You will never feel me
Unknown: 10, 4, 4, 9 = 3 successes (Will) -> Fail
Chandra: 7, 8, 8, 3, 5 = 3 successes (Will) -> Succeed
GM Note: This is where I'll admit one thing. The Unknown and you have a very key difference between the two of you and so while for you 3 successes were needed, they needed fou... honestly they needed five. I am scaling things from (1) simple, (2) tricky, (3) tough, (4) dangerous, (5) impossible. Notably this is on the human scale. With demons the impossible part is... higher.
While it would be a simple difficulty for a police mech to break through a door, it would be somewhere between tough and impossible for a child. Depending on the material of the door and the health of the child.
The fingers around your wrist shake, letting go as if grabbing onto a gout of flame. But your hand remains locked around theirs even as they shake, trying to dislodge you.
But you cling on, reaching out with your other hand to lock around the other wrist. The abyss below your feet recedes, even as pain begins to sink into your bones.
Unknown: 4, 8, 8, 8, 7 = 4 successes (Control) --> ???
The figure above locks hands around your wrists once more, slamming their will down upon you. It is not enough to stop you, even with hot, hot, pain licking through your veins. You can feel light above. But you feel the merest edge of relief from the soul you are locked with. Only for the foolish thought to be washed away by sheer horror as the both of you crash through the veil into the light above to awaken into the sunlight.
....
…...
….....
Or you should. The sharp pain through your chest makes it near impossible to breath. Gasping soundlessly for breath you struggle to hold onto your second chance. Every beat of your heart is sluggish, not able to fully contract. Cool liquid surrounds you as you lay in a puddle, centimeters deep, motionless. The space smells of death, cloying blood mixing with damp and smoke. Frantic chanting filters muffled, competing with the crackle of a fire and your gasping as a marker for time. Then something changes.
Child: 7, 1 (Fists)
0 successes -> Fail
The soft pad of feet slowly comes near. Tap, tap.... tap, tap, tap..... taptaptapattaptaptaptap......... tap, tap. A door creaks open. You can hear terrified breathing before footsteps splash you as they come near. The pressure in your chest increase. Your eyelids open to a slit as you hiss in pain.
Circlet: 9, 10, 9 (Fist) 4 successes -> Critical success
Child: 6, 8 (Fists) 2 Successes -> Success
Child: 1, 3 (Body) -1 success -> Critical Failure
A child with one gold eye and one brown freezes, hands still upon the knife shoved through your heart. The door slams open, the sound of a man's footsteps appearing out of nowhere. The child tightens their grip on the knife in a desperate attempt to draw it from your chest. An arm slams them away. You feel the force of the impact tear the knife out of your chest. You can breathe.
You hear the crunch of bones when the child hurtles into the wall.
A tall figure dressed in a white ceremonial mantle with regal purple tracings stands above you. Gold eyes, clean shaven face, with a simple silver circlet. The man would not be out of place from a fairy tale, the humble yet virtuous king. If not for the still fresh blood staining the white garment. And the stench of death emanating from the man.
You hold your breath and shut your eyes as he begins to look down towards you. The earth shakes and a piece of the ceiling falls to the floor with a mighty crash. Another door slams open.
"Teacher!" A voice calls out. "The ritual, we’ve lost the balance!"
The voice and the circlet bearer storm out the room, footsteps pounding. The door slowly falls shut behind them. With a groan you manage to slowly rise into a crouch.
At your bare feet is a shallow pool of water, perfectly round. If tainted by blood. Surrounding that is lines of inlaid silver and copper, each inlay rubbed with salt and multiple candle stubs.Blood stains the front of your gray clothing, and water drips down your body.
Underneath the shallow pool of water are broken manacles, two of the candle stubs are toppled on their sides.
Directly in front of you are headless naked corpses, blood being drained from upside down necks into buckets. Your shadow flickers over them as the brazier behind you crackles.
On a table to your right is an executioner’s axe, with a dark, dark tome resting next to it. Nearly out of sight on your right is a large mirror, glassy surface stretching from polished marble floor to a cracked ceiling.
Between the table and corpses is the door where the frantic chanting has grown in pitch and fervor. Distantly you begin to hear screams of pain. To your left is a second door, still ajar. And from the corner of your eye, you see the child with gold and brown eyes pointing the knife at you in abject terror.
What do you do?
[] Write in
GM Notes System:
So, there are six basic stats:
Head: Perception, charisma, and knowledge checks
Body: How sneaky you are, damage sponging, and how good you are at regenerating
Legs: Speed, balance, jumping
Fist: Carrying, fighting, climbing
Will: Contests of will, such as possession attempts, resisting possession, resisting some one's attempts to bind you to them...
Control: Skill in controlling magic, rituals powers
You will have one best trait, two great traits, and three good traits. With a best trait you roll six dice, five for great, four for good on a task. Now, increased knowledge or capability lowers the difficulty of a roll.
An electrician repairing some wiring would be a simple to tricky difficulty. A barbarian would be at dangerous. The electrician would also have additional dice to roll alongside his base stat.
Training or experience -> lower difficulty of rolls and more dice. It is also a way a favorite GM of mine rewarded consistent characterization. If stealth is consistently used, you get extra dice. Likewise, if you prefer rushing in head first to a fight, fists will get the extra dice.
Now currently besides Will which is at four, all of Chandra’s stats are at two due to still regenerating from being dead. Partly this is for story reasons, and partly so that I can let you guys try out a tutorial of playing with playstyles before making selections.
As for Chandra, she is somewhat of a blank slate right now due to the damage to the brain after several hours without oxygen. All that I’ve been trying to imply with her is a) survivor and b) does have a temper. How deeply buried that temper is however, is up to you.
Oh, 1-5 are failures on rolls, with a 1 being -1, 6-10 are successes, with 10 being worth 2.
Chandra Status:
Health: 3/???
Blood Points: 3/???
Hunger: ???
Tired: Yes