Glad I Ate Her IC

[Toliudar]

OOC Thread

Like any small and insular community, the arena had its hierarchies, its rituals, its peculiarities. Its small kindnesses and petty cruelties. And, of course, its gossip.

Word had been out for days that a new arena would be unveiled this afternoon – construction had been going on non-stop – and with it a special death match. A political prisoner of some sort was to be slaughtered by the monsters that he had spoken out for, as a kind of poetic justice from a state that was not usually concerned with either justice or poetry. The identity of the prisoner was guessed at, and several names had been floated, but no one seemed to know for sure.
Certainly, it’s unusual to have a prisoner face more than one monster. Cowdenbeath had at times faced up to a dozen men, although always in non-lethal matches. Iktnekt had become adept at fighting multiple opponents. But monster gladiators were now rare and precious enough that they rarely fought together, except as high holiday treats.

The air in the stone tunnels behind the arena was chill, a precursor to the winter ahead. Patrons had been gathering in the stands for hours, and there had been a variety of minor entertainments – speeches, jugglers, a close harmony trio. Now, from the noise outside, it seemed likely that there were close to two thousand patrons jammed into the arena for this.
You have been hauled from your cell by a quadruple guard – twice the norm, and heavily armed and armoured to boot. No meals, no trainers, no chat – none of the usual rituals and trappings of a usual match. You are brought down a new set of hallways, still smelling of fresh masonry and paint. You reach a pair of steel doors, fifteen feet square in the opening. As one of the guards fumbles to open the gate, there’s a bit of a traffic jam, as other guards arrive with three others.

The four of you are hustled into the room beyond the gates. There are an equally large pair of stout doors on the far side of the room, and from beyond there are the sounds of pounding drums and cheering crowds. On your right, there are racks of weapons – a bizarre array of blades, spikes and metal slabs, in a weird and disorganized array of sizes and shapes. On your left, an even weirder mix of armours and shields, including a few with strange colours or materials,or designed for quadrupeds, animals, winged creatures.

Four of the guards take up a post by the great wooden doors, and four in front of the gates that you have just passed through.

Spoiler

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All right – here we go!
I’ve decided that having you start without gear is only going to lead to a logic-defying scene later, so you’ve all got all your starting gear. It would be useful for you to start with a bit of description of how you’ll appear to the others – especially Zilchour (whose telepathy returns as he step through the gates).

Please post about a round of actions. As with the solo combats, you can find a simple weapon in one round, a martial weapon in two rounds, and an exotic weapon in three. Add one round per size up or down from medium. A medium sized regular shield can be found in one round – add one for an exotic shield, for spikes, or for every size deviation from medium.

[MinotaurWarblad]

Already having been made aware of the match today, and that Cowdenbeath would be in it, Helix transformed into a flind gnoll and embiggened his sword (for an even larger creature) when he woke up this morning.
He looks like a seven foot tall humanoid hyena, and wields a sword that has runes on the base of the blade. His sword lacks a crossguard. Given only a moment of preparation, Helix makes his spells count.

Spoiler: OoC

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With only a round to prepare, Helix will cast primal hunter and primal instinct.
Edit: If he has more time to prepare, he'll cast heart of air and mage armor in round 2, then extend karmic aura and extend shield in round 3. If there is a round 4, he'll cast enlarge person from his wand chamber and extend resistance.

He speaks no words, hoping someone else will talk loud enough to drown out anything he could think of saying.
Please don't hurt me, big cow buddy, he thinks.
If he has the time to cast enlarge person, he will grow to twice his hyena-man height, and eight times his hyena-man weight, bringing him to 14 feet tall and 2,800 pounds. Very big, but still significantly less physically powerful than Cowdenbeath statwise.

[Alhallor]

A Death match, a real death match… Iktnek was nervous, her head jerked around like one of her whips she usually wielded in combat. She heard she would fight with others "of her kind" and she was both anxious and afraid. What if the humans tricked her? Did she have to kill one of her own folk to survive? Did a Thri-keen needed to kill her? Did it matter? It would be alright, because with another thri-keen, they would do all that was necesarry if one or her kind died. That was one of her fears. To die and nobody was there to do the necessary rituals.

When she was pushed into the other room Iktnek looked around. Iktnek was as tall as a typical human, and was vaguely humanoid, but instead of two arms, she had four. two were at the same place normal human arms would be, but these were covered in a dull brown chitinous layer, and instead of hands these arms ended in multisegmented claws. A short way under that were two smaller arms, ending in the same clawlike thing the upper arms ended in. Iktnek looked around with multisegmented green insectoid eyes. Instead of most Thri-keen who wear next to nothing she had a dull green shirt on her upper body, with extra holes for her other set of arms, it was hold on her body with a delicate girdle on which hung a small bag, she also wore a rustred-cloak. Her hands and her feet were also adorned with clothing that matched the dull-brown of the rest of her body.

Iktnek was stunned. Rage cursed through her body like lava getting spewed out of a volcano, her body shuddering under her emotions "of her kind" didn't meant Thri-keen, it meant other monsters. She wanted to scream, wanted to lash out at the guards and filling their bodies with pain and suffering. But that wouldn't help now. The sudden shaking of her body stopped and she stomped to the shield rack. Hey! Big horned one! She practically screamed, adressing the big minotaur in the room, while trying to fit a shield on her arm. There was something about him that she should recognize, she was pretty sure about that, but the thought didn't make it through her emotions.

Can I ask you a favor? She asked, way more silent than before, the rage of her fire burned out as fast as it roared.

Spoiler: Sense motive

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Iktnek's emotions are pretty easy to read to anyone who glances at her, but on the other hand she is a walking bug so I don't know if you'd want to make a check on that or not.

[MikelaC1]

Legendary Cowdenbeath is always a menacing figure, standing in at 8 feet tall (not counting horns) and weighing a massive 750 pounds; and now that he has his regular greataxe and chainmail, hes that much more threatening. He stands at the door to the arena, his potentially terrifying rage under control for now, but still bubbling at the surface, ready to explode.
What favor and it better be quick, battle beckons

[razorback]

Zilchour woke up in the cold cell, stone and bare. He had no idea how they found him... he must have been sloppy. He had been searching for others from his clan and he must have asked the wrong question of the wrong person. He reached out and tried to find the mind one of his guards, only to find... noise. It was the only way to describe it. Nothing, like being with no one near, but noise, like a thousand gnats flying about. He sighed as he got up and searched around for a magical sensor of any type, wondering if he was being watched. After some time without success, he decided it was either cleverly hidden or non-existant. Taking a chance, he morphed into Taumi Partid, one of the drudges who cleans up the arena after a combat. He was going to try and bluff his way through, saying he was checking the cell when he was overpowered by the occupant... though he had little hope of success. If they had stymied one ability, they probably knew who he was and what he was capable of.
And he was right. As the guards entered, tower shields at the ready, they roughly handled him as he tried to plead with them his story. Somewhere known to him and they were specially rough on him.
As they manacle him, hands and feet, he resigns himself. He knew he should have fled the city but something kept him here.
With the others hustled into the room, he looks about and knows his fate. Big, burly warriors they were but he was not. Trying his best to put on a face, he tranforms into one of the winged elves, as he picks up a couple of items, settling on a long spear, before looking at the others. "I can provide some aerial support but I am no warrior. I have some skill with words and, maybe, I can speak of your might and prowess on the arena floor, sapping their will and leaving them shaking in their boots." he says as he test the strength of the spear.

Spoiler

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Sorry, holiday travels.

Round 1 - Transform into an Avarial
Round 2 - Find a longspear
Rounds 3+ - Detect Thoughts, first on the guards and then the arena. Trying to discern what he's fighting and then, if possible, get the thoughts of the creatures they will be fighting. From there, he will try to pick the brains of his partners.

[Toliudar]

As the four prisoners gather in the centre of the room, there is a blare of trumpets and a roar of the crowd from outside. Something, clearly, has just taken place out there.

The gnoll begins casting spells. The bug-person began riffling through shields. The one who had seemed human turned into a delicate elf with long feathered wings. And the minotaur stepped to the doors to marshal his thoughts and await fate.

Spoiler: OOC

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Iktnekt can find a standard shield if desired.

I believe Helix can only quicken first level abjurations. I'll assume he actually cast Primal Senses and mage armour in the first round. Also, I may need you to walk me through how Helix has his current strength, dex and con scores.

If you could confirm another round or so of actions, that would be terrific.

[Alhallor]

As the sound of trumpets bleared, Iktnek got a bit flustered. She strode to the weapon rack, while keeping her eyes on the big horned one. She stopped herself, she shouldn't use a club if her life was on the line damn cactus. You seem like a great warrior, should I fall today, would you eat me? I don't want anything of me go to waste and I just know those humans will let me rot somewhere should I die and It seems like such a waste to let the flesh just rot. With that she looked at the gnoll, she knew they were all carrion-eaters even if that one had a fancy sword. That offer is not for you! Iktnek blarted at him.

She also looked at the elf, was it a winged elf before? Well it didn't matter. Good idea, you can take a bite too if I should fall. With these words she looked at anticipation to the arena and drew her whip out of her girdle. It seems like flowing water sprang out of her handle and shaped itself into a whip.

Spoiler: Preparation

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1. Round: search a shield
2. Round: Equip it, go too the weapon rack and stops herself.
3. Round?: Drawing her Water whip.

[razorback]

Spoiler

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Zilchour spends the second round digging around for a long spear.

Zilchour looks a bit shocked by the sound of the trumpets but keeps his head as he digs around the table. Looking at the burly warriors, he shakes his head. At least one he had heard of, the minotaur of some fame, but the others were new to him. He didn't really listen to the other keepers but things did stick every once in a while. He hoped that these 3 would help him survive. If so, and he could manage to escape, he might take them with him. Somehow.

[MikelaC1]

The trumpets mean nothing to Cowdenbeath. He has heard them before, he will hear them again. One of the other gladiators had spoken to him, but not since. If they werent going to talk, he wasnt about to start the conversation. Talking when you were supposed to concentrating on staying alive was a good way to end up dead. He pawed the ground, waiting to charge, even lowering his head a little. The crowd always loved him goring victims.

[MinotaurWarblad]

Spoiler: OoC

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I believe Helix can only quicken first level abjurations. I'll assume he actually cast Primal Senses and mage armour in the first round. Also, I may need you to walk me through how Helix has his current strength, dex and con scores.

If you could confirm another round or so of actions, that would be terrific.

Primal Hunter is a swift action for dragon-blooded creatures, and I don't know the Primal Senses spell.
The Half-Dragon Form feat from (Dragons of Eberron) gives me Str 18+race mod, Dex 10+race mod, and Con 12+race mod, for the race I turn into with Change Shape. The flind gnoll (from MM3) has Str +6, Dex +2, Con +4. Combine those with Enlarge Person (Str +2, Dex -2), and you get Str 26, Dex 10, Con 16.
Natural armor is +4 from Half-Dragon Form, +2 from the flind gnoll.
My current attack bonus is about 8 points lower than Cowdenbeath's, and my AC is about 3 points higher. But I'm a shapeshifting dragon, and probably just going to cast Luminous Swarm and then aid another on Cowdenbeath... Unless someone gets me in position for a solid full attack against someone prone (so I can actually hit).

As for another round of actions, I will cast a mage armor on Zilchour, if he's willing to accept it.

In response to Iktnek, Helix grins and says with a wink, "I wouldn't eat you unless I was in my dragon form anyway. Otherwise I'd get a stomachache switching forms later."
He turns his head towards the door and says to no one in particular, "With this legendary gladiator among us, I think maybe we should just try to keep anyone from stabbing him and stay out of his way."

[Toliudar]

The horns rise in tone and intensity, and then abruptly stop, and there is a brief swell in the shouting of the crowd. The guards at the big doors seem to take this as a signal, and they push with all their might, swinging the doors wide.

Beyond, there is the familiar force lattice of the arena, a cube nearly 70' on each side. Beyond, thousands of patrons - a significant portion of the town's population - are squeezed onto bleachers stretching up on all sides.

Standing at the far side of the arena is...a single person. A middle-aged man, by first glance, with lean muscles and a strange white fabric wrapping around his belly and groin. He is simply standing and looking at the four of you without obvious concern.

In contrast to most matches, the guards are not pressing the four of you to exit into the arena, but simply stand back, waiting and watchful.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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You have all gotten three rounds worth of preparatory actions. Roll for initiative, and give me actions if you roll higher than 11.

Spoiler: MinotaurWarblad

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Sorry, I forgot about the dragonblood thing.

Spoiler: MikelaC1

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With the expert eye of a gladiator, you note that the man is up slightly on the balls of his feet, with his knees slightly bent - a combat stance designed not to look like a combat stance.

[MinotaurWarblad]

Spoiler: OoC

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Initiative: (1d20+6)[13]
If higher than 11, Helix will move forward and to the side (to make sure Cowdenbeath has room to charge) before casting Luminous Swarm on our opponent.
If he has spell resistance, here's my caster level check: (1d20+8)[22]
Assuming he is affected, he treats everyone as having a 20% miss chance against his attacks for 5 rounds. Additionally, once per round for 5 rounds, he has to succeed on a DC 19 Reflex save or take 1d6 damage.

Stepping forward, Helix stretches his arms wide and keeps his feet shoulder-width apart. He moves to look like he's charging the man, then steps to the side and begins poking the air with his fingers and saying an arcane phrase. He wasn't trying to make the deception convincing, but hopefully their opponent would try to come at him and be skewered by the minotaur and thri-kreen.

[MikelaC1]

Cowdenbeath's first instinct is to charge and gore, but something about the man's stance gives him pause. This man is trying very hard to look unconcerned but something about his stance proves he is anything but. So instead, Cowdenbeath strides forward with his axe gripped in both hands, ready to strike but not about to charge, only to have him step aside and make him look stupid. He calls to his fellow gladiators...beware of this one, he may look like nothing special, but he's got the stance of a warrior. He closes as much distance as possible and if that brings him into attack range, he will strike.

[Alhallor]

Dragon-form? Are you a scaled one? Iktnek looked curios at the Gnoll, she would like to talk further with him, but the force doors opened to reveal... A man. It was really just one person, all four of them had to kill. Iktnek wasn't good with reading people but she was pretty sure that he just wanted to die.

Iktnek didn't wanted to kill but obviously she had to take this one out of his misery for doing... Something. She strode into the arena but kept as much distance as possible. One of her hands who didn't hold a whip burst into flames, but instead of coalescing into a fire whip she stretched the arm out and a bolt of fire flew straight to the human. Burn fast!

Spoiler: Attack

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Iktnek keeps 60 feet away from the man and throws a fire bolt at him, it's an SA so no SR. It's a

ranged touch attack: (1d20+12)[18]

Damage: (4d6)[10]

Iktnek's head jerked around to the minotaur after she heard his words. Was he insane? It was just one human who was ready to die, nothing more.

[Toliudar]

Zilchour is first to act. Light on his feet in this form, he soars up through the doorway, banks to the left and begins to spiral up. Perhaps heeding Cowdenbeath's warning, Zilchour levels off at about 50' up.

Iktnekt scurries in on the right side and stops just inside the arena. A ball of fire took form in her palm, and she flung it toward the human. He nods as it approached and ducked to one side as it passed by.

Helix darts forward on the left, stopping towards the centre of the arena. Quickly, he creates a ball of light and hurls it toward the man. The motes sail towards the man, where they splatter around his head and dissipate.

Cowdenbeath has a clear path between Iktnekt and Helix to charge if he wishes.

Spoiler: OOC

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Pausing for confirmation of Cowdenbeath's action. He can indeed reach the man with a charge action, if desired.

[MikelaC1]

(Cowdenbeath is not charging, he is moving forward at a good pace, but not charging because he fears the man is going to just dodge aside and make him look stupid.)

[Toliudar]

Ah! Then a single move action won't reach him. Do you want to move and then ready an action, or use a double move to get to within striking distance and stop?

[MikelaC1]

Double move action

[Toliudar]

Cowdenbeath moves into the centre of the ring cautiously, stopping within reach of the man. The crowd roars in anticipation.

The man looks around at each of the four creatures facing him. Seeming to reach a decision, he smiled, coiled his legs and sprang into the air. He leapt toward Zilchour, punching and kicking at him twice, with surprising force. The man tries to take hold of Zilchour's foot, but Zilchour manages to pull back and avoid his grasp.

The man lands back on the ground about 15' away from Cowdenbeath. He is about 30' away from Helix, and a bit further from Iktnek (with Cowdenbeath in between). When he lands on the ground, the gravel shifts a bit, and there is a strange burst of blue light around his feet.

Spoiler: OOC

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Cowdenbeath gets an AoO on the man, if desired.

Zilchour takes two hits, 14 and 12 points of nonlethal damage.

Over to all of you!

[razorback]

Shrugging off both the surprise of the man's flying attack and the fact that he hit him twice, Zilchour proceeds to fly up above and close enough to threaten him with his spear. "You seek to fight the weakest, first? A small death before you are torn to bits for the crowd? " he says with a loud laugh, arms raise for the crowd. "Try again, I suppose, before you are eviscerated for the crowd, fool!" the flying elf says with a wicked grin.

Spoiler

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Zilchour
AC = 16 ; Current = 16
HP = 50 ; Current = 50; non-lethal damage: 26

Attempt to demoralize, Dreadful Wrath and Imperious command
(1d20+27)[29]



Effects ~

[MikelaC1]

The man tries to fly away from Cowdenbeath, confirming his suspicion that his charge would have made him look silly, but he isnt quick enough to not suffer an attack from his huge axe as he takes off.

Spoiler

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(1d20+20)[30] attack & (3d6+13)[22] damage

The moment the man lands however, he wont have the same line of sight to the minotaur, who simply lowers his head and charges for one of his famous gore attacks

Spoiler

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(1d20+20)[23] attack & (1d8+10)[15] damage

[MinotaurWarblad]

Watching the man leap, Helix moves to get on the opposite side of the man as the minotaur, and attempts to distract him for the short time it takes his ally to charge.

Spoiler: OoC

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Moving into a flanking position and aid another for a total of +4 to Cowdenbeath's charge attack roll.

[Alhallor]

Iktnek sees the man evading her fire bolt quite gracefully and for a moment she looks at her hand in disbelief. It seems like she misread the situation. The fight was serious that definitely presented itself when the winged elf was attacked very hard, but her defying words made Iktnek glad that she was on their side and brought her blood to boil. That was it! The fight was on! An uninvited song burst out of her mandibles she was that excited to really fight and not just hitting a stupid bag over and over again!

Cut him up!

Burn him hot!

Lo-o-hose, we will not!

Our stomachs will be full tonight!

She raised one hand and a string of fire burst out of it with a satisfying cackle.

Spoiler: Actions

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Bard song, so enjoy that +1 to attack and damage for everyone. If we should get a fear or charm effect we also get a +1 to that. I include the crowd on the side too if it gets through the force field. For my move action a fire whip and I take a 5 foot step towards the man.

[Toliudar]

Zilchour's outburst draws the man's eyes back up to him. He simply nods sadly at the taunt from the circling elf, noting the line of blood that Cowdenbeath's axe had already drawn across his ribs.

"Yes. I suppose that will be my fate."

Helix darts around to help flank the man, who glances cautiously at him as he moves up close.

The thri-kreen's high-pitched and rhythmic voice sails through the arena, stirring a feeling of hope and courage in the ragtag group.

The minotaur lowers his head for a mighty charge attack. He was used to opponents ducking and weaving aside away from his charge, and knew well how to compensate for this. But this man rolled back onto his back, took Cowdenbeath's weight onto his feet and somehow flung him into Helix, sending the two of them spilling halfway across the arena. The crowd roars, but there is much frustration and disappointment mixed in with the excitement of their cheers.

Then, rather than simply rolling back to his feet, the man rolled further back, pushing off the ground with his hands and twisting in the air, before landing again. His feet land on the ground with surprising inelegance, making a heavy thud that creates another cascade of blue sparks where he lands. He turns to Iktnek and smiles.

Spoiler: OOC

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Cowdenbeath's AoO in the previous round connected.

The attempt to demoralize did not succeed.

Cowdenbeath and Helix are adjacent to each other and prone, about 20' from a side wall of the arena and about 20' from the man. They each take 8 points of bludgeoning damage.

You're up!

[MinotaurWarblad]

Grumbling, Helix talks to the man.
"Why are you really here, anyway?"
Helix is partly trying to distract the man for his three companions. He's also legitimately curious, and figures that since he likely won't land a blow on the unarmed warrior, he might as well learn something about their target.
He gets to his feet and helps Cowdenbeath up as well.

[MikelaC1]

With 20 feet to build up a whole lot of speed and momentum, Cowdenbeath is determined to make a much better showing of this charge. He charges forward in a double move, lowering his head at only the last moment to prevent any sort of tricky dodging, even ready for the falling on the back trick.

Spoiler: Attack

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(1d20+20)[37] attack & (1d8+10)[17] damage

[Alhallor]

Iktnek was surprised about the elegance the man was showing when he send the mighty minotaur flying into the gnoll the scaled one that moment would normally be the one where the warleader of her tribe would send them to run away and find an easier target. The man was jumping around and moved like the wind, but his hands and arms seemed to have the power of a sandstorm. When he landed again, creating a cascade of blue sparks he smiled at the firebug. That interrupted her song but the lingering hope was still permeating the air.

Why was he smiling? Iktnek knew that the showing of teeth was not necesarrily an aggressive gesture from humans. Thri-keen would just show their sharp mandibles when in a ritual fight for mates but that smile confused her.

Was he having fun?

But hadn't she too?

She was feeling more alive than the past few weeks and her boiling blood was enough indication that she was more than a little excited. Iktnek made a swift gesture and her green burnoose layed itself over her and began to spurt wicked cactus-like needles.

How is your name? I want to know the name of the one who will fill my stomach tonight. With that words she striked out at the man both water and fire flying towards him, but still trying to use the maximum distance of her whips while trying to coordinate her attack with Cowdenbeath.

Spoiler: Attacks and other.

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The song stopped so we have the +1 bonus for 5 rounds counting down.
The burnoose will deal anyone 1d6 piercing damage that attacks me with a natural weapon or try to grapple me.
Iktnek try's to 5 foot step to possibly flank with Cowdenbeath and gain as much range from her whips as possible.
1st Whip: (1d20+14)[20], Damage (1d3+2)[5], (1d6)[1] ice, (1d6)[4] acid.
2nd Whip: (1d20+13)[16], that's a touch attack and (1d8)[7] fire damage.
Flanking bonuses are not included in that roll.

[MikelaC1]

Spoiler: Attacks and other.

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The song stopped so we have the +1 bonus for 5 rounds counting down.
.

So my 37 is a 38

[razorback]

Zilchour, seeing his battle mates easily rebuffed and highly impressed at that, gains height and distance as he points at the man as a stream of green energy flickers and pulses as streaks through the arena. "You have some skill... to bad you wouldn't ally yourself with us and maybe we could have escaped."

Spoiler

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Zilchour
AC = 16 ; Current = 16
HP = 50 ; Current = 50; non-lethal damage: 26

Eldritch blast - ranged touch
(1d20+5)[9]

Damage
(1d6+1)[4]

Crit 20/x2
(1d20+5)[19]
(1d6+1)[2]


Effects ~
Bard song, so enjoy that +1 to attack and damage for everyone.

[Toliudar]

The man glances up at Zilchour. Although the shifter would have thought that his words would be lost in the roar of the crowd, his words seem to have reached the figure somehow. There is a flickering mental contact, not quite true telepathy, but a kind of warmth, a sense of fellowship.

Helix's words provoke a chuckle from the man, who yells back over the overwhelming sounds from outside. "Call me Eome."

Cowdenbeath's gore attack batters aside the man's attempt to block it, spearing him in the midsection.

Iktnek's whips arc toward the man. He sidesteps one, but the other traces a line across his chest.

The warrior whirls out a leg, smacking Cowdenbeath in the leg but failing in an obvious effort to trip him. He pauses and then punches the ground between him and Cowdenbeath, sending out a wave of vibrations and another shower of blue sparks from the ground.

Spoiler: OOC

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Cowdenbeath takes 18 points of nonlethal damage.

Helix notices that the magic of the entire force lattice of the arena flickered for a moment when the man struck the ground.