Kess very nervously glances at this massive, turgid.... thing, for lack of a better term for it, moved behind one of the orcs (for that's clearly what their assailants were, she could see) and absolutely "disappearing" him, the final efforts of the creature doing nothing to save him even as the monstrous behemoth turned its attentions to the other orcs. They screamed, oh how they screamed in terror, and by the lady three-in-one, a wretched smell that seemed like a mix between manure, pipe ash, wet fungus and rotted eggs that briefly blew through the clearing as the orc cadaver more or less sank inside this walking bush hedge of death.
And Kess had no desire to experience that stinky, thorny embrace.
Shaking herself from her morbid fascination, Kess decides to dispense with the hiding; no point!
"Now would be a very good time to run!"
And to punctuate the point, Kess bolted from her hiding place and began to take off in the direction the party had originally been heading, looking to leave these orc bandits to their fate with whatever this horrendously strong, fetid monster was. That... that thing had killed a grown orc, no slouch in size and strength, with a single blow. It would most certainly dispatch the Pie Pals with little or no trouble, Kess reasoned. Valor was good, but without discernment it could just easily serve the fool as much as the fierce.
Rushing into melee, Lumen swings his blades at one of the closer orcs, and although the creature easily parries his first attack, he’s able to draw a thin red line of blood across the orc’s cheek with his second attack.
Chris and Vesper have both heard stories about large, living “forest mounds”, sometimes referred to as shambling mounds and other names that move slowly about in dense woods and jungles that swallow up other living creatures. You don’t really know anything about them, and you’ve certainly never seen one.
(For clarification: The orcs and the mound are on/right next to the path in front of you, in the direction you were headed. You can certainly run away, but if you want to go forward, you’ll need to head into the woods off the path in order to try and go around the thing.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Lumen says to the orc again in Orcish, "Die in that thing's mouth, die on our blades, or promise never to raise a hand against us or others not bothering you... and have a chance to live. What's it to be?" He looks to Kess, and says in Common, "Loop around?"and looks at the other side of the path, away from the mound, and makes a motion with his hand indicating that instead of the party turning back, it go forward on the opposite side through the trees, around the mound, and back onto the path, staying out of range.
If the orc does anything but nod amiably and agree to Lumen's pitch, he'll cast vicious mockery with a "Guess you're dumb enough to be plant food"kind of retort. (2 psychic damage on a failed WIS 14 save and disadvantage on his next attack)
„Krackle!“ Chrys yells at the bear. „Follow Kess!“ she says, backing away after the others, as Lumen had indicated. She keeps her weapn ready and moves slowly, trying to cover the other Pie Pals’ potential retreats.
Since assuming Wild Shape is an action, you'll have to wait until next round to complete your attack. I'll let you keep this roll, though. No need to waste good dice! So, you can do wild shape and movement this round, and I'll assume that you take your movement to approach the orc that's now 30 feet in front of you.
Chrys's turn now.
Sorry, I missed this yesterday. It is a bonus action for me because of the type of druid I am. That is also why I can turn into a beefy brown bear and one of the weaker versions :D The circle of the moon I think? I might have to look.
OOC: Yeah it's a level 2 Circle of the Moon feature! "When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you gain the ability to use Wild Shape on your turn as a bonus action, rather than as an action."
Oh ok, I see it now. I missed that part about COTM on your character sheet. So, we’ll say that you killed the first orc with your bear attacks, and that Lumen has engaged with the second one.
Is Lumen staying in melee with this orc for the time being?
Krackle would look back towards Chrys and then make his way towards Kess as long as Lumen leaves with him. Otherwise he would stay and fight with Lumen until lumen goes.
Given that one of his companions has been ripped to shreds by the Kracklebear, and the other three are fighting desperately against the large forest mound that just swallowed up his other friend, the orc doesn't necessarily heed Lumen's advice, but he does end his attack for the time being. He disengages from the fight and retreats back the way he came, frantically shouting at his companions as they try to figure out their next course of action against the mound.
Right after the orc breaks off and rushes backwards, Krackle and Lumen leave the path and join Chrys and Vesper as you all trudge through the brush and make your way over to Kess, who is about 40 feet off the path, and about 30 feet forward of your initial position. As you regroup in the woods, you can see and hear the cacophony that's taking place about 50 feet away to your right.
You watch as the mound releases the dead engulfed orc. The corpse slumps to the ground like a bag of sand, and it lashes out at the next one with its immense moss and twig covered limbs. The orc tries desperately to avoid the worst of the attack, but it suddenly finds itself engulfed as well, and it thrashes and wheezes, fighting for its life as the air is crushed out of its body. By now, the remaining two orcs break cover and begin sprinting back down the path, running away from the horrid, violent scene. (For reference, they're heading in the same direction as you are intending to go.)
Lumen broke off just as the orc was disengaging, joining the group, eyes stuck on the mound as the loop widely around the fight through the trees. "We can probably leave it to its meal, if they insist on fighting it. Let's keep moving and it might not notice us."
As they creep around, and the remaining orcs begin to break off, he watches them flee in the direction they wish to go. "That makes things complicated. Let's back away from the path and see if that thing goes back to sleep, or its meal, or otherwise ignores us. Then we can just keep an eye on the path and keep moving, hopefully not bumping into the survivors."
Lumen will try to look for a place to tie a small ribbon to a branch over the trail once they are far enough away from the mound that the ribbon would serve as a warning for a return trip.
"I say we pick up the pace. We gotta see how far that... thing... is gonna travel if it's chasin' them orcs. S'not like we can avoid the path we gotta take without gettin' lost in these here woods. Long as we keep our distance while it's distracted by them orcs, we can see what happens, see if we can get to where we're goin' faster, an' see if the bandits have more friends waitin' for them at some camp. After all... might be them orc bandits bein' the reason Dundragon ain't heard nothin' from his nymph friend. Let's keep a good distance 'way from any kind o' battle, though."
Chrys is already walking forward a few paces as she says this, knowing full well that if the group does decide to engage in a sprint, she's probably going to be the slowest member tramping through the forest - especially now that Krackle has taken on his bear form.
(by good distance Chrys means minimum of 60 feet from the mound XD)
Remaining a distance of at least 60 feet off the trail, you continue to tramp through the woods in your attempt to safely circumnavigate past the shambling forest mound. With the two surviving orcs now gone, the mound squeezes and suffocates the orc that's currently engulfed by the thing, until the body droops limp, lifeless and partially crushed into a still recognizable, but slightly and grotesquely deformed shape.
The mound then sets about devouring its newly acquired meal. You watch as it uses its limbs to transfer the dead orc over to the odd shaped maw at the top of its "head," and with slow, deliberate motion, it begins to bite into the orc corprse and chew large chunks from the creature's body in a strange and terrifying display of the the natural order of predation and consumption.
Fortunately, for you, this means that the mound appears to be too occupied in its meal to notice you, or at least pay any attention to you, if it does indeed know you're there. Either way, you're able to skirt past it with no trouble, other than the sometimes challenging, undulating footing provided by the terrain of the forest that exists away from the path. In a few minutes, you have moved point where you feel you are safely past the mound. The two orcs that ran off are no longer in view, as they quickly moved back up the trail out of sight.
"Well... that was eventful," Kess says dryly as the party takes a moment to regulate their breathing, having placed that un-natural horror behind them. "I don't think I'll be eating much tonight when we make camp... if we make camp."
"Yes that was pretty bad. No one deserves to be consumed like that, even brigands." Lumen says, pausing, and tying a ribbon on a low branch so that on their return trip they will know to look around for the mound ahead of them. "Let's be quick and look for the Old Man Tree. And those two survivors. Then Phelannie, then get back quickly. This place is deadly in the daytime. I don't want to be here at night."
How long has it been since sunrise? Do we think we're close to three hours down the path?
After a while the bear-bold would realize that the others could not understand his growls and quickly transform back into a kobold. "That was scary! The ground ate them! I think we need to keep going!" The frightened kobold would say as he clutches hold of Vespers leg
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Keep an eye out for the tracks o' those orcs, though, if ya can. They've got to be runnin' somewhere," Chrys says, as she begins to cautiously approach the now-safe path once again.
Perception for danger: 17
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Nature:12
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
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Kess very nervously glances at this massive, turgid.... thing, for lack of a better term for it, moved behind one of the orcs (for that's clearly what their assailants were, she could see) and absolutely "disappearing" him, the final efforts of the creature doing nothing to save him even as the monstrous behemoth turned its attentions to the other orcs. They screamed, oh how they screamed in terror, and by the lady three-in-one, a wretched smell that seemed like a mix between manure, pipe ash, wet fungus and rotted eggs that briefly blew through the clearing as the orc cadaver more or less sank inside this walking bush hedge of death.
And Kess had no desire to experience that stinky, thorny embrace.
Shaking herself from her morbid fascination, Kess decides to dispense with the hiding; no point!
"Now would be a very good time to run!"
And to punctuate the point, Kess bolted from her hiding place and began to take off in the direction the party had originally been heading, looking to leave these orc bandits to their fate with whatever this horrendously strong, fetid monster was. That... that thing had killed a grown orc, no slouch in size and strength, with a single blow. It would most certainly dispatch the Pie Pals with little or no trouble, Kess reasoned. Valor was good, but without discernment it could just easily serve the fool as much as the fierce.
Rushing into melee, Lumen swings his blades at one of the closer orcs, and although the creature easily parries his first attack, he’s able to draw a thin red line of blood across the orc’s cheek with his second attack.
Chris and Vesper have both heard stories about large, living “forest mounds”, sometimes referred to as shambling mounds and other names that move slowly about in dense woods and jungles that swallow up other living creatures. You don’t really know anything about them, and you’ve certainly never seen one.
(For clarification: The orcs and the mound are on/right next to the path in front of you, in the direction you were headed. You can certainly run away, but if you want to go forward, you’ll need to head into the woods off the path in order to try and go around the thing.)
Anyone can post now.
Lumen says to the orc again in Orcish, "Die in that thing's mouth, die on our blades, or promise never to raise a hand against us or others not bothering you... and have a chance to live. What's it to be?" He looks to Kess, and says in Common, "Loop around?" and looks at the other side of the path, away from the mound, and makes a motion with his hand indicating that instead of the party turning back, it go forward on the opposite side through the trees, around the mound, and back onto the path, staying out of range.
If the orc does anything but nod amiably and agree to Lumen's pitch, he'll cast vicious mockery with a "Guess you're dumb enough to be plant food" kind of retort. (2 psychic damage on a failed WIS 14 save and disadvantage on his next attack)
„Krackle!“ Chrys yells at the bear. „Follow Kess!“ she says, backing away after the others, as Lumen had indicated. She keeps her weapn ready and moves slowly, trying to cover the other Pie Pals’ potential retreats.
Sorry, I missed this yesterday. It is a bonus action for me because of the type of druid I am. That is also why I can turn into a beefy brown bear and one of the weaker versions :D The circle of the moon I think? I might have to look.
OOC: Yeah it's a level 2 Circle of the Moon feature! "When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you gain the ability to use Wild Shape on your turn as a bonus action, rather than as an action."
Oh ok, I see it now. I missed that part about COTM on your character sheet. So, we’ll say that you killed the first orc with your bear attacks, and that Lumen has engaged with the second one.
Is Lumen staying in melee with this orc for the time being?
Krackle would look back towards Chrys and then make his way towards Kess as long as Lumen leaves with him. Otherwise he would stay and fight with Lumen until lumen goes.
Given that one of his companions has been ripped to shreds by the Kracklebear, and the other three are fighting desperately against the large forest mound that just swallowed up his other friend, the orc doesn't necessarily heed Lumen's advice, but he does end his attack for the time being. He disengages from the fight and retreats back the way he came, frantically shouting at his companions as they try to figure out their next course of action against the mound.
Right after the orc breaks off and rushes backwards, Krackle and Lumen leave the path and join Chrys and Vesper as you all trudge through the brush and make your way over to Kess, who is about 40 feet off the path, and about 30 feet forward of your initial position. As you regroup in the woods, you can see and hear the cacophony that's taking place about 50 feet away to your right.
You watch as the mound releases the dead engulfed orc. The corpse slumps to the ground like a bag of sand, and it lashes out at the next one with its immense moss and twig covered limbs. The orc tries desperately to avoid the worst of the attack, but it suddenly finds itself engulfed as well, and it thrashes and wheezes, fighting for its life as the air is crushed out of its body. By now, the remaining two orcs break cover and begin sprinting back down the path, running away from the horrid, violent scene. (For reference, they're heading in the same direction as you are intending to go.)
Lumen broke off just as the orc was disengaging, joining the group, eyes stuck on the mound as the loop widely around the fight through the trees. "We can probably leave it to its meal, if they insist on fighting it. Let's keep moving and it might not notice us."
As they creep around, and the remaining orcs begin to break off, he watches them flee in the direction they wish to go. "That makes things complicated. Let's back away from the path and see if that thing goes back to sleep, or its meal, or otherwise ignores us. Then we can just keep an eye on the path and keep moving, hopefully not bumping into the survivors."
Lumen will try to look for a place to tie a small ribbon to a branch over the trail once they are far enough away from the mound that the ribbon would serve as a warning for a return trip.
"I say we pick up the pace. We gotta see how far that... thing... is gonna travel if it's chasin' them orcs. S'not like we can avoid the path we gotta take without gettin' lost in these here woods. Long as we keep our distance while it's distracted by them orcs, we can see what happens, see if we can get to where we're goin' faster, an' see if the bandits have more friends waitin' for them at some camp. After all... might be them orc bandits bein' the reason Dundragon ain't heard nothin' from his nymph friend. Let's keep a good distance 'way from any kind o' battle, though."
Chrys is already walking forward a few paces as she says this, knowing full well that if the group does decide to engage in a sprint, she's probably going to be the slowest member tramping through the forest - especially now that Krackle has taken on his bear form.
(by good distance Chrys means minimum of 60 feet from the mound XD)
Krackle would just make a few loud bear sounds as he points to the mound and then to all of them
Remaining a distance of at least 60 feet off the trail, you continue to tramp through the woods in your attempt to safely circumnavigate past the shambling forest mound. With the two surviving orcs now gone, the mound squeezes and suffocates the orc that's currently engulfed by the thing, until the body droops limp, lifeless and partially crushed into a still recognizable, but slightly and grotesquely deformed shape.
The mound then sets about devouring its newly acquired meal. You watch as it uses its limbs to transfer the dead orc over to the odd shaped maw at the top of its "head," and with slow, deliberate motion, it begins to bite into the orc corprse and chew large chunks from the creature's body in a strange and terrifying display of the the natural order of predation and consumption.
Fortunately, for you, this means that the mound appears to be too occupied in its meal to notice you, or at least pay any attention to you, if it does indeed know you're there. Either way, you're able to skirt past it with no trouble, other than the sometimes challenging, undulating footing provided by the terrain of the forest that exists away from the path. In a few minutes, you have moved point where you feel you are safely past the mound. The two orcs that ran off are no longer in view, as they quickly moved back up the trail out of sight.
"Well... that was eventful," Kess says dryly as the party takes a moment to regulate their breathing, having placed that un-natural horror behind them. "I don't think I'll be eating much tonight when we make camp... if we make camp."
"I really hope that there aren't two of those things."
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
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"Yes that was pretty bad. No one deserves to be consumed like that, even brigands." Lumen says, pausing, and tying a ribbon on a low branch so that on their return trip they will know to look around for the mound ahead of them. "Let's be quick and look for the Old Man Tree. And those two survivors. Then Phelannie, then get back quickly. This place is deadly in the daytime. I don't want to be here at night."
How long has it been since sunrise? Do we think we're close to three hours down the path?
After a while the bear-bold would realize that the others could not understand his growls and quickly transform back into a kobold. "That was scary! The ground ate them! I think we need to keep going!" The frightened kobold would say as he clutches hold of Vespers leg
"Keep an eye out for the tracks o' those orcs, though, if ya can. They've got to be runnin' somewhere," Chrys says, as she begins to cautiously approach the now-safe path once again.
Perception for danger: 17