Ninty isn't bad - I've dealt with far worse at Faire and who knows what at sea. I was expecting worse in here. Thank the gods for small miracles.
I hustle over and kneel by the bed. "My name is John. I'm here to rescue you. Come on..." Try to get him into my arms and back to the window.
The kid starts crying, but he's a small thing, and even without his cooperation you are able to scoop him up and carry him back to the window. He's kicking and screaming, but not really at you, more just in terror.
But before you get there you see Tara at the top of the tall ladder, arms waiting for the kid.
"Come on, now," she says. "We've got to get you down the ladder, and you don't want to fall, so calm down and climb onto the ladder. Don't you want to be a firewatchman when you grow up? This is so great--you get to climb down the ladder!"
He's not calming down. The heat is increasing.
--M. J. Young
Tara! My bloody hero...
I'll try myself to calm him down. "Your mother is down there, and we're here to help you. I'm scared of climbing down the ladder too, but the fire is worse. We have to go to get you back to your mother. Alright? What do you say? Can we help each other down the ladder?"
He is not calming. You feel as if you almost got through to him, but he's terrified of the fire, the window, the ladder, the strangers in his room, and if you put him out that window like he is now he's likely to topple the ladder.
--M. J. Young
My first thought was to simply tie him up, but that would then leave us having to carry him down the ladder, which strikes me as inherently worse.
I'll try talking to him one more time.
---
If that works, we get him out onto the ladder and down to the ground.
---
If that doesn't work, I can't just stand here to roast fighting him for his own life, so...
"Tara, climb down and transfer over to the short ladder. I'm going to climb out with him like this, and get him to just grab the ladder. Then you tell them to start lowering it. With any luck, we'll slide right down the wall, right to the ground."
And if not... It's only a two-story drop. I can heal us as soon as we wake up.
The floor on which you are standing suddenly drops a few inches. You tell the terrified kid that he really has to get down the ladder before it gets really bad, and he finds the ladder and heads down--but slowly and unsteady, even with Tara's help.
--M. J. Young
I'll wait until there's room for me on the ladder. I can't push the two of them off just to save myself.
Once there's room, I'll climb out and head on down.
You wait for them to reach the top of the shorter ladder, and then bring a leg out the window to find the tall one. You manage, shakily, to get hold of the ladder and shift your weight to it.
It sags.
Glancing down, you see that Tara is aware of the problem, and is trying to get the child to move to the adjacent shorter ladder; the child is still very frightened, and his frightened parents below trying to encourage him are probably not improving the situation.
The room beyond the window is now burning; the floor dropped further, and flames are licking up through the split. At the moment you seem to be stuck here, and the clock is ticking but the way might open on its own.
--M. J. Young
We need to take weight off this bloody ladder, and now.
"Tara, keep going. Get him down. I'll transfer over."
I'll focus on the burning room and the ladder itself and try very hard not to think about how high up I am or how likely I am to fall trying to change ladders mid-climb, and try to transfer over to the shorter ladder myself.
Slowly, trepidaciously, your foot finds the next rung; you move down to it, and find the next. It seems interminable, and the heat is beating on you from the house.
Below you hear the crew pouring water.
You make it down another rung, and another; you are halfway to the top of the shorter ladder.
"Commander," someone below you to your right cries. "Want to toss this bucket into the third floor window? I think you can reach from where you are."
One of your men is standing on the second rung of the shorter ladder, steadied against the house. It appears that below you there are several people positioned on the straining ladders, a bucket brigade running from one to the other, and you're the top man.
You really don't feel comfortable up here.
--M. J. Young
"Give me a second," I say.
I'll try to pull myself together. I've worked through worse... alright no I haven't but I've also never had lives on the line before. Adrenaline can work miracles and I'm counting on that now. (Given what I know of myself OOC from past experiences, I'll work through this, and then be a jelly-legged mess when I reach the ground.) So I'll try to work through this, toss buckets while I can reach, and put off panicking until later, just like my grandfather used to do...
You close your eyes, hold your breath, and for a moment lose track of the world.
"Commander?" the voice comes. "Sir, I think you'd better get down; you've had too much smoke." He continues in a louder voice, "Make a path for the commander, and get him some help."
You feel the ladder jiggling as people below you move out of your way, and hear the splash of the water apparently finding the second floor window instead.
You reach down with one foot, but are having trouble finding the next rung, dizzy and disoriented as you are.
Something grabs your foot, and sets it on a solid rung. "Take it easy, commander. You did good; you saved that kid. Let's get you down and out of the smoke and heat before you fall." He helps you down, rung by rung, to the ground, and as others clamor up the ladder brings you over to where there's water, dowses you with some, gives you a drink.
"If you're all right," he says, "I'll get back to the ladder." It seems that there's a question in that.
--M. J. Young
"I'm fine," I say, even though I can barely see and I'm glad to be sitting down - I am sitting down, right? I sit down - "I'm fine. Really."
You are sitting, and you have a cup of clean water, and you're maybe thirty yards from the building. Others are climbing the ladders, pouring water into the windows by passing buckets man-to-man.
A woman comes over. She has the child you rescued in her arms.
"I," she starts; "I want to thank you. For saving my baby. That was very--very brave?"
--M. J. Young
I give her a smile, or pointed as close to her as I can. Smoke tends to leave my eyes all watery for a bit, and I've had more than my share just now.
"Doing my job," I say, then pause to sip, "Just glad he's alright."
"How can we help?" she asks.
"Now, mother," a man says from a few steps away, "don't be bothering him; he's got a job to do, and you're just in the way."
She looks torn between awaiting your answer and moving out of your way.
--M. J. Young
I'll drag myself to my feet, then, and put out a hand to calm that overeager watchman.
"It's alright," I say to him, "We're here for the people, after all."
Turning back to her, I say, "You've been through enough tonight. All I ask is that you keep your family about you, and help them through the days ahead. We have men enough, and hands enough, to see us through. Your family needs you far more than we could." Trying, of course, to sound gentle and supportive, not dismissing.
That actually was the child's father, but the dialog is fine anyway.
She thanks you again, and moves back away into the crowd.
"Commander," one of the men calls, "I think we've done it. We'll want to patrol inside with buckets to hit any hot spots, but the fire seems to be out, for practical purposes."
--M. J. Young
Ah. I got the impression it was one of my men, but I suppose it does work out the same either way.
I'll straighten my jacket in a very Picard-esque sort of way, tugging my jacket straight, and go to have a look. "Smartly done," I'll tell him, "Let's finish off those hotspots, then get this place under guard until we determine if it needs to come down, or if it can be salvaged. Do we have a runner...?"
I'll look around for someone I can send as a messenger to the local Watch house, if the local Watch isn't here already. Inspecting this place for integrity might be - or might become - our job, but keeping the looters out is entirely on them.
You have had help from the local watch, although your people have kept them primarily on crowd control, what with bucket brigades being a bit of a trick to learn the first time and most of the fighting being done from ladders. The lower level appears intact, at least outside, but of course you've got broken window shutters upstairs from the fire and rescue efforts.
I'm guessing you're going to take a tour of the interior, with a couple people and a couple buckets in case you find a hot spot, mostly looking to assess the damages; but don't let me talk you into anything.
--M. J. Young
Yes, exactly that. Probably leave my next-most-senior officer outside to handle the public relations, and take two or three others with buckets with me to tour the interior, try to find those points of heaviest damage where the fire might have started.
It looks like the fire started on the second floor and was working its way up. Although it can't be said with certain, it looks as if there was a bedwarmer that set fire to some bedding before anyone was in the bed, and it spread through the second level and started taking out the ceiling. The interior walls will need to be rebuilt, and a few of the support beams for the third floor will need reinforcing, and the third floor should be refloored almost entirely for safety, but there's no reason people can't live in the building as long as they stay off the third floor until that's finished.
You splash a bit of water here and there, but mostly the job is complete.
--M. J. Young
I'll give that report to the owners and inhabitants of the building, and call it done.
You return to the firehouse and work with your tired team cleaning and restocking the equipment in preparation for the next fire. At the end of shift, you're pretty tired as you head for home.
--M. J. Young
If Arabella has dinner ready, I'll eat with her, and then head for bed. One of these days I'll have to let her in on my Remove Fatigue ritual, but not yet...
Dinner is ready, and so is Arabella. She comments that you smell of smoke, but it doesn't seem to bother her that you do.
Work returns to same-old-same-old, as you spend most of your shifts on drills and equipment readiness. The rest of your equipment gets here; the season is shifting toward the cooler months, but you're told that you're far enough south that you won't see much snow. You do get more rain, and some thunderstorms, but nothing exceptional.
Arabella asks you about tales of your adventures aboard the Piper, and what you did before that. She reciprocates by telling you of her boring life as daughter of a wealthy textile baron, which she admits was a lot more comfortable than that of many other people, but doesn't give her much in the way of interesting stories to tell.
--M. J. Young
"Such is work," I say, and pepper her with kisses anyway, "If it bothers you, I'll arrange a bath."
Once the rainy season starts, I'll order myself a nice waterproof cloak in Watch colors.
I'll tell Arabella about the business with the pirates. And the business with the fruit. And that impossible shot at the enemy helmsman. And I'll listen attentively to her stories, since they will probably give me some insight into Durnmist society.
"I certainly don't want to wait that long for you," she says coquettishly.
A few weeks later you take your wife to a restaurant down by the waterfront. You've started your meal when suddenly a rather large man is standing next to your table. Arabella stops eating, and looks at him, but he is looking at you.
"I know you," he says. "You killed a dozen of my men and sent us packing."
He draws a dagger and a pistol from somewhere; you realize that you're unarmed, and your fish didn't come with so much as a sharp knife.
--M. J. Young
I'll attempt to throw my fish in his face, then disarm him of his knife, trying to get my hand-to-hand style on. I'll say my 'going into battle' prayer to Thor if I have the time, but mostly it's a matter of trying to hurt him first.
Out of game, I want to Verse out. In game, I'm not actually suicidal enough to let this mook shoot me in front of my wife.
Looks good, but I have some questions along with some answers.
I'll attempt to throw my fish in his face....
This looks like a new skill to me, but before I start crunching numbers I thought I should determine which of two things you are attempting to do:
- Use an ordinary object in your immediate environment as a thrown weapon to attack your opponent (improvised missile weapon skill);
- Use objects in your environment tactically to gain an advantage such as stealing initiative, bonusing your next attack, or penalizing his next attack.
...then disarm him of his knife, trying to get my hand-to-hand style on.
I take that style to be:
1@6 Military Hand-to-Hand Combat (specialty in disarming maneuvers) Bod 7@1
You succeed in getting into style.
I think we've not used it to this point, and it raises all the questions that go with a martial arts style:
- Slow or fast?
- Aggressive or defensive?
- Weapon-utilizing or weapon averse? (Obviously not weapon-dependent.)
I'm also noting that the skill specifically says it supports disarming maneuvers. The disarming maneuver or maneuvers will be one or more separate skills, but I'll list it or them at the same SAL as the style. You should tell me if there are different disarming techniques that you would identify individually, or whether it's all just "disarm". I am also contemplating whether to give the style itself an extra bonus that applies to disarming maneuvers only; let me know if you think that appropriate. It would be something like damage points, that you spend ten points that could have been used as a +10 sit-mod on all attacks and instead get a +20 sit-mod on disarming attacks.
Before you ask how many points you have to spend, I'll repeat that the answer depends on how many attacks you have in the minute--the fast you're attacking, the less you can spend on bonuses.
You should also tell me if there are other "maneuvers" connected to the style, and what they are. You can of course use any maneuvers that are not weapon-dependent from the other style.
I'll say my 'going into battle' prayer to Thor if I have the time, but mostly it's a matter of trying to hurt him first.
I was going to roll this, but then I realized that I don't know which of these it is:
- 1@2 Bonus Strike M1@2 0:06 whispered prayer "Thor guide me. Put strength in my hands and rage in my heart, to defend my friends and break my enemies" while holding intended weapon in weapon hand RS/10 minute duration RS/10 bonus to attacks with weapon +6SM
- 1@2 Defensive Bonus M+1@2 penalize all incoming attacks by RS/10 for one minute, TF 0:06, say "Thor protect me", -5SM, +10 if prayed before/while engaging in a risky action in honorable combat (for +5SM total)
- 1@3 Reduce Attack Success M+1@2 say "Thor Protect Me" sword in hand during battle, RF1 Duration RS/4 penalizes incoming attacks RS/10 +0SM
You've got a couple others that are mass battle blessings that take a long time and cover a lot of people, so I'm excluding those. You could use any one of these as an "instant activation" defense, but you couldn't do all three in that time. (Obviously, the first bonuses your attack. Technically, the second increases your defense while the third penalizes your adversaries' attacks.)
--M. J. Young
I'm attempting to blind him. The intended effect overall is twofold:
1: It should disorient him enough that I get the drop on him (steal initiative).
2: If that fails and he still goes first, he should be so blinded/disoriented that he's not likely to hit me.
This is a "tactical use of whatever is at hand", as per your #2.
We should come up with a structure that gives us a number of attacks per minute (base, 1, 2, or if weapon-averse possibly 3) and the bonuses on attacks and defenses. Note that the slower the style the more points it has for attacks/defenses; also that if you use the points as damage points you get twice as many as if you use them as sit-mods. (That is, if you are doing dangerous damage with a 50% chance of success, a +10 sit-mod gives you a 60% chance of doing 1 to 6 intensities of damage, but a +20 damage mod for the same "price" gives you a 50% chance of doing 3 to 7 intensities.)
I'm also noting that the skill specifically says it supports disarming maneuvers. The disarming maneuver or maneuvers will be one or more separate skills, but I'll list it or them at the same SAL as the style. You should tell me if there are different disarming techniques that you would identify individually, or whether it's all just "disarm". I am also contemplating whether to give the style itself an extra bonus that applies to disarming maneuvers only; let me know if you think that appropriate. It would be something like damage points, that you spend ten points that could have been used as a +10 sit-mod on all attacks and instead get a +20 sit-mod on disarming attacks.Before you ask how many points you have to spend, I'll repeat that the answer depends on how many attacks you have in the minute--the fast you're attacking, the less you can spend on bonuses.
You should also tell me if there are other "maneuvers" connected to the style, and what they are. You can of course use any maneuvers that are not weapon-dependent from the other style.
Yes that's the style I mean.
Fast / Aggressive / Weapon-Utilizing. This is a style meant to overwhelm an opponent with its sheer brutality. It's not fancy, there are no flourishes, I just hit you in the weak spots until you quit fighting back. There is a defensive element to it, but even that includes an element of dealing damage. A 'parry' is really more like 'stop him and then break his wrist in one hit,' a 'grapple escape' is really more like 'break his ankle and then throw him over your shoulder and step on his collarbone.' That kind of thing.
There are four disarm skills that I would identify, based on where your opponent is (in front of you or to your rear) and what kind of weapon he's using, because disarming a firearm is different from disarming a knife or club:
Front Melee Disarm
Rear Melee Disarm
Front Firearm/Ranged-Weapon Disarm
Rear Firearm/Ranger-Weapon Disarm
The only other maneuvers I can think of involve specific 'called shots'. Things like kicks to the knees, joint locks, and such, that are more a damage-enhancing quality of the skill overall, rather than separate techniques - that kind of thing is just how the style itself works.
Mostly I would balance the bonuses towards damage. The style itself doesn't make you accurate or good, only your skill does that. The style itself makes it hurt more when you get it right.
I was going to roll this, but then I realized that I don't know which of these it is:
Well, being pounced at lunch isn't 'honorable combat' so that one is out. I don't have my sword, so that one is out. Must be the only one legal for me to use right now, the first one.
The new skill listings are behind the screens (or will be when I'm finished). On the disarming maneuvers, I've indicated that a successful roll above fifty gives you control of the weapon, below that knocks the weapon away. Do you agree that that's realistic?
On the called shots, I note that with a "poke" style the point is to hit the vital area to cause pain, so those are the normal attacks. I don't think we need to have individual attacks for each vulnerable point. I would consider, though, whether there are attacks which are designed to be incapacitating--if successful, the victim is in such pain that a will power check is required to move, or if successful the victim loses the use of the affected body part temporarily.
I don't know that you can't engage in honorable combat if you are ambushed. That is, to my mind, honorable combat means that your conduct is honorable, not that your opponent's necessarily is. You used that skill fighting pirates; they weren't usually honorable. As Jack Sparrow would say, "Pirate." However, since you can only use one and you've chosen one, we'll go with that.
You toss your plate at him, and manage to land a solid blow; but he nicks you with the dagger on the return.
I recommend reading up on the newly listed skills before proceeding.
--M. J. Young
I'll read them over presently.
Yes I agree that's realistic.
Yes, there are some. Attacks to the elbows and wrists are designed to cripple the arms and hands, and attacks to the knees are designed to cripple the afflicted leg. In either case the idea is to disable the limb, not to cause excessive pain (though this tends to be a useful side-effect).
------------------
Having read up on the new skills, I'll use the new Front Martial Weapon Disarm to try and take his dagger.
Is Arabella doing anything? Yelling for help? Breaking a wine bottle over his head? etc. etc. (Out of game I don't mind if she chickens out in the face of her first actual fight. In game it would be nice if my wife were hard-core enough to blackjack someone with a wine bottle.)
At the moment, Arabella is flustered and boxed out; the other guests are starting to scramble for cover, creating confusion all around you.
Before you can grab for his knife, he lunges awkwardly at you, sliding in the grease from the fish. You try to catch his weapon arm, but he has spun to keep his balance. Your cup hits the floor, spilling wine into the mess, and for a moment he has his back to you. It's still your move.
--M. J. Young
He has his back to me?
I'll go in and try to tackle him face-down in the muck.
He manages to keep turning and move out of the way; you are now facing him again. A few tables have been knocked over, and the guest are mostly along the walls, but for Arabella, who is standing on the other side of your table looking a bit worried and a bit thoughtful, like she's trying to think of some way to help that won't make matters worse.
What's your next move as you move into the next minute?
--M. J. Young
I'll try to put him down with my
1@6 Kick to the Groin B7@7 incapacitation, base dangerous damage plus target save vs stamina or collapse for RS/5 minutes, +15 to next opponent attack(s)
The pirate comes in fast with the dagger, but you dodge it easily and land the kick. It connects solidly, and your opponent blanches and collapses, bleeding from the groin and holding his hands to his crotch.
Someone screams; it's not Arabella.
After a moment, she says to you, "Are you all right?"
--M. J. Young
"Shaken, not stirred..." is all that comes to mind. I'll put an arm around her shoulders and let her help me sit somewhere until the Watch show up to book this guy.
Since he didn't bother to fire it, I'll hold him 'on point' with his own gun, just to be sure.
The gun is not immediately in sight; he must have dropped it when you connected with his sensitive parts. Scanning the floor you don't see it, but there are tables and a couple overturned or upright chairs in the immediate vicinity.
The waiter rushes over now that the fight has ended to ask whether you are all right and to apologize for the upset. He has no idea how such a brigand wound up in the restaurant, although for that the man is dressed as well as or better than most sailors on shore leave, and since Durnmist does not forbid weapons there are other armed sailors in the building.
--M. J. Young