Rose, the Arcane Gunner's page

Rose nodded, not willing to dismiss the possibility out-of-hand. She was doubtful, but doubt alone was no reason to reject the ideas of others. She'd come here to investigate and be fair in her dealings, not stubbornly cling to an idea when she had so little evidence to go on. "Well, one way or another, I hope to get to the bottom of this - with a little good luck, your forest will soon be back to normal." And her deity tended to support those who made their own luck. With that, she glanced back to her faun friend and nodded. "Let's get going. I think we need to investigate this clearing before visiting the Lord of the Forest."

She broke off a bit of her food as she did so, offering some to the fairy (not aggressively, of course - it was entirely the fairy's choice to accept or not, but SOME kind of small gift was in order, and an offering of food was traditional).

"Is there any evidence that it was actually humans who did it?" Rose inquired. "A large group of humans might be able to overpower one or two of nature's guardians, especially if they were too inexperienced to be able to escape, but a group of them with experienced members and all of nature's power at their disposal? A group of villagers couldn't do that. You'd need a much greater power - an outstanding mercenary company, a great wizard... or perhaps a powerful fey, maybe one who wanted to direct your lord's anger for their own reasons."

Rose bowed slightly to the fairy, giving it a flourish as she did so. "Thank you for your advice, fair one. I regret that I cannot heed it, for I am here to put the Lord back into good cheer, but I truly appreciate you going out of your way to warn me. If I may be so bold, can you tell me anything about why he's upset? If there's a wrong, I wish to set it right."

You all right?

"He frightens me, too." Rose said, patting him sympathetically as they left. "Besides, fear is healthy. Even among my faith, 'fearless' isn't exactly a compliment..." Because, among other things, it was usually the sign of someone too stupid to know when they should be running. Understanding your limits was important...

"I'm going to see the Lord of the forest." Rose explained, sliding her weapon into its holster. "Whether I want the company or not doesn't matter, though." she paused for just a moment, then resumed walking. "My own lord, Cayden Cailean, teaches us that it's important to be brave and do what's right. He also thinks we should know when to cut our losses. I'm not that worried yet, but on the other hand, this isn't my home and I'm not effectively immortal. You'll have to live with the result of whatever happens, and if you think it's a genuinely bad move to come with me and be seen as a supporter, I'll understand." On the other hand, if he decided that he was going to be brave, she wouldn't turn him down. The freedom to make one's own choices was one of the most important things in life, after all.

Rose took the weapon - by hand, rather than calling it to her grasp. No need to reveal everything she was capable of. She thought over the queen's words carefully. "So something happened with the druids..." she mused. That might be the key to unraveling this whole mess. "Thank you for your wisdom, my lady, and I think I shall take the northern road. I came here to create peace between our peoples, and I will not give up simply because there is danger along the way." she bowed slightly and moved towards the edge of the clearing, then paused.

"Ah, one more thing. Should my efforts be successful, you may wish to send emissaries to human lands to represent your interests. Our lives are much shorter than your own, I'm afraid, so we can seem forgetful, but Andoran believes in doing what's right. Constant reminders of your presence would help discourage misbehavior from individuals, and those who would threaten the forests do not represent what my nation as a whole desires... and I intend to prove it." She wasn't going to ask the (somewhat hostile) fey to believe her words, not when she intended to give them deeds to judge her by instead.

"If our peoples are unwilling to talk, Your Majesty, there can never be peace - only violence that goes on until one of our groups is destroyed." Rose continued speaking, keeping her tone calm and even. "I have no doubt that your people would fight with the utmost gallantry and ferocity, but my own would not hesitate to bring tools of coldest iron and blazing flames in whatever numbers were necessary. Even in victory, the forest would pay a terrible price. I don't ask you to consider peace for our sake, but for your own - avoiding a war and coming to an agreement is the best way to protect the woods not just now, but far into the future as well. You can always take up arms again if attempts at a peaceful resolution fail."

"I'm frightened of failure, Your Majesty." Rose answered promptly. With a bit of a flourish, she put one hand by her waist and bowed about forty degrees - enough to convey clear respect to the fey monarch, but not to the point of groveling. "Please accept my apologies for needing to take your valued time today, but I thought it would be better for you if I did. My name is Rose, and I've come here in the hopes of arranging for a mutually-satisfactory resolution to the problem plaguing both our peoples."

"Oh, good." Rose said, wondering if she should just call her weapon or not. Well, they were probably pretty jumpy, and she could always do it later. (And it's not like she absolutely needed it - it just helped.)

With that, she hopped forward like she was going for a stroll - mostly an act, of course. She wouldn't be human if she wasn't nervous, more than anything, she wanted them to think she was confident. One thing you didn't do was show weakness to predators - many of them considered such an act a perfectly good justification for attacking, and her goal was to end this without anyone else getting hurt.

Bluff (Hide Emotions): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

Know Nature: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Know Nature (Centaur): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Know Nature (Ramtaur): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

"That's quite all right. I know you have to listen to the Fey Lords, and I wouldn't blame you for that." Rose said kindly, not especially surprised by this turn of events. She had, after all, taken the drink knowing that fey occasionally did things to food before messing with mortals. She did, however, discreetly check for her weapon.

...Also, one of these days, she really needed to learn how to speak Sylvan. It seemed like a fun tongue to know, and she'd always had a bit of a knack for languages.

"Actually, I should probably be thanking you - this looks like exactly the sort of place I wanted to be." she added a moment later, eyeing the trees. It probably meant she was much closer to speaking with the forest's rulers and resolving this situation properly, and her generally optimistic outlook meant she could only see this as a good thing. (It... took quite a lot to genuinely bother Rose. She'd deliberately made herself cheerful as a way of putting others at ease, and she couldn't simply 'turn it off' to become serious and grim.)

Eeeeeexcellent. This ought to work rather nicely, then.

*Taps chin thoughtfully*

Have you played Crypt of the Everflame? I'm thinking of a slightly modified version of that to start out with, but if you've gone through it before, I can pull up another adventure instead.

"Almas, the capital of Andoran." she answered, taking a small sip of the drink. After a moment, she added, "Which probably doesn't mean a whole lot to the forest - I mean, one group of humans saying they own land is a lot like any other, and Andoran's still pretty new, so it's not like they have ancient agreements or anything to fall back on. That's part of what I'd like to start here, actually - if we can resolve any problems and get off on the right foot, I think it will make both of our people much happier in the long term." That was the only reason she needed to help - she had limited willingness to bargain with anything infernal, but most fey weren't outright malicious - and if they could be friends with Andoran, she wanted to help arrange that.

(Besides, trying to fight the fey was a losing proposition. Rose was enormously self-confident - and with good reason, given her nature - but she was far from perfect or all-powerful. She was perfectly aware that she probably couldn't force the fey to do anything - and even if she were capable of that, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. Making friends - and perhaps sharing drinks - was far more in line with her philosophy.)

"Well, there are stories about sanctuaries not being safe when the forest's rulers are upset." Rose noted - obliquely but clearly acknowledging the fey's authority in case anyone was listening in. In a forest belonging to the spirits, assuming they were was usually the best course of action. "And you seem innocent in all this, so I don't want someone lashing out at you by mistake. I would appreciate the drink, though - thank you."

Specific initiator levels, not that I know of (although there might be something in Path of War: Expanded I don't know about). However, you can take the Martial Training line of feats, which gives you access to (a more limited selection of) maneuvers without needing to take levels in an Initiator class.

*Nods*

Hmm... I happen to have a fair bit of material for the old Scarred Lands campaign setting (which has... interesting... reasons for being disconnected). I might be able to adapt that somehow.

As he moved around, Rose quietly stood on guard, her fingers lightly resting on her gone in case she needed to snap it up and start shooting something. She didn't want to shoot anything by accident, but it never hurt to be prepared - and the faun would probably feel better about the support, too.

Perception (On Guard): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25

Recharge rules are right here (also in Rose's profile under 'Arcane Gun', should you ever need another link).

For Way of the Wicked, I'm applying to one game for that right now. *Coughs* Not actually sure if I should run and play it at the same time. (Though we could do another sort of campaign... I've been working heavily on collecting planar information from a few different sources, and a Planescape-style plane-hopping game might be fun.)

I have all the will. XD Among other things, I really want to test how some of these rule systems interact - and besides, Rose makes me laugh.

"Relax and let me do the talking." she said breezily. "If you want to hang out of sight just to be safe, that's fine too. I know I get a couple butterflies when talking to powerful people." With that, she followed the fey into the forest, apparently not at all concerned about doing so despite her words. (Rose had been accused of many things, but lacking in self-confidence was not one of them. She believed in herself and in the things she did, and approached almost everything with vigor and pep.)

I am interested in the character. I didn't see your posts in November because it'd been a few weeks and I'd hidden the campaign to get it off my list. XD

Rose nodded thoughtfully. "And the locals - who I have little affiliation with, actually, other than species - are primarily interested in obtaining wood for various projects of their own. I don't think any solution which results in further harm to any of the Lady's people is an acceptable result, but they won't agree to anything that doesn't involve wood somehow... do you think we could redirect the loggers to another area? One that isn't inhabited by your Lady's people, and perhaps with restitution of some kind for the slain to assuage your Lord's anger?"

Diplomacy - Trying to improve Shaun's general disposition and willingness to cooperate: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

"I'm Rose." the girl said, bowing slightly (and politely!) to Shaun. "It was a very nice song, by the way." Compliments generally helped. "Anyway, I heard about the troubles this area has been having, particularly between your people and my own. I'd like to hear more about what's going on, and if possible, help everyone come to a mutually acceptable settlement. Is there anything you can tell me, or failing that, do you know who I should talk to?" The entire time, she maintained a respectful distance, keeping her hands away from her weapon. She wasn't hiding her possession of the gun, but she wasn't brandishing it, either.

Know Nature: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

"Greetings, good faun!" Rose said, waving cheerfully and making no effort at all to hide herself. "I come here in peace. Do you have a few minutes to speak with me, or would you prefer that I go on my way?" Her goal right now was to be as non-threatening as possible. She wasn't here to slaughter fey for no good reason, after all - making friends was generally a better solution than making enemies.

Rose stretched widely as she woke up, loosening her muscles and the like before quickly dismantling her little shelter and generally working to leave the area the same as she'd found it. After her usual morning rituals - preparing magic, checking over her weapon, all that good stuff - she carefully began making her way towards the sound while keeping an eye on the forest around her.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28

I usually go for story-based levelups - but it's true that similar rewards for NOT killing everything in sight can be a good thing for encouraging people to not be murderhobos. XD

Rose quietly poked around the area, trying to make sure it didn't belong to anyone else and would otherwise be an appropriate place to rest.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31
Survival: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12

If - and only if - it was truly safe did she set about building a small shelter for her bedroll. Fires were nice, but far from necessary, and she didn't want to have one of those going without someone to keep an eye on it. She was no druid, but she still tried to be respectful of the natural world.

This did not stop her from keeping her pistol close at hand, though. She'd long since learned how to safely sleep with it, but this was a foreign place, and she had no intention of allowing herself to be totally defenseless.

Or is it? XD Rose has that "G" in her alignment for a reason!

Rose blinked at the bears... then held out her hands and snapped her fingers, chanting quickly. As she did so, an illusion of invisibility settled over her, and she promptly started running to the side and away from the bears. She'd come here to talk to the fey and hopefully try to negotiate a peace - attacking animals that were simply living their lives was probably a bad way to do that, and she was far from cornered.

Invisibility Recharge: 5 minutes.

"That would be good to know." Rose said agreeably. "You should probably try to focus more on offers than demands, though. If they've done whatever they wanted for months, they're probably not going to be too impressed by sudden demands for them to change. Besides, you might even be able to talk them into helping you if your offer is good enough. Be pretty neat to be known as the man who negotiated an agreement bringing in huge profits, right?" With that food for thought tossed out, Rose hopped away from the board and started strolling through the forest and towards the east. The sooner she got started, the safer everyone would be, right?

"Any information in particular you're looking for?" Rose asked. The more details she could narrow down here, the better - especially because her actual goal was quickly becoming "settle things peacefully on both sides", not simply killing everything in sight. Her god wasn't terribly keen on oppressing others - he was far more likely to encourage everyone to have a good time and get along with each other.

Well, Rose is going to check out the board now, since that sounds like what she'd be most interested in. XD

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29

Angry, check. Personal goals involved, check. Probably not thinking clearly and fairly about the situation... check. "I'm stronger than I look." she answered - which was quite true. Her heritage had made her rather more physically powerful than most people would ever have expected from looking at her. She was at least as strong as the average hired muscleman. "Still, it's true that I'd rather not do too much of the sweaty stuff." She was a girl, and a day of heavy lifting and such - while not totally out of the question, especially if it would help kids - was not usually how she spent her time. Instead, she gave the overseer a simple wave and wandered over to the board to see what had been posted.

Rose didn't miss a beat in answering. "Missing or dead." she said. She'd gotten over that a long time ago - most kids who grew up in the orphanage did. It was hard to really regret losing something you'd never truly had. "What're they upset about, anyway? I don't think the fey are usually too aggressive..."

*Rubs chin*

Are you familiar with the Mutants and Masterminds system? I've been pondering some kind of hybrid of that and Pathfinder to add customized superpowers to Golarion. That might be a good way of pulling off a mythological character. (Well, that and being a Godling. XD)

Obviously, some things wouldn't be appropriate, but you could definitely start looking at great feats of strength and durability and such.

*Rubs hands together*

All right, then. ^^ What sort of game do you want to play?

Rose perked up slightly. She didn't really hate the fey - they'd never done anything to her - but she did understand that sometimes things couldn't be solved easily. Besides, she'd always liked helping people that were in need... though she would try talking to the fey first, if she could, to try and negotiate a settlement. Just killing things was not the best option, and she hummed to herself as she made her way towards the ALC kiosk to try and find the overseer.

"Hi!" she said brightly as she arrived. "So, I hear you're having trouble with some fey?"

That's definitely a workable plan. Fey are always fairly interesting to deal with. XD

Rose looked over at the area, noting the way that the men in the stocks seemed to be well cared-for. She was quite a free spirit herself, and wouldn't have wanted to be there herself... but she wasn't the kind of vagabond who freed people just because they were locked up. Of course, things were quite different if there was evidence of innocence of governmental abuse... hm.

So, out of curiosity, why is Rose in this area in the first place? I'm not yet sure what's going on or what she's expected to be doing/looking for. XD

Rose hummed cheerfully to herself as she proceeded forward at her own pace - she'd always been the sort to enjoy long journeys down the road, spending some time observing nature and generally being self-sufficient. Her pistol - a weapon most people wouldn't even recognize - was strapped to her thigh in an easy-to-reach holster she'd had made for it, high enough to not wobble when she was moving quickly. There was no point in keeping a tool for self-defense where it couldn't be easily accessed, after all.

I arrive! There may have been some plots thwarted/destroyed along the way, but I will keep mum on that.

Dotting!

At the moment, Rose is just wandering around the town, getting to know the place. ^^ You can move things forward anytime.

In that case, it's probably wisest to just get some rest. ^^ The nice thing about solo games is that you're not going to hold other people up if something happens.

"Fwaaah!" Rose stretched happily as she padded forward through the town. She'd had to spend a long time on a ship to get to Varisia - it hadn't been hard, given that her home city of Almas was a major port, just long - and it was nice to be seeing new places. Varisia, of course, had been very interesting over the last few years, what with the apparent discoveries of ancient cities and nefarious plots and who-knew-what else was going on. Sandpoint wasn't a huge town, but it was a popular destination along the road, and she'd probably spend at least a few days here so she could enjoy herself.

Defenses are very helpful in solo games. XD When you've only got one character in a game, even a fairly low hit rate can sometimes be a challenge, especially when dealing with anything that hits hard when it does land a strike. But yeah, that sounds good.

All right, finally managed to get everything straightened out. ^^ Here's the draft of Rose's build, including the recharge times for her spells.

Dotting!