"My name is Adelaid or Adel, whichever you prefer."
Up ahead you see the group standing outside a fairly large set of doors, ready to go inside and waiting on you and Pol.
Adelaid leaves as soon as you are with the group.
Wolf asks if everyone is ready. Wolf is dressed mildly better than normal although still comparably scroungy looking compared to the group. Silk is in a fine doublet, Durnik ordinary but nice clothing, Barak is out of his chainmail for once and his hair and beard aren't currently tangled, and Pol is in a magnificent blue gown.
Any questions you want to ask Wolf or anyone before entering King Anhegs chamber?
Well, to the GM I was wondering how old Adel looks, since you said she appears to be a young Cherek girl and it occurs to me I could have been hitting on a six year old for all I know by that description.
Anyway, what am I wearing?
And without further ado, no, that's about it.
Adel looks about 15. You're currently 11, which is a mistake on my part that I keep trying to figure out ways to fix. :P Would you mind if we rewrote history slightly and put you at 14 going on 15? For one it'll help me with timelines, and two it'll help you get respect from outsiders faster. You would have been doing your training the entire time either way, so don't worry on that aspect.
Pol gave you a clean blue doublet and tan hose to put on. It's not fancy but the colors compliment you.
The doors swing open with a mild creek and you enter a huge room. The ceiling is far overhead, so much that it's difficult to determine the exact distance or architecture.
There are two thrones on the far center of the hall, both look sturdy and well built. In front of the slightly larger throne stands Anheg, and next to him stands who you presume to be his wife, as she is wearing a tiara and after all at the king's side.
I need to get confirmation from you on if you're ok with me rewriting it to you being 14 or not. It changes how I do the next step.
If you're rewriting me to fourteen, I fully expect to get the additional 3 years credit for time training, particularly with the martial arts style and physical attributes. Other than that, you know, it's good for me.
I'll be quiet and patiently await what I expect will have very little to do with me.
Yeah, you get credit for the martial arts style and physical attributes.
Anheg starts:
"Greetings Holy Belgarath, I see you've assembled quite a distinguished group here, I recognize most of your crew at least from reputation (he's looking at Silk at this point) but who is the boy and this man (looking at Durnik)?"
Meanwhile the Queen approaches Polgara and says "Greetings Polgara, it's so nice to have another sister of the order visit." She curtsies and does a small trick and makes a tolnedran coin appear. It's done decently fast, but you easily see where she palmed it.
Pol: "Why thank you Islena, you seem to be improving, allow me to give you something."
Pol takes the coin, turns it about slightly as it turns into a beautiful red rose as you hear a slight wooshing sound in your mind, and hands it back to Islena.
Islena's face turns whitish and she returns to her husbands side. Silk whispers to you that Islena fancies herself a true sorceress, and thus having some connection to Pol. It's all rather amusing.
"I am Kyler, Your Highness." Eh, why not, I'll wave the hand with the birthmark on it nonchalantly. If it means something and he notices, that's fine, if not, I can stop trying to hide it.
Although I wasn't spoken to, I was spoken of, so responding is I believe the respectful course.
"Greetings Kyler, you've found yourself in quite noble company."
Pol then goes on to introduce each member, whether the King knew the person already or not.
"As you know this is Kheldar, prince of Drasnia (gesturing to Silk) and your cousin Barak, Earl of Trellheim. This is Kyler, as he mentioned and this is Durnik, a goodman from Sendaria. And you know my father and I."
Belgarath then steps forward:
"Anyway, now that we're done with titles lets get down to business. I'm sure you've heard that he slipped into Riva and made off with the stone. We're not sure how yet, but we'll find out when we catch up to him."
Silk speaks up:
"Before we go further your majesty, may I suggest we move to a room with less ears?"
Anheg: "These are my inner guards, I trust them with all business"
Silk: "I didn't mean them, this is a meeting room there are bound to be a handful of ears about. This isn't a very hard room to penetrate, the way this castle is built and all makes a spies work both infuriating and simplistic."
Anheg: "If you insist, although my war room doesn't hold quite this number."
Durnik speaks up: "I'm a simple man, and most likely will have nothing of import to offer at the table. I'll retire to my room if it helps."
I also volunteer to stay out of the talks with some small reluctance.
Silk begins trying to excuse himself from the debate but Wolf promptly shuts him down, mentioning his expert eyes could be used in the room. You notice some of that familiar flickering of hands going on between Wolf and Silk.
So Durnik and yourself have excused yourself while the rest have gone off to the kings chamber.
Anything in particular you want to do while waiting? Durnik is heading back to the rooms.
I'll go hang out with a couple guards at their post nearest to here where I can find them.
I figure to myself, "I'm probably their precious cargo, so I'd better make sure I'm under some kind of surveillance in case someone tries to steal me. Like Silk said, these castles often have hidden passages and exits, so this isn't exactly the safest place."
Try to be aware of my surroundings while complimenting the guards on their poise and asking to see their swords (but not hold them) and complimenting them on the quality and the way the carry them, telling them they clearly are experts just from sight.
I'm finally actually going over your character sheets numbers on Boredom:
http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/boredom#post-23007
and I see a couple of places where I think the math may be off but want to double check.
The RSV and MSV look like their one shy, as the RSV comes to 18.5, which I believe is 1@9 and similarly with MSV I think it should be rounding to 1@8. That doesn't so much matter since I'm calculating your new bodies current stats and you'll have different ones anyway.
Your BRA seems off too for Mag. It's listed at 1@10 due to intuition but you have a 2@1 intellect, so it should go to that.
Just thought you should know if you want to correct that on your sheet in your other games or maybe I'm misunderstanding something.
The game post will be following as soon as I crunch out your body stats and figure out what type of skill your "being aware of surroundings" is going to be, or if I'm going to just do a simple perception check.
Going to go with Awareness B 0@3. How good do you think you are at this? You mentioned you practice active awareness while driving which is far better than most people so I'm inclined to think 1@10 or 2@1, but if you think differently let me know.
Well, I practice active awareness a lot at my job.
One of my most important obligations is loss prevention, that is, noticing factors about a person or the environment that would lead me to believe that something isn't right and doing something to prevent any monetary losses to the store.
I'm particulalry good at this; since I have reason to suspect that there are people I work with at this time who are currenty up to no good, as it were, and I also have a reasonable suspicion that some people I work with read my posts here, I can't give any present examples. What I can do, though, is tell you that during my time at my last job, I served as the catalyst in the investigation that ended the careers of two of my superiors and several of my co-workers and people under me in the chain of command. I also apprehend shoplifters more often than my peers have and have prevented shoplifting by zeroing in on a suspicious individual and giving them my particular brand of customer service; that is, be polite and ask if they need help and when they say no smile and let them know that I'll be right there next to them if they do need help.
Beyond my work, I practice active awareness in my daily life very often.
I admit, my Bipolar disorder often manifests through paranoia; but if you knew what I know, you'd see how paranoid all of us should be. =P
Remember, everyone is judging you in their own mind with that same impartial superiority you're using. =)
You find two fairly social guards. They're happy to have you to talk to as well, although they can't understand why a man your age isn't carrying his own sword, it's just unsightly.
A few minutes into the conversation you notice someone who slipped past the guards while their backs were turned and quickly headed down a hallway. He wasn't a Cherek, wasn't big enough, but past that you didn't get a solid look at him. You just got that feeling that he might be up to no good though, despite not knowing exactly why.
-----------------
Giving you 2@7 Awareness 0@3.
I'll nudge one of the guards as soon as I notice the guy and point two fingers to my eyes and one after him.
Then, stalk after him, whether the guards care or not.
The guards think you're kidding around with them and one mentions that Rivans are normally a more serious lot than that.
They don't mind you running off and having fun chasing phantoms, kids need an active lifestyle anyway.
I'm assuming you've never stalked anyone in a castle before so this is a new skill roll?
bump!
bump
Fine!
DON'T bump!
See if I care...
Stalking in a castle? Well, no.
But I generally move rather quietly, startling people when I'm right on top of them more often than most people I know, including people who know that I have a tendency to appear out of the blue.
Of course, this is a new body. So, use your best judgment.
I decided on new skill since it's the new body, and I feel the castle setting is different enough. Also partially on the fact that I tend to startle people as well without trying, and that's how MJ handled me when stalking in a castle.
You follow him down a number of hallways. He seems to know where he's going, and does some odd pauses which you realize a shortly is to avoid patrols. He's getting far enough in that you're going to start risking losing your orientation. You'll still be able to get back no matter what, but up until this point you can keep it in your head that you just need to go a certain number of left rights and straights. Past this point it'll take a little luck and time in searching.
You going to continue following him? He's oblivious to you following him, but you do have to duck out of view every so often as he looks backwards nervously.
Yeah, I'll keep going after him. Any patrols that give me any trouble I'll motion to them after the guy.
The patrols have been passing in front of him at crossings, and he waits until they are out of view to move again.
You follow him further and are getting higher in the castle, having gone up 3 flights of stairs. You're now in an unfinished area of the castle, which has no roof. His footprints are visible, but that means yours will be too if he doubles back.
You could try mitigating this by walking in his footsteps which are larger than you're, but the stride is longer too, so its no going to be flawless. Or you could just turn back or hope it doesn't matter and plod forward. Or obviously any other course of action that appeals to you.
I'm not incredibly concerned; if he doubles back, hopefully I'll be able to get the jump on him, considering the angle he'll have to be at to see the footprints clearly.
You follow on for some distance, back into a covered area of the castle. It's almost pitch black in here, but you continue following carefully.
He's come to a stop, which you barely realize in time to stop before giving yourself away.
You can faintly hear Wolf's voice, enough to hear certain words but not full sentences.
You get:
"...stole the orb."
"Prophecies" a bunch of times
"Torak One-eyed may awaken soon"
"...protecting the boy"
The man you've been following is beginning to leave, he passes mere inches from your face, but the darkness hides you.
I will get in style and strike him as he passes.
I am committing his face to memory, regardless of whether or not I'm able to commit murder.
You slip into style easily enough, but as he's passing by you swing a little late to hit him, breezing by right behind him as he rushes outwards.
He looks backwards to see what's going on, and decides to just book it out. He's running full sprint through the snow and disappears quickly down the stairs.
Yell, hoping Wolf, Silk, Pol, and the rest can hear, "A spy! Catch the spy!"
Run after him.
Considering the precision he had to use getting in, it's hard for me to imagine a full sprint going unnoticed by the guard.
Any guards I see on my run, yell, "A spy in the castle! Catch the spy!"
He only really had to take care in the finished parts of the castle. It's such a sprawling castle that they don't bother patrolling the parts that are entirely interior and uninhabited.
You hear a commotion from Wolf Silk and Pol when you shout about the spy, but they're so quickly out of earshot as you move away from where you were standing that you don't get the extent of what they say after they regain composure from being startled.
Between his head start after you try punching him and having longer legs he manages to lose you at some point down the stairs. Fortunately you do hear some commotion below, it sounds like Wolf and the others may have stirred up the guards.
I'll try to run along as much as I can remember of the path we took in, letting the guards know whenever I meet them that a spy has infiltrated the castle.
When you reach the ground floor you realize you aren't going to need to let the guards know something is wrong. There is a fight raging in each direction between guards and mercenaries.
There are 3 hallways, which for ease of direction we'll say are west, south, and east. There is also the stairs you just came down. All three hallways have signs of battle, and south would be the way to backtrack your path.
Aw, ya! Break into style, Kyler-do, start kickin butt and takin names.
Which hallway are you going down? There are 3 fights visible, one down each hallway and each one being 1v1 guard v merc.
South hallway.
I'm not forgetting to post here, just have to wrap my head around fighting mechanics. Every time I start writing this post I get further and then realize I need to read more in the book.
I'll probably get the post up by tonight, just didn't want you to feel forgotten so was giving you this heads up.
Sounds good. Don't worry, I'm here to assist you.
GE roll 20. The guard is going to be worse off than the mercenary currently, but not by much. Merc is 8 intensities down, Guard is 12.
Do I roll for getting into stance every minute of combat or is it once you're in style you are for the rest of combat? For now I'll assume it's once you're in stance you are for the rest of combat, which puts the guard and mercenary both in stance, which I'll mark as rf1 +10 attack SM +20 dam SM (Chereks tend to hit things hard, but not really focus on accuracy quite as much)
The guard and mercenary are clones of one another mechanics wise, since they're both cherek men of fighting age who showed talent in swordplay.
Now I just need to ascribe numbers to what I think the generic Cherek swordsman would be. They are the bear race, taller than average and pretty much solid muscle and trained in weaponry from a very very early age. Those who go into a profession of guards or mercenaries are probably a step above the run of the mill Cherek in all relative attributes.
I'm thinking 2@3 Strength, they're absurdly strong as a race, but they're also not elite guards or expensive mercenaries or one of the handful of protagonists I'd rate as being close to superhuman.
Hand/eye is going to be at 1@10, seeing as they're a very warlike race and train with swords and axes from a very early age.
Stamina will be 2@1, not from training so much as the benefits of the sturdy race.
Intuition at 1@9, they're instincts are good even if they aren't the smartest of the races.
Resistance will be 1@10, poisons are least effective against them, excluding people who actually train to become immune to certain poisons.
Will Power will be 1@4. I see them succumbing to mental attacks easily.
Density I'll put at 1@3, as I understand it reaching 2@ in strength raises it an intensity as does reaching 2@ in stamina.
Agility will be 1@6, above what I'd expect for the race, but I can't see it being much lower than that for a fighter.
As such:
TV: 1@6
DV: 1@7
MSV: 2@1
Guard attack roll:49
Mercenary attack roll:10
Your style roll:53
Your attack roll:74
And I'm not currently at my computer but don't want to lose what I've put down so far. If you see anything you disagree with let me know, and I'll continue this is a few hours when I have my computer.
What damage category would you put long swords, hand to hand at, and how are both affected by MSV and martial arts skills? They both have 2@5 in their martial arts that uses their swords.
One style roll at the start of combat; if it fails, another roll at the start of the next round. Once successful, it's successful until the end of combat/said that style is dropped.
Will power isn't just defense against mental attacks; it is a gauge of how stubborn/driven a person is.
I would suspect their skill using swords comes more from an understanding of swords as edged weapons rather than as an extension of their body; that would be a tech based approach to using a sword, which is how 90% of cultures fight using them. Expert bod based weapons skills depend on a specific weapon, whereas an expert with a similar tech based skill is just as good with any weapon in that category they pick up. For instance: the martial artist has 3@10 skill with HIS broadsword. If he loses it or it breaks and he picks up another, he can ONLY use it at a 2@10 SAL. The tech-based broadsword user with a 3@10 SAL's sword breaks or is lost, and he grabs another sword; his understanding of how a sword works is not impaired by the fact that this sword may be weighted slightly differently or have a different shape in the handle, so he uses it at a 3@10 SAL. In order to use it within a martial arts style (thus gaining the bonuses of the style), you use it as a bod skill, but to exceed 2@10 in a weapons skill you must use a specific individual weapon. It is not sufficient to use weapons which are identically crafted when it reaches this level, because the expert can tell, this is not "his" weapon.
Hand-to-hand fighting is always bod based, but doesn't always imply martial arts. Without martial arts, such attacks are annoying at the baseline. Both the tech-based weapon user and the bod-based weapon user double the RF of the weapon at professional level.
Using a martial arts style automatically confers a damage category bonus. Fast martial arts styles usually have a repeat factor of 2, meaning that at the amateur level you get 2 attacks. At professional level, you get 4.
A 2@ MSV automatically confers another damage category bonus. It also doubles the number of martial attacks in the round. When using an rf 2 martial arts style at professional level, that means 8 attacks per round.
There is a fair amount of information regarding creating martial arts styles on MJ's 1E D&D Character Creation site; I actually keep it bookmarked to brush up on when I need to, and also because there's a list of premade styles there.
That might be it.
Ok, so if he has 2@5 understanding of swords I use a tech roll instead of bod roll for the bias? It doesn't make sense to me to use tech BRA instead of bod BRA, but it seems I should be using the SAL from his understanding of using a sword.
Does martial arts style with weapons apply a damage category bonus like it does with hand to hand then?
Also what damage category would the long swords be? Damaging?