Game 4 (10/30/06)

Game 4 (October 30th, 2006; First reported in the e-mail "There's no problem that can't be solved by proper application of a castle")

ATTENDEES:
Loric (Jim)
Titus (Jeff)
Gareth (Terry)
Izzimon (Alan)
Lilly (Michele)
Honshu (Darren)
Che-Tal (Joe, via the Internet)
Tidal waves, the Leviathan, Undead Pirates, Rampaging Bantha, Ninja Hordes, and Ugly Priestesses (Mark)

We begin at sea. The minor amount of information that the lesser heroes were able to transmit to our Terrestrials gave us a heads-up, but we still weren't sure what to expect. Luck has it that Izzimon was on deck and spotted a Tsunami. Gareth and others lashed themselves down. Izzimon flew up high. Honshu prepared to haul Gareth and Loric up high using his air walking ability, but they declned. In Loric's case, he decided to craft an enormous wall using his charms in an attempt to help break the wave up a bit before it hit us; For this he couldn't be hauled out of the way, thus his choice to remain on deck.

Between this and the piloting of the experienced captain, we survived our first trial at sea.

It's not many more days after this though that an enormous shadow appeared in the water approaching us. Then there's a thud and an enormous dragon-turtle surfaced and began to whale (no pun) on our ship.

As some may recall, the sea goddess whom our minions encountered last game, declared that she'd gained the favor of "The Leviathan". This be he.

There's a lot of fumbling around the deck due to the thuds against the sides sending people sprawling. Some of us try some fairly limited offense, but Gareth takes his mighty blades of fire and proceeds to hack away at its shell. Eventually it decides to dive. We prepare for the "inevitable" ramming action that never comes. Apparently Gareth did enough damage to reduce its dice pool to zero and it turned shell and swam.

(Che Tal then comes aboard via the internet and Lilly and Titus show up on deck. Guess they were sleeping during the early encounters.)

Days later an unusual fog rolls in. Well, we think it might be normal until Izzimon flighs up and can't spot any land from above it, so it may not be coastal fog. Soon we are assailed by ghostly pirates. A ruined ship flying the Jolly Roger proceeds to approach us on the still ocean, our sails flacid, while it move as if propelled by a ghostly wind. In the seas below it, megalodons and conventional zombie-sharks swim. The decks are loaded with spirits and zombie pirates. A hail of bone arrows barrages the deck. Many of us take cover. Honshu sends a jolt of lighting at the crow's nest taking out a spotter who falls to his (second) death. Izzimon the winged proceeds to fly over and launch himself onto the deck near the captain and some of the worst opponents. He manages to get off the deck and away else fight them all hand-to-hand. Che-Tal is the initial target of the biggest arrows, mostly due to his appearance & presence (He looked like an important target). Che-Tal makes a rush for the "bronzed" part of the ship (A safe spot that is protected from our animas) but is gunned down before he gets there. The ship moves ever closer.

Honshu inovkes the experience cheatin' rule (Which I should have mentioned last write up). Don't look for this in the book, it's a house rule...

Experience Cheatin' Rule: While the experience chart lists the amount of time needed to learn a charm, by proper application of 1 WillPower and the full experience cost of the charm, when under duress, one can manifest a needed charm for which they have all the pre-requisites.

In this case, Honshu manifests "Elemental Burst Technique" and zaps the captain and those near the wheel, causing them damage and taking them down a few dice in their pool. Unfortunately, to do so he had to break cover (or his anima would burn the wooden ship upon which we rode) and fly upward a few meters. This makes him a target and a nasty bone arrow takes him down. He's barely at the edge of the ship so he lands on deck.

Titus one-ups Honshu by using his mighty sword of knockback to sweep the deck. All the guys on the nearside of the deck are swept over the far side. Those with physical bodies are eaten by zombie sharks.

Not to be outdone, Loric goes one further. He creates a castle in mid-air over top of the opposing ship and it falls. There's a protracted discussion of whether the opposing ship would be crushed or would have the chance to roll over and surface. ("Dear Mythbusters, My friends and I are wondering if we dropped a castle on a pirate ship, would the ship bob and remain afloat or would it be crushed by the weight? Please recreate for us. Thanks.")

Now note that's the second use for castle that we never thought of. Loric has used one to break a tsunami around us, and now to crush a pirate ship.

The fog breaks along with the ship, and we continue. 4 days later we hit Harborhead.

There is a parade being planned for us. Few of us are big on parades but it's a necessary evil. We're supposed to make a splash. We declare how flashy we will be. We are arranged by social standing; Those with highest standing are at the back of the parade. This means that Honshu (#2) and Che-Tal (#1) are at the back and never see much of this exchange...

The parade is stopped by a feeble old woman standing in the path. She engages Reknar (lowest social standing of us, and thus in front) in conversation, basically chiding us for being outsiders who have come to plunder their resources and spending vast fortunes on extravagant parades when children go hungry in this city. Reknar relents without really going to social combat; He's a compassionate guy and thus accepts her young charge (a boy named Obad Hai) as a minion to educate and to keep in his service.

I'm surprised hundreds of old women don't run out in front of the parade then and offer up their kids. But they don't.

Titus decides to catch up with her and engage her in in conversation. He doesn't gain much more information than we already had. He mentions to Honshu that it's all about her perception of injustice. Honshu says he'll be the judge of that.

At the end of the parade is a courtyard where we come upon a strange bit of happenstance...

"Kids" playing with firecrackers cause the largest pack animal in the world (I forget what it's called, but think "Bantha") to charge. It breaks from its cart which is not on fire and rolls backwards toward the stores of explosives. A "convenient" choice of hazards to worry about; The bantha charging us and the crowd vs. the flaming cart headed toward harborhead's explosives.

Some of us try to move out of the way and set up to do something about the Bantha while Gareth instantly charges the cart and cuts the wheel to pieces, bringing it to a stop.

That's when the ninjas appear from the crowd, pulling hoods over their heads with jackal designs on them. They howl and attack. The thing about the Jackal ninja is that they are tough up front, but being mortal, burn out of essence, so all we had to do really was weather them a while. But their intial barrage of attacks cause knockback. So they proceed to play pinball! They knock Lilly into Honshu. Lilly goes down but Honshu is still up. They knock Honshu into the NPC Doctor. And so on. Many of us have to waste time getting up. They knock Gareth out of the park. Actually he was still in the courtyard, but it was easily a stand-up triple by the ninja. By now, the ninja "extras" appear atop the wall and begin to fire down on the group. They are considerably less effective, even targeting our mortals.

We engage. Those with good fighting powers do their thing. Honshu goes "all defense" which works for him and burns the foe's essence. Titus does his sword knockback thing sending a whole slew of them off the wall. Flyin' Izzimon tries something similar (A fly-by) on the other wall but they manage to hold on and remain upright. Slowly the ninja hordes are crushed or flee by those with sufficient combat skills (I think we know who they are).

Next is the gala ball. Well... After a laundry list of attendants is given, including the "Leaopard seat" (King) and many others are named, the only one who didn't attend is the guy who runs the Jade Mines (whom it is suspected is too busy and/or greedy to ever leave his mines).

Why is it that there's always a BULL of some kind messing us up at parties? Last time it was the summoned creatures of the Bull of The North. This time it's the priestesses of the Bull God. This is the local god whose minions have an uneasy truce with the Terrestrials from the Blessed Isle who now populate this area. It would take too much resources to scour them from the landscape so we have this situation.

They show up and want access "as is their right". After some discussion they are allowed to bring in the three head priestesses (not the entire entrourage). They pay their grudging respect to the Leopar Seat then they make a bee-line for our group. Che-Tal is the most impressive and so they proceed to rag on him and challenge the group to a contest; Our champion against theirs.

Honshu determines that this would be the wrong place socially to hold such an event and passes that on. Che-Tal declines. They they basically say "how about tomorrow morning", at which point Che-Tal declines again, not wanting to let them dictate terms. This backfires as once they depart, our social standing here goes down. The immaculate Gareth can't handle it and he and Titus hurry out and after them. They try to pick up the challenge, but as they are not the representatives, no amount of goading draws them in. Just as well, since this would have been a social faux pas, had they accepted.

So the king and others are unhappy that the terrestrials looks weak as a result of the Brides of the Bull calling us out and us not accepting.

And that's where it ends.

I might point out that we could solve this whole problem by dropping a castle on the witnesses of said event.


	Game 4 (October 30th, 2006; First reported in the e-mail "There's no problem that can't be solved by proper application of a castle")
ATTENDEES: Loric (Jim) Titus (Jeff) Gareth (Terry) Izzimon (Alan) Lilly (Michele) Honshu (Darren) Che-Tal (Joe, via the Internet) Tidal waves, the Leviathan, Undead Pirates, Rampaging Bantha, Ninja Hordes, and Ugly Priestesses (Mark) We begin at sea. The minor amount of information that the lesser heroes were able to transmit to our Terrestrials gave us a heads-up, but we still weren't sure what to expect. Luck has it that Izzimon was on deck and spotted a Tsunami. Gareth and others lashed themselves down. Izzimon flew up high. Honshu prepared to haul Gareth and Loric up high using his air walking ability, but they declned. In Loric's case, he decided to craft an enormous wall using his charms in an attempt to help break the wave up a bit before it hit us; For this he couldn't be hauled out of the way, thus his choice to remain on deck. Between this and the piloting of the experienced captain, we survived our first trial at sea. It's not many more days after this though that an enormous shadow appeared in the water approaching us. Then there's a thud and an enormous dragon-turtle surfaced and began to whale (no pun) on our ship. As some may recall, the sea goddess whom our minions encountered last game, declared that she'd gained the favor of "The Leviathan". This be he. There's a lot of fumbling around the deck due to the thuds against the sides sending people sprawling. Some of us try some fairly limited offense, but Gareth takes his mighty blades of fire and proceeds to hack away at its shell. Eventually it decides to dive. We prepare for the "inevitable" ramming action that never comes. Apparently Gareth did enough damage to reduce its dice pool to zero and it turned shell and swam. (Che Tal then comes aboard via the internet and Lilly and Titus show up on deck. Guess they were sleeping during the early encounters.) Days later an unusual fog rolls in. Well, we think it might be normal until Izzimon flighs up and can't spot any land from above it, so it may not be coastal fog. Soon we are assailed by ghostly pirates. A ruined ship flying the Jolly Roger proceeds to approach us on the still ocean, our sails flacid, while it move as if propelled by a ghostly wind. In the seas below it, megalodons and conventional zombie-sharks swim. The decks are loaded with spirits and zombie pirates. A hail of bone arrows barrages the deck. Many of us take cover. Honshu sends a jolt of lighting at the crow's nest taking out a spotter who falls to his (second) death. Izzimon the winged proceeds to fly over and launch himself onto the deck near the captain and some of the worst opponents. He manages to get off the deck and away else fight them all hand-to-hand. Che-Tal is the initial target of the biggest arrows, mostly due to his appearance & presence (He looked like an important target). Che-Tal makes a rush for the "bronzed" part of the ship (A safe spot that is protected from our animas) but is gunned down before he gets there. The ship moves ever closer. Honshu inovkes the experience cheatin' rule (Which I should have mentioned last write up). Don't look for this in the book, it's a house rule... Experience Cheatin' Rule: While the experience chart lists the amount of time needed to learn a charm, by proper application of 1 WillPower and the full experience cost of the charm, when under duress, one can manifest a needed charm for which they have all the pre-requisites. In this case, Honshu manifests "Elemental Burst Technique" and zaps the captain and those near the wheel, causing them damage and taking them down a few dice in their pool. Unfortunately, to do so he had to break cover (or his anima would burn the wooden ship upon which we rode) and fly upward a few meters. This makes him a target and a nasty bone arrow takes him down. He's barely at the edge of the ship so he lands on deck. Titus one-ups Honshu by using his mighty sword of knockback to sweep the deck. All the guys on the nearside of the deck are swept over the far side. Those with physical bodies are eaten by zombie sharks. Not to be outdone, Loric goes one further. He creates a castle in mid-air over top of the opposing ship and it falls. There's a protracted discussion of whether the opposing ship would be crushed or would have the chance to roll over and surface. ("Dear Mythbusters, My friends and I are wondering if we dropped a castle on a pirate ship, would the ship bob and remain afloat or would it be crushed by the weight? Please recreate for us. Thanks.") Now note that's the second use for castle that we never thought of. Loric has used one to break a tsunami around us, and now to crush a pirate ship. The fog breaks along with the ship, and we continue. 4 days later we hit Harborhead. There is a parade being planned for us. Few of us are big on parades but it's a necessary evil. We're supposed to make a splash. We declare how flashy we will be. We are arranged by social standing; Those with highest standing are at the back of the parade. This means that Honshu (#2) and Che-Tal (#1) are at the back and never see much of this exchange... The parade is stopped by a feeble old woman standing in the path. She engages Reknar (lowest social standing of us, and thus in front) in conversation, basically chiding us for being outsiders who have come to plunder their resources and spending vast fortunes on extravagant parades when children go hungry in this city. Reknar relents without really going to social combat; He's a compassionate guy and thus accepts her young charge (a boy named Obad Hai) as a minion to educate and to keep in his service. I'm surprised hundreds of old women don't run out in front of the parade then and offer up their kids. But they don't. Titus decides to catch up with her and engage her in in conversation. He doesn't gain much more information than we already had. He mentions to Honshu that it's all about her perception of injustice. Honshu says he'll be the judge of that. At the end of the parade is a courtyard where we come upon a strange bit of happenstance... "Kids" playing with firecrackers cause the largest pack animal in the world (I forget what it's called, but think "Bantha") to charge. It breaks from its cart which is not on fire and rolls backwards toward the stores of explosives. A "convenient" choice of hazards to worry about; The bantha charging us and the crowd vs. the flaming cart headed toward harborhead's explosives. Some of us try to move out of the way and set up to do something about the Bantha while Gareth instantly charges the cart and cuts the wheel to pieces, bringing it to a stop. That's when the ninjas appear from the crowd, pulling hoods over their heads with jackal designs on them. They howl and attack. The thing about the Jackal ninja is that they are tough up front, but being mortal, burn out of essence, so all we had to do really was weather them a while. But their intial barrage of attacks cause knockback. So they proceed to play pinball! They knock Lilly into Honshu. Lilly goes down but Honshu is still up. They knock Honshu into the NPC Doctor. And so on. Many of us have to waste time getting up. They knock Gareth out of the park. Actually he was still in the courtyard, but it was easily a stand-up triple by the ninja. By now, the ninja "extras" appear atop the wall and begin to fire down on the group. They are considerably less effective, even targeting our mortals. We engage. Those with good fighting powers do their thing. Honshu goes "all defense" which works for him and burns the foe's essence. Titus does his sword knockback thing sending a whole slew of them off the wall. Flyin' Izzimon tries something similar (A fly-by) on the other wall but they manage to hold on and remain upright. Slowly the ninja hordes are crushed or flee by those with sufficient combat skills (I think we know who they are). Next is the gala ball. Well... After a laundry list of attendants is given, including the "Leaopard seat" (King) and many others are named, the only one who didn't attend is the guy who runs the Jade Mines (whom it is suspected is too busy and/or greedy to ever leave his mines). Why is it that there's always a BULL of some kind messing us up at parties? Last time it was the summoned creatures of the Bull of The North. This time it's the priestesses of the Bull God. This is the local god whose minions have an uneasy truce with the Terrestrials from the Blessed Isle who now populate this area. It would take too much resources to scour them from the landscape so we have this situation. They show up and want access "as is their right". After some discussion they are allowed to bring in the three head priestesses (not the entire entrourage). They pay their grudging respect to the Leopar Seat then they make a bee-line for our group. Che-Tal is the most impressive and so they proceed to rag on him and challenge the group to a contest; Our champion against theirs. Honshu determines that this would be the wrong place socially to hold such an event and passes that on. Che-Tal declines. They they basically say "how about tomorrow morning", at which point Che-Tal declines again, not wanting to let them dictate terms. This backfires as once they depart, our social standing here goes down. The immaculate Gareth can't handle it and he and Titus hurry out and after them. They try to pick up the challenge, but as they are not the representatives, no amount of goading draws them in. Just as well, since this would have been a social faux pas, had they accepted. So the king and others are unhappy that the terrestrials looks weak as a result of the Brides of the Bull calling us out and us not accepting. And that's where it ends. I might point out that we could solve this whole problem by dropping a castle on the witnesses of said event.