Homebrew system thread II, part 2

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Larric catches sight of one man clear enough to shoot, spear and shield, looks as if he knows what he's doing and some fo the rest are looking to him; the lightning arrow is loosed, but defended against, blocked on the boss of the shield- which is the metal bit. The arrow bounces, but the charge doesn't- it conducts through, and the target drops, twitching. Probably only a heavy stun but enough to put him out of it for several rounds at least.

Andrea clearly has a lot of aggression to work out. She charges at the line, hopefully Alfred isn't far behind, and starts figure- eighting her sword, driving several of them back- two of them go down, one just falls over and lands on his haunches but one collapsed blood fountaining from where she has cleaved through his ribcage. They are jabbing at her, spears prodding at, trying to find weak points in her armour.

Ah. There. Leading a party of half a dozen skirmishers, trying to flank you as you move on his main line- there from beind that stand of shrubs, there's the git himself. Actions?

[Simon_Jester]

Larric boxes captain de Berrey's ears with a few pounds per square inch of overpressure, as described earlier.

[Panzersharkcat]

He sticks by Andrea, smashing at knees and ribs. He does notice de Berrey and calls out, "Dirt! On our flank!" Hopefully, the sight of a large ogre coming at them will cause at least some to wet their pants.

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale rounds toward the flanking skirmishers and deBerrey with Dirt. His sword and shield are at the ready, and if any of the skirmishers are charging he'll step into the man and smack him with the shield before cutting at his feet. If the skirmishers are beginning to waver, he'll make a steady advance at Dirt's pace.

[Kaelan]

To the flank it is chanting "Dirt eat 'erry" with Fifi bobbing in unison. Nothing to fancy, just the typical Ogre tactic of smashing his way thru the ranks to his main target with his shield and axe. Though given the trickery that has been shown in the past Dirt will keep glancing for an expected ambush or trap on the approach.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Alfred manages to step in beside Andrea and lash out at one man who was about to start poking at her tassets- that's the bits of late that hang down over the hip joints- cracking his arm and forcing him back, hitting and pulverising the hand of a second.

Larric manages to make a mistake that leaves me trying to figure out exactly what happens when you get a riposte (critically failed attack, successful defence) on a magical attack; without thaumaturgy of his own, de Berrey simply ducks and rolls under the implosion, not a hit.

Dale comes in for a head on collision; the target he focuses on spots him, turns to meet him and the two clash shield to shield- Dale manages to lever the skirmisher's shield aside and is about to stab when he has to switch to blocking a spear coming in on his left;

Dirt charges into the middle of this and tramples on Dale's first target, smashing him to the ground and standing on him quite heavily. Carries on to attack de Berrey- who turns out to be quite a good swordsman, basically playing matador, leaping aside and doing some improbable backwards-and-overhead slash that manages to slide round the edge of Dirt's shield and draw blood. Not much, thick skin is good to have, but first point to him- and the skirmishers close in on Dirt and Dale.

Round two?

[Kaelan]

Hm, Dale's probably better off fencing with 'Berrey whilst Dirt keeps the rest of the skirmishers away.

"You take 'errey. Dirt hurt other men."

With maniacal glee that's probably too disconcerting to look into Dirt will flail into the body of skirmishers with a mixture of axe, shield, teeth, and harsh language thrown in for good measure. He'd throw in earth magic to rip up the ground in an impressive wave of earth, but at his level of skill and power a single floating weed is not likely to accomplish much.

[Simon_Jester]

Alfred manages to step in beside Andrea and lash out at one man who was about to start poking at her tassets- that's the bits of late that hang down over the hip joints- cracking his arm and forcing him back, hitting and pulverising the hand of a second.

Larric manages to make a mistake that leaves me trying to figure out exactly what happens when you get a riposte (critically failed attack, successful defence) on a magical attack; without thaumaturgy of his own, de Berrey simply ducks and rolls under the implosion, not a hit.

Larric groans and shakes his head, staggering slightly- "Aaargh..." he accidentally thumped himself over the head too. Somehow.

The alchemist looks around, grumbling against the ringing in his ears, and making sure he hasn't got any homicidal types closing on him- gives them a fistful of lightning if they do. If not, he looks at the skirmishers getting mauled by Dirt, concludes that the ogre can probably keep them horribly busy for a while, and wraps a plasma sheath around Dale's blade. Touch of ozone in the air, faint crackle of corona discharge off the tip and edges- let's see if that makes things more interesting.

[Panzersharkcat]

He continues smashing away at people at Andrea's side.

(OOC: What are the other soldiers doing? Continuing to fight on the main line? If so, then he'll order some to move off to reinforce Dirt and Dale, mostly to smash at de Berrey.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

"bits of late" should be "bits of plate", of course- I do typo quite a lot when trying to type at speed, unfortunately. Surprised I don't get called out on it more often actually.

Dirt thrashes around him cursing and swearing in ogrish, lashing out at all and sundry, but sjust because he has the strength and speed doesn't mean he ahs the coordination; only one of the wild swings connects- a shield bash that may have put enough force even through studded leather armour and padding to crack a rib or three. Fifi's darting over the top of the shield and stinging him helps, and Dirt is about to finish him when one of the ones he missed attacks, Dirt has to block- swinging the shield back as a definitely better alterntive to a spearpoint in the gut. They're concentrating on him.

Elsewhere in the fight, de Berry's men are proving unpleasantly good; of the about twenty- five of the main line against the mixed body that's facing them, grunt for grunt, they're well ahead on points- and pints, of blood- so far. Problem is that your lot aren't a single formed unit; they're tripping over each other, styles are clashing, men from one faction aren't backing up the others or cheerfully pushing them forward into trouble- without your efforts it's more than possible, grunt for grunt, you'd lose.

Larric's just figured out what went wrong- overspecification, basically; instead of starting the air moving and letting it do it's thing, letting it be air, he imagined it doing what he wanted it to do every step of the way, and the requirements, the energy to make it do that multiplied on itself faster than expected. On the other hand, it means they haven't pegged him as a target worth taking risks to get to.

The plasma sheath works, somewhat to Dale's surprise- and arguably it saves him, as de Berrey switches targets and executes a beautiful twisting, uncoiling attack that Dale starts to parry and finds himself hopelessly out of position for, draws back quickly- would have been too late if part of the charge hadn't jumped from blade to blade and shocked the renegade army officer. That works.

Dale's own attack is dodged rather than parried- sears de Berrey's tunic, but he doesn't want to come to another clash of swords with Dale's suddenly electric blade. Moves back, looking for something to improvise with.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

It's looking frighteningly like Andrea and Alfred are actually doing most of the work; the renegade royal army troopers seem to be a definite cut above the local soldiers, and most of the staggering wounded and the bodies on the ground are local- apart form the ones you're leaving.

Andrea stabs one of them in the face- sword tip emerges form the back of his skull- and slashes at another one, breaking if not exactly cutting through his shin; one spear stabs and glances off her thigh, another fails to penetrate at the shoulder. Her armourer is due a thank you note at the very least. She's taking a lot of risks, because somebody has to.

Alfred is trying to figure out what's going on from the middle of a battle line, which is not the best place- manages to land one blow but that is taken on a shield boss, denting it in but not drawing blood; shoulders are going to be sore tomorrow, though, throwing the heavy hammer about like that intercepting spear stabs- blocks two intended for himself, one at the groin and one at the armpit, and hooks a strike away from one of Andrea's eyesockets.

This is getting messy. next round?

[Simon_Jester]

Larric's trying to figure out how to give us an edge- he makes a guess, sizes up the main clash, and looks for that cornet we talked to yesterday. If de Berrey's with the skirmishers, someone he trusts must be leading the main group, and the cornet is the most likely candidate as far as we know.

That target'd be worth a lightning arrow if one were safe to shoot into the fight. Not likely, so he conjures up another stunning implosion and hopes the junior man isn't as quick to duck as his master.

[Fiji_Fury]

As deBerrey momentarily retreats from contact with Dale, Dale kicks hard at the ground (best if a rock/stick were heaved up) and uses Motion to propel the debris in deBerrey's direction. He'll also tap Sense and Consequence in order to attempt to predict weapon strikes and movements of deBerrey just before he enacts them.

OOC: I'm not sure Sense and Consequence actually can work like that, but it's worth a shot. I have the sense that deBerrey is a much better swordsman than Dale.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Maybe not much better than Dale, but enough of an edge that he thinks he can win this one. He's also looking for something nonconductive, something that isn't metal anyway, to parry Dale's crackling, glowing blade, and one thing sifting the probabilities with Consequences does come through on is; don't kick that stick at him, he'd be able to make use of it.

the other thing is, pausing long enough to think hard about that sort of thing in the middle of a fight is a bad move. The magic says Dodge. It's an awkward stroke, trying to keep out of the way of the blade rather than go straight in, but it does make contact- putting a furrow in Dale's armour (leather, yes?) and slicing over one of his ribs- not a deep cut, but a definite hit.

Kicking and propelling debris at him convinces him to back off again and see if he can find a soft spot on Dirt, whose campaign of psychotic frenzied berserker death is working rather better on the second attempt. Clash of countermoves; they thought they knew what to expect form him, and decided to do one thing, at the same moment as he decided, right, that didn't work, I'll do this instead. A small intestine goes flying through the air- one of the soldiers', Fifi tried for instant lunch but misses. Two down, three left.


On the main body, Larric spots his target and tries again- and gets his man, this tie. The ensign reels out of the line with blood coming form his ears, dazed and confused.

Doesn't massively help this round, as the deserters may have left their loyalties behind but not their training- well coordinated, efficient, ruthless. The locals are starting to look distinctly shaky, in fact, as two more fall and two reel away, one to collapse and the other to shamble away bleeding. Leadership from Andrea and Alfred is going to be critical.

(The dice are going so solidly amd systematically against you that they would have bolted and ran already if it were not for the PC's. Fours to eights against fifteens to eighteens, nearly every time.) With their leader down and out, that may make a difference. Hope so, anyway.

[Panzersharkcat]

He more or less continues smashing away, though he considers calling to fall back and regroup.

(OOC: How many archers do I have? I want them to provide covering fire for us if we have any.)

[Simon_Jester]

Larric cranks up his crossbow while he looks for a weak spot in our position, sidles around a bit... and puts a lightning arrow into one of the deserters who's doing well. Free up one or two more of our men, and start rolling up the line.

Going for shock effect- bolts of lightning are conspicuous and scary, and exactly the sort of thing this lot wasn't willing to stand up to. The downside, he's making himself a target...

[Fiji_Fury]

As deBerrey slides over toward Dirt, Dale will follow. If deBerrey turns for a strike at the Ogre, Dale moves in for a firm strike agains the villain. I deBerrey ignores Dirt and focuses on Dale, Dale will try to press him toward Dirt so that the villain is trapped between a sword and an Ogre.

[Kaelan]

If deBerrey turning to attack Dirt, Dirt will try something that he hopes deBerrey has never seen before in a fight with an Ogre.

Fencing.

Swinging in a feint that looks like a typical ogre heavy blow Dirt quickly changes tact and attempts to use the hook of his axe to pull deBerrey's sword (or other current weapon) away and unbalancing his foe. After which he turns again onto the remaining skirmishers looking to take them down one at a time.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The archers are having difficulty firing into close combat; a couple have tried and they're the main thing stopping the deserters crashing through your line- if they open up to pursue, they open themselves up to the eight archers you have.

They're pushing hard on Alfed, pressing in and trying to close him down, deny him reach and sweep; pre-emptive parries, trying to lever his hammer away with spears, block it before he can start it moving. Andrea wins him a little room by stabbing one and hacking down another- but as a fight this isn't working, between them Alfred and Andrea are doing most of the damage you're doing at all in the main line fight and the lines are getting thinner around you.

Larric manages a beauty of a shot- almost forgetting to put the enchantment on; sees an opportunity and takes it, finishing the, for want of a better term, infusion, while the bolt is in flight- hits one of them in the side of the chest, and, well, Larric's stomach has got a fair bit tougher in the last few days, considering the stress it's under, but probably best not to look too closely at the result. Terminal, and quite messy.

They look round, realising the ensign is down, the sargeant and most of the chosen men are down, most of their leaders are down. (Still waiting for anything rousing from this side, though.)


On the flank, the skirmishers don't seem to be as good as the mian line- deBerrey tries to attack Dirt, Dale moves in to attack him, but the three surviving skirmishers gladly move away from the mad ogre to try to fend Dale off- they attack and he defends, blocking, sweeping away or pushing aside all three spears, and thinks for a second, I must be really good at this, before realising that the limp way they came in they were just having a bad moment. Doesn't have time for more than a cheap shot at de Berrey before having to turn to meet them, which doesn't connect.

de Berrey ran away from the Striking Phoenix, remember- he knows ogres are capable of subtlety. Well, some of them anyway. there is a clash and a flicker of blades, and just as Dirt thinks he has him he twists his blade out of the hook of Dirt's axe. His own attack is blocked- doesn't want to go far enough out of position to find a way around Dirt's shield.

Dale and de Berrey are almost back to back and a couple of paces apart; your main line is faltering, theirs has run out of leadership but is winning the soldiers' fight- still. What is Alfred's Leadership skill, anyway?

[Simon_Jester]

Larric tries something else, possibly ambiguous- he conjures up a gust front, pushes the Brownian motion of the air to bias a little bit that way- enough to create a burst of cold wind in the faces of the attacking deserters. Dust curls a bit, the grass bends- not much roaring of wind because it's so localized, but it's there. The push of the air isn't strong enough to bowl a man over or anything of the sort, but in this weather the wind chill factor is nasty- and much nastier to take in the face than in the back.

If it works like he hopes, the wind gives the baronial troops a momentary advantage, by taking a bit of the fine edge off the deserters' performance.

[Panzersharkcat]

Alright, this is a bit of a gamble since they might keep running but here goes. "Fall back to regroup to me on point! Cuneum formate!* Archers, cover us!"

*In the equivalent of Latin there. Wedge formation.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The problem is that while they might be missing several of their leaders, they haven't yet really received the sort of shock that would cause them to look to their leaders; what ends up happening as a result of that lot is that Larric's burst of cold air effectively covers Alfred's falling back to reform.

There's considerable pushing, elbowing and shoving as the baronial troops form a blob- if each were on their own they would do better, if they were all from one faction it would work, but they were basically what Andrea could grab on her way out of the castle.

Speaking of which, there's a very nasty moment as the rest of the line falls back, and she doesn't. She manages to drop one of them, sees them moving up on her flank, realises there's empty space on either side of her, half turns to see what the hell's going on, and that's when one of the deserters manages to get a spear through her armour into her right thigh.

From the growl of pain and rage she gives off, that hurt. A lot.

The archers do some damage- three of them drop, one won't be getting back up again. Larric gets some things thrown at him- mostly sidearms, small weapons like throwing axes and knives. There's a loud clunk as one bounces off his writing slate. He'd be well advised to go and hide behind the wedge before one of them gets luckier than they were with that lot.

[Simon_Jester]

Larric is more than happy to keep the wedge-ish blob of soldiers between him and the enemy. He is arguably one of the archers anyway.

How far is Andrea? More or less than the range Larric can throw an effective bolt of electricity? If more, Larric falls back into the wedge and begins covering her with lightning arrows, if she isn't already back. If less, he'll shout angrily and put a fistful of lightning into one of the deserters who's menacing her, then start backing toward the wedge, keeping an eye out for anything that people might throw at him, in hopes of ducking it.

[Panzersharkcat]

Big mistake, dude with spear. You have made Alfred very mad. "Charge!" He leads the way in the direction of Andrea. If dude with spear is in the way, he is going to catch a big maul to the groin.

Also, yes, you were included in the category of archers when making that order.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

When you first caught sight of them, they pulled back to broken and wooded ground to deny you the ranged advantage, remember? This is all happening at fairly close range, Alfred probably didn't pull back more than about thirty yards to reform- which is still well within lightning bolt reach.

Striking power is the remaining question; they've just looked round, looking for someone to give the word, realised that it's just down to them; there are about fifteen of your initial fifty on the ground, eight of them- and five of those were down to Andrea (no wonder she was suffering from target fixation), and two to Larric.

Alfred's determination to rescue her is only just in time, as they start sorting themselves out- Larric zaps the most organised looking who falls, wounded- not crispy, but out of it; and (you do not want to know how many rerolls it took to make this happen) Alfred managed to draw the rest after him.

They start to move to meet you, Andrea launches herself off her good foot- trying to punch through and get behind their line, it's probably safer there than in the middle- hacks at one on the way, a head goes flying through the air; pushes through and past their line, out of the way as the wedge hits. (She landed awkwardly- jarred the pieces of her shattered femur. That's going to need a fair bit of healing.)Alfred's on point- the point man usually gets killed, by the way- manages to push through the hole she made and crack one man's kneecap into a hundred and thirty-four separate pieces on the way.

Tide just turned. What's happening on the flank with de Berrey?