Fight! Axe Orc vs. Spear Bannerman

[Tobias]

Here Jake and I take our Orc and Bannerman to each other.

The bannerman:



Kurt the Crude

Concept: a tough 4lp spearfighter (I hope!)

Village Born, Village guard, Corrupt Sergeant, -> Bannerman

Wi 4; Pe 4;
Ag 4; Sp 5; Po 5; Fo 4;

Spear 5, Brawling 4, Armor Training, Riding 3, Intimidation 3, Bribe-wise 2, Command 2, Sprinting Training

Thug, Predatory, Honored, Gloryhound

Ref:4
Health 3
MW 10 (3,5,7,8,9,10)
Steel 6

Chainmail (probably with half-leggings and half-arms, gotta re-read that), Spear w. beak, Riding Mount, Cottage, Clothes, Shoes, Gear

Relation: Father, Hated, Minor

Beliefs:
- I will kill the orcs that came for mother
- Then, it's father's turn
- One day I will lead my lord's army

Instincts:
- Have enough room to use the spear
- Raise spear and banner when not immediately pressed
- Keep the banner immaculate

[Jake Norwood]

He Who Shines Under the Moon and Cleaves the Heads of His Enemies with Little Axe

Concept: A 5LP Head-Taker veteran of wars with men, out to earn his name

Born Great and Black, The Rites, Follower, Bears the Lash, Head Taker

Wi B5; Per B5

Ag B4; Sp B4; Po B5; Fo B4

Intimidation B2, Brawl B2, Sprinting Training, Axe B5, Knives B3, Ride B3, Shield Training, Torture B2, Command B2, Brutal Intimidation G5, Armor Training, Bow B3, Boxing (Orcish Martial Arts, baby!) B4

Born To Rule, Enemy of the Sun, Life is Death, Silent Hatred, Where there's a Whip, There's a Way, Unrelenting Savagery, Cold Blooded

Ref B4
Health B4
MW B10 (B3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Steel B8 (Hes 5, 2 vs Pain)
Multi 4.5


RotM Plated Chainmail (spoils of war, "Shines under the Moon") (5D, +3ob Agility, +3 ob climing, -1D Speed), Black Iron Helmet (5D, +2ob Per), Black Iron Shield (3D, P2, A2, VA1, Sl, Sh), Rags, Hobnailed Boots, Whip, Light Axe (P3, A2, VA1, Sl, Lo), Wicked looking RotM Dirk, Traveling Gear

Beliefs:
- I will gain my name standing atop a mountain of man-skulls and elf-bones.
- My mother must not know that I killed father--she must think that the Named did it
- Humans are for eating, not for breeding or any other thing.

Instincts:
- I always keep Shines under the Moon highly Polished. It is my pride.
- If an opponent closes on me, I strike with the Black Iron Shield
- Always take a trophy and a snack from every fallen enemy

[Tobias]

Allright then!

I guess we're up for some initial positioning? I've chosen to go with half-leggings as I think I'll need every advantage I can get to out-maneuver you.

That means I roll speed, +2 d for the longest weapon advantage (I guess your light axe equals a hatchet, right?), no advantage for higher speed modifier or reflexes. That's 7 dice,

6,6,6,3,1,1,1

Bizarre! I guess we have no artha of any sort, so 3 sucs will have to do.

[Jake Norwood]

I have -1D for my leggings (I'm keeping them on), no advanage for Speed Multi, weapon, or reflexes. But I am dead sexy. Speed is B4.

Also, my axe is under the "light axe" heading, and it's long, not short, like a hatchet, so I'm just going to add a die in to negate that 2D advantage you had down to the equivalent of one, if that's okay. Probably easier than re-rolling at this point.

I roll 4D (Speed B4 - 1D armor, +1D weapon-length make-up): 3, 3, 3, 4 = 1s (dammit!)

You have the position, pink-skin!

I also suggest that we put our volleys in a white text color, to prevent acidental gazing. Like this:


As you come charging forward I blast black-and-red tinted mucus out of my great, broken Orcish nostrils. The taste of my own blood and snot sickens my stomach and focuses my mind for the coming butchery...

Although that may be unnecessary...

I assume that you're going to start in Optimal Range for yourself and Lunging for me. If that's not true than ignore the volley I've scripted below. If it is true, however, what I've written below *is* my first volley.

Exchange 1, Volley 1

Close, Set Agressive Stance, Strike (or Block and Strike, since it looks like, based on the rules on p. 187-8, 190, that I can call "block and strike" as needed by simply scripting a strike)

For my Close I roll 3D (Sp B4 -1D leggings): 1, 1, 2 (oh, the frackin' traitors!) = 0s

For my Aggressive Stance I roll nothing.

For my Strike I roll my axe skill of B5 + FoRK 1D martial arts ("I stomp at the top of your foot as I slide in, shield leading, axe descending in an arc of black-iron doom") + 2D for Aggressive Stance = B8

I roll 6, 2, 3, 5, 5, 4, 1, 3 = 4s. My obstacle is (currently) 3 (1 base + 1 for lunging distance...I assume that's where I still am... + 1 for moving quickly) meaning that if you didn't get any special defense successes and I didn't lose any dice I hit you with 1 to spare, which I will use to move my blow to your arms if you have your head, body or arms open, or your legs if they're open.

An incidental hit from me (if that's what this is) is B4, VA 1

Is this format okay or am I overdoing it here?

Thanks,

Jake

[Tobias]

Jake,

That white text is a wonderful idea - gazing can easily be avoided that way. It would be cool, though, if we could undo that whiteness after the fight for posteriority.(Moderators?)

And nope, I don't want to start in my optimal with you in lunging - that's too scary for me - I'd like to be in lunging myself, with you out of range. We didn't specify light conditions, so I'm assuming we're in a type of evening light where neither of us have the (dis)advantage.

I'll write up my first volley:

Closing on the orc, Kurt pulls the quick-release drawstring on the banner and grimaces as he sees it flutter off the spear land in a puddle of mud. (Breaking an instinct here, I'm not going to claim the Artha but would be interested in knowing whether I'd normally get Artha for this - someone put the answer in the discussion thread for me?)

Pulling his head back up quickly and just in time, he sees that the slightly glimmering Orc is just within striking reach - time to get serious!




Kurt keeps his distance, and lunges!

Maintain, (6 dice) 6,5,4,4,2,2 - 4 sucs, range (probably) maintained!

Strike, (no FoRK, 5 dice) 1,1,2,2,4 - 1 suc, but reduced to 0 from lunging range.

[Jake Norwood]

You can go in and edit the post after your opponent has posted his own actions. Above I just changed it to red, since that was easy to type in over the "white."

So not much that I scripted changed...it just wasn't useful!

You maintained, so I'm "outside." I guess that means I can't strike at you!

At the end of this Volley I'm Out of range. My second volley is

Maintain, Set (to great strike)

But a lot of good it does me! If you are closing I rolled 1, 2, 6 = 1s for my positioning test. I hope it fails if you're closing...

Jake

[Tobias]

Whoa, Jake, wouldn't you have made different choices for positioning in each volley, had you known that I'd be starting in lunging? Because you get to know what distance you're at at the start of the exchange before you do the individual positioning each volley. So if you want to change that second volley to 'close' as well, that's fine by me.

Also, please note that we both missed something on the leggings (see the discussion thread), so I'd like to have full ones instead, which doesn't affect what we've been doing so far, but I will be rolling less dice in the future.

As to my second volley, I scripted: Maintain, Avoid, Strike

We both Maintain (unless you change your mind - if you do, my roll is 5 dice = 6,6,3,3,1), my avoid is useless against your set strike, and my strike of 5 dice (too far away to really use Brawling FoRK) goes: 6,6,6,2,1, -1 suc for lunging distance is 2 sucs! My spear's VA is 1, my extra success is useless (but I guess I could use it to make sure I strike your chest), so I'd be hitting for a B4 Incidental if I do penetrate your armor.

Roll your armor?

Kurt warily keeps his distance and dodges a strike that never would have landed anyway. Again, the spear sneaks forth, this time striking true!

My last volley is below:



Maintain,
Avoid

[Jake Norwood]

I'll take you up on both the leggings offer and the second close. I roll 3, 6, 4 = 2s, which is a tie on the positioning test, so no change. Dang.

I'll go ahead and take that blow on the chest (it's what I was planning on doing as "default"). My armor roll: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6 = 4s vs. ob 2 and -1D in armor damage.


He who Shines under the Moon bounces forward and rears back his mighty hand as the man's spear darts forward. The man jolts back a bit, flinches, and thrusts--the point strikes true, tearing away a few links of silver-polished maille and diverting off a bit under Shine's armpit. No black blood glistens on the now-free point.

My Third Volley, predicable as it is:

Close, Great Strike

For Positioning I roll 3, 2, 3 = 0s

For the Great Strike (+1 VA) I roll B5 + 2D (agressive) + 1D (FoRK Hatred per the Unrelenting Fury Trait) = 8D...all assuming that for some odd reason you closed ;), because if not, I'm simply out of range and you can ignore the attack. I roll 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6 = 5s vs. ob 3 (1 + moving quickly + lunging) = 2 over, or a Mark hit (B8, VA 2) against your head. If only I was in range...


Now I look at your script and I see "Maintain, Avoid." I got no successes on my positioning test, so we maintain. Your avoid won't need to be rolled.


He who Shines Howls in rage, vurping up bits of half-chewed and quarter-digested man-bones and grey matter out onto his soft-skinned opponent. The axe crashes down mightily--a blow that would split a helm!--but does it?

No! The fury of it all! The futility of it all! Curse the pink-skin! His long spear keeps He Who Shines Under the Moon at bay! Another useless strike and a useless dodge! "I WILL HAVE HIS BLOOD!!!"



Now on to

Exchange 2, Volley 1

Close, Block

On the Close I roll 2, 4, 5 = 2s!!! Come ON!!! I want to close all the way to Optimal if I can.

On the block I roll B5 + 3D for the shield: 1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5 = 6s!!!!




He who shines charges forward, gnashing his teeth and putting his black Iron Shield out before him. Nothing will penetrate it's charred black surface!







That's all. I just wanted the box to look scary-big.


Jake

[Tobias]

Allrighty, I dinged the armor!

Ok, I just noticed something in the rules that I like a lot (page 163) - I could use a stance for a +2d positioning bonus. So I will, on the first volley:

Maintain, Set Agressive Stance, Strike

And furtheron always use that stance for the positioning bonus by default.

So that gives me 5 dice for the maintain: 5,5,5,4,2 =4 successes.

Let's have a peek at your stuff: A close, which doesn't work, and a block, which is at the same time as my (edit: + 'set for') strike, so doesn't work, and then I strike at 5 dice: 5,6,2,2,2, that's another B4 Incidental, but it lands whereever you like.

Back and forth, back and furth... It's going to take a looong time to take down this orc, but for now, the death of a 1000 pricks is working... Kurt grimaces slightly - one slip-up will likely be fatal!

My second volley after that:


Maintain, Avoid

[Jake Norwood]

Hey, that positioning test rule for stances is a good one, so I'm going to clock it in, too. But first, my armor roll: Torso, 2, 1, 2, 4, 5 = Armor deflects the blow, but I lose another 1D on my torso.


He Who Shines presses in fast and hard, panting and drooling thick, viscus stuff from the center of his bulging lower lip. He raises his shield to block just as the human shifts his stance. Thinking the danger has passed he drops his black Iron Shield only to feel the press of that cursed spear again. A plate pops loose and a few links scatter to the sky, but the man's primitive tool finds no purchase.

My Second Volley is


Close, Block

For the Close I add in those Stance Dice and I get 2, 3, 4, 4, 6 = 3s. Come on!!!

And it looks like there's no need to roll the block.

He Who Shines presses in, every charging, ever drooling, ever baying in rage behind his charred and blood-stained shield...



For my Third Volley


Close, Strike

For the Close I roll 1, 4, 4, 1, 6 = 3s Come on again!!!!

For the Strike I roll B5 + Unrelenting Savagery FoRK Hate +1D (I put the stance into positioning again...that's a great rule!): 1, 5, 5, 1, 4, 1 = 3s vs. Ob 3 (if I'm in lunging range at this point) or and Incidental B4 (VA1) hit. If by some miracle I'm in closer I'll spend the extra success on hitting, um, the head. If by yet another miracle I'm "on the inside" by now...then, well...It'll be a shield strike with the same damage.

Oh, and the gritty details for Unrelenting Savagery...

The anger of He Who Shines is u n c o n t a i n a b l e : as he pushes forward he slams his own head into the side of his shield and the human's spear-shaft, drawing his own blood along the blackened rim. The explosion of pain drives him forward, and a scalp-squirt of brackish black blood sprays at his enemy's face, leaving a few chunks of orc-hair sticking to the rim of the human's helmet.




Jake

[Tobias]

Your boy's a walking collection of dribbly bits, ain't he? :)

I like the color, though! I thought you might like that positioning rule as well, unfortunately. ;)


Maintain, Set for Great Strike

The maintain gets me 3,6,5,5,5,2,1 = 4s, so maintained successfully.

I set for great Strike.

Kurt gazed at the wall in front of him... rocking his weight forward, watching the shield shift, rocking his weight backward, the spear along with it - readying the hardest thrust he had!



Maintain, Great Strike

Maintain = 6,2,5,6,2,1 = 3s. Phew!

Great Strike, I choose the VA, roll is 6,3,1,5,6 = 3s, 2 after the lunge is taken into account. I will use the 1 suc over ob to shift to your chest. B4 VA2 strike.

Kurt lunges forward full power into a spray of Orcish blood as he feels a solid thunk! Sqeeuzing his eyes to force the blood-drops away, he wonders what the hell he hit!


And below my next maneuver:


Maintain, Set for Great Strike, Great Strike
(Boring - but effective)

[Jake Norwood]

Sorry for the delay. Long day at work. Okay, here we go.

In the 3rd Volley I'm rolling 4D for my chest Armor (5D, +1 for chest, -2 for damage): 4, 3, 4, 4 = 3s, no damage to me or my armor! Woohoo!

Looks like that spray of orcish blood was just He Who Shines' wheezing...

For Exchange 3, Volley 1 I script


Maintain, Beat and Bind (with Aggressive Stance Dice)

For my positioning test I roll 3D: 5, 5, 6 = 3s but I figure you're maintaining, too, so lots of great successes wasted...

For my Beat and Bind I roll 5D (ws) + 2D (AgStance) + 1D (FoRK Unrelenting Savagery...requisite color text to follow) = 8D...roll...6, 5, 3, 6, 4, 6, 1, 3 = 5s

He Who Shines's rage is no longer focused at the man alone--visions of taking that pointy stick and shoving it down the man's throat until it exits his belly conflict with desires to chew the thing into splinters. If I can just get it out of the way, he thinks, I can do both!



Now I compare to yours...

Looks like we maintain. You'll need to roll your natural defenses (weapon skill) against my 5s B&B, then you hit me...*gulp*...

Following that my Second Volley is


Close, Set, Great Strike

I won't roll since I don't know what effect your attack is going to have on my dice.



Jake

[Tobias]

No worries on the delay - I'm going to be busy today as well.

Ok, Maintain is irellevant, beat and bind natural defenses 2,5,4,3,3! = 2s! So I can't use my weapon to maneuver (I assume that also means you get the length advantage in the next maneuver), and I have +1 ob on my great strike.

As to my great strike: I'm choosing the VA again, FoRKing in Brawling, 6d: 2,4,4,4,2,1 which ends up as another B4 VA2 to the chest after that B&B ob.

Kurt is still grinning, as long as that stupid orc keep swingng at air, this will be no problem! Rocking back, Kurt kicks some mud in the general direction of his opponent, and plunging forth again, again the spear connects! Only this time, after the hit, a terrible look fills the orcish visage as the axe sweeps aside the spear - Kurt's exposed!

In the next maneuver I have 6 dice (5-1+2) so maintaining against you will be hard, here goes nothing! 3,2,5,3,3,5 = 2s. uh-oh. I think your close is likely to work.

I had another Set scripted for my action this volley. Show me your wound, and tell me how big mine's about to be!

[Jake Norwood]

Nice.

First, let's see if you hurt me. Armor roll 5, 5, 4, 1 = no damage to me, but I lose another damn armor die. Only 3 left on the chest.

Now for my Volley 2 close. 3D (spd-Armor) + 2D (stance) +1d (weapon length...do I get this one? If not, ignore the last die in the list--it was rolled seperately). 6D: 4, 6, 5, 2, 1, 2 = 3s. That brings me into Lunging or Optimal? I think it's Lunging, since meeting your obstacle would count as a tie here, which would mean no change.

Set...Great Strike 5D (skill) +1D Brawl +1D (Unrelenting Savagery) = 7D vs. Ob 3 (1 base + 1 lunging + 1 moving quickly): 6, 2, 2, 2, 2, 6, 1 = 2s...oh the fracking traitors!!!

Gotta run. Color and Ex3 to follow.

Jake

[Tobias]

Yeah, I think lunging for you is right, I really feel fortunate you didn't closer than that!

And while your armor is serving you well so far, I really hope my strategy of trying to strip open one armor location will start to pay off this exchange!

My V3 is thouroughly predictable: maintain, great strike. My maintain is up to 7 dice again, so: 4,6,4,2,2,4,6 =5s. likely we'll be maintaining, so I'm in optimal while you're in lunging, I'm forking brawl again and picking VA for GS bonus.

6d = 5,4,4,4,2,5! The dice are on fire! My ob is 1, so I am 4 over... I need 1 to put the blow to your chest, so this'll be Mark hit, B7, VA 2. Let's hope I finally got through! (and you didn't have avoid scripted)

Ok, some color that should not get in the way of yours for V2/V3.

His spear knocked off alignment, all Kurt's musles tense as the Orc flows into the hole and powers his axe toward Kurt! Reflexively, like in last week's barfight, Kurt pulls his head back by a slight margin, and the edge of the blade flashes by, filling his whole world for a split second. As the orc's axe passes, Kurt lifts his elbow a bit, knocking the axe and the orc slightly off-balance on the follow-through. Then he quickly powers his spear into the hole left by the axe!

[Jake Norwood]

Justification for above FoRKs:

Brawl: the trusty dirt-kick
Unrelenting Savagery: He Who Shines curses, spits, swears, howls, and focuses all his rage, shouting (roughly translated from the original Black Speech), "Your c*nt-pink-skin will run red in sheets of your own blood! Just like the moon brings the flow to woman so will He Who Shines Under the Moon cause your pinkness to gush red, sick blood!!!"

Okay, so that was gross, but making people cringe *is* a requirement of this FoRK. And it's taking more work every time. Sorry... ick...

Now on to Volley 3...


Close, Disarm

For the close I roll 5, 3, 4 = 2s
For the Disarm I roll 8D (FoRK Brawl, Stance): 2, 1, 4, 1, 1, 4, 3, 5 = 2s vs your weapons skill...so nada. Assuming I can do this from this range.

Let's get that Next Exchange! Bring it on! I can't roll this bad forever!

Jake

[Tobias]

We crossposted, I guess, Jake. We've got a mean strike on your chest to deal with before the next exchange.

Edit: all your luck has been going into armor rolls. :) Let's hope for you it stays that way. Let's hope for me I finally make Orc shish-kebab!

[Jake Norwood]

First, I'll resolve that attack to my chest: 5, 2, 5 = 2s, which lets the blow through (as Luke pointed out in the other thread...also, I re-rolled everything here with the new die totals, since I'm wounded. If that's cheating just call it and I'll beg for mercy). A B7 plots out to a Midi Wound, or -2D IIRC.

I roll Steel vs. 2 Hesitation (Pain): 3, 4, 6, 6, 5, 6, 2, 5 = 6 s (where was that roll earlier?), so no Pain Hesitation.


Now for My Exchange 4, Volley 1



Close, Beat and Bind

For the Close (3D - 2D): 4 = 1s

For the Beat and Bind 7D (WS, Stance, FoRK Brawl, FoRK Unrelenting Savagery, Midi Wound): 6, 4, 6, 4, 1, 2, 2, 2, 6 = 5s and I've got a +1 ob from moving quickly.

Now to earn those FoRKs.

He Who Shines feels the man-spear touch him again, but this time it bites! It bites! Deep and wicked and there's black blood suddenly everywhere, welling in the gaps in He Who Shines' armor, running down his legs, pooling already at his feet. But there is hope in his hatred, for he's a bit closer, and he feels no pain; now the point of the spear no longer keeps Him and His Rage at bay. He will not miss again! And so he presses in, shoulder dropped low in a barroom charge against the troublesome spear-shaft. The human will not just die, He Who Shines muses, No, I WILL WOUND HIM ONLY, letting him beg and bleed and ooze on the ground, then the fun will begin. His ears, nose and other wobbly, flaccid bits will be nailed to my Black Iron Shield for all to see. His eyes will be sqeezed over my blade to lubricate it for sharpening. And when I sh*t out his bones, his hair and skin will wipe my ass. I HATE HIM!

[Tobias]

Jake, that color is awesome!

You say 7D, but you're rolling 9 dice in your last post? I'll assume 9 is correct for now...


Volley 1: Withdraw, block, set for beak strike

The rest of the exchange's below, in white:


Volley2: Maintain, beak strike

Volley 3: Maintain, block




So I'm withdrawing to get you outside striking and me back into lunging.

Withdraw: 7dice = 6,5,4,4,1,2,1 = 4s - I'm back at lunging, you're outside!

I'm blocking against your beat and bind with all effort into the defense, so the defense dice are my skill + 5d for the block at +2ob (agg stance) = 10 d= 6,3,3,3,4,5,4,4,1,1 = 4s! (not striking, so I think not getting the +1 for moving quickly from withdraw?). So Beat&Bind wins by one - I don't get to use my weapon for positioning next volley - if those 9 dice were correct.

My second action's setting for beak strike.

Color to follow once that 9-dice thing's resolved

[Jake Norwood]

Nah, 7 dice is correct. I coulda sworn I re-rolled that. Let me do it again...

7D: 5, 4, 4, 6, 3, 3, 5 = 5s (still, so no change there)

So we're back at that cursed range, huh? Dammit! We'll, on to Volley 2

Close, Strike

For Position I roll 3D (-2 wound, +2 Stance): 4, 1, 2 = 1s

For Strike I roll 5D (5 - 2 + 1 brawl +1 unrelent savagery): 3, 1, 2, 1, 3 = 0s...holy hell!

I think this is the end of He Who Shines...

Volley 3

Maintain, Beat and Bind


I'll be thinking of something um, really, um, disgusting for that extra die I FoRKed in from UnrelSav.

Jake

[Tobias]

Jake, you're right about the moving quickly, so your beat & bind works. So you get 1 more die to Close with.

My maintain is 6 dice: 6,6,6,2,3,2, so your close doesn't work anyway and you're outside still. Then comes the beak-strike, not FoRKing: 5d = 6,5,4,3,2 - large straight! :)= 3s. +1 ob from Lunging rangle, so that'll be a B4 VA3 Incidental to your chest (again).

Kurt's spear is knocked aside, but the Orc must be feeling that wound - he doesn't close, Kurt uses the momentum from his struck weapon to spin it around and crunch the beak straight into the Orc's chest!

Volley 3, we both maintain, so you beat and bind against my 10d again, = 3,4,3,3,1,6,4,4,4,6=6s, +2 ob for the agressive stance, is 4s on the defense against your beat and bind.

[Jake Norwood]

Okay, two things to resolve: damage, then B&B. And we might not have to do the second one...

First, my Armor roll. 3D: 6, 1, 1 = 1s, I needed 3, *and* my armor is further damaged. Insult to injury, I tell you! B4 is a Superficial wound, giving me a +1 Ob to all tests. That *sucks.*

Then, my B&B, which has to overcome 4s. I roll 5D -2D (wound) +2D (stance) +1D (FoRK Brawl). I'm out of new ideas for Unrelenting Savagery at the moment, though I'll cough up one for that last volley...6D: 3, 1, 5, 5, 5, 1 = 3s, Ob +1, so I've got to overcome Ob 5...not gonna happen!

He Who Shines Under the Moon pushes in, heedless and desperate. His hate forms a cloud of rage that he cannot see past, think past, act past. The spear moves away--an opening? No! Oh false, false human! He Who Shines never saw the beak as it rakes down, smashing through Shines Under the Moon into black, twisted Orc flesh. He feels no pain. Just a wee scratch! But it stings deep, slowing him further. The blood loss, perhaps?

And in his fury, in his shock, in his rage, He Who Shines Under the Moon sh*ts himself, and it mixes in with the blood leaving hobnailed boot-prints in the crimson-churned mud.

EDIT: I'm actually down two actions from my last wound, but since nothing I did was successful anyway I'm suggesting we just adjust fire for Exchange 5

Exchange 5, Volley 1



Withdraw, Change Stance (Defensive)

For the Withdraw I roll: 3D - 2 (midi wound) +2 (Stance) = 3D: 5, 5, 2 = 2s but I'm at +1 Ob, so 1 net success.






Volley 2


Withdraw, Block


Volley 3


Withdraw, Stand and Drool (or "Let them come" if I can't withdraw)



Jake

EDIT: I changed my Ex5 actions to represent the fact that I'm at -2D for wounds, and therefore at -2 to reflexes... a rule which makes perfect sense but still irritates the hell out of me...

[Tobias]

Allrighty, we keep Ex4 because retconning would be annoying as hell.


Volley 1

Maintain, Block

Volley 2

Maintain, Set Beak, Set Beak for Great Strike

Volley 3

Maintain, Great Strike with Beak



Ok resolving:

V1: My maintain's at 7 dice = 5,2,1,4,3,5,6 = 4s. We're still in my lunging.

You change your stance, which I certainly can't block.

V2:

My Maintain again at 7d: 4,2,5,3,4,5,2 = 4s. You're not withdrawing again.

Your shield goes up to block, but I'm just moving my spear around

V3:

My maintain: 4,3,5,5,1,2,2 = 3s, again, you're not withdrawing.

My Strike: 5d, choosing + power for the strike: 5,2,4,3,2 = 2s, which is a B4 VA3 strike to your chest (edit: forgot the +1 for lunging - you take the strike whereever you like)

At this point, I think we could call the fight over, since every exchange after this is going to look like this, I think, until you go down. I'm willing to see it go all the way to the end if that's what you like, though!

Edit: and we can make some more cool color, of course!

[Jake Norwood]

Yeah, I think the fight is basically over at this point. Admittedly, I think my current strategy has some merit--that is, I'm trying to withdraw and defend until I can get out of your range, then Grit my Teeth and Shrug off my penalties before coming back in with a charge (which I sooo should have tried earlier). But it will take forever, and I think we both learned so much from this fight it would be better if it died peacefully.

I'm not taking that wound on the chest, though! Let's go for the left arm.

Armor roll: 5, 2, 1, 6, 4 = 3s: the blow breaks through and and -1D to the Armor. It's only a superficial wound, though, so no additional penalites.

At this point I'm retreating in proper Orcish fashion, intending to recoup my hate another day. In truth, given my wounds, I'd probably only get hunted down and killed as I rout, anyway. I could also try to Shrug and Grit while withdrawing and hope that my armor does all that it needs to, but since it will take 10 actions, or 5 more exchanges, for that to happen, I don't see it as being too likely to succeed...or too fun.

Jake yields! He Who Shines Under the Moon is in ignominious flight!

I'd love to do a post-action recap of our overall strategies, thoughts, etc. Should that go here or in the discussion thread?

Also, since you attained your intent, you get to narrate, Tobias.

Jake

[Tobias]

Allright, Jake, this seems a good end - we can close up this thread. I'd love to discuss what we learned in the discussion thread.

The Orc must be feeling the blood loss - he's getting slow, bleeding, he stinks of his own shit, and the pure savagery in his eyes has died down. Kurt is ready to keep the beak and the tip hammering in, as he hears the clarion call of his liege's personal escort, sounding - a retreat! WHAT!?! They've just engaged - what the %(#@ is going on? Only keeping a half eye on the Orc, Kurt tries to glance what's happening, only to hear the clarion call again - this time the code for 'communications compromised'. Bugger! Looking back for the Orc, he sees it flee, the only thing left in range some big chunks of its harnass. Double Bugger - it's not good to let that kind of savage live, he might come back for revenge!

But not against Kurt, he will, since I'm retiring him - for now. :)

[Jake Norwood]

Bravo! Excellent close.

Jake

[Tobias]

Glad you like it!

I'm sure the discussion will run on for a bit, but allow me to thank you for this wonderful fight - even if it was a bit full of fluids. ;)