Erudisia’s eyes are lingering on the shattered face of the mirror as the demon’s face spits its fire, unable to do more than recognise the flash of flame before Meredith is pushing her behind herself.
Scorching flames rush from the devil’s mouth, blisteringly hot and projecting far enough to turn a dozen men to ash. Meredith and Erudisia throw themselves flat against the door, under the flame but not in its direct path, and survive (although each suffers 10HP of fire damage, having failed the saving throw).
The flames stop a few moments later. Examining the magical devil’s face, you anticipate that the warding power will recharge, perhaps as early as the coming dawn. Meanwhile, the heavy doors remain, and you find that they are impassable. Your spirits fall when you discern the faint green magical aura tracing around its edges… a pass card is needed to enter.
The young wizard definitely thinks ‘Grantersonchick’ was spun up at the spur of the moment. ‘Jersey’?… hard to say. He seems surprised by the hug, stands there with far less aplomb than he had earlier demonstrated, but you both hear yells coming from the docks. About 20 people are piled into a boat that can accommodate only half as many, and demanding the poor boatman to row them upstream. “Has everyone gone crazy?,” Jersey wonders aloud, and starts moving toward the boat as it tips precariously. Bell might catch his sea-blue eyes glancing a final time over his shoulder at her before he lopes past the slot machines.
(Security guards had exited their offices and ran past the hearth to the tournament room a moment before Meredith and Erudisia disappeared into the same door they’d just exited. Bell would have counted seven or eight guards — all the ones previously on the casino floor and more — who entered the tournament room.)
As she nears it, Bell hears a series of noises from the tournament room: a shout, another expectant gasp from the crowd, and then a huge shattering crash, followed by a — surely arcane — zapping noise, itself followed by a moment of surprised silence, then screeches and shouts from the crowd and a rushing stampede out of the tournament room. Past them, Bell doesn't see Little One or Marliza, but the room entrance will surely be vacant within moments...
Bell has a sudden sinking feeling… Meredith and Erudisia have been gone too long. Instinct? A gut feeling? Something tells her that they’re in trouble.
As the small peal of thunder quietens from the attempt to batter the vault door, and her angry burns — with their concerning central patches of white and black painless eschar — revert as if washed over by the water of a fast flowing brook, Erudisia thanks Meredith.
“Stupid? No, not that. Not you. Not I and not Belle. Certainly not Little One. Stupid would be to cease to try. Unwise would be to accept this effort as lost. Folly would be to parcel this venture under our regrets and consign it to memory. We are still here. This is our adventure. We are clever. Let us find out how.”
Erudisia smoothes the dress that Meredith’s magic has not affected. Its plum is now streaked with soot and its edges ragged and witchy.
”I like it more now.”
Erudisia inspects the Demon-face trap. Is there a hole? Does it open into the Vault?
Erudisia casts Eldritch Blast at the vault door, to test if it can resist her thunderous magic entirely.
Her lungs feel scalded and every breath is hot and raw.
Attack: 14
Damage: 10 force, 2 thunder.
Erudisia knows that her Eldritch Blasts, in time, can destroy a normal wooden door in less than a minute (AC 15, 18HP). But for an arcane-locked, metal reinforced door like this one? (AC29, 72HP.) One out of 20 blasts causes an average of 10.5HP, so, call it 140 blasts to take down the door. I'm going to say this will take (1d3+1)x10 minutes. And, for every 10 minutes, Erudisia will suffer a cumulative level of exhaustion due to overtaxing her arcane stamina. The corridor will tremble with the force of Erudisia's thunderous magic throughout this period. Fortunately, the likelihood of causing a rift in the Weave due to too many spells being cast in the same location, or, on the other hand, of Erudisia's patron cutting off his allowance of magical power, is very extremely miniscule, so that's good news...
As the small peal of thunder quietens from the attempt to batter the vault door, and her angry burns — with their concerning central patches of white and black painless eschar — revert as if washed over by the water of a fast flowing brook, Erudisia thanks Meredith.
“Stupid? No, not that. Not you. Not I and not Belle. Certainly not Little One. Stupid would be to cease to try. Unwise would be to accept this effort as lost. Folly would be to parcel this venture under our regrets and consign it to memory. We are still here. This is our adventure. We are clever. Let us find out how.”
Erudisia smoothes the dress that Meredith’s magic has not affected. Its plum is now streaked with soot and its edges ragged and witchy.
”I like it more now.”
Erudisia inspects the Demon-face trap. Is there a hole? Does it open into the Vault?
Meredith summons her Mage Hand and looks for anything that she can help with....
Neither one discovers anything. There is no hole into the vault door, and although Meredith's mage hand floats at the ready, it has no more power to open the door than either of our heroines.
(1d6 rolled a 3, taking 1 and 2 as 1, 3 and 4 as 2 and 5 and 6 as 3, if that makes sense. so 2+1 for 30 minutes of Eldritch Blasting endurance training and 3 levels of. Exhaustion!)
Erudisia has sweat dripping down her brow by the time the vault doors bend inward, rent open by her magic. Her tongue feels fat in her mouth, her stomach is queasy, and she wobbles with each step. But. But, she did it. The way is not shut.
(exhaustion 3: disadvantage on ability check, saving throws, attack rolls and halves speed).
(1d6 rolled a 3, taking 1 and 2 as 1, 3 and 4 as 2 and 5 and 6 as 3, if that makes sense. so 2+1 for 30 minutes of Eldritch Blasting endurance training and 3 levels of. Exhaustion!)
Erudisia has sweat dripping down her brow by the time the vault doors bend inward, rent open by her magic. Her tongue feels fat in her mouth, her stomach is queasy, and she wobbles with each step. But. But, she did it. The way is not shut.
(exhaustion 3: disadvantage on ability check, saving throws, attack rolls and halves speed).
(However… let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Much can happen in 30 minutes.)
Erudisia braces herself, ready to begin the endurance trial of her life. She sees, almost in a flash, a vision of herself should she succeed the effect and the exhaustion she’ll endure, however long it takes — uninterrupted. She sets her shoulders and breathes and …
Bell, takes a moment to watch her casino hero, 'Jersey' rush over to help with those trying to overcrowd the boats to escape the chaos in the casino.
As she nears it, Bell hears a series of noises from the tournament room: a shout, another expectant gasp from the crowd, and then a huge shattering crash, followed by a — surely arcane — zapping noise, itself followed by a moment of surprised silence, then screeches and shouts from the crowd and a rushing stampede out of the tournament room. Past them, Bell doesn't see Little One or Marliza, but the room entrance will surely be vacant within moments...
Slipping in the tournament area,Bell tries to take in the situation. {game log} Perception: 16
To help the stragglers along, she will get creative with her Prestidigitations - making showers of sparks randomly fall from light globes and mirrored screens -- simulating sparking power issues and intertwining that with heating up clothing to make those still nearby to fear that a fire is about to start.
>>> Bell hopes she can get to Little One between crashes and arcane blasts to whisper to him about Meredith, Erudisia, and Marliza and how it's been too long since she last laid eyes on any of the three.
>>> 'Getting close' might involve standing between Little One and any attacking bodies and going 'full spread eagle' pose to get his attention.... and maybe grab an arm and get tossed about like a ragdoll until she can climb close to his ear. :p
When the retreating crowd – which retreats even faster with Bell’s prestidigitatory urgings – allows Bell to enter the tournament room, she might be surprised at the change in ambiance now from how it had been five minutes ago before the confrontations. The far side of the room is a mess. Tables and chairs are upset, the trophy case has been smashed, and the trophy itself is gone. All of the invited tournament players, whose tables are the smashed ones, and six security guards are lying on the ground within fifteen feet of the smashed trophy case. They seem to be experiencing a group seizure. Little One is still where he was before, but is being pestered by two guards who hold their billy clubs in hand. They are insisting that he “relax.”
“I am relaxed, and there is no need to be upset with me. The aarakocra is the one you should be speaking to.”
“Where?,” they ask, for the aarakocra is nowhere to be seen. Bell, in hindsight, might have clocked him skulking past her, hidden by the crowd. Little One shrugs in response to the guards, finds Bell’s eyes over their shoulders, and asks with his expression, ‘are we good?’
A sudden motion from the shadows near Bell reveals itself as Marliza slipping out from behind an overturned table. The young woman is carrying a coat over crossed arms and looking over her shoulder, at the guards. She steps close to Bell and whispers, “Where are the others?”
Belljumps as Marliza 'suddenly' appears at her side and whispers in her ear.
Trying to appear casual, Bell will stage whisper to Marliza, "They got in but they haven't come out."
Turning to look at the guards, she will call to them. "I saw the cheater pass me as I came in. He seemed to be mixing into the crowds trying to board the boats."
Marliza nods in response to Bell. Her eyes point to the coat over her arms and she then, focusing on the guards, twists up the coat for a brief moment. Long enough for Bell to see the golden erinyes statuette well-concealed underneath it.
When Bell interrupts the guards, they turn to glare, but only for a moment. Their glances soften and it is just when they step back from Little One — perhaps relieved a confrontation with the ogre would not be necessary—and nod thanks to Bell that the young wizard sees, just out of the corner of her eye, a winged figure leaping off the terrace and into the night, its wings flapping in haste.
The guards, facing Bell and therefore not seeing what she sees, now turn and stride away in the opposite direction, toward the docks.
Little One joins Bell. “Now what?,” he rumbles.
From the docks, screams erupt as the boat completely tips, dumping a dozen souls into the water. There is a general commotion.
"Here." Marliza hands Bell a security pass card, also from under her jacket. "One of the waiters was zapped with everyone else when the trophy case shattered."
"Not bad aim, if I say so myself," Little One rumbles. Marliza rolls her eyes but Bell sees a corner of her mouth turn up appreciatively. "Come on," the teenager says. She slinks across the casino floor, throwing glances left and right and leading you to the same security door near the bar through which Meredith and Erudisia passed earlier. The security mirror above it is still fogged. With Little One standing in the door to block the view of any onlookers, Marliza whispers, "Swipe us in. My hands are full with the statuette."
Presuming you enter, you find yourself in a 60' long hallway with a security mirror at its end scrutinizing your every move. 20' down the hall, there is a closed door on either side.
Meredith & Erudisia
Five minutes have passed, and Erudisia has begun to feel the strain of her arcane exertions when, between blasts, our two trapped heroines hear a voice from behind them. A high tenor with a bright nasal twang and a supercilious air.
“If it’s riches you are after, is it really necessary to destroy everything in your path to get it?”
If they look behind them they see no one… but the air is less stale, which the small hairs on their arms feel despite the tingle of force energy from Erudisia’s repeated blasts that radiates slightly from the door. Which barely shows a scratch. The air is less stale, meaning the door through which they entered this L-shaped corridor is, or was, opened or is open. Someone – or more than one– could be hiding around the corner.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Meredith giggled, " Sorry, we got a bit carried away. A few too many cocktails perhaps."
" Quentin Togglepocket? OMG!! Is that you? Talulah Lavish, we met in Neverwinter......oh, goodness was that two years ago....more I think. This brain of mine i swear it would wander off if I wasn't careful."
" I was just a croupier back then before.....well......we all make deals don't we?"
" Some for the better......and others....Very Much Not So."
" Dnatsrednu?*"
* Cast Comprehend languages.
Deception- 15 ( Do I know you)
Persuasion- 19 ( I know something)
Intimidation- 9 ( Something you don't know)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Merediths eyes widen and she pushes Erudisia out of the path of the fire.
Dex Save- 9
Erudisia’s eyes are lingering on the shattered face of the mirror as the demon’s face spits its fire, unable to do more than recognise the flash of flame before Meredith is pushing her behind herself.
“Meredith!”
DEX save: 12
Scorching flames rush from the devil’s mouth, blisteringly hot and projecting far enough to turn a dozen men to ash. Meredith and Erudisia throw themselves flat against the door, under the flame but not in its direct path, and survive (although each suffers 10HP of fire damage, having failed the saving throw).
The flames stop a few moments later. Examining the magical devil’s face, you anticipate that the warding power will recharge, perhaps as early as the coming dawn. Meanwhile, the heavy doors remain, and you find that they are impassable. Your spirits fall when you discern the faint green magical aura tracing around its edges… a pass card is needed to enter.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Bell has a sudden sinking feeling… Meredith and Erudisia have been gone too long. Instinct? A gut feeling? Something tells her that they’re in trouble.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Erudisia casts Eldritch Blast at the vault door, to test if it can resist her thunderous magic entirely.
Her lungs feel scalded and every breath is hot and raw.
Attack: 14
Damage: 10 force, 2 thunder.
Meredith looks crestfallen, " Sorry......this is all my fault....I'm too stupid for this."
She held Erudisias hand for a moment and a cool sensation rippled through Erudisia.
" Also, your dress was awesome and now its all burned. Do you think Bell is ok?"
( Cure Wounds- 16 )
As the small peal of thunder quietens from the attempt to batter the vault door, and her angry burns — with their concerning central patches of white and black painless eschar — revert as if washed over by the water of a fast flowing brook, Erudisia thanks Meredith.
“Stupid? No, not that. Not you. Not I and not Belle. Certainly not Little One. Stupid would be to cease to try. Unwise would be to accept this effort as lost. Folly would be to parcel this venture under our regrets and consign it to memory. We are still here. This is our adventure. We are clever. Let us find out how.”
Erudisia smoothes the dress that Meredith’s magic has not affected. Its plum is now streaked with soot and its edges ragged and witchy.
”I like it more now.”
Erudisia inspects the Demon-face trap. Is there a hole? Does it open into the Vault?
Meredith summons her Mage Hand and looks for anything that she can help with....
Erudisia knows that her Eldritch Blasts, in time, can destroy a normal wooden door in less than a minute (AC 15, 18HP). But for an arcane-locked, metal reinforced door like this one? (AC29, 72HP.) One out of 20 blasts causes an average of 10.5HP, so, call it 140 blasts to take down the door. I'm going to say this will take (1d3+1)x10 minutes. And, for every 10 minutes, Erudisia will suffer a cumulative level of exhaustion due to overtaxing her arcane stamina. The corridor will tremble with the force of Erudisia's thunderous magic throughout this period. Fortunately, the likelihood of causing a rift in the Weave due to too many spells being cast in the same location, or, on the other hand, of Erudisia's patron cutting off his allowance of magical power, is very extremely miniscule, so that's good news...
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Neither one discovers anything. There is no hole into the vault door, and although Meredith's mage hand floats at the ready, it has no more power to open the door than either of our heroines.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
(1d6 rolled a 3, taking 1 and 2 as 1, 3 and 4 as 2 and 5 and 6 as 3, if that makes sense. so 2+1 for 30 minutes of Eldritch Blasting endurance training and 3 levels of. Exhaustion!)
Erudisia has sweat dripping down her brow by the time the vault doors bend inward, rent open by her magic. Her tongue feels fat in her mouth, her stomach is queasy, and she wobbles with each step. But. But, she did it. The way is not shut.
(exhaustion 3: disadvantage on ability check, saving throws, attack rolls and halves speed).
(However… let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Much can happen in 30 minutes.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Erudisia braces herself, ready to begin the endurance trial of her life. She sees, almost in a flash, a vision of herself should she succeed the effect and the exhaustion she’ll endure, however long it takes — uninterrupted. She sets her shoulders and breathes and …
Bell, takes a moment to watch her casino hero, 'Jersey' rush over to help with those trying to overcrowd the boats to escape the chaos in the casino.
Slipping in the tournament area, Bell tries to take in the situation. {game log} Perception: 16
To help the stragglers along, she will get creative with her Prestidigitations - making showers of sparks randomly fall from light globes and mirrored screens -- simulating sparking power issues and intertwining that with heating up clothing to make those still nearby to fear that a fire is about to start.
>>> Bell hopes she can get to Little One between crashes and arcane blasts to whisper to him about Meredith, Erudisia, and Marliza and how it's been too long since she last laid eyes on any of the three.
>>> 'Getting close' might involve standing between Little One and any attacking bodies and going 'full spread eagle' pose to get his attention.... and maybe grab an arm and get tossed about like a ragdoll until she can climb close to his ear. :p
Bell
When the retreating crowd – which retreats even faster with Bell’s prestidigitatory urgings – allows Bell to enter the tournament room, she might be surprised at the change in ambiance now from how it had been five minutes ago before the confrontations. The far side of the room is a mess. Tables and chairs are upset, the trophy case has been smashed, and the trophy itself is gone. All of the invited tournament players, whose tables are the smashed ones, and six security guards are lying on the ground within fifteen feet of the smashed trophy case. They seem to be experiencing a group seizure. Little One is still where he was before, but is being pestered by two guards who hold their billy clubs in hand. They are insisting that he “relax.”
“I am relaxed, and there is no need to be upset with me. The aarakocra is the one you should be speaking to.”
“Where?,” they ask, for the aarakocra is nowhere to be seen. Bell, in hindsight, might have clocked him skulking past her, hidden by the crowd. Little One shrugs in response to the guards, finds Bell’s eyes over their shoulders, and asks with his expression, ‘are we good?’
A sudden motion from the shadows near Bell reveals itself as Marliza slipping out from behind an overturned table. The young woman is carrying a coat over crossed arms and looking over her shoulder, at the guards. She steps close to Bell and whispers, “Where are the others?”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Bell jumps as Marliza 'suddenly' appears at her side and whispers in her ear.
Trying to appear casual, Bell will stage whisper to Marliza, "They got in but they haven't come out."
Turning to look at the guards, she will call to them. "I saw the cheater pass me as I came in. He seemed to be mixing into the crowds trying to board the boats."
Marliza nods in response to Bell. Her eyes point to the coat over her arms and she then, focusing on the guards, twists up the coat for a brief moment. Long enough for Bell to see the golden erinyes statuette well-concealed underneath it.
When Bell interrupts the guards, they turn to glare, but only for a moment. Their glances soften and it is just when they step back from Little One — perhaps relieved a confrontation with the ogre would not be necessary—and nod thanks to Bell that the young wizard sees, just out of the corner of her eye, a winged figure leaping off the terrace and into the night, its wings flapping in haste.
The guards, facing Bell and therefore not seeing what she sees, now turn and stride away in the opposite direction, toward the docks.
Little One joins Bell. “Now what?,” he rumbles.
From the docks, screams erupt as the boat completely tips, dumping a dozen souls into the water. There is a general commotion.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
"Now we go help Meredith and Erudisia so we can get out of here!"
Bell
"Here." Marliza hands Bell a security pass card, also from under her jacket. "One of the waiters was zapped with everyone else when the trophy case shattered."
"Not bad aim, if I say so myself," Little One rumbles. Marliza rolls her eyes but Bell sees a corner of her mouth turn up appreciatively. "Come on," the teenager says. She slinks across the casino floor, throwing glances left and right and leading you to the same security door near the bar through which Meredith and Erudisia passed earlier. The security mirror above it is still fogged. With Little One standing in the door to block the view of any onlookers, Marliza whispers, "Swipe us in. My hands are full with the statuette."
Presuming you enter, you find yourself in a 60' long hallway with a security mirror at its end scrutinizing your every move. 20' down the hall, there is a closed door on either side.
Meredith & Erudisia
Five minutes have passed, and Erudisia has begun to feel the strain of her arcane exertions when, between blasts, our two trapped heroines hear a voice from behind them. A high tenor with a bright nasal twang and a supercilious air.
“If it’s riches you are after, is it really necessary to destroy everything in your path to get it?”
If they look behind them they see no one… but the air is less stale, which the small hairs on their arms feel despite the tingle of force energy from Erudisia’s repeated blasts that radiates slightly from the door. Which barely shows a scratch. The air is less stale, meaning the door through which they entered this L-shaped corridor is, or was, opened or is open. Someone – or more than one– could be hiding around the corner.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Meredith giggled, " Sorry, we got a bit carried away. A few too many cocktails perhaps."
" Quentin Togglepocket? OMG!! Is that you? Talulah Lavish, we met in Neverwinter......oh, goodness was that two years ago....more I think. This brain of mine i swear it would wander off if I wasn't careful."
" I was just a croupier back then before.....well......we all make deals don't we?"
" Some for the better......and others....Very Much Not So."
" Dnatsrednu?*"
* Cast Comprehend languages.
Deception- 15 ( Do I know you)
Persuasion- 19 ( I know something)
Intimidation- 9 ( Something you don't know)