Through the looking glass (wushu game)

The only things I've marked down as less-than-optimal is the time limit for the rounds (it was a little harsh but we made round 1; we'll need more rounds for this as there's a higher chi danger, but perhaps it's better to give the rounds slightly lower yang numbers), and that Beskar's last post (which was very creative) was somewhat blocking our narrative interaction with the natives since he seemed to claim them all. I just pretended some of them didn't notice him.

Other than that, this is working out very well.

OOC: I wasn't claiming all, I apologize if I gave that impression.

The Indians returned with pants. John laughed as he saw the first one, who also came with an extra pair on his head, with some of Liva's feathers stuck in it, "Watch out, it is Chief-Pantshead". The indian got annoyed and retorted "At least I am not small!", John witted back "At least if you were, your brain-to-brawn ratio might have gone above zero!". A couple of others came out, some even wearing their loinclothes over their pants. "Is it a bird? is it a super-hero? No, just a bunch of plonkers who put their undies on the outside", John pointed and laughed at them, as they started to get red in the face. Their retorts were simply reflected back at them by a magnitude of ten.

Snarky
Yin 2, Yang 4

I'm sorry, I'll have to delay my contribution until this evening. I just had a 45 min show down with the IT service where I work just to get on this website.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Diamondeye

The only things I've marked down as less-than-optimal is the time limit for the rounds (it was a little harsh but we made round 1; we'll need more rounds for this as there's a higher chi danger, but perhaps it's better to give the rounds slightly lower yang numbers), and that Beskar's last post (which was very creative) was somewhat blocking our narrative interaction with the natives since he seemed to claim them all. I just pretended some of them didn't notice him.

Other than that, this is working out very well.

---

What do you mean by time limit? Is it the 24 hours or was it the time limit in an earlier scene?
There is no time limit in this round.

Also if you find that posts by me or other players hamper you in any way, just say so and we can get to an agreement on how to avoid further annoyance.

I knew about the veto, but I felt Beskar's post wasn't quite enough to warrant it.
I meant the amount of rounds we needed to complete the first challenge in. Mostly because we weren't told from the start, so we were, perhaps, overly cautious.

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

The Chief goes into negatives which means that Chaotix can describe a Coup de Grace on him. Chaotix himself goes down to 0 chi and will be out of this scene if he loses one more chi. Beskar is down to 1 Chi and Diamondeye to 2. Seon still has 3 chi.
The mook threat is now at 20.

The tribe's attention was clearly split. Some hadn't had such a great time since that traveler had given them a 'creative with bark'-workshop. Why would they need to hunt or do mighty war deeds to earn feathers when they could just make them themselves. Oh, they would make then even there chief had.
Most others scattered in every direction to catch this big group who made all those noises. Killing a bird, alarming the dog and dropping tens of logs. This must be one heck of a group. Thes few strangers could wait for a little while.
A last group of Indians just wanted to crawl into the tiniest hole in the ground and cry for there mommy. It was one thing to be hit square into there 'cactus fruit', it was another to be humiliated on top of that.
"You are a strong and proud warrior, You are a strong and proud warrior, You are a strong and proud warrior, You are a strong and proud warrior". The mantra would eventually overcome there current humiliation.

Struggle though he did, Chief Toss-an-emu couldn't break free of Jackaloup's grip. The trickster walked over and picked up the stone that Shepherd had thrown with a devious smile, and as soon as he did the Chief was silent and pale-faced. Then his face quickly turned a more reddish hue as all the blood reached his face from being held upside-down for too long. Jackaloup looked at the pleading face of the Chief and then back at the stone, and decided he had won already.

"Well then, I think we have an agreement , don't we?"

With an underhand motion, Jack tossed the Chief face-first into the nearest tree. The Chief fell and then sat at the base of the tree, dizzied. Jackaloup walked up to him and took the Chief's feathered headdress, placing it on his own head and covering his horns, which seemed to have grown a tiny bit larger over the encounter.

"Jolly good doing business with you, sir. Now you just sit there and have a rest while I get your tribe into order."

What to call himself, Jackaloup thought... perhaps "Taller-than-Trees" would do.

----------------------------

Turning around, Jackaloup saw what appeared to be a scene of utter chaos. Most of the small Indians had scattered. They appeared to love Liva, hate John, and fear Shepherd. Jackaloup stepped up, looking rather more ridiculous than usual in his new feathered headdress, and tried to give his best authorititative voice.

"Oi! Listen up, you whelps! Get over here and stand at attention!"

Charm
3 Yin, 3 Yang

"Nonono, I don't think it's a good idea if you make headdresses as fine as your chieftain's. I mean, he'd probably be angry, and..." Liva pauses for a moment and looks up when Jackaloup enters, the headdress on his head. "Look, there he is. You better get over there and go back to your duties. I'll put these drawing inside one of your teepees so you can always continue once you have the spare time, okay?"
The question was merely rethorical, since she had pointed at Jackaloup and they had all looked over there and now couldn't really look away without failing their duty towards their chieftain. Liva picked up her drawings and featherwork and headed for the largest teepee, to examine what was inside more than to actually leave anything there...
Trait: Blunt Personality
3 Yin 3 Yang

Checkmate! Shepherd grinned at his opponent, only to find that he was gone. Blast that coward.

He looked up and surveyed the area around him. "Did a war happen here while I was using my secret technique or something?" He muttered to himself, shoving the chess board and all the pieces back into his pocket. Somebody stole the rock, blast it.

Shepherd than noticed Jackaloup, looking more ridiculous then he thought was humanly possible. He nodded to himself as he heard Jacklaloup's speech, and climbed onto a tree, looking fierce as possible (and also to disguise the fact that his legs were shaking). "You heard the man, MOVE!"

Trait: Atheletic

Yin: 3 Yang 3

[Grumbles at some how he only got 1 yin and 2 yang with a 5 skill]

The furious Indians (near John) began to focus their annoyance towards John, through the use of chant and dance. John began to mimic them in a display of mockery, with purposefully doing slightly incorrect actions which makes the act look silly. The indians up'd the Tempo and so did John, till the end of the dance when they focused the primal energy towards John. In the split-moment, John realizes what happens, then does an encore by doing the moonwalk, and throwing the Loincloth from earlier up into the air.

Indians grew so red with rage, they looked like dried tomatoes. John just couldn't stop laughing at their expressions and wrinkled looks. It looked as if the Indians were about to explode. "If the Chief is meant to be the strongest and bravest, how come a strange looking boy defeated him without even as much as a sweat bead?", the Indians turned around to see Jack wearing the chieftains headdress, and went wild with fury attacking eachother in their insanity.

John stood proud, then winked towards Jack.

Trait: Snarky
2 Yin; 4 Yang

The tribesmen watched Jackaloupe with their chiefs headdress. A sure sign that Chief Toss-an-emu, their symbol of pride competence, was defeated. The men were uncertain what to do. Would they bow to their 'new chief' or would they rebel against this usurper? This uncertainty dragged on for far to long.

The squaws eventually just rolled their eyes in unanimous disdain for their men, pick the first thing that looked like a weapon and hurled themselves at whoever of our heroes was the closest.

Chaotix: 6 dice, trait 4, 2 yin 2 yang
Diamondeye: 6 dice, trait 4, 2 yin 2 yang
Seon: 6 dice, trait 3, 2 yin 0 yang
Beskar: 6 dice, trait 5, 1 yin 2 yang (again)

OK, this means that only Beskat loses Chi. So Chaotix and Beskar have 0 chi and are just hanging on. Diamondeye has 2 and Seon still has 3 chi.
The mook threat is now down to 14.

It wouldn't be a bad thing to rationalise the low chi level (I'm looking at you Chaotix and Beskar).

OOC: My apologies for missing my own deadline AGAIN. To be completely honest my fiancée is somewhat unhappy with her job and certain other things in her life that have been simmering for quite a while. It isn't exactly a situation where I can just ignore her when I like and write a bit on the computer. It may interfere with the updates in the future but I promise it won't be more than missing the occasional update.

Liva was caught by surprise at the hostile reaction of the squaws, and fumbled around to find something - anything - to defend herself with. Her hands passed desperately over feathers and rugs until it found something lying about; a length of rope. She clutched it in her hands, twirling it between her fingers in complex furls. Whenever a squawk came too close, she lashed out with the rope, always with force and always without losing control of the rope or losing the grip. She hit one squawk across the hand so she dropped her makeshift weapon, and another straight on the nose, causing a cascade of blood to spring forth. Swinging the rope around her, she yells at the women surrounding her. "Get off my back, you fat :daisy:es! Just because John got more fun out of your men that you've ever had! Taste this!" With a rapid series of finger movements, she adds a large knot to one end of the rope and swings it, ramming the temple of one of the sqawks and sending her collapsing to the floor.
Trait: Nimble Fingers
Dice: 0 Yin 6 Yang

Okay guys, let's get these over with. And stop gaping, boys :tongue:

Jackaloup was horrified by the small, shrewish squaws' display of defiance- especially the part about the rock that hit him square in the forehead, knocking off his new headdress as well.

Normally, he refrained from fighting women, but Jackaloup decided at this point that the squaws were hardly civilized ladies. The trickster pulled out his Boomerang and threw it in their general direction, and it nailed three of them with punishing accuracy before return back to Jack's outstretched hand. The three squaws were knocked unconscious, but it seemed more and more were arriving to replace them.

Boomerang
2 Yin, 4 Yang

The thought process in Shepherd's mind at this point was rather simple. It merely consisted of two words.

Oh hell oh hell oh hell oh hell oh hell oh hell oh hell

or rather, two words in quick succession to each other. The squaws were climing the trees now, completely unafraid of Shepherd as if they could smell his cowardice...

Shepherd looked around in confusion. He needed a plan...fast...

And being crazy prepared paid off again. Plan AC-x-a-i. Defeat a large group of enemies trying to climb the tree that you are currently hiding in. Shepherd quickly began to jump on the tree branch, causing it to shake and annoying the squaws down the tree. When he heard the branch start to crack, he quickly climbed farther up the tree and allowed the branch to snap and drop, knocking off a squaw trying to climb the tree and also landing on several squaws still at the ground.

Puzzle Master

1 Yin, 5 Yang.

"This was certainly ungentlemanly." thought Kludde as he watched from above, "Perhaps I should join in."
"I better not, who knows I might get a knock my self." And the black bird dove into the water with tremendous speed.

The savages they called them but also the noble warriors. Squaw Cleans-panties-really-well chuckled cynically to herself when she thought about how their men were regarded.
As always if you want something done, women have to do it themselves. She stopped and ordered her fellow sisters to regroup. this would otherwise never work.
"Stand together," she yelled, "We'll surround each one at a time and let them have it before we move on to the next."

"Now follow my lead!"

Diamondeye: 6 dice, trait 4, 0 yin 6 yang
Chaotix: 6 dice, trait 3, 0 yin 2 yang
Seon: 6 dice, trait 5, 1 yin 5 yang
Beskar: MIA

First the good news, the mook threat is now down to 1.
The bad news, you all lose Chi. Beskar and Chaotix are out of this scene. You can describe how exactly you'll lose the ability to affect the scene.
I'm sorry Beskar but I think I've waited enough but don't worry it doesn't mean your character is dead.
Diamondeye is down to 0 and Seon has 2 chi.

It's your move gentlemen.

(oops, didn't see the update)

Shepherd looked around the tree that he took shelter in. Most of the mooks had fled or was unconcious. All except for one, that is.

Shepherd carefully lifted his foot and stepped on the fingers of the mook that was even now desperately trying to climb up. He screamed and plumetted to the ground.

Trait: Athletic

2 Yin 4 Yang

Exiting the frenzy that had overtaken her, Liva found herself in the middle of a large circle of more or less unconscious squaws, her hands sore from handling the rope which was now reduced to a beaten rag, and with several bruises, but alive. Her cheeks were sore from the tears that she had not even noticed, and she was hoarse from yelling at her opponents, but she had pulled through. She picked up her bag and made sure she had her stuff before slowly and surely staggering for safety, away from the unconscious squaws and towards the rest of the team. She was pale from exhaustion and collapsed near a tree to recover herself whilst the others handled the remaining threat.

Skill: No skill (2)
Dice: All Yin

I'll wait on Chaotix and Beskar before moving on.

Jack was too busy annoying the indians when Jackloup got hit by his own boomerang. One of the indians said "Timber!!!" and when John turned around to see what happened, Jack collided with him, knocking him unconscious.

Jackaloup held out his hand to catch the Boomerang, but at the last moment a screech from one of the squaws caused him to lose his concentration. Looking away for just a split second, he felt a crushing pain as the Boomerang collided with his face. Jackaloup fell to the ground like a toppled tree, knocked unconcscious by the blow.

Seon: 6 dice, trait 3, 2 yin 3 yang
Diamondeye: 6 dice, trait 2, 1 yin 0 yang

The mook threat is resolved. Seon gets to describe the ending of this scene as he's the only one with any Chi left.

Shepherd casually dropped from the tree, landing on one of the mooks that tried to catch him. He snatched away the monstrous looking slingshot he had. "Sir, that is a dangerous weapon!" Shepherd muttered. "As you can't be trusted to use it safely, I will be taking that."

Shepherd surveyed the landscape. Almost everybody was lying in heaps of agony. Shepherd took careful aim at the mook approaching Liva from behind as she was digging through the tents and fired, knocking him unconcious. The new Jack and John was now standing back up, dusting themselves off. "What do we do now?" John asked Shepherd. Shepherd shrugged and pointed at the yellow brick road cutting straight through the town. "Let's follow that, I mean, it has to lead... hey wait a second...it's that blasted light again!"

Everyone looked at where Shepherd was pointing to. It was true, there was that blinking bobbing sort of supernatural light on the yellow brick road.

And you're not going to ask for a cure against boils?

Nah, he seems fine. Unless, of course, this is a magical type that kills you in 7 hours 77 minutes and 77 seconds (wait a second...). Than I would ask for a cure.

Besides, everyone seem unconscious and it would be completely against Shepherd's character to wait for them to wake up...

((Liva is not unconscious, merely very exhausted. She'll follow if you run anywhere, but I won't guarantee she'll like it. I am waiting for the entry to scene III to post anything in character, I hope that's what we're meant to :tongue:))

https://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3937/lionkingz.png

Scene 3: The Royal court?

Our group, boils, horns, bruises and all, hurried along the yellow brick road.

"I feel Like were doing it wrong", Liva said, "Like we should be jolly skipping along"
"And something with a little dog in a basket" sheperd remarked.
"Well there are tons of animals that way"

Across a field something of a gathering was seen. The group hurried over.
A herald anounced "The Royal court of His Majesty, the great king Noble from the Puppet state of Nornori is pronounced open.

"That man has broken our laws" Noble, head of Nornori exclaimed calmly, "Take him away"
"But he's your herald" someone objected.
"All the more reason if he's that."

"This court has all the grandeur of a wet tissue" John remarked.

"Who are these people" Noble enquired, "let them speak."

OOC: for the moment it's riddle time.Some things are allowed in the land of Nornori and some things are not it's up to you to discover 'the trick'. Be careful, Noble's patience with foreigners only stretches so far.

The round has started BTW. You can ask questions like "Is [insert action or object] allowed in your land?" and I'll answer with yes or no. You can ask as much questions in 1 round as you like.
I won't put a fixed number on the total number of attempts you can try yet as I want to be a bit flexible and give you guys a chance if that would be necessary.

[[OOC: Sorry, I was on a trip this weekend without internet. Resuming troll-like activity level immidiately]]

Liva stumbled forward, more curious than actually scared at the strange scene.
"Uhm... Hi. I'm Liva. I don't... I haven't spoken to dogs before, so I don't really know what to say. I'm going to start out by saying that I think that people who have dogs as pets are cruel and that leashing puppies is cruel.
Do you know the wild dog, Scraggy, that always eats out of the school's junk when it thinks no-one is watching?"
She fumbled her nimble fingers in nerveousness, awaiting the response of the canines.

Young lady, not everyone here is a dog but beasts of all sorts. This is a fow, that mount of flesh is an ox and I'm a l...euhm...huge cat.
Pets are allowed in the puppet state of Nornori but puppies are not and a scraggy wouldn't fit either.