What's next?

The Mid Runners

Gabe

"She lost." I said to The Grand Philosopher who I was still using as my footstool.

"In a rather spectacular manner." The Empress of Karinina sighed, sad that her daughter's sister had met such an end.

I took my feet of the woman's back. "You're forgiven, I hope you put that time to good use."

The Grand Philosopher dragged herself back into her seat, thankful that her veil could hide her humiliation. "I'm formulating a plan as we speak, Prince."

Was that too much? Illumi had already proven that these people could pull their support away from me if I displeased them. I was so high with power, I hadn't considered that just because she let me **** her here, didn't mean she wouldn't get **** at a later date. "I apologize Grand Philosopher." I said turning towards her. "That was cruel, but you must understand that the safety of my team is my first priority."

She nodded her head demurly. "Of course, I understand. It was I who was in error. My daughter and her sister are among those you are protecting. I should have spoke more carefully. Your harem is not like my own.” She straightened herself up, and gestured to the arena. "Now, you must decide what to do with my daughter."

That got an eyebrow raise out of me. She had a harem. I’d have to investigate that.

Skye had gathered up the two losers, Vera and Lana and had them set in the middle of the arena. "Prine art thou prepared to hand out thine judgement?"

Not really. I liked Vera and Lana, doing anything to harm them didn't sit right with me. "I'm ready."

Vera Level Up!

Lana Level Up!

"Merry! Now these two maids have both proven themselves in battle. Thus, their feats shall be boons. Look ye now upon their options, and choose wisely!"

Vera

Smite: Gabe's holy wrath imbues The Paladin with destructive power. Once per day when the Paladin confirms a hit on an opponent, she can choose to use Smite, to add their Cha to the damage inflicted. A critical hit doubles this damage.

Keep To The Code: So long as a Paladin stays true to the Code of Gabe no evil may sway them from their path. Paladins may roll their wisdom saves twice, and take the better of the two.

Calming Touch: The Paladin's groping and fondling is soothing not only for the body, but the mind as well. The Paladin gains an extra use of Lay on Hands, in addition to their their Lay on hands now Heals Will equal to their Cha in addition to healing hit points.

Wow wow wow. "All three please!"

Skye gave me a radiant smile, and the audience laughed as well. "Only one, greedy princeling.

It'd only been a half joke. Vera need all three to become a truly exceptional unit. Her victory over Precious had been a fluke. These would turn her into a power house. Smite was great damage, if she had it during this fight she could have knocked any of her opponents out with a single hit. That was huge, but until she got more uses it was a one and done thing. On the other hand Keep to The Code wasn't as flashy, but it increased her tankiness, and shored up her weakest stat. If I remember right a reroll is equal to a +5 as far as the math shakes out. Finally there was calming touch. It doubled the healing she could put out in a day, and would be his teams only way to heal will damage.

Holy shit these were good. He supposed it was time to consider what Vera was going to become. Damage dealer, tank, or Off healer?

His mind was swirling around those possibilities when Lana's options appeared before him.

Lana

Dance of Defense: As an Action, the bard can perform a nimble swaying dance, that focuses allies in on protecting and dodging. Until her next turn all allies gain+1 to AC and +1 to their saves.

Counter Charm: You can't charm a charmer. The Bard fights back against flirtations and charms with her own seductive graces. The Bard may now use Charisma instead of Wisdom to resist Charisma Attacks.

Dancing Dodge: The smooth and agile movements of the bard are hard to pin down. While the bard is performing a dance (Such as Inspire Courage, or Dance of Defense) they gain +2 AC as they doge and weave between the blows of their opponents.

Okay, so those weren’t as game changing, but still good. This level looked to be about defense.

We know what one on one combat looks like at this point, but group fights are still a mystery. That dance sounded good, but who really knew? Plus Lana already had a performance that used up her whole turn. So she’d have to decide between defense or courage. But options were always good.

So was using you best stat for a save. Counter charm was just good value, and could turn Lana into kind of a will tank.

Of course the thing that cost her the fight was her awful AC. Dancing Defense doubled down on the usefulness of Inspire Courage, and shored up a weakness.

I was going to need the audience on this one. These were even harder than the punishments, at least with those I was wrong no matter what I did.