Zove's page

Still lacking time for a longer writeup that is needed now, but tonight hopefully!

Hehe...

Student: Zove, how do rainbows work?
Teacher: Uh, I don't know let me google it for you...
*consults imprisoned Archmage as blood flows from nostrils*
...sunlight diffraction.

Zove begins her search for lost secrets. Starting with the town itself, she casts Locate Object to find 'spell scrolls' and 'spellbooks'. Then, she plots brief adventures into the surrounding hills, camping at 1000 ft increments to the north, east, and south...at each point recasting the divination magics. She will spend anything and sacrifice everything for more spell scrolls and/or spell books.

She attempts to implore the leaders of the informal Nargenstal council to keep strong alliances with neighbors. With ink stained fingers and late night edits, she reflavors some of the common documents related to commerce and protection contracts from her experience in Dalliance and the Fey Courts to work with this new reality of backwater Midgard. She also offers herself to be an envoy to these neighbors to birth new relationships and partnerships.

Persuasion?: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 suck

Sensing a failure on that front, she turns to the children, canvasing them for magical ability and attempting to give them some semblance of education: etiquette, geometry, and astronomy.

Apprentice Search, Insight?: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 yikes
Corrupting the Youth, Arcana?: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9 ouch

edit: At some point, Zove transforms Snicker into octopus form and explores the coast below the surface through his eyes.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

But you'll have to drop Beast Speech or Agonizing Blast to get that invocation, right? Your Pact Boon: Pact of the Tome just does 3 cantrips by itself? Sorry trying to understand warlock better.

On the money thing, I doubt it. Zove has about 30 coin and has spent the same from levels 1-4. We did get some magic items though and the merchant just rolled into town...

She perks up, not saying anything for a moment but shuffling through the book, removing a few loose notes and papers "Certainly, but beware the Archmage's influence...he has reason to deceive." sliding it over.

Zove's weird Kobold Press wizard archetype was all about rituals, and I actually still really love the insta-cast ritual ability. But I also had the boneheaded strategy of picking exotic spells, thinking I would find the usual spells along the way (the opposite happened...I should've picked the normal spells everyone picks and got the exotics through adventure). I was excited to play off Ibrox' Hex but regretted never really having the spells to synergize with it, so it never happened.

Illusions would've been cool since they are Int Investigation ability checks a lot, and Hex could've really locked down some Phantasmal Force shenanigans for example.

Certainly fine with her, if its through the Ancient Secrets Eldritch Invocation it takes 2 hours and 50 gp per spell level.

Actually I think you don't have that Eldritch Invocation, but warlock is allowed to swap Eldritch Invocations every level I think. Maybe DM would also let you swap now as part of a rebuild. Or there's also the ritual caster feat...requires only int or wis 13 and costs are the same.

Theres also the pearl for an identify spell that was never obtained. 100 gp if nothing else.

Zove flushes red at mention of the wagon "...er...yes. Some preserved ticks, death magic...an animated snake skeleton. ...I sort of burnt it down."

I think you've mentioned playing one before, but wild mage is pretty fun with a DM that lets you keep tiding and surging. Sort of seems to fit Ibrox...if he accidentally kills everyone, well that was sort of the goal all along, after all.

Zove deflects Aterro's awkward advance somewhat by pulling a pair of glasses from her vest...the fragile item acting as a ward if not a physical barrier to the war cleric.

I completely forgot about the glasses and other magic items from the tent. When she has a free hour, she will attune to the glasses to identify them if using that rule for identifying stuff. Maybe they will help ID the spear better.

I had thought Ravenfolk initially (because Vidim is kewl), but am leaning Arbonesse elf at the moment for all that. Zobecker gearforged was drawing me in as well. But then haven't forgotten the southlands either, so still a bit on the fence.

Some kind of illusionist/arcane trickster/rogue multi or straight classwise...nearly 100% sure on that much at least.

edit: eh...heh. Just ignore all that, still at that point of 1000 ideas swirling around.

Zove obtained a ridiculously high pile of meats and cheeses as her figure-be-damned portion, before finding a table with her companions. The drinks and revelry flowed easy, but something was calling from the back of her psyche: home.

Halfway through she had already retreated to her book and was scribbling furiously, appealing to the sentinel archmage between the pages. Pocket dimensions were familiar, and she recently had manipulated the chest's labyrinth dimension, not to mention bounding across the tome's strange inner spaces. Surely the archmage had some hint of how to pass back to the Shadow Realm...to her court among the million stars.

Yes that's enough time for me. A few q's: Same xp or something different? Standard starting equipment?

I like the taking ship with crew to the high seas idea. We could go island to island doing shorter modules, would allow for lots of variety.

But I'm fine with anything really, I like wilderness adventuring when there is a survival element to it. Like the stream of encounters leading up to Narg, that stuff never fails. :)

I know I'm in the minority, but I also love traditional/classic style dungeons with traps and doors and weird encounters in every room.

Also just noticed we've been playing a bit more than 1 year RL time. :)

If DM needs a break that's no problem. I know for me personally anyways, long games can become a slog at times.

I think the game is great and the party awesome. However, with Zove's book story arc somewhat concluded I'd like to roll something fresh. I'm a bit burnt out on playing her to be honest.

Also, I've learned a lot more about Midgard since the game started from my other Shadow Fey game...there's some stuff I wouldn't mind a chance to explore. Likely still wizard or maybe rogue.

So yeah, I would like to continue. With a different character if possible.

Zove hisses as the bright holy light burns her retinas "...yes...a fountain and a wall. This is the small chapel Thor has constructed here. A font of power, power that transcends our normal experience...but surrounded by a wall of defense, to shield its acolyte. Surely there is more here than I can see...but I require more advanced magics. Perhaps we can find some, together." she offers.

So, not sure whats next for our adventure, but Zove learned Locate Object with her last level and is planning to locate spell scrolls and spellbooks. Identify is definitely on the list.

Nah, I think we were at 2780. Then 2780+2500=5280

5th is 6500.

Adv: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

"Yes, I suspect it is one of the Slayers...a weapon designed to destroy one specific foe. But it also has the properties of a conduit...something like a magical pipe, or corridor. I think it were meant to channel the undiluted power of Thor directly through to this realm...the same way it channeled us through to the Artifice Layer of the tome, and would've channeled whatever that thing from the Void was below the keep." she thinks for a moment "Mmm, he who touches the weapon essentially raps on Thor's door...I will prepare some divinations to study it further."

She can just cast detect magic for now. Maybe if Bentknee has some new spells in stock she can do identify.

Zove grips the javelin in the force grip of her unseen butler, turning it this way and that...studying its effects on the geometry of the universe.

Arcana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Zove rolls her eyes at the boys playing with their phallic toys "Guys...where's your team spear-it? Get it?"

At the sight of the black horse, Zove whistles on a whim, trying to get its attention...

Animal Handling: 1d20 ⇒ 6

Dex vs Rocks Fall: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Zove scoops up the book carefully, totally not seeing the huge brick that slaps her in the back of the noggin with a *clonk* "Bastard son of a toad!" she screams.

Wis Check not Save: 1d20 ⇒ 18

"...apologize for my attempted deception earlier..."

"Yes, I owe you one." she grins mischievously, flashing a fang.

"Now...for our escape from this artifice layer. The spear's energies brought us through, it should bring us out again? Vrindel?"

edit:troll ninja'd

Zove takes the cue from Vrindel and focuses...a flash of light falls into her hand as she readies a spell, not knowing what awaits on the other side.

Zove feels some sympathy for the trapped entity "If you are here to pay for your transgressions, surely the debt has been paid. But what would have happened had I taken the staff, to you I mean? Oblivion? I see three options, Verratir...and I wonder which is most appealing to you." she taps her chin pacing around an elvish symbol.

"Release. We find a new sentinel to hold the staff...and you move on to whatever is beyond. Companionship. You stay as you are, but with my promise to keep company...and to pass the friendship bond along when I am gone so you are never truly alone. The third option...Transference.
We find a new sentinel but instead of releasing you completely, we transfer your sentience to a...less restrictive sort of item. They say there is a god in the Crossroads that turns spirits into woken constructs of gears and metal." she nods, thinking the Archmage understands "I think you deserve one of these things for services rendered...perhaps my court could procure such in writing from Sarastra if it must be official." If I ever find a way back... was the thought she had without voicing.

Insight: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

She reaches for it absent mindedly, but pulls back at the last second "You're trapped here too, aren't you? I wonder, do you even know of the fall of the fey into shadow?" she brushes back her hair to reveal her stubby little horns. "Elves of your kind are almost extinct on Midgard. If your contract was with an ancient Queen, she surely no longer exists to change the terms..." she paces back and forth on the pages, careful not to step in the ink.

"And you are right. This book was not meant for me, but rather Usior...or someone in Courlandia perhaps. Perhaps I can find out more? What was this highness's name? Why were you chosen? Is there a way I can communicate with you from outside?"

"Are you spirit or construct, guardian?" she inquires to the old elf.

"Archmage! Despair! Your name is forgotten, your desert palace dust. This prison has already obliterated you in totality. You're wriggling now, like a rain worm who-oops!-got left in the sun...how truly pathetic you are. Yes, mere chance of a weakling brought you to this point! Not power! Back to your hole now! You have been disallowed any hope within this prison of pages! Void is vast but I am the emissary of One Million Stars!" slobbering as she talks fast and energetically.

Starburst: 1d8 ⇒ 1 unexplainably juicy TM

Zove attempts a stellar collapse right on the face of the intruding spirit...

Starburst, radiant dmg 5 ft square: 1d8 ⇒ 4 or Cha 13 save none

Sorry, bit crunched for time atm

Advantage on prone for crit maybe? 5% chance! :D

She booms down from her enlarged form "Its gaining strength by absorbing the power of the written word...unless you have a way to take its ability to read, kill it!" she offers, as her magics finalize the false symbol.

Arcana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

From the enlarged woman's vantage she scopes further out towards the horizon of the strange landscape "This script...I recognize this hand, the book of Usior! Instead of grounding the void portal we've opened an even deeper passage within!" Spellbooks were penned in many layers. Typically the only one visible was the mundane layer of spiced and doped inks resting on parchment. But above that, the spellwriter beset a meta-layer of artifice...something like a first translation from the mundane to the arcane. Zove suspected they were somehow embedded in this Artifice Layer, rather than deeper in the true arcane contents of the pillar prison.

Zove tried to recall some of the missing symbols and reset them as illusory versions, perhaps she could stall the spirit somewhat if he tried absorbing a false sigil...

Minor Illusion to fill in a blank symbol near it. Maybe it will waste time trying to absorb it instead of a real one.

Yes, maybe DM can allow that attack to be readied for Zove to roll off the book on her turn.

In her weird, super deep, amazon giantess voice "Hey, my book!" as it slides away...she takes two steps before leaping, her massive belly flopping atop the tome *crash*, shielding it with 1000 pounds of fey. Then something stranger happened...

From the darkness of the void beyond a single star was born. Zove looked up from the ground and it reflected in her eye, and her thoughts drifted back to the Court of One Million Stars. There, the spires of the regal palace floated untouched high above the turmoiling darkness which was the sky of the Shadow Realm. There were few who could reach starlight...

Even the mortals of Midgard thought only the gods were given command of aether. But Zove was taught such manipulations at a young age. Somehow, that star beyond the void ignited her memory. There in her prone position, she clenched a fist impossibly hard...only an astronomical gravitational collapse could birth a star.

It ignited with a hot white flame, her first stellar mote. But casting it forth to Anymore, it did not assault his flesh...rather, the starburst chose to assault the more eternal parts of its target, the spirit.

Starburst: 1d8 ⇒ 7 radiant damage, or Charisma save 13 none

Int: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Int, dis: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 ...I have the worst luck with backstory rolls, I swear.

Tired as hell, the massive wiz-b&&** rolled off the young paladin with a sigh, translating more as a moan from her awkwardly enlarged throat cavity.

Seeing Vrindel's brave actions, she reached into her pack preparing it for his strike...

Ready action to Use Object I suppose?

Forgot disadvantage from exhaustion, will just spend inspiration to keep it legit.

Indeed, game not the same without our hulk-smash.

Int: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Is my new cantrip from levelup available here or do we need to wait for long rest? ...sorry, I know I've asked this before...on a small screen today so inconvenient to search

Zove contemplated the intonations of the ancient elvish, this thing didn't want the book destroyed...that much was clear. Could Zove part with it? It was her only link to the ruined megacity of shadow that took Ambassador Usior. More than that, it had become her arcane focus, channeling energies she never dreamed of that were light years beyond the practical enchantments of the fey courts.

There was another notion that rapidly cycled through the fey giant's mind...her odd size perhaps accelerating the magical neurons and extending their capacity exponentially beyond the norm. Ibrox had pulled the conduit too fast, and without grounding these creatures control of the portal would deteriorate violently.

Perhaps the book could be the ground, being a separate phasespace, its capacitance was much higher than the local ley nexus...so she assumed. "The javelin...plunge it into my book before the portal upheaves whatever is on the other side of those tentacles! Do it!" she shouted. Easy come easy go, after all, and her whim was out of the mood to give this creature any satisfaction.

Int: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9 dangit...

"Grounding symbols! We need to...*er* *eh*" Shocking awake she fluttered about in air, somehow at home twirling about in the weightless state with her fey grace. She gripped her pack tightly, realizing at once what was being drawn forward...

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12

...she stretched out her little chicken legs trying to get some purchase on the floor, but it was no use. With a sigh she recited the harmonies of Vidd, and the localized cluster of gridlines that sized her inertia doubled three times...she became 8 times as heavy, and quite large.

Enlarge on self, hoping its enough to touch back down and back out.
But if strength check needed, will negate exhaustion disadvantage

Str: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (13) - 1 = 12

Con save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

Zove shudders bitterly and shrivels, collapsing unconscious into the fetal position the instant she walks closer to the portal.

"Hmm..."

Anyway to close it or destabilize the connection?

Arcana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

Seeing the darkness, Zove wrinkles her nose "Hmm...that might be a problem. I really hope that isn't a void portal..." she points it out, but quickly adds "Wait, don't read the runes...don't even try. They say such can cause the mind to fracture and madden (John Madden NFL). In the Starry Court we once received emissary from the void...a dragon called Phaerliggath, a hoary old wyrm who drifted there in the utterdark far too long. His mind was frayed, and the Silver Spire he took to make his home soon crumbled and decayed...Voidreach, we called it. I fear such is happening to this fortification as well..."

Con check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

The blood on her face froze solid quickly, giving her a look like a cracked old painting. She possessed a wild fey focus, however, that ignored the cold as she pursued the mystery of the ruin...

Still perplexed by Aterro's last tumble, Zove wishes no repeat and proceeds to melt the frost on each step with her magics. She tosses a flaming dagger at one step after the next until they are a bit more safe for her heavily armored companion.

Tossing a thumbs up with a job well done "Stay surefooted, friend."

If theres still that room full of leftover lanterns Zove will light and carry one, also. I was trying to remember...I think there was one unexplored door downstairs and one area upstairs that could only be reached from outside?

She whips her hands down hard to slack the purple guts off her arms "...I'll never understand voidspawn...thought for sure there'd be a phlogiston source in there." She taps her chin a moment, her own blood still flowing freely from a quite broken schnoz. "That feeling when a shutter is quickly thrown open, in a cottage with a single hearth...all the attention immediately goes to that chilly window. I bet thats what fires like for these things. Comfortable in the void, opposite us...opposing us."

Zove follows them inside, particularly interested in the strange portal her alarm was once set to guard.

Wasn't there still some unexplored rooms down there? Sorry if mistaken.

Longshot, but anything particularly lootable from the voidspawn entrails?

All set. Picked a Kobold Press cantrip if you are cool with that.

hp: +6
abi: +2 int
cantrip: starburst (MHH pg 195, 60 ft, line of sight point, cha vs d8 radiant)
2nd: locate object, invisibility
+1 2nd slot

Yay, my spell save is finally equivalent to a normal 1st level wizard. :)

Sorry for delay, will finalize level up within a few hours.

Holding her nose up pinching the blood loss shut, Zove nasally suggests "I think we should check back inside...see if more of these things are forthcoming."

For sure same race/background, really was just thinking skills and arcane tradition. Eh, I might just stick it out...wizards bloom late anyways. But thanks for support.