After the ordeal at the pyramid and their subsequent return to the camp, Melianne decides to spend some time refining her dancing skills. Clearly this expeditions turned out to be less about singing folk songs and teaching foreign dance moves to bored archaeologists and soldiers and more about poking undead creatures with her rapier - but she wouldn't be a professional if she didn't take care to maintain her skills.
[ +- ] Expertise
At 3rd level, choose two of your skill proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies.
Chosen skills: Performance, Acrobatics.
But speaking of more practical matters, if she is to be tagging along with a ragtag group of adventuers, she might as well expand her horizons and learn something new in the process. Ancient tomes and engravings might be not of the same interest to her as they would be to more studious folk, but there is inspiration to be found in exploration - perhaps one day, she'll develop a whole dance routine based on her time here. But for now, she'll stick to learning a few tricks for bandaging wounds and picking up on oddities in the surroundings.
[ +- ] Bard College: College of Lore
When you join the College of Lore at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with three skills of your choice.
Chosen skills: Medicine, Perception, Arcana.
Her distraction didn't work as well as she hoped back at the pyramid, so Melianne finds a few willing souls among the camp guards and charms them into teaching her more insults from their repertoire. The combined results of their slang and her delivery are more hilarious than actually cutting, but they serve as a fine distraction nevertheless - tested properly in an improvised brawl on the training ground. Needless to say, Korsak didn't exactly approve that experiment.
[ +- ] Cutting Words
Also at 3rd level, you learn how to use your wit to distract, confuse, and otherwise sap the confidence and competence of others. When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a damage roll, you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature’s roll. You can choose to use this feature after the creature makes its roll, but before the DM determines whether the attack roll or ability check succeeds or fails, or before the creature deals its damage. The creature is immune if it can’t hear you or if it’s immune to being charmed.
And finally, Melianne returned her focus to refining her visage as Firebird, adding a new magical trick to her small collection of spells - a nasty surprise for whoever dares to raise a sword against her next time. It is not exactly her style, but the best fight is the one that was prevented - and what's a better way to prevent a fight than to make the warring sides unable to hold their weapons? Provided they do wield a weapon... and can be burned.
[ +- ] Learned Spell: Heat Metal
2nd-level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S, M (a piece of iron and a flame)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Choose a manufactured metal object, such as a metal weapon or a suit of heavy or medium metal armor, that you can see within range. You cause the object to glow red-hot. Any creature in physical contact with the object takes 2d8 fire damage when you cast the spell. Until the spell ends, you can use a bonus action on each of your subsequent turns to cause this damage again.
If a creature is holding or wearing the object and takes the damage from it, the creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or drop the object if it can. If it doesn’t drop the object, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the start of your next turn.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 2nd.
Last edited February 26, 2022 11:21 pm
