GM: On the way to the port, ELV calls Marvel and Jace, no answer. Sherlock and ELV arrive at the port area - very busy area. There are ships being unloaded, cargo being moved from the peer to warehouses, from warehouses to trucks. There are forklifts all over the place. Security patrols the area in groups of four, like the market place. The docks run for about a mile, Sherlock and ELV are right in the middle. There are large cargo ships as well as more pirate type ships. No sign of the Lizard men. Sherlock asks a passer by and he says they are at the far South end of the peer. Sherlock and ELV start the walk. They arrive at the far end of the peer. Its gated with two guards. There's a sign that says: "Private area: Enter at own risk!" ELV: stash the squawk box. While reading sign, Hey Sherlock, how'd they know my middle name -> El 'risk' V. Sherlock: I was thinking the same thing. What does the surrounding area around the gate look like. Since it's a loading dock, we should be able to duck behind some cargo pins and then hop over the fence. GM: With a nod and wink they head for the gate. "Be warned citizens, this section of the dock is sovern territory of the kingdom of Re'Gas. You fall under their laws and we can't go in there after you, if you get in trouble," says one of the guards. [Since I know that warning won't turn you away] ELV and Sherlock enter the gated area. The peer has berthing for 3 ships. The berth on the far end has three smaller ships moored, the berth in the middle has one lizard man sailing galley. There are large lizard men in groups of two walking along the peers. There isn't much going on. ELV: I think this is where invisibility may come in handy? Or are we going to BOLDLY go where no man has gone before..... Sherlock: Being bold helps pick up women at the club, but it probably isn't a good idea here. To them, we're nothing more than a commodity. The bitch of it is, I'm tempted to try and free all of folks they've captured AND sink their ships. I still remember them taking down a kid in the forest. These guys are just plain bad. ELV: So, I'll go invis. Well, since you mention it. Once we rob them blind lets do it. Lets see, 1. Raid Captains suite... Check. 1a. Steel all of his money... Check. 2. Search hold for our guys... Check. 2a. Kill Lizards... Check. 3. Free the slaves in the hold... Check. 3a. Kill more Lizards... Check. 4. Sink ships... Check. Oh are we fittin to start some shit up in here. Roll coming. GM: Sherlock and ELV find a spot behind some crates. # concentrate/invis: 10 10 # Sherlock: Invis: 14 16 GM: ELV and Sherlock begin to concentrate. ELV makes it on his first attempt Sherlock on his second. GM: ELV how about a IQ check? ELV: # IQ 12 GM: Since ELV failed you might want to give it a shot. # Sherlock: Int 9 As they are about to step out from cover, Sherlock grabs ELV's arm. "Wait, How do lizards see?" asks Sherlock. ELV looks back confused. "Invisiblity art works fine on the human eye, but these aren't humans," adds Sherlock. ELV: See I knew that... I just wanted to see how long we would get away with it... Apparently not long at all. Okay. So we coat ourselves with cow dung to blunt their sense of smell, and uh... We focus really hard and drop our body temperatures to about 30 degrees Celsius. Sherlock: Frank, didn't I use invis back in the beginning when I rescued Marvel. ELV: [Uh oh.... A hole in the armor?] GM: [Probably, but it's a good thing I remembered now! Now you won't feel cheated in your role-playing experience ---- wicked smile and evil GM laugh] ELV: I'm so glad you caught that. I mean, the last thing I would want to do is slide through without a fight... Hmn, back to the mission. Look at the ships. On the far side is there scaling ropes or anything hanging over the side that could be used? Please don't say there is only one way in and one way out. GM: There are mooring lines on both sides. ELV: Looks like we are going for a swim. Before I commit though to that, I look around to see if there are any other possibilities for boarding. i.e. An overhanging crane, crates currently being lifted on that we could stow away in etc. GM: There are three lizardman walking back and fourth along the main portion of the docks. There are crates on the dock but they aren't being moved anywhere. There doesn't appear to be another way onboard. IF you make it to the moring lines you could scale them without having to swim. To make it to the moring lines from current cover will require a stealth roll each, You must get less than your stealth roll + your roll must be less than my detection roll. (contest of skill) ELV: Let's do it. Roll coming. # Stealth 14 ELV: Sigh, Sherlock, you know what this means!!! Sherlock: All too well. [Frank, how are you going to play my Perfect Balance Advantage. By definition, I should almost be able to just run up the mooring lines with no roll being required, right?] GM: Correct, Sherlock could walk the mooring line without a roll. # Sherlock: Stealth Roll 13 Sherlock: [Uh, PFS? What can I say, the dice server hates us.] ELV: [Laugh it up fuzzball. You enjoy my misery far too much. Sigh... You are right though -> I can't believe this $hit.] GM: ELV starts across the pier followed by Sherlock, they are spotted as they leave cover. Half way across the to cover when The lizard men open fire. The average lizard man is at 11 where the average human is at 10 # GM: Shoot - Intruders! 11 14 17 GM: ELV and Sherlock both must dodge once. YOu can dodge by finishing you run for cover. Sherlock: To clarify, I think I missed it earlier. Our invis doesn't work on lizardmen, right? I'd thought since I'd used it earlier, that invis did work on them and that the stealth roll was so we could sneak across without making noise. Either way, roll on the way. GM: Invis does not work on lizard men. In your previous encounter, you got lucky that they didn't see you. (AKA the GM didn't figure it out) Sherlock: Ahhh, I see. It's kinda like the guy from Mystery Men who could turn invisible, but only when people weren't looking at him. Got it. Damn alien psychology/physiology. # Sherlock: Dodge 6 ELV: # Continue for cover to dodge 13 GM: ELV and Sherlock make it behind cover. There's some yelling in lizard man tounge. What's the plan? ELV: Just made it..... Barely. Now I'm not kidding, I'm looking for a new dice server. K. Based on what I've seen so far it's time to use my Tactics skill, I want to know what these guys are up to. Roll coming. ELV: # Tactics: 11 GM: [I don't see tactics on your character sheet, but here's what you get.] ELV listens to what is going on. You've got the three lizardmen moving towards the cover. ELV quickly realizes this isn't the best tactical vantage point. He can't tell anything else from his position behind cover. Looking back there's the edge of pier and into the water and mooring lines leading up to the ship. - To get a better understanding of what they are up too, you're going to need to see how and where people are moving and the type of communication between troops, even if you can't understand what they are saying. Sherlock: Since this is a big ship, are there any cranes moving stuff back and forth? Anything currently carrying a load? GM: No cranes, looks like everything was being moved by hand carts and forklifts. The main gangway is on the other side of the ship from Sherlock and ELV. Sherlock: How tall is the cover that we're behind? GM: Two crates stack on top of one another, about 10 feet tall. ELV: Yeah I saw that. It's actually intelligence analysis. ELV: None of this buys us anything... We can't very well step out in the open and say.. Time out guys (who's doing the leading here). Okay maybe we can. Sherlock what if we feigned making a deal with these guys to get onboard? It would at least potentially get on board the ship without firing a shot. What happens on the ship is a totally different story. Sherlock: Since we're just meat to the guys, I doubt negotiating would be a good idea. Besides, like running, negotiating just isn't our style. I say we let them get a little closer and then charge them, you go around the left side, I'll go around the right, at least that'll split their fire. Get in close so they can't use their blasters and then take them apart in hand-to-hand. Besides, there are only 3. I took on 2 by myself and would have nailed them if the dice server had been working. GM: [You guys make a GM proud, or is that smile wickedly?] ELV: You can only imagine the laughter as I am reading this.... I am almost rolling on the floor at how funny this is. What is worse??? I'm actually falling for it... 3.... 2..... 1..... break. GM: Send me the plan and rolls and we'll go from there..... GM: ELV and Sherlock are behind cover on the pier. Behind them, pier leading to the ocean. To left is the lizardmen's galley. The galley is 270 feet long with a wooden hull. It has sails but they are down. There are three mooring lines on each side of the galley. There are two life boats on the side of the ship. Fast approaching are three lizardmen armed and ready. ELV: I head around the left of our current cover. Sherlock is heading around the right of our cover. Doing this we'll split their fire and hopefully them. We wait until they are closer as well. Let's say 10 feet. Round 1: ELV: # Break left firing 9 # Sherlock: Break Right, Firing 12 GM: ELV and Sherlock spring from cover on opposite sides. They open fire. # Nara: Lizardmen dodge 9 11 GM: [I'm still developing the lizard men character sheets. However the examples I've seem show that they have bad actual eye sight, but sense heat at fairly long distances. So the technical answer why Invisiblity art doesn't work against lizard men is they will sense the body heat. What that means for game play is they are at 10 for firing weapons, 11 for all other stats] # Nara: Lizardmen attack (2): 10 10 GM: ELV and Sherlock must dodge. The third lizard man is watching this unfold. ELV: Aha, my good friend Frank has given us the mark. The 3rd Lizard man may be the lead of this trio. I dodge by making my way towards him. Martial style of course. ELV: After you see my last roll.... All I could do is laugh... Medic!!! GM: The laughing may stop when you see the hit location (and the damage)..... ELV: Give it to me easy. # ELV Hit Location 13 (Groin) # ELV Hit Damage 4 GM: ELV takes the shot. He's knocked back off his feet and slams to the ground. He checks no blood just a bruise, the ammunition appeared to be beam in nature. But it's inducing paralyis. ELV: Did you see Run Down? There is a HILARIOUS scene in that movie where they eat a paralytic fruit that comes to mind. Hi ho, hi ho. It's off to slavery I go. Sherlock: Dodge roll just sent. Dang, crotch shot, I doubt even Viagra will help you now. ELV: There are some things you're just better off not knowing. # Sherlock: Dodge 9 GM: Sherlock dodges, send your actions. (those of us that aren't paralyzed from a shot to the nads! - ok fine, everyone can send a turn.) ELV:Fall down... play dead. Hope the swelling isn't too bad. Can I fight the paralysis if that is what it is? Willpower? GM: Afraid not, you're gonna have to sit this one out. Had you been hit in the arm, leg maybe but nads! you're on the shelf. ELV: Figures. Oh well, it's what I get for not finding a new dice server. In my best Hulk yell. Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh. Sherlock, make me proud. Sherlock: Damn, partner's down, 3 lizardmen left. I'll take 2 actions, use luck as needed: Quickdraw my pistol and fire and one lizardman Quickdraw my vibroblade and throw it at the 2nd lizardman. Come on dice server, be good to papa! GM: Always the interesting one aren't we? Quickdraw - skill level (14) Fire - at skill level (15) Quick draw - Skill level - 5 (7) Shoot - Skill level - 5 (8) Sherlock: I gotta be me. So you need a total of 4 rolls? # Sherlock: Pistol and Knife: 10 10 GM: Sherlock draws his weapon and fires. # Sherlock: 2 more rolls: fire/throw: 10 10 GM: Nothing with the knife. ELV: Out of the frying pan. Into the fire. You do realize that if you go down we're done. Don't you? Hey Frank I keep trying. I would imagine this paralytic stuff doesn't last forever. GM: No pressure, Sherlock! It doesn't last forever, but turns are two seconds. This 'll be long over before it wears off (one way or another). ELV: Can't we count by 60's? Hey Sherlock so if you just stall em' for about 12 hours we'll be all set. GM: Lizardman1 must dodge. # GM: Dodge Gunshot!: 9 GM: He does. # GM: When lizardmen Attack (2): 10 13 GM: Lizardman1 and lizardman2 fire. Sherlock: Heh heh, no pressure what so ever. Then again it might not be so bad, we could always hope to get sold to a black magic woman. (I had to work that in) A total of 4 rolls were sent, but in pairs of 2. If you didn't get the 2nd set, let me know and I'll reroll. ELV: I gotta see this. Sherlock if you pull this off, You are DA MAN... Sherlock: I'm due. The last time I was lucky enough to pull ogg a stunt like this was with Hunter back in our first mission. Sherlock: [mental note, stop reminding the GM] ELV: Just the comic relief I needed. I knew I could count on you guys... Now stop dallying and save my gonads from permanent dysfunction. Sherlock: Roger that. Be gentle # Sherlock: Dodge: 11 GM: Sherlock looses sight of Lizardman3 (the inactive one) GM: I just noticed Sherlock wanted to use luck on that, you missed the knife draw and throw, by 3 and 2. YOu could re-roll one with luck but you'd still miss the second half. I'll assume you want to save your luck. Sherlock: Yes, I'll hold on the luck. Might need it to dodge. Damn dice server. GM: ELV spots him, he's heading straight for the lying on the ground wounded man. Lizardman3 has his pistol out. ELV's legs are completely paralyzed. He can feel it moving upward now. ELV: Hey... no fair. I didn't know it was working from the ground up I would have taken an action this last round. I want retroactive reparations now.... I'm shooting his ass! Roll coming. GM: Send you roll. # Fire when ready No. of sides on every die: 6 No. of dice for every roll: 3 No. of dice rolls requested: 1 No. of rolls per line: 1 16 ELV: [If this last roll is any indication of how things are going to go today.. I'm going home now.] Sherlock: I have a few questions: What's the layout. How close are the 2 lizardmen to me and each other. How far away is El V and how close is the 3rd lizardman to him. And finally, what are they wearing? Clothes, knives, grenades, etc. and I'm assuming their weapons are rifle type weapons, right. Do they use clip type power cells, or does it look internal. GM: The scene is taking place on the pier in front of the lizard man galley. Lizardman1 and 2 are about 3 feet from one another. They are both about 10 feet from Sherlock. ELV is about 20 feet away and lizardman3 is 5 feet from ELV. They are using rifles that have clips. They are wearing fun loin cloths over the groin area. The have knives on a belt as well as light weight wrist restraints (zip ties). Sherlock: Got it. What happened from El V's retroactive turn? GM: The knock back and intial shock caused ELV to loose that turn. His last shot (which he failed to make) was for this turn. [I'm not laughing - honest!!!!] Sherlock: Well, here goes nothing. I'll concentrate for a spell. The spell is UNDO. I'll cast it on the rifle of the lizardman approaching El V. I want it to affect the rifle so it'll get broken down into it's cleaning mode. Similar to the M-16. Clip ejects, rifle folds in half, firing mechanisms spit out, etc. 2 rolls coming. # Sherlock: Magic Stuff: 9 12 GM: The spell is successful, The rifle breaks down to is cleaning parts. Lizardman3 drops the left over parts still in his hands and makes his way to ELV. ELV: If I didn't see my rolls myself I would not believe it. Sherlock you don't want to know what that last roll was. I'll be lucky if I don't castrate myself the way things are going. Frank, don't go getting any crazy ideas. Sherlock: Let's hope your last roll sucked up all the bad mojo from the dice server so we can actually start accomplishing stuff. GM: Lizardman1 and 2 are going to fire at Sherlock. # GM: Fire (2)! 13 14 GM: Nothing from Lizardman1 and 2. Lizardman3 is going to stomp down on ELV's elbow (the one with the gun) # GM: Stomp: 11 GM: ELV can dodge, however since he doesn't have full mobility it's at a -4 to his DX. GM: ELV Send dodge to end round 2. Everyone send INT for round 3. Then send actions and rolls. ELV: Dead man.. Rolling. For my dodge I'm rolling towards him, since his leg is up in the air we are about to find out how mobile these guys are. Round 1: ELV: Dead man.. Rolling. For my dodge I'm rolling towards him, since his leg is up in the air we are about to find out how mobile these guys are. # roll towards: 6 GM: ELV dodges. Round 2: ELV: # Int 10 # Sherlock: Int: 13 # GM: INT: 16 ELV: # Shoot point blank 11 # GM: Dodge ELV (faster attempt) 8 GM: Lizardman 3 evades. Sherlock: Alrightee then. For my next action, I'll take a called shot to the head of the lizardman attacking El V. I'll use luck if necessary. Hopefully the 2 guys attacking me will still keep getting lousy rolls. # Sherlock: Headshot: 10 GM: Lizardman3 goes down. # GM: Shoot again! (2) 9 9 # Sherlock: Dodge 1 and 2: 9 8 GM: Sherlock dodges. ELV's fingers begin to tingle on both hands. He's got two turns left before he's fully paralyzed (Paralyis takes about 10 second for an adult human of average size). Another group of three Lizardmen are 3 turns away. ELV's danger sense goes off. Caster Spell Cast Time Cast Cost Current Threshold Sherlock Undo unknown 3 21 I mumble out danger sense to Sherlock before my lips go numb. Depending on the INT if I can see that Sherlock takes out Liz 3 for me I instead aim for one of his attackers. Might as well be of SOME use here. You already got my roll for the shot. "Sherlock we got more company coming..." ELV: Uh oh, looks like the dice server may be turning on da man! Sherlock: "Everyone wants to crash our party." 3 turns, 2 lizardmen. Hmmmm. Well, let's try some magic again. I'll use Apportation to grab the top crate from the cover we were using and swing it around to topple the 2 lizardmen. Based on their positioning, I should be able to get both, if I'm lucky. Rolls on the way. Not sure how heavy it is, but I'll use mana as appropriate...no sense trying to save it up. You can't cast spells when you're dead. GM: Got ahead and send your rolls. ELV, you went first, then Sherlock then me. Sherlock: Just sent my Luck roll for the casting. Dice server turned on me too. Round 3: GM: ELV send your action. # fire: 11 GM: ELV Shoots at a lizardman # GM: Lizardman Dodge 11 GM: The lizardman dodges. Sherlock: # Sherlock: Movin' the crate: 12 15 # Sherlock: Luck Use: for the casting: 14 GM: Nothing from Sherlock. # Sherlock: IQ 13 GM: Sherlock looks up on the bow of the ship to find a Lizardman sniper. He fires as he's spotted. The Lizardman1 and 2 fire. # GM: Shoot - Alot (3): 12 6 6 GM: The sniper gets +3 to his shot. So Sherlock must dodge three times. ELV: [This is getting U G L Y and we ain't got no alibi it's UGLY, yeah yeah it's ugly.] Sherlock: You just know I'm gonna get hit this time. In what order are the lizardmen shooting? # Sherlock: Sherlock, Dodge x3 7 7 8 GM: [Dice Server showing some love!] Sherlock avoids all three shots. Round 4: ELV is over taken by paralyis and passes out. Sherlock what's the plan? Sherlock: Oh yeah, now I just need it to keep showing the love. How far to the gate? ELV: Ah yes, the horn is blowing... REATREAT.... ELV: Oh yeah, and as I snicker to myself I can't help but ask... What the HELL just happened here? Is it me or did we just get our ASSES kicked by some men in green skin? GM: The gate is about 5 yards away. Sherlock: What was that line from Aliens? Something like "I don't know if you were paying attention, but we just got our asses kicked." Oh yeah, painful. Now let's see if we can gracefully disentangle ourselves from this unfortunate altercation. I'll pick up El V, throw him over my shoulder and run for the gate. Heh, I can hear them saying "Run home to yo momma boy". GM: It'll take a turn to throw ELV over your shoulder and then a turn to start the run. All dodging with ELV over your shoulder will be a -4. (And there will be a lot of shooting!). Sherlock will only have to roll for the dodges (unless he wants too) Oh the order is two grunts then sniper. # GM: Shoot 'em 8 10 6 # GM: Shoot 'em again 14 8 18 GM: The first barage is on it's way, 3 dodges (unless you find a fancy way to dodge that would cause all the shots to miss - like throwing ELV in front of him!). Not a good on the second. Lizardman1 missed, lizardmand2 fired and sniper had a gun miss fire and shot lizardman1. Sherlock: A little fuzzy on what happened. If the sniper shot lizardman1, and only lizardman2 was able to get off a decent shot, then shouldn't I only need 1 dodge. GM: You have to dodge the first volley - all three fired and the second volley on one fired. If you make all the dodges then you make it to the gate. I combined several turns into one. Sherlock: Ouch. What's the turn order? Do I move first, or do they? It'll affect exactly when I get hit with the -4 penalty for carrying El V. GM: It'll take two turns to get to the gate. You move first then the NPCs. Sherlock: That's cold blooded Frank. I have to make all dodges with a -4. Ouch. Well, you did say you'd get revenge. O.K., no point in fighting it. I have to pick up El V before I can dodge, so there's not too many fancy maneuvers that I can perform. So, I'll scoop El V up and run like the wind. I'll position over my back for El V to act as a partial shield (sorry V, but we got's to get out). With that, I figure that if I blow a dodge roll, I should still be OK depending on the hit location roll. Since I'm carrying him like a backpack,that should act as partial cover for my back, head and arms. In theory,anyway. Rolls on the way. Sherlock: 2 hits outta 4 at -4 ain't too bad. GM: Not bad at all! ELV: Hey... Human pin cushion, that's me. I can't feel anything anyway. So I would imagine if I'm going to get shot, now would be the time! As my boss would say after we survive this we need to do a serious post mortem to figure out what went wrong. This was not good. As we leave I say, I'm going to get my boys, and we'll be back. We're gonna kick your asses. Or rather mumble something very close to that.... Okay I think it really loud. Sherlock: Dodge for 2nd Turn: 11 # Sherlock: Dodge x3 again: 10 5 7 Sherlock: 2 hits outta 4 at -4 ain't too bad. # GM: Sherlock Hit Locations: 10 13 (Torso and Groin) # GM: Sherlock's Damage (re-roll): 2 3 GM: Sherlock is a little over a yard away from the gate when ELV takes the shot meant for the torso. He gets a little further when he takes the shot in the Groin (or from the back the a$$). The shot knocks Sherlock forward and into a stumble sending ELV into the air like a sac of potatoes. ELV slams to the ground but it does nothing to change his state. Sherlock begins to feel the tingle. The guards look through the gate. "Crap!" yells one of the guards. He opens the gate. "Hurry up! We can't step foot inside!" He says. Sherlock: I'll stumble along and drag El V through the gate. "Hi I'm Forrest, Forrest Gump. People call me Forest Gump. I got shot in the buttohcks." GM: Because he got hit, Sherlock it will take another turn for Sherlock to get through, this one will require a roll. DX -1. If you make it you're through dragging ELV. You fail they get another volley. Sherlock: Since I've got a lot back/junk in my trunk, shouldn't I be unaffected? No? Had to try. Roll is enroute. # Sherlock: Limping Through: 13 GM: Sherlock is pulling the limp lifeless body of ELV but not before the only available lizardman can get off a shot. # GM: Fire! (1): 4 GM: [Ouch! A critical success. Can you say screwed!!!!!] Sherlock take a to the chest. He feels his body quickly stop responding. He drops ELV to the ground before falling backwards and hitting the ground about 10 feet from gate. His eyes are still open as the lizardmen surround him. He hears the hissing laughter as they mock the gate guards. Sherlock: Well, the guards did warn us. Maybe I should waited to roll. Then I would have gotten the 4 and Frank would have gotten the 13. I'm still holding out for the black magic woman scenario. GM: I was just thinking I haven't seen a critical in forever! [I will be out of town for the rest of the week to return on Sunday. Gives me plenty of time to develop just how this is going to unfold! I've got plenty of time to think.] Sherlock: [hair raises on back of neck] "I've got a bad feeling about this"