[pnpgm] Game Update #53 - File #227 - Gargoyle Combat Turn 1: P1+2
Scott Adams
longshot at darktech.org
Fri Jun 27 06:25:42 CEST 2008
HT Alias/Player Character Name Type Status/Notes Sex
-- -----------------------------------------------------------------
R1 John Haight...........Arawn.............Druid .Normal/Alfar Ma
?? Chris Wells...........Ben'dar...........Warrior.Normal/Human Ma
R1 Tom Corckett..........Caladan...........Wizard Normal/Human Ma
W2 Marcel Liberty........Chion.............Sailor..Normal/Human Ma
-- Tobie Bonahoom........Fremea............Sidh....NormalFaerry Fe
Do David Sanders.........Kiet.Sunan........Acrobat Normal/Human Ma
R? J H Hooten............Raban.Usherwood...Bard....Normal/Human..Ma
W4 Wout Broere...........Unali.............Ninja...Normal/Human Fe
R4 Alex Koponen..........Z'leyra...........Healer..Normal/Human Fe
Animals: Corona [Eagle] Z'leyra, Boyzdar [Wolf] (Strie'bog),
Game Web Site - http://www.funport.com/longshot/pbem
Public posts/actions to pnpgm at abroere.xs4all.nl (mailing list)
Private emails (not public actions) to longshot at darktech.org
Game Update #53 in sequence (file #227)
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Admin notes: None.
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[Recap]
From Raban: [Re: Actions]
Raban to Kiet: "No apology is needed, it was obvious even to
me why you behaved as you did. The snake I figured was someones
idea of a bad prank or a sneaky mage, so I had to be careful
how I handled it. So I removed you from the danger instead of
dealing with the snake. I should apologize to you for such
rough handling, but it did look like it was needed. Fortunately
no one was bitten. I am not one who can see a danger and not
act, but at times it has gotten me into trouble." "My name is
Raban Usherwood, it's pronounced 'Ray' 'Bin' if you say it
slowly. I was once told it meant 'one who hates daylight' but
I think that was in another language. My joining these people
is an odd tale, but I think the easiest is to say my Goddess,
Miryan, desired it. I wander place to place Entertaining and
doing good works, as well as spreading my Goddesses teaching
and blessings as a Bard. When it is time to move on, I choose
my direction by how it feels in my heart, or by events that
lead me to places. Such lead me to whe re I met these people
and a foul person assaulted one of the ladies. As I mentioned,
I cannot stand by when such occurs, but even more so when a
lady is endangered.
There is much I should not say about what occurred, but in the
end I invited myself to come with them to protect the Ladies
and to Entertain at the Party. As you know, the Entertainment
went fairly well, even though I could not perform to my best
with what little I knew of the languages and cultures. I am
not doing so well on the protection, though I have not failed
at it. I found it is difficult to protect people who act like
they do not need protecting. So perhaps I have misunderstood
why I felt I needed to go with them. They must need my help
for something important other than just protection." "I believe
nothing is an accident, as the gods influence events in many
subtle ways. Is your involvement any different?"
Raban looks over the giants sadly, "Some creatures are too
tightly bound to their gods and have little control over their
actions. Kototh is one that refused to let his creations act
freely. Had he allowed it, then maybe these giants could have
survived. Some say only humans have that freedom, but I believe
many other races have more than they admit too. I too have my
bindings, I would have preferred not needing to kill them, but
they could have been a risk to others. If they were close to a
settlement, I would have felt the need to drive them off or
kill them."
[Raban was a bit nervous about the teleport, though the drop
did not seem to bother him. But having something hiding in the
clouds attack the group, especially the ladies, upsets him
greatly. His hands tighten into fists, showing his gauntlets
are more than protection. Raban senses for where the enemies
are and prepares to smash them.] Raban: "What are gargoyles?"
<Why do I always feel I should say 'Hulk Smash'? Don't make
Raban angry..you would not like him when he is angry ;) >
GM: Ack. Or The Thing - "its clobbering time!"
------------------------------
From Ben'dar: [Re: Actions]
Ben'Dar senses Kiet's distress at his barbarian appearance and
manners. Ben'Dar grins but says nothing. If the acrobat is
uncomfortable now, he should be around when a Fel'oros war party
goes out on a raid!
Ben'Dar is fairly skilled at falling, having spent many years
learning how to ride and break horses. He rolls on the spongy
ground and comes smoothly to his feet. He is glad Tef'wo did not
come along. Such a fall may have been fatal to the big horse.
He senses the gargoyles and sees Unali duck beneath one.
Instinctively he readies his pike. "Stand back to back!" He
protect the back of whoever he's closest to, and will hold his
pike in such a way as to make it difficult for an attacking
Gargoyle to get to him without hitting his pike first.
GM: Ack.
------------------------------
From Z'leyra: [Re: Actions]
Z'leyra will readily accede to Unali's request to help her
learn Salaqi via the Necklace.
As Z'leyra doesn't need the magic item to learn languages via
the tongues spell she will happily and gratefully accept any
offers to learn languages that she doesn't know. She will
freely offer the languages she knows to any using the magic
item to learn languages. No trade required.
[Usual s.o.p. for casting Tongues includes Purification,
casting thru her staff and all spells at EL0]
Z'leyra will offer to examine the itching powder to see if
she can determine anything about it...If she uses Perception
she will have folks on hand to listen to what she says while
in the trance.
After a brief bit of thought Z'leyra decides that having
healing rains might be counterproductive as some would use it
to engage in an orgy of violence.
In preparation for the teleport Z'leyra kept the Levitation
spell ready to cast if things didn't go well.
Z'leyra requests that Corona stay close by...and if they do
end up separated and can't find each other in 2 days or so,
to meet at the High Elders.
GARGOYLES!!! FisherKing had been killed by gargoyles. Z'leyra
fights down the temptation to go berserk and prepares to fight.
Despite her previous experience with them and her knowledge
that they are chaos oriented creatures that delight in enslaving
and torturing humans she will not attack unless it is obvious
the gargoyles are attacking... she will allow them the
opportunity to approach peacefully if they choose.
She will fight defensively with her staff...and will cast Astral
Web thru it at the gargoyles if they do attack and she has time.
GM: Ack. Corona agrees.
------------------------------
From Fremea: [Re: Actions]
Never having seen Gargoyles or really knowing much about them,
she will cast Invisibility (EL 0) on herself and then ready her
daggers to fight with. She will also fly up a little bit higher
(unless the winds are too strong for her to do that and stay
with the party).
GM: Ack.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[New Stuff]
[Marqi 30th, 1633TH. 2nd Day of Adventure #4.
Location: Ki'ama's Citadel, Dark Lands
[Z'leyra offers to attempt to examine the itching powder and
cast perception on it. But Zhou is suspicious and both
men refuse and run away to the healer.]
GM: Event was handled so long ago now if these actions done
then could've done something. But the timeline is set. :<
--------------------------------
[Marqi 31st, 1633TH. 3rd Day of Adventure #4.
Location: Balance domain, Dark Lands
[That evening in camp Kiet talks to Chion and Raban. Gives
his thanks to Raban for helping with the snake. Raban
replies to Kiet.]
Raban: "No apology is needed, it was obvious even to me why you
behaved as you did. The snake I figured was someone's idea of a
bad prank or a sneaky mage, so I had to be careful how I handled
it. So I removed you from the danger instead of dealing with the
snake. I should apologize to you for such rough handling, but it
did look like it was needed. Fortunately no one was bitten. I am
not one who can see a danger and not act, but at times it has
gotten me into trouble."
"My name is Raban Usherwood, it's pronounced 'Ray' 'Bin' if you
say it slowly. I was once told it meant 'one who hates daylight'
but I think that was in another language. My joining these
people is an odd tale, but I think the easiest is to say my
Goddess, Miryan, desired it. I wander place to place
Entertaining and doing good works, as well as spreading my
Goddesses teaching and blessings as a Bard. When it is time to
move on, I choose my direction by how it feels in my heart, or
by events that lead me to places. Such lead me to where I met
these people and a foul person assaulted one of the ladies. As
I mentioned, I cannot stand by when such occurs, but even more
so when a lady is endangered."
"There is much I should not say about what occurred, but in the
end I invited myself to come with them to protect the Ladies
and to Entertain at the Party. As you know, the Entertainment
went fairly well, even though I could not perform to my best
with what little I knew of the languages and cultures. I am
not doing so well on the protection, though I have not failed
at it. I found it is difficult to protect people who act like
they do not need protecting. So perhaps I have misunderstood
why I felt I needed to go with them. They must need my help
for something important other than just protection."
"I believe nothing is an accident, as the gods influence
events in many subtle ways. Is your involvement any different?"
------------------------------------------
[Ma 1st, 1633TH. 4th Day of Adventure #4.
Location: Chaos domain, Dark Lands
[At camp that morning. Unali uses the language amulet to
learn Salaqi from Z'leyra. Based on Z'leyra's fluent use
of the language Unali picks it up quickly and seems to be
a good speaker at the level of an educated youth. Z'leyra
then makes her open offer to learn languages for herself with
no trade required.]
--------------------------
[After the Giant Combat when Chion & Arawn take samples.]
[Raban looks over the giant bodies and says out loud.]
Raban: "Some creatures are too tightly bound to their gods and
have little control over their actions. Kototh is one that
refused to let his creations act freely. Had he allowed it,
then maybe these giants could have survived. Some say only
humans have that freedom, but I believe many other races have
more than they admit too. I too have my bindings, I would have
preferred not needing to kill them, but they could have been a
risk to others. If they were close to a settlement, I would have
felt the need to drive them off or kill them."
Sven: "Yes. Even the poor slave people in this domain deserve
to be helped by the death of these creatures. A life saved
is better than two dead giants."
------------------------------------------
[Ma 2nd, 1633TH. 5th Day of Adventure #4.
Location: Chaos domain, Dark Lands
[Time: 9:28am]
[Raban was a bit nervous about the teleport, though the drop did
not seem to bother him. But having something hiding in the
clouds attack the group, especially the ladies, upsets him
greatly. His hands tighten into fists, showing his gauntlets are
more than protection. Raban senses for where the enemies are
and prepares to smash them.]
[Ben'Dar is fairly skilled at falling, having spent many years
learning how to ride and break horses. He rolls on the spongy
ground and comes smoothly to his feet. He is glad Tef'wo did not
come along. Such a fall may have been fatal to the big horse.]
[Z'leyra's blood boils as she recalls the memory of Clima where
one of the gargoyles attacked her friend Fisherking. It was
one thing to kill her companion eagle but to kill her tonah
and so viciously. It sent Z'leyra into a rage then and she
almost get to that point now as her Tonah could be attacked
again. But she knows unlike Fisherking, Corona might be able
to take one or two out himself. So she prepares herself for
a fight of vengeance.]
-------------------
[Time: 9:29am]
Caladan: "Gargoyles!"
Raban: "What are gargoyles?"
[Ben'dar senses the gargoyles and sees Unali duck beneath one.
Instinctively he readies his pike.]
Ben'dar: "Stand back to back!"
GM: I could do a rpg-style combat session. But since we have
new players I still need them to get use to the style of
play. For shorter combats I may get to rpg scene combats.
Rpg style combats tend to be less realistic in terms of the
rule mechanics and situation at hand anyways. When your
dealing with 10 plus folks and tons of enemies a organized
format is the bet to go. :)
[Turn 1: Phase 1]
[Mana Allocation - ]
[Arawn, Fremea, Kiet, Z'leyra and Caladan begin to build up
mana energies for spells.]
[Missile Fire - ]
[The thick cloud cover at this point prevents effective
missile control - and no one planned on it.]
[Magic Effect - ]
[Fremea casts a quick invisibility spell but finds that
the spell fails, she remains visible.]
[Arawn quickly gestures with his hands and speaks the magical
words to invoke a Armor spell and within 2 seconds a
shining blue aura shines over his scale mail seen by him.
He guesses he increased his armor by 50% in strength.]
[Caladan quickly speaks other words and completes a swing
gesture with his hand and completes a spell to give him
a slight edge.]
[Z'leyra casts a quick astral web spell through her staff
hoping she can capture a target even though she can't
see many targets.]
[Kiet while on the ground still looking for a item or two
hears the warning. He think Caladan said Gargirls whatever
they are in Marentian. But Kiet uses quick thinking and has
heard stories of winged creatures with a name like that. Maybe
its them? So he casts a protection spell and hope it works.]
[Melee & Movement- ]
[For those who have experienced Gargoyles in the past like
Caladan, Z'leyra and Ben'dar; it quickly becomes evident there
are male and female types here. The large is the bigger sized
reptile with long angular face, two horns and some have height
of 7 feet tall. Their leathery wings, tough hide and fur is
clear even in the fog. The female version is smaller and even
those inexperienced can likely figure this out based on how
animals work. The female has more fur and less scales, rounder
face and less tough hide. Females are shorter at only 4-5 feet
tall and fly less skilled.]
[Corona has been circling in the darker clouds above the party
and he senses others around it. Corona detects trouble below
and dives for an attack on one target through the cloud. He
knows that only that winged one called Fremea can fly so his
chances of not hurting a party member is high. She should
be fairly easy to see against the darker forms of the gargoyles.
He fires red bolts from his eyes and it sizzles past one
creature and fades out in a sizzle against the moisture.]
[Not having seen Gargoyles in action Fremea climbs up higher
above the party in case they lodge spells and weapons.
She knows her spell failed and hopes the cloud will be
enough cover as she can barely see herself. She pulls
out her dagger and tracks a target from its wing flap. She
flies toward one sound and the creature zips past and
suddenly a gust of wind hits her and makes her drift back
a few feet. She regains her bearing but loses the creature.]
GM: Gargoyle targets are D10 1 begin top of roster and 10
being Corona (9, Z'leyra). So its random.
[One large male gargoyle dives straight for Chion. Chion
notices this one is carrying a sword. He recalls in clima
most had spears or clubs. These must be smarter ones?
The creature dives and swings the sword at Chion but misses
completely by inches.]
[One smaller gargoyle heads back toward Corona and from
behind uses her claws to tear flesh from the bird giving
it a minor wound.]
[One female dives low to the ground and flies over the
lying Kiet. She tries to grab and at the least hurt
the human but misses as he seems to squirm out of the
way in the last second. Kiet glances up to see the
back of the foul creature and knows that was close.]
[One female dives straight for Unali but her dagger gives her
the edge and she shifts just in time to avoid her claw attack.]
[Raban's blood runs hot as he sees Unali attacked but she seems
to have some warning and she moves out of the way. Raban
charges forward like a mad man toward the creature before
it takes up to the air. For such a massive man he seems
to leap with the ease of a tiger and catches the creature
on its legs. He yanks the female gargoyle down and slams
it to the ground onto its back slamming moist dirt everywhere.
The impact is massive and knocks the creature out.]
[Having rolled, flipped and stood up like a trained acrobat
warrior Unali stands and notices what Raban does. In
the fog the man is seen only by his body mass. She nods
to Raban and hopes he sees her face. She pulls out a second
dagger and looks toward Caladan's last position based on his
words and heads that way. She finds him but sees no
creature. She stands ready for any sign of more of them.
its hard to attack creatures that can fly up into the sky.]
[Ben'dar gives his tactical suggestion and pulls his pike
closer to himself. He looks for the creatures but the
fog is too thick. He nears toward another party member.]
[Arawn finds this attack suspicious. From what he knows
of these creatures they should be dust in the sun. But
then again these clouds filter the sun. But surely the
wind would show the sun on them? This means they must
have some energy or spell protecting them in this daylight.
That energy he felt in the air when first teleported might
be something about it. But no time to look into it now.
He pulls his sword and buckler ready for action.]
[Chion pulls out his sai and gets into a ready stance ready
for combat.]
[Caladan and Z'leyra ready their staffs ready to defend against
the foul creatures.]
[Kiet on the ground pulls one of his rope strips out and
readies it in his hand.]
[From the west some sound is heard that must be a gargoyle
yell likely for attack the party figures.]
GM: Not much action yet as they are doing dive attacks
at this point. Not until they get grounded if they
do will there be much chance for action. :<
[Turn 1: Phase 2]
[Mana Allocation - ]
[Kiet begins to gather mana for a new spell.]
[Missile Fire - None]
[Magic Effect - ]
[Kiet casts his spell onto the rope strip and notices it
jerk just slightly.]
[Melee & Movement -]
[Corona does a sudden dive straight down then arcs upside
down and then back up. Twisting back and upward the
eagle comes behind the one creature that just attacked
her and bolts of hot energy hits the creature in the wing
causing a large hole in the wing. The female gives a frightful
howl of pain.]
[Fremea sees one male gargoyle fly past her and flies fast
against the wind. This time she is prepared for the
gust of wind and sustains her balance. She dives at the
creature and stabs at its reptile back doing 14 points of
damage as the creature howls in pain.]
[The gargoyle creature hit by Fremea twists in flight and
lowers slightly in a skilled manner. Fremea now sees
he has a sword and the sword thrusts upwards and hits
Fremea in the lower left abdomen. Her elven armor helps
but she still takes a 3 point hit from it.]
[The gargoyle that attacked Chion last time with a sword
retries this time landing for a better shot. Landing
in front of Chion he thrusts his sword as if the creature
could even be civilized! Chion finds it actually amusing.
The sword fails to strike and Chion figures the stupid
creature must not be trained well.]
[One male creature this time dives straight for Kiet
finding it an easy target and lands above him. But
at that instant Kiet rolls tot he side missing the
creature's claws.]
[Suddenly from all around smaller wing flaps are heard
from behind, front, side, above. The party finds
that there must be a swarm of the creatures all around
in this cloudbank. Apparently reinforcements were called?]
GM: The below female segments are simultaneous that
happen all at the exact same time. Its as if the clouds
birth the creatures. M# and F# stand for Male number X
and Female Number X for my personal notes for record
keeping. :)
[F#3 and F#14 dive straight for Arawn. Both dive from
opposite directions. Both try to claw Arawn but one
misses entirely and the other Arawn raises his buckler
in time to block her claws. Both start their ascent.]
[F#8 and F#9 dive like toward Arawn at Ben'dar. Both
female creatures fail to strike with their wings and claws.]
[F#5 and F#10 dive toward Caladan in angled attacks. But
Caladan is prepared as his Clairvoyance spell warns him
to twist left just in time. Both miss in their attacks
and one is so close he can fell her arm against his as the
spell must've saved him.]
[F#13 dives toward Chion but suddenly a gust of wind whips
her wings to the left. Her balance falters and she
slams into the ground next to Chion.]
GM: A fumble. :)
GM: Fremea lucky and not one female target this time :)
[Kiet seems to be the "weak cow" target for some reason.
Four females dive toward him #11, 12, 15, 17 The first
one hits with her claws while the other 3 clearly miss
their staggered assault. The creature scratches the
acrobat between heart and shoulder for only a minor cut
of 1 point of damage. Two of the females hit back to
the air while two remain over Kiet.]
[F#7 dives toward Raban at the same time but fails to strike
even the massive man.]
[F#1 and F#16 dive toward Unali but her magical dagger seems
to warn her and she dodges both strikes at the same time.
while deflecting one blow with her non-magical dagger.]
[F#4 and F#6 dive toward Z'leyra. Her luck ring after months
of little use seems to earn its keep this time. Her luck
wins out and a sure deadly hit is slowed to only a normal
hit but the claws do not penetrate her magical armor. The
other hit is lucked out to a miss.]
[Finally at the same time F#18 dives toward Corona and
misses in her awkward attack.]
[The tiny firesnake near Caladan tries to fly toward and
bite one of the smaller females but misses.]
[From his side vision Raban sees the swarm of creatures
dive and notices Unali and Z'leyra attacked. He looks
down at the one he took out and sees it not moving. He
charges toward what he thought was Z'leyra and finds
her and one of the creatures flying around. He leaps
toward it but finds it just out of reach as it flies
up into the mists.]
[Unali tries to leap at F#16 but fails to hit with her
daggers just as it leaves the area.]
[Ben'dar smiles at the time of good action for a change
not knowing the danger behind him and the chaos by
the horde. He charges F#8 and swings the long pike
and strikes her clipping her in the left shoulder as
she flies past doing a massive 9 point strike. The
creature tumbles to the ground in pain.]
[Arawn sees the chaos unfold and yells out
Arawn: "Stop! We come in peace!"
GM: Not in ICQ so can't clarify this on language.
[Arawn sees the two attacked him fly off so can't hit them
at this time.]
GM: You said defend so wasn't sure if you'd actively go out
and attack based on your peaceful words. :)
[Chion sees two targets. The fumbling female and the
unskilled sword-creature. He goes for the one with
the sword as the best threat. He charges and leaps
toward it. But even on the ground the creature seems to
be agile enough to avoid the dangerous sai from Chion.]
[Caladan sees F#5 and F#10 nearby and in distance he
swings his warstaff toward #5 but sadly the staff misses.]
[Z'leyra eyes the two female creatures near her and holds
back her staff swing on one nearby hoping the spell
affects it soon.]
[Kiet throws the rope toward the male creature on the
ground over it. The rope lands onto the arm of the
creature but Kiet doesn't wait to see what happens. Kiet
rolls away to avoid the other 2 females on the ground near
him trying to avoid danger.]
Actions? Comments?
Next update...Monday...
GM: A head's up. The next 2 weeks will be hectic for my
programming firm that I own. We are in the last phase
of a project and it will likely be 12 hour days until
the 11th or so. This means the next 4 updates (30, 4,
7, 11) might be affected. This might mean less update
or delay or no update. Shouldn't affect monday stuff
as I'll be exhausted but will have 2 days off (tue/wed)
to work on it. But likely will affect friday updates
for those dates. Just a head's up so you guys don't
get surprised. :)
GM: Reminder, if a spell you planned fails I need to know if
you recast it or not. If not stated to I assume it is not.
GM: Actions for next 2 phases?
Arawn - Got your next spell, for phase 4? Do you just
defend and hope they stop fighting or attack openly?
Ben'dar, Chion, Raban, Unali - pretty much same actions
I figure unless you want minor changes.
Fremea - Repeat inviso spell? Might be safer on the ground
with others but you got lucky and only one of the horde
seem to attacked you this phase but its random.
Kiet - Got 1 male, 2 female on ground near you within
length of melee, flight attacks. The rope effect
will be handled in next phase's magic effect segment
before the male moves. So your unsure if he is
entangled or not yet.
Z'leyra - As we talked about in ICQ.
If you just want to repeat your actions with no changes
just say Repeat. :) Next update next 2 phases.
GM: If doing this table top and everyone took care of their
own rolls, experience and the like this would be more
role playing style combat. But since I'm doing it all
and you only provide the role playing and actions this
has to be more structured/segmented by the rules. I'm
reading the spell effects for the ropes and web into
context for this situation. I could rule it effects
in the melee segment but going to the next phase's
magic effect segment before they move. This adds a bit
of realism but less oriented for character knowledge.
More suspense :)
GM: Fremea/Arawn - Stuff in email I'll have to get back to
you guys later this weekend. Stay tuned for that thread.
GM: You guys want a map? I could detail who is landed and
who is still in flight? But with the creatures going
in and out maps might not help much. Majority will rule
for this decision.
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