Homebrew tabletop system- playtesters requested

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Right, that sparks off a long tirade that runs something like

"stand against them? You sent them! They were reported forty miles away, forty miles, just come over the Covean Pass that afternoon and twelve hours, twelve hours in darkness, they were on us. They fought, they did this and then they marched away again at noon. Without pause, without rest, it's inhuman, inorcish, inelvish, it just can't be done- not that they were all living beings, the swarm of elementals and demons and constructs and enchanted things and animals, the flyers that ate and shot our commanders and messengers, the artillery that blew up the ground,the mist full of knives of ice and the rain of exploding lightning arrows and the fading in and out of the darkness and the howls of the dead- what were they equipped for, doomsday? How is anyone supposed to stand against that?'

The Authrani Empire's core forces tend to be heavily organised around heavy, specialist and exotic units; they reckon to make up the rest of a balanced force by drawing on troops from the member states. Three types of heavy cavalry are recognised, firstly Chevalier (Safrac will be on detachment from a chevalier regiment), men of knightly rank and their retinues, at least the core element in full plate and usually with barded horses.
Cataphracts, which the Striking Phoenix are supposed to be, are more homogenous, more ambidextrous and usually from further down the social ladder- partial plate and lighter barding, armed with a bow, usually a lance and shield, and one of sword, axe or mace; more versatile, but soldiers rather than warriors. Cuirassiers are next, part armoured and close combat armed.

Air (giant birds, airboats and the like), artillery and engineer attachments are not part of a normal Cataphract regiment. There should be some magical support, but not to this extent. Not to the extent of being able to drive on at the ridiculous march rates quoted for them- and for a formed unit to move faster than an individual trying to catch them takes some doing; not to the extent of being able to use elemental swarms without serious preparation time, not to the extent of being able to do this much damage on as broad a front as they were moving on. It's good that they're on your side, but what the hell are they?

The undersherriff tries to pass the buck- well, the copper piece- to you. 'The chief of those gangsters has murdered the owner of that house and is ransacking it now. He rules by fear and corruption- if I were to call out the militia, many of them would not attend and some would be bribed into changing sides by that snake. There would be unnecessary blodshed. With a true knight leading us, on the other hand...'

[GM hint; Safrac is fairly sure the devious bastard is trying at least to get him to do the law's dirty work for it, at most to get him killed. Talk to Relvenous' character who is moving this way before pincushion- like things occur.]

[Master_Baerne]

Valette decides to see if Dame Carlotta is still around. If so, she'll go see her, if not... She'll decide from there.

[Norade]

The ork had wondered at being unable to catch the army even after working his horse to a lather for several legs of his journey and judging by the damage it seems that it might have a grain more truth than he would have been willing to believe if it wasn't starring him in the face. Even so that isn't a reason for the law to be unable to act to restore some order to the city. So much to do and no time and to top it all the undersheriff trying to force him to act as a city official.

"I don't have time to act as the law here sheriff, but I want you to muster your men and get me a list of who's still standing so I might file it in my report," says Safrac making it clear that the undersheriff is now expected to take up the reigns and sort things.

Turning to leave he sees another man waiting to speak with him and he asks, a bit shortly, "What business do you have with me?"

[Lord Relvenous]

De Andorra is slightly taken aback by the greeting he recieves from the knight. The hostility in the Ork's tone tells him that his plan might just not work here. Well he has to try.

"I beg your pardon, sir, for inconveniencing you, but I was hoping for your assistance. I have been observing the situation and must point out that the Undersheriff's intent to attack those men is tantamount to suicide. I have seen engagements between crossbow armed men with prepared positions and lightly armored men. It will not go well for these men. I fear that they will attempt an attack any moment. If you have any inclination to see the city's plight lessened, please help me get the sheriff and his men to back down. I would try alone, but I have no standing here."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Good, and while that is happening, in a separate timestream several hours later, I will employ the GM- only spell of 'cause improbably dramatic coincidence'- Vehrec, one of the names on the list is of a Dame Carlotta D'Cearach.

She is first on the list, in fact, and as Rudolf is standing outside the door of her house- fairly modest, story and a half, well off but hardly rolling in it- he thinks he spots something moving out of the corner of his eye.

Baerne, after numerous opposed athletics- Move and Quick seems to have been the right thing for Valette to do. I'm skipping over a lot of bits that I'd do moment-by-moment around the table, because of the format, but the first sign of pursuit comes when,in Northgate Street- a long and more or less straight road, one of the thoroughfares of the city- you see a glowing blue arrow behind her. There are still people, there is some furous bartering going on, and trying to lose them in the crowd seems the best bet.

Briefly they do, but they have a lodestone pointing at you, and soon they are back on the trail. Ducking through someone's house that they detour around would slow them, Valette would think, but they follow straight through.

Running through the rubble of the city hall, some of it still hot to the touch- the molten pool in the centre still too hot to walk on and only recently crusted over- that slows them down; going by the rooftops helps a bit- but they're still only a couple of hundred yards behind you when you get to the address in the will. As you droop down from the roof, there are two people already there on the doorstep.

[Norade]

Hearing somebody that seems to actually know what they're talking about softens Safrac's mood by a large amount, but he doesn't feel the same about the sheriff's chances of attacking and so he says, "I agree, such an attack would be a poor idea, but unless I'm leading the way that bunch wouldn't attack and even if I did I'm sure one or two would take a shot at my back..."

There is a slight pause and then he says, "You seem more well informed than the men I spoke too, would you care to fill me in on things so that I might try and get something of use done here?"

[Lord Relvenous]

De Andorra mentally debates how much he should tell the Ork. He decides on the truth.

"I think you underestimate the stupidity of the sheriff. However the sheriff and his men are secondary concerns. Their use is solely in having men on the streets to keep some semblance of order. The real concern here is the leader of the black-cloaked men. His name is Arcangelo de la Novarra, and he is desperately needed by this city. He has extensive political and underworld contacts, and was the Count's spymaster. That means that he has the ability to hold together this city while it rebuilds. Minor flunkies like the sheriff here are all that are left, and if one of them tried to step into a leadership role it would only result in warring factions and chaos. We need de la Novarra's cooperation and favor. Letting the sheriff attack him would do nothing more than destroy that chance."

[Vehrec]

"Acting." Randolf barks a harsh sharp laugh that has little humor. "Oh, my father would have had such a fit if he had heard you say that. The man considered being a doctor a dishonorable and filthy profession, barely better than a carpenter. An actor? He would have had fits." The doctor waves a hand. "Still, I suppose it is a better use of my skills than expecting a man of my age to make a sudden start at this late age in such a demanding field. A distraction, yes, I can provide something. I have a temper, as you may have noticed, it shouldn't be too hard to appear legitimate." Worst comes to worst, he can to terrible things to one or two men with his magic, and that would definitely count as a distraction.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

OK, slightly boggled, I thought Rudolf was on Carlotta D'Cearach's doorstep by now...backtracking to cover this;

'Really? I find it difficult to believe in a society where the ability to pretend is held in such low regard.' The dark elf says, and she's not more than half teasing. 'The priests of the God of Rage are such convenient suspects for absolutely everything, they tend to get very defensive when actual claims are brought against them...what a silly set of gods you do believe in. I should think learning to lie to and decieve their watchers would be an essential survival skill.

They tend to be busiest at the most melodramatic times of the day- dawn, noon, sunset and midnight- so I would suggest getting lost in the rush, we've missed sunset, have to be midnight. In the meantime, that list of names, Merveill, Altanne, D'Cearach- wait. One of the people you found buying exceptional quantities of poisons was the dead man's daughter? Let's start there- and bring your scalpel.'


Norade, Relvenous, the Undersherriff can overhear most of this and is rapidly becoming an unhappy man. He looks about to start shouting, his face reddens, but he consciously dials it back. 'Yes, but which came first? Count Antar, gods take him for their own, was a good man but at heart he was a simple, honest knight. He trusted an old comrade of his, and that southern- born snake cheated him at every turn. Whose task is it to investigate such things? Partly the guildmasters', partly the verderer's, partly the intelligencer's. For a criminal such as him, what better was there to be found? He was in charge of investigating himself- be blathered and bought his way into that post to cover his own activities, that came first, and it was heartbreaking to watch the old count, should speak no ill of the dead, give his trust to such a man.'

Speaking of acting, he would do well to take a few lessons; crocodile tears. (Almost infuriating how the silly bugger keeps failing acitng and presuasion rolls, and your perceptions and human perception keep seeing through him. Some characters were obviously not meant to be lucky.)

[Lord Relvenous]

"I've had enough of this prattle. If you will not listen to sense, maybe he will."

De Andorra turns away from the Sheriff and strides in the direction of De Novarra.

(Player note: this might not be the smartest thing, but it'll at least cause something to happen. And I trust in my character's abilities if attacked.)

[Norade]

"Undersheriff, you're quickly wearing out my trust with your over dramatic style of story telling, might I suggest a little less embellishment and a little more truth. The count obviously had use of an unsavory spy master, and for his part De Novara seems to have done well for himself as any successful man will do. I'm sure many on your staff have had a few extra coins here and there fall into their purses to look away, and you yourself seem content to force your duties upon me will trying to hold to your position of power," Safrac, not that he is ever particularly tactful, has had just about enough of this conversation and the strain is showing more than ever.

He turns to speak to the man, who's acquaintance he hasn't yet made, and catches up after now more than a few good strides, once along side he whispers, "You try to speak to De Novara, I'll ensure the watch is kept out of his hair long enough for somebody to take control of this city."

Turning back to the by now truly livid lawmen of the town he says, "Your task is to get the populace back under control and ease their suffering, nobody is to make a move on De Novara or any in his employ or I will ensure that your lives will all be made difficult. Am I understood?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Right. De Andorra's moving away, he looks around and sees that most of the bystanders are doing the same thing; elbowing each other out of the way to get a good look, and still keep as far away from the action as possible. They're expecting a ruck.

Keeping an eye and ear open behind, he is aware of the orc start to berate the sherriff- and then there are steel sounds.

Norade, up until the last bit Safrac thought he was going to back down. Probably was, too, but that sort of challenge he simply can't ignore- he's already been humiliated once today, being publicly made a fool of again would finish him; and there's the outside chance that by striking at the orc in the Authrani colours, he might manage to make himself look like a popular hero.

His men attack- he is slightly behind them.

Combat time; I keep no precise track of how long a 'round' is- it's one action/decision cycle, basically, but that varies a hell of a lot in actual time. One set of actions constitutes a round, actions are taken according to combat initiative, highest (fastest) first; I've expermented with a number of things over the life of the game, tried out, refined and thrown away a few things, but basically because it seems to be how it usually happens to me, initiative is fixed- no random element- and based on your physical speed(a product of Strength and Agility), plus a bonus from each of Tactics, Perception and the relevant weapon skill.

Safrac is on 14; de Andorra on 11; the undersherriff on 10; most of his men on 8.

I'll do one attack as a full worked example- Norade, does that horse have a name? I suggest something aggressive on the strength of this. it lashes out on Safrac's initiative count, half- turning and trying to catch one of the sherriff's men with a hind hoof. Being a horse, it's descrition of the move consists of 'neigh'- no bonus there. The man says he's going to try to sidestep using Athletics- obviously all of this is simply happening in my head, for example purposes. No multiple attacks, no multiple defences, straightforward.

Dice happen. (Attack roll 3 on 17; excellent success. Defence 12 on a skill of 8- failure. Hit location- 3, chest.) The human, penalised for inappropriateness- you can dodge with athletics, at half skill- the tackets in his boots slide on a cobble and he almost manages to fall, ducking under the hoof; it would have been better for him if he had. The war- trained horse leads him, and plants a hoof full in his chest, upper ribcage.

Damage- it's almost a skill check. The amount the attacker beats their skill by, plus organic damage bonus (factored into a simple creature profile already), plus the listed damage of any weapon; less the amount the defender beat their skill by, the damage reduction of their armour, and their own inherent damage reduction. In this case, fourteen, plus seventeen; minus eight minus five- final damage of eighteen.

Rolling against that damage value- a twelve comes up. It's a basic success, enough for a moderate wound- the equivalent of a couple of shattered ribs. Similar rules as for skill checks- less than half is a good success, less than a quarter excellent, minimum- usually a one- a critical success. In this case, an average, or Moderate, wound, is enough to put an average person out of the fight. Fanatics can take worse and fight on, but this poor sap isn't a fanatic- he goes down hard, and starts crawling away groaning.

There are two more slightly ahead of the rest, four more behind them; de Andorra is a couple of paces behind Safrac, and de la Novara is starting to move his men out of the courtyard into the street. Norade, it's Safrac's move.

[Norade]

(I think my mount's name will be Turstin, old Norse for Thor Stone.)

As the retainers and the undersheriff decide they can take no more of his sharp tongue Safrac smoothly draws his hammer from his belt and thanks his good fortune that he never did return his shield to it's place on his mount's saddle. As he starts to jog towards the fray his mount, Turstin, turns and kicks a man hard with the strike landing well up in his chest. His own target is located very near to where the other man was standing and he decides that his best course might be to open a gap and remove the leader as a threat. His jog turns to a hard sprint a few paces away from the enemy and he aims a hard blow with his shield into the man's chest hoping to set him up for a hammer blow that is intended to flow from the blow towards his hopefully knocked back foe.

(Actions: Jogging forward, shield bash to knock him back followed by a hammer blow should he be knocked back. If I can't take so many actions count the shield blow as flavor and only make the hammer blow count.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Rules bit; multiple actions are feasible, but it's a a tactical option that sometimes isn't appropriate.

In attack you can, and in defence you may have to, take multiple actions- basically, you add up all modifiers first then split your skill between the number of actions you're taking, and add the default for the attibute that controls the skill to each; up to a maximum number of actions equal to the default.

Someone with an attribute of 10 (default 3) and club skill, say, of 10 would attack one person at 10, two at (10/2, +3)= 8, or three people at (10/3, +3)= 6, near enough.

Against soft opponents, multiples are usually a good idea; against skilled or armoured opponents, less so- because your margin of success in the contest of attack vs. defence skills adds to the damage, and you want that to be as high as possible to make sure you put them down.

The actual attack, Safrac has height and weight on the sherriff's man; slams into him, sends him reeling- actually a shade too hard, he nearly tumbles back out of reach of the actual strike, but one of his mates catches him and pushes him back into the line- and straight to the path of the hammer. He's already half curled up when it hits, in the chest; the padding under the mail does something but not enough, and there's a cracking sound as he falls backward- this time his mate lets him fall. He's not going to die of that immediately (serious wound to the chest) but he probably isn't going to live without medical help, either. Two down, nine to go.


Relvenous, your action next. Vehrec, Baerne, feel free to post and I'll do your bit separately.

[Lord Relvenous]

Quick question, what's the penalty for wielding two weapons? Does it work out like the combat action system you described above? I'd like to use the longsword in the right hand and flail in the left, but I don't know how severely that will hamper my combat effectiveness compared to using only a longsword.

Either way, de Andorra will draw his longsword and flail, and turn back to the fray. He can see that the Ork and his horse have cleared a small area of the line, and decides that fighting together would be the best way to overcome the higher numbers. He sprints towards the man to the Ork's right. If he can get there, he will attempt to skewer the man while he still has the element of surprise, followed by a high swing of the flail from the left.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

This is a rules thing on which I've forgotten, corrected myself and given multiple contradictory answers to on a consistent basis; so getting it properly sorted out at last would be a good idea.

Basically yes; but not at full effectiveness. You can attack with two weapons, but each of them already counts as having been split once from the start.

So, going in with sword and flail, they're both off the same attribute, so you would be starting with Longsword 12 and Flail 9, each could be split another four ways, but past a certain point you'd just be waving your arms in the air and hoping they connect with something; anyone even half- awake could, or at least should, block such wild, random moves.

Yes, you can make multiple attacks on the same target, and against an opponent more skilled than you are it's often a good strategy- force them to divide their defence, in rules terms divide their skill and in terms of what this means in the real world divide their attention and concentration, bring you both closer to level terms and both relying on dumb luck.

What actually happens is that you step in and swing for your chosen target, he parries high and starts trying to roll your sword out of your hand in a circular parry, which means he's exposed when the flail comes sweeping in and catches him on the left shoulder. He flinches enough to break the force of the blow, though; grunts in pain, draws his blade back to guard position, but he's still standing.


Their go. The undersherriff, steps back, and uses his time for Leadership and Tactics; 'A foreigner and an expat- push in; surround them and mob them.'

One of them tries to run past Safrac, and takes a swing as he does so; and to his own surprise manages to connect, clashing off the side of Safrac's chest but inflicting, essentially, a bruise. Too wild and undirected blow to have much force behind it, easily ignorable. One barely manages to get to Safrac and takes a wild swing that comes closer to his comrade than to the orcish knight, one swings and is caught by the shield, the fourth takes advantage of that to swing up and under the shield, making contact with his blade but it is stopped completely by Safrac's armour.

Interesting rules bit; a badly failed attack, combined with a successful defence, can turn into a riposte- if the opponent fluffs it so badly as to give you a free shot at him, basically. That horse is going to get himself a bad reputation if this goes on much longer; one of the undersherriff's men tries and upward sweep aiming to cut Turstin's head off, he rears out of the way of it and lashes out with a forefoot- catching the sherriff's man at roughly hip height. The man collapses to the ground, and starts crawling away.

In fact, the stars in their courses arte against this bunch altogether; against de Andorra, one of them manages to make him work hard at blocking but is blocked, one hangs back and makes a few faint, ineffectual swipes, and one manages to get his blade tangled in de Andorra's flail. De Andorra tries to lunge forward and impale him, but he lets go of his sword and reels back.

The bystanders, mostly silent, a few moans, but some of them are laughing and some are cheering, the undersherriff does not appear to have been popular. At the house, there are a couple of blackcloaks staring to come out of the gate now, one of them looking back and waving as if signalling the rest to come on.

End of round, back to Safrac.

[Norade]

(That works, it's a pretty easy way to do things and makes exceptional stats good without making them overpowered. Combat seems a bit long needing an attack roll, a defense roll, a location roll, and then a damage roll; however this isn't an issue for games such as Cyberpunk and the like and seems like it would roll smoothly once players and the GM had the numbers and rules down. I'd be mildly curious to know how well I rolled just to get a feel for how average the results were.

Also, put me down for a pre-order of your system, it's generating some interest from my play group as it's different from D&D 3.5/4, Cyberpunk 2020, and Dark Heresy and fits what we look for in a game.)

As the mob surrounds them hoping that weight of blows will trump skill Safrac is noting the crowd cheering the fight on, but his immediate focus is on the four men who tried to put steel to his flesh. His shield and armor turn the worst of their attempts on his life into a bruise and the rest can't even force his body to yield that much. The tempo shifts as he deflects the blows and doesn't fall and he makes ready to strike.

As he swings his hammer down at the shoulder of the man between him and the undersheriff and as he does the armored knight hears Turstin snort and the corner of his eye catches another man going down under his steed's hoofs. Knowing that they need to clear this mob quickly he aims a second hammer blow at the man beside his first target this time a side ways blow aimed to catch a hip or maybe a leg.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

I haven't even properly started thinking about distribution yet; lots to tidy up first. Mainly, because I wanted to get this up and running, there are a couple of fairly important bits of the rules I haven't even explained yet. I've been applying them- but haven't really brought them up as such.

For one, augments. Like skills can reinforce another; for instance, Rudolf's Apothecary, Surgeon and Physician skills should be granting each other bonuses, and will once they get used again. Thaumaturgy and Rites and Rituals can augment magic; concievably, dealing with a bunch of mercenaries, Bargain could augment Leadership, and so on.

The size of the bonus was based on eights, for every eight points in the skill, rounding to the nearest, the skill could give +1 to related skills. I'm still dithering over whether or not to decimalise that- it would be easier on the brain, but it would reduce the actual augments.


There are some derived values, products of the attributes, that matter; apart from bits like damage bonus and reduction, there are three, Presence Destiny and Fortune, that can be rolled against directly but also control bonuses. Fortune is based on the average of your mental attributes, for instance, and in addition to being the dumb luck roll and tiebreaker- in the event of a draw the highest Fortune wins- it also grants rerolls. On average stats, three, sometimes two four or five, per session.

Destiny controls mana pool, can be used for plot points, and also gives the closest thing I want to have to a class system, the Occupation Bonus- a skill modifier that applies whenever the skill is being used for something that fits the character's occupation. Safrac's would obviously be Knight, Valette's would be Thief, de Andorra's would be Mercenary.


Target size and called shots; the two mechanisms dovetail, beause a called shot, aiming for a specific body part, is just treated as aiming at a smaller target. Normally this matters more with ranged weapons, but- every doubling or halving of the target size is worth plus or minus two to hit. Aiming for the torso is worth minus two, aiming for a dwarf- actually no modifier, but a goblin would probably be worth minus two, an ogre plus two. Orcs are big, but not that big. A horse, plus four, an elephant plus eight, an arm minus six, a head minus six, an eyeball minus ten. And so on.

What happens, with numbers; single attack, on a skill of 17, plus occupation bonus of 3, plus 1 for description, minus 4 for target size; against a defence, straightforwared NPC, trying to parry with a skill of 11. Attack roll is an 8; 9 points under.
The defender needs a two or less to parry successfully, a three to eleven would at least be a partial parry breaking the force of the blow; dice very seldom do what you tell them- it's a nineteen. Oh well.

No need for hit location, final damage value is (margin of success, 9, plus damage bonus, 5, plus weapon damage, 13), minus the target's 5 for damage reduction and 8 for chainmail- 14. That's for a fracture, effectively; a wound nasty enough to make most normal people give up. 7 or less, half or under, would be a multiple- compound fracture, a Serious wound that might mean the leg would have to come off. 3 or less, under a quarter, would be a Terminal wound meaning it already had. The dice, a red one appropriately, comes up 5.

Safrac swings, the sherrif's man gets his timing wrong and underestimates the orcish knight's speed, tris to get inside his guard and steps straight into it; is caught about hip level, and crumples to the ground, screams once, very loudly, and blacks out. The rest of them look afraid, several back off a couple of steps.

[Lord Relvenous]

De Andorra uses the disarming on one opponent and the timidity of the the other to concentrate on the larger threat, the man who actually has some duelist skill. He steps over the discarded sword, denying the man who dropped it an opportunity to reclaim it. Swinging his left arm in a fast motion over his shoulder, he brings the flail down from above, hoping to catch the man unawares and crush his shoulder or skull. Following his flail attack, he stabs with the longsword from the right in a side arm motion, looking to skewer the man on the point.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

That description's probably worth +1, so- the initial overhead swing is seen, and sidesteped, but then he tries to get fancy and overreaches himself; sidesteppignto the right, tryingto catch your sword and push it outwards, then twist the blade round and slice up and in, but he doesn't trap your blade properly, you manage to draw back out of it and slice forward yourself, catching him along the lower ribs but too twisty, without enough force behind it- an injury, but not enough to put him down.

On the other hand, the undersheriff is some distance away and receding. He's running for it. He does at least shout at his men to fall back, once he's about fifteen feet behind them.

Two walking wounded, two liable to die and two more badly hurt- most of the appetite for a fight's gone out of them. They're going to start backing off; one of them drops his sword and runs away screaming, one darts forward to one of Turstin's victims and starts trying to drag him to safety.

Are you going to let them go, intimidate them into fleeing faster, chase them, something else?

[Norade]

Seeing the men break Safrac looks to the crowd standing and cheering and then to the fleeing undersheriff the battle has been one, but it isn't a satisfying victory. The knight would rather see all the men that fought today recover, eventually but he knows that at least two of the three are likely to die if left untreated by somebody with skill and more than a touch of magic. If was with the main source such a person would be easier to find, but in this city he suspects that they may be over stretched or slightly difficult to find; still he would like to try and find somebody.

Looking to the crowd he calls out, "Where would I find a medic for the downed men, they deserved to be beaten, but none should die because of one man?"

[Lord Relvenous]

De Andorra is content to let the men run. He is not getting paid to fight them, and his purpose was accomplished; De Novara is unharmed and has not entered into an altercation with the local guard.

He hears his impromptu ally call for medical aid, looking to save the downed men. It is an honourable action, and he finds himself warming somewhat to the knight. Despite his terse greeting, he seems to be a being worth knowing. De Andorra will help with the attempt to find medical aid for the men. When he gets the time, he will introduce himself formally to the yet unknown ork.

After making the introduction, he will propose that they should speak with the Spymaster.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Easily done, he and about a dozen of his men are heading in your direction.

First imperssions; tall, past middle age but in good condition, brisk. The sherriff described him as a master criminal, and you can just about see it in the clothes, but not in his bearing- too direct, determined, harrassed to the point where he desn't have time to discuss things any more and just wants them to happen.

'There's an inn being used as a hospital, two hundred yards,' he says to his men, pointing, 'cut down that awning, break the poles and cut the cloth for stretchers.' He turns to de Andorra and Safrac, you go through the formalities of exchanging names, he does not bring up his own status, and to de Andorra he says 'A fellow expatriate- or an expatriate family, at least. There are interesting things happening there, I'll want to talk to you about that later.

Sir Safrac- you can imagine what the people of this city would want said to you.' Some of them are shouting it now. 'Would want said to any representative of the Empire. Is this what you intended to happen, is this slaughter of the mostly innocent really the will of Tol Authran?'
He says that part in a stage voice for public consumption- he's projecting here, for the benefit of public opinion, and you can't see his left hand- he probably has his fingers crossed behind his back hoping you come up with the politic answer.

[Norade]

His ally seems a worthy one, able to hold his own in combat well enough against what could have been a dangerous foe and also speaking plainly and telling what so far seems closest to the truth in this situation. He thinks that they should introduce themselves if they're to work together for any length of time, but before he can do so De Novara takes care of the medical situation and introduces himself. What follows is a very quick introduction which kills many birds with one well cast stone.

His goals here aren't political and the Ork answers honestly, "I do not think that this city was among the intended targets, and while they may be said to be on the side of the throne I doubt I would have been sent to investigate them were things that simple."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

'Good.' he says quietly. 'The people needed to hear that, for their sake and, considering'- he looks back at the building the smell is coming from, 'probably for yours...' he turns to one of his aides, looking at the building, says 'Get the bodies out and cremate them, I don't mean burn, do it properly, with a priest if you can find one.

Open the place out to air, and you know what's going to happen five minutes after that? Twenty men, watch details, rotate them round so nobody has to spend too long downwind. I'll find whoever needs to be given the bad news, keep watch until you're sent for, send a runner to me if anything happens. Got it? Good.'

And to Safrac he says 'We need to talk, and not in the street. That inn suit you?' he says, nodding in the direction of one that actually is an inn, about a hundred yards in the other direction.