Meanwhile, Khessa is still lost in the nightmare of her own fears:
The voices of her loved ones are getting closer and closer... But this does not give her relief, because they are desperate voices!
Like that of her father, Tobar, broken with tears: "Khessa, my child, I counted so much on you... How could you abandon us like this?"
"You are no longer worthy to be our daughter!" a voice that used to be so loving vibrates with anger... that of her mother Eshta. Always so ready to push her, to believe in her...
"You abandoned me too" accuses another voice well known to her. That of Yassa, her quick tongued sister, not many years younger than her, who had also become her most trusted confidant. "I thought you would always reveal all your secrets to me. Instead, now the drow are revealing them to me... The secret of everything they have done to you! They are revealing it to me in the worst way... by doing those very same things to me!"
"Leave us alone, you stinking pitch-skinned, pointy-eared bastards!" yells a petulant voice. A voice that often screamed. That of Rethos, her surviving brother, still a teenager, rebellious, capricious, troublemaker, always ready to get into trouble. Trouble Khessa used to get him out of, but now... here, now he screams under the sound of... whiplashes? Are they whipping that poor helpless teenager?! "You don't scare me, my sister is coming right now, she will show you!" partly yells, partly cries Rethos; but the blows simpy multiply and so his screams of pain interspersed every now and then with a whimpering "you'll see, she's coming right now, I know!"...
"So this all is happening to us because you ran away, Khessa?"asks her a child's voice, with disarming innocence. And of course, this too is no unknown child... she is Larrya, the youngest daughter of the Cabbagefields. Still so naive and so ready to trust others... Khessa used to feel responsible for her. "Don't you love us anymore, big sister?" Larrya continues, in a surprised and hurt tone at the same time "Why did you leave without us? Why didn't you take us with you? Why didn't you stay with us, otherwise? Now there are only drow with me... They get closer and closer... Closer and closer... Will they be my new friends, Khessa? They... Will they not abandon me like you did?"
The blonde warrior is trying to reply. Trying to explaing. Trying to beg. But she cann't. She is trembling. Tears flood her blue eyes. She simply can't do anything else.
/--Initiative--/ 17 - Bat 1 & 2 12 - Khessa & Song /-------------/
Song throwing the rug over the two bat things... they are now restrained and cannot attack! They flutter helplessly under the rug... for now!
[Their turns got skipped this time... maybe they will get skipped next time? Who knows. :^3 ]
Khessa somehow... snaps out of her fear!
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DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd[Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player] Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale Ru's Current Status
[Hey! It is you who asked me to roleplay her fears! And that's by far her worst one: to fail her family - and even worse to be openly blamed by them. Tell me to roleplay her dreams, next time 😉.
Jokes apart, if I've really written something too sad for your liking, I apologize and I'll keep in mind to moderate her thoughts more next time.]
'They are not really here...' realizes Khessa, in a moment of lucidity '...unfortunately, because if they were here, even if only to accuse me (as they surely would not do), I would be the happiest woman in the world, because I would run to free them with Cabbage Patch Avenger in hand! No, these are just my worst fears, summoned by the infernal screams of these fiendish creatures!'
The blonde warrior, who is already beginning to break the chains of terror, passes without even realizing it from thinking to herself to speaking aloud: "And I will not let myself be controlled by my fears like a puppet from its strings! I am Khessa and I am as free as the blowing wind!"
Snapping out of her fear, the tall adventurer realizes what her tiefling friend managed to accomplish: "Way to go, Song! You're priceless, my friend!"
She is about to kiss her on the cheek, but she postpones until later: first it's time to repay the infernal creatures! Khessa wields her maul and rages against the bat-like demon who dared to violate her psyche so brutally (she does not want to use Cabbage Patch Avenger this time, for fear of accidentally cutting parts of the bearskin and perhaps unintentionally opening a passage for enemies - with a blugeoning weapon this will not happen).
Whether the enemy is smashed or not, Khessa, while getting ready for another strike, further instructs her tiefling friend: "Song! That piece of furniture with the two plants on it," she points at it [it is the closest to them] "flip it over the bearskin, so we are sure this two will definitely not come out!"
So Songs flips over the bearskin (and therefore over the small monsters imprisoned under it) that closest piece of furniture, the one that has the two plants above it.
[It should be no problem for her, she has quite a remarkable strength - I see she is as strong as Khessa!]
Khessa hopes that, adding this weight, the two dangerous (but tiny) opponents will find themselves permanently blocked (considering also that bats are certainly not known for the power of their legs)!
Song should automatically succeed, or has to roll? If you wish a roll, I try one like she did with the bearskin (only with advantage). If you prefer a different one, just ask. (Or if you agree a roll is not needed, even better, ingore it).
[@DM: I thought I'd tell you in advance what Khessa's plan would be, in case the two bat-like monsters get in fact permanently blocked by the piece of furniture that Song flipped on the bearskin.
The blonde warrior would then use the last charge of Cabbage Patch Avenger's power ('Ghundarok' ) to know the exact position of the monsters pinned under the bearskin and piece of furniture (not flying but pinned to the ground, they should be percieved by tremorsense).
She would then take out the hammer and pitons from her backpack and plant one in each of the monsters (without removing anything that is pinning them: simply hammering the piton through the wood of the bottom of the piece of funiture, then through the bearskin... and finally through the little demon).
At that point, nailed there for eternity, probably, the bat-like fiends will sooner or later die (if not immediately from the shock of being nailed, then later, more slowly, because they are unable to stop the bleeding). Or even if they survive, pinned down there, they will no longer be a problem.
I thought to anticipate it because if Song manages to pin them and if you (like me) think that, at that point, they cannot avoid their grim (but quite well deserved, in Khessa's opinion!) fate in any way, you can declare the fight closed]
[Ohhh that is really creative --- let's go with it!]
Song quickly acts at Khessa's command. She knocks furniture over. Quickly, Khessa enacts her plan to pin the monsters down. They are quite powerful and hard to kill, so time will need to be Khessa's ally -- they shall die of hunger, if such a thing is possible for these creatures. With that, Khessa is free to explore the room.
As always, the armor is dwarf-sized. This one is ceremonial as well, just like the one she saw earlier. Useless. She finds documents on the desk, but none seem to stand out as to be of any importance... she does, however, spy a chest!
A chest! ... which is locked!
"Oh drats,"Song pouts.
[BTW -- feel free to level up to 2! I will update the NPCs when I find some time.]
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DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd[Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player] Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale Ru's Current Status
[Ohhh that is really creative --- let's go with it!]
Song quickly acts at Khessa's command. She knocks furniture over. Quickly, Khessa enacts her plan to pin the monsters down. They are quite powerful and hard to kill, so time will need to be Khessa's ally -- they shall die of hunger, if such a thing is possible for these creatures.
"This will teach you NOT to mess with others' mind, demonic pests!" snarls Khessa, nailing the two dangerous opponents "Now you too will have something to fear!"
As soon as she finishes, the blonde warrior hugs Song and kisses her on the cheek with gratitude: "Friend of mine... I owe you my life! Those fiendish beings..." the tall advenutrer shivers a moment "Their cry had really messed with my head. I would have been completely in their power, if if you hadn't been there! And something tells me they wouldn't have been more lenient to me than I was to them now!"
"I can't let that happen again!" Khessa impulsively decides "I can't be so defenseless against magical attacks! How many more do I have to go through before I can get you and everyone else to the surface? Or when will I go back to the Underdark to free my family? After all, I have not bothered to take with me until now for nothing... this!"
Without wasting any more time, the blonde warrior extracts a tome that she had already tried to consult several times during the escape. A black heavy tome from with bizzare web-like decoration and arcane runes on the cover: the spellbook that belonged to Zer'lan, the drow slaver's wizard! Shocked by what she has just experienced, she tries once again to make sense of her content. She examines it, she concentrates, tries to remember the times she has seen Zer'lan invoke his powers. Until recently, she had only tried to forget Zer'lan, whose memory invariably reminded her of all that she had endured during her captivity. But now that the demons have made her remember again... she is now able to recall to her mind with perfect precision the gestures and words of the spells she has seen him use. So she studies, she experiments, with feverish determination, without rest, until, finally, after fiddling with a bit of string and of wood while gesturing with her fingers and uttering arcane formulas for the umpteenth time...
"Song!" she exclaims, excited, showing the book suspended in mid-air "I did it! I finally understood some of the abstruse code that damned mage used to write his spells here! AND NOW THE MOST SIMPLE ONES I CAN CAST THEM TOO!"
[I just roleplayed Khessa taking her 2nd level - she multiclasses, taking a wizard level. She has not a spellbook of her own, at the moment, and no way to buy it; so she will temporarily write her spells on regular paper, if it's OK for you. She will buy a proper spellbook as soon as she can. For the new level's hp what do you prefer? Do I take the fixed amount or I roll? Both OK for me. Will she have spell slots prepared already? Anyway, even in case she does not, the spell she just cast is Unseen servant, that she can cast as a ritual, without expending spell slots]
Once the incredible excitement subsides, Khessa realizes that her friend has found a locked chest. And perhaps she has been waiting for a long time for her to do something about it.
"Among the things I 'borrowed' from the drow before saying goodbye to them, there must be something that can help us..." the blonde warrior-mage rummages once again in her backpack... "Here!" she triumphantly pulls out a crowbar "let's try this, Song!"
If neither of them manages to open the chest, Khessa tries to look inside any drawers for the key, but if she doesn't find any, she wields her maul once again: "Step aside, Song... We'll open it with brute force. If there is something brittle inside, it will break... but at least the NOT brittle things we will be able to take".
Regardless of the contents of the chest, there are a few things that have suddenly become important to Khessa anyway (because they are material components of spells she has learned from the spellbook - and she doesn't have an arcane focus to use instead of components for now): - For Light: a firefly or phosphorescent moss - For Feather Fall: a small feather or piece of down - For Unseen Servant: a bit of string and of wood
Phosphorescent moss there were some around the mansion, I think? If so, Khessa takes some with her. The best quality pillows (perhaps those found in the finest rooms) might contain feathers ... If so, Khessa recovers a small feather from there. There is a bit of wood for sure among the firewood Khessa is already carrying. A bit of string ... Can Khessa find it in the closet that was on the ground floor? If not she will cut a small piece of her rope and try to make a bit of string out of it.
[I just roleplayed Khessa taking her 2nd level - she multiclasses, taking a wizard level. She has not a spellbook of her own, at the moment, and no way to buy it; so she will temporarily write her spells on regular paper, if it's OK for you. She will buy a proper spellbook as soon as she can. For the new level's hp what do you prefer? Do I take the fixed amount or I roll? Both OK for me. Will she have spell slots prepared already? Anyway, even in case she does not, the spell she just cast is Unseen servant, that she can cast as a ritual, without expending spell slots]
[Fixed HP is fine by me! And she can have spell slots. I would actually say the spellbook you stole can act as your actual spellbook -- until you find something to transfer the spells over to -- if only because maybe you don't want to keep the murderer's spellbook forever. I assume!]
Regardless of the contents of the chest, there are a few things that have suddenly become important to Khessa anyway (because they are material components of spells she has learned from the spellbook - and she doesn't have an arcane focus to use instead of components for now): - For Light: a firefly or phosphorescent moss - For Feather Fall: a small feather or piece of down - For Unseen Servant: a bit of string and of wood
Phosphorescent moss there were some around the mansion, I think? If so, Khessa takes some with her. The best quality pillows (perhaps those found in the finest rooms) might contain feathers ... If so, Khessa recovers a small feather from there. There is a bit of wood for sure among the firewood Khessa is already carrying. A bit of string ... Can Khessa find it in the closet that was on the ground floor? If not she will cut a small piece of her rope and try to make a bit of string out of it.
[You definitely find a wealth of these things in and around the mansion. It can be assumed you stock yourself up enough that you could cast several spells in a week before you run out. I plan to move you toward the surface inside a week in game (maybe even before a week IRL time? :O )! So the lack of spell components shouldn't affect you too much longer... I think!]
Khessa, first, you try the crowbar yourself. You spend several moments in anguish as you try to brute force your way into the chest. You hand the crowbar off to Song, a sweat drop dripping from your forehead. In comedic fashion, Song instantly pries it open in one go. She looks sheepishly up at you and says, "Oh, you loosened it for me... so, you know..." She is being really modest about her strength, which you have witnessed to match your own strength. Any attempts to tell her this, however, is met with much blushing and bashfulness. Song is definitely not used to being complimented!
Inside the chest, you find a treasure trove of useful items!
Spiked Armor -- which seems to actually fit a medium sized humanoid, huzzah! It has an interesting design which unfortunately reminds you of the drow.
Chain Shirt -- again, medium sized humanoid, but this one, while drow-ish in color scheme (its very purple), has some symbols emblazoned on it... (religion or history to know!)
Morningstar
Cloak of Elvenkind (rare find!)
Potion of Healing x 3
Potion of Heroism x 1 (rare find!)
56 gold pieces
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DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd[Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player] Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale Ru's Current Status
[Oh, it's a great idea! Khessa will definitely use Zer'lan's spellbook, since you allow it! I think she might even use it indefinitely then... It will remember her of the evil drow wizard, granted, but of her victory over him also... and of her family still in need of rescue. Thank you!]
"Loosened it for you, sure..." smiles Khessa, patting her on the shoulder "Better your prince charming (once you find him) avoids angering you!"
Seeing her blushing, the blonde arcane warrior thinks: 'She is definitely not used being complimented... But this must change, because she deserves to be complimented, most of the time! For sure!'
Then, the tall adventurer starts examining the loot.
She eagerly dons the Cloak of Elvenkind!
She shares the gold with Song (28 gp Khessa, 29 Song).
She also shares the potions (healing + heroism Khessa, 2 x healing Song).
She.leaves the morningstar to Song (Khessa likes too much Cabbage Patch Avenger to replace it already!).
Sparring a little with Song, she tries to understand if one of the armor can offer better protection than the one she already has. If yes, she changes her armor. Song can also change armor, if the other offers her better protection than the one she already has.
Finally, she tries to understand what the 'power' potion was (the one she had found earlier, with Aster)...
[Are you using the rule that is enough to take a sip to identify the potion? If yes, Khessa does it. Else... well, she will identify it later]
Finally, the both of them go for the last door left to explore! Since Khessa has an Unseen Servant up already, she will have it open the door... and then it entering the room, bringing a cloak (as if somebody completely wrapped in a cloak too big for him had entered - Khessa tries this to possibly confuse eventual hostile beings inside and maybe lure them to attack the empty cloak instead of her or Song). Khessa and Song will look for some moment from the door to see if enemies show up, before entering or deciding what to do.
Before opening the last unknown door, Khessa is struck by a thought, about Song and her dream of a 'Prince Charming'...
'She could form a beautiful couple with Aster! Who wouldn't be bad for me at all, I admit...' reflects the blonde arcane warrior '...but he has precisely these princely ways that he can't get rid of and I could never get used to! He still hasn't managed to pronounce 'Khessa' once without inserting some implausible noble title first! Maybe Song, instead, would be delighted to be called like that! And they are both so... so good, so selfless... They could really be good together! I think they could be really happy... As soon as I see Aster again' she is now determined 'I'll try to make him understand what a wonderful idea it would be!'
But here she and Song are already at the new door... so the tall adventurer temporarily puts aside her thoughts about relationships and focuses on the no less important task of ending the exploration while staying alive.
[Song will put on the chain shirt! It doesn't help Khessa at all. Spiked armoris probably better for Aster or Clara -- they can both wear it.]
Khessa's knowledge check: This is the symbol of the goddess, Shar, the Nightbringer, Lady of Loss, and God of Thieves. Essentially, she is a trickster god. You know her symbol mostly as a cautionary Don't trust people who bear this symbol sort of way.
[Also, I have decided to... do this!]
As Khessa is shipping her companions, she and Song both manage to clear the rest of the dwarven manor. So long as no one disturbs the room with the crazed bat fiends, everything here is officially safe! There were no other interesting things to loot aside from further blankets and the like -- consider your peasant army more or less fully equipped with bandages, rope of varying quality, and similar uses for cloth.
Song looks over to you Khessa, and asks, "What do you think? Should we sleep here tonight instead with everyone...?"
[I decided to just skip the rest of exploration so we can get back to the fun stuff!! I hope you don't mind.]
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DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd[Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player] Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale Ru's Current Status
[Song will put on the chain shirt! It doesn't help Khessa at all. Spiked armoris probably better for Aster or Clara -- they can both wear it.]
...
Song looks over to you Khessa, and asks, "What do you think? Should we sleep here tonight instead with everyone...?"
[I decided to just skip the rest of exploration so we can get back to the fun stuff!! I hope you don't mind.]
[OK, given how thorny she can be already, spiked armor is for our dear Clara then! 😉 As for the exploration, if nothing more interesting in there, OK to skip. Let's go!]
"I'd love to sleep here, Song" dreams of it Khessa. "Especially to be able to take a real bath in those magnificent tubs before going to bed! But this place has too many access points, my friend" sighs the blonde arcane warrior. "Aster warned me that the manes could come back. I have in mind an expedient to try to mislead them, so that, I hope, we wiill be able to sleep undisturbed... but I don't want to run the risk of having to defend the innumerable entrances to this place, if they find us instead. I would prefer that we camp in another place that I had explored earlier with Aster, the office where I found the map with the path back to the surface. It's a much less comfortable place... but, in my opinion, also a much more defensible one".
'But considering that the house is now safe and that no one should come to disturb us right now...' the tall adventurer suddenly finds herself thinking.
"But maybe, at least we could take a bath before we leave..." Khessa proposes, while her blue eyes light up with enthusiasm "We could stay in the room together and take turns... First you wash yourself, while I stand guard (just to be safe, no one should come, of course). Then you return the favor to me. And so we come back to the others not only loaded with useful equipment, but also clean and perfumed like new women! What do you think? Shall we?"
After Song accepts, Khessa, for further relaxation, instructs her already summoned Unseen Servant to soap and massage whoever is washing at that moment, so that even the parts of the body that one can not easily reach by himself gets properly taken care of (for example the back...).
And in the meantime, as if by chance, while her friend is bathing in water that has been pleasantly heated with the fire of one of the many fireplaces in the house, the blonde arcane warrior tries to ask: "Song, what do you think of Aster? I saw him a couple of times looking at you as if... well, you know! As if he might be interested... I think he might decide to start courting you! What do you think? Might he be your type? Is he always so... polite... and he seems also quite selfless... Plus, he looks fine enough, doesn't he? Could he be your 'prince charming'? Or do you have a different type of prince in mind?"
[I'm writing the very next scene, with this post, because I now have time to write it - but when Song replies to Khessa we can, if necessary, role-play the conversation between the two! Khessa is quite interested in knowing wether she'd do well to try convincing Aster to court Song or not]
After Song finishes her bath and gets dressed to keep watch, Khessa prepares more hot water for herself and pours it into the tub. The hot steam that rises from the water already makes her anticipate an almost ecstatic pleasure. Cabbage Patch Avenger is temporarily leaned against the wall, next to the tub, in the company of the menacing maul and the increasingly full backpack. The armour, which she now wears so often that it almost feels like a second skin, is also removed and tinkling placed next to the weapons. Sitting down, the blonde arcane warrior takes off her high boots with a satisfied sigh, tossing them to keep her armor company. It's not much she's wearing yet… and she won't be wearing it for much longer: after she's stripped off everything, the tall adventurer steps into the hot tub one foot at a time.
"Wonderful!" Khessa murmurs, feeling the warmth of the bath creep up her legs. After which she descends to a sitting position, finding herself immersed in steaming water up to her neck. The blonde arcane warrior lathers herself lazily, enjoying the sensations and narrowing her eyes as the indefatigable magical servant massages her from behind.
The tall adventurer slowly tilts her head back, so that the thick golden locks fall back into the water and are cleaned too, massaged, soaped, rinsed and combed by the magical assistant, while she playfully toddles with her long legs and, in an unprecedented moment of serenity, she giggles like the little girl she had been not too many years ago.
Khessa is tempted to prolong the enchanting experience indefinitely, but she is well aware that the refugees are waiting for her, not to mention Seeby... she will not make them wait. Not more than that. It's time to get out of the water. To put on the armor again, to take up arms.
'Come on! My long day is not over yet. Though,' the blonde arcane warrior thinks, smiling 'it at least just had an incredibly pleasant interlude!'
Meanwhile, Khessa is still lost in the nightmare of her own fears:
The voices of her loved ones are getting closer and closer... But this does not give her relief, because they are desperate voices!
Like that of her father, Tobar, broken with tears: "Khessa, my child, I counted so much on you... How could you abandon us like this?"
"You are no longer worthy to be our daughter!" a voice that used to be so loving vibrates with anger... that of her mother Eshta. Always so ready to push her, to believe in her...
"You abandoned me too" accuses another voice well known to her. That of Yassa, her quick tongued sister, not many years younger than her, who had also become her most trusted confidant. "I thought you would always reveal all your secrets to me. Instead, now the drow are revealing them to me... The secret of everything they have done to you! They are revealing it to me in the worst way... by doing those very same things to me!"
"Leave us alone, you stinking pitch-skinned, pointy-eared bastards!" yells a petulant voice. A voice that often screamed. That of Rethos, her surviving brother, still a teenager, rebellious, capricious, troublemaker, always ready to get into trouble. Trouble Khessa used to get him out of, but now... here, now he screams under the sound of... whiplashes? Are they whipping that poor helpless teenager?!
"You don't scare me, my sister is coming right now, she will show you!" partly yells, partly cries Rethos; but the blows simpy multiply and so his screams of pain interspersed every now and then with a whimpering "you'll see, she's coming right now, I know!"...
"So this all is happening to us because you ran away, Khessa?" asks her a child's voice, with disarming innocence. And of course, this too is no unknown child... she is Larrya, the youngest daughter of the Cabbagefields. Still so naive and so ready to trust others... Khessa used to feel responsible for her. "Don't you love us anymore, big sister?" Larrya continues, in a surprised and hurt tone at the same time "Why did you leave without us? Why didn't you take us with you? Why didn't you stay with us, otherwise? Now there are only drow with me... They get closer and closer... Closer and closer... Will they be my new friends, Khessa? They... Will they not abandon me like you did?"
The blonde warrior is trying to reply. Trying to explaing. Trying to beg. But she cann't. She is trembling. Tears flood her blue eyes. She simply can't do anything else.
[That is so SAD!! AHHH!!!!]
/--Initiative--/
17 - Bat 1 & 2
12 - Khessa & Song
/-------------/
Song throwing the rug over the two bat things... they are now restrained and cannot attack! They flutter helplessly under the rug... for now!
[Their turns got skipped this time... maybe they will get skipped next time? Who knows. :^3 ]
Khessa somehow... snaps out of her fear!
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd [Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player]
Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale
Ru's Current Status
[Hey! It is you who asked me to roleplay her fears! And that's by far her worst one: to fail her family - and even worse to be openly blamed by them. Tell me to roleplay her dreams, next time 😉.
Jokes apart, if I've really written something too sad for your liking, I apologize and I'll keep in mind to moderate her thoughts more next time.]
'They are not really here...' realizes Khessa, in a moment of lucidity '...unfortunately, because if they were here, even if only to accuse me (as they surely would not do), I would be the happiest woman in the world, because I would run to free them with Cabbage Patch Avenger in hand! No, these are just my worst fears, summoned by the infernal screams of these fiendish creatures!'
The blonde warrior, who is already beginning to break the chains of terror, passes without even realizing it from thinking to herself to speaking aloud: "And I will not let myself be controlled by my fears like a puppet from its strings! I am Khessa and I am as free as the blowing wind!"
Snapping out of her fear, the tall adventurer realizes what her tiefling friend managed to accomplish: "Way to go, Song! You're priceless, my friend!"
She is about to kiss her on the cheek, but she postpones until later: first it's time to repay the infernal creatures! Khessa wields her maul and rages against the bat-like demon who dared to violate her psyche so brutally (she does not want to use Cabbage Patch Avenger this time, for fear of accidentally cutting parts of the bearskin and perhaps unintentionally opening a passage for enemies - with a blugeoning weapon this will not happen).
Khessa's Maul attack: Attack: 17 Damage: 9
Whether the enemy is smashed or not, Khessa, while getting ready for another strike, further instructs her tiefling friend: "Song! That piece of furniture with the two plants on it," she points at it [it is the closest to them] "flip it over the bearskin, so we are sure this two will definitely not come out!"
So Songs flips over the bearskin (and therefore over the small monsters imprisoned under it) that closest piece of furniture, the one that has the two plants above it.
[It should be no problem for her, she has quite a remarkable strength - I see she is as strong as Khessa!]
Khessa hopes that, adding this weight, the two dangerous (but tiny) opponents will find themselves permanently blocked (considering also that bats are certainly not known for the power of their legs)!
Song should automatically succeed, or has to roll? If you wish a roll, I try one like she did with the bearskin (only with advantage). If you prefer a different one, just ask. (Or if you agree a roll is not needed, even better, ingore it).
Song flipping piece of furniture over the bearskin: 20
[@DM: I thought I'd tell you in advance what Khessa's plan would be, in case the two bat-like monsters get in fact permanently blocked by the piece of furniture that Song flipped on the bearskin.
The blonde warrior would then use the last charge of Cabbage Patch Avenger's power ('Ghundarok' ) to know the exact position of the monsters pinned under the bearskin and piece of furniture (not flying but pinned to the ground, they should be percieved by tremorsense).
She would then take out the hammer and pitons from her backpack and plant one in each of the monsters (without removing anything that is pinning them: simply hammering the piton through the wood of the bottom of the piece of funiture, then through the bearskin... and finally through the little demon).
At that point, nailed there for eternity, probably, the bat-like fiends will sooner or later die (if not immediately from the shock of being nailed, then later, more slowly, because they are unable to stop the bleeding). Or even if they survive, pinned down there, they will no longer be a problem.
I thought to anticipate it because if Song manages to pin them and if you (like me) think that, at that point, they cannot avoid their grim (but quite well deserved, in Khessa's opinion!) fate in any way, you can declare the fight closed]
[Ohhh that is really creative --- let's go with it!]
Song quickly acts at Khessa's command. She knocks furniture over. Quickly, Khessa enacts her plan to pin the monsters down. They are quite powerful and hard to kill, so time will need to be Khessa's ally -- they shall die of hunger, if such a thing is possible for these creatures. With that, Khessa is free to explore the room.
As always, the armor is dwarf-sized. This one is ceremonial as well, just like the one she saw earlier. Useless. She finds documents on the desk, but none seem to stand out as to be of any importance... she does, however, spy a chest!
A chest! ... which is locked!
"Oh drats," Song pouts.
[BTW -- feel free to level up to 2! I will update the NPCs when I find some time.]
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd [Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player]
Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale
Ru's Current Status
"This will teach you NOT to mess with others' mind, demonic pests!" snarls Khessa, nailing the two dangerous opponents "Now you too will have something to fear!"
As soon as she finishes, the blonde warrior hugs Song and kisses her on the cheek with gratitude: "Friend of mine... I owe you my life! Those fiendish beings..." the tall advenutrer shivers a moment "Their cry had really messed with my head. I would have been completely in their power, if if you hadn't been there! And something tells me they wouldn't have been more lenient to me than I was to them now!"
"I can't let that happen again!" Khessa impulsively decides "I can't be so defenseless against magical attacks! How many more do I have to go through before I can get you and everyone else to the surface? Or when will I go back to the Underdark to free my family? After all, I have not bothered to take with me until now for nothing... this!"
Without wasting any more time, the blonde warrior extracts a tome that she had already tried to consult several times during the escape. A black heavy tome from with bizzare web-like decoration and arcane runes on the cover: the spellbook that belonged to Zer'lan, the drow slaver's wizard! Shocked by what she has just experienced, she tries once again to make sense of her content. She examines it, she concentrates, tries to remember the times she has seen Zer'lan invoke his powers. Until recently, she had only tried to forget Zer'lan, whose memory invariably reminded her of all that she had endured during her captivity. But now that the demons have made her remember again... she is now able to recall to her mind with perfect precision the gestures and words of the spells she has seen him use. So she studies, she experiments, with feverish determination, without rest, until, finally, after fiddling with a bit of string and of wood while gesturing with her fingers and uttering arcane formulas for the umpteenth time...
"Song!" she exclaims, excited, showing the book suspended in mid-air "I did it! I finally understood some of the abstruse code that damned mage used to write his spells here! AND NOW THE MOST SIMPLE ONES I CAN CAST THEM TOO!"
[I just roleplayed Khessa taking her 2nd level - she multiclasses, taking a wizard level. She has not a spellbook of her own, at the moment, and no way to buy it; so she will temporarily write her spells on regular paper, if it's OK for you. She will buy a proper spellbook as soon as she can. For the new level's hp what do you prefer? Do I take the fixed amount or I roll? Both OK for me. Will she have spell slots prepared already? Anyway, even in case she does not, the spell she just cast is Unseen servant, that she can cast as a ritual, without expending spell slots]
Once the incredible excitement subsides, Khessa realizes that her friend has found a locked chest. And perhaps she has been waiting for a long time for her to do something about it.
"Among the things I 'borrowed' from the drow before saying goodbye to them, there must be something that can help us..." the blonde warrior-mage rummages once again in her backpack... "Here!" she triumphantly pulls out a crowbar "let's try this, Song!"
And she tries to pry the chest open with it.
Strength check, with advantage for using crowbar: 9
If she is unsuccessful, she let's Song try the same feat with the crowbar: 14
If neither of them manages to open the chest, Khessa tries to look inside any drawers for the key, but if she doesn't find any, she wields her maul once again: "Step aside, Song... We'll open it with brute force. If there is something brittle inside, it will break... but at least the NOT brittle things we will be able to take".
She then breaks the chest with blows.
Regardless of the contents of the chest, there are a few things that have suddenly become important to Khessa anyway (because they are material components of spells she has learned from the spellbook - and she doesn't have an arcane focus to use instead of components for now):
- For Light: a firefly or phosphorescent moss
- For Feather Fall: a small feather or piece of down
- For Unseen Servant: a bit of string and of wood
Phosphorescent moss there were some around the mansion, I think? If so, Khessa takes some with her.
The best quality pillows (perhaps those found in the finest rooms) might contain feathers ... If so, Khessa recovers a small feather from there.
There is a bit of wood for sure among the firewood Khessa is already carrying. A bit of string ... Can Khessa find it in the closet that was on the ground floor? If not she will cut a small piece of her rope and try to make a bit of string out of it.
[Fixed HP is fine by me! And she can have spell slots. I would actually say the spellbook you stole can act as your actual spellbook -- until you find something to transfer the spells over to -- if only because maybe you don't want to keep the murderer's spellbook forever. I assume!]
[You definitely find a wealth of these things in and around the mansion. It can be assumed you stock yourself up enough that you could cast several spells in a week before you run out. I plan to move you toward the surface inside a week in game (maybe even before a week IRL time? :O )! So the lack of spell components shouldn't affect you too much longer... I think!]
Khessa, first, you try the crowbar yourself. You spend several moments in anguish as you try to brute force your way into the chest. You hand the crowbar off to Song, a sweat drop dripping from your forehead. In comedic fashion, Song instantly pries it open in one go. She looks sheepishly up at you and says, "Oh, you loosened it for me... so, you know..." She is being really modest about her strength, which you have witnessed to match your own strength. Any attempts to tell her this, however, is met with much blushing and bashfulness. Song is definitely not used to being complimented!
Inside the chest, you find a treasure trove of useful items!
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd [Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player]
Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale
Ru's Current Status
[Oh, it's a great idea! Khessa will definitely use Zer'lan's spellbook, since you allow it! I think she might even use it indefinitely then... It will remember her of the evil drow wizard, granted, but of her victory over him also... and of her family still in need of rescue. Thank you!]
"Loosened it for you, sure..." smiles Khessa, patting her on the shoulder "Better your prince charming (once you find him) avoids angering you!"
Seeing her blushing, the blonde arcane warrior thinks: 'She is definitely not used being complimented... But this must change, because she deserves to be complimented, most of the time! For sure!'
Then, the tall adventurer starts examining the loot.
She eagerly dons the Cloak of Elvenkind!
She shares the gold with Song (28 gp Khessa, 29 Song).
She also shares the potions (healing + heroism Khessa, 2 x healing Song).
She.leaves the morningstar to Song (Khessa likes too much Cabbage Patch Avenger to replace it already!).
Sparring a little with Song, she tries to understand if one of the armor can offer better protection than the one she already has. If yes, she changes her armor. Song can also change armor, if the other offers her better protection than the one she already has.
Finally, she tries to understand what the 'power' potion was (the one she had found earlier, with Aster)...
[Are you using the rule that is enough to take a sip to identify the potion? If yes, Khessa does it. Else... well, she will identify it later]
Finally, the both of them go for the last door left to explore! Since Khessa has an Unseen Servant up already, she will have it open the door... and then it entering the room, bringing a cloak (as if somebody completely wrapped in a cloak too big for him had entered - Khessa tries this to possibly confuse eventual hostile beings inside and maybe lure them to attack the empty cloak instead of her or Song). Khessa and Song will look for some moment from the door to see if enemies show up, before entering or deciding what to do.
Roll to determine if Khessa knows something about the symbols on the chain shirt (indifferent if religion or history... she has +2 on both): 9
Before opening the last unknown door, Khessa is struck by a thought, about Song and her dream of a 'Prince Charming'...
'She could form a beautiful couple with Aster! Who wouldn't be bad for me at all, I admit...' reflects the blonde arcane warrior '...but he has precisely these princely ways that he can't get rid of and I could never get used to! He still hasn't managed to pronounce 'Khessa' once without inserting some implausible noble title first! Maybe Song, instead, would be delighted to be called like that! And they are both so... so good, so selfless... They could really be good together! I think they could be really happy... As soon as I see Aster again' she is now determined 'I'll try to make him understand what a wonderful idea it would be!'
But here she and Song are already at the new door... so the tall adventurer temporarily puts aside her thoughts about relationships and focuses on the no less important task of ending the exploration while staying alive.
[Song will put on the chain shirt! It doesn't help Khessa at all. Spiked armor is probably better for Aster or Clara -- they can both wear it.]
Khessa's knowledge check: This is the symbol of the goddess, Shar, the Nightbringer, Lady of Loss, and God of Thieves. Essentially, she is a trickster god. You know her symbol mostly as a cautionary Don't trust people who bear this symbol sort of way.
[Also, I have decided to... do this!]
As Khessa is shipping her companions, she and Song both manage to clear the rest of the dwarven manor. So long as no one disturbs the room with the crazed bat fiends, everything here is officially safe! There were no other interesting things to loot aside from further blankets and the like -- consider your peasant army more or less fully equipped with bandages, rope of varying quality, and similar uses for cloth.
Song looks over to you Khessa, and asks, "What do you think? Should we sleep here tonight instead with everyone...?"
[I decided to just skip the rest of exploration so we can get back to the fun stuff!! I hope you don't mind.]
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd [Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player]
Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale
Ru's Current Status
[OK, given how thorny she can be already, spiked armor is for our dear Clara then! 😉 As for the exploration, if nothing more interesting in there, OK to skip. Let's go!]
"I'd love to sleep here, Song" dreams of it Khessa. "Especially to be able to take a real bath in those magnificent tubs before going to bed! But this place has too many access points, my friend" sighs the blonde arcane warrior. "Aster warned me that the manes could come back. I have in mind an expedient to try to mislead them, so that, I hope, we wiill be able to sleep undisturbed... but I don't want to run the risk of having to defend the innumerable entrances to this place, if they find us instead. I would prefer that we camp in another place that I had explored earlier with Aster, the office where I found the map with the path back to the surface. It's a much less comfortable place... but, in my opinion, also a much more defensible one".
'But considering that the house is now safe and that no one should come to disturb us right now...' the tall adventurer suddenly finds herself thinking.
"But maybe, at least we could take a bath before we leave..." Khessa proposes, while her blue eyes light up with enthusiasm "We could stay in the room together and take turns... First you wash yourself, while I stand guard (just to be safe, no one should come, of course). Then you return the favor to me. And so we come back to the others not only loaded with useful equipment, but also clean and perfumed like new women! What do you think? Shall we?"
After Song accepts, Khessa, for further relaxation, instructs her already summoned Unseen Servant to soap and massage whoever is washing at that moment, so that even the parts of the body that one can not easily reach by himself gets properly taken care of (for example the back...).
And in the meantime, as if by chance, while her friend is bathing in water that has been pleasantly heated with the fire of one of the many fireplaces in the house, the blonde arcane warrior tries to ask: "Song, what do you think of Aster? I saw him a couple of times looking at you as if... well, you know! As if he might be interested... I think he might decide to start courting you! What do you think? Might he be your type? Is he always so... polite... and he seems also quite selfless... Plus, he looks fine enough, doesn't he? Could he be your 'prince charming'? Or do you have a different type of prince in mind?"
[I'm writing the very next scene, with this post, because I now have time to write it - but when Song replies to Khessa we can, if necessary, role-play the conversation between the two! Khessa is quite interested in knowing wether she'd do well to try convincing Aster to court Song or not]
After Song finishes her bath and gets dressed to keep watch, Khessa prepares more hot water for herself and pours it into the tub. The hot steam that rises from the water already makes her anticipate an almost ecstatic pleasure. Cabbage Patch Avenger is temporarily leaned against the wall, next to the tub, in the company of the menacing maul and the increasingly full backpack. The armour, which she now wears so often that it almost feels like a second skin, is also removed and tinkling placed next to the weapons. Sitting down, the blonde arcane warrior takes off her high boots with a satisfied sigh, tossing them to keep her armor company. It's not much she's wearing yet… and she won't be wearing it for much longer: after she's stripped off everything, the tall adventurer steps into the hot tub one foot at a time.
"Wonderful!" Khessa murmurs, feeling the warmth of the bath creep up her legs. After which she descends to a sitting position, finding herself immersed in steaming water up to her neck. The blonde arcane warrior lathers herself lazily, enjoying the sensations and narrowing her eyes as the indefatigable magical servant massages her from behind.
The tall adventurer slowly tilts her head back, so that the thick golden locks fall back into the water and are cleaned too, massaged, soaped, rinsed and combed by the magical assistant, while she playfully toddles with her long legs and, in an unprecedented moment of serenity, she giggles like the little girl she had been not too many years ago.
Khessa is tempted to prolong the enchanting experience indefinitely, but she is well aware that the refugees are waiting for her, not to mention Seeby... she will not make them wait. Not more than that. It's time to get out of the water. To put on the armor again, to take up arms.
'Come on! My long day is not over yet. Though,' the blonde arcane warrior thinks, smiling 'it at least just had an incredibly pleasant interlude!'