Session 18 - The Battle for the Marindan Gateway

GM Observations/Summary
- This session was a good exploration of combat, Umbra Mastery and Icons. There were a number of rules-related discussions which I'll seed into the account below.

Realm 15a - The Gateway to Marindar (Grey Door)
- The sun is setting as Grant arrives through the phase-gate into the Marindan Gateway. He pulled out the Icon of Ethan and begins to concentrate on it. Grant's intention is to make contact, convince Ethan to come through, and then pull him into the Gateway realm. (GM's note - we scratched our heads as to how Grant knew that Icons could do that, but finally remembered that it was revealed in Harold Crees' diary all the way back in Session 11)

Rules Discussion on Icons wrote:Lurker37 and I re-read the Icons section of the LoG&S rulebook carefully. Did Grant need to be looking at the Icon to use it? No. He just needed to be in physical contact with it, and concentrate on it. Icons are very different from Trumps from Amber DRPG - it doesn't affect one's visual perception - one cannot 'see' where the other person is or what they are doing. It is like a telephone call with no visual component (except that the Icon takes on lifelike qualities and animates). So if Ethan is sitting by a fire warming himself, Grant can't see any of that. This also means that the process of 'pulling someone through an Icon' is different to the process of Trumps. In Amber DRPG the person reaches through the Trump image to pull the individual through. It's the same concept, but there is no physical action with an Icon - it's a mental 'Psyche' thing….

- Grant attempted to convince Ethan to come through but failed. Ethan didn't seem too concerned that monsters were killing the Marindan people and Grant didn't have time to explain further. Ethan asked if Grant was in danger, but when Grant couldn't confirm this and instead started to use Umbral powers, Ethan cut the contact.
- The first wolf-creature that Grant ran across had been munching on a clearly human arm, but drew a blade when he spotted Grant. Grant wasted no time, and used his mastery of Umbra to grossly warp the creature beyond the point where it could sustain itself. It died on the spot.

Rules Discussion on Umbra Mastery wrote:Umbra looks like it can be used like Sorcery, but more offensively in combat. Even some of the images in the rulebook show this. Grant is 2nd Ranked Psyche and the wolf-creature had Superior level Endurance - so it died on the spot, grotesquely distorted by the warping power of the Umbra. There is no information in the rulebook on range, or area of effect, so we just compared the Ranks and I ruled that it died.

Rules Discussion on Conflict and Advancement wrote:Lurker37 and I discussed at some length about Combat determination, posing a number of hypotheticals. 1st Rank beats 2nd Rank and 3rd Rank; but 1st Rank will beat 3rd Rank faster than beating 2nd Rank. We searched the LoG&S rulebook for any information that Attribute point totals matter. For example if 1st Rank is 50 points and 2nd Rank is 49 points, does that make it a closer contest? We concluded that the Attribute point totals do not matter. Nowhere in any of the examples does it appear to matter. It is all about Ranks and the difference between Ranks, not the Attribute point totals. That is very different from the way that Lurker37 and I have seen Amber DRPG run in the past (where Attribute point totals are compared), but then we talked through the implications of this. 

The ranks in Psyche are currently: 1st Rank - 25 points (Ethan), 2nd Rank - 5 points (Grant), 3rd Rank - 1 point (currently vacant).

So if Ranks are the only thing which matter, why would Ethan bother pumping additional points into increasing his Psyche? What does it matter if he is 25 points or 26 points or 30 points or 75 points? He's still 1st Rank and if the point difference doesn't count then pumping up the points doesn't matter…. or does it?

Then the penny dropped. It's all about *Advancement* and what happens to the ranks once someone in 1st rank upgrades their point total. Suppose Ethan is awarded 5 points to advance and he puts all of those points into Psyche. The new ranks would read as follows:

1st Rank - 30 points (Ethan), 2nd Rank - 25 points (vacant) 3rd Rank - 5 points (Grant), 4th Rank - 1 point (vacant).

The advantage to Ethan is by putting more points into an attribute, he's creating new Ranks between his 1st Rank and the lower ranked characters. The difference between Ethan and Grant would now be 2 ranks difference rather than 1 rank. Interesting - possibly open to abuse - but interesting.

After playing Amber DRPG for so many years, this never dawned on me/us that it was probably Erick Wujcik's original intent. I can't even remember a game where it didn't come down to Attribute point comparisons to determine how quickly a conflict was resolved.

- Anyway, Grant went looking for trouble. He found some of the wolf-intruders in the buildings, some in the streets. He skewered one, skewered a second, then a third. He spotted the girl in red/white (I'll call her Galatea because that is her name) fighting some of them nearby, landing thunderous punches. But Grant was doing well - he developed a bit of a swagger as he reached the next junction, and ran straight into twelve of them.

Grant's Stats wrote:Just recapping from this post, Grant has Psyche (5 points / 2nd Rank), Strength (12 points / 1st Rank), Endurance (8 points / 2nd Rank), and Warfare (10 points / 1st Rank), plus a Double Damage Sword (2 points), a Double Damage Wrist Blaster (2 points), Invulnerable to Conventional Weapons Armour (4 points), Icons (2 points), a Wallet which produces currency (i.e.: mold gossamer matter) (1 point), Umbra Master (50 points), Warden of the Grand Stair (10 points), Good Stuff (10 points), Unspent points (4 points)

- They gave a howl to intimidate and prepared to run at him. Grant calmly blasted two of them and scattered the rest. There was the click-clack of a pump action weapon and it was 'on'. The wolf-creatures produced heavy pistols and the occasional shotgun and blasted away, sending Grant running for cover behind a marble pillar. As they continued blazing away at him, they quickly expended their ammunition. Grant popped out as he heard one of them reloading and felled another as he ran to the next pillar. The wolf-men showered the shop-fronts with bullets, blasting huge chunks out of the architecture as they attempted to score hits on Grant. Suddenly Galatea was there, hitting the street like a red and white flash and creating a shockwave which knocked them all flying. 

* Image by Portohle on DeviantART
- Grant used the confusion to blast more of them, as Galatea flung one so hard that he disappeared into the sky. The wolf-creatures unloaded upon her, but she shrugged it off completely and laid into them one by one. Then just as they looked to be vanquished, there was a whoosh and she was hit by a bazooka round which blasted her clean through the stone wall into the shops. The two creatures further up the street pumped the air in triumph and loaded another round. Grant shot the last of the nearby wolves and turned his Umbra powers on the loaded round. It detonated spectacularly and the bazooka crew vanished in a cloud of smoke.
- Hearing further howls in the streets nearby, Grant took off in search of more of them. He was confident that Galatea would be unhurt. He spotted a wolf-man on a nearby rooftop directing others using a red flag, and Grant blasted him off the roof. Further howls ensued and he quickly found himself facing almost 30 more of the creatures. One of them directed a small group to attack him and Grant decided to take down the entire group using a wave of Umbral power (putting a lot more effort into it this time). The energy wave hit the small group with full force, sending them screaming into twisted horrid death but travelled on to hit the larger group with more diffused and lesser effects. The group's morale cracked, but the leader, a great Warglord named Nasaug (which will be revealed shortly) stood firm. Grant decided to take him on and approached him cautiously. Nasaug did the same. Galatea arrived, swooping down from the sky, and she walked with Grant towards the foe.

* Image by Sandara on DeviantART 
- Then, to Grant's surprise, Nasaug broke and dashed off the street and hurled himself through one of the nearby shop windows. Grant pursued, only to be blasted back by perfectly aimed gunfire. Grant was unhurt (thanks to Invulnerable to Conventional Weapons Armour) but his pride was hurt. Galatea flew into the shop and slammed Nasaug back through the stone wall into the storerooms behind. There they did quick and brutal combat.
- Grant heard a yelp from Galatea and leapt back into the fray, only to find Galatea stunned that her arm had been broken (GM's note - yes, Nasaug is stronger than Galatea) and Nasaug legging it through another door. Grant noted that Nasaug had seen him, and was wary as Nasaug slammed the door behind him. Grant flung the door open and ducked out of the way as two marble-sized micro grenades detonated. 
- Chasing Nasaug further from house to house, and finally to the roof, Grant realised that Nasaug was headed back to the Door by which he had entered. There was a moment where Grant thought that Nasaug had acquired hostages but this turned not to be the case. (GM's note - Nasaug dived through the window again, screams were heard, Grant kicked open the door, not realising that the Marindan locals were trying to get out the door to avoid the wolf-creature - in short, Grant knocked them flying but they were unhurt as Grant has lots of Good Stuff) Nasaug also took to the roof in trying to escape, and howled to get more support from his surviving kin, but Grant shape-shifted into the form of an eagle to get to the Door ahead of him.
- Grant swooped into the arrival chamber and landed on one of two wolf-guards who was carrying a large-calibre rifle. In eagle-form he still retained his original mass and all of his Strength, but his Invulnerable to Conventional Weapons Armour did not work in this form. Hence he pinned the guard, kept the guard between him and the other one, transformed back to human and then flung one against the other to subdue them. He was just finished when Nasaug arrived.
- Nasaug was panting from his run back to the Door. He and Grant spoke for a moment, but when Nasaug spoke of the Marindans as being 'food' and 'sport', Grant lost his temper and they fought. Lurker37 made it very clear that Grant was fighting with his full strength, counting on his superiority, inflicting wounds to take his adversary alive and not giving Nasaug a chance to switch tactics. In short, it worked - there was a significant difference in Warfare, Strength, the weapon quality. The room was trashed. The first blows took chips out of Nasaug's sword, then it was bent, finally it broke. Grant inflicted wound after wound but Nasaug refused to surrender. At last Grant hesitated and Nasaug took his opportunity and leapt over the balcony to the sea below. (GM's note - David has not forgotten the setting, and even he had, Grant would see with his Superior Warfare that there was the possibility that his adversary could flee over the balcony.) Grant prepared to dive into the water to follow his foe.
- Suddenly a green globe of crackling energy surrounded Nasaug as he began falling. The energy field was being wielded by none other than Morrison - and it prevented Nasaug from using his ring to teleport out and escape. (GM's note - this is where I ruled that Grant's high level of Good Stuff influenced events. Nasaug had a 'Ring of Recall' which enabled a single-shot teleport. If Grant had had Neutral or Bad Stuff, he would have gotten away. But because Grant had Good Stuff, the other 'Defenders' of Marindar had caught up with him) 
- With the enemy leader in captivity, Morrison and Galatea (with her broken arm) worked with Grant to clean up the remaining invaders. He met two others of the 'Defenders' but did not see the three-eyed henchman who had blasted Turadok. The two other defenders are Morlan, and Bethany.

* Image by Mitsukai-Inki on DeviantART 

* Image by Alex Garner on DeviantART - yes, this was a cover of New Exiles. I love this picture of Psylocke - best ever!
- After some time, Grant finds Sophia. Like many other Marindans who survived, when faced with the savagery of Nasaug and the intruders, she ran and hid. She is as white as a sheet and in shock. Grant wraps her in a blanket and says that he'll take her home. 

And that's where Session 18 ended. Lots of blood and guts!