The moment Auger reaches N8, four goblin archers let fly their readied action notched arrows. One crits with a 24 for 16HP damage, the arrow rebounding off of a column to impale the southerner unexpectedly in the shoulder; one grazes Auger with a 22 for 4HP (which still hits with a Shield spell), and two fly past, rebounding off of the table.
Auger may act, and Snow’s turn begins with the room like so.
Before he can react, Auger takes the arrow to the shoulder and rears back crying out in pain. His motion causes a second arrow to only graze him. Holding a chair to steady himself Auger turns to face the Goblin closest to him and draws his twisting energies and sends a beam towards it, killing it, then looking back over his shoulder he moves to sight another and kills it with a glancing blast.
"Two more remain!"Auger calls out for the others to hear.
Details
Action: Casts Eldritch Blast with 10' of pushing.
Beam 1, targeting #26. Roll = 29 for 13 points of force damage.
Beam 2, targeting #24. Roll = 17 for 7 points of force damage.
Move: I think Auger still had 5' of movement left. If so he moves to N9 and tries to get some cover.
Snow hears Auger cry out in pain before shouting across the current situation. He ducks back into the the room, carefully looking around passed the pillar, and spots the remaining two goblins.
Wanting to ensure no more escape, he sends the radiant pillar of light sweeping once more across the room, to engulf the goblin by the door at the other end of the room, blocking any escape.
He then spots Auger looking seriously hurt, and stands his ground. “Hey, over here!”, he shouts, knowing the remaining goblin can’t understand him but hoping he gets its attention.
Movement: 20ft to L15 Action: Move the Moonbeam to V15, V16, W15, W16 covering #25 (ideally placed slightly off to cover the door more). Lvl 3, DC18 Con save or take 7+8+9=24 [radiant] damage otherwise take 12 damage Reaction:
If anyone attacks Snow or Auger that he can see he will use Cutting Words. Cutting Words: 4+2=6 “You slime ridden, odorous mound of putrid filth. Your stench brings tears to my eyes and even your mother is revolted by you”
Auger’s twin blasts each plow through one of the remaining goblins, which careen away from him, one slamming into a far wall, the other skidding across the floor.
A goblin near the eastern doors succumbs to Snow’s moonbeam, eyeballs practically bursting from its skull in agony before it dissolves in pale light.
Goblin 19, the last remaining archer, draws a bead on the bard (and hits with a rolled 22), however, Snow’s cutting words – though not understood; but the tone of the words is enough – jar the creature’s aim just a hairs breadth, allowing the half-elf to parry its incoming arrow with his bracers.
Soon enough, Snow’s moonbeam and Auger’s spiraling blasts will converge on the final archer, and it too is defeated.
Let us say that the party forms up in the great hall to urgently discuss what to do next, beginning with Granophyre’s answer to Varielky’s question.
“Except for Snow, we are all badly hurt. We need to find a place to tend to our wounds and recuperate. But before that, we cannot leave without finding out if the goblins have spawned, without destroying any egg sacs which might exist. Or else, our efforts could be meaningless if a hundred more hatch in place of those we just destroyed.”
You find that the doorway closest to Snow’s moonbeam (southeast) opens to a stairway down which gives off a strange smell which you recognize: the same odor which permeated the farmer’s basement earlier in the day. The doorway to the northeast seems to be barred shut from the other side, and you hear distant shouts in the goblin's language echoing behind it.
The stairs in the southwest corner go up to an unoccupied turret, a dead-end. Everything else is unoccupied.
Varielky backs away from the southeastern door after opening it, finding the smell too hard to bear. "Go on, do what you must. I'll keep watch that none of the Goblins returns from behind you. Besides, my sword doesn't help much against those things anyway."
Though it is just an excuse to avoid entering that room due to how it disgusts Varielky, she does go to the northeastern door and sit by it, ready to push/pull against it if anyone tries to make their way through. She should be able to keep the door closed if it's a contest of strength, even if it's against multiple Goblins... she hopes. Either way, it should give her a moment to call the others, and she can still fight if they manage to open the door despite her best efforts.
As the final Goblin dies Auger finds himself slumping against a chair, struggling to make himself stand. The arrow still poking out from his shoulder making his movements tentative Auger takes a moment to pull the chair out and sit. The Goblins. So many. So many of them. He-- he had killed so many of them. Without a thought. How times change. How time changes. Time... Near unconsciousness Auger's mind wanders and perhaps because of the inattention it slips into the Sea of Stars. For a timeless period, it feels like hours, though in the real world Auger will later determine only seconds go by, Auger contemplates the greatness of it all. Wallowing in it. In this semi-conscious state, Auger finds something or something finds Auger. It is hard to tell. How nice to be wanted and to want and to --
Auger snaps back to himself. Reaching into the Sea of Stars he discovers that in reaching for his powers over and over again, something vast has opened before him. New powers and new potential. As he begins to consider what it might mean he feels some energies returning to him. Or perhaps they had never left.
As Varielky speaks from the door Auger finds himself nodding. As he stands he notices the arrow was still there in his shoulder but it is not quite so meaningful now. Auger moves toward the southeast door, intending to finish what they started and destroy the egg sacs.
Varielky leans against the door and then slides down until she sits against it. She begins to unstrap her shield, though as her mind is elsewhere, it takes much longer than it should, her hands moving slowly and clumsily.
This fight did not go well. First, once again, Varielky ended up underestimating her opponent. Going in despite the captain's warning? That was a mistake. However, the true problem was how incompetent her fighting was. Just because they were easy to plough through doesn't mean the Goblins were easy to hit, especially not when she's investing too much in force and too little in accuracy. Each time this happens, Varielky reaches the same situation like this time. Now, however, she decides to change her approach. From now on, she will fight as best as she can no matter her adversary. Be it driving even more strength into her shoves, faster swings or more ferocity with every slash of the blade.
Moreover, though standing solo against a hundred - including archers - cannot be called a fair fight, it still bothers Varielky that without the others' healing, she'd be long dead. It's not that their help was not welcome, but rather that Varielky cannot hold her ground for long enough by herself. Stamina was never her strong suit, and neither was taking hits. That's why she chose to master the use of a shield in the first place. It was a comfortable coincidence that the Jenghen god that resembles Odin the most had a shield as its sign.
The thought carries Varielky further back, to contemplate not only the most recent fight, but her actions in general too. Following Veleif's revelation and the talk with Auger, Varielky's been thinking about the matter for a while. For too long she's been hiding her origins. Her true self, in a way. People might notice, but if she's planning to start a revolution in the vale, people will notice her either way. The change starts with the decision. The decision that from now on, she will be true to herself.
Snow breathes a sigh of relief as the room is finally clear of goblins, and he looks across to his allies and sees how hurt they all are. He was slightly hurt himself, but had managed to stay out of the line of fire for the most part.
And yet is wasn’t over just yet. There was still the matter of the goblin spawn. Strewn was right, and judging by the smell down those stairs this was another breeding ground.
He sees Varielky and Auger struggling to remain standing, and starts to play a soothing tune on his violin, reaching once again into the magical power within the instrument itself. He feels the healing effect him and pushes the effect out to the others as well.
He has almost spent all his magical reserves on this battle, never has he drained so much of his own capacity for magic in such a short time. In a way he feels invigorated having pushed his limits so. And never has he wrought such death with his magic. Always before it has been in self defence, but this time they were the aggressors, even if their quarry were evil and deserved all they got.
At this point he wonders how this journey was changing him, honing him even.
He looks around the room, looking for some oil or other flammables, thinking they could burn the goblin spawn as they had done at the house.
In response to Varielky’s thoughts, she feels a stirring in Dreygaard. Velief’s voice echoes in the recesses of her mind and she knows that if she can find calm— not in this accursed castle but somewhere after her battles are won, she can connect with the spirit of her old mentor.
Snow finds torches in wall sconces which are lit and giving off warmth and light, and kindling beside a large hearth. No oil.
Granophyre sighs audibly when Snow begins to play, and his breathing seems to relax and his wounded shoulder loosen up. “Thank you, Snow. How rich and soothing is your music, and my body aches less for hearing it.” To you all, he continues, “Remember that in the farmhouse cellar, the goblin-mother remained to guard her eggs. We must be wary.”
Auger in the lead, with Snow and Granophyre following, you file carefully down the winding staircase as the smell intensifies step by step. Worse. Much worse than in the farmer’s cellar. The stairs open into a kitchen area, where you see the trail of dried blood from outside and the doorway has picked up again.
Here, Snow finds several large kegs of lantern oil, and more kindling and oven stones and charcoal.
There is a second flight of stairs down to a dungeon level, and when you peek through that door, the noxious smell is overwhelming. Please roll a CON12 saving throw or suffer the effects of the poisoned condition from the stomach-wrenching odor and microbe-filled air. You see torchlight guttering below, another set of winding stairs leading downward.
Starting down the stairs from the Great Hall, Auger reaches into the Sea of Stars and adjust the energies preparing to make use of his new powers (Bonus Action: Auger exhausts a spell slot to recharge spell points).
Arriving in the kitchen and seeing the various ways to start a fire, Auger says, "Lets wait on that and deal with the Goblin mother first."Auger then peeks through the next door and is nearly overcome by the smell.
As he proceeds down the stairs, Auger resists the urge to empty his stomach (CON save = 14) and instead, he does his best to try and remain quiet as they proceed down the stairs (Stealth =13).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
Snow nods to Auger and follows him towards the second flight of stairs, hoping that there is only the one goblin mother again.
As they descend the smell becomes overpowering, invading his nostril and lungs, lingering in his mouth. He turns and retreats up the stairs, vomiting the contents of his stomach out.
Feeling weak and nauseous, he looks around for clean water, needing to wash away the foul taste and smell.
Snow stops in the kitchen to rinse himself off with oily water from the bottom of a barrel, after which he, Auger and Granophyre — whose Dwarven constitution seems practically immune to the effects of the noxious air — creep downstairs, Auger in the lead.
You peek out of the stairwell. A few torches give off smoky light in this room, a crypt, whose door is wide open. Sarcophogi fill the chamber, and upon each one you see the decaying body of a horse or cow; but as it was in the farmhouse cellar, here too, the animals are only barely recognizable as such. Their forms have transformed, loosened and splayed out, and are encompassed in impermeable gelatinous sacs of foggy white goo, each one containing thousands of goblin spawn. Enough to overrun the entire Vale of Deshar, maybe all of Orraca u Shia.
“Ellosh take us!,” whispers Granophyre hoarsely.
Suddenly, three arrows whistle towards Auger from goblin archers hiding behind sarcophagi. Two clatter off the stone wall which provides him partial cover, but one crits for 4HP damage, raking a line across his cheek.
Expecting an attack of some sort, Auger instinctively lashes out at the creature who fired the arrow at him, sending flames drawn from the Sea of Stars at it. Maintaining his connection Auger reaches through the Sea of Stars to two of the Goblins and focuses their minds such they are briefly experience being out among the Stars, challenging their sanity. That was odd, Auger thinks to himself, he had never been able to do that with two at the same time before.
Auger then enters the area, yelling and hoping to draw the attention of any more of the foul things. "Show yourselves evil spawn!"
Details
Reaction: Casts Hellish Rebuke, targeting the Goblin who hurt him. DC18 DEX save or it takes 7 points of damage. Half that if it makes the save. For simplicity let's call this target #1.
Action: Casts Mind Sliver, twinning the spell and exhausting 1 sorcery point. If #1 is still standing then it is one of the targets. Otherwise the spell targets #2 and #3. DC18 INT save or the targets take 12 points of damage and subtract 1d4 from their next saving throw. If either makes the save then there is no effect.
Move: To E9
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
Auger’s flaming rebuke lashes out so quickly the goblin who shot him hasn’t a split second before the flames lick around its neck and seem to pluck it out of hiding. Its face bakes in an instant and the evil creature recoils back, trips and dies in spasms.
The minds of the other two are penetrated a moment later by the warlock and the pair lose all tension in their bodies and slump to the floor, their brains emptied and destroyed by the overwhelming vastness they are forced to experience.
When Auger steps into the chamber, seven more arrows fire from positions spread around the room, three of them striking him for a total 14HP damage, the others lost in the folds of his magical robes.
Snow gingerly steps into the room, his face a picture of disgust at the sight and smell of the place. He sees a number of goblins had fallen already, and Auger had a few fresh arrow wounds. But this smell was so distracting, he just wanted to vomit again, the nausea almost over powering him.
The first goblin he sees gets a string of insults. “Vile creature, I’d be hiding as well if I looked and smelled like you!”. Not that it understood of course.
He then turns to Auger and softly speaks some words of power, sending over a soothing balm to heal his wounds.
Movement: 10ft to E5 (Staying in cover between E5 and D5 ideally)
Action: Vicious Mockery DC 18 Wis save or take 4+2=6 damage and have disadvantage on next attack.
Bonus Action: Healing Word 4+5=9 healing for Auger.
Reaction:
If anyone hits him or Auger that he can see he will use Cutting Words.
Cutting Words: 5+2=7
“Go back to the depths from whatever hell spawned you”
Snow moves into the room, his insults piercing goblin 4 like daggers, and it staggers, its vile spirit withered by the bard’s pointed words, but the creature yet lives.
Granophyre follows in, loads a hand crossbow and fires its small bolt, which zips across the chamber to puncture the lung of the wounded goblin 4. It flings out its arms and falls back, dead.
Six short bows twang, all aimed at Auger as he races into the room. (N.B. - the earlier attacks were readied actions in Round 1. These are Round 2 attacks; the goblins have the initiative.) Rolls & damage: 20 for 6HP; 17 for 5HP, 6 (miss), 9 (miss), 24 (crit) for 10HP, 22 for 6HP.
Goblin 11 leaps from its position near the eastern wall, striking at Auger with a hand axe, but the warlock dodges the blow.
Goblin 12 lunges at Snow, its aim true and firm – until the bard’s cutting words strike confusion into its tiny mind, allowing Snow to deflect the blade with his Dreyen bracers.
You are now situated like so. Please state Round 2 actions. All goblins except 11 & 12 have ¾ cover. Snow and Granophyre have ½ cover.
As the attacks and arrows come fast and furious, Auger uses his energies to redirect the blows around him, causing all but two arrows to miss him. The two that strike are, however, extremely effective and for the second time in a few short minutes, Auger finds he is reeling and his consciousness fading.
Reaching into the Sea of Stars, Auger's sense of time is again distorted and he cannot tell how long he spends there. He cannot make his body move any faster but he can think quickly. Time... reaching through his energies he casts something-- something he has all the time in the world to cast. Too much time. This is all very unfamiliar. He draws energies from those around him and channels them into himself. They - the Goblins nearby... they all have some amount of life force drawn from them and that life force turns and flows ... into Auger.
Perceptions then snap back to normal for Auger, and it turns out no time has passed. Still surrounded by Goblins he can only think to move defensively to make himself a harder target to hit.
Details
Status: Despite the Shield, with the crit and the 22 Auger takes 16 points of damage.
Bonus Action: Spends 2 sorcery points to Quicken the casting of Wither and Bloom. The spell should be centered to encompass the 9/10 and D/E vertex, covering all Goblins surrounding Auger. They must make DC18 CON saving throws or take 5 points of damage, half that if they make the save. Auger in turn exhausts 1 hit die and heals for 3 +5 = 8 Hit Points.
Reminder: Auger has this special ability that may come into play in the next round.
Strength of the Grave (Special)
When damage (that isn't radiant or from a critical hit) reduces you to 0 HP, you can make a CHA saving throw (DC 5 + the damage taken). On a success, you instead drop to 1 HP (and can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
As more goblins reveal themselves Snow questions the decision to leave Varielky upstairs. Nothing to be done now though, he thinks as he deflects a strike from a goblin that charges over to him.
He reaches out with his will and tries to push the goblin back, then surveys the scene. The three of them were being overwhelmed, and he had very little left in reserve. Fortunately what he did have left were some of his more powerful abilities.
He quickly plucks a string on his violin and focusses the magical energy that builds in the void inside. He twists the vibrations of sound and transforms them into light, and then as if throwing a ball he launches it into the room. A twisting pattern of colours weaves through the air around 5 of the goblins in the centre of the room.
In broken dwarvish he motions to the goblin in front of them and says to Strewn, “Many should be...charmed. Kill this one and block the door, I need to keep my mind or I fear for Auger. Us as well”.
If the goblin next to him is pushed away, he will retreat up the stairwell a bit.
Bonus Action: Telekinetic Shove #12, DC16 Str save or moved 5ft to F6. Action: Hypnotic Pattern, DC18 Wis save or incapacitated and has a speed of 0. Placed from F8-K8-F14-K14 (By grid this is 35ft but should be offset to only cover half of rows 8 and 14, so it encompasses #8, #11, #5, #7, #10). Movement: 20ft up the stairs to B3 (Only if #12 was pushed away, otherwise stays where he is).
Auger’s sorcery causes Goblins 6, 9, and 11 to each suffer 5HP necrotic damage, their complexions turning from frog-green to pale pink, their motions forced and arthritic.
Goblin 12 is thrown back by Snow’s telekinetic shove, but immediately flips athletically, recovers and reengages (i.e. succeeded in its saving throw).
Goblins 5, 7, 8, and 11 stand dumbfounded and silent, their eyes swirling under the effects of Snow’s Hypnotic Pattern. Only goblin 10 makes its save.
Granophyre attempts his electric lasso on goblin 12, but the creature is too quick, and evades the sage’s grasp. The old dwarf’s attention is divided however, as he throws a tiny vial of healing vapors to Auger, which pops with a tiny crunch in his grasp, and the southerner regains 11HP.
Goblin 12 attacks Snow and hits with an 18 for 7HP (unless Snow reacts?), then disengages (bonus action) and moves to block Snow’s exit.
Goblin 11 disengages from Auger and moves to attack Granophyre, who ducks behind the stone doorframe, against which the evil creature’s thin blade rebounds, drawing sparks.
Goblins 6, 9, and 10 release arrows at Auger, and though the first two whiz past, the third strikes home (despite the dodge, with a 17) for 6HP.
Goblins 5, 7, and 8 are charmed and inactive, but have ¾ cover.
Goblins 9, and 10 have ¾ cover; they and goblins 11 and 12 are still active.
Snow grunts in pain at the goblins attack, but steels his mind and maintains his concentration on the charm.
Concentration Save: 16+2=18
He looks at the goblin behind him and sees it has succumbed to his charm, then at the goblin blocking the way up the stairs and unleashes more verbal abuse. “Get out of my way you witless effort at life!”. Not that it understood that either of course.
He then once more reaches out with his mind and attempts to push the goblin away.
“Ignore the charmed ones for now”, he says to Strewn, again in broken dwarvish.
Action: Vicious Mockery DC 18 Wis save or take 1+1=2 damage and have disadvantage on next attack. Bonus Action: Telekinetic Shove #12, DC16 Str save or moved 5ft to B/C5. Movement: 5ft to C/D5 (Only if goblin 12 pushed away)
Round 8 Reaction
The moment Auger reaches N8, four goblin archers let fly their readied action notched arrows. One crits with a 24 for 16HP damage, the arrow rebounding off of a column to impale the southerner unexpectedly in the shoulder; one grazes Auger with a 22 for 4HP (which still hits with a Shield spell), and two fly past, rebounding off of the table.
Auger may act, and Snow’s turn begins with the room like so.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Before he can react, Auger takes the arrow to the shoulder and rears back crying out in pain. His motion causes a second arrow to only graze him. Holding a chair to steady himself Auger turns to face the Goblin closest to him and draws his twisting energies and sends a beam towards it, killing it, then looking back over his shoulder he moves to sight another and kills it with a glancing blast.
"Two more remain!" Auger calls out for the others to hear.
Details
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
Snow hears Auger cry out in pain before shouting across the current situation. He ducks back into the the room, carefully looking around passed the pillar, and spots the remaining two goblins.
Wanting to ensure no more escape, he sends the radiant pillar of light sweeping once more across the room, to engulf the goblin by the door at the other end of the room, blocking any escape.
He then spots Auger looking seriously hurt, and stands his ground. “Hey, over here!”, he shouts, knowing the remaining goblin can’t understand him but hoping he gets its attention.
Movement: 20ft to L15
Action: Move the Moonbeam to V15, V16, W15, W16 covering #25 (ideally placed slightly off to cover the door more). Lvl 3, DC18 Con save or take 7+8+9=24 [radiant] damage otherwise take 12 damage
Reaction:
If anyone attacks Snow or Auger that he can see he will use Cutting Words.
Cutting Words: 4+2=6
“You slime ridden, odorous mound of putrid filth. Your stench brings tears to my eyes and even your mother is revolted by you”
Round 9 Results
Auger’s twin blasts each plow through one of the remaining goblins, which careen away from him, one slamming into a far wall, the other skidding across the floor.
A goblin near the eastern doors succumbs to Snow’s moonbeam, eyeballs practically bursting from its skull in agony before it dissolves in pale light.
Goblin 19, the last remaining archer, draws a bead on the bard (and hits with a rolled 22), however, Snow’s cutting words – though not understood; but the tone of the words is enough – jar the creature’s aim just a hairs breadth, allowing the half-elf to parry its incoming arrow with his bracers.
Soon enough, Snow’s moonbeam and Auger’s spiraling blasts will converge on the final archer, and it too is defeated.
The Great Hall is yours!
Let us say that the party forms up in the great hall to urgently discuss what to do next, beginning with Granophyre’s answer to Varielky’s question.
“Except for Snow, we are all badly hurt. We need to find a place to tend to our wounds and recuperate. But before that, we cannot leave without finding out if the goblins have spawned, without destroying any egg sacs which might exist. Or else, our efforts could be meaningless if a hundred more hatch in place of those we just destroyed.”
You find that the doorway closest to Snow’s moonbeam (southeast) opens to a stairway down which gives off a strange smell which you recognize: the same odor which permeated the farmer’s basement earlier in the day. The doorway to the northeast seems to be barred shut from the other side, and you hear distant shouts in the goblin's language echoing behind it.
The stairs in the southwest corner go up to an unoccupied turret, a dead-end. Everything else is unoccupied.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Varielky backs away from the southeastern door after opening it, finding the smell too hard to bear. "Go on, do what you must. I'll keep watch that none of the Goblins returns from behind you. Besides, my sword doesn't help much against those things anyway."
Though it is just an excuse to avoid entering that room due to how it disgusts Varielky, she does go to the northeastern door and sit by it, ready to push/pull against it if anyone tries to make their way through. She should be able to keep the door closed if it's a contest of strength, even if it's against multiple Goblins... she hopes. Either way, it should give her a moment to call the others, and she can still fight if they manage to open the door despite her best efforts.
Varielky
As the final Goblin dies Auger finds himself slumping against a chair, struggling to make himself stand. The arrow still poking out from his shoulder making his movements tentative Auger takes a moment to pull the chair out and sit. The Goblins. So many. So many of them. He-- he had killed so many of them. Without a thought. How times change. How time changes. Time... Near unconsciousness Auger's mind wanders and perhaps because of the inattention it slips into the Sea of Stars. For a timeless period, it feels like hours, though in the real world Auger will later determine only seconds go by, Auger contemplates the greatness of it all. Wallowing in it. In this semi-conscious state, Auger finds something or something finds Auger. It is hard to tell. How nice to be wanted and to want and to --
Auger snaps back to himself. Reaching into the Sea of Stars he discovers that in reaching for his powers over and over again, something vast has opened before him. New powers and new potential. As he begins to consider what it might mean he feels some energies returning to him. Or perhaps they had never left.
As Varielky speaks from the door Auger finds himself nodding. As he stands he notices the arrow was still there in his shoulder but it is not quite so meaningful now. Auger moves toward the southeast door, intending to finish what they started and destroy the egg sacs.
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
Varielky leans against the door and then slides down until she sits against it. She begins to unstrap her shield, though as her mind is elsewhere, it takes much longer than it should, her hands moving slowly and clumsily.
This fight did not go well. First, once again, Varielky ended up underestimating her opponent. Going in despite the captain's warning? That was a mistake. However, the true problem was how incompetent her fighting was. Just because they were easy to plough through doesn't mean the Goblins were easy to hit, especially not when she's investing too much in force and too little in accuracy. Each time this happens, Varielky reaches the same situation like this time. Now, however, she decides to change her approach. From now on, she will fight as best as she can no matter her adversary. Be it driving even more strength into her shoves, faster swings or more ferocity with every slash of the blade.
Moreover, though standing solo against a hundred - including archers - cannot be called a fair fight, it still bothers Varielky that without the others' healing, she'd be long dead. It's not that their help was not welcome, but rather that Varielky cannot hold her ground for long enough by herself. Stamina was never her strong suit, and neither was taking hits. That's why she chose to master the use of a shield in the first place. It was a comfortable coincidence that the Jenghen god that resembles Odin the most had a shield as its sign.
The thought carries Varielky further back, to contemplate not only the most recent fight, but her actions in general too. Following Veleif's revelation and the talk with Auger, Varielky's been thinking about the matter for a while. For too long she's been hiding her origins. Her true self, in a way. People might notice, but if she's planning to start a revolution in the vale, people will notice her either way. The change starts with the decision. The decision that from now on, she will be true to herself.
Varielky
Snow breathes a sigh of relief as the room is finally clear of goblins, and he looks across to his allies and sees how hurt they all are. He was slightly hurt himself, but had managed to stay out of the line of fire for the most part.
And yet is wasn’t over just yet. There was still the matter of the goblin spawn. Strewn was right, and judging by the smell down those stairs this was another breeding ground.
He sees Varielky and Auger struggling to remain standing, and starts to play a soothing tune on his violin, reaching once again into the magical power within the instrument itself. He feels the healing effect him and pushes the effect out to the others as well.
He has almost spent all his magical reserves on this battle, never has he drained so much of his own capacity for magic in such a short time. In a way he feels invigorated having pushed his limits so. And never has he wrought such death with his magic. Always before it has been in self defence, but this time they were the aggressors, even if their quarry were evil and deserved all they got.
At this point he wonders how this journey was changing him, honing him even.
He looks around the room, looking for some oil or other flammables, thinking they could burn the goblin spawn as they had done at the house.
Action: Mass Cure Wounds - 18 for all of the group.
In response to Varielky’s thoughts, she feels a stirring in Dreygaard. Velief’s voice echoes in the recesses of her mind and she knows that if she can find calm— not in this accursed castle but somewhere after her battles are won, she can connect with the spirit of her old mentor.
Snow finds torches in wall sconces which are lit and giving off warmth and light, and kindling beside a large hearth. No oil.
Granophyre sighs audibly when Snow begins to play, and his breathing seems to relax and his wounded shoulder loosen up. “Thank you, Snow. How rich and soothing is your music, and my body aches less for hearing it.” To you all, he continues, “Remember that in the farmhouse cellar, the goblin-mother remained to guard her eggs. We must be wary.”
Auger in the lead, with Snow and Granophyre following, you file carefully down the winding staircase as the smell intensifies step by step. Worse. Much worse than in the farmer’s cellar. The stairs open into a kitchen area, where you see the trail of dried blood from outside and the doorway has picked up again.
Here, Snow finds several large kegs of lantern oil, and more kindling and oven stones and charcoal.
There is a second flight of stairs down to a dungeon level, and when you peek through that door, the noxious smell is overwhelming. Please roll a CON12 saving throw or suffer the effects of the poisoned condition from the stomach-wrenching odor and microbe-filled air. You see torchlight guttering below, another set of winding stairs leading downward.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Starting down the stairs from the Great Hall, Auger reaches into the Sea of Stars and adjust the energies preparing to make use of his new powers (Bonus Action: Auger exhausts a spell slot to recharge spell points).
Arriving in the kitchen and seeing the various ways to start a fire, Auger says, "Lets wait on that and deal with the Goblin mother first." Auger then peeks through the next door and is nearly overcome by the smell.
As he proceeds down the stairs, Auger resists the urge to empty his stomach (CON save = 14) and instead, he does his best to try and remain quiet as they proceed down the stairs (Stealth =13).
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
Snow nods to Auger and follows him towards the second flight of stairs, hoping that there is only the one goblin mother again.
As they descend the smell becomes overpowering, invading his nostril and lungs, lingering in his mouth. He turns and retreats up the stairs, vomiting the contents of his stomach out.
Feeling weak and nauseous, he looks around for clean water, needing to wash away the foul taste and smell.
Con Save: 1+2=3
Snow stops in the kitchen to rinse himself off with oily water from the bottom of a barrel, after which he, Auger and Granophyre — whose Dwarven constitution seems practically immune to the effects of the noxious air — creep downstairs, Auger in the lead.
You peek out of the stairwell. A few torches give off smoky light in this room, a crypt, whose door is wide open. Sarcophogi fill the chamber, and upon each one you see the decaying body of a horse or cow; but as it was in the farmhouse cellar, here too, the animals are only barely recognizable as such. Their forms have transformed, loosened and splayed out, and are encompassed in impermeable gelatinous sacs of foggy white goo, each one containing thousands of goblin spawn. Enough to overrun the entire Vale of Deshar, maybe all of Orraca u Shia.
“Ellosh take us!,” whispers Granophyre hoarsely.
Suddenly, three arrows whistle towards Auger from goblin archers hiding behind sarcophagi. Two clatter off the stone wall which provides him partial cover, but one crits for 4HP damage, raking a line across his cheek.
You are now situated like so. Please state Round 1 actions.
(OOC: The goblins have three quarters cover in their current positions.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Expecting an attack of some sort, Auger instinctively lashes out at the creature who fired the arrow at him, sending flames drawn from the Sea of Stars at it. Maintaining his connection Auger reaches through the Sea of Stars to two of the Goblins and focuses their minds such they are briefly experience being out among the Stars, challenging their sanity. That was odd, Auger thinks to himself, he had never been able to do that with two at the same time before.
Auger then enters the area, yelling and hoping to draw the attention of any more of the foul things. "Show yourselves evil spawn!"
Details
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
Round 1 results (part 1)
Auger’s flaming rebuke lashes out so quickly the goblin who shot him hasn’t a split second before the flames lick around its neck and seem to pluck it out of hiding. Its face bakes in an instant and the evil creature recoils back, trips and dies in spasms.
The minds of the other two are penetrated a moment later by the warlock and the pair lose all tension in their bodies and slump to the floor, their brains emptied and destroyed by the overwhelming vastness they are forced to experience.
When Auger steps into the chamber, seven more arrows fire from positions spread around the room, three of them striking him for a total 14HP damage, the others lost in the folds of his magical robes.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Snow gingerly steps into the room, his face a picture of disgust at the sight and smell of the place. He sees a number of goblins had fallen already, and Auger had a few fresh arrow wounds. But this smell was so distracting, he just wanted to vomit again, the nausea almost over powering him.
The first goblin he sees gets a string of insults. “Vile creature, I’d be hiding as well if I looked and smelled like you!”. Not that it understood of course.
He then turns to Auger and softly speaks some words of power, sending over a soothing balm to heal his wounds.
Movement: 10ft to E5 (Staying in cover between E5 and D5 ideally)
Action: Vicious Mockery DC 18 Wis save or take 4+2=6 damage and have disadvantage on next attack.
Bonus Action: Healing Word 4+5=9 healing for Auger.
Reaction:
If anyone hits him or Auger that he can see he will use Cutting Words.
Cutting Words: 5+2=7
“Go back to the depths from whatever hell spawned you”
Round 1 results (cont'd.)
Snow moves into the room, his insults piercing goblin 4 like daggers, and it staggers, its vile spirit withered by the bard’s pointed words, but the creature yet lives.
Granophyre follows in, loads a hand crossbow and fires its small bolt, which zips across the chamber to puncture the lung of the wounded goblin 4. It flings out its arms and falls back, dead.
Six short bows twang, all aimed at Auger as he races into the room. (N.B. - the earlier attacks were readied actions in Round 1. These are Round 2 attacks; the goblins have the initiative.) Rolls & damage: 20 for 6HP; 17 for 5HP, 6 (miss), 9 (miss), 24 (crit) for 10HP, 22 for 6HP.
Goblin 11 leaps from its position near the eastern wall, striking at Auger with a hand axe, but the warlock dodges the blow.
Goblin 12 lunges at Snow, its aim true and firm – until the bard’s cutting words strike confusion into its tiny mind, allowing Snow to deflect the blade with his Dreyen bracers.
You are now situated like so. Please state Round 2 actions. All goblins except 11 & 12 have ¾ cover. Snow and Granophyre have ½ cover.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
As the attacks and arrows come fast and furious, Auger uses his energies to redirect the blows around him, causing all but two arrows to miss him. The two that strike are, however, extremely effective and for the second time in a few short minutes, Auger finds he is reeling and his consciousness fading.
Reaching into the Sea of Stars, Auger's sense of time is again distorted and he cannot tell how long he spends there. He cannot make his body move any faster but he can think quickly. Time... reaching through his energies he casts something-- something he has all the time in the world to cast. Too much time. This is all very unfamiliar. He draws energies from those around him and channels them into himself. They - the Goblins nearby... they all have some amount of life force drawn from them and that life force turns and flows ... into Auger.
Perceptions then snap back to normal for Auger, and it turns out no time has passed. Still surrounded by Goblins he can only think to move defensively to make himself a harder target to hit.
Details
DM of RotFM | AUGER the Warlock (Archfey & the Chain) / Shadow Sorcerer in Age of Resurgence | Rahui & Javier in Sea of Memory
As more goblins reveal themselves Snow questions the decision to leave Varielky upstairs. Nothing to be done now though, he thinks as he deflects a strike from a goblin that charges over to him.
He reaches out with his will and tries to push the goblin back, then surveys the scene. The three of them were being overwhelmed, and he had very little left in reserve. Fortunately what he did have left were some of his more powerful abilities.
He quickly plucks a string on his violin and focusses the magical energy that builds in the void inside. He twists the vibrations of sound and transforms them into light, and then as if throwing a ball he launches it into the room. A twisting pattern of colours weaves through the air around 5 of the goblins in the centre of the room.
In broken dwarvish he motions to the goblin in front of them and says to Strewn, “Many should be...charmed. Kill this one and block the door, I need to keep my mind or I fear for Auger. Us as well”.
If the goblin next to him is pushed away, he will retreat up the stairwell a bit.
Bonus Action: Telekinetic Shove #12, DC16 Str save or moved 5ft to F6.
Action: Hypnotic Pattern, DC18 Wis save or incapacitated and has a speed of 0. Placed from F8-K8-F14-K14 (By grid this is 35ft but should be offset to only cover half of rows 8 and 14, so it encompasses #8, #11, #5, #7, #10).
Movement: 20ft up the stairs to B3 (Only if #12 was pushed away, otherwise stays where he is).
Round 2 Results
Auger’s sorcery causes Goblins 6, 9, and 11 to each suffer 5HP necrotic damage, their complexions turning from frog-green to pale pink, their motions forced and arthritic.
Goblin 12 is thrown back by Snow’s telekinetic shove, but immediately flips athletically, recovers and reengages (i.e. succeeded in its saving throw).
Goblins 5, 7, 8, and 11 stand dumbfounded and silent, their eyes swirling under the effects of Snow’s Hypnotic Pattern. Only goblin 10 makes its save.
Granophyre attempts his electric lasso on goblin 12, but the creature is too quick, and evades the sage’s grasp. The old dwarf’s attention is divided however, as he throws a tiny vial of healing vapors to Auger, which pops with a tiny crunch in his grasp, and the southerner regains 11HP.
Goblin 12 attacks Snow and hits with an 18 for 7HP (unless Snow reacts?), then disengages (bonus action) and moves to block Snow’s exit.
Goblin 11 disengages from Auger and moves to attack Granophyre, who ducks behind the stone doorframe, against which the evil creature’s thin blade rebounds, drawing sparks.
Goblins 6, 9, and 10 release arrows at Auger, and though the first two whiz past, the third strikes home (despite the dodge, with a 17) for 6HP.
Goblins 5, 7, and 8 are charmed and inactive, but have ¾ cover.
Goblins 9, and 10 have ¾ cover; they and goblins 11 and 12 are still active.
You are now situated like so. Please post Round 3 actions.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Snow grunts in pain at the goblins attack, but steels his mind and maintains his concentration on the charm.
Concentration Save: 16+2=18
He looks at the goblin behind him and sees it has succumbed to his charm, then at the goblin blocking the way up the stairs and unleashes more verbal abuse. “Get out of my way you witless effort at life!”. Not that it understood that either of course.
He then once more reaches out with his mind and attempts to push the goblin away.
“Ignore the charmed ones for now”, he says to Strewn, again in broken dwarvish.
Action: Vicious Mockery DC 18 Wis save or take 1+1=2 damage and have disadvantage on next attack.
Bonus Action: Telekinetic Shove #12, DC16 Str save or moved 5ft to B/C5.
Movement: 5ft to C/D5 (Only if goblin 12 pushed away)