1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

A game of (in no particular order) politics, intrigue, and swashbuckling adventure - set to a backdrop of an industrialized Amber.
The Stage is obsolete, leftover from a previous revision of reality. RP runs in Discord these days.

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Joshua
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by Joshua »

"Tree Back?" he grumbles. "This is why strange eons make bad deaths. Let's see what we can do."

His pocket watch will get tossed in the air and shattered again, clear lines forming a circle of power around him on about two and a half axis. He'll start chanting, using focus to get a feel for exactly how many stacked aspects are against him.
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ShadowOfPreservation
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by ShadowOfPreservation »

Shadow simply stands guard near Theodore. Even if what the man speaks seems like gibberish to his ears, he at least seems to have some idea of what the creature is and perhaps what further action, if any, needs to be taken.
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by Wyvern »

(( OOC: For purposes of game-mechanics, I'm treating Theodore's action as an assessment, which reveals one aspect on the target if successful, and Shadow's action as a create-an-advantage - namely, the straightforward "Guarded by Shadow" aspect. ))

Theodore's circles glow with resonant power reflected off the abomination ahead - literally glowing, in fact, which gives Theodore his first view of what the world around him looks like when not viewed through goggles that show the degree of corruption in things. The light doesn't go far, but within its radius the "pitch black abyss" resolves into a relatively ordinary looking and as-yet-uncorrupted cave floor. A bit uneven, though. Probably best not to run across that surface without a better light source.

As for the tree itself - a face forms in its side, looking out at Theodore and intoning some strange syllables - then it splits, fracturing into smaller faces that swirl away across the structure*, turning up on the scattered root-bundles and filling the room with a decidedly sibilant susurrus as the dead creature gathers power of its own in response to Theodore's actions.**

_____
* Aspect revealed: Fractal Structure. Breaking it up (as has already happened to some degree) merely results in more pieces, not in the whole being any less dangerous.
** Or perhaps to Theodore's simple presence? Regardless, its "Sibilant Susurrus" is an aspect it's put on the scene and will, presumably, be using to accomplish some unpleasant end.
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Joshua
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by Joshua »

"Whispy Woods*? I can do that."

He starts chanting, and is mostly done with preparations**...

"Let no man pretend
that corruption unwound,
can truly portend
that hope can be found.
"

His summoning circle take on a clearly yellow tint and starts giving off tendrils of energy.

"Time is a portal,
a link and a door,
brings death to all mortals
but yet there is more.

Yog-Sothoth lurks and wants to get in
Into your mind and under your skin
Yog is a key but also a gate
He opens it gladly thus sealing your fate!***
"

(OOC: I suppose, since I'm not that quick, he can try to stop me before Theodore finishes the invocation****... Resolve that first?)
_______________________
*: I have no idea what Theodore is talking about. This is clearly Exdeath.
**: And he's... a little overly full on fate points.
***: Mythos ABC, preorder yours today.
****: Or Shadow may want to stop him. He's opening a door to an eldritch realm, then slamming it in the elder-god's not-face to suck the tree-thing up in the backlash.
Last edited by Joshua on Thu Jul 13, 2017 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by Wyvern »

(( Unfortunately for it, it doesn't have an ability to interrupt your action.

Resolving that as an attack, you're definitely operating off of Crazy, which means you've got +2 from your stunt, and can relatively easily invoke three of your own aspects for a +13 total (weapon rating 1); I don't see a way to apply your free tag on its Fractal Structure aspect, though. Its defense is a +4 base, plus the one aspect it set up, plus an armor rating of 2, for a total of a five stress hit, which requires it to take a minor consequence & check off its third stress box.

Given the incantation and intent, that seems slightly underwhelming as a result.

Perhaps it would be better to frame this round as a create an advantage action? That -would- give it a chance to counterattack, but would up the result to forcing a moderate consequence with one round of incantation, or a moderate and a minor for two rounds - which would be enough effect to start reasonably discussing terms of concessions. ))
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Joshua
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by Joshua »

(OOC: In the future this will likely happen over IM, but, an example of what a negotiation might look like.

Theodore is attempting to resolve this quickly due to the fact that it's the power source for what's attacking the train. The 'Sees the matrix' aspect is for targeting the 'center' of the fractal, so that when you pull there it will drain all the splintered lines. For when that happens, it would invoke Dark calls to Dark and Magic isn't an exact science to use the similarities between the aborted summon and the creature to suck it up. Also, I'd use my free invocation of 'Fractal Structure' to do a full cleanup, since everything traces back to the center.

Still, a short buildup would be fine. The advantage would be "Hole at the center": the summoning gate appearing within the creature at the above point?" Succeeding with style would give him 2 stackable invocations for free. This is the only time you can stack an aspect with itself. This would have him pause after the second stanza. ("He opens it gladly thus sealing your fate!")

Game notes:
As a reminder, the 'Sees the Matrix' stays after the free invocation, it just takes a fate point to activate a second time.
Mooks can't take consequences, so, this would have one-hit even a powerful mook. Narratively, this is a named character... or representative of such, so... it will be back (barring ratings)... It is appropriate to check which you're facing, because the narrative in your head and the narration of the ST don't always match. I mistook the tree for a mook, for example. ^_^)
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by Wyvern »

An amusing thought from the peanut gallery:
I am tempted to point out that if you spend the equivalent of 4 fate-points on a single action against someone/thing you only just met, you just promoted them over mook-level status. Deciding to define reality a half-dozen times just to make that first strike count clearly marks them as an impressive foe in your perspective, even if the storyteller hadn't initially intended it as such. :-P

But, while I -am- amused at that thought, I don't actually run games that way;* if, for example, it had not had consequences available, then you'd have been able to take it out with a "mere" +9 attack and I would have simply not let you spend the last two fate points.

In this case, it was definitively not a mook to start with; it's a Source for some degree of real power, and that automatically makes it something that's at PC-level of power at a minimum - and generally much higher. Fortunately, Theodore isn't actually fighting it directly; what he's opposing is more along the lines of a semi-sentient cancer.

Also: that justification for involving the Fractal Structure aspect makes perfect sense, and had that been in the original description of the intended action, I wouldn't have raised any objection to tagging it.

Post with actual IC events to follow (likely sometime this evening); just wanted to get this chunk of OOC commentary out of the way now.


_____
* That said, if a PC wants some mook to get promoted to non-mook status, this is a perfectly acceptable declaration that I won't demand a fate point for. For that matter, having someone flee while swearing vengeance is a pretty decent take-out narration, too. Things to keep in mind...
** Also, double-parentheses don't really work for marking large chunks of OOC text, so I'm trying out the highlight tag - specifically, highlight=#F0F0FF. Please do message me with any opinions on how well it works.
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by Wyvern »

Apparently F0F0FF is basically invisible against the background on this monitor. Let's try BAD0FF. (This color is natural enemy of Moose and Squirrel!)

The susurrus intensifies into a keening whine, backed by a wave of mental pressure as the thing attempts to repulse both Theodore and Shadow. It's spending two fate points (one on "Fractal Structure" to make the attack hit both of you - note that doing this is a function of its Power, not something a PC can replicate with just a fate point - and one on its high concept of "Incomprehensible Horror"), as well as invoking the susurrus aspect it created; this results in a mental attack (yes, Theodore gets to use his stunt) of strength 8, weapon rating 1, which both Theodore and Shadow need to defend against.
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Joshua
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by Joshua »

(8! I thought this was a mook! Anyhow... Theodore has "definitely seen worse" and is "Protected by Shadow" who, while a physical guardian, is also a creature of power. Also, since he's flush with fate points, will insist he's already too mad to be affected*. If he get's style, he'd like to be "In the thick of it"**.)

Theodore will pause in his chant, "Hold fast, Shadow! I'm about to slam the door and suck them both out of here." As the attack washes over him, he will cackle, accepting it, pushing back only enough to catch the flow of the energy, his summoning circles and watch-pieces flowing naturally as if the currents of madness are a second home.
_________________________________
*: Seriously, he's ding-dong-ditching an elder god to unsummon this thing.
**: Thus past it's defenses. (This would be a boost. a one-shot aspect.)
OOC note: You do normally decide to spend aspects AFTER you roll, not before. This is kind of preemptively telling the ST what you want to do, and what you're aiming for.
Also OOC: Fate Accelerated doesn't have weapon mods/ratings, that's an addendum found here. Copy to the current forum? And since my defense is semi-sorc-based do I get Armor 1 against it? Did I get a weapon 1 bonus to the initially proposed attack?
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Re: 1397-04-21-B2: Down The Rabbit(?) Hole

Post by Wyvern »

Yes, Theodore's attack gets a weapon rating of 1 - that was in my original calculations, as well. As for armor... in this case, yes, you can get that free point of armor, justified because Theodore is in the middle of a ritual and this is a thematically-matching power-based attack; you wouldn't get that point if it had decided to throw a physical attack at you, and you can't get that point unless you have some sort of aspect available (not necessarily invoked, just available) that indicates an active effort going to defenses. Theodore's power is versatile and active; the tradeoff is that he doesn't get the sorts of free passive defenses that, say, a Patternwalker might have.

Also, while I'm not going to continue plot posting until we've got at least Shadow's reaction to the attack, that doesn't mean we can't start figuring out its response to your attack now. Specifically, that's a strong enough single hit to be worth negotiating a concession over - it could, technically, try to keep fighting (albeit with two consequences on it), and in the unlikely event that we can't agree on a reasonable concession result then that's what it'll do.

So, you want it gone. As this is a concession, this much isn't really subject to negotiation - if it concedes here, then, one way or another, it's going to be gone.
What is subject to negotiation is the matter of side effects. The obvious options here involve Yog-Sothoth, either giving that dread entity a foothold near Amber (from the metaphysical door being not quite so well-sealed as one might like), or perhaps transporting Theodore (and Shadow?) elsewhere.
If you (or, for that matter, anyone in the proverbial peanut gallery) have other ideas, feel free to share them.
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