Sky skimmers? Those must be the thingamabobs we found up top in the aerie. Otto thinks back on his service for a moment to see if he can recall ever training with Baron forces... Hold on, did he say "Bloods"?
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited November 2019
Otto
What here is not what it appears to be?
Sigurd. The vodka you were served was real enough, but the man serving it doesn't have the same substance. As you look at him you begin to notice that he's not all there, as if his form was like a sheer curtain. You think you can just make out the shelves of liquor directly behind and through him.
You hear a dull crash from a room behind the bar, as if a few metal plates were knocked to the floor.
Wei
You walk a few blocks down and around a corner and are presented with a magnificent edifice displaying itself as the seat of governance here in town. Peering at the two-story building you think you see movement in an upper window. Two immobile Automatic Soldiers are posted at the front door, but they don't seem to pay you any attention as you cautiously move into the building. The front lobby holds a large desk but otherwise is devoid of life. It seems you have the run of the place.
If you wish to case the joint, roll:
+DEX to do so quietly and stealthily,
+INT to do so while observing the objects left behind, or
+WIS to do so while observing the general environment
On a 10+, choose 2; On a 7-9, choose 1:
*You get the drop on anyone still in the building.
*You find a piece of relevant information.
*You discover something secret about the building.
On a success, you will also gain a bonus related to the approach you chose.
Wei is not the one for stealth, and walks through the building, observing the general environment. The automatons were still working and functioning, but where were the people?
Wei finds a piece of relevant information and discovers something secret about the building.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited November 2019
Wei
You begin to walk the halls and offices of the deserted town hall, your senses broad and attuned to the generalities of the environment. This serves you well as you identify one particular room on the second floor, at a distance, that sets your hair on end. It is clear that some creature has taken up lair in this building, but with your keen awareness you stay clear of the thing that stalks these halls.
Your exploration eventually finds you in an efficient but well-appointed office. Pouring over a pile of leftover documents, you find a handbook describing the Baron's plans for an event called the Astral Shift. The book lays it out clearly, its prose obviously meant as a guide to the Baron's ruling subordinates on how to manage the population and infrastructure leading up to and on Shift Day.
On Shift Day, the Baron Von Ruckhauser intended to activate the entire array of Astrum Engines scattered across the barony of Gelt in an attempt to pierce through the Astral realm and deposit the entire isle beyond the Tempest Wall. It appears from your vantage point he succeeded, but with some unknown cost or complication at the time of the handbook's writing.
As you stuff the handbook in your satchel your eye catches on a wrought-iron lamp across the room that seems slightly ajar. You fiddle with it and a thin streak of blue light works down the wall from the sconce to a set of nearby floorboards; they lift and part, revealing a narrow spiral stair down into the lower level of the building. Descending the stairs you are met with quite the sight: a fully intact and somewhat-powered Astrum Engine!
Between the handbook and the documents left with the engine itself you believe you could activate the engine to enact any number of effects, from empowering and commanding the nearby Automatic Soldiers to enabling parts of the town to spring into life. All the way up to, and perhaps most dangerously, using the Astrum Engine as a transport conduit to any other Engine in its network.
The low hum of the blue-glowing engine itself leaves you to ponder these options.
Wei, take +1 forward on any interaction with this Astrum Engine, due to your time spent familiarizing yourself with the machine.
Wei considers. He would like to bring his companions here, but the creature is a danger. He shapeshifts into a tiny bird and intends on flying into the creature's lair, hoping to be so small as to be insignificant.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Wei
You expertly shift into the form of a bird, fast and small. Your streamlined form serves you well, letting you dart down the halls with ease. It rapidly dawns on you, however, that the only open window to the building is opposite the lair of the creature stalking this place.
You zip through the open hall door and are immediately met with a maddening mass of glistening silver strands. The material is stretched from floor to ceiling and walls, great webs of the stuff dotted and lined with all manner of bric-a-brac. Any object you can imagine might have existed in this building, is now hanging crazily in this room-sized web.
Your minuscule form affords you a bit of breathing room relative to the openings within the web, but traversing the room will prove treacherous nonetheless!
Roll Defy Danger (DEX) with a +1 forward for your animal form to dart through the room and escape the building!
"Well I guess it's up to me then." Otto makes his way all quiet like into the back room to see what the ruckus is about.
|_
Oo\ Ironsizide
0
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Otto
You quietly creep to the door, the entryway just ajar enough to see a modest pantry beyond. Sigurd seems to pay you no heed as you approach the threshold. Gently pushing the door open you see the room is in shambles. A humanoid form is crouched on all fours, and as the dim light from the main room illuminates the pantry the creature turns with a throaty hiss.
It's Sigurd. Or at least, something resembling a twisted version of the barkeep. Its naked body is rippling with lean sinuous muscle, and its maw is filled with saliva-dripping fangs, but the face is unmistakably Sigurd's.
Before the door has fully opened, the creature leaps at you, claws outstretched!
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Otto
In a blink, the creature is on you! The pair of you come tumbling out of the doorway, knocking over chairs and crashing into a table. It tries to leverage its claws into you, but you wrestle it by the forearms and keep it from immediately puncturing you.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Wei
You begin to dart through the webs, cutting through openings as you see them. One dive through a particularly narrow hole though goes somewhat mis-calculated, and you brush up against some of the bric-a-brac hanging from the web!
The litter falls to the ground with several clunks, being a pot, a ceramic mug, and the torn-off front of a drawer itself. *CLONK*
As the noise hits, the entire web hums in vibration, and in the far corner of the room eight pinpricks of light flicker to life. The creature has detected you!
You quickly regain your composure and dive for the open window. Out into the clear air, you breathe a sigh of relief. However, you can tell from your vantage point that the creature has been roused from some torpor, and is now actively stalking the building.
[OOC: Nips, would we rather say I'm nearby one of these actions, or send me on another thread? I'd be looking for active factories or markets if I struck out separately. Maybe I invited Toth?]
[OOC: Nips, would we rather say I'm nearby one of these actions, or send me on another thread? I'd be looking for active factories or markets if I struck out separately. Maybe I invited Toth?]
[I'm up for whatever you would like! There's still plenty to discover in this town before the group needs to necessarily move on. It's your time to shine...and get into trouble! Just give the word!]
Otto brings up a boot and shoves feral Sigurd away with a grunt. He uses the space to draw his blade and attack!
Geth, roll 2d6+2 for Flawless Bladework
Flawless Bladework:
2d6+24 [2d6=1, 1]
|_
Oo\ Ironsizide
0
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited November 2019
Otto
You try to kick feral Sigurd away, but it has its claws buried in your armored jacket! The beast bears you down to the ground through its sheer weight as it brings both knees into your abdomen, crashing you both through a table. Once down, it clamps its jaws around your right shoulder while it begins to rake through your armor with its bloody claws.
You are now pinned at Hand range until you make a move to clear space, or are assisted!
Geth, roll 1d8 for Rip & Tear (Damage, 1 Piercing)
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited November 2019
(Given that you were in a totally separate location, I'm going to rule that your haste to rush to Otto's aid makes moot any potential advantage your form might have granted. Had you not been a bird in the first place, you'd still be running down the street to the bar!)
As Beast Sigurd continues to rip and tear at Otto, a window crashes open into the bar! The winged form of Wei bashes through the thin pane of glass, and makes directly for the glowing eye sockets of the creature.
The creature's reflexes are better than you expect, however, as it easily slaps you out of the air with one clawed hand!
Geth, roll 1d8 for Clawed Slap (Damage, 1 Piercing)
Otto, the creature continues to have you pinned! And in a moment between its snarls, you think you hear another growl coming from somewhere behind that pantry door...
Hawthorne hears the commotion and comes running pell-mell around the corner. He stumbles to a halt and stares wide-eyed, blinks twice, and jumps in to thwack the... whom-or-whatever... is pawing at Otto.
Otto cries out in agony as the otherworldy being takes a chunk out of his shoulder. "And here I though we were friends!" To the new arrivals Otto shouts "There may be more company behind the bar!"
[Unclear on the Move I'd make to break free. Melee-type action sufficient?]
|_
Oo\ Ironsizide
0
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Hawthorne's strike causes the creature to flinch, clearly inflicting some amount of harm. Beast Sigurd's grip loosens slightly as its attention on Otto is broken momentarily!
Otto, roll Defy Danger (STR) to push free of Sigurd's dire doppelganger! Alternately, you may Hack&Slash at Hand range with whatever tools you have available, including your fists!
The snarling from the back room echoes and grows louder!
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited November 2019
(Otto: Ugly choice time!
Your shove will get you free of the ghoul but its claws will rake open your armored leathers in the process, ruining them until you can get them repaired or replaced.
OR
Your shove doesn't free you, but in wrestling with the ghoul an ally gains a +1 forward on their next strike on the monster.)
Wei, takes the hit and transforms back into a half-ling as he falls to his feet. His eyes are wild as he looks up, and he grits his teeth. With a great roar, he transforms into a great bear that dwells in the deep forest of his home isle.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited November 2019
Wei
You connect to the spirits of your deep forest home, and draw within you the aegis of the Great Sylvan Bear! Tell me how your form shifts from halfling to bear. Does your flesh strain and expand to match the new form? Is your body replaced in a flash of magical energy? Something else? However you choose, your new form has a faint blue glow to its fur; the astral energies infusing this place, and you for traveling through it, have tangled themselves to your shapeshifted form.
You gain the move Spectral Rend while in this form: Spectral Rend: Spend one hold from your Shapeshifter roll. On your next Hack & Slash roll, that attack bypasses all armor and may affect noncorporeal targets.
Wei's body grows, in height and weight, skin stretching to cover the new muscle mass, fur sprouting all over, skull shifting with the sound of popping bones, into a giant bear skull with a large snout.
Suddenly, a 7-foot tall bear, standing for a moment, drops to all fours with a thud, shaking the building. He gives a great roar, attempting to intimidate the creatures, who he sees as more animal than man at this point, into running away.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited November 2019
(Thinking it over, and reading through the moves a few times, here's where I think this lands. Bear (oops lol) with me!
I would call this a case of Defy Danger (+CHA). You're trying to persuade (verbally) with the threat of violence, and depending on your level of success could go either way; on a 10+, Defy Danger literally says a threat does not come to pass. The threat here is more monsters barreling out of that storeroom.
To me there's precedent in the rules for intimidation as Charisma check: see the Fighter's Interrogator move (literally turns Parley threats from +CHA to +STR) and the Barbarian's War Cry (rolls +CHA).
One final note: I'll allow you, in your Great Bear form in this situation, to take a +1 forward to such a roll by spending one hold.)
This just ain't gonna be my day. Otto starts to try and get away, but the creature has tooth and nail rooted in his leathers. Rather than sacrifice his armor, he chooses to relent his effort to escape and instead leverages for position to allow someone else a better window for attack.
Clank clank clank! The sound of heavy mechanised feet slamming down is worryingly sudden!
Another automatic soldier has appeared, but something about it is off... it has a religious amulet of Father Sun welded onto its chest for a start.
“I am Fernando of Gallilea! And in the radiant name of the Sun I demand you unhand that courageous cavalier, you disgusting fiend!”
The ironclad figure takes a wide fighting stance, pistons steaming. Then he spins on a mechanical axis at his waist and locking in place for a moment, wheels forward and launches a halberd into the ghoul attacking Otto as blue flame roars from his automatic elbow!
—
Geth roll 2d6+2 Rocket lance
I’ll be exposing myself for +1d6 damage.
Geth roll 1d10+1d6+1 Ghoulsplosion
[OOC: So... can I play for the next week or so? If I drop off at some point we can just say Fernando has run out of batteries.
Edit: Just to clarify, I used Otto’s +1 for that attack.]
Rocket lance:
2d6+210 [2d6=3, 5]
Ghoulsplosion:
1d10+1d6+19 [1d10=2] [1d6=6]
Endless_Serpents on
+4
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited November 2019
The strange Automatic Soldier crashes into the ghoul of Sigurd lance-point first! The momentum of its attack drives the beast off of Otto, pinning the lance through its torso to the far wall. The creature weakly claws at the new companion but quickly expires from its puncture wound.
Sigurd, behind the bar, seemingly continues to not notice the fracas.
The growling from the storeroom grows louder still! Wei, it's now or never!
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
The bear's great bellow echoes through the room, and you hear a panicked scrambling as whatever was coming in through the back room turns tail and retreats!
The room falls momentarily silent in the wake of the grand roar. Sigurd continues to polish a glass as if nothing is out of the ordinary.
“Saint Cerci’s beard! What a mighty creature! I’ve heard of battle hounds, but I’ve never seen a bear so trained!”
The Automatic Soldier calling himself ‘Fernando’ slaps his knee and lets out a heart laugh. Then he plucks the ghoul from his pole-arm and turns back to Otto, extending a hand.
“My humble apologies for being so tardy to the battle, it appears I had fallen asleep. I came to my senses as if inebriated not long ago now. It is taking time to get back to my old self...”
Fernando slams a fist to his chest, his circular glass eyes briefly glowing light blue.
“But soon I’ll be fully recovered, and I shall protect you and your allies as is my oath. I am a paladin.”
1. What here is not what it appears to be?
2. Who’s really in control here?
3. What here is useful or valuable to me?
Discern Realities-1:
2d65 [2d6=3, 2]
Endless_Serpents on
+1
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
Fernando
As you survey the room and your new companions you notice that several of the entities have a certain lack. It's as if they are dimly lit, a shadow of real flesh-and-blood people. The barkeep and the massive bear are very much real though, brimming with life energy.
With this ghoul dispatched, you are clearly in control of the situation. In fact, the beast was so easily dispatched that you're certain any further beasts of this type you encounter will be no bother at all! As if brushing away a buzzing gnat, as it were.
In this half-shattered tavern, you see nothing of obvious use to you.
Posts
Geth, roll 2d6+1 for Discern Realities
What here is not what it appears to be?
Oo\ Ironsizide
What here is not what it appears to be?
Sigurd. The vodka you were served was real enough, but the man serving it doesn't have the same substance. As you look at him you begin to notice that he's not all there, as if his form was like a sheer curtain. You think you can just make out the shelves of liquor directly behind and through him.
You hear a dull crash from a room behind the bar, as if a few metal plates were knocked to the floor.
Wei
You walk a few blocks down and around a corner and are presented with a magnificent edifice displaying itself as the seat of governance here in town. Peering at the two-story building you think you see movement in an upper window. Two immobile Automatic Soldiers are posted at the front door, but they don't seem to pay you any attention as you cautiously move into the building. The front lobby holds a large desk but otherwise is devoid of life. It seems you have the run of the place.
If you wish to case the joint, roll:
+DEX to do so quietly and stealthily,
+INT to do so while observing the objects left behind, or
+WIS to do so while observing the general environment
On a 10+, choose 2; On a 7-9, choose 1:
*You get the drop on anyone still in the building.
*You find a piece of relevant information.
*You discover something secret about the building.
On a success, you will also gain a bonus related to the approach you chose.
Wei finds a piece of relevant information and discovers something secret about the building.
geth roll 2d6+2 case the joint(wis)
You begin to walk the halls and offices of the deserted town hall, your senses broad and attuned to the generalities of the environment. This serves you well as you identify one particular room on the second floor, at a distance, that sets your hair on end. It is clear that some creature has taken up lair in this building, but with your keen awareness you stay clear of the thing that stalks these halls.
Your exploration eventually finds you in an efficient but well-appointed office. Pouring over a pile of leftover documents, you find a handbook describing the Baron's plans for an event called the Astral Shift. The book lays it out clearly, its prose obviously meant as a guide to the Baron's ruling subordinates on how to manage the population and infrastructure leading up to and on Shift Day.
On Shift Day, the Baron Von Ruckhauser intended to activate the entire array of Astrum Engines scattered across the barony of Gelt in an attempt to pierce through the Astral realm and deposit the entire isle beyond the Tempest Wall. It appears from your vantage point he succeeded, but with some unknown cost or complication at the time of the handbook's writing.
As you stuff the handbook in your satchel your eye catches on a wrought-iron lamp across the room that seems slightly ajar. You fiddle with it and a thin streak of blue light works down the wall from the sconce to a set of nearby floorboards; they lift and part, revealing a narrow spiral stair down into the lower level of the building. Descending the stairs you are met with quite the sight: a fully intact and somewhat-powered Astrum Engine!
Between the handbook and the documents left with the engine itself you believe you could activate the engine to enact any number of effects, from empowering and commanding the nearby Automatic Soldiers to enabling parts of the town to spring into life. All the way up to, and perhaps most dangerously, using the Astrum Engine as a transport conduit to any other Engine in its network.
The low hum of the blue-glowing engine itself leaves you to ponder these options.
Wei, take +1 forward on any interaction with this Astrum Engine, due to your time spent familiarizing yourself with the machine.
Oo\ Ironsizide
geth roll 2d6+2 shapeshift tiny bird
You expertly shift into the form of a bird, fast and small. Your streamlined form serves you well, letting you dart down the halls with ease. It rapidly dawns on you, however, that the only open window to the building is opposite the lair of the creature stalking this place.
You zip through the open hall door and are immediately met with a maddening mass of glistening silver strands. The material is stretched from floor to ceiling and walls, great webs of the stuff dotted and lined with all manner of bric-a-brac. Any object you can imagine might have existed in this building, is now hanging crazily in this room-sized web.
Your minuscule form affords you a bit of breathing room relative to the openings within the web, but traversing the room will prove treacherous nonetheless!
Roll Defy Danger (DEX) with a +1 forward for your animal form to dart through the room and escape the building!
Oo\ Ironsizide
You quietly creep to the door, the entryway just ajar enough to see a modest pantry beyond. Sigurd seems to pay you no heed as you approach the threshold. Gently pushing the door open you see the room is in shambles. A humanoid form is crouched on all fours, and as the dim light from the main room illuminates the pantry the creature turns with a throaty hiss.
It's Sigurd. Or at least, something resembling a twisted version of the barkeep. Its naked body is rippling with lean sinuous muscle, and its maw is filled with saliva-dripping fangs, but the face is unmistakably Sigurd's.
Before the door has fully opened, the creature leaps at you, claws outstretched!
Roll Defy Danger!
Oo\ Ironsizide
In a blink, the creature is on you! The pair of you come tumbling out of the doorway, knocking over chairs and crashing into a table. It tries to leverage its claws into you, but you wrestle it by the forearms and keep it from immediately puncturing you.
What do you do?
You begin to dart through the webs, cutting through openings as you see them. One dive through a particularly narrow hole though goes somewhat mis-calculated, and you brush up against some of the bric-a-brac hanging from the web!
The litter falls to the ground with several clunks, being a pot, a ceramic mug, and the torn-off front of a drawer itself. *CLONK*
As the noise hits, the entire web hums in vibration, and in the far corner of the room eight pinpricks of light flicker to life. The creature has detected you!
You quickly regain your composure and dive for the open window. Out into the clear air, you breathe a sigh of relief. However, you can tell from your vantage point that the creature has been roused from some torpor, and is now actively stalking the building.
[I'm up for whatever you would like! There's still plenty to discover in this town before the group needs to necessarily move on. It's your time to shine...and get into trouble! Just give the word!]
Geth, roll 2d6+2 for Flawless Bladework
Oo\ Ironsizide
You try to kick feral Sigurd away, but it has its claws buried in your armored jacket! The beast bears you down to the ground through its sheer weight as it brings both knees into your abdomen, crashing you both through a table. Once down, it clamps its jaws around your right shoulder while it begins to rake through your armor with its bloody claws.
You are now pinned at Hand range until you make a move to clear space, or are assisted!
Geth, roll 1d8 for Rip & Tear (Damage, 1 Piercing)
geth roll 2d6+1 hack and slash?
As Beast Sigurd continues to rip and tear at Otto, a window crashes open into the bar! The winged form of Wei bashes through the thin pane of glass, and makes directly for the glowing eye sockets of the creature.
The creature's reflexes are better than you expect, however, as it easily slaps you out of the air with one clawed hand!
Geth, roll 1d8 for Clawed Slap (Damage, 1 Piercing)
Otto, the creature continues to have you pinned! And in a moment between its snarls, you think you hear another growl coming from somewhere behind that pantry door...
@Mahnmut @Elvenshae
Your companions have attracted untoward attention! Do you intervene on their behalf?
Geth, roll 2d6 +1 Hack and Slash
[Unclear on the Move I'd make to break free. Melee-type action sufficient?]
Oo\ Ironsizide
Otto, roll Defy Danger (STR) to push free of Sigurd's dire doppelganger! Alternately, you may Hack&Slash at Hand range with whatever tools you have available, including your fists!
The snarling from the back room echoes and grows louder!
Oo\ Ironsizide
Your shove will get you free of the ghoul but its claws will rake open your armored leathers in the process, ruining them until you can get them repaired or replaced.
OR
Your shove doesn't free you, but in wrestling with the ghoul an ally gains a +1 forward on their next strike on the monster.)
geth roll 2d6+2 shapeshift great bear.
You connect to the spirits of your deep forest home, and draw within you the aegis of the Great Sylvan Bear!
Tell me how your form shifts from halfling to bear. Does your flesh strain and expand to match the new form? Is your body replaced in a flash of magical energy? Something else? However you choose, your new form has a faint blue glow to its fur; the astral energies infusing this place, and you for traveling through it, have tangled themselves to your shapeshifted form.
You gain the move Spectral Rend while in this form:
Spectral Rend: Spend one hold from your Shapeshifter roll. On your next Hack & Slash roll, that attack bypasses all armor and may affect noncorporeal targets.
Suddenly, a 7-foot tall bear, standing for a moment, drops to all fours with a thud, shaking the building. He gives a great roar, attempting to intimidate the creatures, who he sees as more animal than man at this point, into running away.
(I don't know what move this would be)
I would call this a case of Defy Danger (+CHA). You're trying to persuade (verbally) with the threat of violence, and depending on your level of success could go either way; on a 10+, Defy Danger literally says a threat does not come to pass. The threat here is more monsters barreling out of that storeroom.
To me there's precedent in the rules for intimidation as Charisma check: see the Fighter's Interrogator move (literally turns Parley threats from +CHA to +STR) and the Barbarian's War Cry (rolls +CHA).
One final note: I'll allow you, in your Great Bear form in this situation, to take a +1 forward to such a roll by spending one hold.)
This just ain't gonna be my day. Otto starts to try and get away, but the creature has tooth and nail rooted in his leathers. Rather than sacrifice his armor, he chooses to relent his effort to escape and instead leverages for position to allow someone else a better window for attack.
[I choose the +1 for some else to attack]
Oo\ Ironsizide
Another automatic soldier has appeared, but something about it is off... it has a religious amulet of Father Sun welded onto its chest for a start.
“I am Fernando of Gallilea! And in the radiant name of the Sun I demand you unhand that courageous cavalier, you disgusting fiend!”
The ironclad figure takes a wide fighting stance, pistons steaming. Then he spins on a mechanical axis at his waist and locking in place for a moment, wheels forward and launches a halberd into the ghoul attacking Otto as blue flame roars from his automatic elbow!
—
Geth roll 2d6+2 Rocket lance
I’ll be exposing myself for +1d6 damage.
Geth roll 1d10+1d6+1 Ghoulsplosion
[OOC: So... can I play for the next week or so? If I drop off at some point we can just say Fernando has run out of batteries.
Fernando of Gallilea
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_tlxs609wQ9GejKkRu5KmkGUqZWQwDIKTEl8M8P9fOk
Edit: Just to clarify, I used Otto’s +1 for that attack.]
Sigurd, behind the bar, seemingly continues to not notice the fracas.
The growling from the storeroom grows louder still! Wei, it's now or never!
(Using Hold for +1)
geth roll 2d6 Defy Danger CHA
The room falls momentarily silent in the wake of the grand roar. Sigurd continues to polish a glass as if nothing is out of the ordinary.
The Automatic Soldier calling himself ‘Fernando’ slaps his knee and lets out a heart laugh. Then he plucks the ghoul from his pole-arm and turns back to Otto, extending a hand.
“My humble apologies for being so tardy to the battle, it appears I had fallen asleep. I came to my senses as if inebriated not long ago now. It is taking time to get back to my old self...”
Fernando slams a fist to his chest, his circular glass eyes briefly glowing light blue.
“But soon I’ll be fully recovered, and I shall protect you and your allies as is my oath. I am a paladin.”
Evidently, to him at least, that’s a big deal.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p4zluA60hjs
He’s trying really hard everyone.
Geth roll 2d6-1 Discern Realities
1. What here is not what it appears to be?
2. Who’s really in control here?
3. What here is useful or valuable to me?
As you survey the room and your new companions you notice that several of the entities have a certain lack. It's as if they are dimly lit, a shadow of real flesh-and-blood people. The barkeep and the massive bear are very much real though, brimming with life energy.
With this ghoul dispatched, you are clearly in control of the situation. In fact, the beast was so easily dispatched that you're certain any further beasts of this type you encounter will be no bother at all! As if brushing away a buzzing gnat, as it were.
In this half-shattered tavern, you see nothing of obvious use to you.