WANTED Cold One

Paelic, Seros and Maelkur found themselves in the "office" of the logging chief. The office was little more than a tiny fort, devoid of amenities. The logging chief himself was a short, powerfully built man. Bald as a priest of Sigmar, but with a beard that more than made up for it. He was surrounded by eight heavily armed guards, all wielding halberds.

"Well you three certainly have guts," the head of the lumberyard said staring at the three drunken men before him. "Under normal circumstances I'd ask you to prove that you have a bit more than that before I sent you out," the man paused, his eyes dark with fatigue, "but I just don't care anymore. I've lost half a dozen guards to that hellbeast. I've even had to resort to having the men work only in shifts when the things asleep, which is almost never." The logging chief looked Paelic straight in the eye, "You kill that thing, I pay you. Now get out there in the yard! It'll smell you soon enough."

Paelic raised his mug to the shiny headed man who stood before him. "Aye sir. I've already had one run in with the beast. Paelic traced the long scar that ran along his arm. "I owe him for this one and several others." Finshing the bottle he pulled another from his belt tossing the empty one on the ground with a shatter. "We won't let you down sir. That much I can guarantee." The fire burned in his eyes.

The logging chief's eyes widened in recognition, "Ah, so you're the bastard that tried to take that monster on before. I'd wish you luck," the chief said looking at Pelic's various wounds and scars, "but it doesn't look like it's ever on your side. Now get outta here and kill that son-of-bitch!"

"You don't sound so confident in us, my good sir!" Smiled Maelkur through a laugh that was laden with what sounded like a drunken stupor. "We'll kill that lizard dead faster than you can spit chief. Advance that way in a manly fashion, gentlemen!" With another echoing laugh, Maelkur motioned that the trio should advance directly out into the yard where the chief had instructed that they go. He hoped this would be done sooner than later... after all, how much of a threat could one lizard be for a Chaos Mage, a Vampire, and... well. A Chaos Mage and a Vampire?

Three hours after their meeting with the logging chief, the trio were walking about the lumberyard, bored, but alert for any sign of the Cold One's approach. The yard was a mess; the workers too busy working in the short time the Cold One was asleep to bother with cleaning up. More unsettling, the yard was silent as a grave, or at least the closest equivalent the lush jungle-island could provide. All creatures larger than a thumb had apparently been scared off by the Cold One's hunting.

The trio heard the Cold One before they saw it. The three heard all manner of sounds as the forest gave way before the Cold One's approach. Branches crashed to the ground, terrified animals shrieked warnings to their brethren. Most unsettling of all was the deep rumble each time the Cold One's feet touched the ground, seemingly shaking the earth itself with each step. Paelic, Seros, and Maelkur stared at the tree-line where the sounds were emanating from and received their first glimpse of the beast.

Paelic recognized the dark red scales of the beast he had challenged before, noting the burn scars that he himself had inflicted, but that was all he recognized. The Cold One, already massive when Paelic had fought him, had grown to gigantic proportions. Nearly two-and-a-half tons of predator covered in a thick armor of scales. Arrows and various melee weapons were stuck in the beast's hide, lodged in the scales' iron grip. Teeth somewhere between daggers and short-swords glinted in the beasts mouth. At odds with it's massive size, the creature was crouched down, vainly attempting to sneak up on it's very aware prey.

Initiative Roll! -
2*Ag + Modifiers + 1-100
Cold One 40 + 46 = 86
Paelic - 42 + 1(you have the worst luck ever) = 43
Maelkur - 40 + 87 = 127
Seros - 28 + 7 = 35

Turn Summary-

Turns- Players are up. Maelkur scored higher than Enemies Initiative and gets a free turn before the enemies.

Initiative Order is as follows-

Enemies -
Players-

Status -
Maneater Cold One - Perfect
Paelic - Perfect
Maelkur - Perfect
Seros - Perfect

Tree-Line	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard
Cold One
					Paelic Maelkur Seros

*Maelkur, you may apply poisons and tack your free turn*

The enormous Cold One, realizing it's prey had spotted it, let out a roar that shook the surrounding trees and charged into the lumberyard.

*Cold One performs special move, "Sprint" and moves 3 zones to the right."

Status -
Maneater Cold One - Perfect
Paelic - Perfect
Maelkur - Perfect
Seros - Perfect

Tree-Line	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard
			Cold One
					Paelic Maelkur Seros

*You may all take your actions. Maelkur's extra turn was lost due to not posting within 24 hours.*

Paelic cringed as the Cold One charged him. He could tell the beast had recognized him. It's cold reptilian eyes were focused intently on his small humanoid form. Laughing Paelic focused the flames in his hand as he done before. "You will taste these flames again beast." His companions seemed emboldened by his flames. He raised his hand forward at the beast.

*Paelic casts Fireball....*

A wave of smoke filled the air instead of a fireball. Paelic ducked out of the way into the bushes beside them intent on remaining hidden from the beast. He would strike this time at the beasts flank from the shadows, instead of his previous plan of attack getting impaled on the beasts claws.

*Sike! Paelic instead uses Stealth.*

[Deadly Poison on MH, Crippling Poison on OH]

Seeing the Cold One charged at them, the Vampire reached to his belt and his dark elf sabers flashed in the sun as he drew them in a stylish flourish, preparing to assault the Cold One but decided for a moment to take a different approach. Glancing at the drunken Seros who would likely recognize the spell instantly, Maelkur decided it was worth the risk of his casting. Either way, he would make it as if Quicksilver had cast the spell through his blades and could play it off as him being a servant of a greater master... if either of his companions even remembered what happened. Light and flame dancing to life around him as he flashed his swords against each other, Maelkur pointed his dominant hand's sword at the Cold One and the flames leaped to life at his command; the beginning of a deadly spell.

Cast Khaine's Fury on Cold One.

Casting Roll -
40+30+5-33 = 42 < 51 Success
Roll too low for IF chance

Spellpower Roll -
40 + 30 - 33 = 37 < 15 Failure

Fire and light each shot out of one of Maelkur's two blades. Rushing towards the Cold One the two beams began to twist around each other to form one cohesive attack. Before they could combine fully the attack smashed into the Cold One's armored forehead. The Cold One let out a yelp of pain, but as everyone's vision cleared from the blinding attack, they saw that the attack had done little more than irritate the Cold One's eyes.

Tree-Line	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard
			Cold One
					???Paelic??? Maelkur Seros

*Ferret, you have roughly ten hours left to post*

Edit: Sorry for the delay folks. As soon as I get back from shopping the fight will continue.

Taking another swig from his bottle of grog, Seros took a moment to be briefly impressed by the magic his elven friend was conjuring. He had not seen the High Magic in quite some time.

He found it somewhat offensive, in fact. "You call that magic? This is magic!" He threw his bottle dramatically to the ground and began gesturing drunkenly (which was not critical to the casting, but made him feel more impressive).

(Red Fire on Mael... the Cold One, right, the Cold One)

Casting Roll -
40+10+5-42 = 20(13 real) < 93 Success
Irresistible Force Roll -
100-35= 65 < 45 No IF

Spellpower Roll -
40+30-42 = 28 < 79 Success

Wound Roll -
8+5 = 13 damage

The Cold One yelped as multicolored flames erupted from the weapons stuck in it's body. In a panic to douse the flames the thick-headed beast charged into the midst of its attackers.

*Cold One dashes 2 zones to the right*

Tree-Line	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard
					Cold One
					???Paelic??? Maelkur Seros

Status -
Maneater Cold One - Good -13
Paelic - Perfect
Maelkur - Perfect
Seros - Perfect

*Players turn again*

"Simply an enchantment from the blades, my wizardy friend!" Replied Maelkur as he dashed to the side to avoid the charge of Maneater, though he brought his blades up and lashed out at the lizard's exposed flank.

Attack Maneater

An enchantment from the blades?, Seros thought. It certainly had the odor of the Qhaysh. Perhaps he was simply drunk and projecting his hatred of one particular high elf on all of them.

No, all high elves deserve that hatred. And this one was unquestionably using that most hated of magics. Should he kill the elf for the insult, or simply torture him until he gives up his secrets? The Silver Wind would be a powerful addition to his arsenal...

Seros' musings were interrupted by the massive Cold One charging into their midst. Considering the great deal of fire he had just shot at the creature, he felt chances were good it was going to bite him. Unacceptable. He raised his arms and attempted to conjure a shield of flames.

(Orange Fire.)

(The Quicksilver disguise is a human, by the way.)

Paelic glanced out from behind his cover. Excellent his allies were putting up shields and flanking the beast. Defeating this foe might just be possible. He knew all too well from last time his own blade would not do the trick against this beast. He would need to upgrade his arsenal. Channeling his power to his hand he felt the familiar warmth of the flames once again.

*Cast sword of Rhun*

To Hit Rolls
Main Hand -
40+40+10-30 = 60 < 55 Miss

Off Hand -
40+40+10-30 = 60 < 27 Miss

Maelkur tried to hit the Cold One's flank as he dodged out of the charging dragonkin, but he misjudged how swift the beast was and his sword strokes barely even touched the creature.

Casting Roll
40+20+5+5-42 = 28 < 31 Success
Irresistible Force Roll
95 < 65 No IF

Spellpower Roll
15+10 = 25 < 36 Success
(36+42)/10 = 7

*Seros gains 7 DR, a 10% ward save, MR 20, and 50% magic reflect.*

As the furious Cold One passed by next to Seros, he made a gesture and the flames that had plagued the beast flew to surround the armored caster in a sphere, their hues all changing to various shades of orange.

Casting Roll
40+20+5-33 = 33 < 88 Success
Irresistible Force Roll
75 < 92 Cast with Irresistible Force!

Spellpower Roll
15+10 = 25 < 100 Automatic Success
(100+33)/30 = 4

*Paelic now has a balanced hand weapon that deals 3-6 physical damage and 5-10 of fire damage and gives him +20 S.*

Paelic's desperate gamble payed off, and while the other two sorcerers could not see him with their eyes, they could feel the immense power radiating from the smoke. An explosion of heat erupted from Paelic's concealment, and the grass nearby began to wilt and catch flame from the immense heat. Even the enraged Cold One appeared frightened by the energies unleashed beyond his senses. Terrified, the creature tried to dash away, only to discover that Tzeentch's Chosen was in his way.

*Cold One attacks Seros*

To Hit Roll
40+26-40 = 26 < 77 Success

To Wound Roll
40+17-50 = 7 < 47 Success

Ward Save
10 < 18 Ward Save Failed

Damage Roll
5-7+S-T/10-Armor
7+6-3 = 10 damage (3 after DR)

The Cold One didn't slow at all as it saw the chaos mage barring his path, too terrified of the energies that it could feel behind it. Seros tried to dodge out of the way, but his heavy armor slowed him down too much and he took the full force of the Cold One's body charging into him. The sphere of fire around Seros held for only a moment before being crushed by the Cold One's terrible strength and weight and the sorcerer was thrown aside like a child's plaything.

Tree-Line	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard
					Cold One
					!?!Paelic!?! Maelkur Seros

Status -
Maneater Cold One - Good -13
Paelic - Perfect (Sword of Rhun)
Maelkur - Perfect
Seros - Good 17/20 (Mantle of The Orange Flame)

*Players turn*

Upon further reflection, it became clear to Seros that the "elf" he had observing was in fact a human. Which made his use of High Magic all the more curious. He could have sworn he saw an elf there - clearly the drink must be getting the best of him. Or the human appearance was an elaborate illusion masking the elf beneath. But that would be crazy.

Seros picked himself up off the ground and shook his head. "Did you see that? It reminds me of this one time in Reikland, when I was struck by a charging Centigor. And then I mounted it, and wrestled it to the ground!" Was that how that story had ended? He couldn't remember. No, that was probably right.

With a roar, Seros charged at the beast, leaping (as gracefully as a man in chaos armor can) atop its massive back, taking his sword in two hands, and plunging down.

(Red Blade)

(*Couple of admin things -
1- Seros has 3 armor due to the stupid chosen rule.
2- You always have a 5% IF or Miscast chance. That's the minimum, sorry if that wasn't clear. Although we could certainly change that should folks feel strongly about it.
3- How were doing the Spellpower roll? 15+10 = 25 < 36 Which numbers are what I'm assuming the 36 is the roll.
4- Armor penalties - Don't forget armor penalties to casting and spellpower. You got the casting penalty, not sure if you got the spellpower penalty. *)

*Admin out - Back to RP mode*

Paelic leapt from the bushes tucking underneath the cold one. He knew longer than to stay there from his last bad experience underneath the cold one's belly. Ducking to the side he did a huge two handed sweep of his blade towards the cold one's knee.

*Attack*

To Hit Roll
40(base) +40(Dstat) -26(Astat) = 54 < 92 Success

To Wound Roll
40(base) +40(Dstat) - 20(Astat) = 60 < 93 Success

Red Fire Spellpower Roll
40(base) +30(Dstat) -42(Astat) = 28 < 7 Failure

Damage Roll
5-8+(S-T/5)-Armor
5-4 = 1 damage

The Cold One assumed that the creature it had just charged into wouldn't be getting up for a few hours at least, so it was very surprised when Seros' large blade sank into the nauglir's backside. Seros channeled his magic through the blade into the wound, but the Cold One's tough body simply ignored the small fire that had been unleashed inside of it. Even worse, Seros' strike had hit one of the least important areas of the Cold One's body, doing very little more than pissing the beast off.

To Hit Roll
40(base) +40(Dstat) -40(Astat) = 40 < 14 Failure (I'm so sorry)

Paelic jumped out of his hiding place, hoping to use Seros' distraction to hit the Cold One with a mortal blow. Unfortunately for the red wizard he didn't see the log in his path, and as he charged forward he tripped over it. Thinking quickly Paelic turned the fall into a roll and managed to keep from impaling himself on his own sword of fire, but he had lost the element of surprise.

Tree-Line	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard
					Cold One
					Paelic Maelkur Seros

Status -
Maneater Cold One - Good -14
Paelic - Perfect (Sword of Rhun)
Maelkur - Perfect
Seros - Good 17/20 (Mantle of The Orange Flame)

*Maelkur's Turn*

(Mod Stuff: Oops on the armor bit, as for the other three: (2)Didn't know about the minimum it has been essentially fixed in my previous post and will be taken into account in the future; (3)I was following your example "The spell would fail because as a level 1 spell it fails if the die roll comes up below 20 (15+ 5 * Spell Level 1) regardless of my Wp or Misc modifiers."; (4) Combat mechanics currently only have armor penalties affecting the casting roll, not the spellpower roll, again I followed how you had it laid out in the combat mechanics post. Would you like me to switch to that system in the future?)

(As for casting yeah both SP and Casting, I'll fix it in the combat mechanics post, but it says under the equipment thread both and that was the intent. As for Spellpower roll, that makes sense it just looked odd to me for some reason. No worries carry on sir.)

I remember there was some discussion of the new "engaged" rule, but I can't find it anywhere in the rules section. What exactly are those rules? When do you cease to be engaged? Do you have to leave the zone, or just stop getting attacked?

Stop getting attacked.

Noting that the lizard seemed to have focused all of it's attention onto Seros, Maelkur skipped a bit to the side to give his lunging slash a bit more strength behind it as he advanced at Maneater to attack.

Continue attacking! Also activate Overwhelming Assault.

To Hit Rolls
Main Hand -
40(base) +40(Dstat) +10(DW) -30(Astat) = 60 < 78 Hit! Deadly Poison Applied!

Off Hand -
40(base) +40(Dstat) +10(DW) -30(Astat) -1(OA) = 59 < 49 Miss. Overwhelming Assault ended.

To Wound Roll
40(base) +40(Dstat) +10(DW) - 20(Astat) = 70 < 38 Failed to wound.

Maelkur's lunge brought his blade in contact with the Cold One's flank, but the creature suddenly shifted its tremendous weight and the blade was turned aside, but not before leaving a dark stain on one of the creatures open wounds. About to strike again, Maelkur caught movement in the corner of his eye and jumped gracefully out of the way as the Cold One lash out it's powerful tail at where he had just been standing.

To Hit Roll
40(base) +30(Dstat) - 40(Astat) = 30 < 69 Hit!

To Wound Roll
40(base) +12(Dstat) - 50(Astat) = 10(2) < 72 Wound!

Damage Roll
5-7+S-T/5-Armor
6+7-2 = 11 damage

While he managed to dodge the attack easily enough, Maelkur had not anticipated the Cold One's tail smashing into a pile of logs, spraying shards of wood like a cannon blast. A particularly large shard flew through the air and embedded itself deeply in Maelkur's chest. Had the vampire been mortal the wound would have most certainly killed him, and even as he was he could feel his strength draining away. The Cold One turned it's head and glared at him with one red eye, dark blood seeping out of the corner as Maelkur's poison began to do its dirty work.

*Cold One takes 1 damage from poison*

Tree-Line	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard	Yard
					Cold One
					Paelic Maelkur Seros

Status -
Maneater Cold One - Good -14
Paelic - Perfect (Sword of Rhun)
Maelkur - Wounded 9/20
Seros - Good 16/20 (Mantle of The Orange Flame)

*Players Turn*

Still riding the beast, Seros frowned at the minimal damage it had taken from his sword. Indeed, it seemed not to have even noticed him on top of it. Only one thing to do.

"Have some more fire, animal!" Laughing gleefully, Seros shoved his hands into the minor wound his blade had created and began heating the creature's innards.

(Red Fire.)