<span style="font-style: italic">Haha, I wasn't actually waiting on anybody in particular - I was just too busy and tired to get around to posting myself. On top of the seasonal stuff I ended up getting a tiny bit sick... seems to have cleared up now though. <br/><br/>So - since things have slowed to a crawl, with the end of this round and the resolution of the last few characters' actions (the marten whom Quill shot at dodged the goo, but was struck down by the blaster-fire, and Cass will be considered to be using an action to draw a sword and ready a melee attack), it would normally be time to re-draw cards for initiative order. Instead of making everyone wait to draw before starting to decide what to do, I'm going to go ahead and have the enemies go ahead and take their moves, and telegraph their actions, before actual initiative actions are taken. This will, I think, help prevent confusion and mis-targeting.<br/><br/>Also, something I hadn't made entirely clear before, but will roll to demonstrate once this fight is done: since the characters are now given titles of nobility their reputation is an issue, and certain conduct in battle can have a positive or negative effect. Until I can decide on a more suitable system, I'll keep it as a basic meter that starts at 0 and can go into negatives. After each "session" (a battle or extended social encounter, typically) characters will make a passive spirit roll + charisma (including noble modifiers). A failure means they lose 1 point, a success means they remain the same, and a success with one or more raises results in a gain of reputation points.<br/><br/>Modifiers (+2 or -2 per action typically) apply to this roll if the character engages in actions that would or would not be approved of. Examples of "positive approval" actions include fighting a powerful enemy one-on-one, holding off multiple attackers in melee for two or more rounds, forcing an enemy to surrender (or otherwise incapacitating them non-injuriously with disarms, magic, etc), healing an injured ally, shielding a noncombatant, and actively defending someone of higher rank (or who the character is sworn to protect). Examples of "negative approval" acts include attacking enemies through disguise or treachery (as opposed to simple concealment), retreating in response to a challenge directed at your character, using a ranged weapon or spell on a humanoid enemy armed only with melee weapons, slaying a noncombatant by accident, using slug-thrower firearms on humanoid enemies, using indiscriminate explosive/incendiary weapons on humanoid enemies (non-lethal burst weapons don't count), and using powered armor which does not rely on the wearer's own strength.<br/><br/>The effects of these "reputation points" will be mostly nebulous, but having a higher value will generally be good, except when one wishes to intimidate.</span><br/><br/><br/>As the mechanized terror leading the bandit's charge makes a long running leap towards Arcea, claws out and ready to strike with a couple tons of momentum, the purple-scaled gators seem to take their cue from an urgent whistle that the raccoon handler gives out. Undeterred by the ringing blaster-fire, the vicious reptiles eyes glow brightly once again as they call upon their atavistic psionic abilities. Vanishing in flashes of purple light, the two beasts bolt forward in the blink of an eye and re-materialize on Arcea's flank! One of them looks like it will be going for Celrie, and the other one like it means to materialize on the Cal'Drua feline's vulnerable flank just as the armor charges her. Seeing that their armored ally's charge has finally struck home, the cannoneers swivel their weapon to the side fix their eyes on the source of all that blaster-fire.<br/><br/>Lastly, it seems as if the raccoon femme with the scythe has finally recovered from the nasty shock she got, still dizzy but also looking angry and insulted, gripping her weapon with renewed vigor. However, she is still sensible enough to wait for a distraction, so she dashes over to the tall grass and flings herself down to take cover in it. All of their morale may be wavering, but now that a few of them have gotten within range to strike back at those who had turned their ambush against them, they vainly began to hope they could still force their "victims" to submit to their demands.<br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://postimg.org/image/pkgtya1in/"><img alt="Image" src="http://s27.postimg.org/pkgtya1in/V5_Emapt4_1.jpg"/></a><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://postimg.org/image/5bn89mod1/"><img alt="Image" src="http://s2.postimg.org/5bn89mod1/V5_Emapt4_2.jpg"/></a><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://postimg.org/image/teskfhngj/"><img alt="Image" src="http://s29.postimg.org/teskfhngj/V5_Emapt4_3.jpg"/></a><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://postimg.org/image/e4m1951hx/"><img alt="Image" src="http://s10.postimg.org/e4m1951hx/V5_Emap4_4.jpg"/></a><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://postimg.org/image/sqobaae4j/"><img alt="Image" src="http://s29.postimg.org/sqobaae4j/V5_Emapt4_5.jpg"/></a><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">The NPCs draw a 7 of diamonds for their initiaitve, which means they'll likely be in the middle of the pack. Drawing alphabetically: Arcea 10 of diamonds, Celrie 5 of diamonds,  Cass queen of diamonds, Quill ace of spades, Sevana queen of spades, Yasha 8 of spades.<br/>That's Quill&gt;Sevana&gt;Cass&gt;Arcea&gt;Yasha&gt;Enemies&gt;Celrie. This round-by-round initiative is kind of crazy! Maybe we should just go to a standard 1d10 (or whatever) based initiative and let people draw each round to see if they get a joker... questions for later. Anyway, to keep things moving, I'll say that if another action hasn't been posted within 24 hours of the last post in the thread, I'll assume they hold their action until end of round, and resolve the actions of those players who have posted.</span>