Darion helps guide the canoe to shore by the frozen dock.
"I'm not sure it is safe to rest, we are only an hour from the temple... though we may have no choice. Let's have a quick explore and see if we can find the way out then decide on a course of action."
Presumably seeing no danger, Darion will get out of the canoe and look around, helping others disembark when they wish to. He is glancing around, and little rivulets of fire weave in his fingers as he nervously rehearses the Create Bonfire in case there is anything nasty becomes apparent.
(OCC: I'm assuming Ellis will still want to try to ring the bell then for the next 7 hours since Suggestion lasts until 8?)
As soon as they got to shore, Ellis would have gotten off and tried to ring the bell, only for it to be frozen again. So he tries to work on getting the ice off, needing to ring the bell.
Everyone begs to be let off of the canoes before Ellis is allowed to indulge himself in ringing the bell. They sit nervously upon the shore, far away from the water, as Ellis digs his way through the ice; his fingers becoming numb as they claw their way towards sweet relief. Finally, he is able to ring the bell, which he does, and the enchantment leaves him.
The bell rings cold and clear through the silent tunnel, echoing over the water and down the underground passage from where you came. As if on command, about 120 feet downstream, where the water was deep, the water begins to churn and roil.
(Anyone feel free to intercept if anyone would have done something to prevent the bell-ringing beforehand!)
Darion sees the river begin to roil "Well of course!" he mutters to himself. He checks in on Ellis as he quickly walk to the canoes "You okay now the enchantment has passed?" he asks, concerned.
Darion gets to the nearest canoe and pushes it as hard as he can out into the river. Once it has floated out a bit, away from the shore, he will use Minor Illusion to recreate the bell-ringing effect coming from the canoe. He will then hurry back to others "lets start getting out of here - hopefully that will act as a decoy!" he gestures to the canoe.
From the roil arises the heads of three identical serpents, smelling the air with their tongues and viciously snapping. The illusory bell chimes and the heads snap to look at the canoe, and then they speed towards it in unison, their bulk remaining above the surface. They swim forward 60ft at once.
Darion turns to the others and says quietly "You know, I am really beginning to dislike snakes! I think we should start moving away now, don't you?" he will then start to direct the other prisoners up the shore, towards the passage way and move in that direction himself.
Tempest will use Shape Water to move the other canoe away from the shore as rapidly as possible in an different direction than Darion sent the other canoe. He'll then turn and hurry the others along saying quietly, "Don't look back, just keep moving."
(If we aren't going into initiative rounds) As they move away, Tempest will use Mold Earth to clear areas of difficult terrain in front of them and create areas of difficult terrain behind them.
Your group scrambles up the pebble incline, but is greatly aided by the removal of the difficult terrain. The passageway is narrow enough to fit only one body at a time. Mung the goblin and Tahvo slip through without any problem, but everyone else must squeeze.
The snakes reach the first boat that Darion kicked off the beach. They pause for a moment to inspect the boat, looking inside of it and around it. Then, they suddenly strike, utterly obliterating the boat into splinters, two of the snakes dragging its remains down to the bottom. At the same time two more snake heads arise from beneath.
Tempest will use Mold Earth to move some of the loose pebbles and gravel on the ground out from the narrow passage. Once everyone is through he'll move all of it back and attempt to close off the passage as much as he can by piling up the loose stones and dirt around him whispering to the group, "Daner, help me get some large stones to block this off. Darion and Ellis, continue on and we'll catch up shortly."
Ellis was back to normal, confused as they were no longer in the tunnels but on a shore and out of the canoes before he heard Darion. "Y-Yeah, we made it out okay?" he said back, relieved and smiling. But then he saw the water roiling downstream, hearing Darion and nodding. He will follow the others up the shore, hearing Tempest say not to look back. He did what he was told as they ended up squeezing through the passageway, hearing Tempest tell him and Darion to continue on while he and Daner try to block this off with large stone. "Okay, please be careful." Ellis whispered back, nodding and hoping that they will catch up as he continues moving forward with everyone else.
The snakes continue to speed towards the shore in unison. As they approach the next boat in the shallows, they begin to seemingly rise out of the water. As the heads collapse on the second boat in terrifying power, you can see that this is no assortment of individual giant snakes, but a great multi-headed monstrosity with a crocodilian body. Once it rips the canoes to shreds, its five total heads peer towards the cave passageway and spot the party members who have not yet entered the hole. It then hungrily bounds towards you, now a mere 30 feet away.
Assuming Darion went along with the plan and is attempting to lead the way out with Ellis, I imagine that Daner and Tempest are in the rear, squeezing in to enter the cave as Pottery Shard the tabaxi is the last civilian to enter the escape route just before them. As mentioned, they are doing their best to create obstructions.
Up ahead, it is pitch black, and unless there's a convenient source of light, like the Light cantrip or a lantern, there is no way to see by lighting a torch. Mung, the goblin (who you have successfully kept alive), darts between your legs, Ellis and Darion, and begins to lead the pack, obviously excited to be in his favored terrain. Using his darkvision he cries "Wait!!!!" just before Ellis (or Darion; whoever is ahead) steps into a chasm/hole that suddenly is hidden in the narrow passageway. Mung assists with navigating around the obstacle (DEX save and delay prevented by keeping him alive this long; good work!). The air this way continues to seem to grow fresher and fresher.
Tempest will push Daner through and squeeze in behind him through the passage way. Then once safe he'll cast Produce Flame in each hand and walk in the middle of the pack to help light the way.
Darion nods at Tempest's suggestion "Don't delay to long" he claps Tempest and Daner on the back lightly as a silent thanks.
Darion is content to be in the lead, blinded by the dark he considers using his bonfire as a torch ahead, but is happy when Mung takes over at the front. Reflecting on what strange allies this situation has created, he whispers "be careful" as Mung brushes past.
As they pass the chasm, Darion carefully follows Mung's instructions, pale at the thought they may have fallen in. All his instinct is telling him to hurry, but his years surviving on the streets taught him always to be careful - it is just when you think you are safe that you stop paying attention and put yourself in danger.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The monstrous hydra stomps up out of the water and onto the pebble beach. It slips once or twice on the difficult terrain, and then it barrels into the cave wall, rattling the passageway and causing light debris to fall onto the party's heads. The beast is far too large to fit into the hole as it rams its body into the cave wall, sticking a single head into the tunnel as far in as possible. It is able to snap at the last member of the party scurrying through, which would be Tempest.
Bite Attack: Attack: 11 Damage: 10.
Continuing on, the air becomes less and less stale. You muddle on for what feels like hours, making crawling progress as you exhaustedly squeeze through the tunnel, sometimes on your hands and knees, avoiding the occasional pitfall, and hitting a dead-end after the path branches and backtracking. Thankfully, the way forward is clear enough to anyone with any cave/underground-sense, like Daner or Mung, and no false path is ultimately taken as the smell of fresh air guides your noses.
Finally, you hear the chittering of non-reptilian wildlife up ahead and then you see light. It is almost blinding, but none of the prisoners hesitate to make for the end of the cave as quickly as they can. Before exiting, Kanush says, "I think I may recognize where we are. My village is hidden, and it is not far from this hideous temple of evil. We may be safe there, I pray." Finally, you emerge outside in the daylight- once nearly fearing that indeed Dendar had eaten the sun once again.
The countryside you emerge in is.... ??????
Congratulations! After about 5 months of adventuring you have solved my Yuan-ti dungeon with flying colors. I have very much enjoyed DMing this group! I am now looking forward for a chance to play though, I hope! Now, who is next? We'll temporarily drop your character off/make him an NPC until he can return again! Where the next DM takes the story is up to him! Make it less about what the characters might do, and more about what you want to DM and what people want to play. Do we journey to the Peaks of Flame to prevent Fenthaza from reawakening Dendar? Is it an epic journey home to the civilized world? Scavenging for survival in a savage jungle? Who knows!? What do we think? Hooray!
Ellis is able to identify the gift that Kanush gave him as a magic item: Mantle of Honor: As long as the wearer of this mantle retains a Good alignment, they are granted +1 HP per character level and a +1 bonus to their Charisma score.
The stinking shirts that were given back to Tempest seem to have been imbued with miraculous powers due to the abnormal level of epic feats that they performed. The Shirts: This wad of four shirts is perpetually damp. On command, the shirts can form a 20ft rope as a free action, or magically and instantly tie themselves in any kind of knot as a bonus action. The shirts can be torn and ripped, but they magically re-knit themselves at the end of every day, at dawn. Finally, once per day, The Shirts can be used to cast the Stinking Cloud spell. The spell is recharged at the ned of the day only if one of the shirts has been perspired into.
Everyone levels up to Level 4. (Unless the next GM wants to keep it at 3, but you deserve it!)
Wow - 5 months, 37 pages, 739 posts - and that was all one day!!!!! Perhaps we will finally get a long rest :D
Congrats on a fab adventure @JustBrad987!! Have had a lot of fun! One final question to you as DM - was I able to remove the curse from the captured spellbook, or did I just know how to?
That was a lot of fun and the Mantle will be really helpful for Ellis. But damn at the end there on the water, thought for sure that we were doomed to die thanks to Ellis wanting to ring that bell.
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Darion helps guide the canoe to shore by the frozen dock.
"I'm not sure it is safe to rest, we are only an hour from the temple... though we may have no choice. Let's have a quick explore and see if we can find the way out then decide on a course of action."
Presumably seeing no danger, Darion will get out of the canoe and look around, helping others disembark when they wish to. He is glancing around, and little rivulets of fire weave in his fingers as he nervously rehearses the Create Bonfire in case there is anything nasty becomes apparent.
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Darion spots no obvious signs of danger. The water is still and quiet. A breeze seems to be coming from the passageway up the shore.
(OCC: I'm assuming Ellis will still want to try to ring the bell then for the next 7 hours since Suggestion lasts until 8?)
As soon as they got to shore, Ellis would have gotten off and tried to ring the bell, only for it to be frozen again. So he tries to work on getting the ice off, needing to ring the bell.
Everyone begs to be let off of the canoes before Ellis is allowed to indulge himself in ringing the bell. They sit nervously upon the shore, far away from the water, as Ellis digs his way through the ice; his fingers becoming numb as they claw their way towards sweet relief. Finally, he is able to ring the bell, which he does, and the enchantment leaves him.
The bell rings cold and clear through the silent tunnel, echoing over the water and down the underground passage from where you came. As if on command, about 120 feet downstream, where the water was deep, the water begins to churn and roil.
(Anyone feel free to intercept if anyone would have done something to prevent the bell-ringing beforehand!)
Darion sees the river begin to roil "Well of course!" he mutters to himself. He checks in on Ellis as he quickly walk to the canoes "You okay now the enchantment has passed?" he asks, concerned.
Darion gets to the nearest canoe and pushes it as hard as he can out into the river. Once it has floated out a bit, away from the shore, he will use Minor Illusion to recreate the bell-ringing effect coming from the canoe. He will then hurry back to others "lets start getting out of here - hopefully that will act as a decoy!" he gestures to the canoe.
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
From the roil arises the heads of three identical serpents, smelling the air with their tongues and viciously snapping. The illusory bell chimes and the heads snap to look at the canoe, and then they speed towards it in unison, their bulk remaining above the surface. They swim forward 60ft at once.
Darion turns to the others and says quietly "You know, I am really beginning to dislike snakes! I think we should start moving away now, don't you?" he will then start to direct the other prisoners up the shore, towards the passage way and move in that direction himself.
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Tempest will use Shape Water to move the other canoe away from the shore as rapidly as possible in an different direction than Darion sent the other canoe. He'll then turn and hurry the others along saying quietly, "Don't look back, just keep moving."
(If we aren't going into initiative rounds) As they move away, Tempest will use Mold Earth to clear areas of difficult terrain in front of them and create areas of difficult terrain behind them.
“Great idea.” Daner helps to usher the other prisoners away from the waters edge as quickly as he can.
Your group scrambles up the pebble incline, but is greatly aided by the removal of the difficult terrain. The passageway is narrow enough to fit only one body at a time. Mung the goblin and Tahvo slip through without any problem, but everyone else must squeeze.
The snakes reach the first boat that Darion kicked off the beach. They pause for a moment to inspect the boat, looking inside of it and around it. Then, they suddenly strike, utterly obliterating the boat into splinters, two of the snakes dragging its remains down to the bottom. At the same time two more snake heads arise from beneath.
Tempest will use Mold Earth to move some of the loose pebbles and gravel on the ground out from the narrow passage. Once everyone is through he'll move all of it back and attempt to close off the passage as much as he can by piling up the loose stones and dirt around him whispering to the group, "Daner, help me get some large stones to block this off. Darion and Ellis, continue on and we'll catch up shortly."
Ellis was back to normal, confused as they were no longer in the tunnels but on a shore and out of the canoes before he heard Darion. "Y-Yeah, we made it out okay?" he said back, relieved and smiling. But then he saw the water roiling downstream, hearing Darion and nodding. He will follow the others up the shore, hearing Tempest say not to look back. He did what he was told as they ended up squeezing through the passageway, hearing Tempest tell him and Darion to continue on while he and Daner try to block this off with large stone. "Okay, please be careful." Ellis whispered back, nodding and hoping that they will catch up as he continues moving forward with everyone else.
The snakes continue to speed towards the shore in unison. As they approach the next boat in the shallows, they begin to seemingly rise out of the water. As the heads collapse on the second boat in terrifying power, you can see that this is no assortment of individual giant snakes, but a great multi-headed monstrosity with a crocodilian body. Once it rips the canoes to shreds, its five total heads peer towards the cave passageway and spot the party members who have not yet entered the hole. It then hungrily bounds towards you, now a mere 30 feet away.
Assuming Darion went along with the plan and is attempting to lead the way out with Ellis, I imagine that Daner and Tempest are in the rear, squeezing in to enter the cave as Pottery Shard the tabaxi is the last civilian to enter the escape route just before them. As mentioned, they are doing their best to create obstructions.
Up ahead, it is pitch black, and unless there's a convenient source of light, like the Light cantrip or a lantern, there is no way to see by lighting a torch. Mung, the goblin (who you have successfully kept alive), darts between your legs, Ellis and Darion, and begins to lead the pack, obviously excited to be in his favored terrain. Using his darkvision he cries "Wait!!!!" just before Ellis (or Darion; whoever is ahead) steps into a chasm/hole that suddenly is hidden in the narrow passageway. Mung assists with navigating around the obstacle (DEX save and delay prevented by keeping him alive this long; good work!). The air this way continues to seem to grow fresher and fresher.
Tempest will push Daner through and squeeze in behind him through the passage way. Then once safe he'll cast Produce Flame in each hand and walk in the middle of the pack to help light the way.
Darion nods at Tempest's suggestion "Don't delay to long" he claps Tempest and Daner on the back lightly as a silent thanks.
Darion is content to be in the lead, blinded by the dark he considers using his bonfire as a torch ahead, but is happy when Mung takes over at the front. Reflecting on what strange allies this situation has created, he whispers "be careful" as Mung brushes past.
As they pass the chasm, Darion carefully follows Mung's instructions, pale at the thought they may have fallen in. All his instinct is telling him to hurry, but his years surviving on the streets taught him always to be careful - it is just when you think you are safe that you stop paying attention and put yourself in danger.
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
The monstrous hydra stomps up out of the water and onto the pebble beach. It slips once or twice on the difficult terrain, and then it barrels into the cave wall, rattling the passageway and causing light debris to fall onto the party's heads. The beast is far too large to fit into the hole as it rams its body into the cave wall, sticking a single head into the tunnel as far in as possible. It is able to snap at the last member of the party scurrying through, which would be Tempest.
Bite Attack: Attack: 11 Damage: 10.
Continuing on, the air becomes less and less stale. You muddle on for what feels like hours, making crawling progress as you exhaustedly squeeze through the tunnel, sometimes on your hands and knees, avoiding the occasional pitfall, and hitting a dead-end after the path branches and backtracking. Thankfully, the way forward is clear enough to anyone with any cave/underground-sense, like Daner or Mung, and no false path is ultimately taken as the smell of fresh air guides your noses.
Finally, you hear the chittering of non-reptilian wildlife up ahead and then you see light. It is almost blinding, but none of the prisoners hesitate to make for the end of the cave as quickly as they can. Before exiting, Kanush says, "I think I may recognize where we are. My village is hidden, and it is not far from this hideous temple of evil. We may be safe there, I pray." Finally, you emerge outside in the daylight- once nearly fearing that indeed Dendar had eaten the sun once again.
The countryside you emerge in is.... ??????
Congratulations! After about 5 months of adventuring you have solved my Yuan-ti dungeon with flying colors. I have very much enjoyed DMing this group! I am now looking forward for a chance to play though, I hope! Now, who is next? We'll temporarily drop your character off/make him an NPC until he can return again! Where the next DM takes the story is up to him! Make it less about what the characters might do, and more about what you want to DM and what people want to play. Do we journey to the Peaks of Flame to prevent Fenthaza from reawakening Dendar? Is it an epic journey home to the civilized world? Scavenging for survival in a savage jungle? Who knows!? What do we think? Hooray!
Ellis is able to identify the gift that Kanush gave him as a magic item: Mantle of Honor: As long as the wearer of this mantle retains a Good alignment, they are granted +1 HP per character level and a +1 bonus to their Charisma score.
The stinking shirts that were given back to Tempest seem to have been imbued with miraculous powers due to the abnormal level of epic feats that they performed. The Shirts: This wad of four shirts is perpetually damp. On command, the shirts can form a 20ft rope as a free action, or magically and instantly tie themselves in any kind of knot as a bonus action. The shirts can be torn and ripped, but they magically re-knit themselves at the end of every day, at dawn. Finally, once per day, The Shirts can be used to cast the Stinking Cloud spell. The spell is recharged at the ned of the day only if one of the shirts has been perspired into.
Everyone levels up to Level 4. (Unless the next GM wants to keep it at 3, but you deserve it!)
Wow - 5 months, 37 pages, 739 posts - and that was all one day!!!!! Perhaps we will finally get a long rest :D
Congrats on a fab adventure @JustBrad987!! Have had a lot of fun! One final question to you as DM - was I able to remove the curse from the captured spellbook, or did I just know how to?
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Thanks! It was really fun to run! Certainly a slow burning format, lol.
For the spellbook, we’ll say that you can remove the curse over the course of a long rest, as Mystra has mercy upon your poor tired soul.
All of the items but Daner’s sword require attunement!
That was a lot of fun and the Mantle will be really helpful for Ellis. But damn at the end there on the water, thought for sure that we were doomed to die thanks to Ellis wanting to ring that bell.