s 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 #54 in sequence (file #233) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Admin notes: None. ----------------------------------------------------------------- [Recap] From Chion: [Re: Actions] Repeat. Except for the missing part... lol GM: Ack. --------------- From Raban: [Re: Actions] GM: Ack. --------------- From Fremea: [Re: Actions] Fremea will repeat same actions (redo inviso spell same EL). Otherwise, she will attack using the clouds to cover her as much as possible and dive in and out. No map really needed on this one I say. GM: Ack. --------------- From Unali: [Re: Actions] Repeat. No map until they are grounded. GM: Ack. --------------- From Ben'dar: [Re: Actions] No changes to Ben'Dar's strategy. He'll continue to use his long pike to try to snag the flying gargoyles out of the air, then finish them off on the ground. No map necessary - as you said, the fight is so chaotic and the enemies so mobile that a map probably won't help much. GM: Ack. ----------------------------------------------------------------- [New Stuff] [Ma 2nd, 1633TH. 5th Day of Adventure #4. [Location: Chaos domain, Dark Lands, 9 Miles down] [Time: 9:29am] [As the party struggle to survive 9 miles below Sven Redhand looks left and right, up and down, horse to horse patient and waiting. He sighs and then gathers up the horse reigns and looks to the horse known as Tef'wo.] Sven: "Well I guess they made it somewhere. I hear no screams from falling people. I stay down and guard you horses from nasty creatures and people while they have fun. Likely based on their luck, Ben'dar has found the tavern in the castle and is on his third ale by now. Let's go..." [He pulls the horses double file toward the clearing to relieve them of some of their gear load and to allow them some grazing and rest time. He continues to grumble in his native Djani at the luck of the party. Still doesn't suspect its a castle though he believes it to be a hold to the upper world. Some hot warm beach likely. As Sven walks the horses he looks up through the trees into the cloudy sky. Squinting to see more.] Sven: "I see nothing but clouds. You see anything?" [As Sven asks almost jokingly Tef'wo seems to look a bit up and shakes his head ever so slightly.] Sven: "Me neither. Flying castles...sure!" ------------------------- [Location: Chaos domain, Dark Lands, 9 Miles up] [Time: 9:29am] [Turn 1: Phase 3] [Mana Allocation - ] [Arawn begins to allocate mana energy for a new spell. He knows the spell he is planning on use is powerful and a link to the gods themselves. He has never used such a spell before. He concentrates and taps into the universal mind and his training to get the specifics of the spell.] [Fremea knows that to cast a spell she has to be on the ground in the open or hovering with little movement. Both up here has its own risk. Hoping the clouds cover her for the few seconds needed. She also knows the gargoyle she just hurt is likely out for her. So this might be her only chance. She begins to hover and allocate mana.] [Missile Fire - None] [Magic Effect - ] [Fremea quickly re-casts her invisibility spell on herself by speaking the words and waving her left hand. In a flash she disappears and senses the spell has worked this time. Now she knows being invisible will give her a edge against these foul creatures of the air.] [Arawn speaks the arcane words of his spell. With fingers twirling and eyes closed he gestures with his right hand. As he does this he becomes nervous of the spell. He has never used it before and he knows its a direct link to the god's themselves. Some god out there will see and he'll see what is needed through this magic. One of the few spells that has some direct connection to a god. He wonders if the god will know Arawn and if so will relay news to his parents. Then again maybe his parents knew he'd use this spell one time. After all they did show him the basics on it long ago. Nothing in life seems to be coincidence it seems. He silently prays that the god he'll access is in a good mood today. Likely some lower god on the chain of command. As he quickly completes the words he hopes he said them right. Either way no one would understand him. As he blinks and opens his eyes he concentrates on the clouds and suddenly they disappear around him in a 10 foot area. Beyond this cone of vision he still sees clouds. Not quite the distance he was hoping for but it will at least give him some warning of attack first. The God's Eye spell seems to work well. But the distance being so short he'll not be able to research that overbearing magic he senses all around him.] [Z'leyra's Astral Web spell attempts to grab Female #4 and #6 but the spell doesn't seem to take effect this time.] [Kiet quickly glances to the male gargoyle (M#3) and with a finger he does a twirl motion. The rope on the arm of the gargoyle suddenly begins to tighten and slink toward the other arm. The magically enhanced rope curls around the forearm and tighten. The Gargoyle looks down in surprise and growls as both arms pull together and the rope tightens as Kiet pushes two fingers together. The Gargoyle struggles to break free but the rope is too tight it seems.] [Melee & Movement -] [Corona bursts out of the clouds and dives toward female #11 standing near Kiet. Two small red lances of fire burst from his eyes and hits the gargoyle on the right arm sizzling skin and tissue. The creature howls in pain.] [Invisible Fremea flies stealthily through the clouds adjusting her buoyancy to the winds. She sees F#6 leaving just above Z'leyra and dives behind it. Reaching out she attempts to stab the creature from the rear. The dagger goes in deep in the back of the female in the lower right area where a human kidney might be. The dagger slices tissue and organs just below the wing area and does a massive amount of damage. As she pulls out the dagger she hits bone and feels the dagger chink likely taking some damage itself. As she pulls out the gargoyle doesn't even give a howl as it suddenly goes limp and falls to the ground.] [At the same instant all the male gargoyles react.] [M#1 hurt by Fremea flies in circles looking for the winged flyer but doesn't seem to find her.] [M#2 thrusts his sword at Chion face to face and the sword knicks past Chion's chainmail on his upper left arm doing one point of damage only though.] [M#3 with no weapon continues to try to escape from the rope but his concentration is on the rope and doesn't realize it could fly away.] [Three new male gargoyles come onto the scene. Male #4 dives toward Arawn and lands behind him. The creature swings his sword behind Arawn landing the blade in the lower right back but Arawn's normally magical and magically enhanced armor deflects the blow entirely.] [M#5 dives toward Caladan with a sword in hand and wildly swings it at Caladan's direction but the wild swing fails to hit.] [M#6 with another sword lands behind Chion and thrusts his sword at the big man but fails to hit in the wild swing.] [The firesnake flies toward F#7 and tries to bite it but the small snake is eluded by the big creature.] [Next all female gargoyles react at the same time at least those flying.] [F#1 and F#5 change targets from Unali and Caladan to dive this time toward Ben'dar. F#1 flies past and tries to claw at Ben'dar but fails to attack. F#5 does the same but from the side and her claw hits Ben'dar's neck but the dragon hide protects him from any damage.] [F#3 having attacked Arawn last time flies up and circles back down toward a new target - Raban. But her attack is sloppy and the female misses the bulky man.] [F#4 dives toward Z'leyra but her luck ring gives her the edge and the gargoyle fails in its strike.] [F#5 dives toward the surrounded Chion but as she gets close a gust of wind hits her 7 feet up and she tumbles out of control into the mist.] [F#7 dives toward Arawn and tries to knock him down to the ground but her buffet wing and leg attack fails as he is able to move aside just in time.] [F#8 hurt by Ben'dar previously remembers and tries to dive toward him again but fails to make contact as his magical pike seems to help in that regard.] [F#10 shifts from Caladan toward Arawn and her claw attack fails the second after the F#7's failed attempt.] [F#13 dives toward Unali's back but her dagger warns her at the last second and she ducks as the claws miss her by inches.] [F#14 dives toward the acrobat on the ground playing fingers with the male gargoyle. She eyes his chest but he doesn't see her till the last second and her sharp claws slash against his leather causing 3 points of damage. Kiet jerks back surprised by the attack.] [F#15 dives toward Z'leyra's right side to grab her staff but her luck holds and the creature fails to grip the weapon away.] [F#16 dives toward Raban's right side and with a outstretched hand claws the tall man's neck doing a massive cut across his neck doing 5 points of damage. Raban growls hoping the claw doesn't have some nasty disease.] [F#9 and F#17 dive both toward Ben'dar in coordinated attacks from two sides. The first fails to strike but the other hits Ben'dar in the left shoulder but his Dragon armor protects from damage penetration.] [F#18 dives after the others leave toward Chion but fails to hit as well.] [Raban twists in anger toward F#16 who just hurt him and sees it fleeing the area trying to gain height but is now only about 4 feet up. Raban completes his twist and with amazing speed plods through the wet ground with squish squish noises. With adrenaline pumping he seems to jump higher than a normal man can do. He grabs the right wing of the female and gravity pulls him down. Both human and gargoyle land with a soft thud on the ground. Raban rolls to try to punch the creature but the creature also rolls in her fall and he misses.] [Unali recovers from her duck, looks to the left to see Caladan seems okay for now and turns to eye the fleeing F#13 who just dived toward her. She runs toward it and swings toward the creature. The magical dagger slices through one lowered right wing, right leg and does a massive 13 points in total to the creature. The female spirals down and splats to the ground.] [Ben'dar's adrenaline flows as he knows the tactic being used here is simply to overwhelm the party with enemy creatures. For him in the last 3 seconds five of the creatures tried to attack him. Ben'dar quickly figures out the weakest is F#8 he previously hurt and swings his pike at her as she passes upward. The pike slices her neck tissue and kills her. She impacts onto the wet ground a few feet away.] [Arawn is amazed at the clarity of the spell's vision. He saw F#7 dive toward him but not F#10. But he finds F#7 is in the immediate area and reachable. Knowing it is a threat to him he charges with his sword but fails to hit.] [Chion also feels swarmed but knows the females seem little threat to him for now. Its this grounded male with sword that seems to be biggest threat. Chion brings up his left hand in effort to distract the gargoyle. Chion then ducks down slightly and then thrusts up and hits the creature in the lower left with his right hand's sai doing 7 points of damage.] [Caladan swings his long staff toward M#5 who just tried to attack him but fails to hit just out of reach of the rising creature.] [Upset that the creature would try to take her weapon away, Z'leyra swings her staff at the fleeing gargoyle as she turns around to take to the sky. Z'leyra smacks F#15 on the neck and does a crushing 6 points of damage.] [Kiet finds that being on the ground is not a good place to be, especially surrounded by a few of these odd looking creatures. Kiet rolls and while doing so pulls out his dagger. Getting to his knees he ducks one female and stands. He charges toward the male gargoyle who is tied up in his magically enhanced rope. Using his skills as acrobat he dodges another female and charges toward the male gargoyle. Just as the creature looks up to see the human Kiet twists and brings up his left hand to touch the back of the creature's neck. With his right hand he thrusts the dagger into the creature's left eye socket. The eye explodes outward in liquid and blood as Kiet executes the creature. Lucky for Kiet none of the gore got on him as he positioned himself to the side. As Kiet pulls back the dagger the creature groans slightly and falls face down on the ground. Not looking back Kiet rushes toward the bulking dark frame of Raban. Kiet stands near and to the back of Raban to cover his back.] [M#2 thrusts at Chion and stabs at Chion's right arm but his chainmail protects in the blow.] [Female #11 tries to clod after Kiet but he is too fast and she fails to catch up. She takes to the air as the male dies nearby.] [Female #12 takes to the air after Kiet leaves the area.] [By now Ben'dar and Chion are covering each other's back pretty much. Raban and Kiet are together. Unali and Caladan are covering each other as well. This leaves Z'leyra, Arawn and Fremea alone for now.] ----------------------- [Turn 1: Phase 4] [Mana Allocation - None] [Missile Fire - None] [Magic Effect - None] [Melee & Movement - ] [Corona sees M#6 take to the air after landing behind Chion. The mysterious eagle fires red lances of fire from its eyes but they miss by a few feet the dodging creature.] [Fremea flies overhead not knowing the full extent of swarming by some. She tries to find another target. She finds F#10 flying up from below and flies toward her this time from the underside of the creature She stabs upward and hits the creature's right shoulder doing only 4 points though.] [M#1 suddenly falls from the clouds onto the ground having bled to death from Fremea's previous massive stab.] [All three flying males react next. M#4 dives with sword toward Unali but her dagger gives her notice and she easily shifts to the side missing the strike.] [M#5 dives and swings at Z'leyra's left arm and hits but her magical chainmail armor protects her from the strike.] [M#6 dives toward Kiet with sword but he is able to dodge out of range at the last instant.] [The Firesnake continues its chase of F#7 but its bite is just short of attack in defense of Arawn's attacker.] [All females react next and dive toward random targets.] [Three F#4, F#5, F#18 do coordinated attacks on Ben'dar. F#4 hits but his dragon armor protects from her claws. F#5 is deflected by the pike's magic and the last one fails to hit entirely.] [F#14 dives toward Caladan and hits him in the head but his helmet protects against the claw.] [F#10 and F#17 dive toward Chion at the same time. But fail to strike by inches.] [Three swarm toward Kiet F#1, F#3 and F#11 in consecutive attacks. Kiet is able to dodge the first but the second claws Kiet in the lower middle right chest under his heart and draws more blood in a 4 point strike. The other one fail to hit entirely.] [F#9 dives toward Raban but fails to hit the big man.] [F#7 and F#12 dive toward Z'leyra. F#7 claws at her middle right chest but Z'leyra's magical chainmail protects her entirely. The other creature fails to hit.] [Raban gets to his knees and then dives toward the grounded F#16. With a pulled back fist he punches the female directly in the face. His face crushes nose and bone. the creature falls back to the ground limp. Of course Raban doesn't know he just punched out a female of the species! If only he knew.] [Unali relieved that she is lucky to not be swarmed this time and charges toward M#4 who just dived at her. She leaps a few feet up and stabs the creature on the underside lower right abdomen doing 5 points.] [Ben'dar tries to swing on F#5 but fails to hit the fast flying creature.] [Arawn notices he isn't attacked this bad this time and looks around. His new vision is clear but short distance. He can't see much beyond the clouds that his spell doesn't affect. He notices Z'leyra is alone and goes to cover her back.] [Chion thrusts his sai again at M#2 but fails to hit the agile creature.] [Caladan swings on F#14 but fails to hit with staff.] [Z'leyra swings staff at M#5 but also fails to hit the swift creature as it flies away. Z'leyra notices Arawn nearby covering her back.] [Kiet reacts to M#6 with his dagger but fails to hit the quick moving male creature.] ---------------------------------------------- [Meanwhile in Ki'ama's Citadel in the personal chamber of the High Elder someone enters the room carrying a tray of warm bread and honey.] Oby: "Your morning bread..." [He stops in mid-stride and looks to the corner shadows where a dark figure is standing. Goldish red eyes flicker back at him like mencing stars. Oby gulps and then gathers himself to cover the room distance to Ki'ama. He places the tray on a table.] [Ki'ama smiles knowing how much his companion/friend bothers Oby Won. Ki'ama sips his tea as Oby stands waiting.] Ki'ama: "Preparations made?" Oby: "Yes. Half hour or so you should be able to monitor the team in Cerulea." Ki'ama: "Good. I've not gotten information from them in a long while. Could be they are dead or the talisman is destroyed." [A few moments of silence is broken when Oby speaks up ignoring the creature in the corner.] Oby: "They should be at the castle by now." Ki'ama: "Yes they should if all goes well. You say our friends in the forest report they had no incidents other than those two giants?" [Oby nods] "Good. What of her?" Oby: "She left and should be home at any time and hasn't altered those plans from what we can tell." Ki'ama: "I hope they succeed or we'll have some problems getting another team there. Is our backup plan setup just in case?" Oby: "Ready. But I don't trust..." [Glancing at the corner so subtle its barely detected, but Ki'ama sees it.] "..them. They are unpredictable and are fond of you." Ki'ama: "Fondness is not required beyond loyalty. One can be totally loyal and hate that person. Loyalty can come in many ways." Oby: "Your favors one day will not always work." Ki'ama: "How long have you known me? You know much of my secrets and yet you doubt me?" Oby: "No. But one day they will resist." Ki'ama: "One day. Perhaps. But not today. What of Zing?" Oby: "He'll be burnt as per his wishes within the next couple hours. We still can't detect family or friends. There is rumor of one companion but we've not found her yet." Ki'ama: "Call in Master Ji Suro. His speciailty is such he might be able to learn something.. I believe he is nearby." [Oby bows and then backs up. Ki'ama notices his hesitation.] Ki'ama: "What is it?" Oby: "Did you tell them the full prophecy?" Ki'ama: "They weren't ready. If they come back from the castle then I'll give them what they need." Oby: "So its a test then? Ki'ama: "Everything is a test son. Life is a test. This small matter of some ancient castle should be easy to deal with. By now they are probably picking their treasure to loot. Let them have their fun for soon the real danger and struggle begins for them." Oby: "You'll monitor them soon?" Ki'ama: "Soon. Go see to my next meeting." [Oby bows and while raising looks to the corner and then quickly heads out of the room.] [A rustling static like noise is heard and Ki'ama nods.] Ki'ama: "Yes." Actions? Comments? Next update...Friday... Status: Gargoyles - Males - Injured - 2 Killed - 2 Unhurt - 2 Total - 6 Females - Injured - 4 Killed - 5 Unhurt - 9 Total - 18 Total Alive - 17 Allies - Corona [Injured] Players - Raban [Minor] Chion [Minor] Fremea [Minor] Kiet [Moderate] * Killed - Can be Knocked out or killed GM: At this point only Fremea is alone in the skies. Each group has someone covering their back. GM: Will take actions or changes. But its not required. if you want to repeat you can say so or I'll just assume you repeat your same tactics. GM: Whew 6 hours to write (and with a eye virus) and probably 6 minutes to read. Go figure! Happy 4th of July for all those in the USA. No one has said they had vacation plans so will do a normal update for Friday. Next 2 phases. Its getting faster to do 2 phases. Now that I'm in a groove and organized. Not as descriptive as could be but how many times can one say you fail to strike. :) GM: Arawn/Fremea should get email later tonight. GM: I like adding scenes to cause mystery. To me it adds some spice to the game. A foreshadow or flashback to tie up loose ends. Characters may not know it but I like to do this game like a on-going story rather than just some mechanical game. So hope its enjoyable. :) Happy Independence Day!