O.K., we'll split that one into two skills. The first is about restoring a dead person to life, which I'll call Restore Life. Ordinarily this has to be begun within an hour of death, but of course that can be modified. We'll also need to talk about ritual--does it have to be performed in a particular place, is it holy or arcane, how long does it take, what is involved in it.
The other is an Animate Dead, which creates undead creatures. This usually has a longer time factor, but is also usually viewed as permanent, so we can probably make it shorter since you want them to be temporary--but I'll need your concept of "temporary" and how quickly you want it to work. Also, I notice that you speak of "shock troops" which suggests that having multiple dead bodies you want to create multiple animates. Are you thinking that this will raise a horde on a single casting, and if so, how big a horde?
Merlin does not know how to generate the type of shockwave you intend. Have you an example you are copying, or some other bonus to your chance of success?
You finally get the Short Synapses skill to work, and you do pretty well with it.
--M. J. Young
For the restore life, Holy, I figure if it's someone I want to bring back to life, it should mean something. I'm hoping to have a baseline of within an hour, and up to seven days, of course making it harder to do as more time has elapsed, has to be done on holy ground, involved, chanting over the body in latin, involves taking some of my health to give to the body to restore life. The amount of time I guess would be equal to the amount of time the person was dead.
For the Animate dead, I'm thinking Six bodies per casting, and the bodies must be there to raise, I would want them for only a few hours, enough to make a difference in a battle. I would probably want a quick casting factor, but hopefully that they are temporary will even that out. Two hands, fully body latin words, which I will get when needed. Pinch of corpse dust for a component that is used up.
For the shockwave, I have the hackmaster books, so at least a 1@1.
That's cool finally.
Adam
a baseline of within an hour, and up to seven days
Looking at the skill description in the book, I think it would be reasonable to say that if you start the ritual within an hour of death that's baseline, it's -10 if it's more than an hour after death, but the accrues -10 per day after that; it also won't be limited in days--if you've got enough positives there's no reason you can't raise someone thirty days later, as long as you can soak a -300 penalty somehow. So it would be stated as no sit-mod, with an accrued penalty for delay, and if your test run is on someone dead less than an hour, you'll do it without penalty for time.
I'll need the English and will want the Latin.chanting over the body in latin
This is a really intriguing component which I'm going to have to think about seriously. First, though, we have to define it.involves taking some of my health to give to the body
- I'm immediately thinking stamina and/or resistance, that you lose some of your attribute scores.
- That raises the question of how much stamina/resistance you lose, of course, and an intensity is a lot, particularly considering that it takes two hundred days of hard work to earn one.
- Of course, there's the question of whether the loss is permanent, temporary, or transient. A transient loss--one that lasts from a few minutes to a couple days--doesn't seem to be much of a limit, other than that it limits how many people you can save within a few days, and the odds that you'd want to save twenty people are pret-ty slim. A temporary loss, a couple weeks to a few months, has merit, as it would mean a slight loss in damage value for that time. A permanent loss would be the most potent, and it would mean to restore it you'd need either a serious training program or a serious bit of restorative magic. Thoughts?
- The mention of damage value reminds me that density and will power are also related to health, because they are part of the damage value average, so you might consider whether the losses are there.
I'm not entirely comfortable with this, for a variety of reasons, one of which is that this particular magic gives you something of a break on penalties for how long he's dead at the short end--the natural progression would be -10 at 2 hours, -20 at 4, -30 at 8, -40 at 16, -50 at 32 (1 day 8 hours), -60 at 64 (2 days 16 hours), -70 at 128 (5 days 8 hours). By comparison, the rate for this skill says that at 2 days 16 hours you're only at -30, and -70 will buy you seven days (plus one hour). Meanwhile, I'm thinking a baseline time factor of 1 hour, so I'd be obliged to give you bonuses based on that doubling of the time factor rule, and in the short-term the bonuses would seriously outweigh the penalties, while in the long term the balance would tip. That makes my math difficult.The amount of time I guess would be equal to the amount of time the person was dead.
On the other hand, I can scrap the skill's specified penalty arrangement and give you the potential boon/potential bane that you perform the skill for as long as the subject has been dead, and the time factor bonus balances the delay penalty, minimum time one hour (even if the subject has been dead five minutes when you start the ritual, you have to go for at least one hour to restore a life). That, though, means that if someone is dead more than three days you'll probably be required to make stamina checks to keep focused on the ritual, unless you build breaks into it, which will mean penalties for the breaks. From that perspective, I'd rather you fixed the ritual time and took a floating penalty for how long he's been dead. A four-hour ritual will give you +20 for time factor, which will stretch pretty far against someone dead more than an hour.
a quick casting factor
Usual animate dead spells are long (an hour, I think), but usual animated dead are permanent, so you're right, we've got room to do a bit of trading. How quick are you thinking?
The shockwave is very difficult indeed; your first day's attempt doesn't even make you feel like you are on the right track with this.
--M. J. Young
I'm good with the no sit mod, more penalties the longer the person is dead.
The Latin "Per vox of Odin , orior oriri ortus ex cinis cineris." English: By the power of Odin, rise from the ashes.
I'm thinking a good ten points of stamina and resistance, for 4-8 weeks. It's not something I would throw around, and should be special, so not planning on doing it often.
I'm good with your fixed ritual time.
I'm thinking a minute, but only lasting an hour
I will clear my mind and try the shockwave tomorrow.
Adam
On the raise dead skill, I'm currently looking at
Restore Life M+13@10 say in Latin "Per vox of Odin, orior oriri ortus ex cinis cineris." which means "By the power of Odin, rise from the ashes", ritual must be performed for at least 1:00:00 on holy ground, and must be continued for as long as the deceased has been dead, caster sacrifices five intensities each of stamina and resistance (lowering his damage value) which he recovers at the rate of one intensity per week, alternating with resistance first. If successful, it brings the deceased back to life.
I am assuming that the "holy ground" has to be holy to Odin and/or the Norse pantheon; I note that you have the skill to create such ground, but that it takes an hour to perform (which would delay your ritual if you have to do it before starting, but makes it somewhat easier to find the appropriate location).
Do you want to tweak any of that? None of your physical involvement is stated (hands, feet, walking, touching) and there are no given material objects, so at present it looks as if you perform it solely by having the subject on holy ground and praying, although it is a very taxing prayer.
*****
Your animate skill is going to be more expensive than I thought; you'll probably want to invest more into it than corpse dust, particularly if you want six such creatures.
--M. J. Young
Yes Holy ground will be to Odin, full body, walking around the body, touching and praying, material, holly cut on a solstice, with a holy symbol of the god of the holy ground, I will of course have to wait for the next one, and a dead person to try the ritual on.
What are my options? This is a spell that is done in other medium, so there must be options in the multiverser system to make the limitations mean more than a small bonus.
Adam
It's late September, so you've got about three months to the Winter Solstice. We'll set aside this skill until you've got the materials.
The big thing I'd suggest on making the animate skill work is to sacrifice something particularly rare for each of the intended corpses--e.g., something like a large diamond, ruby, emerald, or sapphire of the highest quality for each. If they were simply used, that would give kill a substantial chunk of the penalty, and you could retain them to use again (your penalty at this point would be only slightly more than your +6 religion bonus, so it's getting near baseline at that point). If you allowed them to be consumed in the casting, you'd have to replace them to cast it again, but you'd have a strong positive on the likelihood of success (around +30, off the top of my head). As an alternative, you could sacrifice three stones and be in the same position as you would using six (that is, since the value of the materials double when you sacrifice them, destroying three is equal to using six).
You manage to pull off the Create Blast psionic skill. It's not a huge force, but it breaks small objects within five feet of you and knocks around loose debris for another five feet beyond that.
--M. J. Young
Well then I have an create a new spell, or spells, Transmute Lead to Gold and Transmute Coal to Diamond, the first being a classic, Lead is close enough to Gold to try it, and the second Diamonds come from coal. I can use my dig spell to dig up coal and lead from mountains, and perhaps other precious metals and gems. I would choose the sacrifice option, since I don't plan on doing it much, but I do want the option if life or death is at stake and I want a good chance for it to work. If I am to train with it, I will need to supply myself with enough materials. Now that I'm thinking about it, two more spells, Cut Jem, and Mold Bar, to cut gems and the other to make the lead found into bars, like we use in modern times for storage. I think that's four new spells to work on.
Adam
I'm afraid your experimentation has been interrupted.
Merlin has a conversation with a stranger one morning, and comes to the two of you in a rush.
"Pack everything you need, and secure everything you are leaving behind. A contingent of vampires and ghouls is reportedly moving toward Camelot, making significant distance each night. We must find a way to put the city on the alert, without sounding like madmen raving about undead monsters."
--M. J. Young
*nods and packs up his tent, and secures his things that he not carrying in the motorcycle, and hides it under some brush, making sure Geneice is doing the same*
*grins and looks at his wife*
"I think it's time to introduce the natives to the wonders of gunpowder and high explosives, as well as some magical firepower"
*bringing along the following: Swords, Bow, Spear, M29, ammo, armor, items in my backpack (Laptop, Kinetic Blaster, Clothes, Water, Food Gems and Gold), locking the rest up on the motercycle, I'm going to assume the wife does much the same, and will be ready to go in 15 minutes*
"Couldn't we just make up a story saying Lord such and such hired a mercenary army, and will be attacking the city by night to try and catch us unaware?"
Adam
"That's a good idea. We'll have to take the 'Lord' out of it, of course, because the man will then face charges after the fact; but we can claim that it is a bandit lord and give the name of one of the vampire leaders, if we can get one. I expect it will be Tubrok; he has a penchant for creating civil anarchy in which to prey upon humans, allowing other humans to take the blame for the deaths."
Merlin takes little with him.
The back of my mind says that your hawk and Geneice's cat were trying to get to you, and that you were taking steps to help them. Was that resolved?
--M. J. Young
"Nods, either way, if we don't defend Camelot, there won't be a kingdom to worry about."
*ready to go*
**this is the perfect situation to start using the helmet, probably will see a lot of things I can use later**
((Yes Horace and Mange (hehe), are with us, they are just in the background, since we didn't do much combat till now))
Adam
Merlin says he knows a recognizable spot close enough to Camelot that they can appear there and walk the rest of the way, so he opens the mist and steps into it. Geneice follows; I assume you do so as well.
Within the mist, the image of another place forms, and then with another step, the three of you emerge in a wood near a large stone--surrounded by werewolves who apparently were meeting there.
--M. J. Young
*looks at them and looks at Merlin*
"Are these reinforcements?"
*waits*
Adam
Quietly, Merlin answers, "Well, I guess they could be; I wasn't expecting them to be here, but I suppose that a unique landmark that makes a good target for twilight walking makes a good marker for a meeting place. We'd better apologize for interrupting their meeting."
He turns, starts to clear his throat and straighten his robe as if about to make a speech, not yet looking toward them.
--M. J. Young
*letting Merlin do his speech, since he has a lot more contact with the Werewolves than he does and has worked with them on occasion, standing with Geneice, waiting for whatever happens, calling Horace to his arm*
Adam
Having cleared his throat, Merlin speaks with a rather formal form.
"My good friends: I am Merlin, and these are my students. We apologize for having interrupted your meeting; it was not our intent, but were merely traveling this way and happening upon you.
"Perhaps, though, the meeting is fortuitous. I had heard that there were vampires and ghouls traveling toward the city of men known as Camelot, and it was our intent to defend that city. I am aware that you are not friends of men; nor, though, are you friends of vampires, and that is surely the greater evil in your minds even now. If these vampires are a threat to you, perhaps our course lies in the same direction, and we can pool our efforts to greater advantage."
The wolves look to each other. Then one that you take to be female rises and speaks.
"It is true what you say; the vampires and their ghouls are traveling through our lands, and although they stay to the roads of men at night, they hunt the woods by day, and may have killed some of our people already. You have a reputation for being an enemy of vampires and a friend of wolves; perhaps our combined efforts will succeed where alone we might have failed.
"What would you want from us?"
Merlin looks at you. "You're our tactician, I would think; I've never been the combatant, and you've brought weapons. What do you think we should do?"
--M. J. Young
*considers*
"Well fighting them at night is useless, and gives them the advantage, so we need to track them and hit them during the day when they are weakest. The ghouls will be tired after traveling all night, and staying up to guard their masters, likely resting in shifts. What I suggest is that Merlin, Geneice and I, use our magics to decimate the Ghouls, and make sure to open up the area to the sun. This should trap the vampires in what cover they have, while the Wolves surround the camp, and pick off any ghouls that run away. When the ghouls are dealt with we all go in with wooden stakes and take out the vampires one by one."
*pauses*
"I think that gives all of us the best chance to take them on, with the fewest causalities, but that means working together for a common goal. It also means that all the pieces of the puzzle doing what they need to do when they need to do it. I know waiting is not everyone's strong suit, but we can't have bloodlust come into play when spells of mass effect being thrown about. We need to be patient, and strike them at such a way, that they don't know they are being attacked until it is too late. I have a spell I used on a battlefield, Merlin if you can cause rain clouds to appear, if for some reason it isn't raining here, I can call down large amounts of lightning, with the help of Odin. Geneice, while we are doing that, if you can throw a fireball when you can, and use spells and abilities to protect us and cause confusion. Merlin you would do he same as Geneice, while I call down the lightning. That is my plan, if anyone has any suggestions or other courses of action, let me know. We should come up with a signal to let everyone know the spells have stopped and it's time to converge."
*waits for any objections or responses*
Adam
One of the wolves says, "It sounds like this will cause a lot of damage to the forest."
The female seems to think on this. "It can't be helped, I would guess. But the hard part will be knowing where they are camped for the day. They are wary of stalkers, and have caught more than one."
"Perhaps then," Merlin suggests, "we can follow them by magical observation--although if Tubrok is indeed among them, he will have wards against such. Even his more advanced students use such protections, although I am more confident of being able to overcome their wards than his. We would also need some idea of where they were last seen and how fast they are moving--I can search great distances, but only slowly."
"Would they consider an overflying bird a threat?" Geneice asks. "If we got our information on their position from a bird in the air, that would get us close, and I've heard that you can take the shape of a bird."
"I can," Merlin admits, "but I would be vulnerable, and Tubrok might detect a wizard shape-changed to a bird. What do the wolves know?"
"They leave the road before dawn, traveling through the darkness; they are still three days south of Camelot, but they conceal their camps well. And ghouls do not sleep, and only tire from exertion and then not quickly. But they are not so dangerous as their vampire masters, so this does sound like the right plan.
"They are sleeping now, but it will be near dark before we can reach them in force; we must plan for tomorrow night."
I'm pausing here to give you opportunities for input.
--M. J. Young
*smiles*
"We have an intelligent bird right here, Horace knows what we would want, and he is still a bird, native to these lands, and non magical. We also have Mange, but being a cat, I don't know if it would actually help us." *grins*
*to the wolves* "Yes, fire and lightning will damage the forest, but those already occur in nature, and after it, the forest becomes stronger for it, and getting rid of the evil and decay, can only help it further."
*pauses* "Either way we send Horace ahead, let him scout numbers, and we should catch up to them, and wait for day. I have no desire to deal with vampires on top of ghouls."
*to Merlin* "If we stop this group, would it send a message to the others?"
Adam
"Yes, send the bird. The cat, too, if he can gather information, although you're right that he's not as likely to find them as the bird--but he can get closer on the ground without danger, probably."
He takes you aside to answer your last question. "Hard to say. The vampires are not much more organized than the humans; they tend to form little bands with allegiance only to power. Tubrok is an antediluvian, so those loyal to him are stronger and more numerous; but hopefully he is not with this group, as he likes to stay safe and pull strings. If his minions vanish and he does not know where or why, he will be more cautious next time; if he thinks he knows who is responsible, he might choose to target them in retaliation. I don't want to leave the wolves vulnerable, but we must act to stop this band, and their support will be invaluable. Besides, they don't want vampires crossing their territory anyway, so in that sense they might have attacked without us."
--M. J. Young
*nods to Merlin's comments and communicates with Horce*
"We need you to find the vampires and ghouls, if you can give us a total of them that you see, we would be most grateful"
*takes a bit of jerky from his pouch and gives it to Horace*
*allows Horace to fly off to gather intel*
Adam
Mange takes off in the same direction. Geneice closes her eyes and leans against a tree.
My recollection of the D&D Find Familiar spell is that the caster can share sensory information directly with the familiar, at least within range; I'm not certain of the range. Are you using this ability, or relying on your bird to go and return with information?
--M. J. Young
The range is short, I am relying on Horace to retain the info and communicate it to me when he comes back.
Adam
As the animals vanish into the forest, everyone stares after them for a moment; then Merlin says, "Well, anything they're going to find will take a while. They're very good at finding their ways back to their owners, so shall we make figure out our plans and start moving to intercept our quarry?"
--M. J. Young
*nods* "Well I think we have the plan in place, we just need to catch up and find them in a place where we can execute it to our advantage, and put them at a disadvantage. Once we get numbers from the animals, we can better adjust the plan to fit with what is found. I think we should get on the move and make up some of the time as soon as possible."
Adam
"If our quarry is taking the road at night, we will need to get on the road between them and the city; but I don't expect you will want to be on the road too close to the city," Merlin says to the wolves.
"True; humans fear and attack us, and we move as well without roads as with them."
"Ah, but we do not; and it seems that the best approach would be to find the road nearer the city and trace back along it. Not too near, though; but without knowing where they are presently, or how big a force they bring, we will be hard pressed to pick the right place."
"To find their camp, we may need to observe them before dawn and follow their path into hiding."
"Wouldn't they need a special campsite?" Geneice suggests. "After all, it's not like the vampires can sleep in tents or something--they'll have to be protected from the sun."
"And," Merlin says, "if this is Tubrok's idea, whether or not he is with them, he'll have planned that. What caves or ruins lie south of Camelot that they might use?"
"They might not use caves, nor ruins, if they plan to use villages with stone buildings," the wolf leader says. "They would not hesitate to kill those in the building and take it for their own use."
Merlin is thinking over this part of the problem.
"Well," he says, "we have at best three days to find them, I would wager; and as you note, there might be significant numbers of deaths in those days, depending on how they plan to travel.
"This spot is perhaps a day from Camelot; but since we are south of the city we can hit the road below it. These are your woods; we'll follow your lead to reach the road, at least until the animals return with news."
If everyone agrees, the wolves will strike out through the woods roughly west.
--M. J. Young
*nods*
"Well lets head them off and see what we are dealing with, and then we can better plan a strike. If we can stop them from killing more than they have, we should count ourselves lucky."
*picks up his backpack and slings it over his back, and is ready to go*
Adam
It is late afternoon when you hit the road, emerging from the seemingly trackless forest. Horace and Mange rendezvous with you a few minutes later, but neither of them found anything.
"Let them rest," Merlin says. "Our quarry only travels at night, and will have wanted to stay well hidden by day. In a few hours they will be on the move again, headed our direction, and that's when they'll be in the open, although under cover of darkness."
"We, too, should rest," says the chief she-wolf. "The fight might reach us tonight, if they are nearer than we think, and if not we will have much to do tomorrow."
--M. J. Young
*nods*
"Let's find a place to rest, we don't know how close they are, and we don't want to be tired."
Adam
You all move into the woods off the road and find a small clearing. Merlin mutters something and waves his arms, and you see a shimmer in the air like a dome. He then settles down, leans against a tree, and closes his eyes.
--M. J. Young
*looks and asks*
"Oh no, you created a dome, what does it do? What were the words? You make us come up with spells and psionics, so we are getting a freebie."
*Grins*
*after trying to learn it will goto sleep with Geneice*
Adam
"What, this?" Merlin says. "It's just a weather bubble, you might say--specifically, it keeps the inside a comfortable temperature, humidity, whatever. If it rains, or gets too hot, or the wind rises, the bubble keeps all of that out. Let's see, oh, yes, I've got it. I do it without thinking, really, but--I remember, I remember. It doesn't matter whether you're standing or where you're looking, but it helps to be in a clearly, about fifteen feet in every direction. You wave your hands, thus, and say," and he spits out a long line of gibberish very quickly, which still takes him almost a minute. "That's druidic; I don't guess you know any druidic? No, you'd have said. Doesn't matter. You can learn the druidic, or we can translate it to something you prefer?"
He translates out what is quite a speech about winds and rains and heat and cold and the protection of those within--it takes almost five minutes for him to say it all in English, although a lot of that is pausing while he figures it out, and it would certainly take a good three minutes to say it if you knew it all, in almost any language, unless you knew it so well you could spit it out with the lightning fast diction Merlin demonstrates on his most-used spells.
I don't think it's completely necessary to write out the entire speech in this instance; I just want to know what language you'll be using. Geneice thinks it would be cool to learn Druidic, but then, she's always been the linguist.
--M. J. Young
*sighs* "Perhaps you should teach us Druidic, then we'll work on the spells you have, either way we should get some sleep"
*sets out just his sleeping bag and Geneice's and zips them together, taking off his armor, and slipping in to grab some sleep*
Adam
"Oh, I don't have a lot of spells in druidic; I just learned a few from the druids some years back, and they used their secret language for them, so I learned it. But it's a good language to use, for a lot of magical reasons. We'll tackle it, once we get through the present situation."
You all get a few hours of sleep.
As the sun is setting, Merlin awakens you.
"Time to send the animals out; we must find out where our enemies are, lest they come upon us before we know it."
--M. J. Young
*yawns and gets up, cleans up a moment and putting his armor and weapons on, calling Horace to me*
"You know what to do buddy"
*lets him go to search for them*
Adam
We should probably give Horus and Snowbeard a few skills for their searching; this is likely to arise again. I'm going to use a GE roll for the present, but will entertain any suggestions you might have for filling in their character sheets.
Geneice sends Mange down the road, and Horus takes off into the air.
Geneice suddenly asks, "It might be a bit late to think of this, but would it be possible to communicate telepathically with our animals, like we do with people?"
Merlin raises an eyebrow. "I don't see why not. It would be different, of course--they're very bright animals, but they're not people. Still, they have minds, they understand your instructions, and I think you could probably do it--if, of course, they were here for you to contact initially."
--M. J. Young
((Don't you have stealth and tracking packages outlined in the book? I don't have mine here, but I think that would be a good place to start, Horce can fly, have a talon attack/swipe/tracking/hunting, Snowbeard, claw attack, bite attack, pounce, tracking, I would have no problem with a Narnia type scenario next, but I have no plans to get versed out anytime soon))
*to Geneice* "Well it's something we should try after we fight, something to look forward to, if we don't verse. I have no plans to let that happen."
*starts checking his guns and ammo, making sure everything is cleaned, locked and cocked, making sure to wipe down his sword blades with a light oil*
*loosening himself up, going through his styles, preparing for a war tonight*
Jhiaxus
Geneice also goes through her martial arts warm-ups, checks her weapons and gear, and secures most of her armor (not the helmet as yet). The wolves look on, puzzled by your actions.
As the sky begins to lighten, Horus comes into view. He informs you that the "walking carrion" is "very near", and that "the cat" is watching where they make their "nesting ground".
It looks like you're going to be able to catch the vampires napping.
--M. J. Young
*puts on his skull helmet*
"If everyone remembers the plan, we will find where they hold up, we will try to find a position to see the camp hopefully from a bit of elevation, Merlin will call up a storm, which I will use to call lightning down and Geneice will support that with throwing fireballs in their midst. The ghouls that charge us, will be wedged in and cut off by the wolves, from the sides and front. Once we deal with the ghouls, we go one by one and kill any vampires that should be defenseless in the daytime."
*pauses*
"It's been awhile since we have been in a good fight."
Adam