Homebrew tabletop system- playtesters requested

[Lord Relvenous]

De Andorra is met with a conflict of interest. Theresa's demeanor does not seem to bode well for Safrac, but he has been hired by the temple in a lawful contract and ordered to follow her orders. After some quick consideration, de Andorra decides that he must abide by his contract, but he can still try to help Safrac. He nods to Theresa. "Yes, ma'am. (or sir, whichever is more appropriate in this context. De Andorra would know. I do not)"

"Sir Safrac, well met," de Andorra calls to Safrac, waving him over. "I see that there has been violence. Do you require assistance?"

De Andorra turns to Theresa, "Sir Safrac is a knighted member of the nobility and the leader of an expedition to investigate the army that attacked here. He is the key to getting this city and area help and assistance and has been working towards improving the situation here. I would respectfully suggest diplomacy, initially." De Andorra takes care to tone his voice in such a manner as to make it sound like advice, not a request. He is careful to not sound arrogant or disrespectful to his superior.

[Norade]

Being acknowledged by the other group Safrac starts to move towards them motioning for his men to do the same while calling back, "There were some yeomen here trying to play at politics. We managed to take care of them in short order, but some men and horses were injured and I myself managed to take a hammer blow to the gut while dispatching one of them. However I don't think anybodies wounded bad enough that we can't get introductions done properly."

Looking over at his ally's new companion Safrac says, "My acquaintance has introduced me well enough, but I'm curious to know who you might be?"

[Lord Relvenous]

That was meant to be an aside to Theresa as you walked up, but it works well enough as you interpreted it, I suppose.

[Norade]

(I wasn't sure how far away we were supposed to be and I assumed close enough to get the idea of what you were saying because it saves me a post of introducing myself so we can get the plot moving along.)

[Lord Relvenous]

Yeah I realized that. It's all good.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Relvenous, de Andorra's entirely correct; her demeanour does not bode well at all. She gives her name, and she does prefer 'dame' rather than 'Sir'- and station, paladin of the goddess of war, then-

'How did you know,' she says, with a sort of silken sneer, to Safrac, 'that you were doing the right thing? That you chose the correct enemy- that it may not be more important to make peace with ten thousand angry men than three dozen profiteers?

The cruelest thing I could do to you at this point would be to turn my back on you, and let them-' meaning the crowd- 'express themselves. If you have a course of action,' she says to de Andorra and Safrac, 'suggest it.'

[Norade]

"Dame Theresa you make a very valid point, I may not have made the right choice in this case but on the same token I may have. If those yeomen started to get into politics then it would only make the transition back to normal tougher on everybody and another hardship on the heels of this one would be more than the city could take. As for making peace, I leave that to those with better minds and tongues for such things; besides it isn't as though I'd be likely to convince them of anything anyway given my predetermined status of pariah in this city," says Safrac in return.

[Lord Relvenous]

De Andorra turns to Theresa.
"My suggestion is this, Dame Theresa: arrest him. We're all in this now. If we leave him here, even to be slaughtered by this mob, I guarantee you that they will remember that you had him next to you and let him go. That doesn't do the temple any good, no matter the reason for doing it. If we are to regain our image after the invasion, we need to be seen arresting him, enacting justice against someone these people obviously hate. That will do more for us than any other action. After we get him back to the temple, we'll see where we go from there."

"If we do anything else, this mob will kill us all."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

'An excellent suggestion.' she says, giving the first genuine signs of pleasure either of the characters have seen from her, indicating that she intended things to pan out this way all along.

'Sir- Safrac? Follow me, and my team will escort you to the temple. I will require your weapons, and I will require those of you who are not wounded to dismount.'

Some hard thinking about that, Parrol in particular is seriously thinking about just spurring on and riding for it.

Eventually, there's no real alternative- fight or go along with them. I feel a "fighting fantasy" moment coming on- if you choose to start a fight, go to the next post, otherwise read on.

On the assumption that you all go, the walk back to the temple is relatively uneventful- various things get thrown at the lance, mostly bricks, but the krylanyans snarl at them- they get hit once or twice in the crossfire too. Mounts are stabled, medics are called, (hmmm....Randolf, perhaps, if the business at the inn gets sorted out), and-

There ought to be a scene here about de Andorra and the people he's found himself in with- the six men and four women of the team, temple guard; they all are placed in one of the side halls, while Theresa goes to sort the business out.

They have a mixed bag of reasons for joining the temple guard- most are religious to some degree, one of the women wants to be a paladin; apparently, the one question they never ask- brought up, of course, because someone asks it- is "how did you survive?" Anybody who lived through being attacked by the Striking Phoenix has a question to answer.

Norade, Safrac has a visitor in his cell; a woman dressed in liquid metal, a senior paladin of the goddess. She was flirting a little with de Andorra, but with a member of a different species she gets straight down to business; 'I have a plan that would require your assistance- at no small risk to yourself. How would you like to humiliate Archpriest du Lauloy into resignation?'

[Norade]

Safrac isn't thrilled with the plan, but unlike Parrol he only thinks of fleeing and even then only for a moment. Handing over his bow, shield, and then, with a grumble, his hammer the ork is soon disarmed. With nothing else to do his loosens his battered armor to ease his discomfort and then dismounts.

Firmly on the ground he says to his men, "The plan might not seem that great, but it's a damn site better than that mob getting us."

Walking along he does his best to shield his mount from thrown objects that keep coming even after their guard tries to warn the peasantry off. He succeeds to a degree, though most are simply lobbed into the group or already aimed at him anyway so it isn't too difficult. When the guard snarls at the crowd he expects the barrage to stop, but it would appear that the crowd isn't giving to caring if people dislike them.

The reach the temple and their soon processed filed in, healed, and lead to cells. Safrac figures that somebody will be around for him swiftly enough so he just waits quietly and starts to adjust his armor. Just as he's started that a woman in a form hugging armor of silver that leaves little to the imagination enters and starts to speak.

"If it'd get me and my men away from your hospitality I'd do damn near anything, besides he's on my list anyway," replies Safrac as he returns to adjusting his armor.

[Lord Relvenous]

Was the "How did you survive" directed at de Andorra?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Relvenous, no, not specifically- they ask, but not being there at the time is a good answer, better than theirs of 'they never came for us'- they have a degree of survivors' guilt. For any supposed fighting man, it is a good question, and Arcangelo de la Novara's answer would be worth finding out.


Norade, the lady paladin says 'Are you surprised to be hated? I'm happy for them- they still have the pride and the energy to be angry. That means there's still hope. You can imagine how many small towns and villages have been crushed utterly, destroyed in spirit if not physically.

In a lot of the countryside the highest level of society still standing are the peasant-proprietors, the yeomanry. So no, they're not playing at politics.

I think you made the right choice; Theresa doesn't, but I stand closer to the goddess than she does, so that's that. I want them roused, pushed, made angry- fired up enough to take the measures they're going to have to take to get everyone- as close as we can- out of this alive; it's safe enough, they're not stupid enough to go as far as outright rebellion, not with this horrible an example in front of them.

Unless someone drags them over the line, and that's what I want you to prevent. du Lauloy's undoubtedly going to try to pull divine seniority on us to have you handed over to him, and I believe things would become painful for you after that.

Staging a miraculous escape, on the other hand...'

[Norade]

"I think I see where you're going with this, you want to discredit du Lauloy and call into question his divine standing by having me escape from him. That works for me, I already embarrassed him earlier today," says Safrac before pausing to do one last adjustment to the way his armor fits.

After the pause he continues and asks, "So how exactly will I escape from this trap I'm being placed in? I can take a hit, but for a knight my magic resistance is negligible and I'm not the type who could sneak out if I wanted to. I'm going to either need a lot of magical items or some pretty major commitment on your part and even then it'll be us versus everybody else. I'd suggest talking to Arcangelo de la Novara, we've a working relationship and if I hear right he's the man to help me out of this bind."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

She thinks about that, evaluating how de Novara's presence might or might not complicate things; there is often a sort of inherent democracy of the mob about the Fourteen Gods. Some of them are clearly gods of the upper class, or at the very least elitist; others- nine against six- perform such basic human functions that numbers count, and are likely, in social conflict, to side with the majority against the minority.

Valdemiron, the chief of the gods, is the arch- elitist, and it should be possible to arrange a groundswell of resistance- especially if the powers and priests of the war goddess, normally ranked among the elitists, are secretly pushing for the other side. The main question is the price they're later going to ask for their support.

'The precise details depend on who I can convince, or afford to bribe, into actively supporting this; but one of the gifts of the goddess-' and there is a flash in Safrac's head, a sense of a long, sweeping downslope in front of him and a crowded, thronging, shoving sensation on his left, open space on his right. 'Not exactly what it's supposed to be for, but one of the gifts of the goddess is the ability to feel a battlefield, and- if you happen to be good enough- pass on that sense. I can guide you on a moment by moment basis with impressions, and as the basic idea involves creative improvisation I might have to.

Novara, yes. I'll have someone go to him- he might be able to find a healer for you, also.'

[Norade]

"That would be most useful, especially if I need to do anything after being healed. To be honest I doubt many of them will be in any shape to do a job that won't leave me catatonic for a few days even fixing such a small wound as mine," says Safrac as he tries to will the pain in his side to go away.

[Master_Baerne]

Valette glances in through the window, taking care not to be seen while doing so.

Assuming there's someone inside, she taps on the window, alerting them to her entry, then slides it open and slips inside.
"Gentlemen, a pleasure as always to make the acquaintance of my colleagues. Anything interesting in here?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

There is indeed a being in the room- tall, thin, clad in shades of grey- a few tiny tells that give away they are a Happenist elf. Valette actually seems to have surprised him- the odds are heavily against that normally, but he's holding one of the scrolls and, thinking himself unobserved, was making no attempt to hide astonishment. He can barely believe what he's reading, and starts by greeting Valette in gutter- elvish.

(A slight note on the language; yes, it might often sound tolkienesque because he got there first, and that's how most fantasy fans have been used to thinking elvish ought to sound like. Me included. However, the local elves are a diverse, cantankerous lot, prone to neologising, word piracy, aventures in structural linguistics- they deliberately make it complicated for themselves and nigh- on impossible for outsiders. Dialects multiply, fission, and crossbreed with bewildering frequency. Basically, don't look for classically precise meanings, no point.)

Valette lucks out; she manages to reply in kind, so well that the elf not only takes her for a colleague, in the sense of rooftop artist, but a colleague- in the sense of agent of the happenist interest. His brain is obviously still slightly boggled.
'This, how did this get here?' he says, waving the scroll. 'The rest is...interesting but of secondary importance, this, this...makes no sense. The implications- we must find the rest of his hideaways, find if there are any other documents pertaining to this. If he had a bolthole like this, he was smarter than we believed, and where, where else in this smoke-stinking city?'

[Master_Baerne]

Knew that Elvish Culture skill would come in handy.

"May I have a look?" It's always a good thing to know exactly which document shouldn't be where it is. Once she figures that out, Valette says: "I don't really think this was a dedicated bolthole; doesn't look planned enough, and there ought to have been some kind of security. Any thoughts on how the documents got from D'Cearach's house to here? I find the fact that it's these documents, especially that one," -and here she indicates whichever document was provoking such astonishment- "Too inconvenient for coincidence."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

It's surprisingly not the one written in elvish; it's the one about someone wishing to buy a plot from D'Cearach in fee simple.

'It would actually make more sense for this to have been a decoy.' The elf says, 'Except for the very obvious- you do not put something of prime importance in a decoy site. Unless these aren't genuine...but the context, no, this is real enough.

Unless you genuinely want to have it found. That fits. He was panicking, he was aware he was dealing with forces too complex for him, and he had some of his most valuable and incriminating documents smuggled out to this pigsty, in the hope that they would be retrieved. Which means nothing unless they are also acted upon.

Is this worth pursuing now, after the fires? Still anyone, any force living who would be able to make use of this? Who stands to benefit from the setting up of a safe haven where even the King's law scarcely runs- and there, of all places?

We need context. Come with us-' meaning the grey blur downstairs- 'and we must raid his residence.'

[Master_Baerne]

"It always pays to be thorough, but I've heard rumors of some sort of altercation outside the mansion, between the local criminal element and what's left of the law - though, times being what they are, the two blur a bit. Is it worth risking possible detection? More to the point, would more harm be done to our cause if this were discovered by another faction or if we didn't investigate further?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Sorry for the delay.

Relvenous, that person picked is you. de Andorra is not known to the city at large, and is reasonably good with a sword, so getting there and back ought not to be a problem. Mathilde briefs him, verbal instructions only, request a healer.

There are a couple of nasty incidents on the way, one that has the sound of personal revenge- three men beating one man with clubs and bits of rubble- but nothing that directly involves de Andorra unless he chooses to; the sun has gone down and it is dark by now, the timing is coinciding.

Passing on the message isn't a problem- de Andorra's own home is on the west bank of the river, and is best described as interestingly defensible. He's home, although only just- come in the door, stopped to check with his networks and is about to head out again. The question is, what else does de Andorra say, what does he add or ask?


Baerne, the elf says 'This plot of woodland- and there's no hint of what else is really there- would be almost completely divorced from the normal human web of obligations and rights. As close to a bandits' and robbers' safe harbour- and conspirators' retreat- as could well be.

I find it hard to imagine such a thing being safe in anyone's hands, especially Novara's; if someone wanted to set up a secure home for a secret society or a political agitation group- or a cell of spies- this would be it. Such a thing could, however, be immensely valuable now. Special considerations aside.

we need to know who was behind this; it is worth the risk. Wait, do you hear something? metal on stone, the rooftop?'

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Right, there's a player with a fully statted up character waiting to join and I'm getting impatient, waiting for actions from Vehrec (who I haven't seen online in days, hope he's all right), Baerne, Relvenous (who are alive, I've seen you- so post).

No feedback at all from Lusankya, Zixinus.

Talk to me, people. What are you doing?


Kheitain, getting your character into the city is going to be a problem- I had hoped to play you in through the whole looking-for-a-medic thing, but...

The last few days have been hectic for you, people trampling everywhere, panic and darkness. You had found a little patch of woods to call your own and look after, and that made things seem not so bad, pruning and weeding and generally pottering around- until you sensed something terrible. Something dark and bloodstained and cruel, coming this way- and it took an interest in you.

You felt its (her?) attention turn on you, and ran, away from the ethereal wailing and away from the scattering shell of terrified animals, to the point where even this unnatural place, this weight on the earth, seemed the lesser evil.

You found a small peaceful spot and hid (and trust me, there is no disgrace in running and hiding from that), and when you recover your composure, the vibrant magic all around indicates you're in a rock garden behind one of the temples. Looks quite natural, really.

There's a curved wall with a few barred windows in, and a greyish-green face looking out of one of them. What do you do?

[Norade]

(I second the motion, I want action!)

Looking out from his cell, waiting for news on what the plan is looking like Safrac can hardly believe his eyes. There's a thing, some sort of golem or summoned being peering through the bars at him. He's not afraid of it, even though he's unarmed, because he doesn't think it can get to him through the wall and the bars.

[Kheitain]

Name: N/A

Temper 7
Fellowship 10
Charm 13

Logic 9
Creativity 12
Education 5

Strength 18
Endurance N/A
Agility 12

Advantages:
4pts Golemic Metabolism
3 pts Attunement (Natural Environments)
2 pts Supernatural Awareness
4 pts Regeneration
5 pts Nature Magic

Disadvantages:
4 pts Golemic Metabolism
4 pts Duty to Nature
4 pts Enemies (His Creators want him back)
2 pts Impressionable
2 pts Phobia worked metal
2 pts Phobia Fire

Skills

Temper: Determination 6, Resist Magic 7
Felowship: Culture Elven 8, Culture Human 6, Culture Ork 6, Culture Dwarf 6
Charm: Animal Handling 17

Logic: Geology 5, Herbalism 5, Perception 8, Tracking 8
Creativity: Art (Garden Arrangement) 8, Surgeon 8, Tactics 9
Education: Veterinarian 8

Strength: Athletics 16, Brawl 18, Shield 15
Endurance: N/A
Agility: Athletics 8, Martial Arts 12, Stealth 10

Magic
Power 10
Mana Pool 40

Flora 5
Fauna
Sense

Cleanse
Form 5
Grow 12

Appearance:
From head to toe this creature is obviously not something even dreamt of by man. It stands aproximately 7' (213cm) tall when perfectly straight and a little over half that wide at the shoulders. The basic frame is made of living, old-growth hardwood and moss with stone plates armouring it.
It's head is roughly humanoid with two large almond-shaped black eyes where a humans would be, with two smaller glowing red orbs slightly above and to the side. Two Nasal slits dot right where a nose would be and a mouth guarded by cock-roach like mandibles sits where expected.
The main body is made of wood with stone plates anchored by tiny vines protect it. The plates sit where a humanoids armour would, though the vines can be flexed or relaxed allowing either free movement or full-plate like protection when necessary. Individual plates sit across the pectoral area, 8 across the abdominal, 8 riblike plates sit across each side. Large shoulder plates mounted off the collar area guard the tops of the shoulder with a tip to tip measurement of 4' (122cm). The back is guarded by shoulder blade shaped plates, a single large crested plate that reaches up to guard the back of the creatures head and a series of armadillo-like bands reach to slightly below it's hips.
It's arms are significantly longer than the torso with it's wrists reaching to the knee. the bicep and tricep are devoid of stone, though moss grows in thick patches where the large muscle groups would be. Large vambraces made of stone cover each forarm and instead of a couter the vambraces taper to a point just past the elbow. It has large three fingered hands with a long opposable thumb. Each digit tapers to a green thornlike point and there are stones across the back of the hands, knuckles and the backs of each digit.
It's legs are mostly humanoid but for it's hips and feet. The hips are mounted slightly out from the body allowing a large freedom of movement much like an orangutans. Full greeves made of stone sit around the lower leg with a spike protruding up across the knee. Feet feature a small opposable digit and only two large triple jointed toes.

It can walk bipedally if necessary, but prefers to walk on three or even four limbs and charges on at least three. Created to guard large swaths of old-growth forest it can also brachiate. In order to speak it must pull moisture from the moss growing in and on it's body to wet thin fibrous vines in it's throat creating a sound like a speaking bass guitar. It inhales but does not exhale, except when speaking as it is actually drawing the carbon dioxide out of the air and converting it to oxygen released through the plants on it's body. It consumes soil in order to draw and store nutrients both for it's own plants and those it wishes to heal or alter. The mineral content of the soil is used to grow the stones covering it's body. Any unused sand or dirt is simply blown back out. It tends to spend as much time as possible in direct sunlight drawing energy for photosynthesis.

The creature is something of a golem created by the Elves initially to guard and nurture areas of destroyed woodland back to life. Initially created to be a monster it was instead given the mind of a child to allow it to grow and learn independant of it's creators. Unfortunately this resulted in true sentience after repairing it's area of forest this one decided in typical toddler fashion to wander elsewhere. At this time it has the mind, maturity and personality of a 3 year old save for it's one primary function. Any threats to the natural order are dealt with violently and with no understanding of consequences, any damages are repaired with the love a child would have for a parent and the determination of a true golem.

[Kheitain]

The Guardian recognizes an Ork of all things staring out at it from the strange building and stares at it for a few minutes not sure what to make of it. Keeping a steady eye on the Ork the entire time he decides to climb around the garden a bit, sampling the soil and trying to feel the surrounding area. Curiosity getting the best of him he decides to bring his face right up to the bars making sure to keep just enough distance to avoid touching the metal.