{"id":1868,"date":"2014-08-21T01:58:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T15:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/?p=1868"},"modified":"2016-05-27T04:20:36","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T18:20:36","slug":"gurps-banestorm-dark-clouds-rising-book-ii-session-6-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/?p=1868","title":{"rendered":"GURPS Banestorm: Dark Clouds Rising, Book II, Session 6.18"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><em>Dramatis Person\u00e6<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>Brother Mendel (Herodian)<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/?p=382\">Dane Sardock<\/a> (Winston)<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/?p=90\">Gabriel Auditore<\/a> (Rigil Kent)<br \/>\nGestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/?p=201\">Magnifico the Clown<\/a> (Feste)<br \/>\nMerasi\u00ebl Alethmist (Melissa)<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/?p=74\">Rainald North-Hammer<\/a> (Gigermann)<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-hesiod1.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-hesiod1.png?resize=600%2C240&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"bs-hesiod1\" width=\"600\" height=\"240\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1803\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-hesiod1.png?w=620&amp;ssl=1 620w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-hesiod1.png?resize=300%2C120&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Of Victory and Loss<\/h3>\n<p><em>13 May 2014<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-1.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-1.jpg?w=200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"bs-618-screens-1\"  align=\"right\" \/><\/a><strong>Continued\u2026<\/strong> About the time Rainald and the leader of the strangers, called Dicey, began to close with each other to duel, the other Heroes arrived at the scene and joined those already present. Rainald jogged forward intently, while Magnifico, Brother Mendel, and Radskyrta followed a pace or two behind; Dicey only took a few steps before standing still to receive. Brother Mendel caught sign of invisible footfalls in the dust near Dicey\u2014that of Salren, their wizardess\u2014and brought it to the others\u2019 attention. At the same time, the rest of the enemy crew emerged from their hiding places behind the broken pillars of the \u201cPantheon\u201d; Radskyrta squared himself before the black-clad Finn, a master of the Sahudese fighting arts by the look of him; Hargin, the broad-shouldered, axe-wielding dwarf, dropped back behind Finn and maneuvered toward the front of the ruined structure where Dane, Gestlin and Merasi\u00ebl approached. Alfio, the elven archer from before, distanced himself from Dicey toward the middle of the floor, next to the hole they had excavated, and was immediately surrounded by a dome of impenetrable magical force; Gabriel found himself on the far side of the building from the rest, and approached the archer\u2019s position behind the cover of the columns there. Just before Rainald and Dicey would meet at arms, Magnifico let fly an insult so devious and unexpected that Dicey and Salren momentarily lost all focus; Rainald took the advantage and swung Gramjarn at the leader.<\/p>\n<div style=\"float:right;display:inline-block;padding-left:10px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-4.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-4.jpg?w=200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"bs-618-screens-4\"  \/><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-8.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-8.jpg?w=200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"bs-618-screens-8\"  \/><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-12.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-12.jpg?w=200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"bs-618-screens-12\"  \/><\/a><br clear=\"all\" \/><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Rainald and Dicey exchanged many attacks, though little damage was done to either as they both expertly blocked the other\u2019s strikes while maneuvering around each other. Dicey backed toward Magnifico and turned from Rainald long enough to deal the Clown a grievous blow before returning to Rainald; he avoided Brother Mendel\u2019s attempt to disarm him of his sword with his staff. However, Rainald had managed to circle almost behind him, and after feigning an attack to the fore, struck Dicey at the back of the skull with such force that he was felled in one blow, all but dead.<\/li>\n<li>Dane, Merasi\u00ebl and Gestlin scrambled to get into position. Dane loosed an arrow at Alfio, in his protective dome, but although the magical arrow passed through the dome without resistance, it immediately reversed itself and struck Dane instead\u2014Gestlin recognized the <em>Return Missile<\/em> spell and informed Dane that his efforts were in vain. Hargin, on the run, without stopping, threw his axe at Merasi\u00ebl, who narrowly vaulted over it; upon striking the floor beyond, the axe returned to the dwarf\u2019s hand at speed. He took an arrow or two from Dane upon his shield, and Gestlin cast a spell to levitate him off the ground that ended up seizing his shield instead; the dwarf struck his shield with the now-returned axe, and the enchantment was broken, and he continued his charge anew, bearing down now upon the wizard. As Dane continued to loose arrows, Gestlin called upon Smil-Blam once, and it fizzled in a shower of multi-colored sparks, and then again: the dwarf was teleported high into the air, to fall to his inevitable death. Still-invisible Salren had approached, and had narrowly failed to bend the will of Gestlin and Dane to hers; upon seeing her dwarf companion falling, she managed to teleport him to safety, to some place only she knew, just before Gestlin cast a <em>Sleep<\/em> spell that caught her off her guard, and so she collapsed into an invisible heap, fast asleep.<\/li>\n<li>Radskyrta and Finn each challenged the other to attack, just before Merasi\u00ebl joined their duel. Finn, armed with a pair of sai, fended off all attacks from the two with seeming ease, using the strange weapons to disarm them both in turn, though Angrist would return to Merasi\u00ebl at her command. Now free of the charging dwarf, Dane began to loose arrows at Finn, but he evaded them all while maneuvering such that none of the Heroes could attack him from behind. Merasi\u00ebl and Radskyrta were both wounded, but were unable to land a blow upon the exceedingly-nimble fighter; Radskyrta had defended himself furiously, but had fallen from one of the blows, and again after he got to his feet, after which Finn unsheathed his katana in the blink of an eye, and in a fluid motion, stabbed Radskyrta through the heart, slaying him. Gestlin had joined the effort, casting <em>Flame Jet<\/em> which Finn easily dodged, and upon seeing Radskyrta so slain, chanced a <em>Sleep<\/em> spell, to which the enemy surprisingly succumbed. Merasi\u00ebl ensured Finn would not rise again.<\/li>\n<li>Gabriel abandoned stealth and broke into a run, still using the columns as cover from Alfio\u2019s arrows, and after a pause, believing he could in no way penetrate the magical defenses, charged toward the <em>Dome of Force<\/em> anyway, leaping and tumbling; none of the elf\u2019s arrows could find their mark. Gabriel rounded the hole in the floor and joined Brother Mendel, who had been struck with one of Alfio\u2019s  meteoric arrows, which ignored his <em>Deflect Missile<\/em> defense. As another was loosed, Gabriel threw himself in front of it, and was struck in the leg such that it was crippled. He rose on his remaining leg, with help, as Brother Mendel spun up a spell to dispel the dome, and again, Gabriel threw himself in front of the arrow, which failed to penetrate his cuirass. Brother Mendel\u2019s spell failed to dispel the dome, so he tried instead to heal whom he could.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-16.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-16.jpg?w=200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"bs-618-screens-16\"  align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Meanwhile, Rainald, having just slain the enemy\u2019s leader, brazenly approached the dome and began looking for a weakness, and finding none, began to taunt its occupant. Safe within, Alfio responded by loosing an arrow at Rainald\u2019s face, which Rainald caught with his hand, having let go his shield. Again Rainald taunted the elf, who then loosed <em>two<\/em> arrows at once at Rainald\u2019s face; but as he raised his shield, one of them was deflected by the rim such that Rainald was struck in his right eye. Rainald staggered but remained on his feet through sheer stubbornness, and the elf loosed arrow after arrow at the Northman\u2019s face, and Rainald was struck twice more as he fell back to help Gabriel protect Brother Mendel, who was trying to find a weakness in the dome\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-20.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bs-618-screens-20.jpg?w=200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"bs-618-screens-20\"  align=\"right\" \/><\/a>As Finn had finally been felled, now Gestlin and Dane were able to turn their attentions upon the elf as well, being the last that remained of the enemy. There existed a stalemate: Alfio had used the loosed the last of his meteoric arrows upon Brother Mendel, and knew that any others would be subject to the Heroes\u2019 magical defenses, but he could not dismiss the the dome to leave it, and would have to defend himself as he could as he waited for it to fall of its own. No longer hurried, Gestlin retrieved a few of the elf\u2019s meteoric arrows that had been deflected or dodged from a nearby column and handed them to Dane, who readied to aggressively return them to their former-owner, while Gestlin powered up a <em>Windstorm<\/em> to prevent any more arrows leaving the dome in a dangerous attitude. Alfio knew he had no chance to survive; he loosed a few arrows anyway that were easily deflected by the casters or caught by the wind as expected. As Gestlin launched an <em>Explosive Fireball<\/em> through the dome, Alfio dove over the edge of the excavation to the bottom of the protective force sphere, shielding him from the full force of the blast. As he climbed back up, singed but still healthy, Dane returned his meteoric arrows through his back. And it was over.<\/p>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All had been wounded save for Gestlin, and Brother Mendel began to heal them. Rainald\u2019s eye was lost, though Brother Mendel was certain it could be regenerated later. But there was no celebration in victory, as they saw that Radskyrta was dead; Brother Mendel insisted that they should take him to a church, that he could pray for his resurrection.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Notes<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>This fight took up the entire session, and was easily the toughest this group has ever faced; we lost an NPC for the second time (in the last 4 years prior), and Rainald had to make Death Checks for the first time ever. Again, the enemies were PCs from the GM\u2019s face-to-face group, three of which were 400+ points, with some long-established and thoroughly-tested tactics and procedures that the GM recreated here to deadly effect. If not for some lucky breaks (bad resistance rolls, etc), it could easily have been much, much worse for us<\/li>\n<li>The Red-Shirt, Radskyrta, joined the party so long ago, finally did his duty, though he may be returned through resurrection<\/li>\n<li>Along with the enemies\u2019 superior natural capabilities, they had some nasty magical gear; through (Pyrrhic) victory, this gear is now ours<\/li>\n<li>The dwarf still lives, as far as we know, and will not take it well that we have killed his fellows, I think; one of the magic items found on their persons is one of a pair of magical earrings that act as two-way communicators\u2014the dwarf undoubtedly has the other<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dramatis Person\u00e6 Brother Mendel (Herodian) Dane Sardock (Winston) Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent) Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee) Magnifico the Clown (Feste) Merasi\u00ebl Alethmist (Melissa) Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann) Of Victory and Loss 13 May 2014 Continued\u2026 About the time Rainald and the leader of the strangers, called Dicey, began to close with each other to duel, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,19],"tags":[42,38,36,39],"class_list":["post-1868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-banestorm","category-bs_logs","tag-banestorm","tag-campaign","tag-gurps","tag-recap"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1868"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1880,"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868\/revisions\/1880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.olympusrpg.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}