The Shattered City: Chapter Four

[Kaitou Kage]

"I will help."

Rex's quiet voice was barely heard over the chugging of the engine and the rush of the wind. But Finnsen could tell the pharmacist was there, somewhere in Nerit's shadowy aura.

"Steady," he murmured, "Steady...Now!"

Athletics assist with a wonderful 26 to give Finnsen a wonderful +2 on his roll. Isn't it wonderful!

[Nerit]

Minor: Sustain Deep Shroud
Lasso, Aid Another: 22

[lostboy]

"Screw that for a laugh" Nicolas mutters hauling himself back onto the coal cart after an all too close brush with the train tracks speeding below, casting an envious glance at Agale floating effortlessly over the gap. And that was when his temper boiled over and Old Tom got both barrels.

"Damn you and your bloody obstinate machines, this entire episode was avoidable if you had an ounce of sense in that metallic melon you call a brain. Honestly there is a sodding teleporting ghost cat up there about to blow up your precious train to kingdom come, but you'd rather disembowel us? By the fates you don't have much concept of threat do you mon ami? No wonder this is a bloody ghost train."

Beyond that point the mockery degenerated into a string of colourful curses in a variety of languages and the kind of talk that would make a Mordentish sailor blush. Eventually Nic's fury blows itself out, and that's when he looks up at the metal giant, realises he's probably the centre of its attention and wonders fleetingly what being cooked in your own skin feels like. Thats a sobering thought and he seeks solace where he usually does, the bottom of a flask.

Free Action : Virtue of Valour on Mercator for downing B3 granting him +3 temp hp's
Standard Action: Vicious Mockery on Old Tom: 30 vs will for 9 Psychic damage and a -2 penalty to attack rolls until end of Nic's next turn.
Minor Action: retrieve healing potion
Swap move for Minor action: drink healing potion for 10hp back

[Nathan of the FoS]

Mercator steps forward smartly to where Finnsen stands, glancing out the window and flicking a star-mote almost idly in the direction of the cat lodged in the steam vent. He then lays hold of the end of the rope (after a first unsuccessful attempt to secure it) and prepares to add his efforts to Finnsen in corralling the Breath.

Move: Move to X7.
Minor: Crown of Stars vs. the cat. 27-5=22 vs. Reflex
Standard: Athletics 13 to Aid Another for Finnsen. Since a 13 is not enough to help anyone do anything, employ re-roll tokens! New result: 20. The +2 from Improved Fate of the Void is being applied here.

[The Whistler]

"Gracious!"

Celeste did the hand-shading-the-eyes thing again, now thoroughly engrossed in the drama unfolding on the engine car. This was obviously the crux of the expedition, and required as many people helping Finnsen as possible...and was also across a significant gap on a moving train, and involved pulling on something.

For reference, the amount of times you had seen Celeste exert any sort of physical force on anything, aside from trotting briskly into ill-advised circumstances, could be counted on one hand. Revise that, actually--though she was chary with physical contact, you imagined her hugs involved a good deal of effort. Regardless, this situation was not one of her fortes.

There was a brief moment of intense soul-searching. Shortly thereafter, those of you on the coal car were in range of the single most deliberate parasol-opening you had ever heard.

Agale, for his part, heard the last few footfalls off the edge of the second car, followed by a rapidly approaching "EXCELSIOR!" shouted in soprano at the top of very enthusiastic lungs--before almost acting as a tackling dummy for 110 pounds of overeager train bandit. Thank Ezra for quick reflexes.

Celeste adjusted her hat, beaming at the lawyer. "Most exhilarating! I shall have to do that more often."

Celeste shifts to AH 12 and then running jumps to AB11 with a 22(!) athletics, using Kerry's shiftzone to negate the effects of difficult terrain.

[Cronax]

"Let us hope that any repetition of a less potentially fatal situation." Agale answered with a smile. Celeste's attitude was far too insidious even for the the most stoic resistor to handle. "Now lets finish what we came here for and make our timely withdrawal." He hustled on into the cloud and fumbling through the dark, got a handle on the rope end, bracing himself as best he could.

Move: Going to X8
Standard: Athletics 19 to assist Finnsen (More reroll tokens used)

[yalenusveler]

Kerrian tried to shake off that sound, that horrible sound of the last whistle of the ghost train, unable to think straight or get the piercing sound to leave his ears. They were so close...just one potential issue of an exploding boiler, and the process of lassoing a last breath and they would be in the home stretch.

OOC:Second Wind for 16, and a 1 on a save vs Daze.

[NeoTiamat]

1 Days, 0 Hours, 37 Minutes
Aboard the No. 5 Lamplighter, Late at night on April 23rd, 770
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Player Actions
Mercator misses the cat, assists Finnsen.
Agale assists Finnsen.
Nicolas gives Mercator +3 temp HP, hits Old Tom for 9 Psychic and -2 attacks, and heals self for 10.
Rex assists Finnsen
Lia attempts to hit the cat, fails, heals Tomas for 10 HP with a potion (I'll allow it)
Kerrian Second Winds for 16 and flubs his Daze save.
Nerit assists Finnsen
Celeste runs like crazy.
Tomas attempts to hit Old Tom, does not succeed.


Recharge: Boxcars! Old Tom recharges both Last Whistle and No Ticket!

Finnsen grunted as he yanked the lasso back into the engine cab. The first thing he did was check the knot he'd tied, giving it a few experimental tugs. Then he looked back at the number of people holding the rope and, with another wild grin, set one foot up on the locomotive window. The boatman ducked himself halfway outside the train, his hair and coat blasting to the side in the gale force winds, with only the taunt anchor of the rope preventing him from plummeting to his death. Finnsen lifted his arm and whipped the lasso through the air, with bone breaking force; he whipped it again, letting the rope out further and further as he swung it. You didn't know how he could twirl the rope against the force of the train, but he did so, the strain of it twisting the rope in your hands. With one final swing, he sent the rope spinning into the night.

The force of the rope nearly ripped you off your feet. The boatman sunk his feet into his precarious perch, nearly standing sideways, standing firm against the inexorable pull. You could feel your feet being dragged slowly forward, but as you dug in your heels and pulled together, you began to feel the rope slide in your direction. Finnsen roared with laughter as he yanked himself back through the window, wrapping the rope around his forearm as her reached out to slam the breaks, even as the engine boiler began to strain at the seams. "Gotcha!" he yelled.

Finnsen rolls an 11, +15 modifier and +8 assists, for a total of 34! You caught the Breath! New Victory Condition! New Loss Conditions!

Part 3: Get off the No. 5 alive
--Everybody off the train! (Move off the side of the train before the boiler blows next round. Since the Ghost Train hasn't come to a complete stop, this causes 1d10 points of damage, which may be negated by a DC 15 Acrobatics check made as part of the move action).

Lose Conditions:
--You no longer need to keep Old Tom alive (yay?)
--You should get off the train before the boiler blows (less of a lose and more of a 'take massive damage' condition).

Remy celebrates your progress by attempting a Shatter on Old Tom. Rolls a 4.

"Damn you and your bloody obstinate machines, this entire episode was avoidable if you had an ounce of sense in that metallic melon you call a brain. Honestly there is a sodding teleporting ghost cat up there about to blow up your precious train to kingdom come, but you'd rather disembowel us? By the fates you don't have much concept of threat do you mon ami? No wonder this is a bloody ghost train."

Beyond that point the mockery degenerated into a string of colourful curses in a variety of languages and the kind of talk that would make a Mordentish sailor blush. Eventually Nic's fury blows itself out, and that's when he looks up at the metal giant, realises he's probably the centre of its attention and wonders fleetingly what being cooked in your own skin feels like.

Nicolas was very shortly to find out.

Now, Tom Fields was a calm, methodical sort of person. The No. 5 was his train, and he tended it in life and in death. But now that something threatened his train in truth, he had first been distracted and then prevented by force of spellcraft from handling the situation. And now Nicolas was taunting him about it. From a long-term perspective, this was clever, as Old Tom's movements were rather more jerky than before, and the aim of his jets of steam was rather more wobbly. In the short term, however, Nicolas had neglected something very important, which was to make sure he was out of reach of the Engineer before he began to taunt.

The blasts of steam washed over Nicolas in a mind-melting burst of heat, the skin reddening and being all but torn off wherever it was exposed to the open air. No sooner had the heat come then Old Tom struck out with a single metal hand. He was strong, the power of a locomotive quite literally coiled within those steel arms. Nicolas was tossed head over heels, head ringing from the blow.

Old Tom Fields turned the lump of metal and gears that was his head towards Tomas and Lia, and there came the most hideous screech imaginable from the grill on his shoulder. It was the sound the train would make when it pulled into Il Aluk, a dismal sound of woe and death. Then, he padded forward on great geared feet, to try and salvage something of this situation.

First, the Eternal Engine aura leads to a Steam Jet attack versus Tomas and Nicolas each. Hits Tomas for 15+5-3=18 damage, misses Nicolas. Old Tom then proceeds to use Scalding Steam on Nicolas three times. Hits twice, dealing 16 and 17 damage respectively, about half of which is fire.

Then, because mocking the monster is hazardous, the Engineer proceeds to use No Ticket! vs. AC as a minor action on Nicolas. Gets a critical on a power that rolls no damage, lovely, but Nicolas is pushed three squares and into the gap at AC 13. Nicolas rolls an immediate save. On a success, he stays where he is but is knocked prone. On a failure he takes 15 damage and slams into the coal car at AF 13. In either case, Nicolas is Stunned (save ends); Aftermath Slowed (save ends).

Then, just because the Engineer is seriously hacked off, he turns around and spends an action point, to use Last Whistle vs. Will at Tomas and Lia. Misses Tomas by a hair (21 vs. W22), hits Lia for 24 necrotic and thunder damage and Dazed (save ends).


Victory Conditions:
Part 1: Find the Breath
--Successful!
Part 2: Catch the Breath
--Successful!
Part 3: Get off the No. 5 alive
--Everybody off the train! (Move off the side of the train before the boiler blows next round).

Lose Conditions:
--Die. (This is obvious)
--Be on No. 5 when the boiler blows next round (Not loss per se, but likely to lead into the first loss condition very rapidly).



Miscellaneous Mechanics

Deep Shroud The space Nerit occupies and each square around her are Heavily Obscured.

Coal: The coal (columns 7-12, rows AF-down) is difficult terrain. Also, any fire attacks directed at a target standing on the coal deal +5 fire damage.

The Engine Cabin: The train cabin (columns 7-12, rows V-AB) is enclosed from the top and sides. Those are walls. It is open from the bottom, and you may enter freely through that area, and shoot freely from the coal-car to the engine cabin, or vice versa.

Crossing the Gap: You may either jump directly across the gap (rows AD-AE) which is an Athletics DC 30, or DC 15 with at least 2 squares of a running start, bear in mind that the terrain is difficult and so you need a speed of 7 in order to make it, or you may shimmy across the connector (Column 10), which is an Acrobatics DC 20 check.

Falling off the Train: If you fall off the train, either by failing the above Athletics or Acrobatics checks, or by being pushed, pulled, or slid, you take damage and are slammed into the top row of the coal car (row AF) by the speed of the train.

PCs

Tomas Eisenwald (T): +2 damage, Virtuous Recovery
13/71; Bloodied
AC 26, F 19, R 19, W 22; Resist All/3

Prof. Lia Mournswaithe (L):
40/54
AC 21, F 17, R 19, W 18

Celeste Viardot (Cv):
34/61;
AC 19+2, F 19+2, R 21+2, W 23+2

Kerrian Mauganson (K): Dazed (save ends)
46/64;
AC 19, F 21, R 18, W 22

Kerrian's Spirit (Wolfish Outline):
Special
AC 19, F 21, R 18, W 22

Mercator Melanchthon (M):
25+3/65; Bloodied
AC 20, F 21, R 20, W 23

Rex Alistair Prescott (R): (Stealth 28)
59/59
AC 23, F 17, R 23, W 19

Mr. Agale (A):
45/52
AC 20, F 17, R 21, W 23

Nerit Doherty (N):
53/58
AC 18, F 15, R 18, W 22

Nicolas Etienne de Castaigne (Nc):
15/67; Bloodied
AC 23, F 20, R 22, W 24

Friends

Remy Lessard (Blue R): Invisible
AC 23, F 21 R 22, W 21

Eric Finnsen (Blue F):
AC 25, F 19 R 23, W 25

Foes

Tom Fields, the Engineer (T) -2 to attacks.
-168 HP
AC 25, F 25 R 21 W 22; All Push, Pull, or Slide effects reduced by 2

The First Boiler-Man (B1):
DEAD

The Second Boiler-Man (B2):
DEAD

The Third Boiler-Man (B3):
DEAD

Who knows?

The Black Cat:
-13 HP
AC ??, F ??, R ??, W ??; Superior Cover (-5 to attacks)

[Nathan of the FoS]

Seeing that the Breath has been secured, Mercator claps Finnsen on the shoulder, one last errant beam of starlight flicking toward the cat and glinting harmlessly from the chassis of the engine. He then hurries to the back of the engine; seeing the Engineer standing over a supine Nicolas, he picks up his pace and leaps, hovering in the air for a brief moment that seems much longer than it should be, and then alighting with bizarre grace, wrapped in preternatural darkness from which his mask-face peeps dimly. Gripping Nicolas by the lapels, he leans over and stares into his eyes.

Whatever the intended effect, it seems to work. Nicolas starts as if wakened from a dream, and Mercator slips over the side of the car and away, still with the uncanny grace of a well-operated marionette, and distances himself from boiler, train, and all.

By the time anyone else has reached him, Mercator is bent over, hands on knees, breathing deeply and coughing at intervals. The charcoal marks that had marred his paper-white visage have resolved into minor burns which stand out redly on his face, now rather flushed and entirely ordinary in appearance save for his injuries.

Athletics 21 (!) for a move action to get back to Nicolas by a) running, b) jumping. Eight squares put me next to Nic on the far side of Old Tom, granting combat advantage to Old Tom but also activating Shadow Walk and granting concealment. Heal 23 to grant Nicolas the desired saving throw. THEN--spend the action point for getting the heck out of Dodge with an 18 on the Acrobatics. Oh, and a 19 for one last poke at the cat.

[lostboy]

Nicolas jerks awake as the scary marionette Mercator lookalike grabs him, a rather disconcerting moment for the poet which he vocalizes with a short hoarse scream, a hacking cough and a muttering to the effect of "so thats what being cooked feels like.."

Chancing a glance up at the engineer, he makes full use of the distraction caused by Mercator's entrance and exit and does what any abject coward would and limps away quietly. Pausing for a moment at the edge of the coal car, he flips a salute to Old Tom "adieu mon ami", before throwing himself into the cold night air, landing in a battered heap and limping away into the cover of the treeline.

Nicolas makes the saving throw vs No Ticket! with a 14
Thanks to Mercator Nicolas makes the save vs Stunned with a 16
Move action to stand up
Swap standard for Move action to shift 4 squares off the train (I assume slowed doesn't affect this?)
Acrobatics: 19 + 2 for Inspire Competance = 21

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Lia rocks on her heels with the force of the Engineer's attack -- rocks, staggers and loses her balance. From one moment to the other, the Mage tumbles over the edge of the coal cart, apparently headed for certain doom. Then the tumble turns into a rare moment of elegance; Lia kicks out sharply before she can de bashed against the train or the rails, catapulting herself away from the moving vehicle.

Arms spread wide, Lia soars through a patch of open space, slowly somersaulting, and ends relatively softly in the embrace of an oak tree. Rather more cautiously, the Mordentishwoman slithers down the trunk to settle on the ground. Her head is still ringing from the attack, and her vision is blurred.

(OOC: Acrobatics check of 16. Save of 4. Lia Mourneswaithe has left the train domain unhurt.)

[Nerit]

Move: Acrobatics 26. Off!

[Kaitou Kage]

Rex didn't think twice. As soon as it was time, he broke for the gap, dangled around the edge, and tumbled off. He hit the ground and rolled to absorb the impact, then hopped neatly to his feet some yards away. The pharmacist remained crouching, looking around for another threat. When none presented itself, he relaxed a little and moved to help Nerit up.

Rex wins at Acrobatics without trying.

[The Whistler]

Flubbed the Acrobatics roll, but I'm off the train and a little worse for wear.

[Cronax]

Their goal accomplished, Mr. Agale leaps gracefully from the train, soaring through the air majestically, then pirouetting into a roll to soften the landing.

*WHAM*

Which unfortunately places him directly in the path of an oncoming tree.

Exiting the train. Acrobatics of 11.