Lady Vanessa Reisende's page

Thanks for checking!

Trying to see if there's anything on my Faction Journal Cards that we might have accomplished. Some of the encounters ended rather abruptly (nature of a Special), so I'm not sure if any of these apply:

Did we recover a "named text" listed in italics or quotes in the scenario?

Did we find a spellbook? If so, did it contain spells whose Combined Spell Level equals or exceeds 24 total? I'm not sure what that boss was at the end that Bon Jon liquified, or if the spider-guys had spellbooks that they would have surrendered.

You said we managed to close the portal to the Hao Jin tapestry. Did that involve a ritual of some kind?

Chronicle looks good. Thanks again for running, GM. And thanks to everyone else for a fun game.

Yeah, Resilience certainly looks like the best option.

Please and Tsank you, GM dahling.

1d20 ⇒ 11

No boon for the Lady.

And no day job. She does "it" for fun, not for money. And yes, she was very entertained by Rani's performance. Maybe we need to get Rani into the water tank with Spica....

When the Aspis' head literally explodes from Ashwell's mental stab, Lady Vanessa steps back just in time to keep from getting any blood or other fluids on her outfit. When he grabbed her, she had made a plan to cast burning hands with the stilling boost from Blessing of Fervor - right into his crotch, the grabby bastard. Instead she smiles her thanks at Ashwell and casts a quick (negative) healing spell on herself in case there's more to be done.

But at Marcos Farabellus' arrival, she nods to the Master and lets him take the Key and deal with the situation. As he said, it's no longer their problem as line agents. This stuff is for the big guns, though the details will certainly go into her report to the Umbral Court in Nidal.

At the closing ceremony/celebration, she flits about chatting with everyone she knows, maintaining appearances and strengthening contacts. Afterward, she asks Rani if the halfling would like to join her for the night. If so, they both certainly learn some new tricks involving ropes, knots, and the pleasure that can come from the pain.

Thanks all. Perfect timing on finishing that fight right as the Special ended. Thanks GM_Colin for running and keeping us moving. Lady Vanessa and I look forward to playing with you all again.

"Tata, dahlings!"

"Hands off!" the Lady screams at the nearest minion as she slaps him across the face and then gingerly steps aside.

Touch attack spell, BoF, prayer, haste: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 25

Tap the roll to cast defensively with +23 vs DC 21. Cast bestow curse. Let's give him a -4 to everything that stacks with prayer. DC 20 Will save. Forced reroll on a die of 10+ given how well they're doing.

Thanks for pre-rolling the possible reroll, though I wasn't planning to use it on this guy for a Rank 1 spell. I'll save it for Blindness or something bigger. 

As Bon Jon reaches the top of the stairs, Lady Vanessa says a little prayer to Zon-Kuthon again. She glances back at Grunjar to watch the poor boy's reaction to the tingle of pleasure-cum-pain that accompanies her minor supplication to the Shadow Lord.

Then when El disappears and she hears a booming voice monologuing from beyond the door, she uses the little bit of extra speed granted by Ashwell to hustle out of the stairwell. Emerging she sees the roiling green fumes but also notes two other figures to the north and south.

"Vhy don't you go kill your boss and take his position as zhe big snake?" she tells the nearer of the two.

Cast Prayer for buff as we reach the top of the stairs. Taking the +2 AC/Reflex from Blessing of Fervor. Hasted move out to behind the pillar. Cast Murderous Command Will DC 18 on Purple with prayer debuff to his will save not included.

Only those who exit the stairwells (i.e. Ellismus) can see them (unless you see through wall), and they're human.

Right, I figured she couldn't actually see them yet, but the orc, the contraptions and the room were well described even though we couldn't see all of that yet either. It was just a little confusing that the contraptions were in the NW and SW parts of the room, as were tokens for what looked like humanoids. Got it.

What are Cyan and Purple? Are they humanoids or the mirror machines or something else?

Lady Vanessa summons her own black leather and lace wings and follows Rani. She's likely not strong enough to carry any of the others, but she could string a rope behind her. She's pretty sure that Rani knows how to tie a strong knot somewhere on the landing side that the others could use for safety.

2 of 8 minutes of Wings of Darkness used.

Not really paying attention to what all is going on, Lady Vanessa just follows Rani and the boys. When they arrive in the room with Ellismus, she doesn't seem to even be aware of what happened or how they got here.

She takes a moment to check her hair in the very fancy dressing mirror, and satisfied that it's all in place declares herself ready to go.

Certainly, Lady Vanessa would have followed Rani into the room. After surveying the decor and silently critiquing their sense of style (or lack thereof), she sat down gracefully on the bed alongside Rani to see what the others came up with.

This is a puzzle? To be honest, it looks like a floor of "open all the doors until we find the thing" to me. And that's also how Lady V would see it too, so that's how she's going to proceed for now. 

Lady Vanessa follows her new favorite little halfling towards room 8, fanning herself as she admires the furnishings and decorations in the luxe VC wing. Though before anyone opens any doors, she puts her fan away and readies her penetrating rod. Oh, and casts guidance on Rani when the escapologist checks for traps.

"Does anyvon know zhis Osprey fellow? If it's not in zhe 'reserved' room, maybe he knows vhere it is." Vanessa pulls out a lovely black Tian-style folding fan and flutters it to cool off while the others decide on a course of action.

Lady Vanessa accepts the driders' surrender graciously, as a noble should and advises them to seek others of their kind. And stay out of the Pathfinders' way.

She's then happy to help Grunjar and Ellismus with their evil healing (her silent internal bwahaha's revealed only by her mischievous smile.)

The Lady leaves the room with the others, moving at her normal stately pace, not hurrying, but not dawdling like she would in the shops of the Petal District either.

Vanessa flies across the room, rising majestically as she goes to avoid the prone form of Aram Zey. Since blinding one worked so well before, she decides to rinse-wash-and-repeat.

That reminds me, I need to "properly" thank Ashwell later for dispelling that web. Now when I wash my hair after this, I don't have to worry about all that sticky stuff.

Blindness vs Blue, DC 20 Fortitude save. If Blue rolls better than a 15 on the die, then she will use Misfortune to force a reroll since he's within 30 feet. And now that they're within 40 feet of her, they take the prayer penalty. Flying 10 feet up, climb accounted for in the move, but no factor due to being hasted. 

Campaign Clarification wrote:

Pathfinder Player Companion: Plane-Hopper's Handbook

Page 10-11—Planar power components can be used as material components, but they cannot be used as focuses.

Since Void Shard can only be used as material components thus will be consumed during the casting process, would you still like to use it in your casting?

Obviously, no. She'll just sell that pretty bauble back later. Guess I missed checking Campaign Clarifications when I bought it.

Misfortune (Ex) ... 30 feet ... Blue is out of range, unfortunately.

Yep, forgot about the range limit. My bad.

Not sure what the status of stuff is now. There was deeper darkness (assuming so as darkvision was unusable) but Grunjar daylight-ed that. There were webs that blocked line of effect, but maybe Ashwell dispelled them? Lightning bolt's line of effect was not affected by the webs? Or the bolt burned them away? The map tokens for the darkness and the webs have been moved without explanation. 

If the webs are still there, can Vanessa fly over/through them as Ellismus presumably did?  I'm going to post as her flying, but I expect that her actions will be negated by something I'm not aware of.

Vanessa unfurls her wings of black leather and lace and quickly flies out to where Ellismus and Bon Jon are. She tucks in behind a pillar and casts a spell on the further Spider-man(tm).

Blindness vs Blue, DC 20 Fortitude save, but target takes -2 on the save (not included) for use of her Void Shard. If Blue rolls better than a 15 on the die (just wagging a number for now), then she will use Misfortune to force a reroll.

Swift action for Wings of Darkness, hasted move action out of the hallway, standard to cast.

cast prayer. whatever.

"Tsank you, Grunjar, dahling," Vanessa says in full sincerity as she ...

Escape, Liberating Command: 1d20 + 2 + 16 ⇒ (19) + 2 + 16 = 37 easily slips free of the webs.

She considers manifesting her wings, but realizes she doesn't have time now.

Getting free was an Immediate action that happens before her turn, so she loses her swift action. Dang, but at least she's free. Thank you, G!

So instead she focuses on the beastie at the far end of the room. She fingers the black stone in her necklace as she informs it of proper etiquette. "Spitting on people is impolite. Unless zhey ask for it, ov course," she says as she casts her spell.

Blindness vs Blue, DC 20 Fortitude save, but target takes -2 on the save (not included) for use of her Void Shard. If Blue rolls better than a 15 on the die (just wagging a number for now), then she will use Misfortune to force a reroll.

Sorry for holding things up. Just landed from a long flight to Hong Kong with no wifi. I'll post when I get to the hotel.

"Ugh, zhese vebs better not leave my outfit all sticky," Vanessa declares indignantly. Getting sticky stuff on outfits isn't why she comes to this kind of dungeon. Though she watches in awe as Rani easily slips free of the strands and considers how she's going to have to adapt her own dungeon should she bring the escapologist home.

"No, Rani, dahling, you go kill zhese beasts. Or free Grunjar. Being tied up isn't anytsing new for me. I can manage."

@GM: My comment about expecting critters with SR was in no way metaknowledge if these do indeed have SR. Just kind of expected something like that at this tier in a Special. 

Also, is this area in dim light?

Thinking about how cute Bon Jon looks when he blushes, the Lady makes sure to let him know that she's got her eye on him. In a good (and also oh-so-bad way.) She chuckles to herself when Rani teases him then whispers a naughty aside to the halfling that makes both of them giggle - likely causing the burly monk to blush even more.

As they proceed to the Tapestry room, Vanessa swaps out the rod she'd been carrying for a different one from her bag.

Penetrating metamagic rod. I suspect we're likely to see some critters with SR at some point. 

Vanessa hustles into the room not wanting to get caught in the hallway if this wanna-be dragon has a breath attack. Settling into the corner with a good line of sight to all her allies, she says a short prayer to Zon-Kuthon (and gives a little wink to Rani at the end of it). A wave of energy with a little sting of both pleasure and pain mixed together washes over everyone in the room.

Move into the room, standard to cast prayer . Allies get a +1 luck bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saves, and skill checks, while the foe(s) takes a –1 penalty on such rolls. PLEASE don't forget to add these. Vanessa will be very upset with you, and you don't want to end up in her dungeon as punishment for forgetting the nice bonuses she gave you.

"Tsank you, Grunjar," Vanessa says sweetly as she takes the wand and drops it into her high-brand handbag. "You probably don't vant me to use it on you, but I vill if you're dying. You're too much of a dear, so I'm not letting you die."

"Alzhough... he'd make a fun zombie, don't you tsink, Rani, dahling?" she asks teasingly. (Or is She teasing?)

With a laugh to melt a man's heart, she dismisses the joke and turns to the other team members.

"Does anyvon have issues vith me using Grunjar's infernal healing on zhem?"

Especially since She has no other way of curing anyone should Grunjar drop.

"Yes, let's," Vanessa chuckles as she agrees with - but doesn't quite echo - Rani's enthusiasm. She nods to Ashwell's suggestion. "Zhat's an excellent choice. But I vould like to make sure zhat ve get down to check zhe Library. It vould be qvite zhe coup if ve vere zhe von's to find Aram Zey."

And who knows what we might find there that Zarta and/or the Umbral Court would like to know about.

She doesn't do any buffs on herself and just keeps the rod in hand.

Bouncing metamagic rod.

Since we still have time, I'd like to use her misfortune hex to make Orange reroll that.

Vanessa squeezes between the buff Monk and the diminutive rogue. Dirty thoughts race through her head as she imagines this same configuration in other circumstances. Reluctantly she pries her attention back to the situation at hand.

"You," she points at the monster in the Orange tabard. "Stand still. Do notsing," she commands it.

Move to reposition, Standard to cast command undead. That makes Orange our new blocker ally, and we can move through allies' squares. I'm not sure how specific GM will allow instructions to be. Generally, a necromancer should be able to tell even zombies to attack enemies and not his own allies (or they'd just fall upon each other).

"Grunjar, dahling, did you hear zhat?" Vanessa asks the cleric excitedly. "Somevon got me a present."

She has used command undead to great effect in previous scenarios with Grunjar. Nonintelligent undead get no save, and she will command them to attack her enemies. Then they can be cannon fodder for the next fight or trap. Just don't attack her pet(s) or it breaks the spell.

Huh. Paizo ate my post from yesterday. I hope it was yummy, stupid server.

The Lady stows her parasol into her bespoke handbag and withdraws a slender rod. She follows Rani and the others through the various rooms until they arrive at the Library. As Rani motions to stop, Vanessa moves up the line and peeks into the room.

These are Pathfinders, she thinks. But that doesn't make sense, they're just standing around not hunting for the intruders. So maybe they're not really who they appear to be. Well, two can play that game.

She sees Ash prepping a buff spell, and though she doesn't recognize it, she gives him the nod to proceed. Once he's done casting, she...

Planning to have her step into the room and demand to know why these guys are just loafing around. She'll try to play it off that she's "one of them" in an effort to get them to betray who it is they are. But will wait until folks have buffed (Ashwell's haste plus any others.)

Or am open to other options, of course. I don't want y'all to think I'm trying to Bogart this.

"Rani, have a look around if you vant, but if zhere's notsing here, I guess ve move on."

She gives Rani a little guidance courtesy of Zon-Kuthon. Lucky for Rani that such assistance from the Shadow Lord doesn't also require a little pain or blood.

The Lady expresses her thanks to Grunjar for being so thoughtful and keeping her safe. He is such a dear, after all.

One thing she notes as the caretakers lead them through the Dissection Room is that the they haven't described the intruders at all. So she asks them for any details they have about what they saw. How many intruders in each group. What kinds of beings - humanoids, undead, monstrous types, Pathfinder / Aspis / adventurers, or simple thug/gang/mercenary types. She makes it clear that she will accept nothing less than a complete and thorough report, and she's certain these two fine, hard-working gentlemen don't want to disappoint Her.

Lady Vanessa follows Rani across the open courtyard, keeping one eye out for trouble, one eye on the prostrate guardsmen, and one eye on the lithe form of the gymnastic halfling. Well, she tries anyway, but she lets her imagination of the fun she could be having with Rani detract from watching the general environment.

As she tears her eyes from devouring Rani's taut and toned form, the red lenses in her  ultra-high-so glasses sparkle for an instant as she registers the guardsmen's condition. Disappointed that they're not undead (Don't ask. Or do, but get Grunjar to tell you the story of Moo and Groo), she quickly casts a simple spell to stabilize them both. "Grunjar, dahling, zhey could use some ov your tender ministrations."

She smiles down at Rani beside her. "I'm afraid zhey're just not in suitable condition to handle any of my 'tender ministrations.'"

The glasses provide constant deathwatch out to 30 feet. It's pretty niche and rare for anyone to use them, so I don't expect GMs to remember. Great for knowing if an opponent is likely to be susceptible to many of her best spells.

Satisfied that the more powerful and much more arrogant agents are following her instructions (though who wouldn't, after all?), Lady Vanessa pulls out her wayfinder, pops open the cover to reveal a small compact mirror and checks her appearance. She doesn't really need to, given how perfect she always is, but it's an affectation that people expect. And it buys her time to consider where to go next.

Not that it mattered. She almost always lets the men decide where to go. It makes them feel useful and important, even on those occasions when she's arranged things such that they didn't really have a choice anyway.

She smiles in return to Rani's impressed gaze and then simply nods in agreement to Ashwell's recommendation.

Some of you recognize them as the team of Pathfinders that took down the Runelord from their medals on their outfit.

404 Reference Not Found.

Aasimars are all so arrogant. Like their angel blood makes them better than the rest of us.

She nods in thanks to Ashwell's informed briefing about giant birds, then stares the aasimar down with ice in her eyes.

"It may surprise you, angel-eyes, but Captain Ivulxtin deputized us to find zhe stragglers and loose-cannons and put zhem to task. In zhis case, your task is to guard zhe Repository - not go chasing off after man-eating birds. Captain Rosenthal iz on anti-air duty, and he iz far more fit to handle it zhan zhe likes of you."

Intimidate : 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14
Intimidate, T-shirt reroll, 3 stars: 1d20 + 13 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 13 + 3 = 34

Vanessa had hung back from the team to admire the lovely architecture of these two old buildings. They reminded her so much of home in Nidal and her diplomatic assignments to both Ustalav and Cheliax on behalf of the Umbral Court. It was, of course, on that assignment in Cheliax that she met Zarta...

The raised voices of Ashwell and the junior Pathfinder jar her from her pleasant reverie.

"Resigning? Now vhy would you do zhat? Trust me vhen I say zhat being a Pathfinder is much better zhan many ozher options. I mean, vould you razher be a slave in a Kuthite temple, or a blood-bag for an Ustalavic vampire lord? I understand zhat zhese buildings ... how do you say ... "creep you out" ... but the Decemvirate knows vhat zhey're doing and they've said to keep out. Perfect, just keep out, and I vould consider it a personal favor if you vould also keep anyvon else out, too."

She pauses to give the most vocal of the idlers a smile that could bring said vampire lord to his knees (and has, at least once, she recalls.)

Diplomacy, Fashionable: 1d20 + 18 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 18 + 2 = 36

I'm at a loss on this challenge.

Another Diplo check? Not likely from a meta-perspective.

Our assignment here was: "the Repository and the Center House, despite having wards and defenses, should still be cordoned off and protected from the outside."

Is this guy possessed or cursed? Can we check for that?

Can we cast something on them like bless to "bolster their courage" meaning the bonus vs fear?

Do we tell them to swap duties with the halfling girl's team at the front gate?

Thoughts or does someone else want to take the lead on this one?

As the team leaves the front gate area, Vanessa discreetly suggests that Rani find out that young halfling's name. It seems she might benefit from some mentoring from a senior agent - or two.

"Ashvell, dahling, tsank you," the dhampir replies to the undine's compliment on her people skills. She graces him with her most beguiling smile and a light teasing touch on his upper arm with her silken-lace gloved fingertips. Then before he can say more, she turns to the other Pathfinders.

"You zhere, you are zhe guards ov zhe Center House? Have you been patrolling zhe perimeter and checking zhe vards?"

Thanks Grunjar. You'd think I'd remember that as I have a character with a Lucky Number wand also. (And Vanessa may get one after this adventure is done, too.) I guess I was conflating it with the Precog's paradox roll.

Actually, rerolling it is not a bad idea. As you say, it's not going to help a Nat 20 much. If you don't mind burning another charge on her.

1d20 ⇒ 8

Yeah, that's probably a more rerollable or Luck assistable result.

@GM: We can chalk it up to her accent. Clearly, Common isn't her first language :)

Lady Vanessa Reisende wrote:

"Nigel, dahling, I didn't see you back zhere," the Lady says as she greets the Curator with an air kiss. "Zhe last time vas at Michellia's vedding on zhat little island. You simply must tell me all zhe best gossip - as ve get you to safety first ov course."

Assessing the situation at the gate, and listening to the poor halfling girl's worries, the Lady once again takes charge of the situation.

She strides up to the Absalom guardsman and confirms that he is the leader of this contingent. If not, she insists in her most noble but polite way that he get someone in authority to speak for all the guards.

Once she's assured that she has the Platoon Captain (or vhatever), she addresses him firmly but politely.

"Captain, I am zhe Lady Vanessa Reizende. I have been granted a temporary field promotion to Venture Captain. I assure you zhere is nothing creepy hiding in zhese buildings," she says with a side-eye glance towards Nigel Aldain, "but zhere are dangerous creatures on zhe grounds zhat ve are in zhe process of subduing. I'm sure you don't vant to put your men at risk defending Pathfinders, and ve don't vant to be responsible for zheir safety eizher," she says with genuine concern in her voice for the troops.

She glances back to the nobles they've just escorted up. "Perhaps you can serve your own citizens by ensuring zhat zhese VIP's get home safely," she suggests as a way of cooperating with the guard, getting them to leave, and allowing him to save face by taking on this Very Important task.

[dice=Diplomacy, Fashionable]d20+18+2

Ninja'd. Ashwell posted while I was in the middle of crafting this one.

You need Bluff, not Diplomacy, for what you're trying to do.

The result would be the same. Her Bluff is +20 but Fashionable Accessories wouldn't apply.

I kind of thought it was a valid interpretation of what they were told, specifically "hereby bestow you the temporary authority to act on my behalf as a venture-captain." (emphasis added, obvs) To me that says, "you can act as a VC." She was just paraphrasing to explain what her authority is to persons outside the Society.

But the rest is completely not bluffing. There's no "creepy buildings" here as far as she knows - take Nigel home to find those. There are dangerous critters (she saw the elephant), and they are being subdued. And she doesn't want to be responsible for the troop's safety.

But as I said, Bluff would be the same result if you want her to use that.

"Nigel, dahling, I didn't see you back zhere," the Lady says as she greets the Curator with an air kiss. "Zhe last time vas at Michellia's vedding on zhat little island. You simply must tell me all zhe best gossip - as ve get you to safety first ov course."

Assessing the situation at the gate, and listening to the poor halfling girl's worries, the Lady once again takes charge of the situation.

She strides up to the Absalom guardsman and confirms that he is the leader of this contingent. If not, she insists in her most noble but polite way that he get someone in authority to speak for all the guards.

Once she's assured that she has the Platoon Captain (or vhatever), she addresses him firmly but politely.

"Captain, I am zhe Lady Vanessa Reizende. I have been granted a temporary field promotion to Venture Captain. I assure you zhere is nothing creepy hiding in zhese buildings," she says with a side-eye glance towards Nigel Aldain, "but zhere are dangerous creatures on zhe grounds zhat ve are in zhe process of subduing. I'm sure you don't vant to put your men at risk defending Pathfinders, and ve don't vant to be responsible for zheir safety eizher," she says with genuine concern in her voice for the troops.

She glances back to the nobles they've just escorted up. "Perhaps you can serve your own citizens by ensuring zhat zhese VIP's get home safely," she suggests as a way of cooperating with the guard, getting them to leave, and allowing him to save face by taking on this Very Important task.

Diplomacy, Fashionable: 1d20 + 18 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 18 + 2 = 39

Ninja'd. Ashwell posted while I was in the middle of crafting this one.

Lucky Number: 1d20 ⇒ 20
Oh, yeah! She'll keep that - likely for a Save.

En route to the Blue Zone, the Lady pulls a rod from her improbably voluminous handbag. She keeps the parasol in her other hand, ready to drop it if combat ensues.

Upon meeting the dwarf and nobles, our own noble lady - and a force of personality in her own right - steps to the front. Dressed in her finely tailored clothes and jewelry, she speaks to the nobles as they would expect to be addressed.

"Ladies, Gentlemen," she opens with a nod to anyone she recognizes from the numerous parties she's attended in Absalom. "As zhey say, zhe show is over. But I happen to know zhat Ser Giacometto is holding a soiree at his gallery in zhe Petal District. I vas hoping to attend after zhe Convocation, so I hope to see you zhere later. But for now, I tsink it vould be best to leave zhe grounds. Ve can escort you to zhe gates if you vish." She punctuates the offer with a wave of her hand toward the rest of her team.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 18 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 18 + 2 = 40
Extra +2 from Fashionable Accessories to make a request of denizens of Absalom.

Lady Vanessa stands and scans the crowd to see if Nigel Aldain is standing nearby. "Zhis is like vhen zhose demons crashed zhe Blakros wedding." With a dramatic sigh at having such a nice party interrupted, she nods in agreement to Ash and Ellismus' suggestion."

As the other casters buff up, she informs everyone (and gently reminds Grunjar) not to use holy healing magic on her. She points to the bandolier slung low across her ample but perfectly proportioned hips and indicates two vials with black crosses on their lids as being acceptable healing should she drop. "But I vouldn't use zhem on yourselves. Unless you vant a little pain. And if zhat's zhe case, I'm sure ve can arrange sometsing private for a more suitable time," she adds with a mischevious smile.

Blue zone is fine. Let's do this!

Lady Vanessa follows the crowd to the north lawn and easily finds a table with enough seats for the whole party. She gestures for the others to join her and sets her lovely high-brand handbag atop it. She reaches in and pulls out a parasol from it even though there's no way such an item could normally fit in such a small bag. She pops the parasol open to protect her fine alabaster complexion from the mid-day Absalom sun. Though she appears to be listening to the speech ({yawn}), in fact, she's watching all the gathered people as they're just soooo much more interesting.

"Rani, dahling, vhy don't you sit here next to me under zhe shade," she offers with a pat on the chair pulled up close to her side.

It's not often that they did it, but the merfolk boon says: "You can combine this boon with three boons that enable you to play any combination of the following races: dhampir, grippli, ratfolk, samsaran, or vanara." So you have to use up those three boons and keep them with your merfolk character (hence the term "mulching" them.) I ended up using 2 ratfolks and a samsaran since it said "any combination."

It's sad that there was so much play Down Under and in Europe, but those players and GMs weren't able to get the paper race and other interesting con boons. I'm glad they fixed that with the AcP system.

Rani whispers to Vanessa Oh I could tell you a Zarta story that involves my sister but Prilla would probably do mean things to me if I told.

"I'll tell you zhe full story of zhat time vith Zarta if you tell me your story. And please tell me vhat your sister does to you, too, as a bonus," the Lady whispers in reply making sure to place her full red lips as close to the halfling's ear as possible. "You know, Zarta's ropevork is pure artistry. I tsink even you might learn a few tsings," she adds teasingly.

And with that, she turns and gives a tinkling laugh before proceeding to join the crowds and hunt out the best gossip. While there's plenty to hear, she doesn't really care about the politics and activities of the Society and focuses more on who's wearing whom and who's doing whom. That's where the power lies, anyway.

I did quite of bit of GMing at some cons pre-covid so I've got my tiefling, samsaran, vanara, dhampir, and aasimar already in play.

I also have a merfolk. It was a GM boon that was traded to me by an Aussie buddy (Yours is Mine). But it requires mulching 3 other race boons that grant access to either dhampir, grippli, ratfolk, samsaran or vanara. Fortunately I either had or was able to trade for enough of those. He's my final PF1 character, so I figured I wouldn't need any more race boons anyway.

FWIW, I still have one last race boon that allows for the choice of one of the following: ghoran, kobold, rougorou, or samsaran.

(I've also got a triaxian/lashunta/android boon that I've been holding for my adult son in case he wants to come back to PF1. I suppose if someone had a Prosperity boon to trade, I'd part with it.)

"Lady Venessa, does any of those contest sounds interesting to you?" he flies next to you and ask nicely.

"Ah, Captain, I vas planning to go to zhe story circle," she tells him as he alights next to her. "But if ve're supposed to attend multiple events, I suppose I could .." She looks over the map and notes that the animal area is nearby. "... try taming animals instead ov men, for a change."

She glares at the wild dog on the handler's leash,

Intimidate : 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14

but all it does is growl back at her. The handler, however, seems embarrassed that his pooch is misbehaving in front of such a fine lady. She laughs it off as a noble would, and proceeds to where she really wanted to be anyway.

She settles in her chair and waits politely for the rest of the team to join her at the story circle. Taking a read of the audience, she decides to relate a tale about her first encounter with her mentor, Zarta Drahlneen. Of course, given the gathering, she leaves out all the sordid details and makes it look much more professional and worthy of a Pathfinder VC and a new recruit.

Bluff: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (15) + 20 = 35