Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
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- Tags
- pathfinder open voting
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
@Artemis1992, @TonedMite, can we consolidate our votes? Either switch to mine or I'll switch to yours, it doesn't matter to me. We just need to have a unified vote.
Ah. Sorry.
Probably should have phrased that better. If not for magic, I would have voted to instead throw it into the sea, or somewhere similarly inaccessible; but such is such.
- Location
- ?????????
[X] Seriously consider the offer, contingent on Zaia and Antonio agreeing to it also
Well this looks like a nice vote with a lot of discussion. I am seriously starting to wonder if by updating too fast I was doing this quest a disfavor
Vote closed .
Vote closed .
Arc 13 Post 26: On Paths Distant and Close
On Paths Distant and Close
Seventeenth Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
"I shall put it to others of my company, my lady," you say a pang of uncertainty warring with excitement. When you helped set the foundations to Wayfarer's Respite you had thought yourself well content to be a sword for hire aboard a far traveling ship, setting ashore in narrow harbor, trading in spices and silver, in horses or the making of steel. But here at the edge of the world you could be a lord again, as your ancestors had taken land long ago, in some strange way this is even the same sea that lapping at the shores of Verley.
Aina offers you a brilliant smile and without even thinking it you offer one just as wide in return. Ah, there would be more than matters of keeps to settle if you are to stay... you think and wonder at the eastern horizon.
***
Alas that the poetry of the matter is of little concern to Antonio once you return to the Marcella. "Soon it will be the season of the summer raids and if we are not gone by then then many daggers will be turned to out backs. You say the queen offered land, generous of her... but I have seen these coasts, she has much land and we have only so many swords, so many oars. Already we have faced two brothers, both skilled in the ways of battle and the more our fame grows the more will come to give challenge." He tips his cup towards Zaia. "Say it isn't so good doctor, how precious is the sword at his side, the boots on my feet?"
"As precious as the eyes in a man's head," Zaia replies, using the local tongue, a cunning twist of words that hides a darker meaning. When raiders take a rival's ship sometimes they show 'mercy' by taking the left eye of every many they had captured before setting them on some foreign shore. "Still, we are not without the favor of the Stone Watchers and they are the ones who set the law of land and sea as much as there could be said to be one. Once they proclaim that the Fellowship and the crew are all Anwa then only sailors of fortune would dare come for us and if their fortune should be ill enough times..."
"There are better places to hang your hat than at the end of a long chain," Antonio grumbles. "If that and if the other thing, we have already sunk gold into the tower in Orinilu and we are not without folk seeking our company there either, it is beside the larger city, the greater market. Far might the longboats travel but they are narrow. Marcella was made for warmer richer seas than this." As he says this the floor under your feet starts to vibrate ever so slightly.
"What's...?" you start to ask, but Inge cuts you off.
"I think the ship is sort of purring, she likes being talked about like that I think 'specially by the captain."
What does it say about you that you find that only middling strange and, once the surprise fades not the least perturbing. If it is going to act like a beast you suppose a cat isn't really the worst sort it could take after, you reason thinking of Ripper. But that does bring up a thought that had been hanging at the corners of your mind: What does the Marcella herself get from bearing you all around, from aid in battle and taking on the same perils as the rest of you,
"What waters does she want to ply?" you ask.
Antonio blinks at you, though his shock fades quickly. He looks down at the table and then around the corners of the cabin, north south east and west and in his eye you recognize the distant look of one speaking afar.
"She wants to swim far and see strange waters, where she does not know for sure, but the world is strange to her and she would see as much of it as she can."
"Royal patronage, even of a throne not so mighty, is not a thing lightly squandered," Zaia warns. "We will not often have a chance such as this."
"A chance to help prop up a shaky rule with our own backs?" Antonio scoffs. "Not that you aren't fair of face and form Roland, but I do not think it was that which drew the lady to the offer."
Almost in spite of yourself you chuckle, but this is no laughing matter. The door might stay ajar for a season or two but if the Fellowship does not return soon to Korman than you shall not have the chance at land-taking
***
That evening you ask Silver what he thinks of the matter and find that while he is happy enough to follow along he would prefer 'some place you can at least leave by means other than a boat'. Much to your surprise though Esha is leaning the other way. "Here I have respect, however grudging, of Ohun and his order through him the best that can be said of Orinilu is what I am not hunted." Harsh words, though not untrue.
"You have earned that trust, not just here, but in the White Lands also, in time no doubt Orinilu would follow," you offer as encouragement.
"Flattery will get you... some things," she flips her hair with playful over-dramatization like a mummer in a street play and never mind what role that would be. At least you have the span of he whole journey east to consider the offer and where you might settle.
***
Eighteenth Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
So it is that on the next day as the ship turns its bow east again you ponder what your men would think of the prospects of Anwari lands or those of Orinilu and it comes to you to simply put it forth that any man should be able to speak his mind and give counsel as seems meet to him. An Anwa custom of itself you suppose. Most of them you find would rather go and stay gone, having no love of demon haunted waters and islands still uneasy with the touch of black magic, though Aubert and Hugh both proclaim stoutly that you 'deserve to have a pro'er lordship again'.
What do you do on the first leg of the journey east?
[] Spar with some of the Anwa warriors in the returning fleet to test yourself and perhaps gain new allies
[] Speak to Ohun about the armor and the gauntlet, perhaps they can be purified
[] Meditate on Durendal, often in battle it has granted flashes of insight, but they are unpredictable and vague
[] Write in
OOC: I know this jumps around a lot, but I wanted to give you a read of what as many people as possible think of this as well as get some characterization in there.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
You're a wide man, Antonio, and Marcella is definitely the best ship. Let's just hope none of our enemies tempt her with a giant magical laser pointer...
Does the gauntlet need to be purified, too, @DragonParadox? I didn't think it had any nastiness associated with it?
I wonder what Ohun could do for the armor, considering he's a Druid of some type, and they're not exactly know for their love of metal armor. I guess he doesn't really need to be able to wear it to possibly be able to purify it, though.
Does the gauntlet need to be purified, too, @DragonParadox? I didn't think it had any nastiness associated with it?
I wonder what Ohun could do for the armor, considering he's a Druid of some type, and they're not exactly know for their love of metal armor. I guess he doesn't really need to be able to wear it to possibly be able to purify it, though.
Roland had not sensed anything, but he did get it off an ancient warlord who sacrificed his children for eternal youth so better safe than sorry.
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
@DragonParadox , did Antonio receive any money from trade?
He did, that will be in the net update, I did not want to make this one even more scattered.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I want to meditate with Durendal, but that's something we can do more freely at our own leisure, while access to a wise old magic man who might have experience with purging daemonic corruption and other mystic nastiness is much more limited.
[X] Speak to Ohun about the armor and the gauntlet, perhaps they can be purified
[X] Speak to Ohun about the armor and the gauntlet, perhaps they can be purified
- Location
- Germany
[X] Speak to Ohun about the armor and the gauntlet, perhaps they can be purified
Good night guys, see you tomorrow with the wrap up of the arc and the vote for XP spending.
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Speak to Ohun about the armor and the gauntlet, perhaps they can be purified
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
If we could get the armor purified into simply being a good set of +1 Fullplate, I would be happy with losing out on it having a +1 special ability in exchange.
That said, if the Dastard ability could be converted to the Good-aligned version, Champion, that would be ideal. Worth a pretty penny, too.
That said, if the Dastard ability could be converted to the Good-aligned version, Champion, that would be ideal. Worth a pretty penny, too.
- Location
- Pilipinas
@DragonParadox is this a proper write-in?
[X] Speak to the otter-kin and ask them about the skills of the rogue i.e. stealth and knife-work and if they willing to shed blood in service to you.
[X] Speak to the otter-kin and ask them about the skills of the rogue i.e. stealth and knife-work and if they willing to shed blood in service to you.
Sure, this works.
OK, vote closed, let's see about that purification.
Arc 13 Post 27: Bonds of Blood and Salt
Bonds of Blood and Salt
Eighteenth Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
It's been a long time since that first meeting on the shore in Apuku but the old man has changed surprisingly little at first sight, his robes are still plain and his beard still flowing free, the green about his belt still just as fresh with deathless vigor and eyes no less piercing. Yet now you can read into that aged face a new grief at the loss of his king, his ward, perhaps in some ways almost his son. Between that hour and this the whole line of his kingdom is dead, lost to the sea and those who dwell in it. Does he resent the coming of the Marcella and its news from far off lands? You cannot help but wonder as you now come again as a supplicant of sorts, asking if by some means or blessing the armor of Unke and the black iron fist could be made clean.
The copper caped scroll he had been reading closes with a soft hiss as he turns his full attention first to your face then to the intricate bronze-work you had laid down on the table before him.
"I do not know what smith forged this, but this I see clearly, that wrath was his fire and blood the water of his quenching, it will guard you well all the days of your life, but ever will it whisper in the depths of battle to that part of you that revels in its freedom and if on some black day you heed its words... why then he rewards you would get would be the same which Unke received."
"I had guessed as much," you reply, not bothering to hide a grimace at the thought. Perhaps you are over-proud, but you do not doubt your will in this... yet still you would be more easy without foul counsel in your ear. "That is why I asked for your aid blessed one."
"Bah, you can drop the titles, you don't use them with the girl and she is no less chosen of Her of the Depths than I am, perhaps she is more for she has come so far in one seventh my years." Running one gnarled finger over the scales of the armor he musses, half to himself: "A power unwillingly taken, torn from a foe, to balance the scales a gift willingly given must be, a gift that Ikomi might see. Tell me knight of the fellowship what is the one you call Ripper to you?"
Startled by the question you answer at once just the same "A boon companion who has saved me more than once, a guide in strange waters."
"Good then, he thinks well of you as well and I think would be willing to give something of himself to the reforging..."
"Something of himself?" you ask now alarmed outright.
"His life, his vital essence, all magic that lasts for more than a flash in the dark is wrought of that, he would not be as strong, as fast, as skillful in the water, but his kindred are mighty just the same, more than a match for a brace of men in battle and if he lingers near the ship why he should hardly need the strength to ply the open waters, as fair a deal as any I have brokered."
"Could he ever regain what he has lost?" you ask hesitant to even entertain the notion, but all too aware that you know little of sorcery. Perhaps this is the best that can be managed.
"Perhaps, souls change and grow even a bodies do, what was lost light grow anew under the light of a new sun, of it might ever stay as burned stem of living vine."
What do you reply?
[] Agree to proposal the deal to Ripper (Ripper loses 1 HD in exchange for a binding oath of protection on the part of the company; the Armor of Unke is reforged)
[] No, you can deal with the armor as it is, you will not ask that of a friend.
OOC: Remember, Ohun is a druid not an enchanter so he is going to come up with answers that revolve around living things. If you ever get to one of those mage smiths of Ibanora they would likely have other ideas.
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