World Moved On (IC): Chapter 4, New York

[Project Icarus]

Owen
HP: 5

Seeing Florent standing by Susan's side, he decided against bringing the news to the lady gunslinger. Florent was probably still upset over their confrontation. Owen sought out the king.

"Sai John," he said, upon finding him. He raised his voice enough to be heard over the noise. He removed the leather scroll from his satchel and held it out to the king. "I bring word from the Kawima. Medraut is dispatching an army of 10,000. They will reach Camelot in three days' time." His words were direct and matter of fact, his face unemotional.

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

As Myron's ritual begins, he examines the rifle. The weapon is a perfect example of its model and appears that it will never rust, never jam, and is incredibly accurate and powerful. Moreover, it will easily penetrate all but the most powerful magical charms protecting an individual.

Setting down the rifle and focusing on the army itself, Myron sees that the numbers provided by the Kawima and the timetable anticipating the arrival of the army appears to be accurate. Two-thirds of the forces are human - or as human as the Mabelodim are - while the rest are composed of the warped slow mutants that Duke Arioch has created for Medraut to use in his sack of Camelot. The vanguard of the army will definitely be the six or so dozen cavalry mounted upon great lizards grown out of the laboratories of the Great Old Ones from before the world moved on. The army itself marches in a column nearly a mile long, led by the cavalry. Medraut and his sorcerer or sorceress are obscured from Myron's scrying.

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

King John takes the scroll and reads it, as if reading the document can undo the words that Owen just uttered. "Thankee sai, Owen," he mutters out of habit, almost ignoring the gunslinger as he reads and rereads the scroll. Word begins travelling quickly around the room from those who heard Owen's declaration. "They have us outnumbered two to one. Let us pray that the efforts of your ka-tet in our defense will give us the edge that we need." He begins barking out orders to the gunslingers, demanding that various men raise their levies at double speed, that they bring farmers from the surrounding area inside of the walls, and so on.

It's clear that the king will have little time to converse with Owen, given the chaos inside of the castle.

[Shock]

Jhondak
HP: 3

Jhondak felt that two to one odds wasn't so bad considering they were inside the city walls. Of course, that was without considering Arioch's magic. "It seems we will have to find our own way to assist in the defense. Or we should see out Parkus in the morning."

[McGuffin]

Russ
HP: 0 CND: -2 Toughness, Staggered

Russ's own mood seemed to be vastly improving as Pablo seemed to loosen. "Hey, maybe you can introduce me to some of your sharper shots. I have to say I've been curious about those things... What'd you call 'em, orizas? Ever since you found them at the Jurassic Park. I mean, when I'm fighting for my life I'll take any weapon I can get my hands on but I've never even seen or heard of anything like those things. Well, except at the dinner table but these things look more dangerous."

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

Pablo pulls the orizas out of his bag and gives Russ an impromptu lesson on their use. The titanium discs are light and perfectly balanced, featuring razor sharp edges. He has trouble finding any of the women with mustard-dyed hands due to the time of night that it is. Consequently, after showing Russ the orizas, he walks the pair down to the makeshift factory that Bron set up in the city with the recovered machinery. To Russ's surprise, the machines are drawing on the electric grid of the city, which seems mostly intact despite the general post-apocalyptic nature of Camelot's civilization. It appears that most citizens just don't understand what electricity is or that everything that makes use of it is either simply mysterious to the population or no longer functional. The basic infrastructure, however, is apparently functional.

Despite the late hour, a handful of blacksmiths are busy forging orizas with the machinery, though they clearly don't seem to understand much of how it works. Piles of metal salvaged from all over the city feed into the machines constantly, turning out discs that the blacksmiths sharpen and test. The city does not have access to the titanium that served as the material for Pablo's orizas, but the discs seem dangerous even when made of steel or even baser metals.

Pablo oversees the process with clear pride. "What Sai Bron has done will aid this city's defense immensely. Children labor through the days gathering scrap metal and donations from citizens. What doesn't go to use here is being turned into bullets or swords or armor in the foundries around the castle."

[Project Icarus]

Owen
HP: 5

Owen nodded to Jhondak. "Perhaps Sai Florent has some ideas."

Owen threaded his way through the crowd over to where he'd seen the Florent and Susan earlier. He inclined his head to the gunslingers. "Sai Florent, Sai Susan. I assume you've heard the news. Is there anything Jhondak and I can do to assist with preparations for the battle?"

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

The ice storm is sudden and quickly gets dispelled by the sorceress in Medraut's army, but the cold slows down the lizards, drawing them into less active states. Had the effect lasted much longer, Myron is certain that the beasts would have slumbered like the dragons which donated the eggs responsible for such monstrosities in the first place. The blizzard is unlikely to have caused any direct casualties but is quite likely to produce a handful of unfortunate side effects for the invaders: leather cracked under the cold, food suffers "freezer burn," and frost bite attacks the appendages of the soldiers. More importantly, the invaders know that they have lost the element of surprise and will have to face sorcery on the battle field.

Medraut's camp will likely lose some men to desertion before the bloated army reaches the last city of free men.

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

As Owen approaches, the redheaded gunslinger announces the arrival of the foreigner to his ka-mate, Susan. "Sai Owen, Sai Jhondak," Florent greets. In response to Owen's question, the gunslinger gives a solemn nod. "There is much you can do to help, I believe. If Jhondak is the chosen of King Grome, then perhaps he can bolster weak points in the walls or help to fortify buildings near the walls with stone roofs. Alternately, he could bless men to keep their morale high."

Susan measures Owen and Jhondak up, trying to consider what the best use of the two men might be. "Gunslinger," she says in a stern voice that seems to be full of conflicting emotions, "we think that their biggest advantages are their numbers and their mounts. An army of that size will need many supplies and as long as our ships are unharmed, we will have access to distant farms and the bounty of the sea. If their cavalry survives, however, they will be able to control the countryside." She nods to Florent, indicating that he should continue the discussion.

The redheaded man takes over, "One plan is to use the sewers under the city to get beyond the walls at night. If we can do so, we can launch nighttime raids on their cavalry and supply wagons. Perhaps we can also kill officers or their damn sorcerer. If you have the wish, you could venture into the sewers and help see which ones are still open and which have collapsed through the ages. We have scouts working with maps but the city hasn't fallen under siege in decades." Continuing, he adds: "Manpower is short all around: men are training, making weapons, crafting armor, smelting bullets, gathering scrap for those discs, helping Bron with his war machines, gathering fresh water from the rivers for a siege, working on the walls, fishing, stockpiling clean linens for the wounded, clearing buildings near the walls, digging trenches, and..."

Susan paces while Florent speaks, giving her the demeanor of a blonde wolf. Noting her impatience, Florent cuts himself off. "...well, tons more things. Anywhere you could help would be welcome." Nodding to Susan, he begins checking his weapons. "That's all for us tonight, I'm afraid. We have business on the other side of the walls." Smiling, he adds, "Susan's going to fetch the head of Medraut for what he did in the Granite Reaches..."

As Susan nods and departs from Owen and Jhondak's company, the red haired gunslinger bows dramatically and falls in step behind her.

[Shock]

Jhondak
HP: 3

Jhondak watched the gunslingers go before turning back to Owen. "I am not fully comfortable wielding the power of Grome yet but I think it could be of help with the fortifications." Jhondak had done some work drawing the power from Grome's fingernail as they travelled. "I'll find the director of the effort and see where I can put it to use."

"I would also volunteer for supply raids. Dangerous though it may be, I prefer it to waiting for death to come from their siege weapons. If the others agree, perhaps you could find a way for our ka-tet to be put to use in that manner."

[Lord Fell]

Myron
HP: 4 (-2) Status: Fine

As an experienced sorcerer, Myron knew what it felt like to have one of his spells break. A rather unpleasant backlash... he could have used his position as leader of the ritual to shield Oswald from the shock as well, but chose not to. Since his role was fairly minor the collapsing spell shouldn't affect Oswald too badly. Myron reached out a hand, gripping Oswald's shoulder. "Steady, man!" Myron helps Oswald keep his balance until he shakes off the effects, then he smiles.

"First blood to our side. How does that feel, Lee?" Myron gets to his feet, and stretches, then paces a bit to get his circulation back. "I will want to hit them again, and soon."

Myron gives Oswald a chance to reply, while just spending a few moments relaxing and enjoying the small victory. "I should let you sleep now. If Lord Parkus does not have business with you in the morning, I can certainly make use of your insights."

As I said previously, Myron does have goodwill towards Ozzie, and will redeem him if possible. However, he primarily wants to "get his hooks in," because a Lee Harvey Oswald committed to protecting JFK makes the man unkillable to Myron's thinking. Myron uses a lot of inclusive language "we're making great progress," and the like, to subtly (I hope) get Oswald thinking like one of the good guys. At the same time, Myron tries to read Oswald's disposition: is Myron making a horrible mistake here?
Influencing Ozzie (1d20+4=8) Yeah, like I'm not going to reroll that... Influence Heroic Super Good Reroll! (1d20+4=18)
Also: Insight on Oswald (1d20+7=14) Buh. No, seriously... what makes you tick? (1d20+7=9) (is 19 with Reroll)

[Project Icarus]

Owen

HP: 5

"Well, before we do anything, we had best get a good night's sleep. In the morning, I will see about helping explore the sewers until Medraut's forces draw closer. Perhaps some of the others will wish to join me. But I agree that you could help most with fortifications." Owen clapped a hand on Jhondak's shoulder. "Perhaps we can still catch up with Russ and Pablo before we get some shut-eye."

[McGuffin]

Russ
HP: 0 CND: -2 Toughness, Staggered

Russ clapped a hand on Pablo's shoulder as he took a swig from a bottle he'd pilfered from the kitchens at their current residence. "You've both done good work here, arming the city and bolstering the numbers of it's defenders."

He turned to look at the electric grid powering the machinery. "I have to admit I'm surprised to find like this still up and running in this city. Have either of you found anything else interesting like this in Camelot?"

[Shock]

Jhondak
HP: 3

"A good idea." Jhondak smiled. "It could be the last leisure we get for a while." He turned and let Owen lead the way out of the castle.

[RedBstrd]

GM Post:

After making appropriate small talk with Myron after the assault on the invading army, the man heads off to sleep. To Myron, he disclosed that the arrival of the forces of Chaos is like a shadow falling over his heart. Oswald is scared and feels somewhat powerless to resist the forces tugging on him. He assures Myron that he feels really bad about everything that's happened and he hopes that he is up to the challenges ahead.

Myron thinks he is making some progress with Oswald, but he feels that Oswald is sitting on the fence to some degree. Parkus might say that he's "undesignated" but that he was touched by Chaos first and the hooks will be hard to get out of him. In other words, while he's a compulsive liar on the surface, he's also conflicted deep down to the core.