INITIATIVE CHART
----------------
DOC 26
KALISTA 22
priestess 21
JASON 20
priest C DOWN!
priest D 18
priest B 15
ARULAS 13
priest A 12
shadow beast 8
Ethan 1
secret character alpha 1

Doc can swear that even over the sounds of shooting and screaming, he can hear the priestess mumbling something.

Kalista sees the crowd on the other side of Ethan's force field wall panicking.

The priestess jumps back upright. Doc sees in the dim light that her face appears somehow different. It reflects the light in a glossy way. Regardless, he fires off his first silver bullet quickly. I'm using an older to-strike roll that I don't think Doc got a chance to apply early in this combat. The bullet catches the Dwarven vampiress in her shoulder. The sound of shattering glass rings through the temple. The priestess staggers backwards. At the same moment, Doc feels a sudden stabbing pain in his own right shoulder. The sneak is using the House of Glass spell. Roll 5D6 damage for one bullet. This damage applies to both the vampire and to Doc's personal S.D.C.

Jason fires his magically enhanced shotgun at the vampire who just attacked Geraldo. And nothing comes out, but a single, falling drop....

Priest D continues to run away from Sir Arulas into the darkness.

Priest B is laying over Geraldo's body, leaning onto the force field which blocked his meal. He looks up and snarls at Jason. The vampire is guessing that the Atlantean is the cause of missing meal.

Arulas chases after the cowardly vampire. He leaps over the body of vampire that he just cut down. The elf's sixth sense warns him of a danger which he cannot see. Crossing both of his blades in front of himself, he manages to block the next blow. Out of thin air, a very long and hairy arm appears. The arm slaps into Arulas hard at torso level, knocking him up, back, and onto his back on the floor. The cyber-knight takes no significant damage, but he did get the wind knocked out of him. In the glow of his twin psi-swords, Arulas seems the looming figure of a giant. A Shadow Beast was hiding in the shadow of one of the pillars and waiting to ambush him there.

Priest A, now separated from his legs, attempts to crawl away from the Lumberjacks.

Ethan charges past Jason and Arulas. A warrior's look of righteous anger is in his face, and bubblesuit of shimmering force field is wrapped around his body. He's able to close the distance towards the vampire over Geraldo's body. Ethan didn't do a lot early in this round, so if you like, he can body block (tackle) his target before the vampire next takes an action. If that is the intention, just give me a to-strike roll.

END OF THESE INTIATIVES
Characters with actions left (which I think is every PC but Ethan) may get in some free hits now.

Reaching for his left forearm after dropping the shotgun, Jason slowly pulls a longsword that appears to be unsheathing from his arm with a sound of metal-on-metal ringing.  He looks the vampire over Geraldo directly in the eyes in an attempt to imtimidate the bloodsucker into either surrendering, running, fighting at a disadvantage.
Horror Factor 14, ot Trust/Intimidate at 60%.
01:43, Today: Jason Damien rolled 8 using 1d100.  Trust/Intimidate @ 60%.

The vampire fails that Save vs Horror Factor. He's already out of actions to take away, so I'll take away one of his actions in the next round and move him to the rock bottom of the initiative chart.

Reverting back to his training in hand to hand combat, Ethan's charge turns into a running tackle as he launches himself at the vampire. He knew his mortal strength was no match for a vampire's but this wasn't about strength. This was about momentum, leverage and weight. Since vampires didn't gain any more mass as a result of their transformation from living to undead, Ethan felt confident that, so long as he connected, he could send the vampire sprawling and gain at least a momentary position of advantage.

Today: Ethan rolled 18 using 1d20+2.  Body Block/Tackle.

  Arulas doesn't wait to get to his feet to deal with the shadow beast. He attacks as he stands. Slashing with both swords as he rises into his fighting stance.

Doc staggers back, now he knew what his foes felt at his hands and that of his brother, it hurt too. Too much magic. "Somebody shut that little dwarf wench up! careful though... I shot her and I got hurt." Doc ducked for cover, unsure of how useful he could be in this fight, he searched for another target after checking his shoulder for damage.

As Ethan tackles the vampire that had struck down Captain Geraldo, Jason moves in with his Magic Tattoo Sword, attempting to strike around the soldier from the past, to wither stake or decapitate the bloodsucker.
23:10, Today: Jason Damien rolled 21 using 6d6+6.  MD.
23:09, Today: Jason Damien rolled 21 using 1d20+6.  Called shot to heart or neck, whichever won't hit Ethan.

Arulas slashes as his new opponent with both blades. The monsters tries to lean-dodge away from harm but fails in both attempts. The tower monster is dead before it hits the floor.

Had it been Jason, Ethan, or Doc who walked into that trap, it would have been much, much tougher. Arulas is using glow-stick weapons which automatically negate most of a shadow beast's everything. (MDC, strength, combat bonuses, powers, everything)

The retreating vampire spins on his heels and charges back into the fray against Arulas.

The other vampires are all out of attacks, but they do get their regeneration now at the end of the melee round. All vampires regain 5 hit points. Even the one which Arlas cut down is rolling over and beginning to move again.

Doc cannot see it under his armor, but he definitely has a gunshot wound in his shoulder. He can even feel the blood trickling down his arm as he leans against one of the pillars in the middle of the temple. The good news is that he has his choice of other targets. He doesn't have a clean shot for the vampire wrestling with Ethan, but he could shoot it with a called shot. He does have a clean shot at the halved vampire which was torn apart by Jason's shotgun and is crawling away. He does have a clean shot at the two vampires who are fighting Arulas.

Jason summons a sword from his magic tattoo. Which sword is it? He has three.

BEGINNING OF ROUND 2

INITIATIVE CHART
----------------
DOC 26
KALISTA 22
priestess 21
JASON 20
priest C 20 (on the floor and regenerating)
priest D 18
ARULAS 13
priest A 12
Ethan 1
spirit of the rune armor 1
priest B 0 (shot in half but crawling)

Doc lines up his next shot at the target of his choice. Please specify the target and whether Doc is using one gun or both.

Kalista can see enough of the conflict inside to see that the Lumberjacks have taken some damage. Doc looks like he is pain, and Ethan took a flying head-first leap at someone or something. Arulas cannot be seen, but Jason looks just fine. She also sees the panicking crowd running in every direction now. Some of the Dwarves will most certainly be hurt in the stampede.

The vampire priestess, now gleaming with a cloudy glass complexion under her robes, strides across the temple towards the melee.

Jason takes aim at the vampire tackled by Ethan. With Ethan over the smaller form (which was a Dwarf afterall), Jason has no clear line of attack at either the head nor the heart. He could stab at a leg or arm or maybe the monster's side. -- or Jason could try to roll them both over.

The vampire priest who had been previously struck down by Arulas sits up.

The sixth sense of Jason suddenly goes off warning the Atlantean of an impending attack. Small hairy bodies begin pelting his back (no damage yet). Rats are leaping off the sides of the pillars above him.

The vampire priest who ran from Arulas is now attacking the Cyber-knight. He strikes clumsily and is easily deflected by Arulas.

Ethan tussles with his own vampire. The vampire's fangs clamp down on Ethan's throat, but the shimmering field armors him and takes the damage in his place. 22 points of mega-damage. Ethan responds by planting his hand over the vampire's forehead, and focusing his energy into the vampire's flesh. It's reverse-healing in the most brutal and direct opposition to old Hypocrotes. Just a normal attack roll will do here.

The shot-in-half vampire continues to crawl away into the darkness.

Doc will fire at the two vampires battling Arulas, one gun for the each of them.

Unable to get a clear shot at the vampire's heart or neck through normal means because of Ethan being in the way, Jason decides to think outside the box.  Or, rather, strike from outside the box.
He moves in from the side as Ethan pushes down on the bloodsucker's to channel his psychic energy.  That's when Jason strikes.  He stabs into the vampire's side, just under the ribcage, and angles the blade towards the opposite shoulder to impale the heart through the intestines, stomach, and lungs.
Do I need a new roll, or cam we use the previously one?

Ordinarily, Ethan supposed, any sane individual would find it most disconcerting to be engaged in a wrestling match with a vampire. Especially one that seemed extremely intent on sinking its fangs deep into their neck. Fortunately for Ethan, he was still more than sufficiently outraged over the causal and brutal murder this vampire had just committed, that he just didn't care. Well no, that wasn't right, in point of fact Ethan did care since every second the vampire spent trying to tear out his throat meant another second Ethan was touching him. "Die you bloodsucking bastard!" was the only thought in Ethan's head and it was on continuous loop as the mutated combat medic focused the strange energies of his rift warped body.

Doc spins and blasts away at two targets. The silver bullet from his left gun hits the revived vampire in the back. The monster attempted to get out of the way but failed miserably. He collapses back onto the cold stone floor again. The right-handed gun shoots at running vampire but the vary monster manages to duck and weave out of the shot. The vampire who is charging Arulas managed to pull off a very difficult dodge but sacrificed a precious attack/melee to do it.

The priestess races across the temple as fast as her little dwarven legs will carry her. It's actually a little impressive that she is not tripping over her robes. Her glass feet clink each time they stab against the stone ground even through her sandles. She seems to be barreling towards <Jason> after he dropped low to stab from the ground. Dodge or counter-attack?

On the topic of Jason, he's near the floor stabbing at another vampire through it's soft abdonmen. The fiend snarls in pain. Jason thinks that he might have hit the monster's heart, but his medical knowledge is limited to first aid, so he isn't entirely certain. Some damage was definitely inflicted.

The running vampire again reaches Arulas. It grabs with claws and scratch and tear at the Cyber-Knight's armor. Arulas attempts to parry it away, but a sword is an impractical tool for a snarling monster. Curiously, this vampire seems more agile than its kin but not as strong. Only 11 mega-damage to Arulas's armor

Arulas, calm as a mountain, answers with an underhanded slash from the psi-sword in his right hand. The vampire amazingly weaves backward away from harm. Not surrending an inch of ground, Arulas stabs with his left arm against the Shadow Beast who is attempting to flank him. The psi-sword catches the tall monster under its chin and exits out the top of its skull. The shadow beast ceases fighting.

The vampire who is tussling with Ethan tries slashing at the medic's underbelly but finds more unseen barrier there. He settles for pinning one of the mortal's arms behind his back. 20 points of mega-damage

Ethan almost simultaneously sends a surge of anti-healing energy into the fiend's chest. Ethan's free hand on his target's chest, he feels the energy pouring out of him like it wants to escape. He can hear the crackle of his rift fill his ears. The vampire underneath him sort of desicates and collapses under his weight. It's flesh dries and crumbles away while its bones crack and splinter.

The crawling and legless vampire dissappears into a shadow behind a pillar.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:10, Sun 19 Aug 2018.

With his sword buried in the vampire, Jason presses his advantage by pushing his sword even further into the vampire's torso, so he can make sure to get at the heart of the matter.
As the priestess comes at him, he attempts to use the skewered vampire to block her attacks.
02:17, Today: Jason Damien rolled 9 using 1d20+8.  Automatic parry.
02:16, Today: Jason Damien rolled 17 using 6d6.  MD.
02:15, Today: Jason Damien rolled 25 using 1d20+6.  Strike with sword.

Doc turns both of his revolvers on the remaining vampire near Arulas. It looks like I have been shorting Doc his full to-strike bonus. I've been rolling it as +2, but I think it's supposed to be something more like +4. An admirable attempt is made to dodge, but the creature cannot repeat its earlier bullet-dodging success. Both bullets strike their target in its robe. Arulas witnesses the fiend simply falling apart in front of him as the cursed body sort of gives up from excessive damage and collapses like a suicidal Jenga tower. Arulas is now standing between three unmoving bodies (two vampire priests and one shadow beast), none of whom are moving.

Kalista feels a punch to her stomach. There's no signficant damage, but Valentina the Dwarf seems very upset with her. "We're missing it!"

Jason feels a satisfying crunch as his blade pierces into the heap which used to be a vampire. He feels confident that he found the fiend's heart.

The halved vampire (shot in half by Jason) has disappeared behind a column now.

The priestess reaches the melee pile of combatants on the ground. She drops down claw-first towards Jason. The hunter pulls the vampire-cadaver upward as a shield, but it's a very awkward manuever, so he fails to not pick up Ethan who was on top. The priestess' claws tear into Ethan's force of armor but do not penetrate it. Another 15 points of mega-damage to Ethan

Doc grins, despite the pain in his shoulder, looking over at Arulas, "You're welcome boss, piece of cake." Doc then scans the room for another target.

OOC thanks boss, please keep things moving if I'm slow. Work is nuts right now.

Sorry, Ethan, Jason says as he continues the momentum of his swing so he can roll to his feet.  When the priestess comes at him again, he uses his sword to anchor himself as he comes up off the ground to launch a boot right into her face.
Then, without removing the sword from the vampire's heart, he goes on the defensive.
23:15, Today: Jason Damien rolled 8 using 1d20+7.
23:15, Today: Jason Damien rolled 10 using 1d20+7.
23:15, Today: Jason Damien rolled 17 using 1d20+7.
23:15, Today: Jason Damien rolled 13 using 1d20+7.
23:15, Today: Jason Damien rolled 27 using 1d20+7.
23:15, Today: Jason Damien rolled 26 using 1d20+7.  Automatic parry.
23:14, Today: Jason Damien rolled 11 using 4d6.  Critiacal Dmage.
23:14, Today: Jason Damien rolled 8 using 4d6.  Base damage.
23:13, Today: Jason Damien rolled 24 using 1d20+4.  Kick the priestess.
Natural 20.

 "Thanks Doc." he says as he beheaded the vamps and shadow beast before moving on to the main event as it were. Normally he would draw the Thunderer, but it is with the rest of the surrendered weapons. So he waits for an opening at either of the vamps.

Beheading wouldn't take to long for a skilled combatant but the melee is rather close so yeah holding seems the smart move right now.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:34, Mon 27 Aug 2018.

Kalista just shook her head. "Doesn't anyone know the meaning of 'hostage' these days?"

Doc spins around, searching for his next target. He finds none. The only hostile he can see at the moment is the priestess who made his shoulder hurt. Now that he's not focused on something else, his should really hurts by the way.

The glassy priestess snarls, revealing her fangs in all their fangy sharpess. With a swift kick from her short leg, she attempts to knock Ethan out of her way. She instead trips over the robes of the vampire that Ethan and Jason just vanquished. Natural 1 She falls backwards and lands on her rump.

Jason exploits the opening. Also from the floor, he spins himself around in a wide kicking arc and lands his heel directly on her face. The good news is that I will count this as a death blow, thus shutting down her ability to regenerate for 1D4 hours. The bad news is that her Glass House spell is still in effect, so Jason also takes 19 points of damage from his personal M.D.C., straight to his face.

Arulas completes his grizzly task of beheading his opponents. That took up three of your melee attacks, but you may do something else now if you wish. The Cyber-Knight knows that there was at least one vampire who got away, and the priestess is not going down easily.

Ethan is barely able to scramble backwards, avoiding the kicking and clawing fury which is errupting between the priestess and Jason. From here, he can re-engage and try hurting the priestess like he did the previous vampire. Otherwise, he can disengage and look for someone to patch up.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:23, Sat 01 Sept 2018.

Landing upon his feet, Jason stumbles back as his nose flattens with a crunch.  Ow, he snarls at the pain.
He charges the vampire, grabbing her with his strong arms and spinning her around to trap her in a powerful bear hug to restrain her, without actually hurting her.
21:50, Today: Jason Damien rolled 18 using 1d20+4.  Grapple the Priestess.  Pin/Incapacitate on 18+
This message was last edited by the player at 10:24, Thu 06 Sept 2018.

Doc points his revolver, his good shoulder, at the priestess, "There you o Kalista, hostage... I ain't shootin' her. Shit hurts, bad."

Ethan was as surprised as anyone that the vampire he touched had turned to dust. He didn't have any time to dwell on the matter though as the vampire priestess had launched a series of attacks on him. Thankfully his personal force field absorbed each blow, keeping him safe from harm, at least for the moment.

When Jason recoiled from delivering what Ethan knew to be a particularly vicious kick to the vampire woman's face, then saw the mirror image of damage appear on Jason, Ethan knew what he had to do next. Once Jason had the shorter vampire woman pinned, the combat medic reached out from behind the Undead Slayer to touch his right shoulder blade. Ethan concentrated and sent some of his healing energy into the tattooed man's body, greatly accelerating the natural healing process.

 Arulas merely grunts and starts walking towards the edge of Ethan's dome. Hoping that the barrier still stands to prevent the vampire from escaping "Fang face oh stupid fang face. I am waiting oh stupid fang face please try something stupid fang face. I mean I have seen rocks with more brains than you!" He taunts as he walks slowly towards where he last knew the vampire was.

Although she still stood where she had been the entire time, Kalista radiated relief and joy at Ethan's continued life. She smiled but did not interfere in any way.