Boss Battles Beta

[Cards of Fate]

Hey everyone! With Althanas Day around the corner I figure i'd drop the revamped boss battle rules for everyone to look over and ask any questions or voice any concerns the might have. In essence, it is a PvE citadel battle. I also would like to request that if you have any boss ideas, you pitch them here in the following format. I have a few of my own up my sleeve, but none of them will be seeing the light of day until the festivities begin.

Name:
Difficulty:
Breif Description:
Gmed or not?:
Spoil suggestion:

Welcome to the Boss Battles feature. If Citadel battles are Althanas’ PvP writing, Boss Battles are our PvE. In it teams of at least two writers square off against an NPC or GM-written boss in an epic battle.

These battles are designed to encourage members of the community to team up to pursue large scale goals and influence each others writing. They incorporate a stronger sense of story than citadel fights, and instead of players competing against each other, their score is held against a standard to determine an OOC win against the boss.


~Rules for conducting boss battles~

1. Boss battles must be claimed by posting a request in the boss battles forum. The request must include the desired boss, and the name of each participant. If you do not receive a response on a Non-Gmed boss battle assume you have been approved.

2. Each character can be involved in only one boss battle at any given time, though a person with multiple accounts can have each of their characters be involved in their own boss battle if so desired.

3. There is a seven day expiration on boss battle posts, meaning that if a post has not been made within seven days of the boss battle request or the last post, then the battle is over and the attempt failed. The only exception is if the person failing to post is the GM for the fight.

4. While no set posting schedule will be required or enforced for accounts engaged in a boss battle, double posting is not allowed.

5. Boss battles will be scored as a quest using the standard Althanas grading rubric, with

6. Each boss has a minimum score required to “defeat” it. While your battle may conclude with you killing a boss, if you do not score over the boss’s minimum score requirement, then the boss has defeated you. Similarly, your battle may conclude with the boss defeating your party, but if you score over the boss’s minimum score requirement, then you have defeated the boss.

6a. Bosses exist in four tiers Minion, Mighty, Monstrous, and Monolithic. Each one has a certain score level that needs to be met, and group member criteria.

~Minion bosses~
No minimum score, max of four combatants. Rewards are extra exp or gold based on judges discretion.

~Mighty~
Minimum score of 55 to beat, max of four combatants. Each player will be given a 400 gold credit to purchase an item at the bazaar.

~Monstrous~
Minimum score of 65 to beat, must have at least 4 combatants, no more than six. Item rewards will be listed on the monsters name (usually worth approximately 600)

~Monolithic~
Minimum score of 75 to beat, must be at least 6 combatants. Always Gmed, rewards are usually an item worth 1k or more depending on the GM.

7. Regardless of whether or not you score over the boss’s minimum score requirement you will receive standard experience and gold for completing a thread as you would for any completed Althanas thread. Defeating a boss will earn you a spoil on top of this based on their difficulty rating.

8. Once a boss has been officially defeated then that boss is retired and cannot be challenged again. The victors’ names and score will be posted for posterity sake.

9. If a boss is not officially defeated then it becomes available to be challenged again and the defeated characters’ names will be added to the boss’s win list.

[Bard]

All of these things have happened. All of these things are yet to come to pass. All of these things will happen, and will not happen, will occur, just as they do not occur. Each is a story in the mind of a god.

Title: Strength of the Earth

Plot in a nutshell: A certain elvan magician had two apprentices, each of them wanted to become great magi and earn favor in their mentor’s eyes. The one wished to earn this through accomplishment and by the doing of deeds that would earn praise. He was diligent in his studies, and in the fullness of time he created a mystical foci that would allow himself to bargain with the mighty elementals of earth and stone for favors. Unbeknownst to this apprentice, his rival stole the item, while he slept and replaced with a counterfit. Thus, when the spell was cast, and the elemental summoned, the very spell of summoning went awry. The lad was bonded to the elemental and the elemental to the lad. Thus, or heros arrive, or at least seem to arrive in their minds, for who can say with a story in the mind of the Gods, upon the scene the lad’s sister crying and a crazed elemental upon a filed not far from a hamlet.

Goal: to beat the elemental without killing it, but damaging it enough to get hold of the lad and thus allow them to remove the foci that is on a chord around the lad’s wrist.
Note: This could be either done as a Minion boss battle, or a Mighty boss battle, depending upon preference. Aspects of the “boss” can be altered depending on what is desired. I’d like to avoid stating the powers of the elemental here for all to see. Also if, made a mighty boss battle, the other apprentice could be introduced.

Spoiler:

more to come, but here’s a start

[Ashla]

- Name: Scar of Eiskalt.
- Difficulty: Mighty.
- Breif Description: A white, furry troll able to withstand any elements. It has 5xs endurance and strength. It also has poisonous teeth and claws and has a different color per eye. A living portrait of the current state of Eiskalt.
- Gmed or not?: Yes.
- Spoil suggestion: Simple weapon, armor, or lightly enchanted cosmetic item made of any Eiskaltian material (nixstella, lividus chalyb, etc)

~~~

More to come.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Name: SunWing
Difficulty: Monstrous
Breif Description: What's a boss battle event without a dragon or two? Sun Wing is an adult (roughly 700 years old) fire dragon that makes its nest in the cliffs of Alerar. It's very basic, has a hoarde, a nasty temper, and one hell of a fire breath attack. In terms of size, it's about 125 feet long with a wing span of about 300 feet, not small. True to most flying monsters, it doesn't like getting pinned to the ground and will keep to the sky as long as it can before landing to rest its wings. Inevitably, within a few moments, it will take off again and start hailing hellfire down upon its potential prey once more, after getting in a few potshots with its claws and fangs while on the ground. Do not underestimate, or you will end up a well cooked snack!
Gmed or not?: Yes, please
Spoil suggestion: Eh, whatever you think fits the characters who choose to battle.

[Tobias Stalt]

Name: Thanatos
Difficulty: Monolithic
Description: The circumstances surrounding the appearance of this being are shrouded in mystery. It is believed that the amassing of dark magic in Raiaera attracted it to the corporeal world, but nothing concrete lends credence to those claims. Unlike the corpse hordes that run rampant through the plague lands and across the war-torn country, this wraith remains perfectly still in a single location.

Wreathed in shadows and with flesh pale as snow, Thanatos was dubbed thus by the sole survivor to encounter it, deep within the most ravaged and tainted areas of Raiaera. Named for a manifestation of death itself, the account detailing the brief exchange included several seconds of monologue on the part of the survivor's comrades, then unexplained horrors that ended in grotesque fits of psychosis and ultimately suicide.

"It was as though in those seconds before they fled the horrors of their life, they faced judgment for their sins and were deemed unworthy," the notes recall in a feverishly scrawled script. "When It laid eyes on me, I fled without a thought."
GMed, or no?: Please, please, please.
Spoils: Well, let's see how well they handle it, eh?

[Max Dirks]

I hope you guys realize that the GM is a moderator, not a player.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Well aware on my end. I have no desire to GM the boss threads personally, I just wanted to come up with the monster.

[Bard]

I was aware also, but as I said in Chat if you need GMs I'm open

[Philomel]

Name: The Maiden
Difficulty: Mighty
Brief Description: Long ago, some time before anyone can remember, there was a woman. Quite naturally she had a virgin birth, giving out a baby girl who was an almost exact likeness of her. The baby bared the young mother's name, that being Madona'a, and the people feared her for it was known she was born of no man, just pure of a woman. The babe, by the age of five, learnt how to speak, walk and posessed great knowledge. She told prophecies of a time when more than one species would roam the earth and demons would come from Hadia, and many other things that have since proved to be true - but the people feared her more. They slew her mother, and in doing so incited a great anger in the young girl became a terror. Full of rage and hate she gained swiftly the abilities to curse, to spit fire and to speak what will happen, despite whether or not the attacker wills it so. She hides in a small corner of the world, waiting for whomever to come across her to be crushed and rumoured upon, for her voice is the fear of many and her knowledge is as vast as infinity.

Abilities: Being able to (limited) cause things to happen by speaking them. Cannot be anything that the attacker does, must be rumours that effect the environment. Has the ability to spit fire. Has the the ability to speak secrets of the attacker/opponent that no one else knows. Takes form of a young girl who is highly adept at all forms of close combat.
GM'ed or not?: Up to you
Spoil suggestion: Her tongue or some less disgusting relic that can predit what happens.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

Name: The Briarwolf Pack

Difficulty: Monstrous

Description: A pack of 40-60 wolves (depending on the number of participants). These wolves are slightly bigger and faster than timber wolves, and have threads of thorny vines woven into their gray pelts. Due to genetic manipulation, they contain the smarts and cunning of Dur'Taigen, as well as a smidge of their shapeshifting abilities. While they aren't able to change their physical shapes, they are able to change the color of their fur in order to blend in with the nighttime shadows and orange glow of the lanterns that line the streets, making them harder to detect so long as they don't make any sudden movements. The briarwolves' jaws are strong enough to pierce cloth and metal Tier 3 and lower. Their mouths and claws are laden with bacteria that infects their victims when they pierce flesh and draw blood. This bacteria will cause paralysis in the infected limb after the span of one post, as well as a numbness that spreads to adjacent parts of the victim's body.

The Story: Madison Freebird unleashed the pack on a small city deep within Concordia after a noble who resides there refused to pay her for services rendered when she eliminated one of his political enemies. Every night for the past week or so, the Briarwolves infiltrated the city and started hunting the night watchmen and any citizens unlucky enough to be outside, leaving their bloodied corpses to be discovered in the morning light. The noble has put out the call for heroes to investigate these murders and put a stop to them.

The Setting: A labyrinthine city that was seemingly designed by a blind man and constructed by drunkards. The myriad roads are paved with cobblestone, and they twist and curve and intersect in a maze-like manner. The battle will take place at night, when the wolves are out hunting their prey.

Recommended theme music: Flowers of Antimony - Manami Matsumae, from the Shovel Knight soundtrack

GM: Yes, please.

Recommended Spoils: Three vials of salve infused with the wolves' saliva, containing the bacteria infection they carry. Can be applied to any weapon in order to cause its victims to feel severe pain while numbing their body and causing a state of near-paralysis in the infected limbs (which spreads to the whole body over two posts)