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@abroere.xs4all.nl (mailing list) Private emails (not public actions) to longshot@darktech.org Game Update #53 in sequence (file #227) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Admin notes: None. ----------------------------------------------------------------- [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?" 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.