Through the looking glass (wushu game)

[Diamondeye]

Then he stopped and tilted his head. "Dear sirs, why is Moonday called Moonday?" he asked.

OOC: Good catch! Can't believe I didn't see that one.

[Peasant Phill]

"It's ruined, all ruined!" The gnomes stormed off, all in a different direction seemingly vanishing in the surounding flora.
Our heroes had no time to react, there questions still hanging in the air.

"I could help you with those basty boils,...,sure, because we all want to help eachother."
A figure stepped into their midst. It looked like a charicature of Jackaloupe. Even taller, even thinner, ... and a smile that only the Chesire cat could have.
"I'm sure Chief Toss-an-Emu will have an answer"


OOC: And here I thought someone would want to ask about a cure for those boils. That'll teach me to think ;)
I'm at work and out of time. I'll set the stage at the regular time. You can add anything you like.
P.S. the figure is Lange Wapper just look him up on google (just not the bridge)
P.S. Thanks to Gregoshi for the pun name.

[Beskar]

OOC: And here I thought someone would want to ask about a cure for those boils. That'll teach me to think ;)

OOC: Boils would just pop, taking the gunk with them. I didn't think we would need a cure.

[Peasant Phill]

First of all I want to know if you'll follow Lange Wapper or not?

Democratic decision, any other suggestions are welcome.

[Chaotix]

"Well, it depends, really, on how much John wants to get rid of those boils.

It looks rather as if he's taken a liking to them. But if he'd rather his face be covered in only the usual dirt, then I am all for him, of course.

In other words, my vote hinges on dearest Johnny's."

[Diamondeye]

"Of course we'll follow Lange, right guys? Otherwise this isn't going to be exciting.
Any of you cowardly enough to back out of a dare with a girl?"

[Seon]

Shepherd slowly started to raise his hand, caught the deadly glare of Liva, and nearly started to curl up on the floor, whimpering.

Instead he quickly pulled down his rather frozen hand and groaned.

[Beskar]

Perhaps it is an idea to get rid of these Boils.

[Peasant Phill]

OOC OK To Chief Toss-an-Emu it is then.

Scene 3
In which practical jokes may not prove to be the best diplomatic gambit

The group is led by Lange Wapper into what seems a wall of trees, ferns and rose bushes. As if stepping through a doorway, they were now in the open prairie. A Indian camp lay just ahead.

Lange strode ahead of our heroes as if he was the king of the prairie. The dumbfounded sentries didn't quite know if they should stop this man or kneel before him.
"I need to see the chief of this settlement!" He exclaimed with a thunderous voice.
"Where is that goat-loving lowlife, I need to speak with him at once!"
A figure, just big enough to hold the absolutly massive head dress of the ground, rushed out of his tipi in the most intimidating way a forest of feathers ever could.

"Who dares to insult me amongst my own people"

Lange Wapper laughed a somewhat animal like laugh and shrunk so fast he seemed to just disappear.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can make a run for it, try to talk your way out of it or duke it out. It's up to you.

1 Nemesis (Chief Toss-an-Emu with 3 chi)
Mooks: the rest of the Indian tribe. Threat rating of 40, 2 yin successes needed per round
Dice cap 6

[Chaotix]

Jackaloup was stunned he had not seen the trick Lange Wapper had designed before it had played out. Now they were surrounded by an angry Indian Chief and his entire tribe. He considered his Boomerang for a second... but decided that it might be a good idea to at least try diplomacy first.

"Ah! Great and Honorable Chief! You have saved us from that nasty fellow who was taller, even, than I. He dissappeared using dark spirit magic and tried to frame his own insults on us. But you have made him shrink away in fear from your mighty presence, and saved our lives. For, truly, it was this trickster, this Lange Wapper, who captured the four of us and made us his slaves. He even put these nasty boils on little Johnny here when he refused to submit. But now we are saved and it is all thanks to you and your magnificent headress and massive, rippling muscles. Now if only someone could help poor Johnny with his boils..."

Charm
Yin 2, Yang 4

[Diamondeye]

Liva glares at Jackaloup, evidently unpleased at something he says (his lies, of course, but the indians can't know that). She frowns at the trickster and sits down, making a resigning wave with her hands. "Whatever, Jack, you handle this alone then."
Yin: All

Blunt Personality Trait

[Peasant Phill]

I forgot to mention that you have to either 'attack' the Chief or the angry tribesmen. (you can adress both but then you will have to split your dice as well).

Great roleplaying Diamondeye. Sitting a round out is of course also allowed.

[Seon]

"Umm yeah. You got this Jack, woohoo!" Shepherd said meekly.

Yin: All

Trait: cowardly.

[Diamondeye]

"Umm yeah. You got this Jack, woohoo!" Shepherd said meekly.

Yin: All

Trait: cowardly.

Sheesh, Seon... You're not even guaranteed two dice for that line, you know?

[Beskar]

John looked the nervous, and hid behind Jackloup. If any of the indians made any threatening moves against him, he was going to dodge them use Jack as a human shield.



Small
Yin: All

[Peasant Phill]

OK, I'm going to assume Chaotix is going after the chief while the rest is defending itself against the tribesmen.

Chief: 6 dice, trait 5, (5 yang, 1 yin mix) 0 yin successes 3 yang successes
Chaotix: 6 dice, trait 4, 1 yin 3 yang
Diamondeye: 6 dice, trait 5, 4 yin
Seon: 2 dice (barely), trait 1, 1 yin
Beskar: 4 dice, trait 4, 2 yin

This makes that the Chief is on 0 Chi which means he's just alive. Chaotix has 1 chi left, Seon 2 while Diamondeye and Beskar have their full 3 chi.
It's anybodies move now. I'll chip in tomorrow.

[Chaotix]

By now, several of the miniature tribesmen were holding Jackaloup and the group, comically hidden behind him, at spearpoint. However, Jackaloup's words were finally starting to sink into Chief Toss-an-emu's head, and it seemed his demeanor began to change from fierce to simply proud and almost benevolent. Evidently, the trickster's flattery had affected him in the intended way. The Chief was on the verge of breaking his standoff.

With a gentle gesture, Jackaloup simply brushed away the spearheads pointed at him and walked closer to the Chief, his height comical in comparison to Toss-an-emu's stature.

"I am certain that you or your village shaman has the skill to cure such a problem as these boils. Perhaps we should discuss this in your tent, honourable Chief?

Trickster
3 Yang, 3 Yin

Directed at: Chief Toss-an-emu

[Diamondeye]

Liva looks around nerveously, the common tribesmen directing their attention to her as the two boys cower behind her in fear. This was not what she had in mind. She desperately looks around for anything that can strike a resound with the tribesmen, not willing to take on adult men with weapons in a hand-to-hand fight. She catches a glimpse of the chief's headdress and suddenly gets an idea. Ignoring the oncoming tribesmen, she quickly reaches inside her small bag and finds a couple of sheets of paper, but this time, she also brings up a pen. On the first piece of paper, she rapidly sketches a single feather, seen from different angles. She shows this to the tribesmen while quickly beginning to draw up a design of a feather headdress. She hopes that this will serve as sufficient communication that she can help them make headdresses, but that she has no feathers with her.

Skill: Nimble Fingers
Yin: 2
Yang: 4

[Peasant Phill]

Chief Toss-an-Emu realized that such an outburst wouldn't get him anywhere. He let his anger get the better of him ... again. Brother Always-there-at-the-wrong-time still wasn't quite the same after the last episode. Best start over then, he thought.

"My good man, what is the reason of this disturbance of our peaceful settlement?" He said in his most honey-coated voice possible but he still hoped his firm gaze would lend him enough authority.
"And don't try to outsmart me, I once finished second at the Nornori's national debating contest!".

Skill: Loves to hear himself talk (5) aimed at Chaotix
Split: 4 yin, 2 yang

OOC: 2 descriptions, still 2 to go.

[Seon]

Shepherd nodded at the events unfolding around him and silently picked up a large rock from the ground and into his pocket whilst everyone was distracted by Liva's drawing.

Then he began to ponder...if the rock was thrown at X velocity against the Mook A's head at angle Y, and assuming that the density of their helmet was at 12.00 g/cm^3, then the ricochet will...

The Indian noticed his gaze and stared in his direction. Shepherd let out a nervous chuckle. Nevermind that plan... But it was always good to think of at least 12 contingency plans for every circumstance. People always told him that he was paranoid, that there were no frog people inside the sewers, that the aliens weren't invading, and whatnot, but he knew better. He had been planning a defense against them at every spare time...

Right now, he felt it was a good time to use the contingency plan 4AB-47-a: prevent horrible death by the hands of a barbarian tribe by hiding in plain sight.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his portable chess set. Hopefully the natives will be so surprised by this random act that their brains will refuse to see him, making him invisible...

For some reason he couldn't shake the feeling that there was a massive flaw with this plan, but then again this was a flawed world and everyone knew that two negatives made a positive...

Puzzle solver

3 Yin 3 Yang

[Beskar]

John unfortunately boiled down to having to do what he does best, in a situation like this, making use of his small stature against an large opponent. As the men tried to make a grab for him, he went up to the one infront and punched him squarely between his legs. The second person tried to make a grab for him, but he escaped under his legs. The third was incoming, going down extra low, he jumped up and ran along his back, and as the man ducked down to look to where John went to, from between his legs, John was there and thawted him on the nose. As the last one came for him, he ran up to him, the fourth one stood still, so John couldn't past, so John grabbed his loin cloth and pulled it downwards, revealing something Liva wished she never wittinessed, and the fourth man realised what occured, tried to cover himself up, but failing, and tried to catch John as he used his the guys loincloth as a flag.

Small
3 Yin, 3 Yang.

[Diamondeye]

((Oh my god Beskar))

[Seon]

Mein...gott...

[Peasant Phill]

My apologies for being late with my contribution. When Misses Peasant wants something I rarely get to say differently.
I'll make up for it this evening.

Also Bravo Beskar, just Bravo. Someone wants to earn the coup de grace.

[Peasant Phill]

Chief: 6 dice, trait 5, (2 yang, 4 yin mix) 3 yin successes 2 yang successes
Chaotix: 6 dice, trait 5, 2 yin 3 yang at the chief
Diamondeye: 6 dice, trait 4, 2 yin 4 yang
Seon: 6 dice, trait 5, 2 yin 3 yang
Beskar: 6 dice, trait 4, 1 yin 2 yang

So both the Chief (0 Chi) and Chaotix (1 chi) cancel each others attacks out. Beskar loses 1 point so he's at 2 chi and the rest have their full 3 chi.
The mook threat is now at 31.

"That flatery will get you only a part of the way young celery." said Toss-an-Emu, "and you won't see the inside of my tent just yet."
It wasn't so much that his tent was sacred but he had put off spring cleaning for a year or two. Respect and admiration tends to fade away in the face months of dirty dishes.
"Give me a reason to help you, I don't use my gift for just any occasion".

Meanwhile the rest of the tribe was in a state between wonder, confusion and utter horror. Some plucked chickens bold to see more wonders while others suggested that the bishop should be moved to F3 to avoid an obvious Orwellian gambit. But the overwhelming male part of the tribe just casually but decidedly popped in to ,there tents to get there trousers on.

Chief uses Loves to hear himself talk (5) aimed at Chaotix now in an even split.

[Diamondeye]

[I'm going to interpret my good results that some of the mooks are actually influenced by what I'm doing, and continue]

Liva ogled at Johns way of handling the natives, but quickly withdrew her eyes before seeing a sight she would rather be without. She returned her attention to the natives who had gathered some feathers for her, and she sat down with them in a circle and began flicking together a simple feather ornament for wearing in your hair. She moved her hands slowly and carefully, so the natives can see what is happening and try to copy her movements, but they're not very good at it. She gives one of them the first ornament and makes another one, this time putting it in her own hair, hoping to indicate that they can indeed be friends.
Trait: Nimble Fingers
Split: 3 Yin 3 Yang

[Chaotix]

Jackaloup almost panicked at hearing the commotion little John was causing. His plan of peaceful action had been ruined; the Chief had not noticed it yet, but as soon as he did all hell would break loose. In a split-second, however, a devious smile replaced the look of uncertainty on the trickster's face. In an angelic, beseeching voice, he pleaded:

"Well, Great Chief Toss-an-emu, you just have to help poor John! It's absolutely vital that you do so..."

Mid-sentence, all of a sudden Jackaloup bent and snatched the Chief's leg, then proceeded to hold the small man at a long arm's length, dangling upside-down by his ankle. His voice then changed from honey-sweet to low and threatening:

"...because, if you don't, I'm afraid I'll have to find a nicely sized rock to smash your head in with!"


Trickster
4 Yang, 2 Yin

[Seon]

Watch this first.

Shephard jolted awake from the chess board that he was staring at. He suddenly couldn't quite remember who he was fighting against anymore...

"...find a nicely sized rock to bash your head in with!" the weird man said, holding a poor old man by his feet. Shephard absentmindedly hurled the rock inside his pocket towards a direction of the two men, missing completely. Instead, the rock beautifully ricochetted off another rock and hit a bird flying midair. The bird let out a terrifying shriek and began to fall towards the ground unconcious. The village dog became curious of this new development and drew closer to the bird, accidentally brushing against a lever and releasing several dozen logs which fell to the ground with a massive booming noise. Everyone turned towards the sound, distracted by the logs...

Shephard moved the rook across his portable chess table... and pulled out a small water bottle from his pocket (which was, incidentally, one of the greatest mystery in the world,) and drank from it.

Puzzle Master

Yin: 3 Yang 3

[Diamondeye]

OOC: Seon why is it that the world suddenly seems like something out of "The Incredible Machine"?

[Peasant Phill]

I'll extend the deadline until tomorrow noon as I can't wait any longer and there are still 2 players missing.

On the other hand I like to ask what you think of this game so far. Personally I feel that it finally got of the ground these last 2 rounds. If there are any remarks, suggestions, ... don't hesitate to post them.