As Darion tries to sweet talk Nahth, he is horrified to hear his voice begin to give out - he definitely doesn't sound convincing as Liss'ard. To make it worse, his throat is so dry he gives a very human sounding cough as he finishes talking to the prisoners.
He pauses, uncertain what to do for a moment, watching Nahth's serpentine face with growing fear. Then, taking him totally by surprise, he hears Ellis whisper and feels a surge of energy flow through him as Ellis simultaneously drops back and begins the familiar incantation to cast sleep. For a second he hesitates, but there is a strange urge to move and he tries to keep Nahth unbalanced and focused on him, purposefully striding forward and around Nahth (hopefully not getting in the way of Ellis' spell) on his other side to the prisoners (to again try and pull his attention away from them). As he walks away from the prisoners, he casual drops the Scimitar - hopefully so Daner can easily pick it up, but also hoping it helps contribute to confusing Nahth and give them a chance to overwhelm him before he can react.
"I can't be bothered with thisss" he hisses to Nahth, still doing a Liss'ard voice.
Once Ellis has cast sleep, Darion will see if it has an effect. If it does, he will try and target the remaining broodguards with is own sleep spell. If Ellis' sleep spell has no effect, his options are currently more limited and he will take the Dodge action while hissing at Nahth in as threatening way as he can to try and focus attention away from the others.
Initiative: 9
Sleep: 27
Deception? (for keeping Nahth focussed on him): 18
OOC: That did take me by surprise then! Ah well, and I had been doing so well with Deception!
"Get to the statue," Daner says in a quiet, hurried voice to the group. "Prepare to fight." He taps his manacles.
Then in a louder voice he steps up to Lissard. "Were sick of this! I am not going to be somebody's blood bath." Daner makes to push Lissard, but 'stumbles' over beside the scimitar. He grabs it and pushes himself up, as if to rise, keeping the blade flat on the floor.
Daner hopes to draw as much attention to himself to allow the others to move without notice.
Deception: 18
If Daner can help keep Nahth trying to figure out if Lissard is what he appears to be or not, it may allow crucial moments to act.
Darion can hear Snake Arms down the hall operating the portcullis lever. He is finally getting it started, but is still a turn or so away from entering the prisoner pits.
Darion's deceptions up to this juncture allow the chain of prisoners to pass to the other side of the broodguards, nearing the entrance to the Hall of War. Nahth looks at Dari'ssard with increasing skepticism when suddenly one of the prisoners loose their chains and casts a spell, causing a broodguard to suddenly fall to the floor, and stagger another one. Nahth barely has time to gasp as Dar'issard follows suit, causing another fall, and between the two glancing blows of sleep, causes the third broodguard to drop as well. Nahth watches, flabbergasted, as Daner attempts to push Liss'ard over, and as Dar'issard shuffles to the other side of him, indeed drawing his attention away, momentarily, from the prisoners as he takes in Liss'ard's bizarre behavior.
Nahth makes a WIS saving throw against Disguise Self: 19 Whatever the result, for this turn for sure he is still bamboozled and completely distracted, looking at you. "Liss'ard, you idiot... your prisoners are getting away. Do sssssssssssomething!!"
Nath makes a Perception check with disadvantage to see if he notices Daner grab the scimitar: 14
Meanwhile, the prisoners, hearing the word from Ellis to run, do so with their newfound burst of energy, breezing past Nahth, and also just beyond (avoiding opportunity attacks) the three broodguards that have come to investigate at the entrance to the Hall of War to the south (anyone who decides to use their movement from Mantle of Inspiration could do so as well). The slowest of the group- the exhausted goblin and honor warrior, cannot make it past the broodguards in the next room, but they do make some distance. The portly yuan-ti guard in the Hall of War looks up, shocked, and drops his bag of snacks to the ground, startled. His eyes dart towards the gong hanging just outside of this room, to the east. The triceratops in the cage nearby appears agitated.
To recap, from what I understand, from north to south we have: 1. Darion, 2. Nahth, 3. Three sleeping broodguards, 4. Daner, 5. Ellis, 6. Goblin & Warrior prisoner, 7. Three awake broodguards, 8. The rest of the prisoners (and Tempest?), 9. Snackbag-ti. The distance between 1 and 8 should be about 50 feet. Snackbag is about 10 feet from Prisoner crew. Snackbag himself is 30 feet from the gong.
((Now, I know that this is a preeeetty critical juncture and it is also really complicated! So feel free to double-check with me that we're all on the same page before you take any action that you want to be sure on.))
Tempest would hear the crack in Darion's voice and transform into a bear, watching the broodguards drop he would use his mantle of inspiration to move between snackbag-ti and the gong preparing to attack him. (Only did bonus and mantle movement. Not sure if we got a surprise round.)
((Yeah, I suppose this would certainly be a surprise round, and all of that previous movement was from Ellis’ surprise action, which must have been surprising.))
(Daner, your Deception was higher than Nahth’s Perception. We’ll say that in addition to sowing confusion on your previous surprise turn, that you also readied a melee attack with the scimitar, and Nahth does not realize this.)
The huddle of prisoners barrel towards Snackbag, and all he can do is scream as this sight becomes even more horrifying when one of them turns into a bear and attempts to maul him. Tempest’s nerves are frayed and his charging momentum carries his snout into the floor as he attempts a bite, but he rebounds with a swipe of his claw which catches Snackbag across the face, leaving a “grizzly” gash.
Round 1 (I think I have done my maths right and we won initiative)
Darion circles round Nahth, heading towards the south room, staying out of melee. As he does so, he uses his last spell slot to cast sleep again on the awake Broodguard in the next room, seeing how close to menacing the prisoners they are. He pulls out his wand, mutters a brief phrase and blows over the tip of it, leaving a faint lavender smell in the air for a brief moment. As he does so, he continues the ruse of being Liss'ard, if nothing else to enjoy confusing Nahth (who will have seen the wand appear as if from no-where!).
"This is your fault, fool" he hisses at Nahth. With the action already started, Darion feels a lot of the anxiety melt away giving way to a surge of excitement.
Round 1 (I think I have done my maths right and we won initiative)
Darion circles round Nahth, heading towards the south room, staying out of melee. As he does so, he uses his last spell slot to cast sleep again on the awake Broodguard in the next room, seeing how close to menacing the prisoners they are. He pulls out his wand, mutters a brief phrase and blows over the tip of it, leaving a faint lavender smell in the air for a brief moment. As he does so, he continues the ruse of being Liss'ard, if nothing else to enjoy confusing Nahth (who will have seen the wand appear as if from no-where!).
"This is your fault, fool" he hisses at Nahth. With the action already started, Darion feels a lot of the anxiety melt away giving way to a surge of excitement.
Sleep: 23
OOC: Summarising details above for Daner from the surprise round. He now has scimitar in hand and has readied an attack against any enemy that comes within 5ft of him.
(Daner, that readied action would have come in handy if the enemy moved first, but they didn’t. I don’t want to take away your turn. If you’d like, you are free to take a different action, and I’ll give you advantage on attack rolls for this round due to hiding the blade.)
(Daner, that readied action would have come in handy if the enemy moved first, but they didn’t. I don’t want to take away your turn. If you’d like, you are free to take a different action, and I’ll give you advantage on attack rolls for this round due to hiding the blade.)
[Just checking. My understanding was that if they moved before me in this round, the attack would be triggered. I got a 7 on initiative, which was pretty low. I will bow to the advice of the DM though :)]
Daner leaps toward Nahth with the scimitar flashing out in front of him.
Attack: 15 Damage: 6 Advantage 23
Advantage gave Critical From champion so this is tha additional damage 5
(OCC: Would it be possible for Ellis to use his manacles as a weapon, able to swing it at an enemy for bludgeoning damage?)
OOC: We had this discussion when we first broke out of the pit if Daner could use them this way. YES :) It also means all the others we freed are armed.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
((OK! Here we go. Sorry for the delay. By the way, Ellis, I think you still have an action left. You initiated a surprise round, and then you guys went first in the turn order. So you will get two actions on your next post))
Firstly, Darion unleashes his sleep spell on the group of broodguards nearest the prisoners. Unfortunately, the spell only takes down one of the three, though it makes one of the others very drowsy. Their heads snap to look at the comrade that suddenly fell on the floor, sniffing the air for signs of danger.
Bear Tempest leaps upon Snackbag, plunging his powerful teeth and claws into scales too soft to prevent the horrendous damage. Snackbag crumples under tempest in a bloody heap, motionless.
Daner suddenly rushes Nahth, striking him unexpectedly and gravely. The scimitar slices across his body, wounding him dearly. He lets out a shriek and fumbles for his own scimitar at his hilt. He tears at the scabbard and unleashes a sloppy blow in retaliation, with disadvantage: Attack: 11 Damage: 5 . He shouts at the top of his lungs for assistance. "Fenthaza! Slizzy! Anyone, hark, hark!!"
The two broodguards who are still standing spring into action. One rushes Bear Tempest, hoping to avenge his fallen master. It attempts to tear into the soft creature with teeth and claws. Bite: Attack: 18 Damage: 4 Claws: Attack: 17 Damage: 7
The other broodguard, near the prisoners, attempts to rush into the crowd and cause as much damage as he can. He attacks the exhausted warrior, Kanush, who is not quick enough to avoid the flurry of claws. Bite: Attack: 14 Damage: 4 Claws: Attack: 20 Damage: 6
The other four broodguards spend their turn soundly asleep. You hear the portcullis down the hall lock into place. It has either been secured at the top or has been dropped by Snake Arms.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Bear Tempest growls at the broodguard as it tears and slashes into his hind leg. Spinning around Bear Tempest will retaliate against the broodguard standing up on his hind legs for a moment before pouncing down on it with his sharp claws and attempting to bite down on it's neck. If he manages to kill it he'll begin making his way to Ellis and the others to rush towards the cave allowing Ellis to hop on his back.
Darion sees Daner engage Nahth and get a good blow in. Reasoning they need to take out Nahth as quickly as possible, Darion wrestles with whether to drop his disguise, before deciding to keep it up. He rushes towards Nahth, grabbing a discarded manacle on the way past, and starts flailing at him with it, not so much trying to hit as keep him distracted for Daner.
Darion takes the help action for Daner to attack Nahth.
As Darion tries to sweet talk Nahth, he is horrified to hear his voice begin to give out - he definitely doesn't sound convincing as Liss'ard. To make it worse, his throat is so dry he gives a very human sounding cough as he finishes talking to the prisoners.
He pauses, uncertain what to do for a moment, watching Nahth's serpentine face with growing fear. Then, taking him totally by surprise, he hears Ellis whisper and feels a surge of energy flow through him as Ellis simultaneously drops back and begins the familiar incantation to cast sleep. For a second he hesitates, but there is a strange urge to move and he tries to keep Nahth unbalanced and focused on him, purposefully striding forward and around Nahth (hopefully not getting in the way of Ellis' spell) on his other side to the prisoners (to again try and pull his attention away from them). As he walks away from the prisoners, he casual drops the Scimitar - hopefully so Daner can easily pick it up, but also hoping it helps contribute to confusing Nahth and give them a chance to overwhelm him before he can react.
"I can't be bothered with thisss" he hisses to Nahth, still doing a Liss'ard voice.
Once Ellis has cast sleep, Darion will see if it has an effect. If it does, he will try and target the remaining broodguards with is own sleep spell. If Ellis' sleep spell has no effect, his options are currently more limited and he will take the Dodge action while hissing at Nahth in as threatening way as he can to try and focus attention away from the others.
Initiative: 9
Sleep: 27
Deception? (for keeping Nahth focussed on him): 18
OOC: That did take me by surprise then! Ah well, and I had been doing so well with Deception!
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
OOC: Carried on from above.
"Get to the statue," Daner says in a quiet, hurried voice to the group. "Prepare to fight." He taps his manacles.
Then in a louder voice he steps up to Lissard. "Were sick of this! I am not going to be somebody's blood bath." Daner makes to push Lissard, but 'stumbles' over beside the scimitar. He grabs it and pushes himself up, as if to rise, keeping the blade flat on the floor.
Daner hopes to draw as much attention to himself to allow the others to move without notice.
Deception: 18
If Daner can help keep Nahth trying to figure out if Lissard is what he appears to be or not, it may allow crucial moments to act.
((This is some fun stuff. I promise I will get to a post right as soon as I get a good moment to do so!))
Darion can hear Snake Arms down the hall operating the portcullis lever. He is finally getting it started, but is still a turn or so away from entering the prisoner pits.
Darion's deceptions up to this juncture allow the chain of prisoners to pass to the other side of the broodguards, nearing the entrance to the Hall of War. Nahth looks at Dari'ssard with increasing skepticism when suddenly one of the prisoners loose their chains and casts a spell, causing a broodguard to suddenly fall to the floor, and stagger another one. Nahth barely has time to gasp as Dar'issard follows suit, causing another fall, and between the two glancing blows of sleep, causes the third broodguard to drop as well. Nahth watches, flabbergasted, as Daner attempts to push Liss'ard over, and as Dar'issard shuffles to the other side of him, indeed drawing his attention away, momentarily, from the prisoners as he takes in Liss'ard's bizarre behavior.
Nahth makes a WIS saving throw against Disguise Self: 19 Whatever the result, for this turn for sure he is still bamboozled and completely distracted, looking at you. "Liss'ard, you idiot... your prisoners are getting away. Do sssssssssssomething!!"
Nath makes a Perception check with disadvantage to see if he notices Daner grab the scimitar: 14
Meanwhile, the prisoners, hearing the word from Ellis to run, do so with their newfound burst of energy, breezing past Nahth, and also just beyond (avoiding opportunity attacks) the three broodguards that have come to investigate at the entrance to the Hall of War to the south (anyone who decides to use their movement from Mantle of Inspiration could do so as well). The slowest of the group- the exhausted goblin and honor warrior, cannot make it past the broodguards in the next room, but they do make some distance. The portly yuan-ti guard in the Hall of War looks up, shocked, and drops his bag of snacks to the ground, startled. His eyes dart towards the gong hanging just outside of this room, to the east. The triceratops in the cage nearby appears agitated.
To recap, from what I understand, from north to south we have: 1. Darion, 2. Nahth, 3. Three sleeping broodguards, 4. Daner, 5. Ellis, 6. Goblin & Warrior prisoner, 7. Three awake broodguards, 8. The rest of the prisoners (and Tempest?), 9. Snackbag-ti. The distance between 1 and 8 should be about 50 feet. Snackbag is about 10 feet from Prisoner crew. Snackbag himself is 30 feet from the gong.
((Now, I know that this is a preeeetty critical juncture and it is also really complicated! So feel free to double-check with me that we're all on the same page before you take any action that you want to be sure on.))
(If allowed)
Tempest would hear the crack in Darion's voice and transform into a bear, watching the broodguards drop he would use his mantle of inspiration to move between snackbag-ti and the gong preparing to attack him. (Only did bonus and mantle movement. Not sure if we got a surprise round.)
Initiative: 20
(if we get a surprise round:)
Tempest would bite and claw Snakbag-ti:
Attack: (Bite) 7 (Claw) 23 Damage: (Bite) 9 (Claw) 10
((Yeah, I suppose this would certainly be a surprise round, and all of that previous movement was from Ellis’ surprise action, which must have been surprising.))
(Daner, your Deception was higher than Nahth’s Perception. We’ll say that in addition to sowing confusion on your previous surprise turn, that you also readied a melee attack with the scimitar, and Nahth does not realize this.)
The huddle of prisoners barrel towards Snackbag, and all he can do is scream as this sight becomes even more horrifying when one of them turns into a bear and attempts to maul him. Tempest’s nerves are frayed and his charging momentum carries his snout into the floor as he attempts a bite, but he rebounds with a swipe of his claw which catches Snackbag across the face, leaving a “grizzly” gash.
((I’ll roll baddie initiative here in a bit.))
Nahth Initiative: 12
Snackbag Initiative: 15
Broodguard initiative: 4
Highest average team will go first!
Initiative: 16
Round 1 (I think I have done my maths right and we won initiative)
Darion circles round Nahth, heading towards the south room, staying out of melee. As he does so, he uses his last spell slot to cast sleep again on the awake Broodguard in the next room, seeing how close to menacing the prisoners they are. He pulls out his wand, mutters a brief phrase and blows over the tip of it, leaving a faint lavender smell in the air for a brief moment. As he does so, he continues the ruse of being Liss'ard, if nothing else to enjoy confusing Nahth (who will have seen the wand appear as if from no-where!).
"This is your fault, fool" he hisses at Nahth. With the action already started, Darion feels a lot of the anxiety melt away giving way to a surge of excitement.
Sleep: 23
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Tempest will attack again attempting to bite the throat of the yuan-ti.
Attack: (Bite) 20 (Claw) 25 Damage: (B) 5 (C) 6
OOC: Summarising details above for Daner from the surprise round. He now has scimitar in hand and has readied an attack against any enemy that comes within 5ft of him.
(Daner, that readied action would have come in handy if the enemy moved first, but they didn’t. I don’t want to take away your turn. If you’d like, you are free to take a different action, and I’ll give you advantage on attack rolls for this round due to hiding the blade.)
[Just checking. My understanding was that if they moved before me in this round, the attack would be triggered. I got a 7 on initiative, which was pretty low. I will bow to the advice of the DM though :)]
Daner leaps toward Nahth with the scimitar flashing out in front of him.
Attack: 15 Damage: 6 Advantage 23
Advantage gave Critical From champion so this is tha additional damage 5
Total Damage = 11
(OCC: Would it be possible for Ellis to use his manacles as a weapon, able to swing it at an enemy for bludgeoning damage?)
OOC: We had this discussion when we first broke out of the pit if Daner could use them this way. YES :) It also means all the others we freed are armed.
(Ah, okay. Sorry, forgot.)
((OK! Here we go. Sorry for the delay. By the way, Ellis, I think you still have an action left. You initiated a surprise round, and then you guys went first in the turn order. So you will get two actions on your next post))
Firstly, Darion unleashes his sleep spell on the group of broodguards nearest the prisoners. Unfortunately, the spell only takes down one of the three, though it makes one of the others very drowsy. Their heads snap to look at the comrade that suddenly fell on the floor, sniffing the air for signs of danger.
Bear Tempest leaps upon Snackbag, plunging his powerful teeth and claws into scales too soft to prevent the horrendous damage. Snackbag crumples under tempest in a bloody heap, motionless.
Daner suddenly rushes Nahth, striking him unexpectedly and gravely. The scimitar slices across his body, wounding him dearly. He lets out a shriek and fumbles for his own scimitar at his hilt. He tears at the scabbard and unleashes a sloppy blow in retaliation, with disadvantage: Attack: 11 Damage: 5 . He shouts at the top of his lungs for assistance. "Fenthaza! Slizzy! Anyone, hark, hark!!"
The two broodguards who are still standing spring into action. One rushes Bear Tempest, hoping to avenge his fallen master. It attempts to tear into the soft creature with teeth and claws. Bite: Attack: 18 Damage: 4 Claws: Attack: 17 Damage: 7
The other broodguard, near the prisoners, attempts to rush into the crowd and cause as much damage as he can. He attacks the exhausted warrior, Kanush, who is not quick enough to avoid the flurry of claws. Bite: Attack: 14 Damage: 4 Claws: Attack: 20 Damage: 6
The other four broodguards spend their turn soundly asleep. You hear the portcullis down the hall lock into place. It has either been secured at the top or has been dropped by Snake Arms.
Bear Tempest growls at the broodguard as it tears and slashes into his hind leg. Spinning around Bear Tempest will retaliate against the broodguard standing up on his hind legs for a moment before pouncing down on it with his sharp claws and attempting to bite down on it's neck. If he manages to kill it he'll begin making his way to Ellis and the others to rush towards the cave allowing Ellis to hop on his back.
Attack: (B) 16 (C) 20 Damage: (B) 5 (C) 7
Darion sees Daner engage Nahth and get a good blow in. Reasoning they need to take out Nahth as quickly as possible, Darion wrestles with whether to drop his disguise, before deciding to keep it up. He rushes towards Nahth, grabbing a discarded manacle on the way past, and starts flailing at him with it, not so much trying to hit as keep him distracted for Daner.
Darion takes the help action for Daner to attack Nahth.
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
“Liss’ard what are you doing!? Put the manacles on the PRISSSSONER!”