Okay that hurt...tempting to try cripple the statue but staggering around with 1 hp left. It huts too hard. ..we better just wuthdraw and heal some.this cultist we chasing unless he takes a dinner break, potty break AND shirt nap he should be way ahead of us...

Ya gotta admire the tenacity of adventurers. 😅 To get hit sooooo hard that at full health, you are beaten nearly to death in one punch by a creature that seems mostly unfazed by your attacks, and your first thoughts are: "When I get up, I'm using this 1 hp of mine and this sword to KILL THE MOTHERF*CKER!!!" is the stuff of legends! And a perfect story to tell Paladine in heaven after round 2. 😆

Nare has warned you what the creature is, and while they named the creature insightfully, I'll say that the information given would be misleading or confusing to Sera. So, I'll give you a hint:

Not all creatures in my campaign are going to be beatable in a direct sense. I mostly run low level campaigns, but I've been known to have high CR monsters, like tarrasques, tromp their way through a wilderness where the adventurers are travelling... mainly just to add to the scenery, and to show that the outer world is still happening while the adventurers are developping their skills. Of course, those low level adventurers are welome to charge in and wack away at the tarrasque, only to end up in the afterlife, or swallowed whole inside the belly of the beast on a totally different kind of adventure. But a more effective solution (if the adventures don't want to have the visceral experience of fighting monsters and demons inside a digestive system) to the situation would've been for the low level adventurers to warn the town that's in the line of the tarrasque so they can be evacuated, and help facilitate their safety while the force-of-nature bumbles on through.

The creature in question here has some intelligence, but their knowledge of who is and isn't an ally is limited. Clearly, it has seen through your disguise, but as far as it's concerned, you're dead, and Sharn and Nare are naive acolytes who can clean up the mess while it returns to guard duty. Tidying up is not its responsibility. So, as long as the statue thinks you're dead, its job here is done.

So... I was invited into a bard campaign that fell through, but not before I got all excited about getting to play a bard idea I've been rolling around in my head for over a decade. She's around mid-level, and those kinds of campaigns are hard to get into, so I've never really had the opportunity to play her. Beause of my directive to never steal the spotlight from the main adventurers, I never play her in campaigns where I'm the DM. So... she's just been rattling around in my head all this time... changing slightly through the editions.

If your characters reach a level to where her presence would be acceptable, may I introduce her into the campaign? She's a bard/monk diva... combat capable, but more specifically, a performer, who conflates the battlefield with a performance hall. Her combat style is inspired by capoeira, and she travels with an entourage of back-up performers who play her theme song every time she enters the "stage". She's not evil... just self-obsessed and larger-than-life. Her main focus is on charm/buff/defuff. So while she wouldn't steal the spotlight in battle, she definitely steals the spotlight on stage. 

Now I did get a little feel of Orerana in your describing there ;) And I think it is important YOU also have npc you like. Joining in with a player-npc should be done without telling the players I think.Any of the npc you introduced so far could be a player-npc. I prefer be in the dark and act like normal. You would like to have us behave like normal too I belive. It provide a certain randomness, challenge and uncertanty to your character that be fun. 

I am totally fine getting beaten. And the initial responce was try destriy a strong asset to the Sargonnas cult. That statue is strong. It looks grim in Seras eyes the anount of power, monsters and resources they have seems strong. Above her leage.  But she cannot easy back down. Her god gave her a vision to come to the graveyard and as cleric. I play a bit fanatic then. Untill my dety show me something else. If Sera get a divine sign she go on...

As for player I enjoy a non linear game. Not meeting adjusted CR monsters is fine. Now meeting way to strong CR rating with no option is ofc plausible. But that is a story of unfortunate people getting to be monstersnack and a sad / boring story. Not the story we hope create.;)

Quote from Larskolstad >>

Now I did get a little feel of Orerana in your describing there ;) And I think it is important YOU also have npc you like. Joining in with a player-npc should be done without telling the players I think.Any of the npc you introduced so far could be a player-npc. I prefer be in the dark and act like normal. You would like to have us behave like normal too I belive. It provide a certain randomness, challenge and uncertanty to your character that be fun. 

 

Awesome! NPCs like Ororana are one thing. Compared to PCs, they are background. Even Ororana, with her potions and magic weapon, is no real match for any of you one-on-one, and she's considered to be pretty powerful in Santekh. My bard/monk would have class levels. She'd be genuinely powerful. She'd be a DMPC, which is (at least used to be) pretty frowned upon in DND. Class levels are usually reserved for BBEGs, or at least mini-bosses, and I almost never introduce them until a chapter of a story is coming to an end.

If everyone's up for it, I'll introduce her when I feel the time is right. I won't say more about her then, but you'll know when you see her. She's not subtle. 😅

Sounds good to me!

Quote from Larskolstad >>

I am totally fine getting beaten. And the initial responce was try destriy a strong asset to the Sargonnas cult. That statue is strong. It looks grim in Seras eyes the anount of power, monsters and resources they have seems strong. Above her leage.  But she cannot easy back down. Her god gave her a vision to come to the graveyard and as cleric. I play a bit fanatic then. Untill my dety show me something else. If Sera get a divine sign she go on...

As for player I enjoy a non linear game. Not meeting adjusted CR monsters is fine. Now meeting way to strong CR rating with no option is ofc plausible. But that is a story of unfortunate people getting to be monstersnack and a sad / boring story. Not the story we hope create.;) 

I always leave room for multiple solutions (and of course, players can always surprise me with solutions I never even thought of), unless the party specifically wants a TPK, at which point, I usually offer it as a cinematic. That one player in V1 of this game is the only player in my whole life to opt out of the cinematic to kill off their character.

I have run afterlife campaigns though. They can be pretty fun! The outer planes are a wild place, and logic can be a hindrance to creativity in those settings. It's perfectly conceivable to have an MC Escher room lead right into a neighboring chamber made of nothing but pink and purple mist. It's delightful. ☺️ And the monster selection is quite choice.

So... cheapjoke123 and  SunDial365 appear to have gone AFK for an unknown amount of time. Since we're in a dungeon (and split the campaign which leaves Sera just waiting), I'm going to assume control of their characters until they return. I don't know why my font is doing this. I can't get it to return back to normal. So, just assume this is a booming voice from the beyond.

I'm going to bed now. It's 1 AM here. But starting tomorrow, if Nare and Sharn don't show up in the IC with actions and dialog, I'll take over as interem DMPC.

The Internet is down at the house I'm at, and I simply cannot DM from my phone. I'll update once the Internet is back online.

No worries!

Regrettably, I'm going to temporarily write Sharn and Nare out of the game. They can rejoin when they log back in, but with Lars stuck waiting for the rest of the team to do something, Sera is kind of getting left behind in the adventure.

Hrothbert_Neruca I didn't forget you, but it's 1 am here, and mama needs some sleep. 😅

I'll update your findings tomorrow.

But since DND 5E doesn't have conventional treasure charts, I had to improvise. I sent Uncle a copy of what I whipped up, and here's what I did:

B = Trade Goods
C = Coins
D = Trade Bars
F = Gemstones
M = Art Objects
R = Magic Items

Pick a letter and roll d%. If you decide to search in R, message me with something of Rare value or less that you want. The closer to Common the item is, the wider the percentage break will be. If you choose consumables, a high roll may score you multiples of them. For anything else, you'll just get a higher value item the higher you roll. Trade goods are generally a bit heavy, so they might not be practical to take with you right now. No matter what you roll, you'll get something. And remember, anything you have can be traded or sold, even if it's slightly damaged. So even if you didn't get what you want, there are ways if you're in good with vendors or Buckeran.

Larskolstad, due to the dimlight range of the chalk, you won't be able to see the creatures while standing in total darkness. But you can see them from the shadows of the dim light. They, like most of the creatures down here, can see in total darkness anyway, but you can use the corner of the hallway for concealment. So, I'll carry on assuming you are doing that.

If you prefer to escape into the dark, we can always retcon the post.

I thought I could stand in darkness and see who entered the light. If not possible Sera try peek around the corner the what appears.

Something has been wrong with DND Beyond the last few days. Images aren't loading correctly. The creature looks kind of like a leather ball covered in eyes that can focus and search independantly. It has two chicken-feet sticking out the bottom, which it uses to scratch and claw with. Like a balloon, it can float, and has a flight speed. As it's floating, you can see a burbling oriface on its underside, where the haunting, childlike giggling is coming from. It speaks a language you don't understand, and the voice is distorted and burbling, similar to the sound of gas bubbles emitting from a bog. In spite of their disturbing appearance, their attitude generally seems playful and childlike, but in an unsettling way. Kind of like Pennywise the clown, but if the balloon was Pennywise.

They're weird little guys, and definitely do not seem to be from Krynn.

Ok, so Cheapjoke has to go Inactive for an unknown period of time. For now, just pretend he didn't go with the party into the sewers, and I'll script something that makes sense later. Maybe he got drunk at the party and slept it off.

Sundial should be re-joining us soon. I told them they could pop in wherever. We'll adjust encounters as needed.

Larskolstad to help you visualize the map mentally:

The corridor you are in bends northeast for about 5 feet.
After that, it turns east. That is where the light starts becoming bright, and you can see the first creature.

If you move northeast 10', you will be in melee range of the first creature, who somehow didn't spot you (my dice betrayed me). It's medium sized, so it takes up one tile. Past the first creature, there is an empty tile, then the next two tiles after that (still going straight East) there are two more creatures. You are only aware of three creatures. Lemme see if I can make a rudimentary map with characters.

 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
|_X_|/__|___|_B_|___|_R_|_G_|     
|/__|___|_X_|_X_|_X_|_X_|_X_|
|_S_|_X_|_X_|_X_|_X_|_X_|_X_|

That's basically right. X's represent impassible tiles (stone) and Forward slashes represent partial tiles.
B= Creature (Black)
R= Creature (Red)
G= Creature (Green)

And obviously S stands for Sera.

The two groups are about 130' from each other right now. No point loading a map if the maps won't load. But it's a straight shot west to follow the giggling sounds echoing off the walls.

I sure hope DNDBeyond gets their sh*t together. This is a map heavy game.

Giggling sound? The pointy ears are in for some smelly experience.. :D