[Archive]Roll to Dodge: The Dungeon Crawlers

Roll #25

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [6 + 2 = 8]

You begin pondering the purple-dressed man's invitation to stay. It all seems quite a bit too simple to have a teleporting inn simply show up, just when you need it. You mutter to yourself “It must be a trap...”, and grab Kursk's shoulder.

"Brother, forget not that we are in a dungeon. With all due respect to our Purple Friend here, something as convenient and hospitable as this... establisment... is sure to be suspect."

Kursk looks back at you, stunned. “Brother, I understand your worry for me, but I am weary of doubting. I will seek out an armory, and wait for you.”

You let Kursk go, and turn to address the strange man dressed in purple. "Answer me first two questions honored host. First, assuming between my brother and I one of us always answers truthful and one of us always lies, what question would you ask of us to determine beyond a doubt who is the oldest? Secondly, what is the cost and duration of stay in patronizing your establishment?"

He looks at you, looking peaceful, yet smug. “I'm sorry sir, I cannot answer any riddles. Only Zaikon can do that, as we've had too many occurrences of wizards transmuting those who got the incorrect answer... In fact, that brings me to another point. If you see any flying toads nearby, please report them to one of the staff... We're running out of waiters.”

You feel annoyed at his dodging of questions, and walk over to him, towering half a foot over his head. “Listen here. What of my other questions? I don't wish to rack up a debt to you simply by entering your inn, nor be forced to stay.”

He looks slightly disappointed, but answers your question. “There is no cost for ENTERING the inn, but a 5 silver cost is applied to your “exit bill” when you first step inside. We have all of the amenities and magical elements that you need, so many stay here for years at a time. In fact, Garshav over there has been here for 18 years.” He points to a small, chubby human sitting at the table.

You look at him, disgusted at his stained attire, now realizing that nearly everyone at the table looks rather unclean.

“I see. I will abstain from entering your establishment for the meantime, but I won't hold any of my party from doing as they please.”

Effects: None

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Basic bow skills

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Vig[1 + 1 + 2 = 4]

You turn to Aetheron, and ask him a simple question.

“As this Bozkaroon is obviously quite dangerous, how should I dispose it? I fear that if I were to dump it on the ground, others might be afflicted with this cursed parasite.”

He looks back at you, sullen in expression.

“Unfortunately, I am not aware of any method to safely get rid of Bozkaroon. It is quite resilient, and even the most torrential tornadoes would not destroy it. ”

You walk away from the air elemental, discouraged but not unfocused. You quickly go to the Void, hoping to improve your earth creation skills.

You open your eyes, and see a barren valley made up of dunes of rock. You think to yourself that this is the perfect place to practice your skills, as is usual for anything in the Void. However, as you begin to manipulate and create some of the rock at your feet, a large explosion erupts in the distance, causing the ground to rumble at your feet. A few seconds later, a loud voice booms out from the sky.

“Hello and welcome to Zaikon's Void substitute, now with 15% less calories. Your allotted demonstration time has elapsed. Please contact an assistant to purchase a time card, and continue your magical experience. Have a nice day!”

You flash back to reality, the murky gray stone of the dungeon at your feet. You feel anger welling up inside of you, and wonder how this inn was able to block your contact with the Void.

Effects: None

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic: Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air

Level 4 – XP: 122

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [3]

You look on at the inn, uplifted by the prospect of a chance to rest.

You quickly shout out to your companions. “Well I believe I shall go check out this marketplace for an armory, if anyone wishes to come with...”

After Byrrsh's warning, you feel a little cautious, so you decide to be on the lookout for danger, but step inside anyways. You see Craften and Nu Mou following you however, and loosen up a little bit.

The man wearing purple walks up to you, and greets you. “Hello, armored Raynar! I am Makki, the guide for this place. I see that you are lacking a strong weapon. I know just the place to help you out with that...”

He grabs you by the arm, pulling you further in to the strange inn. The rooms fly by your eyes, and you don't manage to catch more than a glimpse of the clientele, who seem to be a mix of humans, elves, orcs, and dwarves for the most part.

Just as you were about to wrench off Makki's hand, he stops and says “Welcome to the market where you can get nearly anything... Tervania Square!”.

You shout to him, over the roar of the market, barely pausing to think about the logic behind being in an outdoor market, when you had just left a dungeon deep underground.. “Thanks. Now, where can I find an armory?”

He looks back at you and says, “Oh, I'm sorry. You haven't purchased a Shopping Card. If you don't have one, you cannot buy anything from Tervania Square. It pays for taxes and other fees, you see.”

He hands you a small bronze rectangle with “Tervanian Shopping Card” engraved in it. “One silver coin, please.”

You hand over the silver, and watch Makki disappear back into the crowd. You spot a sign that says “Armory”, and decide to step inside.

It's a typical wooden building, with multiple anvils and furnaces strewn about the place. A large sign is hung on the wall, listing the prices for various weapons. No shopkeepers or workers are in sight.

Armory list of items for sale:

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 172

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

inventory:

Nu Mou: [1]

You listen carefully to Byrssh's comments and warnings. He does make a good point, but you decide to not heed it.

You follow Kursk through the hallways of the inn, but get cut off from him and Craften after a couple of seconds, getting bustled around by some of the patrons of the building. You attempt to catch up with them, but you reach a split in the hallway. You take a left, and wind up in a large wooden room.

A small elf walks up to you from the middle of the room and speaks to you. “Hello sir. Do not be alarmed. We have selected you to be the winner of a lucky draw! You have won the right to perform for the high king Xell in the Arena!”

He rushes you through yet more halls before you can speak up and object. You are met with a gigantic armory with an incredible stock of weapons and armor lining the wall.

“Pick any weapons or armor you wish, for you will need them in your battle. I will just take your items... Don't worry, they will be waiting for you after the fight.” The elf takes your belongings, and scurries out of the way. You try to run after him, but he escapes your view.

Looking around at the walls you see swords, bows, crossbows, leather armor, and even some diamond daggers.

Items on the wall:

You feel slightly overwhelmed at the sheer amount of items on the walls, but begin to form a plan...

You mumble to yourself. “Let's see Aquan stand up to me with all of this equipment at my fingers...”

I will not allow you to carry an extremely unreasonable amount of items with you. For example, four swords, two bows, 1000 arrows, and three sets of armor. Around two hand-weapons, one bow, and one and a half sets of armor is okay.

Effects: None

Skills: Ice manipulation proficiency

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 70

Create water

Manipulate water

inventory:

Craften: [9]

You listen intently on the discussion between Makki, Byrssh, and Kursk. The majority vote seems to be for going into the inn, so you decide to follow Nu Mou and Kursk in.

You have to break into a run to keep up with Kursk, and shove Nu Mou out of your way.

After what seems like minutes, you finally come to stop. You stay behind Kursk, as he seems to have somewhat of a repertoire with Makki, but stay in earshot.

“And it's just one silver!”, Makki says excitedly. You look on with disbelief as Kursk hands over money for a chunk of engraved bronze.

You walk with Kursk, trying to find an armory. “You do realize you've just been scammed out of a silver, friend?” He replies abruptly. “Oh come off it. What was I supposed to do? We must abide by the rules of this place...”

You wander around for a minute, but eventually find a building labeled “Armory”. You walk inside with your Raynar friend, and are amazed by the variety of weapons and metal items strewn about the place. “This is amazing!” you exclaim, never having seen an armory of this size.”

Kursk looks back at you and says, “Yeah. This is gigantic. I can't see any staff though... I don't want to just loot everything, and I'm assuming you want to stay clean as well. Perhaps you should go scouting for someone?”

Effects: None

Skills: None

Magic:

Level 4 – XP: 100

Animate object (minor)

Manipulate fire

Create fire

Manipulate water

inventory:

Darien[8]

You see the commotion regarding the inn escalate, and decide to stay outside for the mean time. “Byrssh, how about helping me train my skill with a blade?”

He turns to look at you, and says, “Not right now Nessus... I'm afraid we have larger problems on our hands at the moment.”

You shrug it off, and decide to practice without him. You pull out your trusty short sword, and begin waving it around.

You dodge left and right, evading imaginary blows while staying in position to strike back. You run over to the closest wall, and begin slashing at it with vigor. “Take that, you mongrel!”

You begin to tire after a few minutes, being out of practice with a sword. The last time you used one was back on the plains, and that's just a fuzzy memory now. You mumble to yourself, “When will I see the light of day again... Feel green grass beneath my feet, and the blue sky above me?”

You have learned Basic sword skills!

Effects: None

Skills: Bow skills (+2 to bow-related rolls)

Basic sword skills (+1 to sword-related rolls)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 33

Knowledge of Time Slow (minor)

Duplicate Water (major)

inventory:

Aetheron: [~]

Action:

Effects: Energy level [260/450] (Will shrink in size, and eventually disappear as it loses energy levels. Energy is gained and lost similarly to health.)

Skills: None

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 186

Manipulate air (Major)

Create air (Major)

inventory:

Ignuch: [~]

Action:

Effects: Energy level [450/450] (Will shrink in size, and eventually disappear as it loses energy levels. Energy is gained and lost similarly to health.)

Skills: None

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 188

Manipulate fire (Major)

Create fire (Major)

inventory:

Aquan: [~]

Action:

Effects: Energy level [400/450] (Will shrink in size, and eventually disappear as it loses energy levels. Energy is gained and lost similarly to health.)

Skills: None

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 185

Manipulate water (Major)

Create water (Major)

inventory:

Terrak: [~]

Action:

Effects: Energy level [450/450] (Will shrink in size, and eventually disappear as it loses energy levels. Energy is gained and lost similarly to health.)

Skills: None

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 188

Manipulate earth (Major)

Create earth (Major)

inventory:

Game Events:

None

Roll #26

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [3]

You stand in place, a grim look on your face. "I'm sorry to have been so brash, Darien. But as our friends have apparently ignored the obvious state of affairs, we're stuck here waiting for them to return. Should they not return swiftly and without impediment, it will be up to us to release them from their bonds. You were perhaps correct in choosing to pass our time wisely while we wait."

You search around for the doorman, ready to give him a piece of your mind, but eventually realize that he had left to guide your brother and those who followed him.

Thinking about the tough decisions before you, you decide to wait 3 hours before starting your search for the other members of your party.

You speak to Nessus, pulling out your fire whip.“I shall begin practice with this whip, but I am not yet comfortable with it. I suggest you move slightly out of the way, so I will not accidentally injure you.” He moves out of the way, and begin your practice.

As you start to aim your attacks at the wall, a strange tingling starts to run up your arm. Experienced with magical trickery, you immediately drop the weapon, and run over to Ignuch. “Is there any reason why this whip should be numbing my arm? I'm no expert on runic magic, but last I heard, weapons are supposed to injure your enemies, not allies.”

Ignuch looks back at you, half fear, and half nervousness in his eyes. “I apologize. I'm not particularly versed in runic magic myself, and it slipped my mind. When someone binds a rune to an item, part of the process attaches part of the rune to the binder's soul. It will naturally want to reject any other owner. It's powerful magic, but with practice, it's definitely not impossible to re-bind control of an item.”

You thank him for his knowledge, still a bit angry that he “forgot” to impart this information to you beforehand.

2 hours remaining (This isn't accurate to an actual turn's average time, but I'm not quite convinced you want to / should wait for about 25 turns to re-join your party.)

Effects: None

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Basic bow skills

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [12]

You walk away from Craften, not wanting to be rude, but a little miffed at the fact that you had just been taken for a silver, without any real chance to say no. “If only my brother and Nessus would have joined us... We're powerful in a group, but weak separated.”, you say more to yourself than to Craften.

You look around for a second, not exactly sure what to do at this point. “Say, Nu Mou... What's your opinion on what to do?” You pause, waiting for a response. You run outside of the armory, hoping that your new Bangaa friend is waiting outside. You scream out his name, attempting to make some sort of noise audible over the roar of the market.

Craften turns to you and says, “It's no use. I can barely hear you, and I'm not even a foot away. He must have gotten separated from us in that long dash Makki made us run.” You nod in agreement, and motion for Craften to walk back inside the armory.

“Ah. At least in here we can speak without being deafened. “

Your mind now freed from the terrible racket, you begin to devise a plan. “Craften, I suggest we search for our bounty-hunting friend. He may be new to the party, but this place seems ominous. We'll need all of the help we can get...”

Craften agrees with you, and both of you begin to trace your steps back out of the marketplace.

You begin looking for footprints that might indicate Nu Mou's location. You stop at each set of new tracks, racking your mind to remember what his shoes looked like. You go through about 4 sets of bootprints before it hits you. “He doesn't wear shoes.” You echo it out, hanging on to each word, as if its was a string of information.

You immediately know what to do. You run across the corridors, looking for a small intersection you remembered from your run through this mysterious inn. “Craften, do you remember there being jagged rocks a few feet from here?” You want to check that you're not going mad, but your Prinny friend agrees, and you round the corner.

You see the field of sharp, unforgiving rocks that you barely even noticed in your blur towards the marketplace. “Now, why would an inn like this have such an unkempt area, when the rest seems so clean? Nu Mou couldn't possibly have gone past here, if he has any sense.” You feel your mind reform, whirring through information at a hundred miles per second. “I see his prints. Follow me, Craften.”

You walk through a dusty side passage, following his trail of prints, now at a small jog. After a couple of minutes, you find yourself in a large armory, with amazing weapons and sets of armor adorning the walls. A sign reading “Arena” pointing to another small wooden corridor. “This place is stranger than we first thought, Kursk.”

You have leveled up in Basic Tracking!

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 172

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

inventory:

Craften: [11]

Minor: Follow Kursk
Major: Make a mental map of the corridors and rooms as I walk with Kursk

You see Kursk staring into space, and hear him mumbling something about Nessus. You follow his movements loosely, not focused in real life yourself. You're mind is spinning, trying to figure out how you are going to get out of this bizarre bazaar.

Suddenly, you realize that Nu Mou is no longer with you. Kursk runs outside, screaming “Nu Mou!”, and you follow. You tell him that it's no use, and he decides to lead you in a search effort. You begin to keep track of all of the winding passages in the market, writing a mental map.

As you follow Kursk, you begin to keep track of all of the doorways at your side, and the route you are taking.

By the time you enter the room with weapons on the wall, your mind is overflowing with data about the surrounding area.

You have leveled up in Mental Mapping!

Mental Map:

Effects: None

Skills: Mental Mapping (During each roll, roll a second d12 that is affected by mental buffs and debuffs. On a roll of 7 or higher, you make a mental map of the area.)

Magic:

Level 4 – XP: 100

Animate object (minor)

Manipulate fire

Create fire

Manipulate water

inventory:

Darien[6]

You speak to Byrssh frankly. "If it does fall to us to bring them out, we had best be ready."

He nods, and begins practicing with his whip. You decide to continue improving your swordsmanship, hoping to get your expertise up to the level of your proficiency with a bow.

You continue slashing at the air, every strike enforcing the basic concepts you had learned about combat. “Byrssh, what do you think the Bozkaroon is up to?” You banter with your Raynar friend, trying to shift the conversation from the depressing topic of the possible danger looming ahead of you.

He replies, seemingly halted in his practice with his whip. “I'm not quite sure. Judging from the village, they might be massing an army of brainwashed civilians... Your guess is as good as mine.”

You continue with your practice for a few minutes, eventually sitting down opposite to the inn. “You've got to wonder who's behind this effort... It would take a mastermind to concoct a substance as evil as Bozkaroon.”

Byrssh nods, and you drift back into daydreaming.

Effects: None

Skills: Bow skills (+2 to bow-related rolls)

Basic sword skills (+1 to sword-related rolls)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 33

Knowledge of Time Slow (minor)

Duplicate Water (major)

inventory:

Vig[8]

Disgruntled by your failure to contact the Void, you start practicing your air magic, trying to get your problems out of your mind.

You begin plotting a new spell to learn, aimed at stalling enemy attacks. You have quite a strong bond with air magic, so you decide to try something a little risky. You recall one of your favorite bedtime stories, named “Guardians of the Otherland”. One of the main characters, named Ash Jiervan, was quite the mastermind when it came to air magic. In particular, one spell of his seems to be perfect for this situation...

You see Nessus practicing with his sword, and you begin charging up your magical abilities. “They may take away my contact with the void, but I only need the air that is already present...”

You thrust your hands forward in the direction of your Centaur friend's sword, and shout out “Atmospheric Impedance!”.

You see Nessus slow down momentarily as he passes through the pocket of condensed air. He looks at you, a little alarmed. “Don't worry, friend. I am merely practicing my magic.” With your reassurance, he continues his practicing, and you manipulate the air back to it's normal state.

Satisfied with your newly learned spell, you turn to Aetheron. “Friend, what lies beyond the door that your entered this room from?” He looks back at you, and replies quite calmly. “Not very much, just some trophies I've taken from some of the crazier occupants of this place. My body in this world has been in this dungeon for about a thousand years, and I can tell you that not much has changed in that time. Sure, the odd group of adventurers come in and kill a few sentient desserts, but in the grand scheme of things, this is a fairly stable ecosystem. You kill off one crazy necromancer and his army, and then in a couple of days, another nut with a staff walks in. I take bits of armor or some weapons off of some of the people that come and go as a way to pass time.”

You look at Aetheron, seeing him in a slightly different light now. You thank him for his answer, and walk over to a nearby wall, sitting down to rest.

You have learned Atmospheric Impedance!

Effects: None

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic: Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air

Atmospheric Impedance (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

Level 4 – XP: 122

inventory:

Nu Mou: [12]

Action: Meditate, concentrating on my magical powers

You sit down in the armory, a little overwhelmed at all of your choices. You close your eyes, letting your thoughts flow through your head. Calmness flows through your mind, cooling down your anxiousness. You begin to think about your magic, adding on to already strong concepts within your brain.

As you continue your practice, you hear two pairs of footsteps rushing down the hallway you came from. You halt your focus, happy with the results. You pick up one of the diamond-tipped daggers from off the wall, and hide by the side of the doorway.

You see Craften and Kursk walk in, bantering along the way. You decide to stay in the shadows, just a precaution. Once you see that they haven't noticed you, you relax, and begin plotting what to say to them.

Effects: Prepared to cast magic (+2 to next magical roll)

Magical Mastery (+1 to a magical roll of your choosing. Declare the use with your action.)

Skills: Ice manipulation proficiency

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 79

Create water

Manipulate water

inventory:

Aetheron: [~]

Action:

Effects: Energy level [260/450] (Will shrink in size, and eventually disappear as it loses energy levels. Energy is gained and lost similarly to health.)

Skills: None

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 186

Manipulate air (Major)

Create air (Major)

inventory:

Ignuch: [~]

Action:

Effects: Energy level [450/450] (Will shrink in size, and eventually disappear as it loses energy levels. Energy is gained and lost similarly to health.)

Skills: None

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 188

Manipulate fire (Major)

Create fire (Major)

inventory:

Aquan: [~]

Action:

Effects: Energy level [400/450] (Will shrink in size, and eventually disappear as it loses energy levels. Energy is gained and lost similarly to health.)

Skills: None

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 185

Manipulate water (Major)

Create water (Major)

inventory:

Terrak: [~]

Action:

Effects: Energy level [450/450] (Will shrink in size, and eventually disappear as it loses energy levels. Energy is gained and lost similarly to health.)

Skills: None

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 188

Manipulate earth (Major)

Create earth (Major)

inventory:

Game Events:

None

Roll #27

Vig[9]

You stay sitting down next to the wall, recharging your magical abilities. You talk with Byrssh a little bit. “Who would have thought that despite all the rumors, this cave is still bustling with evil and magical fare. It makes you wonder who digs out a dungeon this size just to fill it with monsters...” He looks back at you, chuckling. “For sure. With the way you and my brother are going with earth magic, it wouldn't surprise me if you two carved out your own underground base.”

Feeling rested and ready, you stand up, and stick out your palm. You continue your banter with Byrssh as you carve out a series of concentric circles into the stone wall using your earth magic. “Indeed. I'm surprised you've not taken a liking to any other magic than fire. Exploring dungeons isn't exactly what I expected, but the magical experience I've gained from it alone is worth my time. “

You look at your crude target, and step back a few feet from it. You begin a charge up a few flaming shots, and push your arms towards the target. You feel the energy flowing through your body, and send a bolt of fire streaming towards the middle ring. It smashes right on the bulls-eye, leaving a charred indentation in the previously dull wall. Satisfied, you charge up a few more shots, firing them in rapid succession.

After a while, you feel happy with your results, having collapsed a large portion of the target you created. “Man, those things are powerful. If you get any more skilled, I might have to warn the others.” Byrssh says jokingly. You grin, getting a little restless due to your lack of movement.

You have leaned Fireball!

Effects: None

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic: Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air

Atmospheric Impedance (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

Level 4 – XP: 122

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [1]

You look around the room, sighing.  "Well I'm afraid we will now be suffering for not having our group as a whole, if this is truly where our new friend was taken, as the tracks end here." You turn to the wall of items, amazed at the quantity of weapons available.  "I know not what you intend friend, but I'm not about to leave one behind. No matter what I might face behind that door..."

You look around, intending to direct your comment at Craften. “Friend?” You spin around, doing a full scan of the room. Craften has seemingly disappeared from the room. You mumble under your breath. “Now we're split even further. I have a feeling an evil presence is behind this.”

You decide to familiarize yourself with the earthen elements underneath the wooden flooring of this room. As you begin to reach out to the stone beneath you, a strange vibration enters your mind. You ignore it for the meantime, as it isn't conflicting with your focus.

After a few minutes of concentration, the vibration begins to turn into a louder crash of noise. You then realize that the sound isn't only coming from your mind, but from the adjoining “Arena” room as well. You halt your earthy practicing to investigate. Walking alone through the doorway leading to the pounding rhythmic blasts of sound, you begin to feel a slight detachment from your magical powers. As you walk further along the passage, the feeling intensifies, dampening your ability to think properly.

After what feels like minutes, you emerge into a blindingly bright room. Adjusting to the light, you make out the outlines of Colosseum-like arena seating, looking down on a dirt arena. That dirt arena houses two beings.

You, and a swirling, purple being. It roars out to the audience, stopping the ear-shattering booms of sound. “Watch this weakling fall to the wrath of Byzkoroon, master of the Arena!” You feel reminded of the first time your met Ignuch. Loud, proud, and arrogant. You even find a slight resemblance to him, replacing the swirling red flames with swirling purple matter.

You also hypothesize that Byzkoroon may be an attempted homophone or representation for Bozkaroon. Whatever this creature is, it will be a challenge to defeat.

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Earthen magic dampened (Remove all buffs from the next 2 earth magic rolls)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 172

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

inventory:

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [4]

You turn to Terrak, trusting that his intentions are pure. “This whip seems to be bound to another. I don't understand these runic magics, so I would be highly appreciative if you would help me learn more about it.”

He looks at you, ever calm. “Indeed. My knowledge of runic binding isn't perfect by any definition, but I will help as best I can. When someone binds a rune into an item, a strong magical reaction occurs. Part of their soul is fixed within the item, along with the powers of the rune. It is only natural that one's soul would actively want to be with the rest of itself. In order to re-bind that whip to you, you would have to find the person that originally bound the rune to it, and return the part of his soul back.”

You look down at the whip, both amazed at the power, and slightly frightened by it. “It's strange that this whip wouldn't be bound to me... After all, I did create it, but from what you've told me, it seems like something odd happened in the Void. Thank you for your help, it has been greatly appreciated.”

You sit down on the floor, resting and preparing to chase after the rest of your party. You speak to Nessus jokingly, hoping to dispel the awkwardness of waiting. He laughs along with you, and you seems to loosen up as well.

You slide back, relaxing and thinking about the state of your brother. You wonder where he is, and what dangers he might be facing.

1 hour remaining (If you wish, I will let you leave this turn, or the next. If you have something you specifically want to do before entering the inn, I want to give you the choice. However, I also suspect that waiting for any number of turns, even if it is an amount as low as 2, is slightly annoying.)

Effects: None

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Basic bow skills

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Nu Mou: [~]

Your mind whirrs into action, and an idea unfolds in your mind. You grab Craften, gagging him with part of your shirt.

You walk away with him, talking about your plan...[/b]

Craften: [~]

You get grabbed from behind, and gagged with a thick cloth. You try to scream out to Kursk, but your voice doesn't resonate. You look at your captor, and upon seeing that he is Nu Mou, you feel rather shocked. He drags you away to back where you came from, and begins explaining his reasoning...

Both of you have been removed from the game. Thank you for playing.

Darien[7]

You continue your practice with a sword further, attempting to realize your goal of becoming as skilled with it as the bow. You look over at Vig, and taking a note of inspiration from him, you scratch a small target into a wall.

Slashing at it with great vigor, you feel your muscles aching, but you realize that this is a good thing, as increased strength comes with the toll of momentary pain. Within a few minutes, your arms are aching, yet strangely powerful.

You rest for a few seconds, catching your breath. “Vig, how's the fire magic going? You'll need a strong warrior like me to back you up if you decide to stay that scrawny” You joke with your dragon-kobald friend. He grins back at you, mocking the action of sending a fireball at you.

You laugh, finding comedy even in this dark, slimy dungeon. Standing back up again, you return to your efforts with the sword, finding that each swipe makes the next easier. You look at your blade, polishing it on your chestplate to regain some of it's luster.

You have leveled up in Sword skills!
Effects: None

Skills: Bow skills (+2 to bow-related rolls)

Sword skills (+2 to sword-related rolls)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 33

Knowledge of Time Slow (minor)

Duplicate Water (major)

inventory:

Game Events:

Terrak turns to Aetheron, speaking to him privately. He then turns back to Vig, Byrssh and Nessus, and speaks to them. “Good heroes, I'm afraid it is time that we depart. Our time in this world is expended, and we must move on to another world to assure the maintenance of elemental balance. I wish you luck in your quest, wherever it may take you. And Byrssh, tell your brother that I will be in touch with him, when you see him again.”

With that, all four elemental giants vanish without a trace.

Roll #28

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [8]

You barely have the time to react to Terrak and the others leaving, whispering “Well, that is unfortunate. I had hoped to inquire more about how to track down the individual to which this handle is bound. And as I can't use it yet... “ under your breath. You decide to train your archery skills, as you have neglected to use your bow for quite a while.

You turn over to Vig's target, and after asking her if you could use it, pull out an arrow from your pack, and notch it.

You pull back the arrow, memories from when you first purchased this bow flooding back in your head. You talk to Vig as you aim your shot. “We've lost so many is such little time. First it was our Foolish friend, then Olimar in quick succession. Indeed, I wonder where he is now.” You let the arrow fly, hitting the target dead on.

As you notch another arrow, Vig replies back to you. “Indeed. Our short-lived friend Shadow is also a bit of a sad tale... He was only with us for a matter of minutes before his mind broke down. This dungeon is a dangerous place.”

You nod, letting the arrow fly straight and true towards the target. You pick up your arrows, and begin to repeat your practice, hoping that your brother hasn't suffered a similar fate.

You have leveled up in Bow skills!

Effects: None

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Bow skills

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Vig[2]

You latch on to Byrssh's comment about you and Kursk carving out an underground base. You think back to your warren, longing for the relative safety it provided compared to this maniacal dungeon.

To distract yourself, you decide to train your strength. You were never particularly strong, usually erring on the side of mental will, rather than physical. You decide to try to balance out your skills, and walk over to a mostly empty part of the room to start your training.

You begin your exercise with the mindset of trying to improve your wing strength until it is at the point where you can actually use them. You break off a part of the wall with your magic, planning to use it as a weight. You pick it up, feeling the strain in your arms pushing out. You begin to do some bicep curls, grimacing against the pain in your weak arms.

After 15 or so, you reach a mental barrier. It's hard for you to rationalize inflicting pain on yourself, even though your deeper thoughts know that it's for a good purpose. You stop, sitting down on the floor once again, now wondering weather your body is simply incapable of physical prowess.

You toss that thought aside, rubbing your surprisingly sore shoulder.

Effects: None

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic: Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air

Atmospheric Impedance (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

Level 4 – XP: 122

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [12]

You mumble under your rushed breath. “This is a bit disheartening...can't believe I'm here alone. Rheakke grant me strength."

Ideas rushing to your brain, you make a decision very quickly. Whatever this magic dampening field is, it can't stop you from using yours. You delve into your mind, staying as calm as you can. You slip into the void, quickly raising a chunk of earth up from the ground, about 4 feet up.

You come back to the arena, bringing your pillar with you. It's not as high as you want it, but it will do for now. You shout a curse out to the sky, seeing Byzkoroon charging on your position. You quickly begin thinking on your feet, and push your hands out. You focus on the ground under him, and drop your hands quickly.

The earthy floor drops out from under him, stalling him just long enough for you to breathe. Taking in a sharp gulp of air, you begin working on raising the platform you have created. The solid plateau of dirt beneath your feet shakes and groans, but still begins to rise. You keep a careful eye on your purple enemy, watching him get out of the pit with ease.

You stop raising the platform when it is about 30 feet high, and you see Byzkoroon beginning to climb it up towards you. He shouts up to you. “A Raynar mage. I haven't destroyed one of you in a while... Prepare for destruction!”

You step back, channeling all of your mental might towards your next task. You push the earth near Byzkoroon out, making sharp points stick into his body. He yells out a scream of pain, indicating that his body is affected by physical damage.

He drops down 3 feet, still a little too high up for your comfort. Estimating that he is 16 feet away from you, and climbing rapidly, you begin to think frantically. Your mind is running out of ideas, and in a panicked state. Just as you begin to think that you are in an un-winnable position, a voice of clarity speaks out in your head.

“Hello Kursk. It is Terrak once again. I speak to you from another world, but my thoughts are with you. I would give you my aid in magic, but there seems to be a dampening field around this place. I will work to dispose of it. Once it is dealt with, I will attempt to help you with this beast.”

His voice of reason cuts through the race of thoughts in your head. You relax, and begin channeling your energy again. You think back to how defeated larger threats before, albeit with the others helping. Your mind slows down again, thinking at a normal pace.


Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Earthen magic dampened (Remove all buffs from the next earth magic roll)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 6 – XP: 204

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

inventory:

Darien[10]

You continue you practice with a sword, not seeing anything better to do for the time being.

Slashing at the target on the wall, you feel more versed in the art of sword wielding than you ever have. Your connection between mind and blade seems streamlined, allowing you to direct your sword wherever you please, with pinpoint accuracy.

Satisfied with your practice, you turn to Byrssh and Vig. “I think it is about time we head out to search for Kursk and our new friends.” They nod, and follow behind you as you enter through the doors of the inn.

When you walk inside, you are buffeted with the noise from the patrons of the inn. You scream over the crowd. “I think I see someone who may be able to help!”

Wading through the mass of people, you walk through another door labeled “Locations”. Closing the door behind Byrssh and Vig, you look around, seeing a man with a long, grey beard across the room. He looks up to you, greeting your party. “Good day, adventurers. I can sense that you are looking for a friend.”

Byrssh speaks up. “Indeed. My brother Kursk went in here with two others a few hours ago. We've not heard from him since... Would you perhaps be able to help us locate him?”

The old man smiles, replying. “Absolutely. That is one of my expertise. Allow me a few seconds of focus...” The man closes his eyes, humming a soft melody for a few seconds.

When he opens his eyes, he speaks in a metallic voice. “Kursk is in the arena of the high king Xell. The arena can be accessed by hallway 74y, the third door on the left.”

The bearded man snaps out of his trance, and says “Thank you for visiting!”, then shoos you out of the room.

You look at the hallway you are currently in, seeing an arrow leading to “Hallway 74y.” You begin to follow it, beckoning Byrssh and Vig to follow you.”

Effects: None

Skills: Bow skills (+2 to bow-related rolls)

Sword skills (+2 to sword-related rolls)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 33

Knowledge of Time Slow (minor)

Duplicate Water (major)

inventory:

Game Events:

The three adventurers arrive at a hallway labeled “74y”. Following the old man's advice, they open up the third door on the left.

Inside, they find an armory stacked to the ceiling with weapons and armor. However, they are distracted by a trail of tracks leading them through even more passageways. When they look up as the prints stop, they are amazed to see a gigantic arena, hosting a large earth pillar and a gigantic flowing form of purple energy.

A familiar voice shouts down from the top of the pillar. “Byrssh! Assist me in slaying this creature!”

Roll #29

Kursk Ryrgysshi [10]

You see your friends enter the arena, screaming up to you. You yell back. “Allies! We must defeat this monster with haste. He calls himself Byzkoroon.”

Focusing back on the swirling blob of purple matter, you see him climbing further up your earthen tower. You focus on the dirt he is clinging to, reaching out to it with all of your might. You push it away from you, closing your eyes to focus in your efforts to bring Byzkoroon with it.

You open your eyes and look down the dirt pillar. A giant chunk of earth smashes down on the ground, carrying your enemy with it. He roars an awful howl of pain, crashing in on your ears once again.

You see a window of opportunity, and decide to continue your earthen assault by conjuring up a large block of dirt, then smashing it upon Byzkoroon's body. As you begin summoning the chunk of earth into reality, Terrak's voice swings through your head again. “Kursk, the dampening field has weakened, but is not completely gone. I will attempt to channel my power through you, but I am afraid it won't do as much as I would hope. There may be another way around this... Hold out a little longer.”

As his voice disappears, you finish bringing the earth into existence. You look down to pillar, and see your purple enemy climbing back up. Smirking, you toss your newly created weapon down, and laugh slightly as it smashes him directly in the face, bringing him back to the ground.

You scan the audience, taking a brief moment of rest to recharge your energy. There seem to be around 200 people in circular stadium seating surrounding you, cheering and roaring in the distance. Among the normal seating is a large, exaggerated throne with two slightly smaller seats on the side. They are housed by people you guess are royalty, judging from their chairs.

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Weakened earth dampening field (-2 to earth magic rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy (+1 to all diplomatic rolls)

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 6 – XP: 204

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

inventory:

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [6 + 2 = 8]

Your mind immediately clicks into action, feeling energized and fearful, for both you and your brother. Thinking back to your success with a bow back in the town square against a mob, you reason that it should work against a much larger target.

Beginning to circle around your opponent to the left, you pull out your bow and an arrow. Notching and aiming it simultaneously, you yell out to your brother. “Brother! It appears I've once again searched for you only to find you in over your head! Where are Nu Mou and Craften? “

As you let the first arrow fly towards Byzkoroon, Kursk replies in a solemn tone. “Nu Mou was separated from us upon our entrance here. As I tracked him down, I heard Craften following me. In the armory, he vanished...”

You watch your arrow hit the swirling beast and stick in to his “flesh”, yearning for the help of your lost companions. He roars out in anguish, and you begin to wonder how much of his yelling is really caused by pain, as opposed to acting.

As you notch a second arrow, you yell out to your enemy. “Why fight in an arena like this? Have you been trapped here, or otherwise coerced?” You launch the arrow at him, cutting him off in mid-sentence. “Quiet, fox or---”, followed by another wave of ear-splitting rage.

You clench your ears, wondering if Byzkoroon's only method of attack is vocal harassment.

Launching 2 more arrows at him in quick succession, you begin to fall into a rhythm of sending an attack, then covering your ears to save yourself the pain. You look over to Nessus to see how he's attacking, but are surprised to see him with closed eyes, seemingly standing while unconsious.

You continue your assault, sending a total of 3 more arrows at your enemy, right on target. “Vig! Nessus seems to be incapacitated. We must finish this battle quickly.”

You have leveled up in Advanced bow skills!

Effects: None

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Advanced bow skills (+3 to bow related rolls.)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Vig[6 + 1 = 7]

You spot Byrssh moving into a circle-strafing position shooting at Byzkoroon, and you decide to take a similar route, staying opposite to him to constantly flank your enemy.

Deciding to dust off your magical abilities, you begin to concentrate on your hands, building up a excess of fire in them. Within seconds, sparks are jumping off your hands, amazingly not burning or hurting your magically-imbued digits.

You shove your arms towards Byzkoroon, continuing your jog around him. A flaming bolt shoots out from your fingers, approaching him at fantastic speed. As it hits your target, he screams out in pain, shattering your eardrums for the seventh time since you entered this damned arena. You yell out to Byrssh, charging up another bolt. “Does this beast never lay quiet?”

Arching your shoulder, you send another volley of flame blazing towards your shrieking opponent, once again triggering his cacophonous roar. As you cover your ears again, you pause in your flame barrage to look at the stadium around you.

You see the archway that you and the two others entered from, and 3 more on accordingly cardinal positions. As you take a look around, a figure slips through the shadows of one arch, bearing a throwing knife in one hand. Deciding not to tell anyone for the immediate present, you send another charged fireball at Byzkoroon, who blasts your ears in return once again.

You have leveled up in magic!

Effects: None

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic:

Level 5 – XP: 184 (I had forgotten to give you experience for previous rolls. My apologies.)

Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air

Atmospheric Impedance (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

inventory:

Darien[~]

Your vision goes blank. Attempting to open your eyes, you feel a strong force pulling your mind away from your body. A voice whispers in your head.

“Nessus, I am here to return you to the plains, where you rightfully belong... Join us again, and all will be well.”

Convinced for the moment that you should trust this voice, you let go of your body, and begin to float closer towards the voice, continuing it's beckoning call.

Effects: None

Skills: Bow skills (+2 to bow-related rolls)

Sword skills (+2 to sword-related rolls)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 33

Knowledge of Time Slow (minor)

Duplicate Water (major)

inventory:

Game Events:

Kunoiko walks through the archway, sneaking along in the shadows unseen. A throwing knife raised in hand, she throws it straight at Byzkoroon, hitting her target straight and true. Byrssh, Kursk, and Vig turn around to see where the projectile had come from, seeing a small lady garbed in dirtied black clothing standing in one of the entrances to the arena.

She says nothing, and neither do any of the band of adventurers. A moment of silence echoes louder than any scream that could come from Byzkoroon or any other, even the shrieking enemy looking over his new opponent with interest.


Kunoiko Hachimaki[~]

Skills: Gymnastic prowess (+2 to basic gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform medium scaled feats of agility, such as running on walls for a short period of time)

Throwing weapons proficiency (+2 to throwing weapons rolls)

Basic first aid (+1 to 3 on medical rolls, depending on the difficulty of the task, easier getting a higher bonus. Allows you to perform more advanced medical techniques such as bandaging broken limbs)

Magic:

Level 1 – XP: 0

None

inventory:

Roll #30

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [2 + 3 = 5]

You continue your assault on your enemy, having little time to devote to worrying about the new arena participant. Pulling out yet another arrow, you see Byzkoroon begin to step towards you. In fact, it seems like he's also stepping towards Vig and Nessus at the same time...

You watch in horror as the swirling blob moving in all directions suddenly splits off into 3 separate chunks, charging at the three of you. His internals are now visible from the backside of any of his bodies, revealing dismembered and half-disintegrated bodies lying inside.

You shoot off the arrow, attempting to delay the approaching blob of purple goop from reaching your position. You begin to circle strafe again, now around your new target. Unfortunately, your opposition seems to have become more engrossed in you, driving straight towards you, ignoring the arrow passing through it's body.

Seeing the gap between the two of you lessen, you pull out another arrow, sending it flying at your enemy to at least try to cause him to scream, hopefully slowing him down.

Watching the arrow hit him straight in the middle of his body, you are extremely surprised to see him not react at all. In fact, it seems as if he didn't even notice the arrow fly through him, not even making an entry wound.

Notching a third arrow, you let it fly directly at him, annoyed to see it only pass through your enemy, now only meters away from you. You begin to tire, hoping beyond hope that this won't be the end for you.

The third-Byzkoroon hits you.

However, you don't seem to feel anything, or be in pain. In fact, you see your enemy continue oozing away, staying on the same trajectory it was chasing you on. You stop for a second, using all of your willpower not to break out in a fit of mixed anger, exhaustion, and fear.

You pant for a few seconds to catch your breath, then scream out to the others. “Friends! It seems as is my assailant is no longer material, nor thinking.”

Running back to the center of the arena, you begin deciding what to do.

Effects: None

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Advanced bow skills (+3 to bow related rolls.)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [4 + 2 – 2 = 4]

You relax slightly on your high vantage point, seeing your allies defending you. However, you still realize the urgency of this battle, and decide to create another pit for your enemy as you did with the skeletons.

Focusing through the haze from the magic dampening field, you begin to tap into your higher mental facilities. Feeling around the arena with your mind, you notice a rather weak spot in the earth. Opening your eyes to double check, you see a swirling purple blob above the weak area.

Delving back into your magical abilities, you begin to rush yourself, wanting to get out of this unpleasant mental fog.

You tug loosely on a precariously balanced rock, having to stretch your will fairly thin to reach a target so far away from you. Working quickly, you move chunks of dirt in different directions, creating a large underground air pocket.

You open your eyes and watch on as Byzkoroon... Is in 3 different positions at once?

Rubbing your eyes in disbelief, you watch as one of the severed chunks of Byzkoroon walks into your trap, crushing the weak layer of earth below his feet and falling into a 8 foot deep pit.

Unfortunately, it hasn't seemed to shake the other 2 enemies, who continue on their varied paths to Byrssh and Vig, you having trapped the one heading over to Nessus.

Just then, you hear the clear and crisp voice of Terrak resonate in your head once again.

“Hello again, Kursk. I believe I have found someone who may be able to aid you... A Kender, agile and sneaky, much like your other new-found companion. I will break her out of a rather... unfortunate situation and point her in your direction.”

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Weakened earth dampening field (-2 to earth magic rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy (+1 to all diplomatic rolls)

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 6 – XP: 235

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

inventory:

Vig[10]

You continue your quick pace around Bzykoroon, preparing to suffocate him.

As you begin to build up your magical energy, you see him begin to stretch in all directions. You continue your concentration, not wanting to be fooled by any of his tricks.

Oddly enough, he splits into 3 chunks, one of them coming towards you. However, you see through this guise, and notice that the three blobs racing towards the three of you are summoned projections. Your concentration aids you, and you begin feeling the air around you for a hidden Byzkoroon.

After a few seconds, you feel a strange blockage where Byzkoroon was before these distractions appeared. Channeling your magical power towards that area, you begin to suck out the air from a large area surrounding his location.

At the same time, the false blob of purple gel phases through you and Byrssh, along with your ally yelling out “Friends! It seems as is my assailant is no longer material, nor thinking.”, both reaffirming your theory.

“Indeed, Byrssh. I have located our true enemy, and I am currently attempting to asphyxiate him. Any aid would be much appreciated.”

As you continue to remove the air from around Byzkoroon, his disguise begins to fail, with parts of his body phasing back into the light of the arena. At the same time, the summoned chunks begin to experience the opposite effect, leaving the physical world.

Your enemy seems to be struggling to get out of your vortex, squirming with vigor.

You have learned Manipulate Air (major)!

You have learned Atmospheric Impedance (major)!

You have leveled up in magic!

Effects: None

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic:

Level 6 – XP: 230

Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air (major)

Atmospheric Impedance (major) (+2 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

inventory:

Kunoiko Hachimaki[11 + 2 = 13]

You stumble through the doorway, still focused back on the events of your previous day. You listen in on your thoughts, as your master taught you to do...

“Kuno... What are you doing?”

Then another voice.

“Don't listen to her... Enjoy yourself! Let's go back to the wonderful bar.”

Your head begins to spin, your mind constantly swinging from these two perspectives. Finally focusing a little, it hits you. You really can't handle your... Uh... How do they call it here? Alchymholl?

Ah, never mind. You'll just go on with your business.. Hey, this archway looks rather nice... “Arena”.
Maybe you'll find something to do over here.

Would you look at that! A gigantic blob. Wait, what the hell?! It must be a demon. Yeah... Why is there a crowd here?

Why is it attacking those foxes? Wait, they have human faces... Maybe they're gods? Or maybe you're just still drunk. Your granny said foxes can turn into men if they want, but that was just a story. Still, you better not hurt them... 4 years of bad luck if you do that.

Wait, wait. Is that a dragon? No, that's a dragonman. Maybe this creature attacks by merging humans with animals... What a strange attack this demon has. Well, dragons and foxes are good, and humans are good. Mix them together, and you get something better than a demon, that's for sure.

Agh... What to do... Come on, you better snap out of this.

You focus back into the real world, seeing the purple demon half invisible. You rub your eyes, certain you're still drunk.

“Oh well... Might as well treat this as if I'm sober.” You mutter to yourself.

Pulling another knife out of your pack, you line up your shot with the quickly reappearing demon, and throw it at him. It hits straight on, causing a wound similar to one made in flesh, only this time leaking purple liquid rather than blood.

Happy with your success, you yell out to the creature. “Come over here! Come and get me, you one UGLY KUSOTTARO!”

Effects: Mildly hung over (-1 to mental rolls. May have trouble concentrating on difficult tasks)

Skills: Gymnastic prowess (+2 to basic gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform medium scaled feats of agility, such as running on walls for a short period of time)

Throwing weapons proficiency (+2 to throwing weapons rolls)

Basic first aid (+1 to 3 on medical rolls, depending on the difficulty of the task, easier getting a higher bonus. Allows you to perform more advanced medical techniques such as bandaging broken limbs)

Drunken Martial Arts (While intoxicated, +3 to martial arts rolls)

Magic:

Level 1 – XP: 0

None

inventory:

Darien[~]

As you begin to float up towards the sky, you see your old Foolish friend waiting for you in a gigantic castle made out of various metals. You begin to wonder if you've died, or if you're begin tricked by the voice in your head.

Either way, this is going to be an interesting chapter in your adventure...

You have died. Thank you for playing!

Game Events:

Byzkoroon begins to shrink in size exponentially, quickly reduced to no more than a pile of purple goo floating in the air vortex Vig created.

Kunoiko yells out a cheer of victory. “The demon is gone!”

Byrssh looks around cautiously, not trusting the ease of victory. “Friends, I am not sure the battle is won. We may be experienced, but I doubt our abilities to fell such a large beast in such little time.”

His doubts were soon realized, as a large crashing sounds through the arena, followed by a loud yell coming from someone in the stands. “Hah! They have beaten that foolish Byzkoroon. You will now see the real show. Bring in Gelprid!”

With that, a small Kender walks through the door. She runs over to the apparent safety of Byrssh and Vig, hastily introducing herself. “Hi! I'm KookiePie. And I would be afraid if I were you.”

Following behind her, a gigantic human figure wearing heavily decorated purple armor walks through the doorway. He towers about 13 feet tall, wearing a spiked helmet that covers all of his face aside from his bright red eyes. Wielding his appropriately sized giant broadsword, he yells out a battlecry, charging at his enemies.


KookiePie[~]

Effects: None

Skills: Major gymnastic prowess (+3 to intermediate gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform large feats of agility, such as climbing up almost sheer rock faces)

Stealth movement (+2 to stealth movement rolls)

Major pickpocketing proficiency(+3 to pickpocketing rolls)

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 60

(With your first action, please tell me three level 1 spells, two level 2 spells, one level three spell, or similarly powered skills to have already learned)

inventory:

Roll #31

Kunoiko Hachimaki[4 + 2 = 6]

You look around at your surroundings. Foxes, dragons, and all other sorts of mythical creatures. Oh yes, and a tiny woman telling you to be scared.

“I thought I had sobered up...”

You yell out to your companions. “Distract this... thing. I have an idea to deal with it.”

Seeing Vig consumed in his mind, and the others non responsive, you decide to go along with your plan anyways.

Running at high speed towards Gelprid, you notice a few bricks missing on the wall parallel to him. Slipping behind him unnoticed, you propel yourself towards the wall, sticking out your foot to grab on to the newly discovered footholds.

Climbing up the wall frantically, you bound up towards your giant enemy's head. Your small figure allows you to quickly scurry up the wall, and in no time at all you are preparing to jump over to him, his hulking figure taking what seems like hours to turn and face you.

You get suddenly dizzy from your height, and feel the alcohol rush back into your face. Bracing through your nausea, you count down from 3 quietly, and tense up your legs against the brick wall behind you.

“One.” With that, your legs spring out, propelling you speedily towards Gelprid's head. Careening through the air, you brace for impact, feeling your stomach rush to your throat.

You hit Gelprid, grabbing on tightly to his slightly baggy white undershirt. Holding on for your very life, you feel him moving around the arena, attempting to buck you off of him.

However, your grip is strong, and you manage to stay firmly fixed to his right shoulder. You pull out your Katana, and begin climbing over to his face to attack his eyes.

Your mind begins to slip again, making it hard to focus on your target. As you raise your blade to attack him, out of the corner of your eye you see your assailant's hand coming to swat you away.

Kunoiko: D10 V.S. Gelprid: D10

Kunoiko: 8 V.S. Gelprid: 9

Just as you are about to lower your blade into his eye, a great force smacks your concentration away from both your attack, and your liquor. Gelprid's hand hits you with a force so powerful, it seems like a great tidal wave has come to life and is now chasing you down.

“Aagh!” You cry out in pain as your grip on his shirt loosens, and you begin to fall. You think to yourself “This must be the end of me. A thirteen foot fall... I'm so sorry ma--”

Your fall is interrupted halfway to the ground. A familiar voice shouts to your closed eyes. “Wake up! We must defeat this enemy!”

You open your eyes, and are surprised to see KookiePie hanging on to Gelprid's belt, supporting both of your weight on one arm.

Stuttering to a intelligent state of thought, you quickly thank your Kender ally, and begin to formulate a new plan...

Effects: Mildly hung over (-1 to mental rolls. May have trouble concentrating on difficult tasks)

Skills: Gymnastic prowess (+2 to basic gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform medium scaled feats of agility, such as running on walls for a short period of time)

Throwing weapons proficiency (+2 to throwing weapons rolls)

Basic first aid (+1 to 3 on medical rolls, depending on the difficulty of the task, easier getting a higher bonus. Allows you to perform more advanced medical techniques such as bandaging broken limbs)

Drunken Martial Arts (While intoxicated, +3 to martial arts rolls)

Battered and Bruised (If damaged in combat, will take more serious penalties)

Magic:

Level 1 – XP: 0

None

inventory:

KookiePie[7 + 3 = 10]

You take in your new surroundings, both exited and terrified. In a fit of nervousness, you yell out “Anyone want some cookies?!”

Met by cautious eyes, you decide that it would probably be best if you kept your enthusiasm to yourself for the time being.

You see Kunoiko rush over to the giant enemy, and begin to run up the brick wall behind him. Not wanting to just stand around, you jog over to Gelprid, getting some cover due to him looking at your ninja ally.

Once you reach the base of his feet, you begin to climb up nimbly, hoping that your small weight will not disturb the giant from his current occupations.

As you reach the bottom of his huge leather belt, you see Kunoiko wobbling off balance and being shaken by the giant. Scrambling into a better balanced position hanging on to the belt, you watch in horror as Gelprid swings out his hand, sending your ally tumbling through the air towards you. Bracing yourself for impact, you stretch out your arm, and in a feat of amazing strength, you manage to catch your friend and hold on to her.

Seeing her eyes closed, you say “Wake up! We must defeat this enemy!”

As she comes to and thanks you, you both get into a more comfortable position, grabbing hold of some loose cloth from Gelprid's shirt.

You begin tearing through the belt with your dagger, and hear the satisfying “rip” of leather. Cutting off a small patch of fabric for yourself, you stash it in your pockets, continuing your attempt to de-belt your opponent.

As you cut through the last thread holding it together, the belt collapses, falling down to the ground below you.

Angered by this occurrence, Gelprid brings down his fist at your location.

KookiePie: D10 V.S. Gelprid: D10

KookiePie: 1 V.S. Gelprid: 9

As your brain begins to formulate a plan to get you out of this mess, his hand smashes down on your body, making a shockwave of pain shoot through your body.

You let out a terrible howl of pain, seeing your left arm sticking out at a frightening 180 degree angle.

As the pain dies down slightly, you survey your arm, seeing it obviously popped out of it's socket. Fortunately, the trauma seems localized, and no other part of your body seems highly injured.

Effects: Left arm out of socket (Cannot use left arm. -3 to physical rolls due to pain. -2 to mental rolls due to pain.)

Skills: Major gymnastic prowess (+3 to intermediate gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform large feats of agility, such as climbing up almost sheer rock faces)

Stealth movement (+2 to stealth movement rolls)

Major pickpocketing proficiency(+3 to pickpocketing rolls)

Dagger Mastery (+3 to combat rolls involving daggers. +2 to other rolls involving daggers.)

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 60

inventory:

Vig[6]

You take a few steps back from Gelprid, not wanting to bring magic to a sword fight. Beginning to focus your magical energies again, you feel Kursk beside you mentally, also preparing to target the ground at the giant's feet.

Immediately understanding his plan, you slip into the Void, knowing that in order to best channel your abilities, you have to relax and take your time making sure that your plan is perfect.

Walking around in the welcoming and peaceful darkness of the Void, you reach out mentally to the rocky ground underneath Gelprid's feet. You're not quite sure what is going on, but the ground doesn't seem as magically malleable as the room that held host to your epic battle with skeletons.

Persisting through this difficulty in manipulating the earth, you finally feel an inkling of connection to the dirt underground your giant enemy. Pressing for a stronger link, you begin to feel the urgency of the situation, realizing that Kunoiko and KookiePie had already attempted to assault your opponent.

You begin your magical earthen barrage on Gelprid, ordering the dusty rocks at his feet to leap up and attack him. At the same time, you feel Kursk's water creation come into reality, and you make sure to mix it with the fine dirt particles to create a sludgy mud.

You continue your earthy onslaught, disheartened to see Gelprid not distracted, continuing his efforts to get the two new members of the party off him. Nonetheless, the constant chipping damage done to his armor is starting to become noticeable, now creating some chips in his armor.

You disconnect yourself from the earth, feeling that your brain has become too strained to continue the assault much longer. Surveying the damage done, you are not completely happy, but you reason that it's better than nothing.

You have leveled up in magic! (I have added further levels to the front page.)

Effects: None

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 254

Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air (major)

Atmospheric Impedance (major) (+2 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [8]

You watch Gelprid enter the arena with amusement. “Let's see how long this one lasts.”

A thought from Vig enters your mind, and you interpret quickly that she's planning to make the earth from under your enemy attack him. Quickly thinking of a plan, you slip into the Void, feeling Vig's presence next to you, even though your Kobold ally is in reality over 8 feet away.

You decide that working with earth magic in this situation might be inadvisable, leading you to decide on using water magic.

Calmly feeling around the Void, you wait patiently for a spark of inspiration to hit you, as it had in your previous attempts to learn elemental creation skills.

However, it doesn't seem to just hit you. The tense situation around you is making it hard to concentrate, and that in turn is blocking you from using your mind to it's full magical capacity.

You muddle through your unfortunate mental block, pushing your brain to an extent that even in your rushed state of thought you know is too far.

The mental expenditure seems to pay off, and you find yourself organizing some water into a bundle inside the Void. Deciding that your mind can take no more, you begin to bring the water into reality, aiming to place it directly under Gelprid.

As you finish the transfer, you see Vig's efforts coming into reality as well. Your combined efforts have seemed to have had quite the detrimental effect on Gelprid, sinking him a foot into muddy ground, and assaulting his lower leg armor.

You kneel on your stone platform, body and mind exhausted.

You have leveled up in magic!

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Weakened earth dampening field (-2 to earth magic rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Mentally exhausted (-3 to mental rolls. Goes away in 1 turn.)

Tired (-1 to physical rolls. Goes away in 1 turn.)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy (+1 to all diplomatic rolls)

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 252

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

inventory:

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [8 + 3 = 11]

You watch in horror as your new gigantic enemy enters the arena. Shrugging, you decide to keep your bow out, and take careful aim at his head...

“Hold on... Is that Kunoiko on his neck?”

You look around, dazed, finally coming to the realization that in the time it had taken you to plan your actions, the two new gymnastic members of your party had already mounted an assault. You stow your bow for a moment, not wanting to accidentally injure Kuno.

Jogging into a more ideal position for aiming at Gelprid's throat, you take a gasp of air, seeing Kunoiko tumbling through the air, only to be caught by the weak-looking Kender you just met.

“I guess it makes more sense than flying pies and evil parasites.” you mutter to yourself.

Seeing that the two attacking Gelprid by hand are nowhere near your target, you notch an arrow, and begin to line up your shot. Your experience with a bow really begins to show, as you let the first arrow fly, and see it arc in a beautiful curve, landing directly on your enemy's neck, making a satisfying “CLANK”.

Wait, a “clank”?

You nearly smack your head in frustration, seeing a metal collar around his neck. However, not all of his skin is covered, leaving about a 3 inch gap between his chest armor, and the newly discovered neck protector.

Taking out another arrow and breathing deeply to calm yourself, you line up your shot once again.

You let go of the arrow, sighing in relief as it hits your target spot on, digging a few inches into Gelprid's pale flesh.

He cries out in pain, still too consumed with Kunoiko and KookiePie to remove the arrow. You watch a disgusting bright orange fluid seep out of the wound, dripping to the ground.

Effects: None

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Advanced bow skills (+3 to bow related rolls.)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Gelprid [11]

You begin to thrash around in the mud, attempting to unstick yourself from this horrid mess, at the same time swatting at these two ignorant barbarians crawling over you.

“Miscreants repent! I shall royally cleanse you of your filth!”

You run over to the clump of opponents in the middle of the arena, and pull out your sword. Aiming at a surprisingly high up Raynar, you swing your mighty greatsword at him.

Gelprid: D10 V.S. Kursk: D10 + 2

Gelprid: 3 V.S. Kursk: 2 + 4

Your might sword swings down slightly off aim, and at your height, even slightly turns into a big deal. It crashes down on the pillar that your enemy is standing on, making a crack appear down the side.

You step back to the center of the arena, ready to take anything that this band of fighters can throw at you.


Status:

Head: Neck has an arrow in it, otherwise normal

Upper torso: Normal

Lower torso: Kunoiko and KookiePie hanging on to shirt, otherwise normal

Upper legs: Mild chipping damage done to leggings

Lower legs: Large chipping damage done to leggings

Roll #32

Vig[3 + 1 = 4]

You open your eyes wide, staring at the distance Gelprid has cleared in a matter of seconds. You begin to run away, not wanting to get caught in his assault.

A few meters away from your enemy, you turn about, shocked at his colossal sized rage. Beginning to focus your mind, know that in this case, you definitely need to fight rage with fire.

Your hands begin to shine brightly, shifting between wonderful red and orange tones. You look on with awe, amazed at how beautiful such a destructive power can be.

Feeling the heat build up inside your body, you start to work the flame back and forth between your hands, forcing it to build up speed and energy. You close your eyes, becoming fully engrossed in your magical task.

After a few seconds, you feel that your efforts at strengthening the fire are taking more and more energy to sustain. However, you greedily continue at your task, channeling your anger towards Gelprid into your flame.

You shout out in pain, feeling a burn form on your wrist. “What is this?! I thought I was immune to my magic!” Deciding to cut your losses, you aim carefully at Gelprid, then release the fireball at his legs.

Watching the flame hit him out of the corner of your eyes, you begin attending to your wounds.

Across your left wrist is a deep white mark, forming an intricate lattice adorning your skin. Not quite sure what to make of this, you gently touch the burn, quickly realizing that it is still burning hot. You wonder why you don't feel the heat on your left arm, but then decide that it's best to not ask questions like that while in battle.


Effects: White burn mark on left wrist (Unknown effects)

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 264

Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air (major)

Atmospheric Impedance (major) (+2 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

inventory:

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [2 + 3 = 5]

You grin to yourself, exited at the thrill of combat. Your mind races along at a million miles a minute, searching for a new attack plan.

Suddenly, it clicks. You run a good foot away from Gelprid, wanting to get a good angle for your shot. Your heartbeat racing, you pull out your bow as you run.

Reaching the perfect firing spot, you pull out an arrow, trying to calm yourself. Taking a deep breath in, you feel your mind centering, allowing you to focus on your shot.

You take steady aim at his eyes, lining up every axis of your shot until you feel like the time is right.

Letting your experience take over from your mind, you let go of the arrow, and watch it sail through the air as it always does. It seems as though time slows down for a minute, allowing you to fully admire the beauty of the suns sparkling down your glimmering arrow.

Feeling your footing in reality reaffirm itself and time speeding back to it's normal pace, you think to yourself, “Two suns eh? Interesting place”.

The arrow smacks into your enemy's forehead, missing his eyes by a few inches. Regardless of your misfire, he screams out in pain, quickly removing the arrow from his head. The same orange goo oozes out of his head, causing you to wonder if bleeding him out a few drops at a time will be enough...

Effects: Battle rush (+1 to melee combat actions. -1 to non-combat actions that require complex thought)

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Advanced bow skills (+3 to bow related rolls.)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [~]

You look around the arena, dazed at the fact you almost got your rocky body sliced in half. Resting your body and mind, you decide that familiarizing yourself with your battlegrounds sounds like a good idea.

Looking at your immediate surroundings, you see Gelprid standing a foot away from you, then Byrssh about another foot farther in the same direction. Kookiepie and Kunoiko are still battling Gelprid in a strangely amusing tall versus small arrangement, while Vig is staying quite a few meters away from the commotion around you.

Scrutinizing the arena itself, you see that the floor hasn't been cleaned in quite a while, blood stains the colors of the rainbow scattered on the ground. The walls keeping you from entering the seating area has a dirty texture you assume to be dusty stone, worn down to a smooth, round curve around the arena.

You guess that there are about one and a half to two thousand spectators cheering on this strange battle.

Feeling rested from your visual tour around the arena, you stand up on your earthen pillar, refreshed and ready to fight.

Watching the position of Gelprid carefully, you see him plucking arrows out of his skin, leaving disgusting orange scabs over his body. You cringe, preparing to unleash more damage on this giant.

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Weakened earth dampening field (-2 to earth magic rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Battle focused (+1 to all battle rolls under 5. Goes away in 1 turn)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy (+1 to all diplomatic rolls)

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 252

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

inventory:

Kunoiko Hachimaki[10 + 1 – 1 = 10]

You look over to Kookiepie, finally getting your bearings after your jarring fall. You are shocked to see her arm twisted out of it's socket, causing the spark of an idea to unfold in your still cloudy mind.

You shout to your Kender ally “Follow me. I can assist you in dealing with your arm.”

Switching up who is holding on to who, you sling her over your shoulder, taking care to not accidentally jostle her injured limb. You count down quietly, looking for the perfect landing spot on the ground below you.

“Three, two, one...”

You leap off Gelprid, shielding Kookiepie from most of the impact. Quickly running, you put Kursk's earthen pillar between the two of you and Gelprid. Your mind begins to slow, the fuzzy warmness of alcohol flowing through your brain. You wobble back and forth next to your injured friend, not sure if you'll be able to help her after all.

However, you manage to muster up enough focus to think back to your training on medical aid... It's still fuzzy, but you realize that time is of the essence, and you really don't want your ally bleeding out.

You warn Kookiepie about your current plan. “It might hurt a bit. Try to stay calm.”

You take hold of her strangely angled arm, and take a deep breath in. Steadying yourself, you focus as much as your addled brain will allow, and begin to pop her arm back in.

She screams in pain understandably, and you feel the crunching of muscle against bone slither down your spine. Continuing to apply pressure in the way that you had been taught to, you finally feel the “pop” of her arm sliding back to it's proper place.

Looking down at Kookiepie, you see that she is still conscious, albeit in a bad state. She thanks you in a small voice, sitting up against the earthen platform.

You sit down beside her to rest, mentally tired out and still dizzy.

Effects: Mildly hung over (-1 to mental rolls. May have trouble concentrating on difficult tasks)

Skills: Gymnastic prowess (+2 to basic gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform medium scaled feats of agility, such as running on walls for a short period of time)

Throwing weapons proficiency (+2 to throwing weapons rolls)

Basic first aid (+1 to 3 on medical rolls, depending on the difficulty of the task, easier getting a higher bonus. Allows you to perform more advanced medical techniques such as bandaging broken limbs)

Drunken Martial Arts (While intoxicated, +3 to martial arts rolls)

Battered and Bruised (If damaged in combat, will take more serious penalties)

Magic:

Level 1 – XP: 0

None

inventory:

KookiePie[6 + 3 = 9]

You look over at Kuno, your mind filled with the pain emanating from your left arm. She looks your damaged arm over with interest, then shouts to you. “Follow me. I can assist you in dealing with your arm.”

She gently lifts you over her shoulder, then starts counting down. You brace for impact with the parts of your body that aren't damaged, and feel Kuno jump and lift both of you off of Gelprid.

“Ugh!”

You see Kuno shielding you from the brunt of the land, and briefly thank her. “No problem. Follow me.”

She brings you over to the giant earthen pillar in the middle of the arena, towering over your hunched over figure. Grabbing your arm, she begins to push it in.

You squeal in pain, questioning whether getting your arm “fixed” is such a good idea after all. After a few seconds of incredible pain, you feel the satisfying “click” of your bones and muscle conforming to the pressure Kuno is applying.

You open your previously scrunched closed eyes, and look down at your arm. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, you see that it has gone back to it's proper position. Slowly rotating it, you still feel pain radiating out, but it has lessened a great deal.

After resting for a minute, you decide that it's time to get back into the fray. You run over to Gelprid, knowing that your ranged allies will fail if a good melee front is not put up.

Climbing up his legs again with your still aching arm, you stop to catch your breath half way up, knowing that your shoulder can't take any more strain.

You pull out your dagger, looking for a weak spot in his chest armor. After searching for a while, you find a gap in the well forged armor. You raise your arm up high, and plunge it into your giant enemy's torso.

Orange goo rushes out of the wound, covering your hand and dagger in the blink of an eye. You cringe, disgusted at this vile smelling “blood”.

Finally, you find a good perch in his armor to stay on, and continue to be transported by this strange giant.

Effects: Trauma on left arm (-2 to rolls using left or both arms. Goes away in 4 turns.)

Skills: Major gymnastic prowess (+3 to intermediate gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform large feats of agility, such as climbing up almost sheer rock faces)

Stealth movement (+2 to stealth movement rolls)

Major pickpocketing proficiency(+3 to pickpocketing rolls)

Dagger Mastery (+3 to combat rolls involving daggers. +2 to other rolls involving daggers.)

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 60

inventory:

Gelprid [7]

You cry out in pain, an arrow suddenly hitting you straight in the forehead. “Gah! You fools...”

Plucking it out, you run over to the Raynar that shot at you. You raise your greatsword, and bring it down upon him.

Gelprid: D10 V.S. Byrssh: D10 + 1

Gelprid: 7 V.S. Byrssh: 8 + 1 = 9

He ducks out of the way, surprisingly nimble for a creature of his size. You become distracted by the feeling of one of those annoyingly tiny warriors climbing up your side again.

You try your best to find and exterminate her, but you suddenly feel a sharp pain surge through your stomach. Looking down, you find that the Kender has stabbed you with a dagger now coated in your blood.

“Desist your actions, or prepare to be cleansed off this world!”

Suddenly, an idea hits you. You pull out one of your many orbs from your armor. “I had hoped I wouldn't need to use one of these on such small opponents...”

You press it against your head, feeling the power from the sphere enter your body, and the transformation taking place.

Status:

Effects: Transformed into a Servant of Zakord (+4 to non-magical defense rolls. +3 to magical defense rolls. +2 to attack rolls. +2 to mental rolls. Various magical powers are at your fingertips. Goes away after the energy from the orb is used up)


Game Events:

Gelprid begins to distort and change shape before your eyes, almost as if he were a reflection in a rippling pool of water. Out of nowhere, a flash of bright light shoots out from him, and where that ugly giant once stood, there is now an equally frightening dark, shadowy figure, wearing metallic purple armor and wielding a large staff that seems to be made out of that same material he is.

He shouts out in a commanding voice. “Cower in fear mortals. For I am the incarnation of Zakord, lord of Malikat!”

Roll #33

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [8 + 3 + 1 = 12]

Looking over your new opponent, you shake your head. “How long will it be until the gods tire of replacing our enemy?” Oddly, you hear a whisper saying “Not long, friend.” in the back of your head.

You shake your mind clear of distractions, and decide to fall back on your standard combat trick. Pulling out another arrow, you notch it and feel adrenaline rush through your veins once again. Before firing the arrow, you conjure up a spark of fire up from the void, dropping on your arrow.

Aiming at your shadowy opponent, you let the arrow fly, feeling almost as if you can make the arrow follow your eyes.

It smacks into Gelprid's flesh, if you can call it that anymore, with a satisfying sizzle. It burns through a chunk of his arm, as it was unarmored.

Level up! You have leveled up in Bow Skills! (Master is the final level.)

Effects: Battle rush (+1 to melee combat actions. -1 to non-combat actions that require complex thought)

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Master Bow Skills (+4 to bow related rolls.)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

KookiePie[5 + 3 = 8]

You watch in horror as your once frightening opponent morphs into what looks like the spawn of an evil god. “When will we be out of this arena that constantly morphs to find out weakness?” you whisper to nobody in particular. You hear something that sounds like an echo in your head saying “Not long, friend.”

Ignoring the seeming futility of the situation, you raise your dagger, and stab it into Gelprid's chest once more. Another stream of orange blood seeps out of his now shadowy flesh. He screams out in pain, but you don't react. In the few moments you've been in this arena, one thing that you've learned is that enemies overreact to pain. What an odd place.

You drag the dagger across the gap in his armor, tearing a rather large hole in his body. More blood rushes out, and Gelprid's solid footing on the ground falters for a second.

You shrug to yourself, figuring that in a few seconds, everything is going to change again.

Effects: Trauma on left arm (-2 to rolls using left or both arms. Goes away in 3 turns.)

Skills: Major gymnastic prowess (+3 to intermediate gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform large feats of agility, such as climbing up almost sheer rock faces)

Stealth movement (+2 to stealth movement rolls)

Major pickpocketing proficiency(+3 to pickpocketing rolls)

Dagger Mastery (+3 to combat rolls involving daggers. +2 to other rolls involving daggers.)

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 60

inventory:

Vig[6 + 1 = 7]

You continue your kiting around Gelprid, feeling bored with the whole ordeal. You think to yourself, “For how much longer must I run around enemies shooting fireballs?” A voice whispers in your head, “Not long, friend.”

You charge up another fireball in your hands, ignoring the burn you just received. The power of fire wells up inside you as expected, and you begin to take aim at Gelprid. You shoot the fireball out, and as expected, it flies towards your target at high speed.

However, something begins to change about your burn mark. It's shape wobbles and shifts around on your wrist, collapsing into a chaotically moving jumble after a few seconds. After that, it reforms into a series of words. They read “igne nos nimis“. You recognize it as Latin, but aren't sure the meaning.

You look up from your burn, noticing the fireball slamming into Gelprid. His leg armor takes most of the the attack, and falls to the ground in charred chunks. Gelprid yells in fury as usual.

Effects: White burn mark on left wrist (Unknown effects)

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 278

Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air (major)

Atmospheric Impedance (major) (+2 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

inventory:

Kunoiko Hachimaki[12 + 2 = 14 (I didn't rig this... I promise.)]

You look at your new enemy in despair. “This situation is hopeless... When will this unusual fight end?” A voice sounds in your mind. “Not long, friend.”

You decide to continue the fight, as pointless as it seems. A rush of adrenaline pumps through your system, and your mind clears out all thoughts of failure. You pull out one of your throwing knives, now sure that combat is the way to go.

You toss the knife at his unarmored head, and automatically reach for a second knife with your other hand. Tossing that at his head again, you take a look at where they landed.

“Bullseye. Or maybe Gelprid-eyes.”

Indeed, you see the two weapons sticking out from both of Gelprid's eyes. He roars in pain, something that you're now used to.

Something clears in your mind. The effect of alcohol seems to be lifting. A technique you had heard about, a long time ago...

Your mind transports you into something you could only describe as a void. You see nothing, smell nothing, and hear nothing. After a few seconds of blank space, the very fabric of space around you morphs into a room filled with throwing weapons. You run over to one wall, looking around to make sure this isn't a trap. Noticing nothing in the room except for an abundance of weapons, you begin to grab knives, shurikens, and poisons from the wall. After you feel you can't carry any more, you step back to examine the room.

Just as suddenly as you were transported into the odd room, you find yourself back in reality. You check your supply of weapons, and are amazed to find everything you had taken from the room still there. Amazing.

Level up! You have leveled up in Throwing weapons proficiency!

Effects: Mildly hung over (-1 to mental rolls. May have trouble concentrating on difficult tasks)

Skills: Gymnastic prowess (+2 to basic gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform medium scaled feats of agility, such as running on walls for a short period of time)

Throwing weapons proficiency (level 2) (+3 to throwing weapons rolls)

Basic first aid (+1 to 3 on medical rolls, depending on the difficulty of the task, easier getting a higher bonus. Allows you to perform more advanced medical techniques such as bandaging broken limbs)

Drunken Martial Arts (While intoxicated, +3 to martial arts rolls)

Battered and Bruised (If damaged in combat, will take more serious penalties)

Magic:

Level 1 – XP: 0

None

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [12 (lucky fellow 0_0)]

You sense that the dampening field around you is too powerful to attempt to break. Instead, you focus your magical energies into a style of magic you've only heard about before – lightning.

You slip into the void, confident that Gelprid will be too busy battling verbally to take advantage of your lack of defense. Once there, you reach out for some sort of strand of knowledge... Something that will help you learn this new magic.

A story starts playing in your mind.

You see an old man fighting off waves of goblins by shooting out bolts of chain lightning from a large staff. He jumps from place to place with astounding speed considering how old he looks. Suddenly, he turns to you. He throws the staff to you, and you feel the rush of knowledge entering your body.

You open your eyes, back in the arena. In your hands is the same staff you saw in the void. You take aim at Gelprid, and begin channeling your magical abilities through the staff. Instantaneously a brilliant bolt of lightning strikes out from the staff, streaming through the air to Gelprid. For the split second before the lightning hits, you worry that it will damage Kunoiko and Kookiepie.

“CRACK!”

The bolt hits with a satisfying sound and dazzling flash. When you're able to open your eyes, you see the form of Gelprid laying down on the ground, presumably dead. You hear the echo of his last cry bounce around the arena.

You have learned Create Lightning (major)!

You have learned Manipulate Lightning (major)!

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Weakened earth dampening field (-2 to earth magic rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Battle focused (+1 to all battle rolls under 5. Goes away in 1 turn)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy (+1 to all diplomatic rolls)

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 290

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

Create Lightning (major)

Manipulate Lightning (major)

inventory:

Gelprid [7]

You stand around, waiting to be attacked by these imbeciles. “Throw your worst at me!”

You get hit by an arrow. You get stabbed. You get scorched by a fireball. Your eyes get knives embedded in them. Hah.

Mere flesh wounds... Now that you have the power of Zakord on your side, nothing can stop yo--

In the middle of your thoughts, a bolt of lightning strikes you with immense power. You let out a scream of pain, and your mind goes black.

You have died! Thank you for playing


Game Events:

Gelprid falls to the floor. For a brief moment, everything is silent. Kursk begins to climb down from his perch, and everyone meets next to it, amidst the murmurs from the crowd.

Someone jumps down from the crowd into the arena. He is wearing a dark cloak that seems to absorb the light around him. He calmly states “You must get out of here. Soon they will send in a new enemy, and the cycle will start again. Eventually you will tire, while this illusion will not. I will guide you out, as this place is guarded heavily.”

Without a reason to disbelieve him, the party follows the mysterious figure through twisting hallways until they reach a small room with 3 doorways leading into a blue mist.

“These paths lead to three different hubs of the Bozkoroon empire. The one on the left will take you to a heavily guarded complex that leads to the resting area of Kalmoth, one of the three masterminds responsible for the lowering minion numbers. You will need to be stealthy and clever to triumph there. The middle one will take you to a small dungeon that is still inhabited with monsters, a good training place for your skills. Finally, the one on the right will take you to a small town called Balkus, where you can stock up on items and perhaps take a rest. Whatever you choose, I will have to leave you. My place is in this world, not any other. Good luck.”



For your next action, please only vote for which doorway to go through.

Player Vote

Game Events:

With that, the stranger runs back the way he guided the party through.

The party begins to discuss their options. “I vote we take either the middle to train or the right door for rest, for it does not seem we are very stealthy a group...” Byrssh nods in agreement with his brother. "I'm still wound up from that fight. I suggest the middle door. For although I am running low on arrows, I have no money to spend with which to buy them. I'll have to hope I find some along the way. The door on the left promises glory and wealth, our initial goal. However when we initially set out we had our circle of friends, great allies we fought with before. Their losses have saddened me greatly, but we have made new friends. ”

Byrssh looks at Kunoiko and Kookiepie. "I believe before we embark on such a dangerous endeavor as Kalmoth's complex we should fight alongside one another more in less... DIFFICULT situations. Allow ourselves a chance to grow comfortable with one another's new allies in the field of battle."

He steps towards the two new members of the party. "Well met, friends. I am Byrssh Ryrgysshi and this is my brother, Kursk. This delightful young lady is Vignarvaeri Darasv. How is your shoulder?" Kookiepie shrugs with her head only, avoiding moving her limbs too much. “I am tired and battered, but I'll be fine.”

With a consensus reached, the party prepares to step through the middle doorway.

“Ladies first”, Kursk offers to the female members of the party.

One by one, all 5 heroes step through the portal.


Everyone [~]

You step through the doorway...

A calming blue mist surrounds your body, and a wave of relaxation pushing through your body forces you to close your eyes. It's almost as if you're swimming in air.

When you open your eyes, you are in the middle of a cold, stone room. A quick scan of the area reveals 5 things of importance.

1 – A wooden door marked with “Keep Out!” in some sort of red pigment

2 – A second wooden door with a red handle

3 – An iron door with a key slot and intricate swirls carved into it

4 – A set of 5 colored buttons on a wall (red, blue, green, yellow, and orange) surrounded by the torches that are lighting the room

5 – A small wooden chest

Roll #34

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [2 + 4 = 6]

"I wonder... a red handle and a red button? But it's potentially trapped...", you mutter under your breath.

Deciding to stay safe, you notch an arrow in your bow, aiming at the red button. Your aim falters for a second, but your masterful bow skills compensate.

The arrow whizzes through the air, and you hear Kunoiko saying “so best course of action -”, cut off by the impact of the arrow.

Roll to determine effects of pressing button: 3/12

Nothing seems to happen. For a few seconds, everyone in the room stands still. “- ... Would be to do yet nothing now. *sigh* Thanks... Byrssh, right?”, Kunoiko finishes her sentence. You nod your head slightly, inviting your ninja friend to go forth. Out of instinct from the last battle, you notch another arrow, getting ready for any enemies.

And what a good idea that was.

The red handle begins to turn on it's own. Slowly but surely the door opens. Standing behind it is a floating ball of fire. It immediately charges at you.

Ball of Fire: D10+1 (surprise) V.S. Byrssh: D10+2 (bow ready)

Ball of Fire: 10 + 1 = 11 V.S. Byrssh: 3 + 2 = 5

The mass of flame floats towards you at a ludicrous speed. You aim your bow to attack, but by the time you're ready to shoot, the ball has engulfed you. As it floats through your head, and you white out for a second.

When you come to your senses, your entire head hurts. You figure that you're badly burnt. Turning around quickly, you see your elemental adversary smack into the stone wall and disappear.

Effects: Head badly burnt (-1 to all actions due to pain. Further -2 to actions using your physical head. Will sustain heavier damage to head in combat. Will heal over 6 turns.)

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Master Bow Skills (+4 to bow related rolls.)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [8 + 2 + 1 = 11]

Taking in your surroundings, you mumble “I wonder if this place has the same effect upon my magic... “

Almost as is the room is listening to you, the field lifts, and you feel your magic skills coming back. You look at the iron door with interest. “I don't think so. Let's take another route.”

You focus in on the stone to the left of the door. Going into the Void, you begin to poke at it with your mind. It feels malleable, so you continue with your plan. You begin to work the stone back and forth as you've done in the past, slowly severing the bonds between the pieces of stone.

After a minute, you feel Vig's mental presence at your side. Now filled with extra energy, you get a firm mental grasp on the stone, and pull it away from the rest of the wall. It comes off with a satisfying crack, and you let it drop to the ground and shatter.

Carefully walking over to the hole you made, you take a peek into the room.

It's another dungeon room, lit by the same type of torches you've found in every other. Inside there is an iron chest encrusted with rubies, and a small wooden box on top of it. Other than that, you don't see anything of significance.

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy (+1 to all diplomatic rolls)

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 298

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

Create Lightning (major)

Manipulate Lightning (major)

inventory:

Kunoiko Hachimaki[11]

You look around the room, quickly surmising a plan. "So, these buttons are obviously some kind of a puzzle. My guess is that inside one of the doors, we will find some combination or riddle, so best course of action -"

Your words are cut off by Bryssh's arrow smacking into the red button.

"- ... Would be to do yet nothing now. *sigh* Thanks... Byrssh, right?"

Frustrated, you wait to see if the red handled door does anything. You see it open slowly, and a ball of fire shoots out at Byrssh. Looking over at him, you figure he's okay, so you move towards the opened room.

Cautiously waiting to the side of the doorway, you peek at the room. It looks safe, so you go inside to investigate.

Inside the room you see a few things of importance: two iron doors without locks on the left and right walls, a table and chair set, and a metal box hung from the ceiling with a rope. Looking closely at the box, you see a small charred piece of stone with strange markings engraved in it. It's position retaliative to the doorway makes you think that this was the source of the fireball.

You re-enter the starting room in an effort to not get separated from your allies.

Effects: Mildly hung over (-1 to mental rolls. May have trouble concentrating on difficult tasks)

Skills: Gymnastic prowess (+2 to basic gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform medium scaled feats of agility, such as running on walls for a short period of time)

Throwing weapons proficiency (level 2) (+3 to throwing weapons rolls)

Basic first aid (+1 to 3 on medical rolls, depending on the difficulty of the task, easier getting a higher bonus. Allows you to perform more advanced medical techniques such as bandaging broken limbs)

Drunken Martial Arts (While intoxicated, +3 to martial arts rolls)

Battered and Bruised (If damaged in combat, will take more serious penalties)

Magic:

Level 1 – XP: 0

None

inventory:

Vig[11]

You walk over to the chest, seeing that nobody else has taken an interest in it.

Roll for loot: [4/12]

You crack open the chest, and look inside.

A tiny leather bag. You quickly investigate it's contents, hopeful for coins. However, it brings nothing of the sort. You pocket the bag anyways, hoping that it will come in handy some time.

You look at Kursk's efforts in breaking the stone wall, and decide to help him. Slipping into the void, you begin to get a grasp on the earthen wall. It responds well, and within a few seconds, you feel Kursk tearing a chunk of the wall out.
Suddenly, you see a ball of fire jump out at Byrssh. You jump to your reflexes, preparing to shoot a fireball at it, but quickly think better of it. This is one time that fighting fire with fire is unadvisable.

You walk over to the hole in the wall with Kursk, and step inside the room. You see a chest encrusted with rubies, and a small wooden box on top of it.

Effects: White burn mark on left wrist (Unknown effects)

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 284

Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air (major)

Atmospheric Impedance (major) (+2 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

inventory:

KookiePie[10 – 1 (the trauma doesn't fully apply to things like lockpicking) = 9]

You look around the room, and immediately lock eyes with the iron door. The intricate swirls... The complex lock... Beautiful.

You shout “OOOH! That is one pretty lock!”, and twist your fingers into a heart symbol over your head.

You run over to the door, and begin playing with the lock. At first you just examine the mechanism the make the lock work – a series of iron bars slide to accommodate only the exact right key shape. Once they are pushed up, a simple turn of the key pulls the locking bar out of the wall and lets the door swing freely.

Next, you pull out one of your copper coins, and your dagger. The coin feels lighter than usual, and you suspect it's made of a cheaper and weaker metal.

You're so involved in your work that you lose sight of everything else in the room.

Using your dagger as a carving tool, you begin to shape the copper coin into a pointy rod. After a minute or so of crafting, you look down happily at the result: a rudimentary lock-pick. You place it gingerly in the lock, and begin to jiggle it up and down.

You feel the tumblers click.

Turning the lock-pick, you almost squeal with joy – the door opens!

You inspect the following room and notice Vig and Kursk already in it. Just then do you realize your efforts were unnecessary. “Oh well. I've got a lock-pick now!” you think to yourself.

A quick scan reveals a ruby-encrusted chest. You stare at it, half in awe, and half in glee.

Effects: Trauma on left arm (-2 to rolls using left or both arms. Goes away in 2 turns.)

Skills: Major gymnastic prowess (+3 to intermediate gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform large feats of agility, such as climbing up almost sheer rock faces)

Stealth movement (+2 to stealth movement rolls)

Major pickpocketing proficiency(+3 to pickpocketing rolls)

Dagger Mastery (+3 to combat rolls involving daggers. +2 to other rolls involving daggers.)

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 60

inventory:

Game Events:

None

Roll #35

The dungeon so far:

Spoiler:

KookiePie[3 – 1 = 2]

You continue staring at the ruby chest, only stopping when you notice that half of the party is also eying it. You confidently say “Leave this to me! A few seconds, and I'll have this chest opened up.”

You begin to inspect the lock on the chest, pulling out your lockpick. You think it looks pretty simple, so you push the copper tool in.

After about 30 seconds, you hear a satisfying “snap”, which you take to be the lock opening. You try to pop up the lid, but it's still locked shut. “Erm... Give me a second.” You pull out your lockpick to straighten it out, and are annoyed to find that it was the source of the snap.

You briefly examine your mangled lockpick, and promptly toss it on the ground. “Well, that was my try. Your turn.”

Without a solvable challenge for you work on, you walk back into the main room to check if there are any more locks around. However, after a brief glance around, you find yourself disappointed and down a lockpick.

Effects: Trauma on left arm (-2 to rolls using left or both arms. Goes away in 1 turn.)

Skills: Major gymnastic prowess (+3 to intermediate gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform large feats of agility, such as climbing up almost sheer rock faces)

Stealth movement (+2 to stealth movement rolls)

Major pickpocketing proficiency(+3 to pickpocketing rolls)

Dagger Mastery (+3 to combat rolls involving daggers. +2 to other rolls involving daggers.)

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 60

inventory:

Kunoiko Hachimaki[5]

You decide to investigate the room that the majority of the party seems to be in. Walking through the unlocked door, you notice KookiePie fiddling with a large, ruby encrusted chest.

You ignore her efforts and instead focus in on the wooden box sitting on the lid of the chest. You reach down to open it up and find Vig's hand mirroring your movements. You both pull back, and Vig gestures for you to go ahead as she steps out of the room.

You grab the box, and lift up the hinged top. Inside, you find a rolled up piece of parchment. Opening it up, you see an intricate series of red and black lines, rectangles, and circles. At first it seems like a madman's scribblings, but after puzzling over it for a few moments, you notice a legend at the bottom that seems to indicate you're looking at a map. You're not sure if it'll be of any use to you, but you stash it away anyways.

You look around the room and find nothing of particular interest, except for a funny feeling in the back of your mind that this place is filled to the brim with traps. “I say we watch out for traps. If there was one, there will be more.” The rest of your group nods in agreement, and you decide to bide your time for now.

Effects: None

Skills: Gymnastic prowess (+2 to basic gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform medium scaled feats of agility, such as running on walls for a short period of time)

Throwing weapons proficiency (level 2) (+3 to throwing weapons rolls)

Basic first aid (+1 to 3 on medical rolls, depending on the difficulty of the task, easier getting a higher bonus. Allows you to perform more advanced medical techniques such as bandaging broken limbs)

Drunken Martial Arts (While intoxicated, +3 to martial arts rolls)

Battered and Bruised (If damaged in combat, will take more serious penalties)

Magic:

Level 1 – XP: 0

None

inventory:

Vig[4]

You lean over the newly discovered wooden box, and begin to grab it. Just as your hands are about to pick up your treasure, you see Kunoiko's fingers dropping towards the box as well. You figure that your seniority in the group should entitle you to the treasure that you've found, but gesture for her to take the box anyways.

With nothing left to do in the Intricate Iron Door room, you step outside to the Entrance. Upon entering it, you notice that the Red Handled door has been opened. You step inside, and notice a metal box hanging from the ceiling. Inspecting it, you find a small, charred stone inside. There are markings on it, but you can't find any rhyme or reason to them. You pocket it, figuring it might be worth something to someone that you meet.

You throughout inspect the entirety of the box, but it seems like the stone is the only thing present, aside from the misshapen and charred box itself, and the rope it is hung from. You look around the room itself, and find a wooden table with two matching chairs at one side of the room, and two iron doors opposite each other at your left and right.

Effects: White burn mark on left wrist (Unknown effects)

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 284

Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air (major)

Atmospheric Impedance (major) (+2 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

inventory:

Kursk Ryrgysshi [6]
You walk into the Entrance, preparing yourself for an encounter with hostile enemies. You begin to think about the weaknesses each enemy you've faced so far has had...

Obviously the elemental gods like Ignuch and Aetheron were weak to their opposing elements, but what about the skeleton army you faced? All you really did was smash them out of re-existence with earth magic... Presumably if heated to a high enough temperature, the bones – or the arcane energy keeping them together – would begin to break, but is that really feasible? And what about that “Gelprid” that you just –

Roll for random event [1/12]

Your tactical rock-paper-scissors study session ends abruptly when you see and hear the “Keep Out” door open with a loud “swoosh”. From the doorway, three figures pop out. Two ugly grey-skinned humanoids wearing shimmering red armor and wielding battleaxes made from the same material, and one creature that looks much more menacing.

A flying pastry. With teeth. And wings.

You stand stunned for a few seconds, taking in the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. The wart-covered grey-skinned creatures look aggressive, so you pull out your short sword in an attempt to prepare for a fight.

You cry out “My allies! A fight may well be upon us. Your assistance would be much appreciated!” In response, you hear Byrssh, Vig, and the others clambering towards your position. However, your shout has seemingly caught the attention of more of the humanoids, all jostling to get out of the “Keep Out” room.

Before they're organized enough to corner you, one of the humanoids charges towards you, screaming out a battlecry as he brings up his axe.

Grey Humanoid: d10 + 2 (battleaxe) V.S. Kursk: d10 + 2 (stone skin)

Grey Humanoid: 2 + 2 = 4 V.S. Kursk: 5 + 2 = 7

You notice that your enemy is committing his body weight into the attack. You deftly dodge out of the way, and almost laugh as your adversary stumbles while trying to regain his balance.

You watch your allies stream in to the room, and prepare to retaliate.

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy (+1 to all diplomatic rolls)

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 298

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

Create Lightning (major)

Manipulate Lightning (major)

inventory:

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [~ (search rolls are handled in the text)]

You cautiously walk into the Red Handled room, making sure you don't get hit by another elemental blast. Seeing that things are fairly safe, you look around at the contents of the room. Vig is already looking at the metal box hanging from the ceiling, so you decide to search the table and chairs that are at one side of the room.

Search roll: [1/12]

You look all around the wooden furniture, but all you can see is some shoddy workmanship and bad paint. Just from the small amount of handling you've done to the chairs, the ground beneath it is filled with chipped pieces of paint and splinters. Speaking of splinters, you've got one in your hand.

You pull it out, and feel none the worse, aside from a small pain in your pinky finger. “Talk about bad luck...”

You walk up to the iron door that is on your left. You're just about to open it and see what lies beyond when --

Effects: Head badly burnt (-1 to all actions due to pain. Further -2 to actions using your physical head. Will sustain heavier damage to head in combat. Will heal over 5 turns.)

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Master Bow Skills (+4 to bow related rolls.)

Magic:

Level 2 – XP: 62

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Everyone but Kursk[~]

You hear Kursk calling for help from the Entrance. You quickly rush over to him, and see a seemingly never ending steam of grotesque grey-skinned humanoids ready to attack. It looks like Kursk was able to dodge one attack on his own, but now you're here to help.

“What is that?!”, you find yourself half-shouting along with everyone else in your party. However, nobody makes comments about the oddity that all of your would say the same thing at once – you're all fixated on the winged, floating, and snarling pie hovering 5 feet off the ground.

You prepare yourself for the oncoming battle. As you've learned, no matter how odd your enemy is, anything with a weapon – even teeth – is dangerous.

Game Events:

None

Roll #36

Pre-Roll Events
5 more grey skinned humanoids shamble through the doorway. They join their brethren in a slowly advancing mob.

Kursk Ryrgysshi [8 + 2 + 1 = 11]

You quickly dash behind your more physically-minded allies, and begin to channel your magical energies.

Slipping into the void, you feel the reassuring familiarity of calm nothingness surround your body. Your mind goes blank, and for a few seconds, you feel a sense of peace pass over your body, and you spend what seems like a lifetime relishing the brief moment of respite.

Just as suddenly as the wave of relaxation hit your body, a sense of focus washes over your mind. You reach out with your mind, quickly finding the doorway that your ugly enemies are streaming out of. You think about the stone that you need to block off your passage, and it appears in the void next to you. Working quickly, you begin to transfer the stone from the void into the real world. You can feel resistance pushing back against your conjuring attempt, but you give one last mental push and feel that your job is done.

You open your eyes and snap back into the real world. Your party is stuck fighting the enemies that had already made there way through the doorway, but you're guessing that nothing is going to walk through the solid, sheer block of stone that is sitting where the doorway used to be.

Effects: Stone skin (+2 to defense rolls)

Stone infused with body (If broken off, next action receives a -2 penalty)

Sharp stone arms (+1 to attack rolls)

Cooled bloodstream (Extra -1 to debuffs related to blood)

Skills: Major earth proficiency (+2 to all earth-manipulating or creating rolls)

Stone proficiency (+1 to all stone-manipulating or creating rolls)

Basic diplomacy (+1 to all diplomatic rolls)

Basic Tracking (+1 to all tracking rolls)

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 314

Manipulate Earth (major)

Create Earth

Manipulate Stone (major)

Manipulate Air

Create Lightning (major)

Manipulate Lightning (major)

inventory:

KookiePie[3 (In the future, please be a little more coherent with your action. Just because KookiePie is going crazy doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to decipher your sentences... )]

You look at the grey-skinned beings.

You look at the pie.

You look at the humanoids.

You look at the flying, snarling pie.

It's so pretty!

Your brain snaps.

“OH MY GOD! IT'S A FLOATING PIE! I WANNA EAT IT!!!! Wait – no! I want to tame it! Then I can find another one and tame that one, and I'll make a giant army of floating pies!! I'll never be hungry again!
What are those grey-skinned thingies? Are those 'zombies'? Are they stupid? They sure look stupid. Here, stupid stupid stupid. Let's circle around, guys.
Now, I've got an idea. I'll use a rope to lasso and tame this lovely pie! Now, where will I find a rope?.... Anyone know? Boy I'm exited!!!”

You grab a hold of your mental facilities for long enough to scamper out of the room in search for a rope. You dash in to the Red Handled room, and are pleasantly surprised to find a rope.

(Roll + modifiers = 6/12)

You swiftly hoist yourself onto the rope, climbing up at what seems to be a snails pace to your speeding mind. You quickly untie the rope from the ceiling mounted metal hook it is attached to, causing the rope and you to crash to the ground from 8 feet up. You barely feel anything.

You re-enter to room, finding an intense battle taking place. You figure you'll deal with the pie in a second, when the hubbub has died down a bit.

Effects: Accelerated mind (Reduced debuffs from physical damage, -4 to -6 on mental tasks that require any large amount of effort, depending on difficulty)

Skills: Major gymnastic prowess (+3 to intermediate gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform large feats of agility, such as climbing up almost sheer rock faces)

Stealth movement (+2 to stealth movement rolls)

Major pickpocketing proficiency(+3 to pickpocketing rolls)

Dagger Mastery (+3 to combat rolls involving daggers. +2 to other rolls involving daggers.)

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 60

inventory:

Vig[11 + 2 = 13]

You look at the swarm of enemies encroaching on your position. While you've faced more fearsome opponents in the past, you're not sure if your crowd control abilities are up to scratch.

You take a deep breath in, and begin to calm your mind. A pulsing wave of focus flows through your body, and you slip into the void.

While you aren't creating any new substance to bring back into the physical world, you find the emptiness of the void peaceful and helpful for focusing on magic. Just as you are preparing to go back and cast Atmospheric Impedance on your enemies, you notice a strange, glowing white lattice forming in the darkness of the void. It holds an eerie resemblance to the magically-induced burn on your wrist, but you decide that you don't have the time to examine it in more detail presently.

You bring yourself back into the real world, and reach out to the air around your grey-skinned enemies as you close your eyes. It responds to your mental grasp, and quickly conforms to your will. You can feel the air compacting below your aggressors, squashing all of the air from that sector of the room to the floor.

After you feel the air is as dense as it will get, you look up at the battle situation. It seems that someone, perhaps your resident earth god Kursk, has sealed up the doorway to prevent more monsters from streaming in. In terms of your own work, it seems that a few of your enemies dodged out of the way of your atmospheric assault, but the majority are being slowed down – or outright demobilized – by the lack of normally distributed air. The flying pie in particular has dropped to the ground, as it has no air to float on with its wings, making it next to useless in the fight.

You draw your obsidian halberd, ready to take on the remaining enemies lumbering towards you.

Effects: White burn mark on left wrist (Unknown effects)

Prepared for combat (+2 to defense rolls)

Skills: Fire manipulating hands

Magic:

Level 7 – XP: 302

Manipulate Earth

Create Fire

Manipulate Fire

Create Earth

Manipulate Bone (minor)

Manipulate Air (major)

Atmospheric Impedance (major) (+2 to rolls casting this spell)

Fireball (+1 to rolls casting this spell)

inventory:

Byrssh Ryrgysshi [9 – 1 = 8]

You watch the battlefield transform as Kursk materializes a stone wall blocking the onslaught of enemies stumbling through the door, and Vig casts some sort of air magic which pulls the Flying Key Lime Pie down to the ground. You think back to your encounter with the GFKLP... You're still not sure how a single spark could have burned down the entire door that the pie was hiding behind.

You decide to take action while you can. You slip into the void, confident that you'll be able to exact your revenge.

Quickly conjuring up a torrent of fire, you begin to shape it into an easy to handle ball. After a few seconds of sculpting the fireball, you begin to phase it back into the real world.

You hastily target the FKLP, and step to the side to get a better angle. You shoot the fireball out at your delicious enemy, and find yourself having to hold back a stereotypically villain-style cackle as you see your key lime enemy burst into flames.

Level up! You have leveled up in magic.

Effects: Head badly burnt (-1 to all actions due to pain. Further -2 to actions using your physical head. Will sustain heavier damage to head in combat. Will heal over 4 turns.)

Skills: Diplomacy (+2 to diplomatic rolls)

Master Bow Skills (+4 to bow related rolls.)

Magic:

Level 3 – XP: 80

Create fire

Manipulate Fire

inventory:

Kunoiko Hachimaki[11 + 3 = 14]

You decide that you should stay behind the cover of your more melee inclined party members. You watch the flying pie fall to the ground along with a few of the grey humanoids, and decide that this is the perfect time to strike. You pull out one one of your throwing knives, and sneak around to the back of the enemy mob.

You target one in particular, as it seems unaffected in its lumbering movement towards the rest of your party, making it a threat. You raise your throwing knife up, and aim for a small gap in the ugly creature's red armor. You throw the knife.

“THWIP!”

You hear the sound of your throwing knife sliding through the soft flesh of your target at high speed.

“THUNK!”

You look for the source of the second sound and are extremely surprised to find your weapon sticking straight between the eyes of another humanoid. Both of your victims stumble to the ground, their wounds seeping a reddish-grey sludgy liquid onto the ground.

You think to yourself “Not bad... Two for one.”

You feel your injuries healing all over your body. A dull ache remains, but you are easily able to ignore it.

Level up! You have leveled up in Throwing weapons proficiency!

Effects: None

Skills: Gymnastic prowess (+2 to basic gymnastic rolls. Allows you to perform medium scaled feats of agility, such as running on walls for a short period of time)

Throwing weapons proficiency (level 3) (+3 to throwing weapons rolls. Additional +2 to rolls 4 or lower)

Basic first aid (+1 to 3 on medical rolls, depending on the difficulty of the task, easier getting a higher bonus. Allows you to perform more advanced medical techniques such as bandaging broken limbs)

Drunken Martial Arts (While intoxicated, +3 to martial arts rolls)

Magic:

Level 1 – XP: 0

None

inventory:

Game Events:

The 2 humanoids that are still moving shamble towards two different targets as they raise their weapons.

Grey Humanoid: d10 + 3 (greatsword) V.S. Vig: d10 + 2 (prepared for combat)

Grey Humanoid: 9 + 3 = 12 V.S. Vig: 2 + 2 = 4

The grey monster swings its greatsword down on Vig. She holds out her obsidian halberd out in an attempt to block the incoming attack, but the force of the shining red weapon is too much for the relatively weak obsidian. It shatters in two pieces, scattering shards of obsidian around the room. The sword continues on through its arc, and although Vig shifts slightly to the left in a dodge attempt, the sword catches on her arm.
Effect: Heavy wound on right arm (-3 to rolls involving major use of right arm. -1 to mental rolls due to pain. Will not heal over naturally.)

Grey Humanoid: d10 + 2 (battleaxe) V.S. Byrssh: d10

Grey Humanoid: 4 + 2 = 6 V.S. Byrssh: 2

The second enemy swings its battleaxe down on Byrssh. He makes no attempt to dodge out of the way, as he is currently relishing his victory over the evil pie menace. Unfortunately, this means that he takes the brunt of the attack. The axe slices through a layer of skin on Byrshh's shoulder, exposing the tissue below. He screams out in pain, stumbling backwards away from his enemy.

Effect: Heavy wound on left shoulder: (Up to -5 to rolls involving use of left arm. -1 to mental rolls due to pain. Will not heal over naturally.)

Enemy status:
2 Mobile grey-skinned humanoids
2 Dead grey-skinned humanoids
3 Grey-skinned humanoids immobilized in Vig's Atmospheric Impedance
1 Burnt-to-a-crisp-no-longer-flying-key-lime-pie