Chapter 19

The fight was supposed to be a mild challenge. It was obvious who, between the three of the girls, it was intended for. Fisticuffs in an open ring? Renee and her spellcasting wasn’t going to last long. Olivia could have had a knockdown brawl, but with the way the rules worked she could only do a minimal amount of damage on any punch and she would only get one per turn at their current level.

Jade, on the other hand, with her monk abilities, not only could do more damage per strike but she could also use her ‘foot flurry’ ability to attack twice every turn.

Big Red Bronson, the hulking redheaded bruiser, had one trick up his sleeve and that was a second wind where he could dramatically recover a bit of health. Overall, the fight should have really only lasted a few turns.

Unfortunately, Tori’s dice had betrayed her. She could barely roll over a five on the die and she needed at least a little hire to actually land a hit.

The girls, at least, were on the edge of their seats with each round and having fun. But things weren’t looking good for Jade. Narratively she already had a bloody nose and Big Red Bronson was now trying to grab her instead of punching her, having gotten overconfident.

“Fuck!” Tori groaned, rolling her next attack.

Jade darted in and tried to lay out a one-two combo into Big Red’s torso but ended up needing to dart out of the way of her grab, abandoning the strike.

“Alright, flurry attack,” Tori said, picking up her dice again and looking like she wanted to huck it across the room. It wouldn’t have been the first time a player had done that at my table over the years. Sometimes luck just ran cold.

“Hold on,” Rhia said, turning to me. “This is round, like, thirteen or something right? So the fight’s been going on for around a minute and a half?”

I did some mental math. “Yeah, approaching that,” I nodded. “Do you have an idea to try and help Jade?”

“Wait, we can help?” Elyse said. “Fuck, I would have been casting a spell or something.”