Roland’s player was occupied watching his young niece, so Templar and Kina squared off in a hand-to-hand sparring match. In the first round, as they closed with each other, they rolled matching initiative totals. We interspersed their attacks, but Templar quickly discovered that though he possessed the knowledge and skill to strike vulnerable spots (Mystic abilities), Kina was much faster (4 attacks per round!). Only one blow landed in the first round as Templar scored a lucky hit, and Kina failed her Physical Attack save.
Windu healed the combatants, and the second round began. Kina took charge and landed a couple shots, but Templar was ready and rolled with the punches, making his Physical Attack saves, and then returning fire. Kina seemed to be having trouble with the concept of turning aside blows, as her saves kept failing. Then Templar surged to the attack, taking initiative in the third round. After weathering the storm, Kina unleashed a furious frenzy of attacks, scoring three hits on four strikes, none of which Templar saved against!
Windu halted the combat and asked what the pair had learned. Both recognized the difference in their fighting styles — Kina’s raw chaotic ferocity and alacrity against Templar’s more studious use of fewer but more powerful strikes, very much in line with their Spheres. Pleased with how quickly the Initiates recognized such concepts, Windu offered praise, and then moved into an object lesson. Shedding his overrobe, he asked the Initiates if they could apply what they had learned so far: an open challenge!
The two young Immortals took up the challenge with gusto. Kina charged forward, with Templar just behind. But Kina was going for a fake-out. She pulled up and cast Flesh to Stone on the elder Immortal, who had suppressed his powerful (70%) anti-magic field. Windu closed his eyes and breathed once, resisting the spell. Then Templar flew through the air and let loose a flying kick, which Windu blocked easily.
Now it was Windu’s turn to demonstrate the might of an experienced Immortal. Suddenly between the Initiates, he leveled two attacks at each. Two titanic blows rocked the unprepared Templar, who failed both Physical Attack saves and flew backward under the assault. Then Windu rounded on Kina — and missed his first strike, rolling a 1 for an automatic failure. Kina’s diminutive stature allowed her to duck the punch! Windu corrected and struck again, landing a blow on her temple, but Kina’s hair moved of its own accord to soften the blow as she made her save.
Kina, undeterred by her earlier failure, cast Flesh to Stone once more, and this time Windu was unable to resist its effects. As Templar launched into the sky to gain some room to heal himself, Windu became a statue! The Initiates had no desire to pound on the elder Immortal’s stone form, and combat ended. Windu congratulated the young Immortals for their quick learning, but cautioned them that there would be foes they would be powerless against, and that they had only scratched the surface of their abilities. They could come to the Arena at any time to practice.
Now it was time to introduce the Initiates to their Home Planes. Windu led the way from the Arena, into the sky and across the planar boundary separating the first level of the city from the second. Here there were fewer visitors, and most of the entities were flying; there were still many angels about. Windu took the Initiates to an area where house-sized planar spheres floated above a bowl-like depression in the plateau. He told them the nature of Home Planes, informed them of the increased power of an Immortal inside his or her Home Plane, and cautioned them that death inside their Home Planes was total and final. With that, he left them to find their Homes, and I turned the game over to the players to describe their desires.
Kina’s desire was revealed as a massive, twisting roller coaster with multiple station stops, each station a building of some kind. Templar’s desire was a city by the ocean, in reality a massive library complex. Speaking later with Roland’s player, he described the dragon’s desire as an island of “blueberry barrens”, a geography peculiar to Maine, and Normandy-like fields and hedgerows. For their further learning and participation, the characters received an award of 2 Power, bringing their Permanent Power to 304.
Now that the players have been introduced to basic concepts and played with their abilities some, the campaign itself can begin. I will not be running the game in November because of NaNoWriMo, and I do not know if we will get another session in before then, so I have plenty of time to plan. Also, Kina’s player pointed out something I had misread — the Mystic Abilities Power costs three choices, so I needed to fix Windu’s sheet. That has been done and the correction appears in the previous post.
Polyhedral Dreams 
Posted on October 29, 2010
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