Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Yes, elves do sleep. Not very much, though, and he's probably not daft enough to lie up nearby- actually that might be a good test. The more mistakes he makes, the more likely it is to be someone who's doing this out of personal conviction- or whim, or craziness.

Fewer mistakes means he's either a very talented crazy, or (rather more likely) a picked being sent by his community to do all the terrifying and seemingly random violence for what they consider a good reason. You were lucky a couple of times, those weren't mistakes, just what happens when you pit several people's talents against one.

So, on the assumption that harrying the garrison serves some kind of purpose, and that he was about to blast at least one of you to encourage the rest, but relented and let you through when he sensed Radulf- what do you make of all that?


The fort itself, there are dug traps within the loop of the earthwork, and a crooked path through them. The gatehouse has a portcullis but no door, and on the inside of the fort- no grass, blackened stonework; relatively recently, this place was on fire. There's a pile of rubble that's slowly being used to patch up some of the structural damage- three of the towers on the wall have partially collapsed, the outer wall standing but the thinner inner gone, the main tower, only one of the ceilings was stone; the higher ones were wood, they burned, part of the tower on the river side collapsed.

There are about twenty men on the walls, eight came out to meet you, there are more starting to look out of the towers and buildings on the inside of the wall; someone cheers, faintly.

One man- actualy, barely more than a boy, not yet full grown- comes running to meet you, the only one in armour; it looks like he's been stupid enough to wear it continually including to bed, and he does smell rather worse than a nobleman should. He has the cadence marks on his tabard of a squire, not a fully made knight, and he visibly asks himself 'Now, what would the heroes in the story books do?' and draws himself up, tries to take on an expression of manly determination. It lasts about three words.

'Sirs,' meaning Alfred and Bryan, 'thank the gods you've come- but where are the rest of your men? Where's the rest of our reinforcements?'

[S.L.Acker]

Ignoring the smell emanating from the boy, Bryan puts on his best face and says, "My good squire, I fear we bring no good news. We aren't here to relieve the forces at this garrison nor have we been dispatched to deal with the being in this fog. Our duty is transporting a prisoner and we've been asked to complete our task with as much haste as possible. Among our number Larric and Rohal seem to know some of what might be going on within that fell mist if that may be of help. However I am unsure that we will be able to offer anything more."

[Simon_Jester]

"A magician, obviously- a crafty, tricky one who likes to play head games and misdirection, maybe elvish? He works through the air, and that may be his style- dance around, gust from here to there, never give you something you can lay into properly. Not someone to go and pick a fight with unless you can keep your head when he's playing tricks on you, cipher out where he is and get to grips..." Larric trails off, he's really not sure his current party is up to it, though he had some ideas of how to fight back that were fortunately forestalled.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Feralgnoll can't post at the moment but he says he'll follow the party.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The squire's face falls, and he looks a little like a whiny teenager before pulling himself together, after a nervous glance at his men. 'You mean you're not here to...you're just...can any of you heal?

Sir Ymbert is the senior man here, or would be if he was fit. We started with a hundred and ten men at arms, there are- I have less than sixty left, and some of those wounded. Anything you can do for him, anything you could say to the men, would be welcome.'

[S.L.Acker]

OOC:

So what's our group opinion on helping them? Bryan is torn, helping might get us a favor but fighting that thing is risky and takes up time; ditching it does our reputations no favors and may make our night in the fort suck.

IC:

"I'm sorry, I wish I could say that we were here to relieve you and end this problem. I don't fancy spending a night next to that mist even once, I can imagine what it would be like for the men who look out and see it daily. As for a healer, you'll need to ask the others what they can all do. This group just came together and I don't yet know what everybody can do; even if I did I'm not sure that I can speak on their behalf," explains Bryan to the disheartened youth before him, "I can however speak with the men, tell them what I know about the mist and the thing inside of it. I'm sure that others among us will offer at least that much. Also, for what it's worth, you're doing a good job of putting on a brave face, I've seen older men in higher places do worse than you are." That last bit comes with an honest smile.

[Panzersharkcat]

"Give me the morning to think about it. I will attempt to plan an attack but I will need some volunteers for it to work. Let it be known that Sir Alfred Norden is not without gratitude. I request that you keep our prisoner secured while we are out, however."

(OOC: AKA "I need some minions to sacrifice as a distraction for the wizard while Larric and the others flank him and take him by surprise.")

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Eliska has healing magic- has anyone contacted Sorchus yet?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

PM pinged, but I haven't actually seen him online in days.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: His profile said he was on about 15 minutes ago. I sent him a PM as well.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

All appears to be good- real life got him, in a positive way, back when he can.

In the meantime- the garrison appears to be a fairly seedy lot. Apart from the one with the longbow who came out to meet you, there are three other yeomen, and they seem to be the ones who have done the best job of keeping the head.
They don't seem to be politically connected to the ones further south- because if they were they could take this place into revolution in a heartbeat, murder the squire and take over. Instead they seem to be loyal, if not to him to the knight, Ymbert, whose squire he was and who brought them here.

Most of the rest are relatively lightly armoured, padding and leather, maybe ten including all the yeomanry in chainmail. Mostly long spear or shortspear and shield, three in five anyway, the rest shortbows and crossbows.

There's one group of half a dozen of them who are hiding in one of the ruined towers, they answered to one of the knights who is now gone, and the rest suspect them of having done a little freelance robbery of passersby under cover of the mist. Probably more of them actually have, but they're the ones who are getting the blame.

There's no central fire, each little group is hovering around their own; there are three large tents, and the main tower is being used for the sick. How are you organising yourselves?

Oh- until Sorchus actually does find time, I'm going to assume that Eliska's tending to and also trying to get what sense she can out of Ymbert, who 'not fit' was the tactful way of putting it- he's been attacked in his mind, primarily.

[Panzersharkcat]

Alfred will try to speak to Ymbert about organizing an attack party to tackle the wizard. He talks of the need for horns to signal when to fire and when to cease fire. He describes the plan in nicer words than "minions to sacrifice as a distraction."

[Kaelan]

Well as we're in a semi safe area William will take the time to practice with his new crossbow, just in case he needs it.
It's also a way to distract him from the magic of the area and to keep himself from joining the wibble brigade.

[Simon_Jester]

Larric is trying to figure out if there's a way to test for the ability to willpower one's way through magic, without a wizard burning inordinate amounts of energy to overcome that willpower. He'll see about some crossbow practice himself, as well; try to get back into the methods of it properly.

[S.L.Acker]

Bryan will spend a little bit of time speaking to the men of the garrison. He know's that he isn't well trained to lead men on a battlefield, but in this case skills more commonly used in a courtly setting might be of more use. Reading people and using the right soft words he tries to get the men at the wall standing a little taller, he tells them that they have somebody looking at Ymbert and trying to fix him. Once he feels he's done all he can for the men the mercenary looks for somebody to care for his mount. With those things taken care of he looks to see what he can buy to eat so as to avoid dipping into his rations. He'll also keep an eye out for somebody who looks like they might be able to care for his swords and armor thus avoiding the tedium of doing it himself.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The young squire does the rounds as well- basically tells them not to get carried away with hope or despair, relief will come, but that'll be when it comes and there's no sense making it worse by worrying about it. Just cover each other's backs and don't let that thing out there- the garrison call it 'the hunter'- manage to rattle you; he wants us to be frightened and stupid so don't give him the satisfaction.

Does a better job of it than he realises, actually; at the end of dusk rounds- they pull in from the earthwork to the stone walls at night- they're a lot more focused, but he's a trembling wreck.


Ymbert is in one of the rooms- the tower has a spiral stair in one corner, one large and two small chambers on the ground floor, and he's in there. There are cellars too, the stair goes down.

He's not in good shape. Stretched out on a sheepskin, arming- jacket and cloak draped over him like blankets, he's twitching and shivering, breathing is wildly irregular, he's staring at things a million miles away, muttering to himself. He vaguely notices the presence of a visitor, but the first coherent thing he manages to say is 'She made me dream about being a leaf.'
Much questioning later, Alfred manages to piece toether the fact that Ymbert thinks there's more than one, but they watch in shifts- falcon man by day, dreamweaver- girl by night. Couple of others, maybe they have followers and guards, but less magical ones, not as important. They planned for him and went looking for him, found her instead- different tricks, different talents. She managed to isolate him from his followers, wafting things into their heads that they fell for and he didn't; cut him off from them and started to fill his head with nonsense.
His squire and the yeomanry managed to rescue him before she could reduce him to a vegetable, but it's going to take a long time before he's all there again. He drifts off quite often during all of this, at one point deciding he must be a goose and attempting to migrate.

He does say, quite lucidly, 'They mean it, you know. They're not just doing this for fun. Where are they? I should be a pangolin by now.'

Crossbow practise is not well recieved; a few of the garrison panic, as soon as the twangs start- it's a leverlock Kaelan took, and quite a good one- leaping to arms and trying to form up around the tower. Bryan manages to calm them down- most of the worst have already boiled off, those likely to desert already have; what's left isn't exactly cream but it could be a lot worse, apart from the half a dozen now masterless men who are still here because they were too scared to run. Is Bryan including them, too?


And then, suddenly, nothing happens. There are a couple of genuinely uneventful hours after nightfall. There's no mist- you can see stars. Two moons big and bright, one fading away from full, one swelling- will be tomorrow night. No strange sounds and smells on the breeze, either, just running water and damp grass. 'I don't like it,' one of the yeomen says, 'it's too quiet.'

[S.L.Acker]

OOC:

Bryan's rounds also included the masterless men as it's better to keep them at least somewhat included in things and having more men with at least some confidence should be better for everybody. Also, did I manage to catch the Squire's name while doing the rounds? It seems like something I should know but it hasn't come up yet.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The squire's name is Hywel, and he's thirteen, nearly fourteen.

The masterless men are in a foul mood- arguing among themselves to stay or to go; Bryan gets the impression that they're looking round to see if anyone is watching them before trying to mug him. Too many eyes, though; they don't. He leaves them arguing among themselves, but they'll be trouble.

A little later the squire approaches Alfred and Bryan. 'Sirs, we- not all of the garrison are accounted for. The elves killed some and scattered many, but some, including the commander of the garrison Sir Graeme, are missing. We think the elves took them- we were trying to capture that one to force them to appear openly, make an exchange. Are, could-' he hasn't quite figured out what help they need yet.

[Simon_Jester]

Some time during the quiet hours right after sundown, Larric starts looking around to try and pull the party together for... if not a council of war, at least a survey. Who thinks what?

Does Sir Alfred seriously intend to go elf-hunting tomorrow? Are the other armed and at least quasi-knightly-figures in the party (Bryan, Eliska) willing to go along with him if he does? What about William, and Fallard?

He himself is... not sure. Not at all sure.

[S.L.Acker]

"Hywel, if I was sure we could end this all with a well planned attack on the elf in that mist I would do my part in convincing the others. As it stands it might end in yet more missing men and ugly bodies and make things no better," says Bryan as the two walk some more.

Bryan finds himself with a bit of a soft spot for the squire, had this been some older man just barely keeping things together he might have turned a blind eye. Seeing a boy preforming so much better than those he protects on the field of battle makes him wish he had more that words to offer. Though one idea does occur to him that might allow him to be of some use and get them a few more numbers for the last leg of the trip.

Bring up his idea the mercenary offers his idea, "The most help I might offer now is ensuring that the masterless trouble makers don't bother you further. That is if you would be rid of them?"

OOC:

Bryan will be at the council once Hywel lets him know if he wants the rabble gone.

[Panzersharkcat]

"I will do what I can." He tries to gather everybody in the fort together and get them to accept him as their temporary commander until they can get Sir Graeme back. Hopefully, that involves the oratory skill. If not, he's kind of screwed. Well, he did want to at least train them to work somewhat as a unit first. The plan basically involves throwing minions as sacrifices to distract the elf and pin him down with arrow fire while a strike team goes around and hits him.

[S.L.Acker]

OOC:

How do you plan on pinpointing him well enough in that fog for the sacrifices to be worth it? For all we know he'll just pick people off and then go to ground in his cover. He also has an advantage of he sees better in the fog than normal and we see way worse than normal. Unless our mages can dispel that mist we can't do much.

[Panzersharkcat]

OOC: Use Rohal to sniff him out. Keep him with the archers to maintain fire on target. Hopefully, Larric will be able to use his abilities with magic to track down the wizard with the strike team. If he is unable to, we will have to come up with a method of communicating in the fog. We'll also need a way to take out the falcon thingy and the banshee if it's determined those are his eyes and ears in the fog.

[Simon_Jester]

Hmmm.

There is a question Larric would give some thought to- he has a better sense of his own limits than I do. Could he, as a carefully prepared operation, at least stand a credible chance of clearing the air of that fog over a wide area? I assume trying it with a narrow area would not be out of line- I came that close to stating intent to do so during our previous run-in with the elf.

But if we cannot clear the fog over a large area, "sacrificial minions" is a pointless idea, because we can't see or communicate well enough to coordinate a large attack. We can form one or two hunting packs that stand a credible chance of resisting the elf's magic and detecting his presence, mostly out of our own party, but groups of random soldiers from the garrison would just be meat on the table. They've done that, they're not stupid or suicidal, they won't do it again unless they think there's a chance.

And Panzer- archers aren't much good firing blindly. These aren't automatic weapons or mortars- "suppressing fire" over an area several yards, from a handful of archers across just means missing your target a lot. Rohal can say "he's somewhere over there," but that just leaves bowmen firing randomly into the fog- useless.

Larric was able to get range and bearing on the elf last time, and is cautiously optimistic about being able to do it again- but I don't think Rohal can get as good a positional fix on him, and I doubt anyone else stands much of a chance.

The falcon is a problem, but not one we're well equipped to deal with- hunting birds is impractical when you can't see them.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: I considered using horns to signal each other but that gives away our own positions. If worse comes to worse, he'll recommend burning down the whole forest to smoke out the wizard. Of course, that runs the risk of killing their commander but, hey, the wizard is smoked out.)