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roaring." Dave explains.

" How can I not hear that?" Raven whines.

" Very carefully." a spectator intones from his lonely peanut gallery. Non players always have the most to say.

" Alright, I rolled a 17 for initiative and I'll attack it." Thor says quickly.

" Do you look at it?" the DM asks.

" No." Thor says.

I stare at him. And I thought I was arrogant?

" Alright." the DM says slowly. " The creature has the initiative and I assume a 34 to attack hits you?"

There is a general intake of breath and widening of eyes. The average party level sits comfortably at five. That's an awful high attack.

" Um... yeah." Thor says.

" Take 28 damage." the DM tells him.

" Can I do another listen check?!" I wave my hand frantically. At the DM's nod, I hastily role my dice and barely pass. " Right, so I wake up and I look at the thing. What is it?"

" It's a Tyrannosaurus Rex." the DM tells me matter-of-factly. There's a moment of silence as that information sinks in.

" I... uh, wake up Tiberius, next to me." I then make a point of shaking Tiberius. " Wake up!"

" Okay, I wake up and nearly mess my pants." Tiberius says.

" I rush out to help Thor." I say quickly.

" I follow." Tiberius says.

The rest of the party fails their listen check and remains asleep as Tiberius and I rush out to aid the ailing Thor. Thor swings his massive fell blade at the beast, at which point we learn that there is a 3 to 1 damage ratio - for every 4 points of damage we do, 1 point will actually affect the Rex's hit points.

A long battle begins. We hack and slash and dodge but we can't get a foothold on this thing. Thing turn for the worst when the Rex gets a critical on a it's special attack and swallows Thor whole.

Thor's character, for the record, is nine feet tall and quite nearly 800 pounds.

In desperation, I activate Bramble's Rage ability. She flies into a beserker rage and gains 12 hit points and 4 points to her Constitution and 4 points her her Strength. She becomes more accurate and hits for more damage, while enduring more damage herself. And then, the unthinkable happens.

I roll a natural 20. The wonder of wonders in table top RPG. I'm on top of the world. The whole group makes a noise of awe.

" Roll to confirm it." The DM says. So I do.

" Wow. It's another 20." I mutter. There's a general scramble to see.

In the Black Company system there's a grievous wounds chart. When a character rolls a natural 20, he/she rolls on the chart with a percent dice to see if their hit does any extra effects. So I get to roll that.

I roll a 99.

The group is going nuts now as the DM looks up my extra effect.

" You slice the T-Rex's throat open. Everyone else, you see Bramble roar as she leaps at the Rex, swords flashing in the night sky. The sound of tearing flesh and the agonized roar of the monster reach your ears as the Rex stumbles and falls, Bramble unseen in the swirling dust. After a long moment, Bramble rises from the fallen monster, bathed in its blood and gasping for breath. She looses a true barbarian howl of victory as she thrusts her blood-drenched swords skyward, a glistening, grisly image of horror against the moon."

For the record, I took a few minutes to gloat before I pulled Thor out of its throat.

Learn more about this author, Amanda Flynn.
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