The Long Road - Game Thread

It is a tight fit to get both the Champion and the Apprentice in the blast radius (and not get Jorin), but Pascal's fireball gets all 5 of them. DEX saves vs. DC 14 (fire damage 27 or 13).

• C: 11  Fails the save, takes 27 damage. The total is now 79, which puts him just under half health. (He does not get a +7 damage bonus on every hit.)
• W: 5  The wizard takes 13 damage, but it is all absorbed by his Arcane Ward (like temporary HP / magical force field)
• P: 20  The Priest takes 27 damage. Con save roll vs. DC 13 to maintain concentration: 23  (Failed both saves!)
• T: 21  With the Thief's Evasion, he takes no damage for making his save.
• A: 11  Since the Apprentice started with 9 HP, the 27 fire damage means he is very dead.

Drusk yells out a "huzzah" to Pascal. (That turned out very well.) Drusk also gets out a quick thanks Quillary.

Hildigrim "blips" back to the spot he was before. Jorin and Hildigrim to go!

Jorin sees the Champion falter and attacks with abandon, trying to score as much damage as possible!

• Action: Reckless Battleaxe!
  • First Attack: 19 Damage: 10
  • Second Attack: 30 Damage: 16
• Bonus Action: Reckless Moonblade Attack: 19 Damage: 14
• + 2 radiant damage to the first blow that connects!

(Hildigrim can go, now that he has returned from Inception. Then their party responds.)

OOC: Using this tweet as basis for this turn, but the DM has the final say: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/01/the-rogue-and-the-ogre/

Hildigrim blinks a few times at the sudden sunlight, then sets his sights on the priest. "That wasn't very sporting of you," he mumbles while ducking between the carriage and the horse of the third wagon. He hides, then pops out to fire at the priest from the other side of the second wagon.

Bonus action: hide: 6 (to hopefully activate sneak attack)

Movement: to, say, five feet SW of Quillary?

+1 shortbow attack: 15; damage: 8 piercing damage

Sneak attack if appropriate: 9

OOC2: Guess it's moot with that attack roll.

(There wouldn't be a good opportunity to hide from the Priest. He is the one who cast the spell on Hildigrim, so would know he was back when the spell was broken.)

The Thief moves forward to attack Jorin. He gets 3 attacks with his short swords. (Not sure why, but that is how it is written.) If he hits, gets to add 14 sneak damage.

• A1: 27 Damage: 14
• A2: 20 Damage: 5
• A3: 14 Damage: 7
• Forgot Jorin was reckless. Get to re-roll those misses: A1: 16, A2: 16, A3: 25  (only last one hits, for 11 damage after rage resistance)

The Wizard casts Globe of Invulnerability.

The Priest moves to the Apprentice, and casts Revivify to bring him back to life. His remaining movement is to get closer to the wizard.

The Apprentice (still heavily charred) is experiencing panic and anger at his death experience. He stands, and moves closer to the wizard. You can see that he is rummaging through his backpack, and pulls out a scroll.

The other party is still squabbling. The Champion is upset that he isn't being obeyed. The Priest says the Wizard owes him a 500 GP diamond to cover the Revivify costs. The Wizard is pissed that Pascal out-witted him. And the Apprentice seems a little crazed about being dead recently.

Start of Round 4

Champion has taken 126 damage. The Wizard still has an Arcane Ward shielding him. The Priest has taken 27. Thief unharmed.

Jorin is at 29 HP. Drusk 28, Pascal 41.

The Champion will use Second Wind to regain 20 HP, then hacks at Jorin.

• A1: 23 Damage: 10
• A2: 17 Damage: 10
• A3: 27 Damage: 13  (Jorin takes 17 damage.)

Party is up. 

Pascal moonwalks back a bit more and does the Smooth Criminal point toward the enemy group (winking at the Wizard), as another detonation of flame erupts!

Pascal uses his Bonus Action to burn his Sorcery Points into a 3rd level Spell Slot.

Then... Fireball!

DC 14 Dex Save vs 26 fire damage

Wait. I missed the part about the Orb... Nuts, hold on.

Can I hit the rest of the group with it? 

"Up up Jorin!" Quillary sings in a weirdly child-like voice. "Fire's coming!"

Action: Once again, cast Cure Wounds on Jorin at 3rd level for 16 healing.

Move: Left and Up to hide behind Drusk.

Hildigrim reiterates to Jorin a weakness he noticed in the Champion's defenses, fires another arrow at the priest, then moves 10 feet west.

+1 shortbow attack: 11; damage: 7 piercing damage

Jorin, pleased with how his last flurry went, attacks with a little more restraint.

Jorin sees the Champion falter and attacks with abandon, trying to score as much damage as possible!

• Action: Battleaxe!
  • First Attack (w/ adv from Hildi): 25 Damage: 10
  • Second Attack: 25 Damage: 11
• Bonus Action: Moonblade Attack: 12 Damage: 9
• + 1 radiant damage to the first blow that connects!

• Pascal's Fireball explodes, but the flames go around the Wizard, Apprentice, Priest, and Thief without harming them. (Globe of Invulnerability has a 10' radius.) The Champion is at 15' and still gets blasted by fire. DEX save vs. DC 14: 9  (passes, takes 13 fire damage)
• Quillary heals Jorin back to 28 HP.
• Hildigrim's arrow glances off the Priest's plate armor. (He misses having Volo pointing out the gaps in the armor.)
• Drusk uses a Healing Word on himself ( 7 points, up to 37 hp), and swings Joybringer II (+1 mace) at the Champion. Attack: 22 Damage: 7  (misses)
• Jorin hits with his battleaxe (17 damage), only gets a glancing blow with the sword, then gets another solid hit with the battleaxe (14 damage). The Champion falls to one knee, and starts to fall over.

The other party acts at the end of round 4:

• The Priest says, "You lose the bet. Now you have to pay me a diamond, just like the Wizard." Casts Cure Wounds at 4th level on the Champion (heals 17 points). The Champion is fully conscious again.
• The Wizard, upset about the diamond he has to pay to have Revivify used on his Apprentice, casts a Fireball at 5th level for 10d6 = 27 fire damage. Pascal is too far west, but everyone else gets hit. (Jorin only has 29 hp. Does his Danger Sense help him? Dex save with adv. vs. DC 16 : 11 Jorin still takes 15 damage... I'm not rolling for everyone else, for reasons you will see shortly.)
• The Thief takes 3 swings at Jorin.
  • A1: 14 Damage: 8
  • A2: 17 Damage: 6
  • A3: 16 Damage: 6
  • Sneak damage: 18
  • The Thief hits on all 3 blows. (The War Priest used his reaction for Guided Strike, which adds +10 to the thief's lowest roll.) He does 14 damage in total, which is enough for Jorin's remaining health.

Jorin is starting to black out (0 hp). But he stays awake just long enough to see what the Apprentice does...

The Apprentice runs out of the Globe of Invulnerability, frothing at the mouth. "You will pay for murdering me!" (His last words to you are heard very clearly.) He reads a scroll of Cone of Cold. He laughs maniacally, as streams of pure cold erupt from his hands. As the apprentice’s spell goes off, it immediately becomes apparent that something has gone horribly wrong. That spell was far too powerful for him to handle. The mental pain causes him to twist and flail about wildly. The ice sprays in all directions.

For a brief moment, everything in the dreamspace slows down to a crawl as you see the nova of cold heading towards the caravan. To the side, you see Jacobson (who was blurry during the fight, but is clearly visible now) desperately begin to weave a spell in response, but it is too late. When the cold energy hits the lead wagon, a light so bright that it burns erupts and a searing flame washes over each of your bodies the likes of which you have never experienced in your most horrific nightmares. You can feel your skin burning and melting away before the shock wave hits what’s left of your body, shattering every bone.

When you blink your eyes again you see yourselves back in Tinker’s makeshift lab, tears streaming down his face while Vajra can only stand quietly next to him.

(OOC: The spell slots that you used are still spent. Everyone's health is at max HP, minus 6 hp due to the psychic damage from the last event in the memory/crystal.)

Pascal blinks, “What!? A bomb was set off because a little yuppie got all uppity!?”

Pascal turns to the rest of the group, “New rule! We gotta start doin’ background checks for whoever we hire!”

Hildigrim sits up. "Is that really what happened? One of them ignited the orb with a cold spell?" He stands, clearly re-acclimating to his short stature again.

Quillary stays on her cot, curled up in a ball, her spores swirling to obscure her from you. She is crying quietly. 

Does Hildi notice Quillary crying?

Despite your time immersed in the memory, only half a day has passed in reality. It is early evening, and will be dark by the time you return to the Road's End.

Hildigrim feels dizzy and has to sit down on the cot again. All of you do. A little vertigo from the experience in the memory, which will wear off in a few minutes.

Vajra speaks up. (This startles all of you, since she has barely spoken before now.) She has pieced together more of what happened... A devastation orb is like a bomb with a lit fuse. It is only kept stable by its special carrying case. The case was probably damaged after the Ice Storm during the Hobgoblin raid, which is why Jacobson seemed troubled at the time (but he was unwilling to say why to any of you). That last cold attack broke the case and/or damaged the orb, setting it off.

Tinker manages to stop his sobbing long enough to find a corner to sit in, hunched over his eyes to the floor. “An ACCIDENT? Elmwood was blown up because of a damn ... accident? This ... this is what those people did. People trying to stop the bad guys and an unlucky hobgoblin raid caused Elmwood to be destroyed. I don’t think the survivors will ever understand. We have to tell the highest authorities, but I guess this will be history that will never be shared.”

You hear the noise of someone slipping on the stone steps leading out of this cellar. Looking in the doorway, you see Finethir Shinebright, who was eavesdropping on your group (despite being told to stay away). He gives a little startled shriek at being discovered, and hustles up the stairs.

Tinker heads after him, with Vajra getting ready to follow. While they won't do any permanent damage to Finethir, they will make sure he does not blab about the Elmwood events that you learned today... Vajra says they will take care of it, and your group should rest a few minutes (to clear the vertigo) before heading out of the cellar.

After a minute, the headache from the memory spell goes away. You are left alone with the quiet and damp coolness of the cellar... except for a hum and a pulsating reddish glow coming from the fragment of the devastation orb (that was used for the memory spell)...

Pascal going to take a closer look at the fragment, frowning at it. He mutters, “Humans are some weird folks... Why even make somethin’ like this...”

Quillary will sit up, after the moment of vertigo, drying her eyes. “Not just humans, Pascal. The whole lot of us are truly terrible,” she says.

For Hildi, she wasn’t hiding her tears, but she wasn’t out and out bawling, either. She seems recovered now, though morose.

OoC - That was really cool.  Also, how long ago did these events happen?  I'm sure you told us...

Jorin wakes and listens to the explanation of events.  He sits up in his cot and begins to smile, but sees the effect the experience has had on Quillary and reigns it in.  Inwardly he reflects on the fight with the champion, being so well matched to a single foe, striking them down just before feeling the touch of death himself.  It was...it was exhilarating.  It was the kind of death a Bodt lives for.  He quietly thanks the Eight for and the possibility of getting to experience such a death twice.

His face turns from quiet joy to darkened clouds as he remembers the similarly exhilarating thrill of wanton violence.  "A coin we all carry." he says quietly.