So, it's been a week. Not too good for an RTD, I guess... By the by, I've written up this turn in what must've been 20 minutes... I think. Then a good hour or more of sifting through the text and fixing statuses.
Oh, and I have a slight problem. I realized that shoving rolls into the text is, while nicely formatted, incredibly irritating. So I will this turn set aside the "tell as you roll" format in favor of "roll array" format where I make all the necessary rolls prior to writing the turn. The rolls are in a separate spoilered block. I'll see how well this goes when we have people dodging, countering, and stuff. For now, here it is.
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Turn 144 ------------
Players: I wake up?
I try to become completely immune to pain.
[RTTAI:{1}] I practice shooting massive fireballs, then heal myself.
i go around healing people, then find and open that yellow box. it must be mine!!!!
I regenerate Rooster's legs with TK from close range.
[RTTAI:{4}] I regenerate my legs.
[RTTAI:{6}] I focus very hard and try to transfer my consciousness into my old body.
I focus on being able to make non-creature shapes with my shapeshifting and then reducing the pain that comes from shifting.
Let's try the "healing myself from the outside" trick again. With any luck, I'll get a 6 and switch back. If I get a 5, this body will hopefully be in decent shape.
I go to Area 3 and negotiate/beg/ for a truck (or fix a broken one) for our team and promise we won't let anything bad happen to it.
I attempt to utilize my unconciousness to further tamper with my nervous system. It's mainly optimization by changing the structure of the brain to support faster impulse processing. I also try to somewhat incorporate some minerals from the soil into the skull, forming a protective shell.
<Travel Mode: Large Valey Area 3>
Allied NPCs: The dwarf just keeps sitting there.
Bat 1 does nothing, Bats 2 and 3 continue crawling.
Neutral NPCs: Some soldiers walk over to Gantolandon and offer help with his damaged leg, or anything else.
Hostile NPCs: None
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ChaoticagJay KayellBoksiAndreaKashyykRoosterNeoZakoFrelockLASDGantolandonFusiliersKororaDwarfBats ----------------
As some of the stress begins to fade away, the team switches their attention to themselves and their mission. Seeing the poor state the team is in, Andrea decides that it would be a good idea to heal
everyone at once and begins charging up his powers. The ominous blueish-white glow he radiates goes largely unnoticed for the moment.
Unaware of the impending event, Kashyyk walks over to Rooster and tries to help him get his rear legs back. There's little he can do, however, as the legs are completely gone, and there's nothing for TK healing to restore. Rooster himself is very depressed at the moment, but seeing Kashyyk attempting healing, he decides to give his regeneration a a go. His rear body begins to rapidly shift and transform, suddenly becoming something quite unexpected...
Not far from them, Zako is also concerned with his regeneration. The transformation process incurs great pain, which does not let him perform it effectively, so he focuses himself on overcoming that pain. Forcing his body to partially transform into an amorphous blob again, he is hit with a massive surge of pain as all the receptors in his body go wild! He fights the pain, slowly and steadily working towards negating it entirely.
Most of the others are motionless. Chaoticag remains unconscious. Neo stares ineffectually at his former body, while Frelock attempts to reestablish the mental link that caused this condition. Kosak, still sulking over his lost beard, and Boksi, staring at his ring in confusion, both remain out of touch with the world.
And then it happens.
Like a sudden supernova, Andrea explodes with thunderous discharges! Too quick for the eye to see, he runs around the hill in weaving patterns, leaving the ground smoking and engulfing everyone in a massive radiant halo! For a few seconds, everyone is dazed and disoriented. The halo slowly begins to dissipate, but suddenly erupts upward with a great pillar of light! A cloud of dust obscures the hill and everyone near it.
LASD notices the great explosion as he walks nearby. He already had his eyes on the convoy's position, but was almost compelled to go and help whoever was there. The need to continue the mission is too great though, and he continues on towards his goal.
The dust slowly settles. Coughing, spitting, and brushing the fine powder of their heads and bodies, everyone looks around. Andrea is nowhere to be found. Everyone else is unhurt except Kashyyk, who is red-hot from all the lightning strikes. Rooster and the dwarf each received some painful jolts but are otherwise unharmed, and Neo is rather shaken as well. Only a few minutes later everyone suddenly comes to terms with another change - apart from the jolts and confusion, everyone within the radiant halo is now healed! Zako has reverted to his usual form. Even Frelock's fur was completely restored. No such miracle for the poor dwarf though, and Rooster didn't get any replacement legs. Or.. actually, Rooster did get a replacement. In a shocking turn of events, the uncanny regeneration of his rear body has now transformed him into a bizzarre monstrocity! A barely-humanoid head on a body with six arms, a horse's front body with two hooved legs, and a massive scaly
tail with flat fins?! Rooster is genuinely confused, he'll likely have to get some of his body into order. Being called a "cenmertaur" is fun, but nothing to laugh at. On the other hand, the muscular tail does allow him to stand and walk, and will probably be a great aid in swimming...
LASD finally approaches the convoy. Several troopers notice him and take aim, but his peaceful appearance quickly resolves the situation. Through an unimaginable feat of diplomacy and persuasion, LASD is able to gain the trust of the lieutenant in charge of the convoy, and gets him to lend his team another truck. After some internal struggle, and consulting with the command back at the camp, the lieutenant agrees to give LASD one of the heavy off-road cargo haulers they've been using, and orders a nearby light 'mech to empty the truck. The slim humanoid machine uses its large hands to quickly unload the several crates of supplies onto other vehicles. While LASD is admiring this machinery at work, several concerned-looking troopers approach him and ask if he could help. Noticing the red crosses on their helmets, he agrees and walks off with them.
Jay Kayell is beginning to get frustrated. It's cold and boring in this dark pit, and his repeated attempts at getting the pain in his backside to subside were not even partially successful. He can't even get out, because though the walls of the crater are not steep, he cannot risk falling down again, and there isn't enough light to see where to step. As if on cue, some lightsource appears. It's bright, and seems to wobble in the air slightly. It gives JK enough light to see, so he happily begins climbing up towards it. He is almost halfway up when the light blazes up with a dazzling flash! Vainly grasping at the air, JK loses his balance and tumbles back down. Thankfully, he was climbing up a relatively soft path and did not get injured.
The source of the light was, of course, Andrea. Having found the yellow box he's been searching for, he spend a good ten minutes trying to get the thing to open. Though rather battered and charred, the box's metal casing did not lose any of its strength. Even the bright yellow paint was not harmed by Andrea's efforts, which included squeezing and pulling, bashing the box against the rocks, bashing rocks against the box, and even zapping it with lightning! The flu has really hit him this time, he's sneezing constantly, and his head feels hotter than usual. Andrea is quite spent, so he sets the box aside and sits down to rest.
Boksi is still confused with his ring's sudden inability to do anything. The feeling of emptiness has returned, and seems to have something to do with it. As he keeps pondering this situation, he suddenly sees two familiar shapes. The giant bats, though exhausted and injured, have finally made it to the hill.
Korora would also like to make it to the hill, but his sense of direction turned out to be nowhere near good enough for that. Though he tried to keep running straight, he is soon greeted with something he didn't expect - the mountain slopes, perpendicular to his path. As he stands there, trying to figure out what happened, his visual sensors notice a strange thing. His own shadow, a faint area of darkness on the ground, is now right in front of him, projected onto the mountain slopes. Seeing this, Korora finally understands that he must have veered rightward as he ran, and is now facing a western side of the plain. Since his goal must not be too far off now, he continues running along the slope, using the rising sun to keep himself running southward.
At the convoy, LASD is led to one of the front trucks. A pair of medics and a small group of soldiers stand near someone on the ground. The someone's set of carved bone armor makes him easy to identify, and LASD introduces everyone to Gantolandon, who is obviously out at the moment. The medics have fixed his damaged ankle, so he should be able to walk when he wakes up. Curiosity overcomes the nearby soldiers, and after they hear some of LASD's backstory (which he easily exaggerates using his persuasion skills), a few of them volunteer to help him and 'his' team with their mission.
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Background: [6] Dawn is breaking. The darkness slowly lifts, making way for oddly-colored light of this world's sun. The sky in the east is steadily becoming greener, and you can make out the shapes of massive clouds approaching from the south. Andrea looks at the box and realizes it has a handle built into the casing.
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Environment: Dawn. The air is cold. (statistic penalties to constitution). Floodlights on the convoy's mechs illuminate the hill.
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Free items: Fusiliers' camp: Broken crowbar: One-handed "weapon". Somewhere in the camp.
Large Valley area 2: Light infantry armor vest: Somewhere in the area. Can protect upper body. +1 against pierce damage.
+Steel Battleaxe+: Stuck in the ground. One-handed weapon.
Metal Suitcase: Lying on some rocks. Broken, open, empty.
Microscope: On the ground. Allows examining tiny things. Damaged (-1 to use).
Serum Injector: Lying on some rocks. Metallic pistol-like device used to inject medical substances into the bloodstream. Empty, broken.
Crude Magnifying Glass: Lying on some rocks. Broken.
Various assorted rocks and small leftover debris from the truck in LV area 2.
Large Valley area 3: Chemical Extinguisher: Somewhere in the area. Large red tank containing pressurized water mixed with a chemical compound. 1/3rd full.
Gunmetal crate: Near some rocks near the convoy. Open, empty.
Assorted pile of weapons: Near some rocks near the convoy. Contains some melee, and various ranged weapons and ammo.
XXVibroBlade Long DaggerXX: On the ground near the hill. Blade snapped off: -2 to attack. One-handed weapon. Negates up to +1 of opponent's slash or pierce armor.
The Ashcraver: Sticking out of the ground near the truck's wreckage. Two-handed weapon. Consists of two parts. Small Blade: sword-formed. +1 slash damage. Large blade: sword-formed. +2 slash damage, +1 attack, -1 agility.
Various assorted rocks, several pieces of underwear, and JK's former purple shorts.
The burning wreckage of the Phoenix truck, and associated debris.
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Artifacts: "A massive, massive, MASSIVE sword. It is three meters long, 1'3'' (~40cm) wide, and dazzingly bright. Its fine steel has been polished to reflect light like a mirror. Its one edge is curved, jagged at the hilt, the other is straight and so sharp it could probably slice adamantine blocks like salami. Down the center of the sword, which is at least 2'' thick, runs a hollow slit 3'' wide, in which yeat another, smaller and straighter sword is concealed. The entire surface of both swords, except of course the sharp cutting edges, is finely engraved with uncountable images, among which the launching of the Challenger, world war II, a nuclear explosion, a trainwreck, and a rotary excavator. The hilt itself (being at the same time the hilt of the smaller sword) is decorated with gold and emeralds you can only assume you've taken from someone, arranged in beautiful patterns, and the handle is woven with three lines - one is a scaly snake with two small rubies in the eyes, and two seem awfully like DNA strands. You get a feeling you could decipher the human genome if you looked closely enough. The guard of the hilt is exquisitely detailed as well, but right down the senter of it, spanning the breadth of the sword, is a solid rectangular golden plate, with the single word: ""ASHCRAVER"" deeply embossed onto it. The entire thing is so immeasurably brilliant, you almost don't want to touch it fearing it'll stick to your hand and corrupt you like some magic ring. Overcoming this fear, you pick it up. Despite its size, it is relatively lightweight, relatively, of course, to anything else so large and made of steel. (+2 to damage, +1 to attack, -1 agility)
The second form is a smaller (comparatively) blade, that together with the folding hilt guard looks like an overgrown sai. It's also exquisitely detailed, but lighter. (+1 to damage).
The Ashcraver seems to accumulate the energy released by the deaths it causes. The process is admittedly rather slow, but has good uses."
"The ring consists of a toroidal adamantine core surrounded by a shell of tempered steel with thin bands of gold along the rims of the ring. Set into an adamantine frame on its top is a Star Sapphire imbued with the dark soul of a Greater Demon, under absolute control of the wearer. The steel surface of the ring is covered by three hundred tiny tiles of granite, engraved with images of various creatures, all being dead.
The wearer of the ring may call onto the soul of the demon, which can manipulate darkness and fire - anything from direct projection to creating sentient forms to giving protection against.
The wearer can also give an order to summon a creature mad with rage (any creature from the DF world you have seen), which will use up one or several of the stone tiles, depending on the power of the creature. The tiles may be restored, but only through personally killing sentient creatures with bare hands and absorbing their essence with the ring, which also adds that creature to the ""summonable creatures"" list.
The price to pay for all this power is a constant aura of darkness that any living being will feel (and will react accordingly), and the wearer may, under critical stress, give in and become controlled by the trapped demon soul.
(No passive bonuses. In a single turn, you can either perform an act of darkness/fire manipulation (including creating a prolonged effect), or summon a creature/creatures, but not both. The magnitude and potential of both depend on your skill - the ring grants ""basic level"" only. You can only absorb the essence of a creature you killed with your own bare hands, and only if it died last turn, at most.)
Currently applied effects: (-1 to relevant ability for every active effect)
Darkfire halberd - haft of materialized darkness.
Shadow Warp - Boksi's shadow invisibility."
An odd-looking gnarly stick made of iron and steel. The many wrinkles and crevices on its surface are ever so slightly glowing. The staff feels special, capable of doing wonrous things. Some of those things include: summoning a small lightning that seems to charge the staff, when being hit against the ground; launching a spark of electricity that explodes in a sparkling firework-like burst, on giving a generic mental command.
(Universal Radiowave Manipulator) A hexagonal reflective box, rougly a foot across and 10cm thick. It can receive, process, transmit, focus, and disperse energy waves over a rather wide electromagnetic spectrum. Can work as a radio or a mini-microwave. Contains a battery that can be recharged by applying any electricity to the surface.
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Locations: Planet Wayside V: The planet seems to be barren as a whole. The sky is green here, and the air is cold. Or maybe it's just autumn here.
Large Valley: A rather dull and barren, though very large, rocky valley covered by reddish clay soil with patches of some unknown weeds or moss. Filled with broken rock and debris. Sloping mountains or plateaus many kilometers tall seem to surround it.
Sub-area 1: The place you initially appeared at.
Sub-area 2: Where your truck was destroyed by an aerospace fighter (and later rebuilt, driven off elsewhere and crashed again). The disabled Wolf Trap is here. LASD is here.
Sub-area 3: Somewhere far north of Area 2 - the fighter crashlanded there. And subsequently exploded, leaving a large crater and killing the crew of the two scout buggies sent by Fusiliers. Most players are here, as well as a convoy of trucks, light mechs, and infantry.
Vast plain: An enormous plain connected to the large valley by a relatively narrow passage. Its ground is different from that of the valley, but you don't know what it is yet. Korora is travelling along it.
Fusiliers' main camp: A small military camp set up amidst the hills in the large valley. Mechs patrol its perimeter. All of you are at a spot some distace away from it.
"Overlord"-class Dropship "Bullrun": A big egglike spaceship designed to go to and from a planet's surface. Armed with several turrets and protected by thick armor. It's been attacked on its descent and is undergoing repairs.
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Vehicles: Battlemech. Lying on its back in the LV area 2.
Type: Medium-class, 45 tons. Capabilities: Jump Jets (piloting skill check required for every use) Armament: Imperator Code Red LB 10-X AC(30/30), two Victory 23R Medium Lasers(inoperable), one Shigunga LRM-10 rack(1x10/0x10). Protection: Ablative ferro-fibrous plating. State: Heavy damage on left torso, moderate armor damage to center torso, left arm destroyed, medium lasers destroyed, LRM ammo detonated, significant damage on left leg, armor destroyed on right leg. Heavy off-road truck. At Large Valley Area 3, near the convoy.
Type: Four axel, eight wheel drive. 12cyl diesel ICE. 6 tons, lift capacity 15 tons. Flatbed with tent.
Capabilities: Off-road suspension (+1 driving check on rough terrain), large capacity fuel tank (plot-dependant). Top speed 140kph on road, 90 kph off-road.(not that it really matters)
Armament: None.
Protection: 20mm steel plating (-1 against to-scale pierce attacks).
State: Undamaged.
Resurrected only to die again, this truck is now a pile of smoldering wreckage, with hardly anything salvageable from it.
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