The Sunken palace doors open with a reedy clack and a steady stream of Bullywugs start spilling out. Leading the group are the 2 warriors from the Proving Grounds.
Valrieth couldn't have done it without the fear and desperation driving her! Even though the thick fog makes it hard to know how high she is above the surface of the lake, she knows that it was a long climb up Finley's rope to the top of the stairs. Val jumps into the fog and feels that awful feeling in her stomach for a moment ("Eek!") before the surface of the lake appears with frightful suddenness and speed. Val jumped from the southern part side of the platform / rickety wooden staircase, making sure to jump away from the spot where they had left their boat at the foot of the stairs.
Round 7: Valrieth Free Action: As Val jumps off of the wooden stairs to fall into the lake below, she lets out an involuntary, "Eek!" Concentration: Spike Growth round 2 of 100 Note: Val is currently still in her Chalice Starry Form (round 7 of 100). She sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. Any boats that were close enough to Bavlorna's Hut on the lake would have seen a strange, cold glow in the fog, falling from a height before vanishing with the sound of a splash (and Val's exclamation).
Val takes 2 bludgeoning damage from the fall and plunges into the lake.
Valrieth - DC 10 CON saving throw: 8 for maintaining concentration on Spike Growth
Val positions herself so that she enters the water feet-first. Thankfully, the water is deep enough here that she doesn't hurt herself much, but the force with which she hits the water and the depth to which she plunges surprises her so much that gasps a little and inhales some water. She loses her concentration on her spell.
Val struggles to swim to the surface, trying to maintain her orientation, swimming up and south. Once she surfaces, she tries to stifle her gasping breath and coughing ("Bl-ugh. Swamp water.") as she clings to her wooden shield, which provides a little buoyancy, and treads water for a moment. She listens for any sign of pursuit, like the sound of rapid footsteps of the lightning-fast Lornings coming down the rickety wooden staircase.
High Above the slam of the trapdoor can be heard and the rickety stairs begin sinking into the lake. Bavlorna's booming gurgling voice echoes across Downfall and beyond. "Kill the wretched Harengon interloper. A wish granted for anyone who brings their head to me!" She then utters a quick description of Val.
Val is grateful that neither Bavlorna nor her Lornlings seem to leave the squalid hut. The booming announcement startles her. If you just escaped from a deadly hag who killed your closest friends, you'd jump too if you heard the hag's voice booming out above you. She knows that she's not in immediate danger, but she's hurt, all of her friends are dead, and the bullywugs will soon be scouring Downfall for her.
As Val bobs in the water below Bavlorna's hut, she realizes that she's both crying and trembling, not from cold but from the delayed reaction to the fear, grief, and shock of the last couple of minutes. She realizes that she's now marked as a fugitive in Downfall, and she has no friends and few allies even. She's all alone. At the same time, she feels a strange mix of relief and shame that she was able to escape Bavlorna's hut when her friends died. Between her sobs, she fiercely promises, "I'll finish what we started! I'll make sure that you didn't die in vain!"
Since Val is still in her Chalice Starry form, she casts Healing Word on herself and uses her Chalice form for additional healing. (+15 healing, rolled in game log) Feeling a little revived after that, Val thanks the Stars that she's still alive and prays that she has the strength to continue this quest alone, without Finley and Aoife. (And what about poor Octavian?! She tries to put that thought out of her mind: she cannot do anything for him in her current state.)
Val thinks of swimming over to the boat, but Aoife or Gan-Re always did most of the rowing. She's not sure that she'd make much progress, and she definitely wouldn't be able to out-run the boat-savvy bullywugs if they spot her. At least the thick fog provides some cover for her!
Val dismisses her starry form so that she's not so easy for the bullywugs to find. She listens carefully (Perception: 16) for the sound of approaching boats while she spends a couple of minutes to eat a bunch of her goodberries from the previous night's casting. (+17 healing, if she isn't interrupted by approaching boats first.)
It's been a couple of minutes since Val jumped into the lake, and she starts to worry about the bullywugs who are already looking for her! Remembering the crocodile she saw when she, Finley, and Gan-Re first met King Gullop XIX, Val secures her gear and then uses her Wild Shape to transform into a crocodile. As a crocodile, she doesn't need the boat. She becomes a powerful swimmer, and she finds that she can hold her breath underwater. She could probably comfortably swim nearly a mile without surfacing!
If Val gets through all of that successfully, she's now back to 40/45 HP, but she's very low on spell slots. She's currently in the form of a [Tooltip Not Found], which she can maintain for up to 3 hours. Since Val doesn't know whether any of the bullywugs (other than Margot and maybe Duke Ickrind) would protect her from Bavlorna, she plans just to swim (mostly underwater) out of Downfall, heading east and then north since she thinks that's where Gan-Re took Margot when they rescued her from the bullywug jail. Val needs to find a safe place to rest and recover and start figuring out what to do next. She might be able to hold off some harengon brigands or a troop of bullywugs knights all by herself, but she has never been alone in Prismeer before or even in a serious fight without Finley's help. She feels very lonely as she paddles along beneath the waters of Downfall's lake. If she could find Margot or maybe Tsu Harabax's house, she would at least have a safe place to rest and recover and start to figure out what to do next.
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High Above the slam of the trapdoor can be heard and the rickety stairs begin sinking into the lake.
Bavlorna's booming gurgling voice echoes across Downfall and beyond.
"Kill the wretched Harengon interloper. A wish granted for anyone who brings their head to me!" She then utters a quick description of Val.
End of Combat
The Sunken palace doors open with a reedy clack and a steady stream of Bullywugs start spilling out. Leading the group are the 2 warriors from the Proving Grounds.
Valrieth - DC 10 CON saving throw: 8 for maintaining concentration on Spike Growth
After escaping from Bavlorna's Hut
Valrieth couldn't have done it without the fear and desperation driving her! Even though the thick fog makes it hard to know how high she is above the surface of the lake, she knows that it was a long climb up Finley's rope to the top of the stairs. Val jumps into the fog and feels that awful feeling in her stomach for a moment ("Eek!") before the surface of the lake appears with frightful suddenness and speed. Val jumped from the southern part side of the platform / rickety wooden staircase, making sure to jump away from the spot where they had left their boat at the foot of the stairs.
Val positions herself so that she enters the water feet-first. Thankfully, the water is deep enough here that she doesn't hurt herself much, but the force with which she hits the water and the depth to which she plunges surprises her so much that gasps a little and inhales some water. She loses her concentration on her spell.
Val struggles to swim to the surface, trying to maintain her orientation, swimming up and south. Once she surfaces, she tries to stifle her gasping breath and coughing ("Bl-ugh. Swamp water.") as she clings to her wooden shield, which provides a little buoyancy, and treads water for a moment. She listens for any sign of pursuit, like the sound of rapid footsteps of the lightning-fast Lornings coming down the rickety wooden staircase.
Val is grateful that neither Bavlorna nor her Lornlings seem to leave the squalid hut. The booming announcement startles her. If you just escaped from a deadly hag who killed your closest friends, you'd jump too if you heard the hag's voice booming out above you. She knows that she's not in immediate danger, but she's hurt, all of her friends are dead, and the bullywugs will soon be scouring Downfall for her.
As Val bobs in the water below Bavlorna's hut, she realizes that she's both crying and trembling, not from cold but from the delayed reaction to the fear, grief, and shock of the last couple of minutes. She realizes that she's now marked as a fugitive in Downfall, and she has no friends and few allies even. She's all alone. At the same time, she feels a strange mix of relief and shame that she was able to escape Bavlorna's hut when her friends died. Between her sobs, she fiercely promises, "I'll finish what we started! I'll make sure that you didn't die in vain!"
Since Val is still in her Chalice Starry form, she casts Healing Word on herself and uses her Chalice form for additional healing. (+15 healing, rolled in game log) Feeling a little revived after that, Val thanks the Stars that she's still alive and prays that she has the strength to continue this quest alone, without Finley and Aoife. (And what about poor Octavian?! She tries to put that thought out of her mind: she cannot do anything for him in her current state.)
Val thinks of swimming over to the boat, but Aoife or Gan-Re always did most of the rowing. She's not sure that she'd make much progress, and she definitely wouldn't be able to out-run the boat-savvy bullywugs if they spot her. At least the thick fog provides some cover for her!
Val dismisses her starry form so that she's not so easy for the bullywugs to find. She listens carefully (Perception: 16) for the sound of approaching boats while she spends a couple of minutes to eat a bunch of her goodberries from the previous night's casting. (+17 healing, if she isn't interrupted by approaching boats first.)
It's been a couple of minutes since Val jumped into the lake, and she starts to worry about the bullywugs who are already looking for her! Remembering the crocodile she saw when she, Finley, and Gan-Re first met King Gullop XIX, Val secures her gear and then uses her Wild Shape to transform into a crocodile. As a crocodile, she doesn't need the boat. She becomes a powerful swimmer, and she finds that she can hold her breath underwater. She could probably comfortably swim nearly a mile without surfacing!
If Val gets through all of that successfully, she's now back to 40/45 HP, but she's very low on spell slots. She's currently in the form of a [Tooltip Not Found], which she can maintain for up to 3 hours. Since Val doesn't know whether any of the bullywugs (other than Margot and maybe Duke Ickrind) would protect her from Bavlorna, she plans just to swim (mostly underwater) out of Downfall, heading east and then north since she thinks that's where Gan-Re took Margot when they rescued her from the bullywug jail. Val needs to find a safe place to rest and recover and start figuring out what to do next. She might be able to hold off some harengon brigands or a troop of bullywugs knights all by herself, but she has never been alone in Prismeer before or even in a serious fight without Finley's help. She feels very lonely as she paddles along beneath the waters of Downfall's lake. If she could find Margot or maybe Tsu Harabax's house, she would at least have a safe place to rest and recover and start to figure out what to do next.