Horkur will be engaging with melee attacks the lead ant that he already threw one hand axe at with using his other hand axe and freshly drawn short sword, pending no change in behavior prior to his next turn.
Nemi leaps to Horkur's defense and severs the head off the ant that bit him with one clean swipe of his sword! Emboldened, she does it again to the next ant in line! Their black carapaces may seem hard but the connections from head to thorax and from thorax to abdomen are pretty small and apparently vulnerable to cutting.
The other ants seem unperturbed by this turn of events, they're still coming forward, mandibles clacking!
Horkur takes a moment to check his wound - "Damned bug got me in the arm pretty good - ugh, that's definitely gonna leave a permanent mark.." he thinks as he rips a strip of cloth from the bottom of this shirt and wraps the wound. He tests the mobility after his crude wrapping while walking to retrieve his hand-axe. Sheathing all but a single axe, he approaches the dwarven corpse to investigate the remains.
It’s a dwarven lady, quite dead, on the younger side (for dwarves) eyes closed and an oddly peaceful expression on her face, considering there’s a strange spike protruding from her abdomen. The spike is smooth and slightly curved, and the end has the appearance of being snapped off, with some sort of dried organic material trailing off the end of it.
The dwarf is wearing chain mail, which the spike had pierced through. Her cloak is mostly wrapped around her, and quite dirty. A large maul lies on the ground close to her left hand. Her right hand clutches a small book close to her chest.
Taking the book as part of your examination, you see that it’s a journal. Reading the last entry:
What started as a lighthearted adventure has turned to nightmare. We are much smaller than Rezlin promised. And then we were attacked by bees. They headed straight for us! There was a purple glow in their eyes. My friends were incapacitated by their stings and then they were carried off by the bees. I think they were still alive… I was wounded but escaped. I’ve been hiding in the flower garden. My plan was to wait for the potion to wear off, but so far it hasn’t… I spent a cold lonely night huddling against a rock. I think I saw a huge owl fly overhead at one point. I count myself lucky that nothing has found and eaten me yet, but I feel myself growing weaker. My belly hurts so much! I don’t think I will last much longer….
Earlier entries indicate various adventuring escapades with a group of friends named Rikko, Sana, and Octavius.
You also discover on her person a pouch containing 23 gold and a small sparkling ruby cunningly carved into a heart shape.
Nemi gathers the book and reads the journal entry aloud to the others, sagging a little at the mention of bees and considering that this spike is likely a stinger from one. She sorts the coins out giving 5 to each of the group (four of us?) and holds up the Ruby and the other three coins. "Who will be trusted to carry the uneven bits? And is there a jeweler among us? If we make it back to town this ruby could be traded for supplies possibly?"
As the group discusses, she methodically lays the body flat and starts to claw out a grave speaking over a shoulder, "Perhaps, bury her shallowly and then roll some of the smaller pebbles over her to protect her from predators further?"
"Give me 5 and you folks can take 6 a piece. Happy to hold that purdy little gem there til we find a way to get back to a normal size and see a jeweler - hopefully it grows with us too..."
His voice trails off as he recalls the entry in the journal. "If we become big again.."
Listening to Nemi read the journal aloud to the group Horkur pauses for a moment, shakes off the moment of pessimism, and begins to rationalize: "So in short, Rezlin bamboozled us.. Per that journal this is not likely to wear off as we were promised." He pauses for a moment before continuing. "We are also smaller than promised, and literally everything here can kill us." He rubs his wound again as he walks over to the ants and begins to cut as many of the ant hairs off as he can and stuff them into his pack.
"Well, we came all this way - may as well ensure we grab what we came here for - I have a feeling that while we can't trust him, Rezlin's list was a bit too specific to not still try to gather the items.."
Once done collecting ant hairs he walks to Nemi to assist with the preparation of the shallow grave.
Nemi nods to Horkur and looks for any objections before passing the Ruby onto Horkur then does so if none.
"I wonder just how long this potion will take to wear off? He couldn't have made a permanent one could he?" She asks outloud but in to no one in particular then making sure the journal is wrapped in cloth and tucked in her pack, she gets back to work on the makeshift grave.
Horkur places the ruby securely in his coin purse tied around his neck under his armor. "If anything happens to me, you can find it by my heart!"
After hearing Nemi's question, Horkur turns to Algernon:
"Algernon, that notebook mentioned bees with purple glowing eyes. I recall you had asked Rezlin something, regarding bees and corruption or something like that, did you not? I hadn't given it any thought until reading that with me own eyes, but can you elaborate for us what that was all about?"
Elric helps with the grave, chanting a small prayer of peace as they bury the poor dwarf.
"This isn't right, tricking people into whatever sick trap this is. Do we really want to collect this monster's ingredients for him? What if it's for some sort of evil plan?"
When they are finished he shoulders his pack and gets ready to head out.
You treat the fallen dwarf with respect, giving her a proper burial. You didn't even know her name, as she did not write it in her journal. Everyone earns inspiration!
But just as you are finishing up, you hear... a droning sound in the distance... but getting louder. The sound of bees approaching.
In mere moments, you spot them. Five bees as big as you are! They wend their way down through the petal canopy, spot your group, orient themselves into a formation, and fly rapidly directly at you! Even from this distance (90 feet) you can see a glowing purple swirl lurking in their many-faceted compound eyes.
The words of the dwarf from the journal, as well as the image of the large spike protruding from her race through Horkur's mind. "I don't wanna go down like that!"
Any battle map or way I can get an ideal of terrain for this encounter? I am curious on anything close enough to climb..
There is the large rock behind you, 10 feet high at the highest, relatively easy to climb. There are several flowers nearby that stretch at least 50 feet into the air.
Elric initiative 19 (with DEX of 12) (rolled on game log)
Reacting more quickly to this new threat, Elric re-enchants his stones and then raises his shield, ready to fight. "Take cover!" he shouts to his colleagues "I'll try to draw them"
Bonus action to cast Magic Stone, readied action to throw at any bee which comes within 60ft.
(Although I only rolled an 8 to hit, with 10 pts of magic bludgeoning damage)
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Looking for nemi, Algernon, Elric to act. Horkur could tee up his next move too unless he’s waiting to see what goes down.
Horkur will be engaging with melee attacks the lead ant that he already threw one hand axe at with using his other hand axe and freshly drawn short sword, pending no change in behavior prior to his next turn.
Shortsword: 11 to hit | 8 damage
Handaxe: 19 to hit | 3 damage
Horkur Beren in Tending the Garden
Geraine Lucineous in Onward Down
Cheetah arches and hisses at the approaching ants but otherwise stays with Nemi.
Nemi draws her dual shortswords and slashes away.
Shortsword 1 Attack: 21 Damage: 9
Shortsword 2 Attack: 7 Damage: 5
Looking for a game
sorry, attacking the nearest ant to her. Or if two close by one to each.
Looking for a game
Nemi leaps to Horkur's defense and severs the head off the ant that bit him with one clean swipe of his sword! Emboldened, she does it again to the next ant in line! Their black carapaces may seem hard but the connections from head to thorax and from thorax to abdomen are pretty small and apparently vulnerable to cutting.
The other ants seem unperturbed by this turn of events, they're still coming forward, mandibles clacking!
Round 1
16 Horkur - threw an axe
14 ant - bit Horkur! Then killed by Nemi!
14 ant - moved closer, then killed by Nemi!
14 ant - moved closer
14 ant - moved closer
11 Nemi - killed two ants with her short swords!
8 Algeron -
3 Elric -
Algernon rips into another ant, finding that the carapaces are not invulnerable!
Round 1
16 Horkur - threw an axe
14 ant - bit Horkur! Then killed by Nemi!
14 ant - moved closer, then killed by Nemi!
14 ant - moved closer, took 4 damage from Algernon, heavily wounded
14 ant - moved closer
11 Nemi - killed two ants with her short swords!
8 Algeron - attacked an ant
3 Elric -
Letting his mace swing by its wrist strap, Elric scoops up some stones from the ground and cats Magic Stone as a bonus action.
He then hurls one of the enchanted rocks at the nearest ant: 16 to hit, for 8pts of bludgeoning damage (on log)
Elric’s magic rock crushes the ant’s thorax and it flops onto the ground, legs and antennae twitching feebly, then going still.
Horkur finishes off the last ant with his hand axe.
All is still again. You can now plainly see what the ants were interested in: the lifeless body of a female dwarf lying tucked against the large rock.
Horkur takes a moment to check his wound - "Damned bug got me in the arm pretty good - ugh, that's definitely gonna leave a permanent mark.." he thinks as he rips a strip of cloth from the bottom of this shirt and wraps the wound. He tests the mobility after his crude wrapping while walking to retrieve his hand-axe. Sheathing all but a single axe, he approaches the dwarven corpse to investigate the remains.
Investigation Check: 13
Horkur Beren in Tending the Garden
Geraine Lucineous in Onward Down
It’s a dwarven lady, quite dead, on the younger side (for dwarves) eyes closed and an oddly peaceful expression on her face, considering there’s a strange spike protruding from her abdomen. The spike is smooth and slightly curved, and the end has the appearance of being snapped off, with some sort of dried organic material trailing off the end of it.
The dwarf is wearing chain mail, which the spike had pierced through. Her cloak is mostly wrapped around her, and quite dirty. A large maul lies on the ground close to her left hand. Her right hand clutches a small book close to her chest.
Taking the book as part of your examination, you see that it’s a journal. Reading the last entry:
What started as a lighthearted adventure has turned to nightmare. We are much smaller than Rezlin promised. And then we were attacked by bees. They headed straight for us! There was a purple glow in their eyes. My friends were incapacitated by their stings and then they were carried off by the bees. I think they were still alive… I was wounded but escaped. I’ve been hiding in the flower garden. My plan was to wait for the potion to wear off, but so far it hasn’t… I spent a cold lonely night huddling against a rock. I think I saw a huge owl fly overhead at one point. I count myself lucky that nothing has found and eaten me yet, but I feel myself growing weaker. My belly hurts so much! I don’t think I will last much longer….
Earlier entries indicate various adventuring escapades with a group of friends named Rikko, Sana, and Octavius.
You also discover on her person a pouch containing 23 gold and a small sparkling ruby cunningly carved into a heart shape.
Nemi gathers the book and reads the journal entry aloud to the others, sagging a little at the mention of bees and considering that this spike is likely a stinger from one. She sorts the coins out giving 5 to each of the group (four of us?) and holds up the Ruby and the other three coins. "Who will be trusted to carry the uneven bits? And is there a jeweler among us? If we make it back to town this ruby could be traded for supplies possibly?"
As the group discusses, she methodically lays the body flat and starts to claw out a grave speaking over a shoulder, "Perhaps, bury her shallowly and then roll some of the smaller pebbles over her to protect her from predators further?"
Looking for a game
"Give me 5 and you folks can take 6 a piece. Happy to hold that purdy little gem there til we find a way to get back to a normal size and see a jeweler - hopefully it grows with us too..."
His voice trails off as he recalls the entry in the journal. "If we become big again.."
Listening to Nemi read the journal aloud to the group Horkur pauses for a moment, shakes off the moment of pessimism, and begins to rationalize: "So in short, Rezlin bamboozled us.. Per that journal this is not likely to wear off as we were promised." He pauses for a moment before continuing. "We are also smaller than promised, and literally everything here can kill us." He rubs his wound again as he walks over to the ants and begins to cut as many of the ant hairs off as he can and stuff them into his pack.
"Well, we came all this way - may as well ensure we grab what we came here for - I have a feeling that while we can't trust him, Rezlin's list was a bit too specific to not still try to gather the items.."
Once done collecting ant hairs he walks to Nemi to assist with the preparation of the shallow grave.
Horkur Beren in Tending the Garden
Geraine Lucineous in Onward Down
Nemi nods to Horkur and looks for any objections before passing the Ruby onto Horkur then does so if none.
"I wonder just how long this potion will take to wear off? He couldn't have made a permanent one could he?" She asks outloud but in to no one in particular then making sure the journal is wrapped in cloth and tucked in her pack, she gets back to work on the makeshift grave.
Looking for a game
Horkur places the ruby securely in his coin purse tied around his neck under his armor. "If anything happens to me, you can find it by my heart!"
After hearing Nemi's question, Horkur turns to Algernon:
"Algernon, that notebook mentioned bees with purple glowing eyes. I recall you had asked Rezlin something, regarding bees and corruption or something like that, did you not? I hadn't given it any thought until reading that with me own eyes, but can you elaborate for us what that was all about?"
Horkur Beren in Tending the Garden
Geraine Lucineous in Onward Down
Elric helps with the grave, chanting a small prayer of peace as they bury the poor dwarf.
"This isn't right, tricking people into whatever sick trap this is. Do we really want to collect this monster's ingredients for him? What if it's for some sort of evil plan?"
When they are finished he shoulders his pack and gets ready to head out.
You treat the fallen dwarf with respect, giving her a proper burial. You didn't even know her name, as she did not write it in her journal. Everyone earns inspiration!
But just as you are finishing up, you hear... a droning sound in the distance... but getting louder. The sound of bees approaching.
In mere moments, you spot them. Five bees as big as you are! They wend their way down through the petal canopy, spot your group, orient themselves into a formation, and fly rapidly directly at you! Even from this distance (90 feet) you can see a glowing purple swirl lurking in their many-faceted compound eyes.
Roll initiative again! The bees got 16
Initiative: 18
The words of the dwarf from the journal, as well as the image of the large spike protruding from her race through Horkur's mind. "I don't wanna go down like that!"
Any battle map or way I can get an ideal of terrain for this encounter? I am curious on anything close enough to climb..
Horkur Beren in Tending the Garden
Geraine Lucineous in Onward Down
There is the large rock behind you, 10 feet high at the highest, relatively easy to climb. There are several flowers nearby that stretch at least 50 feet into the air.
Horkur dashes to the nearest flower to the group and works to climb up as high as he can, as quickly as he can.
Athletics Check: 19
Horkur Beren in Tending the Garden
Geraine Lucineous in Onward Down
Elric initiative 19 (with DEX of 12) (rolled on game log)
Reacting more quickly to this new threat, Elric re-enchants his stones and then raises his shield, ready to fight. "Take cover!" he shouts to his colleagues "I'll try to draw them"
Bonus action to cast Magic Stone, readied action to throw at any bee which comes within 60ft.
(Although I only rolled an 8 to hit, with 10 pts of magic bludgeoning damage)