Re: Myrran Wars

[Doomwing]

As the soldiers approach Kern, he swings with his fist into one's gut. In his other hand the Gun-axe Hybrid weapon slams into the illusionary soldiers.

"They are physical…" Kern swears. "Which means I don't have to hold back!" He swings with his axe even harder into another soldier.

[Flagmauth]

"They are illusory, dwarf. Which means if you don't believe them, they cannot harm you." Shi'nrae, frowning in concentration, raised a hand that crackled with electricity. "Nizzre'." Guided by her will, a bolt of lightning shot out towards the enemy ship's ballista. The gathering wind made it difficult to aim perfectly, but the bolt flew more or less on target.

[Just curious, but are there any drawbacks to using magic in this system, like mental/physical fatigue?]

[President WIN]

As the illusionary soldiers are disbelieved, they rush forward in a last desperate attempt. As they reach you (assuming you do nothing to combat them) what little remains of their actual substance rains down on your head, in what appears to be sword blows, but feels like something between a pinprick and a punch, with no real consistency.

(Sorry, wasn't being clear enough; when disbelieved illusionary soldiers are more a nuisance than a threat, but they still pack a punch in numbers. I know that's how it works in game, and I'm justifying it off the theory that they rely on subconscious thoughts, so even knowing they're fake, being able to see through them and all, is not 100% effective, given that they look like a threat. So Kern IS dealing with a semi-legitimate challenge. For future knowledge, if you ever run into illusionary soldiers again.

Also, in the game I'm stealing the mechanics from, the drawback is mana drain, which I haven't really been adjudicating because I want to see spell creativity. If you try anything way outrageous, say, summoning a storm drake right now, I'll just rule that you don't have enough mana. But like I said, mana drain has no physical effects that I know of, so I'm not touching it to allow for creative(and possibly over-powered) use of spell casting.)

As Kern wades into the illusionary soldiers, they break like grass beneath his ax, vanishing into thin air with every hit. (assuming he gets the ones scrambling over Shin'rae) The illusionary soldiers are finally neutralized as a threat by Kern's attack.

Shin'rae's lightning bolt hits the ballista square on, and the ballista ignites in a small yet forceful explosion, apparently singeing its operators; the smell of burnt hair drifts on the rising wind. The expected magical water comes to put out the fire, but not before the ballista is total loss; the magic seems slower to come than before. Meanwhile, winds continue to increase, starting to make a cyclical vent.

[Flagmauth]

Shi'nrae noted the (presumed) aeronautic spell increasing in power and began a longer incantation (which I shall not post because I'm too lazy to translate it into Drow) designed to counteract the spell, trying to make the best use of her remaining available mana. As a result she leaves a few lines out of the incantation that reduce its effectiveness by a substantial amount, hoping to conserve some mana for more evocations should they become necessary.

[President WIN]

Shi'nrae's spell at first seems to be working, and the winds seem to be dying down.

But then, suddenly, the winds congeal into a single semi-solid mass; an Air Elemental. It begins to throw crew members off the sides of the ship.

Alekssander quickly works to apply some shielding that will keep the crew members from dying upon landing, as the elemental continues its rampage.

Canon firing continues in the background.

[Flagmauth]

Shi'nrae quickly modified her spell, adroitly dropping and adding lines to it as needed in an effort to continue its neutralizing effect on the elemental.

[Flagmauth]

The member 'Mycrodeeth' has done the following action : Roll dice

'd20' : 7

[President WIN]

The Air elemental notices what Shi'nrae is doing, as it feels its power flag a little, and it starts to head straight for the sorceress.

[Flagmauth]

[Damned d20. Y u so screw up my Spellcraft check? ]

The sorceress in question quickly made another modification to her spell in order to contain the elemental's movement. At this point (assuming your magic system works anything like I think it does) her spell was somewhat sketchy in places and the constant modification of it left holes in it more than big enough for a competent spell caster to take advantage of.

[Doomwing]

Kern turns his axe back to his gun and loads a loose piece of wood into the barrel and calls it good. He aims at the Elemental and Fires.

[President WIN]

The firing of the wood at the elemental has almost no effect. It just barely notices and turns in ire to the one who fired at it. It buffets Kern with high velocity winds, in an attempt to blow him off the ship.

(Rolling for Elemental attack. 0-10=no effect, 11-15=knocks him off, but he gets a handhold, 16-20=Kern better learn how to fly. Kern receives a completely arbitrary bonus of +2 on this roll for being a dwarf. i.e. the elemental's DCs will all increase by 2.)

As to Shi'nrae's spell, being patchy, the elemental notices a tugging on its essence, and figures its probably due to the wildly gesticulating dark elf, but decides to deal with one nuisance at a time.

[Flagmauth]

The member 'President WIN' has done the following action : Roll dice

'd20' : 14

[President WIN]

The force of the elemental wind knocks Kern back but he is able to brace himself against the side of the ship if he so chooses. Or, he can fly off the ship. Or something in-between. His choice.

[Doomwing]

Kern Uses the wind blast to grab onto the rope securing the masts of the ship. He then swings around and boards the other ship. He switches his gun to axe form, and prepares for the worst.

[President WIN]

While most of the Beastmen on board the other ship are busy firing the airship's canons and ballistae at the Ruby Night, three Beastmen (picture slightly more bestial gnolls from D&D if you want a visual) advance from the enemy ship's rigging to confront the ax-wielding dwarf.

One wields a halberd from a slight distance, another advances brandishing an ax, and a third hangs back, knocking an arrow into its bow. Almost as one they unleash a menacing snarl.

Meanwhile, the Air Elemental, satisfied that the dwarf will no longer be a nuisance, swings its gaze back around to the dark elf sorceress, buffeting her much as it did Kern. (DCs are unchanged. Shi'nrae receives no stability bonus. Failure to hold your ground will assess a -2 concentration penalty on your next "spellcraft" check.)

The battle continues in the background.

[Flagmauth]

The member 'President WIN' has done the following action : Roll dice

'd20' : 9

[President WIN]

The elemental is surprised by the elf's ferocious tenacity, and she maintains her ground by the skin of her teeth. Her move. (And Kern's, of course.)

(Btw, I violated my own rule here, about not posting until both of you had posted, on account of the sheer ballsiness of Kern's move. Nice going, Doom.)

[Doomwing]

"Bring it on you mangy runts!" He snarls. He swings his axe at the advancing beastman. "You call this a fight? I had better ones when I was Three!" He swings his axe into the wooden pole of the other axe rendering it useless. He lets off a bestial roar as he charges into the the beastman.

[Flagmauth]

[Rolling spellcraft for disabling the elemental.]

[Flagmauth]

The member 'Mycrodeeth' has done the following action : Roll dice

'd20' : 3

[President WIN]

(Wow, you're not having a good day with spell checks, are you Mycro?)

As the elf gestures wildly, the elemental feels another feeble spell. It laughs, a sound like rolling thunder, and decides the elf is not much of a threat. It turns and begins to assault the Ruby Night's Beastmen crew, blowing them off the ship.

"No!" Alekssander shouts, rushing to the side of the ship, and peering over. As he watches the Beastmen plummet to their death, he hurridly casts a spell, bathing the falling Beastmen in the protective glow of holy armor, hoping to prevent their deaths.

Alekssander then whirls and runs over to Shi'nrae. Grabbing her arm tightly in his claw, he whispers fiercely in her ear, "If you really are a sorceress, now would be the time to prove it. Don't just try to bind that thing, banish it! Here, I'll see if I can give you a boost." Closing his eyes, Alekssander mumbles a few arcane words, channeling pure life force into Shi'nrae, boosting her magical strength. (+2 check bonus)

The Elemental notices what Alekssander is doing, and roars with rage. The force of its fury hurls Alekssander backward across the deck of the ship and over the edge, and he disappears from view. The Air Elemental is too late however; Shi'nrae already has the magical power.

Meanwhile, on board the enemy ship, the Beastman holding the ax is hurled backward, yelping, by the force of Kern's blow, even as his ax shatters. As Kern charges the other two, the one baring the halberd lowers the blade, setting it against Kern and tearing into his shoulder as he comes. The bowman meanwhile looses an arrow at the hand with which Kern is gripping his own ax, in an attempt to disarm him. (roll d20 to maintain your grip, and then proceed with your next actions)

As all of this occurs, the crew of the Evergreen Fens begins to come up from below-decks slowly, and they begin to take up battle stations on that merchant vessel.

[Doomwing]

(rolling)

[Flagmauth]

The member 'Doomwing' has done the following action : Roll dice

'd20' : 7

[Doomwing]

Kern swears and drops his axe. He grabs onto the Arrow from his hand and stabs it into the neck of the one wielding the Halberd. He Picks up his axe again and slashes at the Beastmen.

[Flagmauth]

[Technically Shi'nrae's the one having horrible Spellcraft rolls, but meh [/nitpick] Rolling for banishment spell with the +2]

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