Pokemon Tabletop United

Theo twitches in irritation at Nando trying to hurry them along, but doesn't say anything. They put their phone away, thank the Rider, nod deferentially to the Dodrio, and goes back to where the group were gathered and where Theo had deposited their backpack (with Kaddy still on top).

"Do you even know what kind of identity thief we're looking for?" Theo can't resist yelling at Nando's back, while struggling to get their pack back on without bothering the Venipede.

Despite keeping their eyes peeled for furry outlaws, the party encounters very little as they set off along the long path. It's hot, but less than you'd expect, and more humid than you'd expect a desert to be also. The edges of the road are occasionally lined with thin bands of green (though they quickly give way again to sand), either there's a big water pipe fitted directly under their feet or something weirder is afoot.

Regardless of all the warnings and tension, the walk is distinctly uninteresting. Perhaps the Pilgrimage should have started with a bus trip to somewhere more exciting, unless this bland trek out of the city was meant to be symbolic of something. The relevant paragraph of Caroline's book was illegible due to punch stains, and unable to provide any insight.



It was about halfway to the forest before anyone saw anything else that moved.
A small scuffle was unfolding across the middle of the path, between a group of scaly yellow moles and what seemed to be the younger siblings of the guard's mounts back at the city. A third, pinkish purple pokemon with big ears and a little horn seemed to be the object of their disagreement, and somewhat the worse for wear.

The creatures look nervous as the humans approach, but seem reluctant to abandon their fight. You could possibly go around them while they are busy with each other, or you could intercede if you want to stop nature from taking its course.

The sides of the path are dotted with little burrows, and further out into the sands are a strange pattern of circular indentations.

Turn Order:

*some wild pokemon which have already moved*
Nando
Theo
Caroline
Ylva
Ivy
Lucian
*some wild pokemon which have not already moved*

You possibly also want to send out your pokemon. Just tell me what square they should be on, don't worry about turn order for that one.

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SpoilerI'm mentally re-weighing the benefits of doing things on roll20 vs just posting in the thread, but for now the link is here.

https://app.roll20.net/join/273855/5UKhFw

R20 makes it more convenient to set things up in advance and has a useful grid system, and macros that can roll dice for you, but rolling dice faster doesn't save all that much time in a pbp game anyway. It's a tool designed for real time, but it does have a chatlog so it's not like you can't just drop in and do something and then drop out.
Posting in the forum keeps everything in one place and means you can be a bit more verbose but you might not actually be planning on writing a lot anyway.

We could also just do both, I mean combat takes place in turns anyway. Post what you want to do and I'll run it through roll20 and summarise it here, makes planning and queueing up actions whilst waiting for someone else to actually take their turn (or for me to do my bit) easier.

Tell me what you think.

Theo at least tries to figure out some of the context behind the disagreement, then is probably rudely interrupted by Nando screaming or something.

Ylva wants to skip this whole mess and get back to the job(s) at hand, but is probably also rudely interrupted by Nando screaming or something.

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SpoilerPokemon Education: 2d6 +3 vs 7: 12

You reckon the two groups of pokemon might well be bickering over possession of the loner (presumably, as food), although they must have been at it a long time because the object of their disagreement is starting to limp away.
Its wounds don't particularly look like ones either of those species would inflict, they're acting as opportunists. How it actually got here is a mystery.

Nando, sensing trouble brewing, decides to take action.
He hurls a fistful of glitter and a pokeball into the fray as he runs in, then literally screeches "No bullying!" at the top of his voice.
The freshly arrived Mike decides to imitate him, shattering the defences and catching the attention of almost all of the battling pokemon.

The poor Nidoran also gets glitter in its eyes.

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SpoilerAs I said on Skype, you're all essentially in a big block of "trainers turns" so please don't be afraid to state your actions in advance unless you really think someone else is going to interfere, it'll save a lot of time.
Pokemon mess that up a bit but most of them are of conveniently similar speed to the humans too, so not too much.
You can even roll hit dice if you'd rather do that yourself than wait for me to do it for you, they're all d20s just make sure you wrote in the chatbox what they're meant to be for and what they are aimed at.

Theo scowls a bit; they're obviously not happy with Pokemon suffering, but this was pretty clearly rules of nature out in force. Then again, if any of the trainers here wanted to catch these critters, Theo couldn't exactly stop them either.

Either way, Nando sending glitter and screaming birds into the fray was probably just going to aggravate them. Theo plucks Kaddy off the backpack, and sits her down by their feet, purely as a deterrent.

Theo then tries to determine if, perhaps, the purple Pokemon could be a stray.

Ivy lets out a distressed squeak when the group comes in close enough to see just what the commotion is, inadvertently rousing the cottonee that had spent the entirety of the trip thus far dozing on her head.

Soft-hearted at the best of times, she certainly doesn't seem like she's about to stand by and watch the impending food fight. She waffles over just how to handle things for a moment, but after the cacophony Nando and Mike produce she settles quickly on trying to calm things down a bit.

Ivy points forward, issuing a mental command to Gingham who floats lazily towards the pokemon blocking the road, releasing a puff of pale green pollen that the breeze carries straight to one of the sandshrews that still looks clear-headed.

Meanwhile, Ivy herself raises her hands, palms forward, and braces herself for the inevitable fear and panic before attempting to channel the Spiky Purple Thing's aura. She begins pushing calm and comforting thoughts towards it as soon as she feels the link.

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SpoilerGingham's using Stun Spore, rolled a 16 for the accuracy check over on roll20

Ivy's sheet is up to date now I think. I had to change her Basic Skills edge to Occult Education so she would meet the prereqs for the Researcher class and switched her talent to Top Tier Berries
Gingham swapped Absorb for Fairy Wind and has a shiny new secondary type, but all her stats and junk remain the same

The Nidoran doesn't look like a stray but it's hard to tell, what with the convenience of pokeballs people are notoriously lax about tagging or collaring their pets, and it's been out in the wild for too long for it to be clear whether it used to look pampered or not.

The Sandshrew shudders as it is coated in lightly stinging spores, and is paralysed.

Channeler:

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SpoilerNidoran is scared and intends to play dead. Its vision is obscured by sparkly powder and it was startled by a loud noise, so now doesn't particularly know what is going on, but it doesn't want to shake the stuff out of its eyes because there is a bird sitting on its head. Last time it was attacked by a bird it played dead and the bird elected to eat it later rather than straight away, meaning it could make its escape, although first it was flown a significant distance from home.
It seems somewhat reassured by Ivy's mental comfort but not particularly inclined to do anything except cower and hope everything leaves it alone.

This Nidoran is a Quiet Male Nidoran (perhaps obviously), and knows Leer, Peck, Focus Energy, and Double Kick. Not that it's likely to do any of that any time soon. If something takes a swing at it then it will just hope that its Poison Point and relative non-threatening-ness will see them off.

Caroline steps forwards and hurls Charlie into the fray as well, who starts off by kicking some of the plentiful sand into a nearby Sandshrew's face.
Whatever natural defences Sandshrew have against getting sand in their eyes when digging through sand, their natural habitat and something they are literally named for, don't seem to function the same way when under a surprise attack. It rubs pitifully at its eyes, temporarily unable to see clearly.

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SpoilerCharlie rolled a 3, but hit anyway. This particular Sandshrew appears to be fairly bad at getting out of the way.

Ylva, less than pleased about being dragged into a fight but surmising that there's no way to avoid it now, drops Svava at her feet and uses her martial training to pull off a perfectly executed flying kick!

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SpoilerYlva's Struggle Atttack:
1d20 to hit: 20
Critical hit damage: [2d6+8] +6 = 22!
Final damage taken by Sandshrew: ...underwhelming.

Despite her perfect form, the attack basically just bounces off the Sandshrew's protective scales, even though it had been screeched at. It looks at her slightly nonplussed.
...then reels as psychic energy flares behind its eyes.

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SpoilerSvava's Confusion:
1d20 to hit: 7
Damage: [2d6+10] +11 = 31
Final damage taken by Sandshrew: About what you'd have expected from the critical hit.

After Ylva and Svava's combined attack, it looks just about ready to drop.
The knowledge that some of these pokemon are significantly more vulnerable to some kinds of attack than others might also come in handy.

Lucian would be having none of this nonsense, but:

A) the actual desert in this area is worryingly populated you'd think these animals would avoid the road for ancestral fear of being annihilated by passing trainers but no they've gone and built a damned suburb and who knows what fresh hell might emerge should he dare venture too close to those unassuming tunnels let alone whatever those circle formations are, and

B) That Moron went and did the exact thing he expected but didn't want, and now everyone looks too committed for anything but an end to the fight to actually move on with the whole pilgrimage thing.

he grumbles, aloud, to himself,

Zeus (lounging in the thermals above Boxbot) rolls to relative attention at his owner's bark. "You know the drill. Stay safe, stay at range, end things quickly, and this time, stay in contact." Lucian taps his temple. "My throat can only stand so much, and..."

He trails off as he steps between Theo and Caroline, for once keeping his thoughts in. Which is just as well; Zeus is already There And Not Here, thinking his hardest at the near-dead shrew. Whatever it is-- but he has a spotter's guide to everything that might kill you, right. He scans a bird, instead; they've already seen some of what the stony things are capable of, and foreknowledge is the more useful knowledge.

The pokedex beeps and then disgorges (along with a superfluous 3D rendering of the pokemon everyone can already see with their own eyes) the following information:

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SpoilerDoduo are on average about 4'7" and weigh 86lbs, and this particular one is a fairly average specimen.
They are flightless birds known for their speed and characteristic two heads, who tend to prefer the relatively flat terrain found in plains and deserts.
In childhood, their heads tend to think along the same lines, but as each matures the two tend to bicker more often, a property that becomes most evident after evolution.
Even though they cannot fly, their great land speed makes them fairly efficient at catching smaller pokemon for food.
They often know growl, peck, quick attack, and rage, and are sometimes known to use pursuit, fury attack, and uproar.

Zeus focuses hard on the battered Sandshrew, and it keels over into the dust.

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SpoilerZeus's struggle attack:
1d20 to hit: 5
Damage [1d8 + 6] +17 = 28

You can see it still faintly breathing, but it shouldn't be bothering anyone for a while.


I wrote a lot of unnecessary text for the next bit so if you just want the details, there's a summary at the bottom.


Enemy Initiative:
Sandshrew > Another Sandshrew > Nidoran

The first Sandshrew to react is completely disoriented, what with having been loudly screeched and then getting sand kicked into its face. Unable to see and with some difficulty hearing, it forgoes attacking and instead curls itself into a tight ball.

The second one has been rendered sluggish by spores, but manages to bring itself to act anyway.

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SpoilerSave roll 1d20: 11 (must beat 5 to act)

Finding it difficult to move in its condition, it can't make it to its actual aggressor, so elects to turn on the first thing it finds on the way instead; Nando Nandando, swiping at him with a Scratch attack as it stumbles past.

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SpoilerSandshrew's Scratch:
1d20 to hit: 4, AC2 + Nando's 2 evasion
Damage: DB4 + ??? (I'm not telling you their stats!) - 6 (Nando's Defence) 11

Its claws just barely connect, but it still manages to inflict 11 damage!

Nidoran is too worried and disoriented to do anything, and merely crouches where it is, hoping everyone will go away.

-- End of Round 1 --
-- Start of Round 2 --

We're back to proper initiative now, rather than "pokemon move immediately after being sent out because they are faster than their trainers, or might as well go anyway because they'd be just after their trainer"

Initiative:
Doduo > Mike > Charlie > Zeus

One Doduo seems to be slightly quicker off the mark than its two peers. Having observed Mike screech at the rest of its gang but remaining unaffected itself, it hops forwards and tries to deliver the Chatot a sharp Peck with one of its beaks.

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Spoiler1d20 to hit: 13
Damage: DB6 + ??? - 6 = 19

It scores a respectable 19 damage.

Inspired by its peer, the Doduo next to it activates Quick Attack in order to move before Mike!
Wary of being screamed at again, this one moves in to attack Charlie instead.

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Spoiler1d20 to hit: 18
Damage: DB4 + ??? - 10 = 13

Charlie is kicked at for 13 damage!

The third Doduo doesn't seem quite so hasty, so now it's actually Mike's turn for real.

Summary:

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SpoilerZeus fainted a Sandshrew.
One of the remaining Sandshrew used Defence Curl.
Another Sandshrew used Scratch on Nando for 11 damage.
One Doduo used Peck on Mike for 19 damage.
Another Doduo used Quick Attack to act early, and hit Charlie for 13 damage.

Little broken shields indicate pokemon which were affected by screech. Little lightning bolts show pokemon who are paralysed. You can probably guess which Sandshrew is curled up (it's the one with the icon)

It's now Mike's turn, followed by Charlie, followed by Zeus, followed by some further hostile pokemon.
Unless you think your action is going to be significantly effected by someone else's feel free to take your three pokemon's turns in whatever order, as you can legally delay your go until after someone else anyway. The only case I can think of where ordering would be important would be if Charlie uses Leer and then someone uses a physical attack, although that is plausible.

Mike aims a mighty peck at the one who dared to lay beak upon him.

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Spoiler1d20 to hit: 1

He missed.

Mike flaps about 3 metres up into the air out of the way of any more wayward attacks. At least Doduo can't do that.

Unperturbed by the close quarters, Charlie waddles fearlessly up to the Sandshrew which now more closely resembles a weirdly textured football, and pecks at it.

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SpoilerCharlie's Peck:
1d20 to hit: 13
Damage: [2d6+8] + 13 = 32

but... that's without applying defensive stats

Charlie strikes an impressive blow... but the Sandshrew's packed scales absorb almost all of the force. It wobbles slightly in place but doesn't seem particularly harmed.

Zeus repeats his earlier feat upon the encroaching, paralysed Sandshrew. I guess that one's not likely to get out of the way.

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SpoilerZeus's struggle attack:
1d20 to hit: 6
Damage: [1d8 + 6] +17 = 27

His aim is just a little more confident this time, and he achieves similarly impressive results (though nobody falls down).


Things seem to be going a bit better for everyone who isn't surrounded on all sides by angry birds and shrews, surprising I know.

Enemy Initiative:
One Doduo > Three Sandshrews

The last, somewhat more cautious, Doduo takes a long step forward and growls threateningly. Several pokemon including Charlie, are slightly intimidated. Mike's too high in the air to care.

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Spoiler1d20 to hit Charlie: 12

The Sandshrew above Nando, worried about what just happened to its friend, also curls into a ball and then rolls itself to rest between Zeus and Gingham.

Another makes its way over to join them, but stops to flick sand at Charlie's face on its way.

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Spoiler1d20 to hit Charlie: 16

It gets all in his eyes and is kind of unpleasant. He can't even rub them to get the sand out because he's holding an onion and that will just make things worse.

The Sandshrew which just got growled at does not take this very well, and turns back onto the Doduo instead. Its Scratch attack passes through two of them, dealing a large amount of damage to the first and just a little to the second.

Summary:

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SpoilerZeus did ~27 damage to the paralysed Sandshrew (though not knowing its stats, we don't know for sure).
Doduo's growls lowers the Attack of Charlie and two Sandshrews by one Combat Stage. It misses the Nidoran.
Another Sandshrew uses Defence Curl.
Charlie gets sand in his eyes from a Sand Attack. He's temporarily blinded.
The last Sandshrew attacks two of the Doduo for unknown amounts of damage, though one is clearly hurt more than the other.

Little shouting man icons are for growl. I am swiftly running out of comprehensible visual indicators and am going to have to find some other way of recording status.

Initiative:
Caroline > Ylva > Nando > Theo > Ivy > Lucian > Kaddy > Gingham > Svava

We're back to the big block of players again!
We've got a lot done already today o:
Once more trainers just go ahead and move in whatever order inside this big block of initiative, and as the remaining 3 pokemon would be directly after them, feel free to slot them in wherever too.

Caroline sees a Sandshrew covered in pollen limping towards her and knows what she must do. Balancing a pokeball carefully in her hand, she takes aim...

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SpoilerRoll 1d20 to hit: 20!

The perfect pitch.

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SpoilerCapture roll: 1d100 - 10 - 1 = [6] - 11 = -5
Capture rate: 100 - 20 + 15 = 95

-5 < 95, Success!

Caroline successfully captures Sandshrew!
According to the pokedex, it is a Decisive Male Sandshrew, and knows Pickup.

She wisely decides to name it Armaldo, because it resembles an Armadillo.

Ylva's attack proves ineffective, though she can't help feeling guilty over her adrenaline-fueled charge. The Sandshrews hadn't started this fight, and slamming her boots into well-not-exactly-defenseless-but-still Pokemon doesn't seem particularly dignified.

As the shrews are getting dangerously close to Svava (and the probably-even-more-fragile Lucian) Ylva decides to fall back and close the gap between Caroline and Zeus.

Boosting Svava's focus turns out to be as effective as kicking as an attempted confusion fails (miserably), but as far as Ylva can tell the battle still seems to be swinging in their favor. [/i]

If the price of victory is Nando suffering a few more scratches for initiating this debacle in the first place, so be it.

Hit with sudden inspiration, Nando charges across the battlefield and physically grabs a rolled up Sandshrew in both hands.

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Spoiler1d20 to hit: 20!

The creature struggles, but it is no match for the power of rock.

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SpoilerNando's Combat Skill [2d6 +1] vs Sandshrew's Combat Skill [2d6] to maintain grab
[11]+1 = 12 > 9

Finally, with a mighty heave, Nando hurls the struggling ball into the nearest Doduo, sending both pokemon tumbling to the ground.

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Spoiler1d20 to hit Doduo: 6
Damage to Sandshrew: 1d8 + 6 = 11
Damage to Doduo: 1d8 + 6 = 9

The damage is minimal, but both pokemon are clearly deeply confused and upset, not to mention lying helplessly on the ground.
They will surely think again before incurring the wrath of a musician.

Ivy fumbles for her newly acquired pokedex and scans the scaly yellow thing after seeing Lucian do the same to the bird.

It occurs to her, just a bit too late, that it probably would have been wise to do the same thing to the various pokemon trotting around out in the city. Whoops!

The pokedex beeps and disgorges some more potentially useful information about the Sandshrew nearest Ivy.

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SpoilerSandshrew are on average about 2'0" tall and weigh 26lbs. This specimen is a little leaner than usual, but not particularly out of the ordinary.
Sandshrew live in communal burrows, typically in arid regions as they despise wetness and low temperatures. They emerge to hunt when the sun is high, and retreat underground as the temperature drops.
Their burrows are often full of small inedible objects they have gathered for unknown reasons.
Their hard scales repel the physical attacks of other desert animals, and when threatened they curl into a tight ball for extra protection. If an enemy bypasses their defences, they will burrow away to escape.

They are often known to use Scratch, Defence Curl, Sand Attack, Rollout, and Rapid Spin. Stronger individuals use Fury Swipes and Magnitude.
Some have been known to attack from range with Swift and Poison Sting, but they usually prefer to fight in close quarters.

Theo's familiar with all of these pokemon, not that anyone's bothered to ask them. They hear the beep of other people's dexes going off, and after a moment's choked outrage in Nando's direction they figure they could be useful in at least one fashion.

They whip out their phone, load up the Pokedex app on it, then snap a picture of whichever wild Pokemon looks the most badly hurt, to gauge its injuries.

Sure, Theo's got no real leg to stand on if Trainers insist on giving their Pokemon battle experience by beating up creatures with no access to healthcare, being collectively culpable in scores of wild animals dying from their injuries across the continent - instead of, you know, training against other trainers in places designed to train Pokemon. Like a gym.

Theo continues to scowl back where nobody can notice, considering that's easier than trying to debate a societal dogma.

Lucian staggers away from the encroaching shrew and adds it to his growing list of who the hell built these things to not already have all these entries accessible from the start? Some academia-elitist bullshit, for sure; it almost makes a kind of sense not to overload a first-time user with information they'll never need but there are far better ways to do that than this. And speaking of Better Ways...

"NANDO!" For someone who sounds to have a perpetual throat infection, he sure can bellow. "Get back here before you get yourself killed! If this isn't a rescue operation, I'd rather it not become one!"

Gingham floats forward and drops down near a pair of sandshrews, then fwips out her leafy little wings. She absorbs a bit of sunlight and suddenly expands her fluff with a faint poof. (Gingham used Growth! Combat stages get!)

Additionally, if pokemon are capable of understanding one another, she will suggest to these sandshrews that they and their friends just head back home. Surely that scrawny purple thing isn't worth all this trouble. If they hang around much longer the Loud Fellow might dropkick one of them.

The most wounded non-fainted pokemon is a Doduo, which is limping slightly. The fainted Sandshrew has what you could identify as two significant Injuries, but could have come out of things worse off. Pokemon are hardy creatures and, if left alone now, it should be able to sleep off its injuries. Especially if there are more sandshrew nearby ready to pull it into one of those burrows.
Would still probably have appreciated being left to its own devices, though.

The Sandshrew understand, but look sceptical. Gingham doesn't seem to have changed their minds any.

The one further off, which Nando hurled, groggily picks itself up off the floor. With little ability to do anything else, it angrily whips some sand up into Nando's face.

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SpoilerSand attack: 1d20-4 = 11

Its aim is a little off from still being curled into a ball, but it still manages to get some into his eyes.

Somewhat emboldened by the turning tide of battle (and the fact that Mike is no longer perched on his head), the Nidoran glares in vindication at the tangled Doduo and Nidoran.

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SpoilerLeer: 1d20 = 8, 5

Their guards are reduced further still, and Nidoran limps to a position where it is less surrounded.

-- End of Round 2 --
-- Start of Round 3 --

Initiative:
Doduo > Mike > Charlie > Zeus

The most wounded of the Doduo is not very happy about that fact. It dashes over to the Sandshrew that most recently attacked it and unleashes its anger!

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SpoilerRage: 1d20 = 18

Doduo becomes Enraged, and Sandshrew takes a notable hit.


Summary:

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SpoilerNando's blinded by sand, two opponents lost further defence combat stages, and Doduo is now really angry.
Nobody friendly actually took any damage yet this round.

It's Mike's turn again!