless," Ciervo chides when Cai'nan returns, more for show than anything. After all, in contrast, he had done nothing at all. "We need to get him out of here... and to find Nieford. There are too many prying eyes around here."
"Two thousand gold pieces," Ciervo says curtly, having decided to start with a low-ball offer. If the drunken captain took the bait, great; but if not he was certain they could scrounge up a more impressive sum. In any case, it was important to get a better feel of the man's disposition.
Leaning against one of the corner walls, Ciervo responds to Cai'nan's brazen treatment of the captain with a low chuckle. "Perhaps we would have better luck with a captain who won't be perpetually drunk," he suggests half-seriously as they wait for Hormond to wake.
"Hm. A pragmatic approach, but secondhand knowledge alone cannot compare to actual experience traveling these waters," Ciervo remarks contemplatively. "A small boat is not likely to be very fast, in any case."
Having taken Unafe's advice, Ciervo helps himself to a cup of exotically-flavored coffee as she busies herself with her questioning of both people and spirits. While he still did not understand how her powers worked, he could not argue that she wasn't the genuine article. He keeps an eye on her from a distance, ready to lend his aid if any trouble arises. "Speed is important, but we are not exactly carrying an abundance of gold," he suggests once the shaman shares her information. A part of him regrets not saving more money for bribes and other expenses. "Perhaps the smuggler's ship would be our best bet. Our weight is fairly adjustable."
Ciervo nods his thanks to Nieford and sets about adding copious amounts of makeup to his face, mostly concerned with concealing his deathly pallor. Once his complexion doesn't scream "undead abomination," he concerns himself with subtly altering his facial features. Some dabs of bronze gives him a finish that would not necessarily pass him off as a native, but at least made him considerably less conspicuous. Some loose-fitting garments colored in earthy tones cover the rest of his body, hiding the black leather stealth suit underneath. "I take it that we will be needing a boat," he says as he adds the finishing touches, assuming anyone around had bothered to wait on him. Without magic, the art of disguise was a considerable time sink.
Ciervo listens attentively to Nieford and Unafe's valuable intel, cracking a grin when the former mentions the area's relative safety to Avistan. "Do you have any spare garments lying around?" the dhampir asks Nieford, while glancing at Cai'nan and Salla's magical disguises. Even Nicholas had a spell that could reproduce the effect. Ciervo however, was used to using more mundane methods. Less convincing, perhaps, but it would hold up better under close scrutiny. In theory, anyway. Without waiting for an answer he breaks out his disguise kit and gets to work. Passing himself off as a Mwangi native was out of the question, even with his considerable skills, but perhaps he could pose as a Lirgeni or someone else less conspicuous.
"We'll make a paranoid spy out of you yet," Ciervo says dryly as he pulls out his copy of The Centaur Skyles of Central Casmaron.
As Olgeird announces their intended destination, Ciervo poises himself, ready to defend himself should any teleportation mishap occur. They never did in his experience, but it never hurt to be prepared. Of course, this is easier said than done when one is being flung a thousand or so miles to gods-know-where. Experiencing a brief dizzy spell, Ciervo blinks and finds himself somewhere else entirely. When assassins do not immediately pounce on them, Ciervo relaxes his stance and nods to the Mwangi man. "Perhaps not literary, but certainly literate," he says with a wry grin, sliding his knife back into its sheath. "Though, I am more a hobbyist than a scholar."
Ciervo waits until Gallanda vanishes before speaking to Cai'nan. "You were right - we will have to work on our teamwork. We should have held some combat drills while we were waiting. Next time, perhaps. But a proper rundown of our strengths and weaknesses is certainly warranted," he says in agreement, though there is some hesitance as he says, "There is little point in hiding anything." He looks to Unafe with a frown when she wavers, struggling to... comprehend her. Her emotional outburst struck him as strange, and he did not understand this "Ancestor Heart" business, beyond the fact that it somehow connected her to Namane. "Keep it together," Ciervo remarks to her as he steps into the circle, about as reassuringly as someone like him could manage. He opens his mouth again ever so slightly, as though to say something else, but quickly closes it. Regardless of what personal magnetism the rogue had, using it to comfort people clearly wasn't forte. Pretending to care would have been easier for him. Apparently returning his thoughts to the business at hand, Ciervo eyes the sheets of paper and plucks one out of the folder, his attention caught by some detail. "A Shadowcount..."
Earlier:
When Unafe speaks, Ciervo snaps shut the small, leather-bound novel he had been reading, Ailson Kindler's In the Council of Corpses. He stares at the woman for a few long seconds, his brow lofting ever so slightly when she smiles. In a business in which someone's smile usually meant that they planned to kill you somewhere down the line, hers struck him as surprisingly genuine. When the moment eventually passes, the dhampir heaves an exasperated sigh. Given the brevity of the introductions in Nidal, he supposed that a proper one was in order.
"I am Ciervo of House Lorenz," the rogue starts, sitting back in his chair. "I very much doubt that you've heard of them. To say that they'd fallen on hard times would be an understatement; their situation has not improved since I left Egorian. If not for their blood, one could be forgiven for mistaking them for commoners. Of course, Lorenz is merely my mother's name. But then, my father's has no legitimacy at all." Ciervo pauses, his mouth setting into a slight frown. Nothing new there. His next answer is considerably vaguer than the first.
It is subtle, but Ciervo shifts uncomfortably when Gallanda refers to their group as a team. Being partnered with Salla was one thing. Forming a spur-of-the-moment alliance was another. But being a part of a cohesive unit? For someone like him, the concept was a fresh one. When Cai'nan looks to him, he nods stiffly, knowing that the warrior was right about more than one thing. His initial impression of the man being a mere mercenary was quickly changing. "I take it that unlike the Crown, the Blade won't be in pieces," Ciervo surmises, crossing his arms over his chest. "We were able to carry the fangs without any ill effects, but can the same be said this one? And what are we to do if it is used against us?"
Is the Book Club's library comprehensive? Like, can I assume that it has information available on most topics that aren't too outlandish? I do apologize for the lack of roleplay on my part. Once everyone set off on their errands, I found it a little improbable for Ciervo to bump into someone in such a large city (especially since he frequents the seedier Underbridge), but he could definitely be found at the base.
Boots of striding and leaping - 5,500 gp
701 gp remaining
Hm. I think I'll also take the full share. The spectacles are fancy, but I can pass on them. Lemme see... Definitely getting some cold iron and silver daggers. Maybe an adamantine one? Probably not. Some boots of striding and springing would be fun.
As comfortable as the persistent gloom of Nidal was to Ciervo, he is more than happy to be out on sunnier waters. On a more covert mission he would probably be huddled somewhere below deck, but on the way to Magnimar he helps the pirates out as needed, though perhaps not with as much enthusiasm as Cai'nan. Nonetheless, his mood seems a great deal less dour than before. Perhaps of greater note is Ciervo's deathly pallor; the exceedingly simple disguise he had applied back in Pangolais had long served its purpose, and if it was not already obvious that he wasn't human, it was now. If he was ashamed to be the child of a monster, he certainly did not show it. Ciervo was no stranger to Magnimar, either. Large cities made for excellent hiding places, and Riddleport had proven to be too... volatile. As soon as everyone is settled into the Book Club's base, the dhampir goes right back out to wander the streets. The shadow of the Irespan had a somewhat obvious appeal to him. More than once he had squatted in an abandoned building there. But that was then, before he had fallen in with the Book Club. And of course, there was the matter of spending their rather sizable bounties. Ciervo did not consider himself petty, but he did find the thought of shopping with the Shadow Court's coin rather amusing. A shame that they had planned to cheap out on the pirates - the chest could have been twice as heavy.
From the looks of it, agile only adds Dex to damage. Normally it couldn't have been applied to the glaive since glaives aren't normally finessable, but Fighter's Finesse allowed you to get around that. So you need both in order to get Dex to hit and to damage.
The spectacles look like they might come in handy. Everything else could just be liquidated and divvied up.
Had a hell of a time choosing a feat, but I think that should be everything.
Ciervo only got 11 ranks per level for his first five levels. Shadowdancers only get 6 ranks per level, as opposed to 8. So right now (before leveling up), he only has a total of 64 ranks. Ugh. I should have put a skill breakdown into his profile like I did for Ehren. Technically Ciervo would get 30 feet added to his darkvision and uncanny dodge would be upgraded to its improved version early. But yeah, evasion is completely redundant. So a pretty crappy level overall - all of the good stuff starts next level. I'll let you be the judge of whether that's enough. EDIT: Wait, only two fewer skill ranks a level. Easy fix. 5 ranks each in my Knowledge skills instead of 6. Bam. Sorry, I probably overcomplicated that. I'll put a breakdown in my alias once I'm done leveling up.
Should have my update up soonish. Reviewing Ciervo's skill ranks, it looks like I f&*~ed up... something. I might've accidentally counted background ranks as adventuring ranks... or forgot to account for the fact that he has a positive Intelligence modifier... or overlooked that the shadowdancer has 2 less skill ranks per level than the rogue. Or all of the above, maybe. Probably. At any rate, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to have more than I actually gave myself. Well, more on that trainwreck later. :P Speaking of skill ranks, I only realized recently that you can change what you spend background ranks on every level. Would Unafe's suggestion of Lore (vampire) work? Ciervo is not exactly on a warpath to murder his father, but I do imagine he would know a thing or two about vampires.
As the last kyton is felled, Ciervo looks at the aristocrat and sneers. There was little he could do to harm him, and he had no desire to be caught by one of his explosive spells. Besides the paladin, only Salla seemed able to inflict any lasting damage. And of course, there was still the matter of the Fang he had hidden in his bag. "Do what you must, Unafe, but we need you alive," Ciervo says, before breaking away and making a run for the docks.
Ciervo dances through the chains as they come flying at him, retaliating with a trio of lightning-quick stabs. Without an opening however, he finds it too difficult to aim at any major weak points in the kyton's defenses. And even when one of his knives does hit its mark, the wound is a shallow one - Ciervo knew full well that it would heal over completely within seconds. Gritting his teeth as he tries to maintain his cool, he then takes a step away from the kyton, leaving more room for Cai'nan to do his work. Under these circumstances, brute force was likely to be more effective than finesse.
No, everyone failed the check, if I recall correctly. That was just a sneaky spoiler-reading faux pas on my part. :P Just like failing to arm Ciervo with silver weapons, not giving him the skills to identify vampires is just a lack of foresight on my part. In practice, he doesn't necessarily know more about them just because he is the son of one (his father was too busy/uncaring to raise him himself).
Frankly, the pirates are really in no shape to put up a real fight, and we've already struck up an agreement with them. I don't think our paladin friend would have given us the Fangs at all if his intention wasn't for us to get the hell out of here. He and the vampire are pretty much in a stalemate at the moment. We should just take out the kytons and go.
"Fool girl," Ciervo mutters, displeased with Unafe's decision to stay and fight. Their means of escape was secured, yet she'd rather stay behind and play the hero. Given the circumstances, leaving her behind was not an option; the former assassin does not even entertain the notion. He glances once in the aristocrat's general direction before looking back to the approaching kytons. They were the least of his worries. "Fine. But we had better make this quick." Without another word he darts forward to lend Cai'nan his aid, dagger pointed at the kyton.
Ciervo scoffs. Given how the battle was going, he somehow doubted that the captain could stop them from taking the fangs if he tried. "Well you aren't going to get paid by the Court now, that's for certain," Ciervo drawls, hardly able to believe that they're having this discussion in the middle of battle. "Look. We can't keep these creatures down forever. And that aristocrat is something else entirely. You have a ship and half your crew is dead. Get us out of here and then we can discuss what you want for your fangs."
Note to self: Load up on silver weapons. :P
"Then we'll make sure it stays down for as long as possible," Ciervo remarks coolly, turning his dagger over in his hand. Though the kyton was still alive, it was in no shape to defend itself properly. Any ordinary creature would be doomed. The rogue falls upon the outsider, plunging his magical dagger deep into its heart.
Ciervo does not fret about having his cover blown. Instead, he takes this time to leap from out of hiding, a dagger in each hand. With Salla having opened fire herself, stealth was obviously no longer an option. He quickly eyes his prospects and decides that the oppressively bored kyton would be the easiest prey. He had already wounded it, in any case. The dhampir thrusts his magical dagger into the kyton, eager to finish it off before Nicholas's enchantment is broken.
With the fight growing increasingly chaotic and with more and more gnomes falling to the kyton onslaught, Ciervo finally decides to act. Drawing one of his mundane daggers, the rogue pops up from where he is taking cover and tosses it at the nearest kyton, aiming at an assumed vital spot. Just as quickly he drops back down, hopefully eluding notice... but Ciervo was not counting on it.
Since he's currently stealthed, could Ciervo make a ranged sneak attack, and then attempt to restealth with the sniping penalty?
Ciervo merely watches as the inevitable happens. Clearly, the Nidalese man and his bodyguards seemed to have the upper hand. Inconvenient, considering that the pirates were the ones they had to help. With Kazavon's fangs involved, they could not just retreat from the conflict... but neither could they enter the fray just yet. Not until an opportunity presented itself.
Ciervo's face tightens as he takes in the relevant details. Only five. The last one. It did not take a genius to see that tensions were running high in the camp. A fight could break out at any given moment. Still, as long as the two parties were talking, there was something to be learned from the situation. The rogue glances in Salla's direction, and then back to the situation at hand, staying put for the time being.
Aliases
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