A few moments after Xisco dashes out, the rest of the party notes that the ivy has stopped its rhythmic pulse of light, and the door has gotten noticeably darker. However, the ivy stays lit with a now-constant ruddy orange.
Xisco returns to examine his handiwork, having returned the ‘lock’ to its original position. He also notes that the room is somewhat warmer than when he left but then again that could be his imagination.
The crew sets about collecting wood for a fire from the nearby trees and then you all eat a simple lunch of salted skybass, aging lumpfruit taken on in Shadowhaven and rainwater in the main chamber. Taz is coming around, telling jokes about needing a trim of his mustache anyway and insists he is ready for duty again; Medicus looks dubious, but he usually does. Wung is still unconscious but the bleeding seems to have been staunched.
When you return to the hallway, you find it much as you left it; ivy still aglow but the door is dark. The frost on the floor seems to have vanished. Beyond the door is silent and you realize you have not heard the sound of sheering metal for some time now.
ooc: If you want to move the cannon, it’ll take awhile – the stairs are not exactly designed for lugging that thing around, and there’s a risk it could be damaged in transport.
You figure you've collected enough wood to burn a single 2 meter across bonfire brightly for about 4 hours once its lit. It will smolder for some time after that.
Those of you with power points have recharged 3 more.
Xisco is bit by bit regaining his previous demeanor, but is still rather quiet. He reacquires his journal and the Drakin text, and another small leather case from his satchel, which he stores in an inner pocket of his coat, but leaves the rest of his tools above. While the rest of the crew is working on firewood and cannons, Xisco will spend some time examining the double doors and pillars (Detect Arcana 15; sundry Knowledge, et al., checks, et c.).
ReplyDelete--------
So much for those power points...
While discussing the possibility of hauling the cannon down, Tooly has an idea. "Hey, instead of messing with the cannon, why don't we bring down that barrel of grapeshot? We can haul it a bag at a time, then refill it and position it to dump over if anything comes after us. It'll slow anything that walks down a bit, at the least, and we can recover it all afterwards."
ReplyDeleteXisco’s study of the door and pillars reveals a great deal as to their purpose. The pillars appear to be enchanted in much the same way as the sconces: energy transmuters that convert heat into visible light. When active, Xisco expects the strobing pulse to return. There is another slight difference in their enchantment . They appear to be able to ‘draw’ heat more effectively than their crystalline counterparts, allowing them to chill the room a great deal when they are active.
ReplyDeleteThe pillars on both sides do not appear to be pulsing currently, but the left side appears to continue to emit light.
The doors bear a pair of written seals, one of which appears to be in an older script than the other. Xisco has translated them roughly. The ‘older’ passage dialect is slightly different and reads:
“High seat of Brecilian kings, the ones that might come before that trembles in fear of fire of the dragon, behind the wing of a dragon, and be Elected.”
‘Brecilian’ appears to be a proper noun, much as Fizzgig does, although you’ve not heard of such a people or place before. This magical seal appears tied to the pillars, and seems to operate the doors. It draws power from a certain frequency pulse of light for each door. Without both pulses, it, both doors will remain sealed.
The newer passage reads:
“To curb the evil seventh gave many lives. If eighth is released, will all perish.”
This appears to be a general seal and warding, similar to the one on the outer door of the ruin. It is as large as the doors, and appears to continue into the surrounding walls. The text is written in the same technique, and appears to be a matching dialect.
Xisco also seems more certain than ever that the other switch in the secret room does not operate the door. The ley lines he sees for the right side pillars seem to be running in the opposite direction, toward the rooms where they first encountered this ruin’s inhabitants.
(Assuming Xisco says/mutters his discoveries aloud:)
ReplyDeleteTooly lets out a low whistle. "Does that mean that this 'eighth evil' is sealed in there..." he gestures to the double doors, "...or am I hearing that drakin-babble wrong? Maybe we should trip the other lock and see if the egg-thing opens before we mess around in here any more."
"We missed something back in those first two rooms. But I think Tooly might be correct about the Egg door."
ReplyDelete"Let's look and see if there's another secret door in the room at the bottom."
ReplyDelete"Just let me know when you are ready for me to shoot or blow something up."
ReplyDeleteTooly gestures at the hallway blocked with rubble. "That may be the way to the other lock for the ice room, but until we get a better translation of the writing, I dunno if we want to open that anyway. I say we check the egg door. The door itself is something special, maybe worth as much as the main door to the right buyer. Let's get it open. Xisco can go trip the lock while the rest of us guard the intersection where we fought the Chosen skellies."
ReplyDeleteThe captains order’s are heard by Xisco, and he’s off before Tooly can finish making his suggestion. They decide to examine the two side rooms first, and find the tessellating stone in the room that contained the jars. The captain touches the wall as he did in the other room, and again, the stones move away revealing another narrow passage. Xisco ventures forth with the lantern, and finds another gargoyle switch. Like the other hallway, this room appears to be undisturbed for some time. Tooly takes up position near the intersection that he believes will give him the best covering position of his allies as they search the rooms.
ReplyDeleteBlendin sits in glow of orange ivy with Fang. The hound is thumpin’ his tail and has an ear cocked at the wildlings jittery behavior. Suddenly, there is a sound of sheering metal from beyond the door. The wildling looks, but sees no immediate threat; whatever caused the noise did not breach the door… yet. His wrist seems to hum briefly, and the dog growls uneasily.
"Hey Fang... I think we might want to be over there," Blendin said as he backed away from the noises and slowly made his way down the hallway.
ReplyDeleteChuga-chuga-Chuga-chuga
ReplyDelete----------
"It's there, Captain Drawlight. Which door do you reckon we should open first? Or do we clear the rubble? Maybe send someone down the well to check if there's some fresh water? Well, I suppose it's probably stale rather than fresh."
Fang seems more than happy to follow the wildling down the painted hallway towards Tooly.
ReplyDelete"Okay, let's set up similar to how we did before at the back of the vine room. Weapons loaded, bombs by the door, Tooly fires last, Xisco activates the second lock and then runs to help us."
ReplyDeleteOOC: Um...which lock are we tripping, now? The one you guys just found goes to the other half of the big room. The second lock in the first secret room likely goes to the egg door.
ReplyDeleteooc: I've taken the liberty of numbering the locks for you guys in hopes of making this more clear. Currently, none of the locks are 'on' according to Xisco, although the residual glowing of the ivy in the wide corridor remains.
ReplyDeleteAlright, so lets trip 2 then and see if it opens the egg door, weapons readied and all that.
ReplyDelete2 was tripped previously; assuming you mean 1. :-D
ReplyDelete-------
Xisco takes the lantern and begins heading towards the locks past the well while the rest of the crew sets up for their assault. He sings/hums an old tune to give them plenty of time before throwing the switch.
"Would you like to swing on a star, do de do dum, da di di da..."
ooc: no, you tripped the left one, or #1, before. But I gotcha either way.
ReplyDeleteXisco picks his way back to the switches carefully, taking his time and humming, moving bits of stone from the sarcophagi out of the way to clear a return path; it seems likely based on the past few hours he might need to do so at a run and he doesn’t think his compatriots would appreciate him arriving late after rolling an ankle.
Blendin carefully places his explosive in the middle of the wall so that they can hit it from further down the hall. He chooses his last small explosive, since he feels certain the large one would be – unwise – in the enclosed space. He remembers briefly his explosives training from Orton; but that brings other unfortunate memories unbidden. He finishes his task and returns to a safe distance, shouldering his musket and crouching, trying to shake the memories off. As he checks the sights next to his ear, he thinks for a brief moment that he can hear his wrist is singing a familiar tune, and he feels remarkably calmed.
The captain waits on the lizardling to finish his duties, giving his new blade a few careful swipes on a whetstone dangling from a fob on his belt. He checks in on Medicus, Wung and Taz and finds them much the same; the mate sways as he stands, but offers to come provide his blade. Gardner thinks it unwise to have a man who appears at best drunk swinging a sword in close quarters. Fang is curled up asleep when he returns to the muraled hallway, that is until his gives him a thump in the ribs with his toe. The hound lifts his head, suddenly alert, giving a sheepish sneeze and tail wag.
The dwarf waits patiently as he can, looking forward to the undoubted piles of treasure behind the door and the opportunity to once again glorify his god by burning whatever is in between him and it.
Xisco finishes the last stanza, considers taking a bow for his invisible audience, and then reaches into the lock. It’s a tad different that the others, more ‘complex’, but he figures it out after a few tries and it ‘clicks’ into place. He hears a rumbling down the hall as he works to free his hand; it wasn't stuck, per se, but it took him a few moments longer than he anticipated to extract himself. He turns to face the narrow hallway.
The rest of the crew hears the rumbling in front of them from their holdout positions and tighten their grips on their readied weapons. There is the familiar clacking of bone against stone: footsteps of the scrabbling dead. But as it begins to close on the blind corner, a voice cries out from down hallway in front of the crew in a language Gardner recognizes as likely the same as the one spoken by Xisco to the skeletons before. The footfalls stop suddenly, and retreat. There are moments of silence, and nothing appears to be rounding the corner. The threat is palpable.
A few more words are barked out, and a single squat skeleton adorned in thin metal bracelets, anklets and necklaces charges around the corner and stoops to pick up the explosive and chucks it down the hallway toward Blendin and the Captain. (Held action interrupt attempts, since I’m assuming you might wish to interrupt. Target number is 13. Tooly = 4, Gardner = 5, Blendin = 11. This means you can act immediately following the bomb chuckage. If you wish to spend a benny to reroll, feel free. If you beat it, you may act before it disturbs the bomb. A tie and both actions occur simultaneously.) The bomb wheels through the air, safely over the heads of the crew, and bounces down the hallway towards the formerly wooden doored rooms, spilling its contents when it lands.
ooc: Combat, round 1. Wake up Blendin! Its time to put holes in shit.
Lone Skelly, ACTION TAKEN.
Unknown Assailant(s) Group 1, A of Clubs, ACTION HELD.
Unknown Assailant(s) Group 2, Jack of Clubs, ACTION HELD.
Xisco, 2PP, 1 Benny. 4 of Hearts.
Tooly, 7PP, 2 Benny. ACTION HELD.
Gardner and Fang, SUPERHOUND, 6 Benny. ACTION HELD.
Blendin, 2 Benny. ACTION HELD.
Clovis watches the bomb sail overhead harmlessly--to both sides. He chuckles tensely. "Seems the boneheads grew some brains. Too bad they're still a bit dry." He steps to the first intersection and bellows as loudly as he can. "Xisco! Close the door! Close it!" He hopes the echoes will carry the sound to the human even if the words are muddled. He then steps back to the corner, his eye and right arm holding the flame gun Peering through the gloom for a worthy target.
ReplyDeleteGardner fires his pistol too late to stop the skeleton from scattering the bomb (shooting 5; damage 11)
ReplyDelete---------------------------
Fang continues to hold action and will attack any enemy that moves into the square in front of Gardner and Blendin.
Xisco hears Tooly's shout.
ReplyDeleteGardner's shot crunches into the skeleton's chest, and it collapses more lifeless than before.
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ReplyDeleteBlendin waits for the next target to show itself, aims for its head, and takes his shot.
ReplyDelete-----------------------------------------------
Shooting = 9-2=7
ooc: the skellies are still holding action, blendin will attempt an interrupt if that changes, but I'm waiting to see what Xisco does with that door after tooly's shout, personally.
ReplyDeleteIf events occur in turn order, Xisco will spend his action heading back towards the party, then next turn will head back to throw the switch.
ReplyDeleteIf events occur simultaneously, he'll try to throw the switch this turn.
ooc: Since I'm not declaring held actions, and since tooly's held action happens before your move, I figure you'll close the lock this turn.
ReplyDeleteThere is a rumbling in the hall ahead of you, similar to that you heard when Xisco opened the door, followed by a low boom. You hear no immediate threats in the hall ahead of you.
ooc: combat on hold, it appears. I'll let you know when/if that changes.
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ReplyDeleteooc: by on hold, I mean, back to real time, btw. realized that 2 am self is less than clear sometimes. continue!
ReplyDeleteHearing the door close, Tooly darts to the other corner, flame gun poised to roast anything that came through. Finding nothing, he lifts the glowing muzzle and looks at Gardner and Blendin. "Well, that'll hold 'em for a bit. Since these guys are all smart, I say we make a surprise for 'em."
ReplyDelete---------------
OOC: I have an idea on this, but no time to post it right now. In the meantime, everyone else can post their own.
OOC: How high is the ceiling in the halls? I went back through the old posts and there's no measurement. Tall enough for humans, orcs, and Chosen, obviously, but...6, 7, 8 feet? Higher?
ReplyDeleteBlendin retrieves his bomb and puts it back together before placing it just on the corner where it can't be seen by anyone coming out of the egg door.
ReplyDeleteooc: the majority of the hallways are about 7 feet tall, but the big corridor is much taller as described.
ReplyDeleteBlendin, short of a pushbroom and a centrifuge, it'll take considerable time to scoop up the gunpowder, separate it from the stone dust that lines the corridor, and put the bomb back together. If you want to use some of your on hand ammo to recharge it, that's doable, but it'll expend 10 rounds worth of powder.
'Xisco' is out of contact right now and may be somewhat occupied for a week or so. Blendin, he has asked that you look after moving him around until he returns. Try not to get him killed. I'll take care of any rolls on this end.
I'll give you a chance to act on these exciting issues, and then post this evening.
"Okay, here's the plan..."
ReplyDeleteTooly takes a deep breath and launches into his ideas to booby-trap the egg door.
"First, we make another small bomb. We could use the big one, but that might be a bit much, and we could just split that big'un into two smaller ones for this. We weight the bomb with a rock, maybe double-fist-sized, and attach them to a rope that'll swing them down through the gap as the door opens. The door itself will trip it, knocking away a prop or pullin' a slipknotted rope as it opens. I'll rig a very short friction fuse to blow it right as it swings through the opening. The door should shield the rest of the hallway from most of the blast.
"That leads us to part two. Some of the skellies may be too far back for the first blast, so I'll rig the crossbow to fire through the door when it fully opens. When the door swings wide enough, it'll trip another rope and fire the crossbow, which will be propped against the far wall, there, aimed straight through the center of the doorway. We could use the rest of the big bomb, wrapped around the explosive bolt, to give extra punch. The range is so short the extra weight won't matter. The door should keep the crossbow from getting damaged in the first blast, at least if we use a smaller bomb.
"I figure the wood we gathered for the bonfire will give us everything we need to make a sturdy mount for the crossbow, lashed together well enough. Gotta make sure its aim's not thrown off by the first bomb. We'll brace it from below, both sides, and the top to prevent that. All we need is some rope. And to get the crossbow back from Medicus." The dwarf gives Gardner a meaningful look with the last part.
"After both of them have gone off, I can pop around the corner and fry everything, just to be sure. If we all stay down the first hall, here, where I was when we opened it the first time, we'll be safe from fragments but in position to charge. I'll want to be here, even if you guys go down the other way.
"Now, we'll need to work fast, in case they try to open it from inside. Blendin, can you make your big bomb into two little ones while the Skipper gets the crossbow? Then get some wood from where we left it to make the crossbow stand. I'm gonna make sure nothing comes up outta the well-hole while we get ready."
------------------
Semi-OOC: If everyone is amenable to the plan, Tooly will go to the room with the well and rig up a bomb from his own reloads, setting it to fall down the well, tripping a friction-fuse, if the large piece of debris blocking the hole is lifted off. That is, he will if the debris looks like it could be moved from beneath. If it looks beyond the strength of anything small enough to move through the tunnel, he'll cram some of the extra wood fragments into and on top of it (with Xisco's help, hopefully, while explaining the booby-trap plan) to make it totally impassible.
Actual OOC: If no one objects to the plan, BR can roll whatever is relevant, but Tooly is going to double-check everything, even if one of the others does the knots or whatever, and will ask the old sailor to check all the knots everyone does. He'll also rig a backup friction-fuse for both the swinging bomb and the crossbow to reduce the possibility of a dud. He doesn't want to get blown up shooting his flamer down the hall because one failed to go off.
ReplyDeleteAnother OOC: If anyone else has a way to improve the plan, we can assume it'll be implemented unless it makes things less reliable or more dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds complicated. But what the hell. If everyone else is game and the GM will let us try it.
ReplyDeleteOOC: Tooly likes complicated, it's his thing. Also, explosions. And fire.
ReplyDeletePlus, it's more realistic than a surpise-attack with a ballista in a tavern, at least.
ooc: How can I not like this plan? You want me to turn down a Rube Goldberg to avoid a combat? If you had included a cat in the mechanism, I’d give you a skill point, but as it is a Benny to Tooly for takin’ crazy to a new level.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, here’s how I see this going, step by step:
1. Tooly is rigging the well with blendin’s ‘reclaimed’ bomb. Rolled a 9. Setup looks good, takes 10 minutes. The hole in the debris is probably big enough for blendin to squeeze through, so you move a another piece of stone into the way, but its not a permanent seal, that’s for sure.
2. Blendin is on explosive detail. You’ve recovered materials for three additional bombs from the ship. While at the ship you notice (notice roll 7) that the field of flowers looks different than before – the bright orange flowers are now a dull yellow.
I’ve deducted the ammo from Tooly and Blendin’s personal stash, leaving you with 9 and 25 shots, respectively, plus the loads in your guns. Gardner has 8 shots remaining (plus one in the pipe). Blendin is using his last 2 flasks and one of the wallets for the bombs, and the last of his last fuse spool to rig the ‘timed’ fuses as Tooly describes. Three small bombs made (rolls: 8, 6, 4). Takes twenty minutes.
3. At the same time, Xisco and Gardner set to work lashing a frame for the anti-personnel door knocker. Boating rolls are 5 and 4, knots and supports look fine. Tooly begins helping out as soon as he’s finished rigging the well bomb, setting up the crossbow and timing system (Roll is 11, nice work). Time elapsed is 30 minutes.
4. Blendin, Xisco and Gardner work on the grenade ‘swingsets. You take some of the brass fittings from the other doors, and hammer them into the cracks as fulcrums, then measure out lengths of rope and weight them with stone balls from the cannon – 3 of them are ‘consumed’ by this whole process. Practice swings get it right 2 out of three times. Tooly sets the timer pins (4) and is reasonably happy with the arrangement on the short notice.
Total Time Elapsed: 1 hour.
Xisco reaches into the lock. He carefully turns it back and forth, a contorted expression on his face. The lock clicks into place.
ReplyDeleteAround the corner from the crossbow, Tooly stands with the glowing muzzle of his flamer above the wildling’s crouching form. The lizardling has ‘blended’ with the wall and is nearly invisible at even this range. He doesn’t seem concerned about the heat overhead as he sites down his barrel carefully.
Gardner joins them at the intersection, standing sidewise with his pistol outstretched and ready. Fang sits on his haunches, clearly concerned about what is about to occur.
The rumbling of the door is followed by a clatter of wooden pins: those holding the swinging explosives. There is a single sharp explosion, not the pair that you were expecting, followed by the clatter of another pin. The rumbling stops, but the crossbow has still not fired. (rolls here are hilarious. Swing bombs fail on 1 or 2 on a d6. Rolls are 5,1. One success, one failure. Failure is premature explosion on 4,3 or dud on 2,1 on a d4. Roll is 1. Timing mechanism for crossbow fails on 1 on a d6. Roll is 1. Failure is premature explosion on 1, misfire on 2,3,4 on d4. Roll is 3. Well, I guess you still have a couple bombs then, but I might fire your engineer.)
The door is now fully open, you believe, but you hear no sign of the skeletons or other aggressors. You do, however, hear the sharp crack of another explosion behind you – back in the sarcophagi room. Fang turns to face that direction, and begins to bark.
Before The Fall of the swing bombs, Tooly waits, Breathless. "My Eyes like it Better In The Dark, dwarves are Night People..." he mutters, eyeing the glowing sconces.
ReplyDeleteHe begins to wonder, as he waits, if Xisco got Cold Feet and didn't Push the switch. He feels briefly Guilty as he hears the door open. He wants to Stand up and Shout, but merely Shivers in anticipation. "Time to Burn, skellies. You already have One Foot in the Grave." He slaps the wall, shouting at the crossbow, "Shoot, Shoot, you bastard!" When it doesn't, he mutters "Just Another Day..." He wonders if he should charge and shoot as planned, not wanting to be Caught in the Middle if the crossbow goes off, but expecting the Evil Eyes of the undead to appear at any second.
Before he can decide, the bomb poised over the Black well warns of the Invisible attackers behind them. "I knew it! Eat Your Heart Out, boys, I must be Losing My Insanity!" Ignoring the Mystery of why the traps failed, he lets out a Scream, "I'm Coming Back to You, Xisco!" and charges back toward the well room, feet thumping the ground Like the Beat of a Heart, not wanting to be The Last in Line. "Looks like traps won't do the job of Killing the Dragon after all, boys! Come on, This is Your Life!"
-----------------
OOC: RIP, Dio. Heaven and Hell, and all the Fallen Angels, Jesus, Mary, and the Holy Ghost weep for the loss of the Holy Diver, Dying in America. Truly, God Hates Heavy Metal. You were the King of Rock and Roll.
...sorry, I just couldn't stop.
http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/
http://www.whosdatedwho.com/music/songs/dio.htm
Tooly rounds the corner to see a single skeleton idly removing a shard of stone from its ribcage. It seems unperturbed by the explosion or at least far more perturbed by the presence of the dwarf. It clacks its teeth as if speaking, and you hear the scrabbling of bone coming from the well, as well as the sounds of speech you heard before. It appears there is something down there after all.
ReplyDeleteAll is quiet in front of Gardner and Blendin, for now, but they and Xisco both heard the blast in the Sarcophagi room.
ooc: Combat resumed, round 1. Bomb damages were 8 and 4, I’ll let you guess which was which.
Turn order. Remember, Blendin, you can act for Xisco this week while he is out of contact.
Xisco, A of Diamonds.
Tooly, K of Clubs.
Gardner and Fang, 10 of Hearts.
Blendin, 8 of Hearts.
Rocky Skelly, 5 of Clubs.
Unknown Assailant(s) Group 1, 3 of Clubs.
Unknown Assailant(s) Group 2, 3 of Hearts.
Clovis eyes the single skeleton briefly, then raises the glowing muzzle of his flame gun and aims, finger on the trigger. He considers waiting to see if anything else will emerge to feed the ravenous flames, but the skeleton is too close for comfort, and his companions too far behind. He fires his flame gun at the skeleton and ducks to cover on the corner to watch the room.
ReplyDelete-------------
OOC: Shooting 3, benny 8. Damage 11 (+1 if extra d6. Woo.)
Feel free to roll to see if the old, rotten wooden rubble catches fire, eh?
I assume Rocky would easily be able to move to me and attack this turn, so guess I gotta toast him. I also trust that the guys behind him will NOT be able to climb out, run over to me, and attack all this turn, since climbing is an action.
Hearing Fang's barking and no apparent danger from the other room, Gardner runs back toward Xisco and Tooly. "C'mon boy, we gotta go help." (run 4 for Gardner, 5 for Fang for a total of 9 for Gardner and 13 for Fang). Gardner will be in the square to the right of Tooly with his pistol still brandished, and Fang will move to the square to the north of Tooly.
ReplyDeleteThe flames burst at the skeleton, who tries in vain to avoid them. It begins to melt under the heat.
ReplyDeleteGardner is at Tooly's side, and the hound rounds the corner bravely facing the imminent dangers ahead.
climbing is indeed an action - but that doesn't mean they couldn't, in theory, get to you - it makes it rather unlikely they will since climbing and movement distances are paired. but as an action if they do get to you, its just a MAP like everything else.
OOC: Good enough.
ReplyDeleteBlendin keeps his eyes open watching the direction of the egg door to make sure nothing attempts to take the others from behind.
ReplyDelete----------------------------------------------
Xisco, upon hearing the sound of clattering bones makes his way down the hall but is quick to stop upon realizing that Tooly is about to release a gout of flame.
The sounds of scrabbling from the room ahead of Blendin give him pause as he waits with his musket at the ready. Xisco sees the skeleton disintegrate in front of him in a ball of fire; the dwarf is at it again it appears.
ReplyDeleteAs the flame dies down, two more skeletons bedecked in jewelry exit the well, and he sees the braceleted hands of a third on the lip. Suddenly, an ephemeral entity with drakin-like features rockets of the well, spinning wildly as it exits the tube. A naked blade is in one hand, and a crossbow is slung across its back. It wears a tattered grey doublet, stained with multiple wounds, but does not appear to notice. Tooly and Xisco realize that they can see each other through their opponent – and a wave of fear washes over them. Tooly averts his gaze as blood pounds in his ears, while the human lets out an enraged cry that may also be a list of women’s names. (Guts Checks, Tooly =3 , Xisco = 3. Both fail. Fear Table rolls 13 and 4. Tooly will gain a minor phobia of grey doublets. Xisco actually feels a surge of adrenaline, and gains JOKER style effects (+2 to everything, essentially). Feel free to reroll your guts checks, need a 4 to avoid fright effects)
The entity croaks orders in its tongue and the skeletons turn to rush the dwarf. Xisco is able to translate his words, “Protect the king! Stop the dwarf, he is their leader!” as the entity turns to face Xisco.
The first skeleton rushes toward Tooly, and swings its claws at his left arm. They bite his flesh, but are blocked from doing real harm by the thin strip of bronze covering his arms. The second skeleton also charges past the dog to strike at his other arm. This one appears to have learned from its associates blow, and its strike bypasses the defenses of his armor (hit with raise after targeted shot, bypass armguards roll succeeds (1 on a d6), damage is 23 AFTER leather underarmor. OUCH. That’ll be Shaken, 3 wounds and incapped. Incap roll is successful even with wound modifiers, so you’ll be unconscious with a temporary useless right arm. I figure there might be some soak rolling going on.) The dwarf feels his flesh rip away from his tricep and collapses at the sight of gushing blood.
A third skeleton exits the well, and turns towards Fang.
Blendin hears the clack of feet ahead of him, as four skeletons round the corner by the crossbow at a run. The all slash at him with their claws (Blendin, you have the worst rolls on your interruption. You fail on the 1st 3 of them, they will strike before you can strike. You could spend a benny to reroll one of your agility rolls if you wish (target numbers are 5, 9, and 7, respectively) Claws slash at him from all directions, landing successful blows on his armored chest. The chainmail is sturdy, but their needle-like claws find purchase and burn as they carve his skin (1st attack, Hit, Shaken. 2nd attack, Hit, 22 damage. That’s Incap. Incap roll is a failure, you are bleeding out. Good news is your permanent injury is to vigor, so basically no issues there. 3rd hit is 2 wounds, and that’s a critical failure there on your vigor roll – that’d be dirtnap territory. 4th would bypass you now that you’re down and out. Now, you have choices with how to deal with this – You could soak. I’d probably suggest not bothering to soak the shaken result, but I’d probably try to soak after the 2nd hit if you go that direction. I’d remind you that if you can interrupt and act before, say, the first guy (beat a 5 on an AG roll) you act before the second, third and fourth as well. They are running when they get to you, so you might be able to drop one and get out of range with a smart retreat, or maybe you have some other way to disrupt them in mind. Good luck.) The wildling has fleeting moments to consider his past: his training, his betrayal, his escape and redemption, the loss of friends, his shipmates who will be imperiled by his failure here, and the plight of his people. He hears the familiar music in his ears, and sees a stern woman standing in a field of blowing orange flowers. “Get up, Little One. Now is not your time. We have work for you.” The face begins to fade.
ReplyDeleteCombat, round 2.
Blendin, 2 benny, ACTION HELD, DECEASED?
7 Drakin bejeweleryed Skeletons, JOKER, ACTION TAKEN.
Gardner and Fang, 6 benny, 7 of Diamonds.
Tooly, 7pp, 2 benny, 6 of Hearts INCAPPED.
Ephemeral Entity, 6 of Clubs.
Xisco, 4pp, 1 benny, 2 of Diamonds ADRENAL SURGE.
Reshuffling deck.
Is it possible for Blendin to even run upon first seeing this group of skeletons, yelling a warning to his comrades that there are more coming from behind?
ReplyDelete=(
As talking is a free action, you can shout a warning regardless.
ReplyDeleteIf you get the interrupt on the first skellie using one of your bennies (beat a 5 with a your AG roll) you'll get your full action BEFORE he acts. That's the benefit of holding your action from last round. If that happens, who knows which of their actions actually resolve, if say, you aren't in range anymore, or if say, they are all dead before they claw you good. Food for thought.
Benny to reroll: 7, run down the hall toward the others yelling about being surrounded. Do I need/get to roll the other agility tests?
ReplyDeleteooc: if you're running toward the others, you will be out of range of the skellies prior to their attacks. Blendin lives to see another round of combat. I rolled for your run, and you can move up to 9 squares, that'd put you in the same square as the Captain. If you want to be somewhere else, lemme know.
ReplyDeleteAs a thought experiment, you can shoot and then run, btw, although it'll be at a MAP of -2. In case you wanna put a hole in something. But, then again, you could displace and hope to get off a better shot next round. Your call of course.
OOC: I'm going to take issue with your math on Tooly's wounds. By my understanding, someone gets one wound for each multiple of damage equal to his vitality AFTER those required to Shake him. Tooly has 6 vitality. Even without armor, it would require 6x4=24 damage to cause 3 wounds on Tooly--6 to Shake, then another 6 per wound. With or without armor, 23 damage is Shaken and TWO wounds.
ReplyDeleteIf he's Shaken from the fright check, then yeah, it's 3 wounds, but...
fright check benny roll: 5. Love how that D4 aces so easily.
Soak roll: 5 So that'd be Shaken, 1 wound, right?
And 1 benny left, I think.
Gardner shoots his pistol at the skeleton that hurt Tooly (shooting 5, damage 10). Fang also lunges at the 2nd skeleton (1st skeleton to attack Tooly if the 2nd is down) (fighting 7, damage 10).
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Fang may be entitled to a ganging up bonus of +2 due to Tooly and Gardner's proximity. If so his fighting roll would be 9 and he ignores armor on a raise.
ooc: You are not shaken as a result of the fear table. You did gain a minor phobia. If you wish to use that reroll to avoid the phobia, that’s fine.
ReplyDeleteBy my count (and I could be wrong here) you have 2 remaining bennies going into this (3 at the start of the battle, 1 to torch Rocky leaving you at 2), so it would cost you 1 to hit the fright and one to soak, leaving you empty. But if you’re telling me I missed one, I’ll believe ya.
As for ‘vitality,’ I imagine what you’re referring to is toughness. You have a d8 vigor, so half the die with the +2 that gives you a toughness of 6. I’m accounting for your leather armor already (as a subtraction from the roll, but its not really relevant how I do it since it’s a flat modifier– both methods are equivalent) and after that, you still have 23 damage applied to the skin.
So, that means that you Shake at 6, 1 Wound at 10, 2 Wounds at 14, 3 Wounds at 18 and 4 Wounds (INCAP) at 22. Note, wounds occur based on raises – which are _not_ multiples of your TN, but rather flat +4s above the target. I imagine the confusion comes from the fact that most target numbers are 4, so in those cases it is in fact a multiple.
Based on this, I imagine that you might want to reconsider your benny usage, but then again maybe not. The soak you’ve already rolled (which should not have any wounds modifiers applied to it yet, I hope that is the straight roll) would reduce you to 2 wounds and shaken.
Fangs jaws clamp down on the spine of the skeleton nearest him, and sunder its torso from its legs with a furious shake. Gardner's bullet shatters the pelvis of the other skeleton, leaving it to collapse in a heap. The roar of his pistol in the enclosed space is deafening, but they still hear Blendin's warning of the enemies closing in behind them.
ReplyDeleteOOC: Ah...So a raise is 4 over the target, not double the target. That explains a few things about previous enemies who seemed harder to shake than to wound. I get it.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, I forgot I used a benny to cook Rocky. Only 2 left. Since the fear roll doesn't shake, I rerolled the soak roll, leaving 0 bennies. Apparently Tooly's god of technology has access to the D&D dice roller, because the new soak roll is 15. So...I guess he's Shaken, but not stirred?
nope, if you clear the wounds, you unshake. You can only take 3 wounds at any given time, so that clears you back to 'just fine' status. Man I love this game system.
ReplyDeleteOOC: It does lend itself to some strange retcons, doesn't it? "AH! Oh dear god, my arm! Haha, just messin' with ya, it's just a scratch."
ReplyDeleteQuick midnight post from the 'rents. It'd be hilarious if Xisco charged towards the apparition, made as if casting a spell (Smarts Trick), and jumped feet first, sight unseen, into the well.
ReplyDeletePossibly the next most useful thing he could do would be to draw his dagger from his boot and throw it (unskilled) at the ghost... In any case, back to you, LR. :-D
closing this thread after this, b/c its drivin me crazy I can't see posts.
ReplyDeleteugh
ReplyDeleteUm...same here. I posted a response like "Yeah, it does lend itself to some weird retcons. 'AH! Oh, god, my arm, it hurts so bad! Haha, just kidding.'" It showed on my phone, but not when I got home. Yay, blogger.
ReplyDeletealright, so if you posted at some point after my 6:53pm post, repost in new thread. update inbound now.
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