Homebrew system thread II, part 2

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Sorry. Been busy with RL stuff. It's kind of unofficial already but I'm going to have to drop this permanently. ECR can do whatever he wants with Alfred, though if he gets killed off, I ask that he at least get a cool death.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

We already had sorted out an ending for Alfred; married to Andrea, running country estate, eventually.

Your leaving the game is sad but not unexpected; good luck sorting your real life out.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

We'll miss you, Panzer. And we'll miss Sir Alfred "I will pay for the damages!" Norden. I hope he has fun as a country squire. I hope you have fun too. Fun is good.

Good luck!

IC:

Specific items? No, nothing specific; we've been very abstract about tracking inventory, and I just wanted to nod in its general direction by saying that Larric does carry around certain chemical reagants, as part of his magical kit, mostly so he can jury-rig them into other things by rearranging their molecules with Substance magic. He did something of the sort to create the explosives in third stage of that three-stage rune-bomb he used on the tower on the mountain.

The alchemist rushes back watching the Ikhrani militiamen/firefighters form up. He stops near Dale, leaning against a nearby wall and rubbing the front of his left thigh, grunting a bit. "So, the wizards first, then the temple. Any ideas?"

OOC MK II:

I am tempted to suggest that as part of Sir Alfred's reversion to NPC status, he busy himself with coordinating and supporting the Ikhrani temple guard for the duration of this crisis, something he is well suited to and which he might quite naturally fall into.

[Kaelan]

OOC:

Later Panzer. All the best with the future, I'm sure ECR will always let you jump back in if you want to in the future.

IC:
Caught in the rift and chanting a swartven (spelling?) death dirge whilst using Flora magic to make the plants sway & twist (including weeds poking up in the square) with Fifi swaying over his head - generally adding to the surreal nature of the area. As the brave food leaves the herd Dirts stops playing, puts Fifi down and gets his crossbow to hand waiting for them to make the first move. Provide all they do is talk (and not spell cast) he will hold off from Loosing his bolt. The Tin man will be his primary target for the bolt as from past experience humans in robes tend to be crossbow bolt proof.....

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale will busy himself with the Ikhrani priests discussing how best to disrupt the temple without needless killing or destruction, and also without unnecessarily angering Valdemiron (keeping in mind that angering the chief of gods may be a lesser evil under the circumstances). He will share everything he has seen of the Valdemironi temple and hierarchy, including the limited observations he gained while visiting the temple himself.

As an aside (not at the moment conversation): It would be ideal to cooperate with the Ikhrani temple to properly reconstruct D'nor's temple on the old site. The Valdemironi gave Dale the impression they were woefully ignorant of the containment and worship features needed to keep the site safe and functional. While the Ikhrani may or may not have a better understanding of what is needed, they certainly seem to be sympathetic to properly building things.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Yes, the ikhrani are the people to go to if you want anything built. Dale's observations are very valuable; remind me to give you all XP after this bit, that should be worth one or two.

After some cat herding, the group ready to go and do things has swollen a bit; about two hundred volunteers of all kinds. When Larric asks for ideas, the first one that comes to mind is 'We'd better move fast, the baron and his crew are going to have to resort to blood or go mad soon, and if everything I hear about where they were is true, they're not far from either.'

Heading out, for the tower, then, what you meet on the way actually depends how this bit goes...


The Valdemironi look at what they have in front of them, (there is a distant clattering noise and)...there is a faint glow in the leading acolyte's eyes as he says 'Stand aside; you cannot halt the will of the gods.'

Remember, Lisanna is about twenty, and really does not look the part of a hardened psychotic killer; tall and thin, long blonde ponytail, dress, much of what she is capable of simply doesn't show.

It doesn't look as if the Valdemironian actually believes her, when she says, 'You would make the- eighth?- to sacrifice themselves to the madness of the gods, on my blade.'

'Enough.' he says, raises his staff- and it's initiative time.
Score one for Dirt, as the bolt goes through his chosen target's stomach- despite the armour. (the raw damage of that thing is incredible.)

Lisanna stabs the priest through the chest with the rapier, and cuts down through the staff witrh the crystal broadsword; there is a glow (that the rest of the party might notice), as strange magical things happen. There are five of them charging at Dirt, three going for Lisanna. Actions?

[Kaelan]

It's at times like this Dirt thinks he should get in touch with a bunch of dwarfs (gnomes?) to see about getting a repeating crossbow and seeing if these punks feel luck...

If there's time & distance Dirt will go for a reload and second shot (doubtful given the terrain), otherwise he switches to his axe & shield and instead of bracing for the charge begins a counter charge of his own, using his shield and momentum for impact damage and axe to parry as his stride slows and his foot to impair on any foe unfortunate to get knocked off their feet (several hundred pounds of ogre stomping on you can really ruin your day).

Overall goal is shock and speed - prevent the five from surrounding and making the most their numbers which is what will happen if he stays still.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Dwarves, gnomes? There are other solutions- for one, he is standing next to a fairly accomplished enchantress.

At this point I have to give vent to a small rant on how almost all repeating crossbows seen in fantasy are unworkably wrong- ammunition feed is not the primary problem. It's very much a secondary issue, a trivial action compared to the main issue of drawing back the bow string. Bolts have no propulsive power.

Chinese lever-worked repeating crossbows, the string is caught and pulled back by a claw attached to a ratchet strap (essentially), attached to the lever; once it reaches it's full extension, the bolt drops in, the string slips off the claw, twang. A scorpion ( historically roman, but here common enough, repeating siege bolt thrower, string is drawn back on a cam driven by the crew turning a handle) is probably more Dirt's size.

There isn't time; charging it is, then. the first five to face the charging Ogre see what's coming, form into a shield wall and prepare to recieve berserker; adding up the combined body weights on each side and figuring accordingly- they actually do a surprisingly good job of not getting squished. They lock shields, brace in, shove forward at the moment of impact- they move, they're pushed back, but the line doesn't break. They do a really good job of breaking Dirt's momentum, leaving them all within biting distance never mind arm's length.

The next step doesn't go so well, when they try to open out to surround Dirt in a flurry of shield pushing, optimistic/opportunistic hacking, and close quarters scruffy violence. That tends to go to the ogre, as he bashes two of them back, catches one in the leg with the axe- dropping him in a gout of spraying blood- the human warrior falls against his friend, who is pushed off balance and opened up for the backhand swipe into his chest, there is a loud, rib- snapping crunch.

Not bad for one round, really.

(Lisanna seems to be more than holding her own, two of the three attacking her are down and the third is illuminating the area, reeling around screaming as he is devoured by ball lightning.)

The rest of the party can see the glows from this, by the way. Actions?

[Simon_Jester]

Assuming this happens while the Ikhrani temple guard are still getting sorted out, Larric shouts, directed mainly in the direction of the Ikhrani guard officers, "That's a friend in trouble out there! If you're ready let's go, if you're not come up behind!"

We're off to see the wizards...?

Basically, Larric is trying to use his persuasive abilities to get at least a decent vanguard moving fast enough to actually have some kind of impact on whatever is happening out there. Sir Alfred might be trying to do the same given his predilections, but he's an NPC now so who knows.

[Kaelan]

2 down, 3 to go plus some more for fun later.
Now to evaluate options.
Option 1 - fancy footwork, parrying with reposts.
Option 2 - Batter them to a pulp.

Option 2 it is then (one day Dirt may learn kung-fu ......)
Dirt will be pressing the attack, aiming for a quick and publicly bloody end to the five brave fools and thus with luck discourage the next group from pressing forward. In short, crack bones of one with a shield barge, cripple another with an underarm axe strike and then move to grapple the remaining fighter (if possible by grabbing his head and lifting him off the ground with it and waving him in the general direction of the crowd) asking if 'this one also need to die?'

[Fiji_Fury]

Dale speaks hastily with Sir Alfred and Ikhrani priests, urging them to move in force on the location of the light-show and then upon Valdemiron's Temple itself. He then hurries to Larric's side, draws weapons and hurries with Larric toward the show.

"That looks like Lisanna's work. She tends to make a show of things. If not... feel free to blast whoever is doing that. I'll keep the rabble off you as much as possible."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Martial arts suitable for an ogre? Considering that the ogre would almost always be the one with the superior size and strength, judo is definitely out. In fact, quite what would exist in a world full of fantasy creatures is worth thinking about; so many possible combinations of things that might try to kill each other, so many relative advantages and disadvantages of physiology to try to maximise, even before you get to working the varieties of magic into the system.

There is rules provision for the idea, both in a sort of chi- ish sense as a field of thaumaturgy and as straightforward physical prowess, but in lieu of sitting down and working it all out, I have been careful not to over-specify. Some cultures systematise in that way, their minds lean towards system at least, and some don't.


Larric's shout and Dale's persuasion gets people moving; they stop trying to finish the last touches on the siege engine and start heading out, shaking into formation as they go. (Time is being bent for dramatic effect, slightly.) It's more of a blob than a column, but then it was always going to be anyway.

They head for the ball lightning lit crossroads, where, hm.
The first action, sometimes you can start a move, watch it head for an opening, think 'that's going to work' and look to the next opportunity, then notice it really hasn't? The shield barge works like that- Dirt lashes out at him, thinks he's going to go squish, then last- split-second he switches stance and maanges to sway with it.

The axe stroke, on the other hand, is hasty, scruffy and obvious- no way he should fail to parry that- but somehow he does manage to let it through, and crunch. Armoured- chainmail- breaks the force of it a bit, but still enough to send him reeling back.

How the grapple is supposed to go without a hand free, against an opponent still quite interested in being stabby, is a bit of a mystery to me to be honest; trip him and threaten to jump on him? That'll work.

There is then a contest of dice, Dirt's intimidation and persuasion- against their senior survivor's panicked realisation of just what Lisanna is trying to do with his former boss's staff. 'She's trying to sabotage the unity rite! Get her!'

The problem is now going to be surviving long enough for the rest of the party to get here. Dirt's intimisation was effecitve enough that only half of them come forward. In the first wave, at least. Forty or so.

'Oops...I don't suppose you have a code of honour that forbids you to run away or anything daft like that?' Lisanna asks Dirt.

[Simon_Jester]

Not sure what Kaelan is doing.

Larric walks alongside the column/blob of Ikhrani militia, near the van but not ahead of their lead rank. He focuses his mind on Air and electricity, readying himself to cast his signature offensive moves- the lightning arrow, the ear-boxing implosion wave, or the army-startling blast of icy wind. Also trying to think of any new ones, but those are the ones he trusts.

[Kaelan]

I don't suppose you have a code of honour that forbids you to run away or anything daft like that?

"Honour says don't be slowest. They can run away if they want, Dirt will hold back from hurting all of them 'cept the slow ones."

Interim, Dirt picks up and re-arms the crossbow - shield to one side with Fifi in her basket.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

'No, I mean, Run.' That was a hint; eight, yes. Forty at once, um, maybe not. Dirt would probably be quite right not to have a very high opinion of them, but a hunting pack of anything that size, against one character?

If Dirt is standing his ground here, he's doing it on his own, because Lisanna is running for it.

[Kaelan]

It's not one character - the thunder Calvary is coming

in the interim Dirt will make a tactical withdrawal at haste until they arrive.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Kaelan, I sincerely hope neither Larric nor Dale winds up getting crucified.

IC:

So, Larric is near the van of the column-blob-thing of Ikhrani militia, and he's trying to steer the group toward the earlier commotion as best he can. Do we encounter fleeing Lisanna/Dirt? Do we take the Valdemironi troops in flank? Does something totally unexpected happen?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

I don't know, it is possible; nearly happened to Aburon once, as well as almost getting burnt at the stake. Twice, by different groups. (What's the old saying; experience is what you use to get it right, but you gain experience mainly by getting it wrong?)

Many military movements, more than want to admit it, consist of a column-blob-thing. Frequently going the wrong way, usually no idea where or why or particular desire to get there, bleeding the footsore and hacked off as they go, and arriving tired, confused and half starved. Compared to most, this is a stroll in the park.


Dirt and Lisanna are both faster on their feet- she incidentally, not particularly strong but very tough, marathon runner, dancer; the Valdemironi pursue, but what happens is that Dirt and Lisanna nearly take the Ikhran blob in it's, well, the only advanatage of blob is it doesn't really have flanks. There is shouting and screaming as a woman with two glowing swords and a giant thing appear to ambush them.

Some confusion and shouts of 'who are you', eventually Lisanna, Larric, Dale and Dirt come face to face. 'Pursuit group, behind us, about eighty. No time for details,' she says, waving at the tentacle daemon still accompanying her, 'but this business stinks, too many people helped the Valdemironi decide to do this, there's a fix in somewhere.'

The leading group of the pursuit formation come round the curve of the street and into view. 'Not that they know that.'



(ed-OOC;) Simon, you're going to be otherwise happily (hopefully) occupied for a couple of weeks soon, we'll take a pause while you're away. When is it you're off?

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Yes, I'll be incommunicado from the 21st (day of the wedding) to the 29th or 30th (day we get back from the honeymoon cruise). The cruise departs from Ugh, New Jersey to Nassau by way of Cape Canaveral (we have a tour planned). From Nassau to... somewhere in the Bahamas, then back to New Jersey.

I'll PM you some instructions if Kaelan or Fiji comes up with anything lovely and you want to roll forward; Larric's actions in a fight are usually rather simple or can be sanely modeled as such.

OOC MK II:

Question: I assume the militia are mostly armed with hand to hand weapons, swords/spears/axes and shields sort of thing. Is there any sign that they have preferred tactics that Larric might pick up on and try to stay out of the way of?

IC:

Assuming there's enough distance to line up a shot before they close (i.e. two decision cycles rather than one), Larric raises his crossbow to his shoulder, glares angrily at the mob of arrogant, ignorant morons up ahead, and snarls out an outraged verbal accompaniment as he prepares to let fly with a lightning arrow. He scans the attacking Valdemironi company, looking for any conspicuous leaders of armed men to fire at. Preferably a priest if any are in the front rank, though knowing the Valdemironi's predilections that might be unlikely. In that case he's looking for an officer-at-arms, much as Dirt was but without Dirt's experience of magical combat.

If there isn't that much time (i.e. only one decision cycle), Larric reflexively blasts a more or less randomly chosen enemy soldier with a somewhat less ferociously-driven lightning arrow. Then the alchemist scuttles back a bit to take best advantage of his own side's front line of hand to hand combat troops.

[Kaelan]

So, we're having Larric charge into the melee in a heroic fashion while we all watch right?

Anyhow - good luck and have fun, we'll catch you in the new year!


Back IC
Dirt will rally when he re-joins the rest of the group and turns, prepping for our counter assault. If there's time he will complete the reload of his crossbow.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Joke's on you, I already drafted a new character. Alfred's removal makes him even more plausible.

OOC MK II:

Actually at the moment the wedding planning front is going rather miserably. Still room for hope that it'll all muddle through in the end, but things are not going well. I may get a friend to comment in the Venting threads later, or (perhaps more likely) not; I still expect to be incommunicado with respect to the Internet after tonight.

IC:

Larric acts according to the instructions I gave ECR, unless we want to bump him off.

[TimothyC]

It is my great pleasure to announce the Wedding of Mr. and Mrs Simon_Jester.

The wedding went well.

(This message posted on behalf of Simon.)

[Simon_Jester]

So, I'm back from the honeymoon. Where are we, and how are we doing? Where's Fiji?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Yay, you're back, all went well, and you are now officially a two of you.

Nothing happened, actually, pretty much took a break over Christmas; no idea where Fiji is.

Everybody ready to roll again?

[Fiji_Fury]

OOC: Locked and loaded. I took a break this past week but am looking forward to resuming the game.

IC: Dale starts scanning for targets, particularly those who seem to be coordinating the others. He'll point any of those out to Larric when spotted, then use the light-show-BOOM Larric makes to close the gap himself and engage.