I, Majda Orlovsky, answer the call of the Swordlords.
Character and stuffs in the profile.
Search Posts
I'm going to withdraw from this game guys. Thanks for the chance to have played Kertuffle. Hope the rest of you have fun and are successful in conquering the Stolen Lands. See yas around the boards, may your criticals be plentiful~
Majda spurs Thunder into action after hearing the fighting start. Guess no one else wanted to ride... She thinks, shaking the snow off her furs and galloping around to block off any possible retreat.
I usually add a text box with a number in it, drag it over the icon of the bandit. Then click one, hold ctrl and click the other to select both, then right click on them and hit group. That way the text box with the number will move around with the bandit icon.
You guys can add you own pics, just copy and paste. I added them though.
Well, your horse is the one pulling the cart Rowan. I did forget your dog though, what breed is he? What kind of eagle is Caelus?
"Sounds like a great idea to me Casimir," Majda says with a smile for her creative cousin.
"If they normally come up the road, most of you could hide in the stables. Rowan and I can mount up behind the fort. Oleg can lure them all inside the fort's walls and then one of you can let off a signal and attack them. Rowan and I will ride around quickly to the front to trap them in the fort. If there are a lot of them, it would be prudent to make sure none get away to warn their friends that there is a new law in the Stolen Lands. At least not until we are ready to deal with the bandit threat as a whole."
Okay. I added a cart to represent the one we borrowed. Everyone should be there, just drag and resize your icon where you want to be. Edit: Guess it took me like ten minutes to make. Oh well :P
Did google maps not work or something? You should be able to get the whole fort on one thing, and its much cleaner and less cluttered. I'll even make the map for you if you host the images somewhere, it shouldn't take more than like five minutes. Edit:Actually, I'll just make a map. I have the books.
Can't seem to move anything on the Roll20 map.
Yeah, my squad is sticking with the cart this time.
I think the idea is to borrow a cart, hitch it to Rowan's horse and then make people with heavier than light armor put their armor in the cart. Then all 13 of us move at 30' a round and do a forced march to make it in time.
Anastacia, it's much easier to have d20pfsrd which you can search with google rather than looking through a bunch of books. It doesn't have the fluff, but it has the rules from pretty much every book out there all in one easy place. Can't remember the last time I actually opened a physical gaming book. It also references everything at the bottom of each page if you want to find it in the actual book.
"I'm glad we're in agreement Rowan, very glad. You are an amazing tracker by the way. I feel a bit superfluous with you around." Majda smiles warmly as she admires Rowan.Superfluous... how so? He asks with curiosity. We all have a role to play in this world. I'm sure there are things that you are able to do better than I. Like running these soft hands over that hard body of yours. "Yes, I suppose that's true. It's just normally I'm the best hunter, but you're seeing things I would miss on my best day. I guess it's just nice to be around another truly talented hunter for once. My father's household are lovely, but they are common folk. They all do their jobs, but none of them are exceptionally skilled at anything."
"I will ask Rowan. Thunder's never pulled a cart before and I don't want to give up my mobility. Without him I move at a snail's pace, as I'm sure you've seen."
"Yes. We should crush them, show them that stealing what other men earn will not be tolerated any longer. Perhaps some few of them might be saved, but I fear soon we will see much blood." Majda seems to accept the likely violence without having any lust for it.
"I'm glad we're in agreement Rowan, very glad. You are an amazing tracker by the way. I feel a bit superfluous with you around." Majda smiles warmly as she admires Rowan.
"I was telling Wilhelm earlier that I intend to set up a land where each person is free to earn the rewards of their own labor. I find Andoran very inspiring. I also hope to form some form of accord with the fey of the stolen lands. I hope we can ally with them, and benefit from one another rather than fight. What about you Rowan?"
"No Wilhelm, I am unique amongst the ladies of Choral Hold. Most of them find having two good legs limits them to the bedchamber, embroidering tapestries and gossiping." Majda's reply is clearly somewhat sarcastic, but with a playful tone as well.
Wilhelm wiles away the long hours of riding by keeping watch on the surrounding area and performing what reflection on Iomedae's teachings that he's able. Shortly after the scouting party leaves Nivakta's Crossing, he asks Madja, "It's not my intention to pry, Majda. I may be prying right now anyway, so feel free to hit me if I am. That said, why leave the comfort of your home for small villages and wilderness like this? For my own part, I desire adventure, glory and a chance to earn a real place in history. There will be no fading into obscurity for this Orlovsky. Of that I am most certain." "My desires are similar. I have been unappreciated my whole life. Instead of being born a male heir I had the audacity to have a vagina. On top of it, I was a cripple, and then later some kind of nature-witch heathen. At least, if you were to take my parent's view on the subject." Madja's voice is a little bitter, but she smiles and continues. "I decided to see what I could accomplish on my own. To prove myself and my skills in the real world, undeniably. I am most comfortable astride Thunder, with a clear purpose at hand, not sitting at home rotting away into nothing. So that is why I left." She hesitates before commenting further, "It may be foolish of me, but I also have a desire to establish a land where every man can prosper based on his or her own labor. Where everyone is master of themselves, and only themselves. I greatly admire Andoran and that regard. They have blazed the trail for all to follow. I hope also to bring balance with nature and they fey of the region. Could we not ally with them like the elves often do, and both benefit from our association?"
Majda nods when Wilhelm calls off the hunting. After they return she passes him on her way to set up a campsite for her and thunder and to talk with the loggers.
Majda will seek out Viktor after having spent some time talking with Big John and his sons. "Good evening Viktor. I just thought I should tell that the loggers are telling tales of heavy bandit activity. It seems the bandits are being organized from somewhere out near Tuskwater Lake." After listening to his response she continues, "Things worked out great with Rowan today. I really like him, and we were able to move quickly by doubling up on the mounts. Doing that each day should give us plenty of time to keep hunting for the group."
"I think we're fine for the moment. If you could lead us somewhere that's big enough for thirteen people to camp that would be excellent. We should have quite a lead on the other two groups, so I was thinking of doing some hunting while we wait for them to catch up. Are there are any good spots for game near here?" Majda smiles at Caminsky, glad that he's being helpful.
If you're going to dip for skills, might as well take rogue.
Now that Majda's squad has two horses, she mounts up and offers Wilhelm an arm. "You can ride behind me Wilhelm. If any fighting breaks out, you'll need to dismount, but this should speed up our journey significantly." Turning to her elven and druidic companions she says, "Rowan, if you don't mind, I'd like Dantalion to ride double with you as well. This arrangement is just until we can get everyone mounted."
Close to 18 miles from last nights resting place Madja's squad comes across Fort Serenko, a wooden fortification that marks the boundary of Brevoy. To the south you can see the Kiravoy River joining the Shrike. About a dozen soldiers are stationed here and you can see their mounts stabled in the fort. They are currently taking care of 2 wagons filled with lumber that are obviously heading back towards Restov. You can tell from their stance and joking manner that the loggers are obviously well known to the soldiers. A lieutenant walks up to whichever member of the squad is in front and asks "Excuse me but which one of you is Viktor Stovyet?" "None of us." Majda says, urging Thunder forward. "We are the advanced scouts for the rest of his party, I am Lady Majda Orlovsky. What can we do for you Lieutenant?"
The key is posting during combat. Out of combat, if you don't post your character will just kinda go on auto-pilot and not express any opinions. It's not posting in combat that holds things up. Even then 1 post per 48 hours or so is pretty normal, though almost every DM prefers 1/24 hours. It just doesn't end up being realistic a lot of the time.
"Me too." Majda traces the rough lines of Rowan's face with her eyes. He's really rather handsome. "When are you going to introduce me to your horse?" she asks playfully, grinning at the druid.
"No, I was born this way. You can't heal something that was never there to begin with. I don't mind you asking. I'm not a druid but I too am granted magical power by nature. I've heard many druids have a bond with an animal, like I do with Thunder. Is that dog your companion?"
"Hi there, you must be Rowan. By all means, please, use the fire." Majda sits down herself, stretching out her leg near the blaze. "Did I hear that you're a druid?"
"Either way, he's very cool. You must be very creative to come up with such a creature, I've never seen anything like it before." Majda hesitates for a moment and then says, "I think Viktor is going to reassign you. He wants to move the other horse and Rowan into my group. The goal is to get all of the scouting squad mounted as soon as possible so that we can cover more ground."
Are we really going to start a new thread for each new location? That's going to make it a nightmare to go back to look at stuff. I think we should probably just stick with one main thread, and one for each squad, only to be used when they go off on their own and something happens to them. Wilhelm - I almost mentioned how lovely and long your posts were when i was talking about posting rates, but I figured the "it's not a bad" thing comment would be enough to let people know I wasn't trying to call anyone out or anything, simply observing. :) A guy I really enjoy PBPing with recently had to temporarily quit all his games for RL reasons totally out of his control. So it can still happen, doesn't matter how much you normally post. I wasn't trying to indicate that I think the slower posters will drop out, just that it can happen. Hopefully that's more clear.
Addressing you initial concern, I think it may be more appropriate to send Rowan along with your group and have Casimir take his place in Felix's squad. He is quite in tune with nature as well, and he is a rider. If you are satisfied with that resolution, I'll go notify Felix. "I'd be fine with that Viktor. To be honest, Casimir didn't seem too happy to be taking order from me this morning, and he's barely said anything all day. Perhaps you should ask Casimir as well?" ***
After her brief chat with Viktor, Majda seeks out her squad. She finishes her earlier field dressing of the two hares and the bird, and starts a fire for her men. After spitting the animals she says to Dantalion, Wilhelm and Casimir, "You three can eat these. You all did great today. Especially you Wilhelm. I know I pushed you pretty hard at the beginning there, must have been rough with your armor. Thank you." Majda hobbles over and places one hand on Wilhelm's shoulder, smiling at him. She examines the construct that she'd seen Casimir talking with a few minutes earlier. It's now standing still over his bedroll, "Cousin, I didn't have the chance to talk to you much today. That construct is really amazing, I saw you talking, is it intelligent? Did you make it yourself?"
You can only link one thread at a time. You have to just make a [url=} tag link, and put it in the campaign info tab, under campaign description. Then it'll show up at the top of every page, making it much easier to find.
Majda smiles at Viktor. "Yes, I was going to speak to you about getting all my squad mounted if we are going to be the scouts for the group. Casimir's metal man is more of a concern than Wilhelm. We can put my cousin on a steed, but that metal monster seems to have a top speed about the same as a man walking. I'm not sure if it can ride a horse or not."
"Every leader should have a horse, certainly. It helps to have men need to look up to you." Majda continues to brush Thunder, reassuring him enough that he merely jerks his head back rather than biting Viktor's hand. "He's very particular about who touches him, sorry Viktor. Thunder is unique, that's for sure. In all my years of breeding horses I've never seen his like, in size, strength or intelligence. The only problem with him, if you can even call it that, is that I'm the only human he'll have anything to do with." Majda works further down Thunder's flank, beginning to brush out his tail. "Today was easy. To be honest, I won't feel like my squad has fully bonded until we've faced real danger together. Though the men were pleasant and obedient."
That's very true. But with thirteen people, beyond anyone else it's going to need to be Kertuffle who's posting multiple times a day to keep this alive and healthy. So far he's done great in my opinion :) Kinda shot himself in the foot as far as getting involved in other PBPs though. Unless he's lucky enough to have tons of freetime, and wants to spend it all on the boards. This game is going to be a massive time commitment for him. I suspect our group will shrink rapidly down to 10 or so. That one guy only posted once. We've got a few people posting roughly half as much as most of the others (not that that's always a bad thing). Anastacia, Rowan and Wilhelm. Just in my past PBP experience people, even solid ones, always drop over time. RL stuff happens.
"Well met Wilhelm, I am from the Choral Hold Orlovskys. At the head of the Choral river in the foothills east of Mt. Veshka. We'll have plenty of time for further introductions on the road. We've got sixteen miles to cover before darkness and it looks like I'm the only one mounted." Majda looks around, calling over Casimir and his metal monster. Once Wilhelm, Dantalion and Casimir are standing in front of her in a line she instructs them, "Our goal is to make Nivakta's Crossing by nightfall. There should be little threat, as the road is well withing Brevoy's borders. Our job is to make sure it's clear for the other two squads who will be coming behind us. Casimir, you, your machine and Wilhelm take point. Dantalion will be in the middle. I'll bring up the rear as I have the greatest mobility on Thunder. Dantalion, please do have Caelus circle us as we go. He's got a much better chance of spotting danger than any of us on the ground." Majda wheels Thunder around towards the now open gate, "C'mon boys, lets show them what House Orlovsky's rejects and a son of Sovyrian can when we work together! Hustle out!" Majda sets what will be a brutal pace for Wilhelm in his heavy armor for the first hour of their journey. Then she slows down a bit, to preserve the squad's endurance. Along the way, Majda uses her sling and greater mobility to hunt, killing two snow hares and a grouse. Should be enough food for three of us, she thinks, smiling. The men can have the fresh food, I'll eat my rations.
Alright, well, I'll move my squad out in gameplay.
Before I post in gameplay, are we splitting into three threads or not?
No problem. Might I suggest using google docs drawings to host your map images? You can upload one, then use it as the background. Copy+paste our avatars onto it and move them around like tokens. It also has enough tools to draw and label stuff if you want. I find it very convenient. You want a monster, just do a google search for it's name, and copy paste it onto the map. You can even use little text boxes to number like monsters.
1) I've done it many times, just don't try to distribute it or sell it and they won't care. I'm not sure of the technical legality of it, but they intend those maps to be used for playing the game so I don't see an issue. Like I said, I do it all the time. 2) Just go to Play by Post and click "ADD A NEW THREAD" at the top.
"Good morning Lady Lanya. How ever do you manage to make your winter gear look so lovely? I always feel like a potato in this stuff," Majda says, gesturing down to the thick wool and leather outfit she has on under her armor. "Thunder serves me better than my own legs ever have." By now it's apparent that her radiant grin is her most used expression. The young noblewoman seems to be bursting with excitement and enthusiasm. The stallion senses her mood and paws in place, flicking his long tail back and forth and shaking his head. He's not quite used to having so many people fawning over him, and it shows.
"He is called Thunder. Pleased to meet you Rowan." Majda says, leaning down to shake his hand from the saddle. Her smile is genuine, and she knees Thunder into a small circle in front of Rowan so he can see the steed from all angles.
Majda inclines her head in a slight bow, accepting Viktor's choices with her body language. "What will our first objective be Viktor?"
Agreed.
But running the same encounters in triplicate is also hellish and boring, so we should have a shared timeline. I'm not sure if we can do it without splitting the thread though. If three groups are all using the same thread it'll look like crap at a minimum. Creating three gameplay threads is easy, the tabs at the top won't work, but you can create three campaign info tabs and stick a URL back to this original thread in all three of them. That way we can use the current gameplay thread for when the three groups have shared interactions.
Running three groups on a shared timeline will create it's own assload of issues. I've done it in the past with two groups and it ended up getting really messed up. Due to different posting rates, one group ended up going to a spot in the future that other group was in in the past, but hadn't finished yet. So I had to put the future group on pause for about a month of real life time and lost most of the players. Then combined them into one super group. Also, unless you are multiplying all the encounters by three, we will have a much much easier time just sticking together as 13 people and steamrolling everything.
"I will gladly lead a squad. Would you want me to select it myself? I found Lady Lanya and Dantalion to be most pleasant yesterday. Perhaps those two and my cousin Wilhelm would make a good team. If I saw correctly yesterday at the meeting, he seemed to be a strong warrior."
Also, no spoilers please! I've only played through the beginning of Kingmaker so far.
|