When the next turn came around, before anyone could roll for priority, Syron resolved the acid mists and had them descend. They both rolled to only persist for two rounds and only did minimal damage. Once the results of the spells were announced, the Handsome Bachelor Society high fived each other with big smiles. Apparently, they had felt their gamble paid off. Hydrangea was less happy, but they were still dealing damage while the other team wasn’t, so they weren’t too stressed. They already knew that once everyone made it to melee range, the game would be over within a round or two. For better or worse.

“The priority results are in. Both archers get to go first. They are… choosing to repeat the previous round. They are assigning targeted firing lines on the playfield and are giving up their turn again. Next up is a fighter from Hydrangea. They are… opting to rush into the archers anyway. Only one firing line triggers dealing… heavy damage. The fighter is now standing between the two archers. They weren’t given a chance to counter attack when he entered their range because they were focused on their firing lines. Next are the two fighters from Handsome Bachelors Society. They are… huh. Continuing to turtle in their corner. Maybe they know something we don’t, folks!” Syron announced cheerfully, doing his best to mimic sports announcers he’d heard in his past life. In truth, Syron did know what their plan was. It was a given that he had full access to their character sheets and had even received a silent ruling request from the judge, therefore making it easy to guess. The ruling request was for a pretty silly reason, but it can’t be helped that new players didn’t quite understand the whole “Just try to do whatever you want” mentality of the game.

“Next up is a spellblade. They are… rushing diagonally through the rocks and towards the archers. Team Hydrangea seems to be prioritizing getting rid of the ranged since the fighters aren’t moving to protect them. The Hydrangea’s second fighter is also moving up, but they are now standing in the valley between the two halves of Handsome Bachelor Society’s split team. If they try to rush to help next turn, they’ll likely take quite a bit of damage from running past the stationary fighter. The last to go is the spellblade nearest the archers. They are choosing to also rush at the archers. Since they did run through the firing line, the longbow archer can choose to fire and get hit by the adjacent fighter, or they can give up the shoot to avoid getting hit. What do you choose?”

“I choose to fire. Even if I take heavy damage, it’s better to give them a good hit while I still can.” The player in control of the longbow avatar said, his voice sounding resigned. Syron let him pretend. This all still seemed to be within expectations based on Syron’s guess of their strategy. Though, both teams were gambling quite a bit with their turns.

Is this the fault of the players… or the fault of the game format? Honestly… I’m guessing the format is the issue if they are so willing to risk death of their avatars for a chance to maybe take out an opposing team member. With the way they are rushing here and there… was ranged always at a disadvantage for this competition?

Looking down at the playfield again, Syron frowned.

No. The archers could just as easily have turtled behind their shield bearing fighters. There is enough cover that they could have moved as a unit together and slugged it out with the other side. The spellblades don’t deal as much damage as the archers because they have situational utility. If the situation is putting down an opposing player, an arrow to the face is pretty potent. Even guessing what they are planning… it just seems ill-conceived.

“Due to the firing line, don’t forget to include your modifier to both accuracy and damage. The result is… oh dear. A critical hit. Roll for damage… it’s a low roll but the critical modifier puts the spellblade at low health and bleeding. They’ll take additional damage each turn until they can stop the blood flow. Hydrangea’s fighter is now using their counter attack… it’s a hit as well. The roll for damage is… the maximum. Phew, people, this is intense! The longbow archer is now also at low health and bleeding!” The oval above Syron’s head shows the spellblade zigzagging between the rocks as he heads up the slope to the entrenched archer. He slides and dives behind rocks as arrows whiz by his body, one even gets deflected by his blade. Unfortunately, right after the arrow is deflected, another one flies and hits the running spellblade in the chest. He yells out in English “I like turkey sandwiches!” while a blurry mosaic covers his body that is now turning red.

“Whoops! Had to censor that image people! There are children present!” Syron said to the general amusement of the audience, though they still didn’t seem to quite be okay with the event.

Seriously… tough crowd. If they are so upset about illusions, why did they even come? I included in the rule booklets that illusion magic can make the game better! Syron complained mentally. Above, the longbow archer was now getting slashed across the back. They drop their bow as they fall towards the ground. Rolling away, they unsheathe their dagger and look up at their attacker, their free hand reaching back to feel their wound. They let out a pained grunt and murmur in English, “Ham sandwiches are yummy too.”

“Well now! Handsome Bachelor Society has one archer with heavy damage inflicted to them, as well as minor damage dealt to both of their fighters. On the other hand, Hydrangea had a critically wounded Spellblade and a moderately damaged fighter. Based on this, it could still go either way, people! Let’s find out what they do next… roll for priority! …Whoops, I meant let’s roll for acid damage. Then roll for priority!” Syron laughed at his mistake but quickly corrected it. One of the players from Hydrangea had already notified their judge to remind him about the acid mist, but the judge only made it one step before the correction was made.

The damage this time was a bit higher than before on the fighters, but it was negligible for the two archers and fighter. Unfortunately for Hydrangea, the damage wasn’t enough to take out the critically wounded longbow archer. Also unfortunate for Hydrangea, the healthy archer won priority and proceeded to use their unique ability. Using the large dagger strapped above their tailbone, they executed a vicious backstab. The oval brought back the mosaic for the fighter that took the knife through the neck. The body then rolled down the hill with the knife still in them before phasing away into dust.

“Whoop!” The player controlling the archer cheered out as he high fived a teammate.

“Suck an egg, Hydrangea!” He yelled.

“Now now, keep it civil.” Syron said, his voice friendly. He wasn’t sure what that even meant, but it sounded rude.

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“Get bent, Eternal Bachelor Society!” The dead fighter’s controller yelled out as he stood up in anger.

“Well, fair’s fair, I guess, but that’s enough.” Syron said again, slightly frustrated by still friendly. A little harmless ribbing is fine in moderation, but for some reason the ‘suck an egg’ comment really got under that other player’s skin. As an experienced game master, Syron knew he had to put an end to it before the whole game got derailed with their bickering.

“What are you talking about? I just did it from behind with that dagger! Bwahaha!” The archer called out as he stood up too. One of his teammates gasped and pulled him back down quickly. The whole room got dimmer in response. The whole room went silent except for a noticeably loud buzzing sound.

“I wasn’t asking.” Syron growled, his voice echoing throughout the room.

Ugh… what was the phrase? Even Buddha loses patience when they repeat themselves thrice?

“I’m going to take a moment to remind all of the contestants present that when we leave here today, we still have to be friends and neighbors afterwards. Let’s keep it polite, yes?” Syron said with a dangerous smile. He turned and looked at the archer’s player while pointing to himself.

“As I’ve already pointed out there are children present, so let’s keep the innuendoes to a minimum please.” Syron said while the archer’s teammate elbowed him hard in the ribs and not so quietly reminded him that Syron was a high noble. The kind that can ruin peasant lives without any oversight if he happens to want to. Granted, Syron would never do something like that since he grew up in a different world with a different set of moral guidelines and sensibilities. Also granted, no one but him could possibly know that.

“And you… calm down. It’s just a game and your team is still doing well. Don’t you know that when you get riled up at the things buttholes say, you’ve already lost?” The fighter’s player didn’t look angry anymore. He looked afraid like he was going to be beheaded though, so Syron gestured for the judge to take him back to the stands and didn’t pay him any more attention.

“Where were we?” Syron asked cheerfully as he brought the arena’s lighting back up. The buzzing sound also faded away.

“Oh right! Two spellblades are going now. One of them is going to attempt first aid on themselves… Roll the skill check. It’s… a decent result. You’ll still be bleeding next turn, but the damage will be mitigated compared to this turn. The second spellblade continues up the hill and attacks the archer. It’s a hit. They deal… a little damage. Next up is all three remaining fighters. First chooses to turtle again. Second chooses to move up and hit the archer. Roll for accuracy… it’s a hit. Roll for damage… that’s… well, just watch, I guess.”

Once again, above Syron’s head the oval was playing out a movie. Two bleeding archers and a spellblade are facing off against each other within a circle of large boulders. The shortbow archer fires at the spellblade that is circling them, but the spellblade deflects the arrow with their larger than necessary sword. The arrow flies past the head of the incoming fighter that rushes out from between two boulders and swiftly decapitates the shortbow archer. The body just vanishes into smoke and the scene freezes.

“You’ve successfully finished off a target this turn. Do you want to activate your unique skill?” Syron asked the grinning fighter.

“I would, your lordship sir!” The man said, fear still outweighing the excitement.

“Ah, just Event Master is fine. And also, great! Because of your ability and because you killed a target, you can take an additional turn now at the sacrifice of your following turn. You choose to…”

“I’m going to move and finish off the other archer.”

“Alright, you move two spaces and attack. Roll for accuracy… okay, now damage… yeah.”

The oval once again showed the archer, fighter, and spellblade. The fighter yelled at the archer in English “It’s over, Archer! I have the high ground!”

The archer, whom was just holding a dagger at this point, sneered before yelling back, “You underestimate my power!” They then charge head first into the fighter and are immediately cut down.

“Okay… roll for priority!”

For the next two rounds, the acid mist resolved and the fighters continued to turtle up on their hill to the bafflement of the audience. Everyone felt they had basically given up the game. The spellblade did more first aid and then moved to the bottom of the valley facing the opposing fighters. The other spellblade moved to the bottom of the valley as well and cast another acid mist. The remaining fighter moved to where the two spellblades were and passed their turn while they waited for a new priority roll.

“Alright, the order is as follows… spellblade one, H.B.S. fighter one, Hydrangea fighter, spellblade two, then finally, H.B.S. fighter two.”

“I’ll move up the hill towards the fighters then blast at them with my last spell. I choose… weakening fog. Here’s my roll…” The first spellblade said. They had to move up the hill to get in range with their spell or they probably would have stayed at a distance. Attacking up hill, however, limited their range too much to do that. The fighter just waited again. The next fighter moved up the hill to stand next to the spellblade. They were going to move together as a wall so they could utilize their numbers advantage. The second spellblade moved next to the first as well, waiting as well as they had already used both of their spells.

“Alright, so now both fighters from H.B.S. are being weakened from the weakening fog, as well as taking a damage from the acid mist from the previous turn. You’re the last to go this turn. What do you do?” Syron did a short build up for the action, since he knew what they were planning. The player smiled grandly and pointed out into the arena.

“I’ll push this boulder down the hill into the other team!”

“Alright, that’s a simple strength check. Since your teammate is standing idle right next to you, they can help. Both of you roll.”

Is it attacking with an improvised weapon? No… do I have them do an accuracy check? That seems dumb… what rule should I apply here to determine if the rock hits them? Hrm… well, I’ll need to figure this out in the future. For now, let’s just assume the rock will hit the center player, and all three will be given a chance to dodge.

The oval above Syron’s head showed the two fighters grunting and struggling against the boulder before it shifted and toppled. “Paninis are the best!” One of them shouted in English as the boulder barreled down the hill. Then the scene changed to show the three members of Hydrangea tense up as a boulder flew at them from above before the image froze.

“Alright, roll to see if you dodge!” The result was perhaps better than expected for Handsome Bachelor Society. The uninjured Spellblade got crushed. The other two did dodge away without taking any damage, though.

“Roll for priority!” Syron announced again.

“Both fighters from Handsome Bachelors Society get to go first. That’s quite the lucky roll there for them at such a critical moment! They are choosing to… run down the hill and shield rush both opponents. All four of you roll. Since Hydrangea are just recovering from dodging the boulder they get a minus to their recovery roll. Since HBS have the high ground, they get a bonus to their charge. It’s not looking pretty for Hydrangea.”

The image didn’t bother showing the impact, just the spellblade and fighter rolling backwards down the hill.

“Both of you roll for balance… fighter recovers by flattening his body and sliding backwards, but loses his sword in the process. Spellblade… rolls a one. Critical failure on the balance check results in a follow up endurance roll…. They get a two. Yikes. Alright, the spellblade breaks their neck and is now quadriplegic. The fighter loses their turn. I do believe this is curtains for Hydrangea… and yep, they have forfeit to avoid wasting time. Though it is possible to recover the match with lucky dice rolls… that’s their choice. The winners are… the Handsome Bachelor Society! Why couldn’t it have been the team with a normal sounding name?!”