Post by TheUdjat on Apr 21, 2009 12:50:03 GMT -5
SEA GREEN
Well hopefully I’ve destroyed that expectation. 
Just kidding. I like frequent updates, too, and will strive to keep them regular, but there are always complications.
I may have misspoke. I meant for the rescue maneuver to take both actions a character might have, not to have it be resolved on the next round, at the start of the character’s turn (as with a summon, for instance). Natsumi will be able to see the result of Ella’s action before Amassu acts, though with Japic’s roll, I don’t think it’s so much an issue of whether they get caught as how hard they land—and if they hang on. Apparently the speed at which one accelerates while falling is a lot.
To that end, and I apologize for changing from my original plan here, but I’m not satisfied with the previous mechanic of ‘reflex save or take damage’. They’re falling, there’s going to be some damage regardless; the real question is whether they can hang on. Common sense tells me this would be pretty difficult. So it will be a Reflex Save to hang on. I apologize if this upsets anyone too much—just trying to come up with a fair mechanic on the fly here. No pun intended (okay, maybe a little).
Natsumi moves to the edge of the cloud, crying out in horror, watching as her friends plummet towards the icy waters below. Amassu turns his head, the only indication that he notices her reaction, but he soon tears his eyes away to look at the retreating dragon.
Ella focuses on her fallen passengers, sending Antyca spiraling into a dive towards them. It’s a tricky maneuver, the roc beating her wings to fall faster than the pair and swinging around at a delicate angle to catch them without crushing them on the roc’s enormous back. But Ella proves her skill as a roc rider once again, and Antyca gracefully appears to interrupt their fall. Gro-bug hits first with a heavy thud, making Antyca waver a little, but he lands incorrectly, his body twisted, and cannot find purchase on the roc before the motion and winds sending him tumbling off her tail feathers again, back to the blue. Henrick follows an instant later, his body still wrapped in metal armor that doesn’t help him cling to Antyca at all. He scrambles for a handhold, pulling out a few feathers, but is soon calling out helplessly as he tumbles off the roc again. Ella shouts out a curse, preparing to bring the roc around to try again...
But even as she moves, Natsumi has seen enough. She moves closer to the edge, calling out to Amassu and pointing, unable to even voice the plea in her throat, only aware that she must save her friends or at least attempt to, even if it means she must follow them into the air. The cloud giant turns his head to look at her, and though determination and aggression are heavily writ on his face—the deep urge to fight and conquer that the giant is so known for—he understands the look on her face, eyes widening. One massive arm is thrust out to bar her way, and he simply states, “No.” The giant takes one more look at the dark dragon, and spits out a curse, followed by the cloud chariot’s command word.
In mere heartbeats the cloud has changed direction, plummeting down through the sky, so sharply that Natsumi almost falls into the sky anyway for want of stumbling to catch herself—but Amassu’s arm is there, this time more as a railing than a wall. The magic cloud moves with uncanny precision and speed, a part of the very wind itself, swinging in down below Gro-bug and Henrick before Ella can bring Antyca back around for a second try. Thinking quickly, Natsumi calls up magic to slow their descent, knowing that even if they land on the cloud, the impact could be enough to finish them as surely as the seas far below.
And, though perhaps not quite like a feather, Gro-bug and Henrick land on the cloud giant’s domain without further damage, the thundering construct spreading and growing to accommodate them.
(Mechanics)
After making sure that they are caught, Amassu glares back into the skies where the form of the dragon grows more distant—and then disappears from the sky entirely. He rumbles deep in his chest, as angry as the thundering cloud he stands upon, but says nothing. Perhaps he doesn’t trust the words that would come.
The surface of the cloud continues to grow, a flat platform now, large enough even for Antyca to land. The cloud has slowed, hanging in the air and drifting with the wind.
[Combat effectively over. Antyca can land without trouble on the cloud if desired, to give you guys a chance to catch up and discuss things.]
(Character Status)
Ella – 51/77 HP, Shaken, 5 Neg. Levels [Temp HP: 26/52]
Sean – 47/47 HP, Blind, Shaken, 5 Neg. Levels [Temp HP 22/22]
Gro-bug – 63/100 HP, Cursed (50% no action), Shaken, 5 Neg. Levels [Temp HP: 38/75], Falling
Henrick – 51/70 HP, Shaken, 5 Neg. Levels [Temp HP: 26/45], Falling
Antyca – 66 damage, Shaken, 2 Neg. Levels
Natsumi – 52/52 HP, Hasted, Shaken
Amassu – No damage, Hasted, Inspire Greatness
Dragon – 289 damage
Negative Levels:
Sean, Ella, Gro-bug, and Henrick all suffer -5 on all skill checks, ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws, and -25 to HP. The HP amounts have been reflected above.
DARK RED
What a great idea!
Gildas suggests splitting up to cover more ground, a resolution quickly agreed to by Lenny, who wanders off with Wystfalrun to address another approach to the problem. Lockheart remains with Gildas, as the man suggested, though he admits that he may no better know what questions to ask than the Tertian. Certainly he knows better what to look for with the bone than the aging cleric.
The wait is excruciating as the two are forced to stand through repetitive and obvious questions that even Wanderer could probably have answered, just by looking around. Lockheart is fairly patient through the whole ordeal, but he doesn’t have the sense of impending danger that Gildas is attuned to, knowing that the Deathspeakers could be closing in on the university at any moment. The only consolation is that they, too, will have to figure out where on the grounds the copper bone is located.
Eventually the pair do make it through the line, and there the receptionist greets them with a polite but strained smile. “Hello, and how can I help you?” Presumably still looking for some academic with knowledge of the university’s history—and its founder, in particular—Gildas follows this line of questioning. The clerk frowns uncertainly. “Oh... well, we don’t really have a department for that. I guess the Dean would be the one to ask, but he’s been in meetings all morning.” She looks uncertainly at the other clerk, a half-elven man who is also dealing with a customer.
He manages a quick reply. “Sure, the Dean—or the museum curator. You’ll need to set up an appointment, though.”
“Yes, naturally,” the first clerk concludes with a nod. She fishes around for a little calendar of sorts, smoothly swiping up a quill from a nearby inkwell—no ink glistens on the end, however. “Now, it says here he’s booked up through the rest of the week. Hmm. Sometime in the morning early next week? Yes, I think that would do.”
Lockheart frowns. A matter of this importance being left to the scheduling of meetings? Certainly not the pace one would hope for in locating ancient relics of incomprehensible power.
Lenny, Wystfalrun-
The pair slip out of Johnson Hall in search of some other helpful person, the halfling choosing to target someone who is not an employee of the school. They are easy enough to locate, many people coming and going from the free institute, and a healthy number of them are even dwarves. [Gather Information checks.] For the first hour or two that the pair ask around about the ancient dwarven king, they are largely ignored, either by people who don’t know about him or by those who have better things to do. It doesn’t help that Lenny and Wystfalrun look sorely out of place, still dressed in the only kind of clothes they own—the clothes of stealthy wild-savvy warriors from a wartorn country.
But eventually the two hit upon a stroke of luck. While asking any dwarves for more information, edging towards the library, one dwarven youth gives Lenny a surprised look. “You want to know about King Garor?” he says. This dwarf doesn’t possess much of a Bazarkrak accent, perhaps indicating a lot of time spent in the city. “I can tell you all about the dwarf they call Skullsplitter. Why, I came here to study him!”
A smile cracks across his face—and then quickly fades to something closer to suspicion. “But you two don’t look much like scholars or students. Who’s asking?” Suspicion? An odd reaction, to be sure.
(Character Status)
Gildas – 69/69 HP
Lenny – 61/61 HP
Wystfalrun – 62/62 HP
Lockheart – No damage
Wanderer – 90/90 HP [Absent]
OOC: Udjat, its great to play this everyday again! Thanks for getting the story back up. This really brightens my crap days at work!
Just kidding. I like frequent updates, too, and will strive to keep them regular, but there are always complications. Annoying thing is it's a full round so no way of knowing what will happen so we'll have both Ella and Amassu trying to do the same thing.
To that end, and I apologize for changing from my original plan here, but I’m not satisfied with the previous mechanic of ‘reflex save or take damage’. They’re falling, there’s going to be some damage regardless; the real question is whether they can hang on. Common sense tells me this would be pretty difficult. So it will be a Reflex Save to hang on. I apologize if this upsets anyone too much—just trying to come up with a fair mechanic on the fly here. No pun intended (okay, maybe a little).
Natsumi moves to the edge of the cloud, crying out in horror, watching as her friends plummet towards the icy waters below. Amassu turns his head, the only indication that he notices her reaction, but he soon tears his eyes away to look at the retreating dragon.
Ella focuses on her fallen passengers, sending Antyca spiraling into a dive towards them. It’s a tricky maneuver, the roc beating her wings to fall faster than the pair and swinging around at a delicate angle to catch them without crushing them on the roc’s enormous back. But Ella proves her skill as a roc rider once again, and Antyca gracefully appears to interrupt their fall. Gro-bug hits first with a heavy thud, making Antyca waver a little, but he lands incorrectly, his body twisted, and cannot find purchase on the roc before the motion and winds sending him tumbling off her tail feathers again, back to the blue. Henrick follows an instant later, his body still wrapped in metal armor that doesn’t help him cling to Antyca at all. He scrambles for a handhold, pulling out a few feathers, but is soon calling out helplessly as he tumbles off the roc again. Ella shouts out a curse, preparing to bring the roc around to try again...
But even as she moves, Natsumi has seen enough. She moves closer to the edge, calling out to Amassu and pointing, unable to even voice the plea in her throat, only aware that she must save her friends or at least attempt to, even if it means she must follow them into the air. The cloud giant turns his head to look at her, and though determination and aggression are heavily writ on his face—the deep urge to fight and conquer that the giant is so known for—he understands the look on her face, eyes widening. One massive arm is thrust out to bar her way, and he simply states, “No.” The giant takes one more look at the dark dragon, and spits out a curse, followed by the cloud chariot’s command word.
In mere heartbeats the cloud has changed direction, plummeting down through the sky, so sharply that Natsumi almost falls into the sky anyway for want of stumbling to catch herself—but Amassu’s arm is there, this time more as a railing than a wall. The magic cloud moves with uncanny precision and speed, a part of the very wind itself, swinging in down below Gro-bug and Henrick before Ella can bring Antyca back around for a second try. Thinking quickly, Natsumi calls up magic to slow their descent, knowing that even if they land on the cloud, the impact could be enough to finish them as surely as the seas far below.
And, though perhaps not quite like a feather, Gro-bug and Henrick land on the cloud giant’s domain without further damage, the thundering construct spreading and growing to accommodate them.
(Mechanics)
- Natsumi delays.
- Ella tries to save the pair. She makes a Ride check at +10 (-2 Shaken, -5 Neg. Levels, -5 Bareback): 25, success. Now the tricky part: reflex saves for Gro-bug and Henrick to ‘catch’ Antyca instead of slamming into her. Since Ella succeeded by 5, I will reduce this to a DC 10 Reflex Save. Henrick @ -1: 5, fail. Gro-bug @ -2: 2, fail.
- Falling damage. Again, due to a high Ride check, I will reduce the damage, judging that Ella has guided Antyca into a suitable downward angle to minimize impact. We’ll call it 5d6 damage for each, as if falling 50’ (instead of the 200 or so they actually fell). Henrick: 19 damage. Gro-bug: 13 damage after DR 1/-. But they keep on falling... Antyca takes 5d6 from both of them, totaling 36 damage in all.
- Gro-bug falls (no action)
- Henrick falls (no action)
- Sean hangs on for dear life (no action).
- Natsumi acts, pleading with Amassu to leave the dragon in favor of saving her fallen friends, threatening to jump herself. (Call it a readied action)
- Amassu reluctantly gives up chasing the dragon to go after Henrick and Gro-bug. It takes up his turn, but he can get there. Since Featherfall is an Immediate Action, I’m just going to say Natsumi casts it when they come a-tumbling down, so no damage for landing on the cloud.
- The dragon acts. It moves 150’ away and casts Dimension Door, disappearing utterly from the skies.
After making sure that they are caught, Amassu glares back into the skies where the form of the dragon grows more distant—and then disappears from the sky entirely. He rumbles deep in his chest, as angry as the thundering cloud he stands upon, but says nothing. Perhaps he doesn’t trust the words that would come.
The surface of the cloud continues to grow, a flat platform now, large enough even for Antyca to land. The cloud has slowed, hanging in the air and drifting with the wind.
[Combat effectively over. Antyca can land without trouble on the cloud if desired, to give you guys a chance to catch up and discuss things.]
(Character Status)
Ella – 51/77 HP, Shaken, 5 Neg. Levels [Temp HP: 26/52]
Sean – 47/47 HP, Blind, Shaken, 5 Neg. Levels [Temp HP 22/22]
Gro-bug – 63/100 HP, Cursed (50% no action), Shaken, 5 Neg. Levels [Temp HP: 38/75], Falling
Henrick – 51/70 HP, Shaken, 5 Neg. Levels [Temp HP: 26/45], Falling
Antyca – 66 damage, Shaken, 2 Neg. Levels
Natsumi – 52/52 HP, Hasted, Shaken
Amassu – No damage, Hasted, Inspire Greatness
Dragon – 289 damage
Negative Levels:
A creature takes the following penalties for each negative level it has gained.
–1 on all skill checks and ability checks.
–1 on attack rolls and saving throws.
–5 hit points.
–1 effective level (whenever the creature’s level is used in a die roll or calculation, reduce it by one for each negative level).
If the victim casts spells, she loses access to one spell as if she had cast her highest-level, currently available spell. (If she has more than one spell at her highest level, she chooses which she loses.) In addition, when she next prepares spells or regains spell slots, she gets one less spell slot at her highest spell level.
Negative levels remain for 24 hours or until removed with a spell, such as restoration. After 24 hours, the afflicted creature must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 attacker’s HD + attacker’s Cha modifier). (The DC is provided in the attacker’s description.) If the saving throw succeeds, the negative level goes away with no harm to the creature. The afflicted creature makes a separate saving throw for each negative level it has gained. If the save fails, the negative level goes away, but the creature’s level is also reduced by one.
A character with negative levels at least equal to her current level, or drained below 1st level, is instantly slain. Depending on the creature that killed her, she may rise the next night as a monster of that kind. If not, she rises as a wight. A creature gains 5 temporary hit points for each negative level it bestows (though not if the negative level is caused by a spell or similar effect).
–1 on all skill checks and ability checks.
–1 on attack rolls and saving throws.
–5 hit points.
–1 effective level (whenever the creature’s level is used in a die roll or calculation, reduce it by one for each negative level).
If the victim casts spells, she loses access to one spell as if she had cast her highest-level, currently available spell. (If she has more than one spell at her highest level, she chooses which she loses.) In addition, when she next prepares spells or regains spell slots, she gets one less spell slot at her highest spell level.
Negative levels remain for 24 hours or until removed with a spell, such as restoration. After 24 hours, the afflicted creature must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 attacker’s HD + attacker’s Cha modifier). (The DC is provided in the attacker’s description.) If the saving throw succeeds, the negative level goes away with no harm to the creature. The afflicted creature makes a separate saving throw for each negative level it has gained. If the save fails, the negative level goes away, but the creature’s level is also reduced by one.
A character with negative levels at least equal to her current level, or drained below 1st level, is instantly slain. Depending on the creature that killed her, she may rise the next night as a monster of that kind. If not, she rises as a wight. A creature gains 5 temporary hit points for each negative level it bestows (though not if the negative level is caused by a spell or similar effect).
Sean, Ella, Gro-bug, and Henrick all suffer -5 on all skill checks, ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws, and -25 to HP. The HP amounts have been reflected above.
DARK RED
For the first time, he felt he could trust Wanderer more than simple guards with something important. He just hoped he would stay with the guards, using their protection besides his own, instead of wandering off alone, an easy pray to Vorkal's
enchanting magics with his simple mind.
enchanting magics with his simple mind.
Gildas suggests splitting up to cover more ground, a resolution quickly agreed to by Lenny, who wanders off with Wystfalrun to address another approach to the problem. Lockheart remains with Gildas, as the man suggested, though he admits that he may no better know what questions to ask than the Tertian. Certainly he knows better what to look for with the bone than the aging cleric.
The wait is excruciating as the two are forced to stand through repetitive and obvious questions that even Wanderer could probably have answered, just by looking around. Lockheart is fairly patient through the whole ordeal, but he doesn’t have the sense of impending danger that Gildas is attuned to, knowing that the Deathspeakers could be closing in on the university at any moment. The only consolation is that they, too, will have to figure out where on the grounds the copper bone is located.
Eventually the pair do make it through the line, and there the receptionist greets them with a polite but strained smile. “Hello, and how can I help you?” Presumably still looking for some academic with knowledge of the university’s history—and its founder, in particular—Gildas follows this line of questioning. The clerk frowns uncertainly. “Oh... well, we don’t really have a department for that. I guess the Dean would be the one to ask, but he’s been in meetings all morning.” She looks uncertainly at the other clerk, a half-elven man who is also dealing with a customer.
He manages a quick reply. “Sure, the Dean—or the museum curator. You’ll need to set up an appointment, though.”
“Yes, naturally,” the first clerk concludes with a nod. She fishes around for a little calendar of sorts, smoothly swiping up a quill from a nearby inkwell—no ink glistens on the end, however. “Now, it says here he’s booked up through the rest of the week. Hmm. Sometime in the morning early next week? Yes, I think that would do.”
Lockheart frowns. A matter of this importance being left to the scheduling of meetings? Certainly not the pace one would hope for in locating ancient relics of incomprehensible power.
Lenny, Wystfalrun-
The pair slip out of Johnson Hall in search of some other helpful person, the halfling choosing to target someone who is not an employee of the school. They are easy enough to locate, many people coming and going from the free institute, and a healthy number of them are even dwarves. [Gather Information checks.] For the first hour or two that the pair ask around about the ancient dwarven king, they are largely ignored, either by people who don’t know about him or by those who have better things to do. It doesn’t help that Lenny and Wystfalrun look sorely out of place, still dressed in the only kind of clothes they own—the clothes of stealthy wild-savvy warriors from a wartorn country.
But eventually the two hit upon a stroke of luck. While asking any dwarves for more information, edging towards the library, one dwarven youth gives Lenny a surprised look. “You want to know about King Garor?” he says. This dwarf doesn’t possess much of a Bazarkrak accent, perhaps indicating a lot of time spent in the city. “I can tell you all about the dwarf they call Skullsplitter. Why, I came here to study him!”
A smile cracks across his face—and then quickly fades to something closer to suspicion. “But you two don’t look much like scholars or students. Who’s asking?” Suspicion? An odd reaction, to be sure.
(Character Status)
Gildas – 69/69 HP
Lenny – 61/61 HP
Wystfalrun – 62/62 HP
Lockheart – No damage
Wanderer – 90/90 HP [Absent]
