Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

[Panzersharkcat]

Annoyed those ones aren't heeding his words, Alfred stands beside the door, ready to smash the first person to come through.

(OOC: All that talk about burning forests down was out of character, unless Bryan came up with it independently. Same with talks of sacrificing red shirts.)

[S.L.Acker]

OOC:

He was thinking that if the water is being drawn from the river then smoke might be drawn up off of a boat. The forest fire idea sparked me OOC, but the idea is something Bryan might think up on his own.

IC:

Bryan shakes off the cobwebs of sleep and takes up his two-handed sword and takes a defensive stance in front of the entrance. Looking to Alfred he whispers, "I'll tie them up and you do the smashing. I'm far better at defense with this blade than offense."

[Panzersharkcat]

Alfred nods in agreement.

(OOC: More practical than my poisoning the water idea but there may be insufficient smoke for that. I suppose Bryan figured out the whole red shirt sacrificing thing on his own.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

It'sd actually William's watch; Alfred was next up- and if you mean the garrison when he tried to rally them, they were listening, that's why there are only fifteen of them losing the plot instead of fifty- five.

Three of them try to push through shoulder-to- shoulder, and Alfred is the fastest to react- dumb luck roll comes up good; the wonderful thing about a chainmail shirt is how much like a big T- shirt it is. Very fast to put on, ideal for those 'stand to, we're being attacked' moments. Most suits of plate have some chain bits as reinforcement over the parts that are difficult to articulate, Alfred manages to wriggle into his. He needs it.

They all start jabbing and prodding at him, three poking weapons against one sweeping weapon, tricky. He manages not to be hit by the first two, can't quite stop the third one- steps forward past it, catches the man in the chest with the head of the maul, more a push than a strike, doesn't get a clean enough hit to do more than bruise and send the spearman reeling back. The point of the spear rakes across his right leg, but doesn't go through the chainmail. (Hit, failure to wound.)

Bryan's the next fastest on his feet- moves into what little gap there is and traps one of the spearmen's weapons against the ground, blocks it and holds it there; Alfred swings for the spearman, but he's lucky, very lucky- takes the hit from the maul right on the metal boss (handguard) of his shield, is sent reeling back by it but uses the momentum to pull his spear free, the shaft a bit splintered. Two driven back, neither down but definitely having second thoughts.

Rohal?

[S.L.Acker]

OOC:

He was actually going to hire the trouble makers as extra bodies for the trip further onward. He's trying to avoid getting anybody killed, his reputation is based on keeping people alive.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Feralgnoll is likely to be out of it for a while, as he's been busy the last few days.)

[Kaelan]

William will address the attackers.

“Gentlemen, hold fast your arms”
Assuming the pause to listen he will continue.

“At this moment in time this man is our prisoner, being escorted for trial. For this task I have been paid a very modest sum. If you wish to ransom him yourself tell me how much you are offering and I will tell you if it is acceptable or not.”

Hefting his axe and shield.
“However, should you want to take him without recompense that will put you in the same category as thieves. Tell me, which hand do you each want to lose – left or right?”

[Feralgnoll]

OOC: Sorry all, I've been real busy with ROTC these past few days.

IC: if i am awake I will take a position and attempt to find a target for my bow

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

I skipped ahead a little there- missed something by not giving Bryan a proper chance to seal the deal; my bad.
On the dice, though, what it looks like is that he made them an offer, tried to persuade them, and two of them were prepared to go for it, take any chance that could get them out of there; but the others had overheard some talk about what to do next and thought they might be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire- worried that Bryan might want to do something like go and hunt elves.

They said they'd think about it, and if the rest of the night had stayed quiet they might have gone for it (further persuasion required), but it didn't- this happened instead. Spoiler

I moved on too fast- I wanted to give the group a chance to hit a straightforward enemy they could cope with without too much planning. Remind me to make that one up to you later.

Rohal is nowhere to be seen- probably off somewhere dreaming of a world with fewer and more predictable moons;

William tries something with too many words in it- they look blank; he's going to have to shorten it to 'You want him, how much are you willing to pay for him?'

'An elf- bribe.' one of them shouts back, one of the two by the door and not yet engaged. They don't actually have all that much money- if one of them had a turnip, they'd throw it at him.

One thing axes are really good at is disarming. With a decent bearded axe, you can hook the blade round the haft or blade of an enemy's weapon and roll it out of their grasp- and William is a good axeman, better than the other fellow is with his spear. Caught, flicked out of the way- glances off the mutineer's chin, clatters off the wall and narrowly misses Radulf. The obvious quip is 'Want to see if you can afford your spear back?'

Larric's innovative and non- traditional stunning technique amazingly almost works. The air suddenly feels thunderish, tense, the target looks up and disbelieves- clear sky- but although objecting, trying to be one again, calling the push back, the air delivers. Technical success- he yelps and twitches- but it's just not a massive enough effect to stop someone who's already gone that far beyond the pale.

On the other hand, it makes him step back enough that he's a clear target for Rohal's shot. It's a beauty- as he raises his spear back to a proper stance again, the arrow takes him in the fleshy part of the arm, and must ahve hit a rather important blood vessel- the arm drops, the spear clatters, his arm and that side of his chest looks slick and wet in the moonlight; drops the shield, clutches the wound, reels away.

Eliska?

[Simon_Jester]

Larric starts looking for a clear line of fire- it looks like he's going to have to try harder, and that means keeping his comrades out of the path of least resistance. Will the shape of this fight give him what he needs?

If not, on to plan C. If only he knew what plan C was.

[S.L.Acker]

OOC:

No worries, I understand the troubles involved in forum based RP's and the desire to give us something we can sink our blades, spells, and arrows into.

[Feralgnoll]

Rohal's Blood heats up a bit at such a visceral shot.

[Agent Sorchus]

Spoiler

I'm going to hit Radulf rather hard (but with great care to not be fatal within moments. Give him five and he will prbably be dead) with my ax. And then Say to the bunch of cowardly mutineers, "He can't be your way out if he is dead. And I don't think I'll heal him for you to take him. Leave while you still can, run like the cowards you are."

Only going to do this if it looks like they might break past. Otherwise I'll stand between them and the prisoner, buckling on my shield and waiting for a rush.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: If you do that and it works, expect Alfred to first get pissed and then applaud later at the sheer audacity of the plan. If it doesn't, expect a PC vs PC brawl because you killed his living MacGuffin.)

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Maybe I should have tried to taser Eliska instead of the rogue garritrooper...

Seriously, is this what Countess Calvern was like when she was a girl? What do the seminaries of Krylanya feed these women, anyway?

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: I've been talking to Feralgnoll about this for a few days now. One thing I really want to try is to eventually get it so that Larric builds a railgun or Gauss rifle powered by magic. It'd likely be horribly impractical because it'd probably tax Larric's mana reserves too heavily and it'd probably be inaccurate as Hell but it'd be worth it just to see a working Gauss rifle centuries ahead of when it "should" appear.)

[Simon_Jester]

We've already got the orc who dreams of walking on the moon, wandering somewhere around in the background; why not?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Colonel Calvern (not yet officially confirmed as countess) isn't and never was a follower of the goddess. Despite looking like an avatar of Krylanya, despite practically having a queue of priestesses and paladins outside her tent trying to convert her every time she's in one place long enough, despite people believing she is and acclaiming her as a mighty hero of the war goddess, she actually isn't, and refuses to be.


Gunpowder and black powder weapons are an issue I've been, frankly, dodging. There's no sufficient reason why they couldn't work, which means that once the obvious advantages are noticed they should work, and there goes the neighbourhood.

There's been a lot of suppression, though- as a great equaliser, guns were the last thing the Black Towers wanted; being based on the idea, and arguably in a world with wizards the reality, of human inequality, that some people really are better and of a higher value- in any sense you care to name- than others, anything which brings them down to the same level should be stamped on quickly before it takes hold.
It has to be said that the coalition of wizards, warlords and wise monsters that made up the leaders of the liberation felt the same way, although they were less inclined to shed blood over it. Before the laws of the Empire of Tol Authran, black powder is classed as and treated as a poison rather than a weapon- illegal and dishonourable to possess, death to manufacture.

Those above the law and outside it's reach- and those who work in small batches when nobody is looking- can stretch to such things, and at least one alchemist of Carfax has gone well beyond the pale, but there's no more widespread use of bang- powder than there is of blade venom, say.

A thaumaturgically powered thrower of some kind would be a work of art and craft, and acceptable; magical artillery is rare and undependable but does exist, more common at sea- the Authrani Navy are routinely armed with what are to most practical intents and purposes Archimedean heat beams.


Back at the hittingness, Eliska notices Radulf's eyes flicker open- he's alert, has probably been faking it for the last couple of hours, he's reaching for the spear that landed beside him, slowly- trying to cut his hands free.

One of the spearmen stabs for Alfred and misses wildly, just jabbing at air, one of the two further behind with a two handed spear reaches over the others, lunges for Bryan and comes within inches of impaling him through the head- the edge of the spearhead grazes across the corner of his forehead as he twists out of the way.

The spearman who was disarmed ducks back, picks up the spear of the wounded man.

Fallard?

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Well, I'm considering turning Alfred into a Florian Geyer type later in his life, so he'll probably be cool with that idea.
EDIT: I think it's appropriate given how he's partially named after a fictional SS assassin from Hans Helmutt Kirsts' "The Nights of the Long Knives" and given the same name as a high-ranked member of state sec in my sci-fi verse. I like flipping the roles of my characters around.)

[Simon_Jester]

Larric is still trying to work out if he has a clear shot- from the way you've described this fight it sounds unlikely; we seem to have them bottled up in a doorway.

[S.L.Acker]

Twisting away from a potentially lethal spear-thrust aimed at stabbing him through the head Bryan is glad for his experience on the battlefield. He's also upset that these men had decided to attack instead of accepting his pay. Oh well, it takes all sorts and these men seem to be the sort that wish to die needlessly.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Yes, a doorway; they tried to break in to the room in the tower- one of two- where you are resting up and where Radulf is being kept. It's not the kind of situation that makes for clear shots, especially as you're fighting by torchlight.

That's the end of round one; round two, same order- doesn't change, if you're fast you're fast. Actions?

[Panzersharkcat]

He sticks to his position and smashes anybody who comes close.

[Simon_Jester]

Sigh, it's so easy for you, Panzer. All you need is some variation on "I hit him with my hammer," and ECR's reenactor experience does the rest.

As for me... Crap. Plan C it is, then. Larric starts trying to invent Plan C... hmp. I think I've got it. If you can't fight, enhance those who do.

From the point of view of an electromancer trying to do him a favor, Alfred's maul has the great advantage of an insulating handle. Larric starts stirring up the metal of the head and the air around it, getting the electrical fluid (more of a slurry, possibly something like sand pouring around an hourglass, Larric would say, but this is not the time for digression) into something mobile yet contained.

He's trying to, essentially, sheathe the head of the maul in ball lightning, hopefully enough to convert a glancing strike into a stunning or burning one, and a painful one into a fight-ending one.

The challenge is making it effective while keeping it confined so it doesn't become a menace to the user. Forced to choose, Larric would sacrifice effectiveness for safety under the circumstances.

[Panzersharkcat]

As far as Alfred is concerned, he's happy if he gets more damage to his enemies.

(OOC: Well, if it's any reassurance, think of linear warriors, quadratic wizards.)