Heavy is the Head - Campaign thread

- I think I can manage for now, as long as there is no more fighting... - Saoirse answers - Better focus on them, I think. Semmer seems pretty hurt.

The genasi will rush to untie them, beginning with Semmer - so that Sha can tend to her wounds - then with the centaur mother, and finally with Lichen. She'll say encouraging words as she cuts the ropes, telling them that everything will be fine now, and that they will be with their loved ones in no time. 

Lam shudders a bit at what he just experienced with the mimic. He says, “…I am ok.” The one person he can see is the centaur mother, so he goes to help free her from the ropes.

Vision comes to Bearlock suddenly, but not soon enough to help his companions as the first thing he does see is the creature that attacked Lam dead on the floor.

He waits in the first room whilst the others free the captives, making sure nothing disturbs them and the captives are able to leave as soon as possible.

Sha looks at Semmer trying to determine how badly hurt she is.

medicine 12

All three of the captives are naked, their clothes having become part of Doppel disguises. It is cellar-cool down here, and they each shiver slightly.

Semmer is very badly hurt. She was severely beaten, and shows some signs of necrotic damage that reminds you of what the nothics did to Esmerelda, and she also seems to have been suffering just by being down here so long. Her hands are bound and tied to a hook in the wall, tight hempen rope digging into her birchbark skin. The exact extent of injuries is hard to see, but when Saoirse cuts the ropes, the dryad is quick to lean on her, and whispers "Thank you. Please, sunlight." It doesn't seem like she could easily say much more. She will limp out with your support.

The centaur has her legs bent under her, all four tied together in a way that keeps her from standing up or really moving. It looks like the back right leg is broken. Her arms are tied together behind her back, and it seems like it's been a strain to keep lying in a way that keeps the weight of her lower body from leaning on the upper. She has at least one cracked rib, and her breath wheezes in and out. When Lam frees her from bindings, she need a little help to stand up. "My stallion? My baby? Did they hurt them? Are they OK?" As soon as she can see on Lam's face that her people are ok, she breaks into tears, streaming down her face. "Oh, seasons, it has been a hell down here. Thank you, thank you. I don't think we would have survived without the boy. His words kept a little life left in us."

Lichen is worse off than he would have you believe. He is standing in the corner, his hands bound above his head. He is leaning against the wall, fatigued, and as soon as you cut the ropes his arms fall limp, numb from being held above his head for more than an hour. His belly and his chest are slowly developing bruises, and his lip is split and bloodied. He was ambushed and kidnapped with relatively little damage, but it is clear that he received most of his injuries while standing bound to the wall. The scene is all-to-easy to imagine: a doppelganger beating him and telling him to stop telling stories and protecting the others with what little bardic magic he could muster, and the young firbolg continuing on through the beating. He nods respectfully at Sha-Gravis, carefully walking himself without reaching out for support. "There are countless stories," he says with the courage left to him, but then falters a bit, puts a hand in Sha's fur, and mutters more quietly. "And some of them are nightmares."

Bearlock doesn't hear any new threats coming, and the air continues to flow in from the stairs, still open to the world outside, but something in his animal instincs suggests that there's still... something... down here. Roll perception (can use smell for advantage).

Bearlock lifts his snout and sniffs at the air around him, moving his head around as he does so trying to zero in on something...

Perception: (8,7)+6=14 (Passive: 21 - due to advantage)

Oh, there's definitely something here. Or a lot of somethings. It smells like the mimic, but also like metal? Sniffing around a bit, you hone in on another satchel - though you don't touch it, of course. It doesn't smell exactly like this dead mimic more like there's something like the mimic inside it. Beside this satchel is a rolled parchment.

Bearlock looks about for one of his companions, reaching into the mind of Sha-Gravis, "There is something more down here. Another satchel that smells a bit like a mimic, but also metallic. And there is some parchment too. We need to be very careful".

He will ensure no-one who doesn't know about the satchel approaches, telepathically warning them of what he knows if they try.

Saoirse cannot believe her eyes. It was one thing to be kindnapped by those monsters, but to be beaten ... when tied... Specially a child! How could they? She's utterly disgusted. To think that she had toyed with the idea that Hermes could be better if treated as a ... person... rather than a tool, as she imagined Vince treated the doppelgangers at his service. What a fool she had been. The blood hunter thinks about this as she helps Semmer outside the chest as gently as she can, but despite that, what she says to the dryad is:

- You'll get an enormous amount of sunlight in a few moments. It's a beautiful sunny day out there. Just hang on just a little longer, we are almost there...

The fire genasi will pay no mind to any object inside the chest and only wants to help Semmer, Lichen and the centaur mother out of that chest as soon as possible, beginning with the dryad.

Sha uses aid to give 5 hp to all 3 victims.  “I’m so upset that you were treated so horribly, and so relieved that you survived.”

Lam isn’t sure what to say to the centaur mother as he helps her up, only allowing his eyes to show any hint of the emotions he feels upon seeing what has been done to these three. He focuses on helping however he can to get everyone out of the chest, allowing the centaur mother (and anyone else) to use his arm as support as she walks if she needs to. He doesn’t say anything.

Once Sha has helped the captives out and with aid he will return and in proximity to the mentioned items he will use word of radiance to hopefully flush out anything else living…

Con save dc 14 vs 4 radiant damage.

The divine word echoes in the extraplanar room, but doesn't seem to have harmed anything or had any effect. 

The centaur family looks shocked when Semmer emerges from the chest, and more so with Lichen and their matriarch. The father especially looks ashamed. The child rushes over to hug his mother, though she is very slow and careful in returning it, sore through her whole body. He husband embraces her too, taking on some of her weight, and they whisper to each other while holding on to each other for support.

Semmer sits in a dappled patch of sulight, spreads her arms, and faces the sun, sucking all the energy she can in. 

Lichen breathes deeply, and begins to cry a little. He's out, and he's safe.

They are, all of them, deeply grateful.

There's no other immediate threat to the tree, as far as you all can tell.

With everyone having escaped, and Sha's spell not eliciting any reaction from the bag, Bearlock finally decides he can shift back into his regular form.

Once he has morphed back into his firbolg self, he reaches down for the parchment, staying clear of the bag.

"I think we might be better off bringing Tesfaye and Fitz down here to check this place out before we search any more or touch anything. And before we let the centaur family back down here too", he says as he picks it up.

"Let's head out and lock this place up again. I think we should keep hold of that key for now too", he suggests to Sha.

Assuming the parchment doesn't come to life and attack him, and Sha agrees to leave, he will head out.

As soon as Semmer sits and Saoirse checks that the rest are out of the "bigger on the inside" chest, she is finally able to relax and let out a wide smile. It's over, it's finally over...! She'd go to her friends, to check how Lam is doing after the mimic bite him and to ask what happened while they were apart, to congratulate Sha for his quickness in gathering the key and for the potency of his magic, and rethank Hemlock for his steadfast presence that has helped her so much during this hellish hours. She'd also go check on the centaur family, now that they are finally reunited, and to envelop young Lichen in the hug the brave firbolg kid deserves. 

But along with relaxation comes a sudden wave of tiredness, and the blood hunter simply feels she could not be able to move a single muscle even if her life depended on it. So she just sits next to Semmer, enjoying the warmth of the sun, offering any bystander a picture that will surely look like two polar opposites sitting together: the fire born genasi along with the treebound dryad. 

 After a while, and leaving Semmer to keep recovering as much as she needs, the genasi stands up and approaches her friends. Hearing what became of Hermes, she says:

- So he's dead, too. - she pauses, and adds - Good. 

Despite all that had happened, despite the many injuries she had sustained because of Hermes and Poniros, and the first almost pushing her to her death, she'd probably had never said that. But what they saw inside that chest ... that changed everything. Cylence's words - as transmited by Lam - were as true as his arrows: some threats were definitely too dangerous to be left alive.

The parchment describes the process of training and caring for a mimic or mimics. Then, in another handwriting, is a description of the contents of the bag next to it and a suggested course of action:

Hey Doppel team 3,

When you raise one of these suckers from its juvenile phase, you can get them to follow basic commands. We've got a whole treasury now.

They're all trained right and proper, and will listen to you so long as you feed them an animal or humanoid body part every now and then. And... please treat them nice. I love my little weirdos! (There is a detailed list of care instructions, which I haven't made up or written out.)

Commands are simple. Remember to whistle twice, sharply, before giving a command, so they know to listen:

"Stay" - The mimic will remain where you have placed it, in its current disguise, potentially for days or months. They'll eat enything that tries to grab them, of course. Or any critters that walk onto 'em.

"Friend" - The mimic won't try to eat you, and will let you pick it up and move it around. They seem to like being pet, when they know it's not food touching them.

"Come" - the buggers will go amorphous and head towards you.

"Shape" - they'll turn back into whatever they just were.

"New shape" - Place the mimic onto another object, and it will copy that form. The juveniles can't do anything bigger than 3 pounds yet, but the adult can shape itself into something as big as 100 pounds. They can all get as small as you want though. Truly fascinating!

- P

Now we're giving you one adult, and a bag of 10 juveniles - they should all be coins for now, but remember the commands before you stick your hand in there. I want you to put that village in a state of terror for months, as well as the standard information gathering and turning people against each other. They're harboring a group that nearly killed Ignacio, and are keeping Saffron from me. So they'll suffer. Make sure to hide a few mimics around the village - choose objects that people won't likely touch more than once every couple weeks or months. That way, one will show up every now and then for a long time. Bring me Eliza, and Saffron, and learn everything you can about the band of misfits that dared to defy me. Kill them if you get the chance, but that's secondary. I expect you back in 3 days.

-Vince

p.s. or I'll kill everyone you love

Village Tree is grateful for your rescue of three of their own. You've got some down time here - nothing is keeping you from talking to the NPCs you want to check in with, staying for dinner, story circle, and a night's rest.

Though, of course, pressure from Strixwell, and Vince, will continue to grow over time. You have made an enemy of them both. The HMC continues to push into the valley, and soon across the river. The Crown of Divine Right was in the valley a century ago, and likely still is, and is a potentially threat to all - or a powerful tool for good. Hamza expects you to find and destroy it. There are mysteries to be uncovered, and looming threats.

Having ensured no-one touches the satchel and then made his way out, Hemlock reads through the parchment.

"Very interesting. The satchel that remains contains juvenile mimics, with instructions how to handle them safely", he reports back.

He starts to make his way back down into the chest, taking light with him if needed.

He approaches the satchel and gives off two sharp whistles before reaching down to the satchel and looking inside to count the coins.

Sha will walk over to Saoirse and hand her the ‘key’ for the chest, “Can you take care of this, return it to the Centaurs when Hemlock is done?”  He also gives her a touch of guidance… 

“Lam can you help me with these?” Sha reaches out to Lam granting him Vigilant Blessing.  Sha will take the bodies down to the ground and bury them.  He already checked Poniros’ body did Hermes have any items on his person too?  Sha will also dispose of the dead mimic unless someone wants it for something.

Lastly with his adrenaline gone, Sha will also find a hammock and long rest.

Once they are sure the three captives are safely out of the chest and things settle down a bit, Lam finds a spot some distance from where Saoirse and Semmer are resting to rest himself. He treats the bite wound he got from the mimic, and then he just sits there for a bit with a thousand-yard stare. He comes back into focus when Saoirse asks what happened when they were separated, and answers every question she asks as truthfully, but with as few words, as possible.

 When Sha enlists Lam for help, Lam will follow his feline friend around and carry, dig, or help search anything Sha asks him to. When this is all done, he wants to find Hemlock again and see how things are going with the juvenile mimics, and if there is anything he can help with at that time.

Inside the satchel are 8 gold coins with the seal of Springdawn printed on them. If Hemlock touches any of them, they stick extremely stickily to his hair and skin. Underneath the coins is a small pile of bones - what remains of a couple of rodents.

It's slowly creeping later into the afternoon, and is a beautiful day.