OoC: I did a screw up and missed concentration checks. We're rolling back to directly after Iris' Ray of Frost turn.
"Blasted!" You hear his voice yell as the cold spell finds its mark, breaking his concentration on the magic blacking out the center of the room. The darkness fades out of existence, leaving the bandit leader exposed.
Gawainturns on the strige, swinging the blade of his glaive upwards. If it falls, he'll run around the hole to catch up to Hildrand Galdren, swinging the butt of his polearm at the man's head.
((If the first attack doesn't kill the stirge, he remains to use his bonus action attack on it, then follows after Galdren))
Movement 10 ft S. -> 5 ft SW. -> 10 ft W.
Action Glaive Attack To Hit against Stirge: 20 Damage: 7
Bonus Action Polearm Master Attack to Hit Against Galdren/Stirge: 20 Damage: 6
Galdren slaps away Hildr'sblade with his own, snarling behind the mask.
With a high-pitched keening the overgrown stirge dies as Gawain'sglaive slices it nearly in half, sending blood spraying through the air. After he sprints around the pit he catches Galdren in the ribs with the end of his weapon, and the bandit leader lets out a pained grown.
Doggedly, Crannoc coils the thorny green vine that springs around his free wrist once more. Running around to the other side of the foreboding central hole, he lashes out once more, hoping to drag Galdren into it, pulling further with Telekinetic Shove. He speaks earnestly, with no hostility whatsoever in his voice, despite his own uneasiness about the unnatural darkness that the bandit leader had summoned just moments ago.
"You do not know my companions, Galdren, but I believe I am starting to understand them! I think if you show your belly or even just play dead, they will not execute you. Likely disarm and tie you up. Unlike me. I would leave the 'Night Lord's' entrails and bones as nourishment for wildlife and plants."
Movement: 30' NE-->NE-->E-->E-->E-->E (skirting a few paces away from the hole).
Action: Attack with Thorn Whip - melee spell attack with range 30' Thorn Whip to hit: 15 Thorn Whip damage: 4 magical piercing Thorn Whipforced movement: on a hit, large or smaller target dragged 10' towards Crannoc (NE), no saving throw.
Bonus Action: Telekinetic Shove: Galdren must make a DC15 STR Save or be pushed/pulled 5' towards or away from Crannoc. NOTE: Crannoc will only do this if this would push Galdren further into the hole, NOT if it would pull him out of it on the other side!
The bolt flies between Galdren and Hildr, whipping past the former's face.
As Crannoc'sthorn whip crosses the pit, the masked bandit is entangled by the thorny vines. With a startled yell he's pulled into the dark hole. "No, brother!" You hear Calavaz call out.
For several seconds you hear nothing but his scream, cut short upon hearing a loud crash and the splintering of wood as he impacts with whatever is at the bottom of the pit.
Still in Initiative: Order-> Iris-> Hildr-> Gawain-> Gallant
Visions of another life where Galdren ripped her to shreds flash through her mind as Iriswatches him tumble into the hole. "Good work!" She calls out to Crannoc, trotting up to the seemingly bottomless pit.
Casting Light on one of her daggers, she drops it down, peering over the edge to see what's on the bottom.
The spelled dagger falls down the hole, turning dark to light as it does. It travels down for about 80 feet before falling on top of Galdren's broken body, the mask thrown off and resting on the floor of the pit. You can see an open entryway leading further into darkness on the bottom.
The bandit leader's body rests upon a bed splintered mahogany wood. Beneath that, you see another pair of limbs beginning to thrash about.
Accustomed as she is to riding upon the waves, the subtorilean world and its dangers are as strange and alien to Hildr as they are to Crannoc. She is both anxious and exhilarated by them. That said, the warrior’s comportment reveals what she would never admit: Hildr is tired, and she feels weak and vulnerable.
After glancing at Calavaz to check his reaction to his brother’s demise—blood runs deep, so we should not trust him—Hildr sidles up to the edge and peers down into the pit. [Movement: 10 ft N + Wisdom (Perception) check to get a better look at what’s down there: 6] Regrettably, even with the aid of Iris’s light-giving magic, Hildr cannot make out any details
Spooked, she resists an urge to flee the chamber. Live to fight another day… Hildr blushes, dishonored by her own thoughts in the omnipresence of Tempus, her god.
Gallant will move towards the whole and use his mage hand to see if he can pick up the mask so he can examine it.
While he does this he will say, "I am sorry Calaverz for this being the outcome of the situation, but I believe all the other bandits will now leave the town. Is there any reason for us to continue journeying down the tower?"
Crannoc smiles weakly back when Iris says "good work." He is not sure what he had expected to happen upon pulling Galdren into the hole as he had been trying to do with his Thorn Whip, but not this. I never considered that the pit would be so deep. In nature, sinkholes that suddenly open to a further hard base 80' further down are not unheard of, but rare, and the feel of them would be different than this. Who or what have we awoken down below?
"There is something unnatural, perhaps magical, about that mask, I think? It would be best to retrieve it rather than leave it here, but I do not know how without attaching multiple ropes to climb or finding another way down. It is too far for my Telekinetic reach. And of course, we are not alone..."
Like the others, he peers down to try to sense who or what is thrashing around below. Seeing the splintered mahogany under Galdren, even he knows enough to be uneasy as the others clearly are. A broken coffin? And what would be inside a coffin and still moving, except a...
Crannoc reaches out to Silvanus' once more, knowing that he has not been granted his god's wild grace in a measure sufficient to repel undead, asking for Silvanus'guidance once more instead to understand what sort of creature might be down there thrashing about.
"My love!" A feminine voice wails from the pit, and by the glow of Iris' light spell you can see a woman crawl out from underneath the broken body of Galdren. Her skin is a deathly pale, and a velvety black gown with maroon accents wraps around her figure. As she looks upward, you see a deep fury in her unnaturally crimson eyes. With a growl, she leaps to the side of the pit and begins to crawl up the wall towards you, making it roughly halfway up.
??? Movement 15 feet to get up from prone. 5 feet to the wall. 10 feet up the wall.
Crannoc has never been afraid of dying, feeling deep in his bones that his death will be but part of Silvanus' natural dance of growth and rebirth which guides all living things. But being torn to shreds by some undead horror down here in dark stone caverns is not how he had planned to go.
Nevertheless, he speaks his assessment of the situation to the others in a quiet, almost emotionless voice. "I feel there is no running from that thing. It can run as fast as us and climb faster. Our best hope is to use the high ground we have here, unless one of you can think of something better."
He turns to the stronger party members first. "Hildr and Gawain, be ready to shove it back into the center of the pit so it falls back down, taking damage. Iris, your brilliant Ray of Frost which made Galdren lose his Darkness might slow it down. Gallant, continue whittling away at range unless you have a spell that serves better? I will try to pull it off the wall and into the pit center to make it fall as well. It cannot hurt us if it can never attack us."
Crannoc positions himself on the opposite side (east) of the pit than the wall that the horrific female is climbing. He readies his Thorn Whip to attack when the creature is within 30', attempting to pull it diagonally up and towards the center of the pit 5' so it falls back down.
Thorn Whip readied attack to hit: 14 (one day Crannoc will roll above single digits on a d20 again, but not today apparently). Thorn Whip readied attack damage: 6 magical piercing Thorn Whipforced movement on hit: 5' diagonally upward and into the center of the pit, away from any wall, hoping to send it back down to the bottom.
Crannoc finds himself wishing that he had in fact purchased flasks of oil as he was considering to burn the tangleweed. Pouring oil on the creature from above and setting it ablaze would certainly have helped...
"A-are you sure?"Iris asks, hesitation in her voice as she peers over the pit at the monstrosity coming up at them. Hand shaking, she makes the familiar motion, sending a Ray of Frost down at the woman.
After seeing the attack miss, she'll step back 20 feet to the doorway.
In the face of this unearthly horror, Hildr visibly balks. She is trembling. She would like to run.
However, Hildr is incapable of fleeing without the others. She could not leave a single companion, not even a strange nature priest, behind. If she were to do so, Hildr would die of shame. She would take her life for shame. Her code of honor would leave her no choice.
And so, after listening to Crannoc’s plan and deliberating with “him” in an internal dialogue, Hildr prepares to shove the abomination down into the pit, and back down into the pit, and back down—down!—for as many times as it takes and with whatever strength of body, mind, and will she can muster.
[Action: Ready to Attack by Shoving a Creature, as soon as the creature comes within reach of Hildr, 5 ft toward the center of the pit. Strength (Athletics) check: 14]
Gawainglances over at Hildr, surprised to see the strong woman so visibly shaken. This wasn't good. He doubted they survived an encounter with this creature if they stayed here and it got out of the pit.
He glances behind them to the door behind them. "If that's what we all think it is, we could retreat to the other chamber and hold that stone door closed until sunrise. Better than trying to go toe-to-toe with this monstrosity."
For now, he stays by the pit with the others, ready to helpHildrshove the thing back down as soon as it gets close enough.
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OoC: I did a screw up and missed concentration checks. We're rolling back to directly after Iris' Ray of Frost turn.
"Blasted!" You hear his voice yell as the cold spell finds its mark, breaking his concentration on the magic blacking out the center of the room. The darkness fades out of existence, leaving the bandit leader exposed.
Order -> Hildr -> Gawain
Hildr pursues Galdren, careful to stay at least 5 ft from the pit at all times.
[Movement: 30 ft, ending up in the square immediately to the S of Galdren.]
She swings, missing. [Action: Attack with Viking Sword: 7]
Gawain turns on the strige, swinging the blade of his glaive upwards. If it falls, he'll run around the hole to catch up to Hildr and Galdren, swinging the butt of his polearm at the man's head.
((If the first attack doesn't kill the stirge, he remains to use his bonus action attack on it, then follows after Galdren))
Movement
10 ft S. -> 5 ft SW. -> 10 ft W.
Action
Glaive Attack To Hit against Stirge: 20
Damage: 7
Bonus Action
Polearm Master Attack to Hit Against Galdren/Stirge: 20
Damage: 6
Galdren slaps away Hildr's blade with his own, snarling behind the mask.
With a high-pitched keening the overgrown stirge dies as Gawain's glaive slices it nearly in half, sending blood spraying through the air. After he sprints around the pit he catches Galdren in the ribs with the end of his weapon, and the bandit leader lets out a pained grown.
Order -> Gallant -> Crannoc
Gallant will jump up out of hiding and shoot at Galdren
Attack: 12
Damage:11
He will then hid again
Doggedly, Crannoc coils the thorny green vine that springs around his free wrist once more. Running around to the other side of the foreboding central hole, he lashes out once more, hoping to drag Galdren into it, pulling further with Telekinetic Shove. He speaks earnestly, with no hostility whatsoever in his voice, despite his own uneasiness about the unnatural darkness that the bandit leader had summoned just moments ago.
"You do not know my companions, Galdren, but I believe I am starting to understand them! I think if you show your belly or even just play dead, they will not execute you. Likely disarm and tie you up. Unlike me. I would leave the 'Night Lord's' entrails and bones as nourishment for wildlife and plants."
Movement: 30' NE-->NE-->E-->E-->E-->E (skirting a few paces away from the hole).
Action: Attack with Thorn Whip - melee spell attack with range 30'
Thorn Whip to hit: 15
Thorn Whip damage: 4 magical piercing
Thorn Whip forced movement: on a hit, large or smaller target dragged 10' towards Crannoc (NE), no saving throw.
Bonus Action: Telekinetic Shove: Galdren must make a DC15 STR Save or be pushed/pulled 5' towards or away from Crannoc. NOTE: Crannoc will only do this if this would push Galdren further into the hole, NOT if it would pull him out of it on the other side!
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(Druid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(Sorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(Cleric3/Sorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
31
11
The bolt flies between Galdren and Hildr, whipping past the former's face.
As Crannoc's thorn whip crosses the pit, the masked bandit is entangled by the thorny vines. With a startled yell he's pulled into the dark hole. "No, brother!" You hear Calavaz call out.
For several seconds you hear nothing but his scream, cut short upon hearing a loud crash and the splintering of wood as he impacts with whatever is at the bottom of the pit.
Still in Initiative: Order -> Iris -> Hildr -> Gawain -> Gallant
Visions of another life where Galdren ripped her to shreds flash through her mind as Iris watches him tumble into the hole. "Good work!" She calls out to Crannoc, trotting up to the seemingly bottomless pit.
Casting Light on one of her daggers, she drops it down, peering over the edge to see what's on the bottom.
The spelled dagger falls down the hole, turning dark to light as it does. It travels down for about 80 feet before falling on top of Galdren's broken body, the mask thrown off and resting on the floor of the pit. You can see an open entryway leading further into darkness on the bottom.
The bandit leader's body rests upon a bed splintered mahogany wood. Beneath that, you see another pair of limbs beginning to thrash about.
Order -> Hildr -> Gawain -> Gallant
Accustomed as she is to riding upon the waves, the subtorilean world and its dangers are as strange and alien to Hildr as they are to Crannoc. She is both anxious and exhilarated by them. That said, the warrior’s comportment reveals what she would never admit: Hildr is tired, and she feels weak and vulnerable.
After glancing at Calavaz to check his reaction to his brother’s demise—blood runs deep, so we should not trust him—Hildr sidles up to the edge and peers down into the pit. [Movement: 10 ft N + Wisdom (Perception) check to get a better look at what’s down there: 6] Regrettably, even with the aid of Iris’s light-giving magic, Hildr cannot make out any details
Spooked, she resists an urge to flee the chamber. Live to fight another day… Hildr blushes, dishonored by her own thoughts in the omnipresence of Tempus, her god.
Gawain joins the others at the edge, peering down into the darkness with his glaive pointed defensively down. "What is it?"'
Perception: 8
Gallant will move towards the whole and use his mage hand to see if he can pick up the mask so he can examine it.
While he does this he will say, "I am sorry Calaverz for this being the outcome of the situation, but I believe all the other bandits will now leave the town. Is there any reason for us to continue journeying down the tower?"
Crannoc smiles weakly back when Iris says "good work." He is not sure what he had expected to happen upon pulling Galdren into the hole as he had been trying to do with his Thorn Whip, but not this. I never considered that the pit would be so deep. In nature, sinkholes that suddenly open to a further hard base 80' further down are not unheard of, but rare, and the feel of them would be different than this. Who or what have we awoken down below?
"There is something unnatural, perhaps magical, about that mask, I think? It would be best to retrieve it rather than leave it here, but I do not know how without attaching multiple ropes to climb or finding another way down. It is too far for my Telekinetic reach. And of course, we are not alone..."
Like the others, he peers down to try to sense who or what is thrashing around below. Seeing the splintered mahogany under Galdren, even he knows enough to be uneasy as the others clearly are. A broken coffin? And what would be inside a coffin and still moving, except a...
Crannoc reaches out to Silvanus' once more, knowing that he has not been granted his god's wild grace in a measure sufficient to repel undead, asking for Silvanus' guidance once more instead to understand what sort of creature might be down there thrashing about.
Perception plus Guidance: 15 + 1 = 16
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(Druid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(Sorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(Cleric3/Sorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
"My love!" A feminine voice wails from the pit, and by the glow of Iris' light spell you can see a woman crawl out from underneath the broken body of Galdren. Her skin is a deathly pale, and a velvety black gown with maroon accents wraps around her figure. As she looks upward, you see a deep fury in her unnaturally crimson eyes. With a growl, she leaps to the side of the pit and begins to crawl up the wall towards you, making it roughly halfway up.
??? Movement
15 feet to get up from prone. 5 feet to the wall. 10 feet up the wall.
??? Action
Dash 30 feet up the wall.
Order -> Crannoc -> Iris -> Hildr(Top of Initiative) -> Gawain -> Gallant
Crannoc has never been afraid of dying, feeling deep in his bones that his death will be but part of Silvanus' natural dance of growth and rebirth which guides all living things. But being torn to shreds by some undead horror down here in dark stone caverns is not how he had planned to go.
Nevertheless, he speaks his assessment of the situation to the others in a quiet, almost emotionless voice. "I feel there is no running from that thing. It can run as fast as us and climb faster. Our best hope is to use the high ground we have here, unless one of you can think of something better."
He turns to the stronger party members first. "Hildr and Gawain, be ready to shove it back into the center of the pit so it falls back down, taking damage. Iris, your brilliant Ray of Frost which made Galdren lose his Darkness might slow it down. Gallant, continue whittling away at range unless you have a spell that serves better? I will try to pull it off the wall and into the pit center to make it fall as well. It cannot hurt us if it can never attack us."
Crannoc positions himself on the opposite side (east) of the pit than the wall that the horrific female is climbing. He readies his Thorn Whip to attack when the creature is within 30', attempting to pull it diagonally up and towards the center of the pit 5' so it falls back down.
Thorn Whip readied attack to hit: 14 (one day Crannoc will roll above single digits on a d20 again, but not today apparently).
Thorn Whip readied attack damage: 6 magical piercing
Thorn Whip forced movement on hit: 5' diagonally upward and into the center of the pit, away from any wall, hoping to send it back down to the bottom.
Crannoc finds himself wishing that he had in fact purchased flasks of oil as he was considering to burn the tangleweed. Pouring oil on the creature from above and setting it ablaze would certainly have helped...
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(Druid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(Sorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(Monk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(Cleric3/Sorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
"A-are you sure?" Iris asks, hesitation in her voice as she peers over the pit at the monstrosity coming up at them. Hand shaking, she makes the familiar motion, sending a Ray of Frost down at the woman.
After seeing the attack miss, she'll step back 20 feet to the doorway.
Attack: 8
Damage: 3 Cold
In the face of this unearthly horror, Hildr visibly balks. She is trembling. She would like to run.
However, Hildr is incapable of fleeing without the others. She could not leave a single companion, not even a strange nature priest, behind. If she were to do so, Hildr would die of shame. She would take her life for shame. Her code of honor would leave her no choice.
And so, after listening to Crannoc’s plan and deliberating with “him” in an internal dialogue, Hildr prepares to shove the abomination down into the pit, and back down into the pit, and back down—down!—for as many times as it takes and with whatever strength of body, mind, and will she can muster.
[Action: Ready to Attack by Shoving a Creature, as soon as the creature comes within reach of Hildr, 5 ft toward the center of the pit. Strength (Athletics) check: 14]
Gawain glances over at Hildr, surprised to see the strong woman so visibly shaken. This wasn't good. He doubted they survived an encounter with this creature if they stayed here and it got out of the pit.
He glances behind them to the door behind them. "If that's what we all think it is, we could retreat to the other chamber and hold that stone door closed until sunrise. Better than trying to go toe-to-toe with this monstrosity."
For now, he stays by the pit with the others, ready to help Hildr shove the thing back down as soon as it gets close enough.