If Aisha still had her stronger spells left, she may have decided to show the Tribe what their pride can cause, but given the odds, and the fact they could be easily surrounded, she lets it go, starting to head where they were told the Ogres would be, intending to stop outside of easy eye-sight of them.
Abraxas is thinking of the statues and ways to encourage the tribes to fight each other. The farther away he gets from the bugbears, the less bothered by them he becomes. Those thoughts are eclipsed by questions about the statues. For example, how and why would more appear?
Five hundred feet into the center of the forest, you reach the clearing where the Warlord Statues stand imposingly in the middle of the valley. You can see from the edge of the forest that they are carved from red obsidian. Resembling totem poles, they stand evenly in a four-by-four pattern, each sixty feet away from the next. The statues are each made of twelve bugbear heads. The heads are distinct on a single statue, but each statue is a clear replica of the others.
Mingling throughout the clearing are twelve ogres. Despite their state of guarding the statues, they seem focused mostly inward, arguing amongst each other or grumbling as they patrol the area.
While the rest do what they do, AIsha whispers to Harmony that she is going to attempt to get close enough to hear what's going on with the ogre's without being seen as she feels these will be much more violent than the others.
Abraxas readies Crown of Madness in case Aisha is detected, which, he knows, is unlikely. He plans to cast it on the largest of the ogres he can see, should it be necessary.
Harmony was very surprised as the statues were made up of bugbear heads. Then she hears Aisha, nodding back as she watches in case anything goes wrong and Aisha gets caught.
Aisha moves to the very edge of the forest, closer to the statues themselves. The nearest cluster of trees are around sixty feet away from the statues, which the ogres currently occupy.
The ogres' grunts and growls are easily heard, but not understood as the words are spoken in a language that Aisha does not recognize. Occasionally, an ogre will stop near a statue and gaze ahead, as if looking at something that nobody else can see.
Aisha, apparently unable to understand them, starts trying to 'see what they see' by following their gaze. If nothing can be ascertained from that... she will try moving around the forests edge to gain a better view, without going into direct eye-sight of them, whole maintaining her stealth... however, if nothing can be seen that way... After a few moments... Aisha will try her last resort, by intentionally revealing herself, though not as a threat. Her intention being to draw their attention to her, see if they are immediately hostile.. and if so, give her allies a chance to 'surprise round' the enemy.
However once she revealed herself, she would start to dodge if attacks came her way.
Considering this two separate actions.. the first is scouting, and assuming I go undetected, if i can't figure out what they'e looking at, I will reveal myself and start to dodge.
Aisha slowly circles the clearing, avoiding the attention of the ogres for the moment. As she circles she sees two more ogres suddenly pause their patrolling, each gazing into the distance, but curiously the direction of their view is not the same each time. The look on their faces is similar, however; rather than a placid demeanor, their faces twist into something resembling rage, hunger, or excitement.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Abraxas remains watchful. If he can see the ogre's staring (OOC: Barty, let me know if he can't; he is a ways away), he'll consider what he knows about the behaviors of possessed or charmed beings, beings under arcane influence: Arcana: 28
Seeing this, Aisha ultimately doesn't enter the area. Aisha takes a moment to see if it looks like they're generally looking towards one of the towns or settlements they had came from. Regardless of what she does or doesn't figure out, she returns to the others, telling them what she saw before saying Considering the numbers of these enemies... and how strong they look... Aisha believes we should either take a day to rest to recover... as Aisha has spent her skills that would be of great use against them, but Aisha realizes none of you have used much, if any... We can try to approach them peacefully, but they seem.... aggressive.
Once we know what Abraxus has decided, everyone should give their input quickly so we can make a decision on how we're going to approach this.
For once I'm at a loss about how to approach the situation.
Abraxas will share what he's noticed about the ogres, if anything.
"We can certainly rest. How long were the turns the three tribes take guarding? Could we wait for bugbears instead of so many ogres? Is there a way to approach this problem without facing so many foes at once?"
OOC: Apologies for the delay on my end, rough weekend schedule.
For Abraxas:
This doesn't look like possession to you. The ogres' personalities aren't changing as they stop to stare, but the frequency with which this is happening certainly suggests the origin may be arcane.
They also are never staring at the same location, like they're seeing something in the distance. It seems like more of a vacant look, like someone might get while they're daydreaming.
For Aisha:
The ogres don't seem to be staring at any location in particular. It doesn't look like they're staring in any particular direction, actually. Their gaze is more vacant, like they're daydreaming.
Harmony will hear the others, thinking of what to do. "If a rest is needed, we could do that and hopefully it will be the bugbears guarding it." she says back, nodding. She knew that trying to be friendly hadn't worked with the Blood Tusks, so she wasn't sure if it would also not work with these orges.
Aisha shakes her head as Tsavi prowls close by, simply watching whoever speaks. It isn't 'needed' but it may help should we find ourselves in combat, I can atleast wear them down. But we also don't know what is causing it. Are they hypnotized? is it something else? do any of you know how to check?
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Occassional Dungeon Master.
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If Aisha still had her stronger spells left, she may have decided to show the Tribe what their pride can cause, but given the odds, and the fact they could be easily surrounded, she lets it go, starting to head where they were told the Ogres would be, intending to stop outside of easy eye-sight of them.
Occassional Dungeon Master.
OOC: Giving some more time for input from the other party members. If everyone is on board with moving toward the statues, then please confirm.
See my profile for all my PbP threads!
Harmony agrees to go to the statues too, nodding and still sad that her idea hadn't worked at all.
Abraxas is thinking of the statues and ways to encourage the tribes to fight each other. The farther away he gets from the bugbears, the less bothered by them he becomes. Those thoughts are eclipsed by questions about the statues. For example, how and why would more appear?
Death on the Water and Baldur's Gate Bodyguard
Five hundred feet into the center of the forest, you reach the clearing where the Warlord Statues stand imposingly in the middle of the valley. You can see from the edge of the forest that they are carved from red obsidian. Resembling totem poles, they stand evenly in a four-by-four pattern, each sixty feet away from the next. The statues are each made of twelve bugbear heads. The heads are distinct on a single statue, but each statue is a clear replica of the others.
Mingling throughout the clearing are twelve ogres. Despite their state of guarding the statues, they seem focused mostly inward, arguing amongst each other or grumbling as they patrol the area.
See my profile for all my PbP threads!
Garu observes closely, hoping to glean some correlation between the statues.
OOC:
So each statue is made from 12 bugbear heads? Also, there are a total of 16 statues?
Trying to visualize it all.
Halsen - Human Monk - Winter Splendor
Aradurk - Half-Orc Fighter - Barty's Blade Bizarre
Aradurk - Half-Orc Fighter - Betrayal at Devilsfall
Aradurk - Half-Orc Fighter - Barty's "The Hidden War" (Doom Portals Part 4A)
Aradurk - Half-Orc Fighter - Barty's "The Whispered Word (Doom Portals Part 5)
Garu - Tabaxi Paladin - Barty's "Beyond Twilight" (Rikirta Part 3)
OOC: Correct! 16 statues in a square pattern. Each one is the body of a bugbear with 12 heads.
See my profile for all my PbP threads!
While the rest do what they do, AIsha whispers to Harmony that she is going to attempt to get close enough to hear what's going on with the ogre's without being seen as she feels these will be much more violent than the others.
Aisha Stealth: 21
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Abraxas readies Crown of Madness in case Aisha is detected, which, he knows, is unlikely. He plans to cast it on the largest of the ogres he can see, should it be necessary.
Death on the Water and Baldur's Gate Bodyguard
Harmony was very surprised as the statues were made up of bugbear heads. Then she hears Aisha, nodding back as she watches in case anything goes wrong and Aisha gets caught.
Aisha moves to the very edge of the forest, closer to the statues themselves. The nearest cluster of trees are around sixty feet away from the statues, which the ogres currently occupy.
The ogres' grunts and growls are easily heard, but not understood as the words are spoken in a language that Aisha does not recognize. Occasionally, an ogre will stop near a statue and gaze ahead, as if looking at something that nobody else can see.
See my profile for all my PbP threads!
Aisha, apparently unable to understand them, starts trying to 'see what they see' by following their gaze. If nothing can be ascertained from that... she will try moving around the forests edge to gain a better view, without going into direct eye-sight of them, whole maintaining her stealth... however, if nothing can be seen that way... After a few moments... Aisha will try her last resort, by intentionally revealing herself, though not as a threat. Her intention being to draw their attention to her, see if they are immediately hostile.. and if so, give her allies a chance to 'surprise
round' the enemy.However once she revealed herself, she would start to dodge if attacks came her way.
Considering this two separate actions.. the first is scouting, and assuming I go undetected, if i can't figure out what they'e looking at, I will reveal myself and start to dodge.
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Garu rolls her eyes. She whispers over to Harmony, “Aisha has a bit of a death wish, no?”
Garu looks for what might appear to the leader and prepares Misty Step depending on the distance of the leader.
Halsen - Human Monk - Winter Splendor
Aradurk - Half-Orc Fighter - Barty's Blade Bizarre
Aradurk - Half-Orc Fighter - Betrayal at Devilsfall
Aradurk - Half-Orc Fighter - Barty's "The Hidden War" (Doom Portals Part 4A)
Aradurk - Half-Orc Fighter - Barty's "The Whispered Word (Doom Portals Part 5)
Garu - Tabaxi Paladin - Barty's "Beyond Twilight" (Rikirta Part 3)
Aisha slowly circles the clearing, avoiding the attention of the ogres for the moment. As she circles she sees two more ogres suddenly pause their patrolling, each gazing into the distance, but curiously the direction of their view is not the same each time. The look on their faces is similar, however; rather than a placid demeanor, their faces twist into something resembling rage, hunger, or excitement.
See my profile for all my PbP threads!
Abraxas remains watchful. If he can see the ogre's staring (OOC: Barty, let me know if he can't; he is a ways away), he'll consider what he knows about the behaviors of possessed or charmed beings, beings under arcane influence: Arcana: 28
Death on the Water and Baldur's Gate Bodyguard
Seeing this, Aisha ultimately doesn't enter the area. Aisha takes a moment to see if it looks like they're generally looking towards one of the towns or settlements they had came from. Regardless of what she does or doesn't figure out, she returns to the others, telling them what she saw before saying Considering the numbers of these enemies... and how strong they look... Aisha believes we should either take a day to rest to recover... as Aisha has spent her skills that would be of great use against them, but Aisha realizes none of you have used much, if any... We can try to approach them peacefully, but they seem.... aggressive.
Once we know what Abraxus has decided, everyone should give their input quickly so we can make a decision on how we're going to approach this.
For once I'm at a loss about how to approach the situation.
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Abraxas will share what he's noticed about the ogres, if anything.
"We can certainly rest. How long were the turns the three tribes take guarding? Could we wait for bugbears instead of so many ogres? Is there a way to approach this problem without facing so many foes at once?"
Death on the Water and Baldur's Gate Bodyguard
OOC: Apologies for the delay on my end, rough weekend schedule.
For Abraxas:
This doesn't look like possession to you. The ogres' personalities aren't changing as they stop to stare, but the frequency with which this is happening certainly suggests the origin may be arcane.
They also are never staring at the same location, like they're seeing something in the distance. It seems like more of a vacant look, like someone might get while they're daydreaming.
For Aisha:
The ogres don't seem to be staring at any location in particular. It doesn't look like they're staring in any particular direction, actually. Their gaze is more vacant, like they're daydreaming.
See my profile for all my PbP threads!
Harmony will hear the others, thinking of what to do. "If a rest is needed, we could do that and hopefully it will be the bugbears guarding it." she says back, nodding. She knew that trying to be friendly hadn't worked with the Blood Tusks, so she wasn't sure if it would also not work with these orges.
Aisha shakes her head as Tsavi prowls close by, simply watching whoever speaks. It isn't 'needed' but it may help should we find ourselves in combat, I can atleast wear them down. But we also don't know what is causing it. Are they hypnotized? is it something else? do any of you know how to check?
Occassional Dungeon Master.