Point, however, until now we had no confirmation that there wasn't another specialized potion brewing skill that handled that advanced stuff. It's nice to know that it still falls within Alchemy.
Hell no. Advanced stuff is what skill levels and higher DCs are for.
I don't want to give you a hundred skills of which only 10 are actually relevant outside of niche situations. Every skill is useful from the first point to the double digits.
Hell no. Advanced stuff is what skill levels and higher DCs are for.
I don't want to give you a hundred skills of which only 10 are actually relevant outside of niche situations. Every skill is useful from the first point to the double digits.
[X] Plan Something Fishy Is Going On
-[X] [Necklace] Keep it hidden in your belt.
-[X] [Main] Social Skills
-[X] [Main] Fighting. Pick two skills to focus on.
--[X] Bladed Weapons
--[X] Bows
-[X] [Secondary] Pick another Main action (Takes two Secondaries): Spirit Lore
-[X] [Secondary] Gather herbs and perform Alchemy once the stars are right.
--[X] Jungle's Scent x 3
--[X] Clotting Salve x 3
-[X] [Secondary] Train a single skill: Sneaking
You know, I was just finishing my vote when I saw that almost everythng is the same as yours xD So, since only sneaking was different, I wholehearted give you my vote.
Things change when you mentioned the spirit in a wolf's shape and see with a start how Mahuizoh goes pale at its description. You try to get your master to tell you why he looks so worried all of the sudden, but he just makes you repeat the description, twice even, before letting you continue with your tale without even really listening anymore.
[x] Plan Adventure
[x] [Necklace] Keep it hidden in your belt.
[x] [Main] Healing and Plant Lore
[x] [Main] Fighting. Pick two skills to focus on.
-[x] Bludgeoning Weapons
-[x] Bows
[x] [Secondary] Pick another Main action (Takes two Secondarys): Social Skills
[x] [Secondary] Explore the ruins when you tribe is in the area again. Pick two:
-[x] The Serpent's Home
-[x] The Granaries
[x] [Secondary] Gather herbs and perform Alchemy once the stars are right. (Write-In what. Up to 6 doses can be made for every time this action is taken.)
-[x] Jungle's Scent x 3
-[x] Mosquito's Bane x 1
-[x] Clotting Salve x 2
And what scenes it shows! Row upon row of warriors in their armors stand on these pictures side by side. You recognize the armored statue you had seen at the entrance and have to see that it was not nearly as dull brown as you imagined. The feathers are shown in vivid colors. Most warriors have green feathers, some with blue mixed in and only a few sport a coat of nothing but deep blue and red. They fight grand battles against weird people who hide their face beneath cloth on some yellow ground with no tree in sight. Strange birds soar above them, raining down arrows on their enemies, and a mighty priest behind their lines that seems to call down the wrath of the spirits or gods of old. You greedily drink in every little bit of the painting. Your hand idly trails over the wall as you imagine who these men might have been. Who their enemies were. How it would have been to stand beside them and see the strange place they fought in.
If our master knows what war this is, what weapons were used, the powers of the priests of old, the gods they prayed to, etc. It's a longshot but I'm hopeful for some answers there.
[X] Plan Something Fishy Is Going On
-[X] [Necklace] Keep it hidden in your belt.
-[X] [Main] Social Skills
-[X] [Main] Fighting. Pick two skills to focus on.
--[X] Bladed Weapons
--[X] Bows
-[X] [Secondary] Pick another Main action (Takes two Secondaries): Spirit Lore
-[X] [Secondary] Gather herbs and perform Alchemy once the stars are right.
--[X] Jungle's Scent x 3
--[X] Clotting Salve x 3
-[X] [Secondary] Train a single skill: Sneaking
If our master knows what war this is, what weapons were used, the powers of the priests of old, the gods they prayed to, etc. It's a longshot but I'm hopeful for some answers there.
Adhoc vote count started by Azel on Jan 3, 2018 at 4:00 PM, finished with 372 posts and 15 votes.
[X] Plan Something Fishy Is Going On
-[X] [Necklace] Keep it hidden in your belt.
-[X] [Main] Social Skills
-[X] [Main] Fighting. Pick two skills to focus on.
--[X] Bladed Weapons
--[X] Bows
-[X] [Secondary] Pick another Main action (Takes two Secondaries): Spirit Lore
-[X] [Secondary] Gather herbs and perform Alchemy once the stars are right.
--[X] Jungle's Scent x 3
--[X] Clotting Salve x 3
-[X] [Secondary] Train a single skill: Sneaking
[X] [Necklace] Keep it hidden in your belt.
[X] Plan Getting The Most From The Training
-[X] [Main] Spirit Lore
-[X] [Main] Social Skills
-[X] [Secondary] Pick another Main action (Takes two Secondarys): Tracking and Stealth
-[X] [Secondary] Pick another Main action (Takes two Secondarys): Fighting. Pick two skills to focus on.
--[X] Bladed Weapons
--[X] Bows
[x] Plan Adventure
[X] [Necklace] Keep it hidden in your belt.
[x] [Main] Healing and Plant Lore
[x] [Main] Fighting. Pick two skills to focus on.
-[x] Bludgeoning Weapons
-[x] Bows
[x] [Secondary] Pick another Main action (Takes two Secondarys): Social Skills
[x] [Secondary] Explore the ruins when you tribe is in the area again. Pick two:
-[x] The Serpent's Home
-[x] The Granaries
[x] [Secondary] Gather herbs and perform Alchemy once the stars are right. (Write-In what. Up to 6 doses can be made for every time this action is taken.)
-[x] Jungle's Scent x 3
-[x] Mosquito's Bane x 1
-[x] Clotting Salve x 2
"What did I tell you about keeping it drawn?" The poke in the shoulder with her spear is a lot gentler then you remember them from before your fight. Manauia might claim that she isn't going soft on you all she wants as far as you care, but she does treat you markedly different. That slight glimmer of viciousness is gone from her reprimands, and when she now tells you that some tough love forms the character, you are inclined to believe she is sincere.
"That it just tires me out and I still won't hit anything. It's just..." Slowly you put your bow back down. It's fine bit of craftsmanship that she got you as part of your prize. How she managed that while most of the tribe still treats the four of you like something unpleasant they stepped still surprises you. Sadly the matter didn't just blow over and even now, nearly a year later, the shaman's tent stands at the edge of the camp and the young hunters hurriedly find something else to do when you approach the targets.
"Just stay focused. It's not any different from this distance. You've done decent at the middling range, so it's time you learn this." Briskly she walks around you and looks at your posture. Knees lightly bent as if ready to crouch down at any moment. Torso angled slightly forward to give a smaller target. It was rather galling to see the hunters apprentices your age being allowed to stand upright when they where instructed to shoot as far away as you did now when you had to do this. Now that she was putting actual effort into it, Manauia was a great teacher. It was just that she firmly believed that you had three steps of walking and the fourth one better be the start of a sprint.
On the other hand, you hardly asked her for this with expectations of an easy time. She was no more harsh or demanding then before and the results proved her right. Deftly you draw back the string again and let the first arrow sail towards the target made out of woven leaves. It strikes slightly to the side, but it's still a hit. Then you start walking perpendicular to it and try to hit it again. The first two shots go wide, but the last one strikes nearly the center again. You would have let loose another one had you not notices the side of Manauias spear coming for your legs. Jumping above it is not a problem with how slow she struck, but you botch the landing and have to drop your bow to catch yourself.
Archery -> Shooting in Movement
You have trained to fire a bow while on the move. Receive no penalty for using the Archery skill while sneaking or running.
Sneaking -> Sneak Attack
You have learned to ambush your foes. When you attack someone out of hiding, you gain +5 on your attack for every degree of success of your Sneaking check against the targets Perception check.
Attributes
Main Action (Fighting) -> +1 Strength
"Alright. We'll call it a day. Third time in a row this happens and if I strike any slower, I'm going to doze off while trying to hit you. Drink something and rest a bit. I will try to find the arrows."
You just nod and rise again, dusting the worst of the dry sand off your knees and hands before settling on a nearby log. Slowly you sip from the jar of water you had packed while waiting for the huntress to return and give you the arrows that survived their flight. Only the two from the target are still in good shape and quickly go back into the quiver. A comfortable silence settles over the two of you and yet you plan to break in a potentially quite rude way. Manauia was never a very talkative person, and you knew next to nothing about her. Though you also had never asked before.
"Say. Why are you always with us? You are a huntress. Shouldn't you be leading a party now and then?"
"Finally tired of me?" You worry a bit at those words before spotting the slight smirk.
"For years actually. You have a talent for that." The reply comes easily and then there is silence again. She doesn't look as if she was ignoring you, just thoughtful, and so you wait patiently for the answer to the question that has kept you guessing for quite a while.
"Somebody needs to protect the shaman. The old man is important to our tribe after all. Wouldn't do if some beast would tear out his throat and nobody is there to help him."
You slowly shake your head. You are coming ever closer to being an adult and so it's only right that you no longer fall for these easy lies for children. "Makes sense when we are out and about. Why do you stick around even in camp though? The hunters farther out make sure that nothing comes that far and yet you stand guard at our tend for so long that I sometimes wondered if you ever slept."
She sighs deeply at that and takes a sip from her own jug. "That's what I get for setting you up to prod Mahuizoh. You obviously come to me instead. It's not fair that he gets the bright student and I always get the nosy brat from you."
"I did think about just asking him the same question you gave me, but..."
"He would have just blown you off, so you didn't bother. He is quite good at that. Long practice. Makes you even feel good about it when he knows just where to prod." That throws you off a bit. It sounds quite rude to put it so, and yet you can't really deny her words. You slowly realize that she isn't the only one in your group you know nothing off. Despite your last years being filled with his voice, you don't know a bit of Mahuizoh either. Many stories about things he did, people he has met and wondrous places he heard about, but nothing about his past.
She startles you a bit as she resumes speaking after spirits know how long. "I've made my peace with the whole story long ago, but you can't really outrun your own past and it has a habit of catching up with you." The nod towards the hunters eyeing you from a far is nearly imperceptible for anyone that doesn't see her as much as you do. "I won't tell you everything, for that's not my place, but just the bit that concerns me. I've had a older sister long ago. A bright girl and curious to boot. Always looked up to her. One day, she became Mahuizohs apprentice, the first of the four he would take over his lifetime, and everyone was so proud of her. Yet she couldn't quite keep her head down and always stuck her nose in things that struck her fancy. A lot like you to be honest, she just didn't have your luck."
"One day, the two of them set out with offerings for the spirits and two hunters in tow. Few remember about the matter and even fewer would speak about it if asked, but what everyone knows is that Mahuizoh came back alone with a dying girl on his shoulder. Of the two hunters they would only find broken spears and shattered bones, not even a drop of blood on them. Two days the old man tried to fight her wounds and fever, but it was for naught." She pauses there as her voice is growing heavy. You don't even glance at her. Whatever emotions this brings up are hers and hers alone. After a while, she resumes the tale as if nothing happened. "I will not claim to have reacted calmly to that. The mood was tense in those days. Lean pickings for a few moons and then the spirits attack an offering party. Mahuizoh always said that he forgave me for the things I've said back then, but I don't think he should have. So I became a huntress and vowed to make it up to him."
It takes a while to process it all. When you had just come into your apprenticeship, you liked to fantasize that the strange woman that always disappeared when you didn't look at her where a bound spirit or something of the like. In the end, Manauia is just a woman with her own regrets and failures.
"So this is why we don't go to the offerings."
"No. That's only the beginning of the tale, but as I've said, the other parts are his to tell." With that she raises abruptly and briskly walks towards the treeline. You let her be.
As you return to your shared tent, you see Atl and Mahuizoh sitting in the center. Atl draws constellations into the sand under the shamans watchful gaze while getting corrections from him now and then. With the end of his apprenticeship fast approaching, he is being drilled hard on all the subjects he still has gaps left to fill in. It's rather convenient that you have taken up some more martial training and thus the two have a lot of time for it.
Your eyes though are always drawn to your masters left hand these days. Manauia had told you that it wasn't new and the old man was just good at hiding it. Two apprentices meant a lot of possibility to foist of the delicate work on younger hands, but the signs have grown too obvious too ignore. His left hand shakes. You can't remember the last time it didn't. Mahuizoh the wise old shaman is sick and no herb, paste, or alchemical compound either of you know can heal it. Worst of all is that it seems to be more then just his hand these days. The man who drilled you mercilessly to always mark the ingredient pots and put them in their proper place, who taught you how to measure the proper boiling time of herbal extracts by listening to your own heartbeat, is sometimes searching for things in his own tent. On every other man it would look so normal and yet when you see him...
"Ah, Yaxkin. Done with your other master? Sit down, sit down. We are just wrapping up the the paths of the wanderers here." He does notice your worried glances and yet he easily washes them away with a few kind words and pretending that everything is normal. It's probably only that Manauia spoke so bluntly about that skill of him that you notice it even now. His smile slowly fades as you stand there unmoving. "Is something troubling you?"
Do you wish to speak about something with your master?
[] No. Enough bad memories dredged up for a day.
[] Yes. About:
-[] About his first apprentice.
-[] About Manauia and her duty to him.
-[] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[] Write-In
AN: You can talk about as many topics as you wish.
[X] Yes. About:
-[X] Why the villagers keep glaring at you four.
-[X] If he'll finally tell you what the undead spirit wolf you saw in the ruins was and why the entire tribe packed up and left almost immediately after learning of it.
I'm guessing the wolf was what murdered Manauia's sister and attacked the offering party all those years ago. I can't think of another reason everyone panicked when they heard about it.