Heavy is the Head - Campaign thread

The stairs lead into an unlit room, large enough for there to be an echo to Lichen's voice. 

"Rescue! Hooray! We werent scared, right?" Lichen goes quiet a moment, and you hear two other voices let our what cheers they can through bruises and fatigue. Then he calls up again from the darkness. "Not quite free to go, though. We're tied up down here."

Sha heads into the room and begins untying captives.  “I’m so glad you are alright.”  Sha looks at the others to determine if healing is needed…

medicine 7

When Lam gets back, he watches his friends do their thing to try to rescue Lichen. When it becomes clear that Lichen and possibly others are tied up in the room in the chest, Lam rushes into the room, aiming to try to untie folks.

Bearlock moves back from the chest and the staircase, leaving room for the others to go down and for them and the captives to leave. It was finally over, even if just for now. The spirit of the forest has let him know there were only two others with the nothics, and so he is confident that there are no more doppelgangers. Poniros is dead, and Hermes is.....wait, Lam is here, so what happened to Hermes?

He reaches out to Lam's mind to ask, "Where is Hermes?".

Untying captives proves to be less simple than you wish. It is pitch dark in the room, and when you enter you do not immediately see Lichen or the others, although Sha's excellent night vision does allow him to see up to the walls in each direction. Characters without darkvision will not be ale to see in here. There is a wall to your left, and ahead of you and to the right. Where they would meet, there is instead an opening, leading deeper into the space. In the middle of that opening is a leather satchel - the sort that Poniros or Hermes might have carried extra gear in. You can hear that Lichen and the others are somewhere in the space, although not right where you entered. The first space here seems to have winter clothing for the centaur family, as well as some baby toys the youngest has grown out of. It's just family storage.

https://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP

Lam stops in his tracks when he simultaneously realizes that Lichen is not immediately visible and hears Hemlock’s voice in his head. He furrows his brow as he puts together that his bear friend must not have spoken to him out loud. He leans over to say in a low voice into the bear’s ear, “Hermes is dead. …He made his choices.”

He looks around the room they’re currently in, taking in the surroundings. It’s pretty dark, but the people they’re looking for are here somewhere. He walks over to the satchel and opens it to see what’s inside.

"Careful!.. There's something... else... down here." A woman's voice struggles to be heard from the, but she speaks too slowly. 

Lam's fingers stick to the satchel, and the bag's opening widens to reveal layers of teeth, and a tentacle that snakes out and strikes Lam in the chest (19 to hit, 8 damage), also sticking to him. Lam, you have been grappled by a mimic.

Everyone, roll Initiative.

From your new vantage point, however, you can make out more of the room:

Top left, there are some old weapons - spears, javelins, and a beautiful longbow, as well as a slightly rusty but very fine set of heavy battle armor fit for a centaur. (Full plate for a horse, no helmet, plus a half-plate breastplate for a humanoid). And Lichen is tied to the wall in the far corner.

Top right, there is a workshop area for whittling and minor woodwork, and many half-finished small wooden dolls lining the shelves. Clearly, one of the centaurs is a craftsperson. And Semmer is tied up in the corner. She does not look well, at all, and is barely moving.

Bottom left is surprisingly empty compared to the rest of the clutter, except for the centaur woman bound, bruised, and beaten, hogtied in the far corner.

Sha-gravis initiative 18

Lam’s Initiative: 7

Bearlock 

Initiative: 10

Saoirse: 13

Lam is taken off-guard by the monstrous bag, whose tentacle sticking to his chest seems to be manifesting teeth. He has an unsettling image in his mind of a snake slowly swallowing a rat that seems like it would have been too big... Sha, however, sees flawlessly in the darkness, and is immediately ready to do something to help.

Initiative order: Sha, Mimic, Saoirse, Bearlock, Lam

Sha sees the horrible circumstance that Lam is in and in a true knee jerk response Sha calling on his goddess reaches out to unleash inflict wounds on the mimic.

The mimic withers and shrinks away from Sha's hand, as it glows with poweful necrotic magics. However, the creature is still andhered to Lam's skin. There's nothing left of it that looks like the satchel. The teeth manifesting on its tentacle sink into Lam, squeezing out acid that burns and melts at his skin. (25 to hit, 8 piercing + 2 acid)

Initiative order: Sha, Mimic, Saoirse, Bearlock, Lam

https://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP

The fire genasi had heard about mimics but had never seen one before, so she is very suprised when the not so common satchel attaches to Lam and bites him. In a instant she draws her weapons and rushes to attack. She has to squeeze a little to be able to get past Lam and find a good spot, and realizes that Bear-lock isn't going to be able to do the same:

- Lam! You need to move so can Hemlock can help! - she yells as she cuts the mimic twice. 

As Saoirse is still hurt from fighting Poniros, none of her weapons crackle with blood magic this time.

Bearlock is just taking in the fact that Hermes was also now dead when he hears the commotion down the stairs within the chest. He immediately starts to move, hearing Saoirse call out for Lam to move, but he is completely blind in the pitch darkness.

He has no choice but to stop, he cannot even see his companions to speak to them telepathically.

He lets out a frustrated snort and waits to be able to see something. If that happens, he will rush in to help.

Movement: Down the stairs as far as he is able to see
Action: Ready dash towards whatever the others are fighting once he can see it

Saoirse slices what's left of the false satchel away from the tentacle biting into Lam, and all the mimic parts on the ground wither and stop moving. Whatever passes for a nervous system must have climbed its way up the tentacle though, because it is still biting and moving there, although very weakly at this point. Stabbing it with the dagger veakens it further, but there is still a spark of life in this thing, and it means to use it to eat bugbear flesh.

Initiative order: Sha, Mimic, Saoirse, Bearlock, Lam

Lam roars out in surprise, then in pain, when the satchel he meant to check on attaches to him and begins to work on eating him alive. He had expected the satchel to contain traps, but he had not expected the satchel itself to be alive. Just as soon as he realizes what’s biting him, Sha unleashes some devastating magic and Saoirse slashes the mimic with her weapons- a dangerous threat brought down to size in mere seconds thanks to his friends. He is vaguely aware that Saoirse is telling him to move, so he works to get out of the way of his friends as he takes his greataxe and swings wildly at the tentacle that is still attached to him. 

Though the movement is wild, it is surprisingly controlled! Lam turns his greataxe towards himself, and drives the blade straight towards his own chest, through the tentacle ripping into his flesh. You are controlled enough to stop it the moment you feel the blade touch your raw skin, and what little is left of the mimic falls away, bifurcated.

You are in the center of a dark, dank room, with terrible airflow. But you are also out of initiative. 

"I knew you'd come for us! Or, that someone would, anyway. I think we're safe now. Get the others first, they're more hurt than I am," Lichen bravely calls out through the darkness that his eyes can not penetrate.

Sha grants eyes of night to Bearlock Lichen and the Centaur mother.  “You are so brave Lichen, let me give you night vision so you can guide the others with us.  Lam are you okay, Saoirse do you need healing?”