Sopa relates what he sees to the group before continuing with, "So how shall we handle this? I would like to suggest luring the skeletons back to this corridor thus creating a choke point." He looks about at the faces of those assembled searching for looks of disagreement.
From inside the garden, several of the skeletons at the north end of the chamber (which looks to be about 100 feet across and slightly shallower than that from north to south) stop working for a moment when the doors open. They direct their attention towards Clunk and the floating spectral spellbook but then quickly resume their work.
Not a stitch of clothing nor armor is seen on any of them and none wield any weapons - only large buckets into which they place pale vegetables being harvested from the ghostly white vines. A few of the workers have holes in their skulls, others exhibit gaps in their rib cages and one skeleton has no "face" at all - its entire ocular cavity and cheekbones having been presumably crushed long ago under the force of some blunted weapon.
Sopa keeps an eye on the undead workers as he discusses what to do with the party, but during this time none of the skeletons gives the slightest hint of aggression or raise of an alarm. Each "farmer" just keeps toiling until their bucket is full, which is then delivered to a set of storage shelves lining the walls near the door. Afterwards, an empty bucket is retrieved from a stack and then the skeleton returns to their station, which has by that time become completely regenerated with new items to harvest.
Sopa looks at the unresponsive faces of the group, "Well I suppose regardless of what's in store the only real way we'll know is by pressing on." the tortle says. "Okay Clunk lead the way." The large mechanoid lurches forward in a stiff legged walk. Sopa follows close behind keeping a careful eye on the skeletons as they move forward. His spectral spellbook swoops in to hover just infront of his shield causing the matching sigel emblazened on the front to appear to glow. Clunk pauses 30 ft inside the room as Sopa stops to insure the rest are close at hand.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The skeletons continued their work, ignoring Sopa and Clunk altogether as the pair moved cautiously forward into the Pale Garden. Due to the overgrowth of vines, the path narrowed down to just 5 feet of clearance in several places. Seeing that Clunk's progress would likely be slowed as the large construct attempted to move through these areas, Sopa calls his guardian to a brief halt at the first bottleneck while he looks back to beckon the others forward.
(OOC: due to the overgrowth of vines, difficult terrain is applied to all areas within 5 feet of any column that is NOT part of the path. These areas are indicated by brown squares on the battlemap posted in Discord.)
As he is looking back to motion the others forward, Sopa hears the sound of something heavy striking against metal...followed quickly by a few pops and whistles as Clunk's actuators went into action as the shield guardian began winding up to strike back at whatever had assaulted him. Sopa jerked his attention back towards Clunk and saw an enormous....tree? Monster? Tree monster...attacking his bodyguard. Still, the skeletons paid no mind whatsoever to the commotion.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
SHAMBLING MOUND (SURPRISE ROUND) Multi-attack (Slam): 23 vs. AC 17 (Clunk); dealing 17 bludgeoning damage on a hit. Multi-attack (Slam): 15 vs. AC 17 (Clunk); dealing 15 bludgeoning damage on a hit.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Int:18
Sopa peeks around Clunk to get a better view of the living compost pile. He casts [Tooltip Not Found] on the creatures backside. (If his intelligence check makes it he will change the damage type to necrotic) damage:10 He urges Clunk to continue forward as he synchronizes his movement with the guardian.
Ploing! Plong! A couple of the dents caused by the mound pop out of Clunks metal skin. The guardian takes a couple swipes at the mound as it at the mound as it moves 10 feet down the path.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Hmmmmph. This One will provide gardening support," Drohjo proclaims tersely.
Lunging forth with his radiant spear forward, he uses both arms to move the flexible tip in small circles, effectively creating a make-shift shredder as he zeroes in on the pile of rotting leaves and gnarled roots.
INITIATIVE:13 Movement:uses all of his 45 feet of movement if needed to place him next to the first pillar and north of the Shambling Mound. Action:Attacks with his Spear, two-handed - Attack: 12 Damage: 12 Bonus Action:uses 1 Ki Point (5/8) to engagePatient Defense. Reaction:if the Mound tries to hit anything else but him, will use his Sentinel Feat to deliver a second attack with the Spear - Attack: 19 Damage: 11
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
' Rogues Will Be Rogues ' (Circle of Fives Admission Rules, § 6 par. IV) " Put It Down. Now. Or Be Sorry. " (D. Khar-Errendis' Reported Tips For Curing Soul Ailments And Assorted Bad Behaviours, v. LIV p.XIII) " Tween thisThy and yonThou, shall I prove to Thee that these art what thou dost see ? " (Grimoire of The Great Pananthyr) " This One has said enough. Now, we fight. This way please ?" (8th Grade Bronze Disciple Raulnar Drohjo, Way of the Open Palm)
The mound of moldering plant matter shutters as each hit lands with perfect accuracy. Racing to aid Sopa, Drohjo literally leaps into the brambles from the doorway, clearing the last 10 feet of his movement before landing in waist-high vines and putting his radiant spear to work. After slashing away several swaths of living leaf litter, Drohjo notices what looks to be a humanoid skeleton held deep within the mound's mass of tendrils...
SHAMBLING MOUND Sensing the arrival of actual humanoid flesh, the mound turns its attention on Drohjo. Multi-attack (Slam): 8 vs. AC 17 (Drohjo); dealing 14 bludgeoning damage on a hit. Multi-attack (Slam): 10 vs. AC 17 (Drohjo); dealing 7 bludgeoning damage on a hit.
If both attacks hit a Medium or smaller target, the target is grappled (DC 14 to escape), and the shambling mound uses its Engulf ability on it.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
OOC: I should have made a DEX save for the shambling mound vs. Sopa's create bonfire spell
SHAMBLING MOUND Dexterity (Save): 19 vs. DC 15 (Sopa) taking 11 necrotic damage on a failed save.
Additionally, though Sopa changed the damage type done by create bonfire from fire to necrotic, the property of this spell that causes flammable objects in its area to ignite still applies....the fire spreads just like it would normally, the only difference is the type of damage it does. The entire garden is essentially highly-flammable, and thus Sopa's bonfire will ignite all adjacent squares in the next round. The fire will continue to spread in this way (each burning square will ignite all adjacent squares containing flammable material) each round until there is nothing left to catch fire.
EDIT: the original result of the DEX save was 11, so it failed against DC 15.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Saj lumbers through the doorway into the chamber, blinking slowly as he takes in the sight before him. "Huh. Angry bush. OK..." The Loxodon sighs and mutters to himself as a bolt of light leaps from his book to lance out at the... Angry bush.
Saj casts Sacred Flame at the Shambling Mound. Mound needs to succeed a DC18 Dex Saving throw or take 7 radiant damage.
Drohjo keeps using his spear as a radiant brushcutter, shaving great swaths of tangled plantlike matter off the surface of the Mound, while taking quick steps around it to keep it on the defensive.
"This way !" he calls out to the rest of his group, "This One has opened paths to attack !"
Movement: one square diagonally and one down to be exactly to the west of the Mound and open room for others to join him into melee Bonus Action: one more Ki point to keep his Patient Defense and DODGE. Action: Attacks with Sun Spear - Attack: 13 Damage: 10 Free Action:calls out for the group to join him.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
' Rogues Will Be Rogues ' (Circle of Fives Admission Rules, § 6 par. IV) " Put It Down. Now. Or Be Sorry. " (D. Khar-Errendis' Reported Tips For Curing Soul Ailments And Assorted Bad Behaviours, v. LIV p.XIII) " Tween thisThy and yonThou, shall I prove to Thee that these art what thou dost see ? " (Grimoire of The Great Pananthyr) " This One has said enough. Now, we fight. This way please ?" (8th Grade Bronze Disciple Raulnar Drohjo, Way of the Open Palm)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"You don't need to ask twice! I am here! Come on Athrú!" Saoirse grins and wades right into combat. Flanking the shambling mound, she once again brings her greatsword to bear. With great swings she attempts to cut into the mass of vegetation.
Two large sections of foliage-covered tentacle fell to the left and the right of Saoirse, as her greatsword cut through the monster like a gardener's scythe. The creature recoiled and let out an angry hiss, and for the first time, it seemed injured.
As the swaths of foliage fell away, Saorise notices a bit more of the humanoid skeleton that Drohjo had first seen buried deep inside the monster. Clutched in its bony hand, choked with vines, is a small leather pouch.
Sopa circles around Clunk on the opposite side from the mound. As he does he realises that the flames from his bonfire are spreading towards the western wall and directly for Drohjo. "Beware the flames!" he warns. Inspite of the danger he does not dismiss the Bonfire. The flames continue to lick at the Shambling mound (8 damage). Clunks arms piston forward striking at the mound as Sopa works his way around the constructs back side. Clunk twists and sidesteps as needed to keep itself between the threat and the one to which it is bound. The metal behemoth ends its movemeng five feet farther down the path.
Fist Attack: 18 Damage: 10
Attack: 10 Damage: 6
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
**This Space for Rent**
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Sopa relates what he sees to the group before continuing with, "So how shall we handle this? I would like to suggest luring the skeletons back to this corridor thus creating a choke point." He looks about at the faces of those assembled searching for looks of disagreement.
**This Space for Rent**
From inside the garden, several of the skeletons at the north end of the chamber (which looks to be about 100 feet across and slightly shallower than that from north to south) stop working for a moment when the doors open. They direct their attention towards Clunk and the floating spectral spellbook but then quickly resume their work.
Not a stitch of clothing nor armor is seen on any of them and none wield any weapons - only large buckets into which they place pale vegetables being harvested from the ghostly white vines. A few of the workers have holes in their skulls, others exhibit gaps in their rib cages and one skeleton has no "face" at all - its entire ocular cavity and cheekbones having been presumably crushed long ago under the force of some blunted weapon.
Sopa keeps an eye on the undead workers as he discusses what to do with the party, but during this time none of the skeletons gives the slightest hint of aggression or raise of an alarm. Each "farmer" just keeps toiling until their bucket is full, which is then delivered to a set of storage shelves lining the walls near the door. Afterwards, an empty bucket is retrieved from a stack and then the skeleton returns to their station, which has by that time become completely regenerated with new items to harvest.
Sopa looks at the unresponsive faces of the group, "Well I suppose regardless of what's in store the only real way we'll know is by pressing on." the tortle says. "Okay Clunk lead the way." The large mechanoid lurches forward in a stiff legged walk. Sopa follows close behind keeping a careful eye on the skeletons as they move forward. His spectral spellbook swoops in to hover just infront of his shield causing the matching sigel emblazened on the front to appear to glow. Clunk pauses 30 ft inside the room as Sopa stops to insure the rest are close at hand.
**This Space for Rent**
The skeletons continued their work, ignoring Sopa and Clunk altogether as the pair moved cautiously forward into the Pale Garden. Due to the overgrowth of vines, the path narrowed down to just 5 feet of clearance in several places. Seeing that Clunk's progress would likely be slowed as the large construct attempted to move through these areas, Sopa calls his guardian to a brief halt at the first bottleneck while he looks back to beckon the others forward.
(OOC: due to the overgrowth of vines, difficult terrain is applied to all areas within 5 feet of any column that is NOT part of the path. These areas are indicated by brown squares on the battlemap posted in Discord.)
As he is looking back to motion the others forward, Sopa hears the sound of something heavy striking against metal...followed quickly by a few pops and whistles as Clunk's actuators went into action as the shield guardian began winding up to strike back at whatever had assaulted him. Sopa jerked his attention back towards Clunk and saw an enormous....tree? Monster? Tree monster...attacking his bodyguard. Still, the skeletons paid no mind whatsoever to the commotion.
ROLLING INITIATIVE:
14 - SOPA
14 - CLUNK
9 - SHAMBLING MOUND
(OOC: with a Stealth score of 21, the shambling mound will have surprise against Clunk (pp 10) and Sopa (pp 17) in the first round of combat.)
SHAMBLING MOUND (SURPRISE ROUND)
Multi-attack (Slam): 23 vs. AC 17 (Clunk); dealing 17 bludgeoning damage on a hit.
Multi-attack (Slam): 15 vs. AC 17 (Clunk); dealing 15 bludgeoning damage on a hit.
Int:18
Sopa peeks around Clunk to get a better view of the living compost pile. He casts [Tooltip Not Found] on the creatures backside. (If his intelligence check makes it he will change the damage type to necrotic) damage:10 He urges Clunk to continue forward as he synchronizes his movement with the guardian.
Ploing! Plong! A couple of the dents caused by the mound pop out of Clunks metal skin. The guardian takes a couple swipes at the mound as it at the mound as it moves 10 feet down the path.
Attack: 23 Damage: 7
Attack: 24 Damage: 15
**This Space for Rent**
create bonfire was what was cast.
**This Space for Rent**
Sopa immediately recognizes the creature as a shambling mound
"Hmmmmph. This One will provide gardening support," Drohjo proclaims tersely.
Lunging forth with his radiant spear forward, he uses both arms to move the flexible tip in small circles, effectively creating a make-shift shredder as he zeroes in on the pile of rotting leaves and gnarled roots.
INITIATIVE: 13
Movement: uses all of his 45 feet of movement if needed to place him next to the first pillar and north of the Shambling Mound.
Action: Attacks with his Spear, two-handed - Attack: 12 Damage: 12
Bonus Action: uses 1 Ki Point (5/8) to engage Patient Defense.
Reaction: if the Mound tries to hit anything else but him, will use his Sentinel Feat to deliver a second attack with the Spear - Attack: 19 Damage: 11
' Rogues Will Be Rogues ' (Circle of Fives Admission Rules, § 6 par. IV)
" Put It Down. Now. Or Be Sorry. " (D. Khar-Errendis' Reported Tips For Curing Soul Ailments And Assorted Bad Behaviours, v. LIV p.XIII)
" Tween thisThy and yonThou, shall I prove to Thee that these art what thou dost see ? " (Grimoire of The Great Pananthyr)
" This One has said enough. Now, we fight. This way please ?" (8th Grade Bronze Disciple Raulnar Drohjo, Way of the Open Palm)
The mound of moldering plant matter shutters as each hit lands with perfect accuracy. Racing to aid Sopa, Drohjo literally leaps into the brambles from the doorway, clearing the last 10 feet of his movement before landing in waist-high vines and putting his radiant spear to work. After slashing away several swaths of living leaf litter, Drohjo notices what looks to be a humanoid skeleton held deep within the mound's mass of tendrils...
SHAMBLING MOUND
Sensing the arrival of actual humanoid flesh, the mound turns its attention on Drohjo.
Multi-attack (Slam): 8 vs. AC 17 (Drohjo); dealing 14 bludgeoning damage on a hit.
Multi-attack (Slam): 10 vs. AC 17 (Drohjo); dealing 7 bludgeoning damage on a hit.
If both attacks hit a Medium or smaller target, the target is grappled (DC 14 to escape), and the shambling mound uses its Engulf ability on it.
OOC: I should have made a DEX save for the shambling mound vs. Sopa's create bonfire spell
SHAMBLING MOUND
Dexterity (Save): 19 vs. DC 15 (Sopa) taking 11 necrotic damage on a failed save.
Additionally, though Sopa changed the damage type done by create bonfire from fire to necrotic, the property of this spell that causes flammable objects in its area to ignite still applies....the fire spreads just like it would normally, the only difference is the type of damage it does. The entire garden is essentially highly-flammable, and thus Sopa's bonfire will ignite all adjacent squares in the next round. The fire will continue to spread in this way (each burning square will ignite all adjacent squares containing flammable material) each round until there is nothing left to catch fire.
EDIT: the original result of the DEX save was 11, so it failed against DC 15.
Hearing the sounds of conflict, Saoirse would walk through the door to investigate.
Active Characters
Tink - Elf Artificer Nicholas Meloncreek - Human Fighter
Thurkear - Lizardfolk Warlock Bjorn "Whitewalker" Akannathi - Goliath Ranger
ROLLING INITIATIVE:
13 - YAMATSUNAMI
14 - SAOIRSE // ATHRÚ
9 - MAGNUS
16 - DROHJO
12 - SCREECH
18 - SAJ
14 - SOPA
14 - CLUNK
Saj lumbers through the doorway into the chamber, blinking slowly as he takes in the sight before him. "Huh. Angry bush. OK..." The Loxodon sighs and mutters to himself as a bolt of light leaps from his book to lance out at the... Angry bush.
Saj casts Sacred Flame at the Shambling Mound. Mound needs to succeed a DC18 Dex Saving throw or take 7 radiant damage.
SHAMBLING MOUND
Dexterity (Save): 16 vs. DC 18 (Saj) taking 6 radiant damage on a failed save.
Drohjo keeps using his spear as a radiant brushcutter, shaving great swaths of tangled plantlike matter off the surface of the Mound, while taking quick steps around it to keep it on the defensive.
"This way !" he calls out to the rest of his group, "This One has opened paths to attack !"
Movement: one square diagonally and one down to be exactly to the west of the Mound and open room for others to join him into melee
Bonus Action: one more Ki point to keep his Patient Defense and DODGE.
Action: Attacks with Sun Spear - Attack: 13 Damage: 10
Free Action: calls out for the group to join him.
' Rogues Will Be Rogues ' (Circle of Fives Admission Rules, § 6 par. IV)
" Put It Down. Now. Or Be Sorry. " (D. Khar-Errendis' Reported Tips For Curing Soul Ailments And Assorted Bad Behaviours, v. LIV p.XIII)
" Tween thisThy and yonThou, shall I prove to Thee that these art what thou dost see ? " (Grimoire of The Great Pananthyr)
" This One has said enough. Now, we fight. This way please ?" (8th Grade Bronze Disciple Raulnar Drohjo, Way of the Open Palm)
Drohjo's spear is unable to find a striking point this time - the shambling mound aggressively avoids the monk's attacks
"You don't need to ask twice! I am here! Come on Athrú!" Saoirse grins and wades right into combat. Flanking the shambling mound, she once again brings her greatsword to bear. With great swings she attempts to cut into the mass of vegetation.
Move: 20ft. S > 5ft. SW
Action: Attack Shambling Mound with greatsword twice
Attack 1, Attack: 16 Damage: 11 slashing
Attack 2, Attack: 11 Damage: 9 slashing
Hearing his mistress' voice, Athrú! rushes forward after Saoirse.
Move: 35ft. SW > 5ft. S
Action: Dodge
Active Characters
Tink - Elf Artificer Nicholas Meloncreek - Human Fighter
Thurkear - Lizardfolk Warlock Bjorn "Whitewalker" Akannathi - Goliath Ranger
Two large sections of foliage-covered tentacle fell to the left and the right of Saoirse, as her greatsword cut through the monster like a gardener's scythe. The creature recoiled and let out an angry hiss, and for the first time, it seemed injured.
As the swaths of foliage fell away, Saorise notices a bit more of the humanoid skeleton that Drohjo had first seen buried deep inside the monster. Clutched in its bony hand, choked with vines, is a small leather pouch.
Sopa circles around Clunk on the opposite side from the mound. As he does he realises that the flames from his bonfire are spreading towards the western wall and directly for Drohjo. "Beware the flames!" he warns. Inspite of the danger he does not dismiss the Bonfire. The flames continue to lick at the Shambling mound (8 damage). Clunks arms piston forward striking at the mound as Sopa works his way around the constructs back side. Clunk twists and sidesteps as needed to keep itself between the threat and the one to which it is bound. The metal behemoth ends its movemeng five feet farther down the path.
Fist Attack: 18 Damage: 10
Attack: 10 Damage: 6
**This Space for Rent**