Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

[Kaelan]

Time to find something solid to get behind!

William will head to take cover behind the nearest large solid non-living structer between him and the tree. He will also call out for the rest of the refugees to take cover. They may listen, in which case we're not going to have several dozen additional injured people to deal with.

He'll also be trying to keep an eye on Radulf, even though (or because) he's tied onto a horse. This could just be a diversion again and he does not feel like running after a horse.

Muttering under his breath "I hate elves......"

[Agent Sorchus]

Okay, I would have an idea but am unsure if this is too much OOC knowledge. Are there any Poplars in the area? Cause if there are I am going to use my magic to try and guide the roots to join into one network and as such one organism. Should help spread out the overwhelming magic.

[Feralgnoll]

"We need to get these people to safety" Rohal barks out and tries to beckon any non magic types away from the tree.

[Panzersharkcat]

He tries to find some cover to duck behind. He's no good with magic and he's not about to be used as a human shield.

[S.L.Acker]

"I think I have some idea of what might be happening, sort of a feeling rather than anything real," says Bryan as he starts to focus his method a little more.

He's envisioning a wave of energy, much like a stream of water trying to burst a dam. He pictures the roots of the tree and all the grasses, other trees, and small creatures down in the dirt. Then he tries to think of the tree releasing the energy into them, sort of like tapping a keg, or opening a release on a dam. He's not sure why, but he thinks that picturing things like this is will work better than simply trying to force away the magic with brute strength of will.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Sorchus; good idea. Further up near the mountain it's genuine old growth, uninterrupted for centuries if not millennia, but that's Qulan's main trade- wood and wooden things- and the lower reaches do consist of faster growing trees, more by design than accident, including a lot of pine and poplar.

Actually making it happen is an enormous job, though, venting some of that pressure off safely- Eliska has to go very carefully, and although a technical success she doesn't have the raw power to actually sort the problem that way, just contribute to the solution.

Larric's move to reduce the internal pressures, similar- a step in the right direction, not the whole way.


William hides behind what's left of one of the buildings of the logging camp- semi permanent, this one; what happens is they come back every fifteen to twenty years, reuse the same site, work on what's grown since the last time. There is a low stone wall, and he hides behind it- and spots something moving out in the undergrowth. Just a flicker, the wrong shade of green. Could be one of the people from here. Maybe.

Alfred finds the same bit of cover; doesn't spot it.

Between you- rituals, where you pile effect on effect, allow them to reinforce and balance on the back of one another, then enact them all at once, are inherently unstable, inherently fragile. As fly-by-night as this one would have had to have been to set up, it can be stopped; and between you...




the tree swells, subsides, there's an enormous rushing noise, the bark peels away and most of the leaves blow off. There is not a cloud of fast- moving splinters, which is a good thing.

One of the elves turns to another and says something that you can only follow by tone of voice, it's something along the lines of 'now do you understand the sort of sick mind we're dealing with?'

Another turns to Bryan and says 'I don't think we've been properly introduced?'

[Panzersharkcat]

He gets as far away as he can and lays prone to minimize his exposure to explosions.

[Simon_Jester]

Larric shouts to the various running and hiding groups:

"I think it's safe to come out now!"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

You may have missed the "not" in that description; apart from looking very unheroic, it's unlikely the splinters would go through armour anyway- and there aren't going to be any unless you take a mallet to the tree. It's bark has mostly peeled, it's sapwood is twisted into knots, the leaves have blown off, but no boom, no explosive splinters, no mass death.
Contained and bled down to a low order result, catastrophe avoided. Many of the people nearby are doing the same thing, true.

It does appear to be safe, and the people who are using the camp as a refuge are looking at the tree, wondering what the hell?

Incidentally, the elves around the tree with you, the humans aren't massively frightened of them, they seem to be fairly accepting of the humans. maybe you've found some normal ones at last?

[S.L.Acker]

Speaking to the elf that has addressed him in a language he can understand, Bryan says, with practiced ease, "Indeed we have not. I am Bryan Wright, a wandering bodyguard to those with more coin than sense. I'm also a man glad to see some elves that might provide insight into what we have been through this past day."

[Panzersharkcat]

He gets back up and brushes the dirt off his armor, relieved it wasn't a big explosion..

[Kaelan]

William indicates to the glowing bush to Alfred.

"do you want to check this out at the rush, or fire a bolt into it?"

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Err. Glowing bush?)

[Simon_Jester]

William hides behind what's left of one of the buildings of the logging camp- semi permanent, this one; what happens is they come back every fifteen to twenty years, reuse the same site, work on what's grown since the last time. There is a low stone wall, and he hides behind it- and spots something moving out in the undergrowth. Just a flicker, the wrong shade of green. Could be one of the people from here. Maybe.

This, I think. And I think he interpreted "flicker" to mean "glow."

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Ah. That. Of course, I also missed the undergrowth bit since I was busy using the search function to look for bush. Thanks.)
He motions for William to cover him while he prods at the flickering undergrowth with his maul.

[Kaelan]

A brave man give william's skill with a crossbow. I'll back him up with my axe.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Brave men given what your opponent may be, if it is him-
and this may be morally wrong, but the first thing I thought when I spotted the bit about looking for bush was "Out Of Context Theatre."

The apparent leader of the elves, female, dark haired, dressed in interleaved green and brown and looking quite able to blend into the countryside, says to Bryan 'I would appreciate your version of events- you may wish to speak loudly, so your people know they are not entirely without champions.'
The rest of them are all looking out and lookng around, studying the countryside- at least they expect something else is out there.

Alfred is moving in the direction of probable death, William following- things go slightly wrong. Alfred gets tangled- falls down in an enormous clatter and clang, William rushes up to cut him free of the grasping, writhing roots; takes his axe to them- and a couple of seconds later realises they're not moving, they're not animated at all, Alfred just went head over heels (critical stealth failure to approach whatever it is without being shot) on a perfectly ordinary root.

If there was anything out there- Rohal's nose thinks otherwise- it'd probably be pointing and jeering by now. Pressing on or going back?

[Panzersharkcat]

He gets back up and presses on just in case.

[Kaelan]

Continue with the backup. Just because we're paranoid does not mean that we are wrong.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Okay. What's alfred's Resist Magic again? Ah.

As Alfred and William get closer, they keep their eyes peeled- not literally-, moving up, cover to cover- calling for help or not?
There's another brief glimpse of motion- a dye colour, not a plant colour, not here. (how likely is it that one of them would make that mistake?)

Doesn't seem to be doing much. Not shooting at you, for one thing. What else? hard to tell. Small stream- barely a rivulet- but it has the path it's cut, a gully that would be a good cover point, juat ahead. Close enough to make out detail from, probably. Pushing on, sneaking up, what?

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

S.L.Acker, you might want to tell the tale in parts- I know that Larric, for one, might cut in with an observation or two, but he's not going to interrupt Bryan outright.

[Panzersharkcat]

Alfred tries to signal the others to indicate he thinks he found something. He pushes on.

(OOC: His resist magic is 11.)

[S.L.Acker]

Bryan, at least outwardly, takes on the mantle of champion and projecting proudly he says, "As we came upon the fort, hoping for a safe place to spend the night, we saw the fog and the lights within. We pressed into the mist, unsure of what we would find, but knowing that we had eyes on us. Thankfully the enemy didn't press us to fight within the fell mist."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Spectacular ill luck, followed by spectacular good luck; as Alfred, leading, comes to a small rise- large enough to stand on and be seen from, right on the lip of the gully- he hears a sound as if several people are singing, just out of earshot. There's a rushing noise, and a shockwave hits him from nowhere- a wall of air slams into him; he leans into it, guessing it must be magic, and defies it.

It tumbles William a dozen yards back, but Alfred successfully resists, and does- what? The green thing didn't react.


The elf talking to Bryan motions two of her people to head up the hill, they dart off- she says to him 'Keep going- did you know at that point who or what your enemy was? When did you first guess?'

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Are we not hearing what's happening to Alfred and (especially) William? They can't be that far away. I'd think the "AAAAH" followed by crashing foliage would be quite noticeable.