Octo agrees with Kallith. “Nor would it help for us to rush to the point of exhaustion and show up weak and wounded. Perhaps we push hard for a few hours, then take a short rest to regain our strength? Then finish the trip?”
“I have never ridden a horse before, but I am excited too. They are magnificent.”
Chandle looks at the horses and looks at her friends, “I’m gonna need a hand getting up on a horse, I also have not ridden much, from what I remember I will need a couple stops on the way. I was sore all over the last time. When we get a chance I’ve got some items to share from the assassin. For now let’s ride.”
OOC I’m assuming we ride a few hours then take a rest is the plan.
"Riding for two hours and then resting sounds doable to me."
The firbolg goes over to Chandle, a broad grin on her face. "I have an idea."
Kallith gets down to all fours and shakes out her legs. "Sit on me like you would on a horse."
If Chandle does, Kalliths legs sharply increase in volume, followed by the rest of her body, the neck elongating, ribs cracking and realigning. The fibolg doubles in size, assumes animal form. A horse with a shaggy brown mane prances before you awkwardly, testing out the new form, trying to keep still enough for Chandle not to fall off.
“Oh incredible, you’re a shaggy strongback the perfect dwarven mount! I’ve never had the opportunity to ride such a magnificent and beautiful steed!! Onward Kallith my beauty!”
Chandle is overjoyed at this transformation, “Oh Crystal my sweet child, the stories I’ll have for you!”
OOC-My apologies, it was an oversight. I was in a rush ad skipped edit phase
Assuik offers Octo the larger of the two beasts, a magnificent mount with spunk and attitude. It accepts the large minotaur with a sense of joy. The horse nuzzles the flank of Kallith, showing excitement at her transformation. It prances around the new mare and ignores Octo's feeble attempts at control. It wants to play, following the shaggy horse towards the gate. Dornin, resigned climbs upon his own and follows quickly, the horse beneath him thrusting forward to catch up.
Oakhurst was a small village, barely noticeable in its sameness to any other way stop. A couple Inns, a provisioner and a scattering of houses are all that is noteworthy. Kallith leads, pushing hard down the road, setting a fast pace with the other two racing along beside. She keeps her form as long as she can, but slows after awhile not wanting to hurt the other two. Closing on two hours out she knows her ability to remain as a horse is coming close. A form can be seen on the road ahead, another, a mere dozen yards in front. Two horses lie dead on the road.
Kalliths form changes back as they near. The two horses seem unhurt, no wounds are evident but the froth on their flanks and the dried foam about the mouth belies the cause of their death. The assassins had pushed, too hard, too long and the poor beasts had burst their hearts.
The grass is trampled where the riders were thrown, but three sets of footprints and a single horse continued on from here. The Assassins are an easy hour ahead, or more, but on foot from here onward.
Kallith reverts, allow Chandle to step off, before hurrying over to the horses. The druid falls to her knees, inspects the heads of the animals, hoping against hope.
When she sees the lifeless eyes and the foam, she lets out a cry of anguish. "Those monsters!" Her hands caress the drenched fur, gently rubbing away the foam.
Their quarry forgotten for a moment, Kallith closes the horses eyes and speaks a prayer over them. "May you find relief from your pain in the Beastlands. Let Iallanis hand guide you there my dear horses."
When she's done, she rubs her eyes. It was against her belief to swear revenge, but she felt like doing so anway.
Chandle having ridden bareback for a couple hours, does a few quick leg stretches. Then just out of curiosity tosses the scimitar and calls it to her hand. (Does it physically come to her or teleport through the ether?)
After that she looks for tracks…
survival 13
”Guys I just need to know what are your thoughts on poison? I think cowards and snakes use it, like these assassins but it can even the odds in an unfair fight too. It can also lead to legal trouble, so as a group, I’m asking should I keep it try and sell it or dispose of it? Thank you again Kallith that was amazing!”
(OOC: Sorry everyone for the late reply, had some issues getting into my account)
A stressful two hours as Dornin has never ridden horses in this nature before letting the beast do as it pleased and follow the others and hope for the best.
Coming from the rear, he sees Kallith hunched over the corpses of the horses. Dornin steps off his horse and stands beside her placing a calm hand on her shoulder. “We will make this right, I promise” he says. He looks to Octo and Chandle, “I wager we aren’t far behind, with the way they have been recklessly moving, I presume we may catch up. However, for everyone’s sake, we should sit for a while recover.” Dornin takes his pack and places it on the ground as a seat and pulls his pipe from within and takes long, deep puffs from it to relieve some stress.
Dornin stops, slumps and calls a short rest after the exhausting ride from the ranch. The horses were not pushed as hard as the Assasins's yet thy are tired from the exertion as well.
Short rest completed.
The assassins were thrown from the dying horses but landed in the shrubs and walked away. Three sets of prints and a set of hooves lead off, continuing down the trail towards the Trade Way and Port Llast, further on. The tracks are about an hour old, Kallith can agree with the timing of the death of the horses.
Chandle plays with her new toy, A tingle rises up into her palm and wrist when she grasps it. Chandle finds it takes a will just to drop or throw the blade, she, yes the blade prefers a softer side. She will not let go, will never leave Chandles side. She will always be there when needed. (The Scimitar can not be knocked from your hand unless incapacitated. It will leap into your grasp [appears as if teleporting] as a Bonus action)
The road to Port Llast is not long or far at this point, another two hours will have you at the gates. With only a couple hours of Sunlight left, dusk may well be upon you when you arrive. The Assassins must be arriving there now, with the lead they have.
Octo says to Chandle “Poison is a tool. Maybe not the noblest of tools, but it is a tool. There are worse things than poison out there.” He turns to look at the corpses of the horses, “Those who wish to kill, have an unlimited number of tools at their disposal. Some more cruel than others. I personally care not if you use this new found tool.”
He then turns to the broader group “While our rest may have given them a bit more of a start, it was necessary. I feel well rested and ready to move. Shall we make haste after the girl and the horse?”
Kallith sees to that the two horses they brought with them have enough grass and water, looking for a brook or spring. If none is to be found, she compliments the missing water with her water skin.
"If we ride, we should be able to move faster than they have. But let's leave the horses outside of any place we enter. I don't want to endanger them."
She hesitates, unsure of how to respond to Chandle. Inner turmoil is obvious on her face. Finally, as if pressing out the words: "I am against the use of such substances. It's underhanded and may kill without mercy. Even... those men. They don't deserve a death like that, even if they seek to be killed like the Bhaal cultists we fought back at the estate."
"If they surrender and still die, mercy dies with them. This is a grave sin." Kallith holds her amulet as if for reassurance. She looks at Octo with disappointment in her face at his opnenness to use such substances.
"I am rested. The horses and I should be able to make the rest of the trip with speed. Let us approach this port Llast with caution. Assuik said something about it being haunted."
When Octo speaks his mind, Chandle nods understandingly. What he says is true a scorpion is not evil for its venom. Then as Kallith speaks of mercy for those who may surrender rather then die…
”It is clear that we are not all in favor of dealing with poison. And I am to be honest a little relieved, I’ve never desired to kill in such a way. I will dispose of this then.”
Chandle attempts to dig a little pit and burn a little tinder, then she will pour in the poison when it is done, she will fill the pit back in. After a rest she is ready to continue on.
Dornin agrees with Chandles decision, even he wouldn’t stoop that low for survival. Now feeling well rested, he places his belongings upon the horse once again and is ready to take off.
The road remaining to Port Llast is not long, but neither is the day. Both seem to come to a close at the same time. The sun dipping over the horizon, far out to sea, painting the waves and the sky with a blood red hue. The eerie light splashes against the buildings in the ruined town below. The town stretches for miles, clinging to the hills and stretching as arms to embrace the shallow bay.
The buildings are crumbling, the timbers rotting and collapsing upon themselves. Great gaping holes in the roofs allow the wind, and rain to seep in and eat at the foundations. Stone towers lie collapsed and shattered, an old keep devastated by the chaos that destroyed the town and the inexorable decay of time. People can be seen below, wandering from street to street, a semblance of the life that once was. Without any fires, or lights, no smoke laden with the smell of food, no heat no warmth you realize it is not life in the streets but death. The citizens, those killed in the cataclysm of magic that swept the town and those that died shortly after have risen to haunt and wander these streets, in search of...something, life perhaps to consume.
While the dead wander the streets, three schooners sit moored out in the bay, their presence has drawn many of the walking dead to cluster around the docks. They are the only signs of life in the area, lights and lanterns illuminate the decks, and several crew, tiny as ants at this distance can be seen scrambling about the rigging, preparing to set sail. A rowboat has made its way out to one of them (#2) with your quarry, barely visible tossing a young woman, limp into the arms of the sailors, before climbing aboard themselves.
A schooner of that size takes more than a few minutes to set the sails, unmoor and move out to sea. If they do, you will have lost your chance. You hope you have an hour to make your way through the treacherous streets and somehow, board the schooner, or if not one of the others, but you feel an hour may be too long.
We will run this as a skill challenge.
You must get through the dead infested city, hordes of them that you do not want to attract or risk being overwhelmed quickly. You start at the Red dot to the North. It is nearly 2 miles straight South to the docks. The many red dots represent a Horde of dead that has clustered around the bay, attracted by the life aboard the schooners.
To perform a skill challenge, your group must get five (5) success, before you get three (3) failures. I see your goal as rescuing Isbiel from Schooner #2, but you may also attempt to reach at least one of the schooners before it leaves the bay. Feel free to discuss and determine a plan, but don't linger overly long in doing so, the schooners will not wait for a long discourse.
You must choose a skill, describe how it will be of use, and how you are using it to reach your desired goal. Then roll against a DC 12. You can not duplicate another characters skill choice, please choose a different skill than the other players.
Chandle would like to lead the way through shadows and narrow blind passages using her innate sense of stealth to not draw undue attention as they attempt to intercept their target.
Dornin will attempt to use minor illusion to block the undead from seeing us using illusionary rocks, rubble, doors and anything else that can fit approximately in a 5x5 cube to distort sight. Additionally, if some undead get too close, he will make sounds in the opposite direction to hopefully draw them to another location. (Deception:14) (If you feel that deception isn’t the right skill for this, my roll was 9)
Octo will look for a place where a road heads away from us, and downhill from where we want to go. He will then pick up the largest timber, or sphere-shaped stone he possibly can, and roll it down the hill to distract a horde or two away from our destination.
Once they get closer to the docks Chandle will leap into the open and use parcor to tumble twist leap and roll staying just out of reach giving the rest of the party an easier path to our target.
acrobatics 17
(3 successes 2 failures or we failed, I’m crossing my fingers)
OOC GROUP: We are teetering on the edge! Since we are one failure away, we should discuss some options (where is guidance/bless when you need it!) Anyone have any strong ideas with good skills?
I have advantage on survival, but +0 to it. I can use that to survival guide us around the undead.
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Octo agrees with Kallith. “Nor would it help for us to rush to the point of exhaustion and show up weak and wounded. Perhaps we push hard for a few hours, then take a short rest to regain our strength? Then finish the trip?”
“I have never ridden a horse before, but I am excited too. They are magnificent.”
Chandle looks at the horses and looks at her friends, “I’m gonna need a hand getting up on a horse, I also have not ridden much, from what I remember I will need a couple stops on the way. I was sore all over the last time. When we get a chance I’ve got some items to share from the assassin. For now let’s ride.”
OOC I’m assuming we ride a few hours then take a rest is the plan.
"Riding for two hours and then resting sounds doable to me."
The firbolg goes over to Chandle, a broad grin on her face. "I have an idea."
Kallith gets down to all fours and shakes out her legs. "Sit on me like you would on a horse."
If Chandle does, Kalliths legs sharply increase in volume, followed by the rest of her body, the neck elongating, ribs cracking and realigning. The fibolg doubles in size, assumes animal form. A horse with a shaggy brown mane prances before you awkwardly, testing out the new form, trying to keep still enough for Chandle not to fall off.
“Oh incredible, you’re a shaggy strongback the perfect dwarven mount! I’ve never had the opportunity to ride such a magnificent and beautiful steed!! Onward Kallith my beauty!”
Chandle is overjoyed at this transformation, “Oh Crystal my sweet child, the stories I’ll have for you!”
OOC-My apologies, it was an oversight. I was in a rush ad skipped edit phase
Assuik offers Octo the larger of the two beasts, a magnificent mount with spunk and attitude. It accepts the large minotaur with a sense of joy. The horse nuzzles the flank of Kallith, showing excitement at her transformation. It prances around the new mare and ignores Octo's feeble attempts at control. It wants to play, following the shaggy horse towards the gate. Dornin, resigned climbs upon his own and follows quickly, the horse beneath him thrusting forward to catch up.
Oakhurst was a small village, barely noticeable in its sameness to any other way stop. A couple Inns, a provisioner and a scattering of houses are all that is noteworthy. Kallith leads, pushing hard down the road, setting a fast pace with the other two racing along beside. She keeps her form as long as she can, but slows after awhile not wanting to hurt the other two. Closing on two hours out she knows her ability to remain as a horse is coming close. A form can be seen on the road ahead, another, a mere dozen yards in front. Two horses lie dead on the road.
Kalliths form changes back as they near. The two horses seem unhurt, no wounds are evident but the froth on their flanks and the dried foam about the mouth belies the cause of their death. The assassins had pushed, too hard, too long and the poor beasts had burst their hearts.
The grass is trampled where the riders were thrown, but three sets of footprints and a single horse continued on from here. The Assassins are an easy hour ahead, or more, but on foot from here onward.
Kallith reverts, allow Chandle to step off, before hurrying over to the horses. The druid falls to her knees, inspects the heads of the animals, hoping against hope.
When she sees the lifeless eyes and the foam, she lets out a cry of anguish. "Those monsters!"
Her hands caress the drenched fur, gently rubbing away the foam.
Their quarry forgotten for a moment, Kallith closes the horses eyes and speaks a prayer over them. "May you find relief from your pain in the Beastlands. Let Iallanis hand guide you there my dear horses."
When she's done, she rubs her eyes. It was against her belief to swear revenge, but she felt like doing so anway.
Chandle having ridden bareback for a couple hours, does a few quick leg stretches. Then just out of curiosity tosses the scimitar and calls it to her hand. (Does it physically come to her or teleport through the ether?)
After that she looks for tracks…
survival 13
”Guys I just need to know what are your thoughts on poison? I think cowards and snakes use it, like these assassins but it can even the odds in an unfair fight too. It can also lead to legal trouble, so as a group, I’m asking should I keep it try and sell it or dispose of it? Thank you again Kallith that was amazing!”
(OOC: Sorry everyone for the late reply, had some issues getting into my account)
A stressful two hours as Dornin has never ridden horses in this nature before letting the beast do as it pleased and follow the others and hope for the best.
Coming from the rear, he sees Kallith hunched over the corpses of the horses. Dornin steps off his horse and stands beside her placing a calm hand on her shoulder. “We will make this right, I promise” he says. He looks to Octo and Chandle, “I wager we aren’t far behind, with the way they have been recklessly moving, I presume we may catch up. However, for everyone’s sake, we should sit for a while recover.” Dornin takes his pack and places it on the ground as a seat and pulls his pipe from within and takes long, deep puffs from it to relieve some stress.
Dornin stops, slumps and calls a short rest after the exhausting ride from the ranch. The horses were not pushed as hard as the Assasins's yet thy are tired from the exertion as well.
Short rest completed.
The assassins were thrown from the dying horses but landed in the shrubs and walked away. Three sets of prints and a set of hooves lead off, continuing down the trail towards the Trade Way and Port Llast, further on. The tracks are about an hour old, Kallith can agree with the timing of the death of the horses.
Chandle plays with her new toy, A tingle rises up into her palm and wrist when she grasps it. Chandle finds it takes a will just to drop or throw the blade, she, yes the blade prefers a softer side. She will not let go, will never leave Chandles side. She will always be there when needed. (The Scimitar can not be knocked from your hand unless incapacitated. It will leap into your grasp [appears as if teleporting] as a Bonus action)
The road to Port Llast is not long or far at this point, another two hours will have you at the gates. With only a couple hours of Sunlight left, dusk may well be upon you when you arrive. The Assassins must be arriving there now, with the lead they have.
How would you like to proceed?
Octo says to Chandle “Poison is a tool. Maybe not the noblest of tools, but it is a tool. There are worse things than poison out there.” He turns to look at the corpses of the horses, “Those who wish to kill, have an unlimited number of tools at their disposal. Some more cruel than others. I personally care not if you use this new found tool.”
He then turns to the broader group “While our rest may have given them a bit more of a start, it was necessary. I feel well rested and ready to move. Shall we make haste after the girl and the horse?”
Kallith sees to that the two horses they brought with them have enough grass and water, looking for a brook or spring. If none is to be found, she compliments the missing water with her water skin.
"If we ride, we should be able to move faster than they have. But let's leave the horses outside of any place we enter. I don't want to endanger them."
She hesitates, unsure of how to respond to Chandle. Inner turmoil is obvious on her face. Finally, as if pressing out the words: "I am against the use of such substances. It's underhanded and may kill without mercy. Even... those men. They don't deserve a death like that, even if they seek to be killed like the Bhaal cultists we fought back at the estate."
"If they surrender and still die, mercy dies with them. This is a grave sin." Kallith holds her amulet as if for reassurance. She looks at Octo with disappointment in her face at his opnenness to use such substances.
"I am rested. The horses and I should be able to make the rest of the trip with speed. Let us approach this port Llast with caution. Assuik said something about it being haunted."
When Octo speaks his mind, Chandle nods understandingly. What he says is true a scorpion is not evil for its venom. Then as Kallith speaks of mercy for those who may surrender rather then die…
”It is clear that we are not all in favor of dealing with poison. And I am to be honest a little relieved, I’ve never desired to kill in such a way. I will dispose of this then.”
Chandle attempts to dig a little pit and burn a little tinder, then she will pour in the poison when it is done, she will fill the pit back in. After a rest she is ready to continue on.
Dornin agrees with Chandles decision, even he wouldn’t stoop that low for survival. Now feeling well rested, he places his belongings upon the horse once again and is ready to take off.
The road remaining to Port Llast is not long, but neither is the day. Both seem to come to a close at the same time. The sun dipping over the horizon, far out to sea, painting the waves and the sky with a blood red hue. The eerie light splashes against the buildings in the ruined town below. The town stretches for miles, clinging to the hills and stretching as arms to embrace the shallow bay.
The buildings are crumbling, the timbers rotting and collapsing upon themselves. Great gaping holes in the roofs allow the wind, and rain to seep in and eat at the foundations. Stone towers lie collapsed and shattered, an old keep devastated by the chaos that destroyed the town and the inexorable decay of time. People can be seen below, wandering from street to street, a semblance of the life that once was. Without any fires, or lights, no smoke laden with the smell of food, no heat no warmth you realize it is not life in the streets but death. The citizens, those killed in the cataclysm of magic that swept the town and those that died shortly after have risen to haunt and wander these streets, in search of...something, life perhaps to consume.
While the dead wander the streets, three schooners sit moored out in the bay, their presence has drawn many of the walking dead to cluster around the docks. They are the only signs of life in the area, lights and lanterns illuminate the decks, and several crew, tiny as ants at this distance can be seen scrambling about the rigging, preparing to set sail. A rowboat has made its way out to one of them (#2) with your quarry, barely visible tossing a young woman, limp into the arms of the sailors, before climbing aboard themselves.
A schooner of that size takes more than a few minutes to set the sails, unmoor and move out to sea. If they do, you will have lost your chance. You hope you have an hour to make your way through the treacherous streets and somehow, board the schooner, or if not one of the others, but you feel an hour may be too long.
We will run this as a skill challenge.
You must get through the dead infested city, hordes of them that you do not want to attract or risk being overwhelmed quickly. You start at the Red dot to the North. It is nearly 2 miles straight South to the docks. The many red dots represent a Horde of dead that has clustered around the bay, attracted by the life aboard the schooners.
To perform a skill challenge, your group must get five (5) success, before you get three (3) failures. I see your goal as rescuing Isbiel from Schooner #2, but you may also attempt to reach at least one of the schooners before it leaves the bay. Feel free to discuss and determine a plan, but don't linger overly long in doing so, the schooners will not wait for a long discourse.
You must choose a skill, describe how it will be of use, and how you are using it to reach your desired goal. Then roll against a DC 12. You can not duplicate another characters skill choice, please choose a different skill than the other players.
Chandle would like to lead the way through shadows and narrow blind passages using her innate sense of stealth to not draw undue attention as they attempt to intercept their target.
Stealth 14 in game log
Dornin will attempt to use minor illusion to block the undead from seeing us using illusionary rocks, rubble, doors and anything else that can fit approximately in a 5x5 cube to distort sight. Additionally, if some undead get too close, he will make sounds in the opposite direction to hopefully draw them to another location.
(Deception:14) (If you feel that deception isn’t the right skill for this, my roll was 9)
Octo will look for a place where a road heads away from us, and downhill from where we want to go. He will then pick up the largest timber, or sphere-shaped stone he possibly can, and roll it down the hill to distract a horde or two away from our destination.
Athletics: 9
The timber rolls few a few feet and get stuck when the road collapses underneath it.
Kallith tries her best looking out for movement along the path, trying to spot undead ahead so the group can avoid them. Perception: 7
Once they get closer to the docks Chandle will leap into the open and use parcor to tumble twist leap and roll staying just out of reach giving the rest of the party an easier path to our target.
acrobatics 17
(3 successes 2 failures or we failed, I’m crossing my fingers)
OOC GROUP: We are teetering on the edge! Since we are one failure away, we should discuss some options (where is guidance/bless when you need it!) Anyone have any strong ideas with good skills?
I have advantage on survival, but +0 to it. I can use that to survival guide us around the undead.