Marvel Manyshot's page

"Once again - thank you all. It has been a wonderful experience, and were circumstances otherwise I would have liked to continue on with you." Turning to Nicholas, Marvel looks serious for a moment, before the smile resumes "I will, Nicholas. Now that I know what it is to lose them... I most certainly will treasure them."

And with that, Marvel and Alana leave, making sure to duck when going out the door so Alana won't hit her head.

Thanks for understanding and the well wishes - I really would like to keep on playing, but even though the politician I elected last time to parliament promised me to add an extra 2 - 4 hours to the day, she hasn't fulfilled her pledge so far!

Who knows, we might meet again in some game once my ph.d. is finished, the girls are that much older and I have a bit more time again. Until such a time - good playing, may the dice be with you and hopefully things will go well in real life :-)

While the others wake up and go about their routine, Marvel collects his things and lifts up Alana to set her onto his shoulders. Marvel looks relaxed, calm - and most of all, he looks happy. His daughter is back, safe, and he need never worry about Lamm again.

Clearing his throat so as to get everyone's attention, Marvel begins "I... I think it is best I leave now. I don't know what we are meant to do, but, well, I'm no hero. I'm a father. And as a father I have a duty first and foremost to my children and... and to my wife, who I have neglected for far too long."

Walking over to Emma, Marvel takes out his harrow card, "The Dance", from his pocket and hands it to Emma - "I... this will serve you better than me. Speaking in Varisian, Marvel continues "While I find your culture absolutely fascinating and important, I don't think I'll ever fully understand it - understand what happened here yesterday. But if any Varisian, or anyone else you know, ever encounters legal problems, do feel free to send them my way. And once again, thank you. What you've done for me and my family I can never repay."

Smiling, Marvel turns to the rest of the group - "I'll never forget any of you. I think... I think it is best if the authorities don't learn of my involvement. I have a bad feeling about all of this. If you ever need a safe place, a place to hide, then don't be afraid to knock on my door. I'm too... I'm too boring for anyone to suspect me of anything. Sometimes it is good to be boring."

Turning to each of the remaining party members in turn, Marvel looks to Nicholas "Thank you for your help. Killing Lamm - it can't be easy, but know that you have saved dozens of people and, more importantly, my daughter and the children here. You did good."

Turning to Shaeda, Marvel continues "And thank you. You have the temper and sting of a wasp, which I suspect a Calistrian like yourself will take as a compliment. You saved me in there with that beast, healing me like that. I'm glad I'm not in that alligators stomach, even if that means I probably have to revise my cosy prejudices about Calistria and her followers.", Marvel ends with a bit of a devious smile.

And finally turning to Aerel, Marvel almost hugs him before realising Alana probably will fall off his back if he does so, so he extends out his hand - "Thank you, Aerel. If you hadn't dazed that Alligator, then it'd probably have dragged me down under the water. I... I'm really sorry she's gone, that Khara is gone. She was a light in the grey and foggy world of Korvosa. But I think she would be proud of you - glad that you made a difference, saved this many people. Thank you - thank you for saving my daughter and me."

Unfortunately it looks like I won't have time to continue playing. I've been forced to modify the empirical phase of my ph.d. project heavily due to unforseen political situations in both the Faroe Islands and Iceland, which increases my workload quite a lot the next year or so. At the same time my wife's firm is getting unexpectedly many orders, which of course is awesome, but also means she has to work quite a few evenings while I take care of the girls, the house and such.

Therefore I will have to cut down on a good few things I do, to ensure I still have enough energy to focus on my daughters (and count to ten if milk is all over the floor or a wall suddenly has gotten lots of new "art").

I quite enjoy playing, but looking ahead in my schedule I will be forced to stop soon or become VERY unstable in regards to when I post, so I think it is better to stop now, while a new player still can join and catch most of the story, and Marvel has a natural reason to leave with his daughter and focus on getting his family back in order.

One of the best campaigns my offline group ever played was Rise of the Runelords. We didn't have a cleric - or really anyone capable of healing at all :-D

Marvel seems to be letting down his guard gradually as he gets more tired, and actually looks directly at Emma with a smile "Thank you, I feel much better now."

Looking to Shaeda, still with a smile and looking as though he is tired enough to fall asleep while talking, Marvel says "I don't doubt you can heal and even perhaps affect our luck through the grace of Calistria. However, while I'm not a particularly knowledgable man in the realms of religion, I've not heard of gods interacting directly in the world without acting through clerics. Binding a soul to a magical item... that's, that must be strong magic, right? A God doing that would have to be something like a miracle. And I don't think a God would perform a miracle for, well, for me at least - I don't know about the rest of you."

"And yes - good night all. Once again thank you for helping me save my daughter, Emma, Nicholas, Shaeda, Aerel and Zellara. Thank you. I can never repay you for what you have done."

@Nicholas, I would have suggested you be healed because I still had more HP left than your maximum HP value :p

"My apologies - I understood it more as a general comment about harrowing. But either way - I don't think we are quite important enough for gods to, well, to directly participate."

Marvel observes the others peacefully. Things are just so... unreal. Alana is safe. I am apparantly a member of a vigilante group. Whose guiding member is a ghost tied to some cards. The king is dead - riots in the streets and...

"Could things be tied to the brooch? The Queen's brooch, I mean? Why... how did Lamm get it? And are we sure it is safe to return it? What if... I mean, what if the Queen is tied to something... something illegal?"

Marvel looks down on Alana, biting his lips somewhat, to then look first at Zellara and then Aerel. "I... I agree in regard to the children and the prisoners must be handed over to the guard - but... we need to figure out what this is before doing more than that. Why are we together and what is the deal with the brooch. No offense to Shaeda, but I don't believe Calistria would get quite this involved, create a ghost and call in someone like... well, like me. I'm not exactly Calistrian material."

"By Abadar - this, this is starting to be a bit too much. I'm a lawyer - not a medium or ghost avenger of some kind! I like things when they are boring, simple, predictable... not... not this unnatural, strange - I" Looking at his daughter Marvel realises that his speech probably isn't exactly calming her down. "But hey - I'd speak with ghosts every day if it meant I could spend but 1 minute with you, Alana. You are safe now. And tomorrow we will find your mother and brother."

Marvel pulls out a chair, sets it by a window pointing towards the street, places his bow and arrow right next to the chair so they are ready and takes off his cloak. Lifting Alana Marvel sets her down on his lap, makes sure she is comfortable and covers her with the cloak.

"Sleep now, Alana, I'll hold you until tomorrow and if any of those people outside dare to come in during the night, my friends and I will chase them out. Nothing can hurt you anymore now."

Looking out the window, Marvel starts singing quietly so as to calm Alana, rocking gently back and fort while keeping guard.

Unless otherwise prompted, Marvel sits like that until the sun rises.

Marvel feels rather like a malplaced giant once Emma, Aerel and Nicholas have left. Glancing at Shaeda, Marvel looks to the children with his best attempt at a smile.

"Right, we'll be leaving any moment now. If you need to pick something up before we leave now is the time - otherwise, please lead the way to the cart and we'll meet the others there. Tonight we find a safe place to sleep and tomorrow we'll take you to your new home - a home were people will be kind to you."

Sleep is for the weak!!!"

Falls head first down on his desk and starts snoring...

Marvel, speaking to Emma's knees, replies: "We probably have to wait to turn the prisoners in until tomorrow. We are hurt and our magicians are low on spells after our battles, so, I mean, it's probably not wise to walk through half the city with a cart full of prisoners during a... well, during a riot. Besides, we have their weapons and armor... AND they are tied up, so, I mean, if we take turns keeping guard we should be ok."

Marvel thanks the kid rather stiffly and then turns to the rest of the gang - "Right - should we check which of them are still alive, make sure they are unarmed and carry them and the bodies to the cart? We should get to a safe place before things get too bad."

So probably till we have delivered the prisoners to the guard, and the children to the orphanage. By then something else will probably have popped up to distract us - we might be taken into custody due to having the brooch and accused of killing the king or something XD

I don't think that'd be wise in a riot. As I said - I don't quite see the need to get rid of the prisoners right away. Even if one of them should wake up, he'll be practically naked and at 1 HP :-)

I'm guessing we'll want to go to the guard together, deliver the children to an orphanage and hand in the queen's brooch - though Shaeda might leave before that. After that it seems natural to split up and check in on family, friends and the like.

Marvel would like to get to his wife and son as well, which we also need to do in order to not walk around with his daughter for our various quests :-)

But I don't think it would be a problem to take the prisoners along for the night. They should be unconscious for a while, someone will be keeping guard anyway and we managed to beat them when they were at full HP, had weapons and armor and were not tied up.

"Right. I don't think it is a good idea to march or carry the prisoners through the streets." Smiling warmly at Alana and a bit more hesitantly at the rest of the children, Marvel asks them: "Do you know if a cart or wheelbarrows are somewhere inside or outside the building? We could hide the prisoners that way, place some of that disgusting fish on top of them and hopefully attract a bit less attention."

I'd like to add that as a player I'm not just assuming that Shaeda will join us, but Marvel has the charisma and diplomacy of a brick :-)

Marvel takes in the scene, holding Alana tighter while whispering "Don't worry, you are safe now, we'll protect you."

Looking to the group, Marvel's face is grim - "Rather looks like I'll be working overtime the next weeks. Looting and riots. We really need a better government if all the excuse people need to break our laws and act like savages is that the king died. The King isn't supposed to be society, he isn't our civilization. But for how these criminals act they certainly seem to think that one man's death excuses them acting on their base instincts."

Realising that he has begun rambling Marvel shakes his head, forces out a bit of a smile looking more as though he is standing in front of a mirror trying to see if he has got something stuck between his teeth, Marvel muses aloud "Well, it looks like we'll be spending the night with a priestess of Calistria. We'll need your help, Shaeda, to protect the children, especially if we take our prisoners along as well."

I didn't like mythic so we don't use the system. It seemed way too overpowered and reading the forum for Wrath that seemed to be the general consensus as well. I opted to go for a few stat increases instead and have been largely roleplaying the mythic bits so far, with a few added abilities. One of the PCs is able to grant his worshippers first level clerical spells and hears their prayers, two others just started hearing prayers, and cosmetic stuff like halos and funny and circumstancially useful abilities, like being able to see gas (minus the normal composition of the atmosphere).

Even with that their opponents so far have been underpowered as written. I've addedd two advanced templates to all normal opponents and one of the members here on Paizo's forums has a brilliant reworking of boss encounters, which has meant that a good few battles have been challenging. Don't' want to think about how much I would have had to rework with the PCs being mythic as well - just the artifacts PCs receive and the insane amount of loot is enough really.

That said I just implemented my own version of mythic last session.The AP as written doesn't have many chances for Mass Combat, so I decided to promote the PCs in the military hierarchy of the crusades (only natural with their mythic deeds and singlehandedly turning the tide), allowing them to decide on tactics and leading battles either by telling me what they do or playing out the battles, depending on what they feel like. Borrowing from some of the older lore (Sigil and such) I quite like the idea that belief shapes reality, so I've given them some Mass Combat mythic abilities, which are "powered" by the faith of those they lead, the different power levels being activated depending on how many people "believing in them" surround them (not a requirement that they worship them). The mythic abilities I've given them depend on their personalities - the archmage being very much of a prankster and often playing out fart based jokes gained the ability to see gases, and all gas based spells gain extra properties in mass combat as well as the ability to teleport armies through gas fields, while it's become a bit of a running joke that the cleric (only joining the group recently) is that "other guy with the heroes no one remembers", him therefore receiving the ability that any demon seeing him in a mass combat situation must save or be confused, wondering who on earth that guy is. Demons in Mass Combat are insaaaaaanely powerful (and many!) so they need the power boost to even stand a chance in mass combat - provided I roll rather more normally than last session XD

Yup. Although what we played today isn't in the AP - a bit of an extra in between module 4 and 5, letting them see some of the results of their work so far :-)

"If the orphanages are close by the respective temples, it'll take us some time to walk to them. Staying the night at Madame Zellara's might be wise, unless we wish to take our captives directly to the insert place were prisoners are taken here to avoid any trouble from them."

[b]"I'm going upstairs to search the rest of the building before we go."

Finally focusing on Shaeda, Marvel almost smiles while speaking to her ear "And thank you for your help, Shaeda. I do hope we meet again in more peaceful circumstances"

Is it at Korvosa's Mercy trials and the like are? And does Marvel work there or at the City Hall?

My players just killed a nascent demon lord and an ancient dragon in normal combat, and something like 144.000 demons, with an army of just over 7.000, losing 15 men, in mass combat. They were supposed to be the diversionary attack, draw the attention away from the main attacks and then flee once a certain amount of time had passed. I rolled my dice more than 200 times in the battle - 7 times I rolled higher than 12. They, on the other hand, got 17 - 20 constantly AND the casters decided to use stuff like tsunamis all the time while the ranged characters and paladins assassinated all the demon (balor) generals in the first two hours of the battle.

I don't think I've ever been this tempted to cheat on my dice rolls XD

Marvel, still staring at the head (not noticing that his daughter long ago has managed to evade his hand and observes EVERYTHING), continues speaking in a rather annoying, lecturing, fatherly way - "Nicholas, it is your decision what to do with the blade, but I believe it is wrong not to hand it in to the guard. If the killer never was caught this could help them catch him or figure out who he was. Just like we got closure from ending Lamm, the families of his victims could find closure from knowing who he was or him being captured."

Finally looking away from Madame Esmeranda's head, Marvel turns to Aerel and Shaeda. "I agree with you both. We, or, well at least I need to know what happened tonight and examie Madame Esmeranda's place closer. We also need to settle on which orphanage to choose. Personally I favore Abadar's, but, well, the important thing is that they get a good life and supportive guardians."

Rationality setting into his eyes, Marvel speaks to Aerel's feet. "Also... we also need to hand in that brooch. What we have found here, it should help the children for life. But I have lost much the past year. I assume all of us have put our lives on hold. We could give the children what we found here, but divide the reward for the brooch among ourselves. Help us resume our lives. I... know I want a part to help my daughter and, well, I need some time off from work to see if I can get my family together again."

Marvel covers Alana's eyes as he realises what's in the box, with an absolute look of horror and wonder on his face.

"I... how is that possible? Did she contact us from beyond the grave?"

Absent mindedly looking at Nicholas's new dagger, Marvel says with an almost automatic monotone lawyer voice "It's not a good idea to take the Key-Lock killer's weapon. No one knows who he is and with that weapon you will probably be mistaken for the killer, Nicholas. Perhaps Lamm was the Key-Lock Killer? We need to inform the guard."

I'll probably level up on Sunday, if that's ok. I'm resuming GM'ing Wrath of the Righteous tomorrow with lots of tweaking and additions from my side, so I need to focus on having that ready for the group.

That's also why Marvel's posts haven't been all that descriptive these last few days XD

Awesome, thanks :-)

I can't quite remember - do we roll HP or go for average HP? :-)

I'm guessing Marvel is the only one proficient in Appraisal, so here are appraisal checks:

Garnet Amulet - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Teak cigar case - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

2-pound gold ingot - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Gold crown - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Scrimshaw carving - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Silver ring - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Ivory figurine - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Masterwork shuriken - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Weird key dagger - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Holy symbol of Shelyn - Appraisal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Can I take 20 once we have enough time and I can study the items, perhaps with the help of a book and such?

Ooooook! I did not see that twist coming! Jeepers! O_O

The take 20 searching will take some time, so I'm just getting in the info from Marvel while Aerel searches.

While Aerel searches, Marvel takes a few seconds to think, before turning to the group with a smile.

"I'm sorry, I should have taken some time to think right away. What we have done is not illegal per say. Well, I mean, a highly vicious judge hating everyone and everything perhaps could find something to punish us for, but no. We can safely inform the authorities of what we have done and found - and I even know most of the guard hate Lamm enough that they won't miss the items we find, whether we donate them to a temple or keep some for ourselves."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a daughter to hug."

Marvel quite literally runs off, quickly makes sure the children are ok and everyone is still tied, before lifting up his daughter, hugging her for a few minutes while telling her how much he loves her and has missed her, quite likely cries a bit, and should manage to return to the group carrying her before the take 20 perception is done.

Nah - more of the boring, bookish type, thriving best behind his desk rather than in front of people. Order, discipline and predictability - rationality, not all of this feely, wishwashy intuitive stuff!

"The one problem with that approach is that the survivors have seen us, and they know we came for the children."

Knowledge lawyer check on whether what we have done is illegal, if we would be punished and whether there is any difference when taking into account the motives of the rest of the party (revenge) as opposed to Marvel's motives of saving his daughter, as well as if the fact that most of us have contacted the proper authorities but learned that they didn't have the time/resources could give us some leeway in regards to how we acted.

Lawyer: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Not the best roll, but it should be pretty basic knowledge for a lawyer. Now, tax law on the other hand... only subject in my life I've ever failed XD

He is good at the paperwork, procedures and knowing stuff. Less so at the theatrical bits in court, appealing to feelings and such :-)

Marvel looks to Aerel - "We should search the place. Look for any kind of evidence and look for valuables. We need the evidence for those we took alive, and to make sure the authorities won't arrest us. If need be I can tell the police I was contacted by masked vigilantes who had saved my daughter, captured these men and found this and that evidence. I mean, I'm a lawyer, it, it would make sense, yes? And they know me. They would never think I had it in me to... well, to do what we did." Pausing shortly while staring at Lamm's body, Marvel continues "The valuables we should collect and hand over to the temple for the children's education, wellbeing and the improvement of their orphanages in general, if we find that much. Then something good comes out of this... I mean, more than just stopping him."

Looking to Emma, relief painted over Marvel's face as he realises this is over, he adds "I'll gladly go guard the children while the rest of you search here. We can search upstairs together with the children later."

The last time I told other people about my adventures while explaining they are real, men in white coats came after me :-(

I need both hands. Spells don't work as well if you don't have fingers for the somatic components. A hook could be used to pull a bowstring back, though...

Rather difficult to hold the arrows with a hook though.

In regards to awakening it - you do realise that with how Gaedran has been feeding it drugs the first thing it'll do is to search for a dealer once its awakened?

Hey! I wasn't even done celebrating that Marvel survived the encounter with Gobblegut :-(

In other news - I've reached the conclusion that my research is boring. I'm combing through bibliographies today, searching for interesting sources and developing a headache.

The bloke I'm sharing an office with? He is on his way out to buy a protective suit, gas masks and the like, while worrying about whether his students and he will be alive tomorrow and if they are alive then if they are hospitalized. They have had a 2 month long experiment which just failed, and apparently in the cleanup process they have a high likelyhood of developing chlorine gas!

MY biggest worry is how to keep my theoretical framework under 20 pages so I can get it published.

Marvel is probably more of a Wendy - must do things the proper way, behave, follow the laws and such. So we'll have to find one of those belts of masculinity femininity!

MY hand? No, no! Aerel is the one with the long hair and he's melee - he'll make a far better Captain Hook!

A moat? No no! We need to be open and all folksy! No wall surrounding our keep, but a playground for children, a park for lovesick youths and an open library! Our PR will be next to none and eventually the people will BEG us to become their dictators. THAT'S when we need the alligators to ensure they keep on loving us as we raise the taxes and use the income to build a theme park based on our adventures :-D

On a somewhat related note, the library in Reykjavik actually had a moat surrounding it! A moat! "No no, we are academics here, living in our ivory tower surrounded by a moat. Got to keep the outside world outside and let us sit here in our blissful isolation with our books and theory, separated from the outside world by our moat!"

I agree, except I'm a bit afraid it has grown fond of a child based diet XD

And are alligators native to Korvosa? Invasive species and all that!

From the last description it sounds rather as though Kamro is hinting that the gator might be about to retreat or die - so I'de probably save the spells, just in case :-)

Lo and behold :-)

"Normal: Without this feat, you may draw a weapon as a move action, or (if your base attack bonus is +1 or higher) as a free action as part of movement. Without this feat, you can draw a hidden weapon as a standard action."

Marvel starts calming down again. His new friends are surrounding Gobblegut, Shaeda in front of him keeping the beast at bay with her whip and, from the sounds of it, Aerel is standing his ground. They've got this. Lamm is dead. Marvel's daughter is safe. Now all they need to do is drive the beast back, gather the final evidence and whatever valuables can help the children, and then the authorities can take care of the rest. Although, Marvel smiles to himself, thinking aloud "Shaeda, I'll miss this and your words once we are done!"

Marvel rapidly draws his bow, letting two arrows fly at Gobblegut.

Attack 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 71d8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Attack 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 221d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

I had written this beautiful long novel of a post basically - the best post in a PbP ever! - but of course the internet decided to go on strike for the first time ever when the weather behaves normally and I lost the post!

Marvel, realising that fighting up close with the alligator probably isn't his best strategy with a bow, moves behind Shaeda and shoots at Mr. Gobblegut.

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 81d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

However, his arms still trembling from the close encounter, the arrow goes wide and doesn't hit his mark.

Awesome! :-D Also, is Marvel prone?

Oh, well, at least she is ok then - people being less active now and then is probably to be expected in a PbP, so just as much for future references as in the current case, how long does one usually wait before skipping or the GM "remote controlling" a PC? I've never played in a PbP before, so I'm learning the "dos and don'ts" as we play :-)

Awesome with that daze! :-) I assume that on my turn I still have to spend a standard action getting free from the alligator and such?

Also, anyone heard anything from Emma?

And, in regards to grapple:

"... If you do not release the grapple, you must continue to make a check each round, as a standard action, to maintain the hold"

So if the alligator is dazed, I'll be free once its turn is over :-)

Tell that to Marvel and he'll single handedly defeat that alligator, to then launch into a tirade against Calistrians!

If it has more than 4HD, then Marvel is dead anyway.