Need a couple of RPrs

[Darkniciad]

I know there are a couple of you out there somewhere. I have a battle scene I'm writing that's giving me fits. Five beautiful women with a wide variety of powers vs. a young, but very powerful demon. My ladies have had a bit too much of an easy time dispatching their foes lately, so they needed a reality check. They're not going to lose this fight, but they sure as hell ain't gonna win it.

I need some people to play parts to help flesh this damn fight out. I get a little locked in a rut when I'm dealing with more than a 1on1 or 1on2 purely magical battle. If I had a couple of sword swingers in there, it wouldn't be a problem. 5on1 pure magic is giving me fits. I don't feel like it's flowing, and it feels a little stagnant to me. My girls have a vast array of powers between them, and I think I need a bit of a fresh perspective on utilizing them.

The main thing I need is just creative uses of magic. About anything goes. Danica, Marlena, and the Witches Three have nearly any ability you can think of between them.

If anybody's willing to give me a hand, I can post up brief personality profiles and generalized ability lists, along with the start of the battle - which goes badly right from the get-go for my girls.

It can be in PM or email if anybody wants to stay in the closet with their geekitude *laugh* Doesn't necessarily have to be a fantasy world RPr ( or even an RPr at all ), but I just imagine that will be the quickest assimilation point since we're dealing almost entirely in hurling magic and magic-like abilities around.

 

[Boxlicker101]

It sounds like you are copying from "Charmed". Maybe have the demon use a magical shield, which deflects a spell back in the direction of the person who casts it.

 

[secretme]

Okay, can't help it. My geektitude is nowhere near closeted. I'd love to help out. Just let me know. If you want to read a battle I've written there are several chapters of that kind of stuff in my arsenal posted.

 

[Darkniciad]

There is a lot of Charmed influence in the witchcraft

Picked up a couple of responses, and I decided it would be easiest just to post this in the thread rather than PM it to anyone who responds. Anybody feel free to throw ideas out there. You never know what might spark something in my head and get the ball rolling.

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All the girls have a vast array of blessed protective charms, designed to combat/protect from demons. They've concentrated on fire upon guessing that their foe has that power and prefers it.

All the girls also have numerous protective magic items based upon the mystic Arts. These have a limited ability to protect against demon powers.

Danica, Celes, and Marlena also have access to magical items that let them use magical attacks instantly ( magic missiles, fireballs, lightning, etc. Feel free to experiment )


Danica The central character in my story, Danica has assumed an unofficial leadership role by unspoken agreement amongst her friends, "The Sisters of the Mists". She's currently struggling with the realization that she's defaulting to her feminine charms when other means of reaching a goal are available. She spent many years enslaved to an evil wizard who forced her to do this, and that makes it doubly difficult for her to deal with the moment of realization. Danica is confident in her abilities without being overconfident. She's empathic to everyone around her, and has a strong desire to help anyone in any sort of trouble. In contrast, she does her best to internalize her own problems.

Abilities

Danica has psionic powers. She can read minds, project powerful blasts of pure psionic energy at a foe's mind, and use telekinesis ( the ability to move things with her mind ) Danica's control and strength with telekinesis is vast, allowing her to lift vast weights, exert tremendous force, or even form complex shapes from pure mental energy when she concentrates.

Danica is a well-studied user of the mystic Arts. This gives her command of a vast catalog of magical spells she can use in battle for protection and attack. Nearly anything you can imagine is possible, so feel free to experiment. These spells take some time to cast, requiring spoken chants and hand gestures to bring the magic into being.

Danica has invisible runic tattoos inscribed all over her body. The rune structures allow her to summon up a host of magical abilities. This is far faster than spell casting, and actually has more power, but utilizing the runes causes a reaction similar to a burning itch that grows more difficult to ignore the more power she utilizes.

Danica also has a latent ability to utilize sorcery, but she knows nothing about it at this point in the story and cannot tap the power yet.

Celes One of Danica's closest friends, Celes endured the same torment and servitude that Danica faced while imprisoned by Zoraster. Celes is very confident in her abilities, and sometimes prone to reckless behavior based upon this. She's outspoken, and a little short on tact at times.

Abilities
Celes is a witch, and she shares a bond with Andrea and Ashley that increase all of their powers ( If you've ever watched Charmed, you know where I'm coming from - the power of three ) She has the inborn ability to move things in various ways. Currently, she has telekinetic powers similar to Danica's, and almost as powerful. She can also teleport ( instantly move ) herself, others, and objects. Besides her inborn powers, she can also use the potions and spells of her craft. For many years, Celes denied her birthright as a witch, and thus she's only now learning the craft. This limits her ability to use the other tools of her craft at this time, and she relies upon her inborn powers more than any other witchcraft.

Celes is an Archmage. This means she has vast stores of magical energy, and learns spells far more quickly than the average magic user. Celes has also created numerous original spells that are hers alone. Like Danica, nearly anything goes with her wizard magic, so feel free to experiment. The amount of power Celes can put into a spell just by casting it is nearly equal to what Danica can manage by throwing all her heart and soul into a spell.

Andrea Another of Danica's closest friends, Andrea worked in the complex where Celes and Danica were enslaved without knowing the truth of her evil employer. A bright spot in both their lives, they made sure to bring her with them when they escaped. Andrea is young, and perhaps a bit naive at times. She has lived by her own wits since her early teen years, however, so she's not completely without street smarts. Andrea is upbeat, and always looks for the bright side of everything, but not to the point of being "annoyingly perky" most of the time.

Abilities
Andrea is a witch, and she shares a bond with Celes and Ashley that increase all of their powers. Andrea has the inborn ability to control the elements. So far, she has the power to send out fireballs or tongues of flame, blasts of cold, strong wind, and lightning. Just a day before this battle, she discovered an ability to control water. This ability is almost all or nothing, resulting in a massive fountain most of the time. Andrea's powers are only recently awakened, and thus she's new to her craft. This means she relies upon her inborn powers more than the other tools of her craft, just like Celes.

Andrea is a cleric of the nature Goddess. This gives her the ability to heal, and to call upon the goddess to affect the natural world. She could cause vines to twine around someone's legs, calm animals, and the like. She can also call upon the goddess for guidance.

Ashley
Ashley joined with the Sisters when their paths crossed accidently. Little did she know that the fates were leading her to Celes and Andrea for a purpose. Ashley is very focused, having spent most of her life combatting demons and their lackeys, or protecting innocents from them. She's had little time for anything else, and thus she's a little lost outside of the world of witchcraft. When it comes to demons, Ashley often takes the lead unconsciously.

Abilities
Ashley is a witch, and she shares a bond with Celes and Andrea that increases all of their powers. Ashley has power over time. Thusfar, she can "freeze" someone in time while time continues to move normally for everyone else. She can also speed up time around herself to move so fast that she appears to teleport. Recently, she has discovered an ability to step "outside time" and take others with her. When she does this, everything around her appears "frozen" She can't pass through a closed door, because absolutely nothing she does will move it. Ashley has a vast array of potions and charms at all times. She also knows many spells by heart, and can utilize many powers this way. When Celes and Andrea join her in chanting a spell, it becomes much stronger. ( Spells should be rhyming chants, which means I don't use them often for normal battles, but feel free if you wax poetic ) She could have any number of fascinating potions that can conjure up magical effects on her person.

Marlena
Marlena started as an enemy, but soon found herself enslaved next to Celes and Danica when the two ( along with the other "Companions of the Forge" ) captured her. Marlena had participated in that battle reluctantly as the lesser of two evils, and eventually forged a friendship with her former adversaries. Danica and Celes took Marlena with them when they escaped Zoraster's clutches. Marlena is shy, and underestimates her abilities. She also has a lot of guilt from her actions at the Forge that assault her regularly.

Abilities
Marlena is one of the most advanced users of illusion magic currently living. She can utilize spells that summon up illusions that are almost impossible to distinguish from reality. If someone fully believes in an illusion, it will affect them as though it actually existed. They couldn't walk through an illusionary wall, and would believe they took wounds from an illusionary monster. These phantom wounds can even kill. To add to this, Marlena can create "phantasmal" creatues and objects. These illusions have some solidity through a type of force similar to telekinesis, making them more difficult to distinguish from reality. Marlena's command of the magic even allows her to add sound and scent to her illusions. Through an artifact and a gift given to her by higher powers, Marlena's phantasmal creations can become almost real. They are capable of causing real wounds, breathing real fire, etc. She can also mimic nearly any spell with illusion, and only the most observant or well protected foe will not react as though the real spell hit them. Marlena knows a few other minor spells, but she concentrates mainly on illusion.

Now, for our demon...

Mache
Mache is the spawn of a powerful Devil. He is half human, and thus cannot be banished via wizard/cleric magic. He could be vanquished by witchcraft, however. Mache is arrogant and sarcastic in nature. He is a master of nearly any weapon he touches, but prefers the weapons of a gentleman over more brutal weapons like an axe or hammer.

Abilities
Mache is incredibly strong. He could easily rip a man's arm from its socket. Although attempting to maintain his human disguise, he might very well revert to his demonic form if necessary. He'll have long nails, horns, fangs, and wings in demonic form, although he's still mostly human in appearance. His human and demon forms look very much alike, as they're both natural forms to him. He's hiding amongst humans to learn how to blend in. Demons age unnaturally, so although appearing about 20, he actually knows little of the world at this point.

Other than his physical attributes, Mache has control over fire. He can hurl fireballs, tongues of flame, send out rings of flame, set himself afire, "explode" into a vast fireball, rip open rifts into the elemental plane of fire and pull out fire elementals to serve him. He can also conjure up and control other facets of fire such as smoke, molten rock, etc. While he is weak against cold and water, his parentage gives him strong resistance to those weaknesses.

His strong will makes Danica's mental powers nearly useless. If she had the opportunity to concentrate, she could probably break through his will, but this battle won't give that opportunity. He's also quite resistant to wizard magic. Rune magic will have more of an effect on him, and witchcraft can prove a true danger - especially spoken spells. In this case, I don't want to give the witches three the opportunity to utilize that. I want them to come to a bad draw in this fight. He is able to resist the inborn powers of the witches three, although he certainly feels their touch and knows the danger they present, especially over time as the battle progresses. Every attack of witchcraft weakens him a little more.

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Now here's the beginning of the battle ( unedited ):

“He’s a demon,” Ashley declared, and almost immediately lashed out with her power over time.

Mache slowed, fighting with every fibre of his being against the power. With a great roar, he broke free. His disguise slipped as he did so, revealing his burning eyes. The demon lashed out instinctively with his powers, sending an enormous fireball hurtling toward the women in front of him.

The shields Danica and Celes had erected held – but just barely. While the magic held back the heat, it failed to shield against the shockwave of the fireball’s explosion. All five women flew backwards, scattering away from each other as they struggled to regain their footing and balance.

The demon leapt toward Andrea, who had taken a worse tumble than the others and hit her head. Celes thrust her palm toward Mache, slamming him with her telekinetic power. The demon’s shoulder shot backward, turning his upper body, but Mache continued toward the still groggy Andrea.

A potion exploded against Mache’s chest, but had no more effect than Celes’ power. Ashley silently cursed, knowing that they were in trouble. The potion was the strongest common potion she’d ever made. If it had failed to give the demon pause, then they were dealing with an unusually powerful hellspawn.

Mache’s hand stabbed downward, his intent to grab Andrea and use her as a shield and bait for the other women. Before he could touch her, he felt a powerful jolt of energy that caused him to jerk his hand away. Various charms of witchcraft and her holy medallion had repelled him. A moment later, she simply vanished.

The air blasted from Celes’ lungs as Andrea reappeared to fall on top of her. Celes hadn’t thought, she had simply reacted and used her power in a way she’d never tried before. It had removed Andrea to temporary safety, but taken them both out of the fight briefly.

Though Mache held the upper hand, he realized the danger of this battle. He had tasted witch magic, and not one of the females had fallen to his fire. Claws sprang forth from his fingers, and he swept them before him in a tearing motion, having no intention of facing all five females alone.

The resulting sheet of flame roiled, and Mache reached into it without flinching. When he withdrew his black-clawed hands, he pulled forth several man-shaped beings of flame. Bent to the will of the demon, the fire elementals attacked.

 

[secretme]

Okay, so what exactly are you looking for? I guess I got the impression that you just wanted help with a battle scene.

After reading all the stuff you posted the only thing that pops instantly to mind is to try and stay away from D&D terminology when writing it. I know it's rough. I've struggled with that myself. But I think it reads better when terms like "magic missle" aren't thrown about. Partially because you only really get that if you've played, and partially because of possible copyright issuses, and partially because description like "a searing red flame of energy shot from her fingertips" is much more effective to read.

Um, beyond that my other piece of advice- if people are up to the challenge and it can be organized well (that might be the trick) is to assign a personality to various people and then everyone take turns writing a scene either paragraph by paragraph together (could be time consuming and confusing if not handled properly) or you write the scene that you want and then everyone takes turns rewriting the same scene from different points of view. Then you can cannibalize the scenes and put one long scene together. If done correctly then you can have each of the important things that the various characters might do taken from the various points of view. It would give depth to the characters because the writing style would change with the POV. It's a fun exercise I've done before. The only problem with that being that if this is part of a much larger story then you have this one scene with very disperse writing styles and it might not read cohesively with the rest of the story.

I hope that's helpful. I don't really know what you're looking for and since I've never really tried to get involved with this kind of thing before I don't know the etiquette.

Do you want people to just continue the scene you've started? Are you wanting people to pick characters and then you'll tell everyone you want involved who they're going to write? I'm not sure what you're looking for or if everyone who's volunteer is going to be included or if you're gonna tell some of us thanks but you've got all the help you need... Which would be okay. Just need more instruction...

 

[Darkniciad]

What I need is some variety, more or less. I feel like the scene was coming out a little bland, and I thought it might help to have a few others come up with some attacks to throw around.

Right now I have Mache releasing an unspecified number of fire elementals. Celes and Andrea are trying to get it together. Danica is back up after the tumble, preparing some attack. She'll probably default to her mental powers ( which are going to have little effect ) and then jump to something runic. Odds are that Marlena is preparing something distractionary, like messing with the terrain through her illusion magic. Ashley knows that she needs to get to Andrea and Celes, because she can already tell that they need to take advantage of their bond to have any chance of harming this demon.

( I want to try to keep them apart, because I want this battle to end in a bad draw with Mache retreating virtually unscathed ( for his own reasons ) at the end and the girls rather battered and humbled )

I think I'm going to rewrite it to center a bit more on Danica's perspective. That's probably the flow issue right there. I just need some inspiration of attacks for the girls to hurl at my demonic juggernaut.

 

[secretme]

Can anyone make it rain holy water?

Or trick/talk him into doing something to himself. Like he does something so powerful they can't combat it, but they manage to get him to use his own power against himself. Then you get the affect of having them too weak to win outright be getting to be much smarter than he is and that's their advantage.

 

[Darkniciad]

Can anyone make it rain holy water?

Or trick/talk him into doing something to himself. Like he does something so powerful they can't combat it, but they manage to get him to use his own power against himself. Then you get the affect of having them too weak to win outright be getting to be much smarter than he is and that's their advantage.

Ahh... Holy rain *laugh* Mache's sire was a character of one of my players in the game, and made his home at Nightmare Castle, just like in the story. One of the other players found a book with everlasting spells in it - one of which was holy rain. He slapped it over the top of Nightmare Castle and Meckataur had to teleport every time he wanted to leave or come home for the longest time

Andrea might be able to call upon her goddess for that sort of support in a limited fashion. That might very well be a good enough reason for Mache to listen to outside influence and abandon the field of battle.

The girls actually could beat him handily, provided they had time for the Witches Three to concoct the right spell. Unfortunately, they'd need too much guidance at this point from Ashley, because Celes and Andrea are too new to the craft. Marlena and Danica couldn't keep him off them long enough right now.

I'm thinking that Marlena will probably unleash a terrain alteration, confusing the hell out of at least the elementals. Mache is probably going to see through it, but he's going to be surprised to learn that Marlena's illusions are real enough to give him pause despite that. Hills and trees where there aren't any, and likewise real hills and trees vanishing from view, but still quite solid when something rams headlong into it.

I may be getting somewhere here, but can always use more ideas of magical attacks. Between all the girls, damn near anything is possible in at least some fashion.

 

[secretme]

Illusions are always fun and one of my favorites. How about conjuring up a hall of ice mirrors and then make all the girls look just like him. That could cause issues for a short time...

 

[Emerald_Dragon]

Another thing you could do is have your illusionist fake someones death (if they were hurt or cornered and couldn't get away), and then conseal them behind a 'rock', then the 'dead' person would have time to acctually come up with something that would hurt him or give him pause.

One thing to is to describe the terrain and have the demon use that to his advantage. (I personally like lots of description so I have a clear picture of things in my head. ) A rockslide or falling staligtites (Mites?) could cause a lot of damage and distraction.

One of my husbands favorite spells is the grease spell. Such a basic spell but you can make people slide down hills, drop things, fall. It might be interesting to have the girls be down to basic spells and they acctually cause more damage to him with those than the high level ones.

I would love to help with this. Give me a pm.