Amaranth Arena

[Twelvetrees]

Somewhere in the vastness of the Multiverse sits an arena covered with red sand.

Around the perimeter is a simple stone wall, twenty feet of polished rock. Beyond it sit shadowed figures, peering curiously down at the field.

Two combatants stand upon the sand, fifty feet apart from each other, and fifty feet from the wall.

One round of prep time before combat.

[Ookack333]

The combatant on the right grins. He is bare chested, yet his skin is grayish white, and flickers with strange, almost imperceptible undulations. A changeling. On his chest are tattooed six black Draconic symbols. Long white hair cascades down his back, which shimmers in the light.

He is Aeotex, the Seventh Thought.

[Twelvetrees]

Leafwatcher nods in return, standing at ease on the right. Completely bald, his peasant's garb covers a lean body as his eyes never stray from his foe. His nut-brown skin is covered in a tapestry of scars, not an inch of it spared.

He Who Defies the Inevitable nods once more, then stills.

[Twelvetrees]

Prep Round

No actions taken. :smallbiggrin:

From what you can tell, Leafwatcher does not move a muscle.

Initiative: 1d20+5

[Twelvetrees]

Initiative once more: [roll0]

[Ookack333]

Aeotex's chest runes flare with energy, and you see six duplicates of him appear around him, each perfectly identical. The original's runes flare again, and his eyes glow with bluish light, which burns continually. "I SAID I WAS ON THE RIGHT!!!" he roars in frustration.:smallfurious:

Casts body outside body, causing appearance of six identical duplicates, each with one quarter of his total hit points. Swift casts Foresight on self, spell stowaway causes all duplicates to be affected by Foresight in relation to him.

Initiative [roll0]
Feel free to ask for further observations.

[Twelvetrees]

Spellcraft check to determine spells: [roll0]

Should be auto success as DC is 15 + spell level.

[Ookack333]

Makes it, they were levels 7 and 9.

Body Outside Body
Foresight, which affects all the duplicates (in relation to the original) due to a spell stowaway feat.

[Ookack333]

Unless you can interrupt somehow, first thing on your turn Aeotex casts Greater Celerity as an immediate action. Due to spell stowaway (Greater Celerity) he and all his duplicates get immediate full round actions.

[Twelvetrees]

Leafwatcher sighs.

Calm yourself, young one. It was merely a switching of perspective. A one hundred and eighty degree difference.

[Ookack333]

Aeotex yells "C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!" completely ignoring Leafwatcher's sound advice. His runes flare and he makes a dozen complex hand motions, brandishing a talisman shaped like a skull. His form flickers momentarily. His duplicates, meanwhile, spread out and transform, shapes morphing miraculously. As they do so, a roaring ray of sonic energy ripples from each of them toward leaf watcher, throwing sand into the air. Two duplicates become phoenixes, one becomes a shadesteel golem, two become white slaads, and one becomes a beholder, which aims its antimagic cone at Leafwatcher.

Takes a swift action (normally only one swift/immediate action allowed per turn, but I think its ok since Celerity grants him a full round worth of actions) to activate his talisman of undying fortitude, granting him many undead traits, namely daze immunity so he can act the turn after using Greater Celerity. He then casts Shapechange, but immediately dismisses it. Spell Stowaway (Shapechange) takes effect, causing all other duplicates to gain the benefits of a shapechange spell.

The first duplicate expends his psionic focus and manifests a wild surged augmented maximized sonic energy ray, for 140 damage, with no save. (I'm assuming that Aeotex was psionically focused before the fight, since all psionic characters should be focused ALL the time. If this is an issue, then tell me). The rest of the duplicates follow suit with similar rays, so I need to make six ranged touch attacks. The duplicates use their move actions to spread out, except for one who stands directly in front of Aeotex. In addition, they all transform at the end of their actions. The one in front of Aeotex becomes a white slaad, while the others become a shadesteel golem, two phoenixes, another white slaad, and the one farthest in front becomes a beholder, with its antimagic eye aimed directly at Leawatcher, catching him in the 150 ft cone. Upon the actions end, all duplicates use partition mind to become slowed, as opposed to dazed

Ranged Touch Attacks for Rays
1d20+22
1d20+22
1d20+22
1d20+22
1d20+22
1d20+22

[Ookack333]

Sorry.
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[Twelvetrees]

The concussive blasts of sound vanish as they reach within ten feet of Leafwatcher, then come back full force ten feet behind him. He grins and becomes a blur of movement, appearing behind Aeotex before attempting to grab him in a bear hug. The duplicate changes back into the form of Aeotex.

Permanent Antimagic Field and Psionics/Magic transparency causes the rays to disappear. 60 base feet of movement to get behind Aeotex, then attempts to grapple.

No opportunity attack (Improved Grapple)

Touch attacks:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

Remember that because you are within an Antimagic Field, all enhancement and other magical bonuses cease functioning--including AC bonuses.

Grapple check:
[roll5]

[Ookack333]

Aeotex swallows. He knows that he's probably dead. There's no way he can touch those rolls His duplicates, however, seem to know otherwise. Each backs up a short distance after shapechanging into strange, eyeless humanoids with jet black skin and wicked grins. In each one's hand materializes a nastily serrated dagger, and they proceed to throw them at Leafdweller.

The duplicates each and transform into Glooms. These are creatures which are said to wield incredibly deadly daggers, and be the foremost assasins in the world. (The debate on this would be whether they shapechange carrying a dagger. I vote yes, since ELH claims that a gloom is armed with a +10 dagger of human dread). The daggers become nonmagical as soon as they enter the field, but whatever. They all hurl their daggers, and they have a sneak attack of +13d6. The one in the field backs out. I'm not sure if shapechange works again. if it does, he does the same.

Attacks (already calculated range increments):

[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5] IF HE CAN CHANGE

Potential damage in order:
[roll]1d4+13d6
1d4+13d6
1d4+13d6
1d4+13d6
1d4+13d6
1d20+13d6 IF HE CAN CHANGE

[Ookack333]

Huh, sorry again.

[roll0] +[roll1]
[roll2] +[roll3]
[roll4] +[roll5]
[roll6] +[roll7]
[roll8] +[roll9]
[roll10] +[roll11] IF HE CAN CHANGE EDIT: Can only move due to slow.

[Twelvetrees]

Leafwatcher stiffens as the daggers sink, one by one, into his back, then drops the Antimagic field and lets go of Aeotex.

Well played. It has been an honor to fight you, young one.

I concede.

Not too much I could do at this point. I had fourteen hit points left, but only because I'd taken Toughness twenty times. Had I made this character a little bit more carefully, I might have been able to get off a heal spell, but I don't think that would have done much. All I really had left offensively was punching you with my fists, because I could could only cast spells without somatic components while grappling (Field could be taken down as a free action at the start of my turn and put back up at the end of my turn).

Nicely done. I had not been expecting the shape-shifting.

[Ookack333]

Aeotex stands up, wheezing slightly. His duplicates morph back into their regular forms. "And you, master. You have taught me much."

Aetoex is a 30th level gestalt Beguiler 30/Wilder 25/Sanctified Mind 1/Recaster 4. His combo relies exclusively on the use of spell stowaway celerity to grab tons of actions.

[Twelvetrees]

And more stuff.

Leafwatcher was a wood elf (I somehow didn't mention this, did I?), level 30 gestalt Shugenja 30//Fighter 25/Reaping Mauler 5. I was originally going to go for knocking unconscious with the Reaping Mauler's Sleeper Lock, but I could not boost that DC even into a reasonable range when I had to couple it with the Antimagic Field.

[Ookack333]

Round 2.

Somewhere in the vastness of the Multiverse sits an arena covered with red sand.

Around the perimeter is a simple stone wall, twenty feet of polished rock. Beyond it sit shadowed figures, peering curiously down at the field.

Two combatants stand upon the sand, fifty feet apart from each other, and fifty feet from the wall.




THIS
IS
AMARANTH ARENA
ROUND 2

[Ookack333]

The combatant on the right waves good-naturedly at the crowd. He wears an antique hydration suit, with the mask mirrored so that nothing can be seen of his facial features, but appears lithe and thin. The air shimmers around him as if in a burning heat. Next to him strolls an enormous tiger with bony ridges running along its back, snarling at the noise of the spectators.

"I am Sand!" he yells, in a strangely deep and sonorous voice not befitting of someone his stature. "Who seeks to challenge me?"

His feline companion roars.

[Ookack333]

He attempts several martial poses while awaiting the preparatory time.

Perform Weapon Drill
[roll0]

The crowd murmurs, but does not appear overly impressed. Sand laughs and waves again, uncaring and charming.

[Twelvetrees]

On the left stands a figure covered in a voluminous brown cloak. Little can be seen beneath the hood but a mouth upturned in a gentle smile.

I am the Mother, the Provider, the one who gives and takes. I am the world, the Earth herself.

The figure's voice is distinctly female, and seems to reverberate directly from the ground. It has the intonation of a litany repeated countless times, through time immemorial.

[Ookack333]

"Showoff. I'm the mother of lots of things. Lets see her create sand. Let's see her birth that!" murmurs Sand to himself quietly, but he doesn't seem that bothered by it, more amused. His tiger pads off 15 feet to the side of Sand, and crouches down, ready for combat. Sand softly murmurs some words and makes a few graceful gestures, and a ten foot radius field of translucent, grayish energy shimmers into place around him. He now looks even more distorted when seen through his odd aura and through the sphere, but you can see him drop into a combat stance.

Sand casts antilife shell on himself. He then readies an action to counterspell.

Sand is ready for the fight to begin.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Twelvetrees]

Earth's eye's narrow as Sand casts a spell. What was he doing?

Spellcraft: [roll0]

Discernment done, Earth lets out a small breath before sinking into the sand, leaving it seemingly undisturbed. After that, there is no sign of what's happening.

Earth glide ability activated as a standard action. Move to 15 feet down beneath Sand.

[Twelvetrees]

And intiative:
[roll0]

[Ookack333]

Spellcraft is EASILY high enough. Sand (somewhat ironically) chose to cast antilife shell.

"Very nice!" Sand yells. "Very good way of concealing your actions!" He applauds, nodding at the audience.

[Twelvetrees]

The spectators suddenly give a gasp, staring at Sand. As he looks down, he realizes he is wearing nothing but his loincloth (or whatever his equivalent is).

From beneath the earth right below Sand, Earth is adjacent. Antilife Shell does not block Earth from approaching, as the red sand of the arena blocks the spell--but not Earth.

So, while adjacent, Earth uses Sleight of Hand as a free action multiple times to take everything that Sand owns. Sleight of Hand is normally at a -20 penalty to use as a free action, but the feat Master Pickpocket makes it a -10 penalty. Earth can take 10 on the check, even in combat, so with the penalty, Earth gets a total Sleight of Hand check of 62, every time.

Unless Sand has a Spot bonus of 42 or higher, this works automatically. If Spot is that high, please make a Spot check for every one of your items. If you can do something else to prevent this, go ahead.

Immediately after this happens, Earth's arms burst from the ground, attempting to grapple Sand. Strangely, they do not seem to move the dusty floor of the arena. If this fails, Earth disappears beneath the ground once more.

Touch Attacks (no attack of opportunity, Improved Grapple):

[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

Grapple Attempt:
[roll]1d20+24

[Twelvetrees]

Grapple attempt again, to make it work.
[roll0]

[Ookack333]

You notice that Sand is not human anymore. He is nothing but a desicated skeleton, with points of light burning in the eye sockets. You also notice that the ambient temperature around him is about 110 degrees Farenheit. "Well Played," he yells. "Now you know what I am!!!" He casts greater celerity.

[Ookack333]

Sand vanishes and reappears at the other end of the arena, next to the wall (about 100 feet away).
Casts greater teleport. Concentration is good enough that he WILL make it.

[Twelvetrees]

The sand is smooth and undisturbed once more.

45 feet down.

[Ookack333]

Sand morphs into an enormous whirling being of air, which glides to a height of 100 feet.

Sand wildshapes into a huge air elemental. I would use quicken spell too, but celerity took that action :(

Hydration suit, adamantine gem-studded pick, 30lbs. of sand, 10 doses of dust of sneezing and choking, ring of positive protection, ring of freedom of movement, thirsty sand, ring of counterspells (greater dispell magic), metamagic rod quicken, ring of anticipation, belt of battle

[Twelvetrees]

No sign comes of Earth.

30 feet below her starting position. Standard action for Earth Sight.

[Ookack333]

Sand morphs back into his normal form, remaining aloft. He gestures at the arena floor, and the sand lowers to a height of one inch. If he sees anything, his tiger will be attacking it.

Sand uses a sand shaper class feature to get overland flight, then uses control sand to reduce sand height to a 1 ft. depth.

[Twelvetrees]

There is still no sign of Earth, but Sand has the distinct feeling that she is still there, still assessing him.

[Ookack333]

Sand beckons to his tiger, who runs to him. He touches him, and the tiger transforms into a large dragon, who looks to be composed out of sandstone. Sand looks meaningfully at it. "Find her."

Sand just used polymorph to transform his animal companion into a young adult sand dragon. The dragon has tremonorse 60 ft.

[Twelvetrees]

Earth is 30 (now 25) feet down from her starting position. And facing directly at towards Sand.

Keep Earth Glide going with Standard Action

[Twelvetrees]

Stalemate

Earth emerges from the now-depleted sand, brushing a few particles from her robe, and bows low to Sand.

Well done. Well done indeed

Earth was a Fighter 6/Justiciar 8/Exemplar 1/Earth Dreamer 5/Monk 10//Bard 30. Her main tactic was earth glide comboed with sleight of hand and grappling and binding her foe.

[Ookack333]

Sand floats down and nods. "You too. Now give me my stuff back."

Sand was a Dry Lich Sorcerer10druid10,sorcerer10walkerinthewaste10,dru id10sandshaper10. His main strategy was going to be tossing out dust of sneezing and choking before following up with abyssal rift. Instead, he relied on his 80 or so different spells.

[Twelvetrees]

The bag of holding is opened, each item tossed to him in the blink of an eye.