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Rumors of My Death: An AIMhack Campaign

Ephesos

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Dintiradan
Easygoing Eyebeast

Dintiradan

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Originally Posted By: Nioca
MAL
Evening Star (Magical Longsword)
Flame-Etched Greatsword (???)
Rat Panpipes (Summons Ghostly Rats)
Agonized Panpipes (???)
Light Pellets (Creates Bright Light, usable 4PD)
Gray Pellets (Creates Smoke/Fog/Clouds?)
Black Pellets (Creates Darkness?)

KUREX
Bolt Glasses (Fires massive fireblasts; Jagged edges can cause damage)
Unknown Cloak (Identified?)
War Gauntlets (Identified?)
Unknown Gauntlets (???)
Ice Eagle Wand (Summons Ice Eagles)

JOSUN
Flight Boots (Allows brief flight)
Summoning Prism (+1 Summoning Spells, can store a summoned creature)
Holy Symbol of Mariona (???)
Dehydration Mace (Dehydrates things on impact)
Plague Whistle (Summons a plague of locusts to attack whoever blows it)

AURORA
Displacement Boots (+1 Defense?, causes wearer to warp when hit/attacked?)

ADIRA
Spider Cloak (Contains spirit of a spider?)
Iron Bullet Lantern (???)
Dagger of Healing (+1 Melee, 3PD Healing)
Reddish Clay Bead (???)
Simple Brass Ring (???)
Cold Crimson Robes (???)
Webbed Shield (+1 Armor, weapons stick to it, difficult to unequip)
Whisper Blade (+1 Melee, +1 Crit/Fumble Range)
Click to reveal.. (First Reaction)
mh-1975.jpg


Originally Posted By: Nioca
OTHER
Cat (Friendly)
'Kay, so has there ever been an AIMHack party without a mascot?
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Ephesos
Magnificent Ornk

Ephesos

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Alright folks. Once more, I apologize for all the delays. But here's the good news. I am ready to schedule session 8, and it will be Thursday, December 23rd, at 6pm CST in the usual place!

 

Also, assuming I am not out of town (may happen due to family concerns beyond my control), I would like to put the one-shot Escape From Sarden sometime between Christmas and New Year's. I would like to emphasize that anyone will be open to join, and I will give preference to people not in the main campaign.

 

Click to reveal.. (In which I make excuses...)
So yeah. Sorry. I have not forgotten the campaign, I've just been run-down with pretty much everything. On top of a little of this, I guess. (WARNING: Link contains language.)

 

At least it's not like this... (WARNING: Even more language here. It's Penny-Arcade though, so what do you expect?)

 

Those were basically too timely to not share, but yeah, they hit pretty close to where I'm at. The last few weeks have not been all that great, so I am happily taking a vacation this weekend to celebrate my 5-year anniversary with my wonderful girlfriend. We will be far away from everything, and it will be awesome. Hopefully, I will return recharged and ready to try and kill you all again. tongue

 

'Til then, walk with Liea!

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Ephesos
Magnificent Ornk

Ephesos

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Like I said, I've been working on it. And voila, here it is, just one day before the next session! Like I said, been pretty busy here. My apologies once more.

 

Anyway.

Click to reveal.. (QUOTES)
  • Aurora: "Are... are those things native to the jungle? Wait, don't tell me, I don't even want to know."
  • Mal: "...Kurex, don't insult the woman."
  • Kurex: "The cloak, fine. A torture instrument. But why go to the trouble of cursing an item and then giving it a beneficial effect?"
  • Adira: "I'm a bit attached to what little social aptitude I already posess."
  • Josun: "Dang it, Kurex hand that wand to someone else."
  • Mannik: "I'm going to go ahead and say that you owe me twenty more gold."

 

Yup, next session is Thursday, December 23rd, at 6pm CST. Be there, or be eaten by locusts! Or both!

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Ephesos
Magnificent Ornk

Ephesos

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Hey folks, happy Boxing Day! Have a log!

 

Click to reveal.. (I gift-wrapped these quotes for you!)
  • Kurex: "Well, obviously we're being watched. I am with the group you know."
  • Josun: "Stupid ranged attackers, too scared to go toe to toe. Come down you chickens!"
  • Aurora: "Stupid pollen! Stupid spear wounds! I hate the jungle!"
  • Adira: "It does seem unusually dangerous around here, but everything's been really tense lately. It's not really surprising."
  • Mal: "Note to self. Wear gloves before doing that again."

 

Also, because I am being pulled away for a family gathering out of state that will likely leave me without net access for this entire week*, there will be no one-shot until after the New Year. My apologies, this was decided about two hours ago, and I had no input.

 

Fortunately, the schedule would not have permitted a Rumors session until then anyway! So, I can say that the next session of Rumors of My Death will be Wednesday, January 5th, at 6pm CST. Stay tuned, we might shift rooms in light of recent lag.

 

Until then, this is your homework. As a DM, I often half-ass improvise spell descriptions, as well as combat techniques. Before next session, describe how at least one of your spells/techniques appears when used in combat (or out of combat if you prefer). Preferably in some amount of detail.

 

Originally Posted By: traditional Elven toast
"Life is strange, life is wonderful. Raise your glass to life!"

 

* - If I can get my old router through airport security without hassle, I might be able to remedy this...

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Ephesos
Magnificent Ornk

Ephesos

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Originally Posted By: Lilith
you forgot to actually include the quotes in that post


Lies! They were always there. I swear I did not use my mod powers to... oh screw it, whatever. Fixed, at any rate.

Also, for the record, I meant to specify that I'd like to see the descriptions posted in the thread. It'll be more fun that way.

Originally Posted By: traditional Dwarven toast
"May the gods bless our labors today, and our wine as well!"
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Nioca
Understated Ur-Drakon

Nioca

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Well, first off, Mal's swapping out Impregnable Barrier for a new technique:

Click to reveal.. (Talon Defense)
Talon Defense (2 STM): A defensive stance that provides a defensive bonus. At the cost of a full round (no items, no move, no other actions), any melee attack that misses is riposted or countered, and missiles that miss potentially hit someone else in their flight path.
Definitely looking forward to trying that out. Also, descriptions! Admittedly, Mal's techniques generally don't leave a whole lot to the imagination, but still.

Click to reveal.. (Descriptions of Mal's Techniques)
Wings of Fury: Not a whole lot to say here. Mainly, it's a large leap that includes a lot of wing fluttering to extend the length of the jump. Generally, the lacewing in question will crouch down, start fluttering his/her wings, and then leap. The wings keep working at a frantic pace throughout the jump to reach optimal height and then deposit the jumper safely. This also causes a furious buzzing noise to emanate from the lacewing due to the rapid wing-beats.

 

Blitz Barrage: The general theme here is a barrage of fast and wild blows that forces the opponent on the defensive and knocks them off-kilter. It tends to involve getting close-in with the opponent and lashing out, striking at the opponent's center mass several times. With heavy weaponry (greatswords, halberds, or anything else particularly large or heavy), this can result in the attacker literally spinning to keep the momentum of their weapon up, landing a powerful hit with each rotation.

 

Talon Defense: Starts as a ready stance facing the greatest number of potential opponents, with a shield (if any) forward and weapon facing back. The person taking the stance also tries to make him/herself a smaller target, frequently by kneeling. This has the benefit of concentrating the majority of incoming attacks into a small area and also improving stability.

 

From there, it's usually a mess of parrying, dodging, and countering that wildly varies from situation to situation. Fighters employing the Talon Defense will usually attempt to let a hostile's own momentum work against them; such as ducking a spear thrust and letting it strike someone behind the defender, or deflecting a sword swipe into an opponent. When that's not possible, it generally boils down to parrying and counterattacking.

Definitely looking forward to the next session, Eph. It's been a blast thusfar, and now we're actually making progress on a semi-regular basis! If I may make a suggestion for a new room, what about spidwebRPRumors? It'd be a clean slate, and it wouldn't be too confusing either.

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Lilith
Hatchling Cockatrice

Lilith

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Originally Posted By: Ephesos

Also, for the record, I meant to specify that I'd like to see the descriptions posted in the thread. It'll be more fun that way.


Hmm, okay. Aurora's abilities are obviously not all that flashy visually, but I can still extemporise a little about them. I hope the ideas from the following passage have been coming across in how I've roleplayed her so far:

Click to reveal..
Right from the start, part of Aurora's character concept was that her abilities should blur the line between natural charisma and magical influence. Her "spells" generally don't involve complex incantations or rituals: she just concentrates intensely, tries to gain an understanding of the target's mind and uses that, along with subtle emotional nudges, to get them into the right state of mind to do what Aurora wants. Even after her influence has worn off, her targets may not know for sure if they've actually been manipulated by magic, or if they've just been fast-talked into taking a course of action that went against their own best interests.

This, of course, all feeds into how I've been playing her in combat: she prefers to hang back away from the thick of battle, shouting words of encouragement (sort of) to bolster her allies, and barking orders at enemies in the hope that they won't be in any condition to think too hard about who's telling them what to do and why. The aim is to keep most of what she does on the edge of what's plausible for a very charismatic person in real life, although if the campaign continues much longer and she levels up a couple more times, I may have her try to develop abilities with more direct effects to push that boundary a little further.
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Ephesos
Magnificent Ornk

Ephesos

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So I see that under half the party bothered with my little assignment. But, no matter.

 

Remember, session 9 is THIS WEDNESDAY!!! We're gonna try out a new room this week, so everyone should come to "spidwebRPrumors". Take that, lag!

 

Originally Posted By: Mara Manyfaces
"Deception is so simple when they expect you to be someone else."
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Mistb0rn
Kyshakk Koan

Mistb0rn

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Originally Posted By: Ephesos
So I see that under half the party bothered with my little assignment.

I have excuses: I was away for most of the past week with no internet; I didn't even see the assignment until Friday, and I've been busy. Plus you did say "before next session," so I'm not really late. tongue

That said, I have been working on it on and off over the weekend, but most of my spells aren't really 'mine' so much as taken from the Compendium. I decided to encapsulate them in story-form.

Note: A few of Zelmair's spells didn't make it to/through the talking-to-Ephesos stage, but I put them in anyway. Also, I took the liberty of not setting the story in Mote, instead putting it into a little planet nearby-ish with a similar enough magic system that I could demonstrate the spells, but still make things up freely without worrying about accidentally messing up the canonical Mote.
I think that's all the explanation I need... so, er, without further ado...Zelmair's Demise.
(Pardon the unpolishedness, I haven't had that much time to work on it.)

Just the spell descriptions, in case no one wants to actually take the time to read the story:
Click to reveal.. (Spell Descriptions)

Zelmair's Purple Curtain - He crossed his arms in an X in front of his chest, then spread them out. A curtain of shifting purple energy sprang into existence in a circle around him, a few inches out from his body.

Zelmair's Scaleskin - He took a step back and swept his hands downward in front of his chest. Semitranslucent scales grew rapidly across his body, their dull brown color mimicking that of his robe perfectly.

Elemental Orb - She raised her right hand in front of her face, conjuring an orb of compressed earth. She flung her hand out in front of her, palm up, releasing the missile toward him.

Zelmair's Black Shield - He raised his arms straight up in the air, then brought them sharply down to the sides as he took a step forward. An almost blindingly black shield appeared before him, a wall of light similar to the purple curtain. Unlike the curtain, however, it clung close to his body and only covered the area directly in front of him... The fire orbs reached him, weakened slightly by the purple curtain they slammed into the black. And bounced back. The second trip though the purple weakened them yet further, but they sped back directly towards the caster.

Enhance (str) - He took advantage of the temporary lull to cast a strengthening enhancement over himself. A steel-grey glow hovered about him a second before fading into his body.

Elemental Blade (water) - He closed his eyes and ran a hand along the blade several times. The blade began glowing blue, the light constantly shifting over it like rippling water.

(Very long) - More/different info on the spells/moves used:
Click to reveal.. (Spells and moves, in the order they appeared in the story:)

1. Zelmair's Purple Curtain - (This spell was invented by Zelmair during his exile in an attempt to go directions other mages wouldn't, to turn his disadvantage into a strength.) It wraps the target in a curtain of purple energy that will weaken or nullify any magic to pass through it; clearly not the sort of thing most mages would want to wear.
(Altered for Mote by Ephesos, Purple Curtain will reduce damage from magical attacks, 1stm.)

2. Elemental Orb - A fairly standard conjuration spell, Elemental Orb allows the caster to summon an orb of a particular element, which can then be used in combat or for various other tasks.
(In Mote, deals [1d4 + the caster’s conjuration level] damage)

3. Zelmair’s Scaleskin – Another invention of Zelmair’s, the scaleskin is an extremely efficient magical armor, basically functioning as a second skin that allows for large damage reduction with no accuracy, dexterity, or speed penalties.
(In Mote, provides damage reduction equal to the caster’s Transmutation level, 1stm.)

4. Zelmair’s Black Shield – With this one, Zelmair stepped pretty close to the line between offensive and defensive magic, but ultimately was able to classify it as defensive with the excuse that it is completely useless if your enemy doesn’t attack you. Basically a one-direction magical reflection shield, it requires extreme focus to initiate, but will then allow you to reflect any spells from a single target back at them, so long as the spells’ level is lower than that of your shield by (?).
(Does not currently exist in Mote.)

5. Enhance [str] – another basic spell, this temporarily increases a base attribute, either on the caster or on someone else.
([i’m not sure of the exact number this increases by in Mote; Ephesos never specified. I’ll have to ask next session.] Transmutation class, costs 1 stm)

6. Chameleon – er, well, sort of. At least, he takes his sword out of a chameleon-like spell, so I’m putting it in here anyway.
(In mote, Chameleon is a transmutation spell that gives a large bonus to stealth for the duration of the effect.)

7. Elemental Blade [water] – A mutant hybrid spell, this conjures an element then employs transmutation to bond that element with a weapon.
(In Mote, binds an element temporarily to a weapon, improving it according to the element used. [earth increases damage, air increases accuracy, water increases damage to magical creatures/objects, fire damages opponents’ armor on hit.] Costs 1stm if used on a weapon you aren’t touching.)


8. Haste – Ah, good ol’ haste. Probably one of the most generic spells out there, but still good. I really don’t envision this as mush of anything, so I didn’t put any detail about it. Its description is best left to . . . er, someone other than me.
(In Mote, this is a Transmutation spell, increasing the target’s speed by 2 for 4 rounds.)

(Note: I didn’t find anyplace in the story to use Sudden Corrosion, Reflect Stance, or Double Strike, but they aren’t really that hard to envision. Sudden Corrosion isn’t one I made up, and I almost never use it. Reflect stance basically just spends a turn studying your enemies to increase your defence. Double strike, basically you just overextend yourself to hit multiple targets, leaving you a bit more vulnerable to attack.)


I have no idea if that's anything like what you wanted, but I had fun with it anyway. :-)

Is it too long? tongue

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Lilith
Hatchling Cockatrice

Lilith

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hey so everyone's still alive somehow

 

Click to reveal..
Name: Aurora

Race: Elf

Occupation: Empath

Alignment: Resolute

 

Lvl: 7

Str: 3

Dex: 6

Int: 7

HP: 17/31

Stamina: 7/10

 

Magic (Enchantment): 7

Martial (Knives): 6

Composure: 5 (RB)

Streetwise: 4 (RB)

First Aid: 4

Perception: 3

Stealth: 2

History: 1

Spare Skill Points: 1

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Mistb0rn
Kyshakk Koan

Mistb0rn

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We survived, we leveled up, and Adira got a new perk!

 

Click to reveal.. (Level 7)

(I'm adding one to dexterity, one to perception {4}, and two to first aid {4+5}. And 6 to max health, of course.)

 

Name: Adira

Occupation: Adventurer

Race: Human

Alignment: Heroic

Level: 7

Skill points: 1

 

Str: 6

Dex: 5

Int: 5

HP: 24/46

Stamina: 10/10

 

Martial (Blades): 6

Magic (Transmutation): 5

Magic (Conjuration): 3

Stealth: 4 (RB)

Perception: 5 (RB)

Nature: 3

Crafting (Alchemy): 3

First Aid: 5

 

Perks:

 

- Dual Wielder: Adira suffers no penalty for attacking with both weapons.

 

- Blind Rage: Once per day, you can enter a state of battle rage that lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Strength. During this time, you have a +2 bonus to Strength, and gain 2 Damage Reduction. However, you cannot take any actions other than attacking, and immediately become fatigued when the rage ends.

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Nioca
Understated Ur-Drakon

Nioca

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Mal's broadening his horizons. And getting really practiced in First Aid.

Click to reveal.. (Mal Travers, Level 7)
Name: Mal Hirosi Travers

Race: Lacewing

Occupation: Aspiring Hero

Alignment: Optimistic Semi-Naive

Deity: Phol-Phoram

Level 7

 

ATTRIBUTES

STR - 7 | HP - 18/52

DEX - 6 | STM - 08/10

INT - 3 | SPEED - 5

BXP - 0 | XP - 086

 

SKILLS

Martial (Swords): 8 (36 XP)

First Aid: 6 (21 XP) (+2)

History: 4 (6 XP + RB)

Thievery: 4 (6 XP + RB)

Perception: 4 (10 XP)

Nature: 2 (3 XP)

Artifice: 2 (3 XP) (+2)

Martial (Bows): 1 (1 XP) (+1)

 

TRAITS

Heroic Valor (Perk) - Mal's drive to do good has resulted in him developing an iron will in the face of danger. Once per encounter, if he's reduced to 0 HP, instead of going unconscious immediately, he gets a 1 round grace period, capable of performing any action he could while healthy. Mal can choose to extend this grace period additional rounds, but this results in his stamina bleeding out twice as fast as it normally would, and any additional damage he takes will wind up damaging his stamina instead. Also note that particularly hard blows may knock Mal unconscious immediately.

Misty Escape (3PD Ability) - A bizarre ability gained from killing a vampiric dragonborn, Misty Escape allows Mal to dissipate into mist at-will, taking 5 damage. This can be used to hide, slip through small spaces, or to negate damage from an enemy. Can be used a number of times per day equal to half Mal's level rounded down.

 

BATTLE TECHNIQUES

Click to reveal..
Wings of Fury (1 STM) - Mal leaps and takes wing, either flinging himself upward and attacking a low-altitude foe or hurtling over obstacles (or creatures) and slashing at a chosen enemy. After the maneuver, Mal's defense is reduced for one round while he recovers his footing. Depending on the distance involved, the technique may require more than 1 stamina to perform.

 

Blitz Barrage (1 STM) - Unleashes a devastating and lightning-quick barrage of blows onto a target, doing elevated damage and either penalizing or outright stunning the victim for 1 round.

 

Talon Defense (2 STM) - A defensive technique that provides a defensive bonus. At the cost of a full round (no items, no move, no other actions), any melee attack that misses is riposted or countered, and missiles that miss potentially hit someone else in their flight path.

 

Impregnable Barrier (1 STM, 1PE) - Can designate a foe as blocked. For the rest of that encounter, Mal will keep his shield positioned between himself and the designated foe, providing defensive bonuses and minor damage reduction against that particular enemy, at the cost of a minor defensive penalty and inability to use the shield against other enemies. This technique is nullified if Mal engages the designated enemy, and requires a shield to perform.

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