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Slow posting has actually really benefited me recently, so overwhelmed at work these past couple weeks.
Having not had any success getting anywhere with Earl Calhadian's inner cadre -- but keeping the location of the silver dagger in mind (the one he claims to have used against the vampire Malageur), and having not had any success catching either Baron Nicolaus Okerra's nor, more importantly, Duke Leonard Centimus' attention, Perdita Vernisant moves with everyone else to the courtyard to hear the Princess address the august assemblage. 'Well, no luck so far, either getting my great-Uncle's attention (I wonder if he actually killed the Vampire Malageur?), or in the Imperial Archives with Duke Leonard.' 'This will have become a complete failure now, unless I can manage to get somewhere soon.'
You know those days where you’re hungry to post in your PbP but there’s no action? .... Well, Monday and Tuesday were the opposite days for me: long, exhausting days at work and in no frame of mind for PbB — so of course the action in Gameplay ramps up! I’ll get to Gameplay later today; sorry for the delay.
I come by to check about once per day.
Invite sent; you can create your account and Edit pages on the campaign at your leisure. I’m just planning on using the Obsidian Portal as a handy reference — a place I can easily find an NPCs list, a ‘tasks’ list, that kind of thing. Now that we’re in the Senate building I’m finding it easier to just look at the Wiki rather than scrolling through Gameplay post. Obviously y’all’s mileage may vary. I’m just really used to Obsidian Portal wikis.
Our PCs have discussed -- sometimes off-screen -- our various tasks. (As I understand it.) Do you guys, since we're kinda split up a bit, want to work on whichever task presents itself to us individually? Like, I happen to be near Duke Leonard Centimus and I can see myself coming up with some kind of gambit that may accomplish Cassiopeia's task. I also have an idea on stealing the 'Vampire-Slaying-Silver-Dagger' that would accomplish Henrika's task. But I don't want to start any gambits unless it's okay with everyone -- except my own. What do y'all think?
To make things a bit easier to reference -- and since y'all were amiable to the idea -- I started a Campaign on y Obsidian Portal Account for us to use however we may like to use it. Here is the link. It is "Taldan GM Paizo PbP: War for the Crown." All I've done is throw some stuff in the Wiki (Which is the function of Obsidian Portal I mostly use.) Everyone can Edit the Campaign if they join -- if you want to be able to Edit send me a PM with your Email and I will send you an "Invite." Once you accept you can create and edit pages.
I was thinking of starting a Campaign site on my Obsidian Portal account for this PbP -- I'm a big Obsidian Portal fan.
LOL With a roleplay heavy, deeply complicated set of NPCs set such as this AP is suppose to be -- and that our group hasn't really gotten to work as a group yet (and thus we're working a bit independently) -- I'm not surprised the DM is a bit slower in posting. ....The amount of information in conveying the setting there is likely daunting. Potential walls of text.
Perdita Vernisant meanders through the Arcade of Triumphs for several minutes, haphazardly catching eye contact here and there with this or that person, even allowing her eyes to linger for a few moments longer in some random cases, as though she had something to say to that specific person -- though she doesn't. Then she looks for any officials or secretaries in Earl Calhadian Vernisant's retinue, or better, his inner cadre. Nonchalantly, even apathetically, she'll ask if anyone's seen the Earl.
....After a few minutes of meandering she makes her way through the manicured Courtyard and Emperor's Hall to the Imperial Archives, crossing the Senate Floor and respectfully nodding to Baron Nicolaus Okerra on the way, acknowledging his presence with due respect. Once in the Imperial Archives she makes a purposeful beeline toward the stacks that cover Planar occurrences in Taldor's history, and mutters under breath -- for eavesdroppers to hear -- "May as well use party-time wisely." Within a minute, Perdita Vernisant has three or four books and begins perusing them, as though she's on a research mission.
Sounds like a great idea — I know that, for me at least, the more info I have the better I can move forward and suggest a possible gambit. I have no problem being patient while the DM puts together a large post or tab in the Profile for us to reference.
Perdita Vernisant guesses quickly what is happening in this exchange of cooperative subterfuge and she glances furtively about, hoping to notice if anyone is paying attention to the inspector and how she’s deliberately helping us break legal protocols. Of course, paying too much attention to the minutiae of each individual in line hampers her skill at seeing the big picture, as her obsessive attention to detail often does.
”Hand crossbow that I’ve peace-bonded while in line.”
”And for the wine,” Perdita Vernisant suggests after having been given a brief recap of everyone’s varied tasks, ”I like the idea of tainting it, thereby embarrassing the conservative host who so boldly promoted it as such a superb bouquet. Perhaps I can use a minor prestidigitation to sour it from without, not even breaking the seal or quark. And if I can not cantrip the wine through its bottle and we have to unquark it, perhaps a prestidigitation will re-seal it.” During both her listening to the others explain their tasks, and giving her suggestion regarding the expensive wine, Perdita Vernisant steals a glance at Henrika — still not 100% sure if the hotspur is Conservative like the uncle who raised her, or liberal like this gathering of Martella Lotheed indicates. ’Well, I don’t get the sense that she has any ulterior motive in betraying Lady Lotheed. I think I needs must reevaluate her; perhaps she’s as liberal as I am. Mayhaps she’s even as incredibly liberal as Countess Cassiopeia.’ ”I’m actually quite knowledgeable about a couple of the conservative Senators voting against feminist rights; I think we could share intelligence and come up with a gambit or three.”
I think we can enter with the Senate Aide badges; I'm just concerned that someone will ask what we're doing -- and if we don't have a ready answer.... But I dunno. "It is nearly impossible to get inside the Senate before the party, and this is immediately apparent upon viewing the guards and other wards." . Hopefully your Local check of 30, and my Nobility check of 36 from earlier, will get us a good chunk of intelligence so that we can avoid going in blind.
Perdita Vernisant listened to Krios and Raven, allowing herself to turn away from Henrika. ’Good, they are as eager as I to get started— though with that laundry list of Krios’ I have to assume we all here have been given a task from Lady Lotheed. And even better, it looks like we are intended to help each other in order to accomplish them. I’ll have to get specifics from them later since I was late.’ ”Working in the Senate Building will be tricky, she interjects with Krios, Raven and Cassiopeia, ”Like I said, I just spent an hour or so — albeit withOut a Senate Aide Badge — and security is doubled. If that’s our first step, I think it behooves is to have a ready and plausible reason to be wherever we’re planning on being once we’re inside.”
Yes, she is. It’s been my intention that it looks like a mundane amulet (the 200 gp non-magical Item that I got during character creation) rather than an obvious Holy Symbol. Something purely decorative. But I haven’t yet discussed that with the DM. (He mentioned in Recruitment that my Sarenrae angle may not even come up, then I discovered Disgraced Noble in the Player’s Companion. So I went with it unsure if it would disqualify my character application.) It’s up to him how plainly obvious or artistically disguised it is depending on if he wants to deal with it in game. (Or I could remove it; I’m not a Divine Caster, you know.)
Oh, I just said she gave the standard ‘greetings and salutations’ — typing “Perdita Vernisant” more than once in a post can look kinda redundant. And both I and Krios have acknowledged it in Gameplay thought, though neither verbally. So I think we’re both ready to let the roleplay evolve.
Perdita Vernisant is somewhat taken aback by Countess Cassiopeia's open question. 'Perhaps this gathering is a bit different in tone than I thought -- could Lady Lotheed be *openly* recruiting several of us for some similar political maneuver?!' She looks again at the assemblage- at everyone's Senate Aide badge, at everyone's demeanor even after her and Henrika's tense moment, at the somewhat expectant looks on everyone's face after Zespire's out-loud question. 'I think, 'Yes,' everyone here is here because Marcella Lotheed is recruiting a political cadre for some gambit. Perfect!' She looks over her shoulder at the rest of the cafe's guests, trying to find eavesdroppers. She's not aware, having arrived late, that Lady Lotheed has provided magical protection. She whispers to the group. "I'm to find a way to discreetly -- and with impunity of course -- discredit a few Senators before the big vote. I'm a bit tardy because I was spending the past couple hours trying to look for some openings. Quiet openings. Sadly, my first bit of work provided no results -- but the day is young and the festivities are just beginning." ....It would be later before Perdita Vernisant had time to think it through, that if Henrika Karthis were on the side of her uncle, the odious Thomas, that she would not have received an invitation from Martella Lotheed.
Wow, Henrika -- going after me right out of the gate. Nice! I think it'll make for some good roleplay when the two of us realize we are on the same side of the political spectrum, rather than opposites. BTW, I hope that we can keep up this tension; maybe from time to time I can whisper 'Dame Hotspur' under my breath at just the right moment, LOL.
"Oh, I never intend to give offense, Lady Karthis." Perdita Vernisant hopes the softly spoken gesture is heard for what it is, both a genuine placation, and a subtle statement of guile: she intends that her enemies *won't* realize an offense when she intends one. Apparently Henrika Karthis is just like her Uncle. Hmm, I thought I heard a rumor that she didn't like him. Guess not. "I sincerely didn't realize there was a negative connotation to that nickname -- verily, I think it's quite agreeable, even dashing. Obviously I don't know the story behind it. In any case, forward conflict is not what I'm looking for -- especially now." She looks around to the others; "What are we, Andoren?" She says it with a bit of rueful distaste, as though open duels are for boors from Andoran.
I'm sorry to hear about that, Erik'td. Hopefully things will start looking up soon.
Happy Birthday!
Sorry about not posting over the weekend, I was on such a high after we beat Chelsea (we were the underdogs) that I was just bouncing off the walls -- too much juice to get into gaming mode. And that lasted through the weekend. I only perused the Gameplay Thread, focusing on the DM's posts, I didn't want to make it like my character was privy to all the dialog that she missed. If the game moves forward to the action I'll go back and read everything in detail and just say that our characters talked 'off-screan.' I don't want to slow Gameplay. ....If, however, we all keep with PC roleplay a bit more -- the getting-to-know-you stuff -- before the action of our assignments begins in earnest, I won't necessarily read (too closely) the dialog that I missed, ensuring Perdita Vernisant can roleplay with everyone in character. ....How was everyone's weekend?!
After nodding to Lady Lotheed in apology for her lack of punctuality these few minutes, she raises her own eyebrow in the direction of a Senate Aide Badge, and upon receiving a nod, collects hers. "Don't let me interrupt your conversation. Mind if I join?" Perdita Vernisant holds her letter and invitation in hand, unaware of what everyone is talking about, and, looking at everyone, gives her greetings and salutations. Not the most perceptive young prodigy, Perdita Vernisant completely misses the subtle glare Krios briefly gives her. She is oblivious to any potential animosity from the Elf. She notices Henrika first. "Aren't you the niece of Thomas Karthis." Perdita Vernisant reaches a hand in formality to embrace palms for a moment. She smiles and does her absolute best to hide the distaste from her features that may reveal her dislike of Thomas Karthis and his political positions. Now is Not the time to make a bad impression. Not knowing the circumstances of this young lady's father's death, she does not bring up Henri. "You're the one they call 'Dame Hotspur,' yes?" Countess Cassiopeia Zespire she recognizes immediately, and curtsies in deference to her superior peer, both by title and age. "We've not seen each other since the exam -- two highest scores. I was jealous that your essay was so much better than mine on Opparan Baronial History -- but I suppose you may have not liked the fact that my essay on the ArchDevils of The Nine Hells was so much better than yours. Either way, we're still the best two."
Having smoothly tried to get into the Senate building in order to guile her way to some information on the senators Lady Lotheed mentioned in her letter -- only to fail completely at the steps of the building (too much security!), Perdita Vernisant retreats from the attempt and meanders about the early festivities in another fruitless attempt to gather some information. By the time she makes it to the small cafe, 'nice, smokey atmosphere,' she's obviously late. Lady Lotheed is present with a small gaggle of, 'Hmm, associates it looks like.' "Please excuse my tardiness."
Ooey, I’m missing a bit of Gameplay. I promise I’ll catch up later today after the awesome and wonderful ARSENAL FC face-rape those punks from stuck-up, silver-spoon chelsea in the F A Cup Final. Here comes our record 14th FA Cup Trophy! Come on you GUNNERS!
I'm a big multi-Class player. I don't usually map out my build ahead of time, but rather let the roleplay and game-flow dictate how I Level-up. But Inquisitor is possible. Maybe a level or two in Vigilante. Who knows. Obviously Wizard is my Favored Class and will remain constant.
Her noble's gown appropriately adorned with the brilliant citrine choker, Perdita Vernisant buffs and polishes her gold amulet and signet ring to make sure she looks the part of a young debutante and goes to mingle, wondering if her distaste for such pageantry will show on her features. "Well, at least I look the part even if I feel out of place amongst socialite nepotists and aristocratic dilettantes. I feel like Prufrock. "At least I have an agenda. At least I have a target. I can play the spy or saboteur, pretending to dance and socialize and remember to everyone that my ancestor fought The Whispering Tyrant." Perdita Vernisant looks around at the patricians, smiling. Rubbing elbows. Dancing. Drinking. "There's something else in everyone's eyes, here. I wonder how many of us are here, like me, with a gambit, a political scheme. Is all of this gossip and guffaw really just innuendo and guile? Or just mine?"
My task: Anything from my DC 36 Knowledge roll on those two Senators? .... The info that I can get on these people will help me come up with a gambit. Part of me wants to enter the senate building prior to the party, but I am hoping for some background information before blindly initiating a gambit.
I have a Noble's Outfit and signet ring, along with a gold amulet. I'm hoping that 45 gp to the proprietor of Thread Bare will be good enough for a piece of jewelry since The Book says outfits like that ought to have some jewelry. Anyway, more importantly than that, if there's time I wouldn't mind roleplaying a conversation with the proprietor -- ask her about some other customers she's been servicing recently, specifically the ones in my personal mission. Perdita Vernisant is in Gather Info mode as soon as she gets her invite. If it's clear there's no info to be gathered on my, um, 'targets' from Thread Bare, I'll spend a bit of time if I can researching them before the Event. There is likely a Legislative Hall or Court or Parliament building adjacent to where we are. And, what do I already know? Hidden Knowledge Roll in case you want to look up DCs before you see my results, plus Appraise check for jewelry: And let me know if the proprietor bothers to roll a Sense Motive on my Bluff.
Visiting Thread Bare *one day before The Grand Day of Exaltation in order to accessorize and embellish her noble's gown seemed a trifle late -- as though one should expect all the cute accouterments to be Long gone. It's like trying to order sparkling wine for your dinner party the day of Princess Eutropia's birthday. Late! But Perdita Vernisant never really cared about that kind of affectation stuff anyway. 'I am clever enough to get away with it if anyone brings it up!' ....It's not as though she had expected to get this invitation from Lady Lotheed. "Greetings, Madame," she quietly introduces herself to Thread Bare's proprietor. A bluff would have to do. "Grandmother confiscated all my jewelry last night when she discovered how naughty I've been. The day before Exaltation! ....Anyway Darling," I can't believe we are expected to talk like this. "I just Have to have some cute little earrings or a bracelet to go with my outfit. Please, please, please, tell me you have something that matches this gown and this gold amulet." And now for the hard part. "I bade my dear friend Lady Lotheed to vouch for some gold in jewelry -- so Grandmother won't find out -- Ooh, that citrine choker is veritably charming. Thirty-five gold plus ten in a tip?"
Henrika, have you determined that it was Maxillar Pythareas who perpetrated the rumor that you (presumably because you’re liberal) are ‘unfit’ and that’s why your conservative uncle oversees your lands? Or are you leaving that to the DM?
Yeah, it's likely we've at least heard of each other, apart from Gilfroy like you said. Y'all would have heard a dirty rumor (from Maxillar Pythareus) about this young girl, Perdita Vernisant, that supposedly reveres Sarenrae. As far as my nobility, yeah. However, I'm the daughter -- of a daughter -- of an uninteresting branch of House Vernisant. Not exactly auspicious. If though, your PC would be interested, you could have learned that Perdita Vernisant is a promising young wizard / investigator at The First Imperialist Arcanist's Guild, turning heads as a prodigy of magic and intellect. And maybe that she's an Aasimar. . @ Krios Dinrulsis,
Hey Gilfroy, you want us to think (at least at first) that you're a human boy, yes, not a Gnome -- and that you revere Shelyn (not Sivanah)? (I've been reading everyone's Profiles & Recruitment posts to get it into my head who everyone is. Y'all are friggen cool!) With the possible exception of Countess Cassiopeia, I think maybe Perdita Vernisant will meet you for the first time at the Exaltation Gala in the Senate building. It's reasonable that Cassiopeia has met Perdita Vernisant as students (though I'm 3 years younger) at The First Imperialist Arcanist's Guild (where I'm a student) or some other elite college where Investigators (and Wizards and Psychics) may study. @ Taldan GM, I'll likely wait to post in Gameplay after you; I don't wanna just start a conversation at the Exaltation Gala with another PC just in case you have a specific intro in mind, to set the stage. . Where is everyone in real life? I'm in Florida, USA; GMT -5.
I'm here, looking forward to playing with everyone (now time to read up on the PCs who I've not yet perused).
I think we're more like the little yellow minions from Toy Story looking up at The Claw, worshiping it, hoping that it picks us.
Good luck everyone!
Edit: Uh Oh, hopefully the DM likes the idea of a Bluff character more than the Dice gods ;)
Perdita Vernisant welcomes you, Torin Argentus. I’ve been wanting to go through the other PCs myself, for quite a while — but such a task is quite Herculean considering both my schedule and that it may be a bit of a waste if I’m not one of the 25%’ers. (Well, not a waste, I’d enjoy it — it’s just that real life priorities makes reading 30+ PCs not a priority. Hopefully I’ll have an hour Friday.)
Wow, I'm really starting to like the idea of playing in this campaign. I know with only eight slots for roughly thirty-two proposals we each only have about a 25% chance of getting in -- but I like my PC, like what I've heard of the campaign theme, and really like so many of the other PC builds! Part of me is like, 'Hey, my chances of getting in are like the chances of one of those super-Threat-Range PCs, 15-20, that seem to always get a Crit in combat.' But another part of me is like, 'Nah, it's more like as a DM when I throw a Dragon at the PCs and I have to roll a d4 to see how many rounds I have to wait before I can use my Breath Weapon again -- it's like I never roll a 1!' But I digress,... I just added a bit to Perdita Vernisant's Profile on how Martella Lotheed would have known who I was (Lady Martella being from a renown-for-Wizards House), and why on earth she would invite me to the Exaltation Gala (Maxillar Pythareus' recent public rebuke of me because I revere Sarenrae) -- something Perdita wants to reform in Taldor, but something she had hoped to do on the down-low. Anyway, I'm also really enjoying reading many of the other PC proposals. I want to call out to a few of you to see if you want to maybe have our PCs know of each other or be, I dunno, allies or contacts. Obviously a lot of these will have to be voided once the handful of us get picked and the rest of us (We're all hoping our Keen Rapier Threatens a Crit!) regretfully have to wait for the next PbP.
@Yorick’s Requiem, The DM ought to put you on salary for compiling the PC proposals! Kudos on that work. - - - - @ TALDAN DM, I didn’t really think of it as a problem with my build, figured it’d be a boon for going ‘all in’ with the campaign guide — but someone was kind enough to point it out to me so I wanted to make note of it to you. According to RAW one can not have Traits from the same category (such as multiple combat Traits), but I went ahead and just chose the Traits in the Players’s Guide (I mean, they’re just Traits.). And they’re Campaign Traits. If it is an issue let me know and I’ll grab the two I usually get for a bigger bump on Knowledge Planes & Religion, and Bluff. I want to keep the one, though, where Pyretheus uncovers that Perdita reveres Sarenrae — I think that could be fun to roleplay a bit if I’m selected (depending on the makeup of the PCs and how the game develops).
@ Ismene Albus, In a campaign such as this -- and especially with the 101 PC proposals, there's gonna be a huge amount of overlap. You and I certainly cannot be the only jacked Knowledge & Diplomacy PCs. I expect there to be a whole slew of Vigilantes, too. Perdita Vernisant and Ismeni Albus do have significant differences, though. I went with an Aasimar build that the DM isn't necessarily approving of, and I added Sarenrae to my backstory. It's all good; we cant all make it. I think we oughta just make the PC we love and see which ones he wants to make a group of -- could be all Knowledge PCS, or barely even one.
Here is my own submission for a Vigilante / Monk, with tentative plans to dip into Paladin. @ Yorick’s Requiem, I really like your Monk / Vigilante’s backstory — and think that, if you want, Rasheeda’s feminist friend, Martella, could have introduced you to my PC, a noble girl who is not content with the ‘good-ol’-boy’s’ club — and has issues of religious freedom as you have issues of religious worship. Let me know if you’re interested in co-creating a few sentences of backstory for our PC proposals. Chances are, with so many PCs here, one or both of will be left out of the campaign — but since we’re gonna have a while to wait for the GM to select a group anyway, we may as well keep playing with our PCs.
Can (Perdita Vernisant) be my long lost (Aasimar) sister?! . Of course! We ought to do Something! I think the next big step -- now that our character builds and backgrounds are complete -- is to look at some other PC candidates and communicate with each other, make connections. There's gonna be 101 PC proposals for this -- not an easy (or swift) job for a DM to wrestle into a group. I think if we take time making connections with each other then that'll give the DM time to really look at the PC builds. Of course, chances are that one or more PC connections that we make will come to naught -- most will not make the DM's cut. But for the four or five PCs that do make it, maybe they'll (we'll) have some already-made tie-ins to each other. I'll take some time to look at ALETIUS' background if you take the time to look at Perdita's. EDIT:
I think that’s the key – when you’re looking at the 101 PC proposals for this campaign, if you maybe like Perdita Vernisant, that’s one thing, but if it doesn’t look like she can fit with some of the other PCs you like then, well, she doesn’t fit. But here she is. I tried to articulate her build in the Profile as clear as possible – it’s still not perfect; I’ll tinker.
Traits: Child of Oppara, Disgraced Noble, Senatorial Hopeful; Meticulous (Drawback)
I'm building Perdita Vernisant now. (Heavy Bluff, Knowledge, Diplomacy ; Investigator-(will multi-class here) // Wizard) The background & personality, all the crunch, is in my head and scribbled on paper -- but my brain is fried after a looong day at work so it'll be a while before I get her profile completed. |