Mostali Shot and Firearms

The weapons of the Mostali, which to most mortals look just like ornate sticks, are described in Elder Secrets p. 13. However, what is descsribed are only the basic shot types - bronze balls smithed by Iron dwarves in their armouries. Below are described some of the more exotic types of shot, manufactured for their muskets and pistols. Also given are some rules I have written myself governing the use of firearms that have never been given elsewhere (but should have I'm sure).

Additional Rules

Impale

As noted in the normal rules, firearms impale. Of course what is not explicitly stated (but as far as I can make out, implicitly implied) is the awful, horrible truth concerning what an impaling firearm means. Remember, an impaled weapon means that the wound cannot be healed until the weapon is removed. With arrows, spears and swords this is easy (well, reasonably easy, if rather painful) as they have enormous long pointy bits sticking out to gain leverage. Not so with the humble bullet. Once impaled, how is a character meant to remove it?

I suggest the following. To remove a bullet requires someone to make a First Aid role, as they worm their fingers or a knife in the wound to remove the bullet. This requires an entire melee round, uninterrupted - you can't rush removing a bullet! - and causes 1d2 damage to the affected location unless the First Aid roll was a special or higher. If the roll fails they can try again next round (mutilating the victim even more!). People trying to remove bullets from themselves roll at half (both because it's far harder to get a good look at it, as well as the pain involved). Head shots are even harder to remove, roll at 1/10th skill (imagine trying to remove a bullet from a wound you can't even see). If shot in the back, they are impossible to remove (which means someone impaled in the back on their own will most likely bleed to death).

Smoke

As noted in Elder Secrets p. 12 the Mostali use extra smokey gunpowder so when their weapons fire they gain the advantage of cover. For pistols, the smoke covers 2m radius and provides a penalty of 20% to those shooting in. For a musket the smoke covers 3m radius and provides a -30% penalty to those shooting in. A cannon covers a 7m radius and provides a -50% penalty to those shooting in. The penalty of these smokey clouds degrade at the rate of 10% per round, so in the case of a musket it goes from being -30% on one round, -20% on another, -10% on the third and then stops entirely after that. Those within the cloud suffer the same penalty to whatever they do whilst within the cloud if it relies upon sight (such as defending themselves).

"Uz can use boom guns too, just wat..."

Other races do not know how to use firearms. When reloading firearms, all non-Iron Mostali must make the appropriate firearms roll (so to reload a pistol requires a roll under pistol skill). A fail means that the range of the weapon is halved. A fumble is really bad news. Next time the weapon is fired, the firearm explodes inflicting 1d6 damage to 1d3 locations (at least being the weapon hand) in the case of a pistol, or 2d6 damage in the case of a musket. Should a cannon ever be stolen (what a feat!) a the result is an explosion for 7d6 damage to everything within 10m. If PCs use such weapons, the GM should roll secrely on the players behalf.

Iron Mostali need never roll, and can reload with no penalty when in the smoke cloud. The Silver Mostali of Dwarf Run can also reload their cannon without needing a roll.

Mostali Shot

Alder Shot

One of the two original variations on the bronze shot, both of which made by Iron dwarfs. Some Mostali scholars believe that Alder Shot was created for use on the Surface World, which to some extent is true. However its main use was so that the dwarfs could take over Wind Cavern, which housed Species #433/N, defeated over two million work cycles ago.

Alder Shot is non-magical and requires no spells to create. It is a mix of iron, bronze and tin, resulting in a weightier, yet slimmer shot for faster travel, although it does take more time to create Alder Shot than regular shot. Alder Shot halves all penalties from strong winds.

Burberry Shot

The invention of Quicksilver Dwarves, the Burberry Shot was invented during the final days of the Gbaji Wars, when in battle some Mostali met a variety of creatures that caused them ill. Since then the design has been perfected. Because of the nature of the shot, it is only used when Iron Dwarves are facing or preparing to face poisonous foes when they have to protect other dwarves, who don't generally wear armour. Burberry Shot is made of hollow quicksilver.

Generally used in Muskets, Burberry Shot is effectively a bullet that delivers poison antidote. When shot the bullet inflicts only 1d4 damage, if it penetrates armour it delivers an antidote of POT 4. Obviously, individual antidotes must be tailored, although over the years most dwarf strongholds have built up a wide variety. It generally takes the best part of a day to make a single Burberry Shot (not including the antidote).

Delivery Shot

Soon after the invention of gunpowder and firearms, the Silver Dwarves concoted methods to enchant the bullets. Eventually it proved too difficult to enchant individual bullets so the Decamony instigated a Revisionary Interior Magic Management Program of Mostali who researched other ways.

Delivery Shot is made by a Silver Dwarf using the Delivery Art.

Delivery (Sorcerous Art)
Delivery is a sorcerous art used to empower bullets. Any bullet can be affected. Once affected the bullet will 'deliver' any spell that has been cast into it as long as the bullet penetrates armour. Even multispells can be cast into it. The effect, however, is limited to instant spells. Common choices are Venom, Evoke and Tap. To effect a bullet a number of levels of Delivery must be used for each other Art in the spell (not just the highest Art level). Every additional level of Delivery over and above that means the spell affects multiple bullets. Use of this takes up Presence, failure to dedicate Presence to the Delivery Shots means the spell vanishes.

Gobbler Shot

A nasty invention created more or less the same time as the Gobblers. Almost unknown to the mortal world (generally because those affected would never live to really discover). Often Iron Mostali posted near the exits of complexes are given Gobbler Shot just in case it looks like a thief is about to make a run for it. Gobbler Shot is manufactured by Tin dwarves.

Gobbler Shot itself is a mass of tin slivers moulded into a ball so that they shatter upon impact. So tiny are these slivers, they embed themselves in a victim all over, under the skin, in the bloodstream, everywhere! The bullet inflicts normal damage, but cannot impale. If it does any damage whatsoever, the target has been infected by Gobbler Shot. The effects of Gobbler Shot are not apparent until a Gobbler is nearby. Those infected by Gobbler Shot detect as 'Foodstuff' to Gobblers, no matter what they have been programmed to eat. No normal magic will remove Gobbler Shot (although most divine interventions will).

The Tin Dwarves use the following spell to enchant Gobbler shot:

Enchant Gobbler Shot (Sorcery Ritual)
ritual enchant
Once cast on the appropriate pellets (require craft/tin roll to create) they become Gobbler Shot. Costs 1 POW to cast. The ritual effects a number of pellets equal to the Tin dwarfs unadjusted POW before they lose the point for the enchantment.

Half Length Shot

The second of the two original variations on the normal shot. Made through the mysteries of the second work scheme, which taught the Iron Mostali the secrets of layering the metal over extended periods of time to create tougher, harder, more resilient devices. In the case of shot, this is very hard for an item so small, but layered bronze can be used to make Half Length Shot.

Half Length Shot takes about ten times as long to make as normal shot. Heavier, and not as aerodynamic as Alder Shot, Half Length Shot reduces the range of any firearm using it by 50%. However the tougher metal means that it pierces armour like a knife through a loaf of bread (they tried to make it like a knife through butter, but even the Mostali aren't that good). All non-magical armour protects at 1/2 against Half Length Shot.

Halo Shot

An obvious introduction by the Silver dwarfs. Halo shot is enchanted for powers against the creatures of darkness. Made of gold the shot is then enchanted by Silver dwarves. When fired it leaves a corona of light in its wake, which gradually fades away. It is effective against darkness spirits and shades. Against darkness spirits, those that are visible on the mundane plane, the shot inflicts damage to their magic points (no magical additions, such as boost damage can affect this however). Against shades, not only does the halo shot hurt them buit it remains within their murky mass for 1d6 rounds during which time any fearshock attempt made by it is made with a penalty to its magic points equal to the damage inflicted by the shot.

Halo Shot must be made by Iron dwarves, and then enchanted by Silver dwarfs:

Enchant Halo Shot (Sorcerous Ritual)
ritual enchant
Once cast on gold shot the shot turns into Halo Shot. Casting this spell costs 1 POW. It affects 1 pellet if a normal enchant roll is made, two pellets on a special and five on a critical.

Hell Shot

Don't tell the Uz, but if you mix lead and iron together in just the right quantities, so deep in the earth that the Hell creatures can almost hear you hammering your little dwarven heart away, you can make bullets that cut through gold like it isn't there. Hell Shot is actually a variation on ancient engineering techniques used by the Rock dwarves back in the Godtime when there were huge tracts of gold to be excavated from the ground, and special metal digging tools were created to make it easier. However in the Gbaji wars the Iron dwarves turned their hands to creating Hell Shot for killing Fire Abberations, Broken Lights and Malfunctioning Sky Parts (that's Luxites and their assorted kin to non-dwarves).

Hell Shot is rare, as it must be manufactured deep below the earth, deeper than the dwarves now care to go. It ceases to have any power if it ever catches the light of day before leaving the gun it is fired from. This makes reloading in daytime tricky, so in emergencies the Iron Mostali are given thick black sheets to cover themselves with, which means they can't see anything that is going on whilst reloading (although for an Iron mostali they can, quite literally, reload in the dark and hence don't suffer any penalty). Hell Shot penetrates gold as if it wasn't there, so no gold armour protects. Against fire elementals and other such creatures, Hell Shot an extra point of damage per die.

Mostals True Shot

Product Number #1112/000-11289. Use in emergency only. Second scale type architecture. If found please contact Section 14.

The few pieces of Mostals True Shot that remain are carefully guarded. Indeed, no mortal has ever seen one, and only a handful of dwarves claim to. Many Iron dwarfs even belief that the vaults reputed to hold them contain nothing but empty space! Such heresy is best kept to oneself.

Mostals True Shot is made of truestone (not adamant, if there are any adamant bullets, no dwarf has ever heard of them). Given the lack of availability of such a material, and the almost impossibility of carving it, True Shot is exceedingly rare and no reported use of it has been made in a very, very long time, long before humans and the surface world even know of guns.

True Shot, if it exists indeed, does double damage, penetrates any and all armour (magical or non-magical) and is Powered (increase any success level by one, so a normal becomes a special, a special becomes a critical etc...). There is no way to make anymore True Shot, and reports hold that there is a special Gobbler in store for anyone who happened to survive being shot by one and managed to escape (additionally, the shot would never have had any rune magic cast into it, so those hit would start casting their rune spells into it, one by one, whilst it was still embedded in their body! Dwarves would take particular exception to this).

Slick Silver Shot

Made originally by individualist Silver dwarves it's art of creation has fallen to Iron dwarves to perfect, Slick Silver shot has little use in warfare, but has found popularity amongst Iron dwarves for smaller battles and close combat. Slick Silver Shot is actually quite easy to make, and whilst originally used silver is now generally made out of bronze. Whilst it can be used in pistols, it is generally only ever used in muskets. Silver dwarves can manufacture it, taking twice the amount of time as any normal shot.

Slick Silver Shot is not a single pellet, but a collection of smaller bronze balls wrapped in cloth that are emptied into the weapon. When fired they spread out, affecting a wider area. Slick Silver Shot will hit 1d3 missile locations (possibly even hitting the same one twice) rather than just one. Range, however, is reduced to 30% of the original (giving the musket a range of 12m and the pistol a piddling 3m!) and damage is reduced by 1 per die involved (so pistols and mustkets both inflict 2 points less of damage). Slick Silver Shot cannot impale.