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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Colossus in the Playground
     
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    Default Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)




    DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    Character
    [Player]
    Speech Color AL
    Race [Ethnicity]
    (Gender ID)
    Side #1
    Side #2
    Campaign Trait Totem Animal
    Aronnahar (Aron) Zyianthus
    [NPC]
    Teal
    N Wishtouched Half-Elf
    [Taldan] (f)
    Bard 6/
    LA 1
    Oracle (Lunar) 7
    [Seer]
    Boarded in Bloodcove
    [Mwangi Expanse]
    Zebra
    [Equines]
    Clarence T. (Book) Booker
    [Buck Godot]
    Saddle Brown
    NG Fortune-Blessed Human
    [Taldan] (m)
    Rogue [Contender] 5/
    Pathfinder Delver 2
    Swashbuckler 6
    [Picaroon]/
    LA 1
    Mwangi Scholar None
    Fronaldo Claudex
    [Blackhawk101]
    Dark Orange
    LN Goblin (m) Alchemist 7
    [Eldritch Poisoner]
    Rogue 7
    [Knife Master]
    Boarded in Cheliax Korir River Gorilla
    [Simians]
    Gelik Aberwhinge
    [NPC]
    Golden Rod
    CN Gnome (m) Bard 7
    [Wit]
    Nexus 5/
    Pathfinder Chronicler 2
    Boarded in Varisia Hippopotamus
    [Large Mammals]
    Xhanfaerd
    [Silphael]
    Green
    CG Ekujae Half-Elf
    [Wildborn] (m)
    Arcanist 6
    [Magaambyan Initiate]
    Zealot 6
    [Discordant Crusader]
    Mwangi Scholar Gerrhosaurus
    [Reptilians]
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2022-02-28 at 09:48 PM.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    Spoiler: Player Status
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    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  2. - Top - End - #2
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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    ARODUS (LATE SUMMER), 4710 AR .... When everything that led to current events was set in motion)

    The Sargavan merchant vessel Jenivere was one of many that make the yearly voyage along the western coasts of Avistan and northern Garund. Its trade route ran from the Sargavan capital city of Eleder all the way up to Magnimar in Varisia, and then back south again. The trip was 3,400 miles long and took just over a hundred days one way. Yet despite its length and sometimes dangerous peril, it was also a trip filled with opportunity for profit. The Jenivere’s ports of call included (from north to south) Magnimar, Kintargo, Pezzack, Corentyn, Ilizmagorti, Ollo, Quent, Port Peril, Bloodcove, Senghor, and finally Eleder—it was at these cities that the Aron's previous fellows boarded the ship, with Aron herself having boarded in Bloodcove of the Mwangi Expanse.

    One of the Jenivere’s passengers appeared to be a plain-looking Varisian scholar named Ieana. Although friendly enough, Ieana mostly kept to herself, and whispers among the crew variously claimed that she was really a Chelish agent, the actual owner of the Jenivere, or even Captain Alizandru Kovack’s secret lover. None of these were true, but Ieana was indeed far more than she appeared—she was in fact a disguised serpentfolk cleric of Ydersius named. (In the final battle, Aron thinks "Ieana" referred to herself as "Yarzoth," but isn't sure if that was a moniker for herself or something else in the creature's snake-language, and so that is how Aron refers to that entity since.)

    As the voyage progressed, Yarzoth kept to herself and maintained her disguise. Her talent at deception and her periodic and subtle use of suggestion on the ship’s captain and crew likely ensured that no one on board suspected the actual truth. As the Jenivere began the final stage of her journey across Desperation Bay, Yarzoth made her move. She used dominate person to enthrall Captain Kovack and thus ensured that the ship’s course veered slightly off its intended route, sending it many miles off course into waters known for their dangerous currents, piracy, monsters, and worse. The Jenivere was now on a collision course with the notorious island known as Smuggler’s Shiv.

    With the crew growing increasingly suspicious of the unusual course, Yarzoth knew she had to take drastic action if she was going to reach Smuggler’s Shiv before a mutiny occurred. So, the night before the ship’s fateful encounter with the island’s northern shore, she slipped into the ship’s galley, murdered the cook, and used multiple vials of oil of taggit to poison the evening’s meal (excluding the already-dominated captain and the first mate Alton Devers, whom she dominated just before she murdered the cook). After hiding the cook’s body and disguising herself as him, she saw to the delivery of the poisoned meal to passengers and crew. Yet soon thereafter, with the majority of the ship (including Aron and her sister Erin) unconscious from the poisoning, Yarzoth’s plans finally began to unravel.

    First, with so many of the ship’s crew unable to aid in manning the ship, the Jenivere was quickly snatched up by the notorious currents. Held fast in these currents and hurtling for the sharp rocks of the isle’s northern shore, the first mate accomplished something the captain could not—he managed to overcome the domination (when ordered by the captain to aid in the approach to the dangerous shore) and confronted the captain, accusing him of madness and demanding that he turn away from his disastrous course. Captain Kovack didn’t take well to the insubordination and, with some mental urging from Yarzoth, attacked Alton. The resulting battle was furious, but before the captain could kill his mate, the Jenivere struck Smuggler’s Shiv. The ship lurched as it impaled itself and split in half upon the sharp rocks, sending both Captain Kovack and Yarzoth plummeting into the surf.

    Still on board the doomed ship, the wounded first mate’s concern shifted to the safety of the ship’s passengers. The ship’s crew, being housed on a lower deck, had drowned in the wreck, but her passengers yet lived. With a heroic effort, he managed to drag the passengers into the Jenivere’s lifeboat and made several trips to a nearby beach to off load the survivors. Alton then returned to the ship to make a last attempt to gather supplies, but here his luck finally ran out, for a horrific beast—a sea scorpion—had been washed onto the deck. The creature stung him several times, and although Alton managed to take shelter in a small supply room, he soon perished from the venom, leaving the passengers and a few others alone on Desperation Bay’s most notorious shore.
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2020-11-24 at 11:03 PM.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    Spoiler: Player Status
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    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  3. - Top - End - #3
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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    ROVA 4710 (Beginning of Autumn) ...

    The survivors of the wreck of the Jenivere slowly die off for several reasons ... madness (via running off into the jungle's of Smuggler's Shiv, never to be seen again), disease, and cannibals. The remains of what Aron considered the "core group" of survivors that were the bravest finally broke the power of the Thrunefang tribe of cannibals. Towards the end, they cornered Ieana/ Yarzoth in hidden ruins of a place called the Temple of Zura (the apparent reason for Yarzoth's engineering the Jenivere in the first place) and kill her, though her body wasn't found as she fell into a pit. Meanwhile, they found one of their missing former castaways, Aerys Mavato, a woman with a secret talent for fiction writing.

    The remaining survivors rebuild just enough of an attempted Chelish lighthouse, taking control of it from more Thrunefangs (who were the descendants of the original Chelish sailors that became debased) and managed to light its beacon, discovered an ancient Azlanti temple and defeateed Yarzoth, and all that was left to do was only to wait for rescue. And the defeat of Yarzoth gave clues to a place called Tazion, a set of ruins in the Screaming Jungle of the Mwangi Expanse that itself supposedly had clues to a lost Azlanti city named Saventh-Yhi.

    The rescue ship that finally comes is a whaling vessel bound for Eleder, the Red Gull, captained by Aulek Tegerten. They send longboats to the shore and pick up not only the survivors, but also another friend of theirs they made on the island .... one Pezock, a crazed tengu sailor that had originally sailed with what seems from his descriptions to have been Mantis cultists.

    It actually took some time for the party to sort through Yarzoth's notes, and included a significant amount of time in a library once they got to Eleder, the capital of Sargava, the recently independent country that was once a vassal state for Cheliax before the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune took power in the empire to the north.

    But split loyalties and the party being observed was all that was needed for multiple factions to recognize what the party had stumbled onto.

    Aron and Gelik (the latter having been a disgraced Pathfinder himself), gave information to the Pathfinders.

    Stephan Brauer, Erin (who may have had a crush on Stephan), a Shoanti ranger named Ankarum, a former legal clerk named Jask Derindi, and an elven "Calistrian paladin" named Lalarlia made sure the government of Sargava knew about the clues leading to Tazion (and from there, supposedly, Saventh-Yhi).

    Pezock tried to curry favor with the cultists of the Red Mantis. They took the information he had, but rebuffed him from serving as Pezock (a former slave) was not really a believer. Pezock joined forces with Aerys Mavato and the two of them instead went to the Free Captains and found a place with them.
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2020-11-25 at 12:26 AM.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  4. - Top - End - #4
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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    Late Rova to Lamashan, 4710 AR...

    It was the Sargavan Faction's (and Aron's previous companion) LT(jg) Stephan Brauer who was the key to deciphering Yarzoth's notes, as he was the only one in the group that spoke and read Aklo, having worked for about a week to decipher the script (with Gelik as his scribe and amanuensis, who in turn got a copy of the translation to the Pathfinders), though Gelik put in more time at Eleder's Colonial Archives for cross-archival research, finding a mention of an existing Azlanti ruins in the Mwangi Expanse.

    Once deciphered and researched by the team of Aberwhinge and Brauer, Yarzoth’s notes proved quite complete. They detailed the Zura cult’s birth in the fabled city of Saventh-Yhi, their exile to Smuggler’s Shiv, and their planned return to the lost city. According to the notes, however, Saventh-Yhi was hidden behind powerful magical wards, preventing the banished cultists from simply returning home. Instead, they planned to journey to a smaller Azlanti outpost called Tazion, wherein they could use something called “the pillars of light” to finally make their way into Saventh-Yhi.

    Thus, while the notes did not reveal the location of Saventh-Yhi itself, they did accurately describe the site of Tazion, placing the latter in the southernmost reaches of the Mwangi Jungle, north of the Bandu Hills, between the Upper Korir and Ocota Rivers.

    But, as described before and for various reasons, the translation to Tazion was quickly released into the "wilds" of Eleder and many factions began preparing expeditions of their own - the Aspis Consortium, the Free Captains of the Shackles, the Pathfinder Society, cultists of the Red mantis, and the Sargavan Government itself.


    PATHFINDER SOCIETY

    The Pathfinder Society seeks Saventh-Yhi for the same reason they explore any other ancient ruin—for the lost knowledge it contains, not to mention the historical artifacts and rumored wealth that can be recovered from the fabled city. In addition, with the recent loss of their lodge in the city of Kalabuto, the Decemvirate is eager to expand their influence in the region, and Saventh-Yhi might just make a good site for a new Pathfinder Lodge.

    Faction Leader: The Society has placed a skilled Pathfinder, Amivor Glaur, in charge of their expedition. A veteran of several expeditions into the Mwangi interior, Amivor is skilled at organizing and leading such missions, as well as appraising and exploring historical sites.

    Rival Faction: The Pathfinder Society has long been at odds with the Aspis Consortium, and seeks to limit the trade syndicate’s influence here in Garund as elsewhere on Golarion.

    Ally: Aronnahar (Aron) Zyianthus and Gelik Aberwhinge, two minor celebrities now for their returning knowledge of Tazion and Saventh-Yhi, worked with Amivor to contact and put together a team for a vanguard with Aron in nominal lead, but with a more democratic approach to vanguard leadership. Once Amivor Glaur's larger contingent of Pathfinders catches up to the vanguard (i.e., the PCs), he will take charge of camp organization and any inter-party disputes, but will primarily serve in an administrative capacity as an on-the-road venture captain.

    Special: After establishing a base camp in Saventh-Yhi, the Pathfinders will assist the PCs’ explorations of the city using the Society’s knowledge and expertise in exploring ancient sites.
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2020-11-25 at 12:47 AM.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    Spoiler: Player Status
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    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    Late Lamashan, 4710 AR...

    During this time, there was a revolt of a separatist group of natives who use more terrorist-style tactics than attempting peaceful interactions with colonists. They are called the Freemen insurgents who killed people at a whaling company before they were beaten and their leader killed by Aron, her sister, and their friends in the Sargavan Faction. They tried to peacefully de-escalate, but it was to no avail. Because of the Freemen's harsh methods, even against their own, none of the colonists that stopped the insurgency were blamed by more moderate locals (who have made far more inroads with diplomacy).

    This could be written off it weren't for the fact that all five factions were wanting to court The Tempest - a local hermit - for his expertise. As a Bonuwat (ethnicity of Mwangi, tending towards seafaring and living along the coasts) Gozran who had traveled out west as a younger man, all were trying to curry his favor, but because of the Sargavan Faction's actions in stopping the excess bloodshed of the Freeman's Revolt, The Tempest offered them an audience. Even though Aron helped put down the revolt, she was the only non-Sargavan Faction member, so she was not invited. This cemented Aronnahar's decision to leave her sister with Stephan Brauer and redouble her loyalty with the Pathfinders.

    Erin did tell her sister what happened, though. Something to do with gathering a rare feather from a nest, and then The Tempest performed some Gozran ritual wherein the party learned of their totem animals. The Tempest decided to go with the Sargavan Faction to find Tazion as an "outside consultant." There are rumors that two other factions attempted assassinations against him to deny Sargava their new resource in The Tempest's knowledge.

    Finally, on Moonday, 25 Lamashan 4710 AR, the Pathfinder Society vanguard left Eleder, the capital of the former Chelish colony of Sargava.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)



    [The above is a rough look at what the Pathfinder Society vanguard did in heading to Tazion.]

    Eleder, Capital City of Sargava (pop. 8900) was the place from which you left.

    C) Marks the site of the Fzumi Salt Mine. There were signs of recent habitation by one or two persons, and some possible spoor from smaller predator lizards known as "dinosaurs."

    E) A village was suffering from predations by some type of spirit-creature. It seems that the Sargavan Faction's vanguard - has gotten past you at some point. They stopped the "chemosit," freeing the village.

    F) A large corpse belonging to what is called an "ankheg" is here, having been killed by a combination of weapons and spells. There is a large amount of "other blood" here as well, enough that possibly whatever the ankheg fought - assuming human-sized - lost enough blood to have been killed.

    H) Gallows Tree seen as you approach Kalabuto. A tall and leafless boab tree stands alone in a clearing, its wood burnt black. A circle of tiny bones surrounds the tree. Over a dozen human bodies hang from the branches, making grisly silhouettes against the blue sky. More bodies lie on the ground at the base of the tree, frayed ropes still around their necks. A circle of tiny bones surrounds the tree. This tree shows the scars of a country at war. Mzali warriors have hung the bodies of several Sargavans high in the tree’s branches. The Mzali create these gruesome trees to instill terror in their neighbors. There are even signs that some of the tree's former "occupants" became undead but were destroyed. Because of the hideous damage done here, it is unknown at this point if the Sargavan Faction met their end here. This horrifies Aron, whose sister Erin is with that group.

    Kalabuto (pop 11,340): The largest city of Sargava, and also the last vestige of "civilization" (read: colonialism) to the east as Sargavas unwritten borders effectively end here. Aron learns that while the Sargavan vanguard did make it to Kalabuto (the Gallows Tree was from earlier), she had a right to feel terror. It seems that her sister Erinelia was killed by the ankheg (and it was her gore soakage noted previously), but her body was reverently carried here - given gentle repose by the party cleric - so that Aron could then take care of the body.

    The Pathfinders (you, plural) end up spending two-and-a-half days in Kalabuto to respect Aron while she made whatever arrangements were needed to send her sister's body onwards to Eleder with instructions. You know that this will set you back, but Gelik reminds people that getting to Tazion first isn't enough ..... that success will be measured by a group's ability to divine what is needed to find Saveth-Yhi ... and Gelik has a feeling that two paladins, a Shoanti, a former legal clerk, a Gozran holy man, and a small squad of soldiers aren't going to have a damn clue how to do that. In fact, though he doesn't say this to Aron (just the rest of you), the loss of Erinelea Zyianthus just might be a crippling factor to the Sargavan vanguard of really doing more than showing off their ability to orienteer. In addition, intelligence from a contact states that there was a falling out and that the Shoanti man has quit their party.

    L) Leaving Kalabuto, the PCs follow the River of Lost Tears to a huge freshwater lake, the Lake of Vanished Armies. Here at the Sargavan border with the Mwangi Expanse, dozens of tribal settlements line the muddy banks of both the river and the lake. Locals earn meager livings catching mud crabs and turtles, making mud bricks, and growing rice, hippo grass, and other native grains. The soft, shallow banks make it difficult to land larger craft, though the tribesfolk typically pole rafts out to passing vessels heading to Kalabuto or elsewhere, hoping to barter their foodstuffs for worked metal, crafted technologies, and other such materials. The settlements are small, consisting only of collections of mud-daub shacks, and they lack such amenities as shops and inns. Still, outsiders quickly discover that these friendly folk are eager to accommodate travelers in their homes, and offer them all sorts of gifts ranging from exotic foods to mystic drugs, and occasionally their companionship.

    M)
    Under the rule of the Child-God Walkena, the people of the city-state of Mzali despise colonial Sargava, and have on several occasions attempted to raze Kalabuto. But Mzali doesn’t limit its attacks solely to Sargava—it wages war against all foreigners. Walkena’s warbands constantly scour the borders between Sargava and the Expanse, brutally putting any non-Mwangi or foreign sympathizers to the blade, hanging them from “gallows trees” (see area H), or skinning their victims alive.

    Soon after leaving the Lake of Vanished Armies, the PCs encounter four dead Mzali warriors at the junction of the Pasuango and Korir Rivers, having been killed by Sargavan crossbows and other weaponry - the Sargavan faction, still ahead of you.

    O) The trees grow broader and taller here, their gnarled branches rising to a tangled canopy that blots out the sun. Digging into their roots, giant, parasitic corpse-flowers blossom across the forest floor. Littering the banks of the river are several humanoid corpses, their armor and bodies ripped apart as if by large claws. Some distance away is also the body of a dire ape that was killed several days ago. The body, upon inspection, were likely some of the members of the vanguard belonging to the Free Captains. Pezock's and Aerys Mavato's body is not among them. It is unknown if enough of the Free Captain exist to continue their mission, or if Pezock, Mavato, and any other survivors ran off or not.

    P) At this point along the river, the PCs notice snapped saplings and torn brush, evidence that something large has passed through the jungle. They find the tracks of a barefoot humanoid and a larger set of clawed humanoid prints with a stride twice as long as that of a human. The trail leads deeper into the jungle to a small clearing where a boar carcass lies splayed open on a boab tree, its entrails laid out before it. Aron, the seer, determines the boar was slain for use in extispicy—determining the future by studying an animal’s entrails. At the edge of the clearing sits a small gravesite surrounded by anthills, with a gaping hole in the side of the cairn marking where the tomb was breached.

    Inside is a destroyed troll zombie's remains, as well as that of a Mwangi man with a wiry frame that was killed by a combination of sword and crossbow bolt. By now, you are beginning to believe that whomever is in the squad of soldiers is a hidden talent, as it seems from several battle sites that their sniper is an exemplary shot. The dead Mwangi had obvious scarification that marked him as a juju priest of some sort, and the world will not miss him.

    Q) Near the ruined city of Liclac, the party finds evidence of a dead Sargavan soldier. It is here that the PCs fought their most pitched battle - against the Eloko. The Eloko are Mwangi spriggans with grayish-brown skin and spindly arms, and hair spiked with lime. Their faces are painted to resemble leering skulls. The entire party is wounded, with Gelik and Tor-ber particularly so, and though the PCs took down at least a dozen spriggans, they were forced to high-tail it out of there. They were hunted for about half a day before the Eloko of the Ironbell tribe dropped the hunt.

    R) Zenj Spirit Dancers. The PCs learn much when they are met and given hospitality by the two sisters here. There was an obvious battle here, and they sadly mention that not only did they lose their sister, but the group that was here before you lost three of their members. It seems some otherworldly creature - a "succubus" - had enthralled the sisters and acted as one of them. A teenage woman named Athyra and two Sargavan soldiers were killed in the great battle. They have no more information to give regarding the Sargavans, and won't discuss the results of their spirt dancing.

    That said, Xhanfaerd knows that Zenj spirit dancers are holy women and to not allow them to dance for you would be an affront not only to them, but to the local gods. They perform an amazing dance while the fire burned woods and plants that had mildly psychotropic effects.
    Spoiler: Totem Animals
    Show
    Each of you will be given a totem animal. Note, these are not chosen by the player as each totem animal is specific in what it offers and how that impacts the campaign moving forward.
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2020-11-26 at 04:33 PM.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  7. - Top - End - #7
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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    ARONNAHAR ("ARON") ZYIANTHUS




    Of the two people in the vanguard that were the actual shipwreck survivors of Smuggler's Shiv, and therefore found information regarding Tazion and the "pillars of light" of Saventh-Yhi, Aron is by far the more proactive.

    She has the burnished skin of those who have spent time in the sun, red hair, and green eyes. She wears typical Druman garb, but with some of the frills cut away. Her beauty is awe-inspiring, but she is so in tune with voices not of the world that she tends to ignore people who don't use direct address, having a far-away look sometimes.

    Her zebra tribal tattoo is on her chest - from her suprasternal cavity down to below her navel, and includes the inner portion of her breasts. Given her clothing with the zebra's head tattoo above and below her limited torso clothing, this is likely to have a .... distracting effect on those not used to someone of her beauty.

    While not the "leader" of the vanguard, she is nominally the one in charge of coordinating reports to Amivor Glaur, the lead Pathfinder in Eleder (who himself is on his way with a larger group of Pathfinder researchers). Since Kalabuto, her voice has taken a massive shift down in volume so that even when she shouts she isn't very loud, though her beauty and nearly ethereal quality have further increased. She no longer sings, but rather has poured forth her artistic effort into her flute. This lack of strong voice is another reason a woman who could easily take the lead with any group of which she is a part instead takes a support role.

    Practically within the group, Aron is the vanguard's only divine caster, and therefore healing the party is her prerogative. Others have some healing or healing like ability (Gelik, Xhanfaerd), but primarily the duties fall squarely on her shoulders. She is also primarily a diviner with many strange powers related to her communing with the moon, but in-battle it often means that she knows when she is going to be attacked and effortlessly moves out of the way. Otherwise, she is the primary "first contact" with parties whose allegiances are unknown, and her knowledge of the natural forces of the jungle matches and that of strange metaphysics and cosmology rivals that of the far more studied Xhanfaerd. She is also the one who has he best chance of activating magical items not suited for the casting traditions of others.




    Last edited by lostsole31; 2020-11-28 at 03:07 PM.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    FRONALDO CLAUDEX




    This large-eared, green-skinned goblin has a devil may care grin and a wild glint in his red eyes. He is well spoken and dressed in well tailored coat and breaches with rolled down top boots. A pair of sharp looking daggers dangle from his belt. Hidden extracts, potions, poisons, and blades are secreted all about his person. He is full of energy and doesn't stop moving, constantly darting around the room investigating everything. He has a preternatural love of shiny things; especially gold and jewels. His shock of wild white hair hovers above his head as if burning.

    He has a tattoo of a Korir River Gorilla tribal tattoo covering his whole back.

    Fronaldo is quick-witted and intelligent, but easily manipulated by more forceful personalities. His high, childlike voice often leads others to assume that he is childlike. He is anything but. Raised in Cheliax by human "parents" after they found him abandoned in a gutter, young Fronaldo was raised as a beloved member of the Claudex household. While in public he was forced to behave as a slave until he reached adulthood and was able to purchase his freedom with the help of his parents Esmerelda and Javier. They taught him science and chemistry and gave him an excellent education. Once he gain his freedom and moved out on his own, only then did his true education in the real world began.

    Chip on his shoulder due to his size; classic small man syndrome. Doesn't like working alone. Prefers the safety of an organized group. Weak willed. Greedy. Manic. Speaks with a high-pitched, child-like voice.

    "So, Fro, if you are chosen for the vanguard, what do you bring to the table?" asked Amivor Glour, the venture-captain in Eleder.

    "Poisons, potions, and pokin' holes in problem people, and vapid ideas."

    That was it. That was the whole interview, and it was enough to get him hired on as the first addition (outside of Aron and Gelik). And that pretty much sums up his skill set.



    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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    CALEB ("PIM") STARSEER




    His skin is just a touch too tinged with green with classic olive coloring, and with long red-orange hair, that human sailors had given to calling him "Pimento Loaf" ("Pim" for short). Due to a little shame at his skin color, he has old, dark blue tattoos on most of his skin, to the point where his skin now just looks olive and navy blue if you didn't know those were tats ... faded tats with blurry, old linework from a bunch of different, unknown, amateur artists. He looks older than he is because of the ink looking somewhat like wrinkles, and accentuating the uglier parts of his face.

    He does have a much higher quality tattoo of a red-chested owlet on his left calf, which he jokes about saying it is there to watch his back.

    Pim is an adult who was once a shy kid. That makes him quite self-reliant, but also cautious of others. He was made fun of a lot, so he embraces his flaws now and has full sail of his own personal crazy ship.

    He is distrusting of very tall people, and empathetic to the small, so he has always tried to overcome shyness by grouping with the “short squad." This led to he and Fronaldo meeting. As Pim is sometimes called a goblin as an insult, he is protective of Fronaldo, who is younger than him. Pim is in no ways a wise person, he is too smart for his own good, and is really a brave coward with sophomoric thoughts. He relies on his trusted friends to help him continue to feel assured of himself, without them he would be alone and terrified, but if he had to start over again it wouldn't be the first time. He spends his mornings preparing, and reading the harrow, and he moonlights as a fortune teller, but he is also an avid gamer, and the harrow doesn't define him every second of the day. He is much more interested in following the paths that the harrow presents, rather than staying home and divining fortunes for elderly nobles. His upbringing was very religious, but he rebelled against that, instead using those teaching to make his own path. He still follows his families religion, but they wanted him to be a priest of Desna. Instead, he makes all of the normal rites and prayers in his own way, but communing with the night sky and constellations. While his routine consumes him, he has a lot of emotion to express, as he feels ambitious enough to try to gain experiences no one else ever has. He thinks that the only way to properly utilize fortune telling isn't to stick to what you know, but rather to embody chaos at all times, so that you can be in the “eye of the storm” looking out, but he would still try to protect his allies if able.

    He runs the fortune-telling and magical visual effects for Fronaldo when he does his juggling act, so they can be found practicing and hanging out together a lot.

    In addition to his significant arcane prowess and general knowledge, he has the dubious ability to claim the greatest amount of medical training in the group .... which is a hair better than basic battlefield medicine.



    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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    TOR-BER AHMOSE




    A tall, sandy, brown-skinned half-orc, with chestnut brown hair that parts on the left, Brown eyes that are so dark, they could be black. While not handsome or good looking at all, with large teeth jutting from his lower lip, and half an ear missing, he comes across as brutish. Wearing a utilitarian style hot weather garb, in a light brown color, baggy light leggings, knee high burnt orange leather boots, suede light brown over cloak, covering the light cotton white shirt. Scarf type wrap bunched about his neck, a broad segmented leather belt on his waist, a satchel slung over his shoulders.

    Tor-ber stands proud, and tall, being a local towns guard has taught him much, about himself, and the world around him, sometimes seeming larger than life for the better of it. do not let the lack of arms and armor accompaniment fool you, for he will surely pull something from a sleeve, or seemingly be protected by some tangible force gifted by gods, who can say. His totem (bushbuck) tattoo is on his left rear calf.

    Full of bravado, and brashness, always eager to prove his worth, to the world, to his twin brother, Nar-dew, and mainly to himself. reluctant to ask for help, a lot of time knowing he should, this drive stems from a deep seeded emotional need to be the best for his family and friends, the strong rock.

    Tor-ber is not only the primary muscle in the group, he is also the most given to pragmatic skills. All physical skills in spades, the ability to craft his own shoes or clothing (as long as he is provided good clothing material by Aron), it is he that the party relies on with his soldiering skills and animalistic senses to spot danger and understand far better than anyone else the various dangers the Mwangi has in store, for it is said, "The jungle devours." Oddly, he has an artistic side as well, and he puts solid professional training and that to good use as the group's cartographer.



    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    XHANFAERD


    Robust among his kin, to the point of usually rising eyebrows when people see the ekujae's paintings on his face, often followed by somewhat confused gazes at his ears, Xhanfaerd has everything to stand out in a crowd. His elvish heritage can be seen through his sharp features and the light green tint in the sclera of his eyes, and he shows the kind of body one could see on a veteran fighter. His gerrhosaurus tattoo is on his right shoulder, head upwards as if whispering secrets to Xhanfaerd.

    He usually wears brightly colored clothes when in town, in accordance to the fashion of the urbanite Magaambyans.

    Robust of body and mind, Xhanfaerd was used to playing on both of those aspects. "Surely someone so well built is not as bright", or "That dork reading those horribly precise books is probably scrawny" was the kind of things he got used to play with quite fast, earning a mischievous stance on the way. He knows quite well that most other sapients aren't as gifted as himself and how lucky he is, and won't show off, at least not voluntarily. If he knows he can do something to help, he will, and that might raise jealousy and rivalries. At least it did already, more than once. People don't like when you solve the riddle of their lives with one glance.

    He tries to do his best to live up to the standards he set through his books, while knowing very well that without a major civilizational shift it won't be possible, at least not on a personal scale.

    The Pathfinder vanguard is a group of stunning geniuses - Pim, Fronaldo, and Xhanfaerd. But with his training from the school of the Magaambya in the openly secret/not secret city of Nantambu in the Mwangi Expanse, Xhanfaerd's training and scholasticism makes him first among equals, with particular expertise among subjects arcane, historical, natural sciences, linguistics, and the peoples of the Mwangi and their customs. Within the group, he is blessed of an almost supernal insight into personal motivations and actions, and as such is usually a voice of reason and common sense.





    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    GELIK ABERWHINGE



    Gelik is a spry, energetic gnome with blond hair and a neat goatee. He dresses like a noble at all times. ("If you can't take the time to dress properly, no one will take what you have to say seriously, and they'd be right not to!")

    With liberal use of prestidigitation, his fine clothes always seem freshly cleaned. Only the ink stains on his fingers break the illusion of a proper gnome nobleman. ("If you don't have ink stains on your fingers, no one will take your writing seriously, and they'd be right not to!")

    His hippo tattoo is on his left shoulder.

    Gelik is quick-witted and a talented speaker. Unfortunately, he has a mean streak when it comes to the misfortunes of others; he often simply can't help himself from making a snide comment or a scathing remark at another's expense.

    While Xhanfaerd has a more artistic touch with writing, Gelik's writing skill, equal (and more reliable) skill at linguistics and cryptography, and dedicated skill as a scribe means his position as the party's Pathfinder Chronicler is still secure at this time. He is a perfect second to Aron's skills at diplomacy and negotatiations, has a jarring ability to mimic any sound his voice box can even remotely simulate, and oddly, he has a greater grasp of the Mwangi's overall geography, even over that of Fronaldo or Pim.





    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    At one point, Fronaldo asked about why his totem was a gorilla of all things, and likely other members of the party might have wondered about their totems, too. Alala joked and made a quip about his hunger-grumps. Masozi does respond, though, "We merely beseech the wendo to speak through us to show us the way. We entice them to us with dancing, but then they move us to make the tattoos .... our skill, their inspiration. In the end, we do not choose, and we are not given reasons. We dare not believe we understand the wisdom of the wendo."

    The party leaves the following day, and in doing so leaves behind the Upper Korir River that they have followed for some time as they cross the M'neri Plains. The sisters showed the group how to awaken their tokens, and in so doing travel goes by a bit quicker than expected (knocking off a full day). Still, the group faces off against more than a half-dozen giant ants a couple days out, but easily dispatch them. It is the final 100 miles of travel covered in a mere week.

    But then again, the entire transit from Eleder took 1100 miles and nearly just over two months. 63 days by the time you reach what you think might be Tazion as you enter the Mwangi Jungle .... a jungle far older and more dense than the Screaming Jungle that you traveled through some time back.

    But there you are, mid-day on the Sunday, the 26th of Kuthona, 4710 AR ... facing a massive, ruined enclosure wall. The ruins of Tazion stand as a remnant of a forgotten age, an outpost of an ancient Azlanti civilization lost in the southern Mwangi Jungle. Little remains within its walls, with most of the settlement having crumbled or been buried centuries before. The majority of Tazion’s structures, once you explore, will remain unidentifiable. Centuries of weathering and erosion have transformed the once-splendid architecture into little more than scattered stones, curious topography, and fetid tar pits. Few outside your party suspect that the ruins possess the key to finding the lost city of Saventh-Yhi, and its secrets are ripe for the taking!


    The crumbling remnants of a massive enclosure wall mark the perimeter of the ruins. In its current condition, the wall provides little defense. Entire sections have eroded away or lie buried beneath sediment, while vines and vegetation strangle what little exposed stonework remains. It would not be a very difficult climb at all for any PC to scramble over those sections of wall still standing, but there are several large holes in the walls that can simply be walked through.

    Aron recommends spending the day making a massive perimeter walk of the outside to get a sense of where the easy entry points might be, and then set up camp since you are just finishing up an incredible journey.

    The party does so (see Discord map), and then at camp, it is time to discuss intentions for the next day .....
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
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    Fronaldo paces the perimeter of the group as they discuss the plan for the next day. His red eyes track Aron when she speaks or moves, fascinated by her tall, alien (to his perspective) beauty. He causally flips a dagger up into the air and catches it as he paces. He offers no opinion on potential options for tomorrow’s activities.
    He has erected his tent and left his camping supplies inside. He prefers to bring the portable alchemist lab along, just in case.

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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    During the perimeter walk, Torber's sense were overclocked and surveying everything, hoping to catch a sound or scent, that may clue him in on what the party is up against in the days to come.

    After, Torber will set up his small tent, gather some firewood, make sure there is fresh water nearby, spent an hour, attempting to hunt a large enough animal, or several for the party, forage for some greens, clean and cook a simple evening meal, Torber then takes his meal into his tent. when his is done, will gather his mess kit, and other utensils used, and clean up. then bringing the fire back up, then disappear into the woods for a sweep of the area as it gets dark.

    When that is done, he returns, and sets up watches that will hopefully make everyone happy and rested.

    Spoiler: Dice rolls
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    Let me know if that needed any rolls, to adjust story.

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    As the group arrives at the site, Pim grows more and more eager. Once the others start setting about on their own to take care of whatever it is they're doing, Pim will make sure he is the center of attention. He walks confidently up to the ruins, hands on his hips, and he loudly says,
    "Watch out jungle, don't ask me how I know, but we will stomp all over you," he gruns, with a wink, and then makes sure everyone is looking at him. If he notices any of the others ignoring him, he will start to walk away, but will trip (accidentally on purpose), and as he catches himself, he laughs, "I KNEW that was going to happen," and he sticks his tongue out. That's right, Pimento has ARRIVED.
    Last edited by GM_Dave; 2020-11-30 at 12:04 PM.
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    Aron will go with Tor-ber. If there is one thing that is absolutely essential in exploration? Buddy System. Like, going off behind a tree to answer nature's call is one thing, but going off by yourself to hunt, forage, gather firewood, etc. ..... that's asking for the jungle to do what it does best: devour.

    Their hunt/ gather will provide five provisions, which is enough to feed the party, and even a little bit extra for the food-greedy Fronaldo. But just as they are returning to the campsite (that Gelik is "taking charge of" by giving people various tasks), they hear the buzzing of flies and smell something awful. Investigating, of course, because .... Pathfinders die by their curiosity .... they find a body. This body, Tor-ber estimates, has been decomposing for several days now, maybe even as much as a week. Scavengers have had their way with the body. It is pretty badly mauled and in significant decomp because of jungle humidity and carrion bugs, but they can make out the livery of a Sargavan guard ..... one of the members of the Sargavan Faction has met a bad end here. Anything of worth on it has been taken, which tells you that this man was killed - or at least looted - by something intelligent, for animals do no such thing.

    Aron casts speak with dead since as bad as the corpse is, it still has enough of a mouth and tongue and jaw to speak. It is a particularly disconcerting thing for Tor-ber to witness. She has to cast the spell twice.

    1. "What was your name?"
    "I was Private First Class Danaus Gisler."

    2. "To what unit were you assigned?"
    "Sum of All Fears Squad, Sargavan Expeditionary Vanguard."

    3. "What killed you?"
    "I was swarmed by rabid monkey-men."

    4. "Where is Lieutenant Brauer?"
    "I lost track of him."

    5. "Where is Lalarlia?"
    "Missing in Tazion."

    6. "Where is Jask Derindi?"
    "The coward fled."

    And that is the limit of what Aron was able to do with two castings of her creepy spell.

    Aron and Tor-ber will return to camp with food for everyone for tonight so as not to dig into the dwindling rations, but she will mention the above event, the questions, and the answers. "It seems," she says ruefully, "that the Sargavan Faction came to a bad end. It may sound wrong of me, but if Jask Derindi got away, I am glad, for after Lalarlia, he and I were relatively good friends. Still, we now have to be on guard against 'rabid monkey-men.'"
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2020-11-30 at 01:06 AM.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
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    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    Once the report arrived, Xhanfaerd thinks a little, then simply says :

    "I've heard quite a few tribes described as 'rabid monkey-men' and it was always described as such by non-Mwangis. Can't tell a lot about what fell them with just that information."
    I just moved with my gf, and might need some time to find the perfect spot for my cpu. Still trying to keep up with my games.


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    Aron asks the party. "We are currently camped 100 yards southeast of the enclosure wall. Tor-ber and I found the body in a place that was closer to the closest entrance to our camp. That doesn't indicate anything, but for the lack of any other guidance, I say tomorrow we come in offset from that one ... the southwestern entrance. All in favor?"
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
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    “AYE!” gushes Fronaldo enthusiastically.

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    "First," Pim holds one finger up in the air.
    Then he focuses, and his hand quickly moves to his cards, contained on his hip in a dispenser.
    He holds the card energetically towards the sky, and a bunch of magic affects him as if the spell were flying out of the card, and superimposed images of the cards geometric art. Colors flash in every spectrum as a rainbow of ambient light shimmers across his silhouette, then, it is instantly over.
    As the spell is cast, Pim begins to float, kicking one leg up behind him in a fashionable pose.
    He floats over toward the entrance on the other side, touching the tree canopy as he flies up.
    He returns after getting a look ahead, traveling there takes two minutes each way.

    Spoiler: Perception
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    Take 10 +11+ 5 owl= 36

    Spoiler: Knowledge Nature
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    take 20 +13 = 33
    Last edited by GM_Dave; 2020-12-01 at 11:56 AM.
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    It is not long before Pim is out of Xhanfaerd's collective (assuming he had it up, and then recovered Aron and Tor-ber once they returned as well).

    His first stop is the SE entrance. Pim looks carefully around, tapping into his owl's totem ... perfect for the dim light of the early evening, enhanced ever farther by his own ability to sense what lies in shadow. Just inside the entrance, the area is covered by thick jungle. However, his keen eyes do pick up what appears to be a camouflaged barbed net trap just inside the entrance. There is no way to step around it, so to get a party safely through, it would have to be tripped, disabled, or bypassed.
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
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    Pim will draw a card, and cast Summon Monster 1 from his arcanist pool. A Fire Beetle will appear from his card, with some strange visual changes. The card beetle is summoned onto the trap, as pim withdraws to the safest distance, watches, makes sure the trap is deactivated, and then will head back to the others.
    Life is just a candle, and the dream must give it flame.

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    Spoiler: Pim
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    The fire beetle is snatched up as an entire 10' square area is caught and snatched into the trees. It takes 1 pt of damage from the barbs. The beetle thrashes wildly enough so that the barbs rip into it from multiple points .... enough to dispel the summons. At that point, Pim flies back to the party.

    "Well?" asks Aron of Pim. "What did you learn?"
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
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    Pim, on returning will touch down to the ground as his spells duration wears off. He lightly catches the ground with his foot, and transitions into a thoughtful walking pace. He walks to the others with an inquisitive expression,
    "Did anyone put a net over near that entrance? No? Because there was one... I took care of it, but by the looks of my poor beetle, that net was lined with hooks."
    Pim shudders, then he asks,
    "If there was a body near by... do any of you think that the killers could have set a trap for us too?"
    Last edited by GM_Dave; 2020-12-01 at 03:23 PM.
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    As he relinks Pim to his collective, Xhanfaerd says :

    "They also might have entered by another way, and that trap was already there, undisturbed."
    I just moved with my gf, and might need some time to find the perfect spot for my cpu. Still trying to keep up with my games.


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    "Awfully arrogant to think it was meant just for us," echoes Gelik. "It might be actual anti-sapient security, but it might just be simple hunting as well. I mean, it does sound like we are likey to run into ... not rabid monkeys, but rabid monkey-men. That tells me that however debased they might be, they can still fashion tools and traps, solve problems, and protect their domain .... if that is what Tazion is to them, and they'd be right to do so!"

    "Which is why, Gelik," says Aron, "I'm sorry, I know we talked about the rest of us going through Tazion and giving you reports to sift through at the end of the day while you are in the comfort of your tent, but I can't do that. With the dead soldier where we found him, the rabid monkey-man range out and don't just stay in Tazion, and I can't leave you alone. We can't leave our things behind, people, but full packs go in with us when we go into Tazion tomorrow."

    Gelik looks horrified, and then glum.

    "Don't fret, Gelik, you did say you wished you could see the ruins themselves, so you are going to get your wish after all .... for your safety, not against it."

    She looks to the sandkin before everyone else. "Okay, Tor-ber, because it seems we're in hostile territory, we need double-watches. We don't have to travel tomorrow, so we can do three-section rotation of four hours for twelve hours total to make sure everyone gets rest. Remember not to let the fire go out. I'm more worried about disease than being seen."

    Does anyone have anything before adjourning for the evening?
    20MAR2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound (2013, Jacobs, Keith, et. al.).
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  28. - Top - End - #28
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

    Join Date
    May 2020

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    As the night turns dark, and the stars come out, Pim sets about his early bed time routine that he would become known for. Pim rests early, but before he does, he takes a starlit stroll through the campsite, looking up at the stars. He fraternizes with the watch, praying short blessings for his allies, asking Desna to send good tidings.
    He does this for about ten minutes, almost as a self care ritual, rather than a religious ceremony. Then, he takes to his bed roll rather early, and sites that he needs his , "beauty rest". Which is true, as he also will wake up early, and spend his mornings as he usually does, doing card readings for his future.
    Life is just a candle, and the dream must give it flame.

  29. - Top - End - #29
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    Fronaldo will curiously watch Pim stare up into the thick dark foliage overhead as he strolls through the camp as people get ready for bed. “What is he looking at?”,Fronaldo wonders but he is unable to discern any clue as to what the diminutive gnome is fixated on. He almost asks him several times but gives it up as it must surely be some kind of magic ritual. Hungry, Fronaldo prowls the camp looking for some forgotten scrap or rind. He absentmindedly flips and catches a dagger as he walks.
    Eventually, he will enter his tent and curl up on his bed roll to try to sleep until it is his turn to watch.

  30. - Top - End - #30
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    RedKnightGirl

    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Moselle, France
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

    Xhanfaerd will simply reread his notes, add a part about today in his journal, take his watch, and sleep. Of course, he doesn't stay silent between all that, and if anyone talks to him, he will answer and participate in conversation.
    I just moved with my gf, and might need some time to find the perfect spot for my cpu. Still trying to keep up with my games.


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