The Undying Dragons - Campaign Thread

IN THE WOODS:

Neither Talis nor the mysterious force in the woods appears to be paying too much attention to the trio on the other side of the woods. Blasts of magical energy in a variety of colours rips back and forth, though the energy coming from the woods tends more towards the sickly green, and Tali's tends more to icy blue.

Suddenly shadows appear and a hissing of wind is all the warning there is before the peryton's dive down at incredible speed, hit both the zombies and swoop back up into the sky. The zombies remain behind, motionless.

The two retainers try to provide some cover for Talis, but they also keep an eye on the three bystanders to make sure they're not edging their way back into combat.

     Vonth uses his Harness Divine Power feature as a Bonus Action to regain a spell slot. He then immediately uses that spell slot to cast another Cure Wounds on Avaria giving her another 7 hit points.

     "Let's try to get close to the necromancer," he says in a hushed tone to the others.  "We can decide what to do next after we can assess them better."

     That said, Vonth starts to move in the direction he believes this new magic user to be in.  "We got waylaid by the dragon lover.  We have no love or alliance with them. Nor issue with you."

Solomona nods in agreement, and follows after Vonth. He also reaches out and pats Avaria encouragingly on the shoulder. His enthusiasm and optimism is contagious, and lends the barbarian fresh energy. (Healing Hands for another 8 hp)

((Are Vonth and Solomona heading straight towards where they think the mystery party is?))

((Jan is only limited by being on the same plane as K now, she picked up Voice of the Chain Master invocation. She'll be looking to be able to add all of the guards and perhaps a few of the villagers to her catalog of faces and voices she can mimic through her Actor Feat.))

Marrin ups her assessment of MDK and nods along before responding in hushed Draconic,

"I have to agree with your assessment on the value of being in charge of this place. I also doubt you can get out on merits alone, and those very merits seem to have made you invaluable here."

Marrin taps the table lightly before continuing,

"The box is gone, and Talis would claim it if it was here, but surely there is something else that would elevate your standing enough to catch the eye of those making the calls? What can we do to get you to the desert? "

Quote from Thoradin_Orcbender >>

((Are Vonth and Solomona heading straight towards where they think the mystery party is?))

 ((Straight-ish?  In the sense that Vonth doesn't want to run out in the open or anything.  He'd rather stick to the trees and be a bit discreet about approaching, if possible.  I'm not talking full on stealth but stealth adjacent?))

((Perception rolls for Vonth and Solomona - and Avaria if she's going along with the other two))

SITTING IN A TREE:

Jan observes as much of the town as she can with K. For the most part she doesn't see a lot of interest. The guards don't appear to be anxious or stressed. The villagers themselves are just going about their daily chores.

Perhaps it's just the lull before a storm - there couldn't be anything disruptive headed towards the village.

FIGHTING IN THE WOODS:

Vonth and Solomona begin moving across the path towards the other side to head into the woods where the other spellcaster is located.

Talis spots the movement and shouts at them "You're even more foolish than I thought if you think you can make a deal with them."

IN THE KITCHEN:

MDK looks at Marrin for a few moments and then shakes his head.

"Let's, for arguments sake, agree that the chest is gone," MDK says with a smile, "I'd have to be able to deliver something else of great power. Those death cult bastards are after a key that will lead them to another weapon of power. If I had that, I'd be moving up in the world."

Jan will check in with K, to get a sense of how much longer they feel they'd need to rest before hours of flying again.

     Vonth pauses and considers Talis’ words. But only for a moment.

     There is no world in which he truly trusts Talis.  Then again, he does not particularly trust the corpse-caller either.

     Still, doing nothing is often the worst choice a warrior can make.

     “Not looking to make a deal,” Vonth says at last, voice carrying clearly enough for all to hear. “Happy to let you have Talis. No strings attached. No harm. No foul.”

     A faint shrug. “We all walk away friends.”

     Then, after a brief moment: “Well. Maybe not you and them.”

     His eyes shift toward the newest arrival.

     “What do you say?” Vonth calls, lowering his voice only slightly, unconcerned whether Talis hears him or not. “We have no quarrel with you.”

     He jerks his head slightly toward Talis.

     “You take her. Me and my friends leave like none of this ever happened.”

Marrin taps the table lightly in though as she munches on some cheese. After she swallows she asks,

"Well, what qualifies as an item of power? How many of those are laying around? Or is a key to one enough?"

Ava breathes a little easier as the two continue to heal her.  She smiles at them warmly, though still bloodied, "Thank you so much for your help."  She follows Vonth, both out of wanting to stay with her new friends and out of curiosity in who this new threat was - powerful for sure.  She sure didn't want to have both this new one and Talis fighting against them.

Take Talis?  That was fine with her, "What brings you here?" she wants to ask more, but decides not to push things as they get closer to get a good look at the newcomer.

Perception: 21

IN THE KITCHEN:

MDK looks at the kitchen staff again. Hammerdasher and Ula gather that the kobold and Marrin don't want to be overheard and they begin a loud conversation in dwarvish, accompanied by shouted statements and banging of cups and cutlery. The staff looks at them with some disgust but go back to their jobs.

MDK still leans in closer to Marrin when he speaks in draconic. "There are plenty of powerful magic items scattered across the Sea of Fallen Stars. Not as much as out on the Sword Coast but still more than anyone knows. But to deal with the darkness coming out of the desert, there are three. At least that's what I've picked up by listening closely. Your chest is supposed to have one and the other two are supposed to be in some hidden forgotten temple in one of those eastern desert cities. The only way into some hidden room in the basement is with this special key. The Djed of the Dark One."

He's warmed up to the topic and Marrin gets the impression that the other kobolds and staff have zero interest in discussing any of this with MDK.

"Yeah, with that key I could definitely move up."

SITTING IN A TREE:

K is about to fly inside the stables he's spotted, just to the north of the village square when he pauses at the sound of a loud yell from further north up the main road. The five guards race in that direction, pulling up short at what they see.

At the entrance to the village, K spots three figures. Two ambush drakes flank a four-armed troll.

The troll appears to be speaking primarily to himself "Need a bath. Far too smelly. Really need a bath." When he spots the guards, he yells at them "Where bath?"

IN THE WOODS:

Vonth, Avaria, and Solomona slip deeper into the woods. Just as they do, a blast of icy blue energy races past them and deeper into the woods, crashing through trees and brush.

Green vapour floats in clouds at the base of a couple of trees further in.

Solomona and Vonth focus their attention on that vapour but Avaria notices something else. Standing completely still are two armored, gaunt, almost skeletal figures. The pair stare silently at Avaria and her companions. Wispy green energy gives life to their eyes, and radiates softly off of their drawn swords and their shoulders.

Just beyond them Avaria spots a hooded figure, barely noticeable. The darkness of the hooded cloak make them a black patch in the woods. But then the figure turns. While their face is still shrouded in shadow, Avaria can see red markings on their chest. A red hand with an eye in the palm, similar to the symbols she saw on the ghost ship and what the soldiers with the Hargroves had on their armor.

"These two will leave you alone as long as you don't pose a threat to me," the figure says in the voice they've already heard. "These misguided cultists think they can stop our lord from rising again. I'm just giving them a reminder of how little power they wield."

(Now that the figure is speaking to Vonth and Sol notice them?  If so, do the red markings mean anything to Vonth?)

((The markings are nothing like what the wizards in Thay use nor like Vonth’s own. But a lot of stories get passed around the mountains and maybe someone from the southern end of the mountain range may have seen something - History check from Vonth to see what he may have picked up.))

(History - 9)