Homebrew tabletop game system thread the II

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Oh, and Alfred is going with William, in case I did not make that clear.)

He also leaves instructions for Fallard to tell them that magical assistance would be appreciated very much.

[Simon_Jester]

Hmm. I like the idea of the following:


IC:

Alfred gives his orders. "Fallard, run to the cottage. Tell them we need magical assist-" A thin wail seems to vibrate in the air for a moment-

"AaaAAH!"

Sir Alfred's orders are interrupted by a sudden Larric. The alchemist appears out of thin air and tumbles head over heels in the dirt by the roadside, right next to Alfred. He groans and rises to his hands and knees, checking to make sure his crossbow is all right. Chiela appears a moment after, somewhat less startled. Then everybody has to run for it when the gas arrow hits.

How does that sound?


OOC:

[Larric's voice] 'Why do I feel a sudden kinship for Rincewind?'

[Panzersharkcat]

He jumps in the air when Larric and the others suddenly appear. "Well, that was helpful. Anyway, we found the Dlea... whatever and are about to pursue. Larric, Rohal, and... you..." He finally spotted the orc. "I have no idea who you are. Go with the flankers. Bryan and the others, come with me."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

From the top; the orc isn't there. He's down at the farmhouse, and has just used Motion magic with a focus to send Larric and Chiaela up to the road.

To Bryan- 'Actually, yes, he's over there.' This is at least six hundred yards at a hidden thing; he's good. Handing Bryan a-thing, a sharp edged hooked blade a bit like a machete, steel with bronze inlay- 'Forgot to mention, I want these back.' Ping.

After Rohal gets transmatted too, unless he objects, there's no one left anywhere but up on the road- apart from the orc who hates those things and will be proceeding a bit later by foot. William's about a hundred and fifty yards away and coming back at a rush looking for his crossbow.

Alfred, William, Oindal and one elf archer going out on the flank, out of the expanding fogbank, no? Let me see if I have this straight- Eliska's improvising a magic item in the ditch, Alfred, Bryan and two elves are more or less going in the direction of where D. was last seen, William'll rejoin as and when he makes it along the road, (find crossbow in fog? hmmm...)
Larric and Rohal, and Chiaela and Oindal, are going out of the fog and trying to flank D. Is that what Alfred's plan boils down to?

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: In that case, ignore his mentioning of the orc. And yes, that's what his plan amounts to.)

[S.L.Acker]

His willpower and adrenaline helping him the mercenary manages to hit the ground with more grace than might be expected. Rising Bryan points to the location of the elf, not sure what the others may or may not know. That done he gives a nod to the group and starts moving for the elf's position at a decent jog, drawing his sword as he does so.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

right- this is going to get messy. D has already fired a mist arrow in your direction- you're proceeding by guesswork.

The group on the flank, Oindal is the only one of you to spot anything useful at all- points and says 'There. If I was him, I'd get rid of us first, a blast of magic, then close in on the mist and stab the armoured ones. He's moving, trying to line us all up.'

Chiela shoots at him, looses an arrow, hard to tell if it hit or not. She thinks it did, but no visible result. Doesn't stop him- he's fast- shooting back; three rapid shots, all sent on different arcs, soft dropshot, middling, high plunging arc, to land more or less together- all of them glowing. You can see where they came from, at least. Actions?

[Kaelan]

Ignore the crossbow, head at a tangent out of the fog and attempt to get to the other flank\rear. Then skirt the fog until william can engage. The goal is speed and stealth (I know, but he is better than the standard human default)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

William can tell where the three arrows came from- D. might as well have sent up flares, one glowing reddish- orange, one blue, one white- but if he has any brain at all he won't stay there. Looks as if he's moving, using the undergrowth, doubling back on himself towards the patch of mist left by the first arrow.

[Panzersharkcat]

Alfred tries to get them to shoot back to roughly where D is.

(OOC: This is where I wish I had an Experimental MIRV and a bunch of mini nukes. Oh, well. Wrong universe and if it did exist, we'd probably be on the receiving end.)

[S.L.Acker]

Bryan is going to keep jogging along the most direct path to the enemy elf, two-handed weapon drawn and at the ready as he covers the ground. His idea is to put pressure on the foe, or at least grab some of his attention so the others have the time to get set for an effective attack. His goal is to stop the enemy short of his patch of cover.

As always, even while charging, his mind is focused on defense. The defense of others by drawing focus to himself, defense of himself by being ready to move and being ready to force away an unwanted spell. Other thoughts, like that of this job no longer being worth the risk, or the fear for his life are unwanted and forced into a deeper part of his mind.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

(Sorry, I have a class that lets out at 7 p.m. EST, didn't get to a computer till now)



IC:

Assuming his crossbow is in working order, Larric tries to backtrack those arrows to their point of origin and shoot back. The crossbow's trajectory is liable to be rather flat, so if D. is actually heading straight for us, he has at least a chance of connecting. Maybe a good one, even (gleam of crazed optimism in his eye).

If Larric has is a general range and bearing, he'll This runs a little differently from empowering the yeoman back at Caer Edric since he's doing it personally, but it's the same concept: coax charge up from the ground and then punt it downrange, with the crossbow bolt acting as anode, pathfinder and metaphorical waveguide for a slug of high-tension electricity.

If the alchemist can work out position a little more accurately- by eye, by ballistics, by magic-radar tipping him off to whatever power almost has to swirl around the elf- he's going to put his heart into this one. As mentioned, I don't know if there's a mechanism for pouring extra mana into a spell, but if there is he'll be using it- if he can only manage three or four more like these before he's shot dry, he'll chance it, at least for a first shot he really believes has a chance to connect. Near maximum effort, subject chiefly to the limits of being able to do it enough times to have a chance of mattering.

Either way, as soon as that's done, Larric darts off to one side several paces, seriously considers diving for cover, but doubts he'll find any that would save him from a high-angle shot. Failing that he keeps advancing, keeping behind the swordsmen if possible and with a wary eye out for any possible counterattack.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Bryan runs forward;
D. does something elvish- arguably an abuse of a power called 'tree of life'- intended for evolutionary things, he uses it literally to manipulate them into covering for him. The flare of power that sends up is obvious, but he's also protected now-
three conventional and a lightning arrow fly into where he was, sending some large splinters and a cloud of burning small ones scattering. One of the elves and the lightning arrow would have hit if he hadn't done that. He's right there, though. that much is obvious now.


Chiaela tries something I had hoped Larric would be able to do- D. fired three arrows, three different straighforward, uncomplicated- no time- enchantments hastily daubed on them. Air, fire, water. Let them hit together and you get hot water in air- moving up from fog to live steam.

She tries to counter one of them- air, hoping the other two cancel out. She's mostly right, but pays for it- dodges, physically, but as the flares of the fire and water fade she's lying crumpled on the ground. You think she's still breathing.

The flares that lick out as far as Oindal, Larric and (presumably?) Rohal dodged to can be defied, you all moved far enough away that resistance can stand what does reach you.

[Panzersharkcat]

He tries to get the archers in his group to keep firing on D and try to keep him pinned down as best as possible while the melee guys move in.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

I didn't know what magic was on them, and assumed from the description that they'd landed before I had a chance to shoot back- so I shot back instead of counterspelling.

IC:

Larric, indignant, defies; what the elf's doing strikes him as subtle torture of all natural order of things, for still more subtle and torturous reasons.*

What's the range? Tens of yards from the sound of it, which makes his options a bit more limited than if he were closer in. The alchemist fires another high-charged lightning arrow, assuming he isn't interrupted by the need to drop his crossbow and dive out of the way of an arrow before he can reload.

*If that seems hypocritical... it's complicated; there's never been a good time or reason for him to pontificate on his opinions on mysticism and its ins and outs. Now is less good a time than usual.

[S.L.Acker]

The trees grown and moved to create a shield against arrow fire give Bryan an even more definite target. Unless the trees form a ring about the elf, unlikely given the elf's actions so far, the armored man might be lucky enough to test the enemy's skills in close combat. Should he manage to get within sword range the mercenary will start with a bold strike aimed to end the fight swiftly. If it misses he'll fall back to his familiar defensive style. If he's still too far out of range then he'll keep moving forward, trying to use the trees to keep a line of fire off of himself.

[Simon_Jester]

Erm. Right, he's got cover. Wasn't clear on that.

If Larric can't get a shot through it, if he's still hiding behind the things, then that second lightning arrow isn't anything particularly intense- just enough to keep D. honest and pinned in place while the heavy hitters get up to finish the job.

[S.L.Acker]

OOC:

Could Eliska enchant an arrow with some form of life magic to wither these freshly grow trees? Maybe age them to cracked husks so the other ranged characters can still land a shot?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

It's not an uncommon thing to think; the fact that the world does it's own, consistent thing while sentient thaumaturges can do things that make a nonsense of it's laws annoys a lot of people; talk to the orc about it, he actually is a genuine expert on the subject. (he's jogging up from the farm at the moment.)

Bryan's ahead of Alfred, and with no backup; William's coming in on the flank, will arrive shortly after Alfred.
D. seems to be hiding, or at least doing something under cover.

Eliska can finish the compass- although without digging through her pack for the cup, palm with a little water in is about the best possible in the time- or abandon that and do the arrow.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

It's not an uncommon thing to think; the fact that the world does it's own, consistent thing while sentient thaumaturges can do things that make a nonsense of it's laws annoys a lot of people; talk to the orc about it, he actually is a genuine expert on the subject. (he's jogging up from the farm at the moment.)

For Larric, it's more about politeness than anything else. He takes the trouble to understand in as much detail as possible the rules and, in his own mind, asks nicely. A lot of wizards just take what they want and go.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Another three arrows hit the web of boughs and branches, one finds a gap- passes through to no visible or audible effect, but a couple of seconds later fog starts rolling down- he's up a slight incline, that's the way the land lies, with a fair few ridges and hummocks in the way.

Bryan presses on- at least a little way into the fog, it's not very thick yet, and notices glowing things- glowing eyes, small, close set, low to the ground. Suicide squirrels. Half a dozen. [Be happy I resisted the temptation to misquote Zulu" there.]
D.s bow is hanging from one of the boughs, he turns and draws his sword- long, thin blade, crackes with st. elmo's fire as it comes out of the scabbard. No offensive action- too busy.

[Panzersharkcat]

Alfred maintains pursuit and will try to kick away any squirrels on the way. He won't go out of his way to do so, though.

[Kaelan]

William maintains the flank approach. When he can see an opening to engage he will. If anything, he will attempt to use his body mass to drive D. back onto Alfred. Nothing fancy, just standard dirty dishonorable battlefield combat.

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Where I live, the squirrels may not be thick as grass, but an increasing number of them are black as hell...

Also, Panzer, those squirrels may be explosive. You might not want to kick the exploding squirrel.

IC:

Is the elf staying in his current position, or is he continuing to move? Or can Larric tell?

Saint Elmo's fire- hm, corona discharges, interesting, that can be played with. I'm still thinking and awaiting a bit of feedback before I declare actions.

[Agent Sorchus]

Sorry for no post yesterday.

IC. Not quite ready to give up on the compass idea. However new idea (not the arrow, but another does occur to her.) Since he is exposing himself to fog and the cold I think I am going to try and cause a coughing fit or other cold symptoms that will slow him down.