Appreciate you rolling on my behalf, Control! Will try to remember to cast them bones next times (some GMs prefer not to until clarified)

Ok.  Rather than just bulling ahead, I'm going to ask if this can work.

For my action, I wanted just to perform a feint at Hollis, using Deceive, with the goal of creating an advantage on my defense action.  Then, when he and/or Daggers attacks me, I will apply it to my defense action with the plan of using my stunt

... giving the stress to Hollis.  Basically, with the feint I caused him to move into the line of fire between Daggers and me.  If Daggers doesn't end up attacking me, then the advantage is used against his attack on me and I get him to miss so badly that he punches the car window behind me* overextends and falls down or somehow hurts himself.  If no one attacks me, then I guess the advantage is wasted.  (Somehow I doubt that a drunken Hollis will look at little me and decide that he should stick to his plan of running to warn Barden.)

One flaw in this plan is that Hollis attacks before Daggers, so I'll have to apply my defense to his attack, I guess.

1. What do you think of this approach?  Reasonable?

2. Just in general, what is the mechanic if you are being attacked by more than one person?  (Whether or not that's happening, here, I'd still like to know.)

* reference to the original The Karate Kid, which perhaps I'm the only one here old enough to have seen in theaters when it first came out.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:52, Wed 08 July 2020.

Not sure how the action economy works, but since I wasn't acting, but ready to respond if attacked, could I do something to the guy casting spells at me, or do I just forfeit?

@Arui
That exchange has passed.

I'm not assuming that you're holding your action this round too.  So, you can certainly attack him this round.

I took the liberty of assigning a scene Aspect ( On the Lookout )  which comes with one free invoke, for you holding your action.  If you can find a way to make it fit the narrative, you can use that Aspect to your advantage.   You're not required to use it.

@Etzagith

A lot to unpack here.


The Devil's Footprints
I've got listed for Etzagith's stunts:
The Lurker Core Stunts are listed as: (Hello Darkness My Old Friend, Lurking, & Devil's Own Luck)
You purchased two additional stunts in Character Creation (Infiltrator, Reflexes)

If you wish to purchase The Devil's Footsteps it will cost you your one remaining Refresh, and it will remove one current fate point from your existing fate-pool.  You just don't get the scenario fate-point if you've spent the underlying Refresh.

Do you wish to purchase The Devil's Footsteps at this time?

Oh, rats.  I had been looking at the copy of the character sheet in my character sheet, rather than the one in the Cast thread, which I do understand is the official one.  (It's just the character sheet, in Character Details, is easier to get to.)  I know that we had that discussion and I decided to drop it, but then didn't update the one in Character Details.

Hmmm.  needs more thought.

@Etzagith

Action Vs Hollis
Narrative Feint to Create an Advantage of some sort. 
That makes sense.  If it's applied specifically to Hollis, then Hollis gets to roll in opposition.  So does anyone else you're trying to apply the Aspect to.

If Hollis Attacks, you defend as per normal  If the Defend Action is successful, you can use Devil's Footsteps to apply 2-stress hit.
Yup.  That makes sense.   Same exact process for what happens if Daggers' attacks, later in the combat-exchange.  You'll probably want to move out of the light of the leviathan's blood lanterns, though.  Seeking Shadows is all about stealth and avoiding notice...

Riposting daggers to Hurt Hollis
If Daggers' attack is successful, your use of The Devils' Footsteps is limited to inflicting the stress on the attacker, not someone uninvolved in the attack.  So... No, sorry.  No hurting Hollis by riposting Daggers attack.

I'm more than happy to spin it that way in the narrative if you attack Daggers and succeed...  AND Daggers attacks Etzagith and fails...  Then it's just a matter of the story, not the mechanics of it.


If Daggers Doesn't Attack
If Daggers doesn't end up attacking me, then<b> the effect advantage is used against his attack on me</b>
You simply cannot defend against an attack that has not been made.


Somehow I doubt that a drunken Hollis will look at little me and decide that he should stick to his plan of running to warn Barden.
Hey, you don't know anything about Hollis and his motivations!  Just 'cause the guy drinks on the job... really!

One flaw in this plan is that Hollis attacks before Daggers, so I'll have to apply my defense to his attack, I guess.
Every time you are attacked, you have a chance to defend.  Every time you defend you may invoke The Devil's Footsteps and pay the associated Seeking Shadows cost... (provided you've chosen to purchase The Devil's Footsteps).

The description for The Devil's Footsteps starts with the words "When you succeed on a defense roll..."  The Devil's Footsteps is an extension of the Defense, not a separate thing.

Finally

@EVERYONE

This is an option in the book:

Full Defense
There is also the option to do a top-level defense.  a "Full Defense" (detailed on page  159), which gives you a +2 to all defend actions in that exchange.

I'd prefer to assign an Aspect Full Defense to your character for that round, so it's easier for me to remember that it's in play.

The trade-off is that you don't get to do anything else that round but defend actions as necessary.

Cara doesn't know who Nathan is, but just saw and heard him barge his way in and shout
"Desist! In the name of the Queen!"

Correct?

Well, her action is somewhat dependent upon if Daggers stops trying to kill Etz or get away.  If he desists, she will as well.

If he doesn't?

Describe the Action:  Knife Daggers

Roll the Dice:  16:55, Today: Cara rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice ((1, 0, 1, 0)).

That's a roll of +2, nice.

Determine Approach:  Blades, bringing my total to +5 again.

Choose an Action:  I'll stick with what works, straight up Attack.

I'll also tag that free Invoke on Mindfire Poison to give Daggers a -2 on his defense roll against this stab.

In reply to Control (msg # 24):

ok thanks.  That's what I figured, but I had to ask.

I don't really want to give up a refresh to get that stunt.  Sorry I brought it up.

I have another question about mechanics.  You don't do the stress track the way it was done in the other game I was in, so I want to make sure I understand.  Hollis was hit for 4 stress, and you gave him.

[X][X][X][X][+]

whereas the other game I was in, the GM would have marked his stress like this.

[-][-][-][X][+] 

That is, that GM would only mark the one point on the stress track that was hit.  The difference is that if you then hit the same person again for 3 stress, he would mark it as

[-][-][X][X][+] 

But then another hit for 3 stress would roll up (since 3 and 4 are filled) to the five slot, which would mean a consequence.

So it seems that you are using it more like hit points?  So if I hit him for only, say, 2 stress, is that going to push him into taking a consequence of some sort?  If that's the case, I'll just stand here and fight him.  If not, I'll use the dusty wind that's still blowing and stealth away to create an advantage that I can use the following round.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:29, Thu 09 July 2020.

Hah.  Naturally, this comes up the day after I deleted the original Game-Setting Discussion thread, where we'd discussed this.

Everyone starts with five-shifts of stress.  Each level of physique adds 1 additional shift to the Physical Stress-track.  Each stress-slot absorbs one shift of stress only.

This takes the potential number of absorbed shifts before death from 22/30 to 15/23.

In a RPOL game, that's going to take bloody forever, when you're fairly evenly matched and whittling away two or three shifts at a time.  Our current combat scene has been going for 17 days.

This is more brutal.  But it's also more quick.  And it makes combat matter.  I feel that it also encourages the possibility of character concessions...

LOL.  OK, then.  In the interest of moving things along, I'll just stand there and whack him one.  I just KNOW the die roller is going to be nice to me this time.

21:00, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice ((0, 0, 0, 0)).
Meh.

@Nathan

So, Athletics(+1) + 4dF(-2) = Fail(-1).  He didn't overcome.   But he can still succeed with a major cost.  We just need to agree on what that major cost would be.

Really, it's probably not worth taking on a major cost.Because, either way, he's no blocked from taking further action this combat-exchange.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:18, Thu 09 July 2020.

@Nathan
"Desist! In the name of the Queen!"

He does have the Air of Authority.  And it it the invocation of the Queen's Authority (which would also allow you to invoke the Game Aspect For Queen & Country for free, no less.

Pending research results and table discussion in the In-Game Mechanics thread, I think it's actually awesome....  It totally changes the nature of the scene.

Yes, I choose not to succeed with cost and because it looked cool

Happy with whatever ruling on the multiple actions makes sense

Okay... what kind of cost do you suggest?  It'll be an Aspect, even if it's only a transient one...

Arui, I need an action from you.

Attempt to overcome the Wall of Wind(+2) or take an action... Any physical action that might involve trying to move into the room in Zone 1 will need to do better than Fair(+2).  If it does, it succeeds normally (possibly with extra benefits if it succeeds with style).  if you don't do bettert han a Fair(+2) result, it doesn't succeed.

Apologies if there was confusion: I had already chosen NOT to push through with success at a cost, happy with the failure. Just waiting to understand if he can invoke Air of Authority (with the question of multiple Actions)

Please ignore my last dice roll.  I wasn't sure if I could do something after overcoming the wind.

Yeah, I'm afraid the whole wall of wind thing was clumsily done on my part.

New scene is up, looking to build teh next exchange.

However, before we can wrap this exchange up I need the following:

ETZAGITH
You inflicted a Moderate(+4) consequence on Hollis.  Do you want to define it?

Hollis feebly stabbed out at you with Blades(2).  Please roll to defend (and give a narrative description of what happened IC).

CARA
You inflicted a Moderate and Major Consequence on Daggers.  Do you wish to define them?

EVERYONE
Please roll Athletics vs Evocation(+6) to avoid the sharp stone spikes coming up from the floor...

The Evoker is pissed.   He rolled up a Evocation(+6).  He's now exhausted (to allow him to multi-attack the entire zone).  It does however mean that he probably can't do this again...  I kinda wanted to show the potential power of Evocation...  and the fall of his lover (well, whoops), well... you know how these things go...

I only got two successes vs the evocation

Which translates to 4-stress on your physical stress-track, still no lasting damage.

Really, none of you have any applied stress on your tracks.  You're not really threatened by this.

Which tells me that I need to make your opposition much more vicious in the future.  But, then this was a first run of combat to get our feet wet.

Moderate:  Cut Pretty Bad

Major:  Fractured Skull

Question.

The Tracking thread has changed, and I don't see my Aspects or Mana anymore.

I wanted to basically use some of my remaining Boon Mana to use an Evocation effect in defense.  I currently have Sight Magic as my Lesser Boon, so some sort of Divinatory premonition that assists her in dodging out of the way seems appropriate.

But I don't know how much Boon Mana I have left to burn.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:58, Fri 10 July 2020.

"%3/4" means you've got 3 Mana available.  You've only used one of the four.

19:51, Today: Etzagith rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Athletics (+3) to avoid the stone spikes.
Sigh.  I guess I'll take the 4 damage rather than spend another fate point right now.


You inflicted a Moderate(+4) consequence on Hollis.  Do you want to define it?

How about, as he stumbled while trying to swing his sword behind him, he twisted an ankle and fell to the floor, right here in the middle of the stone spikes spell?  So Movement Reduced for the rest of the scene and On the Ground for one round?  Is that too much for a Moderate Consequence?

In a completely unrelated note, what are the 'friendly fire' issues on AoE spells in this magic system?