Here be Dragones! Game Thread

The town of Greenest was founded by the halfling Dharva Scatterheart, a rogue who fancied herself the queen of the Greenfields. Scatterheart passed away without ever achieving that level of eminence, but her town grew into a thriving community. Its success isn't surprising, since Greenest is the only town of any size astride the Uldoon Trail, the most direct road between the eastern cities of the Dragon Coast, Cormyr, and Sembia with the Coast Way running south to the great cities of Amn, Tethyr, and far Calimshan. The trade caravans that pass through Greenest bring gold to the town's merchants and craftsfolk, and Governor Nighthill runs the town at the behest of the inhabitants.

For the past several days, you have been traveling a road that winds lazily across the rolling grasslands of the Greenfields. Sundown is approaching when you top a rise and see the town of Greenest just a few short miles away. 

Players, the table is yours. Feel free to introduce your characters and describe what they look like and what they might be doing.

A small humanoid tops tops a rise, a few hours after lunch, but a few hours before supper.  Wearing dusty robes, not robes, a duster, yes a duster that is very dusty.  The small humanoid makes his way down the rise towards Greenest.  Having been traveling for a few months, experience of visiting tens of towns like Greenest, the small humanoid knows exactly where to go for a warm dry bed and a bath.  Even if he has never been here the pattern of finding an Inn is the same in every town.

Realizing sundown is soon upon the land, the small Gnome with a big curly topping of hair starts to "power" walk down into town and find that Inn/tavern while rooms are still semi plentiful.   Outside the Inn door, the gnome drops his pack with a hard thud to shake the dust off, then pats himself down to reduce the dust on himself.  The small (actually large for a gnome) grabs his gear, opens the door and steps inside.

Fuzzpaw pauses at the top of the rise and gazes down at Greenest with a sense of wonderment as he sees it for the first time. In truth, he is seeing everything for the first time. Before this, all he knew was his master's study in Waterdeep, and before that all he knew was his tiny home in the Dalelands. Now--against his master's advice--he was on his very first adventure, traveling to a far off town to do whatever it was that adventurers were meant to do.

His silhouette cuts a strange figure in the setting sun. At least he was told he strange looking by the Waterdhavians. When they first saw him, some mistook for him for a small bugbear. He didn't think he looked anything like a bugbear, though he supposed shifters were not a common sight in the City of Splendors. He stood just under six feet tall, with the build of any other human, though he was little broader than most. He was also hairier than most. Much more hairier in fact, as he had brown fur covering his entire body. To further set him apart, he had the black nose and rounded ears of a bear. But he certainly was no bugbear.

Fuzzpaw's gaze lingers on the town as he pulls up on his belt and smooths over his green and brown robes. Finally, he adjusts his pack and walks down the rise towards Greenest.

Cass crests the rise at an unhurried pace, his patched cloak stirring lightly in the evening breeze as silver-gray eyes study Greenest below with the practiced attention of a man who has arrived in more towns than he cares to count. A shield and mace hang at his side, both plain in appearance but maintained with a level of care that speaks of long years of service. His gaze drifts from the small traveler heading toward town to the fur-covered figure standing in quiet wonder at the view, and a faint smile tugs at his beard. “Knew a lad named Corin Vale once,” he says as he continues down the slope. “The first time he saw a city, he spent so long admiring it that the gates closed before he arrived, and he spent the night sleeping in a ditch outside the walls. He was a good lad, but he never quite learned that there is a difference between appreciating a destination and forgetting to arrive.”

OOC - non game post.

A tall, broad-shouldered orc woman comes over the rise with the steady, measured pace of someone used to long roads and hard marches. Her dull green skin and red mohawk catch the last light of sundown. Her chain mail is worn but well maintained. A longsword hangs at her hip, a shield is tied off to a travel pack on her back, and a pair of handaxes are just visible nestled low beneath the pack. 

She pauses only briefly at the sight of Greenest below. Her eyes move over the grasslands, then down to the road and town ahead. Storm-gray eyes quietly assess everyone else on the road, lingering only long enough to measure weapons, packs, posture, and pace. Her stride stops for a moment as one hand reaches back to feel the side of her pack. Whatever she touches seems to satisfy her, and she starts forward again. 

She makes her way down toward Greenest without hurry, but without wasting a step. As the road carries her into town, she passes the buildings and townsfolk with the same guarded attention she gave the road, as if taking stock of unfamiliar ground. Nearing the first promising inn, she slows. One hand shifts the weight of her pack higher on her shoulder, then lingers there a moment longer than needed. Her eyes lose focus briefly before she blinks, sets her jaw, and steps inside with dust from the road still clinging to her boots and armor. 

Once inside, her gaze quickly sweeps the room and settles on a small table near the far corner, close enough to hear the room but with a clear sightline to the entrance. She makes her way over, lowers her pack onto a chair, and sits with her back to the wall, watching the inn’s other patrons. After a moment, she raises one hand toward the innkeeper. “Room for the night,” she says. “Food too, if there’s any left.” 

Unfortunately, the dreams of food and a room for the night are shattered by columns of black smoke rising from burning buildings, running figures that are little more than dots at this distance, a dark, winged shape wheeling low over the keep that rises above the center of the town, and a half-scream, half-roar of a hungry dragon.

Neega assesses the scene [Perception Check: (16)]

[OOC] Can you clarify the current situation. (a) Did we crest the hill and see Greenest being attacked, (b) does the attack start as we are approaching, (c) does the attack happen after we are already in the city/inn?  It sounds like B if we didn't see the smoke when we first crested the hill, if so roughly how far are we away from the town when it is attacked? 

Cass slows as smoke rises from Greenest and his eyes track the fleeing townsfolk, burning buildings, and the dragon circling overhead. The roar carries across the fields, and his expression settles into the calm focus of a man who recognizes a threat when he sees one. “Knew a captain named Harlan Veck,” he says more to himself, as he adjusts his shield. “He used to tell young officers that every disaster begins with someone convincing themselves there is still time to act tomorrow.” His gaze remains fixed on the burning town as he quickens his pace toward the gates. “Harlan was rarely wrong, and it appears Greenest has already reached tomorrow.” 

Quote from cndnd >>

Neega assesses the scene [Perception Check: (16)]

[OOC] Can you clarify the current situation. (a) Did we crest the hill and see Greenest being attacked, (b) does the attack start as we are approaching, (c) does the attack happen after we are already in the city/inn?  It sounds like B if we didn't see the smoke when we first crested the hill, if so roughly how far are we away from the town when it is attacked? 

Along those lines, how do we know there is an attack?  Would some of us already be inside a building?  Assuming we did not walk like a group, wouldn't we be scattered and spacing between us strangers would be large/long distance?

just to get ready - Perception 17

(Waiting for clarification about the situation before I post, but I'll roll perception too)

(Perception Check: 19)

EDIT: I don't know what's going on with the dice. I rolled a 14 (10+4), but in that pop-out info box  it said that I rolled a 13 (11+2), and now it says I rolled a 19.

[OOC] Yeah my in-thread dice are also acting kind of weird.  I used the function [roll.]1d20+1[/roll.] excluding the periods and the result of 16 when I posted seems reasonable, but when I hover over it says it was 1D20.disadvantage()+6 = 13 + 4 +6 = 10 which makes no sense. It's my first time using these in-thread dice so I am not sure if I am messing something up on my end or if they are just being janky.

Quote from cndnd >>

Neega assesses the scene [Perception Check: (16)]

[OOC] Can you clarify the current situation. (a) Did we crest the hill and see Greenest being attacked, (b) does the attack start as we are approaching, (c) does the attack happen after we are already in the city/inn?  It sounds like B if we didn't see the smoke when we first crested the hill, if so roughly how far are we away from the town when it is attacked? 

 *I say B makes the most sense. Everyone is close enough to see that the dragon is a blue drag on; so probably within half a mile, and possibly within a stone’s throw*

As everyone approaches, they can see a blue dragon is strafing the town, and many humanoid figures rushing about.

The streets of Greenest are pandemonium; buildings are burning, people are screaming; sinister strangers accompanied by small dragons and kobolds rush, about looting stores, smashing windows, and in general making grade-A pests of themselves.

Without warning, five humans dash out from between two buildings on your left. A limping man and three young children race across the street into more shadows, and a woman carrying a round shield and a broken spear turns and faces back in the direction from which they came. Seven kobolds stream out of the alley on the family’s heels and fan out around the woman, who looks determined to delay the creatures for as long as possible.

Everyone correctly perceives that this is a raid, led by what appear to be cultists, kobolds, small dragons, and large lizards

OoC- If you roll and then go back and edit the post it causes the issue. Based on what you described above. I’d say you edited the post twice.

Quote from Naiya_Varma >>

OoC- If you roll and then go back and edit the post it causes the issue. Based on what you described above. I’d say you edited the post twice.

 (I refreshed the page and it changed the roll. Then I edited once to say that the roll changed)

Fuzzpaw holds his hands atop his head and runs for the cover of a building before seeing the lone woman standing against a group of kobolds. He stops in the middle of the street, and looks back and forth between the woman and the building nearby.

This is no time to run for cover Fuzzpaw, he thinks to himself, this is what being an adventurer is all about!

He twirls his staff in a circle and speaks the words "Macte virtuve" under his breath. A shell of light briefly outlines his body like a ethereal suit of armor, before it fades away. With his newfound resolve and protective layer of Mage Armor, he joins the woman to fight the kobold raiders.