Nethen moves in with the others to try and stop the guard before she can destroy all the paperwork. He grabs at her arm, attempting to wrest the lamp away.
As Kayleigh steps out of the way and swings her weapon, Nethen follows with his whip aimed at the guard's head, trying to knock her out.
I'm a consultant in medical microbiology - consultant being the senior level UK post, equivalent to an attending in the US. I've been a consultant for about 5.5 years now and I've got lead roles in paediatric microbiology and infection prevention and control, as well as the day to day stuff that microbiology entails - our main role is to help investigate, manage, and treat patients with infection. In the UK after graduating medical school (which is 5 years for most people but there are fast track graduate entry courses which are 4 years) you have to complete a two year Foundation Training programme, which is generally pretty broad and encompasses multiple different specialities. My FP was orthopaedics, diabetes, acute medicine, psychiatry, and obs & gynae. Once you've done F2 you can then apply for specialty training in order to develop specific competencies and skills with the outcome generally being a consultant post. I'll be the first to admit that I'm pretty lazy and as such I wasn't a great medical student or a great junior doctor, so when I applied for my specialty post after F2 I didn't get one. I took a year out of training - there are always more juniors needed than there are training posts so I did a year as an acute medicine doctor outside of a training programme - and then reapplied to microbiology with a better CV and a better knowledge of what I wanted to do. Lots of juniors take one or more years after completing Foundation training, either to work abroad for a while or to get more experience in other areas, before deciding what they want to do for the rest of their careers. I hadn't planned to, but it wasn't the end of the world.
Nethen follows up Ariadne's spell by stepping forward and cracking his whip out towards the guard's arms in an attempt to wrest his weapon from his grip.
Just a heads up that I'm on holiday from this Saturday (October 29th) for two weeks. I'll be back on November 14th when normal posting will resume. I'll have my iPad with me so I'll try to post as and when I can but I'll need people to move my character around the map, if that's OK?
"I definitely don't want to be exposed as someone who's standing against the League" Raktar says. "If you think we're better off staying anonymous and working out things on our own then let's do that." "Kind of you to say," he replies to Luthor's comment, a knowing smile on his face.
"We can get the why once we've got them captured and ready for questioning, we don't have to rely on pretending to be on their side," Nethen replies to Ghil. "And Ariadne's right - she might be able to pass off as an unhappy guard but I doubt the rest of us would, they'd see through us pretty quickly. I think we should try to get in undetected then hit them hard and fast."
"We should visit Therace's friend first," Raktar suggests. "They might have information that'll help us get around safely, we don't want to blunder into any trouble."
Thanks Ariadne, that's great work on the loot. I figure we keep the potions centrally then dole them out as needed.
Conceal Spell is about as good as it gets, and it's fairly involved and doesn't totally conceal spells as all spells and spell-like abilities come with a nebulous sort of visible magical effect. Might be worth considering though, it's pretty cool.
Raktar smiles faintly as he feels the heat wash over him. "Just like being back in the forge," he says with a hint of pleasure in his voice. "Brigh hasn't seen fit to grant me that power I'm afraid," he replies to Elrys. "I agree with checking the other way before we try to cross these pits."
Sorry about the slow posting, I've been off all week and now it's a four day weekend for the Platinum Jubilee. Probably won't be around again until Monday when normal service should resume.
"You'll fit in fine Ghil," Nethen says as Ghil looks down at himself, "plenty of fancy types like to slum it at The Overlook every now and again." "You've got a...squirrel...thing on you," Nethen says as he watches the strange creature and Ghil flicker through a series of changes in a bizarre display of synchronised magic. "Do you two know each other?" he asks as the group approaches The Overlook. Once inside Nethen scans the room for any faces he might know - friendly or not - before heading to the bar with Ariadne. He sits with his elbows resting on the bar, looking out over the busy taproom for anyone who might be willing to trade for the information they need.
Sorry to see you go Ghil, I hope things improve for you. Thanks for stepping in Vazh, I know how hard it can be to change up a character concept.
Revving his chainsaw to clear the gunk out of the mechanism, Raktar turns at Elrys' warning. "What now?" he asks exasperatedly as he jogs towards the passageway and readies his weapon for whatever else this place is going to throw at him.
Raktar takes an involuntary step back as a walking brain squirms out of the corpse of the kasatha he's cut down. He hears Olimpia's warning, acknowledging his lack of adamantine weapon, but decides that the creepy brain thing isn't going to crawl inside of him. He brings his chainsaw down tip first towards the wet looking brain-thing, hoping to eviscerate it before it can do anything horrific.
Stats: HP 149/150, DR 2/- AC 24, touch 15, flat-footed 23 (+7 armour, +1 Dex, +2 natural armour, +4 shield of faith) Speed: 50ft Fort: +19, Ref: +14, Will: +17 (+4 all prayer, +4 all good hope) Conditions: keen edge, shield of faith, lead blades, greater shield of fortification, untold wonder, inspiring good hope, life bubble, inspire courage, delay poison, blessing of fervor Melee attack (+3 chainsaw): +21/+16 (+9/+4 BAB, +5 Str, +3 enhancement, -3 Power Attack, +3 inspire courage, +4 good hope) Melee Damage (+3 chainsaw): 4d6+26 15-20/x2 (+7 Str, +3 enhancement, +9 Power Attack, +3 inspire courage, +4 good hope)
Heeding Elrys' warning Raktar limits his movement as a hail of arrows slices past him, dropping two of the creatures trying to swarm the group. He pivots and brings his chainsaw slicing in an arc towards the next creature, barely noticing the bites glancing from his adamantine armour.
Stats: HP 149/150, DR 2/- AC 24, touch 15, flat-footed 23 (+7 armour, +1 Dex, +2 natural armour, +4 shield of faith) Speed: 50ft Fort: +19, Ref: +14, Will: +17 (+4 all prayer, +4 all good hope) Conditions: keen edge, shield of faith, lead blades, greater shield of fortification, untold wonder, inspiring good hope, life bubble, inspire courage, delay poison, blessing of fervor Melee attack (+3 chainsaw): +21/+16 (+9/+4 BAB, +5 Str, +3 enhancement, -3 Power Attack, +3 inspire courage, +4 good hope) Melee Damage (+3 chainsaw): 4d6+26 15-20/x2 (+7 Str, +3 enhancement, +9 Power Attack, +3 inspire courage, +4 good hope)
Welcome Andostre, glad to have you aboard (though that's a less relevant pun these days). If we've got an oracle and a mesmerist coming then maybe I'll build my fighter to give us some front line muscle. I'll brew him up over the next couple of days.
"Oh shit!" Marnir exclaims as Kung smashes through the door to reveal Bonefist's plan. Marnir launches himself at Bonefist in a headlong tackle, trying to get him away from the powder before he can blow them all to the Boneyard. "Kung, some help please!" he calls as he starts to wrestle with the traitor, his warchant breathy and desperate.
Stats: HP (72) 142/(160) 142 AC 27, touch 16, flat-footed 27 (+9 armour, +3 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural armour, -1 rage, +1 haste) Speed: 60ft (+30ft haste) Fort: +20, Ref: +13, Will: +19 (+8 vs fear) (+2 Fort & +4 Will rage, +2 Fort & Ref heroism, +1 Ref haste) Conditions: inspired rage, heroism, see invisibility, haste, fast healing 4, Battle Cry Melee attack (+2 furious battleaxe): +24/+24/+16 (+10/+5 BAB, +5 Str, +3 enhancement, -3 Power Attack, +2 rage, +2 furious, -1 Reckless Rage, +2 heroism, +1 haste) Melee Damage (+3 furious battleaxe): d8+30 (+7 Str, +3 enhancement, +1 cold, +3 Arcane Strike, +9 Power Attack, +3 rage, +3 Reckless Rage, +2 furious) 17/32 rds raging song remaining
Raktar holds at the door as a barrage of arrows from Elrys fells the nearest abomination. Seeing a chance to advance he moves through the door, his chainsaw roaring as he approaches the next horrific creature. His blade screams as he swings it in a broad arc towards the creature's midsection, hoping to cut it down as quickly as possible.
Stats: HP 149/150, DR 2/- AC 28, touch 15, flat-footed 27 (+11 armour, +1 Dex, +2 natural armour, +4 shield of faith) Speed: 40ft (-10ft armor) Fort: +18, Ref: +12, Will: +16 (+4 all inspiring good hope) Conditions: keen edge, shield of faith, lead blades, life bubble, untold wonder, inspiring good hope, moment of greatness, inspire courage Melee attack (+3 chainsaw): +21/+16 (+9/+4 BAB, +5 Str, +3 enhancement, -3 Power Attack, +4 inspiring good hope, +3 inspire courage) Melee Damage (+3 chainsaw): 4d6+26 15-20/x2 (+7 Str, +3 enhancement, +9 Power Attack, +4 inspiring good hope, +3 inspire courage)
Not sure he can manage that level of harmonics, but I suspect he'd be happy to practice our next long voyage, perhaps with the senior officers as backing singers.
I've still got both my uses of Spell Kenning for today, one of which could get us an invisibility sphere and the other of which should get us airborne in some way.
Hope you feel better soon GM.
"You're right. Everything we've been through has led up to this. We can't hold back, if we don't take down Bonefist he'll lead The Shackles under," Marnir agrees, teeth gritted at the thought of Bonefist staying in power. "Let's get after him," he says, bringing the others together at the same time as the draws magic through himself and into the planes beyond, to allow them to travel through space. A sudden lurching sensation and a brief bout of nausea later, and the group appears on the other side of the lake.
I'm one of those people that loves theorycrafting characters, so I like coming up with new concepts even if they're never going to see the light of day.
Anyone else gotten over excited about a new AP and started thinking up possible characters? No? Just me then.
We got totally crushed in that last encounter, everything went wrong fairly quickly and we just had no hope of coming back. We died off slowly but inevitably, I think my paladin was the last to go. It was pretty anticlimactic, and one of the other players had a go at the DM because he thought we should have triumphed with some fudging and handwaving because it was the end of the AP and it shouldn't have finished like that. I didn't really mind, it was a great campaign and we had some awesome story moments while we played it. Strange Aeons sounds like a rough ride. It's always good to have a view from someone who's played through the AP. Sounds to me like Hell's Rebels, War for the Crown, and Curse of the Crimson Throne might be the current shortlist. Does that seem right?
Thankfully negative levels don't work the way they did in 3.5 where you had to essentially roll your character back a level, losing class features and iterative attacks as well as taking penalties. The PF implementation is much less of a headache!
Marnir looks horrified by the evident strength of feeling his friends and allies have for his installation as the new Hurricane King. "None of this would have happened without all of you sailing and fighting alongside me," he says, looking over at Kung, Niobe, and Cally. "If we're really going to go back to Port Peril and take down Bonefist, then we do it together and we see it through to the end - whatever that end is." Marnir dips his head in thought for a moment, before a grin creeps across his face and his eyes brighten in excitement. "I think this calls for a toast!" he says with glee, opening his personal stash of rum and handing bottles out to the assembled crowd. He pulls the cork out of his own bottle with his teeth, raises it in the air and declares "Let's take back The Shackles!"
Marnir brings back his axe, blood sluicing from the blade, ready to strike again when a beam of white hot fire slices through the Chelish admiral and she falls to the ground screaming before dying horribly on the deck of her own flagship. He looks around to see the bodyguard equally dead and the marines limp within the waving tentacles. The Drake's crew appear to have the upper hand over the Chelish sailors and Marnir unleashes a bestial roar of triumph as he looks over the defeated Chelish armada. Marnir cleans the admiral's blood off his axe on her black and red cloak starts directing his sailors to round up the Chelish crew and making the ship ready for a triumphant return to Port Peril. He takes a few moments on the quarterdeck watching the other squadrons either chasing down the remnants of the Chelish fleet or picking up survivors from their few casualties, contemplating what will have to happen when they return to Port Peril and confront Bonefist. "Right, no point hanging around. Let's get back to Port Peril and see what's what," he says to the others, heading back to the Drake to plot a course home. Before they can set sail, however, a number of ships's boats converge on the Drake carrying allies and friends. As Marnir's cabin fills with the Drake's officers and the other captains of the fleet talk turns to how to overturn Bonefist's rule and ensure the continuation of the Shackles way of life. The discussion moves through a vote of no confidence - not that anyone feels such a vote would mean much to the stubborn Hurricane King - and then turns to rebellion. "You want me to take over as Hurricane King?!" Marnir asks incredulously as the captains' voices all back up Tessa's suggestion. "I'm not a king, I'm a captain," he says, stunned by the suggestion.
Marnir strides confidently into the council chamber and to his appointed place. He looks around at the other Free Captains assembled to hear what he has to say - some friends, a small number of enemies, many who are no more than acquaintances, all overseen by the Hurricane King Kerdak Bonefist himself. Marnir reaches into the satchel at his waist and pulls out a thick sheaf of papers which he slams loudly and dramatically on the table in front of him. "I took these papers from the corpse of the traitor Barnabas Harrigan," he announces loudly, looking around the room for any reaction. The news of Harrigan's death had most likely reached all the ears in the room by now, but still the announcement of it in the council chamber could have provoked a reaction from his former allies. "These papers show the detailed plans that Harrigan made with the Chelish navy for an invasion and occupation of The Shackles. They describe how Harrigan planted spies and saboteurs throughout The Shackles in an attempt to destabilize it, how he worked with Admiral Druvalia Thrune to plan her attack on our fleet, and how he planned to sneak into Fort Hazard to murder the Hurricane King and take his place as a ruler of a Chelish puppet state!" Marnir yells, raising the map of Fort Hazard with it's hidden entry way. "My crew and I put our lives on the line to end Harrigan's treachery and protect The Shackles. Now it is time for everyone one of us here to do the same before the devil-lovers arrive through the Eye and try to wipe us out," he finishes, looking up towards Bonefist for his response.
"We need to get messages out to anyone friendly to us. Norva, Kyra and Captains Endymion and Aiger should be our first priority. We can probably get a message to each of them before we reach Port Peril," he says hopefully.
Marnir hears the spell duel going on behind him but retains his focus on the demons ahead of him. He ducks the swing of the demon's vicious looking glaive, continuing his warchant as he slips inside the creature's reach and hacks into it's thorned flesh with his axe.
Stats: HP (78) 121/(145) 121 AC 26, touch 15, flat-footed 26 (+9 armour, +2 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural armour, -1 rage, +1 haste) Speed: 60ft (+30ft haste) Fort: +18, Ref: +12, Will: +17 (+4 vs fear) (+2 Fort & +4 Will rage, +2 Fort & Ref heroism, +1 Ref haste) Conditions: inspired rage, heroism, see invisibility, haste, fast healing 4 Melee attack (+2 furious battleaxe): +22/+22/+14 (+9/+4 BAB, +5 Str, +2 enhancement, -3 Power Attack, +2 rage, +2 furious, -1 Reckless Rage, +2 heroism, +1 haste) Melee Damage (+2 furious battleaxe): d8+29 (+7 Str, +2 enhancement, +3 Arcane Strike, +9 Power Attack, +3 rage, +3 Reckless Rage, +2 furious) 21/28 rds raging song remaining
Marnir feels the clacking, scraping sound from the demon invade his mind as he stops in his tracks with no idea of what he's doing or what's going on. The sound melds with his thoughts and he stands stock still until suddenly normality reasserts itself. He shakes his head as he remembers the dire situation the crew had found themselves in and sees that the three-legged horror is now encased in a block of ice. Not wasting any time wondering how or why he picks his warchant back up and steps around the ice to take on the glaive-wielding demons on the roof. "Get the fliers!" Marnir shouts as he moves, hoping that Niobe and Cally can bring down the two women while he and Kung take on the ground-based demons. "You're not going to stop us now," he growls as he attacks, his axe blade dulled with blood in the starlight.
Stats: HP (74) 121/(145) 121 AC 26, touch 15, flat-footed 26 (+9 armour, +2 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural armour, -1 rage, +1 haste) Speed: 60ft (+30ft haste) Fort: +18, Ref: +12, Will: +17 (+4 vs fear) (+2 Fort & +4 Will rage, +2 Fort & Ref heroism, +1 Ref haste) Conditions: inspired rage, heroism, see invisibility, haste Melee attack (+2 furious battleaxe): +22/+22/+14 (+9/+4 BAB, +5 Str, +2 enhancement, -3 Power Attack, +2 rage, +2 furious, -1 Reckless Rage, +2 heroism, +1 haste) Melee Damage (+2 furious battleaxe): d8+29 (+7 Str, +2 enhancement, +3 Arcane Strike, +9 Power Attack, +3 rage, +3 Reckless Rage, +2 furious) 22/28 rds raging song remaining
"Sounds like you've done this before," Marnir suggests with a wide grin, followed by a deep and hearty laugh. "I can probably make us invisible if Cally can't," he goes on. "And then you'll get to hit things with your sword Kung."
Marnir has little trouble threading through the reefs outside Harrigan's lair. He guides the Drake through with ease, all the while coordinating the preparations of the crew. "Niobe, Cally - what have we got to get us into Harrigan's tower? Something that'll get us all in together, and possibly that'll get us out again?" he says hopefully.
Sounds like NZ has nailed it. The UK is mired in confusion, with the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland continuing as before but England trying to ease things but in a really vague way that'll no doubt backfire.
"Neither of those groups sound very friendly," Marnir says as Cally tells the group about the religious significance of the various symbols. "Also, I don't think this statue is very friendly. Looks like a trap, though we might be able to turn it off it we replace this bit," - he points at the stone heart - "with this," he says, picking up a similarly sized chunk of green stone from one of the salt-crusted basins. Marnir weighs the stone in his hand, looking carefully at the statue's hands to work out the best way to swap the stones out. "Hold onto your hats," he says as he reaches out...
Just a quick heads up, my second child is due at any point in the next 2.5 weeks, so my posting rate might suddenly plummet. Please feel free to bot me if that happens, but I'll try and get back to regular posting as soon as possible.
Marnir wipes his axe clean on a scrap of fallen sailcloth as he makes his way back to the Drake's boat, his pace increasing as he sees Cally struggling in the water. "Cally, are you OK?" he calls, leaping into the boat and reaching over the gunwale to help pull her aboard. "Niobe, I think she's sick" he says as he quickly looks over her wounds.
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