Rikaku is sad to leave the wonderful tundra behind--doubly so when it turns out that the adjacent 'world' is even worse in climate than the jungle they had first passed through--but he is more excited to spend time with Snow, and dogs her steps like a pathetic little puppy dog. (That's not much different to his normal actions, in some regards, to be fair.) He tries his best to withstand the obnoxious heat without complaint, unlike normal, obviously showing off in front of their new friend.
While Rybal is distracting the mounds, Rikaku sneaks on by with ease.
Stealth:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
However, that leaves the problem of helping his orcish buddy...
"Maybe Rybal try stand still and throw big thing far away?" he suggests.
Hi guys! Sorry for disappearing. But I'm back, although I might have spotty activity for the next few weeks still.
Level up stuff:
5 hp
+1 BAB
+1 Fort/Ref/Will
Skill ranks: Perception, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device
Bonus bloodline spell: See below
Bonus bloodline feat: Improved Initiative
0 level spell known: Prestidigitation
+1/2 damage to cold spells (+3 in total now)
I still haven't selected my bonus 3rd level spell. Davachido, you mentioned thinking up a replacement for the Draconic bloodline's Fly spell, did you have any ideas about that?
Taking Protection from Energy from the Elemental bloodline instead is a possibility, if a little boring. :P Draconic Reservoir is basically the only 'dragonish' spell of 3rd level, but it's essentially a weaker Protection from Energy with the ability to add damage to my melee attacks... not really Rikaku's thing.
Maybe one of the blasty spells of 3rd level? Fireball, lightning bolt, etc. I can change it to cold energy with my bloodline arcana after all...
Diamond Spray is cool, I can imagine it as being sharp shards of really thin ice.
Beast Shape or Monstrous Physique? Snow can shapeshift after all. ;)
Sorry, really busy with uni work at the moment. I'll get Rikaku updated to level 6 ASAP, but it might not be until Friday afternoon. Likewise, posting may be sporadic, so move me along if needed.
Rikaku stares at the aasimar for some time, a deep and puzzled frown on his face. When the rest of his friends start greeting her as both Snow and Qanikcir, the kobold's eyes boggle wide. "Qanikcir is Snow!?" he exclaims in shock. "N-No way! Why not-dragon then?" Rikaku looks at Qanikcir appraisingly, unsure and not willing to be rude when it came to someone who could potentially be a dragon... as odd as that seemed to him.
Rikaku's no scaredy-cat like his other human(ish) companions. No way even the Man In White could emulate a dragon with his magic! He stands his ground, shaking his head at their paranoia.
As he muses the revelations this poor and strange creature was telling them about the Man in White, Rikaku notices the approaching shadow of the dragon and he startles. "Snow is back!" he announces happily, jumping up and waving at the approaching dragon. Realising that he's probably too small to see, he summons forth a few globes of blueish fire and sends them up into the sky above the party like a beacon.
"Half a millennium..." Rikaku attempts to fathom just how long that is, but considering the average lifespan of a kobold, it's just far too large a span of time for his mind to comprehend. He shakes his head, trying to throw the thoughts away before he got a headache. "So then Snow not made by him, Snow come later...?"
He shrugs the thought away. That was less important for now. "Tell everything about Man In White. Need know everything so can kill him!"
"Ebrahim..." Rikaku murmurs quietly, finding the very name sour on his tongue. If that was truly the name of the Man in White... it made him seem somewhat more mortal than before. And yet, ostensibly he had created not one but two entire small worlds here with the power of his wish-magic...
"How know Man In White name?" He asks the bodak when there's a break in the conversation. "And how long since here was... made?"
Rikaku shrugs at Rybal's question, though he does his best to study the... mistfiend, possibly?... from afar, nervously. He glances at Variel, hoping the witch would have more information than he did.
Rikaku's shoulders droop at Diaz' words, but stands up tall again at Rybal's suggestion that he and Variel might be able to do something.
"Rikaku try," he assures Diaz firmly. "If Rikaku and Variel not enough know, find someone that do. Snow, maybe, can help... Oh!" He perks up again, looking towards the rest of the party. "Snow not here. Kobolds say Snow out looking for some group that come here. Maybe us? Maybe not us... no matter which is bad. Either Snow caught up and no find us, or there other group here maybe."
Rikaku is quiet for a little while before answering. "Oh, nothing really. Just a thought. Forget about it."
Bluff:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30These kobolds are really hanging on Rikaku's every word ;)
He manages to completely hide his consternation at Rikana's origins, but begins to wonder if this would not be a bad place for her to grow up at... certainly there would be other kobolds here for her to learn the ways of life from, and Snow, too--hopefully. "Anyway," he says finally with a slight shake of his head, "I appreciate the information. I've got to go back and talk to my friends, so then we can go and find Snow and the Man in White. Stay safe... okay?" Feeling a strange sense of kinship to the white-scaled kobolds, Rikaku resists an odd urge to stay longer with them as he takes his leave of the cave.
When he returns to the others, he finds them chatting with Diaz, and he nods to the man. He waves for the rest to continue on with their conversation, and will catch up with what he missed later.
Rikaku moves up to the branding and places his hand gently on the heraldry, his expression sad. It seems that everyone associated with this house was being targeted by the man in white, but why...? They still hadn't figured out what his motive was... he shakes his head and turns back to the other kobolds.
"Thank you for the information... hopefully I can find Snow sooner rather than later. And hopefully nothing bad has happened to her either." He looks at the kobolds for a while longer, thoughts drifting once again, this time to the mystery of Rikana. "Say... how are you all here like this? Did you hatch normally, or did Snow do some magic to you?"
Hmm... I really prefer the Rime metamagic to the Empower metamagic which makes me lean towards Drak's idea. Rime is really cool because it also gives bonus effects against spellcasters and such as well as penalties to AC and movement. Very well rounded metamagic.
Still need to level Rikaku up, been really busy lately with assignments and picking up a few too many short-term PFS games so haven't had a chance... will do that ASAP.
Since my regen is related to a breath weapon, would you consider allowing me to take some kind of "Shape Breath/Selective Breath" type feat? I only rarely wind up using the AoE effects I have because I don't want to get the party in the way of the attack. But if I had an ability to avoid allies (maybe even replacing one of the "RP" costing abilities for it) that would make me more likely to use it.
Could make it function like the Selective Channelling feat, for example. Avoid a number of people equal to your Cha mod.
Rikaku growls upon learning that the Man in White had been bothering Snow. "Well, I don't think he's dead for sure, but he's gone for now. My companions and I have scared him away." He smirks, but then falls silent, considering the other half of the kobolds' report.
"... I don't believe I have Snow's blood," he says after some time, with a frown. "I am not sure why I have these wings, or these powers, these scales... but that's why I wanted to speak to her. Maybe she has some answers for me."
Now that he's beside other kobolds, Rikaku is becoming increasingly aware of his larger stature and other physical changes. Perhaps Snow can explain this as well, he muses to himself.
"Did Snow say anything about the group she was going to meet? If it was us..." a flicker of worry crosses his face, "...we have only seen minotaurs thus far. I hope nothing has happened to her."
Rikaku's shoulders heave as he slowly comes to his senses, the adrenaline gradually leaving his body. "Man In White gone," he replies to Rybal after a time. "Not dead. Don't think. But gone... gaaah!!" He roughly kicks a boulder nearby in frustration.
Hearing the chattering in Draconic, Rikaku turns towards the source of the noise. "Kobolds here," he says to the group, vaguely waving his wand in their direction. "Rikaku go tell them bad man gone. Maybe kobolds know where Snow is, now cow-witch gone..."
True to his word, he skitters off, looking around for the voices he heard before. When he finds the kobolds, he stands as tall as he can make himself seem and grins imperiously.
"Greetings!" he says in Draconic to them. "My name is Rikaku, mighty dragon of the snow and ice! Are you servants of the ruler of this place, called Snow by the humans? I must pay my greetings to her!"
"Oh," and he adds after his arrogant posturing, "we got rid of the man in white who was around here. It's safe... for now."
Hey Davachido, Fly's a banned spell in this campaign right? Draconic bloodline sorcerer gets it as a bonus spell, could I maybe replace it with some other spell instead? (Though I'm not sure what offhand...)
And yeah, good work everyone! Though we haven't seen the last of this jerkface I'm sure! >:/
Seeing Rybal get taken down fills Rikaku with a furious rage, and he turns fury-rimmed eyes upon the clones. He opens his mouth and roars before directing his dragon-headed missiles at the pugilist!
Rikaku stumbles backwards as the Man-in-White's sword flies up and then splits into four doppelgangers, cursing in Draconic as it nearly chops off his head. He's so shocked that he doesn't see the arrow coming, and cries out in pain when it digs deep into his shoulder. And his soul's being eaten away at the same time, somehow... gah!
"Stupid man in white! Arrrghhh!" Rikaku turns on the clone that just shot him and snarls before spewing another blast of cold energy at him. The kobold's body heaves with the exertion; he could feel himself rapidly tiring, unable to keep this effort up for much longer.
Sorry, Variel, I'm not holding a weapon at the moment (using the wand) so I'm not much use as a flanking buddy. And I don't think the +2 would save you anyway ;)
So shocked by the sudden petrification of the Man in White, Rikaku abruptly changes his target at the last moment, eyes wide with shock. He moves carefully over to the fallen blade, for now interposing himself over it in case some trickery results in their enemy returning for it.
Almost half-heartedly he gestures at the west-most mistfiend, chilling the grip of its bow to slippery ice. Casting grease on the left mistfiend's weapon, DC 14 Ref or drop it. He's too busy staring around trying to figure out what is going on here...
Taking advantage of the pain no doubt inflicted by Drak's deep and terrible cuts, Rikaku yet again blasts the man in white with bone-chilling ice magic. He's starting to show signs of tiring, having kept up the breath attacks for so long, but the kobold refuses to give in. He reaches for his wand of magic missile in the case that he runs out of the stamina to keep these attacks up.
Rikaku attempts to keep up the long blast of cold energy, but the man in white's buffeting winds deflect much of it away from him, and the kobold growls in annoyance.
Rikaku bravely strides forward, gathering his cold flames as he goes. "We find out," he snarls, bits of ice falling from his toothy (and now quite draconic) maw as he speaks, "because Man In White meet death right now!"
[dice="Chilling" Ray (plus PBS, -4 for in melee)]1d20+6+1-4[/dice]
Damage (plus PBS):4d6 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 3, 6, 1) + 6 + 1 = 23
The dragon-kin opens his mouth and spits forth a terrible blast of cold energy that envelops the man-in-white almost completely for a few seconds.
Rikaku takes a half-step backwards, breathing in a huge breath of air, almost as if his lungs had been taken over by an air elemental of the high mountains. He feels as if a voice inside of him is about to burst out... and so he doesn't hold back, letting a massive, loud and piercing roar escape from his maw. He allows his innate magic escape at the same time, creating a massive gout of chilling snow and ice that reaches five times as tall as the kobold... nay, young dragon himself.
Rikaku glances hurriedly around, looking for the source of the voice. Who was it again...? Their name was on the tip of his tongue, fleeting and ephemeral.
"But Rikaku IS do something," he shouts, hoping the voice can hear him. "Rikaku not run away this time! Rikaku not let stupid mean people tell him what to do, when they not even think at all. Can't make stupid people not-stupid, but there have to be people here that not-stupid. Not-stupid people like Drak and Variel and Malthu and Rybal and Hin and Korina and Chara and everyone... not gonna let nobody boss Rikaku around from now!"
If seriously threatened, Rikaku will defend himself, but he intends on standing his ground at this point, snarling at any who dare to come near to him. His mouth dances with cold-fire, an unbidden and silent threat to those who would cause him harm.
Bah! I don't believe the dragon attacked first. Snow wouldn't, at least. She was so friendly to humans in that journal!
"How you know? Maybe some person went steal eggs or treasure from dragon! Maybe bad person lies to dragon and tells them here people bad. Maybe mind magic make dragon do bad things, maybe transform magic make think it was dragon. Don't know! But assume all is bad make you bad!"
Diplo:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9Oh dear :)
Rikaku gets the impression that the crowd may not appreciate that answer, judging by their accusatory looks. He realises a little belatedly... after all, who but dragons had so much magic?
"Rikaku bet is all Man In White! No blame dragon, no blame Rikaku for bad man's plans!"
Rikaku growls again, this time more loudly, as if in warning for any thinking of coming closer. He nevertheless continues to try and plead with the crowd. "Rikaku not like those bad ones! Why you think Rikaku like them! Rikaku never hurt you, Rikaku never do nothing wrong! And Snow no bad either! Bad one is Man In White!"
"Leave Rikaku alone and Rikaku leave alone. Not try hunt kobolds or dragons and kobolds and dragons not try eat you..."
Stupid big folk... these ones are even stupider than usual... the Man In White's illusions makes people dumb as rocks, apparently... At least, Rikaku assumes it's illusory magic. Nothing else about this situation made much sense otherwise.
Rikaku growls down at the jeering crowd, flicking his tail and flexing his wings. He is much more powerful than before; and for that matter, he knows that these people are worse than scum, for he has found some few who care not for his oddities or his race.
"Why you hate Rikaku?" he shouts down at the crowd, struggling to restrain his anger. "What Rikaku ever do? Rikaku not bad! You hate any half-orc because part orc? You hate any witch because pact magic? You bad people then, not Rikaku!"
Yup. Trogg had a wand of bull's strength so I assume Variel has it now. And I have a wand of enlarge. I'll use that on Rybal, and I can use another charge on Malthu if he wants it (but probably once we get into rounds as I suspect giant half-orc is not too stealthy :)).
Rikaku boggles at the scene, stunned in his tracks that he would simply stumble upon... the man they had been seeking for a very long time. He struggles with the desire to attack the man-in-white before being noticed, but knows that could spell his death in an instant. Instead, the little white kobold turns tail and runs back to the group as fast as he can, waving his hands in the air to try and attract their attentions.
"Come! Come now! Must come! He here! Man-In-White here!!"
Just went back and read the very beginning of the thread... Hin was the one whose tongue was cut out. Yikes.
This situation wasn't making any sense to Rikaku, but at Rybal's words he tugs at the big half-orc's arm and shakes his head. "Hin no speak, Hin sister said cut off tongue. Rikaku never think Quiet-One would not be human though..."
Rikaku heads on down the cave, slowly, quietly and carefully, using his darkvision to look around. If the cave twists so that he would not be able to see the rest of the group, he heads back.
First, Rikaku will do a general scan of it. Detect magic and Spellcraft/Knowledge (Arcana). Pretty sure Rikaku has learned a lot more about those topics since then, so he might have some new ideas.
Second, unless he figures out something particularly interesting from the above, he'll do some quick practical experiments to see if anything makes the scale react. He'll try casting simple magics near it (cantrips), maybe even try targeting it with a ray of frost. He'll smell it, lick it, bite it (lightly), wave it around in the air, bury it beneath the snow for a few minutes, growl at it, and speak to it in Draconic. Pretty much anything he can think of to see if anything happens.
The awkwardness between Akiakos and Damali goes right over Rikaku's head, and he doesn't partake in any alcohol either. He's too busy running through a series of bizarre tasks in his investigation of the scale. (He of course does his best to keep out of sight of the minotaur witch, not wanting her to get any ideas of bamboozling the scale away from him.)
Treking up the mountain is surprisingly entertaining for Rikaku, for he enjoys the cool and rugged terrain, and of course he doesn't have to deal with any size issues! Normally it's that eveeeerything is too big for him. Now the bigguns would understand what it's like for a change.
As an arrow whizzes overhead, Rikaku yips in alarm, hurriedly reaching for his trusty wand. But when Variel shouts out the familiar name, he pauses, frowning. Just out of precaution, he does a quick scan of the area, both magically and mundanely.
Rikaku shakes his head vigorously at Drak's assertions.
"Snow not Man in White. Qanikir know Snow, but Qanikir hate Man In White. Qanikir angry when talk him, not Snow. So Snow not bad, not Man In White."
He has a look through the journal entries again, frowning, and eventually shakes his head.
"Rikaku no understand. Maybe understand when see Snow. We go, maybe. But carefully. This Snow here in this place maybe not Snow from here," he pats the journal's cover softly.
I want to check out the scale, but not when the minotaur is around...
Rikaku gasps, his eyes boggling. This is just one big surprise after another. (He's completely forgotten any pretence of being stern with the minotaur witch. Actually, he's kind of acting like a four-year-old child...)
"More... More like Rikaku?" he asks, almost in awe. "Rikaku must go! Must see... Snow maybe know why Rikaku like this, not grow so big and strong like should..." he pauses a moment and clears his throat. "And... yes... Snow surely know lots about Man In White. Yes. Important most part."
The white-scaled kobold pauses a moment in thought. "Snow diary from when Snow is baby... it from one hundred fifty years ago. How Snow so old now but book not so old? Snow also write she live in place where sometimes snow only. This place..." Rikaku looks around the surrounding tundra. "...not much like that..."
"Rikaku always know Snow is dragon," the kobold announces proudly. He then fills Drak in on a few missing pieces of the puzzle (or, perhaps, his own theories.) "Snow scale, Snow journal, all together mean dragon cousin!"
Rikaku decides not to have any part of the punishment. He's far too interested in hearing whatever scrap of information the minotaur witch can give to them about the dragon.
"Rikaku want to know," the kobold enthuses to the rest of the party, his eyes gleaming. "Snow maybe know more about Man In White. Snow maybe know also about Qanikir too. Little loss now, big gain later."
And I would get to meet another dragon for the first time...! Rikaku wiggles his tail in excitement.
Thoroughly beaten and battered, Rikaku flops back down in the tundra, basking in Malthu's healing light and trying to avoid moving too much. When it seems that the group is moving on to surround the minotaur witch, he begrudgingly follows, but occasional specks of blood mar the pristine snow and ice.
Rikaku is bleeding quite severely, but now that he's safe behind the minotaurs again he feels confident in his survival. And he's not doing dangerous things like casting in combat again!
He shoots his wand again, and again, hoping that this time he'd take the damned wolf creature down!
Rikaku shoots a thankful look up at Heseid for protecting him, but he doesn't have much time to do anything else at this moment. The little kobold turns tail and crawls away from the yeth hound, exposing himself for just a moment. He then turns around and fires his wand at the beast, sending two spiralling dragons blasting into its face.
Big complicated battle! :) Variel, you started casting SM1 in round 1 so the cheetah should appear this round.
Deciding to take a risk, Rikaku ducks between the legs of their minotaur allies to come up behind one of the yeth hounds. There, he spreads his clawed hands like a fan, gathering forth blue fire there. He concentrates hard for a moment, slowly yet surely forcing the coolness out of the fire until it is a proper burning flame. Only then does he let it spread out over the yeth hound and kobold... well, hopefully at least!
This will provoke Burning Hands (Fire):5d4 ⇒ (4, 4, 3, 4, 1) = 16 DC 14 half
"Kobolds there not kobolds! No brain like zombies!" Rikaku informs the group before skirting around one of their big minotaur buddies, his wand in hand. He directs the pair of dragon-headed missiles at the nearest snow hound.
Magic Missile:2d4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 3) + 2 = 6(marked target on the map)
