You have been handpicked by an obscure cloister of powerful individuals to participate in what they affectionately call, The Trials. They have explained it to you as a series of combat-focused challenges to be faced as a group. Your group will be directly competing against one other. Here are the rules of The Trials:
--Both groups will be composed of the same number of warriors, and the two groups will begin their respective challenges simultaneously. --Each selected warrior will be placed under a powerful self-refreshing enchantment, similar but not exactly the same as that of the Reincarnate spell. --The total amount of deaths in each group will be tallied. --The group who completes the most challenges with the least amount of deaths will be declared the winner. --Vast riches and powerful magical items await every competitor, but if victorious, you'll get more (quantity and quality).
Something else is made very clear to all of the competitors: this is not meant to be a fair competition by any means. Challenges are balanced to favor the enemy (except maybe the first couple) and the two groups will face different challenges, where there is little doubt that one will be more taxing than the other.
You may not see or hear them but there will be many a spectator watching, betting, and cheering you on. Bathe yourself in glory, and they may aid you. Bathe yourself in shame of any kind, and you shall be banished to realms unknown.
You have each been placed in a separate room. The door you came in through has since merged into one of the walls, which are all made of finely worked stone, as is the ceiling. The floor is simply constructed of red, beaten dirt. You have been given a detailed explanation of the competition at hand (post above) and told to wait in this chamber until the time came. You do not know any of the other competitors, be them friend of foe.
Without warning, the room around you begins to expand. Its general features remain the same, except for its dimensions. As it expands, it does so in a way that you are pushed to one of the corners. You notice three other individuals now occupy the other corners of the grown chamber. You are sure they were not there before. A dozen wall sconces and four new doors sprout from the walls. One of the doors is open, the other three are closed. At the very center of the room, a large statue of a meditating monk now sits where there was only stale air before. Apart from the sounds you and the other three warriors are making, the chamber is completely silent.
MAP:
(OOC: The statue is represented by the Sun token).
(OOC: Yes, flat wooden doors, sorta flimsy, you can try peeking through the wooden boards if you’d like. The style is a bit in contrast with the clearly well worked stone of the walls and ceiling. The door is closed, not locked).
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
==DRAGO=CLERIC(6)/SORCERER(4)==
Looking at Grixx Drago says "Say friend, do you know why we are in here?" He walks up to the Sun-Token and inspects it closely: insight20
OOC: Do we have coordinates on the map to specify our movements? How should that work? I basically moved left one square and down three squares to look a the sun-token
"I prefer not to fight anyone if I can help it. I wish for glory as well but I will defend myself if provoked. Where do these doors lead?"Glory continues to look around and stays cautious as there are 3 unknown people in the room.
It is a bit hard to draw any insight from a stone statue. You try to read it’s facial expressions, confer with your intuition, get a sense of what it really, really wants, but it is all to no avail. Nonetheless, due to your relative closeness to it, you can now tell that the surface of the clearly ancient statue is cracking, and the cracks seem to be slowly but steadily expanding with each passing second.
(OOC @Laserwhit: LOL. Nice change of name there in your last post! I like it. Drago "Glory" Merrit. It has a ring to it).
The statue continues to crumble, now more visibly and rapidly. Before you can react, the statue of the meditating monk bursts into a hundred pieces. Chunks of stone fly in all directions.
(OOC: Drago needs to make a {DC 14} DEX saving throw or take 4 bludgeoning damage. The others are far enough away).
Out of the statue comes another stone humanoid, a bit smaller but not by much. It has the hind-legs and the head of a mountain ram (curved, layered horns and all), but the muscular torso of a well-built man. It stands upright with an enraged look permanently etched to its face, as if the monk's inner wrath had been permanently let loose.
ROLL FOR INITIATIVE.
(OOC: I'll be rolling everyone's initiative in my next post to speed things up. Drago must start his turn by making a {DC 14} DEX saving throw).
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
INITIATIVE ROLLS:
Charles: 25; Drago: 17; Grixx: 10; Jury: 15; Law & Order (Zombies): 10; Stone Ram-Man: 7.
INITIATIVE ROUND 1
25. Charles 19. Drago - must make {DC 14} DEX saving throw 15. Grixx - wins out on tied initiative vs. enemy 14. Stone Ram-Man 11. Law & Order - (OOC: best zombie names ever!) 07. Jury
(OOC: Please recall our Loose Initiative rule and be as detailed as possible on your turns concerning what abilities you are using or which features are coming into play).
UPDATED MAP:
(Charles, Drago, and Grixx may take their turns. Jury and the zombies will have to wait until after the enemy posts. Gray area in the center marks difficult terrain from all the stone pieces. @Ori: No worries on the belated set-up as you put it in the post below).
Jury had not spoken, nor had he moved an inch. Even when his life had been threatened by a familiar piece of engineering. He only had eyes for the ground. Inactive for all appearance. Only when the statue bursts open that his attention shifts to examine the change in state. A jet of steam is released from ports along the side of his face plate before he jerks his face to Charles.
"I am Jury. Brother of Judge and Executioner. Redirect your firearm. The trial has begun. Comply."
He waits for Charles to deliberate. As he did so, a small compartment opens in his back, and out clamoring up to the top of his head is a strange bipedal bat like familiar. The Homunculus looks once down to Jury, then it looks over to the other occupants of the room before its attention settles on the minotaur and narrows its beady eyes. The two figures in ragged cloaks that had thus far been but shadows up to now shuffle forward to stand at the Warforged side as if bad by some unspoken command.
(OOC: Sorry for the late post guys. Didn't actually notice the campaign link earlier. Got side-tracked by the conversation that followed)
(S/N: This is just belated set-up, if alright Lerus?)
Drago always does get himself into scraps by being curious. He quickly tries to stumble out of the way of the crashing bricks as an awesome creature appears from beneath: DEX SAVE 20
Drago quickly uses the magic of his draconic heritage to determine the best way to get a true strike at this monster and at the same time he activates his spiritual weapon (4rd level spell slot) which immediately attacks the beast in front of him (place weapon at b-13): attack 21 -- damage 14 (type=force)
(OOC @Superbad: No worries. As long as you post once a day we are good).
Charles shoots his first bullet and hits the Stone Ram-Man right in the chest. The stone chips but there is no reaction from the stern beast. Charles suspects the creature may be immune to regular piercing attacks, but aims a second shot just to be sure. Unfortunately for him, the gun fires before he has fully aimed, and the shot hits the ceiling instead.
Drago rolls out of the way from the bursting stones and immediately begins to concentrate on his incoming attack. He also attempts to entertain the creature by creating an ethereal weapon (you have to tell us what it looks like!). The support weapon attacks on its own, and unlike the bullets that just hit the Stone Ram-Man, the eventual stone chips are more substantial (Stone Ram-Man - CMD: 14) (OOC: CMD stands for cumulative damage).
(OOC @Grx: You have to declare a reckless attack before your first attack of the turn, but once you do, you can decide to gain advantage on each attack within that turn separately. You did nothing wrong there. Divine Fury on the other hand only applies once per turn to the first creature you hit).
Grixx calls for Tempus' guidance and strikes the stone creature with reckless abandon. Although the slice of his sword seems to cause no damage to the humanoid Ram, Tempus' gift follows up with some radiant damage (Stone Ram-Man - CMD: 20). Undeterred by the apparent uselessness of slicing attacks against the current enemy, the barbarian strikes again. This time the Ram-Man makes a point to deflect it with a swipe of his stone hand.
The Stone Ram-Man's eyes change from a void-black into bright yellow for a few seconds. Both Grixx and Drago can feel the ebb and flow of time slow down around them, almost as though they were made of stone themselves (Both must make a {DC 17} Wisdom saving throw or be magically slowed. In other words, if you fail you can't use reactions, your speed is halved, and you can't make more than one attack on your turn. In addition, you can take either an action or a bonus action on your turn, not both. These effects last for 1 minute and you can try to save again at the end of each of your turns. I'll invoke our Expedited Rolls rule).
WIS saves against being slowed:
Grixx: 17; Drago: 24.
Both warriors shake the effect off, looking at each other with a snarky grin.
UPDATED MAP:
(Jury and his minions go next. Charles, Drago, and Grixx can post in advance of initiative round 2 as well).
"New Actions received. Law. Order. Restrain the Golem. Limit its available actions."Wordlessly, the two masked figures that had thus far been swaying at Jury's side march forward at full speed. The largest of the two,Order reaches the golem first and immediately starts trying to lock a leg in place(Grapple/End Position:10D). Law on the other hand had to double time it just to get in position of the other leg(Dash/End Position:12D).
Law's Athletics: 12. (@Lerus Alternatively. If this check can be replaced as the Help instead, it is done so with the intent to aid the 1st Person to attempt to attack the creature next round. Or if specifics are needed, aid Drago.)
Jury pumps his shield arm up in the air and intones with a great deal of certainty. "Rule One: Obey the Law of the Lord, and the Lord shall Bless you with you purpose." As the word leaves him, the symbol of the blue half cog on his shield gains a sharp definition, seeming almost to pop off the surface.
Action:Bless at level 4 to affect all four PCs(Grixx, Drago, Charles, Jury).
"Again, Warrior. Aim for the golem's legs."Jury orders using his Voice of Authority Order Domain Class Feature. Grixx may as a reactionmake an attack against specified target(Stone Golem) following being affected by Jury's leveled spell.
"Gunsman. Change of tactics. Take out approximately three oil flask from my backpack, and pour it on and about the creature's feet. Spread wide." Jury suggest as he began to walk along the back wall from the constructing(End Position: 12H)
Before Jury moves, the Verdict is out. Either upon its own volition or some unspoken request, Verdict fliest a wide path around the room to avoid the golem's reach before ending its before the open door. (40ft Fly Speed/Dash/End Position: -13A) From its new position, it relays through the bond what he sees at a glance first through the door at 13-A.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
(OOC @Ori: Both zombies can get to their designated end positions without the need to dash, as moving diagonally counts as the same as moving vertically or horizontally. So, I'll make a DM call here and say that while both are trying to hold the enemy's legs, one will count as a grapple attempt and the other as a help action, just for the sake of variety here).
Law & Order approach the Ram-Man's legs and attempt to wrestle with them (athletics vs Law's grapple: 7). The Golem easily shakes Law away from its leg. In focusing on that however, it is not able to avoid being disturbed by Order, who seems to be pushing against the other leg without fully understanding what the word grapple means (must of have really bad vocabulary when still alive...).
(OOC: Order's pushing counts as the help action for the purposes of attacking. This means that the very next attack roll against the enemy will be made with advantage. Note that this will likely mean that Grixx's reaction attack enabled by Voice of Authority is the one that will benefit from this, if @Grx decides to spend his reaction this way. This would still be his reaction for the first round, not for the upcoming second round).
(OOC @Ori: Note that Bless already targets up to three people. You only need to spend a second level spell slot to be able to target a fourth. If you have chosen to spend a higher level spell slot for strategic reasons, then be my guest, but I just thought I'd point it out).
Jury invokes Rule One and it feels, along with Grixx, Drago, and Charles, slightly more confident in its capabilities. Grixx in particular feels quite impetuous (OOC @Grx: Fell free to use your reaction as described above). The warforged also approaches Charles with some tactical recommendations.
Verdict flies around and reports back to its master: the path beyond the already opened northeastern door leads to a short hallway that ends in a T-shaped intersection. The path likely continues further both north and southbound (Map updates come at the beginning of each round).
25. Charles - Blessed (10 turns); 19. Drago - Blessed (10 turns) and concentrating on True Strike; 15. Grixx - Raging and Blessed (10 turns) and may use last round's reaction to perform a single weapon attack. 14. Stone Ram-Man; 11. Law & Order - Order is Helping the next attack against the enemy - gives advantage. 07. Jury& Verdict - Jury is Blessed (10 turns) and concentrating on the spell as well.
Welcome to The Trials
You have been handpicked by an obscure cloister of powerful individuals to participate in what they affectionately call, The Trials. They have explained it to you as a series of combat-focused challenges to be faced as a group. Your group will be directly competing against one other. Here are the rules of The Trials:
Something else is made very clear to all of the competitors: this is not meant to be a fair competition by any means. Challenges are balanced to favor the enemy (except maybe the first couple) and the two groups will face different challenges, where there is little doubt that one will be more taxing than the other.
You may not see or hear them but there will be many a spectator watching, betting, and cheering you on. Bathe yourself in glory, and they may aid you. Bathe yourself in shame of any kind, and you shall be banished to realms unknown.
LET THE TRIALS BEGIN!
You have each been placed in a separate room. The door you came in through has since merged into one of the walls, which are all made of finely worked stone, as is the ceiling. The floor is simply constructed of red, beaten dirt. You have been given a detailed explanation of the competition at hand (post above) and told to wait in this chamber until the time came. You do not know any of the other competitors, be them friend of foe.
Without warning, the room around you begins to expand. Its general features remain the same, except for its dimensions. As it expands, it does so in a way that you are pushed to one of the corners. You notice three other individuals now occupy the other corners of the grown chamber. You are sure they were not there before. A dozen wall sconces and four new doors sprout from the walls. One of the doors is open, the other three are closed. At the very center of the room, a large statue of a meditating monk now sits where there was only stale air before. Apart from the sounds you and the other three warriors are making, the chamber is completely silent.
MAP:
(OOC: The statue is represented by the Sun token).
((Is it just a flat door, to the right of Charles, nothing to look through on the other side? Is it locked?))
Charles will draw his pistol when he notices the others, and will speak to the Warforged to his left, "Who are you?"
Kandalou Dle'tan - Level 9 Githyanki Fighter (Champion) - Rrakkma PbP
(OOC: Yes, flat wooden doors, sorta flimsy, you can try peeking through the wooden boards if you’d like. The style is a bit in contrast with the clearly well worked stone of the walls and ceiling. The door is closed, not locked).
==DRAGO=CLERIC(6)/SORCERER(4)==
Looking at Grixx Drago says "Say friend, do you know why we are in here?" He walks up to the Sun-Token and inspects it closely: insight 20
OOC: Do we have coordinates on the map to specify our movements? How should that work? I basically moved left one square and down three squares to look a the sun-token
Lot's of stuff ...
==Grixx Zealot Barbarian==
The barbarian looks back to Drago, "I know not why you are here. I am here to bring glory to Tempus!"
Grixx retrieves his Moon-touched Sword, Greatsword. And looks around the room at the two characters on the other side of the room.
"Are we to fight these other two? Are we to fight each other?"
==DRAGO ELF CLERIC/SORCERER==
"I prefer not to fight anyone if I can help it. I wish for glory as well but I will defend myself if provoked. Where do these doors lead?" Glory continues to look around and stays cautious as there are 3 unknown people in the room.
Lot's of stuff ...
Drago’s insight check:
(OOC @Laserwhit: LOL. Nice change of name there in your last post! I like it. Drago "Glory" Merrit. It has a ring to it).
The statue continues to crumble, now more visibly and rapidly. Before you can react, the statue of the meditating monk bursts into a hundred pieces. Chunks of stone fly in all directions.
(OOC: Drago needs to make a {DC 14} DEX saving throw or take 4 bludgeoning damage. The others are far enough away).
Out of the statue comes another stone humanoid, a bit smaller but not by much. It has the hind-legs and the head of a mountain ram (curved, layered horns and all), but the muscular torso of a well-built man. It stands upright with an enraged look permanently etched to its face, as if the monk's inner wrath had been permanently let loose.
ROLL FOR INITIATIVE.
(OOC: I'll be rolling everyone's initiative in my next post to speed things up. Drago must start his turn by making a {DC 14} DEX saving throw).
INITIATIVE ROLLS:
(OOC: Please recall our Loose Initiative rule and be as detailed as possible on your turns concerning what abilities you are using or which features are coming into play).
UPDATED MAP:
(Charles, Drago, and Grixx may take their turns. Jury and the zombies will have to wait until after the enemy posts. Gray area in the center marks difficult terrain from all the stone pieces. @Ori: No worries on the belated set-up as you put it in the post below).
==Jury Warforged Cleric(1)/Wizard (9)==
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
==DRAGO=ELF=CLERIC/SORCERER==
Drago always does get himself into scraps by being curious. He quickly tries to stumble out of the way of the crashing bricks as an awesome creature appears from beneath: DEX SAVE 20
Drago quickly uses the magic of his draconic heritage to determine the best way to get a true strike at this monster and at the same time he activates his spiritual weapon (4rd level spell slot) which immediately attacks the beast in front of him (place weapon at b-13): attack 21 -- damage 14 (type=force)
Lot's of stuff ...
OOC: After I posted I realized Reckless only works on first attack. Please take lesser role on second attack. Apologies for the error.
==Grixx Zealot Barbarian==
Grixx would like to move to A11
Grixx would like to use Bonus Action to Rage
Grixx will shout "TEMPUS!" and will make a Reckless Attack using his Moon-touched Sword, Greatsword against the Stone Ram-Man
Attack: 21 Damage: 12
Bonus Radiant Damage from Divine Fury: 6
Grixx and will once again make second a Reckless Attack using his Moon-touched Sword, Greatsword against the Stone Ram-Man
Attack: 15 Damage: 17
Bonus Radiant Damage from Divine Fury: 10
((So sorry for not posting, I got the new Assassin's Creed game. So I've been addicted!))
Charles will aim his pistol at the golem and make his two attacks.
Attack: 24 Damage: 11
Second one with Sharpshooter!
Attack: 8 Damage: 21
Kandalou Dle'tan - Level 9 Githyanki Fighter (Champion) - Rrakkma PbP
(OOC @Superbad: No worries. As long as you post once a day we are good).
Charles shoots his first bullet and hits the Stone Ram-Man right in the chest. The stone chips but there is no reaction from the stern beast. Charles suspects the creature may be immune to regular piercing attacks, but aims a second shot just to be sure. Unfortunately for him, the gun fires before he has fully aimed, and the shot hits the ceiling instead.
Drago rolls out of the way from the bursting stones and immediately begins to concentrate on his incoming attack. He also attempts to entertain the creature by creating an ethereal weapon (you have to tell us what it looks like!). The support weapon attacks on its own, and unlike the bullets that just hit the Stone Ram-Man, the eventual stone chips are more substantial (Stone Ram-Man - CMD: 14) (OOC: CMD stands for cumulative damage).
(OOC @Grx: You have to declare a reckless attack before your first attack of the turn, but once you do, you can decide to gain advantage on each attack within that turn separately. You did nothing wrong there. Divine Fury on the other hand only applies once per turn to the first creature you hit).
Grixx calls for Tempus' guidance and strikes the stone creature with reckless abandon. Although the slice of his sword seems to cause no damage to the humanoid Ram, Tempus' gift follows up with some radiant damage (Stone Ram-Man - CMD: 20). Undeterred by the apparent uselessness of slicing attacks against the current enemy, the barbarian strikes again. This time the Ram-Man makes a point to deflect it with a swipe of his stone hand.
(Stone Ram-Man goes next. I'll post shortly).
The Stone Ram-Man's eyes change from a void-black into bright yellow for a few seconds. Both Grixx and Drago can feel the ebb and flow of time slow down around them, almost as though they were made of stone themselves (Both must make a {DC 17} Wisdom saving throw or be magically slowed. In other words, if you fail you can't use reactions, your speed is halved, and you can't make more than one attack on your turn. In addition, you can take either an action or a bonus action on your turn, not both. These effects last for 1 minute and you can try to save again at the end of each of your turns. I'll invoke our Expedited Rolls rule).
WIS saves against being slowed:
Both warriors shake the effect off, looking at each other with a snarky grin.
UPDATED MAP:
(Jury and his minions go next. Charles, Drago, and Grixx can post in advance of initiative round 2 as well).
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
(OOC @Ori: Both zombies can get to their designated end positions without the need to dash, as moving diagonally counts as the same as moving vertically or horizontally. So, I'll make a DM call here and say that while both are trying to hold the enemy's legs, one will count as a grapple attempt and the other as a help action, just for the sake of variety here).
Law & Order approach the Ram-Man's legs and attempt to wrestle with them (athletics vs Law's grapple: 7). The Golem easily shakes Law away from its leg. In focusing on that however, it is not able to avoid being disturbed by Order, who seems to be pushing against the other leg without fully understanding what the word grapple means (must of have really bad vocabulary when still alive...).
(OOC: Order's pushing counts as the help action for the purposes of attacking. This means that the very next attack roll against the enemy will be made with advantage. Note that this will likely mean that Grixx's reaction attack enabled by Voice of Authority is the one that will benefit from this, if @Grx decides to spend his reaction this way. This would still be his reaction for the first round, not for the upcoming second round).
(OOC @Ori: Note that Bless already targets up to three people. You only need to spend a second level spell slot to be able to target a fourth. If you have chosen to spend a higher level spell slot for strategic reasons, then be my guest, but I just thought I'd point it out).
Jury invokes Rule One and it feels, along with Grixx, Drago, and Charles, slightly more confident in its capabilities. Grixx in particular feels quite impetuous (OOC @Grx: Fell free to use your reaction as described above). The warforged also approaches Charles with some tactical recommendations.
Verdict flies around and reports back to its master: the path beyond the already opened northeastern door leads to a short hallway that ends in a T-shaped intersection. The path likely continues further both north and southbound (Map updates come at the beginning of each round).
END OF INITIATIVE ROUND 1
UPDATED MAP:
(Charles, Drago, and Grixx are still up).
Charles is going to take his two shots at the golem again cause that is all he has :P
Attack: 12 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll. (Bless: 1)
Second with Sharpshooter cause why not?
Attack: 18 Damage: 24 (Bless: 3)
Kandalou Dle'tan - Level 9 Githyanki Fighter (Champion) - Rrakkma PbP