Play-Test Episode: "Ariel's Fate"

[Legendary Sidekick]

Lily and Fenella fumble over their footsteps as they distance themselves from the strange illusion. Mariya avoids the obstacle completely, while Furtano sprints toward the mouth of the cave ahead of the others.

The golden-haired leader tells his orcs to charge. They do, but the swirling, shrieking light distorts the orcs' perception. Even the orcs that can find their way through the cave blindfolded are confused by the imagery and sound. All seven orcs bump into the stone wall of the cave and trip over each other. The leader sees Fenella turn toward the cave mouth and takes a swipe at her, but the claws barely miss the princess' gown. They also miss the protective bubble around her. Fenella and Lily follow Furtano to relative safety.

* * *

Ariel is the first to notice Furtano. His lead is enough that he can choose his position at the mouth. He can try to hide in a place from which he can cast attack spells, relying on stealth like the archers, or he can position himself in a place more suitable for fighting the orcs.

Lily is not confident that the clumsy orcs bought her enough time. She says to Fenella, "We can stand together, or each cover opposite sides of the mouth."

Mariya dashes around the cave. Her little legs don't have much of a stride, but it seems her mother sent the wind to aid the little pixie. As she draws closer to the mouth, Furtano is exiting the cave. Mariya can see plenty of places to hide in the forest. She can also scale the sloped entrance to the cave and position herself above the mouth.

Dila and Ariel are both able to see Mariya approaching after Furtano exits the cave. There is no sign of Lily and Fenella, yet…

 

[Noma Galway]

Mariya waves as she comes out, then climbs up the slope to be above the mouth of the cave.

From here she should be able to see when orcs come out.

 

[Aspasia]

Dila


I see Furtano and Mariya run out of the cave. The orcs can't be too far behind. I ready my crossbow, and prepare for the attack.

Where are the others? Perhaps they're slowing down the orcs. I hope they get out before the orcs do, that way I'll have a clear target.

 

[Devor]

Furtano rushes out of the cave and spins to his left, drawing his sword while making sure he leaves room for the shooters to take aim.

"I am FURANO!" he screams, "Aspiring ORC SLAYER!"

He raises his cutlass with one arm, and holds the other as a fist against his waist.

"ORC! Come and BE SLAIN! by the blade of Furtano, mustachioed madman of ORCISH DOOM! MUSTACHIOED MADMAN! ORCISH DOOM! COME AND DIE!"

 

[Ruby]

Fenella

I reply to Lily, "Let's stay together. There's strength in numbers."

I summon my strength and manage to run. These orcs are scary but we can beat them.

Outside the cave, I catch sight of Furtano who is ready to attack. Then I see my muse, Mariya. Of course, I too have magic skills but hers are so much stronger. I raise my sword, ready to defend my friends from our enemies.

 

[Ireth]

Ariel

As the others emerge from the cave one by one, I nock an arrow to my bowstring. I keep my eyes on the cave opening, waiting for the chance to shoot. Best if my friends get out of the way before the orcs come out!

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

As the orcs run down the long, dark tunnel, Ariel is the first to notice them. Once Lily and Fenella clear the cave, Ariel is able to fire TWICE. Dina sees what Ariel is shooting at. She has time to fire into the darkness ONCE before the orcs clear the cave.

As the shooters are reloading, the first couple of orcs make it out of the cave. One is badly wounded, though not by arrows. Fenella is the first to see that the second orc to emerge is unscathed.

Spoiler: your options

Ariel: you can roll TWO shoot attacks as pay-off for your high Notice roll. You can choose to shoot two different orcs or the same orc twice.

Dina: you can roll ONE shoot attack. You can choose to shoot the same orc that Ariel shot (the second time), or an unscathed orc. (If Ariel's second shot scores a kill, I'll have your character adjust her aim to the nearest live orc. I don't waste player rolls on dead enemies.)

Also, for both Ariel and Dina: I don't know if your shots will drop an orc or not. Let's just say that any orc who gets shot won't want to be in the front of the line anymore, and that's why the others are fighting orcs who don't have arrows sticking out of them. (Damn… now that I typed that, I actually do want to show the protruding arrow.)

Furtano: you can choose the sword or the wand to attack, since you are not yet engaged by the wounded orc. He took a moderate consequence (in addition to 1 pt. physical stress) from the earlier beating, which cost him an attack turn. That combat was delayed by the illusion spell and chase should probably cut him a break, but screw him. He made no attempt to deal with the wound and sprinted 300 yards. That's what he gets for being cocky.

Note for all non-pixie mages and shooters: once engaged in close combat, magic and shoot are not options.

Mariya: you can zap an orc with magic. You can also choose to stay put or hitch a shoulder ride. Fenella being engaged in combat won't stop Mariya from zapping enemies. That's a benefit for being a tiny pixie!—but the downside: it's possible for an enemy to strike Mariya and end up hitting Fenella as well, though more likely he'll just go for the bigger target since attempting to swat a pixie off of a fighter's shoulder will fail more often than not. (I won't explain, since players won't have to deal with tiny enemies.)

Fenella: you can attack either orc.

 

[Ireth]

Ariel

I grin as the orcs begin to emerge from the cave, and fire my first arrow.

A good shot, if I say so myself! I fire again at the same orc, just in case one arrow's not enough to drop him. These orcs look tough, armor or no armor.

 

[Devor]

Furtano sees the first orc emerge and points his blade towards it.

"ORC! I will slay you and your - "

He watches as arrows lunge into his torso.

"Arr yieh - ah, ARRGHHH!! DIE!"

He charges the wounded orc and goes in for the finishing kill.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Furtano's attack hits its mark, finishing off the wounded orc. Ariel is certain that both of her arrows struck her target. Dila peers into the darkness, wondering if there's a bolt embedded in an orc's chest in addition to those arrows…

Mariya, Fenella and Lily prepare to attack the next orc to step out.

Spoiler: who still needs to roll in this round

Dila can shoot an orc inside the cave. (Technically, the shooters are hitting the orcs before they emerge, and the two orcs you can see weren't shot.)

Fenella and Mariya can hit the orc in the dark (who is NOT impaled on Furtano's sword). He's running from the cave, so you can play it up as hitting him as he runs out, rather than you running in the cave to intercept him.

To hit him, out-roll a 1.

 

[Noma Galway]

As the second orc runs out of the cave, Mariya sings, and lightning strikes.

 

[Ruby]

Fenella

As the second Orc emerges from the cave I hear Mariya's voice and see the lightning.

I lift my mighty golden dancing sword and it slices through the Orc like a knife through butter.

"Take that, you monster!" I cry.

Revenge is sweet and I feel my strength returning.

 

[Aspasia]

Dila

The orcs!I sight and aim. The fighters look like they can hold their own against the orcs outside, I'll thin the ranks of the ones still in the cave.



The bolt flies from my crossbow, a particularly excellent shot. I grin as I reload. I'm not known as one of the best shots for nothing!

I'm sure I hit one of the brutes. But I don't have time to waste to make sure. Setting another bolt to my crossbow, I prepare to help out the other members of the company. If my bolts can thin the ranks, I'll have done my job.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Orc (hair on fire): 4U1+2 => 2 #Fight Fenella
Orc (ass-biter): 4U1+2 => 1 #Fight Lily
Yellow Orc: 4U1+3 => 3 #Fight Furtano
Orc (lifting): 4U1+3 => 2 #Physique to lift rock
Red Orc: 4U1+2 => -1 #Physique to lift self

Spoiler: what to do on your next turn

Here is the rule for combat turns:

1st roll = defend if necessary
2nd roll = any action

In other words, if you were attacked, defend yourself then roll a second kind of action (which is likely your attack). Note that if you need both athletics and will to defend two types of attacks, you used up your rolls.

Defend rolls are limited to the following:
FIGHT vs. Fight
ATHLETICS vs. Fight, Shoot or Magic that attacks physically
WILL vs. Provoke or Magic that attacks the mind
MAGIC vs. Magic

Since the only attacks this round are Fight, check your character sheet and use the stronger skill to defend. Lily is a better athlete than she is a fighter, so she's getting the hell out of the way.

I'll roll her attack later so players can make the real decision about who hits who.



Ariel & Dila: you can shoot the orc with arrows in his chest and a bolt in his nose OR you can shoot the yellow guy OR you can move and shoot the guy with the rock. If both of you want to finish the orc riddled with arrows, tell me your second choice target in case the first shooter hits. It only takes one shot to drop him.

Dila ONLY: add +2 to your roll!

Furtano: you need to defend the yellow guy's attack and fight him OR you can hit either one of the orange guys. But you're engaged, so no movement or magic for you.

Fenella: you need to defend the orange guy's attack.

Mariya:​ you can move anywhere and zap anyone. You don't need to move to reach your target. Remember, if you roll a 0 you can charge the spell without risk. If you roll a 1 or 2, the chance of the spell backfiring is less than 7%.

As Mariya's spell lights her targets hair on fire, the glow reveals the five remaining orcs rushing out of the cave! Dila sees the orc in the lead has her bolt jammed into his snout. He means to attack Ariel, but he is disoriented. His attack doesn't come close to either archer.

The golden-haired leader sees Furtano's foe fall dead. He takes a swing at the swordsman. "Orc-slayer," he grunts.

As Lily climbs on the back of the burnt orc, he makes no attempt to shake her off as a fellow orc comes to his aid. He simply raises his claw to Fenella and attacks.

((Lily's DEFEND roll))

Lily dodges the attack aimed her way, and in mid-air, she looks ready to pounce—though Mariya can't quite tell who Lily's next target is.

What Mariya can determine is the red orc's next target: herself! But the red-haired orc doesn't seem to be very strong for an orc. He's having a hard time pulling himself up onto the ledge.

Another orc lifts a rock with minimal difficulty. He contemplates his next target…

 

[Devor]

Furtano swings up his cutlass against the orc's swipe.

"Orc slayer?" he squeals, as he strains to push aside the attack. "Orc slayer was the title I aspired to, once, for a moment. But my aspirations grow ever mightier."

As he deflects the attack, he pulls his cutlass around and slashes into the orc's side.

"I am FURTANO! And I aspire to be the MUSTACHIOED MONSTER OF ORCISH LEGEND!"

Spoiler: Why it's not +1

My killing roll was wrong - it's supposed to be Fight +2.

Also, if I understand the rules correctly, Attack Fight 3 - Defense Fight 1 means that I am down one shiny |2| physical stress box.

 

[Noma Galway]

Mariya sees the orc trying to pull itself up, but it is definitely having a hard time of it. Let's make this harder, shall we?

As Mariya releases the note, she congratulates herself on her vibrato.

Then she sees the orange orc attacking Fenella. "Look out!"

((How does the magic with the sword work now?))

 

[Ruby]

Fenella

I hear Mariya's warning voice.

As a vile, ugly, orange Orc tries to attack me, I defend myself and leap out of the way.

"Thank you, Mariya!" I whisper.

I'm so lucky to have a muse to help me!

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Lily sees Fenella barely escapes damage. "Clobber him, princess!" she says as she pounces on a target of her own...

...though it'll be a miracle if her flailing limbs hit anything.

Spoiler: a note about die rolls

You can defend AND attack in once turn, which is a major change from before but a necessary one since this system's intent is that defense is active.

I was going to limit the two rolls to DEFEND + ANY ACTION (including a second type of defense if both Will and Athletics are required)...

However, Noma did what I already felt makes sense as another option. If you're not defending, you can use Notice, Empathy or another skill that's more-or-less instant/RP in addition to attacking. I even think ATHLETICS/FLIGHT/PHYSIQUE + attack is allowable, so that, for example, if you succeed with style at lifting a heavy thing you can throw it.

2 rolls per turn will take getting used to. As long as everyone understands you can't attack twice, and that you can only defend twice if it's the only possible means of defense, then I think we won't have a problem.



@Ruby, as Lily's saying, you can attack.

 

[Ruby]

Fenella

I hear Lily's words and follow her wise advice.

Now, I attack the orange Orc...

Whoosh! The mighty golden dancing sword hits its target.

"Have I managed to clobber him good and proper?" I ask Lily as the Orc starts leaking blood, stumbles and falls.

 

[Aspasia]

Dila

I see the orc before us stumble, my bolt right in the nose! Ha, not looking so fearsome now! I look around to see if there's a more immediate threat ...



((Sorry I didn't add the +2 in the roll! Does this apply to the first roll or only to Shoot? Notice would be 3 then I suppose.))

It's chaotic, with so many bodies and weapons flying everywhere. Is that an orc with a rock nearby? It doesn't look good ... I wonder if I should move position and stop that guy before he becomes a problem. I do hate leaving a good position though.

First things first. I won't leave the stumbling orc to regain his poise, though. Time to finish the brute.



I shout to Ariel. "Over there! The orc with the rock!"