1. Narrate your character's actions with plain black text.
2. Have your character speak, "like this". The speech text should be emboldened and in a color of your choosing.
3. "I can state my inner monologue like this", Charlie thinks to himself. Similar to your speech text, but italicized instead of emboldened.
4. [OOC] Tag out of character text like this. Try to keep OOC chat in Discord, or designated OOC chat for the most part.
5. You can link spells, actions, and skills with a tooltip by putting the name in-between "tags". [ spell]Magic Missile[ /spell] turns into Magic Missile when the spaces are taken out of the brackets. [ action]Disengage[ /action] turns into Disengage. [ skill]Stealth[ /skill] turns into Stealth
6. Thinking ahead and posting rolls you think you might need to make ahead of time is never a bad thing. Sometimes we may not use them. ie. Charlie moves in to examine the statue's butt area more closely. Investigation6
7. Below this is an example of a standard combat turn. You need to include a detailed description of your actions along with your rolls. If I impose advantage or disadvantage after the fact, or you want to expend a bardic inspiration die etc... Just edit the post from your turn, and add the new roll at the bottom of the post. All of this is done using the dice roller, which is the small dice icon in the toolbar.
Charlie runs across the courtyard, towards the goblin (goblin 2) closest to the well, making a heavy two handed swing with his battle-axe! Attack Attack: 16 Damage: 12
8. You can also use a spoiler to add extra rolls you think you might need, or other messages. Do this by highlighting the text you want to be in the spoiler, then clicking the exclamation point icon in the toolbar.
9. Separating by paragraphs at conversation breaks or at logical action breaks is a good idea. Strive to not post “one-liners.” That is, don’t simply post ‘Joe the Paladin whacks the goblin.’ That’s boring. Try to weave in some narrative. ‘Joe the Paladin ducks under the goblin’s hammer, easily sidestepping the crude swipe. His ornate mace slams against the goblin’s head, delivering a powerful smite in the name of Thor.’ This is by no means quality material, but it is a step in the right direction.
10. Put your character's name in your signature line, with your character's text color denoted there. You have to go to the "Account menu", then click the "Profile" tab to change your signature.))
Finding a broken beaker was exceedingly easy - oddly enough, there was small bits of stone ceiling all over the table where the alchemy was clearly being done, and it had done plenty of damage. Various somewhat viscous liquids covered the table and dripped in a slow, steady stream down onto the floor, thin wisps of smoke rising where some of the liquids conjoin into one greasy, off-color mass. Your own tantrum further destroys some of the vials and beakers, most notably one of the larger graduated cylinders that had some sort of thick, almost paste-like red liquid in it that smelled very heavily of sulfur. When all is said and done, you step away with a somewhat knife-like shard of glass from the neck of the cylinder itself - a nice makeshift knife if it came down to it, but one that would likely not last very long if you had to use it too strenuously.
Stepping outwards into the hallway, you find little but a cold, gray stone corridor leading off in either direction. Directly opposite you and a little to the left was a room that appeared similar to your own - the door was wide open and you could see inside, but it looked unused, or at the very least there was no people strapped to any of the equipment within. Further down the hallway to your left is another series of rooms, and the corridor itself winds in the same direction and out of sight. To the right is much the same - a single door that looked much more like a cell, and not much else you can see beyond where the corridor curves out of sight.
Perception - You pick up a single detail that is easy to spot : a trail of blood leading away from the room itself and to the left, thick spatters that had to come from either the half-elf or the dragonborn.
Ketra
You are SORE, but your feet do not give out. Your thigh where you'd been stabbed with whatever in the vial throbbed painfully, and every muscle in your body (especially your hands) felt like they'd been exercised far beyond sensible, but your head was remarkably clear, at least for the moment. The soreness actually made you feel MORE alert, and getting some blood-flow to your back and shoulders felt wonderful after who-knows-how-long of being strapped down to a metal table.
Augustus
Unfortunately the 'Book' does not respond to your call, though that might very well simply be because it is out of your vocal range. If you could locate it somewhere in Kergo's lair, it might very well respond to your call and allow you to get some badly needed information out of it. Of course, searching the entire place could also be quite dangerous, and increase the chances of you getting caught and finding yourself right back in the same position you only recently got freed from.
As you give the Syringe a good looking over, you find that it still has a very, very tiny dose of 'stuff' in it - what that 'stuff' is, you have no idea. An experimental sniff revealed an almost honey-like odor, but there was something fungal there as well, like mushrooms that had been growing in a damp basement. It both made your stomach turn, and coaxed a little hint of...relief, almost? Anything was better than smelling the dingy room.
Searching through the various items that covered the alchemy table, you do find a few notes...though most of them have been ruined beyond recognition, the stuff in the broken vials making the ink run and smudge. Nothing of true import appears to be on any of the ones you can partially read, simply scrawlings of 'increased dosage by .05 milliliters' or 'Where do the wounds come from?' And a list of possible sources (all smudged beyond comprehension). Sadly, no tobacco, pipe, or a bag.
Suddenly, you feel a hand press against you from behind - though you were not wounded, your muscles were immensely sore, and the touch immediately soothes some of the soreness. Your thigh where the injection had been made still burns fiercely, but your shoulders and back can finally breathe a proverbial sigh of relief.
Drav
The dream had felt so real. Was it real? If so, there was no way your magic would work. Kylixx had turned her gaze from you. You were alone...
....and yet you felt the familiar warmth of healing magic welling up in your chest, a warmth you 'pushed' into Augustus, allowing it to travel down your arm and into your human 'friend'. The few tiny scrapes that were on his body immediately healed up, but most importantly...your magic WORKED. Kylixx still had her gaze on you. You were still 'hers'....right? At the very least, your magic worked, and there were no ill effects...though you swear you can feel something 'tickle your brain', a sensation that made you involuntarily shudder. You felt like...you should remember something....but what?
Everyone
Even as you go about reacclimating yourself to your newfound freedom and being able to MOVE, you begin to get dizzy. Your head hurts, a blistering headache that disrupts your concentration, upsets your thankfully-empty stomach, and makes your legs feel weak. In unison, you feel as though you might very well pass out ------
Cragworm peered out of the dilapidated building, holding a stick to which a heavy rock had been attached with wettened cloth. His sword was gone, still lodged in the hide of one of those *creatures*, and even his whip had been violently ripped from his hands scarcely five minutes into the battle. Still, he held watch, ensuring that none of his allies would find themselves ambushed. Ketra lay on the floor nearby, her teeth gritted in pain and her body caked in blood - most of it not her own. 'Changing' was still so painful, despite it being a nearly daily occurrence. Her body was simply not made to handle it, but handle it she did, despite the raw feeling in her muscles and the tart, tangy taste in her mouth that it left behind.
Augustus had arguably gotten the worst of it, and now was leaned against the wall, panting as Drav saw to his wounds. Despite the horrid gash that crossed his chest, he still held the book, the book all of this had been for. The ritual. What was needed. The calming magic of Drav's healing spread warmth though Agustus' body, and Drav felt that familiar, welcome 'tickle' in his head. Something he'd grown to appreciate. Something he might appreciate more now that they had the book, the start of --
You all snap back to 'reality' with a gasp. It had felt so REAL. You KNEW these people. You knew their names...and yet you'd forgotten? How? Why? They were your allies...what in the hell was going on? Ever more question sprang to mind, and yet, at least at the moment, you had no answers.
Cragworm moves across the hall and checks the door, searching for this store of equipment mentioned by the 2 rescuers. He can be heard muttering to himself in a random combination of goblin and gnomish. "Cragworm not fail, Cragworm save friends, Cragworm great destiny.."
Augustus collapses forward on the table he had just been rifling through. His hands catching him before he took a face full of broken glass. Just as quickly he feels at his chest for a wound that isn't there. His other hand opens to reveal not a book but the syringe and its remnant fluid still there. This is memory, just not here...right? Concern furrows his brow for a moment as he thinks through the 'flashback'.
He stops searching and turns to Drav, "Thanks...Let's get out of here before...something happens."
Walking was at least easier but the phantom pain still remained as Augustus still held a hand to his heart. Towering over the goblin at the doorway, he also peeks outside. "The girl that was here, the half-elf. She said there was a storage room, let's find it."
Graves creeps into the hall trying to discern which direction this storage room might be in.
"This place is unclean," Drav whispers hoarsely at Augustus. "Life and death are... disordered here. We must take our leave immediately."Shaking the stiffness from his joints, Drav shuffles uneasily in pursuit of the party. "I must retrieve my... <<sound of cold air keening through a field of bones>>... my totem. May Kylixx grant me eyes to see it."
Drav passes each party member and slowly sniffs the air around them (( passive medicine check at 16 )). He positions himself where he can watch every party member and every entrance, listening intently for signs of movement.
Ketra drags herself to her feet, grimacing and trying to figure out, if it isn't hers, whose blood it is. Then realizes there is no blood. She stretches her hands, trying to will away the pain and spits, ridding her mouth of that taste while lingering on one last moment of it. She wonders, "Who didI..? Where did it...?" She shakes her head. "Just hold up a second. Be cautious. We don't know what else is out there." She realizes everyone else seems to have one foot out the door already and mutters to herself. "Sure, fine, let's all be reckless." She flexes her hands again, steps into the hallway, and slides into the nearest shadow on the heels of Cragworm and Augustus.
Cragworm stops after Ketra's comment. He locks eyes with her and, despite the urgency of the situation, seems lost in thought for a moment. "No friend. Not be reckless. Reckless bad, make dead. Ketra stay close to Cragworm and be ok."Cragworm's demeanor becomes deathly serious and swells beyond his small, ragged goblin body. "Cragworm vow to keep friends safe - like when found book and Ketra all bloody." He seems unaware that the shared vision was not reality. He then resumes his search of the room across the hall.
Investigation: 2
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PbP Lost Mines of Phandelver -Squelch (Kenku Grave Cleric)
What Lies Between - Cragworm (Goblin Oathbreaker Paladin)
Embers in the Dark - Martin "Uncle" Flintmore (Human Rogue)
Adventures in Esyldien - Khorzik Fume (Hobgoblin Transmuter) - retired
A Machine's Ambition- Canavar (Shifter Zealot Barbarian) - retired
What Lurks Below - Urmdir Volsung (Human Fighter) - retired
Perception: Spotting the trail of blood left behind by the wounded half-elf is easy enough to see, but you notice something else out of the ordinary. The ground is covered in a thin layer of dust (clearly it has not had appropriate cleaning in a long time), and to the left the dust seems a bit thicker, hinting that it is an area less traveled. Based on what you know from what little the dragonborn and half-elf told you, Kergo Rogaa would likely strip the equipment from those he has captured, take what he wanted, and discard the rest into some sort of storeroom. It would be easy to assume the stockroom would likely be on the 'path less traveled' as it were.
(Drav, you DO have full spells as if you'd rested! However, your totem is nowhere to be found.)
That itchy feeling in your head once more sends chills down your spine, and you find yourself 'tugged' towards the leftmost passage. It was not insistent, and could be easily ignored, but the sensation is there, as if SOMETHING wants you to go that direction.
High Perception (DC 20+) : You hear a sound that is very difficult to place, something like scales being dragged across the stone floor. It is hard to pinpoint exactly where it is coming from, but after listening for a few seconds, it SOUNDS like it is getting closer...then further away...then closer once more. At the very edge of your perception you swear you hear something like ragged breathing mixed with a sucking-hissing sound.
Ketra
Despite the lack of things in the hallway to hide behind, the hallway itself is only scarcely lit by torches, filling sconces every fifteen or so feet along the northern wall. Shadows are ample, and your darker skin makes it easy to blend into the more darkened areas whilst maintaining good eyesight along the passage itself.
Stealth: You feel as though you are hidden as well as you can be, given the lack of cover. (I will assume this is your stealth check for the foreseeable future!)
Cragworm + Augustus
Teaming up in your investigations (and with input from the perceptive Drav, and a little from Ketra as well), you find that the leftmost passage away from your room is less traveled. Thoroughly investigating the room directly across the hall and slightly to the left of the room in which you awoke reveals a very similar setup, but one that does not appear to have been used in a long time. Deep gashes line the walls, hinting that something VERY strong was in here at some point, strong enough to gouge quarter-inch deep claw marks into solid stone. The various vials and beakers are universally broken, and the sulfuric scent that had been in the other room was present here as well, though far more overpowering, The various liquids appear to have congealed into an almost spongy mass on the floor, and everything is covered in a very thick layer of dust. The tables are broken and battered, and absolutely drenched in old blood, mixing the scent of rust in with the sulfuric scent. It is...not pleasant. Further searching reveals nothing.
Your investigations continue to the next room, though you do not step into it yet. A precursory glance within reveals the same metallic tables that had been in the other rooms, but also enormous vats filled with some sort of dark yellow liquid. From a distance, it is difficult to tell much more about the room or if there is anything in the vats themselves - you would have to enter and have a good look around to determine anything more.
The NEXT room on the same northern face of the corridor reveals a room much like your own...though this one has a body, still strapped down to one of the tables. It looks like whoever it is died long ago, and yet the scent that emanated from within is not one of decay like one might suspect. You would have to enter to learn more.
Directly across the hall from that room you find a thick, wooden door that appears to be locked...
Augustus Investigation: Giving the door a good looking over, you discover that there is a weak point on the upper hinge, one that you could easily take advantage of with a bit of force. The wood around it is a little rotted, and though it would be loud, you are confident that a solid shoulder against it would be enough to knock it open enough to squeeze through. (DC 14 STR check) You also discover that the lock is an older model and well rusted...but not so much that you could not get inside if you could pick it. Without a thieves kit, it would be difficult, but not entirely impossible. (You may attempt to pick this lock with Disadvantage, DC 13, for a far more quiet entry)
To the other side of the passage, there is a cell door that is most certainly locked. It enters into a small walkway and curves to the right, preventing you from seeing what lies beyond. There is an exceedingly faint glow coming from around the corner, but you cannot tell it's point of origin.
((Apologies for the low quality of the map, I am doing this on a laptop and pretty much have only paint to work with. Hopefully in the future I will be able to devote some time on my home PC to make some actually good maps, but for now, this will have to do.))
"Indeed, small friend, reckless IS bad," she says at a whisper from the shadows. "And I have every confidence in your protective instincts," she eyes the glass in his hand, "but t's all just take things slowly--and quietly--for the moment."
Ketra stares at the locked door from the shadows and her fingers seem to twitch instinctively. She backtracks silently to the room with the claw marks and broken furniture, looking for something small and sharp. A nail, a strong enough splinter of metal or wood, anything. Drawing attention of any sort is rarely a good idea. A locked probably indicates something important. And for some reason, she thinks that with the right tool, she could get in. She stares for a moment at the claw marks and her own hands, stretches them again, still feeling a lingering pain. But maybe even one of those claws would do the trick? "Not worth it," she mumbles to herself, starting to look around.
A sort of strange sensation washes over you when you stare at your hands. They...ache? Perhaps ache was not the right word - the felt uncomfortable, like the skin was stretched over them just a little bit too tightly. The sensation lingers for but a moment before it fades away.
In the back of your mind, you feel like you are missing something. Like there is something that has been pushed to your subconscious to be repressed, but you have no idea what. Shaking off the feeling altogether, you set about the task of finding something that might end up being used as a suitable lockpick.
Investigation : For a moment, it seemed as though your search would not bare fruit. There were plenty of bits of broken glass and the like, but nothing longer and more slender that might hold up to being pressed into a lock and wiggled against tumblers. Just when you are about ready to give up, you notice one of the rivets on the broken table is a little loose. A few short seconds of effort later, you've managed to dislodge it - it's long and somewhat thin. Certainly not a perfect lockpick, but it would most certainly work in a pinch!
(You can use this at disadvantage to try to quietly open the door!)
Cragworm seems embolded by Ketra's response. "What look for? Tools? Cragworm help." Cragworm heads into the room with the corpse on the table and looks around. investigation: 4. He starts sawing and tearing off the foot of corpse and brings it the Ketra. "Bones, yes? Little bones?" He seems completely at ease with this process. Cragworm waits next to Ketra to see if this is what she wanted.
(OOC: maps are great, do not worry. You may want to number the room or provide a letter-number grid like a chessboard if the maps get bigger. That way we can say "I go into A-1". This can be immersion breaking, so another method is to name every room. "Vat room", "Small empty room", etc.)
Ketra surprises herself by smiling, more at the goblin's willingness to help and far less at his comfort with tearing apart a body. "Thin bones, perhaps." She holds up the rivet. "This may now work--we'll try those of we have to. Your more important job is to watch my back and be ready in case there's something on the other side of the door."She drops down to peer at the lock and mutters to herself. "The most interesting things were always behind the locked doors. At least, I think so? They used to lock everything, though after a while, that never stopped me...maybe? Was that even real?"
[Ability]Dexterity[/ability]17
(New to Rogue, so rolled that as Dex + proficiency at disadvantage. Happy to reroll if that's a goof or you want something different.)
(I guess Dex isn't a skill so it didn't like that language but still gave me a number?)
The lock pops and she absently tucks the rivet behind her pointed, right ear and into her hair for later before stepping away. She eyes the goblin again. "Quietly and safely, right?"
(This will require a bit of a retcon of your own post, but...you can figure out about where said 'retcon' is.)
Entering the much larger room that houses the vats and the single, large table, the odd scent hits you full force. It's utterly and completely indescribable, and yet somehow...familiar? It sort of tickles something in your head, something that tells you that you SHOULD remember this, but however hard you might try, nothing comes to mind. You immediately notice that some of the vats do, indeed, have SOMETHING in them, and though you cannot be one hundred percent sure, you're pretty sure you see some small-sized dark shapes just barely moving around in some of them, though the viscous yellowish fluid largely hides what they are from view.
The body itself is most surprising. At a glance, it appeared as though it was a corpse...but as you get closer, you find it breathing exceedingly slowly, it's chest rising in laaaaarge breaths that might pan out to five or six per minute. Even more strangely, when you try to cut one of the feet off at the ankle, you find that your glass is utterly ineffective. You try your teeth next - it's like biting into solid rock. This person - likely a male human, now that you've gotten to get a closer look at it - is practically little more than skin and bones, and yet that 'skin' might as well be plate mail for as much good as it does you in trying to damage it. However, once you start, a thin, keening wail starts to emanate from the 'human's' throat, something that is so low pitched at first as to be nearly inaudible, but - little by little - grows in volume...and as it grows, the dark shapes in the vats begin to become more agitated, moving around enough that you can actually catch a few glimpses of them. Sludgy and tentacle-like, like malformed fish or eels of some sort, and as you continue the mess with the body, that 'screech' continues to get louder and louder...
Ketra
(It would require proficiency in a toolkit! But, even with the penalty, you still managed to pass the required check to pick the lock, so you managed to open it quietly!)
The thin bit of metal proves to be a chore to work with, even moreso because you had to use your finger to twist the lock itself, but you finally manage to trip one of the tumblers and rotate the lock a bit. A little more work, and you've tripped another tumbler, rotating the lock a bit more. Finally, with a satisfying *snick*, the lock pops open, and the door quietly creaks open of it's own accord.
The room within is very, very dark, but you can easily make out most of what is inside at a glance - it looks like it might very well be the storage room the half-elf and dragonborn spoke of! An exceedingly thick layer of dust covers absolutely *everything*, and cobwebs line the floor, walls, ceiling, and most of the items like a shroud. Worst, your eyes alight upon the nearest weapons, and they look HEAVILY rusted, to the point they might very well snap if you tried to use them. How long has this stuff been here?! Swords, even poorly kept ones, hardly rusted overnight, and the accumulated rust and dust point to many, many years of sitting here, unused and undisturbed. Perhaps if you looked hard enough, you might be able to find a few basic items to at least give you and your group a means to fight back against anything that might want to harm you down here...
Augustus continues to looks at the hinges of the door while Ketra works at the lock. "You're never going to pick a lock with splinters and shards." he mutters under his breath. He backs up having decided where best to place his shoulder when ramming into the door. A moment of gathering will and bracing he takes a few charging steps forward...*click* He skids to a stop, "Huh...good job." He seems genuinely surprised.
Pushing past Ketra into the room he instinctively snaps his fingers causing Light to blossom from a pebble at his feet. Augustus picks it up and marvels for a second then dismisses it for more important work.
He starts sifting through all the equipment with some urgency. The keening man in the other room driving him. Every time he finds a serviceable item he pulls it out and skids it to the middle of the room for his companions to pick through. Personally he's looking for his clothes, something that feels familiar.
Ketra follows the others into the room. "Sometimes it isn't about the tools," she points out to Augustus, eyeing the pebble with a faint smirk to make a point. "It's about the skills. Though I don't quite remember why I thought to do that." She looks around, dismayed at the state of all the metal. Still, there may be something useful here. She turns to Drav behind her. "Aren't you looking for something specific? What does it look like?"
Something did feel familiar in the way she picked that lock and she feels a pull for some sort of weapon and a desire to blend into the dark a little more. She tries to be patient and look carefully, but between the keening sound and the goblin's less-than-careful digging, her concerns about staying quiet are growing. "We need to keep moving. We're going to draw attention of we keep this up." After another moment, something clicks on her brain and she pauses in her search. "How long have we BEEN here?"
Cragworm grunts. He emerges from the junk covered in scrapes from the rusty equipment. "All trash." He picks up a shortsword and slams it into ground, breaking it. "Trash!" Cragworm leaves the room muttering, his gnarled fingers clenching in agitation. "Cragworm save friends no weapons. No armor. Cragworm powerful." He stops and glances back at Ketra. "Man say 32 years.." He wanders, seemingly unaware or uncaring of what this time period means.
(Cragworm continues to stay close to party and attempt to protect them. He helps with any searches, but his priority is to intercept anything dangerous.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"33 years, I believe, in some state of undeath. But I don't remember how we got here."Turning to eye Ketra, Drav says, "The totem I used to channel the power of Kylixx. It may be grave dust by now. Look for a small red-ochre pouch of cured leather. If I cannot find it, perhaps I can make a new one." With this, Drav begins rustling through the detritus with investigation9. He chants under his breath,"A rag, a bone, a hank of hair. A rag, a bone, a hank of hair...."
Drav is especially looking for his yklwa and sickle, but any single-handed martial or simple weapon will do. In terms of armor, he will ask Augustus to set aside any medium armor or shields.
[[Kahmori, I'm assuming I cannot cast spells that require a material component unless I find or make a new holy symbol. Is that accurate?]]
Everyone (I used everyone's check to determine what was discovered)
Between the four of you, you manage to comb the room pretty quickly, separating what might potentially be usable and what is most likely going to be more of a hindrance than help. Unfortunately, most of the weapon seem to have multiple decades of accumulated disuse, and the same goes for most of the armor. There is evidence most of them had not even been cleaned from their last usage, causing plenty of rust in weapons and straps alike, and most of the leather is old and brittle, likely not treated against moisture as it should have been. However, you do manage to work up a small pile of things that might be usable, including the following --
1x Studded leather armor
1x Leather armor
1x Chain shirt
1x Breastplate
1x Hide armor (heavily used, but workable)
1x buckler
1x Light crossbow
1x Shortbow
1x Yklwa (Drav, you are pretty sure this is your own.)
2x Daggers
1x Bone Whip
2x Rapiers
1x Shortsword
1x Heavy crossbow
Among the more basic items, you find
2x Backpacks (Each of them have 10 vials in them, several sheets of unused paper, a sextant, tacks, some very basic glue, charcoal sticks, ink, and calligraphy quills)
Abacus
An Alms box
Two bedrolls (The musty smell is less than pleasant, but they seem clean otherwise)
Dice set
Birdpipes
11 Arrows
7 bolts
Drav and Augustus (20+ Investigation) : You are trying to be quick in your search whilst also being thorough, and you nearly overlook an odd-looking longsword that seems so corroded as to be unusable. However, upon closer inspection you find that the blade is simply covered in an exceedingly thick layer of dust - the edge itself seems to be fine! The handle does have a bit of corrosion on it, but a little care would likely restore it good as new! Taking a few moments to wipe off the blade, you discover that the sword is a silvered sword! Buried beneath it is also a hooked net. Augustus discovers a book that seems like it had once belonged to an aspiring young mage, simple low-level spells that would be more in line with an apprentice. However, it's not YOUR book.
Across the hall and down the short, narrow corridor that leads to the room with the body, you hear the cracking of glass, then shattering - the keening sound suddenly grows quiet, tapering off much quicker than it had rose and then becoming utterly silent.
Drav
(You are correct! You will require a focus of some sort to cast your spells as per normal. You may be able to craft a temporary one if you can find the correct materials...or there might be another option.)
You search high and low for any evidence of your totem, but you find nothing at all, despite being very confident that you've looked the room over to the best of your abilities. Yet that itching feeling in the back of your mind persists, urging you to stay in the room. Almost entirely against your will, you find your head swiveling to look at an old suit of leather armor, brittle and worn...
"....I can give you what you need. We are in this together, now..."
Almost without thinking about it, you find yourself reaching out towards the armor, visions of your totem bag dancing in your head...
....Do you accept the offer?
Augustus
Flipping briefly through the book, you find that it belonged to a student at a magical academy - they were rare, and generally open only to those who were either affluent, or had serious magical potential. The book was clearly something for an aspiring mage, one who'd maybe only put in a year or two of work, perfecting the most basic spells.
Yet as you close the book and once more gaze at the cover, you vision starts to blur and become hazy. The world around you seems to partially melt away, leaving you focused on the book with an almost supernatural clarity. The clasp was wrong. You'd seen one of these before. The slight difference in the embroidery stood out to you like a sore thumb. The spine was too soft. The pages were a centimeter smaller overall, and the paper was a tiny bit more thin than would have been regulation. This was a reproduction.
"We know what you want..."
"...Let us give it to you. We require it to escape this horrible place.."
The duo of voices, one male and one female, inside of your head sound so incredibly familiar, and you begin to imagine your own book without any input of your own. The cover. The pages. What was written on those pages, all in nigh-perfect clarity. You feel as though you need only give the word, and the book - YOUR book - would be restored to you...
Cragworm looks amazed as the others find useful gear amidst the garbage. He snatches at the bone whip. "Mine!" If either the studded leather or the leather fits him, he tries to put it on. He then picks up one of the rapiers and calms a bit. He turns to the group, "Cragworm share with friends. Friends strong make Cragworm strong."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PbP Lost Mines of Phandelver -Squelch (Kenku Grave Cleric)
What Lies Between - Cragworm (Goblin Oathbreaker Paladin)
Embers in the Dark - Martin "Uncle" Flintmore (Human Rogue)
Adventures in Esyldien - Khorzik Fume (Hobgoblin Transmuter) - retired
A Machine's Ambition- Canavar (Shifter Zealot Barbarian) - retired
What Lurks Below - Urmdir Volsung (Human Fighter) - retired
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((OOC for everyone who wants to use the fancy formatting like M&M. This is borrowed from https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/2069-pbp-rules-and-faq-please-read-first?page=3
Campaign Formatting Guide
1. Narrate your character's actions with plain black text.
2. Have your character speak, "like this". The speech text should be emboldened and in a color of your choosing.
3. "I can state my inner monologue like this", Charlie thinks to himself. Similar to your speech text, but italicized instead of emboldened.
4. [OOC] Tag out of character text like this. Try to keep OOC chat in Discord, or designated OOC chat for the most part.
5. You can link spells, actions, and skills with a tooltip by putting the name in-between "tags".
[ spell]Magic Missile[ /spell] turns into Magic Missile when the spaces are taken out of the brackets.
[ action]Disengage[ /action] turns into Disengage.
[ skill]Stealth[ /skill] turns into Stealth
6. Thinking ahead and posting rolls you think you might need to make ahead of time is never a bad thing. Sometimes we may not use them.
ie. Charlie moves in to examine the statue's butt area more closely. Investigation 6
7. Below this is an example of a standard combat turn. You need to include a detailed description of your actions along with your rolls. If I impose advantage or disadvantage after the fact, or you want to expend a bardic inspiration die etc... Just edit the post from your turn, and add the new roll at the bottom of the post. All of this is done using the dice roller, which is the small dice icon in the toolbar.
Charlie runs across the courtyard, towards the goblin (goblin 2) closest to the well, making a heavy two handed swing with his battle-axe!
Attack
Attack: 16
Damage: 12
8. You can also use a spoiler to add extra rolls you think you might need, or other messages. Do this by highlighting the text you want to be in the spoiler, then clicking the exclamation point icon in the toolbar.
9. Separating by paragraphs at conversation breaks or at logical action breaks is a good idea. Strive to not post “one-liners.” That is, don’t simply post ‘Joe the Paladin whacks the goblin.’ That’s boring. Try to weave in some narrative. ‘Joe the Paladin ducks under the goblin’s hammer, easily sidestepping the crude swipe. His ornate mace slams against the goblin’s head, delivering a powerful smite in the name of Thor.’ This is by no means quality material, but it is a step in the right direction.
10. Put your character's name in your signature line, with your character's text color denoted there. You have to go to the "Account menu", then click the "Profile" tab to change your signature.))
Cragworm moves across the hall and checks the door, searching for this store of equipment mentioned by the 2 rescuers. He can be heard muttering to himself in a random combination of goblin and gnomish. "Cragworm not fail, Cragworm save friends, Cragworm great destiny.."
Augustus collapses forward on the table he had just been rifling through. His hands catching him before he took a face full of broken glass. Just as quickly he feels at his chest for a wound that isn't there. His other hand opens to reveal not a book but the syringe and its remnant fluid still there. This is memory, just not here...right? Concern furrows his brow for a moment as he thinks through the 'flashback'.
He stops searching and turns to Drav, "Thanks...Let's get out of here before...something happens."
Walking was at least easier but the phantom pain still remained as Augustus still held a hand to his heart. Towering over the goblin at the doorway, he also peeks outside. "The girl that was here, the half-elf. She said there was a storage room, let's find it."
Graves creeps into the hall trying to discern which direction this storage room might be in.
Investigation 15 (Searching for which way to go)
Stealth8 (Sneakings!)
"This place is unclean," Drav whispers hoarsely at Augustus. "Life and death are... disordered here. We must take our leave immediately." Shaking the stiffness from his joints, Drav shuffles uneasily in pursuit of the party. "I must retrieve my... <<sound of cold air keening through a field of bones>>... my totem. May Kylixx grant me eyes to see it."
Drav passes each party member and slowly sniffs the air around them (( passive medicine check at 16 )). He positions himself where he can watch every party member and every entrance, listening intently for signs of movement.
Perception 23
Ketra drags herself to her feet, grimacing and trying to figure out, if it isn't hers, whose blood it is. Then realizes there is no blood. She stretches her hands, trying to will away the pain and spits, ridding her mouth of that taste while lingering on one last moment of it. She wonders, "Who did I..? Where did it...?" She shakes her head. "Just hold up a second. Be cautious. We don't know what else is out there." She realizes everyone else seems to have one foot out the door already and mutters to herself. "Sure, fine, let's all be reckless." She flexes her hands again, steps into the hallway, and slides into the nearest shadow on the heels of Cragworm and Augustus.
Stealth 19
What lies between - Ketraezz'nyl (Half-Drow Assassin)
Cragworm stops after Ketra's comment. He locks eyes with her and, despite the urgency of the situation, seems lost in thought for a moment. "No friend. Not be reckless. Reckless bad, make dead. Ketra stay close to Cragworm and be ok." Cragworm's demeanor becomes deathly serious and swells beyond his small, ragged goblin body. "Cragworm vow to keep friends safe - like when found book and Ketra all bloody." He seems unaware that the shared vision was not reality. He then resumes his search of the room across the hall.
Investigation: 2
"Indeed, small friend, reckless IS bad," she says at a whisper from the shadows. "And I have every confidence in your protective instincts," she eyes the glass in his hand, "but t's all just take things slowly--and quietly--for the moment."
Ketra stares at the locked door from the shadows and her fingers seem to twitch instinctively. She backtracks silently to the room with the claw marks and broken furniture, looking for something small and sharp. A nail, a strong enough splinter of metal or wood, anything. Drawing attention of any sort is rarely a good idea. A locked probably indicates something important. And for some reason, she thinks that with the right tool, she could get in. She stares for a moment at the claw marks and her own hands, stretches them again, still feeling a lingering pain. But maybe even one of those claws would do the trick? "Not worth it," she mumbles to herself, starting to look around.
Investigation 12
What lies between - Ketraezz'nyl (Half-Drow Assassin)
Cragworm seems embolded by Ketra's response. "What look for? Tools? Cragworm help." Cragworm heads into the room with the corpse on the table and looks around. investigation: 4. He starts sawing and tearing off the foot of corpse and brings it the Ketra. "Bones, yes? Little bones?" He seems completely at ease with this process. Cragworm waits next to Ketra to see if this is what she wanted.
(OOC: maps are great, do not worry. You may want to number the room or provide a letter-number grid like a chessboard if the maps get bigger. That way we can say "I go into A-1". This can be immersion breaking, so another method is to name every room. "Vat room", "Small empty room", etc.)
Ketra surprises herself by smiling, more at the goblin's willingness to help and far less at his comfort with tearing apart a body. "Thin bones, perhaps." She holds up the rivet. "This may now work--we'll try those of we have to. Your more important job is to watch my back and be ready in case there's something on the other side of the door." She drops down to peer at the lock and mutters to herself. "The most interesting things were always behind the locked doors. At least, I think so? They used to lock everything, though after a while, that never stopped me...maybe? Was that even real?"
[Ability]Dexterity[/ability]17
(New to Rogue, so rolled that as Dex + proficiency at disadvantage. Happy to reroll if that's a goof or you want something different.)
(I guess Dex isn't a skill so it didn't like that language but still gave me a number?)
The lock pops and she absently tucks the rivet behind her pointed, right ear and into her hair for later before stepping away. She eyes the goblin again. "Quietly and safely, right?"
What lies between - Ketraezz'nyl (Half-Drow Assassin)
Cragworm into the room and digs through the rusted junk looking for anything useful.
Investigation: 3
Augustus continues to looks at the hinges of the door while Ketra works at the lock. "You're never going to pick a lock with splinters and shards." he mutters under his breath. He backs up having decided where best to place his shoulder when ramming into the door. A moment of gathering will and bracing he takes a few charging steps forward...*click* He skids to a stop, "Huh...good job." He seems genuinely surprised.
Pushing past Ketra into the room he instinctively snaps his fingers causing Light to blossom from a pebble at his feet. Augustus picks it up and marvels for a second then dismisses it for more important work.
Investigation:21
He starts sifting through all the equipment with some urgency. The keening man in the other room driving him. Every time he finds a serviceable item he pulls it out and skids it to the middle of the room for his companions to pick through. Personally he's looking for his clothes, something that feels familiar.
Ketra follows the others into the room. "Sometimes it isn't about the tools," she points out to Augustus, eyeing the pebble with a faint smirk to make a point. "It's about the skills. Though I don't quite remember why I thought to do that." She looks around, dismayed at the state of all the metal. Still, there may be something useful here. She turns to Drav behind her. "Aren't you looking for something specific? What does it look like?"
Investigation 9
Something did feel familiar in the way she picked that lock and she feels a pull for some sort of weapon and a desire to blend into the dark a little more. She tries to be patient and look carefully, but between the keening sound and the goblin's less-than-careful digging, her concerns about staying quiet are growing. "We need to keep moving. We're going to draw attention of we keep this up." After another moment, something clicks on her brain and she pauses in her search. "How long have we BEEN here?"
What lies between - Ketraezz'nyl (Half-Drow Assassin)
Cragworm grunts. He emerges from the junk covered in scrapes from the rusty equipment. "All trash." He picks up a shortsword and slams it into ground, breaking it. "Trash!" Cragworm leaves the room muttering, his gnarled fingers clenching in agitation. "Cragworm save friends no weapons. No armor. Cragworm powerful." He stops and glances back at Ketra. "Man say 32 years.." He wanders, seemingly unaware or uncaring of what this time period means.
(Cragworm continues to stay close to party and attempt to protect them. He helps with any searches, but his priority is to intercept anything dangerous.)
"33 years, I believe, in some state of undeath. But I don't remember how we got here." Turning to eye Ketra, Drav says, "The totem I used to channel the power of Kylixx. It may be grave dust by now. Look for a small red-ochre pouch of cured leather. If I cannot find it, perhaps I can make a new one." With this, Drav begins rustling through the detritus with investigation 9. He chants under his breath, "A rag, a bone, a hank of hair. A rag, a bone, a hank of hair...."
Drav is especially looking for his yklwa and sickle, but any single-handed martial or simple weapon will do. In terms of armor, he will ask Augustus to set aside any medium armor or shields.
[[Kahmori, I'm assuming I cannot cast spells that require a material component unless I find or make a new holy symbol. Is that accurate?]]
Cragworm looks amazed as the others find useful gear amidst the garbage. He snatches at the bone whip. "Mine!" If either the studded leather or the leather fits him, he tries to put it on. He then picks up one of the rapiers and calms a bit. He turns to the group, "Cragworm share with friends. Friends strong make Cragworm strong."