Monday 24 November 2014

Circus Bits and Pieces

I've been a bit remiss in getting videos and photos at circus, but here's a few of recent aerial hoop work:


One of the reasons I've not had so many videos is that the quality on my phone camera suddenly dropped, for which I apologise. Anyway, quite chuffed with this video all the same - rolls are a lot of fun!


Because my phone camera has been playing up, I used a different one to get this video. Am very, very pleased with this move - a hock drop. I could not have done this a couple of months ago, because it requires core strength to maintain the control as you drop. Without the control, it simply wouldn't be safe. It might be a bit less flashy than the rolls, but in terms of ability this feels to me a far better demonstration of how far I'm coming.

Am sure it goes without saying, but please don't try the things in the videos without suitable supervision!

Friday 21 November 2014

Filler Post!

Feeling a bit guilty that I haven't got around to writing up last Friday's Aberrant or Saturday's Arkham Horror or the various other things I've been wanting to write about. So here's a picture of me doing a very painful aerial hoop move to make up for it.


In my defense, I've been busy with various projects and then migraines which took me out of action for a while. Should be back to normal soonish...

Tuesday 11 November 2014

Pathfinder Interlude - Part 2: Mivon and Drelev's Folly

One of the rather fun things about this interlude is that our GM is giving us a chance to play (and thus flesh out) some of the NPC’s we’ve created as backstory or downtime flavour. In this session, we popped to Kieran’s town, Drelev’s Folly, and met Marshal Daybreaker (one of Paul’s NPCs).

Also, I apologise for jumping between tenses: I’m trying to write this as Jvala’s personal notes, so they’re written in scraps of time she gets which means sometimes she’s writing about what has happened, sometimes what is happening, sometimes what will happen that will then become what has happened.

Finally, quick comment on ‘The Brevic Times’. This is one of the cool props our GM makes for us: a news sheet that massages our egos by including things our characters have done as well as offering insight into plot – providing hooks for future and reminders for past.

A few days after being on the boat, starting to get used to it. Chatting to sailors – let us on deck if Tanna keeps an eye. Not going to burn anything on purpose, but accidents happen and not like wolves/leopards are used to ships.

Copy of Brevic times from start of the month lying around. Turns out our barons have gone up in world – Alexei Vasilev and Chester Goldhawk now Earls and Svetlana Chekhov has married King Noleski of Brevoy to become Queen. Magical fluctuations in Restov (presumably the ones we were told about in Absalom) from Court Magister Malliard helping take down the Thieves’ Guild. Not sure if still relevant to investigations. Something about Dawnlands(?) and that they killed a bandit known as the Stag Lord.

Rumours of river pirates seem unsubstantiated.

Until day pirates boarded.

Big ghostly ship loomed. Crew grabbed arms. Captain explained they were insured for the cargo so we waited. Boarded by appearing on deck – no swimming or swinging or firing cannons: tall male elf with dark shoulder-length hair, slender woman with distant expression, three piratical types at back. Demanded cargo, so crew started to bring onto deck. Fine until pirate captain demanded we handover valuables. Zabeel not capable so shot him.

Didn’t go well: pirate captain can fight well and didn’t kill anyone. Knocked out crew. Lady by him fired lightning at us and got in trouble. After we took down two of his crew, he gave us a chance: put up our weapons and they’d leave. His boat continued at our side, travelling wrong way up river. Powerful magic. Warned us not to fly Galt flag here. Why not?

Turns out, pirate captain Sethyn is bastard son of Duke Cornelius. Has some relief at hearing Duke Augustus is dead. Hates Duchess Caroline: step-son rivalry or is she less than she seemed?

Having established we are not affiliated with Galt, Sethyn offered passage to Mivon: his boat much faster than the one we’re with. Sethyn never met the barons earls we’re chasing; knows them by reputation. The one that married the king (Svetlana) is a bit of a sap but the ragged one (Alexei) is the one to watch out for. They have a large black cat travels with them – bigger than Flash but looks like a fluffy squashed nose cat (Katepeshi?)

Rumour that the great fire of Mivon (6 months ago) was started by the barons earls: Sethyn certainly seems to believe this. Rumours of vampires in Mivon too.

Wonder who Sethyn’s mother is?

Mivon v. impressive but very much city: no freedom for wildlife. A little uncomfortable for me & think Tanna really struggled with it. So controlled. Even surrounding marshes tamed.

Big walls surround city. Patrolled by guards – some v. big with helmets hiding faces. Greeted by image of the mayor Raston Selline – appeared for all new arrivals. Lots of use of magic tricks and devices evident: people carrying v. heavy loads with no visible effort, and floating trolleys.

Current Brevic Times: bounty on Sethyn. Details of successful brewer from Brevoy (Lord Asher). Other odds and ends.

City v. clean. Booked in to ‘The Lusty Mermaid’ on Sethyn’s recommendation. But first trip round town. Sam napping but Tanna and I want to investigate so we can move on. Zabeel & Vernus are joining.

Made way to memorial gardens. Big fountain to commemorate lives lost in fire: so many names! Tanna reckons around 6,000. Peaceful space; everyone quiet.

No clues. Decided to go to branch of Silver Serpent Trade Guild – building is one of very few survived fire so may have some info (paper clipping or something) from earls’ visit.

Not as much as we’d hoped: receptionist (Michael – knows Bella! Will have to tell her next time I’m in Absalom) never met earls but helpful all the same. Speaks Ignan (weird – only met one other person who could speak it and they were ifrit too. Hadn’t even known it was a real language and not just something I’d made up ‘til then and now a human speaking it). Didn’t think earls were responsible for fire – surprised by suggestion. Explained had been there to set up trade deals but couldn’t give us details except seemed lucrative. The cat was Katepeshi but normal sized. Set up meeting with Mayor Selline for tomorrow then arranged ‘sky taxi’ to take us back.

Tanna didn’t like look of basically a flying, horseless, wheelless carriage so walking back with beasties. View is amazing. City v. beautiful but in v. organised manner. Not seen anyone poor or begging, but there are even people cleaning the roofs so seems have found ways to employ everyone.

Massive prosperity has Zabeel thinking: Mivon largely being rebuilt with help of Lord Irovetti from Pitax. Massive infrastructure needed and so much work done so quickly: did Irovetti conspire with our earls to start the fire so they could take over? Troops from Pitax marched with the Brevic forces to the Crusade, so link. Needs investigating. Hopefully Mayor Selline can help.

Picked up lots of rumours from the pub.  People here much more relaxed – maybe the fireproofing means less afraid of me? Happier to talk than most places I’ve been. Will try to come back in future. Hehe, though – poor Zabeel! Really doesn’t like strangers and people kept trying to talk to him ‘til Vernus let him hide in his room.

But for me, a few people had news of earls! Rumours, anyway: were seen in area of fire. Seen going in and out of shifty alchemist’s: some confusion on name. Maybe Esteban, Estevez; probably Ezekiel. Very competent (particularly in removal of personal warts) but still chose to work in poor quarter when could probably work in better parts. Earl Alexei, specifically, was seen near alley where guy called Paul was found, bled to death. Contrasts to usual claim that they’re good/nice with trouble following. More rumours of this Katepeshi cat: normal size (but some arguments).

Mayor Raston Selline: looks and sounds just like his image from docks. Seemed eager to talk about earls. Here on diplomatic tour – life and soul of party. Earl Alexei particularly popular. And after fire, pledged much assistance to help rebuild city using funds from their recently brokered trade deals (supporting Zabeel’s suggestion re: working with lord Irovetti?). Full of praise.

Mentioned Dawnlands: explained this is region south of Brevoy. Showed on map: v. big region. From Brevic Times article, awarded to them for killing Stag Lord. Seems a lot to get for that. I've killed bandits. Restov is city to north, Varnhold region to east: both also on list of places to investigate from Pathfinder Society.

Tour consisted of Earls Alexei and Chester (barons at the time) with various associates including Sir Akaros Ismort, paladin of Iomedae, and Gregor, their diplomatic advisor (Mayor Selline says smooth/nice but maybe too much so: doesn’t entirely trust him). Queen Svetlana not with them: had stayed in New Stetvon after their promotion to barony to be trained for new role. Suggestion this may have meant as more than baron, in light of recent wedding.

Remembers the cat.

Says there was a vampire problem in Mivon but the fire seems to have taken care of it. More praise of assistance given by earls in putting fire out & rebuilding – also of Lord Irovetti. Irovetti and Selline have joined forces.

Leaving, realised the stone of this Town Hall same as stone of Trade Guild: both buildings survived fire: both local stone. Most rebuilt buildings made of imported stone. Tonnes of it. Again, Zabeel’s theory: they must have had this ready to go to have moved so fast. Must have known it was coming.

Pitax felt a good next stop. Poured over maps: Sethyn said could take us a way up on his way to New Stetvon – town en route recently changed name but had dock of sorts and would be best place to start out west across land.

Town now called ‘Drelev’s Folly’. Sethyn remembered it as being v. dingy with rotten gangplank into water. Still dingy, but obvious signs of rebuilding & halfway built dock. Disembarked, met by town marshal, Marshal Daybreaker.

Town name came from previous ruler – Baron Drelev. Like our earls, was awarded land for various efforts on behalf of Brevoy. Treated town badly: his enjoyment at their expense. Was found to be planning to betray Brevoy and switch sides to Pitax. Executed by Earl Alexei with hooded executioner. Town then run by Baron Costello: Marshal Daybreaker spoke v. highly of him. All improvements thanks to him. Town now part of Dawnlands.

Baron Costello is younger son of minor noble family. Was working as bodyguard for King Noleski Surtova in Absalom during all that trouble. Joined our earls afterwards. Rides a griffon called Brutus – Daybreaker showed us field where Brutus had landed. Largest imprint of any beast I have ever seen. Never heard of such a large griffon. This group like big cats. Costello’s family have history of griffons: ‘rite of passage’ to find and tame one. Kinda cool.

Execution of Drelev sounds brutal: his family killed in front of him, then torturous death. Townsfolk seem to feel he deserved it. Almost idolise Baron Costello.

Plot thickens: sounds like a lot of anger towards Drelev for threat of betrayal to Pitax. Sounds like great loyalty to Brevoy against Pitax. Sounds like a lot of effort for them to be hiding their own relationship with Lord Irovetti, so maybe Zabeel’s theory is wrong? But seems so likely, given situation in Mivon.

Daybreaker could arrange horses for us: barbarian tribe to north used to cause problems, but not since Baron Costello visited them. Now trade often and have access to the mines. Sethyn offered to take us on to New Stetvon if we’d rather. After some discussion, decided to go with that plan: Pitax can wait. There may be more information in New Stetvon that could explain this connection or otherwise with Irovetti.

Sailing in to New Stetvon: nickname very apt - ‘City of Wooden Palaces’. Nearly all wood, built over lake. Stone temple to Gorum stands out but even more so the Ruby Fortress, home of Dragonstone Throne and where King Noleski is based.

It only seems to stop raining here when it wants to snow.

Friday 7 November 2014

Pathfinder Interlude - Part 1: The Dukes of Galt [amended]

Pathfinder interlude: if you’ve been following the Pathfinder write-ups, you’ll be aware that the main player party has just got back from a few weeks in the Abyss to discover 5 years has passed on Golarion. We’re now going to be playing through those 5 years as different, less powerful characters; in part because the GM wants to show us how much of an impact the actions of our main characters has had on this world.

One of the nice things he’s doing is making us keep in-character journals as part of our work for the Pathfinder Society – and the snippets he particularly likes will go up on his blog as part of our report. I don’t have the journal so am writing this up as a separate sort of journal.

Here’s Jvala’s story.

Back in Absalom for my great-niece’s wedding. It’s as crowded as ever, but since Cinder and Flash are both fully grown now I’ve noticed people tend to give me more space as I walk the streets. Relief that some of my youngest relatives were not afraid of them – and were gentle with them. Managed to get through it without losing my temper with my late sister-in-law’s family, at least. But it was good to get back to my room and find I’d been summoned by the Pathfinder Society – excuse to make a speedy exit from town.

Made way over – Flash and Cinder had to wait outside but spotted my friend Tanna’s hawk, Skydancer. Went in; went down to the depths. This place always impresses me. Would love to come 500 years after it’s been abandoned to really explore and make it mine. But enough digressing.

Went down and saw Tanna there, and Sam warming herself (himself? catself?) by the fire. Joined Tanna at the table and the reserved drow Zabeel skulked over to us – Sam and Vernus Umber joined when our venture captain, Ambrus Valsin came over. I’ve worked with Tanna, Zabeel and Sam before, but not Vernus.

Ambrus was accompanied by another man. Not seen him before – turned out to be the Master of Spells, Arum Zey. More forthcoming with information (and funds). Liked him. Basically, they wanted us to go investigate some new barons from Brevoy, who’d been involved in the problems Absalom had had to deal with recently. Not a huge amount for us to go on - a few locations to check out in the north: Galt, Mivon, Pitax, Restov (some big surge of magical energy reported there) and New Stetvon (again, some reports of a recent gathering of very powerful individuals). Should be a bit of an adventure, but made sure my cold weather gear was safely packed before we left. Boat north-east to Taldor. Not my favourite way to travel, but the simplest route in and out of Absalom.

Travelled north from Taldor into Galt. En route, passed group setting up on side of road in the mountain passes. Refugees from Galt. Wouldn’t open up to me, but Tanna got them talking. The Duke Cornelius had been killed and his brother let the country go to ruin so they had no choice but to go elsewhere. Plot thickens.

Northwards to Isarn, capital of Galt. Learn a bit more about Duke Cornelius. Seems he was a pretty good leader, country doing well under him, respected. His wife had been there when he was killed, had gone into shock. Duke Cornelius’s surviving brother, his twin Augustus, was running the country. Seemed he’d taken the death badly, too, though; was running the country poorly as we’d seen from the refugees on the road but also as we moved through Galt.

Isarn in particular showed signs of having had better days. Most of the city worn down, disrepair – like a temple, abandoned but once loved. Except by the palace where Augustus lived. Seemed all the effort (and money) was being spent on keeping this area nice. At everyone else’s expense.

Went to the square where Cornelius’s head was found. Brown stain on the wall: suspected his blood. Mysterious person appeared, ‘Sam Spade’ of Mythic Investigations. Possibly got some kind of cursed office: everything went sepia and he kept narrating. Irritating, but stopped when we moved away from his office. Using a few bits of kit I’d not seen before, he confirmed the stain was Cornelius’s blood, shed when his head was cut off. Also said he’d spoken to our barons, worked with them briefly in Absalom. Makes me wonder if we should have done some more investigating before we left the city.

Arranged appointment to see Duke Cornelius’s surviving wife, Duchess Caroline. Sam, pretending to be a small girl, snuck off past the handmaiden who greeted us and found her way to the lady. Not entirely sure what Sam got up to, but a bit later the guards raced out of the room, so I crept out after to find the lady sat with a bruise developing on her face and the guards poking with sticks under the bed. The lady indicated she was alright and didn’t need any help and I was pretty sure Sam could look after herself so I waited.

Sam led guards on a merry chase. Ultimately apologised to Lady Caroline for accidentally throwing a ball at her face and we headed back to the other room, where Tanna was continuing to try and negotiate with the handmaiden. Lady Caroline silenced them with a wave of her hand – and spoke.

She was kind enough to give us her eye witness account. Two men in crazy red armour. One was silent – but his bright blue eyes struck her. The other brutally slew her husband in their bed as he begged for mercy. She couldn’t understand it: the rightful ruler of Galt, murdered. His head left with a note suggesting he’d been involved in ordering a black lotus assassination attempt against one of our baron’s – half-orc Chester Goldhawk.

Explained Augustus was ruining country, wrecking the relations they’d built with other nations. She’d helped Cornelius (if Augustus was out of the picture, would she not be a better ruler?)

Cornelius had spoken to her of the barons we’re to investigate: good people, he felt, but trouble followed them.

Her description of Augustus and his ability to rule made me so angry I nearly burnt my Pathfinder journal as I wrote it up in the pub after.

Next thing we hear, Augustus is missing. Wanted to speak to him, so wondered if he’d legged it cos he heard we were investigating – maybe he ordered the death of his brother (something in the note: maybe Augustus arranged both assassinations; tried to blame the black lotus one on his brother then had him killed and didn’t want us to find out?)

Went to guard house to see if we could help – also because we were summoned just for being at palace. Couldn’t give much info – they were thinking kidnapping & waiting for note.

Left. Tanna went a bit quiet but didn’t really notice until she became very distressed – we turned back: someone had killed Skydancer. She’d noticed we were being followed, asked hawk to watch out and he’d been shot. Others raced to roof tops to try to find whilst I tried to calm friend with help of Cinder. Not sure exactly what she did, but with some oils consecrated the body and it melted away [reincarnate spell].

Epic roof top chase ensued – less fun than it sounds. Eventually discovered the guards were after us. Claimed they had evidence Duke Augustus had been killed and we were associates. Weren’t listening when we denied – ran before they could pin it on us in fake court.

Hope Caroline gets to rule but Zabeel doubts it.

Sam was missing as we commandeered a boat – fee is a lot less when you point a gun at the captain. Needs must and all that. Stowed us away. Hate boats. He rejoined us in his halfling disguise a few towns along the river.

Don't know who killed the Duke. Know I wanted to, listening to the people talk, seeing the ruin. Kinda thing I might have done, if he’d been there in front of me when everyone was telling me the worst of him. I wanted to.

May Desna forgive me.

Day Two of the ARBBL Pick'n'Mix 2014

DAY TWO

I think a fourth side stepper would have been a better choice, as I didn't use sprint at all.


Game One – vs Cantaloupe’s Chaos

Gate 8-5

We last faced each other for some Wood Elf vs Wood Elf violence at last summer’s Cake, and I think he was after some revenge.

The game started well for the skinks: Hemlock failed to catch the hand off, but another skink grabbed it, allowing the krox to kill a chaos warrior. A both down blitz on my ball carrier left the ball fairly safe, but even with a reroll the skinks couldn’t pick it up and the minotaur killed the krox! The ball passed between the teams, whilst 2 skinks dodged to death and the chaos team killed Hemlock, the sprinting skink and one of the side stepping skinks: with an earlier crowd surf and some knock outs, this left 3 skinks on pitch. One held the ball tightly as the beast swarmed in and killed him. The ball bounced free, but the remaining skinks couldn’t pick it up and another was swiftly knocked out.

Once the beastmen finally managed to get the ball, the final remaining skink ran up to the ball carrier and, with a ½ die block, joined most of his friends in the dead & injured box. With a short pass and hand off, the chaos were able to score at the end of the first half.

Fortunately, all the knock outs came back (hurray for babes!), meaning the skinks could line up with 5 players – one with side step. Who was killed by the minotaur immediately. The first turn saw another skink dead, one knocked out, one stunned and one bravely staying on his feet. In a bit of a panic, the surviving skink blitzed the minotaur for a push. The minotaur blitzed back to stun the brave skink, whilst the previously stunned skink was fouled to death.

There followed several turns of various members of the chaos team (including the minotaur) fouling the remaining skink for stuns – until turn 7, where a beastman finally managed to kill him. The chaos team scored in the hopes the knocked out skink would return to be killed… This gave me two turns to score, and a pitch invasion decimated his team (the minotaur, 3 chaos warriors and a beastman down). Unfortunately, a failed pick up using the reroll took away that brief hope, but the chaos team also sadly failed their goal, knocking out rather than killing the skink on their blitz.

Final score: TD 0-2; CAS 1-10
 
I know they look like Slaan, but they are skinks; honest!
Game Two – vs BlocknRoll’s Chaos Pact

Gate 8-5

The game started with pouring rain, but the first kick off calmed this down to nice weather. For the fifth game, I’d won both fame and the kick off and again chose to go first. The krox stunned the ogre and a skink managed to knock out a marauder on a both down – but failed to pick up the ball first. Bomber Dribblesnot then fumbled his bomb – but was ok. The krox then hit the troll over whilst skinks got the ball to Hemlock, who ran up the pitch with skinks running up as distractions (with some uncanny dodging to make up for previous games). His big guys stood up and the skaven blitzed Hemlock – hurray for side step! However, Hemlock can’t dodge. The Pact team got as close around the ball as they could, with tentacles to make it as difficult as possible for me to get it – but his skaven also can’t dodge and his third reroll was used to end turn 3. A bit of lucky dodging let the skinks score.

The next drive started with relief on his side – sure hands meant he was able to pick the ball up. Short lived relief, though, with a both down block ending the turn. A quick blitz left the ball in the hands of a supporting skink. A three dice block stripped the ball loose, where the skaven managed to catch it. A stun from the chainsaw resulted in him being sent off, with some relief from the skinks! In response, the krox killed the minotaur – and the troll killed a side stepping skink. The Krox failed to knock the ball loose, but the next turn the ogre boneheaded when he was meant to blitz, meaning the skaven had to dodge and as established both yesterday and previously in this game, skaven can’t dodge. So the skinks grabbed the ball and scored.

This gave him a chance to achieve a one turn touchdown, but even with a reroll from the kick off table the goblin failed to pay enough attention to accept the hand off.

The second half started with a continuation of bad luck for BlocknRoll: the troll blocked with a skull and 2 both downs. He passed the loner roll to get a pow. The ogre fumbled the throw team mate, but the goblin landed safely. The turn ended with a marauder double skulling a skink. Hemlock raced in to stab and KO the goblin – a marauder caught the bouncing ball, so the skinks swarmed in to put as many tackle zones around him as they could – but forgot he could just hand off to the dark elf, which he promptly did. A quick blitz on the dark elf went from a push/skull to double skull on the reroll so the dark elf could blitz away. The krox knocked out the troll, but the skinks used a reroll to go from a skull to a skull on their second attempt to hit the dark elf. Blitzing away, the dark elf needed a reroll to keep from falling but managed to score.

So my turn 4 started with a skink dying on a GFI to hand off the ball, even with the free reroll we’d both just won. The dark elf also failed a GFI with reroll so the krox killed the ogre… and a failed dodge resulted in a knocked out skink. The skaven just about managed to get the ball so was swarmed with skinks whilst Hemlock attempted to stab the dark elf. The Pact then failed their GFI for a blitz; the skinks pushed the ball around ineffectively whilst the krox killed a marauder. More pushing on his turn and a failed dodge on mine ended the game.

Final Score: TD 2-1; CAS 3-1

This was more down to his bad luck than my skill, although for both of us rerolls were basically useless.

Game Three – vs Australopithecus’s Ogres

Gate 3-8 meant I lost fame for the first time – and he had two lots! Another new opponent for me, as well.

Another game starting in the pouring rain. Again, I was going first but this time a blitz meant the weather was staying bad – the blitz was not very successful. Hemlock tried stabbing a snotling with no joy. The ball was quickly recovered, but again a skink failed a dodge in an effort to offer protection. An ogre, needing a reroll on the GFI, successfully blitzed the ball carrier to knock the ball loose, but couldn’t pick it up. Hemlock managed to kill a snotling whilst another skink failed a GFI in an attempt to add tackle zones to the ball. An ogre then blitzed with a reroll: 5 out of 6 dice came up skulls, but the sixth was the pow he needed – but his snotlings still couldn’t pick up the ball.

The krox – feeling very outnumbered – killed an ogre whilst a group of plucky skinks pushed another onto the ball, and as it bounced free one caught it. The ball carrier was pushed around whilst Hemlock was knocked down – a snotling then got himself sent off for fouling without breaking armour. The skinks were unable to break a route through the ogres defence, and the ball carrier failed a dodge to drop the ball in the open. Even with a reroll, the ogre nearest the ball was unable to pick it up so the skinks grabbed it and ran. Just in time, too; the ogre chased them down but failed the GFI needed to hit them. The krox killed another ogre and the skinks ran the ball in to score on turn 6.

A high kick let a snotling catch the ball. An ogre stood by another snotling in a good position for a throw teammate attempt. The only problem was the skink in his tackle zone. Not to worry: another ogre was on hand to take him out… but decided to bonehead instead. Another ogre was called up to be the star and blitz the skink away… and he also boneheaded to the premature snickers of the skink: the snotling accepted the handoff and the ogre threw him down the pitch, ignoring the skink’s attempts to stop him. The throw was wild, however, and the snotling too afraid to land so close to skinks and knocked himself out. The skinks were too excited by this turn of events to pick up the ball – although one had the foresight to run down the pitch in case they achieved it. Fortunately, the ogres also couldn’t grab the ball, although they did put a tackle zone on the running skink – so the skinks knocked over an ogre and pushed off the one giving the tackle zone only to once again fail the pick up (pouring bloody rain). In vengeance, an ogre finally managed to kill a skink before a both down ended the half.

The second half started a little more successfully for the ogres: a bit worried by Hemlock’s ability to (fairly easily) take out snotlings, they blitzed to knock him down, then sent in some snotlings to kick him to stunned. The snotling in charge of picking up the ball was too busy watching this and the ball scattered loose. The skinks raced down the pitch to get as close as they could until one eventually failed a dodge. This clearly intimidated the snotlings by the ball, as they still couldn’t pick it up. Hemlock stabbed the snotling nearest him as the skinks near the ball in the backfield carefully lined themselves up by the ball – with a side stepper in the end zone and the vague hope a failed pick up would bounce the ball into his hands for a score… the failed pick up achieved, a skink earlier in the chain clearly hadn’t been listening and caught the ball. The ogres, too far away to achieve much, killed a skink still by them. Brave little snotling attempted to hit the ball carrier for a push, and the skinks scored.

In the next kick off, the ball flew wild assisting the throw teammate attempt. Again, the ogre behaved well but the snotling messed up his landing and was carted off the pitch to the dead and injured box. The skinks grabbed the ball but failed to hand it off, leaving it precariously near the side line where an ogre similarly couldn’t get it – but the skinks tried again and ran down the pitch with it, only for the ball carrier to be stunned by a punch from an ogre. Annoyed, Hemlock stabbed the ogre player who’d managed to grab the ball (putting them in the KO box), but the other skinks couldn’t make the most of this. A snotling grabbed the ball… but knocked itself out on a dodge. The skinks grabbed it, but again couldn’t hand it off successfully. The ogres seemed in a state of confusion by the point, giving the skinks just enough time to grab the ball and score to end the game.

Final score: TD 3-0; CAS 4-2

It was the pouring rain that won me the game.

So: final scores!



Pleased to note that of the 5 Exiles in attendance, 4 were in the top 10 and that I placed higher than both the people who beat me (Canteloup and Lunchmoney). I’m also very amused that of Canteloup’s 14 total casualties, 10 were against my little skinks! (By my reckoning, I caused 2 more and took 2 less casualties than is showing in the record, so wonder if I gave a score sheet the wrong way round; I also think I conceded one fewer touchdowns, so maybe my notes are just wrong…. If someone I played can see an error in one of the scores I’ve given above – most likely BlocknRoll or Australopithecus, as I didn’t write down the final score at the time – please let me know).

 
Exiles on Tour!

Day One of the ARBBL Pick'n'Mix 2014

The ARBBL Pick’n’Mix is one of my favourite tournaments. Now in its second year, one of the things I really like about this tournament is the range of teams you see here that maybe you won’t see so often elsewhere: you get to take two teams, one for each day. If you’re familiar with Blood Bowl, you’ll know that the different teams are ranked by how well they do – from Tier One (teams like Wood Elves and Amazons that tend to do very well) down to Tier Four (the ‘stunty’ teams, like Ogres and Goblins that tend to do very badly). For this tournament, the tier value of the two teams needs to add up to at least 5. Last year, I took Amazons and Ogres (and perversely did much better with the Ogres than the Amazons). It was a lot of fun, but this time I decided to pick from Tiers Two and Three.

For Tier Two, I was torn between Chaos Pact (which I’d taken to Crumb a couple of years ago and quite enjoyed) or Humans (which I’ve never taken). I went with Pact because Humans just feel boring to me. Tier Three was a lot easier: Stunty-legal Lizards! Regular Lizards have never particularly appealed to me, but the stunty variant (skinks and kroxigor only; no saurus) sounded fun.

DAY ONE – The Pact-thetic Worms
'Multiple Block' should read 'Mighty Blow' - my team sheets were a bit damaged so I drew up a new one with typing error.


Game One – vs Dribbli’s Orcs

Gate: 8-7 so fame to me thanks to my fan factor.

The Worms won the kick off and elected to received, but were surprised by a blitz from the orcs. Fortunately the Worms had accidentally set up to protect against this and the orcs couldn’t make much headway, with the ball at the very back of the pitch, where Lewdgrip quickly got hold of it. The big guys on the front line pushed over the troll on the orcs’ team, but didn’t do much damage.

Some pushy-shovey from both sides later, Lewdgrip threw the ball to the skaven… who was shortly knocked down by a goblin on the orcs’ team. The minotaur put their other goblin in the crowd, and the Worm’s goblin knocked over an orc to give the skaven a chance to grab the ball and run to safety, with a touchdown to follow on turn 4.

As the teams lined up again, the sun burst forth from the clouds. The orcs were clearly in a party mood, playing pass-the-parcel with the minotaur, who eventually fell on the third attempt. The troll went over on the first hit. Their goblin then failed to pick up the ball. The next turn left both big guys on the floor, but with the Worm’s goblin by the ball. It wasn’t enough – the ball was collected and thrown to the goblin stood behind his troll. The minotaur wasn’t having any of this, and knocked the troll down to stand intimidatingly over the little gobbo. The ball eventually fell loose, but the dark elf proved that elves can’t dodge to end the half 1-0 rather than 2-0.

The second half started with the Worms blitzing the orcs – someone got under the ball but couldn’t catch it, so the orcs were able to get hold of it and take the minotaur down again: angry, the minotaur then hit the black orc who knocked him over, only to end up stunning himself with the black orc falling uninjured. The orcs then managed to get the ball safely into a cage, whilst shoving Lewdgrip off the pitch. The Worms responded by getting as many tackle zones onto the ball carrier as they could – which the orcs seemed unconcerned by, as they ran to relative safety at the side of the pitch.

First blood finally went to the ogre killing a black orc. Their retaliation was swift and brutal, with two marauders (including the one with mighty blow) heading off to the ‘dead and injured’ box. Desperate measures were called for, and a 1 die block knocked the ball loose, but the Worms lived up to the pactthetic name and failed to catch it. A bit more awkwardness later, the Worms’ goblin killed an orc goblin in an attempt to reach the ball – he managed to pick it up the following turn, but had nowhere to go and was soon knocked over by the opposing troll.

In the final moments of play, the dark elf failed its second dodge required to score again. Saving grace was the black orc skulling itself to death against the ogre and I’ve now realised I missed my final turn of the game (or absolutely nothing happened so I forgot to make a single note).

Final score: TD 1-0; CAS 3-2

Game Two – vs Ivan’s Ogres

Gate 11-7 so again fame was mine!

My second game and my second new opponent. I’ve made some really good friends playing Blood Bowl and it’s always a real pleasure to see them again, but it’s always nice to play someone new.

The Worms again won the toss and elected to receive. The ball bounced off the pitch so the mino demanded it be handed to him – and who’s going to argue with a minotaur? The troll went stupid but the ogre made up for him, knocking down an opposing ogre (it’s a bit intimidating to be outnumbered on the big guy front). The guarding marauder attempted to dodge out to support the minotaur, but even with a re-roll failed his dodge, and the minotaur was knocked down next turn. Fortunately, another marauder had reached him and managed to snatch the ball before it fell into the ogres’ hands: two stood looming over him. The troll attempted to come to his aid, but ended up falling over as a both down against an ogre.

The marauder inevitably fell next turn, with the ball bouncing loose. The troll and minotaur soon followed, then the goblin got knocked out. Lewdgrip realised his team needed him and recovered the ball. The ogres knocked out the dark elf and, in a moment of panic, Lewdgrip threw the ball inaccurately. The ogres quickly killed the blocking marauder and recovered the ball to throw it to safety. The minotaur, confused by this turn of events, refused to blitz  and the skaven, having taken lessons from the dark elf, failed to dodge. In return, the ogres knocked out Lewdgrip and gathered the ball. This reminded the minotaur what he was meant to do and he achieved a blitz to put a tackle zone on the ball carrier. The skaven still couldn’t dodge.

Knocking out the tackle marauder, the ogres then ran the ball along but failed the go for it needed to blitz. A lot more pushy-shovey later and he’s in range to score when a cheeky block knocked the ball loose. It wasn’t quite enough, though, and he scooped the ball back up and ran, earning the spot prize as he failed the go for it over the white line and killed a snotling to end the half. Phew!

The kicking was clearly a little wild this match, with the ball again sailing off the pitch to be given to the ogre with frenzy. Two of his ogres bone-headed, which meant the team couldn’t make good use of their first turn. The Worms were similarly ineffective, and it really is time the dark elf stopped taking the training sessions on how to dodge, as another marauder failed to do so and left a nice space for the ogres to move through. To make it easier, he knocked over the minotaur and ogre, then left the ball carrier leering at Lewdgrip. He managed to push the ogre back on a ½ die block, so the ogre proceeded to kill the dark elf, whilst snotlings kicked the minotaur in the head until it was stunned. Snotlings are a pain.

Fortunately for the Worms, in the confusion the ball carrier ran at the skaven and ended up with both falling over – the skaven leapt up and grabbed the ball, running as far as he could in the hopes he’d be safe. An ogre killed the goblin on his way to try and stop the rat but the rat had finally remembered how to dodge and kept running. Another moment of fortune favoured the Worms – in their excitement at knocking over the minotaur, the ogres forgot to send snotlings after the rat. The big guys on the Worms’ team picked themselves up just in time to see the rat score his touchdown.

This left two turns of fairly ineffective violence, with a dead snotling being all to show for it.

Final score: TD 1-0; CAS 1-3

Hard fought – we both made silly mistakes but the blitz from the ball carrying frenzy ogre was the one which won me the game.

With a friesian minotaur, a stand-in dark elf (as the usual one for this team broke her arm that she stands on) and a chaos warrior called Fluffy as Lewdgrip.

Game Three – vs Lunchmoney’s Khemri

Gate 9-6, so I was 3 for 3 on fame!

Referring to what I said about playing new people: Lunchmoney is better known on this blog as Husbit, so it doesn’t always work out that well. Having said that, I’ve never taken Pact against him, nor played against his Khemri, so it’s not as if it’s our usual ‘Wood Elf vs Undead’ (where the statistics show each NAF match has thus far ended 4-1 to me – any other line-up, he wins. So maybe I should always take Wood Elves to tournaments where I may face him…).

Again, the Worms won the toss and elected to receive. Possibly shocked at the fact we were playing, the crowd rioted, costing us the first turn of the game. Going into the second turn, then, Lewdgrip quickly grabbed the ball whilst the troll no zoned and the minotaur decided not to blitz – this was right after the realisation that he had 4 strength 5 guys without nega-traits on the front line and that I’d set up really badly considering this. Teach me to pay attention when he’s explaining his team…

My team was inevitable pushed around, and a both down result took my guard assist out of the game. Still, things seemed to be looking up in turn two, with the minotaur agreeing to blitz, and a successful pass and the skaven running to where he seemed safe – at least, Lunchmoney claimed he was out of reach and I stupidly didn’t check. A knocked down ogre and a GFI later, and the ball is loose. Fortunately, the dark elf managed to grab it but had to run on alone, as the ogre wouldn’t stand and the troll no zoned in sympathy. Turns out, Khemri are really good at dodging and managed to knock out the elf.

This did at least spur the Worms on: unsupervised, the troll finally moved and the skaven managed to reach the ball, even if he couldn’t quite get it to stay in his paws. The Khemri stunned him and picked it up themselves, only to fail a GFI with re-roll the next turn. The minotaur agreed to blitz, so I thought things were looking up – especially when the goblin managed to stand next to the ball and Lewdgrip passed the loner roll. Shame he couldn’t pass the second attempt on the dodge roll, though. This meant Sekhemet could happily kill the goblin and grab the ball – the minotaur charged ineffectively to his side, where he was knocked down and with two successful GFI’s the Khemri ended the half with a score on the board.

The second half started with the Khemri knocking all 3 big guys onto their back. The ogre refused to stand – the troll happily stood, but then wasted a re-roll on his block to skull himself back to the floor. The Khemri then also lost a re-roll for a second both down result against a marauder. The ogre agreed to stand but the troll, embarrassed, refused, whilst the minotaur attempted a blitz and failed the loner roll that would have protected him from the skull/both down result that followed… a failed dodge in turn 3 and another failed big guy block in turn 4 gives you a pretty good idea of the luck I was having. At least the skeleton who kicked the minotaur to a stun was sent off.

Turn 5 saw the Khemri ball carrier reach the end zone and wait. Fortunately, all the big guys stood up – but a marauder knocked himself out trying to dodge towards the ball. So the Khemri knocked the minotaur over and the Worms failed another dodge roll. The troll then fell and was stunned on the foul – and the Worms failed another dodge to allow him to score on turn 8.

Generously, he set up to allow me to get some casualties in the final turn, but as I needed a non-existent re-roll to get the second I could only really claim one (and that only cos he felt bad for how my game had gone).

Final Score: TD 0-1; CAS 3-1

I’d very much like to play this game again but without failing most skill rolls, so I could actually give Lunchmoney a challenge and an enjoyable game.


Wednesday 5 November 2014

Jvala - Pathfinder Interlude Character

This is the character I’m actually playing in the Pathfinder interlude. I went with a spell-less ranger by accident – it’s a third-party created class that I spotted in Herolab, and having already put together a regular ranger in the form of Telina I thought I’d have a play. Then forgot that’s what I’d done until I sent it off to the GM and received his comment that it was an interesting choice. With a druid in the party, it shouldn’t matter that I don’t have any spells.

The name ‘Jvala’ means flame in Hindi: I knew I wanted her name to translate as flame, so sat on Google Translate until I found a word that sounded good. For her real name, I knew she needed an ordinary surname and had it in my head that her brother’s name was ‘Marcus’ so looked into Latin roots to come up with Julia Faber, which is Latin for Smith – I wanted Smith as much for the association with fire as for the ordinariness of the name and I put it into Latin to suggest it’s an old family that’s maybe had better days.

Julia ‘Jvala’ Faber – Chaotic Neutral Ifrit Spell-less Ranger (level 10)
Abilities: Str18, Dex18, Con18, Int15, Wis13, Cha15
Ifrit: Darkvision (60ft); Burning Hands once per day; Fire in the Blood – fast healing 2 for one round whenever hit with fire damage (up to twice level in HP per day); Fire Resistance 5
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Elven, Ignan
Ranger: Favoured Enemy – Incorporeal Creatures (+2), Undead (+4), Magical Beast (+4)
Favoured Terrain – Underground (+4), Plains (+2)
Hunter’s Bond – Flash and Cinder (see below)
Combat Style – Two-Weapon Fighting: Double Slice; (Improved) Two-Weapon Fighting
Ranger Talents – Additional Animal Companion; Skirmishing Attack (add stealth attack damage when attacking after moving at least 10ft); Improved Stealth Attack (extra d6 stealth attack damage)
Skill ranks: Acrobatics 10; Climb 5; Handle Animal 10; Heal 8; Intimidate 5; Knowledge dungeoneering 8, geography 5, nature 5; Perception 10; Survival 10; Swim 4
Feats: Blind Fight; Dodge; Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Katana); Mobility; Two-Weapon Defense
Traits: Crowd Dodger (+2 bonus to acrobatics to move through threatened squares); Starchild (always know north; +4 bonus to survival to avoid getting lost); Unflappable Arrogance (+5DC to be intimidated; if would be intimidated for more than one round, only intimidated for one round)
Drawback: Pride (if threatened, challenged or accused, -2 penalty to diplomacy/sense motive against that individual until they apologise)
Weapons: Main-hand +1 Impact Keen Katana; Off-hand +1 Keen Ghost Touch Wakizashi
Armour: +1 Darkleaf Restful Hide Armour (restful means the armour can be slept in and 2 hours sleep gives the benefit of 8hrs, although this can only be used once per day and additional sleep confers no extra benefits)
Magic Gear: Handy Haversack; Belt of Tumbling; Wand of Cure Light Wounds
Mundane Gear: Usual adventuring stuff (the ‘SAK’, or Standard Adventurer’s Kit, as we’ve always called it); Cold Weather Outfit; Guide to Flora/Fauna (neat bit of kit found in Herolab: a book that gives a +2 bonus to survival); Healer’s Kit; Surgeon’s Kit; Vet’s Kit; 3 x Moonrod (she may have darkvision but her animal companions don’t); Silk Rope; 5 x Tindertwigs (for when she’s used burning hands for something other than lighting the campfire)

Appearance/Personality: Tall and proud with a slender but muscular frame, at first glance Jvala’s hair seems coal black and her skin a dark burnt umber. Closer inspection reveals a flicker of lava red through her hair and a mottled appearance to her skin. As she becomes excited or angry or upset or otherwise emotional, this enhances until her hair seems to be made of flames, and fire seems to flicker across just beneath her skin. Two short, sharp horns protrude from her forehead, as black or flame as her hair. When not in her armour, she tends to wear lots of reds, yellows and oranges, particularly in flowing fabrics.

She is fierce and not very good at dealing with people, preferring to spend her time alone, or rather with her animals. If you can get past this touchy surface, she becomes a loyal ally.

She tries to be good, but it’s not really in her nature and her temper will let her down. She trusts her goddess, Desna, will appreciate her efforts.

Her anger usually burns out as suddenly and as fast as it arises, but if she does hold a grudge it is for very serious reasons and she will not be able to forgive or let go easily.

When the Pathfinder Guild don’t have work for her, she tends to follow rumours to explore abandoned ruins and graveyards, looking for discarded items that may be useful to her or others.
Image by Abi Ward

Cinder – True Neutral Wolf
Abilities: Str26, Dex16, Con19, Int2, Wis12, Cha6
Skill ranks: Acrobatics 3, Intimidate 3, Perception 2, Stealth 1
Feats:  Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Natural Armour, Mobility, Toughness
Tricks: Attack (any target), Break Out, Deliver, Down, Fetch, Flank, Heel, Hunt, Menace

Appearance: A large, dark grey wolf with amber eyes.

Flash – True Neutral Leopard
Abilities: Str20, Dex22, Con16, Int2, Wis12, Cha6
Skill ranks: Acrobatics 4, Perception 3, Stealth 2
Feats:  Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Endurance, Mobility, Spring Attack
Tricks: Attack (any target), Down, Exclusive, Flank, Guard, Heel, Hunt, Sneak, Track

Appearance: A sleek, muscular leopard

Background:
Jvala was born to human parents in Absalom. Her family was very poor: of the large group of siblings, only she and her elder brother Marcus survived childhood. She was the last to be born; the damage she did to her mother during birth was not enough to kill her, but the woman never fully recovered.

Although Absalom is a melting pot, Jvala (or Julia as she was then known) never saw another ifrit. The other children picked on her – particularly when they realised her short temper guaranteed a good reaction and made her an easy target. Meanwhile, the adults distrusted her and by extension her parents, meaning she often felt isolated and had little support from her family – her siblings usually choosing to join in the bullying rather than marking themselves as targets.

This was fine – miserable for her, but not dangerous – until the day she learnt to throw fire from her hands, badly burning several of the worst of her tormentors. The difficulties her parents faced in dealing with their neighbours rapidly increased and they took some of their frustrations out on her until finally she ran away.

She stowed away on a boat to get away from the city of Absalom. Hideously seasick, she somehow managed to stay hidden for the whole journey. Staggering out the other side, she was amazed by the space: no crowded houses, no hustle and bustle of people everywhere. For the first time, she felt she could breathe.

More than a little unsure (but not prepared to show it), she tagged along with a caravan heading east. With no skills, she had no real way of earning her keep with them so started to learn to find food for herself. Stealing from people in the caravan, though, proved a bad course of action and she was cast out.

She was very afraid that first night, but the stolen blanket and the small fire she managed to keep burning kept her warm even if she didn’t get much sleep. The next day, she started walking again – the fear steadily turning to anger deep inside so that by lunchtime, she seemed almost a flaming beacon. Her feet hurt and her stomach ached where she hadn’t been able to eat properly – not an unusual feeling, but certainly no assistance. A small stream tasted brackish when she went to quench her thirst and she was about ready to scream when she saw the three men walking towards her. Naïve relief flooded over her and her hair returned to its calm, black state.

“Please, can you spare some food?” It embarrassed her how easy it was to play up her vulnerability.

The first turned his smile to a smirk, and she realised she may be the same height as two, but all three were much bigger than she. An uncertain flicker of fear ran through her hair and over her skin. “Sure, sweetheart. We’ve got plenty over here.”

She took a couple of steps closer – she was hungry and they didn’t look violent, but she was remembering cautionary tales her mother had imparted, and something about the speaker’s stance reminded her of her bullies. The tallest, smirk stretched to his eyes beneath his flopping brown fringe, held out an open bag towards her, shaking it slightly as though she were a frightened animal. This action was enough to make her realise the danger she was in; there was a hunter’s look in the eyes of the two men flanking him. She started to back off, looking around.

“Nowhere to run, little one”
“We know these grounds better than you”
“Why so scared? We’ll look after you” They walked towards her, circling round until one caught her arm. She looked down at the calloused and weatherworn hand, up to the leering face with its mud brown eyes, yellowed and broken teeth and scarred nose and screamed.

She wrenched herself free and started to run, but – well-fed and tougher – they caught her quickly. She threw flames at them, and they backed off giving her a chance to start running again, but the fire hadn’t done enough to do more than make them angrier and when they realised that’s all she had they renewed their chase with a fury. They wrestled her to the ground as she screamed and spat, barely hearing what they were saying to her as they tried to pin her there.

A shout preceded a gale force wind that blew them off her – they turned to look at whoever had become involved, but a crackling arc of lightning had them running into the woods. Julius and Elise Stardancer gently cradled her, gave her water and checked she was not hurt.

The two clerics of Desnae were sadly childless. This angry, haughty teen seemed to them to be a gift from Desna to make up for that, and they did their best to raise her. First and foremost, they taught her how to survive in the wilderness – what to look for and what to avoid. Elise had been born into a troupe of acrobats, so taught Jvala some of the tricks she’d learnt. Julius, meanwhile, spotted her love of animals and encouraged her in befriending and taming them – a one-eyed crow they called Jack was rescued and stayed with them until dying of old age. They taught her to fight, to defend herself and those who couldn’t defend themselves.

It was Elise who gave Julia the name Jvala. To begin with, the ifrit was too worked up to speak and the name had been the stage name of one of Elise’s troupe – a name meaning ‘flame’. It stuck and now Jvala doesn’t think of herself as anything else.

Eventually, her adoptive parents convinced her to return to Absalom to make peace with her family and an uneasy truce rose with them. She was not prepared to return to the city permanently, but over the years she gradually grew closer to her surviving brother and his family, making a point to visit them whenever she was in town and trying to make sure she did so at least once a year. She was shocked by how much faster her brother was aging than she, but when their parents died she barely mourned them. The deaths of Elise and Julius some years later she took much harder.

Having found the freedom of the wilderness, she was unable to return to city life, so she followed the footsteps of her adoptive parents in studying ancient ruins, as often taking any goods that interested her or that she felt would sell – the previous owners no longer needed them, she reasoned, so someone may as well get use from them. In this way, she obtained her current weapons, armour and magic items.

She preferred to travel alone after the deaths of Elise and Julius, the first people she met who did not judge her. She’d learnt enough from them that she no longer feared the thugs and bandits who would before have seen her as easy pickings. Her prouder stance and evident strength meant she was rarely challenged.

One day, she came across a pregnant wolf with its leg nearly broken by the trap it was caught in. Furious that anyone would treat an animal this way, she carefully and slowly made her way towards it, offering it some of her food to try and demonstrate she was on its side. The creature was weak, fatigued by the wound and hunger, and ate gratefully. She then carefully freed it from the trap, fearing it would run free as soon as it had the chance and before she could fix the leg. It didn’t, so she set to work with a patience she could rarely find when dealing with people.

She continued to hunt for the wolf after its litter had been born, acting as its pack as it continued to recover. When eventually it moved on, the cub with the darkest coat stayed. She named him Cinder.

Cinder grew into a large wolf; strong and powerful, but always gentle and affectionate with Jvala and those he saw as her allies. The two made a good team, and she became recognised in those towns she most often frequented as she walked in with the wolf padding at her side. Amongst the friends she barely has are various merchants dotted around the Inner Sea: she tends to frequent the same people as often as she can because these are the ones she has learnt she can trust – and because, despite her preference for isolation, it is nice to be recognised and greeted in a friendly manner.

It was from one such merchant that she learnt of a market further along that he thought she would be interested in, dealing in unusual items of the sort she occasionally brought through. It was a travelling caravan of a market, so wouldn’t be around long. She went to check it out and was initially very impressed by the displays, just as her friend had thought; her hair flickering a dark red of interest. Further in, though, she found a tiny, mewling leopard cub, clearly far too young to have been taken from its mother. She asked and was told the mother had been shot and now the cub was for sale. Aghast, her hair and skin started to flicker and she demanded the cub be handed to her. The merchant laughed, saying she could have the cub if she could afford the price. Cinder marched round and growled whilst Jvala again demanded the cub. Again the merchant laughed; as she drew her sword, he became angry and went to call the guards.

Jvala is a little confused about the exact sequence of events that followed, but the upshot was that she ran with Cinder by her side and the tiny cub clutched to her chest whilst the merchant’s stall flamed and the neighbouring stalls started to catch alight. She’s not certain how she managed to dodge the guards, so assumes Desna was on her side as she ran.

Once safely away, she set to work raising the cub, naming it Flash.

The three work together in her primary line of work (tomb raiding, dungeon crawling, whatever you want to call it). When visiting family in Absalom, she caught the attention of the Pathfinder Guild and was invited to join, which she accepted.

She has worked with the party before and is a little unsure of ‘Sam’, who is secretive and impulsive, and of Zabeel, whose reserve or shyness means she knows little about him. With their shared love of wilderness and wildlife, she feels very close to the druid Tanna Freespirit.