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Amazing
"Yes, we shall be attending. I don't suppose you have an invitation of your own?" Suddenly a thought occurs to Funmi. They have a blade for the prest to examine. She would have to confer with the others before telling him, but if he has the grasp of the occult that he claims, this could be the lead they needed. "By the way...can you swim?"
The mage hesitates for a moment before answering. Pragmatist that she is, it wouldn't be hard to come up with a compelling argument why there are no better options. Because those souls are equally trapped in the Gardeners' grasp as they are at the river. Because if their plans succeed, many more souls will be taken, and those not yet lost must be protected first. But one look at Fiorré's sad-as-a-kitten expression washes all of that away. Instead, the Lorespeaker lowers herself just slightly to better look Fiorré in the eye. "I swear to you, on my mask and on my blood, that we will recover the blade when it is safe to do so. Even if I have to swim to the bottom of the river myself. These souls will know rest before my own does."
Funmi kneels beside the gardener and examines his mask for traces of magic. After all a mask, an identity, is a mighty symbol that can hold all manner of powerful curses. But if it is safe, it could come in handy later on.
"Taking the blade is going to be more difficult than I expected," she said, sparing no further though5 to their fallen foes. "The entire guillotine is enchanted, and it seems no mundane skill can dismantle it. The Last Hand and I can try blasting all the magic we've got left into it, but if that doesn't work, I'm afraid this entire battle may have been a waste." As she steps closer to the guillotine, she moves past Fiorré, and almost without thought raises a hand to the girl's face. She brushes a gloved thumb against her cheek, mutters a minor incantation, and the blood staining her face and clothes disappears in an instant. At a glance, you wouldn't even know the girl had been in a fight. Then her attention is back to the blade as she raises her bow again. "Ready, Chance?"
Eclipse sidesteps the loathsome creatures lunging at her ankles. Undeterred by their meager attempts, she brings her arcane energy to bear against the enemies in her path. Black mist sprays from her hands, filling the air with the sounds of gnashing teeth and the laughter of hyenas.
Reaction: If I take damage, I will Contingency Time Jump, unless someone tries to use a mental effect on me first, and then I will black pearl instead
Eclipse scowls as the little creature swipes at her leg, and sucks her teeth in annoyance when the barker frees himself. An unseemly habit, unbefitting a diplomat of Olufunmilayo's position. Luckily, the archer didn't need to concern herself with such trifling things. "Now that all the players are on the stage, let us start the show properly." She swipes her hand to the side, looking past Midnight, and reaches out with her mind. This time when she closes her fist, she grasps onto the conjured shadows and starts to pull. She grasps with both hands and heaves as if pulling a great weight, and the shadows move with her, spreading around the edges of the tent. As darkness grows, one by one, the shadow warriors emerge once again, marching until they fill the space and raise their weapons. "Loose."
Eclipse glances at the Huntress, although her mask hides whatever expression she might have made. "If we are lucky, we will not need to do either. But I don't expect luck will be on our side. If the enemy attacks us...kill."
Funmi's afternoon errands are quite mundane. She sells a few magical runes, divides the earnings for each of her companions, and purchases a scroll or two. Nothing out of the ordinary for a travelling mage of the Magaambya. But the woman who arrives at the Grange Market is someone else altogether. She wears a cloak as dark as night, with a mask that hides her face. She travels in darkness, away from the watchful eyes of Galt's citizens. Someone who has travelled through the Mwangi Expanse and asked after it's more frightening secrets may have heard of the Specter of Mzali. Certainly not a name she prefers. Instead, she tells her allies, "For tonight, call me Eclipse."
Eclipse observes the barker from hiding, and is struck by a bolt of inspiration. "My friend, how would you like to join the circus?" she asks, glancing down at Chance. With permission, she waves her hand over the cleric's head, and disguises her as one of the workers.
As the creature stares her down, Funmi can feel it trying to probe her thoughts, but the spinning stone around her head hums with energy and deflects the mental intrusion. "It's not polite to pry into another's thoughts," she says, electricity crackling around her fingertips. A bolt of electricity flies from her hand, coursing through the two assassins and into the monster.
Before the light of the spell fades, another arrow flies through the air, this time empowered with magic.
"Well done, girl. We got what we came for, so let's make a quiet exit," comes a whispered message to Fiorré. Then each of the others hear their own in turn. Under cover of invisibility, Funmi leaves the same way they entered so the guards can go about their work undisturbed.
Funmi is up bright and early the next morning to make her daily preparations. Once she's taken the opportunity to wash and change into fresh clothes, she sets herself up in a quiet corner to study her books. Quill takes a spot on an old crate beside her, flicks a claw with his inky tongue, and begins taking notes. The two squabble occasionally in muted - if animated - draconic about her choices of spells. "Just because it wasn't useful against a pile of rocks doesn't mean it's a bad spell. Remember that time in Vidrian? It came in handy then, didn't it?" A sarcastic chitter. "Fine, you want to be a witch's familiar instead? I know one who would love to turn your toenails into soup." An irate hiss. Eventually, the duo manage to come to an accord. Funmi closes her spellbook and Quill returns to his hiding place in her travel bag. "We're meeting a Lord today, so you'd better be on your best behavior," she says with only a hint of sarcasm.
Funmi quirks an eyebrow at Chance's rather obvious machinations. She isn't sure that Fiorré needs quite so much help in the matchmaking department, but she isn't going to turn down the assistance either. That Aphotos and Kuthek agree so readily is a pleasant surprise as well. Perhaps company isn't so bad. "Alright then. If anyone speaks draconic, you can go up and help Quill. He's working on etching the protective runes, and if you don't mind his attitude, he can explain the process to you. The rest of you can come with me. I'll start working on mundane security. It's not much of a safehouse if we don't even have locks on the door."
"You were manipulated," Funmi says matter of factly. "They gave you something you wanted to draw you in, and then made you do their dirty work when it was too late for you to back out. A detestable, if common, tactic of the powerful. I wonder how many others they have in a similar grasp." She doesn't look at Zintaya as she speaks. It's more as if she's just thinking out loud than addressing the elf directly. Before she continues, Quill swoops back down from the ceiling, landing delicately on her shoulders. He chirps something in draconic that makes the mage roll her eyes. "Well that is what I have you for, isn't it? Start making the preparations and I'll come help you later." The wyrm lets out an indignant huff before taking off again. "It's going to be a busy night for me, it seems. Relaxation will have to wait."
Funmi was amused by the various antics, right up until Fiorré fled from the room. Her smile quickly fades, replaced by a furrowed brow of worry. She glances around briefly to see if the others have noticed, and then crosses the room to stand beside the closed door. With her back to the wall, she whispers under her breath and lets her magic carry the words to Fiorré. Come on, girl. You've already done the brave part. Don't let the voices in your head tear you down now. Let's see that princess's pride.
The morality of necromancy on Golarion isn't about forcing others to do your bidding. If it was, every enchantment spell would have the evil tag. It's about disrupting the cycle of souls and damaging the fabric of reality (according to Phrasma at least.) Summoning spells don't do that.
Funmi chuckles softly at her companions as she goes through the motions of unpacking and settling into the new space. Quill pokes his head out of her bag and sniffs at the air before climbing out to look around. Satisfied that there's no danger present, the golden wyrm takes off flying into the rafters. "Don't wander too far! I'll call you down when it's time for dinner," Funmi calls after him. Once her bed rolls and other supplies are set up for the evening, she returns to the others and places a hand on Kuthek's shoulder. "If it's a heat source you need, I can provide that. One of the more useful skills I've picked up over the course of my education, if I'm being honest." She moves her hands to her hips as she takes a look around the place. Finally having a reprieve after a day of conspiracies and ambushes has her in surprisingly bright spirits. "Compared to other places I've had to stay, I would say this is quite homely. Almost cozy even."
"I'm running out of options here!" Funmi shouts over the din. She withdraws her bow from her bag of holding and pulls back the drawstring. The hourglass charm that hangs from its base turns and the sands begin swirling inside. When she looses, a line of black energy flies from her bow and through the mass of stone.
The swirling shadows continue their assault.
"Much better. Now let us see if I can add to the distraction." The room begins to dim despite the evening light streaming in through the windows. Funmi raises both arms out to her sides and shadows lengthen. Dark figures begin to rise up one by one until they nearly fill the room. Their shapes solidify into cloaked archers, each with their hood raised and a wooden mask of a black lioness. The shadows take aim at the mass of stone and loose a rain of dark arrows into it.
We appreciate you, Maggie <3
So either the community was told that a user was suspended in error, or the user was suspended by one member of the CS team and unsuspended by another. If it is the former, that is frustrating and disappointing. If it's the latter, that is inexcusable. The user in question has gone well beyond 'dogwhistles' and has been in the territory of actively hostile for quite some time. If decisive action can't be taken in such a cut and dry case as this, then I agree with the OP's statement that these forums are an unsafe place. Leadership has proven over and over again that they aren't willing to take the necessary steps to protect the community, even when their own staff ask them to. How many months has it been since the first "Give us a chance" message? How many chances does this make?
Happy New Year! Thank you for sharing your stories and giving us these fantastic items!
"In fact, I am relying on you to do the talking. She's more likely to open up to a young woman around her own age," Funmi says, smiling behind her tea cup. "Don't worry about learning anything in particular. If you can become her friend, I'm sure she will tell you more than we could even think to ask. She might even call on you to be her date to the masque—so to speak."
Funmi quirks an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised to feel the spell take effect, and sends her message. "Stopped by your house while you were out. Did some cleaning up. So many spiders! Let's talk face to face."
Funmi kneels down on the roof and picks up the journal. She flips through the pages briefly before stowing it in her bag. If there's nothing of significance about the spyglass itself, she covers it again to prevent the glinting metal from drawing any more attention."It looks like Amberin was embroiled in something quite devious. If he still lives, I expect we'll see him at the Masque - or under it." She glances skeptically at Isias. She knows that the morrigna isn't lying, but is it possible someone is manipulating her? Either way, she'd rather talk to her companions without the psychopomp looking over their shoulder. "I'm sure you have someone you ought to report all of this too. My friends and I are going to retire for tea. We should choose a place to meet again later, in case either of us discovers new information." Doublespeak: [b]The other party members understand my meaning as "We should return to Kenzin's place and go over what we know, but I don't want to tell the morrigna about him."
Funmi turns around to face the others on the stairs, giving Kuthek a small nod of acknowledgement. She is not quite as eager to please as her pupil, but a small compliment is still nice from time to time. "I don't know why that creature was here, but she clearly intended to waste our time. Lacking any other information, the best thing we can do is to deny the enemy the thing that they are after. We should finish investigating this place as quickly as we can, and if we discover nothing, we should leave."
Funmi doesn't turn when Fiorré taps her. She simply raises a hand and signals for the girl to follow quietly. But whatever she was expected, she was completely unprepared for this. "Grandmother's tit, what happened here. This is sickening," she says, lowering her bow. She isn't in any hurry to do as the creature asks, but everything about the state its in leaves a bad taste in her mouth. "What has your priest been doing, Monitor?"
I won't go too into detail about ways that you can run this, because I don't really think I can give an unbiased answer here. If you want your players to find the scrolls without interacting with the camp, they could be on the bodies of the iruxi where they fight the graveknight. I would avoid making the child the sole survivor, as the idea of taking them away from their culture for their perceived benefit plays into its own colonial tropes and very quickly strays into some bad territory.
Funmi nods thoughtfully. This new information certainly adds a few additional figures to her calculations. "The backing of a powerful sahkil would certainly go a long way towards explaining the hold the Gardeners have over this nation. And it's another reason for us to move with caution." She takes a look around the room and nods again, finding answers to questions no one else has asked yet. "Let's go see your priest. I will bolster the protections here and make this place a more suitable base."
Just curious: Who wrote the section on Tehialai? Polynesian culture is seldom represented in RPGs let alone mainstream media, and I'm curious about the inspiration and author of the piece. That would be James Case. He goes into detail about his inspirations on Twitter
Phenomenal work everybody! This is an absolutely amazing read, easily one of my favorite RPG books across any line.
Funmi looks up at the dilapidated old temple, appraising the building with a hand on her chin. "Seems cozy enough." She opens her bag and her familiar winds his way out again, climbing up onto her shoulder. "Be sure to keep your head on a swivel, and don't go wandering about without permission." It's an instruction for the wyrm, but the edge of lorespeaker in her voice perhaps makes it sound like more of a general command. She heads for the side door to hopefully avoid any prying glances, carefully pulls away the ribbon, and tests the door to see if it will open.
Yeah. Portraying incredibly graphic racialized violence can cause harm. It can retraumatize people. Portraying 'bad things as bad' doesn't change the fact that they are traumatic to large swathes of the population. It's the reason why content warnings and rating systems exist. It's the reason Paizo doesn't allow sexual assault or harm to children in their published content. And you're right, the company isn't obligated to do anything. But they chose to do it. Sorry if that sucks for you. I call it a win. Also you don't know what the word whitewashing means, please stop using it incorrectly.
I'm not gonna quote your message cause you are out here writing mad essays that really just demonstrate that you aren't actually listening to what anyone has to say and you are ignorant to a lot of larger conversations happening. There have been many, many conversations about problematic content that Paizo has published in the past. They happen all the time. The fact that you are not a part of those conversations does not mean that they aren't happening. What may seem sudden to you has been building up for years. And your demands that everyone rehash all of those conversations for your benefit are unreasonable. Also yeah, a lot of Black people do think 12 Years A Slave and movies like it are harmful. Again, you are really just putting your own lack of awareness on blast. I highly recommend you take a step back from this conversation and reexamine yourself.
I think there's a pretty popular song out there about what you should tell nazi punks to do?
Generally speaking? You don't debate them on their terms. You don't let them dictate the conversation. You say, "I can see that you are arguing in bad faith. You are a bigot and I am not going to engage with your sealioning/gish galloping/strawmanning. The humanity of others is not a debate." Usually with less nice words, but this forum has policies against that.
Funmi finishes her cup as well, placing it demurely back on the saucer without so much as a clink. "I would thank you as well, Mr. Nevarmo. You have been very welcoming. However, I must make one more request before we go. It is rather...macabre, but time is too short for more tasteful methods, I'm afraid. I'm sure there are a number of empty buildings in a city like this. If you could provide me with a short list of those that have been abandoned for long enough that they would be largely ignored, that would be of a great deal of help." She doesn't elaborate any further if pressed, except to say, "Just as an added precaution."
K.
Funmi returns Fiorré's smile, though it lacks some of the sincerity of the younger girl's. She places a hand on her shoulder and gives a light squeeze. A quiet moment of sympathy passes between them, but it is not the time or the place to dwell on such things. "Then the Oval Mirror shall have to be our next stop. But business first."
As soon as Funmi enters the city, a vague feeling of unease washes over her. She tries to ignore it, but each shop keeper and townsperson she speaks to worsens her discomfort. The reluctance to speak paired with too friendly smiles, the thinly veiled fear behind their eyes. It's all the worst parts of being back in Mzali. By the time she meets up with the group again, her mind is obviously elsewhere. The locals' paranoia is rubbing off on her, and she catches herself glancing over her shoulder more than once. "Yes...that's useful information. Good work.
Funmi chuckles softly as she finishes her preparations and closes her book. It’s been long enough since someone has been concerned about her safety that the idea of needing protection is novel, though not unwanted. ”I appreciate your concern dear, but I’m sure we will be fine. After all, Chance has the gods on her side, and I will be standing very close to Chance. If I am lucky, they will get confused enough to give me their protection by mistake.”
Funmi takes a few steps out of their cozy little glade, shielding her eyes from the morning sun as she looks out over Litran. “Our destination is on the far side of the city. I’d like to look around before we meet up again and see how the people here live firsthand. And perhaps I’ll find out what the shopping is like while I'm at it.”
I'm disappointed that the mods have opted to leave some incredibly rude posts at the top. It's clear that certain vulgar opinions are permitted.What’s “rude and vulgar” about wanting more diversity in leadership? That you don't even know the difference between diversity and representation is evidence enough that you are out of your depth for this conversation, and I think the best thing you can do is excuse yourself from it before you embarrass yourself further.
What do people think of introducing the students from this book during the events of earlier books? Jumimo most of all could be around, and I'm thinking the others likely join during the events of books 1 or 2. Anyone think its narratively preferable to hold them in reserve so there's some new students to figure out in book 3? I think it certainly makes sense for Jumimo to be around for the earlier books, at least as a background NPC. And it could even help expand on his character arc. I would probably avoid including any more of the other new students though, just to avoid juggling too many pre-existing relationships. (There can be as many as six depending on how players handle previous adventures, even without making any changes.) What culture is Fardrik, one of the students introduced in this book, supposed to belong to? Fardrik is Vidric. While all Vidrics faced hardships under colonial rule, he also dealt with additional discrimination. Outside of that, the specifics of his background will depend on how you choose to tell his story and what your table feels comfortable exploring.
"An indignity of your own invention," Funmi says, matching his tone and refusing to betray a hint of mirth. "You could have joined Aphotos in the role of bodyguard if you'd liked. It might even have been slightly more convincing." Funmi takes note of the strange building. Looking at it for too long makes her stomach begin to turn, yet she feels like it would be foolish to turn her back on it in this place. You let your imagination best you. Get a grip, girl. "Let's get back to the other side then. You two wildlings can find us a place to settle until dawn."
Funmi furrows her brow as Chance draws attention to the shifting landscape. It seems the shadows would have us proceed whether we are ready or not. Seeing that Fiorré seems to be herself, she relaxes. It's a bit surprising that the others are so accepting of the girl's shadow self, but she supposes that is the advantage of travelling with those who walk in darkness. She falls into step with the others, allowing them to talk amongst themselves for a while. The chatting seems to keep everyone in good spirits, and make the travel feel faster. [Later] As the conversation falls into a lull, Funmi walks closer to Kuthek. "No more than I could spare," she answers, softly. Then clarifies, "To answer your question about pounds of flesh." She tugs down the collar of her robe to reveal a scar on her right shoulder. Not too severe, only a few inches in length, but hard to miss. She quickly covers it again, pulling the robe tighter around herself. "She's a sweet girl. I may not always trust that thing that walks behind her, but I trust that mask that she carries. It is proof enough for me that she can walk with me."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Funmi can't stop herself from chuckling softly at Fiorré's shyness. No matter how monstrous her appearance may become at times, she is still just a young girl after all. In many ways, she reminds Funmi of her own time as a student. She leans in closer, speaking so that only Fiorré can hear, and says "Know yourself, and you have nothing to fear." She takes a step back so that Aphotos can approach if he wishes, but stays attentive just in case anything happens. She turns her head to face Kuthek and answers, "It was not entirely a lie that she is my student, although I do not officially hold the title of Teacher. Shortly after our first meeting, I learned about these transformations the hard way. I wrote her letter of introduction and sponsorship to receive help from one of my old teachers."
Excellent work everyone! Guns and Gears is truly a fantastic book and I can't wait to play with all of the awesome stuff in it.
It is not Funmi’s first time moving through another plane. Though she does not have the proper spells to do so on her own, it is not too difficult to find someone who does with the company she keeps. There is a strange comfort to this place, like returning to a city you once holidayed in and finding your favorite café still sells a particular pastry. She has always found some comfort in the dark, and the quiet of the night. But it is her first time travelling this way with Fiorré. Funmi steps in front of the young girl, placing herself between the feline and the rest of the group. She draws herself to her full height, keeping her expression placid and her voice calm as she turns to face her. Isn’t she usually taller than Fiorré? “Yes, dear. So long as we are quiet and keep the light at bay, we are safe. But I need you to listen to me for a moment. I need you to remember your lessons with Lesedi. Tell me honestly, are you in control right now? Because if you are not in control, then we cannot proceed.” Any mirth or mischief is gone as she prepares for what might happen next. It’s been years since the last time she saw Fiorré change without willing it, but she has never seen her look like this.
Their carrd is also linked above with a full list of credits!
I ship it.
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