Will do Remy. Hopefully all is well with Moonknight. Also hopefully we'll hear something about restarting.
Search Posts
Nothing to worry about Moonknight, thanks for the heads up.
Mayken is completely captivated by Audrahni's tale. As with Remy's claim to actually be a man in a different body, Mayken is far less concerned about the likelihood it's true than having an exciting possibility to devote her attention to. After all, it could turn out to be true, so refusing the invitation to check into it is almost a form of malpractice in living one's life. For Mayken skepticism is a drab excuse to allow life to pass one by. "Amazing! A real mystery right here in Roderic's Cove! You bet I'm ready and willing to look into all this Audrahni." Looking around at the other faces at the table she continues. "Since Maddie has bedtime coiming up, we'll start with Ladia first thing tomorrow morning yes?" "And Hilael is right. Maddie wasn't frightened by the apparition at the well. It will be valuable to have someone with us who can keep their wits about them if something like that happens again." Please please happen again! "We'll just go to the house during the day. Everyone knows ghosts are mostly active at night."
Either is fine by me. Whatever is easiest for you.
Mayken readily agrees. Dinner and what sounds like an interesting story to come is an impossible combination to resist. "Hi Audrahni, I'm Mayken. I'm pleased to meet you and happy to accept your generous offer."
I hope you're having a good trip!
"I've certainly never heard of anything like this happening here before. The ghost's, I guess Sir Roderick, was also very pointed about what he wants. Do you think it's some sort of prophesy?"
Having seen Remy bow to the half-elf, Mayken does the same, approximating Remy's gesture. "Hi Hilael. We've met before in passing, it was a few years ago though." Really though Mayken is interested in what the girl Maddie say and heard. She isn't going to wait for an official statement, so she goes down on one knee beside Maddie. "Can you tell me everything the ghost said exactly as he said it? What did he do? Did he move about? Tell the the whole thing just like it happened from beginning to end."
After the fear leaves her, Mayken barely waits to orient herself and catch her breath before she turns around and rushes back to the Circle. Of course she drags Remy along because she's there too. She's disappointed to find the ghost gone, but her excitement is barely diminished. "That was incredible! I've never seen anything like that before! I wonder if he will come back? I've never heard of a ghost appearing in the circle in the past! And you say it was Sir Roderic? Now this is a real mystery!"
Mayken stares at the apparition in shock, but when he speaks she runs for all she's worth!
It was good, very low key with no traveling. There are a bunch of us on my block who get together every year. Yes, ready to continue on!
Mayken joins Hileal between the two groups. "Just as he so wisely said. Whatever grudges you have between you, the middle of the market on market day isn't he place to settle them. Take a step back my friends. Let the town have its special day free of troubles." Since Hileal is directing his attention toward the others, Mayken looks at the Horned Frogs.
Between what she hears and what she sees, Mayken frowns and her eyes narrow. "Looks like there might be some trouble brewing. Stay here Remy, I'll be right back." Mayken gets up and starts walking over to the stand. She figures she might need to talk some sense into some people.
I don't know where that leaves us either. As Mayken sees it Remy has explained just about the worst scenario possible. She doesn't have any real answer so "we don't know very much about it yet. There's no point worrying about it until we do. We'll just keep searching." Thankfully, when their conversation is in danger of descending into a gloomy silence, Mayken notices something. "Hey Remy, what do you thinks going on over there at Possum Coot's?"
"Oh sweetheart", Mayken clucks sympathetically. "I'm sorry, I know it must be terribly awkward." She lays her hand gently along the side of Remy's face. "If it helps at all, you are SO beautiful! If this was going to happen, you truly did win the body lottery!" Do you have any idea what I'd give to have your thighs?" Mayken takes her hand away and leans back, resting on her arms. "There are a couple of things we need to be very certain about, so I'm going to ask you to remember as precisely as possible. Are you SURE you body has been completely switched rather than your present body being a female version of your own?" "And if you're absolutely sure you have been switched, do you have any idea where your own body might be? Like I said, I've been as circumspect with details as I can be when I've asked people about it. All the advice I've gotten is about ending possessions because without specifics that's what this sounds like. The problem is those kinds of rituals and magics are aimed toward freeing the possessed. That would be the body you occupy. They're not really concerned with the possesser, that would be you, or what happens to them afterward." "If we do find a way to get you out of that body, where do we put you?" Mayken asks raising her hands and shoulders in an exaggerated shrug.
"There you are!" Suddenly a young woman pounces on the tall woman in red and black clothes from behind. She threads her arm though the woman's and locks arms with her at the elbows. The young woman, noticeably shorter than her now trapped quarry, pulls her friend along without slowing down much. "Sorry I'm late! I kept running into people on the way. Shall we get some tea.? How have you been?" Mayken guides Remy along toward the tea stall, and after they are served, toward a clear spot on the Circle where they can sit. "Well! I'm afraid I don't have any good news yet. Your circumstances are very unusual, and there just aren't any of the kinds of books to cover the subject in this town. I've asked most of the people I can think of who might have some knowledge of it, in a round-about way of course, and nobody has a clue. So, for the moment I'm at a dead end." Remy had approached Mayken a short time ago, seeking information about her condition. Mayken had been completely credulous in her acceptance of what Remy told her. It seems it never even occurred to Mayken to consider more mundane possibilities like mental illness, or some kind or prank or con. Mayken took on the project with enthusiasm, but hasn't been one whit of actual help. When they've met since, Mayken reports no progress and peppers Remy with questions. She does the same this time. As she sips her tea Mayken's eyes are wide and shining with curiosity. "After it happened did you have to change how you walk? With all the differences in, you know, parts, compared to before?"
Oh, and one thing I forgot to comment on back when it came up, relationships. So, Mayken knows Remy. She would also at least know who Hileal is and something about him if he's been around for as long as 5 years. They might not be close friends or anything (though they could be), but he would stand out in Roderic's Cove too much not to notice. Mayken probably wouldn't know Maddie. She's been living in Sandpoint for 2 years, so Meddie would have been quite young when Mayken was around last. Mayken could very well know her family though. Mayken does make it her business to know everyone, and all the stuff going on around town. Actually one of the reasons I placed her out of town for a while was the gap between her personality and her Knowledge Local bonus. It's far too low for if Mayken had been around the whole time. She's a busybody.
I'm Rick (rdknight) and it looks like I'm one of the later bloomers here in playing RPGs. I did dabble a little when I was a kid, playing some AD&D and Gamma World here and there. But it was long forgotten about until I ran across this article and read it: All I needed to know about life I learned from “Dungeons & Dragons” It made me think "yeah, that was pretty fun. Maybe I should look into it again." There's a game store just down the block from where I used to live, and it turned out they have a PFS group. I played with them or about a year, but decided the very episodic nature of PFS and the shifting parties week to week weren't all that great for roleplay. Then I moved and didn't really have the time to go there anymore anyway. That's when I checked into PbP here. I've been playing on the boards now for about 3 years. I'm in my mid-forties, divorced, and I have an 11 year-old son. I've always been a fan of fantasy, sci-fi, comics and so forth, but I've consumed them casually so I don't have a particularly deep background in them. As a "grazer" then, I tend to have tendencies instead of favorites. I lean Marvel over DC, Star Wars over Star Trek, and so forth. But yes, I like Moonknight too. :) One of the things I like best is character building, backgrounds and personalities over mechanics. I steal often and liberally from all kinds of sources and reassemble the bits and pieces. For example my Investigator in War for the Crown is part Charlotte Ritter from the show Babylon Berlin (great TV series if you haven't checked it out), part Irene Adler, with ideas from a couple of songs, and personal quirks from a couple of people I know from work. That was a bit of a digression, but anyway I'm on west coast time, Portland Oregon, and mostly post in the evenings. I'll probably be the last person posting after an update due to those things. And yep, I'm in Brainiac's Iron Gods campaign, which is a good time. :) Mayken is nothing at all like Kaska Brainiac.
Sihedron Hero Rojava 'Ro' Brishon: Ro has never been comfortable with the moniker "hero". The young woman of middling height with short, sandy brown hair has always considered herself a singer and musician first and foremost. She is almost constitutionally a nonconformist, but one gifted with enough personal magnetism to come across to most people as impious and cheeky rather than nastily contrarian. Those on her good side know Ro to be warm and generous, while those on her bad side find themselves on the receiving end of her snarkiness and lacerating sense of humor. Ro often describes her involvement in Karzoug's defeat as "lucky enough to have survived, not lucky enough to have avoided the whole thing". Despite her somewhat reluctant participation, Ro's quick and sometimes outside the box thinking allowed her and her partners to make valuable allies. She commonly planned and lead combat operations. Although Ro had always planned to see much more of the world than Sandpoint and portions of Varisia, her long affair with Rynshinn Povalli kept her there after Karzoug's defeat. Ro and Ryn made things official a few years back, and now Ro sates her wanderlust by helping Ryn with her growing business, representing her interests on trips to Magnimar, Korvosa, and other regional locales. Ro swears she will get Ryn to take an extended vacation to visit Goka (a longtime ambition of Ro's) eventually.
@Moonknight: If Mayken does take a dip in another class, are you okay with using Fractional Base Bonuses from Unchained? It would keep her BAB and Saves on track rather than setting her back a level.
Well I think I'm done. One nice thing, she can pick up Disable Device as a class skill due to her campaign trait. Unfortunately she can't afford thieve's tools yet. Of course just having the skill in class doesn't let her disarm magical traps. Maybe a 1 level dip into rogue at some point might be worth it? Until 2nd level, when she can pick up the first part of Way of the Shooting Star, she's going to have to be an archer mostly. Can't really afford a starknife yet either. She won't be a bruiser in combat but she should be a pretty good caster for a bard. Her archetype will let her cast from scrolls and spellbooks a time or two a day without consuming them. EDIT: Actually a 1 level dip into Seeker Oracle would be much better than Rogue I think. Same trap abilities as rogue and Mayken won't need weapon finesse. She could take the Lore mystery, which fits her fluff very well, and get sidestep secret as her revelation. It would also give her access to divine spells so no need to UMD wands and so forth if she's the group's healer.
Sounds good to me!
I have an archaeologist bard, the one named in Mayken’s background, and a bloodrager from RotRL. I have a slayer from CotCT.
Should our Sihedron heroes form a functional party (like a standard party with roles covered), or does it matter?
Cool! Thanks! I'll get Mayken finished off tonight, not much left to do if I remember corectly.
Mayken here is my second character submission, along with Ambriel. I couldn't resist making them yin to each other's yang. I'll get Ambriel submitted in proper application form later today. Her background has been more difficult to write than Mayken's. Both characters are fully statted out, but I'm perfectly willing to be flexible on campaign trait selection if one of my characters is chosen and the group needs a better distribution of the traits among them. Name: Mayken Vondel
History:
Mayken was born and grew up in Roderic’s Cove, where her parents are among the area’s more prosperous farmers. While not exactly a “gentleman farmer” her father has been able to expand his landholdings to the point he keeps several laborers on permanently to handle much of the work. Her family’s financial comfort has provided Mayken with opportunities beyond those typical for a farmer’s daughter. Further, Mayken is an only child. She is pampered in the ways so common of parents who do not have to divide their affections among multiple children.
With less work required, and more time and resources at her disposal, Mayken has been able to indulge in her interests, music and history. She has a fine singing voice, and plays the violin with great expression. She is also a passionate and persuasive speaker. Mayken’s particular historical interests revolve around Varisia and the Varisian people. Her mother’s side of the family is purely Varisian, while her father’s family is of mixed Varisian and Shoanti ancestry. Mayken is something of a cultural preservationist and revivalist, studying Varisian music and dance. She began to pester her mother about receiving tattooing in her mid-teens, and her mother finally agreed it could be done when she reached eighteen. When the time came, Mayken pushed for the proper, traditional tattooing process. Since it would require the particpation of elder clan leaders, Mayken and her mother traveled by ship to Sandpoint, where they had relatives. The tattooing and accompanying rituals took almost two months, and during her time there Sandpoint made quite an impression on Mayken. After her return to Roderic’s Cove, she found her hometown far drearier than before. She missed Sandpoint for its theater, good bookstores, far better venues for musical performances, and opportunities to spend time with her extended relatives. For a town only marginally larger than Roderic’s Cove, Sandpoint had such vibrancy compared to Roderic’s Cove. Mayken stayed on for another year. To keep herself busy she started a part-time business doing bookkeeping and accounting for a couple of business owners who hated doing it themselves. She also kept books for some of the farmers and fishermen who were illiterate. Eventually Mayken spoke with her parents about moving to Sandpoint for a more extended period, which they consented to since she had relatives there with whom she could live. After relocating to Sandpoint, Mayken restarted her bookkeeping services. She found enough work to meet her needs, and after she gained the Valdemar Fishmarket as a steady client she was comfortable. Mayken also met and struck up a friendship with Rojava Brishon, the only hero involved with the defeat of the Runelord Karzoug to have remained in Sandpoint. Now, two years later, Mayken is visiting Roderic’s Cove for an extended period before moving to Sandpoint permanently. Connection to Roderic’s Cove:
Mayken grew up in Roderic's Cove, technically just outside it on a farm. She's been away for a couple of years living in Sandpoint, and has come back home for an extended visit with her parents and local friends before she makes the move permanent. Three Questions: 1. What was the most important event in your life? ”Oh! Let me show you!” Mayken turns around and loosens her blouse. Lowering it to expose the top of her back and shoulders, she shows off a large tattoo sprawling across her back shoulder to shoulder. It is composed of scrolling waves of bramble vines, within which are perched butterflies and songbirds. Nine-pointed stars sit at the base of her neck and cap each shoulder. Runic, arcane-looking symbols extend partially down her upper arms from the stars. ”This is the first of my tattooing, symbolizing that I have come into my majority. I may now be trusted with my family’s lore and secrets. It took a long time, weeks, to complete. My family in Sandpoint sponsored the rituals surrounding it.” Mayken pulls her shirt back up and turns around. I also received my family’s Kapenia” she says, indicating the embroidered scarf tied around her waist. ”The tattoos were painful to receive, but all important transitions involve some pain. It has etched every moment of those rituals into my memory. I have never felt more alive and complete than I did then.” 2. Besides yourself, who is the most important person in your life? Mayken’s face turns thoughtful, and she bites her lower lip as she considers. ”That’s not an easy question. There are a lot of people who have been very important to me. My mother Linah and my father Paytah. They raised me and gave me a loving home. The family elders who have taught me so much. My first love. I don’t see how I can compare the different gifts they have given me and choose just one. But if I have to choose, I’ll name the person who is probably the most interesting. She’s certainly the most exciting.” ”Ro is one of the heroes who defeated Karzoug the Runelord. I got to know her and her spouse Rynshinn quite well in Sandpoint. She tells the most incredible stories. Her life has been amazing! She can move quieter than a whisper. If she doesn’t want to be seen, she will not be seen. Ro’s control of magic is beyond anything I’ve ever known in another person. She’s generous and has a wicked sense of humor. She also taught me some clever tricks with the starknife.” 3. How do you like your eggs and why? Mayken is profoundly aware that the proportions of her curves lean toward the, um… voluptuous. She also knows how easily ample can move on to, well…. rubenesque for her if she’s not careful. ”I tend to eat mostly vegetables in stews, soups, and those sorts of things. Some scrambled egg mixed into assorted quick fried veggies is so delicious though!” Mayken doesn’t elaborate on her reasons.
Congrats players! Enjoy the games!
Here's another application for you to please consider. Mayken Vondel, Grenadier Alchemist and refugee from Galt. Time Zone:
Number of PbP games you are currently active in:
preference for maps (roll20, google docs, etc):
your familiarity with the Reign of Winter AP (have you played in one, GMd one or read the books). I won't disallow you based on having been in the campaign before, but i want to know who knows something about it:
Character concept:
Backstory:
Mayken Vondel was born in the Galtan town of Dabril, on the banks of the Sellen River. She never knew a time before the Revolution, in fact only her grandparents as children knew anything different. Dabril is nowhere near the large cities of Galt, and has only very occasionally seen anything like the worst excesses of Galt’s turmoil. But still life there is touched in almost every way by the ongoing Revolution. Mayken came to alchemy through baking. Her mother Tatia was a baker of great artistry, and along with her husband ran one of the finest bakeries in the the region. As she taught the young Mayken her craft, Tatia endlessly emphasized the mastery of fundamentals: exact proportions of ingredients, precision in timing and temperature. It was those things, Tatia said, that can make even the plain loaf of bread stand above the most delicious looking pastry or tart. “Baking is edible chymistry” Tatia asserted. Only after the fundamentals are mastered should one look to infuse baking with imagination, to follow their inspirations in creation. Mayken is one hell of a baker as a result of her mother’s efforts. In her teens Mayken began looking beyond baking. She was very smart, and curious about what else in the world might follow similar rules. Using whatever texts or advice she could scrounge, Mayken began taking her mother’s baking fundamentals, precise ratios of ingredients, careful application of heat, and exact timing, in other directions. Mayken soon discovered she must have inherited some small spark of magic from someone among her ancestors. With practice she was able to move beyond mundane chymistry and herbalism to true alchemy. As parents will do, Mayken’s mother and father mentioned their daughter’s talents to relatives and close friends. Some among those relatives and close friends did the same again. Within a few months she had come to the attention of the local Citizens Brigade commander. Mayken was inducted into the brigade so it could use her talents to bolster its (very small) platoon of sappers and grenadiers. The invitation to join was not presented as one that could be declined. At the time Mayken was seventeen and not very worldly. She thought some time away would be a bit of an exciting adventure where she could learn more by being around others with alchemical knowledge. She wasn’t completely wrong, Mayken did learn more about the production and use of explosives. On the other hand, it was not an exciting adventure. The commander of the Citizens Brigade was as much a warlord as anything else. He did protect the region from the occasional raid by revanchist forces from Gralton, and gave bandits a hard time. His position was also officially sanctioned by the Senate in Isarn. Without those niceties in place it would not be credible to call him anything other than a bandit himself. Food, equipment, clothing, and all other necessities were always in short supply or unavailable, the Citizens Brigade lived off the land. Mayken quickly came to hate her new, imposed career. But there were no time limits to service. The only ways out were escape, death, or some unpredictable and unforeseen event in the future. In Mayken’s case it was a combination of two of the three. A little less than a year after she was taken, the Citizen’s Brigade was encamped not far from Dabril. It was close enough for news to reach them, and Mayken received word about her parents. A few weeks earlier they had been taken into custody for questioning as “witnesses”. This is very often how it starts in Galt. A person is accused of something and arrested. The investigation into their politics and ideology invariably draws relatives, friends, neighbors, even acquaintances in for questioning. This questioning continues endlessly, and eventually turns to investigate the loyalties of the witnesses themselves. Few are ever innocent enough for their investigators satisfaction. Mayken did not need to be particularly insightful to know that if her parents were weeks in custody, they were gone for good. Now she was conveniently close at hand, and they would be coming for her as well. The commander of the Citizens Brigade was zealous in his search for traitors, so she would be held without question on a word from authorities in Dabril. So, Mayken slipped away that very night. She stole a small sack of gold from the commander’s tent while he was out, and made a mad dash for the Sellen River. She tried to swim across the river to Kyonin on the other side. Mayken was probably lucky she nearly drowned, and was pulled out of the river by the crew of a flatboat heading south from the River Kingdoms. If she had made it across the river, any elven patrol finding her would probably have killed her. Mayken stayed on boats all the way down the Sellen. When she reached Cassomir, she found work as a cook with a caravan heading east. She’s continued to find work with caravans as a cook, or medic, or guard, for several months now. Mayken has continued to head southeast. In Galt she heard rumors of bounty hunters bringing fugitives back. She’s not sure if they’re true, but if so, stealing the gold might have been enough to put her name on a list. She figures the greater distance from Galt the better. Most recently Mayken has arrived in the area of Heldrin. She’s now at loose ends, trying to decide if she should risk going to a larger city like Zimar, cross into Qadira, or stay in the vicinity’s small settlements for a while. Character Concept: Mayken is using the Grenadier archetype, which of course means she is mainly a ranged combat character. She'll also be using a crossbow, and at 2nd level will be able to apply alchemical weapons to her ranged and melee attacks. Outside of combat she be something of a jack of all trades, a backstop to help out more specialized characters. She can heal, has a decent set of skills and plenty of points to spend on them, and can do some buffing. She can stand in for a rogue pretty well. I will probably be taking the Additional Traits feat early on to fill in some gaps like stealth and any important missing knowledge skills. I'm open to the idea of dipping 1 or maybe 2 levels if it looks like she needs better melee abilities. Probably the dip would be Rogue to pick up the rest of the trap abilities and some sneak attack. Swashbuckler could also work perhaps. Mayken can also substitute for a Ranger in wilderness survival skills. I may yet decide to shave a point off her DEX to bring her CHA up to 10. I'm not sure I want her disabled in that area. She'll be starting off as a fairly jumpy, quiet wallflower, but I'd like to see her come out of that over time. In any case, Alchemists are a very flexible class, and I'm very willing to build around what the party needs when that's known.
|