GURPS Banestorm PBBB narrative thread

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM POST

As Thwip shouts to Eabd, he steps back and snaps off a shot into the Thing in front of him. Although the creature does not fall, the bullet slamming into its chest appears to have distracted it enough that its grasping claws fail to reach the frantic goblin.

As he does so, Hawk spins to confront the Thing threatening to launch itself at Thwip from behind. Thrusting his spear, he forces the snarling creature to leap back.

Back in the side corridor, Aronn steps forward and raises his staff. Dark energy flows from the tip, wrapping itself around the Thing grappling Ranar. However, beyond the visual effect, no other impact is apparent.

Responding to Thwip’s cry, Eabd races forwards, aiming a shield rush at the nearest Thing. However, his charge is diverted at the last moment, as he turns his shield to deflect a Thing that was charging as well.

Nearby, Ranar frantically contorts his wrist in an effort to chop at the back of his grappler, while Jibril swings desperately as he rises to his knees.

While Ranar fails to connect, Jibril does not; the new blade is sweet in his hand and his Tulwar cuts deep, almost slicing the Thing in half. The wound would have dropped any normal man; although the Thing is visibly staggered, it does not fall. Instead, it claws at the kneeling rogue, leaving his chest a mess of bleeding scratches, while the other Thing wraps its arms around Jibril in a grapple.

In the corridor, Nic’s rapier slashes at the Thing that was charged by Eabd. His blade whips home cleanly, dealing a similar amount of damage to Jibril’s strike. Again, the Thing staggers but does not fall.

In his efforts to free his axe, Ranar paid insufficient attention to maintaining his balance. With a sudden shift of weight, the Thing knocks him to the ground. Charging up the stairs past the fallen dwarf, another Thing unsuccessfully claws at de Courcy.

Meanwhile, the Things continue to press around Hawk. As a pair of them lunge at him, he retreats and raises his shield to defend. However, there are too many attackers to block them all; the claws get through, leaving blood in their wake.

The sound of rushing water continues in the background.

Nic is under Thing 4, Eabd is under Thing 8, Ranar is under Thing 1, Thwip is under Thing 2, Jibril is under Thing 7 (so is Thing 3), there’s a Thing under Hawk. Hawk lost 1HP to scratching, Jibril lost another 1HP on top of the five he lost in the shoulder charge. Thing 2 is the one Thwip shot, Things 3 and 4 are the ones Nic and Jibril sliced up. Jibril is kneeling but grappled, Ranar is lying on his back, still grappled by Thing 1

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM POST

In the side chamber, Aronn steps forward, pointing his staff and chanting aloud as dark, smoky energy continues to flow towards Ranar’s grappler. This time, the magic takes effect; as the dark smoke flows into it, the Thing is visibly stupefied. Taking his chance, Ranar breaks free of the Thing’s hold as it shakes off the effect of the spell.

Meanwhile, de Courcy keeps pace on Aronn’s flank. As a second, fresh Thing presses forwards, he flashes his rapier across in a defensive cut that slices the grasping arms to the bone. Following through with the stroke, he brings his sword down once more on his previous target. Again, his blade bites deep, and the accumulated wounds prove too much for the Thing.

However, it does not simply fall; instead, the gem in its forehead explodes into blazing light while the rest of its body dissolves into dust. While de Courcy is dazzled but functional, Aronn is more severely affected. He screams, drops his staff and clutches his hands to his eyes.

Out in the main chamber, Thwip reloads his rifle and Hawk jabs with his spear. Although the two of them manage to avoid being shredded by the many claws aimed in their direction, they continue to be forced to retreat away from the side corridor. However, their retreat ends when a fourth Thing charges in from the side and wraps its arms around Thwip.

Rescue is on the way, however. Eabd ignores the Things around him and presses towards Thwip, longsword scything in front of him, biting deep into the Thing in his way.

As Jibril struggles to his feet, his grappler maintains its hold and bites at his face, tearing flesh from his cheek with its filthy, jagged teeth. Meanwhile, another Thing claws at his chest from the other side; Jibril reels from his accumulated wounds.

Jibril has lost a total of 10HP; you’re at half Move and Dodge, and after one more HP you’ll be making a HT roll each second to retain consciousness. You’re standing, but grappled. Ranar is unhurt and ungrappled, but is still lying on the ground next to a Thing. Thwip is unhurt but grappled, Hawk has still only taken 1HP damage total. Nic is at -3 vision for a few seconds due to being dazzled. Aronn appears to be blind.

Nic is under Thing 8, Ranar is under Thing 1, Jibril is under Thing 7, Thwip is under Thing 5, Hawk is under Thing 6

[daneel]

Jibrīl Al-Las’as

Confused, and panicking, Jibrīl lashes out with the hilt of his tulwar at the thing grappling him, trying to break free.

He calls out in Arabic :

Eabd, kill this thing!

[anon95548275]

Thwip

The goblin is no fighter, this is true. He would rather be designing clocks and measuring the sizes of ruins. He is no man of power. A heavy rain will tire him out. However, he is a Goblin patriot. He may have never seen a battle during his two years of conscription, but they did not skimp on his training. As much as he tries to forget those years, some things become muscle memory.

(I’ll describe what he attempts in the meta thread)

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM POST

Hearing Jibril’s cry, Eabd turns and aims a precision slice at the Thing grappling the Wazifi. The blade carves deep into the Thing’s flank, distracting it enough for Jibril to break free and stagger towards Eabd, slicing at the arms of his pursuers as he goes.

Hawk continues to retreat, jabbing at Things all the while, while Thwip screams as the countless claws assaulting him overwhelm his ability to dodge. His shirt is torn and bloody; ripped flesh covers his torso. As Thwip struggles desperately to free himself, the Thing attempts to bear him to the ground. Seeing his chance, Thwip shifts his weight and strikes with the rifle, sending his opponent to the floor.

Rising to his knees, Ranar releases a thunderous shout as he brings his axe down in a mighty blow on the Thing that had been tormenting him. Although the fallen Thing rolls backwards in a desperate attempt to escape, the blade cleaves straight through its chest, leaving nothing behind but an explosion of light and a cloud of dust.

Forewarned, Ranar shields his eyes from the worst of the flash; behind him, Aronn staggers backwards, clutching his face. Ranar desperately blinks as he ducks a charging Thing. Stepping in front of the blinded mage, Nic aims another slash at another Thing. However, the Thing leaps away from his blade, spinning in mid-air to land on Ranar’s back.

Ranar is under Thing 8, Hawk is under Thing 2, Thwip and a couple of Things are under Thing 9, Eabd is under Jibril

Ranar is dazzled, on his knees and grappled from behind. One of the Things with Thwip is on the ground. Thwip took 4HP worth of scratching; everyone else is as they were

[daneel]

Jibrīl Al-Las’as

Freed, Jibrīl turns and aims a swing at the thing pursuing him.

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM POST

Thwip scrambles backwards, frantically dodging claws as he raises his rifle and snaps off a shot at the cluster of ravening Things. Despite the target-rich environment, the shot misses everyone, ricocheting off the wall next to Jibril.

Snarling for revenge after his battering, Jibril whips his new tulwar into the chest of the Thing in front of him. Already weakened by the Wazifi’s earlier stroke, the Thing succumbs, gem blazing as the others had.

Back to the wall, Hawk skitters sideways, thrusting with his spear. Finally, his point finds a target, stabbing deep into the snarling Thing. Ignoring the thrusting spear, the Thing drags itself up the shaft, the claws on its other hand tearing flesh from the shaman’s chest as it comes. Meanwhile, a second Thing reaches around his shield to rend his back, and Hawk crumples to the ground.

Eabd spins to follow Jibril’s grappler as it charges down the corridor towards de Courcy. Whipping his longsword through the back of the creatures neck, he creates yet another blinding flash and cloud of dust. Aronn continues to stumble backwards, clutching his eyes.

Screaming in frustration, Ranar rises to his feet and discards his shield, freeing a hand in order to fling the Thing on his back into the nearest wall. However, Nic renders this unnecessary, cleanly slicing the Thing from his back and creating another explosion of light.

Although this stroke has rendered the side hallway clear of Things, your celebration is shortlived, as another group of the Things charge in from the flank.

Hawk is under Thing 6, Thwip is under Thing 2. Jibril, Ranar and Nic are all dazzled (-3 vision). Hawk is quite badly scratched up; see PM for detail.

[daneel]

Jibrīl Al-Las’as

Jibrīl throws back his head and lets fly a huge, bestial roar. He charges at Thing 9, commanding Eabd to kill the thing attacking Thwip.

[anon95548275]

Thwip

Despite the odds Thwip felt he was doing well. In a sort of going-to-die sort of way. Going down fighting. Fist vs. claw. Green vs. Off Green. Brains vs. Brawn. Real bardic stuff!. They’ll be singing of him for years.

– We have no bards here.–

With the realization no one will ever know that he died on his feet, the arrival of a fresh collection of Things awakens something inside of him. Someone has to survive to tell the world of the death of a Goblin.

(Plan in Meta)

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM POST

At the southern hallway, Ranar swings his axe in a wide arc, forcing the attackers back until de Courcy leaps down the stairs into position beside him. Meanwhile, Jibril shouts at Eabd as he takes the chance to put another slashing cut into the fallen Thing as it struggles to its feet.

As the newcomers arrive, they charge in a wave at Nic and Ranar. Dancing and spinning, Nic dodges two attempted shoulder charges, sending one bouncing off the wall behind him while he rides the other one harmlessly.

Refusing to allow any Thing past, Ranar braces for the charge, arm itching from the missing weight of his familiar shield. A swish of his axe diverts one of the attackers into a face-first slam into the stone wall beside the corridor, but the same swish leaves him open to the second Thing, whose clawed hands snatch Ranar’s axe arm in a desperate grip.

Lying on his back in the corner, Hawk’s attempt at a chant is interrupted as a Thing tears at his face; his chant dissolves into a scream. Nearby, Thwip shouts for a retreat as he turns and runs for the western hall, eyes fixed over his shoulder on the rampaging Things behind him.

His fixed gaze gives him a perfect view as Eabd lunges forwards and neatly decapitates the Thing that had been pursing him. Unfortunately, it also meant that he was staring directly into the Thing’s face as it exploded in a blinding flash. Even more unfortunately, this left him completely unaware of the other Thing as it charged in and knocked him to the ground.

Nic, there’s a Thing in your hex, facing you. Ranar, you’re under Thing 11, facing 4 o’clock. Hawk, you’re under Thing 6, on your back. Thwip, you’re under Thing 5, on your back

Jibril, Ranar and Nic are still dazzled. Hawk, your spell fizzled (thanks to the shock penalty from the 4HP scratch to the face); you can try again next turn if you don’t pass out. Thwip, you’re blind, on your back and you’ve taken another 3HP from getting knocked down. Ranar, you’re grappled again, but this time you’re grappled by the arm instead of the torso. Instead of -4 to everything, it just means that you can’t move or attack with your axe arm until you break the grapple. And your left hand is free and unoccupied

[daneel]

Jibrīl Al-Las’as

Jibrīl shouts back towards the chamber.

Arron! Take the box back!

Still dazzled, he stabs at the thing in front of him.

Eabd - kill this thing and then the one on Hawk!

[Mitchell]

Nicolas de Courcy

Despite the colours dancing in his vision de Courcy avoids the charging things.

The sounds of rushing water, and the despreate and angry cries of his companions ring out from the chamber ahead.

This is taking way too long. Drowned or chewed are pretty far down on his list of preferable ways to die.

And dying is pretty far down his to-do-list in the first place. In fact, it’s the last thing he’d ever do.

But not today.

His blade whips in a blur as he sacrifices technique for speed, and launches attacks at both things near him.

[anon95548275]

Thwip

There is no Thwip now. Just a survival instinct in a nice jacket.

Tooth and claw. Claw and tooth. Rip and bite. Bite and rip.

[Daaksyde]

Ranar Bolijyr

Go back for the shield? Draw the other axe? More urgent things at hand…literally. Ranar bends his elbow and twists his arm in such a way that it should break at least one if not both of the grappling Thing’s thumbs, and also hopefully give him a clear shot to punch the beast in the face with his free arm.

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM POST

As de Courcy spins out from between his attackers, Aronn steps forward. Shouting “everyone to the map room!”, he points his staff at the nearest of Nic’s assailants and directs a burst of black smoke into its head. As it strikes, the creature falls to the ground, apparently stunned.

Following his spin with a scything stroke across both opponents, de Courcy’s blade narrowly misses the first but cuts deep into the downed second. Springing back into guard position, he whips his sword across just in time to intercept the attack of the first Thing, leaving an arm lying on the floor.

Beside them, Ranar’s opponent just avoids a thunderous overhand left before the dwarven warrior flings the cadaverous Thing back out into the main chamber. However, almost as soon as he is free a second Thing leaps at him, wrapping both arms around his chest. Moments later, the first Thing springs back, once again taking hold of his axe arm.

Out in the main chamber, Jibril continues shouting instructions to Eabd as he carves yet another slice from his Thing’s torso. Wearying of the slow dissection, the Thing leaps forwards, snarling in his face as it grapples his sword arm.

Hawk once again tries to raise the spirits, and once again fails as his concentration dissolves under the slashing claws. Beside him, Thwip struggles to his knees, madly biting and clawing at the air around him. As he does so, the Thing that knocked him down momentarily draws back, observing him with what appears to be bemusement.

This observation does not last long, as a charging Eabd scythes his sword through the Thing’s neck, sending the head flying across the chamber before it explodes in the familiar starburst.

Ranar is under Thing 10, along with another Thing. One of them has a two-arm grapple on your torso, the other on your axe arm. Jibril is under Thing 9, which has his sword arm grappled with two hands. Hawk is on his back under Thing 6, still conscious, although he took another 1HP damage. Thwip is kneeling.

Nic is no longer dazzled. Ranar and Jibril still are. Thwip is blind, and very confused.

[daneel]

Jibrīl Al-Las’as

His sword arm grappled, Jibrīl yanks the thing in closer, grabs a dagger with his other hand and gets stabby with the thing.

[nimelennar]

Blue Hawk

Despite his initial intention to close with Thwip and fight back-to-back, Hawk’s plans were quickly thwarted. The Things, either through sheer numbers or by skill, managed to interpose themselves between the two of them and keep them apart. This wouldn’t have been so bad, except the creatures were also conspiring to drive the two of them away from the side passage and safety.

Fighting defensively, the tribesman was able to keep them away so long as he kept retreating, until his reflexes, not having unconsciously picked up what he had consciously seen, failed to realize that these Things weren’t living things, and thus didn’t mind getting stabbed. Realizing his mistake even as he pressed his attack, he lunged forward and skewered one of his opponents. Even then, he might have been fine, but the distraction of the opponent crawling up his spear, combined with the awkward position of the lunge, left his back open for another Thing to claw at.

Pain.

Hawk’s eyes snap back into focus again, lying on the ground, feeling the paralysis spread even as the Thing atop him continues to claw at him and put more poison into him.

This is not the first time since he has fallen that the pain has overwhelmed him and broken his concentration. Twice, he thinks, but he cannot be certain; the part of his mind that takes over when the pain breaks his concentration seems intent on foolishly recapping the events that have already happened, in a vain attempt that he might learn from them. Learn later, he thinks, the pain threatening to drive him into the sweet release of unconsciousness, fight now.

For the third time, the shaman attempts to open a connection to the spirits. He doesn’t have time for the full ritual to restore function to his limbs; it is a lovely poem, full of symbolism and metaphor, beseeching the spirits to become the various parts of his body and act on his will while he acts on their will. A shame, but not an unforeseen one. When he was trained to be a shaman, it was drilled into him to find the core, the essence of every ritual, and to be able to pull it forth in time of need. His rapidly numbing fingers tap the air as if it were a drum, and, hearing the silent drumbeat in his head, he condenses his will and his words into the essence of his needs, releasing it in a mental cry of, Spirits, let me move!

[anon95548275]

** Thwip **

– Where did it go?! Where did it go?!–

Thwip crouches in a defensive position. Waiting for the final blow to come. The Thing that kills him is not going to have it easy. He will attack the pain when it comes.

“Protekt Hawk, Eabd… He’s needit more.”

Thwip is not sure if his voice can be heard through his pounding heart. He tries again. “Protekt Hawk…”

– I’ll need him soon.–

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM POST

As his previous target recovers its wits on the floor, Aronn swings his staff across and aims another one of his smokebolts at the head of the Thing grappling Ranar’s arm. Although the bolt strikes home, the Thing seemingly shakes it off. Nevertheless, Ranar manages to yank his arm free of the hold, regaining control of his axe as he ducks his head back to evade a bite from the remaining grappler.

Stepping in front of Aronn, Nic strikes again at his opponent, whipping his sword up and across in a lightning double cut. Although both strikes are on target, the second is superfluous; there is nothing left to strike but a cloud of dust. Experienced, de Courcy averts his eyes from the resulting flash, retaining enough vision to see the second Thing lunging in for an attack. Jumping back until he is almost on Aronn’s toes, the swordsman brings his rapier across a third time, carving the Thing’s arms to the bone as he fends it off.

In the main chamber, Thwip flails about wildly, uttering shrieks of animalistic rage, as Hawk finally loses his struggle to cling to consciousness. As he does so, Eabd steps across, whirling his sword in a figure eight pattern and carving a solid slice from the Thing on the return stroke. In response, the Thing snarls and leaps at him, and Eabd steps back, bringing his sword across again. It leaves a cloud of dust and a flash in its wake.

With his sword arm captured, Jibril drops his torch, fast-draws his janbiya and slams the knife home. As the Thing finally succumbs to the accumulated wounds, Jibril desperately slams his eyes shut, the flash going off inches from his face.

Behind him, another wave of Things charge out of the darkness.

Nic, you’re on top of Aronn. Ranar, you’re under Thing 10. Hawk, you’re KO’d; Thwip is still blind and Jibril is still dazzled. Ranar is no longer dazzled, but is still grappled by one Thing.

Jibril has not noticed the new wave of Things. The only light in the main chamber is the torch at Jibril’s feet.

[anon95548275]

Thwip

The goblin is tired. He hears Eabd clanking. He hears bodies fall and he cannot tell if they are the Things or his friends. There is the sound of steel meeting Thing. Is that the sound of fresh Things?

He turtles up into a defensive ball to await his end. He yells with what strength he has left.

“Fly, you fools!”

– These are terrible last words…–