[X] Rally and Rearm. You know your duty, but engaging something like this unprepared is suicide. Collect your axe, drink the remaining healing draught, and invoke the Flaming Sword once more. The Templar should be able to stall the spectre until you are ready to engage.
[X] Rally and Rearm. You know your duty, but engaging something like this unprepared is suicide. Collect your axe, drink the remaining healing draught, and invoke the Flaming Sword once more. The Templar should be able to stall the spectre until you are ready to engage.
Shame I couldn't vote last time, since it was pretty close and the winning option didn't feel right for me (for Erica at least)....
[X] Rally and Rearm. You know your duty, but engaging something like this unprepared is suicide. Collect your axe, drink the remaining healing draught, and invoke the Flaming Sword once more. The Templar should be able to stall the spectre until you are ready to engage.
Now who wants to vote after me? *brandishes flaming axe*
I thought that would have been an interesting outcome. Since the thread and SV acts in general like the MC has plot armour all the time. Just once i'd like to see a quest end abruptly because the MC died due to stupid decisions of the thread..
I mean I should note that choosing to attack Bottcher could have worked - a slightly better roll on that first exchange would have ended the fight in a single exchange, and then you'd be in good health and also not having to fight a ghost.
I mean I should note that choosing to attack Bottcher could have worked - a slightly better roll on that first exchange would have ended the fight in a single exchange, and then you'd be in good health and also not having to fight a ghost.
You can blame anything on Ranald if you're dedicated enough.
I should know, I have to do it all the time in Divided Loyalties to keep scepticism at healthy levels. Also if Ranald is in any way related to the death of any of our love interests I might inherit a blood vengeance from another thread.
Ghosts are not your speciality. It is the Amethyst Order that deals with such matters, their mastery of the wind of death granting them an endless array of specialised options to handle the different kinds of unquiet dead, not the Bright. Even so, your tutors made sure to teach you the basics, just in case you should ever meet such a creature upon the field of battle, and so you can see at a glance how dire the situation truly is. Ghosts are not physical beings, and cannot be slain by steel or any mortal artifice. Only magic can harm them, and even then it is no sure thing, for a ghost might possess any number of unnatural abilities born of its age and power and should never be taken lightly.
You are the only wielder of magic on this field, and you are half dead and all but unarmed. If you throw yourself at this foe without hesitation, you will only be committing suicide. These are the truths that weigh heavy in your mind as you turn away, and leave the Witch Hunter to his fate. The spectre hates him, this at least is certain, and that gives you a window to act. Gritting your teeth to strangle the cry of pain, you begin limping towards your fallen weapon.
"What?" Hubkind, for such is apparently his name, growls in confusion, "What madness moves your wretched tongue, beast?"
"Beast?" The spectre's voice is the hiss of steam and the wail of distant cries, the wood of its false pyre cracking and turning to ash as it advances, "Not beast… my name… you know… you KNOW!"
Indeed it seems the hunter does, for after a moment's scrutiny his eyes go wide and his steady advance falters. "...Samrich?"
"MURDERER!" The creature screams, and hurls itself across the ring, red-hot chains coiling around it like so many snakes. There is a cry of pain as it makes contact, but you cannot spare the time to track the details, or listen to the terrified screams of the audience. You have reached the spot where your axe was thrown, and with a grunt you pick it up once more, trying not to sway as your wounds throb dully with the pain.
The steel axe is heavy in your hands as you heft it, but even holding it is a comfort. With a growl you pull the remaining elixir from your belt, pulling the tiny cork lid out with your teeth. You can scarcely even taste the liquid within over the tang of your own blood, but the sensation of slowly spreading heat through your torso is more than welcome. You don't even want to imagine the amount of time it will take you to recover from these wounds, but the potions will keep you on your feet for a little longer, and that will have to do.
First, fear tests must be made! The ghost has a fear rating of 2, meaning that 2 SL are required on an extended cool test in order to willingly approach it.
Matthias Hubkind, the Witch Hunter, tests against TN 73. He rolls 92, and therefore fails.
Erika tests against TN 61. She rolls 34, succeeds with +3SL, and therefore gets to ignore her fear.
The ghost attacks the witch hunter. It has a weapon skill of 40, and is also subject to Hatred, meaning it adds +1SL automatically to all combat tests.
As a fear-causing creature is moving closer to him, Matthias must test his cool again. He rolls a 90, and therefore fails. He takes a -10 on the test to defend himself, and will need to flee on his turn.
Ghost has one point of advantage from charging, tests against TN 50, rolls 14. Success with +5SL.
Hubkind tests against 55, rolls 06, success with +5SL.
Draw, but as both combatants succeeded, this is resolved as a hit. Damage is +7 weapon - 4 toughness -1 armour = Matthias takes two wounds.
Erika drinks her remaining healing draught, now has seven wounds.
Matthias is forced to flee. As he goes, the ghost gains an advantage (for a total of two) and gets to make a free attack against him with a +20 bonus. It has a TN of 80, rolls 64 for a success with +2 SL. Matthias takes another four wounds, and has 23 remaining.
You have your axe, you have the strength to stand. You need but one thing more, and with a muttered invocation you reach out with your will, seeking the red wind that has been your companion since childhood. It comes only slowly to your call, all but drowned beneath the tide of stagnant shyish that clings to all things dead and dying. Indeed, the strongest source of it by far here is…
"I shall not doubt!" Matthias Hubkind, Templar of Sigmar, roars with fury. He is bleeding, his leather armour torn by spectral claws, his heart blazing with fiery passion. You take it for your own, as you might heat from the hearth. "You shall not…"
Whatever oath the witch hunter sought to invoke is lost, as the glowing chains that hang from the ghost's blackened arms lunge for him like serpents. They circle his arms and clinch tight around his throat, held at bay solely by one straining arm, and where they touch you can see Hubkind's flesh beginning to char.
"Burn, Matthiasss…" the ghost hisses, lifting the witch hunter from his feet, "Burn… as you burned me…"
"Why do you hesitate?" Petra Steinmetz asks in a cold voice, appearing at your side once again, and gods do you hate how she keeps doing that, "The duel is suspended…"
"I fucking guessed," you growl, trying not to lose focus as you weave ever-more aqshy out of the air and into your weapon, "but steel won't touch a ghost like that. It needs a magic blade to end it."
"I see," Petra says solemnly, and you try not to flinch as she draws her blade, as that terrifying divine energy begins to gather around her once again. It is light, stripped of all physical form; pure, illuminating, revealing. "Holy Verena, I ask your aid. Let your light fill my heart, let your hand guide my arm, that my sword be a tool of justice…"
There is a brief, terrible pause… and then the light vanishes, leaving nothing but darkness behind. Petra Steinmetz blinks dumbly for a moment, then collapses to the ground, a puppet with her strings cut.
"My lady…" she whispers, her voice utterly hollow, "why?"
Erika attempts a channelling test. Her base TN is 78, +10 for the existing fire spell Cuirass of Flame, so 88. She rolls 62, for a total of 4 SL after the aethyric attunement talent is taken into account. She needs four more before she can cast Flaming Sword.
Matthias rolls to resist his fear! TN is 73, roll is 12! He rallies and can now fight back.
Ghost has a TN of 70 (due to three advantage), rolls 60, success with +2 SL.
Matthias has TN of 55, rolls 59, bare failure.
Ghost wins, inflicts three more wounds on Hubkind, who has 20 left.
Petra Steinmetz enters the field! She makes a Prayer test against TN 50, seeking to invoke the miracle "Sword of Justice". Unfortunately, she rolls 88 - not only is this a fail, but her failure invokes the Wrath of the Gods.
With a result of 45, Petra is afflicted by "Your Cause is Unworthy". She is knocked prone, and loses the ability to invoke miracles like this for the next few days. Verena, it seems, believes that intervening in this situation would be unjust!
"He was innocent," you growl, anger colouring your voice as the realisation comes, "the witch hunter burned an innocent man."
Scant yards away, the ghost of a man named Samrich snarls furiously, stick-thin fingers digging bloody trenches in the arms and chest of the man who killed him. Hubkind growls oaths and prayers as he defends himself as best he can, a zealot utterly unwilling to change, just like every witch hunter you've ever known. Gods, of course the ghost was innocent. Only the most terrible of deaths can bind a spirit to its place of death, and being burned as a heretic before the eyes of your whole community has to be among the worst.
Ghosts are not your speciality, but anger… oh yes. Anger, you understand. And this man's anger, the rage he must feel at the presence of his murderer, at the blood spilled on the place he died and the crackling heat of your fire… no wonder he came back. No wonder Verena chose to grant him a chance. You would too if you were a goddess, but unfortunately for the world you are not. You are a wizard, and a wizard's duty here is clear.
"Get up," you snarl, glaring down at the hollow-eyed priestess, "get up and fight. You think that thing will stop with the Templar? You think it can?"
Petra just stares blankly, muttering something to herself in a language you think might be Classical. She is praying, you think, seeking forgiveness and guidance from her deity. There will be no help from her, then, nor from any of the shrieking crowd you can see fleeing back into the streets and alleys of Kemperbad. Even the nobles seem paralysed by doubt, and the city watch are if anything outright happy to watch the Templar fight and die in their place. Damn the lot of them for the useless bastards that they are, then, you'll do it yourself if you must!
Erika Channels again, TN is 88, roll is 81. Bare pass, two more degrees of success thanks to the talent, total of six. Two more needed.
Ghost rolls against TN 80, with four advantage, gets 47, success with +5SL
Hubkind rolls against TN 55, scores 03, success with +5SL
Draw, again results in the ghost winning, Hubkind takes two wounds. 18 left.
Ah, and there is the aqshy you were calling for, the red wind born of heat and human passion. It boils around you in a cloud now, more than you could ever need for even the most destructive of spells, and you smile thinly with pleasure at the sight.
Distantly, you hear the ghost scream in pain, forced to release the witch hunter as he brandishes what seems to be a small chunk of bone. The Templar might be battered and bloody, but he is not out of tricks just yet, it seems. So be it. You need no tricks. You have the favour of your god, and it is time to show these soft southerners just what that means.
Erika channels again, rolls 37. 7 SL, enough that she can finally cast the spell on her next turn.
Ghost turns three of its four advantage into activating Frenzy. It gets +10 strength and the ability to make a free attack every round.
Ghost rolls against TN 50, scores 97! Failure with -4SL.
Hubkind rolls against TN 55, scores 32, success with +2 SL.
Hubkind has freed himself, but without a magical weapon he cannot actually inflict any damage to the ghost.
Ghost makes a free attack against TN 40, scores 43, bare fail.
Hubkind does not get to defend because it was a free attack.
"FOR ULRIC!"
Your axe bursts into flame, the zeal of your shout all you need to leash the vibrant wind of aqshy and turn it to your will. It showers sparks across the ground, and with a single thought you gather the excess energy and send it forth, binding it to Hubkind's sword as well.
Unfortunately, the witch hunter is not used to battling alongside wizards of your ilk; the sight of his own sword erupting into flames startles him, and that brief pause is all his opponent needs. Ghostly claws rake at Hubkind's face, tearing great strips of flesh from jaw and shoulder, and he staggers back with a choking cry of pain.
Erika rolls Language (Magick) in order to cast Flaming Sword of Rhuin. Her TN is 74. She rolls 10, success with +6 SL. Every +2 allows her to bless the weapon of one other ally in range; she chooses Hubkind, as the only person actively fighting.
Ghost still attacks Hubkind, TN is 40, roll is 20, success with +3 SL.
Hubkind defends, TN is 65, roll is 62, bare pass.
3 SL in favour of the ghost, Hubkind takes six wounds, has twelve left.
Ghost makes free attack, TN is 50, roll is 52, miss.
"Must I do everything?" you scream, fear and desperation transforming into rage as you heft your burning blade and sprint across the arena. The ghost barely seems to notice you, cackling with vengeful joy as it savages the reeling form of the man who murdered it. Only at the last, when you are scarce paces away, does it realise its peril, and by then it is far, far too late.
Your axe catches the undead just below the ribs and does not stop, shearing the flickering torso entirely in two. For a moment the twin halves hang there, liberated in death from the harsh demands of gravity, and then the fires of aqshy devours them whole.
In moments, only ash remains.
Erika charges! Her base skill is 69, +1 advantage for the charge, +20 for outnumbering the ghost so TN is 99. She rolls 43, success with +5 SL.
Ghost defends with TN 50, roll is 95, fail with -4 SL.
Damage is 6 weapon +3 strength +9SL +3 impact -3 toughness = 18 wounds. The ghost is destroyed.
For a moment you stand there, breathing heavily, feeling the stagnant mist of shyish fade as the last remnants of the ghost's corpus boils away to nothing. In front of you stands Matthias Hubkind, the witch hunter, and though his flesh is torn and his leather coat soaked in blood he remains on his feet, expression still set in an unflinching scowl.
"...my thanks, wizard," he forces out between blood stained teeth, "Your assistance was… timely."
You briefly consider how good it would feel to bury your axe directly between his eyes. The man he burned was innocent, and had it been a child or relative seeking revenge you would have given serious thought to simply standing aside and letting them have what justice demands. To make common cause with the dead, though, even for a moment… no, that is anathema.
"Oh shut up," you say instead, putting as much of your anger and disgust as possible into your tone so that this murderer will know exactly what you think of him. Hubkind's face grows thunderous, but you truly do not care, instead turning away in search of your previous opponent.
Heinrich Bӧttcher waits where you had left him, seemingly rooted to the spot, and his bark-like skin is sallow and pale. Truthfully he scarcely seems aware of you, only blinking in surprise several seconds after you come to a halt in front of him, and even then he doesn't seem able to speak.
"Well?" you say, holding your axe in a white-knuckled grip, "Come on then. We're not finished yet."
Bӧttcher swallows dryly, then forces a thin smile onto his narrow lips.
"Actually, I think we are," he croaks, like some kind of frog, "I yield."
You blink. "Can… can you do that?"
The von Dammenblatz champion shrugs vaguely, then raises his voice to a shout. "I yield! I forfeit, I quit, whatever! She wins!"
The reaction from the stands is instantaneous, sheer outrage apparently allowing the aggrieved baron to break through the paralysed silence of fear as he begins screaming imprecations at his supposed champion, but you… you think you want to sit down for a bit.
Oh. You already are. How nice.
Maybe you ought to rest. Invoking magic while suffering from extensive blood loss is one of those things that… that your tutors… that they…
The world goes away.
Article:
You have won your judicial duel. However, the Baron Otto von Dammenblatz will not take this lying down. How does he intend to get even?
[ ] Assassination. A professional killer is sent to open your throat while you sleep, but is willing to entertain alternate offers.
[ ] Disgrace. The witch hunter is persuaded to arrest you for necromancy, but the deed enrages those truly responsible.
[ ] Slander. An accusation of cheating is lodged against you in the courts, countered by support from an unexpected quarter.
[X] Slander. An accusation of cheating is lodged against you in the courts, countered by support from an unexpected quarter.
This seems like the kind of thing that would be easiest to turn back on our accuser, and more legal, as well as likely being less costly, than turning an Assassin...and less disastrous than angry necromancers.
Oh. Wow. Well, that is a very interesting place to leave off on. And all three of those options... Hard choice.
For me, the question's less about which threat is interesting, and more about the second half.
Do we want to deal with an assassin who wants something from us - something worth more to them than their reputation as a successful killer?
Or do we want to learn more of whoever actually called up that ghost?
Or... who -would- support us in the courts?
I don't know. I am curious. Any of these options could be very interesting.
[ ] Assassination. A professional killer is sent to open your throat while you sleep, but is willing to entertain alternate offers.
Let me guess the assassin is a woman
[ ] Slander. An accusation of cheating is lodged against you in the courts, countered by support from an unexpected quarter.
Bӧttcher is probably our support
[x] Disgrace. The witch hunter is persuaded to arrest you for necromancy, but the deed enrages those truly responsible.
90% sure this will end with the necromancers dead, the witch hunter either dead or found guilty of murder and us alive and meeting with the Elector Countess.
[X] Disgrace. The witch hunter is persuaded to arrest you for necromancy, but the deed enrages those truly responsible.
I'm not entirely sure what ES is talking about, but since we gotta take SOME form of hit right about now...
I like this one, because I'm curious about that angle. And our actions were somewhat disgraceful what with the duelling rule confusion.
