Redblade8's page

"You want to look, go ahead and look," Yhrrilka starts relaxing her grip on Torsten's head before sharply jerking it back. "Nyet. You look at symbol, you petrify, or turn to bug, then your sailor friend comes in looking for tattoo of his newest dragon girlfriend, and I have to take him as client." Ril shudders at the thought. "I'm not that strong."

After Torsten explains the lever, Ril thinks for a moment. "Sounds reasonable to me, for what good that's worth." Assuming Torsten doesn't object, the woman pulls down the lever.

At first, the elf's question strikes Yhrrilka as ridiculous. "Do we look like art snobs?" But from her facial expression, it's clear Ril is considering the question even as she asks it, at which point she turns to Torsten and asks him, "Wait, do we look like art snobs?"

She quickly frowns, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "No, wait, it - We're not here about Salvatore's art, okay? He seems to have known an acquaintance of ours, and we're trying to track him down."

At this, Yhrrilka edges herself around the elven woman so she can start examining the interior of Salvatore's home, muttering to herself as she does. "This is unbelievable. Find this one, to find that one, to find the one we really want in the first place, all the while hoping that no one in this stupid little chain has been done in by plague, or looters, or vampires, or Mother knows what. It was stupid to come here, some days I wonder if I shouldn't have just tattooed the word 'sucker' on my forehead…"

Then you start playing Necro-Mance-Mance Revolution with the guy inside the armor. >:)

I like it, but you'd need more than just the skull (spell description says "mostly intact"), but there's definitely ways to make that work. Hell, nothing says fun like "the skeleton that's laid across the armor comes to life and practically has you grappled straight away!"

"I bet I could totally use your eye for this. Here, let me try…"

Yhrrilka playfully reaches for Torsten's head, and Marshal Kroft is treated to a few seconds of grave concern, as the two heroes upon whom she had planned to hang the hopes of Korvosa are reduced to what can only be described as a "sibling slap fight." Ril just about jumps out of her seat as Torsten administers what the boys of the orphanage call the "Wet Willie," at which point the two of them suddenly seem to recall the situation, and snap back to attention.

Ril coolly acts like the previous few moments never happened, and starts collecting things off the table. "So yes, we'll get right to this," she says, while she caaaaaaasually uses her boot to find the potion vial that got knocked off the table, and scoot it along the floor to a spot she can just nonchalantly scoop it up.

Fully serious again, the young woman looks the Marshal in the eye and speaks. "Should the worst happen, and we don't make it out of there alive… Well, I know you'll have your hands full. But if you can, please, go to Dawnflower House? Explain what happened to Ishani and Tayce, and try to get them to take the children and leave the city. I don't know if they'll listen, and I don't know if it's even practical, but I couldn't bear the thought of leaving them to whatever comes next if I'm not there to help."

On our way back to the shop, Ril will be in full paranoid, head-on-a-swivel mode. The Marshal's comment that the Queen has it out for us is resonating.

Dammit, Torsten, I have spent like half my spare brainpower since yesterday considering the Harrower PrC!

It's thematic as hell, and looks like its abilities would actually be useful. Things I 'd lose going Sor12/Har5 instead of Sor 17:
- Tap Chaos would only be at +4 instead of +6
- I'd lose an Arcane Endowment
- I'd lose one Bloodline ability (crazy fire-lady speed), and miss another 1/day on another (the big f***-you attack I get at 9).

Are those things worth giving up in exchange for the enefits of the PRC? Hell if I know, but it looks cool enough that I'd be game to try!

So then it's just a matter of working through the prereqs.

- Skills: 5 Kn(occult), and 5 Perform(any). Is there any any chance that Profession (fortune-teller) could sub for the Perform ranks? If so, then I'm at least partway there, and I don't think ranks in Kn(occult) would really be wasted, you know?

So that leaves the Feat, Harrowed. The problem, as always, is that Feats are a hell of a precious resource. Here's the ones I've got planned the rest of the way:
9: Ritual Caster (not dropping it nope, not happening)
11: Steadfast Personality (could drop it, but seems like a less-than-great idea)
13: Imbued Strike
15: Champion's Strike
17: Spell Penetration

I think if I'm going to do this, my least-bad plan is ditch Spell Pen, move Imbued and Champion up a notch each, and pick up Harrowed at 13 and take levels of the PrC from 13-17.

Whatcha think?

OMFG, I'm sorry to hear that! I've had bad gums my entire adult life. Never had a cavity (except for one teeny-tiny one a couple of years ago, and even that one, I'm convinced the only reason my (now former) dentist "found" it was because he like, IDK, bet against the Pats in the playoffs or something), but periodontally, I'm a wreck. :-\

Genuine LOL at that.

Yhrrilka sat listening to Torsten's explanation of the tattoos' function; her face was unusually thoughtful and serious as she took it all in. The craft, and the workings of it, she could follow well enough. It was the implications of these things that she was trying to process.

The idea of additional longevity was seductive, yes, but it seemed so easy. A part of the girl's mind said it was wrong; you live the time you get, and that's it. But what if someone, a good person, had more time? Couldn't they use that time to bring more good works into the world? This issue wouldn't be settled here and now; this was a matter for prayer and guidance. Oh Mahja, what I wouldn't give for your advice about this, the girl thought to herself.

Other parts of this transformation, as Yhrrilka thought about them, she found them borderline horrifying. Constantly being cleaned off might have its advantages, but every time she thought about it, all she saw was something that erased one's... interactions with the world, was the only way she could think about it. Her mind kept going back to that afternoon in the shop, the day Blackjack had rescued Trinia. The way she'd wept as she'd talked to Torsten about how she prayed for Zohruk every morning had been exhausting, no two ways about it. But the sting of the tears on her face, that was hers, the feelings in her heart coming out into the world. To have magic just effortlessly whisk everything away from oneself, as you lived longer with fewer things making their mark upon you, Ril felt she could have some pretty potent nightmares about things like that.

Suddenly, Ril blinked, realizing Torsten had finished talking, and her silence had long since stretched to an uncomfortable length. She takes a long pull from her mug, then sets it down. "You make an interesting case, Torsten. I need to be really sure before trying something like this. But it's great that you worked it all out!" She hopes the hesitation she has towards doing this for herself doesn't come off as dismissive of her friend's work.

She's quiet for a brief moment more, then perks up as she seems to suddenly remember something. Ril excitedly jabs her finger on the table, "Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you! The other day, I had an idea. We should spread word Zellara's Mark will do like, I don't know, a discount or something, to help people cover the marks left on them from blood veil. Some of the folks, those blisters and stuff got pretty bad. I don't want anyone not liking the way they look. We stopped the disease, we can help clean up after it, too." She beams, clearly proud of herself. "Great idea, or what? Had it while I was jumping off the roof of Dawnflower House, and I wanted to make sure I remembered."

In anticipation of the current Gameplay events coming back to bite us in the ass, I intend to find a good Russian equivalent to "told ya so". :P

I love this disguise/misdirection plan of ours. I definitely don't see any ways this could blow back on us.

I think that all follows, yeah. Step 5 (IF (trip) THEN (AOO)), is that from some other, not-listed piece?

Technically, I think the order of operations would be 1-2-4-5-3, no?

I wouldn't worry about the "it's a ton of die rolls" part, because if it works, that's a freaking ton of damage. The worst part would be if the Shove didn't connect, but that's against Touch, which as I've found, is usually pretty doable. :)

Let's see...

1) If this step fails, no terribly bad consequence I can see. It's a setup but its failure isn't tragic.

2) This is the big money. If this misses, you get no reposition, thus no trip, and no AOO. All that's left then I think is the Flurry attack.

3) Failing this one is its own consequence, no impact on the other steps. (I forget, later you get an additional Flurry attack, right?)

EDIT TO ADD: if you're concerned about missing, don't Flurry, and you don't eat the -2.

4) Failure here prevents #5.

5) Failure here keeps pieces of the enemy's skull out of your boot.

So yeah, it's "big risk" in the sense there's a lot of attack rolls, and a few of them are contingent on ones that come before them, but the payoff is frighteningly good. You're looking at being able to move half your speed, repositioning and tripping a foe, and four separate attacks on them. I suspect you'll come out of this okay, T.

;)

Didn't mean to confuse, Ian (but I do excel at it).

That was just my way of saying, a few weeks back I'd posted on Reddit looking for build advice for Anton. When I posted, I tried impressing on people, "Look, what I've already got, I've got, and I'm not changing it, so don't tell me to go changing this or that thing that I already have laid out."

Naturally, because the internet, I got half the world ignoring the "leave what's already there" request, and just gleefully telling me o change this, that and the other thing. Most of the "help" was telling me to totally rebuild to a Dex build, and use the Bladed Brush feat. After the zillionth time folks ignored parameters, it got a little frustrating. :-\

Sorry if I confused you there, man.

Ah, okay. (Felix rubs his head where he bumped into the plate glass door of his system knowledge.)

If I'm right, that's about my Crit with Mythic PA.

EDIT TO ADD: that's also why I'll eventually be looking for Mythic Improved Critical. The idea of pulling that business with a 19-20/x4 makes me giddy.

I don't see a lot of workplace law expertise in the above post about that firm, but I see a whole lot of litigators.

This read like a lot of, "Circle the wagons around the fox that was caught in the henhouse." (Sorry, the metaphor got really tangled up there.)

I'm imagining it'd look like Thing from the Addams Family with a little backpack for the eye, sneaking around to the tune of Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F."

So thanks for that. :P

EDIT: "We're not gonna fall for the eyeball in the tailpipe..."

That Proficient practitioner progression...

(re-reads post)

"What'd you do with Sully?"

"I let him go."

Yhrrilka's face flashes outrage. "Torsten Runeforger! Do I strike you as the kind of woman that acts without thinking things thr-" She stops herself short, then holds up her index finger in front of her in warning. "Do not answer that. Let us make our way back to the Hospice, and prepare for the stabbening," she says with a smirk.

Unless it's too late at this point, in which case I guess tomorrow.

Fortitude add: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Fortitude add: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Ian, thanks a ton! Chalk one more up to Mythic Learning Curve. I'll mark off a use of Mythic Power and do that.

Heh, totally aware of it, hell I added it on the Conditions sections of my status line! I just pooched the part where I remember to add it into my rolls! #scatterbrain :P But thanks. This was just me being tired/distracted when I posted last night.

With a raised eyebrow and a voice full of skepticism, Ril replies, "Of course. Just find the information I'm looking for before you go smiting any more coin purses, okay?"

I resized Torsten and moved him for you as per your description, hoss! :D

Happy to announce that my son was just born :)

Congrats, man! Hope he and Mom are doing well!

I have to echo what Torsten said there. It's definitely worked for me so far. Hell, I find myself overthinking stuff on account of that. (Like, how vigorously was Ril going to push back on the wererat rumors.) Hell, now that I'm typing I find myself wondering if we could take downtime to have actions like, "Influence the narrative," to kind of help set the course the rumors take.

I also want to reiterate a point I made before, that I don't recall you responding to. Don't be afraid to tie plot points to pieces of our backstories (given that Torsten favorites the last time I mentioned this I feel comfortable speaking for him). If you're unsure, ask! Hell, I've got one or two things along those lines I'd like to chew over with you some time if you're amenable.

Gameplay post later tonight to start tracking this grisly business.

he doesn't need to look like a dork with an ioun stone floating around his head all the time.

PLUS, having something constantly hanging around right at peripheral vision, would drive me bats**t insane faster than a forced look at the Dark Tapestry. I can't count the number of times at work where I've had to tell someone who was peering over my shoulder at work, "Take a step forward, or one back, but don't stay where you are right now."

/neuroses

What, you think Ril doesn't want the alchemist fire? She uses that like skin cream, Oil of OlAIIIIEEEEE!

Reporting for duty, sir!

Still trying to gear him up, which is a part of character creation I loathe. I'll also get his profile laid out a little better.

Ril smiles a slightly happier smile at Torsten. "You better. This thing of yours works, you're gonna be watching out for like, fifty generations of my grandkids."

Ril intently studies a map of the north end of Korvosa, practically trying to will the answers she seems to appear. "So besides the catapult, who else was engaged? Were there ground patrols shadowing the ship from the riverbank? If they got pulled out of position long enough for someone or something to slip through a hole, that could be the next place to look for clues."

As she thinks of their efforts to get Trinia out of town, Ril muses to herself, It's probably no harder to smuggle something into the city than it is to smuggle it out, a rare burst of judgment keeps her from saying that part out loud.

Torsten, if math and memory are right it's half of (525+538), or 531gp 5sp.

Lukas ponders Oreena's question, then meets her gaze. "I didn't know him long, but Wymond showed me all he needed to when we faced down the wizard Klarkosh. Faced with an opponent simply devoid of reason, decency or compassion, Wymond refused to back down, refused to let him win. Wymond held the line, enabling our victory even at the cost of his life."

"A man like that, he's earned any reward his god chooses to give him. But I also don't think he'd want to leave our work unfinished. But that should be his choice to make, not that of our foes. So please, help us offer him that choice."

Ril points to herself, then the body, then points to the surface, after which she makes the "bickering" face. Fine, be that way! She goes back to the aftcastle to push the body back outside. She thinks to herself, I really hope this guy's still got a little float to him!

It is a guy, right? Or have I just been making assumptions.

Grumbaki, I love it. Vigilantism as a public health response. :)

Arani, more thoughts on the loot thing later.

On an unrelated note!

I'll tell you what, I was looking at our last few gameplay posts and it suddenly dawned on me, "Can't talk, can't talk, can't... Oh s***, Verbal Casting!" O_o

No joke there! Nothing like seeing the environment you're in play havoc with your abili-

(suddenly remembers "Fire Blast")

SON OF A...! :)

"That's some pig," Lukas chimes in. "Radiant."

:)

Despite being devastated at the news of Davina's need to leave, Domitius does his best to not show it. Sudaryna's reasons are sound, and anyway, who would you be to question her?

Before she leaves, Dom takes a moment to talk to her. "Davina, I cannot thank you enough for the kindness you've always shown me. You took me into your home, and you let me see myself as more than just a killer. Rest easy in the knowledge that I will guard your home and your family to the last. Right up until the time of my duel to the death with Madame Estrella," he smiles, hoping the joke chases away the heaviness in his own heart. Daring to be a bit presumptuous, he gives her a brief hug. "May Fortune keep you safe until we meet again. Proshchaniye, Sudarynya."

Dom throws himself into anything he can find to keep himself busy. First order of business, get rid of that! He glares at Wex's knife, wrapped up in a sack. Not sure what needs to happen to make sure this gets done right. I may as well start with Hetamon Haace. He picks up the sack and heads out for Redroof.

General downtime first priority would be checking in on Eradon Manor, making sure Davina's cousins have a handle on things. After that, if Dom comes up with any bright ideas to get the CCG afraid to terrorize people, he'll work that out. Really anything he can do to fill the time.

The woman who did Ril's art plays a 5e swashbuckler rogue. When I told her I was probably going to be getting an ability that would let me negate sneak attacks, her first reaction was, "How rude!" :D

@GM: sure, that'll be great when it's an option. Just have to remember it.

@Torsten: my god, that list of skills is so compact and neat and focused and mine is none of those things. :-O I will take this time to note that I would literally need ten ranks in Sense Motive to match you there.

#intothebackofthevanigo

See anyone you recognize? :D

I try not to touch PC backstory elements unless absolutely necessary because players often have strong feelings about how they'd react to various things. XD

I just wanted to throw two cents at this point. You don't strike me as the type of GM that's gonna kick over the Jenga blocks just to watch the look on our faces as they fall. If you want to use any element of Yhrrilka's backstory, use it. If you're worried about the chances it'll come out bad in some way, talk to me about it. The best guitar in the world won't make any music until you pluck the strings, y'know? Based on the past nine months, I'm comfortable saying I trust you that far.

(and yes, my metaphor changed there but it seemed more relevant)

Thanks for listening!

(slight edit to correct a typo)

LOL, obligatory link to the "Both" gif.

I'm pretty sure that at least Grumbaki, if not everyone else here, has a bit of the alt-build disease. In Pathfinder, for me it doesn't always manifest until something triggers it.

In at least one previous post, I mentioned Haazek, Ril's cousin. (Brief aside: owing to the Burning Suns' tendency to take in strays, and the fluid and sometimes spontaneous formation of family groups, Haazek is a cousin to both Ril and Zohruk, kind of how on The Sopranos, I believe Christufuh was a cousin to both Tony and Carmela.) He's been kind of sitting up in my head, hanging out, yeah I knew he's a BSF but didn't have much more than that, until a nickname for him popped into my head: "The Bull of Belkzen", based on both the prominent role that auroch have in Belkzen life, and the little anecdote I think I used of him throwing one to the ground.

Now I've got this Fighter/Shifter gestalt in my head, that assumes a minotaur-like form, and just crushes guys with goring charges and probably some mix of Brute and Wrestling spheres. I don't know how effective those two things are in tandem, but if I have any spare brainpower, I'm gonna get some scratch paper and find out! :D

cue music, "Time Stand Still" by Rush :)

Ril beamed at her friends as she signaled the service for another round. Whatever lay ahead, she would face it, not alone, but with her friends. Until then, she would persevere, just like the fiery fellow on the card that had found its way to her this time.

Okay, then the Brass Dwarf is me. I'll have to mark this one on my sheet somewhere, because at some point I completely forgot to use the bonus I got the first time. :-/

Life was good. He hoped that it would stay that way.

(voice=Ron Howard's Arrested Development narrator) "It didn't."

With Torsten’s declaration, Yhrrilka decided the matter of his well-being was settled. Little point in asking a dwarf to let you help carry the stone.

"Strange, isn't it? Somedays we're fightin' for our lives. Bringin' back hundreds and hundreds of gold. Bein' bloody adventurers! Then the next it's tattoos for shillings." With a slight smile he added "How'dya think Mac does it? From killin' to dealin' with wee children."

Ril ponders the question, her face crinkling up in thought. "Best thing would be to ask her. But where I come from on this, Torsten, is that the one gives meaning to the other. It keeps you… steady? Is that the word? Back in Belkzen, Chief Mahja, she did her best to make sure everyone had a..." She pauses, seeming to struggle to find the right word, finally shrugging. "A meaning? A purpose? She would constantly send members of the tribe out on quests, make this crossing safe, destroy the undead plaguing this area, that sort of thing. The ones who had nothing but the fight, nothing else to live for, they would end up burned out, kind of hollow inside. Chief called them the 'Dead Wanderers'. We honor their great deeds, and their sacrifices, but really, as much as anything, they are a cautionary tale."

Because flat out calling them murderhobos would have been a little too on the nose.

"We live these lives of everyday doings," She picks up a stray feather left behind by Mister Quackers, shaking her head and giving an amused snort, "So that we are anchored when the need arises to be, well, our full selves."

At this talk of Belkzen, and her Chief she adores so much, Yhrrilka feels the weight of having left home, and her loss, looming. She does her best to dispel it. "Anyway, that's what this girl from the sticks thinks about that." Ril tosses the feather in the trash, then as she turns back to her workspace, she sees the corner of a Harrow card under a tray of inks. It's one of the cards from Zellara's deck. "I didn't have these out, did you, Torsten...?" She pulls it from under the tools and turns it over. "The Desert?" Her face turns into a frown of concentration as she eyes the sphinx on the card. "Life in this city is rarely full for long..."

*=*=*=*=*

Later, Yhrrilka and Torsten? meet Macaria at a tavern for supper. After the other woman arrives and they've been served, Ril says to her, "Maca, I have something for which I need your advice. Some of the money we've made with our exploits, I wanted to see it put to good use beyond us using it to blow things up. I figured I can give it to you to help get your orphanage project up and running. Or, if I donated it to the Dawnflower House, it could help children that are in the system right now. Or I could split the money up, use it for both things. I'm not sure what to do, and I was hoping for some guidance from you." She tosses a small purse on the table, a few coins clink inside when it hits the table. Shrugging, she says, "I know it doesn't sound like much; I went and had it converted to crowns to make it easier to carry."

Yeah, I never got back to this thread, sorry. Enjoy the game, folks!

Brutal Crocodile? (ears perk up) Where's that from?

Torsten felt a sudden urge to do just that with the head, just because he was told not to.

Creation of a joke about how we might as well be adventuring with our kids is left as an exercise for the reader. :D

Well I'm not ditching the whole character. I'm just changing his secondary focus, which was far from set in stone. Trust me, if I wasn't already down with it as an option, I wouldn't have done it. DSP stuff always twists me into knots while I'm building anyway, so there was always going to be a point when I looked like a dog chasing his tail. :)