From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Fri Apr 20 07:22:46 2001 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (majordom@lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA08385 for ; Fri, 20 Apr 2001 07:22:46 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id HAA29323 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Fri, 20 Apr 2001 07:29:22 -0500 Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 07:29:22 -0500 Message-Id: <200104201229.HAA29323@lists.io.com> From: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com (in_nomine-digest) To: in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Subject: in_nomine-digest V1 #2170 Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com Sender: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Errors-To: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Precedence: bulk in_nomine-digest Friday, April 20 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2170 In this digest: Re: IN> Rings IN> Whisper not the name of madness... Part One IN> G.I. Angel Re: IN> Live Friday Gaming IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) Re: IN> "Hi, my name is Moe, and I have no shame." IN> A few web pages Re: IN> "Hi, my name is Moe, and I have no shame." IN> Laurence in the Land of the Kami Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) Re: IN> Laurence in the Land of the Kami Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 19:32:41 -0400 From: damienw@juno.com Subject: Re: IN> Rings Firstly... sorry, all, for my post after it was declared verboten. such is the wonder of not reading your mail throughly before hitting "reply". But hey, let's drag this back to yummy fun In Nomine-y goodness! On Thu, 19 Apr 2001 10:48:30 -0700 (PDT) Michael Walton writes: > > Not to mention being truer to Tolkien. > > "Three for the Elven kings under the sky, > Seven for the Dwarf Lords in their halls of stone, > Nine rings for mortal men doomed to die..." Okay, time to take a few liberties with Moe's idea. And no, I'm not taking anything other than numbers from Tolkien. :) - ---- Let us say that, at one time, the Archangels DID try to destroy the ring. And, to a point, it succeeded. A few dozen Forces split off... and formed another ring. Under the theory that many, less-powerful rings would be less worrisome than one, extremely-powerful Ring, they kept doing it. The Ring seemed to grow more resistant each time, and it took more and more Essence to peel off fewer and fewer Forces... and the Ring still had something in the neighborhood of a couple of a million *left*. After the nineteenth try, it was calculated that to try again would take more Essence than all of Heaven possessed, counting every Archangel, angel, reliever, and blessed soul. So it was judged that until a more effective method of destroying it could be found, it would be best to just package up the thing and toss it into the Volcano. As the lesser rings are composed similarly to THE Ring, Heaven has kept them around in order to experiment. In case you're wondering, the method used to split them off the original doesn't work on the lesser ones. Nor does any other method of destruction known to date. On the other hand, the lesser rings are just a bit more controllable. Three of them had their forces hardly damaged by the process, and seem to be composed of mostly pure angelic forces. These act as reliquaries/12. Yes, that's not supposed to be possible, but the rings don't care much about anyone's opinion in the matter. Their cost is rather mild; they inflict a point of dissonance each time they are used, plus one per day of possession - it doesn't have to be worn of this point to hit. Their angelic nature remains; any demons handling these rings burn as if they were standing in the Light of Heaven. (Etherials, mortals, and the like are unaffected, regardless of their temperment.) Seven of the rings were a bit more damaged during the process. In addition to the properties of the above, they can teach Songs. The number and kind of songs each ring "knows" is random. Every week or so, the user can make a d666 roll - if it's below 8, they may learn one of the Songs, or have their current level in the Song bumped up by one. *Which* Song is chosen by the GM, so you're just as likely to learn the Celestial Song of Pastry as anything else. The downside is, if the user accepts this knowledge, they also get a level of Discord, just like *the* Ring. (You can choose not to, if your heart is pure... but if you've any Discord, or even dissonance, you'll need to make a Will roll to resist doing so.) As for the other nine... they got quite fractured. In fact, each is composed of proto-demonic Forces, so to speak. Etherials aren't affected much by them - they might act a bit more selfishly and "demonic" if they didn't already, but that's about it. Demons aren't affected at all. Angels get a chance at making a Perception roll when they put one of the nine on - make it, and the angel recognizes it for what it is and may safely take it off. Fail it, and they go straight into Trauma on the spot, except for Malakim, who just drop-kick the ring in question across the room. On Infernal Interventions, the angel Falls on the spot, again except for Malakim, who take 1d6 Dissonance. Humans get the most "benefit" from the nine fractured rings - they gain a sixth Force if they didn't already have one, and the ability to control their Essence... but they turn into undead. Even if they already had those two abilities. (Exactly what sort is a GM call.) Heaven keeps these under tight containment, but hasn't actually sealed them away, as they tend to be the handiest to experiment with... and the safest, if you let Malakim do the handling. Oh, and *all* nineteen of the rings look *exactly* alike. Just so you know. - --- damienw[et]juno.com "To kill a man between panels is to condemn him to a thousand deaths." - Scott McCloud ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 23:45:59 -0000 From: "Fallen Seraph" Subject: IN> Whisper not the name of madness... Part One In Heaven: Blandine gazed sorrowfully down at the shattered, discord ridden angel before her. for the past three days it had done nothing but whimper, sob, and shudder. "Have you found her companions?" the white lady demanded of the malakite behind her. "Not yet Milady." came the subdued reply "We fear they are prisoners in Beleth's realm." "Curse him! how much more suffering? how much more pain? Damn him!" blandine's voice was breaking with anguish. "Curse Him, and Curse his mother!" The broken angel stirred, and muttered. few words were intelligable. amongst them was a name... "Aballam..." On earth: The doctor did his best to console the woman who was sobbing into his lab-coat. "We'll take the very best care of him, don't worry. he's in the best hands. I promise" Behind them, through the inch thick glass of the Padded cell's window, a man lay, curled in a foetal position. the walls covered in ramblings and symbols and long-dead languages. Amongst the rabid scrawlings, one word could be made out, repeated over and over and over. "Aballam." In Hell: in the labyrinthine tunnels of pandemonium, there is a room. it is not a large room, and it's walls are covered in distorting mirrors. In this room sits a throne of amber. trapped in it's crystaline fabric, there are creatures so hideous the eye refuses to fully see them out of fear for the mind's health. Upon this throne, wearing a top-hat and tails, and gazing intently into the crystal on the top of his cane, there is a Demon Prince. If you strain your ears past the heavy silence, and listen, just so, you can hear the voices whisper a name... Aballam. The Demon Prince of Madness smiles. It is not a pleasant smile... - -FallenSeraph "I still believe in God, but He no longer believes in me..." http://eternalcity.freeservers.com ICQ: 110193631 _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 19:55:55 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> G.I. Angel >Only for a second or two. This is *exciting*. :^) Wow you have some awesome ideas for all this. There's all sorts of things that can be run with this particular kind of campaign too.... I even already have an adventure hook. PSI corps: A Shedim of Beleth is terrorizing the Base in an attempt to lower moral and everyone becomes incredibly paranoid with the creature running loose through the halls of the Prodject Archangel base. The only hope for the group is to trap the creature inside a dreamscape before prematurely dumping several soldiers into the Marches.... Depending on how much they know about this, it could be quite the hair raising experience and how come Dr. Sleepstuff knows so much about the Dreamrealms? It works equally well for Gehenna's fist and a Kyriotate who is turning everyone against one another. Once the soldiers are awakened as Lucid dreamers a whole net of oppurtunities opens for the kind of operations that would really test a soldier to his limits but also give them plenty of oppurtunities to learn songs, artifacts, and take out humanity's foes. Heaven's reaction once a treaty's made with Valhalla.... (The Marches are really the only place for humans to be able to take out demons soul kill wise anyway...at least while they are still alive) Other agencies: Prodject Archangel and Gehenna's fist offers plenty of oppurtunities for facing other groups of soldiers too from the Vatican Corps, the Seagull society, to more aristocratic sorcerors cults, and heaven's knows what else (or Hell knows actually). However other agencies of governments with less or more association with Celestials might also prove most intriguing.... (Delta Green shows a wide number of agencies across the world that deal with the Mythos of Cthulhu in various ways) A game like this presents a wealth of oppurtunity for adventures ranging from La Femme Nikita where small surgical strikes are the norm to large battles in hopefully isolated areas. To be perfectly trite it's a very interesting encounter for members of Prodject Archangel to find out about the former Soviet Union's version of Prodject Archangel which has completely misinterpreted the situation of Celestials to the belief that they are a race of aliens which is trying to take over the Earth and are in the midst of a civil war (angels? How peasant). Finding out that an entire government has allied with them....uh oh. Of course the reverse can be true (Prodject Archangel or Gehenna's fist taking out "allied groups") as Ethereals make good "background villians too". Imagine a Nato operation (or resistance operation) where a Island dictator has used the Thai god Phra Sao for a symbol of his regime and demanded his worship in the form of government...in return the dictator has been given the Sword of Phra Sao....which has recently got some powers back. The possibilities are endless and while less angel effecting, it really does - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 19:51:33 -0700 From: "Perry Lloyd" Subject: Re: IN> Live Friday Gaming > > >*perk* Friday afternoons? Not... *hopehope*... online, by any chance...? > > > And just to completely dash my hopes, y'all are depressingly far away from > Santa Cruz California, right? I am thinking you may have mentioned New > Hampshire in some context or another... > (trying to imagine even trying to talk the wife into that... Not working...) > > -Daiv Uh, I live in Ohio. That's in the same country . . . - -Perry perrylloyd@hotmail.com pl312993@oak.cats.ohiou.edu http://www.geocities.com/llloyd.geo "As long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it. " - --Dick Cavett ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 20:07:49 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) A man dies in an Ultra Dark In Nomine game.... He achieved his destiny but discovered that Lucifer has taken over Heaven, killed God, and now makes an offer to every man and woman who comes into Heaven. They can either bend their knee and worship Lucifer or they can go to Hell for all time and suffer in the darknes for being good. The man (myself in this example) chooses to take the long dive into Hell. (From a sermon of mine I wrote in college) *** A Malakim knows that God has made a decree that every Angel that has been soul-killed will not be ressurected on the Last day (or at least believes this) because God himself dissaproves of the War and this is his (unfair and improbable for God but hey you control brightness) way of showing it. Surounded by 40 demons of the War in a warehouse, Baal gives him the chance to bend his knee and serve Hell. The Malakim lifts his sword and charges. *** A Demon has chosen to set himself against Lucifer even though he knows Heaven will never allow him back or is evil (he believes) the demon however despises what Lucifer has done to humanity and vows as a renegade to wage war against Hell....he has no hope of victory or advancement of but the minorest of victories.... But he fights...because he can do nothing less. Every moment is precacious if ultimately futile of living up to one's princibles that God represents the pinnacle of. *** The Ring may ultimately destroy everything and everyone but an angel may keep hope that he can give the universe may produce enough destiny bound souls that God is finally strong enough to destroy the ring once and for all....or that he can destroy the universe and then rebuild it with the ring gone with the universe....or that they may die knowing they have not been cowards before it. The In Nomine universe is a place where man and angel build their own hope because they honestly believe despite no evidence to the contrary but their own hearts that something is truly correct. Demons have no reason to believe Lucifer can ever possibly one but they still do, the Tsaydim have no real evidence Uriel wasn't promptly soul killed by God once he got up the stairs but they fight still his crusade, angels have no evidence God still approves of their mission save his keeping two of his archangels from being soul killed by his brethren. Think on that. It is all because they in their hearts believe the universe to be a just and fair place, even the demons who scorn it. - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 00:14:45 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) [snip long list of impressive examples] >Think on that. I did. Just one problem. The characters can believe that they are nobly fighting a hopeless struggle. But if they were my characters, then the player would know damn well that he'd been playing a game where the game designer has rigged it so that his loss is inevitable. I am not so entirely lost to romanticism that I couldn't find some pleasure in role-playing the hopelessly doomed struggle -- heck, I currently hold our college role-playing club's record for "Most # of characters who died during heroic acts of self-sacrifice in faith". (Five. Last year.) However, all of those were in games where the player knew and accepted the score going in. If the player had gone in expecting something else and got something else entirely... he'd have gotten up and left. Which is why I said what I did, way back in the post that ignited this whole firestorm, re: 'And this is the point where I'd leave'. >It is all because they in their hearts believe the universe to be a just >and fair place, even the demons who scorn it. You are talking about an act of faith. I can and have roleplayed those. I can and haved lived those in real life. But only when I have absolutely no choice about doing otherwise. - -- Chuckg _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 20:14:51 -0400 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> "Hi, my name is Moe, and I have no shame." At 5:34 PM -0400 4/19/01, damienw@juno.com wrote: >On Thu, 19 Apr 2001 07:21:52 -0500 "Charles Glasgow" > writes: >> (OTOH, thinking about what would happen if *Yves* put this sucker >> on, now there's something I hadn't considered...) > > The Symphonic equivilent of a General Protection Fault? The same thing that happened when Tom Bombadil encountered the One Ring -- nothing. They're just not compatible. Or so I say. - -- Eric Alfred Burns - Habbalite of Belaboring the Point ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 01:27:52 +0100 From: Omentide Subject: IN> A few web pages A while ago, and some of you might remember, I posted a couple of vignettes. These and some other IN stuff can now be found at http://freespace.virgin.net/omentide.omentide/Creation.html These pages are non canonical (for which I make no excuse). I think the content is fun and different. It includes an IN scenario which was accepted and played at Gaelcon 2000. If any of you want to take a look and make comments feel free to do so. Thanks Ashley. Ashley and Hilary omentide.omentide@virgin.net http://freespace.virgin.net/omentide.omentide ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 19:49:34 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> "Hi, my name is Moe, and I have no shame." Charles Glasgow wrote: > Honestly, when I said that I'd walk out of a game being played like this,> the responses to that varied between 'Chuckg is being unreasonable' and> 'Chuckg is being *really* unreasonable'. What, so I'm not allowed to say> that I really don't enjoy something? Problem is, that's not what you said. What you said was "I'd walk out of the game and accuse the GM of railroading me." A little later, it suddenly became "I just don't like dark gaming," but initially it was "This scenario is broken and unacceptable, and everyone who thinks otherwise is wrong." - -David (of course I'm in his killfile, so why am I bothering? ) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 22:50:42 -0400 From: "Rolland Therrien" Subject: IN> Laurence in the Land of the Kami All this talk of Gundamms, Transformers and Mini-Monsters has gotten me inspired to resume my old "Crusade of the Sword" series of stories, with a new story to add. To those of you unfamiliar with the series, it involves Laurence going out into the Marches to personally recruit Ethereals for God's armies, so as to finally put this "Are Ethereals Good or Evil" debate to an end. You can probably find my old stories at the IN Collection. Enjoy! - -Crusade of the Sword - -Land of a Thousand Spirits. "So, this is the land of the Kamis," thought Laurence as he slowly stepped closer to the outer borders. He had to admit, it was an interesting sight, blending the calm, feudal beauty of Edo-Era Japan with ultra-tech and High Fantasy elements here and there, including the capital city of the Kamis, Neo-Tokyo, and on the nearby hill, Empress Amaterasu's Sun Palace, his destination. "Truly, this is a beautiful land... I don't know if I should thank God the Purity Crusade ended before we reached it, or curse Hell for claiming a hold on it afterwards..." He walked closer, having left his new Ethereal companions back at the campsite, wanting to do this on his own. As he approached the boarders, he wondered why he had yet to see any guards... ...Then, as he heard the mighty roar, he remembered the Outer Boarders of the land of the Kamis already had four mighty guardians: The Dragon of the East, the Phoenix of the North, the Tiger of the East, and the Turtle of the South. He drew his sword and readied himself for battle, when he turned Eastward... ...And was most surprised to saw the "Dragon" he expected was over 50 feet tall, walked on two legs and reminded him of a few posters Eli had shown him once... "Yes, Christian, that IS Gojira." Laurence turned around to see a man in a strange, military looking orange jumpsuit, who had appeared right behind him, while a small child with a crystal necklace kept to his right and a large butterfly carrying two faeries hovered to his left. The man held up a crystal rod in his hand, and pointed it at the Archangel. "The envoys from the Lords of Yama warned us of your coming, Celestial. But we assure you, the Four Guardians will not let you pass unchallenged!" He then turned to the child and nodded, and she closed her eyes, her necklace glowing with red light as he turned to the two faeries, who began their song as he held up his crystal Rod: "Mosura, ya, Mosura, dongan kasakuyan in doo mu rustoritoradoa hanba hanbamuyan radabanuradan tonjyu kanraa kasaku yaanmu" Suddenly, from the South came a circular UFO, resembling a blue Ofanite, landed on the ground in an explosion, uncurling in the large, fire-breathing turtle beast known as Gamera, as from the North the Immortal Moth-Goddess known as Mothra flew down from the Ethereal sky. The man, as for himself, disappeared in a flash of light, reppearing covered in a costume of red and blue stripes and slashes, Ultraman, a strange tiger walking like a man, who soon held up his arm and grew to giant size. Laurence lept away as Ultraman stomped his foot where he stood, and pointed his blade at the giants who began surrounding him. "I must admit, I had not expected you all to have used the Media to alter yourselves so. But if you think you have me beaten, I assure you, I will not be defeated so easily!" He then held his sword and closed his eyes, and began to concentrate. In the Marches, perception of the mind is far more important then perception of the senses. This is why travel by walking sometimes took forever, or but an instant, even within relativly similar distances. It was also why time seemed such an inconsistant thing there. Laurence knew that such things as size and shape held little meaning in the Marches, except for the meaning one assigned to them. He was an Archangel, they were Guardian Spirits. He was a Celestial, they were Ethereals. They were giants... So he to, had to be a giant. Needless to say, the Four Giants were quiet stunned when Laurence suddenly turned himself into a giant version of himself, his features concealed in Gold and Black armor, his wings folded on his back as he raised his sword to fight again. Godzilla, Ultraman, Mothra and Gamera fought valiantly, but ultimatly, without the illusion of titanic power of their giant size, they could not challenge the power of an Archangel in combat. Still, Laurence could read the honor and loyalty in their fight, and held back from killing them, only subduing them as he continued towards the city of Neo-Tokyo, keeping his giant size as he expected more trouble. Which he soon found, as large, robotic giants approached the city from both all sides. Mazingers, Grandizers, Valkyries, Gundams and even the loathsome Evas, all were readying their firearms and other weapons, facing him threateningly. Laurence soon saw they were all ready to give their lives in the protection of their homeland, like Holy Samurai in Ultratechnological Armors. Laurence nodded and lowered his blade for a moment; "I have to admit, I'm impressed. Not by your weapons, mind you, but by your courage. Even though you will not stop me, you are more then ready to give your lives in an attempt to do so. Your valor speaks volumes of you." One of the Mecha-Warriors, in a winged blue, red and white suit lowered his large twin-barreled rifle and pointed his finger at the Malakite, activating his loudspeaker to warn him, "Get out now, Archangel! You may have gone through the Guardians somehow, but you won't get past us. We were made to outpower the likes of you, and the Evas alone were made to fight Angels!" Laurence frowned and readied his blade again. "I warn you, Ethereal, do not dare compare those... "things" from that Blasphemous show to those of my kind." He then glared in the direction of the purple, blue and red Evas. "And don't think your "AT Fields" will keep me from destroying those abominations you pilot. If I were you, I'd eject now..." The only response Laurence got for his warning was a barrage of weapons fire from the Mechas. Gatlings and Blasters, guns and rayguns, and even more baroque weapons, all fired with the intent of killing him. Laurence simply raised his blade, and suddenly turned into a blur of movement, dodging, parrying and deflecting every blast as it hit him, moving like a whirling dervish as he inched slowly closer, until he was finally in Melee range, when he grinned and swung in front of him, disarming many of the Mechas by cutting their weapons. As the mechas stumbled backwards, Laurence grinned. "Good... Now we do things my way..." The Mecha Melee lasted as long as the Giants battle did, with the Mechas putting up a good fight, but not enough to prevent Laurence from prevailing, as he quickly disabled one Mecha after the other, sparing their pilots as he nonetheless plowed right through, until only the annoyingly insulting Evas stood in his way. He soon looked at them, and was not surprised to see these things were Vapulan in design, with the Forces of an Imp in each one, cloaked with the Ethereal Forces of the "Parents" of the pilots, in order to decieve the innocent Ethereal Youths. This one would be trickier then the others. As the Evas raised their AT Fields (Actually songs of Shields) and drew their Vibro-Knives (Actually Unholy Blades), Laurence steadied himself for a maneuver of great precision, and both sides charged to strike! With a few swift movements, Laurence dodged the Evas' knives and swung his blade at them, the AT Fields only stopping him for a second, as he tore through the combined field and stroke their weapons with his sword, disarming them as he raised his free hand and closed his eyes, humming softly as he Sung the Corporeal Song of Harmony, draining the aggression out of the pilots, causing the titanic monstrosities to fall on their knees as the Children within felt at peace, perhaps for the first time since they had taken on the daunting task of piloting these Demonically-created monstrosities. Laurence simply reached behind them and pulled the plug connecting the Evas to their Essence-Guzzling Power-Source, and soon the Titanic things fell down in shutdown mode, as Laurence shifted back to a more normal size to check on the poor children. As he finally placed the boy Shinji Ikari down on the ground, next to his friends, Laurence resonnated the lad and made a mental note to refer Gendou Ikari to Archangel Christopher. Ethereal or not, there are some things you don't do to Children, after all. But as he stood up to continue, he felt the presence of more warriors, these ones more his size. He turned around to see himself surrounded by men and women in fighting gear of different kinds, from warriors in astrologically-themed armors to women in common comfortable street garb. But, as he quickly resonnated them, he found them to be all dedicated martial artists, each one in their own special field of expertise. One of them, a boy in a red chinese shirt, his hair in a poney tail, stood before them and waved the Malakite off. "Go away, Celestial. We, the Fists of Amaterasu, are masters of the Fighting Arts. Your Angelic Tricks will not save you here." Laurence actually smiled at the boy's insolent courage, and simply sheathed his sword, folding his wings up to form a cape. "Oh, have no worry... I won't be using anything but my hands and feet in this battle... I so rarely get a chance to practice my Martial Arts." The Boy simply leapt into a fighting stance in front of Laurence, grinning. "You should've retreated. I'm Ranma Saotome, Undefeated champion of the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts." He then swung his fists at high speed, yelling "CHESTNUT FISTS" as his hands became a blur of movement, seemingly striking a thousand times... ...Each time, his blows deflected by Laurence's arms, until the flurry ended, with Laurence unharmed, still smiling. "Sorry, boy, but your Martial Arts is no match for the Seven Styles of Celestial Glory." Laurence then shifted, becoming a blur of circular movement as he took down Saotome and the other swift fighters through the quick blows of Blazing Wheel Style. Then, Ken the Fist of the North Star charged him, ready to use his lethal Pressure Points technique, which proved futile as Laurence's mastery of Relentless Perfection Style rendered him immune to his strikes, leaving the Ethereal very susceptible for an old fashionned Malakite haymaker. As the Astrological Knights of Athena came foreward and rained their blows at him, moving at incredible speeds with every strike, utilizing the awareness of Hundred Eyes style to keep track of each Knight and deflect their blows, before using the precise blows of Plumed Serpent style to knock them out, as the Street Fighters and the Kings of Fighters approached to attack as well. He shifted to Furious Guardian Wolf style as they closed in and struck, forcing him to dodge and parry more blows before striking. All in all, Laurence was attacked with more Ki, Psi, Shadow and Magic techniques in one fifteen minute back-alley brawl then he had ever seen in his entire career. And, as he used The Art of Eternal Friendship to effortlessly dodge the kicks and handstrikes of an exhausted Ryu, Laurence smiled from the vigorous work-out and decided to give the Ethereal a break, shifting to The Way of Divine Equilibrium to turn the Street Fighter's next blow into a throw, knocking the Shotokan fighter out by tossing him unto the ground, hard. Laurence simply smiled as he dusted himself off, then bowed to his incapacitated opponents and walked towards the palace. As he slowly left the city limits, Laurence found once more his way blocked, this time by children and teens, these accompanied by odd, yet cute-looking Monsters. Laurence winced inwardly, as he thought "Oh great... Not THESE, Lord..." One of them, a young dark-haired boy, turned his cap backwards as he stepped forward, a large yellow mouse leaping to the ground in front of him. "You may have gotten through the others, but you're not getting past us, the Beast Tamers!" The Electric Mouse at his feet yelped a "Pikachu!" to emphasize the point, as the other children stepped forward, their own monsters advancing, some ready to fight as is, others ready to Evolve to battle. Laurence took a hard, long look at them all, Resonnating them purely by habit, and found them all to be honorable and loyal to their partners and friends, be they Ethereal Child or Ethereal Monster, and decided to keep this simple. "Very Well, Children... If you insist in trying to stop me, then the least I can do is give you all a sporting chance. You all get one shot." The Monster Handlers blinked at this sudden turn of events, but their team leader simply drew out a ball and opened it, unleashing his large dragon-like Charizard, and pointed at the Archangel, calling out "Charizard, Flame-Thrower!" As the Dragon obeyed and engulfed Laurence in flames, the other children drew closer... only to see the flames die out, Laurence absolutly unscathed! The other children called out their own Monster Friends, Digivolving them to Ultimate or Mega, but to no avail. Laurence simply stood there and let the Monsters attack him, standing unharmed as each Nova Blast or Meteor Comet exploded off him, until finally the Monsters were out of attacks and Evolutions, at which point Laurence simply uncrossed his arms and spoke again. "Now that you've seen my resolve and strength, may I assume you realize how futile it is to fight me?" The children and monsters simply nodded and stepped back, as Laurence continued on to the palace. At the gates, he found himself stopped by a few more figures, the Dragon Ball Z warriors. Laurence simply closed his eyes and muttered "For the Love of Mike...", before leaping into action... Soon afterwards, The Palace doors (and the walls supporting them) exploded inwards, as Laurence tossed the unconscious bodies of Vegita and Piccolo inside, then stepped in and dropped Goku at his feet, then looked around and said "When he wakes up, tell him he was a more challenging opponent back when he still went by the identity of Monkey, the Sage and Warrior. He lacks cunning in this form." As soon as he said those words, however, he saw his next obstacle, Amaterau's personal handmaidens. Sailor Scouts and Cardcaptors, Goddesses and Wedding Peaches, Miracle Girls and Nurse Angels... All Magical Girls, handpicked by Amaterasu herself in various avatars, all trained in the arts of magic... ...and all Maidens in potential distress, if he drew his blade to attack them. As a man of honor, Laurence couldn't, for all his desire to see his mission through, bring himself to attack these young girls, even as they raised their wands and began chanting their magical attacks. He simply stood his ground and sang the Song of Shields, extending it to the unconscious Z Warriors at his feet, and withstood the barrage of magical attacks, like a stone in the middle of a wind-storm, until it finally died down, the girls having apparantly exhausted much of their Essence reserves in that blast, as they closed their formation and prepared themselves to serve as human shields in defense of their Goddess. Laurence simply lowered his song and stepped forward, then spoke out in perfect Japanese, "Is this how the Goddess Amaterasu defends herself? By hiding behind her handmaidens, like a child behind her mother's skirt?" He crossed his arms and stood his ground, waiting for an answer. "Watch your Words, Malakite! I will not be judged by one such as yourself." As these words were spoken, the Magical Girls parted, revealing the glorious image of Amaterasu Omikami, dressed in bright golden robes and shining light, stepping forward to face the Malakite Archangel, illuminating his form with her brightness. As he heard some of the Magical Girls comment "Hey, he's cute!", Laurence silently gave thanks that his dark skin didn't show his embarassing blush, then unclapsed his sword belt and placed it to his right as he knelt forward, kowtowing to the Divine Empress. She blinked, then smiled and nodded as she came to him. "I am honored by your acts, Blackwing, and I am thankful you have not killed my People, dispite their futile attempts at fighting you." Laurence looked up and nodded. "I could not bare myself to harm them, as I saw them to be honorable in intention and in behavior, their only wrong being their unwanted taind to the Media." As he said these words, the Archangel could feel more presences walking into the Throne room, as the mentionned warriors walked back in, some in pain from their fight, others merely feeling shame from their failure, but all alive and well. Amaterasu nodded. "True, but the Media Lord of Yama has allowed us to acheive a new, strong Source of Essence, and the small tithe he asks of us is a mere pittance, compared to the flow of Essence we've managed to secure, right from under his nose. He thinks he controls us, but we have more then enough Essence to make our own way, whenever we feel it will be opportune for us to do so." Laurence simply stood up to look the Goddess in the eyes, and asked "And do you think Nybbas will continue to protect you from Beleth, as soon as he figures out your game?" Amaterasu pondered the question, then replied with a question of her own, "And What does Heaven offer us instead?" "All the Essence you can collect, free reign in Blandine's side of the Marches, and protection from Beleth and Hell. And all we ask in return is your loyalty to Heaven, and obediance to God's Laws." The Omikami nodded at the terms. "And that is all?" Laurence nodded. "Indeed. And I assure you, none of you will be forced to participate in Saminga's Bloodbaths, or Andrealphus' depraved productions anymore." As he said these words, a collective sigh of relief came from the Kamis, and Laurence felt he'd won the crowd. And, as Amaterasu smiled and knelt before him, he realized he'd won her over as well. Laurence smiled in relief as he drew his belt knife and cut his finger open, preparing to convert Amaterasu and all her Kamis... - -Exit the LoneWolf ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 05:45:26 From: "Jo Hart" Subject: Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) > >But if they were my characters, then the player would know damn well that >he'd been playing a game where the game designer has rigged it so that his >loss is inevitable. > How would you know that? You might know that your idea didn't work, but is that the same thing? jo _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 00:45:49 -0500 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> Laurence in the Land of the Kami - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rolland Therrien" To: "In Nomine Mailing List" Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2001 9:50 PM Subject: IN> Laurence in the Land of the Kami [snip] > Laurence actually smiled at the boy's insolent courage, and simply > sheathed his sword, folding his wings up to form a cape. "Oh, have > no worry... I won't be using anything but my hands and feet in this > battle... I so rarely get a chance to practice my Martial Arts." "... except with Sgt-Major Samuel and Michael, both of whom keep wiping the floor with me." *g* [snip] > Soon afterwards, The Palace doors (and the walls supporting them) > exploded inwards, as Laurence tossed the unconscious bodies of Vegita > and Piccolo inside, then stepped in and dropped Goku at his feet, > then looked around and said "When he wakes up, tell him he was a more > challenging opponent back when he still went by the identity of Monkey, > the Sage and Warrior. He lacks cunning in this form." Ooooooo... *low* blow, Rolland. *g* - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 01:01:16 -0500 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jo Hart" To: Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 5:45 AM Subject: Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) > >But if they were my characters, then the player would know damn well that > >he'd been playing a game where the game designer has rigged it so that his > >loss is inevitable. > How would you know that? Among other things, because of the subject header. They were *supposed* to be examples of truly hopeless battles. > You might know that your idea didn't work, but is > that the same thing? Errrr... those three examples of Charles' weren't exactly ones where loss *wasn't* inevitable, were they? - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 07:59:49 From: "Jo Hart" Subject: Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) > > > How would you know that? > >Among other things, because of the subject header. They were *supposed* >to >be examples of truly hopeless battles. > I just mean that if you were in a game where a GM had some similar (but not identical) idea, you wouldn't have had the advantage of reading emails -- so how would you figure out if the situation was actually hopeless or not? jo _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 07:20:14 -0500 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jo Hart" To: Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 7:59 AM Subject: Re: IN> The Ethics of the Hopeless Battle (was the Ring) > > > How would you know that? > > > >Among other things, because of the subject header. They were *supposed* > >to be examples of truly hopeless battles. > I just mean that if you were in a game where a GM had some similar (but not > identical) idea, you wouldn't have had the advantage of reading emails -- so > how would you figure out if the situation was actually hopeless or not? Usually, by playing it through to the end session(s), by which point it becomes self-evident. Sometimes, the punch is telegraphed so blatantly that I don't need to hold out that long. However, I can't give you any answers more definitive than this, 'cause the judgement call must obviously be done on a case-by-case basis using lots of data that can't be detailed here (such as context, nuance, details of foreshadowing, the DM's prior history, etc.) - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2170 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2001 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.