If anyone would like to join, please send @JBRam2002 a PM. We begin with 20 points distributed per Pathfinder rules. Each character will begin at level 10 with 1 rare magic item, 3 uncommon magic items, and 1000 gp. Here is a list of magic items per the SRD.
Welcome, one and all! Take a seat, try the fish sticks. They're not bad, I promise... (Deception roll: 16). Anyways, before we start this shindig, I thought it might be a good idea to introduce the actors.
First off, we have myself. Jill Orion, a glamorous bard who happened her way into the most adventurous fortune one could ever hope for: a bonafide pirate ship! My poor beloved uncle, Captain... um... Something, was childless, and so he left me the SS Ladyslipper when he passed on through most unfortunate means. Apparently, he was allergic to leaden bullets and salt water. In any case, the ship passed on to me, and I gathered my crew among various friends and allies I had come across. This will be our story.
A koan is a paradoxical anecdote, highlighting the inadequacy of a logical, normal existence and to provoke adventurous enlightenment out of bondage. The famed jester by the same name, enters our tale, sold into slavery to a corrupt land, for the scruples of pleasure, entertainment, and sex, all to appease the merchant Lords. Decades thereafter, the King eventually diagnosed her hidden parasite of a bastard pregnancy. Commanding a celibate priest, the aged Gilthas, by royal decree, to amputate her fetus from the womb by brutal cesarean, a bolt scar was surgically imparted as the only remnant keepsake of her childbearing. In retribution, the King’s neck likewise met a decapitating blemish in his sleep by the drow clown. Aided and accompanied by the decrepit leper, her foolish exile finally parted ways with the vicar, in death. To the half-elf, disease and demise curiously bestowed and captured a true 'love,’ through a fleeting and banished romance with the sinful priest. After exacting her fruitless revenge upon the guilds of Dale, she now profits upon the ballads of capitalized and comedic endangerment of those who seek to destroy both life and laugh.
Koan, King Zephyr’s jester, feared by all the guilds' Lords For her eye pierced their pockets, and her tongue shamed their swords; Fed and flattered by the clergy - they knew well how deep she stood When the crooked counsels thrusted their deep and evil wood.
Soon, her days numbered, before and behind, her soles seemed to stand Stripped and barren, fixed and fruitless, as those leagues of naked sand When the burlesque’s ebb slinks outward to the bleak horizon-bound, And the carnivorous lips are withdrawn from sight and sound.
Then a horror of great assassination troubled her spirit and anon, Who witnessed her wince as she escaped, with wondrous Hat and Boots, all alone Helped by Gilthas the Leper, a cleric who was banished to be stoned, "Thou hast it, O my sister?" "Yea, I have it," said Koan.
"So it comes," Gilthas spoke smoothly, "man's most orgasmic distress, 'Tis a humor of Fertility and the Gods which abhors all excess; And, whatever breed that spawns, whether by Wealth, Wit, Power, or Fame Thou hast each, which the Undying Light labors to expel the same.”
"Thus the single eye's deep self-loathing - the messy stamen’s brow; Hence the burden of hope that aches thy spirit and body now. Ay, the merriest fool must face it, and the wisest Doctor learn; For it comes; it comes," said Gilthas, "as it releases to return."
But the wombless Koan exiled herself in torment, wandering dumb and far, 'Til the fool came to the Filth fields where all of the crowded gallows are, Reeking of tears and sweat, beneath the wry-necked dead, Sat a dwarf and his woman, very merry, breaking bread.
He was Cloaked, protected from chin to ankle - faceless, fingerless, obscene- Mere corruption swaddled man-wise, but the woman whole and clean; And she waited on him crooning, and Koan beheld the twain Each delighting in the other, and he checked and groaned again.
"So it comes; it comes," reminded Gilthas, "as the King came as your Life began. 'Tis a motion of multiplied propagation that the Gods revealed to man. In the shape of Love exceeding, which regards not taint or fall, For even in imperfect harmony, says the bards, can be no excess at all."
"Hence the eye that sees no blemish - hence the hour that holds no shame. Hence the flesh assured of its joy and the seed remains the same. Nay, the meanest need not miss it, though the mightiest pass it by; For it comes; it comes," Gilthas breathed heavily, "and, thou seest, it will never die!"
The charming devil with a smile to match my own. There's something about Noriam that unsettles and yet eases, a fatal allure that extends a pale hand of friendship but chokes the life out of you with the other. His silver-tongue could certainly make you believe whatever he tells you, amongst other things. The most unsettling however is how his magics move the shadows around him. Light and dark play at his command over the shadows, stealing them for his own weapons and armor. Spooky right? He's also weird that he seems to enjoy pain, despite otherwise pretty much a downer all the time. Maybe its his shadow powers? Maybe it's the nature of a man searching for purpose? A soul repenting and seeking redemption?
Raised and trained primarily by Dyn'yer'zhead when she was a child found on the streets, she gained so many mannerisms of the Beholder that she is nearly a clone with a fin. Rather manipulative and deceptive, she has a habit of watching people like a hawk as she does not trust easily and those she does trust are few in number. More often than not she had a hard time keeping her mouth shut and not calling people out on their stupidity or any antics done in her presence that are well beneath her.
Alexis is a human who somehow manages to be an adventurer despite not having any specialties. No, she's not a bard like myself, she's just a very skilled person who's got quite the talent for getting herself in and out of trouble. Apparently her adventure started when she faced off against a tyrant lord, who was more interested in filling his pockets with as much gold as he can than taking care of the citizens of his town. She faced him in a duel, and won. Alexis showed him mercy, only for her to be teleported far from her home. Now she's traveling back there, desperate to get back to her family and friends. I can't blame her. If she had been teleported away from home, then who knows what could be happening back there? Curious... Alexis is a good person, there's no doubt about that. But...something about her strikes an odd and unnerving chord. I can't quite put my finger on what it is though... Oh well! I think she'll make a fine addition to the crew!
And then there was Dyn'yer'zhead! You won't believe me when I say this, but he was a bona-fide Beholder, as obsessed with being the best there ever was as any of his kin! As crazy as one could expect too, fought with a sword he did, Bladesinging like the best of Elves. Not to mention his devotion towards all the ray and beam spells, but that should come as no surprise to anyone, given what Beholders are known of in the practical sense. Now you all know how Beholders are different physically and his deal happened to be a generous amount of tentacles hanging from the bottom of his head sphere... oooohhh he was good with those... cough, anyways, that should be them all!
They say there is a dragonborn named Garnesh the Bloodthirsty, a man so powerful that he can cut straight through a man in clad in iron. He wields only the mightiest Greataxe, one that drips acid strong enough to dissolve a man in mere seconds, this axe is named “Thu’um.” His rage can be stopped by none, his anger strong enough to rip even a boat’s hull in half. His hide strong enough to shatter swords, claws sharp enough to take a man's head off, and acid just as strong as the stuff that coats his blade. This is no mere man we are talking about, now, he is a force of nature.
Now this one is strange folk. Lass comes up to your knee, but wears hats that are as tall as your chest. Calls herself Eliza Eber... Eliza Avery... Eliza Ubercreep? Eliza Abbercroft? Some dumb name like that. Lady would follow you 'round and take notes. Even had a crazy eye that only cleared up when she was sprouting tentacles 'n fire 'n fiery tentacles from her fingertips. Cute little bugger though, 'about as awkward with the crew as a fawn learning to walk.
I see this mean-lookin' thing, hulked in iron plate and bulwarked by a shield 'bout as large as herself. She's spittin' out words like a lass that spent half her life at sea and half in a Dwarven pub, then calls herself 'The Wall'. An' I can see the likeness to the name. But where she's strong, she's just as stalwart in divine favor. Could use some godly luck among the crew. Tho, I'm not so sure she's short enough for a Dwarf, but she definitely has the tongue for it. And the tolerance for ale.
The man who was once Jacky Taeweather is now gone in all but body, replaced by the spirit that calls himself Calico Reemes. For those who knew the powerfully built and serious sailor would be quite shocked to ever speak with this dark passenger now inside of him. He holds himself in a way that seems to be like a man made of cloth and full of loose springs. He sways from side to side as the ship and breeze moves with an uncanny balance and grace that seems utterly contradictory to the personality that rests under the surface. Seemingly incapable of acting seriously, Reemes always has at least half of a smile on his face while doing nearly anything. This grin widens to something like that of a hungry shark when he fights or is about to do something he knows is going to get on people's nerves. Calico Reemes was once a terrible pirate who swore his completely undying loyalty to the family that his current Captain Jill belongs to. This oath, and all oaths you can weasel out of the dead pirate, are taken with a kind of holy reverence that he will never break. This makes Reemes into an impressive weapon in the right hands as he has few morals and even less issue with doing things that many would turn their nose up at or perhaps void their stomach.
While the woman often changed the way that she looked, there was one thing that never changed... her eyes. As if the moon goddess herself has blessed the silver-haired Tabaxi, one eye was a brilliant gold color and one as blue as the sky. While she was a young woman at the time, merely 18 years of age, the scaled feline was not afraid to step forward and fight and while she was naive, she was good at one of the many things she did... seduction. Something about her never seemed to allow people to pause at the fact that her light blue scales were always open to sight, or that the horns atop her head set her apart from others of her race, no... she wore the mark of her Sorcery and her bloodline with pride. It must have been that pride that drew people to her
They say she received her powers from the very gods themselves, destined for something higher purpose. Askia, a Kobold hailing from an underground society and taught how to wield powers of the mind. The three-foot tyrant, however, denies her supposed destiny even with her grand power, preferring to play dice or her lute or even just making fancy jewelry. Her mystical teachers would be disappointed in seeing what this destined hero was now doing, but she doesn't pretend to be what she isn't, a hero. No, she is a simple person with power abilities, a lot like some other people on my ship. Granted, no one is quite so simple here.