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Hi Joanna! It totally seems like we met in a past life or something…
Ok stats are a work in progress, but I changed my concept and I'll be submitting this halfling paladin (Warrior of the Holy Light). High Dex, uses thrown weapons to combine Two-Weapon Fighting with Rapid Shot.
Sure. When things settle down again I'll check back in and see where everyone is. Feel free to write me out for the time being. (I'm guessing it'll be at least a month, the closing date is Aug 17th).
Yea I'm going to GenCon. Been looking forward to it for months, this'll be my fourth. Even though we won't know it, maybe I'll see you there! As for posting, I think I'm gonna have to go on hiatus for awhile-- maybe even drop out completely. I'm in the process of buying a house for the first time (!) and it's taking up a lot of my attention. Sometimes it's several days before I can post, and while PFS games aren't too bad a story driven campaign like this one is hard to keep up with.
Happy Ungrateful Traitors Day to our intrepid GM ;) Is it true that in the UK, the Revolutionary War is called the American Rebellion? I've always thought that was a much cooler name. Also, happy Independence Day to our more American party members :-)
Should we really be toasting the Consortium? Aren't they the ones who've been trying to thwart us this whole time? Nalathi gives her companions a concerned glance, then smiles resignedly and raises her glass.
Nalathi looks up into the man's white eyes. "Errol?" she asks, looking smug. "Who's Atlatia?"
"Really? A human becoming nocturnal? Interesting..." I'm still new at this, but if I had to guess I'd say there was magic involved. What do you think? she asks the shard.
I think the Vigilante is well conceived and poorly executed. You can either play a fighter who trades his bonus feats for social skills, a rogue with fewer skill points and crappier sneak attack, a bard with no performance, or an inquisitor with no bane or solo tactics. I haven't played one, but it looks like a very cool character concept that falls flat in implementation-- but would probably make a really good NPC villain (since he can hide his alignment).
"Sure!" she says to Arsith's proposal. Least i don't have to watch the lovebirds, she privately adds. ------------------- "Mama, why does Shalaia have to wear a quiet scarf?" Nalathi asked her mother when she next saw the girl. Her friend had a cloth wrapped around her mouth, which served the dual purposes of punishing her with forced silence and making it readily obvious she'd done something wrong-- the tribe's most common punishment for misbehaving youngsters. "All she did was kiss Darshik, she's liked him for ages." "Because it was in front of everyone," her mother responded, "and see you don't do the same. Think about it-- how did it make you feel seeing them enjoy each other's company like that when you don't have a boy you like?" "I... didn't like it," she admitted, looking down. "Exactly. Cohesion is the key to survival, and if you're showing off in front of everyone you put that cohesion at risk. Show someone you like them when you're in private. You don't want to embarrass yourself by putting everyone else at risk for such an easily avoided temptation."
My only other PbP campaign experience was in a group who worked pretty well together (about as well as we do), but the GM threw a hissy-fit after about two months and left. But I've done a fair amount of PbP PFS now, and this group is definitely better than pretty much all of them.
Her sly grin fades quickly when Teldon kisses Briana in front of them. She blushes and looks away. She says nothing as the situation between Arsith and Joanna unfolds, hoping the others will work it out-- group cohesion, after all, was key to survival. But when they start traveling again, Nalathi becomes visibly uncomfortable at the displays of affection between Teldon and Briana. Eventually she tugs at Ziomarra's leg. "Are humans always so... crass?"
It's tempting, but I've decided that in order to make swashbuckler a Variant Multiclassing class (it isn't listed as one, but I'm sure Zed would be willing work something out), I'd probably have to lose all but the Swashbuckler Finesse ability. And I'm rather fond of adding +1d6 to my skill checks now and then :-). So I'll pass.
Nalathi accompanies Ziomarra to the room indicated for the two of them. As close-knit as her home tribe was, she feels no qualms about undressing in front of the human woman. Clothes, after all, are primarily for protection from the elements and secondarily for fashion purposes-- modesty is of little concern when one is in almost constant company. Light as a feather though it is, even her mithral shirt she takes off and lays by the rest of her gear. She curls up and rests her head on the pillow, looking for all the world like a child on an adult mattress. * * * * * * * * * * Nalathi wakes the next morning, washes, dresses, and meets the others in the main room. "Glad everyone's in a good mood this morning!" Especially Teldon... She watches the man take breakfast back toward his room. She leans over and whispers in Joanna's ear. "Wonder what he's doing!" she says with a giggle.
Since I already had four ranks in Background skills (3 in Sleight of Hand, 1 in Perform (oratory)), with GM approval here's how I'll spend my skill points: 2 - Perform (oratory) (Background skill)
Nalathi giggles at Teldon and Briana, but says nothing. "Guess it's you and me, then," she says to Ziomarra brightly. "Don't worry, I don't take up much space."
Huh. Great concept, although some of their background skill choices seem kind of odd-- Handle Animal is useful to druids and rangers, Perform is vital to bards, and I've definitely used Sleight of Hand in other campaigns to make money. All of these have definite gameplay uses. But for the others, it's true that they rarely come up in a game but would absolutely be things certain characters would be good at. Also, Zee I hope you don't think I'm deliberately stealing your thunder just now in the game. I just haven't hardly used any of Nalathi's bardic abilities, aside from Arcane Strike and a few cantrips, and thought this was a fun and in-character opportunity.
"Wow, Teldon," Nalathi says, noticing how much the redheaded woman seems to enjoy getting close to the man but unaware of all the eye-rolling from around the room. "You sure are getting a lot of--" She then notices that several of her allies are patently uncomfortable with this new development. Unsure why, but hoping to do her part, she chimes in on Zee's comment completely oblivious to what the fortune-teller is trying to accomplish. "Was it your father? No, wait, let me guess... Your mother. It's okay, I lost an aunt once. She had this habit of tasting things, you see. Insisted that someday the food would run out, and then--" she wags one finger, "we'd be well and grateful for what she knew. Well, she did help us find out how poisonous those orange berries were..." Unbeknownst to her, Nalathi's magic weaves itself into her words, pulling on the redheaded woman's attention, wanting her to hear nothing else.
Didn't know it was Android only, but yea it's a posting app. Costs a dollar, and that's about what it's worth. But it does save a lot of time by autofilling the most common tags for you-- italics, ooc, "speech" which is bold + quotation marks, and dice rolling. Plus it automatically posts as who you used last in each thread, which is nice.
Anybody know why Wayfinder would rather crash than display this campaign? It's super annoying.
At Daviren's comment, Nalathi grins. "Aw, he's not that bad. I think he'd make a great lady."
Nalathi is taken aback. How did he know? Someone must've told him who we are... Confused, she tugs on Ziomarra's loose-fitting clothing. "Does that mean we--" "--can use our real names?" she nearly asks aloud, before stopping herself. If he doesn't know who we are, maybe we're supposed to keep up the charade. "Uh, don't have to sleep in the wagon tonight?" she finishes, loud enough for the man to hear her.
Nalathi steps out of the carriage with the others. "Goblin-slayer here!" she says brightly. "And what were they doing on the road, anyway? Don't you have guards or something to take care of that sort of thing?"
Just so you know, I probably won't be able to post until tomorrow evening. Feel free to bot me if necessary.
Nalathi dodges the blow easily and tries to skewer the creature again.
Now face-to-face with the goblin on top of the wagon, she stabs forward with her trident.
Sorry I've been less responsive lately... Just started a new job, like a big-boy career job, so I've had other things on my mind.
The goblin ducks under Nalathi's trident and scales the wagon. "Oh no you don't, you little pest!" She grabs the side of the wagon and clambers up after it.
Nalathi draws her trident excitedly and darts toward the closest goblin. Finally, some excitement!
Nalathi wakes, dresses, and takes stock of her personal inventory. I've never HAD so much gold before! After wondering what to do with it, she finally decides to visit an armorsmith-- her last shopping trip was for a new weapon, so this time it should be for armor. It doesn't take her long to locate such a shop. While the keeper hammers away at who knows what, Nalathi browses what's on display. Her eyes are quickly drawn to the shiniest chain mail she's ever seen-- a shirt like the one she's wearing (but bigger, of course), but gleams like silver in the morning light. Whoa. She takes it between her hands, and is astonished. It weighs almost nothing! She didn't know they made armor that lightweight. "What is this?" she asks the smith. "Mithral," the woman says after a brief glance up. "Lightest metal you'll find anywhere, but strong as steel." Nalathi takes it completely off the rack and holds it in both hands. The entire armor, cool to the touch, is no heavier than cloth. "How much is it?" "Eleven hundred. Think I've got one in your size, too." She puts down her hammer and retreats into a back room, returning a few moments later with a smaller, but otherwise identical, shirt. "What do you think?" Nalathi smiles. "I'll take it."
- - - - - - - - - -
"I can't tell, what is it? Who knows, maybe it's friendly."
Nalathi listens with interest to the story of what happened during their time apart. She sighs. "So after all that, we still don't have the key to open that door." Are all adventures like this? she wonders. One hang-up after another? Well, at least it gets us out of here and on the road. Traveling is something she's done plenty of in the past. She gives Briana a sideways look. She's really that excited to go to Sandpoint? Clearly, she's never been there. At the time, Nalathi had thought Sandpoint was quite a big settlement; looking back later, she realized how small it really is.
Well, Nalathi and myself just gave ourselves a treat, and shared a good meal in a decent inn, chatting and knowing each other a little better. A shame you weren't with us, Joanna. I look forward to another dinner with you. "Yeah," the little wayang agrees. "Zee was there with us at one point, you could've joined us too. And we met a little girl who claimed she was a princess, but she probably made that up." Nalathi sips her tea as Joanna tells her story. "Well whatever Teldon and Briana are up to, I hope it's less dangerous," she says with a smile.
Nalathi's demeanor brightens at her friend's arrival. "Zee! What are... What are you doing here? We got fired, remember?"
She cocks her head. "Do thought-eating imps really exist? They sounded to me like just the sort of thing an active imagination would come up with. And we never did get anything to eat, did we?"
"What a funny little girl," Nalathi comments, though she's hardly bigger than the girl herself. "Wonder if anything she said was true. About the others in here, I mean."
"Well where I come from, they would say you look funny. And your father's absolutely right, the Grumpkins like to snatch up little princesses. But don't worry... I won't tell them." Nalathi whispers the last part loudly and smiles.
She brightens at the mention of food, having forgotten just how hungry she is. Their excursion had taken the place of breakfast. "Sure! What's good at places like this?"
She furls her brow. "I don't know... Do you know that bartender? I know I don't." She shrugs and pours herself a glass from the bottle offered. "But hey, free drinks."
Nalathi raises an eyebrow. "What? Is it special? I noticed Lady Heidmarch has a few like this too."
Nalathi shrugs and takes another drink. "Well, I'd pretty much found all there was to find in our cave complex-- it was a big place, but most spots looked pretty much like most other spots. We didn't make many interesting things, either." She holds up what appears to have once been a signet ring, though who it belonged to is anyone's guess-- the stone has fallen out or been removed, and its warped shape suggests not a few times of being stepped on. "Like this thing. I found it over by the door. I don't know why someone would wear it, but I know we don't have anything like it back home."
"I guess we are. I mean, I've never met any on the surface, if that's what you mean. We spent our entire lives underground-- didn't really need to come out here." She waves a hand to indicate the world around her. "The tribe all thought I was crazy for coming here. Thought I was going to get myself killed. But so far, it's no more dangerous up here than it is down there." She chuckles.
"Well that's our word for it, I don't know what you would call it. It's a drink made from fermented cave potatoes. Very strong, but not a lot of flavor. My tribe lives in an underground complex a few dozen miles from here, which is where I grew up. I'm a wayang, you see."
She sighs. "I guess so. Yeah, let's do that. I can't believe he didn't try to keep us around, he could've said something about what a great job we were doing..." As they find a bar and sit down, Nalathi orders a glass of wine. She takes a drink and licks her lips. "Mmm, I'll say this, you surface-dwellers know how to make a drink. Much better than the krishput we make back home."
Nalathi giggles. Oh, right. We had code names. What was mine again? She can't quite tell whether Teldon had kissed Briana to maintain their cover, or for some other reason. Briana certainly seems flustered. "Come on, Tel... tel, tell me you aren't firing us just because of that! So maybe I didn't want to use my real name, so what?"
Nalathi looks at Joanna quizzically. "Why? You know there's a lot of fish in the harbor, right? Why not feed them? They have to eat too, and someday they might be feeding people here in the city. That's what we do back home. Well, we don't have harbors obviously, but we give bodies to creatures that'll eat them."
She stands as if paralyzed, clutching the shard at her chest so hard the edges start to cut into her hand. She'd seen death before, had even caused it a few times, but this... This is different. Zee's magic didn't do that. Given how torn up the woman had been at the Tower Girl's death not so very long ago, Nalathi doubts Ziomarra is capable of killing someone so directly again. He was fine, and then... and then... It isn't the gruesomeness of the death that hits Nalathi to the core-- it's the suddenness and finality.
Nalathi smirks, oblivious to Ziomarra's sudden trouble. "Yeah, 'dangerous' only if you don't know how to overcome the treasures in question," she says, forgetting that she was not, in fact, the one who figured out how to rein in the shard's will.
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