GURPS Banestorm PBBB narrative thread

[anon95548275]

Thwip

– Curiouser and curiouser! A possible attempt at camouflage. This is not a culture given to digging underground to begin with. It’s no fort. It’s a vault. Whatever it is we are searching for is likely much more important than we’re behaving. Even his lordship may not have a good idea or he’d bring more than just a handful of sellswords like us. Does he think it’s just lost gold and the recovering of objects is just a ruse? Nah! He wouldn’t care if the magician was missing in that case. It has to be magical. Big magic for them to go to all this trouble to hide it. –

But something of this is unsatisfying to the goblin.

–If it were some sort of pre-Storm secret weapon they would have used it against us during The Justified Holy War Against The al-Wazif Infidels. There’s no weapon so terrible that even an army of sinners wouldn’t use it. If it isn’t a weapon then what is it?–

Thwip is not happy where is thoughts are taking him. He tries to not think in terms of conspiracies but his entire life is conspiracies. It’s a difficult habit to break. Lord Aronn’s has had good, rational explanations for everything so far. Yet he is hiding something. A small part of Thwip’s inner voice pipes up.

– What if this is a prison for some unnamed evil and not a treasure vault? –

Thwip smacks himself on the side of the head and mutters, “Too minny scary stories assa kid. Gettagrip, stupit. Thisiz reality.”

The others seem to be making headway into getting Hawk on the horse. No more time for making wild assumptions. He puts the burning glass into a convenient pocket. Picking up his rifle from the rest of his kit he walks over to the carriage and knocks. Once his lordship pays him some attention, Thwip holds out both the rifle and the painting. He mentally breathes in for another long bout of speaking and lets it go.

“M’lord. I gotsum ideas but I’ll need mor’ time t’ study this an’ I canna dooit while watchin’ our backs. An t’ alWassif Tin Men’ll hava fit ifin they see m’gun. If y’ kin keep it hiddin’ in tere we kin travel smoother.”

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM SCENE

While Thwip pores over the painting and de Courcy nabs the best horse, Hawk cautiously approaches the least-imposing of the beasts.

Gently tapping on his drum, he calls to the spirit of the horse. The initially-nervous animal instantly walks straight to him, gently nuzzling at his outstretched hand and happily submitting to a scratch. The horse remains calm and quiet as Hawk awkwardly mounts, initially at a loss as to where to stow his spear, shield and drum.

These are the horses:

(note: the Mount skill gives Hawk an effective Riding (Equine) skill of 8, and adds +1 to everyone else’s Riding rolls)

Apart from de Courcy’s, who got this one:

(note that these are not combat-trained warhorses)

After you’ve all mounted up and Thwip stashes his gear in the carriage, Aronn calls for Ranar to begin the journey. Heading northwards away from the trading post on a decently maintained dirt and gravel road, you pass peacefully through countryside that rapidly transitions from ■■■■■ cropland into semi-arid open pasture. A moderate amount of traffic passes you heading southwards, without incident.

Growing more comfortable in the saddle, Hawk eases his initial deathgrip on the pommel, and begins to relax. Half-closing his eyes, he goes into the meditation trance that he uses to rapidly recover from spellcasting.

[PLAYER CUE: Hawk, gimme a roll vs Riding. Effective skill is 13; 8 for the average of your Riding and the horse’s Mount, +5 for being a trivial task (staying on a walking horse while not paying attention)]

[nimelennar]

@discbot roll 3d6 /13 for Riding

[discbot]

@nimelennar the 3d6 dice reads: 15 /13 for Riding (3,6,6)

[nimelennar]

Blue Hawk

“Just relax,” the mine-man tells him. While Hawk thanks him for this no-doubt useful advice, he was looking for something a little more practical, like, “this is how you get on,” or “this is how you sit comfortably on horseback,” or “this is how you make the horse move forward, or turn, or stop.”

Eventually, after watching the others mount, Hawk copies their motions, much more awkwardly, and ends up on horseback. He takes a moment to make the horse go forward, then stop, then to turn a full circle in each direction. Hmm, he thinks, this may not be as difficult as I thought.

The tribesman tells the others to call his name if they need to rouse him from his recovery trance. He waits a few minutes to make sure that the horse knows what it’s doing, and then enters the trance.

Almost immediately, a voice cries, “Hawk!” and the shaman opens his eyes to see that he has drifted away from the carriage, and is nearly off the trail. He notes that his grip on the reins is tighter on that side, adjusts his grip accordingly, gets back in position, and, after thanking whoever earned him, and reminding the others that his name is Blue Hawk, not just “Hawk,” he goes back into the trance.

“Blue Hawk!” At least this time, they got his name right. He opens his eyes to see the world tilted at a jaunty angle. He tries to push himself straight, only to realize that his right foot had slipped out of its stirrup, which is how he began sliding off in the first place. Grabbing the front of the saddle, he rights himself, and puts his foot back in the stirrup.

The shaman tries to get back into the trance, but now they’ve hit a rougher portion of road, and with every step the horse takes, it feels like the saddle is the point of an axe trying to split him up the middle. He tries to relax his legs as Ranar suggested, but this only seems to make the issue worse. He then tries to stand up using the steps as if they were solid ground, and this reduces the strain, but he is no longer relaxed enough to enter the trance.

Disgusted in himself, horses in general, and this one in particular, Hawk gives up the trance as a lost cause and decides to instead focus on controlling the horse for their journey through the Wazifi countryside.

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM SCENE

As you continue down the road, Hawk continuously twitches his reins and fiddles with his stirrups, alternating between over- and under-correcting his horse. Were the animal less good-tempered, it would undoubtedly have thrown him in irritation. Nevertheless, your journey continues without incident.

(GM note: Hawk is still -5 FP due to his uncomfortable ride)

After several hours of travel, Aronn directs the group to turn west onto a rough dirt track. Ahead, a line of low hills breaks the monotony of the surrounding plains.

The track winds in between, heading deeper into the hills which rise on both sides of the track and increase in size as you go. There is no traffic on this track, and the countryside appears abandoned. Grasslands cover the hills, and no farmed land or fencing is visible.

[anon95548275]

Thwip

– This doesn’t look like it’s patrolled much, if at all. No sign of habitation either. If I were some sort of animal or wild man, this is where I’d call home.–

Thwip spurs his horse into a faster trot and attempts to match the speed of Lord Aronn. He taps on the window once he catches up. “M’lord. Kin you unwrap an pass me m’riffle? Jes t’ be safe.”

[This is all assuming the carriage has windows that open, lacks windows to begin with, or Lord Aronn is fit enough to open the door and pass the gun without falling out.]

[Mitchell]

Nicholas de Courcy

De Courcy and Jibril ride up the track, either side of the road, just out of sight of the carriage but within range of a good bellow.

Fifteen minutes down the track de Courcy gets a familiar feeling. He knows terrain like this is perfect for bushwacking, he’s bushwacked people in terrain like this, and now he felt butterflies in his gut and his mouth was drier than a played out well.

Every fibre of his being was bracing for combat.

He began speaking to Jibril in a conversational manner, knowing his tone would carry far further than his words.

“A farthing says we’re about to be ambushed. Act natural, but speed up a little, like we’re not paying attention to how far ahead we are. If I’m right they’ll let the scouts go by before springing the trap, and we can circle back and outflank them if they think we’ve gotten too far ahead to notice,” he said with an easy smile for the benefit of his potential audience.

“If you spot anything, tap your leg twice and keep riding until we’re clear, then we turn.”

He turns back to carefully scanning the surrounding landscape.

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM SCENE

Jibrīl and de Courcy begin to pull ahead on the winding track, unseen by Ranar and Thwip.

However, seen to all of you: four horsemen, a pair on either side of the track, appear on the hilltops about a quarter mile distant. Two of them are roughly level with de Courcy and Jibrīl, while the other two are level with the carriage.

They pause for a moment, silhouetted on the hilltops; they appear to be making no attempt at concealment. Then the one to the left-rear waves something above his head and cries out in a booming roar; at this, all four spring into motion, galloping recklessly down the hillsides towards you.

The front pair are headed for Jibrīl and de Courcy, while the rear pair make for Thwip and Hawk. All of them let loose with whooping cries as they come, waving some long and thin objects above their heads.

At their current pace, it looks like they’ll be on you in about half a minute.

[PLAYER CUE: well?]

[anon95548275]

Thwip

Thwip pulls the horse to a stop. As quickly and as precisely as he can, he pulls out the tube of bullets and pours them into the chamber.

– Close lid. Drop tube. Load with left. Three clicks.–

“Aim for the heart.”

Thwip thinks of math. He thinks of parabolas. He thinks of wind. He thinks of distance. He thinks that when the rider he’s aiming at gets too close he will be in for a surprise. Or maybe his horse will be surprised, which Thwip decides would be even better. He hasn’t eaten filet chevalin in a while.

[Mitchell]

Nicholas de Courcy

de Courcy had no sooner explained his plan than the horsemen made their appearance.

“…Or they could just loudly announce their presence, and begin charging down the hill at us. Two equally efficient tactics on their part.”

He gives the horsemen a cheery wave in response their charge, and dismounts on the opposite side of his horse.

Screened from view he strings his bow, and nocks an arrow, counting down under his breath as he estimates how long until they are in range based on the speed they were galloping.

He steps around the front of his horse and starts lining up a shot, leaving the draw until the first target is in range,

Horses first, they’re the bigger targets, he thinks, then let’s see how keen our new friends are to run the rest of the way while trying not to sprout arrows.

[daneel]

Jibrīl Al-Las’as

Jibrīl shouts out a greeting - “As-salamu alaykum!”

He then follows De Courcy’s lead, gets behind his horse and readies his daggers to throw.

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM SCENE

As the “horsemen” draw closer, you realise that they aren’t men: they’re centaurs.

Carrying very large spears.

[anon95548275]

Thwip

Suppressing annoyance at his dinner plans being ruined, Thwip fires a shot at the centaur he was aiming at once it is in range.

–Guide my hand, oh Lord!–

Hit or miss, he seeks cover under the carriage.

– Don’t bolt you damned horses!–

[nimelennar]

Blue Hawk
As the horsemen draw nearer, Hawk considers calling forth the spirits to have the horses throw their riders, leaving the rider vulnerable in the confusion. He decides against it, though, as he is quite tired from the long horse ride and his previous spell to befriend the horse. Besides, if the horses are trained for war, such an attempt would probably be doomed to failure, anyway.

When the horsemen grow nearer, Hawk realizes that they are not horsemen at all, but horse-men. Hawk has met them in the tribal lands, and they can be very troublesome if not approached correctly.

“Everyone,” the shaman calls out in Anglish, “off and away from the horses, before they are offended.” He then suits actions to words, to the vast relief of both parties involved. His dismount is neither graceful nor gentle, but he lands steadily on his feet, and begins moving to place himself between the horse-men and his horse.

The tribesman takes stock of his spiritual energy, the size of the horse-men, and the distance, and concludes that trying to cast a spell to make them more well-disposed towards him would likely be a bad idea. He will just have to rely on his natural charm and linguistic ability.

As the centaurs approach, he lowers his weapon, and genuflects. “Hello, Salaam, and well met, great warriors of the plains,” he says, speaking (except for the Arabic greeting) in his own native tongue.

[Edited to add:]. As the last word leaves his lips, a loud report sounds behind Hawk. The shaman flinches at the sound, but does not stand or raise his weapon, hoping that whatever caused that noise has not just guaranteed their entry into the spirit realm this day.

[Daaksyde]

Ranar Bolijyr

Ranar, in a daze from the lengthy drive through boring country, notices the horsemen as they start to charge down from the hilltops. He takes a quick glance around, and then settles back, calming himself. Keeping the horses moving at a steady comfortable slow trot, he reassures himself “Show no fear. We have business to attend to and we won’t be delayed by bandits. But neither will we run from them!”

Jibril and de Courcy are out of sight ahead, and Blue Hawk and Thwip are now fallen back behind the carriage. He feels a little exposed, but he’ll just have to trust his team. They should have him covered from front to back.

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM SCENE

Thwip’s finger twitches on the trigger as Hawk cries out, but he does not fire. Dismounting, he pursues the carriage on foot, which is slowly leaving Hawk behind.

Around the corner ahead, Jibril and de Courcy shelter behind their horses and aim.

The centaurs are now at 100 yards, showing no sign of slowing down. Each of them transfers his spear to his left hand a draws a javelin with his right.

[daneel]

Jibrīl Al-Las’as

Jibrīl waited nervously. Only 100 yards, but he couldn’t throw a knife that far; and what good would it do, anyway? Should he try to distract the centaurs? Or talk to them? He glanced over at de Courcy, a quizzical look on his face, and gestured towards the oncoming centaurs. He prepared to throw a knife and draw his tulwar, should one of the centaurs attack first.

[anon95548275]

Thwip

“Ach! Jav-lins!”

Thwip is a modern sort of Catholic. He has lived among and traveled with people of other faiths for years. It has led him to be somewhat casual in his religious duties. When things go pear-shaped he always remembers how long it has been since he prayed to the Virgin. How many sins he has accumulated and not confessed. All of the times he has taken the lord’s name in vain. All of the pork on a Friday.

He does now what he always does at those times.

– Dear God. I promise to be better if you get me out of this.–

He falls into a defensive fighting position. Takes aim at the centaur riding at Hawk. Fires.

If he dies he hopes trying to save someone looks good on his entrance to Heaven application.

[Wanderfound]

@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel

GM SCENE

The centaurs continue their charge, each of them apparently picking out one of the four exposed targets as their focus.

The position looks roughly like this:

1 yard per hex, green terrain represents hills climbing away from the road on both sides. The centaurs are still beyond the range of the map. The horses are all two hexes long, but my map program won’t do ovals

As the centaurs pass 75 yards, de Courcy lets fly.

Base skill of 14, +3 Acc, +2 for sustained Aim, +1 for All-Out Attack, +1 for a SM+1 target.

-10 for range/speed (60 yards/12 yards per sec). Roll vs effective skill of 11 to hit.

A couple of seconds later, the thwip-crack of Thwip’s airgun sounds, after the goblin drops to the ground behind the carriage.

Base skill of 15, +1 Acc, +2 for sustained Aim, +1 for braced, +1 for All-Out Attack, +1 for a SM+1 target.

-10 for range/speed (60 yards/12 yards per sec). Roll vs effective skill of 11 to hit.