Once it becomes clear the group is on an extended walk, WindDancer spends a lot of time in the air rather than bouncing along on Connor's shoulder. Usually circling lazily around the group, she occasionally climbs higher into the sky for wider sweeps. From time to time she performs tight banks and fast swoops. Landing on Connor's shoulder while still chewing after one such maneuver reveals she is "hunting" as they travel, dining on the occasional insect.
First, Arabella makes it clear to the men of the group that she has no particular skill at cooking. "Mum wanted me to learn to cook so as to be better able to find a husband. I deliberately burned or undercooked everything I was supposed to learn how to make until my father put his foot down and gave me permission to stop the cooking lessons. So don't expect me to cook this creature K'Don bagged. And don't expect me to clean everyone's dishes, although I'll do my fair share."
She will begin the process of learning more about the land from K'Don, asking about the different creatures we might expect to encounter, particularly the dangerous ones.
Marko laughed as he helped to prepare the meat.
"My mother was helpless in a kitchen. Father did all the cooking. Taught me and my sister a bit as well. Nothing fancy, really. Just enough to get by."
The next several days and nights pass without incident.
One day, as you're traveling and you note that for once you can't see any other groups in either direction, you suddenly hear cries for help up ahead and around a bend in the road that you're just coming to.
As you round the corner, you see what appears to be a family (adult male and female, boy and girl, all human) being attacked by some very hungry wolves.
They are about 10" away from you at the moment. People and animals are all mixed together in a clump. There are 6 wolves.
Initiative
Alex :
Arabella :
Connor :
K'Don :
Marko :
WindDancer :
Bad guys...er, wolves :
So : K'Don (drat! Guess I'll play him unless he pops in before tomorrow AM), Arabella, Bad Wolves, Alex, WindDancer, Connor, Marko.
Im just getting caught up. How goes init? Hi # first or last
Do I need a map
Ok, just reacting here. I want to let out a battle cry and attack the wolf that is attacking the weakest appearing person.
So 6+6+2=14 with 2 Raises or aces or whatever the're called.
"May my fallen brothers guide my bat'leth!!!"
Arabella would like to draw her pistol and advance on the wolves, needing to be at least 25' away before she attempts a shot.
Everyone's back to 3 Bennies.
THE NEW MAP IS READY!
K'Don - so you're 10 squares away from them, and it will take you a Move and a Run this round just to get to them.
If you want to draw your weapon as you run, you'll need to make an Agility roll. If needed, remember you can re-roll by spending a Bennie.
(All please note : normally extra Actions impose penalties to the rolls, but if there's no roll [like for drawing a weapon], then SW adds an Agility roll to get the Action done.)
You can keep that attack roll for when you get there next round, but remember that Attacks are vs. the opponent's Parry, which is almost never 4.
I forgot to post what the wolves' Parry is yesterday (too little sleep), their Parry is 6.
So if you're successful on the Agility roll to draw your sword, your Attack roll of 14 will be a Success with 2 *Raises*.
Arabella, a single (free) Move would put you within 4 squares, which is within the "short range" distance of your pistol (5 squares).
And you can draw your pistol as your Action, but not fire it this turn, unless you want to make an Agility roll for the draw and have the Shooting roll be at -2.
Oh, just realized :
All - be careful about shooting into a group! If your Shooting die comes up a 1, you have hit someone else in the group! But, you can spend a Bennie to re-roll that.
The wolves' action...
I'm going to assume that K'Don at least gets to the scene of the battle.
They are focused right now on the family, maybe one might notice K'Don :
= Yep.
(P.S. added later : shouldn't have added the Wild Die, but if I remove it now all my later rolls will be changed. But since the Notice was a 7, nothing changes.)
So the first one attacks K'Don, the others attack the family :
... = 13 is 2 Raises
A "normal" person in SW has a Parry of 2 and Toughness of 4, so all the wolves hit the family. And the first one also hits K'Don.
= no damage to K'Don
= no damage
so the next rolls are for the aces
... = 21! That's gonna leave a mark...
... = 13
... = 13
= no damage
(P.S. - sorry, the extra d6 should have gone on the last damage, but again can't change it or later rolls get changed...)
So that's a 21, 13, 13 to the family
You all witness a frenzy of snarling, snapping, oversized wolves tearing into the family as their screams assault your ears. After just a few seconds, everyone but the little girl lies motionless on the ground.
"Connor, stay back!" Alexander rushed toward the wolves, taking aim at one of those surrounding the little girl.
That means Agility roll of 11 with one Raise (correct?)
Alex - same for you as for Arabella. Move and Draw as-is, or Move and Draw (with Agility roll) and Shoot (at -2).
Also, rolling a 1 on Shooting when firing into any kind of crowd hits someone else!
I suppose if you're not trying to *hit* anything, the -2 to Shooting, and rolling a 1, wouldn't matter. But while in real life a shot should startle an animal, there's no mechanism for that in SW. Have to think about that...
(And, no problem about the memory thing - mine's been awful all my life!)
K'Don - correct! You manage to draw your greatsword (I'm not going to look up how to spell "bath-leth" every time!). You can use your attack roll from above on the next round.
Arabella will just draw her pistol and move. She knows she's not a good enough shot to hit at long range, let alone fire into a crowd, so she just wants the gun ready and runs forward in hopes of drawing off some of the wolves. She'll yell as she runs, if I can add that retroactively, hoping she can handle a single wolf if one breaks off and attacks her.
Marko gasps at the sudden violence. He draws his sword and attempts to bring up his arcane shield.
-Posted with Wayfinder
-Posted with Wayfinder
-Posted with Wayfinder
So : Alex and Arabella move towards the carnage and pull their pistols (Alex, please see Discussion about startling animals!), while Marko fumbles pulling out his sword, and instead casts a spell. Meanwhile, K'Don rushes forward right into the fray while pulling his sword from off his back. Connor and WindDancer stay behind, watching in horror (well, maybe not WindDancer, after all it's just animals eating other animals - what's the big deal?).
Initiative
Alex :
Arabella :
Connor :
K'Don :
Marko :
WindDancer :
Wolves :
So, in order : Arabella, Alex, Marko, Wolves, K'Don, Connor.
And (sound of trumpets) : WindDancer gets a Joker! You can act *whenever* you want in the round, even interrupting someone else's action. And +2 to all Trait rolls, and +2 to Damage rolls.
K'Don - you can use your results from the Attack roll you made before. With 2 Raises, you can choose to knock your target Prone, or push it 1 square in any direction (assuming your Damage gets thru its Toughness).
As they round the curve and the attack comes into view, she tightens her grip on her little-big's shoulder. She watches the flurry of activity as some of the bigs rush forward and Con-nor's big makes another loud noise.
"Krzkt?"
Arabella studies the battle, trying to discern how bad the initial injuries are as she sees the wolves take down three of the four almost immediately. Then she mutters, "Not on my watch!" and adjusts her goggles and concentrates on the fray some 20 feet away. She focuses on using the bio-ergonic energy to strengthen the family's bodies so that they might better survive the attack. A faint glint of blue energy darts forth and finds the center of each person's chest. Arabella sings out, "Yes!" as she senses a particularly strong surge from her effort. "Hang in there sweetheart!" she calls out to the girl still standing.
Result = 4 = success.
This is her roll to boost the target. Although she can probably tell which person is the most injured, she decides she had better spend extra power points and boost all the people at once. If any of the victims is already dead and she can tell that (unlikely, I know), then she won't spend the point to boost such a person.
Additional Targets:The power may affect an additional target for every additional Power Point spent, up to a maximum of five targets. All targets share the same effect and Trait affected.
Penalty -2 if the initial notice roll counts as an action.
Wow! Double Aces! Boom, Boom!
Result = 12 (or 10), success + 2 raises (or Success + 1 raise).
The vigor die of each target increases by 2 steps (same result whether the penalty was used or not).
Power points spent: 6 (3 for the effect and 3 to add three targets to the same attempt).
Power reserve: 4/10.
This will last three rounds, after which she can spend another point to extend the effect.
@GM: In case the battle lasts more than 3 rounds, be thinking about whether she has to spend extra points to extend the duration beyond the standard 3 rounds if she affected more people with the initial boost.
They're all still alive, but 3 of them are unconscious and would probably die without attention soon.
Yes, a Notice and a casting are two Actions.
So, Success and 1 Raise on the spell. You probably just saved their lives!
Yes, it's 1 PP to maintain per person if more than one person is affected.
Seeing that his shot had no effect, Alexander continued to run toward the wolfpack, hoping that a crowd of yelling and armed humans (or at least, humanoids) descending upon them would make them think twice about continuing to attack the girl and her family.
Success?
"Back, you beasts, before I take your pelts!" he yelled, zipping his rapier about in the air as he arrived beside K'Don (whose hulking presence was probably a far greater deterrent than his own).
Danger!
She tenses as Con-nor's big closes on the bitey-furries.
"Prrrtkt Nnnklylykz!"
With a brief glance at her little-big, she focuses on the skirmish.
A dust devil briefly springs into existence over the stump, slinging sand and dirt within its cone of influence.
Those affected must make an Agility roll at –2 to avert their gaze and avoid the effect... On a failure, victims are Shaken and –2 to Parry until their next action. If the target rolls a 1 on his Agility die (regardless of the Wild Die), he’s Shaken and fully blind until he recovers from being shaken. Blinded victims suffer a –6 penalty to all Trait rolls that require vision and have their Parry reduced to 2.
Alex : you're now close enough that you can take a Free Move action (up to your Pace of 6 squares) to get up to them.
And if you want to not actually do anything with the rapier that would require a roll, then Drawing it is your only action, so no Agility roll needed.
However, see Discussion about your gun...
A No effect
B Shaken (recover as normal), -2 to Parry until next action
C Shaken and fully blind until not Shaken
D No effect
E No effect
F Shaken (recover as normal), -2 to Parry until next action
WindDancer, unless you specify otherwise I'll take this in order of posting. If you want to go first, that wouldn't change the results of Arabella's or Alex's actions as far as I can tell (AFAICT?).
ALL - those of you close-up can see that several of the wolves are snorting and shaking their heads, trying to get the dust out of their eyes.
So the wolves are affected as shown above for Marko.
On their action, they lose the -2 to Parry, and try to recover from Shaken :
B
C
F
So they are still Shaken when K'Don and Connor act.
I'll roll for their actions a little bit later, just wanted everyone to know their status right away.
A moves to attack Alex (rolled at home to determine who)
D & E move to attack K'Don (+1 "Gang-up" bonus to their Attacks)
A miss
D = 7 is a Success against K'Don's Parry of 6
E = 6 is a Success
D
... = 13 vs. K'Don's Toughness of 6 is a Success and a Raise
E is a miss
K'Don has 1 Wound and is Shaken. K'Don, you can spend a Benny right now to "Soak" the wound (make a Vigor roll, the better you do the more Wounds go away), but 1 Wound isn't very bad yet, either. Your call.
The wolves that aren't affected by the duststorm move in on the new prey. One of them snaps at Alex but misses. Two of them attack K'Don, and one manages to inflict a nasty wound on his leg.
(Assuming Alex's and Marko's prior actions don't significantly change things)
Waiting to hear from Alex (to retcon if he wants to), Marko, K'Don, Connor.
I'll use a Benny.
What is the damage of my sword? I think I need to roll that for my attack
K'Don, the Success (barely!) removes the Wound and the Shaken.
Damage is the sword (d10) plus your Strength (d10), which are available on your character sheet. Plus a d6 for the at-least-one Raise on your Attack. All of them can ace/explode.
Marko stares in horror at the wolves. He decides to forego his rapier and runs closer.
He then targets three of the wolves, and unleashes a barrage of magical missiles as he lets loose a scream.
Marko, do you want to spend a Bennie on the "natural 1" (D) which will otherwise hit someone else?
Also, you get a Free move of your Pace (6 square), which I think is all you need to get from where you were to where you are, so no MAP needed. Or did I miss something?
Just to be clear I get a d10 for the sword, a d10 strenght bonus and a d6 for the raise. Is that correct?
So K'Don attacks the one that seems focused on him
So 21 points damage to (coin toss) D.
Still a little unclear on combat; but, I'm slowly getting it.
Marko - thanks for clarifying!
K'Don - my bad, I thought the sword's specs were there. You can add it to your character sheet if you'd like for future reference.
And the d6 was a 6 so it would normally explode, but it's totally irrelevant. Wolf D drops.
Rolling a startling shot for Alex :
A Fails, is Shaken
B Fails, is Shaken
C Fails, is Shaken
D
... = 9 Success and a Raise = Attacks!
E
... = 8 Success and a Raise = Attacks!
F Success, no change
B, C, and F were/will be Shaken from WindDancer's action, so :
A, B, C, F are Shaken
(I'm ignoring the "D and E attacks Alex", too much to retcon.) But everyone please note the consequences - you could end up with multiple animals targeting YOU!
A gets a chance to recover from Shaken on its action :
= Success = not Shaken, but can't act.
So it didn't attack Alex (which is no big because it missed before anyway).
Whew! Hope I didn't miss anything!
Shaken : B, C, F
Down : D
Marko :
I totally blanked out yesterday on *processing* your post. Had the time, just didn't even think of it. Scary!
Just one more question : your minimum Bolt range is 12 squares, so why did you need to run to get as close as you are?
Also, please don't forget that you only roll *one* Wild Die for all your Bolts, which can replace any one roll. Since only one Wild Die replaced a roll in your sequence, no need to fix anything this time.
Regarding the AP (Armor Piercing) = 4, I'm assuming that for animals, Toughness represents something other than "natural armor", so AP 4 doesn't affect them? That AP only affects actual worn armor?
The bolt against C fails to get thru its Toughness.
E drops.
Shaken : B, C, F
Down : D, E
To recap :
Arabella fiddles with her goggles and sends rays that touch all of the family members, and shouts with excitement.
At the same time Alex fires a shot over the heads of the wolves, another one of those "dust devils" springs up, confusing them even more. Several are left snorting and shaking their heads, unable to act.
Then with a shout, Marko lets loose a volley of blue beams of light that strike several of the wolves, dropping one of them.
The few remaining wolves that can act snap at Alex and K'Don, but do not connect.
K'Don in turn drops another one of them with a might blow.
(I'll assume Connor is so stunned by the spectacle before him that he just hasn't been able to act yet.)
These wolves seem unwilling to give up, your first guess might be that they are ravenous or rabid. Or maybe it's just this damn dirty continent...
Initiative
Alex :
Arabella :
Connor :
K'Don :
Marko :
WindDancer :
Wolves :
So, in order : Marko, Connor, WindDancer, K'Don, Arabella, Wolves, Alex.
Shaken : B, C, F
Down : D, E
K'Don notices that the wolves have paused and cast brief glances toward the surrounding area. He figures a mighty roar and intimidate might send the animals scurring to the woods.
K'Don lets loose with a might roar.
Don't forget the Wild Die (d6), it might do better...
Please try to understand, despite the fact that the name of the skill is "Intimidation", the *ONLY* game effect it can have is to make a *single* target Shaken, which means they can't act. It can't make people do what you want, it can't make people run away, etc.
Also consider that if you do this, you won't be able to attack with your sword this round.
Or if you do try to do both, both will be at -2.
So if you would rather just attack, I won't hold you to the Intimidation attempt.
Aplolgies, I guess I'll just attack "C".
I think that is a 6 vs ?
Sorry, that's a 5 (largest of the two) vs. their Parry of 6, so a miss.
After the horror of seeing the family ripped to pieces, Connor was stunned into being unsure of how to react. When he finally was able to recover himself, he remained unsure of how he could help. He watched Alex and K'Don swing their blades and fire their guns, and noted that he had neither.
Instead he studies what Marko again, and wonders if maybe he can do the same thing. He copies the man's movements, and is disappointed to find that nothing happens when he does.
Scratching his head, the boy wondered what he was doing wrong. Then he noticed how Marko had shouted, and he remembered something from his youth - a cello teacher who had shouted at him for just playing the instrument and not feeling the music.
Going through the motions again, this time very deliberately, and slightly differently as he let his feelings carry him, Connor ended the motion with a devastatingly loud shout.
Yea, Connor!
Some mechanics :
Please roll a d6 (explode it if needed), that can replace *one* of your targeting values (6, 5, 7). Not really needed since they all hit, but good to get in the habit.
Also please roll another d6 for C's damage (because one of the die values was a 6, so it explodes) and add it in. Continue to roll if you get another 6.
Also please roll another 2d6 for F's damage and add it in. Continue to roll if you get another 6.
Ok, so the Wild Die d6 (= 7) could replace the 5 if it was needed.
B takes 6 damage, does not get thru its Toughness.
C takes 12 damage, and drops.
F takes 18 damage, and drops.
Connor, you need to think about "trappings" for your Powers - how they manifest. Do beams shoot out of your eyes, or shimmering nearly invisible rays leave your forehead, or what? It can be *anything* you like!
With a sudden loud shout (lots of yelling going on in this battle! :), Connor stares at the wolves and two of them fall to the ground.
Shaken : B
Down : C, D, E, F
When Arabella's turn comes up, she will run to the two fallen family members (man and child between C and F). She will gently drag the child away from the wolves (down 1 square). If she can, she'll also encourage the child still conscious to get behind her (meaning on the other side of her from the wolves).
"This way, child! Be brave!"
She chirps and jumps when her little-big screams, claws digging into Con-nor's shoulder. The moment passed, she focuses on the wolves again.
The dirt devil reappears briefly, howling and blowing dirt and sand around the three wolves near Alex and K'Don.