(Our bunnies now exist in the character section! Because we often had a 2/1/0 vote split, I tended to favour the 2s, and give a little shading to the 1s. For Thyme, I rolled a die, which gave her “find the choicest food” as a primary; I tried to put in shades of both others, since the vote was evenly split.
Despite obvious inspiration, I really didn’t mean to put Bigwig and Fiver in this story, but here they are regardless.)
When someone finally spoke, it was Mustardseed, which wasn’t too surprising. He drew himself up with aplomb and spoke with the air of a general commanding his troops. “Right, well. Are we the only ones that got out? Thyme, of course. Dulce, right. And odd little Cassia.”
Cassia winced a little. Most of the time that wasn’t a particularly affectionate name for her. Still, Mustardseed was probably the most kindly-disposed to her of all the warren, if only because he absolutely refused to ever admit that he was scared of anything. Her reaction was hidden by Dulce’s little gasp, as he shivered a little in the pile.
Thyme leant over him. “It’s okay. I’m sure some other rabbits got out.”
“But they’re not here,” Mustardseed continued. “And if they’re not here now, they won’t be soon. So it’s time we move on. Can’t go back the way we came; humans galumping around everywhere. Probably the ones who set the little weasels on us, which means they’ll be looking in our warren until they’re sure we’re gone. We get to a new place, we settle in there.”
“Are you well enough to move?” Dulce asked, looking at Mustardseed.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Mustardseed responded, flicking an ear. “What Thyme’s herbs did pretty much fixed what Thyme’s teeth did. Besides, it’s not the worst I’ve ever had. I ever tell you the time I was out fossicking for clover, and some huge human comes up behind me with one of those lightning crashers? There I was, half out of the grass because some maniac’s cut it down, mouthful of clover and…”
“Which way should we go?” Thyme interrupted him, turning to look at Cassia. “You know these things, don’t you? Help us out.”
Cassia looked away from Thyme, muttered something indistinct. Rabbits did sometimes ask her to think in the way she thought, but it was rarely friendly. Even Thyme, who was better at this than most, had an edge to her voice when she asked. But Cassia let herself go, let herself drift, and soon she knew exactly which way the sun rode over the sky, and which way would lead to the best results. “That way,” she said, gesturing with her nose, and then almost immediately, “No! Wait!”
Because it was a bare moment before two of the ferrets emerged from the undergrowth, their normal scent hidden by the fur and blood of the rabbits they’d killed. One was already half-dancing, jumping and turning in the wild movements that could hypnotise unfortunate prey.
Dulce shrank back. Mustardseed rose his spine, making his own step forward. Rabbits and ferrets didn’t share language – it was hard to form a patois with a creature that would frequently try to eat you – but there was a certain hedgerow common that all animals typically reacted to. “Go off,” Mustardseed said, layering his voice with scorn. “You eat many, you not hungry now. You try eat now, I big danger you.”
The ferrets seemed entirely untouched by the strength of his rhetoric. Even the one that wasn’t dancing didn’t answer, simply hissed and chittered and stood in their way.
“It heard him,” Dulce whispered. “I’m sure. Can’t it answer?”
“Let’s go,” Thyme whispered. “We can lose them on the long run.”
“Don’t think so,” Mustardseed replied, not whispering. “Cassia said this way, so I feel like going this way. And I don’t feel like running from these things any more.”
And with that, Mustardseed barrelled forward into the ferret at the front.
(We’ll give these ferrets 4 ACV, expecting one Attack Combat Mastery, and 1 Unarmed Attack, but only 1 DCV. They’re probably not going to go on the defence, after all, being blood-mad. Top them out at 10 HP, minion-style, but with a 5 damage bite and the ability to latch on.
I’ll roll initiative for everyone, even though Dulce is most likely going to try to sit this one out. Results: Ferret 2 with 12, then Cassia with 10, then Mustardseed and Thyme with 9, then Dulce and Ferret 1 with 8. Everyone rolled surprisingly high!)
Before he could reach the first ferret, though, the second rolled, popped up from its war dance, and lanced at Mustardseed like liquid.
(Ferret 2 has a total ACV of 5, so needs to roll under that; it manages a 5. Mustardseed’s going to use his one defence action this round on that one, because it’s probably going to be the best option, but with a DCV of 2 the chances aren’t great.
I’ve got to learn to stop giving Fate feed lines like this.)
The big rabbit showed foresight almost equal to Cassia’s, seeing the ferret break from its dance to lunge at him, and managing to twist his body in mid-charge, jumping forward with his powerful back legs even as Cassia shouted, putting space between himself and the ferret and making its lunge miss. Cassia found herself moving without expecting to, pushing towards the ferret, bringing up her gnawed-sharp claw.
(These bunnies are unsuited to combat; only Mustardseed has an attack skill, meaning Cassia’s modified ACV stays put at 3. Can she manage it? No, she rolled a 6. Probably she saw it coming, though.)
She wasn’t truly built to fight; she lacked the confidence of practice, and her sweep went well wide. Mustardseed took advantage, turned and rammed at the ferret who had attacked him.
(Mustardseed’s modified ACV is a princely 5! And, rolling a 3, he gets well under it. An unarmed attack with no Massive Damage or Superstrength deals deals 0 basic damage no matter how much Damage Percentage Mustardseed rolls, so he only gets his 3 ACV in bonus damage. Ferret down to 7.)
Mustardseed battered the smaller creature away, sending it rolling across the ground, still hissing. Thyme, while not as set on the fight as Mustardseed, hopped forward to capitalise on the action.
(Like Cassia, she’s got an ACV of 3; and, like Cassia, she rolls a 6.)
As it’s already skittering away, the butt from Thyme’s head does very little more than encourage it.
Dulce, heart quailing, recoils into the underbrush, watching his friends from his terrified position. With a ferret free of the melee, this could have ended badly for him, but the ferret had already been focused on Mustardseed even before the big rabbit had smacked its friend around, and it moves in for its own attack.
(This ACV of 5 is working out for the ferrets. It rolls a 5, manages its hit, and Mustardseed’s already used his defence action this turn. It also rolls a 5 on the damage percentage, allowing it 3 damage from its bite and 4 from its base ACV.
...Okay, so, ACV can mean “Attack Combat Value”, the base number that comes from a balance of Body stat, Mind stat, and Soul stat, with possible bonuses from Attack Combat Mastery; or “Attack Check Value”, the modified number that comes from adding a skill or circumstance modifier to the base Attack Combat Value. Attack Combat Value is added to damage, Attack Check Value is used to roll for a hit. Should the system have made a different acronym? Yes. But it didn’t, so here we are.
The bite natural weapon allows the ferret to latch on and keep dealing damage until, with rules as written, its opponent succeeds on a defence check. Considering the danger of the situation, and the ferrets’ attacking advantage, we’ll say a successful attack from another character will also break that hold.)
It latched its teeth into Mustardseed’s haunch, making him squeal in sudden pain as the attacking ferret drew blood…
(Initiative back to the top. Now, Tristat allows you to either roll once per combat or once per round. To do something different, we’re going to go for once a round this time. Mustardseed, having a ferret on his ass, will go first with a 10, then Thyme with a 9, then Ferret 1, Cassia, and Dulce tie on an 8, then Ferret 2 with a 6.)
Mustardseed moved and twisted around, trying to dislodge the ferret, kicking back at it; with the other creature latched onto his hind leg, it was almost impossible to hit it with his kicks, the strongest part of his body. Squealing with panic and rage, he turned to try and bite the ferret.
(AChV 5, roll 7.)
The result was predictable, as the ferret bounced and writhed and would not let go. Thyme hopped forward herself, and tried to break the vicious creature’s hold.
(AChV 3, and these rabbits just can’t stop rolling 6s on them!)
Her attempts to kick and buck at it made no more impact than Mustardseed’s, and it bit down all the harder, spilling more blood.
(Automatic hit; a damage percentage roll of 6 is still 50% damage, doing 7 again. Mustardseed is on 44.)
At the same time, though, Dulce and Cassia both ran towards Mustardseed, shouting in unison. Dulce’s caretaker nature pushed him forward as if there wasn’t a battle going on, needing to see to his friend’s hurts. Cassia, on the other hand, simply rushed the ferret in a blind panic.
(A quick look at what, for example, a rabbit with an AChV of 3 might use to ensure a hit shows that melee attacks can’t Aim, but there is such a thing as Total Attack, where Cassia can surrender her defence action to give a +2 to her attack check. Mustardseed would probably be very happy to have that help, so Cassia’s putting her all into this one, boosting her AChV to 5. And then, like any other rabbit, she manages to roll a 6. Frith damn it, Cassia. Dulce, with his Distracted defect, isn’t going to help here.)
And “blind” was about the state of it, as she blundered past Mustardseed in her charge, leaving herself open to the second ferret’s attack.
(AChV 5, roll of 4. I thought that having them outnumbered 2 to 1 would be bad for the ferrets, but it turns out probability likes when characters have skills. At least a 6 on the damage percentage roll means another 7, rather than the possible 9, but Cassia’s now 28 Health isn’t going to do well with that.
Back to the initiative. Both ferrets and Mustardseed act on a 9, Thyme on an 8, Cassia on a 5, and Dulce on a 6. Both of the ferrets are just going to latch on; Ferret 1, on Mustardseed, rolls a 3 to get 75% damage, dealing 8 to Mustardseed; Ferret 2, on Cassia, rolls a 4 to get, yes, 75% damage, dealing 8 to her. Mustardseed is on 36, Cassia on 20. Things don’t look good for the rabbits.)
As the ferrets savaged and worried their targets’ wounds, Cassia’s cry brought Mustardseed’s attention to a focused intensity; he might not be able to kick the ferret on him, but he could definitely kick the one on Cassia.
(Mustardseed is going to heroically drop the defence action that could shake the ferret off him, and Total Attack on Cassia’s ferret, boosting his AChV to 7. If he can’t roll under 7 on 2d4, then Fate is making a joke like that earlier defence action. Fortunately for rabbits, Fate is kind, and Mustardseed gets a 5 to hit. He only deals his ACoV of 3, but that’s still enough, so we have decided, to knock Ferret 2 off of Cassia’s side. Ferret 2 has now been hit twice, taking its health down to 4.)
His hefty paw connects directly with the ferret’s head, knocking it free, though it tears Cassia’s flesh as it goes. It stops still, wriggling its head for a moment, trying to get back into position.
Still holding back something in case the other ferret goes for her, Thyme tries to do for Mustardseed what Mustardseed did for Cassia, turning in a sharp circle to bring her hind legs to bear and kick at the ferret that was worrying the big rabbit’s leg.
(...She rolled an 8. That could be a critical fumble, but that rule’s optional in d4 games, and even before it would have ruined one of the rabbits’ lives I’d already decided that critical hits yes, critical fumbles no.)
The kick was reasonably powerful, but the ferret had already bounced itself half-over Mustardseed’s body, well away from Thyme’s blow. Cassia, side still torn and bleeding, moved in for her own attack, scratching with her sharp claws and putting everything she had behind the attack.
(Total Attack for AChV 5. She rolled a 7. These Total Attacks are bunk, I tell you.)
As Thyme and Cassia both struck for the agile creature and missed, Dulce, heart in an agony, finally pushed himself forward, trying to pin the ferret under himself.
(But I’m giving him a -1 penalty for having Mustardseed and Cassia both hurt this round, triggering his Distraction. I made it Level 2 because I knew it would come up a lot. So he needs a critical hit to succeed, and he rolls a 7. If this was a poetry slam instead of a SuperSlam, he’d be doing much better.
End of the round. New initiative. Ferret 1 and Thyme move on 10, then Cassia on 9, Ferret 2 on 8, and panicky Dulce and worn-out Mustardseed on 5. We’ll also have an HP recap: Mustardseed is on 36, Dulce on 35, Thyme on 30, Cassia on 20, Ferret 1 on 10, and Ferret 2 on 4.
Except, of course, that Mustardseed is actually on 30; Ferret 1 might have rolled boxcars and got a 25% of max damage, but that’s still 6 with the ACoV modifier, and of course it’s going to keep biting.)
Seeing Cassia fly at the ferret had done two things for Thyme; it’s incensed her healer’s nature at the vicious wounding the second ferret has done to Cassia, and it’s also shown that she doesn’t need to keep getting in the way as long as the crazy outcast rabbit feels like attacking. She saw the second ferret skulking at the edges of the combat, and chases after it to lash out with both legs.
(Is it a 6? No! It’s a 4! ...4 also doesn’t hit, she needs 2 or 3!)
Cassia paid no mind. She continued lashing forward, heedless of her own defences.
(Total Attack, even though they’re bunk. Cassia rolls a 7. Bunk.)
The second ferret danced around, moving out of Thyme’s assault, seeing its opportunity as Cassia left herself completely open. It bounced forward as if launched, teeth red and ready to strike its prey again.
(It rolls a 6, and fortunately for Cassia, a 6 is higher than the 5 it needs! d4 campaigns aren’t… skilled.)
As it missed, managing only a mouthful of fur, Mustardseed and Dulce both turned their attention, in separate ways, to the ferret attacking the big rabbit.
(Mustardseed technically should have gotten a defence action against the ferret biting at him, but I forgot that, so I’ll say that was totally intentional and that Mustardseed intends a TOTAL ATTACK. If he hits he won’t manage to get the ferret off him, though. We’ve established that in the rules we’re making up as we go. Still, a 4 will hit, and Mustardseed manages 3 damage to the ferret. Will Dulce manage to initiate a grapple? As it turns out, the attacker in a grapple gains a benefit based on the number of free hands he is using, if it’s more than the defender has free hands to commit to the grapple. Dulce, as a rabbit, has no hands, but the defender, as a ferret, has no hands, so it comes out even. But of course Dulce didn’t hit the roll, the sweet little pacifist.)
The two combatants bound like a chain, Mustardseed savaged the ferret with his teeth just as the ferret savaged him with its own. But rabbit’s teeth are best suited for biting grains and grasses, while ferret’s teeth are best suited for biting rabbits; Mustardseed was very much on the painful end of this bargain.
(Back to the top. Both ferrets have remembered that they’re very agile creatures and will act on an 11. Mustardseed and Thyme are still in the fight and will act on an 8. Dulce wants you to know that he’s still here and will try on 7. Cassia is feeling a little woozy, man, and will act on 5. Ferret 1 continues its bite-grapple; Mustardseed remembers that he has a defence action and rolls a 5 when he needs a 2, and so keeps getting bit. The ferret deals another 6 damage to him.)
The second ferret had failed to bite Cassia again, but this other rabbit was proving quite the wriggly little combatant, and a change can be as good as a holiday; the second ferret made for Thyme, mouth wide.
(...Hey, remember when I said that I would allow only critical hits, and not critical fumbles? Ferret 2 rolls a 2. We get to find out what critical hits do. They allow no defence action in response, and deal double maximum damage plus ACoV – so that’s 13.)
It managed to find her throat as she turned back to look at Mustardseed, and sank its fangs in deep, relishing the rush of blood into its mouth and Thyme’s horrified scream. She flailed at it, curling into a ball to bring her hind legs around, to kick with both paws at her attacker. She could feel the red heat of desperation rising.
(Well, if a critical hit won’t let her use a defence action, maybe Thyme wants to try this Total Attack malarkey. She rolls a 4. Amazingly, it isn’t bunk. 3 damage to Ferret 2.)
Both her paws sank deep into its belly, and while her claws weren’t as sharp as Cassia’s, she raked at it, too. It let out a whine around the flesh of Thyme’s throat, but did not let go… still, Mustardseed saw its vulnerability, and despite the blood flowing in rivers from his own flesh, he made for it with a will.
(Mustardseed can’t Total Attack, because he defended. But his AChV of 5 on a normal attack is just like one of the other bunnies’ 5 on a Total Attack, right? Right! In that it misses if he rolls a 6, too!)
But he was weak, and he was tired, and he was dragging the other ferret with him. He lashed out, but too slow, and too late.
Dulce could barely process what was happening, his anxiety for his friends reaching panic attack status, but he could see that Thyme was in danger, and he could see that he needed to help her. He thumped at the ground in desperation, and then lunged.
(...8. Dulce, sweetie, just sit around and look pretty, okay?)
As the two of them, Mustardseed and Dulce, went to Thyme, Cassia saw the other ferret on Mustardseed’s back, and she sharpened her will, and she lunged.
(Total Attack. A 5 will – just – do it! Which might be all she needs, depending on how she rolls! She probably won’t roll well. On a 2-4, she deals 7-8 damage, enough to finish off Ferret 1. On a 5-8, she deals 5-6 damage, which is not. Either way we have decided she breaks its hold on Mustardseed, so that’s something. She rolls… a 5! It is terrible.)
Cassia’s claws were sharper by half than any of the other three’s, and she ripped gouges into the ferret’s back, pulling it off Mustardseed and throwing it clear. Both creatures were injured, tired, and the blood fury was ebbing enough that they were considering their exits, but the ground was already red with rabbit-blood.
(Let’s see if this can be the round. Starting at 7, with Cassia, Ferret 2, and, surprisingly, Dulce. On 6, Ferret 1 and Thyme. On 5, Mustardseed, who’s been bitten by a ferret nearly every round this fight and is just so done with this.
I’d decided that the ferrets didn’t have health levels a third of the weakest rabbit’s, but that after 10 health, they’d flee. Unless they took a very hard hit that took them to considerable negatives, and that’d kill them. What that means is, I can’t have them flee before that, or what’s the point of a fleeing point? So these two murder maniacs will fight on.)
The second ferret held on despite Thyme’s battering, and worried at her neck like a dog with a toy, ripping her open further, drawing out more blood.
(A 4 means 75% maximum damage, which is 8 all up, with modifiers. Thyme is going to get a defence action, despite my nearly forgetting it and my decision that the rabbits would all Total Attack this turn, especially considering what’ll happen if she doesn’t defend. Which she doesn’t, with a 4. Thyme gets a Mind check, and gets a 4 against the difficulty of 5, which is good because this is a roll low system.)
Thyme could hear her heart beating in her throat, could feel the blood running from her, and she felt the fury she’d felt so often – the rage at the injustice that rabbits were so much weaker than the rest of the animals of the world, that let the predators eat them when they had a mind, the humans drive them out, even the weather blight their food and let them die. No rabbit was much for fighting, and Thyme less so than them, but she wanted to strike out, to thump and kick and bring down everything around her, to rage senselessly at the unfairness of nature…
But she held her own. She kept her focus. She could see Dulce near her, trying to get to her, as if to lick her wounds before she could even fight off her attacker, and she focused on his sweetness, his desire to help her…
(...his 5 on a Total Attack AChV of 5! Dulce, coming through in the clutch.)
Perhaps he didn’t even know what he was doing. Perhaps he was, indeed, trying to get to Thyme’s wounds, and not to the ferret biting her. Still, he rushed forward, and his head connected with the ferret’s head with an almost comical CLACK, and its mouth opened, and it fell. It shook in place for a moment, it looked up at the rabbits, and then, in a flash, it was gone, off through the grasses, having judged its chances as poor.
Cassia didn’t see any of that. Cassia was focused on her own fight. She’d torn the first ferret off Mustardseed’s back, and now she wanted to make sure she didn’t have to deal with this again. She raced forward, letting herself fall into her state of unearthly focus…
(...and rolling a 4 on a Total Attack AChV of 5. A 6 means she only deals 50% Maximum Damage. 50% Maximum Damage is enough.)
It lunged back at her, ready to fight her, ready to bite at her even as she struck at it, but one of her claws lashed from its forehead down to its nose, tearing a gouge into its face and nearly taking its eye. Discretion was suddenly the better part of valour, and the ferret ran for its life.
Cassia fell, panting. That had been… all too much for her. She turned, looked, saw Dulce frantically licking the wound at Thyme’s throat closed. There was still a great deal of blood. None of them were out of danger yet. She closed her eyes, though, and let herself drift. If she came back to her body, so be it. If she didn’t, well, any number of rabbits had already died that day; what price one more?
(The rabbits will recover their Body stat in health for each day of rest. That’ll double if they’re in the care of someone with Medical skill, which is unharmed Dulce, and halve for any day they don’t rest. For Cassia and Thyme, that’s 6 HP per rest day, 3 HP per rest day if Dulce isn’t around, and 2 HP for days where they keep going. For Mustardseed, it’s 10 HP per rest day, 5 if Dulce isn’t there, and 3 if he keeps going. Thyme needs to recover 21 HP to be back to full, Cassia 15, and Mustardseed 36, and they don’t have a warren to rest safely in so far. So that’s something. It'll be better to rely on Thyme's healing, if she can get the herbs for it.
What have we learned?
- Characters without an attack skill are probably going to miss their attacks.
- Characters who can autohit after a hit are probably going to autohit a fair bit.
- Any level of natural weaponry does damage that makes unarmed attacks really bad.
- It's okay to be outnumbered if you're outnumbered by noncombatant scrub noobs.
- Total Attack is bunk, but it's bunk you sometimes really need.
- Mustardseed should spend his first 2 character advancement points on a level of Massive Damage or he's just going to spend most of his combats sitting around and bleeding a lot.)
“Cassia? Cassia, please, get up. Cassia, please. We need to go.”
Cassia opened her eyes groggily. She hadn’t moved. It hadn’t been another of those vivid nightmares. But she wasn’t bleeding any more, and Thyme and Mustardseed were standing back, as Dulce poked his nose at her halfheartedly, not quite clear if she hoped she would wake up or that she wouldn’t.
“We can’t go on like this,” Mustardseed told her, his voice sober. “We need to rest. But right now we’re in the open. If those little monsters come back, that might be a better situation than many others we might deal with. So we need somewhere safe. Somewhere we can scratch out a hollow, just for now. And we don’t know where that is. You’re the one who knows weird things. Tell us.”
Cassia blinked, trying to resolve what she saw, and then trying to unresolve it, to unfocus, to let herself drift again, though this time with one paw still on herself. She heard herself speak, then. “We need to go…
1 – to the riverbank
2 – to the forest
...and we need to…
1 – steer clear of other animals
2 – find other animals to help us.”
