Labyrinth
Corridors
Walking upon the road of oblivion is hard and unforgiving endeavor.
InaelAfter several turns and few small, empty halls laid with ancient dust, you find a shrine dedicated to some forgotten deity. Judging from its ruined, desecrated state, any treasures there once were are long gone. Statue of a goddess, a strangely shaped bipedal of canine descent (nearly a head taller than you), is heavily eroded, features and power within lost to the passage of time. You offer a prayer, hoping for good luck in your journey, but nothing answers. Shrugging, leave this solemn place.
Found a thing of interest (Useless, Confirmed). Continue exploration?
Your way leads you into ancient halls of dead civilization. Silence welcomes you and walks beside, waiting for you to pass. You already lost count of corridor turns when suddenly, you notice a tall figure coming from beside the corner and towards you. Before you can react, it stops and silently stares at the tome in your hands. You stare in turn, taking in your new acquaintance. He is human as well, about a head taller than you, possibly reaching seven feet. His overly muscular hands seem chained to the two poorly-crafted handaxes he holds. He has no armor to speak of, clad only in some white animal furs. Judging from them and the harsh, scarred appearance, it must be a barbarian from the wastes to the South of your old world. What could have lead him here is a question you have no time to ponder on.
"You're mage."You feel slightly intimidated by his booming voice. Something deep inside yourself stirs and you feel that you really,
really need to run. But you get no chance to.
"Mages caused this shit. I'll kill every one of them."His murderous rage hits you like a weapon, paralyzing for a moment - quite enough for barbarian to raise his axes upwards and roar a thunderous warcry before rushing at you:
"FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"First axe flies true, yet you deflect it with your Tome, resulting strike slightly grazing your shoulder... And perfectly opening you for the next one. Axe buries itself deep into your torso, hacking chainmail, several ribs and who knows what else into bloody pieces. Pain is overwhelming, yet somehow you remain conscious and your body - functional. But who knows, for how long?
Met an Extremely Hostile Contestant!
---Round 1. Initiative = Barbarian, Osbourne.
Barbarian - A:7+6 D:8+1 (Grazing) & A:9+5 D:6-2 (Critical!). Damage: 8/2-3 & 8*2-3 = 14! Osbourne has 30% HP remaining!
Autobattle paused. What to do? (Maximal damage on two strikes, with one critical. Welp.)
Indeed, things unknown must be abundant here - the very first hall you walk into is covered by thick black mist which surges heavily in the air. At the center of the hall lies a stone snake, its head pierced and pinned to the floor by a heavy-looking greatsword, its blade entirely black and handle encrusted with bloodstones. A magical item, perhaps?
Mist does not seem dangerous by itself - while it is obviously cursed, you deduce that in this amounts it is harmless to anything bigger than a mice unless under prolonged exposure. You're not quite sure about the sword.
Treasure found!
What to do with it? Continue exploration afterwards?
As you enter the dark corridor, you're met with a resounding low moan. Wondering what the hell might it be, you trod onwards before meeting your adversary - a slow-moving corpse of some humanoid, its features no longer recognizable, its rotten smell terrible enough even for your goblin nose.
With your trusty dirk, you dance around slow-moving rotten flesh, stabbing relentlessly and searching for some weak point you could use. You find none. You have to practically dismember zombie before it finally stops moving. A tiring victory, yet victory it is. You shudder while thinking about possibility of going against several undead at once.
Met a Medium Creature!
---Round 1. Urgbras, Urgbras, Zombie.
Urgbras - A: 4+6 D: 9-3 (Grazing). You can't guess damage you've doing!
Urgbras - A: 6+4 D: 8-6 (Solid).
Zombie - A: 3-2 D: 10+1 (Counter!).
Urgbras - A: 3+2 D: 1!-10 (Critical!).
---Round 2. Urgbras, Zombie, Urgbras.
Urgbras - A: 8+6 D: 8-3 (Solid).
Zombie - A: 1!-4 D: 8+1 (Counter-CRIT!).
Urgbras - A: 4+8 D: 10-6 (Solid).
Urgbras - A: 9+2 D: 6-9 (Critical!).
---Round 3. Urgbras, Zombie, Urgbras.
Urgbras - A: 11+6 D:9-3 (Critical!). Zombie falls to the ground, lifeless.
Spoils: Silver spoon.
Skills: +3 Dagger, +3 Fight, +2 Dodge; +1 Vigor.
Seems like you stepped into the realm of undeath. Do you want to proceed?
Pondering on the concept of rebirth and cycle of life, you walk into the fleshy halls. At first, denizens of the realm seem vary of you, as you see exactly zero of them, but soon, one creeps towards you. It's a mass of twisting, fleshy tentacles which seeks your flesh with toothy little mouths on their ends.
You try to punch it into oblivion, as wrestling is an obviously insane choice, yet armor mostly prevents you from pursuing not very agile thing while it bites you in abandon. Which, thankfully, doesn't work thanks to the very same armor.
Met a Medium Creature!
---Round 1. Bob, Flesh.
Bob - A: 7 D: 8-2 (Miss).
Flesh - A: 9+1, D:11-3 (Grazing). Damage = 10/2-5 = 0. Armor absorbs the bites!
---Round 2. Bob, Flesh.
Bob - A: 6 D: 4-2 (Grazing). Damage: 5/2 = 2.5 => 2. Flesh seems hurt, 80% HP.
Flesh - A: 7+1 D: 11-3 (Miss).
---Round 3. Flesh, Bob.
Flesh - A: 8+1 D: 4-3 (Solid). Damage = 5-5 = 0. Armor absorbs the bites.
Bob - A: 7 D: 5-2 (Grazing). Damage = 4/2 = 2. Flesh is reeling! 60% HP.
Skill: Armor +1.
Do you wish to continue until either of you dies?
You follow the central path, trying to stay clear of the more vicious-looking corridors. Inside the third room, you finally saw some shapeless denizens of this strange place, yet they refused to crawl outside the oozy depths of slime pit. Perhaps, for the better?
When your first interest wanes and you start feeling that slime halls are objectively not very different from normal ones, an acidic green creature seeps towards you, its intentions clearly stated by the half-dissolved remains visible inside.
Allowing creature to make first move, you cut away a part of its shivering body, in spite of its attempt to make it solid. Dodging another clumsy strike, you make a grand finisher, practically splattering slime remains across the ground. You notice with content sign that your katana was not dissolved, acid too mild to eat away at metal.
Met a Medium Creature!
--- Round 1. Acidic Slime, Dignus. (First Strike fails)
Slime - A: 8+2 D: 11-2 (Miss).
Dignus - A: 7+3 D: 1! (Solid). Damage: 8-(5) = 3. Acidic Slime has 50% HP remaining!
---Round 2. Acidic Slime, Dignus.
Slime - A:1! D: 5-2 (Miss).
Dignus - A: 11+3 D:1! (Critical). Damage: 7*2-(3) = 11. Acidic Slime is cut in three!
Spoils: Bottle of mild acid
Skills: Fighting +3, Sword +3, Dodging +2; Armor +1.
How do you proceed?
Bones seem quite old and brittle, its a miracle these tunnels still stand as they are. You notice several interesting things about your surroundings. First, a dark light that emanates from the eldest bones, feels calming to your skull sockets. Second, you feel somewhat invigorated by the presence of other remains. Feels like...
A screeching bark is heard and a big skellhound - a braindead creature often found in places with concentrated death energy - runs at you. It is quite unsure of what to do, as you register as both aligned and unaligned to death energies of this place. Something tells you that other creatures may not be as stupid.
Met a Medium Creature!
You may pass this battle or destroy skellhound. Also, how do you want to proceed after that?
As you approach, walls visibly tremble and slowly slide away, letting you pass. Not wasting a moment, you walk in and follow a long corridor. Chamber that waits at its end is mostly empty bar a strange metallic insect, that stirs at your approach and hums violently. Does it seek battle?
As you try to crush strange insect, it suddenly leaps above your guard and bites your arm, its powerful steel appendages bruising flesh through the armor. Enraged, you try to catch the bug with your mace, yet it moves erratically and is small enough that you have difficulties aiming properly. It jumps few more times, yet you catch it with your shield and finally dispatch it with a well-aimed blow.
Met a Minor Creature!
---Round 1. Initiative: David, Metal Bug.
David - A: 5-2 D: 12-2 (Stumbled!).
Bug - A: 12 D: 3+4 (Solid). Damage: 5-3 = 2! David has 90% HP remaining.
---Round 2. Initiative: David, Metal Bug.
David - A: 7-2 D: 10-2 (Miss).
Bug - A: 9 D: 6+4 (Blocked).
---Round 3. Initiative: David, Metal Bug.
David - A: 6-2 D: 5-2 (Miss).
Bug - A: 3 D:10+5 (Counter!).
David - A: 11-4 D: 7-5 (Grazing). Damage: 6/2-2 = 2! Metal Bug has 60% HP remaining!
---Round 4. Initiative: David, Metal Bug, David.
David - A: 11-2 D: 10-2 (Miss).
Bug - A: 7 D: 2+5 (Blocked).
David - A: 2-4 D: 11-5 (Stumbled!).
---Round 5. Initiative: David, Metal Bug.
David - A: 11-2 D: 2-2 (Solid). Damage: 8-2 = 6! Metal Bug is crushed!
Spoils: Scrap Metal
Skill raise: Block +2, Fight +2, Mace +1; Mace +1.
Your first adversary beaten, what now?
Now, we got some examples of luck extremes, several copycats (two players got exactly same roll results, two more players differ from them only superficially) and, finally, free time on my hands. New updates should follow much more consistently.
Added swarm concept and minimal BR - with all bonuses and maluses, total can't exceed -10. Added Exploration explanation.
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Topic: Roll to Die: The End of Times - Labyrinth (Read 2775 times)