;)
I like it. I've gone a much more evasive path with A'kin in my own game. The PC's, for whatever reason, adore him like a true friend. Probably because they hate The Marauder with a passion and he's not exactly on speaking terms with her.
I prefer an alignment of (N_) aka Neutral Question Mark. ;)
At least in my games he's just a damned nice guy, perhaps in more than one meaning of that. Open question that I adore.
Very impressive. It's not the way I've gone but I like it. I too would be tempted to align as "N?"; A'kin's motives are far deeper and more complex than mere good or evil.
So A'kin did what no yugoloth dares to do: he promoted Shemeshka on his own, using his own teeth and claws to flay her skin off as he crouched in a cave on the dark slopes of Mungoth. "I will teach this new arcanaloth to surpass all others save myself," said A'kin. "We will drag the ultraloths into this age, if we have to seize their positions to do it."
Alas, A'kin's prediction never came to pass. On their way to a portal to Sigil, the two arcanaloths were ambushed by the ultraloth Implex and his nycaloth soldiers. Shemeshka was torn apart and A'kin barely escaped alive. Lying bloody in a street of what was then known as Sigil's Common Ward, A'kin cradled the severed head of his star pupil...
...and snapped.
A secret of present-day Sigil is Farrow, a shadow elf whose brilliance in espionage was such that he convinced himself and hundreds of others that he was fifteen seperate people - and the power of belief made him so. The yugoloth who calls herself Shemeshka the Marauder considers him to be a special prize, as his ignorance of his own nature makes him/them the perfect worm to crawl into every quarter of Sigil's society. What she doesn't realize is that Farrow is not a fluke; anyone who believes and teaches enough others to believe can make things happen. Farrow isn't unique, and one of the most prominent of the other examples of the phenomenon is Shemeshka herself.
A'kin wanted so badly to tutor his student in the ways of the arcanaloth that he *became* her, and more besides. A'kin manipulates events behind the scenes in order to bring lessons to Shemeshka without her knowledge. The two never meet, A'kin believes, because Shemeshka hates him for her exile. The actually never meet because the two are the same person.
Shemeshka knows all the triggers that transform Farrow's different personalities from one to the other, but the only one with the knowledge of Shemeshka's triggers is Jemorille, a rilmani who poses as Shemeshka's tiefling servant. He can make the Marauder become A'kin without her knowledge, and he can also transform A'kin into a lawful neutral version of his yugoloth self. Only the evil version of A'kin is aware of his situation, and his existence is a brief one; awakening during the small hours of the night, A'kin can only rage and shriek and howl - even attempting to write notes to himself turns him back into A'kin the Friendly Fiend.
I don't think A'kin as an Epic NPC fits either. Then again I despise Epic play.
They are afterall second only to Ultroloths in the 'loth heirarchy. I like them seperate too, though I will say Rip that one of my players fell in love with that little take on the whole A'kin/Shemmy mythology you had there. Of course this is the same player whose PC as of this past week was seriously considering asking if A'kin was seeing anyone. This shall be interesting... *utterly unreadable expression*
Originally posted by Shemeska the Marauder
*obligatory hiss and snarl at the simple mention of him*
;)
I like it. I've gone a much more evasive path with A'kin in my own game. The PC's, for whatever reason, adore him like a true friend. Probably because they hate The Marauder with a passion and he's not exactly on speaking terms with her.
I prefer an alignment of (N_) aka Neutral Question Mark. ;)
At least in my games he's just a damned nice guy, perhaps in more than one meaning of that. Open question that I adore.
He's NE in Faction War, ain't he?
Originally posted by Drinnik Shoehorn
He's NE in Faction War, ain't he?
"He's always been listed as NE. Then again I've been listed as male before. Sodding celestials getting to the editors..."
Originally posted by Shemeska the Marauder
"He's always been listed as NE. Then again I've been listed as male before. Sodding celestials getting to the editors..."
It's the haircut. Razorvine screams "I'm a man."
Try bloodroses, they're more feminine.
(For what it's worth).
Originally posted by Shemeska the Marauder
*obligatory hiss and snarl at the simple mention of him*
;)
I like it. I've gone a much more evasive path with A'kin in my own game. The PC's, for whatever reason, adore him like a true friend. Probably because they hate The Marauder with a passion and he's not exactly on speaking terms with her.
I prefer an alignment of (N_) aka Neutral Question Mark. ;)
At least in my games he's just a damned nice guy, perhaps in more than one meaning of that. Open question that I adore.
I don't think the PCs in my game quite hate A'Kin. They're kind of thinking they can't quite trust him, but they find him useful, and are calmer around him because of his outward friendliness.
Shemeshka though....she's got them terrified. They hate her, as in, if they had a way to kill her, they'd try, but they'd just prefer to never meet her, or come across any of her plans again. The last time they did, she doublecrossed them, and they ended up getting hipped on a prime world for a year as slaves....though they can't prove that it was her who did it.
Has anyone converted Shemeshka to 3E or 3.5? Actually, I'd be interested in seeing if anyone's converted any of the NPCs from Faces of Sigil to 3E.
I was thinking of making Kylie a Rogue 8/Sorceress 2. I'd advance her the level or two simply because the PCs met her at the beginning of the campaign, and have gone from lvl 1 to 12, so I figure most NPCs in the game might have gained a few levels in that time. I figure sorceress, because she's explicitly fascinated with magic, but in 2nd Ed. wasn't a wizard....her stats support her being a sorceress though. I'm pretty sure her CHA is fairly high.
As to A'Kin and Shemeshka though...
I like the conversion for A'Kin....but wouldn't the stats for a straight Arcanoloth cover him?
Banshee
Originally posted by Shemeska the Marauder
[. . .] Of course this is the same player whose PC as of this past week was seriously considering asking if A'kin was seeing anyone [. . .]
But Shemmy, I thought that the big secret was that you two were...
I'm getting that feeling. Yep, the Cadence thinks it's better if I don't finish that sentence.
Originally posted by Banshee
I like the conversion for A'Kin....but wouldn't the stats for a straight Arcanoloth cover him?
Banshee
Technically, yes. But that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.
Sure, he was a plain ol' arcanaloth in 2e, but monsters hardly ever had class levels then. Now they can, so why not take advantage of it?
I like the idea that he's learned a trick or two since coming to Sigil.
Originally posted by ripvanwormer
Technically, yes. But that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.
Sure, he was a plain ol' arcanaloth in 2e, but monsters hardly ever had class levels then. Now they can, so why not take advantage of it?
I like the idea that he's learned a trick or two since coming to Sigil.
That's cool....not bashing the idea. I'm going to read it over again.
I've just been trying to keep power creep out of the setting.
I'd been toying with giving Shemeshka sorcerer or rogue levels in any case, but wondering if that would be too powerful.
I've already been starting to work on a balor wizard that's been behind many of the plots driving my game for the last 7 years, as the PCs are starting to get to the point where they can more actively work against his plans. Putting levels like that onto most Outsiders however, just makes them lethal.
I'd always figured that A'Kin and Shemeshka weren't powerful due to class levels, but because of who, and what they knew.
Interesting take though...
Banshee
Originally posted by Banshee
Has anyone converted Shemeshka to 3E or 3.5? Actually, I'd be interested in seeing if anyone's converted any of the NPCs from Faces of Sigil to 3E.
I was thinking of making Kylie a Rogue 8/Sorceress 2.
In Planewalker's 3e Sigil guide I had Shemmy as an Arcanaloth Sorc 7, and Akin as an Arcanaloth Sorc 6. However since the guide was supposedly written by A'kin himself you might assume that certain things like that might be slanted one way or the other. ;)
I also had Kylie as a Rogue 8.
Originally posted by Banshee
Shemeshka though....she's got them terrified. They hate her, as in, if they had a way to kill her, they'd try, but they'd just prefer to never meet her, or come across any of her plans again. The last time they did, she doublecrossed them, and they ended up getting hipped on a prime world for a year as slaves....though they can't prove that it was her who did it.
*PRIDE* :D
"No, no... I insist! It's my pleasure to assist your noble endeavour in whatever way I can. I only ask for a lock of your lusterous hair. Why? A token to remember you by, of course, so that I can say I knew him before he conquered the Planes!"
Naive PCs are the best!
Originally posted by Iegan
"No, no... I insist! It's my pleasure to assist your noble endeavour in whatever way I can. I only ask for a lock of your lusterous hair. Why? A token to remember you by, of course, so that I can say I knew him before he conquered the Planes!"
*giggle* Oh that's awesome :D