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D&D One on One: Corruption of Balance

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XavierZeherisHarper

XavierZeherisHarper

Supernova
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Location
USA
Most of the time, the Jade Empire was a stable, if not necessarily peaceful place. Clans may war and argue amongst each other for power and pleasure, but all stand together against outside threats, and keeping the empire whole. The Shanyuan clan had been the Imperial Clan for over a century.

However, this peace has been threatened recently. Within the last decade, the Daikage Wall has seen more attacks by Oni every year. Villages have been assaulted by monsters that seem to spawn overnight. And the heir to the Jade Throne, Qian Shanyuan, has vanished. Whether these are all connected is unknown.

Further, the guiding spirits of the Jade Empire, the Elemental Dragons, have fallen silent. While they still grant spells to their disciples and faithful followers, they have not directly answered any questions, or been seen face to face. Some fear this is another Time of Testing, which has not been seen in over a millennium.

Can these circumstances be connected? Is the Jade Empire about to enter a crisis that can bring it's end? Perhaps...



Dark red energies flared into existence in the middle of the street. They began to widen, opening a pitch black hole in the air. Out of this hole fell two people, and then the hole closed up and the dark red energies vanished. This all took about 6 seconds.

"Well, that wasn't pleasant!" commented a woman. She was 5'3" standing, with Emerald hair and eyes that were the color of the sky. She wore a bright white tunic with dark green pants. The light blue boots matched her cloak, while her blade stood out as black amongst the colors she wore. Her name was Tsuki Musume, and she was a Druid.

A quick look around reveals that perhaps now isn't the best time to talk. The pair seem to have arrived in a village. That's under attacked by humanoid toads that are the size of ogres. The predominant color is red, but a few purples and greens stand out. Their main weapons seem to be their tongue and claws on each hand. There are panicking villagers running about. Men in blue armor are spread out, attacking with varying degrees of effectiveness. There is also a group of people in purple outfits that are throwing magic about, but their number is much smaller than the armored men or the toads.
 
The young man who appeared along side her sighed as he saw his enemies through his dark brown hair, pushing his bangs out of his face. he wore the clothes a commoner-- I farmer, at that. A simple blue tunic with bronze lining, and loose brown slacks-- odd garments for a warrior, Hell, even a militia. At 5'9 he stood proud, clenching his fists as he took a stance. Perhaps a Monk? Or perhaps a fool..

"Perhaps this realm will show promise, Milady?" Iskander's speech was always quite formal, if not blunt. "I'd be sorely disappointed otherwise... Let's just test their mettle, shall we?"
 
A moment of silence as she focuses, and then a serious look crosses her face. "Don't hold back. These things are... twisted, in some way." Tsuki says, drawing her blade while gesturing to Blackfang with the other. Blackfang snarls and readies himself as well, placing himself between Tsuki and the closest Toad thing.

The closest Toad things are 3 reds about 25 feet away. They've surrounded a blue armored woman. Neither Tsuki nor Iskander can understand the various shouting and battlecries being flung about by the combatants.

Roll Initiative and take action!
 
Rolls a total of 23 init.

Iskander will move in to the strongest enemy threatening the blue armored woman, throwing in a power attack (-BAB 1, attack bonus +1) into a toad's face. Hard.

(natural twenty. standard damage-180, plus power attack 1, critx2, 362 damage.)

If it dies, move into great cleave and attack closest enemy. rolled 30 (Attack roll), 137 damage. if it dies, more great cleave rolled 23 (attack roll), 154 damage
 
Initiative Order
Iskander
Tsuki
Toad Being
Woman in Blue

Iskander's vicious punch technique causes the closest Toad's head to explode violently. The follow-up kick to the second is a painful gut-buster.

Tsuki chants a spell, which summons 4 dire bears with green markings plain on their fur. The bears and Blackfang move to surround the remaining two toads. They proceed to maul the wounded Toad, Blackfang and one bear biting it, while the last bear disembowels it with it's claws.
 
The young man- if he could even be called as such, took a single step forward, Unleashing a Flurry of Blows upon the remaining toad.

(34 roll- 143 damage, 27 roll, 95 damage, natural 20- 300 damage, 26 roll- 103 damage, 18 roll- 78 damage)

"Anything else..?"
 
Iskander's first two blows pulverize the last Toad, leaving more of a pulpy mess than a body. The woman in blue gives a deep nod and says something in a foreign language, before rushing towards the closest cluster of combatants.

That cluster has about an even amount of Blues and Toads, and is west of Tsuki and Iskander. To the pair's Northwest is a group of Purple wearing people holding their own, despite being out numbered. The spell slinging their doing is probably why.

The last close cluster is a group of 9 Toads surrounding 4 Blues. The Blues are back to back in a square, but look weary.

Tsuki directs her animal friends to help the 4 Blues, while she wildshapes into a Gargantuan Silver Dragon. The appearance startles everyone, Toads, Blues, and Purples. Iskander isn't startled because he's seen her do it before. He still isn't completely convinced that she isn't naturally a silver dragon, who prefers to disguise herself as a 'simple druid'.
 
Iskander just shrugs as he moves in to assist the most weary and helpless groups first, going in with continueous flurry of blows, and great cleaves. once all enemies are out of range, Ki blast nearest enemy (range 30 feet,) Then Time stands still into next hoard that needs the most help, going back to more flurry and great cleave.

Flurry of blows roll 31- 128 damage, roll 28- 165 damage, roll 29- 200 damage, roll 23- 98 damage, roll 16, 38 damage

ki blast- natural 20, 398 damage.
 
Iskander's blows manage to fell two of the Toads, while his ki blast vaporizes a third. The bears and Blackfang add in their blows, finishing off a wounded Toad by tearing it to pieces, and killing a second by ripping it's throat out.

This is hardly noticed with Tsuki's next action. Tsuki roars, and intense blue flames sprout all around, burning the Toads caught within.

The Toads, startled by Tsuki's transformation, and demoralized by the intense flames that have seared them, began to falter. Half of them turn and run away, heading southwest towards a dark forest.

The Blues and Purples rally, and strike towards the remaining Toads with a mixture of steel and spell. Blades flash and Clubs glow as fire and lightning fly, while water and earth flow.



21 Toads left.
All Toads took 51 damage from Tsuki's Firestorm, and 17 damage from Blues and Purples combined.
 
Closing in on the largest cluster, Iskander resumed his attack cluster (repeated flurry of blows/ cleave/ great cleave combo)

Flurry of blows roll 28- 324 damage, roll 23- 228 damage, roll 23- 228 damage, roll-29(Crit, not natural 20) 72, roundabout kick feat- roll extra attack on crit. Roundabout kick- (I don't think you can get another roundabout kick off roundabout kick) roll 28(crit)-648 damage.

When Iskander needs to close in the gap to a new group of enemies, He activates a belt of battle for another full round- move in to another group, repeat attack cluster.
 
Iskander's powerful strikes obliterate the 4 Toads he hits, leaving corpses in his wake. Tsuki's animals manage to surround and tear apart another Toad. The Blues and Purples have manage to down 3 Toads themselves via teamwork.

Tsuki launches herself at the closest Toad, and proceeds to tear it apart with claws and fangs.



12 Toads left.
 
Iskander sighs from boredom as he continues his gale of melee carnage, using the same technique to fell as many enemies at a time.


Flurry of blows+Great Cleave:Natural 20-600 damage, (Immediate roundabout kick at +11 BAB-roll 36, 324 damage), roll 28- 200 damage, roll 25- 164 damage, roll 13- miss)
 
Iskander continues to kill multiple (3) opponents in ghastly ways as heads, chests, and vitals are brutally crushed beneath his fists.

The Toads that can (5) flee the village, frightened by the man casually slaughtering them. The dragon and strange animals don't help either, and now they're outnumbered.

The Blues and Purples aid the Toads departure with arrows and spells. After the Toads are gone, all of them bow their heads for a moment and mutter/chant something in their foreign language. After that, they split up, and begin to take care of the aftermath.

The exceptions are a woman in blue armor, whom Iskander recognizes as the woman who had been surrounded when he and Tsuki arrived, and a figure in purple. The man, Iskander assumes from general body shape, is wearing a simple long-sleeved tunic and leggings with open-toed boots. A hood finishes the dark purple attire. The woman begins speaking to Iskander, but he can't understand a word of what she's saying.

Tsuki reverts to human form, and dismisses the bears, who vanish in a circle of yellow energy. She wanders over to where Iskander is.
 
Sense motive 38 for tone, spot 27 for body language, general perform to try to communicate back through body language and gestures- natural 20
 
The attempts to communicate go... obtusely, at first. Upon realizing that Iskander doesn't speak her language and vice versa, the woman in blue goes a sigh, and tries to communicate in charades, but does so poorly, clearly not used to communicating in other ways besides speech. After being amused by her attempts, the man in purple starts speaking. However, it doesn't sound like the previous language, but still foreign. After another attempt in yet a third language Iskander doesn't understand, the man in purple asks, "Do you understand this language?" in a relatively understandable accent of Draconic.
 
"Very well." Iskander smiles, albeit slightly annoyed that the man let the girl try to communicate through gestures when he could have spoken up. "I'm Iskander.. Over there is Tsuki. Seems we arrived just in time to save you guys.."
 
"Indeed, Champion. You and your Liege came at our moment of need. It is nice to know that some of your kind are still favor the Jade Empire." The man in purple replies. The woman in blue says something the man in purple, a look of thanks (towards Iskander and Tsuki) and annoyance (towards the man in purple) on her face. The man continues, "My name is Bai Peng, and this is Yuri Asada, who is in service to Lord Jogo Murase." The man's accent in Draconic is strange, and there's a twist to the Champion and Liege words that Iskander is unsure of, but gets the feeling it means more or different than the usual way.
 
"The 'Jade Empire?' So that's where we landed.." He paused, and smiled. "Forgive me.. my 'Liege' and I are, as you can tell, foreigners to this land. Could you, Yuri, or this 'Murase' explain to us what's going on?" The word liege felt weird to him. He told himself that he would only bend his knee to won who could conquer him in one way or another, so the immediate assumption of station was unsettling. None the less, he translated for Tsuki, who knew all to well of his personal code.
 
"You... Did not intend to be here?" The man asks, confused. The woman also looks confused after the man translates for her. "Nope!" Tsuki says with her usual cheer. "We destroyed this altar that demons needed to enter our world, and everything exploded!" The man is startled by Tsuki speaking to him. After a moment to collect himself, he replied, "I see. I'll try my best, but my views are my own. I'll start with the facts. You are currently in the Jade Empire. We have our... issues, but we are usually a safe place to live. From the Kokawa Sea in the East to the Daikage Wall in the West, and from the Bolin Ocean in the South to the Xiaoling Peaks in the North, the Jade Empire's borders span. However, within the the past decade, something has changed. Monsters have appeared with an unheard of frequency, Oni have ravaged our forces on the Wall, and your fellows, " with a respectful bow to Tsuki, "have ceased communicating with us. They do not withhold their gifts of service, thankfully, but they have left us without guidance. And to top all of this, the Jade Heir has vanished." The man states.
 
"I see... Well, if you need all need it, I can lend you my fist.. What do you say, Tsuki? We might actually find a challenge here." He chuckled lightly.
 
Tsuki nods. "It sounds like they could use some help." A slightly serious look on her face shows she's concerned. As the other two converse in their native tongue, Tsuki switches back to Common. "Iskander, can you feel something... off? About those Toads? There's a edge of... Darkness, would be the best description. It's... unsettling." She admits.

Martial Lore if skilled, other detection skills and abilities.
 
Martial Lore 42, search 30, sense motive 38, search 31, spot 40, listen 36, bluff(to negate opposing sense motive) 30.
 
There does seem to be something off. The Toads ki is twisted, and is unusual in comparison to any other ki he's come across. It's suggestive that it was originally similar to the likes of ogres and other monstrous humanoids, but something came along and changed it. The closest Iskander can compare it to would be an undead's ki, except that despite the decay it's still alive. Darkness would be a good term, Shadowed another. Except whereas the Plane of Shadows and it's inhabitants are usually just powerful and destructive, this seems to be actively malignant.

The Toads seem to be far above the average combat ability of the people in blue armor, but have no outright magical ability or training like the people in purple cloths. The most likely outcome of the fight, had Iskander and Tsuki not arrived when they did, would have been the death of all the Blues, and the death or retreat of the Purples.

The village the fight took place in seems a simple farming village, and if the amount of rice that's spilled and destroyed is an indication, it's mostly rice. The village is heavily damaged, but not the destruction it could have been. The various stalls indicate animals lived here as well, but the lack of animal corpses suggest they were evacuated. The lack of any bodies besides Toads, Blues, and Purples, suggest that the villagers had warning, and were able to escape.

Bai and Yuri (the woman in blue and the man in purple) seem to be mildly arguing about something, most likely Iskander and Tsuki from the gestures made towards them. Yuri seems stoic, unyielding in her argument, while Bai is slightly annoyed. Iskander gets the hunch that this isn't the first time they've clashed, and that the argument is based on something else.
 
Is sighed and turned to them, hoping he could learn the language soon. being out of the loop bothered him. Despite everything, he waited for them to finish to learn of the situation. perhaps someone knew a spell to help them communicate?
 
Bai sighs, and turns back to Tsuki and Iskander, the argument over. "It would be appreciated if you would follow us back to Lord Murase's estate. Amongst other things, the aftermath of this needs to be reported, and if you are to stay in the Jade Empire, you'll eventually need to meet with the Emperor and other nobility." Tsuki nods, back to being cheerful, her default attitude. It can get exasperating at times, but it is a better attitude than most of the other comrades Iskander's had over the years.
 
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