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The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)


Hafnium

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The day began normally enough for the city of Toste. The first hints of daylight appeared, turning the black skies a dim blue. The wall-dwellers of Toste rose from their slumber, mostly begrudgingly, and began the daily work that kept the dying city from falling entirely apart. The farmers left through the only city gate which hadn't been permanently sealed, the one in the middle of the great stone wall that ran across the southwest, in order to work the fields. The smiths made due with what little steel they had in order to keep the tools in working order and the remnants of Toste's military equipped. The barkeepers, perhaps possessed of the most important job of all, immediately opened shop so that all those who had fallen irrevocably into misery could drink to forget their sorrows and the darkness looming over the once-proud city.

All that normalcy was broken, however, when the bell above the southwestern gatehouse began to ring moments after the sun first peeked over the horizon. Great signal fires began to crop up all along the wall which served as the only barrier between the inhabitants of Toste and the increasingly unknown wilderness surrounding it. Those who could see or hear would know that Toste was under attack. And those who couldn't see or hear would soon be alerted as Toste's scouts began to sprint through the streets not five minutes later, clad only in hard leather in order to accommodate the time limit on their mission. The reason for their haste would quickly become obvious. "Barbarians are rushing the palisades! Hundreds of them with ladders! Any and all volunteers who can hold a weapon are to report to the Lord Commander at the southwest gate! You will be rewarded!" They shouted repeatedly as they ran.

It was grim news. Barbarians had never dared to attack Toste in such numbers before. And while Toste was once a city that boasted a population in the hundreds of thousands, that day it held no more than ten-thousand of which the majority weren't fit for any sort of combat. Moreover, while the barbarians could never successfully assault the stone walls if the remaining gate was closed, giving up the fields wasn't an option for the decaying city as it had no more than a month's worth of food stored inside even with heavy rationing. Everyone would be needed to stave off the assault, because if the barbarians were successful then the city and everyone inside would die a slow, agonizing death.

Those who heeded the call and ran to the southwestern gate would find the lord commander of what remained of Toste's military, a man named Eilert Sverdsson most commonly addressed as Commander Sverdsson, awaiting them just outside of it, along with a small retinue of elite troops. He was a tall man, at least six and a half feet. At that moment he was wearing full plate armor and a greathelm painted with the symbol of the war god he worshiped, a carmine-colored upright longsword surrounded by a similarly red circle. He was armed to the teeth, with a poleaxe in one hand, a longsword at his belt, and at least three visible daggers on his person.

The lord commander was well known in Toste for his personal prowess in battle and his preference for leading by example, though his tactical prowess and logistical abilities often left something to be desired. Some of the lower castes in the city honestly believed he was the only reason barbarians hadn't overrun them. Eilert was also known for his complete adherence to the word of the lord of Toste and the lord's council, following each order to the letter no matter what it cost or how unsavory the task might have been, a fact which had earned him the derogatory nickname of the council's wolf among some circles.

For the moment, however, he was just trying to raise volunteers and organize whatever small force he could muster quickly. He stood beside a few dozen scribes who was sat at a table with quills, ink bottles, and rolls of parchment in order to take the names of volunteers and soldiers alike. As dozens of warriors filtered through the gates, they gave their name to the scribes and were immediately ushered into groups by the impatient lord commander, and so would it go with any others who stepped forward. Looking across the massive fields showed no sign of the barbarians having gotten over the palisade yet, but there was likely precious little time left to organize a proper fighting force.

(OOC: Any PC with a valid character sheet can join in on this. It will still most likely be segmented on a per PC basis, but this way I don't have to keep track of who's actually got a character sheet ready at this very moment. This also allows me to type out things pertaining to the general flow of the raid one time instead of many.)
 

Tassadar

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Audreyn was already on duty when the alarm bells rang, and had already started heading towards the alarm bells by the time the criers running through the village reached her. Already armed and armored for her daily work, the redhead turned and began to dash towards the Southwestern gate.

There she came upon others gathering, and at their head was Lord Commander Sverdsson, to her mind the only reason that the city still stood. Some might talk begrudgingly behind closed doors about his loyalty to the orders coming down from the council, but Audreyn was most certainly not among them. She had seen the older soldier numerous times by that point, but had never achieved personal recognition from him no matter her deeds in the defense of Toste. Much as she might yearn for glory, however, the defense of the city itself was more important to her, and so she barely took the time to contribute her name to one of the scribes before following direction into one of the quickly forming combat groups.
 
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Hafnium

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Audreyn Artansdottr

The scribe checked her name against the parchments containing the names of the enlisted, quickly finding it and making a small mark against it. "Audreyn Artansdottr, military!" His words were not direct at her, but toward his commander. It would be impossible for the impoverished noblewoman to tell if any sense of recognition crossed the lord commander's face behind his greathelm as he turned toward her, but his order came quick enough. Her pointed her over to a group which contained quite a few of her fellows in the military pseudo-caste. She quickly found herself among the best equipped and most capable warriors of the bunch.

Mere seconds after she took her place, Eilert would pat one of his elites on the shoulder and send him toward Audreyn's group. He wasn't as immediately recognizable as the lord commander, despite being only a few inches shorter than the man he served and armed and armored similarly well. He too had full plate and a carried a bidenhander over his shoulder, along with a few other weapons on his belt. He wore a greathelm engraved with a skull on the front. As a military woman, Audreyn knew that he was named Melker, and was the lord commander's second in command and an incredible swordsman in his own right.

"You lot!" He yelled to get the group's attention as he took a position in front of them. "You're all with me. We're tasked with defending the palisade gate. The city will live or die on whether or not it stays closed today. Whatever else happens, that's where we're making our stand. It's time to get moving." Some of the other members of Audreyn's group shared glances between each other, obviously more than a little dismayed at the thought of advancing so soon given that they numbered at most forty. Melker seemed to sense that brewing concern among his soldiers and continued. "Reinforcements will come as they're mustered, but if we dally any longer the barbarians will be waiting for us at the gate. I think we'd all rather impale them as they leap the walls rather than let them come at us on flat land through an open door." His opinion seemed to silence the overall dissent, at least for the time being.

Without another word, he led the group to the only gate along the palisade in a quick march. They had a massive amount of farming land to cover to get there. The palisades had been an impressive feat for a nearly-empty city with barely enough labor to get by. Massive logs had been pounded into the earth, forming a defensive barrier which protected a plot of fertile land almost as big as the city itself from the growing threats of the wilderness. The stakes weren't quite uniform, but they were ten feet tall even at the lowest point and ran right up until they touched the stone walls. The gate, built in order to allow expeditions to leave, consisted of large double doors that could be barred and two quickly constructed wooden watchtowers. Unfortunately, while the secondary defensive structures made it nearly impossible for roaming bands to threaten Toste's crop supplies, the size of it all made it difficult for the city's dwindling military to adequately defend the land and its crops against determined attackers.

And that would be the case that day. Audreyn's group would arrive just in time to see the first wave of barbarians streaming over the walls. The wild men and women wore nothing better than leather and held worn weapons in their hands as they crested the palisades over rickety ladders and hopped to the ground below. A few immediately began working to unbar the door, causing Melker to shout. "Push to the gate now! We can't let them open it and walk right into the fields! The life of every man, woman, and child in the city depends on us! Forward!" With a war cry, he began to charge forward and was soon followed by the rest of the group, some more reluctantly than others. The barbarians, apparently equally intent on securing the gate, would counter with a charge of their own, leaving the two forces to meet somewhere in the middle.

By the time the two forces clashed, the number of Toste fighters and barbarians was nearly one to one, leaving an opponent for just about everybody on the field. Assuming Audreyn followed Melker's orders and her own group into the melee which quickly spread into a chaotic skirmish due to the disorganized nature of both groups, she would find her own first opponent in the form of a tall, wild-looking man with braided red hair and a long unkempt beard of the same color. He wore a wolf's furs on his back and a hard leather tunic for protection. The man was wielding two axes and based on the way he was charging her he had an apparent intention of using both on her.

Audreyn Artansdottr: 4/4/1/3/3/1, Stam: 40, No Talents.
Hand: 2, 6, 5, 2, 2.

Dual Wielding Barbarian: At long range.

Notes: I don't actually want to test larger scale battles yet. Rolling a 40 vs 40 when I haven't even rolled a player-based 1v1 is the definition of running before crawling, I think. Instead this will function kinda in a wave manner. Depending on how fast or slow Audreyn dispatches enemies, more will come her way or she'll have opportunities to further Toste's goals in the battle.

She can also choose to instead to stand back and just shoot her bow at random enemies. I just wrote based on her charging into the melee because it felt weird stopping at the decision tree of either "follow the group or stand back and plink arrows at a people for a bit." If you choose arrows I can just rewrite things to fit that, and you can use the dice stuff below.
 

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Eleanor wandered the streets of Toste alone in the early dawn dressed for battle, though she didn't expect to find any. She took any sort of work she could these days, though there wasn't much to be found in the dying city. Sometimes she found oddjobs to perform, other times some relatively unsavory tasks... Her last job had been a debt collection, which of course hadn't gone as smoothly or as nonviolently as she would have liked. That had been a bit ago though, and now she was considering her options. Perhaps one of the bars had thrown something out...

She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of a bell ringing through the crisp morning air, the fires atop the great walls lighting up one by one in signal... Barbarians? Actually attacking the city itself? The young woman was struck dumb where she stood for a few moments. That was ludicrous, simply ludicrous. They had never done anything nearly so bold before! Hundreds of them... Town scouts and criers repeated the news all about, yelling for volunteers to help. And that was her opening! Surely she would be rewarded handsomely if she helped defend the city. And of course, there was also the consideration that if the barbarians succeeded the whole city would likely starve to death. That wouldn't be her fate, no matter what! If nothing else she would slit her own throat before she starved.

Eleanor took a few moments to ready herself mentally before rushing to the southwest gate, sword at her side. When she got there she found the commander of the army barking out orders. Eilert Sverdsson, he was called... The Wolf. She had never met him personally, but even so she harbored some amount of disdain for the giant of a man. Anyone so unwaveringly loyal, so willing to do whatever he was told by someone simply because of the station of their birth... it was unseemly and a little bit disgusting. Even so their goals were aligned for now, and time was of the essence. She rushed over to the scribes and gave them her name, ready to be assigned to her group.
 
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Hafnium

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Eleanor

Eleanor would go through a similar process as Audreyn before her had, having arrived just a few moments before the first group was sent to the palisade gate. Unlike the recognized soldiers, her name would have to be added to a list rather than checked against it. Once her named had been scrawled on the parchment, the scribe simply called out: "Volunteer!" Perhaps to her preference, the lord commander paid only enough attention to her to point her in the direction of the group she was meant to join.

It was perhaps the least professional and smallest of the groups so far. It consisted of twenty-five people at the most, all with varying quality equipment and at different levels of combat readiness. A few looked too fat to jog, let alone charge while others were clearly battle-tested mercenaries. Some wore little more than tunics and carried farming implements while others were properly armed and armored. And moments after Eleanor had arrived, Eilert patted another of his elites on the shoulder and sent them join the volunteer's group. A shorter figure than the rest of the lord commander's personal retinue, standing at 5'9", but still clad in full plate and wielding a vicious-looking war spear. But the mercenary woman couldn't recognize her group's assigned by armor and weapon alone.

"You bunch aren't quite what I'd call warriors, the figure addressed Eleanor's group as a whole in a clearly feminine voice, not that it aided in determining who she was for a person outside of Toste's military. "The good news is that we're probably not going to need warriors for our assignment. Eyes on the city walls think they might have spotted a small detachment heading toward the southeastern palisades. Probably a flanking force intended to hit our gate detachment from behind. We're going to patrol along that side just to be safe, then reinforce the gate if necessary. Chances are that this will be over before any of us even need to spill a single drop of blood, and you'll all get paid a heavy little pouch of coins just for taking a morning stroll. So, let's get moving."

The armored woman would take the lead, walking along the wall toward the point where it met the palisade. Their trip would take even longer than the first group's had, given their slower pace and the longer route they needed to take. It was almost more like a field trip than a defensive patrol though, with a disorganized group consisting of everything from farmers to swords for hire being herded around by one of the city's elite warriors. Their path took them along the very edge of Toste's territory, walking a relatively narrow strip of land between tall fields of grain on their right sides and the city's massive stone walls on their left, eventually changing as they came upon the palisade and continued by following the same strip but with ten-foot tall wooden stakes on their left instead.

They would prove no luckier than the gate group, however. Twenty or thirty minutes into their walk they spotted the signs of barbarian intrusion. Ladders laid across the top of the palisades, but no enemies were visible. "Shit," the group's leader muttered under her breath. "We weren't fast enough. They've gotten through. We need to get moving and reinforce the gate before they're flanked," she ordered aloud. Before the group could even get moving again though, a war cry issued from the grain field to their side. Without any extra warning, a few dozen barbarians would erupt from the obscuring crops and charge at the group.

"Shit! Ambush! If you haven't learned how to fight yet, now's the time!" The elite warrior readied her spear and tried to lead her volunteer soldiers in a counter-charge to minimal success. In the blink of an eye, Eleanor was in the middle of a frantic melee with warriors clashing all around her. A tall woman with long hair, wearing boiled leather and wielding a poorly kept shield and sword was charging her specifically. She, and all the others around her, had no choice but to fight or die.

Eleanor: 5/2/2/3/1/2, Stam: 20, Weapon Training (Longsword)
Hand: 2, 4, 2, 4

Sword and shield barbarian: Medium range.

Note: Much like above. More like a wave simulator than any sort of pitched, large-scale battle. GL DD.
 

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Audreyn didn't look for any signs of recognition in the Lord Commander's eyes, even if some simple girlish part of her might seek it in a figure that she admired so. She simply nodded at her ordered position and fell into it with simplistic, comfortable precision, and when an officer was sent to them - one that she knew by reputation to a lesser extent - she was not among those who glanced aside in apparent worry about being the first wave into combat. Self preservation might be a natural instinct and one that her soldiering had only served to hone and guide such that, in a sense, she included Toste as a recognizable part of it. The city and its people were the only home she had ever known, the place where her forefathers had earned fortune and glory as central figures in the greatest city in the world. If her life was spent defending it, even if it meant the end of that noble lineage, then it was a price that she was not unprepared to pay.

"Yes sir!" Audreyn would answer automatically, standing ready to march at a moment's notice, and when Melker started moving so too did she. There was no concerted effort to reach the forefront of the group on her part, but her long legs and eager stride took her past some of the more hesitant members of Toste's first array of defenders and ended up leaving the redheaded noblewoman among the first ranks of ragtag warriors and militia who were first upon the fields where the city's crops were grown. It was soon to be a killing field, for as they stepped out into the open they immediately saw the first of the barbarians cresting the makeshift palisade that the city had erected in order to secure its breadbasket.

Already some were making for the gate, and if it were opened the enemy force would be able to pillage, despoil, or destroy Toste's only source of food, or simply camp upon it and starve out the crumbling capitol's remaining inhabitants. This was not just a battle to repel some hungry thieves... It was one to secure the very future of their civilization!

Commander Melker hardly needed to signal their charge for Audreyn to begin hurtling herself forward, drawing her sword as she ran that she might be in the forefront of combat. Her toned, conditioned frame was carried forth and long, almost bounding strides, her footing sure like a dancer's even on the somewhat rough ground over which they were forced to charge. The barbarians - folk barely better than animals to her estimation - turned to meet them, and the two forces closed like opposing waves. There was no time for orders, for careful formations or shield walls, or the tactics of the past that had allowed their people to so easily ward off such disorganized attacks in the past; it was to be warrior on warrior here today, with each kill or crippling blow scoring for one side or another. Under less urgent circumstances she might have drawn the bow she wore on her back, opening fire with others similarly armed to form a skirmishing line before battle was properly joined, but there wasn't time today; death needed to come with the utmost swiftness to those had had already come over the outer walls, so that they could secure the gate and begin knocking down those ladders.

Audreyn hardly needed to try to find her first opponent, a wild man bearing a pair of axes, one in each hand. He came at her roaring, and she danced forth without a sound, so light on her feet that she seemed to float at times as the thin straight sword she carried flashed through the air. She took both hands to it as her opponent drew nearer, the weapon heavier and sturdier than its slender build suggested, and she flitted towards her first opponent on light feet before suddenly darting backwards, making to bait out his initial swings that he might play out his momentum before she aimed a quick, pivoting slash towards the man's upper arm. Disable first, slow your prey until they cannot fight any longer... Then go in for the kill. The sting of the hornet, followed by the strike of the falcon, two of the symbols adapted by families that had become a part of her illustrious line, their secrets of warfare passed down to her across the generations until now... When she would put them into hopefully deadly effect.

Use the 6 as Dodge focused defense, a 5 to make an attack, with a 2 spent as a reactive defense for a parry. Use a 2 to enter medium range and maintain it, leaving a 2 in hand I guess?
 
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Hafnium

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Audreyn

Audreyn Artansdottr: 4/4/1/3/3/1, Stam: 40, No Talents.
Hand: 4, 3, 1, 5, 2.

New combat information:
Melker: Medium range.
Waraxe Gambeson Barbarian: Medium range.
Longsword Leather Barbarian: Medium range.

Round Information
Defense:
Audreyn dodges for 6 + 3 = 9. Also prepares a reactive defense of 2, or 5 based on her swing for the round.
Dual Wielding Barbarian parries for 3 + 2 = 5.

Attack:
Audreyn swings her longsword for 5 + 4 = 9. 9 - (5 - 3) = 7. The hit gets through. 7 + 4 + 1 - 3 = 9. A mortal wound.
Dual Wielding Barbarian swings his non-parrying axe. 2 + 2 = 4. 5 > 4, so he's parried with the attack.

Movement:
Audreyn moves into the neighboring zone, putting her at medium distance with all further enemies.
The Dual Wielding Barbarian tries to move to medium range with Audreyn, but it doesn't matter.

Aftermath:
The duel wielding barbarian takes a mortal wound to his left arm. This puts him past his resilience threshold so he drops to the ground, helpless, and begins to bleed out (1 temporary injury per round unless somebody attends to his wounds).

Audreyn's longsword is at durability 96/100.

Audreyn's plan would work out in the end, though with a few modifications. The wild-eyed man proved more interested in getting to grips with her than making any serious swings at the warrior-woman. Her initial efforts to bait out his swings by dodging backward didn't net her much on its own simply because he wasn't as willing to make them, but when she pushed in afterward she caught him by obvious surprise. He made a sloppy side-cut with his right axe aimed squarely at the noblewoman's ribs, but with lightning speed Audreyn caught the weapon with the blade of her own longsword and pushed it uselessly away. From there she was able to seamlessly move into rolling her blade off of the weapon and using the momentum to deliver a terrible cut to his left arm, which had raised just a bit too slowly in an effort to stop her riposte.

The edge of her family's sword cut terribly deep. It exposed fat, muscle, and only stopped when it had chipped the bone beneath it all. A waterfall of blood began to pour from his injury in such an alarming quantity that, even if Audreyn didn't finish him soon, his blood loss surely would. The wound was so grievous that her opponent's grip failed and he dropped his axe. And as Audreyn prepared to deliver another blow, his second axe dropped as well, followed by the barbarian man, clutching his profusely bleeding arm. The man's injury seemed to have put him into shock, and he was now an easy target for Audreyn to finish off completely.

Whether she decided to spend an effort on that or not, her efficiency with her first opponent had opened her a path to assist Melker, who had pushed forward in an attempt to get to the barbarians working to unbar the gate and found himself facing off against two better-equipped barbarian men, one wearing a waraxe and gambeson and the other with a longsword and leather. He whirled his bidenhander threateningly to keep them at bay as they circled him, each side looking for the opportunity that would give them the killing blow. She would be able to even the odds, if she liked, or perhaps pursue some other goal entirely.

Overall, the battle for the gate seemed to be progressing well for the warrior group. Dozens of barbarians were injured, dying, or dead, while only a few of Audreyn's number had taken injuries or fallen. The only real danger was the constant stream of barbarian reinforcements still pouring over the palisade walls and quickly replacing their falling allies, and the alarming amount of progress being made by the ones still working at the gate to open it for their allies. Still, if Audreyn could dispatch a few more enemies so quickly and her allies kept fighting, they'd easily make it before the gate was opened.
 

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

There was no frustration to be had as Audreyn danced fruitlessly, hoping to bait out a strike that her opponent never came. It was her testing strike that delivered results, allowing her to flick her blade under the head of his axe and bring it up and away, exposing the underside of his arm and allowing her to complete the strike. She cut him deep, rending through meat in all its forms until the edge of her weapon dug a furrow in living bone, and when she retracted her sword was followed by a gush of blood. She would have easily been able to wait him out at that point, but his other weapon fell to the ground and he quickly followed it, clutching at the wound from which his life's-blood was so vehemently pouring.

That left her able to seek a new target, leaving her first opponent to bleed out, and a glance around revealed Melker in apparent peril as he faced off against two more heavily armored barbarians at once. The two were circling around him as he tried to ward them off, waiting for the opportunity to strike a killing blow, and Audreyn rushed to his aid without hesitation. It was the one with the axe that she targeted, trusting in the experienced Melker's ability to beat out a barbarian swordsman, and so she aimed a flicking strike towards the barbarian's fingers, tempting him into retracting his cumbersome weapon so that she could jab for his wrist and cut open his forearm and let spill his blood just as she had the last man she'd killed.

Discard the 2 in order to increase the 4 to a 6, then spend the 5 for a focused Dodge, that 6 I made to attack with the 1 spent for a reactive parry. Should leave me with a 3 in hand. Should get an additional +2 accuracy this round from range, go for piercing damage to ignore half armor.
 

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

"Cynthia Lorlove. Mage," said a woman dressed in a white robe that obscured the leathers beneath them. Even odder was her hair, tinged unnatural colors - purple, blue - and more lustrous than it ought to have been, even were it well cared for. She stood aside - and swept her arm over the half-dozen-or-so women following her, dressed in robes much like hers over whatever armor they might have had themselves. They began to speak their names as well.

Besides being a mage, Cynthia was also the proprietress of The Honesty House - so-called to encourage its patrons to be honest about their desires. It was a pleasure house where Toste's folk could go to try to escape the cloak of desperation and despair that hung over the city. Seekers could come to them for sex - though they also offered massages, dancing, music, food, drink, and even simple conversation with the lovely ladies that resided with her. Her girls came from all kinds of walks of life - and some of them, whether because they knew how to fight, refused to allow these invaders to threaten their homes, or simply out of lust for coin, had insisted on heeding the call with her. Cynthia spared one of her less martial girls a glance - Valra, who she could never decide as to describe as 'adventurous' or just 'simple.' Cynthia had an inkling she in particular might just be doing it to get at the wildmen, though she had also been the one who'd helped her don her armor before they'd left. While they were gone, the rest of the girls would have shut and locked the Honesty House to keep it safe - a cauldron of water over the upstairs hearth, conveniently just above the main entrance's window.

As the girls spoke their names, Cynthia eyed the clerk. She fingered her knife and shield.. and her spellbook, in her satchel at her hip. A few of her girls might've been carrying more dangerous weapons than her... though on the whole, they did not approach anything resembling an 'elite company' like the Citadel's men did. "As you can see, we are not especially well-equipped... I hope you won't have us on the frontline? I am skilled in healing, to mention, and my girls can assist."
 

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Eleanor scoffed just a bit when she saw the group to which she had been appointed; a small one comparatively, and obviously the most motley and ragtag of the bunch. Several of them were obviously just farmers in varying stages of fitness, some still wielding the tools of their trade. There were a few who were obviously mercenaries, but most of them looked like they'd never raised a weapon against another person in anger. It just showed what the commander thought of her. She would prove him wrong she was sure, though she wasn't terribly invested in his opinion in any case. The soldier assigned to their group was one of the shorter ones, though still they towered over Eleanor, carrying a rather wicked-looking spear and clad head to toe in plate. This stuff they gave proper soldiers, it was some of the most expensive stuff she had ever seen in all her life.

Apparently it would be their mission to patrol along the palisades that blocked off the farmland from the outside world, checking for a possible flanking attack. The soldier, apparently a woman by the sound of her voice, seemed to think that they wouldn't need to actually fight... and looking at the people around her Eleanor couldn't help but hope that she was right. They set out soon afterwards, though the group moved quite slowly. It was almost boring, this walk around the fields... For the first half hour or so. Then they spotted the ladders along the palisades, and her heart started to beat a little bit faster. Soon she would be in the thick of it. She drew her sword and started to turn towards the gate just as she heard many voices crying aloud beside them, a group of barbarians hiding in the tall grain beside them. Dozens of them perhaps, though she didn't get a particularly good look.

The barbarians charged them immediately, and though the leader tried to whip up her volunteers into a counter-charge it simply didn't happen, the reaction time and the will weren't there. One in particular came at Eleanor, a woman with a sword and a small shield leaving her no choice but to raise her own weapon, taking her stance... The woman would come to her, would make a mistake, and would get punished for it. That was the plan, anyway...

Spend a 4 to attack, a 4 to dodge as a focused defense, and a 2 as a reactive parry
 
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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Audreyn
Audreyn Artansdottr: 4/4/1/3/3/1, Stam: 40, No Talents.
Hand: 3, 3, 2, 1, 6
Longsword Durability: 92/100

Melker: Medium range.
Waraxe Gambeson Barbarian: Critical Injury.
Longsword Leather Barbarian: Dead.

The gate is 3 zones away. It's occupied by 4 enemies.
Enemy 1 is wearing chainmail and wielding a longsword and round shield.
Enemy 2 is wearing chainmail and wielding a waraxe.
Enemy 3 is wearing leather and wielding a handaxe and a longsword.
Enemy 4 is wearing leather and wielding a poleaxe.

Round Information
Pre-round:
Audreyn spends her 2 in order to boost her 4 to a 6.

Defense:
Audreyn spends a 5 on focused dodge for a total of 5 + 3 = 8, and a 1 on a reactive parry.
Melker spends a 6 on focused dodge for a total of 6 + 3 = 9, and a 1 on a reactive parry.
Longsword Barbarian spends a 3 on focused dodge for a total of 3 + 3 = 6.
Waraxe Barbarian spends a 5 on focused dodge for a total of 5 + 3 = 8, and a 6 on a reactive parry.

Attack:
Audreyn swings at Waraxe Barbarian. 6 + 4 + 2 = 12. He's reactive parrying, and his attack this round is a 2 so he gets 2 + 3 + 2 = 7 to stop her attack. That takes her down to 12 - (7 - 3) = 8. His focused dodge is an 8, taking her down to 8 - (8 - 3) = 3. She hits. Her damage is 3 + 3 + 2 + 1 - (4 - 2) = 7 damage. Conditioning is 3 so this is a critical injury. His resilience is 3 so he's still standing.

Melker attacks longsword barbarian using piercing and a 4. 4 + 5 + 2 + 2 = 13. Longsword guy used a 3 so his die matched and his dodge is a 10. 13 - (10 - 3) = 6. 6 + 4 + 3 - (3 - 2) = 12 damage. Longsword guy's Vs Injury is 3, so this is an incapacitating injury.

Melker follows up with a second piercing blow using a 1. 1 + 5 + 2 + 2 - 2 = 8. Longsword guy's die no longer matches and his dodge was reduced by 6 - (13 - 2) to 0. He takes 8 + 4 + 3 - (3 - 2) = 14 damage, leaving him dead as fuck.

Waraxe Barbarian swings at Audreyn using a 2. 2 + 3 + 2 = 7. Audreyn's reactive parry is 6 + 4 + 2 = 12. She stops the first attack.

Waraxe Barbarian swings a second time at Audreyn using a 3. 3 + 3 + 2 - 2 = 6. Audreyn's dodge is 8. She maneuvers out of the way of that attack as well.

Longsword Barbarian swings Melker using a 1. 1 + 3 + 2 = 6. Melker's reactive parry is 4 + 4 + 2 + 2 = 12. He parries the blow.

Longsword Barbarian swings at Melker using a 4. 4 + 3 + 2 - 2 = 7. Melker's dodge is 9. He dodges this too.

Aftermath:
The longsword barbarian dies a painful death.
The waraxe barbarian takes a critical wound and can no longer use his right arm.

Audreyn's tactics proved to be well chosen, even if the barbarian didn't react quite in the way she might've expected. Her flicking strike caused the man to try to parry her weapon, for whatever reason, and then try to get a counterstrike on her as her blade danced away before he could catch it. His swing came from high, which offered her an excellent opportunity, and she was able to to catch his weapon on her blade and in the same motion push the tip of her sword directly into the man's wrist, severing essential veins and vessels and causing him to cry out in pain and let go of the axe with his right hand.

In the meantime, Melker made short work of his own opponent once he no longer had to watch his flank for the waraxe-wielding enemy. The longsword-wielding enemy decided to thrust at the plate-wearing knight's head, which the knight, in turn, effortlessly parried by taking a halfswording grip on his bidenhander and pushing the incoming tip to the side, then thrust his weapon down into the barbarian's vulnerable right thigh so hard that, if Audreyn spared the glance, she could see it poking out the other side of the man's leg. The powerful knight mercilessly ripped the weapon out, causing the longsword-wielder to fall to the ground, then planted one plated boot on the man's chest and followed up by thrusting the weapon up through his opponent's jaw and into his brain, finishing him quickly.

Withdrawing his weapon from his dead opponent, the lord commander's first in command would spare a glance back at Audreyn and the crippled barbarian. "Thanks for the helping hand! I'm going for the gate! Finish him and catch up!" Melker began to rush to the gate immediately, and his reason for doing so would likely quickly become obvious if Audreyn was willing to spare a look toward his destination. The barbarians who had been working on the double doors the entire time had dislodged the wooden log that kept them closed, and were now beginning to lift the heavy thing out of its slots. The only thing keeping the gate closed now was the sheer weight of the bar and the distance it had to be moved in order to take it out, as it was a job normally performed by eight to ten farmers.

To make matters worse, even though her group was doing a lot more damage to the constant stream of reinforcing barbarians than they were receiving in turn, they were getting bogged down by sheer weight of numbers. Her small group had probably already cut down 60-70 enemies, but they still found themselves matched one-to-one or more in opponents. As it stood, Audreyn and a few others had any chance of slipping through their current opponents in order to stop the four who would, given just little while longer, open the gates and allow a swarm of enemies to fall upon them and overwhelm her group. It seemed to be the barbarians' entire goal, as despite the waraxe-wielding barbarian's inability to even properly wield his weapon anymore he still stood in Audreyn's way in an attempt to stop her from joining her group's commander in securing the gate.

Cynthia

The scribes were confused but would diligently take the mage's name and those of all her followers in order, shouting out the word 'volunteer' for each one. Whether it was clear to Cynthia or not, they made no effort to hide the fact that none of them expected the famous -- or infamous, depending on who was talking about her -- brothel owner to show up with a retinue of girls which many of those same scribes had visited in the past. The strangeness of the latest volunteers required the lord commander's personal attention, and the giant plate-wearing man would approach Cynthia directly.

"I appreciate any volunteers, but none of the fields are safe as it stands. The only safety is behind the stone walls, and if you wish to heal the injured it would be best to set up some tents inside for the returning wounded and attend to them there," he warned the mage. "But if you want to provide closer support, I would send you to the front gate to heal or retrieve any of the injured there. That is where the fighting will be at its worst, but every sword arm there is crucial to Toste's survival. If you're willing to go, I'll send some of my warriors with you to keep you safe from any stragglers," he offered.

Eleanor
Eleanor: 5/2/2/3/1/2, Stam: 19/20, Weapon Training (Longsword)
Hand: 2, 5, 5, 4

Sword and shield barbarian: Medium range.

Round Information
Defenses:
Eleanor pays 4 as a focused dodge, which gives her 4 + 2 = 6 dodge., 2 as a reactive parry.
Sword and shield barbarian uses a 4 as a focused dodge, which gives her 4+2 = 6 dodge., 2 as a focused block, which gives her 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8 block.

Attack:
Eleanor swings using a 4, which becomes 4 + 5 + 2 + 2 = 13. Her swing goes against the barbarian's dodge first, as it's higher. It's matching die, so her dodge becomes 9. 13 - (9 - 1) = 5. 5 then goes against focused block of 8, which defeats it.
The barbarian swings back using a 5. 5 + 2 + 2 = 9. It goes against Eleanor's reactive parry first. Her reactive parry is 4 + 5 + 2 + 2 = 13. The swing is defeated.

Movement:
No movement.

Aftermath:
Nothing happened.

Unfortunately for Eleanor, the other woman's shield covered for any mistakes in her movements. The swordswoman tried to cut low, to remove her opponent's right, leading leg from under her and open the other woman up for a kill, but the other woman withdrew it just a bit too quickly and tried to trap Eleanor's sword with the rim of her shield, forcing the mercenary woman to pull her weapon back. It was for the best, as her longsword came back just in time in order to catch a thrust from her opponent's longsword aimed at her belly and turn it to the side. Neither warrior had managed to gain the advantage, which was much more of a problem for the mercenary than it was for the barbarian given the way the battle progressed around them.

The farmers were accomplishing little more before the barbarians than requiring just enough attention for a crippling or killing blow before the raiders could turn toward the more accomplished warriors in the group and overwhelm them with numbers. The only saving grace was that the barbarians were to the mercenaries and the group's captain what the farmers were to the barbarians. Eleanor's more well-trained companions were either holding their own or had already dispatched their opponents and moved to pick up the slack. The various imbalances in personal skill and gear meant that the battle was still relatively even, despite everything else. Still, every kill and second mattered, and each Toste warrior would have to contribute as much as they could if the day was to be won.
 

Tiffanian

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Eleanor waited until her enemy had come in close and swung her blade low, aiming for the leg... but the barbarian just managed to get out the way and smack the sword away with her shield. That forced her onto the back foot, pulling her blade back to defend herself from a jab aimed at her gut, turning the blade aside fairly easily. All around her was chaos; most of the farmers were cut down nearly immediately, a combination of their lack of training and equipment proving quite lethal. The other mercenaries were doing just fine against their opponents, but they were outnumbered... She just had to focus and bring down her opponent quickly if she was to keep from being overwhelmed.

5 to Attack, 5 to Focused Dodge, and two to reactive parry
 

Tassadar

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

"Yes sir!" Audreyn snapped back after the second exchange went solely in their favor. Melker had killed the swordsman outright, and though her opponent wasn't quite out of the way he was still practically crippled, one hand useless even if the other still clutched at his axe. Her efforts had driven the tip of her blade into his wrist, and his own attacks had never come near to touching her... But that didn't mean he could be ignored entirely.

A glance around revealed the true direness of their situation, as while the defenders of Toste had largely won their exchanges the barbarians were constantly being replaced. What was worse, however, was the situation at the gate; already the barbarians were lifting the heavy log serving as a crossbar for it out of its slotting, and though it normally took at least eight strong men to shift the thing the barbarians were beginning to move it. If those gates opened, they would have a hard time indeed retaking the vital field... And she and the other defenders trying to secure the gates would almost surely be overwhelmed.

It was not fear for herself that pushed Audreyn to redouble her assault, however, but fear for the city and what would befall it if the raiders were allowed to win today. Melker was already on the way, but in a four on one even he couldn't hope to win... But before she could rush to the commander's aid she had to deal with the axe wielder, and so she turned her full attention back to him and aimed another jab at his arm, followed quickly by a riposting slash in case he swung at her that would allow her to parry and turn point of her blade in just the right direction so as to put a jab through one of his thighs.

Alright... Spend a 3 on a focused dodge, then the 6 and the other 3 on attacks with the 1 as a parry, use the 2 to start moving towards the other barbarians.
 

GargantuaBlarg

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Re: The Beginning of the End (Starting Event, All Characters)

Cynthia fluttered her fingers at one of the regulars she recognized. Even in that shapeless figure-hiding mail shirt, he had a nice ass.

"You all look so surprised. Toste is our home too, isn't it? We rather like it with the fields untrampled and the streets unplagued by coinless marauders." Cynthia smiled and unshouldered the shield and rapped her knuckles on it - its face decorated with a heart, drawn in a rather garish pink, with white filling the shape in. Surprisingly, the wood even showed some sign of actual use, and bore some chips in its surface. "Not all of us were equipped or trained for the danger, of course, but we stand with Toste!"

The Lord Commander was an intimidating man to be approached by - even without his armor, the man was so tall! Cynthia swallowed, and then spoke up. "W-well! I think setting up tents sounds like a good idea, though I should be able to help in other ways, too." Looking up at him, and then to the clerks and other fighters, she continued, smiling. "The Honesty House plans to hold a celebration once we're safe again! I hope you'll come to toast Toste's continuing endurance with us once the barbarians have been fought off!"
 
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