The Lands of the River - A Bronze Souls Quest

[MissBegot]

[x] Call off the hounds to your side. Cast Rain of Stars on the spearmen.​

[x] Dodge that arrow.​

With a piercing whistle, you call the hounds off, then begin to speak words of power, staff upraised; spears stab into the earth as the beasts bound away from the shield wall, and then the night is lit up by the rain of searing stars that answers your summons, pelting the spearmen from above. You see stars burst upon shoulders and padded helmets as they break into a run toward you.

As you complete the incantation, you deftly duck and sidestep, letting an arrow pass harmlessly by. The archer knocks another as both hounds and guards thunder toward your position.

Focus
╞══════════════════╡10/20 🌑
Stormhounds of Suteshet
╞════╡6/6╞════╡2/6

Lower Kingdom Spearmen
╞════════╡╞════════╡╞════════╡
Lower Kingdom Archer
╞════════╡​

What do you do? Both hounds and spearmen are now at Short range and closing; the spearmen are still bunched up, but the swifter hounds are just out of their reach for now. However, they will all reach your position soon unless you do something.
[ ] Incant Rain of Stars again, trying to hit the spearmen before a general melee ensues.
[ ] Call forth the Moonlight Blade, and prepare to sweep it across the enemy line as they come in reach, swinging high so as to miss the hounds.
[ ] Try to finish off the archer now with Star's Call.
[ ] Write in.
The prewritten tactics are just some obvious ideas, and are not guaranteed to be the best ones. Feel free to build on them.

 

[MissBegot]

[x] Call forth the Moonlight Blade, and prepare to sweep it across the enemy line as they come in reach, swinging high so as to miss the hounds.​

You hold your ground in the face of the charge, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Your hand, stretched out to the side, casts a shadow in the light of the aten overhead. As they draw near and raise their spears to strike, you call upon the Hidden One and grasp the moonlight by that shadowy edge, bringing a long silvery blade around in a perfect stroke. There is a momentary pain in your side, as if you strained a muscle in the swing, but you ignore it.

The three guardsmen approaching are, at this range, clearly Dead; despite the charge from the gate they are not discernibly breathing, faces set in emotionless calculation that suggests some further incompleteness of the soul. Then the glimmering edge passes through their necks and upheld arms, wisps of ghostly light rise like glowing smoke from their eyes, and they fall full length before you in a clatter of shields and spear hafts, all semblance of life severed.

The hounds have halted at your flanks, eyes full of stormlight turned up to you expectantly. You realise then that the pain in your side is an arrow that has lodged in the thick layers of your armour; such was your concentration on the counterblow that for a moment you forgot the archer. As you look up, he knocks another arrow with that same almost mechanical detachment.

{+1 Athletics}
Resolve
╞══════════════════╡19/20
Focus
╞══════════════════╡6/20 🌑
Stormhounds of Suteshet
╞════╡6/6 ╞════╡2/6

Lower Kingdom Spearmen
╞════════╡╞════════╡╞════════╡
Lower Kingdom Archer
╞════════╡​

So much for breaking their morale. The Dead have no life to sell dearly, but nevertheless you will have to deal with the last archer. These soldiers seem much more detached than the Dead you met in the village.
[ ] Write in.

Spoiler: Notes

The archer scored a glancing hit despite your good roll, because you had drawn the attention of all 4 foes, and thus took a -30 to defence. Your armour is doing its job though.

 

[MissBegot]

[x] Cast Star's Call on the remaining archer and send the dogs at them​

[x] Prepare to Dodge again while advancing.​

You whistle again, sounds you know only through the gift of Suteshet, signalling the hounds to attack as you begin to stride forward. You gesture with your staff, but the incantation is interrupted as another arrow finds its mark, lodging in the armour over your shoulder. The shaft catches your arm and disrupts the gesture, and the mote of starlight meanders lazily toward your attacker and bursts dully against his armour, its energy largely wasted.
{+1 Athletics for Partial}

The hounds plunge headlong through the open gate and wheel, disappearing from your sight behind the wall. The archer drops his bow and grabs an axe from his belt, turning to face the onslaught.

Resolve
╞══════════════════╡18/20
Focus
╞══════════════════╡5/20 🌑
Stormhounds of Suteshet
╞════╡6/6╞════╡2/6

Lower Kingdom Archer
╞════════╡​

Do you keep casting, or leave it to the hounds?
[ ] Incant the Star's Call again; better to make sure.
[ ] The hounds should be able to deal with one wounded archer; take the moment to drink from your flask.
[ ] Write in.

Spoiler: Notes

I hope this isn't becoming dull; resource management will matter, and if the enemy doesn't break (which the Dead are generally unlikely to), the mopping up can still cost you precious energy. The Tax Collector will not yield up his takings lightly.

 

[MissBegot]

[x] Incant the Star's Call again; better to make sure.​

A stormhound leaps into sight, jaws clamping around the upraised arm before the axe can swing, right as your star strikes. The archer tumbles out of sight, and the hounds come trotting back to sit expectantly in the gateway as you approach. Their flickering gazes follow you impassively as you draw out the flask to restore yourself; the battle has taxed your mind, your wits dulled from intense focus on the incantations.

As the water of life restores that semblance of vitality that animates you, you step into the gateway and survey the interior of the compound. On either side, long rows of shuttered granaries flank the approach to the counting-house, forming a sort of courtyard. All is quiet.

{Flask of Life 2/4}​

Resolve
╞══════════════════╡20/20
Focus
╞══════════════════╡14/20 🌑
Stormhounds of Suteshet
╞════╡6/6 ╞════╡2/6​

After the battle, the silence seems unnatural. You sense, in some way you cannot quite describe, that something lurks ahead, more dangerous than these diminished Dead who lie about the gate. At your feet lies a fallen spearman, a short bronze-headed spear and a hide-covered wooden shield in the dust beside him. A little way away, an archer's bronze headed axe, and further down the wall the fallen body with a quiver of arrows and a short warbow.

Should you take any of this up? Equipment will add to your Burden, reducing your Agility if you cross Load thresholds, but also expand your offensive and defensive options.
Vote by plan, taking any number of the following items. You may also discard burdensome items, such as your armour, if you wish. For now, concern yourself only with what you want to equip; you may carry away things to store on the barque later.
[ ] Take something:
-[ ] Take a spear (A short spear with a leaf-shaped bronze head. Inflicts 2/4/4 Piercing Damage. Reach, Balanced (damage modifiers included). Agile (+10 to Defence Rolls when you attack with this weapon). Burden 1.
-[ ] Take a shield (A medium-sized wooden shield with a hide covering. Allows you to Block using Might/Endurance +10. Burden 4.
-[ ] Take an axe (A small battle axe with a narrow, 'duck-bill' bronze head. Inflicts 0/2/6 Hewing damage. Heavy (damage modifier included). Burden 1.
-[ ] Take a bow and quiver (A light recurve warbow, bent into a distinctive triangular shape when strung. Inflicts 0/2/4 Piercing damage at up to Long range. Precise (on a Full Success, ignore Armour Reduction). Burden 2.
[ ] Take nothing.​

You contemplate the silent courtyard. You have a strange urge to announce yourself, but falter at your absence of a name. The gap in your soul nags at you. You could take a new name; you did it before after all, when you joined the priesthood. But should you?

Vote separately from the plan vote above.
This choice matters. There is no wrong answer.
[ ] Introspection: Let go of the past; reinvent yourself and choose a new name. Something meaningful, a better expression of who you have become and seek to be. (This will begin the voting process to choose a new name. Choices made therein will (re)define some aspects of your character and soul.)
[ ] Introspection: Seek who you were, and will be again; devote yourself to uncovering your old name, piecing together your old life. (This will close, for now, the option of choosing a new name, and make a definite plan for how to rediscover your old one.)
[ ] Introspection: Write in. (Subject to Veto; it should bear upon the decision at hand.)​

Spoiler: Notes & Mechanics

First chance to acquire new gear! There are other weapons out there, different sizes of shield, other armours, but this is what has been dropped right now.

A note about Shields and Defences: Dodge is a good generalist defence, but every enemy attack has different results for different defences; sometimes Blocking is more effective than Dodging, and sometimes less. Having the option to Block can be useful against some foes even if Dodging is your favoured tactic. On the other hand, shields can be pretty heavy, so you may have to choose between weapons, shields and armour! Your Load Limits are based on your Might; if Might increases, you can carry more.

Finally, the promised vote on Introspection and names. None of these choices are irrevocable, but they will determine your initial character arc.

I'm going to give this vote some time for everyone to catch up and vote because 1) there's the important Introspection decision and 2) I have to finalise stats for the upcoming bossfight...

 

[MissBegot]

[x] Take a bow and quiver (A light recurve warbow, bent into a distinctive triangular shape when strung. Inflicts 0/2/4 Piercing damage at up to Long range. Precise (on a Full Success, ignore Armour Reduction). Burden 2.​

[x] Give the good dogs some scritches. They deserve it.​

[x] Introspection: Let go of the past; reinvent yourself and choose a new name. Something meaningful, a better expression of who you have become and seek to be.​

Yes. Life is a process of reinventing yourself bit by bit, every day. Why shouldn't Death be the same? This is the first step of the rest of your life. Death. Whatever. You shrug on the quiver, gingerly pat the waiting stormhounds, who bear the attention stoically, grasp your staff again, and step toward the counting-house, shadows shifting beneath the cool glare of the aten following overhead.

What sort of name should you take?
[ ] An aspirational name: Take a name that says something about who you want to be, where you're going. Something grand.
[ ] A devotional name: Take a name that says something about how you got here, something that honours your quest and your patron, the Ferrymaiden who brought you here to walk these lands once more.
[ ] A simple name: Take a name that says something about where you came from, one that honours your former life. Something humble.​

The blocky mudbrick granaries are built shoulder-to-shoulder on either side. All but the first pair you passed have their doors barred, doubtless filled with the spoils of this ruinous regime. The counting-house is distinguished only by the heavy-shuttered windows and the sign over the door proclaiming it so. It's somehow disappointing, that a man who holds the delta in his crushing grip should reside somewhere so plain and unassuming.

Halfway down the avenue, the door of the counting-house is thrown open, and… something comes forth. The Tax Collector emerges from the doorway like a spider emerging from a crevice, unfolding unnaturally long cadaverous limbs, rearing up until he towers over you. Papyrus ledger scrolls are wrapped around his arms and hang about his gaunt torso like a cloak, and through the palm of his left hand is pierced a long bronze spike, from which dangles an enormous set of scales. He looks down, eyes burning gold in shrunken sockets, flesh pared back almost to the bone. He points his right hand at you, unfolding skeletal fingers each as long as your own arm.

"You will be held liable for these damages, interloper. Come. I shall collect what is owing."

He strides toward you, bringing his left hand back, scales clattering as they swing out behind him.

The Tax Collector
╞══════════════════════════════════════╡​

What do you do? You are currently at Medium range from him, but he is closing in.
[ ] Write in an Action, a Reaction, and any Stormhound Commands.
Introducing a new mechanic for this fight; dodge directions! If you vote to dodge, specify which way you want to move. Dodging boss attacks may make substantial demands of your movement, and may result in you changing range bands.
Character Sheet Link​

Spoiler: Author's Notes and Mechanics Update

I live! Sorry for the long wait, life has been difficult and I was anxious about getting the boss balance right; I hope this fight works out, I want the full First Souls Boss Experience but also this is an untested system. 😅

Also a minor balance change; I've reduced the Athletics bonus for Light Load, to try and balance the defence options better. Now Light gives you a smaller bonus than the penalty you'd get for Heavy.

 

[MissBegot]

[x] A devotional name
[x] Fall back, directing the Stormhounds to shift out to your flanks, and shoot with the Moonbow.​

Somehow, somewhere in the back of your mind, you are still turning over names. Right now, something devotional appeals; there are many traditional forms for that, into which the name of a god is normally be inserted. Or a parent. Or a spouse, depending on the form. Ankhesenrekhet? Or would that be just a little too strong? Djedjetrekhet? Akhenrekhet? ...Duatrekhet? Okay, maybe Ankhesenrekhet wasn't too much, but Duat-, that's practically a confession.

...maybe you shouldn't be thinking about this right at this moment. The prospect of death doesn't seem to concentrate the mind the way it used to, now that you're already Dead.

Devotional is leading handily, so lets follow this train of thought; not holding the vote for a name just yet, but you may submit suggestions and if I like them I'll add them to the vote when it comes.
[ ] Ren: Write in name suggestion.
The above examples all have meanings that I'll put in Author's Notes!​

You retreat in the face of the giant's advance, whistling for the stormhounds to circle around as you fall back. You whisper the secret names of the moon as you draw a ghostly bow from the fierce glare of your aten, stringing it with starlight.

The stormhounds swing wide toward the granaries to flank the monstrous figure, but he brings his long arm sweeping around, palm out, the scales scything almost the entire width of the avenue. Caught off guard, the hounds are both cut down by the whirling bronze, dissolving into drifting sand and the mournful howl of wind over barren dunes. You stumble over the invocation in your dismay, loosing a weak and flickering arrow that nonetheless strikes home and lodges in a papyrus-shrouded shoulder. He pays it no mind.

{+1 Invocation}
Focus
╞══════════════════╡10/20 🌑
Stormhounds of Suteshet
╞════╡0/6 ╞════╡0/6​

The Tax Collector
╞══════════════════════════════════════╡​

"Bar the gate! This accounting shall not be evaded!"

You hear dragging wood behind you and some decisive thumps; glancing back you see two spearmen taking up positions before the gate. Are they they some of the same ones you just felled on your way in? They level their weapons and plant their feet; there will be no easy retreat now. The Tax Collector continues advancing, bringing back his hand again, the scales' chains rattling.

What do you do now? The Tax Collector is still at Medium range, the gate and the guards behind you are now at Short range, as are the granaries either side. The counting-house is now at Long range.
[ ] Write in.​

Spoiler: Author's Notes

The hounds rolled catastrophically badly on their dodges, I'm afraid, even with the full defence bonus for not attacking or running! Welcome to Bronze Souls I guess, even the summons are getting that First Boss Experience.

All the names in contemplation are based on actual Ancient Egyptian names, with the following meanings:
Ankhesenrekhet ('her life is of/for Rekhet')
Djedjetrekhet ('(she) whom Rekhet gives')
Akhenrekhet ('effective for Rekhet')
Duatrekhet ('adorer of Rekhet')

 

[MissBegot]

[x] Cast Foresight, attempt to circle the Tax Collector to the left.​

You speak the words that exist outside time, mind straining with the effort, and you see what will be, overlaid on what is like ghosts in starlight.

{+1 Incantation}
Focus
╞══════════════════╡4/20 🌑​

You will circle to the left, trying to pass the advancing foe on the edge of his reach. The mudbrick walls will glow as your aten draws nearer, and the Tax Collector pivots, bringing his left arm around again, too fast, too wide, the scales sweeping toward you like a stampeding cow, and in circling you are trying to outrun the oncoming bronze instead of moving out of its path, and you can't do it, you see the moment to act too late, and the blow hurls you with bone-crushing force against the wall of the granary-

You fling yourself to the ground at just the right moment, feel the wind of the strike passing over your back, and spring forward again, running in the wake of the scales as the Tax Collector draws them back, preparing to strike again. He takes a step sideways to follow you as you scurry past, twirling the scales with a twist of his wrist, the spike through his palm spinning as he prepares a new attack, but it will be a feint, he will reach out to grab you with his right, to crush you and hurl you back where you cannot escape his sweeping blows.

What will you do? You are now on one side of the courtyard, back to the granaries. The Tax Collector stands in the middle, at Short range, and the guarded gate is also at Short range to your right. The counting-house at the far end of the courtyard is at Long range to your left.
The Tax Collector is readying a grab attack; if it hits you will be moderately hurt as he grips you, and then again as he throws you down where he pleases, leaving you badly staggered and out of position. A skilled and well-armoured warrior might accept the hit in order to inflict a strike against his hand, but you are probably better off trying to avoid it entirely.
[ ] Write in.​

Spoiler: Commentary

You chose to circle to the side, and this meant you weren't dodging out of the AoE of his sweep attack, so a partial on the dodge would not have helped you. Only by the grace of Foresight did you scrape a full success and get the I-frames duck under the blow just in time.

Foresight is more or less giving you a tutorial here, replacing subtle telegraphing cues with an outright description of the next attack he's going to use. It's not quite as powerful as watching a video of a bossfight before doing it, because you only see a few seconds ahead, but it should take the edge off the first boss attempt experience.

I hope the grey text is sufficiently readable to everyone?

 

[MissBegot]

[x] Cast Star's Call to blind him.​

[x] Maintain Space, stay out of reach as he seems a brawler, you very much aren't.​

You run for the open ground to your left, hurling a golden spark at his face as you go. This hand lunges forth and catches you a glancing blow on the shoulder, boney knuckles thumping into your armour. Your feet beat on the packed earth, trying to gain distance. The courtyard offers little room to escape, surrounded by walls and barred doors; even the windows of the counting-house are shuttered. The only refuge is in constant movement.

{+1 Athletics}
Resolve
╞══════════════════╡17/20
Focus
╞══════════════════╡3/20 🌑​

The Tax Collector
╞══════════════════════════════════════╡​

You hear the rustle of chains as he brings back the scales for another sweep as you retreat, see the ghostly shape of the blow beginning to arc across your future. You have room to manoeuvre now, to get out of reach, though you also notice, in the shadows of what will be, that you could also avoid his swings by getting inside his reach, past the outstretched hand and under the arm.

What do you do now?
[ ] Write in an Action and a Reaction.​

 

[MissBegot]

[x] Drink from the Flask of Life.​

[x] Duck under and inside his reach.​

You turn abruptly and dart forwards as his hand comes around, ducking deftly under an outstretched forearm as tall as you are, trailing papyrus wrappings brushing through your half-shaven hair. You unstopper the flask one-handed, swallowing a mouthful of lifegiving water as the flailing scales tear up the ground behind you. He glares down at you with golden balefires as he recovers from the swing, bringing his hands together.

As the water washes the fog from your mind, your senses sharpen. For a moment you are struck by the relative silence of battle between the Dead; neither of you are breathing hard, or much at all, save to speak. No pounding of blood, no rush of adrenaline, just intense concentration as you will yourself to move, to exist, moment by moment. Who was this man, before he became what he is now? What tattered soul do you struggle against, behind this monstrous semblance?

Life Flask: 2/4
Resolve
╞══════════════════╡20/20
Focus
╞══════════════════╡12/20 🌑​

The Tax Collector
╞══════════════════════════════════════╡​

The giant wraps his hands together in a fist, raising them overhead, the bronze spike of the scales pointing down like a sword which he plunges down toward you, the bowls trailing down behind to smash aside anything the spike doesn't impale.

What's your next move?
The Tax Collector is beginning an impale attack, a single-target downward thrust. It will do tremendous damage if it hits, and a glancing hit from the bowls of the scales may knock you back.
[ ] Write in.​

 

[MissBegot]

Content Warning: Violence, grievous physical injury, but not exactly gore because the Dead turn to dust rather than bleeding.​

[x] Dodge.​

[x] Cast Windhunter's Call once he's driven his blade into the ground.​

You watch carefully and as he begins the downward blow you sidestep smartly, calling upon Suteshet to sent forth her hunt—

He redirects the blow later than you thought possible, too late to react. You were overconfident, didn't move far enough—

The spike punches through your armoured side, below your upraised arm, passing right through your torso and stabbing into the earth beside you. A flailing bowl almost knocks the staff from your hand as it tumbles down.

You should be dead. You are. But that hasn't stopped you yet.

You feel disoriented and profoundly exhausted as the cold bronze disrupts and distorts your spiritual body; your Sah is made from your own self-image, and now your soul wavers between what should be and what has been done to you, as your body begins to fail.

You manage to gasp out the last of the invocation as your flesh cracks and starts to disintegrate, coughing choking dust from a pierced lung. The effort almost finishes you off, your senses dulling as you struggle to remain corporeal.

You are plunged into shadow as your aten is eclipsed, the walls and gateway only grey suggestions in the starlight, your foe looming over you, lit only by the balefires in his eyes.

The dust falling from your wound is tossed in a sudden breeze, whirling it together with dry earth and scattered sand into a miniature sandstorm from which two dark shapes leap, blacker than the night around them. One locks its jaws around a shadowy wrist, sparks flying from its teeth, before the spike is abruptly withdrawn, leaving you to stagger back in a daze as the second hound snaps at air.

Resolve
╞══════════════════╡3/20
Focus
╞══════════════════╡0/20
Stormhounds of Suteshet
╞════╡6/6 ╞════╡6/6​

The Tax Collector
╞══════════════════════════════════════╡​

Your senses whirling, you watch the giant step backward in the face of the hounds' onslaught, raising both hands again to try and spear one as they circle and snap at his legs. Dust falls from your robes and drifts about your feet. You are so. very. tired.

What do you do? The Tax Collector is drawing back to Short range as he tries (and fails) to avoid being flanked by the hounds, and will try to use the same attack on one of them next. You have breathing space, or at least you would, if your lungs weren't turning to dust.
[ ] Write in.
[ ] Give up.​

Spoiler: Commentary

Oof. Almost the worst possible time for those numbers to come up. It was a good plan, but the dice were not with you. The hounds have aggro now though, and your flask is half-full, so you may yet recover from this!