Exploring the Savage World of Keltica

Game Master ZenFox42

I thought I posted that I was okay with taking the job. But either it got swallowed up or I hit preview instead of post, and didn't realize it. Either way, my fault for not checking in.

"I am still a novice wizard, but I can hit enemies with magical bolts. And I can sense magical signatures and occlude them as well."

-Posted with Wayfinder

(Marko, not a problem, I think Arabella just wanted a more detailed description of the group's resources, and I just wanted to double-check with everyone in light of the exchange between Arabella and the dwarf.)

Anyone can retcon this if they like, but I'm going to assume at this point that the delivery is on. You're told to come back at 9 PM, the documents will be sure to have arrived by then.

In the light of Azandar's ever-diminishing ghost-like image that's been following the group about, the dwarf tells you "You look a little short on fighting power. Tell you what - once you come back tonight I'll send one of my men along with you for some extra protection. Oh K'Don..."

If anyone wants to do any roleplaying or "mission prep" (buying stuff, etc.), please do it now, or tomorrow morning I'll start with everyone back at 314 Junine St. at 9 PM.

If people are still in the middle of pre-mission stuff tomorrow morning, I'll wait till the dust settles.

The technical duration of a boost is 3 rounds for the initial instance, which costs 3 points. After that the duration can be extended at 1 round per point spent. With 10 points of power, that means a total duration of 10 rounds, which is 1 minute or 30 seconds per effect if she does two at once.

Arabella would try to get "the dwarf" (did we get her name?) to tell us the address to which we will be making the delivery, so we can scout out the route and perhaps locate alternate routes and likely safe zones. Also what the lighting is like along possible routes. If the dwarf knows anything about what sort of thugs might try to jump us, that would be helpful (would they have specials among them? might they use guns? etc.).

Finally, can we find out what the delivery documents will look like so we can prepare some decoys? I don't mean what the information on the documents contains, but just the general look: scroll, paper in an envelope, handwritten, press printed, etc.

"I am still a novice wizard, but I can hit enemies with magical bolts. And I can sense magical signatures and occlude them as well."

"Does that mean you might be able to detect other people who can work magic as you do? Might the bolts set anything on fire? We need to avoid that kind of thing."

The technical duration of a boost is 3 rounds for the initial instance, which costs 3 points. After that the duration can be extended at 1 round per point spent. With 10 points of power, that means a total duration of 10 rounds, which is 1 minute or 30 seconds per effect if she does two at once.

Which is what I said... :)

She will tell you the neighborhood, but not the exact address. She knows no details about the opposition. She will take care of providing decoys.

Marko, please declare what form (fire, cold, sonic, force, acid, etc.) each of your 2d6 bolts (1 bolt, 2 bolts, 3 bolts) and your 3d6 bolts take, and update your character page.

ALL - please see the Discussion board for an intro/review as to how combat works in SW.

Before

When the Dwarf was short with Connor, he shrunk back, unsure of what it was truly asking. There wasn't anything special about him. He was just a boy. Feeling safer when Marko and Alexander came to his defense, he stood tall once more, seeming to challenge the Dwarf with his eyes.

Once Alexander got up and left, the boy felt confused and uncertain of what he should do, and stuck near Marko. Arabella took him outside and asked him to look for someone watching them, but Connor still didn't trust her after WindDancer's reaction, and spent most of the time watching her warily from a distance.

He came back only when Alexander started calling for him.

Mission set-up (please feel free to alter if you imagined something different that would be important) :

Everyone ends up back at the Knight's Inn by late afternoon.

A little before 9, Arabella and Marko leave to go to 314 Junine St.

Alex, Connor, and WindDancer are left at the hotel. Alex tells Conner to go to their room and go to bed. Connor and WD do so without complaint, running up to the room.
Alex - what do you do? Get a drink in the tavern next door, go to the HoJo (House of Joy), etc.

When Arabella and Marko arrive at 314 Junine, you see laid out on the table 3 identical envelopes, wax-sealed. The dwarf won't tell you which one is the real one, and instructs you to give all of them to the person you're meeting (she describes him as an older male Elf, somewhat overweight for his race). She tells you that her guard knows the passwords for the delivery.

Then K'Don is summoned and given the third envelope. He's a large half-Orc with a greatsword slung across his back. He looks you two over and sneers, "I am K'Don, Son of Ugal, of Tribe Ushamph. Who speaks for your group, such as it is?"

His first reply depends on who speaks up and what they say.

But regardless, he goes on to say loudly, "I will give the orders in combat. Is that understood?!"

Intimidation & Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 51d6 ⇒ 3 = 5

Arabella and Marko, please make Spirit rolls.

If I say hide you hide. If I say run you run. Questions will be answered AFTER we are in a safe place. Other than that you can do as you plese.

Alexander knows he should save his money, but he can't resist trying some of the new drinks this land has to offer. He'll make a concerted effort not to get s***faced, though. There's a lady to impress in the morning, after all.
Maybe he'll discreetly ask around about the dwarf, too. No sense in going in blind.

Right now, the power is pretty limited, so the boost only lasts a half minute or so.

Isn't it also what Arabella said originally? If she uses all her power on one boost, it lasts a minute, or if two boosts, each lasts a half minute. :)

During the day, Arabella will have walked about the city, getting familiar with the streets and the various ways from A to B. She'll try some gather information efforts to find out about night time patrols by the police (deputies or whatever). Not sure what roll that would be but I'll set up a persuasion roll.
Persuasion: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Result = 3+4= 7

Arabella is half expecting Connor to try to follow the group. This roll is her trying to see if anyone is tailing the group (Connor or Alexander or both or anyone else).
notice: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Result = 2
Lot's of shadows, apparently.

Spirit: 1d8 ⇒ 2
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Result = 2

"Umm," Oh my god, he's huge. We speak for ourselves, but understood, yes, that is, ... hide, run, whatever you say, Mr. K'Don, Son of ... Ah ... Mr. K'Don... Sir?"
Arabella has never seen a half-orc before. She's impressed and a little frightened. gulp.

(ALL at 314 Junine - feel free to add more dialog if desired, otherwise...)

Arabella - gathering information is covered by Streewise, but it includes Charisma. Use of a skill you don't have is d4-2, so I can just subtract 2 from your roll for a total of 5, a Success. You learn that the police don't patrol the path you'll be taking very much from dusk to dawn.

So the 3 of you leave and start winding your way thru the streets towards your destination. Arabella eventually loses her deer-in-headlights expression. :)

Alex, the bar didn't have a lot of new drinks to offer (or "decent" people to meet), so you called it an early night. When you get back to your room, Connor is gone!

Whoops, I thought the party was going on the mission the next morning! Oh well, I'll roll with it.

Alexander smacked himself in the forehead, letting his hand drag down over his face. Of course the boy was gone. And he had a bloody good idea of where he had gone.

Hurriedly donning his fighting gear, and muttering curses under his breath, Alexander hurried off to see if he could catch the group.

Alexander intends to tail the group until he has an idea of where Connor is. Do I need to roll something for this?

No, you were with the group when they walked the route this afternoon, so you know exactly where you're going.

However, you will get there after Connor since he had such a head start.

Okay, I added a Spellbook section in my character profile which lists my spells with their effect and trapping.

To Arabella earlier:

"I can indeed detect people with magic. But it should be noted that the effect isn't subtle. My - my eyes glow blue," he admitted almost shamefully. "It's a bit off a side-effect, I haven't worked it out yet.

"And, no, I don't set things on fire. At least not on purpose."

A roll to see how calm Arabella is as the group is about to begin.
Spirit: 1d8 ⇒ 2
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Result = 2

Arabella, usually calm and collected, looks about one last time, gives a nervous attempt at a smile at Marko. She pulls a blue crystal out of the belt that contains the 5 crystals used in her goggles, slides it into place and puts them on her forehead. The crystal for Vitality

She tucks her envelope with the document (or decoy) into her boot, double checks that her dagger is still in the other boot and checks that her pistol is loaded. Then she nods at the others that she is ready. "Lead-on, K'Don. And in case things get dicey and you notice a boy and a flying ... lizard, don't attack him ... them. Not that you'd attack kids, normally, but ... just ... oh bugger, let's go."

"A BOY!!!" "Your taking a Boy along? Has he reached the age of Assension?"

"Lizards ARE good to eat you know"

Arabella frowned at the gruff voice of the half-orc. "No, we have not brought him along, but he is strong willed and may try to follow us. I'm not sure what the age of ascension is, but he is not yet an adult. Just please don't mistake him for an enemy. And the lizard is NOT food, at least not this lizard. You want lizard, I'll buy you one if they cook them here. You look like you eat a lot." Arabella abruptly stopped talking, realizing she was babbling. She tried to focus on seeing what might be lurking in the shadows, with frequent glances behind and up in the sky.

As you're all walking cautiously thru the dark and mostly deserted streets, casting worried glances at each stranger you meet, who you usually discover is casting worried glances back, you suddenly hear from behind you, "Hey guys, wait up!" and Connor comes running up to the group, with (for K'Don) what looks like a miniature dragon perched on his shoulder, its tail wrapped around his neck.

... and hanging on for dear life, if he's running. :o{

K'don stops at the very loud outcry in these very quiet streets. Turning to see The Boy and the lizard he curses in orc.

Muttering to himself "Argh, it looks like I have no choice". The the rest
I will take the boy under my personal protection. Perhaps I can help prepare him for the Assension Ritual".

He awaits The Boy's arrival.

Marko crossed his arms and looked at Connor sternly.

"And I suppose you're brother is right behind you."

He then sighed and ruffled the boy's hair. "Well, nothing for it just now. Just stay close to us, alright. And remember that when you're brother gets mad and yells at you later that he was only scared and worried."

Arabella sighs and nods, expecting this. When Connor gets to the group, she looks at him sternly. "We tried to protect you from a dangerous situation because you are a child. If you insist on participating, we will have to treat you as an adult and you'll have to try to behave as an adult. This is dangerous and people could be hurt. This is not a game. If you want to play games, stay at the hotel. If things get rough, move to safety and find your way to Alexander or the sherriff. Meanwhile, you keep quiet, keep your friend quiet, and make yourself useful by watching for strangers. Alert us quietly if you see anything. Understood?"

Confused.

Games are fun. But Con-nor was excited about being here and talky-big says this is not-game. Maybe. Too many words.

"Crzkt?"

Picking up the boy by the scruff of the neck and hoisting him to eye level and holding his face very VERY close to his and looks hard into the young man's eyes. Growling softly under his breath. K'Don speaks very softly to the boy. (intimidate before speaking further).

K'Don, so to roll any skill (including Fighting) you type the following, replacing the {} with [] :

{dice=<skill name> & Wild}<your skill die>; d6{/dice}

And replace the <> with whatever specific things you're doing. Since you're doing Intimidation, and your skill die is a d6, you'd type :

{dice=Intimidate & Wild}d6; d6{/dice}

And take the higher of the two.

If either of these are the max die value (6 in this case) that's called an "Ace" or "explosion" - re-roll and add that value in. Keep re-rolling until the die value ISN'T the max.

Click on THIS LINK for some examples.

For more info on all formatting, click on the tiny little SHOW box for "How to format your text" right below the text input box below.

Connor, you roll your Spirit to resist.

ALL - so as all this is going on, some of you hear footsteps running up behind you, but before anyone can react you see that it's Alex.

Alex, you see a half-Orc you've never seen before holding Connor up off the ground with one hand, and holding him so close that their noses almost touch.

I'll give y'all some time to talk things out. :)

intimidate & Wild: 1d6d6 ⇒ (2, 1, 1) = 4

Testing again

What?

A giant looming shape, and then her little-big jerks suddenly upward. She leaps from her perch, climbs about five feet, and hovers.

That big-big... whoa, BIG big-big... is holding Con-nor off the ground!

Panic!

"Krpkrtkrt!"

Reaction Roll: 1d100 ⇒ 66

Totally focused on what's happening she flits around, back and forth, circling the pair, chirping and keening. Her first instinct is to protect her little-big, and her tail starts to curl.

"Knncrzt!"

But then she remembers how excited the bigs got when she snatched dinner. Made no sense. Like this. Bigs are strange. Maybe this is... a greeting? She decides to wait, to see how her little-big reacts.

She continues to circle and dart worriedly, chittering all the while.

Alexander had meant to stay back, keeping out of sight once he'd gotten Connor out of there, but seeing the absolutely huge native grab the boy, his heart leapt into his throat and he charged forward, his rapier zipping out of its sheath.

"Hold, you there! Put that boy down at once, you great oaf!"

Even Connor's little pet lizard seemed alarmed by the enormous barbarian, Alexander noted in a corner of his mind as he looked up, and up, at K'Don, his rapier held ready.

Good Lord, what am I going to tell Elise? he thought with a sinking feeling at the half-orc looked at him. "I'm sorry, I let your son jump into lethal trouble the very first day we set food in the new world?"

Alexander doesn't intend to attack at once, if only because K'Don could use Connor as a shield - this is his sad attempt to intimidate K'Don into letting Connor go.

Intimidate: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2

For some reason, the huge half-orc isn't intimidated by the (relatively) puny human! Who would have thought?

Ok, this is interesting. If I may point out some things until ZenFox42 checks in again: K'Don's roll was misentered slightly, but we can still interpret it. It looks as if the first two d6 results were a 2 and a 1. The third d6 result is moot since neither die rolled maximum, 6 in this case. Since you take the highest result, in this case K'Don's result = 2, which is as low as it can get without being snake-eyes (both die rolls of 1).

This will be compared to the result of Connor's spirit roll. If Connor's result is equal to or higher than 2, he is not intimidated. But the GM can modify the rolls based on circumstances, so, for example, he might rule that being picked up by your opponent provides a bonus to the intimidation roll.

So maybe K'Don's heart wasn't really in the attempt. This is unofficial, of course; ZenFox42 may have a different take on it.

Arabella starts to protest when she sees what K'Don is starting to do, but then thinks that it might be good for Connor to be a bit scared of the big guy. When she sees/hears Alexander rushing up, she holds a hand up to try to get him to stand down and let this play out.

"I'm sorry, I let your son jump into lethal trouble the very first day we set food in the new world?"

I don't think food had anything to do with it.:)

I am waits until everyone who wants to act does so before K'don proceeds.

Alexander wrote:

"I'm sorry, I let your son jump into lethal trouble the very first day we set food in the new world?"

I don't think food had anything to do with it.:)

That depends on what K'Don eats! ;)

That depends on what K'Don eats! ;)

Okay here we go.

Connor is pleased when Marko welcomes him, but his eyes darken somewhat at Arabella's chastising. She promised him there would be adventure and now wanted him to stay home? Grown-ups were so confusing! He starts to voice an adamant reply when the monstrous creature lifts him off the ground.

Spirit: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 4

"Put me down!" He yelps, struggling in the creature's hands. As Alexander approaches and makes unsuccessful and loud demands as well, with a weapon in his hand, Connor begins to slightly panic. Unsure of what else to do while he's hanging there, he takes a page from WindDancer's book and lunges forward, biting the creature on the nose.

Fighting: 1d4 ⇒ 3
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 5

If this is considered actual combat versus flavor (gawd I'm hoping not), then there'll be some initiativey stuff to weave in here. In which case this either gets inserted when appropriate or retconned.

Frustration.

A wave of... not anger, more a mixture of surprise and disappointment and infuriation... washes over her from her little-big. And then panic... and Con-nor thrusts at the big-big in an attempt to bite.

Attack!

Without a moment's hesitation she tips forward and into a fast-flight posture. Being only a few feet above the big-big she doesn't have time to pick up much speed, but she still manages a respectable strafing run.

"Kie-Ee-Ee-Ee!"

With a tiny little battle cry she screams past the side of the big-big's head, grabbing at his ear lobe as she goes.

Attack (Bite) & Wild: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 41d6 ⇒ 2 Still learning combat so gonna let the GM say if that's a Success or not.
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1 Luckily for you I'm anti-PvP and thus taking it easy on you. :op

Pulling up sharply with an accompanying cry of pain, she barrel-rolls skyward then levels off briefly, looking below her to size up the situation for another attack.

Way cool, guys! Everyone gets an extra Bennie for excellent roleplaying!
And FWIW, I wrote all of this before reading the Discussion board, so there's some duplication that I'm not going to try to edit out.

WindDancer, would K'Don's son be a little-big-big-big? :)

K'Don, I suspect you left out the ; between the dice : "d6; d6".
You can always do tests by typing stuff in and clicking on Preview, that will show you exactly what it will look like. Then you can edit to change or fix things. With SW's exploding dice you pretty much *have* to use Preview to see if you need to roll some more, but if you're just testing formatting and such, you can then click on Cancel and it won't be posted.

Arabella's interpretation of K'Don's roll sounds good. Only a 2 for him vs. Connor's 4 means Connor is not intimidated (but he got no Raises).

On the other hand, Connor's attack is a total of 11, which vs. K'Don's Parry of 6 is a Success with 1 Raise (if anyone doesn't see why this is so, please speak up in the Discussion board!). Normally this would mean he'd add in an extra d6 to his damage, but see below.

And WindDancer's attack of 2 is a definite miss. Any attack less than a 4 will almost always be a miss.

So, putting it all together :

K'Don : as you lift the child up to talk to him, chaos explodes around you.
The little miniature dragon on the boy's shoulder lifts off and starts fluttering around you, obviously agitated.
Instead of being scared, the child's eyes shows fire, and he actually *bites* your nose! HARD!
In addition, another hu-man has just showed up, and has pulled out his sword in an apparent attempt to protect the child.
Finally, the mini-drag tries to bite you, but misses.

Please make a Spirit roll to counter Alex's attempted Intimidate - since your Spirit is a d4, type this in, replacing {} with [] :
{dice=Spirit & Wild}d4; d6{/dice}
Only if you roll snake eyes will you be intimidated.

Basically everyone has taken your action as a threat to the boy - so what do you do?

ALL - I'm going to treat this as "semi-combat" - Connor won't roll to do damage with his bite, and things happen (more-or-less) in the order that they're posted. But weapon and spell damage (if any) will be rolled.
Please continue, I can't wait to see what happens next!

Spirit & Wild: 1d4 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 2

K'don holds the boy a little further away from his nose but doesn't release him. Seeing the puny human with a fillet knife attempting to intimidate him he glances at him with a "Really" look.

K'don then lets out a belly laugh and says

HA, HA, Ha, I like you people, you have spirit. Not as puny as I had assumed!!!

Putting the boys feet on the ground but not releasing him just yet, he whispers to the boy

We WILL talk later BOY!!!

Then releases him and turns to face the rest and says

Shall we proceed?

Fox, Hu-man is Ferengi, not klingon.

Not sure if my final comment to Conner can be another intimidation attmept or not but I'll throw it in there just in case.

Intimidate & Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 61d6 ⇒ 1

A bit confused by this turn of events (but relieved that Connor appeared to be safe), Alexander lowered his rapier. "What in blazes is going on here? Connor, come here! You about scared me to death," he scolded.

Regarding the native, he was impressed with his obvious strength. He'd make a fine plantation worker... under supervision, he thought. But more to the point, the big fellow wasn't attacking anyone now. Perhaps he hadn't been assaulting Connor after all. Lord knows I've wanted to pick him up and shake him myself at times. Though with the strange protectiveness his new pet had shown, perhaps that was less advisable than before. The little creature did have a stinger, and was probably poisonous.

With a sigh, Alexander sheathed his sword. "It appears I can't very well trust you to stay at the hotel. If you insist on getting into trouble, at least wait until I'm there to help you out of it!" He peered at K'Don with interest. "Who is this fellow?"

K'Don, yes I know.

K'Don, altho I'm not going to count this as another attempt since the last one was just a few seconds ago, please note that because your first die was a 6 you get to re-roll it again and add this new value to the 6. If this re-roll should happen to be a 6, re-roll *again*.

"That escalated rather quickly."

-Posted with Wayfinder

Arabella rolls her eyes and says, "This is going to attract unwelcome attention, so I suggest we keep moving." Then Alexander's question comes to mind. "Oh. Alexander. K'Don, Son of Ugla," she casts a nervous glance at K'Don, hoping she got the name right. K'Don. Alexander, uncle of Connor, points to Connor. Connor will need to introduce her, if she has a name yet," gesturing toward WindDancer.

Although unsure of exactly what happened, or what it meant when the large Orc said they would talk later, Connor was pleased to find his feet again on solid ground. 'I don't know how you can do it,' he thought to WindDancer. 'I would be afraid of falling.'

Connor approached Alexander with a look like a dog with a tail between its legs. "I know." He replied with a sad and sheepish look. "But the lady said there would be adventure, and you told me that it's only okay to let a lady get into trouble if you show up to rescue her."

As the introductions go around, Connor announces proudly, "Her name is WindDancer."

Exhale.

Seeing her little-big back on the ground and then released, she relaxes somewhat and glides down to land on Con-nor's shoulder.

But during the talk with the other big, she turns around to face the big-big. With a stern look on her face she lifts a front paw, extends two digits, points to her eyes, then points at the still-looming threat.

Connor approached Alexander with a look like a dog with a tail between its legs. "I know." He replied with a sad and sheepish look. "But the lady said there would be adventure, and you told me that it's only okay to let a lady get into trouble if you show up to rescue her."

"Er... yes," Alexander hemmed, with a sidelong glance at Miss Steele. Looks like I got myself into that one. Those stories seemed harmless enough when I told them... "Good lad. Well, I suppose we came to the new world for adventure, didn't we?" He ruffled Connor's hair with a crooked grin. "But we'd best stick together in it, right? Comrades in arms."

As the introductions go around, Connor announces proudly, "Her name is WindDancer."

Alexander eyed the lizard closely. He could have sworn it perked up at the name. Ridiculous of course, the boy had only just acquired it...

"Yes. Well, let's you and I retreat to the shadows, where we may keep an eye on our new friends and the surroundings at once, eh?" And keep you from being pounced on by ruffians.

Stealth: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Notice: 1d8 ⇒ 8
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Connor's eyes light up at the suggestion, and he voiced an "Okay!" before slinking back into the shadows with Alexander, asking "What is 'comrades', Uncle Alex?"

Connor, your Notice die roll (as opposed to its Wild die) also Aced.

Please also show the final total somewhere, like (for instance) :
filler for spacing
filler for spacing
filler for spacing

Stealth: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 1 = total of 7

Thanks!