D&D 5E Survivor Core Classes- Fighter Wins!

Sister Jericho casually donned her mail coif and checked her appearance in a small hand-mirror. "Foghorn," she said quietly, "Can you check my helmet is straight at the back, please?"

"Sure, is it helming-up time already? Yup, you're fine." was the response. "How's my plume?"

"Very dandy. Now, I want you you to keep your helmet on. Don't take it off for anyone, especially me. Do you understand? It's very important."

"Okay. Is the ceiling going to fall in, or something?"

"Something like that."

At this point, Moss interjected. "You know metal armour makes us druids uncomfortable. Do you two really have to dress up like that? And no, Foghorn, the ceiling is not going to fall in. I'm taking my helmet off. I'm taking my helmet off. You look ridiculous."

"I think he looks quite good in a helmet," replied Sister Jericho evenly. "More professional. And as for me, well, my order has strict rules about when we have to wear our headgear."

She's on to me thought Moss, She knows about me and she knows metal helmets block my psychodruidic powers. How did she guess? I've been so careful. No matter, I still have the other two, I can still set them all against each other.

Blissfully unaware of the significance of all this, Keyes and Ronni were Identifying their newly-acquired Rings. Hers is better than mine. Hers is better than mine transmitted Moss. "Maybe we could sell them in Ye Secret Magick Shoppe, on this map?" suggested Keyes. "Sell them both, and go fifty-fifty on the proceeds?" Ronni thought for a split second and agreed. They both thought they were getting the better of the deal. Then the notion that those other two are going to try to steal them somehow occurred to them.That's why they are putting on their helmets. They're getting ready to attack us.

Ronni and Keyes were getting quite paranoid now, driven unwittingly by the Mystic's relentless telepathic onslaught. Give the rings to the druid for safe keeping was the next suggestion and it seemed good, so they did that. Then, if they attack the druid to steal the rings, we must defend the druid seemed credible too. Hoods were raised, belts tightened and daggers were loosened in their sheaths.

Sister Jericho could see that the situation was getting dangerous. She must expose the Mystic's machinations quickly but so few of her spells were useful in this situation and it was not going to be easy to get the others to work with her. She cast Zone of Truth ...

Cleric (Sister Jericho) 47hp and a Cursed Ring of Invisibility
Druid (Moss the Mystic) 16hp, a Ring of Three Dishes and a Ring-garring of Roses
Fighter (Foghorn) 61hp and Mr Choppy-Chop the Magic Battleaxe
Rouge (Ronni) 67hp
Thief (Keyes) 58 hp, and a Secret Map

Looks like we might be getting towards combat for the endgame, so I've converted 1pp -> 10gp and then 1gp -> 1hp. Feel free to undo this, though, it's only a suggestion. It makes the Mystic very vulnerable to physical attack, so he will have to fight dirty which should be interesting. With just three of us posting, it could get quite swingy.

Moss activated his Ring-garring of Roses. Sister Jericho had been expecting this and had pre cast protection from poison on herself. Foghorn and Keyes dropped to the floor in sneezing fits, herbs tumbling out their pockets.

Ronni already rouge was immune to rings of red rashes, and Moss? Well, Moss was just beginning to appreciate why it is sometimes better not to multiclass. Taking all those levels in mystic meant that he had not gained the level in druid to be immune to his own attack. Thank Treebeard he was still resistant

Keyes in a bout of hooping sneeze, saw the secret map tumble out nearby. It was open. It was a diagram of this very room and had an X on the floorboard right next the the thief's left hand. Keyes reached for the floorboard, opened it up and found..................



Cleric (Sister Jericho) 47hp and a Cursed Ring of Invisibility
Druid (Moss the Mystic) 10hp, a Ring of Three Dishes and a Ring-garring of Roses
Fighter (Foghorn) 49hp and Mr Choppy-Chop the Magic Battleaxe
Rouge (Ronni) 67hp
Thief (Keyes) 46 hp, and a Secret Map

JonnyP71 said:

Wrong, that's the Paladin, currently celebrating about 40 years of self-righteous pedantry.

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Jon, if you ever want to run some AD&D with me on the other side, I'll make sure to play a Paladin (stats permitting, or using UA character generation )

Keyes in a bout of hooping sneeze, saw the secret map tumble out nearby. It was open. It was a diagram of this very room and had an X on the floorboard right next the the thief's left hand. Keyes reached for the floorboard, opened it up and found..................

.....a bottle.

An unopened large dusty bottle containing what looked like about a half-gallon of liquor. And then, through her sneezes, she remembered how the furniture had been arranged before things got weird; and realized the counter-barrel-table-mimic was probably sitting right on this spot when first seen. "This must be the tavern's treasure stash", she thought. "Cool! And for the moment, I can pretend to be happily drinking it and thus people will ignore me. Even cooler!"

So, with no small effort (she's not the strongest of things, our Keyes) she got the top off the bottle and pretended to take a drink. And then she really did take a drink, as it wasn't liquor at all*; and she felt better. A whole lot better. Really really really better. And her sneezing stopped.

Just in time, she remembered to fake-vomit as if the contents were vile and spoiled so as to avoid everyone else wanting some, then she fake-sneezed. She didn't know why she fake-sneezed, it just seemed like a good idea that people - particularly that funny druid - still think she was affected by the sneezing fit. Meanwhile, she assessed the room:

Foghorn - has a big axe. Can't use it because he's too busy sneezing. He's also dead drunk. Write-off.
Sister J - looks like she's on to something. Probably doesn't want help from the likes of me, and I'm not too big on helping her, but we're likely all each other has and she doesn't know it. Damn.
Ronni - well, honour among thieves only goes so far. She brought me here in the first place. Her mistake. Too bad.
Moss - though spindly, is probably the biggest threat here...though I'm not quite sure why I think that.
Cholmondley - Cholmondley??? What the hell is he doing back here?!

The wandering Cavalier wandered through the tavern door without bothering to dismount, cheerily waved to all while calling "Sorry chaps, no luck yet, but have no fear - I'll find your missing damsel!", then clop-clopped out through the back and carried on into the night.

Keyes used this distraction to flash a few quick guild signals to Ronni along the lines of "stay put" and "gather loot as it falls to you" - this to keep her out of the way - then moved as if to line up a backstrike on Foghorn...a move that also coincidentally and conveniently put her within easy striking reach of Moss. Almost as if she'd planned it that way.....

Cleric (Sister Jericho) 47hp and a Cursed Ring of Invisibility
Druid (Moss the Mystic) 10hp, a Ring of Three Dishes and a Ring-garring of Roses
Fighter (Foghorn) 49hp and Mr Choppy-Chop the Magic Battleaxe
Rouge (Ronni) 67hp
Thief (Keyes) 76 hp, a Secret Map, and temporary immunity to all disease, poison, insanity, and bad puns

* - in case it matters, I'm seeing this bottle as containing lots of a heavy curing potion that also gives temporary immunity to some stuff as noted under Keyes' stats above....unless Foghorn drinks any; who knows how it'll react with what he's already trying to digest!

rabindranath72 said:

Jon, if you ever want to run some AD&D with me on the other side, I'll make sure to play a Paladin (stats permitting, or using UA character generation )

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No probs Antonio

The wandering monster table will look like this:

1) 1d4 Rust Monsters
2) 1d6 Rust Monsters
3) 1d8 Rust Monsters
4) 2d4 Rust Monsters
5) 2d6 Rust Monsters
6)10d10 Rust Monsters

In the abode of the gods, Thor spake: I raise you a hundred devotees and an acolyte. So saying, he moved his little clay figure of Foghorn just a knight's move to the left, neatly side-stepping the flanking manoeuvre that Hermes, the god of thieves, had just tried to make with his own piece. Then Thor rolled for Foghorn's end-of-turn Constitution saving throw, rolled high and was able to declare that his fighter was now sober and free of sneezing.

It was Athena's turn next. She frowned and studied Sister Jericho's character sheet, looking for options. Can I cast Banishment on a Druid? she wondered. My mail coif is an item distasteful to the target and the nice thing is, she thought to herself, it's a Charisma save. If Moss has spent his points on Wis (for Druid) and Int (for Mystic), he won't have such good Cha and that fits with him not being very sociable. Let's try ...

As Foghorn lurched sideways and suddenly sobered up, Sister Jericho cast Banishment and Moss disappeared with a faint popping noise. Ronni and Keyes were immediately concerned. After all, Moss had their rings. "He'll be back in a minute, we haven't got much time," explained Sister Jericho. "Moss isn't just a Druid, he's a telepath. He's been controlling our minds, setting us against each other. That's why Foghorn and I have put on our metal helmets. They block his mind control."

"Why should we believe you?" challenged Keyes warily.

"Tell me a lie. Go on, Anything. We're all in Zone of Truth. I can't deceive you."

"Black is Wh.. I can't say it. Okay, I believe you. What can we do?"

"Foghorn, mark the spot where Moss disappeared, He will reappear there in half a minute. Get you axe ready. The moment he appears, chop his head off. You girls, flank that spot be ready to backstab him in case the axe misses. But don't get in each others' way! When he's down, grab your rings and anything else he has on him."

The good sister just had time to collect an iron bucket from behind the bar (to slam over the Druid's head in case he was still alive) when Moss reappeared and the plan sprang into action. It would probably have worked too, except that while he was briefly on his home plane (The Plane of Mist), Moss had Wild Shaped into a Psionic Swarm of Insects and the rings had dropped on the ground where they were, on the Plane of Mist, along with all his equipment ...

Cleric (Sister Jericho) 47hp and a Cursed Ring of Invisibility
Druid (Moss the Mystic) 10hp but Wild Shaped into a Psionic Swarm of Insects
Fighter (Foghorn) 49hp and Mr Choppy-Chop the Magic Battleaxe
Rouge (Ronni) 67hp
Thief (Keyes) 76 hp, a Secret Map, and temporary immunity to all disease, poison, insanity, and bad puns

Sister Jericho suddenly had some inspiration from her deity. She cast Remove Curse on the now not Cursed Ring of Invisibility, and went dark. As she did she entered another sort of plane. She observed huge spirit-like hands from above, moving and jostling the other combatants around. two places this way and pull one that. It reminded her of a previous edition. All of a sudden a massive white plastic bottle-ring hung from her shoulder to the floor.

Knowing now that melee would be useless with a great big status marker around her, she pondered though her spellbook, Then she remembered the new UA starter spells. Yes. Toll the Dead was cast, and the Cleric's mites and fleas started to eat up the Mystic swarm. Sister Jericho could already see a red bottle-ring around the swarm and assumed that Moss was Bloodied. It shouldn't take long now.......


Cleric (Sister Jericho) 47hp and a Ring of Invisibility
Druid (Moss the Mystic) 8hp but Wild Shaped into a Psionic Swarm of Insects
Fighter (Foghorn) 49hp and Mr Choppy-Chop the Magic Battleaxe
Rouge (Ronni) 67hp
Thief (Keyes) 76 hp, a Secret Map, and temporary immunity to all disease, poison, insanity, and bad puns

What happened next was rather sudden and rather dramatic.

The Swarm that was Moss lashed out randomly with a Mind Slam attack and it hit Ronni, bowling her over flat on her back. Already as unstable as nitroglycerine, the Molten Madras inside her erupted and she belched out a 6d6 fireball that hit everyone in the room, including her. Every insect in the Swarm was shrivelled up and Moss was forced back into his natural form but the excess damage from the fireball was too much and he came back as an unconscious druid. At Sister Jericho's shout of "NOW!", Foghorn executed the coup de gras, chopping off the druid's head with a double backswing of his axe, and Sister Jericho caught the head neatly in her bucket. As the Mystic's eyes glazed over for the last time, the breathless lips formed his last word: "B*****".

"Eugh," said Athena, "That was gross."

"Sorry pardon," said an embarassed Ronni who, as she was no longer suffering the effects of the curry and no longer red in the face, was now a Rogue again. Then Sister Jericho, seeing that they were all somewhat scorched, called out "Hold still, everyone, I'll do a Mass Cure Wounds."

After a short rest, Keyes asked the question that everyone was thinking: What now?

"We work well together, don't we?" suggested Sister Jericho and there was general agreement.

"I've always fancied retiring and running a tavern," commented Foghorn. "This one would do. We could call it the Druid's Head."

"The four of us go into business together?" asked Ronni. "I don't see why not. 25% of the profits each."

"Let's get this place cleaned up then, and open tomorrow."

"See, it's not about which class is best," said Thor collecting his winnings, "It's about who makes the best team. Who's for a pint?"

---

---

And so the Frolicking Frog re-opened the following day under the new name of The Druid's Head and with Foghorn as the landlord, business was brisk. Gucci and ze goblinz came by for a few beers and they were followed by three new customers, two men and a woman, who seemed in some indefinable way to be important.

The first was a norseman, dressed like a viking, with a booming voice and a cheerful laugh. He had a raven perched on one shoulder and carried an enormous hammer over the other. "Nice weapon," he remarked to Foghorn, nodding approvingly at Mr Choppy Chop hanging over the bar. "I'm more of a hammer man myself," he confided, "but I suppose you know that's a Vorpal Axe? Look, it's written there on the haft — Vorpal Axe of Thunder +3. Hephaestus Hoc Fecit."

"I've never noticed that," admitted Foghorn peering closely up at his axe. "I've had it for years without seeing it."

"That's because it wasn't there before," said Thor with a wink. Then he laughed so loudly that even the rats in the cellar held their paws over their ears.

Thor's lady companion sought out Sister Jericho, who was down in the cellar blessing the beer. "Ah, there you are dear," she said cheerfully, as if they were old friends. Poor Sister Jericho started shaking like a leaf. "A..A..Athena.." was all she could get out. "That's right, dear, only do stop shaking like that, you're making me nervous." She touched Sister Jericho on the forehead and tranquility washed over her. "Now, have you got a Ring to show me?"

"It's a Ring of Invisibility but I think it's evil, or cursed, or both. It's too heavy and it feels almost alive. Should I destroy it?"

"No, dear, it's a Ring of Invincibilty. It makes you immune to all damage forever. It is indeed cursed, but only to the extent that once you put it on, it cannot be removed by any mortal means. That's not exactly a hardship, is it? Use it wisely, dear, and when you are finished with it, pass it on to someone suitable. You'll know who, when the time comes."

"The archpriest is never going to believe this."

"Oh, don't worry about him. Just show him this," replied the goddess passing her an ivory token. "He'll understand." The token was carved with a figure of an owl on one side and same owl with its back to you on the other side but with its head turned backwards so that however many times you turned the coin over, the owl was always watching you. Some people just freak out.

Meanwhile, Ronni and Keyes were gathered around Hermes trying not to stare at his ... satchel. He showed off his winged hat and winged boots, offering to get them wholesale for 2000gp or, for you, 1800gp, fair price.

"Sorry, we haven't got that kind of money," protested Keyes.

"You have now."

"How did you do that?"

"I'll show you ..."


Sister Jericho (Cleric) 47gp, a Token of Athena, and a Ring of Invincibility
Druid (Moss the Mystic) Decapitated, Dead
Foghorn (Fighter) 49gp and Mr Choppy-Chop the Vorpal Battleaxe of Thunder +3
Ronni (Rogue) 67gp and a Winged Hat of Flying
Keyes (Thief) 76gp, a Secret Map and Winged Boots of Flying

POST-CREDITS SCENE

Meanwhile and elsewhere, Cholmondley and his tired steed dutifully trudged from village to village in search of the damsel - believed to be in distress - owner of a bloodstained dagger found under a curtain in the Frolicking Frog during a very strange night shortly after last new moon. "I really shouldn't take on these quests", he said to his long-suffering horse while studying the dagger for the 328th time, "but I can't help it. I just can't help it..."