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Dawn of Magic
We had a full house tonight: Bonnie ("Leif"), Marc ("Mushamee"), Martin ("Kaeso"), Mike ("Rufus"), and Stéphane ("Vinz").
Time: Wee hours, Odin 17, 1002 Imperial Reckoning.
Place: Demon camp, somewhere in the frozen North.
Last Event: The heroes had just freed the ogre and troll chieftains (and Brunhild), and assassinated the demons' leader.
Despite the demise of their leader and the freeing of their prisoners, the demons continue to dance and chant ritually in the valley outside Vinz's magical shield, raising a supernatural energy that's visible to Rufus' sixth sense. Expecting the worst, Leif heals the wounds Vinz inflicted on himself to work his magic. The others look on, weapons at the ready, prepared to fend off a demonic assault.
However, the demons don't attack. Instead, they complete their ceremony. This turns the entire floor of the icy valley to an abyss -- presumably a passage to one of the many Hells. Rather than face the heroes in battle, the evil creatures vanish through the doorway to their home . . .
. . . and send something out. Specifically, something golden and vaguely humanoid, approximately 60' tall, that levitates, accompanied by a small swarm of man-sized, winged demons. Rufus recognizes the large entity only as a demon lord of some description.
The creature rams its fist downward, symbolically slamming shut the portal through which it came. The shock of the mighty gate closing sends out an expanding ring of flame, moving many times faster than even Mushamee can run. This doesn't seriously harm the adventurers, who are armored, but does singe Brunhild and several of the ogre and troll chieftains -- one of them severely.
As the flame washes over each victim, several other effects occur. There's a deafening thunderclap of sorts, which stuns Vinz. There's a tangible aura of fear, which in fact reaches beyond the flame and affects even the airborne Kaeso, who temporarily loses control of his disc. And there's an almost physical blast of anti-magic, which shatters potion vials, knocks Demonslayer from Mushamee's grasp, and dispels the party's spells and elixirs of invisibility.
When this onslaught subsides, the valley floor is once again solid ice. The flame ring slows to a halt at the edges of the depression, forming a 40'-tall wall of flame around it. In the center of this, standing some 500' from the group, is the massive demon lord, surrounded by his buzzing minions. It turns to face the adventurers and then flies toward them at great speed.
Most of the team stand their ground with ready weapons. Rufus uses his special sight to locate Demonslayer in the snow, and runs to recover it. Leif shouts at the ogres and trolls to put out the flames on their cronies, and also kicks some weapons toward them. Everybody braces for the demon lord's flying charge.
On the demon's first pass -- during which it moves so quickly that its outline blurs -- the monster attempts to crush Mushamee. Mushamee sidesteps easily and uses the Sun Sword of Ré to take several lightning-fast cuts at its gigantic, outstretched arm. Due to its great speed, however, most of the swings miss. And much to Mushamee's horror, his one hit glances off ineffectually!
Witnessing this turn of events, the group tightens its formation in order to concentrate its striking power. Rufus brandishes Demonslayer while Mushamee again stands ready with the Sun Sword. Leif and Vinz prepare to meet the next charge by summoning their inner strength for truly mighty blows. Vinz magically strengthens Leif's mental focus to improve his odds. Meanwhile, in the distance, Kaeso comes to his senses and turns the disc around to see what's going on.
A few seconds after its first pass, the demon once again swoops down on the ground-bound heroes. They all scatter from its gigantic fist, slicing at it as they do. Their blows are largely either poorly timed or ineffectual. Only Mushamee lands a solid hit, and this doesn't seem to faze the monster.
Realizing that it's only a matter of time before the creature crushes someone, Mushamee runs for a solid-looking rock formation some 120' away, and beckons for the others to follow. However, it soon becomes apparent that the demon has at least temporarily turned its attention to the flying Kaeso. Kaeso sees this, and decides to fly at the monster instead of attempting to evade it, hoping to buy his associates time to reach cover.
As his allies watch from the ground, Kaeso hastily tightens the straps holding him into his seat. He pulls out and quaffs an elixir (a potion that hardens the skin to armor, in fact). And then he bears down on the demon at top speed. At the last moment, the monster attempts to break off the challenge and dive beneath the disc. Kaeso, however, has other plans, and adjusts his path to ensure a collision!
Disc and demon meet midair with a loud crash. The demon gets the worst of it, and is dissipated and returned to the Hells. However, both Kaeso and his disc are severely injured. A dazed and bloodied Kaeso pilots a badly damaged disc out of sight behind the lip of the valley.
Everyone runs to where Kaeso was last seen. Upon cresting the ridge, they find him -- apparently in good health -- examining his rather beat-up flying machine. He proclaims the damage reparable, but says that he must get his disc to his shop in Tenosia. The others shake their heads in disbelief . . . except for Leif, who gamely cedes the honor of "biggest one-shot kill yet" to Kaeso.
Eventually Brunhild shows up with the ogre and troll chieftains, who seem capable of regenerating the worst of the flame damage and who are thus entirely ambulatory. Brunhild informs the heroes that the huge demon was her half-brother's sire. The ogres and trolls congratulate Kaeso, and seem impressed with the group's handling of the situation. They also ask the adventurers to help them set fires high on the valley lip, to signal their tribes, who are no doubt seeking them.
Then humans, ogres, and trolls alike sit down around a fire and break bread. Fortunately, Leif brought enough for everyone, even the party's rather large and ravenous new friends. In harsh dialects of various languages of men, the chieftains converse surprisingly politely about the global events that Brunhild informed them of in her quest to secure their aid against the Starfish-Men.
The conversation soon turns to the issue of Black Adolph. The troll and ogre leaders intensely dislike him and advise against trying to ally with him. They identify him as a mad being serving mad gods, with altogether too many voices in his head to be trusted, leading an army of creepy undead. They also point out that in the past, he has always acted in the worst interests of mortals, be they men, ogres, or trolls.
The chieftains recommend slaying Adolph. They offer to assist at this task. When Mushamee points out that Adolph leads a vast army that could help repel the Starfish-Men -- and has airborne Valkyries who could take out the enemy's force of flying discs -- the ogres and trolls make a counterproposal: Slay Black Adolph and forge an army of creatures whom men traditionally view as "monsters" but who at least value the living world. They mention the Uviks and ape-men, and hint at crab-men and shark-men.
Mushamee tries to bargain with the chieftains, to secure their aid but also their trust in his ability to negotiate with Black Adolph and learn whether he can be trusted. He promises them that he will do his best to get the Empire to grant them land. He also points out that if they fight alongside men, it would go a long way toward dispelling the perception that they're monsters.
Meanwhile, Vinz sits aside from the discussion and meditates on ancient ancestral thoughts about Black Adolph, in the hope that he can gain some insight useful to the group's negotiations with the ogre and troll leaders. He learns that Adolph serves a strange god who periodically gathers all of humanity in a mighty war that blasts civilization from the world, leaving men to rebuild their empires . . . until there are great enough armies for it to happen all over again. This seems to support the chieftains' assertion that Adolph is a menace, not an ally.
Back around the bonfire, the topic of Su comes up. To the heroes' surprise, the ogre and troll bosses are quite aware of Su. Indeed, they praise him greatly, and claim that their ancestors mined the "black stone" from beneath the Ice Ocean of the North, which yielded the black metal from which all of Su's artifacts are made. They claim that they could probably mine this once again, although the secrets of working with it have been lost.
Eventually, it's agreed that Tenosia would be a warmer place to have these discussions. The chieftains promise to follow the group there once their tribesmen catch up with them. In the meantime, they'll guard the portal into North, just in case.
Leif then calls upon Kerim Khan and requests the aid of some air elementals to ferry Kaeso's damaged disc to Tenosia. Khan agrees, and the ogres and trolls help steer the wobbly disc to the portal. The heroes then pass through the portal with the disc, bidding adieu to their hulking Northern allies for the moment. On reaching Tenosia, Leif tells Khan that the group wants to ask him for his aid against the Starfish-Men and possibly Adolph in the near future. Khan says that he'll be waiting, and vanishes with his servants.
It's dawn in Tenosia, but there's still much to be done. After depositing Kaeso's disc in his workshop, the party agrees that the next stop is to be Kali, to activate the alliance with the Asok and to speak with the Harb. Everybody cleans up and dons more courtly clothing, and then the group passes through the portal to Mahash.
The Asok's palace proves, as always, to be very interesting: the guards are polite but cryptic, the functionaries are obsequious but officious, and the wait for an audience is long and punctuated with random interruptions. The group is escorted to the baths of all places, where they're asked to disarm, disrobe, and wait some more. Ultimately, the Asok shows up. He's his usual strange self, immediately derailing the conversation with talk of food, chess, and medicine. He takes it upon himself to order his servants to treat some apparent ailment of Rufus' by having them build a tower of dough on Rufus' head and fill it with hot oil.
Mushamee attempts to steer the discussion to matters of state. This proves difficult to do both quickly and politely, so Mushamee opts for politesse. Eventually, he gets the Asok's confirmation that Kali will repay the Empire for its aid in its own battle against the Starfish-Men by sending troops to fight them beyond the portal . . . and, need be, to help deal with Black Adolph.
On this last matter, Rufus remarks that the Harb might be a worthwhile ally. From somewhere in the steam of the baths, the Harb's voice cackles in response.
To be continued . . .
Time: Wee hours, Odin 17, 1002 Imperial Reckoning.
Place: Demon camp, somewhere in the frozen North.
Last Event: The heroes had just freed the ogre and troll chieftains (and Brunhild), and assassinated the demons' leader.
Despite the demise of their leader and the freeing of their prisoners, the demons continue to dance and chant ritually in the valley outside Vinz's magical shield, raising a supernatural energy that's visible to Rufus' sixth sense. Expecting the worst, Leif heals the wounds Vinz inflicted on himself to work his magic. The others look on, weapons at the ready, prepared to fend off a demonic assault.
However, the demons don't attack. Instead, they complete their ceremony. This turns the entire floor of the icy valley to an abyss -- presumably a passage to one of the many Hells. Rather than face the heroes in battle, the evil creatures vanish through the doorway to their home . . .
. . . and send something out. Specifically, something golden and vaguely humanoid, approximately 60' tall, that levitates, accompanied by a small swarm of man-sized, winged demons. Rufus recognizes the large entity only as a demon lord of some description.
The creature rams its fist downward, symbolically slamming shut the portal through which it came. The shock of the mighty gate closing sends out an expanding ring of flame, moving many times faster than even Mushamee can run. This doesn't seriously harm the adventurers, who are armored, but does singe Brunhild and several of the ogre and troll chieftains -- one of them severely.
As the flame washes over each victim, several other effects occur. There's a deafening thunderclap of sorts, which stuns Vinz. There's a tangible aura of fear, which in fact reaches beyond the flame and affects even the airborne Kaeso, who temporarily loses control of his disc. And there's an almost physical blast of anti-magic, which shatters potion vials, knocks Demonslayer from Mushamee's grasp, and dispels the party's spells and elixirs of invisibility.
When this onslaught subsides, the valley floor is once again solid ice. The flame ring slows to a halt at the edges of the depression, forming a 40'-tall wall of flame around it. In the center of this, standing some 500' from the group, is the massive demon lord, surrounded by his buzzing minions. It turns to face the adventurers and then flies toward them at great speed.
Most of the team stand their ground with ready weapons. Rufus uses his special sight to locate Demonslayer in the snow, and runs to recover it. Leif shouts at the ogres and trolls to put out the flames on their cronies, and also kicks some weapons toward them. Everybody braces for the demon lord's flying charge.
On the demon's first pass -- during which it moves so quickly that its outline blurs -- the monster attempts to crush Mushamee. Mushamee sidesteps easily and uses the Sun Sword of Ré to take several lightning-fast cuts at its gigantic, outstretched arm. Due to its great speed, however, most of the swings miss. And much to Mushamee's horror, his one hit glances off ineffectually!
Witnessing this turn of events, the group tightens its formation in order to concentrate its striking power. Rufus brandishes Demonslayer while Mushamee again stands ready with the Sun Sword. Leif and Vinz prepare to meet the next charge by summoning their inner strength for truly mighty blows. Vinz magically strengthens Leif's mental focus to improve his odds. Meanwhile, in the distance, Kaeso comes to his senses and turns the disc around to see what's going on.
A few seconds after its first pass, the demon once again swoops down on the ground-bound heroes. They all scatter from its gigantic fist, slicing at it as they do. Their blows are largely either poorly timed or ineffectual. Only Mushamee lands a solid hit, and this doesn't seem to faze the monster.
Realizing that it's only a matter of time before the creature crushes someone, Mushamee runs for a solid-looking rock formation some 120' away, and beckons for the others to follow. However, it soon becomes apparent that the demon has at least temporarily turned its attention to the flying Kaeso. Kaeso sees this, and decides to fly at the monster instead of attempting to evade it, hoping to buy his associates time to reach cover.
As his allies watch from the ground, Kaeso hastily tightens the straps holding him into his seat. He pulls out and quaffs an elixir (a potion that hardens the skin to armor, in fact). And then he bears down on the demon at top speed. At the last moment, the monster attempts to break off the challenge and dive beneath the disc. Kaeso, however, has other plans, and adjusts his path to ensure a collision!
Disc and demon meet midair with a loud crash. The demon gets the worst of it, and is dissipated and returned to the Hells. However, both Kaeso and his disc are severely injured. A dazed and bloodied Kaeso pilots a badly damaged disc out of sight behind the lip of the valley.
Everyone runs to where Kaeso was last seen. Upon cresting the ridge, they find him -- apparently in good health -- examining his rather beat-up flying machine. He proclaims the damage reparable, but says that he must get his disc to his shop in Tenosia. The others shake their heads in disbelief . . . except for Leif, who gamely cedes the honor of "biggest one-shot kill yet" to Kaeso.
Eventually Brunhild shows up with the ogre and troll chieftains, who seem capable of regenerating the worst of the flame damage and who are thus entirely ambulatory. Brunhild informs the heroes that the huge demon was her half-brother's sire. The ogres and trolls congratulate Kaeso, and seem impressed with the group's handling of the situation. They also ask the adventurers to help them set fires high on the valley lip, to signal their tribes, who are no doubt seeking them.
Then humans, ogres, and trolls alike sit down around a fire and break bread. Fortunately, Leif brought enough for everyone, even the party's rather large and ravenous new friends. In harsh dialects of various languages of men, the chieftains converse surprisingly politely about the global events that Brunhild informed them of in her quest to secure their aid against the Starfish-Men.
The conversation soon turns to the issue of Black Adolph. The troll and ogre leaders intensely dislike him and advise against trying to ally with him. They identify him as a mad being serving mad gods, with altogether too many voices in his head to be trusted, leading an army of creepy undead. They also point out that in the past, he has always acted in the worst interests of mortals, be they men, ogres, or trolls.
The chieftains recommend slaying Adolph. They offer to assist at this task. When Mushamee points out that Adolph leads a vast army that could help repel the Starfish-Men -- and has airborne Valkyries who could take out the enemy's force of flying discs -- the ogres and trolls make a counterproposal: Slay Black Adolph and forge an army of creatures whom men traditionally view as "monsters" but who at least value the living world. They mention the Uviks and ape-men, and hint at crab-men and shark-men.
Mushamee tries to bargain with the chieftains, to secure their aid but also their trust in his ability to negotiate with Black Adolph and learn whether he can be trusted. He promises them that he will do his best to get the Empire to grant them land. He also points out that if they fight alongside men, it would go a long way toward dispelling the perception that they're monsters.
Meanwhile, Vinz sits aside from the discussion and meditates on ancient ancestral thoughts about Black Adolph, in the hope that he can gain some insight useful to the group's negotiations with the ogre and troll leaders. He learns that Adolph serves a strange god who periodically gathers all of humanity in a mighty war that blasts civilization from the world, leaving men to rebuild their empires . . . until there are great enough armies for it to happen all over again. This seems to support the chieftains' assertion that Adolph is a menace, not an ally.
Back around the bonfire, the topic of Su comes up. To the heroes' surprise, the ogre and troll bosses are quite aware of Su. Indeed, they praise him greatly, and claim that their ancestors mined the "black stone" from beneath the Ice Ocean of the North, which yielded the black metal from which all of Su's artifacts are made. They claim that they could probably mine this once again, although the secrets of working with it have been lost.
Eventually, it's agreed that Tenosia would be a warmer place to have these discussions. The chieftains promise to follow the group there once their tribesmen catch up with them. In the meantime, they'll guard the portal into North, just in case.
Leif then calls upon Kerim Khan and requests the aid of some air elementals to ferry Kaeso's damaged disc to Tenosia. Khan agrees, and the ogres and trolls help steer the wobbly disc to the portal. The heroes then pass through the portal with the disc, bidding adieu to their hulking Northern allies for the moment. On reaching Tenosia, Leif tells Khan that the group wants to ask him for his aid against the Starfish-Men and possibly Adolph in the near future. Khan says that he'll be waiting, and vanishes with his servants.
It's dawn in Tenosia, but there's still much to be done. After depositing Kaeso's disc in his workshop, the party agrees that the next stop is to be Kali, to activate the alliance with the Asok and to speak with the Harb. Everybody cleans up and dons more courtly clothing, and then the group passes through the portal to Mahash.
The Asok's palace proves, as always, to be very interesting: the guards are polite but cryptic, the functionaries are obsequious but officious, and the wait for an audience is long and punctuated with random interruptions. The group is escorted to the baths of all places, where they're asked to disarm, disrobe, and wait some more. Ultimately, the Asok shows up. He's his usual strange self, immediately derailing the conversation with talk of food, chess, and medicine. He takes it upon himself to order his servants to treat some apparent ailment of Rufus' by having them build a tower of dough on Rufus' head and fill it with hot oil.
Mushamee attempts to steer the discussion to matters of state. This proves difficult to do both quickly and politely, so Mushamee opts for politesse. Eventually, he gets the Asok's confirmation that Kali will repay the Empire for its aid in its own battle against the Starfish-Men by sending troops to fight them beyond the portal . . . and, need be, to help deal with Black Adolph.
On this last matter, Rufus remarks that the Harb might be a worthwhile ally. From somewhere in the steam of the baths, the Harb's voice cackles in response.
To be continued . . .
no subject
Yeah. He even believes he has a destiny to rule the world, and comes with Valkyries who have a secret base on an ice moon. How bad could he be?
I can only hope you'll be using the new mass combat system for the big showdown.
If it's ready in time, sure.
I'm still sorry I missed the playtest cutoff for that one, arrgh...waited for years and missed it by days.
Sorry about that! If you had mentioned it, I'm sure we could have set you up, you being an author and all. Writing half of a huge book on fightin' kind of gets you a reserved seat, you know?
no subject
I applied for that playtest, but just too late. My response probably got lost in the applications. Too late now!
no subject
<Rustling e-mail sounds.>
Dude, yeah, it's here. The thing is, I get lots of mail: Hundreds of non-spam e-mails a week, and I have tens of thousands of e-mails archived (I'd put it at between 50,000 and 100,000). So I cheat -- a lot -- and have automatic filtering sort for me. Once we're past a cutoff for a playtest, things that filter into the relevant playtest applications folder are doomed. Doomed, doomed, doomed. Don't be afraid to pull an "I'm an author! Respect mah authoritah!" in situations like this. It isn't like you'll piss of others . . . I'd be willing to wager that most GURPS players would be happy to know that the authors of GURPS books actually communicate and keep things compatible.
no subject
No worries. I'll just buy the sucker when it comes out and then whinge about the rules then. Cuz you know I'll use it.
no subject
"Piss off." I know how to spell. I just have a jillion-year-old keyboard to accompany my failing PC. It even has dried Coke Zero and tea inside.
I swear, if anything gets me to pay for an LJ account, it will be the ability to edit comments. It's incredibly galling to see my typos graven in HTML for future generations.