"I'm glad you surrendered. I had a bad feeling that this was going to escalate and people would get hurt. In truth, I was sent to find out about refugees that have been in the region. We may be able to provide you sanctuary for a time, but it's not my deicision to make. Your actions here today show you have a measure of honor and concern for people not your own. This is something we value." At that, he calls out for the grogs and Abdul to come and assist Esteban as best they may.
When Azura comes into view "Ibrahim has studied chiurgy, can you bring him here to help Esteban? And anyone else who might be able to help at Phoenix? I'm not familiar with the staff. Also, if you let Ra'am know, he can get Julien and Lucia moving to bring carts in so we can transport anyone who isn't mobile, and doesn't wish to be transported otherwise."
She nods her assent, and leaves before her Gift can upset anyone. She walks away from the camp and gets out of sight (probably ducking behind a big tree) before BAMFing back to the covenant to fetch Ibrahim and a horse-drawn cart.
She will lead the cart's driver by BAMFing ahead and waving her arms, so that the cart can travel at top speed while staying far enough ahead that her Gift doesn't upset the horses or the driver.
Esteban begins to see to those in the tent, bringing them out into the air, "Lest the spirits of their sickness comingle and breed."
As he ducks into the tent to help more into the fresh spring air, the girl with the wounded mother begins to mumble in her fever-induced delirium.
As Azura disappears in a cloud of blue smoke, the girls eyes open wide, and I mean they open unnaturally wide. A voice filled with malice and hunger speaks using her mouth, but the sound is clearly not one that ever came from a child's lips. "Power! I smell Power! I'll....haha...I'll eat you and take it for myself!"
The voice begins to cackle madly, as a bulge the size of a fist seems to push down out of the child's mouth and into her throat, distending it.
One-Eyed Maria: Qui 1 + Init Mod (Short Sword & Heater) 1 - Enc 3 + die roll of 5 = 4.
(and I'm starting to have my doubts about the combat numbers that MetaCreator comes up with...it has my Init for Short Sword as 0, instead of the -1 that I got above).
OOC: Fsck!
Initiative: Weapon (2) -Enc (1) Die roll of 7=8
Étienne yells at the three men who just surrended, in Norman French, "Protect the women and children, and get them out of here, get them to Cijara, it's where I came from, and there are men of power who can protect them there. Get that child's mother and drag her out of here, knock her out and drag her if you have to." He points in the direction of Cijara, hoping they see him.
Then in Latin, "Esteban, get out of here!. Then in Arabic, "Abdul Fati, order the grogs to protect the women and children who can't leave." Abdul Fati relays the order in Castilian.
Then in Norman French, he starts praying The Lord's Prayer.
Edit: I edited this to include encumbrance for the Falchion, since his strength is 0, I had missed the load this created.
Call it shouting out Orders. You can shout out a lot in 6 seconds (OOC: is that how long the combat round is? Why am I thinking that, but I cant' find anything, some other game?). And draw the sword for defense. Étienne will cede attacking if he can get orders out.
Gulp
I can defend myself if needed, and I will., says Marie. She won't be vulnerable again, even if she must die to avoid it.
She is nonetheless relieved when the plan changes. She feels better with a bow, and will see to it that these women and children are freed from the men holding them hostage.
Esteban is not pleased by that, although he aknowledges he is the only one educated enough to do this, so he'll go.
Oh, you can count on it. I'm not a warrior, able and willing to take a life as if it didn't belonged to God already. I didn't spend all these years studying to be killed by some common brute, either.
To Marie, things are clear already, as she is stringing her bow in silence, a resolute expression on her face. Although the night is coming, she has good eyes, and wouldn't be very effective in a melee. But watching the ennemy, striking when and where needed... This is what she does best.
Perfect.
Marie will shift her focus, from the men to the tent. Should one of them rush to it, she'll try to strike him.
Okay, Esteban may be kinda a jerk, but he's a doctor first and foremost, and he can't leave a wounded suffer.
He hesitates a little, conscious of the situation, but then, muttering Oh well, whatever, nevermind
He advances towards the wounded, circling around the men... and stops as Etienne begins to defuse the situation. Once it is done, he rushes towards the wounded.
Oh my... This is all wrong, who could...
Having never been near a war zone, Esteban is taken aback by the number and condition of the wounded.
Yet he knows what to do, and his years or study and practice quickly take over, as he goes through the wounded, examining them while barking orders without caring who obeys, so long as he is obeyed.
Bring me my supplies! And water! and open this tent, they need fresh air, this unbalances their humors!
(Hey, When yuou guys are in a posting frenzy, just wait a little for us! )
As things relaxes, Marie walks towards the camp, still watching. This is what she does, after all, being a sentry on alert, always. Even if these men aren't dangerous, the party could still be attacked by some unforeseen danger.
Esteban is stupefied by this. This is the first time he sees something like this, and he looks at the girl, fascinated and horrified at the same time. Then, finally, he begins to realize this sucks big time, and his cowardice kicks in: He flees!!! But, maybe, too late.
Marie, OTOH, I don't know if she can send an arrow towards that thing. But if she can...
Init: 1d10=4 -2 = 2
Short bow: 1d10=2 + 13 (damage +6).
Curse these bad rolls! 1d10=2 + 0 = 2
(It is possible you did something wrong. If you want, you can send me the file so I can check it)
I may be wrong, but what I understood is that it didn't see Azura, but sensed her spell's power.
amul:
I edited my post above with the correct encumbrance subtracted from my initiative. I'd missed that the long sword has a burden of 1, and since Ettiene's strength is zero, he is encumbered by the sword a bit. Feel free to delete this post after you've taken note of the correction.
Page 172 of the Main Rulebook, right-hand column, fourth paragraph (end of the section): "A single combat round, consisting of one attack from every party to the combat, takes about six seconds."
Hrm....perhaps I should have players declare actions and roll for them on each round. If anybody has any tried-and-true habits for PbP combat, I'd love to hear them in the OOC thread.
My understanding is that initiative order is:
Soldier grogs 10, leaping into a formation to defend the women and children
Étienne 8 , shouting orders in French
Abdul Fati's 6
One-Eyed Maria: 4
The thing inside the kid: 3
Marie: 2, Short bow: 1d10=2 + 13 (damage +6). 1d10=2 + 0 = 2
Esteban: fleeing
Levi, women and children, fleeing
Azura teleported out the round before combat started. She arrives at her destination, and hears the screaming from a distance.
Round 1
Etienne shouts orders which many are already obeying without needing to hear him say so (though the sound of someone in charge is having a (~rolls~) slight affect on keeping the panic in check.
A green tentacle-like arm sprouts out of the child's eye socket and grasps at Esteban, but misses, as he ducks away. The bulge inside her neck travels down to her chest, and a face seems to bulge out of her chest cavity.
"Eat your power and grow stronger!" it cries out delightedly.
Marie shoots an arrow, which strikes the body of the child which the thing is emerging from.
Round 2, please declare actions and roll for them.
Étienne taunts and defends.
He says in Arabic, "Come on out you feckless thug, there's no power for you here now, I sent her away. Only my sword remains for you to taste." while moving into the line of fire, if possible.
There is no taunt skill, Etiquette and Charm are both 4, consider them two sides of the same coin? So Com (3) +Skill (4) + Die roll of 7=14.
Defense total:Qik 0 + SW(4+1) + Wpn (1) +Defense roll of 2=8
Abdul Fati:
An awareness check Com (2) +Awarealerness+ Die roll of 7=11
His actions are conditional, if 11 is sufficient to get an intent from Étienne's speaking in Arabic and his movement, if there is any, he'll call out in Castillian, "Hold your fire!"
If he can't suss it out, he'll advance and back up Étienne.
Defense Total: Qik 1 +SW (8) +Wpn (1) + die roll of 0=10, no botch
[ooc: when I ran the combat with qcipher in Bibracte, to get used to combat (from 3rd edition), I tried to get him to roll attack/spell, damage rolls if applicable (spells) and defense, every round. Soak can be sorted out in between if there is contact, and the results of damage can be assessed to subsequent rounds. If any magic users get here, if they're in physical range of attack, have them roll for defense, in addition to any other actions taken.]
Edit:added commentary about damage roll to OOC portion.
Edited again: I meant damage rolls for spells, that was entirely unclear.
Have players declare their actions for the next round, rolling all nescessary dices (even if these happen to be unused after all)
have them declare what they'll probably do in the 1 rounds afterwards, without rolls. That way, if someone lags behind, you have an idea of their reactions.
Like:
Round 3: Marie uses her bow. Roll 3 + Dex 3 + Bows 6 + Short bow 3 = 15 (dammage +6).
Round 4: She'll fire another arrow, unless the monster closes on her, in which case she'll retreat
With a panicked scream, Esteban runs the hell out. That is, as far as his arthritis will carry him...
Since this may be important, I'll roll to see if one of his joints "lock up"... Ouf! 1d10=4
Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!
So, Esteban:
Round 2: Flees. defense roll if needed: 1d10=5 + 0 = 5
Round 3: Stops if far enough and hide, or flees
Marie:
Round 2: Will fire up another arrow, unless she hears fati's command to hold back. Attack 13 + 1d10=5 = 18 (damage +6)
Round 3: Will fire another arrow, unless the monster closes on her, in which case she'll retreat, trying to bring him towards Maria's sword if she can, or Fati
Round 2
If she's not within melee range of the demon in the child (it has to be a demon, what else could it be? ), she will close to melee range and swing at the tentacle with her sword.
Attack is Dex 1 + Single Weapon (Short Sword) 8 + Sword Atk Mod 3 + Shield Atk Mod 0 - Missing Eye 1 = 11 + die roll of 5 = 16.
Defence is Qui 1 + Single Weapon (Short Sword) 8 + Sword Dfn Mod 1 + Shield Dfn Mod 3 = 13 + die roll of 2 = 15.
Damage is Str 1 + Dam Mod 5 = 6 + Attack Advantage
Round 3 (Declaration)
She will again attack the tentacle unless she thinks that attacking the creature's incipient face will be more fruitful.
Maria will draw back with her sword but stay her hand, faced with momentary indecision - the body is that of a child, but no child she's ever seen had a tentacle crawling out of her eye. She fears that the child may already be lost...but there's still that sliver of doubt .
She holds her action this round, but will attack next round unless someone tells her something to influence her decision, with whatever appropriate penalties to be sure she hits the tentacle and not the child that the demon is possessing.
Étienne does his best to call a cease fire and taunt the demon from the body of the child as indicated above.
(I had made a change regarding Étienne, giving him Leadership, and it is pending your approval. Where this may be applicable is with Leadership, which covers taunting, which would reduce the total from 14 to 12.)
A face....no, a mouth....no, a maw grows out of one of the child's feet, teeth made of sinew and bone.
"Mine!" the maw screams in anticipation.
The maw begins to shift towards the tentacle coming out of the child's eye, leaving the leg boneless and limp. The tentacle reaches for Etienne, but misses.
)
), she will close to melee range and swing at the tentacle with her sword.