Exploring the Savage World of Keltica

Game Master ZenFox42

Validus tries to recover from Shaken :
Spirit & Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 21d6 ⇒ 4 = 4 -3(wounds) = 1 he cannot act.
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Ror tries to recover from Shaken :
Spirit & Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 21d6 ⇒ 1 = 2 +2(construct) = 4 he can act.

He reaches out to grab Marko :
Fighting & Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 2 = 4 vs. Parry=5 is a failure.
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Connor's last in this round. What does he do when he sees Alex electrocuted and drop to the ground?

OK we seem to have frozen in time, who's go is it anyway?

Connor - I suspect his player is "slammed", he hasn't posted on a couple of other games I'm in.
Connor's reaction is essential, so I'm waiting it out.

Sorry, Connor, I have to "bot" you at this point...

Seeing his uncle electrocuted (altho he wouldn't know to call it that) and drop to the floor, Connor forgets his diction and shouts "Unca Alex!" and runs into the room.

His first impulse is to try and heal him, but even to his inexperienced eyes, he can tell there's no life left in the charred body. Stifling a sob, he looks up at Ror and screams "I'm going to make you PAY!"

Psionics & Wild: 1d8 ⇒ 71d6 ⇒ 4 = 7 is a Success

Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 3) = 11 vs. Toughness=10 is a Success
Ror becomes Shaken.

Initiative (start of round 5)
Alex : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 768
Arabella : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 176
Connor : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 906
K'Don : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 611
Marko : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 560
WindDancer : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 21
Katana : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 121
Ror : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 917
Validus : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 581
Xvark : Init: 1d1000 ⇒ 504

So, in order : Ror, Connor, (Alex), K'Don, Validus, Marko, Xvark, Arabella, Katana,
and WindDancer gets the Joker!

I just realized there's no point in including Alex anymore, but that would throw off everything else, so I'm leaving him in this time.

Validus has taken 3 Wounds and is Shaken.
Ror has taken 1 Wound and is Shaken.
Everyone but K'Don is +1 Parry and +1 Toughness
DM has 4 Bennies
Katana has spent 2 Bennies
Validus has spent 7 PP
Connor has spent 2 more PP
Panther goes away at the end of round 7
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Ror : Parry=4, Toughness=10 (4 of which is armor)
Validus : Parry=8, Toughness=8
Xvark : Parry=6, Toughness=5

Ror tries to recover from Shaken :
Spirit & Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 6 = 6+, he can act (no need to Ace)

And tries to touch Marko :
Fighting & Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 71d6 ⇒ 3 = 7 +2(touch) = 9 vs. Parry 5 is a Raise

...and nothing happens. If a robot with a fixed face could look surprised and/or confused, he does.

K'Don and Marko can act, I'll give Connor's player another day and then act for him and Validus.

Did we loose Alex as a player

K'Don jumps to his feet sees Alex on the ground charred like a piece of overdone meat. Takes one step and roars
"BY ALL THE ANCESTORS, YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT"

Fighting, Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 71d6 ⇒ 6
Wild Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Wild Ace Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Wild Ace x3: 1d6 ⇒ 2
20+1(favored weapon)+2(gang up)=23 against parry 4 is a hit with 4 raises.

Damage: 2d10 ⇒ (4, 3) = 7
damage for aces: 4d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 4, 5) = 14
Damge = 21 vs 10 is a success with 3 raises?

Seeing K'Don spilt Ror down the middle, he spins and fires a bolt at Valadius

Spellcasting, Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 21d6 ⇒ 4
Misses.

The panther leapse at Valadius
Fighting, Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 51d6 ⇒ 1

I think you only get 1d6 extra damage for achieving any raises on the attack roll. Multiple raises do not give you multiple d6 damage rolls.

For 2 raises on your Attack roll, pick one of : target goes Prone, target can be Pushed 1" in any direction.

For 3+ raises on your Attack roll, pick one of : +4 damage, attempt a Disarm.

So if you take the +4 damage option, you'll get a damage result of 7 + 2 + 4 = 13, which is a success, but no raise. So you either gave Ror another wound or made his shaken.

K'Don - Arabella is correct, only one extra d6, so I'll take the first one. That's a total of 9, which does not get thru Ror's Toughness. It's a shame those d10's didn't roll higher.

What Arabella quoted was old and hard to remember, we later talked about the possibility of just moving the target 1 square for every Raise above the first.
But if you want to use the old rule, then yes that's 13 which is a Success which is a Shaken which inflicts a Wound.

Marko - All you need to successfully cast any spell is a 4, so you succeeded with the Bolt.

Ok got it now. Dealer choice on what you want to do with the rolls. So raises don't mean much after the first raise. And they mean nothing if it doesn't get through armor?

Damage: 3d4 ⇒ (3, 2, 4) = 9
Damage Ace: 1d4 ⇒ 3

9+3=12 ignors armor is 3.

0/15 1 benny

I want to do more (Connor, Validus) but can't focus any more right now. Maybe later today. If not, early tomorrow.

Connor looks at Ror with a mixture of grief and hatred, and maybe for the first time in his life, *really* concentrates :

Psionics & Wild: 1d8 ⇒ 81d6 ⇒ 1 That's already a Raise, so

Damage: 3d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 6) + (6) = 18 Yep, Ror's a gonner
Explode: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4 = 22 vs. Toughness 10 is 3 Wounds

Ror explodes in a spray of gears and fluids and many other things that none of you would recognize by name.

So to summarize, in order :
-Ror had 1 Wound before and was not Shaken
-Connor acted next, inflicting 3 Wounds, making him Incapacitated
-K'Don perhaps sliced up the remains some more to spread them apart, just because you never know about those machine-things...

Validus hunkers down, suddenly stands up, and releases another deafening roar :
Psionics & Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 81d6 ⇒ 2 = 8 is a Raise

The panther/wolf/whatever, Katana, and Xvark must make a Fear (Smarts) save, at -2.
The panther's Smarts is d6. This happened before its attack.
If you fail, roll a d12, refer to the Fright Table (p. 85 in my book) and describe the results in your own words.

Then Validus gets hit with Marko's laser-like beam of light, doing 1 Wound, making him Incapacitated.

Darn it, you'd think I'd remember by now to check if the NPC is Shaken first...
Spirit & Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 61d6 ⇒ 4 = 6 so he can act.

As far as I can tell, Xvark, Arabella, Katana (and WindDancer) have yet to act (in that order).

Alex, please check your PM's ASAP.

Katana's Fear check :
Smarts: 1d4 ⇒ 3 -2 = 1

Fright Table: 1d12 ⇒ 12 WORST possible result!

Katana Runs away and is Shaken
Running: 1d6 ⇒ 1 + 2(houserule) = 3 squares extra

9 squares total, can only move 4 (map updated)

Everyone suddenly hears Katana scream in terror, and she runs to the farthest corner of the room, screaming incoherently all the way. She claws at the walls with her bare hands as if trying to dig her way thru the solid metal.

Smarts, Wild: 1d4 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 2
Smarts Ace: 1d4 ⇒ 3

7-2 = 5 Success

K'Don feels a sudden rush of panic. But, being a warrior who is used to fear, he shakes it off.

Marko Smarts, Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 11d6 ⇒ 1
Ouch!!

Fright: 1d20 ⇒ 17

Major Phobia: -4 to all trait tests.

I'm open to suggestions from anyone as to what the phobia is; Fear of mechanical men, fear of anything alien; fear of psionic attacks?

Panther Smarts, Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 31d6 ⇒ 2

Fright: 1d20 ⇒ 6
The panther is Shaken

-K'Don and Marko were not in the list, just the panther.
-Also, just roll a *d12* in the future (but don't re-roll for the panther, since the result was less than 12).

Fear: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (5) - 2 = 3
Wild: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (5) - 2 = 3

Fright: 1d12 ⇒ 4

Zipping about to dodge the flying leftovers of Ror, the little blue alien zoomed up the wall and onto the ceiling, waving its four arms frantically. "Bingoden tapa alumesh! Rikut! Rikut!"

It peered at Connor with wide black eyes, chest heaving and enormous ears swiveling in all directions. "Rikut! Xvark gudoguk!"

oops sorry, why only a d12?

Arabella turns her back on the exploding Ror and sees Validus still wreaking psionic havoc. Hoping she can get Reason to work right just once before it runs out of charge, she moves to get a clear shot around the summoned beast and fires her burst gun or tries to.

Shooting: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Result = 2, fails to fire, uses its last 2 power points.

Arabella swears and hurls the useless gun at Validus.

-Validus is already Incapacitated by Arabella's turn, would you like to do something else instead?
-ALL : I won't roll initiative yet, so people can role-play things out for this round.

So the only active alien is Xvark, who's under the influence of the fear effect?

Arabella will holster Reason in preparation of drawing the other (stun) gun. She moves away from Xvark, but doesn't shoot at him. "The little guy hasn't attacked us yet, but he has attacked that other one," she gestures to the downed Validus. Arabella watches from the wall to see what happens as it comes out of its frightened state, worried about Conner but unable to do much to protect him.

Marko moves to examine Alex. Seeing he is beyond help he turns to Connor. Pulls the boy into a hug and says
"I'm sorry, Conner, but you uncle is beyond our help, but you are not alone, you still have us. We will watch over you."

K'Don moves over to Alex. Throws back his head and let's loose a mighty roar.
"AAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

"I know your not used to our Orc ways so I'll tell you what the roar was for. It is tell the Ancestors that a Warrior's Soul is about to enter Stovokor"

K'Don then turns on the last alien. Keeping his weapon ready he keeps a sharp eye on the last alien.

Startled by K'Don's ferocious roar, the little alien zipped about on the ceiling on all six stubby legs, yelling, "Rikut Xvark babar gulagug!"

Finally making a sudden stop at the far end of the room, Xvark's small chest heaved, and its tongue rolled out to dangle towards the floor as it panted. Blinking at the others, it scuttled down the wall and over to where Validus lay. Before anyone could react, it blew a long raspberry at the downed alien, rising back onto two feet to give it a kick, then backed away and cocked its head at everyone.

"Xvark mukt. Xvaaaark," it said, its huge black eyes fathomless, and its antennae and enormous ears pointed at them. It pointed to itself with a clawed hand, then back at them. Its ears drooped back as it blinked at what was left of Alex.

Arabella thinks a thought at the 'pedes, assuming they can hear her, "Can you guys translate? He hasn't attacked us yet, so we're not sure if we need to attack him."

The Fear power only lasts one round, so Katana and Xvark recover quickly.

Speaking through the little ear-berries (as you'd think of them) the centipedes gave you, they answer your spoken question with "That particular prisoner has continually protested his innocence. Perhaps his actions here vindicate that. Bring him here, we can communicate with him telepathically once he's near us. We would suggest bringing him under guard, but that's up to you."

we need connors reaction to his uncle dying, but assuming he can be settled down...

Marko slowly makes his way over to Xvark, projecting feelings of good will and calm. Looking the creature in the eyes, Marko gets a feeling of pity for the creature. He extends a hand and squats down to his level. Speaking softly.

"It's ok little guy. We won't hurt you. We need you to come with us now. We will try to get you out of this mess you've gotten yourself into."

To the group
"I kinda like this little fellow. I wonder if he would like to come with us? He looks like he could use a friend."

Realizing he scared Xvark, K'Don will sheath his Bat'Leth and try to look unintimidating. Not making eye contact with him, but keeping an eye on him anyway...Just in case...

Arabella ignores Xvark once she knows he may not be a threat. She kneels next to Alex and adjusts his body until it is lying flat, covering any wounds, closing his eyelids, and moving the remains of Ror away from him. She says nothing and watches Connor, prepared to comfort him once he starts to process the situation calmly.

I'm not going to try to do Connor's reaction to Alex's death, his player can post it whenever he can (which may be a long time from now), and we can all retcon that in our heads.

So, what is everyone doing? Since no one's attacking Xvark, combat is officially over.

Validus is still alive, so you can inject him to keep him down for a while.

Everyone can talk, and decide what to do.

Marko is trying to make friends with xvark and awaiting a reaction.

K'Don will inject valadius.

"Arabella, do you think the 'pedes can restore Alex?"

Xvark cautiously reached out with one of his four hands to briefly touch Marko's extended hand. Its large bulbous nose sniffed at the man, and it blinked, pointing at Marko, then each of the others.

"Bingama suku tik hoon?"

Xvark will go along with the party peacefully, staying on the floor.

"You want to come with us little guy? We will try to take you along with us if we can"

Pointing at each of the others and then himself and then xvark extending an additonal finger as he points to each one, the making a circling motion with his fingers and then putting both hands together making a slow shaking motion, as if to say all together.

"Arabella, do you think the 'pedes can restore Alex?"

Arabella shrugs and mumbles, "Wouldn't surprise me, but I wouldn't bet on it."

Xvark amuses Arabella slightly and to the idea of having him/her come along with us, she quips, "It would give WindDancer someone her own size to pal around with."

Once back with the 'pedes, Arabella most wants to know where we are, how we got here, and can we get back? After that, she wants to know how every piece of equipment in the ship works, but she'll settle for any insights into how he crystals work or how they might be used in other devices.

In your ear-berries you hear "We cannot tell until we see him. Even describing what happened and what he looks like would not be enough. Bring him to us as quickly as possible."

Postponing Arabella's questions until everyone gets back to the centipedes, and Alex and Xvark are dealt with. Please remind me later if I forget.

So does anyone want to post anything before heading back to the centipedes at this point?

Nope, I think K'Don and Marko are ready to go.

Marko thinks to himself
"Now imagine xvark as my familiar, all the stares and questions he would raise!"

"You want to come with us little guy? We will try to take you along with us if we can"

Pointing at each of the others and then himself and then xvark extending an additonal finger as he points to each one, the making a circling motion with his fingers and then putting both hands together making a slow shaking motion, as if to say all together.

Xvark cocked it's head like a dog, huge ears perked. Its antennae vibrated in Marko's direction. It glanced at Arabella - or maybe her strange gun? When the party moved to leave, it dropped to all six and scuttled after them, staying at a discreet distance from Alex's body.

Getting back to the centipedes, Xvark at first seems a little agitated to see them, and cries "Naga! Naga!" several times, but you all hear in your heads (now that you're all close enough to the centipedes again) "Calm down, little one, we will evaluate your contribution in the fight soon".

Passing several small boxes over Alex's body, they sadly report that there is nothing they can do for someone who is not only already dead, but whose body is this damaged. They are very interested in hearing the details of how this happened (which you don't have to role-play out).

"We believe we have a way to return you to your own planet...that is, place...home. It will take a day or so. Thank you for taking care of the prisoners - will the stronger of you help us to take them back to their cells?" One of the centipedes disappears, saying he has to work on getting you home.

Xvark helps out again - for his little size, he is quite strong, possibly as strong as K'Don. Those of you who do this chore notice that each prisoner has a different kind of room, which the centipede explains is custom-designed to stop any special abilities they may have.

Once that's done, the one that's left tends to any minor wounds you may have, feeds you food that varies from bland to odd-tasting, but edible, and tries to answer your questions.

"You are on a...ship, something like your sailing ships, but we travel between planets. The world you live on is one such planet, there are many many planets out among the stars you see at night. We believe a large electrical discharge interacted with the crystals in your machine to...move you in an instant from your planet to here, where our crystals were being used to move our ship".

Arabella, you discover that they only use those crystals to move the ship and control gravity (like Gerta's air-cart), none of their other small devices use them. They are actually very interested in your crystal-based gun, because the concept is totally new to them. While looking at it the centipede points out a small short, fixes it, and says "That must be why it wasn't working so well during the fight - it should work better now". ;)

PC's can talk amongst themselves and ask questions of their host for a while. For the moment, Xvark can "talk" to the PC's only when a centipede is present to mentally translate, but that will be quite often, so he can speak freely.

Marko has taken quite a liking to Xvark. He does his best to communicate with him throught the pedes of course. In the end, Marko will ask if Xvark can come with us.

"I suggest we all take a moment of silence to honor our fallen comrad. Alex was arrogant, but a good person none the less."

"What an amazing ship you have here (to the pedes). You mean it actually travels between the STARS!!! Facinating. I have so many questions, I don't know where to begin..."

Getting late this morning, gotta go to work so more later

K'Don will help with moving the prisoners, he is curious about the anatomy of the aliens so he can learn how to kill them better (always the warrior)

More later

Xvark listens intently to Marko, sitting near him as he waits for the pedes to be done with their work. He tries to explain what his job was, and why he is innocent of the pedes' charges, but keeps getting tangled in unknown words (and seems reluctant to talk around the pedes anyway, narrowing his eyes at them and grumbling as he stuffs his hands in his red jumpsuit).

He picks up human words from Marko very quickly, though, and has an animated (if limited) conversation with him, mainly consisting of new words and gestures.

-No more PC conversations? I know it's a holiday weekend so I wait another day...
-Arabella - I may have mis-typed above, I just remembered (I think) that your gun doesn't use those those crystals? In which case they're very interested in your *goggles*.

Arabella will be happy to explain that the gun works from similar principles, with the shells and other organic materials lining the funnel shaped business end of the gun focusing ergonic energy, which the crystals do as well.

Arabella is struggling to maintain her composure. She has a strong spirit, but so much trauma between the mines and these last battles has left her craving relief and a return to something normal and non-violent.