"Of course not. Who ever is?" Effort replies archly. "History is made by those who forge a path forward regardless of their fears or feelings. I thank you for all that you and your sisters have done for us thus far. We will ensure your own sacrifices are not in vain."
Calling Cadmael to her side, Effort sends the owl away, then looks down at Brask and Kurama. She nods at the two of them to ensure they are willing, and if so then looks back at the Sister. "It is time for our return."
"Of course not. Who ever is?" Effort replies archly. "History is made by those who forge a path forward regardless of their fears or feelings. I thank you for all that you and your sisters have done for us thus far. We will ensure your own sacrifices are not in vain."
Calling Cadmael to her side, Effort sends the owl away, then looks down at Brask and Kurama. She nods at the two of them to ensure they are willing, and if so then looks back at the Sister. "It is time for our return."
She ever-so-slightly raises an eyebrow at your last remark, but decides to leave it unaddressed. Looking down at Pip's wounds, she presses a pair of fingers into his tender side. He lets out a slight grunt but is still hanging between sleep and unconsciousness. Lifting up his bloody tunic, the Sister traces an outline around the wound before holding her palm over it. She presses down, Pip grunting again, and holds it there. You all feel a pulse of energy as a brief light flashes out from the wound. The Sister backs away, examining her work. Pip is still bloodied, and there is evidence of the injury running up his midsection, but the gory hole has seemingly closed up.
"He'll still need a bit of rest, but that should ensure he does not die from these wounds." She cocks her head, examining the goblin. "Few things surprise me, but this one surviving with you all up to this point is...quite remarkable."
With the Sister at the edge of your boat, you get the full exposure of the sun's few rays. It's like nothing you've ever felt before, washing you in warmth and comfort after an endless barrage of rain, clouds, and conflict.
"Are you ready?" She asks calmly, as if she was not about to send you hurling from one plane of existence to another.
Kurama silently chastised himself for being caught off-guard by the Sister's reveal though he kept quiet and listened intently to her words.
He closed his eyes for a moment as he let the sun's warmth wash over him. Though his home in the mountains wasn't particularly warm, he hadn't realized how much the lack of any sunlight changed his view of his surroundings before arriving in this place. It was one lesson he wouldn't need to write down to remember.
Opening his eyes, he nodded to Effort and replied, "I am ready as well for whatever challenges we may still face yet." Then turning to the Sister with a hint of a smile on his face, he added, "And I wouldn't underestimate our friend here. He is as much a part of this adventure as the rest of us of us and tougher than he looks. He has been training with a minotaur after all."
An almost imperceptible smirk comes over his face for a moment, before she once again becomes serious and stone-faced. "Good luck to you all," she closes her eyes and quickly raises both arms into the sky. "You will need it."
A flash of light blinds you all - it came from the Sister, or the sun, or perhaps both - and you feel a strange sensation as your body seems to stretch out across space and time. It makes you a bit queasy at first, but then oddly feels natural. When you regain your vision, only a faint silhouette of the Sister remains, along with an endless and empty void. The boat is gone as the four of you hover amongst this seeming nothingness. You can barely make out the Sister performing some sort of spell or ritual...and as she continues to fade, the tiniest bit of color appears off in the infinite distance.
Blue swirling into green swirling into reds and pinks and oranges. At first they hardly seem real, but then slowly begin working their way through the vastness. Their speed picks up, and as the Sister vanishes from your view completely, the colors begin to race toward you. They start to take on vaguely familiar shapes...land masses, oceans, maybe even trees. Now they begin hurling toward you so fast it's dizzying. Everything is a blur again as you feel yourself spinning...
Everyone, roll a d20 luck check. Higher is better. :)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The spinning comes to a sudden stop, and you find yourselves standing on firm ground. The sun is shining overhead, and the air smells familiar. You're back in Oshait.
It's cold, though, and the ground has a thin veil of snow on top of it. Moving your feet, you can see some hard dirt and rock beneath the white coating. Some craggy hills rise up out of the ground to your right. To your left, the landscape appears far more flat, with bits of grass sticking up above the snowfall. Every so often a hill protrudes from the plains.
You get your bearings and take stock of your things. Everyone seems to have made it, and Pip takes a deep breath, clearly relieved to be back on familiar soil.
One of the nearest hills begins to move. It shakes, and a cloud of snow wisps away in the breeze. Brown fur is revealed beneath, and the beast gets on all fours, towering at a height of perhaps twenty feet. An elephant-like creature covered in thick, shaggy fur with two enormous tusks stares down at you. It snorts, stamps on the ground with its two front hooves, and then begins to charge at you.
Fly. Drop this into that thing's fur, where it will embed itself,she commands the owl. As Cadmael speeds (action: dash) towards the mammoth, he releases the caltrop in his talons directly over the furry mammoth's head to be caught in its mane, wheeling away and avoiding the retaliatory attack of the creature (using flyby).
When Effort sees Cadmael release the caltrop, she unleashes the inherent magic boiling through her blood - no gift of the gods, but rather her fiendish nature as darkness explodes around the charging mammoth, centered on the caltrop Cadmael deposited. Hurriedly, she backs away, trying to gain distance between herself and the maddened beast. "If you choose to close, Cadmael can help one of you strike it!" she yells as she moves, perfectly able to track the mammoth's movements with her Devilish Sight.
"Of course not. Who ever is?" Effort replies archly. "History is made by those who forge a path forward regardless of their fears or feelings. I thank you for all that you and your sisters have done for us thus far. We will ensure your own sacrifices are not in vain."
Calling Cadmael to her side, Effort sends the owl away, then looks down at Brask and Kurama. She nods at the two of them to ensure they are willing, and if so then looks back at the Sister. "It is time for our return."
Brask nods, and grins. Yeah, time to get out of this dump.
Kurama silently chastised himself for being caught off-guard by the Sister's reveal though he kept quiet and listened intently to her words.
He closed his eyes for a moment as he let the sun's warmth wash over him. Though his home in the mountains wasn't particularly warm, he hadn't realized how much the lack of any sunlight changed his view of his surroundings before arriving in this place. It was one lesson he wouldn't need to write down to remember.
Opening his eyes, he nodded to Effort and replied, "I am ready as well for whatever challenges we may still face yet." Then turning to the Sister with a hint of a smile on his face, he added, "And I wouldn't underestimate our friend here. He is as much a part of this adventure as the rest of us of us and tougher than he looks. He has been training with a minotaur after all."
Zoldier’s Curse of the Crimson Throne: DM/ Redii || Zoldier's Strange Aeon's: DM
An almost imperceptible smirk comes over his face for a moment, before she once again becomes serious and stone-faced. "Good luck to you all," she closes her eyes and quickly raises both arms into the sky. "You will need it."
A flash of light blinds you all - it came from the Sister, or the sun, or perhaps both - and you feel a strange sensation as your body seems to stretch out across space and time. It makes you a bit queasy at first, but then oddly feels natural. When you regain your vision, only a faint silhouette of the Sister remains, along with an endless and empty void. The boat is gone as the four of you hover amongst this seeming nothingness. You can barely make out the Sister performing some sort of spell or ritual...and as she continues to fade, the tiniest bit of color appears off in the infinite distance.
Blue swirling into green swirling into reds and pinks and oranges. At first they hardly seem real, but then slowly begin working their way through the vastness. Their speed picks up, and as the Sister vanishes from your view completely, the colors begin to race toward you. They start to take on vaguely familiar shapes...land masses, oceans, maybe even trees. Now they begin hurling toward you so fast it's dizzying. Everything is a blur again as you feel yourself spinning...
Everyone, roll a d20 luck check. Higher is better. :)
DM - Above & Below
Kurama d20 roll: 16
Zoldier’s Curse of the Crimson Throne: DM/ Redii || Zoldier's Strange Aeon's: DM
Brask the lucky minotaur: 14
Effort: 13
I'm not sure why I got the red banner of death. I just edited it to see if it would go away, but to no avail. Here's a fresh roll, if you prefer: 3
The spinning comes to a sudden stop, and you find yourselves standing on firm ground. The sun is shining overhead, and the air smells familiar. You're back in Oshait.
It's cold, though, and the ground has a thin veil of snow on top of it. Moving your feet, you can see some hard dirt and rock beneath the white coating. Some craggy hills rise up out of the ground to your right. To your left, the landscape appears far more flat, with bits of grass sticking up above the snowfall. Every so often a hill protrudes from the plains.
You get your bearings and take stock of your things. Everyone seems to have made it, and Pip takes a deep breath, clearly relieved to be back on familiar soil.
One of the nearest hills begins to move. It shakes, and a cloud of snow wisps away in the breeze. Brown fur is revealed beneath, and the beast gets on all fours, towering at a height of perhaps twenty feet. An elephant-like creature covered in thick, shaggy fur with two enormous tusks stares down at you. It snorts, stamps on the ground with its two front hooves, and then begins to charge at you.
Everyone, roll for initiative.
Mammoth: 5
Pip: 15
DM - Above & Below
Brask grabs his maul eagerly: Hey, they laid on a welcome party, he says with a grin.
Initiative: 10
"Oh, that creature is quite large..." Kurama commented as the large
Zoldier’s Curse of the Crimson Throne: DM/ Redii || Zoldier's Strange Aeon's: DM
(a ducking mammoth? hoo boy XD )
"... You have absolutely got to be joking," Effort deadpans as she scrambles to meet the threat.
Effort Initiative: 23
Cadmael initiative: 15
Luckily, the size of this beast gave it away as soon as it started to move toward you. You have a few moments to act before it reaches you.
Mammoth is charging toward you from sixty feet away.
Rd 1: Effort & Cad > Brask > Pip > Kurama > Mammoth
DM - Above & Below
Quickly, Effort passes a caltrop to Cadmael.
Fly. Drop this into that thing's fur, where it will embed itself, she commands the owl. As Cadmael speeds (action: dash) towards the mammoth, he releases the caltrop in his talons directly over the furry mammoth's head to be caught in its mane, wheeling away and avoiding the retaliatory attack of the creature (using flyby).
When Effort sees Cadmael release the caltrop, she unleashes the inherent magic boiling through her blood - no gift of the gods, but rather her fiendish nature as darkness explodes around the charging mammoth, centered on the caltrop Cadmael deposited. Hurriedly, she backs away, trying to gain distance between herself and the maddened beast. "If you choose to close, Cadmael can help one of you strike it!" she yells as she moves, perfectly able to track the mammoth's movements with her Devilish Sight.
Brask, you're up. Effort, give me a luck roll to see just how confused the mammoth is - it was charging forward, after all.
DM - Above & Below
The mammoth is charging? Oh, hells, no. Brask laughs, lowers his horns, and charges the mammoth.
30 feet of movement, plus 30 feet of dash action, he should reach it this turn. And he'll use his Goring Rush action to make an attack with his horns:
Horn Attack: 23 Damage: 5
And following that, action surge to attack with his maul, mammoth blood dripping from his horns onto the white snow:
Attack: 14 Damage: 12
Attack: 24 Damage: 11
Luck roll: 6
The darkness wouldn’t have deterred Brask, but I guess some of those attacks would have been at disadvantage, so…
13 12 12
The mammoth was charging in a fairly straight line. Give me a perception check. Brask probably would have been able to estimate where it was.
DM - Above & Below