Felrin Vennax's page

If DMD marks it inactive, he can always mark it active and post in it when he's ready to get going again, and it will reappear on all of our Campaigns tabs.

If I want to get it off my Campaigns tab and I hide it, then I won't see anything should a time come when DMD marks it active again.

In any case, after something like 90 days without posts, it will automatically be marked inactive and drop from the list of campaigns - I'm just suggesting we have that happen sooner rather than later.

Well, DMD, since we've all agreed this is unfortunate, and expressed our views that we'll get rolling again one day, would you mind marking this campaign inactive on the general game info tab?

I'm with Taty - not to worry, DMD. In fact, I have been aiming to lighten my PbP load, so this comes as just the tiniest bit of relief. This is not a campaign I would have chosen to put on hold, far from it, but it does come at a pretty good time.

If you do find yourself with time to get us going again, rain some PM's down upon us and we'll see if we can reassemble and dominate Talingarde after all. In the meantime, it has been a pleasure playing with you all, and I hope to see you around the boards or at a con some time.

Agreed, even if it's more of the "laugh while shifting nervously on the chair" variety. :P

As is the issue of Trump here in the US. As a liberal fellow, a part of me can't help but laugh that the Republicans have ended up with such a troubled candidate. But the other part of me pops up every now and then to ask "And if he wins?"

For everyone's sake, DMD, I hope the various proposals floating around for a do-over or somehow just ignoring the vote will come to fruition.

In the meantime, as our fellow posters have illustrated quite nicely, this is sure providing a lot of fodder for comedy.

So, what's the plan: start out ASAP, or first get the horn in decent shape?

I don't think we have to choose. Felrin wants to start the ritual right away, and wouldn't mind help, which Tkaara has already offered. Others can start working on sprucing up the Horn.

I'll be camping Thursday through Sunday, with little to no signal. Bot me as needed.

Felrin can hardly believe it when the powerful elemental bursts apart so quickly, after all the preparations and prayers before the fight. Still, he's glad it's over, and is ready to begin the next step in their work, nodding at Tkaara's suggestion that they turn their attention to destroying the seal.

As the others weigh in, Felrin listens and considers, then offers a suggestion, "Some of us will be better suited to the task of destroying the seal, while others will be less able - or perhaps unable, in Tkaara's case - to contribute to that effort. The seal will take time to undo, and I suggest some of us begin on it right away, while others set about making the horn more defensible and more livable."

He thinks a moment, then continues, "While I have little interest in venerating any but the Dark Prince, I feel that destroying the seal and calling forth Vetra-Kali is an important step to bringing about Asmodeus' kingdom here in Talingarde, and it should begin right away. I feel duty-bound to take part in the Supplication to Darkness, the Cursing of the Light and the Call Across the Void. As my time allows, I will also put in place a temple to Asmodeus here, and support the restoration of the Horn as a secure place for us to live and plan."

Felrin grunts as the massive storm of energy swats at him, but his infernal blood allows him to shrug off the electrical charge it delivers. He then retaliates, calling on Asmodeus to grant his claw devastating power against the elemental and lashing and biting at it with power and speed!

Status: 57/66 hp

Felrin glides silently into position just ahead of the others, then waits a moment for everyone to get in place. He launches the attack with a magically charged claw, tearing into the towering elemental!

Started to make a little note to myself to account for all the buffs and thought it might be useful for others:

Heroism: +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks
Enlarge: +2 size bonus to Strength, a –2 size penalty to Dexterity and a –1 penalty on attack rolls and AC
Shield of Faith: +3 deflection bonus to AC
Beacon of Evil: +1 morale bonus to AC, attack rolls, damage rolls and saves vs. fear.
Alter Self: +2 size bonus to Str (adds bite attack)
Divine Favor: +2 luck bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls
Channel Vigor (effects of Haste): +1 bonus on attack rolls and a +1 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves
Bless: +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and on saving throws against fear effects
Bane: +2 to attack and damage, +2d6 damage
Mage Armor: +4 armor bonus to AC
Resist Energy: energy resistance 20 vs electricity

Note there are lot of morale bonuses, and different spells applied to different PCs, so we'll each have to account for how things stack or don't. It looks like Bless won't add anything for any of us, so Tkaara should just skip it.

Edit: started this a few hours ago, got called away, and Erevan ninja'd me!

Erevan - note that Bane also adds +2 to your damage rolls, in addition to the +2d6

Taty - on reflection, I'd prefer not to be enlarged, as Alter Self will give me the Str bonus without the AC and Dex penalties. I'll deal with the reach issues other ways.

Taty - I also misunderstood your plan to cast bane, thinking you meant the area effect spell. But if you can make one of Felrin's claws a bane weapon, he can do the other, and that would be very helpful.

It is actually a class ability that is not limited by creature type, so you can benefit from it.

Great, I'll take it!

And I agree about the mage armor, that would be most welcome.

Since it seems we're pulling out all the stops on this, Felrin will do the following in this order:

Heroism (60 mins)
Alter Self (to troglodyte) (6 mins)
Invisibility (6 mins)
Divine Favor (1 min)
Channel Vigor (6 rounds, to get the effects of haste)

As an outsider, I don't believe he can use Taty's enlarge person, as much as he'd like to. Resist energy will be much appreciated!

He'll shed his metal armor and weapons downstairs, and activate judgment and bane as the fight gets going.

Felrin tells Taty that he does not think her spell to make him larger will work on him, but otherwise agrees with the various proposals made by the team, adding some ideas of his own.

"I will transform myself for the fight, and become invisible, in order to get in position by the lightning creature," he offers. "When I strike, the rest of you will move in and attack."

Barring any objections or revisions to the plan, he spends a few moments in intense prayer, then begins intoning the words of his own spells, calling on the power of Asmodeus to guide and protect him, as well as the peculiarities of his blood to change him into his troglodyte form. With a snap of his fingers, he vanishes, then speaks a few more words of divine power before saying, "Let us go, Ninth Knot."

I'll be leaving for PaizoCon on Friday morning, and returning Monday evening, and will likely have very little time to post while I'm there. If I'm holding things up, bot me.

As the true scale of the treasure hoard dawns on him, Felrin continues to stare in silence for some time. "This is beyond anything I've imagined," he says when his tongue finally comes unstuck. He notes Tatienne collecting the second Eye and nods, and then an intense light comes into his eyes.

"We have worked hard to reach this point," he says, his voice fervid as he approaches a massive pile of coins, "but we must give thanks to the one who truly guides us." Dropping to his knees, the pile of coins shifting and burying his thighs in a shimmering wave of gold and silver, Felrin lowers his head and offers a prayer to Asmodeus, pledging to dedicate the treasures they've found to the glory of his name and the establishment of his rule over Talingarde.

When he's done, he collects a single coin as a token, to remind him of his pledge, and gets to his feet. Pulling a pair of the healing potions from the crate and stowing them, he says simply, "We've more work to do, as Taty and Etna say. We must secure the rest of the Horn, and we still must select the best place for a shrine to the Dark Prince, may his name live forever."

Wow, that is a lot of loot!

Who's our tracker? He/she should probably get the lens of detection.

This would be Felrin, and I'd be happy to have it.

Who's our main face/normal person in polite society? He/she should probably get the ring.

Tkaara, Etna and Felrin are all about even with each other in terms of Bluff, they're both better at Diplomacy. Another question is who has a means of shielding their alignment - Felrin can use his scrolls of undetectable alignment, but only if he's got some reason he thinks he'll need to.

Felrin listens attentively to the conversation, but can make out not a word of the bizarre language. He scans the room briefly, notes Erevan is in the same boat, and gives a shrug. It's clear he's thinking it's time to learn to speak Daemonic.

Felrin notices Etna saying the prescribed words as she approaches the room, and it gives him an idea. "Hail Vetra-Kali," he says clearly as he stands within the treasure room, hoping to bring about some change in what they've found.

If that doesn't work:

He shrugs at the failed attempt, and goes back out to the statue, careful to say the words again as he approaches it. He then pushes the three eyes once more, hoping to reveal the secret of the treasure chamber.

These seem like excellent hints for opening the door, but we've already done that. Perhaps we need to say the words again?

"It does seem odd, does it not?" Felrin muses aloud, once he's sorted out the door mechanism and gained access to the treasure room. "If the acolytes of this temple had time to flee, perhaps that would explain it, but nothing else we've found suggests it ended that way for them. I wonder, could it be an illusion of some sort, to protect their hoard?"

He approaches a heap of rotting garments resting on a badly cracked pew and attempts to put his hand through them, as it to prove to himself they are not there.

Felrin makes his way back to the temple, both angry and embarrassed at the way he's behaved. He returns just in time to hear Tatienne's advice on how to approach the statue, and he nods appreciatively, though he keeps his distance from the carving of Vetra-Kali, all the same.

"Well, know we know what the words are for," he comments, his eyes moving to look at the secret door that has so challenged Tkaara, "which means they don't open the door. So we can turn off the damned magic that caused me and Etna to run away like gibbering fools, which is useful, but now we have to sort out opening the door."

He takes a deep breath, steeling himself, then speaks the words, "Hail Vetra-Kali," several times before and during his approach to the statue. As he attempted previously, before being interrupted by soul-wrenching fear, he studies the door and the statue for any clues to how the door might be opened.

Felrin listens to Tkaara's views on the altars, and raises an eyebrow as she spots the hidden door. "Nice work," he offers. "I'd wager the words on the key - which you're wise not to speak glibly, given where we are - will open that door you've spotted. Why write them on a key otherwise?"

He carefully examines the door and any connection to the statue, in an effort to confirm his theory. Unfortunately, as he approaches the terrible figure, an eye-rolling, teeth-chattering fear envelops him, and he runs rapidly back the way they've come.

Tkaara - Felrin is already opening the north door.

"Before we go out on the balcony," Felrin warns, "you all should know about the trap - a rather cleverly concealed pit trap, right in the doorway out to the balcony." He squints his eyes a moment and studies the statue of Vetra-Kali carefully before concluding, "It appears that the three eyes in the statue are buttons that, if pressed simultaneously, deactivate the pit trap, sparing one a rather long fall."

Looking around the chamber, he says, "I suggest we leave the balcony and its trap be for a moment, and see where these other doors lead." He walks to the door on the far wall and gives it a look and listen, then turns to be sure the others are ready before opening it.

Felrin joins Erevan as he approaches the hidden door, replying, "Makes sense to me." He studies the secret door a moment before nodding to Tkaara to see what lies on the other side. "Just because she can slip through and see what's there, doesn't mean the rest of us can ignore any traps, eh?"

Though Felrin has not yet learned the tongue spoken by Hexor and Vexor, he can't help but smile and chuckle quietly at their very obviously proper manners.

"I wonder," he muses aloud, "if there is an outer plane somewhere full of tea-drinking daemons, their claw-tipped pinkies lifted just so. Or did we get the only two?"

Arriba! Su!

2-18

Felrin's unusually high spirits continue as the Ninth Knot continues to explore the Horn, and Tkaara's effectiveness at destroying the holy shrine does nothing to diminish them. "Nicely done, Tkaara. Looks like you're making a good impression on our new friends."

2-19

As he hears the results of Taty and Tkaara's study of the statue, he gives a low whistle, a quiet echo of Tatienne's more excited one of a few moments ago. "That is all manner of useful information," he remarks, nodding.

"Etna, I've no idea how to turn this statue back into the man he once was. Do you mean to say you know how to do that, or think you can puzzle it out?"

Felrin's expression shifts from a slightly sardonic grin to a smile of pure pleasure as Taty expresses her enthusiasm for the Horn and its wonders, and he links his arm in hers. "It would be a pleasure, Tatienne," he responds breezily, "let us see what awaits us!"

All - I will be leaving on Sunday for two weeks of travel for work. I should still be able to post with some regularity, but my schedule will be busy and I'll be many time zones away, so likely won't be posting as much or on the same schedule.

Felrin's eyebrows lift slightly at Tatienne's reaction, as an amused smile quirks his lip. "My, Taty," he comments, "that notion piqued your interest even more than the talk of manacles the other day. It's always so fascinating to see what makes people tick, especially when it's such an intriguing tick."

Turning his attention back to the strange green oozes, he says, "Makes sense to me to leave it here to guard this entrance - and perhaps keep Tkaara company as she enjoys her rest."

But yeah, even taking 20 the Doctor cannot make that perception DC, so can't help right now.

How about with a description of the thing that Felrin provided?

Felrin looks around in confusion for a few moments, unsure quite what has happened. "I passed out, and now...what? There's something hiding in the plants?" He studies the tangle of vegetation carefully, then says, "Oh, yes, I see them, a couple of them, whatever they are. And you say they tried to drag us away and you stopped them? Well, that doesn't make me like them very much."

He gets to his feet and offers the doctor a hand up, asking as he does so, "Any idea what the things are?"

I'll just rest here with these nice plants.

Congrats, DM Darkness!

Felrin listens along, grateful for the occasional translation by Etna and very pleased they've found allies in the Horn.

Felrin is just about to ask what the overheard conversation is about when the elegantly, even decadently, clad daemons appear on either side of them.

Daemons, of course. Not surprising, given what we know of the place, though I wonder why they're still here after the rest of their kind have vanished. It would come in handy to speak their language...

Though he can't follow the conversation, it's reasonably clear that the daemons have not come to offer them cigars and brandy - and that Tkaara and Etna are endeavoring to bring the creatures around to a friendly, or at least cooperative, outlook. Felrin waits quietly as the conversation continues, trying to nod at the appropriate pauses and appear as genial as he's able.

A good point, Etna - I had forgotten that earlier reference. In any case, my mental picture of Taty has been properly re-calibrated.

Taty would never deign to be caught in the sun like some silly farmer!

Well, that's something you and Tkaara have in common, then.

Taty stifles a yawn, covering her mouth politely, and then she hums a little tune, a fine Chelish opera, as she fiddles with her parasol.

While I recognize this was just a post for posting's sake, I for one am very glad you posted - I had no idea Taty had a parasol.

Important stuff!

Felrin steps through the secret door and considers the hall ahead for a moment, observing the peculiar layout is similar to the level below. "Funny that they like their hallways to have all these diagonals," he muses. "But not so funny we should stand here wondering about it. Tkaara, care to check that first door on the left, and proceed down the hall from there?"

"If I had to guess," Felrin says in response to Tkaara's musings about the door, "I'd say the guards shooting through these arrow slits into that hallway didn't want any invaders joining them in the shooting gallery, so they hid the door. But that's a guess, not having seen what lies beyond - and one does wonder why the door is hidden from this side."

With that, he gives Tkaara a meaningful glance and nods at the secret door, asking, "Shall we lessen our ignorance on the matter?"

"They did have an appreciation for thrones here, didn't they?" Felrin remarks drily as they move into the chamber. Noting the inscription, he asks, "What's this one say?"

As he waits for an answer, he points out that there is an inscription in what looks like the same language written on the throne. "What did the last throne say? 'Yah?' Is this one equally informative?"

As the others consider the carven messages, Felrin looks around the room a bit, then decides, "Once we've sorted out what this room has to say to us, let's try the door by the stairs, heading south. It was the more interesting part of things downstairs."

Auto-hit the Perception DC.

"Up it is," Felrin concurs. "I think we need to know the extent of this place, and any hazards it presents, before we can settle in and make plans."

Yes, up, up, up!

Thanks for the invite, DMD, but I'm more in shedding games mode than acquiring new ones - just have too many games to easily manage at the moment.

"If Taty says that room is trouble, I want nothing to do with it, at least until we understand it," Felrin observes, supporting Etna's point. "In fact, I'd prefer a room with more than one door. Most of these rooms are traps, if someone comes upon us in the night. I'd vote for the tavern - lots of room, doesn't look like it's been on fire, and if someone comes in one door, we - or some of us - can go out the other."

With a shrug, he adds, "Though it doesn't seem anyone has been here for a long time, I'll be a little surprised if that changes tonight."