Hey all, I’m sorry for my absence here. The last few weeks have been hard on my wife and I and the holidays are keeping us busy now too. I’m still here though and still invested, gonna really try to find time to catch up in the next week or so.
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Just checking in to apologize and say I’m still here. Going through some big stuff IRL right now, including helping move my family out of state, so I’ve been very mentally and emotionally drained with little time to catch up here. I’ll check in when I can, but will most likely be absent for another week or two.
Working on a post! My parents and sibling are moving cross country and my wife and I will be helping, so I'll likely be in and out over the next two weeks. Our last in-person session of D&D (for a while at least) is tonight. :(
Xio awakens slowly, taking the time to stretch all of her limbs individually before getting out of bed. She says little to Vorilynn as she pulls on her robe, but offers a weak smile and nod towards the galley, inviting the half-elf along for coffee.
Xio watches the perverse scene before her intently, but her hands are busy while the dark lady is distracted. She runs her fingers over the straps holding Vorilynn down, trying to determine how difficult they would be to unlock.
Xio blinks, looking from the silver scalpel in her hand, to Vorilynn, restrained on the table in front of her, and back again. If this is a dream, she knows what comes next; if not, she needs to find a way to stall. She turns to face the shadowy figure, wide-eyed and eager as she traces the scalpel lightly down her sternum and between her breasts. “Tell me more about this procedure, first, professor. I’m curious.”
"Good to know," Xio purrs. She squeezes Vorilynn’s hand, trying to put her at ease. ”No rush. We’re going to be in the Drift for a while. Plenty of time for any ‘experiments’ you have in mind.”
"Sometimes." Xio shrugs. "It depends what shape I'm in, or if I'm taking a shape at all." She leans toward Vorilynn, the flirtation proving a welcome panacea for all the horrors of the last few days. "Sometimes it depends who I'm with. I'm adaptable. Do you have a preference?"
Xio giggles, used to being a curiosity and easily flattered by the attention of pretty women. "I'm an Astrazoan. Apparently there's a few of us out there, but I've never met anyone else like me. I like to think I'm unique." "The shapechanging has always been instinctual, but it wasn't always this pretty." She smiles proudly and flutters her lashes. "I just sort of feel what I want to look like, and my flesh responds. It's easier when I've seen the shape in person, and easiest when I've touched it." As if demonstrating, she reaches over and gently strokes Vorilynn's hand. "As for reproduction." She smirks and raises an eyebrow. "Everyone is curious about that. I don't think I can reproduce with other species. Which is probably a good thing, since I can do just about everything else."
"Oh?" Xio takes a seat and smiles invitingly at Vorilynn, displaying a mouth full of unnaturally white teeth. She stretches a pale limb out in front of her, as if putting herself on display. "Lucky for you, I like talking about myself. What do you want to know?"
Over the next several seconds, Xio's form twists and changes, colors and textures swirling into a new shape. The result is a pale, dark-haired humanoid, similar in most ways to her usual disguise, but with a few subtle differences; longer, leaner limbs, higher cheekbones and a more delicate nose, and ears that taper to a defined point. The newly formed half-elf smiles coyly and offers her arm to Vorilynn. "We'll take good care of each other."
Xio appears to shrug at Recorva, their jellylike limbs sent quivering from the motion. ”You and Shabad pair up. Vorilynn and I will get to know each other.” Their eyes roll over to look at the half-elf, silently asking for her approval.
Unable and unwilling to sleep any longer, early morning finds Xio skittering back and forth in the galley, a cup of coffee held in one tentacle and a poorly rolled cigarette in another. They grumble to themselves between sips of brew and long drags of smoke, offering only the barest of acknowledgement to anyone else who enters the kitchen. After much complaining and insistence that they feel fine, they submit almost relievedly to Shabad's examination.
Xio remains silent and sullen throughout the festivities, taking ungracious advantage of Stefani's personal liquor stores as they melt slowly into a chair. As they get deeper into their cups, the human disguise sloughs away entirely, leaving their native form naked for all to see. They appear not to notice or care, and continue to lift their drinks with one long, jellylike tentacle, another six limbs splayed out in all directions. Seven eyes, each floating in the middle of a tentacle, all roll in unison at Shabad's I-Told-You-So moment. "Wow, Doc. You were right, and we were all wrong." Even their voice has a different, more alien, quality as they copy the doctor’s already mocking tone. They call after her as she leaves the galley. "I hope it makes you feel better!" Petty and drunk, they retreat into their comm-unit and begin to leave scathing reviews of Paradise Resorts on every travel site they can find.
Envoy 8 HP +6
+10 Skills
Envoy Improvisation: Don't Quit Feat: Unfriendly Fire
You got it! ;)
"Make it happen, Shabad!" Xio grimaces and braces herself as the ship shudders and crackles around her. "Try reversing the polarity of those plasma emitters!"
Usually that would be my thought too, but I thought it might be helpful to be able to break out of the tractor beam and put some distance between the ships in the same phase. If nobody else chimes in soon tho, I'll just aid Shabad.
So real quick, I can aid Shabad's check and get the engines patched, but I could also try for the Orders action and give Recorva an extra action this phase. Which do we think is more pressing?
"Recorva! Get us out of their tractor beam!" Xio snaps, leaning forward and gripping their chair intensely.
“Doc, you take engineering. Vorilynn.” Xio raises an eyebrow at the traumatized woman and points at the science station. “Can you try to scan those ships for us?” The astrazoan approaches the captain’s chair, beginning to look tired and a little gooey as they stab at the communications panel, opening a channel to the other ship. ”Just so you know, we’re about to blow you and and this asteroid to pieces,“ they say witheringly, far beyond the point of trying to reason with those corrupted by the shadow plane.
"Stop!" Xio shrieks, holding up a hand to warn Recorva and Shabad not to attack, and stows her pistol in a display of peace. "We're not corrupted! Our ship is just down the hall. Come with us!"
Xio leaves the shooting to those who are better at it and sprints down the hall, right on the doctor's heels.
Safely out of the hurricane’s path. I’ll catch up tomorrow.
Starting hurricane preparations here. It's looking like it will hit Florida this weekend. Depending on how bad it is, we may evacuate on Friday or Saturday, and even if not, internet could be out for a few days. Either way, bot me as needed.
Xio takes off after Stefani, knocking over a bench in her path to distract the zombie horde from following, and shoots on the run, barely bothering to aim.
"Three at once, Stef? Leave some for the rest of us," Xio calls, side-eyeing the pirate with a wry smile.
Xio whips around to shout at the corrupted newcomer. "Hey! Get out of here before I shoot you!" She immediately follows it up with a shot from her laser pistol.
Xio kicks over a trashcan to get Kane's attention, her face completely deadpan as she addresses the corrupted security chief. "You know, I actually like you better this way."
While Recorva and Shabad crack the module, Xio paces the room like a caged cat, looking exhausted and more than a little annoyed. She eyes Yazeloya's shadow chains, but nobody could ever accuse her of being sentimental; she leaves them where they fell and goes to sulk against a wall. "I'm going to leave this place a terrible review," she grumbles, crossing her arms and glaring at nothing in particular.
Xio returns the hug wordlessly, her eyes sliding over the bodies scattered around the room. Nodding at Stef's assessment, she adds morosely, "I'm tired. Let's finish this."
Xio moves through the doorway, dragging her gun along the frame to create a horrible screech of metal on metal. She fires at her lover again, but her heart just isn't in it.
"Yazeloya!" Xio calls, banging her pistol against the door to get the vesk's attention. She raises her pistol with a grimace, but hesitates as she pulls the trigger, sending the shot wide.
"Argh!" Virlae grunts as Xio's laser burns into her. The lashunta sneers. "After I finish the big guy, you're next, sweetheart. I'll cut you open from gut to groin!" "You'll be disappointed! My insides aren't what you'd expect!" the shapeshifter shouts back, gesturing wildly with her laser pistol, and then lines up another shot at Virlae.
"Hey Virlae! Catch!" Xio shouts, a callback to their fight at breakfast; except instead of throwing a non-lethal flash grenade, she shoots the Buzzblade with a laser gun.
As Damonkayo is attacked by the Buzzblades, Xio tears her attention away from Yazeloya and calls out to him. "Shake it off, Damon! We've had worse!"
After what they witnessed in the last room, this is what Xio expected to find in the server room, but the sight of Yazeloya still makes her hesitate. "Yazeloya, stop! You know us! You know you can't beat us!"
Xio bangs her new pistol on the wall, getting Zidhil's attention before firing a shot directly at him.
"You're the one who should be afraid," the shapeshifter shoots back. She raises her weapon at Zidhil, no trace of humor in her face as she watches Stefani fire on her former lover.
Hey y'all, my apologies, this week has turned out to be incredibly chaotic and exhausting for me, I've hardly had a free moment to sit in front of the computer. Hoping to get caught up and post this weekend!
I'll get a post in at some point today! I'm house and pet-sitting right now so things are a little busier than usual for me.
"Betcha they wanted us out of the way," Xio says gravely, leaning against the elevator wall.
The shapeshifter shrieks and clutches her torso, unable to shake the pain from her mind. She kicks at the rubble on the lip of the hollow, sending the dust and loose rocks tumbling and giving her an opening to draw her dueling sword. "Here?" she asks dubiously, slashing wildly at what looks like thin air in front of her.
Xio holds her laser pistol at the ready and shrieks into the darkness. "Come out, come out you creepy f@$$er! What, are you scared?"
Xio stares into the darkness where the whispers originate, only vaguely registering Recorva's warning; it's only when her crewmates begin firing shots that she snaps back to reality and darts forward to the edge of the hollow. "Let's see you in the light!" she calls, and hurls a small object into the darkness.
Envoy 7 SP +6
BAB +1 +10 Skills
Expertise Talent: Convincing Liar Will update my profile to reflect the changes later today. ;)
Xio's limbs shudder underneath her, and she lets herself drop to the ground as the ghosts fade away behind them. "Just going to... Sit here for a moment," she says, accentuated by heavy breaths. Before they continue on, she adds the laser pistol to her small weapons collection.
The ghosts' touch send a deathly chill through the shapeshifter's body, and she gasps as her limbs become cold and sluggish, making it an effort to stay standing. She staggers away from the fog of undead, making an ungainly break for the door as it finally slides open.
Earlier:
While others are resting, Xio removes Indigo-13's D-suit from the pile of ash and gently shakes it out. "Thanks, sorry," she whispers to the remains of the unfortunate android.
She peels off her Drow-made armor and slips into the slightly tougher suit, looking a little self-conscious about it. "What? She wasn't using it anymore," she says defensively, and stuffs the other armor into her null-space chamber. Finally, she ties her furtive garment closed, causing the new armor to appear as a svelte black catsuit, similar to the one she put away.
Xio shrieks as the apparitions grab at her and slashes wildly at them with her dueling sword, paying little mind to form as she desperately tries to direct them away from her. "This is the worst vacation ever!!!"
Xio bangs on the rock wall once again, sending any small loose stones crumbling to the floor, and follows up the distraction with another shot.
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Hi all, I’ll start GMing a RotRL campaign soon and I’ve got a group of 3 players. The 3 players have a bit of experience (2 short campaigns, one in PF, one in 3.5). Now, i want them to run the campaign without having to run a DM PC. Here is what i have so far: Player 1: will play a melee of some sort, but don’t want it to be complex. No spellcasting if possible, no paladin (last class he played). I know he likes to hit hard and not be hit in return. Player 2: hesitate between wizard, oracle and witch. Sometimes have trouble picking the right spells, so I’m helping a bit on that hand. Player 3: wants to play a shaddy character. She played a rogue in the past and liked it. Last character was a sorcerer and thought that while cool, was too much to handle. Likes things simple. I was thinking Bard Archaeologist, or maybe Ranger (trapper or urban). Now, they play in this campaign to have fun more than anything else, because they are not avid gamers. So i don’t want to force anything on them. But, i would like some input from people who have played the campaign to tell me if they have a chance. I read the entire book, but i want input from people who have played it. My guess is that an arcane caster of some sort is really important, especially near the end. And i think there is enough traps to make trapfinding worthwhile. Other things of note for the campaign: It’s gonna be a 25 pts buy, maybe extra gold at start (maybe 200). I was hoping not to change any encounter, but might play some monsters dumber than they really are to help them a bit. I will allow them to recruit NPC if they do the right thing, but im not gonna give it to them free. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give. |