Scion: Ragnarok

Game Master DM Ragnarok

Dustin beamed at the compliment. Then considered.
"We could, I guess. I don't know how safe that will be in darkness, though."

Dustin glanced over at Chloe.
"Some of that season was iffy, but man, Jon Bernthal just killed it."

Sighing, Dustin then steps onto the elevator. As he did so, he reached into his backpack, retrieving the head lamp he'd gotten at Big 5 and placing it on his head.

"Of course we're heading into the bowels of the earth to retrieve a lost treasure. I'm just surprised we didn't start out in a tavern where a stout Dwarf told us of the cursed relics of the demogoron."

Wow. Referencing D&D AND Stranger Things in the same sentence? You are nervous, dork.

"I vote we just head down."

Ulf blinks at Dustin and looks momentarily confused. "I... I'm sorry, was that a TV thing? I don't watch TV." he whispers.

"Oh...oh Ulf. We've gotta get you some Netflix, buddy."

"I like his costume better in the first season," chimes in Chase, who has been continuously eating red licorice on the walk to the mine. "Once he got the red costume he looked stupid."

"I vote going down too," says Chase, using his cell phone as a makeshift flashlight.

Nick decides not to mention that he isn't catching all of the references either. Instead he goes with, "I don't see how as we have much other choice than down."

"Let's do it."

Dustin gets on the elevator and waits for his fellow Scions, then starts to use the hand crank.

You begin to descend.

The elevator groans and creaks, but nothing untowards happens as you descend.

The mines comprise a series of twisting tunnels of varying widths, shored up with old, bent timbers and occasionally reinforced with riveted bands of iron. Here and there, a mud puddle gathers under dripping water.

Thankfully, you have brought enough light; there is no light down here.

After a few minutes of exploration, you comes across one of the old mining assembly rooms, where miners would gather if a supervisor needed to make an announcement in the middle of a shift. The room is 20 feet across and roughly hewn out of the stone. A row of short wooden cots lines one side of the room. Next to them, a door labeled “Foreman” leads to a side office.

Coming out of this office are three small, twisted creatures, and a humanoid being that dwarfs Dustin by at least two feet. They see you, and they heft weapons.

Roll your Join Battle!

Join Battle: 6d10 ⇒ (7, 2, 2, 10, 5, 7) = 33 4 successes

Join Battle: 5d10 ⇒ (7, 4, 7, 7, 7) = 32 4 successes

Join Battle: 4d10 ⇒ (5, 9, 9, 3) = 26 2 successes

Join Battle: 6d10 ⇒ (8, 10, 7, 3, 4, 8) = 40

4 successes.

Join Battle: 8d10 ⇒ (5, 2, 1, 9, 3, 8, 6, 1) = 35 4 successes

Erika had explored plenty of volcanic cave complexes on her visits to Iceland, so being underground didn't phase her one bit. She has a headlamp as well, one that can switch between white light and red light, in case they needed to be a bit subtle. Hah! Nothing subtle about kicking the front door down.

As the creatures emerge, she takes an involuntary step back. What are these things?

Int+Occult: 9d10 ⇒ (2, 2, 5, 10, 3, 4, 3, 8, 10) = 47 - 5 successes
Join Battle: 6d10 ⇒ (2, 5, 7, 6, 10, 1) = 31 - 3 successes

In the future, I think I will roll everyone's Join Battle for them if that's okay. It will speed up initiative significantly.

• Tick 0- Nick, Ulf, Chloe and Dutin
• Tick 1- Erika
• Tick 2- Chase, Adversary
• Tick 3- Other Adversaries

Erika, as far as you can tell, those are Trolls; twisted beings brought into existence by force-feeding a Dwarf the eitr of a Jotun. The large man with them is clearly a Jotun.

If anyone is unclear about how combat will flow just let me know.

I will assign you stunt die AFTER you post if I think it's worth one.

Assuming they're within a move

Suddenly, it was game time.

All of the doubt that he had confessed to Nick wasn't even remotely near his thoughts. Dustin knew that right now, he had only one job, and that was to protect his new friends.

Bellowing a wordless roar, he beat his sword upon his shield thrice, then rushed forward. A couple of the trolls tried to stop his charge, but he was too strong, too quick. They may as well have tried to stop the sun from rising and setting.

As Dustin drew near the Jotun, he dragged Dáinsleif along the ground. The mighty blade screamed as it rent the ground. Two yards ahead of the giant, he flicked all the gravel, muck and grime that Dáinsleif had accumulated towards the Jotun's face, hoping to distract it. Not hesitating, he stepped in after his projectile, bringing his sword around in a vicious arc and attempting to bisect the Jotun.

He had never done anything like this before...but everything in his blood was screaming at him. He was a creature of pure instinct...a force of nature, meant to destroy the foe in front of him.

Attack: 7d10 ⇒ (2, 3, 10, 3, 6, 1, 3) = 28 + 4 auto= 6 successes
Damage: 9d10 ⇒ (2, 7, 8, 1, 3, 5, 4, 1, 9) = 40 + 4 auto + 4 bonus (Megingjord)= 11 Aggravated Damage

Any threshold successes or bonus die?

Ulf draws a bead on the Jotun but maintains his trigger discipline.

"Hold it big guy!" he shouts, flicking off the safety.
Beginning the Aim action. Speed 3, DVs -1, can abort on any tick. Each tick spent aiming adds 1 2 dice to my attack roll (Trick Shooter).

EDIT It seems I need to change targets. Don't want to steal thunder.

Sure, that's a one die stunt. Plus one threshold success.

2d10: 2d10 ⇒ (2, 9) = 11 One more, for 12 Aggravated Damage total.

Speed 4.

Dainsleif cuts a mighty gash into the giant. Ulf begins to aim.

Dustin will not act again until tick 4; Ulf may act on tick whenever he feels like it. Nick and Chloe still have actions on Tick 0.

Much like Pathfinder, speaking is a free action.

Ooooh, godsdamned trolls! Erika hated trolls. For most people, they were just a creature from video games, or from D&D - or the nickname given to a certain category of human scum on the internet. But in Iceland, they were more real than that. People living in remote areas didn't let their children play outside after dark. Why? Trolls. Shepherds had big, fluffy dogs to guard their sheep - not from any natural predators, since Iceland doesn't have anything bigger than foxes - but from trolls. And the Yuletide! You know, most countries have nice, friendly winter holidays traditions. But Iceland... thirteen of the bastard trolls coming to make trouble for people - slam doors, harass the sheep, steal food - damn antisocials, the lot of them.

No actions, just thinking angry thoughts.

Well, there they are. Monsters.

Nick had thought he was ready and raring to go. Seeing these things gives him doubts. He's swung a sword before. A blunt one in a fake fight. This is real. He hesitates.

Before he knows it however his blood, his ichor, starts burning. His old street senses kick in and a thirst for battle overtakes him. He rushes beside his new bash brother, Dustin, ripping Gram from its scabbard.

Nick has a quick mind and all this happens in the blink of an eye. To everyone else he seems to go in with the big guy. He leaves Dustin to take on the opposition's big guy and targets one of the smaller ones.

Attack: 5d10 ⇒ (6, 3, 1, 8, 8) = 26

Damage: 11d10 ⇒ (7, 9, 5, 3, 8, 9, 2, 8, 3, 8, 6) = 68

Does Epic Wits add auto successes to Join Battle? If so I actually had a 6 so I'm role-playing a little slowness here to excuse that. I'm assuming they are farther than 2 yards away so I have to dash so that's 2 successes on the attack. If I can use a regular move that would give me two more dice, I think. If that somehow hits it's 9 successes on the damage including 2 auto successes.

Epic Wits success do add to Join Battle. So yes, you could have taken that extra movement and then attacked. 2 successes, unfortunately, is not enough to hit.

Nick dashes in hot, and engages one of the trolls in battle.

Chloé brings up the arming sword in her hand and looks slightly uncertain, but she strikes a strong defensive pose as the trolls close in. As soon as one is close enough, she lets out a cry, brings up the sword, and slashes at the troll. Her form is decent, but it lacks the supernatural panache of Dustin or Ulf; her hesitation is clear.

Using spatha stats for arming sword.

Dex + Melee + Accuracy: 6d10 ⇒ (10, 3, 7, 3, 2, 3) = 28

2 successes, probably a miss.

3 successes! You got a 10, remember?

Ulf maintains his bead on the giant for the first tick.

Wasn't sure since I seemed to recall an earlier roll where someone had a 10 but didn't count it twice, so I didn't know which way to flop.

"Farðu til helvítis, kúkalabbi!" shouts Erika as she points her rifle at the third troll, snarling. She never cursed in English, it was unprofessional. But Icelandic, ooohh boy. What a treasure trove of creative insults there. This one is fairly mild as profanities go, but still not something you'd utter in front of your grandma.

Dex + Marksmanship + Accuracy: 6d10 ⇒ (2, 6, 6, 4, 8, 8) = 34 - 2 successes

10's are double successes. Either way, it is unsuccessful, as is Erika's shot.

Next up is Chase and the Jotun. The Jotun cries out in pain, heavily damaged by Dustin's attack. Judging the tall (at least, for a human) Scion as the biggest threat, it lashes out, striking with a club.

The tunnels are cramped, however, and the Jotun is quite large; it doesn't really come close to hitting the young Hero, though his club does take some chunks out of the cavern wall.

On the next tick, the Trolls get their actions.

One of the trolls, attacked by Nick, attempts to strike the doctor;

The two Trolls that Dustin rushed by run after him, attempting to engage the young Scion and assist the Jotun.

Their attacks are woefully inadequate, clattering against the shield that Dustin expertly interposes.

On the tick the Trolls act, your Aim action is completed, Ulf. Fire away!

Ulf watched the giant's movements and as he recoils from his missed swing, Ulf squeezes the trigger just where the giant's head was going to be.

The gun booms, and a streak of rainbow-iridescent light erupts from the barrel!

Dex+Marksman+accuracy+aim: 18d10 ⇒ (8, 10, 6, 8, 3, 1, 5, 4, 6, 3, 4, 3, 1, 6, 8, 1, 1, 5) = 83 sigh... only seven successes.

That's a hit, with two threshold successes. Roll damage.

Chase grins, slurping down the last bit of red licorice hanging out of his mouth while he spins the Queen Anne’s Revenge in his right hand, inexplicably holding on to the mobile in his left. Finally, it was time to have some fun. This was going to be just like the Almighty Johnsons. He wonders if the gods had seen the Almighty Johnsons or if they just had American TV in Valhalla; probably a question for another time. Maybe they’d run into those talking crows again and he could ask them. He twists the piece of shipwreck round in his hand--it still just looks like an unwieldy bit of flotsam but he wields it as easily as if it was designed just for this.

He charges at one of the trolls but veers off at the last second, running up along the wall before sliding back down on the dirt, riding along it like he was surfing on the soil and dipping backwards, bringing the Queen Anne’s Revenge down onto the troll’s head. As he does, the reason he didn’t stash his mobile when the battle started becomes apparent; he’s taking a selfie as he attacks the troll, showing off a full smile of white teeth as he does.

Dex+Melee+Accuracy: 7d10 ⇒ (2, 2, 5, 4, 10, 9, 9) = 41 4 successes + 4 auto=8 successes
Damage: 8d10 ⇒ (1, 1, 9, 10, 4, 4, 3, 2) = 34 3 successes

I'm gone for a few hours, so, to not hold things up;

Chase, that's a success with 3 Threshold Successes.

To speed things up, I think I will roll your guys threshold successes for you; that will keep you from having to keep going back and rolling more die and speed up combat.

Chase Threshold Successes: 3d10 ⇒ (10, 2, 10) = 22 Which translates to 4 more Successes for Mr. O'Connor!

You hit...however, your weapon does not pierce the Troll's skin! It seems these creatures are terrifyingly tough.

Damage: 9d10 ⇒ (1, 4, 6, 5, 2, 2, 5, 1, 1) = 27... Oh for the love of...

Dustin Threshold Successes: 4d10 ⇒ (1, 10, 7, 4) = 22

Ulf’s bullet plinks off of the Journey, but Dainsleif finds its mark, hewing the giant into two rather large halves. Nick, Chloe, Chase and Erika all have ticks before the Trolls.

Chloé is quite startled by the sudden bisection of the giant, with the spray of giant-blood reminiscent of her Red Sonja movie poster. She keeps her sword up but, realizing that the trolls are probably too tough for her to injure them, she goes on her guard. She steps back to shift weight onto her left foot behind and changes her sword position to an over-the-shoulder posta di donna.

The fight was becoming a confused jumble. With three or four of 'us' engaged in close quarters combat with the 'them', Erika doesn't want to risk hitting unintended targets. Teeth gritted, she steps to the side, shoulder to the wall, and takes careful aim. The giant was down, but those pesky trolls were still a threat.

Aiming.

Chase frowns when his spear fails to penetrate the trolls hide but grins and sticks out his tongue when Dustin successfully cleaves the giant in half.

"Killer, mate," he says, throwing the shaka hand sign at Dustin before attempting to hit the troll with his spear again.

Queen Anne's Revenge: 7d10 ⇒ (10, 4, 8, 10, 8, 5, 4) = 49 6 successes+4 auto=10 successes
damage: 8d10 ⇒ (6, 1, 9, 3, 6, 9, 7, 3) = 44 3 successes

Chase Threshold: 6d10 ⇒ (5, 9, 10, 2, 10, 9) = 45

Queen Anne's Revenge finds more success this time, sinking into one of the Troll's shoulders.

Chloe is guarding; Erika is aiming. Nick still has an action. Ulf, you may go as well; Nick's action will be first.

Ulf leaps forward, one foot landing squarely on a troll's head as he thrusts his gun forward. He balances perfectly on the creatures head, putting a rainbow round into the skull of one of the other trolls. "The big guy's down let's just clear out the grunts!" he exclaims.

Marksmanship: 12d10 ⇒ (10, 1, 4, 10, 9, 8, 8, 4, 8, 8, 2, 1) = 73 11 Successes! Not counting any potential stunt dice.

I’ll call that a one die stunt.

To speed up combat, go ahead and roll damage die whenever you attack. Similarly, I will roll Stunt Die I award.

Since I’m waiting on the Damage, that’s 1 stunt die and 7 Threshold Successes to add to your Damage, Ulf. Roll it up!

Okay sorry about that I'm used to waiting to hear stunt dice. I'll make sure to pair the attack and damage rolls and let you do the adjust after.

Gun to the Head!: 15d10 ⇒ (6, 8, 10, 4, 9, 6, 6, 6, 4, 7, 1, 1, 2, 2, 9) = 81 8 Lethal!

The slug sinks into the troll’s body, further damaging it!

On his turn, Dustin will maneuver so that two of the trolls are in a line. Once they are, he dashes forward, dipping his shoulder low and tackling the both of them into the wall. Once he has them stunned, Dustin will thrust forward, attempting to spit them both on Dainsleif.

Two Attacks (4 Die Penalty): 3d10 ⇒ (8, 8, 7) = 23 + 4 Auto = 7 Successes
Damage: 13d10 ⇒ (2, 9, 9, 6, 7, 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 3) = 64 + 4 Auto = 9 Aggravated
Damage: 13d10 ⇒ (4, 8, 6, 10, 2, 10, 7, 3, 3, 2, 7, 3, 4) = 69 + 4 Auto = 11 Aggravated

DV Penalty -2

Nick regains his footing, rushing in had put him off balance. He takes a real fighting stance by pulling his left arm under his chin and placing Gram's hilt up by his temple. He points his blade at the trolls face and says, "Tell my Mom I said hi." Then he brings it down at the troll's head.

Attack: 7d10 ⇒ (3, 2, 6, 6, 10, 3, 2) = 32 2 successes. The dice don't like me guys.

On his next tick, assuming the trolls are still alive, Chase will once again attack the troll he previously damaged.

Queen Anne's Revenge: 7d10 ⇒ (5, 7, 1, 1, 1, 7, 6) = 28 2 successes+4 auto=6 successes]
Damage: 8d10 ⇒ (7, 8, 7, 8, 4, 8, 10, 4) = 56 7 successes

Wow, the guys were pulling off some crazy stunts! Wall-running, leaping, acrobatics... she felt woefully plain and boring with her rifle to her shoulder, taking aim. For a split second she considers trying to twirl the rifle like a cheerleader baton, but she supposes that someone had to keep a level head and not engage into flashy performances. Narrowing her eyes, she takes a breath, holds it and squeezes the trigger, aiming at the troll that hadn't benefited from the others' attention that much so far.

Dex + Marksmanship + Accuracy + 2 tick Aim: 8d10 ⇒ (2, 3, 2, 8, 9, 2, 4, 6) = 36 - 2 successes.

In live games I of course have players roll their own stunts; over PbP I feel like this will just speed things up

Chase- 2 Theshold 2d10: 2d10 ⇒ (5, 9) = 14

Nick- 1 Stunt 1d10: 1d10 ⇒ 5

Dustion- 1 Stunt, 4 Threshold 4d10: 4d10 ⇒ (5, 8, 2, 2) = 17

Nick, Chase and the Trolls all go before Dustin. As you charge in, they attempt to attack you, Dustin.

Again, both miss. One of the others decides to go after Ulf, apparently tired of this whole "getting shot at" business.

This time, the Troll's claws come within a hair of rending Ulf's flesh, but the perceptive Scion positions himself just enough out of reach to save his hide.

Dustin's blade violently pierces two Trolls. One of them immediately goes limp; the other manages to stay alive, though it is clearly grievously wounded.

Nick, Chloe and Chase have actions. Dustin has gone already. Erika, your aiming and subsequent firing mark you as 1 tick behind the Trolls currently.

"Yo, anklebiters," says Chase, slamming the bottom of the Queen Anne's Revenge into the ground, trying to catch one of the little monsters' attention. He runs forward towards one of the trolls, gripping the spear tightly in both hands before ramming it as hard as he can into the creature.

Queen Anne's Revenge: 7d10 ⇒ (1, 8, 2, 4, 10, 9, 6) = 40 4 successes + 4=8 successes
Damage: 8d10 ⇒ (7, 2, 10, 5, 5, 2, 3, 10) = 44 5 successes

Chase Threshold Successes: 4d10 ⇒ (6, 6, 7, 4) = 23

You strike it, but do not damage it.