The Battle of Twilight Park

"Those of you who love justice should join with me in the rescue of my fair Madeira!" shouts the mouth of Armand Rum as it's being controlled by the unruly spirit known as Sancerre, from atop a table on the far side of Twilight Park Hill. "For those who do not and love... the other thing instead, you will know terror --briefly-- in the form of my flashing blade!"

Apparently years of being bottled has worn the edge off of his rousing speeches.

"Evildoers beware! Beware who? Sancerre!"

Fortunately his tag line remains intact.

"He's been going on like that for close to ten minutes" says Lord Lack-A-Day, one of the impromptu emissaries of the Unseemly Court. "Which is lucky for us. We've a trick or two up our coats". He glances over his shoulder at the heart of their demesne; six large stone benches piled high with cover-providing detritus arranged in a circle, forming a monument to vagrancy here on top of the hill in the center of Twilight Park, the greenest patch of the Stagger. Dead in center lies the jewels in their crown: the carts and wagons of the Court's members, positively teeming with revolting treasures, one of the which, presumably, is the bottle of Madeira. Arrayed around the carts are the members of the Unseemly Court themselves, men and women of fighting age to the outside, children and the aged huddled inside away from the interlopers.

"If he fucks like he fights his lady's one lucky duck" adds Lady Bumtussle. "He's all run-up. Almost like he don't want to plunge in".

"They're trying to intimidate us" says the Lord.

"It's working" says the Lady. "But he must know we'll never run. Not without our carts. Lord Bum's got but two rules. The second is a secret, but the first is widely-fathomed: never give up your cart. This will come to blood."

A cloud of deeper shadow boils out from the other side of the hill top. Soon four rough-looking sailors flank Sancerre, who is still orating on the table top. From of the edges of the cloud half a dozen disoriented-looking lackeys appear, trying to get their bearing. With a shout Sancerre orders them to advance.

OOC: what now?

"Great!" Artichoke mutters, "We're going to have to do this the hard way. As usual. Let's go take care of Sancerre. Just don't kill him."

Drawing his sword, he raises his voice in the tones which once enraptu... um, mildly interested people at his self-help seminars and calls out, "You ... er, bums - we're here to help! Sancerre, stand down and you won't be hurt." Just bottled.

OOC: Should we be rolling initiative?

shilsen wrote:

OOC: Should we be rolling initiative?

OOC: If you'd like. Artichoke, Odanais, and Pæetros should make Perception checks, too.

Mallus wrote:

OOC: If you'd like.

16.

Quote :

Artichoke, Odanais, and Pæetros should make Perception checks, too.

24.

The member 'shilsen' has done the following action : Dice Roller

'd20' : 11, 18

OOC: Initiative 13, Perception 21

"Is to be surrendering," Pæetros agrees at the top of his lungs, striding forward "Or to be facing consequences most terrible!" The spirit pig falls in behind him, its form twisting and flowing as it moves.

But somehow, no matter how distorted its shape becomes, its essential Pigness remains obvious.

The member 'Rolzup' has done the following action : Dice Roller

'd20' : 2, 12

shilsen wrote:

24.

Artichoke has the familiar feeling he's been followed. He looks back in time to see a dark man-shaped figure disappear, quite literally, into the shadows at the limit of Artichoke's vision (which put's him a little over 100 ft. away, at the edge of the park along Crook St.)

Rolzup wrote:

"Is to be surrendering,"

Sancerre and his band are not to be surrendering.

Initiative...

27 - Sancerre

19 - Pirates

15 - Shadow Cloud & Lackeys

The member 'Mallus' has done the following action : Dice Roller

'd20' : 15, 11, 9, 9

Initiative: 11 (13 if the Artichoke bonus currently applies)

Perception: 1 (yes, that' right. Just 1)

The member 'gridley' has done the following action : Dice Roller

'd20' : 3, 1

Quote :

"It's working" says the Lady. "But he must know
we'll never run. Not without our carts. Lord Bum's got but two rules.
The second is a secret, but the first is widely-fathomed: never give up
your cart. This will come to blood."

"Have you considered just selling him the bottle?" asks Odanais, oblivious to the shadowy doom sneaking up behind him.

gridley wrote:

"Have you considered just selling him the bottle?" asks Odanais, oblivious to the shadowy doom sneaking up behind him.

"'Aye, ol' Arsely did just that" says Lady Bumtussle, who sizes Odanais up with a look that suggests a rat eying a ham pie dropped in the gutter. "Of course, he did his considerin' after we got word that Sancerre's gang ransacked Vikund Riseling's place. His Lordship figured the bottle must be worth a fortune if it made hitting the home of a man close to Jimmy Heatshimmer look like a good idea".

Her Ladyship pauses as Sancerre lets loose a ferocious yet joyful whoop. His band charges forward.

"Of course, Lord Bum also figured that he could cut a deal with this Sancerre. Not the first time Arsely's been wrong. Hope it wasn't the last".

Sancerre's lackeys stumble forward into the Unseemly Court's ragged line. The cloud of shadows follows. They seem more intent on scaring Lord Bum's subjects, waving their swords and shorting catcalls. However, as the cloud swallows several of them they begin shouting in earnest. "It's cold! It's the touch of the grave!" In a moment these give way to bog standard cries of pain and the scraping sounds of swordplay.

"Bugger all" says Lady Bumtussle.

Half a dozen of Sancerre's men, including two of the grizzled veterans break to the right, attacking from the other flank. It's hard to make up Sancerre himself. The cloud obscures the view. The Unseemly Court seems caught off-guard when the attack actually begins. They steel themselves and prepare to defend their brethren.

initiative 23

The member 'overeddie' has done the following action : Dice Roller

'd20' : 14

OOC: feel free to take your actions for this round. Technically, Artichoke and Lizzie go before the shadowy cloud moves up the vagrant's line... does that matter?

Mallus wrote:

OOC: feel free to take your actions for this round. Technically, Artichoke and Lizzie go before the shadowy cloud moves up the vagrant's line... does that matter?

I don't think it matters much, and I recommend keeping all the bad guys going together and then have all the PCs going together. Posting (and adjudicating actions) goes much more smoothly that way.

shilsen wrote:

... I recommend keeping all the bad guys going together and then have all the PCs going together.

OOC: good idea. So they went first (moving, mostly, at least as far as you can tell), so it's your turns.

Mallus wrote:

OOC: good idea. So they went first (moving, mostly, at least as far as you can tell), so it's your turns.

Crap! What the hell was that again? Unfortunately, Artichoke doesn't have time to spend working out what's following him. Instead, he indicates the group of Sancerre's followers carrying out the flanking maneuver and says, "Let's take them out first. Odanais, Paetros - can you hit them with something while we move in?"

Not waiting for a verbal response, Artichoke readies sword and shield and moves forward, gesturing for Lizzy and Lien to do so as well.

OOC: Double move to I13.

HP 64 (Bloodied 32); Healing surges/day 10 (17 hp); AC 25, Fort 22, Ref 23, Will 20

"Is to be invoking wrath of Divine Treasure of the Heavens! Is most unwise!" Paetros moves cheerfully forward, lifting his staff high as he walks. His skin begins to burn with white light, making it painful to look upon him, and as he speaks a Name, the light flares even brighter.

With a clap of thunder, Paetros' bound angel manifests. Spreading it's wings wide, and raising its blazing sword to a guard position, the celestial being looks around with a confused expression. "Why do I smell cheap liquor?" it wonders aloud.

OOC: Move to H19, and use two minor actions -- one to invoke Astral Splendor, the other to summon his Angel to M14. The pig keeps pace with him as he moves, ending up at H18.

Current Defenses: AC 25, Fort 23, Ref 20, Will 22. (Includes -2 to-hit penalty from Astral Splendor)

Lizzy, not sure where his loyalties lie, follows Chokey with a double move to K13

As Artichoke and Lizzy get closer to the dark cloud they see it isn't opaque. The shadowed forms of the vagrant courtiers and Sancerre's human lackeys can be seen trading tentative blows. Sancerre's men seem disoriented, as if the artificial darkness is hampering them. Unfortunately, the darkness seems to be injuring the members of the Unseemly Court. Sancerre and his two pirate lieutenants hang back at the edge of the cloud. The ghost vigilante shouts orders while the pirates keep up a barrage of oddly scatological threats of damnation.

Sancerre's men on the other side make less of a show and more short work of the bum aristocrats. The two grizzled-looking veterans have all but butchered the man they're focusing on while the rest melee in earnest. The courtiers seem slightly more skilled than the lackeys, but absolutely no match for the veterans.

"Ay! Count Rags looks done for!" cries the Unseemly Lady flanked by Lizzie and Artichoke. She takes a deep breath, rubs a charm between her ample bosom, and shouts "Hold fast Rags! Lady Snogbottom's got a special treat for yeh if you can see this through!"

Her words are enough to rally Count Rags, but his situation still looks grim. It is at this point Artichoke and Lizzie realize that two of the elderly vagrants huddled around the pile of carts are chanting in a suspiciously arcane manner.

Rolzup wrote:

"Why do I smell cheap liquor?" it wonders aloud.

OOC: