Tomboys and Troublemakers Part V: Zut Zut Zut and a Bottle of Bordeleaux

[MrAbdiel]

Well, the Strength/Agility roll sort of bundles in all your best efforts to break the bonds with all the leverage, tools, dislocation and so forth you can muster. But I'll admit the fire is an atypical additive to the scenario - I'll give +20 for a precise flaming instrument against flammable bonds, with your choice of Strength or Agility roll.

[MrAbdiel]

Nice roll Farothel; Bruno's free and ready to roll. Incidentally, it's strictly speaking a full action to contest the entangled condition. That means about ten seconds or so of fighting out of it; but since taxing a whole action does seem like a lot, I'm happy to make it a half action from hereon out. That said, you (and Bertelis) will still need to Stand up as a half action, so I don't think you can spare that ready action. Still, you're armed and upright and ready to defend yourself.

[wilphe]

Lefty think he can take Gimgroth with a dagger, he's certainly confident

[LarsWester]

Have to pretend the damage roll isn't known and use Gimgroth's dodge this turn.
DodgeVs67 - (1d100)[97]
If that fails he'll take one wound.
*Failed to dodge 18/19 wounds and one pissed off dwarf.

[dojango]

(1d100)[82] v. 72 Ulric's fury, (1d10)[8] more damage. Well, nuts. Still that's 14 damage to the goon with the bolas.

[wilphe]

Gonna use the cloak for the first time for a re-roll

(4d10)[4][9][2][6](21) -4 TN14

[wilphe]

Morr's displeasure

(1d100)[4] WP77
(1d10)[2]

[wilphe]

So:

6
10
5
5
16
8
5
5

[wilphe]

I believe the rank and file have 3 soak and left and right 4, in which case


[13] - Sang Goon3 - 10 wounds - Heavily Wounded +3 Light crit?
[13] - Sang Goon4 - 5 wounds - Lightly Wounded +7 Heavily wounded?
[11] - Sang Flanker8 - 8 wounds - Lightly Wounded +2
10 - WIGHARD (On tiebreak) Heavily Wounded (Self inflicted)
10 - GIMGROTH
9 - BRUNO (On tiebreak)
[9] - Sang Flanker9 - 8 wounds - Lightly Wounded +2 Heavily wounded?
[9] - Lefty - 4 Wounds - Lightly Wounded +12 Medium Crit?
8 - BERTELIS
7 - JASMINE (On tiebreak)
[7] - Sang Flanker6 - 3 wounds - Lightly Wounded +5
[6] - Sang Flanker7 - 9 wounds - Lightly Wounded +2
[5] - Righty +1 Now angry
[5] - Sang Goon5 - Dead

[LarsWester]

I rolled my attacks against Lefty as if he was still up. If he got killed by Atom Bomb Wighard then I guess it would be a charge into Righty. All four WS tests are successful but only first one might apply here if Lefty is already downed.

If Righty dodge's Gimgroth's blow then I will use a FP to take a half action attack and hit with the 2nd attack for 9 damage.

How many wounds does Wighard have left after cutting himself twice?

[wilphe]

He has three

[LarsWester]

I saw the 3 Wounds in the round 2 post and was worried that was before the second Morr's displeasure.

[MrAbdiel]

I'll do you one better, Gimgroth; since Wighard's attack left Lefty Stunned for 10 turns and that means he's basically out cold, and Wighard whom Gimgroth has the instinct to bodyguard is badly injured and being crowded on by righty, I'll allow you to spend that FP to half-move to him and unload that swift attack on to righty, which seems like the kind of decision he'd make in real time. If you really want to preserve that FP, let me know and I'll retract that into a mere charge.

I'm trying to be generous with the interpretation of events in PBP because of how janky it is sometimes, so I can afford to be a hardass some other times. :D

It's time for Jasmine's turn! dojango, you can assume the unengaged flankers are within short range for your shots.

[wilphe]

Why do I hear boss music?

[LarsWester]

I allow you to spend that FP to half-move to him and unload that swift attack on to righty, which seems like the kind of decision he'd make in real time.

I'll take it. Have to remember FP half action move and swift attacks is a viable option.

[dojango]

It's time for Jasmine's turn! dojango, you can assume the unengaged flankers are within short range for your shots.

The long gun has a range of 24...

[MrAbdiel]

The long gun has a range of 24...

So it does! I’ll post in a couple of hours. I love it when the dice conspire to fulfill a greater narrative.

[wilphe]

So, will something like this work on vampires, because it sounds like it should:

Light's Demand
Casting Number: 21
Casting Time: 2 full actions
Ingredient: A flawless mirror (+3)
Description: You cause a brilliant shaft of light to explode forth from your hand. When using the mirror ingredient, the light emanates from the mirror, shattering when the spell ends. Use the cone template. All creatures from the Realm of Chaos (e.g. daemons) caught in the area of this spell must make a Will Power Test with a –10% penalty per point of your Magic characteristic. Those who fail cannot take move actions for as long as you maintain the shaft. You can project the cone of light for a number of rounds equal to your Magic characteristic. You may extend the duration of this spell for an additional round per Wound you sacrifice.


++++++

So if I understand correctly Mahieu is now pinned under the bridge because loss of his helmet means he will burn if he comes out

Of course he has a cloak, so that will last for as long as it takes for him to figure that out

However it seems he will be a fairly young vampire and new to his powers

So to you for advice on COA


Also Bertelis and Mahieu now have similar bulletwounds...

[BananaPhone]

Not to be a pry, but vampires in the Warhammer Fantasy world are distinct from the realms of Chaos. Though it is theorized that they have new souls made of Dhar (dark magic), the existence of 'non-evil' vamps like Genevieve and Ulrika stand as evidence against this hypothesis (and separates them from daemons who are inherently tied to malevolent chaos gods and are incapable of escaping this nature). Vampires are dead bodies re-animated and given conscience via necromantic magic and trace their origin to Nehekhara and Nagash, and their condition is unique in that it is distinct from the Winds of Chaos, even though they draw upon it to power their spells, like any other caster. Daemons, meanwhile, are made of the stuff of Chaos, they are magic given physical form, which is why such magic works on them.

In short, doubt it.

[MrAbdiel]

So, will something like this work on vampires, because it sounds like it should:

Light's Demand
Casting Number: 21
Casting Time: 2 full actions
Ingredient: A flawless mirror (+3)
Description: You cause a brilliant shaft of light to explode forth from your hand. When using the mirror ingredient, the light emanates from the mirror, shattering when the spell ends. Use the cone template. All creatures from the Realm of Chaos (e.g. daemons) caught in the area of this spell must make a Will Power Test with a –10% penalty per point of your Magic characteristic. Those who fail cannot take move actions for as long as you maintain the shaft. You can project the cone of light for a number of rounds equal to your Magic characteristic. You may extend the duration of this spell for an additional round per Wound you sacrifice.


++++++

So if I understand correctly Mahieu is now pinned under the bridge because loss of his helmet means he will burn if he comes out

Of course he has a cloak, so that will last for as long as it takes for him to figure that out

However it seems he will be a fairly young vampire and new to his powers

So to you for advice on COA


Also Bertelis and Mahieu now have similar bulletwounds...

They do have similar bullet wounds! I had intended Mahieu's helmet and cowl to come off with the first blow to the head (maybe after slapping the party around a bit) but to have that first hit be a headshot right off the bat from a rifle I established killed another vampire with a headshot was too poetically recursive for me to do anything else.

As for vulnerability to that spell, it's not a question with an absolutely obvious answer, but BananaPhone is right; despite the fact that vampires are often bundled in with daemons under labels like 'creatures of darkness', they're different enough that they don't fall under that Realm of Chaos title. They're impacted by all the stuff that hurts undead, though.

Wighard really is the most amazing possible ally to have against daemons and especially daemons of Nurgle. Hysh is naturally the enemy of Chaos and lots of Hysh spells reflect that. But as far as magic that harms vampires goes, the best cantidate is a priest of Morr. They're the ones loaded up with the stuff that makes vampires turn over in their coffins. Even something like Illuminate the Edifice produces daylight where the vampire vulnerability is concerned with direct sunlight; which may seem to be a semantic difference but I suspect is a delineation of purpose.

To hunt a vampire, it is ideal for a party to learn their weaknesses - of which you can be assured direct sunlight is one.

As far as the tactical situation goes, Mahieu has retreated under the bridge to the shadows there. How trapped he is, or is not, is up for discovery.

[MrAbdiel]

Spoiler: Results of Wighard's AK:Necromancy Check

Show

You are about as well read on the subject as a young man who has lived most of his life on the road can be, and having quasi-divine insights from Kwolf doesn't hurt either. But as far as you know, there is no cure for vampirism. Vampirism is a kind of death; and there is no cure for death because death is not a disease. Morrite scholars are famously insistent that regarding vampirism as a disease, simply because it is bestowed from one vampire to another, is the source of this confusion.

A vampire is dead, but not a dead, in the same way that a fugitive is a criminal, but not a prisoner. The appropriate response is to force the uncooperative corpse into its appropriate posture.

That said, it is the line of Sigmarites that mutation is the mark of a corrupt body and soul, and that there is no cure for that but fire. But you have seen your share of mutants in the mutantenklaven and know that for every one of those who despairs and calls to the dark powers in his dreams for some new purpose, there is some poor bastard with a tentacle growing out of his chin that you can completely resolve with a straight razor, some clotting salve, and a stern resolution to grow a beard. There are Shallyans who believe mutation must be curable and that cure remains undiscovered as all cures do until they are developed through pain, time, and dedication. So perhaps it is an illness of a sort, and the Morrites are simply cautious.

The major complication with vampirism is that, in the moment of death, the soul flies and the body is left without the soul. This is known because Morrites can detect souls, and Amethyst wizards can even capture souls. But again, this may be a limitation of knowledge. Indeed, the idea that a person is simply a bipartite being - body and soul - is not universally held. Some of the limited writings our of Ind suggest a tripartite nature, with a soul that flies to the judgement of the gods, and another part that returns to a great pool or stream to be cycled again into the newly born. And the ancients of Nehekhara (referenced in that book on old ruins you used to carry, now left back in your suite at the college) seem to have believed in some kind of spiritual manifold that with more than a half dozen souls or soul-like elements that delaminate rapidly from the slain one after another in a predictable sequence.

Is one of those the thing we know as the soul? What are the others?

Studying these questions openly is enough to raise eyebrows, so of course the field is largely left to the depraved and the deranged outside the guidance of the Colleges and Temples. But you know some things about undead creatures.

You know that inanimate corpses have no spiritual element.

You know that some spirits operate apart from their bodies with the semblance of intelligence and personality.

You know that magically animated corpses are propped up by magic instead of a spirit - this is why zombies totter about like drunken puppets.

You know that certain kinds of undead - vampires and wights and some speculative sources suggest others in the Southlands and in Albion - possess conciousness and personality in a way that zombies do not, but also that these creatures do not have a soul.

Therefore, vampires and wights possess something that other 'simpler' undead do not, which makes them capable of reason. If such creatures can be cured, or even if such creatures can be helped so that they do not bend towards the total state of depravity that almost every vampire in myth or history has done, it must begin there.

[wilphe]

I am glad we are talking about Illuminate the Edifice before he casts it on a Vampire hideout because that was certainly going to come up

I think Wighard might try anyway, and even if you want to rule that Hysh effects are not the same as sunlight it doesn't seem like something a Vampire would appreciate or enjoy

Of course it doesn't mean Wighard couldn't threaten him with it...

[MrAbdiel]

I am glad we are talking about Illuminate the Edifice before he casts it on a Vampire hideout because that was certainly going to come up

I think Wighard might try anyway, and even if you want to rule that Hysh effects are not the same as sunlight it doesn't seem like something a Vampire would appreciate or enjoy

Of course it doesn't mean Wighard couldn't threaten him with it...

It’s the spell I’d look to - but after thinking about it for a while, I’m convinced that vaporising vampires is just too much utility for such a spell and it steps on the toes of Morrites a bit.

But like you said, it might not be obvious to a vampire that magical light and authentic sunlight have different characters. Good grounds for a bluff!

[MrAbdiel]

Oh and also, haha… I suppose it is fair to roll a WP check for Bertelis to take another insanity point at this grievous revelation.

(1d100)[30] or FP (1d100)[4].

Edit: Welp, atleast he’s taking it well.

[LarsWester]

weak round of attacks from Gimgroth. Two hits with min and next to min damage and two misses.

[farothel]

you have 4 attacks? I thought 3 was the max.
I have 1 hit, 1 miss, but I guess I take out one of the dudes and as long as we do that without them hitting us, we will end up victorious.

[wilphe]

Rune of Fury I think

[dojango]

We've already established this is a very rickety bridge, albeit one sturdy enough to have dudes cling to the bottom of it. And now there is a fully armored vampire clinging underneath it. Can we see through the gaps in the planking to see where he is? And more importantly which fragile hand-holds he is holding on to? Jasmine wants to see how well he can swim...

[wilphe]

Oh!

Maybe time to go twenty questions on his vulnerabilities...

How does he feel about running water?

If that stuff below us is running

And if it counts as water

[dojango]

Oh!

Maybe time to go twenty questions on his vulnerabilities...

How does he feel about running water?

If that stuff below us is running

And if it counts as water

IDK about twenty questions, Jasmine has a more direct method in mind of testing that hypothesis.