Brox thinks for a moment. Then replies telepathically *"I don't think it is a good idea. The gem did something to me when I touched it. So no one else should go near it, I am going to bear this stone alone. But I want to destroy it. Tonight, I can show it to you and you can try to hit it with eye of storm. But to protect you all, I will keep this stone on me until then."*
My face lights up. "You're a wizard? So am I." I pull out my spellbook and sit down next to Zilch. "How'd you like to exchange spells?"
"There we are, someone who understands opportunity! Come this way, my friend." Zilch pulls out an ornate book, wrapped in purple dyed leather, with an intricate array of webs and spiders etched into it. He flips through the pages. "Now, I'll show you mine if you show me yours," he purrs.
My face lights up. "You're a wizard? So am I." I pull out my spellbook and sit down next to Zilch. "How'd you like to exchange spells?"
"There we are, someone who understands opportunity! Come this way, my friend." Zilch pulls out an ornate book, wrapped in purple dyed leather, with an intricate array of webs and spiders etched into it. He flips through the pages. "Now, I'll show you mine if you show me yours," he purrs.
I flip through his spellbook while he flips through mine. "It'll take me 17 and a half hours and 875 gold to get everything I want from in here, so maybe we'd better start tomorrow, when I'll be able to conjure the spell ink instead of our having to buy it."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Brox thinks for a moment. Then replies telepathically *"I don't think it is a good idea. The gem did something to me when I touched it. So no one else should go near it, I am going to bear this stone alone. But I want to destroy it. Tonight, I can show it to you and you can try to hit it with eye of storm. But I will protect you all, I will keep this stone one me until then."*
"Very well... Keep it safe and we'll destroy it tonight. For now let's gather our forces and investigate this kiddnapping story"
You take a moment (short rest) to collect your thoughts and supplies before heading towards the Duergar enclave. Flink goes with you, eager to see his mistress, Yantha, and rescue her. He keeps making comments about being able to return her gem to her, and casting sideways glances at Brox.
When you arrive in the enclave (Area 5A) you see a grouping of stalls and shops that look like they deal mainly in armor, but no one is attending them. Instead, you notice that there is a large set of double doors open to a huge warehouse further beyond the stalls (Area 5b). When you approach this area, you see about a dozen duergar suddenly emerge from thin air as they drop their invisibility. They appear threatening, but they do not immediately attack.
As you wait a second to see what they'll do, you feel a slight rumbling in the ground, followed by a loud obnoxious belch. "BRRRRAAAAAACHHP!"
Two figures emerge from the warehouse, both of them brushing a sparkling dust off their clothes, and one of them appears to splattered with some blood. When they see your group, one of them steps forward, a male Duergar. "Aye, you must be the ones the lads warned us about. Well, you're too late. The deep gnome loony is dead. Mad as a crawler, and couldn't tell us nothing we din't already know. You however, what do ye know?"
The other duergar male steps up next to the first one, and points at Flink."I think that's the assistant, Ghuldur. Ask him where my gem is!" he growls.
"Oh, is that so?" says Guldur, "Step forward assistant, my friend Krimgol here, says you have something that belongs to him. If you don't wannae die like your master, you'll best start talking! And before any of you get any ideas, I got 30 more ruffians in the warehouse behind me if you start any trouble."
Flink begins shaking."What did you do to Yantha?!"
"We do have also back up, and believe me any of these men is worth 10 of yours. We have just obliterated gargoyles and drow spies, and I am just getting warm. So I will say this only once: you will not touch Flink, you will drop your weapons and your equipment and you'll stay there while we confirm what happened to Yantha."
Grimnir turns then toward the rest of the Duergars and shouts: "Duergars ! We have been guest of the DeepKing in Grackstugh and have helped your city to fight the madness. Trust me, go home, enough blood has been shed."
As he speaks, Grimnir is casting Guidance, creating an aura of fluorescent spores, making him a bit more terrifying.
"Indeed, enough blood has been shed, but we ain't afraid to shed some more if your boyo there don't hand over the stone!"says Guldur, clearly unimpressed with Grimnir's threats. Several more duergar emerge from the warehouse, and others begin to drop invisibility around you. You now have about 20 duergar close by, and an unknown amount in the warehouse. Your retinue begins to place their hands on their weapons, though they look for a command before attacking.
Flink begins to cry. "I don't have it! I don't have it! I swear!" He clings to Brox, yelling, "Tell them! You know I don't have it. That awful gargoyle took it from me!"
Guldur and Krimgol look from Flink to Brox, and Guldur's eyes begin to burn with anger. "Alright, last chance. You all know something, and if you don't let on right now, yer gonna get the full might of the enclave on ye."
"Well, here is what we know: The ground is shaking, the faerzress is growing - and everybody is going mad! Lovers turn on each other, friends knive each other in the back, the mightiest of warriors turn and run from a little bar fight. I tell you, no-one knows the truth anymore! This outpost is supposed to be a friendly trading post! But all the factions are mistrusting each other, and as we have just seen, are starting to kill each other. If you all continue, there won't be any Mantol Derith anymore."
Brox takes a deep breath. "Explain to me, what is special about that stone, and we can help you find it. If you don't want to cooperate on this - we can fight. But I tell you, to keep the bloodshed at bay, we should do a duel. How about your best 4 women or men against four of our best? Or even better, just you against me?"
When Brox feels that her words don't quite have the impact she was hoping for, she quickly channels her connection with nature and the workings around her to discover good and evil (OOC: using Divine Sense).
While Guldur is considering your proposal, you send out divine feelers to try and understand if there's any foul fiend at work here.
You sense nothing divinely wrong with most of the duergar, but you are nearly overpowered with the sense of a fiend upon your own person. Startled briefly, you realize, it is the gem that you carry. It's power is greater than anything you have as yet encountered. You sense a tendril of dark energy connecting you to the gem, but you also sense tendrils leading to Flink, and to Krimgol, the duergar merchant who is convinced that Flink knows where the gem is. A deep throated laughter bubbles up from the gem, causing you to wince. It's not so much a sound as a feeling however, brought on by the connection to your Divine Sense. Whatever is inside, wants to be freed.
Guldur decides he's been patient enough. He holds up a hand in the air and yells loudly as he enlarges. "Kill them, and bring any gems you find to me," he yells as his hand closes into a fist, and the duergar attack.
(No initiative needed. As this is large scale fight, simply describe what you do in response to the attack, and we'll calculate any damage and retaliation in Discord. You can all take a turn before the duergar.
For reference, you are all together, with your entourage, so you may instruct them to attack. There are approximately 20-30 duergar in addition to Guldur and Krimgol. They surround you on three sides, with the two leaders in front of you. Du = Duergar; Gu = Guldur; Kr = Krimgol)
-------Warehouse------ Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Gu Kr Du Du Du Du Br Gr Du Du Bw Or Du
"Very well, don't say we didn't warn you." Grimnir shouts out to his Lord's Alliance guards "Gargathine! take care of those Duergars on the right. I will focus on their leader."
As he finishes his sentence, Grimnir pull strength from his spores. An aura is now shinning around his fists. (Action: Symbiotic Entity > +8 Temp HP)
Brox flinches away from her own pocket when she feels the dark tendrils pulling at her strength and her light. For a moment, she is very distracted and doesn't realise that they're in battle.
Then her head clears and she quickly shouts over to her followers from the Emerald Enclave and the Veterans of the Gauntlet: "Mirror Grimnir's attack plan! Attack these dark dwarves on the left!"
Then Brox steps back, 10ft behind Belwar and Oorr. A single whispered word as loud as a piercing bell reaches Krimgol and Guldur: "APPROACH" [casting command 2nd level on Gu and Kr - WIS saving throw DC 14 or follow the command on its next turn].
Again, Brox moves her hands and mumbles to herself. An additional shiny aura surrounds Dawnbringer. [casting as BA "divine favour" - additional 1d4 damage for weapon attacks]
Wasting no time, your companions draw weapons and commence to battle with the duergar army. Sounds of battle, clanging metal, grunts of pain, and flashes of magical energy erupt around you. In the middle of the chaos, the duergar leader, Ghuldur, and Krimgol, enlarge, growing to twice their normal height, and rush directly at you.
((And we're back! Sorry for the month hiatus, but let's not let this campaign drop! We've still got a lot of underground to cover. For the purposes of this fight, your companions are handling the duergar troops, so you just need to focus on the immediate threat. At the top of the round, I'll give a description of how well the overall fight is going. Some of that will depend on your actions, as well as some behind the scenes dice rolling.))
Brox waits to see what Belwar has in store, expecting him to drop a fireball on their head or something similar.
Then she'll repeat her request, a little louder this time:
"Maybe you didn't hear me! I said APPROACH!!!" [casting command 2nd level on Gu and Kr - WIS saving throw DC 14 or follow the command on their next turn].
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Oorr telepathically asks the group *May I have the gem, please?*
Brox thinks for a moment. Then replies telepathically *"I don't think it is a good idea. The gem did something to me when I touched it. So no one else should go near it, I am going to bear this stone alone. But I want to destroy it. Tonight, I can show it to you and you can try to hit it with eye of storm. But to protect you all, I will keep this stone on me until then."*
My face lights up. "You're a wizard? So am I." I pull out my spellbook and sit down next to Zilch. "How'd you like to exchange spells?"
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
"There we are, someone who understands opportunity! Come this way, my friend." Zilch pulls out an ornate book, wrapped in purple dyed leather, with an intricate array of webs and spiders etched into it. He flips through the pages. "Now, I'll show you mine if you show me yours," he purrs.
I flip through his spellbook while he flips through mine. "It'll take me 17 and a half hours and 875 gold to get everything I want from in here, so maybe we'd better start tomorrow, when I'll be able to conjure the spell ink instead of our having to buy it."
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
"Very well... Keep it safe and we'll destroy it tonight. For now let's gather our forces and investigate this kiddnapping story"
Currently Playing: Regdus Ironfist (Greyhawk) Lvl 1 Storm Sorcerer ; Goraseth Drerjoxian (Icespeak) Lvl 3 Paladin Oath of Glory; Lerak (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight) Lvl 3 Barbarian Wild Magic
In Pause: Grimnir " Shadow-Feet", Lv 11 Owner of "The Basilisk & the Monk" (OotA) - Kurma Kappa, Lv 8 Priest of Oghma (ToA)
Currently DM'ing: Princes of Apocalypse >> Tomb of Annihilation
You take a moment (short rest) to collect your thoughts and supplies before heading towards the Duergar enclave. Flink goes with you, eager to see his mistress, Yantha, and rescue her. He keeps making comments about being able to return her gem to her, and casting sideways glances at Brox.
When you arrive in the enclave (Area 5A) you see a grouping of stalls and shops that look like they deal mainly in armor, but no one is attending them. Instead, you notice that there is a large set of double doors open to a huge warehouse further beyond the stalls (Area 5b). When you approach this area, you see about a dozen duergar suddenly emerge from thin air as they drop their invisibility. They appear threatening, but they do not immediately attack.
As you wait a second to see what they'll do, you feel a slight rumbling in the ground, followed by a loud obnoxious belch. "BRRRRAAAAAACHHP!"
Two figures emerge from the warehouse, both of them brushing a sparkling dust off their clothes, and one of them appears to splattered with some blood. When they see your group, one of them steps forward, a male Duergar. "Aye, you must be the ones the lads warned us about. Well, you're too late. The deep gnome loony is dead. Mad as a crawler, and couldn't tell us nothing we din't already know. You however, what do ye know?"
The other duergar male steps up next to the first one, and points at Flink. "I think that's the assistant, Ghuldur. Ask him where my gem is!" he growls.
"Oh, is that so?" says Guldur, "Step forward assistant, my friend Krimgol here, says you have something that belongs to him. If you don't wannae die like your master, you'll best start talking! And before any of you get any ideas, I got 30 more ruffians in the warehouse behind me if you start any trouble."
Flink begins shaking. "What did you do to Yantha?!"
"We do have also back up, and believe me any of these men is worth 10 of yours. We have just obliterated gargoyles and drow spies, and I am just getting warm. So I will say this only once: you will not touch Flink, you will drop your weapons and your equipment and you'll stay there while we confirm what happened to Yantha."
Grimnir turns then toward the rest of the Duergars and shouts:
"Duergars ! We have been guest of the DeepKing in Grackstugh and have helped your city to fight the madness. Trust me, go home, enough blood has been shed."
As he speaks, Grimnir is casting Guidance, creating an aura of fluorescent spores, making him a bit more terrifying.
Intimidation: 6 + 1
Currently Playing: Regdus Ironfist (Greyhawk) Lvl 1 Storm Sorcerer ; Goraseth Drerjoxian (Icespeak) Lvl 3 Paladin Oath of Glory; Lerak (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight) Lvl 3 Barbarian Wild Magic
In Pause: Grimnir " Shadow-Feet", Lv 11 Owner of "The Basilisk & the Monk" (OotA) - Kurma Kappa, Lv 8 Priest of Oghma (ToA)
Currently DM'ing: Princes of Apocalypse >> Tomb of Annihilation
"Indeed, enough blood has been shed, but we ain't afraid to shed some more if your boyo there don't hand over the stone!" says Guldur, clearly unimpressed with Grimnir's threats. Several more duergar emerge from the warehouse, and others begin to drop invisibility around you. You now have about 20 duergar close by, and an unknown amount in the warehouse. Your retinue begins to place their hands on their weapons, though they look for a command before attacking.
Flink begins to cry. "I don't have it! I don't have it! I swear!" He clings to Brox, yelling, "Tell them! You know I don't have it. That awful gargoyle took it from me!"
Guldur and Krimgol look from Flink to Brox, and Guldur's eyes begin to burn with anger. "Alright, last chance. You all know something, and if you don't let on right now, yer gonna get the full might of the enclave on ye."
"Well, here is what we know: The ground is shaking, the faerzress is growing - and everybody is going mad! Lovers turn on each other, friends knive each other in the back, the mightiest of warriors turn and run from a little bar fight. I tell you, no-one knows the truth anymore! This outpost is supposed to be a friendly trading post! But all the factions are mistrusting each other, and as we have just seen, are starting to kill each other. If you all continue, there won't be any Mantol Derith anymore."
Brox takes a deep breath. "Explain to me, what is special about that stone, and we can help you find it. If you don't want to cooperate on this - we can fight. But I tell you, to keep the bloodshed at bay, we should do a duel. How about your best 4 women or men against four of our best? Or even better, just you against me?"
persuasion with guidance from Grimnir 11
When Brox feels that her words don't quite have the impact she was hoping for, she quickly channels her connection with nature and the workings around her to discover good and evil (OOC: using Divine Sense).
While Guldur is considering your proposal, you send out divine feelers to try and understand if there's any foul fiend at work here.
You sense nothing divinely wrong with most of the duergar, but you are nearly overpowered with the sense of a fiend upon your own person. Startled briefly, you realize, it is the gem that you carry. It's power is greater than anything you have as yet encountered. You sense a tendril of dark energy connecting you to the gem, but you also sense tendrils leading to Flink, and to Krimgol, the duergar merchant who is convinced that Flink knows where the gem is. A deep throated laughter bubbles up from the gem, causing you to wince. It's not so much a sound as a feeling however, brought on by the connection to your Divine Sense. Whatever is inside, wants to be freed.
Guldur decides he's been patient enough. He holds up a hand in the air and yells loudly as he enlarges. "Kill them, and bring any gems you find to me," he yells as his hand closes into a fist, and the duergar attack.
(No initiative needed. As this is large scale fight, simply describe what you do in response to the attack, and we'll calculate any damage and retaliation in Discord. You can all take a turn before the duergar.
For reference, you are all together, with your entourage, so you may instruct them to attack. There are approximately 20-30 duergar in addition to Guldur and Krimgol. They surround you on three sides, with the two leaders in front of you. Du = Duergar; Gu = Guldur; Kr = Krimgol)
-------Warehouse------
Du Du Du Du Du Du
Du Du
Du Gu Kr Du
Du Du
Du Br Gr Du
Du Bw Or Du
-------Market---------
Central Ravine
)
"Very well, don't say we didn't warn you."
Grimnir shouts out to his Lord's Alliance guards "Gargathine! take care of those Duergars on the right. I will focus on their leader."
As he finishes his sentence, Grimnir pull strength from his spores. An aura is now shinning around his fists. (Action: Symbiotic Entity > +8 Temp HP)
Currently Playing: Regdus Ironfist (Greyhawk) Lvl 1 Storm Sorcerer ; Goraseth Drerjoxian (Icespeak) Lvl 3 Paladin Oath of Glory; Lerak (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight) Lvl 3 Barbarian Wild Magic
In Pause: Grimnir " Shadow-Feet", Lv 11 Owner of "The Basilisk & the Monk" (OotA) - Kurma Kappa, Lv 8 Priest of Oghma (ToA)
Currently DM'ing: Princes of Apocalypse >> Tomb of Annihilation
Brox flinches away from her own pocket when she feels the dark tendrils pulling at her strength and her light. For a moment, she is very distracted and doesn't realise that they're in battle.
Then her head clears and she quickly shouts over to her followers from the Emerald Enclave and the Veterans of the Gauntlet: "Mirror Grimnir's attack plan! Attack these dark dwarves on the left!"
Then Brox steps back, 10ft behind Belwar and Oorr. A single whispered word as loud as a piercing bell reaches Krimgol and Guldur: "APPROACH" [casting command 2nd level on Gu and Kr - WIS saving throw DC 14 or follow the command on its next turn].
Again, Brox moves her hands and mumbles to herself. An additional shiny aura surrounds Dawnbringer. [casting as BA "divine favour" - additional 1d4 damage for weapon attacks]
Wis Saves:
Krimgol: 16
Ghuldur: 19
Both duergar look at Brox, then each other, then back at Brox. "What are ye waiting for!" shouts Ghuldur.
Roll Inititiave!
"This has last long enough!"
Eye of the Storm (Ghuldur) + Zephyr Strike: Attack: 18 Damage: 13
Eye of the Storm (Ghuldur): Attack: 9 Damage: 8
Initiative: 10
Initiative: 14
Initiative: 4
Currently Playing: Regdus Ironfist (Greyhawk) Lvl 1 Storm Sorcerer ; Goraseth Drerjoxian (Icespeak) Lvl 3 Paladin Oath of Glory; Lerak (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight) Lvl 3 Barbarian Wild Magic
In Pause: Grimnir " Shadow-Feet", Lv 11 Owner of "The Basilisk & the Monk" (OotA) - Kurma Kappa, Lv 8 Priest of Oghma (ToA)
Currently DM'ing: Princes of Apocalypse >> Tomb of Annihilation
Wasting no time, your companions draw weapons and commence to battle with the duergar army. Sounds of battle, clanging metal, grunts of pain, and flashes of magical energy erupt around you. In the middle of the chaos, the duergar leader, Ghuldur, and Krimgol, enlarge, growing to twice their normal height, and rush directly at you.
((And we're back! Sorry for the month hiatus, but let's not let this campaign drop! We've still got a lot of underground to cover. For the purposes of this fight, your companions are handling the duergar troops, so you just need to focus on the immediate threat. At the top of the round, I'll give a description of how well the overall fight is going. Some of that will depend on your actions, as well as some behind the scenes dice rolling.))
Round 1:
21 Belwar
14 Brox
11 Krimgol
10 Oorr
08 Ghuldur
05 Grimnir
Brox waits to see what Belwar has in store, expecting him to drop a fireball on their head or something similar.
Then she'll repeat her request, a little louder this time:
"Maybe you didn't hear me! I said APPROACH!!!" [casting command 2nd level on Gu and Kr - WIS saving throw DC 14 or follow the command on their next turn].