Eleanora stays back with the bulk of the group, not suited to reconnaissance. She'd always had other people for that.
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At a con. Can't promise a post this weekend. -Posted with Wayfinder
Great roll, Maldrek! If that doesn't do it, I think we're all in trouble... -Posted with Wayfinder
Hope Deedee's doing okay!
"It's the base of most of the Technic League's secrets. Of course it's going to be heavily defended." Eleanora runs a hand through her hair, which falls heavily back into place, hanging like an iron sheet. "We may need to risk the trap. Is the door locked, or is it just the matter of this inconvenient trap?"
Catching Krayn's eye, Eleanora shakes her head slightly, almost imperceptibly. It wouldn't do for the mission, she thinks, though she had to admit the tiefling grew tiresome with her moral standing and constant flirting with Morgrym. She'd worked with worse, though. After making it through to the console room, she proceeds to wait some more for the results of Zikamiri's scouting.
Shaking her head slightly, Eleanora stays put, drumming her fingers on the pommel of her sword. "Any luck?" she calls across after a few moments.
"Maldrek. You're a wordly sort. What do you make of this?" Eleanora jerks her head at the mural, keeping her hand on the hilt of her sword. "Does it depict anything you've heard of?" She then looks over the statues, briefly wondering who would carve such pretentious subject matter. After watching it a few moments, she subtly alters her pose, as if trying to imitate the least 'regal'-looking of the statues.
Argh. I bought a Surface so I could keep up frequent posts when I'm unable to access my desktop, bought another HeroLab device license, and now I can't get El's portfolio to load properly. I've imported the 3PP pack that includes Path of War, but I keep getting errors. She's pretty much gone, which is incredibly frustrating. Thankfully, I have the original portfolio saved on another hard drive, so she's not gone forever, but it's going to be very annoying trying to track her until I can get everything working -__-
Rather than crowd the room further, Eleanora stays outside the door. She hears Zaci and Zikamiri bickering, and considers giving them a piece of her mind, but decides against it. Let them sort out their own petty differences; the group as a whole had a job that needed doing. At least Maldrek seems to have this in hand, she reminds herself. In the fetchling's oily tones, she recognizes the voice of a masterful manipulator, and feels better about allowing him to question the pathetic, sniveling creature. She alternates her gaze between the direction the group came, and ahead, scanning the darkness for any danger - there had been a ruckus, after all, and if anything else came, it would be better to get the drop on them. -Posted with Wayfinder
Eleanora hisses under her breath and follows the others. "Do we bother it now?" she asks Maldrek grimly. -Posted with Wayfinder
As Tech said, I've had some issues. To cut to the chase, I'm looking for a new job and a new house, and it's causing me no small amount of stress. I'm still around, but getting into character is a tricky thing for me right now. -Posted with Wayfinder
"Farewell, and good luck," Eleanora nods to their temporary guide, shaking his hand firmly. "I trusst you'll be fine on your way out, since you seem to know the complex so well." Suspiciously well, she adds silently, accepting the levitation charm from Krayn and lowering herself into the refuse pile. She's stood in worse things, and the smell doesn't bother her after some of the things she's fought over her career. Yet the squelching is disconcerting, she admits. "Alright. Left or right?"
Eleanora ignores the comments from the tainted fiend-spawn, satisfied with her choice. "What's causing this?" she asks the White Dove as the group continues, indicating the vibrating walls.
"We've been given a job, and this isn't part of it," Eleanora says quietly, though with a resolute tone. "We've spent enough time debating this, time that could be put to use on furthering our mission. My vote is no - this will not only slow us down, but possibly compromise our success if things go south."
GM, just in case, do the cramped conditions in our current location impose any penalties? Reduced movement speed, penalties to attack rolls, etc?
"That spell sure came in handy," Eleanora points out to Morgrym, giving a wry smile. "Here; you'd be better off holding onto this. Use it as you need it." She hands the cleric her wand, briefly listening out for any more clockwork soldiers, then slips under the portcullis in one smooth motion. "So, you think you'll be able to work these things again if need be?" she asks Maldrek, looking over the device curiously. -Posted with Wayfinder
"Excellent work!" With another grunt of pain, Eleanora focuses on taking down the one remaining target, rather than leave it to follow the group. Actions:
-Posted with Wayfinder
I believe it's mine. I've had a rough week, and I should have asked the GM to bot me. Sorry for holding this up, folks. If I don't get a post up tonight, GM, just bot me and move on. -Posted with Wayfinder
Pain shoots through Eleanora's free arm, and her hand spasms involuntarily as she curses her own inattentiveness. She makes a note to thank Morgrym for his spell later, taking a risk and stepping between the remaining two soldiers. She strikes out to her left, then to her right, keeping her profile narrow and her bleeding arm behind her back, ignoring the pain to the best of her capacity. Actions:
The duelist's heart races as Margrym intercepts an attack with his longspear, buying her precious time to spin to the side, using her own blade to parry the construct's weapon out of the way. She smells the telltale scent of ozone as the White Dove cracks his whip again and Zaci unleashes a flask of alchemical lightning, the unpleasant scorching smell filling her nostrils. "Any progress on that thing, Maldrek?" she calls over the metallic clang of steel on skymetal, striking thrice in quick succession at the enemy next to her, trying to draw its attention back from Zaci. Actions:
"Of course. Tell us when you've made some progress there!" Eleanora calls back to Maldrek, shielding her eyes from the flash of lightning that fills the room. Lowering her hand, she steps up to the nearest automaton, moving close to deny it the advantage of reach. She strikes out twice experimentally, testing their reactions. Actions:
Man... What a lousy initiative roll. Well, good luck, folks! :P -Posted with Wayfinder
"Nice trick," El mutters, nodding appreciatively as Maldrek's misty figure slips through the bars. "Guessing you can only do that once, then?" -Posted with Wayfinder
Eleanora flattens herself against the wall, holding her cloak over her chest with her free hand so Krayn's light won't reflect off her breastplate. "Let's watch for the patrols, take our next chance. Shall we?"
"Marching into Silver Mount," Eleanora muses, shaking her head. "Why were you not summoned to Westcrown with us? This seems unusual, considering we all met at the same place." She stares unflinchingly at the masked man, awaiting a response; upon getting one, she nods. "Well, we'd best be off. We can't stand to miss our window of opportunity, can we?" She straightens her back, rolling her neck once in a controlled motion, and fetching her haversack, ready to leave.
So this is what I get for not keeping better notes. GM, how long have we been on the road for?
"Does it show?" Eleanora smiles wryly, finally taking a seat and beginning to eat her stew. "I get the feeling Silver Mount is something to avoid."
The Flightless Dove? Eleanora muses, looking up at the sign with one eyebrow raised, unconsciously mimicking the dove's impatient expression. She swings herself out of the saddle, and her legs nearly give way under her; she quickly straightens herself, patting some feeling back into the traitorous limbs with a scowl. "Nothing a good night's rest won't fix," she chuckles at Krayn's offer, stretching out her arms and shoulders. She passes the reins to Lenni, hardly looking at the boy in her fatigue. The ride had been uneventful, but tiring, and the horse was probably worse off than she was. "Her name's Astrid," she says off-handedly, before smiling faintly at Maldrek's comment. "I know the feeling. It's been far too long since I had to ride like that; what memories it brings!" She's ha;fway through the doors behind Morgrym when she freezes, hearing him cursing and exclaiming the name of his god. She closes her eyes as she steps through to clear the doorway, taking a deep breath through flared nostrils, and mentally counting slowly to ten. Then she repeats the counting in Celestial. Yes, that's a wonderful idea, she thinks, shaking her head and standing by the table, one hand on her hip, the other hefting her haversack. "As my associate says, we're new in town," she says levelly, her voice still seeming to resound indoors. "You say there's 'lots of stuff that will kill us if we're not wary' - what kind of dangers are 'round these parts?"
Eleanora lets out a deep breath as she regains her usual tall, stiff stance, casually wiping her blade on a rag as she strides back to her horse. She gives a short nod to Maldrek, grabbing her breastplate and swinging herself into the saddle. A little longer without it won't hurt, she reasons, and there's no time, anyway.
"What in the nine hells-!" Smothering her alarm for now, Eleanora decides to unload everything on these creatures. "Come on, men! We killed them once, we can do so again!" she bellows, raising her blade high before cleaving into the centaur before her. Actions:
Specific trumps general, though. The general rule is that a natural 20 always hits, but the specific wording of the feat may overrule it. I'll take the normal hit, but it'll be a good question to ask the developers anyway, just to see how they intended it.
Eleanora is burning through her bag of tricks, she realises, as the centaur's blade digs into her shoulder. Time to change that. She strikes out again, this time going for a deliberate clumsy strike for the centaur to block with his own longsword. She changes her aim at the last minute, striking instead at the hand clutching the weapon, cutting effortlessly through the fingers and grinning as she sees the centaur's face contort in pain. The sword falls flat to the ground, and she kicks it aside, slashing out once, then twice, with her weapon. "You chose the wrong group to raid, horse," she spits. Actions:
That's an interesting point. I'll take the attack for now; it's not going to kill me. And I'll post that question in the playtest thread, because it would do us well to get an answer from the devs.
GM, I only realised recently that Scarlet Throne Style and Scarlet Throne Dignity are both from the current Path of War Expanded playtest. They're style feats, much like Zaci's Tiger Style. I've posted the full text below for your reference, and will put them in my profile, as well.
Since El has a high strength score and Scarlet Throne maneuvers necessitate a single weapon with no shield larger than a buckler, this is a definite boost - without it, she'd only add her STR modifier of +5 rather than her 1 1/2 mod of +7, and she'd use Power Attack at -3/+6 instead of a hefty -3/+9.
So, by expending a readied maneuver (Garnet Lance), I lose that maneuver, and since my attack roll result was 29, he needs to beat that on his attack roll. If he doesn't, I've negated his attack entirely. Did he beat it? :P For narrative purposes, I'm going to hold off on posting until I have a response on that. Thank goodness it's Sunday, and I'm not going anywhere!
"You want it alive, it's your own task!" Eleanora calls back to Krayn, spinning to face the centaur now at her back. As she does so, she strikes out once, twice, thrice at the centaur, her blade ripping effortlessly through hide and bone, metallic hair whipping about as she swings and spins. Actions:
Gratful for Morgrym's covering spear and Zaci's quick fists, Eleanora shifts her stance - her right arm falls behind her back, fist clenched under her ribcage; her left arm extends, presenting a slimmer profile to the centaur. Her blade ready to counter and defend, she strikes out at the artery of the centaur's leg, knowing that if struck there, in the thigh, he's likely to bleed out quickly. Actions:
*Make a melee attack; if successful, inflicts 4d6 points of extra damage, and target takes 4 bleed damage at the start of each turn. (Bleed damage can be stopped with a healing spell or a DC 20 Heal check.)
Sparing only a moment to glance at her hands, iridescent skin blurring before her eyes, Eleanora adopts a decisive, swift-footed stance and charges into the fray. Her boots thud across the plain as she meets one of the centaurs mid-stride, her Aldori blade slashing out at his equine ankles, thirsty for blood. Actions:
Current AC: 13; 17 vs. attacks of opportunity.
Eleanora glances briefly at Zaci, her face unreadable, a lock of metallic black hair falling heavily over one eye. She brushes it back with an automatic gesture. "After years of this, I think I deserve some time to myself. I've never given thought to such things - I've been focused on my goals." She can't help grinning at Maldrek's explanation, white teeth flashing in the firelight. "So you're the conductor of this little orchestra, then? The one who sets it up, puts everything in motion, and tells everyone what to do and when?" She chuckles, laying her duelling sword across her lap out of habit. "I like that. Hope you have a plan, because a job like this isn't usually my strong suit. Best guess is, they brought me in just in case everything goes south. I'm good at handling that." She glances across at Krayn, before crossing over to him, crouching next to the drow. "You're getting the twitches again, friend," she murmurs. "Best you ease yourself in case of trouble." As the night wears on and the wind continues, her ears twitch at the sound of a whistling noise. She flies to her feet at Morgrym's cry, her sword in hand. "Come on, men!" she barks, falling effortlessly into her 'mercenary commander' mode. "Four horsemen, coming at us! Look alive!"
My posting rate will be a bit slow over the next three weeks. My smartphone has met with an unfortunate accident, and I'm using an old piece of crud with no internet connectivity. So no posting for me during workdays, or while I'm at tabletop games, or commuting... you get the idea. Once my contract gives me a free upgrade, I'll be back and swinging! In the meantime, please bot me if I go more then 24 hours without posting in combat, or if I'm holding us up from moving on.
Eleanora spends most of the journey shadow-duelling, going through elegant weapon drills and maneuvers, her Aldori-style blade flowing effortlessly in her hands. She isn't unapproachable, however, and gladly engages in conversation with anyone who asks for her time, often still with sweat on her brow. During meal-times, she makes a point of asking the others about their combat prowess - just in case of the worst, she explains, sparing most of the details of her own fighting style, but stressing her need for mobility. After the long ride, as camp is set and she sheds her armour, she mulls over her response to Maldrek's question. "The gold," she says eventually. "It sounds shallow, but I've been leading my merc band for several years, and a long-term plan would be a good idea. With a big enough score, I could pass the mantle on to someone else and retire - or go where the wind takes me. Maybe I'd go back to Brevoy, maybe I'd head to Tian Xia and try my blade against the master swordsmen there. It's a big world, and I've seen only part of it." She doesn't see Zaci watching her; she's busy staring at her removed breastplate, at the way the firelight dances over the symbol on its gleaming silvery surface. "What of yourself?" she asks, glancing back up at the fetchling.
They got Krayn and Zaci, too? Eleanora notes, the presence of the others in the room coming to her attention. Her eyes flick to each in turn, accompanied by a slight, almost imperceptible nod. Krayn was a loose cannon when overcome by his primal furies, but capable enough, and Zaci had proved her worth before. She watches Morgrym coldly as he states his terms, raising one eyebrow at his demands. The appearance of what she assumes is some form of fiend doesn't surprise her in the least; she holds her ground and her tongue. One can always trust devils to hold true to the letter of a contract, if not the intent, she reminds herself. The female figure's laugh and explanation causes her handsome face to twist briefly into a smirk. "Understood." When dismissed, she takes the opportunity to reacquaint herself with old associates, speaking with the drow first. "I've missed having your hammer at my side, Krayn. What kind of mischief have you been getting into without me?"
Eleanora rips off her own blindfold with disgust, flinging the piece of fabric aside like the scrap it is. She runs a hand back through her slicked-back hair, smoothing it into place, and casting her golden eyes over each of the robed, masked figures. Though their faces are concealed from view, she studies each movement they make, watching for any signs of weakness or strength. The best? she thinks, raising an eyebrow and looking around at those assembled. I wonder how many other contenders they went through before reaching us? Morgrym's reliable, at least, and the small one seems to know the right questions to ask. She feels the reassuring weight of her custom blade at her side - there was that, at least. "If we cannot steal the Fulcrum you speak of," she begins, her own voice echoing in the chamber, "you request that we destroy it. What if doing so necessitates... collateral damage?"
Sorry, mate. Between work yesterday, game last night, work today, driving my mother to the airport, and my stepfather's two heart surgeries, I've been kinda stuffed. I'll get my butt over to gameplay soon.
Yeah, it's tough trying to pick one. Lookout is useless for the purposes of Warleader, as I need to spend a standard action to share my teamwork feats, which I simply can't do prior to an ambush. I might be able to get Broken Wing Gambit to work - if I'm churning out 1d8+1d6+18 damage per attack (or more, depending on what strikes I use), that makes me a mighty tempting target from a tactical point of view, so I'm likely to be attacked... in theory, anyway. (Oh, as an aside, Krayn? I can gain the benefits of your teamwork feat without granting it to anyone else, if I'm feeing selfish :P) We can't pick up Coordinated Charge until my BAB reaches +10. Escape Route doesn't look too bad, though... And you're absolutely right - we're very heavy on melee. :/
Teamwork feat thoughts: While you can see one or more allies who also have this feat, whenever you and your allies make a Stealth check, you all take the highest roll and add all your modifiers to Stealth. This could be either amazing, or not so useful, depending on interpretation. Example: Eleanora and Zikamiri are trying to sneak into position to launch an ambush. They roll their Stealth checks - Zika gets a 5 on the die, and El gets a 19. Zika has a Stealth modifier of +23; El has a modifier of +2. Does that mean that they both take the higher roll (El's 19), and each add both their modifiers, meaning they each get a final result of 42 for Stealth? Or do they simply each take the higher roll before adding their respective modifiers? Whenever you make a melee attack and hit your opponent, you can use a free action to grant that opponent a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls against you until the end of your next turn or until your opponent attacks you, whichever happens first. If that opponent attacks you with this bonus, it provokes attacks of opportunity from your allies who have this feat. This seems like it could be particularly lethal, considering that Zaci, Morgrym, and El all have Combat Reflexes. Example: Eleanora is threatening a target with Zaci, Zikamiri, and Morgrym. El hits the opponent, and as a free action, activates Broken Wing Gambit, feigning weakness. The opponent attacks her, seeing her as easy prey, provoking attacks of opportunity from Zaci, Zika, and Morgrym. That one 'easy target' has forced the opponent to suddenly eat 3 attacks. Whenever you are adjacent to an ally who also has this feat, you receive a +4 circumstance bonus on attacks of opportunity against creatures that you both threaten. Enemies that provoke attacks of opportunity from your ally also provoke attacks of opportunity from you so long as you threaten them (even if the situation or an ability would normally deny you the attack of opportunity). This does not allow you to take more than one attack of opportunity against a creature for a given action. Now imagine the above situation - only in this case, El gets to attack as well, even potentially making an iterative attack with her fortuitous weapon. Of course, since she can only share one teamwork feat at a time, this would necessitate someone else taking Paired Opportunists as one of their regular feats. Thoughts, folks?
Haha, yep. She's got a nifty mixed bag of combat tricks for sure. :) Here's hoping she can pull off the stunts to keep getting them back, though!
Oooh, a ninja? I have a boost that allows all allies threatening targets to count as flanking! :D EDIT: looks good, Morgrym. I'm heading to work soon, but I'll try to do some reading and work out links to the others!
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