Tale #1b: The Searchers

[Samwell Turleton]

Camel.jpg (101.54 KiB) Viewed 1099 times

[thenewflesh]

Here is a list of things I want to do: back up a little: puppeteer one of the bandits, and get him to attack the other one. Let me know how much of that I can do in a single round.

[Samwell Turleton]

You already stated you had moved into the shadows after Lou fired her shot so you can position yourself where you want. I will update the diagram with your direction as it represents where you were after Lou announces the bandits. You can attempt to puppeteer a bandit on a +Creep roll. If you are successful you will steal the turn of the bandit that you puppeteer.

[thenewflesh]

Old Munkley twists his wrinkled fingers, a parody of a puppeteer. In perfect synch both Munkley and one of the bandits begin coughing violently; and then the fit stops and both Munkley and the bandit stare at each other with something like apprehension.

Let's say I moved a little bit to the right of where I am currently on the map.

Let's say, more or less arbitrarily, that I tried to control B2.
Humours [2d6+2] = 3+2 = 5

Let me know if my game of chicken warrants a roll, or if so, which.

[Samwell Turleton]

Interesting development!

You will move to a more advantageous position away from bandits 2 and 3 (bandit 1 is prowling out of sight), the humours roll failed so you are now physically linked to the bandit but unable to control it, you are threatening to poison yourself (which would harm the bandit and yourself if you do it. You would be poisoned but both would suffer the harm of the poisoning). I think I am going to rule that the Humours roll was your action this round so the bluff would need to be your action in the next round if you still want to do it at that point. It would be a +Trick roll at that point. I will think about it a little more before I write the next post.

Turn Order: Bandit 1, Lou, Bandit 2, Tuck, Bandit 3, Camel, Doc, and then back to Munkley.

[Samwell Turleton]

Where'd he go? Lou says to herself as the bandit she fired on disappears back into the dust. She hears Tuck yell out in pain and turns to see the two bandits stabbing into his side and shoulder. She holsters her revolver and joins in the fight - shifting out of the way of a lunging knife. The knife brushes against her shirt and she hammers her fists down on the neck of the bandit. The blow knocks air out of his chest - "whoompff".

Tuck struggles with the other bandit. He has control of the wrist but only enough to keep the knife from plunging back into his shoulder.

The camel has a knack for biting from years of practice - it takes off the ear of the bandit that Tuck is grappling with. As the ear comes off Old Munkley feels a searing pain behind his own ear.

The ropes encircling Doc fall to drape across the camel's back. He has been working at cutting himself free with a straight razor he had kept secretly in his sleeve. The frayed rope slides to the dust and Doc adjusts his seating on the camel to be in a riding position.


Round 2
Bandit 1: Unknown Location
Bandit 2: -1 Vitality
Bandit 3: -2 Vitality

Tuck: Unstable
Doc: Unbound
Old Munkley: -1 Vitality

Bandits Actions: B1 Unknown, B2 [2d6] = 6, B3 [2d6] = 3
Lou - Give Aid [2d6] = 9
Tuck - Attack [2d6] = 3
Camel Bite [2d6+1] = 9+1 = 10 -1 Vitality to Munkley and Bandit 2
Doc - Survive [2d6+2] = 9+2 = 11

[thenewflesh]

That's fair. I edited the syringe trick out from my last post.

Old Munkley curses. His coat-sleeve begins to blotch red. Through gritted teeth he desperately draws Lou's attention to Doc and the camel. Then Munkley pulls himself together. What is pain but a temporary relief from sorrow?

He takes a step forward, so that his face is dappled by the shifting shadows, luminous blue eyes glaring out at the bandit. Munkley presses the tip of the syringe to his own neck. His voice is thin and sinister. "I think you'd better back off, mister."

I don't know how this works with the turn order. Given that needling yourself is really easy (compared to needling someone else), can I decide whether or not to do so depending on the bandit's action, when he takes his?
Trick [2d6+2] = 7+2 = 9

[Samwell Turleton]

Sure!

Since you are pressing the needle to your neck the bandit should also feel it. I think that, combined with your successful roll, gives you the choice to react to that bandit's next move. Your threat is successful.

[Samwell Turleton]

Lou sees Old Munkley gesturing out of the corner of her eye but her attention is with helping Tuck in his struggle for control of the bandit’s knife. She clubs the bandit in the back again with her fists and the bandit grunts in pain. Tuck begins to overpower the attacker as the strength to keep up the fight is going out of the bandit. He drops his knife. His fingers start to make cracking sounds under Tuck’s grip.

Doc appears silently behind Tuck and Lou. His straight razor’s polished steel is sharp and ready to bite.

They won’t want any of the likes of you when they come with the wind, he says.

Doc reaches his straight razor into the struggling fighters. Tuck feels the warmth of blood flowing rapidly against his skin. The bandit’s body goes limp in his arms and slumps to the ground against him.

The wild gesticulating of Old Munkley catches the attention of the bandit he is connected to.

"I think you'd better back off, mister.", Old Munkley says while pressing the needle to his neck. The bandit reaches his hand up to his own throat. He makes a slashing motion at the camel and leers at you before turning and running into the dust cloud. A shadowed pair of shapes swirl across the dust and disappear again.

The camel pulls on its rope and starts to realize it isn’t being held.

Bandit 2 has run off and you are still connected to him through the humours skill. You feel the footfalls against the pads of your own feet as he runs.
Bandit 3 is dead at the feet of Tuck.
Tuck is covered in the bandit’s and his own blood and the ground around their feet is turning redder.
Bandit 1 is unseen.
Tuck is unstable.

Bandits Actions: B1 Unknown, B2 [2d6] = 7, B3 [2d6] = 4
Lou - Assess [2d6-2] = 6-2 = 4
Lou - Give Aid [2d6] = 9
Tuck - Attack [2d6] = 11
Camel Bite [2d6+1] = 9+1 = 10
Doc - Cut to the Bone [2d6+3] = 7+3 = 10

[thenewflesh]

Does the camel still have reins?

I assume this sort of thing has happened to Munkley before. When does the link wear off? Is there a distance past which it weakens?

[Samwell Turleton]

Humours is meant to be the duration of the conflict but as this bandit is leaving the conflict the connection is disappearing over the next round. I think a distance will break the connection and a duration of time will break the connection. I don't want you in a position where the bandit is off somewhere eaten by birds, or something, and your character getting harmed from it. You can feel the pressure against your feet weakening as the distance the bandit runs increases.

The camel still has the rope that Tuck was using to lead it but Tuck, occupied with the bandit, has dropped it. It is stretched between the camel and Tuck dragging along the ground.

[Samwell Turleton]

Camel_v2.jpg (108.74 KiB) Viewed 1046 times

[thenewflesh]

Great. That was exactly the situation I was worried about. On the other end of the spectrum there is the situation where I get to run somebody else's body for arbitrary lengths of time. A fading-with-time seems very reasonable.

Old Munkley glances at the body, then at the camel, then lurches for the rope. He was an undertaker, not a doctor, after all.

[Samwell Turleton]

Old Munkley lurches for the rope and grabs onto it. The camel snorts and bellows a little but relents as you tug at the halter. The sounds of the voices of the busy market you were hearing earlier intensify. These sounds blend with the sound of the camel's snorting and the wind.

Arm bloodied and with a crazed look a bandit comes running through the swirling dust. The knife is poised between the forefingers of the bandit's good arm and is thrown with accuracy burying itself into the meat of Doc's thigh.

Lou hears the strike of the blade and Doc's cry of pain. She turns quickly drawing her revolver again for a shot. She fires and catches the bandit in his good arm as he hurls his body into the three of you.

Tuck bears the brunt of the weight of the attacker and redirects the movement. He throws the bandit face down into the dirt.

Doc pounces on him pulling the knife from his thigh - schluck - he buries it deep between the bandit's shoulder blades.

Lou looks around warily. "I think that was all of them", she says.

Doc: -2 Vitality
Bandit 1: -2 (Gunshot), -1 (Thrown), -2 (Knife) = dead bandit
Old Munkley has control of the camel and the connection to Bandit 2 has worn off.
There are 2 dead bandits and a dead camel nearby.
You don't think there are any more bandits.

Bandits Actions: B1 [2d6] = 7
Lou is going to expend 1 water from her supply to guarantee a roll of 12 for her shot.
Tuck - Attack [2d6] = 7
Doc - Attack [2d6+3] = 5+3 = 8

[thenewflesh]

Old Munkley rips the knife out of the dead bandit's ribcage and polishes it off the corpse. "Let's search the bodies." The dead have no need of possessions. Not where they're going, which is - well, Old Munkley didn't know exactly where the dead go but wherever it was, they definitely didn't need possessions there.

Then they move onward to check out the camel.

[Samwell Turleton]

Tuck clutches his shoulder and side. His clothing is soaked through with blood on his left side and his clothes tattered where the knives cut through. He sits on the ground feeling faint from blood loss.

Doc tends to his wounds pulling some cloth wrappings out of a small pouch at his waist and a small unlabeled container with a pungent substance in it. He rubs the pungent substance into the wounds and dresses them tightly. He offers Tuck a drink of water.

Take it, take it...it will make you feel better Doc says as the liquid hits Tuck’s parched lips.

The group follows and takes a drink of water from their canteens.

Lou takes the rope from Old Munkley and circles around the side of the camel to refill her water. The side of the camel is damp to the touch. The water skin has been slashed open at the bottom and your supply of water has run down the camel’s side and into the dirt.

Bad news...we only have the water left that we are carrying in our canteens.

Old Munkley searches the bodies of the two bandits. He finds 17 gold and is already holding the knife the bandit was carrying. The bandit also has a long, slender leather pouch on his belt that is open and empty.

The other bandit was carrying 4 gold and a knife.

Old Munkley inspects the camel and area around it. If it was carrying any unique goods they aren’t visible where you are now. There are a few blocks of salt lying to the side, ropes cut and scattered about, and nearby there is an empty glass syringe.

Old Munkley is the only one to know of the 21 gold pieces and syringe. The knife you took out of the bandit’s back is nicer and denotes some status, the other is more plain.

Tuck will heal 3 vitality in time with Doc’s treatment.

-1 water for everyone as the group quenches their thirst and now have no direct source to refill from.

[thenewflesh]

Secretively Old Munkley pockets the gold and the syringe. He always had use for a syringe, and the gold, well... briefly an image flashes across his mind of a tattered king, sat atop a dingy throne and encircled by a crown of dust. A mirage.

They look around a little more, to see if there's anything else they missed.

I can roll Assess if you like.

[Samwell Turleton]

Sure! - please roll for an Assess

[thenewflesh]

Assess [2d6-1] = 5-1 = 4

[Samwell Turleton]

Tuck is preoccupied with the rasping sound that he is making as he breathes. The bandages are already soaked through but he is beginning to feel a bit of improvement. The pungent odor of the paste applied to his shoulder is a welcome distraction from the pain - is that its secret?

Lou spins the cylinder of her revolver and reloads the two empty chambers - she snaps it shut with a satisfying click.

Doc is cleaning his straight razor and sharpening its blade against a leather strap before snapping it closed and pocketing both.

Old Munkley sees tracks going off in different directions from the carcass of the camel but they are all so similar. The back leg of the camel carcass twitches a little in the wind.

Tuck - Assess [2d6+2] = 3+2 = 5
Lou - Assess [2d6-2] = 6-2 = 4
Doc - Assess [2d6] = 3