The rat-man raises its pickaxe, preparing to deliver a finishing blow to Silas's unconscious form when Malachi invades its fragile brain. It clutches at its ears and stumbles away down the tunnel as fast as it can
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
After assisting Malachi across the grease, though sadly it wasn't enough to help him make the jump successfully, Marion gets to her feet, just in time to watch as the darkness dissolves and Silas' struggle with the ratman comes into view, though sadly it ultimately results in him being brought low. Stepping back from the grease enough to give herself room for a run up, Marion then charges forward, her powerful legs pumping as she accelerates rapidly, before leaping over the slippery substance with relative ease.
As she lands the Knight-Errant uses her momentum to best advantage, carrying all the speed into her left arm as she tosses her handaxe at the fleeing form of the ratman as forcefully as she can.
Joren rushes down the glowing tunnel, paying little mind to the moss as he hones in on the man at the other end. The man is running fast, but not fast enough, and Joren slowly begins to overtake him even as he navigates the unfamiliar footing.
Joren manages to close 3/4s of the distance, nearing the end of the tunnel before realization strikes him. The man is holding a cloth over his face as he runs, and there is a familiar scent in this mossy stretch. It smells a lot like the gas bombs that had been used on them the previous night. A heaviness begins to creep into his eyelids and legs alike as the aroma threatens to put him to sleep.
(Constitution Save. With a 10, Joren stays up but loses advantage on athletics. With a 15, he completely bulls through the sleep-inducing effects. and carries on as the unstoppable juggernaut he is making himself out to be right now.)
Marion's axe spins through the air, past Malachi and Silas, to lodge itself firmly between the rat-man's shoulders. It falls to its knees and quickly staggers back up. Its feet drag heavily as it continues to run, and it looks on the verge of death.
Samir attempts to hurry forward on Marion's heels, pausing long enough to try and fire a last shot at the fleeing ratman before attempting to cross the slippery stretch.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
So much is happening at once. She has the unconscious man at her feet, she hears the yells from her friends, sounds like Silas is down and even though she barely knows him she wants to help. She sees one of those rats breaking free of the mess behind her and coming up fast and Joren is far down the tunnel ahead of her with two other bad guys she thinks? She cannot leave him to those men, decision made.
She turns on her heel and makes a run for it, trying to get to the next adversary.
Samir's bolt strikes the fleeing rat-man in the lower back, and the creature folds forward mid step and collapses to the ground. Samir then carefully picks his way across the greasy rubble, coming in safely behind Marion and Malachi.
Ashley leaves the unconscious man and takes off after Joren. She rounds the bend and sees the two branching tunnels before her. She sees the younger man leap over something on the ground as he emerges from the left tunnel looking over his shoulder, and he turns to run down the right-hand tunnel instead. If Ashley had to guess, she would say Joren had likely gone down the left tunnel, passing the younger one to go straight for the one in lead, and this man figured he would backtrack and try going the other way. Furthermore, an acidic smell wafts down from the left-hand tunnel and she can see shards of glass and tendrils of smoke so faint she had almost missed them rising up from the spot the man had leapt over.
Ashley figures a vial of some kind of acid had likely been smashed there to slow or injure the pursuit. Knowing it's there, she could easily jump over that patch. Joren missed this with his perception check, but ended up echo-swapping right past it anyway.
So now Ashley has choices. The path behind her to face the pursuing rat-man, the left passage where she thinks Joren and his target are, or the right passage where the younger man is running. The younger man is still in view if Ashley wants to try something ranged. If she wants to pursue, meeting his athletics check would maintain the current distance, beating it would decrease the distance, and beating it by 5 or more would allow her to catch up. She can't hear much from the left tunnel, so she figures they are a ways away since she's fallen behind their incredible rolls. It would take some time and luck to catch up.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
After releasing her axe Marion doesn't pause for a moment to look up and see what the final result is. Moving forward as fast as she can, she drops to one knee above the prone figure of Silas, raising her shield protectively as she looks down at the injured goliath. Controlling her breathing while attempting to clear her mind of the chaos around them, she places her left hand upon his neck, covering the wound, and as blood seeps through her fingers she closes her eyes and begins to speak with her Goddess.
"Lady grant me Thy strength; That I might seal these wounds; And return Thy child from the threshold;"
As the words flow, so to does the power of the Blue Lady, and where one moment the life blood of Silas flowed through her fingers, instead blue light breaks through and illuminates Marion's face.
As the healing energy seals his wounds and brings him back from the cusp of death, Silas' eyes snap open, seemingly burning with intent.
He grabs the arm holding his neck and brings his face in close to Marion's, "through eyes not my own I saw this rock of ours, a globe under threat from something both approaching but also within cambria." The words are said both out loud and echoed through Marion's mind as an invasive thought.
As he blinks once more his consciousness seems to slide back in place, and he looks around, piecing together what must have happened he averts his eyes from Marion's ashamed and lets her go.
"Thank you for saving me, I'm sorry you've had to help me so much, I... Uhh.. thank you" he sits himself up, his back against the cold tunnel wall and rubs the place in his neck where the wound was, breathing in and out slowly, manually, controlled, calming himself and resting somewhat.
Marion would likely have seen this behaviour before in others she had trained with, a silent shame in not being good enough, not wanting failures to be seen so visibly. The kind of self motivation and perfectionism that leads a strong headed person to self destructive and thoughtless tendancies, as she looks down on a Goliath that now cannot meet her gaze.
Joren realizes too late that he has dashed into poison gas, probably released by that cursed blue moss...
Aaargh, I should have been covering my face as that cultist is doing!
Constitution saving throw (will use Inspiration if 9 or less): 15
Joren reaches deep, this time not into the inspiration he's received from his wonderful new comrades, but something far more visceral and innate. The dwarven resilience of his lost father - a resilience Joren does not normally possess himself. Just barely managing to find the fortitude to shake off the effects of the poison and charge onward after his quarry.
Down the left tunnel, Joren makes it through the worst of the moss. The man ahead of him turns to look over his shoulder, expecting to see a sleeping half-dwarf, but is incredulous to see his pursuer has not been slowed in the slightest. Shock turns to resignation and he stops running, turning to face Joren. A small rat climbs up from inside his collar and onto his shoulder. The man whispers to it and sets it down behind him, where it quickly begins to scamper off. He then rips the front of his shirt open, buttons flying of and clattering against the stone walls around.
On his chest is the same symbol that Jon had on his. Joren can also see in the dim light of the moss that the man has another of those necklaces, this one possessing a multitude of tiny rat ears with one of those strange dividers on one side, sectioning off a single one of the ears.
He pulls out one of the daggers they all seem to carry and holds it to his throat as he stares down the rapidly approaching Joren. "Stop right there! I think you know what this is..." he points to the symbols on his chest. "... and what happens if I do this." He gestures to the knife, its point drawing a bead of blood from his neck.
As the words intrude into her mind and her senses are suddenly distant and faded, Marion's head whirls chaotically, the burnt taste in her mouth uncomfortable as the unexpected impulses threaten to overwhelm her. She quickly steadies herself, however, managing to clear her head of the alien sensations as the goliath's words touch on a deeply personal experience, steeling her with fresh determination as she stares intensely at Silas while he looks awkwardly aside.
Might this be what Thou did warn me of my Queen? Is this aberrant goliath included in Thine intent? Tis not mine place to question Thee. I shall not fail Thee my Lady!
After a brief moment of reflection, and taking in Silas' apparent shame at his self determined failure, she rises to her feet and offers her blood stained hand to him. From her expression it is clear she understands why he feels shame, for she understands what it means to aspire to an ideal of the highest standards. "Thanks is not necessary," There is a brief pause before she finishes the sentence, as if she is still coming to terms with a decision just made. "my friend." Letting it linger in the air between them for a few seconds, she soon returns the conversation to the matter at hand."Besides, we are not yet done. The others have need of us still."
In a flash, Joren remembers the fateful moment, back in the mess tent after victory in battle. The very evening the animosity began with his then brothers in arms. He and the other boys were playing a card game with betting, still in their armor. Joren had bluffed, pushing coins into the pot despite having an execrable hand. All his opponents dropped out save for Bernard Kryn, a distant cousin, but trueborn, fifth in line for the throne, unlike the bastard Joren.
Bernard had smiled smugly then, a cat toying with a mouse, haughtily and dismissively raising the stakes even further and leaning back, satisfied. A satisfaction which was shattered abruptly when Joren re-raised, pushing all of his coins recklessly to the center to the astonishment and dead silence of everyone present. When Bernard had finally relented and thrown away his cards after much gnashing of teeth, Joren had twisted the knife by showing him the bluff, revealing his own cards. A move so stupid and reckless, Joren knows in his head that it was the genesis of the inevitable personal conflict that ensued and ended with the half-dwarf becoming persona non grata with the Khirian Dynasty. And, in truth, no longer welcome anywhere within his beloved Dalmodh Plains, exiled to wander the world despite his mother's best efforts.
Jorenshould know better. But some things never change.
He is fairly sure Marion, Samir and of a certainty his mother would be appalled. He doesn't have a read on Malachi or Silas yet, so he does not know where they would stand. But somehow he thinks Ashley would approve, as would his father, wherever he is. He smiles warmly.
Joren hears the man and slows, coming to a casual stop 25' away, staring him down and thundering like a lunatic, raging barbarian:
"Then you, I, and the rat are all perishing, and no one is delivering your message, YES? I AM READY, ARE YOU?"
His goal is to distract the man and give him pause. With his bonus action, Joren moves his echo behind the cultist, whose attention Joren is attempting to command. Attacking non-lethally with his greatsword from the echo's location behind the man.
Samir watches as Marion tends to Silas, all the while cycling another bolt into place. A bead of sweat trickles down one temple, even as he releases the will he had invested in the illuminating chemicals he had earlier thrown. The phosphorescence around the rat-man's body dims and flickers out in finality. Picking his way past the other two, carefully watching the tunnels ahead of them, Samir moves to pocket the darkness orb thrown down by the cultist before, slipping it away for further study along with the other items he had collected thus far. Hopefully soon he would indeed have time to examine these things in more than passing. Whatever his prior commitments were, the gnawing need to study and understand the strange phenomena involved in these macabre doings was strong within him. He glances back to Marion and Silas, his eyes lingering on the goliath for a moment.
"I think I hear Joren shouting somewhere up ahead, although I can't make out anything but noise. It could be a bear, actually, which would be fitting for our luck lately. Either way we should try to catch up."
Samir will stick with Marion and Silas. Athletics checks if they decide to push on and catch the others: 612
The rat-man raises its pickaxe, preparing to deliver a finishing blow to Silas's unconscious form when Malachi invades its fragile brain. It clutches at its ears and stumbles away down the tunnel as fast as it can
After assisting Malachi across the grease, though sadly it wasn't enough to help him make the jump successfully, Marion gets to her feet, just in time to watch as the darkness dissolves and Silas' struggle with the ratman comes into view, though sadly it ultimately results in him being brought low. Stepping back from the grease enough to give herself room for a run up, Marion then charges forward, her powerful legs pumping as she accelerates rapidly, before leaping over the slippery substance with relative ease.
As she lands the Knight-Errant uses her momentum to best advantage, carrying all the speed into her left arm as she tosses her handaxe at the fleeing form of the ratman as forcefully as she can.
Attack: 13 Damage: 10
Joren rushes down the glowing tunnel, paying little mind to the moss as he hones in on the man at the other end. The man is running fast, but not fast enough, and Joren slowly begins to overtake him even as he navigates the unfamiliar footing.
Joren manages to close 3/4s of the distance, nearing the end of the tunnel before realization strikes him. The man is holding a cloth over his face as he runs, and there is a familiar scent in this mossy stretch. It smells a lot like the gas bombs that had been used on them the previous night. A heaviness begins to creep into his eyelids and legs alike as the aroma threatens to put him to sleep.
(Constitution Save. With a 10, Joren stays up but loses advantage on athletics. With a 15, he completely bulls through the sleep-inducing effects. and carries on as the unstoppable juggernaut he is making himself out to be right now.)
Marion's axe spins through the air, past Malachi and Silas, to lodge itself firmly between the rat-man's shoulders. It falls to its knees and quickly staggers back up. Its feet drag heavily as it continues to run, and it looks on the verge of death.
Samir attempts to hurry forward on Marion's heels, pausing long enough to try and fire a last shot at the fleeing ratman before attempting to cross the slippery stretch.
Crossbow 16 to hit 9 damage.
Dexterity save 15.
So much is happening at once. She has the unconscious man at her feet, she hears the yells from her friends, sounds like Silas is down and even though she barely knows him she wants to help. She sees one of those rats breaking free of the mess behind her and coming up fast and Joren is far down the tunnel ahead of her with two other bad guys she thinks? She cannot leave him to those men, decision made.
She turns on her heel and makes a run for it, trying to get to the next adversary.
Athletics 2
Perception 18
Samir's bolt strikes the fleeing rat-man in the lower back, and the creature folds forward mid step and collapses to the ground. Samir then carefully picks his way across the greasy rubble, coming in safely behind Marion and Malachi.
Ashley leaves the unconscious man and takes off after Joren. She rounds the bend and sees the two branching tunnels before her. She sees the younger man leap over something on the ground as he emerges from the left tunnel looking over his shoulder, and he turns to run down the right-hand tunnel instead. If Ashley had to guess, she would say Joren had likely gone down the left tunnel, passing the younger one to go straight for the one in lead, and this man figured he would backtrack and try going the other way. Furthermore, an acidic smell wafts down from the left-hand tunnel and she can see shards of glass and tendrils of smoke so faint she had almost missed them rising up from the spot the man had leapt over.
Ashley figures a vial of some kind of acid had likely been smashed there to slow or injure the pursuit. Knowing it's there, she could easily jump over that patch. Joren missed this with his perception check, but ended up echo-swapping right past it anyway.
So now Ashley has choices. The path behind her to face the pursuing rat-man, the left passage where she thinks Joren and his target are, or the right passage where the younger man is running. The younger man is still in view if Ashley wants to try something ranged. If she wants to pursue, meeting his athletics check would maintain the current distance, beating it would decrease the distance, and beating it by 5 or more would allow her to catch up. She can't hear much from the left tunnel, so she figures they are a ways away since she's fallen behind their incredible rolls. It would take some time and luck to catch up.
Athletics: 12
Try again: 10
Silas first death save 3
Silas sinks further within his state of unconsciousness, the wound in his neck now spouting blood with some severity.
After releasing her axe Marion doesn't pause for a moment to look up and see what the final result is. Moving forward as fast as she can, she drops to one knee above the prone figure of Silas, raising her shield protectively as she looks down at the injured goliath. Controlling her breathing while attempting to clear her mind of the chaos around them, she places her left hand upon his neck, covering the wound, and as blood seeps through her fingers she closes her eyes and begins to speak with her Goddess.
"Lady grant me Thy strength;
That I might seal these wounds;
And return Thy child from the threshold;"
As the words flow, so to does the power of the Blue Lady, and where one moment the life blood of Silas flowed through her fingers, instead blue light breaks through and illuminates Marion's face.
Cure Wounds for 6 healing on Silas.
As the healing energy seals his wounds and brings him back from the cusp of death, Silas' eyes snap open, seemingly burning with intent.
He grabs the arm holding his neck and brings his face in close to Marion's, "through eyes not my own I saw this rock of ours, a globe under threat from something both approaching but also within cambria." The words are said both out loud and echoed through Marion's mind as an invasive thought.
As he blinks once more his consciousness seems to slide back in place, and he looks around, piecing together what must have happened he averts his eyes from Marion's ashamed and lets her go.
"Thank you for saving me, I'm sorry you've had to help me so much, I... Uhh.. thank you" he sits himself up, his back against the cold tunnel wall and rubs the place in his neck where the wound was, breathing in and out slowly, manually, controlled, calming himself and resting somewhat.
Marion would likely have seen this behaviour before in others she had trained with, a silent shame in not being good enough, not wanting failures to be seen so visibly. The kind of self motivation and perfectionism that leads a strong headed person to self destructive and thoughtless tendancies, as she looks down on a Goliath that now cannot meet her gaze.
Joren realizes too late that he has dashed into poison gas, probably released by that cursed blue moss...
Aaargh, I should have been covering my face as that cultist is doing!
Constitution saving throw (will use Inspiration if 9 or less): 14
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(Druid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(Sorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(Cleric3/Sorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Joren reaches deep, this time not into the inspiration he's received from his wonderful new comrades, but something far more visceral and innate. The dwarven resilience of his lost father - a resilience Joren does not normally possess himself. Just barely managing to find the fortitude to shake off the effects of the poison and charge onward after his quarry.
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(Druid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(Sorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(Cleric3/Sorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
As Silas's mind briefly intrudes on Marion's, sound and light fade away, and her mouth tastes burnt.
Then just a moment later her senses are back to normal.
Down the left tunnel, Joren makes it through the worst of the moss. The man ahead of him turns to look over his shoulder, expecting to see a sleeping half-dwarf, but is incredulous to see his pursuer has not been slowed in the slightest. Shock turns to resignation and he stops running, turning to face Joren. A small rat climbs up from inside his collar and onto his shoulder. The man whispers to it and sets it down behind him, where it quickly begins to scamper off. He then rips the front of his shirt open, buttons flying of and clattering against the stone walls around.
On his chest is the same symbol that Jon had on his. Joren can also see in the dim light of the moss that the man has another of those necklaces, this one possessing a multitude of tiny rat ears with one of those strange dividers on one side, sectioning off a single one of the ears.
He pulls out one of the daggers they all seem to carry and holds it to his throat as he stares down the rapidly approaching Joren. "Stop right there! I think you know what this is..." he points to the symbols on his chest. "... and what happens if I do this." He gestures to the knife, its point drawing a bead of blood from his neck.
As the words intrude into her mind and her senses are suddenly distant and faded, Marion's head whirls chaotically, the burnt taste in her mouth uncomfortable as the unexpected impulses threaten to overwhelm her. She quickly steadies herself, however, managing to clear her head of the alien sensations as the goliath's words touch on a deeply personal experience, steeling her with fresh determination as she stares intensely at Silas while he looks awkwardly aside.
Might this be what Thou did warn me of my Queen? Is this aberrant goliath included in Thine intent? Tis not mine place to question Thee. I shall not fail Thee my Lady!
After a brief moment of reflection, and taking in Silas' apparent shame at his self determined failure, she rises to her feet and offers her blood stained hand to him. From her expression it is clear she understands why he feels shame, for she understands what it means to aspire to an ideal of the highest standards. "Thanks is not necessary," There is a brief pause before she finishes the sentence, as if she is still coming to terms with a decision just made. "my friend." Letting it linger in the air between them for a few seconds, she soon returns the conversation to the matter at hand. "Besides, we are not yet done. The others have need of us still."
In a flash, Joren remembers the fateful moment, back in the mess tent after victory in battle. The very evening the animosity began with his then brothers in arms. He and the other boys were playing a card game with betting, still in their armor. Joren had bluffed, pushing coins into the pot despite having an execrable hand. All his opponents dropped out save for Bernard Kryn, a distant cousin, but trueborn, fifth in line for the throne, unlike the bastard Joren.
Bernard had smiled smugly then, a cat toying with a mouse, haughtily and dismissively raising the stakes even further and leaning back, satisfied. A satisfaction which was shattered abruptly when Joren re-raised, pushing all of his coins recklessly to the center to the astonishment and dead silence of everyone present. When Bernard had finally relented and thrown away his cards after much gnashing of teeth, Joren had twisted the knife by showing him the bluff, revealing his own cards. A move so stupid and reckless, Joren knows in his head that it was the genesis of the inevitable personal conflict that ensued and ended with the half-dwarf becoming persona non grata with the Khirian Dynasty. And, in truth, no longer welcome anywhere within his beloved Dalmodh Plains, exiled to wander the world despite his mother's best efforts.
Joren should know better. But some things never change.
He is fairly sure Marion, Samir and of a certainty his mother would be appalled. He doesn't have a read on Malachi or Silas yet, so he does not know where they would stand. But somehow he thinks Ashley would approve, as would his father, wherever he is. He smiles warmly.
Joren hears the man and slows, coming to a casual stop 25' away, staring him down and thundering like a lunatic, raging barbarian:
"Then you, I, and the rat are all perishing, and no one is delivering your message, YES? I AM READY, ARE YOU?"
His goal is to distract the man and give him pause. With his bonus action, Joren moves his echo behind the cultist, whose attention Joren is attempting to command. Attacking non-lethally with his greatsword from the echo's location behind the man.
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(Druid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(Sorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(Cleric3/Sorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Samir watches as Marion tends to Silas, all the while cycling another bolt into place. A bead of sweat trickles down one temple, even as he releases the will he had invested in the illuminating chemicals he had earlier thrown. The phosphorescence around the rat-man's body dims and flickers out in finality. Picking his way past the other two, carefully watching the tunnels ahead of them, Samir moves to pocket the darkness orb thrown down by the cultist before, slipping it away for further study along with the other items he had collected thus far. Hopefully soon he would indeed have time to examine these things in more than passing. Whatever his prior commitments were, the gnawing need to study and understand the strange phenomena involved in these macabre doings was strong within him. He glances back to Marion and Silas, his eyes lingering on the goliath for a moment.
"I think I hear Joren shouting somewhere up ahead, although I can't make out anything but noise. It could be a bear, actually, which would be fitting for our luck lately. Either way we should try to catch up."
Samir will stick with Marion and Silas. Athletics checks if they decide to push on and catch the others: 6 12
Joren Deception: 12
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(Druid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(Sorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(Cleric3/Sorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Joren non-lethal attack with greatsword from echo's position (will use Inspiration on a miss):
Attack: 18 Damage: 10
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(Druid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(Sorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(Cleric3/Sorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk