The Golden Age. Act 2: Converging Paths.

[Xinnidy]

"I prefer my steak on a stick."

Raz to L12, shoot at Walder with her silver bow.

[Nanami Touko]

"Eating with your hands is uncultured!"

Mika to O11 Steel Sword Talisman Cav A

[scorri]

"Why would you want to eat a horse?"

Kaya to O10, activate Dragon's rage, attack cav A with the Steel Dagger

Edited October 28, 2017 by scorri

[riariadne]

Telmara uses teh phire (24, 14) to scorch the horse rider for 15 damage. He is not good at hitting (98, 44). [10 exp/1 wexp]

Aaron goes next (57, 44) to deal 16, despite WTD, nice Silver Axe on the 5 HP guy. Also the horse runs away. You assholes. [30 exp/2 wexp]

Raz is the better archer, in large part because Walter is dumb and does not even have his bow equipped. He takes (93) (55) 16 then 8 damage, what a clown. [14 exp/2 wexp]

Mikhaila Talismans it up (3, 20) to deal a meaty 14 in chip damage. [10 exp/1 wexp]

Kaya shows the Cavalier her stabs (82, 2) for 7 damage, takes (35, 74) 8 damage from his counter, but her Dragon's Rage kills him by dealing 9 damage. Which is a bit pathetic. [33 exp/1 wexp]

(98, 74, 43, 89, 1, 53, 77, 69) Magic and Speed naturally (it seems a literal 1 is the only way she will get that stat) and rounded Luck.

[eclipse]

"STEAK IS BEST SERVED WITH HORSERADISH!"

Kolmar to M-12, impale dinner with an Iron Lance.

Edited October 29, 2017 by eclipse

[Juliette]

"All this talk of hurting animals is making me uncomfortable... run away, horses! It's your riders we dislike!"

Velvet to N11

[riariadne]

Kolmar makes a good stabbing (41, 56) for 13, and Walter falls off his horse, coughing. "How... are you all so powerful..." (59 exp/2 wexp]

(15, 90, 34, 67, 42, 14, 69, 59) HP, Luck, and rounded Speed. decent

Now it's enemy phase. Here are the nemy moves, which I'm not putting in spoilers this time because new SF hates multiple spoilers 

Thief A- D1, Pirate E- Q9, Cav C- I2, Cav D- E1, Jace- J12

Jace walks forward, axe in hand, crackling with electricity. "You're ruining everything... this was a perfect plan, laid waste by the interference of a group of random travelers! No matter. I will finish this myself!" The sky darkens as he brings his axe back, and a vicious thunderbolt (35, 9) strikes Raz for 48 damage! Ouch. "Ha! None are as strong as I."

Meanwhile, Khan and the civilians keep backpedalling against the advancing bandits.

It is now turn 6. Player phase begins...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FcCwlTsG0D4yALkymth1RsRTlsw-u848ADkBVAkSgmM/edit#gid=945975530

Edited October 29, 2017 by Reinfleche
now with more red X

[Nanami Touko]

One of the bandits had approached her, and... Not attacked. What? What sort of nonsense was that? "Whatever. Your mistake."

Telm to P10, Conflagrate pirate E

[Bluedoom]

"You shouldn't have done that. You really shouldn't have done that."

 

Joviana stays in place, activates Fury, attacks Jace with Ice Beam.

[Xinnidy]

Being shocked wasn't a pleasant experience for Raz, her body quickly feeling limp. She couldn't even draw an arrow back, the strength sapped out of her, that was a particularly brutal hit to her breastplate, spreading over her torso. Quickly, the archer slumped to the ground, whimpering as she hit her face. Ugh, I can't move... Her vision was turning blurry, she closed her eyes. "Lucky... shot..." Raz was going to remember that one.

[riariadne]

Telmara and the Pirate exchange blows (36, 87) (79, 55), him taking 15 and her taking 12. (10 exp/1 wexp)

Jace doesn't like Joviana when she's angry (73, 18)! He takes 18 damage. (14 exp/1 wexp)

[Nanami Touko]

Was it some twist of fate that things had to start going badly now? She'd hoped Telmara's slip up was going to be their only one-- alas, fate. But now, now it was personal, as her mask glowed to life and a talisman was hastily drawn.

"DIE, BLACKGUARD!"

Mika to K11, Mask, Steel Sword Talisman the boss guy

[scorri]

As Raz fell, Kaya started towards her immediately, only to stop short at the sight of civilians ahead. "There are more people... Raz, I'll be back, I promise." The sight of unarmed innocents ahead almost made the physic staff she'd purchased slip her mind. She remembered it at the last second, pulling it out as she ran ahead, praying that it would work as she directed the healing magic towards Raz. At the same time, she was chanting under her breath, leaving her arms glowing, ready for another attack. At least the healing should be enough to prevent Raz from bleeding out.

Kaya to J-10, prep Dragon Rage and physic Raz

 

Also Yarvus to E-13

Edited October 29, 2017 by scorri

[eclipse]

Houses.  Maybe they'll have some free booze.

Kolmar to N-6

[SB.]

Aaron had to find himself agreeing with Telmara - the pirate didn’t seem to be the brightest. “Why didn’t you run the other way?” he muttered, before moving in for the kill steal secure.

Aaron to P9, #freesilversop

[riariadne]

Mikhaila loses all of the style points (54, 4) for not using the Cutlass, but she does 16 damage. Jace staggers after the hit, raising his axe again, before falling to his knees. "I'll... be back..." (he won't) [64 exp/2 wexp] Jace drops the Occult Scroll he was carrying, which goes to the Convoy.

Kaya stabilizes Raz to positive HP, but she is still down. [15 exp/2 wexp]

Aaron misses because he's a clown (95, 56) (31, 66) and takes some small irrelevant amount of damage.

Everyone agreed that next turn Kaya is healing Khan [15 exp/2 wexp], Velvet is using the Occult scroll from the convoy, then the Pirate is taking 14 from Telmara on EP, #nice_ks_velvet on the 1 HP pirate [36 exp/2 wexp], Yarvus visits the bottom left house to receive an Iron Rune, and from there Khan can't actually die to the rest of the enemies.

(47, 96, 15, 80, 53, 42, 6, 23) All stats but Str and Skl. #nice_level_velvet

...

Map clear! I will be editing in some alignment changes. You all have some houses to visit if you want, and you probably do for your items. For the side objective, even if it was an easy side objective, you all receive 100 bonus experience. Here are the levels from that:

 

Kaya: (78, 13, 14, 9, 41, 63, 87, 72) Str, Mag, Skl, Spd
Joviana: (12, 76, 45, 93, 37, 62, 44, 50) HP, Mag, Spd
Telmara: (90, 45, 36, 38, 75, 57, 26, 69) Str, Mag, Skl
Aaron: (51, 97, 35, 58, 42, 23, 25, 26) HP, Skl, Lck, Def, Res
Kolmar: (34, 39, 35, 90, 9, 15, 48, 35) HP, Str, Spd, Lck
Raz: (23, 38, 18, 84, 61, 10, 31, 37) HP, Str, Mag, Spd, Lck
Mikhaila: (17, 72, 92, 16, 86, 84, 41, 80) HP, Skl, Def
Velvet: (85, 99, 33, 43, 15, 53, 57, 68) Spd, Lck, [Mag]
Yarvus: (1, 95, 64, 22, 9, 80, 87, 25) HP, Skl, Spd, Res

As the combat comes to an end, an unfamiliar man approached the group of nine. "I offer my sincerest gratitude! These kind people were letting me and several of my comrades stay at the inn here for the night, but we were ambushed early this morning by those foul men, and our ships we were using destroyed. Their leader said he was an ex-Knight... I assume ex because no organization who would call themselves knights would have the likes of him in their ranks very long. Ah, I'm being quite rude. I am Major Khan of the Dione Empire, and a proud servant of Emperor Alexander. My journey to accompany him to your capital has been severely delayed, however." He lifted a brilliant axe overhead after his introduction, smiling. "Your assistance has allowed me to recover from these dire wounds I had before. If there is anything I can do for you all, do not hesitate to ask!"

Edited October 30, 2017 by Reinfleche

[Nanami Touko]

Her talisman had felled the fool that had dared ruin their pace, letting her anger sit for a moment as she tried to control the mask... And turning towards Raz, feet moving has as quickly as her body would allow. Picking up the girl, she received a lasting jolt from whatever magic had coursed through her, flinching only a moment before lifting her up. "Kaya! Get over here, now!" She'd managed to save the snake, there was no way she couldn't help Raz, too!

---

Telmara sighed, and looked at her new wounds. What a mess. It was always her, but it was her own fault. And Mikhaila was screaming for Kaya, so they'd be taking turns with the heal staff... "It sure would be convenient if someone else could... Well..." A thought for later. A man was approaching their group, and Telmara's guard wasn't down just yet.

[scorri]

"Ah, nicely met, Major Khan, but I'm afraid I need to go take care of one of my companions. My name is Kaya Bereen and I am the leader of this group and I will be right back." She smiled and gave a quick nod, before turning and racing back to Raz as Mika called out for her. Strange, she hadn't realized the two of them were close. Still... the ships the man mentioned must have been the ones to get in their way. A fortune delay to their journey if that was the case.

Reaching Raz, she knelt down by the archer, swapping out the physic staff for her mend staff. "Hold on Raz, just a second longer." It looked like the healing magic she'd used before had dealt with the worst of the injuries, but there was still plenty of damage. Reaching out, she gently placed the gem of the staff on Raz's shoulder, away from any of the injuries. "Here... be healed." The magic rushed through her and into the staff and then into Raz, racing towards the injuries and knitting them up in front of both her and Mika's eyes. "That should do the trick. She'll be tired still. Damage like that isn't easily dealt with, especially when caused by magic, but she will be ok now."

[Xinnidy]

"Ugh..." The ground hadn't been as great an insulant as Raz had hoped, the magic-sourced electricity even giving Mikhaila a shock as she came closer. Whoops. Sorry about that... Things seemed to have gone 'smoothly' enough, though, even with that attack carrying a surprising punch, the enemies were fended off... and now they were receiving thanks from some guy, or something. Making sense of her situation was less of a priority than breathing at that point.

Kaya working her magic was a relief, at least Raz would breath easy now --it was getting uncomfortably painful--. There wasn't much she could do about that lingering heartburn, however. Lighting was a cruel mistress. "Thanks..." That appearance, lying on the floor exhausted, was really uncomfortable, but there wasn't much Raz could do but accept help. Struggling a bit, she brought herself to sit on her knees in deliberate, slow moves. "That should be enough." Kaya was in the middle of something, anyways.

[Nanami Touko]

Raz awoke, and Mikhaila wasted no time hoisting the girl into her arms and hugging her tight, hand placing against the back of her head. She tried not to squeeze too hard, it was likely hard enough to be considering what she'd just went through. Only after a few moments did she let her sit back a bit. "Don't, you dare... Do that to me again. Do you understand me, Raz? You... You are not allowed to die."

[scorri]

Kaya rapidly felt uncomfortable add the two girls shared a private moment, so she backed away and headed back towards Khan, pulling on her gloves as she did. Reaching the man, she smiled again and extended a hand.

"Right, let's start again. As I said, my name is Kaya Bereen and I am the leader of this group. I suppose you could call us mercenaries, though that's not strictly true. We seek the Gifts of the Dragons, one of many such groups in Titan. It is a pleasure to meet you, Major Khan. I believe they would be Knights of Madrigal, servants of our monarch... When we have one. When we do not, they still serve the people. It is a shame to hear some have fallen so." 

Glancing curiously at the fancy axe he held, feeling it was familiar for some reason, she continued, "I am sorry that a stranger to our land was attacked by those who should have been protecting this place, but I am glad we could help. Thank you for protecting the citizens like you did. Where were you supposed to be meeting your emperor? Perhaps we could help make sure you reach there with no further incident. While you don't need our protection exactly, it could still be safety in numbers type thing. Better to not have to fight if possible and all."

[Bluedoom]

Joviana watched as the man who had knocked out Raz was dealt with swiftly, quite satisfied with the spell that she had cast. It was a good thing that she had bought this tome at Fordright, as it was turning out to be very useful. Not wasting more time thinking about the tome, she looked at the girl who lay in front of her. She was about to help the poor girl when Kaya and Mikhaila rushed to her aid.  It didn't take too long for Kaya to heal Raz, although Raz was understandably exhausted even after that. Not wanting to disturb Raz and Mikhaila while they were sharing a moment, Joviana instead followed Kaya to the man who had greeted the group. A foreigner, huh? That is a brilliant axe that he is carrying...I wonder if I have seen something like this before.

"We were on our way to Veiro when our ship was blocked by ship wreckage. Were those your ships? We were surprised to see a battle going on here when we arrived ourselves, we were expecting a safe outpost."

Edited October 30, 2017 by Magnificence Incarnate

[Xinnidy]

"Ah! Mikhaila..." Hoo, that hug was certainly tight. Still feeling a tiny bit of pain, Raz bit her lip as she slowly returned the hug, wrapping her arms around the taller woman's neck. "It's okay... I'm not going to let this knock me out for good. Hah." What an embarrassing predicament... she must have looked weak. "I have to fight, too... I can't let some lightning stop me." With the hug over, Raz sat on the ground again, taking deep breaths. "I really shouldn't have let it knock me off my feet. Sorry, Mikhaila." It was challenging to make eye contact after that...

[Nanami Touko]

With Kaya and Jovi walking away from their moment, Mikhaila knew how awkward it might've been... But she found herself hard of caring. As long as Raz was fine, her reactions would remain, but it wouldn't do to stay worried. "Alright... Come on, stand up. It seems something important is being discussed... And thank you, for being alright." It was... Difficult, to become soft, after having been so heavy handed during battle. It would take her some time to adjust to the difference. Perhaps an apology was due Raz's way later...

---

Slithering back over to the talk at hand, Telmara had her topic for Kaya later. For now, their lovely new friend, Khan, was it? "An escort mission sounds fine... What's with your axe?" the demihuman prodded. "It looks incredibly important... Not just a custom smithing job, right?" Perhaps it was... Or perhaps it reminded her of another piece of metal one of their more righteous members tossed around.

Edited October 30, 2017 by SnakeMomMelissa

[SB.]

His own folly prolonged the pirate's lifespan for a short while, but Aaron found himself calming down shortly afterwards, with battle finally finished. The calm didn't last for very long, however, with Khan's appearance. The axe he wielded... there was no mistaking it. Not this time. 

He heard the conversation happening around him, but he only caught it in snatches. His focus was elsewhere, on the major's weapon. "What," He began, voice horribly unsteady. "Is a soldier of Dione doing with the Lionheart?" Was fate mocking him now, for his earlier foolishness? Could it be telling him to just go home, and that this journey was a mistake for him? The relic's appearance had shaken him, and those paying enough attention would be able to spot the colour draining from Aaron's face.