~THE RAID 2~
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Art credits towards Praxius Objective: KILL THE BOSS IN 20 ROUNDS OR LESS.
Spoiler for Lore:
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! GET-"
The Air elemental was interrupted by a sudden shaking of the skyscraper he was on. Cutting off his command to a few stray citizens, he swiftly leaped off the marble balcony and descended gracefully onto another building below, noting several birds swirling ahead. Several of them began to head towards his location in formation, but scattered frantically as the Demon roared. Three birds crashed into each other due to the confusion.
He stared at the little squawkers. "Oh come on you guys. Who trained you to act like that?"
The Demon began attacking a notable clock tower in the city of Psylina, extremely distant cousin city of Etheria. No one had expected anything chaotic to occur within the area due to the city's politically neutral environment and stable economy. However, as the monster showed, a defenseless city was ripe for destruction, and a demonstration in how complacency breeds catastrophe.
"Observer twenty-echo! Where you at? ...this is just... Twenty Echo!?... OH CRA-"
Debris and dust exploded in the distance as an erratic beam of fuchsia poured from the demon's mouth. The Hunter managed to clear the dust around his spot, and saw the Demon forcing himself further away.
"TWENTY! ECHO! RESPON-WHA-"
The Hunter quickly turned around with quiver drawn at a shadow on the corner of the rooftop. If the demon could conjure familiars, there would be no time for defending the area; an escape route would do now. As the shadow materialized into a more decorated robe of threads and embroidery, the hunter kept his eye on the head, showing it to be a Darkness being with a slightly crooked smile.
"Relax. Such a pleasant view to shake the dullness of the city, wouldn't you agree?"
Intensely, the Hunter kept his arrow pointed directly at her face. "What do you want, demon?"
The Darkness elemental gave a look of disappointment. "I am not your enemy, silly. I was called by your little 'friend', here." She directed the hunter's attention to a nearby Observer, who managed to levitate atop the polished rooftop of the current building they were all on.
"Current accomplice is a Witch of the neutral Sakdroh Tribes. Not deemed an immediate threat."
"Oh... thanks." He side-eyed the Witch and lowered his bow as the demon began punching one of the more sturdier buildings into the ground.
"You are most certainly welcome."
"Not you!" He huffed, then turned to face the Observer. "Echo, new information. Please."
"Based on investigation target Demon has been termed various aliases; assignment now known as 'Hak'yoruls'. Demon has grown over several weeks and was apparently unleashed within the Kelto academy several hours-"
"Figures. It's always magicians and their magic."
The witch lazily glared. "It is impolite to interrupt, and even more rude to assume that such fraudulent wizards could be actual wielders of magic. Please resume, Observer."
"The Demon can be physically bound, which, based on biological analysis, may be done if sufficiently immobilized. Demon has access to a multiple of capabilities relating to massive elemental displacement, temporal distortion, genetic restructuring, and psychological manipulation. Information a- ...information acquired states that there is an individual within the core of the Demon that acts as a host for the demon to draw pure quanta energy from, and was used as original subject to the summoning. Interruption of the host effect occurs upon the target seeking a substitution, but will fail if the avatar is significantly damaged. Given that 28.6% of city surface has been destroyed by the target's attacks, several warriors and leaders have already been contacted from nearby cities to aid in major restoration and last minute defense of city integrity. City evacuation is 96% complete; focus is now on prevention of additional vectors and suppression of the target."
Another screech pierced through the streets of Psylina, causing rows of windows to fragment and shatter among several nearby buildings. The Hunter sighed upon stepping back, and the Observer retracted its camera and speaker, fan whirling at a high rotation speed. All three of them turned in the direction of the Demon, who was still trying to punch a black-diamond building into its submission.
The witch smirked once more and summoned an oddly shaped doll with a sad- no, an angry face on it. "Well what a wonderful story. I suppose now we should write a wonderful epilogue..."
Signing-up:No limit to the # of players participating. The host can participate in the game as well.
Before the game starts, players should choose the element 'class' they want to be set. Otherwise, their element will be randomized.
When the game begins, the first person who signed up will be the 'Leader' with 10 threat, and all players below them will have 0 'threat'.
SPECIAL NOTE: One player (either randomized, or chosen due to alleged participation) will be automatically charmed alongside the demon. They will work with the demon until they are killed or they are swapped for a different player due to 'Possession' (see Demon abilities below).
Rules:
There are two main numbers you should constantly be aware of: Health (or HP), and Threat.
Every player starts off with 50/50 HP. Their current HP total (as well as their max limit) can change throughout the game depending on damage they take from the boss or from allies, and can likewise also be recovered from other abilities.
THREAT (the new 'ranking') is the other major numeric besides HP. If you are the player with the most threat (barring ties), you are considered the leader. Increasing one's threat pushes them closer to the leader position, which in turn makes them more likely to suffer from the bosses major attacks. Threat is a numeric value that can increase or decrease depending on your actions as well as on the actions of others, and is vital for managing your position throughout the RAID.
As all actions are processed based on the amount of threat (most to least), it is vital that players coordinate when to stage their attacks to avoid disasters. Players
SHOULD NOT DELETE their posts, but are welcome to modify them as necessary -before- a round ends.
The host is required to always take the most recently post by a player as their final current action.Players cannot 'leave' a raid by withdrawal - by signing up and not directly participating/dropping your activity from the game, you will still be doing 'automated' actions to help the raid succeed passively. This means there are no drawbacks to signing up and going inactive, as your 'character' will still be doing damage!
New players that have missed the sign-up period can effectively substitute and replace a player during the game, but will automatically be removed if the original player becomes active. Substitutes cannot gain Master of Game points unless they've contributed more to the RAID than their non-subbed counterpart.Each round, players should post in the topic
[Do not PM the host] to discuss strategy and what action they'll use. Discussing in chat is also fine.
They must post their action in bold, and based on their
THREAT, players then proceed to use their actions in the order of first player (leader) to last player (bottom of the list).
Every player has the following basic skills.
Strike - Deals 5 damage to the boss (or target)
[This is the default action]Block - Reduces direct (non-periodic) damage on you by 3 against current round attacks (stackable).
Mend - Heals a player for 5 HP.
Swap - Changes your element to another.
You can only use one skill per round. For example, you can't swap to an element and use that elemental skill the same time, you're only limited to one action per round (unless you have Elemental buffs/abilities that allow you to use more than one).
Round cycles have 5-6 stages and goes as follows:
-Round starts
-Stage 1: All players (including the Charmed player) post their skills (otherwise, it defaults to 'Strike Boss')
-Stage 2: Demon Rolls their dice - this 'sets' the roll. The charmed player may alter the roll in Stage 1 as necessary.
-Stage 3: Player skills occur
based on their current threat value from most threat to least and afflict their effects (this includes periodic damage/healing)
-Threat changes that occur are calculated for the following round
-Stage 4: Boss damage over time debuffs 'tick' accordingly (i.e. - Stuns wear off, or periodic damage from previous Imps/damage-over-time debuffs/etc. is then dealt here).
-Stage 5: Boss deals damage and uses skills for the ORIGINAL round list, not the future/following round.
-Final Stage: Threat values are finalized for the following round. Stats are calculated for overall performance.
-Repeat from the top
The Demon's skills:The boss starts at 1500 HP. Its HP increases by 100 for every additional player after 20 players (i.e. - 22 players = 1700 HP).
Each of the boss's attacks are randomized each round.
As it is a tricky demon, it can deal more attacks than the normal mortal (i.e. - us).
Above 900 HP, it rolls
2 13-sided dice, plus any gained dice from Play-toys (and thus afflicts whatever skills based on those dice).
Between 375-900 HP, it rolls
3 13-sided dice, plus any gained dice from Play-toysBelow 375 HP, it rolls
4 13-sided dice, plus any gained dice from Play-toys (and hopefully, you won't be too stressed)
"Play-toys" is a stacking buff that can be removed one layer at a time via Elemental abilities. Non-charmed players cannot modify the dice values, but can remove excess dice.
The host will generally be the one to roll the dice (and post the screenshot as necessary if possible to show what rolls occurred). If a player 'volunteers' to so, they must meet up with either the host in Elements chat OR meet up with 2-3 other participating players in chat to oversee that the dice roll isn't 'exploited' (i.e. - no rerolls if you get a bad or good roll of some sort). There will be a 'code phrase' when the boss determines their roll.
SPECIAL NOTE: For this RAID, one player will be 'Charmed' onto the Demon's side, who will try to work with the Demon to kill the RAID. The charmed player can use whatever abilities they have based on the element chosen, OR may decide one of the dice values (the first base dice roll, not Playtoy-based dice) - they MUST post their action by their deadline, or else it'll be considered void.
Charmed players cannot be damaged or killed as they are considered a 'part' of the demon, but can be 'swapped' out due to a roll of Possession.Spoiler for Dice rolls for 1-13:
0: Stagger (only triggered by Hex [Squared], Takedown, Cannonball, Discharge, and technically Charmed player's choice) - Do nothing. This is only triggered if the Demon has bonus dice and is correctly dispelled by one of the previous elemental actions.
1: Possession - Deal 30 damage to the leader if the sum of the Demon's dice is 10 or greater, and sets their threat equal to the lowest ranked member in the raid minus 1. If the sum of the Demon's dice IS LESS THAN 10, the leader (or the next player ranked after if a Gravity player is targeted) becomes 'charmed' instead and replaces the currently charmed player (if they're alive), and the previous charmed player takes 30 damage and enters the group with threat equal to the lowest ranked member minus 1. If there are three or less players remaining on the non-charmed side, this skill simply kills those players BEFORE player actions are processed, and the current Charmed player wins alongside the Demon.
2: Piercing Screech - Deals 5 damage towards every non-charmed player, and 5 additional damage towards those players with a threat number greater than 0 and divisible by 2 (i.e. - a positive even integer). Removes all buffs from the leader. Removes all debuffs from the demon if 2 is rolled more than once. This damage cannot be blocked, absorbed, or stopped by any effect.
3: Blood Rituals - Deals 5 + X damage towards the current leader, where X is the health sacrificed by the demon from 0-9 HP (the charmed player may choose X beforehand each round, otherwise it is auto-set to 0). Summon an Imp with 5 + X HP. Every Imp will inflict (Imp MAX HP/2) + 2 [rounded up] damage towards the target that has dealt the most damage in the RAID. If one Imp kills a player via their damage (or the target dies from some other effect), all remaining Imps will then target the player that has dealt the second-most damage, and so on.
4: Curse - Reduces every enemy player's maximum HP by 3. If their max HP goes below their current HP, their current HP will also decrease to the new max HP limit. Does not count as damage dealt. Does not count as a debuff.
5: Prism Barrier - Gains a special buff that reduces all damage by 1 for the remainder of the game. Stacking. Can be dispelled. Takes precedence BEFORE player actions are processed.
6: Jinx - Deals 6 damage towards the leader and 4 damage towards the last R players ranked on the list. The non-leader players that are damaged by this become 'Jinxed', and cannot use Elemental skills unless this debuff is removed. Persists through death. R = round number.
7: Play-toys - Randomly changes the element of any non-charmed player who did not post for the current round and deals 3 damage to them. If 7 is rolled twice or more, the Demon will gain one additional die to roll for the following round and for the rest of the game per additional 7 rolled. Play-toys is considered a buff and can be dispelled.
8: Hell Fire - Deals 6 damage to the leader and 4 damage to the first R players ranked after the leader. Any player damaged by this becomes afflicted via 'Hellfire', taking 4 damage each turn until removed or killed. The burning debuff can stack. R = round number.
9: Destabilize - Deals 10 damage to the leader and towards a random non-charmed player, then switches their positions/threat levels.
10: Faerie Pollen - Deals 9 damage towards the current leader and places a debuff on them that absorbs up to 10 healing points and negates all cleansing effects. While the anti-barrier is up, the leader affected by this cannot be healed or have debuffs removed until the shield is taken down via healing the shield debuff away. This pollen can stack.
11: Hallucination - Deals 11 damage to the leader. Summons a Hallucination that redirects all attacks or abilities from the last 3 ranked players towards it (the three players at the bottom of the list). Those attacks and skills are negated for the following round. Hallucinations may stack, but may be dispelled.
12: Doom Clock - Stuns the leader, the lowest threat target, the player that has dealt the most damage (ties broken by higher ranking), and the player that has healed the most health (ties broken by higher ranking) of the RAID. Each of those players must heal 30 HP or deal 30 damage by the end of three rounds (including the current round), or else they will take 40 damage (cannot be reduced). This effect can be removed.
13: Chaos Tides - Deals 10 damage to every non-charmed player; stuns the leader, the last ranked player, and any player that shares the same element as either the leader/last ranked player, and deals an additional 5 damage towards those players.
If a player dies, their threat is set to lowest threat member automatically, and placed at the bottom of the list. Dead players can perform actions while dead if they are revived before their 'turn'/action is processed, but cannot reap any rewards while dead.
Elemental Skills:
Observer (2) 
Discharge - Deals 6 + (A * 3) damage to a target and guess the sum of the Demon's dice rolls (between 3-[13*number of base dice). If you don't specify, the guess is auto-set to [7*# of base dice]. If your guess is exact or within three of the actual sum (i.e. - you guess 22, sum of Demon's rolls are 25, three off), you remove a buff from the target (priority on stacked buffs, then ones that were applied first).
A = number of Sparks you gained via Analysis. Increases your threat by 1 for every point you guess over, decreases your threat by 1 for every point you guess under.
Analysis (Passive!) - Whenever you guess correctly via Discharge, you gain 1 Spark, and you also gain a shield that reduces all direct damage by 2 + S for the current round. S is the number of Sparks you have, including the one gained immediately by Analysis. Sparks are removed upon switching element or being killed. Sparks (and the passive shield) cannot be dispelled.Hunter (2) 
Barrage - Deals 3 damage to three targets of your choosing (you may choose a target more than once if you wish as repeated damage). Not specifying a target implies that you direct all of your attacks towards the boss. Deals 1 additional damage if your position is among the top half of players (rounded up), 2 additional damage if your position is in the top 5, or 3 additional damage if you are leader.
Generates 1 threat per point of damage dealt.
Flocking - Summon a winged creature that deals 10 damage immediately to the boss, and 10 damage every round after when your actions are processed. You may have multiple winged creatures by your side, however, if you die or take 10 or more damage during a round, all of your winged creatures will leave you. Flocking are a buff for you rather than a boss debuff, but are not considered as direct damage.
Removes 15 threat from you each time you use Flocking.Witch (2) 
Puppeteer - Summon a unique puppet that can provide you a passive effect. You can only have one type of Puppet up at a time, but may use this ability for free every round as you wish to switch. You may switch puppets while stunned.- Vengeful [initial auto-set]: The first source of non-periodic damage against you is instead reflected back to the attacker. Counts as damage dealt, not damage blocked. Does not generate threat.
- Sinister: Increases all direct damage you deal by 2. All your attacks also heal you for the amount of damage dealt.
- Mourning: Increases all healing you receive by 100%. Your threat level cannot increase.
- Feared: The maximum damage inflicted via Hex now reduces the amount of damage the target deals by X for the following round. X = 1 for Prime, 2 for Fibonacci, 3 for Squared. (NOTE: If you get a Fibonacci AND prime number, example 13, this puppet triggers fibonacci only)
Hex - Inflicts a hex on the target depending on the sum of the Demon's dice rolls (effects stack with each other!):- Odd: Deals 5 damage. Increases threat by S (S = sum of demon's rolls).
- Even: Deals 6 damage. Increase threat by S*(0.5). (rounded down).
- Prime: Deals 7 damage. Decreases threat by 7.
- Fibonacci: Deals 13 damage, decreases threat by 13, and removes one buff from the target.
- Squared: Deals 25 damage, decreases end-of-round threat by 50% (rounded down), and removes one buff from the target.
Apothecary (2) 
Extract - Extract the essence of the players adjacent to you in threat position; deal X damage to a target. X is the amount of letters in each of the player's class. (i.e. - Fire player above/Darkness player below you, 10 letters (Bombardier) + 5 letters (Witch) = 15). Generates 1 threat per point of damage dealt.
Inject - Target a NPC or player (you may target yourself) and inject some 'medicine' to improve their fighting capabilities. Injection "buffs" can be removed from any dispelling effect as they are considered as both a harmful and beneficial effect. Injections are removed upon the target's death. Injection effects do not stack with themselves, but you may use all three on a player. You may choose any one of the following medicines to inject a player with:- Lich Essence - Target will revive once upon being killed with 1 + (20% of their MAX HP) HP (rounded down), but cannot recover health via Elemental healing abilities or Mend while afflicted with Lich Essence. The revival doesn't count as healing.
- Fungus Slime - Target player can use one additional action for the rest of the game, but the next source of damage they receive is increased by 10.
- Ghoul's Blood - Target deals 4 additional damage for all of their non-DoT attacks, but takes 5 damage each turn. The damage over time effect cannot be reduced, avoided, or absorbed, and counts towards your 'damage dealt' totals.
Golem (2) 
Quartz - You and a target gain a shield; the shield for you absorbs 10 - Q non-periodic damage, and the target player absorbs 10 + Q non-periodic damage. Q can be a number you choose from 0-10, but you gain threat equal to Q, and the target loses Q threat if they are a non-Earth player. Targeting yourself with Quartz instead decreases your threat by Q. [Targeting yourself gives you a +20 Quartz shield regardless of the choice of Q].
Quartz shields last indefinitely and upon switching elements for either the target or the caster, and can stack up to 100 points of absorption.
Takedown - Deal 3 + X + Y damage to a target, and removes a buff from the target if the damage dealt is divisible by 7 (starting with the highest-stacked buff, then to the one that was applied first). If the damage dealt is a prime number, you automatically use 'Block' for the round as well. X is the number of players who are above you in threat levels. Y is the current number of players that have Quartz, Loyalty shields, or Shield placed on them at the time of Takedown's processing.
Generates threat based on the equation [2*X*Y].Magician (3) 
Versatility - You may choose to use any elemental skill of the current round's leader, the last place person, or either player that is adjacent to you in threat positions. Depending on the element you select, you may automatically copy and add their passives as well for that round.
Kaleidoscope - Name 3-5 players (you can be one of the targets). Shifts the threat positions of each player, with the highest threat target going to the second threat target, the second threat ranked target going to the third, ...etc. and the last ranked player going to the first player's original threat rank.
Misfortune (Passive!) - If you die as a non-Charmed player, the Demon boss automatically gains 3 additional dice to roll for the rest of the game.Bombardier (2) 
Napalm - Guess X values for any of the dice rolls, where X is the number of base dice the Demon has (2 guesses at above 900 HP, 3 guesses for 375-900, and 4 guesses for the final stage). Deal 10 + ((10+X)*X) damage to a target, where X is the number of values that match with the Demon's rolls. If none of the dice match any of your numbers however, you and all targets surrounding you take damage equal to the Demon's sum of rolls). You lose 5^(X+1) threat upon use.
Example: You guess 3, 7, 8 during the Demon's mid-stage. Demon's rolls are: '9 (influenced by possessed/charmed player), 3, 3'. The two '3's' match one of your numbers, so you deal 10+(12*2) = 34 damage.
Grenade - Deal 5 + (P*2) damage to a target, and 2 + (P/3 [rounded down]) damage towards all other targets of the target's team. P is the number of players above you in position. Upon using Grenade, you will gain 15 + (P/2 [rounded up]) threat.Engineer (3) 
Cannonball - Deal 24 - X damage towards a target. X is the number of players above you in position. The damage dealt by Cannonball cannot be negative, and will simply be set to 0 if there are too many players above you in threat (you're out of range bub). Removes a buff off the target if you deal more than 20 damage (based on the highest stacked buff, followed by the one applied first).
Causes your threat to change by a factor of [(X*2) - 10].
Shield - Improvise a one-round shield for you and an ally that will reduce all non-periodic damage taken by 3 (the reduction effect stacks with effects such as Block, Takedown, and Analysis). You can only target an ally, not yourself. Generates 10 threat for yourself. The shield you craft can also have a unique effect, depending on what you choose:- Jagged: Inflicts five damage to the attacker for every point of damage blocked.
- Refined: Increases damage reduction by an additional 2 points.
- Taunting: Generates 10 additional threat points for both parties immediately and 5 threat per point of damage blocked.
- Magnetic: Instead of crafting a shield for two players, any damage towards the ally you chose is redirected towards you and your shield. All threat that they generate instead goes towards you. If two Engineers use Magnetic Shield on the same target or on each other, precedence goes to the Engineer with higher threat/position on the list.
Overloaded (Passive!) - You are immune to possession (charm effects roll to the next player in line), as well as stuns, jinx, and hallucination debuffs/effects (they cannot be applied onto you), but any healing effect you receive cannot exceed 5 HP.Treant (2) 
Wildflowers - Name a set of three players (you may target yourself as part of the set) that are all adjacent to each other on the threat positions; heal 4 HP instantly to those targets, and every turn after, heal them for 2 HP. If all players are of different elements, remove all [previously applied] debuffs from them.
Wildflower buffs can stack.
Generates 12 threat for you.
Symbiosis - Heal two players for 8 HP each - you may target yourself as one of the targets. Neither player can be the same target. Decrease the healing done by 50% if both players are of opposing elements (Gravity & Entropy, Fire & Water, etc.); increase the healing done by 50% if the targets have the same element.
Revive players if one of the targets is either a Life or Light player.
Decreases your threat by 15 if you choose opposing elements, decreases your targets' threat by 15 if you choose the same element.Paladin (2) 
Justice - Deal 5 + X damage to a target, where X is the number of players (besides you) that dealt damage for the current round. Heals you for (Y*2), where Y is the number of players (besides you) that healed another player this round.
Increases your threat by the formula: ([X*2]+[Y*3]).Loyalty - Increase a target's MAX HP by 5, and heal them for 15 + X HP. You may target yourself. X is the amount of health you sacrifice, and must be a number between 0-10. X cannot be greater than your current HP. Decreases your threat based on X*2.
- If X is greater than 0, Loyalty can be used while stunned.
- If X is greater than 3, Loyalty will also remove stuns from the target.
- If X is greater than 6, Loyalty will instead remove all debuffs from the target.
- If X is 10, Loyalty will also attempt to grant the target a one-round shield that will absorb up to 10 points of damage - the Loyalty shield will not go up if Quartz is already on them.
Sage (2) 
Revert - Target a player and memorize their current/max HP and threat. If that player dies, they automatically revive with the 'memorized' health totals and threat (this does count as healing). Revert can only be applied to one person and is removed upon their revival, your death, you swapping elements, or if you switch Revert targets.
Revert cannot be applied to players or demons.
Urgency (Passive!) - You can do two actions each round. You may use three actions if your current round HP is yellow (50-75% of max HP), or four actions if your current round HP is orange/red (less than 50%). Urgency can carry over upon you swapping your element for a round (i.e. - Swap Element Fire, Grenade; Urgency is lost).Priest (2) 
Foam - Name up to five players and remove any number of debuffs by specification (i.e. - Foam ScaredGirl Hellfire/Jinx/STUNNED/Doom Clock, icybraker STUNNED/Doom Clock, etc.), and increase their maximum HP by F, where F is the number of debuffs removed.
Decreases threat of all targets by (F*10).
Mist - Target three players and heal them for 5 HP each. The amount of points increases by 2 for every Water, Life, and/or Light player adjacent to you in position (maximum total of 27 points of healing, or 9 HP per target)).
Increases each of your targets' threat by the amount of healing done.
Rewards (Master of Game points):- Dealing the most damage during the raid (+2 points) [Ties split by whoever has higher threat by the end]
- Blocking the most amount of damage during the raid (+2 points) [Ties split by whoever has higher threat by the end]
- Healing the most damage during the raid (doesn't include max HP increases or over-healing) (+2 points) [Ties split by whoever has higher threat by the end]
- Delivering the killing blow to the boss (+2 points)
- Being the leader by the end of the raid (+1 point),
- and if you never died (+1 additional point)
- and if you never changed your element or had your element changed by the boss (+1 additional point)
- and if your element was Entropy or gravity (+1 additional point)
- *Failing to kill the boss either due to round timer, or because everyone died (multiply all point accumulation by 0)
- *Winning as the Demon-possessed player (+2 points)
So all I ask is... are you ready to RAID?
Poll
