THE STANDS (Non-Sophomores)
Lex's eyes were on Beatrice's team. He had a personal stake in them: not only had she chosen his brother, but also his friend and his friend's girlfriend. Together, he team consisted of a bird-man, a human mood ring, a loudmouth, a girl who could see movement, and whatever the last one could do. If this was a combat scenario, they were done for.
Then, Lex saw their opponent: a tyrannosaurus rex stomping towards them. "Oh this is bull$#!+!" he roared. He subconsciously began to ramp up his powers. He was eyeing the stands. He could leap over Jack and Martin, grab the rail, slide down the wall and to the arena floor.
Before he could move, he watched as Beatrice bulked up. "What the hell was that?" he asked as Martin and Otso cheered for their classmates.
He had missed Kas rising to his feet. "What he said," the blind youth muttered.
"That's magic," said Jack matter-of-factly.
"Ja, I know," Kas said. "Since when does Beatrice know magic? Who taught it to her?"
"I'd say since the last couple months."
"Oh good. Magic." Lex sat back in his seat and scowled at the scene before him. "So, like, where'd she pick that up? Because the only people I know who know that spent the last half a year trying to break our school. Seriously, have we met anybody who knows magic that isn't evil?
"Besides Beatrice.
"I hope."
Martin turned and raised a hand. "Do you not recall Rembrandt? Ze man in ze funny 'at. 'E was okay."
"Riiight, wasn't that the guy who introduced himself by saying he was going to blow up a mall if we didn't do what he said?"
"It was an uninhabited store. And I did not say 'e was a saint, but 'e did 'elp me when I was in a tight spot. So no, not 'evil'."
"In an inhabited mall, man. That's the kind of thing that turns an emergency exit into a meat grinder." Lex rolled his eyes. "Okay, so let me ask you, is he the kind of guy you'd really want teaching your girlfriend magic?"
"Lex, 'e was captured and tortured by Siegfried's mercenaries, alongside my girlfriend, protecting 'er as best 'e could, even zough wiz 'is abilities and ze particular artifact 'e bore, I am most certain 'e did not 'ave to let 'imself be taken; I would say you do not know ze 'ole story of it - only a narrow, immutable opinion based off of one singular zing, Lex. Please, I know you do not easily change your mind on a zing once it is set, I suggest we go back to watching ze event." With a half-shrug, Martin turned around to continue watching the match.
"Man, you are way too nice to people," Lex chuckled. "But, hell, don't you ever change." He leaned forward, whispering to Martin, "'Cause nobody wants you to turn out a cranky bastard like me, ya know?"
TEAM VIOLET (Dennis and Violet; NPCs: Derryl-731, Heidi, Sarah)
The dinosaur endured Dennis' hit and kept coming. Undaunted, Dennis pushed himself to hit it again, this time leaving it momentarily dazed.
TEAM ASTRID (NPCs: Agnes, Astrid, Finn, Lena, Mike)
The sight of Mike stumbling back sent Astrid racing across the field. "He's the only one of us who can stop it!" she called back. "We have to buy him time!"
Rushing up to the dinosaur, Astrid began waving her arms over her head. "Come on, you stupid lizard! I'm much tastier than he is!"
Soon, Finn and Lena were rushing out to join her, all while Agnes moved to help Mike get away.
The feint worked: the dinosaur chomped down on Astrid. She fell back to the ground and vanished from the simulation.
TEAM HERTA (Tamati; NPCs: Herta, Mickie, Napoleon, Regina)
"Here goes nothing." Tamati lined up the dinosaur extending his arms until his hands enveloped the head of the dinosaur cutting off its air supply. "Bad Taniwha! Time to go to sleep." The tyrannosaurus bucked its head, snorting as it freed itself from Tamati's attempt to bring it down.
"We need to either trap or slow it down and then take pot shots at it from a distance."
The dinosaur's head swung towards Herta and Tamati. "Get off!" Herta roared. "Now!"
As Tamati leapt clear, the creature chomped into Herta. Tamati's didn't see any blood or flesh fly from her svelte form, nor did he hear bones snapping at the prehistoric creature's jaws clamped down around her. Instead, he saw pixels shift as Herta collapsed to the ground and then vanished from sight.
Herta was out, but her team was still in it. Back behind the starting line, a transformed Mickie grabbed an untransformed Regina. "Ready?" the metal girl asked.
Regina took a deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."
With all her might, Mickie hurled Regina for the dinosaur. As she flew through the air, Regina transformed into a living black hole and slammed into the beast.
As it stumbled back, Napoleon suddenly burst into flames. He moved to grab at the tyrant king, only to watch as it wobbled out of his grasp.
Map:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/siqwif80uq1bu ... 2.jpg?dl=0
The Order – Round One/Two
- Herta (54 – D7): Bruised, Staggered, Stunned, Unconscious
- Napoleon (40 – F7): Super-Speed 1, Energy Aura 8
- Tamati (9)
- T-Rex (7 – E4): Bruised, Staggered, Stunned (Regina, R1)
- Mickie (18)
- Regina (5)
T-Rex - Fortitude - DC 19:
1d20+16 26
The dinosaur will go for Herta:
T-Rex - Attack:
1d20+12 26 &
Tantivy - Toughness - DC 25:
1d20+4 8 Herta is out.
Mickie is going to throw Regina. In her transformed state, Mickie has more than enough strength to actually throw Regina in her untransformed state--basically a Fastball Special.
Steve tackled this one back in 1E, and I think it's the best way to go (replacing "Ram" with "Slam", obviously). So, Mickie will try to hit the target:
Armorer - Attack:
1d20+2 21 and Regina will have effectively slammed the dinosaur.
T-Rex - Toughness - DC 25:
1d20+10 13
Round two will kick off with Napoleon, dumping his speed into his energy aura and then try to hug the dino's leg.
Napoleon IX - Attack:
1d20 8 Napoleon fails.
Tamati is up, Gilliam.
TEAM ROSE (NPCs: Derryl-333, Kelly, Melissa, Rose, Shelby)
Again, the plants moved but failed to connect with their target. As Rose cursed herself, Derryl called out to Shelby: "Let's hit him together!" he called. Shelby turned and nodded, just as the dinosaur again tried to bite into her.
TEAM BEATRICE (NPCs: Beatrice, Cassidy, Doug, Nicole, Steven)
The dinosaur charged for Beatrice. It threw back it's head as it neared the starting area. It swung down and bit into her and Beatrice took the blow without flinching.
"WHAT. THE HELL. WAS THAT!?!" roared Steven.
Beatrice looked at him casually. "Nozing I cannot dealt wiz." As the dinosaur began to pull back its head, Beatrice slugged it in the snout.
The dinosaur gave a slight whimper.
Steven continued to stare blankly at the magus. "WHAT THE HELL!?!"
"So she's beefy," Cassidy said as she lunged forward. "Pretty sure our job is to help her!"
"Non!" Beatrice roared as Cassidy stumbled and missed her target. "I told you: I do not need 'elp!"
"Tough!" Doug spat as he took flight. He flew up into the dinosaur's face and swiped at it with his talons. "You're getting it!"