Marten Lebeda's page

Marten gives an easygoing grin and says, "My lord, you are too generous in inviting representatives from our fledgling polity. The tales of the Rushlight Tournament have spread far and wide, and we are delighted beyond measure to be guests at your festival."

He accepts one of the goblets as the servants bring them forth and continues, "Though only the gods know how we shall fare in the competitions, we mean to enjoy all of the hospitality that you extend, and we hope that this will provide a greater understanding between Pitax and the Republic of the Kamelands."

He takes a sip of the beverage and says, "Your Majesty picks a fine vintage, in addition to striking a commanding figure. Though we are simple guests, if there is any way that we can form a bridge between our nations, we are all eager to hear your thoughts."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (17) + 20 = 37

Tessara seems to take some of the subtle nuance and cues from Marten's introduction, and she takes up a position slightly behind and to the right of him, as if to be an accompanying maiden of surpassing beauty in a subtle reflection of Irovetti's position.

Aid Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

+2 to Marten's Diplomacy, for total 39.

Tessara uses her telekinetic powers to set up the team's pavilion, then once the group cleans up, Marten dons his best knightly attire and joins the procession to meet with Irovetti.

Tessara says, "Guard your thoughts—remember, he is a powerful potentate, and he may use magic to try to detect our secrets and our motivations."

Marten smiles as he leans down and easily hauls Mouse up on to the saddle.

"Just hang onto me. Tracer is a very calm horse, you'll be fine."

As if on queue, Tracer slows slightly to an easier pace.

As Niadroub's horse bucks, Tracer turns and whinnies at the other mount, as if to chastise it.

Marten arrives riding on Tracer, looking every inch the shining knight, complete with a pennon. Tessara rides alongside on her own light horse.

"Let's take a circuit of the fairgrounds," he suggests. "Understand where everyone is encamped and where the activities will happen."

He glances down to Mouse and says, "Would you like to ride up here?"

"Let's assemble a diplomatic party, then, and accept this invitation. What can we expect from the tournament? What have they done in the past?"

Marten is keen to know if there are examples from prior years of what goes on, and whether we should bring certain things to prepare. Will we need a retinue? Gifts to give away? Extra food to throw a feast? Spare axes because... reasons?

Zelera was quite pleased with the idea of officiating the wedding and asked Tessara, "So what kind of things do you want for the wedding? Are there particular things you want done? I've never officiated something like this before, and we don't really have particular traditions for weddings."

Tessara says, "I just want it to be beautiful and memorable. Hopefully without leaving the entire audience shocked or horrified. It doesn't need to be a religious devotion, it's a celebration of our union and of our friends in the community who share this joy with us."

Ready to move on!

Marten nods. "That's an excellent point," concedes Marten. "Maybe he's not what he appears, or maybe he was trying to earn trust by accepting Niadroub's offer without question. Either way, we don't know his real motivations yet. I hope Niadroub can keep an eye out for any magical shenanigans. The last thing we need is someone causing havoc by enchanting people or sabotaging our operations quietly with spells while we're trying to deal with international diplomacy."

That's as good a spot as any to leave off for now, unless other folks want to chime in.

"Errr..." says Dalsin to Mouse.

"... no."

Marten raises his eyebrows and folds his arms.

"Well I mean... that's my plan. To go home by traveling back into the future, at a rate of one second per second," says Dalsin.

The junior mage wobbles slightly and hands the hooch back to Niadroub.

"I'm um... having a hard time focusing, though. Must be a side-effect of the temporal displacement."

Marten says, "Look, we'll get you somewhere to get some rest, and then you can answer some questions. As long as you don't present a threat to other people, you can... help Niadroub out around the lab or whatever it is you do."

Dalsin nods slightly, massaging his forehead.

Marten leads Dalsin off to a guest room and then turns and crouches down to Mouse once the visiting mage is lying down.

"Mouse, there's something off about that fellow. I don't sense any malice from him, he's not an evil man, but his story just feels... off. What do you think?"

Dalsin takes a pull of the hooch and it rapidly becomes clear that his tolerance is near zero.

"You make fireballs with this, right?" says the junior mage.

The Wedding

Tessara hugs Zelera gratefully and says, "We still have many years ahead to see how things turn out... so for now we should celebrate!"

~~~~~~~~~~

The Arrival

Dalsin looks uncomfortable at Niadroub's direct and effective threat.

"Uh, yes, I am a wizard. I... er, well, I didn't actually finish a formal postgraduate program at the Arcanamirium, so I'm not licensed to teach, but uh... I do have my undergraduate certification in magical construction, engineering, and chronomancy."

The Arrival

Niadroub Kliip can be found in his distillery refilling his flasks in preparation for teacher interviews, which is probably the way it's normally done.

After Marten finishes explaining Daisin Kerr's tale, he takes a long pull from a flask of something terrible while giving the new mage the stinkeye.

"Hoow far een the future? And cen you proove eet?"

"Well... nobody has told me what year it is right now," says Dalsin.

"But!" he says, holding up a finger, "we can deduce that it can't be too far, because we still share a common language, and your weapons and clothes seem familiar to me, if perhaps a bit archaic."

"I studied at the Arcanamirium, you see, a prestigious magical academy, where I learned the mysteries of time and space."

The Arcanamirium currently exists. So far there is nothing to indicate that this magician is not, in fact, simply from the present.

"However, I must exercise caution! Reckless misuse of future foreknowledge could have disastrous consequences upon the flow of time. Therefore I must avoid presenting any secrets or mysteries that might alter your course of actions."

Marten says dryly, "And you think that appearing here and announcing yourself as the Master of Time didn't already do that."

Dalsin shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot and says, "Well, my landing was not entirely uh, controlled, so some slippage is inevitable. But now I have to make sure that I don't corrupt the timeline!"

Marten rolls his eyes and then says to Niadroub, "Can you at least make sure that this guy isn't going to accidentally blow up the castle?"

The Herald

Marten points out to his comrades, "This is probably a trap, but it's also going to be our best opportunity to see what's happening in Pitax up close. They'll invite us directly in."

Shoot, sorry Marten. Work has been super busy, so I haven't been feeling very creative when I get home. I meant to get back to Dalsin Kerr, but obviously that didn't happen.

It's not a problem at all. This is just for funzies. Nobody has an obligation to participate!

Yeah, I dropped both of those threads as potential RP hooks. Dalsin Kerr, the chronomancer, is Marten's latest weirdo recruit. He is, obviously, not entirely truthful about his origins and purpose here, and I was hoping to rope Niadroub into a (potentially comical) short scene about having a wizard drop in who claims to be the MASTER OF TIME but is actually kind of a goof.

The wedding is something that has been simmering for a while and since we have a little downtime between expeditions, I figured I'd kick off the preparations for it. Actual wedding will likely show up later in brief.

Or, if people just want to get on to the next quest, that's fine too. :)

I thought someone might have something to say about the time-traveling nerd who suddenly appeared in our midst, but apparently not :D

I guess not a lot of bites on my threads, so let's do it!

It was nice to be back again and Zelera did her usual routine, relaxed in her favorite tree, pull a few pranks, and eventually went to take care of any business that had come up from the local population, fey or otherwise. It was during this time that Tessara found here and brought up her request.

"I'm honored you came to me Tessara but I must ask, are you sure you want me to perform it? The Eldest hate the gods and Marten is a paladin," Zelera responded. Then, after a moment, a rather amused smile crossed her lips as she continued, "Having said that the Lantern King would likely enjoy the humor in one of his performing a wedding ceremony for a paladin dedicated to two of the gods with biggest sticks up their asses to be a rare chance to pull one over on them and get away with it."

Tessara says, "One of the... challenges of our dalliance is that Marten is far, far more mortal than I am. He is taking this seriously, and it is a serious matter, but he needs to be able to laugh, to live in the moment, to take the challenges of life and turn them into treasured memories instead of angry rebukes that later become bitter regrets."

"I think that a god worthy of serving is a god who can laugh, and the worthiness of virtue demands less ego, not more."

Sorry to drop two threads at once, but this shouldn't take too long!

The Wedding

Independent of other Problems, Marten stops in to chat with Lord Colwyn.

"I have a personal matter, my lord," he broaches hesitantly. Paladins are supposed to be immune to fear, but he seems nervous?

Colwyn waves a hand for Marten to get on with hid. The laconic lord is busy with lots of paperwork. Letters, mostly. Supplicants, requests, demands.

"I... I mean Tessara... I mean we would like to be married, and have a home of our own."

Colwyn glances up at Marten from beneath his shaggy eyebrows, and after several seconds he tilts his head in a slightly-ominous way.

"Do you mean to retire to the country, Marten?" says Colwyn at last.

Marten gulps and says, "Well... I should spend some time with my wife. And uh... if we wind up in the family way... I mean, I should be responsible about it."

Colwyn wags his finger and says, "You have responsibilities here! When you joined you knew that this country was not a simple problem that you can just flounce in, have some adventures, and then skitter off to who knows where to indulge your baser appetites."

Marten shifts from foot to foot and says, "Sire, uh, I understand. I have an obligation here and I mean to fulfill it. It's just, uh, Tessara also requires, um, fulfillment."

Colwyn finally breaks into a toothy grin and says, "I'm just joshing with you, lad. Of course you have my blessing. Some people say you can't serve two masters, but I find that really, the challenge of responsibility is in navigating multiple obligations at the same time. Come on, let's talk about where to have the ceremony."

Marten looks relieved as he says, "Well, Tessara wanted to see if we could renovate one of the old elven ruins. She's very traditional about certain things..." as the two of them wander off to discuss the event.

~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Tessara pays an unexpected visit to Zelera. The elf woman is much more composed than her fiance.

"Zelera, you know that Marten and I plan to marry, yes?" she says, getting right to the point. "And have a family and possibly a tragic love story, since he's human and all."

"Anyway, I wanted to ask if you would perform the ceremony for us. Because I like you, and I think you would do something... memorable."

Back in Thornholme, Marten has two deal with two consequential things.

The Arrival
As the team is dealing with day-to-day administrivia, Marten is just leaving a meeting with Lord Colwyn and trying to address some small local problems when there is a sudden burst of magical energy and a swirling vortex forms out of nothing, deposits a person, and vanishes.

The deposited individual, apparently a human male, wears ragged blue clothing, including a cloak and trews, and has dark hair and a lean, scruffy appearance. He scrambles to his feet as petitioners flee the chamber and Marten reaches for Falling Leaf while concentrating his honed sense of those intending malice.

The arrival brushes off nonexistent dust and mumbles something about thinking that Marten would be taller before he puts his hands up defensively. "No, no, I'm not here to cause trouble! I came to, uh, to warn you. No, er, I mean, to help you. I'm from the future, you see," he says with a conspiratorial lean forward.

Skeptical, Marten keeps his hand on his blade and says, "I'll have to talk to Niadroub about preventing such entrances in our governing spaces. What exactly are you here to help with, and who are you, and why?"

The man bows with a flourish and says, "I am Dalsin Kerr, MASTER OF TIME!"

Marten continues to look skeptical.

"Well, I mean..." says Dalsin. "I mean I arrived here sort of by accident, but it was on my list, all right? So I just need to... um... let the clock wind forward and everything will be fine. Eeeeeverrryything will be fiiiiine. I couldn't possibly screw up the timeline more."

Marten shakes his head. "I'm getting Niadroub. You, come with me."

Marten goes to find his wizarding friend to try to make some sense of this.

THIS IS A MONARCHY NIADROUB

(Actually I guess checking the kingdom sheet it's a Republic. Dammit! I guess I could do like most people in the U.S. and just not vote)

(I would prefer not to kill dragonflies unless they are like, giant and evil and monstrous)

HoW hArD cOuLd It Be?

(Also IRL I love dragonflies and I feel sad about hurting them)

Tessara would be a bit put out if Marten spent all of his time on the road with other women with impressive chests. Siofra is there principally to lampoon Marten, and to give Zelera someone to talk to.

Technically, Siofra is breaking a rule: All of a paladin's recruits and followers are supposed to be Lawful Good. I am bending it because she follows Marten around specifically to make his life harder, rather than being a loyal follower who is perfectly aligned in goals and agendas with the paladin.

Siofra is the sarcastic bard who is always lampooning Marten (for reasons that may become clear in later RP). If you click on the "recruits" link in Marten's stat line, it will take you to an excel sheet that has tabs for each recruit, and each one has a picture.

Got the left/right description messed up. Moved Marten to the left on the map. I'll need tokens for Tracer (the horse) and Siofra as well.

Marten waits for his team to deal with the mummy on the left, then maneuvers Tracer to the right side.

Tracer: Will save, aura of courage: 1d20 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 4 = 10

The mount, however, is terrified of the mummies, and Marten is forced to dismount.

Siofra continues to inspire Mouse from afar.

That's my turn.

Everyone within 10' of Marten gets a +4 bonus on that save vs. fear! Marten is himself immune.

Marten glances over to his colleagues to see if he should maneuver Tracer around the blade barrier to engage the other two mummies, or stick close so that everyone can benefit from his presence.

Marten casts bless weapon in preparation for fighting the undead.

Siofra starts singing extemporaneously:
"It's a jape in the bog
With the mud and the log
And the dead men that don't sleep!

Tin-hat! Tin-hat! He's a little tin-hat!
If only he knew the way!"

Siofra throws inspire greatness on Mouse, since she doesn't have inspire competence.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Marten draws blade and shield as the team approaches the bog.

"Anyone see them?" he asks as he maneuvers Tracer through the muck. (Fortunately, the enchanted horseshoes help to overcome the slowness of traveling through mud.)

His sword dips slightly as he concentrates.

Sweeping detect evil across the area.

Siofra, who has unaccountably decided to accompany the team for this one, sarcastically says, "Maybe they're hiding under the mud, tin-hat."

Ready!

Costs at 50% 'cuz I gots the peeps to do my enchantin' (Tessara, in this case). I haven't introduced the guy who has the special extra 5% cut trait, though, so not getting that bonus yet.

Improve Falling Leaf to a +3 holy weapon: 24,000 gp
Improve mithral breastplate from +2 to +3: 2,500 gp
Add comfort to mithral breastplate (removes last armor check penalty, and allows sleeping in armor): 2,500 gp
Improve shield from +2 to +3: 2,500 gp

Total cost: 31,500 gp; 63 days

Once my new recruit joins, I can get some wondrous items as well, such as an amulet of natural armor.

Due to time constraints, all of this comes online after we do the bog mummies and refugees and then do our two months of kingdom turns.

I'm doing upgrades during the kingdom turns. Will try to hash that out tonight.

OMG I have Recruits who could be on the faculty!

Alright so buy whatever gear we want, clearing up the Bog mummies and the refugees, then head across the southern stretch (the Abandoned keep is in 39)

Then RP kingdom expansion/development. Take kingdom turns. Item creation etc

Ooof the order of operations.

Not buying any gear at this time as I'll be saving the money to use for item creation once we reach kingdom development.

Let's go do some bog mummies and refugees!

Hah, turns out the abandoned keep is on the "Greenbelt RRR" map as hex #39. So now we just have to um... expand our kingdom there, I guess. Also we should probably update Colwyn's map to show the hexes that we explored... if anyone has permissions to make changes to that map!

Thanks!

Hmm, according to Colwyn's map, we do have a thin thread connecting Thornholme to Varnhold, via Nettle Crossing.

To get the abandoned elven keep we'll have to claim several hexes along the southwest, so it sounds like it's time to get crackin'!

Here you go!

It was in Colwyn's tagline. I made a copy of it. Not sure when it was last updated though

Thanks!

The elven keep isn't even shown here, I think it's under one of the covered tiles. I guess it's possible that we visited but didn't "explore" the hex. (It's in the part of the gameplay that I linked above, from before Marten was in the team.)

I guess I can do an audit and compare the spreadsheet data (how many hexes have we claimed) with the maps (how many hexes show up as part of the kingdom there).

Looks like this could be messy.

EDIT: The spreadsheet says we have a size 32 kingdom, which matches the hexes claimed on the map. So that seems accurate, but I guess we never formally explored the line of hexes on the south side of the original Stolen Lands map. We need to get those explored so that we can claim the old elven keep!

(That would be somewhere in hexes 32-35 on the original map pane. I can't see under the hex covers so I'm not sure which one.)

I would like to know what happened to the map that showed the claimed hexes?

You tell me! Which map link should I be looking at?

Thank you so much for doing that Vibenia!

I agree that if we do a couple kingdom turns, I should have no trouble doing item creation, but the problem is that right now I was under the impression that we were teleporting home just to sell stuff and then immediately head back out. If that's not the case, lemme know.

I'm happy with whatever. Having a spare fund for emergencies is probably worthwhile, says the guy who had to be raised from the dead.

What I really need at this point is time so that I can make use of juicy item creation feats.

I need to pick my hex for my personal demesne, but it's contingent on a question.

I'm not sure which map I should be looking at, out of the list in the campaign details. "The Republic of the Kamelands" shows me the entire area in hexes but with no markings or notation on it. "Greenbelt map" and "Greenbelt RRR" both show the early Stolen Lands, but with different hex numberings and areas explored. I don't actually know which lands we have claimed, which are unexplored, and where we should be going!

My question is, did we claim the hex with the crumbling elven keep with the dancing undead fey? If that's in our territory and unclaimed, Marten and Tessara would like to claim it as a fixer-upper. (I believe it's counted as a castle ruin, which can be repaired at half cost.) Otherwise, I have to find somewhere else. :)

We probably do. I like the recordkeeping of loot/finances etc, and I know you dig the Kingdom turns. Between us we can probably handle the behind-the-scenes kingdom progression (essentially a minigame)

If you've got the cloak and headband recorded, I'll cross them off and finish tallying up the proceeds for sold magic items.

Got 'em, thanks!

Of note, the headband should affect two stats, but it's not noted on the sheet which two? Do you happen to know... ?

I, uh, actually like doing kingdom stuff (and I think you do too, Vibenia, unless I'm misremembering). Also we are kinda reaching a point where we may need armies? Unless the DM wants to abstract that too?

Marten Lebeda wrote:

Niadroub Kliip wrote:

GM_DBH wrote:

@Vibenia, I believe that the Thor river camp is already occupied. One of the original players retired there to do much as you wish to do.

That hardly seems fair. Who was the player? I can't think of anyone likely to come back (maybe Colwyn), and we can just as easily say that they moved on to live somewhere else. Or that they become part of the training camp!

Or they died horribly to one of our many enemies!

And they willed all of their possessions to Niadroub Kliip!

You know, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, that certainly seems reasonable.

GM_DBH wrote:

@Vibenia, I believe that the Thor river camp is already occupied. One of the original players retired there to do much as you wish to do.

That hardly seems fair. Who was the player? I can't think of anyone likely to come back (maybe Colwyn), and we can just as easily say that they moved on to live somewhere else. Or that they become part of the training camp!

Or they died horribly to one of our many enemies!

Also, thinking of maybe taking a hex in the far south of the Greenbelt. Set up a watchtower, then a settlement, make a tiny forest village with elven influence.

Once the team decides to teleport back, Marten gratefully assembles with the crew and fbam returns home. Niadroub announces that he's going to fill in Colwyn, and Marten gives him a brief nod before mentioning, "I'm going to go find my fiancé." His comment is too slow, though, as Tessara rounds a corner and immediately snaps close to him, heedless of the bog mud spattered on his armor and tunic. The elf woman presses her forehead against his, and the two share a wordless moment of empathic communion.

(Slightly creepy, actually.)

"I have to go make some arrangements," says Marten after the reverie. "I'll see the rest of you again at dinner?" Tessara leads him off by the hand.

Gorman gives a snort and says, "I'm gonna go clean my guns."

~~~~~~~~~~

Siofra eventually hears that Zelera is back and tracks her down.

"So tell me the latest. What all happened this time? I gotta know the dirt so that I can write more songs about the terrible comedic errors of that goon Marten. Though it'll be tougher now because I have to lampoon him while the rest of you don't deserve that treatment."

I think Marten was going to request the cloak of resistance +2? There was some discussion about that previously, that I'd forgone getting one because the paladin's Charisma bonus to saves help to offset that, but since we seem to have one just lying around, now's the time.

The headband of mental prowess +2 could be useful to one of Marten's recruits, depending upon which stats it influences.

Sounds like a quick jaunt. Let's get it out of the way and... if we're going to stay in the swamps crossing water, I should probably stick with Gorman. Otherwise, may be time for Siofra to join an expedition. Hilarity ensues.

Marten cracks a smile again when the boggard tells Niadroub about the various local hazards.

"The bog mummies should definitely be dealt with. And people in trouble! That's definitely right up our alley. I'm inclined to help refugees first and eliminate bog mummies second, unless there's a logistical reason to reverse the order."

Marten claps Niadroub on the shoulder and says, "Well done, my friend! Your loquaciousness is apparently esteemed in multiple languages."

Gorman mutters, "Yeah, surprised we didn't have to shoot our way out." The pirate is always grouchy, though.

"What next? Should we strike further into uncharted territory and then head back to the fort to resupply and perhaps see if Colwyn has left us any directions?"