It was this time of years again; elections. Every three years, the circus started over in Undhil. Just about every meaningful office was elective. Half of the People’s Assembly and a fourth of the Senate was up for grab every three years, of course. But since the early Senate Wars, various executive and judicial functions had also become subject to periodic popular approval. Tribune, Protector, Ordinator, Justicar... The list was long. The most prestigious office, the competition for which overshadowed the rest, was the Consulship.
In Undhil, three Consuls shared the consulship. They had wide and varied powers. They appointed the Chief Secretaries of the various Bureaus (such as SCU) and kept them accountable. They had the right to force the senate into session, submit various propositions to their vote and had partial right to veto and censor the Senators actions. More importantly, they had irrevocable right to veto anything that touched on the Republic’s security, had sole right to conduct negotiation with foreign entities and propose international treaties for approval to the senate. Once a war was declared, they became master of the army. They had a fair amount of influence within the republic, but to the outside world, they were Undhil. Within the consulship, any decision was reached at a simple majority but was legally deemed to have been taken unanimously. By tradition, a consul who had been overruled in private by his two colleagues never voiced dissent in public.
They were appointed for nine years and one of their seats became open for election every three years. This year, Consul Maria Graccus had opted not to seek another term which meant that the race was wide open. The front runners were Senator Logar Serram and Tribune Nara Silverfox. The first was an old fashioned and stuffy Dragonborn intellectual. He was a stout constitutionalist and an unrelenting defender of the charter of rights. The other was a firebrand half-elf maiden who was running on a security platform. She terrified the establishment. The last few years had seen turmoil. It was pretty much a given that the empire of Kerr sponsored bandits in the countryside as some sort of land based corsairs, the economy was in a slump and as a result destitute people turned their hopes to various cults. Some of these were genuinely dangerous and evil organization which in turn increased the sentiment of insecurity of the rest of the population. As a result, citizens of Undhil were scared and listening to a woman who proposed radical solutions such as building walled ghettos to contain the slums or systematic torture of known members of illegal religious cults in order to get them to divulge the identity of the member of their cells. That kind of laws implied changing the constitution with all the upheavals that such events brought with them.
There were no official party in Undhil, but there were still many well organized informal factions. There was no duty of neutrality whatsoever in Undhil and any elected or even appointed official could campaign on behalf of a colleague. The leader of the Red Seal, the traditionalist faction who upheld the constitution as the foundation of the republic, was Consul Jorgen Jak. A tiefling, a scholar and an orator without peer, he had decided to put his weight in the balance. Until recently, the Red Seal had controlled the republic with a moderate and conservative approach to government. The relatively recent creation of the People’s assembly, the new universal suffrage and the creation of the Tribune’s office had brought a new element of populism to the proceedings and the charismatic Consul Jorgen was one of the few from the old guard capable to play skilfully on this new playing field. He was in fact, Senator Logar’s best hope to win. And that’s where SCU came in.
There was really no such thing as neutrality in Undhil, not even in the bureaucracy. The Red Seal still controlled the executive. The newly appointed head of SCU, the dragonborn Karath Dred, had been appointed at the suggestion of Maria Graccus, herself a Red Seal woman. Karath was of course of the same allegiance and believed that populism was a plague threatening his beloved republic. And so, instead of regular Royal Guards, he had assigned some of his best agents to the security detail of Consul Jorgen Jak and Senator Logar Serram. That was why some much decorated agents were now freezing their balls off in the cold December rain, waiting on Consul Jorgen to make a speech in front of thousands of citizens in the Brahak Square.
A hood of coarse cloth hid the features of the tough near the stairs to the where the speech would eventually began. His hidden eyes glared at anyone who came to close that wasn't supposed to be there. Unlike the others, he did not share their loose sense of camaraderie, and kept a little distance from the once that new each other well. Instead, he just kept glaring and shoving the occasional errant looky-lou.
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
Unless his presence was necessary in person, Mirage preferred a high position out of sight. From there he could watch a wider spectrum os onlookers, alert for anything dangerous presenting itself. His ranged skills had improved a lot and he was quite confident that he could neutralize a threat from a long distance.
Dagran has positioned himself as physically close to the Consul as he can. He isn't expecting trouble, but there is a limit to how fast he moves in case danger rears it's head.
Nathan was just down the stage. He was looking around, at the crowd. He heavy and warm cloth wasn't quite enough to ward him from the freezing rain but was good enough that it didn't bother him much, and most of all, it was hiding his sword pretty well, as long as he doesn't move too much.
He looks a bit at his position, he could easily be at the side of the Senator with a quick teleportation, and his new sword could easily help him to strike at someone who would be taking advantage of the crowd for cover.
Nathan
Initiative +6; Senses Perception 17, Insight 22
Vision: Normal Vision
HP 104; Bloodied 52; Healing Surge 26; Surges Per Day 12
AC 27 (30)*; Fort 25, Ref 25*, Will 25
*+1 until the end of your next turn after shifting
Speed 6
Action Points 1
Suddenly a voice spoke in Dagran's ear from the apparently empty space beside him. "Anything around, old son?. I want him to get it over with it as quickly as possible so we can get out of this rain. I had things planned for this evening and if the senator doesn't hurry up, there's a certain little lady will be very disappointed."
Garrick's tone was impatient. "And if he keeps us here for hours with his 'the people will' and 'the people deserve' speech, like last time, the Gods preserve us but I might kill him meself."
stat block
Initiative +15; Senses Perception 23, Insight 18 Vision: Normal HP 80; Bloodied 40; Healing Surge 20; Surges Per Day 7 AC 26 (33)*; Fort 27, Ref 21, Will 24 * vs OA +2 AC (untyped) if adjacent to at least two larger enemies +2 AC (untyped) vs attacks from an enemy I have CA over. +2 bonus to AC vs OA during Boots’ encounter power move Speed 7 (8) Action Points 1 Weapon: Vicious Shuriken +3: +17 (1d6+10)(3d12 crit) Footpad’s Friend Dagger +2: +14 to hit: (1d4 +6):
powers
Deft Strike Sly Flourish Fleeting Ghost Shadow Stride Chameleon Positioning Strike Trickster’s Blade From the Shadows Distracting Wound Second Chance Impossible to Grab Quickling Boots - Move Elven Armour - move Blinding Barrage Staggering Assault Burst Fire
Here is the map. This is the Brahak public square. You can call your spots.
Co = Consul Jorgen.
The structure he is standing on is somewhat pyramidal. The first layer (such as Y32:Y36) rises 20 feet over 5 feet. It is impossible to stand on these square. Y34 are stairs though they are so steep it is more accurate to call it a ladder. It cost 8 square of movement to move up or down; an Athletic check 18 reduces this to 4. An acrobatic check 18 reduces the cost to 2 square while moving down only. Failuire on both check have no effect beyond forcing you to pay the full 8 square cost. You are considered to be climbing while on Y34 (so you concede CA)
The inner ring is flat and has some guards on it. The center square is elevated 5 feet above that so that the speaker is seen by the crowd.
The red square indicate huge crystals used to reverberate the voice of the speaker. Magic Ghetto Blaster, basically. The sound is oriented westward.
Around the pyramid, the dotted line is a fence that keeps the crowd at bay.
The little 3x3 square with the green center are elevated statues of Legendary heroes of the republic. 15 feet high; no ladders.
Black square indicates very dense crowd, brown indicates lighter crowd.
Dense crowd: If you have one black square between you and an enemy, you both have cover. Two squares and you both have superior cover. After 3 square, you don't have line of Effect, though you might be able to glimpse someone up to 5 square away.
Dense crowd counts as difficult terrain.
Light Crowd : two squares gives mutual cover, three to six gives superior cover. More break line of effect though you might see glimpses up to 10 sqaure.
Light crowd also count as difficult terrain except now you have enough room to muscle your way or maneuver deftly; Acrobatic or Athletic 20 allows normal movement. Just roll it if you need to move more than 3 square!
Obviously enough, if targeting enemies in a crowd, any ranged attack that misses its intended target will instead hit someone in the crowd. Any area, blast and burst attack that tagets 'Creatures' instead of 'Enemies' will result in a carnage.
The olive band, North and South, are buildings. Tightly packed and at least three story high.
Obviously, there are other guards protecting the Consul. There are guards on some of the statues, on the pyramids, on the roof of some of the buildings and around the fence keeping the crowd 3 squares away from the pyramid. None of these guards are anywhere near your level, though.
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 19th February 2009 at 12:09 AM..
Kern patrolled with a stern look on his face, keeping an eye on those pressed against the rope. Every so often he'd pass by some of the routine guards, but he made no eye contact or acknowledgement. He had a job to do, and he was going to do it.
OOC: Patrolling clockwise around the barrier, one square in. Lets say he starts AE34ish.
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
Dagran has taken a position near the stairs as he doesn't realy belong as an official guard but wants to be close by for when the official guards prove to be useless.
OOC: Dagran stands at X33, so he can use his boots and charges someone on top of the Pyramid but can still work the ground.
Garrick nips up the steps to Z32, hovering (not literally!) in the shadows cast by the upper dais. He is aware he can get down quicker than most and reckons a 'top level' operative is required up here.
Leyra holds one hand against her left ear to keep the noise down. It barely works. At least, she thinks, it might prevent any lasting damage. Her keen eyes scan the crowd, but is impossible to make out potential threats within. She could only hope, that things would stay quiet, but when did that help the last time? Yeah, right.
OOC: AB36 (next to the bottom right crystal).
__________________
“In our world, immortality is not for the living. The legend lives on!”
In Memoriam Dave Arneson († April 7th, 2009) & Gary Gygax († March 4th, 2008).
Wondering what the Dungeon Tiles are like? Take a look here (up to DU5 Sinister Woods).
Mirage maintains his position at a distance from the consul. It will be difficult to use some of his more destructive powers with all these people, but his selection of ranged abilities and his location will proove beneficial for monitoring the consul.
ooc: on the north statue, AA20, keeping an eye on the consul and the crowd.
Nathan decides to moves more into the crowd instead of staying at the edge of teh crowd, but he stay in range to teleport back inside the protected area. (V44)
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-"All right guys, I know you've heard this before, but stay alert. I'm noting a drop off in reports!" says Shayla, AKA Control one over everyone's communication crystal.
She had been tasked with monitoring the security by Karath. The fact that she was doing her job confortably in the Brimstone inn, the temporary campaign HQ of the Consul, made the admonishment a litle hard to swallow to some the guards. It was freezing out here!
-"Ooh, and the campaign manager just signed Neostalgia to provide entertainment for the fundraiser. They will be rehearshing at the inn and when this is over we can all gather around, listen to awesome music and drink great ale. That tiefling chick who owns the place brews the best stuff in town! Too bad she and her staff can't cook." she adds cheerfully.
As ever, she was always either endearingly or annoyingly upbeat, depending on your disposition. Still, Neostalgia was a very renowned troop, this was a great coup for the campaign to get their public support.
Suddenly the agents near the pyramid are startled to see a powerful crossbow bolt barely deflected by the ritual shield protecting the speaker. The crowd hasn't even realized what is going on before the guard next to Garrick does as he is trained activates the ritual warding's reinforcement rune. Four other guards standing near the pyramid and carrying heavy packpack filled with alachemical compound do as they are trained and immediately pull a cord and a thick smokescreen forms in instant, making it impossible to target the consul with magic requiring line of sight and making all but impossible to aim.
-"What's going on? Speak, damn it!" snaps Shayla
-"Third building from the street, North West! Third story, East window!" shouts a guard too loud and hurting everyone's hearing. A rookie. Still got the target right.
Agents on the roof and on the periphery rushes to the location. Agents near the consul, which includes our heroes, bunker around the fence and protect the consul with instruction to engage anyone trying to get past the fence. Agents near the streets starts urging the crowd to move away peacefully; at this point your instructions are to stay in the smoke screeen until the crowd can be dispersed; do not attempt to push through as there might be assassins hidden in the crowd and you wouldn't see them until it is too late.
The waiting is tense as the crowd is nowhere calm enough to start exiting.
Suddenly the heroes hear warnings in their comm crystal; Dragon! Dragon! The agents looks wildly around them, trying to pierce the smoke and to hear the telltale swooshing wing sound over the crowd's hysteria.
Suddenly and incredibly, the smoke is blown largely out of the way by the arrival of a large, grey and horned beast with amazing wingspwan swooping toward the top of the pyramid!
OOC
Garrick; your perception is +13, not +12
That Dragon is not a stealth master, but it still beat you all! That being said it doesn't get a free round of attack, getting to start the fight this close is its own reward.
You still have the right to activate a utility power before the fight if you wish, having gotten enough heads up warning.
That Dragon doesn't hover (it can't, actually). Right now it moves toward the top of the pyramid, apparently acting as some kind of assassin, but it must always move at least 2 sqare to stay aloft. Right now it is 4 square high (+4).
The consul is currently protected by a powerful warding aura. It has 50 hp and 20 damagre resistance vs eveything but powers with either no Keyword (standard melee weapon) or the Force Keyword.
Obviously, with the smoke thinned and a Dragon in sight, the crowd will start to stampede.
On my turn, anyone in crowd will risk being trampled. The crowd will also thin and change round by round.
See how for the second turn in a row I screw the person with the best bonus by rolling a 1? That's my special talent.
Dragon has 29, only Garrick beats that so he is up
Gray Dragon
Perception : 25 ; darkvision
Aura of Terror (Fear) aura 5; any enemy within the aura takes a –2
penalty to saving throws.
HP 615; Bloodied 307;
AC 29; Fortitude 27, Refl ex 26, Will 26
Resist 20 acid
"Well that's a little more than I expected" mused Garrick. "Just as well I'm not a great fan of Neostalgia, looks like we won't be getting to see them anytime soon."
As he muttered he swiftly drew and threw a shuriken at the giant beast. His intent was to distract the beast and that was adequately served. Hitting the dragon's eyelid caused it to flinch giving Garrick and his friends a brief moment of opportunity.
Initiative +15; Senses Perception 23, Insight 18 Vision: Normal HP 80; Bloodied 40; Healing Surge 20; Surges Per Day 7 AC 26 (33)*; Fort 27, Ref 21, Will 24 * vs OA +2 AC (untyped) if adjacent to at least two larger enemies +2 AC (untyped) vs attacks from an enemy I have CA over. +2 bonus to AC vs OA during Boots’ encounter power move Speed 7 (8) Action Points 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Weapon: Vicious Shuriken +3: +17 (1d6+10)(3d12 crit) Footpad’s Friend Dagger +2: +14 to hit: (1d4 +6): ----------------------------------------------------------------- Powers: Deft Strike Sly Flourish Fleeting Ghost Shadow Stride Chameleon Positioning Strike Trickster’s Blade From the Shadows Distracting Wound Second Chance Impossible to Grab Quickling Boots - Move Elven Armour - move Blinding Barrage Staggering Assault Burst Fire
Leyra; moved you to intended starting spot; The spot you indicated originally was on the wall so I opted to go one lower but if you wanted up, that's no problem.
You would still have gotten caught in the blast 5 at AB37 so you didn't get screwed.
The beast glides southward and breaths a huge cloud of acid, clearly aiming for the consul but taking care to hit as many of his defenders as possible. The result is devastating and everyone suffers serious burns but the force field hold and the consul is unscathed. One can almost discern a look of surprise and anger on the alien features of the gray dragon.
Garrick and Leyra are almost washed away from the pyramid but they manage to hang on for dear life. Everyone who survives the blast feels the corrosive effect of the acid and, paradoxically, a stiffening of their joints, making it hard to move. The remaining bodyguard are all fallen or paralyzed and soon it becomes obvious that only the veteran agents stand a chance against the mighty beast.
Suddenly the agents hear more cacophony from their comm crystals. It soons become obvious that there is a raid against against the Campaign HQ! That poor tiefling lady that rented the inn to the Consul's campaign team did not know what she was in for... Shalya is disturbingly silent; she must have been forced away from her console. Whatever is going on over there, the fighting is heavy.
Meanwhile, Nathan is caught in a stampeding crowd and tries to retains his footing. He barely manages to avoid getting trampled.
Ending your turn in dense crowd will now expose you to the risk of getting knocked over and trampled. Next round I will change the shape of teh crowd as it tries to exit the area. But there are way too many people and the streets are not wide enough for it to be a quick process.
Status
Dragon : 580/615, 2 AP, Concdes combat advantage, breath used
Dragon is now indicated by the X; still 4 square up.
Leyra 62 (57) /81 [11] [2] AP,SW,EA, prone,Ongoing 5 acid and immobilized (save ends both), -2 to save
Nathan 109/109 [12] [2] AP.SW
Garrick 61 (56) /80 [7] [2] AP,SW,SC,prone,Ongoing 5 acid and immobilized (save ends both), -2 to save
Mirage 79 [8] [2] AP,SW,IW
Dagran 100 (95)/119 [15] [2] AP,SW, Ongoing 5 acid and immobilized (save ends both), -2 to save
Kern 90/90 [7] [2] AP,SW
Remember -2 saving throw penalty people; you area all in the zone!
Gray Dragon
Perception : 25 ; darkvision
Aura of Terror (Fear) aura 5; any enemy within the aura takes a –2
penalty to saving throws.
HP 615; Bloodied 307;
AC 29; Fortitude 27, Refl ex 26, Will 26
Resist 20 acid
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 21st February 2009 at 09:28 AM..
OOC: Dagran 109 (95)/119 [15] [2] AP,SW, Ongoing 5 acid and immobilized (save ends both), -2 to save
Unbreakable went off as I took the acid damage, so I only took 10.
Dagran shouts, "Get down here, beastie!" and hurls an axe at the dragon but his efforts are to no avail.
OOC: Yep, yep, that's fine. Totally expected to get caught in some area powers up there, but wanted to be close to the counsellor, to be able to help, if necessary.
Leyra coughs, as she gets up, but seeing the dragon still nearby, she does not waste a moment and begins to strike back.
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