Emalea's page

Thank you all for the answers.

I decided to go with this now:
Str 13
Dex 16+2
Con 12
Int 13
Wis 12
Cha 14

So I lowered Con by 2, that way I can keep Int and Str at 13, which might be good for PA or CE if I want to take them, and the increased carrying capacity.

I thought about Str 12, Con 13, since the Power Attack chain doesn't really seems that interesting for me, but that's only good if I plan to put a ability increase into Con. And I don't think I'll do that, most likely not before level 12 at least.

We're playing with 25 pt buy, I'm a bit lost how to distribute them.

First, I don't want to make a str-based ninja, even if that maybe means a bit more damage. So I'll be TWF, dex focused.

So far I came up with this:

Str 13 (mostly so I can carry my armor and weapons without going into med encumberance)
Dex 16+2
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha 14

I'm not really happy about the 10 Wis. Will save and Perception checks are tied to it after all.

Few options I thought about:
1) lower Str to 11 (might be possible, but pushes my carry capacity to the limit. Later there are magic stuff to help, but this is 1st level)
2) lower Dex by 1, that allows me to raise Wis to 13 (or 12 and int to 13)
3) lower Int to 10, raise wis to 12. (already struggling for skillpoints, so rather not do that either)

Neither of them seem really great.

Would you perhaps spend the points completely differently?

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Emalea moves behind H'vok and gives one of the guard an evil stare.

Move: to T9
Standard: Evil Eye hex (-2 AC, 8 rounds; DC 15: just 1 round)

Emalea thinks it's best to stay with Chiron and Naen, as she's not very skilled at sneaking herself.

Emalea pulls the sling from her belt and loads it with one of the bullets from her pouch, holding it ready in one hand in case she needs it.

"I will try to support you as good as I can, but I'm not actually an expert in weaponry combat"

Emalea waits till her familiar returns and reports his findings to her, then sighs and repeats it to those that don't speak the elven tongue.
"There seem to be 3 guards in the towers, one in one of them and two in the other, from how Ath'eli saw it. Any ideas about strategy now?"

"Oh we should all be close by, in case it doesn't work, and I have my doubts I can send all of them into the realm of dreams. He might wake them up again, if we take too long subdueing them, and then we'd be right back where we started. Also, I think we should wait to see if those towers are occupied, it could change our strategy quite a bit"

"I agree that the diplomatic approach will most likely be futile. They're bandits, thieves and most likely murderers. I see no reason to spare them the fate they so easily bestow upon others."

She squints her eyes as if looking for Ath'eni, even though she knows how far away he is right now and there's no chance to see him from here.
"However, in case we want to interrogate them first, I should be able to cause at least one of them to fall unconcious, maybe all of them, depending on how many there are"

Emalea whispers to her familiar in elven "Fly. Have a look and see if anyone is in those towers, but don't let them see you"

As the bird flies away she explains to the rest of the group "I send him to get a closer look at those towers, so we know what we're dealing with"

Perception check for bird: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22 (low-light vision)

I'm with the others there, take the time you need, a game should be the least important thing right now

"Ah, I see. We should maybe make camp before we reach them though, and proceed the last miles tomorrow. If we attack them at night, they're at the advantage, as they know the ground and we don't. If attacking them is the plan of course."

She hoists her saddle onto her mare, straps it tight before attaching the saddlebags to it and tying the rolled up bedroll behind it as well. She patted the horses neck, who was getting irritated by a small bird ontop of its head again.
"Well I'm ready to ride as well."

While she's collecting her cooking gear again and ties it to her saddlebags again, she asks "Master Oleg had mentioned bandits, but I'm not entirely sure of every detail. Who are these bandits and how far away is their camp?"

Once Emalea is finished with her own... meditation, she joins the others for breakfast.

Assuming there is still a campfire burning, she unfastens some rattling pots and pans from her saddlebags that were still lying on the ground, and gets to work on the thing William found. She plugs a few herbs from her beltpouch to spice it up a little as well.

"You asked if I can cook. Well, judge for yourself"

Craft (Cooking): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

Emalea wakes up as the first rays of sunlight shine over the horizon, before the sun is fully visible. She opens her eyes and looks around, for a moment unsure of what she's seeing, but then she remembers that she caught up with those she was seeking and had joined their camp during the night.

She tossed the blanket aside, not having bothered to put up the tent again, and slowly stands up, stretching her slender body.

Seeing how Naen is in some sort of meditation or prayer she doesn't say anything to her, and instead moves a bit to the side of the camp, where she sits down, facing towards the forest. She puts up her hand infront of her, and seemingly out of nowhere her small thrush familiar comes flying and lands on her outstreched index finger.

(Communing with the familiar for the next hour)

After some time the bird flies up into the air again, hunting for his breakfast, while she herself stands up. She strokes some leaves from her bottom and strolls back to her sleeping place, where she picks up her clothes and dresses again for the day.

Well against those you can at least still use Misfortune.

I must be confused, I went with Emalea to her camp while the others packed up Carmichael and we were to meet back at our original camp. Do I have that backwards?

That's what I thought was happening as well. Emalea is just going back to her camp to get her stuff, so she can join the bigger camp for the rest of the night.

Hi Treantmonk. Loved your guides too, been great help.
As for a guide for witches, c873788 has actually written one already, in a style similar to your guides:
Hubble, Bubble, toil and trouble (A Guide to Witches)

Instead of writing your own guide (and doing alot of the work twice I guess) it might be better to work together with him. (He's still active in the thread and just recently updated it for UM)

"Thank you, it should be a bit faster that way then. The tent is quite small, but it takes a while to store again."

She crawls into the tent and takes out her blanket and bedroll, rolls them up and places them with her other things.
"The tent is empty now, it should go faster if we work together I think."

Arriving at her camp, Emalea gets of her horse, pats it neck as a sign to the mare to stay where she was.

"Would you like the shovel right away, and return to your comrades, or will you stay and give me a hand packing up the tent?" she asks the large centaur.

Before heading to her camp:

Emalea nods and greets William as well "I will try not to harm your pets, but if they attempt to bite me or eat Ath'eni, I will not hesitate to defend myself."

Packing up the tent takes 10 minutes, and moving half a mile twice takes 10-15 minutes, give it 5 minutes to pack everything up again and load it on the horse, and Emelea should be back in half an hour in-game time, unless something comes up.

"Very well then. As I said, it is not very far."

She swings herself back into the saddle of her horse and grabs the reins, leading Chiron slowly through the night back to her camp, which really just consisted of her tent and the saddlebags at this time.

"Well I must say, I would have hoped to catch up to you under more favorable circumstances. You said your comrade was a coward, what happened?"

"It might be best if one of you comes with me then for the shovel, otherwise I will be here as soon as I have packed up my things. It shouldn't take too long."

She waits if someone wants to come along before riding back to her camp "Also it would be good if at least one of you remained here till I'm back, so I will find your camp"

(Well i just made that half-mile up, and considering Carmichael was on foot and didn't have a huge headstart, I'd guess he can't have gotten terribly far either)

Emalea smiles at Naen and shakes her hand in the human tradition. It was still a strange custom to her, but she had learned that human's seem to take this seriously. "Well met, Naen Tesrec. Master Oleg mentioned all your names to me, and having a centaur and a hobgoblin in the same party is hardly common, so I can assume by now that you are all who you say you are."

As she's speaking a small bird lands on her shoulder and seems to regard the other people with a curious look. She turns to fourth member of the group "Which means that you must be either William Flynn or Carmichael Korvus. Judging by the bow and armor, and considering the lack of both on your fallen companion, I would assume that you must be William Flynn. It is a pleasure to meet you"

"Forgive me, sometimes I just talk too much, and don't know when to stop. Now, I understand you wish to bury your companion, yes. I should return to my own campsite in the meantime and break camp, if I'm to join yours. I also have a small shovel among my belongings there, in case you have need for that?"

"I will thank you not to insult my companions lady. H'vok has thus far shown himself to be an upstanding and honorable man with almost no tendencies toward his ancestry's evil desires. You show a lack of wisdom to speak in judgement before seeing all sides of the case."

"You are correct, I should not have assumed such terrible things, merely because of his heritage. Please accept my appologies, Sir H'vok. Words of your tale have indeed reached my ears. But unfortunately so have tales about your people."

Emalea also reads through Chiron's charter, after returning H'vok's.

"Well, they really seem to be the right ones. 3 humans, if you count the dead one, one of them almost a girl still, a centaur and a hobgoblin. They have the charters and know the right names."

She returns the paper again, bowing slightly to him. In Sylvan, the language of the fey and creatures of nature she utters what she believes is a traditional greeting when meeting a centaur "You honor me with your presence Chiron Starwatcher. I wish you always find soft grass beneath your hoofs"

The elf regards H'vok while she dismounts gracefully from her horse before accepting the charter from him. Her tone is quite matter-of-fact when she finally answers him "Yes, I can indeed cook. However I'm not sure my palette is refined enough for your tastes, as I usually don't cook sapients"

"Naturally" she gives her horse a nudge with her heels, guiding it into a slow walk towards the group again.

"I thank you for the kind offer, and I'm more than happy to accept. But you'll understand that I would like to see your charters for the very same reasons you want to see mine. After all, I don't know how many bands of bandits consist of a centaur and a hobgoblin in these parts"

"But of course" she reaches behind her to get the papers out of her saddlebags, and stops.

"Oh... it would seem I left my saddlebags behind in my tent, about half a mile that way" pointing to where she came from. "When I heard someone was being chased by a wolf, I hurried to get here in time, to see if I could help him. But it would seem I am too late, doesn't it? Who was it, do you know?"

"My business with him is the same as yours, I believe. I arrived at his post a few hours too late unfortunately, and so he told me which way you had gone. I admit I did not expect to catch up to you at this time of night though."

It is the middle of the night, a few hours after she had laid down in her small tent to sleep, when Ath'eni flew back into the tent, making an awful loud noise to wake her up.
She opens her eyes, knowing this means something is happening. "What is it?" she asked, and the little bird stopped the chirping and switched to use actual language "Not far from here, to the south a huge wolf is hunting a man"

She casts the Light cantrip, making her hairband glow brightly, then quickly tosses the saddle on her horse and fastens the strap before jumping on it. Following the little bird towards where he saw the wolf as far as she could, but as she rounds a few trees she seesw that she is too late, the animal had killed the poor man already, but must have been scared off by the 4 people already standing around the corpse. Or creatures anyway, as one of them is half-horse and another a goblin.

(I assume she can see you clearly, considering Naen also has Light running. Same you would see her in a circle of normal light.)

She stops her horse at a safe distance, as to not provoke an attack.

"My name is Emalea Nightstar. And I might be mistaken, but judging by your companions you must be Naen Tesrec. Master Oleg told me about you. No need to worry, I am not here to do you harm."

I did train at the academy. I think it is in my background story though which is open to the public. If you did not read it then you did a good job of guessing. The part about me being raised by a noble was correct also.

Oh yes, I read that, that's where I had the info from. I was just not sure if you wanted that to be public knowledge and all.

It was the 24th day of Calistril and the sun stood well above the horizon already, when Emalea's keen elven eyes spoted Oleg's Trading Post in the distance. Or at least she hoped it was Oleg's Trading Post this time.
Three days ago she had taken the wrong turn and ended up far away from her original course by the time she noticed her mistake.
"Blasted maps drawn by humans, how is someone supposed to see anything on these? I'll be late for this meeting, all because that one can't draw a straight line." she was thinking to herself as she drove her horse forward again.

Far above her and a fair bit to the east, Ath'eni was flying, and while even her eyes could not pick up the small bird, she could have pointed right at him. From the emotions she received from the familiar he was currently hunting some insects, but apperently not very successfully.
She attempted to send her own message through the link to scout ahead and have a look at the trading post. It wasn't easy to communicate this way, but curiousity about what lied ahead was usually interpreted the right way by the bird. If not he would know that Emalea wanted him to do something and would aproach to find out what.

As the bird flew further away the connection grew dimmer and soon she could only discern the aproximate direction it had vanished. It took not long and he came back, and again she could feel him before she actually saw the little colorful bird aproach and land on the horses head. It barely shook it's head anymore, not like the first few times when Ath'eni had done this.

"What did you see, my little friend?" she asked in the musical language of her people. The little bird opened his beak but instead of chippery tones, as one would expect from an animal of his kind, he answered in the same language "I think it's the place we're looking for. I heard a female call one of the males 'Oleg'. They are digging holes behind the post. Why do they do that?"
"I don't know, Ath'eni. Humans can be strange sometimes. Best you stay with me now" and with that the little bird flew up again and perched itself on her shoulder, while she pulled a small piece of dried fruit from the pouch hanging from her belt and offered it to her friend, who began pecking at it right away.

As she arrived at the trading post, she swung herself of the horse, securing the reins before continuing.
"Greetings, my name is Emalea, I come here in search for Master Oleg. I have a charter here, I was told I should present to him." she greeted the first person she saw. She was directed behind the post, where Oleg would be busy burying the corpses of bandits that tried to raid the place earlier. 'Digging holes... of course'

She introduced herself again formally, and presented the charter she had received from the swordlords in Restov.
"What happened here, if I may ask?" she inquired.
"Oh, bandits, that's what happened. Stinking scoundrels they are" and he spit on the ground saying that, before he remembered who he was talking to "Oh, please forgive me manners. My Svetlana always says I act like a pig." he laughs at that "But the whole area be infected with them bandits, lass. You better be careful on your own. Well about that charter and your companions..."

She was told that unfortunately the rest of the explorers had already left a few hours ago. Luckily he was able to describe the direction they had taken, and told her that if she hurried she might catch up to them before nightfall.
Apperently one of them was a centaur, who while possessing a horse's body isn't quite as swift, so the group as a whole would be moving slower than she herself could alone.

'A curious thing, one of the mighty centaurs joining a human expedition. And a... no, that can't be, I must have misheard!'
"Master Oleg, did you just say a Hobgoblin would be with them as well?" - "Aye lass, a true and honest hobgoblin. I was surprised too, but they say he was raised in the city to the north, been adopted or something by a nobleman. And he even trained at the academy there, hard to believe as that is."

And it was hard to believe. She herself had never met an actual goblin or hobgoblin, but she had heard of them of course. It was said they hated elves beyond all reason, and noone really knew say why. She had to be careful about this one.

"Thank you Master Oleg. Would it be too much trouble asking for a warm meal for me and some fodder and water for my horse, before I move on?"
As it turned out, it was no problem, and soon she was back in the saddle.

Unfortunately she wouldn't be able to ride for as long as she had hoped, before fatigue caught up to her and her mount, and she was forced to rest for the night.

She removed the saddle and rubbed the horse down with some of the hay from the saddlebag. There was enough grass nearby that there was no need to feed it anymore, especially since it had enough at Oleg's post.

Since she was afraid it might rain she took the time to set up her small tent instead of simply rolling out her bedroll. She had cut a small flap into one side of the tent long ago, so Ath'eni could fly in and out at night.
"Keep an eye open, and wake me if you see anything strange, or a bit before sunrise" she told the bird before lying down to sleep.

Ok, that's how far I'll go for now, before I don't know if you start following Carmichael during the night, or not. His was the first watch, so guess the attack was during the first third of the night. If you hunt him, feel free to run into her small camp, otherwise I guess i'll catch up to you by morning.

Also sorry if I made assumptions about what is known about you, especially the stuff Oleg tells her about H'vok, but I figured that he's such a strange thing, that such stories travel a bit, and traders just love gossip. :) If not let me know and I'll retcon it somehow.

Thanks for the welcome.
Oh, I didn't know you didn't start with 28, I figured you did. I'll wait for the DM's call before I start trimming some stats though, because I wouldn't really know where to start (could drop Con to 10 that would be 3 points - actually 14 to 12 but has a -2 for elf, but well I like hitpoints)

Sure, if you want to track at night, go for it, hehe. But do you really want to save the guy that left his post so you can get slaughtered? But then you were also giving food to the bandit, so maybe yes :)

Btw, Chiron I was wondering, "Fey" in your language section refers to Sylvan, I guess? Is it the native tongue of centaurs, or do you speak common among yourselves?

Aha! That answers that. I think it would be exceedingly difficult to track at night, but Naen probably doesn't realize this. After all, William and Chiron are nothing short of extraordinary! Her high Wisdom reflects her empathy much, much more than it does her worldly experience (which is very limited). Of course, if William and/or Chiron think it best to wait until morning, I think she can be convinced. That doesn't mean she won't be haunted by that decision when they eventually do find Carmichael.

I need to remember to switch characters when posting here :) If you see a post by Allia Thren, that's me, then I forgot it again.

Edit: Hm, actually she has low-light vision, so has the horse and she can cast the Light cantrip, which means she has normal light for 40 ft and dim light for another 40. Hm, guess if she's careful (half speed or so maybe) she could ride at least a bit during the night, knowing she has to be faster than you to catch up. At least for a few hours (maybe riding an hour or two into the night and starting before sunrise)

Hello everyone. Seems I'll be joining you by next in-game morning. I'll catch up on what happened so far till then.
Looking forward to RP with you guys.
Is there an OOC thread for this game over in the OOC section, or do we use this one?

Go ahead and finish her up and let me know when you get her done and I will create an opening in the plot for you.

Ok, should be all done now.

Alright, here she is:

Emalea, female elven witch

You can see the almost finished sheet in the profile, few last touches missing, that I'll fix when I get to it.

For over 600 years the Whispering Tyrant ruled the land of Ustalav with an iron fist and the brutal might of the orc hordes of Belkzen. Countless raids on human farms, villages and townships have left a mark on the people, and even a thousand years later alot of humans have a smidgeon of orc blood in their veins, most of them without realising it.
Sometimes, due to unlucky coincidences or maybe divine providence this dark heiritage leads to the birth of a half-orc child to two seemingly normal humans.
Or so the tale goes at least. Many scholars argue that infact a real Orc is responsible for these "mircale half-orc babies", and the women involved keep silent out of shame.

Marok had never learned the truth about his origin, which of those stories was true for him. He only knows what the other monks had told him.
Nearly 19 years ago he was born in a small village in the heart of Ustalav. When his mother saw what had come out of her womb, she was so shocked that she tried to kill him, to drown him in the trough for the animals. Luckily for him, a cleric of Pharasma came by guided by a prophecy. He saved the young childs life in the last moment, saying his time hadn't come yet and then took him with him.
Ustalav might not have any large monestaries, but that doesn't mean there are not centers of worship, that are very similar. The cleric delivered the boy to one of these, dedicated to his goddess, and gave the monks the assignment to raise and educate him, before he left agian. Marok never learned his name, nor did he ever meet him again.

Over the years he has been taught discipline through physical exercise, but also learned about the history of Ustalav and the goddess Pharasma.
Once he came of age, he was sent out into the world, to travel the land and help those in need and spread the word of the Mad Prophet.
His heritage and the hatred the inhabitants of the land still feel for the orcish race does not make this easy, as often he's regarded with hidden or open hostility, but he accepts this as part of his trial.

He stands taller than most humans and seems far stronger as well. The sharp teeth, and the bestial shape of his face are contrasted sharply by his eyes, which seem to radiate a kindness and wisdom rarely seen in his kind. He's dressed in simple robes, wearing only sandals at his feet and a medallion with Pharasma's symbol proudly around his neck.

I've not yet decided if I'll choose an archetype, or if I fight unarmed or with a weapon (thats why I've not given him one yet). I also have no clue yet as to why Marok would be in Ravengro and if or how he knows the Professor. It might simply be that his travels take him there by coincidence, and he gets caught up in the events.