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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdweller00" data-source="post: 6955174" data-attributes="member: 6778479">Wizarding Battle (Urban/Wilderness, Day or Night) The PCs begin to encounter a succession of disturbing phenomena - villagers on fire, weird lights on the horizon, collapsed buildings, thunderous explosions, blackened trees or other natural objects buzzing with sparking St. Elmo's Fire, fantastic extraplanar creatures that may be rampaging or themselves running in fear.  If the PCs choose to investigate the apparent source of the disturbances, they find a pair of robed figures screaming insults at each other; while casting powerful spells, but not directly at each other.  If the PCs listen or try to engage the rogue mages in conversation, they quickly learn that the two bear outlandish names - such as Zangibar the Eternal or Kor-Magnian the Magnificent. The two might actually be any sort of caster - wizard, sorcerer, cleric, bard, druid, warlock. The mages each possess outsized egos and a sense of rivalry that borders on the obsessive.  They are presently fighting over some magic-related bauble or ingredient.  A curio from an antiquities shop, for example, or a rare ingredient from an Alchemist ("How DARE you buy out the basilisk's tears?"), or possibly a rare herb.  The mages have professional standards - they don't want to kill their respective rivals; they want to humiliate their rival and force the rival to admit that they are, in fact, the superior magician.  Never mind that this is contrary to human and presumably demihuman nature.  The mages are essentially trying to upstage each other with demonstrations of magic.  They refuse to actually direct attacks toward each other ("No, no violence is uncivilized."  "Bah, I could kill Zangibar with a flick of my fingers.  But then his sycophants would never acknowledge the superiority of MY magical methods." "Yes, of COURSE I could magically COMPEL Kor-Magnian to admit to my superiority, but it wouldn't be REAL!").  But if the PCs try to intervene or somehow make themselves conspicuous to the mages (particularly if a PC is a caster themselves), the two will try to convince the players to judge whose magic is superior.  If a spellcasting PC tries to prove that said PC is actually the superior mage, the two become convinced that this new upstart is a threat to their contested prize and both quickly attack.  If the PCs reach a consensus on which mage demonstrates the more impressive magic:  The winner gloats, and grabs the contested prize.  The loser threatens vengeance and teleports away in a puff of smoke.The winner offers to cast a spell once on the PCs' behalf (or possibly once for each participating PC's behalf) and gives the PCs a charm that allows temporary communication with the mage at the desired moment.  It takes one round to activate the charm and make the request and another for the victorious mage to teleport in before they can finally cast the desired spell on the third round at barest minimum. And the mage may or may not have PRECISELY the right spell available unless the request is made days in advance. But the loser watches the party from afar through scrying, and teleports in to cast one spell that hurts or hinders the PCs (or possibly once for each participating PC) when it is least convenient.</blockquote>

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