The Golden Age. Act 1: Discoveries.

[scorri]

Kaya stumbled back in surprise as the knight suddenly turned on her. "Wait, why are you... AUGH!" The blast of magic came and slammed into the man followed up by a hastily slashed knife at the man's lance hand. "The others should still be alive! We're not trying to kill you all..." She clasped a hand to her bleeding side, wincing. "Everyone, please don't kill him! Please just... let him live." She stumbled back further into the forest, trying to get a good look at the damage.

[Nanami Touko]

Things were going too well. She didn't like this. Telmara was paranoid, but when her paranoia didn't play out it just left her feeling anxious, worrying for nothing. These mercenaries can't be that trustworthy, I refuse to believe it. Do something, do ANYTHING. Let me be right! I don't want to feel like this and be wrong all the time... The catch twenty two that Telmara had stuck herself in meant she'd lose either way, as being right was having her allies getting attacked. Did she care about that? Of course she did. But she hated this anxiety gnawing at her more.

So when Kaya cried out, one of Isaac's armored friends being the perpetrator, she couldn't stop her smile, followed by her scowl. I told you. I told you! "Fat chance!" she hissed, sliding up to them and blasting off magic with all intent to tear him to shreds.

Telmara to Aa11, Gust Knight B with all intent to kill

[scorri]

"No, dammit, Telmara please!" But the demihuman wasn't listening. Kaya knew she had to do something and quickly before someone else stepped in to do what the woman had started. "Just... Stay down! Please!" She lunged at the armored man, aiming for the back of his knees, hoping to knock him down and out of commission.

 

Kaya to Ac-10, subdue the knight

[riariadne]

Regardless of her intent (88, 63), Telmara doesn't quite have the firepower to kill the knight, dealing 10 damage [10 exp/1 wexp].

Kaya secures the takedown instead (66, 21), dealing 4 for a KO. [27 exp/2 wexp]

Also I forgot to give Aria a steel dagger drop before but she has it now

[eclipse]

Snake lady didn't look too good, but luckily, Kaya was the one that finished that guy off.  I swear I'm gonna have to knock some sense into that lady.  He walked up next to Isaac, before taking a nice swig from a vulnerary.  He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, before looking a both Isaac and the nearby soldiers.  "Look, guys, we ain't interested in fightin' the lot of you.  However, we're gonna protect ourselves, so as long as YOU GUYS AIM YOUR WEAPONS AT THOSE FUCKERS OVER THERE," Kolmar shouted, motioning towards the thief and nearby riffraff, "we'll gladly fight alongside you.  The others are takin' a nap, but they'll be fine.  If our side wins, that is."

Kolmar to Y-11, use a Vulnerary

[Xinnidy]

Raz still had an arrow ready, bow trained at the nothing as she moved forward. She'd become slightly disinterested as more arguments between Kaya and Telmara unfolded. At this point, she was filtering them as one did noise. Unable to stop their conflicting goals, she decided it was best to continue on and take out threats as she caught them.

Raz to Aa13

[SB.]

And with the most recent development, Aaron decided that he'd had more than enough of Telmara's attitude. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he barked at the snake. He was tired of playing nice and keeping quiet as her behaviour became more and more out of line. How is everybody else just accepting this? Kolmar and Kaya tried to diffuse the situation, but she'd gone too far this time. We can't let her keep getting away with this shit.

"Are you just fucking thick? Or is there some other explanation that suddenly makes you picking a fight with two groups at once logical?" His usual bluster and calm had vanished, replaced instead by anger. He was still vaguely aware of the thieves off to the side, but he expected the snake would be more likely to hit him first at this point. And that was just as well - it gave plenty of reasoning for the party to ditch her afterwards - or perhaps she would suffer a worse fate. In that moment, Aaron couldn't care less.

[Nanami Touko]

Of course Kaya couldn't bring herself to kill these idiots. He was out of the way, but Telmara didn't feel any better about it. She bite her lip, and was about to turn back to the bandits... Yet, it appeared someone else was just as foolish as Kaya. The idiot with the axe. "What's wrong, with me?" She turned to the man; she was done being meek. "What wrong with me!? What's wrong, with ALL OF YOU! I've HAD IT. Is every other human suddenly some saint you can trust with your life!? I play paranoid, you all act like I'm insane, and look what happens! The people we're supposed to trust stab our leader in the back! BUT I'M THE IDIOT!?"

Were they just stupid? Altruistic to a fault? What was their problem!? I'm not crazy! This just happened, but I'm the one at fault, for some fucking reason! I told her we couldn't trust these people, and look what she got for it. But apparently I'm 'thick', there's something wrong with me-- enough of this foolishness. "As soon as this battle is over, I'm done! I'm leaving! You're going to get yourselves killed, and I'm not going to stick around and let myself start caring ANY MORE THAN I ALREADY HAVE!"

[SB.]

"Do I look like I was born yesterday?" Aaron retorted, waving his free arm around furiously. "Of course I don't think that! But if you don't have to kill them, then why?" As much as Telmara tried to scold them for it, softness had nothing to do with it. From Aaron's perspective. But if leaving the knight alive meant another enemy was avoided, then it made sense to make sure he kept breathing. So she is leaving, then. "Good riddance." he muttered, edging ever so slightly forward towards the fray and away from the crazed animal behind him.

Aaron to X13 with Lionheart.

[scorri]

Wait, what? "Telmara, what? You can't, I don't... I know you hate me, but please. We can talk about this after, please. Please..." She held a hand out towards the demihuman, other hand still clasped to her side. She didn't know why the idea of the woman leaving hurt her so much, but she couldn't stand the thought. It's my fault. If I had been a better leader, if I had talked with her instead of yelling.. Why didn't I prevent this?

[Nanami Touko]

"Why? Maybe you were born yesterday! It's obvious they can't be trusted!" This was so frustrating, she just felt ridiculed and hated and just... Ugh! And then there was Kaya, talking about hating her? How dense could... "I don't hate you!" That was all she could bring herself to say on that, too upset at the situation. It was obvious that this axe moron wanted her gone, why was Kaya trying so hard to get her to stay. "You're just... You're just, an idiot. You're all idiots. And I am too... And I just... Don't, want to be here, anymore." It was hard to be so aggressive towards people, already takings its toll as the anxiety from shouting at Aaron hit her. Just let me leave. Let me leave, leave leave leave leaveleaveleaveleave... Where's the next, bandit? Over... O-Over, there, in the hood. He dies next. Him. Gotta kill them all. Gotta leave...

[scorri]

"I... ok. I... I guess that's your right. I'm sorry that I couldn't... I just... They were working with us. One made a mistake but I promised Isaac that we wouldn't kill them. And... No. It's... never mind. I'm sorry." I'm not wrong. But that doesn't mean I should push it further. That's what's caused the problem in the past. And if I just... We just need to let her leave I guess. The healer was still clearly visibly upset but she stayed quiet, not wanting to risk causing another explosion.

[Xinnidy]

Unfortunately, the argument had become far more heated than Raz could afford to filter, with Aaron jumping in to add... a rather flammable choice of words. Raz couldn't help but give a wary glance towards the three. "Hey, all of you..." She bit her lip. How did these people even make it this bad? I thought they were a bit more rational than this-- She quickly shook her head. That was starting to affect her more than she wanted to admit.

"Uh, Kaya, Telmara..." She waved over to the dissenters, "You too, Aaron. The bandits aren't going to stop to listen to us bickering, right? We should take care of them first!" She raised her voice, balling a fist. "We can sit down and have a good talk about this once things are done, but for now we gotta make sure we don't die trying, right?" 

[eclipse]

"You're a lot better at sayin' what I'm thinkin' than I am," Kolmar yelled to Raz.

[SB.]

You're calling us idiots? It was clear as day to Aaron that Telmara didn't understand the situation nearly as well as she thought she did. "Whether they're dead or unconscious, the threat is still gone. Why the would you even-" His lecturing was however cut off by the voice of reasoning - Raz had finally spoken up.

While he still wanted to continue his argument with the snake, he held his tongue - although he did snarl in the general direction of their attackers.  "...Fine." he acknowledged, trying to set his mind at rest. She was right of course, they could wait until this was all over - and then Telmara would leave and everything would be fine. She was simply an obstacle in his path to greatness.

[Bluedoom]

Joviana moves to Ab13.

Aria to Ab14, heal Joviana.

[Xinnidy]

Ulysses to Aa12.

[Ether]

Mikhaila to X9, chug Vulnerary

[riariadne]

First are red moves:

 

Soldier B- N10

Bandit C- M10
Shaman A- T9
Myrmidon B- W12
Archer A- V9
Thief A- T10
Thief B- J10
Thief D- X10
Thane- L15

Red attacks:

Thief D stabs Fighter A for 7 damage (87, 81). He dodges the counterattack (86, 26) as well.

Archer A takes the next shot at Fighter A, (49, 36), dealing a substantial 13.

Myrm B cuts Aaaron (57, 47) to deal 6, but Aaron hits back (29, 51) for 12.

Next up, green moves:

 

Isaac- W11

Juniper- B13
Cleric A- T23
Merc A- K14
Knight C- D15

Green attacks:

Isaac (20, 8) cuts down Myrm B by dealing 13. That guy is donezo.

Mage A (37, 58) sets Thief D aflame and does 12.

Fighter A (56, 67) takes revenge on Thief D, dealing 14 and killing him.

--

Isaac frowned at his ally's attack against Kaya, but was made cross even further by the retaliation. "What's with you people? When are you going to quit arguing and focus on the enemy of us both, these bandits, ahead? Some of my men have made mistakes, but some of the force you've used in return was equally unnecessary over misunderstandings! I think it's better we focus on our mutual enemy than amongst our two groups, though at this rate your own alliance seems to be barely held together. If you can't, then we're not likely to reach a good agreement after all of this, either."

It's turn 6! Player phase!

Your friendly neighborhood spreadsheet

Edited February 11, 2017 by Reinfleche

[Bluedoom]

Joviana to Ad10, activate Greatforger.

[scorri]

Z-11, heal Kolmar

[Xinnidy]

Isaac butted into the argument, which felt like a bad call. It was understandable that the group's argument would be aggravating for strangers, but it felt like he had little to add after Raz said a piece herself. There was no point in continuing arguing with people, though. Cut the chatter right there and then and hope others would follow.

There was another sigh from Raz's end before she returned to a trained stance. Perhaps some initiative would make way for others to follow her back into combat focus, perhaps it would just move her out of an inevitable in-fight. Either was favorable.

Raz to X11, fire an arrow at archer A, swap back to Illuminate.

[Nanami Touko]

Just ignore them. All of them. Kill the bandits, get the treasure, leave. Telmara barely registered what Raz was shouting, and didn't pay a single moment of attention to what Isaac had to add. She just had to get out of here, and running off into the woods while there was still a fight going on was a good way to get caught and killed. The guy in the hood ran off, kill the archer.

Telmara to X10, Gust the ol' archer guy

[SB.]

Aaron let out an irritated grunt at Isaac's lecture, refusing to acknowledge him any further. Don't talk down on us when you can't even keep your own party in check. Still, it was what it was. They just needed to finish off and then the snake would be out of their hair for good.

Aaron to W11, Iron Axe Archer

[riariadne]

Joviana's Greatforger usage was explained on skype. She gets 15 exp, 5 wexp, and 5 anima alignment for her troubles. 40 animism is key, marking enough to use C anima tomes when that rank is hit!

Kolmar's at full health after Kaya heals. 11 exp and 2 wexp means C staves!

Raz hits the enemy archer for  9 damage (11, 86), and deftly avoids his own attack (91, 59). Her Endorphins fill her Gauge! She also gets 10 exp/ 1 wexp, enough for D bows! So many rank ups!

Telmara (33, 13) chips away at the archer for a solid 10. 10 exp and 1 wexp for her. She does not rank up (though she is pretty close!)

Lastly, Aaron (27, 95) axes the hard questions, 13 damage hard specifically. He gets the Steel Bow, as well as 33 exp/2 wexp. No weapon rank up, but he does get a level!

(12, 9, 75, 27, 21, 39, 21, 12) HP, Str, Skl, Spd, Def, Res. Stop paying off random.org!