Eldon smashes the zombie in the face with sheer brute force, and the zombie staggers slightly and groans once more. Surprisingly, it's still on its feet. In retaliation, the zombie swings both arms forward, slamming into Eldon.
Attack: 21 Damage: 4
The zombie was quick to strike Eldon so much that Eldon didn't have time to block the attack, and Eldon grunts while withstanding the blow.
[OOC]Are we all clustered around it, or has it been knocked back? I will back away if I can without drawing an attack of opportunity in order to make room for the melee folks. If my backing away would cause an attack of opportunity, I instead attack it with my rapier!
If I can back away: Kestrell uses Vicious Mockery"Hey Zombie, you look a little pale! And you don't smell good!"[OOC] Zombie must succeed on a WIS saving throw of 13 or take 1d4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on it's next attack. Psychic damage if needed: 3
If I can't back away without drawing an attack: Kestrell drops his horn, draws his rapier and attacks with a flourish and a "En guarde, fowl creature!": Attack 12 Damage 9
OOC: You were the closest to it so moving away would provoke an AoO.
Kestrell manages to strike the zombie with such vigor, which results in the zombie's eyes fading to black as its knees buckles from the dead weight. The body of the zombie plummets to the ground motionless.
Zombie Con Saving Throw: 9
The zombie remains motionless and lifeless as it has been defeated.
Kestrell sheaths his rapier, picks up his horn, turns to everybody and says: "So...that happened. Anyone ever seen a dead man come to life and try to eat us before?"
Xavice almost begins to tell the party a story of a similar situation, before promptly closing his mouth after realising it was a scene from the hit play "Punch of the living dead"
Xavice, once again, paces toward the bodies to check if anyone could recognise them.
Xavice is not able to determine much from the corpses from examination as they appear to be random locals who were merely at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Poor chaps! That's too bad...Anyway how's everyone feeling? I'm pretty beat up and could use a rest. I see the sun is just now coming up. What does everyone want to do? I can get by with a short rest, or some healing if we want to hurry to Barovia to aid Kolyan Indirovich's wife."Kestrell sits down on a log on the side of the road. "Also, someone should check those remains for anything useful."
OOC: Ah, thanks. I found it. I couldn't find that earlier and thought we found the zombie sooner after leaving the tavern.
"We shouldn't linger longer than necessary though. I am uneasy with this road despite the time, and it seems someone's life is at stake at our destination."
"No rest for the wicked, as they say! But you are right, we should make haste, as the letter said. Eldon, you got anything that will ease the aches and pains? Oh, did anyone search those poor souls for anything useful?"
Cinna wasn't able to find much from investigating the corpses that are of value. As the party speak among themselves, the soft, cold breeze continues to brush against them. The cloud-filled sky barely has any sunlight beaming through, just enough to illuminate their vicinity. Those with a passive perception of 15 or higher (in this case, Cinna and Eldon), will hear copious, faint howls originating from multiple directions from the woods surrounding them. The flock of ravens that were flying freely in the air, have mysteriously flown away. The howls get slightly louder, as if they were getting closer to the group. Cinna and Eldon are able to deduce that the howls are from wolves. Before they have time to warn the party, the wolves emerge among the tree line, visible to the whole party. They're not ordinary wolves, they're large dire wolves. Not even grizzly bears would dare cross these wolves. Three dire wolves appear on each side of the road, glaring at the party from the tree line. Their heads kept low, blood dripping from their salivating jaws as if they just fed.
Cinna and Eldon also begin to hear the flapping of bat wings, as they screech from a distance. A swarm of bats descend from the sky, addressing the party directly. The bats float briefly, before they congregate and within merely a second, the bats disappear, and before the party stands a man. The man is as pale as the moon, and is wearing ornate clothes.
"Welcome to my kingdom, peasants. I am Count Strahd von Zarovich. The lives you had before your advent are now inconsequential, because your souls now belong to me." Strahd speaks in an arrogant tone. Strahd directs his attention to Xavice. "Your people relish soaring the skies candidly, but regardless of how high and fast you can fly, you cannot escape my grasp. Your faith is futile, Monk, because I am now your God." Strahd darts his eyes to Trogdor. "Dragons have felt my wrath. Not even they dare challenge me. Your heritage will be your downfall." Strahd looks over to Cinna. "You may think your safe in the woods. I have subordinates lying in wake in every corner of this land." He gestures to the dire wolves. "You will not be able to hide from me, Wood Elf." Strahd glances to Kestrell. "You mask your insecurities with music, but your weakness will be exposed and your morals will be broken." Strahd looks to Eldon, and steps forward. "Last and least, the cleric. Every fiber in your being must be demanding to strike me down. How does it feel to know your God doesn't protect you now that you're in my clutches? No amount of prayer and worship will aid you now." Strahd exclaims profusely, and begins to step away from the party, about the disembark. Strahd turns his back, and peers over his shoulder, addressing the whole party. "She. Is. Mine." Strahd proclaims empathically, as he bursts into the swarm of bats once more, and flies away. The dire wolves residing in the tree line remain in place.
Kestrell appearing slightly spooked, says with a quiver in his voice: "What...was...that?!? Count Strahd von Zarovich, he said. Do you think he was talking about Kolyan Indirovich's wife? Oh and by the way, there are three Dire wolves glaring at us. I think one just salivated. Forget about what the Count said, who has a chance at persuading these beasts to let us pass?"
Kestrell, facing the right side of the road and looking at the three large Dire Wolves hears a loud howl behind him. Kestrell spins around and gasps: "Well crap! You guys remember when I said there were three? It turns out I was wrong!"
Xavice turns to the rest of the party, revealing his panicked expression, despite his attempts at maintaining his composure. “W-we can’t fight them surely. Can anyone here t-talk to these beasts?” He says interwoven with panicked breaths.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As Cinna starts talking to the Dire Wolf, Kestrell moves to the front of the group and looks down the road and then looks around the sides at all of the Dire wolves, looking for anything that would make their already grim predicament event worse. 18
Kestrell gets distracted by a really neat looking rock at his feet.
Eldon smashes the zombie in the face with sheer brute force, and the zombie staggers slightly and groans once more. Surprisingly, it's still on its feet. In retaliation, the zombie swings both arms forward, slamming into Eldon.
Attack: 21
Damage: 4
The zombie was quick to strike Eldon so much that Eldon didn't have time to block the attack, and Eldon grunts while withstanding the blow.
OOC: It now goes to Kestrell.
DM: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
[OOC]Are we all clustered around it, or has it been knocked back? I will back away if I can without drawing an attack of opportunity in order to make room for the melee folks. If my backing away would cause an attack of opportunity, I instead attack it with my rapier!
If I can back away: Kestrell uses Vicious Mockery "Hey Zombie, you look a little pale! And you don't smell good!" [OOC] Zombie must succeed on a WIS saving throw of 13 or take 1d4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on it's next attack. Psychic damage if needed: 3
If I can't back away without drawing an attack: Kestrell drops his horn, draws his rapier and attacks with a flourish and a "En guarde, fowl creature!": Attack 12 Damage 9
OOC: You were the closest to it so moving away would provoke an AoO.
Kestrell manages to strike the zombie with such vigor, which results in the zombie's eyes fading to black as its knees buckles from the dead weight. The body of the zombie plummets to the ground motionless.
Zombie Con Saving Throw: 9
The zombie remains motionless and lifeless as it has been defeated.
DM: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Kestrell sheaths his rapier, picks up his horn, turns to everybody and says: "So...that happened. Anyone ever seen a dead man come to life and try to eat us before?"
Xavice almost begins to tell the party a story of a similar situation, before promptly closing his mouth after realising it was a scene from the hit play "Punch of the living dead"
Xavice, once again, paces toward the bodies to check if anyone could recognise them.
Investigation: 15
Xavice is not able to determine much from the corpses from examination as they appear to be random locals who were merely at the wrong place at the wrong time.
DM: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
"Poor chaps! That's too bad...Anyway how's everyone feeling? I'm pretty beat up and could use a rest. I see the sun is just now coming up. What does everyone want to do? I can get by with a short rest, or some healing if we want to hurry to Barovia to aid Kolyan Indirovich's wife." Kestrell sits down on a log on the side of the road. "Also, someone should check those remains for anything useful."
"We can't go back to the tavern and these roads are clearly dangerous at night, so we might as well take a short rest."
OOC: Is it really morning? It hasn't been very long in game.
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"Darn right we can't go back to the tavern again. The only thing I'm going back to the tavern for is to teach that tavern keeper a lesson!"
OOC: Yeah, when we came upon the first Zombie, dawn was just breaking.
OOC: Ah, thanks. I found it. I couldn't find that earlier and thought we found the zombie sooner after leaving the tavern.
"We shouldn't linger longer than necessary though. I am uneasy with this road despite the time, and it seems someone's life is at stake at our destination."
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Trogdor sheaths his longsword and let's out a loud grunt.
"I have never seen anything like that in all my life. Let us continue, and stay vigilant, we don't know what else might be out here"
Kestrell stands up from the log.
"No rest for the wicked, as they say! But you are right, we should make haste, as the letter said. Eldon, you got anything that will ease the aches and pains? Oh, did anyone search those poor souls for anything useful?"
OOC: That's an investigation check, right?
Investigation 15
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Cinna wasn't able to find much from investigating the corpses that are of value. As the party speak among themselves, the soft, cold breeze continues to brush against them. The cloud-filled sky barely has any sunlight beaming through, just enough to illuminate their vicinity. Those with a passive perception of 15 or higher (in this case, Cinna and Eldon), will hear copious, faint howls originating from multiple directions from the woods surrounding them. The flock of ravens that were flying freely in the air, have mysteriously flown away. The howls get slightly louder, as if they were getting closer to the group. Cinna and Eldon are able to deduce that the howls are from wolves. Before they have time to warn the party, the wolves emerge among the tree line, visible to the whole party. They're not ordinary wolves, they're large dire wolves. Not even grizzly bears would dare cross these wolves. Three dire wolves appear on each side of the road, glaring at the party from the tree line. Their heads kept low, blood dripping from their salivating jaws as if they just fed.
Cinna and Eldon also begin to hear the flapping of bat wings, as they screech from a distance. A swarm of bats descend from the sky, addressing the party directly. The bats float briefly, before they congregate and within merely a second, the bats disappear, and before the party stands a man. The man is as pale as the moon, and is wearing ornate clothes.
OOC: Image of Strahd
"Welcome to my kingdom, peasants. I am Count Strahd von Zarovich. The lives you had before your advent are now inconsequential, because your souls now belong to me." Strahd speaks in an arrogant tone. Strahd directs his attention to Xavice.
"Your people relish soaring the skies candidly, but regardless of how high and fast you can fly, you cannot escape my grasp. Your faith is futile, Monk, because I am now your God." Strahd darts his eyes to Trogdor.
"Dragons have felt my wrath. Not even they dare challenge me. Your heritage will be your downfall." Strahd looks over to Cinna.
"You may think your safe in the woods. I have subordinates lying in wake in every corner of this land." He gestures to the dire wolves. "You will not be able to hide from me, Wood Elf." Strahd glances to Kestrell.
"You mask your insecurities with music, but your weakness will be exposed and your morals will be broken." Strahd looks to Eldon, and steps forward.
"Last and least, the cleric. Every fiber in your being must be demanding to strike me down. How does it feel to know your God doesn't protect you now that you're in my clutches? No amount of prayer and worship will aid you now." Strahd exclaims profusely, and begins to step away from the party, about the disembark. Strahd turns his back, and peers over his shoulder, addressing the whole party.
"She. Is. Mine." Strahd proclaims empathically, as he bursts into the swarm of bats once more, and flies away. The dire wolves residing in the tree line remain in place.
DM: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Kestrell appearing slightly spooked, says with a quiver in his voice: "What...was...that?!? Count Strahd von Zarovich, he said. Do you think he was talking about Kolyan Indirovich's wife? Oh and by the way, there are three Dire wolves glaring at us. I think one just salivated. Forget about what the Count said, who has a chance at persuading these beasts to let us pass?"
OOC: They're actually six wolves. Three one the left side of the road, and three on the right side of the road.
DM: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Kestrell, facing the right side of the road and looking at the three large Dire Wolves hears a loud howl behind him. Kestrell spins around and gasps: "Well crap! You guys remember when I said there were three? It turns out I was wrong!"
Xavice turns to the rest of the party, revealing his panicked expression, despite his attempts at maintaining his composure. “W-we can’t fight them surely. Can anyone here t-talk to these beasts?” He says interwoven with panicked breaths.
Cinna casts Speak With Animals and turns toward the nearest dire wolf and speaks to it. "Hello. I am Cinna. Who was that? What is your purpose here?"
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As Cinna starts talking to the Dire Wolf, Kestrell moves to the front of the group and looks down the road and then looks around the sides at all of the Dire wolves, looking for anything that would make their already grim predicament event worse. 18
Kestrell gets distracted by a really neat looking rock at his feet.