Neethan uses his Read Magic spell to decipher a few other scrolls, and then spends the rest of the day studying and trying to write them into his spellbook too. Scroll study: vs DC17, 1h, 1hwrite vs DC15, 1h, 2h write
I’ve tried to go for a little “MacGyver”-style. :)
If we spend an extra day in Kalabuto, Neethan would like to learn L3 “Haste” from the found scroll and add it to his spellbook, so we can use it more than once. Similarly, with the bought L2 “Knock” and L1 “Floating Disk”.
Neethan had been surprised that a package from his mother had still been waiting for him at The Crown’s office after the four years he’s been away. He’d felt touched to read that she wanted him to come home and had sent along means to do so. He was to “stop the nonsense he was up to” and get home. For a moment he had hesitated, feeling a pang of guilt, but wasn’t this new expedition the thing he had always dreamt about? If he just gave up and went home, wouldn’t he regret it the rest of his life? The package contained some gems. A wealth much higher than the cost to get back to Eleder, so he understood that it was more a bribe to get him to stop adventuring. He’d weighed the alternatives and decided he’d have to make up for it in some other way. At least the letter he wrote yesterday was on the way back to her, and she’d know that he was still alive. Having made up his mind and said farewell to Cefas, Neethan does some additional purchases on the way back to his friends to better prepare himself for the expedition, spending the gems.
Neethan isn’t strong, so I invested some in carrying capacity, so he doesn’t get burdened down when doing physical things.
There is not much fun on counting food rations, tents and typical archaeological tools, or managing weight and means of transport, so we have kind of given those responsibilities to the mates coming with us and it has been all delightfully managed behind the scenes so far. If we don’t need to be self-sufficient, then that is a bonus! Foraging and wood craft is a possibility in a jungle or along a river, I guess. But if you like managing that kind of details, feel free to do it Neethan, please! It’s good to have an overview of what we are carrying when it comes to things we can’t easily acquire when entering the wilderness. Is it OK, if I add a sheet for Neethan to the Treasure-list? Then we can see how much healing we have, who’s got a rope if we need one, etc.
Simply ‘subduing’, is not really Neethan’s strong side right now. He has not prepared any spells that can hold, or illusions that can scare, Plivus.
The wizard casts Mage Armor on himself. Then, if Plivus is still close and hasn’t started to attack them, Neethan goes for a bluff, opening the front of his tunic and exposes the snaking amulet under his skin.
Suddenly realizing that they haven’t really thought out what to say, and standing there whispering in Plivus’ view would look very suspicious indeed, Neethan tries to wing it but keeping close to the truth. He addresses the man pointed out to them. ”Greetings! I’m Neethan Levandri out of Eleder. Partly representing one of the leading trading houses in Eleder and partly other economic interests, my friends and I are here to enquire what type of services you provide here?”
”Listen! Even if it’s just a merchant ship, there are likely guards around able to fight, if it’s a boat for the Aspis Consortium. Not sure how easy it would be to sneak aboard, but getting caught won’t be pleasant, whether or not the crew is behind this or not. Simply starting to attack it, won’t be looked upon favorably by the other captains or the harbor master, not to mention if I set fire to it, burning up our notes.
I see three options:
b) Create some kind of diversion in order to sneak aboard and check for Cheiton. c) Just stand beside the ship and see how they react to our presence. If they attack us, we are allowed to defend ourselves and can fall back if they are too many. Risk is if they just don’t like us and attack anyway, without them having anything to do with Cheiton.”
Neethan is suddenly pushed forward by Shalissa. He’s not really used to the attention and also knows that they will recognize a colonial and may not like it. He tries his best.
“Alright, we need a plan. We can start by asking the neighbors around here. Maybe they have seen something, or know where Cheiton or that Zenji girl with the charms might be, Kibi was it? Even if she’s involved somehow, she might not be with those who broke in here, but another faction. She could have her reasons to help us. We can ask at the Shrunken Head after that. My friend, Cefas, the halfelf I met yesterday, can maybe know more about the rumors and which faction that might be behind this. We can go seek him after the inn.” Neethan is good a reasoning, but not the most diplomatic of the bunch, so he’d prefer if someone else with a smoother tongue approached the neighbors and the patrons/innkeeper of the inn.
Hi guys!
On the other hand, crafting is a time-consuming task. E.g. (if I read it right) a wand of fireball is 3(spell level) x 5(caster level) x 750 gp = 11250gp in base price, which gives it takes some 12 days to create. It’s not like you’d want to wait for me that long, or that it would be easy to work on crafting while in the jungles. Do you have any advice or preferences?
It feels good to be on the way towards Kalabuto again. After a bit of walking, Shalissa’s words catch Neethan a little off guard. He hadn’t felt very useful with his previous team totally failing in doing their work. Then he had been caught and by sheer luck (or something else likely connected to his magical amulet) been kept just alive inside that mine. He had felt so helpless. Suddenly getting some praise for his actions, is refreshing. He looks on the cleric in another light, thinking she might be the de facto leader of this team. Having been alone for so long, it would be good to be part of a team again, and this one felt at least better than his previous ones.
”Thank you for trusting in me. So far, I’ve just been glad you rescued me, and my thoughts have been on getting back to Kalabuto. After that, I have no real plans. I’ve studied some Azlanti lore and know some of their language. The idea of finding out more about Azlanti arcana is very enticing. You say you’re heading for Tazion to find a map? What are your plans when you find it? Have you been hired to find it, and then what? Continue to find Saventh-Yhi? What is your interest in this?” The wizard can feel his amulet somehow is ‘listening’ and it moves slightly under his skin. Its pull is very clear; he can almost feel it drawing him into this adventure.
Welcome back, Kerndrew! :)
Walking towards the circling birds, Neethan tries to learn more about his allies. He starts talking to Davor first: ”So, where are you from? How come you ended up here? Where did you meet Shalissa and Father Kerndrew? What are your plans when you reach Kalabuto?”
Very sorry to hear that, Kerndrew. I wish you a speedy recovery!
I'm giving Neethan a dotted outline on the map to remember there are several images of him in the same square.
Neethan normally wouldn’t drink much, but it seems his time in the mine has made him unaccustomed to alcohol, at least temporarily. Or his lingering thirst made him drink more than he thought. He feels a bit sluggish but tries to follow the conversation with the shaman. He doesn’t like to hear about curses and starts to think the tribe had been a little too friendly to them before.
Sorry, missed this page. For some reason it didn’t indicate any new posts. I’m 57 years old and live in Gothenburg, Sweden. I’ve used to play a lot with at the “World of Greyhawk”-site some ten years ago, playing mainly DnD 3.5. I had many PCs there, but also ran some campaigns as GM Sun.
This is only my third Pathfinder game and my previous PCs have been converted from DnD 3.5.
I’m not that familiar with Pathfinder’s Golarian yet though (compared to the Greyhawk settings of Oerth), but I’ll read up. I usually play supporting characters rather than the leader of the team. I’ve played a handful of different core classes and some specialized ones.
My PCs tend to have a pretty basic build. As a GM I’ve instead liked equipment with a twist or plot, and as a player I’ve worked with other GMs with ideas. PbP usually takes a lot of time to level up if the posting is slow. I’ve not played any PC higher than level 7 yet.
Neethan notices there are more people around.
Neethan manages to stand up, testing his limbs for stiffness. He sways a little, then he bends and slowly picks up his fallen quarterstaff, his empty waterskin and whatever else of his belongings that have fallen out of his pockets.
Neethan hears a female voice calling for healing and a small amount of positive energy finds its way into his exhausted body. It’s enough for him to at least raise his head and look at her. Her promise of something to drink makes him totally ignore the rest and he nearly gets cut again, this time by the dagger being held against him. He forms his hands to a bowl almost maniacally, then first wets his lips when there’s some water in them. Somewhere in his head he understands that he must drink carefully, or it will just come right back up again. But it tastes so good! He almost laps like a dog at first before getting the hang of it. He doesn’t want to miss a drop. Some water of course runs down his wrists, but most of it gets where he wants it. He coughs and the drinks some more.
Neethan is covered from head to toe in a fine layer of salt dust. He doesn’t know why, but that dust somehow managed to get at him, making his numerous cuts itch like crazy. Oh, he has felt the necromantic energy angrily pull at him, but it never really could get a hold on him and suck the life form out of him. Likewise, the hungry looks from the undead trying to claw, bite and hit at him, but their efforts only making lines in the dust on his skin now. He doesn’t know why he’s still alive, but he has a pretty good idea; it’s something to do with that damned amulet. When the cold chill around him got worse, he could feel it almost moving under the skin on his chest. Like some kind of tug of war between life and …, what, unlife? He’d been terrified at first, but the body and mind cannot be in that state forever. Most beings snap, going crazy, but he’s just adjusted to his situation, and somehow resigned. He wasn’t really living, nor was he dying. It was like time itself had stopped inside him, yet he was aware of his surroundings changing. Aware, but not really caring after a while. How long had he been here? He didn’t know. There were no day or night down here, nor did he seem to have the normal needs for his bodily functions. Except for the thirst. The salt dust around him got at him mentally. He understands that if he really had inhaled all that salt dust, he’d been dead, as the water he originally carried had been drunk up a long time ago. There was water down here, even if he suspected that it would not be healthy to try to drink it. He couldn’t move an inch closer to it though. He use to sleep a lot, even if it feels it's not really sleep at all. Running into this cave complex to avoid the deadly deinonychuses, had seem to be the right thing to do at the time, but he never should have ventured so far in. The signs of an old mine had intrigued him, and he’d been careless. The undead had found him, blocked the exit behind him and started to chase him. He had run away from their sharp claws without knowing where to, just using his Light spell to give him enough light to see. But they had known the place better than him, and they had had all the time in the world to catch him or to perhaps drive him towards the source of the strong necrotic energy he could sense. He had felt the evil energy as he got closer. The hair on his arms stood right up and the familiar tingling he had learnt to recognize at The Academy was all to present. Out of breath and wounded also from the fight outside, he’d been out on his last limb, but then something had happened. A rivaling force had pressed him against the cave wall and fought for him. Stuck between two magic sources, he’d been swayed back and forth like a buoy on the waves, without really going anywhere. The undead had been blocked from really hurt him too then. Sustained and held in stasis, he’d finally resigned. He’d tried to think at first, to keep his spells memorized in case things changed, but what was the point after a while? He was bored. Bored and thirsty. Even the undead hadn’t bothered to try to attack him for quite a while now. He closed his eyes again. Something awoke him though.
Neethan can feel there is change in the air. The grip the evil energy had on him has evaporated, leaving only a bad dream. Similarly, he can feel the amulet almost giving up a sigh of tired relief. Two people are standing close to him, trying to make contact. He can’t really believe it, nor make out what they are saying.
Neethan feels so weak. His fair hair and torn sturdy linen clothes are full of dried blood from several cuts and scratches, some deep.
It doesn’t take much to see that he’s just one step away from death. |
