The Long Road - Game Thread

The orb is in the lead wagon, right?

Hildigrim waves the group over to where they can talk without being heard and directs a comment at the "sky people". "I felt a very weird feeling after the guard walked away in town. For a moment, I really wanted to do him bodily harm. I know this is only a dream, but are we going to have to be ... evil? To complete this mission?"

Pascal shrugs, “Too be honest, I still don’t get y’all’s whole good an’ evil thing. Like, yeah, you can eat a cow just fine, but a dead human is off limits. I feel like y’all can be a bit sensitive.”

Jorin puts a hand on Hildigrim's shoulder and says, "Good and evil are the two faces of a coin we all carry.  We must play the part now, know that we will flip the coin when we awake."

Sky voices let you know they need to confer, and will get back to you in a few seconds.

Minutes pass. Jacobson and Ravia hop out of the lead wagon, and the entire caravan starts rolling towards town. You are almost to the town itself before you hear more from Tinker. "The memory pattern tries to make you go on the same path as before, but you've already made alterations. As long as the checkpoints are achieved, and the path forward intact, things will proceed... None of you fight like the original cultists, but what was important was that you won the battle against the hobgoblins.

"Do what you can. There appears to be a major milestone happening soon." (The voices go silent.)

The journey into Elmwood was uneventful; however, getting through the town unscathed does not appear to be in the cards. As you pass by the hillside manor overlooking the rest of the town on the road east towards Mulmaster, you see a single sign out front that says “Culkin”. A pair of guards from the town ran ahead of the caravan into the manor, and a group of do-gooder adventurer types who emerge from the manor.

They demand that the caravan pull aside for full inspection, and that the woman who was in town earlier today be brought forward for questioning based on some comments she made earlier in the day.

“You ... came here to Elmwood? You pulled me into a trap!?” Jacobson exclaims sadly. “I ... I loved you, Ravia. You were my favorite, the passion of my heart and you betray me?”

Meanwhile, the rest of the group mentally eats popcorn.

OOC > How many do-gooders? Unless it does not matter... i.e., the number is "plot element" rather than "five"

Jorin draws his blades and readies for a fight...also eats some mental popcorn.

(OOC: I was tempted to have Jacobson ask, "were you just using me for sex?" and start crying.)

A few of the guards close towards Ravia. “No! That is a lie, Jacobson, and I’ll prove it. And I’ll prove my loyalty to Imix!” Ravia says with excitement in her voice. “You will all soon burn and die. I will watch each and every one of you burn, then I will watch your town burn, then I will watch your world burn! ATTACK MY FRIENDS!”

With that final exclamation, Ravia jumps to engage the guards in combat. The other cultists in the caravan roar, and draw their weapons. The adventuring party calls for assistance from the manor, and the town guard moves to surround the caravan. It appears there’ll be a fight to get out of here!

You can sense the other cultists and the the town guard fighting, but they are blurry and feel distant. The 5 adventurers moving towards you feel present, and you get the feeling you are outmatched. You feel a wash of unfamiliar emotions (from the memory): fear of being captured, and adrenaline before a fight.

Everyone roll for Initiative. Drusk init: 18  (I will put short descriptions of the 5 do-gooders here, along with the letter that will identifying them. The map will come later.)

• (Wizard) - has a quarterstaff and robes, but Mage Armor is already activated
• (Champion) - plate armor and great sword 
• (Priest) - plate armor, maul, and holy symbol
• (Thief) - studded leather, short swords in each hand
• (Apprentice) - pimply faced teenager in common clothes, carrying a big backpack (like a mule for the party) 

Quillary's initiative: 8

To the party near her, Quillary asks, "Must we lose this fight? It feels like we should!"

"I infer it is time to flip the proverbial coin," Hildigrim says, preparing for action.

Initiative: 17

Jorin whispers back to Quillary, "I do not know, what was supposed to happen?"

Initiative: 15

Pascal is in Quillary’s same boat

13

DM rolls

(The module gave a map without any explanation, so I am guessing about the features drawn.)

Initiative: champion (C) goes first, then our party (Hildigrim, Drusk, Jorin, Pascal, Quillary), then the rest of their party

The champion charges forward, getting next to Drusk and Jorin. He then takes 3 swings at Jorin with his great sword. He hits all 3 times (18, 22, 25), and since the champion is over half health, every hit adds +7 slashing damage. In total, he does 57 points to Jorin.

Our party is up.

Drusk: "These guys look very tough. We may have no choice in "losing". "  Drusk casts a 2nd level Cure Wounds on Jorin, healing 14 points.

Quillary will stay where she is, taking cover behind the cart, and cast Spike Growth at the point on the grid just above and to the left of the G in "Open Gates," so the bottom point of whatever that diamond thing is.

Quote from Mingofaust >>

so the bottom point of whatever that diamond thing is.

(OOC: I am going to say that it is decorative only, to keep things simpler. I suppose it could have been pools of water or pillars of stone.)

Jorin recoils under the ferocity of the Champions attack, but smiles and says, "Finally, a true test!" then attacks back with a flury of his own axe swings!

• Bonus Action: RAGE
• Action: Battleaxe!
  • First Attack: 28 Damage: 12
  • Second Attack: 25 Damage: 14
• + 3 radiant damage to the first blow that connects!

Quote from Guiltysparc >>

• +Dice rolls not yet available for this section. radiant damage to the first blow that connects!

(OOC: Try typing out "plus" instead of using the + symbol. I think I've had problems before with certain symbols or key words messing with the die rolling script.)

Hildigrim will move 25 feet to the west, fire an arrow at the champion, and then yell something helpful to help Jorin.

+1 shortbow attack: 20; damage: 8 piercing damage

Sneak attack if appropriate: 8

Pascal shouts, “Field test, number 2! This is real weird!” 

He inhales deeply and releases a massive fireball into the center of the group of “heroes!”

23 fire damage! Vs DC 14 Dex Save!

Pascal slumps a bit, “Well that was disappointin’... Maybe if I breath from ‘round the belly that might help?”

Quote from Quasimodal >>

Quote from Guiltysparc >>

• +Dice rolls not yet available for this section. radiant damage to the first blow that connects!

(OOC: Try typing out "plus" instead of using the + symbol. I think I've had problems before with certain symbols or key words messing with the die rolling script.)

 You know what was super weird?  I saw that message but then the numbers came through when i refreshed the page.  They are coming through again for me now.  I also added a space after the plus to the radiant damage roll.