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I'm going to hold feedback until I manage to get a copy of the book myself (hopefully by week's end). That being said, I have head some good things about the new rules variants so far (that, and the ever ongoing whine about how '...monks are so underpowered!' topics from people who don't understand how to build a freakin' character. Sorry, long day. >.>
So now that I've had a chance to sleep and re-attach my brains to my skull, how do you plan to have the empire building aspect of this work? Will we have a baseline to work with (you had mentioned a 2nd wealth chart), or do you want to show that we had built it up over time? Also, have we moved forward on any plans to gestalt characters? If that is the case, will I need to re-configure Tessara?
So we can use the downtime rules for, well 'empire' building from UC? If that's the case, then I'll need to read up on the rules. After all, you can't run a decent spy network on string and plastic cups. :) FYI, have you read the blog posts for Pathfinder Unchained yet? If so, have you considered using the 'variant multiclassing' option as an alternate to point 6 from earlier?
Just checking so everyone knows I'm still alive. 4 more days of taxes to go... 2. Since I'm a drow, the question of using monster races seems a moot point to me. I'm fine with others using them, just to make things more interesting. 3. Not sure I follow. Could you explain this one to a very tired tax accountant? o_O 4. Since I already have Leadership, does that mean I get an extra feat? 5. I have a similar house rule, and I allow the characters to cross-train any (reasonable) skills, typically at 1 feat/level. 6. I am all for gestalting. That being said, I'm not sure what I can add on to Tessara without making completely unwieldy. 7. As for saves, I'm fine with keeping it as low as 12, to keep things challenging.
This is a good question. Tessara and her companion have hopped on a TARDIS and is helping some poor schlep do tax work for cryin' out loud!
Sorry to hear that, Areniel. Hope things get better for you soon.
I'm here, keeping an eye out. That being said, I'll probably waiver a bit over the next few weeks; our office is getting slammed this weekend (corporate taxes are due Monday night) and then it's off to do personal returns 50+ hours/week until April 15th. The joys of being a tax accountant... :p
Tessara looks around at the ancient city as she puts her page in its tube. She had only been here once before, many decades ago as part of a naval trade caravan. To her at the time, it was like any other coastal town; full of taverns and drunks looking to get their jollies. She, at the time, was more than willing to join in. Unfortunately, it did not endear her to do much exploring, again, at the time. She rather regretted that now. Deciding to play the part of the wealthy tourist, Tessara found a high-end establishment to settle in, paying for only a couple of days to start. She then indicated to the manager that she was inquiring about hiring a guide to take her around the city, as she had some business in the city as well. Noting with interest the dark skinned individuals who called themselves "Caldaru," Tessara smiled. This would be a rather interesting outing for her, even if it were little more than busywork and gophering. She wondered how Aiden was making out as she waited at the bar for her guide to arrive, all the while making discreet inquiries into finding her mark.
Several hours later, Tessara goes back to her study and sits behind her desk, briefly looks at the draining sun as it sinks below the horizon. She initially chose this building for the view, but these days, it reminds her of what is out there, beyond the horizon. The demons, both personal and otherwise, that will someday likely take her whatever Hell can be devised. She spends the next several hours working on a missive to send to Validk, wondering just how to phrase it so she sounds worried (not panicky yet)...maybe curious. Every once in awhile, she checks in on Aiden, quietly snoring in their private chamber; the welts and cuts already healing on 'her' unnatural form. Finally, soon after midnight, Tessara has her note ready to go. She finds her own bed to sleep in, and waits for dawn to arise.
Tessara watched Lord Manx leave without another word. She then turned to Aiden with an admonishing look. "I thought that I had mentioned something about 'wading into the trash will get you nothing but stink,' or something to that effect." "Sorry, Mistress. He was waiting for me at the kaffe shop; I should have smelled him coming." Looking contrite, Aiden put on her pouty face and said, "Does this mean that I'll need to be punished?" "Oh, without a doubt, you little harlot!" With that, Tessara pulled her aide out of the room by her hair. Soon there were screams echoing around the building.
"Yes, as a matter of fact. First, I would like to know where, exactly, you want me to escort the chest to. I seriously doubt that you would have me simply drop it in the middle of the Precipice Quarter district, would you? Also, Lord Serimus, will your 'bodyguards' be escorting me with the chest, do will I need to carry it myself? Let's start with that, shall we?" Tessara crosses her arms while leaning in front of her desk, waiting expectantly.
Tessara is sitting at her desk when Aiden shows Lord Serimus to her sanctuary. Oh, great. It's Lord Serimus. He's even more pretentious than the man who wanted me to call him just 'the Doctor.' What does this pompous ass want? Looking up at the gentleman before her, Tessara says, "Lord Serimus, it is a pleasure to see you; do drop in." Lord Serimus' face falters at the feigned sincerity in her voice. Looking over the chest without rising from her seat, she continues. "To be fair, sir, I can in fact afford to buy several of those pages, much like yourself. It is just that I prefer to find a good bargain, rather than simply buy at face value. That being said, since you believe that I will be going in the same direction as your heavy chest there, I believe that I can make the delivery that you seek. I do, however, have some questions before I agree to this bargain of yours."
I'm going with the page of spell knowledge, as Areniel had suggested.
Tessara sits at her chair for several minutes after Areniel leaves, contemplating several things. She then sits up and looks at Aiden. "Do you know, my little spymaster, where Validk might be located this time of year?" Aiden looks at her mistress in turn, deep in thought for a moment. "He is likely travelling around the lower continent this time of year, but he does teleport back to his offices in Absalom from time to time. Do you wish me to have a message delivered to him?""I do. I think he'll be the most likely to have answers, given the circumstances. Katja would in fact be better, but she is much more difficult to reach, and we need some answers very quickly." "Do you wish for the message to be coded," Aiden asked, with a slight smirk on his face. Tessara considers this for a moment, then shakes her head. "No. I know that the old man loves his puzzles and codes, but it appears that we don't have time to deal with this one." Tessara pauses, then says, "I want you to get the rest of those tasks done first, however. I think I need to be ready in case trouble comes calling again." Tessara gives one last nod, and Aiden excuses herself. ******************************************************************** About an hour later, Aiden approaches her boss in Tessara's office.
I have to admit that I was under the same impression as Nate on this one. My apologies. Since you follow at least one of my other groups, you'll know that I've had better months, so I feel like I'm playing catch up here (again). :( Since Areniel is talking to Katja, I think that Tessara will go in search of Validk to seek some answers. I'll set my post accordingly. EDIT: I just put my post up. Should we roll to see if Aiden can talk the bishop down, or can we say that she just 'persuaded' the man down? ;) Also, I'll post some more tonight after I get home, and I'll have Aiden up as a mouth piece, with the understanding of putting her at risk.
Tessara would be more on the divine side. That being said, she did not like seeing how the corruption within the ranks had spread during the Second and Third Crusades, which is why she broke off from Gallifrey . I'm pretty happy playing Tessara as a troubleshooter type; that's what spies are for...among other things.
Officially, Tessara has been affiliated with the Mendev Crusaders since the first outing. Near the end of the Second Crusade, she broke off and started her own independant company. Since then I have worked (unofficially) for the Pathfinders and the Crusaders. My spie...I mean, my scouts ;P have worked with various organizations over the last fifty years or so. If you need a mouth piece, I can probably craft one on the fly that had worked with contacts for which ever organization you need to plug in.
"I don't know of the latter that you ask, but as to Visceroth, that, or her I should say, I have heard of." Tessara makes a disgusted face before continuing. "I believe that Visceroth is a 'councilor' of some sort, for the nation of Nidal. Wasn't she around when the Starstone fell?" A gentle laugh comes from her lips, "I could not help myself. But, that being said, the old dragon is not exactly an innovator. I understand her specialty is in the slave trades. I believe that she is also on the Umbral Court, although whether as an advisor or an actual member, I'm not sure off the top of my head." Tessara takes a sip of her kaffe. "Tell me, Areniel, why for do you ask about the dragon? Do you think she might be involved in this somehow?"
Giving Areniel's words some thought, Tessara says, "Are the Custodians still at the Fortress? If they are in one place, it will be easy to ask around, rather than moving through several planes looking for them. What you say seems to ring true, and any one of the Custodians may know of such a world." Thinking about it for a moment longer, Tessara turns to Aiden and says "Go and fetch my gear from the vault, Aiden, and call upon the senior priest at the temple as soon as possible. Tell him that I need two scrolls of plane shift from his reserves. You can tell him that I will pay extra to pull from his reserves, but only if he says anything." Aiden nods her head and starts to leave the table. turning back to Areniel, Tessara continues. "It will be nice to get out of the office and Nerosyan for a few days, even if it for work. While I go surveying the countryside, as it were, what will you be doing in the meantime?"
At this, Aiden speaks up. In her sultry accent , she says to both of us, "Mistress, I was looking into the history of the Worldwound, again. We've all heard the stories that it was Aroden's death that contributed to the worldwound. Many people often forget that it was not his death itself, but the planar shift of Golarion that opened the rift. From what I was told about Manaket, do you think that was another planar shift?" Tessara considers this for a moment. "Perhaps there is something to this, Areniel. I mean, we both know what ritual sorcery was used to align the planes for the demons to start pouring out. Perhaps this is being used as another entry point?" Tessara's face is furrowed as she rapidly becomes more concerned about the point that Aiden made.
"Yes, about Rahdoum. It was one of the missives that Aiden had brought in just this morning," says Tessara, nodding her head towards her spymaster. In turn, Aiden adds a simple nod, while sipping on some of her kaffe. "I understand that the city of Manaket has been destroyed, but by means unknown at this point. I understand that our mutual friend, Katja, was spotted in the area. Is this true, and if so, does she know anything that my spies haven't sussed out yet?"
Tessara looks up from her desk, realizing that she had left her old friend standing, in awkward silence...again. Standing, Tessara comes around, her hands out. "Areniel, I am so sorry, friend." She shakes Areniel's hand warmly. She then leads the gentleman to her conference room, saying, "I'm really sorry for my inattentiveness. Running a business seems to be much more intense than simply going out to the front lines. There are days when I realize that I don't get out as much as I used to." The conference 'room' is actually a terrace, with a long table setup in the middle of it. The table is filled with carafes' of juices and the exotic kaffe, rolls, dates (and other fruits), meats of various kinds, and so forth. You notice that, besides yourselves, one of Tessara's spymasters, Aiden is joining you. Today, Aiden is dressed almost as a governess, wearing a full dress and petticoats. As all of you sit, butlers and staff come out to begin the servings. Several minutes of eating and drinking continues, before Tessara asks the most pertinent question of the day. "So, Areniel, what is really going on out there with those thrice-damned demons?"
Tessara sits at her desk, pouring over notes. It is good that the Crusader front appears to be quiet; she was still smarting from the loss of several of her members in an ambush the previous month, and finding new scouts, let alone training them, was not as easy as it used to be. Too many wanted to just run up to the front lines to impale themselves on the demon's thrust. Still, it was more than made up for by her growing network away from the lines, even as far south as Oppara and Absalom; the latter had enough contacts that Tessara was considering spending some of her resources to open an office down there. Tessara looked up from her desk as her spymaster, Aiden walked in, carrying a number of papers with her. Today, Aiden was playing as a female; skin tanned to a bronze sheen, breasts perky and almost falling out of her corset. Matched with a very short skirt that showed off her knees, and one would think that a pirate had walked in. Someone wants to play in the bedroom, today, Tessara thought to herself. With a smile, she said to the buxom 'woman,' "Good day to you, Aiden." "And a good day to you as well, Mistress," replied the spymaster, a bemused expression crossing her face. She definitely wants to play, thought Tessara. Maybe later, my little wench. "Are those the latest from the front?" Tessara says, firmly changing the course of the morning. "Yes, Mistress, Aiden says, as she puts the papers down on the desk, making sure that her goods are fully on display for her boss. If there is a reaction from Tessara, not even Aiden can tell. Tessara starts to look over the papers, and pulls one from the stack. Looking it over in more detail, she looks up at her spymaster and says, "What's this about cinnamon, of all things?" "We are receiving reports about an increased shortage of cinnamon spice being available. It does not mean much at the moment, but there are signs that more common crops are struggling to reach markets as well." Aiden looked down at her boss and wondered, not for the first time, how much of her bosses' musings were real, and how much was just to make her squirm. Tessara looked at the notes for a moment longer, then back up to Aiden. "There's nothing we can do about it now. We'll table it for another time. Now tell me, have we heard anything from Arenial lately? He was supposed to be back from the front by now." "No, Mistress. Do you wish me to send out a messenger for him?" "Yes. If he is available, find out if he can come by for lunch. May as well eat while I pick his brain. If not, tell the messenger to leave a message asking him to come by as soon as it is convenient." Aiden nods, then turns to leave. She is almost at the door when Tessara stops her. "Aiden, if you are not too busy, stop by around mid-afternoon. There are some 'items' that I would like to go over with you." With a nod and a sly smile, Aiden turns her head towards her boss and part-time lover and says simply, "As you wish, Mistress."
I've posted my character page link to this avatar. I've gotten the race, class, and feat stuff up, and you have seen at least the first part of my background. For the record, I'm going to write her up so that she is 'elsewhere' when WotR AP starts: she'll still be crusading, however, she won't be anywhere near Kenabres, unless the campaign calls for it. I still need to flesh out her spells, magic items, and gear (plus the requisite calculations), but the basics are up, and I should have the rest fleshed out before Monday. As always, comments on the character sheet are welcomed. |
