I'm putting the rp responses in spoilers for organization and to reduce clutter. Feel free to open them up even if your character wouldn't've been there.
Histrok:
Cuneo watches you with interest, shifting slightly every time you begin to pause. There's clearly something he wants to say.
"Well, how about I begin with the oldest story of all." He takes his hands out of his pockets, folds his arms, and leans back in his seat. "I left home when I was still a child because there wasn't anything there for me." He pauses for a moment, then continues, the shadows dancing across his face, making it shift in strange ways that you haven't seen before. He grimaces slightly, voice monotonous. "There was an old man who took care of me. He was like a father." Cuneo cracks his knuckles one by one, a slow, deliberate motion to keep himself from holding still and getting stuck. "For a long time we worked together, healing soldiers and sick alike. It wasn't a bad life, though there was hard work and no pay. I was only a boy, what would I have done with money anyhow? And I learned many useful things. How to saw off a leg. How to make tea for throat ache. How to set a broken finger and how to keep a splint from wearing on the skin. The old man was a good teacher." He watches the fire burn for a moment.
"Then one day I wasn't a boy anymore, so I went away. I'm not sure I ever was a boy, though perhaps I was in more recent years. When I came back I was hurt, and when I was healed he was sick, and when I tried to help I failed." Cuneo takes off his helmet, and the weight being removed from his head seems like a great relief.
"When he was buried, there grew yellow flowers upon his grave. I have carried their seeds from shore to shore, over rock and under tree. They have come with me through jungles and desserts, through streams and fields whose names I will never know. Today I shall carry them no longer." He puts his hands in his pockets again, then withdraws a small tin box tied with a yellow ribbon. "Today I worry that I will not grow old and plant them where I will one day rest. Today I am afraid, and I know that there is now nothing to keep me away from my fears. So I'm going to give this box to you, to keep for me, since I believe that you will outlast me." He takes it gingerly into his hands, offering it to you.
Gork:
Cuneo chuckles slightly at your mention of 'boozez', a sound as dry as the dessert around you. As your voice changes, Cuneo stands up slowly, sheathing his sword before sitting down.
"Do they care for you, your tribe? Do they follow Merry merely because you tell them to?" Cuneo looks you in the eyes now, clearly interested in your response.
Jhaelwyn:
When you toss the meat to the cat, it glances at you one more time before turning slightly to investigate. As it walks, a low rumbling sound issuess from behind, and it's ears perk up immediately, turning faster than it's head to locate the source of the sound. A grinning Gork.
Swishing it's tail back and forth, the cat picks up the meat in it's mouth and walks over to Gork, lying down at his feet and purring loudly while it eats.
Drekisal:
"I found myself in lands where it was spoken, and could find no one who would accompany me beneath strange woods were it not for a few careful words in their native toungue." Cuneo takes a bite of well watered bread, chewing thoughtfully. "I've always learned new things quickly. Esspecially languages."
You note that, just to show off, Cuneo has kept even a hint of his accent from creeping into his words.
Cuneo is mostly quiet, picking through the wares carefully. He selects a small knife, some chalk, and a good stout rope, among a few other things. Nothing too out of the ordinary. He waits until Surtur is done to purchase the goods, picking up his helmet and leaving with a few words of farewell.
He follows after Drekisal, helmet back on his head. Clicking twice, Fang, his large cat which has been basking in the sun, runs to his side.
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At camp, some hooks
Cuneo is relatively quiet at first, unloading and reorganizing his pack before stretching out his blanket and laying his bedroll on top of it. He pulls a small pouch out of his pack and sits by the fire with his sword on his lap, inspecting it. Nothing has happened that would cause it to be damaged, but he eyes it closely, just to be certain.
A little light conversation to get to know you
"Gork," he begins softly, "tell me about the other ogres in your tribe. Have they embraced the faith, as you have, or are they more like most of your kin?"
Later, as the meat finishes roasting, Cuneo approaches Drekisal, holding a chunk of ungarnished bread in his left hand and a small copper bowl of water in his right. He occasionally dips the bread in the water before eating it. "You're a diplomat, right? I wonder if you would happen to speak Belshiran."
Belshiran, the merchant's toungue:
"It has been a long time since these words were on my mouth."
Jhaelwyn
As you enjoy what turns out to be quite delicious bacon, you the gentle thump of paws hitting the ground behind you. Cuneo's cat approaches, stretching it's ever so large body as it does so. It sits beside you, licking its lips and gazing unblinkingly at your food.
Cuneo smiles from across the fire.
Hands in his pockets, Cuneo approaches Histrok with a slightly worried look on his face. "Although I have travelled the world and lived here for many years, I've never taken the time to become aquanted with a member of your race. Tell me, if you don't mind, how long do you live?" He shifts somewhat uncomfortably.
The fire burns on, the flames now low and gentle, the coals red in the gloaming light. Cuneo stirs them softly with an old weather beaten stick, watching the sparks rise up amidst the smoke, climbing higher and higher towards the heavens. He shivers slightly in the wind. "How is it with your people, Surtur?"
Is This sense motive is for Obega just in case basically what you're looking for?
I'm also wondering if the feat tax rules apply to animal companions. Seems like it'd be a big boost if they did, and they aren't actually characters, so I'll ask. My companion is currently built using them, but I'll switch her over if you like.
Also, something that I figured I'd mention is that they is a third person singular pronoun in common use throughout lots of America. It's been officially adopted for years, but I guess it isn't in common use everywhere. I know lots of people who use they as their preferred pronoun, and it's become pretty natural sounding to me. Most people also already use they as a third person singular pronoun a lot, for example in the sentence 'each student will clean out their locker' instead of 'each student will clean out his or her locker'. Usage of their in that sentence is also more inclusive. I don't have any problem with using one as a gender neutral singular pronoun, I just figured I'd point out that there's already a gender neutral singular pronoun in usage, and one which in my opinion reads slightly more smoothly.
As the group continued to talk and get to know one another, Cuneo's voice slipped a little, taking on a faint and difficult to place accent. His words drawn out a bit more at the end, every letter pronounced carefully. As he speaks now, his pronunciation becomes impeccable once again, as it always is with strangers.
"New arrivals indeed." Cuneo sets his helmet down carefully on the low counter. "Surtur's going to lead us to something that sparkles in the light."
Cuneo looks at the wares, "let's just see here now..." he quietly moves away from Surtur.
This post doesn't push the action at all, so sorry about that. Gotta let Surtur go first. If I had more time maybe I'd write some hook for when we're camping or when we were on the way.
Cuneo walks behind Surtur, eyes darting, mouth set, arms folded. He is wearing armor which he never takes off and carrying a helmet which he almost never takes off beneath his left armpit, right above his sword.
Fang, a large cat who follows him around, sits next to the Yacks, watching the camp of miscreants and drifters with unblinking eyes.
"He's big," Cuneo echoes Jhaelwyn, patting Gork on the hip, "but not scary."
Once they get inside, Cuneo will stand behind Surtur and let him do the talking, watching carefully to see how Obega listens.
Sense Motive:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13Predictive, for Obega, in case.a
Sorry for not posting yesterday. I definitely would have been able to if I'd had internet connection where I'm living. I'm going to be flying on the 13th, but should be able to post because airports have wifi. After that I'm staying in various places for a little while, but there should be internet in all of them. I expect I'll be able to post pretty regularly, but I might be going up into the mountains for a couple of days, I'll let you know if I can't post when that happens. I fly back here on the 28th, and then I'll move into my new residence for the year, at which point I should be able to post super consistently multiple times a day.
I should be able to finish detailing my crunch sometime within the next couple of days, possibly tonight.
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How much are we supposed to know about the people at the lodge? Are we going to claim that we're ignorant and pretend to figure things out as we go? We could try to say that Surtur did his research beforehand, but maybe not let on quite how much we know? How about that we know about Obega and Thud, and maybe heard about the Orc and Kulwa, but not too much and nothing about the others? And how are we going to establish contact with Yidi Tir?
Cuneo speaks up after Jhaelwyn. "I'm Cuneo Danetha, I've come from far to the south, and before that the west, from far beyond the lands of the jewel princes, past the tangled jungles of the elves, and across the Sea of Stones. I can fight, get along in the wild, and sail a ship. There's a large cat in the stables, she doesn't bite unless I tell her to, must be some sort of magic, since cats that big aren't domesticated. I can do one or two other things..."
Discussion
Cuneo volounteers that he might be helpful in talking to Dex Jarria, a rare Drecna in a sea of dust. Perhaps it might warm his heart to hear someone talk of his ancestral lands, where Cuneo grew up and spent most of his life, and there must be something inside of him that would stir at the telling of a sailing story.
Obega Garca is the most powerful person in the lodge, and he might not take too kindly to a bunch of newcomers arriving and changing the way of things, esspecially if his ogre dissapears or gets killed. Still, lowering the number of mantids in the area and freeing up the existing towns has got to be something that would increase traffic through the area, which is good for buisness.
This brings up another point. If we do free towns and settlements, there are going to be people who want to lay claim to whatever the erstwhile townsfolk left behing. Further, if we establish mining towns we're going to have to make sure we can protect them from bandits. Of course, if the towns are populated by or contain good numbers of ogres, that's less of an issue. It's also important to note that if we successfully kill a nest and it has a lot of loot, we're going to need to keep that secret unless we think most of the lodge would be too scared to try to mess with us.
As far as cover stories are concerned, Cuneo is there for adventure and for money. He's not really in it for the money, but then, I'm sure plenty of people in the lodge aren't either. We don't want people finding out that he was doing work for the dragon, which they probably could if they went to the village where he was settled down and asked around. "There was a man who fit the description living here about a year ago who ran off with another man. Both of them had full packs and were dressed for war, said something about a war with giants." So perhaps Cuneo will have to claim that he arrived only recently, after a shipwreck, and that Surtur found him in a smokey tavern near the shore.
Cuneo raises an eyebrow at 'with everyone else', unsure why he would get special treatment, but doesn't say anything.
Walking alongside Surtur, Cuneo stops when he asks his question, thinking for a moment. "Love," he says, after a moment, then quickly adds "and kindness." He looks down at his hat, gently running his thumb over a small hole near the edge. "What about you?"
Cuneo had dressed quickly, waiting in quiet stillness until only a few minutes before he was supposed to arrive. He was nervous about this whole business. It had been a long time since he had felt so alone. As he walked down the tunnel, Cuneo adjusted his hat. He had put it on for the first time ten years ago aboard a creaking, disease ridden ship and done his best to save his friend, and the men they had met below decks. It was old and faded, bleached by the sun and the salt spray of the ocean, and slightly dusty from a long stay in the chest where he kept things from his old life. His new life, again. Stopping to lean against the edge of the tunnel, Cuneo took a deep breath.
He walked into the light, looking up at a big man standing beside a sputtering torch. Cuneo wasn't nervous anymore, now he stood perfectly still except for his eyes, which darted up and down, examining the man's clothing, his stance, his haircut. Cuneo was nearly as tall, but quite a bit lankier, dressed in his finest blue silk shirt and black wool pants. He carried no weapons except for a dagger on his belt, and wore no armor, knees bent ever so slightly, he was comfortable in the dim hallway. After a moment, he took off his hat, holding it at the level of his chest. "I'm Cuneo Danetha from across the seas."
That plan seems pretty solid to me, although I haven't delved too deeply into the factions section yet. I do think that controlling the secret of the antivenom will be somewhat more difficult than you, given that we have a bunch of cheap mercenaries who will be sleeping with us. I guess we can't trust them with it right away.
Anyway, I'm going with Favoured Enemy Human x2 and Abberation x1. I think humans are the most common enemy that Cuneo's fought, as he's travled all across the world and dealt with lots of different things, although only expressly humans for a few years. Presumably if he went on any short adventures during his marriage, which I think he did occasionally, they would've been against mantids. They also killed his wife, so maybe he wants to learn more about them. These things also seem like good mechanical choices.
If anyone has any advice for getting good ranged damage, let me know. I should be adding more detail to my crunch notes soon.
Makes some sense mercenary-wise, I suppose. Given that we don't have that much money ourselves, and we probably want people to think we're paying for them out of pocket, it's fairly reasonable that we wouldn't be able to equip them with super high quality gear. Although in general most of the combat equipment in this game is way more expensive than would make sense, that's something for another time.
Anyway, I think I'm going to try to be good at ranged damage. I'll still be better at doing damage in melee if it comes to that, but I think having the ability to hit things that are far away is pretty important for us to be a well rounded group, and it seems like we can do that.
I added some basic crunch notes, that's all I have time for right now. Lots of stuff I haven't finished detailing yet.
Why would they not have armor or use good weapons if they had longbows? Is it a money thing? Real historical archers carried sidearms like swords and often wore lots of armor.
Anyway, it seems like we don't have that much in the way of ranged capabilities, almost to the point that I feel like if we get into a fight with something that we can't get close to we should just try to talk to it or something.
Okay, had a couple of unexpectedly very busy couple of days, time to do some basic character outlining and then go through the nitty gritty tomorrow. My pace has been pretty slow thus far, because I don't have internet at my apartment, that will change starting in a little less than two weeks.
I'm going to be a ranger, I still haven't quite decided how much I want to focus on archery. Could everyone summarize their ranged capabilities in a spoiler so I can make some decisions ability score and featwise?
GM Mercy, I don't believe you've looked at my changes to my backstory yet, let me know if you think I need more changes or if I'm good.
I'm also interested in knowing the creature type for Mantids.
