ShadowFighter88's page

"I'll take the scroll fragment to a friend of mine in town - if he can't make sense of it then his master in Oppara should be able to manage it."

Later
Parchment in hand, Maria made her way down to Stachys' tavern, where Tash had set himself up (the rent being covered by providing various arcane aid to the business). Had even organised an extension to part of the building so he had a larger workspace. The room was as cluttered as ever, though Maria was sure that there was some method to the madness. It was also clear he'd taken some of Darius' more "mechanical aid" approach to magical enhancements - various gadgets and tools lay about meant to focus arcane energies into particular forms.

The arcanist himself was pouring over one such device, his sleeves rolled up as he applied oil carefully to the joints of an armature.

"Tash? You free for the moment? How's your divination?" she asked.

"Not in my repertoire at the moment," he replied, magically cleaning his hands as he made his way over to her, leaning on the table, "but give me ten minutes or so and it will be, what's the go?"

"Piece of a used scroll, trying to work out what it was used to cast. Ideally who used it, but I'm trying to be realistic in my expectations."

"Well I'll try - probably better off takin' this to Darius, though. I think he sent me some teleport scrolls recently, they're around here... somewhere."

"I thought you knew where everything was in here?"

"I do!" Tash sounded almost offended. "They only arrived the other day, haven't had a chance to file 'em away properly yet, or even see what the scrolls are. Some of us have a day job, after all."

"Does yours involve periodical threats to your life and/or metaphysical existence?"

He started to reply but paused for a moment. "Yeah, alright, fair enough. Stick it in one of the clamps on that thing over there, I need to grab me spellbook and take time preppin' stuff so you may as well pop out and have a drink."

"It's not even noon," the detective pointed out as she took the scrap of parchment over to the assortment of machines.

"Wouldn't know it from the mornin' crowd round here, I can tell you. No no; the next machine along, the one with the magnifyin' glass."

Since he hasn't turned up in a while, I'm referring to the guy from this post of mine from last September.

"First case back home in a while and it has to be Eutropia... couldn't have just been a good art heist or something, could it? A bit of a palette cleanser before tackling something this big."

Maria was muttering more to herself than anyone in particular as she took in the room, starting with examining the site of the actual murder, trying to determine how Eutropia was sitting at that moment and where the attacker was standing.

Profession PI: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (9) + 19 = 28

Theo tried to remain impassive at Sorshen's proclamation about what she intended, but inside was another story entirely.

At dinner, when Sorshen requested a story, Theo spoke up.

"Tell me; have you ever been at the site of a disaster? I don't mean caused it or avoided it, but walked through the streets that just suffered such a tragedy?

"I'm sure you heard about what happened in Magnimar when Xin's city rose from the water, but did you see the devastation yourself? I was a ways inland at the time, visiting a friend, when the tsunami was first spotted and the alarm started sounding. Although by then, the Sihedron Heroes had used it to create a barrier over the city. It stopped most of the wave but the coastal districts were just outside of the barrier. I thought my magic might've been able to help so my friend and I rushed to help.

"It wasn't a pretty sight - buildings flattened by the water, people crushed by the buildings or the sheer force of the wave. There were even some corpses that confused me until I realise they'd been picked up and slammed against the very barrier meant to protect the city. There were survivors, of course, and we quickly worked to help get people free or just to safety - hauling wreckage out of the way or just directing the ones who were in shock, doing some basic first aid where we could. But the wave was just the start of it.

"I'm sure you more than anyone know the sort of clockwork machines Xin had filled his city with. Well the first we knew of them was some massive mechanical serpent bashing its way through the wall of a half-collapsed tenement block and biting the woman we were helping in two. My magic bounced off its hide, my spear shattered the same way, my friend's staff likewise just got lodged in some exposed gears and ground to sawdust.

"We'd have been killed if the Sihedron Heroes hadn't shown up. They held off the monsters while my friend and I - and other bystanders - made sure the civilians got to safety. That part of town is still recovering to this day, bodies are still occasionally found in the more abandoned areas or a clockwork monster the Heroes missed or only thought they killed starts back up again. Not to mention so many people dying at once... well, not all of them moved on to the Boneyard if you catch my drift.

"That was when I started researching Thassilon, so that if ever something from that time posed a danger to people, I might know how to deal with it."

Intimidate DC30: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (7) + 20 = 27

Oh come on!

Investigator: 15

HP +6
BAB +1
Fort +1

Trap Sense: +5
Investigator Talent: Perceptive Tracking (can find and follow tracks with Perception instead of Survival)

Feat: Hammer the Gap (bonus damage on additional attacks in a round)

Castings:
+1 3rd, +1 5th

New Formula:
Overland Flight

Skills:
Too Damn Many. :P

"Sorry;" Valeria said as she made her way into the room, "there was a wall in my way so the haste was all I cou- holy hell!"

It's pretty obvious that she never got a clear look at the guy and, by extension, has never seen a werebear before. She does recognise the stab wounds though. "Okay, Friday; sometimes I forget how terrifying you are with that spear."

Haha! I finally made a concentration check!

As the trial concludes, Xan braces herself for delivering the sentence.

"Alright there's a few parts to this so you lot watching need to hold off your reaction until I've explained in full, don't want to have to go talking over you all.

"Firstly; you're exiled from our lands - breaking this exile will be punished by an immediate execution, this is the only trial you're getting here. Second; we will be circulating your faces, description, modus operandi and what we've determined of your capabilities to neighbouring townships and cities - their law enforcement will be watching for you which will make things pretty difficult for you in the future. Be glad I'm in a good mood for that one - I was seriously considering facial brands as well so you don't pull this s$++ on anyone else.

"Finally; the only goods you will be taking with you on your way out of our lands will be the clothes on your back and maybe enough supplies to see you to Restov. No money, no weapons or armour, nothing else. And, yes, that means no religious iconography - I know enough about divine spellcasting that you need a symbol for at least some of the spells. The guards who will escort you out of our lands will also have standing orders that even a hint of spellcasting from you - even if it is just a simple healing spell - will be treated as an attempt to break your exile and will respond... accordingly." She emphasised the final word by placing her hand on the hilt of her own sword.

"You will each have three guards escorting you and you will be treated as prisoners until you have left our lands and, as I said, will treat anything suspicious from you as attempts to escape. So to put it simply; either you wind up penniless with a chance to turn your lives around in Restov, or dead. Up to you."

She turned to Colwyn as she finished. "Anything you'd like to add or change to that, dear Baron?"

"Well... that could've gone worse. You don't want to know what it does after it paralyses someone, trust me."

As she spoke, she walked over to check out the object that fell from one of its legs.

Happy holidays, everyone.

On another note; I think I found Zileska's calling if she were a Starfinder PC (it's homebrew but still).

"Those 'goblin brain cookies' certainly gave Father Zantus an interesting few days before word got around that it wasn't an infection."

Shalelu wrinkles her nose and pokes at one of the cots. "These look flimsy."

"We'll warn Kelda about that," she said, giving a knowing smirk to Ameiko.

"I'm in agreement--eating here could be more hazardous to Ameiko's health than a ninja's blade."

Valeria paused in surprise for a moment and stared at the elf for a second, wondering if she'd heard properly.

On another matter - wrote up the backstory for a Sihedron Hero. Viorec Saldana, Swashbuckler, Sihedron Hero, and the father of Theo's girlfriend.

I super want it, but Maria did claim the first Con boosting item we found when she got eaten by a catfish, and I am always willing to defer

Also, Maria, your statbar still says you're level 6

I'll get around to fixing that now. Keep forgetting to do it after levelling a character up on their Google sheet (which reminds me; still need to fill out that field on Theodric's profile in our Return of the Runelords campaign).

And, in hindsight, I think Sara should take the belt. Maria's probably better off as a flanker or just not being the first into melee in general. Plus she's probably gonna need the extra CON if she's wearing red in front of a pair of divs. :P

EDIT: I also need to start making better use of Maria's extracts. So many buffs on here. Although using them all rapidly would remind me of a bit from this Monster Hunter World animation (namely the bit from about 6:52).

"Gorum? If I went there asking for a scroll of secret chest they'd probably think it's result was only good for an impromptu bludgeon. Or fill it with lead bars and find some way to make it materialise in the air to drop it on someone."

Assuming they weren't thinking of the other kind of chest, she thought to herself; remembering the last time she spoke to a devotee of Gorum.

Don't say that to Valeria - she'd probably launch into a lecture.

Oh; forgot to mention this, but we're not selling the coffee. Maria's calling dibs on that s@+#.

EDIT: And Maria would rather not have an actual role in the wedding. She'd attend, obviously, but would rather not have the hassle of helping organise it.

Farlanghn wrote:

Are we going to see Tieflings in this book? I would love to see some space tieflings added to the Starfinder universe.

That would be cool...

You... you bloody tease!

Well Valeria (and, by the sounds of it, Ameiko) was going to go visit Snaevald and try to find out where Ravenscraeg is and anything else he might know about the place. Maybe also see if there's a mage or something in town who has spells she can learn (or at least scrolls she can put into her book later on). Then buying gear because Valeria's got a few thousand gold burning a hole in her pocket. And hopefully most of that is in platinum or that's just one more source of potential back problems. :P

It's a little earlier than I was intending to bring up some of Valeria's concerns about her heritage and its influence on her personality, but leaving herself and Ameiko open to the ninja attack was too good an opportunity for it to pass up.

Also, I think all the moments of drama and emotional highs and lows in Critical Role is helping me with this stuff (the last part of episode 44 in Campaign 1 and the fallout from that event being the more prominent example - and the biggest that I've seen since I started watching since I'm only a few episodes on from there).

It is easier when you go in with a concept in mind. Like going into the Fighter example in the OP - if I went into that knowing I wanted to make a medium-armoured swashbuckler kind of character (and I've no idea how well that concept works with the class' armour-related feats, I can't recall at the moment); then I'd already know that I want to use Dex as my key ability score, that I'd want an agile weapon and I'd skim-read the feats to decide whether to go single-handed, sword-and-buckler, or sword-and-dagger. Cuts out most of the flipping back-and-forth before I've even started.

(I say "sword" there, but obviously I mean a rapier - unless there's something more akin to the swords you see HEMA people using with a buckler and I just missed it)

As the ninja escape, Valeria's face was a mask of raw fury, an expression that shows her fangs quite prominently and making some of the stories about tieflings seem much more believable.

"Forget scouting the fortress," Valeria growled, "we're going after them tomorrow!"

She turns to the others, a distant corner of her mind thankful that she'd been able to tie the sash on her robe before the ninja had entered.

"Start buying supplies in the morning, anything and everything we might need, we leave for Ravenscraeg in the afternoon. Now all of you; get out so Ameiko can stop hiding under the bed. And take that dead ninja with you."

During the party
"You sure you don't wanna join in?" Kara said from the library desk, an array of various documents and reports spread out in-front of the amazonian half-orc. "Shindig like that's not my thing anyway, but ya look like ya could do with some cheerin' up."

"What I could do with," Maria said as she walked back to the table, "is one less reminder that I was almost eaten by an oversized fish. And I'm a little too old to go getting revenge-by-proxy with those catfish pinyatas so unless I wanted to get involved in whatever salacious game Zileska has put together there's really little down there for me to enjoy."

"Sure that fish didn't leave a stick up yer ass in the process?" She held her hands up defensively at Maria's glare. "Hey, sorry! I'm kiddin'. That really rattled ya, didn't it?"

Maria nodded. "My first near-death experience. Not one I care to repeat." She shook her head, letting her blonde tresses fly loose. "Anyway, it'll pass eventually. Best thing for me to do tonight is to distract myself with all of this."

"Identifyin' the Night Swan. Heh, ya really think we can do somethin' half of Meratt ain't managed?"

"Sometimes, all it takes is a fresh set of eyes. And, at the moment, that means finding those eyes first. What we have here in Stachys is a start, but we need to reach further afield. She seems to have a notable presence in Lotheedar so that should be our next step."

"Meanin' me and Sandra's next step, right?" Kara remarked with a lopsided grin.

"The whole reason you two approached me was because you knew there would be times I couldn't act directly. This is one of those times."

"Meanin' you don't want Burke to know about our little hunt, do you?"

Maria hesitated. She'd been keeping these concerns to herself, but Kara was far more perceptive than anyone ever gave her credit for.

"No, I don't. She's agreeing with the Swan's rhetoric. I want to believe the best of her, really... but I have to account for the worst-case scenario as well. What the Swan wants... it can only end in disaster even if she succeeds. Say she pulls it off; say she... drowns Taldor in blue blood. Even if the neighbouring nations don't label her as one of the single greatest mass-murderers in recent history, they'll be right there to invade and seize territory while our nation's in shambles. And if they don't, then Taldor will become a massive collection of independent city-states and anyone trying to organise those states for fair use of resources and the protection of the common folk from monsters and bandits will, in just a couple of human generations, end up right back to the same system we have today and her whole crusade will have been for nought."

"Whatever the problems a nation may have; genocide of an entire societal class should never be the solution."

Arrange Secret Meeting, Bluff, Spending Inspiration, DC 21: 1d20 + 1d6 + 10 ⇒ (13) + (3) + 10 = 26
EDIT: Re-reading that bit of the Persona rules made me realise that Inspiration isn't valid for these checks. Just as well I rolled high enough to not need the Inspiration, but still.

EDIT2: Oh, and sorry for bringing the mood down a bit after all of that, but I figure Maria would still be uncomfortable around stuff reminding her of almost getting eaten.

Can we get an online resource?

Haven't had a good look at it yet, but found this linked in another thread.

EDIT: Seems to still be under construction (the spells/powers section at least seems to be missing a lot still) and powers are still mixed in with spells, but subsequent hyperlinks in the class pages and being able to have the class open in one tab/window and the spell section in another should be a big help.

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

...Later on in this process we are going to be releasing a swarm of surveys that are not directly tied to the playtest. While many of those will be about specific game systems and engines, there will be one about our layout and information design. This too is important to us, even though I do not suspect we will get too many answers on it, as survey about user design interface is probably not too interesting to most, but that wont stop us from trying.

Just thought I would toss that out there. I hate to see enthusiasts so distraught that they cannot even bring themselves to play. Rest assured that we will be looking into that once we have things rolling here.

That’s awesome to hear; for all I’ve enjoyed it, layout is an area that I’ve found impeding my learning curve. It could however be due to years of experience and just bad habits I’ve picked up from design tropes in common with other RPGs over the years.

Layout is annoying at times. For one; I'd like to see class powers (like the ones from Sorcerer bloodlines, Paladin Champion Powers, etc) have their own separate spell lists at the beginning of the spells section.

Keep the full descriptions where they are in with the other spells, I have no issue with that, but put a list of all their names as like a short spell list in after the arcane/divine/primal/occult ones. That way, you have a reference to work with rather than having to find the name in the class' section (where the name could be buried in a feat description or the like) and makes it a lot quicker to flick through the descriptions to find the abilities.

I'll get an IC post up when I get home, but I mentioned in my last post that Valeria purposefully left the lock on the door open in case they needed to make a quick getaway - the chair (which she's now knocked away) was a replacement for the lock, she figured both would be overkill.

I had that damn song stuck in my head for over a week after it was shown at TennoCon. I’ve always said that the music team for Warframe were brilliant, this was them doing too good a job.

Here's another song to get stuck in your head, Friday. :P

Valeria made good on her earlier remarks - both the "demonstration of digital dexterity", and of jamming a chair under the doorknob. She had to give Ameiko credit; she actually managed to make Valeria forget about the threat the Storms posed. Then again, it was the same way she made the tiefling forget how to think altogether, so nothing new there.

Someone in a Discord server I'm part of shared this image as a joke, I think it does a pretty good job showing off the height difference between Luci and Darya. :P

(If that doesn't load, I'll sort something out in the morning.)

Valeria smiled at the suggestion. "So long as I don't have to use chopsticks, can never seem to work those. You'd think all those gestures you need to do for magic would be good for building the sort of dexterous fingers for those but, apparently not quite."

"Which is funny, seems to've built it for other uses," she said with a wink.

Luciana Moretti wrote:

So, a couple weeks ago I increased my Patreon support level for Overly Sarcastic Productions (they're a YouTube channel that gives summaries of myths, literature, history and discussions on literary tropes but in a clever and entertaining way) - one of the rewards from that level is that Red, the woman who does the myth and trope videos and does all the artwork for the videos, draws a picture of a character of your choice in the chibi art style she uses for the videos.

Take a wild guess who I requested she do a picture of. :P

Yay, Overly Sarcastic Productions! :D

I'm still shocked how quickly Red was able to bash that picture out, given its quality - she sent me a message through Patreon on the 29th saying she'd start on it in "a couple of days", finished product was sitting in my email the following morning.

Listening to what had happened, Luci tried to think of what demons they might've been...

Sadly; the more cerebral parts of her training hadn't quite latched on. That particular instructor's preference for low-cut tops probably hadn't helped.

This is what happens when your Paladin doesn't put ranks in Know Planes.

So, a couple weeks ago I increased my Patreon support level for Overly Sarcastic Productions (they're a YouTube channel that gives summaries of myths, literature, history and discussions on literary tropes but in a clever and entertaining way) - one of the rewards from that level is that Red, the woman who does the myth and trope videos and does all the artwork for the videos, draws a picture of a character of your choice in the chibi art style she uses for the videos.

Take a wild guess who I requested she do a picture of. :P

"Must've been a rather open-ended geas, then. Wonder if it also covers why your friend there's trying to duck back into the kitchen."

With a crack of air filling a vacuum, Valeria suddenly appeared behind Tosti, blocking their way back to the kitchen. She hadn't had a chance to practice that particular trick so was glad she'd estimated the distance correctly.

Finally; a chance for her to use dimensional slide.

A part of Maria was concerned that they were attacking a little girl, albeit one who seemed to be more dangerous than she looked, but on the other hand she knew that Zhi wouldn't have been attacking her without a good reason.

Weaving her way through her companions, she quickly got to the far side of the girl from the others to give them room. She stabbed at the girl, hoping to any god that was listening that she was making the right call.

Adding in the -4 to represent her hesitation; figured the 'non-lethal attack' penalty would work just as well here. If she saw through it's illusion before striking, then disregard this penalty.
Hesitant Attack: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 6 - 4 = 17
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Valeria

You hear the sound of samisen music coming from your room as you approach. Ameiko is inside, sitting cross-legged on one of the beds and plucking away in an improvised tune.

She looks up at you as you enter. "Valeria? What'd you find?"

"Uksahkka trussed up in a hidden room behind a storage cupboard, and these ledger papers," she displayed the papers as she mentioned them, sitting down on the bed beside Ameiko as she laid them out.

"Friday noticed a few details of use - mentions of Asvig, a Tian antique and Thori Stone-Eye. Sounded like too much of a coincidence to ignore. Also got a name - which I just saw on these documents as well - of our mystery mage. Goti Runecaster. Sounds like one of those ridiculous Thassilonian fanboy names that started cropping up after Xin Shalast's rediscovery, but the mental image of the man I pulled from one guard's mind certainly looked serious." After a moment, she realised what she just said.

"Oh, um, I... may have used my ability to read minds at one point. First time in over a year, actually, surprised I still remembered how."

Biggest possibility that this opens up? Sword canes having a trait or feat that lets you use the scabbard part as either a second weapon or as a parrying weapon.

At least that's what I'd like to see.

Hey; I've probably had more fun with Luci than most of my other characters so no way in hell am I ditching Golarion's Most Un-Paladin-y Paladin. :P

"Well, if he's saving her for last then good, because the only way he'd be touching her is over my dead body. Oh, and given how you remember him looking; he's not a witch either. You really should brush up on your thaumaturgical terminology."

With that, she went to knock him out, driving the butt of her staff into his head.

Trying to do non-lethal damage, I'm assuming I don't need to make an attack roll because he's held down. Is there a non-lethal version of a coup de grace? I feel like there should be.

EDIT: Assuming he's out cold.
"We need to get moving," she told the others, accidentally peering into their minds as she looked back to them - she was maintaining her ability on reflex and didn't mean to see their surface thoughts.

"The term is arcanist for reference," she said as she approached the guard, "witches draw their power in very different ways. Now I believe I asked you a question you haven't answered yet. Runecaster; who is he?"

Intimidate: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Here's hoping the dice are feeling generous or we get a nice circumstance bonus. Ideally both, but either would be good.
EDIT: Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy...

Oh, sorry. If I haven't stuffed the math on it, then it should be 21 - 10 base, 2 for the spell's level, 4 for Val's Int Mod, and then effective caster level of 5.

Maria glared at Zileska as she left. "Given how many other Calistrians my father and I have pissed off over the years, they must be quite patient indeed," she muttered after the priestess had left.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Countess, my heritage may grant me some benefits, but also has a tendency to draw the ire of the ignorant."

She chose her words carefully here; now Countess Pace had to (at least appear to) look past her fiendish heritage, lest others begin comparing her to Zileska.

Diplomacy w/Inspiration: 1d20 + 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (20) + (6) + 6 = 32

EDIT: O.O That roll could literally have not been better! Even though I forgot to include the +2 from Zileska's Aid Another, that should be more than enough. Although now I feel like that point of Inspiration was wasted, or at least overkill.

It seemed like you had a master plan of some sort so that's what I was waiting on.

My master plan began and ended with "getting us a meeting inside". I was winging it after that.

Valeria kept near the rear of the team, keeping an eye out for any potential threats. She was already suspicious of the guild and being inside just made her more worried.

Kavell's behaviour was both a relief (as it got them inside after Sandru failed to talk their way in) and a bit worrying (she'd never seen him this angry and hoped that it would pass once the temple's destruction had been avenged). She also worried that her plan was part of why he was acting like this, wanting to keep her from having to use it.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Luci paused in surprise for a moment after Azura's quick return.

"Okay, does she have a sixth sense for people making innuendo-ish remarks? Because you'd think the one descended from a succubus would have that." Luci didn't actually know if there was a succubus somewhere up the family tree, but it sure as hell wouldn't surprise her.

"Knowing Azura, I'm starting to wonder just how big a tub she's talking about."

Luci was right behind Darya (and, for once, not paying attention to the view) and got a look at the newcomer herself with the eyes of a paladin.

Her internal thoughts upon seeing the results of this were rather more severe than those that came to the aasimar's mind, but that had more to do with Abyssal having a truly staggering flexibility when it comes to foul language.

"Didn't stop that one guy from staring at my boobs the whole time." Valeria grumbled. A meeting that would have no-doubt been much more eventful if Kasha hadn't dragged her away at the right moment.

"Let's go, although I'm not sure Sandru's gonna like my idea."

If this were a TV series, this would be the point where we'd get a jump-cut to after she's explained the plan to Sandru, namely straight to him saying "You want to do what?!"

Valeria’s attempts to gather information hadn’t exactly gone smoothly after the fifth person to react rather strongly to her heritage - necessitating Kasha to drag her away before she said something she might regret. That Kasha’s own attempts met with equally dismal luck didn’t help her mood. Neither did the fact that the ever-quiet Friday, of all people, had actually managed some success.

”Well the bit about the bribe is new information, at least. Was hoping to get an idea of what everyone thought of the guild, though. I’m not up on the law enforcement around here but I’d rather not end up on their bad side or risk innocent civilians getting caught up in this.”

I felt something as we came in, he's staying outside, and didn't ask any questions until we were in here. There's nothing else about this room that would make it conducive to interrogation that doesn't also apply to the room out there. This room must've been enchanted to detect lies.

"I didn't sign on with the crusaders;" she said, hoping he'd think the field had mistaken his "why join the crusaders" remark as a question and was compelling her to answer that.

"I was just gonna be a city guard at best. Besides which; I don't see why I should have to join the Stereotype Brigade just because one of my ancestors couldn't get a date one weekend. Or maybe you just didn't have the balls to take the high road - didn't have the drive to prove everyone wrong about you. You couldn't have the life a human would so, rather than work around that, you just acted like a petulant little kid and want to kick the table over - if you can't enjoy the game then nobody else can."

She honestly had no idea how these truth fields worked, but was hoping that if she kept talking, he'd think that the field was just compelling more truth than he'd intended. And if she could piss him off enough, that would give them the opening to spring the trap.

"The world already sees our kind as thieves at best and monsters at worse, and a$~*+@%s like you aren't helping things. It's because of pricks like you that people spit on us, insult us, beat us, try to frame us for stuff, and otherwise treat us like s$#$ and feel justified when they do. All because of cowards like you who don't even try to prove people wrong. You just assume that, because of who we are, we'll never get anywhere in life and that is the biggest load of BS I have ever heard. You want to understand why tieflings would join the crusaders? Because they're the ones who aren't chicken-s%~$ little pissants afraid of their own freaking blood!"

Not sure which skill would work here for trying to provoke the guy, so I'll just roll a d20 here and you can apply whichever skill or ability score is appropriate.

Provoking the guy: 1d20 ⇒ 17