Border: Chapter 1

[Inactive Account]

"I highly doubt you've got the abilities necessary to replace a team chosen for diverse roles," Adri told Zull, unamused. She watched perplexedly as his exchange with Aeron continued, but it seemed that Aeron wished to let her continue talking, so she did so. More of the others were present now, so she started right in to the mission details.

"Anyway, I was going to tell Aeron that now that we have a piece of the Key, we need to head back to the capital to present it to the Council. We made good time on our way north and I expect we will do the same heading back. The auguries don't point to any bad weather that might block us, but if anything comes up I will ensure that it does not affect us.

"I'd appreciate it if you all would try to avoid driving each other to murder, and I'm sure the rest of Selian would too," she added. "We can't afford to fail at our mission, especially for as silly of a reason as people being determined to be insufferable." She didn't mention any names, but she glanced at a few people as she spoke. "Any questions?"

[scorri]

Isra had managed to mostly ignore the rest of Zull's conversation with Aeron, but tuned in once Adri began to speak again. When their next step was explained, Isra raised an eyebrow, wondering at the path laid out. When Adri asked for questions, she spoke up.

"Why bother returning to the Council? Would it not be quicker to instead collect all the pieces of the Key, and then return, instead of returning back to the Council every time? As we have seen, the pieces are not large. If we can protect one, we should be able to protect multiple. And if we can not protect one... Well then returning to the Council will not matter then either, will it?"

[Inactive Account]

"Frankly, I'm not sure that we can keep it safe with our current level of cooperation," Adri replied. "The Council will be a good source for a second opinion on that, and if necessary they'll be able to re-evaluate how suited we are to the job. Perhaps we'll get reinforcements... ones that will actually cooperate." She shrugged. "Are there any other votes against returning to the capital, or should we continue on our way?"

Edited January 11, 2012 by Kiryn

[scorri]

"I never said I was voting against going to the capital," Isra pointed out. With a little bit of a wry smile, she added "In fact, now that you have explained your reasoning, I understand and would agree with you. It would appear that going to the capital, while out of the shortest path, may in fact help us in the long run. I bow to your judgement."

Isra leaned back in her chair and waited to see what the others would say. As much as I do not like interacting with people, I know that to get this job done I need to be civil. If the rest of our team can learn that then we will be fine for this. If not... Well then, Adri is wise in taking us back to the Council. I certainly would not mind getting rid of a few of these people...

[uguu]

"Heh, I still don't quite know what this is for, but taking a detour is perfectly fine! Whatever EVIL FORCE you're protecting this shit from couldn't possibly stand up to me, regardless of how much time they have to prepare for my onslaught! We can take all the time in the world, even if they get all the rest of them we can just kick their asses and start protecting them from there! In fact, fuck going to wherever, who wants to take a fucking vacation? They'll have to remove that chunk from your cold dead hands, and they'll have to remove my cold dead body from the premises to do so, as even in death I shall never stand down! Ha ha!" Zull yells beautifully "Our current level of cooperation is perfectly fine, as all you need to know is that I cooperate loudly and manly, with my perfect perfection to which none of you could ever hope to compare!"

[Rothene]

Speaking up, something he rarely did, I must create a device to speak for me one of these days, it's such a waste of time to discuss, "To me, it doesn't matter which way we go. the sooner we're done with this mission and thus resume our peaceful lives, the better. Where ever the group goes, I'll follow."

Typically, he chose to ignore the antics of the new mage. So far the spellcaster had proven to be of much greatness...if the potency of magic were measured in ones ability to spew fort utter nonsense.

[Inactive Account]

Adri simply nodded to acknowledge Riban and Isra, but had to address Zull's behavior once again. "We have no opponent but time, and don't try to tell me you can defeat that," she told Zull. "Though if you keep shouting about it, I'm sure we'll attract human enemies as well, so don't. Now then, it seems like nobody's opposed to going back to the capital, so once everyone's packed we'll be on our way." She finished her food, got up from the table, and headed for the door.

Opening the door, she nearly bumped into a youth passing by in the hallway-- a mindworker, she saw by the mark on his forehead. "Sorry about that," she said reflexively, swerving out of the way to continue towards her room. She didn't notice the mage glancing hurriedly from her to the inside of the dining room as she passed by.

[scorri]

Isra watched Adri leave the room, and then pulled out the dagger she had tucked in her waistband. She started spinning it idly around while glaring at Zull. Putting the knife down on the table, she pointed at him. "Ok. You. Your attitude is not acceptable. I can deal with uncommunicative people. I am usually in that category myself, and would still be if this job was not so important to me. I can even deal with someone that apparently wants to hug everyone every other minute. But your arrogance is beyond dealing with. It is time for you to wake up and realize that you were assigned to be a part of this team, not to run it. That means that you need to behave. And if you continue to act like you have been. Well... " She glanced meaningfully at her dagger on the table. "Let us just say that I have been on the wrong side of the government before, and I would be ok with ending up there again if the reason was good enough."

[uguu]

Zull begins speaking in a normal speaking voice relative to what he normally goes with. "Oh my, what a scary little girl you are! Your leader requested help, and I was the one who was given your group, chosen above all others! Isn't this proof enough that I'm amazing? I, on the other hand, have been given no reason to believe that you're even vaguely competent!" On the other hand, Zull has the usual shit eating grin on his face, as he says this of course. And he wouldn't have it any other way. "If you're gonna cry so hard about my greatness, all you have to do is become greater than me, right? However, as quick you are to threaten anyone who annoys you in the slightest way, and glorify yourself as if I should care about what you say when given absolutely no reason aside from supposedly working together, when you've just admitted that you don't normally work together well, I can't see how you can be considered mature enough for the government to care enough to consider you a criminal. Really now, if you weren't such uncooperative little shits, I very well may not even be here, and I very well may not even be able to insult you so! Why, if you were all as amazing as that man who overshadowed me earlier, I might actually have some competition as greatest member of this group! So basically, what I'm getting at is, if you have a problem with me saying I'm better than all of you combined, give the world a reason to believe that is so!" Zull moves to follow Adri out the door, but he stops right before opening it and says "Oh, and killing me in my sleep like a child isn't a way to go about this. I mean, not that you would even be capable enough to do so."

[scorri]

Isra just stared at Zull as he started to leave the the room. I can see this is not going to be an easy trip anymore. I'm going to have to try very hard to not stab this man. I've only been around him for a day and already I hate him.

However, when he made the comment about her stabbing him in his sleep, she couldn't help herself. She grinned at him in a way that looked like it was trying to be comforting, but instead did the opposite. "Oh if I wanted to stab you in your sleep, you would never see it coming. But do not worry. As long as you do not threaten the mission, I will not kill you. But, if I should decide to kill you... Well then. I will give you fair warning if for no other reason then to give you a chance to run and hide."

With that, she turned her back to Zull, clearly ending the conversation, and went back to finishing her meal.

[uguu]

Zull hears Isra's words as he walked out the door. He looks back from the other side and begins speaking. "Don't worry, as I have apparently annoyed you by stating this many times, you should realize that I'm the one thing making this mission possible." Zull shuts the door before she can respond, and stands there for a few second admiring the beauteousness with which he handled that. He then goes to his room to get changed back into his creepy robe and steal a pillow for the road, as he had forgotten to pack one when he left as he was in a hurry to be smug about the quickness with which he can do anything later at the time he left with this group.

(OOC edit: I am stupid)

Edited January 20, 2012 by Bonerusa

[Inactive Account]

The inn

Before more strife could arise, Adri had packed her things, corralled the others, and dragged them out of the inn. If they were going to bicker, they were going to do so on the Great Road, not indoors.

Behind the inn

"No, really, they got something good," the mage with whom Adri had nearly collided told his friends, a large, rough-looking man and a pair of slim, secretive twins. "Good enough to assign that loudmouth pet of the Archmage to it, and far's I know he's more bark than bite. They've one soldier, but besides that they aren't fighters. We can take them."

"You sure about this?" asked the larger man. "If we mess with a soldier and lose, there's no way we'll be seeing the light of day again."

"It'll be fine," the mage replied, attempting to be smooth. "I can take the mage, you take the soldiers, and Sita and Luka will take the others. Come on, they've got to have some great treasure for all he was yelling about it."

"All right, fine." The twins simply nodded their agreement, and the four set off out of the city.

On the road

It was early afternoon, and so far the trip had been uneventful. There were a few clouds, and a general lack of other travellers-- few non-mages passed this far north.

The grassy plains on either side of the road were occasionally broken up by stands of trees, which provided welcome shade. It was about time to take another break, and there was one such grove ahead, so the group continued toward it eagerly.

As they reached the trees, though, four people, presumably resting travellers themselves, stepped out into the road. Instead of continuing on their way, they fanned out as though to block the group from passing. The mage and fighter stood in the middle, ready to intercept anyone who tried to get through; the twins flanked them, knives at the ready.

"What's going on?" Adri asked. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Well, you said they had treasure," the fighter asked the mage. "Who's carrying it?"

"I don't know--"

"Well, I guess there's an easy way to find out," the fighter continued, and unsheathed a large, rusty sword. With a yell, he charged.

STAT FIGHT!

Enemies:

Mindworker x1: HP 9 Attack 6 Skill 5 Evasion 6

Thief x2: HP 8 Attack 5 Skill 6 Evasion 7

Ruffian x1: HP 12 Attack 5 Skill 5 Evasion 2

[scorri]

The second Isra had seen the four people up ahead, she had grabbed her two knives so that she would be ready in case anything happened. As soon as their party was attacked, she split off from the main group and charged the thief closest to her. When she was in range, she knocked his knives out of the way with her long knife, and sunk her other knife into his side.

Roll:

1d6-->4 + 6 - 7=3 HIT!

1d12-->6 (non-crit)

Damage=3

Cursing at the girl thief who had attacked him, Luka brought his knives around to try and remove her from the fight as quickly as possible. However, he rushed it a little too much and she was able to dodge his attack with a quick back pedal. She then set herself to attack again.

Roll:

1d6-->1 + 6 - 8=-1 Miss

HP:

Luka: 5

Isra: 8

Edited January 20, 2012 by scorri

[uguu]

With a wave of the hand, Zull flings the charging Ruffian into one of the two Thieves. "Oh my, how cute of you to think you can touch us!" Zull shouts

The Ruffian's sword strikes the thief

1d6 was a 6, 1d12 was an 11, so no critical.

6+5=11-7=4, so it's a hit

8-7=1 HP remaining on the thief

Thief gets up and decides to be an ASS and attack zull

It's impossible for him to not hit, but roll was 1 and 2 so no crit thank fuck

10-5=5 HP remaining on The Best

Zull is annoyed.

Edited January 20, 2012 by Bonerusa

[Rothene]

Damn fools, if I were alone, I'd have flown away by now, grumbled Riban, now where did I put those damaged parts?

Flying above enemy formation, Riban identified the juiciest target for him, the enemy mage. Just stopping above him, Riban started tossing some smallish objects at the mage to keep him distracted and hopefully, a lucky shot would knock him out.

[HongLei]

do I roll a die for healing, this is my first rp so I don't know

Lou starts to run over to Zull to heal him, not because Lou enjoys having him around, but because all doctors and other physicians take an oath to try to preserve life. While he is doing this he has two thoughts on his mind: "Stupid oath, why can't I be healing someone likable," and "I better not die, because of that idiot."

[Nightmare]

Aeron takes off his shirt and throws it away, getting ready to fight.

"Do you believe you can defeat me? This fighting style has been passed down in my family for generations!!"

Aeron attacked the mindworker with his mighty fists of excellence and elegance.

Hit: 4 + 5 = 9 - 6 = HIT

Crit: 8

Mindworker's HP: 9 - 6 = 3

The mindworker decides to attack because he's not dead.

Hit: 6 + 5 = 11 - 2 = HIT

Crit: 1

Aeron's HP: 7

Aeron is hurt but he just flexes his muscles, blowing steam out of his nostrils.

Edited January 21, 2012 by Nightmare

[Inactive Account]

OOC: HongLei, you don't roll for healing-- you just heal the number of HP equal to your character's skill stat, which for a healer is 7 at base level. So, Zull ends up at 10/10 after Lou healed him.

OOC2: Nightmare, I misread your post. Aeron should have taken 6 damage from the mage (enemy stats are different from base stats, and were listed in the first post of the battle) so he'd be at 8HP.

Player turn (Adri)

"We haven't got any treasure, you numbskulls!" Adri shouted, but she had no illusions as to the likelihood of that stopping the fight. She raised her hands high and began to pull the few scattered clouds together into a concentrated mass above the fight.

Enemy turn

Luka continued his fight with Isra. He'd expected her to be an easier mark since she was a bought thief, but she was proving to be difficult to hit. He feinted, then lunged, but Isra was too quick; his knife cut through thin air as she dodged.

Luka (thief) attacks Isra: (1,4): Miss.

Sita was still struggling to regain her wind after having it knocked out of her via unexpected collision with the ruffian, but there was no time to hesitate. Leaving the knife she'd thrown at the mage alone, she drew two more, and headed for a different target: someone else would deal with the mindworker, but the weatherworker needed to be dealt with before she whipped up something nasty. As Adri turned her back to call another cloud, Sita struck.

Sita (thief) attacks Adri: (3,12): Hit. Adri takes 5 damage.

The mage was thoroughly regretting his choice of robbery targets. He was fairly sure he had broken bones now; the question was how many. He'd have to make the soldier pay; originally he'd been gunning for the pilot, but he was a less immediate threat. He scrambled back a few paces, then rapidly raised a hand and chopped it down, jerking Aeron into the air and then slamming him back onto the ground.

Mage attacks Aeron: (3,4): Hit. Aeron takes 6 damage.

As Sita ran to deal with someone else, the ruffian decided to go after the runt who'd sent him flying. He raised his sword and charged at Zull.

Ruffian attacks Zull: (4,6) Hit. Zull takes 5 damage.

Enemy turn ends. Results:

Isra: 8/8

Adri: 5/10

Aeron: 2/14

Zull: 5/10

Reference for enemy HP:

Luka (thief): 5/8

Sita (thief): 1/8

Mage: 3/9

Ruffian: 12/12

New player turn begins.

ETA NOTE: In subsequent battles, there will be counters on enemy turn as well. This fight wasn't balanced for them, so no enemy counters for this turn.

Edited January 21, 2012 by kdanger

[scorri]

Isra grinned widely at the thief after his second attack missed as badly as his first one had. "What's the matter? Am I too fast for you?" When her opponent just cursed at her in return, she lunged in with both her knives this time.

Roll:

1d6--->3 +6 -7=2 HIT!

1d12---> 3 Crit!

Damage=6

This time, Isra managed to lodge her blade in her opponent throat. As he collapsed with a look of surprise on his face, she spun around with both of her knives ready to attack the remaining members of their attackers.

HP:

Luke: 0

Isra: 8

[uguu]

Zull throws a rock at the mage in order to mock the inferior little shit's weakness. "You cannot face me, but can you face a pebble!?"

rolls were 6 and 8

6+5=11-6=5, hit, no crit

3-7=-4

(So that's a no, no he can't)

[Rothene]

Hhhmph, took the mage long enough to fall, thought Riban. His next target of choice was the thief. Using some 'pointless' tricks he had taught himself when some strangeness struck his brain, Riban got Tella very close to the theif, then chucked stones at her general direction before flying off.

Hopefully this makes her watch out for me instead of the real brutes on the ground, mused Riban.

OOC: Does the thief get lowered Eva due to distraction? 8]

[HongLei]

Notices Aeron is hurt so Lou runs over and heals him.

[the_whistler]

Rane looped a rope through the horse's bridle and tied it with a snug knot to a post, doing likewise with the packhorse. He strolled in after their imperious leader, who seemed oblivious to the designs' simple aesthetic beauty. Of course, she probably studied here. These riddles on the ground are an open book instead of just a pretty picture. The rider glanced back at the pilot. His rage from earlier must be fueling his short strides, he thought, smiling mischievously.

Stepping lightly inside the Archmage's office, Rane proffered the required documents. He shrugged internally as another mage was added to their number. The other students stared curiously for a moment, huddling and talking amongst themselves.

Stabling the horses personally at the inn, his quick doze lasted far longer than planned. Curtly answering the summons at the door, he proceeded downstairs to eat breakfast. "A good show if I ever saw one," he remarked at the battle of wills, watching the loud-mouthed mage with apparent interest. Zull, wasn't it? I don't trust that thief girl with that type of knife and temper. Too willing to lose her job for the greater good, she's been reformed quite well.

The sooner the Winged Key was out of their hands, the better. Rane had almost resigned himself to traveling across Selian when Adri suggested handing over Merenna's part for safekeeping. That should limit the potential for stealing what is our responsibility. He felt a tug from the packhorse's rope; it was skittering away as the enemy fighter ran forwards.

Jumping down from his own horse, Rane muttered a few soft words into the animal's ear, stroking its mane soothingly. By the time the roan calmed down, half of their opponents had fallen. Assuming someone else could take care of the thief about to fall over her own two feet, Rane nocked an arrow and let it fly.

He winced as the fighter momentarily lodged an axe into his shoulder. At least it wasn't my bow arm.

Link

Rane hits ruffian for 4 damage.

Enemy hits back for 5.

Rane: 6/11 HP

Ruffian: 8/12 HP

Edited January 22, 2012 by the_whistler

[Nightmare]

Aeron attacks Ruffian magnificently!

Hit: 2 + 5 = 7 - 2 = HIT

Crit: 8

Damage: 8 - 6 = 2

Ruffian attacks back because he has too much HP, even in the face of Aeron's giant fist missiles.

Hit: 6 + 5 = 11 - 2 = HIT

Crit: 7 (thank God)

Damage: 9 - 5 = 4

HELP AERON IS DYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

[Inactive Account]

Enemy turn

Sita flinched and dodged as that damnable pilot pelted rocks at her. She focused on him for the moment, and tried to catch him with a pair of thrown knives as he flew close by. The wind whipped up by the ornithopter's wings blew the knives off course, though, and they were sent thudding into the ground. She drew another pair, determined to get rid of the pest.

Sita (thief) attacks Riban: (1,1) Miss.

The ruffian roared something incomprehensible, fuelled mostly by battle rage now. Without much deliberation he took another swing at the soldier, who seemed to be the biggest threat at the moment. Despite his increasingly poor coordination, he managed to knock the man unconscious for the moment.

Ruffian attacks Aeron: (3,9) Hit. Aeron knocked out.

Enemy turn ends. Results:

Riban 18/18

Aeron KO, no permanent damage. May wake up after the next player turn, but may not rejoin the battle.

Sita (thief) 1/8

Ruffian 2/12

Current effects: Sita is currently distracted by Riban and will not counterattack anyone who attacks her besides him. (As a reminder, Riban may not properly attack while flying.)

Player turn begins.