A training room in the Elucidate! Well, the way Eldereth had described this room, it sounded like training was only a fraction of what the room could do. A combination of illusions, conjuration, a bit of glamour and mesmerism was how the expedition leader had described it which was a heady mixture even for someone familiar with the arcane arts. With all those esoteric words floating in the air, it left Arzin expecting something different than what he found when he went to appointed floor.

Outside the chamber a bronze placard was hung. The Illustrated Corridor.

Inside, Arzin found a bare chamber.

It was indeed a corridor, a long bare hallway wide enough to ride a carriage through, but that was all there was to it. Taking a few paces inside, the voice of the Elucidate, as it was coming to be known, spoke up, "Welcome... Arzin. The expedition leader has advised that you will be seeing to the initial calibrations of this facility. What manner of scenario did you wish to experience?" Such an innocuous question! What scenario indeed?

OOC: Anyone who joins can also add their input of what scenario they'd like to the Corridor to play out, it will incorporate any feedback it's given. At this time also declare your spell book!

Arzin was peering down the length of the long, bare hallway when the disembodied Voice spoke to him.

~So. . .~ he thought to himself, ~It sounds as if I can direct the "Facility" to set up any sort of a scenario that I desire. Interesting!~

Ever since the unexpected appearance of the Prismatic Slimes inside the Tower, Arzin made certain to wear his armor and equip his sword and shield, even though it seemed unlikely that he would need them inside the Elucidate. In this instance being mostly fully equipped (lacking only ranged weapons) was helpful, in that he found himself well-prepared for a training scenario without having to double back to his room to gear-up.

"I am in need of some further battle-oriented training," he said, glancing all around. Try as he might, he could not spot a likely source for the Voice that had just addressed him.

"I would like to test my tactical acumen, my stamina, and the melee-fighting skills that I would use in battle. Can you design a scenario using these . . . parameters?"

Arzin was pretty sure that he had used the correct words: "acumen" and "parameters". Sometimes he had trouble remembering the lessons that his tutor had taught him, and he had found words to be very hit-or-miss. Sometimes he could remember the appropriate words to use to sound like a toff, but sometimes not.

---

OOC:

Passive Skills:

1. Heavy Armor Master.

2. Soft Shoed.

Combat Moves: (Two Slots, Three Uses over the course of an Adventure).

1. Exploit the Weakness.

2. Counterattack.

"Physical violence has been requested. Confirmed. Let the scenario commence," the voice of the Elucidate chimed melodically.

Lines suddenly sprang up from the floor and down from the ceiling, they ran across the walls of the corridor like dark black slashes from a pen. A  house was drawn in front of Arzin, drawn with possible speed. Shading was filled in to give it depth. Clouds were inked across the sky, grass on the ground. Ah, this explained the "Illustrated" part of the corridor. As the drawings were completed they gained depth, colors splashes across them and they quickly became quite lifelike. What had been a corridor was transformed. Arzin was standing in an alleyway, buildings on all sides, he seemed to be in a city, single story buildings on all sides.

At the end of the corridor a figure stepped out, for a brief moment he had dark black lines framing him, but these melted away and left the person looking as real as any of the mages in the tower. A young man in a leather jerkin, he tossed a knife from hand to hand with an easy confidence. Another one stepped out from behind him, then another. That made three of them total. More lightly armored than Arzin, but that leather armor gave them greater mobility. Those daggers meant less reach, but they were quick. And the men had a confidence to them of experienced fighters. It was hard to believe this wasn't real!

Without warning the three charged forward. They had no hesitance that one might expect of regular footpads or thieves, they also coordinated perfectly and without uttering a word. It was as though it were really one entity sharing three forms. This was unlike any fight Arzin had every experienced and how they lunged forward with their flashing knives definitely left one questioning Eldereth's use of the word 'safe.'

OOC: Make a Deadly Roll! The Illustrated Corridor is going a little too hard, but hey, that's what calibration is for isn't it? You can take creative liberty with how the fight goes based on your roll.

Arzin looked on as the scene took shape in front of him, his lips pursed thoughtfully. The houses on both sides of the alleyway where he found himself were painted in various drab colors, and several of them had plaster peeling from their walls. There was refuse piled the alley that gave off unpleasant smells, and the general appearance spoke to the fact that this was run-down neighborhood.

Soon enough Arzin's competition appeared -- three men, all dressed in black leather armor. One had a dark beard, and the other two were clean-shaven. Each of them appeared to have a strip of colored cloth tied around their left arms in the area of their biceps -- one had blue cloth, one red, and one yellow. Arzin supposed that might be a way for them to tell who was whom at a glance, in darkened conditions.

~Well, this can't be *too* bad~, the man-at-arms reasoned. ~After all, they only have knives, and I have a shield and heavy armor.~

That said, it bothered him somewhat that even though his attackers presumably could size up the situation just as well as he could, they strolled forward with the easy self-confidence of men who had done this sort of thing many times before, and who did not anticipate running into anything that they could not handle this time around.

~Most likely they are not just low-level ruffians, then.~

It did give Arzin considerable comfort that he would be fighting in a narrow alleyway. ~That should limit -- at least somewhat -- their advantage in numbers,~ he reasoned.

Red-cloth took the lead, closing with Arzin at an almost leisurely pace. When the threesome was approximately ten yards away, Blue-cloth suddenly darted up the side wall of one of the buildings lining the alleyway, reminding Arzin of nothing so much as a spider dashing up a wall in pursuit of a tasty fly.

His mouth gaping open, Arzin could do little but watch as Blue-cloth passed over his head (still clinging to the wall), and then dropped lightly to the ground behind the man-at-arms, landing with all the grace of a confident feline.

~He shouldn't be able to do that!~ Arzin mentally protested. ~I'm going to need to have that fixed.~

Then it occurred to Arzin that he had heard tavern tales about shoes and gloves that allowed one to climb like a spider. They were almost prohibitively expensive, of course, and were well out of the price range of most sellswords.

~But not for well-paid assassins,~ the ex-soldier thought to himself, feeling a little frisson of doubt running down his spine.

~Have I faced off against a team of assassins, here?~ he found himself wondering. That would certainly explain his three opponents' air of easy confidence, and the fact that they seemed to be working together as a well-trained team.

Arzin himself had never encountered such people, although it was rumored that nobles and people in positions of power sometimes found it useful to employ them to deal with inconvenient adversaries.

~Two in the front, one behind me. Things suddenly got trickier.~

No sooner had that thought crossed Arzin's mind than a door in a wall along the right-hand side of the alleyway was suddenly flung open with enough force for it to slam against the wall. A wizened hand -- so quickly did it flash out of and back inside the doorway that Arzin could not positively say that it was even Human -- shot out with the speed of a striking snake. Yellow-cloth was moving in formation behind red-cloth, but now the man was whisked away through the open doorway, with the door slamming shut behind him.

~What was *that* all about?~ Arzin wondered. ~Will that aid or hinder Yellow-cloth? Whatever is going on, he is out of my line of sight at the moment.~

Lacking both the time and the facts to resolve that question, the man-at-arms quickly slammed his back against the wall of one of the houses, so that he could angle his sword against Red-cloth and his shield against Blue-cloth.

"Come on, then," he snarled, "let's dance."

---

OOC: 11:27, Today: Arzin rolled 5 using 1d6.  Deadly Roll: Knife Fight in an Alleyway.

Comments: Talon, just as a gentle reminder, Arzin has the "Counterattack" Move activated for this Adventure. Depending upon how the various Rounds play out, I may elect to negate some of the Chip Damage that he would otherwise suffer. Thanks. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 17:39, Mon 01 Apr.

OOC: Updating since so far no one has confirmed if they're joining you here, if they do, they'll still get the chance to make their Deadly Roll. Speaking of which, when you make the Deadly Roll you can still take another action, whether that's an attack, defense, move or enchantment. You'll certainly be able to use the Counterattack action.

Within the artificial canyon that was the alley the battle unfolded. When it came to the levels of skill being displayed a battle began to look much like a dance, step, counter step, thrust, parry. It was a blur of sharp edged steel, the music to which they performed was the clash of metal on metal and the percussion of heavy footfalls. The three nimble fighters manuevered around Arzin as best the confines of the alley allowed, several times their blades scraped across the soldiers heavy armor, but didn't find purchase. The dance continued, weaving, bobbing, step, counterstep.

Losing sight of one, Arzin's back against the wall, his position had become precarious. The two in front of him he had handled, handled in so far as he kept them at bay, what he didn't anticipate was the loop that dropped down from above him. The yellow-sashed vagabond had made it onto the rooftop above Arzin and dropped a makeshift noose of said yellow sash down, it expertly fell across Arzin's shoulders, then there was a sharp tug as it was drawn taut. Up above he could see the man wrenching on it with both hands making it clamp down on the soldiers throat. Suddenly his blood was pounding in his ears and spots were dancing across his vision. (-2 HP Arzin) Worse than the impromptu hanging was the fact that it was a distraction, one that was going to leave an opening for the other two assailants.

For being 'safe' this hanging felt very real and the danger of this 'scenario' felt anything but simulated.

"Dammit!" Arzin exclaimed as he felt to makeshift noose wielded by the attacker settle around his neck.

Actually, that was not quite right. While he had intended to mutter a curse, what he actually said as the fabric cut off his air was "Urg!"

Holding his breath, the man-at-arms reasoned that he needed to free himself from that noose. Dangling up above the alleyway as he was, he would make an easy target for Red-Sash and Blue-Sash. Plus, before too long, he would suffocate. Arzin had no idea what would happen to him if he died during this imaginary combat, but he had no desire to find out.

And so it was that with a quick flick of his wrist, Arzin lifted his blade and slashed through the yellow fabric that the would-be assassin had employed in an annoyingly effective fashion.

Luckily, given the combined weight of Arzin himself and his armor, the Yellow-Sashed foe had not been able to hoist him very far off of the ground. Accordingly, the fall back to street level was a short one, and Arzin landed on his feet.

~Much better!~ he thought, as he greedily sucked in great breaths of air.

~Now, back to work!~

---

OOC: Arzin will use a Counterattack Combat Move to slash the attacker's makeshift noose, and negate the Damage that he would have suffered.

The makeshift noose cut with a loud rip and Arzin could hear the man above topple backwards as he no longer had the several hundred pound counter weight on the other end. Arzin landed back on the ground with a clatter of his armor and resumed the fight with the other two assailants. That was when the voice of the Corridor spoke up again, "Calculations indicate that the scenario is not challenging enough. Adjusting." Two doors banged open as two more men joined into the fray. They were dressed identically to the original assailants and moved with the same perfect coordination. This definitely felt like cheating. No humans fought with such perfect coordination.

"Adjustments complete. Stamina should now be sufficient tested. Resume the training," the Corridor announced. As one the vagabonds descended, they were better described as a swarm now. It seemed the reward for doing well was to pile on even more. Arzin had worked up a sweat already and it looked like he wasn't going to get any respite quite yet.

OOC: Make another Deadly Roll in response to the evolving situation. You can still take actions along with the Deadly Roll, so using a move or making an attack or defense action.

The Elucidate had many wonders, a great number of which he was still ignorant of. However, he was familiar with the Illustrated Corridor, at least by reputation. It was, like most things within the tower, a marvel of magical engineering. A room capable of simulating nearly any environment or situation with impeccable accuracy and depth of detail. If he didn't know better he'd have thought it capable of simulating an alternate reality although such magics would be beyond the limits of arcane magical theory.

That said he was surprised to find that the corridor was already active. Taking a look inside he saw that Arzin was engaged in a combat simulation. Content to watch for a moment beyond the Corridor's simulated space he quickly realized something was not right. A 3 vs 1 fight was a considerable handicap but when he saw that they were attacking with full force and then he was further reinforced by another pair of opponents he moved into the fray, offensive spells firing at the advancing pair to buy Arzin time to defend himself. He approaches on the man's left-hand side and casts his spell.

"Wall!"

A wooden wall once again appearing on the man's flank to deny the enemy an easy means of encircling him fully.

Aurland declares Wall.

14:37, Today: Aurland rolled 5 using 1d6 ((5)). Deadly Roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:24, Wed 03 Apr.

Arzin's eyes widened in something akin to alarm as whoever -- or whatever -- was controlling the training exercise decided that he was not being sufficiently challenged, and consequently upped to number of foes who were attacking him to a total of five.

"That sure as all Hells oughtta be a  sufficient challenge now, you bastard!" he snarled up towards the ceiling of the chamber -- as if the Elucidate's Voice was up in the rafters somewhere.

Arzin quickly recalculated the odds. He had heard Yellow-Sash thump down on a roof somewhere up above him when the heavy weight that the man had been lifting off of the ground was unexpectedly released, and he assumed that it would take the fellow a little time to scramble back to his feet.

Blue-Sash -- who had gotten behind him -- was being held off by the man-at-arms' shield. Arzin faced Red-Sash with his sword -- only now there were two more attackers swarming in from behind Red-Sash.

Suddenly his view of the three attackers was cut off as heavy stone wall thumped down, seemingly out of nowhere. Out of the corner of his eye Arzin caught sight of Aurland -- the master castle-builder -- standing off to the side, and unexpected appearance of the wall made perfect sense.

Blue-Sash -- who was the sole attacker who was now on the same side of the Wall with Arzin -- was gawping at the towering obstacle, and Arzin took advantage of the man's being distracted to cut him down with a heavy-handed sword-stroke.

"You certainly know how to make an entrance!" he exclaimed, smiling at the mage. "Many thanks for the timely aid."

"I'm going to have to declare you a . . . non-Bookworm, whatever the word for that might be."

Arzin turned on his heel and called to Aurland "Let's duck down one of these side passageways alongside one of the buildings whilst those bastards are held up by your Wall."

"If we can get out of sight before they get past the Wall, maybe we can lose them altogether -- either that, or else ambush them from the flank, or behind."

---

OOC: 17:14, Today: Arzin rolled 6 using 1d6.  Deadly Roll #2: Knife Fight in an Alleyway.

Arzin will use the Reservoir Point that was generated by the "6" on his Deadly Roll to mount an "Exploit the Weakness" Attack on the single attacker (Blue-Sash) who is on the same side of Aurland's Wall as he is. Talon has confirmed that this will kill Blue-Sash.

Aurland, I have assumed that you would drop your Wall magicks into place so as to block off the side of the alleyway with three attackers (seeing as how they are the most serious threat) -- if that is not the case, let me know, and I will cheerfully edit. :)

Talon, is it possible for Aurland to position his Wall so that it comes down on top of Red-Sash (who was the lead attacker on that side, thereby squashing him flat)? It seems like a clever move that might well be possible. :)

Arzin is suggesting that he and Aurland use their Moves to dart into a narrow side passageway between the houses that flank the "main" alleyway, in the hope that this will allow them to either lose their attackers entirely, or alternatively, provide a tactical opportunity for an unexpected flank or rear attack (i.e., popping out of the side alleyway to mount an unexpected ambush/attack).
This message was last edited by the player at 00:33, Thu 04 Apr.

OOC: With Aurland's current level of Finesse he's lucky to orient his wall the proper direction let alone drop it on anyone :P Aurland, if you wanted to add any parameters to the scenario, feel free to do so.

A wood barricade suddenly filled the alleyway and provided relief to Arzin as now he was only face to face with one assailant rather than four. Taking advantage of the sudden lack of pressure, Arzin felled the man with a stroke of his blade. Further down the alley he spotted the source of his assistance, the unassuming mage Aurland. It seemed the tide had turned!

And the corridor seemed to recognize that as well. "Conditions changed. Reassessing. Increasing threat threshold to meet parameters of testing 'tactical acumen, stamina and melee fighting'" there came another bang and a door kicked open between the soldier and mage, out of it came four more of the vagabonds. This new set were all physically identical, the Corridor didn't seem to view individuality of the opponents as important to the simulation. It was unsettling to find oneself face to face with four identical men. However, there wasn't time to linger on small details like faces, not when their hands were full of glinting blades. "Parameters updated. Resuming the test."

Yes, this was definitely cheating. How often was a person going to encounter a hive-mind assassin with seemingly endless numbers?

Three of the new assailants turned and lunged at Aurland, moving as a single organized unit. The fourth member turned and planted himself in the alley, he didn't attack Arzin, instead he seemed to be making himself an obstacle to prevent the soldier from interfering with the violent unfolding against the mage. Meanwhile there was the sounds of scrabbling hands and feet as those on the far side of the wooden wall were working to climb over. So far unsuccessfully, but that wouldn't hold them back much longer. Normal vagabonds would likely be cursing this new obstacle, the silence from the other side was yet another uncanny detail of this whole scenario.

Note: Another Deadly Roll for Aurland to determine how he fares against the sudden rush. He can still take actions or cast spells as normal. You can incorporate the results of the Deadly Roll and into your post if Aurland does or doesn't take damage.

Combat

Eight assailants remaining

3 - Barred by blockade
1 - Recuperate on the rooftop
1 - Interposing himself between Arzin and Aurland
3 - Attacking Aurland

As soon as the man-at-arms had cut down the single foe who had been squared off against him -- three were still on the far side of the Wall that Aurland had conjured out of thin air, and there was yet another up on a roof-top, where he had fallen heavily -- Arzin glanced up, mentally measuring the distance up to a rooftop.

He had learned early on in his soldiering career that whoever held the high ground generally held the upper hand, be it a large battle or a minor skirmish. And in this case, the high ground translated to the roof-tops. Thanks to his training himself doggedly in heavy armor, he was fairly certain that he could drag himself up onto one of the roofs in spite of the extra weight.

But could Aurland do the same? Arzin was unsure. Aurland certainly looked like he was more fit than most of the other mages, but how would that translate to the situation in which the twosome found themselves?

But that line of thinking came to naught as a door on one of the houses slammed open, and four more assailants scrambled out. One hustled over to challenge the man-at-arms, and the other three went after Aurland. Arzin did not see how the mage could break away from that many foes and haul himself up onto a roof.

"Well, shite!" Arzin muttered under his breath as the situation in the Training Chamber changed yet again . . . and for the worse -- yet again.

The ex-soldier did not want to leave Aurland facing off against three well-trained assassins for any longer than was absolutely necessary, so Arzin feinted to the left and then slashed quickly to the right, with the intent of killing his opponent quickly -- or at least putting him out of the fight.

~Then I'll charge full-tilt at the bastards around Aurland and slam into as many of them as I can reach -- that ought to send them flying arse over teakettles!~

---

OOC: Arzin will make an Attack against the man who is facing him. Assuming that his foe is no longer blocking his path (being either wounded or dead), Arzin will then charge the three men who are attacking Aurland, planning to slam into as many of them as he can reach -- it won't kill anybody, but hopefully it will seriously inconvenience anyone whom he barrels into. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Fri 05 Apr.

Aurland was glad that he had preserved his physique when the Elucidate crashed as he had to pull on every ounce of his ability as he dodged and intercepted blade strikes with admittedly poor defensive barriers. His magic was simply not up to the cut to block full power blow and he didn't have enough finesse to make that work to his advantage. Instead, he simply leaned on their overall stability and his control over them to narrowly avoid disaster.

At least he thought that was the case.

Aurland is going to take a Complication for his 1 on the Deadly Roll.

OOC: Aurland sneaks in just under the wire for updates! It was pointed out to me that the Deadly Rolls Complication option was more lightly weighted than dropping to 0 HP so I made an adjustment there, but as that was made just this morning, I won't hold the change to you for the moment, so there's no diminished stats for now. You do obtain 2 Complication points, when you hit 5 then the badness occurs!

Also Aurland, remember you can take other actions along with making your Deadly Roll!

Flashing barriers of magic sprang up at Aurland's motion, each one flickering into being just before one of those sharp knives managed to make contact with his flesh. Where Arzin had been dancing, Aurland was flailing, wildly waving his arms and calling up defenses just moments before it was too late. For the time being it was working, but he was already sweating and was giving up ground as the three assailants drove him back.

Further back, Arzin dealt with the single man left to deter him. With a quick feint to the left, then slash to the right, he dropped the man in a blow. The dying man had still managed to scrape across his arm with that knife, but it was superficial wound. (-1 HP Arzin) Barreling forward, he then drove himself into the backs of two of those busy attacking Aurland and sent all three of them toppling into a tangled heap on the ground at the feet of the conjurer.

Combat

Seven assailants remaining

3 - Barred by blockade
1 - Recuperate on the rooftop
1 - Attacking Aurland
2 - Currently prone on the ground

Arzin barreled into the two attackers whom he was able to reach (the third one being out of reach on the far side of Aurland) with all the force of a steel-clad battering ram. The assailants had been concentrating their attention upon the mage, and hence had not been able to either set their feet to receive the man-at-arms' charge, nor dodge out of his path.

The three of them landed in a jumbled heap, with Arzin mostly on top of the two leather-clad assailants. They quickly understood what had happened, however, and the would-be assassins immediately began wriggling like eels in an effort to free themselves from under Arzin's dead weight.

For his part, Arzin quickly realized that he could not hold them for long -- nor would that gain him very much even if he could manage it, for staying in place would give the attackers on the far side of Aurland's magicked Wall time to climb over and rejoin the fray. Plus, the daggers that the assassins were wielding would actually give them the advantage over the longer blade of his longsword when everyone was within grappling distance of each other.

And so it was that the ex-soldier leapt to his feet, evidencing surprising agility for a man wearing heavy armor. Acting quickly, he aimed a heavy sword-stroke at one of their foes who was still climbing to his feet (and who was thus unable to dodge Arzin's blade), and then wheeled and kicked the second man in the head with his steel-toed boot, snapping his foe's head back (and hopefully breaking his neck).

Turning to face the lone assailant who remained out of the four who had just jumped into the battle only a short while before, Arzin growled "Flee for your life!"

---

OOC: Arzin will use his Move Action to climb to his feet.

He will make two Attacks this Round: an "Exploit the Weakness" Attack against his first foe, and a "normal" Attack against the second man.

I suspect that two lesser Attacks would have been sufficient to down the two men whom Arzin attacked this Round, but if I understand the rules correctly, in order to mount two melee Attacks in the same Round, one of them must be a Combat Move (using a Reservoir Point).
This message was last edited by the player at 15:26, Sat 06 Apr.

Aurland was glad Arzin was such a competent combatant. With how the fighting had been going up to thus point Aurlands utility was fairly limited. However he wasn't totally useless in a fight.

"No," was his response to Arzin's impassioned call.

Instead he switched to offensive magic, blades of conjured force scintillating with cores of plasma streaked across the space to take the last assailant in the hip. With his opposite hand he gestured.

"Wall"

This time blocking the points in the rear of the chamber where enemies had appeared before. Between the first and this new Wall there were only two viable vantage points for their enemies to come.

That's all of my Reservoir.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:40, Sat 06 Apr.

Two more of the knife wielding vagabonds were dispatched during the scuffle in trying to regain their footing. One managed to get their dagger into a chink in Arzin's armor (-1 HP Arzin) but he paid for that trickle of blood with his own life, or simulated life as it were. The last of the three crouched low, his eyes darting back and forth between Arzin and Aurland as he weighed his options, then took up the soldiers offer, but rather than flee he slowly backed up, keeping his knife up and ready for an attack.

But Aurland still had a trick up his sleeve, at his command another wall of wood came into being and the already narrow alley became a true corridor. Any attack that was coming would now have to come at them head on. It was a brief lull in the battle then, Arzin catching his  breath, Aurland doing a quick assessment and finding himself surprisingly intact, the vagabonds scrambled up and over the wall. Bodies lying on the ground had transformed from foes into hazards waiting to trip up anyone who didn't mind their step.

This seemed like the perfect moment for the Corridor to once again change the terms of the encounter, but thankfully the voice of the Elucidate remained blessedly silent. These were the final terms of the fight. The remaining five killers against the two members of the expedition. Time to resolve this 'calibration.' For a few heartbeats the two groups watched one another, then the battle recommenced.

Optional Deadly Roll: You may choose to make a Deadly Roll, if you do so you will dispatch 3 attackers automatically and may include that in your post, this doesn't include any you may be able to take out with your other actions.


Combat

Five assailants remaining

5 - Regrouped band

Arzin knew from his soldiering days that one of the best times to attack your foes was when they had just struggled over or through some sort of an obstacle. The example that came to mind was a river crossing, where the lead elements of the enemy troops had just struggled out of the water, and were precariously perched on a narrow beachhead.

Clamoring up and over Aurland's tall wall would be just as bothersome as a river crossing, the-man-at- arms reasoned. He would have a momentary advantage, as long as he seized it quickly and did not give the efficient team of assassins the chance to organize themselves.

And so he went at them, all aggression and flashing blade, as they dropped down to the ground. With no shields and only light armor, they were unable to put their superior mobility to good use as he met them head-on and cut them down, as quickly as a yeoman with a scythe might mow down a standing row of wheat.

---

OOC: 12:00, Today: Arzin rolled 5 using 1d6.  Deadly Roll #3: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff.

Per Talon's note, Arzin's "Deadly Roll" attack will slay or disable three attackers, and a separate attack employing his "normal" attack-oriented tactical style will down a fourth.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 00:15, Tue 09 Apr.

With Arzin taking on the lion's share of opponent Aurland focused on taking out the last of their foes with another arcing crescent of conjured force and plasma.

In a decisive burst, Arzin hurtled towards the assembled group of vagabonds. There was a clash of steel, cries of pain and grunts of exertion. From the outside looking in it was a whirl of activity while for Arzin in the heart of it he was distinctly aware of each stab and thrust. Then in a few heartbeats it was over, four men lying dead on the ground. The fifth was lunging at Arzin's exposed flank when he was token out by a beam of  liquid fire, staggering back he slapped weakly at his chest, then collapsed. A moment later the room dissolved, the colors draining away and the alley and the fallen enemies transforming into sketches which too bled away. Once again the duo was standing in a featureless hall.

"Scenario complete," chimed the Elucidate.

Eldereth had been right about this place needing calibration. That level of opposition could easily have killed someone. Hell, it could have killed Arzin if he'd been a few fractions slower during a few of those scuffles! Thankfully he was left with only a few scrapes and the sweat on his brow for the efforts. That and Aurland and Arzin had a new appreciation for close quarters combat.

New Location Unlocked: The Illustrated Corridor

Lessons Learned

Choose one of the following rewards:

Trained: Putting yourself through your paces isn't flashy work. It's tiring, even monotonous, but you come away feeling hardier and healthier.
Stat Increase: +2 Max HP

Three on One, Seems Fair: The experience has taught your the importance of positioning and combat awareness. Unlike fighting a single foe, fighting several becomes something of a dance. You watch the field rather than an individual. You dodge and dip and wait for an opening to present itself.
Passive: Group Combat Experience: You are better equipped to handle fighting when faced with multiple foes.

Mano a Mano: Fighting a single foe is about recognition even more so than reaction. You see what their eyes reveal, observe the subtle flex of an arm, the shift of footing, things that provide a tell for where the next blow is coming. If you're reacting, then you missed a signal.
Passive: Duelist - You are better equipped at fighting a foe one on one.

"And I Swung Down From the Chandelier...!": If all fights were held on perfect footing and in featureless rooms it would make combat a far simpler endeavor, but that's never the case. Tables for high ground, crumbling steps to disrupt footing, flammable draperies, in a battle anything can serve to provide an edge.
Passive: Spatial Awareness - You utilize your surroundings more effectively in combat.

OOC: You can now resume posting in the Elucidate.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:50, Tue 09 Apr.

Once outside the chamber that was labeled the Illustrated Corridor, Arzin leaned his back against the wall, puffed out his cheeks, and expelled a long breath.

Glancing over at Aurland, he muttered "That was more . . . intense . . . than I had expected. Intense to the point of being dangerous, to my way of thinking."

"If you had not shown up and conjured your Wall when you did . . . well, I'm thankful that it did not play out that way. In my opinion, we need to find Eldereth and find out who is in charge of calibrating the training that goes on in there. I think that from my point of view, it should be a bit less challenging . . . at the early levels, certainly."

Arzin paused and pursed his lips. "What did you think of it, from a mage's perspective?"

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OOC: All of the rewards listed at the end of the adventure are quite tempting. :)

I believe that I shall opt for "Trained". It seems to be the benefit that will have the broadest application for all sorts of adventures.

Aurland wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

"Intense is putting things mildly. If not for your combat acumen you would have died in that opening exchange and I'd have only been able to watch idly."

He then looked around the room, taking in their surroundings to make sure the announcement was genuine. If nothing else this fight had taught him the importance of spatial awareness.

"I think, magically speaking, this room could be of great benefit to us. Especially if it can simulate the effects of ritual magic or alchemy. From a more practical angle I think the expeditionary forces would do well to drill here. This is not a tamed world and dangers abound. Albeit yes on a much, much lower level of difficulty. We should report this immediately."

Allowing his spells to elapse the walls collapsed into dust before the dust disappeared as well.