Chrys shakes her head, grimacing as she sees the mosaic once more. The feeling of anger and injustice doesn't abate with repeated viewings. "This kinda desecration... it ain't right. It just ain't right," she repeats, clenching her fists. Bowing her head, she murmurs a small prayer to the Duin, both for the damaged mosaic and what it represents for the elves who lived here. "Right. Let's go," she says when she finishes, before pausing. "Aeh... we goin' sneaky-like, or jus' bargin' in? I'm great at the bargin', but I should hang back at the rear if ye wants ta take 'em by surprise." She taps the front of her heavy armor for emphasis with her shield.
Lumen says he can go invisible and take a look, come back and report, and then either be the invisible tip of the spear or part of the barge-in, depending on what’s up there and what the party wants.
Nodding along with the groups decision, Nym's heart panged as they witnessed the vandalism to the beauty of the Keep. Listening to Chrys' point, the drow shuffled, her chain mail making her point for her that she wasn't the sneakiest either. "Eilistraee be with you."She murmured, touching Lumen's shoulder as she gave the man Guidance.
"Be safe," Silver says to Lumen seriously. "Please do not enter into combat or negotiations without us." She had only just met this group, and in the few hours they had spent in each other's company she had seen that they were good people, and wished to get to know them better. It would be tragic if one of them died just as she found the first people who might become friends since leaving the Vale.
Ok, I’ll assume that Lumen will cross the entry chamber and head up the stairs to see what’s above. With that in mind, I’ll need a stealth check with advantage for Lumen, and everyone else can let me know if they’ll move with him over to the stairs, or remain by the doors.
Lumen casts his spell and disappears from sight. You can faintly hear his soft footsteps as he moves away from you.
Lumen
Creeping up the spiral staircase as quietly as you can, you ascend towards the room above. As you do so, you can faintly hear a voice. You can't understand the words, but the timbre sounds familiar... Like Krackle, so you know it's a the voice of a kobold. As you enter the Raven's council, you see that it's a spectacular, round chamber, 30 feet across, and built around the magnificent centerpiece; a broad, circular table that has a living tree growing through the center. The paneled walls are carved with woodland scenery with ravens sitting in the upper branches of the highest trees. Some of the ravens eyes contain gemstones, but many more were plundered. Unfortunately, a gaping hole in the ceiling compromises the beauty of the chamber.
Then your heart skips a beat as you see her... the horrid, unmistakable shape of Duskbringer, the large black dragon with her shattered horn, who descended upon you but a few days ago in the forest. For a second, you remember the intense, burning pain you felt during her last meeting, when you were caught in the stream of her acid breath. She still has a few missing talons on her front left claw, and as with last time, you see the strange, spectral ball of light that's floating around her head.
You also see the creature that you heard from below, a single kobold, dressed with more decoration than the ones you killed earlier, who is cowering before Duskbringer and no doubt, showering her with praise. The wyrm seems to be taking it with what would seem to be a mix of tolerance and boredom, but then her head shifts slightly and she suddenly speaks in a hissing, draconic growl.
"I can hear you, and I smell you, whoever you are. You cannot hide from me, fool, so you'd better show yourself, and you'd better be here to grovel at my talons like this pitiful creature, or else you're going to feel my wrath."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Lumen freezes, the jig being up. He considers bolting, but he saw how far that breath went last time and knows it's of no use in such a small room. Even running down the stairs would just mean he was in an acid-filled stairway. So he decides to speak. As he does so, he looks around the room for anything useful apart from the tree and table. Any passages out, any other furniture, any items, any pits or holes on the ground to jump through, etc. He begins to speak, and slowly walk around the perimeter of the room, but he does not do so quietly. Assuming there is plenty of rubble and debris fallen from the broken roof, Lumen scrapes his feet as he goes, and takes care to kick pieces of wood and stone ahead of him and behind him, trying to make noise all around, so it's a hard thing to pinpoint him. He also does his best to throw his voice around the room to confuse further. His goal is to get around to the opposite side of the stairway.
Performance? 14
Along with some suddenly-audible stepping and scraping in the room, the group can hear, clearly and performatively:
"I am, it seems, found. Just me, here. So we may as well introduce ourselves. My name is Lumen. And just so we're clear who is who, do I have the honor of speaking with Duskbringer, Dissolver, Conqueror, Death From Above? Or am I speaking with a mere shadow, a will-o-the-wisp that has lucked into puppetry? I have a proposal, and it's good to know with whom you're speaking."
Looking around the room, you see that there are no other ways in or out, except for the stairs you came up, and the huge hole in the roof. The small scraps of wood you're kicking around on the floor have obviously came from that destruction. There are some chairs around the table, and a few of them are also broken and scattered about.
As you answer, the dragon seems to listen with a modest bit of interest as her eyes and snout try to track you around the room by sound and smell, as does the kobold, who appears to be miffed, or perhaps concerned that Duskbringer's attention is not on him anymore.
However, at the mention of a will-o-the-wisp, Duskbringer cocks her head in a strange motion, and you see the ball of light begin to glow a little more brightly for a fleeting second. You think you hear a fait raspy whisper in the air before the dragon responds.
From below, the rest of you are a little surprised to hear Lumen's voice, but he does not sound like he's in any kind of distress. Rather, he appears to be addressing Duskbringer, who you are now almost certain is just above you up the stairs, with his usual sense of confidence.
Listening closely, you also hear Duskbringer's response.
"Your name means nothing to my ears, for I have not heard of any creature named Lumen or the deeds he may have done that would interest me. And how dare you to insult me? I am no shadow or puppet, I am Duskbringer, Death from Above, as you so fittingly put it."
"Now, what is it you want, Lumen? Why have you come? Are you an elf seeking revenge, or some other pitiful creature who has come to grovel? I do not have much patience for tricks or games, so get straight to the point, or you shall see what it feels like to be dissolved."
It was a series of moments as they stood about quietly waiting for Lumen to return and when his voice rang out for them to hear, clearly doing one of the very things Silver had asked him not to do without them, Nym could not help but share a glance with the firbolg. Expression bloodless and tense, the drow's right hand wrapped around her sword's grip as she listened to the exchange between their friend and Death from Above. Making sure that she had Vigilant Blessing before turning to the others and trying to mime out a silent query of if they should burst in to fight or wait and see how Lumen faired conversing with the sinister dragon.
Lumen keeps walking in his distracting manner, slowly making his way to a point diametrically opposite the stairway.
"My name does not compare to yours. And I could not be further from an elf. I have never groveled, but I might make an exception. I came here to see if the stories I heard about a parasite, a hanger-on, a leech having tarnished a mighty dragon. Terrible stories, spreading all around the Realms. Heard it from a few different places. If true, well, that would be a shame. If not true, then the proposal I mentioned might be in the cards. Concerning a mighty orc tribe. That had been on its way here to serve, but is now... adrift. They heard about this parasite. So, what is it then? What is that there, floating about? When I know what I'm dealing with, then the proposal can be laid upon the table."
(Lumen waits for an incoming message call from Vesper.)
(Just a hope that she might reach out as she has in the past. Nothing pre-arranged so he’s more hoping against hope given the disastrous turn this has taken!)
Listening to Lumen’s lengthy and improvised monologue that you can all hear upstairs, Vesper looks a bit concerned and asks if there’s anything she should say to him in a message.
As they hear Lumen and the dragon begin conversing, Silver's eyes go wide, and she puts a hand to her mouth. He must have been spotted, a disaster. At Nym's mining, Silver thinks for a moment, then tries to follow suit, her fingers walking up invisible stairs, then warning hand held out, then the hand cupped to her ear, listening. Hopefully they would understand what she meant, to get as close as possible without engaging, to listen carefully as Lumen negotiated. She had warned him not too without the group, but now that he had started it would be worse to interrupt. Better to hope for success, and maybe they would not have to engage in battle. It was a long shot, but always possible.
(sorry, was unexpectedly very busy last week with family stuff. Also: AAAH WE WERE SPOTTED)
Chrys tenses when the dragon converses, but her brows knit. It seems... to want to be flattered? At least she'd never heard of a dragon tolerant enough to trade conversation with someone intruding on its lair. Judging from its words, Lumen is on limited time as it is. Grimacing, she figures the element of surprise has been lost. "Tell that damn dragon yer bein' hunted by a paladin o' the Duin, and ye'll let yer Red Claw Clan serve 'em if she'll jus' come out an' slay the dwarf followin' ya. Draw her outta that lair maybe. Jus' don't let her melt ya!" Chrys tells Vesper urgently. She also nods at Silver's plan, hoping that at least Lumen's deception will convince the dragon at the least that he is not the threat.
Vesper gives Chris an interesting look and says, "That's a little too many words for my spell, but I'll try to distill it down into a very concise message. Let's hope that when Lumen delvers it, he doesn't get blasted like he did last time."
She thinks for a minute to as she counts the words of her thoughts, and then suddenly upstairs, Lumen can hear Vesper's voice loud and clear inside his ears.
"Say that you're being hunted by a paladin of the Duin. Kill her and your entire orc clan will bring her piles of gold."
Meanwhile, Lumen watches as the ball of light glows more brightly for a few seconds, and the dragon's head twists in an odd twitch. Duskbringer then looks back at Lumen her head following his voice as he moves around to the other side of the room. As soon as he speaks, he can tell that she's quite angry. However, she remains where she is and makes no outward move to attack him.
"Do not be fooled by what you see. This light by my head is nothing but a display of my power and it should not concern you, unless you would like to feel the wrath of my strength and the burning acid of my breath and see how much power I have!"
"One last time... show yourself and tell me what it is you want. I won't ask again!!"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
OOC: How far away is Duskbringer from the top of the stairs? I'm not entirely sure how much I'm allowed to do in one post if we're not in combat, so please tell me if I'm doing too much.
Lips pursed as she listened to Lumen spin a semi-convincing lie to Duskbringer, the drow began to quietly and slowly make her way up the stairs. Glancing back as her companions squabbled about what to message their half-orc friend to say. She felt something deep in the pit of her stomach. Like the feeling when traveling through an unexplored tunnel system and finding that the ground wasn't as solid as hoped.
Nym shivers at the force of the dragon's voice, sure that the Keep's stones themselves quaked at its might. Though her deflection about the Will o the Wisp was curious. Making eye contact with any one of her companions that would look over at her, the silver haired swordswoman nodded solemnly before whispering something under her breath while holding up two fingers held together, the softest of periwinkle light enveloping herself, Kessdarra and Chrysoberyl. Who found themselves [spell[Bless[/spell]ed with Eilistraee's guidance in battle. She imagined that Silver likely would be casting more spells than melee combat, much like Vesper. She then mimes to the dwarf a drinking or "bottoms up" motion, figuring now would be a good time for her to down that potion that would increase her strength.
After one more glance over her companions, Nym murmurs, "Gods be with us all my friends." Before turning and charging up the last bit of stairs and then straight towards Duskbringer.
Immediately upon setting eyes on the hulking lizard, Nym would cast Guiding Bolt, a flash of silver light streaking from her left hand towards Duskbringer. Following through by running straight at the dragon while loudly and proudly and likely foolhardily declaring, "Eilistraee and Duin say hello!"
Chrys shakes her head, grimacing as she sees the mosaic once more. The feeling of anger and injustice doesn't abate with repeated viewings. "This kinda desecration... it ain't right. It just ain't right," she repeats, clenching her fists. Bowing her head, she murmurs a small prayer to the Duin, both for the damaged mosaic and what it represents for the elves who lived here. "Right. Let's go," she says when she finishes, before pausing. "Aeh... we goin' sneaky-like, or jus' bargin' in? I'm great at the bargin', but I should hang back at the rear if ye wants ta take 'em by surprise." She taps the front of her heavy armor for emphasis with her shield.
Lumen says he can go invisible and take a look, come back and report, and then either be the invisible tip of the spear or part of the barge-in, depending on what’s up there and what the party wants.
Nodding along with the groups decision, Nym's heart panged as they witnessed the vandalism to the beauty of the Keep. Listening to Chrys' point, the drow shuffled, her chain mail making her point for her that she wasn't the sneakiest either. "Eilistraee be with you." She murmured, touching Lumen's shoulder as she gave the man Guidance.
Nym Durnodel - Aspiring Heroes of Faerûn // Danica Amastacia - Red Dead Annihilation
"Be safe," Silver says to Lumen seriously. "Please do not enter into combat or negotiations without us." She had only just met this group, and in the few hours they had spent in each other's company she had seen that they were good people, and wished to get to know them better. It would be tragic if one of them died just as she found the first people who might become friends since leaving the Vale.
DM - Storm King's Thunder
DM - Torosevia (WIP homebrew world)
Kelytha Meliamne - Matti Silverstorm - Silver - Star-Setting-In-The-East - Tor Baltos
Ok, I’ll assume that Lumen will cross the entry chamber and head up the stairs to see what’s above. With that in mind, I’ll need a stealth check with advantage for Lumen, and everyone else can let me know if they’ll move with him over to the stairs, or remain by the doors.
Lumen stealth: 24
Lumen casts his spell and disappears from sight. You can faintly hear his soft footsteps as he moves away from you.
Lumen
Creeping up the spiral staircase as quietly as you can, you ascend towards the room above. As you do so, you can faintly hear a voice. You can't understand the words, but the timbre sounds familiar... Like Krackle, so you know it's a the voice of a kobold. As you enter the Raven's council, you see that it's a spectacular, round chamber, 30 feet across, and built around the magnificent centerpiece; a broad, circular table that has a living tree growing through the center. The paneled walls are carved with woodland scenery with ravens sitting in the upper branches of the highest trees. Some of the ravens eyes contain gemstones, but many more were plundered. Unfortunately, a gaping hole in the ceiling compromises the beauty of the chamber.
Then your heart skips a beat as you see her... the horrid, unmistakable shape of Duskbringer, the large black dragon with her shattered horn, who descended upon you but a few days ago in the forest. For a second, you remember the intense, burning pain you felt during her last meeting, when you were caught in the stream of her acid breath. She still has a few missing talons on her front left claw, and as with last time, you see the strange, spectral ball of light that's floating around her head.
You also see the creature that you heard from below, a single kobold, dressed with more decoration than the ones you killed earlier, who is cowering before Duskbringer and no doubt, showering her with praise. The wyrm seems to be taking it with what would seem to be a mix of tolerance and boredom, but then her head shifts slightly and she suddenly speaks in a hissing, draconic growl.
"I can hear you, and I smell you, whoever you are. You cannot hide from me, fool, so you'd better show yourself, and you'd better be here to grovel at my talons like this pitiful creature, or else you're going to feel my wrath."
Lumen freezes, the jig being up. He considers bolting, but he saw how far that breath went last time and knows it's of no use in such a small room. Even running down the stairs would just mean he was in an acid-filled stairway. So he decides to speak. As he does so, he looks around the room for anything useful apart from the tree and table. Any passages out, any other furniture, any items, any pits or holes on the ground to jump through, etc. He begins to speak, and slowly walk around the perimeter of the room, but he does not do so quietly. Assuming there is plenty of rubble and debris fallen from the broken roof, Lumen scrapes his feet as he goes, and takes care to kick pieces of wood and stone ahead of him and behind him, trying to make noise all around, so it's a hard thing to pinpoint him. He also does his best to throw his voice around the room to confuse further. His goal is to get around to the opposite side of the stairway.
Performance? 14
Along with some suddenly-audible stepping and scraping in the room, the group can hear, clearly and performatively:
"I am, it seems, found. Just me, here. So we may as well introduce ourselves. My name is Lumen. And just so we're clear who is who, do I have the honor of speaking with Duskbringer, Dissolver, Conqueror, Death From Above? Or am I speaking with a mere shadow, a will-o-the-wisp that has lucked into puppetry? I have a proposal, and it's good to know with whom you're speaking."
Lumen
Looking around the room, you see that there are no other ways in or out, except for the stairs you came up, and the huge hole in the roof. The small scraps of wood you're kicking around on the floor have obviously came from that destruction. There are some chairs around the table, and a few of them are also broken and scattered about.
As you answer, the dragon seems to listen with a modest bit of interest as her eyes and snout try to track you around the room by sound and smell, as does the kobold, who appears to be miffed, or perhaps concerned that Duskbringer's attention is not on him anymore.
However, at the mention of a will-o-the-wisp, Duskbringer cocks her head in a strange motion, and you see the ball of light begin to glow a little more brightly for a fleeting second. You think you hear a fait raspy whisper in the air before the dragon responds.
From below, the rest of you are a little surprised to hear Lumen's voice, but he does not sound like he's in any kind of distress. Rather, he appears to be addressing Duskbringer, who you are now almost certain is just above you up the stairs, with his usual sense of confidence.
Listening closely, you also hear Duskbringer's response.
"Your name means nothing to my ears, for I have not heard of any creature named Lumen or the deeds he may have done that would interest me. And how dare you to insult me? I am no shadow or puppet, I am Duskbringer, Death from Above, as you so fittingly put it."
"Now, what is it you want, Lumen? Why have you come? Are you an elf seeking revenge, or some other pitiful creature who has come to grovel? I do not have much patience for tricks or games, so get straight to the point, or you shall see what it feels like to be dissolved."
It was a series of moments as they stood about quietly waiting for Lumen to return and when his voice rang out for them to hear, clearly doing one of the very things Silver had asked him not to do without them, Nym could not help but share a glance with the firbolg. Expression bloodless and tense, the drow's right hand wrapped around her sword's grip as she listened to the exchange between their friend and Death from Above. Making sure that she had Vigilant Blessing before turning to the others and trying to mime out a silent query of if they should burst in to fight or wait and see how Lumen faired conversing with the sinister dragon.
Nym Durnodel - Aspiring Heroes of Faerûn // Danica Amastacia - Red Dead Annihilation
(Ok, I'm back. We can continue with Lumen's response.)
(Was trying to give the others, OOC and IC, time to react and move if desired before spinning more flashy, nonsense yarn.)
Lumen keeps walking in his distracting manner, slowly making his way to a point diametrically opposite the stairway.
"My name does not compare to yours. And I could not be further from an elf. I have never groveled, but I might make an exception. I came here to see if the stories I heard about a parasite, a hanger-on, a leech having tarnished a mighty dragon. Terrible stories, spreading all around the Realms. Heard it from a few different places. If true, well, that would be a shame. If not true, then the proposal I mentioned might be in the cards. Concerning a mighty orc tribe. That had been on its way here to serve, but is now... adrift. They heard about this parasite. So, what is it then? What is that there, floating about? When I know what I'm dealing with, then the proposal can be laid upon the table."
(Lumen waits for an incoming message call from Vesper.)
(Remind me what you’re waiting to hear from Vesper.)
(Just a hope that she might reach out as she has in the past. Nothing pre-arranged so he’s more hoping against hope given the disastrous turn this has taken!)
Listening to Lumen’s lengthy and improvised monologue that you can all hear upstairs, Vesper looks a bit concerned and asks if there’s anything she should say to him in a message.
As they hear Lumen and the dragon begin conversing, Silver's eyes go wide, and she puts a hand to her mouth. He must have been spotted, a disaster. At Nym's mining, Silver thinks for a moment, then tries to follow suit, her fingers walking up invisible stairs, then warning hand held out, then the hand cupped to her ear, listening. Hopefully they would understand what she meant, to get as close as possible without engaging, to listen carefully as Lumen negotiated. She had warned him not too without the group, but now that he had started it would be worse to interrupt. Better to hope for success, and maybe they would not have to engage in battle. It was a long shot, but always possible.
DM - Storm King's Thunder
DM - Torosevia (WIP homebrew world)
Kelytha Meliamne - Matti Silverstorm - Silver - Star-Setting-In-The-East - Tor Baltos
(sorry, was unexpectedly very busy last week with family stuff. Also: AAAH WE WERE SPOTTED)
Chrys tenses when the dragon converses, but her brows knit. It seems... to want to be flattered? At least she'd never heard of a dragon tolerant enough to trade conversation with someone intruding on its lair. Judging from its words, Lumen is on limited time as it is. Grimacing, she figures the element of surprise has been lost. "Tell that damn dragon yer bein' hunted by a paladin o' the Duin, and ye'll let yer Red Claw Clan serve 'em if she'll jus' come out an' slay the dwarf followin' ya. Draw her outta that lair maybe. Jus' don't let her melt ya!" Chrys tells Vesper urgently. She also nods at Silver's plan, hoping that at least Lumen's deception will convince the dragon at the least that he is not the threat.
Vesper gives Chris an interesting look and says, "That's a little too many words for my spell, but I'll try to distill it down into a very concise message. Let's hope that when Lumen delvers it, he doesn't get blasted like he did last time."
She thinks for a minute to as she counts the words of her thoughts, and then suddenly upstairs, Lumen can hear Vesper's voice loud and clear inside his ears.
"Say that you're being hunted by a paladin of the Duin. Kill her and your entire orc clan will bring her piles of gold."
Meanwhile, Lumen watches as the ball of light glows more brightly for a few seconds, and the dragon's head twists in an odd twitch. Duskbringer then looks back at Lumen her head following his voice as he moves around to the other side of the room. As soon as he speaks, he can tell that she's quite angry. However, she remains where she is and makes no outward move to attack him.
"Do not be fooled by what you see. This light by my head is nothing but a display of my power and it should not concern you, unless you would like to feel the wrath of my strength and the burning acid of my breath and see how much power I have!"
"One last time... show yourself and tell me what it is you want. I won't ask again!!"
OOC: How far away is Duskbringer from the top of the stairs? I'm not entirely sure how much I'm allowed to do in one post if we're not in combat, so please tell me if I'm doing too much.
Lips pursed as she listened to Lumen spin a semi-convincing lie to Duskbringer, the drow began to quietly and slowly make her way up the stairs. Glancing back as her companions squabbled about what to message their half-orc friend to say. She felt something deep in the pit of her stomach. Like the feeling when traveling through an unexplored tunnel system and finding that the ground wasn't as solid as hoped.
Nym shivers at the force of the dragon's voice, sure that the Keep's stones themselves quaked at its might. Though her deflection about the Will o the Wisp was curious. Making eye contact with any one of her companions that would look over at her, the silver haired swordswoman nodded solemnly before whispering something under her breath while holding up two fingers held together, the softest of periwinkle light enveloping herself, Kessdarra and Chrysoberyl. Who found themselves [spell[Bless[/spell]ed with Eilistraee's guidance in battle. She imagined that Silver likely would be casting more spells than melee combat, much like Vesper. She then mimes to the dwarf a drinking or "bottoms up" motion, figuring now would be a good time for her to down that potion that would increase her strength.
After one more glance over her companions, Nym murmurs, "Gods be with us all my friends." Before turning and charging up the last bit of stairs and then straight towards Duskbringer.
Immediately upon setting eyes on the hulking lizard, Nym would cast Guiding Bolt, a flash of silver light streaking from her left hand towards Duskbringer. Following through by running straight at the dragon while loudly and proudly and likely foolhardily declaring, "Eilistraee and Duin say hello!"
Attack: 18 + Bless (4)
Damage: 16 Radiant
Nym Durnodel - Aspiring Heroes of Faerûn // Danica Amastacia - Red Dead Annihilation