Black Zenith [Adventure RPG / Chapter Four: Fires of Heaven]

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==>

You generically punch the captain for 236 damage. (roll 3+6, crit)

He generically retaliates for 123 damage.

Mid slide, Savannah rolls over, straddling the Archmage. She glares at him, not needing to say anything, and roughly yanks the knife out of his face. She then slams her palm into the man's head and makes sure he stays on the ground. Tightening her grip on the blade, Savannah goes for his throat, slashing and stabbing.

As you jank out your now-blood drenched knife, you start slashing away at the prone mage, delivering a glancing blow to the side of his throat for 193 damage (roll 5+6). However, as you are about to follow up with the finishing blow, the mage weakly lifts his right hand, generating a fiery explosion that blows you clean off of him and sending you flying into the nearby stone wall for a total of 420 damage. Of course, what the mage doesnt know is that setting you on fire is not very effective.

For the moment, he is still lying on the floor, bleeding heavily and trying to get his bearings.

It's do-or-die right now, and let's hope Myra manages the former. This hasn't been the first time Myra's been in free-fall before, so casting a spell mid-air shouldn't be too much of a task. She casts a Slowfall spell on herself, thinking that the Mage Guard will be less likely to suspect she's safe as long as it seems she's still falling. Following that up with her sudden Galeforce, Myra casts a protective barrier to cushion any possible damage that she might accrue soon, what with the falling, and the Mage Guard still tracked on her and all.

Frantically, you try to slow your fall. Some of your velocity falls off... But you're still falling at a pretty rapid pace. (roll 4+5) As the ground comes nearer, you rapidly cast another spell, shielding yourself just a moment before you hit the ground. (roll 5+5)

You hear a crack as your shield breaks. Then you black out.

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AND SO, EVERY THOUSAND YEARS, THE BLAZER STIRS FROM HIS SLUMBER

Activating Selfless. 3 Charges.

Mayor rose back to his feet and counted the heads, 9 Targets that Bohw could turn on in an instant, only 3 of them being enemies, it wasn't the best of chances. Bitterly, he rushed forwards towards Bohw, re-adjusting his shield as his body began to glimmer, small crystals poking out of the gaps in his armor. He had only had a moment's rest from his last transformation, but it was the only thing Mayor had left, putting his life on the like as barreled into the fray and ready to intercept Bohw at a moment's notice.

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Blazer confirmed as a tarrasque.

As Bohw sets her dark eyes on Savannah, Mayor is set aglow as he steps up, crystals sprouting from his body as he bashes his shield against Bohw's wrist, making her drop the bow, which she had been starting to aim in Savannah's direction. Bohw hisses in anger, glaring at Mayor. (Hit 3 vs Defense 7)

---

Mael calmly walks up to the guard who is attacking Torhald. He promptly shoves his sword into the guardsmans back for 403 damage (roll 19+4).

Howling in pain, the guard then turns towards Mael, lashing out at him in a spinning slash for 333 damage.


Stats

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Bohw: 1240/1240, Hellbent (100%)(2)
Leader: +18
Mayor: 1453/2275, Selfless (99 Regen)(49 DR)(-53%)(49 Power)(1)
Sabotage Cd 3
Selfless Cd 20 (2 Charges)
Hellbent Cd 20
Block ready!

Nos Reaper: 2100/2100
(5 4 3 2 1 (0) 1 2 3 4 5)
Memorabilia: +50
Calming Breath ready!
Overexcited unavailable
Nos Unleashed unavailable
Madness Dance ready!
Spell Focus ready! [No Spell]

Savannah: 590/1500, Silenced (1)
Aromatherapy unavailable
Absolute Zero unavailable
Parasitic Relationship unavailable
Jungle Fever unavailable
Manacharge Cd 11
Runeguard ready!
Wand of Healing: 18

Watson: 2103/2550, Indignant Injunction
Wits ready!
Fine Wine ready!
Dragon of the Red Wine ready!
Indignant Injunction Cd 18
Water Vase: 3 charges

Myra: 352/1800, Slowfall
Readiness: +0
Galeforce: 2/7
Change Form Cd 3
Winds of Fate ready!
Punishment Cd 7
Genesis ready!
Wraithstrike Cd 7
Shield of Feathers ready!
Farsight ready!

Mael: 634/1500, Unfettered (2)
Intrinsic Focus Cd 2
Furious Assault Unavailable

Taran: 578/1350
Word of Glory ready!
Radiance: 3/3 (0/6)

Torhald: 777/1400, Arrest (3)
Bulwark: +0
Preparation: 3 Charges
Shield Charge ready!

---

Royal Guard Captain Jared Amalasan: 2203/3000, Indignant Injunction, Disarmed
Flame of Ashankar ready!
Merciless Assault ready!
Sunshock unavailable

Royal Guard Archmage Callan Tagrin: 93/2000
Arrest Cd 30
Counterspell Cd 1
Silence Cd 10

Royal Guard 1: 689/1250
Disarm ready!

Royal Guard 2: 0/1250
Tackle ready!

---

Royal Guard 4: 605/1250, Guard (551)(2), Fleeing
To The Ground! Cd 3

Royal Guard 5: 1/1250, Unconscious
Power Strike Cd 6

---

Royal Guard Mage: 465/1250, Ring of Defiance (2)
Track on Myra
Dispel ready!
Bombardment ready!

Royal Guard 6: 0/1250
Pin readied on the ground

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That was a good update.

Myra is screwed.

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That update was an electric screwdriver, and Myra was the screw. She was just screwed so far into the wood that it just drove a hole right through the wood.

Just someone please recover her body when you can XD

Welp, Myra's gonna be captured or killed in the next turn or so, so I may as well just get my "command" over with since it doesn't even say she's unconscious, haha.

Try to wake up, and cast a healing spell on myself? Pray for a random event that saves her?

Watson ==>s the Captain in the face, again.

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Myra, nooooooo

Savannah gets up, slightly crispy from the attack and achy from the wall. She sees the mage struggling to orient himself and angrily stomps over to him. She recovers her spear from near the almost dead man and drives it through his chest.

i think its about time i ask you all if you want this game to continue, because my observation of late has been that the game seems to not be very engaging for any of us by this point. I can and will continue to stubbornly update, but if you all find it to be more of an obligation to respond than an actual thing you find enjoyable, i dont think see what the point is.

Please tell me if i am wrong in this assumption.

This game is engaging for me. Every update is like fruit! The only tiff I have is with other players not acting/being able to act. Ex. Myra might not have been kidnapped if Nos acted. But Dais is probably very busy soo...

I would like for this game to continue but I don't think it can if other players don't submit their actions or aren't able.

Dude, are you kidding me? Of course I want this game to still go on! Each update is like a shockwave of excitement, and I would hate to see the awesome story that is developing here stop in its tracks. If I wasn't in this for the long haul, I would never have joined in the first place!

But I do agree this inactivity is irritating, and that something should be done about it. If it's new players/replacements you need, I can probably find you those replacement.

Other than that, I can easily kick up my response-frequency-game and crank out commands sooner. I just get hesitant because there's too many options I find for Myra to act through. |'D

But no seriously, come on, I haven't even been able to draw the wonderful ideas I've gotten from this game yet, don't you DARE end this game before I draw Myra in the middle of a mid-air Wraithstrike- Punishment!

^^^
What they said. I can't add much onto what they're saying, but I definitely want to continue with this game. It'd be awful to just leave it hanging. Maybe we could do with more replacements, but I definitely want it to keep going.

Yeah I enjoy it too, but I suppose I'm less active especially considering even though I check the thread i'm rarely involved

wow okay i guess i misread that completely then. Seriously though i am sick and tired of having painted myself into a corner storywise - the entire bad guys fucking shit up thing started out too early and kept going too often and i just dont feel its interesting. I means thats practically all thats happening and its been two and a half years. Also Masterblade and Psych are stuck are stuck forever in no-update land and i swear one of these days i'll get off my butt and fix that maybe perhaps.

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I've been having a great time, I am not being inactive because of boredom or anything, real-life issues mostly regarding family and really bad time management is basically what's going on at my end. If there was a lot going on and everyone was super active, I would probably be guilted in getting a more consistent speed with my commands, though, but I am pretty much one of the biggest problems.

(I promised that I would get a command up earlier actually, but by the time I got around to it was like "Ohhh it's late maybe I'll lie down for a moment" and basically I'm a little shit and fell asleep. BAD TIME MANAGEMENT.)

On a side note, there is a large chance of people dying next turn where Mayor loses selfless. I'd be careful.

Bohw hisses at Mayor, recoiling slightly as makes her distance. Even in her completely distorted form, Mayor's response provoked some kind of response out of her. "What do you think you are doing?"

Mayor remains stoic as ever, even if he's observing his friends in danger, Watson in a duel to the death, Nos is no-where to be seen and everyone is at a risk of death. Even Myra is in trouble, the whole time Mayor was focusing on keeping a telepathic connection in the back of his head, but all of a sudden it was severed. He cannot swear or call for help, he can only assume the worst, everyone's hands are tied.

He shifts his stance, rapping on the side of his shield and leaving himself looking exposed to taunt the opposition, although ready to raise his shield in a moment's notice. At this moment, he doesn't even care about how much this is going to hurt, he just hopes he can do his best.

wow okay i guess i misread that completely then. Seriously though i am sick and tired of having painted myself into a corner storywise - the entire bad guys fucking shit up thing started out too early and kept going too often and i just dont feel its interesting. I means thats practically all thats happening and its been two and a half years. Also Masterblade and Psych are stuck are stuck forever in no-update land and i swear one of these days i'll get off my butt and fix that maybe perhaps.

Well there's always my other idea but i'm not sure if you finished with him or not

NO YOU WILL NOT RECRUIT MASTERBLADE IN YOUR LITTLE LEAGUE OF EVIL TO SAVE ON UPDATES

()

Also, you know what my command is. And I might actually be able to kill a boss single-handedly if he doesn't use his flames.

NO

MAYBE

WHAT

HEEHEEHOOHOO

Also Masterblade and Psych are stuck are stuck forever in no-update land and i swear one of these days i'll get off my butt and fix that maybe perhaps.

I can't speak much for Psych, but I know Thunderpaw could theoretically have rejoined the group anywhere within this current scene with minor tweaking of the timeline. Its also worth noting that the segment in (secret) town was a welcome break from combat dungeon, combat escape from dungeon, combat aproach to next dungeon, combat dungeon 2, combat escape from dungeon, combat town, etc.

Actually, if I may interject, I think a big problem this game has is that there's a bit too much fighting going on and little to no non-fighting. Perhaps a little less of that and a little more story. Like, instead of stringing fights with large, compact plot bombs, extend the non-fighting and roleplaying out so things seem less repetitive.

I'm more than happy to continue either way, though my opinion holds little bearing while on the off bench. I think this setting still has plenty of potential. Just needs a little less "destroy everything" flow to it. The game's name IS Adventure RPG; perhaps we just need a tinge more adventure.

And some dusting off on those social stats! They've been used so little that they've practically atrophied!

True, but I also like the fighting and system chim uses. Perhaps if/when this ends he could make one a bit more "destroy everything" or some sort of dungeon thing.

Watson sees these battles as a chance to redeem himself! never again will people talk of the SWAGgerly aspect of him! BECAUSE ALL THOSE THINGS NEVER HAPPENED YEP

Also Masterblade and Psych are stuck are stuck forever in no-update land and i swear one of these days i'll get off my butt and fix that maybe perhaps.

I can't speak much for Psych, but I know Thunderpaw could theoretically have rejoined the group anywhere within this current scene with minor tweaking of the timeline. Its also worth noting that the segment in (secret) town was a welcome break from combat dungeon, combat escape from dungeon, combat aproach to next dungeon, combat dungeon 2, combat escape from dungeon, combat town, etc.

Actually, if I may interject, I think a big problem this game has is that there's a bit too much fighting going on and little to no non-fighting. Perhaps a little less of that and a little more story. Like, instead of stringing fights with large, compact plot bombs, extend the non-fighting and roleplaying out so things seem less repetitive.

I'm more than happy to continue either way, though my opinion holds little bearing while on the off bench. I think this setting still has plenty of potential. Just needs a little less "destroy everything" flow to it. The game's name IS Adventure RPG; perhaps we just need a tinge more adventure.

And some dusting off on those social stats! They've been used so little that they've practically atrophied!

I completely agree, but part of the problem as i see it is that the few times i have tried to let y'all run about in the world, talk with various npcs or have generally allowed for non-combat interaction of any kind, most of the time the result has been everyone standing around waiting for either you or Blazer to make all the decisions. Hell sometimes you two have been waiting for each other. I originally planned for there to be more non-combat stuff, but after seeing the usual results i just sort of fell back on combat in desperation i think? A good example might be the trap room in the ruins. It took forever to just get across that water hole and i was sick and tired of waiting for someone to actually do something by the end of it. Of course all this is a result of me being a poor writer, gimmicks-wise. Thats fine, as BZ has been an excellent writing experiment and i think i have some clue how to avoid some of bad things i did with it in my next game.

Also, with regards to the combat... It is so gogdamn slow and numbers-heavy and ugh even the simplest of fights take months and months and is mostly about dealing damage to the right targets and i feel i should be able to do better than that.

Also hahah yes the social stats. Im not sure i should have added them in the first place. I had a pretty sweet idea of how they were going to work but then i just kind of ended up ignoring them completely, which is fine as i think i would rather see well-written character dialogue than 'i attempt to use my charm to persuade character X to do Y'. Still, i've liked it when y'all have actually brought those stats up in the past in situations where i once again forgot they existed.

Try to wake up, and cast a healing spell on myself? Pray for a random event that saves her?

You struggle to wake. Its like wading through an ocean of solid fog. Your head is throbbing something fierce, but the pain gives you something to latch on to. After what could have been an eternity or just a few moments, you open your eyes. You're on the ground, in a courtyard, and all of you is hurting, however you groggily conclude that your legs arent broken, possibly due to the shield discharging the impact across your entire body instead of merely the impact point.

You dont get to ponder any of that for very long before you see the spellcaster from before float down, landing across the courtyard. He casts a spell on you as he hops off his energy disc, which promptly disintegrates.

"Submit, and you shall live long enough to suffer judgement." He says, eyeing you with a mix of subdued anger and caution. He draws a sword, but holds it passively, having instead raised his left hand, palm upwards.

Watson ==>s the Captain in the face, again.

You aim for the captains face, but he blocks the blow by shoving your sword to the side with his bracer, though he is still cut for 158 damage (Roll 3+6).

The captain stands back, anger and frustration plain on his face. It is obvious he is not best pleased with what has happened to his subordinates while he was fighting you. He sneers at you, dropping his sword and instead reaching for a chain around his neck. As he takes it off, you and anyone else who happened to be looking at the captain at the time are suddenly blinded as he seems to be holding the sun itself in his hands, casting the entire street in a sharp, stark light where before it was gloomy and grayed out. Specifically, he is holding a small vial attached to the end of the chain he was wearing, and within the vial is a substance whose luminence truly does outshine the sun - atleast in its current, bland state. It seems impossible that the captain was able to conceal such a thing beneath a simple breastplate. Regardless, he reaches for the stopper on the vial, pulling with all his might - it is clearly sealed very tightly indeed. Warmth begins to fill the street, which soon grows to a simmering heat. Within moments, flames are licking from around the edges of the stopper, coils of fire reaching out even past the bars of the cage, twisting and roiling in the air, some of them burning the captain who stubbornly continues to strain with the vial even as his hands burst aflame.

Savannah gets up, slightly crispy from the attack and achy from the wall. bones sees the mage struggling to orient himself and angrily stomps over to him. bones recovers her spear from near the almost dead man and drives it through his chest.

The mage weakly struggles to cast a spell as you near, but you dont wait for him to finish as you grab your spear and execute him by ramming it through his heart.

Bohw hisses at Mayor, recoiling slightly as makes her distance. Even in her completely distorted form, Mayor's response provoked some kind of response out of her. "What do you think you are doing?"

Mayor remains stoic as ever, even if gl'orth'epthet's observing his friends in danger, Watson in a duel to the death, Nos is no-where to be seen and everyone is at a risk of death. Even Myra is in trouble, the whole time Mayor was focusing on keeping a telepathic connection in the back of his head, but all of a sudden it was severed. gl'orth'epthet cannot swear or call for help, gl'orth'epthet can only assume the worst, everyone's hands are tied.

gl'orth'epthet shifts his stance, rapping on the side of his shield and leaving himself looking exposed to taunt the opposition, although ready to raise his shield in a moment's notice. At this moment, gl'orth'epthet doesn't even care about how much this is going to hurt, gl'orth'epthet just hopes gl'orth'epthet can do his best.

Bohw hesitates for only a moment before hurling herself at Mayor with a furious howl. The hesitation seems to have been just enough, as Mayor is able to bring his shield up just in time, rebuffing Bohw with a veritable wall of steel supported by Mayor's entire weight. (Hit 2 Vs Defense 7) Bohw can snarl and rage as much as she wants, all she is doing is make dents in the shield.

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WHY
YOU LUCKY BASTARD

---

The remaining guard brashly slashes at Mael, dealing 245 damage. Mael stumbles back, for once falling out of stance and flailing at the guard with his sword, hitting only air (Hit 2+3+2 Vs Defense 7).

Stats

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Bohw: 1215/1240, Hellbent (100%)(1)
Leader: +18
Mayor: 1542/2275, Guard (93)(3)
Sabotage Cd 2
Selfless Cd 19 (0 Charges)
Hellbent Cd 19
Block ready!

Nos Reaper: 2100/2100
(5 4 3 2 1 (0) 1 2 3 4 5)
Memorabilia: +50
Calming Breath ready!
Overexcited unavailable
Nos Unleashed unavailable
Madness Dance ready!
Spell Focus ready! [No Spell]

Savannah: 565/1500
Aromatherapy ready!
Absolute Zero ready!
Parasitic Relationship ready!
Jungle Fever ready!
Manacharge Cd 10
Runeguard ready!
Wand of Healing: 18

Watson: 2028/2550, Indignant Injunction
Wits ready!
Fine Wine ready!
Dragon of the Red Wine ready!
Indignant Injunction Cd 17
Water Vase: 3 charges

Myra: 352/1800, Slowfall
Readiness: +0
Galeforce: 2/7
Change Form Cd 2
Winds of Fate ready!
Punishment Cd 6
Genesis ready!
Wraithstrike Cd 6
Shield of Feathers ready!
Farsight ready!

Mael: 339/1500, Unfettered (1)
Intrinsic Focus Cd 1
Furious Assault Unavailable

Taran: 528/1350
Word of Glory ready!
Radiance: 3/3 (0/6)

Torhald: 727/1400, Arrest (2)
Bulwark: +0
Preparation: 3 Charges
Shield Charge ready!

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Royal Guard Captain Jared Amalasan: 1545/3000, Indignant Injunction, Disarmed
Flame of Ashankar Charging!
Merciless Assault ready!
Sunshock unavailable

Royal Guard Archmage Callan Tagrin: 0/2000
Arrest Cd 29
Counterspell ready!
Silence Cd 9

Royal Guard 1: 639/1250
Disarm ready!

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Royal Guard 5: 1/1250, Unconscious
Power Strike Cd 6

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Royal Guard Mage: 465/1250
Track on Myra
Dispel ready!
Bombardment readied!

Myra: "Yeah sure I'll come with you"

*chokes him with feathers*

gl'orth'epthet

Bohw can snarl and rage as much as bones wants, all bones is doing is make dents in the shield.

Am I going insane

You are not. I'm also seeing these and thought I was going crazy or that it was my computer or something.

i think somebody has been modifying words to appear like that across the forum. i have no clue why, but they appear in the older posts aswell.