“Alright, is everyone back now?” Tina asked. It had been nearly five to ten minutes since everyone had agreed to call for a break. However, not everyone seemed to be back just yet in order for them to pick up right where they left off. While Axton had come back and joined everypony else, Gaige and Roland had yet to return.
“Not quite,” Maya replied. “Not sure what’s taking them so long honestly.”
“Maybe they needed a snack or something?”
“Doubt it, huggaboo! We got all the snacks here! It’s a snack kingdom up in here!” Tina declared.
“Well, we could have somepony go look for them,” Spike suggested, “I mean, we can’t go on without Gaige and it would be rude to continue without her.”
“I can find them real quick if you like.” Brick said as he got up to go and ‘find’ them.
“Yeah I think being carried around like a sack of potatoes once was enough thank you.” Roland announced shortly after that statement. “Also Gaige should be here shortly, I just needed to stretch for a bit.”
“It takes you five minutes to stretch?” Lilith asked.
“Walk around and stretch.”
“Yeah, and I need five minutes to work on my turrets.” Axton rolled his eyes as he then got smacked by Brick.
“Slab, you sometimes take more than fifteen minutes to work on them.”
Roland just cocked an eyebrow at that comment. “Anything you want to say to that?”
“Maintenance.” Axton simply replied.
“Sure it is,” all of them now heard Gaige as she walked into the room with them, “I have to do maintenance on both my arm and DT, and yet what you do happens to be longer than that.”
“I appreciate my ladies.” Axton said with confidence… only to hear multiple snickers in response. “Yeah whatever, we are all back and ready to continue this mess we got ourselves into?”
“Let’s.” the mechromancer added, before she looked over to the bunker master, “Take it away, Tina.”
“Hm? Oh yeah, right. Just give me a second. Gotta consult the badass tome first.”
“The… what?” Spike blinked.
“You know, the handbook that kind of goes on and tells you everything you can and can’t do?” Tina replied, “I know it’s seen as massively important, but I betcha there’s a few people here that don’t follow it because it sounds like something out of an Atlas instruction manual.”
“She’s kind of right about that,” Lilith replied as she glanced over at Roland.
“Oh yeah, there were a lot of things in there that made no sense when I was a recruit at the time. Wasn’t until after I left did I reread it that it made sense.” Roland just shrugged at that.
“Seriously?”
“What, even I had a track record for some things.” Roland looked knowingly at Axton.
“Huh, the more you know.”
“Maybe you can learn a thing or two from him, Ax.” Maya snickered.
“Sure, let me just go rogue and then start my own militia. That would definitely go well.”
“Heh, Slab you might want to be careful what you say.” Brick announced.
“Yeah but that's because you just beat the sh*t out of yours anyway.” Axton just deadpanned.
“ANYWAYS!!” Tina loudly interjected, glancing over at the Equestrians in the room before looking back at the misfits that she saw as her family, “Last we left off, some of the guards said that the oracle of the village wants to speak with you. How do you respond?”
“I… don’t see anything wrong with that,” Starlight replied, “Maybe it can help us somehow. What do you guys think?”
“Right now, sounds like the best thing.” Axton agreed.
“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” Gaige shrugged, followed by similar motions from the rest of the players.
“Well, the plan is set. Time to get moving.” Axton confirmed.
“Alright, so,” the young bunker master continued, “As you are led by the Coiled, and yes Lily I’m taking your idea and nobody can STOP ME! ... Ahem. As you are led to the oracle’s den, you find a lot of different items around the room. Some are recognizable by a few of you in that they are used in manners of Fortune Telling as well as Divination. As for the Oracle herself, she’s wearing the skull of that of an old sea monster on her head. Her outer scales match the color of the sea and… well, the inner scales look much like if you combined the color of Pinkie Winkie’s fur and have that in a lava lamp. As she turns to you, she says ‘Welcome, outssssiders. It has been sssome time since I ppproperly had guests. I am Ksara, the Oracle of our abode’.”
“… I don’t know whether I should be intimidated or flattered, if I have to be honest.” Lilith replied.
Of course, when no one had anything to say, Spike took it upon himself to speak, “Greetings, Ms. Ksara. I’m-”
“She raises a hand and with a motion of her head, the guard that were with you earlier leave and close the door,” Tina said, before getting into character, “‘There’s no nnnneed for deception here… I know wwwhy all of you have come here and wwwhat you seek. I can help you, but in turn, you mmmust help me’.”
That surprised everyone that was participating at the table. Yet, it was only Starlight that responded back in character, “Help? With what, exactly?”
“My sssisters, the fellow oracles, have gone mad. An outsider put the notion in their heads that by breaking Dry’l from his eternal ssslumber, they can exact revenge on the ssshorewalkers. Your people. Hhhowever, I fear that instead, Dry’l will end up dragging us all into the Abyss with him and undo everything that we’ve made here.”
“Can… I roll a religion check to get an idea as to how bad this guy is… Like outside of what we know already?” Gaige asked.
Tina herself had to ponder a bit at the thought, but after a minute, she looked back at the mechromancer, “I’ll allow it. But I would say that the DC that you need would be higher than Axton’s. So you need over a 16.”
“That includes any comprehension modifiers, right?” A nod from the Bunker Master was all that she needed to see, before she rolled the Dice, “23.”
“… Okay,” Tina replied, “You have heard a lot of stories about the figure they mentioned. Dry’l, the one responsible for tearing down ships that aren’t blessed by bards and yade yade yada. BUT, you also remember that when the world was first formed, the gods… had a bit of a disagreement between one another. Dry’l was one of the gods who thought the world would be better off if the whole world started over. By flooding it all so that everything was a clean slate! As punishment for his retaliation, he was imprisoned by the other gods and chained in the deepest depths of the sea. Yet, his presence is felt by all who carelessly have their vessels maneuver through.”
“ … Oh shit.”
“Do you say that in character or out of game?”
“I think it's safe to say that it sounds like both.” Roland added from the side.
“Well that is something we should avoid if we can.” Axton added in character. “What exactly can we do to help?”
“My sssisters are hastily planning a rrritual to break Dry’l from his bonds at the request of this outsider I mentioned before. If you can ssstop them, we’ll all be in your debt.”
“Seems straightforward enough,” Mordecai remarked. “Where can we find them?”
“Innn the main temple, at the cccenter of the village.”
“Well, you heard her. Let’s go,” Gaige said with a small snicker, “Besides, if I’ve learned one thing from Axton, it’s to never keep a lady waiting.”
“Wow, Ax… you definitely have an influence on kids.”
“I don’t know if that should be an insult or a compliment.”
“For your own sake, just let it slide for now.” Roland offered some advice only to receive a deadpan stare in return.
“Alright, so… main temple?” By that point, everyone nodded their head, “Okay, when you get there and attempt to enter, two guards block the door. Blades held together in an X pattern with their shields up. ‘Outssssiders, you cannot enter at this time. Our chiefs are receiving a guest right now-’.”
“Screw that noise,” Lilith interjected, “Brick, get them to move aside.”
“HAHA, time for the fist to arrive!” Brick began. “However, I'M STILL ON GUARD DUTY!!!” He then roared out, missing out on the adventure.
“Only been what… fifteen minutes and you already forgot that bit Lillith?” Axton brought up.
“Technically, aren’t they considered a threat to Spike since Brick is… well, guarding him?” Maya asked, “You know, self-defense?”
“Was that the same excuse you said with the Zafords and the Hodunks on their wedding day?”
“Oh those guys were assholes! Ellie was right. They deserved what was coming to them.”
“Oh yeah, a hundred percent.” Axton agreed. “That was totally deserved.”
“And to make a point with what Maya said,” Gaige added, “There is a difference between Self Defense and Aggravated Assault. So, we beating up some guards or what?”
“I mean, we can just say we have important business with the chiefs and if they don’t let us in things could take a bad turn?” Axton added.
“So, the diplomatic route?” Spike asked. “I guess we can try it?”
“Anything’s on the table right now so whatever.” Brick just huffed out.
“Lets go with it for now.” Axton prompted.
At that, Spike nodded back and looked at Tina. After some monologuing about how they were not allowed inside, Spike tried to roll a persuasion check to get the guards to let them in. Unfortunately, the dice this time around wasn’t in his favor.
“Natural 1”
“ … So, with the way that you asked that request… not only are the guards staring you down, they also look like you just insulted their momma’s.”
“ … Uh oh.”
“F*CK IT, KILLING THEM BOTH!!” Axton just said.
“COWABUNGA IT IS!!”
“Okay, this is getting spicy! I love it!!” Tina cackled, “Go and make attack rolls, Axy and Gaige!”
“Comin right up.” Axton then looked at his dice. “Eh, 12.”
“Natural 20.”
“Okay… so Axton, your strike is something that the guard on the right can brush off… while for Gaige, this Coiled is so unprepared for you that the force of your strike blows his head off. The other one’s still left and is about to call the rest of the guard, what do you-
“I cast Chrono Grasp!” Maya added. “That guard needs to make a Reflexes save or is held in place.”
“What’s the DC?”
“16”
Meanwhile, as all of this was taking place, Applejack just looked over at her friends, “Does anypony else think that this kind of escalated a bit too fast?”
“That’s… usually how these games go if I remember correctly-” Dash added.
“14, they fail! Brick, Axton, one of you can now make an attack of opportunity at advantage!!”
“OH HELL YEAH NAT 20!” Axton proclaimed.
“O-oh no…” Starlight shuddered in fear, realizing just how badly things were about to get violent.
“Axton, with help from mah girl Maya, you were able to strike with enough force to send this Coiled towards the door and explode on impact!! Boom!!” Tina declared, “Now, there’s a crack in the door that begins to grow where a key would normally be. Who wants to break this sucka open?!”
“Lilith, care to do the honors?” Axton asked.
“Well, that’s a first. Thought you’d want to steal the glory for yourself. Or is that how you got kicked out of DAHL?” Before Axton even had a retort, Lilith looked to Tina and rolled some dice, “I’ll blast the door open, let’s see… 18?”
“That hits! The rest of you watch as Lilith takes a hand and just BLASTS the doors into pieces. Now, inside are the oracles themselves… along with a peculiar menacing figure among them. Standing there… all… well, menacing and shiz.”
“That just screams bad.” Roland spoke up.
“Yeah, no really who could’ve guessed that.” Axton retorted. “So who wants to do the honors first?” Axton then just shrugged. “Eh screw it, I’m going to take aim at the menacing guy no firing just yet.”
“Well, it appears we have some… unexpected guests,” Tina began to speak, “At this point, you see the figure turn around. Part of their skin and face look deformed as they are speaking. Gaige, given your class, you would know that what’s happening is a side effect of overusing necrotic magics. ‘Tell me, what has you storming into this sacred temple? Are you trying to defile it with your own presence’?”
“ … You gotta be kidding me,” Maya facepalmed, almost as if she recognized what kind of voice Tina was trying to impersonate.
“Sound familiar to you?” Brick said.
“Hey Ax, remember that one guy who tried to ruin our hunting expedition with Hammerlock?”
“OH GOD, you just HAD to bring him back up.” Axton just let his hand slide down his face. “Until you brought that up, I honestly forgot about him.”
“Wanna explain?” Roland piped up.
“Ugh, some hyperion ‘big shot’ scientist was in the same area as our hunting trip. Long story short, fought his experiment and he ended up killing himself falling down some holo stairs.”
“Basically a Handsome Jack fan boy who was trying to come up with some masterful plan to ‘keep his legacy alive’, but lacked the backbone to do so. Even though he had claimed to have poisoned Atlas’ CEO, he didn’t really have that many… achievements,” Gaige added. “Why do I get the feeling that-”
“As he’s speaking, all four of the oracles in the room start to look at you, ‘Not that much of a talkative sort I see? Well, enough! I will not have you interrupt this opportunity to revive the most handsome and evil spellcaster in the world! GET THEM!!’.”
“Ah shit-”
“ROLL FOR INITIATIVE, SUCKAS!!”
“Great, well I got myself a 11.” Axton sighed heavily as he rolled.
“15,” Maya commented, who was followed by Gaige and the rest of the party as they took their rolls.
“10,” Spike said,
“8,” Mordecai added.
“20,” Gaige added. “Who else-?”
“Uh… I got a 1” Starlight said nervously.
“12,” Brick put in.
“And now, we roll for the others,” Tina said as she chucked a hoof-ful of dice onto the table. “For the oracles… 13, 5, 19 and… 6. Now, for the suspicious looking guy… 13, but he’ll go second because of the coward trait on him.”
“Coward trait?” Maya asked, “That’s seems… fitting. How does that work?”
“It means that he’ll spend his bonus actions ordering any others that would be considered as his ‘underlings’. If all of them are either knocked out or dead, then it’ll mean he can’t rely on them to come to his defenses. Now, before we start,” It was at that point that Tina shoved basically anything that was once Twilight’s onto the floor as she slammed a scroll onto the table and rolled out a battle map. “Place your mini’s where you would have yourself as this is unfolding. Once you suckas are ready, then we can begin this partay!!”
“Alright, can’t wait to kick this off.” Axton said as he got into place.
“Me too. Finally get the chance to have some action!”
“Well you get to kick this off.” Brick said.
“Right. My turn’s simple,” Gaige replied, “Use my bonus action to summon Deathtrap and then… Gonna see if I can move closer to one of the oracles on the left and hit them… and that’s a 12.”
“Oof, that doesn’t hit.” Tina told her.
“Okay, uh… DT, follow up…” Gaige tried to roll some more dice. “Uh… 15?”
“Almost, but that doesn’t hit either.”
“Crap… uh, who’s next?”
Tina couldn’t help but smirk, “I’m glad you asked. It’s the oracle that you just tried attacking.”
Some of the color from the mechromancer’s face began to fade at the realization as she heard the dice roll. Enough for her to just say two words as not only did their attack connect, but hurt… like, a lot. “Well, buck… uh…”
“Chrono grasp them,” Maya reacted, “You know the drill. Reflexes save.”
“I do… and apparently, they don’t, for they just rolled a nat one.”
“Bonus action, Chrono Toss,” Maya smirked, before looking at the state of the board again, “So, our coward is shielding himself, is he? Well, maybe this will fix that. I want to throw the oracle at the coward to see if that does anything.”
That… looked to be something that Tina did not anticipate at all. For she had to not only consult the badass tome and reread a few pages, but it looked as if she was trying to contemplate this all in her head to see if such an idea was possible.
After a couple moments though, she had a hesitant reply. “I’ll… allow it. But I’m going to need you to make a focus check to see if you can pull it off. The DC’s rather high-”
“19”
“... Okay… Okay,” the bunker master said to herself with a similar expression to that of when she discovered that the chocolate chip cookies at Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage were actually oatmeal raisin. “So, with a 19, you do manage to throw them… and they do take damage for that. However, the barrier around them doesn’t exactly seem to break. It falters a little because of the unexpected move of you yeeting a coiled in their general direction, but not enough to break it.”
“Figures…”
“That does make the next oracle in the initiative order rather angry and they’re going to throw a spear at you. Reflexes save”
Maya could only shrug as she rolled the dice… but was not enthusiastic by the outcome. “Okay, so that’s a 6.”
“You stand tall… rather proud of your recent accomplishment… Only for you to feel the full force of a spear slashing against your upper arms as your accomplishment only served as a momentary distraction.” Tina said, “You take 10 piercing damage. Now, we have Brick next, with Axton and Spike on deck.”
“HELL YEAH, FACE PUNCHING TIME!!” Brick loudly announced as he looked over his skills. “Alright, let's try and hit the coward with a flaming fist strike.”
“Is it just an attack roll or does your target need to make a DC check, Bricky?” the bunker master asked him.
“Hmm,” Brick then looks it over. “At range it's a dc check, up close it's an attack roll. So in this case it would be a dex save.”
“What’s the number for the save?”
“It would be an 18, my good Tina.” Brick announced.
“18?! Geez Louise, my guy!” After some dice were rolled, it looked like Tina was trying to contemplate to herself. Something that made all the Equestrian’s watching wonder if she was thinking… or somehow had fallen asleep. Yet, her next response was quick. “So, even with their bonuses, they only had a 17. What happens if they fail?”
“BOOYA FULL DAMAGE… damn I wish used this as a melee attack, could’ve maybe gotten a critical.” Brick then checked over his sheet and then rolled some dice. “Ok, going to be a total of 25 damage.”
“Woah, that… escalated quickly” Spike muttered.
“Ah told ya it was,” Applejack added.
“Well, Bricky, you can see that they took the full force of the attack… but even afterwards, they are still very much alive and kicking. They look to be in rather bad shape, but still very much alive and kicking. Axton, it is now your turn.”
“Going to hit them with a little thing called, paralyzing call.” Axton looked over his sheet closely to make sure he read it right. “Ok they all have to make a con save of 14, if they fail they lose their next turn and the first attack made against them is with advantage. I mean I could've had one of my beast’s do an attack against them if they failed but I felt that one would be better.”
“14?” Tina asked, followed by a dice roll, “They fail… so they’re going to use one of their legendary resistances to prevent that from happening. Nice try, but they have a few tricks up their… well… non-existent sleeves!”
“Hmm, welp I tried at least.” Axton shrugged.
“Was there something else you wanted to try and do? Since that would be your action for the turn.”
“Well, I'm going to be staying at range for now.” Axton then looked over his sheet again. “Hmm, are there any ledges nearby?”
“There are a couple of them along the windows as well as a few pillars. However, the pillars have flaming torches.”
“Hmm, well that axes that plan then.” the commando grumbled.
“You still can move anywhere else as long as it’s within your movement speed,” Gaige casually reminded him as she pointed it out for him on his character sheet.
“That's the problem, I would need a vantage point to do what I need to do.” Axton just shrugged. “It is just something simple to do something nice.”
“So, we need to try and make one, if that’s possible?” Spike then asked.
“That could definitely help.” Axton nodded to Spike.
“Axy buddy… I still haven’t heard your decision yet~” Tina interrupted them as she sat in an expression that screamed ‘Get on with it!’
“I’ll just move towards the back of the group for now.”
Tina nodded at that, before pointing over at the little dragon that was next in the initiative order. “Alright then, Spikey-Wikey. You’re next! Wow… now I see why she likes saying that.”
“What-?”
“NOTHING!!”
Spike just looked back at some of the other players, before looking back at the table. “Okay, so… First, do all of these Coiled look the same or are there differences between them?”
“Well, first, each one has a different headdress, obviously… Hmm,” the bunker master pondered, “The only other thing that’s noticeable is that each one has a different gem in the crown of the headdress. Interestingly enough, there’s also a similar gem on their weapons. But outside of shiny things, you can’t quite put two and two together just yet.”
“What are the colors?”
Tina blinked, before looking back at Spike, “Huh?”
“What colors are the gems?”
“Spike, care to share what you’re thinking?” Maya asked.
“I have an idea, but I needed to find out a few things,” the dragon told her, “Because I doubt what they’re wearing is something that’s… well, for show.”
It took a few moments, but it was shortly after the dragon said those words that one of the other party members realized something. This time, it was Mordecai. “Oh, I think I get it… You want to see if it relates to what they’re capable of?”
“Something like that,” the dragon replied as he turned away from the game for a brief moment, “You know how some of your actual weapons glow certain colors because they use different ‘elements’?”
Gaige was quick to catch on from that, “So, you think the priestess’ weapons are like our elemental weapons in the sense that the color of the gems represent the element?”
Spike nodded at the mechromancer, and then looked back to Tina, “Tina, what are the colors?”
“So, one’s green, One’s a dark red, one is a cold white and the other is an azure blue.”
“If that’s the case, I want to use one of the abilities for a Enchantress Siren called ‘Convince Creature’,” He said, while reading the description on the sheet, “Says here that ‘You make a motion towards a target creature, where they are forced to make a DC Comprehension Save. If they fail the save, they use their next action to do a command against their will that I choose. However, since I don’t know what their abilities are, it is a… what’s the word?”
“Gamble?” Gaige asked.
“Yes, that.”
“Damn little man, go for it.” Roland spoke from the sides.
Now, Tina looked like she was sweating bullets, “A-and what’s the DC?”
“15.”
“Hey Tina, what’s going to happen now?” Brick decided to ask.
“That…” She rolls again, “Is a 14… and doesn’t have a legendary resistance for that. Which one were you targeting with this-?”
“The third one you mentioned. The cold white one…” Spike said, “And as I do, I tell everyone else to back up because I’m having it attack the Coiled that’s closest to everyone.”
At first, there was a look of uncertainty… but then it was immediately replaced by a look of joy. “Okay… Okay… So, everyone roll me a reflexes save.”
“That’ll be a 15 from me.” Brick said.
“19.” Axton followed up.
“14” Maya added.
“8” Gaige admitted, even though she wasn’t entirely thrilled by it,
“17” Spike followed up, before looking over at Starlight and Mordecai
“13”
“Also 13”
“ … I got a 2” Maya said.
“Oof, okay… so anyone that’s a thirteen or above passes,” the Bunker Master says, “You watch as the one that Spike was focused on turns to the one closest to the party and immediately unleashes a glacial wave of ice magic towards all of you. Gaige and Maya, both of you take…” Tina then took a hoof-ful of dice and threw it onto the table, almost knocking some of the figures, “20 points of frost damage.”
“Holy f*ck, that almost killed me!” Gaige cursed. “Seriously, I have like… three hit points left!!”
“Now that’s a lot of damage!” Brick announced.
“Didn’t you do more though?”
“I know what I said.”
“On the plus side, Axton has… some sort of a ledge to hop onto, right?” Starlight spoke up.
“I believe so, right little man?” Axton asked Spike.
“I guess so,” Spike said, “For a bonus action, I will cast ‘calming word’ to try and heal some of Gaige’s health.” He took a pair of d4’s and rolled them onto the table. “That’s a 4”
“Yeah, that helps… but it feels more like a gentle pat on the back since I’m… at 7 hp.”
“So… Mordy’s turn?” Tina asked.
“Simple. Ready an action to where if any of them get close to me, I use suppressive fire. That's it.”
“Okay… so, since one of the two Coiled have already done their thing, the other one is… let me see here…” Tina began to flip through the pages of her tome, “Ah yes. They’ll slowly levitate in the air and channel the power through their staff as you watch some of the injuries on the other Coiled slowly beginning to mend. Not completely heal them, but slowly recover.”
That just led to a facepalm from Gaige as she let out a sigh, “Okay, that’s going to get annoying real quick. Kill that one first, please!”
“I agree completely, get rid of the heals and we are going to pummel the big bad here.” Axton prompted.
“Okay,” Tina said as her eyes shifted to the last creature in the lineup… who just happened to roll a natural one during the initiative roll, “Starry Light, what about you-?”
“Uh, for my turn, I’ll just… move to cover and ready myself to fire if any of them get too close.”
“Huh… not too exciting, but I dig it. Round 2, suckas!!”
From there, it was back to the top of the order as Gaige ordered Deathtrap to focus their strikes on the ‘healbot’ oracle while she tried to attack it with her own weapons. Out of both attempts, only DeathTrap’s attacks hit as her shots missed completely. Yet, DT was fortunate to trigger a bleed effect from their claws, which kind of gave some of the other players an idea. However the oracle that Maya had thrown into the wall was not happy with having one of their sisters getting ganged up on as she tried to get the construct away from her sister.
That in turn had the siren take a shot to poison the attacking Oracle. Which in turn was a critical success and forced the Coiled to think twice. Which put Brick to be the next one to strike.
“Alright, let's rush the one that got out of the wall.” Brick did a quick double check on his sheet. “Ok, I'm going to hit it with a concussive blow.”
“Roll to attack”
“Alright… hows a 15 sound?”
“Oof… It just matches its armor class,” Tina said, before dramatically acting it out in theater, “You go to try and smack it, but your fist hits its trident as it’s trying to force itself back up… Because of this, we’re going to do a contested valor check. If you win, you will break their defense and get an extra attack. If not… well, we’ll see what happens. Go ahead and ROLL THEM DICE!”
“Hmm, alright you’re on.” Brick got focused on his dice and smashed it onto the table.
“Uh… here use some of mine Brick.” Axton just weakly said.
“Heh, thanks Slab.” As he then rolled the dice. “20!!”
Tina’s face went from a horrified expression… to a not so horrified one after her dice roll. “So, they rolled a nat 20 as well. What’s your Valor modifier?”
“Hmm, it's a 4.”
“And this one has a… plus 2. So that means, you barely beat the contested Valor check,” Tina said, before making the motion as if she was holding a weapon and attempting to stab Brick in the shoulder, “For a moment, you think that this Coiled would be successful. However, you were able to successfully move one of your hands to hit the underside of the Coiled’s ribcage and force it to backoff. Go ahead and roll the damage for it.”
“Alright, damage coming up.” Brick had to make sure he read the right attack before he rolled. “That will be 16.”
Tina’s face twitched a little at that, “A strong hit. Still standing, but a bit bloodied. Axton, it’s your turn now.”
“Alright, time for an arrow rain on the enemies.” Axton stated. “They have to make a dex save of 12 to take half damage.”
“All of them?” Spike now asked, “Because wouldn’t that also hurt allies too?”
“It would, but I do have an ability specifically for this that I have to skip my next turn to not hit any allies with it.” Axton just shrugged. “So while I will lose my next turn I won't hit any of you.”
I personally wouldn’t mind a fun game of Arrow Roulette,” Gaige chuckled, while Tina began to roll the dice.
“Okay, two of them make the save… Two of them don’t… and one of them just so happens to be the one fighting Brick.”
“Alright, damage coming right up.” Axton then got the rolls needed. “Alright, full damage is 12, half is 6.”
“The Coiled that Brick is fighting is almost down.”
“Damn, almost gottem.” Axton grumbled.
“Okay, so now it’s Spike’s turn.”
That just gave Spike an idea, “If I still have the other Coiled under my control, I want to throw its trident at the one Brick’s fighting.”
“Bident, actually.”
Now Gaige just looked at Tina, a bit puzzled. “What’s the difference?”
“Trident has three pointy bits, Bident has two,” the bunker master corrected as she rolled some more dice. “And this time, she actually passes, so it doesn’t work.”
That left the dragon with very few ideas on how to overcome what’s going on… so, with no other options, he just went for the first thing that came to mind, “You know what, I’ll just pick up a rock and throw it. Let’s see what happens.”
“O… kay, be sure to add your reflexes save-”
“No need. Nat 20.”
“ … So, one of the evil Coiled priestess’ is no more… by taking a stone to the head,” she added, “Following that, you hear the suspicious looking guy call out and say ‘Oh, come on! A rock!? Seriously?! All of you are known for your prowess in battle and you die to a pebble!? That’s as embarrassing as snapping your neck when falling down a set of stairs’!”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black right there.” Axton responded.
“Heh. Not even a bard and Axton’s using Vicious Mockery,” Maya chuckled.
“Oh damn, should’ve multi-classed then.”
“Something tells me he put too many points in Ego, because he’s showing it,” Tina now snickered, “Anyways, was there anything else you wanted to do Spike?”
“Probably back up a bit, so I can put some distance between me and any other Coiled that wants to hurt me after that. Though, could I roll perception while I’m at it?”
“You can. Anything in particular?”
“Just to be aware of my surroundings,” Spike said as he rolled the dice again. “... You gotta be kidding me. Another nat 20!”
“Okay, how?” Starlight blinked, “You know what, nevermind.”
“For a total of?”
“23”
“ … So, one thing that you happen to notice is that not only is the protection spell around the suspicious guy starting to break, but you also notice that something is beginning to come loose from the ceiling. You weren’t able to notice it earlier, but now that you have a better look, you can see a dangling chandelier.”
“Something to use, and cause a bit of a problem for them.” Axton pointed out.
“If we can hit something that high, you mean.”
“...Maybe I shouldn’t have used that skill then.” Axton then realized.
“If I remember correctly, Mordy’s next.”
“I’m holding my action,” the hunter replied, “I think I can hit it from where I’m standing. But…”
“But what?”
“It would be easier to do this if whatever’s protecting it is gone.”
“Fair enough.” Maya retorted. “We know the drill team. Let’s get to work. If the Oracles are related to the barrier, then let’s eliminate them quickly.”
“Good to know we have a solid target to get to.” Axton said.
“So, just punch everything then?” Brick asked, then got nods in response. “HELL YEAH!!”
“Why do I have the feeling that we might be here a while?” Starlight asked.
Three rounds of combat later…
“Ok, how the f*ck is this guy STILL AROUND?!?” Axton asked as the main bad guy was left after a while.
“Squirrely little sh*t.” Brick grumbled.
“Hey we did get rid of the others but this guy is about ready to run away or something.”
At that point, Mordecai just let out a sigh, “So, about that action I was holding…”
“Yes Mordy Bordy?”
“I want to shoot the chain holding the chandelier.”
“Yeah, that will do it.” Axton just admitted.
“Okay, roll to attack-” Just as Tina said that, Mordecai did what was told and told her that he rolled a 19 to hit, “That does hit… and the chain breaks…”
Moments afterwards, there was a very long pause as Tina looked to be either lost in thought or calculating something. Which had Spike be a little nervous. “Uh… is everything okay?”
“So, here’s what happens, my peeps…”
“I got a bad feeling about this,” the mechromancer mumbled.
“The chain breaks, it hits the suspicious fellow underneath it, causing everything else to crumble. But what you don’t realize is that this outcome… was something he wanted. For moments after he took his last breath, the ground begins to break apart as the temple begins to collapse. Water begins to flood through the room as you hear a deep and unsettling voice echo from below your feet. ‘I HAVE WAITED AGES TO BE FREE, BUT IF YOU AREN’T GOING TO PROVIDE SUCCOR, THEN I WILL DRAG THE PEOPLE WHO CAST ME OUT DOWN WITH ME!!’ Yeah, bucko, you should probably start running.”
“Time to run.” Axton stated.
“Time to get the buck out!!”
“But what if I ca-”
“Brick I think this is the enemy you CAN’T punch right now.” Axton said that Brick just grumbled about.
“For once, don’t punch them like you did with the dwarves!”
“ONE TIME, OK, ONE TIME!!” Brick asserted himself. “AND THEN THE ONE-
“Brick, less ranting, more running and ranting.” Roland decided to interject.
“Everyone, roll athletics!”
“18 for me.” Axton said.
“11.” Brick grumbled.
“15”
“14”
“14”
Outside of them, there was only one number that was more concerning than Brick's roll. Which happened to come from Starlight. “Natural 1”
“Oh sh*t. That is going to end badly.” Axton brought up.
“You think!?”
“Do we have enough time to grab her? No one gets left behind in my book!” Gaige proclaimed.
“I can try.” Brick brought up.
“Aren’t you at the back of the group though?” Roland asked.
“Do we really have any other options?”
Roland wanted to speak up at that point, but Axton shut him down.
“There is nothing wrong with trying, so go ahead and try it.” Axton motioned for Brick to roll the dice.
“Okay, so… for this, you need to roll reflexes. But it’s a very high save.” Tina warned him. “Now, if you’re ready, go ahead and roll.”
“Hmm, alright let’s go.” Brick announced as he rolled and when it landed he narrowed his eyes as he had to double check his stat bonuses. “How does a 23 sound?”
“... Holy shiznits, you passed. You needed a 22.”
“YES!!”
“So, the moment that you see Starlight fall behind, you see Brick just racing over like a damn juggernaut. Not even bothering to dodge things, but just brute forcing it before picking up Starlight like she’s a cat and just going off to the races! Now though, the damage is not to just the temple, but the entire village. You needed to get out ASAP! Another round of athletics, except for Starlight since… well, you all know why.”
“Because she’s a cat?”
“Haha, very funny.” An unamused Starlight retorted.
“Hey as long as it works right HAHAHAHA.” Brick had a good laugh and then he rolled. “16 for me.”
“I got myself a 14.” Axton announced.
“16”
“13”
“19”
“17”
“Alright, better than before.” Tina remarked. “Anyone else?”
“I believe that is everyone at the table?”
“Huh… kind of expected more, but alright,” the bunker master replied, “Despite the small hiccup and the whole entire village breaking apart at the seams, each one of you are able to make your way out of the village. It took some effort since not only are buildings collapsing, but waves from the ocean are crashing as the whole section of land that the village was on now begins to sink… drowning beneath the waves and damning all the coiled inside to the depths below…… Well, that’s going to need to be something for me to change for any future campaigns.”
“Um… is it too late to ask if we’re still the good guys at this point?”
“I mean at this point, what even is a good guy?” Axton questioned.
“Fair enough. So, what happens next Tina?” Maya asked, only to not get a response early on, “Tina?”
Her answer was just the sound of the Bunker Master passing out on the table and giving out a loud snoring. “I think that she’s pushed herself a little too much.”
“Maybe it would be a good idea to get some sleep ourselves,” Gaige said as she stretched her arms a bit, “God, time flies by way too fast these days. Feels like we only just arrived yesterday.”
“I can agree with that statement,” Lilith added, just as Twilight trotted over and placed a blanket on the sleeping Tina.
“Hey Roland, you have some time to talk?” Axton asked as he caught up to Roland.
“Sure thing, what do you want to talk about?” Roland said in response.
Axton just motioned to an empty room to talk. “Don’t want to wake everyone up.”
As time passed, it grew rather difficult for Gaige to sleep. If it wasn’t her getting notifications from the mystery girl on her ECHO device, it was something else that prevented her from getting much needed rest.
At one point in the evening, she had to get up to use the restroom. Though, after she was done with her business, the mechromancer could hear two voices coming from the other side of a partially open window. The familiar voices of both Axton and Roland, “What the hell? What are they doing up this late?”
As Gaige got closer, that's when she overheard them.
“So this is what it is then?” Axton gruffly asked Roland
“What more do you want from this? I’m just trying to enjoy this new lease I have ok?” Roland responded, sounding hurt.
“Yeah and how long will this last until next time huh? How long until the next time?” Then the sound of a gun being loaded is heard.
“You know the risk from this, if you do this all of them will be here then how will you be able to explain yourself.” Roland brought up.
“Yeah, you may be right.” Axton agreed. “But this is how it's supposed to be right now, so don’t hold this against me alright.”
“I hope this works out how you think it might.” Roland said, and shortly thereafter a gunshot was heard and a body slumping on the ground.
Immediately, the mechromancer ran to the closest door towards the sound of the shot. Gaige thought that someone had attacked them while they were talking, but what she actually saw had her in disbelief.
“Axton?”
Axton turned toward Gaige in surprise. “Oh sh*t.” Is all he said as Gaige saw Roland on the ground with a bullet through his head and Axton holding a smoking Maggie.
“Axton, what did you do!?!”