Mavnn
-
Posts
219 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
News
Store
Forums
Downloads
Events
Posts posted by Mavnn
-
-
Yeah, Hojo's not individually more powerful than Sephiroth, but he can call upon the resources of Shinra - along with his 'experiments'. The unknown hunter really is more powerful than Sephiroth, and is the same unknown hunter as on Nemo (the PC's character sheet). He will remain unknown for the moment for plot reasons
....not to mention the fact that I haven't given him a name yet...
Good catch on the leaping distances, though.
Michael
-
I'd go with XDM, Usable Against Others to steal the soul in the first place and then Summon (Specific Creature, Only from my subconscious) to get them back. Stick 'em in a multipower or something. It's a brutally broken power... for example, this is also how I'd build omega beams.
YMMV
Michael
-
Yeah, I was aware of the 'Surbrook' version (although I think that particular write-up is by Max Firth sp?). I wanted a slightly more powerful version for my own game, however, and one who used my house rules (buying a mana reserve for materia, etc). I wanted a version to whom dragons really are just a minor irritation
.Hmmm... both the stretching and the jenova mind control are good calls. The stretching I'll probably stick in, the mind control will be slightly different from the video game version - different plot and all - but should be there.
I should probably stick desolid on there as well...
Michael
-
OK, so my Final Fantasy 7 game is progressing nicely. So I decided that it was time to stat up Mr. Bishinon himself, the guy with the bare chest, Sephiroth. The main reason for this is that I need some idea of what I'm scaling towards, so I can give everything else suitable levels of states.
In the rules I'm using, characters do not have to pay for the abilities materia grant them, but they do have to buy the Endurance Reserve to run them off, so that might explain some strangeness on the character sheet. Other than that, what do people think? Anything blatent I've missed? Any comments?
As far as power level goes, I've mainly gone from the fact that Sephiroth considers a lesser dragon an enemy beneath this contempt (who he dispatches with ease) in the first cut screen we see him in. So I decided I needed a write up would could easily defeat a lesser dragon from the besteriary, and defeat a greater dragon without too much difficulty. Despite his stats, I view him as more of a martial artist than a brick, so I have no problem with the fact that his attacks out weigh his defenses.
Michael
BTW - This is a first draft write up. I in no way guarantee points costs/totals are accurate in any way what-so-ever.
Sephiroth
Player: NPC
Val Char
50 STR
30 DEX
40 CON
25 BODY
23 INT
23 EGO
35 PRE
24 COM
21 PD Totals: 30/r14
21 ED Totals: 30/r14
8 SPD
18 REC
60 END
70 STUN
6" RUN 0
2" SWIM 0
2" LEAP 0
Cost Power
23 Mana Reserve: Endurance Reserve (200 END, 20 REC) Reserve: (20 Active Points) REC: (10 Active Points); Only While In Deep Sleep (-2)
30 Movement Multipower (30pt)
u3 Gravity Means Nothing to Me I: Leaping +30" (32"/64")
u3 Gravity Means Nothing to Me II: Flight 10", x8 NCM (10"/80")
u3 Reality Bends to My Will I: Teleport 15" (15"/30")
u3 Reality Bends to My Will II: Teleport 6", Megascale 1"=1,000km (Scaleable) +1 1/4, Safe Blind Teleport (+1/4)
5 Naturally Tough Skin: Damage Resistance 5/5
26 Masamune: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 4d6 (6d6 w/STR) (vs. PD), Reduced Endurance 0 END (+1/2) (90 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Min 20 (-1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2)
6 Fast with a Sword: Missile Deflection (Bullets & Shrapnel) (15 Active Points); OAF (Focus (Big Sword); -1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2)
Cost Skill
(Skills with 0 cost are 'Everyman' skills, that all characters get for free)
0 Acting 8-
3 AK: Midgar (INT-based) 14-
1 AK: City of the Ancients (INT-based) 8-
3 Breakfall 15-
0 Concealment 8-
3 Conversation 16-
3 Deduction 14-
3 KS: Mako Creatures 14-
3 KS: Ancient Knowledge (INT-based) 14-
3 KS: Strategy 14-
3 Oratory 16-
3 Paramedics 14-
3 Persuasion 16-
0 PS: Soldier 11-
3 Seduction 16-
0 Shadowing 8-
3 Tactics 14-
3 Teamwork 14-
0 TF: Custom Adder, Small Motorized Ground Vehicles [Notes: Custom Mod is Everyman Skill]
32 CSL: +4 w/Combat
12 CSL: +4 w/Swordsmanship
10 CSL: +5 w/Missile Deflection
20 CSL: +8 w/Materia, Only to Increase Effect (-1)
Martial Arts
Cost Martial Arts Maneuver
Soldier Swordsmanship
4 1) Block: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort
4 2) Disarm: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 60 STR to Disarm roll
4 3) Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort
5 4) Lunge: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, -2 DCV, +2 DC Strike (6 1/2d6K)
5 5) Slash: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, +2 DC Strike (6 1/2d6K)
4 6) Slice: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, +1 DC Strike (6d6+1K)
5 7) Stab: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, Strike (6d6K)
Martial Arts Cost: 34
Cost Talent
18 Combat Luck (9 PD/9 ED)
Total Character Cost: 570 pts.
Pts. Disadvantage
25 Hunted: Hojo 11- (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish; Extensive Non-Combat Influence)
15 Hunted: Unknown 8- (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish)
Example Materia:
Firaga, Icaga: 16d6 EB (20d6 w/dedicated CSLs), 24 END
Curaga: 8d6 Heal, 24 END
Ultima: 20d6 EB, Area of Effect: Radius, Selective, 30 END
Barrier: 50% Resistant Physical Damage Reduction, 6 END/Phase, Takes an attack option action to activate (choose END to be spent at the time)
Shield: 50% Resistant Energy Damage Reduction, 6 END/Phase, Takes an attack option action to activate (choose END to be spent at the time)
-
Originally posted by Peregrine
And less abusive in practice than contemporary accounts would indicate. (Yes, there was abusive behavior then... and there still is now.)
I always thought 'Doc' Smith's attitude to women was interesting. He was obviously effected by the prevailing attitudes of this times, but if you read through his stories (not just lensmen) there are numerious strong female characters. The Red Lensman, the daughters of Kinnison, the women in the Skylark books. It's been a while since I've read family d'Alambert (sp?) but I seem to remember some strong female's in that too.
They do have a habit of screaming and fainting at the slightest provocation, I admit, but if you notice they only do that as long as it's an option. The moment they really have to do something they just get on with it.
Michael
-
This kind of game would depend a lot on what 'Stage' of lensman you wanted players to have available.
Stage 1 lensmen are pulp heroes with some unusual abilities, second stage lensmen are superpowered mental powerhouses (and physical, depending on race) while stage 3 lensmen are just plain insane in power level.
In all cases for equipment needs to be powerful enough to make up for the differences in physical abilities among the races. Kinnison is frequently massively outclassed in physical strength and toughness, but give him a delamiter and some armour and he'll take out anything that moves.
Michael
-
This is how I would do it - you only have one real arm (small Phys Lim), and the replacement is a focus and takes damage using the focus rules.
Michael
-
Well, to be fair I think for them it's normally used for physical and energy DR, where you can reasonably expect to find a very wide range of damage. For MD, it's expensive, but if you think about it it multiplys the effectiveness of MD by 2. So with a +1 advantage, it's increasing the cost from 30 pts to 60 pts.
Effect from points spent on MD = +30 MD
Effect from points spent on MDR = x2 Current MD
So the benefits balance if you have 30 points of MD, while if you have more you're better off buying MDR, and if you have less you're better off buying MD.
This assumes in both cases you've already brought Damage Reduction that works after defenses.
With a +1 1/2 advantage, you're looking at the break even being 45 MD, which does seem a little high. I still think that it looks a reasonable costing for the physical/energy version, though.
Michael
-
The Global Guardians website lists the following house rule additions for Damage Reduction. They reckon it's a +1 1/2, which sounds about right and has probably been play tested (I doubt the house rule was made up on a whim - it was probably for a specific character).
Michael
Damage Reduction:
* Affects Non-Damaging Attacks (+¾): With this Advantage, the Damage Reduction reduces the effects of attacks which normally cause no damage (such as Flash attacks) if the attacks match the character's special effect. Example: Sunlight Man, a light-wielding character with Damage Reduction, would apply his Damage Reduction to any Flash attack whose special effect was bright strobes of light.
* Damage Reduction can be applied first, before any applicable defenses, as a +1½ advantage.
-
Heh. In one of the Druss books (Druss the Legend, I think) there are two people watching Druss fight in a massed melee.
One of them comments (heavily paraphased, it's been a while): "How has the man survived this long? He doesn't seem to defend himself at all."
The reply: "His defense is that anyone within reach is already dead. And he has a longer reach than most people."
I once built a fantasy NPC who was just supposed to be just that scary, so I added the construct: RKA 3d6K, Continuous (+1), 0 END (+1/2), AE 2" (+3/4), Selective (+1/4) [157 AP], No Range (-1/2), Must Be Aware of Target (-1/4), Only Up to Damage and Reach of Wielded Weapon (-1/4) [78 RP].
He normally carried a great axe with 1" Stretching with which he did (you guessed it) 3d6K damage. So, once he was in 'combat mode', if he noticed you coming within 1" of him, he could hit you immediately. And then on his turn, he could hit everyone within 1" without using an action! So he could still defend himself will dishing out insane quantities of damage to anyone who came anywhere near him. Or, if he was in a bad mood he could just smack you a second time. (He had some general combat levels and several PSLs to hit specific locations for when he wanted to kill people really dead).
Unfotunately the campaign never got off the ground, so the players never saw him in action. They also never saw him get poisened the next night so that they'd have to try and take his place as the hero's of the nation ;-).
Michael
-
Calm in Kalm?
The inn was nice, and Nemo took advantage of the moment to relax on the
bed. It turned out that Aeris was richer than she looked, and had been
more than happy to hand over to Nemo and Tifa the payment they'd been
promised for recovering her from Shinra - as well as paying for their
stay in the inn. Nema had almost forgotton that he was suppose to have
been paid for that, and it felt good to have some money to his name.
Tifa and Aeris had set off into town to do some shopping - Tifa was
still wearing the jump suit she'd put on to go and recover Aeris, which
they had decided was a bit too noticable. Nemo was aware he'd need to
pick up a change of clothes at some point (if just because he didn't
want to smell too much), but had decided to take some time off first.
Something was vaguely comforting about Kalm, and it seemed to wear it's
name well.
After a moments rest, Nemo got up and took a shower before crawling under
the covers of the bed and falling asleep, his sword within easy reach.
Nemo's sleep was deep and peaceful, until the sound of shattering glass
woke him with a start. He rolled to his feet out of the bed, grabbing
his sword as he rolled and glancing regretfully at his armour and boots
- he was going to have to fight without them on this occassion.
Standing by the window was one of the men in black, short sword in right
hand, the gleaming metal of a throwing spike glittering in his left.
Even as Nemo finished coming to his feet, more of them poored through
the window into the large room until seven men stood before him. The man
at the back glanced round the room.
"She's not here. Kill the man - we'll get her when she gets back." He
gestured, the only one of the seven without weapon in hand, and the
other six moved forwards in a mixture of fighting stances.
"Just. Great." Nemo growled out. "You guys. I don't suppose you'd tell me
why you want to kill Aeris would you? We can fight at the same time?" he
said as he attacked the nearest enemy.
His sword swung up in a perfect arc, catching the nearest ninja in the
chest and leaving a long bleeding scar. The man slumped down to his
knees, down from pain and shock, but Nemo didn't think he'd stay there
long. A hail of shurikens span towards him from one of ninja, one of
them ripping open the sleeve of his top, and then the remaining four
sword bearing ninjas were clustered around him, swords lashing out from
all directions. Nemo span and duck, sparks flying as swords clashed.
So far only his clothes had suffered damage, but the three long rips in
his top told him he was relying heavily on his luck. He vaguely noticed
through the melee that the larger man at the back hadn't moved, but was
still standing by the window with his arms crossed, leaning casually on
the wall.
The furious melee continued, steel whistling through the air in gleaming
arcs - and a single spray of blood as Nemo's sword connected with a
second ninja. The wound didn't look serious, however. Meanwhile, Nemo's
clothes were looking much the worse for wear, and scratches covered his
upper body. The first ninja to have been hit was back on his feet
already, looking worse of the blow, but back on the attack once more.
Nemo was impressed by his determination.
"Oh, you people just exist to irritate me don't you." Nemo said as he drew
on his magical reserves.
Leaping up to the leader of the ninja's, Nemo summoned the Blue Guardian
in a burst of ruby light. Typhoon opened his eyes just in time for to
see the foot that smashed into his face, carrying him back into a sword
wielding ninja. The ninja leader looked to be smirking behind his face
mask as he placed his foot back on the floor.
"You more resourceful than I expected." He commented to Nemo.
Typhoon levitated back to his feet, looking deeply pissed off. His eyes
flashed green for a moment and then a beam of blue energy erupted out of
his hands at the ninja leader, who calmly side stepped. The wall behind
him blew out into the street, icicles forming on the rubble as it fell
while the rest of the ninja's tried to dog pile onto Nemo while he was
distracted by the casting. The first clean blow of the battle landed on
him and he cursed in frustration - the wound wasn't deep, but it hurt
like hell and enough of them would take him down. Before he could
recover himself to launch attack of his own, the ninja leader started
whipping throwing knives out from his clothes and hurling them in rapid
succession - 3 of them struck home on Typhoon, two of them leaving
gashes as they glanced off his blue, icey skin while the third stuck
solidly in his flesh. Typhoon grunted in pain.
"Bastards!" Nemo cursed.
His sword lashed out, and cut one of the already injured ninjas down -
that was one opponent down for the count. But there were still five of
them on him and as the dance of steel continued he was caught by another
blow. Like before, it wasn't serious, but he was starting to feel groggy
from the cumulative effect. In their own little melee to one side, the
ninja leader and Typhoon exchanged blows - the ninja landing a punishing
axe kick that smashed Typhoon to the floor once more while easily
dodging the return claw swipe.
Nemo's frustration grew as he was kept at bay battling the swordsmen
while the leader drove his fist deep into Typhoon's solar plexus and
then, as Typhoon began to fold over the blow brought his foot smashing
down on the back of Typhoon's head with shattering force. The floor
boards under Typhoon's prone body groaned and bent under the force of
the blow. The only thing to give him any satisfaction was the first
ninja he'd wounded much earlier in the fight - the mans wounds had
obviously caught up with him, and with a drunken leap he hopped out of
the window. By the sound of his landing, he hadn't managed to hold it
together long enough to reach the ground safely.
As Typhoon drifted into unconsciousness, his body flashed red and
dissappeared.
"Utter bastards!" Nemo repeated.
Nemo's sword dropped low to the ground as he brought it round, beginning
to trail a thin stream of white light. Then, as the blade came round
further, Nemo's limit break kicked in with force.
"UPWARDS SPIRAL!" The blazing trail of light span out through the room
in a tightly coiled rapidly expanding spiral, ripping the beds to
pieces, demolishing the ceiling above Nemo's head and even taking out
the floor under their feet. The ninja's were smashed outwards with
violent force, crashing in to the walls around the room and rebounding
to fall through the gaping hole to the ground floor below. Nemo took the
fall with grace and landed lightly on the balls of his feet in front of
the stunned inn keeper, while the ninja leader managed to rebound off
the wall and land in an unsteady crouch. The rest of the ninja's lay
still on the floor, blood oozing out around their prone bodies.
Not letting go of his advantage, Nemo sprang towards the ninja, lashing
out with his sword, but even injured the man was still fast, spinning to
one side as the blade flashed past.
"You realise you just made this personal, don't you?" said the ninja as
he casually sidestepped a second blow.
"Really? What a shame." Nemo said sarcastically, "You were out to kill one
of my friends, moron. It was already personal."
"Not for me - just doing my job. Now, if you want to get personal with
my employer..." The black man lashed out three times, his fist clenched
in a 'phoenix eye' with one knuckle protruding. Nemo felt two sharp
bursts of pain from pressure points in his upper chest and managed to
dodge to one side of the third blow.
"Believe you me, I'd love nothing more than a little personal chat with
your employer." Nemo said with a feral grin as he prepared to attack
again.
"Pity you'll never get the chance then," said the ninja, ducking under
Nemo's sword and then smashing his fist into Nemo's face. Everything went
red, and when his vision came back he was lying on the floor on his back.
He barely had time to register the foot dropping towards his face before
it hit.
Then everything went black...
-
Return to the Sunlit Lands
The four of them carried on swiftly through the caves, aided by
Typhoon's almost instinctive knowledge of the cave layouts. The
inhabitants of the caves made way from them with deep respect, and the
wounded Blue Lion came to find them as they made their way to the
surface, nuzzling Typhoon until Aeris healed most of it's massive injury
with yet another Cura. Nemo's quick mental tally made him realise that
Aeris most have access to twice as much mana or more than he did to keep
up this level of spell casting - an impressive feat given his combat
training and mako infused stature.
As they walked, Tifa brought up something that seemed to have been
troubling her for a while.
"Nemo... did you fight down when we sparred?"
"Apart from not using attacks that would have been lethal with even a
practice sword, no. Why do you ask?" Nemo responded.
"I've seen you fight several times now, and I just wanted to check
something. I don't know if you've noticed..." she looked across at him,
"...but you seem to be getting stronger. Your fighting style is becoming
more refined, which might be explained by knowing about your amnesia -
but you seem to be literally, physically stronger as well. You were
handling your sword in that last fight in a way that you just didn't
seem capable of when we were fighting that Turk guy."
"Rude," said Aeris.
"Really?" Nemo asked, "I hadn't noticed any difference myself, I did think
I was being remarkably lucky in that last fight though. Have you noticed
any difference in me Aeris?" He asked.
"I'm not a fighter, Nemo. I haven't noticed a change in your abilities,
but I've only seen you in two fights and I know little about fighting.
Tifa, on the other hand, is a well known and respected martial artist
with years of both being trained - and teaching others. I would think if
any one was going to notice, it would be Tifa."
"Well, I'll take your word for it." he said to Tifa. "I have no idea
what whould cause it to happen though. If you could keep an eye on me and
how I'm fighting I'd appreciate it." He finished.
Tifa nodded. "I'm sure it's there, and I'll keep an eye out to see if it
continues. But your a pretty good fighter already - if you're improving
at this kind of rate in the course of days, you're going to be one of
the best in very short order."
"As an aside," Tifa continued, "your fighting style seems to be becoming
more 'formal' as well - in the first sparring match we had, you seemed
to be fighting on muscle memory and reflex. By the time we fought Rude,
he noticed you were Soldier trained by your style. In that last fight...
you were beginning to look like you were using the forms and kata of the
Soldier style. I still think you're fighting on muscle memory more than
knowledge, but you look to be remembering something by fighting."
"Sounds like a reasonable explaination. I still can't remember my
training, so muscle memory would be logical. I doubt I'll be quite as good
as you suggest though. I've seen the best fight, and he could wipe the
floor with several of me." Nemo said.
Tifa didn't look convinced. The group continued their journey out of the
caves, and after some brief checking around by Nemo of their location,
set off towards the small town of Kalm. Typhoon resumed his gem form
before they set out, and Nemo was aware of the red gem sitting mounted
in his sword. It was odd to think that his friend was in there
somewhere.
They were getting quite a collection of materia now, he reflected. The
Fira and the Summon in his own sword, Tifa appeared to be packing a
Cure/All combo, and he was carrying a Barrier and what he thought was an
Ica in his pocket. Aeris had already displayed use of a Cura and a
Shield, and the magical might to back them up, but he wasn't sure what
the gems were mounted in for use - or if she had any more.
His musing was interrupted by Tifa. "Nemo... you're talking about
following Sephiroth. What are we going to do if we catch up with him?"
"Good question. I'm hoping he'll be able to tell me more about my past,
and if he's against Shinra now, then I think that it might be worth seeing
if he'll talk to us." Nemo sighed. "It is a long shot though. He may not
be willing to talk to us. He may assume I'm working for Shinra, he knows I
used to. If we do locate him I'd better go and talk to him alone. Even all
of us together couldn't take Sephiroth, and if he get's angry then it's
only my head on the block." Nemo said. "Oh and if either of you can think
of a better idea than chasing Sephiroth, let me know, cause I really
wouldn't mind hearing one." He finished.
Tifa looked at Aeris who shrugged. "Away from Midgar is good enough for
now," said Tifa. "Hopefully they'll work out we didn't do it at some
point and we'll be able to go back."
"I wouldn't hold out too much hope, even if they work out we didn't kill
the president, they still want us for a jailbreak." Nemo said. "It may be
a while before we can go back, and I for one, need to find out who the
hell I am."
Tifa gave him a quick hug. "Hey, don't worry. We'll find out what's
happened to you."
"I hope so, though I suspect it will not be easy. Your confidence is
reassuring however. Thankyou." Nemo said sincerely.
"Well, if it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing now, would it."
Aeris grinned at Tifa's enthusiasm.
"True." Nemo said. The trio walked in companionable silence for a little
while before Nemo spoke again. "Why would Sephiroth want to kill President
Shinra?" He said out of the blue. "What does he get out of it? Not power,
Shinra corp. goes straight to Rufus now the president is dead. Revenge?
But revenge for what?" Nemo shook his head in confusion. "Sorry." he said,
sheepishly to the others. "It's been bothering me."
Tifa shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense to me either. Sephiroth
was the Shinra poster boy for the war - powerful, handsome and utterly
dedicated to the cause. Of course, maybe if we knew where he
dissappeared to, that might help answer the question."
Aeris frowned as if thinking of something. "I wonder what stage things
were at when he rescued you, Nemo. If he'd found out something during
the war that changed his views, I don't think Shinra would have revealed
his change of heart if they could have avoided it. Maybe he wasn't
working as a Shinra fighter at that point, but had some other agenda.
Once he rescued you and Typhoon unconscious, he could have taken you
anywhere."
"Fair point. We know that Shinra was using those black ninjas recently to
help set up the serial killer story and capture you." He said to Aeris.
"If they were using them when Typhoon and I were attacked by them it would
imply that Sephiroth was working against Shinra even back then. Though why
Shinra would have wanted to kill us I don't know."
"I don't know if the man in black was from Shinra," said Aeris
doubtfully. "Shinra don't want me dead - if they did, they would have
killed me by now. Hojo wanted a legal excuse to take me away that he
could use both with the locals and with the rest of Shinra. Whoever the
assassin was, and whoever sent him, I don't think they expected me to
live through the experience."
She shivered at the memory. "He was definately doing his best to kill
me."
"I see. That means we have at least three groups of people to keep an eye
out for." Said Nemo. "Shinra, Sephiroth, and the black ninjas. For some
reason I doubt that we have to worry about Sephiroth working with either
of the other two groups, but Shinra and the black ninjas might well be
connected in some way." Nem shook his head in frustration. "The ninjas are
the wild card. We need to know who they work for and what they want."
"Well, from what you said about the attack on you and Typhoon, it sounds
like they had some connection to Wutai. But I have no idea why they
would attack me, if that's the case," said Aeris.
Tifa was looking thoughtful. "I agree they don't seem Shinra's style -
Shinra would just have used Soldier's dressed in black. Master Zangan
did once speak of a group who used their martial arts prowess to develop
their stealth and infiltration abilities. He said their chi mastery was
great, but that their moral fibre was more lacking. He was using them as
part of an example of why chi mastery shouldn't be an aim in and of
itself - it doesn't make you a better person, it just gives you better
tools. He didn't say much, but he did mention that they hire themselves
out to the highest bidder most of the time. Which might explain why they
could both work for Wutai during the war, and attack Aeris now. But why
someone should hire them to attack Aeris I don't know."
"They might not have been hired to attack me specifically," Aeris
responded. "Remember there were a spate of murders in Midgar, all of
materia users."
"So, why would someone want to kill all the materia users in Midgar?" Nemo
asked. "They'd never be able to get all the members of Soldier, so what
would the purpose be? Unless they were just collecting materia for
themselves or their employer."
"Maybe they were looking for specific materia," said Tifa. "Aeris seems
to have some more esoteric materia than you'd get by mugging a random
soldier. Although why they wanted the 'grow pretty flowers real quick'
materia I don't know."
"Maybe that isn't all it does." Said Nemo. "It might be able to do other
things that we aren't aware of. On the other hand, I can see people being
interested in materia that could make crops grow faster, heathier and more
plentiful. Could make someone rich."
Aeris shook her head at the last. "I'm afraid it's not that powerful -
it only effects a single plant at a time, and the effect only lasts for
one day. I've been practising for years and I can only help about 20
plants a day. Great for bringing some colour into Midgar, not so good
for growing crops."
As they walked, the town of Kalm had come into view and the group were
now drawing closer to the inhabitation.
"Ah. I don't know about you two, but I see a comfortable bed in a hostelry
of some sort in my near future." Nemo said with a smile as he saw the town
ahead.
Well, no action in this post, but Nemo's starting to get a chance to ask some of those questions that he's been waiting to ask. Speculation and comments are welcome from those reading along - given it's a solo game, I'm happy for Tim to get some inspiration from the peanut gallery given he doesn't have any other players to bounce ideas off of.
-
3rd stage lensmen are immortal
Michael
-
Looks great fun
. I haven't spotted any gaping problems rules mechanics wise, and given it looks like it's mainly a plot device anyway, I don't think that's too important.I would have no problem at all giving something like this to my players - the only thing that would even slow down the decision is the warp cannon, but it doesn't seem to amazingly over powered, so I'd probably let it slide.
Michael
-
Dawning of the Light
The Blue Guardian struggled slowly to his feet, wincing at the wounds
across his body.
"Tempest?" he asked, and with that one word Nemo collapsed to the
ground, his sword clattering abandoned to the stone cave floor beside
him.
Tempest opened his eyes as he felt rain pounding down on him. Just for a
moment, he had the strangest feeling he should be somewhere else - but
it faded quickly as he surveyed the forest around him with practiced,
professional eyes. There was nothing obviously wrong, but his instincts
told him that his enemy was still out there. The man beside him seemed
to agree.
"Tempest, we've got company." The man's voice was low and level.
Strangely, it took Tempest a moment to remember Typhoon's name - but as
soon as he had, it fit as naturally as a glove. The man was tall and
broad shouldered, and had a two-handed sword the twin of Tempest's own
drawn and ready. His eyes showed the tell-tail signs of Mako infusion,
and his blonde hair was cropped to a military buzz. Both of them wore
the uniform armour of Soldier's special forces unit with practiced ease.
Memories flowed easily through his mind - they had been hitting a Wutai
unit behind enemy lines, depending on surprise and superior skill to
cause heavy damage before pulling back. The hit had gone to plan, and
the team had split up into pairs as planned to evade persuit as they
left. But now, something was following them... something or someone that
neither of the two had been able to get a clear sighting of, despite
their Soldier training.
"Whoever they are out there, they're damn good." Tempest said under his
breath while scanning the area they were moving through.
The two of them continued on towards the pick up point, scanning the
trees as they went. Tempest reckoned they were about half a mile away
from their destination when the first shuriken came flying in. Reacting
on instinct, Typhoon batted the projectile out of the air with his
sword.
Tracing the path of the projectile back, the two of them spotted a
figure in black readying a second throwing star - and now that they knew
what they were looking for, they rapidly began to spot more and more of
them, leaping from tree to tree through the forest after them - silent
as shadows, black as the night, their faces covered by hoods and black
cloth masks. They seemed both familiar and yet new to Tempest, but one
thing was clear - they were heavily outnumbered by those he could see,
and there were probably a lot more of them he hadn't spotted yet.
Shaking off the feeling of deja-vu, Tempest settled into a battle stance.
"My, haven't we become popular all of a sudden" He said, idly to Typhoon.
Typhoon grinned. "Bit too popular if you ask me. I wasn't especially
planning to make a heroic last stand today - race you to the pick up
point?"
"You're on." Said Tempest as he started running, still on guard for any
attack.
The two of them plunged on through the forest, each taking a side to
cover with the ease of practiced team work. Tempest slipped easily into
the rhythm of a long distance runner, covering the distance with calm
precision.
They never even saw the trap unto it was sprung. Some how, a contingent
of the black clad figures had managed to get ahead of them, and as they
burst into a clearing, the rain of shuriken started, darts of steel
flicking out of the rain in flashes of reflected moonlight. Both of the
the men brought their swords round in parrying arcs before them,
ricocheting projectiles off in all directions - but there were too many,
too fast. Behind him, Tempest heard a nasty gurgle from Typhoon and the
sound of a body falling to the floor. Warm blood trickled down him from
several wounds.
And then...
...he was standing in a forest glade, the night dark and raining.
Lightning flashed down nearby, impacting close enough that the ground
beneath his feet shock. He was bleeding from several wounds, and
twisting back and forth in the middle of the clearing trying to look in
all directions at once.
In the forest around him, black shapes slipped back and forth, and then
suddenly, as the next lightning bolt hammered down, the shapes leapt
into the clearing as one.
6 figures, all clothed in black, carrying short straight edged blades.
Moving in lazyily crossing circles, they surrounded him, slowly closing.
He knew that he wasn't good enough to take all of them, and with the
calmness of imminent death he raised his sword into fighting position
one last time.
And then, down from the sky plummeted his dues ex machina. Sephiroth
dropped, hair billowing behind him, Masamune outstretched in his hand
with materia studded around it's hilt.
There was a flash of green...
...and as the glow of the healing spell faded, Nemo/Tempest found
himself looking up into the gentle eyes of Aeris. Beside him, Tifa was
shouting at the confused looking guardian.
"What have you done to him!" She yelled, fists raised in front of her
again.
Nemo/Tempest smiled back at Aeris, before attempting to stagger back to
his feet. "Well, that was educational." He said to himself as he levered
himself upright. "He didn't do anything to me Tifa. He just triggered some
bad memories that I'd forgotten, that's all." Nemo/Tempest turned to the
blue figure. "I thought you were dead. Why are you blue and homicidal
instead?" Nemo asked him.
"Hey, I'm not homicidal. I think." Typhoon rubbed his jaw in
comtemplation and nearly sliced himself open with the icey blue claws on
his hand. "Damn it! Anyway, I don't have a clue. Last thing I remember,
we were in a forest getting chased by some ninja dudes and then I got
hit in the throat by a piece of metal. I have some vague memory of
Sephiroth dropping out of the sky, and then everything going green."
He looked down. "Then I wake up in some weird glowy mako spring, with a
blue body bleeding anti-freeze and feeling battered as hell."
"Cura," said Aeris. The guardian's wounds closed immediately.
"Er... thanks. Tempest - what the hell is going on?"
"I'm not entirely sure. I'm reasonably willing to bet that Hojo has
something to do with the reason you're blue and formerly homicidal, but
beyond that all we know for certain is that president Shinra is dead, and
in all likelyhood he was killed by Sephiroth." Said Tempest/Nemo. "We were
trying to get outside the city through these caves when we ran into you.
You said something about not letting us defile this place then you
attacked." Tempest/Nemo smiled. "We gave you a good kicking, and when you
regained consciousness you were making sense again. Like old times
really." he said with a small chuckle.
"Nemo," said Tifa. "Why is this guy calling you Tempest? And what's this
about Hojo?"
Tempest ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "He's calling me
Tempest because it's my name." He said quietly. "Until he said it just
now, I couldn't remember what my name was." Tempest looked up at the three
others in turn and then looked away again before continuing. "A few days
ago I woke up in the Sector 7 train station waiting room. I couldn't
remember anything relating to myself before that point. Hell, I had to
find a mirror just to learn what I looked like. I could remember skills, I
knew I could fight, I had my sword and armour and I could remember current
events up to just after the war finished. So I gave myself a name, and I
went out to find mercenery work. I knew I had to have been in Soldier
because I recognised the glow in my own eyes, but I didn't think going to
them for information would be safe. I've been remembering bits and pieces
in flashes over the last few days. I remember all sorts of stuff about
Shinra training and tactics. I remember being experimented on by Hojo,
that's why I was so interested in getting Aeris out of there. I remember
the last mission Typhoon and I were on during the war. We were making our
way out to the extraction point when we were attacked by a group of ninja.
All dressed in black, all with short swords and shuriken. We were losing,
Typhoon here caught a shuriken to the throat, and then, just as we were
about to be overwhelmed, Sephiroth arrived and took them out. I don't
remember anything after that until a few days ago." Tempest paused for
a moment. "As for Hojo, if he got to me, then he could have gotten to
Typhoon, and I don't know anyone else who does experiments with mako
infusion that could have caused him to change blue the way he has."
Tempest stopped and looked up at the others waiting for their reaction.
Tifa managed to look both surprised and as if pieces were falling into
place at the same time. "So that's why you had the skills and the
knowledge - but not the rep. And why you were willing to help rescue
Aeris for so little money."
She paused as Typhoon fell bonelessy to the floor. "Hey, that's exactly
what you did when he mentioned your name!"
Aeris stood looking at Nemo calmly.
Tempest moved over to check on Typhoon. As he was doing so he looked up at
Aeris. "You don't appear too surprised by all this?"
Aeris tipped her head to one side slightly as if considering. "No, not really." She smiled. "I'm not really sure how mercenary swordsmen are supposed to act so I have very few expectations."
Typhoon groaned slightly, and sat up as Tempest knelt down beside him. "You just had to remind me, bro, didn't you? I remember Hojo now. Not something I really felt the need to be reminded of. I just wish I could remember anything else... now that I've had a moment to catch myself - the only things I can remember are that last run through the forest and some flashes of being in a tank in a lab."
"I know one thing, though." He continued, "I didn't have this body in the lab. It feels... different. And it has overlays of something more primal in my mind, too. I feel an urge to protect this place, and the mako springs in general. It's as if I'm driven to protect the planet in some way. I'm also become instinctively aware of knowledge about myself - I know that I can project icey bolts of energy, and that if I'm taken out of a high mako area I'll quickly die. This is really, really, weird."
"I could never work out whether the memories of Hojo are from before or
after that mission. I can't imagine I'd continue to work for Shinra after
they put me through that though." Tempest shook his head. "Wait, you can't
leave here?" he asked Typhoon.
"He seems to have become an esper," said Aeris. "A creature of magic. I
can't see how it's possible, but if it's true the only way for him to
leave here would be to place himself in a summoning materia. At that
point he would be able to travel, and could function briefly in the
world outside when fed mana by who ever carried the materia in a slot.
I'm not sure if we'd be able to communicate with you while you are in
the materia," she said to Typhoon, "it's not something I really have any
experience of. Of course, next time we came to a high mako area - poof,
you'd be able to operate independantely again."
"Not exactly the greatest of news. The question is, how the hell did you
end up like this in the first place? But I don't think there is any way to
answer that right now." Tempest looked at the others. "So. What do we do
now? Firstly, Typhoon, do you want to do what Aeris suggested? And
secondly, Where do we head for once we get out of Midgar? Any
suggestions?"
Typhoon considered for a while. "I don't think I want to stay here, now
that I'm lucid. It's not like there's anyone to talk to, and going
indefinately without company wouldn't be any fun at all. Being put in a
materia doesn't sound too much fun either, but it sounds like I might be
able to communicate with whoever carries me - and even if I can't, I'll
at least be able to spend some time with people when we reach high mako
areas."
"As to where we go next, I can't really help with my memory so crippled.
I remember the basic geography, but not any personal details."
Tifa shrugged. "I'm afraid I'm a city girl at heart, and have been for
most of my adult life. My home village is a long way from here."
Aeris nodded. "I've never left Midgar before - I'm afriad I can't help
you much."
Tempest's memories of the area were surprisingly detailed when he
thought about it. He soon realised why - his military training seemed to
have included an analysis of likely ways of Midgar being attacked, and
the corresponding defenses. Unfortunately, the topographical knowledge
of the area didn't seem to be answering any of the questions he had
about where. Small villages dotted the surroundings, but he remembered
very little of them apart from the fact that Shinra's military rated
them as 'expendable' in case of attack - the people would be given
instructions to evacuate to Midgar.
"We'll head to Kalm." he said. "It's small enough not to have any Shinra
troops stationed there, and large enough that we won't cause a stir. We
should be able to stock up on provisions too. Then we need to try to work
out where Sephiroth went, and what the hell he's up to." Tempest turned to
Aeris and Tifa. "I think I'll carry on using the name 'Nemo' for now. I
don't know if there are people looking for 'Tempest' and I'd rather not
find out the hard way." Tempest, now Nemo again looked back at Aeris,
"Aeris? How do we go about putting Typhoon here in a materia?" he asked.
"We ask him to change into a materia. If he has actually become an
Esper, he will be able to do it at will. Alternatively, we could beat
him to the point of death and it would happen as an instinctive response
- but I don't think that would be a good idea." She beamed at Typhoon.
"Damn straight." Typhoon replied under his breath.
"You'd probably best show us how it's done then." said Nemo, smirking as
he spoke. "Then we should get out of here and head for Kalm."
Typhoon shrugged. "Lets see what happens. You got a free slot on that
sword of yours to strap me into?"
Nemo made certain that only the fira materia was attached to his sword
before nodding once. "Ready and waiting." He said.
Typhoon walked over to Nemo and looked at the sword doubtfully. "Well,
here goes nothing."
There was a flash of red light which swiftly contracted towards the
materia slot on Nemo's sword, leaving a gleaming red crystal.
There was a brief pause, and then all three of them saw the red veins in
the cave withdrawing faster and faster towards the central pedastal,
leaving a dazing pure blue-green light. Within moments, the red taint
was gone, and a green gem lay on top of the pedastal.
"That seemed to work, though we appear to have an unexpected byproduct."
said Nemo as he wandered over to the pedestal. "Anyone care to place a bet
on this being some kind of ice materia?" he said as he picked it up. *Are
you there Typhoon?* He asked silently in his mind.
There was a brief pause and then Typhoon reappeared in a burst of red
light. "Could you hear me?" he asked.
"No. Could you hear me?" Nemo responded.
"No, not a thing. It was odd though... I didn't feel constrained at all
while I was in the gem. It felt very natural." Typhoon glanced down at
the slot on Nemo's sword. "You don't mind if I don't change till we get
near to the caves exit though, do you?"
"Of course not." Said Nemo. "It's rather a shame we can't talk while
you're materia, having voices in my head would have been amusing." Nemo
looked at everyone. "All ready to move? We should get out of here as soon
as we can. Once we are outside the city it will be much harder for them to
track us." he said.
-
Hey!
I like the idea of Comliness that does KB.
Although I'd probably buy it as some kind of NCC No range explosive energy blast, does no damage, only effects socks...
"I'm so good looking I'll knock your socks off!"
Michael
-
Yes. These are in fact forms for Tifa to use in my FF7 game
Michael
-
I don't know if any of you remember NSG's excellent Wheel of Time martial arts forms (a search for Wheel of Time should bring them up), but I was thinking of creating something similar for a pbem game I'm running.
Below is the martial maneuvers available to the character in question in games mechanics terms, what I'm looking for is descriptive 'forms' that she can use in character for descriptive purposes. So instead of using a punch w/levels in OCV, she can unleash the 'Flower Greets the Dawn' form upon her opponent. I could (and will) make up descriptions on the spot, but I think it would be nice to have some consistant flavour bits.
I've included some starter ideas below, both in the hope that others would find them useful for their own flavour, and also in the hope that others would add more.
BTW, the character who will be using these forms can be found on this thread.
Zangan-Ryu Martial Arts
4 1) Block: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort
4 2) Disarm: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 25 STR to Disarm roll
4 3) Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort
5 4) Flying Kick/Roundhouse Kick: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, 6d6 Strike
4 5) Punch/Elbow/Knee: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 5d6 Strike
3 6) Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, 3d6 +v/5, Target Falls
3 7) Legsweep: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, -1 DCV, 4d6 Strike, Target Falls
Martial Arts Forms:
Flower Greets the Dawn
(Offense)
Maneuver: Punch
Skill Levels: OCV
Notes: Series of rapid hand feints followed by a single punch
(Defense)
Maneuver: Block
Skill Levels: OCV
Notes: Active beating aside of attacks
Tail Brushes the Ground
(Offense)
Maneuver: Legsweep
Skill Levels: DCV
Notes: Defensive maneuver that keeps the fighter low to the ground
(Defense)
Maneuver: Dodge
Skill Levels: DCV
Notes: Low stance used to evade high attacks
Moon Crescent Kick
(Offense)
Maneuver: 'Roundhouse Kick'
Skill Levels: DCs
Notes: Requires a half-phase acrobatics roll before the attack, bonus to OCV. Attack is a backflip connecting with both feet
(Defense)
Maneuver: Dodge
Skill Levels: DCV
Notes: Backflip away from attack
Rising Storm Circle
(Offense)
Maneuver: Flying Kick
Skills Levels: DCs
Notes: Aerial spinning kick that connects with great force
(Defense)
Maneuver: Dodge
Skills Levels: DCV
Notes: Acrobatic leap over a low blow
Inviting Embrace
(Offense)
Maneuver: Throw
Skill Levels: OCV/DCV equal split
Notes: 'Embrace' a limb that is reaching towards fighter, and toss opponent to ground
(Defense)
Maneuver: Block, Throw
Levels: OCV/DCV equal split
Notes: As above
Bird Flies the Nest
(Offense)
Maneuver: Disarm
Levels: OCV
(Defense)
Maneuver: Disarm (with held action)
Levels: OCV
Michael
-
Just a rambling comment on the game so far.
Never underestimate your players luck.
You would not believe how lucky Tim is being in this game - and I'm doing all the (electronic) dice rolling at my end. He rarely gets hit despite largely ignoring defense, smacks his opponents with great regularity even when he has the lower CV, and occassionally pulls out the most extreme damage rolls (that final blow to the guardian was 22 BODY/88 STUN on a 4d6+1K attack) when he needs them.
Tifa, on the other hand, comes across as being the incompetant damsel in distress, despite the fact that on paper she is actually the better fighter - faster, does as much damage and has a martial arts package. Doesn't seem to help her, though.
Never mind...
Anyway, hope you're enjoying the story so far.
For those of you who are interested, the Guardian used the Lesser Demon stats from the HERO Bestiary. The only change was to remove his damage shield. I was expecting him to give them a better fight...
Michael
-
I still think I had the simplest upgrade to 4th ed (250pt) seeker.
Give him 75% Resistant damage reduction, Energy and Physical, with the 'Luck based' disad. 80pts.
Add 4 levels with DCV or HTH, or mixed to choice.
Michael
-
Caves of Light
The party of three moved quickly through the caves, picking tunnels
almost at random while trying to move in a constant direction. Flashes
of movement around them let them know that they were under observation,
but mostly whatever creatures were down here were staying away. The
eerie light lent a strange sheen to proceedings, and while it was
beautiful Nemo could begin to feel it preying on his nerves. The only
person who seemed unaffected was Aeris, who still looked completely calm
and unconcerned.
Continuing forward, the three of them emerged into a large cavern, high
ceilinged and about 30 meters across. In the strange light and the
reflective surfaces, Nemo moved forwards a few meters before realising
three things. Firstly, there appeared to be no other exits from the
room. Secondly, two large birdlike creatures were circling up above
them in the cave. And finally, there was a disturbing growling noise
coming from the tunnel behind them...
Nemo moved into the middle of the cavern and turned to face whatever was
making the noise. "Looks like the upper end of the food chain has caught
up with us. I suspect we're going to have to userp it's position." He said
with a grim smile as he drew his sword.
A large cat prowled out of the cavern entrance. Easily as large as Nemo,
the strips on it's sides match closely the colours of the cave rock.
Overhead, a piercing cry like an eagles rang out, and Nemo got the
strange impression that the three creatures would all ally against them.
He locked eyes with the cat while a mexican stand off began to build.
A soft voice whispered in his ear. "Careful of the Blue Lion. They're
tough, but they have a weakness to energy attacks. The Thunder Birds are
much more vulnerable to physical attacks, but they might rely on their
lightning strikes and not come within range."
Aeris appeared to have some knowledge of the caves denisens. Beside him,
Nemo could feel Tifa tense for combat, and half turn to cover his back
from the birds.
"Everyone ready?" Nemo asked as he charged up his magic.
The Blue Lion bounded forwards at the first sign of the magic, rapidly
covering the ground between it and Nemo. At the same time, one of the
birds plummeted down towards Nemo from behind.
With a loud cry, Tifa lept to meet it, her out stretched foot hammering
into it 3 meters above the ground. There was a nasty crunching of soft
bird bones, and both dropped back down to the ground, Tifa landing
neatly on the balls of her feet while the bird bouncing to a halt at her
feet unconscious. The bird's companion screamed in rage, and a power
bolt of lightning arced out of it's body down to the floor, missing Tifa
as she twisted aside.
Nemo continued powering up the Fira spell as the lion closed, beginning
to wonder if he'd made a mistake in trying to supercharge it at this
point. As the lion reared to bite, the spell finally went off. The Blue
Lion sensed the release of the spell at the last moment and abandoned
it's attack to twist to one side as the immense bolt of flame roared
past it. Had it paused to examine the impact crater in the wall behind
it, it wouldn't have regretted it's decision.
Tifa, always alert to an opponent's distraction, chose that moment to
step in and boot it in the side, but the lion was still twisting and
it's thick hide robbed the blow of it's power.
Nemo ignored defense and finesse, swinging his sword in a mighty
overhand strike that concentrated on nothing but raw power. Fortunately
for him, the Blue Lion was sufficiently distracted that it didn't see
the blow coming. The sword cleaved through flesh and bone, leaving a
gaping scar through the creatures rib cage, a huge but not deep wound.
It looked like it might be fatal, but Nemo didn't have time to look more
closely as a second lightning bolt slamed down from above. Nemo's hair
stood on end, partly from the closeness of the strike, and partly from
Tifa's scream of agony as she collapsed to the cave floor.
"Cure," came a calm, reserved voice from beside him, and the green
healing glow hit Tifa before her body had fully settled to the floor.
Her eyes snapped open and she shook off the effects of the blast,
nodding in thanks to Aeris.
Between the pain of it's wound and the numbers against it, the lion
decided this wasn't the best meal available and ran, leaving a wide
trail of blood as it fled back through the door of the chamber.
Nemo growled and looked up, then pointed his sword directly at the flying
avain. The flaming bolt of a Fira spell struck the thunderbird dead on,
incinerating it before it hit the ground.
Nemo turned to Tifa, "Are you ok? That bolt looked like it hurt." He
asked as he put his sword away.
"Yeah," she said nodding, and catching her breath. "To both." She turned
to Aeris and smiled, "Thank you! I really needed that."
Aeris smiled a bright beaming smile. "No problems. I'm not a fighter,
but I like to think I can help out regardless."
"I don't think anyone here is going to disagree with you on that one. I'm
glad to have you with us." Said Nemo with a smile. "Let's get our breath
back and then move on. This obviously isn't the way out."
"Thank you!" Aeris grinned at Nemo, who was reminded of just how
beautiful both his companions were.
"My pleasure." Nemo replied with a grin of his own as he sat down to
recover for a moment.
"Aeris?" Tifa asked.
"Yes?"
"You seem to know a lot about the creatures down here, but you said
you'd never come far into the caves. How did you learn about them?"
"I dream about them." Aeris smiled at Tifa.
Nemo raised an eybrow, but didn't comment, allowing Tifa to respond.
"Dream about them?" Tifa tried to keep any hint of emotion out of her
voice.
"Yes. I frequently dream of the caves and their inhabitants. Sometimes
there are people in the dreams fighting in the caves, which is where I
learnt the vulnerabilities, sometimes I just watch the creatures living
their lives. They don't need to eat, you know, living this close to a
Mako source and having mutated this far. It gives them much more time to
play than normal animals, and makes them much more peaceable towards
each other."
As Aeris spoke the party continued on down a tunnel, sloping further
down underground.
"I've always wondered why they're so aggressive to outsiders, though.
They seem to have no violence with in the society of the cave, no
fighting or aggression towards each other. What makes them so defensive
about outsiders that they won't even try to reason or communicate with
them?"
"Maybe they've learned to fear humans." Nemo said. "After all, this is
just the sort of place Hojo would love to come to get specimens for his
experiments. His work involves mako infusion, and these creatures would
give him information on the effects of long term mako exposure. If there
are other entrances to this place he might have found one." Nemo paused.
"On the other hand, the creatures may just be highly territorial." He
shrugged and turned to Aeris. "Do you have any other interesting dreams?"
He asked, smiling.
"Yes." Aeris stated. "But I don't remember many of them. I'd dreamt of
the train a few weeks back, so I knew I didn't have to be worried about
you hurting Rude badly, or me being taken to the upper city. Most of the
dreams don't seem to be about the future, though. Some of them are about
the past, some of them I have no idea. And some of them seem to just be
dreams."
"I don't remember my dreams." Said Nemo. "I've yet to decide whether that
is a good thing or not." Nemo turned to look at Aeris. "Shinra will
probably send the Turks after us you know."
"That will be the least of our problems," Aeris said with a smile.
"They're loyal enough that they will obey the order to come after us,
but they will not want to hurt me, and by extention my friends. Oh,
they'll try and stop us alright, but as long as we don't try too hard to
kill or maim them it shouldn't get too nasty."
The tunnel they were in curved round sharply to the right, and Nemo
began to notice a reddish tinge to the crystals of the walls, and the
light they were giving out. It reminded him of something, but as normal
he wasn't able to place what.
"I'll bear that in mind next time we meet them." Nemo said. "The crystals
are becoming more red in colour here, I wonder what causes the colour
change." he pondered idly as he walked onwards.
Aeris stopped to examine them a bit more closely. "I'm not sure.
Normally, I would expect the blue colouring to get stronger and stronger
as we moved towards the centre of the caves. Sometimes tending towards
green if the Mako source is a Magic materia spring. But red... I wasn't
expecting this. But then I've never been to a materia spring - my
knowledge is based on tales told and dreams dreamed."
"Well, if that's the case, maybe it's a summon materia spring, they're red
after all." Suggested Nemo. "In any case, let's be careful, this doesn't
feel right"
"But it can't be!" Aeris was adamant. "Summon materia don't grow in the
springs, like other materia. They're created when a esper choses or is
forced to place their power at anothers command so that they can leave a
high Mako area."
Nemo was sure were the knowledge came from, but on reflection he knew
this to be true.
The tunnel was growing redder now, but all three of them knew that this
was the only tunnel that carried them further in the right direction.
Tifa was looking even more unhappy than when she first entered the
tunnels.
"In which case we should be on our guard." Said Nemo. "I have a bad
feeling about this place." He finished, looking uneasy.
The tunnel behind him collapsed in a roar of falling rock, a cloud of
dust billowing over the three of them.
Nemo coughed a little and quickly looked for the two ladies. "Are you two
ok?" He asked.
"Yes." Aeris' response was swift and calm.
"Unhurt." Tifa's response was equally quick, but she didn't sound happy.
"I don't think that was an accident," said Aeris, looking pointedly down
the tunnel towards the redder areas.
"Yeah." said Nemo. "I got that impression too. My guess is that there is
something nasty a little ways ahead." Nemo shook his head and unsheathed
his sword. "Shall we go and find out what it is?" he asked.
The party moved forwards down the tunnel, all three of them wary and
ready. As they moved forwards, the tunnel grew redder and begin to widen
slightly, and then suddenly expanded into a large cavern about 50 meters
in radius. In the centre of the cavern a natural pedestal of rock thrust
out of the floor, and something from Nemo's hidden past told him that
this is where the materia would form in a Mako spring.
In the centre of the room was a figure with arms crossed and eyes
closed, his chest slowly rising and falling. He could almost have been
asleep had he not been floating in a vertical position a meter above the
pedestal. Humanoid in shape, his features seemed slightly blurred, and
despite a complete lack of clothes he lost no modesty. His skin and long
hair were all different shades of blue.
Nemo found him disturbingly familiar.
As they entered stepped into the cavern, his eye lids snapped open, and
they saw that where his eyes should be were only glowing pits of green
the colour of magic materia.
"You should not have come to defile this place." The voice echoed with
power, filling the whole huge chamber with ease. His hands uncrossed,
and as he opened his palms in front of him blue energy formed spheres
above his hands.
(Ice magic,) thought Nemo.
"We didn't come here to defile anything." Said Nemo. "We just want to get
out of the city above. If you can point us to an exit, we'll get out of
your way."
"Too late for that now, human! You should not have come to this place!"
The spring guardian raised both hands in front of him and let loose a
stream of blue energy at the party.
Nemo jinxed to one side as the beam of energy lanced out towards him,
but he realised even as he did it that the guardians accuracy wasn't up
to the task at this range. The impact of the beam into the cavern wall
lead him to believe that continuing not to be hit would be wise,
however. Beside him, Tifa took advantage of the guardian's distraction
to explode forwards like a sprinter coming off the blocks, covering
almost half the distance across the cavern in a straight line dash,
beforing slowing to a more reasonable pace as the guardian began to
charge a second bolt.
Aeris, calm and slightly smiling even in the middle of a fight, reached
out and touched Nemo as he came back up out of his dodge. "Shield," she
said, and Nemo felt the magical protection form around him. He was
surprised by the level of power he felt her put into the spell - it
would last for some time.
The guardian let loose with a second beam of energy, but Tifa slipped
past it like a boxer slipping past a punch and continued to close the
range.
Nemo charged forwards as the Guardian unleashed yet another blast at
Tifa, who continued to weave her way forwards through the hail of fire.
Tifa's progress was being slowed by her weaving and twisting, but the
distance was closing fast. Noticing the icey claws protruding from the
Guardians fingers, Nemo was wondering if this was a good thing.
Cursing his lack of Mana in his mind, Nemo launched himself forwards
towards his opponent, covering nearly 14 meters in a single, bounding
arc, while Tifa continued her more cautious approach. Then as Nemo's
feet hit the ground, the blue figure finally moved. Upright, and with
it's legs still crossed at the ankles, the figure sped forwards through
the air towards him, clawed hands spread wide.
"You will die for entering this place, human!" stated the blue skinned
figure as he attempted to dismember Nemo, who ducked to one side and
brought his sword swinging round in a blow that would have eviserated a
normal man instantly. There was a nasty grating noise as the blade
connected, like metal on rock, and the impact shuddered up through
Nemo's shoulders.
Looking surprised, the Guardian was flung backwards a good 4 meters by
the blow, but managed to roll to one side as Tifa leapt over with a
dropping axe kick and lash out in response with his claws. The claws bit
deep into Tifa's flesh, and with a grunt of pain she folded up around
the wound and collapsed to the floor.
Smirking, the Guardian levitated back up to his feet, and beckoned Nemo
towards him.
Grimly silent, Nemo leapt forwards and swung his sword down in a mighty
blow. Unfortunately, the Guardian was ready this time, and barely moved
as the sword ploughed into an ice formation on his shoulder. "You'll
have to try harder than that, meat," said the Guardian, grinning evilly.
The Guardian lashed out once more with his claws, and Nemo lent to one
side as they whistled past.
"Pot, kettle..." Nemo muttered under his breath with a strained smile.
His sword came whistling round again, scoring a ringing blow on the
floor. Tifa twitched slightly as she lay curled up on the floor, and
Nemo was vaguely aware of Aeris getting closer behind him.
Nemo sidestepped yet an other claw blow and then saw his opening and
struck. The blow was true, an all-out two-handed swing that caught the
Guardian squarely across the center of the chest, carrying him in a high
arcing flight to land 14 meters away. To Nemo's side, Tifa took the
opportunity to stagger to her feet, and then cast 'Heal' on herself. The
cut across her stomach closed immediately, leaving unmarred skin under a
tear in her top. "He is so going down." Her voice was low and dangerous.
The guardian levitated upright once more, a large but shallow gash
across his torso slowly leaking a thick, blue liquid. "Die!" he hissed,
the icey blue lashing out once more at Nemo and catching his shoulder
armour. The force of the blow twisted him slightly to one side, but did
no real damage.
"I think not." Nemo grated out as he charged back at the creature.
The guardian slide smoothly to one side of the charging swordsman, and
his clawed gleamed in the red light of the cave. Nemo was aware of Tifa
not following him, and Aeris seemed to have moved up to join the bar
maid.
Nemo winced in pain as the gleaming claws slash across his chest,
leaving a thin, bloody gash. Behind him he heard the sounds of Tifa
moving back up to join the fray.
The three combatants circled, the Guardian and Nemo lashing out at each
other as Tifa moved in to try and grasp the blue monster. At the last
moment he twisted to one side, not allowing himself to be immobilsed.
The furious melee continued, the guardian knocking aside Nemo's sword
and then burying his claws in Nemo's gut causing excruciating pain.
Desperate to stop Nemo being struck down as he fought down the pain,
Tifa grabbed the guardian - only to learn something else about him. The
guardian's supernatural strength enabled him to break free of Tifa's
grip without being slowed down.
Nemo tried to lurch to one side as the next blow came in, but was too
slow, catching another scar across his upper arm. The guardian raised
it's hand for a finishing blow, but was distracted by a solid kick in
the small of the back. The guardian span on Tifa, lashing out with yet
another raking blow that caught her shoulder, spinning her away from the
combat. Furious rage laying across her face, she kipp-uped back to her
feet and headed back towards the fight.
Through the pain and the rage, Nemo felt his spirit flooding up within
him, filling him with power...
"I'm going to make you pay for that!" Growled Nemo as he prepared to
attack again.
Light erupted out of Nemo's sword as he brought it up, bleaching the
whole cavern with brilliant white light and smashing in to the
Guardian's jaw with the force of a freight train. Blue ichor splashed in
an arc as the guardian was flung across the cave into the far wall with
bone shattering force.
There was a brief pause as the guardian lay still, and then he twitched,
starting to lever his body back into a sitting position. Nemo stared in
amazement. A blow like that would have left a normal man in two seperate
pieces.
"Did you have to knock him so far?" said Tifa as she took off at a
sprint towards the guardian before he could recover his poise.
"My apologies." Said Nemo as he followed her.
The Guardian looked up, blinking at the two charging figures. His face
looked different, and more familiar somehow - and then Nemo placed it.
His eyes had faded from solid green of a magic materia, to human mako
infused eyes.
"What the..." the figure started scrambling to his feet and then stopped
as he caught sight of his blue tinged body. "I've gone blue!"
Nemo paused in his charge, and settled into a wary, ready stance. "Are you
ready to talk now?" he called out.
-
I always liked the approach of Morden in Babylon 5.
"What do you want?"
You'd be surprised by player responses sometimes, and how unsharp they can be on occassion. I once played an NPC in a larps session who offered PCs what they _really_ wanted. In exchange for a unspecified favour of his choice, at the time of his chosing. The oath would then be mystically bond.
Out of the 20-30 people there, 3 took up the offer with qualification or haggling. I was, to say the least, shocked. Especially given that the guy was a) willing to deal fairly if asked (he struck genuinely mutually beneficial deals with several people), and
fairly obviously a demon worshipping evil vampire had they bothered to think about things for even a moment.Rather fortunately for the three characters involved, someone else ambushed the guy and killed him on the way home, having realised who he was.
Michael
-
The Empress
.(A (very) powerful psychokinetic from Surbrook's Kazei 5 universe)
-
With the description given, is there anyone this guy can't effect? Even the best of heroes is going to have a negative response to something at some point - and then blam! Perminant mind control.
How about using normal mind control (rather than NND), but basing the level you need to achieve on how evil the target is rather than how averse they are to the action being suggested. Has the right flavour, and favours the PCs (assuming they're heroic) so they're not going to complain too much. And it means that his loyalest minions will be the people who started off evillest. (Is it a word?)
Michael
.
fairly obviously a demon worshipping evil vampire had they bothered to think about things for even a moment.
Storn's Art & Characters thread.
in Champions
Posted
Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.
Hi Storn,
I dropped you a note on the 29th re: two possible character commissions - I was just wondering if you received it?
It would have come from a warwick.ac.uk account.
Thanks,
Michael