TrialByFire/ShunVersusMonkey

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The First Trial: Shun versus Monkey.

The Combatants

  • TrialByFire/BrokenWingShun: IanPrice's champion, relying on the Celestial Monkey style and how its pinnacle charm allows him to use any weapon and armor with the style's charms.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 10/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 41/40/81, ECG: 75/0/75, DV plty: 0, Soak: 20B/17L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
  • TrialByFire/MonkeyTBF : TonyC's champion, master of three different martial art styles and confident that this gives him the ability to find or make a hole in any given opponent's defenses.
M: -|---|----|-|-, wp 9/9, psnl: 14/10/24, prph: 57/0/57, DV plty: 0, Soak: 4B/2L/0A
Note: For this fight, Monkey chooses not to bring his switchklaves.

The Set-Up

Along a beach below a rocky cliffside, a man in silver armor halts within sight of a fishing village, looking about him. The surf washes the shore nearby at low tide, gulls calling and flying past in the afternoon sun. From his back, the man withdraws a giant golden hammer, spinning it with a lazy ease.

Meanwhile, on top of the cliff, Monkey stands watching the sun slowly inching towards the horizon while drinking from a top-chopped coconut. A flash of light attracts his attention and he raises the hand holding the grilled fish up, to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun. He looks down. "Oh, he's here. Early too. I thought I said sunset." He shrugs and jumps down, landing casually some ten yards away from Shun. "You're early." He extends his left hand and the coconut falls right into it, not spilling a drop of juice. "You want to wait or should we get started right away?" He extends his right hand and the grilled fish... does not appear. Monkey looks up, surprised, and sees a seagull beating its wings hard making its escape, grilled fish within its beak. "Come back here, you thief!" He takes a deep sigh and looks at Shun again. "I hate seagulls."

Shun turns, smiling at the flight of the thieving seagull. "Men like us do not keep too many appointments. I am in no rush to begin, though I am sure the very stones of this beach anticipate the battle to come." A slight glow lights his forehead as he settles into the blissful tranquility of his favored form, settling the head of his hammer gently on the sand. A slight breeze picks up, lapping waves a few feet further up the beach. "I see no reason to delay."

Shun invokes Celestial Monkey Form
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 10/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 41/40/81, ECG: 70/5/75, DV plty: 0, Soak: 20B/17L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A

"Hey, whatever tickles your funny bone, matey," Monkey shrugs. He raises his coconut and drinks from it. At that very moment, two people step forward from within Monkey. The first one, clean and impeccably dressed in a sailor's attire but still unmistakably Monkey, bows to Broken Wing Shun and greets him. "It is a pleasure to discuss one of the higher arts with a master such as you, Master Shun. This humble one asks the master to bring him a few steps closer to enlightenment. In return, we shall endeavor to pass to you what little knowledge we have, on the chance that there might have been some trivial detail that you may have overlooked." The second one, yet another Monkey, is naked and dirty, with wild unkempt hair and a savage look. He drops into a crouch and walks an all fours perhaps a dozen steps away, sniffing the air and the ground. Finding a spot he likes, he circles it three times before plopping down and starts scratching his ears with his feet. All this time though, always keeping an eye on Shun.

Monkey invokes Three Fold Partition of the Soul. This effect lasts 30 ticks, but since combat hasn't been joined, using a guideline of 1 action = 6 ticks, we'll call it 5 actions, of which the invocation itself counts as one.
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 8/9, psnl: 4/20/24, prph: 57/0/57, DV plty: 0, Soak: 4B/2L/0A
(Self-reminder) Active charms: 3-fold Partition. 10 motes committed for 30 ticks from the personal pool)

Shun's grin turns to a smirk, his muscles suddenly bulging and glistening with Essence. The blue fire within the gem that hangs around his neck diminishes to nothing, leaving a lifeless black diamond. "Indeed."

Shun activates Body of War Meditation, increasing Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina by 5 each.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 10/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 41/40/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: 0, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A

Sensing impending violence, Savage Monkey rises on all fours and growls. He bares his teeth at Shun but he stays close to Monkey. Meanwhile, seemingly unaware of what's going on around him, Monkey finishes his coconut and burps happily, face slightly reddened. "I have no idea what the God of Coconuts have been doing with this one, but if he could do this to all coconuts, he'd get his own temple in Great Forks! Nay, he'll have a temple in every city and village in Creation!" impeccable Monkey looks back at his others and smiles indulgently before turning back to Broken Wing Shun. "I am glad you have agreed to give us a few pointers in the art. In that case, Master Shun, forgive my rudeness!" Impeccable Monkey shouts. And as he moves to engage Broken Wing Shun, all three of Monkeys erupt into blazing flares of essence.

The Po Soul activates Identifying The Scent of Danger. The Body activates Drunken Monkey Form. The motes from these charms come from peripheral pool. This triggers a brilliant display of essence and also activates his Dawn anima ability, giving him +2 DV against anyone whose Valor is less or equal to Essence (5). The Hun Soul attacks, declaring battle. Keep in mind that if the Hun Soul declares a combo, then all three parts have access to the charms in the combo, even if they have used a charm this action. For reference, see the rules for Independent Action in CMoS Form in the Sidereal book. Similarly, all three parts of Monkey has Drunken Monkey Form and Identifying the Scent of Danger active. Anyway, I'll treat this as the second action for the purpose of 3-fold Partition.
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 4/20/24, prph: 44/13/57, DV plty: 0, Soak: 4B/2L/0A
(Self-reminder) Active charms: 3-fold Partition. 2 actions so far. 10 motes committed for 30 ticks from the personal pool)

Join Battle

Impeccable Monkey closes in, his steps far faster than a mere human's. Perhaps it's because he is not burdened by the weight of flesh. Perhaps..., but let the savants theorize in some other time and place. Right here, right now, there are other, more pressing matters.

Impeccable Monkey intends to attack Shun, not giving him any further time to prepare. The attack means a Join Battle roll. Impeccable Monkey has Wits of 8, Awareness of 2. Secrets of Future Strife kicks in. His Join Battle roll is all successes (total 10). Monkey and Savage Monkey have the same Join Battle score (5). Secrets apply to them too, and both gets 5 successes.

With a slight wrist motion, Shun readies his weapon for the charging Monkey soul, holding his other hand in front of him in concentration as golden light gathers about his body. Halos of power wreath head, chest, stomach and groin, swirling with the evening-colored essence of Shun's anima. He waits for the attack with utmost patience, the sea spray seeming to hang in the air for an infinite moment between them. "Apology accepted."

Shun reflexively activates Four Halo Golden Monkey Realignment as he Joins Battle. His JB pool is 6 (Wits 5 + Awareness 1), and he will channel Temperance to make it 11. (1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10) 6 successes.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 8/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 37/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: 0, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Self-reminder: No onslaught penalties to MA PDV and -1 to other penalties (Four Halo), no penalties to DV apply when defending against ranged attacks (Windhands), Lethal damage converts to Bashing (Adamant Skin), Str/Dex/Sta = 10 (Body of War), immune to Virtue tests (Form).
Next Action: 4

Tick 0

Impeccable Monkey ends his run with a slide, spraying fine sand all over, but mostly at Shun. Before the cloud of sand could settle, he jumps back on his feet and springs forward. He breaks through the cloud cover and hoping that he'd at least surprise Shun a little, Impeccable Monkey punches, kicks, headbutts, knees, and elbows Shun.

Despite the fancy description (I'm a stunt whore), treat this as a standard flurry of punch, kick, punch, kick, punch. Drunken Monkey Form means that the flurry is Speed 4, DV -0, with a multiple action penalty of -0, -1, -2, -3, and -4 respectively.
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 4/20/24, prph: 44/13/57, DV plty: 0, Soak: 4B/2L/0A

Shun stands virtually motionless against the torrent of sand and blows, the golden halos of his virtues floating to his hands and elbows. The first punch, he turns his head away from at the last moment. Against the kick he shifts his hammer so its haft might sting Monkey's shin. Again he leans his head to the side, so he may come cheek to cheek and whisper, "My, you are slower than I'd heard." Finally, he places his palm against the Hun soul's knee, allowing that motion to bring his own elbow up to deflect Monkey's as he steps around, his other arm beginning to heft his Goremaul aggressively.

Stunts are awesome. I rate yours at a 2. What do you think of mine? Crunchwise, I'm applying Shun's DDV to the first (11) and third (10) attacks, and his MA PDV to the second (9), fourth (10), and fifth (10) attacks. Against the second attack, I'm using the value with the +0 from the goremaul instead of the +2 from my empty hand, because it looked cooler that way.
(Dodge calculation: 5 natural Dex + 5 Charm-enhanced Dex + 5 Dodge + 2 Specialty + 5 Essence = 22 / 2 = DV 11 against the first attack - 1 Onslaught = DV 10 versus the second.)
(Parry calculation: 5 natural Dex + 5 Charm-enhanced Dex + 5 MA + 2 Specialty [+ 2 Fist Defense] = 17 / 2 = DV 9 with Goremaul, DV 10 with Fist.)
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 8/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 37/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: 0, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 4
Yours isn't bad either. Two dice for you. And boom, right here we ran across conflicting rules. How does stunt add to static values such as DV? According to Ex2 p. 124, your DV goes up by 2. According to p. 145 & p. 148, you roll the stunt dice, and successes add to DV. For now, using [[1]] as guideline, we'll roll stunt dice. (That's roll once, apply to all DV.)
Anyway, I'll argue that for the duration of 3-Fold Partition, your one-vs-one specialty do not apply. From your POV, you are being ganged-up. (And yes, I'm entertaining the idea of Coordinated Attack as a way of breaching your ridiculously high DVs). You also forgot your Hearthstone Bracer dodge bonus and the Onslaught penalty against your 2nd Dodge is actually -2. Onslaught penalty is applied to both DV each attack, regardless of what DV you applied to it. I'm taking the liberty of writing your defense declaration based on your description plus my corrections. Feel free to correct me if I made an error in interpretation.
Since my Parry DV suffers no Onslaught penalties due to Four Halo Golden Monkey Realignment, I didn't count attacks involving it in calculating the penalty. However, you're right, it should add up anyway for defenses that do count it. Stunt dice: (3, 9) = 1 success.
  1. Flurry (punch, kick, punch, kick, punch). Attack pool: 5 Dex + 4 Charm Dex + 5 MA + 2 stunt = 16. Drunken Monkey Form negates 5 dice of multiple action penalties, turning (-5, -6, -7, -8, -9) to (-0, -1, -2, -3, -4).
    1. Punch: (16 + 1 Accuracy) = 17 dice.
    2. Kick: (16 - 1 multiple action penalty) = 15 dice.
    3. Punch: (16 + 1 Accuracy - 2 multiple action penalty) = 15 dice.
    4. Kick: (16 - 3 multiple action penalty) = 13 dice.
    5. Punch: (16 + 1 Accuracy - 4 multiple action penalty) = 13 dice.
  2. Defense declaration: (dodge, goremaul parry, dodge, hand parry, hand parry)
    1. New Dodge calculation: 5 natural Dex + 5 Charm-enhanced Dex + 5 Dodge + 3 Bracer + 5 Essence = (23 / 2) + 1 Stunt = DV 13.
    2. New Parry calculation: 5 natural Dex + 5 Charm-enhanced Dex + 5 MA = (15 / 2) + 1 Stunt = DV 9 with Goremaul.
    3. Dodge. DV = 13 - 2 Onslaught = 11.
    4. Hand Parry (+ 2 defense) = 17 dice. 17/2 = 9. DV = 10 (onslaught penalty negated).
    5. Hand Parry (+ 2 defense) = 17 dice. 17/2 = 9. DV = 10 (onslaught penalty negated).
  3. Attack roll
    1. Punch {2, 1, 3, 1, 5, 4, 6, 4, 2, 7, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10} = 10.
    2. Kick {5, 5, 5, 4, 6, 4, 4, 3, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10} = 9.
    3. Punch {1, 6, 6, 1, 2, 6, 5, 6, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10} = 6.
    4. Kick {1, 5, 4, 1, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9} = 7.
    5. Punch {5, 2, 2, 3, 2, 6, 4, 4, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10} = 6.
  4. Attack reroll N/A
  5. External penalties.
    1. DV 13. Punch misses.
    2. DV 9. Kick misses.
    3. DV 11. Punch misses.
    4. DV 10. Kick misses.
    5. DV 10. Punch misses.
  6. Result: A whole lot of nothing. Shun recovers a willpower for his successful 2-die stunt.
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 4/20/24, prph: 44/13/57, DV plty: 0, Soak: 4B/2L/0A
(Reminder): 3-fold Partition. 2 actions so far = 12 ticks as of tick 0. This charm will lapse at tick 18. 10 motes committed from personal pool.
Next Action: 4 (Punch / Kick are Speed 5. Drunken Monkey Form reduces this by 1, thus Speed 4)
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 9/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 37/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: 0, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 4
I've been using the middle number as "committed" motes.

Tick 1-3

Impeccable Monkey backflips and somersaults away from Shun, not stopping until he feels he's out of Shun's reach.

Each tick, Impeccable Monkey will Move away from Shun. With an effective Dex of 9, that's 27 yards of movement. Not bad. On Tick 3, he'll activate a Reflexive charm, although which one depends on whether Shun chases after him or not. With a Dex of 10, Shun can chase him.

With a slight flexing of knees and toes, the blissful twilight sage sends himself spinning through the air, golden hammer swinging up to spin above him as he leaps. Yet Impeccable Monkey sees something unexpected when he stops flipping: Shun has landed by Monkey's original body!

Despite the description as a spinning leap, this is really just the normal movement. I took literary license since I'm not gaining any special advantage by it I couldn't have normally gained.
Okay, in that case, on Tick 3 Impeccable Monkey invokes Monkey Leap Technique, committing 3 motes from his personal Essence. Mobility, yay!
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 2/23/25, prph: 44/13/57, DV plty: 0, Soak: 4B/2L/0A
(Reminder): 3-fold Partition. This charm will lapse at tick 18. 10 motes committed from personal pool.

Tick 4

Continuing his spin to the last moment, Shun plants his feet and brings his weapon down and around at Monkey. All four halos converge on the hammerhead as it is about to strike, red-gold Essence flooding the sea-side arena of the battle. The very clouds in the sky turn red-gold, illuminated in the wash of Shun's anima. "Bodies and souls should stay together! Catch!"

Shun is trying to smack Monkey's body towards Impeccable Monkey. I'll leave it to you how to resolve my stunt. I'm buying 5 dice with the First MA Excellency, Essence-Flow wise. This gives me a total accuracy pool of 27 dice.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 9/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 28/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: -1, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 8
Reminder: Shun has spent 13 motes of peripheral essence. All attacks are now reduced by 5 HL of post-roll damage.

Oblivious to the impending doom, Monkey turns back to watch Impeccable. "Hey, where are you going?" This movement is too much for his balance, causing him to stumble and drop his coconut. He bends down to pick it up, and whoosh, Shun's giant goremaul passes where his head would've been otherwise.

This looks like a single uber attack and Shun still hasn't declared a combo nor used his charm allowance. I'm playing it safe. Seven Shadow Evasion. 3m. I'm giving you two dice for stunt, but since I'm using perfect defense, the dice award pretty much fizzles.
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 0/23/25, prph: 43/13/57, DV plty: 0, Soak: 4B/2L/0A
I'll give you a one-die stunt for the dropped coconut defense, because it's amusing. I propose that for stunts with perfects, we should roll the stunt dice by themselves and if there are successes, the stunt regeneration happens.
Sounds good. Rolling 1 stunt die... { 7 }. One success. Recovering two motes.
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 1/23/24, prph: 43/13/57, DV plty: 0, Soak: 4B/2L/0A

Impeccable Monkey watches Shun assaults his physical body and admires the grace and power Shun exhibits. "He is not playing around," he thinks. "I better give him the respect he deserves and fight seriously myself." Flexing into the opening kata of a form charm, he announces, "Five-Fold Monkey Style, First-Tier Mastery, Lost Monkey Style!" And the all three Monkeys' anima totems flare into being.

IM: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 1/23/24, prph: 38/18/57, DV plty: -1, Soak: 4B/2L/0A
Lost Monkey Form halves your DVs and doubles my movement rate and jumps and adds MA to dodge pool -> Dodge DV 10.
Impeccable's Next Action: Tick 10

Tick 5

It's late, I'll do it tomorrow evening. But basically the idea is Monkey activates Wooden Monkey Form, getting 5 extra MA dice. Savage attacks with a flurry of 3 attacks, which means an attack pool of 15 or so each against halved DVs with a base damage of (Str 7 + Essence 5) = 12L. Which I foresee will be perfected away, or EGT+Twilight-anima offed. Twink. - TonyC
You say that almost as if it's a bad thing. (^_^) Depending on how it works, I might try out using DVs anyway. - IanPrice

"What was that breeze?" Monkey wondered as he turns around, coconut forgotten. He sees Shun with his grand goremaul, twirling it like it was a piece of bamboo staff. "Whoa! Be careful, you could take someone's head off with that! Wait, you did almost took my head off! Oh, right! We're supposed to fight, aren't we? Hold on, I'll get ready." With a casual leap, Monkey gains some dozen yards of distance. He covers his face with both hands, takes a deep breath, and when he uncovers his face to assume a fighting stance, his face and body language, and even his anima totem's expression no longer shows any emotion.

Monkey jumps over Shun's head and lands some 50 yards away behind Shun. Between Monkey Leap Technique and the Monkey Stone and the Perfected Boots, he can reflexively jump (Str 3 + Ath 5 + Boots 1) x 3 = 27 yds vertical, and 54 yds horizontally. There, he activates Wooden Monkey Form. 8m from peripheral, committed.
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 2/23/25, prph: 30/26/57, DV plty: -2, Soak: 4B/2L/0A
Monkey's next action: Tick 11.
For the moment, both Impeccable and Monkey will try to maintain a distance of approximately 40 yards, putting Shun between them.

The beast that is Savage Monkey leaps also, but his is a pounce. The albino gorilla that is his anima totem bares his fangs and pounds his chest and his eyes glows red, and Savage Monkey leaps for Shun's throat. Three times he does this, and after the third, he knuckle-walks warily around Shun, looking for an opening.

Ideally I want a flurry of 3 bites, but since the core book doesn't have the stats for that, I'll treat it mechanically as Kicks and call the bite thing as stunt description. With the Form charm changing the damage from Bashing to Lethal, it's close enough.
Two dice for the pretty anima chest-beating, and the knuckle walking. The bite is also cool.

Shun laughs heartily, the sound ringing in Savage Monkey's ears as each time the bestial P'o soul thinks it tastes flesh, it turns out to be mere shadow. With the third attack, Shun's anima blazes even greater. A crane stands over him, resplendent save for its mangled left wing, staring down at the assembled Monkies accusingly. Yet, Shun's smile belies the fury in his anima as he jokes, "Is this a style? Can a powerful martial artist attack with his teeth?" As Savage Monkey circles, Shun ends up standing equidistant between the three of Monkey, standing one-legged atop a rock in a perch to match his anima. His Goremaul is held one-handed, straight out to out to the side, horizontal along with his arm, while his other hand has come to rest on the handle of his other hammer. "I think it's time for you to see why I use these... and how. Not in the common manner, but in the way of a true master."

Shun uses Shadow Over Water three times, negating all penalties against all three attacks. Can't activate my Combo since I already attacked without the Monkey Palm.
Ah, classic, classic. Two dice. But Savage Monkey is actually right next to you. He's bait. And barring some Athletic charms (which you don't have), you can't reach Monkey nor Impeccable, because every tick you move, they'll just move the necessary distance to keep up with you. But hey, you can throw Grand Goremauls at them!
Stunt dice: (3, 10). 2 successes. Shun regains 4 motes.
  1. Flurry (kick, kick, kick). Attack pool: 5 Dex + 5 MA + 5 Form Charm = 15. Drunken Monkey Form negates 5 dice of multiple action penalties, turning (-3, -4, -5) to (-0, -0, -0). He gets around the Rate 2 by using both feet. He has level 2 Ambidexterity (see Players Guide for the merit description), so he doesn't have to worry about off-hand penalty.
  2. Defense declaration: Dodge DV = 12 + Stunt. Shadow Over Water negates penalties.
  3. Attack roll (15 + 2 stunt dice each)
    1. Bite: {2, 3, 1, 5, 6, 2, 2, 2, 6, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10} = 6 successes.
    2. Bite: {4, 1, 6, 2, 4, 6, 6, 3, 5, 3, 5, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9} = 3 successes.
    3. Bite: {3, 6, 3, 4, 6, 6, 4, 4, 5, 4, 6, 5, 4, 2, 8, 8, 10} = 4 successes.
  4. Attack reroll N/A
  5. External penalties.
    1. DV 14. Kick (bite) misses.
    2. DV 14. Kick (bite) misses.
    3. DV 14. Kick (bite) misses.
  6. Result: Attacks fail. Shun recovers 4 motes.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 9/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 29/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: -1, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 8
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 1/23/24, prph: 30/26/57, DV plty: 0, Soak: 4B/2L/0A
Savage Monkey's next action: Tick 9.
Savage is right next to Shun. I'm not worried, because I can stack DV to 17 or use a perfect dodge or soak.

Tick 8

Carefully, precisely, Shun draws his second hammer out of its holster, swinging it easily up into a position to match its mate. He does not hurry or fret, simply maintaining his precise stance, both massive weapons held straight at arm's length. "You have the strength of five monkies, the wit of a raven, the soul of a wolf. But what do you know of heaven, Monkey? When I defeat you today, I offer you the chance to learn from me the 'monkey of heaven.' I will show you, as my master taught me, how a man can teach a god as the monkies you know taught a man."

Shun readies his weapon, taking no other action. Yeah, he's being cocky, but I have my reasons.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 9/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 29/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: -1, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 13

Tick 9

Savage Monkey simply growls and tenses up.

Activating Stone Monkey Form.
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 1/23/24, prph: 25/31/57, DV plty: -3, Soak: 9B/9L/5A
Savage Monkey's next action: Tick 15.

Tick 10

Impeccable Monkey continues to the next set of katas. "Five-Fold Monkey Style, Second-Tier Mastery, Tall Monkey Style!"

Activating Tall Monkey Form.
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 6/9, psnl: 1/23/24, prph: 19/37/57, DV plty: -3, Soak: 9B/9L/5A
Impeccable's next action: Tick 16.

Tick 11

"No, no, no. You guys are doing it all wrong. Let me show you how it's supposed to be done," says Monkey to Impeccable and Savage. He leaps high in the air, somersaults three times <insert lens flare here>, and falls comet-like into a flying-kick at Shun. The air grows heavy and the rock where Shun is perched on starts to crack and crumble. Monkey lands, and the rock explodes into gravel, but ignoring the shrapnel, he bounces back with a spinning kick to Shun's head before backflipping into the sea. As the waves laps his knees, Monkey eyes Shun appraisingly. "Not bad. Not bad at all. Let me reveal to you my next trick then, the Tri-Force Formation."

Flurry of Two kicks, and one Coordinate Attack. Plus a Zelda reference. :)
Two dice for exploding rocks.

"Ah, finally. I was wondering when I would see the real thing." Shun smiles serenely, seeming not to move at all. Yet somehow, Monkey's feet pass through empty air. Afterwards, he sees Shun has landed by the cliff face, still in the very same stance. His shadow extends up the cliff face in the shape of his anima, but the shadow-crane's sidelong eye burns evening-sun red. "Now we're both done playing."

Seven Shadow Evasion twice, and my reflexive movement takes me over by the wall.
  1. Flurry (kick, kick, coordinate attack). Attack pool: 5 Dex + 5 MA + 5 Form Charm + 4 Hearthstone + stunt = 19 + stunt. Drunken Monkey Form negates 5 dice of multiple action penalties, turning (-3, -4, -5) to (-0, -0, -0). Coordinate attack is Speed 5, this flurry is thus Speed 5, DV 0. Lost Monkey Form halves your DV. Three-Fold Partition adds 5 successes to the MA attacks. Base damage is 16L.
  2. Defense Declaration: Seven Shadow Evasion, perfectly evading both attacks.
  3. Attack roll
    1. Kick
    2. Kick
  4. Attack reroll (N/A)
  5. External Penalty
  6. Result: Attacks fail due to perfect defenses.
Coordinate Attack is a Charisma + War roll, difficulty 1 in this case. I would've liked to have Impeccable make this roll, but I'll deal. Will spend WP for autosuccess. Pool is (Charisma 3 + War 1 + stunt 2) = 6 dice. Roll is {4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10} = 4 successes + 1 autosuccess = 5. Max Coordinated Attack penalty is equal to the number of participants though, so that's a DV penalty of 3 on tick 16. Not sure if I get stunt reward or not.
Go for it, part of your stunt succeeded. Was I getting anything stuntwise, or do I just get to look cool on this tick? I only ask since you've been posting when tired.
Ooops, sorry. You get one die reward. I'm adding the 2 motes for you. As for mine, I want WP. Recovering 2 wp (1 from stunt reward + 1 from hearthstone).
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 1/23/24, prph: 19/37/57, DV plty: -2, Soak: 9B/9L/5A
Monkey's next action: Tick 16.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 9/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 25/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: -1, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 13

Tick 12

Leaping and running, all three Monkeys begin surrounding Shun in an equidistant triangle, always keeping him in the center.

There really isn't a good reason for this, but it's cooler this way, which is all the excuse I need.

Tick 13

Moonsilver armor flowing over his rippling muscles, Shun swings both golden hammers up and back down with incredible swiftness and force, causing huge boulders to fall from the cliff all around him. "Catch!" He yells, flipping in the air between the three largest stones. He kicks off one, spinning so that his hammers strike the other two, and landing back where he started as the three jagged stone projectiles fly towards Monkey and each of his souls. As Shun resumes his stance, his totem crane seems to shield him from the smaller falling rocks with its good wing.

Whee, here's a flashy display that might or might not net me anything. Shun is demolishing part of the cliff face, and sending 3 rocks of approximately 1200 pounds each flying towards each available target. Activating the First Excellency 3 times for 5 dice each, and channeling Valor each time as well. I want to present a credible threat, after all. I'm assuming that there is less than 30L damage to me represented by random falling rocks, therefore between armor and my anima it's all definitely gone. Also, since I'm not in melee range, I don't think you can counterattack... but hey, you might surprise me.
Three stunt dice, but you can only channel Valor once. See page 115, 123. Pick one attack to enhance. There is no need to roll against the cliff. It's late here locally, so I'll do my pose tomorrow.
Oh yeah... once per action now. Hm. I'll enhance the one against the body. And wow... 3 dice. Thanks!

Savage Monkey howls and hurls himself at the incoming rock. He doesn't bother avoiding the rock and instead, smashes it into smithereens with his body. The light of his anima, of all of Monkey's three anima banners in fact, forms simian shadows, which quickly scatters out of the way of Shun's attacks. Monkey himself closes one eye and tricking perspectives, grabs the giant boulder in the distance as if it were a much smaller rock an arm's length away. Staggering back from the phantom weight, he catches the rock Shun kicked and tosses it behind. He recovers his balance and punches the air and the sandy beach traces a line as the force of the punch speeds toward Shun. Impeccable nods approvingly and does something strange with his hands. He pulls, as if holding some invisible strands, and the counter-pull lifts him up out of the way of thrown rock.

Shun himself is busy landing safely from his flip, but his anima is ever-watchful. The wing which shields him from the debris grows to fully encompass him, and with but a slight ruffle of the feathers absorbs the essence of the invisible line.

Savage Monkey spends wp and activates Monkey in the Orchard combo. Given the way independent action works, this lets all three sub-parts of him uses the charms in that combo. Then Monkey commits 3 extra motes to the Gauntlets of Distant Touch, allowing it to affect objects within (Essence x 3) yards. I think this is okay, but if it turns out that committing those extra motes requires a deliberate action, then we can ignore the Gauntlets since he doesn't need the Gauntlets to parry, but rather, to counter-attack from range. Anyway, Monkey parries. Impeccable, on the other hand, invokes Catching The Thrown Focus, gets +MA to Dodge pool (and maxing it out) and attempts to steal your motes. Savage's howl is Obnoxiously Loud Shriek, halving your attack pool for this particular attack. He then parries it and demolishes the rock as part of the stunt. For spectators who like their crunch, pretend it's a counter-attack applied against the rock and Savage has an MA pool of 15 and a base damage of 17L. Should the parry fails, there's still soak.
Two dice... because tricking yourself for perspective to use the gauntlets is a rather neat concept.
  1. Flurry (Demolish cliff, Kick stone, Goremaul baseball bat stone, Goremaul baseball bat stone). Channeling Valor on the three stone attacks. Attack pool: 10 Dex + 5 MA + 5 First Excellency + 4 Hearthstone (+ 5 Valor on the first, against the body) (- 3 accuracy) + 3 stunt = 24 (29 on the first). Multiple action penalties (-4, -5, -6, -7 | attack dice are [24 (body), 18 (Hun), 17 (P'o)]). All attack rolls have +2 autosux from Four Halo Golden Monkey Realignment. Base rock damage is (10 Str + 10 large rock) = 20L. It's piercing too, not that any of the targets are wearing armor.
  2. Defense Declaration. Parry. Dodge. Parry. What's the stunt bonus? I have a DV penalty of -2 due to several invocations of Simple charms, but this cancelled by the +2 DV given by the Dawn anima ability.
    1. Monkey parries. (Dex 5 + MA 10 + 2 punch defense + 1 orichalcum gauntlets)/2 + 5 Threefold Partition = Parry DV 15. + stunt.
    2. Impeccable dodges. (Dex 9 + 5 Dodge + 5 Essence + 5 MA Lost Form + 5 MA Catching The Thrown Focus)/2 = Dodge DV 15. If the increased Dex is counted to the pool limit, then DV 13. + stunt.
    3. Savage parries. (Dex 5 + MA 10 + 2 punch defense)/2 = 9 DV. + stunt. BUT this is against a halved attack pool.
  3. Attack roll
    1. Kicked Boulder: (1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) + 2 autosux. 16 successes.
    2. Batted Rock 1: (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10) + 2 autosux. 10 successes.
    3. Batted Rock 2: (1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10) + 2 autosux. 5 successes.
  4. Attack reroll: none
  5. External Penalty
    1. 5 from Drunken Monkey Form
      1. Kicked boulder = 11 successes
      2. Batted Rock 1 = 5 successes
      3. Batted Rock 2 = 0 successes (misses already)
    2. Parry DV 15 + stunt. Kicked boulder misses.
    3. Dodge DV 15 + stunt - 1 Onslaught. Batted boulder misses.
    4. Parry DV 9 + stunt - 2 Onslaught. Batted boulder already missed.
  6. Defense reroll: none
  7. Raw damage: N/A
  8. Soak: N/A
  9. Counterattacks (Monkey counter-attacks.)
    1. Ranged Punch (5 Dex + 10 MA + 1 accuracy + 1 orichalcum + 4 hearthstone + 2 stunt) = 23 dice. + 5 autosuccesses. Base damage is 13L.
    2. Defense Declaration: Dodge DV = 12 + stunt - 1 DV penalty from attacking. 3 stunt dice: (5, 7, 8) = 2 successes. DDV = 13.
    3. Attack roll. {4, 2, 4, 1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 6, 3, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10} = 18 successes + 5 auto-successes = 23 autosuccesses.
    4. Attack reroll: none
    5. External penalty:
      1. Dodge DV of 13. Punch 23 - DDV 13 = 10 successes.
    6. Defense reroll: none
    7. Raw damage: 13L + 10 = 23L.
    8. Soak & Hardness. Hardness is 10L. Attack breaches Hardness. Soak is 20L. 23L-20L=3L. But minimum damage is 5L. But Twilight anima negates up to 5 HL of rolled damage.
    9. Counter-attack. N/A.
    10. Result: Punch connects, but the Twilight anima ability prevents it from inflicting harm.
  10. Result: Shun's attacks miss. Impeccable steals 5 motes from Shun, which mitigates the charm costs he spent this action. Monkey chooses to regain wp from stunt reward. He gets 2 wp.
You're not mistaken about the Parry DV, although the autosuccesses explicitly applies only to the Body. Dodge DV is 10 though, thanks to Lost Monkey Form. Both DVs could go higher too. (I estimate my highest attainable DV is 19).
Edited to have the other two's values in there. Remember that bonus dice limits apply to DVs, and the MA increase from Wooden Monkey counts as bonus dice for this purpose, as does the Dodge bonus from Lost Monkey. The Hun soul might get away with having that Dex be natural, though. Threefold Partition gets around this by adding autosuccesses, which are not limited unless the charm stipulates so. Question: would the bodies share the same onslaught penalties? Or do fully independent actions come with multiple DV refreshes?
The Hun soul might hit the dice pool cap. It depends on how you're reading the charm. Increased ability given by the form charms should count as charm dice, that's for sure. For the Three-Fold Partition of The Soul though, I'm leaning toward "natural", just like the attributes given by a Lunar DBT. For the Po soul at least I have precedent, as hungry ghosts (which are Po souls) are usually stronger and tougher than when they were still alive. I admit that there's no parallel with the Hun souls and ghosts though. Anyway, given the CMoS Form precedent, the three parts should all be affected by Onslaught penalty. So 0, -1, -2. I am also keeping track of the DV refresh separately. The DV penalty from when Impeccable activates Lost Monkey Form on Tick 4, for example, is applied to all three and went away on Tick 10. Of course, Impeccable immediately activates a different Form charm and adds to the penalty again.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 8/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 11/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: -4, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 17
Ian's apparently claiming the 6m stunt reward for his success in demolishing the cliff face. 's cool. - TonyC
M: /|---|----|-|-, wp 9/9, psnl: 1/23/24, prph: 17/37/57, DV plty: -3, Soak: 9B/9L/5A
Monkey's next action: Tick 16.

Tick 15

Savage Monkey aims. Hmmm, is the bonus die from aim added to a single attack in a flurry or all the attacks in the flurry?
"The next attack" is what the book says, so since flurries are multiple attacks...
All three Monkeys close in on Shun.

Tick 16

Amidst the rubble of the broken cliff, four people face off. The stillness stretches, until nearby, the rest of the cliff begins the crumble into a landslide. In perfect timing and formation, the three Monkeys begin their attack. When one attacks high, the others would attack low and middle. When one attack from the side, the others the front and the back. When one grapples, the others punch and kick. "Wisdom!" Impeccable says, and knowing that he is the weakest amongst the three, attacks to hinder and hold Shun. "Power!" Savage growls, and his attacks are brutal, intended to draw blood. "Courage!" Monkey adds grimly, ready to risk himself to bring down the opponent. The four battle under a rain of earth, dodging, swatting away, or simply shrugging off the hail of rocks.

A flurry of three attacks each. This is gonna be one long resolution. If you use Leaping Dodge Method, all Monkeys use the reflexive jumping move granted by Monkey Leap Technique to follow as best as they can. Anyway, there are 9 attacks total. We've been doing clumping flurries and doing it all at once in one pass, but technically they're supposed to be resolved one attack at a time. Given that you have Leaping Dodge Method, I'm going to be doing this in batches of 3. That way if the flurry gets interrupted, I don't waste time with the aborted parts. The sequence will go: (Impeccable clinches, Savage kicks, Monkey punches), (Impeccable punches, Savage clinches, Monkey kicks), and last (Impeccable kicks, Savage punches, Monkey clinches). When/if Monkey clinches, he'll be spending the wp and hl to make the damage aggravated.
Yet another 2 die stunt for you.

Oops.

Shun leaps lightly from falling rock to falling rock, laughing as he feels the breeze from Monkey's attacks. "My, you're quite serious!" Shun quips, holding a small rock in front of his face, as if he is hiding behind it in fear, abandoning it to shatter when Savage Monkey rushes in. Impeccable Monkey gains a hold from behind, only to find Shun smiling at him in an embrace. The blissful sage dances with Impeccable, swaying away from Monkey's next attack, then slipping from the hold like water to perch atop a fallen boulder. "You have impressed me. But I sense you may be holding back?"

This is what I get for using the charm without the 2ed book in front of me. I'm going to have to re-read that later, but for now, Shadow Over Water against each of the 9 attacks. Can't activate the Combo, because I wouldn't be able to activate the Supplemental charm, and those have to be activated.
Two dice again. The way my group plays is that you could activate a combo in situations like this. You'll have to pay the cost, of course, but considering you're paying the cost of a Supplemental without getting its benefit, that's penalty enough. Perhaps you should, because I see that you edited your EGT out above. And without a combo, you couldn't possibly invoke EGT. Or you could declare EGT back on Tick 13 again. I don't mind. Anyway, go ahead and roll the stunt dice.
Ah... well if I can, it's very worth it to, and I will. That costs me 3m2w more, plus 1m for EGT, but will undoubtedly regain me 20m. Stunt dice: (1, 4) = 0 successes. Ouch.
  1. Attack declaration: Drunken Monkey Form negates multiple action penalty and DV penalty.
    1. Impeccable clinches, supplementing it with Inflicting The Horrendous Wound. His pool is (9 dex + 10 MA + 2 stunt) = 21 dice. (If clinch succeeds, he aborts the rest of his flurry).
    2. Savage does a fierce kick supplemented by channelling Valor. That's (5 dex + 10 MA + 5 Valor + 1 aim - 1 fierce blow + 2 stunt) = 22.
    3. Monkey punches fiercely. Pool is at (Dex 5 + MA 10 + 4 Hearthstone + 1 punch accuracy + 1 orichalcum - 1 fierce blow + 2 stunt) + 5 autosuccesses = 22 + 5 autosuccesses.
    4. Impeccable punches (21 + 1 punch accuracy) = 22.
    5. Savage clinches (5 dex + 10 MA + 2 stunt) = 17. (If clinch succeeds, he aborts the rest of his flurry).
    6. Monkey kicks fiercely. (Dex 5 + MA 10 + 4 Hearthstone - 1 fierce blow + 2 stunt) + 5 autosuccesses = 20 + 5 autosuccesses.
    7. Impeccable kicks. (21 - 1 wound) = 20 dice.
    8. Savage punches fiercely. (17 + 1 accuracy - 1 fierce blow - 1 wound) = 16 dice.
    9. Monkey clinches. (Dex 5 + MA 10 + 4 Hearthstone + 2 stunt -1 wound) + 5 autosuccesses = 19 + 5 autosuccesses.
  2. Defense declaration. Dodge with Shadow Over Water
  3. Attack Roll
    1. Impeccable clinches. {5, 5, 5, 3, 1, 2, 3, 5, 1, 2, 4, 3, 1, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10} = 11 successes.
    2. Savage fierce-kicks. {4, 4, 3, 2, 2, 1, 5, 4, 1, 1, 6, 4, 2, 5, 2, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10} = 8 successes.
    3. Monkey fierce-punch. {1, 2, 2, 4, 1, 4, 2, 2, 1, 1, 5, 2, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10} = 11. + 5 autos uccesses = 16.
    4. Impeccable punches. {2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 5, 6, 3, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9} = 8 successes.
    5. Savage clinches. {6, 1, 4, 5, 1, 4, 2, 6, 4, 2, 3, 2, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10} = 7 successes.
    6. Monkey fierce-kicks. {6, 3, 6, 5, 1, 3, 6, 6, 1, 6, 3, 1, 3, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10} = 10. + 5 autosuccesses = 15.
    7. Impeccable punches. {3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 3, 6, 2, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 = 14 successes.}
    8. Savage fierce-kicks. {5, 3, 1, 1, 6, 1, 4, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10} = 10 successes.
    9. Monkey clinches. {2, 4, 1, 2, 2, 3, 6, 2, 3, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10} = 13. + 5 autosuccesses = 18.
  4. Attack reroll: none
  5. External Penalties
    1. Impeccable's clinch: 11 sx - 12 DV = 0. Miss.
    2. Savage's fierce kick: 8 sx - 12 DV = 0. Miss.
    3. Monkey's fierce punch: 16 sx - 12 DV = 4. Hit, damage +4.
    4. Impeccable's punch: 8 sx - 12 DV = 0. Miss.
    5. Savage's Clinch: 7 sx - 12 DV = 0. Miss.
    6. Monkey's fierce kick: 15 sx - 12 DV = 3. Hit, damage +3.
    7. Impeccable's punch: 14 sx - 12 DV = 2. Hit, damage +2.
    8. Savage's fierce kick: 10 sx - 12 DV = 0. Miss.
    9. Monkey's Clinch: 18 sx - 12 DV = 6. Hit, damage +6.
  6. Raw damage
    1. Monkey's fierce punch: 19L (bashing due to Gem of Adamant Skin) (Str 3 + Charms 10 + fierce 2 + success 4 = 19)
    2. Monkey's fierce kick: 21L (bashing due to Gem of Adamant Skin) (Str 3 + Charms 10 + fierce kick 5 + success 3 = 21)
    3. Impeccable's punch: 15L (bashing due to Gem of Adamant Skin) (Str 3 + Charms 10 + success 2 = 15)
    4. Monkey's Clinch: 19A, piercing (Str 3 + Charms 10 + success 6 = 19)
  7. Soak.
    1. Monkey's fierce punch: 19B - 25 = minimum, 5B. Twilight anima negates.
    2. Monkey's fierce kick: 21B - 25 = minimum, 5B. Twilight anima negates.
    3. Impeccable's punch: 15B - 25 = minimum, 5B. Twilight anima negates.
    4. Monkey's Clinch: 19A, piercing - 7 = 12A dice. Rolled {5, 3, 5, 1, 3, 3, 3, 2, 8, 10, 10, 7} = 4 levels. Twilight anima negates 5 rolled levels.
  8. Counter-attack: none
  9. Result: Attacks do no damage. Shun is clinched. Monkey recovers 4m from stunt.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 6/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 22/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: -3, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 20
Channeled Temperance and Valor.
M: X|/--|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 1/23/24, prph: 12/41/57, DV plty: -1, Soak: 9B/9L/5A
Reminder: Chanelled Valor once.
Monkey's next action: Tick 20.
Clinch! Monkey invokes Feather Foot Style. He then uses his reflexive jumping move to take Shun as far as he can into the sea. His 3 Str + 5 Ath + 2 stunt -1 wound is more than enough to lift Shun and his jump of 72 yards got to be enough to leave the shore and get into the deep part of the ocean. Due to the clinch, Shun's next action is set to Tick 20 (the same tick Monkey next acts, at which point the two contests the clinch again).

Tick 18

At the beach, Impeccable and Savage start to shimmer. Impeccable starts to float and flies toward Monkey, growing more indistinct until eventually he completely disappears when he rejoins Monkey. Savage lopes on water, gaining speed with each step, until he eventually slams and merges with Monkey.

M: X|/--|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 1/13/24, prph: 12/41/57, DV plty: -1, Soak: 9B/9L/5A

Tick 20

Monkey grins as the two of them are locked in struggle on the sea. Monkey's light footwork steps from foam-crest to foam-crest as he holds Shun afloat. "I wonder, how well do you swim with all that heavy stuffs you're wearing and holding."

At this point the combatants are 72x4 = 288 yards away into the sea. All Monkey needs to do is let go and Shun will sink like a rock. Even assuming a very gentle slope of 1 yard down for every 10 outward, that's still about 28 yards deep. <makes mental calculation> Ah, crap, with Shun's Stamina 10, he could very well just walk back to shore. Guess it's not done.

"An interesting conundrum, but I prefer not to." With an easy motion, Shun shrugs off Monkey's much weaker arms, flipping his twin weapons up in the air like toothpicks. Grasping Monkey's wrists as he falls, Shun then yank Monkey forward, using him as a springboard so he may flip upward, catching his weapons in midair. Coming down again, he aims to land on Monkey's head with both feet, then use him as support again, leaping for shore. He seems borne aloft by the single golden wing of his anima, though his leap does not seem quite prodigious enough to reach all the way back to shore.

Monkey doesn't answer. Or rather, he answers by taking a deep breath and strains with all his muscles and willpower to prevent Shun from gaining control. Monkey's gorilla totem begins to take shape, holding on to Shun's Broken-winged Crane. A troop of phantom monkeys begins to form around Monkey and begins holding on to Shun and his crane totem. Then suddenly, "KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Monkey shouts, distracting Shun at a critical moment, and tries to throw Shun down.

Shun will flurry: break the clinch, kick Monkey, and leap. In order to control the clinch, Shun rolls (10 Str + 5 MA + 4 7LD Stone + 2 1 on 1 Specialty + 5 Excellency) = 26 dice + 2 autosx. The Break Hold has an accuracy of (10 Dex + 5 MA + 4 7LD Stone + 2 1 on 1 Specialty + 5 Excellency - 3 Flurry) = 23 dice + 2 autosx, and instead of throwing Monkey, I'll be throwing myself 10 additional yards towards shore. I'm using my Combo again, so the kick is enhanced by both Four Halo Golden Monkey Palm and the First MA Excellency. I'll channel Valor again. Accuracy: (10 Dex + 5 MA + 4 7LD Stone + 2 1 on 1 Specialty + 5 Valor + 5 Excellency - 4 Flurry) = 27 dice + 2 autosx. This may be modified by a wound penalty after you roll your clinch damage from the last action. Of course, I'm only able to leap (2 * [10 Str + 2 Athletics] - 5 Flurry) 19 + (stunt dice x 2) yards at this point, but I don't have to land until my next action, so that gives me a bit of leeway.
Monkey channels Valor, declares his Monkeys in The Orchard combo, and uses Obnoxiously Loud Shriek to halve your dice pool into something Monkey have a chance of defeating. Trying to use me as a stepping board is good enough for 2 dice. For my stunt, consider that I have stuffs both before and after your description. Now, here's the deal. If you succeed, your scenario happens. Monkey defends against your kick with Wit of The Raven & SSE (like hell I'm going to risk the kick). If I succeed though, your second action is aborted (you don't have to pay the Excellency for the aborted kick, although you still must pay for the Supplemental), you get thrown down, sinks, prone at the bottom of the sea, Monkey dives, and we go into underwater combat. Or at least try to figure out how underwater combat works in Exalted. :)
You know... three dice. Because wrestling animas is just darn cool, and the rest would be 2-die worthy. I'm glad the clinch control roll can't be OLS'd.
Actually, I did think OLS would halve your clinch pool. However, rereading the rules, I see that it could be argued otherwise, since it's not something you use DV against. But if trying to gain control of a clinch is not an attack, then I wonder if SSE and HGD would work when you're already clinched. I'll throw this in the Rulings later, since this is a general Exalted 2e question, not something unique to this match. Anyway, OSL is still activated, but I gain absolutely no benefit out of it. Well, I get 3 dice from stunt, which I certainly am willing to pay 3m for. But first, clinch.
Shun rolls to control clinch: (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) + 2 = 14 successes.
Monkey tries to retain control of the clinch. Monkey's pool is (5 Dex + 10 MA + 4 hearthstone + 5 Valor + 3 stunt) = 27 dice. Rolling. Awww, crap. {4, 3, 1, 3, 1, 6, 1, 1, 4, 6, 1, 1, 6, 4, 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 3, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9} = 6 successes. Man, and I thought at 27 dice I have a decent chance of beating 14 successes.
Shun gets control. Monkey's Freedom Stone means that Monkey will slip loose immediately, but Shun's stunt bent the rules and he gets to throw himself away. Flurry does not affect jumping distance, so he gets (10 Str + 2 Ath + 2 stunt) x 2 + 10 throw = 38 yards.
Actually, the control roll and the clinch attack roll to do what I want are two different things, according to the clinch rules. Break Hold is a clinch maneuver, rolled against your DV, and is thus affected by OLS. I can only perform actions of any kind if I am the one in control of the clinch. That's how I read page 157 anyway, take another look at it yourself and see what you think. In any case, since it only affects 10 yards one way or another, I'll just proceed.
My reading is that there's no second roll. The person controlling a clinch decides what he wants to do with the clinch, and it happens.
Stunt dice roll {3, 8, 10} = 3 successes. Stunt reward from dodging Shun's kick happens.
  1. Attack declaration:
    1. Break Hold: see above.
    2. Kick: 27 dice + 2 autosx.
  2. Defense declaration.
    1. Retaining clinch: see above.
    2. Assuming Shun wins the clinch context, SSE. If Monkey wins, there's no kick, so no need for defence.
  3. Attack Roll.
    1. Shun rolls to control clinch: (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10) + 2 = 14 successes.
  4. Attack Reroll.
  5. External Penalties.
  6. Results
    1. Shun controls clinch, he leaves it and leaps 38 yards towards shore. Shun regains 4 motes.
    2. Monkey lands safely on water. He recovers 6 motes from stunt.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 3/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 6/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: -2, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 25 (Clinch Speed 6 - 1 Jade Hearthstone Bracers)
Channeled Temperance once and Valor twice.
M: X|/--|----|-|-, wp 5/9, psnl: 1/13/24, prph: 12/41/57, DV plty: -1, Soak: 9B/9L/5A
Next Action: 24 (Clinch Speed 6 - 1 Drunken Form - 1 Tall Form)
Channeled Valor twice so far.

Tick 24

Monkey recovers his balance and hop-skips lightly from wavecrest to wavecrest. He folds his arms and cocks his head and watches Shun playing at being a meteor. "How in the Five Directions is he going to avoid sinking, I wonder."

Monkey guards and uses his reflexive move to stay within 15 yards of Shun. He also decommits Identifying The Scent of Danger. I'm curious what kind of stunt you'll be pulling to get yourself out of this.
M: X|/--|----|-|-, wp 5/9, psnl: 1/13/24, prph: 12/38/57, DV plty: -1, Soak: 9B/9L/5A
Next Action: 27 (Guarding, can abort at any moment.)

Tick 25

Shun's cometous descent towards the waves seems to slow, the sheer pressure of his anima rippling the surface as he approaches. Just as he touches the water, Monkey getting ready to write him off, he leaps shoreward again! A muffled crack beneath the waves heralds the demise of the coral that supported his next step towards shore as Shun blissfully soars onwards.

Hooray for leaping. I have a Perception + Awareness of 6 dice + stunt, so seeing a coral outcropping to step on is a feat within reason. Leaping another 24 + (Stunt x 2) yards towards shore. If you think this is worth at least two dice, I'll be regaining a willpower.
Sure. Two dice. I'm going to switch tactics and not attack you directly.

"Huh, I didn't see that coral," Monkey quips. "Not that it matters. Can't be that many corals between here and there." He skips ahead and matches Shun's leap perfectly, staying just a few yards in front of him. Close enough that they can talk easily. "You know, I don't think the crane thing is appropriate for you. There must be a mistake when Unconquered Sun chose it. You're more like a Snapbeak Turtle. Slow but hard-shelled. Completely harmless, although if you are not careful, it can bite your fingers off. So let's see if I can blunt those beaks." Monkey reaches for Shun, and his gorilla totem extends his hands and grabs Shun's goremauls.

Monkey aborts his Guard, chases after Shun, and flurries a disarm, disarm, clinch. Gauntlets of Distant Touch allows for ranged disarm and clinch (and it still counts as close-combat). If exact distance is necessary, call it 3 yards. Monkey also activates Joy In Adversity Stance.

As the great gorrilla hands close in around him, Shun flips over backwards, pitching his weapons in front of him towards the beach. "Most Cranes have wings, little Monkey." His anima focusses into himself as he grapples the albino gorrilla anima with his legs, flipping around again to propel himself after his weapons and catch them from midair, looking back at monkey with a fierce gaze. "This world has broken mine. The Unconquered Sun saw fit to give me back just one, telling me I must learn to heal the other myself."

By tossing his weapons ahead of him, intending to intercept them, Shun will be dodging the disarm. Activating Shadow Over Water twice on that. For the grapple, Shun will sacrifice any chance at avoiding it to try to immediately control it and launch himself 10 yards further on and catch his weapons. If he fails at this, at least the weapons will fly to the location of his choosing (10 yards forward) and won't be coming down until 5 ticks from now, so I could catch them as part of a flurry on my next action if necessary. He'll use 5 first excellency dice on the attempt to control, making it (10 Dex + 5 MA + 5 Excellency + 4 Hearthstone + 2 Specialty + 2 stunt) = 28 + 2 autosx. I'm taking the leeway I feel is already afforded to me by the 2-die stunt... not fishing for a third die, just trying a cool sort of defense. If you think this should be a flurry, since we're acting on the same action and I could theoretically change my declaration simultaneously, I'll accept the -3 penalty on the contested grapple roll, bringing it to 25 dice + 2 autosx. Argh. Kudos for finding a time for your reflexive non-comboable charm when I can't retaliate.
Throwing weapon as part of the dodge stunt is fine. Foregoing DV to go immediately into contested roll is fine too. In fact, it's quite an elegant way of resolving what happens when two wrestlers are both trying to clinch the other. However, a clinch is definitely a deliberate action, and as such you must flurry it. Stunt dice are still 2. Getting 2 dice is relatively easy. Getting 3 is hard. Oh, I need to know how many stunt dice Monkey get so we can go on to the rolling. - TonyC
Right, which is why I said I wasn't fishing for more dice. Oh, right, your dice. 2 for you too. I forgot I hadn't said that already... it was late. Stunt dice for DVs: (7, 10) = 3 successes. - IanPrice
  1. Attack declaration: flurry of disarm, disarm, clinch. No internal penalty except for wound penalty. Shun's Parry DV is at -1 due to invisible attack, and his final DVs are halved due to Lost Monkey Form. Disarm maneuver has inherent -2 external penalty.
    1. Disarm (5 Dex + 10 MA + 4 hearthstone + 1 accuracy + 1 orichalcum - 1 wound + 2 stunt) = 22.
    2. Disarm (5 Dex + 10 MA + 4 hearthstone + 1 accuracy + 1 orichalcum - 1 wound + 2 stunt) = 22.
    3. Clinch (5 Dex + 10 MA + 4 hearthstone + 1 orichalcum - 1 wound + 2 stunt) = 21.
  2. Defense declaration.
    1. Dodge with Shadow Over Water Vs. Disarm
    2. Dodge with Shadow Over Water Vs. Disarm
    3. Stunt to Reverse Vs. Clinch
  3. Attack rolls:
    1. Disarm {1, 6, 2, 5, 4, 1, 3, 5, 4, 6, 3, 2, 3, 5, 2, 3, 7, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10} = 8 successes.
    2. Disarm {1, 1, 4, 5, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3, 1, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10} = 12 successes.
    3. Clinch {6, 4, 2, 3, 6, 2, 6, 4, 2, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10} = 14 successes.
  4. Attack Reroll: none.
  5. External Penalties. Disarming -2 external penalty.
    1. Disarm: 8-2 successes vs. DDV 15. Fails.
    2. Disarm: 12-2 successes vs. DDV 15. Fails.
    3. Special: Shun contested Clinch roll with 25 dice + 2 autosx. (1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10) + 2 = 13 successes. Monkey has 14 successes.
  6. Defense Reroll
  7. Soak etc. Irrelevant. Monkey doesn't intend to do damage this action.
  8. Results: Disarms fail. Shun is clinched. Monkey holds Shun inactive until next action, which is Tick 29. Both Monkey and Shun get stunt rewards. Monkey chooses wp. Shun chooses wp too.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 4/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 1/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: -1, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 29
Channeled Temperance once and Valor twice.
Distance from shore: 288 - 38 - 28 = 222 yards.
M: X|/--|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 1/13/24, prph: 7/43/57, DV plty: -1, Soak: 9B/9L/5A
Next Action: 29 (Clinch Speed 6 - 1 Drunken Form - 1 Tall Form)
Channeled Valor twice so far.

Tick 26

"Too bad. You probably should've been a turtle. At least turtles can swim!" and Monkey grabs Shun by the waist and slams down into the sea with Shun in tow. Water splashes everywhere, but eventually the sea regains her composure. Under the waves though, the light given by the anima banners illuminates sights that most mortals will never see in their too short a lifetime. Brightly colored reefs of all shades, exotic fish glinting like diamonds under the sunlight, and two powerful Solars duking it out.

Monkey deactivates Feather Foot Style and both Shun and he go sploosh. Still holding Shun, Monkey swims down, hastening the rate of their sinking.
M: X|/--|----|-|-, wp 7/9, psnl: 1/13/24, prph: 7/43/57, DV plty: -1, Soak: 9B/9L/5A
Next Action: 29 (Clinch Speed 6 - 1 Drunken Form - 1 Tall Form)
Channeled Valor twice so far.

Tick 29

Monkey will let go of Shun. He guards, waiting to see how capable Shun is underwater.

Shun calmly holsters both goremauls, floating downwards. He radiates serenity, not a bubble escaping from mouth or nose. His totem Crane seems to stand above the waves, unmoved by them. Coming gently to rest on the ocean floor, he beckons Monkey to come at him.

Shun sheathes his weapons in preparation for the underwater battle, knowing them to be useless in these environs.
S: -|--|--|-|-, wp 4/10, psnl: 25/0/25, prph: 1/48/81, ECG: 0/75/75, DV plty: -1, Soak: 25B/20L/15A, Hardness: 10B/10L/10A
Next Action: 34
Channeled Temperance once and Valor twice.
Distance from shore: 288 - 38 - 28 = 222 yards.

Tick 30

The fight continues on a new page!

Player Chat

Are you sure you want this location? While this is not as advantageous to me as a storm-tossed sloop or a tropical jungle or the towers of Old Chiaroscuro, all I need to do is go a dozen yards into the sea and you will not be able to touch me. Also, your peripheral essence is incorrect. Your peripheral essence pool should be (Essence x 7 + Willpower + sum of Virtues + Skin Mount Amulet + Skin Mount Amulet) = 5 x 7 + 10 + 20 + 8 + 8 = 81. Not 76. Of this, 40 is committed, leaving you with a Peripheral pool of 41. On top of this, you have an Essence-Containing Gem that gives you access to 75 additional motes. Just remember that you can't stunt back the motes from Essence-Containing Gem. Err, is it kosher to commit motes from Essence Containing Gem to attune artifacts and power non-instant charms? Somebody check Abyssal, I don't have it anymore. - TonyC

Just a quick reply: Non-instant charms yes (you took advantage of this in TonyC/SolarsVsLion), artifacts no. Thanks for correcting my Essence math. As for the location, I'll make do. Remember that all weapons includes improvised weapons, so I can use my MA to throw junk too, just not as well as you can. Then again, I can pick up heavier stuff. - IanPrice

Is that an activation of the Form charm, Ian? Actually, I'm not sure if your action is final. Feel free to edit/insert it and I'll react appropriately. - TonyC

It was, I was just silly and forgot to post the crunch. - IanPrice

Impeccable acts on 0, the other monkies act on 5, if I read the First Action rules correctly. - IanPrice

Bah, I completely forgot about anima banner. Retroactively inserting description. But anyway yeah, Impeccable at 0, Shun at 4, Monkey and Savage at 5. - TonyC

I am so happy that set of defenses worked out... that was such a kung-fu movie moment. - IanPrice

Okay, if I understand JB correctly, both Monkey and Savage has not used any charms/combo since their Join Battle, thus if he uses SSE, it's his charm for his JB action and at tick 5, he gets his next action and gets to use another charm or a combo again. Same with Savage. If this isn't correct please say so quick. Oh, and Ian, if you didn't take that into account yet, feel free to change your action and I'll respond appropriately. - TonyC

That's fine, I expected this. After all, I used that myself when activating the Four Halo charm. I do have a question, however: does the halving effect of Lost Monkey Form (or Obnoxiously Loud Shriek for that matter) affect what I put in there with charms? I'm not sure whether it applies before or after charm bonuses, and that will affect what I do. - IanPrice, who fears what will happen if he can't stop all the monkey forms from activating at once.
Going by Order of Modifiers boxed text on p. 124, the halving effect (a penalty) takes place after the magical bonuses. So yes, the Dex bonus from Body of War Meditation is added first, and then halved. However, bonus successes are applied last. So the first excellency is a bad idea while the second excellency is not affected. The third excellency's reroll ability is not affected, although I'm not sure how much it increases static values now. I'm tending toward "Not affected, increase static value by base Ability" though. Anyway, given the opposition, you're probably better off using perfects. - TonyC
Ah, excellent. A penalty. I can make those go away. - IanPrice
Dang, back in 1e, it's not that easy to regain those lost dice. :) - TonyC
Back in 1e, I could have stacked my parry and dodge. ;) - IanPrice

Gah, 12 dice of Agg damage negated by Twilight anima. I'm now 120% behind the "Twilight anima is broken" camp. Ian, please re-check your mote calculation on Tick 16 because it doesn't match with my calculation. - TonyC

Keep in mind that all the hurt on you is self-inflicted... essence 5 solars are hard to hurt, period. Anyway, I've re-checked it, and you're counting using a 1e mote cost for SOW. It's cheaper in 2e, therefore, I actually had one mote too few. - IanPrice
Heh, you're right. I guess I too mixed 1e with 2e stuff up. Sorry. Anyway, I'm going to retcon my action a little bit then. See above for the details. - TonyC
We've both had our edition-change goof... no harm done. :) - IanPrice

Hey, if Shun manages to reach shore, let's fast-forward several hundred ticks and change the location. I mean, this is a running battle, after all, with both sides moving at supernatural speed. In five minutes, who knows where they'll end up. We can still call it one single scene, but we could get a completely different surrounding. - TonyC

Sure, though I think you'll like my next couple of actions on the water, as they bring me towards shore. Monkey could lead the chase teasingly pretty easily though. Let's leave the essence, willpower, and health where they are, same effects active. Hm... what's a good dramatic spot... perhaps the desert, since we're in the south? Rocky spires, hot sand, tyrant lizards... - IanPrice

A thought just occurred to me: if we don't hurt each other soon, it's likely we're not going to. Would you like to set some point where another enemy, perhaps a perfect Wyld Hunt circle, busts in, so we can see if we can hurt them? We could invite another Wikizen to run the extra enemy, and such. - IanPrice

Well, we got a scenery change, so this can wait a bit. Now let's discuss what exactly fighting underwater means, system-wise. P. 155. - TonyC
Seems to me that my Goremauls fall under the category of bludgeoning instruments that wouldn't work underwater normally. We suffer a -2 external penalty to everything Dexterity related since we're not amphibious or aquatic, which includes both DVs as well as all attack rolls, unless a clinch is initiated, in which case Strength could be used. If we try to stay afloat in the choppy waters created by our entry, Athletics caps our combat skills, and we must flurry to swim while doing anything else. Underwater, we must hold our breaths (p. 130). My base time is 300 seconds (5 minutes), while yours is 120 seconds (2 minutes). I can roll 15 dice to score 30 more seconds per success, while you can roll 9 dice. We could each get 5 dice to that out of a virtue. Neither of us has Resistance Excellencies. However, given that 1 tick = 1 second, we've got time. My armor has no mobility penalty, so my movement is unhindered. - IanPrice
I posit that while Monkey can swim, Shun cannot due to the extra weight of two goremauls and superheavy plate. Since Shun can't, Monkey dives, and the fight happens on the seabottom. Monkey could resurface from time to time to catch a breather, but Shun can't. On the other hand, movement rate of all sort probably should be halved (actually I was thinking reflexive roll of Dex+Ath, success 1/2 movement, failure 1/4, but then I realized that with our dice pools, it's not worth the bother of rolling every action). See the text of Move action, p. 145.
Shun is wearing attuned Moonsilver armor, and wielding attuned orichalcum goremauls. There is no provision in the exalted rules for a weight-based penalty. Any mobility penalty would surely apply, and the fatigue penalty could even apply to breath-holding rolls, possibly even to the difficulty of any athletics checks made to move around. However, I do not find a basis in the rules to agree that I cannot move. In the fluff, it's quite debatable. Attunement makes me treat the items as virtually weightless, certainly compared to their original weight, and my style halves strength requirements - indicating that I move as if the items were even lighter. Furthermore, with 10 in all three physical stats, I am sufficiently beyond normal parameters that I do not believe swimming would be an impossibility. Nor even an inconvenience. Monkey will have the advantage, but swim I can, and will. - IanPrice
Let's approach this from a different mindset. Your visual theme is "heavy". Using comic book physics, "heavy" sinks, even when the super could toss a tank easily which should mean he's able to kick water with enough force that he could stay afloat or even mimic a dolphin's leap. Juggernaut, for example, has been shown walking underwater instead of swimming. Juggernaut is not even heavily armored. He has his metal helmet, and possibly some of the bulky bands of his costume is metal (but probably not), but he's actually wearing either leather or latex. Yet he sinks. Because he looks heavy. - TonyC
I never said you can't move. You could walk, jump, and well, toss yourself around with a stunt. What is there in swimming that you must have that you can't achieve some other way? The only one I can think of is going up to renew your breath, but if this worries you, I promise that we'll do another location change long before you run out of breath. However, if you still thinks that it's important that Shun be able to swim, sure, go ahead. - TonyC
It was late, and I thought you were saying I couldn't move. Sorry. Of course I intend to stick with visual theme, but I chafed at the idea that I was being restricted unduly. Again, sorry for the fuss (I feel like such a whiner). What I declared above stands, with the sheathing of weapons. - IanPrice, Who resolves now to stop posting when it's 4am and he can't tell if he's being cranky.

I think we're set. Ian, you can go. Or if you want me to go first, have Shun guard, and I'll start Tick 30. - TonyC

Peanut Gallery Chat (read: Comments)

Hmmm, Three-Fold Partition of The Soul is incredibly nifty. Should we up the cost to a Lethal HL instead of the default Bashing HL? What does everyone think? - TonyC

Possibly, I reserve judgement until this is over. I'm also considering making Celestial Monkey Form explicitly allow the channeling of any virtue for any purpose, to give it a little beef to go with its very nice sauce. - IanPrice
I love beef.... =) Madoka

Can a person use both dv values interchangeably like that? I always thought 1 or the other in 2nd edition. Madoka

You choose one DV per attack resolution. Flurries contain multiple seperate attacks. Nothing saying I can't defend against multiple attacks as I see fit. - IanPrice
Very cool, thanks for clearing that up. Madoka

Hmmm, back in 1e, does invoking Gauntlets of Distant Touch's ability to manipulate objects at a distance a reflexive? - TonyC

I don't know, I only have the 2e write up in Wonders of the Lost Age, which doesn't say. I'll assume it's reflexive. - IanPrice

Regarding the calling in of Wyld Hunt or other bystanders, I think that's a bad idea. It introduces variables which, to me, interfere with the idea of Trial By Fire - which is two "equally" powerful combatants differing only by Charms and equipment. Considering combat has only been going on for 29 seconds it seems a bit soon to bring in extras too. I would imagine all high-xp combats between "equal" parties will go on for a long time, player wise. Mixing up the terrain like above is a much better way of relieving player boredom and frustration. Just my 2 cents. I'm loving watching this fight by the way! Very cool! nikink

I suggested it since he suggested fast forwarding several minutes. It only seemed logical. And really, the point of the TBF is to test out how well certain MA styles work as part of the gestalt whole of high-level Exalted combat. A TBF of one solar versus 5 Immaculates might not be too far fetched, really. This isn't a "pure" test like TrialBySchmendrick. The idea here is to test how things work together in more complex situations, so variables are GOOD. Anyway, glad you like what you see! - IanPrice
Honestly, between Monkey and Shun the DBs will be owned anyway. What would happen instead is that they will ignore the DBs and use the DBs as stunt-props and mote-generators. I foresee Shun deliberately letting the Fire-Aspect hit him so he can activate EGT. Monkey with his JiAS would use SOW every single attack to keep his mote pool full. - TonyC
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