Every woman needs to enjoy a long, hot, soapy bath on occasion. At least, that was what Lauren had told me a short time ago when she’d been trying to convince me to take a bath this morning instead of a shower. And after giving in, I had to admit that she might have had a point. It felt good and relaxing to simply lay back and soak in the hot water.
After the events of yesterday, I didn’t feel the least bit guilty for sleeping in and then taking a long bath. Of course, I wasn’t going to take it easy and relax for too long. I planned on hitting the gym pretty hard this afternoon. If I’d learned one thing from that contest, it was that I still needed to get into better shape.
With my eyes closed, I stretched out, relaxed, and thought about the contest, or at least, about the popup that had appeared after I’d returned last night.
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED A COMPETITION.
REWARD: +2 ATTRIBUTE POINTS AND + 100 RESOURSE ATTRIBUTE POINTS.
COMPANION 1 REWARD: +1 ATTRIBUTE POINT, +50 RESOURCE ATTRIBUTE POINTS, AND ARMOR.
COMPANION 2 REWARD: +1 ATTRIBUTE POINT, +50 RESOURCE ATTRIBUTE POINTS, AND ARMOR.
Last night, I’d gone to bed without slotting my new attribute points, so they were still there waiting for me. At the time, I hadn’t wanted to deal with that while I was tired and not thinking clearly, but now, I had all the time I needed to consider how I’d use those points. Of course, this morning, I’d woken up with another popup.
YOU HAVE RECEIVED A NEW ABILITY:
SUMMON COMPANION- RANK 1
-YOU MAY TRANSPORT A COMPANION TO YOUR SIDE. RANGE 100 METERS. INCREASES IN RANK WILL INCREASE THE RANGE OF THIS ABILITY.
I opened my screen and read through the description of this new ability and wondered if I made the right decision. An offensive power probably would have been a lot more useful than this, but then again, this might help me save my friends one day.
“Too late to change my mind now,” I said.
Then I turned my attention back to the new attribute points that I’d earned. I grinned in anticipation since I now knew that any improvements I made in my stats would actually improve me for real. The question was, what should I spend them on?
Maelyne had pointed out that I could slot up health and my physical stats, which would make me better suited for fighting directly. However, I realized that even if I did this, I’d never be able to catch up to Don, Axe Guy, or any of the other straight-forward fighters. All it would do was take the focus away from what my current strengths were, so I’d begin to fall behind in that area too. Nothing had really changed since the last time I’d had a free point to spend.
“Now, what should I spend you on?” I mused aloud, though the truth was, I already knew.
Normally, I would have ignored charisma, but that whole flirting thing had saved my butt against Axe Guy, and that kind of thing might come in useful in the future. Because of that, I put one point into intelligence and one into charisma. Since I’d already gotten a point in awareness yesterday, that didn’t need as much immediate attention.
As soon as I slotted those points, I felt a moment of dizziness as my intelligence actually increased a little. I smiled faintly, realizing that my intelligence level was now one point higher than Matt’s.
“I guess I’m not a dumb jock anymore,” I said with a wry chuckle.
I felt something from the charisma as well, or at least, I assumed it was from the charisma. There was a certain sense of confidence, which sort of welled up in me a little. However, I didn’t waste time dwelling on that. Instead, I turned my attention to the resource attribute points. I had a hundred of those to spend. Since I’d run out of mana a couple times lately, this was a good chance to fix that. I put fifty points into my man pool and the other fifty into mana recovery, then I looked at my stats.
NAME: HEATHER MARIE SIEVERS
GENDER: FEMALE
AGE: 18
PATRON: MAELYNE, GODDESS OF LOYALTY AND PROTECTION
HEALTH: 100%
MANA: 100%
STATUS: NO INJURIES, ILLNESSES, OR NEGATIVE STATUS EFFECTS.
STRENGTH: 8
STAMINA: 9
ENDURANCE: 11
-
AGILITY: 11
REFLEXES: 8
DEXTERITY: 9
-
INTELLIGENCE: 13
CHARISMA: 14
AWARENESS: 11
-
MANA POOL: 420
MANA RECOVERY: 307
HEALTH: 160
REGENERATION: 160
“That should help with my mana problems,” I mused. “But I should probably increase my health too, if I get a chance.”
Of course, I still had a couple attribute points to slot, the ones that were for Matt and Teri. However, I wasn’t going to do that until I’d talked to them.
I finished my shower and climbed out of the tub, then reached for a towel to dry off, when the bathroom door opened I suddenly found myself facing a nearly naked Cassandra. The only thing she had on was a large towel, which was wrapped around her mid-section, but that was a lot more than I was wearing. I let out a yelp of surprise and quickly scrambled to cover myself up, but Cassandra burst out laughing.
“You don’t have anything that I haven’t seen before,” Cassandra said with a smirk. She continued watching me with a look of amusement, obviously having a little fun at my expense.
“I knew this was going to be awkward,” I grumbled. What made me think that I could move in with two chicks and not have something like this happen? Then again, moving in with a couple guys probably would have been even worse.
“Sorry to barge in,” she apologized, though she didn’t look like she meant it. “But you were the one who left the door unlocked…”
Cassandra stared at me for a couple more seconds, then with a smirk, she turned and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I watched her the entire time, letting out a sigh of relief once she was gone, though also feeling a little disappointment.
The goth chick had a very nice body, one that was even better than I’d realized. She was lean and well-toned, with curves in all the right places. I didn’t remember her being so athletic looking back in school, and she didn’t strike me as the type to spend much time in the gym, so I was guessing that she’d boosted her stats a time or two instead.
“I have got to get me some more stat boosts,” I said, thinking about the ones I’d just slotted a short time ago. Intelligence and charisma might have their uses, but I still wanted to get stronger. “At least I know how to do that the old-fashioned way.”
Once I finished drying off, I wrapped an oversized towel around my mid-section, the same way Cassandra had gone. One thing about being smaller was that I couldn’t have done this with my original body. Then again, all I’d needed to cover up then, had been right below my waist.
I left the bathroom and saw Cassandra had still been waiting. “All yours,” I told her.
“I hope you left me some hot water,” she said.
Smiling wryly, I told her, “Maybe a little bit…”
“For someone who’s only been a girl for a couple weeks, you’re sure turning out to be a bitch,” Cassandra told me with a smirk to let me know she was teasing.
“I have a good role model,” I replied with a smirk of my own.
Cassandra burst out laughing. “Now I’m starting to wish we would have hung out more back in school. Of course, I would have had to deal with the testosterone poisoning, so that probably wouldn’t have worked.”
After this, Cassandra went in to take her own bath while I went to my room to not only get dressed, but also to brush and dry my hair. Taking care of my hair was a pain in the butt, but it had become a relaxing part of my new routine. While sitting in one place, brushing my hair, I had time to think and work things out. In a way, it was a bit like working out in the gym.
An hour later, I was sitting in the living room, now fully dried and dressed, with a book open in front of me. This was one of the text books that I’d borrowed from Lauren. I was reading through it, noting that my reading speed, memory, and comprehension, all seemed to have improved a little more since the last time I’d tested this. I was still absorbing what it meant for me to be smarter than ever before. And I was almost looking forward to school starting up again, so that I could actually make use of these new brains.
Lauren was sitting a short distance away, doing a little studying of her own. Apparently, she had a paper due and was trying to get it finished up, so I was keeping quiet and trying not to disturb her.
Cassandra came into the room, now finished with her own morning routine. She was once again dressed up in her usual goth wardrobe and makeup, though I couldn’t help but thinking about what she looked like beneath all that, or at least, about the limited amount that I’d seen. I gave her a good once over, being subtle about it so that she didn’t notice. I might be in a chick’s body now, but beneath this sexy skin, there was still a red-blooded guy.
“How did your contest go?” Lauren asked for the first time, apparently wanting to ask Cassandra rather than me. “I mean, you both obviously made it back, but…”
“It was pretty rough,” Cassandra admitted. “They dumped us right into the middle of this huge fucking dungeon, so we had to fight all sorts of creepy shit…including a dragon.”
“A dragon?” Lauren gasped with a look of awe and horror.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Luckily, they let us team up…”
“That’s good,” Lauren said, nodding in approval. “I like it better when you get to get together. It’s always good having someone watch your back.”
“Definitely,” I agreed.
Over the years, I’d played a lot of sports, including a lot of team sports. I’d long since learned the value of teamwork, and that it was a lot more fun to play with others. There was something awesome about sharing a victory with your buddies.
Lauren grinned and asked, “So, did you get any interesting prizes…”
“I picked up a few,” Lauren admitted. “Apparently, I’m now a gymnast…” She smirked at that, though I’d seen her trying out a cartwheel this morning when she hadn’t realized anyone was watching.
“I got this,” I said, holding up the golden metal sphere.
Cassandra’s eyes widened. “Nice…” I could see a look of hunger, which told me all I needed to know about how valuable it was.
“But what is it?” I asked. “And how do I use it?” I’d tried squeezing the metal sphere, just like I had the crystal ones, but nothing had happened.
“It’s an equipment upgrade,” Cassandra explained. “Just touch it to your weapon or armor, and instant upgrade.”
“Really?” I asked.
I got to my feet and stepped into the middle of the room, then I called my armor and staff. As soon as I switched over, I held up the metal sphere and considered how I should use it.
Upgrading your armor was usually a good thing, and I could definitely use the improved survivability this would give me. However, I already had some good defensive abilities, and what I really needed now was more offense. Upgrading my staff might give that to me. Or it might not. It might just improve the abilities my staff already had, which improved my shield strength and mana use.
“But that would still be useful too,” I mused.
With my decision made, I touched the golden sphere to my staff. Almost instantly, the sphere melted into a liquid and began flowing over the staff. It flowed to the red gemstone on the head of the staff, then continued flowing upward, forming a point, one which began to flatten and take shape.
“It turned into a spear,” I said in surprise.
The gemstone on my staff was still there, but a golden spear head had formed above and around it. There were a few other changes to my staff as well, but they were subtler than the new blade. I immediately pulled up my screen to see what else might have changed.
WEAPONS: SPEAR-STAFF
-THIS WEAPON COUNTS AS BOTH A SPEAR AND A STAFF
-REDUCES MANA COST OF MAGICAL ABILITIES BY 15%
-INCREASES EFFECTIVENESS OF SHIELD ABILITIES BY 30%
-10% OF ALL DAMAGE ABSORBED BY YOUR SHIELDS IS ADDED TO YOUR NEXT ATTACK
I stared at these stats for several long seconds, deciding that this upgrade was more than worth it. Not only had the existing stats improved by fifty percent, I’d also gained my first offensive power. Technically, it seemed to be more of a damage buff than an actual offensive power, but it was a LOT more than what I had before.
“And it relies on me using my shields,” I thought aloud.
I remembered Maelyne’s last comment, about my being capable of more than I realized. Had she known this would happen? Or more importantly, had she arranged it? Was this the offensive ability that she’d offered me last night? I had a feeling that I’d probably never know for sure.
--------------------
“Come on,” I complained. “That’s a load of crap…”
“Don’t cry, just because I pawned you,” Matt responded with a smug grin.
I was at his house, sitting in my usual spot while we played a new game that Matt had just bought. It was a fun game, but Matt kept kicking my butt. The problem was, Matt’s hand-eye-coordination was MUCH better than it used to be. When I’d made him into my companion, I hadn’t thought that it would come back to bite me like this.
“You want a turn?” I asked Teri in disgust.
“No thanks,” she responded, not looking up from the cell phone that she was playing with. “I’m good.”
“Chicken,” Matt teased his sister.
Teri casually flipped him off, then asked, “You want to arm wrestle instead?” When Matt didn’t respond to her challenge, she smirked. “Chicken.”
Since I was done with the game, at least for now, I set down my controller and said, “I saw that you guys both got some new armor…”
Matt and Teri shared a grin. “Yeah,” Matt said with a look of satisfaction. “We both got popups after we got back last night.”
“This is so awesome,” Teri exclaimed, setting down her phone and jumping up. “Look at this…”
A second later, Teri was now covered in lightweight armor that was similar in style to what Nadine wore, though it was closer to the color and patterns of mine. It was red with white trim, and covered everything from the neck down. In addition, she also had some light protection for her head, which was somewhat similar to the tiara that Wonder Woman wore in the comics, though it wrapped around a bit on the side to offer a bit more protection there as well.
“Cool,” I said, immediately noting that her armor looked a lot sturdier than my own did. I’d already looked up the stats earlier, though I couldn’t resist doing so again.
EQUIPMENT:
ARMOR: UPPER MID-LEVEL ARMOR
-ARMOR RATING 200
-20% PROTECTION FROM ALL MAGICAL DAMAGE
-PREVENTS THE WEARER FROM BEING PHOTOGRAPHED OR RECORDED BY NON-MAGICAL MEANS
“Nice,” I said, feeling a bit jealous of her armor.
Not only did Teri’s armor look a bit tougher than mine, mostly because it didn’t look like a dress, but it also had more than three times the armor value. Of course, I quickly reminded myself, I’d had the opportunity to upgrade my armor than morning, and I’d chosen not to.
“That should give you a lot more protection,” I told Teri while giving her a nod of approval.
“Now for mine,” Matt said, shifting over to his armor as well. I immediately pulled up the stats on his equipment.
EQUIPMENT:
ARMOR: UPPER LIGHT ARMOR
-ARMOR RATING 80
-INCREASES EFFECTIVENESS OF STEALTH
-LEAVES NO FOOTPRINTS
-20% PROTECTION FROM ALL MAGICAL DAMAGE
-PREVENTS THE WEARER FROM BEING PHOTOGRAPHED OR RECORDED BY NON-MAGICAL MEANS
WEAPONS: BLACK DAGGER
-CAUSES TRIPLE DAMAGE WHEN THROWN
“Definitely ninja gear,” I told Matt, who looked a little smug. “And it looks like you’re going to have to practice knife throwing.”
“Tell me about it,” Matt agreed with a smirk.
I looked him over, noting that there was a second knife sheath at his waist, just the perfect size for the bowie knife that he’d been using yesterday. However, the bowie hadn’t shown up under his equipment, nor had his paintball gun, or Teri’s baseball bat. It looked like the only equipment that actually showed up on this screen, were things provided through the game.
“Just don’t ask me to call you Cyrus Shadowstep,” I said, naming the character that Matt usually played when teaming up with Karock.
“Oh, I’m much cooler than Cyrus,” Matt assured me. “I mean, I can do this stuff for real…”
It took a great deal of effort to keep from rolling my eyes. “Well, I got an equipment upgrade of my own.” And with that, I made my own weapon appear.
“Awesome,” Teri exclaimed. “It turned into a spear…”
“Yep,” I agreed, twirling my spear with a casual ease since all of my staff skills seemed to carry over. “And it gives me an occasional damage buff when using it. Not too impressive, but it’s better than what I had before.”
“Very nice,” Matt agreed.
After sending my spear back to storage, I said, “And that reminds me. Both of you earned an attribute point, and I wanted to talk to you before slotting them…”
Matt’s eyes seemed to light up at that. “I’ll take mine in strength…”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I mean, you play a lot of rogue and thief types in game… How would you slot one of your characters?”
Matt glared at me for a moment, then admitted, “It depends. Strength can increase damage dealt, but by these rules, dexterity would increase accuracy and my chance for a critical hit…” He considered this for a moment, glanced at Teri, then repeated, “Strength.”
“Okay,” I said, slotting strength for Matt. Then I looked at Teri.
“I want more strength too,” Teri announced, flexing her arms and blowing a raspberry at her brother. I was pretty sure that she just didn’t want him catching up to her.
I was already jealous enough of Teri as it was, so it was almost painful to do as she asked. When I was done with that, I had to slot their resource attribute points. I didn’t bother asking them where they wanted those, since the options were so limited. I put all of those points into their health stats, increasing each of theirs by fifty.
“Wow, this does feel good,” Matt said, stretching his body and flexing his arms. He hadn’t developed any extra muscles yet, but I knew from experience that his muscle tone would improve soon enough.
“All right,” Teri exclaimed with a broad grin. I could see the eagerness in her eyes, especially when she flexed, obviously imagining her own muscles growing again.
After they calmed down a little, Matt asked, “What about you? Did you get any stat increases?”
“Two points,” I admitted. “Intelligence and charisma.”
“Intelligence is a good choice for a mage,” Matt told me with a thoughtful expression. However, between the look on his face and how well I knew him, I was pretty sure he thought that I’d wasted a point by slotting it into charisma. After dealing with Axe Guy, I’d disagree on that one. “At this rate, you’ll catch up to me soon…”
I just smiled at that, not bothering to point out that my intelligence level was already higher than his. I’d save that little detail for the next time he tried calling me a dumb jock, or even a dumb cheerleader.
“Oh,” I added in a cheerful tone. “I also got a new ability, called ‘summon companion’, that lets me transport you guys to me whenever I want.” I didn’t bother to mention that there was a range limitation, though I did grin evilly. “Now, who wants to be my guinea pig?”
Comments
Points well spent except
By Teri she needed hers probably in dexterity or something so she can move better. Heathers atribute points I think are spot on so she needs to do some arobics & yoga or Zumba to get her flexibility & dexterity built up not just strength.
Love Samantha Renée Heart.
Not sure I'm on board with that
Especially with the mobility that Jerry can now offer, I think Teri's mobility is probably fine. Teri's point in strength is much like Jerry's points in Intelligence and Charisma : boosting one's strong points to stay competitive with similarly powered and specced characters.
Mix of Action and Prep/Downtime Chapters
I'm enjoying the mix of relaxation/prep postings and intense action combat postings. This is a great series so far.
Thanks for sharing.
Agreed
That seems to be a trademark of a good Morpheus story.
Matt
He should have put the point in Dexterity he should accept the fact that Teri will be stronger and get over it.
hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna
Very true.
Jerry needs to as well. Doesn't mean it will happen. Ego is a powerful thing.
I thought...
That over all Jeri was spending her points as she ought to. At least this time, as a magic user she needs intelligence almost more than she needs anything else. Now I do agree that she probably ought to take a yoga or other class of the like to help with flexibility or the like. She also needs a sparring partner. She and Teri should start sparring hand to hand. A good hobby to take up now, for both her and Matt? Juggling! Help with dexterity etc. And they need to head out to the dump for practice sessions. Which goes back to how is Jeri eating? Or how does she get real worldTM stuff like money for food, clothing, a place to stay etc?
Cheap Patrons
Not much for putting your life on the line...
After the Dragon died, they should have hurriedly gone back for the tapestries! I wonder what they were worth?
I'm wondering what Nadine & Robe got?
I thought that Nadine & Robe should have gotten nothing for the Dragon Fight.
FYI - you forgot to make your
FYI - you forgot to make your post about Nadine and Robe's performance against the Dragon.
I wonder...
If maybe, the only things they could remove from a dungeon situation like this were things directly in 'prize boxes'? She does need to ask Cassandra about looting places like the dungeon, if it is possible. After all if it were real world fungible items, it might answer for how she can live (pay rent, buy food etc) while being Maylene's champion, and needing to practice her abilities. It looks like to me at least I think I read it before, that practicing at the dump helped her boost her shield. So she needs to practice. She needs to practice with her companions, which is going to interfere with whatever real world commitments they have as well. Again the thing that keeps booting me part way out of this story is that the very real world concern of how does she make a living/support her companions? This question will become more urgent the longer she remains (hopefully for her health a long time) Maylene's champion. She and Matt and Teri, even if the latter are living at home cannot always rely on others to provide their needs.
I Commented the First Time...
...that Josette brought it up that there are several scenarios that would have made it impossible to pick up the troll's weapons and tapestries, not least that we haven't seen the storage area used for anything that wasn't assigned to them. Even rolled up, tapestries would be bulky, and weapons too large and heavy to use probably can't be carried either.
Only fairly wild guesses as to your question as to what they're living on. One possibility is that since the challenges themselves take so little time, they didn't feel they had to worry about it. (We don't know how often they do this, only that there wasn't a whole lot of downtime this particular round.). It seems that compensation would have been an obvious question when people signed up; there may have been a stipend they got at that time, or the gods might have limited their choice of champions to people with ample resources. The latter may be doubtful, if Nadine, Cassandra, Lauren and Jerry all went to the same public high school. (Jeri, of course, was an unscheduled addition, and had plenty of non-monetary incentive since Jerry would have died otherwise.) It also seems clear that as far as everyone else except maybe the arbiters was concerned, Jeri is Heather and would have already been compensated, if everyone did get paid in advance.
We also don't know what, if anything, the gods promised people they'd get as a real-world reward if they made it through. I'm not sure whether they intended to follow through if such a promise was made; killing or exiling the survivors would make more pragmatic sense, and if there is an exile venue, there'd already be people there from previous contests. (We also don't know -- I have my doubts -- whether champions knew when they signed up that death was permanent after the first three resurrections.)
Eric
The competition
While she is getting stronger, I wonder what is happening with the opposition?
The other teams are getting points and power ups etc I’m sure, so it is an arms race.
So under what conditions would a champion lose resource/attribute points? Could they lose skill ranks through neglect?
I'd bet
Being defeated might cause them to lose rank. If they fail to practice, they will not advance at least, so the other champions become stronger if they do practice, and since you cannot rely on your 'enemy' to step on his own man parts you must needs practice as much as possible.
“Now, who wants to be my guinea pig?”
cool. I wonder if at some point she'll be able to add another companion - human or otherwise? How about turning undead like clerics in D & D?
Don't Know if There are Undead Here...
...I've said before that I don't think so. But if there are, I can't see where anyone would have the ability to make live humans out of them. If the gods could create live humans, why would they be bothering with these champions?
Or did you mean impressing a single undead individual into your service? Not sure what good it'd do unless it was smarter than the ones I'm familiar with. Seems to me that the only reason the undead are a threat is because you can't kill them (not being alive) and they're devastating when they attack, mindlessly, in large numbers. One zombie doesn't pose much of an unmanageable threat, to you or your opponent.
(And if their threat is that humans they kill become undead themselves, that doesn't seem consistent with these game conditions.)
Eric
turn undead
In D&D, a cleric can cause undead creatures - zombies, mummies, ghouls, and even vampires and the like - to turn and run away from them. At high levels, they can can destroy them with this power. As for the game, if you could have slime molds and dragons in a dungeon, no reason why you couldnt have them facing a necromancer with an army of undead. regardless, I'm loving this.
First Strike?
Heather's weapon upgrade states: "-10% OF ALL DAMAGE ABSORBED BY YOUR SHIELDS IS ADDED TO YOUR NEXT ATTACK".
I see no time limit or upper limit to damage in that ability. So have Heather cast one of her shield spells, and have one of her companions whale on it with a sledgehammer. Repeat this for a few hundred sledgehammer hits. The next thing she hits will be hit with the force of a few dozen sledgehammer blows. In the dungeon, this would be useless; some unfortunate giant rat would get splattered. However, this tactic could win a fight if Nadine (or any other Champion) jumps her. Heather's first hit would come as a very unpleasant surprise.
Re: "First Strike?"
If your theory works, Heather &Terri can use "Taunting Plan A":
Upon meeting Nadine & Robe:
Matt goes stealth & readies his paint gun. When Robe attempts to move, starts peppering Robe at long range.
Jeri yells: "Taunt the Troll!"
Teri poses with her Aluminum Baseball Bat and yells: "Hey Troll! You goona pitch that ball or stuff it in your A Cup Bra!
Smoke comes out of Nadine's ears as she prepared to throw a fireball at Terri.
Jeri puts a Companion Shield on Terri. Replacing shield when necessary.
Fireball hits shield.
Heather watches Robe out of the corner of her eye and moves if necessary to avoid contact.
Matt peppers Robe when he tries to close and stops shooting when Robe stops moving. Matt moves if necessary to avoid Robe.
Terri continues to taunt Nadine ("You throw like a little girl. Look, the little girl is going to cry!" "I think she wet her diaper!"
When Heather feels everything is ready, she yells "Go!"
Matt draws dagger and throws it at Robe then starts shooting him again.
Heather throws SpearStaff at Robe.
With luck, Robe goes down. Heather recovers SpearStaff. Heather throws Maelyne's Shield over her, Matt & Terri. All three (3) pile on Robe and finish him off.
Nadine runs or dies!
Don't try this unless you practice - A LOT!!!
Nadine Part 1
Morepheus' story of the conflict between Her and Heather is a variation on a story by Herman Melville. I predict it will end badly for Nadine and all who follow her, for she "...will rise again and becon...and all will follow..."
*********************
In the comments for SEE Epilogue 1 someone commented that Dragons were anatomically incorrect. When I read that comment, at first, I was reminded of an earlier complaint that Barbie Dolls were anatomically incorrect. After mulling over the Barbie Doll issue for a considerable time, I turned back to the issue of Dragons being anatomically incorrect, which quickly caused my mind to run into a brick wall. I ended up posting the following comment:
"Anatomically Correct Dragons"
"If they are not Anatomically correct, how do they reproduce?"
Ignoring the atonomically incorrect issue, a Dragon is basically a huge lizard with wings. Most lizards on Earth have very long tails. For instance, the tail of a monitor lizard is approximately 70% of the total length of the lizard. Some (not all) lizards can detach part of their tail when threatened, leaving the predator with a mouthful of still thrashing tail, while the lizard scuries away to safety. These lizards also have the ability to regenerate most of the list tail. Probably the closest "Earth" lizard to a Dragon is the Komodo Dragon, which is the largest lizard on Earth and can kill a man! The tail of a Komodo Dragon is approximately 50% of the total length of the Dragon. (The importance of this will be pointed out later)
Dragons are usually described as having scales [Note: In some versions of D&D and some stories of Dragons, they have the ability to shapeshift into human form].
Dragon scales are typically considered to provide protection from damage. For instance, Smaug [in The Hobbit] arrows bounced off his scales. The Dragon was killed when an arrow pierced the Dragon in the one spot where the Dragon Scale was missing.
In the original D&D (a role playing game using pen, paper, dice and eventually miniature figures), Dragons that could spew Fire were called "Red Dragons". The abilities of Dragons (and other creatures) were determined by the moderator [called the "Dungeon Master"]. The Dungeon Master typically used whatever guides or manuals were available and die rolls to set the strength and abilities of creatures (including Dragons) in HIS dungeon.
As a general rule, Dragons were usually immune or resistant to "magical attacks" or attacks by whatever the Dragon spewed from his mouth. In the case of a Red Dragon, the Dragon would be resistant or immune to fire damage. The resistance level of the Dragon would be determined by a "savings roll" [one or more dice were rolled by the DM (Dungeon Master) and a table was consulted to determine the damage (if any) inflicted on the Dragon].
In original D&D and at least one movie (I believe it was Dragonslayer) , the scales ( red Dragons in D&D and "the Worm of Thrace" in Dragonslayer) of Dragons provided protection against fire.
Dragons are usually considered to be "APEX PREDATOR".
Dragons are usually considered to be as smart as or smarter than humans.
Adult Dragons are HUGE and considered to be over a hundred years old.
To sum up (the Dragon in The Game of the Gods):
* The Dragon is HUGE.
* The Dragon has WINGS and can fly.
* The Dragon is at least 50% Tail.
* The Dragon may be RESISTANT to Magical attacks.
* The Dragon's scales provide PROTECTION against attacks.
* The Dragon is RESISTANT or IMMUNE to FIRE Damage.
* The Dragon is SMART.
* The Dragon has more EXPERENCE than any of the Champions.
* The Dragon can KILL Champions.
(To be continued in Part 2)
**********
When I was a child, I visited the San Diego Zoo. We got there when it first opened (there weren't many people there that early). I noticed that there were a lot if chickens wandering through the zoo. I thought (at first) they were there to entertain the visitors and pick up any food the visitors drop on the ground.
I was near the Komodo Dragon enclosure when I saw a park attendant pick up one of the chickens, snap its neck, and throw it into the Komodo Dragon enclosure. One of the Dragons came over, picked up the dead chicken, gummed it and dropped it? I stood there [it seemed like a half hour - I wasn't wearing a watch] watching the Dragon repeatedly pick up the chicken, gum it, and drop it! Eventually, the Dragon swallowed the chicken with one gulp.
The only thing I remember from that visit is the chickens and the Dragon...
Every Little Piece
Lyrics from "Pete's Dragon"
Composed by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn
Dragon whiskers, dragon toes, a dragon tooth and a dragon nose
Every little piece
Every little piece
We could make a million by slicing him, dicing him
Hoagy, we could sell every little shell
There's enough of him to go around
Money, money, money by the pound
Every little piece
Every little piece
I can take a scissor and clip him up, rip him up
Every little part is a work of art
Think of what a dragon heart would bring
Wrapped up in a ribbon and a string
Dragon liver can cure a cold
Dragon powder grows hair
With dragon blood you'll never grow old
Every item is covered with gold
Every item is covered with gold
Every little piece
Every little piece
Dragon, you're my wagon to destiny; you're the key
Every little shred moving me ahead
Every dream of mine will be fulfilled
What a dragon business we can build
Dragon cartilage keeps you thin
Dragon fat is for burns
A dragon tear will clear up your skin
Watch the profits come rolling in
Watch the profits come rolling in
Every little piece, every little crease
All lead me to the dragon
I'll buy him up and tie him up
Drag him from the cave
Show him that I'm brave
I'll bind him up, grind him up
Lop him up, chop him up
Can't you hear that jingle, jangle sound?
It's money, money, money by the pound
Money, money, money!
Crowns
Sous
We'll have banks full of francs
Quids
Bucks
In truckloads
Cash
Stocks
Bonds
Bigger shares
Millionaires
Marks
Yens
In tens and twenties
Cash
Dragon cartilage keeps you thin
Dragon fat is for burns
A dragon tear will clear up your skin
Watch the profits come rolling in
Watch the profits come rolling in
Every little piece, every little crease
Lead us to the dragon
We'll buy him up, tie him up
Drag him from the cave
Show him that we're brave
We'll bind him up, grind him up
Lop him up, chop him up
Can't you hear that jingle, jangle sound?
It's money, money, money by the pound
The waking world is but a dream.
Which means?
What? That as soon as the thing went down they should have started in on cutting off parts? As I understood the story as you told it, almost as soon as the dragon was dead they were 'rushed' out of the dungeon. Still if by some means they had acquired enough dragon skin to make someone a shield (we won't mention any girls who are tanks) it would have been helpful, perhaps!
What does Moby Dick, scales and tails to do with Nadine's score
I'm building a case that Robe & Nadine knew their attacks were ineffective against the Dragon. They were trying to attack Heather and her companions in order to kill them while pretending to attack the Dragon. In effect, they were helping the Dragon kill all of the attacking Companions and Champions [including themselves???].
The Champions were supposed to kill the Dragon [for the Benefit of their Patrons - not for personal revenge].
Nadine Part 2
After Nadine received her powers (an unknown amount of time PRIOR to Chapter 1), she made no attempt to use her powers against Lauren or Jerry. When she bumped into Jerry at the gas station, she made no attempt to physically attack him.
When Nadine attacked Heather outside the gym, Heather yelled at Nadine "Are you crazy? You want to do this in public?"
Nadine responded:
"The cleaner will erase all the evidence," ... "And make all the witnesses forget..."
This implies that attacks on humans not involved in the "game" are either prohibited or discouraged.
Nadine is mentally unstable. As a result, she can become IRRATIONALLY violent after even a minor slight. I believe that this explains her behavior during the Dungeon Crawl (more on this later). This will severely affect the fortunes of Nadine, Robe, Heather (her friends) and the patrons as well!!!
Immediately after Maelyne's revelations in Chapter 21 and what Heather knows (see above), this should result in Heather:
(a) Quickly making an attempt (using her flirting ability and Matt's Stealth ability) to remove (at a minimum) her gaming computer and any documents or pictures that would identify ANYONE associated with Jerry Tanner). clothing and trophies should also be removed to avoid leaving anything that would trigger an increase Nadine's anger.
(b) Have a frank discussion with Cassandra & Lauren. Lauren may now become a target because of Nadine's mental instability.
(c) A similar frank discussion should be held with Matt &Terri. Both are now at risk of being targeted (separately - more on this below). In addition all three (3) should discuss the possibility that their parents may also be at some risk???
I am pretty sure that prior to Nadine's chance meeting at the gym, Nadine did not HATE Heather. The attack on Heather (where Jerry died) was probably caused by:
(a) Nadine's Patron directed the attack on Heather to weaken Maelyne, or
(b) Nadine decided to attack Heather because she was weaker than Cassandra (Nadine hated Cassandra because Cassandra was a girlfriend of Lauren in High School).
If "(b)" is the reason, danger abounds for Heather, her Friends and families, AND the Patrons of Heather AND Nadine!!!
Prior to the Dungeon Crawl, OldHeather was considered one of the weakest Champions. Heather's performance during the "Pillar Contest" should have been regarded as just blind, dumb luck by a poor champion who defeated the worst champion (with help from Cassandra) and narrowly avoided death by the ending of the contest.
The killing of Nadine should also have been regarded by the patrons as a freak event when the "superior" champion was distracted by a rank amateur companion and then killed by a lucky strike not dodged because of the distraction.
Bottom line: "Heather is an acceptable target so long as it doesn't interfere with more important interests of Nadine's Patron (like wining contests).
Targeting OldHeather during the Dungeon Crawl was an exceptable action (and certainly worthy of receiving the Patron's blessing) IF IT DOESN'T CONFLICT WITH THE PATRON'S INTERESTS!
There was a massive mistake by Nadine and Robe. Their actions during the Dragon Fight were not rational (due to Nadine's Mental instability). During the Dragon Fight, they acted on Nadine's Irrational Hatred and NOT on the best interests of their Patron! Their goal should have been to kill the Dragon NOT HELP the Dragon. More on this in the following comment.
*****************
After the Dungeon Crawl, ALL of the patrons should take notice of Heather's (superior to all of the other champions in the contest) performance! In addition her performance in the "Pillar Contest" and the unofficial fight outside the gym should be reevaluated. Her performance in all three (3) events were obviously no fluke. Alliances, tactics, and plans of all patrons need to be reassessed.
This means that Maelyne's warning to NewHeather must be taken VERY SERIOUSLY.
WHAT WAS PROHIBITED OR DISCOURAGED MAY NOW BE ACCEPTABLE!!!
Other Champions may also reassess Heather & Companions. Heather's improvement (remember everyone thinks OldHeather & NewHeather are the same person. What changed was her new Companions!) may be attributed to her new Companions and result in a reluctance to challenge them when all three (3) are together. The same holds double if Cassandra and Don are present!
So if you are a competing Champion what do you do???
To be continued in Part 3
Killing Champions
The whole question of killing other champions, other than in self-defense, isn't clear to me. If you get bonus points every time you knock one off, then there'd seem to be no reason for Nadine and Mason to need to use the dragon as a cover for killing Cassandra and Heather. (Spear-girl told Heather there was nothing personal when they dueled, but she and her patron needed the points, and of course at that point Heather was well known to be an easy target. So it seems that you don't have to have a game-action reason, though you may or may not need an excuse.)
You do presumably need to make some effort toward the goals of a specific challenge, since I think you can get docked or maybe even disqualified if you don't. But if you'll be more efficient at competing in future challenges by gaining points now at others' expense -- and maybe even weaken those others by bringing them closer to their fourth death and a forfeiture -- there'd seem to be something to be said for ambushing just about everyone you encounter once you're on the course, whether there's anything to fight for or not. (Loot in their control gives you more of an excuse, but you seem to be ahead of the game even without it.)
Eric
Killing champions during Dragon fight
I suspect deliberatively killing a champion during the Dragon Fight would’ve been considered a negative contribution to the attacking group’s goal of killing the dragon as they were graded for this round for what their contribution to the group effort was.
I don’t know what penalties would be though.
Clark Kent form?
As in if the players level up to the point they look really strange, do they get the ability to onlynshift to Champion form when needed?
Finally, what happens to the champions when the game ends? Or is that impossible?
As rheir champions age, do they need to be replaced?
I mean the lifespan of a human is a mere blip in comparison to a god.