Laguna Harvey's page

That is brutal and I love it.

If that's the sort of stuff you can pull, then I may just need to try it for myself.

True story. I once made a Savage Worlds character whose combat effectiveness was based on his ability to tell Yo Mamma jokes. He was the second most effective fighter we had. ^_^

Not coming back yet, I've had a headache for a few days that I can't get rid of, but still keeping track of this.

Thus, I find myself with the question - how on earth did that work? Enquiring minds want to know.

...am I invisible or something?
Also, I am absolutely certain that attacking something does NOT cost you your defend hold. I find the idea that you can't fight back against the thing you're defending against crazy.
Of course, if you abandon the person you're defending, or are rendered unable to assist them (say, if you're trapped or rendered immobile, or just sent flying into the next country) then it's pretty safe to say they're not standing in defence anymore, and as such lose hold.

Anyway. I tried to hit in the face. I flubbed the roll. Whatcha gonna do with that?

Sorry! This game kind of dropped off the radar for me. Suspect we lost Quill, though. Nothing from their player for a month.
Oh, and for the record, I probably would've stayed in the middle of the group - because banking on the position of something I've seen teleport to a completely different position seems like an odd decision, and so I was equally close to deal hits/play sacrificial lamb wherever it showed up. He'd definitely have been surprised Rankev hit, though.
Also...why did you re-roll Defend, Zathra? You already had the hold.

Laguna blinks, and shakes his head clear. Then he growls at the beast like an angry wolf - quite literally. "Alright, you've done enough!" Taking his bardiche in both hands, he runs up and takes a brutal swing at the creature.

Hack and Slash: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 2) + 1 = 4
Yay XP?

Or don't! Not doing that is good too!

I swear I'm going to pistol whip the next guy who says Shenanigans!

You can't pistol whip us, there aren't any guns!

That would be SHENANIGANS!

DAMN YOU! I CALL SHENANIGANS! SHENANIGANS, I SAY!

Doesn't Ritual require a place of power? We're out in the woods - I get the feeling there isn't one you could call on right now, short of getting something established that'll have consequences now or later. Or both.

Laguna nods to Zathra. "Alright...whoever you are! Didn't catch your name. Address that when there isn't a crazy monster." He takes a look around him. "Quill, Teren, can one of you get yourself into a blind spot? We need someone in position where it won't be able to see an attack coming, and I need to cover the group."

"Sounds like it's back. Alright everyone, get ready! Eyes in all directions!" Laguna takes up stance with his bardiche, dark power creeping over his unruned hand as he readies to intercept any incoming attacks. "Tima, do you remember how you were able to hurt the beast when it last appeared?"

Defend the Group!: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 1) + 1 = 3
...would now be a good time to mention that I can still redirect an attack to myself on a miss? Go ahead and check. It's on my profile and the doc I PM'd you.

No particular plans in mind.

As I remember, forwards stack with each other unless stated otherwise. Same with ongoing.
Forwards apply once. Ongoings always apply within their scope. If it just says take +1 or something, I'm pretty sure that's handled like an ongoing - the bonus/penalty always applies when you meet the condition that comes with it, and at no other time.

Anyway, Rankev - the option says you take -1 ongoing to Cast a Spell until you Prepare Spells, not that you take -1 forward. And yeah, that stacks. You could probably do your prep now and get rid of that penalty you just incurred, easily, but it's still something you're going to want to remember.

Seems like I was worrying about something that wasn't an issue. Nevermind, then. Consider the objection withdrawn.
To my knowledge, of the people we injured, we only have the guy we got out of the river (who took minimal injuries), the one who I hit (who...yeah, they're probably writhing in pain right now), and that's it. Everyone else either fled before being hit or dead.
Or are you on about Tima? They weren't part of the river group as I recall, being one of the 15 and actually hitting the beast...wouldn't call them useless, having only an arm wound, but they still need treatment - bandages don't disinfect wounds.
Just trying to gauge how bad this is. 'Injured child' says nothing about the extent of the injuries.

I'm still struggling with your use of 'child', mentally. Even if it might technically be true, 'child' conjures a different mental image in my mind than 'teen'. As far as I'm concerned, an actual child wouldn't be able to do much to help in the first place.

Alright, misremembering the amount of people we have. I thought we had a little bit more than we do. I've definitely been running on assumptions since it's been a while, so I've done a little checking back.
Looking things over, here's what I can gather:
Using what numbers I can get here and accounting for separation of groups at the time of the post, then adding new players, we have 23 people to feed including PCs. The only one I can confirm is a child among that 23 is Mirabelle.
The knight had intended to take everyone to the ruins in the morning, with our support. Not just the kids - though admittedly, we can at least say the red-sashes in the group are most likely teens from what you learned when we encountered the group by the river. It's possible they may be counted as children too.
Actually come to think of it, we do have the surviving river rebels. Assuming the one that went for help was in the 15, there were two survivors - the one we fished from the river, and the one I hit with a Black Bane, the latter alive but in a hell of a lot of pain, his flesh stained by the darkness I wield. If they were brought to the mill, that's 25. I don't actually know how those two are faring.
Wait, 26, I forgot Onick.
Back on track, even if the survivors from the river aren't with us, we've got a red-sash named Tima with a wound. It was bandaged, but not healed, and it might be infected. Tima was the only one to get a good hit on our beast, and I don't think we learned how from him. Judging by Varus's behaviour, food is in short supply too.
And really, that's getting into what I'm concerned about. With the beast about, anyone that travels needs to a proper guard to make it. Anyone that stays needs to be able to muster a decent defence too. The parents came up simply to do with the fact that if any of the children's parents were about, they may need to come too to keep their kids calm, to say nothing of what the parents themselves might do if separated from their child.
Most importantly, though - EVERYONE. NEEDS. FOOD.
Anyone that doesn't travel? They need food. Everyone that does travel? Need food too. Everyone headed to the ruins needs enough to eat that they can make the trip in at least adequate health, and to survive until more supplies can be gathered. The non-travellers need enough food so that they can survive and make the trip later too.
I don't know how we're doing on supplies, but it doesn't sound like much. I don't know how far away the ruins are either - if we can make it in say, a day or some other relatively short time, it could be alright. But in a longer trip, there's logistics to handle so far as eating, resting, and guarding everyone, to say nothing of our path.
So, yeah, we have folks to look after, some injured, mildly drowned or afflicted with whatever my attacks do to people, and I'm concerned about them being protected, united, and not starving to death.
...I'm probably overthinking this, admittedly, but that's what's going off in my head.

Laguna shakes his head. "Not so soon. As much as their safety is a priority, I'm pretty sure we need a good grasp of our supplies first. You're not just taking the children here - you're taking their guard, in all odds their parents too, and making sure whoever is left behind on this trip is able to feed and defend themselves too. We all need to be able to defend ourselves, and we definitely need to be sure that we don't starve. We can't waste time, but rushing will end us one way or another. One step at a time."

"We might want to consider heading to the Blackened Grove sooner rather than later." The canid guardsman casts his eye over the people he was meant to protect, gauging their current state and watching for anyone who might just cause a problem. "You'd be best talking to Teren about that. He knows more than I do."
At least, as far as this life is conncerned.
As he looks, he spots a Kenku at the bottom of the mill. He looks over to the knight. "Seems we have a new arrival. I'll check it out."

Striding over to Quill, Laguna smiles and waves, noticeably friendly and near-invisibly wary. "Hello there!"
Regardless of whether they expected it, what meets the Kenku's eyes is quite distinctly an Erze - a reincarnating goo person, to glance over the nuances. More specifically, an Erze with softly glowing green eyes and a head more akin to that of a wolf, wearing pitch black armour and carrying a bardiche - or in other words, a really big poleaxe.
The figure this creates is one that makes first impressions much harder than they need to be.
Still, as Laguna comes close to Quill, he seems more cheerful than intimidating or murderous. "Nice to meet you. I'm Laguna, the local guard lieutenant...whatever happened to Chromia aside. What brings you here?"

Now now, he continues his use of the fox's visage to show his cunning! As a distraction from his surprisingly deadly nature! To let us all know that he would make an excellent pelt should we slay him and skin him!
...
Unless you plan to give us a dose of Tucker's Kobolds, but with foxes, perhaps a GM Alias would be best. I have a preference for specially designated aliases for such things anyway.
How does someone know if you're GM at a glance if you don't wear a funny GM hat?

I'm pretty sure "the matter of the young-blood that you hath laid low" - a.k.a the teens we took out at the river - is the whole reason behind the blood debt that has now been paid in the first place.

Laguna looks to Sarthel, smile wide on his face. "It's always been my job to protect everyone, and deal with all the unpleasant stuff so nobody else had to. And anyway, I failed to stop all that chaos happening in the first place - you weren't going to stop me making that right. Though, uhhh..." Laguna tilts his head and quirks a non-existent brow, the tentacles that form his head going lax and his canid face bearing an expression of confusion. "I'm not sure what you're on about? I don't really feel different for gripping the blade. I mean, my hand glows like it's on fire now-" He waves the luminous, rune-covered hand about. "-but I don't think that's what you mean."
He shrugs, and smiles. "Guess I'll find out what that's about later."

-----------

After the child makes their report, Laguna nods to Teren as he makes to investigate the figure. He turns his attention to the knight. "We've got to keep our peoples safe, and help them become accustomed to each other as the leaders of each of our groups. First priority is going to be making sure that beast doesn't take any of ours again, but after that, we ought to make plans together for our trek to the ruins. Neither of us is familiar with the other's group, and we're going to need a full understanding of everything at our disposal to make it through this." He casts his gaze across the area.
"I think we should make sure the perimeter is secure and do some work toward raising overall morale, but after that, I figure it's better we start planning our journey sooner rather than later. How about you? What's on your priorities?"

You do remember that since you're running the game now, there's no PC Psion anymore, right? Since Sarthel is now an NPC, technically, there's nobody using the Psion playbook.

There's one other place in memory. You get discounts equal to your charisma score on certain things - generally services. All it takes is a little haggling.

I think this is going just a little far? I mean, essentially, we end up doing the majority of the DM stuff...which is probably the point, but it leads to either you doing a fairly negligible amount in the role you're supposed to take, or you end up compounding our described issues in anything but a success.
Issues in how the game is run aside, it's also a very good way to stifle your development as a GM. You're going to learn far, far less about how to run the game, and probably end up frustrated with the lack of influence you have.

I'd say if you want to do something like this, then take a look at this:

You seen this before? It's an alteration to Defy Danger which has a player detail their own consequences for 7-9 rolls, which I've seen employed well in one of my prior campaigns. Statistically speaking, 7-9 rolls are the majority of rolls, and Defy Danger if the move that gets the most mileage. It eases your load notably and encourages us to make life hard for ourselves, while not making you largely superflous.

If you want to make things easier while you're learning, I'd suggest that...just not having us adjudicate everything.
Your call of course. When I started my campaign, I deliberately chose not to use that version of DD so as to help me learn to GM well by making sure I got familiar with how to make moves and all that stuff.

=============================

You don't need to worry so much about GMing for the first time. The one thing I'd definitely suggest is giving the GM info a very good read. A few times to help learn properly, preferably.
(Both sites contain the same info. It's just a matter of preference which you use.)

Being familiar with the GM rules (and yes, they are rules, and not guidelines), and being aware of the fiction will make life a lot easier when it comes to making moves. Many of the player moves already give you guidance on which moves to make, so that helps too.

Whatever you do...please not this. It feels like a bit of a kneejerk reaction born from being a tad too nervous.
I don't care if things are a bit questionable as long as you keep learning, and things aren't boring.
Relax, alright? You'll do fine.

If you're asking about getting players, you're free to go to my campaign to recruit. One more is probably enough, though definitely don't go higher than 6 players total in the campaign.

Otherwise, I don't know what you want to know from me. Got to remember I'm still a player.
Oh, and ah...the class I'm playing currently is a personal concoction, so I'm going to need to introduce you to that properly.

Ohh, it's an unfortunate thing you're dealing with, but nonetheless, I doesn't diminish what you've already done. You did more than great for everything you've been dealing with.
Go on and get your life sorted. Whenever you come back, we'll be happy to see you.

And Sarthel? I say go for it. Best way to learn is by doing it, and hell, you'll even have materials to work with right off the bat that'll help you. If you're interested, then just do it. I'll be right behind you.
Seriously, if your experience ends up anything like mine, you won't regret it. Might not be the easiest thing, but you can say that about anything, really.
Go on, you know you want to!

If nobody takes over, then the relay finale's what I'd opt for. I'd be fine with the slow place if things continued as is, but I don't think our excellent DM needs anything else on their plate right now.

Burning Runes: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Laguna looks over his burning hand, pondering the significance of the runes now etched onto his flesh. He looks at them for a moment before forgetting about it for now, and taking a swig from the flask as well.

It's not even a question. Laguna grasps the blade.
Dragon's...why does that feel appropriate here?

A Parley, you wanted?: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (5, 2) + 2 = 9

Laguna gives a quick wink to Teren, and attempts to call attention to himself. "She's right in that they didn't particularly care for the fact we would have liked our belongings back. I did ask, but apparently, they didn't particularly care for what a 'sticky'-" Laguna scowls briefly as he says this. "-or the supposedly unarmed group with them felt about their belongings being taken. I don't blame the others for their first reactions..."

Laguna pauses. Something occurs to him. "I'll pay the debt. I don't know what that entails, it's not so much a thing of our culture, but if it'll make things right then I'll be up to it. I have to ask though - not all of the people my group started to fight with lost their lives...which is fortunate, given their commitment to the fight. I retrieved one of them from the river myself, and there was another I never got the chance to treat. How are they faring?"

Laguna looks at the knight. "I'm sorry for your loss. I have to hope there won't be many more." A number of memories of lives gone past attempt to trickle into Laguna's mind, but he pushes them back. "Part of that's going to be working together. And if we're going to work together, it's not going to help bring our groups to be talking about the other inviting blasphemy and the like. We don't even know if we're the only place hit like this...who know what's going on in faraway lands."

Laguna sighs. "Let's just put that aside for now. You mentioned a watchtower flying a white flag?" The Erze thinks to himself a moment, and frowns. "Most of the flags show which of the Guardian Beasts is currently watching over the nearby area. White though...white means an unidentified Beast sighting. Usually we find out quickly so we can change the flags, but...I get the feeling white doesn't mean anything friendly here."
"If you see any more watchtowers, watch for a white flag. And keep an even closer eye out for a black flag." Laguna pauses. "Black means a hostile Beast in the area. It's been a long time since anyone's had to fly that flag, but I get the feeling with creatures like the one that attacked about, it's going to get some use again."

I thought Sarthel stayed with Rankev? They said they'd go with anyone working over the villagers, in memory. Why is she involved with the knight right now?

Laguna nods to Teren. "You say the new faces are Scalians? Right. Anyway, if it comes to it and we have the choice, work is better than alcohol right now. A drunk group won't fare much better when the time comes. Also...actually, never mind, I probably am the captain now..." A memory from a life gone past tries to poke in, and Laguna shakes it clear from his head. "Just stick with lieutenant until we get that sorted out. And as lieutenant, I say we talk to your new friend here, Teren. Me alone might not exactly raise the Scalians' spirits, but a joint effort between one of our number and one of theirs will probably be more effective in bolstering the morale of the group as a whole."

Laguna moves to follow the knight. "I'm going to go talk. I'd suggest everyone else does the same, or starts working on the group." He looks over to where the majority of people as he walks off. "Ariendel, look after everyone, got it?"

Without any further information available to me for a judgement call: Why not? Keeps things moving.

"Not a lot, honestly. There's some unknown beast tailing the group. Huge, and black, with dark tendrils and pink eyes. Vanishes when you hit it - I should know, it did it when I hit it. Tima's the only one to get a good hit, and I'm hoping to know how. At the moment, I'm just trying to get everyone somewhere safe. Keep an eye out for the beast, could you? The way the thing appears where it likes, it's warranted." He takes a quick scan.

"If you know anything that might help with this thing, I'd appreciate knowing. Just do what you can otherwise." Laguna maintains stance, continually remaining ready for the next appearance of the beast as he tries to figure where the best place to go was.

"I think I'd like to hear from Tima what he did. I'll need to keep on guard right now, but can you get Tima to tell you about it? As much detail as possible. Even if it seems insignificant, it could be important." He nods to Ariendel and continues his watch, considering options. There's no way to know where the Guardian Beasts are, or if something happened to them in the Cataclysm - an unpleasant thought, but possible. There's too many blanks about what happened so far.

That leaves the ravine and the mill. Getting everyone in there would leave them better defended than if they were outside, and there might be supplies, but they'd be stuck in there until that thing was dealt with - and that's just assuming the mill holds. They'd have to get there too.

And the ravine...

I know anything about this ravine? Would it be accessible to the beast at all? Anything to be aware of?
The mill too. Right now, I'm trying to see how many tactical details about the mill and the ravine I'm aware of.

As the creature vanished, a smile formed on Laguna's face that didn't quite reach his eyes. It had vanished, yes. But this would be the second time it had. And the first time, it had been across the river. Not to mention those shadows...that thing definitely wasn't native if they were any indication. He had to keep an eye out. Getting caught off guard by it could be fatal.

His smile becomes a little more genuine as he spots a familiar elf, and walks up to greet him. "Hey, Ariendel!" He waves as he approaches his fellow guardsman. He hoped his wife was alright. He still didn't regret what he went through to help set them up with each other when the elf came to him about it. "How are you managing? That thing seemed to be giving you grief. Lose anyone? Anything to report?"

As he takes in the response, Laguna scans the area, keeping a wary eye out. "We need to stick together. The way that thing gets about, we need as many eyes to warn as possible. If we separate, it'll pick us off. Keep an eye out. Did you have a destination in mind?"

As proceedings continue, he remains tense even despite his friendly appearance, a firm grip on his bardiche in case it comes again. It's his job to protect the group, and he refused to ignore that. There was still Teren, but he had more than enough ways to get around safely. He wasn't so worried about him. The people here were more vulnerable.

Laguna remains ready for the lurking beast.

Defend (Group): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 5) + 1 = 12

And now, the real fun with me and Onick starts. Oh man, I can't wait to see where this goes when there's less death imminent.

"Everyone, look BEHIND the group! They're being chased by that thing from across the river, Rankev! Look for pink eyes in the trees!" Laguna grabs his Bardiche, shadow welling up in his hands as he gestures to the incoming group. "Everyone, it's Laguna! GET OUT OF THE LINE OF FIRE!"

With that he looses another projectile of concentrated darkness, aiming over the heads of the fleeing crowd and into the woods.

Black Bane: 2d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3, 3) + 1 + 1 = 8
Damage: 1d10 ⇒ 5
Taking a hit to my health.
Backlash: 1d6 ⇒ 4

The moment he and Onick are out, Laguna literally howls with satisfaction...and then stops when he hears the shouting. That girl from earlier probably brought people with her, but why were there Chromian voices in their number? What's going on?

He focuses intently on the coming group. He needs information now.

DR: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 5) = 11
What here is not what it appears to be? What is about to happen? Who's really in control here?

The moment Onick's hand grasps Laguna's, he latches on and grins even wider. It would be a toothy grin on another, but on Laguna it just begs the question of if he had teeth at all. The shape is somewhere between a typical humanoid set and a wolf's fangs, but there's nothing distinctly toothy otherwise. "It's time we get out."

Maintaining his grip, he hauls himself and Onick to the shore, assisted by Sarthel with the rope. Just had to get out, and then they could deal with everything else.
DD STR: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 3) + 2 = 8

...did I actually haul that guy out? It sounds more like he's hanging off Onick by his sash right now. Your description to Sarthel sounds to me like I only just went in now. But you're telling me this is the second time I'm hitting the river. I'm confused about what I've actually done here, if anything.
Anyway, a -2 on DEX rolls? Sign me up!

Laguna stands firm, chilled by the river, which his armour is not helping with. He can feel his body stiffening from the chill, more fluid parts of his biology congealing somewhat. He hated when that happened. It always took ages to wear off, and if he wasn't careful his body did weird things when he tried to move quickly.
Laguna has no idea if he has bones, and isn't prepared to find out right now. Something's maintaining his bodily structure, at least. Maybe cold is disruptive to some sort of magical control that does the job, making it behave more like...well, cold ooze. Your guess is as good as mine - it'll depend somewhat on the dominant imprint, at least.

He looks right at Onick, his glowing green eyes fixed on the paladin and his hand outstretched. "Don't know what you're waiting for here! Not done with your bath or something?" The canid ooze grins as he says this. Even if you're stuck in a freezing river with a killer beast incoming, it's best to keep in high spirits.

He's still aware of what's going on, but a friendly attitude goes a long way in most situations, even if it is absurd. He shouts back at Rankev. "Hey, can you deal with the guy I hit? Hopefully he's still alive. A potion will fix him up, though the shadow won't come out of his flesh for a while. It's better than fighting that thing!" He gestures his head toward the creature stalking closer.

Probably roll for something later, after other people have acted and I have a better idea what I've done.

Laguna, you know your strength, and measure up against the river. You’ll have to wade in to the river if you want to help them. I think your partial success means that you can haul in Onick, or the rebel, but not both at once. I’m skipping your second DD as the fiction doesn’t follow from the consequence of your partial success.

Onick...How are you going to reach it with one hand on the Rebel and another on the shaft of your spear?

If I understand correctly, I'll have to enter the river, but my roll lets me haul out one of those two right now. So, he doesn't need to worry about the rebel. I've got this.

Looking things over, Laguna realises Onick is unable to grab on and the rebel is too unconscious to do much of anything. Dropping his bardiche onto the ground, he wades into the river and takes the rebel from Onick's hand. "Leave it to me!" Keeping a tight grip on their unconscious form, he wades back through the river and places the rebel on the riverside.

There's still one more. Laguna wades back through the river, making his way toward the rope. He grabs onto it with one hand, and reaches for Onick with the other, bracing against the riverbed as he bridges the gap.

DD CON: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 6) + 1 = 8

"Grab on!"

Know what? Roll with it.

Laguna lets out a noise of surprise when Onick trips over him and into the river. When he looks up, he's anchored himself into the riverbed, so it seems he's alright for now...but the red-sash is going to get swept away and drown without help. There's that thing across the river too.

He gets up and rushes to the wheelbarrow, grabs his bardiche, and hurries back. He sees Rankev getting dangerously close to the edge trying to reach Onick, and yanks him away before he falls in.
DD STR: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 5) + 1 = 7
With him away, he gestures across the river. "Rankev, there's something over there. The big thing with the glowing pink eyes. You have any idea what it is?"

As he talks, he turns over the bardiche, reaching out the end without the axe head to the rebel. "Grab on!" The moment it seems they have a grip, he hauls them in.
Other DD STR: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 4) + 1 = 11

How close are Onick and the Rebel to the riverside? Are they close enough that I could reach them with one end of my bardiche, or would I need to get some rope or something from someone else's adventuring gear? Equipment providing, would you say I could haul in both, or only one? Would I be able to at least provide an anchor and let them pull themselves in?

I'm trying to figure out the details of getting people out, basically.

Ow: 1d6 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 1 - 2 = 0
Or not. Lucky me.

The blows fail to even scratch him as he steps in to assist Rankev, but they still have enough force to knock him off his feet. A growl escapes his mouth as he hits the ground, his good nature is starting to falter as protective instinct begins to dominate his mind. They're not even listening. Too caught up in bloodlust and wanting to kill the 'monsters'. I hope these lot aren't like everyone else from their home." His gaze fixes on the only one still standing - even now, they're trying to kill Rankev, without regard to their own health or anyone else's.

Laguna tries to scramble to his feet in time to take the blow again for the now screeching wizard...
DD Dex: 2d6 - 1 ⇒ (2, 2) - 1 = 3
...but can't find his feet fast enough. He refused to let this just happen though. He gathers a smaller ball of shadow, and flings it for his attacker's legs. It would seep into their flesh and be generally agonising, but hopefully it would just drain the strength from them instead of killing them altogether. It'd been such a long time since he'd had to seriously use the shadow to fight something that he'd forgotten just how harmful it was. Hopefully the other person he'd hit could still be helped.
DD Con: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 5) + 1 = 10

Laguna hears the sound of the man he was with before all this pulling himself together. He can't really look at the moment, what with keeping the axe from hitting Rankev and all, but he does his best to shout back to him. "Hey, whoever you are, they're taking our stuff! Think you can convince them to stop it?"

If we're speculating, then really, that depends on whether Onick responds. I'd see Aid Another as possible, but not Defend here, since I doubt that tree constitutes an attack. If he ends up idling again, then that's probably fine, but if he takes action that's likely Aid Another. DM?

Has anyone messaged Onick?

"Excuse me? You remember who was stealing from who again, just being rude in general?" Laguna rushes in to cover for Rankev, intent on making sure he's safe from the axes.

Defend Rankev: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 5) + 1 = 7

He takes one of the blows himself, and looks his attacker in the eye. "I gave you the chance to avoid this, but you decided it was a good idea to antagonise us instead. Two of your friends are dead, and one's in a lot of pain right now. Please, just back off. The one I hit is in a lot of pain, but that means they're alive, and I think they'd appreciate a friend right now. They were carrying my potions, and one of them should fix them up if they're still intact. I did hear them starting to crack though, so that might not be an option for long. Leave us be. See to your friend. You can use one of my potions if they're intact. I don't want you to die too. Call me what you like, I'm giving you the choice here - do you want to keep fighting a fight you aren't going to win, or do you think your friend there needs your help more?"

Parley: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 3) + 2 = 11

Forget about the wheelbarrow stuff for now. Just assume I attempted to talk as before and ignore that. Figure it out another time.

Laguna looks to his...rather aggressive companions. Then back to the red sashes. Well, the girl would be safe with Teren. Guess that was one less worry. Meanwhile, we had a group of racist thieves. "Seems my friends aren't as nice as I am. Guess that means we're fighting. Shoulda listened!" Darkness wreathes his body, flowing toward his arm as he hurls a dark blast toward Rankev's target.

Black Bane: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 6) + 1 = 12
Damage: 1d10 ⇒ 3

"Not too late to leave!"

I was thinking of basically using Black Bane on the wheelbarrow before. Would that have worked out? The move does damage to living things, so I'd assumed I could wield sufficient power to damage objects too. I have no problem if it harms me or something to use sufficient power to break the wheel. As far as I can think, if it's powerful enough to harm others and dangerous enough to harm me, a wheelbarrow isn't outside the realm of possibility. What was the issue in your mind? Range, power, nature of power interaction with the world?

Meant to be a DD to cause the intended damage to the wheelbarrow. Wanted to make the thing unusable to our friends here.

What wheelbarrow?: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 6) + 1 = 9

From behind the red sashes, a blast of shadow comes to blow off one of the wheels of the wheelbarrow...and probably one side of it altogether, but that's another matter. They shouldn't be stealing.

"Well, aren't you rude!" Laguna stands where he was laid before, hand wreathed in shadow for another blast...just in case. "Can't say I know who you are, or what you're doing here, but you're still stealing our belongings. Regardless of what happened, I'm still the local guard lieutenant. I hear a little lady in need of help, so I'd like not to waste time here."

The tendrils that form his 'hair' stretch out and move as he amps up the shadow, now starting to cover his arm. "I don't wanna fight you. I mean, I will if I have to, but it's not going to be pretty when I have to look at it later. So would you mind just moving on and leaving us be with our things? If you really want weapons or whatever that badly, there's probably better places to get them. It's easier for all of us if you leave us be."

Laguna didn't trust them. They didn't speak like any kind of decent people. But maybe they'd back off, and save him time better used helping his friends and that girl. As it was, his head was still ringing, and that would not work in his favour.

Parley?: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 4) + 2 = 12

Gameplay post will be up in the next 24 hours.

Yeeeees.