Everasil - Game thread

Wisdom Saving Throw (Gnome Cunning): 7 (8 - 1)

Thurodim's Wis save: 14

As you’ve become quite familiar with this feeling of sluggishness, you all (except Cork) fall prey to the magical influence of the now invisible fiends.

(Add one level of exhaustion. Cork’s turn, then Ozyre, then back to turn 2 with Ember and Thurodim)

Unable to see the enemies, but having had quite enough of their wailing shenanigans, Cork raises his blade high in two hands and charges, swiping in a downward arc... at empty air.

Attack (w/disadvantage): 10

"You know, you guys should really start an a cappella band."

Face towards the (now invisible) fiends, Ozyre plants a foot on the torch and kicks it backwards, forcing his shadowy foes into the space between darkness and light, where they are most vulnerable.

"I bet you'd be a big hit with moms who can't get their babies to go to sleep. You've certainly got the most relaxing screech I've ever heard."

The diminished giant swings with his axes, one after the other, though his movements definitely seem sluggish.

Object Interaction: Kick the torch back 10-15 feet or so so that the fiends are its the dim light
Action: Attack a fiend (Handaxe): 13 (8 + 5) to hit, 8 (5 + 3) slashing damage
Bonus Action: Bonus Attack the same fiend (Handaxe): 7 (2 + 5) to hit, 4 slashing damage

Ember lowers her hands from her ears and growls as the fiends close in. She does her best to shake off the weight of fatigue and lobs a mote of fire right at one's ugly mug. 

((Round 2
Action: Casts Fire Bolt at a fiend. To hit: 19 | Damage: 3 fire
Aggie: Will hop over to Cork and provide the Help! ))

Despite being unable to see the invisible creature, the Kenku manages to strike something with his sword, though he’s unable to see it (Cork can roll damage)

With a simple punt, Ozyre kicks the torch back towards the way the party arrives from. The creatures become visible once more, which gives Ozyre the chance to strike one down with a mighty blow of his hand axe. Two remain in front of you.

The others are circling around Ember, who was the closest target. As they become visible once again, one of the creatures is in range of Thurodim (who can take his reaction attack before actually taking his turn).

Finally, the little wizard sends another mote of fire at the fiends, which hits. It is not looking so hot (or could be gone depending on what Cork’s damage roll is).

Surprised he hit something after all, the Kenku raises his sword again for the next round.

Slashing Damage:  5

As the shadowy fiend suddenly appears before him, the massive blonde bearded warrior lets Skullcrusher fall.
(Reckless attack, -5 to hit, +10 damage included in rolls)
Skullcrusher: 17 Bludgeoning: 19

Thurodim the strides forth, swinging his might hammer again to finish off the remaining fiendish shadows.
(Reckless attack, -5 to hit, +10 damage included in rolls)
Skullcrusher: 17 Bludgeoning: 23
If nat 20 or enemy goes down then bonus attack on next closest enemy.
Skullcrusher: 6 Bludgeoning: 21

The remaining two shadowy fiends are turned into black smoke by the combined efforts of Cork wildly swinging his sword around, Ember’s fire magic and Thurodim’s might swings of Skullcrusher.

Though you’ve once again eliminated all threats, you can’t help but feel that this isn’t entirely over. 

(You may remove one level of exhaustion if any)

"This is not over." The massive blonde bearded warrior warns the others, his grip tightening on Skullcrusher.

Perception to notice more threats: 9

Though the fiends are vanquished, Ember's exhaustion doesn't lift entirely as her body continues to feel sluggish and mind lightheaded.  

"They're just gonna keep coming, huh?" she asks, rubbing then narrowing her eyes at the corridor. "Until we close the door." Rummaging around in her bag, she pulls out the spell scrolls and holds them aloft for the others to look at. "Maybe these'll help? That one's for, uh," she points at one scroll then gesticulates at her eyes, "the dark!" She barely gets the last word out before she goes back to quickly inspecting the basin in case it holds any clues.  


((Investigation: 10 or Arcana: 18 if needed))

"If we've got more guys coming, why don't we saunter up and face them head on? We know they're coming from somewhere, and that somewhere just so happens to be the place we have to go, so if we follow where they're coming from we'll find the somewhere and then we'll close the somewhere and then the guys don't come anymore. We win!" Ozyre edges over towards where the fiends came from, ready to head out and hopefully find somewhere once everybody is done with the room.

Thurodim, you can’t really hear or see anything right at this moment. You feel on edge because the flickering of the flame on the torch makes you see moving shadows, which startle you, but they’re not real threats.

Ember, you don’t pick up any magical vibes from this basin. It looks like it might have been used once to collect water from some source. Maybe rain, maybe groundwater. Whatever it was, it has since dried up, leaving a stained ring of water. Bartolby’s corpse lays close by, still unmoving.

The massive blonde bearded warrior nods grimly at the dimished giant's suggested tactics. He had nothing to contribute with regarding how to close the rift, but he much preferred facing the enemy now rather than waiting to let wave after wave finally wear him down.

(Thurodim is ready to follow the instructions from any of the big brains.)

Her attention span quickly lost the moment the basin showed no signs of magic or being part of some blood ritual, Ember hikes her large spellbook backpack further up her back and huffs. 

With exaggerated steps, her feet plapping against the stone, Ember "saunters" towards the corridor the fiends were coming from, with Aggie taking point atop her head to listen for any signs of them. "We'll be right back, Bart. Gonna get you outta here."


((Aggie Perception (with keen senses adv): 4+3 7 -_-
Ember Perception: 13+2 15))

Thurodim quickly follows the quite small but also quite brave adventurer, ready to interpose himself between her and any lurking shadows.

Perception: 20

[Sound of Cork Popping] remains quiet.  His chest heaves with silent breaths.  

As the others move deeper into the shadows, he falls in line to cover the rear.  Sword held high in two hands, he squints into the darkness with beady black eyes.

Ember gets only a few feet into the corridor before she yelps and turns back to the others with wide eyes. "Wait!" she pleads, then bolts back into the chamber towards Bart's body. 

Squatting next to him, she continues to speak with the man as though he were still alive while she searches him. "You brought it, didn't you, Bart? It musta been important if you tore it out. You're lucky Grandpa didn't see that! He woulda been hoppin' mad." Her little hands are careful of his injuries as she inspects his pockets, scolding in the old gnome's voice, "'Books give us everything but ask nothing more than to be taken care of.'" 

The body evidently doesn’t respond or opposes Ember as she searches the pockets of the deceased farmer, making it a very one-sided conversation. Going through his jacket pockets, you manage to find a torn piece of paper folded up in a square. It seems to have been stained with blood that is now dried, giving the withered page a red-tinted smear across it.

Unfolding the page, it is what Ember expected it to be. It is the missing page from the magic tome back at the house. It essentially describes the phenomenon as you remembered it yesterday, only with more technical (and less digestible) words. The blood smear thankfully doesn’t impair the legibility of the document.

The expose seems to end with a brief summary of the possible ways to "close a fracture":

"Despite understanding fairly little about the root causation of this arcane phenomenon, through trial and error, several process have resulted in the restoration of the fabric of Material plane. Some solutions have been known to work in certain occurrences while in others, they have yielded little result. Through association with certain clerical individuals, it has been noted that divine magic seems effective in a relatively consistent basis. In other trials, ancient and more primordial forms of magic have been known to have great effect on correcting this phenomenon. Some scholarly circles have theorized that specific arcane schools may be more efficient in this endeavor. For instance, spells of abjurative nature are believed to be efficacious in blocking out and mending otherworldly perturbation. It is also believe that, due to their connection with the multiverse, conjuration is an apt method to disrupt the fluctuation of magic caused by the anomaly and possibly eliminate it. Further study may reveal more efficient or reliable means of dealing with this dangerous phenomenon. Trial and error remains the best method of discovery. Brave field hands willing to test out theories are highly sought after, if not very many are willing to volunteer."