@Jhin Lemon I think in future you might want to consider putting a 'Free Action: Cast Spell ___' or something in the votes in the future... Because right now, it seems that even though there's a vote to use 'Ambitious Goal' this turn right above them, people aren't seeing it when they vote, probably because it's not in the update or something...
I see it. Casting it without a wording was meant to be 'I'll leave the exact wording to the others'. If that isn't a valid move - well... I'll leave the entire vote for the option to the others.
@Jhin Lemon I think in future you might want to consider putting a 'Free Action: Cast Spell ___' or something in the votes in the future... Because right now, it seems that even though there's a vote to use 'Ambitious Goal' this turn right above them, people aren't seeing it when they vote, probably because it's not in the update or something...
I probably will, but it hasn't been that long and some voters are probably sleep or busy at work. And to avoid messing up the tally I'll also add a 'use no spells' option. This'll take effect next update.
I see it. Casting it without a wording was meant to be 'I'll leave the exact wording to the others'. If that isn't a valid move - well... I'll leave the entire vote for the option to the others.
Well, votes are open for another two days and a few hours, so you have time to wait for the others to work out the wording before adding it to your vote.
Well, if it isn't too late...
[X] [Spell] Ambitious Goal - Rescue the dog relevant to our current Quest and make sure no Monsters are near the forest's edge currently.
Winning votes:
[w] Mana Crystal Robes: increase mana capacity by 500
[w] Kite shield: +15 to armour, -5 to speed, net +10
[w] Go together as a group "We should go together, even if splitting up is faster it's also more dangerous. And since this is our first mission…" you trail off as Liam looks at you with a smile on his face.
"I suppose it's been decided." he says brightly, "Let's check around the edges of the forest first."
As you begin to move you swear you here a "Feh!" from Tobias. As before, you and Tobias were kept between Liam and Mira as you moved. Liam was extremely courteous, making sure to hold onto tree branches as you passed instead of letting them slap back into your face as well as pointing out any gnarled roots you might trip on in the falling darkness. Mira for her part kept the light near the center of the group, above everyone else, to illuminate the area around you all. It did have the effect of making the trees look more menacing than they did before, or was that just you?
Patrolling around the edges turned up nothing of interest, not even any trace of a monster having been around there, though the howling seemed to grow slightly more frequent.
"Umm, maybe we should investigate that howling? It could be the dog." you posit.
"Unlikely, a scared or hurt animal wouldn't alert everything to its position." Mira responds, "But it could be something hunting the dog, warning other predators to stay away."
"Well, it's a better plan than just wandering in a spiral through the forest," agrees Liam, "but if the dog isn't there all we'll be doing is running right into a monster."
"I'm willing to take the risk." Tobias suddenly says, before muttering to himself, "Anything to get this over with faster before they corrupt Eshani."
"Me too, the longer we take the bigger the chance that dog gets hurt. Even if we end up in the wrong place, we might find a clue about the dog there," Mira says.
"Indeed," Liam says, "Sorry Eshani, if you had any objections it seems you've been out voted."
You weren't going to speak up against the idea, the entire conversation just happened so quickly you didn't have the time to process what was being said before everyone agreed.
"I wasn't going to object." you mutter.
"Excellent!" Tobias exclaims suddenly before adopting a sheepish look as Mira and Liam eye him. "I, I just meant that it's good we all agree on this, that's something we need as an adventuring party right?" he stammers out an excuse.
The howling sounds again.
"Indeed it is. And that's our cue, let's go," Liam says with a wave of his arm gesturing to follow. You all head deeper into the forest after the mysterious howling. It becomes louder and louder as you press on, you're beginning to get worried, how powerful would something be if it was this loud?
In one of the quiet lulls nestled between ever more frequent howls you hear some whimpering to your right, extremely faint.
"Wait guys!" You whisper to the others.
Liam whispers back, "What is it?"
"I think I heard some whimpering-" *HOWL* "-it could be the dog."
"Where?"
You lead the group in the direction of the whimpering . Eventually you reach a tree and the noise stops. The four of you spread out a bit to check the surrounding trees for the dog.
"I found him!" exclaims Mira before the three of you shush her. "Sorry," she whispers, "I got excited."
Mira comes into view from behind a tree with the dog in tow, the poor thing is limping and there's a rather large gash in its side, it's currently bleeding a little, but it should be fine if we take it slowly and get out quietly. Of course your plans are dashed to pieces as the tree next to you is sent crashing down by a large beast tackling it.
A giant wolf, at least by wolf standards, stood before you. Breathing heavily from the effort of knocking down the trees. The drool that fell from its jaw held a strange glow and sizzled as it hit the ground.
"It's a cindermaw wolf!" Mira whispers to you all, "They hunt alone so there shouldn't be any other monsters nearby."
"I don't know if we can defeat this without someone getting hurt though, it isn't an especially difficult opponent, but with you two being green…" Lian trails off
Tobias seems indecisive. Looks like you need to decide what to do.
[] Pick up the dog and run out of the forest (High chance of harming the dog, low chance of harming yourself, medium chance of a fight)
[] Fight the wolf to protect the dog (Low chance of harming the dog, high chance of harming yourself, guaranteed chance of a fight)
[] Try to outmaneuver the wolf and hide among the trees (Medium chance of harming the dog, Medium chance of harming yourself, Low chance of a fight, ???)
Spells?
[] Write-in a spell to cast
[] Don't cast a spell
Winning votes:
[w] Fight the wolf to protect the dog (Low chance of harming the dog, high chance of harming yourself, guaranteed chance of a fight)
[w] Mana Barrier Steeling your nerves, you answer, "We fight, anything else would risk hurting the dog."
"Spoken like a true hero," Liam nods to you. He then puts his shield on his back, makes a strange hand gesture and runs in with his weapon in both hands, a strange glow emanating from it. Turning to Mira you see her waving her hands through the air in strange ways while chanting, was she enhancing his weapon? She mentioned that was one of her abilities.
Liam, weapon enhanced, stabs straight into the beast before it could react. It bellows in rage and pain before swinging to the side and knocking Liam aside, his sword still lodged in its side. Thrown from the cindermaw wolf Liam hit a tree, his armour thankfully absorbing most of the blow, leaving him relatively unharmed, but weaponless. And a little dazed.
You quickly put down the dog in your arms, finding the remains of a tree, seemingly hollowed out enough to hold the dog. It wouldn't provide cover or hide him, but he wouldn't be able to run away.
Turning around you and Tobias unsheathe your rapiers at the same time. As you prepare to step forward and attack however, Tobias lunges forward, dealing a number of forceful stabs at the wolf's shoulders and face. In response to his attack the wolf roars, emitting a jet of fire from its mouth and forcing Tobias to duck to the ground and roll away. As he gets up, now far enough away to be safe, he snaps at Mira.
"You didn't tell us it can breathe fire!"
"It's called a cindermaw wolf, what did you think that meant?! It has warm teeth?" Mira snarks back.
Tobias grumbles a response too low for you to hear before returning to your side. You notice his robe had gotten quite blackened by the flames.
"Are you okay?" you ask, your concern obvious.
"I'll live, don't worry."
While Tobias was doing that, it seemed Liam had recovered from being thrown about and had taken Mira's knife...it really didn't seem like a very viable weapon, but it would do more than punching against the wolf's hide. He took out his shield to defend himself during his next attack thankfully.
Liam was preparing to attack again with his limited weapon. Mira had begun waving her hands around again, whatever spell she was using you didn't know. Tobias meanwhile was looking at you.
"We should go in together, if we strike one after the other it won't get the chance to hit the first of us before the second hits."
"But," you look behind you at the dog, "who'll defend the dog?"
"It's up to you if you want to take a risk to finish this off."
You mutter a quick few words as a faint hexagonal barrier surround you.
Which of you will defend the dog?
[] You
[] Tobias
[] Both
[] Neither
Combat votes, only applicable for those not defending the dog
Weapon
[] Fists (-20 to rolls) You aren't trained either
[] Rapier (no bonus)
Styles
[] Full Offence: +30 to hit, increased damage, no defence roll
[] Offence: +20 to hit, increased damage, -40 to defence roll
[] Balance: no bonus/penalty
[] Defence: +26 to defence roll, -26 to hit
[] Full Defence: +40 to defence roll, no attack
[X] You
We're currently the least skillful. The best thing for us to do is to hang back and let them do their thing, we have Mana Barrier, we and the dog will be fine.
