Naen Tesrec's page

Yipes, I never rolled Naen's prospective damage!

If the roll above (12) hits AC, then: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

I plan to have Naen throw a javelin at the nearest bandit on her first turn. If she is in melee at the start of her turn, she takes a 5 foot step to R11 before her attack.

Javelin attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

Naen moves to R10.

Naen peeks up from the foliage. Did their arrows strike true? Have they been spotted?

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Naen will hang back until William and H'vok get to the tower or are spotted. She's not very stealthy, I'm afraid.

Naen pulls out a javelin and grips it tightly. "I am with you."

I appreciate your concern, but this will give me something to do while I take my turn on suicide watch so that I don't fall asleep. However I think I will proceed much slower. I really enjoy this adventure and don't want to loose an entire group if you know what I mean.

Right on. I understand.

"For my part, I would prefer diplomacy, but I am doubtful it would be effective. Happs was fearful of a powerful leader, one who certainly carries more authority with these bandits than does our modest band. We will more than likely be required to take them by force." Naen squints, trying to get a better sense of the camp before them. "I am prepared for either course."

If you are absolutely comfortable proceeding, Erefine, I'm here and ready to go. If you need some time, however, we all understand. I'm not trying to dissuade the group from moving forward with the game, but please don't feel beholden to us in the face of family crisis. Our chief concern is the welfare of you and your wife. We can always wait.

Take as much time as you need, Erefine. Sending thoughts and prayers your way.

Sounds good to me. Naen is ready to go.

Should we arrange a scouting party once we set camp?

"You cook well, Emalea. Thank you for preparing breakfast."

Naen says a final blessing over the grave of Carmichael Korvus, after which she promptly assembles her equipment. The armor she dons looks rather different from before. Years of rust and neglect have been washed away, and the scales shine in the sun. Naen hangs her wooden shield, newly smooth, upon her mare's saddle, strapping it in to place as Chiron finishes speaking.

"Then let us ride."

Naen nods. "Will then. Good. And yes. I agree." She turns abruptly and walks away. After a few paces, she notices that Chiron is stirring.

Chiron...did he...? "Good morrow, Chiron."

"Oh, William." Naen meets William's gaze, her eyes determined but not without sadness. She glances up quickly to see if the others yet stir. "Understand. The others are no less my allies. I trust Chiron, and I value H'vok's decisiveness. Emalea, she has a good soul and blazing wit...but they are still so strange to me. I am and shall remain dedicated to them, but they are not of my kind. There is something in that, William. The company of other humans. Carmichael was one of us, but how quickly he is gone..."

Naen looks away for a moment, then she steps forward suddenly, taking William's hand firmly. "There is great danger ahead of us, but I will see us through it, William Flynn. I will not abandon you." She squeezes his hand with vigor, then releases it and steps away, seeming to loosen. Her face is red.

Very nice post Naen.

Thanks! I've been inspired by the exceptional roleplaying in this thread and figured I'd put together a meatier post because of my prospective internet difficulties while traveling.

And yet it turns out I have wi-fi down here, so my posting habits shouldn't be greatly affected. Do we start up the following morning?

Hey guys, just a heads up...I will be out of town for a few days starting tomorrow (Tuesday, July 26th). I am not entirely sure of my internet situation while traveling (my smartphone has been acting wonky), but I am still expecting to be able to post at least once a day. If for some reason I am not able to, it's not because I'm neglecting the game, but rather due to difficulty accessing internet.

In any case, I'll be back on the 31st and should be able to resume regular posting activity at that time. For now, here is a lengthier post describing Naen's watch in the morning, as she prays to Milani.

Naen watches the others sleep. She watches the two wolves resting beside William. One of those two bit me. It is nothing...the wound is already healed. Hours ago, though, they thought us prey. And one of us was. Poor Carmichael. You said little to us, friend. As we rode through the afternoon, you wore a smile eager for adventure. Your beautiful bird flew overhead. I have not seen your bird, Carmichael. I do not know where it has gone. I do not know if it knows what became of you. Naen stiffens. Did one of the wolves just move? It did...I saw it. Is it waiting for something? Or maybe it is just shifting in its sleep. Maybe it just wants to be comfortable. I want to be comfortable.

Naen scans the treeline, holding her shining morningstar up. Beyond the trees, she thinks she sees movement. Suddenly, her spell fades, and darkness suddenly falls around her. Curses! Another prayer to Milani, and the light reappears. She looks to the treeline. Nothing. She looks at the wolf that moved. It is still. Time passes.

The light is beginning to break, and nothing has yet happened. No more wolves have come. No bandits stalking up on the group. Perhaps this night will finally, finally end. Naen breathes deeply. The body. I must prepare it. She opens her backpack and pulls out her box of supplies, the mark of a healer. There are fluids contained within. Fluids to protect wounds. Fluids which can preserve. Fluids that will stink for days, sure to offend the noses of curious beasts. She sprinkles them upon the body. Milani bear your soul, Carmichael Korvus. I will not speak ill of you. Rest now.

The wounds are horrific, but Naen has seen worse. Sometimes on those that still live. It is good that you cannot see yourself like this, Carmichael. I hope your passing was quick, terrible as it must have been. Milani was with you in those final moments, and she sings of you now. A tear runs down Naen's cheek. She brushes it away, looking to the others. Did they see that? But they are sleeping. I should begin the grave. She retrieves the shovel. She digs.

The crunch of metal against earth becomes rhythmic, and Naen's mind begins to drift. Though images skirt her vision, she is no longer afraid, for she knows that Milani has awoken. The Everbloom stands with her in the cold, dewy morning. She silently prays.

Milani, great in wisdom,
Support my new beginning with my comrades,
As you support new beginnings everywhere.
Foster my hope,
As you foster the hope of all humanity.
Stay with me in moments of doubt,
That I may remain firm.
Yours in faith and practice.

Naen Tesrec feels warm. Though her sleep has been ragged, there is strength in her arms. Her mind is sharp.

Chiron would seem to believe in me, yet he thinks me still young. H'vok tells me my armor is in poor condition. And perhaps it is. Milani, my lady, for today, grant me the ability to amend that.

And it is granted. Though it is but a minor power, Naen cherishes it and gives thanks. She undoes her scale mail and lays it down in front of her. Her shield, she sets beside it. Her morningstar, she also places on the ground.

Naen uses the orison, Mending, on her equipment.

The rust on the edges of the scaled armor crumbles and blows away, carried by some unknown breeze. The splintered oak of the shield is at once smooth, its shine returned. The weapon; the iron shod shaft, regains its true form. The spikes are bent straight. It is as new.

Naen speaks aloud. Today, I leave the girl behind. I am a woman now. I am your champion, Milani. I will protect my allies and stand fast against my foes. Finally, I am ready.

I would have no objections to proceeding past the night, but I will include some narrative about Naen's morning prayer. That can be easily done as my first post of the next day, however.

I was imagining that Chiron and Emalea went to her camp, and that Naen, H'Vok and William stayed with Carmichael's body. I figured Naen would place the body on her horse, then lead it by the reins, trusting William and Chiron's tracking to see the group reunited at the larger campsite.

"I wish I could say the same, William Flynn, but I have before buried a man...no...a boy who met a similar fate." Naen looks into William's eyes, as if searching for something. She speaks again after a brief moment. "Thank you for your help, William."

Naen does her best to hoist Carmichael's up onto her mare's saddle.

Strength Check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Naen remains kneeling over Carmichael's body, doing her best to hide her displeasure at H'vok's words. So casually he dismisses a man he barely knew. Perhaps his ruthlessness will be vital to our success in the Greenbelt, but it does unsettle me here and now.

"I have means to keep beasts from the body now and after burial, but they are back in the camp." Naen tugs cautiously at the bear trap. "William, H'vok...if you assist me with opening the jaws of this trap, I will carry him there."

"I will accompany you to your camp. While I'm gone, the rest of you should prepare the body for burial first thing tomorrow. Are we agreed?"

"Yes, Chiron. Be careful."

"Another shovel would prove helpful, to be sure. Thank you." Naen drops to her knees and examines Carmichael's remains. "Would one of you help me pry this trap open?

It sounds like we're half a mile from Emalea's campsite. How far are we from the larger one the party set up earlier?

"Youth and temperance are not mutually exclusive. You would do well to keep such idle talk burried in your mind. Especially considering your unique position. It will not take much for you to lose your hard earned place in human society. One wrong move and you'll be just another hobgoblin for the pitchfork. Remember that."

"From my understanding of the world, any of us are susceptible to that, Chiron. But I will not bore you with my family history." Naen meets Emalea's eyes with a stern, appraising look. "Forgive my hesitation. The scope of our expedition is still setting in for me, and we've already lost one of our number." Naen extends her hand. "Well met, all the same. I'm afraid you will have to trust my word for now, as my charter is with my belongings in our camp. Perhaps Chiron or H'vok will vouch for me." Naen sighs, looking back to Carmichael's body. "Now come, everybody. It is late, and we have a body to bury."

"That is my name. What business had you with Oleg?"

Naen looks over Carmichael's remains. She does not make a sound.

Just like young Petrov, three summers past. Poor Carmichael. Milani guide your soul. If only he had...wait...what is this? Who is this stranger?

Naen raises her shield and holds her morningstar at the ready.

"Announce yourself."

Naen pulls herself on to her mare and holds her shining morningstar aloft. She follows behind the others.

I've updated Naen's stats as well. She now has a 19 Wisdom.

Naen looks rapidly between Chiron and William, waiting for one of them to act.

William Flynn is a good man.

"I am with you, William."

But if Carmichael truly abandoned us, what shall I say to him? Can I ever trust him to watch while we sleep? Can I trust any of them? Naen sighs. Perhaps Chiron is right. But no matter. I have given myself to aid William.

"But quickly!" Naen fastens the last strap on her scale mail with urgency.

Well I've not read the entire thread yet (a bit more than half-way through now), so I'm not exactly sure where you are, or what time of the day it is, but from what Erefine said in the recruitment thread, I'll arrive at your camp in the morning and on the way will have found a half-eaten sorcerer. Of course that might have been any sorcerer, but my guess is by tomorrow you'll have your answers and closure :)

But I guess if you are following the tracks (can you at night?) then we might meet sooner... however that would mean I have to travel at night as well... I mean "arriving right before dawn" means the same. hmm, maybe you'd stumble on my camp then or something.

Aha! That answers that. I think it would be exceedingly difficult to track at night, but Naen probably doesn't realize this. After all, William and Chiron are nothing short of extraordinary! Her high Wisdom reflects her empathy much, much more than it does her worldly experience (which is very limited). Of course, if William and/or Chiron think it best to wait until morning, I think she can be convinced. That doesn't mean she won't be haunted by that decision when they eventually do find Carmichael.

Hello everyone. Seems I'll be joining you by next in-game morning. I'll catch up on what happened so far till then.

Looking forward to RP with you guys.
Is there an OOC thread for this game over in the OOC section, or do we use this one?

Welcome! Glad to have you along! We have been using this thread for both in-character and out-of-character posts.

I'm not sure all of us should go looking for Carmichael. Naen will be curious if Chiron or William can determine how long ago Carmichael left. Based on the narration and the fact that Naen was asleep until warning was called, I don't think she actually saw if Carmichael was present during the combat. If his trail is hours cold, he clearly had some strong reason to abandon them and Naen may be convinced to let it be. If he left moments ago, he can't have gotten far, so splitting the party wouldn't seem as risky.

Out of character, I know that Erefine is working Carmichael out, so I don't want to waste too much time "looking for him". All the same, he was our companion, and Naen wants some answers.

"I know that we should search for Carmichael, but part of me wishes to let nature have her way with the coward."

Chiron beats the ground irritably with his hooves.

"Truly, he could not have thought the pitch black forest to be better refuge from the wolves than our campsite. If he has fled into the wood, we should seek him out." Naen softly hums a prayer to the Everbloom, and her morningstar begins to glow brightly. Naen has cast the orison, Light.

"If you will allow me a moment to dawn my armor, I will light his trail for one of you to track."

Naen channels energy, healing everybody in 30 ft. (including the wolves).

1d6 ⇒ 1

As this seems to have had little effect, shes does so again. She has exposed her wrist, and a strange mark on her forearm glows.

1d6 ⇒ 2

I think that tops everybody off, but I'm happy to have Naen do it again if anybody is still down HP. I too am curious about Carmichael. If he's gravely injured, Naen will try to do something for him.

William can speak with wolves? Amazing...

"Is anybody hurt?"

William Flynn wrote:

Is it wrong/possible if my answer to that question is domestication and training? That would be so interesting. It's a portion of the rules I've never worked with before. I understand if it's untenable - we probably can't get them to stay with us.

Also, it might be fun to be known as "the Young Wolf"... :)

With your high roll it is possible as their disposition is more neutral to all of you now.

Though the wolves seem to have stopped their attack, Naen stands on guard, reaching slowly down to pick up her shield.

Nice! Also, for the record, I like the witch on the recruitment thread Erfine. Would make for fun times methinks.

I like her too. Nice rolls, William! I will wait to see how the wolves react before I specify Naen's next action.

You're right, H'vok. When the game goes so long without an update, I stop looking for it to check it, and I'm sure others do too. This soon spirals out of control, as we check the post, but aren't inspired to do anything with it.

For the future, if it happens that I can't post (say, after a day or so), I completely approve of making a play for me, as long as it moves the game along. In this case, I didn't see actual progress - if that was all he was going to post, it wouldn't have been a problem to wait a few more hours for my input.

For my part, I will simply post more often (I'm sure here enough!). If I'm out of line, I'm really sorry, and I'll shut up now.

You don't sound out of line to me. You're simply stating your preference. I'm of the same mind with Naen. The qualifications you discuss above make sense to me. If I haven't posted in a day or so, and you need to move the story along, that's fine.

I also want to make quick mention that Chiron said he wouldn't be able to post, so he specified his Round 2 action ahead of time (and rolled for it.

Naen tugs on her morningstar, trying to pull it loose from the tree.

Because Naen isn't wearing armor and is prone, the wolf's 8 hits her.

Wincing in pain, Naen pulls herself to her feet. This provokes an attack of opportunity.

Wretched beasts! Naen tightens grip on her morningstar and focuses. I have faced wolves before.

She swings overhand, attempting to bring her weapon down on the wolf's neck.

Attack roll: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

If it hits: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

I am in agreement. I would like to see the pace go a lot faster! I rather like the group and our interactions so far. I apologize if anybody was annoyed at my in-game questions - I was just trying to keep banter going, since there wasn't much plot happening.

I wonder if Carmichael has vanished.

Impossible! Invisibility is a second level spell! Okay, I'm done being stupid (not really).

I like William's questions! They're not annoying in the least.

I am frustrated as well. We have a great group here and I like this game a lot, but I would like a to see the pacing pick up a little.

Please add 2 to both rolls there. I forgot my favored enemy bonus.

It probably doesn't matter because your favored enemy bonus brings your attack roll to a 17, but you would also have a +1 morale bonus from Bless.

Are we waiting on Carmichael prior to learning the initiative results of Round 1?

If Chiron has actually damaged one of the wolves, Naen will not channel energy on her turn. As I mentioned in the above post, she does not want to heal enemies. She will cast Bless instead.

All of Naen's allies gain a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls and saves against fear (after initiative 12).

Initiative = 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

If the wolves have taken no damage yet (or have taken enough damage to kill them) when it comes to her turn, Naen picks up her morningstar as a move action and then channels energy:

1d6 ⇒ 1

If one or more of the wolves is wounded, Naen instead casts Bless after picking up her morningstar.

I'll toss out a perception roll for Naen's shift.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Though Naen is eager to help set up camp and gather firewood, she says little for most of the evening. She mostly watches and listens to the others. As the party makes preparations to sleep, however, she speaks.

"If we are to assign watches, then let me voice my preference for the last. I like to greet the morning sun."

Eager to make conversation, William regards his traveling companions. What did everybody do before they responded to the charter? While we seem excellent marksmen, I'm sure we have other talents. Perhaps now would be a good time to enumerate them.

"I did little, William Flynn, and with every passing moment, my doings in life before the charter feel less and less. Though I am a priest of Milani, Brunderton had not but a small shrine dedicated to the Everbloom. It was maintained by my mother, and we never held services or hosted a congregation. Instead, she insisted that I help my neighbors in their fields, that I join the local militia, and finally, that I assist at the town hospital. The hospital...that is where I spent most of my time, even after she had passed. Though I have learned to fight, I have had little opportunity to do so. My skills are better suited to aiding the sick and wounded, through healing their maladies and soothing their fears. I have discovered much in doing that."

"Aye, this is the direction Shard spotted the grove. He saw no trouble, but plenty of delicious grubs."

"Ah. Your bird is called Shard." What a strange name. "A fine name. It is very well trained."

Just a heads up for everyone: I just bought my first house! As such, I will be moving over the next week or two. I will still have access to my laptop and I can sometimes post at work. That said, I may be a little less frequent in posting. I will definitely get in one post per day and will strive for more. Just thought ya'll ought to know.

Congratulations! That's awesome news. Best wishes in your move.

Onward! To adventure! If no one objects, William mounts Brownie and heads for the grove.

Naen, having just gotten some semblance of control over her horse, follows after William.

"Milani bless our journey. May we be carried swiftly and safely."

I also like the idea of a separate discussion thread specifically for kingdom management, when the campaign reaches that point.

Another thing looks like it is bothering William. They said they took the sixth horse from someone down the road. Should we return her?

Let us deal with these bandits as soon as we possibly can. Fortune and Milani willing, we will have much more time for exploring what the Greenbelt has to offer.

Naen nods in agreement. "Yes. Let us be direct. As for the extra horse, perhaps Oleg should hold it here. We can watch for its owner on the road and direct them here, should we come across them. If we take the horse and do not find its rightful owner, it may be a burden in our travels."

Chiron places a large, leathery hand on Naen's slender shoulder.

"“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. You stood there Naen. That takes courage. I know you will find yourself in good time, never rush it."

Chiron smiles at the young lady.

"Keep your heels down as you ride and you'll have an easier time."

*wink*

"Thank you, Chiron."

Naen nods humbly, then looking down, tries to push her left foot deeper into the stirrup. She nearly loses her balance as the mare turns in a tight circle.

Let me explain the mechanics of exploring. It takes 3 days to explore an entire hex. There is a map of the Greenbelt in the free kingmaker campaign guide on the Paizo website. You can ride through a hex and not explore, but you will not take note of any landmarks as you do. If you spend two days exploring a hex you will be able to find large landmarks, but not have a complete knowledge of the hex. Being as we have a cartographer you will be able to keep an accurate map (which may be rewarded in the future.) Also I know we have a few that are skilled in Survival so either you will all have to eat a trail ration for the day or someone will have to pass a DC 10 survival check to provide food and water for themselves and one other player. So with all that being said which direction will you head?"

I think I understand the hexes. I believe we were heading to the grove that Happs described and Chiron was familiar with. The question is, do we want to pace ourselves and explore thoroughly along the way, or do we want to head there as directly as possible?

In either case, I think Naen will spend her last 20 silver at Oleg's post to get a few more rations. She can also provide clean water for the entire party via her Create Water orison.