MichaelCullen's page

It’s hard to believe but we started this game before I even met my wife. Now we are married with a five year old. I am sure we have all seen a lot happen in the last 8 years. I remember GM Pace, when you father died, and now your mother. You all have been good friends and offered words of encouragement when my childhood home burnt down and also when I got married.

Michael Cullen
Chesapeake, VA
Cullenm1@citadel.edu
MJCullen1287@gmail.com

During the course of the game I have lived in:
Virginia Beach, VA
Chesterfield, MI
Newport, RI
Jacksonville, FL
And now Chesapeake

Really brings it into perspective

GM Pace, you have been an all star. I hate to even ask, but is it possible to have a small epilogue where we reunite with our families and friends on the material plane? I am open to writing it, if that is fine with everyone? Just for some good closure. I too have felt the drain of 5 years of dungeons and have not been good about posting lately. But I would love for us to have a celebratory end instead of a fizzle. I am willing to help write, but up to you all.

Happy 4th

Jeremy, my prayers are with your family.

Though the loss here is immense, I hope your family finds some comfort that your mom and your dad are once again together.

May she rest In peace and greet you, when in God’s good time, you leave this world as well.

I will say a prayer for her and your family.

We don’t know the cause of the fire. May be too much damage to determine. A neighbor took this picture during the fire. iCloud link It is still pretty surreal.

Happy New Year to you all. It has been a rough start for us.

Everyone is safe, but my parents’ house burnt down last night while they were at a friend’s house for the ball drop.

We are visiting my parents and my in-laws. They live near each other and we all get along very well (I love my in-laws and my wife loves my parents). My wife, son and I have been at my wife’s parents, but we ate dinner at my parents house last night. Kind of still in shock.

A lot of memories in that house, there is some hope that some items in the basement might not be completely burnt, but nearly everything else is.

My parents are staying at a friend’s house for now while the friends are out of town. The people who offered their house are some of the kindest people I know. My parents are surrounded by a lot of loving friends and neighbors.

Counting the blessings that no one is hurt.

Merry Christmas, and happy news about your mom DM Pace.
God bless.

Happy Halloween:)

Happy belated birthday, May the next one be more joyful.

Happy Easter everyone!

Still here, posting now.

Also happy St Patrick’s Day to everyone.

It has been a rough year. And I am having login troubles too. Looks like edge on my laptop is the only browser/device combination that's working.
At least I can log on now.

Merry Christmas my friends. God bless you all in this New Year. May your 2021 be better than your 2020.

Pace, I am sorry to hear. I will say a prayer for your family.

I lost an aunt on the 4th as well.
She had suffered from dementia for a few years now and her passing was not unexpected.

I get to go home today. Spent the last 4 months in a hotel for work. Cant wait to get back home. An odd parallel to my character.

Hope all is well Pace. It’s been frustrating here too, been away from my family for a few months, but get to see them again for a couple weeks starting Friday.

Been having a very frustrating week. I clicked the link to the link to Shazathered's songs from the plane of water. The Enya has been calming.

back in 3.5, Pyro and Cryo hydras were my go to for polymorph spells. They were one of the most efficient uses at least from a combat perspective. Because the old spell was based on HD and actually changed many of your stats to mimic the creature you turned into.

You could be your max HD based on caster level by choosing the number of heads the hydra had, as I recall there was a table with stats for everything from 5 heads to 12.

A 7 headed cryo hydra (which you could be as a 7th level wizard) had some pretty great abilities. I can see why they changed it for Pathfinder but it always made me a little sad that it took away "some of the magic" of polymorph.

Pace! That was an awesome description.

I’m here, sorry I have not been as regular as I should, I’ll endeavor to do better.

I’m going to be spending the next few months in a hotel in RI. I’ve got some schools for the Navy in Newport.

Living in Florida, things have begun to open up. Moved onto another job with the Navy. It’s another ship that is being finished in Wisconsin but will be home ported here in Florida.

The ship has two crews and the other one is onboard right now. We are kind of building my crew from the ground up. What that means for me is that I am working out of a trailer for the time being. We don’t have a CO or XO for my crew yet (they will be my bosses) so that kind of leaves me in charge for the moment, which I am enjoying.

My family is doing well and I hope you all stay healthy.

Happy Easter everyone.

The save vs fear was for those within 30 at the time or anyone who enters 30? Khayal was outside but is now inside of 30 (thank you Haste :) )

Relentless Butcher is actually something Khayal has been striving for since 2014 though for Khayal it is less about reveling in it as it is being very proficient with his Kukris and studying just how to make the most of his strikes when dealing with his opponents.

I have generally played that sending is not affected by non detection/mind blank as it is evocation school and not a divination. If it was an issue would Rayhan know? Happy to go either way with this one, and surely Khayal would have no idea :)

Happy New Year to everyone.

Merry Christmas!

Got pretty much missed by the hurricane here. Though I feel bad for those in the Bahamas and Carolinas.

In Jacksonville area. Should be getting some of it.

Happy anniversary of Moon Landing.

Happy Easter/Passover. Will post tomorrow.

Happy Easter!

If we leveled:
Fighter
HP: 1d10 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 + 1 = 10
Fighter bonus feat: greater two weapon fighting
Skills:TBD
Saves: +1 to each
BAB:+1

Reijo remembers that there was recently a change of command on the Barbazu, but for the life of him he can not remember the name of the new captain. He does remember the nick name of the old captain however, "Red Eye", on account of the fact that his eyes used to get bloodshot when he was angry, which was often. Based on his history with devil kind, Reijo and Thurden are aware of their immunities and resistances.

The Barbazu draws near and the wind near you is filled with a booming voice, No vessels were scheduled to encountered on this patrol. Come alongside for verification. The voice was clearly carried by magic and the Barbazu comes to a course to make it easy for you to come alongside. It seems at least for now that they are buying your ruse.

The Chelaxian ships were a bit far off for Dimitrious to get many details, but he surmises that the four ship are roughly the same size as Reijo’s. Built for speed first and battle second. Noro’s is a bit larger with more space for cargo, but less speed. Suny’s is the smallest, but has its own advantage in its non reliance on the winds.

With plenty of time to prepare for the ruse, you are able to make a solid presentation.

As the ships close three hang back slightly as one prepares to come along side. As it approaches it closes up a set of signal flags. You understand them to be asking you you are and identifying themselves as the Barbazu. While not overly wary of you it does seem that they are following some sort of procedure for coming across an unexpected vessel.

Now that she is closer you can see that the self identified Barbazu is of the same class as the Blood Vengence. Her guns are ready and she seems prepared for battle but not expecting one. One her main deck stands a detachment of around twenty Chelish Marines.

Recap: You have compiles some evidence that a Chelish Fleet is mustering for an invasion of Shackles. The information you have gathered has been primarily from the captured ship Blood Vengence now captained by Reijo. The Hurricane King, Kerdak Bonefist thought very little of you “evidence” but Captain Tessa Fairwind, your longtime benefactor, gave it some weight. Wanting to investigate the matter further you set sail for Port Indomitable, Corentyn.

Before the ships or Dimitrious have and opportunity to approach near the city, a squadron of four ships comes into view on the horizon. Their black sails emblazoned in red with the symbol of Cheliax leaves little doubt as to their alliegence. Perhaps on a routine patrol or simply transiting these waters, they make for an imposing sight. Perhaps a sample of more to come. Due to Dimitrious’s high vantage point he is able to spot the ships well before yours are spotted giving you sometime to decide how best to deal with the situation. Change course to remain out of sight? Prepare for battle? Set up a ruse using your Chelish ship?

Setting sail on the morning tide the flotilla begins its trip northward toward Corentyn. Dimitrious flies out ahead of the ships and with his high vantage point is able to see for scores of miles. A few ships appear as specks on the blue sea. The trip northward begins well, the seasonal winds coming mostly from the south. With the going easy your crews find themselves with time on their hands, a rare thing indeed.

As you head Northward what are your intentions as you near Corentyn? It is not know as Port Indomitable for no reason. It is a significant military outpost in addition to being a pretty large city. Are you disguising your ships? Using cover identities?

Merry Christmas. Got back from deployment a couple days ago. I’ll put up a post tomorrow but wanted to check in.

Merry Christmas. Got back from deployment a couple days ago. I’ll put up a post tomorrow but wanted to check in.

Closing out the tabs, Reijo notices a smirk come across Havanaw’s face. Jim shakes his head, more in response to Havanaw’s smirk than anything else. I know a guy, but he is hard to get ahold of. Lives on Quent. Creepy fella. Could try to track him down though, may be of some help.

@Dim, how will you be heading to Corentyn, overland flight, ship, scroll of teleport?

Port Indomitable, another name for Corentyn is located about 1200 miles to the north. It lies on the strait that leads to the inner sea. It’s position is strategic from both an economic and political standpoint.

Happy to see his old companion, Havanaw smiles a wide grin. A good number of his teeth have been replaced with gold and ivory. First Rate ehh, is the plunder First Rate or just the danger? Wait don’t answer, I’ll take it if you cover my tab, it goes back a couple weeks. Plus full shares of whatever plunder we gain.

Jim just raises an eyebrow. You get the feeling if Havanaw and you are joining up, he would not want to miss it. Jim and Havanaw will join up with their two ships, both ships are solidly Third Rate ships of the line, but both are well appointed with few expenses spared. A faint distortion in the air around them is recognizable as the effect of multiple stacked abjurations.

Thurden finds the Kaskkari willing to budge a bit more than one would expect. The discerning eye of a cook is enough to catch that not all the beans are vanilla, in fact many of them are Varisian Snout. The beans appear similar visually but lack any real flavor. In large quantities they can cause mild indigestion.

The drink offered by Tessa is a little sour and then a little bitter, but shortly after consuming some, any lingering effects of the excesses of the previous night are banished away.

Tessa seems prepared for your questions and offers seemingly well though out responses, it is clear that she holds onto her position by more than just charm or force. I would expect Cheliax to attack with an overwhelming force. If they mean to do this, then they mean to do it. I would not want to face them with less than 60 ships. There are plenty of enemies of Cheliax in these parts, but not all of them would want to fight, unless they felt the battle was assured. One does not stay a pirate long by picking the hardest fights, and it will be a hard one. The key will be in convincing Cheliax’s enemies to fight her.

As for where to send a lookabout, a spy, I would suggest the port city of Corentyn, also known as Port Indominable. It is a center of power for Cheliax’s western fleets. If big movements have been made, someone there knows about.

Before leaving Tessa hands Suny a note,

Reijo finds the Rotting Mermaid as busy as usual, but that doesn’t stop the free drinks from coming out quick. Halfway into your first beer you spot a couple of old acquaintances, friends really. Jim Reed and Havanaw Jack, both were troublemakers back in the day and more than once had been accompanied by Reijo on their “endeavors”. They seem to have done pretty decent for themselves lately judging by their attire and copious amount of jewelry. Looking up they spot you and motion for you to bring your glass over.

Moving forward you have the opportunity to build up a bit of a fleet in which you may fill the roles of significant characters. There can be one admiral but many commodores. Each Commodore can command a squadron. They lend their individual skills to that squadron. A good carpenter could oversee faster repairs while someone with a high charisma could help with morale checks. You can recruit these squadrons either as mercenaries or as allies. Mercenaries will stay with you for one major battle and then require more pay. Allies can be other pirate lords or others (such as Andoran Navy) whose goals align with yours. In addition to commodores all PCs count as significant characters whether acting as a Commodore or not.

When it comes time to fight Harrigan we will be using the mass fleet combat rules from the AP. They can be found here.

You can have one Admiral and one Commodore per squadron recruited. But all PCs impact the ability of whatever squadron they are in through the trait they pick. In addition to the above listed traits, I am open to any ideas you may have.

5th fleet thus far. Don’t want to get too into it on a public forum.

When morning comes Tessa invites you onto her ship the Luck of the Draw, inviting you into her cabin you notice that much of the decor matches her red hair. She take a carafe and pours a green liquid into small silver cups. This will take the edge off any hangovers you are having. There is something I want to discus. Pausing for a second to allow you to make yourselves compfortable on the sofas and pillows.

If we are going to syphon off the statue money, I know where it needs to go. If Cheliax invades we will need a fleet. Whether mercenary or loyal to our cause. We will need more ships. I think I can help with the moving of funds but right now I’m being watch pretty closely. If I start recruiting a flotilla, it will be noticed by our “King”.

Thanks! Ship pulled in for a quick stop hope all is well with you all as well.

I am meeting my ship on deployment tomorrow (so am writing this from a hotel room). I think I have some solutions that will allow me to continue to post while underway. If I am unable to post from the ship, I will when we pull in for port visits. This will thankfully be a shorter deployment as I am meeting the ship part way through, so even if I am unable to post, I wont be gone too too long.

-God Bless and hope to post soon, Michael.

I am meeting my ship on deployment tomorrow (so am writing this from a hotel room). DM Pace and I have emailed back and forth some options for me to continue to play as Khayal while underway. We think we have some solutions that will work but in case they do not, I have posted Khayal's progression at the bottom of his profile and he may be a GM PC for a bit. This will thankfully be a shorter deployment as I am meeting the ship part way through, so even if I am unable to post, I wont be gone too too long.

-God Bless and hope to post soon, Michael.