I think you got an AoO on him as he was fleeing past you to go find the Captain belowdecks - down that staircase next to Sinmara.
Search Posts
Sinmara, still on deck, hears the halfling's query. "This handful of soggy sailors ain't the only bunch of undead at my beck and call! Besmara blesses those with piracy truly in their blood and upon the tip of their blade. Draw steel and cut your way to riches and glory, swabbies, and the Sea Queen will back you when luck fails you." She flashes her immaculate teeth at them, and gestures down into the hold. "Or be dragged to the depths with those who just weren't good enough." Her eyes narrow to sadistic slits as the undead shamble into position. It's obvious she's enjoying this. "Tear them limb from limb, my eternal crew."
Not... from the deck of the ship, while he's in the hold belowdecks... You know how to access the map, right?
New enemies. The ship's captain, and a brute named Owlbear, are belowdecks. Hai-Jun, Coranzen, and a lot of zombies are fighting them currently.
Sinmara gestures quickly to her zombies. "Drowned dead! Go get these air-breathers out of my cargo hold." The sodden undead shuffle forward, tumbling more than climbing down into the hold. As a mass of dripping flesh, they surge down the stairs, passing and nearly surrounding Coranzen as they rush towards the new arrivals. She steps forward, catching sight of the burly man threatening her master gunner. "How DARE you!?" she cries, the magical power of the siren's call reverberating in her words. "Drop to your knees and beg to be punished, worthless scum!" As the last of her minions shuffles off belowdecks, Sinmara finally deigns to notice the mutineers Ligeia dredged up. She fixes them with a piercing glare and remarks sarcastically, "I seem to recall them firing on you first." She laughs, a beautiful and mocking sound. "You're welcome to try to convince them to surrender."
Very busy first few days after vacation - I'll post soon. The mutineers will be offered the chance to join our crew, if we can be convinced of their loyalty. Any who refuse will not like the consequences.
Hooray for curb-stomp debut battles!
"Surround him and tear him apart!" Sinmara cried, pointing her trident at the bald human. Her sodden undead groaned and shuffled forward, moving to encircle the man. Their arms flailed out, mighty blows raining down on him from all sides.
Inhaling deeply as a deep grin spreads across her face, Sinmara launched into a tirade to end all tirades. "You call yourselves pirates, you limp-legged shivel-bellied sniveling little weaklings? I've seen jellyfish with more backbones than you lot! You're gonna toss down those cutlasses, drop to your knees, and BEG that this ship's new captain spare your miserable, worthless lives!" Something unholy reverberated in her words. The tongue of a siren is meant for beautiful, enticing temptation, a soothing balm for the ears. Nothing had prepared the sailors for this utter reversal, a fiery lash of hateful rebuke - an appelation made literal as the force of her words rippled forth as searing, blistering flame.
I'm about to leave for Chrismas vacation - I'll be out of town until the 28th so my posting will be slow at best. Please bot me as needed while I am away! That's okay! I didn't realise it offhand, either. We're certainly learning, haha. Besides, it'll make Ligeia look like a total boss to take shrapnel in the stomach without flinching. DEMORALIZE ACTIONS EVERYWHERE. Sinmara literally has a feat for that. We're badass pirates, don't trifle with us!
Ouch! You could always jump overboard and just pull yourself back up next round. You should have enough actions to use your voice, cast a spell, then
By the way - Sinmara has explained to her allies prior to the raid that due to a dark bargain she struck with the pirate goddess, an unliving heart beats in her chest. Normal healing magic would be as destructive to her as to an undead - only negative energy can staunch her wounds. Just in case she falls unconscious and someone wants to get her back to her feet with a cure...
"THAT'S OUR CUE, BOYS!" Sinmara cried with glee. "ATTACK!" It seemed her words were not merely directed at her fellow pirates, but at the four drowned zombies lurking woth her beneath the waves. At her command, the sodden corpses grabbed planks, chains, and rails, clambering sluggishly up onto the ship's deck. Behind this first rank of shambling undead was their captain, her fiery red hair shimmering in the bright light. Her tail vanished as she ascended to the deck, morphing into a pair of legs well accustomed to the rocking motion of a ship's deck. The function of the leather strap about her tail now became apparent, as it morphed alongside her armor to accomodate her new shape, forming a pair of thigh-high black leather boots.
Do not post in the gameplay thread.
It's a public forum, all are welcome to read our daring exploits. But I should mention, if someone does drop out we'll very likely hold a brand-new recruitment thread if we feel that shrinks the party too much, rather than just pick up someone directly.
Almost everything on my character sheet is something I've never tried before. Never been a merfolk, never been a vigilante, never wielded a trident, never used most of these spells... It's gonna be exciting.
The bloodthirsty pirate-to-be smiled at Ligeia's suggestion. "Your voice will lull them into comfort. Take the lead then, and infiltrate the ship. We will not be far behind." She turns to Kyanos. "I wouldn't have brought a mind-bender like you along if I feared to have your thoughts touch mine. If you have a technique to bring me victory, then us it." She allowed the gillman to touch her, using whatever strange hypnotic powers he possessed to make her stronger. "For now, Hai-Jun, join us aboard. We can always retreat to the water if needed... or dive in to feed," Sinmara replies to the Tien wereshark.
Beckoning to the others, she swam forward to beneath the ship's deck. Once the others were in position, she began her preparations. From within an oiled leather pouch, she produced the skull-festooned chime of Besmara, its gleaming silver surface untarnished by exposure to seawater for so long. She swung the bell as if to ring it, though no sound emerged from the object. A churning eddy appeared in the water before her, stirring up the muddy seafloor as from clear water emerged the sodden form of a long-rotted corpse. Faded Chelish colors were barely visible on the body's tattered remaining clothing. Three more times she did this, each time bringing forth a new member of the zombified dead, all of them concealed out of view in the shadow of the ship's hull beneath the water. "Moment of truth," she murmured to her allies. "Use your magical preparations now - we strike in mere moments." With that, Sinmara prayed to the pirate goddess to bring her favor in battle, and to give her movements the swiftness of an ocean typhoon.
"My drowned crew will help with that. They're capable enough in a fight to handle a few swings with a cutlass - should help us avoid getting overrun," Sinmara replies.
"This is it!" the armored mermaid exclaimed with glee. Below the surface, their words had no chance of reaching the ears of the oblivious sailors on deck over the sea breeze and the lap of waves against its hull. "They're dead in the water - sharkbait." She flashed a toothy grin at her two piscine companions in question. "They have numbers but I wager most of 'em will pose little threat to us. Any airbreather we get off the deck is as good as dead, so strike hard and fast." She gently caressed the needle-sharp prongs of her trident, mind racing at the imminent carnage. "This will be our first true fight together, so we should all make sure we each know our role. I'll be on deck, calling forth the drowned dead and ensuring these fools learn the fury of Besmara - as painfully as possible." She lazily displayed the skull-and-crossbones mark of the pirate goddess on her palm. "And you?" she said, turning to the one floating beside her.
Human is alright. A bit stringy. Hehe.
I could probably be a decent captain, I have decently high social skills. I'm not sure what other role I could fill, possibly bosun. We could decide this based on which of us can sail a ship better. I'll go first. ;)
Sinmara knows her way around a ship blindfolded, unlike most underwater folks. She's snuck aboard and stowed away on ships for years. With no ranks, Kyanos wouldn't know the difference between a rudder and the rigging! :P
Doubling up makes sense. We're going to be a ship crewed by nothing but officers and mindless, utterly loyal skeletons. Problems of morale, supply, fresh water, mutiny, and disease are all vastly lessened aboard our ship. Since she won't have a crew of disloyal conscripts to whip into line (at least at first), if Sinmara is captain she probably won't feel much need to be very authoritative or domineering like she would with a human crew. The only other ones on the ship would be her close allies, after all. She'd see the captain's role as the "face" of the ship - spreading its reputation across the nine seas and striking terror into the hearts of their enemies. And as a vigilante - there's no one better at playing a role and spreading reputation.
Hey everybody, welcome to the crew! Supergreat made some fantastic selections. As far as role, Sinmara was built from the ground up to be captain. She has fantastic profession (sailor) and excellent social skills (especially Intimidate), and her combat style is all about summoning a "crew" of skeletal minions. I'd very much like to take that role on the ship.
Unfortunately none of my undead can swim well naturally. If I come up with a magical way of giving them a swim speed, that might work.
I definitely think a strategy that plays to our strengths (we're terrifying in the water, they're not) is a very viable one.
He asked permission from the GM, Ouachitonian. Normally you can't.
That question was answered by me on the last page, Fliarah.
Ahhh, er. Hrm. Just built this here cleric and I’ll have an undead or three wandering about as well. Shouldn’t be a big problem in PbP, but I’m happy to have all but my manservant in the background doing other tasks and not on the battlefield if it helps. Might use the archer variant on him too to keep the front lines less cluttered if it's permitted. No worries, just figured it would be important to be aware of as you're making characters. If you do get selected, my permanent desecrate aura is gonna make your minions fantastic. I’m a little confused on how the variant multiclassing works, and think I have too many feats as a result, so please check that in particular. So, for Variant Multiclassing, normally, you sacrifice half of your normal feats in order to get access to a set of abilities from another class. Our GM is giving us the abilities you'd normally get from that for free, so you should have exactly the same number of feats on this character as usual. You just get to pick up a few extra class features along the way (I'm getting an Oracle Curse and an Oracle Revelation for mine).
I'm thinking either an undine hydrokineticist or an aquatic elf or gillman mesmerist, depending on your thoughts on occult classes. The concept for the campaign has me hook, line, and sinker. Occult classes are fine. I'm using an occult archetype for my Vigilante, even. Hmm, I've never played an aquatic race before. Intriguing. Perhaps a Seascarred Druid. Need to do some thinking. Thoughts on the Leadership feat? I've always wanted to play a Druid who was followed around by hordes of awakened animals (cohort and followers, that is). Keep in mind that I will already have 3-4 undead minions out at any given time too. Might not need a second character with lots of moving pieces to crowd up the battlefield too much. A druid with a single powerful animal companion might be a great pick, but a horde of them would probably be overly complicated.
We're roleplayers playing a game, not people trying to simulate how our characters "would act." Not betraying the party is a responsibility of the player. Even if it might make sense for your character, if you backstab your fellow players in a cooperative RPG, you're just being a jerk. Evil crews of NPC pirates operate just fine. We'll be no different.
I already asked the GM about werecrocodiles way back when we were starting to make characters - since they cannot breathe water, they're not allowed. Holding your breath isn't going to cut it.
I am already gonna be crowding up the battlefield with tons of undead - Undead Lord would perhaps literally step on toes. Personally I love the idea of a drakerider. That one's very cool.
The tales the surfacers tell of the fair mermaids are true - their beauty exceeds description, and their voices can bewitch even the most stalwart sailor's mind. The radiant and bloodthirsty Sinmara is no exception, taking sadistic pleasure in the ending of lives and the collection of their gleaming treasures. Not content to simply lurk beneath the waves, the rapacious mermaid sometimes shifts her form to that of a fair human maiden as she drifts on some debris to be "rescued" by a crew all too eager to bring the lovely lady aboard. Sinmara rarely goes anywhere on the surface without a small cadre of her Drowned, the unliving remnants of all the unfortunate sailors her siren song has lured into the deep. She is passionate about her devotion to the pirate goddess Besmara due to the power and influence it has brought her, using the skull-and-crossbones tattoo on her left palm as a badge of both authority and divine right. If the surface-dwellers are too weak of will or too frail of swordarm to stop her, then their glittery fortunes were undeserved, and would be better served in the hands of the Bloody Siren.
Hey folks, In the wake of some new restrictions on when I can access the internet while at work (90% of the time I can usually spend on PbPs) I am not gonna be able to keep up a consistent posting rate for this game and I am gonna have to drop out. You can probably just pretend Sinmara never existed - she didnt have a chance to do much for the party besides shoot a few arrows anyway. I hate to drop from a game, but if I tried to stay it would only cause problems for the group. Good luck with the rest of the AP!
I'm back from my convention! Convenient I got to hide in the woods the entire time, haha.
Sinmara considers joining Aishe in his stealthy approach as she enters the camp, but decides to remain with the group. Best to put on a strong face, she thought. Don't want Zincher's men... The ones who still have their heads, at least... to think they outnumber us too badly."
"Even if we are to parley, we should know what we're walking into," Sinmara proposes. "I won't be seen in these woods." It sounds like her mind is made up as to the best course of action, but she defers to Nel's judgment. "Shall I?" she asks, one eyebrow raised.
Sinmara doesn't immediately speak up. She knows it's Nel she has to convince, and if the letter from her superiors doesn't do it, pissing off the big angry Tien isn't going to help. She does go and retrieve both of her missed arrows.
I am not going to let myself get shown up by a human using a crossbow, Sinmara thinks. Narrowing her eyes, she takes aim at the nearest of the blue lions, taking time to ensure her shot flies true.
A quick glance at Nel and Tamiro reveals that the duo seems comfortable in close combat, but not so for the other two. Sinmara aims and fires, trying to stop the creatures before they close in.
Sinmara lets two arrows fly, taking aim at the leader of the charging pack.
At Gillian's warning, Sinmara's bow snaps into her hand and she nocks an arrow, pointed at the blue hound. She'll let it fly if the creature so much as twitches in her direction. "Your blue lions?" she asks rhetorically. Is there a source of saltwater nearby, if arrows aren't enough? she thinks, remembering Nel's comment from before about their weaknesses.
It had been a lengthy journey for Sinmara too, though the last thing she was going to do was admit to tiredness in front of these strangers. She had trekked several miles into Riddleport after her assignment was given to her, and had not rested since her arrival in Varisia by elfgate. She had endured far longer without sleep, though. This will be no obstacle, she insisted to herself.
Sinmara's eyes narrow at Nel's comment. Extend an olive branch to a half-breed and she spits in my face, she thinks. After her reaction to the letter, her expression continues to sour. 'Train his apprentice?' What the hell did that man write in his letter? She forced herself to calm down. This was never going to be easy. Take this slowly. Be mindful of your thoughts. She looked to Rilia. At least this one does not seem to have a hand glued to her weapon.
|