The woman gives a short, cold chuckle when you decline dueling against her, saying, "My name is Eudomia, and please, don't take that submissive posture. It doesn't become one of your blood." You take it she means an elf when she says this phrase. She continues, "Normally, weapons such as the one I used are not allowed, though my opponent and I are both, how shall I say, new to magic, and haven't studied enough spells to be able to do combat with only magic as of yet."
When you talk of dueling with her on your side, she considers a few moments, then says, "Alright, we could arrange that. Would you be opposed to doing this next week?"
Finally, when questioning her about her dueling partner from before, she responds, "He is named Mael. He comes from the cold north, where his people despise magic. I know him well; he's earned my friendship." She smiles a thin smile as she says this, but her face locks up again when she says, "I wish to fight the monstrosities from the Tanglebriar in Kyonin. If I hesitate when attacking now, I will hesitate when I attack against those enemies. Every arrow I notch must be aimed for the kill, to ensure my resolve."
the woman is looking at you wide-eyed. She quickly and fearfully says, "Thanks." And stumbles backward, dashing into one of the doors inside the alleyway.
"You sure your'e gonna be o..." He watches her dart into the door and close it, "...kay?" He grumbles as he thinks to himself how it figures. Even the people I help are scared of me.
Still, he perks up at one thought. His shield spell was cast perfectly, and while untested, it looked good.
Time to head home, though he'll be cautious and watch his back in case that mugger gets his courage back.
From his familiar Hathin gets a feeling of wariness and unease.
Silyph nods politely, "It's a pleasure to meet you Eudomia, I only meant to show proper respect"
Silyph seems amenable to the idea of dueling. "Yes perhaps that will be enjoyable. Check with me next week and we'll see, but I do think I'll be interested quite interested.... especially with you rather than against you."
She chats with the girl as they walk. "I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure on the rules of how the dueling here works, would you be kind enough to correct my ignorance?"
After listening to her explain how things work unless the question is already answered Silyph asks. "Are you allowed to cast spells before the duel proper begins?" and "How are opponents selected? I'd prefer to fight those without our shared blood." she adds to the question brushing her left hand slightly over her pointed ear.
She responds to your questions, "Well, if you're dueling on your own, and not in a class, there aren't exactly rules. If you are in a class, you're supposed to wait to begin casting until the duel starts, but that doesn't mean students haven't snuck in the occasional enhancement spell on themselves. If you are dueling in your spare time, you can select your opponent; in the classes, you'll duel against a variety of students who are at your grade level."
Finally, she says, "Well, there's always Mael. He isn't afraid of pain, and we spar together frequently. You know what," she says a little suddenly. "What if we got larger teams? That would be something interesting. Maybe two teams of 4?" She looks upward pensively, and the smile on her face shows that she likes the idea. "It would be a better simulation, don't you think?"
Intimidate:
End of week 2: Each of you is approached on Starday by a short and fierce looking Kellid boy. He says to you that he senses a fire in you, and would like to test it out. He invites you to have a friendly sparring match with him and a few others in the spell duel arena on Sunday. If you are hesitant, he becomes insistant, telling you that it will be a fun activity for you to test yourself with.
Kellid Boy:
Hathin takes the boy in his stride, and though resistant he is eventually won over as to do otherwise would be to draw even more attention. He accepts the invitation, though does turn to thought But I know no spells....
Kellid Boy:
Sure, it sounds like fun.
Silyph noding in agreement liking the sound of a fight with more than one duelist intrigues her. "Yes that does sound...well..interesting. If you can manage it I'm amenable to the idea, but try not to line up any elvish students as our opponents I'm wary of fighting against those of my own blood"
Silyph will politely chat about the idea with Eudomia for some time before leaving to do her studies. She'll makes idle comments asking her about what kind of magic she hopes to learn and try to gleam any information on her new dueling partners spell list or preferred school.
Silyph will spend her free time relaxing and doing non-dedicated work at the library. She'll send her familiar out to find the locations of shops that sell "Shiny clothes, and Point things humans use for stabbing, promising better food if Vhiloe can locate a few of them for her". She'll try to make time to buy up any armor that won't interfere with spell-casting since she's going to be fighting in the arena soon.
Silyph will ask the Kellid boys name before agreeing to show up at the arena and see where things take her.
From her robes, you know Eudomia is a transmuter. She has several spells in her spellbook, more than you have, as she studied a bit on her own before coming to the Academy.
The Kellid introduces himself as Mael, and you recognize him as the one who was dueling Eudomia before.
Vhiloe does find an armory, and you can buy any light armor or simple weapons here from Core, as well as an armored kilt. The shopkeep, a strong and dark human, makes other weapons and armors, but they are mostly going to the city guards. You would need to special order a martial weapon, or heavier armor.
You all gather on Sunday at the Academae's arena, though most of you are unfamiliar to each other. Though you have seen the others in class, including Mael, many of you haven't been acquainted.
Eudomia looks you all over, and says in a calm tone toward Mael, seemingly forgetting you are all there, "Excellent. They look like a lively bunch. You've done well." She then speaks to you all in an authoritative voice, "So, you all must be up for some fun, as you showed up. Here's how it's going to work. We'll be doing a no holds, all-out brawl between two teams, with the victory going to the side with conscious people in the end. Don't worry, we can't do any lasting damage to each other so long as we're in this place, so give it your all. Mael and I will be the team captains. Any questions?"
Hathin looks around the arena to see what weapons might be on offer...
To the terms he gives a wary acceptance.
You see no weapons displayed anywhere. If you ask Mael or Eudomia about weapons, they tell you, "Normally, weapons aren't allowed in the spell duels of this school. However, seeing as the same magics that protect us from spells will keep the weapons from harming us, we bring our own. After all, it's not like we wouldn't have them in a real fight." Eudomia and Mael can both offer daggers to anyone needing a weapon, if you desire.
Pakak isn't sure what to make of this, COULD be fun, "We got healing of some sort nearby in case something goes wrong? "
Cezar hesitantly goes to the arena at the given time, and sits quietly in the bleachers with Reem in hand. If anyone asks why he isn't getting ready for a duel, Cezar will say that he's feeling sick and isn't in any condition to be fighting.
I'm content just watching, Sister always has fun in this kind of situation, she'll do enough for both of us I'm sure.
I'll take a dagger, thanks. Not that I'll do any good with it.
It's not that I have fun, so much as I make fun.
Silyph listens closely the hood of her rob drawn up covering her eyes barely concealing an idle grin. She scans the room to gauge the number of willing participants and looks towards the arena to evaluate the battle scape.
A little birdie pops out of her sleeve and it's head darts around before quickly returning to hide. Silyph takes a few moments to evaluate the participants.
She speaks out after some time observing and asks "How will we know when the fight has begun?"
She gives a quick glance at Eudomia having heard the conversation between Cezar & Vasile motioning towards Vasile with approval. "Either way this should be most fun evening miss Vasile, correct?"
I like this one (Vasile), pick both of us for your team if possible.
Yeah, this should be quite the fun little quarrel.
Eudomia nods at Cezar, saying, "Very well, that leaves us with even teams."
As for Silyph's questions, she answers, "First we must decide the teams. Mael and I will alternate, picking teammates, until all are decided. I will start with that one. Silyph." She points in Silyph's direction.
Mael, the fierce Kellid, looks to Hathin, then to Pakak, and says, "You." He point to Hathin.
Next Eudomia picks Vasile, and Mael picks Pakak. When it becomes evident that this is a battle of the sexes, Mael scoffs and says, "Well, this should be interesting. Don't worry mates, you won't leave a bruise on their pretty little faces, so swing all ye want!" He seems savage now, so close to the fight's start, hardly a disciplined student of the Academae.
You all step into the massive arena floor, a surface ever shifting from one terrain to the next. As you stand, waiting for Cezar to call a start to the competition, the ground beneath you turns from plains to shallow water to transparent crystal.
I assume a lack of death effects applies towards familiars as well? Vhiloe can't really do much damage, but he might provide a decent distraction. I'll assume he's under my control as is anything I summon? She'll have expressed that he can't be killed here and threatened quite unpleasant things if he where to behave as a coward.
I'll likely be using Master of Pentacles for a +2 to CL on SM1 which bumps the duration up to 3 rounds. Tack on Conjuration specialization and it's 4 rounds correct? I'd prefer to summon a round before combat begins and sack a 1 round of duration, but that's probably not possible.
Silyph asks Eudomia a question as they approach the arena. "What's Mael's specialty? I gather he's likely to move in close from what I saw of you two before; you've sparred with him before any helpful hints? know what spells he's likely to cast?"
She later adds. "It seems the boys are angling to get up close, we should try to keep them at bay."
Hathin takes the floor, the club feeling heavy in his hands and unsure what will be transpiring as this is the first duel he has witnessed.
Pakak steps up, feeling oddly unsure. He's never fought fellow users of magic before.
You can use Vhiloe in the fight as a distractino, though if he's injured he'll probably be more hesitant to do so in the future.
Also, where does the +1 CL for Conjuration specialization come from? I get the +2 from your trait, but the other bonus eludes me...
Edit; Your familiar is receives the same benefits from fighting here as you, so he can't be killed by this duel.
You can all tell that Mael's a diviner and Eudomia's a transmuter, based on their robes.
To Silyph (and Vasile, as she's nearby), Eudomia whispers, "He's a diviner. He uses his magic to know just where to strike. He normally uses the club, though he sometimes conjures a dagger made of ice. He's very hardy. Then again, the other two look just as fit."
To his half-orc comrades, Mael says, "Eudomia is very skilled with her bow, and can enhance its effectiveness further with her magic. Should we take it from her, she will be much less effective. I do not like the look in the conjurer's eye; best watch that one carefully, she's got something planned, I can tell."
Hathin growls quietly at Mael and Pakak "I do not know much of magic yet... but I should be able to bludgeon them..."
Conjuration Specialization Arcane school Relevant section is Summoners Charm: "Whenever you cast a conjuration (summoning) spell, increase the duration by a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum 1)" Not entirely sure if that means it's limited to only taking effect at level 2 or if it simply rounds level 1 up to 1, I've always assumed the latter. Which is why I asked.
It doesn't boost CL it extends duration by 1 round. The duration with Master of pentacles is changed to 3 for bumping the CL by 2 add on conjuration specialization for another 1 round for 4 rounds of duration. MP is more useful on things like Mage Armor and other things, but at the moment all I've got is summon monster 1 and at low levels keeping them around for more then 6 seconds is quite nice even if it's 1/per day.
On a side note I thought our robes for first years where Grey? I'm pretty sure Silyph has mentioned to nobody she's a Conjurer, which makes Mael's comment slightly weird unless we've gotten nifty robes that tell other people what we are...
At best Vhiloe can be used to take damage or do the minimum of 1 non-lethal damage per attack. If he takes any damage and is still conscious feel free to DMPC him into flying away.
Silyph smiles, "Ah than perhaps we should make sure he doesn't get close. My magics don't lend themselves much to brute force, but I could try a few things that might work."
Pakak scowls but nods at his comrades, and mutters to himself "I really don't like hitting women."