Kent's foot slams into the door with a resounding thud. The door shudders, but shows no sign of yielding. Frustrated, Kent shouts at the top of his voice, and before too long, a slide opens in the door and an older man with sharp eyes and graying hair regards you all.
"Main entrance is around the corner." The slide slams shuts.
You are all citizens and/or soldiers in the city of Narv on the boarder of Odalisk. A month after signing an historic peace treaty with ODalisk, Pollexia was invaded with surprising speed by the new ally. They rushed the cities of Pyrandon and Ryn overtaking them in mere days.
Unable to supply and prepare for a siege since the hostile nation now surrounded him, Duke Simeon Geb (your lord) brought all his forces forth and attempted to punch through enemy line, passed Ryn and on to Pollex.
On the plains before Ryn castle, Duke Geb and his troops were soundly defeated. It is currently unknown what has become of Geb and his nobles. You, one way or another, have managed to flee into the forest south of Ryn.
A few other survivors have also managed to take refuge in the large forest.
What is to become of you now? Do you seek to rejoin the Pollexian war machine and drive the invaders forth? Do you turn your cloak and join the usurpers? Perhaps you disappear into the wilds and are never seen again?
Hemlock suppresses a chuckle. "Descrated is Father Zantus' word. In truth, I have not seen anything of this claim. I called for you lot because allying with people like you is in the best interest of the town." He shrugs. "Better to be on the right side of adventurers and have a least one string to tug on in a pinch." He smiles sheepishly as if in a partial apology.
"You could be useful to me and I need to see how you work." #sorrynotsorry - Hemlock
"I am here to transfer custody of Rudianos property. I am here to receive a full debrief of the mission to reclaim this island. I am here to deliver two messages. For that, I need the actual Rudianos agent to be present. I need the two of you, and that skulker...Fashion? Is that right? Angle? You know of whom I speak. Take me to them."
Facion feels the sentience of the mask elevate and is forced to immediately ward off the mask's attempt to control his mind.
In control, for now, Anga feels a surge of power both from his sword and from the mask. Dark energies pull at his clothing, urging him to move and a host of slave souls hunger to serve their new master.
In English, you have avoided possession by your new intelligent item (stats coming soon), you now have access to shadow walk innately once per day and twice more from the mask. Also, your sword can now attempt to capture souls of those you kill. You can expend souls to power your combat and skills. You do not know how many souls the sword can store, but you do know that every 2 souls expended (swift action) grants a cumulative +1 to attack and damage rolls for that round. Additionally, if you can manage to expend 10 souls or more at once, something very bad happens to your enemies. :)
You can also spend a 1 for 1 number of souls to bonus on skill rolls.
Anga:
New Mask:
Purpose - Kill. Anything and Everything.
Powers - Shadow walk 2x per day.
Vanish 3x per day.
Ghost Sound at will
"Nay Sorn, nay. I can see why you might get confused. Allow me to enlighten you. The upper orders must do what the can to enrich the lives of the destitute and downtrodden. I am a champion for the common man and I do all I can to let him see my splendor that he might be inspired to better himself!"
"Hang around longer Mr. Dwarf I might have some good effect on you."
Fizkin winks and motions to the barkeep to refill his mug and that Sorn would be happy to pay for it.
This is fun. I've never really played the ass-hat before. :)
I got laid off by an evil, scheming man yesterday.
My advice, aka what I try to do, spend every extra second you have together. Snuggle watching a movie, eat dinner when the kids are asleep or out playing. Use this time to "date" again.
For Christmas, I ran my siblings (21,17,15,12) through a quick adventure. They have never played any type of RPG before and when I suggested we play, I got the whole "Man you're such a nerd!" repsonse from all but the 12 year old.
However, I did get them all to play and I was really impressed. For character creation, I just sat each one down and asked them to describe to me their ideal character using a few movies and books.
My little brother said he wanted to be a Spartan.
The 15 and 17 year old sister decided to play twin elves: one rogue, one sword and board. They took teamwok feats and everything. They were a scary combo.
the 21 year old sister has a thing for Aragorn. She made a swith-hitting ranger.
For game play, I explained what each skill and number on the sheet was for so they'd understand that there are rules to this game. Then, I told them "don't worry about what you can and can't do within the rules. You tell me what you want you want to do, and I'll tell you what to roll and how long it'll take.
It worked out really well. They stayed on table, the made plans, they protected each other in battle, and made sub-optimal choices because they were awesome. A few of them came close to death, but they had a great time!
Bottom line: Have the conversation about the rules and hone in on a solid character concept. Then, explain how the character works and what it can do. Last, don't bog them down in rules, just ask, "what do you want to do?" then let that happen, optimal or not. They will figure out what works and what doesn't and will adjust their choices accordingly.
My conclusion? GM for kids. They are not afraid to role-play! Adults could learn a lot from playing with kids.
I was playing a battle oracle with the clouded vision curse.
Our party was entering a very dark and scary cave, and I can only see 30 feet, but I'm the only one with darkvision and we're sure there's something in here so we don't use light.
All of a sudden, a white dragon shows up and it's clear that we need to run or die. My Oracle decided to spend a round attacking the dragon to give my allies a chance to run. (He had a very valhalla attitude)
Now we were playing with a houserule that if you confirm a natural 20 with another 20, you confirm again and it's instant death to whatever you're fighting. You see where this is going?
I cut the things head off in one stroke, then spent like an hour trying to find my fleeing party.
It says "the dropped weapon." It does not say "the weapon that dropped to the ground."
It also says "automatically." This, as Cartigan pointed out and we have already discussed, is not a game action. Therefore, a game action (AoO) cannot play against it.
Ergo, if you disarm someone while unarmed, you have the option of automatically retaining the disarmed weapon.
As a martial artist, I can tell you that disarming a double edged weapon, like a dagger, and taking it for yourself is something that we are trained to do. It is possible, and, to an experience fighter, is a relatively easy thing to accomplish.
Back in game...
+1 Cartigan. Action economy wins. "Automatically" is the key here. If it requires no action, you can't take action (AoO) against it.
*Even if you ruled that you could AoO, Cartigan is right that it would provoke and AoO as is, so it is not advantages for the disarmee to take it even if he does get one.
"Please give them the benefit of the doubt. It will likely take them some time to remember their manners."
"Mus'ad! Pavok! Bring everyone down here please. Do not harm Samal.
When everyone gathers, Arik does a more formal introduction. Please introduce yourselves.
"Friends, this is Samal the exile. She and I are kindred spirits: both exiled from our kin in damnable shame. She had intended to capture me for a ritual sacrifice before her tribe. But not now. She has a beautiful mind, cognitive and philosophical. Samal, these are my friends."
" I do not find you ugly. In truth, I see distinct advantages in having a form such as yours. You are gracefull. Not to mention, most women of my race have longer beards than I!"
Arik roars with laughter for a moment, then calms himself before speaking again.
"You have been fair with me and you have been honest and forthright. I think it only fair that I do the same for you. I am not truly alone. My companions are nearby, though I do not know exactly where. You planned to sacrifice me...our plan was to capture you alive. I will not do it if you're uncomfortable, but I can call out the them to join us if you'd prefer. They will not harm you. I won't allow it."
"Now that I've met you though, I see there is nothing to fear. People fear the unknown. That fear may be what drives your people to hate the gods. I have had my doubts about the purposes of gods, but I think they are merely personifications of ideals. Most mortals need examples to show them how to act and behave. I feel that is why some people hold fast to their gods."
Arik shakes his head forgetfully.
"I'm so sorry, I have forgotten my manners. I am Arik Brynn. What is your name?"
Sorry guys this has been a crazy week. My wife tried to commit suicide this week. So I am trying to catch up. There is no random encounter tonight. I will post a map of the bandit camp for the encounter in a little bit.
Oh my god!? Dude, take some time. Don't worry about us. We'll be here when you are. Is she ok? Are you? Let me know if I can do anything. I'm in Seattle, but I'll remote over whatever I can.
For the record, I am really liking this game so far. This is another heads up, I am no officially without internet except at work for the next 4ish days. I will continue to post as often as I can, but if you dont hear from me for a few days its cause I can't post. Shanosuke, feel free to NPC Arik as needed if you need to keep things going.
