"Is it just me or does it really look so.. normal?"By contrast to the princess's prison, everything looked normal, of course (even Sigil, some would say) but the chirping was truly music to the ears after the wooshing glass shards and screams of shadow creatures and the smell definitely beat the stench of undead (no offence to Meepo's army).
"Feels safe enough to try to contact Ulthan again. Or to check what's in that glass shard. Would not want to bring something nasty home. Any of our homes."
Mordekai will reply to Ulthan, "We had to teleport. They came for us and weren't peaceful. Stay clear and keep an eye on any activity. It's probably about to erupt."
Then whilst waiting for a reply he'll turn to the others, "What do we do about getting Ulthan back? The army haven't moved, although we knew that I guess. What should I tell him?
"Lionel took off the helmet and turned a few times checking. "The helmet will need more charges. We'll have to wait until dawn. So, tell him to lay low a bit longer. Or he can try to stealth towards us?"
"Meepo have amulet..." Meepo says, holding the amulet of the planes up. "Meepo could use get us back close to giant kin..." He shrugs. In the meantime he will complete his ritual to identify the shard.
"Just that?" The thing was awesome, of course, and very magical, and did not contain and evil entity, but Lionel was already used to the thought of a new prison for the bad princess. "Oh, well, guess it's the matter of retrieving Ulthan now. What did he say? Can he get back to us by himself?"
“He made his way away from the fight well enough, He should be able to make it here, no?” Ketch would grumble. “In the meantime we should try to find a defendable spot to camp. I think we’re all a bit used up and are likely stuck here overnight…”
((I believe we just had a long rest before the fight so I’m assuming we’ll have to wait a while before taking advantage of another…))
"We're asking him to stealth his way to us for a couple of days while we sit and wait? Whilst I'm sure he's perfectly capable... given that he has a knack for vanishing when the action gets hot... I wouldn't mind seeing what happened when they discovered we were gone and had really defeated the Princess for good. I can disguise us all if I have a little bit of a rest. We could look like more of those elves. And maybe once they realise she's actually dead, they might calm down and be willing to reward us?"
Mordekai adds the last sentence without much real hope.
"Off with your head..." Lionel smiled "Sorry, remembered a favourite saying of one lovely queen. Let's hope that one is different. But you said it - until the morning we are powerless. We can walk some distance, I suppose, but Ketch's idea looks more sound - a quiet defensible spot for some proper rest." He looked around in search of such a miracle.
Ketch's eyes closed and he was asleep within moments. It'd been a long time since he'd been able to rest easy, without nightmares of undead chasing him..or swiping bugs away from his skin all night. His thoughts tumbled away into dreams finally able to get some true rest. Sleep would come soon for certain. He looked around the woods. They were dark and shadowy beyond sixty feet. The trees that had looked so alive had lost their leaves...it was just the edge of autumn and it made sense. Their scraggly limbs stuck up as if they were grasping for the night sky. The stars overhead twinkled like diamonds. Where were the stars in Sigil he wondered? A limb snapped nearby. He glanced around. It was good to be on his own again, on the hunt. He glanced down at the axe in his hands. He was panting because he'd been running. The axe head should have been covered in blood, but the handle was instead. His blood. Wounds on his body wept. He slapped his ring, but the damn thing wasn't working. Looking at his axe head once more, he saw that aside from the blood slick handle, the head was covered in little clumps of dried flesh with wisps of hair or spiderwebs hanging from them. His hunt had been reversed once again. They'd come out of the very ground. The blood trickling down his arms tickled ever so slightly, he brushed the blood droplets away and looked back out into the darkness. From behind him, dull ruddy eyes glared out of the darkness. One pair then another, then another. It was time to run again. And so he would. He ran through the forest, just until the ring would work again, just then. The heavy THUD of a bone tipped arrow slammed into a tree as he ran past. The arrow was huge....halfway between a heavy bolt and a ballista bolt if he was honest. Getting skewered by one of those would spell the end. Some scraggly bushes were in his way and he ran through, the twigs tickling his face as he rushed past them. The tickling continued and he brushed away at his face to get the branches away. Then from beneath him, huge rotten arms reached up and grabbed his entire lower leg, locking it in a vicelike grip. He pulled at it, while still incessantly swatting at the twigs on his cheeks.
Ketch awoke thrashing. He hand swatted at his own face and sent a centipede flying. The bug hit the ground and skittered away. A rat squeaked and burrowed back into the ground beneath the magical hut while a spider the side of his fist crawled across his boot. It'd been hours, but he felt like he'd just closed his eyes. As he glanced around, Mordekai and Lionel squirmed in unsettled sleep. Nearby....Meepo snored slightly....perfectly content.
Ulthan's tireless legs strode across the open ground. Well rested and with a singular purpose he jumped and leapt and ran, the miles melting before his long strides. It took only a day for him to cross the distance it had taken them to go in a couple days. Without Meepo's tiny stride or the general malaise that had clung to the group, he was unshackled and the land passed in a blur.
Sweating beautifully and feeling vigor rushing through his limbs he saw the camp ahead and slowed as he walked into his. As he approached he walked through a spider web. Making a most un-masculine sound full of "plffftts" and "tththtfffss" he swatting a spider out of his sweat hair. The group was awake....and they looked quite miserable. Lionel had deep sags under his eyes, Mordekai looked particularly waspish, Ketch looked ready to strangle anyone for any reason, and Laffa.... he was quite far from the group watching Ketch rather closely. Meepo though. The Kobold wizard was leaning back reading a book with his leg crossed over a knee, and was chewing on what looked like half a beetle with a pleased little look on his face.
The group looked up as Ulthan approached. Bright eyes met tired heavily lidded eyes...except for Meepo's bright glitter filled eyes.
(24 hours passed, full rest achieved. Mordekai, Ketch and Lionel still have 1 level of exhaustion. You're somewhere around 1/4 of the way back to the queen's army.)
"Something is not right," stated Lionel the obvious next morning looking at the weary tired companions. "You all look like I feel. Except Meepo, which is good and probably means something did work. But it's like we never broke the curse. Probably, we do have to return to the queen, if only to get some explanations." Ulthan's appearance did not exactly lighten up the mood but was a relief - he made it. "Ah, if it's not our brave companion. Any news from the army? Is it still there?"
"hrmpfh rest good away rest bad near but qeen dead why hrmpfh" says Ulthan as way of greeting looking happier than he's been in months, stretching his frame and setting his backpack down.
Ketch casts Remove Curse on himself, Lionel and then Mordekai, growing progressively more and more unhinged as it doesn’t work. (I’m presuming it doesn’t work…) The War Cleric is about to start trying the spell again at a higher level when he spots Laffa out of the corner of his eye. The rage inside him flares up, his balance of self control tips and Ketch launches himself at the sad wizard.
“You! You’re responsible for this!” Ketch screams, spittle flying everywhere. “You’re the cause of all of this!!”
Ketch draws no weapons, he wants to beat the wizard with his bare hands. He’ll stop beating when the nightmares stop…
"Meepo feel good." Meepo says with a grin. "Meepo just glad bugs no go away." He scoops up a spider before it can scamper away and takes a bite. A pleased sound comes from him as he crunches spider legs in his mouth. Looking around at the group though he frowns as he takes in their states. "Meepo think go back, see if queen know or if library have something." He says as he holds the half-eaten spider in one hand. "Meepo no want Meepo Friends feel bad still..."
"Ketch, stop!" Lionel tiredly stood up to interject yet another assault. "Assuming you are right, and the curse follows Laffa. Or he is a source. You do not know if his death will clear it off. And if he is dead, there will be no way to resolve the problem. Maybe try to remove curse from him? Or, really, let's just get to the queen - the helmet is ready to bring us there. Though Ulthan claims she is dead?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"I think Ulthan was asking us why our rest was so bad and interrupted even though the Princess was dead. Not telling us that the Queen was dead. I think. And Ketch, that question is exactly why we need you to not beat Laffa to death just yet. Please?"
The thought of exhaustedly trudging the rest of the way back to where the army camped only added to the confusion of not being free from the effects of the curse. Mordekai asked Quinn, "Do you know anything about this? Why are we still cursed?"
(Mordekai for the first time also makes the connection that the bugs also first appeared somewhere around the time he met Quinn. He doesn't really think Quinn is the cause, but pays careful attention to Quinn's reply). - Insight check (with disadvantage...) in advance on whatever answer Quinn gives to Mordekai's supposed innocuous question: 17
Ketch is stopped (or stops) before he can even throw the first punch, be it by the party’s words, the sad wizard’s fleeing or whatever. He doesn’t feel the same pressure of a threat at his back as he did about to fight the Princess…
Ketch will glare at the sad wizard and command him to hold still though, then proceed to try a Remove Curse using a 4th level slot. Once that doesn’t work he’ll grumpily nope and grouse and be ready to go back to the army, to have something to hit if nothing else.
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"Is it just me or does it really look so.. normal?" By contrast to the princess's prison, everything looked normal, of course (even Sigil, some would say) but the chirping was truly music to the ears after the wooshing glass shards and screams of shadow creatures and the smell definitely beat the stench of undead (no offence to Meepo's army).
"Feels safe enough to try to contact Ulthan again. Or to check what's in that glass shard. Would not want to bring something nasty home. Any of our homes."
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"hrmpf oh... no bring army to help then hrmpfh" "hrmpfh army outside not left not pack hrmpfh"
Mordekai will reply to Ulthan, "We had to teleport. They came for us and weren't peaceful. Stay clear and keep an eye on any activity. It's probably about to erupt."
Then whilst waiting for a reply he'll turn to the others, "What do we do about getting Ulthan back? The army haven't moved, although we knew that I guess. What should I tell him?
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilation"Lionel took off the helmet and turned a few times checking. "The helmet will need more charges. We'll have to wait until dawn. So, tell him to lay low a bit longer. Or he can try to stealth towards us?"
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"Meepo have amulet..." Meepo says, holding the amulet of the planes up. "Meepo could use get us back close to giant kin..." He shrugs. In the meantime he will complete his ritual to identify the shard.
The dark shard of glass will orbit your head and make being surprised impossible. (functions as a Ioun stone (awareness) )
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.
"Just that?" The thing was awesome, of course, and very magical, and did not contain and evil entity, but Lionel was already used to the thought of a new prison for the bad princess. "Oh, well, guess it's the matter of retrieving Ulthan now. What did he say? Can he get back to us by himself?"
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Meepo fills the others in on what he learned from the identification, then starts to work on attuning to his magic items again.
“He made his way away from the fight well enough, He should be able to make it here, no?” Ketch would grumble. “In the meantime we should try to find a defendable spot to camp. I think we’re all a bit used up and are likely stuck here overnight…”
((I believe we just had a long rest before the fight so I’m assuming we’ll have to wait a while before taking advantage of another…))
"We're asking him to stealth his way to us for a couple of days while we sit and wait? Whilst I'm sure he's perfectly capable... given that he has a knack for vanishing when the action gets hot... I wouldn't mind seeing what happened when they discovered we were gone and had really defeated the Princess for good. I can disguise us all if I have a little bit of a rest. We could look like more of those elves. And maybe once they realise she's actually dead, they might calm down and be willing to reward us?"
Mordekai adds the last sentence without much real hope.
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilation"Off with your head..." Lionel smiled "Sorry, remembered a favourite saying of one lovely queen. Let's hope that one is different. But you said it - until the morning we are powerless. We can walk some distance, I suppose, but Ketch's idea looks more sound - a quiet defensible spot for some proper rest." He looked around in search of such a miracle.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"Meepo create hut..." Meepo suggests with a look up at his big friends. "Rest in hut if Meepo friends want safe place."
Ketch's eyes closed and he was asleep within moments. It'd been a long time since he'd been able to rest easy, without nightmares of undead chasing him..or swiping bugs away from his skin all night. His thoughts tumbled away into dreams finally able to get some true rest. Sleep would come soon for certain. He looked around the woods. They were dark and shadowy beyond sixty feet. The trees that had looked so alive had lost their leaves...it was just the edge of autumn and it made sense. Their scraggly limbs stuck up as if they were grasping for the night sky. The stars overhead twinkled like diamonds. Where were the stars in Sigil he wondered? A limb snapped nearby. He glanced around. It was good to be on his own again, on the hunt. He glanced down at the axe in his hands. He was panting because he'd been running. The axe head should have been covered in blood, but the handle was instead. His blood. Wounds on his body wept. He slapped his ring, but the damn thing wasn't working. Looking at his axe head once more, he saw that aside from the blood slick handle, the head was covered in little clumps of dried flesh with wisps of hair or spiderwebs hanging from them. His hunt had been reversed once again. They'd come out of the very ground. The blood trickling down his arms tickled ever so slightly, he brushed the blood droplets away and looked back out into the darkness. From behind him, dull ruddy eyes glared out of the darkness. One pair then another, then another. It was time to run again. And so he would. He ran through the forest, just until the ring would work again, just then. The heavy THUD of a bone tipped arrow slammed into a tree as he ran past. The arrow was huge....halfway between a heavy bolt and a ballista bolt if he was honest. Getting skewered by one of those would spell the end. Some scraggly bushes were in his way and he ran through, the twigs tickling his face as he rushed past them. The tickling continued and he brushed away at his face to get the branches away. Then from beneath him, huge rotten arms reached up and grabbed his entire lower leg, locking it in a vicelike grip. He pulled at it, while still incessantly swatting at the twigs on his cheeks.
Ketch awoke thrashing. He hand swatted at his own face and sent a centipede flying. The bug hit the ground and skittered away. A rat squeaked and burrowed back into the ground beneath the magical hut while a spider the side of his fist crawled across his boot. It'd been hours, but he felt like he'd just closed his eyes. As he glanced around, Mordekai and Lionel squirmed in unsettled sleep. Nearby....Meepo snored slightly....perfectly content.
Ulthan's tireless legs strode across the open ground. Well rested and with a singular purpose he jumped and leapt and ran, the miles melting before his long strides. It took only a day for him to cross the distance it had taken them to go in a couple days. Without Meepo's tiny stride or the general malaise that had clung to the group, he was unshackled and the land passed in a blur.
Sweating beautifully and feeling vigor rushing through his limbs he saw the camp ahead and slowed as he walked into his. As he approached he walked through a spider web. Making a most un-masculine sound full of "plffftts" and "tththtfffss" he swatting a spider out of his sweat hair. The group was awake....and they looked quite miserable. Lionel had deep sags under his eyes, Mordekai looked particularly waspish, Ketch looked ready to strangle anyone for any reason, and Laffa.... he was quite far from the group watching Ketch rather closely. Meepo though. The Kobold wizard was leaning back reading a book with his leg crossed over a knee, and was chewing on what looked like half a beetle with a pleased little look on his face.
The group looked up as Ulthan approached. Bright eyes met tired heavily lidded eyes...except for Meepo's bright glitter filled eyes.
(24 hours passed, full rest achieved. Mordekai, Ketch and Lionel still have 1 level of exhaustion. You're somewhere around 1/4 of the way back to the queen's army.)
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.
"Something is not right," stated Lionel the obvious next morning looking at the weary tired companions. "You all look like I feel. Except Meepo, which is good and probably means something did work. But it's like we never broke the curse. Probably, we do have to return to the queen, if only to get some explanations." Ulthan's appearance did not exactly lighten up the mood but was a relief - he made it. "Ah, if it's not our brave companion. Any news from the army? Is it still there?"
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"hrmpfh rest good away rest bad near but qeen dead why hrmpfh" says Ulthan as way of greeting looking happier than he's been in months, stretching his frame and setting his backpack down.
Ketch casts Remove Curse on himself, Lionel and then Mordekai, growing progressively more and more unhinged as it doesn’t work. (I’m presuming it doesn’t work…) The War Cleric is about to start trying the spell again at a higher level when he spots Laffa out of the corner of his eye. The rage inside him flares up, his balance of self control tips and Ketch launches himself at the sad wizard.
“You! You’re responsible for this!” Ketch screams, spittle flying everywhere. “You’re the cause of all of this!!”
Ketch draws no weapons, he wants to beat the wizard with his bare hands. He’ll stop beating when the nightmares stop…
"Meepo feel good." Meepo says with a grin. "Meepo just glad bugs no go away." He scoops up a spider before it can scamper away and takes a bite. A pleased sound comes from him as he crunches spider legs in his mouth. Looking around at the group though he frowns as he takes in their states. "Meepo think go back, see if queen know or if library have something." He says as he holds the half-eaten spider in one hand. "Meepo no want Meepo Friends feel bad still..."
"Ketch, stop!" Lionel tiredly stood up to interject yet another assault. "Assuming you are right, and the curse follows Laffa. Or he is a source. You do not know if his death will clear it off. And if he is dead, there will be no way to resolve the problem. Maybe try to remove curse from him? Or, really, let's just get to the queen - the helmet is ready to bring us there. Though Ulthan claims she is dead?"
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"I think Ulthan was asking us why our rest was so bad and interrupted even though the Princess was dead. Not telling us that the Queen was dead. I think. And Ketch, that question is exactly why we need you to not beat Laffa to death just yet. Please?"
The thought of exhaustedly trudging the rest of the way back to where the army camped only added to the confusion of not being free from the effects of the curse. Mordekai asked Quinn, "Do you know anything about this? Why are we still cursed?"
(Mordekai for the first time also makes the connection that the bugs also first appeared somewhere around the time he met Quinn. He doesn't really think Quinn is the cause, but pays careful attention to Quinn's reply). - Insight check (with disadvantage...) in advance on whatever answer Quinn gives to Mordekai's supposed innocuous question: 17
Mordekai | Tiefling Warlock/Bard (Lv.12) | Pizazz's Beyond
RavenloftAnnihilationKetch is stopped (or stops) before he can even throw the first punch, be it by the party’s words, the sad wizard’s fleeing or whatever. He doesn’t feel the same pressure of a threat at his back as he did about to fight the Princess…
Ketch will glare at the sad wizard and command him to hold still though, then proceed to try a Remove Curse using a 4th level slot. Once that doesn’t work he’ll grumpily nope and grouse and be ready to go back to the army, to have something to hit if nothing else.