Please describe how Jalt's guiding bolt hits and kills the final ogre.
Combat is over, except that it's not over. Battle is still raging to the front of the caravan, where a group of guards, and labourers are facing off against two remaining ogres. And the fight continues to the south, where guards, cultists and merchants' guards also face two ogres, though two more have been laid low.
You all have the option to remain where you are, or to run to assist either the north or south group. If you do assist, please roll a straight d20 and describe, briefly in general terms, how you will help the battle.
Soar thinks that the cultists can probably handle themselves - she immediately turns north, doing some lay on hands for 5hp on the run, when she’s not dashing. She closes to the nearest ogre and begins hacking at it with her sword. She shouts encouragement to the other guards and a couple friendly pointers to help flank and protect flanks.
Assuming the ogres go down, she will find anyone who is hurt badly and lay on hands for the rest of her hp. She trusts others to keep an eye on the cultists. Where is Jamna, btw?
Jamna's to the south, fighting alongside the culists as far as you can see. Leda is to the north, and she's happy to see you. She's badly hurt, but still standing and your healing helps her.
Nate is very impressed with Nub's fireball, and isn't surprised to see Jalt's powerful magic finish off the ogre that was in front of him. "Woah... thanks."
Then... Nate instinctively follows Soar. He begins to feel anger swell in him as he gets closer to the battle happening in front of the caravan. As he is running, he is slowly moving both of his hands in a circular motion, like he was mixing up something in thin air. Then, perhaps the wind picks up and the air feels cooler... as a 60ft dark cloud looks to be forming....
Nate is running behind Soar to the front of the caravan, about to cast Call Lightning
As the final ogre turns his attention to Soar, Jalt takes aim with his finger. He yells out Nar nomeno rekisix! His red eyes seemingly glow and a flash of light shoots out from his finger and penetrates the back of the ogre's head and clean through like a sniper's bullet. The ogre's lifeless body crumbles to the ground.
Noticing his kill shot, Jalt turns his attention to the group Soar moves towards and follows her. Swinging his war pick like a madman, he goes charging into the closest Ogre trying to knock them down.
15
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Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
Seeing Nate, Soar and Jalt helping those the the north Nub decides to help those to the south (even the cultists), casting a Flaming Sphere at 2nd level and slamming it into the Ogres on his bonus action, then keeping concentration and casting Toll The Dead on subsequent turns:
D20: 1
Bwahahah! Nub somehow loses concentration? Or possibly Flaming Spheres the people he was trying to help?
Nothing so disastrous. Nub isn't very effective, though; he casts and casts, but after his one powerful fireball, he seems much weaker than Azbara Jos, who continues to pump out powerful spells until the ogres are dead. The price is steep, though - one cultist, a merchant's bodyguard and two guards are dead.
With three of you helping the north, that group fares a little better. One of the guards who appeared to be dead was only wounded and Soar is able to revive him with laying on of hands. Jalt is the one who brings down the final ogre with his war pick. Nate's lightning strikes haven't helped much, and as the battle ends, so does the storm that appeared so suddenly. One guard is dead, two others badly injured.
At last, peace settles once again on the caravan. The travellers and merchants who fled towards the sea return in dribs and drabs, and you all take stock of the damage. Ardred declares an end to the journey for the day, as repairs begin on the wagons - a few are damaged, but only one - thrown by the ogre you saw - is beyond repair.
Only Jalt really made an impression in the fight in the north group, and he and Azbara Jos are hailed as heroes. The strange mage seems pleased but somewhat uncomfortable at the adulation, but he makes an effort to be friendly in the face of many offers of thanks. The north group were mostly guards - they're not as effusive, but Jalt receives many nods and gruff expressions of thanks in the following hours. Leda thanks Soar for probably saving a few of her fingers with her healing. Everyone ignores Nub and Nate.
13
Scouting groups go out to check there are no further threats. The guards search the ogres, and find some money; it's distributed amongst everyone who fought, including the guards, cultists and you, so you each get 4 gold and 24 silver.
Repairs continue, and you all notice something about the mage Azbara Jos; he's wearing a hood, but as people distract him and surround him with questions and thanks, it occasionally slips and reveal that he has no hair - either he has shaved it, or he is bald.
Nate, you glimpse one other thing. You never see his head, but as his hood slips once again and he moves to straighten it, you see the tip of what appears to be a tattoo. Not enough to see what it's a tattoo of, just enough to see that there is a tattoo there.
The day proceed, night comes, people settle down to eat. As before, Nub is able to feed himself and Nate with ease, and Jalt and Soar get rations from the guards. The dead are buried, and if any of you are qualified and wish to lead the service, you can do so. The cultists do not release the body of their fallen comrade, but the bodyguard and guards are given a burial with stones to mark the place.
Is there anything you want to do in the aftermath of the attack or for the rest of the day? The journey will resume in the morning.
Soar makes a mental note that people seem not to notice kills when she doesn't behead people and files it away for the future, glad to not be known well in this case.
people didn't notice me now.... they will though.... they will...
Nate would then check for anyone who might need healing, and offer it if need be, with a blank stare into each of the recipient's eyes.
Then, he would go off by himself and meditate on the battle just fought, wondering why he wasn't able to create the accurate physical manifestation of what he was feeling in the moment with his lightning storm. He's mad at himself for it, and for his performance in battle. He would then make a mental note of the tattoo on Azbara Jos's head.
Nub is fascinated by Azbara Jos. Not by the tattoo, as he assumes all wizards have a parent that mark their body with arcane symbols to teach them the basics of magic when they are young, but more by the powerful spells he cast.
He asks Nate "What do you know of the powerful Mage that was helping you with the last Ogres?"
Jalt just nods whenever someone thanks him. The last caravan he did his best to try and hide and not be seen. But he's tired of hiding. So Jalt is making an effort to almost show the cultists that messing with the group is probably a bad idea. He turns to Soar Do you think one of the others should make their way around the caravan tonight?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
“Do you mean reconnaissance? Wouldn’t be a bad idea to try to get smarter. We still know next to nothing. Nate’s spider trick could work very well out here. He hasn’t listened to my gentle suggestions but he adores you - maybe it’s worth a try. Having a raccoon or rat hang out under one of their caravans for a couple hours and listen to their conversations could be exactly what’s needed. Do you think Nub has it in him to try surveillance? I’m not sure what he’s capable of.”
He adores me? Jalt asks a lil taken back I wasn't aware of that. I suppose I could have a word with him. As for Nub, he's not common folk... I dont think he's sneaking around anywhere. And I thought I got odd looks for being a dragonborn. Let me go find Nate.
Jalt would walk over to where Nate and Nub were eating their meals. Hey Nate, I think it might be a good idea if you can pull one of your tricks and go see what the cultists are up to. You know without Elspeth here, you're the best shot we have. And I believe in you to get the job done. I know how much you hate them. What do you say?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Maybe adores isn't the right word. Idolizes? At the very least, respects you a lot."
Soar's happy to help keep watch should Nate want to make any scouting attempts.
Either way, she will spend some time each night inside her tent reading through the books and papers they swiped from Mondath's office back in Greenest. She left behind at the keep the truly useless local history/geography books about Greenest that had no notes on them, but she's been lugging around all of the rest, mostly papers. She reads through them all again, reminding herself about Mondath's note that they are to bring "everything" north to Naerytar, per Rezmir's instructions. Leosin said it was a castle. She realizes now it would have been helpful to ask people about it in Waterdeep. If she has a chance, she'll see if Nub has heard the name before.
She looks through the terrible dragon poetry, looking for any clues that might jog her memory of anything that she's learned since then. She finds the poetry hysterical and begins to memorize some of the better stanzas.
Nate responds to Nub "Well, I know he's cultist scum that needs to be dealt with."
When Jalt approaches Nate, his eyes widen. (it's true, Nate does secretly adore Jalt. Although oddly enough, he's been appearing more frequently in Nate's dreams as someone who keeps trying to kill him)
Nate does not look Jalt in the eye, maybe only for a moment, loosing all confidence when Jalt speaks, as per usual "sigh.... well, I was worried you or Soar might ask me to do this sooner or later. Fine. I had great results with the spider the last time you and I were in that... predicament. So how 'bout I give it a shot?"
With Jalt's approval, Nate would sneak away during the night by the fire, say he's going to the bathroom, and then wildshape into a spider, and creep around up to the cultist wagons, trying to hear or see anything that could give us clues to their next moves and/or plans.
Let me know what I should roll!
(Nate would've also said to Nub that if anyone asks where Nate went, which likely wouldn't happen, to tell them that he must've just went to bed. He was very tired from the battle)
Okay, Nate, make a Stealth check with advantage, and a straight Perception check. I think the stealth uses the spider's stats, and the perception uses Nate's.
You creep like a shadow in the night, unheard and unseen by the cultists, and enter the area where they've made their camp.
The cultists are not very chatty, but you do get close enough to overhear a conversation between Henton and Azbara. Henton appears no longer to be the leader of this group as someone else, from one of the other groups, outranks him - you're not sure who the new leader is, and they don't mention him. Most of the conversation is rather mundane, concerning the tactics and strategies used by the cultists when fighting the ogres - Henton is not happy with the performance of the cultists and feels they need to get in some practice.
You do pick out a few interesting points. First is that the cultists are not going to Neverwinter; whatever their destination is, and they don't say exactly, it's not the city. Second is that they mention the dragonborn and the half-elf, in not very nice terms. From what Henton says, their new leader has made a decision not to act against them in the convoy, but that decision is not very popular with some of the cultists, and Henton's worried about maintaining discipline.
They don't discuss anything further about the cultists' plans, and after a while you retreat to safety before your wildshape ends.
Not sure of the timing of all of this, but if there is time tonight, Nate would want to find Jalt, or Soar and let them know these details, specifically about the new cultist leader with the higher rank, and also everything in that second paragraph. "Well... the two of you have made quite an impression on our friends."
Jalt notices the remaining ogre and he points his finger at it and once against casts Guiding Bolt at lvl 1 Attack: 18 Damage: 12
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Ive heard it both ways."
Please describe how Jalt's guiding bolt hits and kills the final ogre.
Combat is over, except that it's not over. Battle is still raging to the front of the caravan, where a group of guards, and labourers are facing off against two remaining ogres. And the fight continues to the south, where guards, cultists and merchants' guards also face two ogres, though two more have been laid low.
You all have the option to remain where you are, or to run to assist either the north or south group. If you do assist, please roll a straight d20 and describe, briefly in general terms, how you will help the battle.
Soar thinks that the cultists can probably handle themselves - she immediately turns north, doing some lay on hands for 5hp on the run, when she’s not dashing. She closes to the nearest ogre and begins hacking at it with her sword. She shouts encouragement to the other guards and a couple friendly pointers to help flank and protect flanks.
Assuming the ogres go down, she will find anyone who is hurt badly and lay on hands for the rest of her hp. She trusts others to keep an eye on the cultists. Where is Jamna, btw?
7
Jamna's to the south, fighting alongside the culists as far as you can see. Leda is to the north, and she's happy to see you. She's badly hurt, but still standing and your healing helps her.
Nate is very impressed with Nub's fireball, and isn't surprised to see Jalt's powerful magic finish off the ogre that was in front of him. "Woah... thanks."
Then... Nate instinctively follows Soar. He begins to feel anger swell in him as he gets closer to the battle happening in front of the caravan. As he is running, he is slowly moving both of his hands in a circular motion, like he was mixing up something in thin air. Then, perhaps the wind picks up and the air feels cooler... as a 60ft dark cloud looks to be forming....
Nate is running behind Soar to the front of the caravan, about to cast Call Lightning
4
As the final ogre turns his attention to Soar, Jalt takes aim with his finger. He yells out Nar nomeno rekisix! His red eyes seemingly glow and a flash of light shoots out from his finger and penetrates the back of the ogre's head and clean through like a sniper's bullet. The ogre's lifeless body crumbles to the ground.
Noticing his kill shot, Jalt turns his attention to the group Soar moves towards and follows her. Swinging his war pick like a madman, he goes charging into the closest Ogre trying to knock them down.
15
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Ive heard it both ways."
Seeing Nate, Soar and Jalt helping those the the north Nub decides to help those to the south (even the cultists), casting a Flaming Sphere at 2nd level and slamming it into the Ogres on his bonus action, then keeping concentration and casting Toll The Dead on subsequent turns:
D20: 1
Bwahahah! Nub somehow loses concentration? Or possibly Flaming Spheres the people he was trying to help?
Nothing so disastrous. Nub isn't very effective, though; he casts and casts, but after his one powerful fireball, he seems much weaker than Azbara Jos, who continues to pump out powerful spells until the ogres are dead. The price is steep, though - one cultist, a merchant's bodyguard and two guards are dead.
With three of you helping the north, that group fares a little better. One of the guards who appeared to be dead was only wounded and Soar is able to revive him with laying on of hands. Jalt is the one who brings down the final ogre with his war pick. Nate's lightning strikes haven't helped much, and as the battle ends, so does the storm that appeared so suddenly. One guard is dead, two others badly injured.
At last, peace settles once again on the caravan. The travellers and merchants who fled towards the sea return in dribs and drabs, and you all take stock of the damage. Ardred declares an end to the journey for the day, as repairs begin on the wagons - a few are damaged, but only one - thrown by the ogre you saw - is beyond repair.
Only Jalt really made an impression in the fight in the north group, and he and Azbara Jos are hailed as heroes. The strange mage seems pleased but somewhat uncomfortable at the adulation, but he makes an effort to be friendly in the face of many offers of thanks. The north group were mostly guards - they're not as effusive, but Jalt receives many nods and gruff expressions of thanks in the following hours. Leda thanks Soar for probably saving a few of her fingers with her healing. Everyone ignores Nub and Nate.
13
Scouting groups go out to check there are no further threats. The guards search the ogres, and find some money; it's distributed amongst everyone who fought, including the guards, cultists and you, so you each get 4 gold and 24 silver.
Repairs continue, and you all notice something about the mage Azbara Jos; he's wearing a hood, but as people distract him and surround him with questions and thanks, it occasionally slips and reveal that he has no hair - either he has shaved it, or he is bald.
Nate, you glimpse one other thing. You never see his head, but as his hood slips once again and he moves to straighten it, you see the tip of what appears to be a tattoo. Not enough to see what it's a tattoo of, just enough to see that there is a tattoo there.
The day proceed, night comes, people settle down to eat. As before, Nub is able to feed himself and Nate with ease, and Jalt and Soar get rations from the guards. The dead are buried, and if any of you are qualified and wish to lead the service, you can do so. The cultists do not release the body of their fallen comrade, but the bodyguard and guards are given a burial with stones to mark the place.
Is there anything you want to do in the aftermath of the attack or for the rest of the day? The journey will resume in the morning.
Soar makes a mental note that people seem not to notice kills when she doesn't behead people and files it away for the future, glad to not be known well in this case.
people didn't notice me now.... they will though.... they will...
Nate would then check for anyone who might need healing, and offer it if need be, with a blank stare into each of the recipient's eyes.
Then, he would go off by himself and meditate on the battle just fought, wondering why he wasn't able to create the accurate physical manifestation of what he was feeling in the moment with his lightning storm. He's mad at himself for it, and for his performance in battle. He would then make a mental note of the tattoo on Azbara Jos's head.
Nub is fascinated by Azbara Jos. Not by the tattoo, as he assumes all wizards have a parent that mark their body with arcane symbols to teach them the basics of magic when they are young, but more by the powerful spells he cast.
He asks Nate "What do you know of the powerful Mage that was helping you with the last Ogres?"
Jalt just nods whenever someone thanks him. The last caravan he did his best to try and hide and not be seen. But he's tired of hiding. So Jalt is making an effort to almost show the cultists that messing with the group is probably a bad idea. He turns to Soar Do you think one of the others should make their way around the caravan tonight?
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Ive heard it both ways."
“Do you mean reconnaissance? Wouldn’t be a bad idea to try to get smarter. We still know next to nothing. Nate’s spider trick could work very well out here. He hasn’t listened to my gentle suggestions but he adores you - maybe it’s worth a try. Having a raccoon or rat hang out under one of their caravans for a couple hours and listen to their conversations could be exactly what’s needed. Do you think Nub has it in him to try surveillance? I’m not sure what he’s capable of.”
He adores me? Jalt asks a lil taken back I wasn't aware of that. I suppose I could have a word with him. As for Nub, he's not common folk... I dont think he's sneaking around anywhere. And I thought I got odd looks for being a dragonborn. Let me go find Nate.
Jalt would walk over to where Nate and Nub were eating their meals. Hey Nate, I think it might be a good idea if you can pull one of your tricks and go see what the cultists are up to. You know without Elspeth here, you're the best shot we have. And I believe in you to get the job done. I know how much you hate them. What do you say?
Hoard of the Dragon Queen - Jalt Rhogar - Dragonborn Cleric (9)
"Ive heard it both ways."
"Maybe adores isn't the right word. Idolizes? At the very least, respects you a lot."
Soar's happy to help keep watch should Nate want to make any scouting attempts.
Either way, she will spend some time each night inside her tent reading through the books and papers they swiped from Mondath's office back in Greenest. She left behind at the keep the truly useless local history/geography books about Greenest that had no notes on them, but she's been lugging around all of the rest, mostly papers. She reads through them all again, reminding herself about Mondath's note that they are to bring "everything" north to Naerytar, per Rezmir's instructions. Leosin said it was a castle. She realizes now it would have been helpful to ask people about it in Waterdeep. If she has a chance, she'll see if Nub has heard the name before.
She looks through the terrible dragon poetry, looking for any clues that might jog her memory of anything that she's learned since then. She finds the poetry hysterical and begins to memorize some of the better stanzas.
Nate responds to Nub "Well, I know he's cultist scum that needs to be dealt with."
When Jalt approaches Nate, his eyes widen. (it's true, Nate does secretly adore Jalt. Although oddly enough, he's been appearing more frequently in Nate's dreams as someone who keeps trying to kill him)
Nate does not look Jalt in the eye, maybe only for a moment, loosing all confidence when Jalt speaks, as per usual "sigh.... well, I was worried you or Soar might ask me to do this sooner or later. Fine. I had great results with the spider the last time you and I were in that... predicament. So how 'bout I give it a shot?"
With Jalt's approval, Nate would sneak away during the night by the fire, say he's going to the bathroom, and then wildshape into a spider, and creep around up to the cultist wagons, trying to hear or see anything that could give us clues to their next moves and/or plans.
Let me know what I should roll!
(Nate would've also said to Nub that if anyone asks where Nate went, which likely wouldn't happen, to tell them that he must've just went to bed. He was very tired from the battle)
Okay, Nate, make a Stealth check with advantage, and a straight Perception check. I think the stealth uses the spider's stats, and the perception uses Nate's.
(yep - and it's nice because the spider's stat block reflects that when I add it to my sheet. I love d&d beyond!)
Stealth 25
Perception 19
3
You creep like a shadow in the night, unheard and unseen by the cultists, and enter the area where they've made their camp.
The cultists are not very chatty, but you do get close enough to overhear a conversation between Henton and Azbara. Henton appears no longer to be the leader of this group as someone else, from one of the other groups, outranks him - you're not sure who the new leader is, and they don't mention him. Most of the conversation is rather mundane, concerning the tactics and strategies used by the cultists when fighting the ogres - Henton is not happy with the performance of the cultists and feels they need to get in some practice.
You do pick out a few interesting points. First is that the cultists are not going to Neverwinter; whatever their destination is, and they don't say exactly, it's not the city. Second is that they mention the dragonborn and the half-elf, in not very nice terms. From what Henton says, their new leader has made a decision not to act against them in the convoy, but that decision is not very popular with some of the cultists, and Henton's worried about maintaining discipline.
They don't discuss anything further about the cultists' plans, and after a while you retreat to safety before your wildshape ends.
Not sure of the timing of all of this, but if there is time tonight, Nate would want to find Jalt, or Soar and let them know these details, specifically about the new cultist leader with the higher rank, and also everything in that second paragraph. "Well... the two of you have made quite an impression on our friends."
Long rest tonight?
"Have a good sleep, Nub."