Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,545
|
Post by Matt4 on Aug 23, 2022 6:28:00 GMT -8
I don't think he minded that much
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Aug 23, 2022 13:09:23 GMT -8
It's true, I had a huge crush on one of them, so it was arguably one of the best experiences of my adolescence. Session XP: Offering to help Kelra - 25 XP Finding the broken clockwork sparrow - 25 XP Defeating the wyvern - 460 XP Completion of Morelia's quest - 230 Returning Atlas to Francis - 25 XP Makeover with Kelra - 25 XP TOTAL: 790 XP That puts Zinnia at 11,184 XP total, which means she needs another 2,816 to level up. Don't forget update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Aug 29, 2022 16:02:20 GMT -8
Wyld Times at Affburgh
A session two weeks in a row? It's more likely than you think.
Session 13 - Giant Problems We pick up where we left off, on Day 28. Zinnia and Kelra head to the temple to speak with the matchmaker. They meet with Edith, who splits the pair up so they can be interviewed separately for privacy reasons. Edith interviews Zinnia, while one of her assistants speaks with Kelra.
Edith asked Zinnia a series of questions, which I fortunately have written down so I ccan repeat them. I jotted down her answers in shorthand, so they are not verbatim. The questions and answers are:
1. Now tell me the name of the ravishing creature standing before me? Zinnia Ballana 2. How old are you? 21 3. Do you have a preference with regards to gender? No 4. Any objection to fangs, horns, wings, or tails? No 5. Have you had a relationship before? Yes 6. How recent are we talking? A year ago 7. And do you sleep in pajamas, or in the nude? In underwear 8. What would you say is your type? What do you find attractive about a person? Rebellious badboy type; smart, tall, dark haired, respectful to herself and her mother 9. Describe your perfect date. What would you wanna do? Where would you wanna go? A nice aristocratic party or opera/play, then a nice dinner, followed by going to his place for the night 10. Are you ready to settle down, raise a family? Or are you looking for something a little more casual? Casual 11. Are you okay with long distance, or would you expect your partner to come with you? Long distance is okay. 12. What about dealbreakers? Annoying habits, religious affiliations, pets? Anything you absolutely would not stand for? Renosians are out. People who engage in physical abuse, drunkards, clingy people, lack of ambition, unwilling to try new things, and people who don't like her friends are out 13. Are you usually the pursuer, or the pursued? Are you the one that breaks up, or the one that gets broken up with? Usually the pursuer, usually the one that breaks up. 14. Tell me, what went wrong in your last relationship? Do you take any responsibility there? Xanros ghosted her, and she blames him entirely 15. Do you have a “one that got away”? Somebody you still think about a lot? Xanros 16. What kind of baggage are you carrying with you, what do you need to work on? Trust issues, abandonment issues? She has abandonment issues, trust issues, communication issues, and oh, yeah, she is a wild sorcerer and she is using an illusion to change her appearance 17. If someone dates you, who are they really dating? Your party? Your patron? Someone else? Her mom and her party 18. How do you show someone you love them? And how do you want somebody to show they love you? Gifts, physical touch? Romantic words? Physical touch, words of affirmation 19. Do you have any powerful enemies who might want to use your partner as a way to get to you? Her father is a lich, and is probably listening in to this conversation right now. 20. Would you describe yourself as adventurous? Yes 21. Have your previous partners described you as good in bed? No complaints 22. ...and should we believe them? Yeah 23. Any weird kinks I should know about? Shapeshifting, necromancy? Nope
Despite some of the wild bombs Zinnia dropped, Edith just scratched away at her parchment, barely reacting to it. One would think she probably hears some pretty wild things, especially from her adventurer clients.
Anyway, Edith tells her she'll cross reference Zinnia's answers with some of the other clients, and see if she can find any suitable matches. Zinnia is then reunited with Kelra, and the two head home for the night.
The next day, Day 29 since arriving in Affburgh, the party got up and headed for the mountains. Again. By this point, they were quite familiar with the path. Along the way, Zinnia noticed that Vicavor seemed withdrawn and deep in thought. Speaking with him, she learned he was worried his parents were going to find out that he was expelled from the academy. Apparently this whole time he hadn't told them yet, and they thought he was still attending classes. Zinnia told him he should come clean to his parents, and that she would help him, since she was a fellow mage now. However, that last statement rubbed Vicavor the wrong way, as it reminded him that he spent his entire life studying to learn magic, and Zinnia just spontaneously got it one day without any effort. He's a tad salty about it still. Things were a little awkward after that.
By the time they reached the cabin in the mountains, it was nearing nighttime. Zinnia triggered the trap on the front door again, but luckily avoided taking any damage. She was disappointed to find Xanros had cleared out, but reasoned it had something to do with this place being reclaimed by the city for a tourist attraction soon.
The following morning, Day 30, the party set out again for this newly discovered area. Searching past the waterfall cave, they found another cave, more of a tunnel through the mountain, concealed behind a curtain of vines. It was very dark inside, so much so that even those with darkvision couldn't see much. Zinnia pulled out a torch and spent a couple of minutes trying to find a way to light it before remembering she had the Light cantrip. It takes about ten minutes to cross the winding tunnel, which is damp and has water dripping off the ceiling. When they reach the other end, they are momentarily blinded by harsh sunlight before taking it in. They find themselves inside a large caldera, where a hidden paradise resides. It's full of trees and other plants, as well as numerous animals and fresh water.
Searching around, Zinnia spots a trail. It looks like something, or several somethings, came through here, crushing the grass and undergrowth beneath them. But they aren't footprints, or wagon wheels, but more like something large just rolled over the grass. The party follows the trail to a clearing, where they find a dozen or so large boulders spaced out in no particular pattern. The ground here is hard-packed earth, with no plant life at all.
Playing a hunch, Zinnia poked at one of the boulders, which began to shake, then rolled around and unfolded itself to reveal a Galeb Duhr. Indeed, it was the same adolescent she rescued before. It greeted her enthusiastically, then started calling out something in Terran. All of the boulders then rolled over, forming a circle around the party. They all unfolded into Galeb Duhr, but were much larger than the young one. After the young one told the elders about Zinnia, they greeted her enthusiastically, as well. They seemed genuinely grateful for Zinnia saving their youngling. One of them offered her a rock to eat. She politely licked it, which seemed to satisfy them.
However, the reunion was cut short by a peal of thunder. Odd, though, as there was not a cloud in the sky. The thunder started repeating, and getting louder, and even the earth started to shake with each peal. Zinnia then realized it wasn't thunder, it was footsteps. The Galeb Duhr all panicked and rolled back into boulders in an attempt to hide as a massive stone giant, wielding a full blown pine tree over it shoulder as a club, came stomping into view, shoving aside the canopy of the forest as if it were nothing.
Zinnia attempts to parley with the giant, but unfortunately, he only speaks Giant and none of the party can (nor can they speak Terran, like the Galeb Duhr). The giant notices one of the 'boulders' nearby quivering in fear, so he kicks it across the clearing angrily. This pisses off the party, and a fight breaks out.
This one didn't go nearly as well as the fight against the wyvern, but here are some highlights: Vicavor went down pretty quickly, and had to be revived. Raeann went down at least twice, and had to chug her Potion of Stone Giant Strength. Zinnia at one point had a wild surge that ripped open some kind of rift in the air above her, and every round a surge of energy emerged and caused another wild surge. Among them were a shield spell protecting her, her draining some HP from everyone around her (friend and foe alike) to be healed, and a third eye appeared on her forehead temporarily.
Ultimately, the giant is slain and the Galeb Duhr emerge from hiding to celebrate. They have a full blown Ewok style party, although without any food, just rocks. They also reward the party with some gold nuggets and another diamond. After hanging out with the Galeb Duhr until nightfall, the party returned to the cabin for the night.
The next day, Day 31, they returned to town and reported their findings to Francis at the Summerpike Quill and Compass. She thanked them and paid them for their work, excited to start mapping out the caldera as soon as Atlas was repaired. (She suspected that maybe it was the giant that damaged it in the first place.) As the party was about to leave, she asks if they are interested in further work. One of her clients, Lady Pyriel, was looking for some 'adventuring types' that were preferably lowborn for some reason. Zinnia agreed, and Francis said she'd send word later once she reached out to Pyriel.
Notes I actually have a list of NPCs for another game in the works, and I decided I would use them as Edith's clients. So I'm actually going to go through the list and try to cross reference it with Zinnia's preferences and see if I can get any matches. Should be fun.
Roleplaying Edith is kind of fun. I use a sort of Brooklyn accent, although it's probably not any good (I was never good at accents).
The little Galeb Duhr returns, and gets a happy ending as it's now reunited with its clan and has a new home.
The fight with the giant was harder than the fight with the wyvern, and it would be easy to say, "Ah, well, it was 1 CR higher, so that makes sense." But I'm not so sure. Horizon has come up with a pretty good strategy when fighting one single but powerful foe (basically, a boss). First, Kelra casts Bless (bolstering the ability to hit for Raeann, Zinnia and Nemeia) then focuses on healing up Raiann. Vicavor hits the enemy with Ray of Enfeeblement to weaken them. Raeann tanks, while Nemeia sneak attacks. And finally, Zinnia blasts. This strategy worked really well with the wyvern. But for whatever reason, Horizons changed things up in this fight.
Despite the fact the giant lost initiative, so she had time for that setup, instead she had Raeanne stay in the back and cast Chromatic Orb (which missed). Instead of Bless, Kelra used Spiritual Weapon (which missed) and while Vicavor used Ray of Enfeeblement, he missed, as well. So with no tank, the giant attacked Vicavor, taking him out. It also didn't help that Zinnia's spells were all saved against. Eventually, Horizon managed to right the sinking ship, getting people into position, and getting Ray of Enfeeblement to finally hit, and won, but I wonder if she had used her original strategy from the getgo, how much easier this fight would have been instead. Still, I wasn't too worried. If things got too bad, I planned to have the Galeb Duhr overcome their fear and join in, although some of them may have died as a result.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
|
|
Matt4
Paragon
Posts: 3,545
|
Post by Matt4 on Aug 29, 2022 16:19:12 GMT -8
What happened to the Galeb Duhr that was kicked away...? 😢
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Aug 29, 2022 18:55:40 GMT -8
It was made of stone, so it was fine, just a little shaken up.
|
|
|
Post by HorizonsDream on Aug 29, 2022 20:20:27 GMT -8
I guess I wanted to see if other strategies would work. I had completely forgot about Bless too, and I'm not really sure why.
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Aug 29, 2022 20:32:40 GMT -8
Well, now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Aug 30, 2022 12:52:54 GMT -8
Session XP: Interview with Edith - 25 XP Offering to help Vicavor - 25 XP Reunion with the Galeb Duhr - 25 XP Defeating the Stone Giant - 580 XP Completion of quest - 290 XP TOTAL: 945 XP That puts Zinnia at 12,129 XP total, which means she needs another 1,871 to level up. Don't forget update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 5, 2022 16:41:14 GMT -8
What's this? Three sessions in a row? We're on a roll! This was an extra long one, too.
Session 14 - Hell Hath No Fury We open on Day 32 since arriving in Affburgh. Zinnia gets two letters from couriers that morning after breakfast. The first is from Edith, with their matches. Kelra got one, and Zinnia got 20 (because her answers were fairly vague; she had no dealbreakers, for instance). So Zinnia went through them all and chose one. The second letter was from Francis, giving them a time and place to meet with Lady Pyriel about that employment opportunity.
Lady Pyriel is a local noblewoman, a dark elven woman with white hair and ebony skin. She was beside herself with fury at her ex, Earl Veldren. He dumped her the day before a big soiree they were set to go to together, so he could go with someone else. Pyriel couldn't go now, out of shame, but she wanted to hire the party to go in her place and somehow find a way to humiliate Veldren. She agrees to help deck the party out in fancy clothes and accessories, and provide transportation, and will pay them a thousand gold pieces. Since Veldren doesn't know the party, that makes it easier for them to get close to him without arousing suspicion.
The party has a full makeover session. Zinnia puts on a deep dark maroon dress that is off the shoulder with a flowing skirt, matching evening gloves (to hide her skeletal hand) and high heels and a diamond belt choker.
Nemeia has no idea what she is doing, having lived in the slums most of her life, so Zinnia helps her. She gets a long black dress with a slit up the right side to the thigh, a sleeve over one shoulder with the other bare, and with some frills going down the chest diagonally. She also wears an opal necklace and matching heels.
Vicavor is dressed in a dark green and black elegant swallow tailed coat that has embroidered embellishes and matching black pants with boots.
Kelra wears a flowing light blue dress with long sleeves, very modest, with her holy icon visible and matching heels.
Raiann wears a long white dress with gold embroidered collars, waistline and sleeves with an off the shoulder top and a slit up the right side to her thigh on the bottom. The sleeves are long and flow down, matching gold and white shoes. She also wears gold bracelets and a gold necklace.
All of the women wear their hair down and curled with natural make-up. Zinnia and Raiann have red lipstick, Nemeia pink and Kelra clear. Vicavor, meanwhile, has his hair slicked back into a ponytail with a dark green ribbon.
A beautiful and large carriage awaits them, pulled by four white stallions. The party files inside and sits down while a driver takes them to the party. Nemeia is excited, Kelra is anxious, Vicavor is annoyed and Raiann is stoic.
They arrive at a large and impressive manor, and Zinnia realizes it belongs to the local baroness. They meet their dates in the courtyard. Kelra's date is a tall (6'), handsome human with blue eyes, fair skin and dressed in ceremonial armor with a family crest on the chestplate. He says he is Sir Bastian Fiest.
Zinnia's date is an even taller (6'2” not including the horns) tiefling, lean of build with one of his horns missing its tip. He has gold eyes, red skin, black hair and is dressed in silk clothes, except for his form fitting leather pants. He looks far more rakish than one would expect for a party like this. His name is Sue Leoxys.
Bastian is polite, cordial and respectful. Sue, however, is informal, loud and rather sarcastic. They all head inside to the foyer, and are escorted by servants to the ballroom. It's quite large and well decorated, with a band playing music, servants serving drinks and hors d'oeuvres, and a number of the aristocracy mingling and talking.
Zinnia immediately disperses the group to find Earl Veldren. Sue tries to get to know Zinnia better, asking about her friends, but she's not really interested in anything aside from completing her quest. She tries to recruit him into helping with the earl. Sue is game, and suggests they start their search at the bar. She almost literally bumps into someone on the way, though, and meets Count Tovan. Tovan is dressed like an adventurer more than a count, and seems extremely awkward, to the point Zinnia begins to suspect he is an imposter of some kind. She manages to get away from him and finds Sue at the bar, flirting with the bartender to try and get information.
Zinnia is put off by Sue's behavior. It turns out he is polyamorous (as well as pansexual), and actually has several partners already, all of whom he currently lives with in the city. Zinnia looks around the room and spots Kelra speaking with Bastian, Nemeia speaking to a well-dressed male human (blue eyes, blonde hair, a bit foppish looking), Raiann speaking to a stern looking middle aged woman with hawkish features, and Vicavor speaking to a pretty blonde woman.
Sue interrupts to ask if Zinnia is interested in a three-way with the bartender. This turns out to just be a pretense to scare the bartender into the backroom, so Sue can loot a bottle of wine from behind the counter unhindered. Zinnia abandons Sue at this point, going to find Tovan again. She asks him if he knows who Veldren is and to point him out, and he happily does so--it turns out to be the foppish man that Nemeia is currently speaking to.
Sue tries to rejoin Zinnia, but she dumps him off on Tovan and runs off to speak with Veldren. Earl Veldren, it turns out, is rather vain, fickle and arrogant. He has nothing but contempt for those beneath him and is something of a sycophant to those above him. He quickly realizes that Nemeia and Zinnia are lowborn, and doesn't buy any of Zinnia's lies otherwise about it (poor Deception check on her part). He snootily excuses himself from the pair.
Zinnia chides Nemeia in telling Veldren this was her first time at a ball, which was his first clue they weren't upperclass. She sheepishly apologizes. Zinnia then joins Raiann and learns the woman she is speaking to is none other than Baroness Windara, who is the one hosting the soiree. Zinnia confesses she had a poor first impression with Veldren, but Windara only told her not to make any scenes to disrupt the party. She didn't care for tomfoolery or nonsense. Just as she says this, there's a loud crash as a servant Sue was speaking to dropped her tray, causing a mess. Outraged, Zinnia marches over and pulls Sue aside, then tells him to leave immediately. Zinnia fails her persuasion check, though, and Sue points out that she invited him here, then proceeded to ignore him other than to try and recruit him into her scheme. He came here to be her date, not to help her with a quest. So he will be staying and at least trying to enjoy himself.
Annoyed, Zinnia storms off from the Tiefling and approaches Vicavor. It seems he has been cornered by none other than Lady Karnella, Earl Veldren's new girlfriend--the one he dumped Lady Pyriel for. Karnella is an unending font of terrible takes and beliefs, and is unable to stop spouting them at any given moment. The fifth daughter of the local duke, she is not in line to inherit anything of note, but was raised with a silver spoon in her mouth. However, she believes that lowborn are poverty-stricken because they are lazy, that she earned everything she has, and she goes on and on about how hard her life is and how unfair things are for her. Zinnia asks her why she is interested in Earl Veldren, and she answers, "Well, he's rich, obviously." Zinnia asks if she would be willing to help smooth things over with the earl for her, as she made a bad first impression. Karnella is happy to do so, but she becomes so distracted with talking again that she never actually does so, and soon dinner is called. It's a massive feast the like none of the party has ever seen before, with just about every and any kind of food and drink available.
Zinnia insists that her party all sit together. So they all sit on the same side of the very long table, in the order of Bastian, Kelra, Nemeia, Vicavor, Raiann, and Zinnia. Sue sits down next to Zinnia. Veldren, Karnella, Windara and Tovan all sit across from them. Zinnia comes up with the idea of spreading a rumor that Veldren had an affair with a lowborn prostitute. But she isn't sure how to start spreading it, since Veldren is right across from her and will clearly hear her if she says it out loud. So she comes up with an idea for Raiann to propose a toast to Windara, walk over to the other side of the table while speaking, then whisper it to her. However, Windara is quite no-nonsense and has no patience for idle gossip. She chastises Raiann and tells her to sit down.
At that point, Zinnia was at a total loss on what to do. She's also a bit miffed that nobody at this party has ever heard of her--the Hero of Affburgh--at all. There was some discussion among the nobles about the recent war, although in a detached, clinical way, as if it were something that happened in some far off country. Zinnia asked if any of them had any combat experience, which they hadn't obviously (they were nobles) so she began talking about her experiences in the war. Tovan is the only one who seems interested at first. She also tells how she spontaneously developed magical powers and how that helped her in winning the battle. She believed the powers came from her father, who she didn't know (she left out that he is a lich). Sue emphasizes with the story, as his own father abandoned him, as well.
Sue tells his own story. He grew up raised by his Elven mother in a small village on the outskirts of the barony. He never knew his father, although there were rumors he was an archdevil of some kind. Growing up in a small town full of humans and elves, Sue rather stood out. He got into a lot of fights; and that is how his horn got broken. His mother decided to move them to the city, where there was more diversity and a Tiefling wouldn't stand out so much. She remarried and gave Sue a lot of little sisters. He now works in a seedy tavern as a card shark. He also admits the reason he was seeking a match at the temple was his family worries about him and wanted him to settle down. He isn't interested in monogamy at all, though, so he was trying to find some long-term partners to create some stability in his life.
Zinnia realizes she misjudged him, and that he was right; she had only gone on this date for Kelra's sake and then later, to complete the quest Pyriel gave her. She had ignored him, never taking the time until now to actually try and get to know him. She apologizes and admits she was wrong, which greatly increases his respect. He tells her she can make it up to him by going on another date--a real date, this time--and invites her over to his place to meet his other partners and see if she would be interested in joining them or not--no pressure or strings attached. Zinnia had never tried polyamory before, and wasn't sure if she was into it, but was willing to try so agreed.
As dinner ended, everyone moved to the dance floor to finish up the evening. As Zinnia and Sue danced, she asked him for ideas for rumors to start before the night ends. But Sue points out that rumors take time to grow; days or even weeks, and that's if they catch on at all. Wasn't she a magic user? Couldn't she just...I dunno...make it look like he crapped his pants or something?
Zinnia realized Sue was on to something. The two danced closer to Veldren and Karnella, who were also dancing, and then she used three effects of Prestidigitation to 1) create a farting sound near Veldren 2) create an awful smell in his vicinity 3) make his pantaloons appear stained brown. Veldren protested that it wasn't him, but everyone started laughing at him and Karnella slapped him in disgust. Realizing what had happened, Veldren swore revenge against Zinnia before storming off in humiliation.
Sue suggests that maybe they should get out of here while the going's good, and Zinnia agrees. The party, plus Bastian and Sue, all head back to the courtyard and get back into Pyriel's fancy carriage. Once they are back on the street, Zinnia notices Kelra and Bastian in quiet conversation and realizes she never once checked in on her to see how her date was going. Again, she was so focused on the mission, she completely forgot about her.
Suddenly, the driver cries out and the carriage comes to a halt. The party steps out and finds the driver on the ground, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his shoulder and convulsing. They also see a man in all black approaching, claiming that 'Earl Veldren sends his regards.' A fight breaks out, and Sue and Bastian help out. They easily dispatch the assassin, and Zinnia finds on his body a bounty note from the earl and 140 gold pieces. She is disappointed that is all her life is apparently worth. She gives 20 gold each to Bastian and Sue for helping out.
Sue laments that no matter what happens on their second date, it is unlikely to beat this one in terms of excitement.
Kelra manages to save the driver, and Bastian takes over the reins. They ride to the temple to help the driver further, then drop off Sue and Bastian before returning to Lady Pyriel's. After telling her of the events of the night, she pays them 1,000 gold pieces and assures Zinnia that Veldren won't send any more assassins after her. She'll see to that herself.
Notes When I sat down and went over that list of NPCs as I said I would, I quickly realized a problem. Zinnia was pretty much open to anything, had no dealbreakers and no specific preferences. So I narrowed a list of around 25 down to around 20. Going through them would probably have taken up most of the session, so I wrote up some very brief bits on each one (name, age, race, gender, sexuality, and a super brief description of appearance and personality) and sent them to her to narrow down. Interesting to note, she decided her first criteria to eliminate some was height; anyone shorter than Zinnia's previous height was cut (so no gnomes or halflings or goblins, etc.). Eventually, she settled on Sue, who worth noting, was the tallest person among them at 6'2". Bastian had been among those on the list (and one Horizon seriously considered, as he was 6') but I felt he was a good match for Kelra so chose him for her date.
All of the party's fancy outfits were chosen by Horizon. She even used her phone to google some ideas.
There were lots of people at the party, but I only wanted to focus on a few as to note overwhelm Horizon. So I only really fleshed out Veldren, Karenlla, Windara and Tovan. In personality, I loosely based Windara on Fannah Winters from my Gontoria game. Tovan was fun to play, as being so awkward to the point of becoming off-putting is something I rather excel at. Despite Horizon thinking Tovan was some kind of imposter, he really was the count. I elaborated a bit more on his backstory after the session, as it never came up, but he was basically trying to be interesting because he was so lonely. He had several 'tales' of his exciting adventures, but when pressed on details it would become clear he was never in any real danger and his servants had set everything up (e.g., the beholder he fought against single-handedly was actually just a giant balloon with eyes painting on it, and his servants were bobbing it around for him to shoot arrows at).
I actually had a few milestones written up for Sue, things that if Zinnia said or did, would increase his relationship with her. By the time she was ready to throw him out, she had not met any of them and I had decided the whole thing was kaput. But surprisingly, during the dinner scene, she actually managed to fulfill two of those milestones. Telling a tragic story of her past, and admitting she was wrong about something. This increased Sue's affection and respect for her, and they actually managed to turn things around. Good thing, too, because I was planning on that second date being a big part of the next session and without it, I wasn't sure what to do next (since Zinnia only went on this date for Kelra's sake, I doubted she'd go on another date with someone else). I did think it was funny Horizon chose Sue because he was a 'bad boy,' and then when she got annoyed with him when he didn't behave. Good thing she failed her persuasion roll to send him home.
The fight with the Assassin was perhaps more proof that the whole Challenge Rating system is dumb and pointless. The Wyvern was CR 6 and was easy. The Stone Giant was CR 7 and quite hard. The Assassin was CR 8, and super easy again. Sure, the party had a bit more help this time (Sue and Bastian), but I think a major factor was I botched my initiative roll, so the Assassin went dead last. Meaning his Assassinate ability was useless. So no Sneak Attack, either, as he was alone. I think he only got off a single hit (Raiann) and that was after Vicavor enfeebled him, so it was less damage than it would have been otherwise.
I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 6, 2022 12:50:59 GMT -8
Session XP: Meeting with Lady Pyriel - 25 XP Coming up with outfits for each party member - 125 XP Meeting Sue - 25 XP Meeting Count Tovan - 25 XP Meeting Earl Veldren - 25 XP Meeting Baroness Windara - 25 XP Meeting Lady Karnella - 25 XP Learning Sue's backstory - 25 XP Apologizing to Sue - 25 XP Humiliating Veldren - 25 XP Defeating the Assassin - 557 XP Completion of quest - 390 XP TOTAL: 1,297 XP That puts Zinnia at 13,426 XP total, which means she needs another 574 XP to level up. Don't forget update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 12, 2022 12:56:12 GMT -8
Had a session Saturday night, but the summary usually takes so long to write I normally write up most of it on Sunday night, so it's ready on Monday. But I was really beat yesterday, so never started it. So I'll start it today, and hopefully get it up tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 14, 2022 13:00:02 GMT -8
Okay, that took a day longer than I anticipated; I've been really tired lately. Session 15 - Ante UpWe open on Day 33 of Zinnia arriving in Affburgh. She and the others sit down to breakfast, and they all discuss their plans for the day. Kelra has a religious ceremony at the temple to attend to, Vicavor plans to study, Raiann plans to train, and Nemeia is going grocery shopping with Arabella. Zinnia is the only one with nothing to do; that is, until a letter arrives by courier. It is from Sue, asking her to stop by the Ruby Princess Casino, where he works. Zinnia heads down to the river docks, where the casino can be found--on the river itself, as it's a docked riverboat. Stepping inside, she finds the place is a bit shady, full of lowlifes and thugs. In addition to the gambling, there's also a pleasure house, an opium den, and a restaurant and bar. She finds Sue dealing a hand to some rough looking patrons, who all grumble and complain when they lose to the house. Sue takes his break and gives Zinnia a small tour, warns her not to eat at the restaurant (the meat is quite suspect, and the veggies are often rotten), although the ale is quite good. He also explains how the games are mostly rigged, and asks if she'd be willing to help him out in that regard. She agrees. When they return to the table, she pretends to be a customer and keeps anteing the pot, until Sue 'wins' and claims it all. However, her performances aren't great, and the thugs realize they were cheated. She fails to talk them down, and a fight breaks out. Zinnia tries to protect herself with Warding Wind (and wild surges, creating some ethereal music, but nobody can really hear it over the wind). But things don't go well, and she resorts to a Fireball, but that's too little, too late and both she and Sue go down. When Zinnia comes to, she's in bed in a strange, dark room she's never seen before. She immediately moves to the vanity mirror and checks the damage; sure enough, half of her face is cracked, as if it were made of porcelain, and the crack is faintly glowing red in the darkness. She tries to sprucen up with cantrips, then steps outside, finding herself in a living room. She seems to be in a house of some kind, a fairly cheap one, with only two bedrooms (one of which she just exited from). She spots a half-orc resting in a chair in the living room, who calls out when he notices Zinnia is awake. Sue and a gnomish woman stirring something in a bowl step out of the kitchen to check on her. Sue explains that the thugs were dead, like actual skeletons, and speculates the only reason he survived is his demonic heritage. Zinnia explains about her own heritage, how she is the 'vessel' (whatever that means) and how this has happened before and apologizes. Sue also introduces the others. The gnome making dinner is Penelope Mushruckus Blisterblood Murkspore, a Deep Gnome with white hair and bluish skin. The half-orc is Kruck, with long black hair pulled back into a simple ponytail and greenish skin. At this point, the final roommate arrives, a human of indeterminate gender with red hair and fair skin named Ruma. Ruma asks what happened, as they heard that several customers died and that Sue was fired. Zinnia feels very bad about this, blaming herself. But Sue doesn't seem overly worried about it. They all sit down together for dinner--mushroom stew, stale bread and watered down wine--and Zinnia proceeds to get to know everyone. Penelope is a waitress at the Ruby Princess, which is how she met Sue. She was also the one who helped get the pair here after they fell unconscious, and witnessed the whole thing. She grew up in an underground gnomish colony, but wanted to see the surface world so left home and joined a traveling caravan that eventually brought her to Affburgh. She ran out of coin and had to get a job, so became a cook at the casino; but they demoted her to waitress because she used too many mushrooms in every meal. Penelope seems enamored with how tall Zinnia is (thanks to her wild surge growth spurt) and Sue teases Penelope that tall people are her fetish, much to her embarrassment. Kruck is a stevedore at the river docks. He met Sue and Penelope at the casino, as he would often go there to blow off steam after work. He hails from a small Orc tribe down the river, but he never fit in with them so he stowed aboard a river boat one day and made his way to Affburgh. Kruck was fairly taciturn, though, and proved difficult to get information from. Ruma is an accountant for a local general store. They don't speak much about themselves, but despite their lowly station now, Zinnia gets the impression, from the way they carry themselves, that they may have been if not highborn, at least coming from a wealthy background. Ruma was born in Fairhaven, a small trading town to the east, known for its libraries and temples. For whatever reason, Ruma was not happy at home (something about a disagreement with their parents) and decided to join a caravan and move elsewhere. It was the same caravan Penelope was in, and that was how they met. Ruma knows 16 different languages, and hopes to one day get a job in Rabbah as a translator, as they heard Rabbahns pay them quite well. Zinnia also questioned them about their non-monogamy status, and why they don't wish to ever get married to one person. Most of their answers were the same; that they wanted their freedom and that sort of lifestyle just wasn't for them. Zinnia was asked if she ever planned to get married and settle down, but she had to admit it wasn't something she had put any thought into. By this point, it was growing late. Sue offered to let her stay the night. She agreed, although nothing happened other than sleep. NotesThe 'Ruby Princess' casino is a cheeky reference to a local casino up here, the Emerald Queen. Horizon thought 'Ruby Princess' sounded better, and I tend to agree. Zinnia probably would have won that fight if she hadn't started out with Warding Wind. I guess she was under the impression they were all going to use ranged attacks for some reason. It didn't help that I rolled pretty badly for Sue, as well. Sue was impressed she agreed to help him with his work, which was another milestone for him. He also was pleased how well she got along with his roommates, which was also a milestone. That's four down, two to go. With Zinnia's newest transformation, she kind of looks like full Renegade Sheppard from Mass Effect 2 now. Fun fact: At no point did Zinnia mention to her mother or roommates where she was going for the day. Then she never returned that night. I imagine they'll all be quite worried next time she sees them. I'll try and get XP up tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 15, 2022 10:39:44 GMT -8
Session XP: Helping Sue cheat - 25 XP Confessing her heritage to Sue and his roommates - 25 XP Learning about Penelope - 25 XP Learning about Kruck - 25 XP Learning about Ruma - 25 XP Learning about non-monogamy - 25 XP TOTAL: 150 XP That puts Zinnia at 13,576 XP total, which means she needs another 244 XP to level up. Don't forget update your character sheet, HorizonsDream .
|
|
|
Post by HorizonsDream on Sept 15, 2022 19:50:26 GMT -8
It is only a cheeky reference because I work at the Emerald Queen Casino. Ruby Princess really is much better though. I should propose to the tribe I work for that they should change the name of their casino.
|
|
|
Post by Daos on Sept 15, 2022 20:02:00 GMT -8
Well, I avoided saying that for the sake of your privacy...but okay then.
|
|