Summer arena 2009

[daelrog]

Helpful links to check out

Character Compendium - The comprehensive list of all AoD entrants on Librarium Online for all the completed Arenas.

AoD Etiquette - General guidelines to follow by, and to expect others to abide by as well

Port of Libris - Current project undertaken by some of us (mostly SteamTankDriver) to create a suitable location for numerous arenas, and to try to get a continuous plot line going on.

Table of Contents
Page 1- Rules and Signup
Page 10- Main Arena Characters
Page 11- Story by Pixie
Page12- Story by lewbot1, Story by Attila the Hun Jr
Page 13- Story by Captain Sarathai
Page 14- Part 1: Obsession
Page 15- Part 2: Opportunity, Part 3: Hollowed Chamber
Page 16- Part 4: Lucky Break, Part 5: Inside the Cage, Part 6: The Lion’s Den
Page 17- Story by Pixie, Story by Kithre, Part 7: Occasion, Part 8: Ancients, Part 9: Beauty and Beast, Story by lewbot1
Page18- Story by andre, Part 10: Pirate Lord, Part 11: Lady of the Port, Part 12: Libris Justice, Story by Avatar of Khaine, Story by Deadstar_MRC, Story by Attila the Hun Jr
Page 19- Story by lewbot1, Story by Pixie, Story by Glavas, Story by lewbot1, Story by Pixie, Story by mpdscott, Story by Pixie
Page 20- Part 13: Joy of Death, Story by kithre, Story by Tuxedo Clank
Page 21- Faction War Characters, Story by Pixie, Part 14: Foul Play
Page 22- Part 15: Green Tides, Story by Deadstar_MRC, Part 16: Dark Pact, Story by Pixie, Story by kithre
Page 23– Story by Avatar of Khaine, Story by Tuxedo Clank, Part 17: Scales and Hooves,
Page 24– Part 18: A Night to Remember, Story by Captain Sarathai,
Page 25– Part 19: Death’s Arrival, Part 20: Broken Sails, Part 21: The Drowning of Aspiration,
Page 27 – Part 22: Beast Within, Beast Without, Story by Captain Sarathai, Part 23: Black Hearts
Page 28– Part 24: Happily Ever After



I ask that everyone make an effort to look over everything. It’s a lot, but here at the AoD center, we like to cover all of our bases… now sign your name in blood at the bottom of the page.
Seriously though, PM me with any questions and I’d be more than happy to answer.

Background

A more detailed and vivid background will come as the characters come in and are finalized. After all, this is all about them However, to help you design your character, here is what you can expect.

Main Arena (16 characters) – The greatest heroes of the world are clashing in titanic battles across the world. They command countless thousands and even the stars tremble in their presence. Your fighter however is no such person. For whatever reason or reasons your characters has, he or she has decided to come to the Port of Libris, a backwater, ruthless speck of dirt on the map to compete in its first ARENA OF DEATH! Unlike other arenas your character will have the chance to roam to dark alleys of the streets, possibly meet the other competitors outside the arena, and earn the glory they so fervently seek. Unless your character is filthy rich, or extremely well mannered and civil, expect to stay at Libris’s very own Crow’s Nest, run by Old Mags, renowned for having the ugliest barmaids across three provinces. Sleep on a dank, hard mattress well, for you just might die tomorrow! Come one come all!

Faction War (Up to 4 characters per side) – Thank you to all who participated in the “What’s you Favorite AoD army poll. In an attempt to help keep the Main Arena as diverse as possible, the two most popular armies were selected to take part in LO’s first Faction War! Each side may have up to 4 (sides must be even) warriors chosen from their respective army books. No repeat builds. Both armies have enough of a selection to get the most out of both. Don’t feel as if you can’t participate in the Main Arena if you want to enter a character from either army book, but consider it a fun suggestion to try out the Faction War. This is also a chance for those who miss the Main Event to take part, and some veterans to try something new! Faction War will continue until one side is wiped out to a man! The more fighters the winning side has when the dust clears, the greater the impact on the growing story that is the Port of Libris!
Team 1: Orcs and Goblins – “Right ladz, we’z gonna sail right into dat harbor and loot da Port!”
“‘Ey Boss!”
“Wot?”
“I see a singin’ lady o’er der!”
The Boss grabbed the scope thinga-majig. He brought it to his eye to see a mysterious woman, glowing, with wild hair flowing like the wind. She was also shiny. “Shiny lady means gotz gold. Gotz gold means gotz guards. Gotz guards means a fight… change course! WAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!”
Team 2: Vampire Counts – As you look up towards the moon, you feel a cold chill crawl up your spine. The winds of magic flow around your fingertips like syrup, so sweet, so coarse. Orcs have landed upon the nearby shore, where the Sea Witch lives.
Centuries ago the creature had bee dealt with. She was insane, unreasoning, her experiments an affront to you and the others.
Now these barbarians risk freeing her from her prison.
Was this a terrible thing though? Perhaps they would slay her once and for all. Then again, maybe a change of alliances was in order. How you have been looking forward to watching the other bretheren crumble to ash, leaving you alone to rule the shadows. Regardless, you must fight. The others will be there, and if you alone are absent, their wrath combined will be your undoing.
As the winds of death change course you take off. No matter the course you take, the Orcs must die.

Stand Alone Fights (Up to 4 fights) – What’s this? You showed up late for sign up? Say again? I see, you are being generous and letting other members fight for the glory. Did I hear you right? You don’t think your character has a shot at four intense rounds against varying opponents? All of these pitiful excuses and more are tossed aside and kicked repeatedly into submission by the Stand Alone Fights! The Port of Libris is a rogue’s town, the streets saturated with crimes from robbery, to murder, to even naysaying! From the underworld behind closed doors, to the mysterious and dark Auburwald, from the rocky, accursed shores to the surrounding farms you can participate in your own one-off fight. Fight one other member’s character by challenge, choice, or randomly in some off-side entertainment!

How to enter:

You are allowed to use any Lord or Hero character from any of the current army books. Storm of Chaos and the like are out. Below you will find a list of rules on how things work; however, there are a few limits on your characters.

• Each character must be named.
• They must be legal and cost no more than 250 points in total.
• They cannot ride monstrous mounts (mounts with more than one wound).
• No special characters.
• All Hero choices may select 100 points of magic items, rather than the usual 50.
• In addition, each one must be accompanied by a background and a description of them for the write ups. (Background should stick to canon. No Tyranids of Orc-loving Dwarfs please.)


• To enter, you send a PM to daelrog along with:

• Name of character
• Background
• Equipment
• Total cost

Rules

Equalizers

• Goblin Warbosses (Night Goblins included) may go up to 20 points over their magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 250 pts in total.
• Skink Chieftans may go up to 20 points over their magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 250 pts in total.
• Skaven Warlords may go up to 20 points over their magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 250 pts in total. The Appendix Plague Lord is no longer permitted.
• Vampire Lords get 35pts extra – they may not exceed their magic item limit.
• Tomb Kings get 25 points extra, they may not exceed their magic item limit.
• Empire characters that do not take a Runefang may go up to 20pts over the magic item limit providing that they do not exceed 250 points in total.
• Wood Elf characters get 20 points extra; they may not exceed their magic item limit.
• Dark Elf Assassins are counted as Hero choices for all intents and purposes.
• Bretonnians must pray to gain the Blessing, allowing their opponent to charge them and gain all the benefits thereof in the first round of each combat. A Bretonnian player who does not wish to pray should specify this before the match is rolled.
Additional Rules

Warpstone amulet - Same points cost, but roll to see if you die BEFORE the fight instead of afterwards.

Killing Blow - If a character scores a KB hit then this is how damaged will be worked out: D2+n
(n stands for the number of original wounds the character had minus two. This gives a 50% chance of killing a character off.)

Blade of Realities - Instant death attacks from the Blade of Realities will also be worked out by D2+n

Dwarfs – Any dwarf lord entered may be mounted upon shieldbearers, all rules and restrictions apply as per usual.

Gaze of the gods table: chaos characters will receive a single roll at the start of the tournament to represent the champion having the favour of his gods to take part. However unlike in a normal game further rolls will not be made after any victorious matches. However, should the player wish to change his result on the gaze of the gods table at any point of the arena he has a single re-roll which he can make before a match is fought to represent the fickle nature of chaos. Note that the player will be stuck with the second result regardless of the outcome. (Example: Rainbow the chaos champion rolls +1 attack at the start of the arena, but later decides he wants something else in round 2. unfortunately he rolls stupidity and is stuck with it for the remainder of the arena in place of his +1 attack)

Bound Spells – Besides bound spells, magic is banned from the arena. Each character may cast up to ONE bound spell per turn (that includes Arch Lectors). Enemy characters have one dice to dispel, plus one for each MR they are. Dwarfs may dispel with two. If a bound spell is deemed too powerful, it will be noted on a case by case situation.

BANNED ITEMS

The following items are banned, they are found to be too powerful or have an unfair advantage in an Arena of Death game.

- Tress of Isolde
- Sword of Fate
- Van Horstmann's Speculum
- The Daemon Sword
- The Fellblade
- The Bane Head
- The Grudge Rune
- Kurbog's Curmudgeonly Klobbera
- Virtue of Confidence
- Annoyance of Netlings
- Palanquin mount
- Pendant of Kaeleth
- Any and all items/weapons/armour that nullifies or breaks magic weapons.


Also, any item that includes in its rules "nominate one enemy character" is illegal.

How it works

If you have never fought in one of these, the point is to pit two characters against one another, one on one. In all essence it is a challenge as in a normal game but with a few differences. Namely, they’re trapped in an arena with the only way out is to kill or be killed.

We will roll a match up between two characters until one perishes. The one who remains standing will be the victor and progress to the next round.
Combat

- Always Strike First

- First round of combat
In the first round of combat, both warriors count as charging for the purposes of lances and other special rules. If neither warrior has a 'strike first' ability (or a 'strike last' ability), the person with the highest Initiative will strike first. If both warriors are equally entitled to strike first (usually because they have equal initiative), striking order will be determined randomly. In essence, we will follow the rules as outlined by GW for ASF, great weapons, and the like.

- Later rounds
In later rounds of combat, neither warrior gets charging bonuses (pretty obvious ). Strike order will be determined using the same system as in the first round of combat - however, in cases of equal initiative, the die to determine strike order is not rolled. Instead, the person who struck first last time will strike first, combat alternating between each warrior.

- After the Fight
After the fight, the victor advances to the next round. Any wounds they suffer are healed, as well as any other effects (such as the manbane poison: or anything else that permanently reduces statistics). It is as if the last fight never happened!

Psychology

- Break tests
Break tests are ignored in the Arena (where are they going to run in a ring of death?). Other psychology that may force an opponent to flee from combat is also ignored. THERE IS NO WAY TO FLEE IN AN AOD. For this reason, panic, unbreakable and Stubborn also have no effect.

In addition, undead warriors ignore the rule that causes them to take wounds from combat resolution. In a similar manner, daemonic characters do not suffer from instability.

- Fear
Fear is handled similarly to normal. In the first round of combat, a warrior facing a fearsome foe will take a Ld test. If he fails, he will hit on 6+ for that round of combat. After that, fear has no effect.

- Hatred
Hatred is also handled as normal. The warrior will re-roll failed 'to hit' rolls against hated foes in the first round, unless a specific army book overrules this.

- Stupidity
Since stupidity is ignored in combat, it only effects the first turn when the model suffering stupidity is attempting to charge. He or she will take a stupidity test as normal; if failed, the model strikes last, no matter what. I.e., no ASF for failed test.

- Frenzy
While there's nowhere to run, you can still have the frenzy knocked out of you; therefore, models do lose frenzy as normal.

Challenges
I will allow challenges for this Arena, but it will not be as free-for-all as in the past. Challenges will be accepted only before the tournament begins. Once the fights are paired for the first round, challenges will no longer be accepted. For a challenge to be accepted, BOTH members must PM me (Daelrog) with three things
1) The member they have challenged/accepted
2) Why your character hates the other member’s character’s guts (does not need to be in depth [but can be]. Even something like ‘all high elves hate dark elves is sufficient)
3) Which round you would like the challenge to take place (note, if you both agree on a second or third round challenge and one dies, the deal is obviously void. Note; if you create a challenge for the second or third round you will not fight that character in earlier rounds.)
So long as I feel that the fight is not immorally one sided (such as a dwarf on shieldbearers vs a KB skink) it will be accepted and noted.

Summer Arena guidelines

-no reservations will be taken for this arena, it will be done on a first come first serve basis based on who gets their personal messages in on time.

-each post on this thread is to be at least 10 WORDS LONG OR MORE. Any posts that cannot even reach 10 will be considered spam and clutter.

-not only is writing some story for your character throughout the arena allowed, but appreciated. Keep in mind that the goal should be character growth and adding a non-combat setting for your fighter. It is NOT to promote on how invincible your character is NOR is it to show how the fate of your character is in some way ten times as important as the other characters. This is Libris, not the Storm of Chaos.

-Interactions between characters/contestants are also encouraged. Please ask permission before doing anything to anyone else’s character. (By entering this Arena, you give Daelrog and the other writers permission to write for your character and most likely kill them in a brutal fashion.)

-resurrecting your characters is perfectly fine. Please wait until the end of the Arena to do so.

-feel free to post or PM any requests you may have. Don’t ask to have your character spared unless your goal is reverse psychology.

-have fun, root for other characters than your own, and no talk about making things go faster. This arena will be finished before the equinox.

Sign Up

Those who have never competed in an Arena before – Starts May 25th
Those who have participated in three or less Arenas this past year – Starts June 1st
Everyone Else – Starts June 8th
Arena Begins – Summer Solstice!

Main Arena
1 lemonchild (he is checking the builds, so he put his character in before seeing anyone else's)
2 lewbot1
3 andre
4 Chaos877
5 CaptainSarathai
6 Glavas
7 Deadstar_MRC
8 Pixie (8 characters before the opening deadline, not too shabby)
9 mpdscott
10 RobtheGuru
11 Arklite
12 Attila the Hun Jr
13 Avatar of Khaine
14 throkkenn
15 Tuxedo Clank
16 Esco Thomson

Faction War
Orcs and Goblins
1 Artificially Enhanced
2 Akaroth
3 Sir Entreri
4 cakeman
Vampire Counts
1 Ollie_Bollie's_Orcs
2 kithre
3 ArchonFarseerGuy
4 Th0me


If you have come late or are just now interested in entering a character, I can offer you one fight complete with a write up this time around.
Stand Alones
1 Dreadlock
2 mpdscott
3 Attila the Hun Jr
4 tuxedo clank
5
6
7
8

Writers
1) Deadstar_MRC
2) Captai Sarathai
3) Attila the Hun Jr
4) Glavas

[Pixie]

And now to panic over what to choose... High Elf or a Dwarf. o3o;;;

May I request the option of handing in two builds? That is to say, a dwarf and a high elf, with your call as to who you want in the tournament? Since, well, if there's 5 dwarfs, having a sixth might be kind of silly, but then again, the winter arena seemed pretty elfy.

[Deadstar_MRC]

Wohoo, this looks like fun!

I'm not all that sure if I'll enter yet, but it seems I have some time to think about it. At the very least I'm subsribed now and will be following proceedings closely!

[Glavas]

I will definately be in with a nice warriors of chaos character.

Glavas

[daelrog]

To Pixie: Since you're new, I'll be the first one to tell you the Number 2 rule of LO... Don't give Daelrog any more power than necessary. (Number 1 is that your first born belongs to the mods). What you can do is turn in both characters with instructions such as "whichever one is more sparce in the arena with character X winning if there's a tie should be used." However, I will not make the decision.

To Deadstar: You will submit a character. I enjoyed Braahthor too much not to have you enter again. Hopefully by having this much time for submitting characters, people will have time to think about their character, and it will allow people who don't frequent LO often a chance. Also, it will help ensure once Summer starts, we can hit the ground running.

To Glavas: Looking forward to it.

[Pixie]

Heh. Fat chance of me ever having children. XD

And that works too. Just was thinking I'd hate to be in a long line of dwarfs. Seeing how they're the superior race and all, I'm sure almost everyone would pick them. :3

[ArchonFarseerGuy]

Originally Posted by daelrog

To Pixie: Since you're new, I'll be the first one to tell you the Number 2 rule of LO... Don't give Daelrog any more power than necessary. (Number 1 is that your first born belongs to the mods)

He's right there. It's one we tend to enforce pretty regularly. Now, come over this way... *moves Pixie to a building with 'Fertility Bank' scribbled out*

I guess this means you'll be breaking off as my wingman. Fair enough. You're still up for those two (maybe three) matches, I assume?

Kinda disappointed that the grudge match is HEs vs DEs or Dwarfs. Ah well, this should be good as-is.

Otherwise, all I can do for now is encourage all new peoples to enter - these things are brilliant. That said, I might be able to make an announcement now...

Can I Dave? Can I? Can I? Can I can I please please please? I'll be your helper monkey for a week. We swears it on the precious.

[daelrog]

I can still get those two or three fights up, no problem. Just tell me when you want them, though before June 22nd would make it better.

[ArchonFarseerGuy]

Roll for that gladiator one whenever you want, as I think any tactics should have been sent to you by now. The Dagul-Allie fight can be posted whenever you want as well. For some reason I decided to wait until my latest match was posted before sending you that.

Now, get the thread back on topic you lot.

[tuxedo clank]

*sigh* So many wasted losses in an arena. Now I have to wait because of them...Oh well. All I want is my vampire in there, no matter where he is, I want him in there.
One question though. Can hero vampires have 100points of Vampiric gifts or just Magic Weapons? Anyway...cannot wait for this thing to get moving, the Arena's have been fairly slow.