RMN PLAYS TOWER OF DESTRUCTION

It has been a long hard trek from the market in the city of Zengis, but you are almost home now. Within the hour you should be back at the family hearth, a tankard of warm mead in your hand and your furred leathers hanging in the corner of the hut. Doubtless, your friends will come around to talk of their exploits whilst hunting when you were away at the market, and they will probably mock you playfully for not having gone hunting with them. Well, someone had to haggle to get a good price for the furs and, as the chieftain pointed out, it might as well be someone with a few brains and a little sense. So you got the job.


Perhaps, you imagine, life would be easier in one of the southern lands of Allansia you have heard of : wicked Port Blacksand, to the south and west; the endless Flatlands with their proud, wild horses and prouder riders; even Arantis, so far away, with its Overpriest and the teeming pirate ships. Anywhere might be better than this bitingly cold region where you have spent your life, in the shadow of the Icefinger Mountains. Perhaps, when the next caravan sets out from Zengis to the Flatlands you may find a merchants who needs a strong and honest bodyguard. But that's a fantasy, and what is real now is the cold...

Except that it isn't as cold as it seemed to be a minute ago. It should be, because the sky is darkening as dusk descends, so it should strike chill indeed. But why is the sky darkening? You realise that it is not long since the water autumnal sun was at its zenith! And what is the horrible screeching and booming sounds coming out of the sky towards you?

You spin around and face the direction from which the ever-louder sound is coming - and throw yourself down to the ground in abject terror. With a great wailing (like a thousand screaming demons) the black sphere of rock shoots past overhead, fire and smoke trailing in its wake. A chunk of molten rock plummets and crashes into the ground close to you, hissing and spitting as it embeds itself in the snow and ice-hardened ground.

You get up, shake the snow off your clothes and run forward to the head of the valley. Peering down you see that the valley is shrouded in smoke, and you can make out tongues of flame rising from the place where you know your home is. You rush on down to find out what terrible fate has befallen your home and your people...

You gasp for breath as you run, flat out, to your home; even as you race down the snow-covered slope, you can hear the screams and wails of the dying. Thick, black, reeking smoke is mercifully beginning to disperse, only to reveal burned corpses and still alive, but injured, villagers.


Huts and cabins are either aflame or completely flattened by the passage of the Sphere. To your horror, you find your mother and farther, dead, in the ruins of their home. You rage with fury and swear an oath to track the progress of the killing Sphere and find out what has brought this terrible carnage apon your people!

What will you do now?
>Leave at once to follow the trail of the Sphere?
>Look around for things that will be of use to you on your trek after the Sphere?
>Look for the Village chieftain?
>Do what you can to help the injured?



Current stats:

You help, bandaging the injured and comforting the survivors, and then you hear a feeble cry coming from a pile of rubble - a child's cry for help.


You scrabble frantically at the rocks and manage to get a cowering girl out from a cellar after an hour of back-breaking work. But the brickwork and stones are very loose and start to crumble!

It's time to Test your luck!

Pick a number between 1 and 9.
If you pick the number I put aside, you will prove unlucky. Otherwise, we shall be lucky.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Those of you who have played games like this before know that usually certain aspects are affected by dice rolls. In order to make the game a bit more interesting and interactive, I'll be throwing some of my own ideas into the mix. I'll explain them as we run into them.

Luck is usually determined by rolling two dice and comparing the sum to your Luck score (which is determined by rolling one die and adding six to the roll). Typically, if you roll below your Luck score you will be considered lucky. You then lose a point of luck.

In this version I will have you all pick a number between 1 and the current Luck total. The number chosen will be compared with a number randomly generated and if you all pick the number, it will be considered an unlucky roll. If you miss it, then it's a lucky roll, and the amount of Luck points will reduce by one. This means that the more times Luck gets used, the more chances of being unlucky there is.

So... pick a number, players!

Current Stats

Soon after you manage to rescue the child the whole hut collapses. Luckily, your rescue was in the nick of time. Both you and the child are unhurt. (+1 Honour)

The other villagers have done what they can for the wounded; now you sit down with them to discuss what happened. Their stories add nothing to what you know already - the huge fiery Sphere passed by overhead, but seemed to dip as it flew over the village, as if to cause as much damage and distress as possible. Then it flew off northwards. No one among the villagers can pursue the murderous Sphere; many are injured and, of the fit, some must tend to the wounded whilst others speed their way to Zengis in order to purchase healing and herbal medicines.

They are proud of you for deciding to go on alone in pursuit of the Sphere; though they cannot accompany you. They do give you some climbing gear, however - ice picks, some rope and a small hammer. They also give you a flask of brandy.

+1 Climbing set
+1 Bottle of Brandy (2 uses. +4 Stamina each use.)

It is too dark to continue now, so you spend the night asleep in one of the few dwellings left standing. In the morning you set out northwards, with the good wishes of your fellows ringing in your ears.


Further north, the Sphere has left a trail of melted snow and ice which is already freezing over again. You travel all day, freezing winds biting at your exposed flesh. You stop to eat a meal - fresh meat provided by one of the wounded hunters back at your village as thanks for saving his daughter - then plough ahead some more, the sun setting ahead as you fight your way through the biting cold.

You look around, hoping to find some shelter among the straggly clumps of pine trees dotted around. These trees only look slightly singed; the Sphere must have been flying a little higher as it passed by here. Suddenly, you hear what sounds like the hooting of a Snow Owl in the trees to the right.

What do you want to do?
>Check the trees for the source of the sound?
>Head away from the sound, towards possible shelter of trees to the left?


Current Stats:

Entering the group of pines you see a huge, ghostly-white Snow Owl perched on a tall tree straight ahead. Its amber eyes glimmer in the shadows of dusk. These great birds are very territorial, so it might be a good idea to back away.



What will you do?
>Continue forward, towards the Snow Owl
>Decide against it, and head back towards the other pines

Current Stats:

The unblinking eyes of the huge owl bore into you.

"Following the hellfire, are you?" it asks.

You nod slowly, wondering what you should say to a talking owl.

"It will be easy to find, but very hard to deal with. Already the creatures the Barbarians call Ice Ghosts walk the world around it." the owl says sadly. Before you can ask about Ice Ghosts, the bird continues.

"Unless you are looking for death, you should talk with Tasrin the Sage; he can tell you more about it than I can. He lives in Broad Dale Valley, a day's walk over there." -the owl points a wing to the east- "Go and see him tomorrow. I'll keep watch here tonight, you can sleep safely."

The owl glides into the air patrolling the skies around you, before you can even thank it for taking sentry duty. You settle down to a peaceful sleep.


In the morning there is no sign of the owl. The trail of the Sphere still leads north; making a detour to visit the Sage will cost you precious time.

What will you do?
>Follow the trail north, following in the Sphere's wake.
>Head to the east, in hopes of getting more information about the Sphere from the Sage.

Current Stats

You must eat a meal to start the day.
-1 Provision

You strike out eastwards and, by the middle of the day, find yourself walking along a shallow escarpment overlooking a wide, shallow valley. In the far distance a herd of elk run off northwards; a watery sun shines down on you out of the pale-blue sky but there is no heat in it's rays, no warmth at all. Your breath turns to frost in the chill, clear air. You see a single, imposing log house at the far end of the valley and set off towards it.


By late afternoon you are nearly there; all you need to do is skirt around a fenced-off corral and some snow carpeted lumber piles and you will be at the front door.

As you approach the entrance, you need to do a skill check.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Typically, a skill check is done by rolling two dice and then comparing with your Skill number (to get your Skill you roll one die and add six). Skill doesn't change except by certain circumstances (usually equipment or curses), so using the trick with Luck won't be useful. Instead, I'll be doing a coin flip to dictate our skill - mainly because our skill is pretty much in the centre, so we're likely to get a bit variance in the outcomes.

So, heads or tails, folks?

You crack the door open and the smell of brimstone hits you. Before you can back away, the enemy charges through; a filthy, diseased thing, reeking of burnt flesh and ash, fluid oozing from reddened welts on its torso. A misty coating of blue foetid smoke surrounds its body, choking and foul. The Smoke Demon is not one of the strongest of demonkind, but it may still be a match for you!

With no chance to run, you must engage the enemy.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Battles are typically a roll of two dice and a flurry of hit or miss in this game.
The base formula is simple -
(2xDiceroll+enemyskill) - (2xDiceroll+heroskill) = n
If n is a positive number, then the enemy wins that round and 2 Stamina points are lost for the hero. If n is a negative number, then the hero wins that round and 2 Stamina points are lost for the enemy. If n is equal to 0 then it is a draw and the next round is rolled. Usually, you can use Luck to increase your damage output or decrease the enemy damage input, however due to how we're using Luck in this game, it's not exactly feasible.

Usually it's not too bad a thing, but due to our low roll for skill, there's an issue. Mainly, I fought this battle three times using the battle formula and wiped three times after a long, arduous battle. That's no fun!

So I'm shaking things up. I've thought about it and come up with a system that not only allows you guys to play, but gives a bit fairer a chance to our poor hapless, skill-less hero.

It's pretty simple. I will give you a few actions that can be done during battle. You will each give two actions per post. The order of what action occurs first will go based on the posts. Try not to be the only one interacting, please - the fun is in a bunch of actors (so to speak).

The actions will be based on current items and equipment, as well as the kind of enemy we'll be facing. I have already written about 25 rounds worth of action for the enemy before this post, then ran it through a list randomiser, so whatever actions are picked will go up against the actions of the monster and the damage calculations will be computed afterwards.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Pick your actions!
>Attack with Dagger (-1 Stamina if hit - goes first)
>Attack with Hammer (-2 Stamina if hit - goes last)
>Dodge (no damage if Skill roll (2 die roll + skill; for each) is successful)


Enemy Stats

Skills
Claw (-2 Stamina if hit)
Defend (-1 Damage)
Smoke Blow (hero miss next attack if enemy Skill roll is successful)

You decide to try and get the upper hand straight away and jump at the creature, slashing with the dagger that you carry with you everywhere. It hits, cutting its arm, but you've underestimated the monsters speed as it strikes out and claws at your shoulder!

You leap back - to both make some space between you and assess the damage to your shoulder. The wounds are superficial, but they burn. It could be easy to be distracted by them if you don't keep your head in the game. You carefully step back some more, trying to draw the creature out of the house where you'll have more room to move. At the same time you scoop up some snow and apply it to your shoulder, dulling the burn there. The creature has stopped at the doorway of the house and is doing something weird - it looks almost as though it's choking, though you're sure you aren't that lucky.

Suddenly it heaves it's top body forward and vomits out a cloud, creating a wall of ash and smoke between you. You keep your dagger up and at the ready, looking out for any movement within the cloud to determine if the creature is going to pounce.






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a heads-up that more than one person posting at a time is perfectly fine all through this game. You guys don't have to hold back politely. Usually I'll pick the first post but in battles at least, it'd be nice to have more than one person posting - gimme a list~

Also, I'm not averse to people posting more than once for battles, as long as it's no more than two posts in a row by the same person (it at least moves things along a bit).

Those actions are for this battle. They'll change as equipment changes - in other battles. Currently, those are the only actions you can take for this battle, though.