Residue of Sorrow

If Arren holds a rope for Bryn to climb down, I'll need Arren to make a Strength check, and Bryn to make an Athletics check.

Please be sure you both agree on this before rolling, I'd rather your choice not be affected by seeing the result of the check.

Bryn nods back to Arren and shrugs off his pack. "Sounds sensible", he whispers as he hands the pack over. "Better to be a light load than a loud one".

He makes sure to keep Emil's bow with him, along with weapons discreetly arrayed on his person, just in case.

"There is a fair distance the message will cover, but it isn't unlimited, you are right. Over 100ft though", he explains as he takes hold of the end of the rope and ties it around his waist.

Checking Arren’s footing one last time, he edges over the lip of the cliff, testing the tension before beginning his descent into the dim light of the chamber below. As he descends he keeps his new found senses trained on the vertical surface of the rock, looking for hand holds he can use to remove some of the burden from Arren.

Action: Athletics: 11+1=12
Movement: Down the cliff face

Arren checks his footing as well, takes a steady breath, and begins lowering Bryn down.

For a brief moment, a few wild scenarios flash through his mind—his grip slipping, the rope giving way—but he quickly pushes them aside, focusing solely on the tension in the rope and on watching Bryn's descent.

Strength check: 10+5 = 15

((You two seem rather confident that a 12 and a 15 will pass.))

Bryn starts climbing down the wall, with Arren slowly releasing the rope to lower Bryn. But about halfway down, Bryn's foot slips from the crevice he thought would support it, and he is unable to support his weight on his hand alone, with no proper handhold. As he starts falling, Arren feels a sudden, strong yank on the rope as Bryn's weight now fully rests in his hands. He immediately tightens his grip on the rope to keep Bryn from falling, but immediately finds himself thrown off his feet and heading down after Bryn.

But as Bryn falls, he feels slower than he expects, and he lands safely - quietly - on his feet, a puff of dust rising from the ground beneath. Arren, who was thrown off his feet and as such, was almost horizontal in the air, lands prone, but isn't any more hurt than had he stumbled and fallen in a flat field, instead of a seven metres' fall.

All the while, they keep hearing the voice singing.

"... if I'm feelin' ansty"
"And I've nothing much to do"
"I might just cook a special batch"
"Of... stew"

"And don't you... thing"
"That would make it work so nice?"
"A... little Gnome to add a little spice"
"Oh, Oh! Yeah, I'm the Bogie man."

For the first time (a bit after Bryn and Arren had already fallen), they hear a second voice, a little higher in pitch. This one doesn't sing. "Release me now, or you must face the dire consequences. My friends are there expecting me, so please, come to your senses."

It all happens too quickly. Arren sees Bryn slip and fall, and his reaction—to tighten the grip on the rope—comes fast enough. But he isn't prepared for the force of the sudden yank, and a moment later he's being pulled forward, losing his footing and dropping after the Elf.

In those brief seconds, a stray memory flashes through his mind. Walnuts' voice, saying, "Don't break a bone, Sand. It takes a hell of a time to recover." It seems he's about to find out…

…until he lands. Not with the bone-breaking impact he expected, but as if he had simply stumbled onto flat ground instead of falling several metres.

He lets out a low groan and pushes himself up quickly, scanning the area in case the noise has drawn unwanted attention. Seeing none, he turns to Bryn, who is on his feet, having landed as lightly as a cat.

"Hells! Did you do that!?" he asks, incredulous. He pauses to readjust his armour, gathering the rope at his feet. "Well… I suppose next time we can just jump."

Then it hits him. He glances back up toward the ledge above. "Your pack’s still up there. We'll have to retrieve it before we leave."

As the sound resumes, Arren falls silent. Not a voice, but voices. Two of them. And one mentions a gnome.

His expression hardens slightly. "So there is a 'Bogie man'… or just someone who thinks he is."

He tilts his head, listening carefully, trying to pinpoint the source. "Middle tunnel?" he asks quietly.

If Bryn agrees, Arren starts forward, moving as quietly as he can. He'll let the quieter Elf move first, though, giving him a bit of space, as he knows his noisy armour will probably give him away.

Movement: 30 feet forward in the direction that he and Bryn agree on.
Action: Stealth check at disadvantage. (5, 9)+2=7. If I can bump it with a Tactical Mind die (7), it is a 14.

Bryn stands with a bewildered sort of calm, patting himself to make sure he really is ok. He looks up at the twenty-foot drop, then down at the dust settling around his boots. The impact should have been jarring; instead, it was as if the air itself had thickened to catch him.

"It wasn't me", he whispers back to Arren, who is only just pushing himself up from the ground. His voice is tight with a mix of adrenaline and curiosity, "It must have bee one of our items. Perhaps my trousers, or perhaps that scale of yours. That floats, after all".

At the mention of his pack sitting on the ledge above, he dismisses it as well. There are more urgent matters. "Agreed. It's less vulnerable at the moment than Mukan. Whoever, or whatever, the bogey is, it seems intent on cooking up our young Gnome", he says, with a voice tinged with horror.

He turns his focus toward the middle tunnel, his ears straining as Mukan’s voice rings out. The gnome's attempt at a bold, rhyming threat is heartening. "That’s him. That’s Mukan. It's got to be", he breathes, his expression hardening into a mask of professional focus. "He’s still got his wits about him if he’s trying to rhyme his way out of a cauldron".

He holds up a finger to Arren, and speaks to Emil's Bow. "Well, I can hear Mukan, I just need to track the sound to the gnome himself".

He listens carefully, and then heads off in the direction he believes the voices emanate from, trying to discard echoes as he listens for the true sound.

Action: Either Perception (+5) or Survival (+3) to get the direction of the voices. Will roll guidance for Emil's Bow in case it applies as well.
Check (apply the correct modifier above): 2
Guidance: 4
Bonus Action: Cunning Action Hide
Stealth: 5+6=11
Movement: Half speed towards the voices.

((Arren's Tactical Mind attempt failed and the Second Wind use isn't expended.))

"You're joking, you're joking!"
"I can't believe my ears!"
"Oh, but I can hear their steps"
"They've come, so it appears"
"It's funny, I'm laughing!"
"You really are too much"

"And now, with your permission"
"I'm going to do my stuff."

"W-what are you going to do?" Asks the second voice.

"I'm going to do the best I can."

Bryn and Arren can now both see to their right a deep pool, and on the other side of it a steep, slippery slope. Descending that would have been safer than the small cliff Bryn and Arren fell from, normally. Not because it seems less likely that they'd fall, but because the height difference is smaller, at only about 10 feet, and because they'd just slip down the slope and into a pool of water rather than a vertical wall onto hard rock. All that, of course, assuming this path connects as Arren did before. ((I now see I forgot to cut that part out of the map... oops. Well, I'm too lazy to edit it again, so you gained another piece of the map for free.))

The singing stopped temporarily, but then the high-pitched voice calls: "He's coming your way! Run!"

Unfortunately, the echoes of the cave make it difficult to determine which direction a voice comes from, as Bryn hears everything coming from all directions, and he's unable to distinguish the real direction from the echoes.

((Acting in proper initiative from now on. Party's turn first, in any order that you prefer.))

(ooc: Loving how the song has evolved with the scene!)

They've been heard! There's no point in trying to stay quiet anymore. And since it seems this 'Bogie Man' is coming for then, Arren tenses, bracing for an attack. The problem is, he has no way of knowing where it will come from.

He reaches into the half-open pack he prepared for Aegis and pulls out the shield, holding it ready so he can release it at a moment's notice. Then he takes a couple of steps back. If they're going to fight, better to do it where they have more room to move, rather than being squeezed inside the tunnels.

Arren grips the shield in one hand and raises his longsword in the other, settling into a defensive stance. His eyes flick between the tunnels and the surrounding shadows, trying to catch any movement before it reaches them.

Then, he raises his voice. And something about the moment compells him to fall into the song's rhythm. "Hold on, Mukan!" Arren calls out. "We're on our way—you're not staying here today."

Movement: two squares to the east. Enough to be in the wider area and give space in case Bryn wants to step back as well.
Action: Dodge 

Bryn curses softly as the rhyming voice bounces wildly off the damp stone, the echoes crossing and overlapping until it is impossible to pinpoint the source. The stealthy approach is officially dead.

Hearing Arren fall back and call out, in rhyme, a faint smile crosses his face as he reaches for an arrow.

"Poetry, Arren? I never knew", he mutters, retreating quickly to join the fighter in the wider section of the cavern.

Using Arren's armoured presence as a buffer, he steps to the side, finding a favourable position in the dim light that makes sure his back is not exposed and he has some cover. He stands watch for the first sign of hostile movement.

Movement: 15ft North, 5ft East.
Bonus Action: Stealth (if possible) - 12+6=18
Action: Ready attack with Emil's Bow against whatever hostile creature might appear

"Oh, the sound of rolling dice"
"To me is music in the air"
"'Cause I'm a gambling Bogie man"
"Although I don't play fair"

Both Bryn and Arren hear the sound of hard objects rolling on the hard stone. After a moment, Arren sees two six-sided dice, their sides numbered, rolling just nearby, 5 feet away from him, coming from around the corner. He looks down when the dice come to a halt and sees the results are 4 and 6. "Frost Lock!" The voice announces, breaking the song for a moment. Immediately, the dice burst into large ice spikes, which fill a 10-foot sphere around the spot where the dice landed.

Arren, please make a Dexterity save, DC 14 (with advantage, because Arren was dodging). On a failure, take 13 cold damage and become Restrained until the end of your next turn. On success, take only half of the damage and isn't affected by secondary effects.

"It's much more fun, I must confess"
"When lives are on the line"
"Not my, of course!"
"But yours, oh boy"
"Now that'd be just fine"

Apart from the dice, neither Bryn nor Arren saw any movement.

At Bryn's remark about poetry, Arren begins, "I thought…" He shrugs, then adds, a little embarrassed, "…I don't know what I thought."

Suddenly, the Bogie man speaks again, and to his disbelief, Arren sees two dice rolling to a stop near his feet. "What in Aleshi's hell?" he mutters, just as jagged ice spikes burst into existence around them. He reacts quickly, managing to avoid the worst of the freezing blast. Still, his expression tightens as he looks toward Bryn. "A magic user! We'd better keep a bit separated. No point letting him catch us both in the same blast."

Changing his mind about staying in the wider area, he realizes they will be easy prey for someone who can attack from a distance. Better to find this Bogie Man instead. "We need to find him!"

With that, he releases the scale in his hand, letting it rise and hover around him. Then he pushes forward down the middle tunnel, moving with urgency. Perhaps this way they'll find the attacker. Or Mukan. Maybe both.

Dex Save: (10, 13)+2 = 15
Bonus action: Let Aegis fall from his hand. (Round 1/10)
Movement: 30 feet down the middle tunnel.
Action: Dash to keep advancing. If the passageway to the right looks promising he keeps advancing that way.

Bryn feels the sudden, biting chill of the frost but remains untouched in his covered position. He watches the jagged ice crystals glisten in the dim light, his mind quickly analysing the threat. Exploding dice. A magical gambler?.

"Agreed. Go and draw him out, and I will try and snipe him", he whispers back as Arren pushes forward, releasing the hovering scale.

Keeping the Bogie's explosive magic in mind, he ensures he stays a fair distance behind Arren, deliberately staggering his path so they do not form a direct line. He advances using the deep shadows to cloak his movement, gliding effortlessly across the cave floor.

Emil's Bow remains drawn and levelled, the string taut against his cheek. He tracks the darkness ahead, his eyes narrowing as he searches for the source of the rhyme, ready to loose a shaft the very moment the Bogie reveals himself.

Bonus Action: Dash - double movement to 70ft
Movement: Up to 35ft south, half movement to remain in stealth. Staggered with Arren and outside the blast radius he saw from the dice attack
Action: If he comes into sight of the Bogey, he will attack. If not, he will Ready an attack.

The cavern Arren enters is spacious and has a large pool in it. It doesn't look too deep, but deep enough that it will slow down movement (difficult terrain where there's water). From the entrance, Arren can barely see (due to the wall in between) that across the pool, tied to a stalagmite, is a young Gnome with short, brown hair and smoke-grey skin. 

The cavern looks otherwise empty.

Without dashing, Arren will reach exactly the spot marked by 'A'. I wasn't sure where you'd like to go from here, so please clarify. You can also choose a different action, if you wish, but this is as far as you can get with your normal movement. Bryn will get exactly to the same spot after dashing, while moving at half speed.

Arren's eyes immediately lock onto the young Gnome tied to the stalagmite, but he doesn't interact with him just yet. Instead, his gaze flicks across the cavern, searching for any sign of the captor.

Arren assumes the Bogie Man cast his magic from somewhere near where he is now. But what did they do next? Did they flee southward, or are they hiding in a nook Arren can't see from where he stands?

The Half-Elf decides to discard the southern tunnel for the moment, dashing deeper into the cave. Wherever the Bogie Man is, Arren hopes this movement will draw their attention to him—and perhaps keep it away from Bryn.

Action: Dash deeper in to the cave. All the time trying to stay away from Bryn so he can move freely across narrow spaces, and also so they are not together in case of another AoE.

Arren once again hears dice at his feet. 5 and 6. "Warp Toss!" The dice burst into what looks like nothing at first, but suddenly, Arren feels a powerful force, like a strong punch in his gut, pushing him back. Please make another DC14 Strength save. On a failure, suffer 19 Force damage and be pushed 20 feet southeast. On success, take only half the amount and don't get pushed.

Either way, Arren manages to get a glimpse of an Elven man in leather armour, trying to hide in one of the nooks. Bryn, although unable to see the Elf from where he stands, manages to see the small dice thrown in the air, and more importantly, the direction from which they came. He now has a good guess of where the caster of the dice should be. Moreover, holding the bow drawn, he begins to feel a sense of excitement, on top of any excitement he might feel while hunting some magical gambler in a dangerous cave.

((I was planning to make two maps - one for if Arren fails, and one for if he succeeds. But the Elf failed on his stealth check either way, so only Arren's position might change.))

or

Arren is strong enough to resist the brunt of the force. And not only that. Aegis quickly interposes itself, allowing him to shrug off the spell entirely, where others might have taken at least some of the damage.

The Sergeant doesn't have time to dwell on this feat, and now that he has spotted the Elf, he reaches for a javelin and hurls it at him. "Let's see how you like this toss, you son of a—" 

He cuts himself off, his eyes flicking towards Mukan. 

"...of a very nice and surely innocent Elf lady."

STR Save: 18+7 = 25
Action: Throw a Javelin at the Elf. To hit: 14+7=21 / Damage: (1, 3)+5 = 8. The Elf is now Slowed. He also needs to make a WIS ST DC 15, or be Goaded. The superiority die roll (7) is added to the damage.
Reaction:  Interpose Shield from Shield Master to avoid all damage from the spell.

Bryn slips through the shadows, his eyes tracking the trajectory of the dice back to the nook. He sees the leather-armoured elf trying to blend in with the shadows, just not as proficiently as himself.

He briefly wonders whether he should try and talk to this obviously magical Elf, but the feeling of excitement emanating from Emil's Bow clinches his decision to shoot first and ask questions later. Arren is too exposed to delay taking them down anyway.

"Sorry mother, but your son is just too dangerous", he murmurs under his breath, not loud enough for the echoes to carry, but enough to satisfy the rhythm of the moment.

He lets the arrow fly, aimed right for the gap in the Elf's armour.

If the shaft strikes true, and he is revealed, he will stand his ground. With a flick of his wrist, an invisible, spectral hand coalesces in the air right next to the hostile elf.

"Time to stop this madness", he calls out, his voice steady and devoid of the Bogie's frantic rhythm.

However, if the arrow whistles wide, he doesn't skip a beat. He simply melts back into the darkness with a skulkers grace, ensuring his position remains a mystery, leaving the elf to wonder which shadow just tried to kill him.

Either way, his eyes are fixed on the elf, watching for where he retrieves those dice from.

Movement: Half movement just enough to get line of sight on the hostile Elf
Action: Attack with Emil's Bow (Advantage as hidden, Sneak Attack applies, if he misses he does not reveal himself due to Skulker)
Attack: (6, 7)+6=13, 6+4+(4+2)=16
Bonus Action: If hits, mage hand next to the hostile elf.

(OOC: Not sure whether Bryn can position himself such as to remain hidden and watch the Elf if he missed, but if he can he will do that, otherwise he will move to where he can remain hidden to the limit of his half movement. If he misses, he can dash to get the position he can watch)

((Unfortunately, Shield Master's benefit only works for Dexterity saving throws. As this was a Strength save, it cannot reduce the damage taken.))

Bryn, please make a Perception check, DC 15. On a failure, Bryn cannot quite make out where the Elf draws the dice from. On success:

 Due to the difficult angle, Bryn ends up missing the shot. However, too occupied by Arren's javelin, the Elf doesn't even notice the arrow. Goaded, he focuses his eyes on Arren.

"Oh brother, you're something"
"You put me in a spin"
"You aren't comprehending"
"The position that you're in"
"It's hopeless, you're finished"
"You haven't got prayer"
"'Cause I'm Mr Ogie Bogie"
"And you ain't going nowhere"

He throws two more dice that land at Arren's feet. A 2 and a 5. "Seven! That's the Static Hand!" The Elf calls, but his last words are swallowed by a crackling noise emitted by the dice, which burst into arcs of lightning, drawn to Arren's metallic armour. Bryn, fortunately, stands just outside the area of effect, but he realises the Elf could have hit both had Bryn not been hidden.

Arren, please make a DC14 Dexterity saving throw, at a disadvantage because of your metallic armour, which draws the lightning arcs to it. On a failure, suffer 4 lightning damage, half that on success.

(ooc: Oops! My bad!)

Arren, already battered by the force of the previous spell, barely has time to react before the lightning arcs toward him. He completely fails to evade the attack, the shock coursing through his body and forcing a sharp grunt from his lips.

Gritting his teeth, he quickly realizes the Elf is wearing him down, piece by piece, and decides it's time to end this at close range.

As such, Arren abandons the idea of throwing his remaining javelin and instead charges straight toward the Bogie Man, leveling his longsword at him while Aegis continues to hover at his side.

Despite the pain, a surge of stubborn resolve rises within the Half-Elf. There's no way this crazed man is going to bring him down!

Arren's strikes are meant to subdue rather than kill, aiming to bring the man down so he can be questioned once in custody.

Movement: He'll use his 30 feet of movement to enter the water and reach the Elf.
Bonus action: Second Wind to recover 10 HPs 
Action: Attack with the Longsword. To Hit: 20+7 (crit!) = 27/ Damage: (2+5)+5. I rerolled because of Savage Attacker and got (7+3)+5. So it is a 15 rather than 12? The Elf becomes Sapped. Beside that, Arren will try to Goad the Elf again (superiority die extra damage= 4)
Action Surge: Another attack. To Hit: 14+7= 21. Damage: 7+5 = 13 (this time I even remembered to roll a d10 for holding the sword with two hands!). 

(Non-lethal damage if possible, please.)

Bryn stays back, watching as Arren’s armour is painted in brief, blue arcs of electricity. Most men, especially those clad in conductive steel, would have fallen. But not the Sergeant. He feels a surge of respect, and a touch of relief, as Arren channels that pain, explodes forward in a blur of motion, and turns the dice-tosser into the target of a brutal flurry of strikes.

He had hoped to catch the Elf’s "reloading" process, but the chaotic flashes of lightning made that impossible. It doesn’t matter now. The main priority is taking down this Bogie before Arren runs out of determined stubbornness.

With Arren occupying the gambler at close range, the path is clear for another shot. He shifts to the left, testing the lines of sight, seeking an angle that Arren won’t block. He stays merged with the shadows whilst tracking the strange elf with Emil's Bow.

He holds the string to his cheek, sights the elf’s exposed ribs, and releases. This time, with Arren so close, whether he hits or not, he will flick his wrist, and summon the invisible, spectral hand in the air right next to the hostile elf.

"Stop this madness", he calls out.

Perception: 6+5=11 (Failed to spot the dice store)
Movement: 5ft west
Action: Attack with Emil's Bow (Advantage as hidden, Sneak Attack applies, if he misses he does not reveal himself due to Skulker)
Attack: (19, 3)+6=25, 3+4+(5+3)=15
Bonus Action: mage hand next to the hostile elf.

(OOC: I don't believe you can attack non-lethally at range, so this is unfortunately lethal damage)