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"We can't teleport," Ounce says, gesturing toward Gummitch as she does, "but we can both fly. Does that barrier extend up indefinitely or does it form a dome?" "If we can't get in, maybe we just watch for a while. What the spirits showed me suggested someone like a druid or shaman could be responsible for this, which doesn't seem something the Coalition would have on their side. Maybe some local powerful native entity is isolating them for some reason."
This is the first time a PC of mine has encountered a ley line. Other than some initial mental static, is there anything a psionics PC can do with the ley line if they're not a Ley Line Walker? The Savage Rifts Sourcebooks has this about Ley Lines. ARCANE EFFECTS
We know there is a ley line present. Sounds like it could even be a Nexus point. Maybe Ounce's divination can shed some info on the situation.
Announcement from Paizo: It looks like the plan is for Paizo.com to go down at 8 a.m. Pacific on Monday, November 3rd, and the site will likely remain down for a few days.
Ounce ponders the situation. "I wonder if maybe someone added that field to trap the Coalition inside. Doesn't seem likely, but keep an eye out for others around the perimeter." As Bart prepares to reconnoiter, Ounce asks, "Do you need darksight? I can give it to you for an hour." "Since we're close to a ley line, I can try Divination, see if the spirits around here know anything." She meditates for a minute, concentrating on any nature spirits in this wild area.
Ounce successfully elicits a response from a nature spirit. She asks it who created the energy field around the warehouses and when?
After the prisoners have been secured in the helicopter, Ounce overhears someone in the group make a remark about preferring to see them dead or in pain for their crimes. She tells a story about her experiences with captives. "I understand the feeling, believe me. Back when I was an orphan living in Newtown and dealing with the injustices I witnessed, I focused my anger on fantasies of what I would to to some of the more brutal actors, until a mentor urged me to instead focus on positive thoughts of how those who do wrong can be helped to see the light by kindness when they expect punishment. "I was skeptical but tried my best to change my attitudes and thoughts. Later, after I had escaped the horrors of living under coalition occupation, I was making my way toward the Castle Refuge. I was traveling alone nearing a small community when I happened upon a few coalition types assaulting two young women from the town. I heard them joke that after having their way with them, they would make good slaves. This filled me with righteous anger and I wanted to try to kill them all on the spot with lighting bolts. "They had guns so I first stunned them. I couldn't help including the two young women, but as Gaia smiled on my efforts and the three men were stunned while the women were not. We disarmed them and the two women trained their guns on them while I prepared to tie them up. The men tried to rush us anyway. Rifles fired and I sent a lightning bolt and when the smoke cleared and the sound died away, two of them were dead. We overwhelmed the third and tied him up. "The two wanted to mutilate the bodies of the dead, but I persuaded them to help me dig shallow graves for them to be placed in, arguing their fate was now in the hands of the great spirit. The living prisoner was sullen and swore at us vulgarities, again making the women want to strangle or shoot him, but I instead healed his wounds and insisted we lead him to some authorities for justice. The locals judged that a suitable fate would be to become a slave of the village, forced to wear manacles and do whatever physical labor was needed. I spoke at his trial and admonished them to treat him in all ways possible as a normal member of the community and to not subject him to physical or verbal abuse, in the hopes the kindness helps him see the light and quit his association with the alliance. "I traveled on and eventually joined up with the Tomorrow Legion and a year later saw this prisoner free and a member of the legion. We talked and he explained that the kindness shown him in spite of his crimes convinced him the cruelty of the Coalition was not justified. He explained he had always been taught that those who practiced magic and those who shunned the coalition were evil and would kill any coalition member on sight, so they were trained to show no mercy when dealing with outsiders. "So that is why I believe we should always maintain an attitude of love toward those who oppose us. We must always, of course, defend ourselves and combat requires violence, but there comes a time when it is our duty to give any prisoners punishments that do not treat them as less than human or incapable of reform. I known I'm outspoken on this, but that story explains why I hold to my own personal code of honor to always show mercy when possible."
Savage Worlds Fans: There is a recruitment going on for a SW game, in case anyone is interested.
"If we can quickly get them to safety, we could then drive the truck down as if we are the people who they are expecting."
"Sounds like a handoff of captured DBs, probably for sale. Shall we crash the party?"
Power Description:
Detect arcana allows the recipient of the power to see and detect all supernatural persons, objects, or effects in sight for five rounds. This includes invisible foes, Enchantments on people or items, weird science devices, and so on. With a raise, the caster knows the general type of enchantment as well—harmful, obscurement, magic, miracles, etc. Ounce narrows her eyes and focuses on her innate ability to detect magical auras and effects.
"Better confiscate that device on his belt. It might be a distress signal or communicator."
Ounce casts Environmental protection on as many of the people in the cave as she can.
Ounce gets out her survival pack and shares the insullated sleeping bag with the least prepared individual and encourages others to do the same.
"Gummitch, check out that cave while we're organizing people here."
"I can help them with the cold but not all of them. If there are any especially vulnerable who are not able to travel in a vehicle, I can help them."
Ounce is tempted to have fun with the slavers in Barbara's grasp, but she doesn't want to have them soil themselves if they have not done so already (for the comfort of those who will have to be transported with them), so she makes the illusion gradually morph into a small swarm of puppies and kittens before letting them fade away.
Ounce lends her support to placating the slaves, explaining the need for information about their organization and plans.
Free Reroll (Charismatic)
Ounce draws some power and directs it at the two goons in the cab of the vehicle.
The cab suddenly is filled with a bright light accompanied by a loud blast of sound of a choir singing at maximum volume, designed to leave the two goons stunned.
She while she does this, she lets the illusion just continue to make threatening gestures and noises, since no one is shooting at it.
"One bad-a$$ illusion coming right up," Ounce whispers into her comm and then starts concentrating.
Out of the darkness, a hulking monster appears, with sparks of electricity coursing over its dark form, illuminating various spikes and jagged edges. Its eyes glow violet-blue and sparks and jagged teeth fill its maw that is easily big enough to swallow a person. It roars to get everyone's attention as it slowly advances. The crackle of electricity hums around it. It is 24 feet tall and about as wide with unusually long arms.
Ounce concentrates on the illusion, planning to try to make the illusion appear to be hit as bullets are fired at it, although only really big ordinance will appear to do it much harm.
"No mojo in the lot out front," Ounce whispers into her comm. "Some inside the cave but I'm not sure what. Let me know if you want an illusion to distract these grunts."
Very quietly on comms, "This weather can help us out. Shouldn't hinder us trying to sneak past as much as it will hinder them from seeing us. Especially with a little ounce of help!" "Better to set one person up to sneak in for recon and then report back. I'd hate for all of us to get in and then have to fight our way out."
Ounce will use her innate ability to detect supernatural, evil, ethereal, and energy beings, and any beings using invisibility within line of sight. One of her ideas for how to proceed is for her to create an illusion of something that will draw part of the force off away from the vehicle and cave, either something threatening, like some rift monster, or an illusion of slaves escaping the cave. Or someone could set off some explosives in one direction and then she can do an illusion of something that might have caused the explosion.
Ounce feels the cold through her armor and decides that even if they are able to bag the mission objectives quickly, it will be much more comfortable to not have to worry about the cold. So she casts a spell to keep everyone toasty warm despite the cold.
Ounce concentrates for a moment and there is a faint image of a bonfire in the middle of the group and the light from the bonfire then focuses on each person receiving the benefit and fades as the protection begins. She give the effect to herself, Bart, Burgurk, and Terry.
Ounce's mystic training has prepared her for such situations and the harsh conditions are not as limiting for her senses as for most. She focuses on watching for signs of a path or of trouble.
Danger Sense: Your hero can sense when something bad is about to happen. When rolling for Surprise (page 108), he adds +2 to his Notice roll to act in the first round. With a raise, he starts the encounter on Hold. In other situations not covered by the Surprise rules (a sniper shot, pit trap, poisoned drink, etc.), Danger Sense gives him a Notice roll at −2 (or +2 if a Notice roll is usually allowed) to detect the hazard and take appropriate action. If this was an attack and the hero makes his Notice roll, the foe doesn’t get The Drop against him.
"I can give everyone the ability to see in the dark, if you don't already do that," Ounce explains. "It lasts about an hour, so hopefully long enough to get us there. I can also make any of us invisible and/or fly, if that will help, but only for about a minute. Gummitch can fly on his own and can scout. I'll renew his darksight. He's good in a fight, but not always the best at strategy, so feel free to make suggestions."
Seeing the pilot showing signs of fatigue Ounce concentrates and tries to relieve him of this problem. However, a sudden surge of wind makes her slide into a wall and disrupts her concentration.
Ounce sits crosslegged near the cockpit and concentrates, trying to communicate with the spirits of the air that are giving the flight and Gummitch trouble.
After about a minute, she speaks with sounds like the whistling wind, asking, "Great spirit of the air, we honor you and ask your help in navigating this storm. Our intentions are good. We wish to reach a place where evil threatens our kind. Can you guide us past the worst effects of the storm?" Ounce shares the information she receives with the pilot to provide advice on the safest headings. After about five minutes, she loses contact, thanking the spirit before the channel ends.
Gummitch is excited to fly in the bracing weather, but Ounce convinces him to wait while she gives him some protection from the cold. First, however, she gets her pal, in snow leopard form while a passenger on the copter, into the cockpit near the pilot. She casts a spell that should grant the pilot and Gummitch the ability to see even in pitch blackness. Although this won't help see through the snow, it could reveal trouble before it arrives and help keep an eye on the landscape if flying low.
Rules of Darksignt: Darksight allows a hero to see in the dark. With success, he ignores up to 4 points of illumination penalties. With a raise, he ignores up to six points and can see in pitch darkness.
Just noticed someone with an ongoing SW Deadlands campaign is recruiting for some new players. Recruitment link as of July 23. Seems it might still be open.
Ounce meditates and works on her focus as prep for the big assignment.
Another late afternoon thunderstorm; another night without power. Still waiting for power to be restored. I will post after that. Sorry for the delay.
"It would seem fate brought our two teams together," Ounce offers. "Our two groups came across the same situation at about the same time: Coalition forces holding a group of DBs in captivity and planning to transport them back to their base, perhaps, as Gummitch has explained, to exploit any that can fight. The Faelerin have magical powers but are essentially peaceful. We're glad we were able to free them and escort them back here. Perhaps going forward, we could join forces on a new mission?"
Ounce is talkative and listens well. She gladly tells about how she came to be associated with the Legion and is interested in the stories of others.
Ounce is new to such briefings, so she sits at attention and waits for the debrief.
Ounce wakes and joins the confab around the injured Barbara. After seeing the problem, she steps back to her stowed gear, pulls out a trauma kit and sets to work.
Ounce tells the Faelerin about how she came to be a kind of Rift Shaman. "I grew up an orphan with various foster families. I started having visions and dreams in which I was approached by a snow leopard ..." here she pauses and glances at Gummitch, who is riding as a human in Elsie, taking a break from scouting duties. He senses her wish and shifts his shape into that of a snow leopard and curls up with his head on Ounce's lap. "... like this, but she would then change into a woman who looked a lot like my mother. She explained that the earth was a powerful goddess who needed priestesses to help her heal from the rifts. She taught me spells, lore about the various animals, and how to survive in the wilderness. Sometimes, I would spend what seemed like several days and nights in a wilderness setting, dealing with various hazards but also experiencing such beauty it sometimes made me almost cry. Then I'd wake up and it was just the time it took for a normal dream." "I was driven from my home by the same people who captured you and would enslave you. The Goddess taught compassion for all people and animals, so I knew I could not tolerate their hate and prejudice. And while I was trying to get to the same place we are going to now, I met this guy, but that's another story."
Ounce and Gummitch are ready to move toward safer territory. They are also looking forward to getting to know the other Legion members. Gummitch can shapeshift to a humanoid form or stay in dragon form and fly as an advance scout while watching for hazards and recommending the best path. Ounce can ride on Gummitch for an extra pair of eyes.
Is the use of +++ [words] +++ a way of indicating words coming over the comm link? If so, I'll start using them as well for clarity.
Ounce use the comm link and says, "Anybody wounded report to me and I can patch you up some."
Ounce becomes visible and urges the Faelerin to head for Elsie.
Ounce calls out to Gummitch to encourage him, since he is inexperienced in battle and sometimes feels self-conscious about it. "Good shot Gummitch! Keep 'em runnin'!"
One of the fun challenges to RPGs comes with occasional bad luck (in the form of rolls that result in extra bad circumstances) that force a PC and/or the team to deal with it. Assuming we have down time to make repairs, the GG rig should be back up and running for future mayhem.
We could interpret all as difficulty coordinating given how suddenly we all came together with no real knowledge of what various people can do.
I'm for whatever speeds things to a conclusion. I look forward to regular encounter rules since I'm more familiar with them. I'm likely to be busy the next 3 or 4 days with minimal time to post, so feel free to 'bot Ounce/Gummitch if they come up for their turns. For Ounce, she could try to inspire the Griffin squad if possible. Gumitch will continue fighting the coalition folks near him.
Ounce maintains her invisibility power and then focuses her anger at the Coalition goons and their attempt at enslaving into a bolt of holy light and directs it at the stunned soldiers.
Ounce moves close to Terry and Gummitch. Then she takes cover and tries to help Terry with his attacks by describing the movements and actions of whatever he chooses to attack.
It might need to be activated during the character's turn, after which it is available whenever attacked. While activation is a free action, it might need to be done on the character's turn rather than as a reaction to an attack.
Ounce uses her comm unit to send a message to her minion and friend, "Ounce to Gum, remember what I taught you about concentrating on what your intuition is telling you rather than your senses only. Aim as your intuition guides,"
Free Reroll (Charismatic)
Best result: 6 + 1 = 7
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