This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Liri hurls herself against the catacomb entrance, trying to collapse it amidst the attacks of the ghouls and ghasts. Her body feels sluggish to her, some effect from the filthy claws of the undead. She notices Balthar nearby trying to alert her attention to what looks like it may be a weaker point in the structure.
(( Advantage from Balthar negates the disadvantage from the poison, I believe ))
Attack: 18 Damage: 11
She will then expend a 1st level spell slot as a bonus action to recover 1 hit points (( from combat wild shape ))
Jade deals a heavy hit, but misses on the second blow, failing to down any of the ghouls. Dazlyn, however, with his first swing, is able to finally crumble the opening to the catacombs, sealing it off with its own rubble. The magical bubble around it seems to fade at the same time. He attempts to swing at Ghast 12 with his second attack, but fails to connect.
@Soloth
You heal yourself and Elandra, and rush 25ft north and 5ft west (Vyldara is currently 30ft North of your old position, so I changed your movement to avoid the spaces she is on).
Elandra extends her gratitude to Soloth by a curt of of her head, and a quick flick of her hat to remove some of the muddy hand that had stuck to her clothes. She moves southwest, rotating around Vyldara in the same manner Soloth has. She again releases her whispers at the Banshee, hoping to force some room and be able to assist Norbus next turn.
Action: Dissonant Whispers, 3rd level @ Vyldara - DC15 WIS save for half damage only, otherwise 22 psychic damage & use reaction to move directly away (hopefully past Soloth) BA: none Movement: 30ft to move to the square at Hammer's 8 o'clock
Vlydara resists Elandra's blow, but it is enough. She howls, Elandra's discordant music shattering her brain, and her corporial form begins to evaporate. In a moment, her spirit seperates from her body, and her ancient elven form falls to the ground and instantly turns to dust. Her cloak evaporates along with it.
Looking around, the ghouls and ghast suddenly collapse, their undead forms rotting away as the powerful magic that kept them alive and chained to this place dissipates. The clouds overhead dissapear, and just as when you defeated the poltergiests, the wind begins to blow as normal again, the foul smell dissipating from the air. The toxic moat instantly runs dry, replaced with a patch of arid sand that looks as dry as if it had been sitting in a desert for years
As Vyldara falls, Dazlyn rushes over (out of initiative so he can move enough to get there). He pulls out what appears to be a simple flask from his pack, but as he holds it up, it captures a peice of Vyldara's dying wail, a whirling mass of screams filling the glass. He seals it, and tosses it to Soloth saying. "Well that took long enough! Tough fight that was. This bottle should us leverage a bit of that fearsome wail of hers that took you and Elandra down!"
This is a Potion of Banshee's Wail. Soloth, I've added it as a homebrew item to the backpack section of your character sheet for you to view the full details
With the stated task completed and far too tall to enter the city, the statue vanishes, presumably having blinked back to its cave, ready to be activated again should Axeholm's walls ever be threatened. For all of you though, something is clear: around the city itself, the darkness doesn't seem to have completely dissipated. Clearly, even without Vyldara's presence, there's something going on here, but after a long battle, perhaps that is something best determined in the morning. Final Map Update:
And with that, this battle is at long last over and we are finally out of initiative! In addition, you have all leveled up! Level up your characters to level 6, and I'll post in the OOC thread what I need from all of you in terms of you leveling up!
In addition, the tents appear again, extravagant as always, and there's quite a large feast prepared already around the lit campire, a welcome sight after such a long figt. For tonight's rest, I'm going to say the area outside the castle is now safe enough that you can all take a long rest! Feel free to take that now along with you leveling up!
As the banshee dissipates from existence, Elandra whisks her hat into an elaborate bow. As she raises up she looks on the fallen remains and almost spits out the words, her tone full of superiority and disdain, "How's that for an encore?! You may have had a voice to scream about, we're the ones who are still standing for the ovation though!" A moment passes as the words fade on the winds and the undead monstrosities across the battlefield crumble and perish. Elandra takes in the scene all around her and sinks to her knees, taking a moment to say a prayer to Mystra, this being the quest that the goddess had set their feet upon. All the nuances and poetry of the trial flooded over her. How the quest from her goddess had pitted her against foes that her magic was severely muted against, how the villain was an undead vocalist, how Elandra came back for not one but two encores to eventually drown out the wail. This was the sort of tale that would create a ballad of epic standards...
She raises herself up and starts to applaud each of her companions, "A battle hard fought and well won, our patrons shall be proud of today's endeavours. Well done to us all. This will make us all famous, a story that will be recounted amongst the lowest taverns and a play fit for the grandest theatres, if the circumstance of our gathering wasn't enough then the manner of our successes shall resound in the hearts and minds of the people of these troubled lands. Today we strike the first marks in that journey together, the new friendships and alliances that we encounter taking their deserved places alongside us." She pauses a moment to include Dazlyn and Norbus in her gesture, "Indeed, all we need do is live long enough for me to finish penning the piece!"
Jade holds her spear, surrounded by the undead, unsure how she is going to get to the catacombs to silence it for good... then they disappear in front of her eyes. Whirling around to see what is going on and worried it is something worse, she sees that they have won. They actually did it! She breathes a long sigh of relief and wipes the sweat and blood from her brow, needing a break as she knew they all did.
Seeing that the foul water had dried up, she crosses the banks back over to her group, congratulating them all on a fight well fought. She finds Koric, "Thank you for keeping that statue going. I don't think we would have survived if you hadn't. I know I wouldn't have." When Soloth asks if she will hold onto the flask for safe keeping, she takes it from him, and gives it a good look. "This is an interesting possession to have, no doubt. I will gladly hold onto it for us."she looks to Soloth and Elandra, "Are the two of you ok? I hated to see you both fall, but was relieved when you both came back. We are triumphant." She says the last part with emphasis, but no mirth or celebration in her voice.
She heads over to their campfire, head down and just breathes. Thanking Tempus for this win.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As the banshee falls and Koric feels the connection to the statue fade, he sags to the ground. He is not wounded, but it is a long time since he has felt this exhausted: Not since the last round of tests at the library, and that seems like a whole life time ago. He sits on the rocky ground, staring back down the mountain and away from the carnage, his hands clasped together in his lap to avoid them shaking. Always was a wreck after a test.
The fresh air, the quiet, and his training eventually do their work and he stands in time to see the campsite reappear. The incongruity of it all makes him laugh. As he walks toward the welcoming camp fires he idly inspects the bodies of the fallen enemies, wondering what else is in store for them inside.
He nods to his companions with a weak smile, but does not say anything, seemingly content to stare at the flames and eat a little of the food.
(( Mechanics:
- Task a short rest as he sits or as he east, then a long rest. - Leave Arara to watch over them - Needs a long rest to recover spells. - Search bodies: Investigation 15 (passive 18) ))
You go to search the bodies, but there's really not much left to search. The once deadly banshee Vlydara is nothing but a pile of gray ash, and her various ghouls and ghasts have similarly descinitgrated. Still, while you are looking around, leaning down to inspect the ash that used to be your foes, you can still here some rumbling, similar to what you heard in the catacombs before the battle. It seems louder near the castle walls, so whatever is making the noise doesn't seem to be in the catacombs. Even with Vyldara dead and her banshee curse broken, it seems Axeholm may not be completely cleansed
@All
As you all sit around the campfire and feast on the meal your patrons prepared for you, Norbus suddenly puts his meal down and begins to speak, looking more serious than usual: "Dazlyn and I really can't thank you all enough for all you've done for us. You've risked your lives three times for our quest to restore Axeholm. I have to admit, getting attacked by giant fleshbags and being thrown off a cliff by ghosts was scary enough, but I feel truly lucky we got out of fighting that banshee alive. Being surrounded by that many undead, there were certainly moments I thought we'd be overwhelmed"
With that, he throws two rocks into the fire and signals something to Dazlyn, who throws an addition bolt of fire into the already raging flames. They suddenly turn blue, and Dazlyn begins some sort of prayer ritutual to Moradin
Norbus looks over at Axholm's front gate, looks back at the group continues "It doesn't seem like Vyldara's magic was the only problem here. I can only hope that when we open that gate, whatever it is doesn't pose nearly as much of a danger as she did".
As he finishes his sentance, the two stones fly up out of the fire, levatating in front of Dazlyn, who grabs one and tosses it to Liri, who is closest to him around the fire
Dazlyn exclaims, clearly excited, "This here's a sending stone! I trust y'all be off to the Mere soon enough if all goes well tomorrow in the castle. We'll keep its twin, and no matter where y'all travel though, you can always reach us through this if you need help"
With that, the fire turns back to red, his ritual ends, and he pockets the other sending stone
Notes: I've moved the Potion of Banshee's wail from Soloth's inventory to Jade's and added the Sending Stone to Liri's. In additon, if anyone hasn't taken their long rest yet, you can do so now!
Alright, going to move along to the next morning! You all wake up, and as usual, there's a large breakfast waiting for you all. The day seems calmer than the previous ones, and after a calm night, most of the area seems to have gone completely back to normal, any trace of Vyldara's magic erased. Still, the castle itself seems darker than it should be for this time of day, and while the odor of undeath has cleared from the air, it still feels odly stale
Ahead of you all is the gate to Axeholm, covered in what seems to be highly worn golden art and grown over with vines and ivy. It's sealed for now, but its unclear what might be in there after so many years of being occupied by Myrkul's death cult or cursed by Vyldara. There's also the remaining open entrance to the catacombs and chimney farther up on the right side, both of which serve as other options for entering. What do you all do from here?
What can we see beyond the gate (not sure if it’s see through or not). Lux says “So a gate or the catacombs. Flip a coin? Or do we just proceed with getting the gate open? Who here can open locks?” (Presuming there’s a lock)
Koric looks at the gate the turns to Norbus, "Do you know how the gate can be opened?" He closes his eyes briefly. I can't believe I'm asking. I don't want to set foot in that cursed place! When he opens his eyes again, he scans his companions, "How long do you think we should delay our journey to the Mere?"
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Liri hurls herself against the catacomb entrance, trying to collapse it amidst the attacks of the ghouls and ghasts. Her body feels sluggish to her, some effect from the filthy claws of the undead. She notices Balthar nearby trying to alert her attention to what looks like it may be a weaker point in the structure.
(( Advantage from Balthar negates the disadvantage from the poison, I believe ))
Attack: 18 Damage: 11
She will then expend a 1st level spell slot as a bonus action to recover 1 hit points (( from combat wild shape ))
(( Oh come on, seriously?? ))
@Liri
You try to lunge at the catacombs, but are unable to do any damage to the structure, and only recover a measy 1hp
@Jade, realized I entirely skipped over your turn! Your turn will be now
@All (Botting for Jade)
Jade attacks the ghouls in front of her, starting with Ghoul 17 and moving up
Attack: 16 Damage: 9
Attack: 17 Damage: 4
Dazlyn continues to attack the catacombs, hoping to take it down
Attack: 14 Damage: 6
Attack: 16 Damage: 10
@All
Jade deals a heavy hit, but misses on the second blow, failing to down any of the ghouls. Dazlyn, however, with his first swing, is able to finally crumble the opening to the catacombs, sealing it off with its own rubble. The magical bubble around it seems to fade at the same time. He attempts to swing at Ghast 12 with his second attack, but fails to connect.
@Soloth
You heal yourself and Elandra, and rush 25ft north and 5ft west (Vyldara is currently 30ft North of your old position, so I changed your movement to avoid the spaces she is on).
Elandra is up!
Elandra extends her gratitude to Soloth by a curt of of her head, and a quick flick of her hat to remove some of the muddy hand that had stuck to her clothes. She moves southwest, rotating around Vyldara in the same manner Soloth has. She again releases her whispers at the Banshee, hoping to force some room and be able to assist Norbus next turn.
Action: Dissonant Whispers, 3rd level @ Vyldara - DC15 WIS save for half damage only, otherwise 22 psychic damage & use reaction to move directly away (hopefully past Soloth)
BA: none
Movement: 30ft to move to the square at Hammer's 8 o'clock
Bring out your inner chatacter class...
(I'm back from vacation - thanks for boting Jade. She does have another hit with her bonus action, going to roll it here if that's ok?)
Attack: 7 Damage: 7
@Jade
Got it! Your bonus attack misses, failing to connect with the ghoul
@Elandra
You run to behind the statue (since he moved up that's a lot less than 30ft), and cast Dissonant Whispers
Vlydara Wis Save: 25
@All
Vlydara resists Elandra's blow, but it is enough. She howls, Elandra's discordant music shattering her brain, and her corporial form begins to evaporate. In a moment, her spirit seperates from her body, and her ancient elven form falls to the ground and instantly turns to dust. Her cloak evaporates along with it.
Looking around, the ghouls and ghast suddenly collapse, their undead forms rotting away as the powerful magic that kept them alive and chained to this place dissipates. The clouds overhead dissapear, and just as when you defeated the poltergiests, the wind begins to blow as normal again, the foul smell dissipating from the air. The toxic moat instantly runs dry, replaced with a patch of arid sand that looks as dry as if it had been sitting in a desert for years
As Vyldara falls, Dazlyn rushes over (out of initiative so he can move enough to get there). He pulls out what appears to be a simple flask from his pack, but as he holds it up, it captures a peice of Vyldara's dying wail, a whirling mass of screams filling the glass. He seals it, and tosses it to Soloth saying. "Well that took long enough! Tough fight that was. This bottle should us leverage a bit of that fearsome wail of hers that took you and Elandra down!"
This is a Potion of Banshee's Wail. Soloth, I've added it as a homebrew item to the backpack section of your character sheet for you to view the full details
With the stated task completed and far too tall to enter the city, the statue vanishes, presumably having blinked back to its cave, ready to be activated again should Axeholm's walls ever be threatened. For all of you though, something is clear: around the city itself, the darkness doesn't seem to have completely dissipated. Clearly, even without Vyldara's presence, there's something going on here, but after a long battle, perhaps that is something best determined in the morning. Final Map Update:
And with that, this battle is at long last over and we are finally out of initiative! In addition, you have all leveled up! Level up your characters to level 6, and I'll post in the OOC thread what I need from all of you in terms of you leveling up!
In addition, the tents appear again, extravagant as always, and there's quite a large feast prepared already around the lit campire, a welcome sight after such a long figt. For tonight's rest, I'm going to say the area outside the castle is now safe enough that you can all take a long rest! Feel free to take that now along with you leveling up!
As the banshee dissipates from existence, Elandra whisks her hat into an elaborate bow. As she raises up she looks on the fallen remains and almost spits out the words, her tone full of superiority and disdain, "How's that for an encore?! You may have had a voice to scream about, we're the ones who are still standing for the ovation though!" A moment passes as the words fade on the winds and the undead monstrosities across the battlefield crumble and perish. Elandra takes in the scene all around her and sinks to her knees, taking a moment to say a prayer to Mystra, this being the quest that the goddess had set their feet upon. All the nuances and poetry of the trial flooded over her. How the quest from her goddess had pitted her against foes that her magic was severely muted against, how the villain was an undead vocalist, how Elandra came back for not one but two encores to eventually drown out the wail. This was the sort of tale that would create a ballad of epic standards...
She raises herself up and starts to applaud each of her companions, "A battle hard fought and well won, our patrons shall be proud of today's endeavours. Well done to us all. This will make us all famous, a story that will be recounted amongst the lowest taverns and a play fit for the grandest theatres, if the circumstance of our gathering wasn't enough then the manner of our successes shall resound in the hearts and minds of the people of these troubled lands. Today we strike the first marks in that journey together, the new friendships and alliances that we encounter taking their deserved places alongside us." She pauses a moment to include Dazlyn and Norbus in her gesture, "Indeed, all we need do is live long enough for me to finish penning the piece!"
Bring out your inner chatacter class...
Jade holds her spear, surrounded by the undead, unsure how she is going to get to the catacombs to silence it for good... then they disappear in front of her eyes. Whirling around to see what is going on and worried it is something worse, she sees that they have won. They actually did it! She breathes a long sigh of relief and wipes the sweat and blood from her brow, needing a break as she knew they all did.
Seeing that the foul water had dried up, she crosses the banks back over to her group, congratulating them all on a fight well fought. She finds Koric, "Thank you for keeping that statue going. I don't think we would have survived if you hadn't. I know I wouldn't have." When Soloth asks if she will hold onto the flask for safe keeping, she takes it from him, and gives it a good look. "This is an interesting possession to have, no doubt. I will gladly hold onto it for us." she looks to Soloth and Elandra, "Are the two of you ok? I hated to see you both fall, but was relieved when you both came back. We are triumphant." She says the last part with emphasis, but no mirth or celebration in her voice.
She heads over to their campfire, head down and just breathes. Thanking Tempus for this win.
Lux asks, who needs healing?
D&D since 1984
As the banshee falls and Koric feels the connection to the statue fade, he sags to the ground. He is not wounded, but it is a long time since he has felt this exhausted: Not since the last round of tests at the library, and that seems like a whole life time ago. He sits on the rocky ground, staring back down the mountain and away from the carnage, his hands clasped together in his lap to avoid them shaking. Always was a wreck after a test.
The fresh air, the quiet, and his training eventually do their work and he stands in time to see the campsite reappear. The incongruity of it all makes him laugh. As he walks toward the welcoming camp fires he idly inspects the bodies of the fallen enemies, wondering what else is in store for them inside.
He nods to his companions with a weak smile, but does not say anything, seemingly content to stare at the flames and eat a little of the food.
(( Mechanics:
- Task a short rest as he sits or as he east, then a long rest.
- Leave Arara to watch over them
- Needs a long rest to recover spells.
- Search bodies: Investigation 15 (passive 18) ))
@Koric
You go to search the bodies, but there's really not much left to search. The once deadly banshee Vlydara is nothing but a pile of gray ash, and her various ghouls and ghasts have similarly descinitgrated. Still, while you are looking around, leaning down to inspect the ash that used to be your foes, you can still here some rumbling, similar to what you heard in the catacombs before the battle. It seems louder near the castle walls, so whatever is making the noise doesn't seem to be in the catacombs. Even with Vyldara dead and her banshee curse broken, it seems Axeholm may not be completely cleansed
@All
As you all sit around the campfire and feast on the meal your patrons prepared for you, Norbus suddenly puts his meal down and begins to speak, looking more serious than usual: "Dazlyn and I really can't thank you all enough for all you've done for us. You've risked your lives three times for our quest to restore Axeholm. I have to admit, getting attacked by giant fleshbags and being thrown off a cliff by ghosts was scary enough, but I feel truly lucky we got out of fighting that banshee alive. Being surrounded by that many undead, there were certainly moments I thought we'd be overwhelmed"
With that, he throws two rocks into the fire and signals something to Dazlyn, who throws an addition bolt of fire into the already raging flames. They suddenly turn blue, and Dazlyn begins some sort of prayer ritutual to Moradin
Norbus looks over at Axholm's front gate, looks back at the group continues "It doesn't seem like Vyldara's magic was the only problem here. I can only hope that when we open that gate, whatever it is doesn't pose nearly as much of a danger as she did".
As he finishes his sentance, the two stones fly up out of the fire, levatating in front of Dazlyn, who grabs one and tosses it to Liri, who is closest to him around the fire
Dazlyn exclaims, clearly excited, "This here's a sending stone! I trust y'all be off to the Mere soon enough if all goes well tomorrow in the castle. We'll keep its twin, and no matter where y'all travel though, you can always reach us through this if you need help"
With that, the fire turns back to red, his ritual ends, and he pockets the other sending stone
Notes: I've moved the Potion of Banshee's wail from Soloth's inventory to Jade's and added the Sending Stone to Liri's. In additon, if anyone hasn't taken their long rest yet, you can do so now!
@All
Alright, going to move along to the next morning! You all wake up, and as usual, there's a large breakfast waiting for you all. The day seems calmer than the previous ones, and after a calm night, most of the area seems to have gone completely back to normal, any trace of Vyldara's magic erased. Still, the castle itself seems darker than it should be for this time of day, and while the odor of undeath has cleared from the air, it still feels odly stale
Ahead of you all is the gate to Axeholm, covered in what seems to be highly worn golden art and grown over with vines and ivy. It's sealed for now, but its unclear what might be in there after so many years of being occupied by Myrkul's death cult or cursed by Vyldara. There's also the remaining open entrance to the catacombs and chimney farther up on the right side, both of which serve as other options for entering. What do you all do from here?
What can we see beyond the gate (not sure if it’s see through or not).
Lux says “So a gate or the catacombs. Flip a coin? Or do we just proceed with getting the gate open? Who here can open locks?” (Presuming there’s a lock)
D&D since 1984
For reference, the gate looks more like a drawbridge than a fence. It’s solid and likely heavily reinforced
Koric looks at the gate the turns to Norbus, "Do you know how the gate can be opened?" He closes his eyes briefly. I can't believe I'm asking. I don't want to set foot in that cursed place! When he opens his eyes again, he scans his companions, "How long do you think we should delay our journey to the Mere?"