Ysgard RP Discussion Thread

[Ireth]

The question does come up of how on earth our heroes are going to manage to prevail against the gytrashes. Would it be some kind of force of will scenario? Or would something else snap each of them out of it?

I've been wondering that myself.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

@Gryphos, I have a thought on it. (PM'ing Nimue.)

 

[Nimue]

Don't worry--Once Farrun has started freaking out he'll reach for Thoros, who will tell him that there's something wrong with his mind. Farrun will then be able to pull it together enough to dispel the effects of the enchantment, and then start shielding people and/or stabbing gyrtrashes, whichever is more effective. I imagine it will still take a while for the sane folks to find everyone or kill everything, though. Thoros will also be on his way.

Now I want to know LS's idea, though!

 

[DMThaane]

For Loke, at least, his deepest fear also evokes rather violent impulses and he has the instinct to back them up, so I was just going to have him kill the dogs that lured him away when they move in for the kill. As for the others, well, sometimes people just get eaten by wild ravenous supernatural dogs.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Now I want to know LS's idea, though!

Addison is too awesome and solves everything. No. I kid. It's not that. What it is is awaiting Nimue's approval.

@Nimue, if you like where I'm going with that, I'm assuming I should hold off until after your GM post—in part because I'm not sure if the deer will lead Addy to their herd. The deer would only do so if, as far as hey know, the herd is still alive. I wasn't sure if the bucks were the sole survivors of a herd ravaged by black dogs.

 

[Nimue]

I do like where you're going with that! The one quibble I have--and this relates to Thaane's plan as well--is that I don't know if defeating the dogs should be as easy as attacking the threatening figures of their hallucinations. The dogs aren't transforming into the visions, they are lying in wait for their victims to fall over gibbering or stumble into a bog. Who's to say that attacking the visions wouldn't lead to them harming someone else in the party instead? That might be a bit too evil, heh.

You don't necessarily have to wait for me to post to decide whether or not there's a herd, LS, I'm cool with either outcome--although I do have a suggestion. Maybe when Addie tries to contact the deer, she sees images of their herd being slaughtered in a panic by the gyrtrashes, which might give her a glimpse of what's going on and allow her to shake off the panic a little, realizing that they're being hunted by something. Just an idea!

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

My thought (and maybe Thane's as well?) is that the dogs' approach would make sounds, which would alert more perceptive warriors (like Addy and Loke), so their minds would explain the beast's charge by having the hallucination follow. It also makes the dogs' spell less OP since they can't completely shut out their prey's perception of them.

What gets Addy hurt is when the fear turns to what she can't defend against so easily, and that hallucination works to the dog's advantage.

I'll wait for your say on that and just run with the deer scene for now. I like that, after a couple weeks, Addy gets her first two-way contact!



EDIT - Check that. The illusions might overlap a dog's position to explain its presence Addison shooting one might lead the others to charge her. (And as I said, the dog that gets to her does get Addy to aim where the dog isn't. Maybe when she uses her bow, one dog gets her to focus on the bow, and that's why her even worse fear is triggered, which throws her game.)

 

[Tom]

Sorry if my hunting post is a little graphic. If any of you are a little grossed out by the mention of "blood trails", I can edit to make it more palatable. I forget that not everyone's a hunter.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I liked it, not just the description, but the set up for the hunting party hallucinating.

Anyone find it ironic that Addy's beast-speaking is being used to trick her prey the way the gyrtrashes are tricking us?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Nimue, I decided to take every part of your advice. So Addison killed one by sound-shooting, and her shot at the elf's head missed because the elf is taller. (Or because the dog wasn't actually there.) What I know about shooting is that you go for the torso—it's the bigger target. Heads are for the unaware and unmoving. So when the wolf rushes her, Addy's mind overlays the elf hallucination with the sound to make sense of it all. Aiming for the torso puts her arrow low enough for a kill or severe wound.

Three shots should be enough action for now, so I'm not too far into action without knowing what Einan and Farrun are doing.


EDIT - Also note that Addison never got a clear image of the gyrtrash—just shadowy wolf-like shapes.

 

[Tom]

Okay, so since Einan's hallucination was a wolf, and that's pretty close to the gytrash's true form, I'd say that sucker's dead. That was a fun one to write! Action scenes are great.

Should I wait for a post on Loke before I return to Troia? Just to see what Thane's going to do...

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Farrun will then be able to pull it together enough to dispel the effects of the enchantment

Will he only dispel the effects for himself?

My thought is that, as long as Addison knows what's going on, her beastspeaking can help. My interpretation is that she already has a link with the beast making the little girl image—she just doesn't know it. It could be the alpha (GM call on that?), and the girl image—which is nowhere near the alpha's position, hence the girl being unharmed—represented the alpha's command when the arrow was fired at Addison.

I'm not sure if the beasts can "beast-speak" to each other. It could also be that they can dull their preys' senses to sounds and smells, but because Addy knew they were coming, she was able to pick off a few. When she think the wolves stopped advancing, they may not have. She simply no longer hears, sees or smells them. When she feels the bite, it's not one sharp sensation but many, hence the many arrows.

Anyway, Addison needs help but I hope to keep her in the fight. I'm cool with it if damage to the arm is so severe that Farrun/someone will need to administer treatment (healing magic? herbal? bandages?) for a few days. This would mean no bow, no axe, no grappler gun until Addy can use both arms.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I do like where you're going with that! The one quibble I have--and this relates to Thaane's plan as well--is that I don't know if defeating the dogs should be as easy as attacking the threatening figures of their hallucinations.

Hopefully, my Addy fight responds positively to your quibble, since she sound-shoots until she is truly under the beasts' spell. They only rushed her (and Einan) because she was able to kill one. Once she saw the girl, she could no longer attack the hallucinations. Neither the girl nor the arrow gave away the position of the beast who bit her.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

One more thing. I wanted to progress Addy's fight since my daughters' dance recitals are today and I have an 11:59pm deadline to meet for a course I'm taking. Feel free to get the black dog off of Addy's back and consider her temporarily defenseless if the hunting grounds battle progresses today while I'm offline.

 

[DMThaane]

Well, Loke has dealt with his two but is now having a minor panic attack and is utterly useless to Rikhard or Troia. In the state he's in, the thought of other people still being in danger hasn't even entered his mind.

 

[Nimue]

Oh Lord, this weekend was not the relaxing time I was hoping for--I ended up staying out until 3am last night, for one thing, so I gotta go to bed. For sure. But on the more productive side, I have a new apartment for the fall! It's all good, and hopefully now I can stop worrying and sit my butt down and write.

Again, I've got a post started, but not finished--it's turning out to be long. I will have it up tomorrow evening, and they can move on to giving the black dogs what they've got coming.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Winds of Ysgard Addison just got her butt kicked, but Napkin Sketch Addison just kicked Jon Snow out of the sidekick box! (Because of when Game of Thrones season ended, not how it ended.)

 

[Nimue]

I'm imagining that last bit like a good baseball swing. With a flaming sword, you know.

Not great, but it's up. You guys are free to involve another gytrash or two with your characters before everyone meets up again--it's time to shake it off and kick some butt. Or, uh, stumble deeper into nightmares, one of those.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I have at least five around Addison and company, three stunned. Addison would likely charge the stunned ones, but if Einan and Farrun take all of them out first, that's fine. Addy just focused a powerful lightning bolt from her shock trap--which has a consequence in addition to the fatigue she's feeling.

I should probably just tell you the consequence. Addison just destroyed a shock trap. (She still has one remaining.) That also means the three stunned gytrashes can shake off the effect and move any second.

 

[Ireth]

I'm thinking someone's going to have to rescue Rikhard. He's clueless about gytrashes and totally overcome by fear, so he can't shake off the illusion by himself. I'll probably have him run into a bog like Bendalitz.