Where'd the map go?  I love maps.  (It's the hobbit in me.)
The very first response to the post with the map on it was to say that you wanted your character to go beyond the mapped area--thus rendering the posted map useless.  So... it looks like we don't need it.

Also, don't forget that Etz's initiative is not based on notice, but on instinct from years of being ambushed by cruel older brothers.  It worked out the same this time, but remember that I ALWAYS go first.  (Here's Karen again. :-)  Also, my Reflexes stunt.)
Moot point.   He's ALREADY going first.


More later.

Cara watched in disbelief as Etzagith tried to brazenly walk through the door and into the warehouse, without even making an attempt at stealth.  He'd mentioned something about subterfuge, so she figured that he must be trying whatever ace he had up his sleeve.  Then she heard the shouting, and she rolled her eyes in exasperation.  Whatever it was the man was trying, it wasn't working.

"What now?"

She growled, stalking deeper into the warehouse to investigate the source of the commotion.  She kept her hands on the hilts of her blades, but didn't yet drawn.

"What in the Three's Unspoken names is happening?"

She barked as she entered, her voice harsh and cold.

Etzagith: +6

• Dove into barrel-stacks, scurried over the row...
• Created Advantage How'd he get there? with 1 free invoke

Unarmed Man +5
The unarmed man immediately went into a crouch.   Etzagith had dove into the barrels.  There weren't that many ways in or around the pile of secured barrels, but a small enough man could worm his way through.   If Migram was smart, he'd send one of the boys to run for the city guard.  They'd had enough intruders in the warehouse.

The unarmed man drew out a piece of chalk and began to draw  circle around himself...

• Unarmed Man rolled a Superb(+5) result
• Created Advantage Chalk Circle with 2 free invokes.

Of course, the fact that he's inside the chalk circle can always be compelled by any of you.  If he breaks the circle, he loses his invokes.  So, essentially, he's pinned in place.


Cara +2
She growled, stalking deeper into the warehouse to investigate the source of the commotion.  She kept her hands on the hilts of her blades, but didn't yet drawn.   "What in the Three's Unspoken names is happening?"  She barked as she entered, her voice harsh and cold.

• Cara moves from Zone 2 to Zone 1, past Migram and Brollox

--
Hollis (Oi!) +1
Hollis squares his stance, puts one hand on his hips and points his wicked looking sword at Cara as he enters into the scene.   "You,are not authorized to be here!  Stand back or suffer the consequences!"

• Hollis rolled Provoke(+2) to try to keep Cara back.
• @Cara -Please defend against Hollis Provoke(+2)
• Note: that's not the roll, that's the total adjusted attack value.</b>

Daggers +1

• Daggers rolled Athletics(+2) to box Etzagith in behind the barrels.
• Etzagith isn't there - no success.
• I'll give him an a fragile Scene Aspect Not Where I need To be because it just kinda makes sense.   It comes with one free invoke to whoever can use it.   This fragile scene Aspect will disappear next round.

While he might well have been successful in blockign Etzagith in had Etzagith actually been there, sadly, Etzagith wasn't there.  Etzagith had scurried over the edge of the pile of barrels and eased himself into one of the tiny, cramped little aisles between barrels.    The whole place reeked of wine and Leviathan's Blood!

Daggers, However, successfully boxed in the nothing that was in the aisle Etzagith was once in. And that's why initiative is important...

Also, Scene Aspect: Stinks of Wine & Leviathan' Blood.

Note: Leviathan's Blood is basically kerosene lamp oil.  It's lamp-oil because while it's flammable if a lamp were to shatter on the flagstones, it's way more likely to just fizzle out than to light up in flames...  But, like with kerosene oil... not everybody knows how it'll react...
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:24, Mon 29 June 2020.

After spending a fate point to reroll to account for the die roller hating me.
Applying How'd he get there? advantage
23:13, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Blackjack on Hollis caster (Blades +1) plus advantage - reroll.
For +3 attack. 

Etzagith drew his blackjack as he slipped up towards Hollis from a different aisle of stacked freight than the one down which he ran.  He saw that the drunkard was spouting off at Cara, but then he saw the other man, the one casting some sort of ritual.  Etz had no idea what the ritual was for, but he felt confidant it couldn't be good, not for them nor for the twins.  Perhaps I can use whatever backlash there is as more cover, assuming I survive it.  Standing outside the circle that the man had drawn to contain the magic, the rogue pelted the spellcaster with the blackjack.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:54, Tue 07 July 2020.

"No one wants yet another brawl, you fools want the Blue Cloaks coming down on all our heads?"

Cara said incredulously, raising her hands off of her knives as she tried to make sense of what was going on.  She thought she knew how Etzagith worker, but that had gone to shit about three seconds after she'd tried to improvise, and following up she'd found that she'd Barged In Without a Plan.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:09, Tue 30 June 2020.

Writing up the next round... What's your action, Cara?

@ARUI

The boy led them Directly to the Blue Sails, where--already--Yvon was pushing some big guy (Brollox) against the wall, and the shopkeeper, Migram was yabberign away about intruders and pointing at the public door to the rear warehouse.  There was shouting coming from back there, and the boy stood wide-eyed staring at Yvon and Brollox.

Migram caught his breath.  "Well don't just stand there!  Do your damned job!  Get in there.  Someone--one of Duke CHurthan's men, and the Khune noble.  They just walked right on by!   if they steal anything, it'll be on your head!"  It wasn't real clear who Migram was talking to, Nathan or Yvon...

It'll take you a combat-round to get across the room and down the little corridor to the main warehouse room.  A huge open space stacked with all sorts of boxes and shelves and barrels...   Cara is currently standing in the entrance to the big room.

"Now he worries about theft," Arui sighed as she walked into the room, and cautiously down the corridor.  A woman stood at the far end facing into the next room. She took her hands away from her sheathed blades and said to those within, "No one wants yet another brawl, you fools want the Blue Cloaks coming down on all our heads?"  Beyond her she saw a large man with a sword, another smaller man in some kind of ritual circle, and a third outside the circle.  The men were unfamiliar, but she was certain the woman was the same one she saw at the castle that day with Tabeta.  Her red and black coat stood out among the fashions of the court.

Based on Daggers's position by the barrels, I'm assuming he's out of view.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:02, Tue 07 July 2020.

+6 Etzagith

• Etz Blackjack(+1) vs Caster + How'd He get There(+2) - Attack with Blades(+3)
• There is no shield component to this circle, so the circle is breached.
  
  • In previous turn, the Caster had called forth +3 shifts of power which now get released as Backlash
  • Introduce a Scene aspects A Mighty Dusty Wind
• Caster Rolled Athletics(+3) to dodge - Tie (Etz succeeds with minor cost)

I'll give you a +1 Stress on the Caster for the tie..., but you need to take a minor cost.   What do you envision might be appropriate here?  Dust in His Eyes, maybe?   Whatever it is, it's a minor cost, so bad guys get 1 free invoke and it will only last as long the Mighty dusty wind which is for two combat rounds.  After that, the minor cost is gone, used or not.
+4 Arui

• Arrived on-scene.

+3 Caster

• Circle Backlashed and he barely dodged the blackjack attack.
• Primary action was interrupted.

It was always a risky maneuver triggering a backlash.  With the sheer amount of Leviathan's Blood lying around if it were a fire-spell, the entire place would go up in flames.  It wasn't a fire-spell (thankfully).  And there was no shield component to the Caster's spell.  So, Etzagith's thrown blackjack came up against no magical barrier...  But it was enough to breach it and unleash the energy stored within it with a sudden woosh as a veritable wind erupted from the Caster...

Etzagith had a moment to meet the wide-eyes of the caster who clearly hadn't the interruption.  Even as the caster leaped backward, w high-pitched howling echoed throughout the warehouse and a mighty wind picked up, blowing loose hay from the bales, paperwork and loose leather flaps and straps and dust and minor sodden dirt into the air.

Introduced Scene Aspect A Mighty Dusty Wind, short-term +2, makes it... two combat rounds only.  No free invokes.



+2  Cara

• Provoke(+2.) + A Coat of Red and Black(+2) to provoke Hollis
• Hollis rolled Will(+1) to resist - failed (Cara succeeds with style)

+2 Hollis

• <Orange>Attack Cara (blocked)
• Call for Bardan to get the boys out.

+1 Daggers

• Find Etzagith, throw daggers, Shoot(+3)

"No one wants yet another brawl, you fools want the Blue Cloaks coming down on all our heads?" Cara said incredulously, raising her hands off of her knives as she tried to make sense of what was going on.  She thought she knew how Etzagith worker, but that had gone to shit about three seconds after she'd tried to improvise, and following up she'd found that she'd Barged In Without a Plan.

Hollis took a moment to take in Cara's livery, the slow thought filtering through his wine-besotten head.  "Bardan!" he shouted, his face nearly red with apoplexy.  He struggled against the sudden massicve wind, blowing dust and debris everywhere, and snarled."Get the boys out of here!  They've got a Khune Red-Coat!"

Then the little man with the daggers stepped out from whence he'd gone after Etzagith, and espying his quarry now where he, himself, had come from ,he didn't hesitate, but threw one of his daggers...


Etzagith, you're targeted with  a Shoot(+3) attack  (for someone pretty good with those things, he too didn't do so hot on the dice roll). 

On other mornings Nathan might have chuckled at Arui's wry remarks, but today he remained stone-faced as Migram's easy-come easy-go attitude to the Blue Coats manifested. He nodded curtly, ears pricking at the strangeness of the visitors to this particular warehouse in these unsettled times, and followed the Tarenti inside, into the small corridor and towards the woman being shouted at. As he walked, his cloak flared into motion in the flickering and pungent flame, the light glinting off the recognizable broach

Using this Turn to follow Arui to where Cara is, keeping his weapon sheathed. If possible, trying to Create Advantage - Air of Authority - over those who can see him to either defuse the conflict and/or encourage any nefarious types to babble and confess all their crimes

Etzagith had thought, when he charged into the spell circle, that he was ready for whatever backlash it presented.  But this was like being in the epicenter of a desert tornado.  Through burning, watery eyes Etz saw the henchman flinging a dagger his way, so he dove for cover, passing behind Hollis, and he felt one of the daggers slice through the air just behind his shoulders.

Coming up smoothly from his dive, his blackjack retrieved in the process, Etz found himself behind a drunken Hollis.  He swung the blackjack at the man's skull, screaming in fury, "He's holding Queen Jia's twins!"

12:18, Today: Etzagith rolled 3 using 4 Fudge dice.  Athletics (+3)? to avoid the thrown knife. reroll.
16:38, Today: Etzagith rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Blades(+1) + Three Sheets to the Wind(+2) free invoke)
Result (+5)  But he probably gets to tag the Dust in my eyes in his defense, since I'm not taking the extra round after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:14, Wed 08 July 2020.

Arui saw a dagger thrown at the one man from out of view. That meant there were more combatants.  She was unsure who was a threat, but she kept her hands on her bow in case any tried to turn on her.  Nathan was a man of authority, and he seemed just.  She would wait on him for direction.

no action

Not exactly the reaction she had been hoping for, but the man had revealed enough.  They had the boys, and were willing to kill over it.  With a moment of will, she released the first Glyph of Alacrity that she had inscribed upon her bracers with a shower of translucent green sparks.  Her Mantle thrummed with the released power, glyphs bursting to life, her form blurring as she drew both her long duelist's knives in one fluid motion and dashed across the room. Inhumanly fast, she feinted with a low thrust with the left blade, and then whipped the right around in a overhand thrust that drove the razor sharp tip straight towards the Dagger hurling man's neck.

Attack at +5

Everything happened at once.

A magical wind kicked up inside the warhouse, blowing back Etzagith and kicking up all the crap that was all over the place... flagstones littered with dust and detritus.

Etzagith adroitly dodged the flung dagger--noone else would have even seen it coming from the dhadows as it had--and scooped up the blackjack which had skittered across the floor into the center of the open space before the doors.

He spied Cara and a Tarenti warrior standing in the doorway,  He swung the blackjack at the the fat man's skull,, screaming in fury, "He's holding Queen Jia's twins!"

Hollis canterd to the side, but he just wasn't fast enough to avoid Etzagith's blow.   He was, however, combat-experienced enough to roll with the blow.

Hollis takes 4 stress

The Caster, shook hsi head as Etzagith went by, then snarled and raised a hand, curling his fingers into a contorted claw and he hissed a sibilant phrase and flicked his hands upwards, sending a blast of wind at the door, towards Cara and Arui (and Nathan)...

This isn't an attack.  You do not take damage.  It's an obstacle you'd need to overcome next round, or a detriment to actions you might take.

The guy with the daggers leapt towards the Caster, his eyes fixed on Etzagith and he called something unitelligible in the relative chaos of the small, cramped space.   The caster nodded.

Then Cara leapt the distance--inhumanly fast and came up before them both.   She feinted with a low thrust with the left blade, and then whipped the right around in a overhand thrust that drove the razor sharp tip straight towards the Dagger hurling man's neck.

He swore and dropped, but the blade sliced through his robes and tasted blood.   Cara didn't know how badly it was, but it didn't matter.  It was enough that the blades had made contact, and the contact poison on the blades would start to take effect.

Would it take effect fast enough to play a par in this fight, though?

Arriving at the threshold, it was clear that those within either had not seen him or sought conflict regardless and with solid cause, if the furious shout Nathan heard was to be believed. It was not the first time a Blue Coat went unnoticed, nor would it be the last, but he squared his shoulders and stepped into the gap left by the woman who had leaped into the fray... only to stumble and be forced back, the harsh and unexpected desert wind foiling his intent.

Shielding his face with his hands, he stood buffetted in the doorway and turned his head so that he might shout, each word enunciated and full of command, "Desist! In the name of the Queen!"

Attempting to Overcome the Wall of Wind to enter the room

12:14, Today: Nathan rolled -2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Athletics (+1) - Overcome - Wall of Wind. - -2 -> Failure.

If it makes sense, use his free invoke on <smallcapsAir of Authority</smallcaps> to stop to the conflict. Suspect that would be a second Action, though?

Etzagith suddenly realized that here he was, standing in the middle of the brightest spot in the room, going toe to toe with a much bigger man.  But this is too important.  I can't back out, now.  Anyway, it looks like that first shot got him pretty well, I shouldn't need too much more.  It was neither the first nor the last time that Etz wished he had paid more attention to those fighting lessons his father had made him take.  He swung at Hollis' head with the blackjack.  Though his heart was in the blow, his head knew that this just wasn't his strength.

21:00, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Whack Hollis with blackjack (Blades +1).
Result of 1.

the Khundari Oathsworn fought with brutal efficiency, paying no heed to any rules of chivalry.  She might not have had the refined skill or raw muscle of Rhaine, but she made up for it with a combination of speed, viciousness, and the deadly magics woven into her Mantle.  She was a brawler, through and through, and well suited to the twinned set of thickly knuckled knives which she bore.  She struck to end the fight with alacrity and lethal finality.  The blade that had tasted the rogue's blood blazed with sickly green power as the glyphs she had inscribed before burst to life.  They pulsed, and the venom in her opponent's veins answered the call, sending searing waves of agony racing through his skull just before she struck.  She used the thick blade of her left knife to batter past the man's defenses, slipped inside his guard, and tried to punch him in the nose with the nubbed iron hand-guard.

"Who in Emperor Markov's bloody shits are you?"

She hissed at Nathan, throwing him the briefest of glances as he barged into the fight.

Attack Daggers at +5

Tagging the free invoke on Mindfire Poison to reduce his defense against that attack
This message was last edited by the player at 04:37, Thu 09 July 2020.

When the caster gestured in her direction, Arui quickly side stepped into the room and drew her bow on her assailant.  She tipped her head toward Nathan and said, "He is the Queen's man. Do as he says."

action: overcome the wind spell

Roll: 17:44, Today: Arui rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  athletics +3.

Total: 4, success

Etzagith found himself in closer quarters with Hollis than he'd like.   The stink of the big man's breath was almost overwhelming with wine.  Etz caught Hollis as he was turning to run down the long corridor of sealed chests, bound for some unknown outgoing ship.

The blackjack caught Hollis in the shoulder, caused him to roll to the side, again.  Hollis winced in evident pain and stumbled, lifting a hand to try to steady himself, even as he swung his own sword back, in a clumsy, low sweep.

Hollis takes 2 shifts of damage.  He is opting to take a Moderate Consequence.

Arui and Nathan both pushed against the wall of wind.  Between the force pushing back at them and the whirling sediment in the air, even seeing clear across the open space before them was difficult.   Arui pushed through, even as Nathan shook his head and stood back.

"Desist! In the name of the Queen!"  Nathan shouted into the wind...

The guy with the daggers stood over the caster, concern etched on his face.  Ignoring his own wounds, he looped an arm under the caster's, and went to help him to an upright position.  Then Cara's vicious attack caught him square in the face, with a veritable explosion of blood and mucus.

Daggers crumpled to the ground, a cry strangled back, a hand lifted in supplication.

Wow. You fucked him up.  Daggers takes on both a Moderate and a Major Consequence. Dagger CONCEDES the fight.  He's not risking further injury.

"Who in Emperor Markov's bloody shits are you?" Cara glanced over her shoulder, eyes narrowed with focus.

The Caster though, startled by Dagger's sudden traumatic and bloody injury, looked up with absolute shock, then rage, and lifted his hand once more, curled it into a fist, lifted it palm up and flicked his fingers wide as he snarled another set of guttural words.

A wave of pure force kicked out from him.  then the ground trembled.  The very floor shook and rumbled and a pillars of pure stone erupted from the ground, stabbing upward, heedless of whoever might be standing nearby, friend or foe alike...

It was a mini-earthquake within the warehouse, and even as the wind died down, stored materials were shaking, some were falling from their shelves.

New Scene Aspects
The Ground Trembles
Spikes of Stone

From beyond Hollis, there were cries of people--a group of people--and there was a cool light coming from somewhere.  Someone had broken the warehouse walls or had opened one of the barred side doors...
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:51, Fri 10 July 2020.

Stone spiked stabbed upward, uncontrolled, pinning Hollis to the shelving unit.   He clung there, fear rimming his eyes as he looked back and forth, up at Etzagith.  "No!"  he shouted.  "Oh fuck.  They're unarmed."  he said, pleading with Etzagith.  "Take whatever you want.   Just don't kill them!"]

Hollis has formally conceded the fight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:13, Fri 10 July 2020.

Cara's head whipped back around, and she saw the Mage's anger and fury center on what she had done.  She saw something else too, a fragment of memories long passed.  Then she was snapped back to the present, and the very real threat she faced.  He snarled, and she returned the expression with a snarl of her own.  As the first shockwave of earth magic pulsed forth, she reached into the reserves stocked within her own Mantle and and hurled power into the floor.  Her hand snapped open wide, grabbing onto the force he was pouring into the earth and diverting a fraction of it to her own needs.  Her expression of earth magic was not nearly so desperate as his, but she didn't need them to be.  The very stones at her feet shot up, hurling her backwards and away from the explosion of spikes and stones that sought to impale her.

"Ensure the children are safe!  The Mage belongs to me."

She bellowed at the others as she surged forward, dancing around the spikes within the stone to get to the exhausted Mage.

"So much as raise your hand again, and I will use the the power within your own blood to make him die screaming!  One by one his bones will turn to brittle stone and shatter within his body, until he is begging you for the release of death."

She hissed through clenched teeth as she drew near, pointing a knife at the man whose fall had drawn the desperate gambit.  Its tip still gleamed with his blood, a point she hoped the Evoker wouldn't miss.  It was a threat she had no intention of carrying out, of course, but she doubted that the man knew that.  The Khundari were believed to be utterly ruthless and vindictive murderers, and the Great Houses had no interest in letting a good reputation go to waste.

Create an Advantage at +2
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Fri 10 July 2020.

With a quick nod to Cara, Etzagith stepped into the back room where Hollis had been headed, instinctively stepping to the side out of the light as soon as he entered.  He coughed once, then, doing his best to imitate Hollis' deeper drunken voice, but with a gravelly roughness like someone who isn't done coughing, he called out, "Bardan, all clear. (hacking cough)  Bring 'em out here."

11:39, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Deceive (+4) Imitating Hollis.
Result of 4, Social Stress attack.

Result of 4, to create an advantage Lets his guard down
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Fri 10 July 2020.

Arui was knocked by the spikes, but she recovered.  She had enough of this; she shot the caster.  The other woman shouted something about children.  Arui would see to them when the caster was dead.  She nocked another arrow.

Action: attack the caster with shoot

roll: 16:47, Today: Arui rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  shoot +4.

bonuses: bigger, stronger, faster +1

total: 4
This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Fri 10 July 2020.

It seemed like an eternity, but it was only moments before the shaking stopped, the ground stopped heaving and the stoen spikes... no new spikes emerged.

Etzagith called out, "Bardan, all clear. (hacking cough)  Bring 'em out here."  But there was no answer from beyond...

Several of the lanterns had fallen to the floor in the Caster's explosion. casting even more of the place into shadows.

Arui sighted, calmed her center and let loose.  The arrow flew true, but it bounced off of the Caster's ill-fitting jerkin, knocking him off-balance a little, as he stood.

"Ensure the children are safe!  The Mage belongs to me."

"So much as raise your hand again, and I will use the the power within your own blood to make him die screaming!  One by one his bones will turn to brittle stone and shatter within his body, until he is begging you for the release of death."

He looked out over the scene, horror and grief and shock written clearly across his face.
"You stupid stupid woman.  He's already dead."  the Caster cried. "I felt it!"

And then he simply turned and fled down the corridor, heedless of impediments, leaping over fallen boxes, into the rear of the warehouse.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:41, Mon 13 July 2020.

In the sudden stillness after, there were voices from beyond, deeper in the warehouse.

"Woah, woah woah!"   someone shouted.  A familiar voice.   "Just hold on there.   It's okay.  Your fine.  You're safe.  What in the three's name justhappened"