The final episode of the Neutral Grounds series.
The group deals with the Ghouls but did they get there in time to save Diane?
Knights of the Night
KOTN Actual Play Podcast 59: DFRPG 1_9 "Long Staff of the Law"
(upbeat rock music) - Hello and welcome tonight to the Night Actual Play Podcast. This Dresden File Story, Neutral Grounds, has been run by our GM Tom. And now, please enjoy episode nine, the final chapter, titled "Long Staff of the Law." (upbeat rock music) - Time to start it here. (upbeat rock music) - This is Neutral Grounds and your GM Tom. And starting on my left is, - John playing Zach Meyer, a practice wizard. - Thomas playing Martin Capouti, the retired psychic detective. - Mike playing Sean Barnes, the metalhead werewolf. - Wolf. - Snarl. - Scott playing Nate Vawakas, the emo white court virgin. - Where we ended last week. We went to a recap, we'll just do a quick summation of where we were when we ended, which was you guys were walking down a hallway, tours where you believe Eric McCallen was. In front of you, you saw some lights, it looked like the tunnel was opening into a chamber. As you got a little bit closer, you were surprised by two goals, and we left with a cliffhanger there. - I can't remember, was I already transformed into a wolf now that we were down the tunnel? - I believe you were. - I believe you were walking along the wolf form. - Okay. Unfortunately, the two goals have got surprise. - That is unfortunate. - There you go. - Well, we know for a surprise before we get it down. - It's a compare. - Okay. - Between their style versus your awareness. - Yeah, okay. - And then they make an attack, it's a separate thing. - So we all roll awareness. There are two different goals. One of them was being much more stealthy than the other. How were you guys proceeding down the tunnel? I mean, it was the wolf in front, so I got a clean smell on. - I would imagine that, yes, if I wasn't followed probably by the wizard because he was doing not quite opening the site through the line of the thread. - And I would have been ahead of the wizard to actually protect him from exactly the situation. - I would be third because you have a gun and you can be as far away as you need to be, but I can't chew down. So I'll be closer to the acronym. - We're going to say that the first goal is attacking you and the next is trying to pass you to the wizard. So I had no chance of detecting him or being with in human speed. So I'm not sure about your speed. - In human. - You're in human. - I am now. - But their alertness is seven, which means that they move before you. - In wolf form, my initiative is plus eight. So that's already legendary. - Here's the thing. You got two of them. They are attempting to attack you. One of them's attacking you, one of them's trying to attack past you. What I want from you is first there's stealth roles to see them. - You have a different one. One of them role rather poorly. The other one role being. - Okay. One is hidden with a good plus three. The other one just got a average plus one. So let's have your alertness to see if you can spot one or either of them and then we'll let you go first before they do because you are up with her. - So this is an initiative, I'm rolling. So this is just alertness. - They're shifting to try to get into position to attack or even just they're starting at the attack, but they're not enough to trigger a plus one here. - Okay, here I go. - Oh, minus two, so that is a three. That's a good against them. - That equals it. So you see him moving the position, he seems to be ready to lunge at you. - Okay, the other guy is? - It's a five. - No, that's great, that's superb. - Which is easy to spot the second one because he was only about a one. - Okay. - What you see is he's kind of farther ahead and he's almost equal with you and it looks like he was going to go past you into Zach. - So the lower guy is actually the one nearest me while the more stealthy guy is farther away. I will attack the one nearest me since he's probably more dangerous to the wizard. - I hear they go for the groin a lot. - Oh. - Yes, sorry, I think that's a, I will go for the groin and triple. - Do you like Matt like the taste of rancid cool meat though? - Would that be like a negative from your wolfing standpoint? - I think in this, I'm fighting to kill not to feed. - Right, okay. - Natural weapons, any natural weapons, even a breath weapon uses the fist skill. Okay, so you mentioned weapons. - All right, and you do it? - That is a four. - Okay. Four to hit. - He dodges on a roll of minus one makes his dodge four. - Yikes. - These things are fast. - That is fast. - So the wolf one just spins around in the corridor. - He hits, but since it totals are equal now, the only damage he does would be weapon damage. - All right, so then it's four damage. - So if you wanted to spend any points, you could increase the amount of damage, but that I leave up here. - I'm gonna save my very valuable and rare. - You guys danced a bit. You charged him, he jumps out of the way. - That's moderate? - No, no, no. - He didn't take any consequence. - He didn't take any consequence. He had a fourth stress box, a circle. He's crossed it off. - Got him. - So he has at least four. - Probably has five. - Maybe more. - With, he returns to attack. He's now not paying attention to the wizard, but he's attacking you. So his attack is great. - He rolled a minus three, so that takes it to a one. So his lunge at you, Sean, is a one. You roll your four dice plus your athletics, try to get out of the way. - Or you could use your fist. - I thought you were saying he's at just a little. - Yikes. - Minus one. - My athletics are four. - Four? - Then you easily dodge out of the way of his-- - Why ya? - Perk. - Sorry. - The second rule also attacks you, because he was in a position to attack you. The other one you got in the way. Minus one on the roll, so it's three. Attack of three with his claws as he comes in. Now, if it's an, oh, because that's right, I can roll like it is, right? - That's also a four. Okay, so again, you're facing these two goals off. You're dancing, and you're putting yourself between your friends and these goals, keeping them in front, snarling, and snapping away. - Yeah. - And jumping out of the way when they lunge at you. - And that should also give everyone else a big warning that, you know-- - Oh yeah, there's thumbs up. - The only thing that surprised would have done, had these things remained in stealth and gotten an attack. For instance, if they would attack Zach, Zach's defense is zero. Doesn't matter what his athletics are, it's zero plus the dice rolls. So you're at a big disadvantage. After the goals, well, first there's Sean, then there's the goals, and then there's Mark. Ooh, you're at the back of the crowd, but that doesn't mean anything. You're in the same zone as these guys are. - Oh, cool. - The aspects of this tunnel will be shadowy and cramped. - Shadowy and cramped. - Yeah, you got not much room to maneuver in here, but-- - You got a shot. - And a star. - I do have a shot, Zach. - I'd be good at it. - Froyance. - Oh yeah. - Over the line. - I thought you had like a pistol. - I also have a pistol. I borrowed the shot. - Name that to your wife. - Yes, Marie. - X, hold on, she's dead. - Oh. - She made you dinner. You don't remember this? - I do now. - Come on then. - Now it is Mark's turn. - Well, I'm gonna use my pistol. Because I know there's tons of negative aspects here that you could very easily pay me a fake point to actually shoot my teammates. - I do that. - How would you, I would totally do. - When I make you shoot your fellow-- - Dude, I mean I'm only a shot back of a group of three separate people. - Yeah. - Two goals and it's unlikely that I don't-- - And I think it's fair to say that the wolf and in the darkness, the wolf and the ghouls are shooting in the melee. - A blur. - You guys are moving fast. - Right. - Can you say Thomas that your character, Martin, could not shoot a shotgun into this crowd? - So it's full on Marie and I'm going to spend my turn aiming. - Okay, so-- - Next turn, I will use that aspect to hit one of them. - Aiming or tracking one of them, you're putting an aspect of my target on one of them. - Using guns. That's an opportunity. - Considering that they're moving pretty fast, I would say that it would take a good effort to keep one target. - I have a good skill. I rolled a positive one. So a total of great. - So you are great at keeping focus on that one particular piece. It is then Zach's turn. - You mentioned we saw McCollum in the background. - Yes. - What's he up to? - Right now it appears that neither Harvard, Rico, or McCollum are aware of what's going on here. - Is there a spell being prepared? Can I see this at this distance? Do you want to take a roll? - It is in an additional zone over there that circle in the middle of the next zone would be-- - A magical circle. - A magical circle. And in the center of it, you can see a chair and you believe Diane is seated there. It's farther away. It's really hard to see. But you see McCollum is around that circle and he does seem to be concentrating on that circle. - I'm going to disrupt it or wait to explore the health. - I'm going to think about my actions. - Oh, that's on character, Alex. This doesn't fit with you. - I don't know how long he's been prepping the spell. If I knock it out and it blows up the hallway, I don't know how much energy he's poured into it. It could be really dangerous just disrupting it. - Is he really shoving energy into there right now? - He seemed very intense in what he's doing. - But I won't know unless I make a roll to like-- - That would be your action for this time. - No, I'm just going to charge in there and try to disrupt it. - Yeah. - That's where they built the Death Star. I'm getting through these ghouls and going into the next zone, making an attack. - So you move into the next zone, past the ghouls. - Mm-hmm. They're busy with the wolf. Nice job. - Sean. - Zach moves past that your action for the turn as a supplemental action, you're doing what? - You walk into the room, what you can see is that it's lit by a ton of candles. You sense just because you're a wizard, there's a big-ass lay line right above your head. And it seems to be terminating, not terminating this room, but passing through the center of this room right where the spell circle is. At that point, it's actually going into the ground and you're traveling onward. - Okay. - You see Rico and Harvard kind of sitting there, drool running down the corner of their mouth and you see Eric McCullough. Very intense and concentrating on what he's doing. This zone has the aspect of crackling with magic and there's rocks all over the place, so there's rocks strewn. - All right, what are you doing? - I really don't want to disrupt the circle, so I'm not going to throw anything through it. - I'm, however-- - See you in the circle. - You're standing in the edge of the circle. - Oh, that works fine. - Rico's leg is in circle. - I'm going to check a very large rock with this foam. - Rico's legs. - All right. - In for his legs. - You must first determine the amount of energy you want to use. What is the strength that you're doing for him to use? - I'm doing five. - All right. - Take one mental stress just start with. - Wait, if I go higher than my conviction, it's right. - So I'm going to do four. - No, I didn't realize. My conviction's four, so I want to take an extra damage. - I put you always take one. - Yeah. - Nice and clean. - And then you have the discipline role to control. Do I take the one now? Or do I add in my failure to control the power out of something? - No, you definitely take one now because you will take one. There's no question about it. There is mental stress deploying magic into you. Then you do what? You pull rocks from the earth, or you just down upon it. - Take a slag tight. - And then what do you do? - Just grab it. - I don't know how cave like this is, but I don't like it. - That's cave like this. - It's definitely a cave. - Slag tight's down and throwing large. - Right, this is a rugged cave. It's none like you can finish it. - All way, this is cave. - There is an overriding thing in this cave that it is covered in. - They're all set, yeah. Big rocks. - Big rocks. - So I'm going to. - Tap the aspect of it. - Yeah, I'm used to lag tight. - Mm hmm. - Hard, right. Two to your discipline. - That makes my discipline a five. - The five is to hit. He would have to dodge a five then. - He is attempting not to be hit by this huge still act tight. - John, is Zack attempting to be at least slightly stealthful, or is he just running? - Despite having a stealth plus one, he has no idea of the meaning of stealth. - Okay. - We should change that. - His defense role was three. - So if he went with five to hit, he went with three to defend. He does two damage plus the four back on top. So he hits him with six. It's his huge rock come slamming down. - Nice. - And magic is me. - Magic well. - He's played. - Well played, Zack. - Check him rocks. - His physical, he does not have that much. So he's going to take a moderate consequence of minus four so that he can only take a physical of two and slam this huge rock into him. - He dies mostly out of the way and his flag tight comes down. It slices all on the length of his leg. So now he's sort of lame. - This is some sharp selectites. - I just, well, they are, his foot, they can't. - At the very least, it's like a giant cheese grater just freaked the side off, but right so. - So he is at this point relatively injured and he's going to have difficulty moving fastly. He's lame, in other words. - Okay. - Now does that disrupt whatever he was concentrating on or thinking of doing, or? - Almost, definitely. - Yeah, he's no longer paying attention to what he was doing before. - I'll call his options for the stunment of the R. He can drop the spell safely and dissipate all the energy by choice or he can try to rush it. But no damage to him will interrupt it unless he's not unconscious. - Right, he's going to dissipate. - Okay. - Thank you. And then we go to Nate. - Nate runs past the combat in the hall and presses the center of the heart which creates a kind of like a shurkin almost like, you know, a bunch of blades come out of the heart and he swirls it around his head as he runs in the room screaming and attacks McCall. With his hoodie still on. - Yours up. - Your ears up. - Your ears up. - Your ears are up. - He moves his own, didn't he? - You did move his own, so that means your attack is at my center. - Okay. - And I bet you look fierce. - Oh, fierce. - Even. - Also, my weapons is three which gives me a two, which is just fair. - So you come flying in. - Yeah. - Chain, shurkin, rolling over your head. - Right. - Go this way as his head. - I don't, I don't, - Before you don't throw it, you right. - Yeah, I swear to this head. - Right, man. - I am not rolling in. - So there's one on the dice rolls. - His athletics, right? - Athletics is only fair, too. So that means it's a one. - So it hits. - So I don't know what shurkin is as far as weapon damage goes. - Well, if I win. - The way they do weapon damage is... - Yeah, it's nice. - Like a weapon one is a small pocket weapon, a knife, a sap, a belly gun. Weapon two is a baseball bat, a sword of a time. - It's got a weapon one. - Yeah. - What you do is, how many more did you hit? - I hit one more than him. He was one under me. - So that's one damage there. - And the weapon is an additional one. So that's two. - But, the darkness always threatens. - Oh. - Neutral rounds regular, those are suck. - Yeah, he's gonna decapitate this man. - Did I fight him once? - Oh, absolutely. - He was, I beat him up. - Yeah. - So he is a poser. He is totally, I mean-- - And you're fighting for the defense of Diane. - Yeah. - Which is a neutral rounds regular. - Which is the owner. - Yeah, I mean, I'm a regular. - You're a regular. - Right? And how could the darkness always threaten not apply when he's casting evil magic below this landmark in trying to harm his former lover? Who I happen to think of as a sister figure. - Good enough. So that is your total is two plus six or eight. - Yes. And if I really wanted to, I mean, does it make any sense to go up? Because I, there's, I mean, I am surprisingly athletic for him. - You are. - You're running into their mid-attacking. But that's, that's all I got. - Eight, whoa. - It's good. - Okay. - Eight, he's gonna take a severe. - Right. - Which means your shirt can call him in the eye. - Right. - I mean, his eye just-- - I haven't done much this story. - Yeah, I know. - He's got my one chance. I saved up my points. - My one jury had used as many of his points. - And I really like her as a sister. - So I say severe. I mean, you're just, you catch him in the eye and it just ribs and blood sports everywhere and he goes down in a pile. He's still functional, but he is in bad, bad shape. He's screaming for help. - And the two. - Like a little bitch. - Two. - A little bitch, but the two. - We did the last of my kick to shit, I don't know. - The two thralls start to move and they're going one after each of you. They're not particularly quick. - Rico and Harvard, you mean not the goals? - Correct. - Harvard goes after her. - Yeah, Nate, and Rico goes after Zach. They move closer, sort of, they move into shield, Eric, but they draw guns and they shoot. Harver shoots first at Nate and seriously, minus one on the roll, his guns are two, so that's a one. A one gun towards you. - What do I get? - Athletics to dodge out of it. (crunching) - Minus one, my athletics are good, 'cause I'm surprisingly athletic for a emo, which takes me down to two, which is fair. - Which is enough for you to dodge the shot that you see coming. He pulls out the gun, you jump to the side. - Right. - Yanking your shurkin out of it. - Well, I like to think that, actually, I flipped the shurkin towards him and hit his arm in the bullet one direction. - I'm not going to deflect the bullet out of it. - No, no, no, I'm not going to. - I'm not going that crazy. Just, I think he would, he uses a shurkin. - Sure I'm not looking. - Sounds good. - Surprising people with his fierceness for a furry. - Rico draws his pistol and shoots Zach, also. Minus one on the roll for a-- - I sense a theme. - Yeah, right. - For a fair taken down to the average shot. - Needs some new dice. - Well, these are the ones you gave me, so maybe-- - No, he doesn't need new dice. He needs to stay with those dice. - Maybe, yeah, maybe I do. I'm going to dodge this with athletics. That's what you use, right? - Correct. - Roll a plus one, and I already have a great plus four. - So you easily dodge out of the way, and we go back to the top of the order, which is Mike, who's facing off against two goals with Martin behind him with a gun. - He did so. - I go after the injured one that I got before, 'cause the other one wasn't close to me, right? - You are very close to both of them now. You're keeping both of them at bay. - So, because I'm going first, I attack, but they're not turning to help McCulloch, right? They're still focused on me. - They have a turn after you. And right now, the way you've got them, you're in the hallway, their back is to the room, you're in between them. Well, that's not good, they could just turn and run into that room. I'm saying, you're not preventing them from going to Eric. You're preventing them from getting to Mark. - Then, in that case-- - Oh, who to protect? - Man, I got this. - Okay. - And then-- - That was a really hard decision. (laughing) - Oh, no, Martin? - Oh yeah, okay, you got it. - All right, one, the options you have when you're in a combat are to attack, to allow defend. One of them is to block. What you can say is, I want to put myself between them and the door. They're not getting through the door, I'm stopping them. And then you would roll, your action would be to prevent them from getting into where Eric is. - I think once I'm a wolf and engaged fully that I'm gonna go for full attack and I will kill them to prevent them from-- - Actually, I would say it might be wisest for you to prevent them from getting into their other room. So therefore, I'm gonna offer you a fake point to just attack because that's what you do is you are in, you're in a frenzy. Well, that's what I mean, so because I agree with that, you don't have to buy this. - But it's probably wiser for you to prevent the goals from getting into that room and saving here. - Oh, can I say perform the actual metal action by acting as your character would act? - All right, good. - Oh, this is good, this is a good attack. - That's a good attack. - All right, and he is dodging at plus five. Seriously, I'm so glad I got new dice. Mine is two on the roll instead of minus one, which sounds so good, which takes him down to a dodge of three. - Okay, so that means I still hit him. - Yours was three? - Yes. - At equal, you do hit him, but you only do the damage, which for you is still four, because it's the claws and the whole thing. - Right, that's so powerful. - Since he only had four, and you've already taken a four, that rolls up to the next level, which is a five. He doesn't have that. So that would take him out, except you can take a consequence of minus two. All right, we're just gonna say, we're gonna go with, like, say, Winden. You're really, it's starting to get to him, you know? This is a much bigger fight than he thought. And we go to-- - He's a monster. - He's just a monster. - He's just a monster. - Yeah, it's one flustered goal. I've never seen a goal that flustered goal. - What's it take? - Oh, look at the two! - I think he keeps getting my way, I'm trying to hold up. - You can kill him. - Oh, the one that you damage rolls, finally. I'll take nothing. It's average down to zero, I'll take that. - I'm sorry, just, I'm not asking for it. I just wanted to clarify. Because I had damaged him before, if I had attacked him and said, like, I'm attacking the one I damaged before. And if I had spent like an aspect to say him, because I damaged him before, he's more weak. And, you know, could I have gotten like an extra-- - When you put a consequence on an enemy, you can tag that consequence like it's an aspect once. - But I haven't put a consequence on him yet, right? - No, you had not, that was just for damage. - Okay, but he could say just snarl, plus two damage. - Well, yeah, absolutely. - He could spend just-- - Yes, you could do that. - And it would be a moderate consequence. - It's not a mildly like, oh, I'm flustered, I got the purpose. - Well, he has a mild consequences of, oh, my I have papers. Sean gets to tap that for free next turn. He gets a free plus two, because he put that consequence on it. - What could you use it? - If it was moderate, would he get a free plus four? - No. - No, it's still plus two. - Oh, it's always just plus two. - But it is a moderate, which is-- - His billy slash is as bad as a fake person. - Right, just live with it. - Okay, all right. - Carry on. - He rolled a null or a zero. - The other one I'm attacking. - Nice, yeah, he attacks you, which his attack is four. - So you have a-- - I've got a five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five. - And he has two. - That's seven. - Nice, Michael. - An epic, I run up one side of the tunnel and back flip and-- - Yeah, he is so frustrated. He charges you claws out, and if you do, you just like, run up the side of the wall, jump past him and get behind him and invite him and they ask while you're at it, because that was epic. - Unfortunately-- - Which really fosters him. - He is supremely clustered. - Unfortunately, the other goal is-- - Fuck me, seriously. (laughs) - Rob, nice for the GM. - Yes, the other goal is-- - No, I don't want you guys, thank you. - The other goal is aggravated with this and wants to get to the weak meat and goes after Martin. He's moving fast, his claws are out, he strikes the two and rolls eight minus three, so that his attack is only plus one. And it's just an average attack. - Rob, Martin, let's see those old man moves. - I have an athletics plus one. I'll be lucky if I die. - For significantly. - Successes. - Yeah! - Whoa, that's a great move for an old man. - A total of-- - Great. - Good. - Well, it's plus two. - No, great. - He's got a minus. - I think he started at once. - That's great. - With a great move, Colombo experience pays out. - Look at me as sidesteped. - Martin wins in the last possible moment on sidestep as he is. - How was he? - That was impressive. - That was. Speaking of what, I know I shattered his eye, or took out his eye with the shurkin heart. What's, did he take a constant one space in that? - Yes, very nice. - Certainly did. That was a severe consequence. - Missing a wall. - In those extreme-- - I suppose what it was like maybe tap it next turn. - Blinded. - Okay. - All right. - Okay. - You can recover from severe aspects. This man's not gonna die. (laughs) - Whatever. - Stream would be a mistake. - Okay. So severe as we just crushed it. - So as this sort of, well, wizards do heal, but yes, that would still be. So his severe consequence would be that it hit him above the eye, and lacerated it to the point. 'Cause any had wound bleeds like the sun, so blood is just rushing in, and he's still, in effect, blinded in one eye, because it's covered in the whole right side of his face. - And it will leave a nasty scar. - And definitely will leave it, actually make him look cooler, so that was-- - You don't want to look for that? - No, damn it. He like suffers so much swelling in his eye that it becomes less effective in the future. - What is severe supposed to be? - Yes, actually severe. - Yeah, it's just the amount of time that it's gonna take to recover. So this is gonna take weeks from cover, where extreme is like you lost an eye or not. - Gotcha. - That kind of recover, except wizards. - You mean extreme. - Severe examples include broken leg, bad second degree burn, crippling shame, trauma and euphobia for our social conflicts. - The physical ones are-- - So yeah, that's fine. - I mean, a severe laceration across his forehead, dripping blood, new his eye. - That's what you probably have concussion from the head, so that would be some weeks to get over. - Right. - I won't be able to sleep for a while. - The girls attack you, you sidestep, and you get to attack. - When I shoot that thing in the face, because I was clearly aiming at it. - It was the one blank range. - Boom headshot. - It was the one you're aiming at, and you followed him all the way in. - Do it. Do it. - Do it. - I wanna keep-- - Put this money on you. - Put it down. - Yeah, I should. Put it on my gun, Marie. - I don't know what the shit-- - I'm already hells, yes. - Wow. - I lost three. - I lost three. - That's already-- - It's hard tonight. - Plus my gun scale of three. - You are the anti-chew. - Six plus the-- - Plus, you gotta be legendary. - For aiming great. - That is already legendary. - A legendary. - Come on, drop an aspect at him. - Yeah. - Take him out. - You sidesteped him, you put the gun right into his ear hole, and pulled the trigger. - Oh. - And you shoot Marie? - Yeah, I don't know what I expect in your element tonight. - You decorate the cave well with cool brain. Come on, you gotta take him-- No one's taken anyone past an eight before. - I know, I want to, I just don't-- - But he hasn't dodged it yet. - Level-headed gentleman just doesn't fit. - Would you shooting someone in the-- - No, that's the only one you got. - It's-- - No, no, no, no, that's too old for this. - I can see level-headed gentlemen, you kept your call. You kept your bead, you kept your-- - Aimed the whole time as you went outside and stuff. You simply sidesteped and said boom. - Like the great hunter who is aiming at a charging rhino. - That's right, you weren't flustered. - Okay. - I think he just called Marie a rhino. - Yeah. - Was she a large woman? (laughing) - Level-headed gentleman. - Minus. - Wow. - Three. - Fair. - Seriously. - The goal opens his mouth. - No, no, no, no, no. - It keeps certain weapon here. (laughing) - Minus three to his four is a one. So your 10 becomes a nine, which is-- - Plus no more than a two. - All right, let's say it plus weapons two. - The fifth one. - So it's-- - It's a pistol. - It's a full jacket and a round. There's a lot of iron content in the walls here. As the bullet goes through the ghouls head, it bounces up the wall, comes back, it hits the ghoul again. (laughing) - And then I-- - I say it'll pass to your shoulder. It would never hit you on a roll, unless a leaven. - The bullet is afraid of me. It saw what I did. - This is the bullet that killed Kennedy. It keeps him zinging around and round and round. - Okay. - I mean, he walks-- - He actually killed the other ghoul of the shaft. (laughing) - Yeah. - How'd you do that? - Magic bullet. - Magic bullet. - 11 damage. - Yeah. He's got to take a severe anomotorist, just to stay in the game. - For 10. - That's 10. - He'll take one stress. - And then he has a baby. (laughing) - I am mildly full of mocks at your shot. (laughing) - No, no, you're dead. As a severe, he gets hit in the mouth, rips his jaw. In addition, it bounces off the wall, comes back through and rips through his arm. So his left arm is bleeding badly. - So it'll serve us a ball. And then in addition, he takes one hit on the shots back. So he's not out of it. - We seem to be making work of the ghoul so well. So Eric drags himself back away from all of you. He is much too close for his liking. And he spends his turn doing a-- - And he actually finds a little furry fellow, more dangerous. - Oh, he'd have to. I kicked his ass once before him. And he doesn't like you. - There's history there. - Mm-hmm. - So he gets you with a mind blast. He's actually pulling up all the stabs. - Sure. - And he's pulling from the ley line. He's sending you with a energy 10 mind blast. He wants to melt your fucking mind. First of all, you see him reach into, he's wearing a vest. Like, then he pulls out what looks like a pocket watch. And he's kind of seems to be concentrating through it. It's not one of his focus to try to pull up that power. And he didn't quite have enough. So he takes damage from that. Free, and it's mental. And then he tries to control it as he hits you. And again, it's a 10. But with his watch and with his focus and his discipline, it's only eight. He has to roll plus two, or there's consequences. He rolled a minus two. So that makes it down to a six, which means he has four unaccounted for control here. Now, the option is to throw it out into the room and hurt everybody with that four. He's got two guys here that he's counting on to defend him. And that might take them out. They're not really honest, Sean. So instead, he's going to internalize it to keep control of this and to hit the little bastard. - Does he really care about those people, though? - He cares about himself that they have to stay here and so he can get away or he can control the situation a little better than he is. - By taking four damage, he marks off on mental four. So you have to defend against that 10, or take damage. And when he hits you, it's going to be weapon 10, which means 10 damage plus what he did over your defense. It's going to hurt that. - Right. - Well, let's see where I get first. So it's discipline, right? So just, yeah. Okay, I have six. I tapped the body eye, which is eight. And then, well-- - You're going to have to spend a point for that. - Oh, I tapped the body. - It's three. You've done the damage. You just say, I-- - Like I do, it's his two. And the hurdle, 'cause I'm going to need it now. I know I know what I'm up against. - Yes. - So I tapped those two, which gives me 10. - But you still get hit with a weapon 10, which is 10 damage. - No, I don't. - Because-- - Plus one, he doesn't need to save me. - Well, plus one is enough to push it over him. - But come on. - Okay. - If you want to be boring. - Losing here. Losing control equals weakness. He totally lost control. - And therefore, he missed you. - That's your fake point? - Yep. - We all spent. - Thank you. - And you avoid the mind law, which could have probably-- - Melted Nate to another adventure. - Thank you. - You guys this here, down to one fake point? Like six and then three? - Yeah, that's pretty, pretty. - Saving him for the big boss. - So that was-- - Second form? - That was Eric's big attack. He cost him and it was ineffective. - And the thugs. Is it miss, or did he do some mojo that-- - He flotted him up. - Because of the blood in his eye and his hurt leg, it was a little shakier. That benefited him enough that he could use his determination and his willpower to overcome the attack. - No, that's what we're saying. The, unfortunately, the guy standing next to him puts a bullet in him. One of the thugs shoots the two. Yeah, it might as well, we're back. And his gun is two, that's plus one. So he's really athletic to get out of the way of this bullet. - Four? - You easily, boy. - And the other, hey, that was two, yeah. - That was actually effective. - Plus two on the roll and the guns are two, so it's four guns as he levels a pistol at Zach and shoots. - I'm in track. - I think it's still better than me. - Ooh, ooh, ooh. - Doesn't help though. - When you trip on your staff, it's just so long. (laughing) - They're gonna go down and keep proud about it. (laughing) - I've rolled a one. - Damn average. - So that's three damage plus the two for the gun, our five struts. - So he takes the hit, right? - I take a mild consequence of pin shot. - I would say crazed. - Yeah. - Okay. - Barely did. - That takes two away and you have very many - Three stress boxes. - Bring it. - Bring it. - No, it is Zach. - And it's turned simultaneously in any order they wish to go. - Can I bring it? - Bring it. - Okay. - There's two goals. - There are two goals in the arm. - You've got that? - They seem to be doing pretty well. - Well, yeah, I've got shots. - And one that was a meaty thud and you hear growling and ripping and-- - There was just-- - Not many yelping or old men cursing. So they seem to be doing okay in the arm. - Mark. (laughing) - All right. - Maybe they grow old fuck, but you know. - He's not dead. - I'm going to bring up a wall. - It wasn't my shot. - It wasn't a blossom. - So I'm going to bring up a wall. - Okay, and you're going to-- - Don't close me. - You're going to declare this as a black. - I thought we were friends. - Yeah. - Against gunshots. - Against gunshots from Rico. - That's just-- - Yeah, I'm blocking these guns. - So you're black, you want to roll a preemptive defense. This will be your defense against anybody we can have to shoot. - Yeah. - What strength do you want to make this rock shield? - Five. I might take mine astute to make it to apply to more people though. - Okay. - You just-- - Who needs it here? - I'm with you. - In this room. - Actually only-- - You'll eliminate. - Close to you. - And like a woman tied in a chair. - Yeah, that's her, but Diane. Her eyes are open, but she seems distant. So she is maybe conscious. You believe she's conscious. - Okay. - I guess a protector. I mean, it's not another minus two, is it? - No, I don't say minus two, it's free. - So this is five, right? - That's what you said. - Boy, I don't control this. - I have rolled minus two to my discipline of two. Can I tap into the LA line? - You soon can't. - That's dangerous. - I don't know anything about it. - Danger. - You don't know what you don't know. - I don't have no idea how much I don't know. - That's right. - I think I will, then. - So do it. - What are you guys, so you don't have to discipline but you're adding more power to it? - He's grabbing. - I can't control it, so I asked the LA line for help. - Ah, defeated back in the LA line, look good. - No. - No, no, this is a bad one. - I don't know about the other magic. - I don't know what you're gonna say. - Listen, I just got a mouthful of ghoul. - Yeah, it can't be good. - No. - What the LA line allows you to do is to have three extra mile consequences. Be absorbed by the LA line. - Well, it takes this. - So it takes. - You take the damage that you're getting and you're feeding it off into the LA line and you bring up the rock and you've used all three of them. For a six. - I'm not just two. - We're used to the four and take one. - Yeah, that one. - Two and four and take one. - So you still have one minor consequence in tapping into the LA line you use. - Okay, I think I'll make it six and we all have four blocked two bullets and they're all of us. - All of the people in the zone I'm in. - Okay, to me, I think seeing him on the ground, bloodied, humiliated. Still powerful, you know, still having a chance to do something but I think it makes more sense from my character to just make him feel utter. Like this is totally hopeless. You know, the cops are coming. They're surrounding the place. You're totally done. Just give up, just give up. It's not worth it anymore. So I try to make him, as a block, I try to make him feel utter despair so he doesn't act anymore. And hopefully he'll call his men off at that point from shooting me as opposed to trying to do five damage to him and take him out with a hardship necklace. Okay, so I get to use my deceit and I get plus two to that, right? So I have a plus six going into it. And I rolled a minus one, so I rolled a five. - First of all, you have to touch him. - Yes. - Why figure he's on the ground? It's not too tough, but if it is tough, then I will touch him with my Doc Martens. I mean, I'll kick the living crap out of him one time and say, give up, it's over. - You're depressed. - You know, in a bar situation, you can easily lock up and touch somebody. This is on the defensive and he's not gonna let you lock up to him. - So I'm gonna go and kick him. - He fires with the sh*t kickers. - What is your attack? - He's sure. - But you walk up and kick him. - Sure. - Okay, so that's weapons instead. And all of my goodness, I hope you didn't roll. I hope you, it sounds like you roll as bad as I did. A minus three at my weapons are a three, which takes me to mediocre. - What is he rolled? - Minus three. - And his athletics is just fair. So that takes him to an actual minus one. - Poor. - So I somehow hit with a mediocre. - He rolled in your direction and you were like, "You don't really want to do the weapon skill." - It should be fist. - Okay. - Then it's a total of minus one on the same as him. - Right. - Which means you do succeed in touching him. - But only the weapon does damage in him. - I am one. It's that. - It's not the whole point. You are simply trying to touch him. - I don't care about the damage, right? I mean, I do care if I did damage. - I want one damage if I got one damage. - Fists are what I'm zero. - No, because your second row would be minus one because you're doing two actions. This is just part of the same action. I got to touch him. - So two, and two, was there food upside down? - Right. - Okay, got it. So it wasn't really even trying to do anything. - Right, it was just nudging him with food on his head going, "Hey, you hit him with a superb attack "of despondency." - Hey, he didn't roll a little bit. - With a lock. - Okay. - He did. - I didn't roll a little bit. - Discipline is great, which is four. - Oh, good for him. - And I rolled it even, which is still great, which is below superb. - Which is below superb. - So he is for all intents and purposes right now, utterly despairing. - Does this mean that Nate is feeding on him? - No. - No, he's a separate attack. - Now, I can now eat that despair, and it says I can prevent him from taking other actions. So I'm gonna prevent him. I'm trying to make him feel as if the cause is hopeless. And I obviously am very good at that, so that's what I'm trying to do. And it says use deceit for despair, and I have a four deceit, so I'm very good at telling why. - Well, what was your total of why? - Five. - Okay, so any action he tries to take, he first has to overcome that to take an action. - Okay. - Got it. That makes sense. - Back to Sean. - All right. - I will tap the aspect of the wound ghoul that I've been attacking so far to get a bonus, or whatever that works. - You get a plus two. - Right. - And I will try to rip his throat out, or rip his head off or finish him. All right. Very nice. Plus one, that's a total of, that's a fantastic attack six. - Nice. And his defense is just great, which is four. So you have plus two. - Plus two. - Then you get plus four. So that's a total of six stress that you've done just on that attack without using any additional. But you can freely use his injury to take it to a plus eight. - I will freely take it to a plus eight. - He only has seven. So you take this guy out of the fight. - Well, real kill to you. - Would you like to describe it or shall I? - Please, you can describe it. - All right. So you launch up from your hind legs, grab them by the throat, and just rip a huge chunk out. - Like I'm wearing your rag, just shickering on like the next snap, and then bloods, words, and the thing drops lightlessly to the ground. - And then it's the other goal's turn. - By the way, he just lost a jaw, so he can't find me. - He is a thing. He is without a jaw. He has severe injuries and not much interest in really keeping Eric McCullough all that safe. - I believe he was a message to his boss, or shoot him as he runs away. - Yeah, no, please officer, go on into these tunnels and not coming back. And you believe the goals are a fault. - No, good call. - Is this a compel? - Yeah. - I don't have any compel that will lead me to shoot this man. All of my compels are all about not shooting this man. - How many police funerals have you attended? Were you weren't able to bring back a body or tell him? - Yeah, I'm gonna give you a fake point because Sean changes into the human long enough to tell you to kill him, don't let him get away. - And you're always willing to listen. - Yeah, well, how did the gentleman do? - Well, if you want to be a gentleman, you can pay me to maintain your gentleman. - I do. - Yes. - You want to go? - Yeah, sure. - I mean, someone's got to sell another two of his fault. Your goals are not freelancers. This should be yours. It's all up to me. - And what would you like to do in your turn? - Well, Harvard and Rico are still shooting at people, right? - They are in the other room with Eric Eric's on the ground looking very bad shit, but Harvard and Rico are still there shooting. - I draw my shotgun, wow, okay. I draw the-- - I don't think Harvard and Rico are going to hurt. - Yeah. - But you must keep in mind that-- - Except it's right here. - In the heart, even in the heart. You must keep in mind that they're thralls. - Yeah, they're controlled humans and killing humans. - Well, that's my point that, or actually it's a question, if we're interfering with Eric, and Eric is the one controlling Rico and Harvard, does knocking out or damaging Eric, brake, or compromise, the thralls. - Let's ask our residents. - What's her name? - Zack. - Shawn is turning into a human, you know, at the edge of the door and asking questions. - There's like two men with guns here. - Do we take out the guys who've done? Or have the throats off? - They'll never be the same. After you rip the throats off, that's pretty obvious. But I mean, they won't recover from this. - So hold on. - All versus lower to see if, okay. Sure. I don't know if I can go there. I've ruled a plus one. - My lower, which was never, no, I roll a minus one. See, I have lower two. So it was, total, total of one average. - You don't remember what happens or how a thralls. - Have you succeeded in one, or roll this entire story? - Yes. - Yes, when I spend lots of fake points to do, so usually under your guidance. (laughing) - I'm going to, but it's too shotgun. - Takes some careful aim. - Hey, hey, hey. - Go ahead. - Switch the shotgun, take some careful aim between the two of them so that if it becomes necessary, it can blow their kneecaps off. - So you're aiming? - I just wanted to be able to switch guns, which is the thing. - Gotcha. - Aiming at both of them and getting them both within sight, I'd say that probably takes a good effort. Three. - Hard. - I hold negative one for a total of fair, but I'm a level head of gentleman, and I don't feel like I'm missing today. I'm not gonna have to vote, I've already missed a torch. - All right, spends the fake points, and you've got the aspect of both of them at the tag, and we are on to the vote. - And perhaps they heard me talk to Eric when I deceived him and told him that the police were coming shortly, and yes, and that it was hopeless. - There's no getting out of this. - Well, they wouldn't react to him. - They don't, yeah, they're not working on their own. - Oh, that's right there. They're all, I forgot that they were coming out of battle. - They are, they might just fall over and die after her stone. - Their primary directive is to kill me, Eric, and you are standing over touching him. - With my poop. - So, your poop. - Plus two gun shot, which is deflected by a rock shield. - Hmm, fancy that? - Hmm. - Zack. - Hmm. - Second one, ooh, that's what my character would do. - What? - Okay. - Plus three, which is also deflected by the rock shield. So, Nate gives the thumbs up for a-- - Double thumbs up. - My looks ricochet off of Zack's shield, and we go to-- - Zack. - Slash. - Wait, wait, no, 'cause Eric got us before me. - Oh, yes, I forgot. - Whatever, how he reacts, and I really have a big decision on how Zack and I react. - 'Cause this is where we're all ready to pounce on him. - Just to go. - Just to go take it away. - I'm not, you're a very fearsome wolf. - Sure. I mean that, sincerely. - Eric is attempting to hit you with an air spell to blow you across your own weight from him. - Oh, really? - Eric, I've picked your ass twice. The police are here, give up. - Can you immobilize him with your-- - Fishing a block of foam. - Depressive tones. - He, you're at pouty lips. - He does not overcome your-- - Professional, of course. - I'm not, no one does. - And he starts to, I can't get over it. He starts to gather the power for it, but he just breaks down in the sobbing. - I know. - I understand, really, I'm there. - Yes, I understand, Eric, it's okay. - So does breaking down in the sobbs mean he's, he's giving up? Like he gave one last try in this game then. - In this turn, you cannot overcome your despondency, which is great. - Yes, I know. It pervades, or is that a attack? - Uh, I don't even have 'em. - Or is that a attack? You can't re-power that shield. - Or you can pierce him with another stone attack. - Or sink him into the stone. - Or enthrume him in the casket, if I kill him. - Like his legs. - Or throw a spear at him. - Is he killing him your game? - No, I'm not a killer. I'm a wolver baby. - Well, okay. - Let's put it this way. You are-- - I thought you were within your right stick. - You are the self-appointed warden of this city, and this man is using mind magic on at least three people you know of. - 'Cause life is sports. - And he's killed two people. - He's forfeit, but as warden, you cannot kill him with magic. That's why you have the sword. That way you don't get yourself appointed. - But you do have a staff. - A long one from what I hear. Rumors give a sense of these things. All right, I'm gonna wall him on that. - Okay, yeah. - I can't beat him, but I can snap his knife. - You can crush his score. - Okay. - We're gonna deal with my die curtains. - What are you all for here? - Huh? - Skull crushing's low. - Yeah. - All right. - I can't just kill him. (bell dings) - And you ring the bell. - You got it. - You want a prize? - I rolled plus zero. - I don't know what the skill is only to, but I earned the self appoint warden. - He spent the point you just got. - Yep. - So that takes it up to a four. He attempts to dodge, but before he does that, he has to overcome this despair that's gripping his heart, so he can hit up it. - And just give it to the despair. - He rolled actual minus one doing much worse, and he is just sitting there, defenseless, whimpering, crying. When the crushing blow comes down. - Get him, Zach, get him. - Put it down. - That gives him zero defense. - Weep, weep, weep, weep. - And actually a minus one as his body just refuses a little later, and he kind of twitches to the side. - It's, he twitches towards you even, you know. - That's a weenie into the black. - Zero, which is plus two for the weapon score, I have two. - So he does four damage. Well, actually he used up five damage 'cause of his negative one. And then how much weapon is his staff to? - Two. - Seven, a total of seven stress, which as we mentioned before, I had to at least five back on conscious. - Well five takes him out of the scene. - Correct, wow. - As the taker out of the scene being Zach, what does that mean? - As the murder, I mean taker out of the scene. - I mean, take him unconscious, or do you crush his skull? - Because, because. - I crush his skull. - Cause. - There was like second and crunch and it spazzomed. - This is a dark town. - I think it just tripled when I'm out. (laughing) - As you take him out, the thralls are released. So Harvard and Rico are standing there, kind of linking, as is Diane who's tied up in the circle. - The blinking's opening, I blow out their kneecaps. (laughing) - I mean, bitch, I already have the ink. - So, yeah, because by turn next, I definitely moved to Diane and, oh. - She was, she was kidnapped by the thralls. She was brought here. He was attempting to set up a spell so that she would love him once again. And he was, he was gonna empower it by the stream that went to the other house. - Sure. - Killing him at the instant that she then transferred love to him. - It's a little fucked up. - Oh, we messed that up. - Well, you, you got it all the way around. You defeated it. You messed up that part of it. But that was slowly, - So, what was it that came towards here? - And, what do you do with Rico and Harvard? - We should tell them a story about how they were kidnapped and like have to have to tell it to the partner and get a really loud lay in. Sincerely. - Right, and maybe she'll forgive us. - Yeah, how are you getting out of here? When do we leave your car? I mean, when do we leave the cave? I tap into the power of the lay line once again and cave in this shit. - Oh, well done. We'll even make your roll for that though. - Yeah, it was good. - It was. - There's this problem where you-- - But you're in a parking lot with a broken down van which definitely, you know, has a title in Sean's name. And a park ranger whom you've ruffed or caustic. - A little bit. - I can stay here and explain to you. - Well, let's modify our memory and tell them Rico and Harvard. - Oh, that is so beautiful. - Yeah, I'll just came with the rocks and just run out of the way. I say it is. - Oh, God. - He just caved in someone's head for modifying memories. You really think? - Yeah, you can't. - So, we just have to try to escape without. - Woof. (laughing) - Shotguns. (laughing) - The rules are for no-- - See ya, suck ass. - I say we just-- - Burn down the van, go to another city. - Take these plates, wipe it down? - It's got, it does a syrual bin number. - It doesn't matter, no one-- - What are you sure, dude? - I did it. - I did it. - We'll take his van. - Listen, rules are for normals. I did not re-up my license fee. It's a probably an unregistered vehicle. - Hey, it's been a fake one. - Okay, absolutely. You can do free all of that with a costly fake one. - All right, there you go, good call. - So, that whole thing's a shame that Van, you know, it's on trace of-- - Right, sure, of course. - Yes. - And she can just stay there until the next shift comes and releases her. - She won't have the room with her own car. - Not, but it was a Land Rover trunk in a sense. - Very spacious. - It is not a trunk, it's more just a space behind the third row. - It's so gaked up by the very small woman. - Yeah, to that we're not ever playing this again because it would be so much history with you guys and Lizzard and with-- - Right, and Zach tapped in the LA line. That's gonna clap better. I mean, lay-lons are nasty things. You owe them to use them. - Well, who knows? I mean, you just fueled a bunch of energy back into it. Who knows what type of ripple effect that would happen? - It fits in the well. - But it fits in the well. - The destruction, it probably loved how you caved it all. - Or maybe-- - Just-- - And murdered hundreds of thousands. - All right, that was our first real taste of the present. (upbeat music) - Thanks for listening to the Knights of the Night at Actual Play podcast. Visit kotnpodcast.com for more information on this and other adventures. Where you will find character stats, photos, storytelling, props, and even a forum for comments and suggestions. Or you could email us directly at feedback at kotnpodcast.com. Or contact us via Twitter or leave a message on Facebook. All music for this podcast was created and performed by Zen Audio Smith. If you'd like custom professional music created for your podcasts or business, please visit ZenAudioSmith.com. And please join us next episode for more mystery and adventure. (upbeat music) - I'm wearing track. I think it's still better than me. - Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. - It doesn't help though. - When you trip on your staff, it's just so long. (laughing) - You're gonna go down and let me keep proud about it. [laughter]