For a brief moment, Dantefeels the fear rising as the shades swirl around him. Then he remembers what he came here for, who he came here for, and he steels himself against the horrifying sight.
Holm lets out a yelp of surprise as the specter materializes in front of him, scrambling back from it for a moment before it slashes horribly at one of the men in front of him. Quick as a flash, he takes aim and fires another concentrated pulse of red energy at it from the longer third metal arm of his bracer before glancing a risk backwards. "Move it, redhead! I don't think we want to see what that knight has in store for us!"
BA: Force Ballista for 8 force damage on the specter, and it is pushed back 5 ft. (Hopefully it's dead? 17 from Lucian probably halved to 8, 6 and then 8 from Holm, and 5–or maybe 2?–from Korran's AoA on that crit) Edit: realized I forgot my attack roll oops, 19 to hit
As Korran turned his face towards the front he found a specter ready to strike him down. He was running, dashing, when the arm fell and there was no time for him to balance his body and try a dodge. His muscles contracted, sudden and violent, as if they were cramping. His flesh felt cold and feverish at once. He would have screamed if the pain didn’t take his voice. The Armor of Agathys shattered, crystals of ice flying on the direction of the enemy.
“Helka.” He tried to scream, but his voice was little more than a whisper. Crystal of ice covered his body once more, taking the form of scale armor. Half bed is better than no bread at all, he thought clenching the jaw and hoping that little protection were enough to resist a next strike. His mind knew that the wounds changed nothing. It was better to save the healing for when one fell and no attack of his would make difference. Part of him wanted to focus on disengaging, but he knew the truth - if the specter had reached him there it would reach him in thirty feet. Dashing was still the option with the highest chances of survival. It was the option he took.
Notes: Con save rolled in the campaign log (13). Korran spends his bonus action to cast Armor of Agathys, his movement to move 30ft towards the portal and his action to move 30f more towards the portal.
Seeing how his small fires have been effective, Roland will cast another one between the two shades behind Dante hoping to ease his retreat. [the two not in the way to the portal so Dante doesn't have to run through the fire.]
He will then continue 30 feet towards the portal, accepting any opportunity attack from the one near him.
As the specter's claws rake through Korran, the frosty armor protecting him explodes, sending shards of ice tearing through the creature. A moment later it's blasted to pieces by the force blast of Holm's creation. Dantecuts down another of the shades, dodging an attack from the two remaining(Melee Group Attack: 14 to hit) as he escapes after the rest of the party. Behind him, a small blaze erupts between the shades(DEX Save: 6, 8 fire damage), burning away their forms.
In one moment, the black clad knight is walking through the flames of Roland'sbonfire, untouched(DEX Save: 14) by the fire. You blink, and he disappears in another puff of mist, appearing right behind Dantewith his longsword raised. You see veins of ice branching up the blade from the hilt as it comes crashing down on the warlock (Melee Attack: 13 to hit), who dodges the blow at the last moment. With the ease of a practiced swordsman the knight changes his grip on the weapon and flicks the blade back up at a terrifying speed (Melee Attack:24 to hit, 13 slashing damage, 6 cold damage). Shards of ice from Dante's frosty armor fly back into his attacker's face, but they don't appear to slow him down very much.
Tracking the movement of those still left behind him, Holm is ready this time when the shadowed knight suddenly appears behind the redhead covering their retreat. Barely pausing in his run, he fires another blast of red energy in the knight's direction. He lets out a whoop as it strikes true, and confident in the redhead's ability to take advantage of the distraction and escape, he continues to dash towards the portal.
BA: Force Ballista nat20 to hit for 14 force damage, and the knight is pushed back 5 ft. (into The Void?)
A: Dash
Movement: 45 ft. toward portal - BA across gap - 15 ft. toward portal
The arrow finds a gap in the knight's armor where helm meets breastplate. Even as a thick black liquid oozes from the gap, the man - or creature - still doesn't seem bothered by the damage. In the next instant, his breastplate is cracked inwards as the crackling red ball of energy slams into it. Briefly, the knight's hateful glare shows surprise as he's thrown off the edge.
In the background, the ever-present chant turns into a metallic roar...The world begins to crumble around you. Stone and brick cracks and breaks apart, falling into the foggy abyss below. Those of you still not at the portal pick up the pace, leaping over the holes that appear as the very ground falls away, struggling to stay upright as the entire realm shakes.
As the last of you arrives, you dive through the swirling vortex. Your vision briefly goes black as your entire body turns ice cold.
When your vision returns, you find yourself on the mountainside path, halfway between the village of Vault and the Temple of the Sacred Light. The marks etched into your skin flare, and the portal you came through begins to shrink until it dissipates into nothing.
Looking up towards the mountain, you can see its peak has been blown off. A massive tear in the fabric of reality itself sits above the ruined remains of the temple, leaking a sickly black ichor. Through the tear, you catch glimpses of the the ghostly blue and green sky of the realm you just fled. Abandoned tents and camping supplies line the road, and a gentle snow falls from the sky...
Lucian’s eyes open, and immediately he gets up, shivering. He rolls up his sleeve, studying his tattoo for a moment, before looking up the sky, to the ruined mountain… ”what could have caused this…” whispers the wood elf. “That rift… in the sky… is it not familiar…” he sighs, looking at his surroundings, then to the others. He quickly counts to make sure all of them are there.
he brushes off some snow from his jacket and approaches the others, helping them up and making sure they are all okay and not mortally wounded. “Is everyone… for the most part, alright?…”
Holm blinks the spots from his vision, reorienting himself after the strange feeling of passing between dimensions. His arm burns under the metal bracer, which he sends one final pulse of shielding energy through before willing the metal arms to retract and letting his sleeve fall back over it. His gaze follows the dark skinned elf's up toward the sky, and to where the temple should have stood.
"The mountain...there's no way anyone could've survived that." He looks around at his odd band of comrades, most of them seeming to be mages of some kind. "Yet somehow we did, thank the paragons. I'm fine, but this one took quite the hit back there," he says, holding out a hand to help the thin hammer-wielding mage to his feet. "I'm Holm, by the way. You all fight well, I doubt any of us could've survived whatever that realm was without the others."
Everyone can take 10 temp hp if you'd like (I think Korran still has AoA he may want to keep, but these won't expire until a long rest). Holm's eldritch cannon will hide out of sight for now, but is technically "active" for another 59 minutes or so, just as a note.
“Indeed… seems all of us are at least somewhat competent fighters. Oh, I’m Lucian, by the way.” He rolls up his sleeve again to observe his new tattoo around his forearm.
”I didn’t have this before… do you all have something like this too?” He asks, sitting down on the side of the road.
Roland holds out his arm, revealing the mark to the others, without looking at the others. He gazes straight ahead for a bit, until the little white animal bites him on the ear. He comes back to the moment slowly.
"I am Roland. I am the counsel, and body guard of the Prince. Though now, after what just happened, ..." he pauses. Then he stands up, "I am Roland from Loria."After another brief pause, he continues, "I don't know what just happened, I assume none of us do, but for now, we are together. We fought well and worked as a team. Considering we all have these same damn arm marks, well... Well I don't know what that means"he says looking around. "I guess for now, we stick together?"he says questioningly, then adds, "none of you seem to be sentinels, if so, speak up now."
"Some of you were hit by those undead, who needs healing? I can help."
Dante:The tents look abandoned enough to you. Though now that you've taken a closer look at them, you notice a few odd things. Tears in the canvas. The odd blood stain. But no bodies.
A certain poem proposes that some say the world will end in fire, others in ice. After crossing the portal Korran felt like he experienced both. The mark of his arm burned as darkness left his eyes. He accepted Holm’s help while standing up. For a moment even the sight of the destroyed temple was a welcome one. Then he noticed a wound in the sky, bleeding shadows.
“Korran of… Well, I’m a travelling bard so nowhere, everywhere, makes no difference really.” He said as the others started giving their names. His eyes turned to Roland. “The hit was kind of brutal, but it’s better to heal an ally only when he falls unconscious. The spell will have more impact then and we may need a different magic even if we don’1t fight again.” The armor of ice dissolved as he accepted the energy from the eldritch contraption. “We should look around, pick up anything useful and get away from here.” He dropped the wharhammer and materialized a scimitar on his right hand. The blunt weapon disappeared immediately. “Maybe go to Vault?”
Korran didn’t wait for an answer to start rummaging the supplies. Doubts still echoed on his mind. Were they saved by some higher being? If so, why? The mark on his forearm still flaring.
Notes: @DM, let me know if some check should be rolled.
Holm sighs, rolls up his sleeve once more, and goes to remove his bracer. The smooth, silvery metal comes to life as it did in the fight, and several thin strips of metal unlatch from around the underside of his arm almost like the legs of some large insect. Holding the now-open bracer in his left hand, he rotates his right arm to reveal a design of spiderwebbing red lightning on the inside of his forearm, surrounding a small metal plate embedded in the flesh with a faintly glowing ruby at its center. "It was...burning...during the fight. The voice, the knight, the portal, it seemed to all make it flare up. These marks, they must be related to why we survived." He looks to Roland. "Loria, huh? Sounds like someone had a bit of a sheltered upbringing if you think a sentinel would just announce their presence in a group of mages like this. They're smarter than that, you know.”
He looks up to the ruined mountain once more, the nonexistent temple and the rift. “Vault seems like the best move for now. I doubt we’ll find anything up there, and who knows what might pass through that rift in the next few days, given what we’ve already faced on the other side. Maybe we’ll find more survivors on the way down, or at least some usable supplies.” He allows the bracer to clamp back down on his arm, covering it with his sleeve out of habit, and moves to investigate some of the nearby tents for signs of life or available equipment (investigation18).
[[ Also, I will just say that 5r/5.5/2024/whatever did do an okay job at making healing better besides just when you're down. If Roland has cure wounds up, that's like a potential 20 hp of healing with just a level 1 slot, and I assume Korran doesn't have much more than that total. Just a thought, I'm not the injured one or the one with the healing spells prepared lol ;) ]]
Korran: Roll an investigation check and let me know what you're looking for.
Holm: Moving closer to the tents, it becomes immediately obvious that a bloody fight took place here. Some of the interiors are covered in blood, so much that its hard to believe whoever it was let from is still alive. Still though, you don't see any bodies. It's also apparent that this was a sentinel encampment, as you spot some of their heraldry within the tents. Much of the supplies appear to have been picked clean, though as you move further up the path towards the mountain you're able to find a few things worth keeping:
For a brief moment, Dante feels the fear rising as the shades swirl around him. Then he remembers what he came here for, who he came here for, and he steels himself against the horrifying sight.
(No effect)
Holm lets out a yelp of surprise as the specter materializes in front of him, scrambling back from it for a moment before it slashes horribly at one of the men in front of him. Quick as a flash, he takes aim and fires another concentrated pulse of red energy at it from the longer third metal arm of his bracer before glancing a risk backwards. "Move it, redhead! I don't think we want to see what that knight has in store for us!"
BA: Force Ballista for 8 force damage on the specter, and it is pushed back 5 ft. (Hopefully it's dead? 17 from Lucian probably halved to 8, 6 and then 8 from Holm, and 5–or maybe 2?–from Korran's AoA on that crit) Edit: realized I forgot my attack roll oops, 19 to hit
A: Dash
Movement: 60 ft. towards portal
As Korran turned his face towards the front he found a specter ready to strike him down. He was running, dashing, when the arm fell and there was no time for him to balance his body and try a dodge. His muscles contracted, sudden and violent, as if they were cramping. His flesh felt cold and feverish at once. He would have screamed if the pain didn’t take his voice. The Armor of Agathys shattered, crystals of ice flying on the direction of the enemy.
“Helka.” He tried to scream, but his voice was little more than a whisper. Crystal of ice covered his body once more, taking the form of scale armor. Half bed is better than no bread at all, he thought clenching the jaw and hoping that little protection were enough to resist a next strike. His mind knew that the wounds changed nothing. It was better to save the healing for when one fell and no attack of his would make difference. Part of him wanted to focus on disengaging, but he knew the truth - if the specter had reached him there it would reach him in thirty feet. Dashing was still the option with the highest chances of survival. It was the option he took.
Notes: Con save rolled in the campaign log (13). Korran spends his bonus action to cast Armor of Agathys, his movement to move 30ft towards the portal and his action to move 30f more towards the portal.
Seeing how his small fires have been effective, Roland will cast another one between the two shades behind Dante hoping to ease his retreat. [the two not in the way to the portal so Dante doesn't have to run through the fire.]
He will then continue 30 feet towards the portal, accepting any opportunity attack from the one near him.
As the specter's claws rake through Korran, the frosty armor protecting him explodes, sending shards of ice tearing through the creature. A moment later it's blasted to pieces by the force blast of Holm's creation. Dante cuts down another of the shades, dodging an attack from the two remaining(Melee Group Attack: 14 to hit) as he escapes after the rest of the party. Behind him, a small blaze erupts between the shades(DEX Save: 6, 8 fire damage), burning away their forms.
Lucian is up!
”Come on! Go, go, go!” he urges his new companions to hurry, not wanting to leave any of them behind.
he readies his action to fire an arrow if any enemies appear or enter within 80 feet of him.
In one moment, the black clad knight is walking through the flames of Roland's bonfire, untouched(DEX Save: 14) by the fire. You blink, and he disappears in another puff of mist, appearing right behind Dante with his longsword raised. You see veins of ice branching up the blade from the hilt as it comes crashing down on the warlock (Melee Attack: 13 to hit), who dodges the blow at the last moment. With the ease of a practiced swordsman the knight changes his grip on the weapon and flicks the blade back up at a terrifying speed (Melee Attack: 24 to hit, 13 slashing damage, 6 cold damage). Shards of ice from Dante's frosty armor fly back into his attacker's face, but they don't appear to slow him down very much.
Lucian's readied action is triggered.
Initiative returns to the player characters!
Attack reaction against the knight:
to hit: 24 damage: 3 (and no sneak attack in this case i believe, since it’s not Lucian’s turn?)
If Sneak attack does apply: 7
Tracking the movement of those still left behind him, Holm is ready this time when the shadowed knight suddenly appears behind the redhead covering their retreat. Barely pausing in his run, he fires another blast of red energy in the knight's direction. He lets out a whoop as it strikes true, and confident in the redhead's ability to take advantage of the distraction and escape, he continues to dash towards the portal.
BA: Force Ballista nat 20 to hit for 14 force damage, and the knight is pushed back 5 ft. (into The Void?)
A: Dash
Movement: 45 ft. toward portal - BA across gap - 15 ft. toward portal
Extra damage for Lucian’s attack because I forgot to roll extra damage for the critical hit!
15
The arrow finds a gap in the knight's armor where helm meets breastplate. Even as a thick black liquid oozes from the gap, the man - or creature - still doesn't seem bothered by the damage. In the next instant, his breastplate is cracked inwards as the crackling red ball of energy slams into it. Briefly, the knight's hateful glare shows surprise as he's thrown off the edge.
In the background, the ever-present chant turns into a metallic roar...The world begins to crumble around you. Stone and brick cracks and breaks apart, falling into the foggy abyss below. Those of you still not at the portal pick up the pace, leaping over the holes that appear as the very ground falls away, struggling to stay upright as the entire realm shakes.
As the last of you arrives, you dive through the swirling vortex. Your vision briefly goes black as your entire body turns ice cold.
When your vision returns, you find yourself on the mountainside path, halfway between the village of Vault and the Temple of the Sacred Light. The marks etched into your skin flare, and the portal you came through begins to shrink until it dissipates into nothing.
Looking up towards the mountain, you can see its peak has been blown off. A massive tear in the fabric of reality itself sits above the ruined remains of the temple, leaking a sickly black ichor. Through the tear, you catch glimpses of the the ghostly blue and green sky of the realm you just fled. Abandoned tents and camping supplies line the road, and a gentle snow falls from the sky...
Out of initiative!
Lucian’s eyes open, and immediately he gets up, shivering. He rolls up his sleeve, studying his tattoo for a moment, before looking up the sky, to the ruined mountain… ”what could have caused this…” whispers the wood elf. “That rift… in the sky… is it not familiar…” he sighs, looking at his surroundings, then to the others. He quickly counts to make sure all of them are there.
he brushes off some snow from his jacket and approaches the others, helping them up and making sure they are all okay and not mortally wounded. “Is everyone… for the most part, alright?…”
Holm blinks the spots from his vision, reorienting himself after the strange feeling of passing between dimensions. His arm burns under the metal bracer, which he sends one final pulse of shielding energy through before willing the metal arms to retract and letting his sleeve fall back over it. His gaze follows the dark skinned elf's up toward the sky, and to where the temple should have stood.
"The mountain...there's no way anyone could've survived that." He looks around at his odd band of comrades, most of them seeming to be mages of some kind. "Yet somehow we did, thank the paragons. I'm fine, but this one took quite the hit back there," he says, holding out a hand to help the thin hammer-wielding mage to his feet. "I'm Holm, by the way. You all fight well, I doubt any of us could've survived whatever that realm was without the others."
Everyone can take 10 temp hp if you'd like (I think Korran still has AoA he may want to keep, but these won't expire until a long rest). Holm's eldritch cannon will hide out of sight for now, but is technically "active" for another 59 minutes or so, just as a note.
“Indeed… seems all of us are at least somewhat competent fighters. Oh, I’m Lucian, by the way.” He rolls up his sleeve again to observe his new tattoo around his forearm.
”I didn’t have this before… do you all have something like this too?” He asks, sitting down on the side of the road.
Roland holds out his arm, revealing the mark to the others, without looking at the others. He gazes straight ahead for a bit, until the little white animal bites him on the ear. He comes back to the moment slowly.
"I am Roland. I am the counsel, and body guard of the Prince. Though now, after what just happened, ..." he pauses. Then he stands up, "I am Roland from Loria." After another brief pause, he continues, "I don't know what just happened, I assume none of us do, but for now, we are together. We fought well and worked as a team. Considering we all have these same damn arm marks, well... Well I don't know what that means" he says looking around. "I guess for now, we stick together?" he says questioningly, then adds, "none of you seem to be sentinels, if so, speak up now."
"Some of you were hit by those undead, who needs healing? I can help."
Dante: The tents look abandoned enough to you. Though now that you've taken a closer look at them, you notice a few odd things. Tears in the canvas. The odd blood stain. But no bodies.
A certain poem proposes that some say the world will end in fire, others in ice. After crossing the portal Korran felt like he experienced both. The mark of his arm burned as darkness left his eyes. He accepted Holm’s help while standing up. For a moment even the sight of the destroyed temple was a welcome one. Then he noticed a wound in the sky, bleeding shadows.
“Korran of… Well, I’m a travelling bard so nowhere, everywhere, makes no difference really.” He said as the others started giving their names. His eyes turned to Roland. “The hit was kind of brutal, but it’s better to heal an ally only when he falls unconscious. The spell will have more impact then and we may need a different magic even if we don’1t fight again.” The armor of ice dissolved as he accepted the energy from the eldritch contraption. “We should look around, pick up anything useful and get away from here.” He dropped the wharhammer and materialized a scimitar on his right hand. The blunt weapon disappeared immediately. “Maybe go to Vault?”
Korran didn’t wait for an answer to start rummaging the supplies. Doubts still echoed on his mind. Were they saved by some higher being? If so, why? The mark on his forearm still flaring.
Notes: @DM, let me know if some check should be rolled.
Holm sighs, rolls up his sleeve once more, and goes to remove his bracer. The smooth, silvery metal comes to life as it did in the fight, and several thin strips of metal unlatch from around the underside of his arm almost like the legs of some large insect. Holding the now-open bracer in his left hand, he rotates his right arm to reveal a design of spiderwebbing red lightning on the inside of his forearm, surrounding a small metal plate embedded in the flesh with a faintly glowing ruby at its center. "It was...burning...during the fight. The voice, the knight, the portal, it seemed to all make it flare up. These marks, they must be related to why we survived." He looks to Roland. "Loria, huh? Sounds like someone had a bit of a sheltered upbringing if you think a sentinel would just announce their presence in a group of mages like this. They're smarter than that, you know.”
He looks up to the ruined mountain once more, the nonexistent temple and the rift. “Vault seems like the best move for now. I doubt we’ll find anything up there, and who knows what might pass through that rift in the next few days, given what we’ve already faced on the other side. Maybe we’ll find more survivors on the way down, or at least some usable supplies.” He allows the bracer to clamp back down on his arm, covering it with his sleeve out of habit, and moves to investigate some of the nearby tents for signs of life or available equipment (investigation 18).
[[ Also, I will just say that 5r/5.5/2024/whatever did do an okay job at making healing better besides just when you're down. If Roland has cure wounds up, that's like a potential 20 hp of healing with just a level 1 slot, and I assume Korran doesn't have much more than that total. Just a thought, I'm not the injured one or the one with the healing spells prepared lol ;) ]]
Korran: Roll an investigation check and let me know what you're looking for.
Holm: Moving closer to the tents, it becomes immediately obvious that a bloody fight took place here. Some of the interiors are covered in blood, so much that its hard to believe whoever it was let from is still alive. Still though, you don't see any bodies. It's also apparent that this was a sentinel encampment, as you spot some of their heraldry within the tents. Much of the supplies appear to have been picked clean, though as you move further up the path towards the mountain you're able to find a few things worth keeping:
OoC: If there are specific items or types of things you're looking for, let me know. Otherwise I'll just keep rollin' on a table.