Man, I'm jealous of your major.
Sorry Jakob's been quiet, but, you know... I was... um... roleplaying.
OK, really I just wasn't paying attention to the recruitment. Here now.
Search Posts
Excited as I am for this to start, I think a long recruitment period is generally a good thing. Not everyone checks the recruitment board every day, and especially a nonstandard game like this wants a little thought before beginning. My thoughts only.
@ GM ... attempted reflavoring a bit of the bloodrage, but it's pretty much just, hey, biochemical hulk/sorcery! Not sure if that's what you're looking for. Also, can adjust the background to better fit the college. I was just sort of using what I learned in Generic College Tropes 101.
Hello!
I need to dial him back to lvl 1, but other than that he should be good to go.
Please ignore the character in the profile. I'll need a new pic for him, too. Background:
Jakob is a sophmore on an athletic scholarship, and is the first in his family to go to college. He's in the same fraternity as the other football players, but he's not that guy. He hates bullying, and is usually able to talk his friends out of that kind of behavior, when he's around. He's big enough that he's usually able to talk strangers out of it too.
Back in high school, he was a straight up nerd. Skinny, weak, picked on mercilessly and constantly. His dad insisted he go out for football and never let him forget that he was on the JV squad. Jakob spent most of his free time gaming with his friends, the fantasy escape of RPGs allowing him to endure the misery of his real life. He got his size (6'4") and weight (225#) the summer before his senior year, and discovered that suddenly people weren't interested in picking on him. He made varsity that year, and showed such promise that TFC awarded him an athletic scholarship. Dad couldn't have been prouder. Jakob was just happy to get out of town. He is something of an oddity on campus, avoiding becoming a part of a clique, but hanging out with all different people. He's friendly and fun, and will always back up his friends, no matter what. Stats:
Strength 12 Dexterity 11 Constitution 12 Intelligence 10 Wisdom 10 Charisma 12 Jakob is not the best student in the world, or the worst. He is here on an athletic scholarship and on weekends, he's the life of the party. Traits:
Resolute (You gain a +1 trait bonus on Will saves against mind-affecting effects, and on Fortitude saves against drugs or poisons.) Jakob is stubborn as a donkey, and though he takes buckets of drugs Silent Hunter (You gain a +1 trait bonus on Stealth checks, and Stealth is always a class skill for you.) He has a knack for coming and going without being noticed. It's how he got his nickname. class/race: Human to start with. Thinking of Demon-spawn Tiefling for later, but kind of waiting to see how the evolution words.
Class=Bloodrager: Abyssal Bloodline Jakob is a solidly good guy, but there is darkness. Whatever it was they injected him with has produced some chilling changes in him. Now, when danger threatens, he can tap into his enhanced body chemistry to fuel a rage that makes him far stronger and tougher than he is ordinarily. When he draws on it, his body actually changes. The bones in his fingers strengthen and sharpen, forming fierce talons. (At 1st level, you grow claws while bloodraging. These claws are treated as natural weapons, allowing you to make two claw attacks as a full attack, using your full base attack bonus. These attacks deal 1d6 points of damage each (1d4 if you are Small) plus your Strength modifier. At 4th level, these claws are considered magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage resistance. At 8th level, the damage increases to 1d8 points (1d6 if you are Small). At 12th level, these claws become flaming weapons, which deal an additional 1d6 points of fire damage on a hit.) As his control over this biochemical rage deepens, he finds he is able to cause even deeper changes in his body. At 4th level, when entering a bloodrage, you can choose to grow one size category larger than your base size (as enlarge person) even if you aren't humanoid. Spell choices would be examples of further control. Mostly self-buffs, possibly some attacks that could be explained a psychic manifestation of the dark, biochemical fury within him.
I'll be travelling for the rest of June and July. I think I should be able to access the internet most of the time, but if there's any danger of me holding things up, bot me.
Jakob stands with the injured man slung over his shoulder like a sack of grain, looking at the Field Marshall with helpless admiration. "Miss, Maam" he says by way of greeting to her and Zenobia. Then he turns to Orsini and extends his hand, which Majenko takes as an offer to perch on it. "I'm Jakob ... and this is Majenko. Where should I put this man?"
Jakob hoists the man over his shoulder and prepares to haul him out of here like a sack of flour. "Which way to the labs?" he says.
Catching his breath at last, Jakob gathers his weapons and follows Lyla into the room with the spiderwebs. Seeing the injured guard, he kneels beside him, poking and prodding the man's many wounds in a sincere effort to help. "First, do no harm... oops."
Jakob steps away from the tripline and leans heavily against the wall, catching his breath. He raises his eyes at the sound of hissing, and looks around nervously, though he shows no sign of moving. "You learn brutality on the docks of Old Korvosa," he says to Lyla. "We should go ... after I catch my breath."
Jakob swings again, two-handed, using the last ounce of fury to deliver a mighty blow, and stumbles back, away from the thing. "I'm not ... trying ... to make ... anyone ... suffer," the big man pants, out of breath, as he looks at the dwarf.
"Devil's piss," Jakob mutters, and kicks the door open.
With an angry growl, Jakob breaks loose from the webbing and rushes towards the door, stepping over the tripwire.
Jakob drops the hammer and draws his scimitar ... again. He slashes at the spider, roaring in fury.
Jakob readies his hammer to face whatever might come at them.
Jakob sighs, wearily, and collects his hammer before he drops down beside the guardsman.
Jakob smiles seeing Jakob healing Karri and speaks softly to the guard. "If there's any more where that came from...." "Majenko has offered to stay with us for a time," he says to the group. "You are more than welcome, Majenko, but only as long as you are happy," he adds, in thought, to the dragon.
"I think I do," Jakob smiles at Ortik, stroking Majenko's back like it was a draconic housecat perched on his shoulder. Then he leans down and pulls the rug in front of Devargo's chair. "He drops his enemies in there. We should be careful." "My friends are good people," he thinks. "We're looking for anyone else Devargo might have put in a cage. Would you like to come with us?"
"My name is Jakob," Jakob says, for no apparent reason. He looks nervously at Karri, the one most likely to understand hearing voices. He smiles at the dragon perched on his shoulder, and reaches up to stroke it's chin. "Majenko?" he tries to think at the little creature. "Can you tell us anything about Devargo's business?"
Jakob looks at Karri curiously, wondering why the need for silence. Deciding it's one of those Karri things that used to creep him out, he steps over to the pseudodragon's cage and opens it. "You're free, little dragon" he says, smiling.
Jakob ignores the thug that thumped him, correcting his grip. He takes a swing at thug #2, hoping to eliminate the threat of flanking on himself and Demitri.
Scimitar in hand, ready to fight in close quarters, Jakob steps in and attempts to slash the man to the left.
Jakob winces when he sees Lyla's scar and wonders what her history with the man was. As he looks around at his allies, he realizes how little he knows of them. Just that they were all willing to kill Gaedren Lamm. He smiles. It's a solid foundation he thinks, and then he puts his shoulder into the door, alongside Demitri.
Jakob doesn't show his relief that the fight is over, but approaches the cowering man with his hammer raised high. "You know what your life is worth," he says, shaking the hammer to rain bits of the man's former allies on him.
Jakob lets the fury ease out of him, panting for breath as Ortik rubs moss on his wound. Annoyed at first, he is surprised to find that the dwarf's moss helps. The wounds that were painful and bleeding a moment ago now look to have been healed in part. "My thanks, friend," he says, looking at the moss again. He then starts walking towards Demitri.
As Karri finishes her spell, Jakob steps north and swings at the guard who attacked him. AoO, if it should happen:
I still got a couple hit points.
Not liking the way that things are going, Jakob lets his temper flare a little.
He steps back and swings again, at the one who wounded him.
Jakob rushes across the pier and stumbles over a coil of rope just as he starts to swing his hammer.
Jakob doesn't bother saying anything but gripped his hammer and raced down the docks towards the halfling.
"Looks like a fun place," Jakob says, skeptically. A few of the men he worked with on the docks used to swear Eel's End was the place to go on payday, but they were the sort of men he didn't put much faith in.
Jakob leans closer at the word of a job, but glances at the judge. Who knows what a person like that might think of a band of mercenaries with a house full of orphans. Mercenaries. That is what they had become, for all that they were working for a woman of honor and grace, they were hired muscle, just like the thugs they'd killed at Lamm's and the men they'd captured at the butchers. Maybe not just like, he thought, as he scanned the room. An impudent halfling, a half-mad mage, a beggar dwarf and a washed-out guard. And Jakob.
I am in favor of any system that doesn't require keeping track of things.
"They call her the hanging judge, so you'd better mind your manners," Jakob says, ominously, and then grins when he sees eyes grow wide. "She'll take good care of you. We went to her because she can help, and it's too dangerous for you to stay here with us busy with the Field Marshall's work."
Jakob sits and listens, and at last he speaks. "I am from Old Korvosa's docks, and I know your reputation well, as a strict judge and a kind soul," he says. "These children were taken by the worst kind of thief and forced to commit crimes. My sister was one of them, and every day that she was gone, I scoured the city to find her. Some of these children have families that still miss them, others need someone to look after them. We are commoners, people of no importance, but you have power and influence. We came to ask you to use that power to find their families. We have saved them from a terrible end, but we can't give them their lives back. You can."
Quietly, Jakob follows Demitri to the judge's house.
Jakob pushes the door open, resting his hammer over his shoulder. "Hello?" he calls.
"They'll be sure to get what they deserve, if Judge Zenderhom lives up to her reputation," Jakob says to the Field Marshall with a smile. Though he grew up surrounded by many who hated her for her severity, he knew many who were saved from desperation by her as well. "Could we perhaps speak to her about the flock of lambs we've inherited? It seems many of them have no homes to return to." "Courts or not, the Arkonas are involved in this," he mutters to the others.
Jakob pulls Baldrago back and dumps him on the floor, safely, still frowning. He looks at Verik. Then he looks at the pit. Then he walks to Verik. "Who told you about the fishery?"
"You've spent time beating beggars in Old Korvosa, haven't you? You know the law is only for the ones that can buy it, and it doesn't look like you can afford it." He holds the man with his heels on the ground, dangling over the pit. "Can anyone think of a reason I should spare this filth?"
"Reefclaws," Jakob says, thoughtfully. "Seems like a fair match. One vicious little bastard against another." He drags Baldrago towards the pit.
"I think you owe it to your victims to give them a decent burial," Jakob says to the captive guards. "Why don't you lift up that grate and find what you can of their remains down there?"
I had thought Demitri brought him in with Verik, but now that I check the thread, I see I was mistaken. Either we can retcon that I noticed he was still there and brought him in, or we can go with barbarians are dumb, and leave him where he was.
Seeing that things seem quiet for now, Jakob steps back into the workroom and takes a look through the grate.
Jakob sprints after Demitri and Karralo, bringing the long hammer in a low swing at the fleeing man's feet.
Catching an ankle with the haft, he pulls back, dropping Karralo face down on the floor.
I won't be around til Monday, bot me as necessary. Barbarians aren't complicated.
Jakob follows the men inside, making a face as the stench hits him. The place is disgusting, but it is a slaughterhouse, after all. He knows these men are up to no good, but he waits, his hammer over his shoulder.
"I wanted to ask about the night's special cuts," Jakob says, in his usual soft voice. "I was told you might be able to help with a problem we've been having."
|