Spikey, never much one for submitting under the drow boot, chafes waiting to hear what the job is. But they certainly weren't going to be told in front of the others anyhow.
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Spikey nods. "Clear enough. I can do that."
Spikey cocks his cranial nodule to one side then imitates a shrug. "Alright then. Is there a way he'll know he can trust us?"
Spikey nods in agreement with Torsten. "I despise them but I will follow my orders and fight well."
Spikey almost never speaks to the other gladiators but speaks up immediately. "If there is a chance, I will leave."
Spikey looks curiously at the ratfolk. "A chance to escape... That's all that I want..."
Spikey looks sidelong at the others then begins walking after the ratfolk. He mutters to the others "Risky or not, I'm not missing a chance."
Spikey looks sadly at the dead spider. This was a creature of the gardens of the Underdark... It didn't deserve to die like the Drow... But under the Drow everyone had to kill something...
Spikey steps to the side and stabs with his spear but can't land a blow on the wiley spider.
Spikey shrugs, placing no value on the praise of the Drow. He nods. "Ready" and follows along to the next battle without interest.
Spikey steps back to stand closer to Serisa and stabs hard at the strange, undead Drow again, his anger continuing to burn in his leafy soul.
Spikey moves forward and stabs hard at the disgusting Drow, his leafy face set with grim resolve.
but his spear is deflected by the drow's oddly toughened, undead skin.
Spikey accepts his arms and settles in, ready for the fight.
Spikey eyes the drow hatefully, trying not to be pleased at this opportunity to kill one of the race he loathes. "I guess I shouldn't be like them... Liking killing and blood... Then he speaks up to Corazen. "Ready." He eyes Serisa to make sure she is ready.
Spikey says nothing but follows to the beast pit. Filthy fool thinks he trains warriors. He's just dressing up pigs for the slaughter. That's how the drow see us. This is all a worthless waste of blood...
Spikey whirls when Caladrel approaches and eyes the elf suspiciously. He had been jumped by defeated enemies outside the arena before and had had to fight them stem and leaf to stay alive. But the elf doesn't seem interested in fighting at the moment so Spikey doesn't lash out. After a moment of awkward silence, he responds "The Drow think they can cage anything... One day, they'll learn how wrong they are."
Spikey gently strokes Sable's bat and whispers in a low tone "There there, little buddy. I'll have more for you tomorrow and we'll get out of here as soon as we can..."
I'll make Spikey a much more interactive teammate once he gets to know you guys a little but he's a very salty vine for the time being.
Despite himself, Spikey feels the brilliant light surging through his chloroplasts and shudders in thrill and disgust. After the priestess releases them, he heads back to the barracks looking for some food. Once he's found it, he brings it back to a small, dark closet. Here, he feeds the young bat Sable, his only friend.
Spikey walks toward the temple in his typical surly fashion at first but when they enter the brilliantly illuminated hallway his manner changes entirely. He stretches his vines out in all directions, soaking up as much of the glorious, bright light as he can, the energy flowing right into the sap of his veins. He lingers for a moment, eyes closed, in the overwhelming light. Then he shuffles forward resentfully into the temple. There, he warily lowers his weapons to the ground in addition to his armor and shield. "Stupid drow don't know what matters... Think all this finery means they aren't a bunch of greedy pigs..."
He doesn't know the significance of the ceremony around him but doesn't care much either. Even so, he doesn't care for more abuse than necessary and stands surly and quiet.
Fyi, I'm at a research conference this week so I'll probably be posting more slowly. I hope to keep up the pace but I can't promise that.
Spikey wipes his spear off in the sand and catches his breath for a moment, a slight whistling heard through his vines. He turns and stares at Jazrok, deeply disagreeing with the hobgoblins enthusiasm. He shakes his head and turns to Serisa "Better than dead? Yeah... barely..." He begins trudging back toward the Chapel of Nurgal, disgusted that he will continue participating in this mockery put on by the Drow.
Spikey accepts the song as anger against the drow and their cruel, senseless sport builds within him. He steps forward and stabs at the troublesome sorcerer, taking advantage of his long, reaching weapon and intentionally placing himself in the middle of the battlefield. The hobgoblin's song pours over him and Spikey moves with power bunched in his angry vines, whistling his spear across the arena in an odd display.
He cares little for what the Drow think of him but his movements are fascinating.
Hearing talk of orders and ranks, Spikey shakes his head. "We're not an army. Just trying to stay alive in this hellhole. You watch my flank and I'll watch yours."
Spikey slowly waves his wooden spear back and forth in front of himself. "Stay close is right. I think Caladrel has some tricks up his sleeves and will try to shut one or more of us down. I'll take Laavi. She will have trouble stunning my vines."
Ah! I see it now. Great! That's my favorite way to do maps.
The bundle of vines grips its long wooden spear tightly and looks around the arena, its vines rustling in frustration and anger. I never asked to be here. I don't care what those horrid drow want. Bloodshed for sport is so disgusting and all this slavery... He eyes the opponents across the arena. Fools or no, they're just slaves too. I don't want to kill slaves... again... But nobody will take care of Sable if I die... He shakes his leafy head in bitter frustration at his constant dilemma. Kill or be killed. Resigned, he raises his wooden shield. In a weary, resentful voice, he replies "Fine, Duergar. But which ones are their casters?"
Woohoo! Question: How will we be doing maps?
Pretty cool, Serisa! Though it's not in my field, I just taught molecular biology. Good times. Looking forward to kicking things off!
100% on board with what people are saying. I don't care about the violence, though I suppose I could discover that some things are past my comfort zone. In which case, I'll mention it. I'm also all right with implied consensual sex (but am not interested in RPing or reading a detailed scene). Serisa: Am also a biologist! I study disease ecology. What do you do?
Torsten: That's cool that the Hobbit and TTRPGs helped you connect to that part of your family's history. Super cool. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm always open to suggestions if there are good ideas I should consider. :) Jazrok: Super excited to have a skald also. Normally wouldn't say that as a barbarian then remembered I'm unchained!
Thanks, GM! Makes sense, Torsten! The Hobbit is a fantastic gateway drug. Does the Jewish influence appeal to you for personal reasons or do you just like the flavor? Hey thanks for the compliment! This'll be fun!
Hello! Hi there, Torsten. Imagine seeing you here. Can't say I'm surprised to see you playing some sort of dwarf. You sure love them! And duergar are freaking awesome, like all dwarves. Hello as well to Serisa. Let's hope Torsten talks more as a Duergar than a Draugr. ;) Hello to Jazrok and Drakhn too! Looking forward to fighting fiercely alongside you and getting to know you! GM: Thanks for the nod! Could I trouble you to open gameplay so I can dot and delete? That makes is so much easier for me to respond rapidly to updates. Thanks!
@Dragoncat: I think my submission is complete. I answered a bunch of questions regarding descriptors and values of my character so the rest of the backstory I wrote up was just narrative to help provide the feel of the character rather than provide all the information I could. I wasn't sure how you wanted us to format our submissions so please let me know if you'd like something different. ~Spikey
Thanks for clarifying, GM! I can work with that just fine.
@Dragoncat: Did you see my question on taking boon companion at level 1 as a mounted fury? Definitely not RAW so I wanted to ask. I'm not counting on it but would love to have my bat with me from the start. He's not going to be much of a combatant but a well-loved mount indeed. Was trying to catch you real quick if you were still online. :)
Great, thanks! But not taking boon companion at level 1 to get the animal companion right away instead of getting it at level 5? That's totally fine with me since I know I'm asking for something outside the rules. Just checking. I can either encounter the dire bat later in my adventuring career or maybe he's just a baby that I'm taking care of who doesn't have any mechanical abilities yet.
Ok hoplomachus is a good flavor fit. That'll work. Got my backstory mostly together but not sharing it quite yet. I love the 20 questions for deep character creation. Make me really think. Mechanical question:
1 and 2 would be my first choice but 2 and 3 or even 2 by itself are all interesting to me. It's just rough giving up so many of my rage powers. But my character concept will work with either archetype so I'm not too hung up on it.
Vine leshy's don't have racial weapon traits. What weapons would be associated with the Darklands? He'd like a lance but I have a feeling that's not very common in the Darklands and he'll have to use something else until he can buy or loot a lance.
Thanks, GM! I'll go ahead and complete the submission then.
Hey there, Dragoncat. Caster4life here. I have a character concept and I whipped up a little photoshop art for it. I figured I should run this by you since it's a pretty odd one. I want to play a vine leshy barbarian (mad dog archetype) who rides its dire bat animal companion in combat. Mechanically, Spikey would make a great party tank and a pretty good striker. Thematically, I really like the idea of a dire bat flying into the arena with what looks like a bit of lichen growing on its back. Then the lichen forms into the vine leshy, who raises its wooden lance and charges the enemy. Very short backstory summary: Spikey was created by a druid who marveled at the great fungal forests of the Darklands. He created Spikey to wander the Darklands and help protect the fungi from those who would underestimate its value and destroy it. While wandering, Spikey encountered Sable, the dire bat. Sable was small and starving so Spikey fed the bat some of the berries that grow on it as well as some nutritious mushrooms. Afterward, Spikey and Sable traveled together. When some drow scouts trampled through a fungal patch, Spikey and Sable attacked them viciously together. They were out-matched but the Drow found them an exotic and reasonably effective pair so they brought them back to Zirnakaynin to be gladiator slaves. There, Spikey has learned a lot about humanoids and dislikes them for the most part, especially Drow. But Spikey won't stop protecting Sable and fighting to keep them both alive. I have a lot more to say than that regarding Spikey's likelihood to develop loyalty to other characters, goals in life, etc. But I'm just looking to get a probationary ok on playing such an offbeat race before delving in much farther. I'm always open to suggestions for alterations that would make it make more sense to you. Thanks! |