OOC- Shadow's Dawn: Diving into the past Options

[Seth]

Does Fearghas need to like ask a jester wtf they're doing to figure out that the memory is barred to him, or something like that?

That would probably be a good idea (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[sabs]

Seth:
Next round (since I don't have any more actions this round)
First:
Can we say that I have the following 3 spells already in my spellmtrix (I really should have specified at the beginning but I forgot)
Analyze Magic
Analyze Truth
Combat Sense


Spellcasting:
I'd like to cast Combat Sense Force 6 on myself: I don't know the aura around here.
Magic (7) + Spellcasting(4) + Spellcating Focus (3) + talisman (1) + dream point (2)= 17d6 2 6 6 2 4 5 1 1 5 4 3 6 5 3 1 3 1 (6) hits. + 6 6 1 (2) + 2 5 (1) = 9 hits


Drain: (6/2)+2=5
Drain Resistance: w(7)+L(5)+c(4)=16d6 4 6 3 4 4 6 1 3 1 2 6 6 4 1 3 5 (5) hits
0 Drain

I'm now at +9 to all defense rolls, but -2 to EVERYTHING. Sigh (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) So that's an effective +7 for defense.

Hey Seth, how many dream points do I have left, I can't find that post.

[Seth]

Oops: I am not keeping track of dream points.

Can I say in general that we should keep stuff like that in a spoiler tag under OOC post? I am doing this in other games and it helps me a lot (I only do it in a few posts, not every one, and I can quickly scan for my icon with a status spoiler..)

@General
I think that everyone by now is getting twitchy.
Marduk/Mandala...these corridors are looking very similar
Fearghas/Alyena...this stairway has a lot of stairs...
Ryl...OK not everyone.

[pbangarth]

I need to do Mandala for the crash test etc. This will have to come later today or early in the morning tomorrow. Sorry.

[pbangarth]

OK, after Mandala blasted the snakes, he had another IP left. In that IP he will switch the alignment of the matrix that had detect enemies in it to spatial sense (extended). Everybody's an enemy! And I'm trying to figure out a way through these corridors.

Initiative for the woman/man round: 12 dice ==> 4 HITS = 16

Oh dear. This puts him ahead of the two opponents. And stuff has already happened. OK, I guess Mandala was slow for some reason... damn this RL thing that gets in the way of posting on time! Sorry sabs.

Running skill for the crash test, huh? BOD 3 - 1 for defaulting = 2 dice. I will not use Edg or dream manipulation to help this, so Mandala fails since he needs 3 hits. His ItNW will prevent damage to him. Guard will keep him from glitching. Don't know about the couple.

To stay standing, a gymnastic test (3) : AGI 3 -1 defaulting +Edge 8 (not Dream Manipulation, but actual Edge) = 10 (exploding 6s)
==> 3 HITS : standing

To save some time here, since the dagger blow went for Marduk, I won't bother with the dodge, soak, etc.

I won't go past them, as I am stopped anyway and they are right there.

Stunball Force 7: 13 dice ==> 3 HITS
so, DV = 7S + net hits out of 3

Spell Drain is 4S, 19 dice ==> 8 HITS no drain

Matrix drain 4S , 10 dice ==> 3 HITS 1 more ED drain, for 2 now

[ Spoiler ]

dream manipulation points 10 +sabs' roll -4
Edge points 7

sabs, do you think using some dream manipulation could work to straighten out these corridors? I also have the spatial sense spell now which might be able to see past whatever illusion/shifting is happening here.

I will do Mandala's second IP after I know what happened to the couple. Options are finish them off, sense the area, manipulate the dream...

I'll be away from computer till Sunday night. I'll check in then.

[Sephiroth]

Not sure whether I did this right, since I'm not sure how the dream points total works with Edge, but here we go. I had most of a post written earlier about the guards, but then Internet Explorer rebooted itself and I lost all of what I'd wrote. So I've given up on that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

Doesn't Combat Sense help avoid the explosion from the window?

F8 Levitate on the minotaur: Magic 6 + Spellcasting 6 + Dream Point Edge 10 = 22d6.hitsopen(5,6) = [5,5,[6, 3],2,5,[6, 1],1,[6, 5],4,3,3,3,[6, 2],4,2,1,1,4,4,[6, 6, 6, 2],4,3] = (11).

Drain for that: Willpower 5 + Charisma 12 + Centering 4 (5) = 22d6 = 7 hits covers 5 drain completely.

I don't really know which skill is appropriate for this; I'll go with Intimidation, I guess?
Asking the minotaur what his goddamn problem is: Charisma 12 - Defaulting 1 + Kinesics 1 = 12d6 = 4 hits

Fearghas has Magic Sense in this flashback. Does that give any further information about a) whatever is following us, b) the minotaur, and c) what is further up the staircase?

[ Spoiler ]

Edge remaining: 2/3
Dream Points remaining: 9/10

[pbangarth]

Nice touch, Sephiroth.

[Sephiroth]

Ha. Which part?

[pbangarth]

Actually asking one of those mo'fos what the hell is going on.

[Seth]

@Pbangarth
Your jester is very groggy, and staggers to a door, and departs.

Your spatial sense (sorry I missed seeing where you cast it) doesn't really extend beyond the next corridor...you get a little dizzy looking at it. Using a dream manipulation point to firm up on the spatial sense seems like a really good way to get out of here.

@Sepiroth
The intimidation worked. You can carry asking IC. Silver Horn is attaching himself to the group: he wants to get out of here. He cannot open any of the door's on the stairway.

[pbangarth]

Actually, I haven't cast the spatial sense yet, as it takes a complex action to switch a spell in the matrix, right? So, yeah, next round I will use a DM point to 'firm up' the picture.

[Seth]

I think you don't need to wait, as the baddies have legged it after one round. In the jester's case very wobbly legging it.

[pbangarth]

OK, I'll post this in IC after this post.

I have to be careful here. This spell can hurt like hell.

Force 5 Spatial Sense (extended) (normal range F X Magic X 10 meters = 450 meters):

Magic 9 + Spellcasting(detection) 5 + Talisman 1 = 15 dice ==> 4 HITS

Use 1 DM point to 'firm up the picture'

Drain = (F/2) + 4 = 6S
Resistance 19 dice ==> 4 HITS ... shit. Sustaining the spell will already distract Mandala.

Use Edge (not DM) to reroll misses 15 dice ==> 4 HITS ... no drain

Matrix usage drain 4S
Resitance 10 dice ==> 4 HITS no drain

EDIT:

[ Spoiler ]

Dream Manipulation points 15-5=10
Edge 8-2=6

[sabs]

My roll was a 5 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) btw.

so I have 10 points of which 2 have been used

[Seth]

@Pbangarth
You see the way to escape the trap: The spatial manipulation shows you that round the next corridor there is in fact the doorway to the Hall of Two Axes.

Can you IC something suitable dramatic?

[pbangarth]

My roll was a 5 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) btw.

OK. Thanks.

@Pbangarth
You see the way to escape the trap: The spatial manipulation shows you that round the next corridor there is in fact the doorway to the Hall of Two Axes.

Can you IC something suitable dramatic?

OK.

[Aria]

Seth, as invisible castle is offline do you want to roll for the crew firing their shiny cannons at the Snake's Fury?!? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Seth]

@Aria
Sorry was travelling for last couple of days.

Just roll and tell me what you get.

[Sephiroth]

@Sepiroth
The intimidation worked. You can carry asking IC. Silver Horn is attaching himself to the group: he wants to get out of here. He cannot open any of the door's on the stairway.

Okie dokie.

I wonder... do those balls in that jesterballpit we passed earlier talk? Are they actually jester-faced balls, or do they only look that way during lightning flashes?

[Seth]

@Sephiroth/Alyena
As before with the jesters:

• Perception to spot the jester heads. The more perception successes, the less initiative you need to react before the heads are upon you.
• Initiative, and the heads go on (14 - successes on the perception) .
• If you go before the heads, tell me what you are doing: levitate just works, jumping needs 3 successes, other responses are possible.

I'm happy for you to try and get off the stairway someway using dream manipulation. Mandala did it with a spell that sensed the outside world. I think you will need to be a little more creative, as neither of you appear to have such spells.

@Sabs/Pbangarth
I need you two to let me know what you want to do. Cross the hall, join in with the fight. Hug the side wall and skirt around. Fly up and over...

@Aria
Snakes fury is moving to ram and board: it being a light ram ship. Once I have the results of your crew's opening salvo:

Air sailor to avoid the ram (I'm not sure you've been including the handling modifier of 2)
Perception/Assensing to keep track of the floor: It's a long way down, and it's getting very dark in the middle of all these clouds

@General
We got very slow over summer, but I'm going to put some effort into speeding up this thread. I'll try and reply within 24 hours if that's possible, and I'll also try and let you know when I cannot. I suspect there might be a backlog of questions that I haven't answered, so ask anything again that I am not up to date with.

There is no pressure on any of you: post at the speed that fits in best with your personal circumstances. As far as I can see we are about 3/4 of the way through this story, and I would like very much to have a "finished" game on dumpshock.

[Seth]

@Sephiroth
I suspect the following super-cedes your questions:

Harliquin's instructions to you are:

"When the proper time comes, you must Awaken it[The Spear], call to it with its True Name. It is important that you not awaken it too soon, for if you do the Enemy will flee and strike elsewhere. Only when the Enemy is unable to flee should you recall its Name."

You suspect that about now the Enemy cannot flee: it needs to stop you finding its true name.

To remember the true name, you must confront a dream figure and force it to talk to you. You have done so:

The Spear of Cephisto

Cephisto, the daughter of Jaron Earthshaper, was a follower of the Passion Astendar. Like her father her talents led her not just into making things, but also into travelling and exploring the world.

The horror While digging in the Ruins of Cara Fahd looking for some written remnants of ancient orcish music, she and her group were attacked by the Horror known as Nightmare. For months she and the remnants of her band wanded in a dream through the maze of their greatest personal tragedies. Each sleep was the beginning of a new Nightmare, as they forgot their dreams and aspirations, and forgot where they were. Nightmare fed well.

The group searched for Nightmare during the day, and fed it during the night.

One morning while she fell through the floor into a building it became clear was dedicated to Garlen in her aspect as Mneme or memory. In a trance she forged the spear from a flag holder, and a sword that her father had made. The golden spear of Cephisto can be used in many ways. With it her magic and fighting prowess were enhanced. However its most powerful aspect was the ability to bath a target in Mneme's healing touch and remove cobwebs that bind and constrain clear thinking.

That night was different. As nightmare forced them to relive their personal failures, they were able to force the dream inhabitants to wake. One of Cephisto's greatest personal sadness's was the last argument she had had with her father. A minor disagreement had esculated into a full scale row, and at the end she had walked out. It was the last time she saw her father. For days she had been reliving this, unable to stop the cycle of anger. With the spear she was able to awaken herself and more importantly the shadow of her father. Her father forgave her for her minor action, and was able to advise her how to defeat Nightmare.

Importantly this will allow you to point to dream manifestations of Harliquin or even the horror and communicate with it.

[Sephiroth]

@Sephiroth/Alyena
As before with the jesters:

• Perception to spot the jester heads. The more perception successes, the less initiative you need to react before the heads are upon you.
• Initiative, and the heads go on (14 - successes on the perception) .
• If you go before the heads, tell me what you are doing: levitate just works, jumping needs 3 successes, other responses are possible.

I'm happy for you to try and get off the stairway someway using dream manipulation. Mandala did it with a spell that sensed the outside world. I think you will need to be a little more creative, as neither of you appear to have such spells.

No problemo. I'll get these taken care of later this afternoon. I was intending on this while writing my post IC, but forgot to ask about it OOC: is there any roll I can do to try to mimic the effects of illusionist half-magic, specifically the ability of illusionism half-magic to attempt to discern what is true from what is an illusion (or something like that, I don't have my player's guide with me atm)? This would be directed at the jester heads.

@General
We got very slow over summer, but I'm going to put some effort into speeding up this thread. I'll try and reply within 24 hours if that's possible, and I'll also try and let you know when I cannot. I suspect there might be a backlog of questions that I haven't answered, so ask anything again that I am not up to date with.

There is no pressure on any of you: post at the speed that fits in best with your personal circumstances. As far as I can see we are about 3/4 of the way through this story, and I would like very much to have a "finished" game on dumpshock.

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it, Seth. Things got very slow on the Dumpshock WttS board last summer, as well, so I suspect (not having been on here for much longer than that) that this happens every summer. I think things will speed up again soon.

Also. Daaaaayyyyaaaaaaammm that is cool. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/love.gif)

[Sephiroth]

@Sephiroth/Alyena
As before with the jesters:

• Perception to spot the jester heads. The more perception successes, the less initiative you need to react before the heads are upon you.
• Initiative, and the heads go on (14 - successes on the perception) .
• If you go before the heads, tell me what you are doing: levitate just works, jumping needs 3 successes, other responses are possible.

Seth, if you could tell me whether Combat Sense applies to any of these given the description of the power, that would be lovely.

Perception: Intuition 5 + Perception 4 (Hearing +2) = 11d6 = 3 hits
Initiative: Reaction 3 + Intuition 5 = 8d6 = total of 12
Not sure yet. Levitation possible, but also seems like an appropriate time to use spear. Or perhaps not. I will sleep on it and reply again tomorrow.

[Seth]

Combat sense would apply to the initiative roll, as this is as much as surprise roll as anything. The spear: up to you

[Aria]

Damn the Snake’s Fury – she’ll not ram my ship!!!

Starboard battery 5x 8D = 2, 3, 2, 3, 4 hits DIE FRAGGER!!!

Air Sailor 14D = 3 hits + 1 auto
Drain = 12D = 2 hits = no drain

Perception 11D = 3 hits (Note: I have focused concentration so can ignore 9D of modifiers so laugh in the face of darkness and clouds (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )