This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Ah, well that's useful,"Akkron says. "Now, if you don't mind, ask him what the hell happened here and what he was trying to do to this unfortunate individual here. I'm going to go ahead and search the room while you do that."
Akkron will proceed to do a bit of poking around while Slip talks to the caged Monk (I'll go ahead and roll both Investigation and Perception).
Investigation: 31
Perception: 19
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Akkron & Dabbert: You search the tower. There are plenty of empty, ornate bottles scattered throughout and a few books (half of them basic potion recipes and the other half trashy novels). In a chest you find some seeds similar to the ones the Baron's raven delivered to you, along side some other food long fermented. With understandable unease, you gingerly move to the grisly sight in the center of the room. The monk grows more agitated but controls himself as Slip approaches his cage.
The deceased tiefling seemed to have decorated his twisting horns with iron caps. The cloak, battle damaged and missing a pocket, is worn inside-out, hiding a regal exterior. It doesn't take much to detach what was in its hand (the monk did most of the work for you) - a wide, single-edged short sword.
Akkron: Your scholarly background draws you to the blackboard. A meticulous small hand that creeps off the blackboard and onto the wall is scrawled over brilliant illustrations for potion making. It features multiple crossed out names which don't mean much to you, but does feature some descriptions of the religious ruins you've encountered, followed by a running tally and a conversion formula into gold credit value. Some locations include the priory which is now your base, Baron Evermore's rectory, and even the area where you found the half-drunk healing potion. An area marked "the labyrinth" is underlined, and the running tally seems to be at 250gp.
Dabbert: While Akkron makes sense of the blackboard your military knowledge kicks in. You check your entry/exit. Door seemed to be spring loaded to close, the sudden slam earlier a room feature and not some magic from the monk. The other monk on the toilet in the hallway is still dead, its head knocked out of its hands - likely from the impact of your previous battle. Nothing in his pockets. You return to the main room and do a sweep of the windows, shattered from the Lorlin's thunder attack. As you peer down you you first notice that the non existent sun seems to be, setting? The sky is less a drab purple and more of an ombre of red, green, and rusty orange.) Fog coats the ground and you see a few statues shambling around similar to the Galeb Duhr you fought earlier.
A beholder similar to the one you fought earlier floats from behind a piece of high rubble in the distance. It floats at eye-level (pun intended) towards the tower but drops from the sky before it reaches. It plummets in a downward arc and though it regains its flight before it hits the ground (it seemed to pass through an area that disabled it's magic), its not enough to save it from crashing into your tower with a splat. If you wait long enough you would see the critically injured beholder crawl/roll away on its unused limbs until a few of the Galeb Duhr bum rush it and beat it into unconsciousness in a cacophony of magic blasts and stone crunches, the violence only partially obscured by the fog.
Slip: Translated, the Monk's language isn't that much better. Its a combination of curses and angry, high-brow religious sermonizing. Like if Jonathan Edwards and Danté were written by an old sailor. However, as Akkron retrieves the sword the monk strings together some sense. "Justice is the only goodness he deserved and death was by benevolence to him! Thievery is only rewarded by ignorance and punished through the gift of renewed morality by my righteous hand!"
Dabbert raises a hand to run through his hair, ruffling it and scratching his scalp while he examines things and thinks.
"Might be getting dark." Dabbert says, grimacing at the thought. "If uh...it was this bad during the day, imagine the night. We may be staying here tonight."
His face scrunches up as he chews on the inside of his cheek and thinks, looking around the room, looking out the window, watches the Beholder-thing fall out of the air only get to get swarmed by the stone warriors.
"There's two factions at work here. Or uh...at least I think so." Dabbert says, his eyes never leaving the spectacle. "Like we've shown up in the middle of some other conflict, maybe. I'm not absolutely sure of that though. Just...what I gather. Did Baron Evermore tell us how long this has been going on? This...whatever is happening here? I don't remember now. Slip, would you mind asking our uh...new friend how long this has been going on? Ask him about what they're fighting. He's clearly a warrior. And this is clearly a stronghold. See if he'll tell you anything about it."
Akkron pauses from examining the blackboard to listen to what Dabbert and Slip have to say. He thinks that he has an idea what happened, even if the caged Monk is raving like a lunatic.
"I suspect that the dead Tiefling may be our mysterious Hexblade Warlock who slaughtered the other monks,"Akkron says, poking the body with the tip of his staff. "Based on the blade he was using. Presumably, our friend over here managed to defeat him before we stumbled across the aftermath of the confrontation... that is to say, insane though he may seem, I think that the gentleman in the Forcecage was acting in self-defense. Perhaps as a courtesy we should cure his most grievous wounds..."
When Dabbert mentions that there appears to be competition between the Galeb Duhr and the Beholders, Akkron leans on his staff and considers the situation for a few moments.
"Multiple factions at work?"Akkron muses. "Perhaps we can leverage the infighting to our advantage... depending on the goals of the creatures, we may even be able to convince some of them to join us instead of fight against us. Both Galeb Duhr and Beholders are intelligent creatures that can be reasoned with if you have the proper leverage. Making an alliance with one or more Beholders to help us deal with the Galeb Duhr, or with the Galeb Duhr to protect us from the Beholders, would be extremely advantageous. In terms of raw power, a Beholder won over to our side would be more formidable, but the catch is that Beholders have a well-earned reputation for being erratic, paranoid, and often completely insane."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
"Must uh...be one bad ass Warlock." Dabbert says, reflecting on how much trouble the lone monk gave them. "It does make me feel bad for attacking him though."
He offers an apologetic shrug and moves on, not dwelling on the follies of combat.
"It's just a guess, but yeah. And it's not a bad idea but...how do we choose which side to sway? And at what point do they turn on us?"
"As much as I hate to say this... we should probably try to win over a Beholder. As unpleasant as they are in every way... one Beholder is probably a more dangerous enemy than five Galeb Duhr. As for when a Beholder would betray us, probably the instant that it feels we are more of a liability than an asset to it... or when it thinks it can pick us off without risking its own life to do so."
(So, funny OOC: I'm actually playing as an aberrant humanoid Beholderkin in another campaign... I can't help but chuckle at the idea of a crossover).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Running as translator for the monk you get from him (in angry celestial) that his order is an group of self- flagellating ascetics who have “worshipped in war against the sins of hedonism since the creation of evil itself.” This warlock qualified as one who lived contrary to their ways and then stole from them, giving the order somewhat of a justification for their attack. The monk brags that the purity of his order makes it so they have never been defeated in battle.
As for how long its been going on, you ask but he gives no clear answer. The history of his order has written itself as part of a long celestial-worshiping lineage but can’t give any concrete dates or characters. Clearly these are not the clerical, record-keeping king of monks. Pressing him makes him more agitated, as if he’s in a dream and can’t remember where he was before.
As the shadows through windows grow longer you notice the sky darkens and dulls but doesn’t become night; similar to how night behaves near the world’s poles. What makes the change in time obvious is the sharp chill of a desert evening that slices with every gust of wind.
Blending together, the fog, wind, and obscured features of this world make anyone looking out the window realize that the sky is just an idea people made up for where the ground ends. As far as staying the night goes, the tower is formidable and the crack you slipped through to get in should keep out any larger intruders. Flying foes might provide a problem, but its obvious Some of them are having their own issues doing that.
"That's a lot of dead monks coming from an order that has never been defeated in battle," Akkron muses sarcastically. "Though I will admit, our guy did put up a good fight, especially being outnumbered four-to-one. Makes you wonder what kind of monster this Warlock was before our hero here brought him down... speaking of the Warlock... I think we may have some use for him, though I would need a few hours to prepare the necessary spells..."
(Uhhh... Akkron can do what, exactly? Are you referring to trying to talk a Beholder into buddying up with us?)
Yeah. Though for now I just need to know if your bunking down here for the “night” or heading back to your base. Or skipping sleep and trying to make some local monster friends.
"Ah, well that's useful," Akkron says. "Now, if you don't mind, ask him what the hell happened here and what he was trying to do to this unfortunate individual here. I'm going to go ahead and search the room while you do that."
Akkron will proceed to do a bit of poking around while Slip talks to the caged Monk (I'll go ahead and roll both Investigation and Perception).
Investigation: 31
Perception: 19
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(Side note, Akkron used the cage prison option with Forcecage so that we can communicate through it and cast spells through it if necessary).
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Dabbert's Investigation and Perception Rolls-
Perception: 26
Passive Perception: 19
Investigation: 12
Passive Investigation: 16
Also, apologies I've slowed down so much. Things have just been crazy lately.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
I'm right there with you my dude... life has become a total chaos storm that never seems to slow down or take a breather.
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Fully there too.
D&D since 1984
Akkron & Dabbert: You search the tower. There are plenty of empty, ornate bottles scattered throughout and a few books (half of them basic potion recipes and the other half trashy novels). In a chest you find some seeds similar to the ones the Baron's raven delivered to you, along side some other food long fermented. With understandable unease, you gingerly move to the grisly sight in the center of the room. The monk grows more agitated but controls himself as Slip approaches his cage.
The deceased tiefling seemed to have decorated his twisting horns with iron caps. The cloak, battle damaged and missing a pocket, is worn inside-out, hiding a regal exterior. It doesn't take much to detach what was in its hand (the monk did most of the work for you) - a wide, single-edged short sword.
Akkron: Your scholarly background draws you to the blackboard. A meticulous small hand that creeps off the blackboard and onto the wall is scrawled over brilliant illustrations for potion making. It features multiple crossed out names which don't mean much to you, but does feature some descriptions of the religious ruins you've encountered, followed by a running tally and a conversion formula into gold credit value. Some locations include the priory which is now your base, Baron Evermore's rectory, and even the area where you found the half-drunk healing potion. An area marked "the labyrinth" is underlined, and the running tally seems to be at 250gp.
Dabbert: While Akkron makes sense of the blackboard your military knowledge kicks in. You check your entry/exit. Door seemed to be spring loaded to close, the sudden slam earlier a room feature and not some magic from the monk. The other monk on the toilet in the hallway is still dead, its head knocked out of its hands - likely from the impact of your previous battle. Nothing in his pockets. You return to the main room and do a sweep of the windows, shattered from the Lorlin's thunder attack. As you peer down you you first notice that the non existent sun seems to be, setting? The sky is less a drab purple and more of an ombre of red, green, and rusty orange.) Fog coats the ground and you see a few statues shambling around similar to the Galeb Duhr you fought earlier.
A beholder similar to the one you fought earlier floats from behind a piece of high rubble in the distance. It floats at eye-level (pun intended) towards the tower but drops from the sky before it reaches. It plummets in a downward arc and though it regains its flight before it hits the ground (it seemed to pass through an area that disabled it's magic), its not enough to save it from crashing into your tower with a splat. If you wait long enough you would see the critically injured beholder crawl/roll away on its unused limbs until a few of the Galeb Duhr bum rush it and beat it into unconsciousness in a cacophony of magic blasts and stone crunches, the violence only partially obscured by the fog.
These words are smaller than the other ones.
Slip: Translated, the Monk's language isn't that much better. Its a combination of curses and angry, high-brow religious sermonizing. Like if Jonathan Edwards and Danté were written by an old sailor. However, as Akkron retrieves the sword the monk strings together some sense. "Justice is the only goodness he deserved and death was by benevolence to him! Thievery is only rewarded by ignorance and punished through the gift of renewed morality by my righteous hand!"
These words are smaller than the other ones.
Dabbert raises a hand to run through his hair, ruffling it and scratching his scalp while he examines things and thinks.
"Might be getting dark." Dabbert says, grimacing at the thought. "If uh...it was this bad during the day, imagine the night. We may be staying here tonight."
His face scrunches up as he chews on the inside of his cheek and thinks, looking around the room, looking out the window, watches the Beholder-thing fall out of the air only get to get swarmed by the stone warriors.
"There's two factions at work here. Or uh...at least I think so." Dabbert says, his eyes never leaving the spectacle. "Like we've shown up in the middle of some other conflict, maybe. I'm not absolutely sure of that though. Just...what I gather. Did Baron Evermore tell us how long this has been going on? This...whatever is happening here? I don't remember now. Slip, would you mind asking our uh...new friend how long this has been going on? Ask him about what they're fighting. He's clearly a warrior. And this is clearly a stronghold. See if he'll tell you anything about it."
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Slip shares his understand of what was said.
D&D since 1984
Akkron pauses from examining the blackboard to listen to what Dabbert and Slip have to say. He thinks that he has an idea what happened, even if the caged Monk is raving like a lunatic.
"I suspect that the dead Tiefling may be our mysterious Hexblade Warlock who slaughtered the other monks," Akkron says, poking the body with the tip of his staff. "Based on the blade he was using. Presumably, our friend over here managed to defeat him before we stumbled across the aftermath of the confrontation... that is to say, insane though he may seem, I think that the gentleman in the Forcecage was acting in self-defense. Perhaps as a courtesy we should cure his most grievous wounds..."
When Dabbert mentions that there appears to be competition between the Galeb Duhr and the Beholders, Akkron leans on his staff and considers the situation for a few moments.
"Multiple factions at work?" Akkron muses. "Perhaps we can leverage the infighting to our advantage... depending on the goals of the creatures, we may even be able to convince some of them to join us instead of fight against us. Both Galeb Duhr and Beholders are intelligent creatures that can be reasoned with if you have the proper leverage. Making an alliance with one or more Beholders to help us deal with the Galeb Duhr, or with the Galeb Duhr to protect us from the Beholders, would be extremely advantageous. In terms of raw power, a Beholder won over to our side would be more formidable, but the catch is that Beholders have a well-earned reputation for being erratic, paranoid, and often completely insane."
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"Must uh...be one bad ass Warlock." Dabbert says, reflecting on how much trouble the lone monk gave them. "It does make me feel bad for attacking him though."
He offers an apologetic shrug and moves on, not dwelling on the follies of combat.
"It's just a guess, but yeah. And it's not a bad idea but...how do we choose which side to sway? And at what point do they turn on us?"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
"As much as I hate to say this... we should probably try to win over a Beholder. As unpleasant as they are in every way... one Beholder is probably a more dangerous enemy than five Galeb Duhr. As for when a Beholder would betray us, probably the instant that it feels we are more of a liability than an asset to it... or when it thinks it can pick us off without risking its own life to do so."
(So, funny OOC: I'm actually playing as an aberrant humanoid Beholderkin in another campaign... I can't help but chuckle at the idea of a crossover).
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
Provide feedback!
Running as translator for the monk you get from him (in angry celestial) that his order is an group of self- flagellating ascetics who have “worshipped in war against the sins of hedonism since the creation of evil itself.” This warlock qualified as one who lived contrary to their ways and then stole from them, giving the order somewhat of a justification for their attack. The monk brags that the purity of his order makes it so they have never been defeated in battle.
As for how long its been going on, you ask but he gives no clear answer. The history of his order has written itself as part of a long celestial-worshiping lineage but can’t give any concrete dates or characters. Clearly these are not the clerical, record-keeping king of monks. Pressing him makes him more agitated, as if he’s in a dream and can’t remember where he was before.
As the shadows through windows grow longer you notice the sky darkens and dulls but doesn’t become night; similar to how night behaves near the world’s poles. What makes the change in time obvious is the sharp chill of a desert evening that slices with every gust of wind.
Blending together, the fog, wind, and obscured features of this world make anyone looking out the window realize that the sky is just an idea people made up for where the ground ends. As far as staying the night goes, the tower is formidable and the crack you slipped through to get in should keep out any larger intruders. Flying foes might provide a problem, but its obvious Some of them are having their own issues doing that.
These words are smaller than the other ones.
.
These words are smaller than the other ones.
Akkron, You can certainly try 👍
These words are smaller than the other ones.
These words are smaller than the other ones.
"That's a lot of dead monks coming from an order that has never been defeated in battle," Akkron muses sarcastically. "Though I will admit, our guy did put up a good fight, especially being outnumbered four-to-one. Makes you wonder what kind of monster this Warlock was before our hero here brought him down... speaking of the Warlock... I think we may have some use for him, though I would need a few hours to prepare the necessary spells..."
(Uhhh... Akkron can do what, exactly? Are you referring to trying to talk a Beholder into buddying up with us?)
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Yeah. Though for now I just need to know if your bunking down here for the “night” or heading back to your base. Or skipping sleep and trying to make some local monster friends.
These words are smaller than the other ones.
I think the smartest thing to do would probably be to hunker down here for the time being... Akkron has some preparations he needs to make.
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Gotcha. You guys taking a watch order and/or laying any defenses?
These words are smaller than the other ones.