Vanalis Chronicles IC

[GuyFawkes]

Chapter 1: Galican Gambit


http://cdn.superbwallpapers.com/wallpapers/fantasy/ancient-rome-22670-400x250.jpg



The Galican Empire.

It was the first to rise from the ashes of the cataclysm that shook Vinya, and consequently, the whole of Vanalis, around three hundred years ago. Led by Galicus the Great, the empire started as a small refugee encampment, which slowly expanded over the years. Their proud heritage as being descendants of a once-superior nation fueled their rapid expansion, starting with small kingdoms and barbarian lands. Galicus was a great leader, a peerless warrior and clever tactician, and there were none that could defeat him on the battlefield. After a decade, he had established the Galican Empire, with him as the first emperor. His successors continued his vision of recreating a vast empire reminiscent of their old country until Galica achieved the extents of its boundaries it has today.

Even now, Galica looks ever outwards, its taste for ever more lands to grab for its own seemingly insatiable. Wars rage on almost all fronts. Expeditions to the Eastern Wildlands number aplenty. And it has considerable presence in the Crossway Isles and in the Damarian Highlands. Tensions are high with two of the nearby powers of Caelis and Phonysia. At this rate, experts say that a great war on Vinya is imminent.

Standing in front of the great adamantine gates leading into the capital city of Kalkum, though, none of these matters seem to be an issue at all. Especially not on this day, when the Empire is celebrating the foundation of Galica. The whole city is awash with excitement and merriment, the streets flooded with the radiant colors of festivities. Everywhere you look, citizens are garbed in the most expensive wardrobe, establishments and houses tower the skyline, and the streets are wide and spacious. Everything is in excess, a stark contrast to the impoverished outlying towns you have passed through on your way here.

You move forward into the city; you have no choice, for the flood of people wanting to go in is carrying you like a log floating in a raging river. Most of the people immediately rush to the numerous stalls line the sides of the streets. The air is abuzz with the calls of vendors and excited kids, and carrying with it, a storm of different aromas, some familiar, some exotic, most of them good enough to induce your mouth to salivate.

"Are you tough enough? Are you the strongest? Do you deserve to stand atop the rest and be this year's Champion? Rush to the Western Plaza and sign up now! Last call! Last call!"

A high-pitched voice pierces through the noise, and you see a young lad clad running to and fro shouting the lines over and over while handing out pamphlets.

The Galican Tournament. Once a year, during the foundation celebration, a tournament is held in honor of the Great Founder. It accepts participants from all of Galica, and it is an ode to the battle prowess of the Founder. It is considered to be the highlight of the festivities. Fighting in the tournament is a reward in itself, doing it in front of the thousands of people in attendance. But those who participate don't look for anything less than being the Champion, for ridiculous amounts of wealth awaits.

And there is also the rumor that the Champion gets to have a private audience with the Emperor himself.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meem twists through the crowd, trying his best to avoid running into others, and snatches up one of the pamphlets to look it over while he makes his way towards the Western Plaza. He approaches the booth for the sign ups and starts to speak. "I'm here to sign up for the Galican Tournament. I'm not too late, am i? The names Meemaas. Be sure to remember it, for i will leave the champion."

[GuyFawkes]

An old human male looks up from his papers to regard you, his face serious, his green eyes weighing you against your words. After a few heartbeats, a grin slowly creeps up his face and he cackles.

"Hah! I like you. You're one confident kid. But then again, so are the rest of 'em. We don't need any more confident men, no. What we need is true power! Someone who could show us even just a glimpse of what the Great Founder would have looked like in the battlefield!"

By this time, the old man is already on his feet, leaning over the table, his face nearing yours.

"Do you have that power, Meemaasss?"

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"I guess you'll just have to see firsthand, won't you?" Meemaas smiles, pushing the old mans face away from him with a quick push. "When does this start anyways?"

[GuyFawkes]

The old man's face narrows and stares directly into yours for a few seconds before cackling.

"I like you, boy. You might be somethin' after all. I know these things. I see people's worth from their eyes. More or less. And you, you are destined for somethin' great. Somethin' that will shake Vinya, and maybe the whole of Vidalis." The old man smiles as he speaks, but his eyes are dead serious. He then grabs a blank form and shoves it on your chest.

"Here, fill that up and pass that to the lady over there," he points at a female elf at another table to his right. "She'll fill you in on the details. Show starts after noon. Better be ready!"


107th Galican Tournament

Sign Up Form

Name:
Age:
Country of origin:
Province:
Weapon of choice:
Desired reward:

[meemaas]

Meemaas

The young man fills out most of the form, and then approaches the elf he was pointed out to. "For desired reward, what kind of scope do i have to choose from? I thought there was a simple reward, not this kind of thing." He places the form in front of her, and then hesitates for a second, waiting for an answer.



Name:Meemaas
Age:20
Country of origin:Merrodanara
Province:Angara
Weapon of choice:Bastard Sword
Desired reward:___________

[GuyFawkes]

The elf smiles as you approach.

"Well met, sire. Ah, yes. Practically anything. There is no one in all of Vanalis who is more benevolent than the Emperor. If you please Him enough with your performance, the Emperor has the power to make possible your desires should you win and gain the title of Champion. In one way or another."

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"The emperor himself is giving the reward? Hmmmm. Would i be able to leave this blank and decide after the fact? Or must i decide now?"

[GuyFawkes]

"Yes, that is also possible. Here," she reaches out and receives your submission. "And well, the Emperor makes it possible. There is nothing that happens without the Emperor's favor, yes? As for if the Emperor bestows the gifts personally, that is another question that my lowly self is not worthy to know the answer to."

To the left of the table, beside the stacks of submission papers, is a red cardboard box about half a foot to a side. The elf lifts it up and presents it in front of you.

"Please take one piece of the folded bits of paper inside and show me the number."

Please roll 1d15.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

He reaches in and pulls out a number, unfolding it in such a way that the elf gets to see it without him noticing it. "Knowing my luck, whatever number this is will end up the worst result for me."

[roll0]

[GuyFawkes]

"Eleven," she says out loud as she writes down the number on top of your sign up form. Looking back at you, she continues.

"Right, what that means is you will be joining Group 11 in the preliminaries. The tournament consists of five stages, the Preliminaries, the Four by Four, the Quarter Finals, the Semi Finals, and the Champion's Battle. During the preliminaries, the contestants are grouped into sixteen groups, with each group having about ten or so contestants, depending on the turnout of the submissions. It will be a free-for-all fight, with the last man standing from each group moving into the next round."

"After the preliminaries have been decided, the remaining contestants will be grouped into fours randomly, and then matched against other quartets, also randomly, for the Four by Four. We will have two matches for this stage. The winners will then move on to the Quarter Finals. This stage will be done in pairs, the pairing and matching also random. The two pairs to emerge victorious will then move to the Semi Finals, with the matches also random. And then, finally, the last two standing will fight it out in the Champion's Battle to earn the title of Champion. And of course, your just reward in terms of gold and wondrous items."

The elf stops and smiles. "Oh, I am sorry. That was pretty lengthy now, wasn't it? Did you get all of that?" But she does not wait for your response, and she continues.

"As for the rules of battle, everything goes. You can use anything you have in your possession as you enter the field, use any method of fighting, be it fighting with weapons or with magic. A contestant is defeated once he or she dies, is incapable of continuing the fight, or voluntarily surrenders."

She closes her eyes and breathes deeply before opening them once more. "That covers pretty much everything you need to know. Are there any questions?"

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meem goes to respond when she asks if he got it all, and as he opens his mouth she continues. Rather than interrupting, he keeps listening, then pauses for a second and nods at her when she's done. "Nothing too important. Any idea why the sign up asks for my weapon of choice, by any chance?"

[GuyFawkes]

"Excellent question. Although, I have to again apologize, as the answer you seek is still beyond my lowly self." The elf woman bows her head as a sign of her apology.

"If you do not have any more questions, you are free to go and tend to your devices. Eat, prepare your gear, what ever you deem is needed to prepare. After an hour from now, you must report to the fighter's entrance of the Coliseum. You do know the Coliseum, right? It's that magnificent marvel of architecture right just across us," she nods at the huge oval-shaped building behind you. Indeed it is an architectural marvel, wrought of white stone and marble, shining in its full splendor under the morning Kalkum sun.

"You have to be there by then, or else your spot is forfeit. Once you arrive there, come here. Give me your hand." Once you do so, she opens your hand palm faced upwards, then mutters a few arcane words accompanied by deliberate series of wiggling of her fingers. Nothing seems to happen, but she lets go of your hand after that.

To be exact, a cantrip. You automatically notice the spell as an arcane mark.
http://shadowkissed.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/alchemistIcon.jpg

"There, just present your palm to the sentry. The tournament will not start long after that, so just wait there and maybe get to know your opponents, if you are that kind of person," she says with a smirk.

"That's it. Good luck and see you in the field. Give us a good show, will you?" She throws you one last smile before going back to sorting the submissions.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas takes a walk down into the city, walking randomly and passing the time while he mumbles to his pet rock. He wastes his time expertly, and then makes his way to the coliseum with only a few minutes to spare on his time limit, holding his palm up towards the guards as he enters.

[GuyFawkes]

The armored guard holds your hand and examines it with his glowing blue eyes, not unlike the glow yours have. With a nod, he asks your name, and when you reply and he verifies it on his list, he lets you in.

"Down this hall and fourth door to the left. Wait there until your number is called."

Down the hall and in the fourth door you go, and you find yourself in a large room together with a large number of people. By your estimate, the room contains well over a hundred, all participating in the tournament like you. The tournament is indeed famous, even outside of Galica, and this number is not surprising. And from this, you see the beauty of the Preliminaries. Truly, if the matches were held as one on one fights from the get go, the tournament would not finish in half a day. And this way, the audience get to see only the interesting fights, for while being famous is a good thing, it also has its drawbacks; many a farm boy who barely knows how to raise a sword or some novice adventurer seeking fame and fortune come to Kalkum on this day just for this event.

While you look for some place to settle down, you begin to notice the odd collection in the room with you. And yes, odd collection is a correct assessment, for you see warriors of different styles here, bearing different weapons. Mostly wear swords like, you, though there are of course there are the usual axes, polearms, maces, bows, and unarmed fighters. There are even some who look like mages, for while the tournament largely attracts warriors, even practitioners of magic cannot deny the exorbitant value of the reward for being Champion. In fact, you have heard of some wizards becoming Champions in the past. Some of them congregate in small circles - the ones who probably came in as groups - while most are either conversing by pairs or just by themselves. Others still are doing practice swings or shadow boxing, while others are either meditating or just sitting or standing doing nothing.

With your other eye, the one that sees on the level of auras being emanated by creatures and objects, the room is brightly lit despite torches being the only source of light. But even so, you can also see the varying discrepancy of the strength of auras among the participants. Most of them wear faint auras, but there are quite a number of moderate strength, and handful that almost blind you of the ones beside them. Interestingly, there are those who do not have auras around them, like this one unarmed fighter sitting in the lotus position in one corner. Others though, are a bit suspicious, since they emit no aura at all, but from what you see, they carry weapons of exquisite make; either they possess incredible fighting prowess or have some magic that conceals their magical strength, and apparently enough to thwart your magical vision. Either way, they are the ones to look out for, as they are definitely formidable.

Once you find a spot, you notice a young man looking at you. He then smiles at you and walks forward.

"Hey, there. The name's Vard. This your first time?" he asks as he extends his hand in front of you. As he does so, you can't help but notice the faint glow of Transmutation aura surrounding him.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas takes his hand and shakes it, with a smile, focusing on the young man while he did. "Meemaas. This is my first time being here for the tournament. How about you? I'm sure its not, but hey, can never be too sure, right?"

Using a standard action to focus on him and determine if he has any spellcasting abilities of his own. I don't expect him too, but its never a bad thing to check.

[GuyFawkes]

"Ha ha, do I look like a vet?" Vard chuckles. "But yeah, I've been in the tournament a couple times. Or more," he grins. "Unfortunately, I...haven't had any luck. Galica is just too big, too many monsters out there," he says while shaking his head.

"At least I am improving. Last year I have finally made it past the Preliminaries, so that's something!" he said aloud and with conviction.

He opens his mouth to continue, but before he could, one of the sentries enters the room and starts speaking.

"Listen up! We're starting! Those with numbers one to four, proceed through that door over there," he points at a double door to his left, opposite where you are standing at. "Those with numbers five to eight, stand by. That is all. Now move!"

With that, a number of people starts heading for the double doors. As it opens, you can hear the loud cheering from outside reach into the room.

"Wow, it's starting! I'm up next, group seven. Hey, what group are you? Gotta admit, got some pre-fight jitters. How 'bout you, Meemaass? You look like you got skills. You're not scared one bit, are you?" Whether he is indeed scared or excited, the start of the fight clearly has an effect on him, for Vard is talking fast now.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"Only the preliminaries? Well, hopefully you do better this time, would be nice to see you in a round later on. No, i'm not scared at all. I've had an...interesting upbringing, so not much scares me. I'm in group 11, by the way." He thinks for a second, and then reaches for the young mans weapon. "Let me see your weapon for a second, i'd like to give you a little helping hand."

If Jard lets Meem see his weapon, Meem will cast Greater Magic Weapon on it as a friendly gesture.

[GuyFawkes]

Vard smiles sheepishly. "I did manage to reach the Quarter Finals, but yeah, that was it."

"Oh, this? Uhm, okay," he says while taking out his sword and showing it to you. "It's not as good as...oh wait, hmm. You fight unarmed? Or are you a mage of some sort?" When you enchant his sword, he answers his own question. "You are a mage! Or maybe at least something like me. A fighter mage. I know a bit of magic too, but not as good as you apparently." He lifts his sword up and inspects it. He then turns and does a few practice swings with it.

"Yeah, I can't do this, all right. You must be pretty good!"

After more flattering words and a couple of thank you's, Vard continues to ask you more question. He is getting more and more excited, apparently the pre-fight jitters already gone. And when it seems like the questions aren't about to end, the guard from earlier steps into the room once more.

"Groups five to eight, you are up! Proceed through the door. Groups nine to twelve, on standby."

"Oh, that's me!" Vard exclaims, his face showing the jitters once more. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll meet you after the Prelims. Good luck to you!" With that, he along with another group disappears through the double doors, and now the people in the room is down to about half the original number.

Once Vard leaves, no one comes to do small talk with you, and you are left to you waiting alone. Well, not alone, but without anyone to converse with. The wait is not long though, for once again, the guard comes in to announce that your group is up.

As you go through the double doors, you find yourself in a dimly-lit hallway, and you hear the thunderous cheers once more. At the end you can see the hallway leads outside, with the sunlight beaming in. As you walk on, the hallway becomes brighter, and the noise becomes louder and louder, and you can see the silhouette of a person standing close to the end of the hallway.

"All right, boys and girls. You hear that?" The guard speaks almost in a shout, but his voice is barely audible above the crowd's cheers. "You better be ready to give them one heck of a show. Half of this is for the audience, after all. You all know the rules, right? Outside you'll find the field having four identical square rings. Group Nine goes to the far left, and Groups Ten, Eleven, and Twelve proceed in a clockwise manner from there. Now move! Go go go!"

You walk on towards the light, the bright sunlight blinds you momentarily as you step outside into the field, and you can notice the cheers become louder. After squinting a bit, your eyes adjust and you see before you four elevated rings, about a meter high, wrought of stone. You proceed to the closest of the four to your right, and you hop up on top of it. Along with you, ten other combatants come up one by one and stand along the edge of the ring. You notice an elf, a dwarf, a halfling, and a towering half-minotaur among them, with the rest seeming to be mostly humans like yourselves.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" comes a loud, booming, voice that drowns the crowd's cheers. "Here are the second to the last set of contestants for the Preliminaries. It looks like we have a strong-looking bunch here. Are you excited to see who wins this round?" With that, the crowd replies with a unanimous and very loud "Yes!".

"Right then, let this round of battles begin!"

A loud crash from a huge brass gong signifies the start of the contest, and war cries and clash of metal against metal erupts not too long after.

In your group, the first to react is one of the humanoids across you - planetouched, zenythri from the looks of it. He immediately fires a barrage of arrows from his impressive-looking and ridiculously-large bow at the half-minotaur to his right, all of his missiles finding their target. This enrages the half-minotaur, who roars and lowers its head before charging. Before its horns connect though, the zenythri nimbly jumps towards the center of the ring.

To your right, the elf and the dwarf, who had been eyeing each other since they had come up the ring, engage into a melee. The dwarf raises his axe and charges, swinging down hard. The nimble elf leaps sideways, avoiding the attack, and retaliates with two thrust of his rapier. Both connect, one clipping the dwarf's shoulder, the other nailing him directly on his chest plate with a force enough to divert the burly dwarf's forward momentum sideways.

One of the humans to the right, the female one, suddenly disappears, only to reappear to your left, beside another human, this one a male. Her sudden appearance surprises the male, and her first attack catches him offguard, connecting hard against armor. By the time she turns for her second attack, though, the man is ready and he raises his shield to deflect the blow wide to the side. Without losing beat, he uses the opening to swing his warhammer. The blow grazes the female's rib, eliciting a grunt from her.

ROUND 1

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88222)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas takes but a second to ponder, taking in the challenges he has to face here. He lunges towards the nearest foe to him, a sword forming in his hand as he strikes out at the man with it, gracefully moving in his strike to dodge the coming followup attack.

Moved to E19 Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88223)

Attack roll with Combat expertise [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

AC after attack: 60

Does he have any magic auras on him?

[GuyFawkes]

After a few moments of observing, you join in on the fray, choosing the warrior to your left as your first opponent. You charge in, and as you do so, a sword materializes from out of thin air into your hand. Your slash comes at the man fast and hard that he could not even bring up his weapons to defend himself, and immediately you draw blood on the first attack. Your opponent screams in pain and staggers back half a step, but he presses back and brings his dual swords forward from both sides like a pair of scissors snapping. His attack is a step slow though, as you are already well off his range by the time his attack reaches full swing. And all the while that this is happening, you observe with your blue eyes faint traces of transmutation magic on your opponent, all of them coming from his gear.

At the corner opposite you, the half-orc holds her huge sword with both hands to the side and charges at the contestant nearest her. She stops beside the robed man and swings a powerful horizontal slash. The swing crashes against an invisible barrier but the momentum carries the weapon through and bites against the flesh of the surprised target. But the man does not lose composure. He simply steps back and chants a spell, and when he finishes, the half-orc simply stops midway another swing.

The halfling closes in on the man with the hammer and shield, taking up flanking position. His shield and weapon engaged with the lady swordsman, he does not even notice the little guy until he feels two daggers pierce him just under his armor. He screams from the pain and turns, swinging wildly, missing badly. Before he could rectify his mistake with another attack, a powerful diagonal slash cuts across his back that ends with a burst of electricity, and his jerking body falls straight down into the stone floor. The two look at each other and grin, then look up at the crowd and raise their hands, eliciting their cheers. But the crowd has already erupted moments ago, and as the two look to their side, their smiles leave their face as they notice that the honor of first kill was already taken by the zenythri, who had his boot resting on top of the half-minotaur's head and waving his hand at the crowd.

Meanwhile, the elf and the dwarf continue their duel. The dwarf swings his axe left to right, right to left, but every time he does, the elf is a step ahead. As the fight continues, frustration builds up and the dwarf puts more weight into his swing, exposing himself more, opportunities that the elf does not let pass. His rapier flashes into the openings, always drawing blood, but never deep enough for a fatal blow. He is smiling, like he is just playing with his opponent.

ROUND 2

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88285)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
Contestants 2 and 4 are dead.
Contestant 6 is paralyzed.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas unleashes a flurry of strikes with his blade, almost faster than the eye can see, while taking advantage of that flurry to also shove his normally hidden claws into the mans chest. As he finishes his strikes, he unleashes a bit of his own power, his image shimmering as he suddenly appears across the battlefield, his weapon at the ready towards someone else.

Full attack with Combat Expertise (Note: All weapon attacks ignore armor and shield bonuses to AC, claw attacks do not)
Attack 1 [roll0] (+2 for linked striking)
Damage [roll1] (+2 for linked striking)
Linked Striking [roll2]
Attack 2 [roll3] (+2 for linked striking)
Damage [roll4] (+2 for linked striking)
Linked Striking [roll5]
Attack 3 [roll6] (+2 for linked striking)
Damage [roll7] (+2 for linked striking)
Linked Striking [roll8]
Attack 4 [roll9] (+2 for linked striking)
Damage [roll10] (+2 for linked striking)
Linked Striking [roll11]
Claw [roll12]
Damage [roll13]

Then use a swift action to manifest hustle, and take a move action away from the enemy, using a point from my arcane pool to teleport with dimensional slide without provoking to N18

AC is still 60

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88338)

[GuyFawkes]

In a blink of an eye, the man falls down bloodied to the floor as you disappear and move towards your next target. In front of you, the dwarf relentlessly goes after his quarry despite his swings missing badly and the elf never seeming to miss him at all. After a few more exchanges, the elf notices your approach and decides to finish the game, stepping back to avoid a horizontal axe slash and then lunging in with his rapier. The blade pierces through armor and flesh, and as the elf retracts his weapon, the dwarf falls to his knees, then sideways, very much dead.

The man in robes at the far end of the ring takes the opportunity and fires a green ray at the distracted zenythri, or so he thought, for the latter deftly dodges the ray and spins to face the man and retaliate with a volley of arrows. All four arrows hit their mark and the man looks to be hurt badly, but surprisingly, not out of commission yet.

Meanwhile, the halfling steps closer to the lady swordsman while she places her hand on his shoulder. Both disappear, only to reappear beside you instantly. The pair quickly unleash their fury in an impressive display of dancing metal, but your defense is even more impressive, picking each swing off and deflecting them harmlessly away.

ROUND 3

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88453)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
Contestant 1 and 9 are dead.

The spells used this round: disintegrate, dimension door.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas smiles as he expertly avoids the attacks at him, before striking back in an expertly flurry of strikes of his own, as he weaves around and slides out of range of them afterwards.

Attacks are aimed at the caster first, then the other one with any leftover strikes, still using combat expertise

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2] (+2 if previous attack hit the same target)
Damage [roll3] (+2 and [roll4] if previous attack hit the same target)

Attack 3 [roll5] (+2 if previous attack hit the same target)
Damage [roll6] (+2 and [roll7] if previous attack hit the same target)

Attack 4 [roll8] (+2 if previous attack hit the same target)
Damage [roll9] (+2 and [roll10] if previous attack hit the same target)

Claw [roll11]
Damage [roll12]

AC is still 60. Five foot step away when i'm done, whether they live or die.
Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88501)

[GuyFawkes]

Your hand moves in such speed that the woman swordsman seems to be parrying against multiple attackers at the same time. She attempts to block, but each time her sword is a step slow, and all but one of your strikes manage to draw blood. As you step back away from range, she is but a bloody mess, slumping down and to the side. Behind you, the elf meets your retreat with a lunge, but even without looking back, you simply bend a little to the left to avoid his rapier. The halfling calmly steps forward despite the demise of his comrade and spins his daggers in an attempt to distract you. In your eyes though, they seem to move in slow motion, and as they come in towards you from different angles, you simply place your sword in their path even before they complete their motion, making the halfling feel like he is hitting a solid wall.

Back at the battle between the mage and the archer, the mage tries another approach, seeing that catching his opponent with a ray seems impossible. He tries to attack his mind like the half-orc. Big mistake, and also his last, he thinks to himself as he watches four arrows coming straight at him. All four impact his chest, exploding in a chain of fire, ice and electricity blasts, and when the smoke dissipates, he is lying on the ground dead.

ROUND 4

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88524)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
Contestants 7 and 8 are down.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas slides away from the gnome, ignoring him like he didn't matter, and focuses his assault on the elf this time.

Five foot step to O16, and full attack 10

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2] (+2 if previous attack hit)
Damage [roll3] (+2 and [roll4] if previous attack hit)

Attack 2 [roll5] (+2 if any previous attack hit)
Damage [roll6] (+2 and [roll7] if any previous attack hit)

Attack 2 [roll8] (+2 if any previous attack hit)
Damage [roll9] (+2 and [roll10] if any previous attack hit)

Attack 2 [roll11]
Damage [roll12]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88609)

[GuyFawkes]

Your blade moves in a blur, going at the elf in all directions. Either by dumb luck or by genuine skill or the distraction provided by the halfling who relentlessly but calmly stalks you and comes at you - still unsuccessfully - with his twin daggers or maybe even a mental lapse on your part, he manages to parry and avoid some of your strikes. But the worst part of it all, he manages to sneak in one thrust through your formidable defenses. After the quick exchange, he is bloodied and wobbly, but still standing. He then straightens up, raises his rapier forward, and smiles while motioning a "Bring it on" with his off hand.

The only contestant left standing and not involved in your melee - the zenythri - simply walks over to the half-minotaur's body and sits on its shoulder to observe your fight.

ROUND 5

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88710)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
Death claimed no one last round!

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas laughs as the strike barely even draws blood and taunts the elf. "Is that the best you can do?" He glances over at the Zenythri and yells over at him. "I hope you're a better challenge than these walking corpses!!" As he finishes his sentence, he makes a quick flourish with his blade, striking out at the elf with everything he's got, and then turning the remainder of his attacks on the halfling.


Attack 1 [roll0] (+2 bonus for having hit the elf before)
Damage [roll1] (+2 and [roll2] for having hit the elf before)

Attack 1 [roll3] (+2 bonus if still striking the elf)
Damage [roll4] (+2 and [roll5] if still striking the elf)

Attack 1 [roll6] (+2 bonus if striking a target i previously hit this wave of attacks)
Damage [roll7] (+2 and [roll8] if striking a target i previously hit this wave of attacks)

Attack 1 [roll9] (+2 bonus if striking a target i previously hit this wave of attacks)
Damage [roll10] (+2 and [roll11] if striking a target i previously hit this wave of attacks)

Claw [roll12]
Damage [roll13]

AC is still 60

I'll also use a swift action and expend my crystal psionic focus to charge my mind blade with psychic strike, and if a spell is cast on me, i'll expend that to absorb it with my blade skill.

[GuyFawkes]

"Oh, I will most certainly try," the zenythri replies with a sly grin as your next pair of strikes finally drop the elf. You then turn to regard the persistent halfling with your blade, but he avoids some of your blows and continues to come at you, but his skill is just not close to touching yours.

ROUND 6

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88790)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
Contestant 10 is down.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas shoves his free hand into the halflings gut and then starts walking calmly towards the Zenythri, ignoring the halfling, he takes up a prepared stance pointing his blade towards him. "Lets see what you've got."


Claw attack, no combat expertise [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

AC is down to 44

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=88857)

Should he cast a spell, i will expend my psychic strike to absorb it with the absorbing blade blade skill.

[GuyFawkes]

Your claw attack delivers a deep blow to the halfling. You leave him for dead, but he somehow manages to stay up and come at you once more. He is just on a different league though, and his dagger only manages to crash against an invisible field surrounding you.

The zenythri grins at the display and stands up slowly. "Impressive. You make the poor fellow look like a child. Oh, pardon me. I don't mean the stature."

Even before he finishes speaking, he manages to draw an arrow, nock it, level his bow, and fire at you so fast that your eyes see him move but your body can't quite follow. Before you can move your blade to parry, the arrow slips past your mind shield and buries itself on your chest.

"Good enough for you?" he says with another grin.

ROUND 7

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=89015)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
You receive 20 piercing/magical damage and 5 force damage.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"Color me impressed. That was certainly faster than i would have expected. Lets see how long you hold up in a real fight though." As he speaks, he crouches a little, lurching forward with impressive speed as his weapons strike out in a blur towards the challenging foe.

Manifest Psionic Lions charge as a swift action for 9 PP

Charge attack
Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2] (+2 if previous attack hit)
Damage [roll3] (+2 and [roll4] if previous attack hit)

Attack 3 [roll5] (+2 if previous attack hit)
Damage [roll6] (+2 and [roll7] if previous attack hit)

Attack 4 [roll8] (+2 if previous attack hit)
Damage [roll9] (+2 and [roll10] if previous attack hit)

Claw [roll11]
Damage [roll12]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=89052)

AC is still 44

[GuyFawkes]

"It would be my plea--"

The zenythri is cut mid-sentence as you come at him with such speed. He is not however without his tricks, and like earlier against the half-minotaur, he effortlessly leaps away a split-second before your blade cuts the space where he used to stand. He lands gracefully quite a distance from you, smiles, and fires off an arrow storm. They come at you almost at the same time at such blinding speed, but you are ready for them this time, and you parry all but one of the seven missiles.

He then whistles as he finishes. "Ooh. That was one of my best attacks, and yet it did nothing? Terrifying!" He says the word, but his face is showing the opposite.

Meanwhile, the halfling stands where you left him, weapons and jaw down on his sides as he looks at the exchange between you and the zenythri. When it is all over - only a couple of heartbeats having passed - it is only then that the level gap between him and you sinks in. He shakes his head and walks towards the edge of the ring.

"Forget it, I ain't got nothing to do with those monsters," he calls out to one of the officials nearby to signify his bowing out of the competition.

ROUND 7

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=89343)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
You are hit with 24 piercing/magical and 5 force damage.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"Impressive. That one almost tickled. Almost." Meemaas stretches out his hand with a smirk, a white glow taking over his free hand, he gestures towards the Zenythri with a quick thrust, surrounding the agile enemy with ice that quickly attempts to free him over.

Casting Icy Prison on the Zenythri, expending one point from my arcane reservoir to increase its DC. Reflex save DC 27 or be made helpless, and still entangled on a successful save.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=89446)

[GuyFawkes]

"Tough. For the first time I am not sure if I --"

The zenythri is cut off again when out of nowhere cold air swirls around him. He jumps away on instinct, avoiding being trapped in a block of ice that forms in the space where he stood just stood.

"Hey, you are not one to be polite, are you?" he says before firing off four arrows. The first one streaks through the air cackling with energy and pierces your defenses once more. The next arrow follow closely, like being drawn to the first one, and also hits you. For the next two though, your reaction catches up and you are able to deflect them harmlessly away with your sword.

"Oww. What is this?" the zenythri flinches as he feels the chilling bite affect his body. He flexes his arm and notices his body reacting slowly to his mind's commands. "The effect of spell, huh? Devious." He shakes his head, but he still manages to beam a smile at you.

ROUND 9

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=89481)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
You receive 35 and 27 piercing/magical and 10 force damage.
The zenythri is dealt 16 cold damage and is entangled.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"Still impressive. I almost wish i could savor this, but i'm sure there will be harder foes than you coming up, won't there?" He glances back at the half-orc that appeared to be trying to sneak up on him and laughs, before holding out his hand, looking back at his real foe. "Don't blink, you might miss it." In that instant, his image shimmers out of view, only to appear on one side of his foe, followed by the other, and back again, attacks striking out from his image every time he reappeared.

Casting Dimension door as a swift action thanks to my Dimension Dervish feat to make a full attack using combat expertise

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2] (+2 if first attack hit)
Damage [roll3] (+2 and [roll4] if first attack hit)

Attack 3 [roll5] (+2 if a previous attack hit)
Damage [roll6] (+2 and [roll7] if a previous attack hit)

Attack 4 [roll8] (+2 if a previous attack hit)
Damage [roll9] (+2 and [roll10] if a previous attack hit)

Claw [roll11]
Damage [roll12]

The bonus to my second attack and on is due to me counting as flanking with myself through the dimensional savant feat.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=89616)

AC is back up to 60.

[GuyFawkes]

Your sword moves so fast even the nimble zenythri could not keep up with his full concentration, and the fact that you seem to disappear and reappear in front of him and behind him complicates his task even more. He brings up his bracer to block a wide cut from the right but the image blurs and he grunts as the real strike slashes at his torso. Realizing he could not defend against the succeeding blows, he throws a feint and leaps away to your right. His knees almost buckles as he lands right near the edge of the ring, but he straightens up, levels his bow, holds his breath, and fires a single arrow at you. It comes straight for your chest and even with your defensive stance it comes so fast it passes your blade, but as you brace yourself for the hit, it crashes loudly against your invisible shield, the force of it shattering the arrow.

"Tsk, I may not win after all. Oww." He winces again as the cold grasp of the spell bites at him once more. He then shifts his stance to a more relaxed one.

A loud roar distracts him and he turns to his left as the hlaf-orc comes running in. Apparently the spell holding her in place has worn off, and she is out for revenge. She stops and looks at you then the zenythri, wondering which one to choose for her target.

OOC: Yeah sorry for the orc token. I forgot to move it back, since she should be moving after you.

ROUND 10

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=89631)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
You deal 45 slashing/magical and 16 ice damage.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas smiles, and calls off after his foe. "Maybe you ought to just give up. If my victory is clearly inevitable at this point. After all, all i need do now is defend myself, and sooner or later that ice will finish you." As he does so, his image shimmers out of place once more, and within a mere moment, he's up close to his foe, swinging his blade in yet again.

Spend a point from my arcane pool to use dimensional slide, teleporting the distance between myself and my foe instantly, and then attack with combat expertise as a standard action.

Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1] and [roll2]

Ac is still 60

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=89785)

[GuyFawkes]

Your attack connects hard, and your opponent clearly staggers from the blow. Using the force of your attack though, he lets his body get pushed back and he creates enough separation to draw his bow and nock an arrow. He holds his breath and suddenly his arrow shimmers with something akin to starlight.

"Not if I drop you first!"

He lets fly four arrows in rapid succession. You block the first two, but a simple touch from the arrows sends a shock to your body. Noting this, you simply dodge the last two. When it was all over and you are clearly still standing, the zenythri simply smiles and raises his weapon.

"That's all I have. You win. Oww," he says before the cold bite shocks his body once more. He slowly goes down the ring while rummaging his haversack, muttering something like "Damn, did I bring something for this?"

You may have won over the only decent opponent this round, but the battle is not over. Behind you, a massive sword swings down over your left shoulder and crashes against your invisible armor.

The half-orc.

ROUND 11

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=89800)

INITIATIVE:
Contestant 5: (1d20+15)[26]
Contestant 9: (1d20+2)[21]
Contestant 10: (1d20+10)[20]
Contestant 8: (1d20+7)[20]
Contestant 4: (1d20+2)[18]
Contestant 2: (1d20+8)[17]
Meemaas: (1d20+10)[14]
Contestant 6: (1d20+4)[13]
Contestant 1: (1d20+5)[12]
Contestant 3: (1d20+5)[11]
Contestant 7: (1d20+4)[6]

TACTICAL:
You deal 61 slashing/magical and 16 ice damage.
You receive 20 and 19 magical/piercing and 10 force damage.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"Should have gotten his name before he walked out. Well, i'm sure i can find him later." Turning around carefully, Meem bats away the sword with his free hand, and then, in a flash, unleashes a flurry of strikes upon the half-orc as though it were childs play. "You know you're way out of your league, don't you? Why do you even bother?"

Full attack with combat expertise.

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2] (+2 assuming i hit previously)
Damage [roll3] (+2 and [roll4] assuming i hit previously)

Attack 3 [roll5] (+2 assuming i hit previously)
Damage [roll6] (+2 and [roll7] assuming i hit previously)

Attack 4 [roll8] (+2 assuming i hit previously)
Damage [roll9] (+2 and [roll10] assuming i hit previously)

Claw [roll11]
Damage [roll12]

AC is 60

[GuyFawkes]

The same flurry of blades come from Meemaas, now directed against the only other remaining contestant. After it is over - in but a blink of an eye - the half-orc is left with no ability to reply to his question as she slumps down on the ground in a pool of her own blood. A heartbeat later the crowd erupts in cheers.

"There we have it! For group eleven, our winner, Meemaaaaaas!!" the magically-amplified voice cuts through the loud noise announcing your official win. One of the officials standing on the side of the ring comes closer and gives you ample time to take in all the adulation directed your way before he calls out to you and guides you to the other side of the coliseum and back into another tunnel. At about the end, you are ushered through a wooden door and into a small waiting room. Inside, you see a smaller group of people, most probably the winners of the previous groups.

"Hey! You made it!" comes the familiar voice of Vard as he approaches you. "Ha ha, what am I saying? Of course you did! Of course you did!" he says with a grin. "So how did it go? Easy win?"

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas smiles at his friend, taking a moment to focus himself as he approaches him. "It was easier than easy. Nothing to it. How about you? Did you find it easy?"

Taking a moment to regain my psionic focus that i had used during the fight.

[GuyFawkes]

"Not easier-than-easy easy, but yeah, surprisingly easier than I've ever had since I first joined here. Maybe I improved quite a lot!" Vard states rather enthusiastically. Then, as sudden as the delight springs on his face, a frown takes it place. "Or maybe I was just grouped with the weak ones."

After a few heartbeats or so, he simply shrugs. "Bah, a win is a win in my books!" he says with a grin.

"OKay, we've probably quite some time before the next round since there's still going to be another batch of the Preliminaries after you, so we can rest up here. They have food and drinks here, so you might want to eat a little. Shame there's no beer or any alcohol but hey, the food's great! Come, let's grab some," he says while moving in to push you towards the table at the back.

"Hey, you seem poked in more places than one," Vard finally notices as he comes in closer. "You got something for that? I've got a lot of spare here." As he asks, he is already rummaging the inside of his backpack.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"Purely superficial my friend. Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Keep your stuff for yourself, after all, there's definitely the chance you'll have to face off against me in the upcoming rounds." With that, he moves off, going to collect something to eat before taking a seat at the table Jard was suggesting with a smile.

[GuyFawkes]

You spend the time waiting for the last round of the Preliminaries to finish by eating and chatting with Vard, who does most of the talking. He recounts how he won the Prelims in vivid detail, and when he finishes that, he begins with how he fared the last year.

Vard is in the middle of his story – right about the part where he finishes off the last member of the opposing team and finally breaks into the Quarterfinals – the door opens and a group comes in: the victors of the last round. Behind them, one of the sentries follows and addresses you all.

“Congratulations to every one of you for making it past the Preliminaries. Next up is the Four by Four. Please wait here while we set up the stage and decide on the teams for the next round. You can use the time to rest and mend your injuries. As you have been told, there is food at the back of the room. You are free to partake of it as you wish. I will be back with the announcement of the team members and the start of the next round.”

It does not take long – about as long as the wait for the last round of the Preliminaries – before the sentry returns. He starts off by announcing the members of each team. After that, the room stirs as contestants group themselves. As you do so yourself, you find you are grouped with an interesting bunch: a burly half-minotaur raptoran, with a small sized gnome sitting on his shoulder, a young female human clad in robes, and a mid-aged half-orc lugging a battleaxe on his shoulder bearing full plate armor.

The sentry leads all of you back out the door and down the hallway to the grounds. Outside, you hear amplified music over the thunderous cheers of the crowd. The sentry stops at the end of the hallway and motions for you to wait. After a few seconds, the music stops.

“My, my, what a scintillating performance! As always! Give it up once more for the ladies of the Kalkum Royal Dance Troupe!” the voice of the announcer comes before the crowd erupts once more into cheers.

“As hot as the Galican sun this time of the year that number may be, we all know what we came here for. That’s right, the fights continue!” the announcer goes on before another thunderous reply from the audience.

“Do you want more action?!!” the voice asks, with a loud and unanimous “Yes!!” as a reply. “Do you want more action?!!!” he asks again, and a much louder reply comes.

“Alright! Without further ado, here are your contestants for the next round of the Galican Tournament: the Four by Four!!”

The sentry looks at you and shouts “Go! Go!” while motioning for you to move forward and out into the field, but you only see his lips move as the crowd drowns his voice. As the first of you appear out in the open and in view of the audience, the cheers become much louder and wilder. Tournament officials approach you and guide you to where you will be starting.

On the field, you notice the four identical square stone rings have been replaced by two larger, but still identical stone rings. However, these two are different from the previous ones in that on two sides, there are two raised dais about five feet high and five fifteen-foot square pillars about thirty feet high lined up in the middle between the two daises, equidistant from each other.

The tournament officials guide your group to the square ring farthest from where you entered the field and instructed your group to stand at one of the raised dais. On the other side, another group stands similarly. As you scan them, they seem comprised mostly of young human males, mostly looking like warrior types.

“Settle down folks. We will now begin the Four by Four by explaining the rules. This round basically uses the same rules as the previous round, except you will be fighting in a group. Fight until all your opponents are down and your team wins. All team members of the losing team proceeds to the next round, unless of course that particular member is dead. In which case, the committee will select from the members of the losing teams.”

“This year’s Four by Four, however, will be done with a twist. As you may have noticed, we have quite a different stage set up for this round, particularly the five pillars with golden disks on top of them. So here is how it goes: this year, the winning team is decided by points. Each team earns points either by defeating a member of the opposing team or by retrieving one of those golden disks and successfully bringing them to their respective dais. A defeated opponent is worth one point, while a retrieved disk is worth two points. A team needs five points to win.”

“Needless to say, there are more than one ways to win. Easiest of course is to finish off all of your opposing team’s members and retrieve just one golden disk and you win. However, we have put an incentive to give this twist the necessary pull to make it such – a twist – and not just be ignored. See those golden disks? They’re not just golden in color. They’re actually made from solid gold. And each one of them weighs about ten pounds. That’s right, folks! Ten pounds of solid gold!” A loud gasp of astonishment spreads across the audience.

“And you can take them home if you retrieve them, regardless of whether your team wins or loses. Easy money, right?!” The crowd replies with a unanimous “Yeah!”

“ Makes it worth your while to actually make an effort to get one of these, right?! ”

“Yeah!!” the crowd shouts again.

“But, there is a catch. Of course, there’s always a catch. I mean, you can just go and finish off all your opponents and take all that gold, right?”

“YEAH!!”

“WRONG!!”

The crowd suddenly goes silent, and soon whispers of questions follow.

“You can only take these golden disks as your prize if at the moment you successfully retrieved it, there are still members of the opposing team up and able to fight. That way, our contestants will truly consider their options on how to achieve victory. Fifty pounds of gold is a lot of gold, folks! And you get to take it home even if you lose!”

“Oh, and one more thing. Each contestant can only retrieve one golden disk. Succeeding golden disks must be retrieved by another contestant or it is invalid, both in points and as a take home prize.”

The crowd suddenly ooohs at the enlightenment and slowly the claps build up into raucous cheers once more.

“Alrighty, folks! With that behind us, it is time to start! Let the Four by Four begin!”

Just like in the Preliminaries, a loud crash from the giant gong signals the start of the round.

You now focus to the enemy in front of you. Or at least they should be; if not for the pillars in between, you should be able to see them clearly. At least some of you are able to see some of your opponents through the gaps.

"Hey, up here guys!"

From atop the right-most pillar, one of the opponents appear to be standing and pointing some weird apparatus at you.

"Say cheese!"

The device suddenly is engulfed in blackness, but nothing happens. Not until you notice the rubbery tentacles that erupt from the stone floor. Each of them tries to grab and entwine around the closest member of your group it can reach.

black tentacles
ROUND 1

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=91259)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Meemaas, Plaut, Sammy, and Ran must succeed on a grapple check against DC 27 or be grappled.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas twists away from the tentacles grip, watching as the more mobile of his allies do the same, he smiles and allows his image to shimmer out of view, reappearing in the middle of the center platform, yelling out at the one who got the first strike. "Like your idea, I might just steal it" As he does, he holds out his hand, his magic blasting out from it, a similar effect would form from beneath the feet of his enemy team, as he placed his other hand on the gold disk, as if claiming it as his own.

Spend a point from my arcane reservoir to use dimensional slide to move as noted, then cast Black Tentacles.

Following your lead, your team will have to make a grapple check against DC 24.

Plaut and Ran made the opposed check and won't be grappled, but Sammy is.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=91279)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas casts his own version of the spell the man in black cast on his team mates. The spell hits the rest of the opposing team, but only the wild-looking one to the left is caught by one of the waving black tentacles.

"Oh, this is disgusting."

He tries to break his way out of the bind, but the tentacle only tightens its grip and strains his body.

ROUND 1

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=91427)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Eurus is grappled and takes 5 damage.

[meemaas]

Plaut

Plaut pushes himself upward into the air, growling at the caster of the spell as he made a gesture. "You're mine." The half-orc swerves through the tentacles to get out of their reach and then makes a quick gesture causing himself to quickly teleport to the same pillar as the caster, holding out his battleaxe menacingly.


Dimension Door

In case of an expected provoked AoO.

Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=91538)

[GuyFawkes]

Plaut also leaps through space, covering the distance between him and the opponent at the right pillar in a blink of an eye. He bares his battleaxe, menacing the black-clad caster with his large axe.

Meanwhile, something begins to happen with the disk that Meemaas is holding. His fingers begin to tingle and slowly build up, until the energy erupts in a flash.

"Oh! Did you see that? Another twist I forgot to mention! Grabbing those disks won't be as easy as grabbing it and going back. No, no, no! It is enchanted with a few choice magic to make it a bit interesting for all of us! As you have just seen, one of them is lightning magic that will continue to damage the bearer as long as he or she lays hand on the disk. Another thing, the bearer is weighed down and slowed while he is touching the disk. And finally, contestants cannot simply use teleportation magic to retrieve the disk. They might be able to move through the Astral Plane, but they can't bring it along with them. Exciting, isn't it?!"

One of the opponents, the one at the back steps away from the tentacle and wiggles his hands. In a split second, he is up in the air almost level with Meemaas and the others on the top of the pillars. He points at Meemaas and a blazing light streaks at him, but the light passes inches to to the right without harm.

ROUND 1

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=91603)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Gail is 30 feet up in the air.
Meemaas takes 1 lightning damage. All his speeds are also halved as long as he is holding the disk.

[meemaas]

Sammy

Sammy struggles against the tentacles, hurling out swear words at the caster as she did. "I'm gonna **** your **** **** **** face when i get out of here you **** of a ****"

Against DC 27, she only has one chance of getting out. Rolling a natural 20, but i'll still take the standard action to try [roll0]

[GuyFawkes]

Sammy cannot help but lash out verbally as she feels helpless against the tentacles. As she struggles, she feels it tighten around her, pressing hard against her skin and bones.

The human male carrying a huge sword on his back lifts up the ground to avoid the annoying tentacles. He flies to the left, over the other male who was caught by one of the tentacles and shouts at him while he passes overhead.

"Hey, Eurus. Is that the best you can do? Even pretty boy over there managed to get himself out without any problems," he says, pointing at the floating tiefling. With a determined roar, the one called Eurus breaks through the clutches of the tentacle with sheer brute strength.

"Ha ha! That's more like it! Come on, they seem to be having more trouble getting out of Uriah's spell. You take the rightmost pillar, I'll go for the one beside it."

"Che! Who made you the boss?"

With a shrug and a grin, the man flies forward towards the second pillar to your right, ending about ten feet up and grabbing the handholds of the ladder, while the other one - Eurus - dashes for the rightmost one.

white raven tactics
ROUND 1

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=91845)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Gail is 30 feet up in the air.
Meemaas takes 1 lightning damage. All his speeds are also halved as long as he is holding the disk.
Sammy is grappled and takes 6 damage.
Feanor is 10 feet up on the ladder.

[meemaas]

Ran

Ran leaps up into the air, his large wings unfolding as he bolts across the battlefield, charging up in the air with the gnome on his shoulder rolling down his arm into his hand. As he takes hold of her, he whispers softly to her. "Ready Nib?" The little gnome nods with a smile, and as he reaches the apex of his charge, he hurls her with impressive strength towards the first target, causing her to bounce back almost as fast for him to spin and hurl a second time at him, before allowing her to return and be flung one last time.

Ran will make a charge attack into the air, flinging his thrown weapon gnome as a full attack at Eurus.

Attack roll 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Associated Bull rush [roll2]
Downward aimed bullrush damage [roll3]

Attack roll 2 [roll4]
Damage [roll5]
Associated Bull rush [roll6]
Downward aimed bullrush damage [roll7]

Attack roll 3 [roll8]
Damage [roll9]
Associated Bull rush [roll10]
Downward aimed bullrush damage [roll11]

Edit: Forgot the Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=91937)

[GuyFawkes]

Ran takes flight and begins his attack with - weirdly enough - the gnome that is sitting on his shoulder. He hurls the poor creature down at Eurus as a throwing weapon, or more precisely, a bombardment. His first attack hits the target with force and seems to drive the young man down into the stone, but Eurus resists the crushing weight by using his muscles and shifting his body to avoid much of the attack. The impact makes the gnome bounce back and amazingly back to the half-minotaur's hand, ready for another attack.

Ran throws the creature down again and Eurus looks up in time to note the speeding ball of gnome about to crush him to death. With the speed it is coming, he knows he cannot avoid it, and he simply says "Oh, ****" before closing his eyes to expect the hit. A split second later, he hears the loud retort from the impact, but he opens his eyes and he seems to be alive still. He sees the gnome returning to Ran's hand and him throwing it back at him again, but this time he is prepared for it. He steps to the right and avoids the gnome as it hits hard on the stone and actually make a deep hole before rebounding back to its thrower.

"You owe me one," the tiefling calls out from the back.

"What? Oh. That was you, huh? Dammit. Oh, what the heck, thanks!" Eurus manages to say with a grin.

At the other side, up atop the rightmost pillar, the one called Uriah smiles at the half-orc with his raised battleaxe. "I'm yours? Oh, sorry. You're not my type." Without so much as any warning, he disappears and reappears atop the pillar to the left. In each of his hands is a weird device similar to the one he cast the spell with earlier. He points it at the half-orc and both go off with a loud bang, hurtling small projectiles too fast for the naked eye.

ROUND 2

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=92077)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Gail is 30 feet up in the air.
Feanor is 10 feet up on the ladder.
Eurus receives 42 damage.
Plaut is attacked with the following:
Attack 1: 36
Damage: 29 (7 sonic, 5 force, 17 piercing/magical)

Attack 2: 26
Damage: 30 (8 sonic, 5 force, 17 piercing/magical)

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas smiles as he turns his gaze towards the tiefling in the back, and holds his hand out towards him, more of his magic letting out as a sphere of ice attempts to form around him, while holding out his weapon prepared for the next retaliation.

Meemaas will be simple and just cast Icy Prison on Feanor. Reflex DC 27

Knowledge (Arcana) [roll0]

Plaut

Plaut laughs as the attacks hit him. He quickly manages a few arcane gestures, impressive considering his very heavy armor, and then lurches towards Uriah, his axe whistling as it slides through the air.


Wraithstrike
Empowered Energy Substitution Invisible Energy Admixture Searing Orb of Cold


Attack roll [roll1] Vs. Touch AC
Damage [roll2]
Damage [roll3] Fire Damage (Half damage versus Fire Immunity)
DC 19 fort save or staggered.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=92120)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas turns towards Feanor and casts his icy prison. Uriah sees the opportunity to shoot at him, but Meemaas simply leans to his left and dodges the attack completely. He finishes his spell, but Feanor avoids being trapped in the ice. He does not, however, escape its secondary bite, and he could feel his muscles tightening from the cold.

Plaut decides to press on with his attack, opting to go with a spell to go along with his attack. He does not count on Uriah's attack range, however, and his spell fizzles as another projectile rocks his body and he loses concentration. Nonetheless, he leaps forward - to which Uriah again responds with a missile attack - and bares down with his battleaxe that burrows neatly through armor even without the magic.

The tiefling once again attacks Meemaas, this time with a beam that glimmers of moonlight. And this time, he connects. The outright damage is not much for someone like Meemaas, but there seems to be something more, as he feels his mind being starting to cloud.

ROUND 2

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=92500)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Gail is 30 feet up in the air.
Feanor is 10 feet up on the ladder and is entangled.
Plaut is hit with 34 (7 sonic, 5 force, 22 piercing/magical) and 29 (7 sonic, 5 force, 17 piercing/magical) damage.
Uriah is dealt 16 slashing damage.
Meemaas takes 32 damage (half cold, half untyped) and must succeed a DC 22 Will save or be confused for 5 rounds.
The attacks the tiefling are using are called spellshape attacks. The first one you seem to remember to be called something like sunfire, which as its name implies, channels the power of the sun, while the one that hits you is called moonflare. And this particular moonflare attack seems to have some other spell laced around it, that attacks the mind.

He also utilizes another type of magic, the one he is using to surround himself, the one your arcane eyes can see as an aura emitting evocation. It is similar to the magic used in creating walls of force or forcecages, but inherently different. You recall tales of mages focusing on barrier-type magic who are able to create barriers almost at will (the tiefling cast it as a reaction to Ran's attack) and manipulate their properties (he cast the barrier around himself and moved the barrier up, hence his location currently), although they are not indestructible like a standard wall of force or forcecage; they could be broken with enough damage.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

As the tiefling prepares to attack Meemaas, he places his hand over his crystal and unleashes a burst of his own magical power outwards. Images of both fear and destruction assault his attackers mind as he goes to attack.

Manifest Untouchable Aura as an immediate action by expending my Psicrystals personal focus. All attackers regardless of their manner of attack must succeed on a Will Save DC 28 or lose their attack.

Also, just in case he does pass his will save to attack me still, [roll0]

Sammy

Sammy struggles against the tentacles again, grumbling with her coarse language about how she wished she knew teleportation magic.

Attempt to break the grapple check, natural 20 needed [roll1]

Being that the map is unchanged until i drop a dispel on the tentacles, i'm gonna pass on reposting it.

[GuyFawkes]

Gail focuses, piercing through the mental assault and completes his attack at Meemaas. He smiles as his beam connects, both from relief and from awe at his opponent's abilities; it is difficult enough to hit him, but even when he does, the attack does not seem to do much.

Feanor cringes as the cold bites through his muscles. He lets go of the handhold and flies around to his right and up.

"Hey, Eurus. Change of plans. We take down the flying whale first!"

"Way ahead of you, bro!"

With a loud roar, Eurus bounds up the ladder and stands up the pillar in a few heartbeats, bringing to bear his weapon - a glaive - and ready to exact revenge. As he does so, Feanor flies up towards Ran and draws his sword and raises it high. As he levels with the half-minotaur, he shouts "Let's go Lamia!" and he swings his sword down so fast that it cuts through the air and produces a loud sound, like a dragon's roar.

ROUND 2

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=92601)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Gail is 30 feet up in the air.
Feanor is 30 feet up in the air and is entangled. He also attacks Ran with the following:
Attack: 33
Damage: 45 slashing/magical. DC 23 Will save or be shaken for 2 rounds.

[meemaas]

Ran

As Feanor moves in to attack Ran, Ran grabs his Gnome and swings her at him to knock him back. After taking the brunt of the attack with his body, he bolts upwards just a little and flings his gnome downward at Gail, hoping to continue the job he started before.

Being a large creature, I do have reach to hit Feanor before he gets close enough to hit, so here's the roll for my AoO

Attack roll [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Bull Rush [roll2]

Five foot upwards at an angle and then thrown attack again to attempt to bull rush Gail into the ground

Attack roll [roll3]
Damage [roll4]
Bull Rush [roll5]
Bull Rush Damage [roll6]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=92640)

Ran is now 35 foot up in the air.

[GuyFawkes]

Ran hurls the gnome at the approaching Feanor and hits him straight on his face, but the warrior grits his teeth and presses forward to finish his attack that assaults both mind and body. Shaken but still very much in the fight, Ran focuses on Eurus and launches another attack, also finding its mark. And while earlier Eurus could deflect most of its momentum by shifting some of it away from his body, now in a fit of rage he could but confront it head on, and he loses. The spinning gnome cannon drives Eurus down to his knees before bouncing back to its owner, and it looks like the warrior is about to fall from the devastating blow. However, he looks up and growls before standing again.

At the other side, Uriah continues to shift away from his adversary, knowing full well his preferred fighting distance. He could relocate to a much farther position, but he considers conserving his energies first. He points his weapons at the half-orc and lets loose a barrage, opting for quantity over precision.

ROUND 3

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=92701)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Gail is 30 feet up in the air.
Feanor is 30 feet up in the air and is entangled.
Ran is 35 feet up in the air and is shaken for 2 rounds.
Uriah attacks Plaut with the following:
Attack: (1d20+24)[36]
Damage: (1d10+20)[30]

Attack: (1d20+24)[35]
Damage: (1d10+20)[28]

Attack: (1d20+24)[25]
Damage: (1d10+20)[26]

Attack: (1d20+19)[24]
Damage: (1d10+20)[30]

Attack:(1d20+14)[28]
Damage: (1d10+20)[24]

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas watches as Plaut collapses under the stress of the attacks, plummeting to the ground like a rock. He finds himself torn between options and ends up flipping over the disk, hurling magic at the tentacles to bring his last ally back into the fray.

Plaut is dead. I mean, beyond beyond dead. We hardly knew ye.

Moving to drop a dispel magic on the black tentacles. Better bring something back into this fight, right?

Defensive casting [roll0] vs DC 21

Caster level check to dispel [roll1]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=92705)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas attempts to dissolve Uriah's spell, but perhaps the distraction from Uriah's sudden attack does not allow him to put all of his focus into the dispel, and his effort is wasted. Behind him, Gail begins to move, noticing the demise of the half-orc, but still continues to pressure Meemaas. He hurls a wooden spike at him, but it simply smashes against the invisible barrier circling Meemaas.

ROUND 3

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=92822)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Gail is 30 feet up in the air.
Feanor is 30 feet up in the air and is entangled.
Ran is 35 feet up in the air and is shaken for 1 round.

[meemaas]

Sammy

Sammy continues to struggle against the tentacles, all the while shouting obscenities at Meemaas for failing to free her.

Useless CMB check [roll0]

[GuyFawkes]

Sammy is kept out of the battle by the tentacles, and her most potent weapons thus far is her tongue, which unfortunately she now hurls at Meemaas.

To her left, Eurus jumps towards the other pillar to get closer, tumbling past Ran's rather long reach. In his effort to avoid the blows, though, his jump comes up short, nearly falling on top of Feanor. Thankfully he manages to grab on to the ledge and pull himself up. But in doing so, he loses his opportunity to go at the half-minotaur. Below him, Feanor's body convulses again from the cold grasp of the spell, but he disregards it and flies closer before unleashing a barrage of heavy swings at Ran.

ROUND 3

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=92987)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Gail is 30 feet up in the air.
Feanor is 30 feet up in the air and is entangled. He suffers another 16 cold damage from icy grasp.
Ran is 35 feet up in the air and is shaken for 1 round. He is hit by Feanor with the following:
(1d20+21)[34]
(1d10+25)[35]

(1d20+16)[25]
(1d10+25)[35]

(1d20+11)[17]
(1d10+25)[33]

[meemaas]

Ran

Ran roars out in rage as he takes the blows, and flies back just a bit to start flinging his companion at Feanor, aiming to press the man against the pillar with his raw strength.


Five foot step upwards and away.

Attack roll 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Bull Rush [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack roll 2 [roll4]
Damage [roll5]
Bull Rush [roll6]
Damage [roll7]

Attack roll 3 [roll8]
Damage [roll9]
Bull Rush [roll10]
Damage [roll11]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=93020)

[GuyFawkes]

Ran's gnome barrels straight at Feanor, and he is knocked back towards the pillar with much force that takes the fight out of him, and his limp form drops down and hits the ground hard. The hulking half-minotaur continues to pound on him, but his next attack fails to account for his target's descent and the other seems to crash once more against thin air.

"Feanor!" growls Eurus. He tightens his grip on his weapon and readies himself.

Uriah, seeing his side of the ring free, grabs the golden disk and feels the jolt course through his body. He disregards it and focuses, channeling his magic into the air around him. He runs down and off the pillar, but he glides instead of falling. As he reaches the ground, another magic pushes him forward some feet more.

ROUND 4

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=93284)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Gail is 30 feet up in the air.
Ran is 35 feet up in the air and is shaken until his turn.
Feanor is down.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas hurls down a second spell at the tentacles, yelling back at Sammy. "If you just pulled your weight like the rest of us we wouldn't be in this mess!!" Turning his attention back to the others, he notices Uriah running with the disk and quickly considers his options. Waving his hand, he'd conjure a shining wall of various colors, placing it perfectly to block off Uriah's path, before pulling his disk and leaping off the pillar himself.

Dispel Check [roll0]

Casting Prismatic Wall, expending a point to increase its DC. DC 29 if he crosses the wall.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=93324)

Meemaas is currently 25 ft in the air

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas mimics Uriah and darts off with the golden disk, but leaves a wide opaque wall of light that reflects the colors of a rainbow standing between the man and the dais as an added obstacle. Seeing this, Gail decides to go for one of the disks as well.

ROUND 4

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=93367)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Ran is 35 feet up in the air and is shaken until his turn.

[meemaas]

Sammy

Sammy, still stuck, continues to hurl insults and swears at Meemaas for failing to free her while she struggles some more.

CMB check [roll0]

[GuyFawkes]

While Sammy continues to struggle with the annoying tentacles, Eurus jumps at Ran in rage and swings his glaive wildly before plummeting down into the stone hard. He reflexively tumbles to reduce the damage, but his legs clearly give way again as he tries to get up.

ROUND 4

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=93544)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Ran is 35 feet up in the air.
Eurus attacks Ran with the following:
(1d20+15)[17]
(1d10+23)[25]

[meemaas]

Ran

Ran, annoyed by the attack, spins around in midair and flings his gnome downwards at the man who had just attacked him.

Full attack on Eurus

Attack roll [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Bull Rush [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack roll [roll4]
Damage [roll5]
Bull Rush [roll6]
Damage [roll7]

Attack roll [roll8]
Damage [roll9]
Bull Rush [roll10]
Damage [roll11]

No movement has been done this round

[GuyFawkes]

Ran's gnome hits the invisible wall again and rebounds back up. He throws it again another time, and this time he hits Eurus. It takes all he has to resist being crushed down on the stone, but as the gnome rebounds yet again, Eurus is standing unconsciously. Another volley and his lifeless body lays flat on the floor.

Uriah does not even think twice after being blocked by the wall. He leaps up and flies over it, barely clearing the top before activating the same magic to propel himself forward. He glides down and drops the golden disk just when he is above the annoying tentacles before veering to the right and landing safely on the stone floor.

ROUND 5

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=93811)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Ran is 35 feet up in the air.
Eurus is down.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas smiles as he sees Ran fall his second target, unsurprisingly impressed at his abilities. He then turns back towards the real goal, lurching forward to drop his disk down upon the dias, hurling his magic down to dispel the tentacles and relieve his ally from their grasp. As his spell launches, he then hurtles himself back towards the next nearest disk, hoping to collect it before Uriah gets to it.

Move over K21 and use a free action to drop the disk. Then cast Dispel Magic on the tentacles again, before using my swift action to Hustle and move back.

Dispel Check [roll0]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=93818)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas finally succeeds on unraveling Uriah's spell, and he quickly drops the disk down on their dais before hustling back to the next pillar. While he does so, Gail targets Ran with an invisible blast of force before grabbing the disk and suffering the shocking retort.

ROUND 5

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=94319)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Ran is 35 feet up in the air.
Gail targets Ran with the following attack:
(1d20+14)[15] touch attack
(7d4)[16] force damage

[meemaas]

Sammy

"It took you bloody long enough" She yells at Meemaas before taking flight under her own power and moving rapidly towards Gail. As she closes in on Gail, she holds out her hand, and a sound similar to a sonic boom lets out from it. Almost immediately, Gail finds himself hit no less than six times by a force he couldn't even see coming, each one letting out a sonic boom as it strikes.

Spellcraft DC....who cares

Elemental substitution Born of three thunders dazing invisible Heightened magic missile.

Damage [roll0] (Half electricity, half sonic)

Gail must make each of the following saving throws six times.

DC 28 will save or dazed for 1 round
DC 28 fort save or be stunned for 1 round
DC 28 reflex save or be knocked prone

Ran

Ran, content now that his targets have died, Leisurely makes his way to the gold disk, grabbing it and hurling it at the dias like he had his companion previously.

Ran will move and throw his gold disk like a thrown weapon.

Attack roll [roll1] Vs. AC whatever the heck the inanimate object has (10?)

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=94466)

[GuyFawkes]

Having been kept out of the action for a good while, Sammy immediately goes for Gail, sending a magical missile whistling at him. The missile unerringly flies towards Gail, but as it comes within about a foot from him, it crashes against an invisible wall in the same manner as some of Ran's attacks had crashed earlier.

Ran, on the other hand, after having dispatched of two of the opponents, continues to rack up points for his team by hurling the closest disk with ease onto the center of their team's dais. Only a couple heartbeats after he does so, a barrage of missiles come whistling at him coming from Uriah, who is now bearing a long weapon, with one end held up against his right shoulder and the other pointed at Ran.

ROUND 6

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=95148)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Uriah targets Ran with the following attacks:
Attack: (1d20+23)[32]
Damage: (1d10+22)[26] + (2d6)[9]

Attack: (1d20+23)[37]
Damage: (1d10+22)[25] + (2d6)[8]

Attack: (1d20+23)[41]
Damage: (1d10+22)[23] + (2d6)[4]

Attack: (1d20+18)[32]
Damage: (1d10+22)[31] + (2d6)[8]

Attack: (1d20+13)[28]
Damage: (1d10+22)[24] + (2d6)[8]

[meemaas]

Meemaas

As Uriah dispatches Ran with his volley of attacks, Meem looks from Ran to Uriah, then back at Gail and chooses him as his target. He starts towards Gain with a hostile charge, vanishing and reappearing behind him with a sudden flurry of attacks, his weapon slicing through the air as fluidly as if it were just a part of it.

Ran is down.

Swift action to Hustle
Move action to expend a point from my arcane reservoir to dimensional slide into position.
Full Attack

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2] (+2 if first attack hits)
Damage [roll3] (+2 and [roll4] if first attack hits)

Attack 3 [roll5] (+2 if first attack hits)
Damage [roll6] (+2 and [roll7] if first attack hits)

Attack 4 [roll8] (+2 if first attack hits)
Damage [roll9] (+2 and [roll10] if first attack hits)

Claw [roll11]
Damage [roll12]

AC is now 60

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=95178)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas' blade crashes against an invisible wall, but after a couple more attack, it breaks through, catching Gail himself with a deep slash and a claw. Gail bleeds badly, but with a simple flick of his wrist, he creates another invisible barrier around himself, lets go of the disk to "float" around his feet, and zips away past Meemaas' reach (AoO) and back towards their dais to drop the disk.

ROUND 6

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=95373)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.

[meemaas]

Sammy

Sammy moves forward and takes up a ready stance, preparing to hurl more missiles at the first thing to come close to her.

Readied action to cast the heavily metamagic'd Magic Missile if either Gail or Uriah come out of the cover of the Prismatic Wall

Damage [roll0]

If it goes off, 6 will saves against dazing, 6 fort saves against stunning, and 6 reflex saves against prone.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=95579)

[GuyFawkes]

"Damnit. That friggin' flying whale offed Eurus and Feanor by himself!" he exclaims while regaining his magical energies. "Two left. Don't know what that loud-mouthed bitch could do. Seems like a mage. The other one is what troubles me. Sliced through your barriers just like that. Think we can win this?"

Gail simply shrugs, still clutching his wound. "Small chance."

"Damn. Didn't want to hear that coming from you."

"You asked, stupid."

ROUND 7

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=100262)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas smiles, suddenly between the two of them, his smile growing as he looked between the two. "Gentlemen..." He starts, before letting loose a flurry of strikes into Gail, hoping to down the already injured fighter.

Swift action: Hustle
Move action: Dimensional Slide
Full Round: Full attack, no combat expertise

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1] + [roll2]

Attack 2 [roll3]
Damage [roll4] + [roll5]

Attack 3 [roll6]
Damage [roll7] + [roll8]

Attack 4 [roll9]
Damage [roll10] + [roll11]

Claw [roll12]
Damage [roll13]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=100543)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemas interrupts the duo's banter with a barrage of weapon strikes and claws. All but one connect, not directly at Gail but against the invisible barrier around him. All his strikes are enough to destroy it, and Gail falls down onto the dais below and the waiting black tentacles. One immediately slithers around his leg and up his body before tightening around him. He raises his hand to retaliate at Meemaas, but the tentacles make sure to bind him down completely.

"Ugh. Damn tentacles!"

ROUND 7

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=100559)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.

[meemaas]

Sammy

Sammy looks astonished at what she believes to be a suicide mission, her only living partner sticking himself in between both the enemies and a wall that would literally kill him. As she stares, she slowly realizes, and quickly takes the chance he's given her to shoot off towards the last disk, dropping down to grab hold of it and escape.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=100741)

[GuyFawkes]

"How rude. We're still talkin' here!"

In a flash, Uriah's long weapon is replaced by the two smaller ones he used earlier, and a barrage of explosions ensues. Six missiles pelt Meemaas faster than the naked eye can follow, but his unique senses and magical defenses make it so that only one of them find its target.

ROUND 8

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=101251)

INITIATIVE:
Uriah (1d20+12)[24]
Meemaas (1d20+10)[19]
Plaut (1d20+1)[15]
Gail (1d20+7)[12]
Sammy (1d20+2)[11]
Feanor (1d20+3)[10]
Eurus (1d20+7)[19]
Ran (1d20+2)[6]

TACTICAL:
Daises are 5 feet high. Pillars are 30 feet high.
Meemaas takes 22 piercing and 5 force damage.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"And i'm providing a distraction. After all, you two have proven to be fairly resilient, although i'm sure the flying whale might have been able to kill you where i have failed." He laughs at the name, and then swings up his blade towards Gail, hoping to finally finish him off with his trademark flurry of attacks.

Full attack

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1] + [roll2]

Attack 2 [roll3]
Damage [roll4] + [roll5]

Attack 3 [roll6]
Damage [roll7] + [roll8]

Attack 4 [roll9]
Damage [roll10] + [roll11]

Claw [roll12]
Damage [roll13]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=101321) is unchanged.

[GuyFawkes]

With the tentacles constricting his movements, Gail could do nothing but receive the punishment dealt by Meemaas. After the flurry of slashes, his bloodied body stands lifeless, being held up only by the tentacles.

Sammy's turn.

[meemaas]

Sammy

As Sammy goes to take the disk, she stops and stares at Meemaas and his combat. Her jaw drops as she watches him drop the foe, surprised that for how powerful his defense was, he was actually competent in combat too.

Meemaas

Meemaas, seeing his victory, turns towards Uriah and smiles. "Well thats my win, although i'm impressed you were able to hit me as you did. It's no easy feat."

[GuyFawkes]

Before Uriah could open his mouth to respond, he is cut off by the commentator's magically-amplified voice.

"It seems -- yes, our officials have confirmed it. We have our winner for this match! Give it up for Meemaas and Sammy!!"

As if on cue, the crowd goes wild and the stadium is filled with applause and cheers and whistles. Out of the chaos, you see tournament officials sweep in to clean up the ring, taking the wounded and lifeless bodies of your teammates and opponents alike. One of them approaches you and motions for you to follow him. As you do, you are led back towards the tunnels and apparently back to the waiting room. On your way there, you could hear the women in the crowd near you call out your name, with some calling out for you to marry them, throwing flowers at the path before you.

Back in the waiting room, you notice that the other winning team is already there, and you spot the familiar face of Vard smiling at you. He stands up and approaches you.

"Hey, so you made it, huh? So did I!" he slaps your shoulder. "But you seem to have had some trouble, eh? There are only two of you left. Our group managed to win with all of us still alive, though. Ha ha ha! But yeah, that's due to my teammates being awesome as they are and me basically just trying to get out of the way. Ha ha ha!"

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"Yea, some of them were pretty tough. Was a close match, but I was a shoo-in to win from the beginning." As he talks, he goes to wipe his wounds clean, drawing out one of his wands and using it on himself a few times. He moves to sit down, waving for Jard to follow afterwards. "How many kills did your team get to win?" He stops and thinks for a second. "You realize if we get matched up you will probably die, right?" He summons his spellbook while waiting for the answer, poring over it as if to decide his fate.

While talking, i'm gonna chain cast Infernal healing every minute to patch my wounds up. 11 charges used altogether.

I shall also use the Quick Study Exploit to swap out two of my spells for better spells for this next round.

[GuyFawkes]

"Ha! If there's anything I'm good at, it's not dying," Vard beamed as if it was something to be proud of. "Got the knack for it. Or more like just lucky, I guess," he rubs his chin with his right hand in thought before shrugging.

"We managed, or rather they, managed to finish off the entire opposing team. I was the only one who bothered getting one of the disks," he points his thumb over and behind him to the shiny yellowish disk sitting on the table. "At this point, I don't care how I finish. I'm set for a good while!" he exclaimed with a grin. Then, his smile slowly fades and he moves in to put his hand over your shoulder and pull you in, then continues in a lower voice.

"I've seen you fight, and you are one hell of a fighter. But I think these guys will give you trouble. See that guy with the stupidly-huge sword strapped to his back? That's the Champ. Well, the previous Champ. But I think he's damn still in it to win the damn thing again this year. Crazy strong, wields that big ass sword like it's nothing. Knows some weird magic too. That guy beside him is a mage of some sort. Don't know much about him, first timer just like you. Just hurled fireballs like there was no tomorrow during our fight, so I think he has plenty of stuff still hidden away."

"Anyway, the one I'm really worried about is that little wench right there. Didn't notice her do much, but she was the first one to take care of her target. Maybe it was just luck or something, but she did reach this stage. And something about her gives me the creeps."

Vard immediately pulls away and gives you a slap on the shoulder. "But hey, it's you we're talking about here! I've seen that bladework, or rather, not seen it. Too damn fast for my eyes! If there's anyone who's going to be Champ, I know it's you."

Vard may have said that line a little bit too loud because the rest of the people in the room are now staring at the both of you.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"Something tells me you just made the two of us their number one targets. Might wanna watch your back, especially considering you may match up with one of them. That said, thanks for the information, it'll certainly help. I guess i ought to give you a tip in exchange." He points over at Sammy carefully. "Don't know quite what she could do, she was kept out of commission for most of the fight, but i did recognize her as casting a powerful Magic Missile spell, so you might wanna be wary for that if you see her." As he finishes, he turns his gaze on the three that Jard spoke of, focusing his Arcane sight to see if he can recognize any magical auras on them.

Taking 10 on spellcraft to identify any auras, giving me a result of 40

[GuyFawkes]

"Eh...he he he," Vard laughs sheepishly as he seems to shrink in his place. You, however, focus on your magical eyes on your potential foes. You look at the Champion, and you can immediately see different auras emanating from his weapon, that of conjuration, metacreativity, and evocation. His armor emits an aura of moderate necromancy, and his other gear glows with aura of transmutation and abjuration. As you turn to the mage, you notice that your magical sight cannot detect any magical aura at all. The same goes for the woman whom Vard pointed out. As you look at her, she notices you and gives you a smile before looking back and continuing her conversation with the mage. Seconds later, one of the officials comes inside the room.

"We will be starting the Quarter Finals soon. However, since only six of you remain, we have elected to adapt another format. The rules will be explained later. For now, I will announce the groupings. There will be three groups, color-coded for identification. First up, the blue team is composed of the Meemaas and the Champ. Next, the red team is composed of Sammy and Ari. And lastly, we have Vard and Horus. Please see to your group and prepare while we prepare the field for the next stage." The official gives a bow before exiting.

Some time later, the same official comes back inside. "Thank you for your patience. We are now ready for you. This way please."

Once more you exit the double doors and head down the dark-lit hallway and out into the field. The deafening roar of the crowd fills the air as you look at the coliseum field that has been transformed yet again, this time into a sort of oval obstacle course. The official heads over to the announcer's table and whispers something to the announcer before whipping out a wand and pointing it to himself. Then, he speaks in the amplified voice the announcer used earlier.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please settle down. We will now resume the contest. The next stage, supposedly the Quarter-Finals, will be a race. Or more accurately, an obstacle course race. The three teams will tackle our course and navigate through the different obstacles presented therein, and the first two groups to cross the finish line proceeds to the next round."

"Now we know some of you have magic to move through space, negating the challenges presented by the obstacles. That is well and good. However, there are certain obstacles that you must overcome to be declared as winners. See those constructs standing inside the white areas? There are six of them in each area, with two color-coded to each team. This means each team member must defeat one of these constructs on each area in order for you to move on to the next area. Each team member can only destroy one construct with corresponding color. Another important thing is that you cannot attack the constructs not corresponding to your team color. Violation of this rule means your group is automatically out, and the other two groups move on to the next round, provided they of course finish the rest of the course."

"Audience members may be wondering why this is a race when you most probably came here to watch these men and women fight, right? Right?!" and his question garners a loud roar from the audience. "Worry not. There will still be fighting. During the course of the round, contestants may attack other groups as they run across the obstacle course. However, they may not do so within those white areas with the constructs. Violation of this rule also means instant disqualification. As I mentioned earlier you can use teleportation magic. However, white areas are shielded from dimensional transportation. Any attempt to do so will have the contestant shunted to the grey areas, where of course, attacking each other is allowed."

"Now, for the obstacles, I will briefly describe them for you. First up, we have two 25-foot wide chasms each 30 feet deep. You can swing yourself across with the ropes provided or jump across if you are capable. Next, we have our first white area where they need to defeat one construct each. After that, we have the three walls. The first one is 5 feet high, next is 15, and the last one is 25 feet high. Again, there are ropes provided to climb up, over, and down, but if you have other means, that is fine as well."

"Next up, we have the second white area followed by the barrel zone. Here, there will be some of our people rolling barrels randomly across the floor. While getting hit by one of these normally will serve only as a minor distraction, these are no ordinary barrels. These ones explode when they contact a player, so you better watch out."

"After that, we move on to the third white area followed by the maze. As its name implies, contestants will have to navigate themselves through a maze to get to the other side. Narrow spaces and dead ends make for exciting combat action."We have our fourth white area after that, then next we have the classic blade pendulums. Here, timing is crucial if you don't want to get sliced in half. Half, if you're lucky. After that comes the last white area, and then it's home stretch to the finish line. You may notice there are no obstacles here, but well, let's just say we have some surprises for you." With that, the official steps down from the announcer's table and the announcer resumes his job.

"And now that our contestants have taken their places at the starting line, we can begin! Ready, set, go!!"

Roll initiative.
Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=104319)

[GuyFawkes]

As soon as the gong sounds off, the two ladies to your right disappear and reappear right before the first white area. Out ahead, you can see Sammy immediately send her magical missiles flying towards her target. They all hit, naturally, but the construct takes them all and still stands.

To your right, the mage Horus begins a spell and places his hand on Vard.

"Let's wait up there," he says before shooting up into the air. Vard immediately follows, and they just stay there, floating and observing.

ROUND 1

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=106314)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Horus and Vard are 40 ft up in the air.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas, slides over to the Champ and places his hand on the mans shoulder. "I don't know what you're capable of doing, but I look forward to fighting you in the finals." As he finishes his sentence, the space around the two of them folds in upon itself with a satisfying pop, and the two of them vanish, a secondary pop appearing near the two ladies, as the two of them appeared there next, Meem would gesture at Ari, where she'd instantly vanish where she stood.

Move action: Move next to the Champ
Swift action: Expend Psionic Focus to manifest quickened Fold Space to teleport the two of us.
Standard action: Cast Maze on Ari (I can do that because of my Dimensional Agility feat)

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=106510)

[GuyFawkes]

With Meemaas' spell, Ari disappears into thin air. This leaves Sammy as the only target for Champ, who brushes Meemaas aside to get to her. In a blink of an eye, he has his sword drawn and held up above him. His face is expressionless as he brings the gigantic weapon down upon Sammy. The caster tries to bring up her magical defense, but even that is no use against the sheer power of Champ's attack. His swing crashes down hard and smashes away the force shield before connecting against Sammy's clavicle, similarly shattering it. His attack is so powerful that instead of tearing deep into her body, it sweeps her whole body sideways and down into the ground. It all happened so fast that the mage did not even have the time to cry out in pain before she is unconscious, or even dead.

Back at the starting line, Horus finishes his preparation for his attack. "Go on ahead. Don't bother with them. They'll try to kill each other off. You focus on the constructs. I'll provide cover."

"Right," Vard nods before speeding forward.

Behind him, Horus begins chanting words of power, then points at Meemas. From out his finger, blue flash crackles and darts towards its intended target. The effect does not end there though, as the electricity discharges from him and leaps towards Champ, also dealing lightning damage.

That wasn't the cover he was talking about though. Horus moves his fingers again and points at the ground between him and the group ahead. Suddenly, the wind begins to pick up and swirls around that point, almost in slow motion at first, before erupting into a violent tornado, engulfing the Champ, Meemaas, and Sammy. The violent winds pick up Sammy's body and buffets it around. Amazingly, the Champ stands firm on his spot, as if rooted.

ROUND 2

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=107893)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Horus and Vard are 40 ft up in the air.
Meemaas is hit with 43 lightning damage. DC 26 Reflex for half. He must also succeed on a DC 30 Fortitude save or be buffeted around and receive [roll0] damage.

[meemaas]

Reflex [roll0] vs DC 26
Fort [roll1]

Meemaas
Meem takes the attacks without flinching and turns his attention towards the mage, slipping out of the windstorm he bolts towards the construct, pushing up into the air to flip over it and end up on the far side where he can reach his target, and lets loose a pair of seemingly unarmed attacks against it. As he finishes, he keeps his eye towards Horus and prepares himself to stop it.

Swift action:Hustle, use the Move action to move over
Full Attack

Attack 1 [roll]1d20+27[roll]
Damage [roll2]

Attack 2 [roll3]
Damage [roll4]

If Horus casts another spell at me, I'll spend an immediate action to counterspell it.
Spellcraft check [roll5]
Counterspell check [roll6] vs DC 11+caster level

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=107980)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemas' attacks connect without trouble, both dealing significant damage. However, his target is surprisingly tough, and his attacks are not enough to bring it down. The Champ also dashes forward towards his own target, swinging his stupendously large blade down. It almost cleaves away one of the construct's arms, but it still does not go down. The attack seems to activate them, as they now glow and begin to retaliate. Their blows are weak, and you easily parry their blows. However, a surge of electricity blasts you as you do.

The other team also move in, with Horus flying forward just above the storm he created while Vard swoops down to attack his target.

ROUND 3

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=116882)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Horus is 40 ft up in the air. Vard is 10 ft up in the air.
Meemaas takes 5 and 9 electric damage.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas grunts, growing in size quickly, he heaves his brute force into slicing up the construct with his two claws, focusing on Horus still with intense focus. "This is as good as done already."

Manifesting Expansion as a swift action for 13PP to grow to Huge size.
Full Attack Two claw attacks

Claw 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Claw 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Map is unchanged. AC is now down to 40.

If Horus casts a spell, Meem will counterspell it as an immediate action by spending a point from his arcane reservoir. Please See OOC for rolls.

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas' huge claws tear the construct into pieces almost as the same time as Champ swings his heavy sword once more, this time cleanly splitting his target into two. Not one to tarry, Champ immediately races forward out of the safe zone and into the next part of the course.

Horus moves forward right at the edge of the safe zone and fires down a green ray at his target. Before it could even activate, it crumbles into a pile of dust. Just beside that, Vard rains down blow after blow until his target is also in pieces.

Beyond the swirling winds of the tornado, there still remains none to be seen from Ari.

ROUND 4

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=117356)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Horus is 40 ft up in the air. Vard is 10 ft up in the air.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Content with his teams victory over the mindless constructs, Meem charges forward, grabbing the Champs shoulder as he twists space to bring the two of them past the obstacles, skipping them all and shooting them well into the front line.

Move action: Move forward to be next to the Champ, grabbing him in the meantime.
Standard action: Dimension Door to where the map says we are.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=117547)

[GuyFawkes]

Appearing in the next field, Meemaas and Champ are automatically bombarded by chaotic flying and rolling barrels. Champ immediately turns around and finds his target, swinging his sword. This time, having gauged the toughness of the constructs, he sends some mysterious energy into his weapon, and with one attack, he fells his target.

The other two from the green team fly behind you, not doing anything but try to come into the safe zone before you turn your attention on them. Far behind, there is nothing to be seen from the remaining member of the red team, Ari.

ROUND 5

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=119322)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Horus is 40 ft up in the air. Vard is 10 ft up in the air.
Meemaas roll a Reflex save with DC 25 or take 7 damage.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas turns towards his targetted construct and lashes out with both his claws to try and bisect it just as cleanly as the Champ did.

Reflex save: [roll0]

Five foot step to reach

Claw 1 [roll1]
Damage [roll2]

Claw 2 [roll3]
Damage [roll4]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=120552)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas' powerful claws rip his target into shreds. Clearly it was already powerful before, but now, with the added weight of his size, they are far more effective in dealing with these constructs.

Seeing this, the Champ snorts his approval and steps just outside of the safe zone, now knowing to wait for his partner to do his 'thing'.

Behind them, Vard and Horus also finish off their targets, with Vard raining down sword blows while Horus destroying his own target with a greenish orb. While the two teams are gaining ground, there is still no sign of Ari.

ROUND 6

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=121603)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Horus is 40 ft up in the air. Vard is 10 ft up in the air.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meem grabs his teammates shoulder as the two of them are ready, and in an instant they appear past the next stage of obstacles, ready to take out the next layer of constructs.

Same song and dance. Manifest Fold space to bring us to where the map says.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=122337)

[GuyFawkes]

"We are now at the halfway mark of our Quarter-Finals, folks! And perhaps without surprise, the Blue Team is still in the lead, with the Green Team right at their heels, and the Red Team not in sight. It looks like both teams are going for efficiency, going after the constructs as fast as they can, utilizing the safe zones to avoid attacks from other teams. And with their abilities to instantly transport themselves, it looks like our preparations for the course has been nothing but a joke!" the announcer giggles. "But what a spectacle! We have made these constructs tougher than usual, but our contestants are simply blitzing through them using whatever means they have at disposal! Be it blades or magic, they just don't present any challenge at all! Now, without any members of the Red Team even remotely close, it looks like it's just a matter of running through the course and we have our two teams for the next round!"

Back at the course, the two members of the Blue Team reappear just outside the third safe zone. Like clockwork, the Champ simply turns and goes towards his target. His sword emits that same energy as before and as he swings it down, the construct is split in half without being able to activate.

As soon as Champ steps into the safe zone though, an invisible wall forms at the edge of the safe zone, in your eyes appearing as a field of evocation about 30 feet high and extending the whole width of the course. After that, Horus and Vard come flying in.

"Oh, what do we have here? The renaming member of the Red Team, Ari, finally appears! But she has not even finished the first checkpoint. Will she be able to catch up?"

At the other side of the course, Ari finally reappears outside the edge of the tornado. She walks calmly towards her target without a hint of hurrying. She pauses in front of the construct, then faces the officials.

"Hey, my team mate is out of the competition. What happens now? Do I just finish off my targets, or do I have to take care of both?"

"Oh, right, right. Having lost a team member, the remaining member must now finish off both of the constructs to move on!"

Ari simply smiles and nods.

"Sure."

From under her cloak, Ari brings out a sword and brings it up across her chest. Suddenly, her arm blurs and appears extended to her side. A split second later, both constructs are neatly split in half at the torso.

"Whoa! Just like that, contestant Ari finishes off both constructs! It seems the Red Team still isn't out of the running! We still have a three-way contest here, folks!"

ROUND 7

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=122738)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Horus is 40 ft up in the air. Vard is 10 ft up in the air.
Wall of force 30 ft high from a to k in between 23 and 24.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meem quickly lets out an arcane gesture, and begins to move as though a blur. He pushes himself off the ground, making as though he had jumped over the wall, he'd perch at the top surprisingly well, staring down Horus for a second with a smile. "Did you really think that could stop us? You've gotta try harder than that!!!!" He pushes off the wall, stopping in midair above his construct, but rather than attack it, he gestures towards Horus, allowing ice to start to surround him like a prison.

Swift action: Quickened Haste. If i can reach the champ with it through the wall of force (I don't think so), i'll target him with it too, but I doubt it.
Move action, move up over the wall of force and to where i am on the map, at about 15 foot in the air at the end.
Standard: Cast Icy Prison, sacrificing a point from my reservoir to increase the DC.

Icy Prison save DC 27

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=123608)

[GuyFawkes]

Champ turns around to do as he did before, but frowns as he notice Meemaas jump. He moves forward with his hand in front, and sure enough, it stops at the edge of the safe zone, like hitting an invisible wall. He brings his sword in front of him and places his other hand on the flat of the blade. Suddenly, he seems to float inches above the ground.

Meemas' icy prison encases Horus easily. The latter immediately enacts his magics to counter the spell, but the spell fizzles due to his inability to focus. He tries once more, this time succeeding, and he immediately flies into the safe zone. While he does, Vard attacks his construct targets, dispatching it thoroughly with a barrage of sword strikes.

On the other side of the field, Ari casually walks over the remains of the constructs. She immediately disappears as she exits the safe zone, reappearing at adjacent to the next safe zone.

ROUND 8

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=124195)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Horus is 40 ft up in the air. Vard is 10 ft up in the air.
Wall of force 30 ft high from a to k in between 23 and 24.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meem lashes out with his claws to tear his construct to pieces, and then moves himself back over the wall, perching on top of it surprisingly well for his size as he looks down at the Champ. "You need help there or do you have it?"

Full attack (+Haste)

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack 3 [roll4]
Damage [roll5]

Swift action: Manifest Hustle for an extra move action to move to where i'm at on the map.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=124523)

[GuyFawkes]

"Don't mind me."

With that, the Champ launches up, and as soon as he is level with you, he zooms forward towards the next safe area.

Behind you, Ari casually swings her sword once more, that one attack taking care of another pair of constructs. In a blink, she disappears and reappears just outside the safe zone behind your group.

"Hello," she says with a smile.

Horus turns and curses under his breath as Ari appears. He sends another greenish orb at his own target, again having the same effect. Before Vard can fly forward, Horus calls him. "Hey, come here. Let's stick together." Vard simply nods and he flies up to Horus' level.

ROUND 9

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=125139)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Horus and Vard are 40 ft up in the air.
Champ is 35 feet up.
Wall of force 30 ft high from a to k in between 23 and 24.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meem smiles back at the group, waving softly. "I must apologize, but it is time for me to leave you lot. My fairly impressive partner will leave me in the dust if I stay back here and play with you." As he speaks, his body begins to move at a ridiculous pace, causing him to teleport past the obstacles, with the same degree of speed being used to smash open his construct with his claws faster than the eyes can honestly see.

Swift action: Manifest Temporal Acceleration for 11 PP

Apparent turn: Standard action: Cast Dimension Door to move past the obstacles
Move action to close in on my target.

Real Turn: Full attack Construct
Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack 3 [roll4]
Damage [roll5]

Nonaction: Five foot step back

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=125143)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas rips through the air and his claws through metal, disposing of his mark in but a blink of an eye. Not to be outdone, Champ zooms after him and with but one swing slashes his own mark into two.

Back at the previous safe zone, Ari steps forward and slashes at the two targets, then steps back again, her attack causing the two to be split neatly in the middle as the previous ones. Seeing this monstrous feat, Horus grabs Vard out of the safe area and creates a hole in space. The two step through it and reappear at the edge of the next safe zone. Vard immediately swoops down to attack his own target, and with one precise thrust, he destroys his target.

ROUND 10

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=125643)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Champ and Vard are 10 ft up in the air.
Horus is 40 feet up.
Wall of force 30 ft high from a to k in between 23 and 24.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meem smiles and moves in the direction of the last safe zone, vanishing instantly in his movement and reappearing at the far end, in the air he'd continue to move at a blurred speed to the far side, bringing his claws into the final construct with great accuracy.

Swift action: Hustle
Free Move action, Dimension Slide for one point to teleport just before the beginning of the safe zone and then use the rest of my movement to end up where i'm marked on the map.

Full attack Construct

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack 3 [roll4]
Damage [roll5]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=126648)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas disappears yet again, reappearing at the edge of the last safe zone. However, he does not appear at the exact place he intended; he instead appears on the other side, the closer side. Nonetheless, he steps forward and decimates the last of his targets.

Behind him, Champ rips through the air with such speed that most of the onlookers would have thought he used teleportation as well. With another of those big attacks of his, he finishes off his last target.

"Ho, how strong!" Ari exclaims. "I best put some effort in it as well, else I'd get left behind," she adds, smiling. With that she disappears, and reappears at the next safe zone. The strange thing is, another Ari also appears at the last safe zone. The first Ari moves forward and executes the similar attack that splits the two constructs before her, then the other Ari moves, also executing the same single strike that fells two opponents. With that, she is now at the front of the race with the blue team.

"What...!" Horus shouts. Vard looks at him, his face dumbstruck. "Go, you fool!" Horus scolds. Regaining his composure, Vard turns and speeds towards the last safe zone. He uses his momentum to launch a piercing attack. Unfortunately, due to having witnessed Ari's maneuver, he is still baffled and his aim is off. The construct glows to life, retaliating at him with those electric-laden attacks, with one scoring a hit. Horus meanwhile sends another greenish orb at his second-to-the-last target before speeding forward.

ROUND 11

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=128638)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Champ and Vard are 10 ft up in the air.
Horus is 40 feet up.
Wall of force 30 ft high from a to k in between 23 and 24.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meem laughs and leaps over the safe zone, vanishing once he passes the safe zone, he comes across the far end and lunges across the finish line, turning to wave on his partner. "All ours!!"

Once again using my Move action Dimensional Slide to leap past the last leg and then my standard to finish past the line.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=128766)

[GuyFawkes]

Meemaas teleports towards the end of the last leg to the finish line. Or at least that is what he intended. As soon as he casts his spell though, it just fizzles. And then, all sort of stuff happens. The different aura that he is used to seeing all disappear. So are the enchantments and magicks he has on himself.

"Aaaaand there we see it now, folks! The surprise last leg! In this leg, there are no obstacles that you can see. Only one! The space around the last leg is devoid of any magic, therefore in that space, magic will cease to function! Time for some old fashioned run to the finish line!"

Do you still have any moves left after your failed magic spell? If so, do it now.

[meemaas]

Since my Dimensional Slide fizzled, i'll instead just start running to where the new map puts me.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=129447)

Unrelated. You suck, lol.

[GuyFawkes]

His spell failing, Meemaas adjusts quickly and sprints forward to gain advantage. The Champ also takes note of the commentator's remark and proceeds to sprint forward, overtaking his teammate.

"No, no, no, no! That's...ugh!!" From way behind, Horus can be heard cursing in frustration. He is a mage, after all, and they are already behind. Clearly, this has got to be the worst obstacle for him. He zooms towards the final safe zone and vents his frustration on his target, sending more greenish orbs to finish it while Vard finally finishes up his own. He looks at Meemaas and the Champ, just shaking his head at the imminent loss.

What surprises everyone, though, is Ari. She speeds forward and around the curve as if weightless. While the Champ had gone first, she effortlessly passes him and crosses the finish line. She stops just a few feet behind it, turns to the crowd and bows.

"We have our first finalist! Coming from behind to take the first spot, what a show!! Ari!!"

ROUND 12

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=133830)

INITIATIVE: (I'm going for group initiative here)
Ari
Sammy
Horus
Vard
Meemaas
Champ


TACTICAL:
Champ and Vard are 10 ft up in the air.
Horus is 40 feet up.
Wall of force 30 ft high from a to k in between 23 and 24.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas breaks out into a dead run after seeing Ari pass him, sprinting past the finish line as fast as his feet will move him after her. After he reaches it, he stops to catch his breath for a moment, and smiles at Ari. "Have to say i'm impressed."

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=134391)

Use a run action to make it past the finish line.

[GuyFawkes]

Behind Meemaas, Champ also finally crosses the finish line. With that, the result is decided.

Ari waves to the crowd a few more times before turning to look up at you. "Oh, no, no. You are the impressive one, Mr. Meemaas. I did have a pleasant time in that maze of yours, thank you." She smiles and curtsies at you before going back to waving at the spectators.

"And with Champ crossing the finish line, we now have our winners! From the red team, the amazing Ari! From the blue team, magnificent Meemaas and last but not the least, the Champ! Will we finally get to see another repeat winner for a very long time? Or will these two incredible newcomers storm through the remaining rounds to get the crown? The suspense is building up as we head for the semifinals! Stay tuned folks!"

Behind you, the last two contestants finally catch up.

"Haha, eliminated again. But I think this time, I lost to monsters. If I went against different people, I could have made it at least to the Semis this time. You are truly amazing, Meemaas! I will root for you!" Vard shouts at you through the noise of the crowd. Beside him, Horus is not as enthused with the results. "Hmph. If I knew better, they set up that last leg against me," he mumbles.

Two committee members approach the winners and escort you back into the tunnels and into the waiting room. Same room, but now with just three of you remaining, it seems much larger.

"Again, please wait while we set up the stage for the next round." With that, they leave the three of you to your own devices.

As soon as the committee members leave, the Champ immediately goes for the food table and stuffs himself with different meats and fruits. Ari walks towards a chair and sits down, then looks at you and smiles.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meem sits down across from Ari with a small plate of food, snacking on it softly as he speaks to her. "Based on your performance there, I would have guessed you competed in this before. I have to wonder where you got that kind of strength, and just how much you've still got hidden." As he speaks, he narrows his vision and focuses on her once more, trying to see if he can discern her magic auras.

Besides speaking, taking 10 on Spellcraft to identify any auras on her with my still permanent Arcane Sight
Total for the check is 40.

[GuyFawkes]

You focus your magical eyesight at Ari, but like earlier, you see nothing. In fact, you don't see any aura at all. Which is odd, considering the feats she did earlier. While you do so, Ari notices and smiles at you.

"Actually, like yourself, this is my first time as well. And please, you patronize me too much. Let's just say, I have been around far longer than you have," she adjusts her seating position and giggles. "You, on the other hand, are the bigger story here. Before today, I have never heard about you. You are not from this empire, yes?"

[meemaas]

Meemaas

"You got it right in one. I come from a place i've long since put behind me. I won't deny I'm on the young side, but you certainly don't look that old." He leans back in his seat, considering his words before he continues. "Nonetheless, I'm sure not everyone has heard of all the strong folk in our world. It is just far too large to have heard of everyone, after all. Not unless you do something truly outstanding and all."

[GuyFawkes]

Ari smiles. "You flatter me."

While the two of you continue to converse, the committee members return.

"Thank you for waiting. The next round is ready. However, there has been a slight adjustment. We will now directly proceed to the Finals match. It will be a three-way battle. No gimmicks, just pure fighting. Please follow me."

You head out one final time, and while the cheers have been loud earlier, the stadium is quiet now. However, when the three of you appear from the tunnel, the whole crowd erupt into a frenzy, with the crowd rooting equally for the three.

"Ladies and gentlemen. The moment you've all been waiting for. The Finals!" The announcer works the crowd even more. The chants of each of your names could be heard. "For the Finals, there will be no special ring, no advantageous positions to maneuver for. It's just the three of you against each other in glorious combat. The last one standing wins it all. Are you ready?!" The crowd answers with a unanimous "Yes!!"

"Then let the Finals begin!"

Roll initiative.

[meemaas]

Meemaas

Meemaas waves his hand, his trademark sword forming in it as he holds it up to the sky, calling out to the other two. "Let all of us fight with the deepest reserves of our strength, and may the best warrior win!!!!" He takes up his stance and takes in the battlefield, ready for anything.

Initiative roll [roll0]

[GuyFawkes]

The two other contestants make their way up the final battlefield for this year's Tournament. Champ keeps a stoic face while doing so while Ari turns every which way to regard and wave at the crowd. Once inside the ring, the three of you naturally settle into sort of a triangle, keeping equidistant from each other, covering much of the ring. The ring this time is but a simple raised stone square platform about a hundred feet wide on a side and five feet high.

Once the Champ reaches his spot, he draws his ridiculously over-sized weapon and regards you both with a nod as you raise yours and call out to them both. Ari, meanwhile, just puts her hand over her chest and smiles at you two.

Round 1

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=154879)

Initiative:

Meemaas
Champ
Ari

[meemaas]

Meemaas looks back and forth between Ari and the Champ, and then prepares a defensive stance, readying himself while he watches the moves of the other two, not looking to get himself attacked first.

I'll ready an action to cast Maze on whichever one moves towards me first.

[GuyFawkes]

You settle into a defensive position, letting the others take the lead. The Champ isn't one for waiting, though, as he brings up his his sword and immediately charges at you. You continue to hold your position as you begin to chant the arcane words of your spell and rifle through the motions, and as the large form of the Champ is almost upon you, he simply disappears.

Before you turn to regard your other opponent, you hear a giggle beside you, and you turn to see Ari already beside you, weapon drawn back.

"Opening!" she says with laugh before swinging at you with one fast yet heavy strike. You manage to turn your body and position your blade at the last moment, deflecting her attack with a loud ptchink.

"My, my. Impressive defense!"

Round 2

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=155368)

Initiative:

Meemaas
Champ
Ari

Tactical:
Champ is caught in the maze.

[meemaas]

Meemaas smiles at Ari, his blade lashing out at her with impressive speed, almost appearing as though he were in several places at once for his attacks, all the while he calmly speaks at her. "I am NEVER truly open."

Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack 3 [roll4]
Damage [roll5]

Attack 4 [roll6]
Damage [roll7]

[GuyFawkes]

Your sword strikes all hit their mark, drawing blood each time. Ari's face contorts in pain, but as you finish, the pained look slowly transforms into a smile, and her body disappears. Moments later, you hear the distinct sound of her voice from behind you, and as you turn to look, you see her standing there and not a single scratch can be seen.

"Defense AND offense. truly astounding. Let's see how tough you are in other departments." As she talks, your body start to feel heavy and your head starts to spin.

Round 3

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=157545)

Initiative:

Meemaas
Champ
Ari

Tactical:
Champ is caught in the maze.
Meemaas must succeed a Fortitude save with DC 33 or be nauseated for [roll0] rounds.

[GuyFawkes]

Ari's eyes narrow and revert back to normal as you shrug off the effects of whatever she did to you. Her smile widens and she takes a defensive stance, placing her sword between you and her, waving it as if inviting you to come at her.

Round 4

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=159676)

Initiative:

Meemaas
Champ
Ari

Tactical:
Champ is caught in the maze.

[meemaas]

After a failed attempt at disabling her spell, Meemaas leaps back a short ways and focuses his gaze on her, his eyes glowing bright white as he takes a look around the arena, working on figuring out her ruse.

I'll move backwards a fair distances, then manifest Pierce the Veils (AKA Psionic True Seeing)

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=159735)