TonyC/SolarsVsLionSystemSideTurn2

Princess declares she's using her Combo and uses Flowing Mirror of Opposition. Students also declares he's using Three Strikes Disruption and uses Distracting Finger Gesture Attack and then summons Flying Silver Dream. All the solars choose to roll init normally.

Stone Monkey: 1d10+19=21
Invincible Sword Princess: 1d10+14=22. 17 motes and 4 WP left.
Burning Mandala: 1d10+7=8
Student To The Sun And Stars: 1d10+10=11
Five Realms Diplomat: 1d10+7=16

With an estimated init of 1d10+26-5, Lion very likely goes first.

The First and Forsaken Lion leapt forwards and upwards, curving in a vast arc straight over the Solars, as he let out another heart-piercing shriek. The breath of his passing, as his cry curdled blood, ruffled the robes of the Diplomat in the air. "You fear to face me, I see. Do you truly think that you have anything that can oppose me? Come, show me your might!" Dark Essence gathered around him as, under his mask, he grinned with dark anticipation, landing far away on the other side of his foes.

Righto. Lion can't unload another combo like the last one, so he's going to try something different. Instead, he activates a defensive Combo with a couple of extra Charms in it. Stage One is making sure that Diplomat is too busy soaking to Scourge, so he first leaps into the air, using Spider Pounce to cover a whopping 110 yards, right over the other Solars, landing 60 yards away on the other side of them. In midair, he triggers another Withering Dirge, for another 10L, as he passes by Diplomat. His actual actions mostly depend on if the Student decides to shut down the Combo immediately. (That works oddly, doesn't it? Worst-worded Charm ever. If Student shuts down the Combo, and it's all reflexives, does he have to spend the Willpower again? I'm not sure - there's no action to redirect...)

Lion's Personal Essence 2/35 (47 committed), Peripheral 46/194 (34 committed), Willpower 4/10, Health 34/36.

I hate you for jumping around. Diplomat isn't actually in a straight line with the others, but rather (breaks off paper and pen and sketches map), about 32 degrees to Lion's Southwest. If you jump 110 yards over there..., well, 1 yard is too small a difference, so with Lion's new location as the new center, then Diplomat is 60 yards away and Princess is 110 yards away in a straight line. The other group of three is, oh, call it 85 yards away to the right and up. WE ARE NOT GOING TO BREAK INTO SINE AND COSINE AND FIGURE EXACT DISTANCES AND ANGLES. Next time stay still so I can properly swarm and destroy you. :p - TonyC

I also hate you for leaving Princess in the lurch. Right now she doesn't have enough motes to pay for this turn's combo. I think I can get around this, but we'll see. Are you sure you don't rather attack Princess so she can use Dancing With Strife again? :)

Anyway, yes, Student will use the SCD granted by Soul Fire Shaper Form to disrupt Withering Dirge. Responding to it individually would've totaled more. I'm somewhat puzzled though. After that Lion used that huge combo last turn, Student now has more motes than Lion. Student should win the mote race now. What's your plan? Alternatively, now that you know Princess is really low on motes, if you want to change tactics, go ahead. Seventeen motes is still enough for 5 HGDs though. - TonyC

Student's anima flares bright, suffusing the entire place with golden light. Around him, five colored orbs circle slowly around the halo of his sun. Lion's supernatural fury is dampened, and his shriek is just that, a voice.

Students spend 5m+1w to start SCD and adds 20m to annul Withering Dirge.

Landing, the Lion grinned again, spinning as a cloud of dust raised from the force of his descent. Flipping his knife up, he shrugged, letting it fall to the ground. "Well, I didn't really think it worth the bother, but I suppose, if you insist..." He grinned again beneath his mask, and swept his cape back, and, reaching into the darkness within its folds, drew forth Varan's Ruin, its edge flickering with purple light. As he does, Princess feels power coil around her, weakening her. Moments later, the cloak rippled again, and ten great iron spikes shot from it, chains still connecting them to its shadows. The Lion struck a pose, and his voice echoed from the depths of his armour. "Come and get me, if you dare."

The Lion activates Breath-Draining Prana twice against Princess. Each time, he rolls his Willpower, stealing that many motes from the Princess and adding them to his own mote total. There's no counter-roll, and it's not an attack, so there's really nothing she can do about it. He then activates it against Diplomat. The Lion drains a total of 15 of the Princess's motes, and only 2 of Diplomat's (Aw, geez). He then draws Varan's Ruin reflexively, which cancels CMoS Form. Solars are up. - FrivYeti

And on a side note, I just realized that this could have been the death of the Princess if the Lion reasonably knew what her mote total was, and wasn't 110 yards away from her. I'm going to be nice and say that he didn't, though, since he wouldn't logically know until she tapped out completely. (One perfect attack + Fire and Stones x10 with her at 2 motes would have been 10 automatic levels of damage, meaning death). - FrivYeti

Not true. She could activate Power Reaping Prana, roll 11 dice+1 wp autosuccess, gets at least 2 motes back, and use HGD. To kill Princess at this point you need to make a ranged attack of some sort or attack without using charms. And Princess has 16 HLs, thank you very much. She might survive the one blow and use EGT or something. - TonyC

Mm, excellent point. Didn't consider Power Reaping. Just as well I went with this plan, then. ;) - FrivYeti

Lion's Personal Essence 16/55 (27 committed), Peripheral 46/194 (34 committed), Willpower 4/10, Health 34/36.

Originally Lion used two Breath Draining Prana and Writhing Blood Chain plus a combo. After a bit of a discussion on whether this is enough to protect Lion from Diplomat's Scourge, FrivYeti changed it to the above.

Invincible Sword Princess's expression turns grim as she feels her essence being taken away. With her Ghost Seeing Blindfold, she sees it flows into Lion. The greatswords hovering around her fall clattering as the essence threads holding them up collapses. She turns to the others and yells, "Essence!" warning the others. Stone Monkey cares not though. After all, what has Lion done to him so far? To the other two, he says, "Let's chase him!" Burning Mandala shakes his head and runs toward Princess instead, intending to lend his essence to her. Normally he wouldn't lift a hand, but at this point, her survival could mean his. Student, though, nods and Stone Monkey scoops him over and leaps toward Lion. As Stone Monkey lands, Student sommersaults off him and breaks into a sprint as soon as he touches the ground. Up in the air, Five Realms Diplomat cautiously stops above Stone Monkey, waiting for her chance.

I meta-gamed a bit above. You see, I can't possibly keep track of 6 different individuals going all over the place and I'm not going to make FrivYeti does so. So rather than all five Solars going on their own, I made them move into simple positions.

The end result is that Lion and the Solars are all in a nice straight line.

Princess can't pay for her combo and it collapses. She runs toward Mandala and Burning Mandala runs toward her. They'll meet in the middle. Stone Monkey in the meanwhile carries Student along and leaps 40 yards (Str 15+ Ath 5 = 20). For someone as strong as Monkey, this task should be trivial. He doesn't go straight for Lion either, but rather veers off to the side so everything will line up. Diplomat uses her movement to join Monkey, but still 32 yards up. Student, once he lands, uses a normal movement and a full move to go right next to Lion. Remember that he has Gem of Perfect Mobility which gives her two full actions.

At this point, Lion and Student are right next to each other. Stone Monkey is 47 yards away from Lion. Diplomat is 32 yards above Stone Monkey. Mandala and Princess is 97 yards away. Everyone is in a straight line. If Lion busts a Obsidian Butterfly or something similar, he'd get everyone. I don't see why he'd bother though. WD does the job very admirably already.

Oh, current status. This is after disrupting Withering Dirge and after everyone moves around. Most have actions left, although Princess probably won't do anything with hers. Stone Monkey has acted, but hasn't used any charms or declared combo.

Monkey: 0/0 (25 committed), 34/34 (25 committed), 7/10 WP

Princess: 0/0 (23 committed), 2/41 (12 committed), 4/8 WP

Mandala: 0/25 (none committed), 46/51 (8 committed), 5/10 WP, 1HL down.

Student: 0/0 (24 committed), 18/56 (1 committed). 5/9 WP, 2HL down. (+75 motes)

Diplomat: 0/15 (10 committed), 49/49 (10 committed). 7/10 WP, 1 HL down.

Ok, the wiki ate my original response, so I'm going to answer all at once. First off, yeah, I was just thinking of Varan's Ruin and Withering Blood-Chain cancelling CMoS at the same time. Assume it is drawn at the end of all this, reflexively.

Secondly, I've always been under the impression that you can USE Martial Arts Charms if armed, just not use them with actions that use the weapon (aside from Form charms, which are special). Does anything contradict that?

Third, isn't SCD reflexive, not supplemental? I thought it provided a parry.

Fourth, Breath-Draining Prana is part of the Combo. Reading back, I realize that was unclear. This does mean no Supplementals or Extra Actions outside of Lore, but the Lion can live with that.

Fifth, a single two-die stunt allows the Lion to regain 2 WP. That's worth considering for your tactics.
- FrivYeti

Both Sequential Charm Disruption and Charm Redirection Technique are supplementals. Thus you must have actions held to be used as parries. The charm text says that you can use Reflexive MA parries too, so I suppose that's okay even when it's outside your init. But your combo doesn't include SCD and CDT anyways (you did say that it's all Reflexives and those two are supplementals). So if you are thinking of using either/both as a defense against Scourge, you may want to change Lion's actions.

Bah, I responded to this this morning, and the wiki went and ate it. I blame my imperfect memory, and the fact that I lent Sidereals to someone else. In that case, there will be no Writhing Blood-Chain, and Breath-Draining moves out of the combo, leaving room for MA supplementals. Now, for another topic... I'm just saying ahead of time, for tactics purposes, that I'm going to rule that SCD and CRT can alter the Mantis reflexive defense to function against Charm use that's not an attack, in the same way that I'm allowing Heavenly Guardian Defense to alter Weapon-Breaking Defense. (That is, usually the Mantis defense applies only to attacks, but with SCD or CDT, it would read any Charm use as an attack, since you can't ordinarily parry any Charm use). With that in mind, I have made a slight alteration to the Lion's combat strategy, above. Sorry for the confusion. - FrivYeti

I'm cool with that. So the combo is Breath Draining Prana, SCD, CRT, plus Withering Dirge and other Reflexives, right? Except that I don't have to worry about Breath Draining Prana since it's out of range and not targeted at Student, right? Because if you want me to SCD it, I'm cool with that since Student is already disrupting the whole Withering Dirge combo. Anyway, scroll down a bit. Actual action follows. - TonyC

I'm aware that some people don't interpret MA and style weapons the same way I do. Basically I read it as MA can be used unarmed only. However, MA weapons (or nowadays, style weapons) count as unarmed. PAoC has no style weapons. I'm not at home right now, so you might want to check the PG for the latest rulings, if any. At any rate, from reading FrivYeti/SolarsVsLion, I know you don't see it the same way I do and since you're the appointed Final Word, we'll do it your way. Don't worry, I'm very flexible. :)

Regaining WP through stunt is nice, but realize that in that one turn where you can't use a combo I'll be hitting you with everything I got. Go read up Gaia's Rebuke in Savant & Sorcerer. - TonyC

Without SCD, not an issue. Read up Iron Skin Concentration. ;) Of course, that you can now counter... - FrivYeti

Student steels himself and steps into Lion's sword reach. Grimly, he lets all the essence he commands loose. His hands pummel the air, his feet sweep and stomp the earth, and his anima flares and flickers against Lion's, but none of this touches Lion himself, as Student's true target is not the Deathlord, but rather his command of essence. "NOW!" he yells, "Hit him with everything!"

Student first makes a Valor roll because of Heart Stopping Mien. If he fails, he can't even get near Lion. Rolling 2 dice, he gets 4 & 10. No problem. Student and Lion is now next to each other. This is my big chance. He aborts to a full parry and proceeds to take Lion's persistents down. We start with Heart Stopping Mien. This will cost 15m + 1w to take down. Student pays it. Next, Perfection of Celestial Bliss. 12m + 1 w to take down. Paid, this time using Essence Containing Gem. This is when he yells out "Now!" Diplomat, who was holding her action, uses Scourge. This costs her 2 Permanent WP and 40m. Lion has no defense. He can't use Charm Redirection Technique because that's part of a combo. Student's first SCD, the one granted by Soul Fire Shaper Form, is still hanging around, ready to shut Lion's combo down as each individual charm is invoked. The only way I can see for Lion to get away is by winning the essence race and still have enough motes left to use CRT. At this point, Student has 66m and Lion has 62m. Maybe FrivYeti will see something I don't, but I think Student wins. But Scourge is just the beginning. At init 8, Burning Mandala acts. Originally I planned on having him transfer motes to Princess, but screw that. He will unleash Gaia's Rebuke. Now, we'll assume that unknotting the Cord is a full dice action, but if it's not, then unleashes everything. (Did I miss anything? Perhaps there's something in the spell description?). Again, Student will shut down any charm-based defense Lion has. So, 150L-31L soak = 119. Shall we roll it? Tomorrow I'll write a nice description for everyone. - TonyC

High above, dressed in battle armor instead of her usual silk finery, Five Realms Diplomat delivers her judgment. "First & Forsaken Lion! Your crimes are too numerous to count, yet instead of repenting, you continue to flaunt your disregard of the Will of Heaven. This shall not continue. Your goals shall be frustrated and each and every crime you committed shall be punished, starting now. For the crime of violating the boundary between the living and the dead, for refusing to enter the cycle of reincarnation, for serving the ancient enemies of gods and mankind, for hastening the end of those whose time has not yet come and preventing those whose time has come to start a new beginning, you are found guilty. For your punishment, your mind shall be as weak as a newborn's, so that your arrogance may turn into humility and your passion into submission, and perhaps, repentance. This I decree, and so shall it be!"

On the edge of the courtyard, Burning Mandala sees and understands immediately what Student To The Sun And Stars is doing. "The haughty princess can wait. If I take this chance, I shall be famous as the one who defeated Lion," he thinks to himself. His hands unknots the first spell captured in the Cord. Streams of bright essence fan out from it and converges on the ground First & Forsaken Lion is standing on. The earth rumbles, and the onlookers gasp as one voice when a pillar of rock propels Lion a mile up in an instant and just as quickly, flips and slams him down with great force.

Diplomat rolls Manipulation + Valor (8 dice) and gets 2 successes. Scourge succeeds. Burning Mandala uses the Sorcery Capturing Cord and unleashes Gaia's Rebuke.

The Lion growls in surprise as Student begins to block his Charms, one after another spiralling into the Void. The slightest hint of concern enters his mind as he realizes that he may have underestimated the reserves of this young Exalt, and he finds himself seriously thinking that he should have brought along an Essence-Containing Gem of his own. Regardless, it is too late for concerns. As his initial attempt to counteract the Student is prevented, he braces himself for the fury of the Gaia's Rebuke.

Alrighty, it looks like the Lion's in a buttload of trouble. He's four motes behind Student, which means trouble. He allows the Scourge to hit, wiping his Willpower to 0. The trouble starts in a moment.

As Gaia's Rebuke strikes, Lion triggers Essence-Gathering Temper. I presume that Student will block it, as 120 extra motes will end the game in the Lion's favour. He continues to re-activate the Charm until he drops to 11 motes, leaving Student with 15. So close, and yet so far. (As an interesting aside, SCD counters Willpower-cost Charms for free once they're in a combo).
Now, there is a slim chance that 119L will result in marginally less than 35 levels. Not a good chance, but it's possible. So I'm going to be a jackass and make you roll it. ;) - FrivYeti

Anyway, rolling 119 damage dice, I get 54 damage. Now, normal ghosts discorporate when they got injured past Incapacitated, but Lion's a Deathlord, so we'll use the Death & Dying rules. This is 20HLs past Incapacitated. Does this kill Lion immediately? If not, then it seems that FrivYeti is going to bust out Birth of Sanity's Sorrow, and much to my chagrin, Hapushet is right. There is nothing I can do to stop it. At this point, a hush falls on the courtyard, then the earth trembles, and Lion's final form bursts out from the ground. Cue One Winged Angel. - TonyC

Based on my reading of Birth of Sanity's Sorrow, it doesn't care whether you're killed or not, you still trigger it. Besides, the Lion has Stamina 22 right now, so he's still Incapacitated. ;) Let's go for it. - FrivYeti

"As the smoke cleared, everyone stared. Could it be? Could the Lion truly have been bested? A single claw slammed out of the ground, over a foot in diameter, and silence reigned as everyone waited, breath hushed, to see what would happen.
In an explosion of dirt and rock, the Lion burst forth from the ground, over ten feet tall, his armour twisted and still smoking from the force of the blow that had smote him down. His mask was twisted into a sneer of hatred, and his arms and legs, now quadruple-jointed, jutted with wickedly curved spikes, ready to rend and tear the flesh of any who might still oppose him. From his mouth, a deep, ominous voice issued. "I am quite impressed, little Solars. None have ever fared so well against me. But if you thought that this battle was at an end, you will be most disappointed. Your bones will be made into the walls of my new temple when I build it here to commemorate my victory." The mask's face twists into a sneer of hate as the Lion spun Varan's Ruin, now grown to a great monolith of soulsteel and dark Essence, and prepared to fight.

Finishing out everybody else's turn, Stone Monkey will use Joy in Adversity's Stance, Princess does nothing. Then we tally out the stunt rewards. (Normally this is granted right after the actual stunts, but in a wiki it's hard to keep track of what's going on until after everything's finalized.) Princess and Burning Mandala didn't do anything exciting, IMO. Stone Monkey has his minor cooperative stunt with Student, but all his motes are committed anyway. So just Student, Diplomat, and maybe Lion, depending on what he does. - TonyC

Lion's used up all his actions for the turn, so he's done. *salutes* Let's go for Round 3, wherein the Solars are likely to flatten the poor fellow.

What, no skeletal wings, quadrupedal liontaur body, or even extra arms? Awwww. - TonyC

Stunts:

I'm going to call Student, Diplomat, Burning Mandala, and Lion two-die stunts, whereas Princess and Monkey each have one-die stunts for their more basic actions. :) The Lion will be reclaiming Willpower, because he will need it next turn (assuming he can get away from Student, which is iffy). - FrivYeti

Lion's Personal Essence 1 mote, Willpower 2, Health 51

Okay, we need to establish what charms are active on Lion. I admit this is influenced by video games, but I would treat Sanity's Sorrow and the like (Unity of Closed Fist comes to mind) as basically a character reset. That is, all pre-existing charms are ignored, good and bad. So Lower Soul Ascending goes away. If there's some negative charm active on Lion, it also goes away. For an in-game justification, we can say that Void Circle Necromancy simply trumps all lesser magics. On the other hand, there's also plenty of precedents in video games where "status effects" carry-over from one form to another. Either way is fine. - TonyC

I think I'm going to say that effects carry over; it seems like this spell is designed to be activated late in a fight, which is when your persistants are up anyway.

Monkey: 0/0 (25 committed), 29/29 (30 committed), 7/10 WP

Princess: 0/0 (23 committed), 4/41 (12 committed), 4/8 WP

Mandala: 0/25 (none committed), 46/51 (8 committed), 6/10 WP, 1HL down.

Student: 0/0 (24 committed), 4/56 (1 committed). 5/9 WP, 2HL down. (+15 motes)

Diplomat: 4/13 (10 committed), 9/47 (10 committed). 7/8 WP, 1 HL down.