((I think from this that you're not forcelessly casting or pulling hits, but you're also specifically trying to -not- kill someone, so if someone looks really wounded hitting them full force, or with a very damaging spell seems like a very bad idea. At least... that's what I'm gathering))
Kui has it right. You are not forcelessly casting, you are not pulling hits (except in the event that the hit might be fatal). Your attacks must land, you are doing damage. Your spells must penetrate, and they are doing damage. But, again, Scintilla will rip faces if anyone dies.
((OK, we'll go with that, is there a way to pull the damage? It just seems like it's going to be rough to pull a BoAF, but then again it has to penetrate also))
Sinmore quickly thanks Sophia for the advice and listens to the instructions. She still was a little uncertain until she saw the lightning blasts; those did not look like they were cast forcelessly! With a smile on her face she turns to Valten and casts her spell around him.
((Circle of Encompassing Flames, casting total before roll: 32, Penetration (Ignem) 4, Finesse (aiming) 4. Like before, we're in an area with no aura I presume?
Hoping to encircle him with the flames and prevent him from seeing anything outside the ring.))
Sinmore barely manages to cast her spell without fatiguing herself; how long will she maintain concentration?
Iorwerth points his staff at Ariel, and five tiny globes shoot forth from the tip. The Flambeau maga dodges the first one, is struck with the second, and is struck squarely in the middle of the forehead by the third. She is knocked out cold. A grog runs out, touches her, and the two of them vanish and instantly reappear beside Niamh.
Scintilla shouts, and the entire ring is bathed in a raging inferno. It penetrates Sinmore and Iorwerth. Sinmore's clothes catch fire and her hair crisps, but she is unharmed. Iorwerth, however, falls to the ground in a heap of third degree burns. Another grog runs out and translocates with him to Niamh.
Valten looks calmly about at the ring of flames protecting him from the other assailants. "I don't need your help, wench," he snarls, and points his sword at her, muttering, "Perdo Terram." The effect penetrates and Sinmore's metal ordnance all crumble to dust.
Deiectus swings his blade toward Scintilla. She springs aside, astonishingly sprightly for her age, and takes only a glancing blow. The poleaxe flashes red when it connects, though, and Deiectus gasps and drops his weapon.
Round Two:
[strike]Ariel 7[/strike]
Sinmore 7 (unarmed & unarmoured)
[strike]Iorwerth 6[/strike]
Scintilla 5 (light wound)
Valten 4 (safe within a circle of encompassing flames)
Deiectus 2 (down one fatigue; weapon on the ground)
It is Sinmore's initiative again.
I am confused. In this you referenced both Iapetus and Deiectus.
With a poof of rust and metal shards, her Little Sister is destroyed right in her hands. She ignores the flames that burn off her clothes and hair as she focuses on Valten.
"You...you...you SON OF A BITCH!" she screams as she charges at him headlong.
((If you've seen the Avengers movie...picture the part where the Hulk and Loki fought, that's what I have in mind.
She'll drop the Circle of Encompassing Flames just so she doesn't have to concentrate on it and try to tackle Valten to the ground with her superior size (and hopefully) strength. She'll spend a Confidence if she needs to. Once he's tackled she's going to let out a lot of pent up frustration as she throttles him. Sinmore was actually wearing armour, it's gone now between the two spells, it was the metal reinforced leather, so it's probably a bunch of burnt scraps of leather and metal bits by now.))
Sinmore's attack is 3+3brawl-1dex=5.
Valten is armed so he can still use his Single Weapon to defend, I believe. His defense is 7+6SW+1qik=14.
He easily dodges out of the way of the bigger, slower woman.
Scintilla lobs a blast of what looks like magma at Deiectus. He fastcasts a PeIg to freeze the ball in mid-air, but he loses another fatigue level.
Valten turns to Sinmore, smirking. He points his sword at her, "Lancea Magica," he declares, and as a stream of red light snakes forward from the blade's tip, Sinmore feels her Parma drop. "Let's see how close you want to get to me without any Parma, you tiresome bitch."
Deiectus turns at the sound of Valten's words, and while one Apromorian is still gloating, the other Apromorian grabs him by the wrist and takes the sword away from him, and immediately turns his attention back to Scintilla.
Top of round three, Sinmore's initiative again. (Valten is unarmed now and has to use his Brawl to try and avoid any unarmed attacks, but as a reminder, Deiectus' bronze poleaxe is lying on the ground still, and also uses the Great Weapon skill. It's still bright red and forge-hot, but that only stops a mortal.)
Sinmore had turned on Valten with a snarl of defiance after she missed her tackle, expecting to be blasted down with a spell. The dropping of her Parma didn't faze her much as she was expecting it. When Valten loses his weapon though a broad smile crosses her face.
"You were saying?" she asks and then reaches down to pick up the poleaxe and charges him.
((Going to give him a smack with it this round if she can do it all in the same round, if she can't she'll just pick it up. She'll pull the blow if it looks like it will be a mortal wound, but she's not even sure if it will penetrate his parma))
Sinmore can attack, but as she swings towards Valten, he fastcasts and disappears. Unable to see her target, Sinmore misses.
Scintilla casts three Balls of Abysmal Flame in rapid succession at Deiectus, who fastcasts a Wall of Ice to interpose between them and block the balls of fire. A deflected BoAF strikes Sinmore and tickles a little.
Sinmore hears Valten's disembodied voice shout, "Perdo Ignem!" Frost forms over the giantess and she feels cold, so cold. She takes a Heavy Wound from the chill, and she knows the spell would have killed a smaller person.
Deiectus points Valten's sword at Scintilla and asks, "Lancea Magica?" As the red light snakes out at the old woman, she curses. "Son of a BITCH!" Deiectus quirks a half smile.
Round Four!
Sinmore's breath is frosting as she is overcome with the cold. She falls to one knee and puts down the weapon.
"I y-y-yield!" she stammers as her teeth chatter and she hugs her arms to herself to try and warm up.
Scintilla morphs into a giant fire elemental and lumbers towards Deiectus. "Now you've REALLY pissed me off," her barely-recognizable voice growls.
Valten becomes visible again at the sound of Sinmore's concession. "What was that? I couldn't make out your words through all the simpering," he says, and grabs her by the forehead (conveniently reachable when Sinmore is on her knees) while pulling a shiv out of a hidden sheath.
...And is roasted by a lance of flame from the enormous fire elemental. "WHAT THE HELL DID I TELL YOU SONS OF WHORES?" Scintilla roars. Valten seems unburned, but the force of impact knocked him away from Sinmore a few steps.
Deiectus (relieved that Scintilla's attention is off him) points Valten's own sword at him and says, "Yep. Lancea Magica it is." The red light snakes out and touches the Apromorian right in the chest.
"Bugger," Valten groans.
Round five!
((So let's see:
- Sinmore surrenders. Check
- Valten mocks her and doesn't accept her surrender. Check
- Valten tries to shiv her while she's down. Check
- Valten's Parma gets dropped. That's a big check.
OK, let's do this. I'd love to cast a BoAF and really roast his chestnuts, but I want to make sure I get the spell off and get through what's left of his resistance.))
Sinmore's snarl of defiance as it looked like Valten was going to finish her off changes to a sinister grin as her fortunes suddenly change. "Perhaps you can hear this you bastard!
[size=150]PILUM OF FIRE!!!"[/size]
((Casting Pilum of Fire on Valten with grand gestures, booming voice and a confidence point))
Sinmore's Pilum casts with 23 Penetration, which is sufficient to overcome Valten's Form resistance without the need for spending a Confidence point. He doesn't try to fastcast a defense, as he doesn't expect Sinmore to get through his innate resistance, and he burns.
Scintilla blasts three Balls of Abysmal Flame at Valten, and those, he does want to avoid. He fastcasts a Perdo Ignem to chill the area, cold enough to freeze the fireballs. The chilling effect has no penetration (he put it all into magnitude of effect) and doesn't overcome the Form resistances of any of the Parma-less magi.
Valten looks at the two angry wizards who definitely want to kill him, and the third noncommittal magus who would probably kill him if everyone else is doing it; he mutters, "Rego Corpus" and vanishes.
Not missing a beat, Deiectus shouts "Perdo Vim!" and Scintilla shrinks backs down into a gnarled old woman in a singed blue nightgown.
Four down, three remain. Top of Round Five!
Sinmore salutes both of her opponents. She looks like she's about to limp off the field then stops. "What the Hell, it's only pain." she shrugs as she turns back to finish the game, these last two definitely had more honour than Valten, the least she could do was give it her all.
((She's definitely outmatched and wounded at this point,but she casts Pilum of Fire at Deiectus))
Deiectus fastcasts a PeIg to freeze the Pilum of Fire, and falls over unconscious.
Scintilla rounds about Sinmore warily. "You wouldn't hit an old woman, would ya?" she grunts.
Sinmore limps towards the old maga, rubbing her near frozen arms. "Not if I don't have to. I hope to one day be able to fling fire the way you do...but you know you can't hurt me with those." She clenches a massive fist. "Want to call it?"
Scintilla nods. "Ya win this 'un, ya great oaf." She claps Sinmore on... the lower half of her back, and calls out, "This year's champion is Sinmore Flambonis!"
The crowd goes wild!
Scintilla waddles over to the sidelines where her phoenix familiar has been watching patiently. Scintilla rummages around and turns back to Sinmore, hands her a little wicker basket lined with small silk cushions. "Here's yer prize."
Inside the basket is an egg-shaped stone of mottled red and gold, roughly the size of Sinmore's fist. "Take good care of her, or Red will prolly kill ya," advises the aged Flambeau.
Sinmore accepts Scintilla's acknowledgement and smiles at the crowd. The fact that she's naked doesn't seem to bother her at this point (she's used to people staring at her anyway). She walks with her to the side and kneels down to accept the prize. Looking in the basket her eyes light up.
"Is this...is this her egg?!" asks Sinmore like a child at Christmas. "Is there a chick in there?" She lifts up the basket to peer at the stone closely.
Scintilla nods. "They only lay once every four hunnerd years, y' know. An' ye'll have ta keep it hot, hot, fer it ta hatch."
"Well...I can certainly do that, and wouldn't mind it myself. Speaking of which..." she looks down at the shreds of her armour and lost clothes. "Is there a robe I can borrow, maybe a tarp? And something for this frostbite?" she points to the blackened wounds on her extremities.
((Sinmore has a decent amount of Magic Lore, she's going to try and think of anything else she can about phoenixes. She'll likely need a book. I'll check the Hermetic Projects books, the menagerie section will help I bet.))