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Post by Kai Wren on Feb 24, 2019 13:38:58 GMT
It is fair to say that things have not gone entirely according to plan. Dhaunmyr, Prosperina, Georgina and Thea - an unlikely bunch to be sure, but all souls thrown together by a united desire for monetary reward and adventure - had been employed by Professor Urbania Gostlethorn to return to an archeological dig she had been undertaking with her group some three weeks ride from Waterdeep. She had explained - in extremely excited terms - that she and her colleagues had uncovered the resting place of an artefact of great power. Nobody was entirely certain what the artifact was, exactly, but her fellow Professor - Harman Bodes, an elvish diviner of no small renown - had been guiding their research for months and they had finally uncovered the ancient temple which, she believed, had remained buried and undisturbed for thousands of years. She was quite confident that her research party would have breached the magically-sealed doors by the time she got back to them, and most likely would have uncovered the artefact as well; she was empowered to offer a purse of 5000 gold pieces (to be divided amongst the party) to assist the team of scholarly investigators in transporting the item back to Waterdeep - teleportation magic could effect artefacts in strange ways, and though they had a few guards, it was always wise to ensure that adequate protection was in place when taking stewardship of an ancient and priceless item. Over the weeks of travel, all funded by Professor Gostlethorn's expedition funds, the gnome has been chatty and cheerful, willing to expound on her wild theories as to who or what might be responsible for the temple - from the first Elves to a lost race entirely, the architecture certainly sounded impressive to hear her tell of it, and the journey was both long and boring. It was easy to believe that this might actually be a very simple job. She certainly had a great deal of faith in the team that she had put together, and shared plenty of stories about their comraderie and the friends she spent her life working with. Then they'd reached the temple to find the doors open, leading into a great stairway which descended immediately into the earth. And at the bottom of that stairway? Death. The Professor is cradling the body of a human man whose throat has been torn out just to the right of the stairwell, weeping and screaming, "Tomas! Tomas! It'll be okay, Tomas! Please, please don't be dead, Tomas--" But the adventurers have, presumably, done a far better job at keeping their heads about them. The room is dark and gloomy, but there are foul creatures lurking in the shadows, looking up from other corpses about the place. Their skin is sallow, their fingernails long and razor-sharp, black as pitch and deadly. Snarling curls from hateful lips. They are already starting to move towards the gnome and her companions. Ready to add more corpses to the decor of this ancient stone chamber. ((Okay guys! pastels enchilada Gigi moralhazard hopefully the map is relatively clear. There are four 'things' moving out there - a free religion check can be made to determine what they are. There are four columns blocking some space and a large altar in the middle of the chamber. You may begin in any of the spaces immediately around the stairs or on the stairs. Roll initiative to determine initial posting order, and tell me where on the map you wanna begin. The red lines are doors out of this chamber but they are all currently closed))
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Post by Kai Wren on Feb 24, 2019 13:40:02 GMT
Monster Init: xgIW0sP31d20+21d20+2
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Gigi
Approved
5 Cleric of Graves
Posts: 109
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Post by Gigi on Feb 24, 2019 16:35:25 GMT
Initiative Roll: Sg65dKoU1d20+2
Religion Check: 1d201d20+2·1d20
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Post by moralhazard on Feb 24, 2019 17:47:39 GMT
Initiative check: EGdUj|6b1d20+2 Religion Check: 1d20
Thea will start in the square above the Professor weeping over Tomas, if that's close enough to the stairs.1d20+2·1d20
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Post by enchilada on Feb 24, 2019 20:05:56 GMT
Initiative
wZDcmrF01d20+1
Religion
1d20+1 1d20+1·1d20+1
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Post by pastels on Feb 25, 2019 1:11:57 GMT
Initiative Roll: IV5Ffg4u1d20+3
Religion Check: 1d20+21d20+3·1d20+2
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Post by Kai Wren on Feb 25, 2019 19:24:39 GMT
(Okay! Dhaun and Thea you guys know these are ghouls. Proserpina, with your blistering init of 6, you are up first)
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Post by pastels on Feb 26, 2019 3:15:26 GMT
(I am speed personified!)
The last few weeks were interesting, to say the least. Spring brought in its flowery veil the promise of new beginnings, as the buds bursting through the snow-crusted soil; the wheel of fortune began its ascent when Proserpina finally packed up and left The Blue Mermaid. The departure was treated with much fanfare; there were half a dozen guests passed out on the floor when she finished her last performance with aplomb, and most others were sprayed with petals. She moved closer to the northern districts—the nobleman who met her before delivered on his promise to introduce the tiefling to a more discerning audience. There in the affluent Wards, she made certain to expand her network of contacts, feeling more and more like herself with each introduction. It was only a matter of time until she returned to her previous status, empowered once more to reap what was owed on that dark night.
In that mad dash to prominence, Proserpina perhaps let her greed get the best of her. The arrival and subsequent excitement stirred by a Professor Urbania Gostlethorn reached her ears one fine day—she offered around 5000 gold pieces for a party that would accompany her to a dig site that was most certainly secured. Why, from the looks of it, the job was done in all but name! All that was needed was more bodies to accompany the already guarded expedition back to Waterdeep. Proserpina was both pleased and surprised when her offer to join was accepted—she knew she had little to offer asides from her talents, considerable as they may be. Of course, three weeks of travel needed the occasional spot of entertainment along the way. Anyone would go stir-crazy in that span of time without the proper stimulation. That was her forte!
Perhaps it was this complacency that led the sweet professor to take on a group which couldn’t look any less like mercenaries if they tried.
During the journey, Proserpina extended her efforts to meeting her fellows; Thea the glassblower joined too, along with a rather surly-looking woman named Gigi, and finally there was the drow Dhaunmyr, who was simply lovely. The boy’s compliments were a welcome distraction from her own thoughts—and a reminder of the banter she enjoyed as a courtier. The professor too, was an absolute delight with her stories about her life as an archeologist. Proserpina listened intently during those instances, her mind whirring with a thousand realities. Dangerous ruins, near-death escapades… A witty one-liner? Oh, these were how legends were made! It was an enjoyable trip—conversation, peace, and a performance here and there from yours truly, trying to keep spirits up.
One could not be faulted for believing that the rest of the experience would go as smoothly.
“S… She’s…” The tiefling struggled to say her words out loud. Her throat felt so impossibly dry, as if she had neglected to drink any water for the past few days, and her hand trembled above the hilt of her xiphos. Urbania’s wails echoed off the dusty gloom. The lyre was a comforting weight on her hip, grounding her to the here and now—a beacon of purpose in the darkened, gore-streaked temple. “No. I-I can…” Proserpina shut her mouth out of habit, her pale face scrunching into an inscrutable expression. Better silence than inchoate babbling. She took a deep breath and focused. Miliil keep her song strong and her words clear. Here we go.
Proserpina took a few steps forward, ear tuned into the snarling from the right portion of the room—which seemed more immediate and closer to the grieving professor. One shuffled closer to the cracked pillar at the side, grave-pale skin almost indistinguishable from the ancient stone. “Let light cleanse these morbid halls...” She took another breath, the action settling her nerves somewhat, and extended her hand in a swift, whip-like motion. Globules of violet light streaked from her wrist, leaving narrow trails of luminescence in the ages-old air as they arced towards the two monsters.
(Casting Faerie Fire at the two on the right! Spell DC = 13)
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Post by moralhazard on Feb 26, 2019 4:28:04 GMT
It had been the sort of journey that, in Thea’s mind at least, was more like a vacation than anything resembling work. They had woken in the morning to the first brave birds of spring chirping their song, strolled over grassy knolls and through the woods, sat laughing and talking (mostly) around the fire at night, listening to Proserpina sing, the Professor chatter on about some truly fascinating theories about the origins of the temple, and Dhaunmyr explain the intricate secrets of wine. If Gigi mostly preferred to sit by herself, smoking, well – that was a small sour note in an otherwise lovely chorus.
Thea couldn’t quite have explained why she’d chosen to take the Professor’s task on. It had sounded pleasant, to say the least – a few weeks stroll out to the sight, a few weeks stroll back – and, of course, the money was excellent. She was happy enough, in the workshop she was in for now, but Thea dreamed of her own workshop, and this money would be a definite help towards that goal.
That and – as spring drew closer, Thea had just felt a sort of… restlessness. Her few months in Waterdeep had passed quickly. There were a thousand things to see in the city, half of them new every day, and somehow Thea had barely left the city since arriving (other than a memorable jaunt out for a missing child and particularly ill-advised trance-led walk into a thunder snowstorm). It had been an impulsive decision, and one that she had felt very good about over the last few weeks.
Until, more or less, exactly this moment.
“Professor!” Thea had been the first down the stairs after Professor Gostlethorn, and was standing just behind her. She hesitated, torn between the Professor – still screaming, very loudly – and the room in front of them. Tomas was, well, very clearly dead. He reeked, actually, and Thea found herself gagging a little, swallowing hard. The breezes around her hair rustled, although they didn’t really do anything for the smell. She managed to settle her stomach, turning back to the room, and the… things lurking in the darkness.
“Ghouls!” Thea shrieked, the sound much less calm and collected than she might have wished, resembling, in truth, something of a high-pitched scream. “They’re ghouls!”
Thea reached for her chest, pressing the necklace hidden beneath her tunic against her skin. Lightning burst over her, little bursts of it crackling along the outside of her clothing. She watched the ghouls, hoping that the four of them would draw a bit closer, lured by the fresh meat – ew! – at the chamber’s edge.
((OOC: Thea casts Mage Armor on herself and informs the party that they're fighting ghouls. Thea has used one first level spell slot, and has three first level spell slots, three second level spell slots, and four sorcery points remaining))
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Post by Kai Wren on Feb 26, 2019 8:34:56 GMT
Ghoul Saves awCe|Ngc1d20+2 1d20+2
((Okay, two failed saved - the ghouls light up! I won't slow us down with another post juuust yet - it'll be GIgi, then Dhaun, then the monsters))1d20+2·1d20+2
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Gigi
Approved
5 Cleric of Graves
Posts: 109
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Post by Gigi on Feb 26, 2019 15:14:24 GMT
Walking down the stairs, the morbid sounds of undead creatures, the smell of blood -old and new- and the shaken mournful cries of someone discovering someone had died? It was music to the healer's ears. She was a combat medic, living her best life and feeling most alive when wading through the stench of blood and piss in order to keep her side up and going. This line between life and death, the uncertainty of it all, meant that here? She could actually do something people appreciated. The battlefield was her element, and she took a personal moment for herself to enjoy being back in the field.... At least, she enjoyed it until it seemed the gnome (who hadn't shut up the entire trip, my gods) wasn't going to be ending her lament anytime soon.
"Fucking shit, woman, he's dead, not disintegrated." Gigi walked past the grieving woman and began to walk into the crypt, completely unbothered by the decay around her. She had no idea exactly what was moving towards them; creepy undead slimly decaying flesh all sounded the same to her - but she didn't need to know what they were. That wasn't what she was here for. She was here, annoyingly, to both let the heat on her framed bounty cool down and to keep an eye on Thea's well-being thanks to Philip Merk's suggestion that she leave town a bit on this exposition. "We can help him later."
She'd stopped her wading into the crypt, her lesser human eyes not having the ability to see into the dark … that was, until Prosperina lit up two of the -ghouls? These were ghouls?- and she could now see the area they were walking in.
Crackling energy caused her to draw her eye towards Thea… casting magic? Somehow she must have missed that conversation during their last three weeks that she was gifted with the arcane arts. But… then again? She'd made it a point to not actively get drawn into conversation during their journey.
A gnome. A tiefling. An air genasi. And A drow. Shit. Fuck. Damn. How did she get into this sort of mess? How was it she was the only human here? Gnomes were too excitable. Tieflings unnerved her, though she'd never admit that out loud. Genasi… she was already biased against Thea, so there was no hope there… and drow? How did a drow get to the surface? Stories told by her parents when growing up were on repeat in her head - how drow were evil wicked spawns of the underdark and they would kidnap you if you ever strayed or were a naughty child. And kids like her, Gwen, and Gabe? Those were their favorite.
Of course, looking back at those story times as an adult? She was pretty sure they were just stories to get them to behave… but the fears and disdain were present regardless.
The four of the others seemed to get along great, and bless their souls the did try to draw her in - but Gigi was having none of it. She was here, for a purpose, and she would remain for that purpose. Especially at night, when the tiefling would tell stories and the drow would drawl on forever about the niceties of this and that. She was content, thank you, leaning against the wagon wheel, arms crossed, cigarette in her mouth, just on the edge of the fire. Rarely did she have her jacket off - but during those three weeks everyone would know, without doubt, that she had a replacement metal arm. If asked about it? She'd just stoically ignore them, roll her eyes, and busy herself with a cigarette.
But back to the current problem at hand. Ghouls. And several dead corpses. Well, at least they weren't coming back as ghouls or other undead… yet… she hoped at least not. By now? Based on smell alone? They'd been dead awhile. Eh - no big deal. She could work with that once the room was cleared.
Rolling her eyes at the gnome still, really….. Tomas could be fixed, no need to be that dramatic about it… Gigi held out her metal arm as she stared down the closest ghoul on the right, which was glowing in Prosperina's mage color. "Tomas is fixable - you aren't. Down boy." Underneath her clothing all her tattoos began to glow a shimmering bright lime green, the green of new life and springtime. The cracks and space in-between plates on her arm glowed as well, as if the metal was being treated like real flesh and blood. Then? With a snap of her thumb and finger. Gigi targeted the closest ghoul. Green fire that had collected in her arm swirled, jumping from her and speeding towards the ghoul, the green light illuminating more of the room during its path forward.
((Sacred Flame on the 3rd from the right ghoul. DC 13, Dex saving throw or take 1d8 radiant damage. Does not gain benefit from any sort of cover bonus, not that he has one atm...))
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Post by enchilada on Feb 26, 2019 15:57:32 GMT
Dhaunmyr had just barely been reunited with his dearest friends, Miss Songsteel herself and her darling companion Miss Rockhearth, before he took it upon himself to leave of his own accord. Just waiting on the offchance, with no real correspondence was driving him to stranger behaviours with each passing, dull day. He knew he had committed himself to happiness, and joy, but all of that is only so good until you realise your only real knowledge of entertainment is found at bars, and the nights on nights of drinking until he blacked out started to get too much. He had too many things to shift, too many high up contacts, and too many migraines to carry on the way he did. So he started praying, like, a lot. But that started to feel empty beyond a daily thanks to the Dark Maiden. So he finally braced the sun for long enough to start exploring, but his eyes hurt like hell, and it just made his head throb harder. A few days of nothing but semi-embarrassing, sappy literature, if one could call it that, hastily borrowed from a library, and lots of rest later, and he just knew he had to get out. Out of the tavern, out of the city.
What a fantastic opportunity before him! The only issue of course was the presence he couldn’t worm his way out of - multiple stunning ladies, all travelling with him for an extended period of time. First meeting these, he wasn’t sure whether to laugh, or to run away. Somewhere in between the options, he found a quickly whispered prayer that reached beyond his lips, crossing his arms in a self-hug and staring at the sky. Eilistraee had no answer for him, or perhaps that was her laughter on the wind...
For the delightful tiefling Proserpina, it wasn’t long until he was completely enraptured by her. Her manner, her beauty, and her genuine friendliness delighted him. Dhaunmyr was beyond flattered by her acknowledging him, and, more than that, he felt as though he may have a friendship to nurse back in Waterdeep, if he played his cards right. At first, as with all of the people he met, unless he had something to gain, he kept a slightly too-far distance, and actively avoided even accidentally brushing his coat’s shoulder against an arm, but with her he was comfortable enough to stand... just slightly too close. And it was much the same with the genasi, Althea. More than once he’d specifically allowed hands to brush, skin to skin. He was pleased that they were both unphased by this.
Miss Heiss was another story. She seemed to just be a lone wolf, but on occasion he felt a twinge in his stomach with her curt words, a slight nick in his skin by her effortless distancing.
The task at hand did not phase him, but the cries of both his near-friends did. He felt a much stronger twinge of emotional pain realising that it was all down to the upbringing. It didnt make him hesitate to pull out his bow, and knock an arrow. He’d done it before, a fair amount, and he felt the familiar weight ground him. The sight was not familiar at all, but that was hardly a problem in his eyes. The ghouls would be dealt with.
To hit:
7T9fnQBE1d20+3 (Faerie fire advantage) 1d20+3
((Dhaun moves to get a hit. I assume the squares are 10ft each))1d20+3·1d20+3
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Post by Kai Wren on Feb 26, 2019 19:29:05 GMT
Ghoul Save: ViWSG0G41d20+21d20+2
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Post by Kai Wren on Feb 26, 2019 19:51:57 GMT
The ghouls own this place. It is easy to tell. It is in the way their loping gait seems so natural in the gloomy darkness; it is in the stench of blood and rot which has set so fully into the room. What had once been a very impressive space, most likely a temple of some sort, though the adventurers haven’t had time yet to explore the iconography, is now a pit of corruption and despair. Lighting up the ghouls does not make them any more palatable. The creatures are not truly dead; their flesh hangs sallow on yellowing bones, though. Their mouths are crusted and dried with blood, their fingernails hardened into sharp, black talons. The creatures scream as the painless fire erupts about them, and all four surge forwards in unison; driven by the mad desire to kill. Whilst they still have some mocking, hateful semblance of life, their souls have withered in their bodies. There is no sanity in their eyes, no hint of a being in there who could yet be reached. Worse, as the monsters bear down on the heroes in their midst, it is clear that these are freshly made. Their clothing is not yet dissolved with age; the disgusting, cannibalistic hunger of the damned has filled them, but these people were people, not too long ago. “Pieter?” The Professor asks, in a quailing voice, “Judisia? What, what is wrong with you? No, no, this can’t be happening…” Gigi’s harsh words fall entirely on deaf ears as the gnome is dragged deeper into the depths of despair – but pulling her back out can come later. Right now, there are far more pressing problems to deal with. The creatures are fast. Leaping and bounding, one of them is on Dhaunmyr in an instant, his arrow slashing through the air where the monster had been before it lashes out with those sharp black talons. Backlit by divine fire that just can’t seem to touch them, two more begin to surround Thea, one at her front, one at her side; for the moment, she can keep them both in view, but they work like hunting animals, slashing and tearing with their claws and trying to work themselves into a more favourable position to bring the sorceress down. (Hopefully that makes things a bit clearer - think this is an improvement on little pictures) Ghoul 1 vs Dhaunmyr: To-Hit HAvJmFBk1d20+4 if successful, damage: 2d4+2Ghoul 3 vs Thea: To-Hit 1d20+4 if successful, damage: 2d4+2 and DC 10 fort save. Ghoul 4 vs Thea: To-Hit 1d20+4 if successful, damage: 2d4+2 and DC 10 fort save. It may be easier going forward if you roll damage dice at the same time as your to-hit check / casting to cut down on extraneous rolls, not that it mattered this round. 1d20+4·2d4+2·1d20+4·2d4+2·1d20+4·2d4+2
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Post by pastels on Feb 27, 2019 5:29:02 GMT
“Ghouls!?” The words came out in a half-whisper as the creatures shifted closer in the dark. There were tales of their kind, each one ending in tragedy and ruin, and here she was at the forefront of a brand new story. It was almost surreal. Thankfully, fortune wavered on their side; her spell rang true, colliding against dead flesh in a brilliant array of color, light washing over the gloom in the ruined temple. Although her inhuman eyes could pierce the shadows with uncanny perception, not everyone else in the party could boast of the same feat… and knowing exactly where the creatures were at any given point in time was a sure boon.
“Thea, watch out!” Proserpina exclaimed as the creatures swiftly descended upon them. On the other side of the room, Dhaunmyr was engaged in his own battle; it worried her that he was yet on his own, against two enemies. She steeled herself against the gnome’s cries—terrifying as the implications may be—and focused. Remember… The humming and buzzing of cicadas, relentless in the stifling summer heat. The stiff breeze, more a blanket of fire than a welcome respite, which dragged throughout the halls and left sour sweat and discomfort in its wake. Her brother, tall and well-built like the marble statues in the plaza, bent over a practice dummy, sweat trickling down his brow and his arms. The short and narrow xiphos seemed like a child’s weapon in his hand. He turned to look at her and immediately, his face lit up in child-like pride and his mouth split into a toothy grin.
“Pippa! Watch! This was how I beat Eoch!”
Well. He had his own methods, and she had hers.
In the room drenched in death, where violet fire mingled with the acrid stench of half-eaten corpses, the tiefling smiled. The air around her seemed to still, a collective breath held in starved anticipation—and then her appearance shifted when she drew her next breath. Her skin glowed with a wondrous radiance, a river of wine pulsing with a thousand fluttering fireflies, and gold melted from the corners of her monochrome eyes. The liquid, so much like tears, didn’t trickle; no, they flowed upwards, suspended in the air, the rivulets of gold twisting and scattering like crumpled leaves. A sweet scent followed when Proserpina turned to face the ghoul on her right; they came from the vibrant blossoms woven through her curly hair and twisted around her horns. Even the tiefling’s clothes stirred and curled with a nonexistent breeze. She was a picture of springtime beauty, the elements on her form clearly in homage to the season, and the magic brought her companions a small measure of relief.
But… There was something else.
Below her radiance lurked a bittersweet thing, the shadow to her wondrous appearance, invisible to all but unfortunate wretch which earned its attention—the slightest hint of brimstone and poison, cleverly masked beneath the flowers and gold. It promised death and entropy; destruction and chaos sowed with the sweetest of smiles. It was the rot beneath the fruit. And it was with this deep malice that Proserpina beckoned at her prey, blood-red lips forming the words with silken ease, “Come, my dear! Let us see if you can survive a second death.”
(Pippa throws up her Mantle of Inspiration (bonus action) for Dhaun, Thea, Gigi and casts Dissonant Whispers on G4
Here’s a summary of MoI:
All in all, she’s got 2/4 first-level spell slots, and 2/2 second-level spell slots left)
Dissonant Whispers: 03nOA8H53d6 3d6
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