"That would be myself. Discuss."

This message was last edited by the player at 18:18, Wed 26 Mar 2014.

Also, in a note somewhat less related to Peacock's own sense of self-importance, I shall point out that I made one last post in the "seventh sense" thread before closing it - you might want to check on it to make sure there's nothing in there you'd want to reply to. :)
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 18:18, Wed 26 Mar 2014.

Hmm, interesting :)

While my character may be suspicious of Peacock and his motives, as a player I find him very intriguing... :)

See, now when you say something like that, I have to ask you to elaborate on that point. :)

What exactly about Shining Peacock is interesting to you, if I may ask?

Not too sure exactly, it's hard to describe.  But he seems like one of those characters that makes me wish I knew a lot more about him, his backstory and what made him into the person he is. :)

You can try ask him; who knows, maybe he'll even answer! ^_^

Dusk Rat, Frost Ferret, if you want to post a reaction to Peacock's post, I'd like for you to do so within 24 hours or so - Sun Snake said he wanted to wait for you before posting his own reaction, and I need to know what all of you are doing, before I can push things forward.

Yeah, I'm happy to take a back seat and be passive to let the other two create their own walls of text. But obviously I don't want you to move on Shining Peacock as if no one tried to stop him!

Owing to being on UK time, would Saturday morning be ok for a reaction if no other reaction is forthcoming?

That would be perfectly fine, Sun Snake.

Of course, "stopping" is kind of an ambiguous word here, given that Peacock hasn't expressed his intention one way or the other... will he be thnking of killing the waomn, keeping the torture up, letting her go, something else entirely?

Who knows! ^_^

I don't really have anything to add or I would have done by now. Apart from what Peacock is doing, all the action seems to have moved inside the temple now so I'm not too sure what to do at this point besides continue to keep an eye on things.

That's fine - you don't have to post a reaction necessarily, but letting me know your intention not to post one was useful. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:10, Thu 27 Mar 2014.

Yeah, should probably have said something earlier lol, sorry.

*pokes Sun Snake*
Don't forget Lobster.  He seems to have just been discarded and forgotten about in the boat :)

Aw! And here I was, already planning on having him jump out from behind Sun Snake's back at the moment he was most distracted! ^_^

Also, Swift Fox, I'm updating your combat round shortly - I hadn't forgotten, it's just that I had less time to make that post than I needed to fit everything in, hence why I delayed a bit. Hopefully the wait wasn't too long! :D

No worries.  I'm not quite as active online at the moment due to some health issues (on top of the "failing PC" issues!)
I'm still checking in though :)

EDIT: Thanks for the awesomely badass entrance there! ;)  hehe.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:23, Sun 30 Mar 2014.

I was aware of him for the High Priest fight but didn't want to muddy the waters. Tried to see if Dusk Rat wants to pleasure of Lobster's company for a while :D


And very badass entrance, yes! One problem temporarily down then!


Get well soon!

Assuming there's nothing else hiding in the Temple that we have to deal with, I think we just need to beat down that last Hybrid to win this one :)

Thanks for the get well wishes there Wuffy :)
Don't worry, I'm determined to at least finish this game before my Endurance runs out! ;)  hehe.
What I wouldn't give for a Kai Curing discipline in real life...

Anyways, excuse me while I bail our resident celebrity out of trouble! ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Sun 30 Mar 2014.

That's a generous thing you're doing, Swift Fox - why, I'd even call it a kind gesture... I'm just not sure it qualifies for the "disinterested" descriptor, though.

Everybody else, what do you say? Would Swift freeing Sabre Fox count as her showing kindness of heart or not? :)
As for your question on DC, Swift Fox, there are several options.

1 - You can use Huntmastery to navigate the room without touching any of the glyphs, "dancing" across them, as it goes. That would be a DC 12 Hunting check.

2 - You can use Tracking to "figure out the layout of a maze", which costs 1 WP and requires you to beat a DC 7 check. This would be a one-use only deal - you can use it to get to the abomination and then move out of the glyph covered area, but then you'd need to roll again if you wanted to cross some other "glyph-covered" distance.

3 - Pathsmanship also works if you want to try and decipher the glyphs' meaning and thus understanding the pattern the glyphs are bound by. This costs 4 WP to do, but the DC for the Tracking check is only 3. Also, assuming you beat this one, it would be a permanent solution - you'll keep knowing what glyphs not to step onto even after you're out of the area, and will even be able to teach others where not to step.

4 - Invisibility roll of DC 10 would allow you to copy the movements of the abomination, so that, as long as the half-kai is moving, you'd be able to keep yourself free of the chains by mimicking her; this is a DC 10 Camouflage check, but of course your Invisibility bonus to rolls higher than the Pathsmanship one.

Other options... you haven't the disciplines for them. :)

Feel free to pick your option and then add the proper roll to your last post, Swift Fox; that way, I'll be able to update things with the proper result.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:19, Sun 30 Mar 2014.

Well, regarding Swift freeing Sabre: it could be considered a kind gesture...or just a rational calculation (considering that it would be really useful to have a fighter of his qualities free again and on our side). :) I just hope someone does finally free him of the magical chains, since Hornet hasn't had much luck (pun intended ^_^) so far.

Also glad to hear that you guys outside have Lobster situation under control :)

Really hoping Swift makes the rational calculation of not running straight into the magical acidic cage thing that's now moving towards her intended target!  (O.o)  hehe.

As for Lobster, I kept expecting him to wake up during the High Priest fight and pounce on some random combatant from behind (hopefully the High Priest himself!) :)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:55, Sun 30 Mar 2014.

I think I'd probably have noticed if he was waking up so he'd've had a kraan to the face for his troubles if he even shifted position slightly ;).

Well that was unexpected.


What's my group waiting for?

Had a feeling he'd wait till we were all out of WP and two of us low on END before he'd show himself, hehe.

In reply to Sun Snake (msg # 21):

You didn't say me what you actually wanted to do, Sun Snake; I didn't realize you were waiting for an answer from me. What is it that you need?

Also, Frost will be offline for the next month or so, so it would be beast if you asked Raven for any magic-related help you might need in character.

Sun Snake was looking for a way in to the temple to help the rest. I was waiting for Frost Ferret to weigh in, or for any of the NPCs such as Silver Raven of Sun Fox to weigh in on the danger.


I'm happy to not go rushing in to let everyone else react and deal with Valador, but I just wanted to check where we were at with outside since you hadn't even started listing options for me to get passed things yet!

Noted; will have a post listing your options in a moment.

It's late here, so feel free to keep the fun of the other thread going first :)

Ah no, I meant to head towards the exit from the room we were heading towards before Valador appeared.  The one leading deeper into the Temple.  I'd assumed that's what Sabre meant...
Sorry, I think my use of exit was a bit misleading there (;~;)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Tue 01 Apr 2014.

Well, this is the central room of the temple - it has no exits that don't lead outside. There's no other inner chamber here, or at least, none that you've seen yet. Thus, you understand, if you tell me exit, there's not any other way I can take it, is there?

If you and Sabre want to edit your posts though, feel free to - just let me know, and then I'll edit mine accordingly. :)

Ah ok...  I'd assumed there was another door or tunnel  on the other side of the glyphs leading to another room or something.
Swift is aiming to get to where Rain Feather and Alyne are, and she would have assumed that's where the High Priest was trying to get to before she caught up to him.

Are there any other visible ways out of this room that don't lead outside?

I was also assuming that there was a way deeper into the temple we were going towards, behind the statue perhaps?

The room if fairly vast, and most of it is shrouded in darkness, which your torch is only parting near the area you are into. Even so, other than the glyphs on the ground, the only other thing in the room which you noticed is the giant statue at the center of it.

If there's anything else in the room, it must be on the other side of the vast room, which is shrouded in the deepest darkness becuase of being too far away from you. Also, you've not yet got close enough to the statue to get a good view of it, or what it represents, through the darkness, so it's possible that something small could be on the other side of it and hidden from view that way - that's something you could check, I guess.

Okies, edited my post to have us headed towards the statue to investigate it closer.
Sorry about that.

Would have fixed it sooner, but my connection seems to be playing April Fools with me right now, so I can only connect occasionally today :(

Yeah, I understand very well how bothersome that can be.

On an happier note, I updated my last post, so that it should apply better to what's going on.

Back now.  At least for the time being :)
I get the feeling we may be leaving poor unaware Hornet alone with someone who's about to zap him in the back at some point...

I think you guys are paranoid: first, distrusting Kai Master Shining Peacock, then, distrusting Brotherhood Mage Valador...those are respectful people and they are here to help us. No need to worry.
<.<
>.>
o.O

Of course, of course.  That's right! :)

*exchanges nervous glance with Sabre...*

Yay for a bit of mindless destruction! :)

Can we hear all this happening from where we are?

Not sure how sync'd up we are, I'm guessing Valador will get to say a little bit more moustache twirling stuff before and explosion rudely interrupts him.

Mustache twirling? How so?

Maybe it's because we think he's a villain, but all his 'I was just walking along, helping a friend' makes me imagine him standing around twirling a mustache like the old fashioned villains of a black and white film.

I see... but, you know he's telling the truth about his friend! Surely that counts for something?

And when Sun Snake tell him his friend has gone home to see his father, Sun Snake won't be lying either, from a certain point of view :)

See: we are all good guys - Hornet told the truth, Valador told the truth, Sun Snake will tell the truth...and then we go at each other's throat :-D

Dunno if Sabre took the torch.
Swift didn't, she doesn't need a torch to see her victims... things in the dark! ;)
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:14, Wed 02 Apr 2014.

I like the irony that it appears Valador came looking for Haaxadrom....... Who Foxy killed none the less ;)

That makes the search for him quite hard...or maybe very easy. ;)

Well, if Sabre didn't take the torch, then Hornet would keep it.

Is Sabre being obvious with the bluesteel blade? It will be clear what happened to Haxadrom and who did it if the blade is in plain sight.

OF COURSE it will. I'm just saving it for when Valador feels that throwing around murder charges will better benefit him, which clearly he doesn't think is right now.

You didn't really thought, after Valador recognized the small green marble rolling on the ground, that he'd miss the glowing blue sword on Sabre Fox's side, did you? :)

Not necessarily - maybe Sabre killed some other Vakeros. :D (OK, Valador probably recognized the sword...)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:45, Wed 02 Apr 2014.

As Swift Fox can attest, the swords, while all having the same blade, all have the wings of different birds carved as their crossguard, so they're impossible to confuse with each other.

Yeah (I've just edited my last post as you posted). Good thing Sabre lent Hornet Vigilance and not the Vakeros' sword, I guess (although Hornet did return the sword after the fight) :)

I thought Sabre might have some tact when it comes the robbing a decorated Vakeros and have the hilt, etc hidden :)

He didn't said he was hiding anything, thus he didn't. First rule of the adventurer: if you didn't said you were doing something, then you didn't do it. ^_^

Also, everybody add 1 FP to your sheet, if you please - we just reached 18'000 posts! :D

Yay, cool (even though most of said posts weren't actually mine) :D.

Second that. :)
But should we be worried that GM is giving away FPs? ^_^ (Just kidding - I know we're all safe, now. Except for the Evil temple; and dubious Kai Master; and dubious Brotherhood Magician. o.O)

It's a tradition so less worrisome :) More like painting a target on our backs as we've got another resource again!

I presume some form of explosion and reaction will let me know when Sun Snake can move in to the temple? He's determined to go in, just checking to see the rest are with him first.

Should be interesting to see Valador and "Lord Storeman" meeting up again :)  hehe.

You're forgetting something even more fun....Sun Fox is with Sun Snake. That's going to be an interesting meeting. Sun Snake maybe should stand aside and just watch :)

Or maybe move Water Hornet out of the blast zone.

You're forgetting, Sun Snake, that Sun Fox can't enter the temple, or she'd trigger the reactive defenses - the point of destroying the porch was to keep you from triggering the magic beacon.

Oooooh, no, I hadn't appreciated that at all. I thought the destruction was circumventing the trap and getting everyone in.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:56, Thu 03 Apr 2014.

Nah, those traps are inside, and the beacon is a timed effect which takes some hours to fade.

Ah, ok.

I have a feeling there's some sort of disagreement between Valador and Snake (and Sun Fox)... :)

Lol, what gives you that idea...


Poor Water Hornet is about to have his mind blown if someone says something the wrong way.


And, of course, there's a pretty large revelation that I cannot recall if anyone has bothered to make to Water Hornet yet...

No, nobody has; Hornet sort of showed up and got recruited, and the only thing he knows is that the Drakkarim were working with you, but that's it.

In fact, I think that in character Water Hornet has literally no reason not to be outright friendly with Valador, other than Sabre Fox's dislike of him, especially considering his backstory... but maybe that's just me. :)

Oh, Water Hornet is playing it completely in character.


Poor guys is all confused, and is about to be told Lone Wolf has also... gone home... for the holidays...

That's why Swift sort of hinted that if he values his sanity, he won't go asking what exactly that creature he fought was ;)  hehe.

Also nice entrance from Sun Snake there... :)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:21, Thu 03 Apr 2014.

Nice work yourself...I was going to see if Sun Snake could throw some WP in to help, but I see you've got the search in hand :)

Yep, that ring is my new best friend.  I'd be useless in here without it :)  hehe.

I'm so glad you asked Sun Snake for it now....and the other shiny Sun Snake stole was instantly yanked back and is now under Valador's boot


-.-

LOL, do we get to go home for the holidays, as well...? :D

Yeah, while as a player I know what happened to LW (although not in detail), Hornet has no idea (fortunately for him). Shadow was kind to post me an awesome recap that Swift made, but I just skimmed through it as I didn't want to mix OOC and IC knowledge (but I plan to read it later).

As Shadow said: the only thing that upsets Hornet about Valador is that there was obviously some tension between him and Sabre Fox and when he openly called it out, nobody reacted to his attempt to "clear the air". But otherwise, Valador is a respectful member of the Brotherhood and a saviour of Ruanon in Hornet's eyes.

I wonder what grudge each of you guys have with the man - I understand you have some hints of his villainy, but no outright proofs.
Also, curious to see what Swift plans to do with the statue.

EDIT: High Priest has also some shiny rings on his fingers - which are accessible even with Valador standing over the man. Should I snatch any of those for anyone? Swift, sorry - the scarf will have to wait (and won't work until (in-game) tomorrow).
This message was last edited by the player at 22:36, Thu 03 Apr 2014.

No outright proof? When does that stop a Kai from acting? Never! I'd rather go home for the holidays than be forced to live in that sort of world! :D
This message was last edited by the player at 22:36, Thu 03 Apr 2014.

Hehe, I like your style: hack and slash now, ask questions later ;)

(too late here, heading to bed)

I think Swift mentioned his mask, his scarf and his rings as being magical and asked Hornet to take them off him in case he woke up before she got back and tried to use them to attack him.

She's got the sapphire and gold ring, and another two of his rings that she grabbed during the battle (which she doesn't seem to be wearing for some reason!)
She knows what all his equipment does and would probably tell you if asked.  Though with Valador being there, she seems to be playing clueless about everything for some reason...  (*whistles innocently*).

I am curious to know what he looks like under that mask though, since he seemed so eager to hide his face before... :)

Oh, I thought the scarf was just a joke that transcended into IC from the OOC (since you were making fun that it would fit Swift who likes red). LOL. :)

Anyway, rings are being removed, the mask will follow (if nothing bad happens in between).
This message was last edited by the player at 22:50, Thu 03 Apr 2014.

Nah, I just thought it would look awesome on Swift, since my mental image of her with a flowing red scarf looked quite cool :)
And being able to whip up wind storms sounds like a useful trick, considering I don't have Nexus powers.

The joke was that it would suit Swift particularly, since red tends to hide the blood spatters better ;)  hehe.

More shinies and a new trapdoor! We are doing well!

I should probably be in bed by now, but I'm intrigued to see just how many different layers of security the High Priest put on this place!

Also nice Wall of Text there! ;)

The thing is we know the High Priest was coming in to carry on his plans, and that he's not a natural magic user. So really unless the door is directly keyed in to him, then it's either activated by something on his body, or something closeby.

The thing with the statue was activated by one of the rings he's still wearing (until Hornet took them off anyway), though since Valador just switched most of his stuff off for the day, I had to improvise with a Kai Discipline instead.
Assuming this lock is something similar.  Might use the same ring actually...

Kind of intriguing how this guy rigged everything to make it look like he had all these powers gifted by Vashna and all that, but he was just using magical trinkets :)
I suppose evil cult leaders also need to be good actors though...

That they do. ;P

As for security, really, there's only the barebones of one:

- An homing trap to make unaware invasors be targeted by the active defense system
- A locked door
- A single triggered trap to stop invaders from proceeding further or retreating
- A secret passage with a locked (trap)door inside

That seems just barely enough security for this kind of place, if you ask me! ^_^

Assuming the trapdoor is the last line of defence of course... ;)

Also nice to see Snake and Valador are still getting along well...

Just wait until my next post :D


Anyway, are you trying to get Sabre killed by having him hack open a trapped door? :(

Oh noes! Our leading man has to fight a door :( You know exactly how lethal those damn things are from the Lone Wolf Grandmaster series! Swift, don't let him kill himself through exhaustion! It was embarrassing for Lone Wolf and it'll be tragic now - plus Valador will get to laugh at Sabre Fox, then we'll have to cut Valador apart from being nasty to Sabre Fox, and then before you know it we're all just evil guys hacking people apart.


Which I think is bad.



Yeah, I'm sure it must be...somehow...

Well Swift just has a little dagger, she can't hack open stuff with that! :(

Now people on the other hand, she can hack them open quite easily...

Lol, that's great. Either Valador will teleport off to get stabbit, or he'll be all 'hah, I'll not fall for your tricks' and get stabbit.


Really, stabbing is very likely right now if Valador wants to try and recruit us in to his new world order.


On the plus side, if Valador wants to start speechifying, it might take the edge off of the Vakeros murder Water Hornet has just heard about :)

I say let's postpone stabbing till Shining Peacock joins the party - as they say: "the more (people to stab), the merrier (the stabbing gets)"
^_^

I think Swift is hoping he tries to recruit her to his New World Order actually.
She's better at bringing things down from the inside! ;)

Then again if Valador knows what I think he knows about Swift...
Probably safer to just let Sun Snake bludgeon him to death with a massive Wall of Text! :)

The ring is currently holding 8WP worth of energy (Most of that Swift put there, since she'd already used up what the High Priest had left in it).

Handy little thing though :)

Yep, sure seems reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally cool. Really, really cool thing. Really cool. REally, really cool...



Anyway, meanwhile Valador is showing he's just a misunderstood sweetie. See, this was the sort of debates he and Sun Snake had behind closed doors, with Sun Snake being all curmudgeonly. Poor Valador.

Is he being fun to talk with? Because I'm having plenty of fun writing him out - it's another one of those scenes that I've been looking forward to since a way back. :)

It's always fun when two characters talk and both are certain in their viewpoints and have valid points but neither is most likely right :)


If Valador is being honest, it's cool that his ego is such that he can't see why people wouldn't want to join together under the Brotherhood, and why the Brotherhood shouldn't be some uber organisation. However, aside from that he's sounding genuine about wanting to do something about the situation as he sees it. And after millenia of history that the war just keeps going on and on, it's not like he's provably wrong in his assertion.


I wonder if I made Sun Snake so bound and determined to make alliances and hold things together because of Valador's doom and gloom?

Well, that would make me happy - it means that when you last discussed stuff with him it was a meaningful scene. And I do think it was a turning point in Sun Snake's character development as well - he defined himself as the kind of man who will fight even when it's hopeless because he never thinks it really is, and that was both a key piece in winning Alyne over and a driving motivation in his actions afterward, so I liked it a lot.

It will be fun when everybody can read all that happened and see for themselves how many things were going on behind the scenes... it makes things that much more interesting when you see the full breadth of all this story's backdoor dealings! ^_^

Speaking of backdoor dealings, I don't think anyone ever found out where Swift got that Oede she used to heal Silver Raven with.
She did seem oddly reluctant to talk about that... ;)

I wonder if Valador will give back the Green Marble if I ask really really really nicely...  I liked that thing! :(

Anyways, yep, he's an intriguing character.  Wondering if he already knew Haxadrom was dead before he came out here to collect his equipment...

Wonder what would happen if him and Shining Peacock got into a debate?  I think the combined force of their egos would form into a GIGANTIC Wall of Text that would crush us all beneath it!  hehe :)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:30, Sun 06 Apr 2014.

It would be over pretty quickly, I think - they're both politicians with great ambitions and commeasurate arrogance, but only one of the two actually truly understands the bigger picture, the reality of long term goals, and how to handle the consequences of his own actions. :)

But...which one? You didn't say which one.... now we don't know which one to be most scared of :(


I'm voting for Peacock myself :(

Also voting for Valador and Peacock o be brothers, because of the aversion to dirt thing. Or maybe it's just the sign of a guilty conscience. Or maybe one gave the other the idea while they were debating in evil academy...

Evil Academy must be an odd place...

Teacher: "So, did everyone do the homework I set yesterday?"

Class: "NO!"

Teacher: "Excellent.  Well done!  Today we will be studying how to write a good 'Villainous Monologue' for those pre-battle moments when you have the heroes at your mercy.  I hope you've all been practicing your evil laughter..."


I think Peacock is more the "Fanatically driven by his beliefs" type who just can't see any other way, let alone try to change his path.
While Valador just seems to be on a bit of a very well-planned power trip, trying to break the Kai Order apart so that his own group can be the new "Resident Heroes" of Sommerlund.  Maybe its his way of settling his grudge with Sabre in his mind :)

That bit when Swift looked like she was about to add something to the discussion...  I did have a little mini Wall of Text in my head there, but it's the sort of thing Swift wouldn't have spoken up about unless someone pushed her into it, hence why she sort of went silent again.
As for the meaning of what Valador said to her...

I'll just say that while Swift sometimes lies or twists the truth a little around suspected enemies, she very rarely openly lies to another Kai who has earned her trust.
Good luck getting her to open up if you haven't earned her trust though.  Might need to beat it out of her with a Wall of Text! ;)

Somehow, Peacock seems to be more dangerous than Valador. Can't really say why, maybe because of the "I'm so beautiful and popular" attitude - one would almost expect this to be a mask that Peacock uses so his opponents underestimate him. Of course, he was given his Kai name as a child, so he must've always been like that - but he could be intentionally exaggerating on this feat...? Don't know, just guessing.

Also interesting that Shadow says the conversation between the two would be over quickly - don't expect them to get into a (real) fight, so it seems one would back down (to gain in longer terms)... o.O

You heard Sun Snake - "I have known you to be a professional". It's as if the man is very good at presenting the front that needs to be presented :)

Yeah, not sure who would crumble...Valador appears to be the one with the unshakeable, long tern goal. So would he be able to survert or include PEacock's short term ones? Or is it the other way around, and PEacock would be a master of crushing Valador's inherent weakness in his plans with his own dark beliefs?


NO IDEA! EVERYONE IS BEING SECRETIVE!


*Looks at Swift Fox and Water Hornet who both had reactions to things and aren't sharing them*

*whistles innocently...* :)

SEEEEE!

*whistles guiltily*

You seem fine, as you were :p

I wonder why everyone thinks Swift is up to something?
I mean it's not like she's going to turn out to be in league with Valador and suddenly stab everyone in the back when they least expect it or anything, right?
Who could possibly think anything like that?! :)

Actually I think Valador is developing a bit of a reluctant respect for Sun Snake.
I noticed he seems to have been promoted from "Lord Storeman" to "Kai Master Sun Snake" :)

Just checking, how much WP is left in the ring now?

Sorry, Swift, meant to post that, but forgot: the ring currently holds 5 WP.

And I agree with Swift that it looks like Sun Snake did earn some respect with Valador.

Indeed, at first I thought it was because Water Hornet was around that Valador was taking the higher ground...but perhaps he genuinely wants Sun Snake to be on side. I guess if he turns Snake's viewpoint, then he knows he is truly right. Or it could just be a ruse. Hard to know if the man is genuine or not, really :D

He seems to be complicated enough that he does think all the screwed up stuff he is doing if for a higher purpose!


Of course, Swift Fox has his eye and a far friendlier attitude. Don't fall for it, Swift! You know Sun Snake will say it IC aswell the moment he gets the chance! :D

Ok, I was actually just joking when I suggested beating Swift's secrets out of her with a Wall of Text!  hehe :)

No! All the secrets! Then...the blackmail!

Woah, I'm used to Sabre posting in the mornings... and not posting such huge bombshells!

Yep, that was definitely an unexpected twist...  (O.o)

Don't want to steal spotlight from Sabre('s revelation), it just took me a bit longer to post, so I had to somehow fit it time-wise.

Anyway, Valador seems to not only be an evil mastermind, but to be a super evil mastermind. (But let's not rule out Shining Peacock out ;) )
This message was last edited by the player at 20:33, Sun 06 Apr 2014.

None of this is confirmed to a character or player. The only thing that is certain is he used Nexus, so what other conclusions can be drawn?

Indeed Sabre, we get many questions upon questions! I think Valador stealing powers for himself and experimenting on himself just as much as on the Kai he grabbed seems right, though. Although I always got the impression he was aloof form the Kai, so the fact he might be one or more likely stealing powers seems to be an interesting cognative dissonance!




And lol, sorry Water Hornet, I gave you a gap to be all emotional just to steal it back again :( As you can see, was a bit of a bombshell I got given that kinda cuts short our time :(

Still, all the questions and the reactions were fantastic, wish we'd had a chance to play them out right there. We'll need to come back to them as long as Sabre and Snake and Swift (actually, and Sun Fox) haven't decided to go rogue and kill everyone in a few posts time.

By the way, let's not let the sudden glut of posts here distract from the fact that there's a hidden thread where Dusk Rat is posting stuff too.... so stuff is happening outside aswell...

No problem, Snake, I think it all works together pretty well - no time for whining when your friends are at danger (and the need to act should in fact help Hornet pull together).

Ooh, ooh - I noticed the hidden thread, too. :)

Sabre, I was about to post that Hornet has just enough WP for Nexus and will use it, when Shadow posted about Mind over Matter. So I went forward and posted. If you'd like to be the one who opens the trapdoor, then we can discuss this - after all, you posted first and IC Sabre/Hornet would know they have enough mental energy to open the trapdoor with MoM; or we could let roll decide.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:24, Sun 06 Apr 2014.

The door being open is Fox's concern. I will react after resolution since Hornet will open it before Fox reacts

Sun Snake is most likely to dart in the second it's pulled open, given he knows how to get passed the traps.


Some of them.

Just so you know, I had been reading the inside-the-temple thread, but then Shadow said that actually I don't know what's going on in there so I've stopped...so whatever it is Sabre Fox has just done I haven't got a clue (no spoilers! ;)).

Shouldn't matter if you do read it.  Just don't react to it :)
I've been reading the other threads since we started out.  I'm curious like that!

Anyways, scary time limit is scary! :(

Lol, so when Sun Snake assured Swift Fox no psychics could hear them, he was right, he just hadn't accounted for the power of meta-reading? :D


Well, I don't want to spoil anything, but Sabre Fox might be the only one to post from now on, and he seems to have a lot more stuff now...

Well speaking about metagame knowledge...  Swift can actually read the glyphs, so knows full well which ones are safe to step on.
She also has the ability to detect traps and generally get into places she's not supposed to be in...
She could maybe pick your pockets too, but I haven't tested that one yet! ;)

Sun Snake's more Pathsmanship/Divination combining, so sounds like Swift's better placed for the glyphs. Sun Snake can detect the mundane traps, knows its more dangerous, and his mind has already walked down the stairs and knows the path the High Priest took. And knows the make up of the room below. *sniff*

Imagine what we could achieve if our characters could work as a team! :)  hehe.

Come on, let's stick to the world where we have spooky mental powers that do supernatural things, rather than some sort of weird fantasy world like that :)

So the Priest is out for the count for a good while I take it? Then again it makes sense since it was a non lethal 9 that took him down!

No idea, but no one is mentally placed to keep an eye on him.

To the batmobile!
I mean: down the stairs.

What are the chances the room we just left had a secret passage that would allow the High Priest to escape without those outside noticing...? Just wondering... :)

@Sun Snake
So we should have beaten up Valador and stole his staff to get in there with?
You might have gotten Swift to agree to that one surprisingly easily! ;)

By the way, what's "Track 6" referring to?

Lol, I have a link I want to share when we get to the sacrifice room :)


And yeah, we could easily have stolen Valador's staff and learned its secrets in a minute...and we'd have had two :D Silly we didn't see it earlier :p

Then we'd have had two?
You mean Sun Snake already has a teleporting staff hidden about himself that he hasn't revealed yet? (O.o)

I mean we had two minutes, and it would have only taken us one! We could have had a celebratory dance or something and still swooped in like heroes.

I think you're vastly underestimating the amount of time required to defeat a teleport-spamming wizard. Just saying.

Also one who possesses at least one Magnakia level discipline. Maybe...a minute and a half? So...no dancing?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:56, Tue 08 Apr 2014.

Well if I was controlling a teleporting wizard in a fight, I'd keep teleporting away to safety to heal myself before returning to the fight.  The ultimate in sneaky tactics!

Though maybe if Sun Snake's Divination could figure out where exactly he was going to reappear and Swift managed to time a shot with the Kagonite Arrow to get him just as he reappears...
Nah, on second thoughts, that would require Swift Fox and Sun Snake to work as a team, wouldn't it? :)

Again, I'm happy to play a game with you in which teleporting wizards can be defeated by magical one shot kill arrows directed by supernatural powers of pre-determination, but if you're going to insist on playing in some weird fantasy world where our characters work together then there's no helping you :)

Well, I didn't say it would be easy :)
You could always borrow the arrow from Swift.  Though if you lost it, she likely wouldn't be very happy with you (slight understatement!)

Silver Raven has one too though.  You could probably ask him.  I think he's much less angry and stabby in nature :)

We could've also tried to do it the boring way diplomatic way: ask him to lend us the staff and promise returning it once we have saved Rain Feather. He surely wouldn't object...
.

.

.

.

Nah! Fighting him would be a better idea! (although that'd mean no victory dance #_o)

What is this "diplomatic" stuff you speak of?
Does it involve flipping out and stabbing people? :)

Yes, yes, that's it - you just have to say polite stuff just before doing that (like: "Sir, would you mind standing still? I'd like to plunge my dagger into your abdomen. There you go. Thank you.")
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 20:10, Tue 08 Apr 2014.

Swift can be polite when she wants to be.
Smart people who know her well will probably question exactly WHY she wants to be at that particular moment though... ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:13, Tue 08 Apr 2014.

Yeah, even if we had persuaded Valador to stick around then asked him to got through the door to get Rain, you for serious know he would have let her die then blackmailed us all in order to let him experiment on her to raise her back to life. He seems twisted in his delusions like that.


I daresay Sun Snake may come to that conclusion too if he thinks about it :D

Also, how about we resurrect Vashna ourselves? Last thing all the bad guys would expect, would get everyone to band together against a common enemy, we have the Deathstaff, we just need to have one of us sacrifice ourselves. Seems a foolproof plan.

I had Swift keeping a full-heal trick on standby too.  Would have cost me a chunk of CS and probably been her ultimate "Big Damn Hero" moment...

Oh well, I suppose I could try using that power to disintegrate the Deathstaff instead.  Though I have a feeling if I try, it'll get reflected right back at me! (O.o)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:25, Tue 08 Apr 2014.

Withstood a blow from the Sommerswerd and was forged by Naar... I think it might be trick-proof :(

Not sure how close we are to a level up. You cold metagame using any renewable resource on it just to see! :D

You need a maiden of Sommerlending blood to die as well. Although there's a chance that one condition might have already been filled by Rain Feather - you'd have to trust her honourable character though.

All of this discussion is incredibly fun to read, by the way - you're all wonderful, and I wanted to make it known. :)

Post inicoming - this one was a bit of an effort to write, for obivous and less obvious reasons. I look forward to everybody's reaction to it.

Maybe not completely trick-proof.

What if it could be destroyed if someone (one of us) somehow connected themselves (their life-force) with the staff? Then that person would have to sacrifice themselves and this way the Deathstaff would be destroyed. o.O So, yeah, we'd still need someone to volunteer for a sacrifice.

If it's the post I think it will be, then I can explain my 'track 6' with a link. I'm going to it running while listing to the next post :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2b3aZQvOI8

I was ready to have Sun Snake leap off a chasm wrapped around the Deathstaff ages ago :p

Well I'd planned on burning some CS to charge up the Sapphire Ring to give myself enough WP to use the Pink Rose on Rain.
Actually I wonder if it can resurrect the dead as well?  Doubt it...

I do have a theory on how to destroy the Deathstaff.  Something that Swift will probably be able to figure out for herself with the right IC info...

@Sun Snake
Ahh ok.  Haven't got the soundtrack.  Just the DVD box set, hehe :)

You know the scene in the message with the offloading of the body at the end? That's the music, but on its own it is just as sad. Love the piano refrain at @0.55 :( Sadder still that it was literally written for the ending of firefly, and the message was the last episode shot. And now it can be associated with Rain Feather's death too :(

If you're right in the assumption about the next post, than the track will be very fitting... :(

Yeah, I can't watch YouTube video on this pile of junk I'm using for a PC here.
But I remember that music from the show.  Sad moment... :(


"When you can't run anymore, you crawl, and when you can't do that, well—Yeah, you know the rest."

No youtube! Evil! How about direct mp3 links?

http://www.dmjump.net/06%20-%20The%20Funeral.mp3

Sound card died on me last month :(

At least I've still got a DVD player with a USB port on it, so I can load MP3s onto a USB stick and play them on that.
I write better with a soundtrack! :)

I can find the sheet music online and post a jpg? :p

Got no instruments, or any musical talent whatsoever! :)  hehe.

Well, the post about entering the sacrificial chamber carried a really dark atmosphere to it.

Yep.  Really sad moment. :(
(I put my MP3 player on random shuffle mode and it keeps picking out sad songs to play at me!  Nooooooo!) (;~;)

Swift also has no WP left without the ring, so not sure I can unlock the restraints...
This message was last edited by the player at 10:05, Wed 09 Apr 2014.

I think the unlocking is a free usage since they are nothing more than normal restraints

No, Swift is right that she'd need MoM - the manacles would be out of reach otherwise.

I was more meaning her attempt is 0wp? If not I think Honet has WP for Nexus

I think using MoM to pick locks, untie knots etc. requests expenditure of 1 WP. But Nexus lowers the use of MoM by 1WP thus making it free.

So, yeah - Hornet can release Rain's body. Swift, just say so IC.

I assume that Aerith is FF7 death, which anyone who has played it seems to think is one of the most affecting character deaths? So I'm inclined to agree that music would also be appropriate!

In fact I should probably go look it up!

I think the most shocking thing about Aeris' death is how much out of the blue it is - which, of course, is less so when everybody knows it's coming (I was still surprised though, since it didn't happened when I thought it would).

That said, the situation do is very sad, and the music very appropriate.

Ahhh, memories of the first time I played FF7... :)

I was actually just listening to a cover version of Aeris' Theme last night by a group called "Vernian Process" who usually do kind of orchestral-sounding steampunkish music.
Can't find the track by itself on Youtube, but it's the third track on this mix.  Starts at around 5:40 I think (can't play it on Youtube, so I had to download it and copy it to my MP3 player.  Not sure if that messes with the timing or something).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVtrL8U1Bp8

Someone once said

"A wounded fox is more dangerous than a jackal"

One Fox is about to show them how right that is

Even Sun Snake the character isn't inclined to do anything to stop Fox other than say a few words, as a player I have no inclination one way or the other. Might be a bad path, of course!

Will Fox be the leading man or the scary vengeful man!

Maybe the last post I made will clue you in? Give me a theory? ;)

Yep. Swift is definitely going after the High Priest.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:53, Thu 10 Apr 2014.

High priest for me too :)

I knew we should've tied him when he had the chance. :) So, yep, let's deal with the High Priest.

If Swift had been thinking straight (as in not worried for Rain Feather and anxious to find her, as well as being worryingly intrigued by whatever Valador was referring to when he spoke to her!) she'd have suggested dragging the High Priest onto one of the glyphs in the hope the magical chains would entrap him.
Then again I suspect he's got some kind of command word or something that deactivates them anyway.

Probably safer (and more fun for Sabre and Swift) to just beat him into a coma instead!
This message was last edited by the player at 09:28, Thu 10 Apr 2014.

To be honest Sun Snake was monitoring him going down, and had five minutes after Rain Feather died to go back to monitoring him, but I didn't explicitly ask for it to be re-established so it didn't get re-established I'm afraid :(

Not until I actually asked later...hence the 'correction'.

Yeah, I actually kind of suspected he would recover and come after us in a last-ditch attempt to finish off whatever ritual he started.

Would have been out of character for Swift to suggest that Sun Snake keep monitoring him though.  As I said, her original intention was to entrap him in the magical chains and for Hornet to guard him to ensure he didn't escape from them.
But Valador's offer to her and Rain Feather's sad fate seem to have driven that from her mind.

Now her mind has temporarily snapped and I'm not 100% sure yet if the team will be able to rein her in again.
Maybe if Sun Snake pulls off a particularly epic Righteous Wall of Text^(tm) it might have some effect.
Or maybe...  Well, I'll leave the second option for someone else to figure out.  Shouldn't be too difficult! ;)

I realise that I didn't actually ask how the ring works Fox has loaned? Plus he never have it back haha
This message was last edited by the player at 19:04, Thu 10 Apr 2014.

Yep, and now I've no Psi-Screen without it! :(  *sniffles*

Still got two tricks I can use here, but after that, it's just a case of whether it's the High Priest or Swift who goes down first! >:)

Did a quick retcon of my "start of battle" post to use one of them...

That didn't answer my question! Haha

I think it just acts as a "WP reservoir" you can use if your own is tapped out.
Also you can recharge it by draining your own CS.  1CS = 3WP.  Dunno if it has a maximum limit to what it can hold...

Not sure how much of that Sabre will know IC though.  He could try asking Swift I suppose, but she definitely isn't in the right frame of mind to discuss magical item use right now! ;)

Indeed. Sabre, if you feel like your character would have asked questions about the ring, or even given it back to Swift during the walk to the High Priest, I'll allow it. Otherwise, as Swift Fox said, the ring works as an extra WP battery with a maximum capacity of 9 WP, and that can be recharged of 3 WP by reducing your current CS by 1.

It's really more of a wizard's item than a warrior's one, paying CS to gain WP and all that... then again, WP seems to be at a premium; it's not like shrueberry grows on threes, after all - it being extinct and all that. :)

In fact, if there's any preparation for this fight any of you wanted to do, that could have been made while taking a careful, uninterrupted five minute walk, say so here OOC and I'll retcon it as having happened. It's the least I can do, considering the situation and the fact that you knew your opponent was aehad and ready to take you on.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:38, Thu 10 Apr 2014.

Well the fact is I may have quite a use for it after all to assist us against the Psychic attack. How much WP is currently in it? Because if not I'll use it with my CS in the next post

Also, is there a low down on what this guys armor does? Using Armor Knowledge here for that

Well retcon Fox asking how it works firstly. Haha. Also of Swift wants something in exchange for now, I have a Corclet that gives free basic Mindshield that Snake gave Fox? Seems an appropriate and thoughtful trade from Fox since Swift doesn't like psychics and this can protect her all times :)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:41, Thu 10 Apr 2014.

I don't think Mindshield will help here, but thanks for the offer :)

Maybe not but it's a start, and it's a nice headpiece to have under your hood

You do realize, Sabre Fox, that should you be unable to call forth a Psy-Screen (not Mindshield, which as Swift Fox said, won't work any), you won't be in any position to use any amount of WP, right? Just wanted to make sure you were aware of that.

Probably best to retcon Swift Fox having the ring and taking the hit yourself Sabre Fox... there's no point in you all being on the ground at his mercy.

Well, I don't know if Water Hornet has the WP or the discipline to keep standing, but seems like you need at least two of you to go up aganist that boosted CS, especially if the ring will compromise said CS on our side.


Is the Healing kit stuff supposed to have taken five minutes, or is Sun Snake in the past by a few minutes?

Dunno if I could wear the circlet and the diadem at the same time either.

Also I think Sabre would be able to hit him much harder than I could anyway, so best to let him stay fully active.
Though Swift still has one last trick left to play here... :)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:26, Thu 10 Apr 2014.

You're still in the past - since it would take the corridor eight minutes total to fill back with gas, and five for you to walk it back, you have about three minutes worth of dallying behind with Alyne in game-time before deciding if you want to join the fight or not - and Sun Snake would know the timeframe, even if he of course has no idea how the High Priest prepared himself for the fight.

If you wait until the High Priest starts blasting before moving, though, then you'll know that it's impossible for you to make it to them before the corridor is filled with gas once again.

Also, Swift: no to wearing two headgears at once, pick one.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:30, Thu 10 Apr 2014.

I have just enough WP to activate Psy-screen, if I use Hornet's special dagger - so I think I will retcon this, with Shadow's permission. On the other hand, my CS is so low, that I don't know what use I'd be in the fight. :/ So maybe better save WP for some other tricks...?

Well, I think I will still opt for using Hornet's Venom (dagger) and then we'll see how it goes.

I don't think you have any tricks you can use while being writhing on the ground in pain, so using your WP for this is definitely a good decision, Hornet.

You boost Swift Fox's CS by two if you attack first...you know, like a shield. A meat...shield.

So it more depends if you have Endurance to tank in a fight or not :p


Not sure how much nastiness the High Priest will manage if you all get floored, and it does sound like Water Hornet alone won't last long.


Anyway, I'll answer Alyne but Sun Snake will join the fight. Though he's got 1WP so he'll go down like a sack of potatoes too. Still, he's drawn the aggro of the High Priest in the past and has not lost any Endurance, so might be able to take the hit of whatever the High Priest does while we're down.

So just checking the effects of the Psychic Ring attack for my next post.
Am I unable to attack him or prepare anything  while he's using that on us?

Always take GM's advice to heart ^_^ So, yeah, going for Venom and shielding myself from the psychic assault.

As for the meat shield - you're right, Snake. Whether I'm at -15 or -13 CR, doesn't really makes a difference :) So, with my current END, unless it's insta-death, I can withstand a couple of rounds - hopefully Foxes take the guy down before he takes down Hornet.

EDIT:
Also, I will be away this weekend (Friday evening - Sunday afternoon), so will have limited access to the Internet. :/ Sorry, it came at this crucial point. But I should be able to post from my phone, so hopefully don't slow things down too much.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Thu 10 Apr 2014.

Sounds like one way or the other you need a Fox still standing to score a major blow or else you'll be taking End loss for no reason though :(

Sun Snake, if you want to arrive staggered - like, a couple round after the High Priest has unleashed the psychic attack - I am willing to allow it.

Sure, sounds like a plan.

I never got an answer I how much power the ring had before I used is effect? Could do with answer so I can plan my next move

And when you say no damage Shadow, does that translate literally? As In cutting his finger off?

The ring had 5 WP I believe - you can always recharge it if you need more.

And I did meant no damage when I said it. Aside from the fact that cutting specific appendages on a moving targets would already be pretty hard in normal conditions, you're currently unable to stand due to unbearable pain, your sight is somewhat hazy, and you're shook by trembles three times a second - you would be unable to properly hold a weapon.

When I said you could try things, I hoped you would consider your condition when deciding what actions to take.

Swift Fox, what I said to Sabre Fox applies to you as well - you can't stand nor move in any way other than crawling.

Fixed that.

Really can't wait to see this guy get what he deserves.  Seriously starting to hate him a lot!  :)  hehe.
Easy to play a character who also hates him a lot and is looking forward to getting to play with him a little afterwards! ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:39, Sat 12 Apr 2014.

Yep, that works better. And I'm happy you all hate the High Priest - hopefully that makes him being able to actually get this showdown on even better! ^_^

Well maybe the others actually like him, I dunno :)
To me he seems like rather a despicable character though, the kind of antagonist you feel no real pity for when he finally reaches his downfall.
(Then again, perhaps Swift is heading the same way...  We shall see!) :)

But yeah, sometimes it's good to encounter an old-fashioned villain who's just totally irredeemably evil, no shades of grey here! :)  hehe.

By the way, is it just my connection playing up again, or are all the character portraits showing up as unavailable?

Connection, it happens sometimes. Or maybe I've just got them cached. Seen it happen once in a while.

Yeah, I just checked.  Seems like all the images stored on the "Creativelass" server are working, while ones on the "Shannara Rose" server are all showing up as unavailable, so likely that one has gone down for some reason...

Sun Snake's pic is one of the ones I'm seeing as missing...  Maybe he's just learned the Assimilance discipline and become so good at hiding that even RPoL can't find him? :)  hehe.

That's exactly what's happened :)

I think the High Priest was necessary to the themes of this story - the ambiguity of most antagonist is crucial to make the REAL conflict of the game all the more poignant when the Endgame comes around, but having some truly evil opponents also helps to see why those ambiguous antagonist actually ARE ambiguous: because there's also a very real, unquestionable evil to face.

I'm glad to know he's working as a good antagonist for you all! ^_^

Yeah, I like it when there's a mix of villains like that :)
My favourite villains are definitely the ones that turn out to have just stumbled into it in some way, either by cruel fate or by their own beliefs driving them down a darker path than they would have wanted.

Like Valador who has what he believes is a noble goal, but his methods of achieving it are seriously questionable!

And possibly Red Dawn who's just completely nuts!  hehe :)

There was ambiguity before about what sort of man he was - whether he believed the things he was saying, deluded, actually cared about the people under him / Alyne etc.

Well I'm not too sure if he actually believes in the whole "power of Vashna" thing.  I think he's just the type of person who likes to have power over others and to intimidate them with that power.

I mean assuming he's spent who-knows-how-long collecting together all these magical items he's got, he's probably either learned about or guessed at the history of at least some of them and knows full-well they're nothing to do with Vashna, like he's pretending to us right now.
Swift recognises them for what they are, thanks to Silver Raven teaching her some new stuff (particularly the rather obvious one that the Acolytes seem to have stolen from Lone Wolf somehow).

I'm not sure if he really does intend to bring back Vashna or is simply "going through the motions" for the benefit of his followers.
But perhaps he's also deluded himself into thinking he'd be rewarded with power, immortality and anything else he desires for helping Vashna rise again.  I don't think Darklords are particularly merciful towards minions who get a little too ambitious though... ;)

And it's obvious now at least that he just sees Alyne as some sort of ritual object rather than a person.
(Something that may yet come back to bite him, now that she seems to have figured that out too!) :)

I think the more ambiguous a villain is, the more potential for good that's still left in them, the more vulnerable they tend to become to Sun Snake's Epic Wall of Righteous Text attack! ;)  hehe.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:25, Sun 13 Apr 2014.

Nah, I think text bludgeoning works equally on both sides - ie, not well, takes a lot to erode them down a little.

It really depends on the opponent - on Alyne worked extremely well after all, and Madayl was defeated by it as well, so really, it does has some usefulness. :)

Swift Fox, I need a roll from you to see if your actions will work or not.

And Sabre Fox, you really can't run, remember... but I guess you could stumble onward threatheningly enough - your goal is to distract the High Priest from attacking the others after all, so that's really all you need to do. May you kindly edit your post to match that?

Done :)

Might work on Swift too...  Maybe! ;)

Well with a distraction 9 from Sabre and your 8 Swift I reckon your plan will work ;)

Well if he can do that psychic attack on every round, Swift will be pretty much useless in this fight.
All she can do is focus on weakening him a bit using what she learned from Silver Raven and two items she's been carrying around since the start of the game, one of which she already used in her first attack but hasn't taken effect yet.

Up to you guys to take advantage of it ;)

If he can do that psychic attack every round we'll all be pretty useless in the fight!


Don't think I can mitigate my 1Wp to produce a Psi-screen if needed. Hopefully it's a limited attack. Either way, I guess can try a wall of text and a different use for the 1WP to draw agro or 'stun' him or something to buy the heavy hitters some time.

Edit: Once I get there, of course...not sure how mnay rounds Sun Snake is lagging.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:56, Tue 15 Apr 2014.

I'm kind of hoping that an evil man like the High Priest making repeated use of a very powerful artifact once owned by the Supreme Master of the Kai himself will give him a rather nasty mental overload and burn-out eventually...

Then again I don't think the whole backstory behind the Psychic Ring was ever detailed, was it?  Maybe it was originally an evil artifact as well and Lone Wolf just gave it a temporary redemption of sorts?

Anyways, maybe Swift can use Sun Snake as a meatshield here.  Depends which of us he's got the biggest grudge against :)
Or maybe Shining Peacock will get in here and beat the High Priest to death with his massive ego, hopefully before we all get our brains fried...

(Then again if we're all dead, and he defeats the High Priest, then there's no-one left to stop him taking the Deathstaff, hmm?) ;)

I had just enough Wp so Hornet does have his Psy-screen up. The question, of course, is what good is it going to be - as I'm at -11 CR anyway against the High Priest. :)

Will have to think of a way to stop his psychic attack so you guys can hit him.

The CR is reducing. No Sun Snake for two more rounds but you may have this already.

Not sure if the surprise is ours or GMs.

Based on Swift's last melee attack against him, I think that brings her up to a zero CR now :)
(Not counting the rounds where she's getting her brain fried of course...)

Really need to find an IC reason to switch to using the Pink Rose...  :/

And actually I don't think the Psychic Ring is really the most dangerous item he's got on him.  But if Sabre can get rid of that too, even better :)
This message was last edited by the player at 17:56, Tue 15 Apr 2014.

Your character doesn't want to die? Your character wants to hide the Pink Rose from Valador and the High Priest's stomach is the last place Valador will look? There's so many reasons!

She's actually got that in common with Rain Feather.  She'd see death as more of a release from a cursed life than something to be feared.
The only reason she has to live is...  Well maybe you can get that out of her IC :)  hehe.


Well that one sounds like a good reason actually :)
Wonder if there's room to hide the other four in there too...  *ponders*

If Sun Snake Walls of Text he might have a reason for you to fear death. Or embrace it. Could go either way, I guess...

I thought there were only four others? If so, Valador's stomach is a better hiding place. But them in there, and it will be the joint last place he will look, tied with every other place in the living world.

Ah yeah, the other three of them.

There are five altogether, but Swift only has four.

I think Valador might notice if I hide them in his stomach though.  I don't think Invisibility is THAT good, even if I had the WP to use it! :)  hehe.

And she might have other business with Valador actually, judging by how their last meeting went...
*sinister grin* >;)

Valador had the fifth though, so you really just need to hide that one first :) And it's funny, as long as the target is in the correct mental state, you can use Invisibility to make them believe anything. Disrupting their senses helps, of course. Permanently.


Yeah, Sun Snake needs to have a further word with you about speaking to Valador about anything and taking any offer he gives us...

Funny you should mention that...  ;)


Yep, Valador has the fifth one.  That's why she was hiding the visible one on her belt from him.  She doesn't want him getting the other four.
Dunno if he knows how to use them.  But trust me, we REALLY don't want to find out! ;)

Don't worry, she'll pass on the four she has to Silver Raven before she switches sides to Valador...  oops, didn't mean to type that, just ignore that bit! ;)  hehe.

Let's face it, he knows. I daresay if Swift Fox goes anywhere close to him, he will offer her stuff to get the others - or perhaps even surprise her by offering up his one.

Well Swift's skills are geared heavily towards infiltration and other sneaky stuff, so she tends to assume her enemies know everything, just in case they actually do.

Hence why she planned to pass them on to someone she trusts first (and she currently trusts Silver Raven more than everyone else in the team).

If Valador asked about them, she'd just say that someone else has them, as in someone else other than the person who actually does have them.
(Someone like Red Dawn maybe, would love to see Valador trying to negotiate with her ;)  hehe)

Bah you know he and Shining Peacock are in cahoots! :p

Yeah, but Red Dawn is completely nuts anyway, who knows what she'd do?

Think how dangerously unpredictable Swift becomes when she's angry and multiply it by a few hundred... ;)

Rolled 5...

At least the flow of 1s seems to have stopped for now!

I rolled a 7, but let's not be too hasty - it seems we still have some rolling to do before the fight is over ;)

I won't stand for that sort of lily livered practical thinking!

On a second thought...you're right, Snake! Let's attack the High Priest headlong - we're rolling all 0's from now on (in combat)...yeah!

^_^

That's the spirit, stout fellow!


Also I may have some person shaped immobile 'sandbags' to hide behind two turns from now. Apropos of nothing...

If you're sneaky enough, you could maybe get a one-shot kill on him by picking up Swift's dagger...
(Though if it sets you on fire with green flames the moment you touch it, it's not my fault, ok?) ;)

So I take it he is both now unarmed and has no shield? Also does that mean his CS is now 19 if so?

Either way I think it's now time for us to restrain him and take the ring!

He's not unarmed - the fire-shooting ring is as much a weapon as any gun would be.

But yeah, if you can get your hands on the staff, that might be game changing - without it, this battle is much less dangerous than otherwise it would be.

In terms of game purposes though would he be classed as unarmed?

Would the use of Strength here work to keep hold of the staff?

Also, since I'm now getting low on END I wasn't offered a use of Invisible Shield to try and counter them. Is that open In the future?

Yeah, Strenght would be a good thing to do here.

Not sure what you mean with the question about Invisible Shield, though.

About the fire darts the priest kept shooting? Could they not be repelled?

Should you not have finished your WP by now? ;)

Yeah, you can use Invisibile Shield to stop the fire darts, that much is certain, but you can't focus on both that and the Strenght spell at the same time; that'd be like letting you take two actions at the same time.

Of course, if you can find a way to mix two spells to achieve a single effect - like Peacock did when walking on air, that would be allowable, since it would be a single effect achieved by using more power than normal, but getting two effects at the same time I really can't allow, not in a single battle round.

Well since CS doesn't matter right now, I'm using it as a WP battery with the ring I stole from Swift :)

Are you? You do need to tell me when you do it - I can't keep track of your stats otherwise, or, not as well, at least. I'm ok with you doing it - that's the way the ring works after all - I just like to be kept informed, that's all. :)

Don't worry about it.  Who needs a Psi-Screen anyway? ;)  hehe.

Apologies, I thought it was a given since Foxy has had no WP for a while. Lol. But yes, until further notice at least in this fight the swap use comes from CS to WP with the ring

Just to make it clear, Sun Snake won't be just sitting at the back talking - just thought it was best tanking Alyne for a round to see what her reaction was going to be, and what the High Priest's would be to her.

In general as only one of two people who can actually hurt the High Priest it seems, I'll start swinging next turn. And it should be Sun Snake who goes first, since I think his CS is slightly better than Water Hornet, so Snake can provide Hornet with a +2CS and make things a touch easier. Like, literally a touch.

Though with a CS that low it might be better if Water Hornet stays out of the way of one shot kill opportunities.

Well, I still have an FP left, so I think it might be better to let Snake have +2CS bonus and try to max damage dealt to the High Priest.
Of course, if we managed to stop/negate Priest's psychic attack, that would dramatically change the odds - we just need a good idea. :)

EDIT:
Sabre, you have Nexus, right? Shadow, could it be used to heat up the platinum ring? We'd probably need a source of heat (like fire from the torch), but that could be achieved...
This message was last edited by the player at 17:00, Sat 19 Apr 2014.

I have a fate point too, for the moment a vest that reduces damage by 1EP (so like a +2CS bonus) and full Endurance. I'm not sure an extra point of damage a turn is worth trading against such a high chance of being one-shotted :( 20% chance of death x 20% chance of death is still far from non-zero :) (around 4% chance I believe, or near a 1 in 20. How many 1s you rolled in D&D? :D  )

You could superheat the ring, yes, but with the amount of fire and time it would take to do that, you might as well just try and set his hand on fire - it would probably be quicker.

And more fun! ;)

Also you can hurt him for now, but he'll probably turn the Psychic Ring on you next round ;)
I don't think Swift has anything left that can hurt him.  She's already played her last two tricks.  Up to someone else to take advantage of the effects...

Well, that is a definite "maybe". ;D

Then let's try (more) bluffing. If I wanted to retrieve an item from my backpack (I have three candidates: the Mask of Weather Control, the rope, or the Mustow Potion), that would take a round of combat, right? Or I cannot access the backpack during a fight?

Is the High Priest currently positioned somewhat between Water Hornet and Sabre Fox (perhaps not on a direct line between Hornet and Sabre, but roughly speaking: if he turned to face one of us, he'd expose his back to the other)?

ooo, Mustow Potion :)  My favourite!  hehe.
(Wishing I'd saved the one Swift was carrying for this battle).

Was he still wearing the mask when Valador nerfed all his equipment?

Yeah, Mustow is a good one ;) But I just hoped I'd save it for later. And by later I mean: Shining Peacock or Valador. :)

Yes, he was wearing the mask, but he was also unconscious - so I'm hoping the High Priest doesn't know his equipment has been "inactivated". He might, of course, discover that through magic...but I'm toying with the idea of using his equipment for a bluff.

The bluff is an interesting idea - novel, if nothing else.

As for taking an item, that takes up your action for the round, yes - in the sense that you can't attack - but it doesn't wastes your round; for example, if you go for the Mustow potion, you can also throw it during this same turn.

As for what'll happen depending on your actions, well, you won't know until you try, right? ^_^

Well, we all thought he was unconscious. do not rule out his magical items kept his state from us, and Valador did something to screw us over. They might still be in tentative cahoots, after all. Bluffing the msk when he knows the rest of his stuff was trashed might be risky. Do it if the play is good, but there's always a non-zero chance there's something sneaky going on with these NPCs!

I'll take that as a compliment. :)

Should take a tip from Swift there.  Always assume your enemies know everything ;)

(What really gets her paranoid is what her enemies might know specifically about her, and how they plan on using such knowledge...  Perhaps by making her turn rogue and brutally murder everyone else!)
Just ignore that last bit.  It was... umm... a typing error, yep, that's it.  I typed that in there by mistake! :)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:01, Sat 19 Apr 2014.

Hmmm, you could be right, Snake. So, in any case, let's try to take advantage of the situation (Swift's arrow, struggle against Sabre and Snake's challenge) and finally find out what "unpleasant surprises" the corridor has in store. ;)

Don't worry, you'll be fine!
(You do have Trap Detection and/or the ability to move around without touching the floor, right?) ;)



(Relying on Swift right now is probably a bad idea though...)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Sat 19 Apr 2014.

Not necessarily. :)

Hornet, I shall point out that all the traps are on the other side of Sun Snake and Alyne from where the High Priest is.

The setup like now is something like this:

I stairs I______
I               I
I         chest I
IS   H    ______I
I        I
I  W     I
I     F  I
I  SS  A I
I traps  I

S is Sabre Fox
H is the High Priest
W is Water Hornet
F is Swift Fox
SS is Sun Snake
A is Alyne.

Does that helps any?

Also, both Hornet and Sabre, I will need you to give me your rolls if you want me to push things onward. :)

Nice image there, it helps a lot. :)

Is this something Hornet would be aware of? I had checked the post where we'd first descended into the corridor and Swift warned us about the poisoned gas trap and also instructed us to follow her steps. Not sure whether Hornet would know that the area near the chest is safe (since he can't detect traps himself), so I'll leave the post as is. Rolled an 8, again, yay! :)

That will give me an interesting challenge, I think - managing to make the 8 a success when the general positioning of everybody around the room should by all rights make any attempt to sprug the traps backfire badly... I'll try to come up with something interesting for that. :)

Sabre Fox, I still need your own roll as well.

Why do I get the feeling Sun Snake will be diving on to the floor dragging Alyne and Swift Fox with him rather than make any speeches this turn?

Ah, of that I have no idea -  but if you wanted to speechify, you already had your chance in the "showing up" post, didn't you? ^_^

I had far more I could have said, but I thought it unsporting to not let the NPC with the history and the villain have a word edgewise first!

And that was good of you - I appreciate it, and the High Priest will be sure to speak a bit to take advantage of that. The main problem is that Alyne is more reactive than she is proactive, so before she herself speaks it will take some time.

I thought Sun Snake's apathy might have made her madder than that to be a little pro-active. Wall of Text powah it is! :)

Better save some of that Wall of Text powah just in case Swift survives the fight.  She might need restraining afterwards! ;)

Between you and Sabre, Sabre seems the more unstable right now! :p

Glad to hear you take that challenge positively, Shadow. And I dread to think what would happen if I stated "trying to spring the traps" and then rolled a 1. ^_^

It is an interesting change of situation that we discuss Snake's WoT discipline skill being possibly used to defend the old fella ;) But maybe Snake will only encourage others to be mean to the guy. Provided we do eventually defeat him.

Rolled a 4. Missed I needed a roll since it's just spell I wasn't expecting it. Can I expend some WP to increase that on the spell? Or even better fire a Power Word off to throw him off his spell too?

Well I'm assuming Sabre plans on killing him.
Swift plans on keeping him alive, but playing with him a little to the point where he actually wants someone to kill him!

What he did to Rain Feather kind of pushed her over the edge a bit.
On the plus side though, she is at least keeping her promise not to kill him.  She never mentioned anything about the odd bit of torture or dismemberment ;)

More just a reminder to himself not to actually follow through with any of the stuff he just said if he ever got the chance, I think. Plus, you know, you got to show some goodness in front of the new recruit, right? Can't just got all dark psycho just when she picked a side! :D

Well, I'd say it's better for the new recruit to be fully aware from the start that she's become involved with a team made up of antisocial folks, psychos and dysfunctional weirdos.
Hence Swift's comments towards Water Hornet earlier ;)

You might still have to give her a stern talking-to later if you'd rather keep the High Priest alive AND with all non-vital body parts accounted for!

(Wondering if the Craftsmanship discipline covers such things as making a necklace from string and severed ears?)

Eh, he might have used up all his chances. We'll see, Sabre can maybe put a spear through his chest and Dawn Sword will just be stoically accepting. Woot! Wonder who else we can kill and steal the stuff of? :D

Well, this guy seems to have collected enough magical gear for everyone :)

Now all we need is the WP to actually use any of it! :)  hehe.

Since Fox can do damage this round of course I'm gonna go for it! One question though, will the damage be based on Fox's CS or still -11?

If I have your CS right, you'd be at -11 anyway, wouldn't you? You've used the recharge from the ring three times, if my count is correct, which would apply you a -3 CS penalty in total. Considering that, how high would your CS be?

Since CS hasn't really mattered I've been chugging away at it! Now that it does, I'll do some adding up. But I take it that's and it would be at CS value for this round only?

See Swift, there are people with shinies still! WP granting shinies! And..low CS scores...


Edit: CS might not matter for this fight, but not sure how things will go after that. With all that's going on sitting down for 8 hours to sleep and restore CS might end up being..unwise :(
This message was last edited by the player at 18:55, Mon 21 Apr 2014.

I think I should let it be at -11 fixed anyway, but I'm feeling generous - if it's still in the negatives, then I'll let you use the real combat ratio, even if only for this one round.

Also, everybody, I do think that, should you win this battle, you'll have more shinies than you know what to do with... just a feeling I get.

Including the famed Psychic Ring that turns people's brains into mush? :)

I'll be snagging any WP-restoring gear.  Think I really really need it!

Well I do think it still should be negative over all the WP chugging I've been doing! Either way I'll do my sums tomorrow and get back to you :)

Yeah, including Lone Wolf's ring. Honestly, I'm surprised you were surprised by that - I'm sure I'd let you know that Lone Wolf's hand had been found by the Acolytes, hadn't I? ^_^

Ahh ok.  I'd forgotten about that.
Wonder if they still have his hand around here?  Probably keep it on the mantelpiece as a trophy!

Anyways, I think I'll keep Swift holding back for now, since I'm getting low on END and since I can't actually hurt him yet anyway.
Just waiting for the right moment...  ;)

What?! One of Lone Wolf's hands was separated from the rest of the body? I didn't know that (and good thing Hornet still doesn't) :)

I think he could have grown it back anyway :)

...if he hadn't gotten killed at least... :(



If Hornet isn't so keen on accepting Alyne as a Kai, I hope for the sake of his sanity, he never learns Swift's history! ;)  hehe

Doing my post in an hour or so when I get in. Won't be holding up too much longer

Regarding LW, we (Maakengorge group) overheard some Acoyles had found LW's hand before we found LW. At the itme, Sun Fox had pointed out LW could have regrown that hand!


Regarding Alyne - I wonder what Sun Snake's reaction would be if you spoke out about your unease? :)

Moving the conversation here aside from the vote of course, it's interesting this one is so important! :) after all in a character way, it will be a suprise and nothing they can really stop after all

Some people might be psychic and some might have no mental shielding... really, who knows what's a surprise to whom and when and so forth! :p


Did Shadow say if the surprise was Swift Fox's coming in to play in a few rounds, or a surprise to all of us? I do not recall...and so am scared...
This message was last edited by the player at 18:39, Tue 22 Apr 2014.

The surprise is Swift Fox's related, but more than that I'd really rather not say - if you want to see what it actually is (which will be revealed next turn), then just vote against Sabre's plan, and you'll see! ^_^

Beside, why would you want to vote in favour of an instant-kill attack when the battle is going so well and there's no risk of anybody dying anytime soon? ;D

Exactly *walks past Water Hornet* everyone seems fine EP wise *turns back on Water Hornet* everyone who matters is fine, it's all good *stabs Water Hornet repeatedly and steals his stuff* everything is fine *only dreams now*


Swift, I seem to be channeling your character :( How do I wall of righteous text again? :(

Not everyone is fine END wise :/

Come on, surely everyone has full End, right guys? I mean, right?  I mean except Water Hornet, but everyone who counts just has full End, right? Just two numbers side by side in their End section reading the same high number, right?

I'm so high on END, that you guys could just stand aside and watch Hornet deal with the High Priest single-handedly - and by that I mean unarmed and using only one hand. :) After all, I did give the healing kit to Sun Snake, didn't I? And it's OK if you just threw it into the botomless pit back there, Snake, Hornet's not going to want it back anyway. Not at all. ;)

I also wanted to ask, Snake, why do you care so much about (looting) other people's equipment...and then realized that Sun Snake was master of the storerooms. :)

Regarding Alyne: it's not that Hornet is against ALyne be accepted as a Kai. But he met hr just a few minutes ago and then it was revealed she has some (rather serious) ties with the Acolytes of Vashna - a rather significant group that has served Naar (or at least helped further his cause) for so long.
I think that is the difference (from Hornet's point of view) between Alyne and Swift Fox. (Aside from not knowing Swift's past in detail) Swift might have done some "dark" deeds but that could be seen as acts of a lost soul (especially led astray by someone other). While Alyne was part of the organized evil group.
Another thing is that Swift went through a "standard" admission method. (Hornet is a traditionalist to some degree.) Alyne seems to have beeen accepted into the Order upon decision of a group of Kai - Kai Masters, but a decision made out in the field and without proper consent of "Order officials".
Plus, which is not a rational reason, but it does play its part: Swift has been a member of the order for some time now (and so proved herself - if nothing else, other Kai Masters seem to be OK with her). Alyne, on the other hand is a stranger.
To sum up: Alyne becoming Dawn Sword is something completely out of the blue for Water Hornet (plus the revelation of her connection to Vashnites), hence his momentary mixed feelings.

Also, I did try to run in as quickly as possible to meat shield with it all when I realised RP might get you guys killed due to big bad being big and tanky. Sorry it didn't work out so well :(

Edit: Yay! WH post! Lol, yeah, Sun Snake just threw the rest of the kit around the room for fun, sorry. Knew you wouldn't need it.


And lol, as a player I am well aware of exactly how much Water Hornet is getting slammed with scary info. It's so apparent even Sun Snake might sympathise with the trauma of it all :D

And the best is yet to come, of course...

o.O
Now I'm worried...

In other news, I wonder how voting ends up...and what is the surprise Shadow has been talking about.

I don't think there was much that was "standard" about how Swift Fox ended up with the Kai.
In fact it was probably more of a surprise to her than anyone else :)

Not too sure about the vote actually.
Part of me is looking at my heavily damaged END and wanting the fight to end quickly, while the more sadistic side of my mind that controls Swift's "inner killer" wants to see what happens when said "surprise" kicks in.  I'd hate to waste that ;)

(Not to mention she'd rather keep the High Priest alive, at least for long enough to make him regret what he did to Rain Feather...)

On the other hand, we have to allow our Resident Celebrity a bit of glory occasionally! ;)

And Swift's attention is fully focused on the High Priest's movements anyway (she didn't bring out that mirrored shield thingy to check her hair with after all!)  She won't know what Sabre is planning to do in-character until it happens.

I think I'll only choose if the vote is tied and someone has to do a casting vote here.  Otherwise I'm happy to let things play out as they will :)

Lol, so you may as well vote now then! If you vote the 'wrong' way it doesn't matter, and if the vote was tied you'd automatically be casting the deciding vote :p

Aww, but I can't decide! :(

Do what would make a vengeful Fox happy and think of all the treats a kill here would bring ;)

Now how's that for incentive! Haha

Let the dice decide, Swift! :)

But then Swift wouldn't get to toy with him a little...  You wouldn't want to deprive her of her little amusements would you? :)

The psychic ring will be very useful in future endeavours tho ;)

Hey, what about Sun Snake's needs? He really needs to find out if he really can trap the High Priest with looping memories! It will be cool.

Oh you can still have the ring.  (You might need to remove the severed finger from it first though!) ;)

Hmmm, so quiet today. Is it calm before the storm? *ponders*

Either our GM is busy, awaiting Swift Fox's input, or Sabre has been allowed to post based on the votes?


Definitely the calm before the storm though...

Well I can reveal I have not had the vote yet!

Yeah, I'm waiting for Swift Fox's vote - once I have that, I'll tell Sabre how to handle his actions. Not much I can post until then, really.

Visually I think there is only one word for what just happened. Owned :)

Ouch!  (O.O)

So then...... In a fight over the goodies we are to recieve who do you think would win? :)

Lol, it's not just Sun Snake being standoffish, as a player I'm happy to let those who suffered get first pick of all the goodies and not take part in the shiny grabbing right away.


After all, I still have all mah CS and END. And a whole 1WP still at my disposal :D

If it comes to that, just be sure you don't let Swift escape, or you'll be spending every night staying awake and constantly checking every shadow around you! ;)  hehe.

Also, Sun Snake still gets to loot the Deathstaff, doesn't he? ;)

Not yet, path not clear to it without death. And Water Hornet seems to have ideas of his own about what to do with it.


That's before Dusk Rat (who is still writing in the background) comes in with her master...

The Deathstaff? I think you might be reading too much into what Hornet said... :)

I also wonder what happened to the staff that the High Priest used in the last fight.

Good thinking on the bisected helmet! Raven can fix it :)

If only you had someone who could tell you what all his equipment does.
And if only that person was in a co-operative mood and not a lethally-dangerous bad temper...  ;)

Yeah yeah Water Hornet, we read too much in to what you said...you Deathstaff stealing traitor!


And for no reason now I'm imagining one of us yelling 'the Deathstaff belongs in a museum!'

The staff the High Priest used is laying on the ground, next to his hand.

As for your point, Snake, if you replace "museum" with "Vault of the Sun", then I think at least some of you do are about to say it, isn't it? ^_^

By the way, is the High Priest still wearing the red scarf and all the other rings he had from before?
(And did the scarf get sliced in two as well if he was?)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:46, Thu 24 Apr 2014.

Drats, I've been revealed! *runs*


LOL :D

Sabre stole Swift's plaything so Swift won't let anyone else know about nice playthings?

Stealing is taking something and never returning it.

I have yet to be asked to return it ;)

I was speaking about the High Priest :D

Hopefully she's forgotten all about the WP ring!

Well not like anyone ever asks her.  I mean you'd think people were deliberately avoiding her for some reason... ;)  lol.

Is Rain Feathers stuff a request from the chest?

Yes, it is. Be sentimental and think about retrieving her stuff, or be egoistical and think about better arming yourself - show us what your character is made of, Sabre Fox! :D

And don't worry, there's a bit more to taking stuff from the chest than this initial selection, but my point is that there's just so much, you can't really go on a dumpster dive - you can either look to see if something strikes your fancy particularly, or you can look for specific things, and searching those specific things will make you overlook anything else which might have otherwise caught your eye, is my point. I hope it's a reasonable point! ^_^