RQG Ancient Rome Sidequest - Part 3

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## Ancient Rome Sidequest 3

### Players

Ben Meredith as Grizzop
Lydia Nicholas as Sasha

## Content Warnings

Pitched battle, physical violence/combat, mass death, imprisonment/slavery (dragons), corpses, graphic description of injury, self-sacrifice, prejudice against fantasy races (goblins), surrounded. SFX: weapon entering flesh, clashing weapons, shouting

## Summary

Sasha and Grizzop join in a full on battle. Sasha continues to be exasperated and Grizzop has the captain in his sights.

## Synopsis

Cicero has just run into the room where everyone is battling, and Sasha and Grizzop follow behind. It’s clear that a pitched battle has been happening in here. It’s a massive room; if they’re underground, then the hill that the palace is on is probably a bit hollow. The room is domed with some supporting pillars as well.

   There’s a massive hole in the room, and Sasha is on a long walkway. The walkway has a railing and seems to go all the way around the room. The colouring is a lot of golds. Sasha can’t make out the other side of the room because it’s so big; she can see some of the braziers and torches, but they’re more pinpricks of light in the distance. She also sees an enormous set of chains running from the center of the ceiling stretching out to the sides, with large contraptions (they’re not incredibly complicated), and then they stretch down the edge of the hole. There are other tunnels leading out of the room.

There’s a huge fresco on the ceiling, and a number of corpses on the ground. For every slain Mars member, there are 3 slain Jupiter members. It’s clear that this is basically a slaughter. The Jupiter lot are trying to form up with their shields, but failing badly. Sasha calls back to Grizzop, saying that it’s amateur hour here. Cicero, looking around the room, is completely pallid. Sasha asks what’s going on, and Cicero says that it looks like a coup. The captain of the Mars lot is dressed in purple and has a completely bald head.

As Sasha gets hit by one of the spears, Grizzop takes all the damage instead by casting paladin's sacrifice. Blood spurts from his shoulder instead of Sasha’s. Soldier's continue to surround the two of them on all sides. Eventually, the captain retreats, and they're left each facing a soldier, with two flanking them on each side, pressed back to back.

## Quotes

**Ben**: "Okay, I can Lay on Hands myself as a swift action, so I'm gonna do that cause I need the hit points."
**Alex**: "Okay, Grizzop touches himself as a swift action."
**Ben**: "You are just the worst."
―Grizzop heals himself in battle.

## Dice rolls and Mechanics

* Grizzop makes a perception check on the captain: 21

## Combat Breakdown

**Initiative:** Sasha (25), Grizzop (nat 20, 24), Cult of Mars, Cicero, Cult of Jupiter

**Round 1**

* Sasha: Runs after Cicero. She attempts to be stealthy, rolls a 22, and isn’t noticed by everyone in the room. She heads toward the fighting on the right.
* Grizzop: Runs into the room and makes an attack on two of the cult of Mars soldiers in the room. He gets a 20 and a 25 on the first two attacks, dealing 10 and 10 damage on the first. The soldiers raises a cry of alarm and start running around the walkway toward them.
* Cult of Mars: The soldiers raise an alarm, people notice Sasha and Grizzop but keep fighting the Jupiter people.
* Cicero: Goes over to Grizzop and tells him that he can’t let them release anything. He hurries off toward Sasha.
* Cult of Jupiter: Fights the Cult of Mars and does terribly.

**Round 2**

* Sasha: Somersaults over a cult of Mars member and rolls a 33 on her acrobatics check. She misses with a 15 on her first attack, hits with a 28 on the second (dealing 12 damage), and misses with a nat 1 on the third, leading to her dropping her off-hand weapon.
* Grizzop: Shoots 4 arrows at the Mars soldiers on the left. He hits on the first two (rolling a 21 and something higher than a 21) and misses on the second two (rolling two 15s). He deals 17 damage on both attacks, killing one soldier.
* Mars: Three soldiers charge toward Grizzop. The first hits dealing 12 damage. The second and third roll nat 1s; they charge into each other, and one loses their sword while the other loses a shield.
* Cicero: Catches up to Sasha and starts skirting around the fighting. No one seems interested in him.
* Cult of Jupiter: Continues fighting the Jupiter people and do terribly again (Alex rolled 3 nat 1s). They are almost all dead.

**Round 3**

* Sasha: Flips away toward Grizzop, rolling a 35 on her acrobatics check, and throws a bomb where she was standing. She rolls an 11 on the attack, and deals 3 splash damage to the soldiers.
* Grizzop: Uses lay on hands as a swift action, getting 20 hit points back. He attacks the captain four times, hitting on the first three hits (24, 26, 22) and missing on the last with a 3. The captain takes 18 damage on the first; 21 damage on the second; and 18 damage on the third. The captain reaches up and tears the collar of his breastplate off, revealing purple posh clothing beneath. Grizzop provokes an attack of opportunity from the closest soldier but he misses.
* Cult of Mars: The soldier closest to Grizzop attacks twice and misses both times. The other two flank Grizzop, and both completely miss. One rolls two nat 1s and gets turned around.
* Cult of Mars captain: Reaches out toward Grizzop, and he rolls a 21 on his will save. Grizzop throws it off and sticks his tongue out at him. The man is puce with anger.
* Cult of Mars: Three soldiers close the distance to Sasha. One rolls a nat 20, and confirms the critical. The second and third attack misses. A spear plunges into her back and out through her shoulder, dealing 22 damage. Grizzop casts paladin's sacrifice as an immediate action to take all the damage instead of Sasha.
* Cicero: Does something that no one is paying attention to.
* Cult of Jupiter: Are all dead and do nothing.
* Multiple guards approach from a number of different sides.

**Round 4**

* Sasha: Flees, moving back to Grizzop, and thanks him.
* Grizzop: Attacks the captain again 4 times. He gets a 14 on the first roll, a nat 1 on the second, a 15 on the third, and a 21 on the last. He only hits on the final hit, dealing 19 damage. The captain drops to one knee as Grizzop grits his teeth and tells him to die.
* Cult of Mars: Three soldiers attack Grizzop; one hits, one misses, one crits but doesn’t confirm. Together, they deal 11 damage.
* Cult of Mars captain: Points at Grizzop with pure fury and Grizzop makes a fort save, rolling a 26. A bolt of energy fires at Grizzop, with a flash of white light tinged with green. It doesn’t hit.
* Cult of Mars: All three soldiers charge at Sasha and then all miss their attacks.