Plynck
June
20, 2009
XP Starting Out: 51,330
================================================
(Events in this section took place outside of
standard runs, but are included here to provide continuity.)
Beggar
21, 5038 through Plow 28, 5040
The
group takes various trainings, shops, and generally gears itself up for
their next adventure.
Pail
28, 5039
Captain Callcott sends a
messenger requesting that Ben pay him a visit, at his earliest
convenience. He informs Ben that Lord Algernon would once more
like to conduct a meeting with Ben, and with one or two of Ben's group
members, if he so wishes. The meeting time has been set for just
after lunch, two days hence (Dragon 2). (Ben readily gets the
impression that, for him, this meeting is neither optional, nor open to
being rescheduled.)
Ben asks Zora and Beari to accompany him.
When you arrive at Lord Algernon's government offices,
you are escorted into a conference room with a glass-covered sand table
[*] and several chairs. You are invited to sit across the table
from Lord Algernon. After some polite pleasantries, he draws out
an envelope and tells you that a missive has arrived, addressed to
you. That his staff have examined it and believe it to be
authentic. (There is no hint of any apology, or even of any
awareness that there could possibly be any objection to his having
intercepted and examined a missive addressed to you.)
[*] A "sand table" was a pre-tech whiteboard: towns, roads, rivers,
other terrain features could be "drawn" in the sand, then erased by
simply smoothing it over. To some degree, even elevations could
be depicted. Very useful for tactical discussions.
He passes it over to you [see
attached letter]
[see attached certificate].
Lord Algernon proceeds to explain to you that his government does not
look kindly on foreign assassins attacking citizen scholars. But
seeing as Ben's group was doing everything it could to protect those
scholars from the assassins, he does not hold them at all accountable
for those attacks. He would prefer, however, that no additional
such assassin attempts were made inside Milsfyd. Accordingly,
anything his office can do to facilitate a peaceful dialog: they
certainly will. Included in that is an offer to start any written
reply, that Ben might want to make, on its way towards New Glysoph (he
cannot, of course, guarantee either its timely arrival, or even its
successful delivery).
He thanks you for your time, and prepares to dismiss you.
A question about where various countries are, in relationship to
Milsfyd. Lord Algernon uses the sand table to draw a very rough,
and extremely lacking in details, "map" to answer that question.
Ben takes all of these documents and information back to the entire
group. They discuss the possibility of it being an elaborate
trap. The limits of the "safe conduct"'s effectiveness are
debated. The other possible next actions for the group are
listed, and held up for comparisions. Eventually the group
decides to accept the Baron's offer. Ben writes a reply, stating
their acceptance, but that other commitments will defer the group's
departure until 5040. Through Captain Callcott, this missive is
delivered to Lord Algernon. And presumably he does find a way to
send it to Baron Quokaphun, because several months later a reply comes
back saying simply that the Baron is delighed that the group is
accepting his invitation, and that the group's schedule will be
perfectly acceptable.
Plow 14, 5040
Glyn, the innkeeper of the Yodeling Jade Lizard Shield, comes up to Ben
and says that someone wants to meet with us. Ben robes up all
priestly for his meeting. He asks Zora and Ulfgar and Jennabinks
to come, too.
5'6" woman dressed as adventurer, but completely covered. Her
name is Fuori and she wants to go to Addernectar because her family
there needs her. She wants to travel with us - to hire us to
protect her on the journey.
Ben asks if she has skills to add to our party while traveling.
She says she's a Sorceress and also has some Druid-like
abilities. She has her own horse. Zora is sceptical.
Ulfgar asks about Addernectar. Fuori says it is rural /
farming, and lots of Druids keeping the land fairly wild.
Addernectar town is not a plum target. Fuori has
some idea how to get there. Ulfgar asks about roads -- there are
none. Ulfgar asks about her clothing: in particular, are they a
regional cultural standard, such that our group would be breaking a
taboo by not dressing that way ourselves. Fuori says that her
clothing is a personal choice. All notice that her skin is black
with tracings. Zora sees that her eyes are blue with red
sparkles. Ben asks to see her face; she says that because of her
deformity, she will only show her face to other females, and asks that
the men actually leave the room, not just turn their backs. Ben
wants her permission to subject her to a couple of spells.
Guessing his intent, she tells him that she is Good, and also
Chaotic, but not fanatically so; and to go ahead. Ben casts Detect Evil: result is negative.
Ben casts Detect Chaos:
result is positive, but very faint. Ben and Ulfgar leave, Zora
and Jenna stay. Fuori takes off her hood and veil: she has elven
ears, platinum hair, gold tracings following the veins on her skin --
looks similar to a Drow, but also different. Her "deformity"
consists of being incredibly beautiful and having a Charisma of 24.
Asked about her Drow-like appearance, Fuori says that her
mother's parents were a Nymph and a Celestial, and that her mother had
been raped by a Drow. She asks that none of what she's shown or
told them be repeated -- that she's anxious to avoid both being lynched
as a Drow, and also attracting amorous or lecherous males.
She departs to await our decision. Zora tells the rest of the
group that she thinks Fuori is ok for now, but that she personally
doesn't entirely trust her. Beri is also suspicious. But
the group is willing to let her hire us to provide her with protection.
Ulfgar suggests that we have her pay our standard upkeep -- the
roughly 45gp per person per month it costs us for lodging or for
traveling supplies. Ben offers Fuori a contract on those terms,
and she agrees.
================================================
Priestess
1, 5040
We
ride out. Milsfyd is a peaceful country. We travel easily
for 13 days.
Priestess
14, 5050
Outside
Milsfyd bonundarie: all quiet.
Priestess
15, 5040
During
2nd watch: Zora, Ulfgar, Beri on watch
0. All take damage from Cone
of Cold; Ulfgar is attacked by OM-1 with Greatsword
1. Kes wakes up, gets up, tosses lightstone in random
direction, starts singing Inspire Courage;
Beri hears spell from outside of camp; Ar'tes tumbles to flank OM-1
with Ulfgar, hits for 19; Ulfgar on OM-1 attempts to sunder, fails;
Ar'tes uses Opportunist to attack again, hits for 29; Beri casts Magic Missile on OM-2 for 20, moves
60'; OM-1 hits Ar'tes for 15; OM-2 disappears; Ben gets up, asks
"Anyone seriously hurt? What are they?", Ulfgar says "Ogre Magi,
couple of them", Zora says, "There was one over there", Ben casts Invisibility Purge; Zora moves to OM-1,
OM-1 AoO on Zora for 12, hits for 17 + 5 elec; Fuori wakes up,
stands up, waits; Jenna casts Searing
Light on OM-1 for 27, OM-1 falls down.
2. Kes's Inspire Courage kicks
in, reserves with crossbow for target; Ulfgar does a Heal check on
OM-1, finds that the monster is very healthy and 'merely' subdued,
moves to edge of camp; Beri moves to Ben for healing; Ar'tes and Zora
see as OM-1 tries to disappear then move - only to discover that Ben's Invisibility Purge prevents that,
Ar'tes hits for 30, 31, 24; arrows fly at Ulfgar but miss; Ben cures
Beri for 19, calls "anyone else hurt?"; Zora administers Coup de Grace
to OM-1 for 54 + 30 elec, dead, moves 60'; Fuori watches; Jenna heals
herself for 26.
3. Kes still singing, still reserved for target; Ar'tes
reserves for target; Ulfgar moves silently, can't hear foe, reserves
for charge; Beri tells Ben to move, herself goes to hide; Ar'tes moves
60', hides in shadows; arrows from different direction at Ulfgar, one
hits for 7; Ulfgar charges direction, notices arrows are coming from
sky, flies; Ben yells to Jenna to heal Kes, moves 40' readies crossbow;
Zora yells "come down and fight like a manly ogre", reserves for
target; Fuori moves to the edge of the camp, next to Ben, and says,
"there's something evil at the edge of your spell", pointing up); Jenna
readies Flame Strike for next
arrow to appear.
4. Kes sings and reserves; Beri casts See Invisibility to see OM-2 flying
above, yells location and points; Ar'tes reserves for ground target;
Jenna casts Flame Strike on OM-2
for 24 holy, 22 fire; Kes shoots, misses, hits for 7 +3 flame,
bloopers; Ben shoots, misses; Zora shoots, misses, hits for 5, asks for
Glitterdust; Ulfgar moves to OM-2, hits for 23, hits for 66, OM-2 falls
to ground for more damage, and turns visible near Ben; Fuori watches
OM-2.
Ulfgar comes down to ground. Zora is positioned for head strike. Ulfgar
uses manacles to secure OM-2. OM-2 regains consciousness.
Ulfgar asks if there are more Ogre Mages. Suddenly
everything is in Darkness; Zora
kills OM-2.
Darkness goes away. OM-1
and OM-2 are stripped. Jenna uses Apothecary to find that 10
fingernails will make one Fly
potion; one heart will make one potion of Spell
Resistance +3 (five hours). Jenna casts Detect Magic on OM-1's and OM-2's stuff:
both Leather Armor - magic weak
both Huge Greatswords - magic weak
both Huge Longbows - magic weak
30 remaining Huge Arrows - not magic
1,285 XP Running
Total: 52,615
Jenna casts Cure Serious on
Ulfgar for 33; Ben casts Cure Critial
on Kes for 27, Cure Critical on
Fuori for 27, Cure Critical on
Zora for 31, Cure Light on Kes
for 8, Cure Critical on himself
for 33.
Rest of night passes quietly
Priestess
16, 5040
Ar'tes
finds Ogre trail to hovel. We find:
1,800 gp
3 gems that will eventually be appraisd as worth 13gp, 54gp, 335gp
potion -- Cure Light -- Beri to
hold
two scrolls (Beri holds both)
1. Stinking Cloud
and Mount
2. Knock
Priestess 17, 5040
Late Afternoon. Ar'tes notices that, coming across the top of a
hill about 330' away, are many running creatures. Points to
beasties. Seems to be hundreds of Gnolls running full out towards
us. Ulfger tells all to go to defensable hill, flies up to see.
Beri casts Fly on herself, flies
up above Gnolls. Ulfgar sees Giant type creature chasing Gnolls.
It is eating the Gnolls with its giant tentacles. It is
wielding a Gargantuan Greatsword in its hands. Beri casts Mass Fly on all (except the horses);
all fly away.
Beri thinks X-1 is a construct, not natural. Group moves away
from X-1 in flight; continue to move 60' per round for 100 minutes.
Horses and ponies move as well. X-1 continues to chase
Gnolls, ignoring us.
We make camp. Beri casts Leomund's
Secure Shelter. Night passes.
Priestess 18, 5040 -- Priestess 24, 5040
Travel quietly.
Priestess 25, 5040
First Watch: Ulfgar sleeping with horses outside; Zora, Ar'tes, Ben on
watch, also outside. Beri, Jenna, Kes, Fuori sleeping in shelter.
1. V-1 through V-5 appear inside shelter, alarms go off; Beri
wakes up, tumbles past Vs, opens door, runs outside, yells, "Help,
we're under attack!"; Zora charges X-1, hits for 15+4, V-1 disappeares;
Ben runs around shelter to door, recognizes monsters, yells, "Vrocks!
Damage resistance, spell resistance, emit spores to infect opponents";
all inside take 8 damage from spores burrowing into them, all inside
must save vs Charm, Kes fails, is
told to run away; Ar'tes ErrolFlynn's through window, hits V-2 for 24,
V-2 disappears; Kes gets off bunk, runs out the door into the night;
Ulfgar gets up, sees Beri, doesn't see Kes, goes inside shelter; Jenna
sits up, casts Greater Command
and says "Surrender"; V-3 to V-5 fail Will save and surrender to J;
Fuori prepares to defend herself.
2. Beri casts Magic Missile
on V-3 for 19, V-3 disappears; Zora moves, hits V-4 for 13, V-4
disappears, misses V-5; Bob casts Prayer; Fuori, Bob, Kes, Jenna, and
Zora take 2 damage from spores; V-5 saves against Greater Command, leaps at Jenna, Zora
gets AoO for 16 (but it doesn't disappear), hits Jenna for 11, miss, 3,
miss, miss; Ar'tes attacks V-5, hits for 37; Kes continues to run away;
Ulfgar activates boots, attacks V-5 for miss, 40; Jenna uses Spellcraft
to decide that V-1 through V-4 were Mirror
Images, casts (defensively) Dismissal,
V-5 saves; Fuori draws rapier to defend herself.
3. Beri casts Magic Missile
for 16, V-5 dies.
Fuori, Ben, Kes, Jenna, and Zora take an additional 11 points of damage
ove the next eight rounds, and now all have ivy-appearing tentacles
growing out of their bodies. If untreated, this will
negatively affect their Dexterity. A Heal skill determines that
any of Bless, Neutralize Poison, Remove Disease, or Holy Water can be
used to remove the ivy growths.
Fuori casts Bless on herself;
Jenna casts Neutralize Poison on
herself; Bob casts Bless to cure
himself. Jenna casts Cure Critical
on herself for 39; Bob uses wand for 10 on Zora; Jenna casts Cure Light on Fuori for 12; Bob casts Cure Serious on himself for 24.
Ulfgar goes after Kes with two horses. Catches and brings her
back, after smacking her several times to bring her out of the charm;
Jenna casts Cure Light on
Kes for 11.
XP: 1,285 Running
Total: 53,900
Priestess 26, 5040
Jenna casts Bless on Kes to kill
ivy tentacles; Ben casts Bless on
Zora to kill ivy tentacles.
We ride out. Days past.
Pail 1, 5040
The land is gentle and kind when suddenly... Ar'tes spots a heard of
dinosaurs running our way. MegaRaptors.
1. Kes starts singing Inspire
Courage; Ulfgar charges MR-1 for 66; Ar'tes rides his horse out
of the melee area so as to pick a flankable target; Fuori moves away;
Zora charges MR-8 for 17+2; MR-1 and MR-2 hit Ulfgar; MR-3 hits Kes;
MR-4 misses Ben; MR-5 misses Fuori; MR-6 misses Beri; MR-7 and MR-8 hit
and miss Zora; Beri tumbles away from MR-6 (and from her horse); Ben
fails to cast; Jenna casts Searing Light
on MR-5 (the one on client Fuori).
2. Kes's singing takes effect, she hits MR-3; Ulfgar kills MR-1,
kills MR-2, misses MR-3; Ar'tas hits MR-8; Fuori teleports away; Zora
kills MR-8 with a 94 point single strike critical, hits MR-7;
MR-3 hits Kes; MR-4 hits Ben, MR-5 charges Jenna (who was deliberately
and successfully distracting it from Fuori's horse); MR-6 hits Beri's
horse; MR-7 misses Zora; Beri casts Acid
Orb on MR-6; Jenna casts Fire
Shield.
3. Kes hits MR-3; Ulfgar kills MR-3, hits MR-6; Ar'tes kills
MR-7; Fuori, on the top of the ridge the dinosaurs appeared over, is
looking to see if anything was chasing them, but sees nothing; Zora
kills MR-6; MR-4 hits Ben; MR-5 bites Jenna, and takes damage; Beri
casts Electric Orb on MR-4; Ben
hits MR-4; Jenna hits MR-5.
4. Kes reserves for being attacked; Ulfgar kills MR-5; Ar'tes
kills MR-4.
Jenna heals people.
XP: 625 Running Total:
54,525
================================================
(Events in this section took place outside of
standard run, but inside its time span, and are included here to
provide continuity.)
XP for roleplaying: 500 Running
Total: 55,025 Eleventh Level
As of the end of this day's run, Fuori has been traveling with the
group for a month. Over that time she has opened up with the
group. She is still noticably more open and free when around just
the other women, and much more reserved when any of the men are
present. Around camps, and especially inside Leomund's Secure
Shelter, she becomes much more lax about keeping all of her body
covered, taking off gloves, hood, boots&stockings whenever the
opportunity presents itself. However, only if she is with just
the women -- if they've all gone off to bathe in a nearby pond, for
example -- does she remove her veil.
And, starting about a week before the most recent encounter, she has
also begun to open up about her history. This she is willing to
share with the entire group - all who are interested, anyway - but
again with the request that none of them tell this to anyone else.
To explain herself,
Fuoriberachie ("Fuori") needs to start with to her grandparents, on
her mother's side, and whatever can be deduced about her father (and
his
ancestry).
Fuori's mother's
mother
was a Nymph, named Ceyney (soft "C").
Her mother's father was a Celestial, a Trumpet Archon, named
Crumhorn Of
Corellon (grandmama calls him "Crumby"). He
was the most handsome male (well, humanoid
– Ceyney did know some astonishingly beautiful unicorns)
grandmama had ever
seen. She, in turn, was the only
creature on Oerth who outshown his memories of Celestial perfection. Not only that, but they were both Chaotic
Goods, and found that their personalities, viewpoints, and ideas fit
together
as well as their bodies.
Their daughter,
Fuori's mother, they named Keracota (soft "c" again).
She had the textbook Half-Celestial traits,
including wings. The freedom to fly fit in well with her own chaotic
good
nature. She seemed more inclined to
follow her mother's path of woodlands nurturing, rather than her
father's
involvement with other races and actively fighting evil.
Both her parent
doted on her while she was growing up; although, as is usual in
Celestial-Mortal marriages, Ceyney had most of the responsibility of
her
upbringing. As she got older they each
found it necessary to let go, and allow her to be her own person.
Kearcota was full
grown, but still a maiden, when she was abducted by a band of Drow,
taken back
to their underground fortress, tortured and repeatedly gang-raped. At first, neither of her parents were
concerned at her absence, as she often went off for several days or
even weeks,
being very self-reliant, and secure in any woodlands setting.
By the time they
became concerned, the trail was quite cold.
It took nearly a year before Crumhorn of Corellon lead a
vengeful party into the Drow fortress and rescued his daughter.
All of the Drow were killed during this attack.
There is no way of telling, since no-one, not
even that Drow himself, knew who among them was Fuori's actual father;
but
subsequent rumor / legend claims that he was personally killed by
Crumhorn.
When rescued,
Keracota was wingless, blind, close to witless, and pregnant with a
nearly
full-term baby. Who was born long before
she had been healed enough to be aware of it.
Physically, they were able to heal her wounds in only a few
weeks. But mentally it was months before
she began
to recover any sense of self-awareness and memory of who she was.
Even now, Keracota
cannot stand to be touched by anyone, even her mother Ceyney. Which hurts both of them.
She has anxiety attacks in the presence of
male humanoids -- even her father And
since she still loves him, her uncontrollable fear of -- not him, but
what he
now symbolizes to her -- is even more painful to her.
And to Crumhorn, of course. She
cannot abide being in the dark, and uses
her half-Celestial supernatural ability of casting Light at will, to
continually cast it around her.
And she cannot abide
her daughter.
So Fuoriberachie was
raised almost entirely by her grandmother.
She is loved by, and loves her grandfather, but sees even less
of him
than Keracota did. [For several years he
was additionally busy, beyond his normal duties, paying back the favors
he
called on for help in first locating, then rescuing Keracota.]
What little Fuori
sees of her mother, in addition to being tainted by Kerasota's unhidden
disgust
at Fuori (for being a physical reminder of Keracota's degradation), are
mostly
filled with Keracota's near-fanatical rants against males.
It is unfortunate that both the despising and
the ranting inflicted scars on the young child's psyche.
Over the years,
Keracota withdrew more and more from all other contact, including her
parents’;
becoming a near-fanatical extremist in Nymphish attitudes (caring only
for the
woodlands and the creatures who live there).
She is now likely to use all her returned abilities against any
humanoid, of any species or gender, who invades her privacy. Fuori has not tried to see her for the last
twenty-seven years.
But a message was delivered to her, from her grandfather Crumhorn, via
some Celestial network, that her mother needed her. Nothing more
than that cryptic statement, but it was enough to set Fuori off towards
home: the woodlands and marshes south of Addernectar.
"Ceyney"
translates roughly as "Radiance".
"Keracota" translates
as "Beauty" (which, adding the half-Celestial stat plusses onto the
already high Nymph attributes, is almost an understatement).
"Fuori"
is a prefix which means "Outside". Which Fuori says should be taken as
a
reference to her grandfather being a Celestial, and thus both him and
Fuori's
mother (and possibly herself, as well) being "Outsiders".
One-fourth Nymph,
one-fourth Celestial, and one-half Drow -- and with very non-typical,
and
highly differing, world views imposed on her by all three living
"parents" -- Fuori grows up a quite confused and discontent
child. This was only made worse when her
Sorceress powers begin to manifest themselves.
Finally, when she was about 80 years old, her worried
grandparents
decide that the best thing for her would be to "kick her out of the
nest",
force her to interact with other races, other people, and see if she
could find
a niche somewhere out there where she would be comfortable, content,
hopefully
even happy.
That was somewhat over forty years ago. Her first venture into
the "civilized" world was a brutal shock. Fuori doesn't give
details. Her time being mentored as a Sorceress was one of
constantly being hazed by all the other students: at the time she was
absolutely miserable and wanted nothing more than to be allowed to
return home and stay there forever. Then, when she got out into
the real world again, she found herself looking back at that schooling
time as one of relative calm and security. Almost worst than all
the people whose immediately reaction is to want to kill her, are the
people - mostly men - who want to own her. And worse even than
that are the few - again mostly men - who look at her and see monetary
profit for themselves.
She had started out in Acretray, a city even further to the East
than we're going now. Over the years, it seemed to her that
peoples along the coast were slightly more tolerant than peoples in the
interior, so she'd eventually gotten into the habit of working and
living only in costal cities; most recently she'd been in Saltkeel, a
moderate sized port on the west coast of this continent (Alerid).
She frequently found it necessary to retreat for a while - a
month, a year - into some wilderness region; and after each of those
sabbadicals she would move on to a new town. Usually she would
find a spot in the city hierarchy, or a guild, or - rarely - risk being
in the service of a Lord: someone who had fairly constant need for a
Sorceress's abilities. Undoubtedly it was because of that very
interrupted lifestyle, that she was, after all these decades, still
only an 8th level Sorceress.
She also goes beyond her initial bare bones in describing her "skills
to add to the party".
Her Feats are: Proficiency::simple weapons; Proficiency::rapier; Weapon
Finesse::rapier; Combat Casting; Point Blank Shot; Weapon Focus::rays;
and Improved Critical::rapier.
Her best skills are: Concentration, Disguise, Hasndle Animal, Hide,
Knowledge::Arcana,
Knowledge::Geography, Knowledge::Nature, Listen, Move Silently, Ride,
Spellcraft, Spot, Swim, Tumble, and Wilderness Lore.
[Anyone who thinks they detect a cautious, defensive attitude in these
choices would not be mistaken.]
She has some resistance to damage from Acid, Cold, or Electricity.
Languages: Sylvan, Common, Celestial, Elven, Dwarven, Draconic,
Infernal, Undercommon, Horse.
Her rapier is a +3 Keen; she has Boots of Striding and Springing,
Heward's Handy Haversack, and a lot of protection magic.
As a Sorceress, she knows the following spells:
0 [1] (1) Read
Magic.
0 [1]
(2)
Detect Magic.
0 [1]
(3)
Detect Poison.
0 [1] (4) Prestidigitation
0 [2] (5)
Disrupt
Undead.
0 [4]
(6)
Mending.
0 [4] (7) Resistance
0 [4] (8) Arcane Mark
1 [1] (+)
Summon Familiar.
1 [1]
(1) Change Self.
1 [1]
(2) Lesser
Sonic Orb.
1 [3]
(3) Magic
Missile.
1 [5] (4) Expeditious Retreat
1 [7] (5) Lesser Acid Orb
2 [4] (1)
Cat's Grace.
2 [5] (2) Choke
2 [7] (3) Protection from Elements
3 [6] (1) Ice Burst
3 [7] (2) Fireball
4 [8] (1) Electric Orb
-- plain number: spell level; [bracket number] class level spell
learned at; (parenthetic number) count of spells at that level
And she has some inate abilities from each of her diverse heritages:
Low Light Vision 60'
Dark Vision 60'
Dancing Lights 1/day
Protection from Evil 3/day
Faerie Fire 1/day
Dimension Door 1/day
Bless 1/day
Aid 1/day
Detect Evil 1/day
Light, lasting two hours, at will
Blinding Beauty (lesser): 4/day,
4 rounds, anyone in 60' who sees her face blinded for 2d4 days;
Fort::23 blinded 2d4 rounds
Unearthly Beauty (lesser):
4/week, inst, anyone in 30' who sees face is in a coma for 2d4
days; Fort::27 stunned 2d4 rounds
Those last two are the other reason she nearly constantly wears a veil.
After describing these abilities, she goes on to offer the following
advice: if, during an encounter, they happen to notice that she is
taking her veil off, they should all look away.
[If anyone has any further questions they want to ask Fuori, there will
have been plenty of opportunity to do that over the past week.
Email them to me and I'll answer them (or not, depending on her
reaction to the specific question).]
================================================