[Siscero v2.0]

Another question for ya. Anyone feel free to answer. If a spell has a 'ranged touch attack', can I actually just touch the target instead of doing it from range (if I so choose)? e.g. if Valor is pinned can I just come up to him and touch him with a 'ranged touch attack' spell, or does it have to be from range?

Never mind, got the answer.

This post has been edited by Siscero v2.0: 24 September 2007 - 10:03 AM

[OverdrivePrime]

Benevolance, on Sep 21 2007, 03:53 PM, said:

They are on the ground now, having crashed to the earth when Behror did his pin.

Wait, what? Hol' on, I'm gonna change Behror's action, to something that's probably equally as ineffective.

[Fugu]

Do drow usually have wings?

[Benevolance]

No. But these ones do.

This post has been edited by Benevolance: 02 October 2007 - 10:51 PM

[Benevolance]

Valor is dead dead. Aid is a mind-affecting compulsion, and I going with the assumption that his 13 temporary hit points disappear when he is rendered unconscious, plunging him into negative numbers not seen since Torin fought the minotaur.

[Kishi]

/threadjack

The new (and possibly last?) issue of Sugar Shock is up here

/end threadjack

[Benevolance]

My afternoon suddenly has meaning.

Edit: And sadness!

This post has been edited by Benevolance: 03 October 2007 - 04:55 PM

[Kishi]

FATAL STAB!

[Kishi]

How well lit is the area we're in?

[Siscero v2.0]

Does everyone here check their PMs? I may, upon occasion, send some! :D

[Siscero v2.0]

Sorry Kishi! Siscero has to do it. It's obvious (to him) that Jon isn't what he seems, and that can only be bad news!

[Kishi]

Man, if only Siscero had some sort of commanding officer who would tell him to knock it off! :P

I expected Jon'd have some problems joining up. It's a good thing he's friendly and well-spoken. Wait, no. Well, at least he looks trustworthy. Crap. Good thing he's got obvious, irrefutable evidence of his Pandessan loyalties, like the badge that he saw the elves harvesting from the other scouts they killed. Double crap!

[Siscero v2.0]

Kishi, on Oct 9 2007, 04:16 PM, said:

Man, if only Siscero had some sort of commanding officer who would tell him to knock it off! :P

Apparently Siscero's commanding officer had an unfortunate run-in with a minotaur, and the most likely replacement just told him he wasn't taking Torin's place! That means -- unfortunately for you -- Siscero's making his own decisions! :blink:

This post has been edited by Siscero v2.0: 09 October 2007 - 10:52 PM

[Kishi]

I was going to reply to Behror, but then I noticed that Siscero's combat action said he was going to cast, *then* talk, so I'll wait until Lance's rolls out the spell first.

[Siscero v2.0]

Yup, I'm waiting for Lance to tell me about the Ray of Enfeeblement and the results of the Healing on Behror (so I can figure out how many charges of the wand I used). Hint, hint, Lance! :)

[Benevolance]

Jon has particularly decent Listen and Spot checks (19 & 16, respectively). He is aware that Siscero casts the spells while searching through his bag. He has no ranks in Spellcraft or Knowledge (arcana), so he doesn't know what is being cast.

Given the very common nature of spellcasting in Pandessa (people would cast spells to fetch the TV remote, in essence) I do not expect he would think much of Siscero casting the spells.

However, Siscero is trying to look calm under pressure: Siscero's bluff check of 20 (19+1) is opposed by Jon's Sense Motive 16 (12+4). Siscsero successfully casts the Message spells without alerting Jon to his deception.

Two taps of the wand heals Behror to 56 hit points (adjust in combat thread).

Since Jon is unsuspecting of the deception, the surprise round begins with Siscero casting his Ray of Enfeeblement (standard action). Talking is a free-action, but he cannot take the step back until the regular initiative.

Ranged touch attack: 18 vs AC 15. *hit*
Jon takes 5 STR damage.

Initiatives are now posted in the combat thread.

Siscero acts first, moves back.
Talon calls out his warning.
Exseo faces the scout
Behror calls everyone to halt.
Jon speaks.

I'm going to shuffle the IC stuff into a single post, so that it occurs in order.

[Kishi]

Man, this never would have happened if Torin was still around.

You know, mainly because if he was, I wouldn't be playing Jon. But, still!

[Benevolance]

Since Behror has called a halt to hostilities (he's acting leader to the squad, and Jon is probably happy to halt hostilities at this juncture) I'm going to assume that 'combat' is ended. Feel free to post in the IC thread as you wish, and do not worry about the initiative order.

Unless Jon tries to run or someone takes a hostile action. At that point we'll jump back into the initiative count. Essentially, everyone is passing on their turn pending further developments.

[Benevolance]

Siscero (and perhaps Talon) is probably fluent enough in the high-brow magical circles to have heard about experiments carried out to fuse Outsiders to Men. It's something of a Super Soldier program, that has yielded moderate-to-little success.

The experiments are usually carried out by the Institute of Thamaturgical Sciences (ITS) or the military government. They are usually done on extremely loyal soldiers (read: heavily indoctrinated) because the risk of contamination is so high.

The experiments are considered worthwhile because of the abilities that such bonding can bestow. And, should the subject prove unsupportive in the future, the government can simply Collar or terminate the renegade.

[Siscero v2.0]

Is there anything Siscero can do (in terms of study or spells) to verify that this is what has happened to Jon?

[Fugu]

Quote

Could see in dead dark as well as any dwarf.

I thought Jon was a dwarf. What does he look like? I don't remember seeing a description.

[Fugu]

Exseo is pretty much going to attack Jon (non-lethally) in the next second or two if he doesn't get proof that he's a friend. I hesitate to post it because I'd rather not undo like three months of character re-integration. So here's a last chance for somebody to come up with a reason not to attack Jon.

[Benevolance]

His skin is slate grey, but he appears otherwise human. I'll leave it to Kishi to give a more detailed description.

Siscero could prepare a Zone of Truth spell. He could also resort to a Divination. Detect Thoughts could give some insight into what Jon is thinking. Charm won't succeed, because Jon is a Native Outsider, but Charm Monster might.

You could also ask him details about the city, which most Outsiders would not know. Unless, of course, he sucked out their brain with his Outsider power and stole all that knowledge! He's got grey skin! :o

[Benevolance]

Just FYI - Everyone has heard of the ITS. The company researches and manufactures a substantial segment of the magical equipment found in the city. It's methods involve an undisclosed method of mass-production. The outward face of the ITS is sort of like Ford or Maytag or Microsoft. They make appliances that make life easier for people.

The ITS manufactures weapons and armours, mostly through military contracts. All of your weapons are probably branded with the ITS logo. The company also researches new magics and performs experiments on Outsiders. It should be noted that they are not the only company that does this: they are simply the most successful and most well known.

The research division of the Institute is on its own small island, located outside the Shield. Security is very tight at the facility, and the ITS supports its own private army to guard the island. They purport this is to prevent any outbreaks of dangerous magics. The ITS developed the Shield and the Control Collars - and holds an exclusive contract (and the exclusive knowledge) of how to create both.

[Kishi]

Crap, I thought I (or Lance) had done a description earlier. Description isn't going to help Jon's case much...

Jon would look like a fairly average human- blue eyes, black hair, average height- except for a few things. Most obviously, his skin is slate grey, and, less noticeably, his proportions seem wrong- arms a bit too long, legs a bit too gangly, torso not quite right.

Also: Don't anyone (Fugu) worry too much about subduing Jon and having him want you all dead when you all decide he's clean. Jon's basically been raised (read: indoctrinated) by the Pandessan state since birth, so he's pretty understanding when it comes to matters of security. Duty and all.

[Siscero v2.0]

Forgot about Zone of Truth.

[Benevolance]

In Soviet Pandessa, Zone of Truth forget about YOU!

[Siscero v2.0]

I don't know how we want to do this, but Siscero's plan is to make sure Jon is secure, then go to sleep, and -- in the morning -- prep a number of spells to use during Jon's questioning. He wants to discuss with Talon what Talon knows about the 'super soldier' program so that they can ask reasonably intelligent questions.

I don't know what Siscero and Talon know about it, so that's maybe where Lance can step in and give us some background knowledge (if any more is to be had).

[Kishi]

Aw, geez, I've got to wait how long to be cleared? <_<

[Benevolance]

I was waiting for you guys to question the scout. Shall we assume the questioning went alright, that Jon convinced you under magical duress that he was speaking the truth, and you resume your journey towards the fort?

[OverdrivePrime]

That sounds super.

[Kishi]

I'm all for that.

[Fugu]

Coo.

[Benevolance]

So someone should totally post about the journey to the...oh, wait. That's my job!

[Siscero v2.0]

Sorry, I've been meaning to post, but haven't gotten around to it. I was looking up a bunch of spells I could use to a) lower his willpower and b) make sure he tells the truth!

This post has been edited by Siscero v2.0: 23 October 2007 - 05:33 PM

[Nyoibo]

Damn it, I wanted to question him, I was gonna get me a' ear.

[Kishi]

Just for when it comes up, Jon will voluntarily fail his Will saves against stuff like Zone of Truth.

You know, assuming anyone ever casts the spell or anything like that. <_<

This post has been edited by Kishi: 26 October 2007 - 09:15 PM

[Benevolance]

So, uh, should I continue now?

Edit: And I'll just note, given Jon's particular and peculiar history, this reception is not an unexpected event. Were he in the city, the Watchers would interrogate him as thoroughly or even more so. In fact, he was evaluated by the Watchers on several occasions to establish his loyalties before being released into the Pandessan special services. The soldiers in his former unit were apprised of his unique status.

This post has been edited by Benevolance: 29 October 2007 - 01:01 PM

[Siscero v2.0]

I'm fine with now assuming the questioning goes well, and we are satisfied with his answers.

[OverdrivePrime]

Word up.

[Siscero v2.0]

Kishi, on Oct 26 2007, 01:41 PM, said:

You know, assuming anyone ever casts the spell or anything like that. <_<

:oops: :P

This post has been edited by Siscero v2.0: 29 October 2007 - 01:57 PM

[Fugu]

Yeah.

[Kishi]

Fine by me.

[Nyoibo]

So what kinda evil is he and when do we burn/beat it out of him?

[Kishi]

I'm evil in just the way Pandessa likes, and you never get to.

This post has been edited by Kishi: 30 October 2007 - 07:04 PM

[Kishi]

*cough*

[Nyoibo]

Kishi, on Oct 31 2007, 10:34 AM, said:

I'm evil in just the way Pandessa likes, and you never get to.

So you think.

[Kishi]

Sez you.