The Trooper

(It's combat time, folks! Just so you know, I am actually rolling dice for this combat and I'm keeping track of numbers on a Spreadsheet. Yes, that's how serious I'm taking this. And before you ask, yes, my attack and damage rolls really were that lucky. I've also pre-rolled initiative, to save some time. And the perfect combat song, for this, will be the only song by Iron Maiden that I still enjoy listening to.)

We all relay our rolls to Kain, the DM. There's a weird tension in the air which shows just how seriously everyone is taking the game. We can see Kain, behind the DM Screen on a side table, arranging the order of combat. And then he looks up to us, at long last. "Okay, with a total roll of twenty-three, Natushi is up first. What are you doing?"

Natsuki grins for a moment, before her expression changes to a much more serious look. "I close my eyes and channel the teachings of my master, before striking the Manticore in it's ribcage area, combining my Monk teaching with my Tabaxi claws, just like my Master taught me." She describes. Kain gestures to her dice tray, informing her to make her attack roll. She picks up her twenty-sided die and rolls it. "So that's thirteen, plus seven, for a total of twenty-three!"

Kain nods and smiles. "That hits, roll your damage. And because of your master's teachings, you roll your cat claw die, and your martial arts die together. So that's two D-four, plus your Dexterity in damage!" He describes to the group. That's huge damage at level one!

Natsuki picks up her damage dice, two four-sided dice. A four on one of them and a three on the other. "Seven, plus five from my Dexterity… Twelve damage!" She calls out.

Kain motions the hit on the first Manticore. "Whack! The kick connects, your claws digging into its side, and that really hurt it. It makes a pained cry that you've never heard or could even imagine hearing." He goes back to check the initiative order. "Okay. Darius! You're up next, and you're right up to the second Manticore What are you doing?"

"I sure am, DM! So, I'm going two put both hands on my sword and attack with a heavy swing and slash at this creature across its face! And, while I do this, I'm going to channel the essence of this enemy, and use favoured foe. So, if this attack hits, I get to roll an extra D-four of damage" I roll the D-Twenty into the tray and my fist flies into the sky. "Natural Twenty!" I yell out. This is the best roll ever!

Kain gives me a one-man applause, while the rest of the room cheers. Now I'm playing with power! "Awesome! Good roll, dude! So, you called out favoured foe. So, you double both the damage dice of your sword, and the damage dice of your Favoured foe skill. So, hit the damn thing, and roll good!" Kain explains to me.

Excitedly grab two ten-sided dice and roll a ten and a nine. Then I grab my two D-four's and roll two fours. "Nineteen! Plus, eight! Plus, three from my strength modifier. Thirty hard-hitting points of slashing damage!"

Kain looks shocked at my, almost, maximum Damage roll "Okay! So, you slash this thing across the face! The cut comes upward and across its eye." Kain ponders for a moment, looking at that hit. "So, from here on out, this thing has disadvantage on its attack rolls, as it now has no depth perception. I'm going to make you feel good about that Critical hit, good job. Leviek! You're up next, with Trae just after you. Currently, you're up next to the same Manticore is Darius."

Mickey ponders his next move, looking at his spell list. "Hmm… Yeah, I'm going to spend one of my two spell slots and scream 'Fall, beast!' as I put my hand on the Manticore's side, casting Inflict Wounds."

There's an audible gasp that come from Monika, Sayori and me. Kain, on the other hand, nods confidently. "Okay, roll a spell attack, Leviek. Make it count!" He says to Mickey with a closed fist. The whole room can tell how excited he is about this possibility.

Leviek rolls and grins and looks up at Kain. "So, that, plus the six from my spell attack bonus, is a total of twenty-five!" Kain approves and gestures towards his dice tray. Mickey responds by picking up three D-Ten's and shakes them in his hands, vigorously and letting them roll into the wooden tray. "Hey, three nines', for a total of twenty-seven hit points on necrotic damage!"

"Alright. You touch this creature, and its body is wracked with pain, caused by this black energy that leaves your hand. Darius, you see the Manticore seize up and yell in pain." Kain describes, and even seizes up, to add some form of emphasis of the effect of Mickey's attack. "Trae, you're up. I should point out that this Manticore that Darius and Leviek have been attacking, is looking rough. Like, really rough."

Alisteir nods once and makes a motion in the air with his hands that looks like he's loading a ranged weapon. "I'm going to take aim down the iron sight of my hand crossbow and take a shot at that Manticore that Darius and Leviek have really messed up." He rolls the die and looks… Uncomfortable. Oh no. "Yeah, that's a total of thirteen, so… Maybe?"

Kain shakes his head. "No. No, the bolt just soars overhead of the creature, and carries on down the hill." Kain describes, as Alisteir snaps his fingers and falls back into the couch. Sayori pats his shoulder and tells him that he'll get him next time.

Kain smirks again. It's the second Manticore's turn. And even though it's rolling at disadvantage, on the account of his one working eye, he still has three multi attacks. It's going to make it's first attack on Leviek, and it's a bite attack."

"Question!" Sayori pipes up, with a curious expression on her face. "When you say it's going to attack with disadvantage, what do you mean, exactly? Is that a mechanic in the game?" She asks. That's actually a fair question for a new players first time. I didn't exactly have time to explain all the mechanics, after all.

Kain smiles over at Sayori and grabs two D-Twenty's. "Let me explain then. There are two mechanics that are extremely similar to one another called Advantage and Disadvantage. What you do for both mechanics is you roll two of these D-Twenty's. That's where the similarities end, however." He says as he rolls the two dice into hie black tray. "Now, if this were advantage, I would take the higher number and then add any modifiers. However, this is disadvantage. So, instead, I take the lower number, which is a twelve, and then add any modifiers. That's a total of Seventeen, Leviek. Does it hit?"

"Nope." Mickey says with a smile. "My Armour Class is Nineteen, thanks to my shield. "What happens is that it takes a swipe and I get my shield up, and the claws, scratch against the metal symbol of Sylvanus."

Kain picks up the two dice and speaks. "Out of pure anger, he's going to turn his head and try again, this time he's to try and bite you Leviek." He rolls the two dice and then chuckles. "And that's a natural one, so that definitely misses. Alright, one more claw attack and this one is going to be on Darius." He picks up the pair of twenty-sided dice again and checks the result over with the modifiers. "So, that's a sixteen, Darius. Does that hit, I believe it does?"

I shake my head. "My armour class is seventeen, Kain." He looks at me, confused. "As a Human variant race, I can take one feat of my choice. I took the fighting initiate feat, which allowed me to pick a fighting style, that the Ranger wouldn't normally have access to until level 2. I took the defensive fighting style, which grants me a bonus of plus one to me armour class. So, my AC is actually seventeen."

Kain nods. "Okay, so the third attack comes down to you Darius, and you dodge left, just in a nick of time." You can tell Kain was hoping to score a hit there. I get it. Being able to whittle down the health of the other players causes the team to go about combat differently. On top of that, it adds a bit of drama to a scene. Thus far, he hasn't been successful at creating that. "Yu'ilya, you're up next. What are you doing?"

Yuri contemplates her next move. "Well. I could attack the one up next to Natushi and Rios… But Taking out the Manticore that's been weakened by Darius and Leviek makes sense, tactically…" She continues to way up her options for a few more seconds before holding her hands together close to her chest. "Okay. I'm going to turn to face the second Manticore and let loose an arrow into its hide."

"Yeah, you are!" Kain replies, enthusiastically. He's impressed by how quickly all the girls have picked the basics of the game, and it shows. He's not alone, in that regard. I can't hide my smile, or my enjoyment. For a group of people that they've just met, the girls have gelled with my best friends, and my favourite game, extremely quickly. I turn back to Kain, who just finished checking something on the DM screen. Probably the health of second Manticore? Maybe some kind of attack option? We'll see. "Okay, make your attack roll."

Yuri takes the D-twenty into her hands and shakes it. "Come on…" She says, under her breath and rolls it into the tray. "Oh my god, that's a natural twenty!" She exclaims, in a display of extroverted excitement that's very unlike Yuri. She even gives Alisteir an extremely tight hug. And then she realises, what she did and goes back to being her usual shy, recluse self. "S-sorry. Was that too much?"

"No way!" Mickey responds. "That's your first attack roll, and it's a critical hit. That's huge for you." He adds, calmly, while giving her a thumbs up. "Finish this beastie off, Yu'ilya!"

Yuri takes in everything, including Alisteir's reaction, which is a simple wink and a smile, and picks up the two D-eight's, shaking the dice and then rolling them in. "So… Seven… add five… and then the three from my dexterity… Fifteen points of damage."

Kain smiles and takes the second Manticore's plate away from the Initiative tracker on the DM Screen. "Congratulations, Yu'ilya, you got your first kill. Talk me through it. How do you want to do this?"

Yuri smiles after breathing a sigh of relief. Her plan went perfectly like how she hoped it would. "I concentrate and look down the arrow. I simply say 'Fall.' As I inhale deeply and let the arrow fly, catching it in the side of its head."

"It goes to roar at Darius, once again, but is cut off by the arrow from the longbow of the Elf that impales through its flesh and skin, puncturing the brain. And then it goes limp and falls to the ground." Kain explains.

I look over to Yuri and smile. "I look over to Yu'ilya and give her a thumbs up, silently letting her know she did a great job."

Yuri nods at me and then makes a motion with the imaginary bow she was holding. "I place my longbow on my back and say out loud 'Let's illuminate our foes in a crimson hue.' While flickering the fingers of my left hands over my right palm, casting the Produce Flame Cantrip."

"All right." Kain responds, smiling warmly at Yuri. Like myself, Kain appreciates good quality Role-play. That's exactly what Yuri just gave him, and the rest of the group. "That ends your turn, Yu'ilya, and brings us to the first Manticore, who's not too pleased that his mate was killed by you all, while they were hunting for food. Seeing he's surrounded, somewhat, he's going to launch here of his tail spikes. One at Natushi, at disadvantage, because of how Ranged attacks at point blank range work in this system. One at Rios, again, at disadvantage. And then one at Yu'ilya, because he saw you take his mate down. And that will be a normal attack roll. So, let's do that roll first." He picks up a single D-twenty and rolls it. "Oh. That's a two, plus five. Which makes a seven, even I know that's a miss." Monika and I have a little chuckle at that, almost, pained reaction from Kain. "This Manticore is having a hard time concentrating, after seeing its mate slaughtered. As a result, its attack goes wide, without you, Yu'ilya, having to worry too much. Rios, your next, and…" He rolls two D-twenties at disadvantage, taking the lower of the two numbers and adding the Manticore's attack bonus. "Sixteen? Does that hit?"

"Nope!" Sayori replies, sticking her tongue out at Kain. Which is pretty funny, but also kind of cute. "So, what I do is I my move my body in such a way that the spike lands just beside me. And now I'm ready to counter attack, on my turn." After that statement, Sayori looks to the group for approval, as if she's asking if she did everything correctly. We all nod or give her a thumbs up, to let her know what she said was pretty perfect.

"Alright, now the last attack is on Natushi-Oh!" Kain says, and then looks in shock at the two D-twenties he just rolled. "Oh no, Natushi. I'm so sorry… I just rolled, not one, but two Natural Twenty's!" I get up after that, in disbelief and look into his dice tray and sure enough, there they are.

Natsuki is shocked. "Oh, hell no!" You better not kill me right away!" She let's out in frustration. Monika puts her hand on the little tsundere's shoulder, trying to reassure her, as Kain shakes the two D-eight's in his hands.

"Don't worry, Natsuki." I say to her with a smile. "If he reduces your hit points to zero, you don't die right away. You're just knocked unconscious and have to make Death Saving rolls. But we'll see if it even comes to that." I say to my fellow club member. "Besides, Kain's a good man. He's only been a DM for one of my campaigns, and he took no joy in killing my level ten Warlock, even when I said it was good for the narrative." And as I say that I hear the dice hit the tray. I see Kain's expression.

"I'm sorry, I know we've only just met, but I just dealt out exactly ten hit points of piercing damage, as the Manticore's spike comes down and, while it doesn't penetrate your flesh, it cuts you in a downward-left angle across your back. I am so sorry, Natsuki!" Kain informs her with his hands together, almost pleasing for forgiveness.

"It's okay, I guess…" She responds, sadly. "I'm not dead, yet. I let out a painful, cat-like yell and fall to my knees and then lay face down in the grass. 'No. Not… Yet.' I say in a broken-up tone of voice.' And then I close my eyes."

"All right. The good news is you have a Cleric in the party, so He can at least make the process easier." Kain informs Natsuki, as he gestures over to Mickey. "Moniq. It's your turn. Rios, you're immediately after that."

"Okay…" Monika says, slightly panicked. "I want to get over to Natushi, but I can only move thirty feet. So even if I could get to her, I would have used up all my actions." Kain nods at this. "I could use healing word as a bonus action, but… Natsuki. If I attack this creature, will you be mad at me?"

Natsuki puts her hand Monika's, which was still reasting on the little pink haired girl's shoulder. "Eliminate opponents, Monika." She says to her, reassuringly. "It'll make getting me up, easier, later."

Monika nods and loos at her spells and then has a sudden spur of inspiration. "I might be able to do damage and heal you up. Dm?" She asks Kain. He smiles and nods at the brunette and gives her the thumbs up. "Okay, first, I'm going to look at the Manticore and say to it 'If you thought your life was forfeit before, you miserable pile of filth, it really is the end for now!' And then I cast the Cantrip known as Vicious Mockery! So, it has to make a wisdom saving throw against my DC of fifteen."

Kain nods and rolls a single D-twenty and then shakes his head. "Nope!" He responds and then laughs uproariously. "Just to be clear, this creature has a minus one modifier to its wisdom. Any wisdom roll I make has its total reduced by one." He explains, still laughing a little. "I just rolled a natural one so, technically, the result is actually Zero." And we all laugh at that. I go to give Monika a high five, but she hugs me, instead. Which feels nice. Really nice, actually. And then Kain brings us back to the game. "So, Moniq. Roll your damage."

She picks up her single D-four and rolls it. "That's three points of psychic damage. And it has disadvantage on its next attack roll. Now that I've done that, I look up to Natushi and I shout 'Get up, your fight isn't over yet!' Casting healing word as a bonus action." She says with a smile, picking up her D-four again and rolling a four. "Hey, that's good! Now I add my spellcasting modifier, which is charisma… You get nine hit points back!"

Natsuki claps her hands once and makes two fists. "Awesome! It's time to make this piece of crap pay!" She shouts and looks to Sayori. "It's your turn next though, right Kain?" Natsuki asks.

"Sure is!" Kain responds, enthusiastically. "And then we got back to the top of the initiative order after that." Kain's loving this group. Four newbies who just learned the game a day or two ago. "Rios! What are you doing, girl? How are you hurting this creature?"

"I'll tell you how I'm going to hurt this meanie! I'm going to hurt it by giving it an uppercut under its stupid chin with my giant maul!" She emphasises and rolls the D-twenty. "Ooh! That looks good! Twelve plus five is seventeen. Is that a hit?"

"Yeah, it certainly is! Roll your two D-six and add your strength modifier!" Kain explains, happily. Reading the room, it's so easy to tell Sayori's the slowest learner of the game. Maybe her being last in the initiative order was a good learning experience for her? She saw the DM and the whole party go before her gave her a better example of how to play, than any explanation from anyone else in the room.

"Yes!" Sayori yells, as her dice hit the tray "Maximum damage! I rolled two sixes, which is twelve. Then my strength modifier is plus three, for a total of fifteen points of damage!" She yells. Maybe she's getting a little too into it, now? Or maybe there's no such thing as getting too into a game? Who's to say? Not me, that's for sure. I'm biased and believe everyone should give it their all when they get into a game.

"Natushi, we're back to you. What are you doing?" Kain asks, looking in the direction of the master of cupcakes.

Natsuki cracks her knuckles with a smirk. "I stand up, but I don't move away. I just yell and go to hit this thing with my martial claws of justice!" She yells out, almost as loud as Sayori and rolls her dice. "Dammit! That's three, for a total of ten. That misses, doesn't it?"

Kain nods a couple of times. "Yeah. It's okay, you were unconscious a few moments ago, so you're still shaking that little dizzy spell off." He explains to the Monk. "Darius! What are you doing?"

I analyse all I can do. "Hmm… Am I close enough to the Manticore, that I can move up to it and swing with my sword at this thing?" Kain nods at m. That's all the confirmation I need. I start to shake the D-twenty in my hand. "Okay, I'll move thirty feet towards the Manticore and Swing with two hands on my sword. For… an attack roll of… Fourteen?"

"Fourteen just hits. Roll the D-ten for your sword." Kain orders.

I roll the die and get an eight. "Eleven points of slashing damage, as I bring the sword across the side of the Manticore."

"Alright, then. You slash across the side of this creature, but it's not quite as deep as you'd hoped it would be." Kain says, taking the damage off of the Manticore. "Leviek, it's your turn."

"Alright!" Mickey calls out. "… I guess my only real option is to move up and try to cut it down with my battle axe." Mickey says as he picks up his die and rolls it. "Oh geez. Yeah, that's a two, so that's a six total." There's a lot of laughter coming from Mickey, Sayori and Natsuki. "I guess after shaking the other Manticore with Necrotic pain, this is my hubris, right?"

Kain laughs as well. "That is entirely possible." He replies, still giggling as he checks the initiative order. "Trae Devinicus! It's your move!" He says, happily, pointing at Alisteir.

Alisteir makes a motion for knocking another bolt into his Hand Crossbow. "Loading up and firing again. I'm aiming for the throat!" He says in a quiet, but emphatic tone. One roll of the die and "Oh, that's better! Sixteen total!" He adds.

Kain smiles and, silently, gestures to his dice tray. "That's a hit. Go ahead and roll damage with sneak attack.

Alisteir picks up his two D-six. Monika looks intrigued at this point. Which is also cute. Wait, do I have a crush on Monika? That could make things awkward between us, if she only saw our hilarious flirting as just a joke. Maybe I should wait to find out another time. "What's sneak attack?" Monika asks Alisteir.

Alisteir smiles at the president and explains it to her. "Sneak attack is the reason why I'm happy no one else is playing this class. It allows a rogue, and only a rogue, to add a number of D-six to the damage of an attack. At his current level, that's only an extra one D-six, but he gets a new dice to add at every odd level. So, I get two D-six at level three, three D-six at level five, and so on." After that, he rolls his damage die and sneak attack die together. "Oh, that's good… fourteen points of piercing damage!"

"It's starting to not look so good, you guys." Kain says to the group. "As the bolt from Trae's hand crossbow plants itself into its shoulder, rather than it's throat, the Manticore roars in agony. Yu'ilya. You're up!"

Yuri's already confident in what she wants to do, and it shows on her face. "I'm going to moves up thirty feet, which should put me just close enough to make a ranged spell attack with the flame I have in my hand. So, here I go with…" And she rolls her D-twenty and then nods, emphatically with a huge smile on her face. "That's another Natural Twenty!" The whole room cheers as Yuri grabs two D-eights to damage the abomination in front of her. The dice hit the tray and she look's happy with the result. "That's sixteen points, the highest I can roll."

Kain looks at Yuri in utter disbelief. "That's a double kill for the Druid, and the single best rolls from one party I have ever seen. Yu'ilya. Tell us how you kill this monstrosity."

We all cheer and applaud as Yuri stands up and starts spreads her arms wide. "'Now… You…'." And then she suddenly clasps them together, giving a loud clap, throwing her now clasped hand up towards the ceiling. "'BURN!' And I manipulate the flams with my hands and fingers. The fire spreads across the entirety of the creature." She explains, painting an image in our heads that's both awesome and terrifying. "And then I walk away towards the windmill and say 'Ahh, fire. A bringer of both life and death. To be able to wield it's power like a weave of yarn betwixt my fingers is a blessing.'"

The rest of us look at the usually shy bookworm and can't help but be impressed by her. Kain, Mickey and Alisteir, in particular, show their appreciation for her effort, but also do the same for the other girls.

After another hour or so, the party and I manage to convince Adabra Gwynn to return to Phandalin. The reward is paid in full, the party gain twenty-five gold coins each and return to the tavern for drinks, laughs and levelling up!