Orcs of the endless and unconquered Forest (IC)

[Man on Fire]

"Might is a bit of an understatement here." Rada scolds Mal, but is rather half-serious in her efforts. However, any shade of humor disapears from her tome, once she turns to Sorunnar. "We shoudl get our priorities straight. If you could look up any futher informatiosn abotu the grey and if somebody could handle negotiation, we could deal with those smaller problems, but we need to act fast. We just don't have enough hands to hold every thread and threat at once."

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One thing - would our team be dismissed, Rada stays behind to have some private word with Sorunnar, okay?

[Re'ozul]

Sorunnar shakes himself out of his thoughts and looks at Mal.
"Most likely a wise decision, considering the circumstances." He turns towards Rada "Don't misunderstand. I do not expect you to act on any of these as there are more pressing matters to attend to. However, now that you have come across them, and simply because of everything else that has happened, it would be a disservice to keep you in the dark."

@ Grazik

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Whoops, forgot your checks:
You theorized that something must allow creatures like that to transcend planar limitations, but otherwise have never heard such specifics.
(Its one of those "Can't feasibly know"-things)

@ Rada

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Do you mean breaking for the night ingame, but you want to stay behind to talk?

[Man on Fire]

"well, that's a relief. We seriously could use some mroe help, but I bet everybody are having their hands already full."

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Sorta - Rada wants to talk about her outbreak of berserkering rage but doesn't want rest of the party to know - she doesn't want to worry them. But, if you don't want to drag things, I might always bring it up now.

[GnomeGninjas]

So, what are we going to do now? We need a new plan! Mal is frustrated by the lack of an obvious next step for the tribe to take in response to the recent occurrences.

[Re'ozul]

@Man on Fire

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No thats okay, I think the general conversation is nearing the end anyhow. You can talk to Sorunnar afterwards.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque tapped his heel rapidly on the ground a few times before slowing. "Well..." he said, settling into more of a rocking rhythm, "we still have our original plan, which is to get at the grey itself instead of acting through a proxy. If Anders doesn't know which way it is from here, perhaps he could find out which way is here from the grey. Surely their own shamans would know which way their teleports were pointing."

OOC

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If we don't have any specific plans for tomorrow, maybe we could go raid the armoury again! :D

[GnomeGninjas]

Yeah, that sounds fine.

[Re'ozul]

Unless I am mistaken no one actually threw another question directly at Sorunnar?
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Having exhausted yourself through the day, the conversation sputters out as the necessity for sleep catches up to you. Planning to reconvene after some much needed and earned rest you depart. Only Rada stays behind to have a small private talk with Sorunnar still.

@ all

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Your encounters have given you more insight into the world surrounding you than you had before. While sleep refreshes your body, your mind and internal magics work to incorporate said experiences into your very being.
You may level up.

[Man on Fire]

Once the room was cleared, Rada turned towards Sorunnar, with worried and ashamed look on her face.
"In the battle I lot control and attacked my commrades. This isn't unexpected, I knew what burden I'm taking on my shoulders when I became Berserker and I knew it when I took the armor. But it's a risk we cannot afford right now. We cannot afford not using strength they give me either." She took a deep breath and continued. "I want you to tell me, if you know of any way to avoid such mess in the future. I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

[Sutremaine]

Spoilering this because technically I'm skipping ahead...

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Kusque was awoken by a familiar feeling of loss and anxious anticipation. Agares' grip had loosened, and this piece of it dissolved back into the void and the world. He sat up in the dim pre-dawn light, the tantalising three-pointed sigil burning inside like the sun just below the horizon, reaching clumsily for the tinderbox. His mind was partially exposed now, and he had enough time to wake and wash before it became fully naked and forced a decision. Taking his time, he replaced his breechcloth and socks with a fresh set before taking his cloak and loosely draping it over his shoulders.

He snuffed the candle and opened the shutters, letting in the cool air and the grey light. The last of the night watch were still out there, but as dim, grainy figures standing beyond the reach of his night vision. Not much time left to ponder now. He closed the shutters for some privacy and relit the candle, unsure of which seal to use, continuing to gaze at the candle and its long flame, casually willing his mind to work as his fingers worked the complex clasp of the cloak. He didn't expect to deal with Anders today.

Anders this, Anders that... Even now the pinkskin is picking up its axe. You've forgotten! He yanked the clasp tight, savagely, and his lip twitched as he eased the constriction with a finger. Even if he was right, he did still need the pinkskin's cooperation for the moment. For today... His eyes aching, he blinked, and the afterimage had three points.

"Hn." He could spare a day. Kneeling down, he rolled up the plain mat lying on the flat stone floor, readied the knife and the chalk and the snake-marked focus, and set to work.

Very soon (and it was always this quick, even the first drawing), the curves of the sigil were arranged like the sweeps of a blade, drawing blood but for one barest extension of the arm. He swept the chalk across the stone one last time, and the white lines connected with and became nothing, glowing with a light that illuminated only themselves. Kusque continued to look into the seal, but directed his attention at the light of the candle, the only light in the room. Feeling more centred, he returned to the seal, and through it.

This time it was different. There was no name for him for call, no title to appeal to. Only the shape of those ancestral minds, unformed. Time passed. He continued to search, to form, to think.

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Sorta-kinda pre-emptive binding check for unknown vestige, DC unknown: (1d20+15)[30]

Also I'm not sure how a guy who's completely unable to spot a 10ft cube of jelly right in front of him can see the guards more than sixty feet away, but oh well, narrative and familiarity I guess.

I forgot how long these posts can take to write...

[Re'ozul]

Sorunnar sighs and then smiles at Rada.

"You are not the first to ask such, not by a long shot. There is a way to calm even the ones beyond all rage, but it is only slightly less dangerous than letting it runs its course."

With a wave of a hand you can see a small chest on a set of shelves be opened and then closed again. Seemingly carried by nothing, a small amulet, bundled with a set of needles, is deposited in front of Sorunnar.

"This is the only halfway reliable way of snapping a berserker out of its frenzy that we posess. We inscribe a runic matrix onto the base of your neck as well as your temples. They are usually invisible unless activated. Someone you trust is given the amulet. Upon activation it applies a series of small arhytmic shocks combined with a calming spell that snaps you out of the mindless state.
However, like all such devices, this is not without danger. Overuse will leave it less and less effective as the body adjusts to the effect. It will further leave you at less of an ability to exit the state yourself as your body becomes accustomed to the help. Some have even shown symptoms of becoming addicted to the effect. Time without usage will allow you to recover from these symptoms, but it is often a slow process.
As for your choice of armor however, I cannot help you. In fact I must warn you. Should you succumb to its will then this will not help you at all, for it would not truly be you that rages, but the mind of the armor itself."

Mechanically:

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Using the amulet the first time has a 100% success rate. At each usage Rada must make a DC 25 Fortitude save or the success-rate drops by 5%. Every 24 hours without use, or every 8 hours of rest, Rada can make a DC 20 Fortitude save to have the success rate increase by 10% again. (Purging the system)
For each 10% below 100% success rate currently, you take a -1 penalty on saves to exit rage or frenzy without the amulet, be it your own or armor-induced.

[Man on Fire]

"Nothing's ever easy, isn't it?" Rada gives the amulet long, suspicious look, taking it in her hand, carefully, like it was about to bite. "Normally I wouldn't do that. I'm gonna hate feeling like animal on leash. And haing a body slowly becoming dependent on it, maybe even addicted...that would be admitting weakness, wouldn't it?" She pauses for a moment, watching the amulet with a conflicting look on her face. "Lets do it. My body..I can bear it. For the tribe. For Mother Forest."

[Re'ozul]

Sorunnar nods with a smile and the necessary inks float to him now as well.
He goes to work with parcticed ease. It only takes twenty minutes and all three tattoos are visible on Rada's skin. A small murmur of a spell later they disappear, only the itching sensation of the needle's punctures remaining as an indicator of what happened.

Picking up the amulet, he speaks in what you have come to know as his 'teacher voice'. "This is now your responsibility. You must fond someone within your group that you trust enough to give them this much power over you. While all of you are the best of the next generation, this still goes one step further." and with a smirk he continues "You could see it as the first step of experience in forming your own council on the way to chiefdom. Trust is what binds a council together. It is earned and can be broken. THIS is simply one of the greatest shows of trust and one of the easiest to break. Frankly, on your way to the top, this is one of the boldest steps forward you can take."

[Man on Fire]

Rada scratches back of her head for a moment, like she couldn't belive the tatoo is really there. She takes carefully the amulet from Sorunnar and holds it in her hand.
"It will be hard getting used to it." She says. "To trusting someone this much....But maybe that's what makes true chief." She reaches her hand to Sorunnar and shakes it with grattitude. "Thank you." She says, but her voice betrays both reief and new worry related to the amulet.
Approaching the exit, she turns back and looks at Sorunnar.
"I hope this will remain secret. There are still those who do not wish to seem e as the future chief. As far as I'm willing to sacrifice myself for the Mother Forst, I do not wish for them to find out about what happened here."

In the morning, Rada approaches Kusque and Grazzik and asks them if they can talk somewhere in private again. Somewhere safe, without any unwanted eyes or ears.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

"Yes, what for?" Grazik asks as he walks to a secluded spot.

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Listen: 36, Spot 33 taking 10 to notice unwanted attention and find a spot without it.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque went with Rada and Grazik to the appointed place, curious about what should bring the three of them together again. It was strange. Before he and Rada and the others had been called together for this mission, the relationship between the two of them had been casually antagonistic. But over the last two days he'd been seeing an entirely different side of Rada, and any previous argument between them was vanished like yesterday's spirits.

"What is it, Rada?"

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I'm still waiting on a response from the DM about binding that new vestige, but unless he has something wacky and mind-altering planned I can probably skip ahead.

If not, I'll come back and alter the post to fit continuity.

[Re'ozul]

@ Grazik

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Having been seen in direct interaction with the council and having Rada in your group, gives people enough respect for you to not try something like that.

@ Sutremaine

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Very sorry, must have missed that. The symbol you saw and know how to draw is the one to call up the vestige. You may try at any point you feel ready to do so. The mind-alterieness depends on your use of the vestige.

[Man on Fire]

"I hardly can belive that in two days so much happened." Rada says, scratching her head. "But, you know, I came to respect both of you a much more than before. Especially you, Kusque. I trusted you with pinkskins, twice even. And you didn't fail." She pauses fot a moment, then gives the amulet to Kusque. "Now I'm going to trust you with myself. This amulet can calm me down, if my frenzy will ever go out of control, like it did today. I trust you won't overuse it - it becomes weaker with each time and the long-term...well, it can mess you up. Use it only if everything else fails or I'm about to kill one of us, do you understand?"
She then turns towards Grazzik. "Old Geezer, from you I want to llok out for this thing. And for him by extension. The last thing we need is for this to get in hands of any enemy and would Kusque be unconcious or hurt I want to know somebody will keep his head cool when I'll go crazy."
She waits a moment, awaiting their reactions. It's clear this situation isin't very comfortable to her. Giving so much control over herself to somebody else is something that goes against everything she belives in as a warrior of mother forest, berserker and future chief.
"I know I'm pushing a lot on you. But, well, lets be honest, I trust you guys more than I trust myself sometimes." She puts her hand and each's arm. "I just hope you are so smart as you make me think of you. Mother Forest help you if I'm wrong." She tries to joke, but it comes aout very forced.

[Sutremaine]

@DM, mostly

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Just a quick note before I post an IC reply -- I already drew the circle and reached out for the vestige here.

I had a gut feeling I'd end up being the one with the amulet...

[GnomeGninjas]

Mal wakes up late though in a better mood than yesterday. He performs some stretches before leaving his tent and going to breakfast. Their he wolfs down his stew before going to tend to his tiger. He rides his tiger around the camp a few times as he thinks about the events of yesterday.

[rweird]

Grazik - Shaman

"I'll try to keep an eye out, for all of us. This is a good thing, it will help. A leader needs to be able to rely on others, we will not fail you." Grazik smiles. "In a way, a leader is always in her subjects power, though in these times, we all must rely on each other, that is how the tribe functions best."

[Winds]

Gell awakes early, in his spartan quarters. He armors himself, pulls his quiver on, and pockets some wood to whittle should there be time.

Heading out into the camp, he eats and heads to where the group had planned to reconvene.

[Re'ozul]

@ Kusque

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At once you feel the process differ from any other vestige you have bound before. No manifestation appears aside from a moanful wind and a crushing sense of need. At once you feel a vast entity, fractured but whole. Its parts enter your mind but are just as easily forced out. The presence that enters you is extremely eager, but feels wrong. It is like hundreds of echoes attempt to attach themselves to you, warring with each other, asking, pleading for you to choose them. The congregation of souls does not seem to have a set strenght, you believe that with greater understanding of in the field of binding you will be able to allow more of them to accompany you, for them to give their abilities to you and for you to be their window into the world from the twilight of existance they are mired in.

Vestige: The Nameless - The many that are lost
Vestige level: Not set, equal to the highest level of Vestige you can bind.

Sign: Tattoos in the same style as the symbol appear around your sensory organs and your hands.

Influence: Starved of information from the outside, the souls can not abide any instance of further deprivation. Under the Influence of the nameless, you can not sleep and are deeply reviled by any bout of inactivity that lasts more than a few minutes.

Granted abilities: (I tried to frame them in fluff terms but failed utterly)

Support from Beyond: Assume point buy system. You gain a number of additional points equal to half your binder level that you may attribute to your base scores as you wish. (example: Binder level 9 = 4 points, allows you to raise a score of 10 to 13)

Manyfold skills: Choose a number of skills equal to half your binder level. You become considered trained in that skill. Your virtual ranks in the skill become a quarter of your binder level. (If you choose a skill you are already trained in, you gain these ranks in excess of what you already have)

Swarm of Minds: The Multitude of similar souls in you makes it harder to pinpoint your own self. You gain a bonus to will saves against mind affecting effects equal to half your binder level and count as an additional number of HD equal to your binder level for such effects.

Superposition of Souls: Feeling the need from the souls that you could not bind yourself, some will even agree to sustain great pain. Once every five rounds you may attempt a binding check against a creature within 30 feet of you. This binding check is treated as a ranged touch attack and imprints one of the multitude of souls onto the creature. However, the less the creature resembles the self-image of the soul (think orc) the less likely it is succeed (read penalties). The target creature is entitled to a Will saving throw (treat this as a standard binder ability save). If the save is failed the creature behaves as the soul implanted on it, though can no longer use most of any exotic abilityies it might have (the soul has no idea how to work those most likely). Each round after the imprint, the creature is entitled to another save at a cumulative +2 bonus. This bonus applies to any further attempt of imprinting on the same creature until 24 hours have passed.

[Sutremaine]

Kusque took the amulet as almost a reflexive action, his mind feeling as unglued as the rest within him. He had pulled his fist back to his chest before he started thinking again, Rada's next words drawing him back to the world. As she asked Grazik to look after everything as well, he turned the ordinary-looking amulet over in his fingers like it would crumble or explode or spend its first use. Such weight, for something so small.

At Rada's touch he looked up, and the discomfort on her face was clear. She wasn't used to the thought of having her mind buffeted around, and to give this control to a physical entity... Well, even he had his limits. At last, he said: "I'm honoured that you think so highly of me, Rada." No, no, much too formal and rehearsed-sounding. He ordered himself to relax, for Rada's sake and for Grazik's too. "I'll keep this quiet until it needs to speak. I managed it yesterday, I can do it again." Hearing that even from his own mouth made him feel much better, and deftly he loosened his scarf to veil the amulet behind it. "This is good. You can trust us to keep control, and we can trust you to lose it."

@DM:

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Ooh, that's a shiny vestige. I was kind of wondering about the discrete orc minds vs. crystallised nature spirits thing. Couple of technical questions --

Support From Beyond: Does this apply to the scores purchased, or the scores after racial adjustment? How are scores outside PB's usual 8-18 range handled?

What's the vestige's DC?

Also, binding Malphas, which as a DC15 check doesn't require a roll, and taking Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arch. and Eng.), and Knowledge (The Planes) as pseudo-trained skills on The Nameless.

[Man on Fire]

"Thanks guys. I needed to hear that." Rada says in answer to both Grazzik and Kusque. "Now, lets go requinish our gear. Bet Mal and Gell need few more arrows and you need whatever you use for your mumbo jumbo." She says, moving back to where they all came from. She is trying to sound natural and more relaxed. It dosn't work.

[Re'ozul]

@ Sutremaine

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Good question. Considering that it represents increased power relative to baseline it would apply before racial modifiers.

Costs:
7->8: 1/2
6->7: 1/2
3->6: 1/3 each (probably, not necessary hopefully)
18->20: 4 each
20->22: 5 each
etc

DC= 15+Binder level (so your check is essentially 1d20+cha vs 15) to represent the increase in souls you are trying to properly align.

[Sutremaine]

"Let's stay out here a little longer," Kusque suggested, noting Rada's tenseness. He lightly tapped a couple of fingers against his scarf, arranged as though it was hiding nothing. "You should clear your mind before you go back."

[Sutremaine]

With the informal meeting over, they went their separate ways back to the main camp. Kusque took a meandering route, hoping to find Mal or Gell somewhere.

[Re'ozul]

After a while you all meet up again and decide to consult Sorunnar about your plans to investigate the matter of the elves. You find him in his abode, perusing the many sheets of information he got from examining the gnoll.
At your explanation, he looks thoughtful.

"I see. So you are saying that the message you gave the pink-skins will most likely take a few days to find its way to their rulers. The answer most likely will only be slightly faster.
The elves aren't a pressing concern yet, though. Of course, once the message does come back, you will find yourself either invited or repulsed. In the former you will find yourself having to discern their motives and capabilities, in the latter you will find yourself having to infiltrate them to gain more understanding. In either case, a higher skill in investigative means will be useful.
While you do not need it, I give you my agreement that in any case, your endeavour is a good one.
Though I have to ask, how far you are willing to take this investigation. After all, we do not know much about the elves settlements, be it number, transportation or even their location."

[Winds]

Gell glances about before answering.

"Well, we just need to make sure they know what's happening, right? From there it's their business what they do about it..."