Boy, that escalated quickly.
I'll see what Lupus does before I take another turn. Mwahaha.
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Yeah, Thoril can hang with his merc buddies for a while. If you want, you can work with them opposed to Nicolette and the Thieves Guild. I'm all for choices. And you cover different parts of the City that way, And yeah, I was gonna have you all wait til we got to the Tower or Safehouse or Other Place, but now is a good time to level. Just let everyone know your new build.
It's not really the writing. Lack of sleep, mainly. 5 month old is teething. Anyway, the City is open to exploration. The Watch looking for whoever went to the Merc Camp in the night after the burning of the Temple gives you reason to leave. Nicolette has a job offer. That's a long-term option that involves rebuilding the Guild, striking back at the Syndicate, and it could lead to striking back at the Watch and the Baron. There are sides to pick there. Otherwise if you go back to Trencius' lair, you can do whatever you want. Use Interaction abilities to call up legends at whim or talk to allies. Or just use contacts from your backgrounds to talk to people. Honestly the mercenary barracks isn't an area I'm really comfortable with yet, since I haven't fleshed that out. If Thoril wanted to take it somewhere though, that's fair game for sure!
I keep forgetting about my original use for Nicolette. This is slightly better.
Ugh. That was poor. I feel burnt out.
Shahriyar visits the girl while everyone sleeps. Sonia attempted to keep watch all through the rest of the night, but lost the game. Time stops as he manifests his form: if one could watch, smoke and shadows would be seen engulfing the room. Shahriyar identifies Patricia and sees her mother sleeping nearby. "He said not to kill anyone." Tendrils of darkness coil from his feathered hand and steal her arm and lick wounds upon her. "Sorry. Equivalent exchange, my dear. I can't believe anyone cares about this pathetic runt. Besides you, of course." The demon spits blackness from its mouth. Dark magics weave to restore Patricia's body whole again. Her arm is back, true to form. Her wounds disappear. "Feh. What a waste of my talents. Hmm... her head?" As Shahriyar touches Patricia's mind to heal it as well, he is met with an unfamiliar persona. "THIS ONE IS MINE." Trencius' patron cannot work his magic anymore. "At least things are interesting now. I adjure you, spirit." "I AM JACKNALL. THE CITY WILL BE MINE. HEARTS and MINDS and HANDS." "I have a deal to honor. Back off, before things get ugly." Silence from the spirit for a moment. "I KNOW YOUR WINGED ASSOCIATE. HE IS A PROBLEM." "Indeed... go on." "LEAVE ME HERE. I WILL TELL YOU HOW TO BREAK YOUR CHAINS. REVENGE ON THE WINGED ONE." "Another deal! What are the terms?" "TAKE THE NOBLES TO A PLACE OF POWER." Silence from the demon, this time. "Is this a joke? Screw you. I'll leave you alone, but only because I know better. If we cross paths again and you're in my way things will get ugly." With that, the demon exits the scene. Morning comes, heralded by a bugle and a commotion of watchmen outside the gates to the barracks.
Okay. Yeah. Actually, everybody take 5 while I figure this out. You can roleplay freely in or out of the doctor's office. I had a plan originally, but decided to sleep on it. And now I'm going to think a little more about what happens next. This is essentially the end of the Intro. In review, I think everyone got to use the majority of their traits. We tested a good bit of Combat, attempted a bit of Exploration, and, well, Interaction.... good roleplay can always win at Interaction, which y'all certainly won at. We've updated characters a few times, we applied the new Weapon Traits... honestly, in review this was a really dynamic PbP game. I hope you're congratulating yourselves. Trencius, check your inbox. Like I said in the meantime, free-for-all in the Gameplay thread. Patricia has not been healed yet.
Negative Ghost Rider! That was magnificent! A masterful post! Excellent writing. Such emotion conveyed. So little said about their relationship, yet so much revealed. A joy to read! Somehow, familiar. I assume I can narrate the magical healing effects on lucky Patricia?
Nice! Giving up the Wing will temporarily disable your Glide Trait. When you get your wing back (assuming you want it back), then you'll have upgraded to Fly. In the meantime, once you've given it up, reduce your Toughness by 2. It'll come back with the Wing. Or else, the resolution of whatever "quest" follows. However... I don't have access to the Demonology notes because, well, I'm a cheapskate whose money habits were learned from Greeks. If any of the Demonology Traits have a better, or more defined, way of doing this "trade" for the Ritual summoning, please let me know. But don't post any info on the private notes here. Whatever you want for dialogue. If you have some basics for me I can play Mr. Demon. But I feel like it would be quicker if you just wrote it out. And you'd know best how the feel of The Talk would go. A couple more things... plexsoup, those isometric maps are F%#*ING AWESOME. What a work of art. Finally, since we were talking about Non-Fantasy Content on /r/taverntales recently, anyone interested in such a thing? I feel like I have to switch between Medieval/Renaissance Fantasy and Sci-Fi, after a certain period of time.
"Thank you all for your continued help. I suppose you have my family's gratitude... what little is left of it. I assume My husband and Lord Triton were in the Temple somewhere. Likely the Watch Captain had his way with them before we entered. When we get to the doctor, I trust you will leave me alone with her." The walk to Thoril's acquaintance is uneventful. Quiet. The storm dissipates. The barracks are abuzz with movement. Looks like a cadre of Merchant's Guild mercenaries have been hired to deal with the situation in Hartscourt and the Cloister. Nicolette offers an opinion that the Guild is in a good position to take more power away from the Baron. Not necessarily a bad thing. Speculation aside, everyone's awake. Including the doctor. The combined status of Thoril and Lady Sonia get everyone in with a simple hand wave. A merc tries to chat Thoril up on their way to the doctor. His office is small but well kept, with shiny scalpels and blood-draining buckets. The odd-looking masks on the counter in the rear of the building reveal he must be working with alchemists' fumigation. The doctor himself is quite a large man, height, width, and girth, and has his own share of scars and stitches. Greetings and salutations out of the way, he explains with the vocabulary and grammar of a drunken boxer that he can stabilize Patricia. Give him a day to get a good analysis of, you know, what the hell happened. You can't blame him if it takes him a few seconds to wrap his head around the fact that the girl had her hand replaced by some sort of animal paw. "I can use whatever funds my house has to help you." Sonia seems distant. Dreaming. "I'm not sure what you plan to do. This fountain in the marsh is an option, I suppose. I've heard talk about artificers replacing limbs. Maybe that's possible. But I'm more worried about her... head." Patricia hasn't woken up yet, but she certainly wasn't herself when she tried to kill everyone at the top of a burning temple.
Well, that would sort of solve the choices you've given yourselves. The fact that Trencius and this dude had a falling out does change things though. By Tavern Tales rules, the Ritual to summon this guy is the only thing it can do. Healing the girl is up to the patron. So why don't we start there and roleplay The Talk when you've summoned him. In the meantime I'll post the merc doctor update in a little bit.
I think that the right amount of leniency will reveal itself over time. I'm not worried as long as no one else is... but I'll try and make sure Quintis makes a move every two days. Yeah, I think Jack of All Trades should only allow temporary traits from the top two or three Themes you currently have Traits from. That way the most reliable Theme will be other Traits from Bardic Lore, and you won't be able to just use any Trait for a situation. If there are no objections, maybe we should houserule that for this game. Speaking of Patricia's predicament, I totally like the idea of using Ritual. It's totally badass, and I'm so excited. So here's the deal. Taking Patricia to Thoril's merc-doctor friend will stabilize her. But she's still missing an arm and most of her sanity. If you want your patron to repair this, he's going to require stuff. And you're going to have to summon him in the first place. So here are the options. You tell me sounds most likely for this entity. To summon him you can:
To get him to heal Patricia, mind and body, you'll need to enter under another contract with him. This could go bad or good, depending on the conversation and how you go about meeting ends. I'll let you take point on this, whether it's wiping out a bunch of Cloisterites who hate him, or spreading some sacrilege, or just converting some people or getting some powerful idol (or corrupting one). I don't know much about this guy, so a lot of the flavor can come from you if you want. I don't want to ruin your image of Trencius' patron. Just remember anything goes, he doesn't have to be some fanged man-bat with fire for hair, he could be the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Arnold Schwarzeneggar or Kirby or whatever.
Bedlam as in, to make a bedlam out of by stealing a bunch of their stuff and causing a panic. As for Bloodseeker, yes, and now I see it could come in handy if your CtJ fails. I just assumed CtJ would be vastly more useful, but perhaps I'm not thinking of the right advantages. I suppose it would stop me from trying to surprise you with added patrols.
+ 3 = 16 With little effort despite his disorientation, Quintis also joins the escape from the Temple via the stairs. Luckily for everyone, the stairs do not collapse. What a breath of fresh air! The storm is still going, but do the cool droplets of rain and brisk gusts of wind ever feel great! No more scorching fire upon the skin. Or people trying to kill you. The Temple stands as a towering inferno at this point. It's one of the brighter lights in the City. Undoubtedly, it will be a center of attention in half an hour. Best to leave soon after seeing to Patricia's wound. She's lost her arm, now, and the beam has likely broken a few bones. Sonia fawns over her poor daughter with emotion not seen before. The courtyard is lit up, orange and yellow and with smoky shadows. A familiar silhouette stands nearby. It approaches with the agility of an alley cat.
You guys are pretty good at combat right now. It'll take me a while to get a good formula for challenging enemies. To be transparent, I think environment is everything when it comes to monsters being effective in this game. However, Bloodseeker only helps against far creatures... and you already have Case The Joint. But that does require a roll. Assassin is only good in a boss fight, or if you're, obviously, assassinating someone. Murder is nice because it increases damage all around... It depends on where you want to take Lupus, I guess. Good in combat? Good for infiltration? Good for tactics?I suppose you'd want all three, but again, you're pretty good in combat as a party. Tough choice and we haven't even considered other options.
Suckmarsh. Lmfao. This is canon. And The East is basically Ninja Country.
Before I update, I'll let you know I'm going to add some descriptions for some general areas just outside The City, just in case we want some wilderness exploration. I figure we need some options in case someone makes a Nature character. The Druids under the sewer have a Natural habitat, but it's not safe at all. Also, should I make a new thread for the next chapter? Or just continue here?
Well, as far as speed goes, I know I haven't been posting every day. It gets busy here. I'll try and do better on my end. Another thing is, for certain players, don't be scared to do things. I know it's tough, because it's player rolling and maybe you don't want to step on any toes, but when it comes down to it this is essentially collaborative storytelling. By necessity. So if you want to say, rescue Patricia from burning to death, say exactly what you're going to do and find a roll. Plexsoup is excellent at this. He didn't ask me which floor Finn was on, he just found one. He didn't ask me if he should roll for anything, he came up with something and rolled. And acted accordingly. Another thing to speed up gameplay is to split the party... but really I think in the end it falls on me to ask the right questions. The ones that it make it clear to the party, here is the problem, here are the options. Sometimes I'm too vague, so I'll be working on that. And YES, I voted for Demonology next and was so disappointed it lost to Psionics. Psychic powers are great, but Warlocks have always been a favorite class of mine, especially in 4e DnD.
You could do either, I'm not going to stop you. If you just wanted to test out a certain "build" as it were, you could have that character step in for Trencius (or whoever else you're playing) so you can see how a certain Trait combo would work in a situation. I'm all for testing stuff out. Science!
Okay. Finally a good update. We're almost to the end of this Intro Chapter. Time for some Resolution and Consequences. After we talk about What The Hell Just Happened, you can decide whether you want to keep playing or not. You'll Level Up at the start of the next "chapter". You can change characters. You can make another character. Either option can be "Leveled". You can exchange characters. We can exchange DMs. We can start a new story. Whatever you all want, because this has been damn fun and damn educational for yours truly, and I'm thankful for your participation. In the case we move forward, I've updated the Campaign Info thread with some Rumors. Officially, your characters will hear these rumors once we're done with the whole burning Temple, maimed daughter thing. They're just sort of hooks I've been thinking of. You can decide amongst yourselves if you want to follow up on any of them, which of them is most important, or discard them entirely. I'll update the list when I can, as per usual.
Hahaha. Pizzaman. Though really... the wheat shortage is going to make prices for anything food related go up... especially pizza and beer. Brewer sounds fun, though.
You guys practically run this game by yourselves! Exciting, fair, creative posts. Thank goodness, because I've been running crazy lately. The wheat drought is going to kill business. And thank you to the moderators of this board, who removed my erroneous post Trencius, I'll need you to roll the same Brawn test to get Patricia out of the building safely. If you don't roll well, choose whether she makes it out alive or you pass out with her...
Hyperbole.
How embarrassing.
One of those Hidden Weaknesses. I expected you guys to go for the mask first, which wouldn't have done much.
Patricia howls like a feral animal as her "hand" drops to the floor. The stump drips with thick, dark blood. The mask falls from her face and she stands there, dumbfounded, as if some spell has been broken. Then the roof starts collapsing. A burning beam falls from above and crashes into the girl's thin frame, taking her with it as it plummets to the floor below. It barely misses Ben. Quintis, who obviously is still wrapped up in the chain, follows suit from across the room. The warrior bowls under Kira, leaving the orc sprawled on the cracking floorboards, hurtling toward the hole caused by the falling beam. He's a lot bigger than Patricia, and the beam, so he's stuck over the opening. A sickening squelch can be heard from below as the arm chained to Quintis separates from Patricia's body. It's getting really hot in here. Hard to tell how far the flames go, now. Definitely moving toward other areas of the Temple.
"CLEFT FOR THEE - HIDE IN ME" Patricia's voice sounds nothing like a young lady's. She's clearly possessed or something. Sonia tries to plead to her daughter to come home. To stop the madness. She promises a cure, love, food, water, shelter, warmth. Her noble words fall on deaf ears, and are drowned by the roar of the growing inferno. In a moment of stark clarity, Sonia aims a thrust at her daughter's masked face. + 3 = 12 The spear nicks the mask, tearing off a horn. Nothing seems to happen, except for another slap from a wildly flying chain. = 7 damage And Sonia is bleeding pretty well from her chiseled jaw. "CANDLELIT FINGERTIPS - IVORY KEY" In the meantime, the flurry of Kira the orc upon Quintis knocks the runed veteran into the recoil of the same flying chain that nicked Lady Sonia. This time, it wraps around its victim - Quintis is Grappled! Afterwards, as the orc's weapon is knocked away, Kira shoots a resolved glare at Thoril. Under different circumstances, this would be a good time for a duel. However, the building is ablaze and a crazy woman is slapping people with chains. The orc takes a step back and enters some sort of martial art stance, fists at the ready as he dodges Trencius' attack!
Yeah, and... this is an issue that I've been half-worried about. As a DM, I'm not used to giving away monster information. Player-only rolling sort of requires me to. I mean, I'd like to leave some sort of surprises for you guys. But you have to roll for damage to yourselves. And you have to know if there are any Weapon Traits you have to apply to those rolls. You also to need to know if there are any Damage Over Times or Armor Penetration. At this point, I'm considering giving you all stat blocks for them and telling you to have at it, but then you're basically just playing a Text RPG... which, you know, isn't necessarily a bad thing if you're okay with that. But that opens up playstyle theory, and, well, I'm not qualified to go any further. Counterpoint is that different enemies have different purposes. Kira and Bonehead are, admittedly, pretty straightforward. So have all the other enemies you've faced, with the Ninja as a minor exception. Kira and Bonehead aren't meant to REALLY kill you guys. I mean, you have a seasoned mercenary, a veteran warrior, and a winged magic-user in your party. They're just a couple of thugs. Patricia-Jacknall, on the other hand, is in another category. There's magic behind this design, which allows me to bend some rules and allow for a more challenging, dynamic fight. I intend to try out a couple rules we haven't tried yet with her/it. Furthermore, I sort of was hoping you would run with some of the hidden traits I'd mentioned for Bonehead. Whenever I mention something like that you can go with it if you have a good idea. TL;DR: that image of the dog in the labcoat with goggles playing with chemicals
"S$*&, seriously?!" Bonehead is beside himself, his ugly mug practically split in two with anger. "You were supposed to take care of all of the goodie-two-shoes Baron-ass-kissers down on the first level!" He spits before he continues. "Guh... f$+* it, Jacknall will eat all of you imbeciles!" The guardsmen fight. The torch falls to the ground. It lights the carpet ablaze. Soon, the dusty old tomes and scrolls will catch fire, too. Swords drink blood. Men scream as they're cut and bruised and burned. Someone else screams "Charlemagne". The party is surrounded by fire and death. And then Kira and Bonehead let go of the chains. They clink and thunk as they hit the ground, but it's barely heard over the turmoil. Patricia's grin is steady as ever as she lifts the mask slowly to her face. It's a curious item - blue and mottled, with ivory horns. The mouth is pulled down in a grave frown, as if the corners were holding ship's anchors. It's pretty creepy. Sonia takes a few steps forward, recovering from her silent shock at the state of her daughter. Tears in her eyes, she tries to hug Patricia. The mask rests lightly upon her face. Patricia lets out a wail like a banshee. The whole room is deafened. She slaps Sonia across the face with her clawed paw, and the Lady is lucky to land away from the fire. The chain, still manacled to her wrist, flies through the air. Bonehead and Kira join the fight. The orc takes a swing at Trencius, while the other takes a whack at Lupus. There's no sign of the ninja...
Hahahaha that's perfect. This is going to be complete chaos.
The Watch Captain and his Watch, who have their swords to your backs. I guess that was a little vague. Basically, you're scissored by the Watch (who of course, were paid off by the Syndicate), the ninja (who was not ever bound or gagged), and Bonehead and the orc. And of course the monstrosity that is Patricia. We haven't even got to the dead people yet, either.
The Captain attempts to explain the situation to Thoril, Quintis, and Sonia, but is cut short by Ben's yell for help upstairs. Boots pound the carpeted steps, echoing up the stairwell. Soon enough, the remaining watchmen have joined everyone on the top floor. It's dark. The Captain mumbles something to the ninja. He reaches for something, grabs it, and tosses it at the Captain, who then lights it. A torch. The room is illuminated. The walls are lined with shelves upon shelves of foreign texts and scrolls. It rivals Trencius' library. But the scrollcase Ben is tugging and hollering at is the only one with a carpet leading up to it. The ancient texts' musty smell fills the air. But there is another... copper? Iron? Blood? The ka-thunk of machinery. A lever is pulled behind their backs. The scrollcase slides into the wall, devoured by a new emptiness. The torch's fire can't penetrate this darkness. Its light is swallowed like a pebble into an oceanic trench. Two Syndicate members emerge from the slender abyss. Bonehead and Kira the orc, weapons drawn. The watch's weapons are drawn, too. Then there is a low growl. Deep and primal, the sound permeates the space between. Its hunger matches that of the darkness it comes from, pulling flesh toward it in gluttonous desire. There is a rattle of chains, a cacophony of iron clinking and scraping. Bonehead and Kira have two ends of these chains in their free hands. They're speechless, only gazing toward the party. And there is the girl. She's still dressed in the formal wear she must have been kidnapped in. It's tattered, frayed, dirtied, bloody. Her skin is pale as the moonlight. It looks like she hasn't slept much. Baggy eyes, slack jaw, frizzed hair. And it's her hands the chains are attached to. So many chains, it's surprising she can move her arms. But something's not right. In one hand, she holds an item... the torch flickers light towards it. A painted mask of eastern design. And where her other hand should not be is a furry, clawed paw of an animal, like a large dog. Or a jackal. She grins, eyelids peeled back in a maniacal stare. She growls.
No worries. I know this isn't the premiere game for most of us. StJohn you're more interested in your Dungeon World game right now, plexsoup is running his own Tavern Tales game... who knows what else others are playing. I'm glad you've all stuck around this far in the first place.
"Yeah... bastards lured us into a trap. I lost some good men here. What took you all so long to meet us here?" The Captain is shaken and out of breath. He huffs and puffs, but he still seems on edge. His bloody longsword sits tightly gripped in both hands. As Ben parkours across the bodies and pillows, he doesn't find anything hinting to the missing girl's whereabouts in the Temple... but he does find that some of the bodies of the watch have been stuck with their own, polished, steel crossbow bolts! The way up currently seems to only be the stairs. The dumb-waiter is in use on another floor. It's hand crank operated.
Sonia swiftly marches to the front doors of the temple without looking back. In stride, she busts open the doors with a heavy shoulder-tackle and lumbers into the temple proper. It's an open area. Wood-slat floors polished to reflection. There are no tables or pews like other places of worship, but pillows and throws of various bright colors in circles and sets in front of a large bronzed statue of a multi-armed eastern deity or hero. The ceiling is vaulted, higher than it looked like it would be from the outside, and is adorned with eastern writing and characters in large, beautiful, and ornate script. In each corner of the area there's a shoulder-high vase with bamboo growing out of it, pruned and gardened to look as from a painting. Speaking of paintings, on the walls are broad parchment scrolls with watercolor scenes of the eastern lands: a woman rides a horse through green rice-paddy fields, a frog rests on a leaf next to a flower in a pond. Small windows line the top of the walls, to let in sun- or moon-light. It has a beautiful atmosphere. Except for the corpses. "Sonia!" It's the Captain, from before. A small number of his troops remain standing. The rest lie on the ground in puddles of blood, mingled with fallen Syndicate. "Could've used your help a few minutes ago..." It appears the battle has just concluded.
Allow me. For those wondering about updates to the Campaign Info Thread (if any of you were), I'm currently doing some research to enrich the setting a bit. The original brainstorm was a great starting point, but I don't want this to be a carbon copy of the Thief setting. I'll say that I've got a good few ideas I want to shake into the pot and spice up, but I'm working on the methods. Hopefully the research will help improve my prose a bit. No matter if you all think it's adequate, a Play By Post's atmosphere is dictated by the words written, or typed, and I intend to give you all a good show. Or at least, make each show a little bit better than the last. I've been following Fallen London (or Echo Bazaar) in particular, if anyone is familiar.
That feeling of epicness is certainly deliberate in this system. After all, why wait? We'll find out just how far monsters can go as we keep playing. This time I played around with a durable enemy and one with a few hidden tricks. The playbook will be expanded.
Yeah, that was a lot of fun. Great rolls by you guys! I thought that was going to be tough. Time to rethink my monsters.
The knife bites into his neck, but it doesn't get too deep before being knocked away by the vengeful vigilante group . "Gao yang jong duh goo yang!" he sputters. "Do it quickly, swine!"
Time slows. Moving your legs is like wading through glue. Boots stick to the ground as though taped. The raindrops float from the sky. You could see your reflection in each one, if you were paying attention. The knife touches flesh. Who else is rushing to the ninja?
Thoril's crossbow bolt distracts the ninja from the impromptu magical ritual, but the injury gets shaken off as quickly as it's inflicted. Quintis' spear, however - it would take a well-prepared Criss Angel to avoid that. And he's no where in sight.
The golem, upon losing its rider, shudders violently before crumbing to the ground. A blast of fire sparks out as the chimera is reduced to its base element of varying sizes, from large chunks to fine dust. A glowing mass of unknown substance lies in the middle of the rubble, the last remaining light of the creature's infernal mane. The ninja lies on the courtyard, bloodied and beaten. Judging by the movements of his chest, he's still breathing. But he pulls out a hidden knife, slowly, weakly. And puts it near his throat. Sonia gives Thoril an affirmative as she rejoins the group.
Yeah... at disadvantage I think. There's a lot in the way.
Double post, but for good reason. First off, to settle the matter of Trencius and his wings. Anything you do with your wings should automatically succeed. Obviously you're just Gliding yet, but that's neither here nor there. I won't make you roll for things like gliding off a balcony or catching a falling friend. If you tried to do those things WITHOUT wings, I'd require a roll. This goes for anything similar to that Trait in other Themes. Secondly is the matter of the ninja and chimera. A bit of clarification. I revealed the status of the chimera because you lot dealt a ton of damage to it in a short timeframe. Just wanted to reassure you that yeah, I am keeping track of numbers. Secondly, yes, the ninja did some magic b#*$*&~! trick mid-air (a one-time thing, per Combat) and is now doing something magical and dastardly as he rides the chimera. The chimera is "defeated" but not "dead". Not yet. Lastly, with the release of the Nature Theme and an added Trait to the Command Theme, make sure you review your characters and think about any changes or tests you want to run. I've personally been waiting for the Nature Theme since I learned about Tavern Tales, and I'm very pleased with the Trait list. If I ever get to run a character, Nature will definitely be in my palette.
He is. The encounter has changed. You're no longer fighting the chimera and the ninja separated. And the chimera is stil defeated. He's just being ridden by a ninja now. Defeated doesn't always mean dead. Besides, maybe the ninja's magic is keeping the crumbling golem together now.
By the way the chimera is defeated. He had a Block rating of 5 and 80 health. Thoril's DOT ended up doing him in, if anyone was curious!
"Ching-wah TSAO duh liou mahng!" yells the ninja as he's pushed off the edge. No number of fancy ballet moves can save him now. He doesn't even get to stab Ben with a hidden knife as he's shoved toward the empty air between the third story and the ground. As another bolt of heaven's fury crashes across the sky, Ben and Trencius catch their adversary wearing smiling eyes - and then he vanishes in the darkness, his black clothing blending in with the inky night. They hear the sound of wood striking the courtyard. A bundle of firewood lay where the ninja's broken body should be. The chimera rears, tossing Sonia away and sending a hail of rocks and pebbles across the courtyard. Houdini brandishes his katana atop the golem's shoulders, and as his steed returns its front legs to the ground, he produces a scroll from his garments. With one hand he whips it into the rain-soaked air, and its cream-colored parchment streams out longer than you'd expect. It comes to rest across the chimera's back, and the mystic warrior starts mumbling in foreign language and moving his hands and arms in arcane gestures. Whatever it is, it can't be good.
Its fiery mane flares out in a blast in the moments of the attack. Flames lick Thoril's face, the heat just far enough away so as not to burn him. The chimera grinds its stone teeth in pain, projecting grating growl that blends in with the rainfall. A slice from Thoril's blades is still crumbling slowly as it moves. The beast quickly hops at Lupus and paws him away with a powerful scoop.
Sonia is still picking herself up off the slippery courtyard as the chimera turns its attention toward Thoril. Like the dojo and the Lady before, the golem kicks its legs and charges! ===================================== Ben's kick does better good than he thought, as the ninja is punted off-balance into Trencius' blade. A flash of lightning illuminates the blood flying through the air. Their foreign adversary nimbly spins away in what seems like a hovering pirouette, and lands without effort on the eel-slick roof tiles. As he lands, he throws a pair of shuriken which spin neatly through the night to bite both Ben and Trencius.
Yeah, I figure this weekend's a big one for most people. Back to school, workloads increase, two birthdays this weekend for my family... but this is why PbP is good.
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