Chapter Six - Damn it all, no crits

The Storyteller then promptly roll two sets of dice before shaking his head and utters a disappointing "Crooked Mouth dodges for two successes and Mohawk Dude manages three. As soon as they see the firebolts they try to hit the ground, but they were too busy laughing so they miss their chance to dodge completely. Both firebolts hit their targets in mid dodge. Resolve the damage."

Blazing Glory does his usual celebratory 'yes I am the man thingy' before filling his cup again. With a quick slam on the table he leans forward to peer expectantly. He nods his head then utters "four successes on Crooked Mouth." Then takes the same dice minus one and dumps them back in the cup and with a flourish slaps the cup back on the table, after peering at his dice he shows a look a utter disappointment and stutters out "two... two botches... and a success on Mohawk Dude."

The room is filled with laughter from Johnbedamage and the Storyteller. The reason being Blazing Glory has spent all his experience on upgrading his spell casting abilities and nothing on melee combat. As such he had bragged that no one would be better than him in the same rank in casting spells. Getting a bad roll was something the two have been waiting for a long time and wanted to knock that boy down a peg or two. Johnbedamage "what a great roll! Two botches is something we rarely see." Followed by the Storytellers "wow, you really like making my job interesting! But how am I suppose to incorporate a miscast to this damage test?" then falls silent in thought.

The Storyteller goes to the rulebook before he hands it to Shadow, then nods and states "due to the excitement of the ongoing battle and sudden ambush of three archers. You unknowingly fumbled the very last part of your firebolt spell. As you see two firebolts streak towards your targets you notice in shock that the magical bolts left a clone of themselves behind.

As you stare at them in shock, you watch the both ungulate chaotically before exploding in your face. Let's consider the two botches as automatic hits against you." With that the Storyteller reveals his 'I am happy' grin while doing this slow jig in the chair as if he is listening to music. It's hard to notice this, but most people might take is as sign of nervousness, but he does it in a pattern so it's not that.

"Holy crap!" shouts Shadow, obviously now knowing the problem facing the team's wizard.

"Hahahaha, why don't you explain it to our fledgling wizard" replies the grinning Storyteller.

Shadow looks at the Storyteller then look at Blazing Glory and informs "you better roll high in your magic resist test because you just took six levels of magical damage."

"Si... six damage?" replies Blazing Glory unbelievingly.

"Yeah, two automatic hits plus your highest four successes to damage on Crooked Mouth" informs Shadow.

"Ouch!" exclaims Johnbedamage, "sorry bro, time to buck up and take it like a man."

"Well on the plus side the worst case would be to dropped down to stunned status so you wont die from you own spell" encourages the Storyteller with a smile.

Blazing Glory painfully begin collecting his dice in his cup. I can tell he is praying like crazy since it's taking him longer to count the dice. He slaps his cup on the table then mutters another pray before lifting the cup to see his future, then utters "two successes."

"Ok, you take four levels of critical damage which brings you down to injured status and lose one action next round" He then rolls two sets of dice and informs "Crooked Mouth takes two critical healths but Mohawk Dude manages soak the damage and ends up with half his mohawk burned away. He gives Blazing Glory contemplative look and then continues with "maybe you should change your lucky cup, it's not doing well recently." Blazing Glory then glares at the cup he has been using since joining this gaming group, he then sighs and shakes his head no. He's been trying to convince him to get a new cup ever since he manage a five crit roll.

The Storyteller then leans back in his chair and downs the rest of his cold can of coffee with a satisfied look before he studies his notes. "Well then, it appears Johnbedamage and Blazing Glory can still act in the last exchange. As it is the third exchange your opponents get to act first. "As all of you stare in complete shock at Blazing Glory following his namesake, you hear the Beastgirl says 'lets get out of here!' You all glance over to see the Beastfolk warrior supported by the Beastgirl leap away from melee combat, and then disappear into the nearby bushes at the edge of the forest. Then a long howl rings out and the Tigerbeast backs up and with a look of disappointment leap after the fleeing duo. The bounty that you work so hard to catch for the past week just escaped.

With Goldbranch and Blazing Glory on their asses and Johnbedamage on his knees, there really not much you can do but grit your teeth and deal with the archers now. Fortunately, only Weasel Face has an arrow ready to shoot while the other two are scrambling back to their feet. Seeing three of you down he decides to shoot the only one standing. Your in luck Shadow you suffer a free hit" he then rolls some dice and replies "you were hit by an arrow for two successes." Then rolls some dice and says "three successes to damage."

Shadow shakes his head while grumbling, then snags some dice for a roll and finally smiles "ha! the arrow glances off my armor and I take no damage."

The Storyteller gives us a sour face before he continues with "as you watch your would be new rug disappear into the nearby undergrowth, an arrow leaves a nice long crease in your leather armor snapping your attention back to the three archers. Since there are no enemies that can attack, Johnbedamage your up next."

Johnbedamage replies "I take out a strength five healing potion and drink it. Then stand up and head towards Crooked Mouth for payback." Then rolls his five dice before cursing "damn it all, no crits."

The Storyteller nods before saying "you pull out that accursed arrow and chuck down a healing potion. You feel that disgusting liquid seep into your cells upon contact and starts to heal your light injuries. You stop bleeding and feel better, but you got a whole lot of internal injuries putting you still at injured status."

Then he looks at Blazing Glory and says "you were knock flat to the ground, as you sit up you see the front of your robes fills with smoking holes and your bangs and short beard is now missing. Fortunately your wizard hat took the brunt of the flames, otherwise you could change your profession to a bald monk. As the last person who can act, what do you intend to do?"

"I take a strength six healing potion" sighs Blazing Glory, then rolls the correct number of dice from his cup and exclaims "hell yeah! Two crits!"

We all lean forward to see the two offending tens, Johnbedamage mumbles 'newbie luck' while shaking his head. The look on the Storyteller face tell me he is contemplating a reroll, but then shrugs and takes a break. He may be a evil Storyteller, but I've never know him to ignore a dice roll.