The Undying Dragons - Campaign Thread

Soren looks in the direction of the now invisible Jan and Marrin and shakes his head and sighs, raising his hands in a semblance of defeat.

"Don't do that," Soren says, though not very loudly. "That's just going make things worse."

He turns to the sounds in the brush at the edge of the house and raises his voice.

"Those two have the chest. Guess you'll need to get it." 

Stepping through the dense forest, out come two long limbed humanoids bearing a vague resemblance to the ice troll from Icelace Lake (for those who were there for that), preceded by three very large, four legged lizards.

From the other side of the house, the group hears a door bang open, some very loud grumbling and complaining and a shout of "What happens? Who here?"

The owner of the voice comes into view - a four armed version of the other two humanoids, with another one of the large lizards in tow.

Soren waves in the direction of where Jan and Marrin were.

The half-elf looks at the rest of the party with a half smile.

"Do you want to come inside while they sort this out?" Soren asks.

((Initiative please - might as well roll for everyone just in case, but definitely need for Marrin and Jan))

The newcomers:

Vonth initiative:  14

Avaria's initiative: 21

They disappeared.  Her friends... they left her, just like Ethel did... what was going on?  She feels the pain of sorrow in her heart as she tries to understand what is going on.  But luckily, she doesn't have time...

The shifter's eyes go wide as the humanoids reveal themselves and her head snaps back to Soren, "Who...who hired you?" but as he waves towards where Marrin and Jan disappeared and basically told them to hunt her friends down, she runs to that area, unsheathes her greatsword with a long drawn out 'shing' of a sound and readies an attack to whomever tries to follow her friends.  "No, I don't want to go inside while your friends here hunt down my friends.  What is going on??" she growls.

Initiative: 18

Jan: 15

Sol: 14

Still unsure whose side he's on. Soren has been very reasonable and asked nicely. Why resort to violence? Having said that... who works with trolls? They're so ugly!

((Initiative: Avaria, Ambush Drake 1 and 2, rest of the party, rest of trolls and other Ambush Drakes - Avaria has moved, is out of melee with everyone but has action/bonus action still available))

The four-armed troll looks towards where Soren gestured and sees Avaria run to that area. A large, unpleasant smile springs up on the troll's face. "Good good. Trepsin like hunt. Let run first. Run. Run."

He gestures for Avaria to try and run.

"Just get the one with the ring," Soren calls. "Don't hurt them."

The four-armed troll, presumably Trepsin says "You job done. Not boss of Trepsin. Trepsin job now.  Trepsin hunt."

((Avaria is up with action/bonus - or is she going with a held action?))

Avaria stands her ground and narrows her eyes at Soren, "Not the one with the ring.  Not any of them." she says through clenched teeth.  She starts changing in front of their eyes.. her teeth becoming fangs, her ears elongating, her tail growing large and fluffy.  Her nails become claws and all along her body the fur that is quite pronounced normally grows fuller as it completes the picture of basically a werewolf.  She stands there, sword in hand now glaring at Trepsin.  "I'm not running." and yes she continues to ready her attack for anyone going after Marrin and Jan.

Here are the rolls:

Attack 1: 11 (I'm guessing a miss)
Attack 2: 21, Damage 12

((Unfortunately Avaria, while she gets two attacks when she takes the Attack action, the Ready action is a Reaction, and allows for only one held attack)).

Trepsin almost seems to be on the verge of clapping when Avaria transforms, so happy he is at a more worthy prey.

Two of the ambush drakes held by the other trolls rush forward, splitting just slightly apart to cause Avaria to have to focus on both but not able to keep them both in one spot ahead of her. These are seasoned hunters and know how to work together. As the first one leaps towards the shifter, Avaria swings her sword forward but the blade swishes just above the drake, narrowly missing it's thick hide.

The first drake bites down on Avaria, breaking furry skin as it does (21, 13 to hit for 4 piercing). The second one times it's bite for the split second after the first bites, taking advantage of the momentary distraction to break skin on the other side of Avaria (19, 8 to hit for 3 piercing). While neither bite is lethal, they've grabbed Avaria's attention.

((Rest of the party is up))

Solomona doesn't think Soren's ugly friends understand the concept of welcome. Avaria very clearly said she wasn't running. So why bite her? That's not polite. That's not how guests are treated on the Friendly Islands. This is just poor hospitality. Hey, no biting the visitors, eh, the big man says, stepping forward to improve the situation.

Solomona moves. At first it looks like a dance. The Tau Faiva haka of his homeland, in fact. All stamping rhythm and rolling shoulders. It might be a war dance, except he is smiling like it's his birthday. Then comes the Fua'iga Ta step. Drawing on his uho, Solomona flows between snapping maws and lashing tails, humming a cheerful island tune as he works to gently, firmly, enthusiastically subdue the drakes until they can be trained better. A soft chime sounds each time he makes contact. Sometimes joy needs a little encouragement.

Action: Attack:
To hit: 15 Damage: 7 (magical bludgeoning damage)
To hit: 18 Damage: 6

Bonus Action: (1 uho point) Flurry of Blows:
To hit: 19 Damage: 8
To hit: 26 Damage: 10

Jan continues moving, and uses her action to dash. 

((Not quite sure on positioning relative to all of Soren's buddies, but as 'the one with the ring', she can't stick around.))

Marrin calls to Ava before she dashes away, aiming for a gap (still invisible).

"Thanks Ava! Give'm hells!"

((D8 of bardic inspiration to Avaria!

She'd be trying to use the sounds of the fighting to cover her retreat.))

Vonth...

Vonth’s attempt to place himself between Soren and the others proves meaningless. The moment collapses into chaos as reinforcements arrive—trolls lumbering into view, drakes surging forward.

There is no more time.

Before Vonth can engage, the drakes are already upon Avaria, and Solomona has thrown himself into the fight. Any hope of avoiding bloodshed dies there.

Vonth accepts it without hesitation.

He turns toward the source of the conflict, murmurs a brief, breathless appeal to Morc, and draws his blade in one smooth motion. There is no flourish. No warning.

He closes on Soren at once.

To Vonth’s eyes, Soren is the fulcrum—the man whose words drew the hunt, whose presence brought teeth and claws into the open.

Vonth strikes.

Once.
Then again.

He presses the attack hard and fast, intent on cutting down the treacherous half-elf.

_____

Movement - Whatever it takes to engage with Soren.
Bonus Action - Cast Divine Favor upon himself.
Action - Attack Soren with Culver's Blade:  20 to hit for 10 slashing damage plus 1 radiant damage.
Action Surge - Attack Soren again with Culver's Blade:  24 to hit for 9 slashing damage plus 4 radiant damage.

(1 or 10 rounds of Divine Favor used - Concentration Spell.)

Solomona shuffles, skips, and then sways like palm trees blowing in a tropical breeze before whipping about in a hurricane of snapping wrists and ankles. It takes all four blows, but one of the two ambush drakes that had attacked Avaria collapses to the ground, knocked out of commission.

Marrin and Jan both move quickly towards the thick woods. They’re not familiar with the ambush drakes, but based on the way the first two moved and supported each other, they’re pack hunters and being in the thick trees might be their best shot at avoiding them. However, dashing doesn’t exactly allow for quiet movement. If either looks back, they see Trepsin’s smile widen as he looks in the general direction of the pairs movement.

Vonth catches Soren just as the half-elf is about to sit down on the stairs leading to the front door. Surprise in the bard’s eyes meet the steely intent of the goliath. Both strikes cut deep across Soren’s shoulders.

Soren shuffles back half a step, but rather than draw his own weapon, he whistles a quick sharp note, and vanishes, followed immediately by a crack of sound as the air rushes into the space Soren occupied a moment earlier.

A crackle of energy leaps from Ula’s hand and races towards the other ambush drake still engaged with Avaria. However, her aim is off and the bolt explodes in a puff of dirt at Avaria’s feet.

Hammerdasher grabs Geffroi and pulls him back from the melee, pushing him towards the woods to the west of the clearing in front of the house.

Trepsin, the four-armed troll, whistles and waves his hand down to his side. Three more ambush drakes appear beside him. Trepsin and the four ambush drakes skirt the clearing and head in the direction of where Jan and Marrin have headed. They move as if they expect attacks from the rest of the party, dodging and weaving.

The other two trolls, of the two-armed variety, and the remaining ambush drake move forward towards the same area Trepsin is headed. But for them to get there, they have to pass through where Avaria and Solomona are.

One troll attacks each of them. Solomona’s troll manages to bite (20 to hit for 5 piercing) and slash with one clawed hand (24 to hit for 11 piercing) but his second arm misses.

The troll attacking Avaria snaps but misses. Swipes and misses. But finally zeroes in on the shifter and catches her with his final blow (23 to hit for 10 piercing).

The last ambush drake avoids the pair and moves past to proceed after the others hunting Jan and Marrin.

((Avaria is back up))

((Should mention that Jan is not leaving any footprints or footsteps as she's now left the ground and is invisibly flying, likely still somewhat above Marrin for the moment. (Bonus action to gain flight, movement and and action to dash). ))

Avaria smiles as she hears Marrin's words, but it falls fast as Trepsin and his entourage make their way around her to continue their hunt. "Vonth! Ula! After them!!" she cries out as she faces off against the trolls that are attacking her and Sol.

She finally allows the rage that has been simmering under her skin bubble up and through, embracing it like an old friend and the smile reappears as she regrips the great sword and swings.

Attacking Recklessly, she faces the troll that attacked her.  ((Reminder that even though she can attack at advantage due to reckless attack, attacks against her are NOT at advantage due to her being shifted into her wildshape.))

Attack 1: Crit! Damage: 21 + 2
Attack 2: 25, Damage: 13 + 2

The troll frowns then grunts loudly as Avaria unleashes her pent up fury at the long-limbed creature. Both blows bite deeply, causing green slimy blood to ooze our of the gashes.

The ambush drake that had initially leapt into action against Avaria responds to Trepsin's whistle, disengages, and stalks quickly to join the others hunting for Jan and Marrin.

((Party is up. Vonth stands on the top of the stairs where he had engaged with Soren. Whether the half-elf bard turned invisible or teleported away is unknown at this point. Avaria and Solomona are squared off against a troll each. Plus there is an ambush drake circling the fight with them.

Across the clearing - about 30' from Solomona and Avaria, 45' from Ula, 55' from Vonth, 60' from Hammerdasher and Geffroi, Trepsin and 5 ambush drakes hunt for Jan and Marrin (both of whom are still invisible - if Marrin has gone into the dense woods, she's about 15' from Trepsin and the ambush drakes as the woods are difficult terrain and her speed is cut - if Jan is flying through the trees above Marrin, her speed is also halved by the density of the woods - though she can move straight up still to try and get above the trees))).

((How closely packed are those drakes/Trespin?))

((Marrin is already losing track of them as they started to fan out into the underbrush - all within a 30' radius area though not all fully visible))

Jan is heading for open sky, 60ft per round.