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Situation: The company has entered the Hall of Ghosts

Encounter/Combat Advantage dice:
• Arbogast 1/1 die

Situation Modifiers:
• The Hall has Initiative
• Encounter Tolerance is 1/5

Physical Modifiers (complications):
• none

PC/NPC		PARRY :+~:		ARMOUR :<>:		HOPE :vv:		END :<3:		STANCE
Anar Arbogast Grimbeorn Hathcyn	• • • •	5 (shield n/a) 6 (shield +3) 4/7 [giant strength] (shield +4) 4 (shield n/a)	• • • •	3d (helm n/a) 2d (helm +1) 2d (helm n/a) 2d (helm n/a)	• • • •	8/8 11/16 5/12 10/13	• • • •	12/30 WEARY 13/26 WOUNDED 15/31 MISERABLE 23/29	• • • •	Defensive encounter TN encounter TN Forward

ENEMY		PARRY		ARMOUR		HATE		END	NOTES
Hall of Ghosts	•	6	•	2d	•	2/10	•	31/40	• none

STANCES

Forward - action order 1 Close combat TN 6+ parry Forward Stance maneuvers (http://rpg.avioc.org/webimages/lotr/tor/forward.jpg)

:<>:

Open - action order 2 Close combat TN 9+ parry Open Stance maneuvers (http://rpg.avioc.org/webimages/lotr/tor/open.jpg)

:<>:

Defensive - action order 3 Close combat TN 12+ parry Defensive Stance maneuvers (http://rpg.avioc.org/webimages/lotr/tor/defense.jpg)

:<>:

Rearward - action order 4 Ranged combat Must be 2 other PC's in Close Combat May not use if outnumbered 2:1 TN 12+ parry Rearward Stance maneuvers (http://rpg.avioc.org/webimages/lotr/tor/rear.jpg)

:<>:

From any Stance Escape combat Must start in Rearward or roll TN 10 + highest attribute level of opponents Athletics roll. On success, may safely flee from the scene of combat

---

Arbogast passed through the door of the longhouse and all was dark within - a darkness that belied the world outside. The sun was going down, the night almost upon them, but surely the sparing light of day would have made bright the cracks that were in the walls. The Fire-watcher turned to where the door was, but he could not see out... the exit was gone.

CLUNK!

A distant sound as if a door closed.

Arbogast stumbled back the way he came, but there was no walls. No door. No light.

Blackness surrounded him and he cried out to his friends on the outside. Surely they could hear him!

No answer came in reply.

Suddenly, he was aware of a change in the pitch blackness. A glow came from behind him and he turned to face whatever it may be. The glow reached out from a center point, but seemed to be absorbed by the thicker darkness around. Within the glow was a man - or at least the shape of a man. He was tall and armored, and upon his head was a helm.

Why did you forsake me? whispered the shape.

Arbogast could see the man clearer now - his armor, the sword in his hand, and the helm. It was that which Rorin had crafted years past. The shape was Ceawin of Sunstead! Or was it? No...the armor and helm were his, but the face within was pale and drawn, the eyes gave off a faint glow of green. The eyes that stared out were undead - they were those of the undead horror that lived under the hill. The terrible spirit that the company had fought in the barrows of the East Bight.

Have you come to finally pay homage? Or have you come for my helm? The second question was a harsh whisper and the shape was suddenly charging the Woodman, his sword raised high to attack.

---

:ooc: While you are outside, you may only read this post. Paul is the only one who may post in this thread.

Arbogast has initiative, although I do need to make a couple starting rolls which I will do in a new reply.

:ooc: a couple tests:

FEAR
TN 16 valour 4d

:ooc: It was only 1 test, actually, and Arbogast crushed it!

"Hold, fell shade," Arbogast calls, raising an empty hand before him as his other grips the handle of his uncle's shield, "for no tomb-thief am I!" 


:ooc: I'm going to roll Awe (I'm guessing that's the appropriate skill) to try to get this thing to back off and not attack.  If it does anyway, well that's what a shield is for. 



 [<

:ooc: Great success!*  That's got to be worth something, right?

If it's not clear, I'm trying to turn this into a social Encounter, rather than a fight. 

Provisional :csu:.  If the roll was a failure, I'll amend my sheet appropriately. 


*Assuming an Attribute score of 7 or less, if we're going by the combat rules. 

:ooc: Okay, Paul - if you haven't already, read the Hall of Ghosts mechanics thread.

Your Awe roll was a great success, which puts you into an Encounter with the Hall. You can attack, if you decide that is the better route, but each successful interaction will reduce the Hall's hate.

The Tolerance of the Encounter is 5.

That said, it will physically attack at you with each interaction you make...

Two-handed attack...
TN 18 longsword 1d+8

:dmg: 5/7  edge: 10    injury: 16/18

Arbogast heard a wicked chuckle and then, "Clever boy...you appeal to me with false words."

The spectre's longsword smashed down onto his shield. "Let us not play a game of words. Instead, accept your punishment for your selfish intent."

:ooc: ROUND 2

As the house has the initiative on everyone, let me do the next round of attacks and you guys can then give me your actions.

We will not be doing individual rounds in this thread, but I will header my post within each with the current round number.

The spectral wight slashes with his sword...
TN 18 longsword 1d+8

:dmg: 5/7    edge: 10  injury: 16/18

The undead creature was fast, bringing the sword back in a slashing arc even after it had been knocked away by Arbogast's shield. Still the Woodman found a way to parry.

---

:ooc: I changed some things...

• Arbogast is missed, as the Hall's new attack roll will be 1d6+6

"You betray your ignorance," Arbogast replies, Lafdag's shield a familiar and comforting weight on his arm that deflects blows with ease, "to speak of words as a game.  No crown ever will I wear, nor jewels upon my brow or gold rings upon my hands, but this I know: words are that which bind nations together.  The promise of a husband to a wife, or a king to his followers, or of honest men to each other, these are mere words, and yet they are more.  The are sacred things that enable Middle-earth to be better today than it was yesterday, and better again tomorrow." 

The spectre-king does not let up in his attack, but the Fire-watcher's defence shows all his hard-won skill.  "Any man who would seek to rule over others and yet believe otherwise is a fool." 


:ooc: Rolling persuade to back all this up:

When the wight-king's reply comes, it is with a hatred so pure and dark that the words seem to tear at the world itself, as if the very fact of its continued existence were an intolerable, unspeakable insult.  "A pox on men!  A pox for their timidity!  A pox for their ingratitude!  And a pox on you, who think yourself wise, for your imbecilic defence of the indefensible!  You speak of nations.  Do you fancy that your folk were brought forth upon Middle-earth to watch the stars grow dim and the shadow to smother and snuff out all hope?  For that is all that awaits them, and the longer you struggle, the greater shall be the suffering in the end." 

Arbogast opens his mouth to call out a rejoinder, but the wight-king is faster, swinging its sword in arcs that never slow, with arms that never tire.  Arbogast is forced backwards again and again.  Then, as the Fire-watcher feels one of the supporting beams of the hall at his back, the wight-king steps back and raises its hand, shrouded by an eerie glow that shines without illuminating. 

"You cannot withstand me," it says.  "For not by your hand was I felled, and before the flames took me, I saw you bleed..."   


:ooc: The wight-king presses its attack with fell sorcery
TN 18 spell of wounding 1d+6

Arbogast suddenly doubles over in pain, his free hand going to his belly and feeling the slickness of fresh blood and viscera.  But when he raises his shaking fingers, they are clean of all but the sweat and grime of travel.  What he feels, he realises, is no wound, but the memory of the terrible injury he suffered in the depths of the haunted barrow.  Over the pounding of the heart and the rasping of his breath, his mind works frantically...

:ooc: Rolling Riddle (TN 16):

... and when he raises his head, it is with the satisfied grin of one who has solved a difficult puzzle. 

"See," he raises his hand, "no blood have you shed by your sorcery.  For you know naught of blood, in the same wise you know naught of the honour of oath-makers.  For no man are you, nor were you ever, but merely a dark memory of the wood given awful life!  And in time you shall fade away to nothing, as do all memories save those that pass into song." 

:ooc: Excellent, Paul! Thanks for taking up the lead on this for me.

Did you update the Hall's scores for your successes?

I will get round 4 started just after dinner (my time).

:ooc: Cheers!  Everything I run turns into a horror game, given enough time, so jumping in here seemed like a good use of my skills.

And yes, all the threads' score tables are updated, ready for Hathcyn and Grimbeorn's actions.

ROUND 4

Arbogast can sense the anger that exudes from the spectral warrior, as if it were smoke from a fire. There was a frustration, as well, of knowing that no matter the outcome, no peace will come from this endeavour. Only the constant knowing of damnation and loneliness.

The wight says nothing in reply to Arbogast, only wildly slashes its sword once more.

TN 18 longsword 1d6+6

:dmg: 7    edge: 10   injury: 18

:ooc: Yikes, Paul!!!  :o

I will calculate the results after I get my daughter to bed!

Okay, Arbogast is hit with a 23 :~~:  :%: success for 13 :<3: loss and he must make a TN 18 :<>: test.

:ooc: Here goes nothing...

:ooc: Ah, shitbuckets.

The wight's sword arcs high, so high that it is a wonder that it does not strike one of the crossbeams that hold high the ceiling, and then falls like lightning.  Arbogast's shield rises quickly to deflect the blow, but he realises the ruse too late.  While the shield hides the sword, the cadaverous warrior strikes, not for the head or body, as Arbogast has become accustomed, but lower. 

The Fire-watcher has just enough time to shift so that the blade bites into his calf rather than severing his leg at the knee, and then he is falling...


:ooc: Arbogast is wounded, but not yet Weary thanks to his fragrant herbs.  I can't mark up the relevant posts, unfortunately, 'cause the 'Quick Edit' button is back to not working for me.

He gasps as he hits the packed dirt floor of the hall, the pain from the wound in his leg not yet fully upon him.  As the wight-king approaches once more, sword raised for a killing blow, he raises his shield and meets it eye to glowing eye. 

"What will your reward be," he asks, "when you are forgotten and the Shadow has called you back to its bosom?"  He shifts, desperately trying to bring his shield to bear.  "I know that those who love me will sing of me, and lament my death, but who shall shed a tear for a dark memory that wears the form of a man it never was?" 


:ooc: Rolling Persuade again:
TN 16

:ooc: EDIT: Never mind spending Hope - I just remembered that Advantage die!



Doug, if you're amenable, I'll also tap Arbogast's Shadow Lore speciality, along with the aforementioned Great Success, for an AP (provisionally :csu: )

:ooc: Ze table, eet turns. :)