Homebrew system thread II, part 2

[Kaelan]

OOC
Ok, they're slightly larger on the screen than I intended. Sorry for that. Also, ECR your first map was too light. I had to try and darken it down with a photocopier before the scanner could even pick it up. As I've got a copy at this end now I will try to re-draw them when my life finally calms down and all the headless chickens down here have stopped (hopefully in April).

IC - waiting for the air support to arrive before posting (even though Dirt doesn't know about it yet. I just don't want to break the flow too much).

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Well, the handwriting is a bit tough, but I think that gives me a picture- the land around Qulan is rotated about 45 degrees clockwise from what I thought (what I expected to be northwest is north, and so on).

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

It's larger, and less annotated, than I had thought, but actually, good timing- some things have been renamed to avoid excessive reference and confusion; sulidain is now sheldayne, go through the rest as I catch them. Hope that gives you a general sense of it all.

Considering that the characters are actually coming in for some of this view, it's about right. Lisanna's as lost in it as Larric is if not more so, feeling it- given her recent experiences with the runic engines of the first age fortress, she's doing more than going 'Oh, wow,' she's analysing and thinking.

Njal notices. 'So who else around here is working on anything like this?' He actually sounds slightly indignant.

'No- one in the last five hundred years. It's the fact that this is being done now-' There are circles, architectural things, but this moves. Most circles are for one purpose, or amplifiers to let the wizard stretch more. Omniplifiers, multiple specific purposes built in, are still known and understood but nobody's bothered to make a new one in centuries. That may be about to change.

Basically, it's not very long at all until you're there, and Njal actually gains height- 'Easier to open and fall cleanly with some room to give it time to open properly. The hatch at the spine there?'

Not saying anyhting about his sister (Lisanna knows now that I think of it), or for that matter his girlfriend he's avoiding? Preople down below are already starting to look up.

[Simon_Jester]

IC:

Basically, it's not very long at all until you're there, and Njal actually gains height-

As Njal starts his climb, Larric having thought this over on the ground and realizing the obvious problem with bailing out at, say, a thousand feet up-

"Thank you!"

Not saying anyhting about his sister (Lisanna knows now that I think of it), or for that matter his girlfriend he's avoiding? Preople down below are already starting to look up.

Larric didn't think of mentioning Hara, so that won't be a problem. Lisanna can do as she pleases, Alfred likewise. Larric will shout "We ran into a squad of your lot on the mountain! Some lady orc in charge, looking for you, she sounded angry!"

[And yes, I actually did think of that before I parsed what you'd written and saw that you'd suggested it]



Larric makes his way back to the doors and starts thinking about what wind-playing he's done. It might come in handy if not vitally necessary.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

As a spoiler for future reference, remember that I've basically done a continuity reset- gone back to day one to give the characters here a fair chance before the power level ramps up too highly. The thing Njal's got at the moment is basically shape two (arrowhead), mark three, kitbash B. By the time he gets around to mark seven, we're in Leonardo Da Vinci territory; "the Great Bird shall take it's flight on the back of the Great Bird, bringing glory to the nest where it was born"- if all goes well.

If he doesn't move to another country to avoid the sargeant- major, that is. From the expression that crosses his face he's considering it. 'About seven feet tall, four feet wide, oakleaf green skin, badge that looked like three crescents with a phoenix perched on top?'

All of which could be answered in the affirmative. 'Oh, hellfire.' he says. 'If you bump into her again, tell her I've gone underground studying mineralogy with dwarven monks, tell her I've been kidnapped by the elves and turned into a hedgehog, tell her anything except the truth. She wants me to be normal. I can't be having with any of that. Ready?'


Jumping out time. Essentially he's in a continuous bank, over the more or less right spot- shouldn't be too far once you reach the ground. Out into the blue, then- from the rushing noise to the relative silence and the ground beneath, unobstructed, the sky bove- easy to see how some of the test goblins managed to freeze up; watching the ground rush up could be terrifying. Could also be entrancing- perhaps they simply got too engrossed to realise it was time?

Alfred's actually the best off, everything made of cloth is billowing and flapping, and Larric can be thankful for well made pouches. Judging by eye when to let the balloon out- and it is more or less a balloon cut in half, the top half in case you were worried. Nobody demonstrates such basic incompetence as to slip out of the straps, although this does seem a thing in which it would do to have your wits about you.

Rush of cloth, the people down there look so tiny, ow, why does there have to be a strap there? It's possible to err both ways- to have too much balloon, so that the wind takes it too readily and bobs it about. Alfred falls the straightest, landing about thirty yards in bush off the side of the pathway he was aiming for; Lisanna manage to come down fairly close to the castle, and probably was cheating; Larric ends up in a slight open patch, trailing this enormous cloth bag behind him, witha rather familiar looking ogre watching him.

[Simon_Jester]

Larric's attempt to cheat using air magic failed- Lisanna's spotting him a (very) large advantage in talent and immense practice at grace-under-pressure. He should be glad he remembered to pull the ripcord.

Familiar-looking ogre, huh?

"Hullo. If you ever have to fall out of the sky, remember to bring one of these..." he scrambles out of the pack, trying to gather up the fabric without tearing it. "I'll explain as we move. Have they gotten past us yet?"

[Kaelan]

"You think of cousin, sky. Dirt stay on ground. No air, no water, no fire. No need for bad blankets that are no good for sleep."

This lot must be mad....

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale is dumb-struck by the sight of Larric para-trooping to the ground, not to mention Sir Alfred and Lisanna. He looks up, fairly disturbed at the thing in the sky, and then back to Larric, then toward the castle.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Continuity; there's a straighter route, across country, for Dirt, Dale and the horse than the one the soldiers would have been marching on- managing to get ahead of them that way is probably the best way to do it.

Don't ask about movement rates, there has clearly been a slight continuity wibble to get you all in more or less the same place at the same time. No, they have not got past you yet.

Bundling up the finely woven linen half balloons, fairly quickly- there is a lot of them, no wonder the goblins have trouble; and heading for Qulan, quickly?

The message sent earlier seems to have had an effect, although the perils of misinterpretation have struck with consideable effect. Anthill again, apart from the people who have seen this happen so often they have basically become jaded about it all and are just going about their business while armed madmen panic in the streets. Gates are manned, small detachment- their colours indicate they're of two halves, some of the verderer's men keeping an eye on some of the Constable's.

Apparently the Baron took the sending rather badly, ordered the guard out and the town defended and then lay down with an icepack on his head. Not much information was actually conveyed. The guard have no particular idea what they're doing there, or if it's not some kind of prank or loyalty test.

What's the plan?

[Simon_Jester]

IC:

"You think of cousin, sky. Dirt stay on ground. No air, no water, no fire. No need for bad blankets that are no good for sleep."

This lot must be mad....

"I like the sky, I like the ground, and if I ever have to move from one to the other again, I'd rather meet the ground slow than meet it fast. That orc is a genius..." Larric snaps to, visibly shaking his head and concentrating on the task at hand.

"Never mind. If they aren't round us and ahead of us, we can get to the gates of Qulan ahead of them-" he looks at Dirt and Dale- "in spite of you being quicker than the rest of us. Sir Alfred was with me, he'll have been one of the other two falling out of the..." arc lamp! "...the air-craft. I think we'd best get to the gate, tell whoever's there not to let captain de Berrey in, then worry about what comes next."

OOC:

That's what happens at the landing zone. At the gate:

IC MK II:

Come to think of it, how many gates are there? I do hope we're on the one that de Berrey is most likely to try getting in through. The walls, as I recall, are low stone topped with a palisade; Larric looks for anyone familiar at the gates. If he meets them he greets them first. His message runs like:

"Hello there, I'm Larric Smith, and I'm here to warn you about the pack of bandits coming this way. Bunch of deserters from the royal army. Thought they could trick their way into town- and work treachery inside, more like than not... but we got ahead of them."

[Panzersharkcat]

He brushes himself off and arrives where Larric is as he says that, still packing the parachute away.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The two groups look at each other dubiously, as their instructions were not at all clear and they owe allegiance to two men who hate each other.

Couple of vaguely familiar faces, but not to talk to, not really. They have a much better chance of recognising you. Some of them clearly do. Two of them glare at each other. 'I'll go.'

'No you won't. I'll go.'

After some glaring, one of each head towards the castle. The other dozen or so look at you, estimate the chances of actually being able to keep you out, and decide to let you in.

About ten minutes later, two mounted warriors in full armour, with a group of about fifty warriors behind them, trot down the road towards you.

Panzer, prepare to make with the smooth talking. One of them's Andrea.


A minor aside; a couple of my characters are actually based on artwork- hunting for pictures for illustrations, if something interesting turns up I might write someone up to fit the look. Call it inspiration. Andrea looks something like this; http://ej-su.deviantart.com/gallery/388 ... d=140b0322

Oh, yes, gates. Two main gates, gatehouse, towers, the works, where major roads enter and leave the town. Three minor gates, the forestgate, facing the mountain and the woods, hillgate facing the Orhan Hills, and highgate, which stands on a disused road pointing more or less to loop round south of the mountain. you're by the westgate, which is the more likely.

[Simon_Jester]

Er, you mean like Wolalina? Cool.

(your link is or should be fine, but it didn't come out right on my computer, no one's fault)

Larric waves happily when he recognizes Andrea. Pauses to size up Sir Alfred's reaction; Larric views the big mauler as being kind of dim.*

Speaks quietly to Alfred: "Ah... she likes you, but she might be angry. About the ruckus we've made, if nothing else..."
____________

OOC:

* Sort of like Minmax the Unstoppable Warrior:

...often results in an unbalanced character who defies the plot, common sense, logic, or feasibility. In this case, Minmax has been able to wield a greatsword since his early childhood, but he doesn't know how to read or write, and cannot dress himself very well...

Minmax is boisterous and dull witted. He doesn't question 'why' he should kill a tribe of goblins: they are level one monsters, he is a level one adventurer, and there nothing else to it in his opinion. Minmax is oblivious to many matters and lacks a amazing deal of common sense. In spite of his black-and-white attitude towards monster-type creatures, he finds the idea of torture simply for the fun of it abhorrent and believes in killing his targets face-to-face and when they can fight back...

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Not quite that extreme since he obviously can read but yeah, it fits pretty well. If it looks like it's taking me a while to write this, it's because I'm being distracted by the Devils-Islanders game. Where's Rohal?)

He gives a knowing nod to Andrea before saying, "My apologies for the mess I allowed to reach Qulan, my lady. I claim responsibility for failing to contain the treacherous snake and pray it has not caused undue distress."

(OOC: Remembering this line. "Don't ask loaded questions and do not *ever* imply I would sneak around like a thief. Treachery is a weapon one should never rely on.")

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Andrea looks tired, probably more emotional than physical; it has been a fairly harrassing and wearying couple of days.

'Please, no etiquettese. I've spent most of the last two days listening to toads in human form try to lie their way out of- or other people into- trouble; I could do with the opportunity to commit some simple, righteous violence. With any luck it may become a habit.

Now your, friend,' (there is a notable pasue there) 'who's being looked after by the court sorceress at the moment, brought a note which explained most of it. About thirty, deserters, and outlaws, yes? Best take them before they get to the gates- move out a little to get the lead on them. Coming?'

[Panzersharkcat]

He doesn't bother smile at the thought of inflicting simple, righteous violence on de Berrey. "Definitely."

[Simon_Jester]

IC:

Larric stops and thinks: Significant-pause-friend: uh-oh, Rohal. And I hope nothing's happened to him. "Aye, after the trouble we went through to get here, we'll be in to see the matter done. What's happened to Rohal, that he needs Lisanna looking after him?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

'In himself, nothing- but some people are starting to suspect that he might be a shade moontouched. If he is a were, and Lisanna really has fallen for that scruffy lunatic druid, she might actually cover for him.'

No reason to expect her to have a good opinion of Aburon; considering the fact that he is still a wanted outlaw at the moment, and for actually quite good reasons, and she is an undersheriff, exactly the opposite in fact.

And at about that point, the more sharp eyed of you see one of de Berrey's men emerging from the last stand of trees before the open part of the path leading up to the gate. Movement in the trees too- the rest aren't far behind.

'Come on, then.' She says and draws her sword, vaults off the horse and starts off towards them. Her troops- not personally, some of most of the factions in the mix- are ready to follow, set off after her.

Is there a plan?

[Panzersharkcat]

He'll think of one when he gets closer.

[Simon_Jester]

Larric sizes up the opposition- we've never actually gotten a good look at de Berrey's full force, although from this it sounds like that guy who we met when we first came to the de Berrey lands had most of the deserter force with him at the time.

[Fiji_Fury]

Falling in with the others, Dale sticks close to the Ogre this time. Righteous violence might be on Andrea's mind, but he'll settle for snuffing out the light of deBerrey's life given half the chance. He is positively wrathful about this.

[Kaelan]

Is there a plan?

Shoot them with the crossbow ('erry' first) and when they get close hit them with the sharp heavy stick. Anything more complicated will wait until he can see what they are doing. After that its skull harvest time and a slap up meal.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Andrea fights with a hand-and-a-half, more commonly called a bastard sword, and a shield; dismounted, running forwards. Alfred and Dale running to keep up, her fifty- the mix of sherriff's and verderer's and treasurer's and constable's men- following; an unlikely, unnatural mix, but she seems to have them in hand. Although there may be a reason why she's wielding her sword in two hands and has the shield slung across her back.

Most of de Berrey's men have taken a look at what's waiting for them and decided to await it in close quarters, they do not have much in the way of shooting; one of them is too late- the man himself is nto to be seen, but this one has a particularly fancy tunic, so a good target for Dirt's first ballista bolt; which hits in the right arm and shatters it. One doen. Most of the rest are in cover.

Charging in then-

[Simon_Jester]

Larric lets fly with a lightning arrow if he sees a target- sorry, I couldn't post from work today. May come to nothing in the end. He trots in behind the wave of armed and armored men, still holding his crossbow in one hand but not really expecting to be able to loose safely into the melee.

As he closes in, he tries to look for coordinators, sergeant-equivalents if not de Berrey himself. Picks one out, closes to ten yards or so, then wraps a curtain of hardened, pressurized air around his head in a ball and squeezes. Ear-boxing for fun and profit, see if that puts anyone down and stunned for the count.

[Panzersharkcat]

Well, he'd order some to try to flank but he may not have the authority. Plus, pissed so in he charges with the rest.