Xilyra continued speaking to the prince turned quaggoth, "You said something about a curse? What happened to you? How long have you been here?"
Insight: 14
Stealth: 23
Prince Derendil replies in archaic elvish, "I am a prince. The evil wizard Terrestor usurped my crown, cursed me to be polymorphed into this beast form and exiled me. I... I don't recall how long. The beast is consuming me. I fear I will be lost."
(I speak elvish, though assuming I said it in common is probably safer for me :P. And unless something changes and he leaves the mushroom alone, I'll probably try again in elvish anyway if it's assumed I didn't the first time)
Shoor's WIS save vs DC 13: 15
Follow-up incoming. Have to brainstorm.
When Shoor realizes what Narstin just attempted to do, his features range from recognition, to shock, to indignation and to fury. He tucks the little wand he holds like a prize under his left armpit and draws his short sword with a flourish.
And then he anti-climatically frowns, shakes his head a little and sheathes his short sword. He takes the little wand in his right hand once again and repositions himself exactly like he was when he realized Narstin cast a spell at him. Then he tucks the wand under his left armpit and draws his short sword with a flourish.
Once again, he shakes his head slightly, sheathes his sword, takes his wand into his right hand and resets his stance. He repeats this cycle over and over and none of you can figure out what he is trying to accomplish.
One of the quaggoth guarding all of you ushers Narstin to get back to work while Shoor repeats his cycle over and over again.
The halfling stands, presses his back to the wall, and watches the exchange with the quaggoth. When the guards turn back, he whispers to Tozer, "Is this it? What the halfling spoke of? Is it time to escape?" His eyes are wide with terror and anticipation.
The previously chastised drow is forced to once again leave his guard tower and come to the prison cave. He speaks out loud in undercommon to everyone, "One of you tell your new companion how we like it quiet. If I come back here again, I'm cutting off toes and I don't care who's."
Sarith, who is part of the work detail operating the lift, watches Shoor with fascination. He uncharacteristically speaks to Narstin in elvish, "The madness has touched him." Then he realizes he just spoke to a lesser race and shuts up, leaning harder into the winch mechanism to raise the lift.
A quaggoth raises a claw to strike Sarith for speaking, but seems unsure. He lowers the claw and says something. Sarith just grunts in reply.
As the chastised drow walks back across the bridge to his position inside the guard tower, the little deep gnome, one of the three that doesn't mingle with the other two deep gnomes, saunters over to Ferri and sits next to him. He says too loudly in common, "I'll wager a mouthful of our next meal that the drow will take the orc's toe first. Right, right... what am I talking about? That drow with the carrion crawler up his bung hole said if he hears us talking again he'll start cutting off toes. Bet you that mouthful he wants an orc toe. Want to take the wager? I'm Jimjar from Blingdenstone, by the way."
The drow, not even back at the tower, turns, furious. From where he is, he says in undercommon, "What did I just say!?" As he draws his short sword.
Jimjar replies in undercommon, "You told us to tell the newcomer, and I'm telling him."
The drow seems stunned for a second, then slams his short sword back in the scabbard, barking one final order in undercommon, "Quiet now!"
Valthana begins to tighten her grip on the meat in her hands when Narstin speaks, attempting to place the drow under a spell. She halts to watch what happens. As the drow then begins performing the same strange ritual over and over, Valthana frowns. She is ushered back to work with a furrowed brow. She keeps an eye out for anything she can use to escape.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Beegred is confused by the Underdark muttering and infighting going on. Hopefully the others will figure out a plan to break free. And hopefully get some payback on the Drow drool guards.
He notices Valthana surveying the area for anything useful, and figures that's a smart thing to do too. Perception: 19
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM) Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy) DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
With the drow's outburst, Ferry slumps back down against the wall. When Jimjar begins rambling, the young halfling is torn. Half of his attention is given to the deep gnome in curious, fleeting glances, while the other half remains fixed in terror on the guard tower.
Ferry looks to Jimjar, opens his mouth to speak, then closes it, returning his attention to the tower. Unconsiously, he covers his hair-covered toes under the palms of his hands.
He looks towards Tozer with a desperate, perplexed expression, but the dwarf seems to be sleeping.
Valthana begins to tighten her grip on the meat in her hands when Narstin speaks, attempting to place the drow under a spell. She halts to watch what happens. As the drow then begins performing the same strange ritual over and over, Valthana frowns. She is ushered back to work with a furrowed brow. She keeps an eye out for anything she can use to escape.
Beegred is confused by the Underdark muttering and infighting going on. Hopefully the others will figure out a plan to break free. And hopefully get some payback on the Drow drool guards.
He notices Valthana surveying the area for anything useful, and figures that's a smart thing to do too. Perception: 19
You are currently hauling up vast quantities of foodstuffs ranging from mushrooms to meats from unknown creatures. The lift is a 'wood' and metal construct. The ropes are braided from something you are not familiar with, but it frays and strands can easily be scavenged. The platform your are standing on is some kind of wood-like material, about one foot thick. There are crates and barrels ranging from pristine to broken and in disrepair. Along the stone wall there always seems to be rubble even though many of you often get tasked to gather it all up into piles which you move around pointlessly when there is nothing useful to get done. The lanterns hanging from the walls and towers are metal construction with bioluminescent mushrooms providing the light inside of them.
The drow rank and file wear simple chain armor and are equipped with short swords, hand crossbows and quivers. They wear belts of leather or fabric and some have pouches. Many of them have keys hanging from them, like some kind of lure. The senior male drow wear studded leather and have slung shields as well as the standard short sword and hand crossbow. The quaggoth wear nothing and carry no weapons.
When there's a lull, Ferry stands up, yawns, rotates his shoulders in a cramped stretch his chains can accommodate, and meanders up to the bars. He lightly grabs the bars and hangs his arms limply from them, his eyes staring down into the darkness where Delmae was cast. After a few moments of thought he glances low to his left and right, sighs, goes to the middle of the cell to stretch again, and returns to his spot against the wall.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Narstin realizes the spell failed and starts to back away as Shoor's expression slides towards fury, only to stop when the drow's expression changes again and he re-sheathes his sword. Narstin cocks his head as the drow seems to go into a time loop, repeating the same few actions over and over. "Of all the possible outcomes of that spell attempt", he thinks, "this was not one I ever even considered. Did I....break him somehow?" He watches Shoor go through the motions, attempting to discern what could have happened (Insight perhaps? 11) until the quaggoth comes over to usher him back to work. With a shrug and a mental sigh of relief, he moves back to his tasks.
As they get back to work, Narstin is surprised when Sarith speaks to him, having noticed the man tends to not willingly interact with the other prisoners. "Madness?" he thinks, looking back at Shoor speculatively, considering another insane plan. While he works and plans, he keeps an eye out for strands of the rope that are the right length to reinforce his hastily "mended" chain, as well as peering in any open crates as he moves back and forth across the platform, keeping an eye out for any crates without lids or with lids that are broken or aren't on straight, looking to see if any of them contain things besides foodstuffs. Perception: 18. If his work carries him near the piles of rubble while Shoor is in his loop, he'll watch for any stones that are large enough to have some heft, but small enough to hide in his hand until he can transfer them to a pocket. (Thinking stones taht could work as sling bullets in a makeshift sling. Investigation to spot: 24, sleight of hand to grab, 9)
You are currently hauling up vast quantities of foodstuffs ranging from mushrooms to meats from unknown creatures. The lift is a 'wood' and metal construct. The ropes are braided from something you are not familiar with, but it frays and strands can easily be scavenged. The platform your are standing on is some kind of wood-like material, about one foot thick. There are crates and barrels ranging from pristine to broken and in disrepair. Along the stone wall there always seems to be rubble even though many of you often get tasked to gather it all up into piles which you move around pointlessly when there is nothing useful to get done. The lanterns hanging from the walls and towers are metal construction with bioluminescent mushrooms providing the light inside of them.
The drow rank and file wear simple chain armor and are equipped with short swords, hand crossbows and quivers. They wear belts of leather or fabric and some have pouches. Many of them have keys hanging from them, like some kind of lure. The senior male drow wear studded leather and have slung shields as well as the standard short sword and hand crossbow. The quaggoth wear nothing and carry no weapons.
(How high up is the platform we're on, and how large is it? How many quaggoth are on the platform with us? Anyone else besides the prisoners, shoor, and the quaggoth? Said we're past the guard tower, how far from it are we? And is there anyone else nearby the tower?)
Edit: Totally looked at the wrong stat for investigation. Should have been -1, not +5, so 18 instead of 24.
The crates are either sealed and stacked neatly, or they are open, empty and hap-hazardously discarded. As you ferry the meats back and forth, you can definitely pass near rubble along the cavern walls. There are also lots of frayed silk ropes everywhere. It's almost like the stuff floats on the breeze and settles on everything. You can attempt to pilfer a good five foot length of it from one of the bigger ropes, if you choose to do so. Or you can attempt to palm a rock, but not both.
The platform is the busiest place in the outpost. There are normally two quaggoth manning the lift, but they have been dismissed for the time being while your work party does it instead. Shoor was guarding you along with two quaggoth, but currently Shoor is stuck in some kind of loop. You fully expect to see drow moving between the towers, the two large doors to the south or to the mess area semi-frequently.
After some time passes while Shoor continues in his loop, even the not-so-bright quaggoth figure out something is wrong. One runs off towards the tower with the elevated entrance, leaving the party alone with one single quaggoth guarding and Shoor doing his thing.
At the end of your work detail, on the way back to the prison cave, Narstin tries his best to yank off a five foot strand of rope from one of the bridges. However trying to keep his chains from breaking in plain sight and confiscate the rope at the same time is too difficult. He elects to leave it there for another attempt at another time. The frayed strand of rope is still there, a bit closer to being separated from the whole.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Beegred really wants to take advantage of only having 1 guard around, but dislikes more the epic beatdown he would get from the quaggoth if they went head-to-head.
He will try to get that frayed rope strand that Narstin was working on, but not if it reveals the state of his chains. Sleight-of-hand: 23 (OOC: what the holy hell...)
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM) Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy) DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
Beegred really wants to take advantage of only having 1 guard around, but dislikes more the epic beatdown he would get from the quaggoth if they went head-to-head.
He will try to get that frayed rope strand that Narstin was working on, but not if it reveals the state of his chains. Sleight-of-hand: 4 (OOC: what the holy hell...)
While on the lift to pick up another load of meat, you make the attempt to rip off a strand of rope, while trying your best to not reveal the state of your chains. However, you botch the job and the hairs tying the lengths of chain together break, releasing the chains with a soft tinkling sound.
The quaggoth is immediately alerted and sees what has happened. He jumps onto the lift where Beegred is, setting it swaying. His teeth are barred and he's holding the two ends of the chain in the fingers of each clawed hands, shaking his head 'No'.
Sarith also sees the broken chains, takes stock of the situation and immediately says in elvish, "We have to push that quaggoth over the edge and hide the little one's chains!" He hesitates for a moment...
Beegred and the Quaggoth are "off" the platform in the image above. In actuality, they are on the lift that has been swiveled over to be unloaded. The lift is swaying from the quaggoth's leap onto it.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Beegred doesn't know what gibberish Sarith is saying, but sees the body language (two hands in front, arms extending) to realize that he should try pushing the quaggoth off the edge. He is able to get into a good position to do this (using Halfling Nimbleness to go through the quaggoth's space), but hopes that others will assist.
Shoving the quaggoth 5' to try to get it over the edge (contested STR athletics): 16
(OOC: Not bad, but not great either. 50/50 chance against the monster, unless the others can improve the odds...)
If this is successful, Beegred will try to once again hide the chain break, and look innocent about why the quaggoth decided to jump down and slip into the pit all on his own.
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM) Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy) DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
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Xilyra continued speaking to the prince turned quaggoth, "You said something about a curse? What happened to you? How long have you been here?"
Insight: 3
Stealth: 5
Prince Derendil replies in archaic elvish, "I am a prince. The evil wizard Terrestor usurped my crown, cursed me to be polymorphed into this beast form and exiled me. I... I don't recall how long. The beast is consuming me. I fear I will be lost."
He appears to be sincere.
When Shoor realizes what Narstin just attempted to do, his features range from recognition, to shock, to indignation and to fury. He tucks the little wand he holds like a prize under his left armpit and draws his short sword with a flourish.
And then he anti-climatically frowns, shakes his head a little and sheathes his short sword. He takes the little wand in his right hand once again and repositions himself exactly like he was when he realized Narstin cast a spell at him. Then he tucks the wand under his left armpit and draws his short sword with a flourish.
Once again, he shakes his head slightly, sheathes his sword, takes his wand into his right hand and resets his stance. He repeats this cycle over and over and none of you can figure out what he is trying to accomplish.
One of the quaggoth guarding all of you ushers Narstin to get back to work while Shoor repeats his cycle over and over again.
The previously chastised drow is forced to once again leave his guard tower and come to the prison cave. He speaks out loud in undercommon to everyone, "One of you tell your new companion how we like it quiet. If I come back here again, I'm cutting off toes and I don't care who's."
Sarith, who is part of the work detail operating the lift, watches Shoor with fascination. He uncharacteristically speaks to Narstin in elvish, "The madness has touched him." Then he realizes he just spoke to a lesser race and shuts up, leaning harder into the winch mechanism to raise the lift.
A quaggoth raises a claw to strike Sarith for speaking, but seems unsure. He lowers the claw and says something. Sarith just grunts in reply.
As the chastised drow walks back across the bridge to his position inside the guard tower, the little deep gnome, one of the three that doesn't mingle with the other two deep gnomes, saunters over to Ferri and sits next to him. He says too loudly in common, "I'll wager a mouthful of our next meal that the drow will take the orc's toe first. Right, right... what am I talking about? That drow with the carrion crawler up his bung hole said if he hears us talking again he'll start cutting off toes. Bet you that mouthful he wants an orc toe. Want to take the wager? I'm Jimjar from Blingdenstone, by the way."
The drow, not even back at the tower, turns, furious. From where he is, he says in undercommon, "What did I just say!?" As he draws his short sword.
Jimjar replies in undercommon, "You told us to tell the newcomer, and I'm telling him."
The drow seems stunned for a second, then slams his short sword back in the scabbard, barking one final order in undercommon, "Quiet now!"
Valthana begins to tighten her grip on the meat in her hands when Narstin speaks, attempting to place the drow under a spell. She halts to watch what happens. As the drow then begins performing the same strange ritual over and over, Valthana frowns. She is ushered back to work with a furrowed brow. She keeps an eye out for anything she can use to escape.
Perception: 18
Beegred is confused by the Underdark muttering and infighting going on. Hopefully the others will figure out a plan to break free. And hopefully get some payback on the
Drowdrool guards.He notices Valthana surveying the area for anything useful, and figures that's a smart thing to do too. Perception: 19
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec
Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM)
Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
With the drow's outburst, Ferry slumps back down against the wall. When Jimjar begins rambling, the young halfling is torn. Half of his attention is given to the deep gnome in curious, fleeting glances, while the other half remains fixed in terror on the guard tower.
Ferry looks to Jimjar, opens his mouth to speak, then closes it, returning his attention to the tower. Unconsiously, he covers his hair-covered toes under the palms of his hands.
He looks towards Tozer with a desperate, perplexed expression, but the dwarf seems to be sleeping.
Current Roles:
GM - Fata Morgana: The Ghosts of Saltmarsh
You are currently hauling up vast quantities of foodstuffs ranging from mushrooms to meats from unknown creatures. The lift is a 'wood' and metal construct. The ropes are braided from something you are not familiar with, but it frays and strands can easily be scavenged. The platform your are standing on is some kind of wood-like material, about one foot thick. There are crates and barrels ranging from pristine to broken and in disrepair. Along the stone wall there always seems to be rubble even though many of you often get tasked to gather it all up into piles which you move around pointlessly when there is nothing useful to get done. The lanterns hanging from the walls and towers are metal construction with bioluminescent mushrooms providing the light inside of them.
The drow rank and file wear simple chain armor and are equipped with short swords, hand crossbows and quivers. They wear belts of leather or fabric and some have pouches. Many of them have keys hanging from them, like some kind of lure. The senior male drow wear studded leather and have slung shields as well as the standard short sword and hand crossbow. The quaggoth wear nothing and carry no weapons.
When there's a lull, Ferry stands up, yawns, rotates his shoulders in a cramped stretch his chains can accommodate, and meanders up to the bars. He lightly grabs the bars and hangs his arms limply from them, his eyes staring down into the darkness where Delmae was cast. After a few moments of thought he glances low to his left and right, sighs, goes to the middle of the cell to stretch again, and returns to his spot against the wall.
Current Roles:
GM - Fata Morgana: The Ghosts of Saltmarsh
(How high up is the platform we're on, and how large is it? How many quaggoth are on the platform with us? Anyone else besides the prisoners, shoor, and the quaggoth? Said we're past the guard tower, how far from it are we? And is there anyone else nearby the tower?)
Edit: Totally looked at the wrong stat for investigation. Should have been -1, not +5, so 18 instead of 24.
The crates are either sealed and stacked neatly, or they are open, empty and hap-hazardously discarded. As you ferry the meats back and forth, you can definitely pass near rubble along the cavern walls. There are also lots of frayed silk ropes everywhere. It's almost like the stuff floats on the breeze and settles on everything. You can attempt to pilfer a good five foot length of it from one of the bigger ropes, if you choose to do so. Or you can attempt to palm a rock, but not both.
The platform is the busiest place in the outpost. There are normally two quaggoth manning the lift, but they have been dismissed for the time being while your work party does it instead. Shoor was guarding you along with two quaggoth, but currently Shoor is stuck in some kind of loop. You fully expect to see drow moving between the towers, the two large doors to the south or to the mess area semi-frequently.
(I'll try for the rope for now if I can only do one or the other)
After some time passes while Shoor continues in his loop, even the not-so-bright quaggoth figure out something is wrong. One runs off towards the tower with the elevated entrance, leaving the party alone with one single quaggoth guarding and Shoor doing his thing.
At the end of your work detail, on the way back to the prison cave, Narstin tries his best to yank off a five foot strand of rope from one of the bridges. However trying to keep his chains from breaking in plain sight and confiscate the rope at the same time is too difficult. He elects to leave it there for another attempt at another time. The frayed strand of rope is still there, a bit closer to being separated from the whole.
If at all possible, Valthana will attempt to steal some food for the mushroom kid.
Sleight of hand: 14
Beegred really wants to take advantage of only having 1 guard around, but dislikes more the epic beatdown he would get from the quaggoth if they went head-to-head.
He will try to get that frayed rope strand that Narstin was working on, but not if it reveals the state of his chains. Sleight-of-hand: 23 (OOC: what the holy hell...)
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec
Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM)
Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
At the end of your work detail, you manage to rip off a strip of fresh meat and hide it for the short journey back to the prison cell.
While on the lift to pick up another load of meat, you make the attempt to rip off a strand of rope, while trying your best to not reveal the state of your chains. However, you botch the job and the hairs tying the lengths of chain together break, releasing the chains with a soft tinkling sound.
The quaggoth is immediately alerted and sees what has happened. He jumps onto the lift where Beegred is, setting it swaying. His teeth are barred and he's holding the two ends of the chain in the fingers of each clawed hands, shaking his head 'No'.
Sarith also sees the broken chains, takes stock of the situation and immediately says in elvish, "We have to push that quaggoth over the edge and hide the little one's chains!" He hesitates for a moment...
Beegred and the Quaggoth are "off" the platform in the image above. In actuality, they are on the lift that has been swiveled over to be unloaded. The lift is swaying from the quaggoth's leap onto it.
Beegred doesn't know what gibberish Sarith is saying, but sees the body language (two hands in front, arms extending) to realize that he should try pushing the quaggoth off the edge. He is able to get into a good position to do this (using Halfling Nimbleness to go through the quaggoth's space), but hopes that others will assist.
Shoving the quaggoth 5' to try to get it over the edge (contested STR athletics): 16
(OOC: Not bad, but not great either. 50/50 chance against the monster, unless the others can improve the odds...)
If this is successful, Beegred will try to once again hide the chain break, and look innocent about why the quaggoth decided to jump down and slip into the pit all on his own.
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec
Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM)
Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)