[HQ Ignorance] Scene 112: The Great Mouth

[Nicolas Hughes]

The wounded soldier cuts himself free of the dying monster and staggers clear of its writing death-throes.

He surveys the scene of carnage and turning to the shocked assassins begins to laugh "Ha ha ha ha ha. We have all been taken for fools. You for being conned into worshipping that poor unfortunate thing. Me for being conned into coming here to kill it and you. Now our con artist wants their last laugh from seeing us kill and maim each other to the last man."

He pauses for breath a moment and lets the sounds of the dead and the dying sink in. Vaguely he could feel the magics of his essences recover and aid in the swaying their emotions, somehow he should feel proud as the powers of his gods tried to bring truth to these misguided barbarians but it all seemed to futile and too late for that.

"Now if any of you are still complete mugs and can't live another moment without that awful wonderful monster then I really don't mind obliging you - but if I were you I would be putting your knives to better use against the person who led you to your doom, who led me here to deliver your doom and who fed you on lies and deceit. 

[OOC : I think a released spirit should add its ability rather than replace the active ability but I doubt if it matters, Aalmon is not trying to fight his way out of this anyway.  He has a few abilities all at the same level that should be reasonably appropriate to this; his units military customs would apply to demanding surrender from people who have every reason to have their morale cracked, Lunar Way of Erelia and Verelia for turning barbarians against their leader in a moment of uncertainty or defeat. Either way I think he is augmenting with Find Peaceful Way and Speaker to Barbarians and the follower essence in the Cerise Book is augmenting with Influence Emotions. 

Nic


On 28 Aug 2010, at 03:36, Lev Lafayette wrote:

> On Mon, 2010-08-23 at 18:23 +0100, Nicolas Hughes wrote:
>>> 
>>> Aalmon is attacking the Great Maw at 17, sword augment +20, plus Mean
>>> Spirit at +3, plus Pyrrhich Victory +20, plus Bear Suffering +3, plus 
>>> Flaming Weapon +6 (surely better than +3 from 'Stay Still'!), Cheat
>>> Demon +3, plus surprise action bonus of +5 and finally Love Marianne of
>>> +3 (which I must include for a perhaps last encounter). This is a total
>>> of 17W3! The creature itself comes with Great Bite 20W, plus a
>>> situational bonus of +20 (you're *inside* the mouth!), plus Great
>>> Strength +10, and grappling Tongue at +6. Very nasty indeed! That's a
>>> total of 16W3.
>> 
>> OK. I thought the sword was a W2 augment (it was in round 2). On the
>> other augments I think if he is taking a physical beating here then
>> his +3 from Tough With Joy comes into play, that at least turns a
>> marginal defeat into a fatally marginal victory.
> 
> No, in round 2 I had it at 2W, i.e., +22 rather than +20. I'll give the
> extra +2 :) 
> 
> (But yes, now you know what the sword is like; an ability of 10W5!)
> 
>> Aalmon is then spending as many HP as he can if it gives him a chance
>> to win and live.
>> 
>> If he can only spend one HP on the main action can he spend the other
>> on releasing the starfire spirit rather than just augmenting with it,
>> +10W will make a lot more difference than +6?
> 
> That would mean that you're using Starfire as your primary action and
> augmenting with it. I can accept that as well if that's you want to do..
> So if you do that the narrative will be..
> 
> "Aalmon releases his Starfire spirit, causing his body to glow and
> sparkle as he leaped into the creature's maw. The beast swallowed the
> courier as he stabbed wildly with with the flaming blade
> 
> The mechanics are
> 
> Aalmon is attacking the Great Maw at 10W with Starfire Spirit, plus
> sword ability and augment at +25, plus Mean Spirit at +3, plus Pyrrhich
> Victory +20, plus Bear Suffering +3, plus Flaming Weapon +6 (surely
> better than +3 from 'Stay Still'!), Cheat Demon +3, plus surprise action
> bonus of +5 and finally Love Marianne of +3 (which I must include for a
> perhaps last encounter). This is a total of 10W4!
> 
> The creature itself comes with Great Bite 20W, plus a situational bonus
> of +20 (you're *inside* the mouth!), plus Great Strength +10, and
> grappling Tongue at +6. Very nasty indeed! That's a total of 16W3
> 
> 19 versus 18 is a failure for both sides, which ends up being a marginal 
> success for Aalmon with four masteries rather than three. By spending two HPs
> Aalmon can increase the marginal victory to a a major victory and kill the 
> Maw whilst receiving an injury... That would be enough for victory...
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ignorance mailing list
> Ignorance at mimesisrpg.com
> http://mimesisrpg.com/mailman/listinfo/ignorance_mimesisrpg.com