High Level Arena [Strawberryman vs Andumbration]

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The arena, a massive Colliseum built in a powerful archmage's private demiplane looms around you. Thousands of people wearing the special goggles that will allow them to see the combatants even through illusions, defences or brick walls and terrain features so as not to miss a single moment of action applaud excitedly when the Archmage himself teleports you in the prearranged positions within the empty field.

Having checked you for possible illegal magics, substances or other preparations, the old man in his black robe and cowl now manipulates the arena's phantasmal terrain, making it assume one of the prearranged configurations randomly. The area around you flickers through several different environments under the seven-color gleam of an impenetrable shield that surrounds it; a hundred feet tall and ten times as wide, the barrier prevents both external interference and you from leaving until the fight is done. In the end, the flickering terrain stabilizes into a small-sized but empty human village;
Twenty-five small houses, each no larger than a thirty-foot cube, are evenly spread over the area with quiet country roads, fields and low fences separating them. You're standing in the middle of the village, about 120 feet from eachother. Rain and strong winds nearly strong enough to pick small objects up from the ground are pressing down on the village, lightning filling the night skies overhead...

As you take in all that, two magic circles appear around you, indicating a wait of one-fifth of a minute, a short time given for preparation...


Village arena, it is raining, there is strong wind and it is night. 2 rounds of preparation.

You are 120 ft apart.

Roll initiative and, if you are visible, describe your characters fully.

Actions that are supposed to be secret should be sent to me via PM

[strawberryman]

Naberius' small form is cloaked in a coat of seemingly living shadow, with a red collar sticking out from inside the ragged mass. His long, gray hair blows back in the wind from the storm above, and his grey penetrating eyes portray a sinisterly calm demeanor. If one could notice his shadow in such darkness, they could likely see that instead of matching the Drow's form, it takes the shape of a malformed monster.

(...Little confused about how to roll, apparently. Anyone mind explaining it?)

Here's an idea. (http://www4.atwiki.jp/hitec/pages/102.html)
For my 2 rounds of preparation, using Flicker, and Sharp Shadows.

[Adumbration]

To roll, you need to type with the amount you need to roll inbetween, but without the spaces. For an example, to roll 12-sided dice, say for damage with +12 as a bonus, you need to write [ roll ]1d12+12[/ roll ] - again without the spaces. 20-sided die is 1d20, 2 20-sided dice are 2d20, etc.

I'll post my preparations and suchlike tomorrow, after I've upgraded my character for the new 20th level wealth.

Say, let's make a deal - we don't look into each other's spoilers. Helps keep suspense, and keeps it fair.

[strawberryman]

Say, let's make a deal - we don't look into each other's spoilers. Helps keep suspense, and keeps it fair.

Very well, and I'll trust that you have not looked at mine. :P

Init:
[roll0]

[Adumbration]

To be frank, I thought of it after looking into your spoilers, and so I give you access to my preparation spoilers... as long as you don't peer into the sub-spoilers labeled 'Defenses'. :smallwink:

That should glean you as much as information as I gleaned from yours; you can take a good guess at my class, and couple of obscure names that you have no idea what they are.

Now, initiative and description, let's see.

Initiative:
[roll0]

Description:
In the distance, you see a small form, about the size of a halfling, but with very little of a halfling's qualities: his back sprouts a pair of great, golden wings, his eyes are solid brass, his hands are inverted, like those of a rakshasa, and his long, seagreen hair are whipped around in invisible wind that you do not feel. His ringed hands wield a long spear, that shines with a light of it's own, and he is garbed in exquisite finery, beneath which a silvery chain shirt glimmers. A transparent shield floats before him.

In other words, I'm not even going to try and find a matching picture.

Preparation:

Let's see some binding checks...

Haures, DC 25:
[roll1]

Orthos, DC 35:
[roll2]

Chupoclops DC 25:
[roll3]

Pact augmentation goes into initiative checks, for a total bonus of +8.

Jerodan uses 1 round to activate Force screen.

Defenses:

Defenses against physical attacks:
- Displacement = 50% miss chance
- AC 38 (42 if I use the Defending enhancement of the spear)
- Retributive amulet, divides melee damage between me and opponent

Other defenses, unlikely to come up:
- Immune to fear, energy drain, negative levels
- Slippery Mind
- PR/SR 31
- Immunity to fire
- Inaccessible mind
- Soulfire armor enhancement.

I hold Halphax in the Vestige Phylactery.

[Adumbration]

Seeing that I won the initiative...

Fluff:
As you observe the small creature 120 ft away from you, he stares back, unblinking. Suddenly you feel a tinge of fear, as the most fearsome creature imaginable to you appears before you. You hear a whispering voice: "My name is Jerodan. What's yours?" Out of the corner of your eye, beyond the threatening figure, you see the great wings beat once and take their bearer at least another 150ft away.

Crunch:
First make a Will save, to see if you recognize the image as an illusion. DC 35. If that fails, make a Fortitude save, DC 35. If that fails too, your character dies, unless he has immunity to Fear. If you succeed on it, you take [roll0] damage. SR or PR does not apply. If you're wearing Helm of Telepathy, I'm in trouble. :smalltongue:

After spending his standard action trying to scare you to death, Jerodan uses his move action to move 150 ft back. The distance between the two adversaries is now 270 feet.

Precise details on what it is:
Sudden ability Focused Phantasmal Killer, supernatural ability from Haures. Usable again in 5 rounds.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Jerodan's attack for some reason doesn't work; the illusion seems to slip through the target, not finding purchase.

OOC:
Fails. Since it's a targeted effect you know why it failed; for some reason you can't target the enemy clearly enough as if he were invisible or otherwise concealed.

[strawberryman]

Fluff:
The dark one chuckles. "Naberius. I suggest you give up now, it's foolish to fight me in my element." He walks calmly towards his foe, in no rush whatsoever. As he does so, his form splits into...

Crunch:
Move action straight towards Jerodan, then creates [roll0] images.

Full move for 45 feet, and my daily mirror image.

[Adumbration]

Care to elaborate? Specifically, how far does your move action take you, and what does Jerodan perceive to happen? Does Naberius split into three identical images, perhaps?

I'm trying to keep count on the distance between our characters. It matters for some of my abilities.

[strawberryman]

Care to elaborate? Specifically, how far does your move action take you, and what does Jerodan perceive to happen? Does Naberius split into three identical images, perhaps?

Oh, well. 45 feet, and yes, three images.

[Adumbration]

Fluff:
You hear the whispering voice again. "You're right, of course. My apologies." The small figure with great wings beats his wings again, flying disconcertingly fast. The distance between the two dwindles down to 80 feet in under 3 seconds. Then Jerodan halts, and appears to take a deep breath. His exhalation is a torrent of winds moving faster than those of a hurricane.

Crunch:
A 120 ft cone of air hits you, dealing [roll0] damage. Make a reflex save DC 35 to halve the damage, and a fortitude save with the same DC to avoid being pushed back [roll1]x10 feet.

Precise details:
The dreaded Empowered, Widened and Sudden Ability Focused Whirlwind breath of Orthos.

[strawberryman]

Is it a spell? And if so, subject to spell resistance?

[Adumbration]

It's a supernatural ability, and thus not subject to SR. Sorry.

[strawberryman]

It's a supernatural ability, and thus not subject to SR. Sorry.

Oh well, I still hopefully have one trick up my sleeve, waiting on a ruling on it, though. ;)

[Adumbration]

I'll be off now, will be back first thing tomorrow. 9-12 hours, in other words.

[Douglas]

- Retributive amulet, divides melee damage between me and opponent
A) That item is utterly broken as printed in BoED.
B) It got nerfed in MIC.

[strawberryman]

Fluff:
Naberius suddenly disappears into a shroud of shadow as the wind rips toward him, reappearing 50 feet to the halfling-like-being's right. He chuckles, visibly without a scratch. "Really, how boring." Two black darts fly out of his hand towards the figure, as he walks straight ahead, towards the being another 45 feet.

[roll0]
[roll1]

And assuming they hit: [roll2] [roll3] nonlethal damage.

Flicker 50 feet to Naberius' left out of the cone range, move action 45 feet straight (towards Jerodan), and arrow of dusk/quickened arrow of dusk.

[Adumbration]

Just to clarify - what happened to the images? Are they still there? Are they gone? Did they follow you?

[strawberryman]

Just to clarify - what happened to the images? Are they still there? Are they gone? Did they follow you?

Er, you know, I am not really sure. *leaves it up to Belial's interpretation*

[Adumbration]

Ah, well, I guess it doesn't matter to what I'm going to do now.

Fluff:
"All-righty then." With uncanny speed, the halfling charges at Naberius, his senses revealing his enemys true location.

Crunch:
Charge attack. Jerodan has Blindsight (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Blindsight_and_Blindsense), so when he comes close enough, he should be able to determine which image is real - if they're still there - and negate any concealment Naberius has.

Oh, and Jerodan has Pounce. Full-attack, here I come! All are made with the longspear from 10 ft away.

Attack #1:
[roll0]
Damage #1:
[roll1]

Attack #1:
[roll2]
Damage #1:
[roll3]

Attack #1:
[roll4]
Damage #1:
[roll5]

For each succesful hit, Naberius also takes 1 point of Constitution damage. In case there's miss chance due to effects such as Blink. High is good:
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]

[Adumbration]

Of course, the second and third attack should also read 2nd and 3rd attack. Copy-paste, forgot to change that part.

[strawberryman]

Fluff:
In response to Jerodan's vicious charge, the dark figure is swallowed by shadow yet again, negating the first of his barrage, and reappearing 50 feet directly away. "You really don't think that is going to be enough, do you?" He chuckles darkly once again, as he pulls out a crossbow, loads it, and fires a bolt at Jerodan, crackling with ice all the way.

Crunch:
Teleports 50 feet back in response to your first attack, which, according to the roll, misses. And of course, because he is out of range for the remaining two, those miss. ;) Also, did those two bolts from earlier hit? Don't think you said. In any case,

Attack:
[roll0]
Damage:
[roll1]
Cold:
[roll2]

Ignores armor and shield bonuses.

[Adumbration]

Let's see. The second dart hit, as well as the bolt just now. Damage count so far: 5 nonlethal, 13 lethal.

Fluff:
Jerodan ignores the arrow sticking out of him, and charges yet again. "I'm guessing you can't do that all day long. Can you?"

Crunch:
Same deal as before.

Attack #1:
[roll0]
Damage #1:
[roll1]

Attack #2:
[roll2]
Damage #1:
[roll3]

Attack #3:
[roll4]
Damage #1:
[roll5]

[strawberryman]

Actually, he can (pretty much). Miss chance? ;p (Waiting for you to roll it before I post my actions.)

Also, by my count this is (discounting the 2 rounds of preparation) round 4?

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Damage count so far: 5 nonlethal, 13 lethal.
Nope. Damage count is 0. You forgot your damage reduction.

[Adumbration]

Nope. Damage count is 0. You forgot your damage reduction.

Nope, I had a different vestige then. Decided this time around that Pounce was more useful than DR.

Miss chances - almost forgot, by the way: these attacks are considered Ghost-touch. High is good.
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[strawberryman]

Now that's just bad luck.

Fluff:
Naberius is yet again swallowed by shadow in the split second between his first and second swings, reappearing without a scratch 50 feet to his right. "As a matter of fact, yes, I can." He chuckles darkly, readies his crossbow, and fires.

Crunch:
Getting tired of it yet? ;p 50 feet to Jerodan's right, and another bolt (which ignores armor/shield bonuses):

Attack:
[roll0]

Damage:
[roll1]

Cold:
[roll2]

[Adumbration]

I just realized a defense that has been active all along, but which I have not told to you - so I'm not sure if it would be fair to spring it retroactively. I'm talking about a miss chance to those bolts, but for me it's enough if you roll it henceforth. One of the reasons why I'm not so great at arena games, is that I tend to forget my own defenses - even after I've written them down.

Anyway.

Fluff:
This time Jerodan stays still, merely turning into his enemy's direction. "Dodge this," he says, as a line of fire sprouts from his mouth.

Crunch:
Another breath weapon - a 60 ft line. Let's see how you can keep this up. [roll0] fire damage, reflex save DC 16. I'm not worried... yet.

EDIT: The bolt hits, by the way.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

NOTE:
Flicker only has a 50% chance to work against attacks directly. I'd forgotten about that-blame it on my inexperience. Against meele, it can be used vs anyone moving close enough to meele so avoiding meele stuff doesn't change. But against other attacks it might not work.

[strawberryman]

Aaand, first a roll for Reflex...

[roll0]

[strawberryman]

Fluff:
Instead of disappearing, Naberius merely sidesteps the flames, the shadows surrounding him seem to guide the fire away. "Oh... was that aimed at me?" He loads up another bolt and fires.

Crunch:
No damage, and another attack:

Miss chance:
[roll0]

Attack:
[roll1]

Damage:
[roll2]

Cold:
[roll3]

[Adumbration]

Fluff:
Deciding that a change of strategy might be in order, Jerodan draws a wooden box, appearing to concentrate. A golden flicker moves fast between the box and him, and suddenly the large fangs protruding from his jaws disappear, and his skin turns gray and craggy, as if made of stone.

Crunch:
Full-round action to use an item.

Use Vestige phylactery, replacing Chupoclops with Halphax.

Your turn. EDIT: The bolt hits.

[strawberryman]

Fluff:
"Heheh... Not so fast." Upon noticing the change as result of the box in Jerodan's hands, Naberius throws a hand out, and a wave of dispelling shadows swarm around Jerodan.

Crunch:
Targeted Dispel:

[roll0]

-4 to that check if the effect is spell-based, which I am guessing it is.

Greater Shadows Fade, 1/2 uses today.

And, just curious, what's the official round count?

[Adumbration]

By my count, this is the 7th round. I think you can guess what that means, if you know anything about binders...

And if I've interpreted correctly, the dispel fails, due to not hitting the DC. Belial will correct me, if I'm wrong.
The vestige phylactery has CL 10, the DC to dispel is 21. The item is based off Planar binding or Planar Ally, so the dispel check falls short by 4. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Fluff:
Breathing deep, another cone of air erupts from Jerodan's mouth.

Crunch:
[roll0] damage, DC 35 reflex to halve, same DC fortitude to avoid pushback of [roll1]x10.

[strawberryman]

Miss chance before anything, go for low...

Miss chance:
[roll0]

%$#@

[strawberryman]

Reflex:
[roll0]

Fortitude:
[roll1]

And, going to wait and see if teleporting out of the way will avoid the knockdown.

[Adumbration]

... And that's exactly why I always go for the high. The day you don't, it bites back. :smalltongue:

[strawberryman]

Actually, it doesn't really matter, probably, now that I note it's pushback, not knockdown (unless I'm getting that wrong),

Fluff:
Naberius' shadows fail in bringing him out of harms way at the last second, and he reappears 50 feet back, looking quite bloody. "Hah... finally got me. Not bad." He takes a wand out of the shadows of his coat, doubles back 45 feet, and waves it, a wave of curative magic sprinkling over him.

Crunch:
The base bonus for Wand of Cure Serious fails me, so: [roll0] healing plus whatever the bonus is, as well as Fast Healing 2 for this round.

[Adumbration]

Fluff:
"Not so quick-witted now, are we?" You hear the hum of high electricity as Jerodan approaches you, flying almost next to you, hardly 15 ft away. Suddenly a bolt of lightning arcs from the tip of his spear.

Crunch:
Reflex save DC 29 for half of [roll0] electricity damage. Caster level check in case you have SR: [roll1].

The psi-like ability Energy current, choosing electricity as the energy type.

[strawberryman]

Fluff:
The lightning bolt bounces harmlessly off of Naberius as he teleports 50 feet back. "Heh... You're pretty quick, but it's time to cage this bird..." He pulls some of the shadow off of his form, tossing it towards Jerodan; He then moves his hands around, shaping the shadow into a billowing curtain, that surrounds the "halfling" on all sides. Sight is obscured completely inside of the "cage".

Crunch:
Empowered Curtain of Shadows, shaped around Jerodan as a 10-foot by 10-foot by 10-foot box, with space inside to breath. Oh, right, and Fast Healing 2.

[Adumbration]

Fluff:
Suddenly, the air before you shimmers, and Jerodan appears with a loud crack. "You can't capture me that easily." He is barely 5 feet from you, holding his spear with one hand.

Crunch:
Use Boots of Big Stepping to Dimension Door where he remembers his enemy to be.

Your turn.

[strawberryman]

Fluff:
Naberius takes this opportunity to teleport back another 50 feet. "Not bad, birdy..." He directs another wave of dispelling shadows at Jerodan.


Crunch:

Targeted Dispel:
[roll0]

Counting the -4 on the check.

[Adumbration]

No effect from the dispel effect, I think.

Fluff:
Jerodan charges at you once more.

Crunch:
Attack:
[roll0]
Damage:
[roll1]
Miss chance, high is good:
[roll2]

[strawberryman]

Fluff:
Naberius is struck successfully before disappearing, reappearing 50 feet to the left of Jedoran. He waves the wand he pulled out earlier again, healing some of his wounds.

Crunch:
[roll0] I think +5, anyway.

[Adumbration]

Fluff:
"Let's see if you can teleport without seeing." Suddenly, an enormous wall of iron springs into existance, surrounding Naberius from three sides, leaving a narrow funnel leading straight towards Jerodan. Then he flies to block the only exit.

Crunch:
You're 50 ft away from Jerodan, right, and on the ground? The wall is 10 ft tall, and surrounds Naberius from three sides, the open side being towards Jerodan, leaving a 5 ft wide corridor that is 35 ft long. Then Jerodan moves to the end of the corridor.

[strawberryman]

Fluff:
"As a matter of fact..." Naberius disappears from the box-in, and considering the pattern, though Jerodan likely can't see him, has teleported away from the area.

Crunch:
Directly away from Jerodan 50 feet (through the wall, thanks to the "state a direction" base of Dimension Door/Flicker. I may be wrong, though. anyway, as for current actions, using Summon Umbral Servant to summon a Huge Shadow Elemental directly by the wall. Which will take a full round.