Simultaneous Boss Fight! Choose your opponent and prepare to battle! Don't forget your shiny new boss powers.
"Dibs on the bug!" shouts Steve! as he shuttles around to that side of the pit, facing the oncoming onslaught. They slam their backs together, facing opposing foes and digging their heels into the dirt floor of the pit. The massive insect wheedles back and forth in his examination of his lunch, snapping his pincers menacingly. Steve! squints his eyes to shield them and spreads his hands wide at the beast; from the tips of his fingers flies a kaleidoscope of sparkling colors, flying at the face of the bug! 1D20=4. (crap) The giant insectoid is not distracted by the pathetic display 1d20=10 and lunges towards Steve! with one of its massive pincers. It catches him squarely on the arm and bites deeply. (Bug=1 Steve!=0)
The ground shakes with each step of the approaching behemoth and Gladiola feels smaller and smaller the closer he is. 'I need this battle to be over faster than slower.' she thinks to herself, and reaches down searching for something that feels... impressive. She finds a hard, heavy lump of dark energy sitting at her core and she rolls it out to her hand, manifesting itself as a black orb of swirling menace. Gladiola tosses it up in the air and it spreads wider, landing like a small kerchief across her hands. She tosses it skyward a few more times, and when it has become a black blanket of imposing doom she tosses it at the ogre's head. (dark omen attack) 1D20=15. The ill shroud cascades over the ogre enveloping him in bad tidings. He tries to swing his club at Gladiola 1d20=8, but doesn't even see the point. Depressed and melancholy, the ogre can feel hopelessness bite at his very heart (Ogre=0 Gladiola=1)
The smell of fresh blood excites the insectoid into a fever. Chattering and hissing it stares into Steve!'s eyes. It's antenna waving wildly it hypnotizes Steve! into a trance using it's mental powers. 1d20=14 Steve! misses one turn if bug wins battle. 1D20=12 (so close!) Though he knows in his head that he is in mortal danger, somehow Steve! finds himself sitting in a lovely field of colorful, aromatic flowers. Butterflies flutter by, one of them hovering right in his face. The sun is bright and warm overhead, and the faint strains of "Here Comes the Sun" can be heard trailing down from the heavens. Steve! has never been so peaceful and calm. So one with nature. So... happy. As he breaths in the joy of the moment a cute, furry squirrel comes gallumping up to him, his little nose sniffing at Steve!. "Hello little fellow!" he coos at the critter. Without any warning the squirrel hauls off and punches Steve! right in his junk, folding Steve! up into a little ball on the dirt floor of the pit. He remains on the ground, clutching his precious area, as the huge insect seems to chuckle viciously over his head. (no turn for Steve!. I sense this will hurt.)
It's future doomed, the ogre listlessly swings it mighty club once more at the dancing Gladiola 1d20-4=8 more out of something to do then trying to attack. Feeling ever so pleased with herself Gladiola enjoys the ogre's sorrow, and almost forgets to follow up with another killing blow. almost. 1D20=10 But seeing the value in capitalizing on the advantage she's found she calls to Steve! "I gotta move - don't fall over!" and dashes to her left. She rushes to the wall and follows it along the pit, building up speed as she circles the pit and even rushes behind Steve!'s buggy playmate. After her third time around she takes a hard right and rushes right toward the morose monster, leaping off her feet, fist-first, straight at his jaw. "Some have called me simply stunning! What thinks you?" she calls as she flies across the divide!
Her fist, now hard as iron, connects with the ogre's jaw with a cringe-worthy crunching sound. Three teeth fly out of his mouth on the other side and he is rocked back on his feet several steps. A small tear can be seen running down his cheek, though it is unclear if this is due to the punch or the remaining despair from the previous dark omen. Gladiola lands on her feet gracefully, dancing on the tips of her toes like a prize-fighter all "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" with her bad self! The solid connection of her punch, though devastating on the ogre's dental work, seems to have also knocked the depression from him and he snorts angrily, heading back her way and smacking the palm of his hand with his massive club. "Cuh-Ruuussshhh Yooooooooo..." he growls as he comes.
"I see you have a toy, big boy." Gladiola responds, eyeing the club warily. "Me too." and as she pulls forth her hammer she ignites the internal flame and fire surrounds the weapon from handle to tip, neither burning it nor her hand. "Let's dance." she challenges, smiling, and she dashes forward, dropping to her knees at the last second with the aim of sliding through the ogre's legs, her flaming hammer aimed at his tender, fleshy knee. 1D20=19,+2 for flaming=21 Ogre Rage 1d20+5=18, -2 for being on fire =16 As the flaming hammer connects with the huge ogre's knee, the sound of bones splintering and tendons snapping rings out and echoes throughout the pit. As if the devastating injury wasn't enough, flames leap up and engulf the ogre's body. The now furious ogre screams and wails as fire dances up from his leg. He attempts to funnel his rage at the tiny foe, but the pain of the fire and his now broken knee are too much. His body tumbles to the ground as he steps to attack. Thankfully, the flames subside as the dirt from the floor extinguishes them. (Gladiola=3 Ogre=0)
The gigantic bug, its prey now mesmerized, lunges it's mandibles at Steve!'s stagnant body. As the jaws bite down, Steve! can feel the burning heat of poison surging into the wound. The pain jolts him out of his trance, only to find himself captured by the great creature's mouth. (Bug=3 Steve!=0) Steve!'s next attack is -1 due to poison. Wrestling his way free somehow, Steve! dashes away from the insect trying to regroup.
The mighty ogre attempts to stand again. Wobbly, but not defeated, he rises. His fury erupts and he smashes his club into the floor causing shockwaves to ripple throughout the pit. Turning towards Gladiola he swings his club like Babe Ruth laying into a homerun 1d20=20. The thunder from his outburst seems to have caught Gladiola off guard, as he connects perfectly. Her body goes flying across the room as if thrown like a limp ragdoll. The flight would have been quite magnificent and lengthy had it not been for the surrounding walls. As it stands, she connects with the stone wall in a horrifying thud and slides down. (Gladiola=3 Ogre=1)
Gladiola doesn't know how long the thick, black blanket of nothingness has been wrapped around her head. She knows her eyes are open, and she can barely make out the form, the very LARGE and very BLURRY form, of something bearing down on her, albeit with a pronounced limp. She rolls over, now on all fours, and crawls shakily along the wall, only motivated by the need to get AWAY from her current position. As the fuzz begins to clear she realizes that she is seconds away from the second inning of Ogre Baseball and needs to MOVE. Pulling herself up to her feet she lashes out randomly with her hammer, but her focus is on trying to reach out with her mind and grasp hold of whatever mind-like-thing the ogre is using. She continues to flail with her hammer, keeping the beast at bay, as she feels around psychically for anything to grab and squeeze... 1D20=1
The great ogre laughs as he approaches the foggy headed warrior. "Thag hurt you good!" Gladiola is still visibly shaken from her aerial trip across the pit and can't mount a suitable defense. The wounded ogre limps over to her clamoring body and seeing that his prey is stunned, once more prepares to take a swing. 1d20=15 The ogre's club comes crashing down square into the middle of her back, knocking what little wind she had left into oblivion. (Gladiola=3 Ogre=2)
It's extremely hard to find someplace to regroup when trapped in a big, empty hole. Steve! reaches one of the open doorways imbedded into the wall and leans on it, clearing out the last of the pretty flowers and lovely clouds from his head. His opponent is taking its time reaching him, so confident is it that Steve!'s end is nigh. Finding no cover, no barrier, no respite of any kind he decides what he needs is a proper distraction, and what better than a goblin to provide just that? From his pounding heart Steve! sends a call for assistance to a goblin friend. 1D20=3 -1 for poison =2 (apparently the bug might not be wrong about Steve!'s chances.)
As she blows the dirt from her nose Gladiola boggles at how the tide of her battle has turned. She arches her back with a 'crack!' to bend it back the other direction (and is relieved to find that it still MOVES). Thag looms over her, chuckling, and she knows she needs to get away from this moment. Pushing past the screams from her smashed spine she crawls between the ogre's legs and, once behind him, scrambles to the far side of the pit. She is barely able to notice, out of the corner of her eye, that Steve! seems to be faring much the same.
On the opposite wall she splats her back flat against it and takes a deep breath. It's taken only a minute for Thag to figure out to where scurried and shift targets after her, and here he comes. Once more she pulls up the lump of dark energy from her core, spinning it larger and larger over her head. If only that ringing between her ears would stop! As the ogre reaches about half-way across the pit she lets the blanket of darkness fly! 1D20=2. Still disoriented from the severe beatings she has taken, something doesn't feel right as she tries to hurl the dark omen. The hopelessness barely frees itself from her hands before crashing down on her already exhausted shoulders. She begins to feel all hope of survival slip from her grasp. Attempting to cheat the reaper is a futile act and just prolonging her suffering. Maybe the reign of Malgamamarsh won't be so bad, what's the point in fighting it anyway. Seeing his adversary fumbling and tripping, the ogre slows his assault. "Does Thag's club hurt? I crush with foot instead!" The giant takes the best leap he can with the state of his knee and comes crashing down. 1d20=16 His heel catches Gladiola in her shoulder and pins her to the ground. His massive head inches closer to her face as she wriggles beneath his weight. "Thag float like butterfly too." (Gladiola=3 Ogre=3)
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK IN CHAPTER SIX!
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