Can you explain that one to me? I don't see how either plan makes that more or less likely?
We were asked to 'deal' with them. That's deliberately loose language, just about any outcome from murder to chasing them off, to sitting down and making a verbal agreement to not bother the cinema again should be fine.
Its not great if we fail and retreat, but we would at least have an argument if we made an honest effort I think.
[X]Plan: Noblesse Oblige
-[X] Battle Strategy: Open with the Howl to clear out witnesses and gain the initiative. Focus our nailgun attacks on the two larger goblins, rely on the area effect of our Storm to batter the little ones if they try and intervene. Be lavish with Fulmination to boost our ranged attacks, but don't Transform unless something unexpected happens. Its overkill for this situation and taxing to the Self. Once the larger Goblins are down, Nail down any of the rat-sized ones who linger.
-[X] Announce Yourself: Lay down a challenge, declare who we are and who our family is. Moreover, promise generous terms if they surrender without a fight. That should make any binding easier and stronger if they choose to fight and lose.
-[X] Binding: Priority is the two larger goblins. Nail them down to the earth and extract terms. The little ones can be beaten and banished, warned to stay away from the area. though we will bind them as well if the opportunity presents itself.
I don't really like the idea of Jack killing people, either from an in-universe ethical perspective or from an out-of-universe narrative perspective, so I'm going to go with this plan.
What sort of rate does Self replenish at? I know there's things you can do to rejuvenate yourself faster (hanging out with friends, doing a hobby, eating your favorite food, etc.) but in general if you're not going out of your way to do that are we talking just a few points a day? A point an hour? Fully restored after we get some sleep and family time in?
I'm leaning towards Noblesse Oblige but since so many of our powers are improved with our storm up I'm wondering if we turn it on while announcing ourselves/just before howling. However I don't necessarily want to blow all our power on our first night out if it's gonna be days-weeks to recover ...
EDIT - Still curious about the recharge rate but I did the numbers and at our current power level Storm is gonna drain us too fast I think and I don't know that we really need the boost anyway, better to have some power in backup if we need to Transform in an emergency
Can you explain that one to me? I don't see how either plan makes that more or less likely?
We were asked to 'deal' with them. That's deliberately loose language, just about any outcome from murder to chasing them off, to sitting down and making a verbal agreement to not bother the cinema again should be fine.
Its not great if we fail and retreat, but we would at least have an argument if we made an honest effort I think.
What sort of rate does Self replenish at? I know there's things you can do to rejuvenate yourself faster (hanging out with friends, doing a hobby, eating your favorite food, etc.) but in general if you're not going out of your way to do that are we talking just a few points a day? A point an hour? Fully restored after we get some sleep and family time in?
'Bout five per week (turns will be two weeks apiece) with you being able to get more if you partake in hobbies, have fun with loved ones, stuff like that.
Also realized I somehow missed the part in the plan about using our Storm to batter down the little guys but as long as we don't let the fight linger and turn it off once the big guys are nailed down it's probably fine. < 5 rounds (so like, Roar, Nail gun one big guy, Nail other big guy, extra turn if we miss and then turn it off) shouldn't be a problem I don't think but more than that and we'll be running on empty if we used any Fulmination at all
Also realized I somehow missed the part in the plan about using our Storm to batter down the little guys but as long as we don't let the fight linger and turn it off once the big guys are nailed down it's probably fine. < 5 rounds (so like, Roar, Nail gun one big guy, Nail other big guy, extra turn if we miss and then turn it off) shouldn't be a problem I don't think but more than that and we'll be running on empty if we used any Fulmination at all
You make a good point. It's probably a little late to sway the vote to a fresh plan, but considering the amount of Self we have, I much prefer using Fulmination as a last resort and not even suggesting the Storm unless we're in mortal peril. Hopefully the other questors consider altering their votes or plans before the voting closes?
[X]Plan: Noblesse Oblige
-[X] Battle Strategy: Open with the Howl to clear out witnesses and gain the initiative. Focus our nailgun attacks on the two larger goblins, rely on the area effect of our Storm to batter the little ones if they try and intervene. Be lavish with Fulmination to boost our ranged attacks, but don't Transform unless something unexpected happens. Its overkill for this situation and taxing to the Self. Once the larger Goblins are down, Nail down any of the rat-sized ones who linger.
-[X] Announce Yourself: Lay down a challenge, declare who we are and who our family is. Moreover, promise generous terms if they surrender without a fight. That should make any binding easier and stronger if they choose to fight and lose.
-[X] Binding: Priority is the two larger goblins. Nail them down to the earth and extract terms. The little ones can be beaten and banished, warned to stay away from the area. though we will bind them as well if the opportunity presents itself.
Alright, I'm closing the tally, but it might be a day or three before the next update.
Scheduled vote count started by Dr Heaven M.D. on Aug 31, 2021 at 1:16 PM, finished with 35 posts and 13 votes.
[X]Plan: Noblesse Oblige -[X] Battle Strategy: Open with the Howl to clear out witnesses and gain the initiative. Focus our nailgun attacks on the two larger goblins, rely on the area effect of our Storm to batter the little ones if they try and intervene. Be lavish with Fulmination to boost our ranged attacks, but don't Transform unless something unexpected happens. Its overkill for this situation and taxing to the Self. Once the larger Goblins are down, Nail down any of the rat-sized ones who linger.
-[X] Announce Yourself: Lay down a challenge, declare who we are and who our family is. Moreover, promise generous terms if they surrender without a fight. That should make any binding easier and stronger if they choose to fight and lose.
-[X] Binding: Priority is the two larger goblins. Nail them down to the earth and extract terms. The little ones can be beaten and banished, warned to stay away from the area. though we will bind them as well if the opportunity presents itself.
[X] Multitasking
-[X] Battle Strategy: That big one has some use, but the rest are better off dead, except maybe one.
--[X] Opening Move: They don't know you're there, so...
---[X] Shoot First, Announce Never: You've been good enough, it won't be a huge loss to just shoot the fuckers.
-[X] Strategy: How are you going to do this?
--[X] unleash unearthly howl in time with the first few shots, it should freeze or panic them. Target the smaller goblins first. They should go down easier and be less resistant to the effects of your runes. you really don't want them to try and surround you or escape. Try to land a hit on each of the smaller ones first but focus on the larger one if he starts heading towards you or tries to escape. Aim to disable on the larger one.
-[X] Goal: What's the endgame? And don't say 'kill Tony Stark'.
--[X] Binding: Their asses are yours now.
[X]Plan: Noblesse Oblige -[X] Battle Strategy: Open with the Howl to clear out witnesses and gain the initiative. Focus our nailgun attacks on the two larger goblins, rely on the area effect of our Storm to batter the little ones if they try and intervene. Be lavish with Fulmination to boost our ranged attacks, but don't Transform unless something unexpected happens. Its overkill for this situation and taxing to the Self. Once the larger Goblins are down, Nail down any of the rat-sized ones who linger.
-[X] Announce Yourself: Lay down a challenge, declare who we are and who our family is. Moreover, promise generous terms if they surrender without a fight. That should make any binding easier and stronger if they choose to fight and lose.
-[X] Binding: Priority is the two larger goblins. Nail them down to the earth and extract terms. The little ones can be beaten and banished, warned to stay away from the area. though we will bind them as well if the opportunity presents itself.
Alright, nothing for it.
[Charm Roll (2d6+2): 1,2=3+2=5]
You look both ways, then march straight to the alley and say. "Goblins of Turdblood's Gang, I am Jack Alexander-"
"Go fuck yourself!" Skinnylimbs says, not missing a beat.
"-and I am here to fight," you continue, ignoring how he started blowing a raspberry. "Surrender without a fight-" now he was farting, "-and I'll give-" farting had transitioned to shitting, unobstructed since his pants seemed to have a hole just for that, "-generous terms when I-" was that a whole gopher that just left his ass? "-bind you."
Well, at least you got to the end of it, even if now the alley stunk to high hell and all the Goblins were laughing at you. The only exception was the spherical one, but you suspect that's more a question of the noise being lost in a mouth full of literal junk hidden behind what passed for her neck.
You get the feeling that it is extremely difficult to get through a fight with Goblins with your dignity intact.
"Fuck, but you like to hear yourself talk!" Skinnylimbs said. Through your Sight, you see the green mist from his mouth start to float towards you and curl into a tunnel aimed at your head. "I think you should-"
Yeah, you're not waiting until he does whatever he's planning. He got his warning, now they're all getting the Howl.
[Weird Roll (2d6+1): 4,2=6+1=7]
[Puissance Roll (1d6+5(Weird Roll Success)): 1+5=6]
[Longetivity Roll (1d4+5(Weird Roll Success)): 4+5=9]
This was the first time you actually used the Unearthly Howl rite, but you're pretty sure you could have done better. Still, the effect is there.
You connect a line of ink on your neck, throw your head back, and all the air in your lungs is painfully expelled in a feral cry. You feel the runes drawn on your neck warm up slightly, and the cry warps and is intercut by a sound like radio static and a dozen distorted voices crying out in pain, creating a cacophanic chorus that made your own ears ring slightly. You see a bit of your storm leak through the Control Chains and radio static and glitches fill the alley, though not much farther.
The dumpster and trash cans that the Goblins were rooting around in have tiny colourful boxes coming off of them, like glitches on an NES game, and a discarded flip phone that one of the tiny ones was holding suddenly turns on, warped faces and an effect like an old TV tuned to a dead channel playing on its screen.
[-2 Self!]
When the Howl is done, you realize it wasn't as strong as it could have been, but the bits of static don't seem to be going away. The reactions are varied, though.
[Mini-Gobs General Cool Roll (2d6-1): 2,4=6-1=5]
[Skinnylimbs Cool Roll (2d6): 1,1=2]
[Roundbody Cool Roll (2d6): 6,4=10]
The mini-Goblins (or Goblets, if you will) all immediately dove to the ground and started begging for mercy in unpleasant high-pitched voices. So, cool, that was as good as done. Kinda anticlimactic, but noone will catch you complaining that life got too easy for your taste.
On the same vein, Skinnylimbs seems a lot less confident now. He yelped when the Howl rang out, and was now cowering in his own filth, covering his bald head with his long arms and peeking at you like he was waiting for you to transform any moment now. The green mist that leaked from his mouth has vanished completely, only a few wisps lingering in the area and slowly petering out into nothing.
As for Roundbo- SHIT!
[Roundbody's Sharp Roll (2d6): 4,2=6]
You dive to the side just in time to only get clipped on the shoulder by a stream of shit-stinking foulness that defied analysis, good taste or reason. It was milky-white, lumpy, and where it fell maggots sprouted. This included the shoulder of your hoodie, which is quickly dissolving and turning into bone-white worms. You take it off and throw it at the ground, where the effect doesn't seem to be stopping.
Roundbody is a bit smaller now, and quickly taking whatever garbage was left strewn about from the Goblets' scavanging. You're not going to hand her an opportunity to reload so easily.
You take aim with your nailgun, quickly utter a few words of Fulmination...
[Sharp Roll (2d6): 2,2=4]
[Weird Roll (2d6+1): 1,3=4+1=5]
[Puissance Roll (1d6): 6!,6!=12]
[Longetivity Roll (1d4): 3]
[-1 Self!]
[-1 Nail!]
And you miss. Still, from where the nail sticks deep in the ground a new wave of the glitch effect sprouts, covering both Skinnylimbs and Roundbody, though all four Goblets are out of its area, luckily for them. It's pretty heavy, with their bodies becoming hard to see through the haze, and you see cracks from where the runed nail split the street with its unatural weight.
[Roundbody's Cool Roll (2d6): 5,5=10]
[Skinnylimbs' Cool Roll (2d6+2(RB's Crit)): 6,4=10+2=12]
Roundbody stops eating just long enough to lean over and smack her partner's rump with one of her stumpy limbs, which seemed to motivate him to stand up from his own filth, stop cuddling the assgopher, grab his partner and march on out of the Fulmination's effect.
Damn. Nothing for it but to take another shot. The effect was already starting to fade, but maybe you could box them in. Or just hit them until they cried uncle. Either way, you charge the loaded nail with the power of your storm, take aim and fire!
[Sharp Roll (2d6): 6,2=8]
[Weird Roll (2d6+1): 5,6=11+1=12]
[Puissance Roll (1d6*2(Weird Roll Crit)): 6!,3=9*2=18]
[-1 Self!]
[-1 Nail!]
Okay. This one worked out a lot better. You hit Skinnylimbs right in the middle of his stumpy body and the earth runed nail drags it down, making his center heavier than what his twiggy limbs can stand. Meanwhile, his body becomes covered in your storm's glitches, and you see him try to scream in pain but all that comes out is radio interference.
That guy is not having a good time.
[Roundbody's Sharp Roll (2d6): 4,3=7]
You can sympathize, as another stream of milky god-know-whatness smacks into your arm, and now there's no hoodie to tank the hit. You feel something biting into your arm, and soon you see the area where you'd been hit covered in white maggots doing their best to chew through your limb, and the parts not covered in maggots either have red welts or no skin at all.
Another scream pulls itself from your throat, this one not related to the practice at all. You bat at your arm desperately, managing to dislodge the maggots though they take bits of you with them, making you scream again.
[Moderate Wound: -2 Health, Might Require Medical Attention!]
[Cool Roll (2d6+1): 6,3=9+1=10]
Still, you're not too hurt to stop you from snarling the words for Fulmination, taking aim...
[Sharp Roll (2d6): 5,4=9]
[Weird Roll (2d6+1): 4,3=7+1=8]
[Puissance Roll (1d6+5(Weird Roll Sucess)): 4+5=9]
[-1 Nail!]
[-1 Self!]
... and hit the sack of shit right in her stupid stomach.
The nail makes a depression in her belly that takes a while to go away, making more milky foulness spill from her trap as she starts coughing. Skinnylimbs is struggling to pull the nail out of his stomach, his sticky appendages clawing at the nail keeping him with his back to the ground, sounds of extertion left him, mildly muffled by the ensuing sounds of radio static.
[Skinnylimbs Tough Roll (2d6-1): 1,4=5-1=4]
[Roundbody Tough Roll (2d6+1): 4,2=6+1=7]
Roundbody doesn't have the same problem, expelling the nail by taking a wheezy breath and expanding her stomach to its original size.
Fuck, but she's tough. You prepare to take aim again when-
[??? Tough Roll (2d6+3): 6,1=7+3=10]
[??? Puissance Roll (1d8+10(Tough Roll Crit)+5(???)): 8!,6=14+15=29]
In the time it takes you to raise your nailgun, a thin figure wearing an oversized red raincoat charges in, grabs Roundbody by her head, lifts in a motion that removes it from inside her neck, and lashes out with a hatchet in her other hand, easily separating the Goblin's head from her body.
It's a good moment before you process what just happened, and in that time the figure tosses away the head and kicks the body away with a flick of her rubber boots. A putrid stench is already coming off of it, as the maggots that'd been brewing inside laid claim to it and started eating, a few quickly poking through.
Skinnylimbs cries in what you realize is genuine anguish, pinned down on his spot in the ground. The figure walks over, steps on his mouth to muffle the sound, and turns to look at you.
You don't see much under the hood, but you realize she's a woman of latino heritage. Her hair is an unwashed mass of black tangles, her eyes are dark brown, and her mouth is cut open at the edge and held together by what looks like fishing wire to you. Under your Sight you see the wound as fresh and bleeding, and her eyes are totally pitch black except for a small blue glow in the irises.
"If I were you," she said in a voice rough from lack of use, "I'd point that away from me."
You realize you aimed at her without thinking. You move the point slightly away, but not so much that you can't quickly reaim.
"Close enough," she says, then gestures at Skinnylimbs with her hatchet. "I intend to kill this one. Are you going to fight me over it?"
Holy shit, okay, that's direct, uh...
She doesn't seem to know about the Goblets, so maybe you can let her have Skinnylimbs and use them? Or maybe you can offer them as tribute to the very scary zombie lady? Or you could fight her. You haven't spent that much power...
[] What Do?
-[] Sure: Let her kill Skinnylimbs, don't mention the Goblets, and walk away so that your parents can take a look at your shoulder, which really freaking hurts.
-[] Sure, Also, Here's Some More: Give her the Goblets as well. Might help you form a relationship with the very scary zombie lady.
-[] Fuck You, Let's Rumble: You can still go, and you wanna see what Skinnylimbs' deal was with the green mist.
--[] New Strategy: Write-in
[] Talks: Maybe you can ask the zombie lady a few things? Like 'what the fuck', 'who are you' or 'how long were you there'? (Not compatible with Fuck You, Let's Rumble)
-[] Questions: Write-in up to three questions.
[] Bindings: If you still have Goblins by the end of this, what will be the phrasing of the binding? (Not compatible with Sure, Also, Here's Some More)
-[] Words: Write-in.
-=]_[=-
QM's Note:An acceptable alternate title for this one is "The Night of a Thousand Mediocre Rolls". Or maybe "Skinnylimbs' Terrible, Awful, Disappointing, Not Good At All, Very Bad Day".
Sorry for the delay. And apologies to my beta reader for publishing this before he could give it a look-over, but I was kind of in a rush to publish it.
And for future reference, if you want to fight with your storm unleashed, you have to add that to the plan. You fight without it by default.
-[X] Plan live to fight another day.
--[X]Sure
--[X]Talks
---[X] Who are you? And what do you want that goblin for?
--[X]Bindings
---[X] Say to each goblin individualy: "You shall obey 3 orders i guive you, you shall not attack anyone i do not order you too, and you shall not taint or make foul my house or the house of any who guives us hospitality. "
We know nothing about this chic. We can't know whether helping her helps us in the long run.
@Dr Heaven M.D. thanks for the update. Based on what we saw, can we gauge whether or not we could take her dow if we went full berserker?
Wow, the dice are truly fickle are they not? The shape of the plan seems to have worked pretty well though.
Hmm, I like the current plan, but can I offer an alternative binding?
-[] Utility Belt.
--[]Sure
--[]Talks
---[] What should I call you? What do you want with the Goblin? Can I help you with anything?
--[]Bindings
---[] "You will take your weapon forms and remain in them until you get permission from me. I and those I designate can use you as I will. In addition, you will provide me with three favours, which you will attempt to fulfil to the best of your ability. After each of the first two favours, you will return to me and take weapon form once more. On conclusion of the third favour, we will part ways, without grudge or spite."
Keeping them bound as tools is less kind, but they didn't agree to our generous initial offer, so I think it's fair. It seems a surer way of keeping them from causing more trouble as well. I prefer 'Favours' over Orders because it's far too easy to misinterpret specific instructions as individual orders, while a favour is a specific task and we can gainsay/forswear them if they don't make an honest attempt at it. The release clause gives them an incentive to be useful, while we also have the option of burying them in the back garden after two favours if we don't want to see them go back out into the world.
And, we get a utility belt of minor conjurable goblin servants.
-[X] Utility Belt.
--[X]Sure
--[X]Talks
---[X] What should I call you? What do you want with the Goblin? Can I help you with anything?
--[X]Bindings
---[X] "You will take your weapon forms and remain in them until you get permission from me. I and those I designate can use you as I will. In addition, you will provide me with three favours, which you will attempt to fulfil to the best of your ability. After each of the first two favours, you will return to me and take weapon form once more. On conclusion of the third favour, we will part ways, without grudge or spite."
Keeping them bound as tools is less kind, but they didn't agree to our generous initial offer, so I think it's fair. It seems a surer way of keeping them from causing more trouble as well.
It's not quite a question, so I wanted to check. Would this be a legit option as an edit?
"What should I call you? What do you want with the Goblin? If she seems open to conversation, broach the possibility of exchanging services or having talks at a later point. If not, don't push."
If it has to be a question we could go for 'So, whats a guy got to do to get your number?'
"What should I call you? What do you want with the Goblin? If she seems open to conversation, broach the possibility of exchanging services or having talks at a later point. If not, don't push."
If it has to be a question we could go for 'So, whats a guy got to do to get your number?'
-[X] Utility Belt. V2
--[X]Sure
--[X]Talks
---[X] What should I call you? What do you want with the Goblin? Whats a guy got to do to get your number?
--[X]Bindings
---[X] "You will take your weapon forms and remain in them until you get permission from me. I and those I designate can use you as I will. In addition, you will provide me with three favours, which you will attempt to fulfil to the best of your ability. These favours will be achievable, no suicidal or insanely dangerous tasks. After each of the first two favours, you will return to me and take weapon form once more. On conclusion of the third favour, we will part ways, without grudge or spite. If I have not called on you for my third favour by the time a year and a day has passed, you be free to go on those same terms."
An adapted version of the plan in response to GM feedback. Didn't seem right to edit the existing plan since people have explicitly voted for it already. Slightly different questions and the binding is more generous, with a time limit clause and a pledge to not force the goblins to do anything suicidal. They can reasonably expect to survive and be free again in a year maximum.
