Thanks. End of thread.
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I am sure I have seen RoW AP Hardback at some point, but it was long ago and now all I can find are the individual books. Can't find the AP in the Pathfinder catalogue, can't find it on Amazon. Am I missing something or am I misremembering that it was collected into a hardback?
I'm going with Roran on this one. I've been checking daily, but the consistent silence leads me to believe that this thread is sadly concluded. It's been fun, but as of now unless something shows up in my PMs, new diversions await.
I know. This is potentially a bad sign. Then again, he might just have gotten snowed in or something.
Welcome back, GM! I'm all in.
With condolences to GM Birch and a Happy New Year to one and all, it's the first - time to kick the pig.
"I'm with Master Gwernach," Ellie shrugs her 'pseudodragon dock' back into shape. "Or maybe we missed something topside?"
"That should do it," murmurs Eltanin while giving Majenko the nod. "Stay safe, friend."
Thursday, and the Thanksgiving Kin Soujourn has begun. Won't be back until Saturday.
"Sure, carve it up before it can move and it won't move." Eltanin stays out of Roran's way, looking around the room with some professional interest, checking for notebooks or other items of interest, or signs of recent habitation.
"Oh, but it's not all about the undead or golems. Look at this - Bilious' Symptonomicon,, and - is that Arcane Hybridization for Dummies by Cryptopakolypse the Unseasoned? See, forget golems. Give me a hybrid. A cute, stable hybrid you can make friends with. The duckbunny doesn't look like it would be so useful, but a swanmule might have real potential." Ellie is starting to show the first signs of folio fever, a condition that occasionally strikes academics unsupervised in the field.
"Basic library! Nicely stocked... oo, a copy of Rank Fens Tine's Playing God! And Dokkins' The God Collusion, that can't be an original copy... These scrolls are the basic survival toolkit for long-term habitation of a modern graveyard, which is nice. But what I didn't see are maps, inventories of graves or personal journals. Of course, that was just a quick browse." Eltanin shrugs, ready to press on though reluctantly.
A slightly demented grin washes over Eltanin's face. "Yeah, I give myself five minutes to look that library over for anything to do with our job. After that, Gwernach, you might need to drag me away. Might need Roran and Val to help..."
Eltanin looks over the equipment and sniffs. "Cleaning this stuff up for other use would be more trouble than it's worth. If we're wrecking it, then wreckage it is. Mind you, if it is still around I'd like to verify certain results...but not if it means getting ourselves pounded into the ground." Eltanin absently pulls out her weapon blanche, but doesn't actually apply it. She's still looking around the room for anything useful or informative.
"Oo, now that's a specialized loadout for creating... actually, no it isn't. Sorry, the smell got my attention, this is just the kind of thing I was getting for my lab. I wonder what happened? It's almost like someone created something alchemically, and then that something did a lot of breakage..." Ellie looks the table over carefully. "You know, flesh golems can be a bit twitchy."
Eltanin say, "Wilthorn? Hold up a moment." and again shrugs Majenko out of her scarf. "One more quick look, friend. And step lightly, watch out for traps."
Eltanin quickly palms the mutagen and stabs with her spear. Not sure this is a good idea, but so far the enemies she can see would be overkilled with the use of a mutagen or a bomb.
Eltanin checks behind them, then readies her mutagen for consumption the moment more combatants enter the fray - she has a feeling that one derro and a stirge will probably be no match for any one of their fighters, and doesn't want to waste resources.
Snapping out of her momentary skittishness: "Ooo, good question!" Eltanin speaks out loud to Majenko, but quietly. "What do you think? Could you get an eyeful, which direction to go, then back?"
Eltanin sticks to Gwernach like glue, deliberately making sure Majenko is awake to keep his eyes on their backs.
Privately grateful for Callie's and Gwernach's light, Eltanin considers what she could see of those footprints -
I'll do my best, but throughout November my replies may be getting even more sporadic than usual - I seem to be caught up in NaNoWriMo, and I've decided to take an honest stab at it.
"All right everyone, Callie and I have scared up a little hello for any golems we meet! It's called adamantine weapon blanche, but don't get too excited - it's not actually adamantine, it just makes a weapon act like it is, briefly." Miming as she talks, Ellie shows how the blanche would work on her spear. "See, you pour the blanche over the dangerous part of your weapon, then apply flame, like from a torch or fire. The blanche recrystalizes into a coating that makes your weapon hit like adamantine. One warning, though - one hit will probably shatter the coating and make it a normal weapon again. So once you use this stuff, hit hard." Ellie makes sure everyone has one vial of it, then wraps her scarf under her satchel so it doesn't snag on anything, ready for action. "So, are we off?
I'll go half in. Unless someone else wants to join that split, that's 315 a piece.
"Oo! Dibs on his library! ...but yes, if we can find his, ah, notes, that'll be useful." Ellie quashes herself with an effort, then starts considering what she might buy to enhance the odds. "You know, there are concoctions that will cause any weapon treated with them to work as adamantine. They're probably expensive but most of the remedies I'm thinking of taking are fairly cheap - I could probably kick in a little to make sure everyone has a little something effective."
Eltanin did a little shopping with her day; she shows up wearing darkwood armor under her scarf. Any real examination with reveal that it must have set her back some. As for her manner, she's a lot calmer this time than last. That might have something to do with the pseudodragon calmly snoozing on her shoulder. Ellie grins at Callie's spirited concern for their collective well-being - sotto voce, "Go, Mama Bear! Go! - and when the Field Marshall mentions the Guard's store access, her ears perk a bit. "You know, if you needed someone to provide weaponized alchemical items, I might be able to help. I'm starting to get a lab set up, and aside from providing for our needs it might be a profitable sideline. For example, I know of a few remedies that might be useful in fighting undead. Not sure I have time to whip them up for this little outing, but I am stocked up on the ingredients for insect repellant. Might want to start with Padzahr and soothe syrup. Many such creatures stink to an unholy degree..."
Eltanin nods assent. "I guess you're right. One of my uncles once said, 'when life gets crazy, earn some money.' Maybe this is what he meant."
"I dunno." Eltanin scratches her nose reflectively, and speaks as if slightly pained. "Our lives are getting complicated in ways I didn't exactly prepare for. And there is something funny about this. I think it would only be polite to finish the job, but only sensible to insist that we were privy to the questioning." With that she pulls her scarf into an open loop so Majenko will have a place to land and snooze on her shoulder.
To Gwernach and Valeria, also taking a moment to catch her breath: "Well, I heard a thump and then Majenko stopped, so I think the chasing portion of today's festivities might have ended. We might have to go climbing again..."
Eltanin dashes inside, running up one flight before speaking loudly (but not at a complete shout) "Callie! She's headed out the window!" Ellie heads back to ground level. Not being much of a climber, she figures she can probably make better time if she just follows Majenko's directions from the ground.
"I'll keep watch from here, Majenko can keep watch from the rooftops. I'm pretty sure there are others of his folk up there, so if he has to follow her he might not even stand out." Eltanin mentally 'flashes' this plan up to Majenko, taking care to assure him that he shouldn't be required to fight.
Belatedly, Eltanin realizes they do have a new recon option. Out of the corner of her mouth she speaks to her new colleague 'asleep' on her shoulder (aloud but quietly, so the others can hear.) "Majenko, would you please fly up to that one dwelling up there, the third one up, and see if anyone is at home? And if there is, how many are there?
Eltanin quietly neatens her satchel, pointedly setting her spear in a 'parade-rest' position before moving on.
"Still humming, after all these years..."
Eltanin rubs her nose and rejoins - "Perhaps we should look for an axe. This place could use a good clear cutting. And to think, I used to imagine it would be a good idea to live up there... easy to tell I haven't lived in Korvosa for long."
"I'm with you! You know, a pseudodragon joining our flock for a year or so might justify some special consideration. I wonder how much work it would be to add a perch? Not that he doesn't already have one..." Eltanin repeats her joke about bottled romance so Valeria and Gwernach can hear. She seems to think the idea of a lovestruck otyugh is hilarious.
Eltanin keeps one hand on the pseudodragon, just to keep him from falling off. When she hits the dock, she says to him "Look at that! Open air!"
At first Eltanin seems nonplussed, then she waves her hands appositely. "Oh! Excuse me, that's what I meant to do, blow it up from the inside, only I don't really know how fast this is going to sink. I only really have one thing to work with - a kinetically activated liquid explosive in a glass container. If I hit a weak spot, it could actually make all of the water come in at once. I'd say your acid might be the best way to go, Callie, but I don't know enough about the hull strength of watergoing vessels to know for sure that'll be enough. I just want this potion along for a bit of insurance."
"Interesting question. Nothing beyond my throwing vials, but I do have a little something just for surviving in the water. I might be the one to crack the hull, just because I'd have the best chance of getting out alive." Without further ado, Eltanin opens her satchel and quickly begins mixing up a vial of Touch of the Sea. It doesn't take long before the vial of blue-green liquid is gleaming slightly with awakened energy. "Should I make another? Anyone care to come along?"
"All we should need to do is bar the door. Some spiders are excellent swimmers, others aren't, especially the larger species, but I don't really know about dream spiders. There are just so many variables, and I could have prepared so much better for something like this, I'm sorry everyone..." Eltanin quietly taps her shoulder's passenger to wake him, focusing her thoughts. What do you know of dream spiders? I know it's distasteful, but you must have seen something of them. Are they really stuck in that one room?
Eltanin barely notices the letters. The pouches get more of her attention, but the vial - which smells sweetly of vibrant intimacy - makes her pull a face. "Ugh. Bottled romance. I'd throw that down the sewer but I'm afraid an otyugh would take a fancy to me. Anyone can have that, but if I find it in my cider I'm going to recreate the long-lost formula of Volcano Juice, just to express my rebuttal." A few minutes later Ellie is following in Wil's footsteps when he opens the gateway to the kingdom of the spiders. Stunned, Ellie has just enough presence of mind to start whispering frantically to Wil, "Close the door, close the door, close the door quietly, close the door..."
"Maybe we should consult with the Field Marshall before we go making too many plans." Eltanin checks the brig and the - other room - after Callie with no significant change of expression, as if smells don't really register with her. "We sent her a rain check, didn't we? It might be that we could get city resources for something larger than we could manage with just ourselves. Or we might wind up with more satisfyingly direct project of some sort." Ellie is particularly on the lookout for the larger sized spiders. She hasn't let go of her first bomb of the day yet.
Eltanin barely follows the action, focusing on the pseudodragon. There you go. You hungry? I didn't have much of a breakfast this morning... but the talk - and smell - of shiver get her attention. I think I'm with Callie on this. If luring these people is what we want to do, them just knowing that we killed Devargo and looted his lab should be all we need. They don't need to know we destroyed anything, right?
Eltanin rifles through Devargo's effects, looking carefully at one vial - "I can't see myself drinking this" - and sniffing another - "worth toasting your health" - before trying out the keys on the cage. A moment later and the pseudodragon is free, with Ellie trying to smile despite a sudden coughing fit, a real one. Her mutagen wearing off, she coughs up something like dried leaves as she deflates.
Eltanin carefully searches Devargo for a key, trying to make the same vaguely purrlike sound she made when she first met the pseudodragon. She scarcely notices Callie's glare, but she does speak to the deceased. "I don't know if this is what you deserved, but it is what you asked for. Goodbye."
Arg! Forgot to bold my speech! And yes, Eltanin's action was all she did in the surprise round. Sorry about that.
Eltanin steps away from the wall, toward the caged pseudodragon, with a gleaming red vial in her hand. She speaks to the guards, her voice hoarse but clear- "Devargo was willing to play clever little games with the life of a thinking creature. He made it easy to value someone else's life more than his. What games do you want to play, and what stakes will you wager? Will you bet your lives? To keep your captive? Or will you wager your pride on our walking away with no further violence? IF you do, you will win. If you bet your lives, you will lose."
Eltanin has a coughing fit that her friends might guess is fake, under cover of which she downs some greenish medicine from a vial and then leans against the wall heavily, hoping that keeps the spider and his guards from noticing how oddly craggy she's gotten. She also has another vial in her hand, a shining red one from her bandolier.
Works for me, thanks.
Eltanin blinks, then begins to cheer on Roran, slipping a vial of dark green liquid from her bandolier. She backs up as she prepares to drink the mutagen, holding off until something goes south.
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