Welcome to Episode 2 of "World of the Night Serpent"
As you all stand in the sun, enjoying your moment of freedom, Kanush speaks again, glancing at the sky
"I fear we may not be able to reach my village before nightfall. Many of us are already weary, and the jungle is not a safe place for the tired and injured to wander in the dark - even without the fear of the Yuan-ti chasing us. However, I know a hiding place that my people use when hunting. We should be able to reach it before sundown."
Exhausted and tired, the party follows Kanush into the thick jungle. All of you would know at least partly what the jungle would hold - there is abundance, but danger. Great beasts roam through these wild places, as well as dangerous tribes of humanoids.
Kanush's local knowledge and tracking skills allows him to lead the party safely through the jungle, though several times he has to warn everyone to be still as some great creature wanders nearby. One time, a great four-legged beast with spines on it's back and a great spiked tail ambles nearby. Another time you catch a glimpse of a two legged creature, taller than a man moving through the forest nearby. Kanush seems wary of it, but sighs in relief as it passes away from you all.
As light begins to fade Kanush leads you to a small cliff side rising from the jungle. He leads your weary party up a hidden path, concealed carefully from prying eyes. Tempest would recognise the hand of Druidic magic in aiding the natural concealment. About half way up, you stumble into a hidden cave. It is warm and dry, and shows signs of intermittent habitation - the remains of campfires can be seen and tucked at the back is a sack.
Kanush motions you to sit down "We need to rest, tomorrow we can get to my village." During the journey, he had taken care to direct people to fruits or other edibles (Tempest would have been able to help as well) and people have had enough food that, though still hungry, they can rest without fear of exhaustion.
The prisoners start to bed down, and Darion speaks briefly to Tahvo, reassuring the boy. He then turns to the rest of you "What a day! I must spend a little time with my book, then I need sleep, I'm sure you do to!"
Darion will sit in a corner and consult his spell book, making some notes of new spells before bed. He mutters something about "Now I understand that! Nothing like field experience as my father likes to say" If no one else wishes to speak with him, as soon as he can he will drop off to sleep.
So... you all have a chance for a long rest, somewhere relatively safe. If there is anything you want to do, say, talk about in character before you sleep feel free to do so now....
Tempest will pass out the remaining 4 Goodberrys that he had in his pocket to those who had not been given anything. "Here these will remove your hunger and aid in the healing process." Tempest will take a bit of time to look over everyone to see how they're holding up, including Ellis and his ankle.
Ellis was so relieved as they finally found a place to relax and rest for the night, so tired. He nodded back as Kanush said that they need to rest and tomorrow they can get to his village. He had heard Darion and Tempest, nodding back and thanking them. "Thank you everyone, I'm glad that we managed to get out of there. Let's get some sleep." Ellis had said back with a smile before he quickly fell asleep, so tired after all that had happened with their escape plan.
Exhausted, everyone crashes into sleep, grateful to eat the remaining good berries. No watch is set, relying on the hidden nature of the cave to keep everyone safe.
But the night passes without event, though those unused to the deep jungle find the constant calls, bellows and screetches disconcerting. In the morning you awake, refreshed after a long rest. Any exhaustion decreases by one level.
Kanush suggests you start moving, the sooner you get to his village the better in his mind. If there is nothing any of you particularly want to do, Kanush will lead you out into the dense jungle, and suggests that quiet would be good for survival, and to keep your wits about you.
if you heed his advice, then make a stealth check. If you are paying attention to the jungle a perception check, and finally a nature check if you are trying to keep track of what you can see / where you are etc.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Tempest will peer around the jungle and try to assist Kanush and walk in the middle of the pack. He'll cast [Tooltip Not Found] when he feels they are in an overly dangerous part of the jungle. (based on Nature check i guess)
Ellis had woken up that morning, feeling so much better now after finally getting some good sleep. While sleeping in a cave in the jungle is not the comfortable thing ever, it's much better than sleeping in that prison of theirs at the temple. He had heard Kanush, nodding as he then thought of something that could help them get through this jungle quietly. "I-If we need to be quiet, I think I have the spell for that. This would have been very useful when we were escaping out of the cell and out the temple, but it only just came to me now, probably because of how much we went through. It might not last that long, but nothing should be able to hear us at all." he had said to everyone, walking alongside everyone in the middle of the pack. If everyone else is okay with it, Ellis would cast Silence on himself and out to 20 feet around him to everyone else gathered around as they walk. But now that might not even be needed after all with PWoT up though.
Darion, now freed from the fear of the temple, is more focused on eyeing up the other prisoners, trying to work out how much they should trust them. He does, however, try and move quietly: Stealth 6
As the party makes their way, reasonably quietly, through the jungle they take in the sounds and sights of a great forest with all it's usual sounds and smells. The constant buzz of low level sound is pierced by the occasional louder bellow or snarl off in the distance which usually causes Kanush to pause anxiously for a moment.
After about an hour Kanush holds up his hand, and motions the party to be still and points silently to a particularly dense thicket of trees. For a moment, you don't notice what he is pointing at, but then you realise that camouflaged in the leaves is one of the large two-legged animals, much taller than a human but whose skin blends in cleverly with the surrounding fauna. You see the occasional slight move of the head as it clearly waits for some unsuspecting tasty morsel to get close enough to be eaten.
Kanush motions you all past, and (thanks to the overall outstanding rolls you made) you are able to move away from the creature without alerting it (Ellis, the party was so quiet on the whole you don't need to cast silence, though you do have to stop Darion just as he is about to stand on a dry branch and create unwanted attention).
Relieved you make your way onward. After about another half hour, you see Kanush again gesture for everyone to stop and, after a moment, you hear some strange growls and snarls coming from a little way ahead. Kanush peers at something the rest of you cannot see, and turns in surprise, whispering.
"There is one of the Yuan-ti's foul traps ahead. Some unfortunate has been caught up in it and is now surrounded by the Rippers!"
Which is where you come in JustBrad!
Erro was scouting out this area, doing what it was he was doing, when he unfortunately got unlucky and stumbled into a Yuan-ti net trap. Erro now finds himself dangling in a net, restrained, dangling about 8 ft from the jungle floor. A pack of 8 bird / reptile creatures surround you, slightly smaller than a human they have vicious looking sickle claws on their toes and are trying to jump up and get you, though seem cautious at this strange potential meal...
"Daner, hop on and we'll run distraction while the others get the poor soul out of the trap." Tempest says and transforms into a large brown bear lowering his shoulder so Daner can ride his back. As soon as Daner gets on, Tempest will charge towards the creatures and roar.
Action- If they're within 40 ft, Tempest will attack the biggest one within range with his claws and bite. If not, he'll dash up to 40 ft to get closer.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Erro hesitates and blinks for a moment in disbelief as he is suddenly suspended upside down and as various baubles and trinkets pour out of his pockets and litter the jungle floor below him. He rolls his eyes as he contemplates how to get out of this mess when he hears a rustling in the foliage that surrounds him. He holds his breath still in suspense as he dangles, slowly oscillating. Erro sees the vicious feathered beasts burst forth from the jungle and he shrieks, “Ahhhh! Besehba, whatever I did to offend you, I take it back; forgive me!”
At this, he sees a massive brown bear crash out of the jungle in his direction and his shriek reaches a higher and unbecoming pitch. Erro uses his action to use the new shiny Unearthed Arcana variant ranger feature Relentless to gain 14 temporary HP as he grits his teeth, ready to absorb some of the inevitable coming blows. For his movement, he will attempt to make an Acrobatics 19 (or Athletics per DM, -3 to roll) to crunch his body upwards into a sort of sitting position to create more distance between himself and the beasts below on the jungle floor.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As Darion (I will find a way to give Darion something to do shortly, but for the moment I will play him at least as a spell-bot!)
Darion raises his eyes as Tempest and Daner charge off into battle. For a moment he pauses, then grins "Who wants to live forever?" he mutters to Ellis. Stepping after them he will assess the situation and cast sleep at a nearby Ripper.
Darion watches with some surprise as the Ripper takes the brunt of the spell. For a moment it looks like it shrugs of the sleep spell, but then slowly topples forward, falling into a deep sleep.
The Ripper attacked by Tempest is surprised, but with a snarl dodges out of the way of the attack, it's sickle claws scrabbling on the ground to keep it's balance.
Kanush surveys the scene "Try and take out the leader, the others may flee if they see her fall!" he calls out, using his action to try and identify the leader. (Normally he would have advantage on this, to reflect his expert local knowledge, but as he still has two levels of exhaustion this will be a straight roll)
Nature: 11
Since we have started, rather than pausing everything to roll initiative we will just play this one heroes - Rippers. I'll wait for Ellis and Daner before moving on to the Ripper's turn!
Kanush curses, unable to spot the pack leader, but will try and keep looking.
Erro tries to scrabble into a better position, but the netting makes it difficult. His foot gets caught and slips out of the netting, and several nearby Rippers eye it up hungrily....
Ellis had heard Kanush, shocked and knowing that they need to save that person. He watches as Tempest and Daner go off before hearing Darion, following after him as well. He saw as Darion cast Sleep, knocking out one of the birds and nodding as Kanush told them to take out the leader. Ellis thought about what to do before seeing the person who had been caught now on the ground and the Rippers nearby them. So then Ellis casts Sleep, targeting only the Rippers as he hoped that he can take them out, especially whichever one is the leader.
Daner, unused to riding a bear, misses his attack.
Ellis targets a nearby Ripper at random. The creature blinks as the spell hits, shakes it's head then slowly falls to the ground. A nearby Ripper sniffs it, giving it a poke with it's nose but does not posses the intellect to know to wake the sleeping one!
The Rippers now go.
Two of them nearest the group turn and give a strange almost bird like snarl as Darion and Ellis. They charge and pounce, one on each. If they hit with a claw attack, you must make a DC 12 strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Vs Ellis Bite attack: 16, damage 6; First claw: 24, damage 5; Second claw: 12, damage 6
Vs Darion: 6, damage 3; First claw: 17, damage 10; Second claw: 10, damage 6
The three surrounding Erro all try and go for his foot, aiming to grab it and try and pull it down
Vs Erro with advantage: Bite 14, damage 7. If it hits Erro now has one of the Raptors hanging onto his foot trying to pull him down closer. Unless he is able to shake free, on the next round attacks against him will have advantage
The pair causing the most commotion, Tempest and Daner suddenly find 5 pairs of eyes turn to look at them. The strange snarling cries are exchanged between the rippers and they fan out, surrounding them. Then, suddenly, they all dart forward at once tearing at Daner and Tempest. Two try and get to Daner, 3 on Tempest.
vs Daner 1: 6, damage 8; First claw: 5, damage 5; Second claw: 14, damage 3
vs Daner 2: 13, damage 3; First claw: 23, damage 8; Second claw: 14, damage 5
vs Tempest 1: 7, damage 8; First claw: 17, damage 9; Second claw: 16, damage 10
vs Tempest 2: 16, damage 6; First claw: 13, damage 7; Second claw: 6, damage 7
vs Tempest 3: 15, damage 9; First claw: 9, damage 3; Second claw: 12, damage 8
These were all to close to make a run and pounce, so no strength saving throw needed!
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As Darion:
Darion gives a shriek of surprise as he is suddenly pounced on by one of the creatures, the teeth biting down and tearing at his arm, and the hideous claws lacerating him.
Strength save: 3
And with a muffled yell, Darion is pinned on the ground by the ripper, it's pointed snout full of razor sharp teeth trying to bite him....
Woohoo!
Welcome to Episode 2 of "World of the Night Serpent"
As you all stand in the sun, enjoying your moment of freedom, Kanush speaks again, glancing at the sky
"I fear we may not be able to reach my village before nightfall. Many of us are already weary, and the jungle is not a safe place for the tired and injured to wander in the dark - even without the fear of the Yuan-ti chasing us. However, I know a hiding place that my people use when hunting. We should be able to reach it before sundown."
Exhausted and tired, the party follows Kanush into the thick jungle. All of you would know at least partly what the jungle would hold - there is abundance, but danger. Great beasts roam through these wild places, as well as dangerous tribes of humanoids.
Kanush's local knowledge and tracking skills allows him to lead the party safely through the jungle, though several times he has to warn everyone to be still as some great creature wanders nearby. One time, a great four-legged beast with spines on it's back and a great spiked tail ambles nearby. Another time you catch a glimpse of a two legged creature, taller than a man moving through the forest nearby. Kanush seems wary of it, but sighs in relief as it passes away from you all.
As light begins to fade Kanush leads you to a small cliff side rising from the jungle. He leads your weary party up a hidden path, concealed carefully from prying eyes. Tempest would recognise the hand of Druidic magic in aiding the natural concealment. About half way up, you stumble into a hidden cave. It is warm and dry, and shows signs of intermittent habitation - the remains of campfires can be seen and tucked at the back is a sack.
Kanush motions you to sit down "We need to rest, tomorrow we can get to my village." During the journey, he had taken care to direct people to fruits or other edibles (Tempest would have been able to help as well) and people have had enough food that, though still hungry, they can rest without fear of exhaustion.
The prisoners start to bed down, and Darion speaks briefly to Tahvo, reassuring the boy. He then turns to the rest of you "What a day! I must spend a little time with my book, then I need sleep, I'm sure you do to!"
Darion will sit in a corner and consult his spell book, making some notes of new spells before bed. He mutters something about "Now I understand that! Nothing like field experience as my father likes to say" If no one else wishes to speak with him, as soon as he can he will drop off to sleep.
So... you all have a chance for a long rest, somewhere relatively safe. If there is anything you want to do, say, talk about in character before you sleep feel free to do so now....
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Tempest will pass out the remaining 4 Goodberrys that he had in his pocket to those who had not been given anything. "Here these will remove your hunger and aid in the healing process." Tempest will take a bit of time to look over everyone to see how they're holding up, including Ellis and his ankle.
Medicine: 24
Ellis was so relieved as they finally found a place to relax and rest for the night, so tired. He nodded back as Kanush said that they need to rest and tomorrow they can get to his village. He had heard Darion and Tempest, nodding back and thanking them. "Thank you everyone, I'm glad that we managed to get out of there. Let's get some sleep." Ellis had said back with a smile before he quickly fell asleep, so tired after all that had happened with their escape plan.
Exhausted, everyone crashes into sleep, grateful to eat the remaining good berries. No watch is set, relying on the hidden nature of the cave to keep everyone safe.
But the night passes without event, though those unused to the deep jungle find the constant calls, bellows and screetches disconcerting. In the morning you awake, refreshed after a long rest. Any exhaustion decreases by one level.
Kanush suggests you start moving, the sooner you get to his village the better in his mind. If there is nothing any of you particularly want to do, Kanush will lead you out into the dense jungle, and suggests that quiet would be good for survival, and to keep your wits about you.
if you heed his advice, then make a stealth check. If you are paying attention to the jungle a perception check, and finally a nature check if you are trying to keep track of what you can see / where you are etc.
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Tempest will peer around the jungle and try to assist Kanush and walk in the middle of the pack. He'll cast [Tooltip Not Found] when he feels they are in an overly dangerous part of the jungle. (based on Nature check i guess)
Nature: 14
Stealth: 17 +10 with PWoT
Ellis had woken up that morning, feeling so much better now after finally getting some good sleep. While sleeping in a cave in the jungle is not the comfortable thing ever, it's much better than sleeping in that prison of theirs at the temple. He had heard Kanush, nodding as he then thought of something that could help them get through this jungle quietly. "I-If we need to be quiet, I think I have the spell for that. This would have been very useful when we were escaping out of the cell and out the temple, but it only just came to me now, probably because of how much we went through. It might not last that long, but nothing should be able to hear us at all." he had said to everyone, walking alongside everyone in the middle of the pack. If everyone else is okay with it, Ellis would cast Silence on himself and out to 20 feet around him to everyone else gathered around as they walk. But now that might not even be needed after all with PWoT up though.
Stealth: 23 +10 with PWoT
((Might not be necessary with PwoT and a double stealth crit! That’s a sneaky group))
Darion, now freed from the fear of the temple, is more focused on eyeing up the other prisoners, trying to work out how much they should trust them. He does, however, try and move quietly: Stealth 6
I'll roll for Daner: Stealth: 16, perception: 5
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
As the party makes their way, reasonably quietly, through the jungle they take in the sounds and sights of a great forest with all it's usual sounds and smells. The constant buzz of low level sound is pierced by the occasional louder bellow or snarl off in the distance which usually causes Kanush to pause anxiously for a moment.
After about an hour Kanush holds up his hand, and motions the party to be still and points silently to a particularly dense thicket of trees. For a moment, you don't notice what he is pointing at, but then you realise that camouflaged in the leaves is one of the large two-legged animals, much taller than a human but whose skin blends in cleverly with the surrounding fauna. You see the occasional slight move of the head as it clearly waits for some unsuspecting tasty morsel to get close enough to be eaten.
Kanush motions you all past, and (thanks to the overall outstanding rolls you made) you are able to move away from the creature without alerting it (Ellis, the party was so quiet on the whole you don't need to cast silence, though you do have to stop Darion just as he is about to stand on a dry branch and create unwanted attention).
Relieved you make your way onward. After about another half hour, you see Kanush again gesture for everyone to stop and, after a moment, you hear some strange growls and snarls coming from a little way ahead. Kanush peers at something the rest of you cannot see, and turns in surprise, whispering.
"There is one of the Yuan-ti's foul traps ahead. Some unfortunate has been caught up in it and is now surrounded by the Rippers!"
Which is where you come in JustBrad!
Erro was scouting out this area, doing what it was he was doing, when he unfortunately got unlucky and stumbled into a Yuan-ti net trap. Erro now finds himself dangling in a net, restrained, dangling about 8 ft from the jungle floor. A pack of 8 bird / reptile creatures surround you, slightly smaller than a human they have vicious looking sickle claws on their toes and are trying to jump up and get you, though seem cautious at this strange potential meal...
What do you all want to do?
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
"Daner, hop on and we'll run distraction while the others get the poor soul out of the trap." Tempest says and transforms into a large brown bear lowering his shoulder so Daner can ride his back. As soon as Daner gets on, Tempest will charge towards the creatures and roar.
Action- If they're within 40 ft, Tempest will attack the biggest one within range with his claws and bite. If not, he'll dash up to 40 ft to get closer.
Attack: Bite- 11 Claw- 11 Damage: Bite- 7 Claw- 15
Erro hesitates and blinks for a moment in disbelief as he is suddenly suspended upside down and as various baubles and trinkets pour out of his pockets and litter the jungle floor below him. He rolls his eyes as he contemplates how to get out of this mess when he hears a rustling in the foliage that surrounds him. He holds his breath still in suspense as he dangles, slowly oscillating. Erro sees the vicious feathered beasts burst forth from the jungle and he shrieks, “Ahhhh! Besehba, whatever I did to offend you, I take it back; forgive me!”
At this, he sees a massive brown bear crash out of the jungle in his direction and his shriek reaches a higher and unbecoming pitch. Erro uses his action to use the new shiny Unearthed Arcana variant ranger feature Relentless to gain 14 temporary HP as he grits his teeth, ready to absorb some of the inevitable coming blows. For his movement, he will attempt to make an Acrobatics 19 (or Athletics per DM, -3 to roll) to crunch his body upwards into a sort of sitting position to create more distance between himself and the beasts below on the jungle floor.
As Darion (I will find a way to give Darion something to do shortly, but for the moment I will play him at least as a spell-bot!)
Darion raises his eyes as Tempest and Daner charge off into battle. For a moment he pauses, then grins "Who wants to live forever?" he mutters to Ellis. Stepping after them he will assess the situation and cast sleep at a nearby Ripper.
Sleep: 26
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
As DM:
Darion watches with some surprise as the Ripper takes the brunt of the spell. For a moment it looks like it shrugs of the sleep spell, but then slowly topples forward, falling into a deep sleep.
The Ripper attacked by Tempest is surprised, but with a snarl dodges out of the way of the attack, it's sickle claws scrabbling on the ground to keep it's balance.
Kanush surveys the scene "Try and take out the leader, the others may flee if they see her fall!" he calls out, using his action to try and identify the leader. (Normally he would have advantage on this, to reflect his expert local knowledge, but as he still has two levels of exhaustion this will be a straight roll)
Nature: 11
Since we have started, rather than pausing everything to roll initiative we will just play this one heroes - Rippers. I'll wait for Ellis and Daner before moving on to the Ripper's turn!
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Kanush curses, unable to spot the pack leader, but will try and keep looking.
Erro tries to scrabble into a better position, but the netting makes it difficult. His foot gets caught and slips out of the netting, and several nearby Rippers eye it up hungrily....
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Ellis had heard Kanush, shocked and knowing that they need to save that person. He watches as Tempest and Daner go off before hearing Darion, following after him as well. He saw as Darion cast Sleep, knocking out one of the birds and nodding as Kanush told them to take out the leader. Ellis thought about what to do before seeing the person who had been caught now on the ground and the Rippers nearby them. So then Ellis casts Sleep, targeting only the Rippers as he hoped that he can take them out, especially whichever one is the leader.
Sleep: 38
I'll take Daner's go...
Daner swings his new toy, The Tyrant's Greatsword at the same Ripper that Tempest attacks
Attack:7, damage: 10 + 6 if crit
I'll roll a d10 - on a one Ellis by pure luck gets the pack leader
7
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Daner, unused to riding a bear, misses his attack.
Ellis targets a nearby Ripper at random. The creature blinks as the spell hits, shakes it's head then slowly falls to the ground. A nearby Ripper sniffs it, giving it a poke with it's nose but does not posses the intellect to know to wake the sleeping one!
The Rippers now go.
Two of them nearest the group turn and give a strange almost bird like snarl as Darion and Ellis. They charge and pounce, one on each. If they hit with a claw attack, you must make a DC 12 strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Vs Ellis Bite attack: 16, damage 6; First claw: 24, damage 5; Second claw: 12, damage 6
Vs Darion: 6, damage 3; First claw: 17, damage 10; Second claw: 10, damage 6
The three surrounding Erro all try and go for his foot, aiming to grab it and try and pull it down
Vs Erro with advantage: Bite 14, damage 7. If it hits Erro now has one of the Raptors hanging onto his foot trying to pull him down closer. Unless he is able to shake free, on the next round attacks against him will have advantage
The pair causing the most commotion, Tempest and Daner suddenly find 5 pairs of eyes turn to look at them. The strange snarling cries are exchanged between the rippers and they fan out, surrounding them. Then, suddenly, they all dart forward at once tearing at Daner and Tempest. Two try and get to Daner, 3 on Tempest.
vs Daner 1: 6, damage 8; First claw: 5, damage 5; Second claw: 14, damage 3
vs Daner 2: 13, damage 3; First claw: 23, damage 8; Second claw: 14, damage 5
vs Tempest 1: 7, damage 8; First claw: 17, damage 9; Second claw: 16, damage 10
vs Tempest 2: 16, damage 6; First claw: 13, damage 7; Second claw: 6, damage 7
vs Tempest 3: 15, damage 9; First claw: 9, damage 3; Second claw: 12, damage 8
These were all to close to make a run and pounce, so no strength saving throw needed!
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
As Darion:
Darion gives a shriek of surprise as he is suddenly pounced on by one of the creatures, the teeth biting down and tearing at his arm, and the hideous claws lacerating him.
Strength save: 3
And with a muffled yell, Darion is pinned on the ground by the ripper, it's pointed snout full of razor sharp teeth trying to bite him....
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
(Look at all of those NPCs! Great work!)