As Yellow studies the room the hair stands up on the back of his neck. Ceridwyn is frozen mid-sentence; in fact, all sound and movement stop. The room and everything in it become pixelated to his eyes. Slowly the pixelation becomes greater and greater, everything growing larger and more distorted until the room, its contents, and occupants disappear into huge distorted squares of color.
OOC:
You realize that you are being transported into the umbra. As you studied the room you realized that this a weak spot in the gauntlet, right before things became weird (or normal in your case).
Slowly the pixelation effect reverses and you are no longer in a pub, but rather in a smoky alley way. Metal and mortar walls are dimly illuminated by the screens of strange devices, save one bright red neon sign fashioned to look like playing cards held by a skeletal hand that reads “ACES and EIGHTS”.
A ragged voice comes from the shadows, ”The master will see you now.”
Making sure that you have not been followed to the best of your ability, you make it to the Old Waterfront and hail a cab. You have it take you to a pub you frequent on the outskirts of the city on the border of the Estate District and the old Waterfront. The Headless Woman.
The pub is a converted Estate House, with a large sitting area and bar. Simple, but delicious, food is available at all hours. It is frequented by both city dwellers looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, outlying farmers and, due to its colorful history, it is a tourist attraction as well.
The pub is moderately busy and you easily find seating wherever you choose.
Spoiler:
The Headless Woman of Dunwall. (Map location 0, E)
The name of the Headless Woman pub name recalls the local legend of Grace Trigg who died in about 1710 . She was a servant at Hockenhull Hall (which is now the pub), found hiding in a cellar there by Overseers after the reputed Occultist owners had fled. They tortured her to force her to reveal where the family valuables were hidden and, when she would not tell them, beheaded her in the attic, dragged her body downstairs and dumped it off one of the Bridges.
Legend has it that, 100 years following her beheading, the inn's owners, after researching the story, ascended to the attic to discover the bloodstains were still present where she had been killed. For nearly 50 years, her ghost has been reported to wander the roads about northern Dunwall and has been seen returning to her place of execution at the Headless Woman pub. Local farmers have reported seeing her ghost walking through rows of maize. She reportedly carries her severed head beneath her arm.
Ceridwyn please make a perception+awarness check DC 6.
What does Ceridwyn know about how the Overseers operate? I ask only because I'm trying to consider a course out of the Waterfront, back to a cab, etc. Would she expect there to be more than just this one Overseer? Would they have the whole district (or block or whatever) locked down? I know that the Overseers "work alongside" the Watch, so would staffers at the Walls of Light, bridges, or other boundaries be looking for her/Yellow now (maybe not by name, but by description)? Or, doesn't she know any of this?
Overseers are elite, they are rarely seen out and about. They deal primarily with anything that is considered supernatural, or heretical.
I ask because I'd like Ceridwyn to go somewhere to chat with Yellow---she's not just going to take this dude back to her house without checking him out a little. My idea is some sort of relatively busy tavern or market: public but admitting of a private conversation. I don't know (but hopefully Ceridwyn does! perhaps after a roll) whether this side of the river is the place for that...or if she still needs to worry about Overseers on her/his tail, and so on.
If I'm the only one who cares about any of these topics, then simply fast-forward us to the table of a tavern or the corner of a street market.
You figure the Quiet Woman Pub located in the distillery district is the best location to take him.
Any how. Your rolls are good enough that you succeed with flourish. You both retain your footing and are actually moving away from the alley at a jogging speed.
We can either continue turn by turn if there is something you want to do in combat time, or we you guys can decide what you would like to do to transition into next scene. (i.e. return to Ceridywn's abode, move about the city to make sure you're not being followed, etc.)
If you move out of combat I will post a short wrap up.
Otherwise the combat will continue turn by turn with the initiative as it is.
I was going with 3 total successes between the two of you in one large dice pool since you were basically dodging as one entity. No splitting of dice needed.
I think the way I should have done it is Yellow using his dice pool to dodge with a +2 DC (SO DC 8) with Ceridwyn rolling her dodge pool only for botches to cancel out success. (she gets tangled up, or resists, etc.)
Maybe +1 Dc to dodge per person being shoved. So you could shove a group of people out of the way.
I was going with 3 total successes between the two of you in one large dice pool since you were basically dodging as one entity. No splitting of dice needed.
I think the way I should have done it is Yellow using his dice pool to dodge with a +2 DC (SO DC 8) with Ceridwyn rolling her dodge pool only for botches to cancel out success. (she gets tangled up, or resists, etc.)
Okay.
Yellow is going to dodge and assist Ceridywn dodging and dodge as well.
Yellow, with the initiative rules Ceridywn would declare her action 1st, so you know she is going to dodge and exit the alley.
I assume Ceridywn is taking a full defensive dodge action. This will allow her to exit the alley and attempt to dodge all incoming attacks.
We will go with option 1 and combine the dice pools.
Dex+Athletics for both of you against 3 attacks. 3 successes needed against DC 6 for minimum success. You can roll individually and we will combine in discussion.
Magic result: Waves are a coincidental effect of some sphere you do not have.
Figure result: The figure is an Overseer. Which is bad news.
Overseer:
Overseers, are a militant faction within the Abbey of the Everyman, sworn to combat those who associate themselves with the Occult (aka Mages). Overseers wear golden masks stylized in the face of Benjamin Holger; their back supports lay partially over a piece of cloth covering the rear of the overseer's head while the front provides protection. The symbol of the Abbey: a trident passing through a capital C shows prominently upon the forehead. These same symbols are embroidered onto the sleeves of their dark gray jackets, which appear to be standard issue.
They are armed with the best weapons and armor.
Overseers have the judicial right to arrest and prosecute any citizen accused of participating in occult practices.
Please review the initiative, action, zone and movement rules.
We are in the initiative phase. The figure won due to surprise. He is shooting down the alley, for rules sake the waves coming at you are like someone spraying bullets down the alley that only seem organic things, you do not think he has noticed you yet due to the melee.
The large man is going next. He has decided not dodge the waves and charge the Figure and attack.
To make eye contact to convey a message would be Manipulation+Expression DC 8, I would have to be simple, like "Lets Run!, etc." and would be an action.
You two please decide what you would like to do then roll initiative (Dexterity+Wits+1d10).
Alleyway location: 3 Medium Zones. Entrance, Alley, Exit.
Aspects: Confusion, Static, Dynamic. (-1 on DC for these magic types)
PC's Location. Zone (Entrance), (C) "close" to each other. (M)edium to exit Zone. M to rat melee in Zone (Alley), (L)ong to Zone (exit) on opposite side where Figure is.
I'd like Yellow to push Ceridwyn out of the way of the oncoming blasts on his way by her as he dives and rolls underneath them towards the organ grinder. So we can get into rules for splitting a dice pool and assisting another!
Cool. I wasn't sure if Yellow had the empathy/altruism to get involved like that. (I was actually considering having her simply bolt and leave Yellow there---she's a Survivor with wheels and Stamina...It seemed like a good first meeting of the two, but I can't split up the group. Maybe we'll do it that way when we write the novelization!)
Yes, let's chat about dice and rolls. I'm wondering two things: (1) what mental rolls can she make right away in order to wrap her mind around the goings-on and (2) what physical rolls can she make for herself/everybody. I'm asking both rules-wise and gameplay-wise. If you don't mind looking over Ceridwyn's profile, please advise.
For (1), is there any magic roll to make? or is she simply lacking in the necessary Sphere(s), end of story? For typical mental abilities, she's got plenty of mental attributes to combine with something... It seems to me that she's got the Wits to make a smart snap decision (plus, she already made her Willpower check).
For (2), I notice that we took out Dodge. Is it Dex+Athletics now?
I'll be reading the book some more in the meantime.
1. You can make a wits+arete+awareness roll dc for magic roll dc 8.
A perception+law+politics roll dc6 for the figure.
2. Yes, dex+athletics equals dodge.
Looking up split dice and assist now and will chime in once I understand it.
Also, going forward just let me know what you want to do/know specifically and I will assign dice rolls.
Amidst the chaos of the battle a lone slender figure appears at the other end of the alley. Adorned in all black save a golden mask and a strange crank device harnessed to its midsection, the figure begins advancing with a long, slow gait down the alley. With its gloved hand of heavy black leather the figure begins turning the crank.
A mere whisper at first, dissonant tones emanate from the machine that quickly crescendos. Each note thunders down the alley, a rippling wave of distorted reality that passes through matter and the spiders but becomes a hammer strike of concussive force when rat is in its way.
The sound grates at your being, and the horde of rats being decimated, several waves are heading your way!
Crunch:
Please let me know what your intensions are in discussion so we can work out what needs to be rolled, you will be hit if you do not actively dodge the incoming attack…
Pursuing the crystalline spider, Celdwyn rounds the corner into a dimly lit alley way. A briny breeze travels down the alley blowing debris towards you. You reflexively raise your hand to protect your eyes from the airborne detritus and mop your dampened brow. Your clothes cling to your body, dampened from the surge of humidity.
The observe that the wind is not emanating from the far end of the alley, rather from behind a corroded dumpster a quarter of the way down the lane. As you focus on the dumpster you spot several crystalline spiders struggling against the forceful breeze as they try to reach a large gap between the dumpster and the alley wall.
"Get back YOUS!", erupts from behind the dumpster, followed by a loud belch.
A large, dirty, raggedy looking homeless looking man drunkenly stumbles out from behind the dumpster bottle in hand. The hair on your neck stands up, and your flesh is covered in goosebumps as several audible POPS go off in rapid succession, followed by a sound like wind chimes. Dozens of crystalline spiders appear through tears in reality once the man presents himself.
The man angrily looks about, "if its a ruck your wan'....YOU GO' IT!!"
Before your eyes the man begins growing and swelling to immense proportions. Before your eyes the man grows to over 9 feet tall and expands to seemingly the same width. His now exposed gut writhes with large lumps that swirl about, rise and recede. The wind grows is strength as the man takes a huge pull of of his bottle, chokes and begins vomiting. At first just spittle and bile, but then a rat followed by another comes forth from his mouth. To your dismay, his jaw unhinges from his disgustingly bulbous inflated head and veritable river of rats spews forth. The orifice that was once his mouth continues to enlarge until it fills the alley and tidal wave of rats crash forth immediately attacking the spiders who continue appearing at an alarming rate.
The amount of odd events and magical energy flowing in the alley is more than enough to test your will. Then what appears to be another man exits the vile distorted maw, gleefully floating and bobbing along with the rats as if he were in an actual river.
Ceridwyn Will Check:
Willpower DC 6:8d10 ⇒ (9, 5, 6, 9, 3, 3, 5, 8) = 48 You are unfazed by the events and can include that in your next post.
I'll get a post up in the next day or two. Two questions:
1) She can discern her own failures from blocked successes, correct? That is, learning about the time lock is an objective fact (as much as there are objective facts), not her misinterpreting my failed rolls? Should I make a roll for this sort of answer?
2) How often would stuff like the spider occur for a typical mage? Does she need a fright check or anything? can I make some sort of knowledge roll so that she can consider whether this is some sort of reaction to her magic?
Let's (you or me) make any of these needed rolls here in Discussion, then I'll start working on a Gameplay post.
1. The fact that s time locked is a fact. You know your magic is being actively blocked. You can discern failure versus opposition.
2. This seems to be an active effect from your point of view. Either the spider or someone else created an effect. Your mage has no knowledge of the correct sphere or prime so she doesn't know how the effect works. This is not a paradox backlash either as you have none. It is going to be speculation on your part if the the effect was triggered by you or if it was coincidence.
You did note through your Awareness+Perception check that some magic was going down in this area, but it is not as accurate as a prime effect.
You find an building that has an ideal location and begin divining its potential.
Magic Result:
Intially you get a sense of great prosperity from this location in the immediate future . As you continue the effect you are unable to get any information past 28th day of the Month of Songs. It seems that the future is time locked.
Awareness check:
Perception+Awareness:5d10 ⇒ (9, 2, 1, 2, 7) = 21
The hair stands up on the back of your neck and arms as something distinctly magical and not of your creation is happening. Your puzzle foci begins rearranging itself, and a small six inch tear in reality appears before you. Out of it a crystalline spider the size of a horse shoe descends, lands, seems to regard you, then scurries off towards an alleyway.
You join the rolling wave of rats. Although jarring at first, you soon get the feel of the swarm. Relaxed, you bob and swirl, float and surf with the growing wave. The power of the magic grows the farther you travel. The sea fills your senses: the smell of brine, the taste of salt, the rats feel like water against your flesh, the roar of the wind and surf deafen your ears. You catch glimpses of the city growing closer as you are twisted and turned.
You manage to steady yourself as the wave of rats begin to crest. A solitary man-sized white rat dances a bizarre jig before the wave, directly in the path where it set to crash. He is the source of the magic and the terminus of the wave. The wave crests higher and higher and you fight to keep your head up as you are pulled upwards toward the wave's peak.
The white rat dances faster and faster as the wave crests higher and higher and then, with a flourish, it braces its legs wide and throws back its arms, and opens its mouth wide. The wave crest, now a fluid stream of rats, swells to a great height. Instead of crashing down the wave pauses, and you are swept to the very top. You see the white rat's jaw unhinge and you feel the wind rushing into his gaping maw. It begins inhaling/swallowing the wave of rats. At first a small stream from the tip of the wave spirals into its mouth, but as its body begins to bloat and distend, the wave is being consumed at an alarming rate. The stream becomes a raging river pulling you ever closer to the now giant sized rat.
OOC:
You are going to be pulled into the rat, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to act, post, give your thoughts, etc, before this happens.
The fourth individual to visit the stone more than once came once yesterday and once today, likely in the wee (pre-dawn) hours on both occasions. Both times they arrived along the eastern shore and departed along the western shore. Whomever this was most likely killed the animals.
I would like to follow tacks while the iron is hot. We could go as a group and then head to town. Luther and I can track and Amaya can handle any social interaction/ knowledge checks that may arise while following the tracks.
