Noel

In Under the Bus, Noel played Tashiro Sunshine Eastforest, a half-elf whose guns made him one of the party's most dangerous ranged combatants. Noel's memorable moments frequently involved Tashiro doing enormous amounts of damage, surviving things he probably shouldn't have, or being the person who recognized that the rest of the party was about to do something incredibly stupid.

The Red Dragon and the 400-Foot Fall

During the party's first major encounter with a Red Dragon, Tashiro opened fire from the deck of the Sunchaser and dealt about 70 points of damage in a single round. This got the dragon's attention.

The dragon grabbed Tashiro off the deck, flew about 100 feet with him, and then dropped him roughly 400 feet to the ground. The fall should have been devastating, but the damage dice were extraordinarily kind: ten of the 20d6 came up 1s. Tashiro survived the fall without even losing consciousness, with about 10 HP remaining. Smah Tepants then used Dimension Door to reach him and subsequently teleported them back to the ship.

The dragon eventually attempted to flee. Several members of the party decided to magically pursue it and finish it off.

Noel told them this was a really bad idea.

They ignored him.

The pursuing party managed to attack the dragon again, but failed to kill it before it breathed fire on them, knocking Smah unconscious. Despite vindicating Noel's warning almost immediately, they continued the pursuit and eventually brought the dragon down.

The Stupidest Battle Chess Idea Ever

When the party finally located Thorn Runehammer at the End of the World, Thorn agreed to answer their questions if they defeated his champion at Battle Chess. Thorn chose Bo Duke to serve as his champion against the rest of the party.

Thorn said Bo could have some party members placed on his side if they wanted to make things more fair. Kamal and Malachi thought they should do exactly that.

Noel and Nate thought this was a terrible idea. In fact, the contemporary recap specifically notes that Noel thought it might be the stupidest idea he'd ever heard.

They did it anyway.

Kamal, despite having never played Battle Chess before, adopted an extremely aggressive strategy. He deliberately exposed his queen to capture by a pawn, counting on defeating the pawn in combat and then attacking the king on his own turn. The gamble worked, and the supposedly more balanced game ended after only a handful of moves.

The campaign recap succinctly records Noel's reaction:

"Noel was pissed off."

Professional Drinking

During the party's extended stay in Toreon, everyone found ways to occupy themselves and help pay the party's considerable expenses. Dugan Lifebrew and Bo Duke brewed and sold beer, while Malachi worked as a mercenary.

Tashiro pursued his own profession.

He regularly hit the bars, participating in darts tournaments and drinking games, and managed to earn just enough money from them to pay for his drinking.

Playing to the Crowd

After the party was imprisoned in Toreon and forced into gladiatorial combat, they eventually acquired a degree of notoriety as The Heretics.

During one arena appearance, the crowd greeted them with a mixture of boos and cheers, with the cheers apparently beginning to outweigh the hostility.

As soon as Tashiro emerged into the arena and heard the crowd's reaction, he immediately began posturing for them.

The Mysterious Watcher

While exploring Godsmount, the party repeatedly had the unsettling sensation that something was watching them.

One night Tashiro finally heard something lurking outside their camp. He had Dew Gooder cast Light on a rock and then hurled the glowing stone toward the sound. Tashiro's half-elven vision picked out a pair of eyes at the edge of his sight.

Rather than raising an alarm or immediately attacking, Tashiro gave the mysterious observer a little wink and nod, making it clear that he knew it was there.

The eyes disappeared into the darkness.

Punching Filtiarn

While experiencing The Quest for the Cure, the damaged magical apparatus eventually trapped the party in a room with an Aspect of Filtiarn. Worse, the party discovered that they had none of their equipment inside the simulation.

For Tashiro, this meant no guns.

So Noel punched the Aspect.

Repeatedly.

Each attempt provoked an attack of opportunity, but Noel continued punching the ten-foot-tall manifestation of the wolf god anyway while the party desperately tried to find some way to hurt it.

Noel and TJ vs. the Kuo-Toa

During the underwater exploration of Aegea, Tashiro, Dew Gooder, Malachi, and Dugan were ambushed by a patrol of kuo-toa.

Dew had cast Freedom of Movement on himself and Tashiro, but not Malachi. Malachi was caught by a kuo-toa pincer staff and spent virtually the entire fight being grappled toward death.

Dugan, being decidedly noncombatant, immediately fled for the surface.

That effectively left Noel and TJ fighting the entire patrol themselves.

They killed the kuo-toa.

The Ceremony of Preparation

When the party later participated in the kuo-toa Ceremony of Preparation, they were served strange food by aquatic elf slaves. Smah cast Detect Poison and discovered that the food was poisoned. She refused to eat it and warned everyone else.

Tashiro and Bo Duke reasoned that it made no sense for the kuo-toa to poison them immediately before sending them into battle.

So Tashiro ate it.

It was apparently quite good once he got past the texture.

Smah later asked Tashiro to use his Sleight of Hand skill to hide some of the food so she could examine it afterward. Noel reluctantly did so.

The ceremony subsequently included the aquatic elf slaves offering considerably more personal services. Bo Duke declined. Dew enthusiastically accepted.

Dew and Tashiro then both volunteered to take Bo's slave girl if he wasn't going to use her.