Red Dead Annihilation: Campaign Thread

Ran was caught flat footed for a moment as he sees the size of this massive turtle.

Even someone born and bred in the city could tell that shell on the back was natural armor for this beast. For a split second he thought whether trying to flip the creature over would be better than trying to find an opening at the neck and legs.

He decides flipping it might cause the turtle to let go of Meili.

Ran charges up to the side and shoves hard against the edge of the turtle, trying to get leverage to flip it over.

Action - Shove STR (Athletics): 8  

Turtle athletics contest:  8

The Giant Snapping Turtle largely ignores Ran’s efforts to topple it, though it has dropped Meili’s unconscious form.  The turtle now seems focused on the one-armed dwarf who is pestering it with little stabs.

Vision swimming as she saw not one but two large turtles, Danica blinked heavily several times before she gave a sharp intake of breath upon seeing Meili's form between its powerful jaws. "Mei, no!" Curses flowing from her lips true to her sailor background even as her form began to darken. Not just her skin but even her clothing and outline as well before pinpricks of light suddenly shone to life, thin silver lines connecting between her joints and limbs. Her hair flowed like a nebula behind her and where her eyes were supposed to be seemed like twin north stars second brightest only to the constellation of a Chalice on her abdomen. 

While the others were focused on the foe that invaded their camp, her eyes were locked on the other woman's limp form, dashing around Hew and Ran and kneeling next to the monk. "Selûne don't let her light go out just yet."  Reaching to press her hands against the staunchly bleeding wound before hesitating just a fraction upon seeing her own hands. Shaking her head, the druid said resolutely, "Te curo." 

Bonus Action: Starry Form (Chalice).  Action: Cure Wounds

Inete emerges from her tent.  She holds up a crystalline eye and whispers a prayer to Savras.  Mica, Ran and Velan feel the warmth of divine inspiration.

As the restorative magic from Danica's spell surges into her, Meili's shattered ribs and torn flesh knit back together, and she returns to consciousness.  She is currently prone on the ground before the monster.

Round Two

• Velan  (Blessed)
• Giant Snapping Turtle
• Mica  (Blessed)
• Hew
• Ran  (Blessed)
• Meili
• Danica
• Inete

[Realizing after looking at the map that Mica, Velan and Ran could not have all been target by Bless as the area is too big... oh well.  Live and learn.]

To say that everything happened suddenly would be an understatement. Meili lied unconscious, Ran tried to push the reptile away and failed, Mica tried to communicate with the creature, Danica transformed herself and approached the fallen monk to heal her and a sudden warmth flowed through his body. A spark of inspiration, not terribly dissimilar to that he felt under the effect of Silvery Barbs, although less intense and far more gentle. Divine inspiration, he deduced turning his head in Inete’s direction.

“Thank you, Inete.” Velan said as his eyes glowed teal, arcane energy flowing though his body. Calling upon his blood the Wizard started to move his arms and tendrils of shadow appeared around the giant turtle, marking it, draining its strength, cursing it.  “Maledictio!” He called finishing the Hex spell, frustrated with himself for not using it before the first Magic Missiles. Something to keep in mind for a next battle, he admitted somewhat bitterly. 

It is much faster than I thought, the wizard said with the voice of his mind while looking at the beast and starting to move away from it, careful to never stray further than a hundred and twenty feet. That was the limit range of his best damage dealing spells, after all.

“Ignis!” He chanted raising the right hand and conjuring a flame into his pal. One that he was fast to hurl as a mote of fire into the enemy.

Notes: Velan uses his Hex Magic to cast Hex (spending his bonus action) to inflict disadvantage in Strength checks, then moves his full speed away from the turtle but staying no further than 120ft, and uses his action to cast [Tooltip Not Found].

Spell Attack: 14
Spell Damage: 5
Hex Damage: 2

Bless Dice: 4

 Velan’s fire bolt impacts the turtle’s shell and burns there for a moment before sputtering out.  His Hex takes hold however, and the large beast seems to struggle to move under its own weight.

The turtle parries some of Hew’s stabs with its beak and makes halfhearted attempts to bite back, before lowering its head to try and scoop up the prone form of Meili with its mouth and retreat toward the water.

Athletics (dsadv):  8.  Meili, now conscious, can contest with Athletics or Acrobatics.

With or without its prize, the turtle backs up toward the river.  It doesn’t leave Ran’s reach but Hew gets an AoO.

Attack: 21 Damage: 11

Meili gasped for the air and opened her eyes. It took her a precious second to realize she is not dead, and begin to move away but the very first movement attracted the monster's attention again. Still hazy from the previous attack she tried to wiggle out of the - truly snapping! - jaws of the river-monster: Acrobatics 8

((If I am not mistaken, that was on the turtle's turn and on her own turn Meili still have her action? She is also not restrained but grappled, right?))

The monster hold fast, but Meili was not going to give up easily. Unable to free herself, she attacked instead, trying to find and hit a soft spot on the monster's snout.

Attack: 18 Damage: 6
Attack: 19 Damage: 5
Attack: 25 Damage: 9

Mica feels a strange warmth and strength of resolve fall over him.  As the turtle backs toward the river, Mica draws his second handaxe and moves in toward the creature.  Avoiding the shell and attacking one of the unarmored legs, he strikes with both axes, hacking away like it is a tree trunk and trying to topple the beast.

Attack: 15 Damage: 4  plus 1 bless on attack roll.

Bonus Action. Attack: 10 Damage: 9 plus 4 bless on attack roll. 

[Meili, I think there is some room for disagreement on whether this would be restrained vs grappled.  I think some of the dinosaurs and other creatures that like to eat people have language that says 'restrained' when the PC is in its mouth.  However, I like the idea of the Monk savagely punching and kicking the big dumb turtle while everyone else's attacks sail wide so I will go ahead and agree that you are just 'grappled'.  Plus, you're about one round away from being dragged into the river and drowned so I'll give Meili the benefit of the doubt.]

Despite doing his level-headed best to target the unarmored legs of the leviathan, Mica's axes can find no gaps in the giant turtle's thick scales.  Meanwhile, Meili battles violently in the turtle's jaws, striking it over and over again in its soft palate.

Hew pursues it manically as it retreats toward the water.  "HAWR!" he cries unintelligibly as he tries to pierce its eyes with his rapier and trying to goad it into dropping Meili and to snap at him instead.

Attack: 19 Damage: 11

Attack: 15 Damage: 5

Ran can see that the turtle is dragging Meili towards the river.

"If it gets her in the river . . ." Ran starts then doesn't finish what he was going to say.

He tries again to flip the turtle on to its back, hopefully exposing it's underside and preventing it from just walking away.

Shove  Strength (Athletics): 18  plus Bless 3  (and believe the turtle has disadvantage still from Velan's hex)

Turtle Athletics (w/dsadv): 7

Turtle CON save:  21

 Ran gives a valiant effort, but the stubborn turtle spreads its feet and he cannot quite find the leverage to flip it over onto its back.

The creature does seem distressed, as blood is pouring from one of its nostrils.

[Botting Danica for this turn.]

Having only just restored Meili with a healing spell, Danica sees the girl snatched away in the turtle's jaws and dragged off to certain doom.  Still in her Starry Form, she casts Guiding Bolt at the aquatic behemoth.  Attack: 19 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll. radiant damage.

Inete, lacking offensive spells but desperate to help, rushes to the backpedaling turtle and grabs Meili's arm, trying to pull her free from the turtle's grasp.  Inete Athletics: 1 vs Turtle athletics:  17

The blinding shot from Danica glances off the mighty shell and ricochets into the night sky.  But it seems to surprise the beast, enough that Inete is able to pull Meili from its jaws and the two land in a heap on the jungle floor.

The Giant Snapping Turtle opens its mouth wide and lets out a rasping hiss, but it disengages and retreats to the river bank, slipping into the water.  The last you see of it is the top of its jagged shell sinking beneath the surface under the moonlight.

[If anyone wants to press the attack and try to finish it off we can play that out.  Otherwise we are out of initiative.]

Ran watches the turtle disappear between the surface of the water.

"Bloody heavy bugger," Ran says with admiration. All the same, he draws his swords and keeps watch over the water while Inete checks on Meili. 

"Did you really just punch a giant turtle in the head?" Ran calls over his shoulder.

Mica, still able to speak with animals calls out to the turtle as it retreats back to the river “I warned you we would not be an easy meal, grandfather.  Happy hunting tonight.  Go in peace”

He turns back and grins at Meili and Ran “That she did, and did a good deal better than my axes against the scales of that creature.  Let’s see to your wounds, Meili, you need rest.”

He looks over at Hew “Is it safe to remain at camp here tonight, or will the fight draw other creatures?”  Mica was in no hurry to move camp, but he was even less interested in another interruption before dawn.

Meili was sitting on the ground, where Inete managed to pull her, breathing heavily, with the excitement of the battle slowly fading. "I don't know where I hit it, did not think of it. Gods, what a monster!" They were barely out of the city, yet, the danger already proved to be very real and very deadly. She pulled herself to her feet and bowed her head. "Thank you for saving me."

Meili carefully breathed in and tried to move her arms and legs, checking the wounds. Nothing felt broken anymore but Mica was right about the needed rest. Except, could they afford it? She glanced at the bag with the medical supplies - and turned away. If today's encounter taught her something, it's that the group should not spend it easily. "I will be fine by morning if we can stay here." She too looked at Hew, the only one who could answer that question.

((Thanks for stepping in for me GM, was NOT feeling well and have still been having to work long hours.))

Having a brief moment of panic as the not completely healed Meili was still being dragged away even as she let loose her fists into the beast, Danica tried to fire off a shot of light from within but felt her hand shake as she did so, still suffering from her sickness, causing the bolt to shoot off towards the stars. One good thing did come from it though, as the bright bolt sailed past its eyes, Inete used the brief distraction to begin to pull its prey away, the turtle giving the monk up as too much effort. Huffing with a tired smile at Mica's parting words, the elf's posture then sagged as she watched the creature disappear with double vision. 

"N-Never seen beast that big swim in anything short of the ocean b'fore." Nodding at Meili's thanks, she stated, "Pretty sure you made him regret taking a bite out of you." And then looked to Inete, "Good job gettin' her away from it."  As Mica asked about possibly moving camp, Danica grimaced before focusing on the still injured party member. "I think I can heal you further bef-" The druid's hand reaching towards her before stopping at the sight of her own hand and arm, turning it around as she peered at it with wonder. "I knew that the stars would always guide me but I never thought it would be so...literal." Clearing her throat with another shiver the woman circled back, "But if you want, I can heal you a bit more."