GODFALL: The Hijacking of Altraidesville [M&M3e]

[DuReign]

GODFALL

...A Prologue, in Dark Dulrndurilan...

The Lord of Man was, coincidentally enough, not a particularly tall Man. Ironclad Hashimura, his loyally silent bodyguard and greatest warrior, dwarfed him by two heads.

He was not particularly strong. He was no match for Hashimura, let alone fair-haired Kyrie, his deceptively beautiful right-hand woman, She-Who-Wrestles-Mountains.

He had no particular affinity for the magical arts. The Loremasters of the Black Tower had his support and understanding, but he left them to their own devices so long as they knew their place.

He was not even particularly cruel; he had banished Sir Whitlan the Brave, now Sir Whitlan the Slayer, from the Lands of Man for his atrocities.

No, the Lord of Man was none of these things.

But he possessed one thing: Knowledge. Of how the world was, before the Tribes of Zodias came and despoiled it. Of a time when Man was lord of everything he surveyed, and of everything he could not.

And he had knowledge of the tools he needed to bring that time back. He fingered his implements of power now: his oddly-segmented grey belt, that ensured he would never need a weapon; and his voluminous black cloak, that guaranteed that he would never need armor. They whispered to him, plans and ideas, grand strategies and the tactics to crush any army, but mostly they whispered orders, to reunite them with their sibling...

"Are you sure you have located it?"

"Yes, Lord," Kyrie said in her husky voice. "It is a Godstone, the Loremasters confirmed it. Exactly as you described... a hood, black, made of a material not of this world..."

"Finally... the last of the Three..." His Belt and Cape cried to be made whole again.

"But my Lord, the hood... the Cats have it. They plan to trade it, along with other magical trinkets and political favors, to either the Birds, the Fish, or the Monkeys, as a sign of goodwill, to cement their silly Tetra Alliance..."

"Which in itself is not a problem; our agents are everywhere, and if the hood could be stolen, through theft or bribery, it would already be mine. I can read your face, your posture... your emotions are as plain to me as an open book. So there IS a problem... out with it."

So Kyrie told him.

The Lord of Man did not grow red-hot with anger the way any other Man would. Instead, he became frigid with white-hot purpose. Hashimura, killer of generals, and Kyrie, She-Who-Wrestles-With-Mountains, saw the ice in their Lord's face and flinched.

"I see."

The Lord of Man turned away from his lieutenants, strategies and tactics already clicking into place to deal with this new threat.

"Then alert the Satellites. Bring me Ka'lesh, and Malynn, and Edrigal. The time they've waited for, prepared for, has come.

"We bring War to the lands of Zodias."

[DuReign]

GODFALL
The Hijacking of Altraidesville

http://i.imgur.com/X0gv8l.jpg

The City of Altraidesville, as the greybeards like to say, is constantly changing. Only a generation ago, it was only a town, and it was known as All-Trades-Ville (a mayor changed the name, saying that Altraidesville sounded more noble). And before the Guilds came, All-Trades-Ville was just Tradesville; and before that, Tradesville was just the two-horse village of Peaceville.

But now it is Altraidesville, the bustling free city of commerce and business. And once again, Altraidesville is changing itself; the current mayor is hoping that the city will transcend its origins and convert its wealth into culture and status, a true cosmopolitan hub smack-dab on the Main Road between the Velvetclaw Kingdom and the Empire. And to that end, Altraidesville is hosting its First Annual Winter Festival, a celebration of the luxury and culture the city can enjoy (read: buy) in the dead of frigid winter.

Minor wizards have set magical braziers alight, melting the snow and ice in the plazas and warming the entire city. Leafless trees are decorated with ropes of glittery red Imperial glass, and the streets are packed with Truenose vendors and Cleverhand artisans and noble Knifetooth Guildmembers, the hustle and bustle warming the air even more than the magical fires.

Mayor Gertrude, the powerfully voiced (and massive bellied) bovine leader of the city, is scheduled to give a rousing, feel-good speech at 5-bell, after which the Grand Feast will begin and Bazaar will be tax-free for the rest of the day (on select goods only). But right now, its only 2-bell, and the winter air is positively spring-like thanks to the pale sun and the happy, busy Zodians (and even occasional Man).

And into this bustling city, warm and alive even in the dead of winter, our heroes begin their adventures.

Here we go!

Free-form role-playing scene; that means you can literally do anything you want, including inventing NPCs and whole scenes, whatever you want to introduce your characters.

What are your characters up to? Why are they in (or near) Altraidesville?

[Croakamancer]

There are many visitors to Altraidesville today, so many have come from outlying villages to celebrate the prosperity and glory of their wonderful city. You could hear the celebrations for a fair distance, echoing out into the snowy rural wilderness, even as the stream of festival going merrymakers continued to trickle in, families with screaming, delighted children, to the old and weary, grateful for a chance to warm their hands by the fire. Even Man is welcome on a day such as this.

At least, if they are peaceful

She approaches the Kingdom gate during a lull; no one'd arrived for perhaps a quarter bell. Seeing someone approach in armour slightly dulled from the snow, yet still hefty and great, the guards tense a little, holding their spears tight, before the stranger draws a little closer, and they see the figure's pointed, fur bedecked ears and tail swishing behind her. The two young Knifeteeth who'd been given this duty, Kef and Shan, stand to attention as they recognize a Velvetclaw Knight approaching the gate, eyes straight ahead.

They keep looking straight on, towards the horizon, even as the wandering warrior draws past them. The Knight regards the pair curiously, beginning to pass, but stopping behind the young brothers in arms, as the Knifetooth duo try desperately not to move, between fear of the knight and fear of the Watch Capitan. Her words don't come across as those of a tired, weary traveller, merely a curious observer."Are you two both... well?"

She'd been standing closer to Kef, and thus, he feels the need to respond, quickly and with an excess of enthusiasm. "Yes Ma'am!"

The Knight is silent for a few seconds, taking in the trembling two, before nodding, a little unsure of herself. "Erm... Good. Carry on."

Sighing a little to herself, the weary Kazae Rainrunner proceeds towards the light and warmth of the Winter Festival. She's seen a few such celebrations in her time, though the scale of this one is indeed impressive, the sort of thing her family would make the highlight of a caravan. She bows her head to one of the fire-lighting wizards, before standing by the brazier for a few seconds, warming her hands, and giving the knight time to look over the crowd and thing.

He won't be here, of course. Not his men, either. But someone, amoungst so many, must know something. The only question is where do I begin?

Kazae'll be hanging around here for a little while, but will head off if nothing new happens out in the open of the festival, heading to a pub or tavern for a few drinks.

[Ridai]

With everything going on, most people's eyes are either glued to one of the many attractions or wildly switching from one to the next out of indecision. However, to the attentive observer, a number of them seem to be drawn away (while most are trying to be covert about it) from those sources of entertainment and commerce, to an innocuous bench to the side of the plaza with maybe a handful of people nearby, most of them with articles of clothing or decoration in hand, some in need of being mended, some like new.

The human woman sitting on the bench seems to be too focussed on her craft as a seamstress to notice the stares stemming from many different emotions that her actions and appearance draw. The last of her clients for the moment receives her mended dress from the seamstress, curiously a work of mere seconds leaving a baffled expression on the customer's face as the fairfolk pays the small sum she owes and leaves. Only a little human girl dressed in what is perhaps a step up from rags remains nearby, sheer curiosity and wonder apparent from her expression, only intensifying as she is waved closer by the seamstress. With a soft smile on her face, the woman exchanges a few words with the girl before asking her to close her eyes for a moment. Reaching into her bag, she pulls out a warm, finely made red mantle and presents it to the girl as a gift, answered by eyes growing wide and rapid-fire words of thanks.

Putting her few tools back into her bag, the seamstress leaves her place, heading towards the tavern. Passing by an armed Velvetclaw of high standing, the human briefly stops, giving a little bow and a respectful "Lady Knight." Up close, many things about the seamstress draw the eye, starting with her immaculately intricately made blue dress clearly styled like those of the people often referred to as gypsies, yet still putting even royal garments to shame despite their simplicity. The other things being her beauty on the brink of the supernatural, the latter most notably from her deeply golden eyes.

Whispers and looks follow in her wake, most of them hardly affectionate (either honestly so or trying to be), with the words "witch" and "gypsy wench" being among the kinder ones. Causing strong reactions seems to be part of her skillset.

Going completely free-form in a game with a DM feels sort of awkward. It feel like I'm playing in someone else's sandbox and don't know the rules.

Also, this forum is seriously getting on my nerves. Getting even a single post through (and in a manner so that the thread list is updated and the post is visible while normally viewing the thread) is a serious hassle lately. If you can see this, then this is attempt 6 or 7. I'm glad no rolls are involved in this one.

edit: Okay, screw thread list update. 15 minutes of server errors is enough for me in one evening.

[SuperCracker]

Jin
Circus Act

Jin had wandered off and immediately gotten lost. However, this didn’t seem to be a big problem for him. His golden eyes looked about, seeing the foods and games the great festival had to offer. Back in Iloa, there were community get-togethers, but nothing so grand as this.

Jin was wearing simple clothes. A gray tunic, cinched with a blue sash, and brown pants. He had the look of a simple man. The only finery he had on him was that small silver pendant that usually sat beneath his shirt. However… the markings across his body did cause him to stand out from the other humans.

He bought a piece of bread that had been baked with cheese in it. He thought that it was delightful. He munched on it silently as he wandered, coming upon a small show. Several Zodians of varying types as well as a couple of human gypsies were performing various circus acts. The most entertaining of them was the Octopus-man who was juggling knives using all eight of his appendages. Jin sat down on one of the wooden benches and watched the show. There was an innocence in his eyes and smile. He’d never seen anything like this before – as far as he knew.

He wished Rin could be here to see it all. His smile faded for a moment as he felt a pang of homesickness. He stared at his bread for a moment.

That's when a burst of fireworks erupted as part of the show, showering red and blue sparks into the air as it streaked up into the sky. Jin bit the bread, freeing up his hands, and he clapped.

[ripleycat]

Scylla

"An' furthermore, when the magic whatsits aren't lit, y've got this damned unnatural stuff everywhere for half the year." Scylla "kicks" at a snowbank, in an animated discussion with one of the Truenose vendors. "No, this is lovely, an' I love a festival as much as the next gal, don' get me wrong, but ye couldn't pay me te live here. Well, ye could, but the price would be mighty high. At any rate, another spiced rum, if you would."

"You've already had three. I'm going to have to start charging you for them."

"Hey now, we discussed this. I'm helpin' attract customers. I'm providin' a valuable service, an' enhancin' the atmosphere. The least I should get is a few free drinks."

"Yes, but you haven't played a song in over ten minutes, because you won't stop talking to every person who passes by!"

"Mr. Wallace, I resent tha'! At least half of that time was spent ogling tha' fine-looking fella doin' the juggling act." She points at the octo-man in the little circus troupe, giving an appreciative whistle while she was at it. "I don't appreciate ye misrepresentin' my actions."

"What you were doing is irrelevant! If you're not going to hold up your end of the bargain, then I'm going to have to treat you like any other customer."

"Ah, fine. Damn slave-driver..." Scylla tuned her fiddle and tapped a quick beat on the overturned pot that was serving as a drum. Satisfied, she smiled and announced "Right now, here's a fine ol' tune, an Oceanheart standard. This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUFcfXgW_dQ) one's a favorite o' mine, an' we hope it's one o' yours."

[Ridai]

Feeling a particular gaze following her form, the seamstress stops, briefly turning a finger to her chin before turning around, looking the honorable knight right in the eyes. It is almost like she is searching for something right within her very being instead of simply observing the outer appearance, until her lips form a warm, inviting smile.

"Would you, perhaps, like to accompany me to the tavern, milady? A rather nice place for a traveller to find some rest and quench both hunger and thirst, I can assure you." Waiting a moment for the Velvetclaw to answer, the seamstress turns around again and heads to the tavern, with or without the knight's company.

The Boastful Boar tavern (even the owners admit the name is a bit silly, but it sure has a way of sticking in one's head) is an old building, built back when Peaceville had just become known as Tradesville, kept in good shape, the type whose walls could tell stories for days on end if they could talk. Inside, the tavern reveals itself as a relatively lively place, but only filled to half capacity, most people out and about because of the festival. Nevertheless, it is a welcoming place, a tasty scent reaching the noses of newcomers at this time and few remarkable items are strewn about the tavern's walls, most likely gifts from various personalities who often passed through in the past.

The seamstress greets the Fairfolk owners, descendants of the married couple who built the establishment (as told by a small plaque hanging over the bar), orders a hearty meal and seats herself in an unoccupied booth at the quieter far end.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp

He pulls his cloak tighter around himself, trying to surpress a shiver. After leaving his desert, Rasp had traveled across plains and through woods. Only stopping at small hamlets for a short while, lest he be caught unawares by those blasted monsters. Just wouldn't leave him alone! He seemed to have given them the slip for the time being, it had been 6 days since he saw any sign of them on his trail. However the relief of escape had been replaced by this miserable substance called snow. It was like a cold, wet, white sand that turned to water when you touched it. Absolutely miserable, Rasp decided to escape the cold hell of the winter forest, and luckily enough there were numerous signs of passage from people of all races on the woodland trails, all leading to one place. The sign read Altraidesville.

Wandering through the gate of the town, totally ignoring the guards, Rasp was wonderstruck at just what was going on. This was no small hamlet like he was used to visiting, this was a CITY! His nose was assaulted by the different smells of food and people mashed together into a miasma of scent. He didn't know where to start.

Weaving through the crowd, and narrowly avoiding crashing into a strange eight legged juggler, Rasp decides it may be best to stop for a while and warm up. He picks a random booth that looks like it carries hot food and drink and hurriedly sits down. "Hottessst you got." he mumbles to the tender. He turns his head slightly to see another of those eight legged things belting out a strange song sitting right next to him. This place was insane. Cold, and insane.

[Croakamancer]

There's no pretence to Kazae. She does not disguise her gaze, refusing to look away as the seamstress turns to look at her. At her request, the knight chuckles a little, her voice surprisingly deep. "Am I really that easy a target for a sale? I'll admit, I could use a new cloak, my current one is somewhat tattered, but that's not enough to justify a tavern visit is it?"

Still, soon enough Rhea can hear the clank of steel against stone, as the armoured Velvetclaw falls in behind the strange human. It's odd; there's not usually that much variety amongst the tribes of man, And her appearance... she's seen less resplendent looking nobles. There is something odd here. Perhaps a trap, though hopefully not. It's been a long trek.

The Knight follows the seamstress through into the tavern, nodding politely to the fairfolk, and making a fairly sizable meal in turn. Hot food will be a pleasure after days on the trail. Kazae looks towards the chair; it was sturdy enough, but sufficient to hold her whilst in plate? She tests it a little gingerly before being satisfied, the old wooden seat creaking as the young knight relaxes just a little.

She's silent for several seconds before turning her gaze back towards the supernatural seamstress, frowning. Her tone's uncertian as she begins, she hasn't dealt with humans in a long time, trying to speak with the tribe of man was a strange prospect. "So, I take it you are in town for the festival? A good time for work, I'd imagine. Lots of people with money to spend..."

Kazae sighs, shaking her head. She's not good at making polite small talk; some Velvetclaw. Instead, she leans forward, against the complaints of the chair, taking the direct approach. "I'm curious. Forgive me, but golden eyes humans are not exactly common. Even a knight knows that. And I am looking for one of your tribe, as it happens. A male, with white hair, but without the fragility of age. Have you seen him? Heard tell of him?"

[Ridai]

The seamstress simply chuckles as she hears the knight's answer. "Oh, I'm done with my work for the moment, so I'd rather sell you on a place where you can rest your feet at."

At the tavern, the knight's uncertainty and frowning don't go unnoticed, as does the assumption. The seamstress simply shakes her head, smiling regardless. "It was coincidence, to be honest, that I came here shortly before the festival. But I don't need much money to live and travel, so I don't take much, which admittedly has a way of making me unpopular with merchants and other men and women of the craft. I simply like what I'm doing."

As the white-haired human is mentioned, the woman sighs, her smile dimming a little. "I make no bones about my nature, Lady Knight, but I can't tell you more about the Slayer because of it than you probably have heard told in hushed tones around a campfire, except that his tale has made life for my 'tribe' more miserable. And I doubt I would still be able to talk to you if I ever met him before." She pauses, examining her opposite's face curiously. "I do have to ask: are you simply looking for fame and glory or do you actually have a reason to seek such a dangerous mark?"

[Jesse Drake]

Kawtau

Kawtau hovers around the festival, holding nothing but a rather oversized book. He smiles at the people who pass by, hoping and praying he doesn't fly into any of his clanmates. It was always a hassle dealing with them, and he found it better to just avoid them, the paranoid, superstitious lot. After a moment, he decides to get something to eat- after that, he lifts his book in the air using his mild telekinesis, and uses both hands to hold a somewhat messy vegetable wrap, with extra sauce.

Hovering around, he finally sees a familiar face. One of the more curious humans he's met, Jin, was just enjoying a bite and watching the fireworks. Kawtau approaches him and descends a bit, stepping right next to Jin. "These fireworks are great, but I guarantee that I could do something far greater- though entertaining these common folk is far too simple a use for my powers." His voice was cocky, but still kind. He used his powers to put his book in his backpack, then made his food hover. Then, he extended a hand. "Hey there Jin- it's been a while. What brought you here- or do you even know?" Kawtau chuckles, and comments "I came here cause I heard there was a Godstone vendor around here somewhere- I still can't find it."

[SuperCracker]

Jin
Near the Circus Act

I had this typed out, Jesse! I’ll just say you run into him after this little event.

After watching the fireworks for a moment, Jin stood up and finished the last of his cheese bread. He was tempted to go and buy some more, but he was thirsty. He started to head to the tavern across the way, but was intercepted by an old crone, one of the panther-women of the Velvetclaws. She was obviously one of the lower folk in the kingdom… perhaps hewing to some of the older, less civilized traditions of their people. She was dressed in a white robe with a hood over her head. She sat behind a table that had, of all things, a crystal ball on it.

“You there, young man! I have what you are looking for.”

Jin paused and glanced over towards her, blinking once. “You do?” He stopped. “I mean.. What is it you think I’m looking for?”

His attempt at trying to appear savvy had failed, because the old crone just smiled and gestured to the seat across from her. “What everyone is looking for, my dear. Answers. Please sit.”

Jin was uncertain for a moment. He was certain that this was going to be a parlor trick of some sort… but.. he did want answers, right? He sat down in the chair. The old crone produced a deck of large cards and began to shuffle.

“I am Kalisa, seer of the past, present, and future. For a small fee, I can divine yours.”

Jin couldn’t believe he was doing this… but he agreed. “Okay.”

The crone smiled. “Then let’s begin. Before we can divine your future, we must look into your past. The cards will reveal all.” Jin’s hopes were rising that something might come of this. She then dramatically flipped a card over to its face side. It was blank. The crone blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry dear. I thought I’d taken the blank cards out of the deck. I guess I missed one. Let’s start over.” She shuffled again. “Now… the power of the card will reveal your past!” She flips it again… another blank card. Now she looks embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, dearie… I really thought I’d taken them out.”

Jin’s hope has been crushed. He looked visibly disappointed. The crone feels sorry for him. “Alright… well let me give you the card for your future. Free of charge. Now… your future lies… with…” She flips a card. It’s the tarot for the Tower. “The Tower. It means there will be a great truth that will be revealed. I wish I could tell you more dear.”

Jin nodded and gave her a small smile. “Thanks anyway, Kalisa.”

Kalisa frowned as Jin stood up. “Take care of yourself, dear.”

Cue Kawtau!

As Jin dejectedly walked away, he encountered one of the few people he actually knew in the world. Jin smiled at the cocky bird and shook his hand. “What’s wrong with entertaining the common folk? I bet they’d love what you could do with your magic.”

As for why he’s here… Jin shook his head. “I followed the road and it led me here. I’m still looking for… anything that might tell me where I need to go.” He realizes he’s being too depressing, so he puts on a big smile. “But the festival sure is nice! Have you tried the cheese bread? I love it.”

Kawtau mentions a godstone vendor. Well, that was something to do, at least. “Maybe I can help you find it? Hopefully you know your way around better than I do. I think I’m lost.”

[Jesse Drake]

Kawtau smiles. "I bet they would- hah hah. But I haven't put my powers to such uses since I was just learning. What I do now is far more important- plus I shouldn't be using my powers so lightly in the public eye..." As he says that, he quickly grabs his wrap, and smiles a bit more. "Sometimes I forget about those damn seekers... but the beauty of a place like this is that with so much going on around, its hard to pinpoint someone such as myself." He looks at the cheesebread- it did indeed look good, but he had already eaten, and didn't want to risk weighing himself down. "Well, my friend... you can help me look. But I almost swear I've looked all over... though I suppose it's entirely possible for whoever is running that stand could be disguising themselves through some sort of magical means- but it would be pointless, and even worse, it could make whatever Godstones he or she is selling inert. Ah, I'm sorry friend- I seem to be rambling. Perhaps this vendor is around here somewhere."

Kawtau takes to the air a bit, and goes on searching, Jin next to him. As they go on, they pass a small hut with a man selling various toys and knickknacks. Written in tiny, tiny letters at the bottom, is 'Magic Stones', right above 'Stuffed Animal Toys' and below 'Custom Wooden Carvings'. They pass by it easily, since the vendor only seems to have one stone on his table- a small glowing orange one...

Heh- I figure he had two, but one was absorbed into him, giving him exceptional manual dexterity, so he can sculpt even faster. He can do a wood carving in a matter of minutes, with amazing detail.

[Croakamancer]

Kazae & Rhea
The knight looks across at the human woman a little quizically, curious as to... well, her curiosity. Yes, perhaps she should have thought of what that question might imply, but still... what does it matter to a human why a Velvetclaw is doing something? "Why do you ask? Does it matter?"

But does it matter why she asked? Perhaps it was simple concern. Not what you'd expect from a human, more likely a show of concern before self intrest, but the weaver didn't seem to be out for money, and if she was Whitlan's aide... well, what would her knowing Kazae's motive do to change things? She doesn't give the woman enough time to respond before answering the question anyway. "I have some questions for the bastard. Questions that it'll take a sword to answer. But don't worry. He's not here, nor heading this way as far as I know. I'm just curious as to which way he went."

The Velvetclaw sighs, this has been a long trail. But before too long, looking across at the strange expression of her counterpart, she shakes her head, as if to clear it "But yes. Let's not disrupt the festival with talk of evil. This is a time for rejoicing, no matter our history or tribe. Half way down the road to spring, light on the horizon." She drains her mug with a complete lack of decorum, before offering a hand with a grin and firm grip. "I'm Kazae Rainrunner, by the way. And yes, as you've guessed, I'm a knight"

She chuckles, thinking back to all the looks she's gotten by this point "Perhaps a longer cloak might indeed be advisable. The armour does tend to give my profession away. I've nothing to hide, but still, that's not always a good thing. I'm not the best when it comes to subtlety, I'm afraid."

[ripleycat]

Scylla

"...In an Octopus's garden with you!" Scylla finished her tune to scattered applause and a few odd looks, though the attention did net the booth a couple extra customers. She glanced at the cold and confused Shieldskin and grinned. He looked like she did when she'd first encountered the winter weather.

"They say ye get used to th' cold, but it hasn't happened for me yet. Th' snow's the worst, ye can't move properly in the stuff." The Oceanheart rogue gave an elaborate bow. "Scylla Seaborn, at your service, sir. I must say, I don' get te see many o' your kind in my travels, ye like to keep to yourselves. On tha' note, what brings ye to this lovely place? Are you jus' here for th' festival, or ha' ye other business in Altraidesville? Meself, I heard 'tax-free' an' came slitherin' down the road as fast as I could. Mind ye, the fine company and promised feast didn't hurt one bit either. Always a fine way te make new contacts. Ah, would ye listen to me goin' on an' on! Let me buy ye a drink and get ye inside before somethin' freezes an' falls off. Who do I have th' honor of addressin'?" " Scylla graciously offered a flagon (that she hadn't actually paid for, naturally) to the bewildered-looking newcomer. He looked... interesting, and if nothing else, maybe she could get a good story or two out of him.

[Ridai]

Kazae & Rhea
The Boastful Boar Tavern

The seamstress nods as the knight discloses her motivation, acknowledging the honest, if furious, drive behind her words that those simply greedy for fame and fortune would never have. Her features brighten at the change of topics, not minding the more worldly mannerisms at all, a youthful grin answering the knight's as she shakes her hand similarly to her (the difference being that the human simply lacks the Velvetclaw's strength). "I'll drink to that."
"Oh, where are my manners. Samsara Dreamweaver, at your service. Friends often call me Rhea, though. Your choice."

Rhea leans her head on one of her hands, briefly following Kazae's gaze. "Nothing wrong with being bold, but everyone deserves a little privacy. You strike me as someone with her heart in the right place and a grim task ahead of her, so how about I'll make something for you that suits you as perfectly as that smile on your face, once we're done with lunch, free of charge. It won't take long, I can assure you. Perhaps something blue to complement your eyes and hair color?"

And that's it from me for today.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp

Rasp listens as the eight legger rambles on, content to wait until she finishes. He eagerly grabs the proffered drink and takes a big swig, feeling the drink warm his insides, and hisses his appreciation. "My hatchname is Rasp, though most who I've encountered sssimply call me the 'Dune Guide'." he says, pausing to take another swig of whatever liquid Scylla gave him. "I come from the Sssouthern Wastes, and have lived there contently, though now I find myself a traveler. I've been heading north and find myself here, in this 'festival' you called it? Is that why things are so crazy here?" he says, and as if on cue a rowdy group of revelers teetered into him, provoking an angry hiss before they stumbled along, merrily on their way. He looks back to Scylla, "Perhapsss going inside would be best..." he says glumly.

[SuperCracker]

Jin
Passing the Toymaker

As they pass the small stand, Jin's eyes glow a brighter gold for a moment as he observes the man and the single godstone. The glow fades as soon as he has checked out the magic.

"Well, there is a stone here for summoning and speaking with dogs. The man himself has magic that lets him perform tasks very quickly. Sounds like something helpful to have for making all these toys."

Jin smiles. He would rather have that kind of magic than what he does possess. He actually motions for Kawtau to walk over there with him. Jin looks at the toys. There's a little stuffed bear dressed like a prince.

"Hello. How much is this one? There's someone I think would like it very much."

Jin thought of what Rin might name him. Prince Humphrey of Bearington. Jin chuckles to himself at the thought.

[Jesse Drake]

Kawtau

Kawtau looks at the man. "Of course- why didn't I think of using magic to scan the area." He comments. Still. one Godstone, with such limited power... he would pass on that. Still- "I'll take two wood carvings- one of each of us, if you don't mind. Looks like it should be neat." He waits for his carvings, which get done in less than a minute each. It was surely magic, watching the guy widdle the wood down in seconds. Shavings went all over, but Kawtau brushed off the ones that landed on him. Then, the wooden statues were carved- Kawtau paid the man, and said to Jin "Wanna get a drink? I could use something."

[ripleycat]

Scylla

"Oh my, but ye are far from home, aren't ye, Rasp?" Scylla smirks as she points her new companion towards the Boastful Boar. "Aye, you've had th' fortune, or misfortune, as the case may be, to arrive in Altraidesville on th' day o' the Winter Festival. Th' first annual Winter Festival, t' boot. Money's at the root of it, as it is so many things. A gatherin' o' people from near and far, t' eat, drink an' be merry, an' of course, spend plenty of their coin in th' city. It's not unlike th' gatherin's o' the Shieldskin 'tribes' I've heard tell about, I suppose, save for th' reason we're here not bein' nearly so noble." She adds by way of explanation.

"I suppose we're both far from home, really. I've been wanderin' all over meself, lookin' for fame n' fortune n' adventure. Only reliably foun' the latter, so far. Not t' pry, but wha's caused you to head out inta the wild and wide? It's not something folk 'living contently' up and do tha' often." Inside the tavern, Scylla leads the way to a table near the fire so Rasp could warm his bones.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp

Rasp knocks back the last of his drink and follows Scylla into the bar, nodding along at what she's saying, making special note about her focus on money. "I wouldn't necessarily say our gatherings are all 'noble', but they are sacred to us...not so chaotic as thisss." he mentions, sitting down across from Scylla, letting the warmth from the fireplace wash over him.

"I wasss content living in my desert, but my home became no longer safe so I had to leave. Monsters. Sssimple as that really." he says somewhat grimly, putting on a sad smile. Keeping the part about how the monsters he mentioned are still after him to himself, he quickly changes the subject. "Where are you from, actually? I've never encountered your kind before."

[Croakamancer]

Kazae & Rhea
The Boastful Boar Tavern

"Blue?"

The kind words are one thing, and something Kazae receives welcomly. ((it is a pleasant change from the Master's insults) But this puts her very much onto the back foot, unsure of herself, or just what this situation entails. Her gaze turns down towards her food, whilst mumbling, more than a little embarrassed at such an offer. "Erm.. wouldn't the dye for that be expensive? I don't want to decline charity, but that's got to be rare, and taking advantage of your kindness is far worse."

[SuperCracker]

Jin
Toymaker --> Tavern

Jin took the bear, paid for it, and thanked the man. He smiled at the stuffed animal and then put it away in his satchel. It would make for a nice gift when he went home. Kawtau asked if he wanted to get a drink. "Some hot tea would be nice. Or.. oh.. maybe they have hot chocolate. Hugo managed to procure some a couple of times from passing traders."

He glanced around.

"I believe I saw one that way... no.. wait.."

He hadn't been paying attention and had almost gotten lost again... but then he pointed out the tavern. "There! Yes. That's the place. Let's go."

And in they walked. What a coincidence!

[ripleycat]

Scylla

Despite the Shieldskin's glum looks, Scylla laughs at Rasp's rather straightforward reason for leaving his desert home. "Monsters? Aye, that'll do it. I was expectin' somethin' about longin' to see th' world, or seeking your fortune, or some old chestnut like tha', but 'monsters' sums up your reasons for leavin' in one word, I must admit."

She blinks in surprise at Rasp's question. "Never met an Oceanheart? Damn shame tha', you've missed out on th' finest people in th' whole wide world! Brave, darin', dashin', smart as whips, and stong as stones! Rulers o' the seas, when we're not too busy stabbin' each other in th' back for a copper piece." She grins cheekily. "Meself, I'm an octopus, an' I admit I'm used t' the stares an' questions, ain't many landwalkers tha' look like us. I was born in the Duchy of Moana. It's off the coast o' Westdale for ye that use the land for reference, many weeks from here. It's nice enough. Quiet, or rather, as quiet as th' Oceanhearts get, which isn't very. Me family are shopkeeps an' traders, bu' tendin' a store day in an' day out was no' for me. Seein' as how I was fortunate enough t' be born able to breathe above an' below the waves, th' whole world be open to me."

"I've been many things in my time, not all o' them professions tha' the local constabulary would look kindly upon, if ye catch my meaning. Righ' now, I'm tryin' me hand at being a merchant again. Th' snow may make me miserable, bu' Altraidesville sits righ' between th' Velvetclaws an' the Empire, an' that makes it a fine tradin' city. An if there's one thing for ye to learn about the Oceanhearts, it's that we know our way aroun' buyin' and sellin'. Sure, she's far from th' coasts, bu' this city jus' migh' be the place to put some gold back in me pockets."

[Ridai]

Rhea's gaze rest warmly upon her opposite, hands placed on the table, as the seamstress' intuition about Kazae's character seem to have been validated. "Ah, a woman of virtue. Yes, normally it would be expensive and time-consuming. However, as you have noticed already, I am not quite normal."

Drawing Kazae's attention with the motion, Rhea folds her hands as hints of blue appear around her fingers before parting them again, revealing a rectangular piece of cloth that suddenly seems to have materialized beneath her hands and expands as she moves them further apart until the edges are revealed. The piece is of a soothing blue color, with energetic yet gentle flowing patterns like streaks of water shaped them, enhanced by subtle brighter highlights along the patterns' edges. Looking at the craftmanship, even those unfamiliar with the craft know that even experts would need a long time to produce something like this.

"It is only a quick sample, but would this be to your liking?" Rhea watches Kazae's reaction briefly before continuing. "Go ahead," she says. "It's real. You can touch it." The piece of cloth is very smooth and soft to the touch similar to exquisite silk, yet manages to be incredibly resilient for a simple piece of cloth at the same time.

For reference, the piece's toughness is situated between that of wood and stone.

[Croakamancer]

Kazae & Rhea
The Boastful Boar Tavern

"That's... impressive."

The knight seems a little entranced at the minor spell, running her fingers through the small patch of material. It's been a long time since she's had access to fine clothes, and whilst she hadn't thought to miss them, the tone of it... she chuckles a little. "If I'd worn something like this, perhaps my last cloak wouldn't have met quite such a fate as it did."

theres a pause for a moment, before eventually, the Velvetpaw reluctantly places the small piece of fabric down upon the table, looking up regretfully. Her voice is starting to loose a little of its slightly more rugged quality, the nerves taking over, oddly enough. "I can't accept something like this as charity. I'm sorry. Even withholding legends about accepting mysterious gifts from strange looking humans..." That allows her to chuckle, if a little nervously "I'm a Knight, and offering me fine items without service rendered in return is bribery."

Arguably, that is only technically, there is no compunction against eating a host's food for instance, or taking advantage of his hospitality, (as there's an assumption that a Knight will be serving as defence against any invasion of their host's home) but this is the sort of thing the code is meant to cover. Unknown prejudices that cause a Knight to grow biased in their neutrality. Kazae frowns, trying to think of a way around the issue without giving offence.

"Perhaps a trade?"

Her food forgotten for the moment, she gestures to the doorway "Which way do you head next? Not all are kind to the tribe of man, and after a festival such as this, there may well be bandits laying in wait. I don't know if your... abilities would be of any help against such folk, but I know my blade would be."

[Ridai]

Rhea nods, picking up the piece of cloth and tugging a corner, unravelling it in just a few heartbeats, the threads softly fading into nothingness as they are untangled by the supernaturally skilled weaver. "I am headed nowhere in particular, simply going from town to town, city to city. Still, I'd love the company. A Velvetclaw, a knight even, treating me as an actual person is a rare and welcome change of pace and maybe I can learn to understand your ways a little better."

Having said that, the weaver rubs her hands together in anticipation as her food finally arrives (not minding the delay), taking in the wonderful smell. "But for today, let's just enjoy the festivities, shall we?"

Of course, the sheep barmaid, a young fairfolk woman who definitely is a credit to the name of her people, looks confused as she sees a Velvetclaw knight having a friendly conversation with a human, eyes lingering upon the latter as she sets down the food. Rhea simply smiles up to her in return. "Thank you. Mmh, this looks good," Rhea remarks excitedly, mouth watering already. The barmaid notices that she had been staring at the seamstress the whole time, blushes in embarassment and quickly leaves.

[Croakamancer]

Kazae smiles a little at Rhea's remark, shaking her head and seemingly failing to notice Mhn entirely until she is before them, nodding briefly to the barmaid before continuing. "Whatever the acts of your ancestors and peers, each being can make their own judgement. There have been Rightwing and Oceanheart and even a couple of Velvetclaw who have done foul things, treachery, lies and murder. The greatest Knight of all is a Grassrunner. Why not a noble human? What stops that from happening?"

She chuckles, that heartiness and cheer back in full, returning to her food. "Besides, I too could use the companionship. Walking alone is... well, lonely. Leaves you with nothing but the cold and your thoughts, reflecting back." She pauses for a moment, the discussion a distracting one, before returning to her food. "Something I'd rather avoid, if possible"

Truth be told, the Knight seems somewhat on the ravenous side. Rather than playing with her food, she vivisects it, between the knife and her pointed teeth. Before too long she is finished, sipping a little orange cordial and sitting back, looking across at her new companion. "It's been a long while since I attended a Winter Festival of any stripe. I've been in training for a time, then roaming. Is there anything you saw that looked to be interesting?"

[Ridai]

The weaver gives a long sigh, appreciative of Kazae's perspective on humans, but also is reminded of the harsh reality that barely anyone shares her openmindedness. "True. But sadly, your openmindedness is not very common. On either side."

Rhea braces herself on her elbows, looking to the side and at nothing in particular, a melancholic look on her face. Still, her mood soon bounces back up, simply acknowledging Kazae's loneliness up to this point with an understanding nod before focussing on the meal before herself. She takes things a little more slowly to savor the good, down-to-earth meal, food made to be tasty and filling, not needlessly fancy in looks and ingredients.

With their food finished, Rhea sighs contently as she too leans back, enjoying the warmth permeating her body. "Oh, there's plenty to experience, even if trade is the main attraction, like an Oceanheart merchant's dream come true. I caught glimpses of a rather exciting looking circus act, there's a booth with fantastic mulled wine perfect for the evening hours and more, but I wouldn't want to take away the sense of discovery by divulging everything right away," she teases, winking at the knight.

"But first," she says, clasping her hands together to underline the importance of her statement and showing a big, lovely smile. "A new cloak to enjoy the day with everyone's eyes directed at the sights, not the noble knight in their midst. Would you be so kind to accompany me to my room?"

I'm not sure if you thought it was, but Mmh wasn't supposed to be a name. It was a reactionary sound because of Rhea seeing the food. xD

[Croakamancer]

Rhea's words on the festival remind Kazae of older cousins she'd known once, long ago, when travelling with the caravan. She laughs heartily at Rhea's words, pointing towards her to emphases each word "You. are. a. tease! Species or no, I can tell that much. How do you survive without people to torment?"

Chuckling a little, at Rhea's request, she rises to her feet, bowing politely to the wait staff before turning back to the human. "Very well. If this was all some elaborate plan to assassinate me though, probably through some kind of secret human cloth magic... I'll be mildly surprised. And disappointed at the lack of the nice cloak" She chuckles a little before moving to follow her new friend, although Rhea might note a touch of tension in Kazae's pose. She has not discounted that possibility entirely

Yeah, probably shoulda gotten that. ;) Still, I know I was letting you down from a post rate PoV, so wanted to get a response in ASAP.

[Ridai]

Rhea laughs with Kazae, only stopping to put on a playfully pouty face. "Aww, but I only have everyone's best interests in mind."

She rises from her seat, giving a little chuckle as she guides Kazae to her room. "Ah, you have nothing to worry about. My abilities aren't secret, only limited to me and not normal magic," she jokes, but still makes sure to move evenly and always clearly within Kazae's sight to make her feel a little more in control.

The room is simple, but nice enough, with a table next to the window and a comfortable bed to the side. Rhea sits down on the bed, her hands folded in her lap as she looks over to Kazae. "Please feel free to inspect the room if you like." The weaver waits patiently for the knight to take any measures she wants to confirm her safety, with the human not moving until she is done, only standing up at that point.

"Now, let me get a closer look at you..." Rhea examines Kazae from head to toe, mentally noting her measurements, the armor's shape, posture, how she carries herself, how she moves, what parts of her shine most strongly and what doesn't. "Hmm, I think I got it. Please don't be afraid." With that, the weaver puts her hands together and draws them apart again, a vast multitude of threads criss-crossing between her fingers and expanding slightly outwards, forming many different bundles of cloth that hover in mid-air as two silken arms, matching her dress' color, seem to weaves themselves into existence, starting from Rhea's back. The second pair of arms is shaped very much like her real one, slender and flawless, with fine incredible detail in the patterns covering it. They too take hold of many threads.

And with that, Rhea begins her craft. Whereas before it happened too fast for Kazae to realize, now the knight can see the weaver didn't summon the little piece of cloth. She literally weaved it with her hands. She can't see the exact motions of the four arms working in tandem as their speed is seemingly immeasurable, her only seeing the broad strokes that somehow manage to be flowing and harmonious as the cloak is weaved like in a time-lapse in the matter of minutes before Kazae's very eyes. Rhea is focussed entirely on her craft, completely absorbed but yet at ease, showing a deep serenity as she works.

"There," Rhea finally says, holding the finished cloak for Kazae to see, far exceeding the craftmanship of the previous sample. The blue hooded cloak shares the same soothing color as the piece of cloth from before, with patterns harmoniously combining both water and wind motifs, giving it an elegant and energetic style. From what Kazae can tell, the way it falls has a silken quality to it (like her own movements), while still being rigid enough in the right places to not give away the form of the wearer too much (possibly hiding her armor's shape just enough).

"Is it to your liking? I'll gladly make any changes you might desire." It is apparent that Rhea really means it, patiently and openly waiting for the knight's critique.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp

Rasp bows his head slightly in thanks to Scylla. "You honor me with sssuch a detailed explanation of your people. Knowledge is as valuable to me as gold seems to be to your people." he says, smiling slightly. "Your home sssounds very different from mine, I think I would like to see it one day...if my path takes me there. My travels so far however, have not allowed me much time for sssightseeing. In fact, I do not know how long I will be able to stay in Altraidesville, but I will make the most of my time here."

[DuReign]

Eventually the massive Bell Tower rising from the town hall rings out 5 clear tones, signaling that the Grand Feast would begin shortly... once bombastic Mayor Gertrude had finished her usually long-winded, pompous speech about prosperity, hard work, and not counting ones eggs before they hatched. All of you head to the square in front of the Town Hall.

But even as Altraidesville, and our hodge-podge collection of heroes, celebrate and enjoy the fruits of industry, trade, and community, others rankle and chafe at their perceived exclusion from these same things...

Before the Town Hall, Altraidesville

"...can never chew a cud for too long'," Mayor Gertrude continued, jabbing her massive digit at invisible debaters. "The motto of my mother, and her mother before her, and her mother before her. We Ironbellies know, like the good citizens of Altraidesville, that the real work begins only when the real work ends. And it is because of this ..."

Gertrude's speech had gone on thirty minutes longer than scheduled, and the esteemed Guildmasters, resplendent in their velvet robes and with hoops of gold adoring their large alert ears, were beginning to nod off in the 5 bell sun.

On and on Gertrude droned, with the townspeople getting impatient for the beginning of the REAL festivities. Finally, harrumphing at the lack of jubilant applause from the stupefied audience at the (she thinks) dramatic ending to her speech.

"Hmmph... well, Happy Winter Festival, Altraidesians!"

Gertrude signals for the great fireworks display and the firing of the Gate-tower cannons ringing the city, throwing her arms wide.

Nothing happens.

The Bluffs above Altraidesville

For the hundredth time today, Gnash twirled his long grey whiskers and silently practiced his victory speech to himself, the words he'd fill his former Knifetooth Guildmates' ears with before he filled their brains with steel.

He had left the city just a broken down mouse, without honor or a penny to his name; he returned at the head of an army. The rats of the Guild would pay for what they had done to him, pay with the thing they held most dear: the city of Altraidesville.

The debt he owed his mysterious benefactor weighed on the back of his mind, but for now the grey mouse busied himself with imagining the heads of the Guildmasters on pikes, their long chisel teeth agape and their black button eyes blank.

His troops clinked and clanked mindlessly behind him, waiting for one word:

"Attack!"

Before the Town Hall, Altraidesville

Gertrude's second signal attempt did not bring fireworks, but instead-

*BOOOOOM!*

-a massive explosion that completely engulfs the Bell Tower in a fireball, sending brick and mortar and scraps of metal flying down on the panicking townspeople.

More explosions rock around Altraidesville - the Gate-tower cannons have been turned inward and are firing down on the city. There is pandemonium everywhere in the city as Tribespeople run willy nilly, searching for shelter.

A terrible screech of steam bulged steel fills the air, and the sky fills with fliers - steam and clockwerk monstrosities, shaped like mechanical vultures but the size of horses. There are dozens, flitting amongst the rising smoke and ash, clanking and whirring from their internal clockwerk mechanisms.

http://i.imgur.com/OwAKI.jpg (http://imgur.com/OwAKI)

Sorry for the delay... lets get busy!

Initial reactions to the attack, as well as where your characters are and what they will do. There's more, of course, but I'll tailor that exposition to what your characters do.

[Jesse Drake]

Kawtau

Standing out watching the mayor's speech, Kawtau notices the mechanical buzzards flying over head. He takes to the sky, and draws forth a ball of arcane energies. He's not sure how tough these guy's are, but he doesn't wanna jump into summoning right off the bat. He flies up as fast as possible, so to keep the combat away from the common folk, flying high and hoping at least one vulture follows him up. Hopefully these guy's weren't too tough- if they were, things would definitely get interesting... Kawtau hasn't unleashed his full potential in a while.

[ripleycat]

Scylla
HP: 1
Cond: None

At the edge of the square, Scylla rubs her temples and sighs for the umpteenth time, trying to will herself through the waves of boredom practically washing over the crowd.

"Madam Mayor has five more minutes before I'm goin' back t' the inn te take a nap... an' get a meal... maybe read a book or somethin'... meet a nice fella or a sweet gal... raise a family... retire... die, an' send my descendants out here t' listen t' her dronin' on. It'll be a family tradition, generations o' little Seaborn brought te hear the amazin' cud-chewer an' her never-ending prattle. Centuries 'll pass, an' the original reason will be lost to the mists of time. It'll become a rite o' passage. To come of age, an' prove their worth, all Seaborn must pass through th' infamous Square Of The Cow Who Won't Bloody Shut Up, in th' ruins o' long-dead Altraidesville..."

Scylla's flight of fancy is interrupted, blissfully, by the long-awaited end of Mayor Gertrude's speech. Her relief and eagerness to get to the feast and festival of buying and selling that awaited are interrupted just as fast by the thunderous report of the Gate-tower cannons and the explosion of the belltower.

"Kraken's tentacles! Look out!" The Oceanheart dives for cover, letting a vacant food stand take the worst of the shrapnel from the explosion. When the dust cleared, she was off and running (well, slithering) away from the mechanical monstrosities filling the skies. Using her considerable reach, Scylla swings and pulls her way up the nearest section of the city wall, one of the Gate-cannons in her sights. Old navy trick, turning a ship's cannon's in on its crew when you boarded her, but you could avoid the worst of it by getting in close and dealing with the gunners in melee, where the gun became useless.

"Stand an' deliver, lads!" The cry is accompanied by the ringing of steel as Scylla draws her many blades. "Arms up, or I'll cut 'em off!"

If needed, Athletics check to clamber up the city wall: [roll0]

And Initiative: [roll1]

[SuperCracker]

Jin
In the Chaos

Jin’s eyes widen as the Bell Tower explodes. He sees large chunks falling down towards the crowd.

“No. No!”

He doesn’t want to use his powers at all… but… he has to! The markings on his arms begin to crackle with what looks like red electricity before the markings themselves glow golden and project a force upwards towards the falling debris, catching it in the air and heaving it away from the townspeople.

Jin looks around for the moment at the townspeople staring at him with worry. Some are frightened. They should be.

“Go! Head for shelter! Please!”

People begin running. There’s young teenage fairfolk (cow, it looks like) who is standing there. She looks either lost or in shock. Jin runs towards her and takes her by the hand. “You have to run!” It snaps her out of it and she runs with him. They make it to a house and she gets into the door. Jin the turns around, and sees a vulture swooping towards him… and the girl.

He has no choice.

Jin takes a running start forwards and extends his right hand… that same golden glow and a crackle of red lightning erupt from his arm as he touches the beast, causing it to explode as the wave of destruction rips through it. It’s begun.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp

The speech seemed to go on forever. Rasp tried to listen to what the speaker was saying, but found it a meandering mess without any real direction or meaning. Figuring there was no way out, he found a nice sunny spot near Scylla, his new Oceanheart acquaintance (who seemed to share his own feelings about the speech) and warmed himself in the sun, nodding every so often in agreement with Scylla's words. His basking was interrupted by a loud explosion, and upon opening his eyes he sees the bell tower collapse and rain debris upon the gathered citizenry. For a moment he thinks that the monsters have caught up to him again when he hears the sounds of cannon fire - but upon looking in that direction the cannons are pointed inwards, firing upon the very town they were meant to protect!

Rasp stood still with indecision for a moment, not really processing what was happening. He watched as clockwork birds - vultures it looked like - flew over the walls and began attacking. He sees most people running in fear, but a few seem to be composed. A Rightwing flying up into the air...and a human crackling with red lightning. Never having been in a situation like this before, he turns to Scylla to find her shouting and diving for cover. Looks like some falling debris was heading right toward their spot. Rasp doesn't move from his spot - theres a slight orange glow from under his cloak and a wall of sand rises up around him, deflecting the falling debris safely away. The sand then collapses back to the ground.

He saw Scylla scurrying up the wall, her many arms propelling her higher. Figuring she had that covered, Rasp turned his attention to the mechanical bird things flying over the walls. The faint glow again comes from beneath his cloak as he holds out an open hand in the direction of one of the vultures. The vulture began to dive-bomb a fleeing truenose family as sand begain to gather around it in the vague shape of a hand. Right before the vulture reaches its target, Rasp closes his hand into a fist, and watches the sand crush the bird into scrap. It was good to see sand again. It reminded him of home.

[Ridai]

Rhea enjoys Kazae's company, guiding the Velvetclaw knight around town and showing her a few gems amongst the booths and sights. The speech however only draws a long sigh from the weaver's lips, the human eventually starting to doze in a nearly standing position, supported by a bar stool like construction of cloth. Somehow, she even manages to pull it off in style.

The explosion makes her stir from her drowsy state. Although confronted with a situation like she never encountered, Rhea is exceptionally quick to act, simply registering those exceptional few that emerge from the crowd in defense of the common people as she watches the vultures. This is hardly the only threat to her life she has been subjected to in her life. Seeing a particular cluster of vultures closing in on Kazae and herself, as well as the people nearby, including the young human man shooting lightning, Rhea suddenly spreads her arms, thousands of glowing threads spreading out before her and suddenly weaving a sphere of cloth around the vultures, trapping them midair.

Hardly seconds later and as predicted, the sphere is hit by a cannon shot, tearing it apart and clearing the immediately nearby airspace, the mechanical parts getting flung everywhere stopped by a silken barrier also formed from Rhea's countless threads, soon dissipating into nothingness, harmlessly dropping the many caught objects. Still, she can't protect everyone from everything happening, with some getting wounded in the chaos. Very quick steps for a human, a complex array of ethereal strands of cloth following her motions that rapidly fade out of existance, bring her to the side of a young fairfolk man, the bull clutching his leg in pain as he lies on the floor and still tries to drag himself forward.

Rolling him onto his back and pushing his arm from his broken leg, Rhea grasps the wound, causing it to softly light up and reveal a tapestry of glowing threads that is in bad disarray. With a few lightning quick motions, the weaver brings it back to former glory, literally knitting bone and flesh and spreading a blissful, soothing feeling through the bull's body, causing him to sigh in relief. Quickly getting up, the young man still doesn't move, alternatively looking nervously at the lightning-powered human in front of a house's door (or rather, the young fairfolk entering the house behind him) and in awe at Rhea.

"He is a friend. Go, go!" The weaver says to the young bull, pushing him towards the house, answered by a hasty nod and moving into that direction, but not without another look over his shoulder. So many still need to be tended to, making Rhea hope she can get to most in time and that Kazae will be able to lead the panicked crowd with her considerable presence, while the seamstress dodges one assault after the other on the move.

[Croakamancer]

Kazae manages to loose herself a little in the human's company. It's so strangely simple, just standing back from the problems of the world, relaxing, having fun. It made her feel like a kitten once again, getting to see all the sites of the festival. Of course, there is the boring speech by the official to deal with, but then, all the more celebration to ensure, and the adult Kazae is able to focus, give the Mayor at least some little respect.

And then, the city falls apart. Rubble coming down from the belltower, canon shot, flying birds...

Kazae is stunned for a second, but soon enough her blade is in her hand, and she's casting her eyes about quickly, taking in the situation. There're other defenders rising, an Oceanheart with many blades, a human wielding red lightning... and Rhea, using her magic to contain some and leaving them blown to hell. Again and again, explosions and metal rain down.

The gate. We're all fighting the immediate, these things... how did they get control of the gate canons?

But for now, there are the many, running, screaming at the fate coming to them. Kazae barks, as loud as she can. "Get inside! Get to shelter. They're not going to be able to get inside too easily." Granted, there were the canon to deal with in that case, but that was the next problem. For now, one of the great bird-machines is bearing down on their small part of the assembly., beak outstreched, wings folding back as it descends towards the earth.

One upward stroke, with all of the Velvetclaw's might, is enough to gut the mechanical monster, leaving it creaking and crashing as its remains fall to the ground. Kazae's eyes don't linger on it, flickering back to the situation instead. Most are fighting their immediate battles, and she has little she can do against flying foes. If there is some point in which she can assist, she can head to it, otherwise, the gates, and traitors, are calling

Those two I met when I was coming in...

[DuReign]

Kawtau

From the sky, in between rising plumes of sooty smoke and hot updrafts from city fires, dozens of steam-powered vulture constructs wheel through the air. The smaller ones are flying about, adding to the general menace, but the larger vultures are dropping things on the city: bombs, it looks like, and also what looks like mekanical humanoids - more invaders.

http://i.imgur.com/aiH0t.png

Scylla

Thanks for the preemptive Athletics check; it succeeds.

Scylla runs to the nearest section of city wall behind the Town Hall. With her natural assets (her tentacles, what did you think I meant?), Scylla is able to nimbly scale up the side of the wall as quickly as any Cleverhand.

Once over the edge, she trains her large cephalopod eyes on the nearest cannon tower - and immediately sees what has happened. Fairfolk and Truenose militia men lay tied up and gagged, while steam-powered mekanical constructs man the cannons with a cacophony of steam whistle hisses and clanks, raining destruction down on the city below.

Jin

The vulture-bot explodes in a cacaphony of gold and red energy, the bits and pieces of the construct showering around him.

The girl Jin just saves stares at him in shock and fear, manages to stutter a hesitant "T-t-thank you!" and runs off. You don't have a chance to see where she goes, because soon enough more vulture-bots are swooping overhead, dropping strangely coifed mekanical minions all around the city. There are scores of them.

Rhea

In a strangely beautiful display of clothomancy, Rhea defends a section of the city from incoming cannon fire or tends to the wounded. The city militia have finally arrived on the scene, several dozen brave Truenose and Fairfolk warriors, a Stonehide or two amongst them, all lead by an odd Captain: a frog faced Oceanheart whose massive legs cannot be contained by the plates of his armor, wielding a gigantic warmaul.

"Hop to it, lads!" the Captain cries, literally leaping into the battle, and the milita charge headlong into the fray after him, swords clanging against boiler-heated iron.

Kazae

Its not long after the Velvetclaw Knight lays low her vulture attacker before the swell of battle engulfs her. All around her the milita fight the slower but absurdly strong mekanical constructs, whose steam powered punches send milita flying through the air.

The Defense of Altraidesville

A fellow Velvetclaw, this one a tomcat militaman, has the spear in his hands shattered by a construct before his head is crushed by another.

A Knifetooth wizard, his grey whiskers and beard trailing behind him as he soars through the air on the wings of a spell, engulfs two vulture fliers with a fireball, but he doesn't see another half dozen swooping in towards him from behind.

Two Truenose citizens are trying to lead a gaggle of Fairfolk peasantry away from the carnage but are having a hard time of it.

A cannon ball crashes through the Town Hall, sending mortar and stone flying; the whole structure looks like it will soon collapse.

A Stonehide militaman has fought his way up the steps to the city walls, near Scylla, but he is only one rhino against the three mekanical monsters controlling the cannon tower - each strong enough to throw cannonballs themselves.

From every vantage point, the fair city of Altraidesville is in a state of pure pandemonium.

The above are just some random hooks you can use to fluff out your action as we enter...

Ok, to bolster this lagging game (my fault), I'm injecting some steroids into this. See the IC post, this is here for reference:

Mass Combat

We are going to test run something I've been working on, a method of abstract-ifying lots of chaos. It partly uses the Mass Combat rules in the Gamemaster's Guide. Put simply, Altraidesville's Militia are treated like a single character, and so are the Vulture Bots, the Steam Bots, and the Cannon Tower Defenders. Combat is run analogously in all other ways, in battlefield rounds that last a minute each (Time Rank 3, and all actions representing a lot of coordination, lots of maneuvers, etc.). So your Standard Action to Attack in a battlefield round actually represents you fighting QUITE A BIT. Everything is treated normally otherwise, just with different names. All actions are resolved SIMULTANEOUSLY, so there is no Initiative.

Altraidesville's Milita is composed of about 200 members, and is considered Battalion sized and has a Force Rank (PL) of 7, which is added to its Attack, Damage, and Toughness. The Milita will act independently unless you guys persuade them to follow your lead, in which case they are under your control.

Like a character, it has the following qualities: Trained: Attack 2 (+9), Damage 5 (+12), Defense 2, Toughness 1 (+8), Morale 0. They are Ground Forces, and cannot attack Air Forces. They are pretty strong, but they have a problem: they have to defend the fleeing Citizens, and the City, which have no Defense or Toughness (+0 modifiers). If either the Citizens or the City are taken out... well, you don't want that to happen.

Each round, a Force or character can Protect the Citizens or the City; its a Full Round Action (meaning you can't do anything), and you basically are Interposing. If none of you Protect, the Milita will by default; but it can only Protect one, leaving the other open. Anyone who Protects the Citizens or the City gains a Hero Point.

The Vulture Bots are Platoon sized, or about 50 strong, and have a Force Rank of 3. Because they are robotic, they are like Veterans: Attack 4 (+7), Damage 6 (+9), Defense 4, Toughness 2 (+5), Morale IMMUNE. They are Air Forces, so cannot be attacked by Ground Forces (but can be attacked by your characters if they can get in range).

The Steam Bots are Company sized, 100 or so, and have a Force Rank of 5. They are Veterans: Attack 4 (+9), Damage 6 (+11), Defense 4, Toughness 2 (+7), Morale IMMUNE. They are Ground Forces.

The Cannon Tower Defenders are a Squad (10 individual Steam bots) and are Force Rank 1. They are Veterans: Attack 4 (+5), Damage 6 (+7), Defense 4, Toughness 2 (+3), Morale IMMUNE. They are Ground Forces, but there are 6 of them, all around the city at each Cannon Tower. They will not attack unless you are attacking them.

As long as the Cannon Tower Defenders are up, the Cannons will fire: basically there is a 10% per Cannon Defender still up that your characters and the Milita will take Damage 6. So every battlefield round, if all 6 Cannons are up, there is a 60% chance (determined individually) that a cannonball explodes nearby.

Force Damage is analogous to normal combat: 1 degree of failure is Disrupted (Bruise in 2e, Hit or -1 Toughness in 3e, but in applies to Toughness and Morale checks), 2 degrees of failure is Disrupted + Stunned, 3 degrees is Disrupted + Staggered + Demoralized (see below), 4 degrees is Destroyed.

A Force might need to make a Morale Check. A Morale Check is d20 + Morale + Modifiers, and is basically a different form of Toughness and results in the same Conditions. It is always against DC10. It can be modified by appropriate Interaction Skills, like Intimidate (penalties on enemies), Persuasion (bonuses), or Expertise: Tactics/Leadership (bonuses).

A Force must make a Morale Check every time:
- it fails a Toughness check
- It fails to inflict damage against a target for two successive battle rounds
- Serious setbacks or reversals (I'll decide)

Demoralized means a Force cannot attack.

Additional stuff: if you have Takedown, you get a +2 to Attack large Forces. If you have Takedown 2 (which I don't think you should have, but you can Power Stunt it), you get both a +2 to Attack and +2 to Effect.

Area attacks get a +2 to Effect.

Takedown/Area bonuses do not stack.

Evasion grants you a -10% chance of getting caught by a cannonball blast per rank.

This is admittedly a lot, so if you have questions, ask OOC; I'll put this there too for reference.

[Ridai]

Defenses Dodge/Parry 12, Toughness 4, Fortitude 6, Will 10
Special defenses Evasion, Fearless, Uncanny Dodge
Current conditions Healthy

Ethereal threads and cloth follow Rhea's every motion as she nimbly evades both cannon fire, including the debris flung about, as well as diving mechanical vultures, slapping a few of them aside with a vicious lash from a silken whip-like construct that is hard and sharp like steel. It all is a continuous flowing dance courtesy of her natural grace, even amongst the grim chaos around her, fearlessly striding straight through the heart of it.

Upon seeing the commander and his squad, the weaver gives a quick, courteous nod. "I will engage the fliers. Godspeed." With that, she crosses her arms briefly before spreading them apart, thousand threads letting two majestic and enchantingly beautiful wings emerge from the back of the seamstress' clothes that change from her flowing dress to a tight sleeveless shirt and pants. Shortly after, Rhea fluidly takes to the air, streams of cloth forming around her lower arms.

The vultures have the advantage in numbers and speed, a fact that makes opening the battle for real difficult for the weaver. Yet her connection to her Ylva endows her with enough prowess to still strike against the constructs, predicting their motions and paths to lash out against them. It is a long, dazzling array composed of all kinds of types of cloth and colors that is used against them, deadlier than most types of steel. Whips, flexible large hammers, blades, spears, gauntlets, even almost shapeless weapons, they all spring into existence long enough to crush and pierce, with Rhea at the core, continuing her performance.

If I can, I'd like to make a Persuasion check to see if Rhea knows anything about the enemy forces due to Well-Informed. [roll0]

Switch Clothweave Mobility to Linen Wings (Flight 1/Glide 2)
Switch Weaves to Silken Whip (lethal)

Rhea flies into the air and attacks the Vultures
[roll1] (Crit 16-20) vs. Parry DC 14
Toughness DC 21 or suffer damage

edit: Man, what a start. A 1 and a 2...

[Croakamancer]

Kazae Rainrunner
Defenses Dodge/Parry 8, Toughness 8, Fortitude 8, Will 8
Special defenses Fearless,
Current conditions Healthy

Chaos makes things get worse and worse. The militia showing up was a bright spot, but Rhea is now fighting in the air, even as the battle moves to the ground, with advancing infantrymen, more pecking vultures, cannon fire.... Kazae had seen a siege, once upon a time, long before she became a warrior. It was from the other side, watching the mighty canon fire towards the tiny fort. But something like this? It wasn't a band of noble defenders holding the walls against all comers. This is a fight for survival.

As the poor tomcat was now well aware. Seeing a fellow member of the Tribe die does not help the knight's mood, no matter what his station in life, leaving her barely reaction to the shot that hit the town hall, in spite of the impassioned screams of those who had been darting towards it in hope of sanctuary from the chaos, even as the militiamen try to hold the monsters back to give them that very chance.

Superb. Now they're trapped in a corner, and the militia are too dis-unified to draw up a good line to intercept. Which leaves...

The red handed one might notice a lightly shaded blur in the corner of its visual sensors for a second, as a sky blue cloaks flicks through the wind behind the darting, ducking form of Kazae Rainrunner, dodging past the murderous automata. In a few seconds, she is once more standing tall, now at the feet of the town hall steps, sword drawn and at the ready.

Her voice booms out, a little of that command she'd learned back in training. If you can sound as though you control the situation, your words can move armies in themselves. "Come, Automata! Or are you afraid under all that clanking metal of facing one of the King's own?!"

Trying to provoke the emotions of clockwork assailants is laughable, Kazae's well aware of that, but with Rhea gone, and the militia... distracted, someone needs to focus on keeping the attackers attention away from the civilians. If that means making herself a target, so be it. She can take a few blows, unlike the townsfolk, or most of the militamen

Defending the Civilians, leaving the militia to defend the buildings if none of the other heroes choose to. Not sure how many of the other characters are going to be keeping to the town square, so not reacting to any other than Rhea, who I know is still there,but the town hall being the place with the highest concentration of civilians in need of separate protection from the buildings makes sense, given that canon shot probably gave them second thoughts about going inside.

Also, sigh at initiative not getting to matter; it's one of Kazae's better stats.:smallwink: [roll0]

[SuperCracker]

Jin
Town Hall
Stats
Defenses: 18 dodge/parry
HP: 1
Condition: Good

People are dying left and right. Mechanical creatures prey on the weak. He’s let his powers out. He was using them… and a combination of his worry for the townsfolk and the destructive impulses of his power were combining to fill him with a rage unlike himself. He grits his teeth and clenches his fists. He takes quick breaths to try and calm himself, like his old Shieldskin teacher taught him.

A shot from one of the cannons hits nearby, destroying a home and sending smoke, dust, and shrapnel exploding past Jin. He opens his eyes. They are glowing a dangerous gold color. He looks up towards the cannon that fired the shot.

The crackles of red lightning around his body intensify, and his markings glow ever brighter. He then shoots off into the air, straight for the Town Hall cannon squad that harried citizens as they sought shelter.

He hovered above the steamboats and glared at them angrily. They weren’t alive… so he didn’t feel qualms about using this dreaded ability.

“Leave them alone!”

The sky above grows black… then bursting through the clouds comes angry golden streaks of light, raining down on the steamboats and the cannon. One after another, smashing into the enemies. It looked as if Zodias himself, or perhaps a darker entity, had decided to smite the enemies of Altraidesville.

It’s a cinematically appropriate time to use “Rain of Destruction.” Burst-Area, Selective Damage 8. +2 to effect for mass combat rules. Makes it an area 10 effect. DC 20 dodge and DC 25/20 damage.

Jin will remain at the cannon, so if other cannons attack him they’ll be hitting their own troops.

Also, his magic sense (acute and analytical) is up consistently throughout the battle. Let me know if he spots any magic, and what his analysis would give him. He may target mages if he sees them.

[ripleycat]

Scylla
HP: 1
Defenses: Dodge/Parry: 10, Fort: 8, Tough: 6, Will: 7
Cond: None

"I got ye, big guy! Hang on!" The squad of mekanical men menacing the massive militiaman are treated to a storm of slashing and stabbing blades as Scylla launches into them, wielding a squad's worth of weaponry in her own right. Ducking and weaving, contorting her body in ways that someone with one of those newfangled "skeletons" would find impossible and probably disturbing, she hacks and stabs at every exposed gear, every steam tube.

"Hahaha! Come on then, ye walkin' junkpiles! Try your luck with me. Better than you has tried an' failed!" A tentacle snakes out of the writhing mass of struggling mek men and angry octopus and directs the Stonehide towards the bound and gagged cannon crew. "Get 'em free, an' you turn tha' cannon on the others and blow 'em out of th' water!" Scylla punctuates her words by driving a dagger into the knee of one of the steam bots, which stumbles back, crippled, before pitching over the edge of the wall with a metallic crash.

Attacking one of the squads of Cannon Tower Defenders with Scylla's Slashing Flurry: [roll0](+2 from Takedown) DC23 Toughness check, plus any Multiattack bonus.

Persuasion check to help the militia: [roll1]

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp
HP: 1
Defenses: Dodge/Parry 8, Fort 8, Tough 8, Will 8
Condition: none

*ka-BOOM* Rasp flinches as a cannonball crashes into town hall behind him, showering him with dust and pieces of debris. Shaking off the dust now coating his scales, and giving one last glance to the Truenose family to make sure they were safely on their way, he turns to face the destruction of the prominent structure. The building stood on the verge of collapse, and Rasp hoped nobody was hiding inside - however unlikely that may be.

He sprints across the battlefield, weaving and hopping over debris lining the streets. Dashing through what remained of the doors to town hall he reaches the middle of the building, the groans of straining building supports echoing off the walls. Rasp held out his hands, Godstone strapped over his chest glowing again, faintly at first, but stronger and stronger as sand began whipping around him. "Endless Sands...BEND TO MY WILL!" he shouts as the sand forms supports around the town hall, shoring up the damage and allowing the building to remain standing - for now at least.

Protecting the City. Creative use of create object.

Du, Rasp didn't get a bit in your post :smallfrown:

[DuReign]

Rhea is the center of a tapestry of destruction. Strands of cloth of every shape and color radiate from her, forming quilted armaments or woven weapons, snagging and smashing or cutting and impaling the inelegant, clanky vulture-fliers. The automatons are swift and sport powerful claws or powerful bombs, but have difficulty turning or banking when caught in a network of deadly strands.

Several of Altraidesville's wizards, each using spells to fly, play deadly games of hide and seek amongst the cloth streamers in the sky, with Rhea doing her best to shield them and obscure the vision of the enemy. Vulture bots explode from fireballs or dissolve away in sprays of acid, or else are impaled by cloth spears and shattered by cloth hammers.

Several of the hijacked cannon towers attempt to blow you from the sky, but you manage to evade them on your cloth wings; some of the wizards defending the city, however, aren't so lucky. Is it fortunate that the cannonball explosions probably granted them a swift, painless death?

You don't know anything about these mekanical invaders.

Your attack just hits, as I'm sure you figured.

Vulture Bot force Toughness check vs. DC21: 1d20+5=24 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524212/), no effect. Hey SC, looks like IC is hating this team as well.

Checking to see if Rhea gets hit by a cannonball, basically rolling 1d100 and anything less than a 50 (since all 6 cannon towers are up, but you have Evasion): 1d100=52 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524224/), lucky you.

The vulture fliers maneuver and defend themselves as best they can against Altraidesville's aerial defenders, but the bulk of the creatures direct their bombs at the city below them, focusing mostly on the Town Hall and the nearby barracks and other buildings of importance.

Rasp, however, infused with the godstone of the desert, has created fortifications from the sand beneath the cobblestones. The sand fills in gaps in walls or form temporary buttresses, and while the Town Hall groans, it remains standing.

More bombs drop down, but Rasp creates shielding walls of sand to catch as many as he can, forcing them to explode high above their targets. Some come through, causing terrible damage, but many more do not, giving Men of the Watch precious time to evacuate buildings and get civilians to safety.

Rasp uses his Create 8 power to basically shield the City. Normally, that level of effect wouldn't be enough volume to protect everything, but because this is Mass Combat, and each round is really a LONG time, we'll say you're constantly making and moving walls around wherever they are needed.

Your sand walls are basically inanimate objects and Defenseless (DC10, any attack is a Critical Hit). The Vulture Bots are attacking the City, but since Rasp is defending it, they hit the sand walls instead:
1d20+7=11 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524215/), thats barely a hit, Damage 9 +5 from the Defenseless Crit, or Damage 14 (DC29).
Sand wall Toughness check, DC29: 1d20+8=24 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524217/), fail by 5 or two degrees of failure. That would normally be a Hit (-1 Toughness) and Dazed, but you can't Daze inanimate objects.

Cannon check (60%): 1d100=68 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524231/), lucky you.

Rasp gets a HP for defending the City.

You've never encountered mekanical creatures like these before - in the Velvetclaw Kingdom, such constructs were mere toys or trinkets made to amuse Highborn kittens. But you've heard tales that such mekanical monsters abounded in dark Dulrndurilan...

Down in the thick of battle, Kazae has found herself leading a small handful of Truenose and Fairfolk milita who have managed to get themselves separated from the main group. Steam powered giants throw themselves at your group, but through tenacity and knightly skill you manage to hold them off - barely - as a porcine lieutenant oversees the evacuation of a series of inns.

You and your group of militia are ragged and bleeding - and still reeling from the loss of one of the Stonehide guardsmen, an elephant who had singlehandedly taken down two constructs before three more beat him into the ground

But there is still plenty of fight left in you... at least you think so, until a cannonball explodes in your midst.

The Steam Bots attack the Civilians, but Kazae defends.

Steam Bot attack: 1d20+9=24 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524235/), that is a hit and Damage 11.

Kazae Toughness check, DC26: 1d20+8=22 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524236/), fail by 4 or 1 degree of failure, thats a Hit.

Cannon check (60%) 1d100=27 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524238/), thats a bingo.
Kazae Toughness check, DC21: 1d20+8-1=11 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524241/), thats fail by 10 or three degrees of failure, a Hit and Staggered. Going to HP reroll that: 1d20+8-1=24 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524244/), no effect.

Kazae gained an HP for defending the Civilians but burned a HP.

The main group of Militia continue to fight the Steam Bots in the streets wherever they are, their amphibian Captain leaping and smashing great holes in the Steam Bot ranks with his war maul.

The Militia attack the Steam Bots (Defense is 14): 1d20+9=27 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524252/), thats a hit.

Steam Bot Toughness check (DC24): 1d20+7=22 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524254/), fail by 2 or 1 degree of Failure, the Steam Bots are Disrupted (-1 Toughness).

The Steam Bots do not need to make a Morale check.

Militia's cannon check (60%): 1d100=94 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524255/), lucky them.

Up on the wall near the Town Hall, Jin unleashes the fury of his mysterious power on the Steam Bot cannon tower hijackers; the magical explosion sends the robots flying but several manage to level the cannon to fire point blank at Jin.


As an area attack, the Cannon Tower Defenders Town Hall (CTD TH) make a generic Defense check vs DC20 to halve the effect: 1d20+4=17 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524256/), thats a failure, full effect or DC25.

CTD TH Toughness check, DC25: 1d20+3=11 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524257/), thats fail by 14 or three degrees of failure, the CTD TH are Disrupted and Staggered (but Morale immune).

Jin cannon check (60%): 1d100=19 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524260/), thats a bingo.

Jin Toughness check, DC21: 1d20+8=27 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524262/), no effect. Maybe IC does love you guys.

After the smoke clears from the cannon tower, only a handful of Steam Bots remain, clanking and clamoring away at reloading the hijacked weapon. Its at this moment that Scylla and the rhino militiaman strike: Scylla's many swords wring against metal hide or find vulnerable hosing and wires underneath, while the rhino simply charges into a construct with his shoulder, sending it plummeting 20 feet to the cobblestones below.

The fight is fierce, but the two of manage to clean up the stragglers of Jin's magical attack, clearing the cannon of its hijackers. But before you can celebrate your small victory, a Vulture Bot flying high above drops a bomb directly onto the stockpile of cannonballs, igniting the whole pile.

Scylla hits, but barely. There is no Multiattack bonus damage.

CTD TH Toughness check, DC23: 1d20+3-1=7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524268/), thats fail by 16 or four degrees of failure, the CTD TH Force has been Destroyed.

But still, gotta do the cannon check: 1d100=10 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524269/). Whee!

Scylla Toughness check, DC21: 1d20+6=18 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3524272/), thats fail by 3 or 1 degree of failure, a Hit.

OOC Front Post is updated.

Next battlefield round, go go go!

[Croakamancer]

Kazae Rainrunner
Defences; Dodge/Parry 8, Toughness 8, Fortitude 8, Will 8
Special defences; Fearless,
Current conditions; Injured (-1)

The canon blast knocks Kazae and her small impromptu squad to the ground with a thud. Still, the Knight has taken a few blows like this before in her time. One other battle in particular is springing to mind, again against superior forces. She survived there, she can damn well survive this attack as well, no matter who is making it.

Dulrndurilan? This far from their borders? Can't be. If these heaps originate there, probably just sold to someone. Man's not exactly known for ethics.

Now, she's on her feet, but the others are not so lucky. Some are moving, some are groaning, and too many are silent. Kazae clenches her fist, the pain forgotten in her irritation as the next squad of Steambots start ominously clanking their way towards them. "Stand! Stand! We need a defensive line, they're coming again!"

But no. She's going to have to buy her men time to get back on their feet. Which will mean taking the fight to the oncoming massive hunks of junk. Is it her imagination, or does one of them have red-stained hands? They probably all do at this point.

If the meks are capable of surprise, they might feel some at the sight of one of the Tribesmen charging straight towards them, irrespective of the threat. But Kazae is quick and Kazae is nimble. And Kazae has a lot of anger in her right now, as she ducks and twists around the meka, getting between them, confusing them. Each strike comes with all the strength she can muster, cutting through steel like paper or wood, and Kazae lands many strikes, again, and again...

You will pay, whoever is controlling this damnable army. You will face a reckoning from Zodias and me!

Ok, rage time. :) Power Stunting two ranks off Speed to get Takedown 2, and using power attack at full, to make a grand total of +5 attack, for a rank 15 damage effect. Also, if the roll heads below a nine, and thus fails, I'll use my last hero point to reroll for an automatic success, as a HP re-roll can't be below 10. Otherwise, I'll save that hero point for next round/saving Kazae's life a second time.

Either way, happy DC30 Toughness check, ya whirring hunks of junk! :smallsmile: And Reign; remember, they took a -1 from the militia, so they're rolling at six. (You didn't note this on the front OOC) If they roll nine or less, (fifteen or less tot) it's a four degree failure... :smallwink:

[roll0]

Ok, so I get to save the HP for now. ;) Kazae is fatigued, but I can spend the HP at any time

Toughness, for the Bot Brigade - (1d20+6)[20] (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13253852&postcount=70), so three degrees of failure. Canon roll was high as hell, so no hit from that

[Ridai]

Defenses Dodge/Parry 12, Toughness 4, Fortitude 6, Will 10
Special defenses Evasion, Fearless, Uncanny Dodge
Current conditions Healthy

Things were going badly, with Rhea barely able to make much of an impact. It shows that she doesn't have nearly as much practical combat experience as Ylva, even with their connection in place. Still, the weaver sees the cannon shot coming, swiftly gliding out of the way, but hears it explode to soon. As she turns, she can still see the awful sight of wizards being turned to ashes or flung to the ground like charred ragdolls. Yet another shot flies by, but it wasn't quite aimed in her direction.

"No!" It flies directly towards the civilians and the Velvetclaw knight defending them valiantly. In a few heartbeats, their forms are concealed by a ball of flame. "Kazae!" Rhea wants to fly down to the ground, but is intercepted by vultures, forcing her to dodge through the air again and defend the still living wizards.

Having no time to check for survivors on the ground or even look down there, the seamstress reinforces her assault, weaving bigger and more vicious weaponry, once even bringing a gigantic spiked hammer into existence she swings with all the might her threads can bring to bear. She doesn't care who they were sent by or for what reason. Only vengeance for the dead and wounded (and the potential loss of her new friend) is on her mind, exacted with the same cold ferocity of her people when they were gravely wronged in the past.

I made a mistake on the attack modifier before. It's +10, so Rhea missed. Doesn't change anything, since she did no damage anyway.

Power attack worth 2 points on Rhea's next attack.

[roll0] (Crit 16-20) vs Parry 14
Vultures: [roll1] vs. Toughness DC 28 (due to crit and power attack)

Two degrees of failure, so disrupted and stunned.

edit: Cannon fire evaded. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13253975&postcount=71)

[SuperCracker]

Jin
Front Gate
Stats
Defenses: 18 dodge/parry
HP: 1 -> 0
Condition: Good

He looks like a man possessed as he rains down that angry golden-orange bolts at the Steam bots. In desperation (if robots can have such), they fire the cannon at him. In a shocking display of power, Jin waves his hand towards the cannon-ball as it approaches him… and a wave of golden force wreathed in red lightning appears and strikes the cannon-ball, detonating it in mid-air.

The eight-limbed swashbuckler comes in and cleans up the rest of the bots.

“Thank you! Come with me. We can keep these cannons from hurting the people down below!”

Jin, despite his amnesia, is still an intelligent young man. He can see that the cannons are perhaps the greatest threat. He can also see that some defenders were holding off the vultures and the mek forces.

Jin points towards the closest cannon tower and tears off towards it with whatever magical power gives him flight. He grits his teeth and raises his arm out. He comes smashing into the ranks of the cannon squad, emitting shockwaves of destructive force as he hits his foes.

Okay. Let’s say that we’re hitting the front gate defenders. Using wrath of Zodias.

Power stunting Takedown. HP

Attack: (with takedown) – [roll0] DC 25 toughness (and I believe they are immune to the fort save) – the toughness save will be repeated next round due to “Secondary Effect” extra

Cannon Squad Toughness: [roll1]

Cannon check: (with evasion – 40%) [roll2]

Possible Toughness save vs. cannon: [roll3]

[ripleycat]

The vulture-bot's well-placed bomb and the resultant explosion knocks Scylla for a loop, but she pops up quickly, only a little worse for wear. She nods at the heavily tattooed human hovering above the remains of the cannon emplacement. Normally, a human with such wild magical power would be suspicious, to say the very least, but strange bedfellows and all that. Right now, Scylla was just glad he was using that power against these wretched machines.

"Ye got it, skyfarer!" She claps the hard-charging rhino militiaman on the shoulder, leaving him in charge of the gun crew and what was left of their tower, and goes slithering off after Jin as fast as she can.

Rather than charging madly into the throng, as Scylla approaches the squad of steam-men around the cannon above the front gate, she uses her impressive reach to confront the bots outside the range of their great strength. Her tentacles lance out like harpoons, dueling with the constructs at 30 feet. She forces them back, the wall of steel she presents preventing the meks from fleeing the storm of destruction her new human ally rains on them from above.

Cannon chance:
If Cannon hits...
Dodge Check: [roll1]
Toughness Check: [roll]1d20+5

Attack against the front gate defenders with Jin. Activating Elongation as a free action. Using Slashing Flurry again: [roll2]+2(Takedown)

If that hits, Toughness save for the cannon crew: [roll3]

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp

Rasp maintains his focus, catching dropping bombs and shielding the town and citizens from harm - and making sure the town hall stays standing. Satisfied that the town hall wouldn't collapse on everyone in the next minute or so, he darts out of the building and focuses his attention on one of the cannon crews. They have to be stopped...

Raising his hands above his head, a swirling blast of sand whips around him and solidifies into countless spikes, sharp as any spear. Rasp then points his hands toward the cannon crew and the spikes fly foward in a barrage...

ok, here comes my rolls. I'm probably gonna do this wrong so please correct me if so oh M&M overlords :smallwink:

[roll0] multiattack
if hits, [roll1]

ok, me vs. cannons
[roll2] 40% due to evasion
if hit [roll3]

[DuReign]

No longer content to take the defensive, Kazae whirls into action, charging headlong into the battle. She is a dervish of action, pushing the Steam Bots back with every swipe of her weapon, and giving her small brigade of militia enough breathing room to fill the gap she created. They roar into battle behind her spearpoint charge, driving a massive wedge into the Steam Bot formation milling all over the Town square.

"Sir Knight! Sir Knight!" the small handful of militia shout as a battlecry, not knowing your name, as you smash into the Steam Bot lines again and again, .

The Steam Bots do indeed fail by three degrees; that is another Disrupted, and Staggered.

Kazae is Fatigued, but can cancel that at any time with her HP. She has Takedown 2 for the rest of this scene.

Up in the sky, Rhea closes the net of her cloth web on the Vulture Bots; in a few short minutes, dozen of wrecked constructs plummet from the sky or explode into satisfying fireballs.

"Well done, cloth mage!" the Knifetooth greybeard wizard huffs as he flies nearby after electrocuting another winged machine with a fork of lightning. "I think we got the things on the run!"

This is so easy, now that you guys are doing the resolution for me! :smallbiggrin:. However, second degree failure on Damage means Vulture Bots are Disrupted and Dazed, not Stunned (an improvement from 2e, where Stun-lock was a horribly abused tactic). Stunned can only be applied from Afflictions.

Now, for Jin:

Jin burns an HP.

Jin's attack just hits.

The Cannon Defenders fail their Toughness check by 5, or two degrees: they are Disrupted and Dazed.

Jin gets caught in a cannonball blast.

Jin's Dodge check vs. DC13 (half effect from Evasion): 1d20+8=9 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530029/), welp, IC hates you still. Full effect.

Toughness check result of 16 vs. DC21 is fail by 5, two degrees of failure: Jin takes a Hit and is Dazed.

Flying over the carnage toward the front gate, Jin releases more arcane destruction on the clanking Steam Bots manning the cannons lining the gate towers. Steam Bots fall into scorched piles of junk, but one machine grabs one of his fallen fellows, whirls it about and flings it at the golden eyed human. The Steam Bot projectile's internal boiler explodes, showering Jin in steaming hot metal shrapnel and clouds of hot steam.

The octopus pirate manages to reach the front gate towers in an interesting display of tentacle swinging and slithering and crawling up and around rooftops, in between dodging cannon fire and the dropped bombs of Vulture Fliers. Seeing the Steam Bots manning the gate tower cannons still up after Jin's magical assault, Scylla lances at them with her many blades, but her blows lack the leverage or strength to crack the ponderous constructs hide.

Scylla misses, but also takes no cannon fire damage.

Now for Rasp:

Attack on Cannon Defenders E hits, for two degrees of success. With Multiattack, thats only good enough to add +2 to Damage, or total of 10 from Dune Fang, or DC25. Again, why do you have Multiattack listed twice on your character sheet?

I made a copy-paste error on the OOC front post: the Cannon Defenders stats were wrong, so really they only have Toughness 3. So really, they roll a total of 8, not 12. Vs. DC25, thatas fail by more than 15; Rasp takes out the CDE all by himself.

The Shieldskin vagabond gestures, and snakes of sand writhe up and over the Steam Bots defending the Eastern guard towers. The tendrils of sand buffet and batter the constructs, which mindlessly swipe at the equally mindless sand tentacles, only to be ripped apart or have their boilers mucked up and silenced by the hot water mixing with sand. The entire guard tower disappears in a writhing mass of sand tendrils; when the sand finally subsides, not a single Steam Bot remains standing.

Despite their setbacks, the robotic attackers continue their mindless assault, heedless of their losses. The Vulture Fliers ignore Rhea and their other aerial attackers and continue to bomb Altraidesville; fires begin to rage unchecked in some parts of the city.

"Fight back the fires, lads! We can't let the flames get out of control or we'll be burnt to a crisp!" The Captain orders before burying his war maul into a Steam Bot's body. He barely has time to retrieve his weapon before a cannon ball explodes nearby, knocking him and his men off their feet.

The city defenders are forced to splinter their forces, to continue holding back Steam Bots from helpless escaping citizens and to become a makeshift fire brigade to beat back the flames. The firefighters have a tough time of it, as buildings collapse into infernos around them and bombs continue falling.

Only the Militia is free to defend both the City and the Civilians.

It uses its Standard Action to Split, dividing its forces into two. There are only 100 or so members in each force, so they are reduced to two Companies and are Force Rank 7. They protect the City (from Vulture Bots) and the Civilians (from the Steam Bots).

Vulture Bot attack on Militia A: 1d20+7=15 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530075/), hits.
Militia A Toughness check vs. DC24: 1d20+6=14 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530077/), thats fail by 10 or three degrees of failure, Militia A is Disrupted and Staggered.

They must make a Morale check of DC10: 1d20=16 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530078/)-1 (Disrupted)=15, they hold it together.

Militia A cannon check (50%): 1d100=96 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530079/), nope.

Steam Bot attack on Militia B: 1d20+9=28 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530070/), hits.
Militia B Toughness check vs DC26: 1d20+6=26 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530073/), no effect.

Militia B cannon check (50%):
1d100=10 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530081/), thats a bingo.

Militia B Toughness check, DC21: 1d20+6=10 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530084/), thats fail by 11 or three degrees of failure, Militia B is Disrupted and Staggered.

Militia B Morale check, DC10: 1d20=7 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3530086/)-1(Disrupted)=6, fail by 4 or 1 degree of failure, Militia B is Disrupted again.

Bad day for the Militia.

Militia A is Disrupted and Staggered.
Militia B is Disrupted x2 and Staggered.

Cannon check for next round is 40% before modifiers.

Don't forget about the little guys; your actions?

[SuperCracker]

Jin
Front Gate
Stats
Defenses: 18
HP: 0 -> 1 -> 0
Condition: 1 hit, Dazed

Jin was blindsided by the exploding mech that was thrown into him. His markings lit up and a barrier flashed around him for a moment as he was struck with the attack, preventing him from grievous harm. His ears rang, though… his vision blurry and out of focus.

Even though he was out of it for a moment, that same red lightning continue to surge through the remaining cannon defenders, until each and every last one of them exploded or fell to pieces. That his destructive touch could linger with such results could be seen as either very good for the people of Alltraidesville… or possibly very bad.

His eyes finally came into focus, and he saw a stretch of buildings on fire. His eyes widened as he saw a small child beating against the window of her own room. He shook his head twice, and then reached out with his right hand, grasping at nothing and bringing his outstretched grasp to the left.

Angry golden-orange energy followed the motion of his hand, ripping water towers off of the roof-tops in rapid succession, showering their contents over the burning buildings, trying to save what lives he could.

“Why are they doing this?” He asks, almost begging for an answer. Such destruction. What could ever justify such a thing?

Secondary Effect hits the Cannon Defenders. They failed by 15 and are destroyed.

For Jin's action, Move object 8. Since I'm targeting stationary objects, it's a routine check. He's trying to put out the fires.

HP spent on Edit Scene to get some water towers.

[Croakamancer]

Kazae Rainrunner
Town Square
Defences; Dodge/Parry 8, Toughness 8, Fortitude 8, Will 8
Special defences; Fearless,
Current conditions; Injured (-1)

Kazae can't help but smile at the cries, even whilst steping smartly to the side of one attacker, decapitating the monster with a single downward blow. A Knight as true and strong as any. If only the Masters could see me now. Still, she is starting to tire from the onslaught. She should not have lost control, not sprung forwards as she did. Now, the bots are responding, focusing their attention towards the square, towards her, the milita with her, the civilians behind them.

Good. The tide is ebbing.

It could be her imagination. She has never faced a battle like this before, and there is so much going on that she can not see. But there do seem to be less of the attackers. There have to be less of them

The militia's first strike brought them close to her, driving a wedge into the main onslaught, but the meka's counter attack has driven the squad back somewhat. Most of them are once again at the base of the town hall stairs, trying to defend their wounded comrades and the civilians even now streaming towards what looks like a sanctuary amidst the chaos. One or two Watchmen come with them, survivors of smaller squads, seeing their friends and families to safety, or the closest thing they have to it.

Good for you, my newfound friends. I'll be with you shortly.

There are perhaps seven left with her, less than half of the squad that'd stood with her not minutes ago. A scattering of Truenose, who fight as one; a white furred Fairfolk; a swarthy spear-wielding Shieldskin and his companion, a bewildered, but swift moving Knifetooth. All are bleeding, battered, but still they fight. Smiling back at them for a second, Kazae turns once again towards the oncoming Meks, dodging a blow that leaves the cobbles splintering. She yells as her sword drives towards the creature's heart. "One last push! We'll fill the square with broken cogs and shattered springs."

She can't keep up her original pace, but she doesn't need to. Instead, Kazae simply walks towards the oncoming monster. It might be stronger, but she is strong, and much quicker. She steps away from the blow, bringing her blade down in an undercut towards the mekanoid's legs. As it falls, the Knight twirls, letting her cloak flicker in the wind as she brings the sword down towards the creature's chest.

The meka's chest sparks as it's oil and animus fluid starts to bubble and trickle away. kazae doesn't notice, however. There might be less of them, but there are many more of these creatures yet to come, and she will take each as they do. No mercy. No respite.

Welll... not going good for the militia. :( However, hopefully, Kazae can finish the ground attackers off this round. A second third degree failure is akin to a fourth... so they've got to roll 16 or higher to survive. Takedown's in effect without Extra Effort, so no need to worry there just yet.

Again, if this attack roll fails, I'll use Kazae's HP to reroll, and that succeeds automatically, as a 1 is counted at 11...

[roll0] [roll1] DC30

[roll2]

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp
HP: 1 -> 2
Defenses: Dodge/Parry 8, Fort 8, Tough 8, Will 8
Condition: 1 hit

The shieldskin looks on as the cannon tower falls silent. Rasp lets a toothy grin form on his face for just a moment before his focus is drawn to the predicament the city guard finds themselves in. Before he can make up his mind on what to do, a strange flying human blasts open some rooftop water towers, dousing the fires - and a brave velvetclaw knight rallies the soldiers and leads a charge into the invaders. So he turns his attention to the fleeing townsfolk.

"Citizensss! Make your escape that way, I shall cover you! Stay together!" he yells, making sure the frightened civillians saw him. As he directs them away, he begins gesturing again, this time using his sand as a shield against vulture-bombs and cannonfire.


Defending the Civillians.

@Du, sorry bout the double multiattack, thought I fixed it. Mind if I change it to something actually useful?

[ripleycat]

Scylla
HP: 2
Defenses: Dodge/Parry: 10, Fort: 8, Tough: 6, Will: 7
Cond: 1 Hit

"Who. Who would do this, lad, not why. They're jus' doing what they were made te do. Migh' as well get mad at a sail for catchin' the wind. We wan' the ones who sent 'em marchin' into town." Scylla had no idea if he even heard her, as he went flying away, turning his attention to fires that had broken out around town.

Who had done this? If this were a grudge against one person, you'd send an assassin. Someone looking to take Altraidesville as a prize wouldn't demolish the city so wantonly. Ransom? They'd have pointed the cannons into town, but not opened fire without announcing demands. This was different from the careful maneuvering that often accompanied Oceanheart warfare. Someone wanted to destroy this city and butcher its people. She wasn't going to let that happen, Zodias willing.

As the strange human's lightning-like power continued to spark around the remaining bots, turning them to useless scrap, Scylla grabbed the opportunity to give them a dose of their own medicine. Turning into a one-person gun crew, she wrenched the gate cannon to the left and waved cheerily at the bots manning the western tower's gun, before jerking the lanyard and sending a cannonball hurtling into the crowd of meks milling about. Almost before the shot reaches them, she's off and running again, circling the city walls to throw herself into combat with any who survive the blast.

Cannon chance (40%): [roll0]
If that hits...
Dodge: [roll0]
Toughness: [roll1]

The cannonfire is a special effect. The attack is Scylla's standard Slashing Flurry.
Attack vs Cannon Tower West: [roll2]+2(Takedown)
Toughness if that hits: [roll3]

[Ridai]

Defenses Dodge/Parry 12, Toughness 4, Fortitude 6, Will 10
Special defenses Evasion x2, Fearless, Uncanny Dodge
Current conditions Healthy, fatigued (hindered)
HP 1

Rhea's only response to the wizard is suddenly sending out a stream of cloth to pull him closer to her and out of a vulture's path. "Don't stop until the last one is destroyed," she says, releasing the knifetooth mage before diving down towards the ground. Even with her successful assault, the militia is getting pummelled down below, too much for the weaver to ignore. Another vulture, this time flying towards some civilians, is slashed in half in mid-air by the wide arc of another silky blur as the seamstress' wings begin to dissolve. Landing on the ground, she is momentarily surrounded by her weave as it assembles itself around Rhea's feet and lower legs in the form of streamlined, wiry appendages that seemlessly connect to her pants. The weaver briefly turns around to check whether any of the civilians needs her attention, but sees that they are in good hands. A sand-controlling shieldskin's hands, to be exact. After giving a quick nod, the seamstress wordlessly moves away with exceptional speed, looking for the closest militia members amidst the chaos.

The militia spreading itself so thin forces Rhea to move even faster and never stop, knitting torn flesh and broken bones as she sees them, even mending one young velvetclaw's eyes to see the light of day yet again and sewing a stonehide's leg back to where it belongs, never stopping, never tiring, always trying to keep up their spirits. No time or thought to complain or look out for herself, once nimbly dodging around vicious cannonfire and large chunks of debris as it hits the street without stopping, glad to see fires being put out as they flare up by sudden bursts of water from above, thanks to the young man she saw earlier.

Upon reaching the town square again, the weaver notices a familiar figure, making her sigh in relief and smile a little, even though Kazae seems to face fierce opposition. Moving from one militia member to the other, Rhea redoubles her efforts again, even though she is visibly starting to be worn down by the continuous exertion and pushing herself like that. "Sir Rainrunner is fighting for every single soul within these walls! You can and will make the difference today as you stand united! Don't let her example go to waste! Follow Sir Windrunner's lead and defend your loved ones and your home!" Her words don't reach every part of the militia, just as she doesn't get the time to heal every wound. But she doesn't plan on stopping. No one is losing their life or their home today, if she can help it.

Wasn't hit by cannon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13280101&postcount=90)

Switch Clothweave Mobility to Nylon Boots (evasion x2)

Free action to bolster militia A's morale
Persuasion [roll0]
+2 to morale

Extra effort for another standard action

Healing 5: Knit the Bone x2 (Persistent, Stabilize)
Militia A [roll1] Heals 1 condition
Militia B [roll2] (HP used, improved result to 18) Heals 2 conditions

[DuReign]

Jin's question received no answer; Vulture Bots continued their bombing of the city, heedless of their own destruction at the hands of Rhea's magical tapestries or the fireballs and lightning bolts of the wizards guild of Altraidesville. Seeing the fires spreading throughout the city, Jin uses his mysterious godstone given powers to topple water towers to drown the infernos, even as the Steam Bots he previously attacked manning the front gate defense towers explode from residual magical lightning.

Jin burns an HP, he's at 0.

Cannon Defenders Front Gate are destroyed.

Jin's Edit Scene and action counts as Protecting the City. He gets an HP, he's now at 1.

Kazae and her small squad of militiamen continue to hold back the rampaging Steam Bots from crossing the town square, but with Vulture Bots dropping in reinforcements as well as bombs, its hard work. Every Steam Bot taken down seems to be replaced by another clanking monstrosity.

Few Steam Bots make it past Kazae's watch, however, and the few that do are turned back by spears of sand as Rasp the Shieldskin creates walls or escape tunnels of the dun colored grit to safeguard the escape of the last few stragglers.

IC hates Croak as much as it hates SC. Stalemate with the Steam Bots.

Rasp defends the Citizens, and gets an HP. Who are you, Muldoon, Ripley? Stop hoarding HP! :smallbiggrin: And go ahead, let me know what you change it to in the OOC.

The Oceanheart privateer does what she does bet - she commandeers a brace of her own smaller cannons and fires a fusillade at a nearby cannon tower. The cannons are unlike the fine Oceanheart made cannons she is used to, however; the damn things recoil way farther than they should, and her broadside hits low, pelting the wall beneath her target.

Kind of pushing it with the descriptor - cannon fire is fairly different from slashing people with swords - but its ok for now.

Still, thats a miss.

Rhea leaves the aerial fight to the wizard's guild, who have coordinated themselves into a flying V of fire belching and lightning spewing destruction. For the next frantic few minutes, she does what she can to heal the wounded militia, working miracles left and right and saving lives.

As she crouches to mend a gasping Velvetclaw's punctured lung, she looks up, too late, to see a Steam Bot being dropped right on top of her. She has no time to react except to brace herself for the Steam Bot's clenched hammerfist - and then there is a roar and the Steam Bot is knocked bodily out of the air.

It is the frog Captain: he leapt through the air and delivered a stunning flying kick to knock the Steam Bot into a wall. He is missing his warmaul and one of his eyes is swollen shut, but he looks as fierce as ever. He turns to nod at Rhea gratefully. "Keep patching up my boys, beautiful, and I'll favor you with a kiss!"

And then he leaps back into the fray.

The Militias both will get a +2 bonus to Morale checks this turn.

Militia A heals one condition - I consider Disrupted and Disarrayed of equal severity, so I'm gonna flip a coin: it heals the Disrupted condition and is only Disarrayed.
Militia B heals two conditions; flipping two coins, it heals a Disrupted and a Disarrayed condition; it is Disrupted.

Rhea uses an HP and is Fatigued.

Its finally clear where so many Steam Bots are coming from: explosions and bombs have destroyed a building completely, revealing that there is a tunnel in the ground from where most of the Steam Bots are marching out.

Following the Captain's lead from one direction and backing up Kazae's group from the other, the ragtag groups of militia recoordinate and flank the main Steam Bot force.

"Alltraidesville!" many cry, but an equal number call out "Sir Rainrunner!"

The battle is fierce and merciless, with the Vulture Bots's bombs wreaking havoc on the guardsmen. Nevertheless, with the Captain and Kazae fighting side by side and with militia all around, Alltraidesville's defenders push the Steam Bots back toward the tunnel they are spilling from. Machine parts are piling all around, bathed in blood and oil.

Finally, victory seems nigh: the last of the Steam Bots turn and begin retreating back through the tunnel. The Vulture Bots cover their retreat with more bombs, but the haggard militiamen are unable to press their advantage having lost so many - among them the stalwart Captain, who is still alive but barely breathing, his foot embedded in the chest of a destroyed Steam Bot and his arm horribly mangled.

Militia A and Militia B Flank the Steam Bots; they each get a +2 circumstance bonus to attack.
Militia A attack check:1d20+7+2=29 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3534248/), CRIT. +5 Damage Effect.
Militia B attack check: 1d20+7+2=26 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3534250/), hit.

Steam Bots Toughness checks, one vs. DC30, another vs. DC25. 1d20+7-2=13 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3534252/), fail by 17, the Steam Bots are destroyed.

Vulture Bots attack Militia A: 1d20+7-1=19 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3534231/), thats a hit.
Militia A Toughness check, DC24: 1d20+6=21 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3534233/), fail by 3, first degree failure. Militia A is Disrupted.
Militia A Morale check, DC10 (+2 from Rhea, Disrupted): 1d20+2-1=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3534237/), wow what? Fail by 6 or two degrees of failure, Militia A is Disrupted again and Disarrayed.

Since combat is resolved simultaneously in Mass Combat, the Steam Bots attack Militia B: 1d20+9-1=17 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3534239/), thats a hit.
Militia B Toughness check, DC26 (Disrupted): 1d20+6-1=14 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3534241/), fail by 12 or three degrees of failure, Militia B is Disrupted, Disarrayed, and Demoralized (I changed it from Staggered->Demoralized, because Staggered conditions didn't make sense anymore for Mass Combat)
Militia B Morale check, DC10 (+2 Rhea, Disruptedx2): 1d20+2-2=19 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3534244/), no effect.

Militia cannon checks both pass.

This fight is almost wrapped up; shall we continue the mop up or fast forward?

[Ridai]

Defenses Dodge/Parry 12, Toughness 4, Fortitude 6, Will 10
Special defenses Evasion x2, Fearless, Uncanny Dodge
Current conditions Healthy, fatigued (hindered)
HP 1

Being exposed like this, Rhea can only move to shield the Velvetclaw's body with her own before the Steam Bot is flung aside. Using the blur of action, the weaver quickly mends the hole in her subject's chest, briefly caressing his forehead in a reassuring manner. "You are going to be alright."

Helping him up, Rhea turns to the captain afterwards, giving a smile and a curtsey. "Most gracious, dear sir. Keep up your good deeds and the maiden might even freely give the prince a kiss," she answers, chuckling as she remembers that old fairy tale. Still, she is soon quickly moving to save more lives.

Tired as she is, Rhea has her work more than cut out for her, determined to right every single of the wrongs brought upon militia and civilians. Ultimately, she ends up next to the mangled captain, favoring him with a warm smile. "Now, now, it is not your time. Your men and your home still need you, dear Captain." With that, the seamstress knits the frog's flesh and bones, even carefully reshaping his arm to it's former glory, the same soothing feeling spreading through her subject's body until he can rise once again to his feet, restored to full strength. At this point, Rhea looks like she is at the brink of exhaustion, but still forces herself back to her feet, needing a few seconds to stabilize her stance, before continuing on.

General healage during the time skip.

[SuperCracker]

Jin
Moving towards the tunnel.
Stats
HP: 1
Condition: 1 hit

Jin furiously continued to defend the city from the bombs of the vultures. Even once he managed to catch one of the bombs with that glowing light of his and hurl it back towards its attackers, detonating a few more vultures as they retreated.

And then, as quickly as it had begun… it was over. They were gone. Jin floated in the air, breathing heavily. He then glided down towards the streets, his markings still blazing even as he hit the ground. He sunk to a crouch and placed his hand on the ground, bracing his upper body. That red, crackling lightning radiated around him for a few seconds until the markings faded and he finally put the genie back in the bottle.

Jin finally looked up and saw the destruction. He frowned… for two reasons. The first, people were hurt. The second, he had to leave this place… no one would want him here at all with the forces he kept within his body. Still… before he left, he could make sure those things don’t attack again.

Silently, he began to walk towards the tunnel they fled into.

[DuReign]

With most of the Steam Bot forces retreating mechanically back down the tunnel, the Vulture Fliers drop their last payload of bombs before wheeling about - the Wizard's Guild hot on their iron heels - and flying up into the frigid clouds where the magicians cannot follow.

The cannons go eerily silent, considering the constant retort of fire they had been spewing this entire time. Scylla turns to look down a length of fortification wall - the Steam Bots are immobile, frozen solid... and they are turning a cherry red. Their internal boilers must be on full blast.

"Back away, boys! They are gonna blow" a bovine militiaman bellows, and the city defenders who had managed to fight their way up onto the ramparts beat a hasty retreat.

One after another, the Steam Bots explode. Individually, they do little damage other than sending red hot chunks of iron shrapnel everywhere, but where they are grouped on - namely the remaining cannon towers - the combined explosions demolish what is left of Altraidesville's defensive network.

Rhea

The Captain opens his gigantic watery eyes after Rhea heals him and rises with a start, expecting to find a Steam Bot leering over him instead of the entrancingly beautiful Rhea. He blinks (the sound is like polite clapping) before he realizes what has happened. Bowing roughly but graciously, the Captain grins a toothless grin.

"I owe ye a kiss, my beauty!" he says before leaping away.

The Remains of Altraidesville

The battle is over, but the city of Altraidesville has been thoroughly gutted.

The cannon towers are all smoking ruins, and sections of wall have been demolished by bomb fire. Much of the commercial centers of the city have been ruined, destroyed by bombs or rampaging Steam Bots. Dead lay in the street - fortunately not the bodies of civilians, thanks to the brave work of the heroes and the militiamen, but unfortunately the brave guardsmen fallen defending their homes.

At the center of the devastation is the collapsed old warehouse and the tunnel it had disguised. The frog Captain and a retinue of his lieutenants - all of them sporting injuries, not serious enough for Rhea to deal with - have converged on the tunnel and are in heated discussion.

The most impressive of the wizards Rhea had fought alongside up in the air - the gowned Knifetooth with the long grey whiskers - touches down there as well, along with several dirty, bedraggled but relatively calm Fairfolk; they seem to be officials of some sort.

Lets congregate by the tunnel, folks. A little bit of conversation is in order, since you guys need to meet for the first time!

[Ridai]

Eery silence fills the air, only broken by distant sounds and the wind sweeping through the streets. Seeing all this carnage wakes a lot of memories in Rhea's mind, the kind that keep her awake at night, seeing so many little stories about how these brave people died as she passes their corpses. If only she could have determined any kind of story back then.

As she steps into the remains of the warehouse, the weaver can be seen as cloth engulfs her and sweeps across her body and away from it, again emerging with clean clothes (still tight against her body to allow for complete freedom of movement) while the accumulated dirt, sweat and blood have been expelled and wiped from both her clothes and body.

Upon seeing Kazae, Rhea quickly moves over to her and embraces the knight. "Thank goodness you're alright," she says to her brave new friend, genuine happiness showing in a warm smile. "Please, let me take care of your wounds." If allowed, Rhea carefully and gently weaves the glowing threads around the velvetclaw's wounds to make her body whole again, leaving tired and aching muscles smooth and relaxed.

Turning to the other remarkable individuals present, Rhea smiles beautifully and bows respectfully, recognizing them from their heroic feats around town. "Thanks to all of you for all the good things you did. My name is Samsara Dreamweaver - although I often go by Rhea - pleased to meet you. Would you allow me to tend to your wounds?" The human seamstress seemed to have nothing but respect for each of them.

[ripleycat]

Scylla
HP: 2
Defenses: Dodge/Parry: 10, Fort: 8, Tough: 6, Will: 7
Cond: 1 Hit

Scylla glances around the shattered town as she clambers down from the walls, looking rather forlorn. Altraidesville and her defenders wouldn't survive another assault. She slithers through the wreckage, towards the group milling about the tunnel entrance. She cracks a smile at Rhea's gracious introduction, a portion of her gregarious personality returning to the surface.

"Well, thank ye for the offer, my radiant lass, but I'll be fine. Tis an honor an' a pleasure meetin' you all. Greetin's, Rasp! Glad te see you made it through that horrid mess in one piece. To those of ye who have not yet had the privilege, Scylla Seaborn be my name." She offers those assembled a flamboyant bow of her own before extending arms and tentacles to everyone in reach in a mass handshake. "You there, my fine friend." she points to Jin. "I've seen many strange an' powerful things in this world, bu' never a magic such as yours. Wha's th' name o' the man who's saved my daft hide from bein' pulverized by metal monsters? An' you, Velvetclaw! I thought dashin' knights such as yourself were only in fairy tales and bedtime stories. When this is said an' done, I owe ye all a drink or two."

She gives the others a grim smile. "But first te the sad task at hand, I suppose. Do any of you fine folk know what happened here today? I admit I'm a bit in the dark as it were. Never seen anythin' like these mechanical beasties in all my travels. Where'd they come from, aside from tha' tunnel?" She turns to the group of Fairfolk who seem to be official types of some sort. "An' moreover, why would someone turn 'em loose on Altraidesville an' her people without goin' for yer wealth as well? Be this some terrible dress rehearsal for a mekanical army, a target picked at random, or have ye those who would wish ye dead? Enemies not content wi' gold?"

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp
HP: 2 -> 3 (hoarding!)
Defenses: Dodge/Parry 8, Fort 8, Tough 8, Will 8
Condition: 1 hit

Rasp quietly makes his way into the group gathering around the tunnel entrance. He smiles as he hears Scylla greet him. "Glad to see you made it through in one piece as well Ssssscylla." he says, and bows slightly.

His eyes scan the rest of the group, taking the measure of each participant in the recent battle. "I am named Rasp. I will lend you my abilities." he says. "I cannot understand why anyone would attack like this. Don't they know what else exists in the wilds? They should be using this power to defend against that."

[SuperCracker]

Jin
At the Tunnel
Stats
HP: 1
Condition: 1 hit

Jin was walking with purpose towards the tunnel. He saw the lovely Rhea introducing herself, and the brave knight from before. But he wasn’t going to ask these others to put themselves on the line for him. That… and he was not accustomed to having people to back him up like that. So he was caught a little off guard when a tentacle was pointed at him, halting him in his tracks. His eyes widened a bit and he looked towards Scylla, almost with a “who, me?” look.

“Oh, um… my name’s Jin.” He didn’t respond to her comments about his magic. It was something… he didn’t quite trust. Still, he offers Scylla a warm, friendly smile. “You were very brave up there. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

As for Rhea’s offer of healing, Jin had a few cuts and scrapes from the detonating steam-bot, but he didn’t trouble her. There were people much more badly hurt than himself.

The Shieldskin joined them, then. He and Scylla both asked why someone would do this. Jin’s eyes lowered.

“There’s never a good reason to do something like this. It was horrible.”

A small beat.

“And that’s why I want to follow them down that tunnel and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Scylla’s friendliness towards him (which was something a human didn’t get a whole lot of) and Rasp’s declaration of support caused him to announce his intentions. Maybe together…

[DuReign]

As our heroes begin gathering near the entrance to the tunnel the attackers had used to infiltrate into (and then retreat from) the city, the Fairfolk officials in their soot and blood stained robes notice Rhea and Jin and their eyes widen.

"Man!" one old pig trills. "Everyone knows mekanica are made by Man!"

"What do you know about this attack!" an old hare demands, his thinning ears decked out in golden hoops, stepping towards your group and jabbing his finger accusingly at Rhea.

"Bugger you idiots, they were helpin' us fight the meks, ya flea-bitten ingrates!" the Frog Captain shouts, pushing the rabbit back roughly.

"Yes, these humans were helping us defend the city," the Knifetooth wizard says.

"A trick then, a ploy to get us to trust them!" the pig says. The Knifetooth wizard simply gives the pig-faced councilwoman a look before turning to your group. The pig and rabbit harrumph away, shouting out orders to anyone who will hear, but several other councilman stay behind.

" 'pologies for them idiots," the Frog Captain says to you, especially to Rhea and Jin. "I'm Captain Saliero."

"And I am Wistar," the rat wizard says, bowing. "Thank you for your ... spectacular help."

"Damn cowardly meks ran off though," another Knifetooth, this one pure white with red eyes, striking in his black and gold finery despite the stains. "They've kidnapped Mayor Gertrude and three Guildmasters!"

"Aye, and several artifacts from the Wizards' Guild vault," Wistar says grimly. "One of them a godstone we were studying."

"We've got a hell of a mess here to sort out," Captain Saliero says, looking around at all of the carnage. "I can't muster a task force to go after those meks. Should be obvious what we are gonna ask."

"Will you help us?" the Knifetooth wizard asks.

Captain Saliero:

http://crankeye.com/resources/albums/RPG%20Maker%20Multiplatform/XP%20and%20VX%20Battlers/frogwarrior.png

Magister Wistar:

http://greywolf.critter.net/images/ironclaw/standups/mage-07.gif


We'll try to move this a bit faster than we've been going, I promise.

[Ridai]

Defenses Dodge/Parry 12, Toughness 4, Fortitude 6, Will 10
Special defenses Evasion x2, Fearless, Uncanny Dodge
Current conditions Healthy, fatigued (hindered)
HP 1

Rhea shakes Scylla's left hand and savors being welcomed in such a friendly manner. "Good to hear, but please, don't hesitate to ask if you require my aid." If the horrible attack wouldn't have happened, the weaver would consider this a very blessed day for her and the young human man, Jin.

The officials accusing them, however, draws a weary sigh from her lips, very much familiar with this kind of situation as compared to what happened before. Getting blamed for the deaths of dozens of people is downright insulting, but she doesn't yet retaliate, instead letting the words wash over her as best she can, knowing that prejudices drive their closeminded thoughts. Still, Rhea is thankful for both Captain Saliero and Wistar defending both Jin and her, warmth returning to her features as she looks at both of them.

"I am far from an accomplished combatant compared to those present, but I will gladly help in any way I can, if you'd have me. Too many have died and deserve to be avenged," Rhea answers. Still, something is bothering her, namely the albino knifetooth in the black and golden robes. Something about his mannerism, his words. Something is missing in this picture. The weaver momentarily rubs her own arm, giving another small sigh and letting her tiredness shine through a little more, displaying a certain delicate vulnerability as she looks at the albino figure. "Those are dire tidings, but it is good to know that the others are safe for now. Still, I wish we'd know more. So many questions and we are all stumbling in the dark right now..."
Rhea tries to bring incriminating thoughts to the albino knifetooth's surface thoughts level with a deception check, followed by her using her mind reading alternate power on him (twice, if necessary) to see if he might know more about the meks and who's responsible (and whether he's involved).

Deception [roll0] (includes Very Attractive bonus) vs. Insight

Mind Reading 6
Perception range
Advantages: Insidious, Subtle 2 | Flaws: Distracting, Limited by Language, Sense-Dependent (sight)

Mind reading checks:
[roll1] vs. Will
[roll2] vs. Will

[Ridai]

Having gazed upon the albino's heart's tapestry, Rhea turns to the frog captain, her voice calm, almost serene, while her eyes see far beyond what is visible to those around her. "Captain, who is Gnash and what was he exiled for? It seems there might be more than enough motivation to cause all this."

[ripleycat]

Scylla

Scylla shakes her head at the officials who had raised such a fuss as they retreat from the group near the tunnel. "Pay 'em no heed, you two. Th' small-minded and mediocre always be looking for ways to bring the great down to their level. We all saw ye in the thick o' the battle. If ye be double agents, both of your acts are so good ye deserve te win."

"Help ye? An' here I thought that's what we were already doin'." Scylla offers up a cheeky grin to the wizard, a calculating gleam in her eye. "What ye be asking us to do is go down into a mysterious tunnel that leads te who knows where, filled wi' the remnants of meks that demolished th' whole city an' dozens of militia, rescue civilians an' deal with whoever caused all this, then come back through the selfsame tunnel. Now, I'm game, an' no mistake, bu' if ye were askin' a squad o' regular soldiers te do the same thing, we'd all get hazard pay at the least. Be there any reward to go with all this risk?"

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp

Rasp quietly listens to the banter about the humans, and shot the one's who mouthed off a glare - but didn't say anything. Besides, there were others to point out the wrongfulness of their statements. One should never badmouth those willing to make sacrifices to protect others.

"Thisss humble soul shall assist you further, green jumping captain." he says with a slight bow, and turns to address the two wizards. "The kidnappings are of great concern...as isss the godstone you mentioned. Do you perhapsss know its ability? It is possible whoever was behind the...'mekanik' attack is now wielding that power." he says, stumbling over the 'mekanik' word, never having encountered them before.

[DuReign]

Wistar smirks indulgently at Scylla's mention of remuneration. "Among those you will be rescuing is the Master of the Jewelers' Guild... I'm sure he'll be happy to put a pricetag on his life, once you've saved it."

The Knifetooth wizard then turns to the Shieldskin's question about the godstone. "It had just come into possession, and we hadn't the time to properly document its powers... but we do know it caused lodestone to behave oddly, attracting them to it as if it were true north. Pray," he says, turning back to Scylla, "you have a compass on you?" A true Oceanheart, you do. "Perhaps it will lead you to the godstone, and then to the ones who took it."

This entire time, Rhea had been quietly reading the tapestry of the albino Knifetooth Councilman's mind. "Captain, who is Gnash and what was he exiled for? It seems there might be more than enough motivation to cause all this."

There is an immediate reaction from everyone present. The Captain blinks his gigantic eyes like window shutters and quirks a hairless brow. "Wut?" he asks, obviously having never heard of that name before.

The wizard Wistar furrows his brow. "How do you know Gnash? You think he's behind all this?"

And the albino Councilman's eyes go wide, his mouth goes slack, and he gapes quietly at Rhea. Then he sighs, shakes his head, and remorsefully says, "I am almost certain Gnash is behind this; he as much told me."

Wistar wheels on the Councilman in a fury. "Two of my apprentices are dead because of this attack! Explain yourself!"

"I'm sorry, Wistar! But I didn't know he would do this! Weeks ago, I received a letter bearing his old seal: it told me to flee Altraidesville while I still could."

"And you told no one, Sprague?" demanded Wistar.

"I thought it was an empty threat!" Councilman Sprague said. "You know how Gnash left - penniless, dishonored, with only the clothes on his back! How could he do anything? How could he-" Sprague looked around at the devastated city. "-how could he do this?"

Saliero shoulders in between the two Knifeteeth. " 'pologies, yer honors, but what in the name of mighty thighed Zodias hisself are ye blabberin' about! Who is Gnash and how do we go about buryin' him?"

Grimly, Wistar tells you the short, pathetic tale of Gnash Ninenails: a poor Knifetooth who worked his way up the ranks of the Banking Guild alongside Sprague, but who, at the height of his mastery, became implicated in a number of financial scams that made the Banker's Guild the enemy of all the other Guilds.

"Gnash was my friend, but there is no doubt that he was guilty of these crimes," Sprague says, "and he was always too clever for his own good, but I suspect he was a scaperat - his conspirators lay all the blame on him to save themselves."

[Ridai]

Rhea shakes her head as she hears the tale, having witnessed many stories like this, with the exception that this one has been brought to tragic heights by a force that knows the power of opportunity. "You have stripped him of worldly possessions for his lack of morals and gave him a thirst for vengeance, something far more powerful given the right opportunity. If what you said holds true, he was a tool blinded by greed before and he is most likely a tool blinded by hatred now." Rhea's voice does not sound judging, but instead points out the awful truth in a calm tone, hoping the lesson will sink in to avoid history from repeating.

Having said that, the weaver waits quietly for the group to go on to stopping this threat.

[ripleycat]

Scylla

"Mmm, fair's fair. Any compensation ought te come after we've actually done the deed, after all." Scylla grins and draws her multitude of blades, visions of handfuls of gleaming gemstones dancing in her head. "So, what be we waitin' for? Let's go rescue some very important folks! Magister, Captain, would ye like this Gnash rogue brought back alive, or d'ye just need a head for stickin' on a pike above th' gate?"

[SuperCracker]

Jin
At the Tunnel Entrance

Jin stood and listened quietly, hearing the story of Gnash. His emotions for the man were mixed. He was angry with him, very angry with him for attacking this town and hurting its people. But he couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Cast away from all he knew and stripped of all he owned. He looked down at the ground as he thought.

Until he heard the Captain ask how they could “bury him” and Scylla ask whether he should have his head stuck on a pike. Jin’s eyes opened wide and he looks up, at each of them.

“No! If we go kill him, we’re just as bad as he is. You can lock him up, do whatever you need to do with him, but we can’t just go kill a man like that. Please.”

He implored those about. Likely, with all the anger they felt at Gnash, he was in the minority here.

[Ridai]

Rhea's golden eyes turn towards Jin, regarding him with a melancholic smile. "Your dedication towards peace honors you, Jin. They instilled this hatred in Gnash by taking all of what was his after stealing from and crossing so many, but he retaliated far out of proportion by killing dozens, simply because of wealth and his damaged ego. Even though he is being used, he still remains a mass murderer of innocents who had no part in all this."

The weaver motions towards the people of Altraidesville that are present, as well as the destruction around them. "These people are the ones who suffered, it is only their choice to make in regards to what should happen to him, not our's as outsiders. Please, respect that." It pains her to oppose a good soul like Jin to some extent, but Rhea can't help but feel that the side of the people should be understood, their friends and family dead for no good reason.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp

Rasp nods at Rhea's words towards the compassionate Jin. "As noble as your intentionsss are Jin, I must agree with the weaver. This Gnash committed atrocities against these people, and those people shall pass the judgement." he says, pausing before adding, "Though now that we are involved in thisss, your voice should be heard during his judgement. Regardlesssss, we need to actually find him first."

[DuReign]

You all get a HP for my procrastination.


You all make your final preparations before the hunt for Gnash Ninetails begins.

Kazae Rainrunner turns to Saliero. "Your men are strong and brave, but they suffered grievous losses during the battle. And the struggle has not ended. Can I be of assistance bringing order to... this?" She waves a hand to indicate the carnage still around them.

Saliero blinks his massive watery eyes. "Aye, having a bona fide Knight around'll whip people into shape, get 'em out of the hysterics and give 'em enough hope ... we of the Altraidesville Militia would be honored if ye'd help us, Sir Knight."

"Good luck finding that malefactor, but my place is here, with these people" Kazae says to all of you, before turning to Rhea, "And thank you for the gift."

And with that, you plunge into the tunnel.

http://i.imgur.com/3Eaakl.jpg
The Hunt for Gnash Ninetails

The tunnel is wide, able to accommodate ten of those clanking steam bots abreast without a problem, and roughly hewn. There are regular paralel marks all along the walls: some sort of machine excavated out these tunnels.

The way ahead is dark, no doubt perilous, definitely fraught with danger; it draws you in like a moth to a black flame.

This tunnel/dungeon will be a Challenge. Long story short, you must accrue 9 degrees of success from any number of skill checks, ability checks, attack checks, damage checks, even resistance checks. What these checks represent are up to you to fluff out. The DC will generally be between 9-20, based on the check (I have them all written out).

Every degree of failure will inflict conditions in some way (-1 Toughness, Impaired, etc, determined by the degrees of failure and the nature of the check).

For example, a Perception check could represent coming to a split, and trying to note which way is the most likely way to go. Success indicates your group moved ahead, possibly noting that the other way lead to an unstable tunnel and possible collapse ; failure means you didn't notice the cracks in the walls, and the tunnel DOES collapse (and you all take -1 Toughness).

An attack check could represent an encounter with Steam Bot forces; success means the party destroys them, failure means you destroy them but with injuries.

More details: More than 1 degree of failure could trigger a RANDOM ENCOUNTER! (don't you love JRPGs).

You cannot repeat checks: if someone makes a Perception check, no one else can.

You will take turns making checks, and then writing up an entertaining dungeon encounter based on the check result. Everyone roll a 1d20 in the OOC to determine turn order (this is NOT initiative, its just purely random). You can give up your turn to Aid another on their check.

If you have any questions as to what would constitute a reasonable event in this tunnel system, feel free to ask me. Generally good are: cave-ins, dead-ends, wandering bands of subterranean monsters, traps left behind by the steam bots, etc.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rasp

Rasp followed the group deeper into the inky blackness of the cave, the light from the entrance growing dimmer and dimmer. His eyes adjust, used to navigating the desert by starlight alone. Turning a corner, his tail brushes up against the wall of the cave, causing a mini landslide of pebbles and dirt clattering to the ground and echoing around the cave.

"Apologies..." he whispers to the group, but before he can turn to continue on the ceiling begins to rustle, and hundreds of eyes open nearly simultaneously and take flight. A swarm of huge bats threatens to engulf the party, but Rasp, aiming to make up for his earlier clumsiness quickly brings forth a gout of sand, shaping it into a large funnel, hoping to direct the bat swarm over them and out of the cave leaving both sides unharmed.

ok, so this is a power check yes? [roll0]

[Ridai]

Rhea wishes Kazae would come with them, as is evident from her face for a moment, but she understands that the task the knight chose is equally as important. Kazae's praise is more than welcome, too. "You make this sound like a goodbye. No, see you when this is over," she corrects her newfound friend cheerfully.

Down in the tunnel, the weaver does her best to keep pace and not stumble around in the dark. A piece of cloth she ignited at the entrance is hovering over her palm, the burning material constantly fueled by more cloth materializing in a continuous cycle, serving as a weak source of light. Seeing Rasp do what he does with his sands makes her watch attentively, curiously examining his craft from up close for the first time, appreciative of what he accomplishes.

As they proceed into the dark, Rhea suddenly becomes aware of a sound, the environment. Something bad is about to happen. "Watch out!" she calls out, streams of cloth emerging from her sweeping arms and abruptly carrying her allies further down the tunnel, making them land softly in finest cashmere as a small avalanche of rocks begins to plummet down from the ceiling behind them, above where Rhea is standing. The cacophony of the many impacts is deafening for a short moment, soon replaced by eery silence again as the dust begins to settle, Rhea nowhere to be seen.

Soon, a bigger rock is lifted off the pile and put aside by vaguely arm-shaped forms, revealing a small passage within the pile between rocks from which Rhea emerges, wreathed in a dusty cloak that begins to retract into itself and disappear. Coughing, she does her best to get onto stable ground again. "Are you alright?" she half-whispers.

Well, it's kinda meh, but I had to write something for that dodge check.

[SuperCracker]

Jin
Tunnel Challenge

Jin frowned. He understood what the others were trying to tell him, but it still wasn’t right. Killing is wrong. He had to hope that the others and the villagers would see that. He looked up at the tunnel and took a deep breath. They then stepped inside, together.

Cue the opening title for the video game.

The tunnel proved to be treacherous. Each of them had to be constantly on-guard. The first event was the swarm of bats. Rasp began to unleash his sand. Jin grew worried for a moment that the Shieldskin might cut the swarm down with his sand barrage, but then Rasp formed a funnel and channeled the bats in such a way that none of them were harmed. Jin’s golden eyes lit up and he smiled at Rasp.

They continued on, and were nearly crushed with an avalanche. Jin himself was nearly caught by a falling rock when Rhea carried him to safety upon her fabrics.

“Y-yes. Thank you.” He was a little startled.

The group came to a fork in the tunnel. Four paths. They paused for a moment as everyone looked around. Jin knelt down to the ground and studied the floor… then the walls. He was silent as he observed, before pointing to the second path left.

“This way. Two of these are natural formations. Two of them are a result of whatever they used to tunnel. See the grooves?” He pointed at the artificial tunnel he didn’t pick. “This one has the grooves, but the stones have few scuffs. The meks are made of metal, and scratched and scraped the rock as they passed. I don’t see much of that there… It might be a trap or a decoy. So… I think we should go here.” He pointed again to the correct path.. a little bashful.

[Ridai]

Everyone apparently being safe, Samsara puts a hand to her chest, sighing in relief. "Thank goodness."

Later, as she listens to Jin explain his choice of direction, the weaver finds no flaw in his explanation and chooses to put her faith in his conclusion. "Then that is the way we go," Rhea says, smiling encouragingly to Jin, finding his modesty refreshing and a little adorable. The tall young woman turns to the others, asking "Right?" as somewhat of a rhetorical question before moving on.

[ripleycat]

Scylla
HP: 3
Cond: -2 hits.

Scylla yelped as Rhea's threads cushioned and shoved her out of the way of the tumbling rocks, landing almost comically in a tangled heap of tentacles. "I'm fine, thanks t' ye. Are ye all right, lass?"

As they followed the machine-made tunnel, Scylla slithered along easily, her large, luminous eyes amplifying the faint light from Rhea's little flame. She tried to keep the others' spirits up as they trekked along, joking and singing. Her casual air was probably why the Oceanheart didn't notice the pit trap until it was too late.

With an ominous crack and rumble, an entire section of the tunnel floor gave way under our heroes' feet (and various appendages used in place of feet)! A desperate attempt to swing herself across the gap failed as the edges of the pit crumbled, dropping Scylla onto the sharp rocks below. The quick reflexes of the pair of humans allowed Rhea and Jin to take flight just before the ground dropped out from underneath them, while Rasp's powers let him cross on ground of his own making.

"Hellsteeth! 'Tis what I get fer takin' things easy!" A pained, disgruntled voice echoed from the bottom of the pit as Scylla gingerly pulled shards of rock from her back, the octopus's strange blue-green blood flowing from a half dozen small wounds. "Oldest trick in the book, tha'. And how many ruins have I explored? Some fine treasure hunter I am..." Scylla's long reach allowed her to extricate herself from the pit, carefully clambering up the sides of the trap. With a grunt, she hauled herself over the edge, wincing a bit, but on the whole not that much worse for wear. "Well now, tha' was fun, yeah? Onward an' upward, I suppose. Proves we're going the right way, at least. Ye don't put one o' those on a dead end."

[Ridai]

"I'm fine, everything's where it's supposed to be," Rhea answers Scylla's question positively, her fabrics gently assisting the oceanheart woman in getting upright again.

As they are making good progress thanks to Jin's insight, the group eventually reaches a larger cave with a few lightly fluorescent crystals shedding just a little light. On the far end is another tunnel seemingly made by the machines, with an equally wide path leading towards it. Something dark is smeared along the path, with a few strangely shaped bodies lying nearby. Pained whines and some low barks draw the group's attention further into the cave, towards the still living inhabitants those dead once belonged to.

In the weak light, large, muscular, furry creatures can be seen, some walking on all fours, some standing tall in a slightly hunched manner. It is hard to categorize (and recognize) them, but their features seem to be slightly humanoid and lupine in nature, like very distant and feral cousins of the Truenose tribe. Most seem to be gathered around some of them lying on the floor, apparently wounded and having been dragged there, among them even two little cubs. And just as the group sees them, so do they see (and smell and hear) the group.

In only a few moments, some of the larger specimens close half the distance between both parties and stand their ground, growling threateningly, accompanied by the occasional bark, all of them clearly ready not let anyone come any closer. "They... must be defending their territory," Rhea quietly states, her eyes sweeping across the scene before she takes a step forwards and turns to the group after a moment of thought. "Please, wait here for a moment. It'll be fine, I promise." Whatever it is she is planning, the weaver smiles at her companions reassuringly and sweetly.

With that, Samsara begins to walk towards the pack. Keeping her body upright, Rhea still does so slowly and with an open posture, showing she is no threat, but also not someone to subjugate herself to them. The snarls become louder for a moment and it almost looks like the sentries would tear her apart right then and there, one of them suddenly bounding over to her, yet stopping shortly in front of her, aggressive eyes meeting the golden, soft, yet determined gaze. Time seems frozen in a tense moment, the creature a bit bigger than the already tall woman, but much bulkier. And then, the lupine simply steps aside.

Samsara further approaches the pack, closely followed by the three sentries, over a dozen pairs of yellow eyes on the human, watching warily. The shape of a particularly large specimen, apparently a female, towering over all others by far, can be seen, moving closer as well. There is another silent exchange of gazes before the weaver kneels down next to the wounded, another moment of tension as the creatures react to the soft light emanating from the glowing threads as she begins her work. But soon, pained whines and growls change their tone as the young bound about energetically again (shortly nuzzling Rhea for a moment). As she rises, Rhea looks up to the leader again who turns to look towards the group and the corpses, among the latter another similarly large wolf, a male. Her former mate. The former alpha.

In a surprising show of emotion and behavior close to those of more civilized beings, the new alpha gives her approval with a nod to the woman before her and engulfs her in her large arms for a little while, the cubs nearby and watching, just like the rest of the pack, who bow their heads. Gently, the alpha releases the weaver, nodding to her again and howling, as the others join in as well as if to welcome her. Surprised, but happy and relieved, Rhea bows respectfully as she takes her leave and returns to the group. "I think we can pass safely now," she simply says, making sure to pay her respects to the fallen alpha as they pass him and venture on in search of the meks.

Monster post, please don't hit me, I'm bad at writing succintly. :smalleek: