Due to quarantining and whatnot, we're transitioning our weekly game to play-by-post for a little while. If you're just swinging by, be prepared to be very confused. That's fine. We know what we're doing. Mostly.
What is play-by-post?
Simply put, play-by-post (PbP) refers to the fact that our game is taking place here on these forums instead of the "traditional" way of playing gathered around the table while the dog sniffs everyone's everything, and instead of wrangling with Discord A/V issues. Just like in our normal sessions, you have your character and the DM acts as your eyes and ears, providing descriptions of your surroundings and setting the scene, inviting your character to action. You and the other players will post your character's interactions with the world in response to that.
The end result, in many ways, reads like a book that we all helped write!
How to Post
Formatting
"Stuff your character says should be in bold," said Barniss.
"Stuff your character thinks should be in italics," thought Cadenza.
Mark out-of-character stuff as a spoiler (exclamation point icon on the editor as you type a post):
I'm casting detect magic on the door.
Tense
For sake of consistency, we'll be using third person past tense. So instead of "I shoot the thing with my bow" it'd be "Dain shot the thing with his bow." It takes a second to get used to, since we're all used to describing our characters action in first person present tense, but you'll pick it up quick, and it makes posts flow together a lot better.
Dice Rolling
You can roll dice in a post! This forum post has all the details, but there's a little image of a die at the top right of the editor that's super easy to use. Be sure to say what you're doing in bold text in front of the roll, so it's nice & easy to see. Here are two examples:
Nora cast fire bolt at the tree. Attack: 20Damage: 9
Sam tiptoed around the edge of the goblin camp, being sure to stay just out of sight. Stealth: 13
Tooltips
You probably noticed neat tooltips on fire bolt and stealth in the section above. It's super easy to do! There's a post here about it, but here's the content of that post in a spoiler so you don't have to go anywhere:
D&D Beyond offers the ability to link certain aspects on the forum in mouse-over triggered tooltips, such as magic items, monsters or combat actions - examples being Adult Black Dragon and dash. To create tooltips in this way as these, use the appropriate [tag][/tag] around the desired subject.
These tooltips can be used in most text boxes on D&D Beyond, such as: forum posts; campaign notes section; homebrew descriptions.
Example: [magicitem]Sun Blade[/ magicitem] (Without spaces within the [ ] brackets.)
Use the following within the [ ][/ ] bracket system:
action - an action taken in combat - e.g. dodge, search and ready
Additionally, tooltips support the written text of the tooltip being different from the actual item or monster text. This is great for plurals for example:
Ioun Stones of [ magicitem]ioun stone of strength;Strength[/ magicitem] and [ magicitem]ioun stone of regeneration;Regeneration[/ magicitem] would display as:
[ monster]Wolf;Wolves[/monster] displays as Wolves
Posting Rate
Playing by post takes a lot longer than playing at the table. We may well even be back together in person before y'all make it out of Walker's Wood! But that's okay!
I plan on posting maybe 2-3 times a week, and I'd like for folks to try for the same. In combat, posting daily is nice to keep it moving - combat takes a lot longer than anything else in PbP.
Because PbP a slower format, I'll be following the "rule of two" (amended to three): if someone wants to pursue a course of action, and it's seconded and thirded, I'll assume the party is going in that direction without waiting for all six of ya to be like "yes let's do the thing."
Ingredients for a Good Post
So now that you know the basics, let's touch briefly on what makes a great post!
The first is to remember the format - we have more time so you're not on the spot. You can think for a day on what your character might say, or draft a quick response and then return to it later. No need to rush! The advantage of PbP is that there's more time for roleplay than at the table, so take advantage of it!
More specifically: the difference between a meh post and a great post is attention to detail. It's easy to answer the DM's post, but the most interesting and exciting posts for the rest of the group to read are the ones that grab their imagination. Your goal, aside from the obvious one of telling the DM what your character does, is to make sure others enjoy the posts you write as much as you want the DM's posts to be full of neat stuff for you. Be descriptive! You don't need to write a novel with each post (please don't!), but use your words to paint a picture.
Some examples:
DM Posts
Weak Response Post
Better Response Post
The wooden door flies apart as the orcs burst into the room, swords drawn, snarling at the group.
Bob swings his sword at the orc.
Ignoring her fear as adrenaline coursed through her, Rae leaped forward, swinging her sword in an attempt to separate the orc's head from its body.
The hallway is eerily quiet. A sturdy-looking door stands closed at the end, visible in the torchlight.
My character will check for traps on the door.
Darius moved to the door and pulled out his thief's tools. He started to carefully inspect the door and the lock in search of traps that might impede his progress.
Basically with each post you want to give the rest of the group something for their characters to react to or build off of.
Be proactive. If you're want to sneak ahead to see what you can see, include stealth and perception rolls with your post. Don't wait for me to ask for them!
I'm new to this whole PbP thing too, so bear with me as I try to be a good role (get it?) model. <3 If you want to read more ideas & tips about it in general, check out this forum post. But overall don't sweat it too much - we're all here to have a good time and get our D&D fix. :)
Combat
I'll send y'all a link privately to a shared Google Sheet for tracking initiative and a Google Slides with edit access so you can move tokens on a map. Just makes things easier all around.
A white dragon threatened the small town of Arandale, upsetting the region and generally throwing things into chaos.
With that chaos, other evil parties took advantage of the region's weakness. Displaced orcs came down from the Daggerpeak Mountains and forced their way into new homes. Kobolds claimed the Mountain's Toe Mines. Rumors swirled about dark happenings deep in Walkers Wood.
Arandale needs heros to defeat the dragon and return order to the region, and a stalwart band of adventurers answered the call.
If anyone else reading this is like "gee this sounds familiar," you're right. Started off as the Essentials Kit adventure and then I decided to branch off and do things differently about four sessions in.
Recap:
The group arrived with Palman in tow to the Logger's Camp in Walker's Wood, bearing a shipment of food and supplies from Arandale. Tibor Wester, the townmaster's brother, welcomed them warmly, informing them that a tension gripped the woods, and that his men were returning from the forest with strange puncture wounds. He offered the party 200gp to have it stopped and the woods made safe again.
Upon entering the woods, the party encountered some splinter fae creatures. After some initial fighting and a chance taken by Cicero, they seemed to listen to something and let the group advance in peace. Later, they aided in a fight against a blackened, corrupted tree. Battered and bruised, the party followed the twiggy creatures to a small clearing, where an elderly druid named May offered them shelter for the night and the next day to tend to their wounds and rest.
She told them that a treant named Willowscar was corrupting the forest and asked for their help to defeat him.
The group went to Quelenna's tower, where Willowscar stood guard. Dain sneaked in and stole a letter from Quelenna which spoke fondly of "Lindelor" and advised the reader to travel to Eaglespire to recover the secrets of creating a dragon-killing weapon.
The party spoke with Willowscar/Lindelor, who told them that May was a hag and the real one responsible for the corruption growing in the forest.
After a short skirmish with May and her splinter fae allies, Cicero managed to calm everyone down enough for a chat...
"Calm down! I just want to speak for a moment!" he shouted, with his hands outstretched.
The hag scowled at him.
"Fine," she spat. "But I'll do it more safely than this!" And with that, May snapped her fingers, a large gray squirrel appeared on the ground nearby, and the hag herself disappeared.
The group looked around at the splinter fae and elders, now regarding them with a strange mildly curious disinterest. Cadenza and Sam stood panting with exertion, holding their swords. Nora grimaced with pain as she shook away the cobwebs of unconsciousness. Dain peeked cautiously out from behind a tree at the edge of the clearing. Barniss came down off his rage, which lingered as a mild annoyance at being stopped from hitting things.
"Well?" came the hag's voice. "What is it you want? Speak!"
"If you would thee uth dead, we with to know the truth." Cicero replied-frustrated and looking around at his wounded friends, "We have earned that much. Bethidth, you clearly outmatch uth and it could do you no harm to tell uth what ith truly going on here."
Cicero invoked all his charm and wit into each word... Persuasion13
Cadenza looked from Cicero who was speaking to May, then turned her eyes to Nora. Bending down, keeping the splinter creature to her side just in sight, she gently touched Nora on the shoulder to heal her wounds. "Hanging in there Nora?" she asked as a small gentle light glowed under her hand.
Dain couldn't see even the slightest indication that the hag had ever existed, except for the gray squirrel sitting there scratching at its ear with a hind leg.
Splinter fae though. He saw lots of those. Five little ones. Two big ones. The big ones had just woken up the sleeping little ones and they were all standing now. They looked a little worse for wear, though, which was some relief. But he and his friends were still outnumbered. And that's without the ugly vanishing one.
Cicero, chest heaving, hands still outstretched, waited for old May to reply. After what felt like an eternity, he heard her.
"What is truly going on? Clearly you've never encountered one of my kind before." Her voice came hollowly from some invisible source somewhere in front of him. "What is truly going on is that I ... I am going to own Walker's Wood. I'm going to choke out that filthy tree and then I'll get into that tower and take what's inside. Take what should be mine! Quelenna was one of the most powerful wizards ever, and there are secrets to be found ... secrets and perhaps even a body to raise. A body makes two, and one more makes three. And three hags ... well ..." The little squirrel cocked its head to one side, calmly regarding Cicero. "... that's none of your business."
Cicero looked around at the splinter fae, which were looking at him and his party curiously. They looked confused and were shaking their heads as if to clear cobwebs. His calm emotions spell didn't have much time left ....
"I'm still here. I suppose." Nora responded. She blinked slowly as some of her injuries were alleviated.
Disoriented as she was, Nora attempted to remember anything from her studies of twisted magic users such as May. "What is she saying to that damn lisping fool?"
Cicero nodded to himself realizing the worst. Knowing he had little time he spoke toward his companions, "The thpell will wear off thoon. Ready yourthelveth. If need be I will cover your retreat. Thith cannot be allowed to continue."
Drawing his weapon from his belt, a solemn expression grew across his face. He leaned forward and raised a torso of a defeated splinter fae as a makeshift shield, 'We're in the last round now.'
He paused allowing his companions their final seconds to act, and the moment that his spell failed he raised his mace high and shouted, "Uwa bleth thith party with the power to vanquith the evil it fatheth!" and Dain, Barness, and Nora felt a surge of righteous vigor warm the blood in their veins!
Cicero cast Bless on Dain, Barness, and Nora after the spell end allowing them each time to act and using the cast as a signal for them to attack.
Barniss looked down to inspect his person. He indeed was still a person. And also very wounded. The splinterfey had stabbed and torn him up. Not the outcome he had anticipated. He looked about to his companions, and heard the voice of the hag ringing dimly. He was, of course, barely paying attention to the content of what she was saying.
When May had stopped speaking, he called out, "Ah, yes. Great, wonderful folksy shite that is. Three ags in a bush are worth two up yer arse...yeah, yeah." "Listen, if you slack-jawed daffodils are going to keepn aving yer esteem'd meeting of minds, that's fien. I'm going to set down a spell. Let me know when yer thrua, so I can break yer teeth outta yer ead." This was, of course, all bravado. Barniss desperately needed to regroup. As he staggered about, he noticed a squirrel sitting in what suddenly looked like a very comfortable spot. "Pardon," he said as he kicked his finely booted foot at the squirrel.
I leave it entirely up to you, Maximilian, as to what sort of check this is. I didn't just wanna be like, "Derp, athletics, since that's my highest boosted one!" Or if it even warrants a check.
Also, is kicking an unarmed strike? What if it's a critter?
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As Barniss staggered over to the squirrel near Cicero and swung his extremely well-crafted boot in a less well-crafted kick ... it went right through the squirrel. Barniss blinked. He swung his foot again. Right through the bloody critter. Just an illusion, then.
Nora wracked her brain, trying to find useful information about hags. The problem wasn't that there was no information. She had plenty of information. The problem was finding useful information. "This'd be a green hag," she thought. "Favorite color? Green. Stupid, uncreative types. Can go invisible, obviously." She watched Barniss swinging his foot back and forth through an illusory squirrel. "Good with illusions." A few other factoids flashed through her memory: green hags were vicious, vengeful creatures who relished the sufferings and despair of others. Power-hungry and with tricks up their sleeves, they weren't above mimicking other voices and creatures to lure adventurers into helping them. But beyond their tricky minds and their nasty claws, they didn't have anywhere near the magical power that, say, a wizard might.
Almost right near his ear, Barniss heard May's voice again.
"Finish them," she said with a cackle. "I'll just ... watch."
The remaining splinter fae all turned towards the party, bared their spiky fingers, and began to advance...
Cicero, add +1 to your AC (we'll say the splinter fae remains are a buckler). Barniss, what's your current HP? I see you at full health on your character sheet.
I'll roll initiative for folks in the next spoiler so we can just kick right into combat without waiting for six folks to post. Dain, Barniss, and Nora: you'll get advantage on initiative because of the sudden surge of blessing you feel from Cicero. Also, Dain, we'll assume that you're hidden behind a tree. Roll me a stealth check when it gets to your turn.
Initiative Rolls:
Barniss: 19
Cadenza: 8
Cicero: 18
Dain: 18
Nora: 18
Sam: 7
Old May: 8
Splinter Fae x5 (grouped):12 (it'll go much more quickly if I can do groups, though it might hurt a smidge)
Splinter Elders x2 (grouped):20
About Combat:
Feel free to include contingency plans in a spoiler in your post. Things like "if that first blow kills him, then I'll move to the other guy and whack him too. If not, both whacks on dude #1," or if you hold an action, go ahead and still roll the dice for if/when it does go off. Stuff like that.
Also, I'd just like to say: Y'all are amazing. I love reading your stuff so much :D
Initiative Order (higher dex and players break ties):
"Ye can watch me arse, walking away from what's left of ye," Barniss spat as he spun his maul.
He huffed and let out a strained shout (Barniss used Rage!), before leaping toward the fey elder he had engaged previously. "We've even got some pine to make a box for ye!"
Barniss closed the distance with the elder in a bound, but his attack swung wide. He found himself face-to-face with the elder and three of the little ones. "Well that was shite," he thought.
Old May cackled behind him, her voice grating into his ears and only infuriating him even more. It was hard to place where her voice was coming from. She sounded like she was everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Ooof that's a tough first turn in combat :P Dain, Nora, and Cicero: you're up. Feel free to go asynchronously and use conditional moves/actions if you'd like.
Edit: WAIT! Barniss is blessed ... fingers crossed: 2
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Oh hells..!" Seeing Barniss stride into the thick of it, Dain only had one option. He quickly nocked and loosed an arrow at the elder, hoping to thin the horde surrounding him before it was too late. "Come on, come on..! Barniss needs an assist, guys!"
Dain's arrow flew true, and embedded itself deeply into the elder. The splinter creature stopped for a moment, swaying and obviously badly injured, then continued on toward Barniss.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Nora's frustration with the entire ordeal mounted. With a quick prayer and the blessing of the lisper, she dug deep into herself to find a spark.
Nora cast Scorching Ray from her outstretched fingertips.
The first ray she directed at the elder splinter fae paces before her. Attack: 28 Damage: 20
The second ray followed the first toward the elder splinter fae again. Attack: 14 Damage: 6
The third ray sliced through the air to the farther elder splinter fae engaged with Barniss. Attack: 25 Damage: 8
As the fire left her fingertips, guilt stung in Nora. An unusual feeling indeed. "I'm sorry Lindelore. I don't see another way." She braced for the fury of the forest.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The clearing lit up with Nora's fire. Three rays slammed into the larger splinter fae, which both exploded in a shower of stinging bits of wood.
I need Barniss, Sam & Cadenza to make me a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw or take 7 piercing damage from flying splinters. You can do that at any point between now and your next turn (i.e. don't feel like folks have to wait for those rolls to post).
One little fae is in range: 14.
She waited with bated breath for the entire forest to come charging at her, but ... nothing happened. Maybe they were too deep in May's territory, maybe Lindelor understood. Either way, the clearing stood as it was before, save the charred and smoking remains of the two largest threats. Five little splinter fae still stood, and May screeched with fury.
Hearing May's fury, Cicero closed his eyes and breathed calmly. Still holding the make-shift shield in one hand and his mace in the other, Cicero stretched his arms out in front of himself and stepped forward so he was center of the clearing.
Strands of red vitreous fluid formed from his fingertips. As he channeled forth the ancient magic, he focused on May's voice and pictured her near him. His veins became strained and pressed against his skin like ridges across his face and arms down to the fingertips...
With the bond formed and his will sure, he raised his puppets hands and his own raised to match. Bringing the mace and shield closer to him, he commanded she strike at her own throat and rush towards him. Commanding the very flow of her blood he strained her muscles with all of his ability.
'Uwa, through your will I command the blood to follow my own. This creature will taint this realm no longer.' he thought to himself.
Channel Divinity: Blood Puppet
You target a Large or smaller creature that has blood within 60 feet of you. That creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or immediately move up to half of their movement in any direction of your choice and make a single weapon attack against a creature of your choice within range
With the act complete he traced a floating mirror in front of himself and said, "I am immune to your hothtility. The Divine grant me Thanctuary" and unleashed his final bout of divine magic! Now panting he watched his allies closely.
I cast Sanctuary with my last spell slot as a Bonus Action.
Barniss takes 10 (halved down to 5) piercing damage from the exploding splinter elder. No damage to Sam or Cadenza, as they ducked out of the way just in time.
Cicero, sweating and with veins bulging, focused hard on his blood ritual. He heard Old May's voice, quiet now, and just behind him.
"You are a fool," she said, almost admiringly. "A brave fool, even a powerful fool, but a fool nonetheless. Seems Uwa isn't so strong ... after all, she wouldn't be the only goddess brought low."
Meanwhile, the remaining splinter fae were rushing to heed May's order to kill Nora. Three of them rushed past Barniss, who swung with his mace in an attempt to flatten one on its way by.
Attack: 10Damage: 16
He missed, but it stopped dead in its tracks and turned to face Barniss. He could almost swear he could see beady little eyes set in the twiggy critter's face.
If it's still alive, it's stabbing at Barniss with its spiky fingers: Attack: 6 Damage: 6
Four of the splinter fae surged past Sam and Cadenza to strike at Nora:
Attack: 11 Damage: 7
Attack: 16 Damage: 10
Attack: 24 Damage: 11
Attack: 23 Damage: 9
Sam couldn't stop them from getting to Nora, but now all four had their backs to him and his daggers ...
Edit: Nora's unconscious! :/ (Even with shield and Arcane Ward, unfortunately.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Cadenza watched as the splinter creatures had surrounded Nora and knocked her into unconsciousness. Rapier in hand, Cadenza stabbed at the Splinter creature to her left and with a slashing flourish caused some of the splinters to hit the ones next to it.
Attack: 18 Damage: 7
If the attack hits I would like to use a Bardic Inspiration for Slashing Flourish 6 (this much damage to the 3 within 5ft of me)
(Thought of what Cadenza would do on her turn, so thought I would post. Might change slightly after Sam has his turn depending on the outcome)
Then her attention turned to Nora who was on the ground. She held out her free hand and it began to glow. Magic began to radiate around Nora causing breath to fill her lungs once more. Cadenza breathed heavily as the battle was beginning to get to her. "You're not allowed to die Nora," she said.
Welcome to Dragon of the Daggerpeaks!
Due to quarantining and whatnot, we're transitioning our weekly game to play-by-post for a little while. If you're just swinging by, be prepared to be very confused. That's fine. We know what we're doing. Mostly.
What is play-by-post?
Simply put, play-by-post (PbP) refers to the fact that our game is taking place here on these forums instead of the "traditional" way of playing gathered around the table while the dog sniffs everyone's everything, and instead of wrangling with Discord A/V issues. Just like in our normal sessions, you have your character and the DM acts as your eyes and ears, providing descriptions of your surroundings and setting the scene, inviting your character to action. You and the other players will post your character's interactions with the world in response to that.
The end result, in many ways, reads like a book that we all helped write!
How to Post
Formatting
"Stuff your character says should be in bold," said Barniss.
"Stuff your character thinks should be in italics," thought Cadenza.
Mark out-of-character stuff as a spoiler (exclamation point icon on the editor as you type a post):
Tense
For sake of consistency, we'll be using third person past tense. So instead of "I shoot the thing with my bow" it'd be "Dain shot the thing with his bow." It takes a second to get used to, since we're all used to describing our characters action in first person present tense, but you'll pick it up quick, and it makes posts flow together a lot better.
Dice Rolling
You can roll dice in a post! This forum post has all the details, but there's a little image of a die at the top right of the editor that's super easy to use. Be sure to say what you're doing in bold text in front of the roll, so it's nice & easy to see. Here are two examples:
Nora cast fire bolt at the tree. Attack: 20 Damage: 9
Sam tiptoed around the edge of the goblin camp, being sure to stay just out of sight. Stealth: 13
Tooltips
You probably noticed neat tooltips on fire bolt and stealth in the section above. It's super easy to do! There's a post here about it, but here's the content of that post in a spoiler so you don't have to go anywhere:
D&D Beyond offers the ability to link certain aspects on the forum in mouse-over triggered tooltips, such as magic items, monsters or combat actions - examples being Adult Black Dragon and dash. To create tooltips in this way as these, use the appropriate [tag][/tag] around the desired subject.
These tooltips can be used in most text boxes on D&D Beyond, such as: forum posts; campaign notes section; homebrew descriptions.
Example: [magicitem]Sun Blade[/ magicitem] (Without spaces within the [ ] brackets.)
Use the following within the [ ][/ ] bracket system:
Additionally, tooltips support the written text of the tooltip being different from the actual item or monster text. This is great for plurals for example:
Ioun Stones of [ magicitem]ioun stone of strength;Strength[/ magicitem] and [ magicitem]ioun stone of regeneration;Regeneration[/ magicitem]
would display as:
"Ioun Stones of Strength and Regeneration"
[ monster]Wolf;Wolves[/monster] displays as Wolves
Posting Rate
Playing by post takes a lot longer than playing at the table. We may well even be back together in person before y'all make it out of Walker's Wood! But that's okay!
I plan on posting maybe 2-3 times a week, and I'd like for folks to try for the same. In combat, posting daily is nice to keep it moving - combat takes a lot longer than anything else in PbP.
Because PbP a slower format, I'll be following the "rule of two" (amended to three): if someone wants to pursue a course of action, and it's seconded and thirded, I'll assume the party is going in that direction without waiting for all six of ya to be like "yes let's do the thing."
Ingredients for a Good Post
So now that you know the basics, let's touch briefly on what makes a great post!
The first is to remember the format - we have more time so you're not on the spot. You can think for a day on what your character might say, or draft a quick response and then return to it later. No need to rush! The advantage of PbP is that there's more time for roleplay than at the table, so take advantage of it!
More specifically: the difference between a meh post and a great post is attention to detail. It's easy to answer the DM's post, but the most interesting and exciting posts for the rest of the group to read are the ones that grab their imagination. Your goal, aside from the obvious one of telling the DM what your character does, is to make sure others enjoy the posts you write as much as you want the DM's posts to be full of neat stuff for you. Be descriptive! You don't need to write a novel with each post (please don't!), but use your words to paint a picture.
Some examples:
Basically with each post you want to give the rest of the group something for their characters to react to or build off of.
Be proactive. If you're want to sneak ahead to see what you can see, include stealth and perception rolls with your post. Don't wait for me to ask for them!
I'm new to this whole PbP thing too, so bear with me as I try to be a good role (get it?) model. <3 If you want to read more ideas & tips about it in general, check out this forum post. But overall don't sweat it too much - we're all here to have a good time and get our D&D fix. :)
Combat
I'll send y'all a link privately to a shared Google Sheet for tracking initiative and a Google Slides with edit access so you can move tokens on a map. Just makes things easier all around.
Characters
For reference and quick character sheet access:
And with that ... we begin!
Recap:
The group arrived with Palman in tow to the Logger's Camp in Walker's Wood, bearing a shipment of food and supplies from Arandale. Tibor Wester, the townmaster's brother, welcomed them warmly, informing them that a tension gripped the woods, and that his men were returning from the forest with strange puncture wounds. He offered the party 200gp to have it stopped and the woods made safe again.
Upon entering the woods, the party encountered some splinter fae creatures. After some initial fighting and a chance taken by Cicero, they seemed to listen to something and let the group advance in peace. Later, they aided in a fight against a blackened, corrupted tree. Battered and bruised, the party followed the twiggy creatures to a small clearing, where an elderly druid named May offered them shelter for the night and the next day to tend to their wounds and rest.
She told them that a treant named Willowscar was corrupting the forest and asked for their help to defeat him.
The group went to Quelenna's tower, where Willowscar stood guard. Dain sneaked in and stole a letter from Quelenna which spoke fondly of "Lindelor" and advised the reader to travel to Eaglespire to recover the secrets of creating a dragon-killing weapon.
The party spoke with Willowscar/Lindelor, who told them that May was a hag and the real one responsible for the corruption growing in the forest.
After a short skirmish with May and her splinter fae allies, Cicero managed to calm everyone down enough for a chat...
"Calm down! I just want to speak for a moment!" he shouted, with his hands outstretched.
The hag scowled at him.
"Fine," she spat. "But I'll do it more safely than this!" And with that, May snapped her fingers, a large gray squirrel appeared on the ground nearby, and the hag herself disappeared.
The group looked around at the splinter fae and elders, now regarding them with a strange mildly curious disinterest. Cadenza and Sam stood panting with exertion, holding their swords. Nora grimaced with pain as she shook away the cobwebs of unconsciousness. Dain peeked cautiously out from behind a tree at the edge of the clearing. Barniss came down off his rage, which lingered as a mild annoyance at being stopped from hitting things.
"Well?" came the hag's voice. "What is it you want? Speak!"
"If you would thee uth dead, we with to know the truth." Cicero replied-frustrated and looking around at his wounded friends, "We have earned that much. Bethidth, you clearly outmatch uth and it could do you no harm to tell uth what ith truly going on here."
Cicero invoked all his charm and wit into each word... Persuasion 13
Cadenza looked from Cicero who was speaking to May, then turned her eyes to Nora. Bending down, keeping the splinter creature to her side just in sight, she gently touched Nora on the shoulder to heal her wounds. "Hanging in there Nora?" she asked as a small gentle light glowed under her hand.
I cast healing word on Nora 7.
Warily, Dain peered from tree to tree. He was never comfortable, so to speak, but least of all when he could not see his adversaries.
"Of c-course we had to run into someone who could vanish.." he muttered under his breath, scanning for any signs of the hag. Perception6
Dain couldn't see even the slightest indication that the hag had ever existed, except for the gray squirrel sitting there scratching at its ear with a hind leg.
Splinter fae though. He saw lots of those. Five little ones. Two big ones. The big ones had just woken up the sleeping little ones and they were all standing now. They looked a little worse for wear, though, which was some relief. But he and his friends were still outnumbered. And that's without the ugly vanishing one.
Cicero, chest heaving, hands still outstretched, waited for old May to reply. After what felt like an eternity, he heard her.
"What is truly going on? Clearly you've never encountered one of my kind before." Her voice came hollowly from some invisible source somewhere in front of him. "What is truly going on is that I ... I am going to own Walker's Wood. I'm going to choke out that filthy tree and then I'll get into that tower and take what's inside. Take what should be mine! Quelenna was one of the most powerful wizards ever, and there are secrets to be found ... secrets and perhaps even a body to raise. A body makes two, and one more makes three. And three hags ... well ..." The little squirrel cocked its head to one side, calmly regarding Cicero. "... that's none of your business."
Cicero looked around at the splinter fae, which were looking at him and his party curiously. They looked confused and were shaking their heads as if to clear cobwebs. His calm emotions spell didn't have much time left ....
"I'm still here. I suppose." Nora responded. She blinked slowly as some of her injuries were alleviated.
Disoriented as she was, Nora attempted to remember anything from her studies of twisted magic users such as May. "What is she saying to that damn lisping fool?"
History 25
Not sure if Nora can hear Cis and May's exchange!
Cicero nodded to himself realizing the worst. Knowing he had little time he spoke toward his companions, "The thpell will wear off thoon. Ready yourthelveth. If need be I will cover your retreat. Thith cannot be allowed to continue."
Drawing his weapon from his belt, a solemn expression grew across his face. He leaned forward and raised a torso of a defeated splinter fae as a makeshift shield, 'We're in the last round now.'
He paused allowing his companions their final seconds to act, and the moment that his spell failed he raised his mace high and shouted, "Uwa bleth thith party with the power to vanquith the evil it fatheth!" and Dain, Barness, and Nora felt a surge of righteous vigor warm the blood in their veins!
Cicero cast Bless on Dain, Barness, and Nora after the spell end allowing them each time to act and using the cast as a signal for them to attack.
Barniss looked down to inspect his person.
He indeed was still a person.
And also very wounded. The splinterfey had stabbed and torn him up. Not the outcome he had anticipated.
He looked about to his companions, and heard the voice of the hag ringing dimly. He was, of course, barely paying attention to the content of what she was saying.
When May had stopped speaking, he called out, "Ah, yes. Great, wonderful folksy shite that is. Three ags in a bush are worth two up yer arse...yeah, yeah."
"Listen, if you slack-jawed daffodils are going to keepn aving yer esteem'd meeting of minds, that's fien. I'm going to set down a spell. Let me know when yer thrua, so I can break yer teeth outta yer ead."
This was, of course, all bravado. Barniss desperately needed to regroup. As he staggered about, he noticed a squirrel sitting in what suddenly looked like a very comfortable spot.
"Pardon," he said as he kicked his finely booted foot at the squirrel.
I leave it entirely up to you, Maximilian, as to what sort of check this is. I didn't just wanna be like, "Derp, athletics, since that's my highest boosted one!"
Or if it even warrants a check.
Also, is kicking an unarmed strike? What if it's a critter?
As Barniss staggered over to the squirrel near Cicero and swung his extremely well-crafted boot in a less well-crafted kick ... it went right through the squirrel. Barniss blinked. He swung his foot again. Right through the bloody critter. Just an illusion, then.
Nora wracked her brain, trying to find useful information about hags. The problem wasn't that there was no information. She had plenty of information. The problem was finding useful information. "This'd be a green hag," she thought. "Favorite color? Green. Stupid, uncreative types. Can go invisible, obviously." She watched Barniss swinging his foot back and forth through an illusory squirrel. "Good with illusions." A few other factoids flashed through her memory: green hags were vicious, vengeful creatures who relished the sufferings and despair of others. Power-hungry and with tricks up their sleeves, they weren't above mimicking other voices and creatures to lure adventurers into helping them. But beyond their tricky minds and their nasty claws, they didn't have anywhere near the magical power that, say, a wizard might.
Almost right near his ear, Barniss heard May's voice again.
"Finish them," she said with a cackle. "I'll just ... watch."
The remaining splinter fae all turned towards the party, bared their spiky fingers, and began to advance...
Cicero, add +1 to your AC (we'll say the splinter fae remains are a buckler). Barniss, what's your current HP? I see you at full health on your character sheet.
I'll roll initiative for folks in the next spoiler so we can just kick right into combat without waiting for six folks to post. Dain, Barniss, and Nora: you'll get advantage on initiative because of the sudden surge of blessing you feel from Cicero. Also, Dain, we'll assume that you're hidden behind a tree. Roll me a stealth check when it gets to your turn.
Initiative Rolls:
Barniss: 19
Cadenza: 8
Cicero: 18
Dain: 18
Nora: 18
Sam: 7
Old May: 8
Splinter Fae x5 (grouped):12 (it'll go much more quickly if I can do groups, though it might hurt a smidge)
Splinter Elders x2 (grouped):20
About Combat:
Feel free to include contingency plans in a spoiler in your post. Things like "if that first blow kills him, then I'll move to the other guy and whack him too. If not, both whacks on dude #1," or if you hold an action, go ahead and still roll the dice for if/when it does go off. Stuff like that.
Also, I'd just like to say: Y'all are amazing. I love reading your stuff so much :D
I gots 23 hp. And one rage.
And a hope.
"Ye can watch me arse, walking away from what's left of ye," Barniss spat as he spun his maul.
He huffed and let out a strained shout (Barniss used Rage!), before leaping toward the fey elder he had engaged previously.
"We've even got some pine to make a box for ye!"
Attack: 9 Damage: 11
Barniss closed the distance with the elder in a bound, but his attack swung wide. He found himself face-to-face with the elder and three of the little ones. "Well that was shite," he thought.
Old May cackled behind him, her voice grating into his ears and only infuriating him even more. It was hard to place where her voice was coming from. She sounded like she was everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Ooof that's a tough first turn in combat :P Dain, Nora, and Cicero: you're up. Feel free to go asynchronously and use conditional moves/actions if you'd like.
Edit: WAIT! Barniss is blessed ... fingers crossed: 2
Edit edit: eh worth a shot
"Oh hells..!" Seeing Barniss stride into the thick of it, Dain only had one option. He quickly nocked and loosed an arrow at the elder, hoping to thin the horde surrounding him before it was too late. "Come on, come on..! Barniss needs an assist, guys!"
To hit:14 Damage: 19
Dain's arrow flew true, and embedded itself deeply into the elder. The splinter creature stopped for a moment, swaying and obviously badly injured, then continued on toward Barniss.
Nora's frustration with the entire ordeal mounted. With a quick prayer and the blessing of the lisper, she dug deep into herself to find a spark.
Nora cast Scorching Ray from her outstretched fingertips.
The first ray she directed at the elder splinter fae paces before her. Attack: 28 Damage: 20
The second ray followed the first toward the elder splinter fae again. Attack: 14 Damage: 6
The third ray sliced through the air to the farther elder splinter fae engaged with Barniss. Attack: 25 Damage: 8
As the fire left her fingertips, guilt stung in Nora. An unusual feeling indeed. "I'm sorry Lindelore. I don't see another way." She braced for the fury of the forest.
The clearing lit up with Nora's fire. Three rays slammed into the larger splinter fae, which both exploded in a shower of stinging bits of wood.
I need Barniss, Sam & Cadenza to make me a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw or take 7 piercing damage from flying splinters. You can do that at any point between now and your next turn (i.e. don't feel like folks have to wait for those rolls to post).
One little fae is in range: 14.
She waited with bated breath for the entire forest to come charging at her, but ... nothing happened. Maybe they were too deep in May's territory, maybe Lindelor understood. Either way, the clearing stood as it was before, save the charred and smoking remains of the two largest threats. Five little splinter fae still stood, and May screeched with fury.
"Get her!" she screamed.
Hearing May's fury, Cicero closed his eyes and breathed calmly. Still holding the make-shift shield in one hand and his mace in the other, Cicero stretched his arms out in front of himself and stepped forward so he was center of the clearing.
Strands of red vitreous fluid formed from his fingertips. As he channeled forth the ancient magic, he focused on May's voice and pictured her near him. His veins became strained and pressed against his skin like ridges across his face and arms down to the fingertips...
With the bond formed and his will sure, he raised his puppets hands and his own raised to match. Bringing the mace and shield closer to him, he commanded she strike at her own throat and rush towards him. Commanding the very flow of her blood he strained her muscles with all of his ability.
'Uwa, through your will I command the blood to follow my own. This creature will taint this realm no longer.' he thought to himself.
You target a Large or smaller creature that has blood within 60 feet of you. That creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or immediately move up to half of their movement in any direction of your choice and make a single weapon attack against a creature of your choice within range
With the act complete he traced a floating mirror in front of himself and said, "I am immune to your hothtility. The Divine grant me Thanctuary" and unleashed his final bout of divine magic! Now panting he watched his allies closely.
I cast Sanctuary with my last spell slot as a Bonus Action.
Hot damn. I didn't realize Blood Puppet didn't require you to see the creature. That's awesome.
Barniss takes 10 (halved down to 5) piercing damage from the exploding splinter elder. No damage to Sam or Cadenza, as they ducked out of the way just in time.
Cicero, sweating and with veins bulging, focused hard on his blood ritual. He heard Old May's voice, quiet now, and just behind him.
"You are a fool," she said, almost admiringly. "A brave fool, even a powerful fool, but a fool nonetheless. Seems Uwa isn't so strong ... after all, she wouldn't be the only goddess brought low."
Meanwhile, the remaining splinter fae were rushing to heed May's order to kill Nora. Three of them rushed past Barniss, who swung with his mace in an attempt to flatten one on its way by.
Attack: 10 Damage: 16
He missed, but it stopped dead in its tracks and turned to face Barniss. He could almost swear he could see beady little eyes set in the twiggy critter's face.
If it's still alive, it's stabbing at Barniss with its spiky fingers: Attack: 6 Damage: 6
Four of the splinter fae surged past Sam and Cadenza to strike at Nora:
Sam couldn't stop them from getting to Nora, but now all four had their backs to him and his daggers ...
Edit: Nora's unconscious! :/ (Even with shield and Arcane Ward, unfortunately.)
Sam, you're up!
Cadenza watched as the splinter creatures had surrounded Nora and knocked her into unconsciousness. Rapier in hand, Cadenza stabbed at the Splinter creature to her left and with a slashing flourish caused some of the splinters to hit the ones next to it.
Attack: 18 Damage: 7
If the attack hits I would like to use a Bardic Inspiration for Slashing Flourish 6 (this much damage to the 3 within 5ft of me)
(Thought of what Cadenza would do on her turn, so thought I would post. Might change slightly after Sam has his turn depending on the outcome)
Then her attention turned to Nora who was on the ground. She held out her free hand and it began to glow. Magic began to radiate around Nora causing breath to fill her lungs once more. Cadenza breathed heavily as the battle was beginning to get to her. "You're not allowed to die Nora," she said.
I cast Healing Word at 2nd level 8.