Glad I Ate Her IC - Informatic/Fanelle

[Toliudar]

character sheet

It has occurred to me that, with a bunch of monster characters, the balance amongst which is hard to determine, and with us starting in a gladiatorial context, it might be useful to give the players with completed PC's an opportunity to try them out 'in the ring.'
• All of you will face the same opponent. No XP will be rewarded for these fights.
• Winning is explicitly not the point of this, so feel free to read each others' threads.
• Instead, I'm looking at how a character works, and how a player writes (which is NOT to say that I need sonnets in each post).
• Participation is voluntary, and I may accept players who don't participate in this process, but I figured that it might be fun, and gives me more information.
• The Friday deadline for new applications remains, but I may delay selection of a team to move forward to group play by a few days while I move some of these individual threads forward.

Should you choose to participate, from your past experience, you know the following:

The arena is a 50’ cube, with a tight lattice of force on all sides, and there are audience bleachers on all four sides. The floor of the arena is gravel and dirt, but you know from talking to other gladiators the force lattice extends below the surface.

Usually, your opponents are already in the ring when you enter. You start in a small waiting area adjacent to the arena, supervised by a pair of grim-faced guards.

There is a table in the waiting area with a disorganized pile of battered-but-serviceable weapons and shields, in a variety of sizes and configurations. Spending 1 round at the table finds you any medium sized common weapon, or a medium sized buckler, large shield or tower shield. For each size smaller or larger, add one round of searching. For a martial weapon or spiked shield, add 1 round of searching. For an exotic weapon, add 2 rounds. None of the weapons are masterwork, of special materials, or otherwise mechanically exceptional. If you are searching for a missile weapon, the associated ammunition is found with the weapon.
Anything that you do in the waiting area that harms the guards gets you summarily and efficiently killed. Otherwise, you can go through any preparations/buffing/etc that you wish. Once the signal comes for the doors to open, the two guards immediately force you out into the main arena, and the fight begins. Resisting the guards gets you summarily and efficiently killed.

From your past experience, you might have only a few seconds in the waiting area, or you might wait a minute or two before the fight begins. Functionally, this means I’ll be rolling a d20 to determine how many rounds of preparation you have before the start of the fight. In your first post, I’ll ask you to lay out your character’s actions in each of 20 pre-fight rounds, and I’ll let you know when that sequence of actions is interrupted by the start of the fight. You're under no obligation to do anything in any of those rounds.

[infomatic]

Something was wrong, that much was obvious from the guards' faces.

They were the wrong faces, to start with. Tonkin always sent trusted guards on her fight days, in case he needed to deliver a last-minute message — or, frequently, to demand some extra payment. But these two were new, and looked too stupid to bribe properly.

She sighed dramatically and poked through the pile of weaponry, grabbing a small sword and dagger before bounding lightly to the door, her toes scarcely brushing the sandy floor as her wings unfurl behind her. She lowers her head and calms her breathing, wondering what else would go wrong today.

Spoiler: ooc

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2 rounds finding shortsword
1 round finding dagger

Not sure if Martial maneuvers can be prepared in advance — I'd have needed 5 minutes to meditate at some point up to now — but if not, spend four rounds readying 1) Counter Charge, 2) Emerald Razor, 3) Mighty Throw 4) Burning Brand. Move into Child of Shadow stance as swift action at some point.

I assume we don't have access to spell components like butter (for Grease) or mica (glitterdust).

[Toliudar]

Rounds of prep: (1d20)[15]
Opponent initiative: (1d20+2)[8]

Assume for this that you have any material components you need. You can prep a set of maneuvers as part of your meditation.

[Toliudar]

Fanelle takes her time in selecting a sword and dagger, centres herself for combat, and waits outside the doors for whoever might be lurking in the arena.

After more than a minute, there is a blast of a horn and a roar from the crowd in the arena. The decidedly-not-the-right-guards yank the doors open, just as a section of the force lattice in front of the doors vanishes. One of the guards reaches out to yank Fanelle into the ring. The gloura feels the doors slam shut behind her, and the section of the force lattice pop back into place again.

About 10' in front of Fanelle is a massive shaggy brown bear, fangs bared and staring at her. About twenty feet behind are a pair of tigers, crouched and seemingly ready to pounce.

Spoiler: Actions

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If you beat the opponent's initiative, go ahead and post a first round of actions.

[infomatic]

Spoiler: rolls/actions

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Initiative: (1d20+9)[11]
Move: fly to top of cage, cast charm monster (DC 21)

Knowledge (Nature): (1d20+7)[18] to spot the incongruity of three large predators acting in concert. Seems a more appropriate roll than Sense Motive, though I could do that one if you like.

Targeting for Charm Monster: (1d3)[1]: 1=Tiger 1, 2=Tiger2, 3=Bear (Randomizing since by now I know that one of the tigers isn't just a tiger). Apologies for doing the same tactic as Ilil, but it's clearly the best move for starters.

Conceal spellcasting (1d20+13)[23] vs. anybody's spot check, because she's really not looking to advertise that she's more dangerous than she looks.

"Oh, my," she murmurs, regarding the growling animals, and pushes off the ground. Her many-hued wings quickly lift her toward the top of the cage and scatter hazy, pollen like dust as they flutter, obscuring her form.

She hated fighting animals; Tonkin knew that. They were no fun to banter with and died pitifully. Also, some of her favorite magicks wouldn't work on them. She scanned the crowd and spies him, clearly drinking from a bottle of wine that she had procured for him not two days ago. He meets her eyes and gives a limp, abashed shrug. Useless git, she thinks.

She turns her attention again to the trio and whistles. "You're all perfectly frightening but fighting isn't necessary," she says in Sylvan — more for the language's calm intonations than anything — before casting a charm spell at one of them.

Spoiler: status

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Fanelle
HP: 49/49, DR 10/cold iron
AC: 26 (touch 26, ff 18) (assumes no armor, as only shields were mentioned in starting post)
Move: 30, fly 60 (good)

Stance: Child of Shadow (20% concealment for 1 round)

[Toliudar]

Fanelle picks one of the tigers and nonchalantly casts a powerful charm on the creature. Immediately, the hostility in the creature's manner vanishes, and it sits back on its haunches, as if a bit confused.

The bear simply stares up at the fey as she soars toward the top of the arena. The other other tiger edges away from the other animals slightly and lets out a tremulous yowl.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Your turn. Sorry for the delay.

[infomatic]

Spoiler: ooc

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Oops, my turn to apologize for delay.

She laughs at the tiger's expression and cries out, "You're adorable, my magnificent beast!" Her face darkens a bit at the others, and as she circles she flicks a bit of butter — rancid from a few days tucked into a pocket — at the ground beneath the second two animals. "I know there's no blood, but we can still give a show!"

Spoiler

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Cast Grease below the (1d2)[2] 1: Tiger; 2: Bear.