Homelands (Guan Yu)

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Looked like the "seduction" that Tomoe was doing had success written all over it. It was uncomfortable as all hell for the normally chaste maiden to do things like this. But there she was, willingly luring a younger man to a less visible spot in order for him to feel her up, practically leading him around like a pet. The looks that her two "captives" gave made the whole thing even harder to bear than it was to begin with, but they seemed to understand that it was to their benefit. Even if they did understand, they were right with the bad looks. It was something that the miko should not be doing, using her shameful new form like that.

Having gotten to a good enough position to avoid unnecessary detection, the priestess could see the youngster's expression go all weird as he reached for the chest he had been permitted to touch. This was going to be his first time touching a woman, it looked like. Even in Tomoe's eyes, the inexperience was clear as day from the tremble in his hands. But there was enough daring in him despite that, and soon said hands were all over her boobs, feeling them from one place to another. While it wasn't very pleasant, there was some feeling to be had there, probably due to the recently increased size of the miko's bosom. The idea was still enough of a shame for the Easterner, who decided to keep her eyes closed and let the event go past her as the lad's fingers sought out her nipples and had some fun with them too.

There was a degree of alarm when the large tent began to form on the manling's crotch, but he seemed a decent enough person and stopped before anything really happened with that. But the words he uttered were a good confirmation to the fact that he was likely going to attempt getting more than that later. Gathering herself, Tomoe spoke up once more. "As I said, these two were supposed to go into the cages near the big building a further ways in. I think that is some sort of a community center?" she reminded the lad about her earlier words, which the male had apparently already forgotten in his joyous activities. While it seemed the pervert was going to be honest, the miko still maintained absolute alertness towards suspicious activities.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine

Rolls

Spoiler

Stealth: Nat 20, apparently, success.

"Riiight," he replied, still staring at her breasts. "Wait, what'd you say?" The satyr, exasperated beyond silence, finally spoke up. "The hall, lad! She's taking us to the hall where most of the faeries are kept!" The youth looked at him with an odd expression for a few moments before announcing; "Oh, you should have just said so! Okay, I can get us there easily."

It was a claim that had some truth to it, apparently, as the group weaved their way through mostly vacant parts of the encampment in order to reach the hall. It was easy to find it. The hall appeared to have utilized one-quarter of the logs used in the entire frontier town's construction. The group made it all the way to the cages without alerting anyone. In doing so, they found themselves in an open clearing, which seemed to serve as the town square. Instead of a fountain or any sort of more conventional decoration, however, there were cages filled with faeries. Some were collared, some were chained in other ways, all were naked. Many seemed crestfallen to see the satyr and the nymph being brought to them by a human man and woman, apparently assuming that they had been captured.

Despite that they appeared to be in the town square, the place was empty of townspeople. With the soldiers gone, it seemed that it was a place that most avoided. The miko's next step was obviously to free the captive faeries, the mechanisms were the same as the ones on the last cages and would be easily opened. Before she could do that, though, there was the matter of what she would do with their 'guide', or if she would simply leave him conscious and aware as she freed the group.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

"I did say so..." Tomoe remarked, still keeping herself quiet and reserved, it would be better for her to keep the act up for now. While she had almost startled herself with the sudden outburst from the satyr, the miko kept herself in control and simply went along towards their target.

The group went around the various places to reach their destination, encountering no-one else along the way, which was good even though they were escorted. Any smarter individual would have been on them instantly, and the young guy surely wouldn't be of much help in such a situation. Thankfully, they were soon in the open square, in front of the cages. It was a depressing sight in Tomoe's eyes, all the captive fairies and their gloomy expressions. But that would surely be fixed in a hurry. It looked like a similar mechanism to the last one, so easy openings. But before any of that could happen, she needed to get rid of the witness hovering over her, the perverted young lad. Not wanting any further staring at herself, the priestess took her best shot at the lad, intending on knocking him out cold before moving on to rescuing the captive fey.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine

Rolls

Spoiler

Uh, not really going to bother rolling for he of the 20 body.

Stealth: Tomoe is found out.

"Yep! Here they are. Now about th-" The lad's sentence was cut short as Tomoe whacked him, causing him to crumple into a heap on the ground. A quick investigation would show that he was still breathing, but there was little time to waste on thoroughly checking his well-being. The three were able to quickly free the faeries, unlocking the mechanisms and loosing nearly a score of naked fae-folk from captivity, at least once the supernatural women had realized that was, indeed, why the group had come.

Unfortunately, it was as the last nymph came free of the cages that a frantic clanging sounded from the direction of the gates. A few shouts carrying the word "intruders" echoed from the encampment. Yet, as they stood there, nothing came for them. The shouts moved further and further away, toward the main entrance to the encampment.

They still wouldn't get out of the alarm completely free, though. The doors of the hall opened in response to the racket, with three armored knights emerging from within. One look at the nearly two-dozen potential combatants arrayed against them had them thinking twice. "Enemies inside the town! Alert the commander!" One called out before all three retreated through the doors, closing them to hinder any efforts to halt their escape.

"We could chase them and try to stop them," the satyr suggest hurriedly. "But we'd be going into the lion's den." Other reasons not to pursue them might count the still-imprisoned nymphs near the tavern and the emergence of intruders at the front gate among them. The nymph they had rescued from the farmer was in the middle of explaining the situation at large to her kin and the satyr obviously wanted her opinion, so the decision on their next step seemed to be up to the shrine maiden.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

"Sounds like we are not the only intruders... could that be Shenron and Kei...?" Tomoe thought as she had finished the releasing of nymphs and was now looking around in a mode of alertness. Since the guards had not come for them, they were still in a surprisingly good position, even if they were in a heavily exposed opening near what was the lair of the beast, the main house of the enemy.

But it wasn't going to be that easy for them as the doors of the main building opened just then, revealing a trio of armored personnel on the doorway. They took a brief glance at the possible opposition, then retreated back, going into alert mode upon sight of the miko and her just-released group of many fey. There were a few options there for them, which Tomoe was going to be the deciding mind of, yet again. While she thought that catching the men before they could raise a bigger alert might be the better thing to do, she decided to go for the remaining fairies and grant them freedom. "Let's get the last ones. Once there is freedom, we are more equipped to deal with the menace here."

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine

Since the freed fae-folk wouldn't exactly be safe in front of the main hall of the town, they followed Tomoe and her companions. Acting on her plan, the large group made for the remaining caged faeries. The group, unsurprisingly, raised much alarm as they went past, with villagers shouting and crying about invaders in the streets. The townspeople could neither say nor do anything to stop them, in the end, and their cries were ignored for the sounds of alarmed clanging coming from the front gate.

About halfway to their destination, the sounds of the gong died out. A bell sounding out from the main hall left little time before that racket was replaced. The entire frontier town was devolving into chaos. But nothing arrived to stop them from their task. They arrived at the tavern in a timely manner to find that it had been abandoned as townspeople fled from the group of faeries to their homes and barred the doors behind them. The satyr quickly freed the remaining nymphs from their cages, leaving Tomoe with a formidable force in the form of nearly one and one-half score of fey women at her command.

Her primary objective had almost been achieved, the fae-folk were freed from their captivity. All that laid ahead of her were the choices of how to proceed from there. The obvious options were to either make for the gate then, potentially re-linking with her companions, assuming it was them assaulting the town, or she could make for the main hall and attempt to strike the heart of the threat while the town was still fresh in the building sense of chaos and disorientation. There was also the matter of what she wanted to do with her small army of faeries, whether she wanted to see them escape as quickly as possible or would bring them into battle with her.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Amidst the chaos of the alarmed city, the group made theit way towards the remaining imprisoned fairies to achieve total freedom for all the fey folk. All the peasant humans simply retreated into their homes in the face of the moderately large group of forest dwellers, preferring not to risk things by standing in their way. It was some distance into the middle-size cages, but they made it in due time, the atmosphere changing somewhat as the previous gonging turned into a tolling of a bell that came from the town hall. The satyr was quick on the locks as they got to their target, setting the remaining prisoners free.

Now, there were further decisions to make. Since the main objective had been the release of the fairies, they would likely get to the gate and see what was happening. Also, they should get the colorful foursome from earlier away from their unlocked cage, unless they had already left on their own. Then, it was time to head towards the gates.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine

The running of the faeries continued toward the gate. It was an event that might have been amusing, or even enjoyable, for the townspeople if they hadn't been all deathly afraid that the fey would take bloody vengeance on them for their misdeeds. Nothing stood in the large group's way as they pierced through the streets of the frontier town in order to gain the faeries' freedom, all of the human men and women of the town having hidden from it. If such a revenge was going to come, though, it wouldn't be at that juncture.

They couldn't find the four nymphs, apparently having gone elsewhere, so their path ultimately took them to the gate, where Tomoe discovered that Kei had been very, very busy. The crimson-haired woman was now simply the crimson woman. She was covered in gore and standing amidst a group of dying recruits, easily a dozen of them, the very same ones that the shrine maiden had seen training early. Shenron had apparently amassed his own kill count in the time since she had last seen him, as he wasn't without his own stains. The two were fighting off a group of the remaining Dreslin soldiers, counting, in total, two knights, three medium-armored swordsmen, and eight more recruit spearmen.

If the shrine maiden were to attack the entangled group from the back with all her faeries, they likely wouldn't stand a chance. Or she might enact some other plan, if she so desired.

Spoiler

(Fun fact: I've been rolling off-screen this entire time for Kei and Shenron vs the waves of enemies that Tomoe would have fought if she stayed behind. Kei has killed 34 people now. >.>)

Enemies:
2 knights
3 swordsmen
8 recruit spearmen

Allies:
1 satyr
1 greater siren
23 faeries with unknown powers.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

"Hmm, hopefully they are alright..." Tomoe thought about the previously-met, rather colorful fey ladies as they came across the empty cage. They had taken up on her words at least, and sought their way out as the hassle began. So, towards the gate it was, to see what the happenings were over there.

Going through the remaining town and eventually reaching the gates, the decently big group arrived to find a scene of brutal battle. Both of her companions had amassed a formidable tally of kills, Kei actually being as red as her hair all over. While it was a relief to see her companions being alright still, the whole scene was not a thing the miko liked. All the killing might have been avoided, but nothing could be done about it anymore. Not getting out her sword yet, the priestess decided to charge into the combat herself as well. "Now is the time to fight for your freedom. After this, it should be over." she told the fey group before making a beeline towards the enemy group. If possible, she would draw and strike at a knight or swordsman if possible since those were probably harder for the released captives to strike at.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine

Rolls

Spoiler

I'm, um, not actually going to roll a 13 vs 28, especially considering that Tomoe alone could probably kill 10 of them with a cleave chain, as could Kei.

The knights were the closest to the group of charging faeries and the shrine maiden and were the first to go down. Tomoe easily landed a wound on her distracted opponent, which the satyr followed up for the kill. The second knight was overtaken by vines as the first nymph they had rescued cast a spell, at which point he was summarily set upon by several of the nymphs, who beat him into unconsciousness. Kei and Shenron slew a swordsman apiece in the chaos of the flank attack, while the third swordsman was overtaken by faeries and also left unconscious.

The spearmen, green and seeing the odds stacked very much against them, broke and fled, attempting to escape through the gates and leaving the town entirely. Tomoe could pursue them, if she liked, but her objective regarding the faeries was completed, they had a way out now. There wouldn't be any other prisoners to interrogate, if she wanted to for whatever reason, as, freed from the engagement, Kei casually strolled over to the unconscious knight and swordsman and remorselessly slit their throats with her jian, likely doing little to ease the miko's troubled conscience.

Still, all that was left now was to dismiss the faeries, if she so desired, and determine whether or not she would brave the main hall in an attempt to save the missing sidhe and potentially put an end to the group's bigotry. They had probably seen most of the humans' military slain, the way was as clear as it would ever be.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Charging in, Tomoe's draw cut found it's target easily, wounding one knight harshly but not taking him out from the battle. Still, the satyr fellow had her covered, managing to smack the man down before he could put up any resistance. The remaining participants on her side took out the remaining higher-rank opponents, leaving behind the spearmen, who were still pretty much new to battles. They had good enough reason to not try and fight, fleeing into the woods instead. The miko had no desire to pursue them, they had given up on the battle and probably wouldn't attempt anything stupid against her group, so they were free to go. Again, the battles had ended in remarkably quick manner, which was always a good thing. Less death and suffering that way.

Joining up with her companions, Tomoe quickly looked if there was need to heal with them, then turned to the group of fairies. "Me and my companions here will go and deal with the remaining leaders, in order to find your remaining kin and hopefully end this reign of terror. No-one benefits from such tyranny and violence. We will appriciate any aid given in this effort, but I am not going to try and force you into coming with us, since I wouldn't really be any better than them if I did." she told them, deciding to make for the main hall regardless of what happened with them. She would have her companions still, but had doubts as to how much they could achieve in such a small party.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 50/76, Status = Fine

A chorus of mutters broke out at Tomoe's proclamation. The siren that the busty miko had first saved stepped in to assert some order. It was difficult to make out anything over it all. A majority seemed to want to stay, but the greater siren denied their words. Finally, when it all stopped, she was the one that spoke up. "There are many among us who are wounded as a result of our captors' abuses, some still have sealing collars on and are incapable of aiding in any great way to a fight, still others have no meaningful way to contribute to the fight, and of those that do, the rest will need an escort. I will not allow them to venture into the hall with you."

She paused for a moment, looking back to the other faeries for a signal that they were okay with her decision, then returned her gaze to the warrior-priestess. "I, however, will stay, as will these two," she waved her hand, gesturing behind her, and two of the faerie women stepped forward.
"The last mortal I met called me Aine," one said. She had the 'average' beautiful, sculpted features of the fae-folk. She was light of complexion, tall, slender, and graceful. Curly hair the color of burnished copper fell to her shoulders.[/i]"I am a sorceress."
"I'm Lynette," the second introduced herself. The last faerie woman to speak was tan and incredibly skinny. Wavy black hair fell to her shoulderblades. She had a heart-shaped face, upon which rested a button nose and thin lips. "I, too, am a sorceress."
"I intend on seeing this through," the satyr proclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah, and you have my sword," the gore-covered woman finally spoke up, sardonically. "You already knew that. Time is wasting. Let's get going, miss miko."
Shenron shot a glance at the haori-wearing woman, but let it drop in favor of stoicism as he offered Tomoe a nod, not that there really ever any doubt that her closest companion would accompany her.

With that figured out, the rest of the faeries departed. "They will return to the nearest enclave and see that some help is sent for us," the unnamed siren noted. After the sorceresses took the time to heal up a few minor injuries on Kei and Shenron, all that was left was to move for the hall and nothing seemed ready to stand in the way of that. The only evidence as they traveled that the town wasn't deserted was the movement of curtains as wary townspeople peeped out at the passing group who had so handily destroyed their militia and even then moved with impunity toward the center of their town. With so many of their fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers already dead, none could muster the courage to try to stop them.

It was only when they arrived in the very heart of the frontier town that they found a group still willing to fight. Between the opened double doors of the hall, stood four riflemen, armored in nothing but padded cloth and kettle helmets, guns trained on them. In front of the riflemen stood three of the heavily-armored warriors, covered from head to toe in full plate and wielding morningstars and kite shields, barring easy access to the gunners. The three were obviously knights, if only for the emblems painted on their shields. And in front of all of them stood an imposing figure, face masked by a great grey topfhelm and body covered in plate wrapped in boiled leather. The head knight's hand rested atop the other on the pommel of a hand-and-a-half sword, the tip of which was buried in the ground. His legs were slightly spread, placing his feet at shoulder-width apart, but otherwise his posture was straight as he regarded the group.

"Intruders," the head-knight shouted toward them, voice echoing and booming from the metal encasement of the topfhelm. "As the sword-arm of the king, I order you to yield now or die here!" Unless the sudden desire to see what the human bigots would do to women had overcome Tomoe, it seemed her only options were to fight or flee.

Spoiler

Allies:
Kei: Fine.
Shenron: Fine.
Satyr: Fine
Lynette: Fine
Aine: Fine.

Enemies:
Head-knight (about 20 feet away)
3 knights (about 30 feet away)
4 riflemen (about 35 feet away, protected by knights)

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

"I wouldn't do that even if you didn't prevent them. If you clearly can't use the full extent of your ability, you shouldn't be on the battlefield." Tomoe replied, holding no grudge against any of the fey. While she could have used a bigger group probably, they would have to do with what they had for now. Quickly acknowledgeing the two that had joined them, she was somewhat relieved to have magical aid along for the battle, not really feeling decent if she was the only one to have any that ability on their side. Seeing that the retreating group got a good enough distance away, the miko soon sought to move her remaining allies forward. They still had the main hall to clean up and hopefully end the threat to the nearby non-humans. Such behaviours wouldn't help humanity's recovery in any manner, only serve to further dissuade others from considering their help.

Across the town, nothing sought to prevent them, the civilians being too scared to come out from their homes after seeing the armed forces defeated in such an easy manner. All in all, good for them both, Tomoe thought. Behind the doors, a barricade of men were waiting for them, neatly formationed and preventing any easy access. Honestly, it was to be expected that the defenders had arranged themselves for a more solid formation for harder resistance. The leader called to them with an ultimatum, which the shrine maiden had no desire to oblige. Bringing out her spirit power, she aimed to protect the group with her powers and grant them some combat ability, even though it was probably not needed with the magician types. "As if I would give myself over to soulless monsters like you people." she called back at the threat, not having any fear towards such words. The man himself would probably be a decent threat, given that he seemed a strong and disciplined type.

(Use Blessing 10)

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 40/76, Status = Blessing [10]

Rolls

Spoiler

Tomoe uses Blessing X = 10. Upkeep 8.

Kei attacks the head-knight with triple jab.
Attacks: 2 miss, one hits.
Damage: 34 - 32 = 2 damage.

Shenron attacks the head-knight.
Attack: Miss.

Satyr uses Sneak.
Stealth: Success. He is now hidden.

Lynette casts Drown on the Head-Knight.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Miss.

Greater Siren casts at one of the knights
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 64 - 26 = 38 damage.

Aine casts Air Drown at the cluster.
Casting: Success.
Attacks: All knights missed, all gunners hit.
Damage: 40 - 5 = 35 damage.

The Head-knight uses Enchant Weapon and attacks Kei.
Casting: Success.
Resistance: Head-knight wins.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 3 + 15 + 30 - 13 = 35 damage.
Persistent Haste additionally allows the Head-knight to use Energy Blade X = ??? and take a second swing at Kei.
Resistance: Kei wins.
Attack: Automatically misses.

All three knights used Full Defense this round.

The gunners open fire.
Attacks (2 vs Aine): Both miss.
Attack (1 vs Lynette): Miss.
Attack (1 vs Greater Siren): Miss.

"Then you perish here!" The words boomed from the head knight and everything dissolved into a blur of action. Tomoe acted first, empowering her allies with her own spirit. Kei seized upon the energy granted to her by the miko, charging forward to engage the warrior with a gleeful abandon. She swung once, which her armored opponent ducked with a grace belying the heavy plate they wore. The redhead's blade came back with such a swift and beautiful motion that would have seen any less experienced opponent would have been quickly decapitated, but the other fighter was not so inexperienced. The knight's blade was pulled free of the ground and caught the weapon before it could hit home.

Kei's assault wasn't at an end, though. The parry which had caught her second attack left the knight in an awkward stance, which she capitalized on. She danced away from the parry with ease only to swing again before the plated warrior could adjust themselves. Unfortunately, while the heavy armor might have made it harder to dodge the easterner's graceful style, it served its purpose as armor. The haori-wearing woman's sword clanged almost fruitlessly against her opponent's helmet. Noticing this, the knight used the opportunity to attack rather than defend. A great light encompassed his bastard sword as he lashed out at the carmine swordsman, giving her a painful wound across her ribs. He followed up with what initially appeared to be a wide unarmed strike from his mailed fist, but that too burst into a great, golden light in the shape of a sword as it closed, and might have killed the woman outright if not for a successful rebuff from her wind shroud.

Seeing the danger of the head-knight, Shenron charged into the fray and swung with his razor sharp claws. The muscled lizard didn't manage to land any blows on the warrior, but his sudden appearance in the fight forced his target to back off and bought the red-eyed easterner valuable breathing room. Lynette followed up by casting a spell aimed at the knight, but it had no noticeable effect. Seeing this, the as-of-yet unnamed siren halted Aine from making a similar attempt and pointed out the clustered group of seven as targets. The knights had, by that point, taking up a defensive shield wall in front of the riflemen, who were even then trying to get clean shots into the melee.

The siren launched a bolt of green energy at one of the knights, striking him and causing some of his plate armor to rust. Tomoe could even spot the knight grimacing as reddish-brown liquid seeped out from underneath the damaged armor, but his discipline held. Aine cast something more devastating on the group, violently ripping the air from the small area that their enemies were clustered in. The riflemen began to gasp and wheeze and panic. They took aim on the sorceresses, hoping to end the hellish effect, and fired, but the sudden panic which had overtaken them only saw the bullets whizzing harmlessly past Tomoe's companions. The knights, on the other hand, seemed to have no issues at all, and simply endured the decrease of oxygen levels. In the midst of all this, the satyr disappeared.

Spoiler

Allies (All blessed x = 10):
Kei: 'Tis but a flesh wound.
Shenron: Fine.
Satyr: Fine
Lynette: Fine
Aine: Fine.
Greater Siren: Fine.

Enemies:
Head-knight: A scratch.
3 knights: 2 uninjured, 1 moderately wounded.
4 riflemen: Being suffocated, gravely wounded.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

While she would have wanted to be right there to begin with, the completion of her power invocation was holding Tomoe back for a bit as she had properly focus her mind until the power was in place totally. All she could do for that brief moment was looking, and it did seem the party would have to push harder than ever before to win against this man as he was decidedly skilled and strong, easily able to handle himself with Kei and Shenron on his own. The fey representives remained busy with magic, better for them really to not get involved in the combat, at least for now.

Having completed her powering, the miko thought of moving towards the battle herself, but still lacked the conviction that her blade would be strong enough to defeat this potent man. "Not yet... still need to even this..." she thought as the melee swirled, but eventually decided to throw in her lot regardless. It was not a good moment to be conjuring up any further powers anyway, since her reserves of spirit energy were limited. Dashing in to join her two companions against this terrible threat, she would begin the battle like pretty much all the battles recently, by drawing out her sword with that trusty offensive maneuver that she had developed a liking towards.

(Death from the draw, slay, blah, things. +91 for the hittans, 2d12+132 for damage as usual. Or something.)

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 32/77, PP = 51, EP = 40/76, Status = Blessing [10], Moderate Wounds

Rolls

Spoiler

Tomoe uses "slay, blah, things".
Attack: Miss.

Kei attacks the knight using her weapon with two-hands.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 58 - 32 = 26.

Shenron attacks the knight.
Attack: Miss.

Satyr sneak attacks the knight.
Stealth: Failure.
Attack: Miss.

Lynette casts Drowning Doom on the cluster.
Casting: Failure.

Greater Siren casts another bolt at the injured knight.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Miss.

Aine casts Drowning Doom on the cluster.
Casting: Success.
Attacks: Hits the two uninjured knights, making them injured knights, misses the previously injured one, hits all the riflemen.
Damage: 45. Kills the riflemen.

The head-knight sees the battle turning very much against their group and uses Searing Radiance.
Casting: Success.
Resistance: Kei loses.
Damage: 48. (Total of 40 for Shenron, 35 for Kei, 48 for the satyr, who is down, and 45 damage for Tomoe.)
Resistance: Tomoe and Kei win, the others fail and are temporarily blinded.
As their second action, the head-knight retreats at full speed to the hall.

The first injured knight used full defense this round.

The two other knights use lay on hands X = ??? on the one using full defense and then retreat into the hall.

Tomoe entered the fray using her favorite tactic, like so many times before. And, like all those times before, her blade leaped into her hand, cleaving a straight line for the enemy's vitals. Unlike all the times before, Kuchinawa never met its mark. The warrior-priestess instead clashed against the two blades, one of energy-wrapped steel and the second simply of energy. The two offending items barely gave even an inch to her empowered attack.

Kei and Shenron were quick to follow up, though. While the warrior was distracted by the miko, the two took more swings at the disciplined fighter, but only the easterner managed a blow. She connected a two-hand strike with her target's shoulder, but still couldn't manage to bypass the armor enough to do any real damage. The satyr came out of hiding in an attempt to surprise the group's major opponent with a sneak attack, but was spotted at the last moment and the already engaged knight dodged without issue.

The sorceresses had more luck, but not by much. Lynette's spell backfired, knocking her onto her bony backside. The knight's shield caught the greater siren's second barrage on him, causing the paint to fade away and the wood beneath it to rot, but doing no damage to the warrior behind it. Aine cast a new spell and a globe of water appeared around the group. The riflemen, already having difficulties breathing, ended up falling to the ground in a heap. They hadn't survived. Two of the knights were surprised by the onslaught as well, but the previously injured one held his ground, and his breath, admirably and without terror at the sudden onslaught of water, managing to avoid any difficulties with it until the globe of water had burst and left the three able to breathe again.

The head-knight, however, apparently felt that they were losing the fight. Given that his side had already suffered four casualties, he might have been right. The sword-arm of the king backed away, before raising his weapons high into the air and crashing them together in one swift motion. The action resulted in a flash of light so white hot that it burned everyone it touched. Tomoe and Kei barely managed to bring their arms up in time to shield their eyes from the blinding flare, Shenron and the satyr were not so lucky. The goatman was not so lucky on any front, as the pain from the light actually caused him to drop to the ground, convulsing in pain.

Even with their quick thinking, by the time they could lower their arms the only thing they managed to catch was the retreat of the head-knight. He and two of the other knights clapped one on the shoulder, the latter two transferring some energy into the previously injured knight and patching up his wounds, before retreating beyond the doors and closing them, probably barring them in the process. The healed knight remained behind in a fighting stance, obviously as a rearguard action to buy the others time.

Spoiler

Allies (All blessed x = 10):
Kei: Moderate Wounds.
Shenron: Heavy Wounds.
Satyr: Unconscious.
Lynette: Fine
Aine: Fine.
Greater Siren: Fine.

Enemies:
1 Knight: Making a stand.

Killed:
4 Riflemen.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

While the usual entry into the melee was the one that she usually had success with, this time there was a dissappointment, but not a surprising one. The leader knight had his wits about himself as he fought against three and then four opponents at once, catching Tomoe's blade with his own two in a scissor defense maneuver. The others too brought their own respective weights into the fore, but only Kei really managed to cause any effect against the highly skilled knight and his formidable defense. Even so, it seemed to be pretty minor effects that the red-haired swordswoman acchieved with her blow.

The fey representives of the group were having better success against the more numerous enemies, their combined spells managing to fell the riflemen altogether and cause some hurt on the lesser knights as well, though they all survived the magical combinations. One of the fey ladies failed her spell and tripped, but it seemed to have no real harm on her. For some reason, this seemed to have a concerning effect on the leader, who launched off a quick spell to distract the assaulters on him. There was a brief flash of light and infernal heat, causing some pain in the shrine maiden, but she managed to prevent being blinded by the sudden flare by blocking it out with a hand. Some of the others were not as lucky, especially the satyr, who got the worst of it and went down in agony.

By the time she recovered, the miko saw that their enemies had retreated towards the hall, a singular knight still remaining behind to face the group and to buy some additional time to his comrades. Pushing aside the pain in her form, Tomoe sought to attack this singular remaining target, with a little less force now that her blade was out.

(Repeat, without the DFTD bonuses. +85 and 2d12+122)

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 32/76, Status = Blessing [10]

Rolls

Spoiler

Attack: Hit.
Damage: More than enough. He ded.

The sorceresses spend 8 EP apiece to heal the entire group to full, including the satyr.

The knight, for whatever valor he had mustered in facing the group alone, did not stand up to Tomoe's attack. His stance was fully defensive, obviously intent on keeping the group's focus off of the door for as long as possible. It did him little good as Kuchinawa cleaved through him, armor, and flesh beneath it. The kite shield fell away from his arm in two pieces, his hand, severed by the swing, dropped to the ground, and he followed shortly after, an angry red line visible through a lengthy slash directly through his plate. Blood pooled in the dirt where he laid.

The sorceresses immediately set about healing the entire group, calling forth an aura which eased the pain of the flash and allowed the others to see again. The satyr shakily returned to his feet, groaning. "That was a rough one." But he didn't seem interested in spending any time nursing his wounds that wasn't absolutely necessary. "We should break down the door," Kei recommended, apparently sharing the goatman's sentiment, "before they have time to set any nasty traps for us."

Shenron, for his part, moved up to the door and slammed an elbow into it. A small amount of damage was visible, but it didn't give way immediately. "Strong... Need others."
"I didn't see any, but we might search for a window."
"Might be faster..."
"It might be too narrow for anymore than one at a time, if they were waiting it would be bad. And that's if we do. If we don't it's time wasted. Your call, Tomoe."

From what she could tell, the double doors were only wide enough for four abreast to smash into them at the same time. There was a tall belfry above the doors, too, which was open enough for defenders to dump rocks or attack those smashing into the door in other ways. A few capable of picking off potential defenders would likely need to be assigned as well. An alternative might be to try to find a window, of which Tomoe had spotted none on her initial survey in the building, but whether an unbarred one would be found on the first floor or not was uncertain.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

"You will not stand in our way..." Tomoe thought as she pretty much effortlessly tore down the remaining knight. For all of his dedication, there was little he could achieve against the miko and her blade, equipment and limb falling to the ground as a bloody line formed into his armor. There was no questioning it, he was nothing but dead. Shutting off her blessing, the priestess relaxed a bit and turned to the others.

Thankfully, Tomoe didn't have to be the one healing the group as the other casters took some effort to fix the wounds and revive the satyr from his painful struggles. There was no stopping him though, as the goatman was already planning their next moves along with Kei. Shenron's smack against the door proved to have little impact, so they would need to tackle en masse or it would be a long operation to get through. Once more, the decision would fall on the shrine maiden's shoulders, since there was uncertainty among the others. For their part, the other fey didn't seem to bother making their mind known. An overlooking belfry allowed the defenders to make life nasty for them, so that direction might not be worth the effort, the chance of rocks or other unpleasant things like hot water or fouler fluids dropping on them not really appealing to the miko. Deciding to go for the windows instead, she suggested the idea about looking for one that was accesible to the rest of the team.

 

[Hafnium]

Re: Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium

Spoiler

Tomoe: HP = 77, PP = 51, EP = 32/76, Status = Fine.

(Not sure if you wanted to maintain blessing or not. If you did, I'll add it and the upkeep next post.)

The group made a quick loop around the building and found a window hidden behind a small tree that was not only easily accessible from the ground floor, but on which the bar wasn't properly set. With a bit of ramming and pushing, the satyr managed to get it to fall off and opened the glass portal. Upon climbing inside, the team discovered what appeared to be a communal changing and washroom.

It was a very long room, made entirely of wood. The side that the window was located on was lined with towels and bowls filled with water. The opposite side was lined with open lockers, at least fifty of them, each one with a silken red robe in it. There was only one door and it led out into a relatively short entry hall, which they would discover was home to the double doors that they had just attempted to fight their way into, judging by the corpses of the four gunners on the ground. There were two more doors on the same wall as the one they had just exited. In addition, there were a few crates stacked in the far corner of the little foyer.

Tomoe had found herself in the lead, so it became her decision as to which door they would check next or what strategy they would pursue. The faeries were obviously comfortable enough with her handle on the things to let her choose without their direct input, as was Kei and Shenron.