DM Nagging: It's pretty much my job

[Anastasia]

For people who came to the game later than B1 (basically anyone but Eb and Cor in this context): Cor suggested making small flavor blocks for the NPCs from there, as an aid to all of you. Do y'all want this sorta thing and do you feel it's helpful?

Please.

Shall work on it then for sure, probably tomorrow morning.

[Anastasia]

Fortunately, some have flavor blocks from R&S postings, so I'll start with those. Why do work again when you've done it once already?

Antenora Reynes:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Background

Antenora was born as an erinyes in Cania, Della the Bloodflier. Her life was unremarkable by Hell's standards until Zquujaj's invasion of Avernus. The pressure this put on Hell caused a great deal of upheaval. In Della's case, the thought of Hell's perfect order being disrupted was unacceptable. She called on favors and escaped Hell for one of the many worlds of the Prime Material Plane, intent on forging her own kingdom of iron law there.

It is there she met Alicia Reynes and the Crimson Guard. Her schemes were defeated and Antenora was brought low in battle. She plead for her life and promised to reform herself, desperate to avoid a return to Hell. To the surprise of all, Alicia stepped forward and accepted her offer. She took Della into her own house, where she took the name Antenora. Make no mistake, for she had no intentions of reforming. It would be a simple matter to corrupt Alicia and her household and start anew.

That did not happen. Antenora found a match in Alicia, who routinely engaged Antenora in debate. Here she agreed with Antenora's devotion to law and used it as common ground to attack evil. Remarkably, Antenora found her arguments matched and often defeated. This was joined by a regime of seeing the acts of good firsthand, as well as growing fond of Alicia and her allies. Alicia's sheer charisma joined by cold logic and personal entreaties began to melt Antenora's will. Without the support of Hell and subjected to Alicia's own will, Antenora's resolve began to crack.

This crack allowed sorrow to follow. Soon, Alicia's sister, who had fallen under the thrall of Hell, sought to escape Hell's grasp on her. This required the aid of an extraplanar entity, who tasked Alicia and her sister Beth to travel to Stygia and free souls held in the Halls of the Vanquished. While they did succeed, the quest came to a tragic end. The disturbance in the Halls of the Vanquished caught the attention of Duke Agares, who barred the exit and confronted the intruders. In a short battle Alicia was brought to the brink of death, as she was no match for Agares.

The frozen floor of the Halls began to crack and black Styx-water began to flow in. Beth saw her chance, willingly exposing herself to the Styx to save Alicia and slip by Agares. The two escaped thanks to the sacrifice of Beth, who lost all her memories to the hungers of the Styx. Antenora saw the aftermath and Alicia's heartbroken tears, yet she did not triumph in them. She only felt miserable at Alicia's sadness, and at that moment began to truly understand her own misery in evil.

This sacrifice and miracle began the process of Antenora rising from Hell's grasp. In time she survived the painful loss of evil itself, and then a transformation into a mortal form to atone. She was forever at Alicia's side as a warrior-in-arms, taking on the vows of a paladin and the unbridled wrath of a hellreaver. She was with Alicia and the Crimson Guard for all the great battles and the exploration of the gnomish ruins. She stood with Alicia against countless assassination attempts by Baator, as even the mighty Spark Hunters were vanquished.

When Alicia became a quasi-deity after defeating Triel's Furnace, Antenora rose with her. She became a full angel and oversees mortal souls that pass into Sylica, Alicia and Syala's divine realm. She also oversees redemption for Sylica and promotes it to any and all. Antenora knows she is a rarity, but it does not stop her. She sincerely believes that evil can be defeated and that even fiends can be saved. No matter if only one in a million efforts will bear fruit, she relentlessly applies herself to her newfound duties.

Antenora's name is used in various rituals by the faithful of Alicia and Syala, especially spells relating to bravery, redemption and hope. As both faiths are still small and newborn, this practice has not spread far yet.

Appearance

Antenora appears as a tall angel with black hair. Her body is flawlessly formed and symmetrical. Her wings are tingled opal blue, which match eyes solidly colored the same. Oftentimes a glow of the same color surrounds her in a gentle halo of light. This beauty is matched with the steely spirit of a crusader, as she has firm posture and an unrelenting gaze. While beautiful, most see her as inspiring more than alluring.

Antenora wears her armor and white dress in most instances. Otherwise she prefers dresses in white and a few bits of gold jewelry. She dresses simply, favoring function over form. When she's not involved in her duties, she cares little for what she wears and sticks to white out of personal preference.

Mortals who see Antenora find her easy to understand. Something about her speaks to them, be it hope for those free of evil to fear and hate to those lost in evil's misery. Immortals share this, with good immortals finding her reassuring. She is the pinnacle of Good's ability to redeem and defeat evil itself. Those of evil conversely see her with nothing but hatred. Devils deserve special mention, as they all wish to defeat and capture her. Traitors are not suffered by Baator, and should she be captured and brought to Hell, the captor would be richly rewarded.

Personality

The Opal Angel of Redemption can be best described as a crusader. She is forthright, firm and filled with conviction for her cause. She is not a soft nor a weak woman, but instead projects confident power. She strives to set an example and inspire others, to show that even the darkest soul has hope of a better life.

Servants and minions are treated well. Antenora believes that a leader should teach by example, much as Alicia taught her. She does not forget the virtue of kindness and believes it is well applied to those that follow you. To equals, friends and family, Antenora softens. In these times Antenora allows herself to relax. Antenora prefers to be a follower in these situations rather than a leader. She spend centuries struggling for meaningless authority in Baator, she has no desire to repeat that mistake with those dear to her.

Enemies are met by an offer of reformation, especially fiends. Should one accept, Antenora will go to any length to see that they have a fair chance to atone. Those that reject this offer find that Antenora will rarely ask twice. While she values redemption of all types, she has great insight to the folly of evil. Those steeped in it are often beyond reasoning and must be defeated instead.

In truth, all of these interactions greatly bolster Antenora. She finds all aspects of her new life satisfying. Her rise showed her the flaws of evil and how empty her own life in Baator was. The merest authentic interaction in the Heavens is worth more to her than her centuries of life in Hell. She refuses to allow herself to forget this. She holds onto what she learned, for this knowledge allows her to confront evil on a level few celestials can.

Relations

Antenora's family in Cania is a long forgotten memory to her and she has no further contact with them. However, Antenora's natural charisma and her circle of friends has allowed her to fill this gap. She is on good terms with those that serve her, often blurring the lines from superior to friend. She keeps some reservation from them as is only proper for her station, but this provides her a large pool of friends to draw on.

Meanwhile, Antenora relation with Alicia is that of a savior, a sister, a mother, a friend, her deity and many more feelings. Her thoughts about her are tremendously complex, but she is loyal to Alicia beyond all other things. She serves her loyally and without any reservations at all. She took Alicia's last name as a sign of respect, love and loyalty.

Antenora's relationship with Alicia is only exceeded by one - her wife, Marie. She has fallen madly in love with the eladrin shapeshifter and the two are happily together. The relationship was born over long arguments over law and chaos that morphed into deeper feelings. While the two still routinely argue, it is mostly a pretext for their affections than any real fire now.

Her relations with the rest of Sylica are all warm. She is friends with Jessica Reynes, Latha, Ebony and other figures there. As one of the highest ranking celestials in Sylica, she knows many people there and has a great deal of authority.

Beyond Sylica, Antenora maintains a string of friendships across the planes. She keeps in contact with risen fiends when she finds them. One example is Mial, a succubus purified by Empress Sulia. These friends understand each other in ways no other can. Otherwise, Antenora is known in most courts and planes as a servant of the newly risen deity Alicia. Antenora's past is no secret, and thus most are aware of it.

As for enemies, all of Hell considers Antenora a traitor to be exterminated. To turn away from Hell is the greatest insult to its order and an example must be made of her. Antenora's current position keeps her safe from most reprisals, but several more powerful entities have tried. The Spark Hunters attempted to capture her and Alicia but ultimately failed, while the efforts of the now deceased Duke Agares were fended off repeatedly. Infiltration attempts by the Order of the Lie have likewise been foiled, including the redemption of a corrupted pixie asset sent to spy in Sylica.

The sole exception to Hell's wrath is Beezlebub. As Alicia was the one to finally defeat Triel's Furnace, he has taken a personal interest in Alicia and by extension Antenora. His interest is more on the effect Alicia has had on Antenora rather than Antenora herself, but nonetheless results in him withholding his agents from working against her.

Combat

Antenora is never afraid to enter combat. While she attempts to defuse battles by turning her foes towards redemption, she knows that oftentimes that combat is inevitable. Against opponents that are no great threat, she relies on her spell-like abilities. Righteous smite, flame strike, superb dispelling and holy word are her favorite choices. She relies on divine succor in case an opponent gets in a lucky blow, chaining together two in a single round should it be needed.

More worthy opponents are faced by direct charges. Antenora charges in, using her smite, furious strike and power attack abilities to eliminate an opponent in a single blow. If Antenora has swift actions left after this, she invokes a paladin spell relevant to the battle. The next round focuses on repositioning, healing and preparing for another charge. If needed, Antenora will use the boots of the battle charger's ability or a greater teleport. Opponents that can press her cause her to fight on the defensive, using her various healing abilities as she whittles down her foes. Her goal is to weaken them enough that a charge can break them completely.

Generally, Antenora will not retreat unless commanded by Alicia or if she is engaged in a meaningless battle. The latter mostly occurs against dedicated diabolical attacks against her, as Antenora knows enough of Hell's methodology to greatly fear unfolding ambushes. As a side effect of this, Antenora rarely battles alone. This is not out of cowardice, but out of the simple fact that if Hell catches her with sufficient forces off guard, such as Nessian Pit Fiends or powerful unique devils, that she may be overwhelmed and dragged back to Hell. She has no illusions on what will happen to her should this occur, and fears that she will be taken to Asmodeus himself to account for her diabolical heresy. If nothing else, the insult of sullying the reputation of the Spark Hunters demands the King of Hell's attention.

[Anastasia]

Next. At the time I couldn't get Jessica's flavor block past an outline for whatever reason, so I rolled with it. I might expand this a bit later.

Jessica Reynes: [spoiler]

- Jessica was once Beth Reynes, Alicia's blood sister and a mean-hearted bitch. She made her life as an assassin, trading lives for money.

- In time, she took an assignment to assassinate Archduke Salman of the United Baronies. She failed, was defeated by the Crimson Guard and captured. Circumstances, including her sister Alicia joining the Crimson Guard, lead to her execution being postponed.

- Unfortunately, Alicia had kicked up a fight with Hell over the fate of Antenora, an erinyes who Alicia sought to redeem. The sisters did not have a good relationship and a hellish envoy offered Beth a chance at revenge in exchange for her soul. Beth accepted. Alicia defeated the efforts and ultimately confronted Beth. Turns out the deal Beth got was invalid, as it was predicated on Beth becoming an erinyes - but no devils are promoted into that form, erinyes are born instead.

- With her soul damned and her confidence shaken, Alicia gets through to Beth and the two finally make a shaky peace. They sought atonement for Beth, which involved traveling to the 5th layer of Hell and raiding the Halls of the Vanquished, a repository of foes defeated by Baator.

- In the end, the sisters freed several unjustly held souls and celestials, before being confronted by Duke Agares as they tried to escape. The might of a Duke of Hell was far beyond Alicia and she was brought to death's door by the Duke's assault. The icy floor of the museum was crumbling and the black waters of the Styx were splashing in. In an act of genuine altruism, Beth braved the waters of the Styx to escape Agares with Alicia and activate their magic to flee Hell.

- While Alicia survived thanks to Beth's sacrifice, Beth's memories were lost to the Styx. The woman left behind was the opposite of Beth: kind, gentle and warm. With Beth's memories lost to the Styx (and thus Asmodeus or perhaps the imprisoned Levistus), she took the name of Jessica and started a new life with her sister. A hard life at first, as few were willing to forgive the woman who wore the face of the popular Archduke's attempted assassin.

- Despite this, Jessica endured. She found love and a husband while slowly discovering the lethal arts Beth left behind. Only this time she used them in defense of her new family: her husband Roald, her sister Alicia and her friends; the astral deva Latha, the courre eladrin Marie and the risen erinyes Antenora. She took on the role of group mother, maintaining the house and making sure all were taken care of.

- Jessica found herself living with exemplars of good, even her sister was made into a half-celestial by Mystra defeating a horror of madness from the Beyond - a nightmare that could unravel Creation itself if allowed to exist in it long.

- This exposure to so much concentrated Good and the essence of the Heavens lead Jessica to become a native outsider. In time, Alicia's struggles to protect the United Baronies became more intense, harder as many enemies sought to tear down what the Crimson Guard and the United Baronies had built. When Mystra herself offered Jessica celestial blood and power to aid her sister, Jessica took the offer.

- In time, Alicia and her lover Syala cleared Triel's Furnace, vanquishing the impossibly ancient remnant of Beezlebub before his fall from grace. The plane itself attached to Alicia and Syala, beginning their rise as demigoddesses. Jessica followed her family to the new realm, Sylica. Since that time, she has become a full celestial as she continues as she has before.

- In essence, the Styx scrubbed all that Beth was away. What was left was what Beth never had - compassion, gentleness and protectiveness. Yet the legacy of Beth's life lingered in the form of her assassin's skills. Jessica is the result of this unusual fusion, a result guided by the light her sister surrounded herself with. In many ways Jessica is a result of Alicia's meteoric rise to power, as few can claim to be surrounded by angels and offered power by a goddess.

[Yuthirin]

Requesting Flavor Thread.

[Anastasia]

I'll probably put something together like that at some point, yes. Right now I'm gathering what I have so I know what I need to do and what I don't.

[Anastasia]

> Alicia post.
> First node goal hit, though Moore's like one or two posts away from his first one.
> He just vanished awhile.

Not a huge deal, just heads up. The first node goals are often a bit easy to down right softballs for the sake of demonstration. Moore's right next tone too, in case it wasn't obvious to him.

[Ebiris]

+1 int from my node, used to boost duskblade DCs and regain knowledge (nature)!

[Ebiris]

Struggling to pick a 6th level spell, so I made my own!

Telepathic Intercept
Divination
Level: Brd 4, Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S
Casting time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Area: 5-ft./level radius spread centred on you
Duration: 10 minutes/level (D)
Saving Throw: None/see text
Spell Resistance: None

Upon casting this spell you hear a faint murmur of faraway speech before it fades into silence.

For the duration of this spell you become instantly aware whenever a creature within its radius communicates via telepathy, regardless of who it is communicating with or where they are. As a free action you can intercept their telepathic 'speech', however the creature is entitled to a will saving throw and upon success becomes aware that someone is listening in (though they gain no special awareness as to who is responsible).

I remembered that meeting with the devils back in B3 where you said they had tons of snarking and bluffing going on telepathically that we were ignorant of. Now we can listen in! And also know if the nice devil smiling and nodding at our cover story is really screaming 'Guards! Guards!' in his head.

[Anastasia]

That looks like a variant of telepathy tap from the BoED. Compare and contrast that, would you?

It doesn't really need to be a sanctified spell, that one's not really germane to good. I mean it's useful since a lot of fiends have telepathy, but it's like healing. Certainly useful against them, but not precisely something drenched in holy power, anyway.

[Anastasia]

Preview:

Xandra

Trumpet Archon 30//War Mage 10/Paladin 2/Mage of the Illuminated Temple 18

She trades her innate trumpet archon clerical casting for a seer ability. I've also wanted to use that PrC for awhile now, find out of it's balanced or broken.

[Anastasia]

Quick hit: Warmages are a strange class as far as spell-list goes. How I'm probably going to run one for epic for now? They get all the evocation spells as epic spells. Should work for the short term.

[Ebiris]

That looks like a variant of telepathy tap from the BoED. Compare and contrast that, would you?

It doesn't really need to be a sanctified spell, that one's not really germane to good. I mean it's useful since a lot of fiends have telepathy, but it's like healing. Certainly useful against them, but not precisely something drenched in holy power, anyway.

Yeah, telepathy tap's straight up better except for duration. I'll just alter reality that if I need to eavesdrop.

I'll see about some other swap tonight maybe, mental pinnacle can stay a bit longer.

[Anastasia]

That looks like a variant of telepathy tap from the BoED. Compare and contrast that, would you?

It doesn't really need to be a sanctified spell, that one's not really germane to good. I mean it's useful since a lot of fiends have telepathy, but it's like healing. Certainly useful against them, but not precisely something drenched in holy power, anyway.

Yeah, telepathy tap's straight up better except for duration. I'll just alter reality that if I need to eavesdrop.

I'll see about some other swap tonight maybe, mental pinnacle can stay a bit longer.

Cool, cool.

[Iron Dragoon]

Redistributed skill points so that I have at least 1 point in almost every skill, excepting those with sub-skills like Perform.

[Anastasia]

One thing I'd like to try and do is weekly summaries of my thoughts of the past week's sessions. I dunno if I'll stick to this, but let's try. In order of newest to oldest.

Alyssa: A solid enough start. A lot of her first days is feeling out who she is and what she does, as well as starting to paint in the Guild. I'll note that her going off on that page who barged in felt fairly defining - she wasn't going to tolerate that shit right off. She feels very no nonsense and just a smidge of a bitch. Not meant as an insult, just a statement. There's potential here, let's see how it develops in the future.

Tryll: Another solid start. Dana as a ringer works wonders, as it feels like she comes in, has a strong statement and immediately helps define things. Dana in particular has a particular voice that works well and makes things feel like it's well defined. Not as much to say here as Tryll's coming off B3 and thus well defined. Good choice to grab Dana though, I have to say. Also Calleigh trolls everyone, as usual.

Moore: A very strong start. You get bonus points for going to Xandra - she was set up to be a NPC later down the line, but visiting her early unlocked a recruitment chance early. She was one of the little bits of setup I did in B3, so hitting her up was an excellent choice. It got you a party member quickly, just in time for what's going to potentially be a tough mini dungeon or two. Well played. Otherwise it's Moore, he's fresh so not a ton to say here. I did like today's discussion about morality and motives, though.

Alicia: Of all the characters, I feel Alicia's slotted in the neatest to a completed role. She's very much a veteran of several story arcs and is a mature character. This is good, as it's letting her get right to brass tacks. If anything I wish the pace was a little slower to have more NPC setup time, but it's been solid so far. Everything feels solid enough here, and as Syala and Alicia noted, they're not a heaven for sitting around. Do expect a bit of down time after the Lixer thing hashes out, though, if just to touch base with some NPCs and sort a few things.

Seira: See Alicia's writeup, the same general sentiment applies. That being said, it's fun to have her deal with Kascha again, not to mention Amaryl. Amaryl's a bit of a sticky wicket, trying to capture her as well as taking her late game confident surge to the logical next steps. She still hesitated once or twice, but fundamentally I'm trying to play her as more assertive. I don't feel like the younger Amaryl would've added a lot of what she added to those conservations. That being said, Seira feels fine and it's all about redefining and getting to feel it with the NPCs, so more on that after Lixer, too.