The Vixen is more than happy she did listen.
As soon as there’s time for a rest stop, she’ll take the opportunity to speak to Althea. Alone.
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”Me advice is ye win his heart, but don’t consummate the marriage until ye’re married.” With a slight grin, she adds, ”I’m hoping that’ll be incentive for him to, y’know… get on with the wedding plans.” She thinks about what else to add to that so her advice is not focused on sex. “Aside from that, keep being you. Ahto’s been hardened by losing someone close, as I have. The difference between us is that me goddess don’t answer me prayers directly, so I’ve no reason to think I’ve divine permission to take lives. “I ain’t saying ye should tell him not to execute people. But… show him there’s more to life than crime and punishment. And commerce. I think ye’re good for him. And I think he knows Althea’s not. “Beat her by winning him.” The Vixen knows Althea isn’t dumb. ”And maybe don’t think Althea yer enemy. I’ll talk to her alone at some point. Without kicking.”
VV laughs. ”Garress is the one I thought o’ kicking… but I misunderstood him. He wasn’t interested in Ash romantically, just let pride get the better—he correctly anticipated she’d surpass him. Fortunately, he earned a high position himself.” As for advice… ”Althea knows she won’t win Ahto over unless she lacks competition. He keeps reminder her she’s one mistake away from execution. There’s no way that leads to a healthy marriage—him not killing her’s me best hope. And her not secretly plotting against us, o’ course. “Me advice: don’t confront her. Commit to Ahto to the extent that… well…” The Vixen’s lips contort with an awkward discomfort, which is highly unusual for her. ”Maybe I’m getting too personal here. And bordering on semi-hypocrisy. If ye’d rather I not…” She falters, not sure whether she should give the advice on her mind.
”Ash is the councilor.” VV beams with pride, adding, ”She’s amazing at the job! I saw her talent within minutes of our first conversation together. I wanted to meet Lady Kalima. She was favored for the position Ahto is now in… and I had every intention to get very friendly with her. “So I asked Ash to escort me to the Lady. On the way, I asked what’s she like?” The Vixen relives the moment… “Her answer piqued me interest, to the point I lost interest in Lady Kalima. I hadn’t even met the noblewoman and Ash seemed to think marriage to a man and motherhood were in her future. So I asked if we could head to the range and practice archery together. “I hadn’t expected more than friendship at the moment, but me mind was made up: I’d not attempt to romance Lady Kalima. The prospect of Ash’s friendship seemed too beautiful to complicate with a romantic pursuit.”
The Vixen replies, ”Ash knows I would never… “I’m sure there’s no shortage of those who would sacrifice love, loyalty and trust for a cheap thrill. Then why marry in the first place?”
Ah, Paizo can tell VV and Ahto apart again. Sorry, Ahto! I think you should get a free level-up for every 100 inopportune natural 1s. You’d probably be 2 or 3 levels ahead of the party.
"I have mapmaking supplies, although I'm a little low on large parchment. Unstuck Uringen had some lovely inks." Katrine's mismatched eyes widen as she remembers something. "Oh no, the dye shop is gone! Vixen, they had the most amazing dyes. I stocked up, so if any of them will work on fabric as well as leather, I'm willing to share." “I’m rather particular about color. If ye’ve any vermilion red, I might take you up on the offer. Else, don’t worry about it, but thanks.”
“Yeah, I’ve got the grand entrance down to a science. Me exit-strategy needs work.”
The Vixen says, “Sorry to cut it so close. I thought there was a need to rescue the locals, but it turns out this is completely normal. And I did lose a few precious seconds thanking Seripan for composing a piece for me. And I lost several seconds more when I…” She blushes, and her lips fail to conceal the humor she sees in the situation. “…tripped.”
It finally happened to the Vixen. RP’d, rolled the die, natural 1 made a fool of me.
The Vixen replies to Seripan, “Inhabitants’re safe. Got it.” She bows to the grig. “The song ye wrote for me was beautiful. Thanks.” She cracks a smile, turns on her heels and—
—her stiletto gets snagged between cobblestones and she falls flat on her face. “Fuuuck…” She gets up, muttering, “Ye did not just see that, none o’ ye saw what didn’t just happen.”
The Vixen offers Seripan her hand, “Need a lift?” If the grig accepts, the Vixen says, ”Ye focus on calling the crowd to safety while I run us there.”
The Vixen’s mask hides the look in her eyes, but her lips part just slightly in surprise. For a moment, she feels like she is both Addison and the Vixen at once. “Ye wrote a song… about me?” She’s not so quick with a quip or even a ”thank ye,” which is given without the emotionless facade. Not that she’s choked up, but there is a softness in her expression of gratitude. What would she sing about… me? The Vixen finds a place to sit and listen. “I’d love to hear yer happy accident. Ye’ve a right to be miffed… I should’ve sent word o’ me delay. I… I should really remain silent. I’m at a performance!” The Vixen’s lips form a smile. It’s almost giddy, like a child’s. Anticipation and wonder overtake her, and she just wants to forget about being shrunken and wrestling a grig, and carrying an unconscious fey in her hand, and all the death necessary to save the blighted gnomes… and just take in the beauty of Seripan and her music…!
The Vixen kneels before the grig. “Please accept me apologies. I’d knocked out a tooth fairy prior to restraining Mather Nithra. I defeated both; but not in ways that could’ve killed ‘em. “It was very important to me to see ye… but nothing matters to me more than being able to truthfully claim I never made an attempt on the life of a fey. Nithra was killed after being restrained. For the best, really. But I wasn’t about to let that tooth fairy be killed as well. I personally handled the prisoner meself.” She notes, “Ye’re better off with Nithra dead, but I hope ye get me… I worked too hard befriending Tyg, and many fey since. A cold iron weapon in me hand; knowingly offering an ally an opportunity to kill me fey prisoner… just one crossing of that line, and me rep with the fey is obliterated.”
The Vixen takes the dagger, looks at it, understands its vile purpose. A necessary evil. She says to Ahto, “There are two of us who fight well without weapons. I could easily get close to the most evil o’ the fey—she who shan’t be named—and plant it in her heart. But… “I think the dagger is best in Katrine’s hand.” She lays the dagger flat over both hands, offering it to Katrine if no one objects. She does not state the reason (two, really) for the intended handover.
The Vixen nods at the mayor’s reply, “Covertly… yes, that’ll do.”
“I mean no disrespect, Lady Aurelia. The tyrants count on fear. Ye refrain from signing a paper to appease ’em… or not even appease. Simply, ye’re not rocking the boat. “Meanwhile, the tyrants’re signing papers, forming alliances, getting all their ducks in a row. And while the peaceful remain a rainbow of happy li’l oases on the world map, the tyrants’re planting flags and divvying us up. “By the time we realize we shoulda united, the slaughter of innocents has begun.”
“Her and Tyg together? That could be fun.” The Vixen says the word ’fun’ in the same tone she might have said ‘alien.’
The Vixen approaches with the unconscious tooth fairy. “I didn’t use any lethal attacks, so this li’l one needs to be imprisoned safely. I speak Sylvan, if ye prefer I speak to the creature… but I’ve no interest in interrogation. It was following orders, I suspect.” The Vixen will be relieved once the tooth fairy is taken from her.
The Vixen remains masked as she carries the pathetic little creature in her hand. How can a villain be so dainty?
Autocorrect is the name of my existence too, Pelipe. Someday it will win, and I’ll throw up my hands and say “Fine! I’ll rename my character the Gazillion Gekko!” …and then I’ll throw my hands back down to type that.
First I can’t type “bane,” then Paizo paizes me by rearranging my posts. And yes, “paize” is now a verb. To paize is to eff up in a way only the Paizo board can. …and wow, I now have two posts in front of my first post. Okay… back to work!
Ducking autocorrect! It wins the day again!
The Vixen says, “Once I turn in me prisoner, I’m more than happy to strip me mask and don me fancy dress. “No reason I can’t be both the hero and the party girl.” The Child wants to come out and play. I’m a married woman, NOT a child, replies her gentler half.
The Vixen gently holds the unconscious tooth fairy in her hands, making sure not to hurt the pitiful creature any more than she already has.
Under the mask, VV’s eyes shift with the wind. “The f$@+? Our fey friends weren’t kidding when they said ne’er to state the Nymph Queen’s name.” The Vixen does not test this theory by blurting it.
VV has combat reflexes and shield of blades, meaning when I power attack I add AC (same as power attack penalty).
I could consider the Shake It Off later.
”Please, tell me what he disposed of,” VV says to the gnome woman. “I’ll get it. “As for the festival, The Child can attend or I can be on security with Katrine. I think some of us best go. I’ll go or not, depending where I’m needed most. “I took a tooth fairy alive, so maybe I best be responsible for the li’l creep. I speak its language.”
”Yes, I’ll help.” VV stops short of saying the word ‘loot,’ but she’s happy to be seen as strong —even with her shrunken body!
Once VV grows back, she carefully scoops up her KO’d victim. “We can arrest this one, let the mayors decide the tooth fairy’s fate.” But she takes advantage of her small size and examines the sink hole, unloading what her little self can (with extra strength).
The Vixen moves to the sinkhole to see.
VV is down by 5. She’ll sleep it off, unless you heal her. She will neither ask nor refuse.
VV says, “Mather Nithra cast a spell to make several images of himself. I got a lucky shot with me arrow. I knew I hit the right one when all the copies had arrows in ‘em. “A dark fey attacked me; I took it down with swift kicks.” VV does not mention that the tiny creature took nonlethal blows. She can truthfully say she has never killed a fey, nor intended the death of a fey—though she has no quarrel with Wonky’s kill. “With the fey down and out, I rushed Mather Nithra. Wonky’s dogs beat me to him, clones burst with each bit. Odds were one-in-five I’d get the right one, but Peliple enhanced me strength—and not size, per me request—easier to grapple a creature me own size. “We wrestled! A larger fey struck me, Mather Nithra nearly escaped—and would’ve if not for Pelipe’s spell. I pinned him and Pelipe gave me some violin string.”
“I hog tied him. Wonky then appeared and slit his throat. “In her defense, the fey towering o’er me could’ve acted in a way that let Mather Nithra escape, and only a single arrow had harmed him. Without me grappling him, we’d have had his illusions to confuse us. And I don’t know how dangerous his magic is, but… ye survived. Maybe he wasn’t as tough as he was made out to be.”
As Pelipe reveals Mather Nithra’s fate, VV explains, “I tied up Mather Nithra with violin strings. He couldn’t escape me bonds. But Wonky made the right call. Yer life was in danger, and Nithra’s minions only needed to cut the strings and illusion magic would’ve made for an easy escape. “He was hardly injured. A lucky arrow and lucky grasp of his throat won the day. I could have easily struck his illusion as the dogs did. Luck or Milani herself guided my attacks, or the dark fey might have won, or at least taken one of us with ‘em.”
He knows the Vixen will take a foe alive. No one ever suspected the tiny, bespectacled gnome of unauthorized coup de grace.
The Vixen rises. “Good dog,” she says to the dog who got the dark fey off her back. “Wait, no tongue —gaah!” She then walks over to Ahto who towers over her. She is not even knee-high to him. This is a trip… oh, but he’s hurt! “How ye holding up, Ahto? Hang in there.” She’s not worried. Pelipe will run to him with her life-saving magic.
Somehow, a grig being finished by a somethingteen-inch Wonky makes it not so awful. A 13-foot Ahto would have embedded the grig into the ground with his killing thrust!
Ummm…… I think that’s checkmate. I had to follow that convoluted flowchart, but I needed to have Mather Nithra pinned, have a means of tying him (supplied by Pelipe!!!) and no maintain roll. I roll for the DC, my CMB attack plus 20! Which was 50 since I rolled a nat.19.
The Vixen lets the creature wreck her back. “Someone keep that thing at bay!” She uses Pilepe’s strings to tie up Mather Nithra!
(Not sure if he has to beat 25 or if exactly 25 also favors him.) Strings! Nice move!!! Tied up = helpless!
If Pelipe has a rope, wage can toe him up now! Else, VV can tie him next round if he doesn’t bust free.
Thanks to Pelipe, my CMD is 22! It’s actually 23… so 21 is normal, but I take -1 to size. I get -1 STR from shrinking and +3 STR from Pelipe. That’s how I got from 21 to 22. I forgot the +1 DEX from shrinking, so correction: 23!
The Vixen maintains her grapple…
…and if she succeeds, she pins Mather Nithra!
”Pelipe! Ye got a rope on ye?”
Thanks to Pelipe, my CMD is 22!
Well, if I rolled the random hit right, I’m grappling Mather Nithra now!
The Vixen accepts Pelipe’s spell, if she’s willing to cast it—then she charges full sprint!
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