Seeing what Elemoth is trying to do Marion tries to use Prestidigitation to light the explosive extract now flowing out of the barrel. She then runs off, away from the sword wielder.
(OOC: Not sure it works for this, the cantrip allows to light up torches, candles and campfires, tough)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Torment also catches on, and tries to distract the sword wielding entity, keeping him close to the barrels of explosives that Marion is lighting.
"That sword is a little big for you, buddy. Are you compensating for something?" she yells. Then aside to the group, nodding at Elemoth, "If this works...best ignore him, and let's try and get the others to safety and get the hell out of here."
Vicious Mockery DC 13 Wis Save. Psychic Damage: 4 and disadvantage on next attack.
Seeing what Elemoth is trying to do Marion uses Prestidigitation to light the explosive extract now flowing out of the barrel.
(OOC: Not sure it works for this, the cantrip allows to light up torches, candles and campfires, tough)
OOC: you would need some form of fire damage to light up the (or at least an actual fire, which *can* be created with a prestidigitated torch). If you want you can edit your post.
What in the hell is that thing? Shadow looks around nervously at his allies. He sees the cleric utter a prayer and a mote of radiant light causes the barrel to break and liquid to flow everywhere. Shadow has a great idea, he pulls a piece of flint and quickly ties it around the tip of the arrow. He draws his bow and lines up the shot. Please work. Please work. Please work.
The explosion is instant. Right as the creature turns to attack you all its face is covered in a burst of fire. It screams out in pain as it collapses dropping the sword as well. Suddenly, a glowing orange portal appears (think Doctor Strange) and a humongous red skinned hand comes through, picks up the sword, and vanishes... Suddenly a wave of fear washes over the commoners as some of them flee, others grasp holy symbols, others simply stand there rigid with fear. They seem to be gazing at something above you as you look up you see the red mage who was watching over the entire battlefield descend along with another red mage. As he gazes out over the crowd and all of you, he calmly says to his apparent subordinate: "Tell the giants to attack." The other mage flies up and begins to cast a spell.
THWUMP
THWUMP
THWUMP
The noise seems to be coming from outside the city walls. Suddenly you see a red hand grip the actual walls of the city, followed by a steaming, flaming, burning head. The terrible giant rises up over the city wall and takes a chunk of it off and hurl it into the city, crushing one the statue of Minsc and Boo along with the town center. You figure that by this point, roughly 75% of the population has been evacuated, but people are still within the center of the city (mind you it's only been around ten minutes since this crazy attack has started). As giants rush through the walls the chaos they produce is instantaneous, terrifyingly tall, they take commoners eat them... even devouring some whole. The giants tromp about, as the other, better equipped and more experienced adventurers find themselves stuck between fighting the explosive mages, or the gargantuan giants. This stretches their force to become even more spread out. When and how will this nightmare end...
Meanwhile, the red wizard flies down until he is maybe six feet off of the ground. He looks at the people (you all included) surrounding him, people on their knees, begging for mercy, praying with all of their willpower. It is at that point that the light hits the face of the man just right and you realize... he's not human... he's not even alive... what is he?
Picture:
The... creature then says in a cool, calculated, and yet calm manner: "Have no fear... death is not something to be afraid of. However there is one thing you should be afraid of, and that is pain. You see, the pain before death is unimaginable, terrible, you have felt nothing like it. So I stand corrected, you should be afraid. Now on how to kill you. Would you like death by fire? Lightning? Cold? Or maybe I should turn one of you into a rampaging beast and have you murder all of your friends and family. Let's take a vote shall we? All those in favor of-"
An old woman, wearing the holy symbol of Lathander speaks in an old, weathered voice: "I will not die today. For I have faith."
This seems to throw off the creature, but he nevertheless plays it off in a collected way: "Well then. I hope that you enjoy disintegration, for you have chosen your fate. Let's see what this... 'faith' of yours does." As mystical green energy swarms the right hand of the creature the woman stands there, at first she looks afraid, but she then shuts her eyes. She sticks her holy symbol in front of her, and as the green ray travels straight towards her... it is deflected, and flies into a nearby building, turning it to dust (yes I know it just removes a 10 ft. cube, creative licence). Your eyes are blinded for a second by the bright light as stepping out of said column is a beautiful winged woman. She stares at the creature, and for once he looks marginally concerned, his smug grin changing to a furrowed face of concentration. She then says: "Tarul Var, for the transgressions against the laws of deification made by you and your master you shall suffer the torment of eternal damnation. So is the will of Lathander."
Picture:
She then steps forwards and brings her mace down. As "Tarul Var" summons up a shield with his right arm, the mace smashes through it. Smashing into his undead arm. As soon as the mace touches his skin bright light glows out of it, as it suddenly turns to ash. Tarul Var then screams: "NO! MY WAND ARM! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" He then points with his left arm as black energy swirls all around her angelic body. She writhes in pain but keeps on fighting. While she's in this condition she turns to you: "You must... get them away... quickly... there is not much time before... AHHHHH!" The energy dissipates as it seems to also take a bit of a toll on Tarul Var to maintain the spell. The two begin to then fight it out, undead archmage vs. angel. Meanwhile, the people who were about to be completely destroyed stand still, entirely enraptured by the ensuing battle. How will you get them away?
Elemoth looks at everything transpired literally slack-jawed, and seems at a total loss for words and actual seems completely frozen for a good long while. When the angel starts fighting the undead wizard, invoking the name of Lathander, he snaps to, suddenly realizing that between than many of the people crying out for aid today were believers of Lathander, and that what appears to be an angel serving him seems to have appeared. He takes a moment to just blankly stare at the holy symbol of Lathander hanging outside of his chain shirt, then sputters, "Oh dear... oh dear.. this..this looks like it's somehow related to MY deity!"
Not knowing what to do, given that there seems to be certain death on every side, and more civilians to still evacuate than he and all the adventurers around him can possibly handle, he simply falls to his knees and clutches his amulet of Lathander in both hands, fervently muttering a prayer to his god to try and receive some divine insight or intercession. At the end of it, he looks heavenward (as close to the sun as he dares without risking his eyesight), thrusts the amulet into the sky, and calls out, "Lathander, hear my plea! Stretch forth your mighty hands and bring righteous aid to your humble servants! Shine down on us with the staggering power of the light of Dawn!"
Torment glances at the prostrate cleric, "Okay, okay, okay, yes, thanks Lathander. Now how about you get up and help me get these people moving?"
Then, turning to the crowd, Torment lifts her bow string to her throat, setting it lightly where her vocal chord box is. She speaks again, loudly (Thaumaturgy), "Hello everyone! Please exit the street as quickly as possible. You'll find a path of egress behind you, away from the battling liches and angels. Walk, don't run, to the nearest safe area. Yes, all of you. Quickly now!" Torment then begins to herd people, as best as she can, away from the conflict.
"Where shall we even go?" Marion asks her companions. "Those townsfolk are not the only people who need to hide."
Scratching her head she says: "My instincts tell me to to hide in Undermountain but..." She shakes her head and sighs. "Probably not much safer in our current condition."
"Holy crap, so this a god war now, huh?" Shadow looks around nervously. "I agree mage, we need to get out of here and hide, first thing to do is to get out of this cursed city." Shadow looks at the cleric making a fool of himself on the ground, "Cleric! If you would open your eyes to what has happened, you would see that your god has already sent aid! We need to leave and get these people to safety now! Shadow runs to Elemoth and tries to pull him up to his feet.
As the battle between angels and demons plays itself out, Flame, too attempts to usher the crowds toward safety. As Torment begins to magically project her voice and instruct the crowds, Flame points the way to safety to anyone that looks even somewhat confused or disoriented. "This way, everything will be okay. Come to safety, quickly." All the while fighting back the panic, terror, and exhaustion rising from within him.
"Will this ever end? Have the gods finally decided to put an end to this wretched world?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Elemoth waits for a few moments to see if his god responds, then slowly rises to his feet. "I know he sent an angel already, but with all the giants going around killing things, undead knights with magic blades that can instantly kill guards with one stroke, and the Red Wizards, Centaur Zombies, Plant-men, and who else knows going around... I thought it might be a good idea to ask for some more help." he states glumly, hanging his head, "Believe it or not, doing what I just did usually works for high-ranking members of my order. It's very unlikely that it'd work for me, but I just had to try it given the situation we're in now."
"As it is, since since I sent my prayer and petition out, I suppose we should do what we can for now, and look carefully for the few ways out that don't involve being sucked into a tough fight that we probably won't survive."he continues, readying his shield and mace. He then takes moment to look around and survey the scene, to see if there IS a safe way out.
Perception Check: 6 to see if there are any paths that seem safe enough to go out
"If we get a chance, we may want to send someone who's good at staying unnoticed to find higher ground to see if they can see a clear way out." he says, pausing a moment to look at the crowd of people to make sure there aren't any who are too injured to continue.
As Elemoth prays, a strange sensation washes over him. He can't help but feel calm and at peace and suddenly words are imprinted over his vision. They are written in an elegant font in a strange language, and yet... he seems to discern their meaning upon reading them. They say:
Go forth young one for you are chosen
Be the light when others are too broken
Be their shield in their time of need
And be the mace that smites evil's greed
Your journey here has just begun
And soon you'll go to the place of no sun
To find the true home of evil's might
You must make six lairs full of Lathander's light
Citadel, Forge, Shrine, Mountain, Vault, and Cave
Those are the places that you must brave
Beware! For death awaits at every bend
But Lathander's light can make you mend
Have strength, have faith, bring light, be true
And I, Lathander, shall shelter you.
OOC: I love impromptu poems
Meanwhile, everyone else is funneling out the people as they rush out of the way. This, in turn, allows for you to get out of explosion range of the battle. You begin to head down the street, while looking over your shoulder every now and then, still enamored by the beauty of this duel of two extraordinarily powerful beings. Meanwhile, the people make it past the strangely untouched area of the street. As you turn around a sign of one of the taverns catches your eye: The Yawning Portal. Your eyes then snap back to the battle as Tarul Var has summoned a wall of fire surrounding the angel, nevertheless she charges through it, but as the fire rushes over her, she simply waves her hand as the burns and scorch mark completely vanish. Tarul looks concerned for a moment as she brings up her mace, this time aiming for his head as Tarul's face changes from concern to fear (at least, you think it's fear... it's hard to tell when he doesn't have an actual face). The mace comes down as
CRASH
A ginormous boulder slams into the house adjacent to them as even from a far distance you can feel the shockwave. Dust rushes into your eyes and completely covers you, and when you finally clear your eyes you see the ruined rubble of a building... and the body of an angel with an undead standing victorious over her. Suddenly two red mages teleport in, pick up the angel and vanish. Tarul Var then laughs, before staring back at his stump of an arm and mutters to himself: "Hmmm... It should have regenerated by now. I must study this further in the Doom-"
"Come, let's see this closer. Shan't we?" A voice echoes in your head as you suddenly find yourselves standing maybe only twenty feet away from Tarul Var. He looks up at you, confused on how you all just arrived here. "How did you...? Never mind that, foolish adventurers deserve to die, how about a nice Cone of Co-"
"Come now, they won't be dying today Tarul Var." A kind voice says from somewhere that sounds both far off, and close by at the same time. That voice suddenly makes Tarul Var begin trembling with fear. "No... No... It can't be... How are... Why are..." The lich stutters, as the voice answers home. "Ah... I just had to serve as an intermediary between Mystra and Lathander, some argument having to do with prophecies and mortal interference." A shimmering blue portal appears and an old man steps through wearing purple robes and a pointy brown hat. "Ye know how they can be."
Picture:
At the sight of this Tarul Var grows even more frightened: "It's not... it's not possible. You, how are you here?"
The wizard pauses and thinks for a moment: "Well, let's see I cast a plane shift, combined with a teleport and a dimension door. Simple really. What are they teaching ye Thayans on Conjuration and Abjuration these days anyway?"
Tarul Var continues to flubber: "My... my master! Yes! HE will come and save me, destroy you, and then devour your soul!"
At this the Wizard cocks his head in confusion, as he states: "Master ye say? Who is ye master anyway? Also, one does not simply devour a chosen of Mystra herself, although many have indeed tried to 'devour the soul' (air quotes) of Elminster I've managed to escape, most of the time through luck."
"W E L L I T S E E M S Y O U R L U C K H A S R U N O U T."
Elminster paused... He had not heard that voice in over five centuries. As he looked up towards the sound of the voice, what he saw seemed to frighten him to his core. "That's not possible... I barred the last piece... Ye could not have escaped those bindings!"
"A L L I T T O O K W A S F O R S O M E O N E O N T H E O T H E R S I D E T O R E A D T H E W O R D S."
"Well then I will rebind you! MYSTRA LEND ME YOUR- *GAH*" It is then when you see a very strange thing: Elminster begins to rise out of his body. A silvery form of himself begins to float up as if being sucked away by a vacuum. As you follow the direction of where it goes you see... a skull? Except its teeth and eyes are simply gems. As it opens its gaping jaws the wispy form of Elminster gets sucked inside. It seems like he also shrinks as he enters. The skull then turns its head and stares at the lot of you.
Picture:
You immediately avert its gaze, for it is one that immediately makes you feel like it is staring into the very depths of your soul. As you look away, you catch a glimpse of two things: firstly, there is a small man that is banging on one of the gem eyes. He is dressed in robes and wears a pointy hat, but it is then when you realize Elminster is trapped inside of the gem of this skull. The second thing you realize is that the actual body of Elminster has vanished. The skull then lets out a throaty laugh (which some of you have heard before)
Mwahahahaha
"D o n o t w o r r y S a g e o f S h a d o w d a l e, y o u w i l l n o t b e d e v o u r e d, f o r y o u h a v e a s p e c i a l p l a c e i n m y v a u l t. Y o u s h a l l a l l o w f o r m e t o a s c e n d..."
The skull then turns to Tarul Var and says: "W e h a v e w h a t w e c a m e f o r, l e t u s b e o f f. A l l u n i t s, c e a s e t h e s i e g e." And just like that, they vanish. The wizards teleport away, the dragon flies somewhere out of view, the giants stop throwing rocks and trudge out of the city, everything is just... gone (with the exception of a couple of straggler zombies and twig children).
CRASH
The last boulder falls, and it falls right on top of the untouched portion of the street. It is then when you see a couple of straggler twig creatures run in and screams come from the tavern.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Torment sighs. I never thought being an adventurer would be so... exhausting. I am definitely going for a long soak in the tub when this is over. Then, hefting her viol on her shoulder, Torment rushes into the tavern after the twig creatures.
If I can get within 5 feet of both of the twig children, I cast thunderclap DC 13 Con Save, Damage: 6
Elemoth regards everything that happens with a strangely stoic calm, seeing that a few twig creatures are left, he wordlessly hefts his weapon and shield, and walks steadily into the tavern to attack the monsters. Knowing that he tends to move slower than his teammates, he looks for an opening to finish off an already wounded creature rather than trying to attack one that's still unhurt.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As each potential savior falls before the might of the attacking force, hope drains faster and faster from the mind of Flame. Then, everything stops as suddenly as it began.
"I think it's time to find a god to thank."
It is then that Flame notices some of the twig creatures run into a Tavern. The Yawning Portal. "People sure do come up with eccentric names for their taverns." thinks Flame Of The Spirit Mist-Walker.
He sprints toward the tavern, enters behind the Tiefling and the Human, and surveys the scene inside.
"Damned gods and their damned problems. This whole ordeal is probably their fault in the first place."
Shadow sees the twig monsters run into The Yawning Portal, "Dammit, I would really like a break." Shadow sprints alongside his brother into the tavern.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As you all go into the Yawning Portal you see a decent amount of chaos. Bodies lie everywhere, and some are bleeding out, while others are simply unconscious from the blow. You see that the boulder has essentially crushed the back half of the tavern (which includes the bar) as you see that the rock is lying on top of the bartender (though oddly enough it's not squishing him). The twig creatures, meanwhile are running around and just chopping through commoners.
Initiative Rolling (Sorry it rerolled them because I tried to organize them):
(OOC: Right, thanks. I was wondering about that myself.)
Seeing what Elemoth is trying to do Marion tries to use Prestidigitation to light the explosive extract now flowing out of the barrel. She then runs off, away from the sword wielder.
(OOC: Not sure it works for this, the cantrip allows to light up torches, candles and campfires, tough)
Torment also catches on, and tries to distract the sword wielding entity, keeping him close to the barrels of explosives that Marion is lighting.
"That sword is a little big for you, buddy. Are you compensating for something?" she yells. Then aside to the group, nodding at Elemoth, "If this works...best ignore him, and let's try and get the others to safety and get the hell out of here."
Vicious Mockery DC 13 Wis Save. Psychic Damage: 4 and disadvantage on next attack.
DM of Tomb of Annihilation (and more) Group 2 and Group 3
What in the hell is that thing? Shadow looks around nervously at his allies. He sees the cleric utter a prayer and a mote of radiant light causes the barrel to break and liquid to flow everywhere. Shadow has a great idea, he pulls a piece of flint and quickly ties it around the tip of the arrow. He draws his bow and lines up the shot. Please work. Please work. Please work.
Shortbow Attack: 23
The explosion is instant. Right as the creature turns to attack you all its face is covered in a burst of fire. It screams out in pain as it collapses dropping the sword as well. Suddenly, a glowing orange portal appears (think Doctor Strange) and a humongous red skinned hand comes through, picks up the sword, and vanishes... Suddenly a wave of fear washes over the commoners as some of them flee, others grasp holy symbols, others simply stand there rigid with fear. They seem to be gazing at something above you as you look up you see the red mage who was watching over the entire battlefield descend along with another red mage. As he gazes out over the crowd and all of you, he calmly says to his apparent subordinate: "Tell the giants to attack." The other mage flies up and begins to cast a spell.
THWUMP
THWUMP
THWUMP
The noise seems to be coming from outside the city walls. Suddenly you see a red hand grip the actual walls of the city, followed by a steaming, flaming, burning head. The terrible giant rises up over the city wall and takes a chunk of it off and hurl it into the city, crushing one the statue of Minsc and Boo along with the town center. You figure that by this point, roughly 75% of the population has been evacuated, but people are still within the center of the city (mind you it's only been around ten minutes since this crazy attack has started). As giants rush through the walls the chaos they produce is instantaneous, terrifyingly tall, they take commoners eat them... even devouring some whole. The giants tromp about, as the other, better equipped and more experienced adventurers find themselves stuck between fighting the explosive mages, or the gargantuan giants. This stretches their force to become even more spread out. When and how will this nightmare end...
Meanwhile, the red wizard flies down until he is maybe six feet off of the ground. He looks at the people (you all included) surrounding him, people on their knees, begging for mercy, praying with all of their willpower. It is at that point that the light hits the face of the man just right and you realize... he's not human... he's not even alive... what is he?
Picture:
The... creature then says in a cool, calculated, and yet calm manner: "Have no fear... death is not something to be afraid of. However there is one thing you should be afraid of, and that is pain. You see, the pain before death is unimaginable, terrible, you have felt nothing like it. So I stand corrected, you should be afraid. Now on how to kill you. Would you like death by fire? Lightning? Cold? Or maybe I should turn one of you into a rampaging beast and have you murder all of your friends and family. Let's take a vote shall we? All those in favor of-"
An old woman, wearing the holy symbol of Lathander speaks in an old, weathered voice: "I will not die today. For I have faith."
This seems to throw off the creature, but he nevertheless plays it off in a collected way: "Well then. I hope that you enjoy disintegration, for you have chosen your fate. Let's see what this... 'faith' of yours does." As mystical green energy swarms the right hand of the creature the woman stands there, at first she looks afraid, but she then shuts her eyes. She sticks her holy symbol in front of her, and as the green ray travels straight towards her... it is deflected, and flies into a nearby building, turning it to dust (yes I know it just removes a 10 ft. cube, creative licence). Your eyes are blinded for a second by the bright light as stepping out of said column is a beautiful winged woman. She stares at the creature, and for once he looks marginally concerned, his smug grin changing to a furrowed face of concentration. She then says: "Tarul Var, for the transgressions against the laws of deification made by you and your master you shall suffer the torment of eternal damnation. So is the will of Lathander."
Picture:
She then steps forwards and brings her mace down. As "Tarul Var" summons up a shield with his right arm, the mace smashes through it. Smashing into his undead arm. As soon as the mace touches his skin bright light glows out of it, as it suddenly turns to ash. Tarul Var then screams: "NO! MY WAND ARM! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" He then points with his left arm as black energy swirls all around her angelic body. She writhes in pain but keeps on fighting. While she's in this condition she turns to you: "You must... get them away... quickly... there is not much time before... AHHHHH!" The energy dissipates as it seems to also take a bit of a toll on Tarul Var to maintain the spell. The two begin to then fight it out, undead archmage vs. angel. Meanwhile, the people who were about to be completely destroyed stand still, entirely enraptured by the ensuing battle. How will you get them away?
DM of Tomb of Annihilation (and more) Group 2 and Group 3
Elemoth looks at everything transpired literally slack-jawed, and seems at a total loss for words and actual seems completely frozen for a good long while. When the angel starts fighting the undead wizard, invoking the name of Lathander, he snaps to, suddenly realizing that between than many of the people crying out for aid today were believers of Lathander, and that what appears to be an angel serving him seems to have appeared. He takes a moment to just blankly stare at the holy symbol of Lathander hanging outside of his chain shirt, then sputters, "Oh dear... oh dear.. this..this looks like it's somehow related to MY deity!"
Not knowing what to do, given that there seems to be certain death on every side, and more civilians to still evacuate than he and all the adventurers around him can possibly handle, he simply falls to his knees and clutches his amulet of Lathander in both hands, fervently muttering a prayer to his god to try and receive some divine insight or intercession. At the end of it, he looks heavenward (as close to the sun as he dares without risking his eyesight), thrusts the amulet into the sky, and calls out, "Lathander, hear my plea! Stretch forth your mighty hands and bring righteous aid to your humble servants! Shine down on us with the staggering power of the light of Dawn!"
Torment glances at the prostrate cleric, "Okay, okay, okay, yes, thanks Lathander. Now how about you get up and help me get these people moving?"
Then, turning to the crowd, Torment lifts her bow string to her throat, setting it lightly where her vocal chord box is. She speaks again, loudly (Thaumaturgy), "Hello everyone! Please exit the street as quickly as possible. You'll find a path of egress behind you, away from the battling liches and angels. Walk, don't run, to the nearest safe area. Yes, all of you. Quickly now!" Torment then begins to herd people, as best as she can, away from the conflict.
Persuasion, if needed: 16
"Where shall we even go?" Marion asks her companions. "Those townsfolk are not the only people who need to hide."
Scratching her head she says: "My instincts tell me to to hide in Undermountain but..." She shakes her head and sighs. "Probably not much safer in our current condition."
"Holy crap, so this a god war now, huh?" Shadow looks around nervously. "I agree mage, we need to get out of here and hide, first thing to do is to get out of this cursed city." Shadow looks at the cleric making a fool of himself on the ground, "Cleric! If you would open your eyes to what has happened, you would see that your god has already sent aid! We need to leave and get these people to safety now! Shadow runs to Elemoth and tries to pull him up to his feet.
As the battle between angels and demons plays itself out, Flame, too attempts to usher the crowds toward safety. As Torment begins to magically project her voice and instruct the crowds, Flame points the way to safety to anyone that looks even somewhat confused or disoriented. "This way, everything will be okay. Come to safety, quickly." All the while fighting back the panic, terror, and exhaustion rising from within him.
"Will this ever end? Have the gods finally decided to put an end to this wretched world?"
"This way, stay calm"
"We're all going to die, aren't we?"
"Come along, it will all calm down soon."
"This city is doomed. We are all doomed."
Elemoth waits for a few moments to see if his god responds, then slowly rises to his feet. "I know he sent an angel already, but with all the giants going around killing things, undead knights with magic blades that can instantly kill guards with one stroke, and the Red Wizards, Centaur Zombies, Plant-men, and who else knows going around... I thought it might be a good idea to ask for some more help." he states glumly, hanging his head, "Believe it or not, doing what I just did usually works for high-ranking members of my order. It's very unlikely that it'd work for me, but I just had to try it given the situation we're in now."
"As it is, since since I sent my prayer and petition out, I suppose we should do what we can for now, and look carefully for the few ways out that don't involve being sucked into a tough fight that we probably won't survive." he continues, readying his shield and mace. He then takes moment to look around and survey the scene, to see if there IS a safe way out.
Perception Check: 6 to see if there are any paths that seem safe enough to go out
"If we get a chance, we may want to send someone who's good at staying unnoticed to find higher ground to see if they can see a clear way out." he says, pausing a moment to look at the crowd of people to make sure there aren't any who are too injured to continue.
As Elemoth prays, a strange sensation washes over him. He can't help but feel calm and at peace and suddenly words are imprinted over his vision. They are written in an elegant font in a strange language, and yet... he seems to discern their meaning upon reading them. They say:
Go forth young one for you are chosen
Be the light when others are too broken
Be their shield in their time of need
And be the mace that smites evil's greed
Your journey here has just begun
And soon you'll go to the place of no sun
To find the true home of evil's might
You must make six lairs full of Lathander's light
Citadel, Forge, Shrine, Mountain, Vault, and Cave
Those are the places that you must brave
Beware! For death awaits at every bend
But Lathander's light can make you mend
Have strength, have faith, bring light, be true
And I, Lathander, shall shelter you.
OOC: I love impromptu poems
Meanwhile, everyone else is funneling out the people as they rush out of the way. This, in turn, allows for you to get out of explosion range of the battle. You begin to head down the street, while looking over your shoulder every now and then, still enamored by the beauty of this duel of two extraordinarily powerful beings. Meanwhile, the people make it past the strangely untouched area of the street. As you turn around a sign of one of the taverns catches your eye: The Yawning Portal. Your eyes then snap back to the battle as Tarul Var has summoned a wall of fire surrounding the angel, nevertheless she charges through it, but as the fire rushes over her, she simply waves her hand as the burns and scorch mark completely vanish. Tarul looks concerned for a moment as she brings up her mace, this time aiming for his head as Tarul's face changes from concern to fear (at least, you think it's fear... it's hard to tell when he doesn't have an actual face). The mace comes down as
CRASH
A ginormous boulder slams into the house adjacent to them as even from a far distance you can feel the shockwave. Dust rushes into your eyes and completely covers you, and when you finally clear your eyes you see the ruined rubble of a building... and the body of an angel with an undead standing victorious over her. Suddenly two red mages teleport in, pick up the angel and vanish. Tarul Var then laughs, before staring back at his stump of an arm and mutters to himself: "Hmmm... It should have regenerated by now. I must study this further in the Doom-"
"Come, let's see this closer. Shan't we?" A voice echoes in your head as you suddenly find yourselves standing maybe only twenty feet away from Tarul Var. He looks up at you, confused on how you all just arrived here. "How did you...? Never mind that, foolish adventurers deserve to die, how about a nice Cone of Co-"
"Come now, they won't be dying today Tarul Var." A kind voice says from somewhere that sounds both far off, and close by at the same time. That voice suddenly makes Tarul Var begin trembling with fear. "No... No... It can't be... How are... Why are..." The lich stutters, as the voice answers home. "Ah... I just had to serve as an intermediary between Mystra and Lathander, some argument having to do with prophecies and mortal interference." A shimmering blue portal appears and an old man steps through wearing purple robes and a pointy brown hat. "Ye know how they can be."
Picture:
At the sight of this Tarul Var grows even more frightened: "It's not... it's not possible. You, how are you here?"
The wizard pauses and thinks for a moment: "Well, let's see I cast a plane shift, combined with a teleport and a dimension door. Simple really. What are they teaching ye Thayans on Conjuration and Abjuration these days anyway?"
Tarul Var continues to flubber: "My... my master! Yes! HE will come and save me, destroy you, and then devour your soul!"
At this the Wizard cocks his head in confusion, as he states: "Master ye say? Who is ye master anyway? Also, one does not simply devour a chosen of Mystra herself, although many have indeed tried to 'devour the soul' (air quotes) of Elminster I've managed to escape, most of the time through luck."
"W E L L I T S E E M S Y O U R L U C K H A S R U N O U T."
Elminster paused... He had not heard that voice in over five centuries. As he looked up towards the sound of the voice, what he saw seemed to frighten him to his core. "That's not possible... I barred the last piece... Ye could not have escaped those bindings!"
"A L L I T T O O K W A S F O R S O M E O N E O N T H E O T H E R S I D E T O R E A D T H E
W O R D S."
"Well then I will rebind you! MYSTRA LEND ME YOUR- *GAH*" It is then when you see a very strange thing: Elminster begins to rise out of his body. A silvery form of himself begins to float up as if being sucked away by a vacuum. As you follow the direction of where it goes you see... a skull? Except its teeth and eyes are simply gems. As it opens its gaping jaws the wispy form of Elminster gets sucked inside. It seems like he also shrinks as he enters. The skull then turns its head and stares at the lot of you.
Picture:
You immediately avert its gaze, for it is one that immediately makes you feel like it is staring into the very depths of your soul. As you look away, you catch a glimpse of two things: firstly, there is a small man that is banging on one of the gem eyes. He is dressed in robes and wears a pointy hat, but it is then when you realize Elminster is trapped inside of the gem of this skull. The second thing you realize is that the actual body of Elminster has vanished. The skull then lets out a throaty laugh (which some of you have heard before)
Mwahahahaha
"D o n o t w o r r y S a g e o f S h a d o w d a l e, y o u w i l l n o t b e d e v o u r e d, f o r y o u h a v e a s p e c i a l p l a c e i n m y v a u l t. Y o u s h a l l a l l o w f o r m e t o a s c e n d..."
The skull then turns to Tarul Var and says: "W e h a v e w h a t w e c a m e f o r, l e t u s b e o f f. A l l u n i t s, c e a s e t h e s i e g e." And just like that, they vanish. The wizards teleport away, the dragon flies somewhere out of view, the giants stop throwing rocks and trudge out of the city, everything is just... gone (with the exception of a couple of straggler zombies and twig children).
CRASH
The last boulder falls, and it falls right on top of the untouched portion of the street. It is then when you see a couple of straggler twig creatures run in and screams come from the tavern.
"Oh god someone help us!"
"Please save us!"
"They're terrible, OH NO JOHNNY!"
What do you do...
DM of Tomb of Annihilation (and more) Group 2 and Group 3
Torment sighs. I never thought being an adventurer would be so... exhausting. I am definitely going for a long soak in the tub when this is over. Then, hefting her viol on her shoulder, Torment rushes into the tavern after the twig creatures.
If I can get within 5 feet of both of the twig children, I cast thunderclap DC 13 Con Save, Damage: 6
Marion looks at The Yawning Portal. "Huh, isn't this were my tower stood?" She then follows Torment and uses Frostbite on one of the twigs.
DC 13 Con save
Damage: 3
Elemoth regards everything that happens with a strangely stoic calm, seeing that a few twig creatures are left, he wordlessly hefts his weapon and shield, and walks steadily into the tavern to attack the monsters. Knowing that he tends to move slower than his teammates, he looks for an opening to finish off an already wounded creature rather than trying to attack one that's still unhurt.
21 to hit, 7 to damage
As each potential savior falls before the might of the attacking force, hope drains faster and faster from the mind of Flame. Then, everything stops as suddenly as it began.
"I think it's time to find a god to thank."
It is then that Flame notices some of the twig creatures run into a Tavern. The Yawning Portal. "People sure do come up with eccentric names for their taverns." thinks Flame Of The Spirit Mist-Walker.
He sprints toward the tavern, enters behind the Tiefling and the Human, and surveys the scene inside.
Perception: 6
"Damned gods and their damned problems. This whole ordeal is probably their fault in the first place."
Shadow sees the twig monsters run into The Yawning Portal, "Dammit, I would really like a break." Shadow sprints alongside his brother into the tavern.
As you all go into the Yawning Portal you see a decent amount of chaos. Bodies lie everywhere, and some are bleeding out, while others are simply unconscious from the blow. You see that the boulder has essentially crushed the back half of the tavern (which includes the bar) as you see that the rock is lying on top of the bartender (though oddly enough it's not squishing him). The twig creatures, meanwhile are running around and just chopping through commoners.
Initiative Rolling (Sorry it rerolled them because I tried to organize them):
Shadow 11
Marion 15
Flame 5
Torment 9
Twig Creatures (4): 3
Elemoth 16
Flame, Elemoth, Torment, Marion, Shadow, Twigs. I just need an action from Flame and Shadow since everyone else has said what they want to do.
DM of Tomb of Annihilation (and more) Group 2 and Group 3
Flame surveys the tavern and sees the twig creatures cutting into commoners. "NO!"
He runs forward as he shouts and swings his staff at the nearest twig creature, following with a roundhouse kick.
Quarterstaff Attack: 18
Quarterstaff Damage: 6
Unarmed Strike: 10
Unarmed Strike Damage: 4