The altar is everything that Selunites believe Sharrans to be. Sacrificial bowls, bones and blood, and the idol itself is an idol to some other figure (you can't tell who in the darkness) that has been blackened with pitch and sap. There is none of the beauty and calmness of the void that true believers in Shar understand, only the twisted religion of evil and darkness that Selunites have learned to think of Sharrans.
Snakelock takes the colossal hit, almost wiping out his entire reserve of health, and shrinks back. As he does so, a loud hiss can be heard, that moves away from the spectre.
"Pain", is the one word that is transmitted into the mind of each the others in turn as he passes.
Con Save: 17+1=18 Action: Disengage Movement: 30ft away from the spectre.
(OOC: Sorry, been away and forgot to give a heads up)
This deeply angers Sha, “It appears you don’t truely seek the quiet peace of the void!!” He tries to swipe it to the ground. “Even in her divided state the Goddess is not pleased by this…”
word of radiance flashes out from Sha reflexively he searches with righteous fury for the defiling spirit to bring it into the light of truth.
The moment Sha shouts the holy words for the word of radiance, the magical darkness seems to be sucked into the pitch-blackened idol between Sha's hands - looking almost like a video of a smoke machine in reverse. Sha-Gravis is standing, his hands on the idol on its shrine, and he seems absolutely frozen in place.Fortunately, for the rest of you that means you can see the specter in the regular dim light of the basement, made clear by your darkvision or the gifts of Sha'seyes of night. Unfortunately, the spirit turns on Sha-Gravis and screams "She is the way out the lady of loss will set me free sheeisthewayoutlosswillsetmefreeSHEISTHEWAYOUT." It is utterly focused on the tabaxi, who seems helplessybfrosen in place. His eyes have gone completely black, as empty as the void between the stars.
One moment, Sha-Gravis is standing on a cold floor with an idol in his hands, shouting words of power. The next moment, He is standing? in on nothing at all, or at least the ground he feels beneath his feet looks exactly the same as the rest of the strange space he suddenly finds himself. Space is the right word, as he is surrounded only by the blackness of the void between stars. Except, 10 feet in front of him, there is a darkness within darkness, in the shape of a woman. She has the same relationship to darkness that a lantern has to light. She sheds darkness, even within the void. She looks at Sha, he can feel her eyes on him.
"You DARE to tell me what PLEASES me?!" She does not radiate any of the warmth, healing, benevolence, or calm of the Goddess as Sha knows her, and only a tiny portion of the power. But she is divine, and she is furious.
Saoirse doesn't understand what is going on. She sees Sha-Gravis frozen in place in front of the idol and doesn't know what that means. But what the genasi does know is that she needs to protect him - and Snakelock - from the specter, who will keep attacking mercilessly if they don't finish him. So she faces the undead and swings at him twice.
Rapier to Hit: nat 1 / Dagger To Hit: 17. Damage: 8 (piercing). From the Rite of Dawn: 1 + 3 extra (radiant) = 12
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Saoirse's rapier passes only through open air, but the dagger slides through the nearly incorporeal specter. The blade itself does less damage than it would against a physical enemy, but the shining light that envelops the dagger seems to burn away at the ectoplasm, doing real damage to the monster. The specter's form now seems ragged, not quite fully present, but it is not out of the fight.
8 nonmagical slashing damage is halved to 4 because of resistance, but the 4 radiant damage is doubled to 8 because of vulnerability. So, still works out to 12. The specter is bloodied.
The specter still faces towards Sha-Gravis, but it moves through Saoirse on its way to Sha-Gravis, attempting to drain her life as it does. To hit: 9, 7 necrotic, DC10 con or reduce max. I
The divine darkness screams at Sha-Gravis again. "You are NOT WELCOME HERE, servant of THE LIGHT!!!" And it is true, Sha realizes, the stars and moon symbols worked into his vestments to shine as defiant, beautiful points of light against the darkness. She points to him, and a burst of darkness flies from her into his chest. It feels cold, cruel, and jealous. Make a DC17 wisdom save or take 8 necrotic and 10 cold damage.
”Mother of monster’s remember the peace of the void you slipped from at creation, the same peace you offer to those whose lives are tormented on the brink of madness. You are worthy of worship, but this hatred and evil… you are not alone unite yourself as you were at the beginning. Find the sanctity and peace you once fully embodied.”
As he talks Sha cradles the harpy egg, he looks from it to the Goddess, and stands firm in knowing whom his Diety is.
Lam blinks as he regains a portion of his vision, and turns to the specter who had just hurt his snake friend. He takes a swing with his greataxe, determined not to miss this time.
The specter's dark form cracks as the greataxe slices through it, and points of light begin to shine within. The light spreads, and then bursts out, and you hear the specter's voice one last time as it happens. "...set me free," though this time there is a feeling of relief in the words. There is a burst of emotion and magical energy, which each of you feel rejuvenating you and restoring some of your spent energy. Specifically:
Regain half-rounded-up of any resources you would regain on a long rest. So, half of your rage charges, half of your level 1 spell slots and half of your level 2 spell slots, half of your charges for all the stuff with daily charges... a wild shape use...
Except for health. No HP gain in this moment.
The relief is palpable, and for a moment it seems that you have conquered this challenge. But then you all notice a few things: There is a beautiful, alien, haunting song coming from where Sha-Gravis is in front of the idol, specifically coming from the harpy egg. Sha-Gravis, the idol, and the egg, are levitating a good foot off of the ground. Sha's eyes are still blackened, and he is still deep in some sort of trance.
One final thing you notice: with the darkness gone, you can see through the glass walls and ceiling of this lounge. The thick matte of algae on top of the lake is beginning to recede, allowing dappled twilight to enter the room, except for where a long shadow falls. That shadow belongs to the huge frog-monster whose tentacles threatened you when you entered the building, and its eyes (which protrude on small stalks) are underwater again, and focused on all of you. A tentacle slams into the ceiling, and the glass holds for now, but it seems likely that it will continue to try to break in.
Light bursts into the void from behind Sha, a thin crescent moon appearing behind him, and he feels his true goddess' benevolence touch him, and a soft whisper in his mind. "Destroy this empty shadow, my child." The harpy's egg begins to hum, the same songs that Sha has sung to it now reverberate from its shell. The fragment of Shar in front of him reels backwards momentarily in the light and the song, and some of its power seems to ebb. But it does wish to destroy you, and it attempts to hold on to what it is made of - faith in the twisted misunderstanding of a dark goddess. "NO PEACE! I AM THE GODDESS OF DEATH AND LOSS AND PAIN!"
The shadow flies towards Sha, and attempts to drain his life force. To hit: 14, 8 necrotic and reduce STR score by 1
Sha-gravis knows this embodiment has been corrupted by the blood and lusts of its cultic followers and feeling the support and rejuvenation of both his Goddess and his harpy baby…
”You are not yourself! Your anger and violence are not at me! You fight against the truth, but the truth will set you free!!”
Sha-gravis puts his heart and soul into a casting of Truth revealed
A very battered and beaten Snakelock backs away from the glass, morphing back into the almost as beaten and battered Firbolg shape of Hemlock as he reaches the rear of the room.
"What was that?", he says through panting breaths. "And what is that?!".
He digs about in his pack looking for one his healing potions but comes up empty.
Instead he readies himself to run if the glass looks like breaking or his companions want to leave.
Movement: 30ft away from the Froghemoth Bonus Action: Revert Wild Shape Action: Ready dash - if glass breaks or the others want to leave
(OOC: It seems my action economy is going to be off for a little, with everything useful competing for my bonus action)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The Shadow screams when the moonlight burns at her surface, and screams again a moment later as she moves out of the beam of light, circling around Sha-Gravis. She then reaches out to him, attempting again to drain his life and his strength. 19 to hit, 13 necrotic and reduce STR score by 3.
Initiative: Shadow of Shar; Sha-Gravis
The Froghemothrecoils and shudders as though its skin is burning, and you can see some of its skin glowing faintly, as if with moonlight. It opens its mouth to bellow, and you see many rows of needle-like teeth lining its gaping maw.
"I'm not sure!" Saoirse replies to Hemlock, "but it seems Sha is fighting a battle of his own, and whatever he is doing, it is affecting that thing!"she adds, pointing to the Froghemoth. "We need to stop it from breaking the crystal walls. That way we may be able to give Sha the time he needs to succeed."
She looks back towards the stairs, not very happy with the idea of leaving Sha behind. But how can she help him, apart from going outside and trying to distract the creature and help the cleric finish it?
"I'll go outside and attack it. Maybe that way it will stop trying to destroy this place. Try to stay out of harm's way, Hemlock!"
She uses her 30 feet of movement + Action (dash) to go outside and get withing crossbow range of the Froghemoth.
Lam takes a couple steps back, eyes fixed on his feline friend who is now floating in the air. He starts to instinctively reach a hand out, but his attention is pulled away by the slam of a tentacle onto the ceiling. He begins to assess the situation, but when Saoirse does so herself, he falls into line to follow her outside. As Saoirse stops to get her crossbow ready, Lam charges straight into the lake to take a swing at the monster, yelling and running wildly.
I think I have enough movement and reach to do this- let me know if I don’t.
Movement+Action: Dash out of the hut and into the lake- to 10 feet into the lake and 10 ft away from the froghemoth. If possible, he does this loudly and in a way that attracts attention.
Bonus action: Charge attack with the greataxe! 7 to hit, 7+5=12 damage. Not that he gets that damage with a nat 1.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The Froghemoth looks up at Lam, loudly splashing his way into the lake. By the time he gets close enough to swing the axe with his long arms, he's in water up to his waist. Lam swings without having calibrated for the strange footing, and whiffs it. Fortunately, the spectacle is enough to grab most of the monster's attention.
It steps closer to Lam, standing now on the glass roof/ceiling of the lounge room, allowing almost all of its bulk above the water, towering over Lam. The skin no longer has the painful glow that you saw through the glass, allowing it it's full range of activity. It slams a tentacle down on the glass below it, and Hemlock can see a small hairline crack appear.
With another tentacle, it grabs at Lam, trying to squeeze him and lift him towards its mouth. (21 to hit, 18 bludgeoning; on a hit Lam is also grappled.)
Underwater, Sha-Gravis is still floating in the air, but Hemlock can see that he seems to be rapidly aging, and can feel necrotic energy rolling through him.
In the void, Sha-Gravis can see that the shadow is waning, weakening, and fading, but it is still there, and the inflict wounds spell did less damage to it than it should of. The shadow screams at him: "YOU FOOL! I AM DEATH, I AM DARKNESS!" it tries again to drain his life energy. 19, 13 necrotic and reduce STR score by 4
Hemlock's body starts to glow as the constellation of the Chalice appears over his body, as he looks with concern at both Sha-Gravis and the crack in the glass. Being unable to see what is happening to his feline friend, he reaches into his innate power and looks for signs of magic around the tabaxi.
If the twilight sanctuary is visible to him, he will step forward to make sure it covers him.
Bonus Action: Wildshpae into Starry Form - Chalice Action: Use racial ability to cast Detect Magic Movement: Step into Twilight Sanctuary if he sees it Special: Concentration on Detect Magic, Starry Form - Chalice
Sha
religion 17
The altar is everything that Selunites believe Sharrans to be. Sacrificial bowls, bones and blood, and the idol itself is an idol to some other figure (you can't tell who in the darkness) that has been blackened with pitch and sap. There is none of the beauty and calmness of the void that true believers in Shar understand, only the twisted religion of evil and darkness that Selunites have learned to think of Sharrans.
Initiative order: Snakelock; Sha; Saoirse; Specter; Lam
https://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP
DM: Heavy is the Head
Snakelock takes the colossal hit, almost wiping out his entire reserve of health, and shrinks back. As he does so, a loud hiss can be heard, that moves away from the spectre.
"Pain", is the one word that is transmitted into the mind of each the others in turn as he passes.
Con Save: 17+1=18
Action: Disengage
Movement: 30ft away from the spectre.
(OOC: Sorry, been away and forgot to give a heads up)
This deeply angers Sha, “It appears you don’t truely seek the quiet peace of the void!!” He tries to swipe it to the ground. “Even in her divided state the Goddess is not pleased by this…”
word of radiance flashes out from Sha reflexively he searches with righteous fury for the defiling spirit to bring it into the light of truth.
Strength check 13
The moment Sha shouts the holy words for the word of radiance, the magical darkness seems to be sucked into the pitch-blackened idol between Sha's hands - looking almost like a video of a smoke machine in reverse. Sha-Gravis is standing, his hands on the idol on its shrine, and he seems absolutely frozen in place.Fortunately, for the rest of you that means you can see the specter in the regular dim light of the basement, made clear by your darkvision or the gifts of Sha's eyes of night. Unfortunately, the spirit turns on Sha-Gravis and screams "She is the way out the lady of loss will set me free sheeisthewayoutlosswillsetmefreeSHEISTHEWAYOUT." It is utterly focused on the tabaxi, who seems helplessybfrosen in place. His eyes have gone completely black, as empty as the void between the stars.
Initiative order: Snakelock;
Shaincapacitated; Saoirse; Specter; Lamhttps://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP
One moment, Sha-Gravis is standing on a cold floor with an idol in his hands, shouting words of power. The next moment, He is standing? in on nothing at all, or at least the ground he feels beneath his feet looks exactly the same as the rest of the strange space he suddenly finds himself. Space is the right word, as he is surrounded only by the blackness of the void between stars. Except, 10 feet in front of him, there is a darkness within darkness, in the shape of a woman. She has the same relationship to darkness that a lantern has to light. She sheds darkness, even within the void. She looks at Sha, he can feel her eyes on him.
"You DARE to tell me what PLEASES me?!" She does not radiate any of the warmth, healing, benevolence, or calm of the Goddess as Sha knows her, and only a tiny portion of the power. But she is divine, and she is furious.
Initiative: Sha, Shar.
DM: Heavy is the Head
Sha-gravis initiative 0
Sha feels at peace if this is what it takes, he allows himself to let go… the void… wow!!!
Saoirse doesn't understand what is going on. She sees Sha-Gravis frozen in place in front of the idol and doesn't know what that means. But what the genasi does know is that she needs to protect him - and Snakelock - from the specter, who will keep attacking mercilessly if they don't finish him. So she faces the undead and swings at him twice.
Rapier to Hit: nat 1 / Dagger To Hit: 17. Damage: 8 (piercing). From the Rite of Dawn: 1 + 3 extra (radiant) = 12
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
Saoirse's rapier passes only through open air, but the dagger slides through the nearly incorporeal specter. The blade itself does less damage than it would against a physical enemy, but the shining light that envelops the dagger seems to burn away at the ectoplasm, doing real damage to the monster. The specter's form now seems ragged, not quite fully present, but it is not out of the fight.
8 nonmagical slashing damage is halved to 4 because of resistance, but the 4 radiant damage is doubled to 8 because of vulnerability. So, still works out to 12. The specter is bloodied.
The specter still faces towards Sha-Gravis, but it moves through Saoirse on its way to Sha-Gravis, attempting to drain her life as it does. To hit: 9, 7 necrotic, DC10 con or reduce max. I
The divine darkness screams at Sha-Gravis again. "You are NOT WELCOME HERE, servant of THE LIGHT!!!" And it is true, Sha realizes, the stars and moon symbols worked into his vestments to shine as defiant, beautiful points of light against the darkness. She points to him, and a burst of darkness flies from her into his chest. It feels cold, cruel, and jealous. Make a DC17 wisdom save or take 8 necrotic and 10 cold damage.
DM: Heavy is the Head
Sha’s Wisdom save 24
”Mother of monster’s remember the peace of the void you slipped from at creation, the same peace you offer to those whose lives are tormented on the brink of madness. You are worthy of worship, but this hatred and evil… you are not alone unite yourself as you were at the beginning. Find the sanctity and peace you once fully embodied.”
As he talks Sha cradles the harpy egg, he looks from it to the Goddess, and stands firm in knowing whom his Diety is.
Lam blinks as he regains a portion of his vision, and turns to the specter who had just hurt his snake friend. He takes a swing with his greataxe, determined not to miss this time.
Attack: 15 to hit, 14 damage
The specter's dark form cracks as the greataxe slices through it, and points of light begin to shine within. The light spreads, and then bursts out, and you hear the specter's voice one last time as it happens. "...set me free," though this time there is a feeling of relief in the words. There is a burst of emotion and magical energy, which each of you feel rejuvenating you and restoring some of your spent energy. Specifically:
Regain half-rounded-up of any resources you would regain on a long rest. So, half of your rage charges, half of your level 1 spell slots and half of your level 2 spell slots, half of your charges for all the stuff with daily charges... a wild shape use...
Except for health. No HP gain in this moment.
The relief is palpable, and for a moment it seems that you have conquered this challenge. But then you all notice a few things: There is a beautiful, alien, haunting song coming from where Sha-Gravis is in front of the idol, specifically coming from the harpy egg. Sha-Gravis, the idol, and the egg, are levitating a good foot off of the ground. Sha's eyes are still blackened, and he is still deep in some sort of trance.
One final thing you notice: with the darkness gone, you can see through the glass walls and ceiling of this lounge. The thick matte of algae on top of the lake is beginning to recede, allowing dappled twilight to enter the room, except for where a long shadow falls. That shadow belongs to the huge frog-monster whose tentacles threatened you when you entered the building, and its eyes (which protrude on small stalks) are underwater again, and focused on all of you. A tentacle slams into the ceiling, and the glass holds for now, but it seems likely that it will continue to try to break in.
Initiative order: Snakelock;
Shaincapacitated; Saoirse;Specter; Lam, FROGHEMOTHhttps://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP
Light bursts into the void from behind Sha, a thin crescent moon appearing behind him, and he feels his true goddess' benevolence touch him, and a soft whisper in his mind. "Destroy this empty shadow, my child." The harpy's egg begins to hum, the same songs that Sha has sung to it now reverberate from its shell. The fragment of Shar in front of him reels backwards momentarily in the light and the song, and some of its power seems to ebb. But it does wish to destroy you, and it attempts to hold on to what it is made of - faith in the twisted misunderstanding of a dark goddess. "NO PEACE! I AM THE GODDESS OF DEATH AND LOSS AND PAIN!"
The shadow flies towards Sha, and attempts to drain his life force. To hit: 14, 8 necrotic and reduce STR score by 1
Initiative: Shadow of Shar; Sha-Gravis
DM: Heavy is the Head
Sha-gravis knows this embodiment has been corrupted by the blood and lusts of its cultic followers and feeling the support and rejuvenation of both his Goddess and his harpy baby…
”You are not yourself! Your anger and violence are not at me! You fight against the truth, but the truth will set you free!!”
Sha-gravis puts his heart and soul into a casting of Truth revealed
Con save 14 vs 9 radiant damage
A very battered and beaten Snakelock backs away from the glass, morphing back into the almost as beaten and battered Firbolg shape of Hemlock as he reaches the rear of the room.
"What was that?", he says through panting breaths. "And what is that?!".
He digs about in his pack looking for one his healing potions but comes up empty.
Instead he readies himself to run if the glass looks like breaking or his companions want to leave.
Movement: 30ft away from the Froghemoth
Bonus Action: Revert Wild Shape
Action: Ready dash - if glass breaks or the others want to leave
(OOC: It seems my action economy is going to be off for a little, with everything useful competing for my bonus action)
The Shadow screams when the moonlight burns at her surface, and screams again a moment later as she moves out of the beam of light, circling around Sha-Gravis. She then reaches out to him, attempting again to drain his life and his strength. 19 to hit, 13 necrotic and reduce STR score by 3.
Initiative: Shadow of Shar; Sha-Gravis
The Froghemoth recoils and shudders as though its skin is burning, and you can see some of its skin glowing faintly, as if with moonlight. It opens its mouth to bellow, and you see many rows of needle-like teeth lining its gaping maw.
Initiative order: Hemlock;
Shaincapacitated; Saoirse;Specter; Lam, FROGHEMOTHhttps://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP
DM: Heavy is the Head
"I'm not sure!" Saoirse replies to Hemlock, "but it seems Sha is fighting a battle of his own, and whatever he is doing, it is affecting that thing!" she adds, pointing to the Froghemoth. "We need to stop it from breaking the crystal walls. That way we may be able to give Sha the time he needs to succeed."
She looks back towards the stairs, not very happy with the idea of leaving Sha behind. But how can she help him, apart from going outside and trying to distract the creature and help the cleric finish it?
"I'll go outside and attack it. Maybe that way it will stop trying to destroy this place. Try to stay out of harm's way, Hemlock!"
She uses her 30 feet of movement + Action (dash) to go outside and get withing crossbow range of the Froghemoth.
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
The moonbeam goes away as Sha’s health and strength take a hit.
AoO? attack 12 damage 5
Action Inflict wounds 14 to hit 16 necrotic damage.
“You can be healed the void can scour the corruption, you don’t have to suffer or be destroyed. Tonight during the eclipse.”
persuasion 5 (I tried)
Lam takes a couple steps back, eyes fixed on his feline friend who is now floating in the air. He starts to instinctively reach a hand out, but his attention is pulled away by the slam of a tentacle onto the ceiling. He begins to assess the situation, but when Saoirse does so herself, he falls into line to follow her outside. As Saoirse stops to get her crossbow ready, Lam charges straight into the lake to take a swing at the monster, yelling and running wildly.
I think I have enough movement and reach to do this- let me know if I don’t.
Movement+Action: Dash out of the hut and into the lake- to 10 feet into the lake and 10 ft away from the froghemoth. If possible, he does this loudly and in a way that attracts attention.
Bonus action: Charge attack with the greataxe! 7 to hit, 7+5=12 damage. Not that he gets that damage with a nat 1.
The Froghemoth looks up at Lam, loudly splashing his way into the lake. By the time he gets close enough to swing the axe with his long arms, he's in water up to his waist. Lam swings without having calibrated for the strange footing, and whiffs it. Fortunately, the spectacle is enough to grab most of the monster's attention.
It steps closer to Lam, standing now on the glass roof/ceiling of the lounge room, allowing almost all of its bulk above the water, towering over Lam. The skin no longer has the painful glow that you saw through the glass, allowing it it's full range of activity. It slams a tentacle down on the glass below it, and Hemlock can see a small hairline crack appear.
With another tentacle, it grabs at Lam, trying to squeeze him and lift him towards its mouth. (21 to hit, 18 bludgeoning; on a hit Lam is also grappled.)
Underwater, Sha-Gravis is still floating in the air, but Hemlock can see that he seems to be rapidly aging, and can feel necrotic energy rolling through him.
Initiative order: Hemlock;
Shaincapacitated; Saoirse; Specter; Lam, FROGHEMOTHhttps://www.owlbear.rodeo/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP
In the void, Sha-Gravis can see that the shadow is waning, weakening, and fading, but it is still there, and the inflict wounds spell did less damage to it than it should of. The shadow screams at him: "YOU FOOL! I AM DEATH, I AM DARKNESS!" it tries again to drain his life energy. 19, 13 necrotic and reduce STR score by 4
Initiative: Shadow of Shar; Sha-Gravis
DM: Heavy is the Head
Sha-gravis channels twilight sanctuary centering a daylight on the corrupted seed of Shar.
Sha gains 9 temp hp.
”It doesn’t have to be this way you can be reborn tonight is an opportunity to void the past.”
persuasion 20
Hemlock's body starts to glow as the constellation of the Chalice appears over his body, as he looks with concern at both Sha-Gravis and the crack in the glass. Being unable to see what is happening to his feline friend, he reaches into his innate power and looks for signs of magic around the tabaxi.
If the twilight sanctuary is visible to him, he will step forward to make sure it covers him.
Bonus Action: Wildshpae into Starry Form - Chalice
Action: Use racial ability to cast Detect Magic
Movement: Step into Twilight Sanctuary if he sees it
Special: Concentration on Detect Magic, Starry Form - Chalice