Bay 12 Games Forum

((I'm gonna guess the chick is Sariel, angel of time and fate.
I'M A LORE WHORE))

It's not like she's the only valid entry under "Gods" or anything. Before someone asks, some people call 'em angels, others call 'em Lesser Gods. Same thing. (On another note you've inspired me to update the God Glossary.)

Anyway, yeah. It's time for the story's meat to appear, so the odd angel's gonna drop in - although miss Sariel here will be your main contact. The angel who gave you the dragon aspect will probably make an appearance at some point too, probably to take it back when you're done.

So my carbine has maybe 50 rounds, but I haven't really upgraded it much. My machinegun has perhaps half a clip left. I'm on bugger-all health and busy running through the Comstock House hoping like hell I don't find too many more of those bastards wearing what looks like freaking SWAT gear.

Naturally I round the corner and am beset upon by four of them. At close range. With shotguns. I manage to stun them when a motherfucking patriot appears. I run like hell, only to find a freaking turret! So there's me, stuck between a turret and a patriot, both robotic, both armed with miniguns.

Awesome sauce.

Bioshock Infinite (Hard mode)

Quote from: Nunzillor on February 02, 2014, 09:22:20 pm

Damn this whole magic thing is dangerous.  Honestly, I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that whoever broke the moon should've finished the job and made the world a safer place.

Was magic always this dangerous or is this a result of the broken moon?

I believe broken moon, in the intro it said that magic was easy to use before the moon got asurad pretty badly, but I'm confused as to how the moon helps the users of magic, does the moon do the same with magic as it does waves? Does it focus magic?

The Moon - More specifically, the Moon Goddess - is the source of all magic in the world. Magic is literally a piece of her power that she donated to humans, partly for shenanigans but also for various philosophical reasons which don't really have a place in a game concerning graverobbing priests and wisecracking mages with terrible medical practice.

Magic was always dangerous to use - dangerous to the wielder, anyway - but it never backfired or did weird stuff. After the moon broke magic became difficult to control. In a few decades mages work the kinks out, but for now stuff is pretty crazy.

((What did my magic do?))

Rest. Attempt to stop nose bleeding. Prepare healing spell.

You misfired and tried to pull the wall down on top of them. That's why the bricks were glowing orange, the same colour as your earth magic.

I really have to be more clear about these things, I think.

Quote from: Niccolo on January 31, 2014, 11:47:11 pm

Quote from: GreatWyrmGold on January 31, 2014, 11:33:13 pm

Quote from: BFEL on January 31, 2014, 08:30:03 pm

((No step three is NEVER EVER EVER HIT A TEAMATE. EVER.
I CANNOT POSSIBLY STRESS THAT HARD ENOUGH.

((ESPECIALLY NOT THE MAGES.
ESPECIALLY NOT WHEN THEY'RE IN MIDST OF THE GROUP!))

Felice gets iron arrows --> "Hi, I'm Felice and welcome to Jackass"

((Since we're on the subject, does that "anti-magic" used by Vanda respond to iron in the same way normal magic does? If not, could it possibly "cloak" a mage and keep them from kerceasingtoremainintact? Also, could the back end of an arrow (the...quill?...feather? Fuck if I know) be enchanted without enchanting the rest? And then have the arrowhead be iron and essentially make a personal artillery shell?))

Why do you keep calling it anti-magic? It's not. It's just another form of power and stems from the same source as demons. Probably. It's at least in the same zip code. If you look hard enough, there's other forms of power. Mostly available to the non-magical people in the team. Felice's Kidzuku is actually one of these and is the... beginning step, I guess, to gaining some rather neat little abilities. But no. The crazy's power was good for one thing and one thing only: killing people.

Yes you could enchant the fletchings of an arrow, but if the arrow has an iron head then the enchantment would have to be pretty weak. Plus it's a serious pain in the ass to enchant anything. That's why people stick to weapons that'll be used more than once. Like that greatsword that we passed back in the unnamed little village on our way to this craphole. Speaking of which, I'm going to go roll and find out if Lyu survives.

Turn up in an hour or two.

Quote from: Niccolo on January 31, 2014, 09:05:10 am

Also, Cyrus' corpse isn't so much 'across the room' as it is 'spread evenly in a fine dust across the better part of the village'. He did get knifed with iron and explode, after all. Vanda, on the other hand, probably only has more of those crystals and maybe some pants.

((HOW DID I MISS THAT PART?? I'm pretty sure you didn't say it was iron. Then again I guess we don't know what iron IS yet, so that makes sense.

Also, someone grab those crystals, they're probably valuable/ I think they might be soulgempokeballs))

Uh. I thought it was pretty clear what happened to Cyrus? I mean there was glowing light and a massive explosion that levelled the entire building and would have done more if he wasn't underground... Since I didn't specify that it was iron did y'all assume that Vanda was hiding nuclear warheads up his sleeve or something?

Please, for the love of god, take those pants!  The demon-thing does not deserve decency in death!

My players have enough bad ideas as it is, thank you very much.

GM CLARIFICATION AHOY!

Lyu will die if they fail to dig him out. He'll suffocate and be squished into Yagalian pancakes. If they DO manage to, then I roll a dice to find out how badly he's injured. Nothing life-threatening, but multiple broken bones is almost certain unless he gets really lucky on his dice rolls. Now, if it was Felice I wouldn't worry a bit; man's luckier than a four-leafed clover made out of rabbits' feet.

Also, Cyrus' corpse isn't so much 'across the room' as it is 'spread evenly in a fine dust across the better part of the village'. He did get knifed with iron and explode, after all. Vanda, on the other hand, probably only has more of those crystals and maybe some pants.

You're not going to take the dead dude's pants, are you? Please don't.

Well. All I can say is that thankfully Thuun wasn’t there to add his own little flavour to the gemors.

---

Vanda of the Hundred Deaths is facing off against the four of you… who will make it out alive?

Push blade into its throat and sever its head. Then get out of there, stealthily as possible.

(2) Your blade completely misses his throat. Thankfully, it distracts the little bastard from eating you. The monster hisses and rears up in astonishment and anger before drawing back one fist to strike you. (6) You let its fist strike you across the jaw - you feel something crack, painfully - so that you receive the opening you need. (4+1) Your shortsword slams into the creature’s throat, properly hitting this time and killing the damn thing instantly. There’s a jolt and the khaki colour fades, revealing that the now-dead monster was once a Cylenian.

You heave the monster off, resheathe your blade and decide to high-tail it out of there. (2) Naturally, you break several sticks as you drag your sorry arse into the bushes to hide. Well, shit. There’s a few more hooting calls from the trees around you and three more monsters appear, dropping to land silently next to their fallen brethren.

You watch in disgust as they tear the corpse apart, each of them grabbing a limb and biting deeply into the flesh. You struggle to keep your lunch down; throwing up right now would be a very, very bad idea.

Your legs feel funny. You feel your legs tenderly. Are… Are those shins? Teeny tiny shins? Yes!

This demon's talking is tiresome. Drive the staff into its throat.

“Well.” You step in between Vanda and Felice and draw your staff back as the demon-beast-thing comes flying through the air directly at your face. You have a momentary thought that perhaps this wasn’t the best idea. You grip your staff with both hands and set yourself. (6+1) Vanda’s yellow eyes momentarily widen in panic, but (4+1) he manages to twist himself in midair just enough to almost entirely avoid your bronze-shod staff.

He screams in an unearthly, mind-shattering voice as his hand catches on your staff at the wrist and is completely torn off. He flies through the air and collides with you, knocking you over and sending your staff flying. His weight is pinning you solidly to the floor; you notice that he is far heavier than any human should be, yet still apparently as fit as any prime swordsman. Vanda clambers to his feet. “You bastard!” he yells, drawing back the stump of his right arm. Lightning, blacker than the inside of a coal mine, is already crackling around the wound and burning it shut.

He swings at you, twice. (3, 1) His right stumpy arm cracks you across the jaw but does very little in the way of damage. (5, 1) His left hook comes streaking down for your face again, but you somehow manage to interpose your arm and block his strike. Good God it feels like a freaking sledgehammer just blasted into you. You manage to deflect the blow, however, and take a swing at his angry, mottled face with your left hand. (3+1) You crack him across the jaw and he winces.

(1) Vanda manages to grab both of your arms in his huge, meaty hand and pins your arms above your head. He draws the stump of his left arm level his his growling face. Black lightning begins to coalesce around the stump; the shadow of fire blooms. “Now, you arrogant little shit…” He mutters, before pausing. His jaw works for a second and then he spits out a tooth that you must have knocked loose with your fist.  He presses his arm stump against your forehead as the terrible blast builds up, clearly intending to fire it at point-blank range. “Now it’s time for you to die!”

Evade the attack. Depending on how far away I can evade the charging demon, retaliate with my bow or my dirk. aim for either his undamaged hand or his head. 

"Bah, I've caught fish more fiercesome than you!" you howl as he leaps for you. You’re about to roll out of the way, but suddenly Lyu is there. Their little scrap is over in an instant and Vanda is about to blow Lyu’s head off.

You have a split second to act; out of the corner of your eye, you see Ekoka’s arm-stump glowing with the wan, orange-ochre colour of earth magic, but it’ll be too late. Your dirk comes whistling out of its sheathe in the small of your back. With only moments to spare you go to fling the dirk (3+1, 4) and it sinks into his left hand, the one holding Lyu’s arms down. Vanda rears back, his khaki face contorted in an expression of rage, pain and… hunger? “You degenerate freak!” he thunders and thrusts his stump towards you.

A black ball of pulsing energy has formed there, lightning coursing across the surface. As you watch the lightning shimmers and vanishes as the monster’s will relaxes, releasing the torrent of energy directly at you. (4+1) You effortlessly dodge the blast, but an arrow tumbles out of your quiver as you dive to the side. You grab it between two nimble fingers, twirl it into your hand and fling it. (1+1) The arrow flies well wide and the demon-thing just laughs.

Lightning begins to form again, on both hands this time. A ball of power rapidly forms in his left hand; on his stump, the lightning condenses into a clawed, crackling mockery of a hand.

Strike the earth with my right hand. Channel Earth magic through it, creating a ridge of earth rising up and forward to strike Vanda.
Also work on reforming my hand.

"I will show you who can't control power!" you yell, drawing your will into the stumpy bits on the end of your right arm. Ochre light flares. (6+1) (What. The. Hell.) The light blazes so brilliantly that your eyes sting, but you manage to maintain coherency enough to slam your stumpy arm into the ground.

The ground is like an extension of your will; shockwaves of power ripple forth and a wave of rock rips from the ground and bears down on Lyu and the demon-monster-thing. Oh. Shit. Right, Lyu’s still in the way. Well. In the instant remaining, you offer a quick prayer to Solvarion to protect his priest. Then you remember the priest’s habits and wonder just what Solvarion would think, anyway.

Vanda tries to avoid the wave, but it still catches him; it sweeps up both him and the priest in a humungous torrent of airborne earth and rock and flings them bodily into the side of a house. The gigantic shockwave of earth crashes into the house after them, burying the two in rubble.

As the dust settles it reveals a startling visage. Massive spikes of rock jave torn their way out of the ground and trace a path right through where Vanda and Lyu were, ending at the rubble of the house the magic collided with. The house itself has clearly collapsed; the shockwave has knocked down four more. (1+1) A pile of bricks falls away, revealing Vanda’s broken body. The creature struggles to sit up, but it’s apparent that he can’t, since (3) his arms are totalled. There’s nothing left of his arms but flattened smears of bloody flesh; not even the black, cursed lightning can heal that. You hope.

(1) Lyu’s staff can be seen, snapped into three pieces. There’s an awful lot of blood leaking out of the bottom of the rubble pile. If even half of that is Lyu’s, then he is in serious danger.

(4-1) Your body pulses painfully and is racked with spasms as the magic fades from your blood. You slump to your knees, absolutely exhausted. Bruises rapidly spread across your entire body and your joints stiffen up, making it very difficult and painful to move. (-1 to all physical activity for three turns; -2 if it’s extremely strenuous)

You somehow cast that ridiculously complex spell! +2 Earth experience - which means you’re now a Level 1 Earth magic adept!

There’s a clattering sound as pebbles leap up and reform your rockhand.

Baldur leaps forward to try to protect Felice. He also tries to slash at Vanda if he gets the opportunity.

You stride over to Vanda. The monster is gasping like an air-drowning fish. “Curse… you…” he mutters as his one good eye fixes on you. His other eye is glazed over and bloody. “How… could mere food… kill me?”

You lift up your sword. “Guess your last meal didn’t agree with you.”

The broken blade of your greatsword slides effortlessly into and through his broken chest.

An ugly light flares and you feel a jolt course up your arm. As you draw your blade out of the body, you watch in astonishment as the creature’s khaki skin fades. In a wave emanating from your fatal wound, the green tone vanishes to reveal the brown skin of a Limerete; the dead yellow eyes soften and melt into their usual green colour. Apparently, on death the curse is destroyed.

---

Deep under the rubble, Lyu stirs. He can feel that he’s in intense pain and rather deep trouble; he panics slightly in his tomb under all of the rock. He knows that he’s been wounded somehow, but he can’t quite figure out how under all of the rock pressing on his… everywhere. But if he doesn’t get out soon, the rock will crush him completely under its weight.

Lyu currently has one turn to live. You guys have to dig him out. Unfortunately, he also has been wounded and that will require treatment; it’s not life-threatening, but there is a chance he may lose a limb.

On the upshot, next time Ekoka does that he’ll have the control to avoid hitting his teammates. Hopefully.

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