Ghosts of Saltmarsh (cbaer8) - Campaign Thread

5 damage on a failed CON 16 save (assume disadvantage; also assume he can’t fail but Boko wouldn’t know that)

Peri:

Peri fires off an eldritch blast at the retreating bat:
EB #1: 8 for 10
EB #2: 14 for 6

"And stay out!" he shouts as the purplish bolts arc upward. He turns back to his companions only to see Kei wrestling with Gerrard. "Have you lost your mind?" 

((Not that it matters, but I'll reroll that 1 for EB #2: 25))

Boko shines a silvery beam of pale light up into the sky, illuminating the tiny bat for a moment...

DC 16 Bat-Man CON Save at Disadvantage: 9

It struggles for a moment in alarm as ghostly flames envelop the little creature. It begins to elongate and stretch as it starts to lose its bat form, but then it chooses otherwise. (Legendary Resistance).

Peri zaps it with a beam of crackling energy. Nevertheless, it continues flying northward.

The bat, somewhat wounded, continues to fly upward and northward. It has crossed the road and is heading toward the cliffs, on a trajectory taking it somewhere between Winston's and the Temple. You are losing sight of it in the dark and the swirling snow. You estimate that it's now about 140' away from you and at an altitude of about 115'.

A small group of locals is arriving from the west up the road. One carries a lantern, another a torch, a third a drawn blade. A fourth seems to be wearing a guard uniform.

Gerrard (who also needs to make a save) and Qivys may act next.

Initiative:
Bela - 23
Gerrard - 22
Qivys - 21
Kei - 19
Boko - 15
Peri - 12

Gerrard:

Focused mostly on the escaping bat, Gerrard notices Kei’s strange behavior and tries to dodge out of the way as the man suddenly lunges towards him.

Acrobatics:  18

Gerrard:

Sidestepping the clumsy tackle with ease, Gerrard slips away and follows after the bat as best he can on the ground, trying to keep it in sight and get close enough to be effective with his bow!

(Longbow Range 150’)

Precision attack add to the first roll under 18:

Longbow Attack:  Attack: 20 Damage: 13

Longbow Attack:  Attack: 13 Damage: 7

(Sorry, forgot the Precision roll:  6 )

"Get out of here!" Qivys yells at the new comers. "Vampire!"

Qivys moves and positions himself between Kei and Gerrard.
"Stop what yer doing lad." he tells Kei.  If Kei moves in Qivys will grapple with him.
Hit/Grasp: 17

Gerrard hits the fleeing bat with yet another arrow in the dark.

Qivys readies a grapple with Kei and shouts to the new arrivals.

"What have you done with the children?" one woman shouts confrontationally while waving her blade in your direction. The guard seems to be keeping her distance from the other three.

Kei may act next!

Initiative:
√ Bela - 23
√ Gerrard - 22
R Qivys - 21
   Kei - 19
   Boko - 15
   Peri - 12

Kei 

With the dexterity of a one legged bovine Kei launches at Gerrard, flying completely past him he lands face first in the dirt. He scrambles to his feet in time to see the nobleman fire more arrows at the fleeing bat. "I think you're being a bit rash Gerrard! Bela's done nothing to us. You leave him alone you...you....peasant". What are you saying man! He can't believe the words coming from his own mouth.

VM 5 on WIS15 failed save.

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never…. (wisdom save:  14 )

Boko and Peri are up next.

"I KNEW it was that dwarf..." mutters the old man with the lantern to his companion.

The snow swirls heavier.

Peri:

This was supposed to be a good night, he thinks. We come back from a mission so dangerous that none of the King's folks want any part of it, we give 'em some vital information, includin' havin' recruited even more allies, and everyone hails the intrepid heroes! But no, we're stuck lookin' for some dumb kids the Guard is too "busy" to find, we get caught between the werejackals and a vampire, and now the idiot villagers have formed a mob to accuse us! But like everything else in this sinkhole, even their mob is half-assed.

Having no idea what to do about Kei having apparently lost his mind -- gods, I hope that vampire charmed him, but he's always been about as stable as a teapot in a hurricane -- Peri decides to vent a little spleen on the rabble. He strides aggressively toward the group, letting invective fly as he closes the distance. "Brandobaris be praised! Whenever I think I've met the stupidest collection of fools on this plane, He sends me a group like you, just to remind me you can always get stupider!" He gets right up into the knife-waver's face, or as close as his 3'1" frame allows. "We've been gone for days, off on another mission for your feckless Town Council! We're about the only people in town who couldn't have taken your kids! But we get back in town only to have yet another problem laid at our door, and despite being tired, cold, and hungry -- and not a little cranky -- we immediately come out here to try to do what your Guard either can't do or won't do! "

"Answer me this, fool: If we were the type of people to go killin' kids in the middle of the night, drainin' their blood before dumpin' 'em right in front of our house, what the hells were you lot gonna do about it? Just in the last few weeks, we've killed sahuagin, some giant minotaur skeletons, a coupla fiends, and a whole nest of wererats! Just two nights ago I looked into the eye of a dragon older than this kingdom! So what was your little posse, with its one knife and a dozen teeth between the three of you, plannin' on doin'?"

((Intimidation check with advantage due to his Astral Self: 22))

(Boko has the last eyes on the bat and she may take one more action against it if she chooses. After that, unless anyone cares to chase it up the cliff, the bat will have escaped and combat concluded.)

The thin, middle-aged woman with the knife lowers it down to her side, in the face of Peri's aggressive bravado. She looks down into the snow, defeatedly. "We just want our kids back."

"Where are they?" demands the lantern man.

"Uh," says the teenage guard, eyeing the villagers nervously. "Maybe this isn't a good time, but this is for Mr. Feldren." She holds a slightly-crumpled paper out toward him.

Boko glares at the departing bat, but it’s too fast and too far so she returns her gaze to the ground. She finds herself agreeing with Peri, she’s a little surprised to find. Not understanding what is going on with Kei, and seeing the new arrivals are not immediate threats, she calls out something similar to “what he said” after Peri finishes. She would like to look at whatever hole Bela crawled out of in due time for clues, but what she is most fixated on are the jackal dogs. She looks toward them and moves in their direction. If she can get within 60 feet she will cast animal friendship at 3rd level and get whoever fails the save to approach, before again casting speak with animals. 

"Get over here and help me with this one." Qivys calls to the guard. "I think he's been bewitched by that thing. Get yer manacles." 

The jackals have vanished into the dark, but even in this light you can make out a trail in the snow leading east up the beach and up the cliffs.

The guard shrugs at Qivys and indicates her lack of manacles. "I have string?" 

"Where are the children?" demands the lantern man again. The knife-wielding woman wipes tears from her eyes.

Peri:

A fair bit of the belligerence ebbs out of him. Stupid they may be, but they're worried for their kids. And we have nothing good to tell them...

"The vampire mentioned a servant working for him. Said he had one leg. Know anyone missin' a leg that's been actin' funny lately?" he asks the woman. He decides the bad news can wait until they've had their questions answered.

The knife woman pulls herself together and gives Peri a look of curiosity. "Well, there's Aaron, th' longshoreman. And old Tabil. And Mrs. Torgin." she answers.

"Farbern, of course," pipes up the woman bearing the torch.

"Right. An' Mrs. Sharber," the knife woman continues.

"No, she's short an arm," interjects the lantern man.

"Oh right. Well, Brinehald. And Happy, th' miller's girl," continues the knife lady.

"I think she passed," corrects the man again in a low voice.

"Right. And th' turnip guy – I forget his name. Th' halfling. But I don't know if any have been actin' funny?"