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Varuzhan sends his trusty owl, Lore, to the parapet, just to see if it triggers any reaction. If all seems quiet, he returns to the group. "Took a while, but I saw the alternate entrance about 200 meters east, just like they promised. There's a couple of ropes dangling down from a parapet. Follow me." And with that, Varuzhan seems ready to move right back to those ropes.
Varuzhan frowns. They were so close. Why wasn't the checkpoint open? Why was it suddenly compromised? "Feels like a trap to me. I'll scout ahead." Which is precisely what he does.
. "Your girl will thank you when you make it through to see her," he mentions, hoping to persuade the fellow.
"Glad to be done with that gnome," says Varuzhan in relief. He nods at Nezari's plan, then turns to Lector. "You will need to take off some of your fancy armor, and hide the rest under clothing." Varuzhan himself begins looking around for a sturdy branch that can serve as a new walking stick / quarterstaff, as he uses his Hat of Disguise to assume the appearance of an older man for the return.
Hi folks. I've come to the conclusion that I want to wind down my PbP games. I've done PbPs for a long time and enjoyed them, but I've been struggling with checking in regularly. I'll try to keep this up until we return to the city, but then V will be moving on to other things.
"Oh, so this is someone's home?" Not at all what Varuzhan had expected. "Hope they're keeping this place safe. We'll find ourselves a quiet corner and rest, then." He trudges back up the stairs. "Glad this place isn't haunted."
It's a sensible thing to do when you find yourself in too many games. Good gaming with you!
A very groggy Varzhan rubs his head as whatever nasty trap that hit him slowly wears off, realizing that his allies had discovered him and, thankfully, a troublesome resident. "Ugh, and I thought I was keeping you safe," he says. He looks into the darkness he was intending to explore. "We should see what's down here first. No resting until we secure this space."
"ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz......" Time for a little nap.
While the others are busy on their escapades with some illusionist, Varuzhan sneaks his way off to the basement, looking to secure the location. He moves quietly and peers closely.
Hello! My work situation has resolved itself sooner than expected! Catching up on my games (there's a lot of reading) and will start getting back in! Should V go ahead and make an entrance now that he's done scouting the perimeter?
Hi folks, my theory that things would be better in a week was too optimistic. I suspect work is going to keep me from posting for the next couple of months, with late September being the time where I can jump back in. I have a September 21 deadline I'm facing, and there may be spillover / I'll need to recover. I'm really sorry for the trouble. I will roll with whatever solution makes sense to you. Happy to have my character botted or have my character or just step away from the action temporarily. If you prefer to move on entirely, I'm okay with that too; I don't want to sap the momentum of any of my games.
Sorry for the prolonged absence. I need another week or so to power through a busy and stressful time. Please bot me as needed.
Varuzhan shares his find with Boros as his energy starts to flag. As they escape the worst of the swamp and reach a sort of crossroads, he chimes in. "Can't let some old ghost stories trouble us. The mansion is the right balance between getting away from the road and not getting caught outside when dawn breaks."
Varuzhan would simply fly over this swamp if he didn't have a busted wing. He could keep it up for a while yet, but the swamp was not so easily escaped. Still, he knew a thing or two about navigating terrain. Even if his preferred terrain was the mountains.
He started to feel fatigued from his efforts. If only he could figure out how to travel more efficiently. Or just consume something for a burst of energy?
Varuzhan is not used to hiding during daytime, causing Boros to try and offer some corrective guidance.
Seriously, sounds horrible. Rest well.
"Alright, seems like most of us aren't too keen on the fake run and hide idea. Just running at night and hiding in the day is the simplest. And simple is often good. In which case, we should just go now, and stop trying to fake anything. Agreed?"
"This whole thing is crazy. We keep ourselves alive first, then figure it out. Come on Miranda, let's start moving while the rest of the team sets up the site." Varuzhan worried about whether his injured wing would hold up with all the flying. But fear of death was a powerful motivator.
"Wait, Miranda. I think you're onto something. We make it look like we left, but actually stay inside. Leave a trail away, hide the trail back. I could fly me and Miranda back to avoid leaving a trail. Then, the dragon follows the trail and gets confused when it loses the trail. We stay hidden for a few more days. Boring as hell, but we know the shrine can hold out and the dragon will have to have better things to do, right?"
"Moving by night sounds right to me. A rock cave-in sounds like a good-enough plan. Would've moved the tree, would've killed whoever's inside. Maybe the dragon isn't fooled, though--I wouldn't waste too much time on it." Varuzhan considers whether there was a reasonable way to cause a rockfall.
"Well, the good news sounds like very good news to me. Can we try to put the tree back on top and then make a run for it?"
Perhaps Varuzhan should have gone with Miranda, but he figures sending the small one to scout was probably best. Lore, his trusty owl, seems to complain empathically about being overlooked. "You're a fine scout, too, but you wouldn't be able to explain to the others," he mumbles in the Strix language.
I'm traveling to Asia for the next couple of weeks, so my posts might be delayed. Will try to check in when I can. Feel free to bot me.
Sounds great!
"Let's go with Miranda's plan, then. At least some of us can get out without being seen."
"I'm all for NOT trying to confront the dragon as a distraction if we can avoid it. But you oughta know that I can fly. Not that well, but well enough going down or level. So I'll stay back if we really need to do that."
You sure you want to poke the dragon? :P
Varuzhan waits nervously as the sound of stomping dragon is heard. "There's really nothing safe in the swamp. We'll need to prepare ourselves for the return trip. I bet you folk know the swamp a lot better than we do, having been based out here."
My main issue with the Stamina is that it "eats" the Con-HP, leaving you with a very small actual health pool that makes you dependent on Stamina. I'd be more eager to try if the HP pool was the larger part and Stamina a kind of "tacked-on buffer". I'll third this. Gets at my concern with wanting in-combat healing spells to not lose their place.
Rik'Tik is update with new and improved stats and a new skill (Lore: Scouting). He has 18 Str and Dex now, so he could go melee or ranged as needs require. Only thing left to add is a bonus background from AV, which I'll tack on later.
Oh dear. I followed that link to the character builder and started playing around with it. I didn't realize it was actually taking me to Tazo's ranger character. I can't put it back the way it was. I am so sorry. Wait, I don't think you did anything. It looks fine. Maybe you're able to edit whatever but it looks the same on my end.
@Sam--Rik'Tik has an avatar photo now. Is that enough for the purpose of icons or do you want me to scrounge up another image? If you do want another image, do you prefer portraits or full body drawings? I can also scrounge up a picture just for the sake of character development and include that in the character profile. The Croc is Small, I think it's officially a young crocodile. Might become bigger later. I still need to fix up Rik'Tik's stats based on what I rolled, will definitely do that later.
Somewhere earlier, Sam asked about whether to use the Stamina and Resolve alternate rules. I think they sound great, except I would want healing magic to be able to restore stamina as well as hit points, because I see no reason to nerf healing. I don’t feel strongly about the healing bit, just throwing it out there.
Lol, this is comedy gold. Nezari could do her own stand-up routine on Pathfinder 2e!
In terms of secondary AV backgrounds, I'll wait to see what others take before selecting mine. I've taken up enough creative space with my early submission. I'll go with the flow and roll some stats!
Wow, that's damn good. Are you using these rules such that there are racial and background ability boosts? I think Rik'Tik would end up with some pretty busted stats.
"Dragons like treasure, right? Could always keep an eye out for a chance to bribe the dragon onto our side." Varuzhan shrugs, not really having any plan for how they would get heaps of treasure.
"Oh, I noticed," interjects Varuzhan at the mention of the modifications. He listens to the rest of the story. "This is madness--a blue dragon working for Thrune! Not something that this version of the Silver Ravens could hope to fight off." He starts to regret not leaving this place sooner. It seemed their persistence might be their undoing.
Oh no, Nez! I'm sorry that PF2e's been such a bad experience for you. I'm totally new to the system, but my very early impression is that there's a certain flatness to the game such that there's no feeling of the character growing stronger over time. Just like Nez is saying, feats open up alternative actions rather than increasing raw power, which isn't as exciting if the other options don't matter 90% of the time. It kind of reminds me of the Brawler's Martial Flexibility--sure, you have a wide variety of feats to choose from, but a lot of the time you just take Dedicated Adversary to treat whatever you're fighting as a favored enemy, like a move-action rage. I've heard a lot of people play with the Free Archetype rule, which may or may not help with that issue. Not something I've ever tried. Separately, this is the part where I admit that I already have a Lizardfolk Ranger built for Abomination Vaults. If that seems like too much, feel free to shut it down--I can certainly make something more standard that will fit better with the plot hooks you have in mind.
"No weapons drawn here as long as you keep yours sheathed."
He nods and takes some bread when offered. "Thank you, sir. Hospitality is much appreciated. It was wise of you to create such a hidden cavern. Were you expecting that to come after you?" The strix was not particularly fond of light, so feels right at home in the dark cave.
I'm all for trying a new game, and I'm perfectly happy to explore PF2e. Very kind of you to offer.
Okay, for over a minute, Miranda's alias portrait wasn't loading on this thread, and I was like, Miranda is really taking her attempt to Hide seriously!
I'm entering a busy period at work that may keep me tied up until February 12 (Super Bowl Sunday). I'll still try to check in and post, but I can't guarantee I'll make a consistent appearance. Please feel free to bot me.
"I mean, if the shrinekeepers can even hear us," responds Varuzhan uncertainly. Regardless, he will make his way down the sealed shaft and calls out. "If you can hear us, there's a serpent with wings flying toward us. Do you know them, or is it trouble? Because if it's trouble, we can take care of it for you!" Having screamed into a stone wall, he waits uncertainly to see if he'll get any response.
Varuzhan takes the news with great concern. "Ambush? I don't like the idea of some flying devil scout finding out about us."
Does wings + serpentine body = dragon? Because that sounds dangerous if so. How big are we talking about?
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