Cast of Characters:Kartakass Beginnings

[steveflam]

Thus far we have the brave souls below:

Warden Valerian Grane, Human Male Clr 5
William Tack, Human Male Rogue 5
MaRenTuo "Marentor", Human Male Mnk2/Wiz3
Alexander Draven, Human Male Rogue 5
Cornelius Ordman, Dwarf Diviner 5
Lucius Plancturus, Human Male Wiz3/Clr2
Van, Human Male Evoker5
Tarlyn, Male Drow A/R/F

[HuManBing]

Ewancummins' character is now called "Cornelius", and is a dwarven wizard.

[NeoTiamat]

Languages:

Valerian= Darkonese, Vaasi
William = Zherisian (Native), Mordentish, and Darkonese
"Marentor" = Darkon, Mordentish, Asian (Hua), Draconic, Vaasi
Draven = Darkonese, Mordentish, Balok, Falkovian and Lamordian
Cornelius = ?
Lucius = Darkonese, Balok, Akiri, Mordentish
Van = Darkonese, Elven, Draconic, Mordentish, Balok,Vaasi.

Tarlyn = Elvish, Common, Mordent, Kartakan,Darkonese,Balok,Dwarvish, Drow Sign Language
Josephina = Vaasi, ???

Group Treasure

Banded Mail (Unidentified)
Short Sword (Unidentified)

[steveflam]

Yeah sounds good! Gimme 2 mins

[VAN]

And Van is evoker.

[BigBadQDaddy]

I think you forgot to add:
"Lord of Awesome" after William Tack's name

[HuManBing]

MaRenTuo "Marentor" (Chinese characters and pronunciation) Human Asian (Hua) Darkonian Male Mnk2/Wiz3 LN
Str 12
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 18
Wis 17 (19 with Mingfu Periapt of Wisdom +2)
Cha 12 (drops to 11 when Haunting occurs, see feats below)
(dropped lowest 10)
HP 31 (8, 6 Mnk, 1, 4, 2 Wiz +(2 Con x 5 levels))
Spd 30'
AC 17 (10 +3 Dex, +3 Wis from Monk, +1 Wis from Periapt bonus) touch 17 flatfooted 14
Init 7 (+4 Improved Initiative, +3 Dex)
Fort 6 (+3 Mnk, +1 Wiz, +2 Con)
Ref 7 (+3 Mnk, +1 Wiz, +3 Dex) Evasion allows no damage (instead of half damage) on successful Ref save.
Will 10 (+3 Mnk, +3 Wiz, +3 Wis, +1 Periapt)

BAB 2 (+1 Mnk, +1 Wiz)
Grapple 3 (+2 BAB, +1 Str)

Skills: (36 points Mnk, 21 points Wiz) Max ranks 5 Mnk, 6 Wiz (2 Mnk Cross, 3 Wiz Cross)
Balance 8 (+3 Dex, +5 Mnk)
Concentration 10 (+2 Con, +4 Mnk, +4 Wiz)
Craft Alchemy 8 (+4 Int, +4 Wiz)
Decipher Script 5 (+4 Int, +1 Wiz)
Knowledge Arcana 10 (+4 Int, +6 Wiz)
Knowledge Religion 6 (+4 Int, +1 Mnk, +1 Wiz)
Listen 11 (+3 Wis, +1 Periapt, +5 Mnk, +2 Familiar) Haunted feat gives him a second chance, Familiar gives +2 if in arm's reach
Move Silently 11 (+3 Dex, +5 Mnk, +3 Cat familiar)
Search 5 (+4 Int, 2/2 Monk Cross) Haunted feat gives him a second chance
Sense Motive 9 (+3 Wis, +1 Periapt, +5 Mnk)
Spellcraft 10 (+4 Int, +6 Mnk)
Spot 9 (+3 Wis, +1 Periapt, +3 Mnk, +2 Familiar) Haunted feat gives him a second chance, Familiar gives +2 if in arm's reach
Tumble 8 (+3 Dex, +5 Mnk) [DC 15 to tumble past opponent without attack of opportunity]

Feats: 7 (3 preset Monk bonus, 1 preset Wizard bonus, 2 for L1 and L3, 1 for human)
Improved Unarmed Strike (Monk bonus)
Stunning Fist (Monk bonus)
Deflect Arrows (Monk bonus)
Scribe Scroll (Wizard bonus)
Dodge
Improved Initiative
Haunted (Ravenloft page 48 - Marentor is visited periodically by a spirit whom he believes to be his father's spirit)
Alertness (if HaiLang is within arm's reach) (familiar bonus)

Languages: 5 (1 domain, plus Int bonus (4))
Darkon
Mordentish
Asian (Hua)
Draconic
Vaasi

Spells:
L0: 4/day - All
L1: 3/day (2 +1 Int) Mage Armor, True Strike, Mount, Shield, Magic Missile, Shocking Grasp, Ray Enfeeble, Feather Fall, Expeditious Retreat.
L2: 2/day (1+1 Int) Blur, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray, Bull’s Strength, Touch of Idiocy, Spider Climb, Web.

Scrolls (and cost):
Mage Armor x3 CL3 (75 x3 = 225)
True Strike x3 CL1 (25 x3 = 75)
Feather Fall x2 CL3 (75 x2 = 150)
Expeditious Retreat x3 CL1 (25 x3 = 75)
Magic Missile x4 CL3 (75 x4 = 300)

Blur x2 CL 3 (150 x2 = 300)
Mirror Image x2 CL 3 (150 x2 = 300)
Bull’s Strength x1 CL3 (150)
Scorching Ray x1 CL3 (150)

Total cost of scrolls: 1,725 gp

Items (and cost):
Scroll case
Alchemist’s Lab (500) gives +2 to Craft (alchemy)
Thunderstone x4 (30 x4 = 120) attack a square at AC 5, success forces those in 10’ radius to save Fort DC 15 or be deafened (-4 init, 20% miscast spell)
Tanglefoot Bag x2 (50 x2 = 100) ranged touch attack causes entanglement
Sunrod x5 (2 x5 = 10) light
Night Drops x4 (30 x4 = 120)
Pungent Powder x7 (10 x7 = 70)
Smokestick x4 (20 x4 = 80) smoke
Alchemist’s Fire x5 (20 x5 = 100) ranged touch attack causes 1d6 hp fire damage per round for two rounds. Nearby creatures take 1 hp damage.
Spellbook (15)
Spell component pouch (5)

Total cost of items: 1,120 gp

Remaining level-specific gp (assuming 9,000 x 1/2 for Ravenloft): 1,655

Special Abilities:
Flurry attacks (full round do 2 attacks at -2 each)
Evasion (Successful Ref save gives no damage instead of half damage)
Summoned dread familiar cat - HaiLang

Story elements:
Marentor's father was an immigrant to Darkon who kept mostly to himself and stayed with fellow refugees from some forgotten Asian place. Marentor was born 28 years ago, in Nevuchar Springs' ethnic quarter, when his father took a Darkonian woman as a second wife. Marentor's eyes show his father's exotic heritage, but his hair is reddish-brown, unlike his fellow Hua colleagues.

Marentor's father, Malin, took up alchemy and made a decent profit - enough to be able to support two women and their children. Marentor has a full brother (younger) and two half-sisters; the families did not always get along. Marentor's father was a member of an emigre community in Nevuchar Springs, who founded a mystical temple. Marentor was enrolled to become a monk at age 10, and he shaved his head and studied and exercised and meditated for ten years. Marentor's mother, Petra Ma (or MaPeiJia, in Hua dialect) dutifully tried to learn her husband's ethnic ways, but refused to give up her right to work - she runs a small company of seamstresses (about a dozen people in all).

When Marentor turned 20, he left the monastery in order to undergo the Naming ceremony - something that all members of his father's ethnicity do when they become adults. Marentor lost his childhood nickname of Sun-Sun, and was renamed Ma Ren Tuo - the "Merciful Proper One of the House of Ma". It was the first time he had seen his father in several years, and he was shocked at the older man's condition.

His father's health worsened precipitously and Marentuo had to take leaves of absence from the temple more frequently to visit him. With just a few months' life remaining, his father finished a compilation of notes. In it, Marentor learned a frightening secret - that his father had lost his memory decades ago, after coming to Darkon. When the first few memories disappeared, he began a detailed diary, so he wouldn't forget anything permanently. The diaries spanned five books and told of the family's history in a faraway land called the Hua Empire. The books including a family tree going back twenty six generations. In it, Marentor learned his father had been a court physician for a minor noble duke in the Hua Empire, but was blamed for the ruler's death. Fearing his head, he left the Hua and journeyed into the Land of the Ghosts, taking a boat into the Misty Ocean.

Weeks afterwards, the crew and passengers were lost on a becalmed ocean. As their supplies dwindled, mutiny broke out and some resorted to cannibalism to survive. In the end, Marentor's father lived to see the eastern shore of Darkon.

The diaries spoke of innumerable petty debts and credits, but most intriguing to Marentor is mention of a large estate in a certain province in a certain dukedom in a certain kingdom in the Hua Empire. Apparently, his father is still the rightful owner of the estate, which would make Marentor the sole inheritor, as the eldest son.

After his father was cremated and the family burned paper offerings, Marentor left the monastery. Lacking direction and intrigued by his father's diaries, he began trying out some of the secret alchemical mixtures his father had noted. After a nearly-disastrous chemical accident, his mother decided he needed instruction of a Western sort. She begged, borrowed, and called in favors to apprentice him out to a wizard in Nevuchar Springs named Serapelis. Marentor studied under him for seven years, then took up a contract mission with Serapelis' blessing, under a man they call "the Warden".

He still thinks often of his mother and his brother. However, something unusual has occurred as far as his father is concerned. In the Hua Empire, descendants burned offerings and swept gravestones to keep their ancestors' spirits placated. After his father died, however, his mother neglected the Hua traditions. At times, Marentor hears his father's voice, speaking to him in a kindly tone. On very rare occasions, he has turned around and seen his father standing there, watching over him proudly. More than once, Marentor has noticed something or heard something that he would not normally have noticed - and he suspects his father's spirit keeps watch over him still, protecting his wayward son and the family's sole heir to the estate in Hua.

Marentor derives some comfort from this spirit's presence. In the few times he has seen him, his father's spirit was of a young man, perhaps dating from the time before he left Hua. Marentor is happiest remembering him in good health and full of youth, instead of the wasted old man in a deathbed, struggling vainly to recall a lost past.

HaiLang "Roach-Smiter" (Chinese characters and pronunciation) Dread Familiar Cat Asian (Hua) Darkonian Female LE
Str 3
Dex 15
Con 10
Int 7 (Increased by being Marentor's familiar)
Wis 12
Cha 7

HP 15 (Marentor's x half, round down)
Spd 30'
AC 16 (10 +2 Size, +2 Dex, +2 by being Marentor's familiar) Touch 16, Flat footed 14
Initiative +2 Dex
Fort +2
Ref +4 (Improved Evasion: on success save, takes no damage instead of half. On failed save, takes half damage instead of full.)
Will +1

BAB 0 (But can use Weapon Finesse to use +2 Dex bonus instead of Str when rolling to hit - useful for touch spell combos)
Grapple -12

Skills: (I have no idea how the MM assigned these so there's no breakdown available)
Balance 10
Climb 6
Hide 14 (18 in long grass or plants)
Jump 10
Listen 3
Move Silently 6
Spot 3

Feats:
Weapon Finesse (use Dex instead of Str to hit)

Languages:
Feline (Hua)

Special Abilities:
Share spells (at my option, my spells can also affect familiar if within 5')
Empathic link (emotional link up to 1 mile)
Deliver touch spells (cat must be touching me as I cast a touch spell, which it can then deliver for me - it will likely use Weapon Finesse to do this, to maximize chance of landing a touch)

Marentor’s other traveling companion is HaiLang, the “Roach Smiter”. This cat is black, with white spots above her eyes and along her belly and tail. Marentor’s family is not particularly sentimental about cats, and Marentor is no different. However, he makes an exception for HaiLang, who seems to be far more intelligent than most cats and who seems to have a mean streak besides. One time, Marentor saw her playing with a mouse beside his writing desk. The mouse disappeared for a few days and he thought no more of it. It wasn’t until he came back that he found his heavy inkstone had been taken off the table and flipped on top of the mouse, crushing it.

After that he began to regard HaiLang with a good deal less indulgence, and considerably more caution. HaiLang will eat anything that crawls and which she can swallow, although she enjoys maiming and crippling it first. Marentor saw her catch a large tarantula once, and spend several hours tearing its legs off one by one, pausing to nudge it to see if it could still walk. (The cat grew bored after the spider was down to four legs, at which point it did not want to walk anymore.)

Equipment:

Marentor has a Periapt of Wisdom +2 (which improves his AC bonus by +1) and Bracers of Defense +2 (which improves his AC by +2).

The Periapt ("Mingfu" - the Life Amulet) is actually an elaborate carved jade pendant that he wears on a red silk thread around his neck. It has been handed down from first son to first son throughout the Ma ancestral line, and through this it serves as a channel for the spirits of the elder Ma family. On important occasions, it will warn Marentor of impending danger, or of a bad deal, or of some hidden truth that he would otherwise miss.

The Bracers are actually strips of leather wrapped around Marentor's wrists and ankles, which he wore during training. He feels they help to guide his arms and legs when he's in combat, to block blows that would otherwise have hit home.

[NeoTiamat]

I edited my first post in this thread (third one, below Tarlyn's and Ewan's), so we know who speaks what language and also keeping a running tally of the group treasure. Edited rather then posted to keep it near the top.

I think it's also been decided that we all learn Drow Sign Language next level, and it's probably a *really* good idea to add Vaasi to that list, since that's the local language in Kartakass.

We're also speaking Darkonian as the language of the group, right?

[Ail]

Hi. Lucius speaks Darkonese, Balok and Akiri and I think he also speaks Mordentish, though I have to check it.

Also, what happened to the ring and bracers that Tarlyn got from the Drow priestess?

Alex

[Ail]

Besides, the language of Kartakass, if I remember right, is Luktar, isn't it? Or do they also speak Vaasi there?

[steveflam]

Dont have the GAz on me I will verify it or someone can and let us all know

[Ail]

Ok, I've been checking. As per the Gazetteer, the official languages is a Kartakan dialect of Vaasi. No mention of Luktar at all, although there's Old Kartakan. They also speak Balok and Sithican.

The confusion must have been from the fact that Luktar is the old language of Gundarak which was very musical, and I somehow assumed was also the language of Kartakass. However, since Domains of Dread, the language of Kartakass is the same as that of Hazlan.

Alex

[NeoTiamat]

The ring was a Ring of Invisibility and went to Draven, the bracers were Bracers of Armor +2 and went to Van.

Tarlyn, what's the Buckler?

[steveflam]

Buckler Darkwood +1

[VAN]

Valerian get that no? He needs AC too since he is our second fighter.