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[D&D 5E] The Twin Torches - The Dead of Winter
Endless_Serpents
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Four hundred years ago the first beacon was completed. Winter was pushed back and life bloomed once more. Only by the collective effort of all remaining peoples under the guiding hand of the Empress could such a feat be accomplished.
To celebrate the diversity of the Great Core, pairs of gladiators are forced together in a competition of physical prowess and cunning; The Twin Torches.
These gladiators will face such challenges as obstacle courses, trials of arcane trickery, reenactments of ancient events... But between you and I, the crowds are in it for the duels.
What is this?
A quick, light game of duels to the death.
I intend for it to be a Play by Post game played right here once recruitment is over. That’ll slow play down, but even so I estimate it’ll take no longer than two weeks to reach a conclusion.
I’ll randomly pair gladiators together, and for the rest of their short lives they’ll help each other take on the trials of the Twin Torches, leading to pivotal battles against other gladiators. Ideally a large roster of players would make things most interesting, but a minimum of four would do.
If you’ve never played D&D or any role playing game at all, I welcome you. There will be plenty of time between posts for you to ask me any questions via PM, or check up the rules, before you make your next post. Every post I make will have any fiddly rules and additions at the bottom in a spoiler box.
What can I be?
Every official race and class is allowed. If you have something unique in mind however, just run it by me first. I’m more interested in damage output than stopping you from being the hedgehog-man of your dreams.
Everyone must create their character at 1st level, and use the standard array to allocate their ability scores (that’s 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8).
What’s my motivation?
This doesn’t need to be your Oscar winning performance, but to get you into the groove:
1. The Great Core is about the size of, let’s say, Rome. There’s a big city at its heart, which slowly fades into harsh, barren wilderness out to an ever shrinking border. Beyond the border is an Ice Age with glaciers taller than mountains. You get to say where you’re from so long as you stick to that basic premise. Plenty of room to be an urchin, bastard, herdsman or brigand.
2. You’re not slaves, of course not, the Great Core is civilised! You also can’t, you know, say no to participating. Think about the hand life dealt you to get to this point.
3. The winners of the Twin Torches earn the favour of the Empress herself!
How do we roll dice in a post?
By using Geth, the friendly dice machine!
Just type what you’re up to like so:
Geth roll 1d20+3 for Insight Check
Geth roll 1d20-6 for Wisdom Saving Throw
Geth roll 2d8 for Damage
Geth roll 1d4+1d6+3 for Poisonous Bite
The results will turn up at the bottom of your post. Even if you edit your post, the results will remain as they were.
Sounds fun.
Hopefully! Every duel will be in an arena with many features to interact with (think pulling a lever to open a floodgate), and there will be quick games like races, puzzles and capture the flag to break them up.
Additional Ruling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAklYdKEuOUTurbo Levelling
Forget experience points. In this game you gain a level every time you survive a trial!
Helpful Stuff
Over here in the D&D thread you’ll see a bunch of links to online system references and stuff. Look it up here.
Insight Check:
1d20+3 17 [1d20=14]
Wisdom Saving Throw:
1d20-6 12 [1d20=18]
for Damage:
2d8 9 [2d8=6, 3]
Poisonous Bite:
1d4+1d6+3 11 [1d4=3] [1d6=5]
Endless_Serpents on
+1
Posts
Feel free to post any initial questions here while you sign up.
“Uhh. I’m Gwalchmei, but you can call me Gawain. Sometimes people call me the Green Knight but I don’t know why.” Gawain takes a toke of the hand rolled cigarette he is smoking. “I work, well I worked, in the greenhouses maybe that is why”.
“Anyway I don’t really like kicking butt but like, sometimes people aren’t chill and need to have things explained to them forcefully ya know?”
Paladin, Oath of Ancients
15,8,13,10,12,14. Chainmail, battleaxe, shield. Unsure on race at the moment but probably variant human or half elf. Gardener unique background which gives some feature I don’t care which (Athletics, nature, survival, persuasion, gardening tools). If I go variant human I am taking inspiring leader, chef, or heavy armor master
Meet FE-26, a Warforged Artificer who has been recently re-activated after years of being dormant.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/AustinP0027/characters/43463278
Grung hops around.
Wild Candle is an aging Pilgrim without a purpose... his usual hermit lifestyle these last thirty years consisted of wandering the icy tundras at the edge of the Great Core, season in and season out. Catlike, he would assist struggling travellers for a bit and try to ingratiate himself with them: learn their stories (stories are gold to him), and then disappear in the night or next morning, because he's fickle, and bores incredibly easily. His only real treasure is the thick journal he keeps of all the stories he's heard over all these years...
His coloration is mostly white and some gray: part of a recent genetic development unique to some of the Tabaxi tribes as they adapted to survive this Ice Age. He left his tribe an eager and willing exile a young kit, nearly a lifetime ago now. He is currently sixty years old and nearing the very end of his lifespan...he believes his physical form will perish soon, and the Queen's challenge provides him the opportunity to shed this mortal coil with aplomb
There’s no expected time for you guys to post, and you won’t get left behind. Just post when you can.
Barlowe has answered the challenge of the Twin Torches willingly, and hopes to claim victory, stand before the Empress, and request a boon: the return of an ancient scroll containing the recipe for a legendary dwarven ale regaled for generations before its theft.
A couple of you need to send me some basics like your character name and class, so I’ll make my first post once I get them.
The Sacking of Saint Bouthor
Before you is a mockery of some ruins, and the glint of frosted iron chests. High above and all around, at least 120 feet from the dry, brittle earth, a crowd of peasantry and (far removed in covered balconies) noblemen. Maybe you’ve stepped into an arena before; this is different though—it’s massive, old, and hungry. You notice a few obvious traps in the form of metal grates over drops into cold, dark water. How exactly they’re set off is a mystery. There’s a tall, rusted lever up ahead, who can say what it activates? Still, you can do this.
Feet begin to shuffle, body heat fading into the icy air. Quick side-glances. Hands resting uneasily on hilts. You’re going to have to kill most of these people, but not in this opening act. There are more pressing concerns.
On each of your wrists is a manacle, roughly painted. Looking around, you see you’ve been paired up. That’s your partner for the tournament. You’re allies, you have to be, and you’ll need them to survive.
The drums begin... and the crowd goes wild!
Roll for Initiative!
The weather is clear and cold. There’s no wind. It’s about midday. The roar of the crowd is deafening after your time preparing in the gloomy training grounds below the arena.
Clarification
The single manacle on your wrist has a couple chains hanging off it, but it’s not connected to anything else. It’s just a bracelet to indicate what team you’re on.
Astoria
Aasimar Warlock
- Rumours says she’s a murderer.
- Has been caught talking to her reflection.
- Of Noble birth.
T’hutt
Orc Fighter
- Doesn’t speak the language.
- Rumour says they’re a cannibal.
- Orcs are basically animals, as you know.
Mire
Hobgoblin Paladin
- Worships some wilderness demon.
- Claims to be a chieftain, as if it matters.
- Willing to share food.
Gawain looks down at the chain on his hand. “Looks like we’re in this together dude. How about we get some leverage and climb those ruins?” As he makes his way to the northern ruin wall.
His eyes lock with the Tabaxi's. A slight nod.
Geth, roll 1d20+1d4+7 for History
Relevant bits for my history check:
Stonecunning. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Historical Knowledge. When you enter a ruin or dungeon, you can correctly ascertain its original purpose and determine its builders, whether those were dwarves, elves, humans, yuan-ti, or some other known race. In addition, you can determine the monetary value of art objects more than a century old.
Geth, roll 1d20 for Initiative!
Questions:
2. Is diagonal measurement 5', or something else?
Geth roll 1d20+3 for Initiative
1st — Barlowe (20*)
2nd — FE-26 (20)
3rd — Astoria (19)
4th — Wild Candle (18)
5th — Gawain (15)
6th — Mire (12)
7th — Grung (10)
8th — T’hutt (7)
Due to that outstanding first roll, Barlowe may cast Bless and make a History check without using up a turn. Barlowe, it’s your turn, you’re acting first, so what will you do?
Barlowe’s eyes only:
There are runes carved into them at your head height. They mostly detail old tales of religious significance. Nothing about curses or undead. Nothing that tells you there would be magic at work.
Scattered all around are iron chests, but these have no special origin. You can’t rule it out, but they don’t look trapped at a glance.
Clarifications:
That said, the other member of the team still needs to escape simply because they don’t want to be the last gladiator in the arena.
Diagonal is 5’ because math is hard.
Also - if I have another round, I will use Wards & Seals to cast Mage Armor on Wild Candle.
Does going downhill on the other side also count as difficult terrain? I will probably Dash to move as far East as I can from here, but if the box contains something useful immediately I might use it instead.
You set off and immediately hit the steep hill, clawing up with one hand until you reach the top.
The chest is coated in ice; you boot it off with a few tries. You heft the heavy chest open. Inside you see an ivory wand half covered by copper coins embossed with patterns of poison ivy. The stuff of elves, you wager.
That’s the end of your turn.
Going down the hill at the start of your next turn counts as difficult terrain too, unless you’d rather attempt an Athletics check to skilfully slide down into a run. On a success, it isn’t difficult terrain, and you gain +5 feet of movement. On a failure, you tumble away.
You head up and over the hill, then descend at a shocking rate. You don’t end up as far as you’d like, but you manage to land it well enough. Accessing the rest of the arena you’re certain you can make it out of here in a matter of seconds.
If you continue dashing, you’ll end up 5 feet from the exit next turn.
—
Astoria
The slim figure in finery jogs lightly around the hill.
“Servitor! Golem! I say, you’ll await me!”, she shrieks.
{Action} Throw/Push Grung towards closest chest. This should be 5 ft plus any athletics as per DM's discretion, (i can move in front of him to maybe make it easier if possible/give me some momentum)
{Movement} Move north 5, east 4 around the terrain(should be 6 total move)
{Item interaction as part of movement} Draw handaxe
{Status} One hand: hand axe second hand: empty
Geth roll 1d20+5 for Athletics to throw a Frog
Geth, roll 1d20+2 for hilarity!
Your attempt to thrust an arm out as you run over the hill connects, but does little.
Barlowe takes 1 damage as his head hits the top of the iron chest.
—
Barlowe
bonk
—
Gawain
You swing Grung around and at the steep hill. The momentum spins you around, but you stay on your feet, just. Grung lands heavily on their hands and begin to slide back. It’s on them to start scrambling against gravity now.
Next you set off around the hill, smoothly drawing your hand axe as you go.
—
Mire
Mire marches south and across to an iron chest. The metal grating creaks beneath his boots.
“Let’s have a look then...”, he sighs.
He cracks open the chest.
“It’ll do.”
—
Grung must get their bearing quickly...
T’hutt grunts.
Geth roll 1d20+5 Acrobatics Check for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Grung has a Climb speed of 25, if this stops the slide, Grung uses Standing Leap to long jump 25 feet straight forward then walks to the lever and pulls with all his strength.
Geth roll 1d20+1 Flipping the switch.
@Endless_Serpents
Geth, roll 1d4 because I'm #Blessed.
edit: still a miss - not that blessed. :biggrin:
The crowd’s admiration builds like a crashing wave as you pick your way along the ruin with all the deftness of a jaguar chasing down prey.
Part of the ruin collapses behind you, but you’re far too quick to notice until you feel the thunderous boom as it crashes into the water beneath it, pulling in a few grates as it went.
—
Grung
Absolutely does.
You bend your legs, easily gaining your footing, then bound off as a white blur passes beneath you.
You struggle to budge the lever, but it shifts slightly. You know what it does now as you hear grates shift beneath a fellow gladiator’s feet. The grates are partially turned up. Mire is flipped onto his back; he is now prone.
“In Zephyr’s name! You laggard!”, he bellows.
He’ll struggle to get up and off the grated area, slowing him down considerably. A little more strength and he would have been in the drink.
—
T’hutt
Perhaps no one translated the purpose of this trial. The fighter stomps up the hill.
—
Barlowe, what’s your plan now?
HP: 9/10 unless I took some in the fall.
ps - so slick 8-)
Geth, roll 1d20-1 for Athletics
Barlowe
Following the curve of the hill, you trip and wheel down! Your stout form is propelled at FE-26, and you crash into them. He shoulder barges the crumbling ruin wall, dislodging a chunk of masonry.
FE-26 takes 2 damage. FE-26 and Barlowe are both prone!
A pair of large rocks now rest by FE-26’s side. They can be picked up without trouble, they’re pretty mundane, but have cool runes carved into them.
Geth roll 1d6 rocks fall
A quick shift in direction, however, as a new plan formulates. He moves towards the lever device, intent on keeping the rest of the pack from easily catching him as the Dwarf has attempted to do twice now.
Dash for another 30 should put me directly south of the Lever space (with diagonal moves).
Free action (I think) to pull lever.