GM Niles Rippers Campaign

Game Master nilesr

"Mein Gott," Carl mutters. "If the countess has already disposed of one of our compatriots, and one who specializes in unholy powers, then she's most likely ready for us. Far more so than we were expecting. This is going to end badly." He absently adjusts his tie. "Let's keep moving."

Victoria follows suit with Andrej, dragging the man into the back room and throwing him into a wall. She shoves his chest against the wall and gives him a hard smack across the face, trying to rouse him. "Be ready to club him, we don't want him shouting about intruders," she says to Andrej after she rears back for another. Assuming the man wakes up, she leans in close to his face. "What's this business about a sacrifice, then? Who's your master, and who're they killin'?"

Victoria and Andrej
Andrej drags the unconscious servant into an empty bedroom. Victoria slams the stunned servant who goggles at her with bulging eyes!

I. Guh. The Master is most wise! The Master is most beautiful!

Rasheed, Tristan, Carl and Mei

The foursome, finding evidence of perhaps a previous Ripper encounter, decide to head for the basement. As they cross the house to find the basement, they hear a commotion in the front of the home. It sounds as if someone is ranting...

Investigate, or continue to the Basement?

How about Knowledge (Occult)?

"I say, what's that noise? Who'd be raising such a fuss now--" He pauses and snaps his fingers. "Hmm. You know, Mister Marsh seemed quite the type to rave on, and I recall hearing talk of his arrest. Perhaps he persuaded the constables to let him come plead his case? In any case we'd best see who's there. They could bring trouble, after all."

@Andrej Nah, lets let some other knowledge skills see some use

"Wonderful. This entire night is turning out far more complicated than we had originally intended. Lovely. Shall we go see who's causing a ruckus?"

"That was my very thought, Mr. Tristan. If anything else, we need to make sure the unaware remain safe and off the premises for what's about to take place."

"I can't but agree, my friends... complicated indeed. But I fear we won't find Mr. Marsh at the front, and therefore I suggest only two of us show ourselves while the other two remain concealed behind, a couple steps behind would suffice."

"Fair enough, Master Singh. I'll take the lead, shall I?" Tristan keeps his place at the front of the group, his cane tapping along with every other step. Then he stops and blinks, looking down at his new vestment and the stains on it. "On second thought, perhaps you, Doctor Jung, might make the best first impression?"

"This is useless," Victoria says, shoving the man back against the wall and removing her hand from his collar. "I'd bet Dr. Jung could force something out of 'im, but I doubt we'll have much luck."

Knowledge (Psychology): 1d4 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1
Wild: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (4) - 2 = 2

Untrained Knowledge (Psych): 1d4 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1
Wild: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1

Yeah, no.

"You are being right, yes. Tie and gag these two and we move. Others may be in trouble." He pauses. "I am not so good with English speech. Master is meaning man, not woman?"

Victoria and Andrej

Andrej and Victoria discuss what should be done next, and what to do with the man. Eventually, they determine to bind and gag the men which they accomplish with belts and shirts.

Where to?

Rasheed, Mei, Tristan and Carl

Tristan and Carl head towards the entrance to the Mansion while Mei and Rasheed stay back a ways so as not to be seen. Tristan sees Jacob Marsh through a window as he approaches the front door. Everyone hears Mr. Marsh shouting Thornton you bastard! I'll gut you! Where is she! Where is SHE!

From the door windows, Tristan and Carl can see Jacob Marsh pacing on the front step. The door is locked and closed. The front porch is illuminated by gas lamps.

Tristan quickly adds together everything he knows so far and opens the door. "Jacob. You're looking for your daughter, I assume. I've a feeling we're going to find her. Accompany us." Nothing in the man's tone of voice is questioning or even particularly gentlemanly: it's straightforward, businesslike, cold. "Rasheed, if you would be so kind as to lend a knife to Mister Marsh, unless he's brought his own. I think the basement would be wise at this point in time."

"I will gladly lend him your knife, Lord Tristan. I can Acey ce] 1d4 ; 1d6 ; [/dice]s channel the light... but shouldn't also our belongings be near?" says Rasheed as he looks around for the place where the oily butler stashed his bag and sword cane.

Notice: 1d4 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 6
Acey Ace: 1d4 ⇒ 11d6 ⇒ 4

"Assuming that they haven't been taken by the brigands that the countess has running around," Carl adds dryly. "I would much like to have by walking stick back at the very least."

Andrej listens at the door of the room before exiting (I assume with or after Victoria), truncheon in hand. Unless Victoria objects, we should head for the main hall, as originally planned.

Jacob Marsh stares at Tristan M'lord. I. What. How. I, uh. Apologize. Knife?

Rasheed checks and finds their belongings in a closet off the Main Hall.

Victoria and Andrej catch up to the others in the main hall, they pass no one in the now seemingly deserted Mansion.

"We found two servants, talking of sacrifice. Meaning Nathaniel?" The Russian starts on seeing who else has joined them. "Mister Marsh. Why are you being here?"

"Sacrifice? That does not bode well in any way." Carl grabs his walking stick and twirls it around once. "We need to find them. Immediately. I fear that Nathaniel is in danger."

"I do not advise bringing him along, but I suppose that is your decision. Now, what's this? A sacrifice? We must hurry, before it's too late."

When the others catch up, Tristan responds first to Andrej. "Looking for his daughter. I assume that is the case, seeing as I've had no objections. He's a little caught up at the moment." Tristan dons his coat over the tabard, but leaves it open, and checks--and loads--his pistol before replacing it. "I'd wager she's the sacrifice in question, rather than the Countess's new paramour. We'd best be on our way." The elderly man never breaks stride as he speaks, moving always toward where he guesses the cellar would be. "Every man has the right to protect his own. I doubt Mister Marsh would remain behind if we told him to. Might as well hand him a weapon and set him to it, it worked in my time in the service."

Tristan leads the Rippers, along with a very confused Jacob Marsh, through the deserted mansion towards what he remembers to be the Thorton Estate's cellar.

The cellar doors creak open revealing a shrine of sorts, dozens of portraits adorn the wall, and a grotesque statue is prominent on a dias in the center of the floor. Several darkly dressed people lay prostrate on the ground, their chanting is low in volume, but insistent.

The Master takes, The Master gives, The Master takes, The Master gives.

Notice?: 6d4 ⇒ (2, 4, 3, 2, 2, 1) = 14 one of the prostrate forms looks up at an inopportune time Intruders! shrieks a female voice

Andrej King of Diamonds
Carl Six of Spades
Mei Ten of Diamonds
Rasheed Ace of Hearts
Tristan Queen of Hearts
Victoria Ace of Clubs
Marsh Three of Diamonds
Bad Guys Six of Diamonds

Round 1
Victoria
Rasheed
Andrej
Tristan
Mei
Carl
Bad Guys
Marsh

The Rippers are up. The map is updated. It's a google excel doc, each square is 5'

Tristan dashes in to strike the closest cultist with his cane, still sheathed and meant only to knock them out.

Fighting: 1d10 ⇒ 10 Good Lord: 1d10 ⇒ 8 Total 18, I'm gonna assume that's a Raise
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6 I Say: 1d6 ⇒ 6 My Word: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Damage: 2d4 + 1d6 ⇒ (4, 3) + (3) = 10 Ace: 1d4 ⇒ 1 Total 11. Hopefully that's a KO.

Round 1
Victoria
Rasheed
Andrej
Tristan dashes into the room and swiftly knocks a Cultist to the ground with his cane!
Mei
Carl
Bad Guys
Marsh

Rasheed follows after Tristan, dashing to the cultist at his left. The sikh raises his sword cane and thrusts with zealous hate, knowing that these men dabble with obscure forces and deserve no mercy.

Wild Fighting: 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 91d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Damage: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + (3) + 2 = 8

"Stop the ritual! Who knows what forces these fools are gathering!"

Andrej crosses himself and follows suit, going after the nearest upright cultist with his borrowed truncheon. "Meri, zashchitit' menya."

Fighting: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6

OK, yeah.
Fighting ace: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Wild ace: 1d6 ⇒ 4

10 total.

Base damage: 1d6 + 1d4 ⇒ (3) + (4) = 7

Boom!

Raise on the d4: 1d4 ⇒ 1

So 8 damage total?

Victoria moves past Rasheed with the truncheon in hand, ducking past the Sikh and running towards the nearest cultist. She flicks out the claws from beneath her shirt sleeve, but attacks with club and uses the claws to defend herself as she lashes out wildly at her target.

Fighting: 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Wild: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Total of 5.

Damage: 1d6 + 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + (3) + 2 = 9
Total of 9.

Using Wild Fighting; Victoria pops out her claws for their Parry bonus, but attacks with the club. Her Parry is currently 6.

Shooting: 1d6 ⇒ 5
wild: 1d6 ⇒ 5
damage: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 3) = 6

Shooting: 1d6 ⇒ 5
wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 2 Total: 8, unsure if raise.
Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 6) = 8 Aced damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 4
totL of 18... ouch.

Shooting: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 5 Total of 11, that might be a raise!
wild: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5
Raised Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Mei is quick to angle her shot in such a way that it arks frkm one cultist to the next, seriously frying three of them! She yells out a victory cry in her native language, finally pleased with getting some shots in.

Bolt, three charges for three shots. Normal power on each, thoufh I doubt they'd have needed it.

Carl simply points his cane at the dias and unleashes his powers on the group. He cries out as the power slams back through his body and he stumbles, the budding psychic attack crumbles as the pain blinds him momentarily.

Psionics: 1d8 ⇒ 1
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Oh hell no
Psionics: 1d8 ⇒ 1
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2

These Cultists are Parry 6, Tough 5. @Victoria, doing all that would net you a MAP, and I'm gonna rule that you cannot fight with one weapon and then defend with a different weapon. So, lets just say for ease of use that you just used your claws and forwent the Trunchon.
Round 1
Victoria moves into the room, however the new weapon causes her attack to go wide.
Rasheed charges in as well, his blow stuns a Cultist!
Andrej
Tristan dashes into the room and swiftly knocks a Cultist to the ground with his cane!
Mei fires her Plasma Pistol and drops two cultists with holes smoking in their chests. The third she hits and merely stuns. I applied your first hit to the one that Rasheed stunned, that KOed him.
Carl attempts to use his Psychic mesmer powers, but he is instead confused!
Bad Guys
Unshake: 1d6 ⇒ 3 One cultist is too stunned from Mei's bolt to do much and just limps to the Dais.
Two other Cultists gang up on Victoria, they have bloodstained knives! Fighting: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 Fighting: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 Victoria manages to dodge away from the knives!
Marsh says By Jove! What madness grips these men! he stands still, ready to defend himself.

Andrej Two of Diamonds
Carl King of Spades
Mei Six of Clubs
Rasheed Queen of Spades
Tristan Six of Spades
Victoria Two of Clubs
Marsh Nine of Spades
Bad Guys Nine of Clubs

Round 2
Carl [shaken?]
Rasheed
Marsh
Bad Guys
Tristan
Mei
Andrej
Victoria

Carl, Rasheed are up

That's fine, I understand. I wasn't sure if it would or not, figured I'd post it and you'd let me know if it didn't work. Just out of curiosity, would you rule that I could make a non-lethal attack with the claws? They need to have a "blunt edge" according to the rules, and I'm not sure the backs of the blades would really count.

Quote from the CRB: "A character who wants to beat someone up
without killing them can choose to do nonlethal damage. This requires the attacker use only his fists or a blunt weapon of some sort. Edged
weapons may be used if they have a flat side, but this subtracts –1 from the attacker’s Fighting rolls. Nonlethal damage causes wounds as usual, but if a character is rendered Incapacitated he’s knocked out for 1d6 hours instead." So, I'd say yeah there's a "Flat Side" to the claws, your arms. It'd be like using a pistol to "pistol whip" someone in SW.

Gotcha, I just wasn't sure if you'd count that. I'll be using that for nonlethal attacks, then.

It shouldn't have to be said, but I'll make sure it's acknowledged. Electricity isn't exactly well know for it's ability to pass through someone's body in a way that wouldn't overtly kill them, save for circumstance. The people she's shot as of now, have all been dealt lethal damage. That said, is there a way for her to merely stun them if she choose to? There might be an actual power for it, but I'm fairly sure it wasn't available for me to take as a gadgeter.

Edit: I realize this was better to ask in the discussion thread, apologies for bogging down the gameplay thread.

Rasheed jumps over the fuming corpse and zig zags towards the cultist standing next to the dais.

Lunging with his blade, the sikh thrusts...

Fighting: 1d10 ⇒ 21d6 ⇒ 2

... but his blade finds the corner of the dais first, messing up his attack.

@Mei Check out the Stun power...I think its Novice, there's also the Confusion power which is also novice. You can refluff it to be a "lesser amperage" electrical attack... thats the beauty of SW, pretty much anything can be refluffed. Just waiting on Carl now.

Sorry, I had forgotten I was top of the second round.

Carl shakes himself and manages to regain his wits after the psychic backlash. He refocuses his mind on one of the remaining men and unleashes his powers focused on that one man.

Unshake: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Sigh...
Unshake: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Psionics: 1d8 ⇒ 4
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 3

@Carl What power are you using? Please be way more specific in your posts, including but not limited to copy/pasting the effects of powers from the CRB to make my life easier. I don't really have time to surf through my CRB every single time I make a combat post.
Round 2
Carl [shaken?]
Rasheed
Marsh
Bad Guys
Tristan
Mei
Andrej
Victoria

Round 1

Victoria moves into the room, however the new weapon causes her attack to go wide.
Rasheed charges in as well, his blow stuns a Cultist!
Andrej
Tristan dashes into the room and swiftly knocks a Cultist to the ground with his cane!
Mei fires her Plasma Pistol and drops two cultists with holes smoking in their chests. The third she hits and merely stuns. I applied your first hit to the one that Rasheed stunned, that KOed him.
Carl attempts to use his Psychic mesmer powers, but he is instead confused!
Bad Guys

GM N, what was the result of Andrej's Round 1 action?

Err, to get skipped by the GM...sorry. Yeah, you hit one and they are shaken. I edited the map.

Sorry, lost the post halfway through and got too fast in trying to redo it. He's using confusion on one of the cultists who's not shaken.

Sincere apologies for skipping you guys yesterday.

Round 2
Carl shakes off his psychic funk and confuses one of the Cultists.
Rasheed darts forward and stabs at a cultist, he misses.
Marsh continues defending himself
Bad Guys
Cultist 1 1d6 ⇒ 5 straightens up and grabs a chalice off the Dais...he drinks from the chalice with two hands and falls over, convulsing.
Cultist 2 1d6 ⇒ 6 unshakes and attacks Victoria 1d8 ⇒ 2 missing
Cultist 3 1d6 ⇒ 4 unshakes and attacks Andrej 1d8 ⇒ 5 hitting for 1d6 + 1d4 ⇒ (2) + (1) = 3 Andrej's coat protects him!
Tristan
Mei
Andrej
Victoria

Andrej Ace of Spades
Carl Ace of Hearts
Mei Black Joker
Rasheed Nine of Hearts
Tristan Nine of Diamonds
Victoria Jack of Spades
Marsh Ten of Clubs
Bad Guys Jack of Hearts

Round 3

Mei <<<<<Joker
Andrej
Carl
Victoria
Bad Guys
Marsh
Rasheed
Tristan

Pretty much everyone is up, Mei is up twice, her second turn has a JOKER!, Andrej has two turns, and Victoria has two turns. (This'll probably be over this round

Clubbing with Cultists: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Andrej turns to present the thicker part of his heavy coat to the cultist's blade, but this leaves him off-balance and unable to return the blow effectively.

Clubbing with Cultists: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Cursing, Andrej continues to swing wildly.

Turn 2

Shooting: 1d6 ⇒ 2
wild: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Shooting: 1d6 ⇒ 2
wild: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Mei snaps off two shots, to no real effect, as they seem to be grounded by the metal Dais.

Turn 3

Shooting: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
wild: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Shooting: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
wild: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Damage 1: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 5) + 2 = 10
Damage 2: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 3) + 2 = 6

In a fit of initiative though, she doesn't let her previous failure deter her as she manages to find a good arcing position with which to electrify two of her opponents.

4 more drain from Bolt, leaving it at 6

Seeing several of the cultists returning attacks against his companions, Tristan lunges forward with his cane, throwing caution to the wind as he pours all of his limited strength into a strike--and hopefully catching the cultist off-guard, as Andrej and Victoria also press the attack. Looking at the map, I think we're getting a +2 gang-up bonus.

Wild Fighting: 1d10 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 2 = 10 Raise
Wild Wild Dice: 1d6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 2 = 8
Damage: 2d4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 2) + (5) + 2 = 11

The cane gives a loud crack as it catches the thug's jaw, sending them spinning to the floor, unconscious.

Rasheed watches the man grab the chalice and rises his sword cane... but the cultist downs it beflre he is ready.

As the cultist start convulsing, Rasheed steps forward and tries to fiercely pierce his heart.

Called shot to the vitals. Here hoping that between convulsions and such, his parry is lowered.
Wild Fighting: 1d10 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 2 - 4 = 51d6 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 2 - 4 = -1
Damage: 1d4 + 1d6 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (2) + (5) + 2 + 4 = 13

@Mei when you copy/paste your dice rolls sometimes the RNG copies the results. This might sometimes be a good thing...but double 1's would definately not be. I've found that labeling one set of die rolls Shooting 1 and the next Shooting 2 alleviates that problem.
Tristan smacks a cultist into next week.
Mei fires her Plasma Pistol twice, missing the prone convulsing Cultist near the Dais.
Andrej hits the confused cultist 1d4 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + (2) = 6 and 1d4 ⇒ 3 dropping him like a stone.
Victoria

Round 3

Mei <<<<<Joker fires into the convulsing cultist at near point blank range, he shudders once and is still.
Andrej
Carl
Victoria
Bad Guys
Marsh
Rasheed
Tristan

Combat is over

The Shrine in the center of the room is oddly constructed, there is a statue of a horned humanoid covered with odd spirals .

The chalice, that was spilt during the fight, contained what looks like blood.

Notice: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 61d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Kn Occult: 1d6 ⇒ 51d6 ⇒ 1

Rasheed cleans the blood off his blade and sheathes it for the moment.

The sikh walks in front of the statue and examines it. "What kind of hellish imagery is this... it... it is depicted with both sets of genitals." he comments before pointing at the symbol "And that is a common symbol throughout cultures. It usually represents fertility."

He looks back at the cultist that drank the content from the chalice while caressing his own beard "Mister Tristan, I don't know what they were trying tl achieve... but that poor bastard started behaving strangely after drinking the liquid. Proper measures would be burning his remains using salt and sprinkles of iron, just to be sure. But we have no time to spare, so if you all agree we should simply cut his head clean just to prevent unpleasant surprises as we advance towards the Countess."

"So if this is like Countess, maybe Countess is also being Count?" Andrej looks around for exits or other rooms in the basement.