Don't need to be too skilled in stealth in combat situations. I've got a couple of shiny knights \ hairy creature & a magnetic mage to keep everybody's attention else where.
The last time you had a chance to rob the fallen, the fighting was over, it was daylight, and you divided up the take with the winners. There are moments when you can get away with it, and this isn't really one of them. Herb picking is going to be hazardous enough.
On the assumption that that, too, is not a euphemism-
Rohal's not much of a stealth monster either; he'd need to be fantastically lucky to avoid being noticed. After walking openly, in plain view, not looking suspicious at all, to the gate, the first problem is going to be persuading the yeoman, spearman and two crossbowmen there to let you out.
They're all watching the landscape, looking mainly back along the road, looking for movement. It's cold, they're all bundled up, but they're not shivering just because of that.
'If you trip over the elf, we're not coming out to rescue you. You're mad. Hold on- if we raise the portcullis, every bugger'll hear it. He'll hear you coming, he'll see you coming. Sure about this? Must be bloody valuable herbs. Where's- right, climb down this rope. it's quieter.'
Well, they don't have a postern gate left to let you out by, so Rohal- and William if he feels minded to go for a walk in the jaws of death- climb down and suddenly start feeling very, very alone.
Foraging in the dark involves spending a lot of time in a relatively small area, prodding and sniffing at things and trying to identify them by moonlight; anybody with a shred of paranoia would be absolutely sure they were being watched. Mind you, they'd almost certainly be right.
The elf's too well hidden to be seen, but from time to time Rohal catches a glimmer of magic reflected off some facet of rock or dewdrop on a blade of grass; he's sure the elf is out there, within bowshot, observing and noting every move.
Actual foraging does not go well. A few useful commons, that's all- too well travelled an area. Unless Rohal and William are doing something else, prudence will overcome courage before very long, and it's back to the fort- the yeoman hardly able to believe you're not dead; the guard detail spend at least ten minutes trying to think of a good test to apply to see if either of you are the elf in disguise.
You were under observation the whole time, which eventually is what convinces them, probably wrongly- reconaissance succesfully completed, small quantity of vaguely useful herbs successfully gathered.
Anyone doing anything to them or to the herbs before the elf's sick practical joke bears fruit?
Alfred regrets jokingly granting permission for Rohal to go forage. He tries to locate him so he can throw the rope down and tell him to climb up now.
"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
Bryan has managed the soldiers trick of shutting his conscious mind off and dropping into sleep even when most men would toss and turn the night away. Even if he hadn't he'd rest easier knowing that he'd put some backbone into the men on the walls and made a friend of a Hywel, and if he recovers, likely the knight the squire is under as well.
They climb up, get back inside the wall, head off for your room, that's not the oh shit moment.
That comes when the herbs are taken in a room warmed and lit by fire, that's the trigger, and there's a potent scent drifting up from the pouch- Rohal can examine it or not, makes no difference. Doesn't smell vegetable, smells animal- complex overtones, Larric's nose can pick up on them rather better than Rohal's considering how his eyes are starting to glaze over.
It's basically the pheromone signature of a she- wolf in heat. With a few additional spicy mind- affecting chemicals, to make it so much worse.
The purpose of it is to force transformation, and also induce psychotic rage- as if the normal problems of taking on were- form aren't bad enough. In a few moments you will have a frenzied werewolf in your midst.
Rohal's various resistances aren't enough to overcome it, not for more than a few moments (description may change this, write fast and well)- enough to buy a little time for someone to do something. Something fast and effective, ideally.
[talk about walking up to the guillotine and putting your head on the block...]
Alfred immediately dives to tackle him. "Bar the door, now!" He tries to keep Rohal in a full nelson hold. His 15 strength and 12 martial arts are going to come in handy. Let's just hope it's enough.
"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
Larric tries something stunning- grab the animal electricity in Rohal's body and start pushing and stirring it up internally, shock and immobilize him, suppress his motor control long enough for someone to get him down and restrained.
Hopefully, low magic resistance can cut both ways.
"Do what you must!" Rohal's lasts words are heard through his barred teeth "you must not let me harm innocents!" With that he focuses with all his will to make the transformation faster. Trying to shift from Hybrid, to full wolf as fast as possible.
Being roused for the second time Bryan sees the last half of Rohal's transformation as he rises. He doesn't want to hurt a party member, but as a precaution he grabs his arming sword anyway. Feeling ever more out of his depth in the situations that have happened recently all he can do is wait until he needs to step in with his sword and end things in a fairly final fashion.
"Bar the damn door! Bar the damn door! And get rid of that damn pouch!" he yells as he wrestles with Rohal.
"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
I suddenly find myself remembering a piece of Kipling:
The Fairies' Siege
I have been given my charge to keep--
Well have I kept the same!
Playing with strife for the most of my life,
But this is a different game.
I'll not fight against swords unseen,
Or spears that I cannot view--
Hand him the keys of the place on your knees--
'Tis the Dreamer whose dreams come true!
Ask him his terms and accept them at once.
Quick, ere we anger him, go!
Never before have I flinched from the guns,
But this is a different show.
I'll not fight with the Herald of God
(I know what his Master can do!)
Open the gate, he must enter in state,
'Tis the Dreamer whose dreams come true!
I'd not give way for an Emperor,
I'd hold my road for a King--
To the Triple Crown I would not bow down--
But this is a different thing.
I'll not fight with the Powers of Air,
Sentry, pass him through!
Drawbridge let fall, 'tis the Lord of us all,
The Dreamer whose dreams come true!
Getting an idea Bryan looks around for Eliska while saying, "We should be able to exploit the fact that life magics tend to put people into a stupor. That is if one can heal an uninjured man."
It's the herbs & pouch causing the problem, just send the entire package over the wall. If its the smell setting him feral he'll probably chase it down.
In the interim William will draw back his crossbow and hope that some else will tie the pouch to one of the bolts. He should be a reasonable shot to clear a wall......
Nobody came up with the Schlock Solution? Aww. That would have worked.
Alfred dives on top of Rohal and pins him to the ground- martial arts skill is best used for breaking people, just suppressing them is a bit trickier but ther noble has the hairy man in a very effective hold. Whether it's enough to restrain him after transition...maybe.
Hopefully those aren't literal last words. Larric's magic's not working, it's like trying to water a rock to death, there's no purchase- try it another way. Dam it here and surge it there, ebb and flow- actually makes it harder for Alfred to hold him down, but buys time;
[one other thing- one of the things that happens behind the scenes, depending on how lucky the character is; Fortune, coming off one of the sets of attributes- there are no skills dependent on that. Instead, each character gets a small number of second chances, rerolls. Larric's burnt three so far, making sure the magic comes off. That was the third.]
Getting rid of the herbs is a good- hell, essential- move. Not into the fire, the last thing you want is the smell hanging around. On the end of an arrow- actually, bolt- would be good.
How much you can actually say in the middle of a fight- I don't want to be specific, mainly because I don't want to tie myself down to a fixed length of round. One rally, one exchange of blows, one thought, one action/decision cycle- somewhere from two to ten seconds, time being wierd like that. If you're standing back out of it you can chat away quite comfortably, if you're in the battle line swinging a blade and trying not to die then even thinking coherently can be hard. It depends entirely on what else you're trying to do at the same time, I reckon.
Eliska has to take two stabs at it, as well. First attempt goes badly wrong- actually seems to accelerate the transformation, he starts to grow, getting larger, hairier, entering into the intermediate wolf- man stage, the stage that's responsible for so much of the evil legend, the one that's neither healthy man nor healthy animal but seems to combine the worst of both, driven there by the stress and confusion of the passage-
The second attempt is a brilliant success; that time, it worked. That time, she did manage to disrupt Rohal's transformation- not saying it isn't going to be worse, but he curls up into a ball and starts groaning. Half way to form, and looking very peculiar as he wobbles back and forth between nearly wolf- man and nearly normal- William has time to fire the bag of herbs over the wall himself.
Apart from bundling Rohal up and getting ready to sit on him if he starts changing again, keeping an eye on him in general, and trying not to suffer from outbreaks of paranoia, anyone doing anything else for the night?
(OOC: I was either asleep or away before I could have Alfred yell at them for babbling while he's wrestling with the man-wolf and to throw the damn bag over the wall. )
"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
When the dust clears, if Rohal is responsive, approximately human, and tied up heavily (probably hogtied with about twice as much rope as we used to secure Ranulf), Larric looks at him and hisses.
"You seemed dependable enough- what the hell happened?"
OOC:
Note to self: next time I try to taser a werewolf, bring a bigger taser. That is what I had in mind by the way, if I didn't describe it well- electric shock as a way of shorting out muscle control. The disadvantages are obvious; the advantage is that it doesn't really matter all that much if the victim has the muscles of a Hercules (or Lon Chaney, Jr.), because he can't use them.
If players have any control over when they get to decide what they use their Fortune rolls for, and if Larric has any left, I'd hope to save the last one for "just in case" scenarios. So far, Larric hasn't been using his magic in situations that guaranteed disaster if he failed- Alfred and Eliska had the rogue garritroopers under control, putting out the burning roof wouldn't have been particularly critical since we could still get out before things got out of control, and so on.
I'd feel more comfortable knowing my last second chance was there for a "dodge the falling anvil" roll, just in case; were we playing round a table, I'd do that as a routine policy.
Yes, that is actually the plan. The other three went on stopping anvils falling on other people's heads; that one really did have to work, or it was stabbing time.
Rohal's not particularly reponsive- most of his nervous system is still on fire, or feels that way. It is however a good question- if you're going to act as bait, tell the rest of the party, maybe?
There are a couple of false alarms in the night, any actions?
Probably not, everyone's pretty tired and honestly it would be just as well to move forward a bit to the next time the party actually has a chance to make a meaningful decision.
After making sure Rohal is bound, Alfred collapses into sleep, not bothering to take his armor off. He can question Rohal in the morning.
"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
)