stveje

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Accursed traps! Even when there are none, the mere specter of one still ruins everything.

"Nay! Don't shoot!" Nin shouts as she stumbles back on her feet and faces the beast. She turns, eyes locked on the beast, and with barely a moment to think she charges straight at it.

"You deny me, beast?" Swift as a hare, she leaps at the beast and seizes it by its neck. Arms and legs wrapped tightly around its neck, she holds on for dear life. "You'll not throw me off so easily! I'll prove my sincerity, and I shan't rest till I do! Now run, dammit! Don't you hear the hunters?"

Leap into Action: 3+5+0 = 8. Nin easily covers the distance and takes hold of the questing beast's neck.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Talk ... Yes. Yes, that's what she'll do. Gently calm the beast, assuage its fears, bring calm and rationality back to it.

And she knows just what to say, because this is a fear she understands, in a way. How many times has she been trying to avoid, to escape, to hide from someone out to get her? Not in the exact same way, because she's no beast being hunted by a determined killer, but certainly she has evaded many a determined prankster in her life. This is what she is good at: keeping herself - and others, if she chooses - safe from pursuit, from mischief and harm.

And this beast, blind in its panic, is not doing very well as far as she's concerned. The only reason it hasn't been caught yet, it would seem, is because it's faster than its hunter. But with all the chaos it's creating in its wake, it isn't very hard to follow. What if it could lose its hunter and stop running, at least for a time?

This is the offer she lets seep into her voice as she recovers from the shock of the chaos and turns her attention to the frightened beast and the hope of calming it. "I can keep you safe," she whispers in a soothing voice. "As is my right, and would be my privilege, I will help you escape your hunter, if you will let me."

Win Someone Over: 2+2+1 = 5, well damn it. I guess my offer has been made, and I'll ask my question as I prepare for the worst: what is the crux of its reluctance or resistance (to my offer, is how I interpret this question)?

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Messily. Chaotically. Discordantly.

One moment, Tristan is hoisting the unconscious halfling on his back - fortunately she is not very big - the next moment trees, rocks and great wads of earth are flying every which way, landing like a witch's fortune-telling bones in scattered heaps, blocking paths and creating walls like a labyrinth.

And at the center of this havoc is the beast, a creature itself of chaos and confusion, haphazardly put together by a mad creator from different parts, as if unable to decide what it should be.

It slavers and barks rabidly and turns around itself in circles and figure eights like a band of dogs all chasing each others' tails as it homes in on the scent and sight of prey.

To Nin, this is Hell. There can be no more fitting word for where she finds herself, thrown into the midst of chaos and confusion where nothing follows straight lines or ordered plans.

For a moment, the shock leaves her stunned. She'll come to ... hopefully.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

It is generally assumed that you cannot get lost - or at least, not get any more lost - if you do not move. And it is often better to stay in one place and await being found than to wander aimlessly and get yourself even more lost, or worse, wander into danger unseen.

So Nin wisely sits down and crosses her arms and legs with much outrage at this indignity. If this land denies her, she will begrudgingly accept it ... but just because the body doesn't move doesn't mean the spirit has to stay still, and Nin is not about to accept such an affront without something in return. She will get to the bottom of this place, even if her spirit has to dig down through the muck to find it.

She will forgo her right in return for the right to step out of her earthly life and journey in other places

Rolled 2+5+1 = 8 in case this is acceptable.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

As loath as she is to let the badger get out of their sight, there's currently not much they could do anyway. Also, getting a look at that forest is looking more and more tempting. There's surely some reason the badger avoids it, and in finding out why they may also find the solution they need. Nin voices as much as she leads the way towards the forest. "If it came from the forest and was driven away, perhaps we can find out why and return it to the forest. With some luck."

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Nin frowns. He's not wrong. Who really could say whether it would chase him on the surface or dig down to come at him from below.

"There are some trees over there," she points off in the distance, perhaps too far away for Tristan's liking, "but if you don't like our chances, then I'll stay and keep an eye on it while you head back for what we need."

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

Nin's plan B, if we decide not to attack/trap it right away, is to send Tristan off to get the stuff they need while she keeps an eye on it so it doesn't get away or cause trouble. I'm fine with saying there's a tree or two off in the near distance, though. I just didn't want to assume it, given the description of the landscape.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

"If you can find a tree ..." Nin looks around to see if she can spot any in these flat, monotonous fields. "If not, you'll have to just hit it hard to draw its attention, then run like hell. I'll hide in a furrow—" Plenty of those, at least "—and you lead it right over where I'm hiding. I'll shove a sharpened spike up its gut as it passes above me. That should distract it enough for you to get in a second shot. If that doesn't make it think twice ..."

Perhaps she could find something poisonous to smear on the stick, even. Although these fields likely held mostly crops. Not much to work with, but you never knew what poisonous weeds or venomous critters might be hiding among the stalks.

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

"We'll lay a trap," says Nin, who is happy to make the decisions. "And then hit it with all we've got. With any luck, it'll decide to flee and spend some time licking its wounds, buying us time to figure out how to solve the problem permanently."

Dark Age (playtest): The Lands of Pendragon

While Tristan focuses on the beast, Nin observes their surroundings (+Wary: 5+5+2 = 12), casting a wary eye for any clues or details easily missed. There must be something besides the beast itself to see here. What does she see?