Gnome's OOTA Story Thread [CLOSED]

The noble Drow frowns and seems displeased with the mention of the human staying behind but says nothing. Overhearing the human reassuring the Firbolg he smiles to himself. The thought of the Demon Lords that was drawn to the Underdark by the trickery of the hated goddess of spiders wreaking havoc in her grandest temple somehow seemed quite fitting.
Traydark follows the others outside, soon ready to depart for Wormwrithings.

Vizeran chuckles darkly again, "Unless you are a poor student..." he looks Khessa over a moment, "I don't see why this would take more than an evening. I'm sure your companions can spare you for the night and then we can all be on our way."

Khessa:

Is Khessa aware of the rolls she has to do? (Asking becsuse, if she knows in advance, she could ask for buffs from her friends... or buff herself, at least)

No, she would not.

What can I say? I'm really curious... considering that usually, copying a spell from a spellbook (unlike copying it from a scroll) doesn't require any checks and doesn't force any saving throw...

If Khessa noticed 'something was wrong', perhaps she would give up or consider other courses of action; but since, if I well understand, the poor thing is not aware of what is about to happen to her... she will try to add Disguise Self to her spellbook.

Arcana check: 10

Charisma Saving Throw: 16

The artificer spends the evening refilling or replenishing his mecha-magical gizmos readying everything for the next few weeks of demon hunting!

Khessa:

It doesn't take but a couple days of travel to reach the entrance, or at least, an entrance to the Wormwrithings. The hole is about 10 feet in diameter and fairly smooth around, definitely the sign of purple worm activity. The tunnel down is dark, much like the rest of the Underdark, although small patches of phosphorescent fungi can be spotted, dotting the twisting, crossing tunnels here and there.

When they arrive back at camp, Lulu asks the others what they make of this plan. After that discussion, she'll take care to repair her armor and oil her longsword then find a quiet spot to meditate. 

This time, however, she prays to Eilistraee, hoping the Goddess might be sympathetic to their cause and offer some means of assistance or guidance. And that she might bestow her Blessing upon them when the time comes to help save her people. 


((That last part depending on if she succeeded the History check with that 19!))

Quote from MissAbyss >>

This time, however, she prays to Eilistraee, hoping the Goddess might be sympathetic to their cause and offer some means of assistance or guidance. And that she might bestow her Blessing upon them when the time comes to help save her people. 


((That last part depending on if she succeeded the History check with that 19!))

 Lulu:

Katryl spends the evening with the scouts, preparing them to leave the next day. She checks in with how they are doing, and hopefully encouraging them for the search to come.

When they arrive at the entrance to the Wormwrithings, Katryl dismounts to take a look at the entrance. "What is our plan from here?" she asks the other group members once they have gathered. "With the narrower path, it is definitely going to make it more difficult for the larger group."  She then again looks down the tunnel. "We just need the purple worm egg, right? So hopefully we can avoid the worms. And then a beholder eye... I suppose we will have to fight for that. Anything else we should be looking for here?" 

The noble Drow would follow along back to the expedition encampment, sharing his thoughts about starting their search in the nearby Wormwrithings before deciding where to go next. As the arcane warrior gets back to the camp he would ask her about what progress she has made, curious about what potential she as under the tutelage of an archmage. He himself had done what he could to mentor the human this far and for some reason it felt strange to leave his eager and attentive student in the hands of someone else, albeit someone with far greater knowledge about arcane matters. He would then meditate in peace and be ready to depart for the Wormwrithings.

As the expedition reaches the tunnels Traydark stops and listens to their chief scout Katryl, nodding in agreement with her summary. "I will send my familiar ahead to scout for traces of what we seek. Apart from the egg and the eye we could possibly find both blood or ichor from a demon lord and timmasks sprouted from the footprint of a marilith, a balor, or a goristro but I wouldn't get my hopes up for that." He says plainly, ready to move along into the tunnels, mounted on his riding lizard.

Grax'xt perception: 15
Traydark perception: 24

At the camp:

Khessa returns to her friends' camp late, after hours of study with the powerful Archmage. She is happy that Traydark, still awake, is interested in her and willingly explains to him what she has managed to learn, concluding: "It is a spell perhaps not of immediate use in battle, but which can be very useful to us the times we have to infiltrate us... I can easily take the form of a drow matron, for example, or Vizeran himself, if necessary".

"However," the blonde arcane warrior's blue eyes take on a hard and angry light "Vizeran has inexplicably tried to corrupt this spell while teaching it to me... Don't ask me why he did it, but I have noticed that he has distorted some of the process. Using that spell will involve risks, for me, now. Obviously, I will use the spell anyway, when necessary, but I realize that I will risk some small drawbacks when I do so".

"I confess to you that, for a moment, I was almost tempted to refuse to collaborate with him further - because we need the help of people we can trust, not people ready to harm us for their own shemes - but I think for now I will pretend not to have noticed anything and I'll play his game" the tall adventuress sighs. "We don't know of another person who could carry out the ritual he has in mind, at least for now... and that ritual could actually represent the salvation of the Underdark - and the Prime Material Plane. But surely, if there was something that what he could do to undermine my loyalty and make me question the perfect adherence to his instructions, he has done it now. Of course, banishing the Demon Lords remains my priority - but I will make sure to do it in the least Vizeran-pleasing way possible".

At the entrance to the Wormwrithings:

Khessa agrees with Katryl and Traydark: "Yes, we only need one Purple Worm egg... I don't know how possible it will be to find an unattended one - since I don't know how great the Purple Worm's sense of motherhood is - but in theory we could avoid to fight, in that case. It will be more difficult for the beholder... unless we find one already dead. Organic material from a Demon Lord I don't think we'll find here, but we could definitely keep an eye out for any 'unusual' footprints... and if any timmasks sprouted from one of these we could try and pick them up. But we would need an incredible stroke of luck... I think that to get that component we will have to find a more deterministic method - although for now I don't have a precise idea yet".

During exploration, the blonde arcane warrior holds herself protectively in an advanced position, ready, together with the infantry, to act as a barrier between any threats and the rest of the 'army'.

At the encampment, Horkas confers with both Lulu and Khessa about a spell to store in the Guardian. He explains that it can store one spell of 4th level or lower, right now it has a Cure Wounds spell stored in it (2nd level). If either of the spellcasters has a better idea, or a more powerful spell, he would work with them to get it stored!

 Horkas is again mounted on Skitter, with the large Shield Guardian next to him, finding a place in the lineup where his heavy squad would be most useful. 

At the camp:

The noble Drow looks a bit troubled over what the blonde arcane warrior explains, a bit embarrased even over the actions of his kin. It seemed irrational for the archmage to hamper their chances of success and there was no way he considered them a threat, merely pawns to be sacrificed, but he expected the archmage to be invested in making this work or he wouldn't have brought them to his tower at all. Alas, admittedly there was not always rational thoughts behind the depraved evil the drow spread, the mere inflicting of evil upon others felt empowering to many, certainly Vizeran too, even if he claimed to oppose the followers of the Queen of Spiders.

"You did the right thing Khessa, we should play along with his schemes...for now." Traydark says with a knowing smile, giving the blonde human an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Who knows what will happen to Vizeran and his tower once the abyssal incursion has been dealt with."

Camp:

"Yes, who knows..." she winks "Just think about what might happen, if for an innocent error the Demon Lords would be summoned into his tower... or near it... Well," she smiles, in good mood again "we shall see".

[[ I'm still pretty low level, as spellcaster... I have no better spells to pur into the guardian ]]

Still Camp:

The noble Drow chuckles. "Our primary objective must always be to rid the Underdark of the Demon Lords and their hordes, but you're finally starting to think like a drow, I am proud of you human." Traydark says with a teasing smile. "I would have thought bringing the Heart of Darkness to the grand temple of Lolth in Menzoberranzan would be fitting though, but I am sure we will some suitable end for all of this." He adds grimly.


(Traydark can contribute with Banishment, Dispel Magic or Fireball among other spells, but perhaps some sort of healing spell is best?)

At Camp: 
Lulu offers 4th level Mass Healing Word, Aura of Vitality, Aura of Life, or Sleep spells for the Shield Guardian, depending on what the others felt would be most useful! Aura of Life, specifically, could be very helpful in an emergency. 

Lulu, always impressed by the figure Katryl strikes as the head of the scouts, nods along with the others, though is briefly distracted by the smooth walls of the tunnels. "These beasts are sensitive to sound--to movement, aye? I 'spose the lot of us walking through these tunnels is bound to create quite the ruckus. Could draw the worms to us." She pulls off a gauntlet and puts her bare hand against the wall, feeling for any vibrations. She wonders if it's safe to move as such a large unit as this.

"And with my Mistress' guidance, I can locate creatures known to me. I'm certainly well-acquainted with beholders now--when we're ready to seek one out."

Whenever the group moves forward, Lulu takes her usual place in the middle to be within reach of both the front and rear of their forces. She's going to keep an eye out for traces of excrement (preferably purple worm excrement LOL) to help give them an indication of which tunnels to follow (though presumably the scouts know to the this as well!).
Survival: 15+7 22

"Perhaps we should consider leaving our followers out of this for now. The risk of them being gobbled up by a purple worm clearly outweighs the chance they might contribute to this particular mission." The noble Drow suggests but will not further argue about it.

"I'm not so sure about that..." Khessa muses "If the purple worms can locate creatures within a certain radius of them, we would probably attract them anyway, whether there are many of us or few of us, if we arrive close enough. Obviously, I'd like to find an unattended egg before we find a purple worm but... what things go the other way around?"

"If a purple worm attacks us," the blonde arcane warrior continues to explain her point of view "a few more attacks against him will be useful, won't them? Without the army, I don't know if we would have defeated as easily that band of demons that awaited us at the entrance to the Underdark..."

Horkas discusses the potential; spell options, and agrees that a giant healing statue would be of the greatest benefit and asks Lunaria to imbue the Guardian with her Aura of Life spell.