Old World Monsters

[rhoenix]

It's a very large barrel filled with gunpowder. This is going to be a really fucking big explosion.

Exactly - this is likely to cause some problems.

I'm just glad Agrilos has his Wind Armor active, otherwise the outcome would be much more ugly than it might be.

[Marcao]

Rukia: Since you have done such a wonderful job in obfuscating the way your character looks Francesco has no idea that the Vampire fighting the other one is you. If he knew, he -may- have been persuaded to hold back if for nothing else that not potentially causing issues with the other mercenaries. Since he does not know and the tone in my last few posts has changed, I am going to try to light you and your enemy both on fire or worse. Sorry. :(

[Rukia]

Rukia: Since you have done such a wonderful job in obfuscating the way your character looks Francesco has no idea that the Vampire fighting the other one is you. If he knew, he -may- have been persuaded to hold back if for nothing else that not potentially causing issues with the other mercenaries. Since he does not know and the tone in my last few posts has changed, I am going to try to light you and your enemy both on fire or worse. Sorry. :(

I'm telling!

[frigidmagi]

Blue On Blue, blue on blue!

Oh the Horror!

[The Village Idiot]

.....OW!!! If this is because I am not posting as often as you would like let me know....

[Rukia]

NO.

It's because you touch yourself at night.

[rhoenix]

NO.

It's because you touch yourself at night.

...Just at night?

[Charon]

.....OW!!! If this is because I am not posting as often as you would like let me know....

Nah, that's just what happens when you attack someone who is faster than you, stronger than you, and knows you're there.

The GM knowing he can tear you up a lot without much real damage helps too...

[rhoenix]

The GM knowing he can tear you up a lot without much real damage helps too...

ABACAB

There we go, Extra Blood Mode is on.

[The Village Idiot]

Hehe, I guess that is true... and it should comfort me that I dont really feel pain.

[Marcao]

Francesco's wrath is a burning thing,
And it makes a fiery ring,
Bound by wild desire,
A pair of Vampires fell into a ring of fire.

And they fell into a burning ring of fire,
They went down, down, down, and the flames they leapt higher,
and it burned, burned, burned, the ring of fire
the ring of fire.

Thank you Johnny Cash.

Ahem, anyways. So, the spell basically starts out as a ring of fire which grows upwards and joins at the top into a dome. After the dome is formed it destabilizes and explodes inwards quickly sending things within it into the afterlife.

I will make whatever edits the GM deems necessary.

[Charon]

Biiig bada boom.

[Cynical Cat]

What is this "village" shit? We're in a town, not a fucking village. Have we gone Tiste Edur all of a sudden?[deliberately obscure reference, suck it down bitches]

[Marcao]

Gardens of the Moon, Malazan Books of the Fallen ftw!

I will make the edits!

[Charon]

What is this "village" shit? We're in a town, not a fucking village. Have we gone Tiste Edur all of a sudden?[deliberately obscure reference, suck it down bitches]

*rolls his eyes and goes to make the edits*

By the way, for those wondering that was about a mid-thigh height barrel mostly full of gunpowder that went off. Hence the huge explosion.

[Cynical Cat]

Gardens of the Moon, Malazan Books of the Fallen ftw!

I will make the edits!

Huge platter of cookies for you!!

And another platter for being stuck with the shitty US covers.

[Rukia]

How do you propose I Macgyver My way out of your trick Marcao? Please, inquiring minds want to know.

[Marcao]

How do you propose I Macgyver My way out of your trick Marcao? Please, inquiring minds want to know.

*places before Rukia a bubble gum rapper, half a dozen staples, a single 9volt battery and hands her a swiss army knife* go build a nuclear reactor in order to power the neutron flow inverter that will create a personal fire shield!

Teasing aside my dear Rukia, everything that you need to know should be on that post. I can say no more without the GM sending me a nasty gram. :(

[Charon]

I'll just point out that it is indeed possible to get away from the explosiony death. You won't get out of it scot-free. But it is possible.

[The Silence and I]

Ok, math time for those wondering if the explosion was fair.

The barrel is described as mid-thigh in height, this would be a man's thigh and not a troll's. That is roughly 80 cm, give or take, and a barrel is likely to be as 0.75 times as wide as it is high for a 30 cm radius. However this is maximum radius, the average for a tapering barrel might be more like 25 cm.

V_b = PI*r^2*H
V_b = 3.14*25^2*80
V_b = 157000 cubic cm.

The barrel was not full, although it was mostly full. If it was 80% full then the volume of black powder within this barrel would be (roughly):

V_p = V_b*0.80
V_p = 125000 cubic cm.

I was able to find a density for black powder on Wikipedia of 1.7 g per cubic cm. This is for powder subjected to corning, which was commonly used to control its burn rate.

M_p = V_p*1.7
M_p = 212500 g of black powder.

I was able to find a source claiming black powder has a TNT equivalency of 0.5, but the following formulae require mass be in kg so our 212.5 kg of black powder is equivalent to 106.25 kg of TNT. However I'm loosing track of significant figures here, I'll just call it 100 kg TNT equivalence.

(1 kg is 1000 grams)

This site describes the formulae needed to calculate the overpressure of an explosion by comparing it to TNT, which is a well understood explosive reference.

If you stand 2.3 meters from 1 kg of TNT you will feel 25 psi of peak overpressure, which is excessively lethal, and I used this as my reference overpressure.

The magic formula:

dW = do*W^1/3
"dW" is how far from the explosion of interest you must be to feel the same overpressure you would if you stood "do" distance from 1 kg of TNT.

Basically I'm solving for "dW" I know "do" (it is 2.3 meters) and W is 100 kg, it is our TNT equivalence.

dW = do*W^1/3
dW = 2.3*100^1/3
dW = 10.7 meters.

In other words at 10.7 meters (35 feet) distant from the exploding barrel you will feel an overpressure (peak) of 25 psi.

This source finds the TNT equivalency to be more like 0.25 for pressure specifically; if we use this the distance drops from ~11 meters to a little over 8 meters. This is the LOWEST claim I've found, many more place it in the 40-50% range, and some point out that larger black powder explosions actually approximate TNT more closely. Obviously this is not an exact science.

Either way a 5 psi overpressure will be felt as far as 30 meters away, which is sufficient to collapse most buildings and cause significant casualties. Many people survive a 5 psi overpressure. Many don't. The odds are about 50% either way. Source.

To conclude, any normal human within ~30 meters (~100 feet) has a 50% chance of dying, and no human within ~11 meters (~35 feet) has a chance of living. Seeing as neither Per nor Agrilos had time to get outside the 20 psi range they should by all rights be dead (assuming they were human). And no, their armor would not help except to ward off shrapnel. Seeing as both survived I'd say they no one is in a position to complain.

By the way, 8 psi will pick up and throw a standing human.

[Cynical Cat]

This is medieval powder (variable mix and quality) under less than ideal conditions (damp). Your figures are an upper limit. Actual performance could be significantly less.

[The Silence and I]

Ok, I have been informed the blast was 120 feet from the town entrance. Charon asked me to describe what this means for you and me, the players:

Despite the presence of some trees on the other side of the clearing there is mostly open space between us and the explosion. Those intervening trees by the way are likely obliterated. At the sort of range we are talking about we will all be feeling an overpressure of about 3 to 4 psi. This means the explosion is FUCKING LOUD, we are all in FUCKING PAIN from the shock to our squishy organs such as the brain (those without are not so bad off) and our equilibriums are all likely to be disoriented. Think: ringing ears, dizzy, slightly nauseas, confused, pain.

Furthermore some structural damage is guaranteed. 4.6 psi is considered enough to level most modern structures and this ain't those, but Charon will describe as needed.

[The Silence and I]

This is medieval powder (variable mix and quality) under less than ideal conditions (damp). Your figures are an upper limit. Actual performance could be significantly less.

Not by all that much, practically speaking (as in, how it matters to those at ground zero). I had forgotten about the damp conditions, and do not know how that'll change things. However the barrel could be more than 80% full as only a couple shots have been fired; it could be larger too.

And even if I halve its effectiveness the 25 psi radius drops from 11 to 8 meters. Big whoop.

[Cynical Cat]

I'm not arguing ground zero isn't going to be a death zone, even with damp powder. Unless its bad enough that you only get a fizzle. The effect over a larger area is a different matter. If only a third of the powder explodes, for example, you're still going to kill everyone nearby but the effect on more distant structures and people will be much less.

[The Silence and I]

I'm not arguing ground zero isn't going to be a death zone, even with damp powder. Unless its bad enough that you only get a fizzle. The effect over a larger area is a different matter. If only a third of the powder explodes, for example, you're still going to kill everyone nearby but the effect on more distant structures and people will be much less.

No argument there. This gives Charon plenty of wiggle room with that exact thing, but even 1/3 of the powder will result in a noticeable overpressure and painfully loud bang within the town. It might only be 1 or 2 psi instead 3 or 4 but we'll definitely notice in a "that was not even close to pleasant" kind of way.