New Game: Cross Purposes

Ah nice. Which one did you give up Tiger claw?

Brown hair tied back in a top-knot, flowing "wizard" robes (complete with "arcane" symbols) with her usual traveling gear. She's wearing the face of some prime enchantress she met during one of her excursions. Nim liked how scary her face looked and has used it to good effect on others to give herself an air of authority.

If she's already in jail when the game starts, she'll look the same, but will be doing an imitation of "herself" as a corpse.

I thought I had heard somewhere that destroyed magic weapons lose any enchantments, though I could easily be mistaken. But that's how it was played out in her previous game, upon its reconstruction, it reverted to a mere masterwork weapon, which she later re-enchanted.
Come to think of it, I believe she started play with it as nothing more than masterwork, as she didn't have enough money to give her an enchanted weapon. I think the DM was going to let me sink gold into it as the game progressed, and say that the enchantments I bought were always in place, but Icanthas was only then able to access them.
But if it had been previously enchanted, I doubt it'd differ much from how Icanthas has re-enhanced it. I haven't put quite enough thought into her mother to say if she would've wielded an eager weapon, but she most likely would've had bane (evil outsiders) on it. Possibly the sacred quality as well, since it caused extra harm to both of the Infernal Front's common enemies (though it's not as likely, being that Icanthas attached an item to the weapon for the same amount of damage to undead). A higher enhancement bonus, and qualities to cut through damage reduction and prevent escape via teleportation are possibilities as well. Keep in mind that Kashalyie was only a minor officer though, probably only the equivalent of a dergholoth in a purely 'loth army. So it's rather unlikely she had anything overly valuable, else her superiors would claim it for themselves.

Ultimately, it's up to you though.

But I should note, it has already been reconstructed. Sort of. She took it to a mage's shop following its destruction, to see if it could be repaired (obviously a blacksmith wouldn't be able to do anything with the rusted flakes that remained). There wasn't anything the arcanists she found could do, so she had a new blade forged and attached to the hilt. But she had to remnants of the destroyed blade added to the new, thus giving the rust-red color and rough texture to the flats of the blade.

[Edit: Okay, so it wouldn't have the sacred enchantment, due simply to Gehennan etiquette. The rest are still viable though.]

Burning Spear wrote:

You, Zimmy are the DM, so you have to assert if that is fitting in your campaign or not, and whether or not you want to make it better then... besides, it has a cost to repair, and the person normally repairing it, should be able to create it as if from scratch, thus limiting either the effectiveness of the blade or the amount of people who can repair it

3 PM's later, I hope you like my ideas/ humour

And then Zimmy fell asleep

Sure Zimmy np and done I switched out ghoul touch for it.

Haven't chosen the feat yet, but *Cough!*

Hey Zimmy, I've been thinking about something. Is Nim going to have to worry about spell keys? If so, I'd want to add a thing or two to her character sheet. Specifically, she'd have a discordant whistle for Pandemonium, she'd be aware of the keys for casting on Arborea, as well as knowing the proper runes and such to cast spells on Ysgard, and she'd know how to cast keyed spells on Air. For any other spell keys, she'd usually just learn them long enough to do whatever then promptly forget them afterwards.

If you're not worried about spell keys, then it can be like I never even asked!

We have so far;
Tim,
Karsus,
Burning Spear,
Githyankee,
Bladedancer,
Wicke.

6 is a big sized group, although in PbP there are often drop-outs over time...
Zimmy, your thoughts?, you should have some maximum in y'r mind, no?

I'm out too, the pace so far is just too slow. I'm sorry to back out, but I'd rather back out now rather than later, and at this pace I'm afraid its only a matter of time before I lose patience with it.

I loved reading the backgrounds stories and I'm sure the game will be a good read, best of luck with it guys and girls

Sounds good, I'll start thinking about a concept and send it to you soon. Speaking of pace, I was hoping for something that's around 1 post every couple of days. Would I be correct in assuming that this is the pace for your games?

Nearly three decades ago, an indigent couple in the Hive birthed a child whose cervical vertebrae segmentation was somewhat abnormal, protruding through the thin skin on the back of his neck in a strangely macabre fashion. The child was named Sphinx.

Like many children, Sphinx had a predilection for the unknown – his curiosity propelling him into various modes of childish trouble. Unlike many children, he seemed to escape trouble via supernatural means. The first signs were noticed when the child was young. One day as a toddler, Sphinx began to crawl down the edge of the kitchen table. His careless father noticed the bare-chested, skeletally segmented toddler far too late, and he was certain that Sphinx would fall four feet to the ground and crack his skull. ..but the child kept crawling, seemingly on thin air, much to his father’s astonishment and relief.

This was but the beginning. Throughout his childhood, Sphinx appeared to be “haunted. “ Odd sounds of people laughing, speaking, sometimes even screaming would emerge from his bedroom. When his worried parents entered with improvised chivs drawn, fully expecting an intruder -they would find only the child sleeping soundly. Beginning early adolescence, increasingly disturbing phenomena would manifest around the child. When Sphinx was scared or angry, he would throw small objects in his room, without touching them. He would scream and shout at his parents, without opening his mouth.

The parents’ theories about the boy were varied and speculative. They ran the gamut from a poltergeist haunting his room, to demonic possession, to the child being a budding sorcerer with latent, unfocused energy.

They were wrong.

Eventually, the boy’s father caught wind of a woman who operated out of the Lady’s Ward – one who took troubled children with strange… talents under her probverbial wing: Esther Exnidem. Esther was known to work with children in the Orphanage, and had even adopted a few of her own. During mid-adolescence, Sphinx’s father took him to see Esther at her villa in the Graytowers District of the Lady’s Ward. The thin, raven-haired, soft spoken woman was flanked by two bodyguards, one of them being a half-orc with a broken tusk. She believed the father’s account of the disturbances, and was so taken by Sphinx that she offered to adopt him for a large sum of jink on the spot. Though the father was oddly receptive to the abrupt proposal, something about the situation did not appeal to the boy, who vehemently refused. The enigmatic Esther told the father to return home and think over the proposal. On the way home, during a heated conversation, it became clear to Sphinx that his father was influenced by greed, and perhaps something else. Sphinx was scared, angry, and uncertain. At home, his father resolved to return to Esther the very next day, and give up his child for adoption, much to the shock and chagrin of Sphinx’s mother. After hours of arguing and shouting, the family of three retired to their respective rooms.

That night, his mother was awakened by a wetness creeping over one side of her body. When she turned to gaze upon the other side of the bed, she found her husband lying quite supine, a kitchen knife impaling his torso. The wetness she felt was from the blood that had began to seep through the sheets. Perhaps the oddest part about the episode was that the death appeared to be a suicide – the father’s hands were clutched tightly around the sharp object. Fearful, and suspecting her son, the blood-soaked woman snuck into Sphinx’s room, only to find him sleeping soundly. She never questioned him about the death.

About a month later, when his father’s death was a rapidly fading memory, Sphinx was awoken from his slumber by a scream- his mother’s scream. An intruder had burglarized the small home in the Hive. As the young man ran out of his bedroom to his mother’s aid, he found that he was too late. There were two massive, armored humanoids who had cut the aging woman down in the common room. They turned upon the newest arrival to the room: Sphinx.

Frantic, shocked, and desperate thoughts filled Sphinx’s mind. Another, powerful feeling pervaded as well: rage. Before Sphinx could even react, one of the masked figures turned the blade upon his companion before taking his own life. Not questioning his luck, the boy rapidly attempted to revive his mother to no avail. His attention then moved to the dead intruders: Something seemed odd about them – their armor was new and unworn – Sphinx suspected that these were not common Hive thugs. His suspicion was confirmed as he unmasked the two: one of them was a half-orc with a broken tusk. Realizing that he was no longer safe at home, the boy gathered as much as he could, then dragged his mother’s corpse out into the Night, burying it along with some of her valuables a few secluded blocks in a defunct park away from his home. He also decided to burn his home down with a torch, immolating the two bodies inside.

For the next decade, Sphinx spent his life as a vagrant on the streets, doing odd jobs mostly involving delivery, fetching, and chant-seeking for various merchants. He found supernatural ease in winning people over. Those who he spoke to would listen to him, do as he asked, and divulge far more information than he expected them to. Eventually after proving himself, he almost exclusively took jobs from a single employer: a water-genasi information broker named Ratecha. She saw promise in his information-gathering, and successively allowed him greater responsibilities. He has now spent nearly five years with Ratecha, and is an adept dark-monger in the Hive.

His information gathering abilities have also made him cognizant of the fact that Esther Exnidem did indeed send the men to find Sphinx and kill his mother. She is indeed still searching for the ‘boy who defied her.’ So far, he has managed to evade Esther’s wrath. In addition to his wit and awareness, his location in the Hive and frequent traveling has been advantageous in keeping her away from him.

Sphinx’s latest escapade involved gathering the dark on an influential blood in Curst named Cerrar–a crime kingpin and one of the leaders of a well-known drug cartel. Not being careful enough, Sphinx found himself imprisoned after a local guard (likely a corrupt one who is on Cerrar’s payroll) overheard him asking rather penetrating questions with regards to Cerrar's whereabouts.

Allies/Enemies: Ratecha, his employer as described above is also his close friend. Esther Exnidem is a woman he hopes to one day find and kill in order to avenge his mother’s murder. Unfortunately for Sphinx, she shares the same murderous sentiment for him.

Beliefs/Morals: Trust no one, not even your family, unless they are willing to die for you. Belief can influence others, as well as the Planes themselves, so gather information, learn as much as you can, then disseminate whatever version of reality is most auspicious for you. If enough people believe what you tell them, it will eventually become true. The multiverse is not a fair place - you must kill or be killed.

Character Concept: Human Psion

Waiting on Zimmy now.

just another note, I will be travelling from the 30th till the 7th, so will have spotty access to the net, but will look here regularly regardless

http://www.3edb.com/viewCharacter.asp?cid=20975

Starting items:

Rusty Dagger: 1 gp
Ring of Invisibility: 20,000 gp
Sphinx's clothes
Portal Key to Curst

Oh, whoops. Well if that is indeed the case, then I guess you can scratch the Ring of Invisibility. Sphinx wouldn't be carrying valuables to Curst anyway.

If not, then cool!

Zimrazim wrote:

Oooh, a telepath.

No arbitrary 50% cap on starting equipment. However, I think I will nix an invisibility ring, at least for now. I'm not sure that I want a PC with access to perma-invisibility just yet.

Nice to know, maybe I can beef up my ring a bit more instead of the blade?

Well he is an information gatherer and a telepath, the idea wouldn't be -that- far fetched heh.