I don't intend to play Chaotic Neutral as 'Chaotic Evil by another name,' for sure. I've seen CN played poorly as well, and I like to think that I play it properly (i.e., she is "an individualist first and last, who values her own liberty but doesn't strive to protect others' freedom," as the CRB puts it).
The long of it can be found by looking through DM AK's Sargavan Saga, where the character originally debuted, and which is sort of in limbo. The composition of that party was similarly Good-to-Neutral, with one NG character, one CG, a couple of Neutral, and my Chaotic Neutral. For the most part, we got (get) along fine both OOC and IC.
The short of it is that Ansha has a healthy sense of self-preservation. (In the Sargavan Saga game, one character--the cleric--noted of Ansha that, "I feel the burden of keeping alive and healthy, but for some reason I fear much less for you, perhaps only because you are clever enough to leave the rest of us to our fates if it is the only way to preserve your own well-being.") She doesn't go out of her way to help others (most of the time, though she has had her moments of heroism), but she definitely isn't out to hurt anyone.
She's also quite capable of 'playing nice,' which is good, since she has lots of enemies lurking in her past. She needs friends and allies, and can't go around alienating people simply for the heck of it (as I've seen some CN characters do). That in mind, she's not likely to abandon allies at the drop of a hat, though, as the quotation above notes, she knows when to cut her losses.
As for gestalting, she'd go mesmerist. The class's buffs and debuffs complement her enchantment spells too well not to. If it's allowed, I'd probably try to go into the Enchanting Courtesan prestige class from Inner Sea Intrigue, also.
Hey all! GM Wolf asked me to come introduce myself in the discussion thread...so here I am! :)
Ansha's an elven enchantress, a childhood friend of Selena, and a haunted woman who needs all the allies she can get while she simultaneously tries to avoid her demon-worshiping family's attention and search out the family's elven roots in the Stolen Lands.
Ansha's an existing character who I've played in a KM game or two before that have all died prematurely. She's an enchantress, so she combines party face skills with arcane utility, control and blasting. Her full background, personality and description are in the character profile. Also, I've reskinned the feat Hermean Blood (or, alternatively, Cosmopolitan) to fit her background better.
Also, do you allow Mesmerists from Occult Adventures? I would probably gestalt her into that.
Personally I would love it if someone else also wanted to play out the dual rulership idea, though of course that is just my opinion and not that of the GM or the other players.
That does sound like an interesting idea, though given that all of the PCs have a hand in the leadership of the kingdom, it probably wouldn't have a whole lot of mechanical impact.
But it could make for interesting RP. In a KM pbp game years ago, the GM had the idea that an NPC would be the ruler, but we had worked it out that that character and my character had been 'more-than-friends' who would eventually co-rule the kingdom. Sadly, that game was hosted off-site and it died fairly quickly thanks to player attrition.
Throwing my elven enchantress into the ring. Not sure creation rules yet, but here are the story concepts and background for her. She's been in a couple of other traditional Kingmaker games, but has never gotten very far in before the PbP has died out.
Description:
Ansha is a tall, slender elven maiden who looks to be no older than a human girl of eighteen or nineteen winters, with long legs and an hourglass figure. Her long hair is a strikingly pale blond bordering on platinum, brushed meticulously and often bound into a long, elegant ponytail by a simple blue hair-ribbon; when unbound, her hair cascades over her shoulders like a cloak reaching just past her butt. Her almond eyes are a deep emerald, bright with intelligence and often twinkling with amusement. Her voice is charmingly soft and velvety, with the melodic sound common to all elven voices.
She is achingly beautiful and her features, much like her frame, are delicate, with a small, perfectly formed nose and lips that are quick to curve into a disarming smile full of unspoken promises. Her skin is smooth porcelain, and is barren of tattoos or other markings. She walks with the grace and poise of a noble debutante, and has a confident air about her, as if she is used to getting what she wants.
She most commonly dresses in a green bodice and underbust corset, with a matching side-slit skirt. Black fingerless gloves that end just beneath her elbows cover her arms and she wears similarly-dyed leather boots that end just beneath the knee. Her pointed ears are pierced with a pair of platinum studs through each arch, each holding a small jade carving of a camellia flower; and pendant earrings of gold dangle from each ear, clasping a small emerald in their raindrop-shaped frames. She wears an intricate choker at her throat, silver chains holding in place a gold frame inset with a larger emerald; additional silver chains drape across her bare neck; dangling among the chains is a small gold disc etched with the elven rune for the first two letters of her given name. A larger gold disc inset with three small teal tourmalines hangs from a chain connected to the smaller disc, and another chain falls from that disc into her cleavage. She wears three gold bracelets on her right arm, two of them loose hoops and the other worn tighter against her wrist; and several gold and platinum rings adorn the fingers of her right hand.
Personality and motivations:
Ansha is a flirt who uses physical and magical charms to get what she wants out of life. She is flighty, impulsive, inquisitive and loves being the center of attention. A true hedonist, she is extremely open to new experiences and is willing to try almost anything at least once.
In the wake of her adoptive parents' deaths, she has slowly had her memories return, and she realizes that in addition to the fact that she can never go home again, she has been living a lie for years. Although her primary motivations are pleasure and power (and the pleasure that comes from having power over others--particularly their minds), she is also aware of the numerous enemies she has, and has found it in her best interest to surround herself with people willing and able to aid her should any of those enemies catch up to her.
Background:
Ansha is the only daughter of Lord Elroth and Lady Elizaera Saeralyan of the noble House Saeralyan, native to Iadara in Kyonin. The House was rather inconsequential in matters of politics, though it does manage to maintain a level of wealth suitable to their station, and it was precisely this inconsequentiality that lead the morally-bankrupt enchantress Elizaera to form a pact with Our Lady in Shadow, Nocticula, the patron of succubi: in return for increased powers of seduction and enchantment, Elizaera would bring the entirety of the House under the demonlord's sway. She succeeded, the whole family came to worship Nocticula secretly and the family's fortunes rose. For her part, Elizaera became the mastermind behind the family, and she was granted a measure of a succubus's power: an otherworldly beauty that could cause those around her to stare in fascination without regard for their surroundings.
When Ansha was born, she shared this same otherworldly power as her mother, but it was decided that she would not be told about the family's pact with Nocticula until she was older, for fear that she might accidentally let something slip, as only a child might. So she was raised as a master manipulator in her own right, and she grew up to be a young elven debutante who knew how to get what she wanted from most anyone. Despite this, she never quite shared the moral degeneration of her mother--probably in large part due to the friendships she formed with other more goodly aristocratic elven children, like her friend Inari Gloamingdusk.
The end of her childhood came early for the young Lady Ansha when her parents decided that she was old enough to reveal the family's dark secret and to include her in the pact with Nocticula. But Ansha stumbled upon them in the midst of a profane ritual several days before her parents were ready to reveal the family's secret to her, and she fled home. Pursued by a summoned succubus, the young Lady Saeralyan was captured and subjected to defilements that shattered her mind and left her with a form of trauma-induced amnesia called dissociative fugue.
But before she could be returned to her family, she was rescued by the married elven adventurers Baelyth and Sahtara. The married pair, for their part, took the elf in and cared for her much as if she were their own daughter. Eventually, they settled with their ward in the wilderness of the River Kingdoms, living in a secluded cottage far from the eyes of any pursuers Ansha may have had.
Life on the frontiers of the River Kingdoms was hard, but it was the only life that Ansha knew now--though occasionally the feeling that a fog shrouded part of her memory gnawed at her.
In the end, it was simple bandits that destroyed Ansha's newfound home life. While away from home, a group of bandits stumbled upon the cottage and attempted to intimidate Baelyth into giving them the family's valuables. A fight started, and though her guardians fought well, Ansha arrived home just in time to find Baelyth dead and the sole surviving brigand fighting with Sahtara.
Ansha cried out, and Sahtara looked up at the sound. The brigand capitalized on the distraction then to run Sahtara through, her unarmored body collapsing onto the forest floor. Tears clouding her vision, Ansha then burned the man to death with a fan of flames.
Overwhelmed with grief, the elf paid her respects to the guardians whom she had taken for mother and father. She knew she couldn't survive in the wilderness alone, so she began making preparations to leave for Restov. It was while gathering supplies for the journey that she stumbled across an old chest. Opening it, she found a pool of fine greenish cloth among a pile of clothing. She lifted the pool up, and it flowed down into the shape of an evening gown...and her vision began to swim as forgotten memories surged up from her unconscious mind.
She re-lived the entirety of her life in Kyonin in a moment, right up to the night that a summoned succubus had subjected her to such defilements of mind and body. She remembered who she had been, and what had been done to her. Baelyth and Sahtara were not her parents--she was not their daughter. She was Ansha Saeralyan, and her mother consorted with succubi. Shaken, and her very identity in crisis, Ansha headed for Restov.
Reimmersing herself in the pleasures of civilization, Ansha increasingly felt drawn to understand who she had been. Mindful of the dangers returning to Kyonin would pose, she turned to the ancient past instead, and tales she remembered of long-lost holds in the south. So it was that when she heard of an expedition into those lands, she found herself volunteering.
Here's my submission for an elf enchantress face/arcane character. She's been in two KM games so far, both of which have died out before I've made it very far. That said, I am currently GMing the game with a group IRL (we're still in book 1).
Description:
Ansha is a tall, slender elven maiden who looks to be no older than a human girl of eighteen or nineteen winters, with long legs and an hourglass figure. Her long hair is a strikingly pale blond bordering on platinum, brushed meticulously and often bound into a long, elegant ponytail by a simple blue hair-ribbon; when unbound, her hair cascades over her shoulders like a cloak reaching just past her butt. Her almond eyes are a deep emerald, bright with intelligence and often twinkling with amusement. Her voice is charmingly soft and velvety, with the melodic sound common to all elven voices.
She is achingly beautiful and her features, much like her frame, are delicate, with a small, perfectly formed nose and lips that are quick to curve into a disarming smile full of unspoken promises. Her skin is smooth porcelain, and is barren of tattoos or other markings. She walks with the grace and poise of a noble debutante, and has a confident air about her, as if she is used to getting what she wants.
She most commonly dresses in a green bodice and underbust corset, with a matching side-slit skirt. Black fingerless gloves that end just beneath her elbows cover her arms and she wears similarly-dyed leather boots that end just beneath the knee. Her pointed ears are pierced with a pair of platinum studs through each arch, each holding a small jade carving of a camellia flower; and pendant earrings of gold dangle from each ear, clasping a small emerald in their raindrop-shaped frames. She wears an intricate choker at her throat, silver chains holding in place a gold frame inset with a larger emerald; additional silver chains drape across her bare neck; dangling among the chains is a small gold disc etched with the elven rune for the first two letters of her given name. A larger gold disc inset with three small teal tourmalines hangs from a chain connected to the smaller disc, and another chain falls from that disc into her cleavage. She wears three gold bracelets on her right arm, two of them loose hoops and the other worn tighter against her wrist; and several gold and platinum rings adorn the fingers of her right hand.
Personality and motivations:
Ansha is a flirt who uses physical and magical charms to get what she wants out of life. She is flighty, impulsive, inquisitive and loves being the center of attention. A true hedonist, she is extremely open to new experiences and is willing to try almost anything at least once.
In the wake of her adoptive parents' deaths, she has slowly had her memories return, and she realizes that in addition to the fact that she can never go home again, she has been living a lie for years. Although her primary motivations are pleasure and power (and the pleasure that comes from having power over others--particularly their minds), she is also aware of the numerous enemies she has, and has found it in her best interest to surround herself with people willing and able to aid her should any of those enemies catch up to her.
Background:
Ansha is the only daughter of Lord Elroth and Lady Elizaera Saeralyan of the noble House Saeralyan, native to Iadara in Kyonin. The House was rather inconsequential in matters of politics, though it does manage to maintain a level of wealth suitable to their station, and it was precisely this inconsequentiality that lead the morally-bankrupt enchantress Elizaera to form a pact with Our Lady in Shadow, Nocticula, the patron of succubi: in return for increased powers of seduction and enchantment, Elizaera would bring the entirety of the House under the demonlord's sway. She succeeded, the whole family came to worship Nocticula secretly and the family's fortunes rose. For her part, Elizaera became the mastermind behind the family, and she was granted a measure of a succubus's power: an otherworldly beauty that could cause those around her to stare in fascination without regard for their surroundings.
When Ansha was born, she shared this same otherworldly power as her mother, but it was decided that she would not be told about the family's pact with Nocticula until she was older, for fear that she might accidentally let something slip, as only a child might. So she was raised as a master manipulator in her own right, and she grew up to be a young elven debutante who knew how to get what she wanted from most anyone. Despite this, she never quite shared the moral degeneration of her mother--probably in large part due to the friendships she formed with other more goodly aristocratic elven children, like her friend Inari Gloamingdusk.
The end of her childhood came early for the young Lady Ansha when her parents decided that she was old enough to reveal the family's dark secret and to include her in the pact with Nocticula. But Ansha stumbled upon them in the midst of a profane ritual several days before her parents were ready to reveal the family's secret to her, and she fled home. Pursued by a summoned succubus, the young Lady Saeralyan was captured and subjected to defilements that shattered her mind and left her with a form of trauma-induced amnesia called dissociative fugue.
But before she could be returned to her family, she was rescued by the married elven adventurers Baelyth and Sahtara. The married pair, for their part, took the elf in and cared for her much as if she were their own daughter. Eventually, they settled with their ward in the wilderness of the River Kingdoms, living in a secluded cottage far from the eyes of any pursuers Ansha may have had.
Life on the frontiers of the River Kingdoms was hard, but it was the only life that Ansha knew now--though occasionally the feeling that a fog shrouded part of her memory gnawed at her.
In the end, it was simple bandits that destroyed Ansha's newfound home life. While away from home, a group of bandits stumbled upon the cottage and attempted to intimidate Baelyth into giving them the family's valuables. A fight started, and though her guardians fought well, Ansha arrived home just in time to find Baelyth dead and the sole surviving brigand fighting with Sahtara.
Ansha cried out, and Sahtara looked up at the sound. The brigand capitalized on the distraction then to run Sahtara through, her unarmored body collapsing onto the forest floor. Tears clouding her vision, Ansha then burned the man to death with a fan of flames.
Overwhelmed with grief, the elf paid her respects to the guardians whom she had taken for mother and father. She knew she couldn't survive in the wilderness alone, so she began making preparations to leave for Restov. It was while gathering supplies for the journey that she stumbled across an old chest. Opening it, she found a pool of fine greenish cloth among a pile of clothing. She lifted the pool up, and it flowed down into the shape of an evening gown...and her vision began to swim as forgotten memories surged up from her unconscious mind.
She re-lived the entirety of her life in Kyonin in a moment, right up to the night that a summoned succubus had subjected her to such defilements of mind and body. She remembered who she had been, and what had been done to her. Baelyth and Sahtara were not her parents--she was not their daughter. She was Ansha Saeralyan, and her mother consorted with succubi. Shaken, and her very identity in crisis, Ansha headed for Restov.
Reimmersing herself in the pleasures of civilization, Ansha increasingly felt drawn to understand who she had been. Mindful of the dangers returning to Kyonin would pose, she turned to the ancient past instead, and tales she remembered of long-lost holds in the south. So it was that when she heard of an expedition into those lands, she found herself volunteering.
I'd like to throw my elf enchantress in as a consideration. She's been in a different Kingmaker campaign a good year ago but the game fell apart around the time World of Warcraft's last expansion came out.
Looking at the existing characters, I have a feeling she would get along famously with Svetlana.
Description:
Ansha is a tall, slender elven maiden who looks to be no older than a human girl of eighteen or nineteen winters, with long legs and an hourglass figure. Her long hair is a strikingly pale blond bordering on platinum, brushed meticulously and often bound into a long, elegant ponytail by a simple blue hair-ribbon; when unbound, her hair cascades over her shoulders like a cloak reaching just past her butt. Her almond eyes are a deep emerald, bright with intelligence and often twinkling with amusement. Her voice is charmingly soft and velvety, with the melodic sound common to all elven voices.
She is achingly beautiful and her features, much like her frame, are delicate, with a small, perfectly formed nose and lips that are quick to curve into a disarming smile full of unspoken promises. Her skin is smooth porcelain, and is barren of tattoos or other markings. She walks with the grace and poise of a noble debutante, and has a confident air about her, as if she is used to getting what she wants.
She most commonly dresses in a green bodice and underbust corset, with a matching side-slit skirt. Black fingerless gloves that end just beneath her elbows cover her arms and she wears similarly-dyed leather boots that end just beneath the knee. Her pointed ears are pierced with a pair of platinum studs through each arch, each holding a small jade carving of a camellia flower; and pendant earrings of gold dangle from each ear, clasping a small emerald in their raindrop-shaped frames. She wears an intricate choker at her throat, silver chains holding in place a gold frame inset with a larger emerald; additional silver chains drape across her bare neck; dangling among the chains is a small gold disc etched with the elven rune for the first two letters of her given name. A larger gold disc inset with three small teal tourmalines hangs from a chain connected to the smaller disc, and another chain falls from that disc into her cleavage. She wears three gold bracelets on her right arm, two of them loose hoops and the other worn tighter against her wrist; and several gold and platinum rings adorn the fingers of her right hand.
Background:
Ansha is the only daughter of Lord Elroth and Lady Elizaera Saeralyan of the noble House Saeralyan, native to Iadara in Kyonin. The House was rather inconsequential in matters of politics, though it does manage to maintain a level of wealth suitable to their station, and it was precisely this inconsequentiality that lead the morally-bankrupt enchantress Elizaera to form a pact with Our Lady in Shadow, Nocticula, the patron of succubi: in return for increased powers of seduction and enchantment, Elizaera would bring the entirety of the House under the demonlord's sway. She succeeded, the whole family came to worship Nocticula secretly and the family's fortunes rose. For her part, Elizaera became the mastermind behind the family, and she was granted a measure of a succubus's power: an otherworldly beauty that could cause those around her to stare in fascination without regard for their surroundings.
When Ansha was born, she shared this same otherworldly power as her mother, but it was decided that she would not be told about the family's pact with Nocticula until she was older, for fear that she might accidentally let something slip, as only a child might. So she was raised as a master manipulator in her own right, and she grew up to be a young elven debutante who knew how to get what she wanted from most anyone. Despite this, she never quite shared the moral degeneration of her mother--probably in large part due to the friendships she formed with other more goodly aristocratic elven children, like her friend Inari Gloamingdusk.
The end of her childhood came early for the young Lady Ansha when her parents decided that she was old enough to reveal the family's dark secret and to include her in the pact with Nocticula. But Ansha stumbled upon them in the midst of a profane ritual several days before her parents were ready to reveal the family's secret to her, and she fled home. Pursued by a summoned succubus, the young Lady Saeralyan was captured and subjected to defilements that shattered her mind and left her with a form of trauma-induced amnesia called dissociative fugue.
But before she could be returned to her family, she was rescued by the married elven adventurers Baelyth and Sahtara. The married pair, for their part, took the elf in and cared for her much as if she were their own daughter. Eventually, they settled with their ward in the wilderness of the River Kingdoms, living in a secluded cottage far from the eyes of any pursuers Ansha may have had.
Life on the frontiers of the River Kingdoms was hard, but it was the only life that Ansha knew now--though occasionally the feeling that a fog shrouded part of her memory gnawed at her.
In the end, it was simple bandits that destroyed Ansha's newfound home life. While away from home, a group of bandits stumbled upon the cottage and attempted to intimidate Baelyth into giving them the family's valuables. A fight started, and though her guardians fought well, Ansha arrived home just in time to find Baelyth dead and the sole surviving brigand fighting with Sahtara.
Ansha cried out, and Sahtara looked up at the sound. The brigand capitalized on the distraction then to run Sahtara through, her unarmored body collapsing onto the forest floor. Tears clouding her vision, Ansha then burned the man to death with a fan of flames.
Overwhelmed with grief, the elf paid her respects to the guardians whom she had taken for mother and father. She knew she couldn't survive in the wilderness alone, so she began making preparations to leave for Restov. It was while gathering supplies for the journey that she stumbled across an old chest. Opening it, she found a pool of fine greenish cloth among a pile of clothing. She lifted the pool up, and it flowed down into the shape of an evening gown...and her vision began to swim as forgotten memories surged up from her unconscious mind.
She re-lived the entirety of her life in Kyonin in a moment, right up to the night that a summoned succubus had subjected her to such defilements of mind and body. She remembered who she had been, and what had been done to her. Baelyth and Sahtara were not her parents--she was not their daughter. She was Ansha Saeralyan, and her mother consorted with succubi. Shaken, and her very identity in crisis, Ansha headed for Restov.
Reimmersing herself in the pleasures of civilization, Ansha increasingly felt drawn to understand who she had been. Mindful of the dangers returning to Kyonin would pose, she turned to the ancient past instead, and tales she remembered of long-lost holds in the south. So it was that when she heard of an expedition into those lands, she found herself volunteering.
Motivations & Personality:
Ansha is a flirt who uses physical and magical charms to get what she wants out of life. She is flighty, impulsive, inquisitive and loves being the center of attention. A true hedonist, she is extremely open to new experiences and is willing to try almost anything at least once.
In the wake of her adoptive parents' deaths, she has slowly had her memories return, and she realizes that in addition to the fact that she can never go home again, she has been living a lie for years. Although her primary motivations are pleasure and power (and the pleasure that comes from having power over others--particularly their minds), she is also aware of the numerous enemies she has, and has found it in her best interest to surround herself with people willing and able to aid her should any of those enemies catch up to her.
Having rejoined the group along with Cal, Ansha nods her agreement. "I had hoped we'd catch him long before now. Be mindful that they're going to know to expect us now," the enchantress chimes in. "We expect we're near their camp--perhaps the wagon is theirs."
Ansha greets Svetlana's approach with a warm smile. "I'll keep an eye out," she replies. "But in the meantime, hopefully now that these bandits are dealt with, he can relax a bit."
After the last of the bandits has been 'dealt with,' Ansha approaches Cal. "Now what? I imagine we could catch up to the rest fairly quickly, if we wanted. Or we could stay here--I'm not sure I really care one way or the other."
"Caralye tai írë," Ansha replies to Cal. Paying little mind to the bandits' fate from then on, she finishes gathering her belongings so that she and Cal can follow after the others if they decide to.
"Cal, why don't you stay here with me and we'll watch our 'guests?' The brash sisters may need some additional help, so perhaps Numalar and Karsh should join them?" the enchantress suggests.
Ansha emerges from the guesthouse a couple of minutes later, clad in her usual attire--a green underbust corset over a dark green blouse, black fingerless gloves that reach up to her elbows and black knee-high leather boots. "Even charmed, they hope that Happs warns Kressle in time," she says, tugging one of her gloves on. "I'm loath to kill people who are still of some use, but I'd say theirs has run out."
Ansha shakes her head with a hiss of frustration. Rising to her feet, she heads toward the guesthouse to dress and prepare, sparing Cal a withering glare as she goes. "We'll have time for recriminations later. For now, may I suggest that we should make haste toward the southwest?" she says.
Ansha takes Oleg up on the offer, requesting more blank scrolls and ink even as she purchases the materials he has on hand. Enjoying the lunch and dinner Svetlana prepares, she spends the remainder of the evening studying her spellbook, her companions, and the captured bandits before retiring to sleep.
Pharast 2, 47?? AR
Come morning, she is awakened from a dream about dancing marionettes by Svetlana's scream and stumbles out of the guesthouse clad only in her cloak--she has a tendency to sleep in the nude. Quickly ascertaining the situation, she curses softly in Elven. "Well, that complicates things," she says. "Assuming he was true to his word--which I am under no illusions that he was--then he intends to vanish into the wilderness and give up banditry. Even if he doesn't, at least he didn't take a horse--we should still be able to beat him back to the camp. We're down a guide, but the directions sounded simple enough. The only danger is that we stumble upon the camp and they spot us first."
The elf walks over to where the bandits are bound. "Did Happs say anything to you?" she asks one of the bound bandits, wrapping her cloak about herself as she kneels. Reaching out to touch one of them, she lets her fingertips brush the man's shoulder as she seeks to coax an answer out of him (Beguiling Touch, DC15). If the answer is in the negative, she repeats the process with each bandit.
Ansha purchased the materials needed to scribe two scrolls, then scribed one scroll of Sleep before nightfall on Pharast 1. My prepared spells are updated as well.
Ansha gives Linora a puzzled look as Oleg walks off to retrieve his stock, then shrugs.
After Oleg has finished retrieving his stock, she lightly rests her fingers upon his arm, pulling him aside and asking quietly, "You don't happen to have any scrolls or sheets of paper in stock, do you?"
With the bandits mollified, Ansha turns her attention to Oleg (and Svetlana, if she ventures outside). Approaching the man, she smiles warmly. "I wanted to thank you for the hospitality you have displayed, Oleg. It was a welcome respite from life on the road, believe me. The stew was absolutely superb. Your wife is a fine cook," she says, her voice low. "And it only seemed fair to help you and Svetlana out after such a fine meal last night. I want to reassure you, our 'friends' have not gotten away with their banditry. We'll see that justice is served to them; but for the moment, I think they can lead us to the source of your troubles."
Ansha remains outside with Numalar, Happs and the bandits--the scroll materials can wait. "What my friend means to say is that things will go a lot smoother for all of you if you cooperate. I personally am a strong believer that 'my enemy is the one whose story I do not know'--so why don't you guys tell me your stories? I can tell you a little about mine, as well, if you'd like...but I doubt it's going to be as interesting as yours are."
Ansha excuses herself from the conversation with Happs to join the rest of the party.
"We have until tomorrow before we head out for the bandit camp. May I suggest someone bind Happs as well, as a precaution? We have the remainder of the day, so perhaps we should leave a few people behind to watch the bandits and send the rest to chart a nearby area. No sense just sitting here all day," she suggests quietly.
While the others debate, Ansha strikes up a conversation with Happs. "So, what's your favorite kind?...Oh? Yeah, I like blondes too. Of course, that might be because I am one....Really? Me too!"
"I think there was talk of taking a vote. So let's vote--take them with us and decide later, hang them now, or ship them off to Restov," Ansha says. "I'm in favor of taking them for now. Who else is?"
"How about that the post may be unguarded while we are gone, for one?"
Ansha nods. "I suggest that we set out tomorrow morning for their camp--lah feim. In the meantime," Ansha says, walking over to Oleg. "Forgive us for presuming upon your hospitality, but they are no longer a threat, and they'll be out of your hair on the morrow. Indeed, we intend to end the threat their camp poses to you as well. Is it acceptable to house them here for the night?"
Ansha pinches the bridge of her nose between two fingers and just sighs at the gnome in exasperation. "Hin lost loan fah mindok rul vo-tinvaak."
Draconic:
"You have no concept of knowing when to withhold information, do you?"
"So I assume that you're planning on escorting these men to Restov yourself, then? Because our charter is to chart the land, not escort prisoners to trial."
Ansha raises an eyebrow at Oleg's outburst. "I suppose we could take them with us, march into their camp and deal with the rest of them, and then set these lot free to fend for themselves. I doubt they'd have the lack of sense to come back when we're still in the area."
She pauses, then adds, for the bandits' benefit, "Not to mention the aforementioned guards that are coming any day now."
"Don't forget that we're expecting a contingent of guards to show up from Restov any day now, anyway. But even disregarding that, I imagine that a dagger would work on their throats then just as well as a rope would now."
The elf glances at Happs. "How far away is your camp from here, anyway?"
"Sivut noxalum tobat. Sami refat--qvardum donum antilo. Enosheth fiardu haqlo anjul. Traqum tofet--margrav nom qlesh."
Draconic:
"Aye, I'm aware of the limited duration it affords me at present. Don't worry--I'm working on ensuring his loyalty in other ways. He'll have no reason to be angry, given that I've saved his life. Besides, he's quite smitten with me--I'll have him wrapped around my little finger."
The enchantress chews on her lower lip for a moment, pondering. "We run into the same problem if we send them back to Restov," she says. "But perhaps we can convert something into a jail--the storage pen or the guesthouse, for example. We could leave them there unless we are present to supervise."
"You should make amends to Oleg and Svetlana," the elf says.
Ansha stands and moves to rejoin the others, motioning once again for Happs to follow her. "We did say that if they surrendered, we'd spare their lives. If we ship them to Restov, that's as good as executing them here--at least for the ones too stupid to repent of their banditry. And just who is planning on traveling back to Restov with them? We've got a region to explore and map, and I doubt Oleg or Svetlana are up for transporting prisoners."
She studies one of the bandits, then continues, "I think there are more creative uses for these men than all that. Sticking them to work repairing the fort seems like a good place to start. Or perhaps Happs would like to help us by showing us how to get to their camp? He's quite apologetic for the trouble he's caused Oleg--" she fixes the bandit leader with a pointed look, "Isn't he?"
"Good to know," Ansha says. Glancing at her comrades, she continues, "So...what should we do about you and your buddies? I think you owe the Levetons an apology, among other things. It sounds like my companions are trying to decide whether cutting off a hand is enough punishment for repentant banditry."
She fixes him with a hard look. "You are a repentant bandit, right? After all, look where it's gotten you. Living in the wilds, surrounded by halfwits and far away from the comforts of wife or home. I can't imagine even Kressle makes up for that."
Ansha pauses in her conversation with Happs long enough to stare at Avery across the courtyard. Calistria's honeyed tongue, am I surrounded by wannabe tyrants? Sotto voce, she mouths, "Since when did a charter for exploration come to mean 'frontier marshal'?"
"I see. Where's your camp? Or the Stag Lord's, for that matter?" Ansha asks, leaning in slightly closer to Happs and painting a coy smile on her face to hide the disgust at the awful smells emanating from the man.
Ansha watches idly from the tables as the rest of the party terrorizes the poor, surrendered bandits whom she told would have their lives spared if they surrendered. Good thing she didn't care about keeping her word.
Ansha gives Cal a reassuring 'I-know-what-I'm-doing' look as she listens to Happs' story, giving the charmed bandit a flirtatious smile.
Happs:
"Aye? Who're Kressle and the Stag Lord?" Ansha asks. She shifts on the bench, exposing a bit more leg through the slit in her skirt as she plays the tease. "People I might want to get in good with? 'The Stag Lord' sounds like a name for an interesting guy, at the very least."
Apparently used to this sort of attention, Ansha hardly even flinches. (Truth be told, she's encouraged it when it's suited her purposes...like now.) She gives Happs a knowing look and smiles crookedly. "Aye, that much is obvious," she says, her tone wry. The enchantress motions for Happs to follow her as she heads for the nearer of the outdoor tables nearby, taking a seat and motioning for Happs to do likewise.
Trusting her comrades to do a better job tying up the other bandits than she could, she rests her elbows on the table, weaving her fingers together and cradling her chin atop them attentively as she says, "So, while they get the bound-with-rope treatment, why don't you fill me in on what you've been up to the past few years? There has to be a story to how you ended up a bandit."
I think he was on the guesthouse roof with Ansha...since we established that the storehouse was actually a fenced in area with a roof that couldn't hold people on it.
Hopping off of the guesthouse's roof in a graceful three-point landing, Ansha moves to intercept the fleeing brigands. Riotous Sylvan words roll from her tongue, and she breathes at the bandits, a spray of similarly-riotous colors proceeding from her lips to wash over them.
Acrobatics:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Move to a position to catch the most bandits as I can, then cast Color Spray (DC15), 2d4 ⇒ (2, 1) = 3 followed by 1d4 ⇒ 1.
"Tell your men to lay down their weapons, Happs," Ansha reiterates, fighting down a Cheshire grin as she addresses the bandit leader. "It won't end well for them if they don't."
By the way, would Ansha have had time to cast Mage Armor in the few minutes before the bandits came into the post?
From her vantage point atop the guesthouse's southwestern end (i.e., the corner closest to A1), Ansha gives a confirmatory wave to Oleg and mentally goes through a checklist. What a way to spend your one-hundred and twentieth birthday, Ansha thinks to herself. Waiting until the leader is within range, her fingers dance as if pulling a marionette's strings and her voice lilts out a near-whispered incantation of Elven words. Casting Charm Person on the bandit leader, DC16.
After the majority of the bandits have walked into the courtyard, she rises to her feet and calls out to the leader, "You are surrounded! Surrender, friend, and we will spare your life and the lives of your comrades. This doesn't need to end bloodily! Set down your arms!"
Waxing eloquent, she continues, "Have a care for the situation you put me in, friend. How can this end otherwise but in grief? Don't grieve your friends, or make them pay for previous errors--just lay down your arms, and let's set things right between us!"
Yeah, that's definitely not what I'm aiming for. I fully expect it to cost a fair amount: off-slot and multiple enchants on the same item gets expensive, even if bonded items can be enchanted as if you had the relevant item creation feat.
What about say, mental superiority or mental prowess (boosts to 2 or 3 mental stats) on a neck? Obviously it wouldn't stack if I were wearing something else that boosted those stats.
I'd also asked PM about off-slot enchantments--for example, stat boosts on a neck slot item. He said that was fine too. That work for you as well, SDM?
Numalar wrote:
The thing I am concerned with is as the party's Arcane Caster,...
