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Hans kept his eyes open, watching all that was going on. He didn't fully trust these people, given that a crossbow had been pointed at them not long ago. Discreetly, he said under his breath as they ate, to Zarine: "Three children eat, but four places were set." Was it an important detail? He had a feeling that it was relevant. Or at the very least it would catch the elf's attention.
Hans sat next to Zarine, glad that she was doing the talking. He listened along and ate, making sure that he ate and drank before her, to ensure that it was safe. He tried to be circumvent about it, but he was taking his job seriously. At the talk of ghosts though, he shuddered, though he really didn't want to. The thought of the supernatural made his insides go cold...
”My lady, these people have been burned by trust not too long ago. Please keep that in mind. They will be more likely to lash out than anything else. Please be cautious when dealing with them.”
Hans stood next to Zarine. In a much gruffer voice, he added "I'd advise against pointing a crossbow at a noble lady." He said this matter of factly.
Hans had been quiet throughout. The former merchant could be brave, in fact, being brave was part of his job description. First as a merchant traveling through the Empire, and now as a bodyguard. But ghosts? That was something else entirely. A lifetime of stories about the dangers that they posed swirled in his head. He felt like if he opened his mouth then his soul would come out, and if he drew his blade it would be the last thing he would ever do. Ghosts were the domain of wizards and elves, not normal men like him. Feeling utterly powerless, he stood by, glad that their little group had people who were actually qualified to handle such situations.
Hans shrugged. "Can't say that I do." He replied, wishing that he had more to offer.
"Wake. Up!" Hans said, shaking the mage. "Get up and magic whatever it is away." He said, suddenly feeling scared. It was one thing to have beastmen attacking on deck, but something below the water? The idea filled him with dread.
Grumbling, Hans got to his feet. He cursed under his breath. Figuring that he had a bad dream, he went to go back to sleep, only to hear that the tapping was real, and not part of his imagination. And it was from...beneath the ship. "Scheisse." He cursed, not knowing what to do. He shook Axel awake. "Mage. *MAGE*" He hissed. "You know magic, right? There's something tapping against the hull of the Flatbottom. Can you...magic it away?"
It was nice, really. A quiet stay in town where nothing bad happened. There was no excitement. Just some well deserved rest. After their scare with the beastmen it felt well deserved.
I came in late and never really got situated. But if we continue I’ll be here!
Hans nudged Axel. "Good to have a doktor around, yeah?" He said, a small smile on his face.
Happy holidays to everyone! Likewise, I'm here. Vacation is over and it's time to pick up on all the campaigns.
Hans breathed a sigh of relief as they came into town. It felt good to know that there was something between them and any more beastmen. Townspeople, or even worse, city-folk, they just didn't understand how dangerous the roads and rivers were. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like for those who lived off of the beaten path. He gladly followed Zarine to whatever inn she wished to go to. He recommended the Storm Dwarf Inn. Because if the mercenaries caused any trouble there, then their captain would be close by to keep them in line.
Hans shrugged. Axel was a good enough sort, even if he was a witch. He tied the mans' hands, but didn't bother doing that good a job of it. If he wanted to get out, he'd be able to with a bit of struggle. "Sure thing." He said.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Hans went about assisting the crew. He didn't want to have to handle the beastmen bodies, if he could help it. Usually he'd be all over looting the dead, as profit was profit, but these creatures were unclean. It was one thing to sail with a witch and an elf, but beastmen? There was no denying how unnatural and evil they were. He wouldn't put it past them to wield items that were cursed by the dark gods.
Hans stayed close, keeping an eye on Zarine and the captain. He cleaned off his blade, hoping that he would not have to use it again, especially against the crew that they had just saved. But if Gotthard decided to pick a fight, then a fight he would have. Hans was not ready to be unemployed just yet. The fact that the captain did not seem intimidated or fearful struck him as odd. He couldn't tell if that should worry him or not...
Time seemed to slow down as the Gor came at him. As if in a dream, he raised his blade and used it to push the Gor's weapon to the side. As he couldn't match the beast in strength, this was the best way to ensure that the foe's weapon didn't break through his guard and smash into him. Knocked off balance by the momentum of it's own swing, Hans brought his blade up, raking it across the side of the Gor's face.
Trying his best to get to Zarine’s side, Hans could only manage a clumsy swipe with his sword.
With improvised artillery flying towards them, Hans came to the conclusion that they were all about to die. He didn’t know if he could swim in his armor, but it wouldn’t matter if the Gors got him first. Gripping his sword tightly he kept swinging:
WFRP is the best system I have seen for one on one combat. For multiple combatants? It is really messy. Because in these situations, it matters who attacked who each round. It gets even harder in PbP. For ease of use, I'd just do this: "Swirling Combat." When there are multiple people fighting each other, to determine gang up, add every enemy adjacent to the fighter and subtract every ally adjacent to the fighter. Whichever side has the higher number gets +1 SL, which increases to +2 SL if they outnumber the enemy 2v1 and +3 SL if they outnumber the enemy 3v1. Large combatants (trolls, minotaurs, ogres, etc) count as 2 when calculating this. So in the above example, Hans and Alphonso are fighting an orc and a goblin. There are even numbers in that swirling melee, where there are multiple combatants who have choices on who to attack. As the numbers are even, neither side gets an advantage. But if another goblin charges in, then the greenskins all get +1 SL regardless of who they attack, as both Hans and Alphonso are valid targets. If Hans and Alphonso can kill a greenskin, then it goes back to being an even fight. This just seems *so much* simpler to me. It's one less thing to have to keep track of. Throw in group advantage, and suddenly party size fights will no longer be a headache.
Hans fumbled with his sword. He had been so absorbed in trying to steer the vessel away that he was all but caught flat footed by the dramatic arrival of more beastmen. Their size, strength and stench was overwhelming. As his sword lashed out, all he could do was wish that he had spent even more coin on armor.
Hans leapt to action with all the celerity of a man whose life was on the line. They needed to avoid the beastmen in the trees and to be far enough away from the Minotaur that it couldn’t board. And they had to be out of arrow range, and to not run aground…
I like shields just working. They made the rules too complicated. As for advantage, it seems like group adv makes record keeping much easier, especially in large combats. That’s a win in my book! I’d remove batter though, as it comes across OP
Steeling himself, Hans left the downed Gor and moved onto the next one. The creature was fuming with uncontrolled hatred, and Rocco‘s sorry state was evidence of how dangerous it was. He knew that it had to go down, and that this was now his job, to hold the attention of such threats. So before he could come to his senses, he charged in.
Very glad to have not wasted a fortune point. Thanks for looking out for me.
Hans *barely* managed to get his blade up in time to parry the Gor's blow. He glanced back to make sure that Zarine was alright, though there wasn't much he could do as he was fighting for his own life. Swinging wildly, he was fortunate in that his blade manage to hit something. It felt like flesh, but he wasn't sure. He was operating on pure adrenaline at that point.
It’s a great book. Only saw a few pages, but freelance is a wonderful career for adventurers. Also the book let’s you have the possibility of everyone being part of a knightly order but with different careers. So cool :)
Also, it might be useful to link this to the campaign header. It's a really useful cheat sheet
For the counter attack that I'm sure will come Hans' way: "Defensive is nice and straight forward: when you are wielding the weapon, you gain +1 SL to the Melee Test when defending. This even works if you are defending with a weapon in your other hand as you manoeuvre your shield into the path of any incoming weapons! When combined with the fact you’re likely to have a relatively high Melee (Basic) Skill, you should have a good chance of entirely parrying many incoming attacks (or at least reducing the difference in the SL). The Defensive Quality also allows shields to be used with Melee (Parry), which forgoes the –20 penalty you’d receive for using Melee (Basic) in an off-hand (if you don’t have Ambidextrous)." So what makes the most sense would be for Hans to defend with his sword, and not his buckler. This foregoes the 1 point of armor from the buckler, but it gives him +1 SL when defending.
This is all correct?
Clutching his sword tightly, Hans picked out the biggest beastman present. It was horrifying to think about what was happening, but the best thing that he could consider doing was breaking their morale, before they were all torn apart. With a wordless below, to give himself courage, he went to position himself between Zarine and the biggest Gor that he could reach...
...surging forward, he buried his blade into the left thigh of the Gor. Now, Hans was no weakling, and as such the blade sunk in deep. He grinned, mostly out of anxiety, as the blade went in, but the smile vanished from his face when he saw that the creature did not go down! Cursing himself for thinking that he could take out the largest of the brutes so easily, he quickly tried to retract his blade and raise his buckler to defend himself.
…with his charge taking cover, Hans did the only sensible thing. He likewise took cover, and in doing so brought his bow out. Once protected he would lay down covering fire.
Staying near to his charge, Hans added his voice to the din, *demanding* that all woke up immediately.
Hans jumped to his feet, reaching for his blade as he did so. He knew that the elf would charge in recklessly and that it would be pointless to try and stop her. Rather, he steeped himself to stay by her side, to prove himself worthy of his new role.
Hans had something of a panic attack. He was her bodyguard, and he was now on a different watch. Was that alright? He would guard her while she slept, but what if she did something insane again like right a sea monster…again?! Should he switch watch? He didn’t know. He wasn’t actually trained for this, he was just a burnt out merchant. He really wished that this bodyguard job came with a manual. Reluctantly he came to the conclusion that he really had to take second watch. Because his personality demanded that any job worth doing was one worth doing right.
Hans was an old hand at taking watch. One did not travel as much as he did without being very well versed in it. Taking first watch was always a good choice. Usually a person couldn't fall asleep right away anyways, and people tended to do their work before falling asleep. Yes, after a long day it could be hard, but it generally wasn't too bad. And last watch was fairly good as well. One could get some solid sleep, and then wake up being more or less refreshed. From there you could do what was needed immediately and then take your time before the day started. But the middle watch? The middle watch! That was the worst. After falling asleep it meant being woken up and having to pay attention. Then, after fully being awake, you then had to fall asleep again! So he graciously volunteered for the first shift...
...he didn't want to be seen as being lazy. But at the same time, only a fool would go for the second watch.
Hans watched the haggling for a moment, but turned away in disinterest. He thanked the gods that he no longer needed to make a living that way. The anxiety and the stress? Better Alphonso than him.
Indeed. Typo, but the final accounting is right
Part 1: Fixing the character to ensure that merchant is finished 1. Merchant (Trader) has Agility, Willpower & Fellowship Characteristics. You'd need to have 5 advances in each of those. You'd start with 5 advances toward your career Characteristics just due to character creation. 5x Ag (character creation)
5x Animal Care, Bribery, Charm, Consume Alcohol, Drive, Gamble, Gossip, Haggle (character creation) 3x Melee (Basic), Cool, Ranged (Bow) Read/Write (character creation), Savvy (character creation) Total XP to finish merchant: 250xp
75xp left 2x Melee Basic (20xp)
------------------ WS: 20+15=35
WS (35) BS (27) Str (35) T (40) Init (30) Ag (30) Dex (25) Int (40) WP (40) Fel (40) Part 2: Fixing Endeavors to make sure that downtime if finished I have 6 gold left. I remember now that it can all be lost...so spending 3 gold coins on a mail coat. +2 Armor for body and arms. That is 3 gold left. Weee...3 gold and 1 silver! Which thankfully is not lost. And with that, I should be good to go.
Oh…I misunderstood. Damn. I’ll do a rebuild tonight or tomorrow morning and figure it out. Sorry for my misunderstanding
I thought that my endeavors were (1) class change and (2) selling his cart. Also I’ll think of some goals! Thanks for the reminder.
Fortune favors the bold and punishes the foolish: "You have my thanks." Hans said. "I shall heed your advice and will keep a lamp on my person." He wasn't certain how much he believed, but being rude served no purpose. After a moment's thought, he added "This woman...is, well, will, she be human?"
My pleasure. :) Uhhh... silver and midnight blue? Also, given that these are her colors, here is Hans in his new outfit. Hans in more or less House Brightbow colors If he is going to be her Guard, then he should look the part.
“ Not sure of Warhammer fantasy background... are there real naiads? Are they known to be good or evil? Would a wood elf know of them if they exist?” From this it seems like Naiads are thought to be a legend by humans. But for wood elves: “ Wood elves are living with those creatures such as Argwylon is a land of light and wonder, where the rivers are alive with naiads, and the waterfalls sing with ghostly voices. [2a]” I think that it refers to the waterfalls in Athel Loren. Given that Zarine’s people don’t live near waterfalls or rivers, I’d doubt that there would be many (if any) around there. But I could be wrong on that.
Hans listened and smirked. The fool. It certainly sounded like him. The smirk faded with the talk of death and murder. Shaking his head he said "No. Would I assume that you do?" He pulled out his coin purse. Ten brass...with a shrug he just handed over all ten coins, making sure that she saw that it was all he had. Granted, he had another coin purse with his gold coins, but he was smart enough to know not to show that off.
Question for Zarine: what are her house colors?
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