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I completely hear you, Wicked. Current circumstances have done a number on just about everyone, and you've gotta do what's right for you. If you decide to come back and pick things up again, I'll be glad to join right in. (And Yazi, I'm'a hit you up for War of the Crown. Lemme think on a character idea and I'll chime in on its recruitment.)
Hope everyone's still doing ok out there.
As others have said, swamped. :) But things are getting better. (Now let's hope they stay that way!)
Mouse watches as the group is led into the Shoanti camp, her wonder and curiosity as poorly disguised as that of the people peering from their tents and yurts. I always 'eard th' Shoanti was savages...but this ain't so different from th' Gray, really. An' di'n't take so much 'eavy labor t' build as th' Gran' Cathedral, I'll wager. They could take all o' this with 'em if need be, an' not 'ave t' rely on findin' a place once they got t' where they were goin'... Appreciatively, she runs her fingers over the heavy wool of the nearest yurt. An' I bet it isn't so drafty as 'alf the stone buildin's I slept in for all o' that moveable-ness. The tattoos...would take more getting used to. Mouse knew from Yazi's past stories that the intricate markings were related to each person's achievements and history - but that didn't make the death's head taking over One-Life's face any more imposing. But mebbe tha's half the point, too, them lookin' all fearsome like that. I wonder if gettin' 'em done on 'is face like that hurt? Ain't tattoos, like, a bunch o' needle sticks? An' 'e's got so many...I wanna hear 'is stories. All o' their stories. As the food is brought, Mouse gratefully tucks into it alongside Li, nodding agreement with her friend's thanks to Thousand Bones. She lets the wiser of the group lead the conversation, however - so many legends and monsters were rising from storybooks, she was still herself trying to sort out the truth and the danger of their circumstances.
Despite Yazi's protests, Mouse continues to hover protectively over her, lashing out at the gargoyle nearest her with reckless abandon.
See, my mind went straight to Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy - imagine Garvid faintly screaming inside the worm while stabbing constantly. XD
Mouse tumbles in midair and rockets back toward Yazi, hovering protectively near her and kicking furiously to try and drive the beasts away.
Was it possible to be unsteady on one's feet when one was not on one's feet? An interesting question, but one Mouse doesn't have time to consider. With a slight wobble, she slices forward through the air, darting to close with the nearest gargoyle and lashing out with her fists and feet.
Have a lovely deep nap and a quick recovery!
At Garvid's mention of the gargoyles refusing to come to the ground, Mouse suddenly (and surprisingly) smiles just the slightest bit. "පියාසර කරන්න!" she cries, pronouncing the word carefully as the shop keeper had taught her, and suddenly her feet leave the ground and she takes off into the air following after the creatures.
The next couple of weeks are going to be some of the busiest of my life, so if I don't post feel free to bot me/move on without me. I'll see you on the other side.
"Agreed." In truth, talk of ancient relics and secret brotherhoods had long since gone over Mouse's head...but Laori seemed capable enough, if more than a little strange. And more help was never a bad idea.
There was no two ways about it, Laori was weird. Mouse sits back and lets the others deal with her - Kaer Maga was already overwhelming her as it was.
"You sure 'ave earned your keep," Mouse answers Gav once he reveals the new arrangements, tossing him her silvered gauntlet. "Thanks for the 'elp. Now, come an' share a bit o' this with me," she adds, inhaling deep to take in the smell of cinnamony fried bread she'd bought while waiting for the boy to make arrangements. Y' earned a break, too."
No worries! Do your thing.
Mouse wanders into the Canary House behind Yazi and Li, still distracted by the coolness and whisper-light touch of the mail armor she'd found at the Unbroken Wheel. It would let her fly like the angels, the wizened man who sold it to her had said, and not even an angel could find any better protection pound for pound. After all, he told her, he'd asked themself to confirm it. What a wonder, she marvels, jus' like - But the gilded cages, wondrous as they were, immediately lose their charm when she sees what they contain. For a moment, she desperately tries to believe they're performers, hired help, here of their own free will...but the chains at wrists and ankles dispel that illusion, too. One night, she promises herself as she follows behind Yazi. One night, an' we fin' another inn. An' we ain't askin' Gav this time.
Woo! I'll roleplay it once we get to the Unbroken Wheel, and I'll get my statblock updated a bit later.
Are we going to be using rolls/city statblocks to determine whether items are available to buy? I'm not sure Mouse would be ok with 23 days of waiting for celestial armor, and there are enough ways to get what she wants that it's not necessarily worth the wait.
Mouse watches in wonder as Yazi floats into the air, as gracefully and nonchalantly as Talfryn had. An' tha's why I wanna get somethin' magicked like that, she wonders to herself, only slightly jealously. "Sure," she answers the older woman, "we c'n go after it. Gav c'n ask 'round 'n see if there's anythin' else o' the like as can be foun' too, righ'?"
@Garvid I definitely considered brawling armor, but overall the increased AC and utility application of celestial armor seemed like more what she'd go for, especially after being stuck in a burning pit of acid for half the last fight. All her issues with hitting have been more bad dice rolls than modifiers anyway. It was a tough call, though. ;)
"Canary House'll soun's like it'll work for me. Point th' way. An' firs' thing I'll 'ave y' do for me is look for somethin'." Mouse considers for several moments. She knew it'd been fabulous wealth they'd drawn from the Arkona mansion...but split six ways, was it enough? All she knew was, she was never going to feel as useless as she had against the creatures on the Dusklight Path again. "Miss Yazi...there's magic as can make y' fly, like Lord Talfryn righ' now. An' I know y' can make things magic, like my boots an' shawl is. Is there a way y' can enchant a thing t' wear t' make y' fly? It ain't gotta be all the time, jus' enough t' get outta scrapes if I gotta. Bottles o' potion'd work too, I s'pose, but is there somethin' I c'n keep wit' me all o' the time?"
Some GMs don't want any individual item to comprise more than 25% of a character's wealth. Are you ok with me breaking that in order to get celestial armor, Wicked?
If only I'd'a been so bold, Mouse thinks with a half-smile as Gav steps in beside her. For a while, she lets him rattle off his knowledge of the city - but it's all she can do to keep from choking as he mentions the White Lady. You're tellin' me they let - they let - I guess this really i'n't Korvosa no more... Still, he was forthcoming with information. She's not so naive as to reach into the magic bag she'd retrieved from the Arkona mansion for her coin - I'd pro'ly win' up shoulder deep in 't jus' tryin' t' find anythin' anyway. As she walks, though, she unfastens the silvered gauntlet from her fist and discreetly flashes it to Gav. "A good inn's what I'd like t' see'," she adds. "As good as the city's got. An' if I was t' sen' ya after a couple o' thin's for me, y' think y' could find 'em? Y' bring those t' hand, y'll have somethin' else t' your hand."
I feel like someone should get that CL 9 wand of meowgic meowssiles. If this was any of my normal characters, I'd be all over it. Curse the brawler's lack of spell list!
I've claimed all that Mouse is going to take.
I wasn't quite sure I trusted my numbers, so I redid my character sheet in Herolab to make sure everything was correct. Most of it was, but a few things changed slightly (I'd somehow given myself an extra point of to-hit for my attacks, I mistakenly had Escape Artist as a background skill, and I'd shortchanged myself on my CMB/D for some maneuvers). Also, I didn't realize that Anticipate Dodge had Dodge and Mobility as prerequisites, so I switched that feat out for Improved Grapple. My bad, but everything should be accurate now. I'm not sure any character gets to 11th level without some kind of record-keeping error. XD
As the seugathi falls to the ground, so does Mouse, breathing heavily and trying to move as little as possible to avoid disturbing the acid burns that cover every inch of bare skin. And it's significantly more skin than she would have liked - the acid has even started to eat away at the edges of her clothing, although her magical shawl and boots remain intact. "Garvid's got th' right 'f it," she adds from the floor, adjusting her shawl to make sure everything stays covered. "Mebbe if we was by ourselves we'd go lookin' into wha's back there, but we ain't leavin' you t' whatever else migh' burst out o' nowhere. We got any magic way t' keep it stopped up for a while, keep anything else from comin' out o' there?" she asks, looking to Talfryn and Yazi.
Hooray for leveling! BAB +1 (Yay fifth attack!)
I'll have the changes in my character sheet shortly. I also discovered I never got my level 10 changes put in...my bad.
As Mouse panics, she suddenly feels the floor rushing up beneath her as the acid soaks into the dirt of the floor and disappears. Despite the confusion of the situation, she keeps her head and rushes toward the remaining creature, unleashing a barrage of blows.
As Mouse stares desperately toward the top of the pit, she sees a scarf float over the pit's edge - but it dangles uselessly, too far away to provide Mouse the lifeline she needs. "Somethin' longer!" she calls out, searching desperately for the rope Trinia had dropped.
Gamely, Mouse again attempts to scale the pit walls - and once again, the attempt is punctuated with a scream as she splashes once again into the acid seething in the pit.
As Mouse struggles up the rope, it suddenly goes slack, and she tries desperately to grab hold of the remarkably smooth wall flying past her. But Talfryn's spellwork is too skillful - her fingertips can't gain any purchase, and she lands back in the acid with a soft plop, although she manages to push off the wall at the last moment and absorb some of the pain of the fall into a roll. She attempts to scale the stones again, but her fingers can gain no purchase and she doesn't even leave the ground.
So I assume that means I fall back into the pit and take more acid damage?
As Mouse struggles up the rope, the floor suddenly rises to meet her. That alone would have been confusing enough - rising back into the seugathi influence is too much, and again her eyes begin to dart confusedly around the chaotic scene.
Strangely, as Mouse's circumstances grow ever more chaotic, her mind suddenly clears. 'S somethin' 'bout those things, sets y' goin' crazy... But there was nothing for it but to wander back into the fray - and hope that this time it would go at least a little better. Grimacing as she swims forward through the burning acid, she reaches for the rope and begins to haul herself upward, trying to ignore the pain of the rough hemp fibers against her raw skin.
Being at the bottom of a 50 foot pit, would Mouse be out of the aura at the moment? She would of course need to make the save as she climbed back up into it.
Li's terrible roll sequence Well, at least you got *that* out of the way...o.O
"Bubbles!" Mouse screams as the floor drops out from beneath her; she tries to dive for safety, but where is safety in this miasma? She gains purchase with one hand for just a moment, but the pain in her shoulder is too great, and she slips away and falls into the chasm.
"Knit dare, pudding...ugh!" Mouse lashes out through the fog, swinging at a vague sinuous shape slithering through the mists. But it isn't there, and all she gains for her troubles is a shoulder badly wrenched from the momentum of her swing.
Man, these things are awful. I might have to have my IRL group fight them.
Mouse exclaims in surprise as the monsters burst through the wall. "Watch out for lip - topple, dress, cultivate! Mutter manner, filter journal..." Her hands, tensed and ready for a fight fall loose to her sides as a look of bewilderment crosses her features. "Glory slave observer!"
Mouse had heard rumors and stories of Kaer Maga - the city's precarious cliffside resting place, the chaotic panoply of races and creeds simmering in its streets, and the perilous Halflight Path tunnel. May be th' fas' way t' get up, she worries to herself, fingering the small charm hanging from its cord around her neck, but I'm seriously thinkin' 'bout th' safe way 'stead. But time was of the essence, Mouse knew - climbing the Storval Rise could take ages, and their errand brooked no unnecessary delay. Besides, whatever was in this tunnel couldn't be worse than vampires. I 'ope.
Trinia's smile is infectious, and Mouse can't help but share in her enthusiasm, though it's tempered more than a little bit with her own nervousness. "Li's righ' - it ain't so much like the stories as I thought. 'S dangerous, way dangerous, an' ain't so much glory an' fame in it as the stories say neither. Y'd be safer back 'ere, but if y' promise t' stick close an' listen t' what we're sayin'...some extra comp'ny migh' be nice."
I get where people could be coming from, if they're 100% mentally set on an urban adventure, but to me it's not too jarring, or at least not as jarring as some book-to-book transitions I've seen in Adventure Paths. Mostly it's just the nature of having six authors working simultaneously on a project - you'll get some weird jumps like that. They've tied it in well story-wise, so that it at least makes some sense. And like Mouse said, a change of scenery can be nice. :)
She throws herself on Mouse’s cot. ”So, where are ya going now? I still have the adventuring bug! I wanna go, too!” "Tell ya the truth...I wish I knew where we was goin'," Mouse responds to Trinia's eager question. "We don't know much o' nothin' 'bout where we go from here, or 'bout really anythin'." But she can't help a half-smile. "Don' take much t' be an adventure f'r me, though - this's the firs' time I ever been outta the city walls. Different, but I can't say 's in a bad way - this's the firs' time I ever seen a horse as didn't look miserable, an' bein' somewhere wha' doesn't smell like fish an' salt's a welcome change. I even saw a deer when we was comin' in!" She mentions the wild creature with the same tone of wonder she'd have used for vampires and ghosts, until only a short time ago. After all, it was just as mythical a creature for the slum-dweller. ---------- But even seeing vampires and ghosts didn't make the news of a sadistic, megalomaniac Queen empowered by the spirit of an evil dragon worshipping an even more evil god much easier to bear. At Neolandus' story, Mouse can't help letting out an audible gasp, though she restrains her surprised response to let him finish. News of the Cinderlands' harshness, however, she takes strangely in stride. "Well, it don' soun' fun," she finally adds in, "but least bad weather an' hard land's honest. It ain't hidin' behind a pretty face or plottin' in th' shadows 'gainst us in particular - tha's a sight frien'lier than Korvosa for us righ' now. An' we gotta learn as much as we can 'bout these...Midnight Teeth, y' said? Only way we got any chance o' tryin' to do anythin' 'bout it." The reserved confidence in her voice is a far cry from the girl who cowered beneath a gangster's thumb or ran and hid from hags' spells - it's not pride or foolhardiness, but conviction.
Still pleasantly sated by the simple-but-pleasant fare Ichond had provided, Mouse jumps only slightly at Zellara's surprise appearance - the woman was spooky, there was no doubt, but she wasn't even top ten on the Mouse's Scariest Experiences list anymore. As she wills her heart into its normal steady pace, Mouse settles in to watch another Harrowing with fascination (and only a little nervousness). She still couldn't claim to much understand the process...but she'll take anything she can get for information of what's to come. Nervously, she sets a hand on the card that appears before her, pondering the image of the slaves raising their hands toward the open skies and committing it to memory. This's wha' this's all for, she resolves. Don' much care 'f I'm the one who's set free - but those little 'uns back at Cal's deserve better 'n a city what's lookin' t' crush 'em." As Zellara's narrative continues, Mouse especially latches on to the numerous references to the Shoanti. If the telling was true, Yazi's people were to play a significant role in what was to come...and from Zellara's words, it sounded like they needed freedom from bondage and suffering as much as anyone else in Korvosa. "Soun's like 's your folk what we gotta go to for 'elp, then, Yazi, after we get Neolandus an' Vencarlo safe," she finally answers, several moments after Zellara fades away. "If what Miss Zellara says is real. In the 'bout-the-now part, she was sayin' all kinds o' things about the Shoanti. An' tha's like t' be the las' place anyone'd come lookin' for us..." ---------- "I dunno - namin' a crew seems like somethin' f'r the grand adventurers, goin' out an' rescuin' damsels an' slayin' dragons an' such," Mouse answers Vencarlo with a hint of a smile. "Those're some o' my favorite stories, an' I remember gettin' my hands on a broadsheet 'r two 'bout the adventures o' the Blackbirds. But this don' seem quite the same as that t' me. We ain't goin' t' fin' riches an' glory...least, I'm not. I jus' wanna try an' make things a little better f'r home..." She glances down the river once again, toward where Korvosa rests uneasily at its end. "I still ain't sure how this's got so far out o' hand. Jus', one thing after another, an' next I know I'm fightin' tiger-headed nobles wit' backward hands..."
"Nope. No one." The simplicity of Mouse's answer stands in sharp contrast to the roiling turmoil of her emotions. Korvosa was corrupt and rotten to the core, but it had been Mouse's entire world as long as she could remember. Leaving it behind had felt like walking off the edge of a cliff and hoping to sprout wings on the way down - and the rocking and bumping of the boat wasn't helping. All of Mouse's nightmares had ended with churning waves and choking water; now this one was going there as well.
"I 'gree wit' Yazi," Mouse adds with a nod. "Stop up doors down 'n such. Take a bit, but it'll be safer 'n leavin' 'em open. Gettin' rid o' anythin' lef' down there'd be safest, but I don' know as we got time f'r that."
I was doing the work-from-home thing last week too while I had some mild flu-like symptoms. It was kind of nice for a short time, but I didn't like being cooped up in my apartment that long. And best of luck to you, Yazi. I hope everything goes well!
Mouse simply watches. Words were not her weapon - let others bear them to bring this injustice low. Hers was to witness, to know, to bear the weight of the sins of her supposed betters. Glorio's shapeshifting act, though, almost makes her turn away. Seeing Cressida in a noose is almost overwhelming, because Mouse knows it's true, even if no literal rope chafes her neck. Rotten. Rotten down t' the core - fish this rotten woul'n't'a made even Lamm's stan'ards for his slurry. And yet the poor and downtrodden of Korvosa were forced to live on it, just like any suspect street meat or reeking fish pie. The fish rots from the head, she'd heard before. Korvosa may have been a hydra of corruption, but here at least, one head would be severed. An' the way t' stop 'em's t' burn th' head, righ'? Then le's get everything we can from 'ere, keep someone else from springin' up t' be jus' as bad or worse. She dives into the recovery work with relish, packing her bag carefully to hold as much as possible and taking advantage of the magically enhanced bags to hold even more. As she enters the last room, the magical tree transfixes her - she can do little more than stare at the graceful branches as they undulate in the soft breeze, wondering at the grandness of the tableau. Even as Kynes retches beside her, she gazes transfixed in awe.
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