Sir Adam and Lady Geneice · Page 10

"Oh, no, let's not separate," Merlin says. "Let's cast the first one out here, and the second in the foyer, but let's go together. And I agree, let's do your detection first."

You do the detect, and indeed there is something here--a moderately strong presence suggesting either numbers or great age.

--M. J. Young

"There are either a lot of undead here, or something old, so we should add a consecrate land spell to the mix, to see what that comes up with."

*ready to start*

"That's a good idea. Do you know such a spell?"

Merlin does not. It would be a holy magic spell, and his magic is arcane.

--M. J. Young

I have no cast one before, but I have read one cast and the ingredients, in a book. I will give it a shot.

Casting Time: 1 hour, Range: Whatever footsteps are made that outline it. Ingredients: Holy Symbol, Holy Water, Whole Body is used, Words Said forcefully: Is est sanctus humus b*tch. (This is holy ground, b*tch) :P. Description: The caster walks in a path around the ground he wants to make holy, for the duration of the spell. Any undead, supernatural or demon who does not have the password (KTATTS), takes lethal damage each 6 seconds until they leave the area. Any being in the area that matches the above is allowed to resist the effect by leaving at once.

That's what I got.

Adam

Questions on the skill:

• How long do you expect it to last? Holy ground can be permanent, but it is not usual for holy ground to do damage, which changes the calculation somewhat. It can last "as long as I remain alive within it" or "as long as any believer remains alive within it", or it can last for a specified time.
• It could be my oversight, but I do not see holy water on your equipment sheet. If you have it, I'll add it. If you have a spell to create it, the successful use of that spell would of course bonus this one if incorporated that way, but I don't see that spell (which could mean I'm not looking right--I'm not entirely sharp tonight). If you're going to create the holy water spell so you will have holy water but not make that spell part of this ritual, we can do that first.

--M. J. Young

1) The damage can be for as long as I remain alive with it, but Holy Ground should repel the evil from coming back into it.

2) We had to do a holy water spell for another spell I made months ago, I am only a 1@3 at it's creation.

Adam

I tried to find this skill to save you folks the trouble, but the only earlier mention of holy water I found in this thread was in this post, suggested as a component for a spell that eventually omitted it in favor of oil and blood. (I did a word find on each page for the string 'holy wa'.) Perhaps you were thinking of this, or of an earlier world?

Thank you, Scott, for the effort. It happens that Adam also plays at Ubercon and has been a guest in my home more than once, and so it is entirely possible that he created such a spell during live play, I neglected to copy it to my character records (I don't have a laptop and there's no room in my office for players) and he neglected to include it in a live game summary. Adam, I'm giving you a 1@3 Create Holy Water, presumably a M+1@1 skill, and rolling it--I'll not delay the game for such a thing. If you've got details on it, I would appreciate having them, and particularly if there is a sit-mod on success.

You perform your holy water ritual on some of your drinking water, and use it for the spell.

You then perform the holy ground skill.

By the way, what is KTATTS? You give it as the password, but I don't know whether that is a word to pronounce or an abbreviation of something I don't recognize.

--M. J. Young

KTATTS is the abbreviation for Kill Them and Take Their Stuff.

*I wait for something to happen, after doing the spell as directed*

Adam

To recap the situation to this point: you, Merlin, and Geneice have traveled to Uther's castle, where because it looked like a good place for undesirables to build a base you cast your detect undead, and got a strong reading.

When you cast it, you were in the bailey outside the the castle proper. You had come here to try the new Know History skill Merlin was teaching you. Geneice was going to do it out here, and you were going to step inside and do it in the foyer.

Noting the presence of undead, you decided to create an area of holy ground. My impression is that this area of holy ground is entirely within the bailey, although you never actually said how large an area you were going to contain or where the boundaries lie, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on what you think it includes.

The holy ground area expires if you step outside it; the others can come and go as they wish.

It is day. If you detected a vampire, it will not venture out of the castle until dusk at the earliest. If you detected ghouls or zombies, they might.

Should Geneice attempt her new know history skill here, or do you want her to do it inside now since you have to maintain the holy ground? Or are you delaying the new skill until you know more about the situation here?

--M. J. Young

Delay, I will do it in the inside as when I am done she does it on the outside, and Merlin can keep watch at a point in the middle that he can aid one or the other. So all three of us will be with me as I do it on the inside, and once that's done, the outside, She will do it, being watched my Merlin, with me inside.

I had thought the damage expires when I step outside of it, but the repelling effect is much longer?

Adam

I had thought the damage expires when I step outside of it, but the repelling effect is much longer?

Geneice manages to work the trick, reaching out with her mind into the space around her, and drawing its memories of events of the past into her. There were numerous battles here which dominate events.

--M. J. Young

Ok, lets do the spell.

Adam

O.K., sorry--took me a minute to figure out what you were doing. Are you casting the new holy ground protection spell inside the castle entry hall, or are you teaching Geneice to do it there, or am I still misunderstanding?

--M. J. Young

I am casting it inside the castle entry hall so she has an example when she tries to do it.

Adam

O.K., now I know I'm confused.

Let's roll this back and see if we can figure out what we're doing.

We arrived at the castle, and it looked threatening. You entered the bailey/courtyard. You suggested creating holy ground before trying the psionic technique. You then designed the spell and cast it. For all this, I had you in the courtyard--no mention was ever made of entering the castle itself yet.

It is possible that I missed it, that I misunderstood your movement--if you moved from the courtyard to the entry hall. I ought to have played that through, though, and I didn't do so.

So, I would say that we can roll back to you being in the courtyard without the holy ground, play entering the castle, and see whether the situation is such that you are able to cast your holy ground there; consider the casting accomplished if it is not interrupted, and the spell thus learned, and then--well, I thought we were going to do the outside history first and then the inside history, but we can roll for you doing the inside history, then move outside and (if all still goes well) let Geneice cast the holy ground outside (roll for skill learning on that), and then since she already successfully rolled the history skill we'll assume that accomplished.

The alternative is to assume that you cast the holy ground in the courtyard and she did the history of place skill, and that now you have the castle interior to do.

Your choice.

--M. J. Young

Moving to entry hall, not worried about whats there, search castle, cast know history spell, cast holy ground spell, if something gets in my way that is hostle, blow it away.

Adam

O.K., let me make sure I've got the right sequence.

You entered the courtyard and had your talk, deciding that Geneice would learn the know history skill out here in the courtyard and you would do it in the entry of the castle. You then suggested creating holy ground here, and devised the skill by which to do so, which you performed. She then focused on the courtyard and learned much of its history.

You are now approaching the broken front door of the castle itself. It is your intent to enter and explore, to handle anything you find within, and then to return to the entry hall where Geneice will learn the holy ground skill and you will attempt the history of place ability.

If this is correct, describe your approach to the door and the hallway--you know the drill, what weapons and defenses, marching order, any of that. I believe you have your hawk and her lynx with you, but you can correct me if that is incorrect.

If I have misunderstood your intentions, tell me what part is mistaken.

--M. J. Young

I will walk up to the door, cast a light spell on my mastercraft katana, have my FJ-FiveSeven on it's dominant hand and use my stealth to open and move silently. I will have my panaramic awareness up, my muscle blocking ready, and my missile avoidance ready, and start exploring. I have my backpack on my back, and Geneice should take the following steps as well. Then go through the broken door with as much stealh as we have and explore.

Adam

I don't see a light spell on my copy of your sheets. Is that my oversight, or is this a new spell?

--M. J. Young

Sighs, new spell I guess,

Create Light
Target on object, Lasts 8 hours, Lights up 60 feet as bright as a 100w light bulb
Casting Time 6 seconds
Words: Partum Lux lucis (Create Light)
Use whole body
Component: Holy Symbol not consumed.

A couple questions on the light spell--

--Do you have an example you are following, or is this invented by you at this moment?
--Is the sound necessary, and are the words spoken loudly or forcefully?
--You say that it uses the whole body, but not how it does this. What are the necessary movements?
--Do you have to touch the object on which the light is cast, or if not what are the ranges for the casting?

--M. J. Young

Example Hackmaster Book like always
Sound is necessary and needs to be spoke forcefully
Whole body motion to the object receiving the Light
Range variable from touch to 30 yards, I assume a bonus for touch, baseline for 30 yards.

Adam

You attempt to cast light against the darkness, but the light does not come.

Merlin raises his wand and calls light to the tip. It does not illumine so far nor so brightly as you would like. "The darkness here is strong," he says. "This will hold for a while, but not forever, and might be opposed easily. We should hurry."

You and Geneice move quietly through the door into the hallway. Merlin comes behind you, not so quiet and of course much more visible carrying that light.

There is nothing immediately visible in the hall save two suits of armor against opposite walls beside open arches into dark halls. There are also two open arches on the wall opposite the entrance, both of which appear to open into a large, dark room.

--M. J. Young

*will walk over to check one of the suits of armor, and if nothing comes up, head into the arch closest to it, if they are equal, the one that is most west, and proceed into the dark room*

Adam

You travel west, to the left of your entry.* Some light ekes in through arrow slits on your left, but little enough that you are glad for Merlin's light as he follows. The darkness is oppressive, and it is unexpectedly chilled here. Torch brackets along the walls are empty; the ceiling is high, and there are the remains of a wooden walkway about ten feet up along the outside wall with a second set of arrow slits above. The room is otherwise long and narrow, as if it existed solely as a defensive bastion running the width of the castle. The far wall also has a raised platform and arrow slits, and to the right there are what appear to be heavy oak doors, heavy with decay at this point but still rather solid and secured somehow on the far side.

--M. J. Young

*I skimmed back a bit through the thread and found no mention of compass points to date, so thinking it did not matter I decided to place the door on the south wall of the castle such that moving west is turning left from the door and moving parallel to that south wall. If I missed something or you had reason to envision this otherwise, I'm fine with changing it.

*walks over to the doors on the right, flip the switch to turn on the vibro function of the Katana if it works, slip it through the gap in the doors near the top and slide it down, thinking there is a log or lock on the other side securing them, if that doesn't work use my martial arts ability that I don't have the name for at the top of my head, but it's 3@10 and lets me do a damage category higher, I will go into Chow En Lai to get a bonus*

*once the doors are open, look around and see what I see*

Adam

You activate the blade and attempt to bring it down the slot. As you anticipated, there is a beam of some sort holding it, but the door binds the blade and prevents you from forcing through it.

Withdrawing the sword, you focus on your form and strike the door. The beam cracks and falls and the doors fly open.

"Very well done, young man," Merlin says.

"Show off," Geneice teases.

There is another hallway running down the outer wall, but there are several archways here with open doors into what appears to be a ballroom. The floor is lined with now rotting wood, and chains on cranks along the wall support crystal chandeliers with what appear to be built-in oil reservoirs and places for wicks. Again the light comes through the arrow slits, but it does not illumine far. The ceiling is three stories, and the room widens above, but the windows you can see along the southern wall are blocked by something added more recently.

There are a few bats hanging from chandeliers, but they are sleeping.

Arches on the far side are at about the right distance to connect to a passage off the entry; through them you can dimly see similar arches into what might be a dining area. The doors to the north end of the room are closed.

"I suppose the question is," Geneice asks, "do we want to find whatever is here, or do we just want to make sure it's not going to find us first?"

--M. J. Young

I will check out the doors at the north end.

"Well it is daytime, I'd prefer to have either happen before nighttime."

Adam

The chill is stronger in the ballroom than it was in the outer halls, and the darkness heavier. The northern doors are smaller, less grand, suggesting that they lead into less public sections of the castle.

This door is unlocked. A quick check for traps shows nothing, and as you open it you see an inside hall. There are no torches in the brackets, and no windows to admit outside light, but Merlin's wand continues to provide sufficient illumination to see perhaps twenty feet through the thick darkness. A cold wind comes through, but you've no flames so nothing flickers.

There are closed doors along the left (west) side of this hall, but to the right there is a stairway cut inside the wall leading up, and ahead another gap in the right hand wall similar to the one opening onto the stairs.

"That will be the stairs down," Merlin suggests. "This thing, whatever it is, will probably have chosen the dungeons for its home, as it seems to prefer the dark and the cold, and that's the easiest place to maintain it."

--M. J. Young

"Good, been awhile since I've had to shoot and or beat something into non existance"

*starts heading toward the stairs, looking for traps, weapons in hand*

Adam

Geneice and Merlin hurry to keep up with you. The darkness grows stronger; Merlin repeats his light incantation again, holding it at bay, but with him behind you you can only see four or five steps down.

There are thirty such steps before you step out of the wall into a cold, dark, open area. The air is thick with the smell of decay; something is dead down here. The feeble wandlight does not illumine the whole room.

You hear a snap of fingers and there is a momentary flare of light, like a match lighting. It lasts a few seconds and then goes out, but in that time you manage to determine that the room is empty, with a dirt floor, more empty torch brackets, and three small archways, one in each wall. Telepathically, Geneice says she wanted to make sure she had a light if she needed it, but it's not much of a light and she's got nothing to burn.

--M. J. Young

*takes out his tri vision goggles and sees if the night vision part of them works*

(If I remember correctly, these have night vision, thermal vision, and x-ray vision)

*if they work will tell Geneice to put hers on and try them*

*assuming they work*

"Better killing through techology"

*if the nightvision doesn't work, will use the thermal, should give me enough shades of color to get defination of walls, objects, heat and lack thereof*

*if everything doesn't work, will get annoyed and take out his flashlight and try that*

*if that doesn't work, will throw a fireball down an archway if I can tell it has some depth to it, if it's a 3-5 foot space, not doing it*

*I will pick the one closest to my left to go down regardless of what above works*

Adam

My sheet indicates that you have as equipment X-ray goggles and thermal goggles; Geneice does not have either listed. This could be an oversight on my part, or it could be because you got the goggles before she was working with you, and it was never suggested that she should also have a pair. She does have the watch, the spectra armor, and several of the same guns. I note that you have skills listed as

3@10 Use Special Vision Starlight Goggles (X-ray, others) T6@1

3@10 Use Special X-ray Goggles T6@1

My inclination is to say that you have two sets of goggles, one that is X-ray and the other that switches between thermal and starlight, but she does not have either.

Your starlight goggles work fairly well, drawing on the dim light from the wand.

You move north, advancing slowly so the others can keep with you in the dim light. This arch extends as a hall about ten feet into a room. There is a sound in here, an animal sound as of a dog gnawing on a bone, grunting occasionally as it does so.

--M. J. Young

*walk in quietly, sneaking if you will with my pistol out in front, sword on my other hand, looking to see if it is a dog, wolf, werewolf, or other things, if it makes any motion to come at me, I will steal initiative, and start piercing it with copper jacketed goodness*

Adam

You enter the room more quietly than Geneice' cat.

There is a man-like figure sitting in the corner gnawing on what might be a human femur. You have not interrupted its attention.

--M. J. Young

*if he isn't facing me, walking up with my sword, getting into form, and trying to turn on the vibroblade and slice him in two, if he looking in my direction, I will still try to close the distance and dispatch him in the same method as above, stealing init, muscle blocking, getting into Chow En Lai, for all the bonuses I need*

Adam

You close the distance stealthily and turn on the vibroblade; your target does not move from his position. However, the soft ground disrupts your stance.

You can strike without the style, or you can reset your footing in the soft ground and attempt to get into style before you strike, which will delay you about twenty seconds.

--M. J. Young

No, I have surprise, I will just have to make the strike count

*stikes the enemy, and keeps doing it, until he no longer moves*

Adam

Your sword moves cleanly through its neck. It jerks away at the last minute, turning and grabbing its head with hits hand, trying desperately to keep it from falling away--but it can make no sound, and in a moment the head slips from its fingers and breaks the last bit of skin, and it collapses atop its own head on the soft earth floor.

So much for the day watch, Geneice voice says in your head.

--M. J. Young