A Piece of the Action

With the arrival of Korik, Gallamead, Orien and Ymir, your party was ready to make a second assault on the den of the wererats, in the bell tower. Strategy became fairly important, as you realized the difficulties of close-quarter combat in the five foot corriders afforded to you. Those of your party who were subjected to the rear, found that they rarely were able to get a piece of the action: something to think about in the future. Gyrr earned his paycheck; cleaving through foe after foe. Even in a fight on the roof against a quartet of gargoyles, Gyrr's stealy nerve left its mark on their wretched hides. The wererat menace now destroyed, you found nothing to suggest a motive for their attacks on the local populace. Perhaps Shooma will have some insights.

As your party rests, in the Stony Gaze Inn and Tavern, from your recent battle with the wererats, correspondence has come for masters Solanthos and Lin’Thalus and for lady Gallamead. The town of Brindinford has prepared a spell duel for arcanists of all types, during the month-long fair. Each of you three have received special invitations to participate in this non-lethal duel. The contest is designed to allow you each to demonstrate your skill, while at the same time, providing the crowds with a most marvelous spectacle. The winner of the contest will receive a special trophy and an as-of-yet unnamed magical item. In order to participate, each of you must agree to the following conditions:

• Death effects are forbidden, including effects that entail a serious risk of killing or permanently incapacitating the opponent outright, such as disintegrate or internal fire.
• Spells with any energy descriptor, the force descriptor, or the shadow descriptor are voluntarily “pulled,” dealing half normal damage.
• Spells that require melee attack rolls can strike to subdue within the specific formal conventions of the spell duel,taking a –4 penalty on attack rolls but dealing non-lethal damage instead of normal damage.
• Summoned creatures must be directed to strike to subdue, taking a –4 penalty on attack rolls but dealing non-lethal damage against an opposing duelist (though summoned creatures are free to fight other summoned creatures to the best of their abilities). As such, a caster in a non-lethal duel cannot summon creatures that he cannot communicate with or control.
• Spells that create an incapacitating condition (sleep, for example) are voluntarily dismissed or dispelled by an official after one combatant has been rendered unable to continue, resulting in a loss for that combatant. Spells that incapacitate but allow a save each round (such as hold person) are allowed to persist, potentially giving one caster a severe advantage as he pummels his opponent with spell after spell.
• Understand that even under rigorous guidelines, non-lethal spell duels are not always safe. Some mages have died from injuries inflicted by a careless (or surprisingly lucky) foe.
• Understand that the restrictions of a non-lethal spell duel are voluntarily observed by each participant; nothing can stop a dishonorable or desperate duelist from abandoning observation of the non-lethal forms at any point during the proceedings. Intentionally casting spells for full effect during a non-lethal duel is regarded as poor form at best, though, and once one duelist abandons the non-lethal restrictions, the other is free to escalate as well, with no besmirching of
his or her own honor.

The spell duel takes place on the day following your receipt of the invitations.