Act 2 - The Journey to Bells of Soft Sorrow [The End of the River]

[Shru]

Douser, annoyed


"We need to at least talk with him to find our quarry." Douser growls toward her excited companions.


-----


MDDV = 5. Nobody's telling me what to think. >.>

 

[Tikor]

----------


Everyone take 1 stunt die. I'm rolling it for you because I'm too lazy to go find if you're rounding up or not on your MDDV.


My apologies for not doing this in step 1, this is an anti-valor attack (do not resist!) so Valor 3+ means you get +2 MDV. Temperence opposes Valor, and thus have a -2 modifier for 3+.


Arnuk


Step 3: 4 successes.


Step 5: Base 5+1 stunt + 2 Valor bonus -3 Appearance modifier = 5 MDDV. Miss.


Meip:


Step 3: 6 successes.


Step 5: Base 6 + 0 stunt - 1 interal - 1 wound penalty + 2 Valor bonus + 1 Appearance = 7 MDDV. Miss


Douser:


Step 3: 4 successes.


Step 5: Base 5 +0 stunt - 2 Temperence -1 Appearance = 2 MDDV. Hit.


Step 10: Either reliquensh your MDDV vs. Bells for the scene or spend 1 Fervor to resist the attack.


- Tick 0 -- Cataphractoi


[Now] - Tick 1 -- Arnuk


- Tick 2 --


- Tick 3 -- Douser, Meip, Bells, Hobgoblins


- Tick 4 --


- Tick 5 --


- Tick 6 --


- Tick 7 --


- Tick 8 --


- Tick 9 --


- Tick 10 --


Arnuk, take your action after Douser resolves her attack.

 

[Shru]

-----


Fervor? I'll spend it if I have it; I'd rather not take anything in the Wyld at face value.

 

[kaliket]

Arnuk


Enemies on all sides. Arnuk drops into a low, prepared crouch. I must defend my packmates.


The bloody paws of his Valor grip the polar bear turf in front of him as if his Spirit Form were similarly prepared to attack. Compassion coos softly against his chest which Temperance and Conviction both look over each shoulder.

 

[Tikor]

The Wyld, Bell's will made reality


The polar bears about 10 yards in front of you shuffle away from one another creating a break in the otherwise seamless fur floor. What you can see from your positions relative to the opening is the same white fur as the rest of floor. Before you can approach too closely, you hear a jingle of bells nearing. Then Bells of Soft Sorrow erupts from the break surrounded by a whoosh of frigid air and snow that unnaturally reflects sunlight not present into rainbow patterns towards the Lunars. The figure doesn't land but instead floats just above the ground. Bells itself is a slender androgynous figure with an unnaturally elongated humanoid shape with bells attached along strings for hair and bells attached in a line along its shoulders, arms, and legs. Bells are also attached to each digit of its hands and feet. The tiniest bell of all hangs from the slender nose of the creature. The bells are colored mostly silver, though the rare black and gold bell stands out among the rest. Bell's skin is a grey/blue without the luster of the bells. Bell's hips, torso, and chest are covered by a billowing, silver gossamer material that has a concealing affect obscuring any identifiable gender features the creature may have. The combination of features makes Bells look supernatually attractive in an androgynous way.


Bells begins by looking directly at Arnuk, but addresses all three Lunars. The speech of the Fae is accompanied by the ringing of bells in a cascade of light, high notes reminiscent of amusement.


"Be at Peace in my presence, young Celestials. I can see your Valors clearly from here, you have no need to prove their measure."


-----------


Arnuk, I'm going to call that a guard for social combat.


Hobgoblins guard. Bell's attack is above, which mechanically is a Charisma+Performance Temperence attack aided by the Fae version of the First Excellency with the compulsion "Do not engage in combat while I'm here". Please declare your Step 2, everyone.


Douser and Meip, you may post your actions at any time (before or after we resolve this attack). Arnuk, you may break your guard at any time as well.


- Tick 0 -- Cataphractoi


- Tick 1 -- Arnuk


- Tick 2 --


[Now] - Tick 3 -- Douser, Meip, Bells, Hobgoblins


- Tick 4 --


- Tick 5 --


- Tick 6 --


- Tick 7 --


- Tick 8 --


- Tick 9 --


- Tick 10 --

 

[kaliket]

Arnuk


***


Mental Dodge. Nothing else witty comes to mind.

 

[Anyet]

Miep, still not trusting anything


"Bells." Miep nods an acknowledgement in the direction of the Fey. "Perhaps returning our friend's valor would cause us to be a bit more... gracious at your arrival."


-----


Yay using MDDV yet again. I really don't like these things trying to tell me how I should be thinking.

 

[Shru]

Douser


-----


Dodging again, if I can. >.> I need to read up more on social combat.

 

[Tikor]

Bell's Waypoint


Without thinking conciously about it, Bells makes all the snow stand still in the air as it awaits your reaction.


-----------


Social Combat is all about people telling you what to think. It's actually much more flexible than actual Combat, which is solely people telling you how you'll be dead.


In the future if you could all report your base MDV (before rounding), your Appearance and any modifiers you've got up from Charms when you're hit with Social Attacks, that'd be awesome.


Step 3: 5 successes


Step 5: Arnuk base 5 -3 Appearance modifier, +2 Valor modifier = 4. Hit, meaning spend Fervor or do not engage in combat while Bells is around. You can spend Fervor to get over this mundane mental influence at any time.


Meip base 6 + 0 stunt (MDV rounds down, the stunt puts you at 13 pool) -1 Appearance modifier, +2 Valor modifier = 7. Miss.


Douser base 5 -3 Appearance modifier, -2 Temperence modifier = 0. Hit, meaning spend Fervor or do not engage in combat while Bells is around. You can spend Fervor to get over this mundane mental influence at any time.


- Tick 0 -- Cataphractoi


- Tick 1 -- Arnuk


- Tick 2 --


[Now] - Tick 3 -- Douser, Meip, Bells, Hobgoblins


- Tick 4 --


- Tick 5 --


- Tick 6 --


- Tick 7 --


- Tick 8 --


- Tick 9 -- Bells


- Tick 10 --


At this point I wait for you all to post if you're doing something or if you're continuing to Guard until Bells hits you with another attack, or it actually might get to business (it's anyone's guess!)

 

[kaliket]

Arnuk


The only response Bells gets are bared fangs and a long snarl.


***


I spend Valor. Llike fun I'll not attack at any time of my choosing. As a sidenote: Couldn't I attack at any moment thus breaking social combat and its effects? The request seems to be temporary thing. Sound's like a good idea now, but in a few minutes, who knows?

 

[Tikor]

------------


We're using different Social Combat houserules here than the other game. I'm sorry, Arnuk, that has to be confusing. We're using Fervor here, which is totally different than the Virtue system.


Yes, you can submit to the influence now, but break it and engage in combat later, so long as you still have at least 1 Fervor to spend.


Please tell me what you decide, Arnuk.

 

[Anyet]

Miep, trying to get this show on the road


Miep forces a neutral expression to hold on her face, even though she's slightly shocked at the ease at which the Fey stopped the snow. Showoff. Focussing on the task at hand, Miep rolls her shoulders back, puts a playful smile on her face and takes a single step towards Bells.


"And what a fine introduction this has been. So now that we're past all that awkward nice to meet you, I think you have my friend's valor, lets not kill each other right away stuff, perhaps we could actually get somewhere with this little shindig. It appears that your followers," Miep steals a glance towards the Hobgoblins, "walked off with something that did not belong to them. We would appreciate it being handed back over. Then we can all get back to this lovely winter wonderland you seem to have created."


----


I'm going to use my Irresistible Silver Spirit charm. The goal is getting Bells to tell me where Akaba's valor is. Mechanically, I think that would be a Charisma + Presence attack on Bells?


Personal 7/15


Peripheral 31/36

 

[Shru]

Douser, pooling forces


Douser stares absentmindedly at the fae creature before her, her mind racing to synch with Miep's logic.


She growls toward her companion, quietly enough that their visitors cannot hear, "Let's match up our logic. If we're lucky, we'll confuse him enough that he'll just tell us what we need to know."


-------


I need to figure out what I'm doing that's screwing my posting up. This is the second time I've posted and it hasn't taken.


At any rate...


Charisma (4) + War (0) = 4 dice = 3 successes


If I'm reading this right, her next attack and mine both occur the same tick, so we'll be able to synch up for the attack without either of us guarding. If my counting sucks, please let me know. ;_;

 

[Tikor]

The Wyld


The snow seems to fall down as if thrown from its stasis. Bell's bells ring in mild annoyance. "Just hand it over? Where's the fun in that?"


----------------


Douser, I still need an answer as to if you're spending Fervor resisting Bell's attack at this point. As for the Coordinated attack, it's a speed 5 Charisma+Socialize action in Social Combat (you don't need to re-roll, your Socialize is also 0). Meip's Presence attack is speed 4, so she'll have to either Aim or Guard for 1 tick when you two can attack and both give a -2 MDV penalty to Bells.


Arnuk, still looking to see if you spend Fervor or not at this point.


Meip, I'm going to call your attack affiliated with no Virtue. It just doesn't tug me in any way. Above is Bell's stunted MDDV declaration in step 2. Modified MDDV of 9. Please roll your Step 3 with 2 stunt dice.


- Tick 0 -- Cataphractoi


- Tick 1 -- Arnuk


- Tick 2 --


[Now] - Tick 3 -- Douser, Meip, Bells, Hobgoblins


- Tick 4 -- Cataphractoi


- Tick 5 --


- Tick 6 --


- Tick 7 -- Meip


- Tick 8 -- Douser


- Tick 9 -- Bells


- Tick 10 --

 

[Shru]

-------


Yeah, I'll spend the Fervor to resist.

 

[Anyet]

---


Charisma(4) + Presence(1) + Stunt(2) - Penalty(2) = 2 successes ><


Really... I just didn't stand a chance in hell this time.

 

[Tikor]

-------------


Meip, your Irresistible Silver Spirit Charm adds 1 to your rolled successes, so I think you mean 3 successes? What's more relevant, however, is the objective you wish to achieve through social combat. Please name that objective in your next post. Also see the houserules:

Irresistible Silver Spirit
This Charm’s duration is (Essence x 2) actions. See Manual


of Exalted Power: Lunars, p. 177.

And change your characters sheet Charm notes appropriately.


Finally, isn't your penalty -3? -2 cold and -1 wound?


Step 5: Miss


The Cataphractoi guard, taking their own advice and listening to Bells. Anyone who's guarding can take actions at any time, as usual.


- Tick 0 -- Cataphractoi


- Tick 1 -- Arnuk


- Tick 2 --


- Tick 3 -- Douser, Meip, Bells, Hobgoblins


- Tick 4 -- Cataphractoi


- Tick 5 --


- Tick 6 --


[Now] - Tick 7 -- Meip


- Tick 8 -- Douser


- Tick 9 -- Bells


- Tick 10 --

 

[Anyet]

------


Bah. Yay for messing up simple things. Though really... I didn't stand a chance in hell anyway. Character sheet fixed (I swore I did that the first time you'd mentioned it). Yes, my penalty should be three, I remembered the cold penalty this time but forgot the wound penalty. And my objective as taken from my last post:

The goal is getting Bells to tell me where Akaba's valor is.

 

[Tikor]

-----------


Thank you, Meip, for clearing that bit up. It is your turn to take an action again. Which action do you choose?

 

[Anyet]

----


Whoops. Missed that it was me again. I'm guarding.

 

[Tikor]

------------------


- Tick 0 -- Cataphractoi


- Tick 1 -- Arnuk


- Tick 2 --


- Tick 3 -- Douser, Meip, Bells, Hobgoblins


- Tick 4 -- Cataphractoi


- Tick 5 --


- Tick 6 --


- Tick 7 -- Meip


[Now] - Tick 8 -- Douser


- Tick 9 -- Bells


- Tick 10 --


Douser?

 

[Shru]

Douser and Miep, jumping back and forth


"Really, it's not that we want to waste your time. It's just very important that we get this tiny thing back." She glances significantly at Arnuk, shrugging her feline shoulders in feigned ambivalence. "We're all anxious to be on our way."


Miep cuts in, "We'd just as soon get on our way. Though we certainly can't be leaving without what we came here with. You understand how that goes. Obligations to fulfill and all." A shiver runs down her spine. "And while I appreciate what you've done with the place, I prefer a bit of a warmer climate... but I'm not leaving until we know where to look."


Douser growls slightly. "We can sit here all day if we need to. You have a kingdom to run --"


"-- and obviously more minions than you know what to do with," Miep mutters under her breath.


"BUT. We. Need to return Akaba's Valor to him. We'll be back as many times as we need to."


"Hopefully, your schedule is clear for a while," Miep giggles coyly.


-----


Charisma - Presence attack (coordinated with Miep!) to convince Bells to give up the location of the Valor.


Miep is trying to use a Conviction attack (Dammit, we're not leaving until we have what we want!)


Douser is having trouble trying to figure out if that's a Conviction or Temperance attack, but doesn't think it makes much difference, if it pans.


Both of us are wondering if we can play off that intimacy to Akaba Starsight.


YAYJOINTPOST, sorryforthedelay.

 

[Tikor]

Bells, glad you have some free time


Bells seems more pleased by this attempt. "Oooh! So you have time for hide and seek, then!" This is accompanied by a rampant, randomly located tinkling of bells as if saying "I'm here!", "I'm over here", "Here too!" all around the Lunars.


------------


Mechanically, Bell's declares a modified MDDV of 4 vs. the Conviction attack.


Vs. the Valor attack, Bell's declared a modified MDDV of 6.


Please proceed to Step 3, and take 2 stunt dice.

 

[Shru]

-------


Douser: Cha (4) + Pres (2) + Stunt (2) = 8 dices


Douser the totally talkative rolled the following in his 8 dice:


7, 8, 2, 10, 2, 6, 7, 8


Using 7 as the target number, the roll resulted in 6 successes.


Miep: Cha (4) + Pres (1) + Stunt (2) = 7 dices (Plus one auto-success from charm)


* Does Bells' MDDV Include the lady's appearance bonus?


Miep rolled the following in his 7 dice:


2, 3, 6, 9, 5, 7, 10


Using 7 as the target number, the roll resulted in 4 successes. (Plus one auto-success = 5)


;___; Sorry. I'm off of overtime at work finally, so we should be better about posting.

 

[Tikor]

The Wyld


"I'll make you a deal..." starts Bells. "I'll go get Akaba's Valor and be right back. If you can find me when I return, I'll hand it over. Until you find me I'm sure I can find some way to make the three of you amusing."


----------


Meip's attack hits, Douser's attack misses. Bells spends 1 Fervor, ignoring the effective argument to hand over Akaba's Valor with no fuss through sheer force of mind.


Bells, Charisma+Performance "Stick around and play my game with me", aided by an Obvious success-adding Charm that happens to be UMI, costing 2 Fervor to resist if successful.


- Tick 7 -- Meip (guard)


- Tick 8 -- Meip, Douser Presence


[Now] - Tick 9 -- Bells


- Tick 10 --


- Tick 11 -- Meip, Douser


- Tick 12 --


- Tick 13 --


- Tick 14 --


- Tick 15 -- Bells