Ch.12b. Caught somewhere in time

[Mr. Handy]

William's second shot goes very wide due to the recoil.

Handgun roll (60% stat) shooting at Thomas Lee, shot 2 of 2:
d%

[Philulhu]

Thomas staggered back under the impact of the first bullet, which took him in the centre of the chest.

With an incredulous look on his face, he spluttered, “Mate, what’re you doing? It’s me, Sean!” then his legs gave way and he collapsed unconscious to the floor…

[Bullfrog]

Does he sound like Sean? This whole thing seems kind of fishy.

[Philulhu]

Based on your (admittedly short) acquaintance, it did sound like Sean. The knitted tank top he’s wearing seems familiar too…

[Mr. Handy]

Furious at being tricked by Brophy's illusion, William turns and points his gun at Brophy, though he isn't sure whether he has switched bodies yet. He still keeps up the chant.

[Philulhu]

If you’ve realised the identity of the person that William shot, please roll against Sanity. SAN loss is 0/1d6.

[Silver Priest]

1d100

Alex is worrying about his own fate, and seems to overlook Sean's.

[Bullfrog]

Lawrence, after spending all this time keeping relatively stable and resilient when encountering horrifying and unnatural things, finally cracks under the strain of witnessing the accidental shooting of an innocent bystander.

https://www.orokos.com/roll/911803
https://www.orokos.com/roll/911804
https://www.orokos.com/roll/911806
It's high time for a BOUT OF MADNESS

[Mr. Handy]

William accepts that it wasn't his fault he shot Sean; it was Brophy's.

Sanity roll (current level 63) for being tricked into shooting Sean:
d%

[Philulhu]

I’ve PM’d you about Lawrence’s insanity.

As the man with the face of Thomas Lee but the clothes and body of Sean breathed his last, three more people entered the cavern. The first was the woman they had met in the library - although her face looked different. Somehow older, her gaze stern and her mouth firm. Under her breath she muttered an incantation in a language that none of them had heard before. Flanking her were a middle-aged man in a black jacket who carried a Jerry can in one hand and the leash of a large bull mastiff. As they watched, he set down the can and kicked it over, and the sickly-sweet smell of petrol filled the air as it gushed forth and started to run across the floor towards them…

On her other side, a sallow-skinned youth lifted a rifle to his shoulder, took aim at Alex and fired, but his shot went hopelessly wide, ‘plinking’ off the wall behind them…

1d4 In alphabetical order (Alex, Brophy, Lawrence, William: it’s Alex.

Rifle 1d100

[Mr. Handy]

William doesn't want to shoot any more innocent people, and he is sure that these new arrivals are trying to stop Brophy, which makes them good guys in his book. Continuing the chant, he places his revolver on the floor and puts up his hands.

[Bullfrog]

Brophy was at fault for all of this. If not for him, Lawrence would be home right now and many decent, upstanding people would still be alive.

Something in Lawrence's mind snaps; with an animalisting scream of fury, the farmer hurls himself at Brophy with reckless abandon, throwing a wild haymaker right at the old cultist's face!

https://www.orokos.com/roll/912120
https://www.orokos.com/roll/912121

[Silver Priest]

Wide eyed it occurs to Alex he should do something. Protect and Serve. To stop Brophy here would ruin everything,but Sean, friendly, happy, Sean was dead and a newcomer had fired on him. He had to act. But against who?

The terror of the ritual and chaos currently going on leads him to freeze. He continues to chant, feeling removed from the scene as he's unsure what to do and who to act against.

[Philulhu]

Lawrence’s punch caught Brophy square on the jaw and he staggered back. His hands still gripped Alex’s shoulders so Alex found himself pulled backwards, towards the edge of the glowing pentagram.

The man with the mastiff slipped the chain from its neck and it approached gleaning while the younger man nipped forward to grab William’s discarded pistol. Behind them, the librarian continued a chant of her own.

Spitting blood, Brophy screamed at Lawrence. “You’ll kill us all! Continue with the spell!”

[Bullfrog]

I'm going to roll to see how long Lawrence's bout of madness lasts, now.
https://www.orokos.com/roll/912155
One round has passed, so 5 more rounds of incredible violence remain.

Brophy gets a very succinct, violent reply from Lawrence, who was screaming inarticulately and weeping profusely: another punch, this time a sharp jab to the abdomen.
"Gla’aki ymg' hafh nyth'drn! H' tharanak wgah'nagl l' cahf! Iä! Iä! Gla’aki! Iä! Iä!"

https://www.orokos.com/roll/912156
https://www.orokos.com/roll/912157

[Mr. Handy]

William remains where he is, continuing the chant. He doesn't trust Brophy, but he knows that completing the ritual and getting back to his own time is his only chance. He'll leave it to the others to deal with Brophy.

[Silver Priest]

Alex also continues to chant, afraid of the consequences of stopping. Silently he stares at Lawrence, as if begging him to stop.

[Philulhu]

Dodge 1d100
STR 1d100
Brawl 1d100
Damage 1d6 /2 = 2

Alert to Lawrence’s intentions, Brophy tried to dodge the blow but holding onto Alex was impairing his mobility. As the blow landed however, his grip was broken and he staggered back, before retaliating with a punch of his own. “You bastard!” he shrieked. “I’ll kill you!”

As Brophy’s grip on his shoulders broke, Alex felt the numbing cold begin to subside and his thoughts began to clear. In the doorway, he could see the youth with the air rifle trying to reload it while the man who had carried the Jerry can had pulled a zippo lighter from his pocket and was looking to the librarian for instruction. She had her eyes closed however, and was muttering something under her breath while her hand traced arcane symbols in the air.

William did his utmost to maintain his concentration as everything around him went awry. The dog approached with a low, intense growl but, very faintly, he could see the room in front of him begin to distort as a ragged oval shape tried to materialise. Tantalisingly, shapes seemed to fight to take shape there before it flickered and almost died away…

Lawrence can attempt to dodge Brophy’s attack.

[Bullfrog]

https://www.orokos.com/roll/912344

Lawrence is briefly knocked back by Brophy's punch, having failed to dodge it; the pain only seemed to infuriate him, though, as he lashed out with an absolutely vicious blow to the sorcerer's temple!
"This is for James!"

https://www.orokos.com/roll/912345
A critical hit, I believe? As I recall, non-impaling weapons just do maximum damage as opposed to the maximum plus normal damage; it would 7 damage, in this case.

[Mr. Handy]

William keeps up the chant, hoping that he's starting to go home.

That's with 7th edition rules, but this is 6th edition. In 6th edition there's an optional rule for critical hits on rolls of 1-5, and fists don't impale. It's still a good hit, though! It's up to the Keeper if it has any effect beyond regular damage (stun, for example).