Murder on the Victorian Express (OOC)

[KnightDisciple]

I foolishly believed that Fenris already was an NPC, and had been an NPC since the moment you decided to NPC him. Apparently, I was wrong to so believe. [shrug] Stupid question: Just what are we allowed to do with respect to Fenris? It seems wrong to write him out of the thread, or even just stop acknowledging his presence in it... but if even this fairly minor use of the character is objectionable, is anything short of Not Even Mentioning The Guy At All acceptable? I ask because I really do want to avoid using your character in a way you don't like, and I'd just as soon not replace one form of objectionable character-use with a completely separate second form of objectionable character-use. So can you throw me a bone, here?

1.)He will be a Tier 2 NPC. Meaning even if he already had that status, you couldn't just play him willy nilly. So, even your "I thought he was going to be an NPC" step wasn't correct, since he's not Tier 1. I did clearly mark this in my edit request; it simply hasn't been implemented quite yet.

My intent with making him an NPC was that I could keep playing in this thread myself, while simultaneously allowing my Bronze reward to shift to Cobalt Templar, and to have the character "fade off-screen" in an overall sense.

So, I am still going to be playing the character for this thread. Which means I'll be getting 1/2 credit for posts. Which means I don't want you making posts for me.

Does that make sense?

[Aoiroo]

Really it's not an issue of whether Fenris is in fact an NPC YET, it's that he's a tier 2 NPC, which is one that requires the creator's permission to use. So yes, it all makes sense.

[Cubist]

Now that I be clued in re: the actual status of Fenris, I've done (what i hope is) the appropriate editing on my post...

[KnightDisciple]

Post up. The [GM] tage is solely for post-counting. And Fenris won't get back on the train until we're at the point, round-wise or whatever, that he's clear to do so.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie rolls disarm on Baron, 21, it's DC 26 strengh roll by Baron to keep his weapon.

[Supercape]

Ok its moving into initiative time in that case...

Ramstein

1d20+4=21

[Aoiroo]

25, Carrie has the initiative over him.

[Supercape]

Cool I will wait for Fenris and Jube before proceeding further as they may wish to act.

[KnightDisciple]

Yeah, I have a few different ideas on what I could-

Init: 4.

.... :?

[Supercape]

Cubist, could you roll for initiative?

That last post for disarming will probably need editting: his emotional reaction to the event is fine, but we should stay off physical activity until we determine initiative etc.

(Having said that you may well end up with highest init! )

[Cubist]

Jubatus doesn't much care for Earth Victoria, but he's a guest there, even if an involuntary one. He doesn't consider himself to have any right to mess with the local social structures, no matter how little he thinks of said structures. So he's not going to do a whole lot of speechifying, and in general he's going to leave the whole 'interpersonal relations' thing to other people. However, letting cold-blooded murder pass is a bit much!

So Jube's plan is to disarm Ramstein (yeah, I kinda assumed the feline wouldn't need to make a Disarm roll -- speedster vs. normal, you know?). If Ramstein persists in trying to do the prisoners harm, Jube will grab the man, open an external door, and throw him bodily off the train at a velocity of, hm, 50 MPH should suffice.

You say you want an Initiative roll? Okay; here's an Initiative roll (1d20+31=36).

[Supercape]

Thats good enough for me as suspected.

DIsarm will still have to be made however. Ramstein is a full NPC, and a toughy at that.

Ok Bookeeping then (let me know if I make any mistakes!)

36 Jubatus - 1 HP - Unharmed

25 Carrie - 2 HP - Unharmed

21 Ramstein - Unharmed

4 Fenris 1 HP - Unharmed

Jubatus is up first, disarm roll please (attack roll) if you succeed (Ramstein is flat footed and has Defence of +8, +4 flat footed) then opposed roll your damage vs Ramsteins Strength (he has STR 20, +5 bonus).

[Cubist]

Hmm. Okay... Jube has +12 in Melee, and he's 'attacking' unarmed, so I think his +4 STR modifier should apply to the attack roll. Jube can Take 10 for this roll; if he does, he ends up with 10 + 12 + 4 = 26. This should be a successful roll, given Ramstein's flat-footed +4 Defense. Next is the 'damage' roll; with a Take 10 on that, Jube gets a 'roll' of 26 + 10 = 36... which compares favorably to Ramstein's 20 + 5 = 25.

On the assumption that I have grokked the relevant rules, I'm going to Take 10 as and where necessary, and thus grab Ramstein's toy away from him. If I've messed up somewhere, I'll roll as needed...

[Supercape]

Ramstein isnt a minion, so cant take 10 for attack roll, sorry.

I presume you are disarming with your strike (you may as well!)

As far as I understand it (And i may be wrong) - disarming is a standard melee attack roll (+12 in your case, Ramsteins defence is +4 as he is flat footed).

If it hits (which looks pretty likely from above) Then Ramstein resists your attacks damage with his strength. So 1d20+7 (your strike) versus 1d20+5 (Ramsteins Strength).

You can of course elect to shift down your attack roll by up to -2 to increase your "damage" (in this case your opposed disarm roll) by +2.

I think thats right anyhow.

EDIT: One important point, the above is true if you are using your strike (which will knock the weapon to the floor).

If you are disarming using your hands (and unarmed strike) your "damage" drops to 1d20+4 (strength bonus), which of course lowers your odds of actually disarming. However, if you succeed, you end up with the pistol in your hand! neat!

Finally, of course, if you "hit" you are welcome to burn an HP to gain the "Improved Disarm" feat for this attack: this gives you +4 on your opposed disarm roll. No pressure to do this, I just throw it in as a reminder.

[Cubist]

Jube will do the attack:damage shift thing and use his bare forepaws. His Disarm (attack) roll (1d20+12-2=12) is... not great, but still offers a decent chance of success; assuming it does succeed, his Disarm ('damage') roll (1d20+4+2=8)... sucks even worse. Feh. Well, there's still a chance that Ramstein will have worse luck with dice than Jube. Not going to burn a HP for a re-roll; even if Jube doesn't actually succeed in taking the weapon away, he's damn sure going to prevent Ramstein from actually firing at anything that can bleed, and that's what's important. I'll chalk this up as "the cheetah begins to learn the limits of what his Timeshift lets him get away with".

[Supercape]

1d20+5=6 well would you believe it

Jube has a steam powered revolver in his paws! nice going.

Ill allow you the option of throwing in a complication here: he cant fire it due to his paws... that would be worth an HP if you think its appropriate or wish it. Your call, depending on how Jubes Anatomy feels to you (And remembering this is rather "antiquated", but effective steampunk technology).

In any case, post IC!

[Supercape]

Moving out of combat now that Ramstein has been disarmed.

Sense Motive rolls versus Ramstein, DC 21

[Cubist]

The revolver: I'm inclined to think that Jube's fingers are just too thick and clumsy to use this weapon. However, Jube isn't planning to use the thing, so I'm unsure if a Hero Point award is actually warranted in this case? If you think it is, I will of course accept said award with gratitude!

It's worth noting that Jube has Acute and Tracking on his Olfactory Sense; this super-sensitive sense of smell can conceivably tell him what emotions people are feeling, which may or may not grant him a bonus on Sense Motive rolls. Jube's baseline roll to Sense Motive on Ramstein (1d20+3=16) is not good enough, unless the nose thing is good for a +5 bonus. Which it may very well not be, so I'm good either way.

[Supercape]

I might hand out a +2 for that, but +5 is pushing it sorry (And im normally Mr. Generous with situation bonuses!)

[Cubist]

[nods] No worries, gov'. The cheetah does have a few PP unspent, so this might be something to add to his character sheet after this thread is done.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie has no Sense Motive, so I'll pay an HP for +4 in it, 23, awesome.

[Supercape]

Ramstein is bluffing.. or at least, he is cool and calm - the anger is a show.

[Cubist]

Jubatus suspects the two prisoners could have some useful information -- can't imagine why -- so his next move is 'try to talk to the prisoners'. He doesn't speak their language, so he's going to find out if they understand any of the three languages he knows. To begin with, he'll kneel down next to them, out of arm's reach so they won't be worried about the catman chewing on their livers, and facing them. He'll raise his forepaws, palms forward, in a gesture meant to demonstrate that he means them no harm. And he'll talk. First, the feline will try "¿Habla usted español?" Do you speak Spanish? If this gets a positive response, Jube will continue talking to them in Spanish. Second, "Parlez-vous français?" Do you speak French? Again, a positive response here means Jube continues in this tongue. And if neither of those work, the cheetah will end with "Do you speak English?" ¿Hablas Inglés?

If Jube just can't break the language barrier, his next move will be to bring in one of the native police from outside, so he can ask questions.

[Supercape]

If Jube just can't break the language barrier, his next move will be to bring in one of the native police from outside, so he can ask questions.

Good Idea!

Unfortunately the thugee can only speak "native", but police translators will work fine. Post away IC.

[KnightDisciple]

Carrie's stomach nearly lurched as the train did. She had to grab onto a window ledge to keep upright as grabbed her head,

"This is not good."

Taking a few steps she felt herself get woozy but pushed it down as she grabbed Ms. Wells hands and started to pull her forward in a hurried pace not really looking back as she spoke.

"Rammie's dumping the evidence, Ms. Wells and I will go to the front and try and stop the train there. Fenris can you take your metal suite and do what you can to slow it from the outside?"

Putting aside the fact it's suit, not suite (he's not wearing an apartment!), Fenris has no ranks in Super-Strength. He could stunt it, but his suit's always been a bit tight on budget.

One option would be to teleport near the front and actually detach the rest of the cars from the engine. He could pull a pin, or just cut it away with his claws if it comes to that.