Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

Druids:  12.  17.   16. 

Berzerkers:  15. 10. 19. 

Druids:  17.  16.   4. 

Berzerkers:  15. 9. 14. 

All of the druids and berzerkers look down the hill into the forest where Mordekai gesture to. With haste they immediate charge in that direction.  The only one that remains is the one berzerker standing in front of rat who must have been too distracted to be caught in Mordekai's deception.  He bends out and reaches out a hand, holding out as if to try and call Rat to him, to pet it.  He makes some grunting noises.  With Lionel and Ismark staying hidden down the trail, and Olin skulking near a cairn, none of the druids or berzerkers stop and head right down the hill into the forest. 

Meepo has Rat stay back from the man, but to try and move away, then wait, then move away again, seeing if the man would follow Rat.  If he does, then Rat will try to lead him away from the group.

Olin feels the spear pulling to him, welcoming him. He reaches out and takes it. Part of him feels like he's being dangerously impulsive, but he also feels confident in his judgement and the guidance of Silvanus.

Olin picks up the spear.  It feels light weight and easy to manoeuvre in his grasp. 

He looks up to see a sizeable group of barbarians and druids running down a hill into the forest.  He sees one other barbarian slowly following a flying cat down another hill towards the forest. 

A few moments later you all meet back up on the path.  It's quiet.  The druids and barbarians are all gone.  Rat comes flapping back. 

Mordekai casts Thaumaturgy to make the sound of a raven call loudly above them, hoping that Lionel and Ismark can hear it and recognise it as his previously mentioned signal, albeit not used in an emergency. 

"Does this sound like a "deafeningly loud raven" to you? It does to me. I take it Mordekai is in trouble." translated Lionel the signal to Izmark and run toward the direction of the sound.

Meepo would cast detect magic as a ritual, if they have the time.  If not he would start searching around the tree for anything else they might find of interest, or that might have been lost.  He would have Rat helping him out.

Investigation: 9

As you reach the top level, you realize there are still creatures wandering around the copse of trees surrounding the large tree.  You spot maybe a half dozen needle blights wandering around.  They haven't spotted you yet.  You're all back together. Olin has picked up a fancy spear, with a red stained steel tip. 

"Soooo...," Lionel walked around the tree - casually, trying not to provoke walking sticks, "if I understood Izmark correctly, this is the place of treasure, and ravens are supposed to help you in it? Wait, ravens were supposed to help you to find it - "the evil tree atop a hill of graves". I take it, they did their part. Are you going to search for some unknown treasure here now? Or is that strange spear, you are carrying Olin, is the treasure?" Usualy Lionel was not that talkative or inquisitive but he had to spent some time waiting for action - such things take their toll.

"I think it might be useful to get rid of those blights and go investigate around the tree itself."

Mordekai casts Dancing Lights, creating four orbs of light just the other side of the copse and the blights (range is 120ft so assuming I can reach that? If not, ignore this entire action!), circling around for a couple of seconds, and then sends the orbs floating slowly away down the opposite side of the hill, hoping to distract the blights and lead them away. 

Olin shakes his head. "I do not think this spear is the treasure. Madame Eva said we would find a tome of history and knowledge of our enemy here, not a weapon." He looks down at the spear in his hand. "This... I don't know what this is, but it called to me. It asked me to take it up. I sense no ill will from it. For now I am curious."

Olin peers at the needle blights around the tree. "We should kill these things. Nothing good comes from them." Olin looks closer at the tree itself. "And that. Is it oozing blood? That has got to go."

"Nothing beats cleansing fire, agree." An experienced inquisitor and exorcist could not say it better! "But how do you propose to do it? Judging by that angry tree sent to us this morning,  it does not burn that easily."

"Regrettably, I think we will probably have to burn them the same way as the others: after hacking them to kindling." Olin says with a rueful grin. "It's a shame we did not think to obtain any casks of lamp oil."

"If no one has any better ideas, we should try and catch these things unawares. We might be able to take a few out before they know we're here." Olin says, stowing his spear, staff and shield and readying his bow. Olin casts guidance on himself.

(How far away from the tree/blights are we? Where are we on the map?)

Ismark shrugs, "From what the others said, the 'tomb of strahd' is here, ancient knowledge. I would expect to find a book, unless the spear has writing or knowledge on it."  A close inspection reveals no such details. Lionel walks down the path towards the copse of trees within which the large tree sits.  The blights don't seem to pay any attention as you approach. You pass through the ring of stones full of burnt grass. You pass a massive hole of torn up dirt and roots, with dried black blood coating the ground. A brief inspection doesn't show anything of interest. 

As you get closer to the copse of trees you spot what looks like an axe embedded in the large gnarled tree at the center. Blood oozes like sap from its twisted trunk. Skulk­ing around the tree are six gangly humanoid creatures covered with needles. Embedded in the tree is a shiny battleaxe, beneath which lies a humanoid skeleton.

But as you take yet another step forward, getting to just within 60 feet of the copse, one of the needle blights stops, and spins in your direction.  It makes a sound like the grinding and snapping of wood, and the other blights all stop and face your direction.  The copse seems to fill with activity as things you didn't realize were creatures rush forward towards the group. 

Roll init.  They're 60 feet away across open ground. You see around two dozen creatures, some vine ones, some needle ones, and a bunch of the small twig ones rush in your direction. 

Ismark:  18.

Blight forces:  5

Meepo initiative: 23

He sends Rat on ahead, flying over the plant creatures, to scout the tree area.

Rat initiative: 20

(My suggestion was to attack the creatures from max range before they sensed us, not to walk up to them. I was hoping to catch them by surprise from further out. So they lose a round to the Surprised condition, we get a round of attacks at Advantage because we're Unseen Attackers. It's fine if we don't, but that's the strategy I was trying to suggest.)

Initiative, 21+1

Lionel initiative: 14

(wow!) Lionel positions himself between the party and the creatures. At the first opportunity - attack the closest Attack: 22 Damage: 5

Mordekai Initiative : 8

(reminder that Meepo should have an extra 9 temporary hit points on his character sheet, before we start taking damage and it gets harder to track. From what I can make out, everyone else has marked it. Ismark has them too.) 

(OOC: Ack!  I'm sorry guys, I actually must have forgotten to refresh, and didn't see posts 1333 to 1336 when I posted...or...something funny is happening with the server!!  )

Everyone feel free to take a ranged turn / surprise.  Then the creatures rush you, and everyone beats their initiatives, so take another turn.

 There are 3 vine creatures, 6 needle blights, and 12 twigs.