A Shitty Shonen Quest
- Thread starter hYGP
- Start date
Quest Transformation: The Longest Night I
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
[X][Lei] Tell them Ou Zhi's story
[X][Di] Call for Li Mao
Background Roll: 30 + 10 (Friendly Magnetic Character) + 5 (Perceptive) - 10 (???) = 35
Li Qiu, Zhang Lei, and Han Xiao
You nod in acceptance.
"In which case, I'd like to tell the story of how me and Ou Zhi first met," you begin.
Charisma: 100 Opposed: 85
"You see, I first met him when I came to the capital for the first time. It was my first time coming to the city, and I had just got to thinking about how I was going to enter the city before Ou Zhi himself came and said he was looking for me," you say, blushing just a little bit.
Li Qiu smiles encouragingly, and Zhang Lei's cheeks redden just slightly under a mask of bored stoicism.
Charisma: 100 Opposed: 105
Charisma: 200 Opposed: 183
"After doing such a thing for me, I couldn't help but ask about what kind of person he was," you say. "To ask such a man a favor would be....degrading."
Zhang Lei begins to say something in response before Li Qiu cuts in.
"Degrading to him as a person, to ignore such a kind character and care only about what favor he could do for you, no?"
You nod.
"Yes, Li Qiu, precisely. He found such interest in him refreshing, apparently, and we talked about our families for a small while," you say.
"He was the spitting image of a what a prince should be, and he saw something in me which he thought was matronly material, so here I am," you shrug.
Zhang Lei and Li Qiu nodded along, before launching into their own versions of the story.
Due to unsynchronized choice, no SL gain with Zhang Lei. Due to background resonance, SL with Li Qiu starts at 3. Li Qiu will not fight with you, but won't speak against you.
Background Roll: 45 + 5 (Perceptive) + 5 (Friendly Perceptive) + 5 (Over Martial Limit) + 10 (???) = 70
Chase
Martial: 110 Opposed: 105
"LI MAO!" you roar. "INTRUDER!"
The shocked look Ou Di throws back at you curls your lips into a feral grin.
[Trait: Proud]
"Did you really think I was going to let go of such an insult to my pride?" you viciously ask.
"I'll have your head for this," he says. "After your maidenhead, just to be sure," he spits.
He turns and sprints off the balcony.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 74
You follow him right off. The landing barely even fazes you, and you can see his fleeing form a few paces ahead.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 76
You close just a few feet, pulling nearly into throwing -
Martial: 200 Opposed: 143 + 50 (Non-Lethal) = 193
A spear comes flying out of the darkness and slams into Ou Di's back. His balance and knees gave out, sending him crashing, rolling, and moaning to the ground. It's only then that you notice that the spearhead isn't penetrating his body; whoever threw that must've thrown it butt-first, and there's only one person you can think of who could pull off such a thing.
Li Mao ran up to the courtyard as you stepped forward to subdue Ou Di.
"So. He was trying to have his way with you in the Royal Harem's quarters?" Li Mao says, serious for maybe the first time you've seen her as you push Ou Di onto his chest.
He huffed out at great length about exterminating your entire line through his wheezing as you applied your knee to the small of his back, before you covered his mouth with your hand.
"Yes," you nod simply.
"Good riddance. Hold on a moment, I'll go get some rope," she said, turning back into the darkness.
"No need," Zhang Lei's voice issued. "I've heard enough, and I have some bowstring we can use for a short while."
Pleading, Ou Di's eyes turn toward Zhang Lei, the only person among you three who might yet save him.
His savior of last resort casts him down with a gaze, and a mere sentence:
"Filth should not dirty the bottom of my feet," she delivered, handing you the string.
Due to the conspiring of events, Zhang Lei has turned HOSTILE against Ou Di, and will now fight with you! +2 SL Zhang Lei. For thinking of her first and foremost, Li Mao realizes you see her as a comrade too. +1 SL.
Background Roll: 3 + 5 (Perceptive) - 10 (???) = -2 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 31 - 2 = 29
Signal
You woke up, rubbing your eyes; it felt like you had hardly slept at all before the day was light outside.
Blearily, you stumbled to the window facing the palace.
The palace that was on fire.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 19
You were very much awake right now.
The palace has caught fire! This must be the work of an Enemy [Faction]!
Due to your success in the Royal Harem Subversion Quest, Li Mao, Li Qiu, and Zhang Lei have been temporarily added as retainers. Social standing requirements have been waived. They will follow you, because they trust you and you have an idea of what the hell is going on.
What the hell going on, of course, is a palace coup from Ou Di's faction, Ou Zhi's countercoup, and Ou Tie's attempts to survive all firing at once.
If a theater is won, additional forces may be sent over to reinforce other theaters.
Pick a Theater for each retainer and yourself.
Theater: The Royal Harem's wing.
The fighting was bound to spill over into here, and if you could protect these innocent sisters from having to experience any more bloodshed than needed, that would be a good thing. Lowest Risk. Does not contribute to main mission.
Theater: The Palace Periphery.
Perhaps you wouldn't be able to survive the most intense fighting, but you can prevent any of the murderous bastards from fleeing the justice they so richly deserved, or failing that, be able to escape with your life intact. Low Risk. Small contribution to main mission.
Theater: The Cells.
The surprise capture of Ou Di and subsequent trigger of the coup has left Ou Di's faction with an outsized vulnerability in Ou Di's current place behind bars, you think. If you can repel the forces here, that would allow you to immediately go upstairs. Medium Risk. Medium contribution to main mission.
Theater: The Rescue.
The heaviest hitters, like Dong Gancai and Wei Yahui will be cutting a line straight to the King, and attempting to navigate that careful balance between being early enough to save him and so late that they cannot hold Ou Di's faction accountable. They need every strong fighter they can get, and the actions of any single warrior there will resound throughout history. Extreme Risk. Extreme contribution to main mission.
Vote like so:
[] [Lei] (Theater)
[] [Mao] (Theater)
[] [Qiu] (Theater)
[] [Xiao] (Theater)
Pick one more action for yourself:
[][Self] Gear up
[][Self] Grab your sword and go
[X][Di] Call for Li Mao
Background Roll: 30 + 10 (Friendly Magnetic Character) + 5 (Perceptive) - 10 (???) = 35
Li Qiu, Zhang Lei, and Han Xiao
You nod in acceptance.
"In which case, I'd like to tell the story of how me and Ou Zhi first met," you begin.
Charisma: 100 Opposed: 85
"You see, I first met him when I came to the capital for the first time. It was my first time coming to the city, and I had just got to thinking about how I was going to enter the city before Ou Zhi himself came and said he was looking for me," you say, blushing just a little bit.
Li Qiu smiles encouragingly, and Zhang Lei's cheeks redden just slightly under a mask of bored stoicism.
Charisma: 100 Opposed: 105
Charisma: 200 Opposed: 183
"After doing such a thing for me, I couldn't help but ask about what kind of person he was," you say. "To ask such a man a favor would be....degrading."
Zhang Lei begins to say something in response before Li Qiu cuts in.
"Degrading to him as a person, to ignore such a kind character and care only about what favor he could do for you, no?"
You nod.
"Yes, Li Qiu, precisely. He found such interest in him refreshing, apparently, and we talked about our families for a small while," you say.
"He was the spitting image of a what a prince should be, and he saw something in me which he thought was matronly material, so here I am," you shrug.
Zhang Lei and Li Qiu nodded along, before launching into their own versions of the story.
Due to unsynchronized choice, no SL gain with Zhang Lei. Due to background resonance, SL with Li Qiu starts at 3. Li Qiu will not fight with you, but won't speak against you.
Background Roll: 45 + 5 (Perceptive) + 5 (Friendly Perceptive) + 5 (Over Martial Limit) + 10 (???) = 70
Chase
Martial: 110 Opposed: 105
"LI MAO!" you roar. "INTRUDER!"
The shocked look Ou Di throws back at you curls your lips into a feral grin.
[Trait: Proud]
"Did you really think I was going to let go of such an insult to my pride?" you viciously ask.
"I'll have your head for this," he says. "After your maidenhead, just to be sure," he spits.
He turns and sprints off the balcony.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 74
You follow him right off. The landing barely even fazes you, and you can see his fleeing form a few paces ahead.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 76
You close just a few feet, pulling nearly into throwing -
Martial: 200 Opposed: 143 + 50 (Non-Lethal) = 193
A spear comes flying out of the darkness and slams into Ou Di's back. His balance and knees gave out, sending him crashing, rolling, and moaning to the ground. It's only then that you notice that the spearhead isn't penetrating his body; whoever threw that must've thrown it butt-first, and there's only one person you can think of who could pull off such a thing.
Li Mao ran up to the courtyard as you stepped forward to subdue Ou Di.
"So. He was trying to have his way with you in the Royal Harem's quarters?" Li Mao says, serious for maybe the first time you've seen her as you push Ou Di onto his chest.
He huffed out at great length about exterminating your entire line through his wheezing as you applied your knee to the small of his back, before you covered his mouth with your hand.
"Yes," you nod simply.
"Good riddance. Hold on a moment, I'll go get some rope," she said, turning back into the darkness.
"No need," Zhang Lei's voice issued. "I've heard enough, and I have some bowstring we can use for a short while."
Pleading, Ou Di's eyes turn toward Zhang Lei, the only person among you three who might yet save him.
His savior of last resort casts him down with a gaze, and a mere sentence:
"Filth should not dirty the bottom of my feet," she delivered, handing you the string.
Due to the conspiring of events, Zhang Lei has turned HOSTILE against Ou Di, and will now fight with you! +2 SL Zhang Lei. For thinking of her first and foremost, Li Mao realizes you see her as a comrade too. +1 SL.
Background Roll: 3 + 5 (Perceptive) - 10 (???) = -2 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 31 - 2 = 29
Signal
You woke up, rubbing your eyes; it felt like you had hardly slept at all before the day was light outside.
Blearily, you stumbled to the window facing the palace.
The palace that was on fire.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 19
You were very much awake right now.
The palace has caught fire! This must be the work of an Enemy [Faction]!
Due to your success in the Royal Harem Subversion Quest, Li Mao, Li Qiu, and Zhang Lei have been temporarily added as retainers. Social standing requirements have been waived. They will follow you, because they trust you and you have an idea of what the hell is going on.
What the hell going on, of course, is a palace coup from Ou Di's faction, Ou Zhi's countercoup, and Ou Tie's attempts to survive all firing at once.
If a theater is won, additional forces may be sent over to reinforce other theaters.
Pick a Theater for each retainer and yourself.
Theater: The Royal Harem's wing.
The fighting was bound to spill over into here, and if you could protect these innocent sisters from having to experience any more bloodshed than needed, that would be a good thing. Lowest Risk. Does not contribute to main mission.
Theater: The Palace Periphery.
Perhaps you wouldn't be able to survive the most intense fighting, but you can prevent any of the murderous bastards from fleeing the justice they so richly deserved, or failing that, be able to escape with your life intact. Low Risk. Small contribution to main mission.
Theater: The Cells.
The surprise capture of Ou Di and subsequent trigger of the coup has left Ou Di's faction with an outsized vulnerability in Ou Di's current place behind bars, you think. If you can repel the forces here, that would allow you to immediately go upstairs. Medium Risk. Medium contribution to main mission.
Theater: The Rescue.
The heaviest hitters, like Dong Gancai and Wei Yahui will be cutting a line straight to the King, and attempting to navigate that careful balance between being early enough to save him and so late that they cannot hold Ou Di's faction accountable. They need every strong fighter they can get, and the actions of any single warrior there will resound throughout history. Extreme Risk. Extreme contribution to main mission.
Vote like so:
[] [Lei] (Theater)
[] [Mao] (Theater)
[] [Qiu] (Theater)
[] [Xiao] (Theater)
Pick one more action for yourself:
[][Self] Gear up
[][Self] Grab your sword and go
Allies Entering The Longest Night
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Ou Yan
欧延
Stats
Leadership: 80
Martial: 73
Charisma: 74
Piety: 68
Learning: 67
Traits
Adventurous: Effective bonus to encounter rolls
Noble: Bonus to Charisma, background rolls
Benevolent: Bonus to Reputation gain, reduced Leadership checks against
Perks
Dong Gancai
董干才
Stats
Leadership: 300
Martial: 300 (Limit: 500)
Charisma: 80
Piety: 200
Learning: 74
Traits:
Indomitable: Significant bonus to Leadership and Martial checks, significant raises opposing checks.
Generous: Bonus to Reputation Gain and Leadership, easier Leadership checks against
Perceptive: Learning thresholds lowered, effective bonus to encounter rolls.
Perks:
Instinct Tier III: You don't know why, but you've got a hell of a feeling, and your gut hasn't let you down yet. Requires 200 Piety. +75 to all Checks.
Eye For Talent I: You see the latent talent in people, just waiting to truly be expressed…and you can help with that. Can identify Potential to the tens place, improves background checks.
Vanguard Presence III: Your men see your wide back, and are heartened by it. Allows for Martial and Leadership Combined Checks! Requires 300 Leadership. Requires 300 Martial.
To Surpass Heaven I: Should you ever find yourself faced with an impossibility not even the Heavens can overcome…you will have to surpass the very heavens themselves. +19 to Shattering The Limit! Requires To Shatter Limits III. Requires Indomitable.
Maluses:
A Shattered Vessel IV: Every time the impossible is attempted, a cost must be paid. Each time you shatter your own limits, the shards of your spirit penetrate deeper. Permanent -250 Martial. Recovery time doubled.
Wei Yahui
Stats
Leadership: 200
Martial: 400
Charisma: 200
Piety: 79
Learning: 200
Traits:
Resolute: Bonus to Leadership and Martial checks, increases opposing checks.
Greedy: Bonus to Leadership Checks
Talented: +10 to training rolls
Perks
To Shatter Limits III: Limit after limit, this is what striving to reach Heaven looks like. +9 to Shattering The Limit! Requires To Shatter Limits II
Ways of Contending II: Your eyes and hands, skilled in a vast number of crafts, can fluidly flow from discipline to discipline. Combined Checks between maxed stats possible. Requires 3 Maxed Stats
Teng Jian
Stats
Leadership: 80
Martial: 200
Charisma: 80
Piety: 100
Learning: 70
Traits:
Talented: +10 to Training Rolls
Friendly: Bonus to Charisma Checks, bonus to SL gain
Adventurous: Effective bonus to encounter rolls
Perks:
Instinct Tier I: You've got a gut feeling. And if you can't trust your gut, what can you trust? Requires 100 Piety. +5 to all checks.
To Shatter Limits II: You've shattered the Limit once. You can do it again. +4 to Shattering the Limit Rolls! Requires To Shatter Limits I.
Eye For The Small I: You've been poor. So desperately poor that you can't help but look for the others just like you. +50 Learning when looking for poor people. [Eye For Talent I] specifically in poor people.
Ou Zhi
欧智
Social Link: 4/10
Stats
Leadership: 118
Martial: 70
Charisma: 95
Piety: 51
Learning: 100
Traits:
Genius: +15 to training rolls
Humble: +5 to Charisma Checks
Resolute: Bonus to Leadership and Martial checks
Perks:
The Favor Of Heaven: Things just seem to go…right for you. Lowered Background Checks, Increased Background Rolls
Unlimited: You can just seem to grasp things…a little beyond your limits. Increased Limits By Twenty! +9 to Shattering The Limit
The Heart: Any group that you become part of, bonds together tighter by your presence. Lowered Leadership Checks! Increased SL gain! Increased rate of Group Perk Generation!
Zhang Lei
张雷
Social Link: 5/10
Stats:
Leadership: 84
Martial: 200 (76 with sword)
Charisma: 77
Piety: 80
Learning: 75
Traits:
Perceptive: Learning thresholds lowered, effective bonus to background rolls
Noble: Bonus to Charisma, background rolls
Proud: Bonus to Martial training rolls
Perks:
Archer: You were raised with a bow in hand, and have been training it until you could use it on the vast fields of battle. Allows for Ranged Martial Checks!
(Ranged Martial Checks do not inflict damage upon the initiator when lost)
To Shatter Limits II: Your stance is the stance of a woman who has shattered her image and made it better. +4 to Shattering The Limit. Requires To Shatter Limits I
Li Mao
黎矛
Social Link: 5/10
Stats:
Leadership: 71
Martial: 200
Charisma: 76
Piety: 100
Learning: 68
Traits:
Upbeat: Bonus to Charisma checks
Greedy: Bonus to Leadership checks
Proud: Bonus to Martial training rolls
Perks:
Instinct Tier I: You've got a gut feeling. And your gut's never wrong! +5 to all checks. Requires 100 Piety
Li Qiu
李秋
Stats:
Leadership: 89
Martial: 79
Charisma: 200
Piety: 100
Learning: 81
Traits:
Magnetic: Significant bonus to Charisma Checks, bonus to SL actions
Sloth: Bonus to Learning
Talented: +10 to training rolls
Perks:
So As To The Weak: The strong must protect the weak, even if the strong have just rendered the weak so. Significant Bonus to Charisma Checks and Leadership Checks against victorious opponents!
欧延
Stats
Leadership: 80
Martial: 73
Charisma: 74
Piety: 68
Learning: 67
Traits
Adventurous: Effective bonus to encounter rolls
Noble: Bonus to Charisma, background rolls
Benevolent: Bonus to Reputation gain, reduced Leadership checks against
Perks
Dong Gancai
董干才
Stats
Leadership: 300
Martial: 300 (Limit: 500)
Charisma: 80
Piety: 200
Learning: 74
Traits:
Indomitable: Significant bonus to Leadership and Martial checks, significant raises opposing checks.
Generous: Bonus to Reputation Gain and Leadership, easier Leadership checks against
Perceptive: Learning thresholds lowered, effective bonus to encounter rolls.
Perks:
Instinct Tier III: You don't know why, but you've got a hell of a feeling, and your gut hasn't let you down yet. Requires 200 Piety. +75 to all Checks.
Eye For Talent I: You see the latent talent in people, just waiting to truly be expressed…and you can help with that. Can identify Potential to the tens place, improves background checks.
Vanguard Presence III: Your men see your wide back, and are heartened by it. Allows for Martial and Leadership Combined Checks! Requires 300 Leadership. Requires 300 Martial.
To Surpass Heaven I: Should you ever find yourself faced with an impossibility not even the Heavens can overcome…you will have to surpass the very heavens themselves. +19 to Shattering The Limit! Requires To Shatter Limits III. Requires Indomitable.
Maluses:
A Shattered Vessel IV: Every time the impossible is attempted, a cost must be paid. Each time you shatter your own limits, the shards of your spirit penetrate deeper. Permanent -250 Martial. Recovery time doubled.
Wei Yahui
Stats
Leadership: 200
Martial: 400
Charisma: 200
Piety: 79
Learning: 200
Traits:
Resolute: Bonus to Leadership and Martial checks, increases opposing checks.
Greedy: Bonus to Leadership Checks
Talented: +10 to training rolls
Perks
To Shatter Limits III: Limit after limit, this is what striving to reach Heaven looks like. +9 to Shattering The Limit! Requires To Shatter Limits II
Ways of Contending II: Your eyes and hands, skilled in a vast number of crafts, can fluidly flow from discipline to discipline. Combined Checks between maxed stats possible. Requires 3 Maxed Stats
Teng Jian
Stats
Leadership: 80
Martial: 200
Charisma: 80
Piety: 100
Learning: 70
Traits:
Talented: +10 to Training Rolls
Friendly: Bonus to Charisma Checks, bonus to SL gain
Adventurous: Effective bonus to encounter rolls
Perks:
Instinct Tier I: You've got a gut feeling. And if you can't trust your gut, what can you trust? Requires 100 Piety. +5 to all checks.
To Shatter Limits II: You've shattered the Limit once. You can do it again. +4 to Shattering the Limit Rolls! Requires To Shatter Limits I.
Eye For The Small I: You've been poor. So desperately poor that you can't help but look for the others just like you. +50 Learning when looking for poor people. [Eye For Talent I] specifically in poor people.
Ou Zhi
欧智
Social Link: 4/10
Stats
Leadership: 118
Martial: 70
Charisma: 95
Piety: 51
Learning: 100
Traits:
Genius: +15 to training rolls
Humble: +5 to Charisma Checks
Resolute: Bonus to Leadership and Martial checks
Perks:
The Favor Of Heaven: Things just seem to go…right for you. Lowered Background Checks, Increased Background Rolls
Unlimited: You can just seem to grasp things…a little beyond your limits. Increased Limits By Twenty! +9 to Shattering The Limit
The Heart: Any group that you become part of, bonds together tighter by your presence. Lowered Leadership Checks! Increased SL gain! Increased rate of Group Perk Generation!
Zhang Lei
张雷
Social Link: 5/10
Stats:
Leadership: 84
Martial: 200 (76 with sword)
Charisma: 77
Piety: 80
Learning: 75
Traits:
Perceptive: Learning thresholds lowered, effective bonus to background rolls
Noble: Bonus to Charisma, background rolls
Proud: Bonus to Martial training rolls
Perks:
Archer: You were raised with a bow in hand, and have been training it until you could use it on the vast fields of battle. Allows for Ranged Martial Checks!
(Ranged Martial Checks do not inflict damage upon the initiator when lost)
To Shatter Limits II: Your stance is the stance of a woman who has shattered her image and made it better. +4 to Shattering The Limit. Requires To Shatter Limits I
Li Mao
黎矛
Social Link: 5/10
Stats:
Leadership: 71
Martial: 200
Charisma: 76
Piety: 100
Learning: 68
Traits:
Upbeat: Bonus to Charisma checks
Greedy: Bonus to Leadership checks
Proud: Bonus to Martial training rolls
Perks:
Instinct Tier I: You've got a gut feeling. And your gut's never wrong! +5 to all checks. Requires 100 Piety
Li Qiu
李秋
Stats:
Leadership: 89
Martial: 79
Charisma: 200
Piety: 100
Learning: 81
Traits:
Magnetic: Significant bonus to Charisma Checks, bonus to SL actions
Sloth: Bonus to Learning
Talented: +10 to training rolls
Perks:
So As To The Weak: The strong must protect the weak, even if the strong have just rendered the weak so. Significant Bonus to Charisma Checks and Leadership Checks against victorious opponents!
Lets see, Theaters:
-Royal Harem
No threats. Put people here to sideline them
-Periphery
Catch escaping parties. There may be serious combatants, but they'd have already been wounded. Leave this for the end.
-Cells
Fastest one.
Expected to have some strong dudes.
-Rescue
Don't bother going unless you cleared everything else or your Martial is at least 200. You'd die.
[] [Lei] (Theater)
Skilled Archer. Only about as strong as us in the Cells due to poor close quarters skills.
Best in the Periphery where a ranged attacker can pick off fleeing units or the Rescue, where she can participate in Martial 300 fights without any immediate risk of being rekt.
[] [Mao] (Theater)
Skilled close fighter.
[] [Qiu] (Theater)
A bit weaker than we are.
[] [Xiao] (Theater)
We're weak ;_;
[X] [Lei] Rescue
[X] [Mao] Cells
[X] [Qiu] Cells
[X] [Xiao] Cells
[X][Self] Gear up
Send one support to the big fight, the rest hit the cells and clear it quickly to join the main brawl
-Royal Harem
No threats. Put people here to sideline them
-Periphery
Catch escaping parties. There may be serious combatants, but they'd have already been wounded. Leave this for the end.
-Cells
Fastest one.
Expected to have some strong dudes.
-Rescue
Don't bother going unless you cleared everything else or your Martial is at least 200. You'd die.
[] [Lei] (Theater)
Skilled Archer. Only about as strong as us in the Cells due to poor close quarters skills.
Best in the Periphery where a ranged attacker can pick off fleeing units or the Rescue, where she can participate in Martial 300 fights without any immediate risk of being rekt.
[] [Mao] (Theater)
Skilled close fighter.
[] [Qiu] (Theater)
A bit weaker than we are.
[] [Xiao] (Theater)
We're weak ;_;
[X] [Lei] Rescue
[X] [Mao] Cells
[X] [Qiu] Cells
[X] [Xiao] Cells
[X][Self] Gear up
Send one support to the big fight, the rest hit the cells and clear it quickly to join the main brawl
DarkKing98
Certified Village Idiot
- Location
- USA
Eh. We're not the WEAK per say. Quite strong actually considering our reputation and how we destroyed that one tournament's competition. We're just surrounded by combat giants.
- Location
- va
[X] [Lei] Rescue
[X] [Mao] Cells
[X] [Qiu] Cells
[X] [Xiao] Cells
[X][Self] Gear up
[X] [Mao] Cells
[X] [Qiu] Cells
[X] [Xiao] Cells
[X][Self] Gear up
The Longest Night II
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
[X] [Lei] Rescue
[X] [Mao] Cells
[X] [Qiu] Cells
[X] [Xiao] Cells
[X][Self] Gear up
Background Roll: 1 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = -9 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 50 - 9 (Critical Failure) - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 31
Theater:The Cells Royal Harem
BACKGROUND CRITICAL FAILURE INTERRUPT
"Zhang Lei, get to the central plaza and aid Ou Zhi! Li Mao, Li Qiu, follow me!" you shout, sprinting for the gate.
Hopped up on adrenaline, they can only nod along and match your pace as the other members of the Harem run and scream in fear.
However, your plan is destroyed almost the moment you step out of the Royal Harem.
Before you stands a hundred men, weapons bared and heading towards the Royal Harem.
The other group slows down and stops, as one steps out of the crowd. Your group of four keeps running.
"Now, now ladies, drop your weapons and we'll show you a good time, eh?" he says.
Charisma+Leadership Check: Don't make me laugh
[Trait: Proud]
"Yield or die!" you bark, still running forward without slowing down even slightly.
"What's that?" he snarled. "You asking for it, bit-"
Martial: 200 Opposed: 1
A spear suddenly embeds itself in his throat, as Li Mao suddenly accelerates to the front of the group.
The rest of them blink.
Combined Martial Check: 200 + 110 = 310 Opposed: Nullified by [Stunned] Status!
You and Li Mao carve a path through the stunned enemies, red trailing the edges of your blades as though you were dancing a ribbon dance instead of slaughtering men with every stroke.
Out of the corner of your eye, you can't help but notice that Zhang Lei and Li Qiu are still in their sleepwear; Zhang Lei herself only has her bow.
Well, no matter, you thought, fixing your eyes forward. You had a destination to get to.
Combined Martial Check: 310 Opposed: (75 - 65) * 30 = 300
Each strike felled a man, and yet you could not help but notice that the disorganized band of men was beginning to coalesce and begin attacking you in earnest, small scratches accumulating on your Heavy Leathers a bit at a time.
And yet.
The two of you advance forward atop the road of the dead you tread underfoot.
Combined Martial Check: 310 Opposed: 0 Combined Martial! Rout Triggered!
Suddenly, all at once your enemies break, running away from you. Try as you might, your sword nor Li Mao's spear can reach them in time; you will have to content yourself with them disappearing into the palace, fighting wills totally broken.
Martial: 200 Opposed: 90
Martial: 79 Opposed: 79
The two behind you, although grim-faced, pick up weapons and advance with you.
Background Roll: 17 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 10 (Delaying Critical Failure) = -7 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 61 - 7 (Critical Failure) + 10 (Gaze of Heaven)
Theater: The Cells
You're too late to stop them, you notice. The two murdered guards at the gate attest to that much. As do the dozens of enemy soldiers milling about the entrance.
However, if they haven't moved out, there's a chance you could cut straight in.
Li Qiu SL: 3 Needed: 5
Li Qiu Alignment: Cleared
"Han Xiao, there's another way into the cells," Li Qiu urgently says. "It goes through the sewer grates right there," she pointed out. "We might be able to beat them to Ou Di, but we also might not; if we don't get there before them, we'll be killed; if we get there before them, we might have a chance."
"We could also just cut our way in," Li Mao suggests, tensing up as if to pounce.
Sewer Run?
[] Yes, go into the Sewers (Possibility of gaining Massively Advantageous position, possibility of gaining Massively Disadvantageous position)
[] No, cut our way through
[X] [Mao] Cells
[X] [Qiu] Cells
[X] [Xiao] Cells
[X][Self] Gear up
Background: Due to critical failure, Ou Zhi's faction only has 300 men to Ou Di's thousand. Ou Tie himself somehow still has 150 men or so. The palace itself has about 250 men left over, as of yet unaffiliated. You'll have to make Leadership checks to get them to follow you.
Ou Zhi's faction leaders, guaranteed:
Dong Gancai Forced off by Shattered Vessel IV
Wei Yahui
Ou Zhi
You and your squad
Mobilization roll: 17 - 10 (Gaze Of Heaven) = 7
Base quality: 80
Standard deviation: 10
Current quality: 68
Discipline roll: Negated by Ways of Contending II
Wei Yahui might not quite be Dong Gancai, but he can sure as hell put up a good impression.
Ou Di's faction leaders, guaranteed:
Ou Di
Ou Quan
Mobilization roll: 58 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 68
Sufficiently high roll to mobilize Limit Shattered.
Mobilized Chen Yang
Base quality: 50
Standard deviation: 25
Current quality: 75
Discipline roll: 35
10 percent of Ou Di's forces break off and do whatever the hell they feel like
Ou Tie's faction leaders, guaranteed:
Ou Tie
Mobilization roll: 21 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 11
Base quality: 40
Standard deviation: 15
Current quality: 20
Discipline roll: 49
They'll mostly follow Ou Tie's orders. Mostly.
Wei Yahui commits all his forces to the Rescue because lmao of course he does.
Ou Di's faction is split: immediately 100 of his men wander off to "pillage" the palace, and he has to split the remaining 900. He detaches Ou Quan with 150 men to go retake the cells, and gets 750 to go with him and kill the king.
100 of the palace detachment is guarding the cells.
100 is scattered throughout the periphery.
30 want the hell out and have already left.
20 are guarding the Royal Harem.
Ou Zhi's faction leaders, guaranteed:
Wei Yahui
Ou Zhi
You and your squad
Mobilization roll: 17 - 10 (Gaze Of Heaven) = 7
Base quality: 80
Standard deviation: 10
Current quality: 68
Discipline roll: Negated by Ways of Contending II
Wei Yahui might not quite be Dong Gancai, but he can sure as hell put up a good impression.
Ou Di's faction leaders, guaranteed:
Ou Di
Ou Quan
Mobilization roll: 58 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 68
Sufficiently high roll to mobilize Limit Shattered.
Mobilized Chen Yang
Chen Yang
陈阳
Stats
Leadership: 200
Martial: 100
Charisma: 200
Piety: 100
Learning: 100
Traits:
Noble: Bonus to Charisma, bonus to background rolls
Sloth: Bonus to Learning
Perceptive: Bonus to Learning checks, effective bonus to background rolls
Perks:
Master of All: You who know all arts and skills can easily understand how one becomes another. Allows for checks between multiple Maxed Stats!
陈阳
Stats
Leadership: 200
Martial: 100
Charisma: 200
Piety: 100
Learning: 100
Traits:
Noble: Bonus to Charisma, bonus to background rolls
Sloth: Bonus to Learning
Perceptive: Bonus to Learning checks, effective bonus to background rolls
Perks:
Master of All: You who know all arts and skills can easily understand how one becomes another. Allows for checks between multiple Maxed Stats!
Standard deviation: 25
Current quality: 75
Discipline roll: 35
10 percent of Ou Di's forces break off and do whatever the hell they feel like
Ou Tie's faction leaders, guaranteed:
Ou Tie
Mobilization roll: 21 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 11
Base quality: 40
Standard deviation: 15
Current quality: 20
Discipline roll: 49
They'll mostly follow Ou Tie's orders. Mostly.
Wei Yahui commits all his forces to the Rescue because lmao of course he does.
Ou Di's faction is split: immediately 100 of his men wander off to "pillage" the palace, and he has to split the remaining 900. He detaches Ou Quan with 150 men to go retake the cells, and gets 750 to go with him and kill the king.
100 of the palace detachment is guarding the cells.
100 is scattered throughout the periphery.
30 want the hell out and have already left.
20 are guarding the Royal Harem.
Background Roll: 1 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = -9 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 50 - 9 (Critical Failure) - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 31
Theater:
BACKGROUND CRITICAL FAILURE INTERRUPT
"Zhang Lei, get to the central plaza and aid Ou Zhi! Li Mao, Li Qiu, follow me!" you shout, sprinting for the gate.
Hopped up on adrenaline, they can only nod along and match your pace as the other members of the Harem run and scream in fear.
However, your plan is destroyed almost the moment you step out of the Royal Harem.
Before you stands a hundred men, weapons bared and heading towards the Royal Harem.
The other group slows down and stops, as one steps out of the crowd. Your group of four keeps running.
"Now, now ladies, drop your weapons and we'll show you a good time, eh?" he says.
Charisma+Leadership Check: Don't make me laugh
[Trait: Proud]
"Yield or die!" you bark, still running forward without slowing down even slightly.
"What's that?" he snarled. "You asking for it, bit-"
Martial: 200 Opposed: 1
A spear suddenly embeds itself in his throat, as Li Mao suddenly accelerates to the front of the group.
The rest of them blink.
Combined Martial Check: 200 + 110 = 310 Opposed: Nullified by [Stunned] Status!
You and Li Mao carve a path through the stunned enemies, red trailing the edges of your blades as though you were dancing a ribbon dance instead of slaughtering men with every stroke.
Out of the corner of your eye, you can't help but notice that Zhang Lei and Li Qiu are still in their sleepwear; Zhang Lei herself only has her bow.
Well, no matter, you thought, fixing your eyes forward. You had a destination to get to.
Combined Martial Check: 310 Opposed: (75 - 65) * 30 = 300
Each strike felled a man, and yet you could not help but notice that the disorganized band of men was beginning to coalesce and begin attacking you in earnest, small scratches accumulating on your Heavy Leathers a bit at a time.
And yet.
The two of you advance forward atop the road of the dead you tread underfoot.
Combined Martial Check: 310 Opposed: 0 Combined Martial! Rout Triggered!
Suddenly, all at once your enemies break, running away from you. Try as you might, your sword nor Li Mao's spear can reach them in time; you will have to content yourself with them disappearing into the palace, fighting wills totally broken.
Martial: 200 Opposed: 90
Martial: 79 Opposed: 79
The two behind you, although grim-faced, pick up weapons and advance with you.
Background Roll: 17 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 10 (Delaying Critical Failure) = -7 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 61 - 7 (Critical Failure) + 10 (Gaze of Heaven)
Theater: The Cells
You're too late to stop them, you notice. The two murdered guards at the gate attest to that much. As do the dozens of enemy soldiers milling about the entrance.
However, if they haven't moved out, there's a chance you could cut straight in.
Li Qiu SL: 3 Needed: 5
Li Qiu Alignment: Cleared
"Han Xiao, there's another way into the cells," Li Qiu urgently says. "It goes through the sewer grates right there," she pointed out. "We might be able to beat them to Ou Di, but we also might not; if we don't get there before them, we'll be killed; if we get there before them, we might have a chance."
"We could also just cut our way in," Li Mao suggests, tensing up as if to pounce.
Sewer Run?
[] Yes, go into the Sewers (Possibility of gaining Massively Advantageous position, possibility of gaining Massively Disadvantageous position)
[] No, cut our way through
- Location
- va
[X] Yes, go into the Sewers (Possibility of gaining Massively Advantageous position, possibility of gaining Massively Disadvantageous position)
The Longest Night III
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
[X] Yes, go into the Sewers (Possibility of gaining Massively Advantageous position, possibility of gaining Massively Disadvantageous position)
Background Roll: 86 + 10 (Gaze Of Heaven) = 96 [
Nothing to it then.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 101
With a few hacks, the grate gives with a mighty kick.
Li Mao jumps in immediately, Li Qiu following soon after.
You breathe out. Breathe in the horrifyingly putrefying smell.
You jump in.
The space is barely enough to crawl through, and by the time Li Qiu finally signals you to get out, you quietly swear to burn your Leathers and buy yourself a better set of armor.
[Trait: Proud]
If you were alive to see the end of this, you certainly would've deserved it.
A few hacks and cuts with Li Mao's spear, and all of you come tumbling out of a hallway.
"Perfect," Li Qiu whispers, evidently uncaring that her red hair is streaked black with brown sludge.
You suppose it's not an unfamiliar feeling to you too, as you ignore the dripping sounds the stuff makes from your head.
"How so?" you venture to ask Li Qiu.
"The enemies have to come through here to get to the cell. There's no way around this tight corridor, which means if we stand there..." Li Qiu points, the area a stone tunnel between cells.
"...We'll slaughter them." Li Mao nodded.
You nod in acquiescence.
[Trait: Proud]
Then you start thinking about how to get the gunk out of your damn hair; you put effort into having nice hair, and if you had a chance to deal with it, you were going to help clean it out!
Learning: 70 Opposed: 82 - 15 (Perceptive) = 67
...
The cell bars would do, you supposed.
So you waited. One hand on your sword, the other rhythmically scraping off goo from your hair on the iron bars.
You didn't have to wait long.
"Ah. I was hoping there wouldn't be anyone in our way," the lead man said. "Please move aside so that we can rescue our lord from a crime he didn't commit," the man says, bowing his head.
Charisma Check: this happened not six hours ago, he's not that convincing
You scoff.
"Please. Don't you tell me what did and did not happen to me," you say, bringing yourself to a full guard stance a step behind Li Mao.
The lead man stops. Considers for a moment.
Then he sighs.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry about this."
Li Qiu Interrupt!
"Wait! Lin Yan, famed retainer of Ou Di, let us state our case, under the threat of death!" she said, smoothly sliding around Li Mao and dropping her sword.
So As To The Weak Trigger!
[Trait: Proud]
"Wait - "
Li Qiu glares at you to shut up and let her handle this.
"Are you sure?" Lin Yan says, bringing the swordpoint to Li Qiu's neck, just a hairsbreadth from bursting into and through her throat.
Opposing Trait: Just Trigger!
Li Qiu does not back down.
"Yes," she softly says.
Lin Yan nods.
"Than under what charges was my master jailed?" he asked.
"Infiltrating the Royal Harem with the intent to defile a candidate," Li Qiu said, unwavering voice leaving no room for doubt.
That did not prevent Lin Yan from trying, regardless.
"And who and where seized him?" Lin Yan asked.
"Han Xiao, wielding a sword behind me. It was her that Ou Di attempted to ravage in the dead of night, and it was her that apprehended him," Li Qiu enunciated.
Lin Yan turned to look at you, sword still pointed at Lei Qi's throat.
Patterns of Smoke I Trigger!
Then, he sighed, and sheathed his sword.
"What you say makes an unfortunate amount of sense, and I must deeply apologize to you in particular, Han Xiao, for failing to notice that my master had become much more unhinged, recently," he said, bowing.
"Men, for tonight, we shall turn around. There are more important things that we must be doing than bailing Master out of the consequences of his own actions," he said, wheeling around.
You eye his retreating back.
[] [Lin] Let him go.
[] [Lin] Persuade him to follow you to the Rescue mission. (LOCKS THEATER CHOICE AS RESCUE) (SUCCESS NOT GUARANTEED)
[] [Lin] Cut him and his men down, while their backs are turned.
Due to Allied Intervention, Opponent Critical Roll, and Trait Resonance, the Cells have been cleared as a Theater!
The remaining theaters are:
Royal Harem
Rescue
Periphery
Assign each temporary retainer to a Theater.
[] [Mao]
[] [Qi]
[] [Xiao]
Background Roll: 86 + 10 (Gaze Of Heaven) = 96 [
Nothing to it then.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 101
With a few hacks, the grate gives with a mighty kick.
Li Mao jumps in immediately, Li Qiu following soon after.
You breathe out. Breathe in the horrifyingly putrefying smell.
You jump in.
The space is barely enough to crawl through, and by the time Li Qiu finally signals you to get out, you quietly swear to burn your Leathers and buy yourself a better set of armor.
[Trait: Proud]
If you were alive to see the end of this, you certainly would've deserved it.
A few hacks and cuts with Li Mao's spear, and all of you come tumbling out of a hallway.
"Perfect," Li Qiu whispers, evidently uncaring that her red hair is streaked black with brown sludge.
You suppose it's not an unfamiliar feeling to you too, as you ignore the dripping sounds the stuff makes from your head.
"How so?" you venture to ask Li Qiu.
"The enemies have to come through here to get to the cell. There's no way around this tight corridor, which means if we stand there..." Li Qiu points, the area a stone tunnel between cells.
"...We'll slaughter them." Li Mao nodded.
You nod in acquiescence.
[Trait: Proud]
Then you start thinking about how to get the gunk out of your damn hair; you put effort into having nice hair, and if you had a chance to deal with it, you were going to help clean it out!
Learning: 70 Opposed: 82 - 15 (Perceptive) = 67
...
The cell bars would do, you supposed.
So you waited. One hand on your sword, the other rhythmically scraping off goo from your hair on the iron bars.
You didn't have to wait long.
"Ah. I was hoping there wouldn't be anyone in our way," the lead man said. "Please move aside so that we can rescue our lord from a crime he didn't commit," the man says, bowing his head.
Charisma Check: this happened not six hours ago, he's not that convincing
You scoff.
"Please. Don't you tell me what did and did not happen to me," you say, bringing yourself to a full guard stance a step behind Li Mao.
The lead man stops. Considers for a moment.
Then he sighs.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry about this."
Li Qiu Interrupt!
"Wait! Lin Yan, famed retainer of Ou Di, let us state our case, under the threat of death!" she said, smoothly sliding around Li Mao and dropping her sword.
So As To The Weak Trigger!
[Trait: Proud]
"Wait - "
Li Qiu glares at you to shut up and let her handle this.
"Are you sure?" Lin Yan says, bringing the swordpoint to Li Qiu's neck, just a hairsbreadth from bursting into and through her throat.
Opposing Trait: Just Trigger!
Li Qiu does not back down.
"Yes," she softly says.
Lin Yan nods.
"Than under what charges was my master jailed?" he asked.
"Infiltrating the Royal Harem with the intent to defile a candidate," Li Qiu said, unwavering voice leaving no room for doubt.
That did not prevent Lin Yan from trying, regardless.
"And who and where seized him?" Lin Yan asked.
"Han Xiao, wielding a sword behind me. It was her that Ou Di attempted to ravage in the dead of night, and it was her that apprehended him," Li Qiu enunciated.
Lin Yan turned to look at you, sword still pointed at Lei Qi's throat.
Patterns of Smoke I Trigger!
Then, he sighed, and sheathed his sword.
"What you say makes an unfortunate amount of sense, and I must deeply apologize to you in particular, Han Xiao, for failing to notice that my master had become much more unhinged, recently," he said, bowing.
"Men, for tonight, we shall turn around. There are more important things that we must be doing than bailing Master out of the consequences of his own actions," he said, wheeling around.
Lin Yan
林烟
Stats:
Leadership: 92
Martial: 200
Charisma: 91
Piety: 79
Learning: 98
Traits:
Loyal: Bonus to SL-gain, bonus to background rolls
Just: Bonus to background rolls, bonus to Learning rolls
Sloth: Bonus to Learning
Perks:
The Favor Of Heaven: Things just seem to go…right for you. Lowered Background Checks, Increased Background Rolls
Unlimited: You can just seem to grasp things…a little beyond your limits. Increased Limits By Twenty! +9 to Shattering The Limit
Patterns of Smoke I: By observing the smoke from a fire, you can predict what the fire looked like. Unfortunately, this skill indicates being next to a number of fires. Big fires. Significant Bonus to Learning
林烟
Stats:
Leadership: 92
Martial: 200
Charisma: 91
Piety: 79
Learning: 98
Traits:
Loyal: Bonus to SL-gain, bonus to background rolls
Just: Bonus to background rolls, bonus to Learning rolls
Sloth: Bonus to Learning
Perks:
The Favor Of Heaven: Things just seem to go…right for you. Lowered Background Checks, Increased Background Rolls
Unlimited: You can just seem to grasp things…a little beyond your limits. Increased Limits By Twenty! +9 to Shattering The Limit
Patterns of Smoke I: By observing the smoke from a fire, you can predict what the fire looked like. Unfortunately, this skill indicates being next to a number of fires. Big fires. Significant Bonus to Learning
[] [Lin] Let him go.
[] [Lin] Persuade him to follow you to the Rescue mission. (LOCKS THEATER CHOICE AS RESCUE) (SUCCESS NOT GUARANTEED)
[] [Lin] Cut him and his men down, while their backs are turned.
Due to Allied Intervention, Opponent Critical Roll, and Trait Resonance, the Cells have been cleared as a Theater!
The remaining theaters are:
Royal Harem
Rescue
Periphery
Assign each temporary retainer to a Theater.
[] [Mao]
[] [Qi]
[] [Xiao]
I fucked up the names; Li Qiu was named as Lei Qi for a bit, starting here.
Last edited:
- Location
- Sydney
[X] [Lin] Let him go.
[X] [Mao] Rescue
[X] [Qi] Rescue
[X] [Xiao] Rescue
[X] [Mao] Rescue
[X] [Qi] Rescue
[X] [Xiao] Rescue
[X] [Lin] Persuade him to follow you to the Rescue mission. (LOCKS THEATER CHOICE AS RESCUE) (SUCCESS NOT GUARANTEED)
[X] [Mao] Rescue
[X] [Qi] Rescue
[X] [Xiao] Rescue
[X] [Mao] Rescue
[X] [Qi] Rescue
[X] [Xiao] Rescue
The Longest Night IV
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
[X] [Lin] Persuade him to follow you to the Rescue mission. (LOCKS THEATER CHOICE AS RESCUE) (SUCCESS NOT GUARANTEED)
[X] [Mao] Rescue
[X] [Qi] Rescue
[X] [Xiao] Rescue
"Wait, Lin Yan!" you say. "You are also headed to the aid of Ou Tie the king, are you not?"
[Opposing Trait: Just]
"Of course I am going to the aid of Ou Tie," Lin Yan said. "All we will have to do is put down Ou Zhi's rebellion, yes?"
Charisma: 100 Opposed: 93
Learning: 98 Opposed: 119 Natural Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 12 = 147 - 15 (Just) - 10 (Loyal) - 20 (Circumstance) - 30 (Patterns of Smoke I) = 92
"If you trust us, Lin Yan, can you be certain of that?" you said.
He looked back. His eyes unfocused, staring into a horizon that the dark hallway did not provide, mind awhirl.
Then he snapped back.
"No, I can't be certain of that, you're right. Even if it appears that Ou Zhi has all the reason in the world to want to do this, I also thought that Ou Di would not have done such a foolish thing, and the time and the people awake are all wrong," he muttered, hand to his chin.
Leadership: 72 Opposed: 66
"Either way, any longer we spend down here and not up there is wasted time," you hurriedly impress, loudly sheathing your own sword and striding forward.
He's briefly taken aback, and now Li Qiu and Li Mao look at you askance.
"We have to move, everyone. Every single breath we waste theorizing down here is another breath that the King could've received aid in," you said.
Lin Yan's eyebrows shoot up, but acknowledging the wisdom of your words, hurries out.
Your group isn't far behind, but Li Mao's spear never returns to a safe position.
When you exit, Lin Yan suddenly comes to a halt, along with most of his men.
He takes a single moment to take in the flaming palace.
"Loyal retainers of Ou Tie, we must head to the defence of the palace!" he cries, he and his forces suddenly marching just on the edge of physically running.
"Halt!" cries a thoroughly unlikeable man.
"What's the meaning of this, Lin Yan?! Why have you returned, without Ou Di?!" the soft voice demands, issuing from a thricefolded chin.
"The meaning of this is that it is entirely believable that Master has committed a serious offense and thus should not be immediately bailed out of punishment, not until we rescue the King," Lin Yan patiently explained, apologetically half-smiling back at you for a single instant but without the glint vanishing for a moment.
"'Entirely believable?!' Do you hear yourself, Lin Yan? You might be useful, but when he gets out he's going to kill you for this insolence for sure, if not him, Ou Tie! And then I'll be the one...heheheh," he drifted off.
Lin Yan nearly slaps himself in the face before he suddenly narrows his eyes.
"Ou Quan, you don't understand the gravity of our situation. Ou Tie right now is under threat, or possibly under threat, the palace is literally burning behind you, and you think that there is time to bail Master out of a sentence he rightly deserves, if not now, earlier?" Lin Yan frustratedly said.
"That sounds like treason, and disrespect for your betters, Lin Yan," Ou Quan says, trying to hold up your forces.
You glance back at Li Mao and Li Qiu. In each other's eyes, you all come to an immediate consensus.
"We don't have time for this," you say, running towards the fire. The padding footsteps of Li Mao and clip clop of Li Qiu follow your own sharp strikes against the ground.
Out of the corner of your ears, the shouted argument continues, until another roil of thunder rumbles.
Just on your heels, Lin Yan appears to have convinced the rest of the force deployed with him on your heels, leaving a ranting Ou Quan behind.
Roars rend the air, the sound of muted steel on steel and steel on flesh and their screams and the fury of warriors possessed competing for space with the hellscape of acrid smoke and wafts of entrails.
The battlefield is a disaster, from your vantage of the courtyard.
Wei Yahui's forces penetrated through the central gate, but have been surrounded just a few feet short of the stairs to the Royal Palace. They fight atop a bulwark of dead and dying men, blood slicking the floor and body parts littering the floor. Each soldier takes a dozen fatal wounds to inflict one hundred and twenty upon their foes. Wei Yahui himself is a maelstrom of death, none able to even dream of matching him but nevertheless finding themselves in his way regardless.
Even Zhang Lei is firing arrows at officers with reckless abandon; she can't have more than a few arrows left at the rate that she fires them, and yet her bow is drawn and lethal arrows find their mark.
On the stairs opposite the gate, the King's men put up one last desperate stand, a man and a woman holding the top of the twin dragon stairs, a river of red and bodies caking the ground before them as dozens, a hundred at least seek to climb the path.
Two men from the other camp stick out to you.
A stark, greying man heads up the slope to the King's approach, supremely confident as only one with a plan could be.
A brown haired man sadistically smiling and carving a little ways into Wei Yahui's forces before blending back and refusing to engage Wei Yahui on his own terms.
Vote Decision Overridden By Trait: Perceptive and Allied Perk: Patterns of Smoke I!
"We have to attack there, between the force charging the stairs and the foot of the stairs," both you and Lin Yan yell at each other, turning towards each other at the same moment.
Both of you nod.
Then your footsteps add to the deafening chaos, and you carve your way there.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 37
None of the men in your way expect your sudden attack, your vanguard and force penetrating directly to the base of the steps. Each slash finds a neck, each thrust finds a heart, each pommel finds a skull.
[Trait: Talented]
Once there, you pivot as one, as though you were slashing with a river of men through your enemies.
The brown-haired man and confident man both stop and take notice of your force as it carves through the enemies. Both come in your direction, as you rush to meet the
[Trait: Proud]
You were not afraid of them.
[Trait: Perceptive]
Because Wei Yahui, even in the midst of a red-eyed rage, had noticed this on some fundamental level too. His forces suddenly felt the close grasp of victory at hand.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!!!" Wei Yahui wordlessly bellowed.
His forces suddenly leapt forward toward you, as though shot from an arrow. Men in front of them collapsed and ran like grain before the scythe, as the enemies behind them suddenly found themselves slicing through dust and dead bodies.
Suddenly, a pained cry causes your heads to turn just as a bare few men stand between you and the advancing hurricane of steel.
Both of defenders of the steps appear to have been overwhelmed, but the force charging up has been significantly diminished too.
Ou Tie is only a few moments away from death.
Heartbeats.
One.
Your group pivots, turning around in a single footstep and charging at the stairs.
Wei Yahui's forces catch up, and subsume you into the roaring, charging, bloodspecked masses.
They meet the brown-haired man first. Wei Yahui takes a particular vindictive joy in taking his head, wet cracking noise sounding from behind you as you leave Wei Yahui and the dead body he dueled behind.
As you charge up the steps, the remaining enemies begin to turn around and run for the King. The blood running down each step threatens to unbalance you, but the momentum of you and the men you charge with rockets you up the stairs. The blood spattered by the desperate press of men running from your blade and the bodies deposited by those you reach flow to the side and the middle of the stairs, stone dragons consuming the blood and feasting upon the corpses of the King's enemies.
The surge of men swelling up the stairs seem to get in each others way, scattering more than presenting a threat to the King as he and his loyal retainers begin climbing the final set of stairs to the Royal Seat, guarding against and losing men for every step taken.
In a lull of a heartbeat, as you push the body of a dead enemy off your sword at the center of the courtyard at the steps of the Royal Seat, you take in the height, and the smoke, and the fire of the palace burning around you.
In any other time, you would've been impressed, reverent to come so close to the Royal Seat.
Now?
Now you had a hundred steps to go.
You launch off again, breath short, sweat coated, and blood rushing, the tatters of your Heavy Leathers barely providing any protection as the night air reaches your skin.
The pounding footsteps of the men behind and around you share much the same emotion. In front of you, Wei Yahui and Lin Yan take off like twinned dragons, while you stay just behind Li Mao and Ou Zhi advancing to your right, while Lei Qi lags only a step behind Li Mao.
Han Xiao - 67 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 77
Li Mao - 73 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 83
Li Qiu - 63 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 73
Zhang Lei - 12 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 2
Wei Yahui - 98 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 108 Critical Roll! 12 + 8 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 130
Ou Zhi - 72 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 82
Lin Yan - 96 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 106 Critical Roll! 26 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 6 = 132
Chen Yang - 9 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = -1 Critical Failure! 72 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 1 = - 37
Ou Tie - 80 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 90
Your target, though, is Ou Tie, and for a single shining moment, atop the steps to the Royal Seat, he and the last of his retinue stand firm. The last dregs of Chen Yang's men throw themselves upon his sword, and they hold steady. Chen Yang himself slips just before his men engage, and by the time he regains his footing and his bearings he realizes he has no men behind him and no men in front of him.
Zhang Lei - 98 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 108 Critical! Critical Roll: 75 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 8 = 93
Wei Yahui - 1 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = -9 Natural Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 28 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 9 = - 91
Chen Yang - 57 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 67
Ou Tie - 95 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 105 Critical! Critical Roll: 58 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 68
Then many things happen at once.
Chen Yang decides that if nothing else, he will take Ou Tie with him, and lunges for him.
Zhang Lei decides that she will do the impossible, and fires a broken spearhead from her bow.
Wei Yahui throws his sword.
Ou Tie leaps backwards.
The spearhead finds Chen Yang and pierces his neck in a single shot, jerking his body well away.
Wei Yahui's sword was misthrown, and carves through Ou Tie's long flowing robes and halts in Chen Yang's ribcage, further preventing his corpse from killing Ou Tie.
The first thud is Ou Tie's body hitting the ground.
The second clang is Chen Yang's sword falling from his nerveless grip.
The third thud is Chen Yang's lifeless body hitting the floor.
The last thud is your exhausted body hitting the ground and staring up at the night sky.
There's a boundless starry universe up there in Heaven, isn't there, Dad?
Quest [The Longest Night] Complete!
Special Event [Capital Clusterfuck] Complete!
What was most important to succeed this event?
[] Luck
[] Charm
[] Faith
[] Firmness
[] Keenness
[] Strength
[X] [Mao] Rescue
[X] [Qi] Rescue
[X] [Xiao] Rescue
Background:
New Faction created: Lin Yan Faction, affiliation leaning Ou Di but as of yet broken off. Will effectively strip Ou Quan of all his power when he surfaces, taking 100 men with him.
Faction Strengths:
Ou Zhi's faction, field led by Wei Yahui
300 strong, Wei Yahui and Ou Zhi included.
Wei Yahui Leadership rolls:
68 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 83
48 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 42
29 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 24
9 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 4
61 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 76
Ou Di's faction, field led by Chen Yang
750 strong, Chen Yang only for now.
Chen Yang's Leadership rolls:
30 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 15
27 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 12
18 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 3
96 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 101 Critical Success! Critical Roll: 29 + 1 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 39 Gap of One Hundred!
10 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = -5 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 85 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 = 70 Gap of One Hundred!
150 strong, Ou Tie led
Ou Tie's Leadership rolls:
25 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 10 (Ludicrously Outclassed) = 5
37 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 10 (Ludicrously Outclassed) = 17
74 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 15 (Unbelievably Outclassed) = 74
54 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 15 (Unbelievably Outclassed) = 29
91 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 20 (Hopelessly Outclassed) = 81
So...
Round 1:
Wei Yahui takes his 300 men in a spear formation, and rams it straight into Chen Yang's still gathering forces.
Chen Yang's forces are crushed underfoot. -150 men.
Ou Tie, on the other hand, is literally caught with his pants down; his men are killed pretty bad, but the group sent after the King seems more interested in loot than his head. - 70 men.
Round 2:
Wei Yahui's progess slows down, he takes some casualties, but he's still pressing forward and he's not really losing all that much steam. - 10 men.
Chen Yang's forces are scrambling to reorganize and mostly failing to do so. -100 men.
Ou Tie's forces, however, seem to have found some small equilibrium with the looters as they run around like they've already lost their heads. - 20 men.
Round 3:
Wei Yahui is taking noticeable casualties and the charge is mired down, but there's still a good shot here for him. - 30 men.
Chen Yang's forces nearly blow it right here, almost routing before Chen Yang can pull them together. - 150 men.
Ou Tie's forces start pulling the shitshow together, but they don't have a lot of men left. - 10 men.
Round 4:
Wei Yahui's charge comes to a stop, just as they penetrate far enough for Chen Yang's forces to envelop them. - 100 men.
Chen Yang suddenly gets his men together just as Wei Yahui has managed to surround himself with Chen Yang's forces.
Ou Tie's forces just about collapse in the face of Chen Yang's forces new organization. - 30 men. Things look hopeless.
Round 5:
Wei Yahui kicks his squads ass into high gear. Somehow, from a standing start, the charge starts back up again, and Chen Yang's forces all trip in their haste to get the hell away.
Something goes really wrong for Chen Yang; its probably most of his line commanders keeling over with a fatal case of iron consumption, courtesy of Zhang Lei. Regardless, morale breaks, and fast; - 200 men, not all casualties as many ran away.
Facing an impossible situation, with Heaven themselves as the witness, two in Ou Tie's remaining retinue Shatter The Limit, reaching a 130 and 200 Martial respectively. This desperate action repulses Chen Yang's forces, and so they take no casualties.
Final force count:
Wei Yahui, 160 men.
Chen Yang, 200 men.
Ou Tie, 30 men. Two Limit Shatters.
This is the situation the reinforcements arrive on the scene with.
Wei Yahui Reinforcements: 1 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = - 9 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 80 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 9 = 61
Chen Yang Reinforcements: 93 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 103 Critical Success! Critical Success Roll: 29 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 3 = 42.
Ou Tie Reinforcements: 53 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 63
...
Dong Gancai, ignoring literally everybody who told him "what the fuck it's fuck o clock outside you're fucking so heavily wounded you can barely move without coughing up blood" came to help Wei Yahui. Unfortunately, his guard slipped for just a moment as he hacked up some blood - and then Liu Xian comes up and offs him.
Liu Xian and Wei Yahui yell at each other a bit, and now...
[BERSERKER RAGE ACTIVATE]
Yeah, Dong Gancai's forces really didn't take Dong Gancai getting offed all that well...or at all really.
Individual forces gain +50 to attack but take damage like they were -25 to attack.
Wei Yahui gains 100 men. All 240 are [BERSERKER RAGED]. Even Wei Yahui. Zhang Lei is excepted, but even she's not unaffected.
Chen Yang gains 500 men and Liu Xian joins forces, taking the lead against Wei Yahui; Chen Yang himself goes after Ou Tie. The force splits up: Liu Xian's 500 put up against Wei Yahui, while Chen Yang's 200 goes after Ou Tie.
Ou Tie recruits a few men from the guard, putting his forces up to 50.
Then you arrive.
New Faction created: Lin Yan Faction, affiliation leaning Ou Di but as of yet broken off. Will effectively strip Ou Quan of all his power when he surfaces, taking 100 men with him.
Faction Strengths:
Ou Zhi's faction, field led by Wei Yahui
300 strong, Wei Yahui and Ou Zhi included.
Wei Yahui Leadership rolls:
68 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 83
48 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 42
29 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 24
9 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 4
61 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 76
Ou Di's faction, field led by Chen Yang
750 strong, Chen Yang only for now.
Chen Yang's Leadership rolls:
30 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 15
27 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 12
18 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 3
96 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = 101 Critical Success! Critical Roll: 29 + 1 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 39 Gap of One Hundred!
10 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 (Gap in Leadership) = -5 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 85 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 5 = 70 Gap of One Hundred!
150 strong, Ou Tie led
Ou Tie's Leadership rolls:
25 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 10 (Ludicrously Outclassed) = 5
37 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 10 (Ludicrously Outclassed) = 17
74 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 15 (Unbelievably Outclassed) = 74
54 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 15 (Unbelievably Outclassed) = 29
91 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 20 (Hopelessly Outclassed) = 81
So...
Round 1:
Wei Yahui takes his 300 men in a spear formation, and rams it straight into Chen Yang's still gathering forces.
Chen Yang's forces are crushed underfoot. -150 men.
Ou Tie, on the other hand, is literally caught with his pants down; his men are killed pretty bad, but the group sent after the King seems more interested in loot than his head. - 70 men.
Round 2:
Wei Yahui's progess slows down, he takes some casualties, but he's still pressing forward and he's not really losing all that much steam. - 10 men.
Chen Yang's forces are scrambling to reorganize and mostly failing to do so. -100 men.
Ou Tie's forces, however, seem to have found some small equilibrium with the looters as they run around like they've already lost their heads. - 20 men.
Round 3:
Wei Yahui is taking noticeable casualties and the charge is mired down, but there's still a good shot here for him. - 30 men.
Chen Yang's forces nearly blow it right here, almost routing before Chen Yang can pull them together. - 150 men.
Ou Tie's forces start pulling the shitshow together, but they don't have a lot of men left. - 10 men.
Round 4:
Wei Yahui's charge comes to a stop, just as they penetrate far enough for Chen Yang's forces to envelop them. - 100 men.
Chen Yang suddenly gets his men together just as Wei Yahui has managed to surround himself with Chen Yang's forces.
Ou Tie's forces just about collapse in the face of Chen Yang's forces new organization. - 30 men. Things look hopeless.
Round 5:
Wei Yahui kicks his squads ass into high gear. Somehow, from a standing start, the charge starts back up again, and Chen Yang's forces all trip in their haste to get the hell away.
Something goes really wrong for Chen Yang; its probably most of his line commanders keeling over with a fatal case of iron consumption, courtesy of Zhang Lei. Regardless, morale breaks, and fast; - 200 men, not all casualties as many ran away.
Facing an impossible situation, with Heaven themselves as the witness, two in Ou Tie's remaining retinue Shatter The Limit, reaching a 130 and 200 Martial respectively. This desperate action repulses Chen Yang's forces, and so they take no casualties.
Final force count:
Wei Yahui, 160 men.
Chen Yang, 200 men.
Ou Tie, 30 men. Two Limit Shatters.
This is the situation the reinforcements arrive on the scene with.
Wei Yahui Reinforcements: 1 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = - 9 Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 80 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 9 = 61
Chen Yang Reinforcements: 93 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 103 Critical Success! Critical Success Roll: 29 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 3 = 42.
Ou Tie Reinforcements: 53 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 63
...
Dong Gancai, ignoring literally everybody who told him "what the fuck it's fuck o clock outside you're fucking so heavily wounded you can barely move without coughing up blood" came to help Wei Yahui. Unfortunately, his guard slipped for just a moment as he hacked up some blood - and then Liu Xian comes up and offs him.
Liu Xian
刘险
Stats
Leadership: 200
Martial: 300
Charisma: 100
Piety: 15
Learning: 100
Potential: 86
Traits:
Greedy: Bonus to Leadership Checks
Vicious: Bonus to Martial Checks
Talented: +10 to training rolls
Perks:
Ways of Contending I: Your eyes and hands, capable of many skills, see how one solution solves many others. Unlocks combined Checks between Maxed Stats.
The Winner The Spoilers: You are victorious. That means that all within your sight is yours by right. Increased Leadership Checks when victorious.
刘险
Stats
Leadership: 200
Martial: 300
Charisma: 100
Piety: 15
Learning: 100
Potential: 86
Traits:
Greedy: Bonus to Leadership Checks
Vicious: Bonus to Martial Checks
Talented: +10 to training rolls
Perks:
Ways of Contending I: Your eyes and hands, capable of many skills, see how one solution solves many others. Unlocks combined Checks between Maxed Stats.
The Winner The Spoilers: You are victorious. That means that all within your sight is yours by right. Increased Leadership Checks when victorious.
Liu Xian and Wei Yahui yell at each other a bit, and now...
[BERSERKER RAGE ACTIVATE]
Yeah, Dong Gancai's forces really didn't take Dong Gancai getting offed all that well...or at all really.
Individual forces gain +50 to attack but take damage like they were -25 to attack.
Wei Yahui gains 100 men. All 240 are [BERSERKER RAGED]. Even Wei Yahui. Zhang Lei is excepted, but even she's not unaffected.
Chen Yang gains 500 men and Liu Xian joins forces, taking the lead against Wei Yahui; Chen Yang himself goes after Ou Tie. The force splits up: Liu Xian's 500 put up against Wei Yahui, while Chen Yang's 200 goes after Ou Tie.
Ou Tie recruits a few men from the guard, putting his forces up to 50.
Then you arrive.
"Wait, Lin Yan!" you say. "You are also headed to the aid of Ou Tie the king, are you not?"
[Opposing Trait: Just]
"Of course I am going to the aid of Ou Tie," Lin Yan said. "All we will have to do is put down Ou Zhi's rebellion, yes?"
Charisma: 100 Opposed: 93
Learning: 98 Opposed: 119 Natural Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 12 = 147 - 15 (Just) - 10 (Loyal) - 20 (Circumstance) - 30 (Patterns of Smoke I) = 92
"If you trust us, Lin Yan, can you be certain of that?" you said.
He looked back. His eyes unfocused, staring into a horizon that the dark hallway did not provide, mind awhirl.
Then he snapped back.
"No, I can't be certain of that, you're right. Even if it appears that Ou Zhi has all the reason in the world to want to do this, I also thought that Ou Di would not have done such a foolish thing, and the time and the people awake are all wrong," he muttered, hand to his chin.
Leadership: 72 Opposed: 66
"Either way, any longer we spend down here and not up there is wasted time," you hurriedly impress, loudly sheathing your own sword and striding forward.
He's briefly taken aback, and now Li Qiu and Li Mao look at you askance.
"We have to move, everyone. Every single breath we waste theorizing down here is another breath that the King could've received aid in," you said.
Lin Yan's eyebrows shoot up, but acknowledging the wisdom of your words, hurries out.
Your group isn't far behind, but Li Mao's spear never returns to a safe position.
When you exit, Lin Yan suddenly comes to a halt, along with most of his men.
He takes a single moment to take in the flaming palace.
"Loyal retainers of Ou Tie, we must head to the defence of the palace!" he cries, he and his forces suddenly marching just on the edge of physically running.
"Halt!" cries a thoroughly unlikeable man.
"What's the meaning of this, Lin Yan?! Why have you returned, without Ou Di?!" the soft voice demands, issuing from a thricefolded chin.
"The meaning of this is that it is entirely believable that Master has committed a serious offense and thus should not be immediately bailed out of punishment, not until we rescue the King," Lin Yan patiently explained, apologetically half-smiling back at you for a single instant but without the glint vanishing for a moment.
"'Entirely believable?!' Do you hear yourself, Lin Yan? You might be useful, but when he gets out he's going to kill you for this insolence for sure, if not him, Ou Tie! And then I'll be the one...heheheh," he drifted off.
Lin Yan nearly slaps himself in the face before he suddenly narrows his eyes.
"Ou Quan, you don't understand the gravity of our situation. Ou Tie right now is under threat, or possibly under threat, the palace is literally burning behind you, and you think that there is time to bail Master out of a sentence he rightly deserves, if not now, earlier?" Lin Yan frustratedly said.
"That sounds like treason, and disrespect for your betters, Lin Yan," Ou Quan says, trying to hold up your forces.
You glance back at Li Mao and Li Qiu. In each other's eyes, you all come to an immediate consensus.
"We don't have time for this," you say, running towards the fire. The padding footsteps of Li Mao and clip clop of Li Qiu follow your own sharp strikes against the ground.
Out of the corner of your ears, the shouted argument continues, until another roil of thunder rumbles.
Just on your heels, Lin Yan appears to have convinced the rest of the force deployed with him on your heels, leaving a ranting Ou Quan behind.
Roars rend the air, the sound of muted steel on steel and steel on flesh and their screams and the fury of warriors possessed competing for space with the hellscape of acrid smoke and wafts of entrails.
The battlefield is a disaster, from your vantage of the courtyard.
Wei Yahui's forces penetrated through the central gate, but have been surrounded just a few feet short of the stairs to the Royal Palace. They fight atop a bulwark of dead and dying men, blood slicking the floor and body parts littering the floor. Each soldier takes a dozen fatal wounds to inflict one hundred and twenty upon their foes. Wei Yahui himself is a maelstrom of death, none able to even dream of matching him but nevertheless finding themselves in his way regardless.
Even Zhang Lei is firing arrows at officers with reckless abandon; she can't have more than a few arrows left at the rate that she fires them, and yet her bow is drawn and lethal arrows find their mark.
On the stairs opposite the gate, the King's men put up one last desperate stand, a man and a woman holding the top of the twin dragon stairs, a river of red and bodies caking the ground before them as dozens, a hundred at least seek to climb the path.
Two men from the other camp stick out to you.
A stark, greying man heads up the slope to the King's approach, supremely confident as only one with a plan could be.
A brown haired man sadistically smiling and carving a little ways into Wei Yahui's forces before blending back and refusing to engage Wei Yahui on his own terms.
Vote Decision Overridden By Trait: Perceptive and Allied Perk: Patterns of Smoke I!
"We have to attack there, between the force charging the stairs and the foot of the stairs," both you and Lin Yan yell at each other, turning towards each other at the same moment.
Both of you nod.
Then your footsteps add to the deafening chaos, and you carve your way there.
Martial: 110 Opposed: 37
None of the men in your way expect your sudden attack, your vanguard and force penetrating directly to the base of the steps. Each slash finds a neck, each thrust finds a heart, each pommel finds a skull.
[Trait: Talented]
Once there, you pivot as one, as though you were slashing with a river of men through your enemies.
The brown-haired man and confident man both stop and take notice of your force as it carves through the enemies. Both come in your direction, as you rush to meet the
[Trait: Proud]
You were not afraid of them.
[Trait: Perceptive]
Because Wei Yahui, even in the midst of a red-eyed rage, had noticed this on some fundamental level too. His forces suddenly felt the close grasp of victory at hand.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!!!" Wei Yahui wordlessly bellowed.
His forces suddenly leapt forward toward you, as though shot from an arrow. Men in front of them collapsed and ran like grain before the scythe, as the enemies behind them suddenly found themselves slicing through dust and dead bodies.
Suddenly, a pained cry causes your heads to turn just as a bare few men stand between you and the advancing hurricane of steel.
Both of defenders of the steps appear to have been overwhelmed, but the force charging up has been significantly diminished too.
Ou Tie is only a few moments away from death.
Heartbeats.
One.
Your group pivots, turning around in a single footstep and charging at the stairs.
Wei Yahui's forces catch up, and subsume you into the roaring, charging, bloodspecked masses.
They meet the brown-haired man first. Wei Yahui takes a particular vindictive joy in taking his head, wet cracking noise sounding from behind you as you leave Wei Yahui and the dead body he dueled behind.
As you charge up the steps, the remaining enemies begin to turn around and run for the King. The blood running down each step threatens to unbalance you, but the momentum of you and the men you charge with rockets you up the stairs. The blood spattered by the desperate press of men running from your blade and the bodies deposited by those you reach flow to the side and the middle of the stairs, stone dragons consuming the blood and feasting upon the corpses of the King's enemies.
The surge of men swelling up the stairs seem to get in each others way, scattering more than presenting a threat to the King as he and his loyal retainers begin climbing the final set of stairs to the Royal Seat, guarding against and losing men for every step taken.
In a lull of a heartbeat, as you push the body of a dead enemy off your sword at the center of the courtyard at the steps of the Royal Seat, you take in the height, and the smoke, and the fire of the palace burning around you.
In any other time, you would've been impressed, reverent to come so close to the Royal Seat.
Now?
Now you had a hundred steps to go.
You launch off again, breath short, sweat coated, and blood rushing, the tatters of your Heavy Leathers barely providing any protection as the night air reaches your skin.
The pounding footsteps of the men behind and around you share much the same emotion. In front of you, Wei Yahui and Lin Yan take off like twinned dragons, while you stay just behind Li Mao and Ou Zhi advancing to your right, while Lei Qi lags only a step behind Li Mao.
Han Xiao - 67 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 77
Li Mao - 73 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 83
Li Qiu - 63 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 73
Zhang Lei - 12 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 2
Wei Yahui - 98 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 108 Critical Roll! 12 + 8 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 130
Ou Zhi - 72 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 82
Lin Yan - 96 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 106 Critical Roll! 26 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 6 = 132
Chen Yang - 9 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = -1 Critical Failure! 72 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 1 = - 37
Ou Tie - 80 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 90
Your target, though, is Ou Tie, and for a single shining moment, atop the steps to the Royal Seat, he and the last of his retinue stand firm. The last dregs of Chen Yang's men throw themselves upon his sword, and they hold steady. Chen Yang himself slips just before his men engage, and by the time he regains his footing and his bearings he realizes he has no men behind him and no men in front of him.
Zhang Lei - 98 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 108 Critical! Critical Roll: 75 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) + 8 = 93
Wei Yahui - 1 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = -9 Natural Critical Failure! Critical Failure Roll: 28 - 10 (Gaze of Heaven) - 9 = - 91
Chen Yang - 57 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 67
Ou Tie - 95 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 105 Critical! Critical Roll: 58 + 10 (Gaze of Heaven) = 68
Then many things happen at once.
Chen Yang decides that if nothing else, he will take Ou Tie with him, and lunges for him.
Zhang Lei decides that she will do the impossible, and fires a broken spearhead from her bow.
Wei Yahui throws his sword.
Ou Tie leaps backwards.
The spearhead finds Chen Yang and pierces his neck in a single shot, jerking his body well away.
Wei Yahui's sword was misthrown, and carves through Ou Tie's long flowing robes and halts in Chen Yang's ribcage, further preventing his corpse from killing Ou Tie.
The first thud is Ou Tie's body hitting the ground.
The second clang is Chen Yang's sword falling from his nerveless grip.
The third thud is Chen Yang's lifeless body hitting the floor.
The last thud is your exhausted body hitting the ground and staring up at the night sky.
There's a boundless starry universe up there in Heaven, isn't there, Dad?
Quest [The Longest Night] Complete!
Special Event [Capital Clusterfuck] Complete!
What was most important to succeed this event?
[] Luck
[] Charm
[] Faith
[] Firmness
[] Keenness
[] Strength
Last edited:
Kinruush
Who?
- Location
- USA
I'd say that Han Xiao legitimately played a pretty major role in ensuring the night's success, and she did so because she managed to convince the harem members to join her side which led to Lei Qi convincing Lin Yan to stop. Success built on success, but the foundation was built on Han Xiao turning the harem through, I guess, Charm? I guess that's what that means here?
[X] Charm
