The Dragon Empire IC, Part III

[RandomWombat]

Spoiler: River

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The bartender turns around and takes a folder from behind him, passing it along to River. Looking inside, it turns out to be a protective outer layer for a menu and wine list.

Once River takes a seat, he gets a few more glances from the bartender, but the man quickly loses interest in favor of attending to more customers taking seats at the bar.

Spoiler: Edmund

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Moving through the reception area into the hallway with the private rooms, Edmund locates room 4 and finds it locked. There is a peephole in the door. After knocking, he hears footsteps approach on the other side.

Spoiler: OOC

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For now I'll have them tagging along. Will Edmund stand where he can be seen through the peephole, or move aside?

[H. Von Studley]

Hearing footsteps approaching, Edmund quickly puts his thumb over the peephole. Hopefully they'll just think it's broken. Less suspicious than seeing me, or seeing thin air.

Moving fast, he casts Touch of Glory on himself and speaks with urgency through the door. "This is hotel management. I've been given an urgent message to deliver regarding a friend of yours who is in trouble..."

Spoiler: OOC

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Not my best check, and no time to cast Guidance as well, but hoping that they're worried enough about Denver to buy it. Worth a shot.

Bluff check: (1d20+5)[25]

Nice! Although I hope I'm not getting all the good rolls out of the way before combat starts...

[RandomWombat]

There are muffled words on the other side of the door. After a pause, somebody begins to cautiously crack open the door. Edmund sees an eye look out through the crack, and the person immediately tries to slam the door back shut.

Spoiler: OOC

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Edmund can attempt a Reflex save to react in time, then Strength to force the door open against the person on the other side. It opens inwards, so Ed is at a slight advantage and will get +1 to the Strength check.

[H. Von Studley]

Realising the opportunity, Ed lunges forward, attempting to catch the door before it latches and burst through into the room.

Spoiler: OOC

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Ed will use one of his new abilities, spending a grit point to activate his 'Unbreakable' Myrmidon ability and get a +4 bonus to the save.

Reflex: (1d20+9)[15]
Strength: (1d20+5)[9]

[RandomWombat]

The person on the other side buckles under Edmund's body slam against the door and stumbles backwards, the door flying open and hitting the wall loudly. The inside of the room is lit by glowing stones in sconces, with green walls and carpeting. There is a rounded rectangular meeting table inside, with five people standing next to where they were seated. The sixth, the man River was following, regains his stature and draws a dagger from his belt, "It's the Emperor's men. Kill him before more come."

As the others are reaching for their own weapons, and Ed's allies move to back him up, there is a sudden ripple from the northeast - like a metaphysical aftershock. For a moment, everyone seems equally disoriented.

The crew feels strange, as though briefly disconnected or dissociated from their bodies, like there are pins and needles in their extremities for a moment. As quickly as the ripple came, it passes, leaving silence.

Spoiler: Edmund

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The connection to Gorum's divine power feels off. Not weaker, or stronger, but different. Through this divine channel, he can still feel the thrumming vibration of that strange phenomena.

Spoiler: River

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Seconds after the loud bang from the private rooms, as a server is on his way to River's table, the man staggers and stumbles. He ends up dropping the wooden cup of water he'd been carrying and spilling it all over the floor. River hears the crack of a glass bottle landing on the floor behind the bar. Conversations suddenly cease as everyone in the bar blinks and grips onto something as though dizzy.

River feels different. As though his ki is more in tune with his body, but channels that were familiar are now simply gone, and new paths open in their place. The differences, subtle as they are, would escape the notice of one less in tune than he.

Spoiler: Azrin

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Azrin's head feels suddenly muddled, as Botticelli begins to panic and flail in his pocket. It takes a second for the connection to his patron to re-stabilize, and the magic he feels is bizarre and altered.

Spoiler: Botticelli

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Something is not right. The little turtle remembers. Something in the metal shell he gained has acted like a Faraday cage, shielding him in part from the ripple. He can remember how things used to work, and understands how the fundamental rules have changed.

Spoiler: Olivin

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Olivin feels a little nauseous, his stomach turned by some strange force, like a ghost passing through him. The feeling of pins and needles in his extremities passes quickly.

Spoiler: OOC

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So, the stats I have laid out for these dudes are all in Savage Worlds. As such we'll have to get this combat going once the player characters' conversions are complete.

Due to their interactions with the Silver Plane, the characters can tell that something is wrong. Like a tip-of-the-tongue sense of a word, or a feeling of deja vu. Botticelli in particular has complete awareness that a fundamental shift has occured.

[Aeryk]

River watches quietly as his friends enter the establishment. He hears the bang from the hallway, and is just about to stand up when the inexplicable wave moves through the place. He lurches, momentarily shaken, then closes his eyes and breathes deeply to get back in tune with his ki. He opens his eyes, looks around the room and exclaims in his most serious tone, "Something bad is happening. I need you to all to evacuate immediately, then go and get the city guard as soon as possible. There are a number of dangerous cultists in one of the meeting rooms here, and I believe they are about to get violent. Go!" River doesn't wait to see how the crowd reacts, but takes advantage of everyone's stunned silence to go and join his crew. As an afterthought, he turns to the bartender as he passes and apologizes, "Sorry, I hadn't intended for things to play out this way, but our hand was forced."

[brandnewb]

Olivin follows his Captain, whip in hand and ready to trip or disarm anyone who attempts hostility. After the door is forces open and he hears the orders to kill Edmund Olivin moves to rush into the room. However the strange ripples through reality cause him to pause. He looks perplexed for a moment until his disquiet passes. He himself is skilled with either magic or Ki, so he has no abilities to re-adapt too. This leaves him with less to adapt too.
Olivin will charge in right behind Edmund and attempt either a Disarm or Steal, whatever is appropriate with his whip on the first target he sees with an exposed or undefended weapon.

Spoiler: rolls

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Not sure exactly how this works but (1d12+2)[4] +3 instead of 2 if it ends of being a disarm. But I would prefer steal if there is a reasonable opportunity to take someones weapon.

[RandomWombat]

The Asmodeans stare blankly for a moment before regaining their bearings and reaching for weapons again.

Spoiler: River

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After the shock of the sudden... phenomena passes, people start panicking and rushing for the door. One of the men at the bar kicks his stool back as River announces his intentions, and draws a dagger. The bartender ducks behind the bar as hostilities erupt.

Spoiler: OOC

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Everyone can roll their Initiative. This is an Agility check with no Wild Die. It can Ace (meaning it 'explodes': rolling the max value allows you to roll again)

We'll try going without bulk initiative for now and see how that works in the new system. If it's too slow we'll switch back to it. Instead I'll be grouping the enemies into smaller batches.
(this is mainly because a large crowd of characters acting at once, such as all enemies going together, is more dangerous in SW than in PF)

Spoiler: Map

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Link

[LibraryOgre]

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