“Q-q-q-quinn... I… have t-t-t-to… GET AWAY…,” Dev hears himself say in the moment before, before… before… before what??? Before his will breaks and he escapes at a blind run into the mist...
Minutes later, he stops just as suddenly. ‘Why did I…? Where am I?? Where are the others??’
A sibilant whisper crawls through the mist
“I will keep you safe… there you are…”
“Who are you??,” Dev tries to shout, but the words come out small and trembling. The teenager feels a tight ball of fear in his stomach that threatens to explode, to consume him. To control him. Again.
‘No!’
Inhaling with intentional slowness, his eyes now flaring with yellow lightning, the tiefling repeats his demand, and this time the sound is like a trumpet blast in the ancient courtyard, from the walls of which small pebbles trickle down in answer to the vibrant ringing of his voice.
“WHO ARE YOU?”
(thaumaturgy; the intent is to stave off — or at least, delay — an attack with a show of strength. Kindly let me know if I should roll intimidation.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Quinn-
Quinn can hear Lokilias voice somewhere beyond the buildings he is between, glancing up he sees nothing but mist...he is fairly certain he has pinpointed her location...or at least where she was....you can also hear Normont calling out...and a rumbling roaring voice shouts " WHO ARE YOU?" sending echoes through the ruins....he thinks it may be Devs voice but never has it sounded like this.........
Lokilia-
Lokilia begins to pick her way back through the ruins and alleyways choked with mist towards where she can hear Normont calling when suddenly a rumbling roaring voice shouts " WHO ARE YOU?"sending echoes through the ruins....she thinks it may be Devs voice but never has it sounded like this.........
Normont-
Normont hears Lokilias voice calling out drawing closer, when suddenly a rumbling roaring voice shouts " WHO ARE YOU?"sending echoes through the ruins....he thinks it may be Devs voice but never has it sounded like this.........
Magnus-
Magnus can hear both Lokilia and Normont calling out in the dark mist one possibly to his east the other....perhaps to the south east when suddenly a rumbling roaring voice shouts " WHO ARE YOU?"sending echoes through the ruins....he thinks it may be Devs voice but never has it sounded like this.........
Dev-
A smile, a slash of entropic darkness even blacker than the shadow itself....
" Who am I? A whisper...a fragment..a remnant left behind...unwanted....like yourself."
" Come with me, become cold and sharp and hungry...."
Long grasping arms of shadow lunged out of the dark and clutched at Devs small frame.
"Dev! That you? It's me, Lokilia!" she calls out towards the new voice. "Normont!" she calls out loudly again, trying to again get a direction for where he is at. With two voices now, she comes to a halt. She closes her eyes, trying to concentrate on just sounds to determine the direction of the voices. (Perception: 25)
When the shadowy arms reach out toward Dev, he stumbles back reflexively, yelling in surprise, “Get away!!,” and his eyes are huge black moons of terror as he trips over loose footing, landing with a thud on his rear, then scrabbling back against a wall, curling into a ball and throwing up his arms to protect himself. But his cloaked shirt sleeves hold a secret, for when the shadow encounters the soft cloth, its murderous searching fingers find the cloth to be hard as armor and they fail to find purchase.
When the arms pull back, Dev’s eyes and horns crackle with yellow arcane fire, he shows his teeth in a devilish smile and he bolts upright again in a sudden motion.
“I was left behind, shadow, but I’m not coming with you…,” he shouts, his eerie voice piercing the mist, “cuz I’m already hungry, I already know the cold… and I am already SHARP!”
Dev finds the shadow’s center and with all his force, making tremulous fists with the efforts, screams a warcry whose pitch rises and rises, beyond the ability of ears to hear, until like an invisible arcane spear it flies into whatever consciousness inhabits the shadow, piercing it with terrible pain!
(OOC: Dissonant Whispers: The target must make a WIS DC13 saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 13 psychic damage and must immediately use its reaction, if available, to move as far as its speed allows away from Dev. The creature doesn’t move into obviously dangerous ground, such as a fire or a pit. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and doesn’t have to move away. Dev’s words continue Thaumaturgy as well.)
"Lokilia? I hear you, follow my voice", Normont shouts as he hears Lokilia's voice. Then he hears who he thinks is Dev, but not quite. "Dev? Is that you? Where are you? Who is with you?".
He continues slowly moving onwards, hoping to get beyond the mist and guide his friends to safety.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Lokilia has an exact heading for both Normont and Dev, then hears Quinn call out that he is coming to her. Magnus can determine where Normont is..or was.
Dev-
You can hear the others calling out but need all your concentration on the current situation.
Devs disrupting attack seems to have some effect but not as much as he was hoping as it rears back momentarily, " Sharp scratches it makes in us...gifts us pain, bright and clear..time for you to run now little scrap."
" There are other morsels here to taste...."
Suddenly its grasping hands materialised again and reached for Devs heart, " Still....something for the road....", it whispered before flickering out of existence.
Normont keeps being vocal, hoping that he is leading the others out of the mist. He briefly considers sending Amber to scout the mist, but decides it is best to stick together.
Seeming to have a bearing on Normont and Dev, Lokilia keeps moving in that direction, picking up the pace slightly. "Quinn! I hear you!" she calls out loudly. "I'm heading for Normont and Dev. Just keep coming this way! Here!" Every few moments she calls out again. "I'm here!" to try to allow others to follow.
Dev feels the ghostly hand upon him, feels its shadowy shape penetrate his clothes, bone, and tissue, feels it chill his heart with its icy touch.
‘So… cold… can’t… breathe… uhnnn…’
The teenager’s heart skips a beat, and another, and another, his breath catches in his throat, his eyes roll back, and he blacks out, a final tracing of yellow lightning dancing off the tips of his horns.
(OOC: Dev takes 5HP damage and loses 3pts of STR leaving his STR at 5.)
Is it only a few seconds, or is it a minute?, or an hour later, after the shadow spirit has moved on to its next victim, when the teenager comes to, splayed out on the cold ground.
“Lokilia?,” he says when the sound of his friend’s voice in the near distance pulls him out of his stupor, but his voice is but a weak, breathy whisper. Calling upon his arcane reserves once again, propping up his voice with Thaumaturgy, he shouts,
“LOKILIA!, LOOK OUT!, A SHADOW!”
Dev regains his footing, dizzy, and, leaning heavily on the walls for support, shuffles weakly toward his friends, his buckling legs almost rebelling as his chest pulses with fear at the possibility of a return of the dark spirit.
Lokilia appears out of the mist to Normonts left and then Magnus comes into view from the right.
“LOKILIA!, LOOK OUT!, A SHADOW!”
Devs voice rings out somewhere to the rear....
Quinn-
Quinn follows Lokalia, Dev and Normonts voices though the words are muffled by the mist except for Devs unnaturally loud utterences and ahead it seems the mist is thinning somewhat, ahead he can make out a shape in the mist waving at him......Lokilia? Then it flickers and vanishes.
A low chuckle emerges from somewhere behind him....a sourceless voice creeping over his skin, " This one will do nicely......."
Dev-
Dev stumbles through the mist unsure he is even going in the right direction....but then suddenly up ahead he sees three figures through the mist, they are facing away from him but from the heights one is definitely Normont.
Normont spins as Lokilia appears, his pistol trained on her until he realises who it is. The same happens with Magnus.
"Thank goodness. Are you both ok? What happened?", he starts to ask, and then hears Dev shouting about shadows. He spins to the rear, calling out "Dev, are you ok. Lokilia is safe here with me. Follow the sound of my voice".
"Yea Dev! We're right here!" Lokilia shouts again, right after Normont does. In a quieter voice she says, "Sorry there, I got a bit scared back there and ran without thinking." Then she peers back into the mist where Dev's voice came from. "You think he's ok, right?" She seems worried, and perhaps still a bit frightened by all this.
‘Why is everyone just standing here??’
“Q-q-q-quinn... I… have t-t-t-to… GET AWAY…,” Dev hears himself say in the moment before, before… before… before what??? Before his will breaks and he escapes at a blind run into the mist...
Minutes later, he stops just as suddenly. ‘Why did I…? Where am I?? Where are the others??’
A sibilant whisper crawls through the mist
“I will keep you safe… there you are…”
“Who are you??,” Dev tries to shout, but the words come out small and trembling. The teenager feels a tight ball of fear in his stomach that threatens to explode, to consume him. To control him. Again.
‘No!’
Inhaling with intentional slowness, his eyes now flaring with yellow lightning, the tiefling repeats his demand, and this time the sound is like a trumpet blast in the ancient courtyard, from the walls of which small pebbles trickle down in answer to the vibrant ringing of his voice.
“WHO ARE YOU?”
(thaumaturgy; the intent is to stave off — or at least, delay — an attack with a show of strength. Kindly let me know if I should roll intimidation.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
( Dev- Please Do.)
(Dev - Intimidation: 7+4=11)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Hearing nothing, Normont can only move forwards, following the direction the orb of direction shows.
"Come on you lot, stop playing games. This isn't funny!", he calls out.
5 15 14
Quinn-
Quinn can hear Lokilias voice somewhere beyond the buildings he is between, glancing up he sees nothing but mist...he is fairly certain he has pinpointed her location...or at least where she was....you can also hear Normont calling out...and a rumbling roaring voice shouts " WHO ARE YOU?" sending echoes through the ruins....he thinks it may be Devs voice but never has it sounded like this.........
Lokilia-
Lokilia begins to pick her way back through the ruins and alleyways choked with mist towards where she can hear Normont calling when suddenly a rumbling roaring voice shouts " WHO ARE YOU?" sending echoes through the ruins....she thinks it may be Devs voice but never has it sounded like this.........
Normont-
Normont hears Lokilias voice calling out drawing closer, when suddenly a rumbling roaring voice shouts " WHO ARE YOU?" sending echoes through the ruins....he thinks it may be Devs voice but never has it sounded like this.........
Magnus-
Magnus can hear both Lokilia and Normont calling out in the dark mist one possibly to his east the other....perhaps to the south east when suddenly a rumbling roaring voice shouts " WHO ARE YOU?" sending echoes through the ruins....he thinks it may be Devs voice but never has it sounded like this.........
Dev-
A smile, a slash of entropic darkness even blacker than the shadow itself....
" Who am I? A whisper...a fragment..a remnant left behind...unwanted....like yourself."
" Come with me, become cold and sharp and hungry...."
Long grasping arms of shadow lunged out of the dark and clutched at Devs small frame.
Attack: 7 Damage: 10 + -3 Strength.
Lokilia -
"Dev! That you? It's me, Lokilia!" she calls out towards the new voice. "Normont!" she calls out loudly again, trying to again get a direction for where he is at. With two voices now, she comes to a halt. She closes her eyes, trying to concentrate on just sounds to determine the direction of the voices. (Perception: 25)
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
“Lokilia, Normont, Dev, I can hear you all, but I think I am closed to Lokilia so I will go to her.” He shouts as he pushes through the mist.
Dev:
When the shadowy arms reach out toward Dev, he stumbles back reflexively, yelling in surprise, “Get away!!,” and his eyes are huge black moons of terror as he trips over loose footing, landing with a thud on his rear, then scrabbling back against a wall, curling into a ball and throwing up his arms to protect himself. But his cloaked shirt sleeves hold a secret, for when the shadow encounters the soft cloth, its murderous searching fingers find the cloth to be hard as armor and they fail to find purchase.
When the arms pull back, Dev’s eyes and horns crackle with yellow arcane fire, he shows his teeth in a devilish smile and he bolts upright again in a sudden motion.
“I was left behind, shadow, but I’m not coming with you…,” he shouts, his eerie voice piercing the mist, “cuz I’m already hungry, I already know the cold… and I am already SHARP!”
Dev finds the shadow’s center and with all his force, making tremulous fists with the efforts, screams a warcry whose pitch rises and rises, beyond the ability of ears to hear, until like an invisible arcane spear it flies into whatever consciousness inhabits the shadow, piercing it with terrible pain!
(OOC: Dissonant Whispers: The target must make a WIS DC13 saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 13 psychic damage and must immediately use its reaction, if available, to move as far as its speed allows away from Dev. The creature doesn’t move into obviously dangerous ground, such as a fire or a pit. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and doesn’t have to move away. Dev’s words continue Thaumaturgy as well.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
( Wis- 22 )
"Lokilia? I hear you, follow my voice", Normont shouts as he hears Lokilia's voice. Then he hears who he thinks is Dev, but not quite. "Dev? Is that you? Where are you? Who is with you?".
He continues slowly moving onwards, hoping to get beyond the mist and guide his friends to safety.
Lokilia has an exact heading for both Normont and Dev, then hears Quinn call out that he is coming to her. Magnus can determine where Normont is..or was.
Dev-
You can hear the others calling out but need all your concentration on the current situation.
Devs disrupting attack seems to have some effect but not as much as he was hoping as it rears back momentarily, " Sharp scratches it makes in us...gifts us pain, bright and clear..time for you to run now little scrap."
" There are other morsels here to taste...."
Suddenly its grasping hands materialised again and reached for Devs heart, " Still....something for the road....", it whispered before flickering out of existence.
Attack: 15 Damage: 9 + -2 Strength.
BA- Shadowstep- Disengage.
Normont keeps being vocal, hoping that he is leading the others out of the mist. He briefly considers sending Amber to scout the mist, but decides it is best to stick together.
Seeming to have a bearing on Normont and Dev, Lokilia keeps moving in that direction, picking up the pace slightly. "Quinn! I hear you!" she calls out loudly. "I'm heading for Normont and Dev. Just keep coming this way! Here!" Every few moments she calls out again. "I'm here!" to try to allow others to follow.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
Dev feels the ghostly hand upon him, feels its shadowy shape penetrate his clothes, bone, and tissue, feels it chill his heart with its icy touch.
‘So… cold… can’t… breathe… uhnnn…’
The teenager’s heart skips a beat, and another, and another, his breath catches in his throat, his eyes roll back, and he blacks out, a final tracing of yellow lightning dancing off the tips of his horns.
(OOC: Dev takes 5HP damage and loses 3pts of STR leaving his STR at 5.)
Is it only a few seconds, or is it a minute?, or an hour later, after the shadow spirit has moved on to its next victim, when the teenager comes to, splayed out on the cold ground.
“Lokilia?,” he says when the sound of his friend’s voice in the near distance pulls him out of his stupor, but his voice is but a weak, breathy whisper. Calling upon his arcane reserves once again, propping up his voice with Thaumaturgy, he shouts,
“LOKILIA!, LOOK OUT!, A SHADOW!”
Dev regains his footing, dizzy, and, leaning heavily on the walls for support, shuffles weakly toward his friends, his buckling legs almost rebelling as his chest pulses with fear at the possibility of a return of the dark spirit.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Lokilia appears out of the mist to Normonts left and then Magnus comes into view from the right.
“LOKILIA!, LOOK OUT!, A SHADOW!”
Devs voice rings out somewhere to the rear....
Quinn-
Quinn follows Lokalia, Dev and Normonts voices though the words are muffled by the mist except for Devs unnaturally loud utterences and ahead it seems the mist is thinning somewhat, ahead he can make out a shape in the mist waving at him......Lokilia? Then it flickers and vanishes.
A low chuckle emerges from somewhere behind him....a sourceless voice creeping over his skin, " This one will do nicely......."
Dev-
Dev stumbles through the mist unsure he is even going in the right direction....but then suddenly up ahead he sees three figures through the mist, they are facing away from him but from the heights one is definitely Normont.
Quinn will look around for the source of the whispers. And wants to know what they are talking about
5
Normont spins as Lokilia appears, his pistol trained on her until he realises who it is. The same happens with Magnus.
"Thank goodness. Are you both ok? What happened?", he starts to ask, and then hears Dev shouting about shadows. He spins to the rear, calling out "Dev, are you ok. Lokilia is safe here with me. Follow the sound of my voice".
He tries to determine how far away Dev is.
Perception: 7+4=11 (Passive: 14)
"Yea Dev! We're right here!" Lokilia shouts again, right after Normont does. In a quieter voice she says, "Sorry there, I got a bit scared back there and ran without thinking." Then she peers back into the mist where Dev's voice came from. "You think he's ok, right?" She seems worried, and perhaps still a bit frightened by all this.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer