[DH1e] The Damocles Contingency (OOC)

[Mazer Rackham]

1 minute ago, Machine God said:

From Kerr Restal's POV.

 

A thing only Restal should plumb!

[Machine God]

@Mazer Rackham - Kerr Restal is standing facing the Robed Figure as per my post!

 

Maintain the high ground - Killer SOP's. 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Machine God
Typo

[Mazer Rackham]

1 hour ago, Machine God said:

@Mazer Rackham - Kerr Restal is standing facing the Robed Figure as per my post!

 

Can you indicate which bit that is? I know I autopiloted you in, still standing, and unless I missed it, I can't find any mention of your position or orientation, apart from this which suggested stand-off for a clear shot.

 

On 3/2/2023 at 11:48 PM, Machine God said:

Kerr Restal:

His target eliminated, he casually tracked the robed figure.

 

Which suggests you're facing towards him, and not facing him as such. If you want to enter the room and face him, that's fine. Please drop in a specific starting position in an edit, but please take no combat actions so I can sort out the map, and partially reset the encounter.

 

EDIT: Just note that if you do stand facing the robed man, there is a high probability of you being charged from behind.

 

Full text is below for reference.

 

Spoiler

On 3/2/2023 at 11:48 PM, Machine God said:

Kerr Restal:

 

They had entered the vault bunker to locate the Bounty. Seek and destroy with extreme vengeance.

 

 

A slender man, in a black waistcoat and trousers, stirred himself from one of the seats at the mini bar within the room. The counter is attended by another lady, but her features are so fine to be exquisite. She smiled at you as the man plucks a lho stick from his lips. He glanced towards them, his smile as sharp and handsome as the woman behind him. "And why not? Come in and indulge yourselves."

 

As they passed the threshold, the door began to close behind you. It is at that point you see the shadow draped figure of Tarkan Pirentus reclining on the cushions. He blew out along string of purple-hinted smoke. The wispy cloud floated across a roulette wheel, before meeting three men bent over the gambling table. Playing chips piled up as the white-steel ball is cast into the spinning, numbered wheel.

 

A moment later, cries of anguish as the ball drops into a slot which carries no bet. The anguish becomes laughter at easy-come, easy-go, as a woman dressed similarly to Una poured amber liquid into tall flute glasses they hold. Hard-faced men regard the trio, easing jackets aside to show weapons.

 

"A degenerate, a killer, and a common lily!" Tarkan bellows, face wrapped in blissful visitation. "Take root within this garden. Spend, play, love."

 

 

As if on cue Restal raises his hands, but...

 

He can't say anything, as if he were out of phase looking in on the situation. A by-product of his earlier catatonia perhaps?

 

 

 

One figure sits cross-legged, hooded, hands tucked into his sleeves. He is immobile in a nest of cushions.

 

There are no tall seats except for the bar. Everyone lazes on the floor, thick carpet and pillows of exquisite red, purple and green upholstery.

 

The door slams shut, thumping thrice more.

 

 

 

"Come friends!" Tarkan encouraged, his voice warm and inviting. "There is much here to amuse you! Are the ladies not lovely? The men not handsome? Does the gold not sparkle?"

 

Reynard, Una and Restal will require an Opposed Willpower Roll vs Charm.

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

WP 39 Vs Charm. Result: 10, Pass 2 DoS

 

 

 

Held in his out of phase condition, the oily charm of Tarken washes away.

 

 

 

The robed and hooded figure turns to the host, angular plates forming hard lines under the smocking fabric. +Forget them. What of our arrangement?+

 

"Calm yourself, young seeker. Let us bathe our senses." He ran his hand over the leg of a waitress who strayed near to let him. A silver inlaid, pearl-handled stub revolver squeezes out from a holster inside the front of his waistband and tumbles to the floor. He laughed, and snatched it up, spinning the cylinder six times, and placing it to his temple. There's a click.

 

"Ha-ha! The great game goes on!"

 

The roulette wheel span again, the female croupier pulled at the large cruciform handle six times, to spin it way beyond a normal gambling rotation.  The silver ball danced, twinkling in the light.

 

Tarkan rummaged under a cushion, and hurled a pouch at his feet. "A thousand! Bet it, wager it!"

 

 

"Restal, look at these rubies. What a beautiful vermillion."

 

 

Red Alert. Noted.

 

 

Tarkn dumped the revolver in Reynard's lap.

 

"Complete the wheel! SHOOT!"

 

His manner changed, cold, icy water pouring. "Or die!"

 

There are narcotic, soporific pollutants in the air. You will require a Challenging (+0) Toughness Test or suffer One Level of Fatigue.

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

TGH 34 +20 (Filtration Plugs) -0 (Challenging) = 54. Result: 12, Pass 4 DoS

 

 

 

 

The Weasel picked up the elegant stub pistol in his left hand, twisting and turning it to bounce the light off the silver and pearls. Mesmerising. Then slowly, languidly, he extended his arm to point the weapon first at Una, then back towards the hooded stranger.

 

"Sincerest apologies, old boy…"

 

The Weasel dropped the pistol. As the room's occupants watched it suddenly fall, still sparkling and bouncing light, he noticed Reynard hand drop down to join his right, cradling his shotgun. The very end of the barrel poked out from among the cushions. Pointed directly at Tarkan Pirentus.

 

"...but I don't make deals with the house."

 

Fennella spoke and brought unkindness, turning Pirentus into burger meat.

 

Pirentus is splattered all over the cushions, wall and ceiling.  The shotgun force battered his body upright, and hurled him backwards, but all with a smile on his face. The woman behind him got carved up as well, until there is a pile of jellified humanity, sitting quivering in a pool of rapidly spreading blood. Obscenely, they still seem to intermingle, as though lovers in death, wrapping around each other, and smiling whilst doing so.

 

The first thing the other occupants of the room do is laugh. A shrill, hysterical riot of cackling and garbled chuckles that echoes from the walls, rebounding quite painfully, discordantly until it is just a wall of white noise.

 

Then the men and women alike drop whatever they are doing, and move with lithe, feline beauty.

 

 

"Take root within this garden. Spend, play, love."

 

 

Restal finally slotted back into real time. His hands raised level holding his twin las carbines.

 

His target eliminated, he casually tracked the robed figure.

 

 

"Play!" He laughed.

 

 

Gentlemen, Initiatives.

 

 

  Hide contents

Rolled: 10 + AGL 3 = 13

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Mazer Rackham

[Necronaut]

4 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

 

 

Look at these guys, being so polite. 

 

Hope life is being kinder, Necro, and you're whole and hearty.

 

EDIT: Just as an aside, and if you can spare the time mate, there is an opportunity for a rather prescient 'in' for Scourge, here. If you want.

 

By your will, my liege! 

[Mazer Rackham]

36 minutes ago, Necronaut said:

By your will, my liege! 

 

Such reverence!

 

I'll PM you the setup. Gird thy loins noble knight!

[Trokair]

  

1 hour ago, Mazer Rackham said:

+ o_No-oOO. YOu_?u? arE FaulTY. FlESHmeTal M-m-Meatsack Un-WorThy, of my MaGNIFICAT(MAGNI-FACT, MAGNIFICENT)..trUtH. You had-had-had-had-had-had a ChaNCE. HoStIlE CON...conTAcT.+

 

This Mecha Rubric Sister

 

Quote

+GoOOD. NOW, DEL-del-DELIVER LOCKE.+

 

This looks like Psyker voice from Hellevator and elsewhere, is the posession of Mecha Rubric therfore not just code/scrap code but wrapcraft? 

[Machine God]

@Mazer Rackham - If the Yellow Circle is the corpse of Tarkin then Restal would track 2.

 

We walked in and Restal drew to shoot Tarkin but was out-drawn by Reynard. 

 

Could Restal use Ciphers (Acolyte) in the hand signals test? 

[Mazer Rackham]

3 hours ago, Machine God said:

We walked in and Restal drew to shoot Tarkin but was out-drawn by Reynard. 

 

Yep, I got that bit, at which point you said you were tracking the robed man, so this:

 

3 hours ago, Machine God said:

@Mazer Rackham - If the Yellow Circle is the corpse of Tarkin then Restal would track 2.

 

Is what's confused me a bit, as I thought the descriptions of Reynard sitting between the Robed Man and Pirentus was fairly clear, since in a circular room, they would need LOS to the bar, the gamblers and Una etc, but no worries, we'll sort it.

 

I'll put up a map, with the Bar, roulette wheel (Yellow circle), Pirentus (alive for placement purposes), The Stranger and Reynard. The current map will be scrapped.

 

@Lysimachus Is keeping Reynard where he is currently resides acceptable? The gamblers are still going to be around the roulette wheel, so not much of your attack should be re-jigged.

 

@Machine God If you can plot yourself where you want to be relative to Reynard, (i.e. 2 x squares along, 3 x up etc) and which way you're facing (when the new map is up), I'd be obliged.

 

3 hours ago, Machine God said:

Could Restal use Ciphers (Acolyte) in the hand signals test? 

 

If you've got good line of sight to the guy's front angle, sure.

Edited March 5, 2023 by Mazer Rackham

[Machine God]

Post edited:

 

https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/375260-dh1e-the-damocles-contingency-rpg-ic/?do=findComment&comment=5915826

 

 

Kerr Restal is facing H and 2

 

If Kerr Restal was 1 square to the left (3 squares under the R of the Door) would allow him to check the signals.

[Lysimachus]

4 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Is keeping Reynard where he is currently resides acceptable? The gamblers are still going to be around the roulette wheel, so not much of your attack should be re-jigged.

 

Yep, cool with whatever! 

[Mazer Rackham]

The maps etc have now been updated to Restal's Turn.

[Machine God]

@Mazer Rackham - Sorry for the confusion. I put the step back in for cinematic reasons as per the missed charge missing.

 

Because the charge missed Red 1 and Restal aren't in Close Combat, hence the little gap between their two icons on the map. 

They are still within a squares distance 1m, so I went for Point Blank. 

 

Reference the Righteous Fury I rolled a 30 for Kerr Restal's shot and the target of the shot was 60 so the Righteous Fury was a Success. 

[Lysimachus]

The problem is that when Charging, the roll is to determine if you hit with your attack, not to see if you move into Engagement (after all, if you couldn't reach the target with your Charge distance, you wouldn't have been able to declare that Action in the first place?)

 

So, whether they actually hit or not, they have moved into Engagement and therefore from that point on, both parties are subject to those rules. (Similarly, if someone wanted, they could just Move or Run into an enemy. They couldn't make any attacks that Round, as they didn't Charge, but they would enter Engagement and tie up the opponent in CC, thereby limiting their options - preventing them from making shooting attacks except with Pistol weapons, etc, etc.)

 

 

However, Restal can still move out of Engagement, but the enemy then gets the Free Attack against you (unless you use the Disengage Full Action). I'm not sure how you could move out of Engagement and then do an SAB though, as SAB is also a Full Action?

 

Or... is that what you mean about falling Prone as a Free Action, Mazer? Is that sufficient to get him out of Engagement range and still have a Full Action left to do the SAB?

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by Lysimachus

[A.T.]

On 3/4/2023 at 6:58 PM, Mazer Rackham said:

+ o_No-oOO. YOu_?u? arE FaulTY. FlESHmeTal M-m-Meatsack Un-WorThy, of my MaGNIFICAT(MAGNI-FACT, MAGNIFICENT)..trUtH. You had-had-had-had-had-had a ChaNCE. HoStIlE CON...conTAcT.+

On 3/4/2023 at 8:34 PM, Trokair said:

This Mecha Rubric Sister

 

This is where a high FEL character would be handy to get the AI monologuing and then sneak off to grab the texorcism gun while it's not paying attention ... :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtZPNjc2gY

 

 

Now i'm wondering if we need to find De Grassi to get the keycard to the crew sector, after finding out he's the one who monitored the cryo-sleep unit :p

Edited March 6, 2023 by A.T.

[Mazer Rackham]

43 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

The problem is that when Charging, the roll is to determine if you hit with your attack, not to see if you move into Engagement (after all, if you couldn't reach the target with your Charge distance, you wouldn't have been able to declare that Action in the first place?)

 

Yes, that's it. The only stipulation on it is that you need a minimum of 4m in the final 'run up' and then 'less than 1m' takes over. I'll double-check CC distance, but I think it is 1m or less.

 

43 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

So, whether they actually hit or not, they have moved into Engagement and therefore from that point on, both parties are subject to those rules. (Similarly, if someone wanted, they could just Move or Run into an enemy.

 

Yes, as long as the Move Action was a Full Action, they could do nothing. If it was a Half Move, they could make a Standard Attack.

 

43 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

but they would enter Engagement and tie up the opponent in CC, thereby limiting their options - preventing them from making shooting attacks except with Pistol weapons, etc, etc.)

 

Yes, and shooting out of melee is not strictly possible.

 

43 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

However, Restal can still move out of Engagement, but the enemy then gets the Free Attack against you (unless you use the Disengage Full Action). I'm not sure how you could move out of Engagement and then do an SAB though, as SAB is also a Full Action?

 

This is partly what's causing the confusion. SAB provides a Half-Move up to AG Bonus in trade for the +10 To Hit. The Half Move can be completed as part of the Action, so it doesn't matter which comes first, so yes, you could:

• Half Move out of CC
• Lose +10 to Hit
• Resolve SAB

The Free Strike should cut in as the Target Flees, thus possibly preventing the SAB, but here I did it afterwards to continue and smooth out the play.

 

43 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

Or... is that what you mean about falling Prone as a Free Action, Mazer? Is that sufficient to get him out of Engagement range and still have a Full Action left to do the SAB?

 

Dropping prone is a Free Action, but it just drops the PC at the attacker's feet, which grants +10 WS to Hit in Melee, but -10 BS to Hit at Range, and stops the SAB, so the Half-Move from the SAB is the only way to break contact to shoot.

 

Otherwise it's blade and pistol work.

 

Just a quick refresh on Righteous Fury as well, it always confirms with a separate roll, not the original roll. It works like this:

• Make the Attack (Test BS/WS) with all modifiers
• Calculate Hits, Location
• Roll Damage (This damage result/calc stands)
• If the D10 of any of the Damage dice comes up with a 10, then RF is possible
• RF now must test by re-rolling the WS/BS Test, with all original modifiers
• If the Test is Passed (DoS is irrelevant), then RF is Confirmed
• The Player may then roll an additional D10.
• If this D10 rolls a 10, then the Player may automatically roll anther D10
• Continue rolling D10's until either the Player rolls less than a 10, or they destroy the universe
• Calculate all damage.

Does that help any?

[Mazer Rackham]

38 minutes ago, A.T. said:

This is where a high FEL character would be handy to get the AI monologuing and then sneak off to grab the texorcism gun while it's not paying attention ... :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtZPNjc2gY

 

Always up for a good monologue.

 

38 minutes ago, A.T. said:

Now i'm wondering if we need to find De Grassi to get the keycard to the crew sector, after finding out he's the one who monitored the cryo-sleep unit :p

 

Right Orchard, Wrong Tree, grasshopper. 

[Lysimachus]

24 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

If it was a Half Move, they could make a Standard Attack.

 

I'd never twigged this, but it makes perfect sense! If you were too close to build up to a Charge, you could still just walk over and punch someone in the face! 

[Mazer Rackham]

...And, that's kind of what Una is about to do.

 

[Lysimachus]

As long as she punches first (she's already close enough, right?) and then moves the hell out of the way, that's fine by me!

[Mazer Rackham]

Afraid she might have disappointed you there, sir.

 

But your best friend is back.

 

Round 2 up soon. I have updated the Round One post with everything.  I think.

[Lord_Ikka]

And Nicios was just having a nice elevator ride....

 

 

Now we'll see what Pyschic Phenomena occurs.

[Mazer Rackham]

We shall see what terrible wrathful toll the warp takes for you deigning to interfere, of Seeker of Truth.

 

First, though, we must attend to our newly roused patient...

Edited March 6, 2023 by Mazer Rackham

[Machine God]

3 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

 

Just a quick refresh on Righteous Fury as well, it always confirms with a separate roll, not the original roll. It works like this:

• Make the Attack (Test BS/WS) with all modifiers
• Calculate Hits, Location
• Roll Damage (This damage result/calc stands)
• If the D10 of any of the Damage dice comes up with a 10, then RF is possible
• RF now must test by re-rolling the WS/BS Test, with all original modifiers
• If the Test is Passed (DoS is irrelevant), then RF is Confirmed
• The Player may then roll an additional D10.
• If this D10 rolls a 10, then the Player may automatically roll anther D10
• Continue rolling D10's until either the Player rolls less than a 10, or they destroy the universe
• Calculate all damage.

Does that help any?

 

@Mazer Rackham - that's how I remember it working.

 

Hit #2: Left Arm: 10 +2 =12 (RF = 30, Pass) 7 +2 = 9.

 

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough, I can see that my Righteous Fury check was a bit obtuse.

 

Restal's target BS Test was BS 40 + 30 (PBR) +10 (SAB) -20 (Two Weapon Mastery) = 60.

 

So I rolled 30 versus that 60 target and thus RF Pass?

 

[Mazer Rackham]

11 minutes ago, Machine God said:

 

@Mazer Rackham - that's how I remember it working.

 

Hit #2: Left Arm: 10 +2 =12 (RF = 30, Pass) 7 +2 = 9.

 

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough, I can see that my Righteous Fury check was a bit obtuse.

 

Restal's target BS Test was BS 40 + 30 (PBR) +10 (SAB) -20 (Two Weapon Mastery) = 60.

 

So I rolled 30 versus that 60 target and thus RF Pass?

 

 

The RF comments were directed at everyone in general mate, yes that's fine, and I caught it, just with RF popping up, I'd thought I'd take the opportunity to drop it in.

 

With so much crunch, it just takes some of the load off.

 

EDIT: That reminds me, the Natural Weapons attacks from these guys are Primitive, which means non-primitive armour (Flak, Carapace etc) doubles it's AP, so your Flak is actually 4 AP against the Cultist's hand attacks.

 

Their Knives and guns work as normal against your armour though, so be careful.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Mazer Rackham

[Lysimachus]

Ok, Magda was Helene, Hyronimus is Locke.

 

At this point, I'm wondering if Magos Krupp is the Golem and the little girl Reynard met in the market is the Devil!  

 

Maybe in future Reynard will just stick to shooting stuff rather than trying to figure anything out... 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Lysimachus