Tales of Battle

Cindurion 09-Jan-22 09:23 PM

Daytime Phase day 9. You head back, confused by the events at the docks. Some time after returning, Merry shows up. He gestures and gets the point across that it seems like the captain escaped his pursuers and has left the war, forfeiting the Wish. The next day, when you wake up you have no trace of the fever. Bilbo, on the other hand is completely passed out, but your other pets seem fine! What do you do for your daytime phase?

In addition you've been awarded 1 CCP for participating in a scene! Make sure to note it down!

Cindurion 12-Jan-22 11:03 AM

(Don't forget to decide on an action! Deadline is 21 tonight.)

Blake 12-Jan-22 05:53 PM

Hi, sorry! So I'm not doing much but for the day phase I think its best to spend it buffing Blake a bit for a soon to be future battle, it's time to use the skill crystals and the crystals of potential from the Christmas loot. For the stats I think it would be best to invest the 2 crystals into my evasion stat. And for the crystals of potential I think the best move would be to make a new mage trait with the 2 crystals and the 2CCP I have saved. I think I want to call the new trait Spooked Heart Curse, and I would like to be able to cast it on someone connecting their mental health to their physical health, making it so if they get scared they take damage. .... I basically want to try and spook someone to death.

Cindurion 12-Jan-22 06:23 PM

(Huh, that's interesting. I do feel like that's probably something you could do with your necromancy without making a trait for it, I'm just not sure how it would work mechanically since there's no way to track someone being scared)

Blake 12-Jan-22 06:34 PM

(Ah, yeah I see what you mean, maybe its too messy. There is like the willpower stat so at first I figured that a willpower roll or like straight up asking the player if their character gets scared might work... I figured it might be a fun way to try and kill someone, haha)

Cindurion 12-Jan-22 06:36 PM

(You could make attacks that they can only defend using Willpower for sure, which might actually be a pretty good way of dealing damage if they are only focused on evasion and guard!)

(But again, you don't need to spend a trait on that, can do that using necromancy)

Blake 12-Jan-22 06:39 PM

(Ok, yeah, that would be cool^^ I'm going to try and make gruesome illusions and awful smells)

Cindurion 12-Jan-22 06:51 PM

(Cool! That's just a way you can fight then. It costs AP which is essentially your mana, but should be fine! May wanna invest in your Energy stat in the future though as that's how you get more AP)

(But like I said, doing all that don't take actions, so you can still do something like training if you're unsure about what to do!)

Blake 12-Jan-22 06:59 PM

(Ok, got it.^^ I guess I can train my evasion a bit more and see if I can get it a bit better. But Blake is not doing much outside preparing for the future today)

Cindurion 13-Jan-22 12:06 AM

Nighttime Phase day 9. You practice evading your animal companions who are always eager to jump you for some snuggles! (You gain 1 Evasion IP! In addition, by using the crystals your Evasion stat is now increased to +3) Towards the evening your fever feels better than ever, but your pets seem somewhat affected by it (-2 Mod to all your pets) *What do you do for your nighttime phase?

Blake 13-Jan-22 05:37 PM

(Nice!) So it is time... Blake and her whole family decides to heads out towards the mage tower in Craig Hill

Cindurion 13-Jan-22 05:47 PM

(Oooh, what're you planning on doing there?)

Blake 13-Jan-22 05:57 PM

(I'm going to look for a Mr.Eras^^)

Cindurion 13-Jan-22 06:23 PM

(I see! Are you planning an attack or something? If so it might be a good idea to invest those CCPs. Remember you can use them to acquire traits, items, stat boosts or even IPs to improve your stats!) Blake and her family makes their way to Craig Hill, where they intend to have an encounter with the famous Count Eras. Upon making it to the adress they are met with a large fence surrounding a huge mansion. There's a gate with a buzzer next to it you could press, or you could attempt to sneak over the fence. (edited)

Blake 13-Jan-22 09:06 PM

(Yeah, exactly ^^, I might want to also pour those CCPs , I have four in total if I count the 2 crystals that become ccp, into evasion... Blake is going to be really really good at dodging but that may be really important for her to stay alive, haha.) Blake ops for the stealthy option and helps Bilbo over the fence while she tells the seagulls and the hummingbird Gimli to peak inside the windows of the tower to see which floors, if any, have people on them.

Cindurion 13-Jan-22 10:21 PM

(If you do, you could spend them all and have an evasion of +5, the max it could be! Would you like to do that or would you wanna save some for re-rolls?) (edited)

Cindurion 13-Jan-22 10:46 PM

You and your family sneakily start making your way over the fence, when you briefly stop to take an extra look around. Eyeing more carefully you see many magical auras spread around the entirety of the mansion's large garden, and a large magical aura surrounding the entirety of the fence in a dome-like shape. You don't know what it would do, if anything, but something about this seems off... Do you and your family do anything or do you keep trying to climb the fence?

Blake 13-Jan-22 11:33 PM

(Let's go all in^^ I think that might be the best move) Suspecting this might be a magic warning system Blake first looks to see if there are any trees or buildings by the fence she can use to jump over it without touching it, she still asks her birds to scout the tower though.

Cindurion 13-Jan-22 11:37 PM

(The dome covers the entire mansion, but the many smaller magical sources around the garden could possibly be sidestepped with some careful movement. There aren't enough trees to be able to evade them by climbing. You do note that there are no smaller magical sources along the regular path past the gate.) (edited)

Blake 14-Jan-22 04:48 PM

Seeing no way to completely avoid triggering the magic defence around the mansion Blake decides to switch strategy, she uses the handy wand she probably got from Mr.Eras himself (from the Christmas loot) and casts a illusion spell disguising herself to look like inured Davey Bones. She then decides to ring that buzzer.

Cindurion 14-Jan-22 08:39 PM

As Blake walks up to the intercom and presses it, she waits a while to hear if there's any response. After a short while, an elderly man's voice responds "...Yes? Who's there?"

Blake 14-Jan-22 10:34 PM

Trying to sound as pirate-y as possible Blake says "I be here to cut a deal Eras! Look I may have said some less then kind words but... I need me investment."

Cindurion 14-Jan-22 10:47 PM

There is a long silence. So long that you start to wonder if you were using the intercom correctly, but before you are able to press it once again the same voice replies. "The Count will see you now." You then hear a buzzing noise and the gate opens. What do you and your pets do now?

Blake 14-Jan-22 11:08 PM

Blake quickly disguises her pets as well, turning Bilbo into Ms. Neumayer and the cats invisible, then she carefully manoeuvres her way into the mansion. She leaves the birds outside but everyone else comes with.

Cindurion 14-Jan-22 11:31 PM

As Blake enters the road to the mansion, the gates behind her closes. She walks up to the main entrance, which opens, revealing an old man in a butler uniform. "I have been instructed to disarm you of any weapons in preparation for this meeting. I'm sure you can understand our reasoning for doing so." (edited)

Blake 15-Jan-22 03:00 PM

Blake jumps the old man, taking out her small bone knife and aims to stab him in his neck, while Bilbo bites his ankle.

Cindurion 15-Jan-22 04:47 PM

Blake stabs the man in the neck repeatedly while Bilbo bites him. At first he desperately tries to struggle, but soon enough he goes limp. The mansion is a large 3-story building with two wings, one to the east and one to the west. From the open door you can tell that the staircase leading to different floors is right inside in the central part of the building. Where does Blake go first? (She can feel a single Mage signal in the area.)

Blake 15-Jan-22 04:57 PM

Blake gives Bilbo a quick pet, puts her knife back in her coat and picks up the compass seeing if it can give her any clue about Eras whereabouts.

Cindurion 15-Jan-22 05:25 PM

Judging by the compass, none of the needles is pointing towards any place in the mansion.

Blake 15-Jan-22 05:49 PM

Suspecting the mage took himself of the compass somehow, Blake starts by dragging the corpse inside and painting the wall with the old butlers blood, writing "Walter doesn't like your threats Eras", then she starts searching the first floor, moving left to right.

Cindurion 15-Jan-22 07:41 PM

Blake starts heading towards the East wing, looking through it she sees a ton of magical books, contraptions and other items in each room, but no Eras. She could rush, but doing so could be risky as it might allow Eras to get the upper hand. On the other hand, if she gives him more time he could set up his defenses... (Will you Run? Doing so means it will be Eras's turn right after you so you would have no element of surprise if you come upon him, but if you don't and he knows what you've done you'll be giving him turns to prepare. What do you do?)

Blake 15-Jan-22 07:51 PM

(Let's rush, I... think that's the best move.)

Cindurion 15-Jan-22 09:58 PM

You rush through the mansion and eventually encounter a man sitting at a desk, looking into a crystal ball. He looks up at you with rage in his eyes. "You killed my butler, miss Blake. The Magus Organization will not forgive you for this." As he says this, he conjures up a magical golem and orders it to attack you. However, you have a moment to act before it does. What do you do? (Both the man and the Golem are at Near range, meaning you have no penalties for attacking them using magic or other ranged means. You can also send forth your companions to attack them. Though they are not too powerful, they can possibly overwhelm their target. Up to 5 of your pets can attack the same target to turn their -2 Mod into a +2 Mod instead.) (If you wish to use magic, explain what you are trying to accomplish, ideally in as straight forward terms as possible, and I will try to interpret that into an attack and will roll using the corresponding stat. I may have follow-up questions if your intent is unclear or if it might be difficult to pull off in this system, but it should always be possible to do something similar to what you're hoping to accomplish.) (edited)

Blake 16-Jan-22 10:45 AM

(Okay, I will try to make my intentions as clear as I can^^) "For you mansion people butlers are always replicable. Plus, the organization wont know anything if I kill you. Get him" Blakes orders her pets to swarm and bite Eras as much as they can while she uses the wands ilussion magic to make 5 mirror images of herself (I'm assuming Blake can do one thing and her pets can do another. The pets are aiming to overwhelm and bite Eras and the illusion magic is meant to buy Blake time, distracting the golem making it attack ilussions instead of the real Blake.)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 12:05 PM

Blake manages to create 3 clones of herself! (meaning she now has a 75% chance of being missed even if she fails a Defense attempt! But each time that occurs, a clone vanishes.) Her pets attempt to swarm the man, but he rolls away from them and aims his wand at Blake, shooting what almost looks like a purple arrow at her. (Attack roll is a 19. How do you defend? You can Guard or Evade to have a chance to fully defend against the attack, or you can Brace to try and reduce the damage slightly) In addition, the Golem runs over and overhead slams Blake. (Attack roll is a 19. How do you defend against this attack?)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 12:18 PM

(Hmm, at the current pace I'm concerned we might not have time to finish this scene. Would you be available for a chat sometime this evening if we haven't finished by then? We could finish the scene over voice in that case. Either way we should try to do as much as possible over text.) (edited)

Blake 16-Jan-22 12:19 PM

(Yes, ofc. sorry it's taking so long^^)

Blake tries to evade both attacks, jumping over furniture and running under the legs of the golem.

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 12:24 PM

Blake manages to evade the magical arrow, but fails to slide underneath the golem. Fortunately, it is fooled by the illusions, so it destroys one of them instead of slamming Blake over the head. What does she do now?

Blake 16-Jan-22 12:29 PM

Next thing Blake tries to do is to summon those bone arms, she used against the envoy, to grab and restrain Eras while Bilbo tries to bite his leg (She lets the golem be for now, trying to damage Eras instead)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 03:38 PM

Blake successfully restrain the man using the bone arms, hurting him in the process. While he is incapable of moving and has a harder time evading attacks, he still manages to kick Bilbo away, preventing himself from being bitten. He then tries to squirm out of the grasp, but your bone hands grasp tighter and you hear a snap coming from the man as he no doubt hurts himself in doing so. Your hands then throw him into one of the walls, causing him to look quite injured. (You are unable to hold onto someone for longer than a turn, but since he was unable to escape you got a free attack on him basically. You still have your turn.) The golem swings wildly and manages to hit you right in the back of the head. That's when you notice something troubling... This blow would no doubt have hurt quite a bit, but not nearly as much as it did. Something seems to hace weakened you, and you are unsure what. (You take a whooping 80 damage from the attack! Something seems to make you take double damage! And the effect doesn't seem to go away.) (You are now at 10 health, and 2 clones left. The man looks quite injured, and it is your and your pets' turn. What do you do?)

Blake 16-Jan-22 03:58 PM

(Ok, it is do or die time^^) Blake casts a illusion making both her and her clones look like Eras (The intention here is to confuse the golem making it maybe attack the real Eras instead of her.) then she jumps to attack with her pets desperately clawing and still trying to bite the man.

(Like the Spiderman pointing meme)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 05:35 PM

Blake attempts to make herself and the illusions look like the man. Unfortunately the illusion doesn't seem too convincing, as the Golem unerringly attacks Blake and her clones. Her pets rush to attack the man but he rolls aside and manages to get some distance. Annoyed at the current situation, he yells out: "Kill her already! She's just a weakling of a Mage!" He then uses his wand and attacks using multiple purple darts, targeting both Blake and all her clones at once. However, your instincts kick in, and both you and all your clones manage to evade all darts. The man looks quite annoyed and starts making his way out of the room, into the central part of the building. In the meantime, the Golem tries its best to attack Blake, but misses. What do you do?

Blake 16-Jan-22 05:48 PM

(Um, so I had an Idea but I'm not sure I could do it... The golem is technically dead, right? Is there any chance I could use dead eyes spies to take it over

, because then I could do a lot of damage I think, even though Blakes body would be really vulnerable)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 05:49 PM

(Well, no, it's more like a summoned creature, so you probably couldn't take over it as is)

Blake 16-Jan-22 05:50 PM

(Fair enough^^)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 05:51 PM

(Might be doable against other undead minions though, if anyone has them!)

Blake 16-Jan-22 05:56 PM

(Haha, yeah its a shame I did not have a chance to do it on Davey's crew, it would have been fun) Blake answers the command for her death by taunting the man. "You have bad aim Eras." Blake then tries to cast a curse on Eras linking his physical health to his mental health (I'm guessing this will take the whole turn and I cant cast a illusion too.) while Bilbo and the rest of the pets try to block the door.

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 05:58 PM

(Ah, right, so attacking his willpower rather than his evasion stat you mean? You don't have to do that as a separate action, you can just make an attack roll right away if you want!)

(He is already out of the room, but maybe you're trying to trap the golem in?)

Blake 16-Jan-22 06:02 PM

(Oh ok, sorry^^ didn't quite catch that part, um I think that's ok. Pets do not block the door then. I have one more question. Does this he is retreating from battle? And does that mean if I defeat the golem I could sneak away?

)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 06:04 PM

(There doesn't seem to be anything stopping you from running, but leaving the man alive may be a mistake. He hasn't fled but he seems to be trying to keep his distance from you while he lets his Golem do the dirty work.)

Blake 16-Jan-22 06:09 PM

(Ok ok, got it^^ Sorry. I think then the best move would be to try and shut the golem in the room.) Blake answers the command for her death by taunting the man. "You have bad aim Eras." Blake and her family then runs after Eras trough the door, sealing it behind behind them with Blakes summoned bones, leaving the clones and the golem behind in the room

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 06:20 PM

Blake leaves the clones inside with the Golem and attempts to lock the room using bones. Unfortunately, the Golem seems to be targetting her and rushes straight at her regardless of the clones, with such force that it completely breaks down the door and almost slams into Blake, but in the last second she moves out of the way. Blake's pets keep harassing Eras, but he keeps maintaining his distance from them. While doing so, he casts another arrow spell, targeting Blake, who is unable to defend against it. She goes down on her knees, but is able to shakily stand back up. (Blake has triggered Last Chance. If she fails a single defense roll from this point on she will die. In addition, she is now in critical condition, so unless she receives medical aid of some sort she may die regardless.) "What was that, girl? You don't look like you're in a position to mock anyone. Let alone Count Rosendo of House Eras! You die tonight, girl!" (edited)

(You currently have 40 AP left, good for one big spell or 2 normal spells. In addition, you have your clones in the other room, but you could call them over and hopefully they can take any failed attempts to dodge. But things look dire indeed!) (edited)

Blake 16-Jan-22 06:39 PM

(Ouch, yepp this looks bad^^. I think Blake is going to die. But ... I really want to get a bite on this man.) The clones come rushing over, but it's probably to late. Using all of the power she has left Blake casts one last illusion on Eras, one where he watches himself lose all his wealth, status and power, where most people forget who he was and the ones that still remember laugh at him while he lives as a street rat. While this happens Blakes pets rush over biting at the man. (Hopefully the illusion breaks his concentration enough that they can bite and infect him.)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 06:52 PM

Blake's illusions starts to take hold, but Eras snaps out of it just in time to try and defend against her family. Unfortunately for him, they are able to swarm him, and start biting him. He desperately shoots at Blake and almost hits her! But thanks to her pets, he barely misses her, and so does the Golem. Eras looks really injured right now. You figure he probably has access to contacts that can get rid of the disease, so even if he is infected that will probably not stop him. What does Blake do? (Blake still has 2 clones and 20 AP.) (edited)

Blake 16-Jan-22 07:12 PM

(Ooof, here it goes.) Feeling herself being so close to death Blake uses her last bit of necromancy temporarily strengthening and re-animating her own dying body. She rushes for Eras with the clones following close behind stabbing at his chest with her knife. "You're so stubborn for a Count" She half screams, while desperately attacking him.

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 07:14 PM

(Normally that would be a Strike attack, which you have -3 in but you could use the last of your AP to attack him using your necromancy stat instead?)

Blake 16-Jan-22 07:15 PM

(Yeah, if I could use the necromancy stat that would be really cool^^)

(I think, I'm gonna lose this either way but I'll sure try to drag him down with me)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 07:20 PM

In one brief moment, Blake focuses her remaining strength and charges at the Count, infusing herself with Necromancy and stabbing him right in the chest with her knife. At the same time, her pets swarm him and bite him until he stops struggling and falls limp. As he does, the golem vanishes. Blake, panting and injured, looks around and can't hear anyone else approach. It seems she has somehow managed to defeat the Count!

Falling over, she is barely caught by Bilbo, who licks her wounds. While the battle may be over, things look pretty dire still. (Blake needs to get medical attention within one phase, or she has to perform a 9+ Vitality check. Failing that she will succumb to her injuries. Knowing this, what does Blake do, and where does Blake go now?*

Blake 16-Jan-22 07:39 PM

(Ohhhh, gosh... um, I did not expect to survive this.) Exhausted but knowing that she will need money if she's going to get any medical help she asks her pets to grab anything valuable they can find in Eras house. Jewellery or money, as long as its something. Since she herself is responsible for most of the hospitals being overwhelmed she heads for The Broker, hopeful that he's still alive and able to help her in exchange for some treasure and maybe fake magic lessons.

(I'm assuming she cant have another interaction but passing out outside The Brookers tent would probably be just as ok as sleeping in her lair since... its not the most fortified lair either way, hah.)

Cindurion 16-Jan-22 07:44 PM

(Heh, fair enough. I'll say you will get there the first thing in the morning of the next phase as it takes quite a bit for you to walk there in your current state)

Blake 16-Jan-22 07:46 PM

(Very fair^^)