Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

[Simon_Jester]

Larric steps out into the half-frozen mud of the garden, where Alfred just got done mauling that mouthy revolutionary. He spreads his arms wide, visibly unarmed, trying to calm the townsfolk.

"Why don't we all take a breath before anyone else gets hurt? I'm sure this man-" he gestures at the man on the ground- "made a pretty speech, but his fellows seem to want to burn Coroghan to the ground- shooting fire arrows into roofs. You might want to see to your households and property; I know I aim to see to mine!"

[Agent Sorchus]

I'm staying in the front door way watching the fight, weighing my odds at skill in arms versus the various combatants.

When Bryan advances, Eliska is thinks to hell with it and takes her shield and ax out with murder towards the man of arms near the pyre. One side is crazed, one is undiplomatic, and the last hasty. Might as well beat them till they stop, it isn't like they aren't putting her life at risk even just standing their watching.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Why are you all assuming the shiny people are actually going to win?

The group from the north-western barony of Qulan came in with one knight, two squires, four bowmen who seem to have friends and family on the rebel yeomanry's side, and four men at arms.
There were a dozen from Carfax, one knight and his squire, six crossbowmen and four men at arms.

There are about a score of yeomanry, and they had the initiative to begin with- it looks as if they're actually winning.

The locals are mostly hiding; the rest of the fight- the southern, yellow circle group- and a more inappropriate group to basically have an angel's halo as their coat of arms it would be hard to find- are being pushed back, given that both other sides are now out to get them.

The northern group were trying to rescue her, although it does not look good for them.

The two leaders come to blows- it's a scruffy, graceless fight as they're both looking over their shoulders, both of them basically try a sequence of quick, cheap shots on each other; neither of them look to be winning although the northerner is faster and less rattled.


The crippled yeoman Alfred was fighting tries to lever himself to his feet using his maul as a crutch- gets up on one knee, the good one, that's all. 'I suppose you think it's right for people to burn, do you?'

The locals he was talking to-one of them says 'That southerner- these aren't his lands, he's got no business- he's not the law here.'


The northern man at arms looks at the woman- says 'Will you be safe-'

'Of course I will, they're my people, now run.' The man at arms thinks, this isn't what I had planned to do this morning anyway, takes her at her word, and the yeomen let him flee for his life. They turn to you and say 'Who are you, god-botherer?'

feralgnoll- that looks all right.

Eliska can intercept the running man at arms if she wants, although if there's still a point to it, your call. Most of the noble loyalists are trying to retreat, only their leaders still seriously intent on killing each other.

[Tasoth]

((So what is the likelihood of me making it to the tied up woman and cutting her bonds in one piece?))

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Alfred had chucked his maul and bow to the side and is resting his own on the crippled yeoman's chest. Oh, whatever. I assume Alfred had let go at some point and the guy crawled five feet to pick up his maul.)

"I have no concern whether she burns or not. I just want to know who decided to wake me up by lighting my room on fire." Well, he might if she was somewhat attractive but he wasn't exactly paying attention to that, what with him being kind of pissed at being woken up.

[Simon_Jester]

OUT OF CHARACTER:

Tasoth, from the sound of it, the yeomen (upper class 'peasant' rebels who seem to be against all nobility) are winning anyway and will rescue her under their own power, without you lifting a finger. You might want to talk to her, mind, but I don't think she needs you to save her from being burned at the stake.

Why are you all assuming the shiny people are actually going to win?

Who says I am?

The northern man at arms looks at the woman- says 'Will you be safe-'

'Of course I will, they're my people, now run.' The man at arms thinks, this isn't what I had planned to do this morning anyway, takes her at her word, and the yeomen let him flee for his life. They turn to you and say 'Who are you, god-botherer?'

...Ah, point of order, ECR, which "you" are you addressing here?

---

IN CHARACTER:

The crippled yeoman Alfred was fighting tries to lever himself to his feet using his maul as a crutch- gets up on one knee, the good one, that's all. 'I suppose you think it's right for people to burn, do you?'

The locals he was talking to-one of them says 'That southerner- these aren't his lands, he's got no business- he's not the law here.'

"I have no concern whether she burns or not. I just want to know who decided to wake me up by lighting my room on fire." Well, he might if she was somewhat attractive but he wasn't exactly paying attention to that, what with him being kind of pissed at being woken up.

Larric moves slowly to Alfred's side and tries to guide him back from the yeoman with a hand on his shoulder. He's trying to calm the big man down- plainly this is a man given to dangerous anger, and this could get lethal fast if he does anything too rash.

Speaking to Alfred: "Easy there, sir. And from the sound of it, Yellow Circle and his lot have no call to burn people on anyone else's lands. This fellow-" he gestures at the yeoman- "didn't start that fire- which is out, now- but one of his friends did."

Larric looks at the townsmen. "This high-and-mighty fellow from Colfax has no call to be burning women in your square, but our bowman here and his friends have no call to be burning your houses, either. Now, is there a bonesetter in town, to see to Mister Firebrand here?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

It was Fallard who was being addressed there.

The yeomanry are actually trying to rescue her too; the chances of Fallard's rescuing her from the stake, not bad- the chances of kidnapping her from them which is what you'd effectively be doing, hm. You've got the angle, you could get to the stake before they get to you, but getting her free and getting her to co- operate, and getting away from them without their catching you- estimate is, not good.


I hadn't realised that Alfred was actually holding him down- it's not a particularly good position to meet another threat from, for a start. Most of the fighting is on the other side of the houses, and it's amazing how much it's possible to not notice from that state- but there are at least twenty unfriendly armed men over there.

'Get the people out of the way- get them to run to fight the fire, out of the fight.' So it sounds as if it was a tactical move on their part, a diversion.

When Larric asks about a bonesetter, one of the locals says 'We've got a horse doctor, but-' and points in the direction of the woman on top of the pyre.

[Simon_Jester]

With respect, I have a standing request: please be precise about who is saying things, and to whom. When the party is split up into four separate locations as part of a four-faction battle, these things become rather important.

'Get the people out of the way- get them to run to fight the fire, out of the fight.' So it sounds as if it was a tactical move on their part, a diversion.

Wait, did the yeoman say that? Larric has no specific reply to that. To him it sounds like a bad excuse, but then the last time he was burned out, it was by howling orcs. This has left him... somewhat prejudiced against people who set fire to buildings with people inside them.

When Larric asks about a bonesetter, one of the locals says 'We've got a horse doctor, but-' and points in the direction of the woman on top of the pyre.

Larric replies. "If you want to get her off that pile of tinder, let's go right ahead and do it. No skin off my nose."

He looks to the big mauler. "Sir Alfred, I think you've won your quarrel here. I beg your pardon, but might I suggest being a bit careful about who you flatten? The smallholders of Coroghan look to be in the mood to take up pincushion-making today."

[S.L.Acker]

OOC: Was there any response to my characters action?

[Panzersharkcat]

He sighs and mutters, "Of course the doctor is all the way over there." He pauses for a moment and says to Larric, "I shall pay for setting his bones." He mutters under his breath, "Father would have made me do it if he found out anyway." He makes his way with Larric to go hurt some more people and maybe prevent even more people from being hurt while he's at it.

[Kaelan]

@ECR
Appraise the situation, more importantly out of the three fighting fractions who's down and out of the fight in each group? More importantly, are any of the crossbow men down?

At the same time he'll openly approach the yeomen who are still intact (axe still hooked to his belt, but at hand just in case) and ask "are you finished shooting at the burning brigade by the pyre?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

S.L.Acker- Bryan's action- damn, I really did miss that one in the chaos. They won't disarm on the say- so of anyone they don't know and trust, and briefly contemplate that it must be a trick; no, it's too daft to be a trick.

So, the arrows are still pointing at Bryan and Fallard, who is there as well,

Eliska and Rohal are just coming out of the house and the group of northerners is now retreating past them, leaving two men at arms and an archer on the ground, one dead and two wounded;

William, Alfred and Larric are behind a house half way to the stables, and making their way to the square. Is that where everytone thinks they are?

The yeomanry clearly had the upper hand- they had surprise and cohesion and timing on their side, and the southerners are tryong to get away but are being hemmed in, not allowed to disengage; Two of the crossbow men are down so far. The yeomen seem to be letting the Qulani, northern knight and his party go for now.


There's no-one left for the yeomen to shoot at, really. Just you. They're untying her and taking her down from the pyre when one of the two remaining southern crossbowmen lobs a bolt with cloth dipped in something very smelly and alchemical around it at the pyre- it ignites on impact. Actions?

[Tasoth]

((Since I was going to try and cut her down and let her go free since it would help calm the yeomanry down about me...))

Assuming she's been cut free, Fallard would bolt for the pyre and try and tackle her and anyone else out of the flames. If that isn't possible, going to go with cutting the bonds with a knife and tossing her from the pyre.

[Simon_Jester]

Not knowing the angles, I'm going to assume that Larric's slice of the party is close enough to the pyre to see what's going on- and close enough to the Colfax men that we can see them, too.

I hate to repeat a trick, but with fire arrows being the order of the day, the logical reaction seems inevitable. Larric tries his smothering trick again- not so much to put out the flames entirely as to damp them down for a few moments, make them burn less vigorously and less harmfully while everyone else hauls the lady on the pyre out.

He's willing to pour a fair amount of power into accomplishing this- needs must when the devil drives. Speed is, obviously, of the essence.

[Panzersharkcat]

Alfred makes his way towards to the two crossbowmen to take them out. And no, he's exactly a sneaky person. Just to see if it'd work again, he tries commanding them to lower their arms by proclaiming himself to be the son of a noble and walking close to them.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Panzersharkcat; while they're being attacked? While they're losing and looking for somewhere to run to at best? While they're basically in shield- burr, everyone left huddling together behind what protection they have between them? This can only be interpreted as a command to surrender;
If they thought they could and keep their lives, they would- but after that arrow, it's unlikely. If they surrender to you, it's unlikely you would, either. It's probably safer for everyone concerned if they shoot you.

Just as well they do then. One shot, hits but not brilliantly, there's a cracking sound and you can't seem to move your right arm.

Better shape than the crossbowman who exposed himself too long drawing a bead- a broadhead arrow shatters and essentially severs his. He falls, and there are another two arrows in him before he hits the ground.


Larric learns an important lesson about fire and air today; the active principle in the air that makes fire burn is also the same principle that makes people breathe. Also, smaller more tightly defined effects can avoid unpleasantness.

Whatever was in that arrow carried some of the vital principle with it Spoiler

It's amazing some of the things you can do with alchemy; the rag was soaked in, esentially, Hydrazine.

- it's possible to stop the fire spreading, but not the stuff on the arrow-

Fallard leaps to the rescue, making a mighty bound- three, actually- up the pyre, pull the ropes free from around her feet, leaps away again; one of the yeomen keels over from fumes and lack of oxygen and faceplants into the pyre- fortunately next to rather than on the burning bit, and is dragged away by his comrades before he can do more than lose a little hair.

The young woman looks at Fallard- 'My friends do enjoy having their marksmanship skills put to the test, so perhaps you had better put me down. Nice move, though.'

[Panzersharkcat]

He screams in pain and tries to punch the remaining one, screaming curses about archers the whole way.

[Agent Sorchus]

I'm going to give the one of the two yeomen my number two gaze. aloud "Gather the wounded up and take them to the house of the gods, for is it not written..." and recite off some piece of scripture I might have floating around in my head.

[Kaelan]

Having gathered the general lack of healers in the town from the previous conversations by the yeomen I will head over to the one armed noble, before he sustains any more injuries that we can't fix. Axe at the ready and with practiced watchman authority address the remaining crossbow man, "Surrender to me you may survive. If you don't everybody else here will kill you".

If he surrenders, great - william will unstruct him to drop his weapons and lie down on the ground. If not William moves to finish him off as safely as possible. Either way he will pick up a fallen crossbow and check the condition of the other injured fighters the yeomen have dropped. Spoiler

if any have purses of coin he will also check them as well

.

Whilst this is ongoing, are the knights still fighting, or have they fled to a safer distance?
Also, how close are chicken bones to human bones in terms of setting? I'm good with chickens...

[S.L.Acker]

He didn't think it would be that easy, but at least they haven't shot him yet. Then the fire arrow hits the pyre and one of the men that was also taking cover in the house starts working to cut the woman down. For some reason the air seems a bit hard to breath for a moment, but thankfully the fire isn't spreading as fast as it might. Climbing the pyre he uses his sword to help cut the woman down with periodic glances to the men with the bows.

Assuming we get her down without an undo incident, he turns to the Bowmen and says, "I'm not involved in all this, aside from not wanting to see this woman burn. If I was, do you think I'd be out here without armor and with only the faintest outline of a plan?" He sheathes his sword as he speaks and once that is done he only gently rests a hand against the pommel.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Everyone else; for sanity's sake, grab Alfred and drag him off somewhere where he can't get himself hurt any worse than he actually is.

Panzersharkcat- I presume you invested in Tactics for a reason, and that knowledge of combat is telling Alfred that getting between two groups of armed and armoured men fighting, in order to punch one of them, is inviting further wounding and very possible death. In addition to the fact that being hurt- and yes, it bloody does- makes it harder to concentrate and fight effectively. The risk of Alfred's throwing himself into this simply vastly outweighs the gain; as a player you can insist if you want to, but I do have to point out that your character's abilities are suggesting otherwise.


Sorchus, Eliska rhymes off something about duty of care- a variation on "perish yourself, but save your comrade" in fact- and gets back 'I prefer the bit about never turning your back on an armed enemy, myself.'

I'm going to assume a little- that when Preaching isn't enough, she resorts to Perusasion and Con. Which is. 'I'm not your enemy, if I was would I be standing here worrying about the injured?' Winning smile, a little further blather- but not quite enough to get them to lose all caution. One of them still has his bow out, the other slings it, points to one of the wounded- a man at arms- and says 'You take the foot end.'


Kaelan- the remaining crossbowman's still under authority, and more to the point still in the middle of a fight, the knight, squires and remaining men at arms forming a shield- huddle and moving backwards, seven of the yeomanry still at them; three with mauls preventing them coming out of formation and running, the other four shifting around with bows taking the occasinal snapshot whenever they can.

Jumping into the middle of that isn't smart. The response it does get is from one of the squires, who shouts back 'If you're of the watch, what are you doing with outlaws? Aid us.'
Spoiler

I think we can assume a certain amount of covert theft occurs; most of them aren't massively well off, you get the equivalent of about ten days' pay out of their pouches, one silver and thirty-five copper coins.

And this is actually one of the running gags of the system. You can use veterinary medicine on humans- provided you're an elf. Species changes- yourself into an elf so it applies- are a lot more complicated, so no. In practise, maybe one point over default for that.


Fallard already beat Bryan to the heroic leap; Bryan's protest that he isn't involved is believable, but as she says, 'Stranger things have happened- and you have the look of stone walls about you. What are you involved in, then?'

[Panzersharkcat]

He stops partway through, still screaming curses about archers, to try to tend to himself under cover. Failing that, he'll try to throw rocks from behind cover.

(OOC: Tactics for him is when he's trying to direct other people. If he gets a bit too much bloodlust, he kind of throws common sense out the window.)

[Simon_Jester]

OUT OF CHARACTER:

Why do I get the feeling we're going to need a new mauler soon?

I was afraid I might get that effect from improvised firefighting, ECR. Couldn't think of a tasteful way to exclude the failure mode without making the effect sound improbably complicated to my ears.

Also, hydrazine, I do not envy whoever is working with that stuff.

---

IN CHARACTER:

Larric gasps from the sudden burst of exertion, though perhaps not as thoroughly as the people he nearly suffocated trying to keep the fire arrow from doing its work. He releases the magic once everyone is off the pyre- flames starts spreading with full vigor. Next order of business- is the knight from Colfax, the one who started all this, still standing? Or has anyone else taken care of that?

There's something he's wanted to try as long as he can remember, though he doesn't know if it will work...

[S.L.Acker]

"I was intending on staying here a day or two; give myself and my horse a rest before continuing on to a larger city. So I'm really not at all involved in this conflict aside from being caught in the middle of it all," he starts as he begins to pace back and forth with slow even steps, "Outside of that scope I am well off, but I wasn't handed my silks and riches, I earned them. I did it by protecting fools who had no purpose on the field of battle outside of being targets for the other side. I keep it by not getting to involved in anybodies personal politics. That seem a likely enough story to satisfy you?"

[Simon_Jester]

Oh. One more question, ECR, because I know you're running on a mana system here and I don't want to be caught by surprise by running out- roughly what proportion of his starting pool of energy does Larric have left?