The Dragons' Run - Act 1

[Sarky]

Jensa:

Jensa barked a few quick orders at her troupe. It was uncanny how they seemed prepared to go from musicians to brawlers at a moment's notice. Not that anyone had time to spare in the melee to notice.

"Defend Sorelt and the hearthhouse. These are Lintha, expect no quarter and respond in kind!"

The petals and vines in her anima were consumed by intense flame as she drew her whip back, snagging a burning log from the bonfire, and swung forward, smashing it on the head of the nearest invader, bathing him and his fellows in an explosion of burning ash and ember. Before it even hit she was running forward. The great bird of fire that was her anima brought its wings downwards in a mighty clap as Jensa leapt, dancing across the heads and shoulders of the Lintha, Too quick for Lintha blades, a spinning dervish of smoke and flame, slicing blood vessels and plucking eyes from their sockets with pinpoint whip strikes. Between her finesse and Lesanda's brute force, the pirates shattered like dry leaves underfoot.

That left the twisted Lintha proper. Only four, but they were more than mortal. The dance continued.


[Spending 1 wp and 6m peripheral on Stoking bonfire Style for 6 extra dice for a withering attack on the Lintha group, getting right up in their grill so Jensa's anima does its thing. Dex+Melee(+specialty) is 9, excellency makes it 15, wp gives 1 success. 2 point stunt grants +2 dice, +1 success

Many dice rolls

9 successes, + spent wp and stunt success makes 11!
Rolling 2 stunt dice, 5 weapon accuracy dice:

2 more successes, 13 total vs soak 9, 4 threshold successes.
Add 4 dice to weapon damage 10, vs soak 8, means 6 damage dice


And miscalculating Defense means I have another 4 damage dice:

Pirates lose 6 magnitude, automatic rout! +5 initiative for reducing magnitude to 0]

Jensa's new stats:
13m Personal pool
2m Peripheral pool
Initiative 14
Anima still iconic, in Fire Aura]

 

[Chaka]

@Sarky

As you decimate the reavers and the struggling survivors start to flee, you see Sorelt Feray emerge from a nearby house at a run, a baling hook clutched in one hand. She moves faster than you would have thought, and the luckless pirate who gets between her and the Hearth drops screaming with the hook embedded in his guts.

@FuzzMonster

The four Lintha circle Yvara like sharks, as she stands between them and more valuable prey. Clearly shaken by this turn of events but unwilling to back down, they spiral towards her in co-ordinated assault...

Lintha 3: 9 Dice to hit

Lintha 2: 9 dice to hit

Lintha 1: 9 Dice to hit

Lintha 4: 9 Dice to hit

All four are Parried.

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

The magistrate waits amidst her enemies. After all, the punishment cannot be dispensed until the crime has been attempted. Her stance is balanced and fluid, twin hooks a-flutter. When the attack comes, she goes low, spinning and whirling, steel feathers clashing. Her movement is a whirl of action at ground level, pivoting and spinning, rolling from the space of one attacker to the next, the firelight glinting from her strange swords while the black silk of Bell absorbs all light. In Yvara's mind's eye, she sees the attack circle of each of the four gilled monsters, the range at which they can lash out, but rather than attempt to withdraw from that deadly circumference, she plunges into it.

Fight me from inside your own reach, and I will embrace you like the waves, break you on the rocks.

The end result is four Lintha trying to fight someone who is actively trying to stay as close to them as possible, leading them into each other and fearlessly accepting strikes from their horrid cutlasses only to divert them with bare inches to spare. Should the four Family members fight as recklessly as she, they run the risk of slicing each other!


Leaving her Parry at 11 for the first attacker, and 10 for the second, burning 2m Peripheral to bring it up to 10 for the third, and another 2m to bring it up to 9 for the final attacker.



From the whirlwind of curved steel and black silk comes punishment. Jensa has danced, and done so beautifully! Yvara's dance is perhaps less graceful, her movements sweeping and yet staccato as each one results in a savage impact. Yvara's long legs flick out, her heel driven high into a sternum, low into a groin, and higher yet into a spectacular spin from the ground which works to move one Lintha's jaw several inches to the left.

It is in the final one of these attacks that she spends 3m Peripheral for dice.

And stunt:

And stunt:

Attack successes in the order in which they attacked her:
7, 8, 6, 10

Damage:

Yvara goes up to Initiative 17. She spent 7m Peripheral Essence, triggering her first stage anima, and regains 5m at the end of the round.

The Lintha take 1, 2, 0, and 2 Initiative damage.

 

[Hair]

Abyss' Black Reach

The Immaculate's savage assault all but knocked Abyss out of her stance, but she continues moving. The flowing movements that Bharat had beaten into her in her youth flee her form, but the mindset remains. Abyss continues the spin she started as sparks erupt from the clashing weapons. She brings her back elbow down between the Immaculate's shoulders, and follows that with a savage twisting kick at her legs, wrapping a coil of water around them, stealing the monk's balance. She makes a wide sweep with her left hand as the Immaculate pulls away, scoring twin bloody lines along her cheek.

With some space opened between them Abyss' wounded pride compels her to speak. "You'll curse the day you made an enemy of Abyss' Black Reach. I'll hunt you, tear your reputation to shreds, you'll be begging me to kill you before I grant that luxury." As she finishes she launches herself into a spin at the monk again, attempting to tear her throat out so she can reach her quarry.

[Spending 4Pmotes on Become the Hammer, 1 Pmote on Aura effects; Anima at Burning; In Water Aura; Dice Pool is 18 (4Dex+4MA+4BtH+4Acc+2Stunt), spending Willpower for an auto success (which is refunded by the Stunt), Stunt gives an auto success; Pools at 13/14; Anima at Burning]



[A single 1, raising the Immaculate's parry to 7; 5 threshold successes, added to my Str of 4 and the light weapon's damage of 7, less her soak of 3 gives a withering damage pool of 13]



5 initiative damage; I'm at 4

 

[Chaka]

The Immaculate hisses like a cat as Abyss claw slits her cheek, and she struggles to compensate and regain her balance as the tendrils of water Abyss coiled around her spatter and boil. "You'll struggle to make good on your threats, Serpent. Your Water Dragon is as sloppy as it is heretical." Her eyes still widen at the sudden burst of Abyss' attack, her blades flickering and blurring to catch the assault.

The Immaculate has a base parry of 4. Spending 4m peripheral on Become the Hammer to increase it to 6 and another 3m reflexive on Flame-Flicker Stance: every 1 on Abyss' attack roll increases the Immaculate's parry by one, and as she is in Fire Aura this is uncapped.

 

[Chaka]

The Immaculate is forced back by Abyss' rapid swipes, blood blossoming from shallow, glancing cuts as she barely deflects more serious harm. She's grinning now. "You have potential, for a heretic. Maybe when I beat some sense in to you you'll come to us for proper training!" She spins through a rapid kata, points of burning light tracing dizzying patterns from the tips of her blades. She gestures imperiously at you to come for her.

The Immaculate spends 7m Peripheral to activate Fire Dragon Form. When she attacks opponents with lower Initiative than her she inflicts her Onslaught Penalty before she rolls her attack. Also if she successfully parties a Decisive attack the Initiative loss for her attacker is doubled.

 

[Chaka]

The Lintha stagger back from the impenetrable steel circle Yvara has made of herself, cursing and wincing at bruises and contusions. They take a few steps back, muttering to each other. It seems like they've had enough, and they're about to turn tail and flee when The Drowning One comes upon them.

Yvara and Jensa are suddenly buffeted by a shockwave of Essence as Lesanda strides forward across the broken bodies of her enemies, barefoot and eyes closed, her hands held out wide like a child in a rainstorm. Her expression is one of savage joy and concentration, as though she is listening to a concerto only she can hear. Her anima has burst into sudden iconography like a bomb blast, destroying tables and furniture she passes like matchstick houses in a gale as watery kraken tentacles whip around, glowing with the light of the sun through a deep sea and lighting the scene in a terrifying, eldritch aquamarine. The ground under her feet churns to mud which whips up around her body, spiralling towards the sky. For a moment it seems to be raining, then you realise it's condensation churned out of the air from Lesanda's raw magical might and scattered across the battlefield like dew. As she passes Yvara, she gently pats her on the shoulder. "Well done, my dear. You're a credit to the dojo, I have to say. But let me show you how the Banoron deals with monsters." She treats Jensa to a frankly erotic wink as she strides past towards the Lintha.

To their credit, the Lintha don't break. They raise their swords high and prepare to fight Death as she stalks for them, but it's not enough. Unarmed, clothed only in soaking silk and leather and absolute, raw power, Lesanda breaks from her steady stride into a sudden sprint, rushing the hapless Lintha down.

When she moves, it's wrong. Her limbs seem to be many-jointed, bending at strange angles. Kelp and seaweed blast through her anima in pulses for a moment, wriggling and writhing through the storm around her body as she reaches out for the first Lintha. Like a root growing through stone she reaches past him, somehow trapping his throat with her elbow but not in any way restricting the limb's flexibility as she grasps the neck of the pirate beside him. She takes the face of the third in a vice-like grip, the bones of the skull audibly creaking and grinding together under her inexorable might. She's howling now as Essence whips out and around her body, so much power no mortal frame could bear it, and she levers herself up and swings out, balancing on her victims as she hooks the final pirate's head between calves like corded steel. For a moment she is suspended cruciform, facing the sky, laughing and howling like the storm incarnate. Then it all comes crashing down as with a jerk she forces herself into a standing position, brutally slamming the Lintha trapped in leg-lock to faceplant beneath her. Inexorably she sinks to her knees upon his back, drawing the three pirates interwoven through her limbs down, down into the dirt. She has forced them all prone and is holding them there, impossibly. She remains still as stone as they begin to choke and drown on the raw water essence of the anima swirling around her.

Banoron Lesanda has had enough of these motherfucking Lintha on her motherfucking Island .

First, she activates Hanging Tree Technique for 10m, 1wp and 3i. This allows her to make a Grapple Gambit against (Dexterity) close-range foes simutaneously. She rolls once for attack and Initiative against all enemies but rolls to establish control on each enemy indepdendently. This attack she will be enhancing with Become The Hammer for 6m to add 6 dice to the grapple roll. She also spends 5m on Inescapable Whirlpool Hold to re-roll 6s on both the Initiative and the Control rolls until no more 6s appear. She spends a further 5m on Oaken Thew Exertion to add (Stamina) to the control rolls of these grapples. Finally, she activates Crushing Avalanche Grasp for 5m, 1i, which means as long as she successfully establishes a clinch she doesn't lose rounds of control for attacks against her that miss. Total combo cost: 31m, 4i, 1wp. She is very definitely Bonfire, and her motes pools are at 15/2. She's out of Aura as she used a mixture of elemental effects on this turn.

grapple stuff

Grapple attack roll


Grapple Initiative roll

Re-roll 6s

9 successes!

Contested control roll for Lintha 1

Lintha

7 rounds of control.

Contested control roll for Lintha 2

Re-roll 6s

Lintha

2 rounds of control.

Contested control roll for Lintha 3

Re-roll 6s

Re-roll 6s

Lintha

6 rounds of control

Contested control roll for Lintha 4

Re-roll 6s

Lintha

8 rounds of control.

Damage resolution

Withering Savage Attack against all opponents (Defense is 0


Strength 5 +7 weapon damage for unarmed plus 11 successes on the attack roll -8 soak= 15 dice per enemy.

Lintha 1
- 7 withering damage.

Lintha 2
- 10 withering damage

Lintha 3
- 5 withering damage

Lintha 4
- 7 withering damage.

Lesanda gains 11 Initiative from the highest damage, plus she steals a further 1 from each Lintha at the end of the turn, and she gains +5 per Lintha she's Crashed. Which is all of them. That's another 20. Her Initiative is 49. They're effectively dead.

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

Yvaa returns to a brief equilibrium and regards Lesanda calmly.

I'd ask her to spare one of them for interrogation, but honestly? I don't think for one moment that she'd listen.

Which means....


Yvara takes off at a sprint after Abyss, to provide some backup.

Initiative still 17, regain another 5m Peripheral. At the end of this round, her pools will be 0 Personal, 26 Peripheral.

 

[Sarky]

Jensa:

Jensa couldn't help but stare slightly agog at Banoron Lesanda, and the four pirates gurgling beneath her, their clawing and twitching fading slowly. Both their animas caused the air to literally steam between them.

"Pitiless brute force definitely has a beauty all its own, hearthmother. You dance exquisitely! By your leave, I should see if the gallant captain Abyss needs company subduing those treacherous Dynast cuntrags."

She turned and ran straight into the bonfire, leaping up the hot updraft to the rooftops, where she jumped from building to building, searching for the telltale anima flare that would surely mark the captain and their quarry.

[Legging it towards Abyss. Fleet of Foot merit, combined with spending 2m peripheral, 2m personal on Effortlessly Rising Flame for 2 auto-successes on any dex+athletics roll to leap/run across the rooftops. Every 10 adds a non-charm die to the roll:

A 10 adds another non-charm die to the roll:

7 successes total!]

0m peripheral left
11m personal left
Initiative still 14
Anima still iconic

 

[Hair]

Abyss' Black Reach

Abyss smiles as the Immaculate backs off. She ceases her wild spinning assault and takes a moment to cool her burning rage. As she settles back into a more traditional stance she flows forward, into the ebb left by the Dynast. As she moves across the space left for her by her opponent her rage surges again. Abyss keeps a leash on it this time, riding the wave, her essence rising along side. She glides forward, the picture of serenity, the water now splashed across the small courtyard becoming unnaturally still around her feet. As she closes with the Immaculate the water about the monk's feet starts to roil, oddly solid crests and troughs giving treacherous footing. Abyss reaches the bald woman and strikes, twin tines of her left hand punching for the eyes. The Immaculate stumbles back, blades coming up, footing fouled. Abyss begins to smile as her right hand comes around from below. Slash. Two thin gashes open in the monk's robe.

A jagged black maw begins to open around Abyss' feet, and a column of water erupts around her. Her clothes are whipped upwards in the strong current, giving the most disorienting impression that she is plunging into the depths, though her footing remains as solid as ever. As her foot lashes out to catch the reeling Immaculate behind the knee it is accompanied by a black tentacle along the ground that appears to eat light. She flows smoothly through the kick's momentum, jumping into a spin, horizontal to the ground. Her limbs lash out at her opponent, faster than the eye can follow, than any mortal could hope to replicate, each strike causing another tentacle to erupt from the mouth of the abyss below her. A sickening stench fills the air, the stench of rotting things hauled from the depths.

As Abyss lands from her spinning flurry the tentacles erupt from their uneasy rest below the surface of the water, now several inches deep around the courtyard. They crash down around her, covering her in uniform blackness, limned in a sickening blue-grey light. She floats up from the three-point landing, almost carried by her Anima's unrelenting upwards current, and flows to the side, ready for the Monk's counter attack, laughing like a madwoman.

[Spending 4Pmotes on Become the Hammer, 1Pmote on Anima effect to control water; Anima Banner hits Iconic; Attack Pool is 18 (4 Dex + 4 MA + 4 BtH + 4 Acc + 2 Stunt), Spending Willpower for an auto success (refunded by Stunt), Stunt adds a further 2 successes; Pools 13/14]




[8 threshold successes, damage pool of 16 (8 + 4 Str + 7 Weapon Damage - 3 Soak)]




[9 damage total, bringing Abyss to 14 Initiative]

 

[Chaka]

@Hair

The monk moves flicker-fast, recovering and managing to hold her footing as the dark core of Abyss' anima banner threatens to calm her. Her anima explodes out wide as she spins and flips between tentacles and claws, the flames burning blue and then white-hot as Essence channels through and over her body. She's stopped taunting her opponent, her mouth a thin line.

The Immaculate uses the same set up as before. 4m personal on Become The Hammer for +2 Parry and activating Flicker-Flame to increase her parry by 1 for every 1 Abyss rolls. Base parry is 6.

 

[Sarky]

Jensa:

Jensa flickered from roof to roof, searching for... Ah, an explosion of essence, dark, glistening tentacles and the stench of rotten seaweed, and a white-hot flame darting between them. She changed course slightly and landed lightly on a slate roof above and to the side. The fight was perhaps less unbalanced than she'd originally expected, with Abyss still holding her own, but how long would that last? These Dynasts had brought Lintha to the island, there was no reason to expect even an Immaculate Monk to fight fair.

And worst of all, those motherfuckers upstaged me!

She would have to time this very carefully. She watched the monk flip and spin to evade Abyss' attacks, until... now! She stamped down hard on the edge of the roof, causing a handful of slate tiles to break loose and fall. Erubescent Blossom darted out, wrapping around the tiles, and she dove off the roof, running down the walls before leaping towards the fight, when she twisted mid-air, swinging the weighty bundle around with everything she had. The blunt weight shot straight towards the monk's solar plexus, where the ribcage ended but the abdominal muscles had yet to begin.



[Making a decisive attack as part of a Distraction gambit, the beneficiary being Abyss' Black Reach. If it succeeds, instead of the monk taking damage, the gambit's difficulty+1 is added to Abyss' initiative.
Dex 3 + Melee 5(+1) = 9, spending 6m personal on Stoking Bonfire Style to add +6 dice for 15 total, spending one more wp for an automatic success, 2 point stunt adds +1 success and +2 dice, for 17 total.
Decisive attack roll:

9 +2 = 11 successes! a roll of 1 increases the monk's defense, but not by enough!

Gambit roll, difficulty 4:

8 successes! Gambit activates, Abyss' Black Reach gains 5 initiative!]

Jensa now has initiative 9
Personal pool 5m remaining
Anima still iconic

 

[Chaka]

The Immaculate's eyes widen as she sees Jensa leap into the fray like a comet, and there's a sharp intake of breath as she snaps her daiklaives up to try to stop the sharp slate shards slicing towards her chest...

Third verse, same as The first Parry is 6 plus 1 for every 1 Jensa rolls.

 

[Hair]

Abyss' Black Reach

Abyss doesn't give the Immaculate even a moment to regain her balance. She floods into the opening, closing the gap between them in a flash, shooting a grin at Jensa as she does so. She kicks low at the ankles, then feints a strike wide. As the Immaculate attempts to bring her blades round to parry Abyss steps inside her guard. She brings her hip in low, shoving upwards from below the reeling woman's center of balance. The Immaculate stumbles backwards through the clouds of steam now filling the square, buffeted by the strong currents of Abyss' Anima. She doesn't see the corner until her back strikes it, the cold stone edge caressing her spine like a lover. Abyss follows, a blurry figure of black and deep blue, and bats the Immaculate's daiklaves aside.

She thrusts herself backwards, loading her tailing leg with all her weight, almost appearing to fall, and coils her hands back against her chest, palms out. She lunges forwards, smashing her hands into the Immaculate's lower ribs, coursing destructive essence into her opponent's ribs and lungs. She follows the devastating strike with a headbutt, forehead smashing into nose, just to be sure.

[Making a Decisive attack against the Monk; Spending 4 Pmotes on Become the Hammer, Dice pool at 14 (4 Dex + 4 MA + 4 BtH + 2 Stunt), Spending WP for a success, Stunt gives 2]



[Her Parry is raised to 7, my auto successes scrape me the hit; Rolling 19 damage dice, enhanced by Drowning-in-Blood Technique, doubling 10s]




[12 health levels of bashing damage. In addition her wound penalties are increased by 1 until the end of scene. Pools 13/11]

 

[Chaka]

The monk vomits a gout of blood as her ribcage shatters and she is thrown a clear ten feet across the courtyard, her anima guttering out like a candle. She slides to a halt halfway across the courtyard and lies still, though she is breathing raggedy.

In the distance, a victory cry goes up. The Lintha are routed or slain.

 

[Hair]

Abyss' Black Reach

Abyss sags slightly as the Immaculate ragdolls across the courtyard. She steps over to where the monk lies, foamy blood pooling near her mouth, and crouches beside her. "So, maybe you won't beg for death," she whispers, pulling the dual daiklaves from the monk's limp grasp, "but I'll settle for this small humiliation."

She stands, tucking the swords into her wide belt, and reaches out with her senses to Whitecap. In an instant she is soaring above Seppish, the currents slightly askew from the animas below her. Her vision wrenches as Whitecap cock his head slightly, tracking movement in the town below him. And.... there! Peleps Daejon is two streets over, running hard and glancing over his shoulder at the towering anima banners on the hill.

Abyss' awareness snaps back to the courtyard, along with her aches from the too close fight. "Peleps is just over that way," she calls to Jensa. "You coming, or do you want to look after his trained hound?" She kicks the Immaculate at her feet, as if there was any doubt as to who she was referring to.

 

[FuzzMonster]

Yvara

Yvara's arrival is slightly anticlimactic. She pounds into the alley just in time to see the Immaculate getting her ribs caved in, and winces slightly. Her swords lower, although her stance remains ready.

"Oooooh, she's gonna feel that in the morning. If she wakes up in the morning."

The jade swords in Abyss' belt catch her eye, and Yvara offers a wicked grin. Taxes are a bastard.

She produces a small length of chain from one of her voluminous pockets and proceeds to firmly bind the monk's wrists together behind her back and snap a small but tough lock onto the chains, muttering as she does so.

"As a magistrate of the Tribunal of Serpents, I remand you in custody, and my prisoner you shall remain until you face justice. Thus is the command of the Tribunal."

Looking over at Abyss and Jensa while she does this, she pipes up.

"Nice one on the Immaculate. Where did you reckon the other bastard went?"


When Abyss goes in pursuit, Yvara accompanies her.

 

[Sarky]

Jensa:

Jensa sagged, panting and pointing in the direction Abyss had indicated.

"Between the dance, the pirates and this one, I'm spent. You go ahead, and I'll try to keep the monk from drowning in her own blood before we've all had a nice talk."

Jensa knelt by the prone figure and began assessing just how hard Abyss had struck. The blood and ragged breathing pointed to multiple broken ribs, and more. Hesiesh's lineage would make her far less delicate a patient than earlier today, but she was still in a bad way. Still, she'd saved a mortal from similar injury already today, she'd managed this.

"Oh honey, you're a mess," she muttered as she worked, "someone REALLY did a number on you. Lucky thing ONE of us here isn't an honourless dog who consorts with demon-loving pirates. No, SOME of us carry the burden of HEALING people like that after they fuck up and underestimate Lastlanders. And I just performed a medical fucking miracle just this afternoon, too. Will I get thanks for this? Pfft, no. Only preventing a major diplomatic incident, don't mind me, oh I'm SURE the Cloister of Wisdom can't spare any riches for saving one of theirs... Probably spent it on more bloody Lintha if tonight is anything to go by..."

...and so on.


[Just about enough essence left for a couple of medicine excellencies
Spending 1m personal on Master Healer Meditation to add 1 die, as this is the maximum Jensa can add she gets +1 non-charm success. Int 3 + Medicine 1 + 1 bonus die, 1 success in the bag:


4 successes total. Difficulty for treating bleeding is the target's wound penalty]

 

[Chaka]

@Hair
Peleps Daejon comes to a stop, gasping and out of breath, in a muddy field on the oustkirts of the village. Muttering to himself, he snatches up a nearby stick and begins tracing arcane sigils into the ground, his other hand twisting and contorting into esoteric mudras, slowly regulating his breathing to careful, short, sharp bursts. The air around him begins to ripple, as though a heat haze is spreading around his body. You don't know exactly what he's doing, but he's clearly a sorcerer.

The Immaculate and Lintha tied you up for three rounds, so Daejon has the opportunity to take three Shape Sorcery actions before you can reach him. He's using a Shaping Ritual he learned as a Heptagram student, meaning he'll gain 5sm immediately on the first Shape Sorcery action for channeling it through rigid discplined geomantic and physical patterns. Once he hits 15sm, he'll cast. He's also spending 3m personal on Hidden Secrets Whisper for 3 extra dice on his roll, and each 10 he rolls re-rolls one non-1 failed die.

Int 4 + Occ 3+ Excellency 3 = 10 dice to Shape Sorcery.

He's on 9sm.

Rolling Join Battle for Daejon to get him in to the turn order. He'll spend 4m personal on Precision Observation Method for two automatic successes.

He starts at 7 Initiative.

Rolling Whitecap into the fight too

The osprey is in, at Initiative 5. Daejon will get another Shape Sorcery off before Whitecap can intervene.

He's spending 3m on Hidden Secrets Whisper again.

He's on 14sm! The Osprey acts next.

 

[Hair]

Abyss' Black Reach

As soon as Abyss realises what Daejon is doing she raises a hand to her lips and lets off a short series of whistles. Above, Whitecap folds his wings, hurtling towards the earth with frightful, ever increasing speed. The crack of his wings unfurling bring the sorcerer's head up, just in time to receive an eyeful of talons.



[2 levels of Lethal, Whitecap resets to 3i]