"I was scared too at first. Endelyn was so creepy, with her puppets and her prophecies. But then Ben made that speech...and it was very inspirational!" Titaani says in response to Matilda's question. "And because of that, I wasn't as frightened as before, especially since the hag ran away and the dark things were just trying to tackle me. I probably would've been a lot less confident if I had known that they were going to turn me into a mask, though..."
"As for Charmay, well, I'm not worried about her either," Titaani says to Pud. "I'm a warlock too, so we'll be evenly matched in a fight, and also, she's alone. I haven't seen her with the rest of her team yet, and without them, what chance does she have against a group of mighty adventurers like us?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pronouns: She/her/her's
Currently playing as Titaani Leelathae in The Wild beyond the Witchlight
Matilda, Titaani, Pud, (normal-size) Horatio, Ben, and Elkhorn stand on the ring-shaped, 20-foot-high balcony looking down onto the Orrery of Tragedies. The stone railing that encloses it has balusters shaped like hourglasses. Below, the cylindrical chamber of the Orrery houses a whirring contraption bolted to a revolving metal disk that serves as its base. (Sorry for the repeat description; just summarizing!) Metal spheres and sickles are attached to the ends of long metal arms that sweep back and forth, clicking loudly and rhythmically like the hands of a giant metronome. The apparatus is inlaid with characters from strange alphabets, and smoky wisps in the shapes of these letters rise from the contraption as it revolves. The whole device hums and crackles with lightning. Rising from the middle of the mechanism is an eighty-foot-tall copper pole made of eight ten-foot-long lightning rods attached end to end. It extends upward past the ring-shaped gallery and through a hole in the fifty-foot-high domed ceiling.
All is quiet - there are no signs of life once the twins and their friends depart.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
<Whoosh!>The moment Ben touches the door, a silent, unseen hand of force shoves him violently backward.
Ben: Make a DC15 Strength saving throw or be pushed backward off the balcony, falling onto the Orrery of Tragedies and then tumbling 20 feet to the floor, taking 12 bludgeoning damage; then make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 48 lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Bracing himself as the door trap tries to send him flying, Ben maintains contact with the doors and tries to open them. If they are locked, he tries the key he found, careful not to loosen a tight grip on the handle in case another wave of telekinetic energy comes.
(And if that doesn’t work, he calls over Horatio and asks, “Perhaps the scepter is the key to this door…Should I give it a try?”)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Pud is looking over the railing focusing in on the contraption down below. He notes the letters scrawled on the device and the same letters drifting off in smoke.
The force blast that hits Ben startles Pud.
”Ben!” Pud cries out and he rushes forward to help him, but it looks like Ben has this under control. “Sheesh! Are you okay?”
Pud casts detect magic and steps back to get a better look at the door and scans the room.
Perception check: 21
DM: Are these smokey letters drifting out of hole in the ceiling like some sorta smoke signal? Also, are these letters displayed on the double door that Ben tried to open?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
”Everything here keeps trying to kill me, I should expect it by now,” responds Ben, “but next time we try to open anything near the orrery we would probably tie off with rope…that was a close one.”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
"You're right, Ben, you definitely shouldn't open the door yourself," Titaani insists. "But I have a plan! I have this ability to create...um...it's hard to explain, but I can create a sort of invisible hand. If you tell me how, I could open the door using this hand while everyone is a safe distance away."
The warlock grins smugly, seemingly very proud of her idea. "Pretty smart, huh? I guess the rest of you are rubbing off on me."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pronouns: She/her/her's
Currently playing as Titaani Leelathae in The Wild beyond the Witchlight
Ben was shoved violently away from the door and has lost his grip upon it, but he remains safely on the balcony for now. The door has no keyhole, he notes.
Pud examines the room for arcane signatures. There is a distinct aura of abjuration magic coming from these doors, although they have no obvious lettering upon them (make a DC15 Investigation check to learn any more.) There are magical auras surrounding the orrery, and there is more magic just beyond the doors as well. Examining the spoke emanating from the Orrery, Pud finds that the puffs of smoke form letters and characters that drift slowly upward through the opening above "A...B...A...T...H...A...W...I...L..."
(Motherhorn is carved in and upon a large mountain peak. The interior looks like it was cut through solid stone. Ben, a stonecutter, might have the right skills and toolset to examine these things better, but Horatio may also make an Investigation check to determine the nature of the wall on either side of the door.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ben:
"Well, it doesn't look like there is a keyhole. I don't know if the scepter will help...but I'd be willing to try it if someone ties me off so I don't go over the rail," offers Ben. At the mention of going through the wall, Ben assesses the stonework of the place and likely wall thickness to give his opinion.
Masonry Skill: 18
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Ben sounds the wall in a few spots. He concludes that the walls on either side of the doors are thick – very thick – and appear to be natural. This is mountain, not wall.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
"Yup. I thought we were cooked."
He watches Glister, gleam and the rest of their allies leave. And something that Glister said sends chills down his spine.
"Guys, I wanna search this place, but like Glister said, we should hurry. Not sure how much time we have before word gets out about what happened.
And did anyone see that Charmay lady? We gotta watch out for her."
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
Matilda watches Horatio as he talks about Charmay knowing that the man Horatio 'removed' was part of her group....
"I was scared too at first. Endelyn was so creepy, with her puppets and her prophecies. But then Ben made that speech...and it was very inspirational!" Titaani says in response to Matilda's question. "And because of that, I wasn't as frightened as before, especially since the hag ran away and the dark things were just trying to tackle me. I probably would've been a lot less confident if I had known that they were going to turn me into a mask, though..."
"As for Charmay, well, I'm not worried about her either," Titaani says to Pud. "I'm a warlock too, so we'll be evenly matched in a fight, and also, she's alone. I haven't seen her with the rest of her team yet, and without them, what chance does she have against a group of mighty adventurers like us?"
Pronouns: She/her/her's
Currently playing as Titaani Leelathae in The Wild beyond the Witchlight
Matilda grinned at her big-little Sis.
Matilda, Titaani, Pud, (normal-size) Horatio, Ben, and Elkhorn stand on the ring-shaped, 20-foot-high balcony looking down onto the Orrery of Tragedies. The stone railing that encloses it has balusters shaped like hourglasses. Below, the cylindrical chamber of the Orrery houses a whirring contraption bolted to a revolving metal disk that serves as its base. (Sorry for the repeat description; just summarizing!) Metal spheres and sickles are attached to the ends of long metal arms that sweep back and forth, clicking loudly and rhythmically like the hands of a giant metronome. The apparatus is inlaid with characters from strange alphabets, and smoky wisps in the shapes of these letters rise from the contraption as it revolves. The whole device hums and crackles with lightning. Rising from the middle of the mechanism is an eighty-foot-tall copper pole made of eight ten-foot-long lightning rods attached end to end. It extends upward past the ring-shaped gallery and through a hole in the fifty-foot-high domed ceiling.

All is quiet - there are no signs of life once the twins and their friends depart.
(Ben has already moved over and opened the unexplored double doors.)
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
<Whoosh!> The moment Ben touches the door, a silent, unseen hand of force shoves him violently backward.
Ben: Make a DC15 Strength saving throw or be pushed backward off the balcony, falling onto the Orrery of Tragedies and then tumbling 20 feet to the floor, taking 12 bludgeoning damage; then make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 48 lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Ben’s Strength Save: 18
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Ben hangs on. The doors remain shut.
Ben:
Bracing himself as the door trap tries to send him flying, Ben maintains contact with the doors and tries to open them. If they are locked, he tries the key he found, careful not to loosen a tight grip on the handle in case another wave of telekinetic energy comes.
(And if that doesn’t work, he calls over Horatio and asks, “Perhaps the scepter is the key to this door…Should I give it a try?”)
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Pud is looking over the railing focusing in on the contraption down below. He notes the letters scrawled on the device and the same letters drifting off in smoke.
The force blast that hits Ben startles Pud.
”Ben!” Pud cries out and he rushes forward to help him, but it looks like Ben has this under control. “Sheesh! Are you okay?”
Pud casts detect magic and steps back to get a better look at the door and scans the room.
Perception check: 21
DM: Are these smokey letters drifting out of hole in the ceiling like some sorta smoke signal? Also, are these letters displayed on the double door that Ben tried to open?
Pronouns: he/him/his
Pud - lvl 7 Human Artificer - Alchemist (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight).
Quinn - lvl 4 Human Ranger - Hunter (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)
Ben:
”Everything here keeps trying to kill me, I should expect it by now,” responds Ben, “but next time we try to open anything near the orrery we would probably tie off with rope…that was a close one.”
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
"You're right, Ben, you definitely shouldn't open the door yourself," Titaani insists. "But I have a plan! I have this ability to create...um...it's hard to explain, but I can create a sort of invisible hand. If you tell me how, I could open the door using this hand while everyone is a safe distance away."
The warlock grins smugly, seemingly very proud of her idea. "Pretty smart, huh? I guess the rest of you are rubbing off on me."
Pronouns: She/her/her's
Currently playing as Titaani Leelathae in The Wild beyond the Witchlight
" Will you lot please stop almost dying! Its very stressful!"
" I can help you with the door, Tits! Um.....no.....Titi? Aani.....Aani works."
Ben was shoved violently away from the door and has lost his grip upon it, but he remains safely on the balcony for now. The door has no keyhole, he notes.
Pud examines the room for arcane signatures. There is a distinct aura of abjuration magic coming from these doors, although they have no obvious lettering upon them (make a DC15 Investigation check to learn any more.) There are magical auras surrounding the orrery, and there is more magic just beyond the doors as well. Examining the spoke emanating from the Orrery, Pud finds that the puffs of smoke form letters and characters that drift slowly upward through the opening above "A...B...A...T...H...A...W...I...L..."
Titaani prepares her cantrip...
Horatio examines the wall beside the door (( roll? )). "Hey Ben, what if we just go through the wall instead?"
(Motherhorn is carved in and upon a large mountain peak. The interior looks like it was cut through solid stone. Ben, a stonecutter, might have the right skills and toolset to examine these things better, but Horatio may also make an Investigation check to determine the nature of the wall on either side of the door.)
Ben:
"Well, it doesn't look like there is a keyhole. I don't know if the scepter will help...but I'd be willing to try it if someone ties me off so I don't go over the rail," offers Ben. At the mention of going through the wall, Ben assesses the stonework of the place and likely wall thickness to give his opinion.
Masonry Skill: 18
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
" I don't think I weigh enough or am strong enough to anchor you."
Ben sounds the wall in a few spots. He concludes that the walls on either side of the doors are thick – very thick – and appear to be natural. This is mountain, not wall.