Hey all, I’m sorry for my absence here. The last few weeks have been hard on my wife and I and the holidays are keeping us busy now too. I’m still here though and still invested, gonna really try to find time to catch up in the next week or so.
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Despite being of elven heritage, Nessie doesn’t know s!!% about magic (her parents are very disappointed) and has no idea what’s going on. She rushes toward the SuperGob and stabs at him halfheartedly, not especially eager to kill again.
As the goblin hops toward her, Nessie shrieks and instinctively stabs him with his own dagger.
"I'm so sorry about this," she apologizes, crying, and stabs him with her other blade.
Desperate to impress, Nessie runs at the nearest goblin and attempts another disarm, snatching away their weapon, and then glances back at the cat person with a huge, expectant smile.
Nessie attacks the distracted goblin, because like, that seems like the thing to do. She shrieks as she discovers what it feels like to stab someone and that it's gross, and yanks the blade from the wound. "Oh f+@! oh f%$$ are you okay?!"
Nessie flicks her blade open and slips it behind the goblin's sling, pulling it up and away. "I'll take that!"
Nessie rolls her eyes as the accountant asks Cassidy to stop the cart so he can hop out like a nerd. She jumps off the back as it's still moving, doing what she thinks is a cool spin and flipping her hair as she lands.
Nessie springs out of the bushes and grabs hold of the back of the golf cart, throwing out a hand as she does to try and knock Franklin’s phone away. ”No cops!” she shrieks, acting on impulse and her own sense of self-importance.
Keeping to the underbrush, Nessie tries to haul herself up into the tree where SuperGoblin is starting to glow in an increasingly worrying manner.
Nessie hangs back on the edge of the clearing, keeping out of sight as Cassidy plows over the goblins.
Thanks y’all. Safely evacuated from the Florida coast, I’ll probably be able to post tomorrow.
Starting hurricane preparations here. It's looking like it will hit Florida this weekend. Depending on how bad it is, we may evacuate on Friday or Saturday, and even if not, internet could be out for a few days.
"This is it," Nessie whispers, crouched close behind Sadducee. The crooked smile on her face makes it clear she is loving this. Holding her phone out in front of them, the half-elf snaps a few pics of her and Sadducee hidden in the underbrush together, pursing her lips playfully at the gnome and turning her face slightly to the side to get a better angle. She picks the best one and sends it to the group chat, and then slides the device back into her top. Slipping forward, she all but disappears into the woods, leaving only a hint of sweetly scented perfume for Sadducee to follow.
Nessie discreetly takes a video of the goblin ambush waiting in the trees, though between the falling darkness and the green-skinned goblins blending in with the trees, it's hard to make anything out. She sends the blurry, amateur cryptozoologist looking video to the group chat. In the trees. Camping pieces of s$$#.
Nessie sends the picture of the sleeping goblin to the group chat. Found this goblin. Looking 4 more. True to her word, she skulks around the field, looking for any more goblins.
Nessie grabs Sadducee’s hand and yanks her backward, just in time to avoid the sleeping goblin. The rogue crouches in the grass, her lips inches away from the gnome’s ear. ”Shhh,” she whispers, centering the sleeping goblin in her phone camera as she silently snaps a picture. ”Check it out.”
Nessie has no real issue with the spelling and grammar, and gives Sadducee the thumbs up to send the message. She pushes on into the edge of the forest, gesturing for the gnome to join her.
Nessie crouches next to Sadducee, a little annoyed that she didn't notice the prints first, and snaps a picture of herself next to them. "Let's follow them," she whispers, and starts moving deeper into the field of tulips, keeping low to the ground.
Nessie giggles coyly and disappears into the bushes, beckoning suggestively for Sadducee to follow. She heads for the butterfly house, feeling really cool as she sneaks around in tight leather armor, but her giddiness gets in the way of much useful observation.
Nessie doesn't answer right away, busy lighting a cigarette. Looking intensely at Franklin, she brings it to her glossy lips and inhales, while in the other hand, she flicks open her switchblade, twirls it in the air, and catches it.
"Just point me in the right direction," she says, smoke trailing out of her mouth. "I can sneak around and find them and text y'all their like, defenses."
"Also, the Gardens are like, a hundred and seventy-five acres or something," Nephriel points out offhandedly. "They probably aren't keeping him on any of the main paths. But that still leaves a lot of other places and I don't really feel like wandering around all night," she complains.
"I've snuck into the Botanical Gardens to smoke, like, a million times," Nessie says casually, shrugging her shoulders. "I can definitely sneak in and count goblins. And make sure Docta G is still alive and stuff."
My HP is laughable but my AC is decent. Unless y'all have other ideas, I figure Bro Joe can be in front of me and I'll be ahead of the gnomes.
Nessie rolls out of bed around noon, her head all fuzzy and achey with the slight hangover. Which is like, total b+!~*!#! because she didn't even drink that much last night. She drinks water, eats a vegan, gluten-free toaster waffle, and then spends the next hour taking a long, hot bath with a cup of coffee and a cigarette. Steam, smoke, and the sounds of Regina Spektor waft out from under the bathroom door and into the apartment that her parents have put her up in. She finally leaves the apartment in the late afternoon, wearing heavily tinted sunglasses and the new leather armor — which looks really good on her by the way — in search of some weed. [Plug Emoji]? is the first thing she says in the group chat, followed by, Sorry that was for someone else. Are we meeting @ the botanic gardens? Can someone give me a ride there?
"Yeah, right," Nessie says, only half-listening to the artist's advice as she eyes the magical tattoos, grinning as she imagines the frankly hilarious reaction she would get from her parents if she were to pull up her skirt like Faith just did and show off a new tattoo. They'd already cut her off; there wasn't really much more they could do to punish her. ...That was an interesting thought. And kind of a frighteningly liberating one. The half-elf downs the rest of the drink, tapping her short, colorful fingernails on the table anxiously.
"You do tattoos?" Nessie asks, leaning forward with interest. "My parents wouldn't let me get a tattoo, but I'm an adult now. I want, like, two little fish on my hip. And a jellyfish on the back of my thigh, maybe." She looks thoughtful as she sips the drink that the nice blue lady slipped her, feeling like a whole world of possibilities is suddenly open to her.
Nessie finally enters the bar, smelling of smoke and sea breeze, and slides in next to the others. "Just a lemonade," she says to the bartender, batting her eyelashes at him. When his back is turned, though, she tries to swipe any unfinished drinks left behind on nearby tables.
Hey y'all, my apologies, this week has turned out to be incredibly chaotic and exhausting for me, I've hardly had a free moment to sit in front of the computer. Hoping to get caught up and post this weekend!
"I'm down," Nessie agrees. "Not Sky Bar though, my mom told them not to let me in anymore," she scoffs, rolling her eyes. "And we can't go anywhere on the boardwalk since my parents, like, own it." As everyone starts to drift back towards the check-out lanes, she keeps pace with the Marvins. "So you're driving, right? I had to ride the bus here and it was so — ugh." She makes a face, unable to come up with a word to properly describe her distaste for public transportation. Checkout: Same as before, 112.4 total for 2 colas (40gp), a Spring Blade (40gp), Leather Armor (8gp), Thieve's Tools (24gp), and menthols (4 silver)
Jeron puts his hands up dismissively and shakes his head. "Police are my Plan B, but I try not to call 'em if I can help it. I'm not saying y'all have to murder 'em, I just want to make sure the plan goes further than 'leave them knocked out on my floor.'" Nessie shifts uncomfortably. Considering the stunt she pulled just a few short weeks ago, she and the police are not exactly on the best of terms. "Let's just dump them outside and be done with it. They know when a party's over. Hey you," she says, nudging the pajama goblin with her foot and scowling down at him while threateningly flicking her spring blade open and closed. "Don't come back here, or else — or else."
"Hey, Nephie Girl. It's not like you to be late to the party", the caydenite called to the undine.
"Fashionably late," the half-elf replies with a teasing roll of her eyes. She stands proudly by the entangled goblin, smiling out at the onlookers and posing with her hands on her hips just in case they start taking pictures.
"Ah! Gross!" Nessie shrieks as the Marvins are splattered with goblin blood. Despite her bluster at the checkout lanes, she isn't quite ready for that yet, but she also isn't about to back down from a fight when there's all these people watching; she circles around behind the goblin and then darts forward to tug his too-big pajamas down.
Nessie swipes the spring blade from the conveyer belt and flicks it open, holding it slightly in front of her as she follows Cassidy through the store. She looks determined, and a little nervous.
Nessie tries not to look overeager as she reaches for the pile of gold. "I guess I can spare the time." She counts it out with a growing smile. "It's not like there's anything better to do around here."
Nessie saunters after the excitable gnome, pouting a little bit about being brushed off for a soda pyramid. She perks right up when she happens to come across the sale display of spring blades, though, and excitedly picks the cutest one. "F$*~ yeah," she exclaims, and as she continues shopping, repeatedly flicks the blade open and shut with one hand in a slightly worrying manner. She also grabs two cans of the CoLWa, a set of faux leather armor that she thinks will make her look tough and sexy, and a few other odds-and-ends that just won't quite fit in her purse. She arrives at the register triumphantly and begins unloading onto the belt behind Cassidy, when the dwarven manager arrives and begins to ask about adventuring. The rogue tries to play it cool, like she's some kind of seasoned adventurer that's been doing this for ages. "American Spirit Blues," she tells the cashier, gesturing to the tobacco section behind the counter, before glancing brusquely at the dwarf. "Maybe. What's it worth to you?"
"Deal," Nessie giggles, unphased by the sudden appearance of the second gnome. "Lead the way!"
"Yeah, he's a regular, uh," she struggles to think of a rapper to compare him to, and completely blanks. Not surprising, considering that her most of her music library consists of pirated Lana Del Ray albums. "Whatever. He plays a lot of parties here." She rolls her eyes and tries to tug Cassidy in the direction of the automatic doors. "Come on. You have a car, right?"
Nessie stares at the woman for a long moment, and then blinks as it clicks into place. She smirks knowingly. "Do you wanna be?" While walking through the adventuring section he eventually bumps into Nessie and breaks into a smile, ”Yo wassup, Nessie? How you doin? How’d you get outta that kickback last Friday? That half-orc seemed damn pissed.” "Oh, hey," she replies casually. Looping an arm around the trenchcoat-ed woman's shoulders, she nods in the direction of the K-Mart parking lot. "I'll tell you all about it, but we're about to go smoke up. Wanna come?"
Nessie purses her glossy lips, considering how a pair of denim shorts will look on her ass, and looks up just in time to see an awkward woman nearly collide with her. "Hey!" The woman — who looks kind of familiar? — retreats into a rack of clothing, appears to have an argument with herself, and then tries to walk right on past. "Hey!" Nessie repeats, turning. "Are you high?" She cocks her head, finally getting a good look at the weird lady.
Even tho she probably has a car back in her parents' garage, Nessie can't drive. She just gets everyone else to drive her around while she puts her feet on the dash and refuses to share the aux cord.
"No, no, no. This one will work, I swear," a colorful half-elf assures the K-Mart cashier. She jams a credit card into the chip reader, giving the cashier a tight smile as she wills the purchase to go through. But alas, the machine promptly rejects her card, mocking her with its smug electronic beeping. "F!%%!"Nessie snatches the card away with an exclamation of frustration. "I can't believe they really deactivated all of them!" She scowls at the cashier for a long moment, before composing herself some small amount. "Whatever. I'll put it all back." She turns her shopping cart sharply, driving it away from the checkout lanes and back into the aisles. The cart in question is heaped with various equipment, from lengths of chain and a grappling hook to a limited-edition mithral waffle iron. Apparently, the young woman has eyes bigger than her wallet and was unable to actually pay for all the items, even with the 20% off sale going on; now she has to perform the walk of shame and put everything back on the shelves where it belongs... Though, 'where it belongs' seems to be open to interpretation, and not all of it is ending up back on a shelf at all. Nessie casually thrusts the waffle iron onto a nearby shelf, not even bothering to hide it behind the stacks of graphic tees. She glances around to make sure there's no one nearby, and slips a few scented candles into her purse. She drapes the chains over some clothing hangers, swipes a perfume kit, and leaves the grappling hook on top of an underwear display.
Soon enough, her cart is empty, and the junior's section is littered with equipment that some poor, underpaid retail worker will have to find and put away later. She ditches the cart and stalks off in search of the adventuring section, assuming this K-Mart even has one, to see if they have any cute knives. Nessie's shop(lift)ing list: Non-exhaustive. She's sure to want more things as she sees them.
Spring Blade (56gp), (faux) Leather Armor (8gp)
Oh please, Nessie will get him his first bottle for free with her five-finger discount.
I included background skills in my build! Nephriel has probably met G and Joseph at parties, and as already discussed, totally sold weed to the Marvins. Probably also has a tinder, and an insta, and a finsta (just for videos of her crying to indie girl pop in the bath and smoking). In combat, she'll be mostly a debuffer focused on wearing down the other person as much as possible. She's the hair-pulling, name calling type and has only ever been in like two fights in the hallway at school that were broken up before anybody could even get a hit in. As with everything else in her life, she is absurdly overconfident (or pretends to be).
x10 and taking average on those two 2s would bring me to 150, I believe.
^^ Came here to ask the same question about Sleight of Hand!
Here is Nessie’s full backstory! I’m always one for playing characters with lots of room to change and grow as people, and this one definitely has quite a long way to go... Backstory: It’s a familiar story; the poor little rich girl turns to teenage rebellion to get attention from her cold, distant, obscenely wealthy family. Her father is an aquatic elf who owns a third of the Bermuda Triangle, and her mother, the human heiress to the immensely popular Virginia Beach Boardwalk; they tolerate each other so they can enjoy the substantial financial benefits of their continuing partnership and produce a plethora of half-elven children along the way.
Nephriel ‘Nessie’ Neridian was never quite sure of her place in the Neridian beach-and-boardwalk empire. Her life was elite, luxurious, and extremely depressing. Ever day of her life, she’s been cared for, catered to, dressed, privately tutored, and spoiled rotten; molded into an ungrateful, overindulgent young woman used to getting her way in everything. She bickered constantly with her many siblings, competing for their parents’ approval, and learned to hate her family, her life, and her future. Her only reprieves were chasing Instagram fame with her equally idly wealthy friends, and getting herself out of trouble. A child of two worlds, she tormented the overworked and underpaid employees of both the Bermuda Triangle and Virginia Beach, and faced very few consequences for it. It wasn’t like she couldn’t afford to just buy everything she stole, but somehow it felt better to just slip it in her purse and walk out. Maybe it was just a cry for attention; maybe she was tired of being handed everything by her parents and this felt like she was earning something herself. She could usually talk or buy her way out of trouble, and at worst, her parents could do it for her. It was a system she was pretty satisfied with, and one that made her quite a popular high-schooler. Whether it was breaking into her parents’ liquor cabinet, buying weed for everyone, or stealing cigarettes from Walmart, Nessie carved out a reputation as a person who could get things; she partied her way through her teenage years, never considering that her little empire would someday come to an end. She graduated, barely, with a little help from her parents’ generous contributions to the school. To celebrate, she decided to do something big and impressive... So while she was supposed to be attending a final exam, she broke into the dean’s office where he was rumored to keep a fist-sized diamond in a trapped safe, discovered that the diamond was indeed real, and stole it. She showed off her prize at a graduation party, proudly displaying it to her fellow graduates and bragging about her plans to pull even bigger heists in the years to come. Unfortunately for her, the party would be busted for drugs and underage drinking later that night, leading to Nessie being caught red-handed with the diamond. She would have spent the night in jail if her parents hadn’t posted bail and had the family lawyer on retainer, but things only got worse from there; the dean’s jewel had been set aside as a contingency plan should he ever need to be resurrected, and discovering it missing had sent him into a panic. Despite being reunited with his diamond, he threatened to press charges and sue Nephriel for the emotional distress she’d caused. In the interest of avoiding an embarrassing incident for the family, her parents settled with him outside of court. Once again, Nessie managed to avoid a mountain of legal trouble, but the amount of time and money that she’d cost her parents was the last straw. They forbade her from spending the summer in Myrtle Beach with her friends, and told her she’d be cut off from her trust and grounded in Virginia Beach until she had saved enough money to pay them back. With no experience or marketable skills, and a grossly overinflated ego, Nephriel is convinced that she’ll easily make enough money stealing and adventuring over the summer to pay off the debt and return to her usual lifestyle.
Juuuust about done with the backstory. What I have so far is up in this profile and it'll be finished later today!
Oh rad!! I think the one I looked at this morning might be old?? Or I missed it somehow. Either way!The Feat Tax rules don’t actually have anything for Steal or Dirty Trick, do they? I’d imagine a common house rule would be to roll them into Deft Maneuvers? (Anyone have experience with this?)The Feat Tax rules do that! Under them, Deft Maneuvers covers Trip, Disarm, Dirty Trick, Feint, Reposition, and Steal. Oh, wonderful! I've only played with feat tax rules one other time and I forgot about Deft Maneuvers. Certainly makes things better for me!
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