<span style="font-style: italic">Ooof. Okay - I know I said I was going to try to speed up after the holidays but this past week I've just got deluged. Sorry about that q.q Weekend and next week SHOULD be better but then again that's what I thought about this week~ Also I really appreciate you guys taking up the slack of descriptiveness... I've kept telling myself I was going to write a really long, detailed, descriptive post 'next time' and not following through due to tiredness and distractions! I've got to say though that the RP and writing quality, particularly by Arcea and Celrie's players, has been absolutely fantastic to the point where I'm tempted to give them an extra advance after this fight :3<br/><br/>Anyway, on to resolution of actions. Arcea's hit doesn't quite manage to penetrate the mech's armor (it has a 14, so she was 2 damage short of affecting it), but her tongue turns out to be sharper than her blade: <a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/361048">taunt resist</a>: <span style="text-decoration: underline">1d8</span> <span style="font-weight: bold">2</span> . Unfortunately, not quite enough to actually shake the pilot, but he is "taunted" and has his actions take a -2 and all players get a +2 on rolls to hit him until Arcea's next turn. (Note: I've decided to allow magical melee weapons to count as "heavy weapons" for the purposes of being able to damage armored targets - so she wasn't wasting her effort, just didn't quite roll high enough).<br/><br/>Celrie's last psionic attack gets a raise, enough to cause 2 wounds on a shaken enemy, turning the telegator into a shower of crispy fried gator bits.<br/><br/>Yasha fails to escape the tight belly she's in. Also (and I didn't actually know this before the encounter x3) I feel compelled to point out that real-world pine martens are a natural predator of squirrels! So she really doesn't have any grounds to complain about her impending digestion (or at least the marten doesn't think so!).<br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/361056">entangle resist</a>: <span style="text-decoration: underline">1d8</span> <span style="font-weight: bold">4</span> The marten girl gets gooped by Quill's marvelous invention and is partially entangled, taking a -2 to all physical actions and parry (for the sake of 'realism' I'll rule this doesn't apply to actions taken by her stomach!).</span><br/><br/>From the other side of the train, where the rest of the Cal'Drua catfolk had disembarked and starting lobbing arrows and threats at the bandits, several muffled explosions could be heard. They sounded lower-powered than the cannon, but the yowls and hisses of frustration from the felines told Arcea that they were still having problems of their own.<br/><br/>The shrill, distorted male voice rings out from the dragon-mech once again in response to Arcea's efforts to deal with him, even more painful to listen to than the sound of her enchanted blade cutting into the armor and sending up showers of sparks. He just chuckles and staggers backwards a step in response to the catgirl's furious attacks. Arcea's blade is of far superior metal and she deals several deep slashes and punctures to the machine, but it's difficult to tell exactly where the operator inside sits, and Arcea accomplishes nothing more than getting some gunky black engine oil on her sword and a little spray of steam in the face. She's quite sure that she managed to cut through some of the actual mechanical bits, but the thing is just so big and has so many redundant mechanisms that it's like trying to chop down a tree with a camping hatchet; sure, the blade will cut just fine, but there's an awful lot of tree for it to get through.<br/><br/>"Ooh, you're a cute, feisty one, you are!" the mech pilot's voice cracks. "My raccoon wife would just love to meat ya! I'll be sure to deliver you to 'er tied up nice an' tight but still breathing, gyeh heh heh!"<br/><br/><br/>Arcea and Celrie could also hear a shriek of inchoate rage from the beast-trainer bandit in response to the fate of her alligators - but fortunately she wasn't quite in range to flank Arcea just yet. "Eh heh heh!! Lookin' for a way out now kitty cat?" the mech clacked its jagged metal jaws a couple of times for effect. "C'mon now I know you're just bluffing! No backing out of the dance now that you done started! C'more y- OOOF!" Suddenly lunging towards Arcea in a half-attack, half-drunken stumble, the mech obliviously gets its foot caught beneath the bulk of a dead ~200 pound reptile and partially collapses. flailing around in the snow and staggering back and forth. It's only because of the weighty metal tail counterbalancing that it doesn't fall completely.<br/><br/>"Whuhhh... ohh... oh darn it... I ain't feelin so fine..." Gasket's voice is less confident and more queasy sounding this time. "My poor head... feel like I'm gonna... oohh..." Then there is the sound of someone drinking noisily from a bottle, followed by an echoing burp that the jaws of the armor mimic as well. "Ahh! That's bette... OH DAMN! Is that a covalent synthetic quartz polymer shield?! Hoooo-eeeee! I been lookin' for some of that stuff for months! Gimme here, kitty!" With that the machine lurches forward and, rather than trying to get past Arcea's ability to block and parry, makes a clumsy two-clawed grope, trying to grab onto her arms and/or her weapons to overcome her with brute strength! Unfortunately it seems he cured his dizziness with more alcohol of questionable quality and he doesn't even manage to make contact.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Gasket attempts to grapple Arcea. <a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/361067">grapple arcea</a>: <span style="text-decoration: underline">1d10-2</span> <span style="font-weight: bold">0</span>. No roll to resist is required.</span><br/><br/>Meanwhile, Celrie is able to watch with satisfaction as the gator rolls over and stumbles to its feet angrily just in time for its dim reptilian intelligence to process the powerful energy bolt flying straight at its snout. It seems like this particular attack causes a psionic feedback loop - a rare side-effect of a psionicist getting hit with another psi-attack while injured. The telegator hisses in pain and starts to glow with its purple aura again, but this time the aura is searing and crackling like ball lightning rather than the soft glow it was before. There is a sizzling pop, and the gator seems to teleport again... but this time, only half of it manages to teleport. The lower body and tail go one direction, the head and forelegs go another. The bottom half of the gator materializes close to Quill and almost falls on her head just as she's splattering the voracious marten with goop!<br/><br/>The hungry little bandit girl squeaks and shudders with barely repressed pleasure, resting her hands on the great thrashing bulge inside her. "Oh my... I'm sorry... that was the best I've ever had." she mutters softly. "I don't rightly think I can give her up now, sorry miss bat. And a pretty fair trade considerin' you blasted my friend! Tell you what, if you care so much about that naughty squirrel lass, why don't you drop those pistols and come try and get her out? Surely you ain't worried about me swallowin you down with her?" The marten gives Sevana a mischievous wink and takes a threatening step towards the armed bat. "And to you, my delicious squirrel, well, I may just be a humble backwoods bandit m'self... but ain't it YOUR mortality you should be thinkin about right now and not mine? The way I see it, you're probably gonna be nothin' but a big red hairball and a lil' bit of fertilizer in a few hours. If you don't want it to happen like that you might wanna convince your friends to back off!"<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Marten 1 makes a multi-action taunt targeting both Yasha and Sevana. Because she has swallowed a party member, she gets a +4 on her taunt and intimidate checks, so this could get nasty!<br/><a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/361069">taunt on Yasha</a>: <span style="text-decoration: underline">1d10+2</span> <span style="font-weight: bold">11</span> An 11 vs Yasha! Yikes, marten belly is frustrating to be trapped in!<br/><a class="postlink" href="http://orokos.com/roll/361070">taunt on sevana</a>: <span style="text-decoration: underline">1d10+2</span> <span style="font-weight: bold">5</span></span><br/><br/>Though the fight rages on, the combatants are fairly sure they can hear the sound of a rumbling roar slowly getting closer to them from their east... those with keen vision can see a swift-moving, blurry shape with a bright flame burning behind it darting from treetop to treetop, coming closer.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">And that's all I have time for right now - I'll post an updated map later tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks for your patience everybody!</span>