Homebrew system thread II, part 2

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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Simon_Jester »

[Re: the bomb]
Can he set it up nearly incomplete and finish it with the last command from quite a long way off? Power in yards ain't gonna cut it.

[Re: the conversation]
Larric looks ill at ease. "A little bit poisoned, but I've weathered worse. That- disused hell-hole-" he nods at the mound- "I'm afraid to try blasting; I don't know what it'll do. Black Tower stonework, someone else's ironmongery laid over it, runes on both-"

[roll general intelligence on my end]

"-does the mountain have lords of its own, and not just powers? The iron could be theirs. I don't know if giving it a jolt will make it eat itself, crack it open to let hungry ghosts and poison pour out, or set the stone free from the iron and give it enough control over itself to start making things worse on purpose. Might be best to go down and fetch up wiser heads that can cipher out how to contain it."

He looks around at the rest of the party, wondering what they think.
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

About a hundred yards on the trigger, it's not a really complicated effect. A very touchy trigger, that you could affect from another multiple of the power away, would be too sensitive, likely to blow while it was being set, so best not.

'The reason I wasn't here to back you up, apart from that,' the druid says to the party as a whole, gesturing with the axe in the general direction of where the running fight was, 'and that I thought you could cope anyway, was that I do have a theory- and I might be wrong. Having seen it for yourselves, what do you reckon?'
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Fiji_Fury »

"The black tower is a force of evil, and that force is actively trying to reject the control or limits imposed on it by the overlaid iron..." here he pauses and glances at Larric, "you called it 'mongering'? It might be possible to set the whole thing off by destroying parts of both ritual circles and runes, then allow each of the magics inside to anihilate each other. Trouble is, there's so much pent up energy and poision that if it isn't thoroughly destroyed, one or the other might retain control of the tower's ritual circle and repair everything. At best, that would leave an unencumbered, functioning tower of the Terminal Empire waiting for the next madman to seize control or be seized by it. At worst, that tower may have a stronger will of its own to perpetuate its ancient master's designs, and the twisted beasts could be a prelude to something worse. Think of the unsanctified dead rising up and plaguing the barony and its various peoples."

"I cannot say those possibilities are attractive, but we can't leave it as it is either. It must be purged."

"Why are you smiling?" Dale now demands of Aburon. "Does this amuse you? Are we game pieces or play-things in your mind? For that matter, if you have a such a good understanding of this place, why haven't you destroyed it already?"
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Simon_Jester »

OOC MK I:

Hello, antagonizing powerful NPC ally!

IC MK I:

Larric looks a bit more ill at that, and glares at Dale.

"Now see here- All the messes I've seen him in the past three days, man deserves to be enjoying himself somehow. And didn't he just say he might have been wrong?"

OOC MK II:

Dale really ought to meet Sir Bob, if I remember the character right from reading Shadow of the Flame. I think there'd be some kind of comedy gold from that. Or possibly some kind of explosion. :D

IC MK II:

Attempting to harumph his way through the outburst before the druid has a chance to react may not work, but he tries. "Hurting the stonework might be better, the ironwork's wrong too but it's not... sick so much like the Black Towers stuff. And the iron's there to control the stone- damage it and break it up and the whole place might be weakened. A charge to the surface might not be enough for that, though; I'd almost want to get it down into the scribed stones and crack them up from underneath."
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

'We'll argue about that later,' Aburon says glaring at Dale, and thinking somewhere in the back of his head, I have been pretty high- handed on occasion but almost all of that was bluff and trickery anyway, and not this time, dammit- 'but in the meantime- thing is, the mountain's always had an evil reputation, from kingdoms and eras ago, since long before the black towers. Beast opposition wouldn't kill almost everybody, you'd have some who won. Weather and altitude wouldn't, you'd have more people with the sense to turn back. Simple traps wouldn't, not everyone.

Intelligently directed, layered defences could kill almost everyone, which says there is something in there. What the trees tell me is that the Towermen were afraid of it too, maybe not as such but it represented power they didn't control, so they set up a line of outposts like that around it to make sure whatever was in there stayed in.

Or to serve as bases for an assault, but probably they had cat herding problems- never enough of them willing to commit enough power, and work together at the same time- that is guesswork, especially what 'enough' might be. When they were losing, whatever lives in the mountain expanded downwards, took their outposts and made them part of its' own outer defence line. That's the story the trees told, anyway.

I think we have time to do something to this place before they try to rescue and repair, but to do it cleanly, to consume it all instead of leaving a nasty necromantic smear- and alchemical as well, probably, and that actually worse- over the landscape, well, the only people I know who can do volcanoes, I'm not sure they'd be willing to help or that I'd actually trust them to. Actually that goes for either of them. Failing that we need to get it to implode, or self destruct- where exactly did you intend to put that, and how?' meaning Larric's tablet.
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Simon_Jester »

"Left to myself, if I'd done anything I'd have slid it into the circle on a long stick. Close to the center, at one of the..." he scratches his head, trying to describe geometry without having the technical vocabulary- "key points. Then touched it off from about seventy paces and run for it. I did say I was having second thoughts, didn't I? It'd probably jolt the ironwork something fierce and let the magic in the stone get the upper hand."
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Kaelan »

The conversation's going slightly too fast for poor Dirt to keep up with, but he picks up the general gist that 'bushman' is here due to the tower, and that bushman never brings good news. It also seems that Larric wants to blow up the tower, and nobody else is appearing to disagree at this moment of time.

"When remove weed you dig out root, not chop down. take out ground below tower, let nature fix rest."
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

'And the less trouble we can give nature to cope with, the better, but you're right in principle, which means- circle's not on bedrock, is it? If there are foundations under it- what else is in there?

We need to take out, get out of the blast radius, the alchemy, that could poison the land as badly or worse than the dark magics, find some way of safely disposing of it. Back to volcanoes again. Then I think if it is the way you've decribed it, it can be done in three flashes of power.

First thing, destroy the original balance point and control of the circle, the centre and whatever spirits are bound to it. Throwing the load onto the controls embedded in it by the mountain.

Then knock the centre supports out from under it, it should implode- some of it will go outward, but the release should wreck the frame, it should be uncontrolled, not impelled, shouldn't shatter as badly or at least not in the way they intended. I hope.

Third charge wrecks what's left of the mountain-beings' wireframes, should leave the place- well, it'll never be less than a dark spot, a place of evil memories, but the space around cleaner, and more to the long term point- if you,' to Dale specifically 'were wondering what I was up to, it reclaims the land that the beast pack used to dominate, as somewhere to put stray elves if not directly for the people of Qulan.

So yes, that could be the third charge, or the first.' Meaning Larric's lightning bomb. 'What else can we come up with between us?'
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Fiji_Fury »

Dale begins rifling through his fragmented memories for processes/ideas. There was something not too long ago about presiding over a funeral and cleanly severing connections between a spirit and... things trying to cling on to it. He didn't fully understand all of it, but something like that might destabilize the ritual circle we observed. Unfortunatley, the partial memory was not entirely understood, let alone what Dale was doing.

"Could drawing a third source of power to the center of the ritual circle dirupt it? Or perhaps a surge of less powerful but still disruptive mystic flows? I might be able to achieve something like that, only the effect is unlikely to be very strong. On the other hand... my memories are all in bits and pieces. I can recall cuttling loose the bonds on a spirit in the past; something like that might destablize the circle. I'm just not sure I can remember how it was done or how to reproduce a similar effect."

"How much time do we have to work with here?"
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

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Larric really doesn't want to lose his slate book... thinking about making up another rune-bomb.

"First charge, if you think it's up to the job. I wish Verone were here... can this be made to slide into stone before it goes off?" He hefts the wax tablet, lid now closed over the runes, though not yet ready to go. "I imagine it'd help."
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Panzersharkcat »

Meanwhile, Alfred is stretching as keeps guard.

(OOC: Just making note that I'm still alive. Just busy writing a history of a post-apocalyptic Byzantine Empire.)
"I'm just reading through your formspring here, and your responses to many questions seem to indicate that you are ready and willing to sacrifice realism/believability for the sake of (sometimes) marginal increases in gameplay quality. Why is this?"
"Because until I see gamers sincerely demanding that if they get winged in the gut with a bullet that they spend the next three hours bleeding out on the ground before permanently dying, they probably are too." - J.E. Sawyer
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

To Dale, 'If I actually wanted to use you as a pawn, I'd say yes. In theory it might even work, but the practical problem is that setting up something like that is one of those jobs that needs to be done at touching distance, which means giving the existing forces too good a shot at you.

I like the second idea, though. Do you think you might manage to remember more if you were under extreme stress at the time?' That's why he's smiling; he's dangerously insane. By normal standards, anyway.

'There's certainly enough of that about. The spirits of the workers who built it were bound into the place; they would have done the same- again, going by the stories and the legends- to a few spare apprentices to manage the circle itself. Breaking them out of it would be a good move.'

To Larric he adds 'You mean, can it be made to slide through a slab of enchanted stone in an unstable ritual circle in the middle of a thaumaturgical storm? Question answers itself, doesn't it. A way round that problem...ah. Got it.

Slide no, hammer yes- it's got a wooden side, hasn't it? Scribe on that, knifepoint, use an air pressure surge, a shockwave- a two stage effect that can multiply one off the other, the concussion drives the lightning charge in. That could get the damage we need.

I'll need to do something like for the second charge, the one to fold the circle in on itself anyway, you can take notes if you want.' He looks at the tablet again. 'Ah. Remind me to ramble at you about birchbark sometime. Dirt, Alfred, that leaves you as alchemists-in-extremis. Some of the poisons they used to warp the creatures could do more long term damage than the circle, if they're not a safe distance away from the bangs.

Anything else you reckon you can do, feel free to pitch in, this isn't going to be easy, it might be fun but it's definitely not going to be easy. Any more bright ideas before we do this?'
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

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Larric has a peculiar enthusiasm in his eyes. His explosion-mindedness has been activated! Remember what he did for a living before he took up adventuring...

"Two stages? Three. Anyone have any sulfur? No? I may be able to improvise." He starts trying to recall recipes that give a nasty bang, and the Air-Substance charm he worked out once, to spin nitrates out of air...

[Substance magic and alchemy- can he come up with an improvised explosive on-site without transmutation of the elements, using what's left of his kit and whatever magic is necessary to make up for the limits of chemistry under the conditions? If so...]

The tablet looks like this:
Image

Lightning capacitor on one of the inner working surfaces, shockwave runes on the outer working surface of that leaf of the tablet. Puts similar trigger-conditions on both of them, to set them off both at once. If the explosives work out, chip the wax out of the other leaf, pack with explosive AFTER all other steps, IF in Larric's judgment this is non-suicidal.* If not, pause to think of something else. May need a layer of cloth or something to separate explosive from wax; it's cold so the wax will be pretty solid.

"Oh, and birchbark is lovely if you only want to use it once. Tempting, but I don't think I'd trust it for this. I'll miss it, but I'm pretty sure I need the solidity..." he pats the case sadly. On one of the non-exploding surfaces. There's still one or two of them left.

Aburon just managed to engage all Larric's hobbies at once! Truly, a man not to be trifled with...
____________

*Alchemy 17; I fondly hope he'd know what he's doing.
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

Both work; the concussion charge goes on easily enough, more easily than the grain of the wood should have permitted. If objects have spirits, and some contend they do, the tablet knows it's going out in a blaze of glory. hopefully.

While Larric's doing that, and improvising boom- stuff, Aburon turns to the group- ''Dale- actually the way I think this is going to go, we may have to hit some ghosts first, then lay the charges, then run. You're in charge of the ghost hitting. Dirt, Alfred, anything more you can think of that needs doing? You do know what you're going to have to do?'

He's using birch- bark and charcoal himself, calligraphing out a sort of knotwork of overlapping and interleaving runes, bits of about five separate powers in there. Talking while he's sketching.

So, what are the responses to this?
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

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"What, carry the mess out before we blast? A good deal faster and a lot safer if I lend a hand with that too, I'll wager- this ought to keep for a little while."

How's Larric's mana pool when all this is done, by the way?
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Fiji_Fury »

Dale feels cold. Logically he should be experiencing anxiety at preparing to go back into that foul tower to use half-remembered skills in the face of what is sure to be spiritually tortured opposition. Instead, an eerie sensation of calm has settled over his heart and mind. The cold is something slightly different though... he thinks it is eminating from the tower-mound.

He breathes deeply of the fresh air, savouring it with the knoweldge that the tower-mound will afford no such comfort. A thought rises unbidden to his mind: The headdress. Fifi reacted to it and it has some importance. That is a place to start. The skeletal bodies bound to the ritual circle will certainly be another.

Not comforted by these ideas, but having an apparent path to walk upon, Dale gives a nod, his features conveying grim determination.
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Simon_Jester »

Larric, having completed his demolition charge, is scribbling on his slate book- no empowered runes, just a rough schematic, trying to recall an incantation he worked out once. Verone might call it "Smith's Bastardized Gas Mask," which the alchemist came up with after the time he made the tactical blunder of experimentally taking apart a pound of salt to see what would happen.

That turned out to be a very expensive experiment...

[Note: again, how's Larric's mana pool doing?]
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

Mana pool should be down to about eleven after the charges are made up- still waiting for the nod from Panzersharkcat and Kaelan before th group goes in.
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

Right, I'd intended to hold off over the weekend for a couple of reasons, but now I'm getting worried. Where is everybody? As things stand, you're about to go back down that hole in the ground to remove the abomination.

I'm inclined to just go, and let people catch up as they can, but I usually am. Anybody out there?
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Simon_Jester »

I suspect they've become partially disengaged (especially Panzer) by having an inapplicable skill set to the situation. Panzer in particular hasn't come to the site in almost a week, so there may be some other separate issue affecting him, too.
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Kaelan »

OOC
Sorry for the late post, I've been in a competition with the rest of my family to see who can be the sickest. So far our young son is winning (ECR aware) ...

IC
So a quick re-cap is to detonate the tower within itself using the slate of doom, but the problem of poisoning the area with the alchemic remains still needs to be sorted. We've identified where the chest is, but none of us has the skill to open it. So, the next question is can we move it, or is it 'welded' to the floor.
"Bushman, you know how to move or open chest inside tower?"

Otherwise, it's dust of the axe and prep for gribbly bashing time again (might be wanting that armour back soon).
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

Ah, good, apart from the part about Sam. Fiji_Fury's been about, Panzer on the other hand I am concerned about- and a thaumaturgically resistant, strong- willed man with a big hammer could actually be really useful about now.

On the subject of the chest the druid says 'To be honest I've got no idea, I'm planning to wing it- although the bit I think you might be missing is that it isn't a puzzle, it can't be. It's designed to be secure against dumb animals, but to be opened by something that's only as sharp as a smart animal itself, it's not a mind thing. It had to answer to the gifts of the spirit of the place, and if you couldn't manage to fake it-' he says to Larric.
Who never actually went over to have a good look at the chest, if you recall.

Down the hole, and on the way in Aburon tells you all that 'Actually, this is the first time in the last few hundred years anyone's been inside one of these. You had to fight your way through what, a dozen, a score of warped beasties to get in? Normally you'd be looking at three or four hundred; and if you really want to start worrying think about where I got the help to draw the rest off and do them in from. Smelly, isn't it? Oh, my.'

The air is moving, that's the best way to describe it, electric tension and taint in the air moving around drawn by the growing whirlpool of barely contained magic in the circle. Ripples of greyish light across the stone of the tower.

'Larric, Dirt, Alfred, that would be the poison vault, wouldn't it?' Nodding at the black chest against the side wall. 'You sort that out- if we need help we'll scream. Dale, ready? Let's go make things worse.'

And from the top...
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Simon_Jester »

Larric checks his Smith's Bodged Gas Mask, makes sure his gloves are seated properly on his hands, and examines the chest. Roughly how large is it, what kind of latch or mechanism does it have?
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Eleventh Century Remnant »

More of a supply closet than a chest; about four feet high, two and a half feet deep, eight feet long. There are hairline cracks where it looks like doors open out, but the catch seems to be that there is no visible mechanism.
Physically (carefully) patting the thing down doesn't seem to reveal any invisible mechanism, either- although getting close enough that he can concentrate on it to the exclusion of the background turmoil there is a faint taste of thaumaturgy in the air, something Larric can recognise because he has it himself, Substance. Strands of Air in there too, and other powers that at a guess would probably be the other types of elementalism.

Reconstruct this; it has to be something that even a strong, frenzied animal can't get into, but the mutator spirit can. It's not polished, by the way, there are clawmarks. So when it needs a fresh dose of teratogenics, the thing walks up to the chest and...what?
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Re: Homebrew system thread II, part 2

Post by Simon_Jester »

Hm. If the door is designed to open outward, maybe it involves some kind of direct bonding to the outer surface and a pull. An animal couldn't do that, unable to get a purchase on the edges of the tight-fitting door. A man couldn't do that- no handle. But magic could.

Does the Substance magic seem to be on the surface, or deeper inside?

OOC:

Still thinking- am open to other bright ideas from Panzer or Kaelan.
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