(OOC: Apologies but today's post will have to be quite short. Work calls. This should give you guys some extra time to perfect your plan.)
Noticing they have little time to waste, the rrakkma whips up a quick plan and begins preparing. They delay the casting of preparatory spells as much as they can.
Quadere - attunes to the Pearl of Power, casts Light on her shield, Death Ward on herself, and pairs up Aid and Bless on Belthomias, Kandalou, and Shai (please confirm);
OK: Time to move. Here is the action as agreed......last chance to modify/alter before DM picks it up and runs with it.
Shai, Belthomias, Kalak & Vishnu will enter as wave 1 under Stealth with Pass Without Trace active. Intent is to move away from the portal on the other side, with Vishnu maybe heading in different direction and attack/create a distraction so the others can arrive safely at the beginning of round two if we immediately enter combat. Party to be consider whether there will be any invisible illithids hovering above (ie lets scatter once revealed and concentrate on taking down mind flayers as a priority).
Wave 2 - Quadere and Kandalou enter six seconds later and take actions (perhaps readied actions??)
Spell Effects active as we enter the portal
Belthomias has cast Pass Without Trace
Kandalou has the Brooch of Shielding (assume this is now attuned)
Kalak cast light on Shai's signet ring (which she will initially conceal)
Kalak cast Haste on Kandalou just before entering portal
Quadere cast Bless+Aid on Kandalou, Shai & Belthomias just before they enter portal
Quadere cast Death Ward on himself
Belthomias drinks the potion of Psychic Protection
Quadere has cast light on something as well which will come with them in wave 2
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
(OOC: Apologies but today's post will have to be quite short. Work calls. This should give you guys some extra time to perfect your plan.)
Noticing they have little time to waste, the rrakkma whips up a quick plan and begins preparing. They delay the casting of preparatory spells as much as they can.
Quadere - attunes to the Pearl of Power, casts Light on her shield, Death Ward on herself, and pairs up Aid and Bless on Belthomias, Kandalou, and Shai (please confirm);
Shai - Anything? Actually - Shai is going to cast Detect Thoughts as she approaches the portal and use it's ability to search for creatures within 30 feet that she may not be able see (even if there are other creatures in the room) - in essence I want to use it as a Detect Invisibility spell....noting that she knows that the illithid in the cavern was invisible before revealing itself.
Who is going as part of the vanguard and who is waiting a turn to jump into the portal? I called Kandalou and Quadere for the vanguard, but it is up to them....
Before we jump into the portal, let me share some background information on this mysterious place called the FAR REALM:
The Far Realm is outside the known multiverse. In fact, it might be an entirely separate universe with its own physical and magical laws. Where stray energies from the Far Realm leak onto another plane, matter is warped into alien shapes that defy understandable geometry and biology. Aberrations such as mind flayers and beholders are either from this plane or shaped by its strange influence.
The entities that abide in the Far Realm itself are too alien for a normal mind to accept without strain. Titanic creatures swim through nothingness there, and unspeakable things whisper awful truths to those who dare listen. For mortals, knowledge of the Far Realm is a struggle of the mind to overcome the boundaries of matter, space, and sanity. Some warlocks embrace this struggle by forming pacts with entities there. Anyone who has seen the Far Realm mutters about eyes, tentacles, and horror.
The Far Realm has no well-known portals, or at least none that are still viable. Ancient elves once opened a vast portal to the Far Realm within a mountain called Firestorm Peak, but their civilization imploded in bloody terror and the portal's location - even its home world is long forgotten. Lost portals might still exist, marked by an alien magic that mutates the area around them. You suspect this portal within Pandemonium, a strange plane on its own right, is one such lost portal.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
DM's Screen:
18, 23, 16
The rrakkma finishes their preparations just before jumping into the portal. A moment later, the vanguard (Vishnu, Shai, Kalak, and Belthomias) do just that. In an instant, you find yourselves back into the dilapidated Pandemonium cathedral where you rested, except in this version of the chamber, the walls and ceiling are made out of a disturbing mesh of tentacles, eyeballs, and mouths, and there are no tunnels leading away from this chamber. The sand beneath your feet is not grainy, but blurry and flaky instead. Everything around you seems to be out of focus. Welcome to the Far Realm.
The southwest corner of this strange room is sealed off by a weird screen of swirling greens and purples, though it is somewhat see-through. This grotesque field of alien energy separates the diamond-shaped Gith Capacitor from the rest of the room. The artifact shines brightly, creating enough light to illuminate the entire chamber. There are little to no shadows around. Also on the other side of the energy field, an ulitharid tends to the artifact, making sure it's charging process is completed undisturbed. This is the largest mind flayer you have ever seen, almost 10 feet in height. It has six fully grown tentacles sprouting from its face. It carries a psionically enhanced staff made of black metal. Belthomias knows this ulitharid well: it was the one that almost killed him during his solo-mission.
There are three other enemies in this chamber that you can see, all of which are on the same side of the wall of energy as you are now.
The first is a mostly humanoid-shaped and human-sized creature whose body is formed of a bulk of tumorous skin and strange whorls. Its hands are bulky flipper-like appendages, which also grasp a strange staff. This one is formed of some blend of flesh, bone, and another material you can't be sure what it is. These same hands look strangely clumsy and painful to use if trying to manipulate other things. However, you can tell this creature does't need to.
The second is a much larger creature, who is ogre-like in stature. Its glistening translucent skin reveals a muscled form devoid of any fat. Pale and seemingly lidless eyes glare balefully from a face distorted by too many teeth and too little a nose.
The third one is the mind flayer who escaped your grasp earlier. It is the closest enemy to the group and it is not levitating as it was before.
@Shai: As soon as your feet touch the Far Realm, you activate your prepared Detect Thoughts ability. Even though you can see four enemies, you can only detect the presence of one thinking creature who is not part of the rrakkma: the mind flayer who stands about 30 feet from you. The other three creatures are beyond the range of your spell at the moment. No other non-rrakkma presence is felt within your range.
The four vanguard members get a sense that the two more strange enemies did not notice their shrouded arrival (using passive stealth for Kalak.), but the closest enemy, the mind flayer, did notice at least Shai and Kalak. At any rate, as soon as the vanguard sets foot into the Far Realm, the distant ulitharid yells a mangled blurb of words that calls everyone's attention to your arrival. The mind flayer does as it had planned:
Mind Blast: INT saving throw with Bless when applicable {DC 15}:
Belthomias: 9
Kalak: 28
Shai: 24
Vishnu: 24
-> Damage roll: 20 psychic
The rrakma was prepared for this very possibility, and their caution largely pays off. The only exception is Shai, who falls short of resisting the Mind Blast. (Shai takes 19 psychic damage and becomes stunned for 1 minute, but can repeat the save at the end of her subsequent turns.)
-> Shai's concentration check {DC 10}: 13 - Never mind the roll; concentration is lost anyway because Shai is incapacitated.
(We'll roll for initiative next, but there are two additional points I want to clarify, so it will all come in a separate post.)
First additional point: the blurry an disorienting nature of the Far Realm affects your ability to initially take stock of your bearings. Mechanically, this means that initiative checks are made with disadvantage. This will also apply to Kandalou and Quadere once they enter the portal at the very end of the first round.
Second additional point: experiencing the Far Realm is not for the weak of mind. It affects those foreign to it in an almost incomprehensible way. Mechanically, this means that each of you must start every single turn by rolling a WIS saving throw {DC 15}. If you fail this check, you'll also need to roll a d10. I will then tell you what random effect you are affected by that turn, akin to but not exactly the same as the confusion spell. I'll preemptively say that if you fail the saving throw, chances are that you will not be able to take any actions that turn, but the random effects vary a bit.
NOTES: Everyone should begin each of their turns by rolling a WIS saving throw {DC 15}. If you fail this check, you'll also need to roll a d10. Also, the map should be self-explanatory following my description above, but let me know if you have any clarifying questions.
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
@Shadow: Vishnu doesn't move or take actions this turn.
The transition into the Far Realm proves to be quite an unsettling event for Vishnu. She is unable to move for the first few seconds after going through the portal, let alone threaten her opponents.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Wisdom save: 13
(YES! I can do stuff!)
Despite dealing with a different kind of mental pressure, Kalak sees the two figures in the back and sees them as a greater threat than the cowardly mind flayer. Keeping to the plan and moving away from the group (To AU-47), he then detonates a furious explosion in between the hulk and the seer.
Fireball (upcast 5th level) Dex save [DC16]: 26 save for half
(OOC: Apologies but today's post will have to be quite short. Work calls. This should give you guys some extra time to perfect your plan.)
Noticing they have little time to waste, the rrakkma whips up a quick plan and begins preparing. They delay the casting of preparatory spells as much as they can.
Who's drinking the Potion of Psychic Resistance?
Who is going as part of the vanguard and who is waiting a turn to jump into the portal?
Anything else?
OK: Time to move. Here is the action as agreed......last chance to modify/alter before DM picks it up and runs with it.
Shai, Belthomias, Kalak & Vishnu will enter as wave 1 under Stealth with Pass Without Trace active. Intent is to move away from the portal on the other side, with Vishnu maybe heading in different direction and attack/create a distraction so the others can arrive safely at the beginning of round two if we immediately enter combat. Party to be consider whether there will be any invisible illithids hovering above (ie lets scatter once revealed and concentrate on taking down mind flayers as a priority).
Wave 2 - Quadere and Kandalou enter six seconds later and take actions (perhaps readied actions??)
Spell Effects active as we enter the portal
Belthomias has cast Pass Without Trace
Kandalou has the Brooch of Shielding (assume this is now attuned)
Kalak cast light on Shai's signet ring (which she will initially conceal)
Kalak cast Haste on Kandalou just before entering portal
Quadere cast Bless+Aid on Kandalou, Shai & Belthomias just before they enter portal
Quadere cast Death Ward on himself
Belthomias drinks the potion of Psychic Protection
Quadere has cast light on something as well which will come with them in wave 2
"Bubbles the Barbarian" (Locathah - Lvl 9) - Locathah Rising; Shai'ere Delatete (Githyanki Monk - Lvl 9) Rrakkma (deceased - MindFlayer); Saros Rockfoot (Deep Gnome Diviner - Lvl 5) - The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above; Tagret (Goliath Barbarian - Lvl 2) - Tales of Faerun;
OOC: Agree.... so Pass Without Trace active (concentration +10 stealth check), and I have now Resistance to psychic damage for 1h :)
Stealth: 35
Currently Playing: Regdus Ironfist (Greyhawk) Lvl 1 Storm Sorcerer ; Goraseth Drerjoxian (Icespeak) Lvl 3 Paladin Oath of Glory; Lerak (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight) Lvl 3 Barbarian Wild Magic
In Pause: Grimnir " Shadow-Feet", Lv 11 Owner of "The Basilisk & the Monk" (OotA) - Kurma Kappa, Lv 8 Priest of Oghma (ToA)
Currently DM'ing: Princes of Apocalypse >> Tomb of Annihilation
Pre portal diving stealth check: 28
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Stealth 22 => Geeezz +17 roll and still got less than 20 - not the time to be rolling low - how can a monk bugger up than badly
There is a very real chance that Shai will be spotted....sorry all.
"Bubbles the Barbarian" (Locathah - Lvl 9) - Locathah Rising; Shai'ere Delatete (Githyanki Monk - Lvl 9) Rrakkma (deceased - MindFlayer); Saros Rockfoot (Deep Gnome Diviner - Lvl 5) - The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above; Tagret (Goliath Barbarian - Lvl 2) - Tales of Faerun;
Was obviously posting at much the same time.
"Bubbles the Barbarian" (Locathah - Lvl 9) - Locathah Rising; Shai'ere Delatete (Githyanki Monk - Lvl 9) Rrakkma (deceased - MindFlayer); Saros Rockfoot (Deep Gnome Diviner - Lvl 5) - The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above; Tagret (Goliath Barbarian - Lvl 2) - Tales of Faerun;
With heavy armor, it may be good for Quadere to wait a turn, so as to let the stealth group try first
Officially Joined the Expanded Signature Club
Will be on Hiatus: Currently Clear
That's the plan (see my post further up - Wave 1 and Wave 2)....Quadere and Kandalou will wait for 6 secs after the rest of us go through....
"Bubbles the Barbarian" (Locathah - Lvl 9) - Locathah Rising; Shai'ere Delatete (Githyanki Monk - Lvl 9) Rrakkma (deceased - MindFlayer); Saros Rockfoot (Deep Gnome Diviner - Lvl 5) - The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above; Tagret (Goliath Barbarian - Lvl 2) - Tales of Faerun;
Yeah, Kalak does cast light on the ring, as well.
Extended Signature
(Yes! Kandalou will attune to the brooch of shielding! Sorry! Work has been hectic!)
Kandalou Dle'tan - Level 9 Githyanki Fighter (Champion) - Rrakkma PbP
Final check, here's what I got:
Before we jump into the portal, let me share some background information on this mysterious place called the FAR REALM:
DM's Screen:
18, 23, 16
The rrakkma finishes their preparations just before jumping into the portal. A moment later, the vanguard (Vishnu, Shai, Kalak, and Belthomias) do just that. In an instant, you find yourselves back into the dilapidated Pandemonium cathedral where you rested, except in this version of the chamber, the walls and ceiling are made out of a disturbing mesh of tentacles, eyeballs, and mouths, and there are no tunnels leading away from this chamber. The sand beneath your feet is not grainy, but blurry and flaky instead. Everything around you seems to be out of focus. Welcome to the Far Realm.
The southwest corner of this strange room is sealed off by a weird screen of swirling greens and purples, though it is somewhat see-through. This grotesque field of alien energy separates the diamond-shaped Gith Capacitor from the rest of the room. The artifact shines brightly, creating enough light to illuminate the entire chamber. There are little to no shadows around. Also on the other side of the energy field, an ulitharid tends to the artifact, making sure it's charging process is completed undisturbed. This is the largest mind flayer you have ever seen, almost 10 feet in height. It has six fully grown tentacles sprouting from its face. It carries a psionically enhanced staff made of black metal. Belthomias knows this ulitharid well: it was the one that almost killed him during his solo-mission.
There are three other enemies in this chamber that you can see, all of which are on the same side of the wall of energy as you are now.
The first is a mostly humanoid-shaped and human-sized creature whose body is formed of a bulk of tumorous skin and strange whorls. Its hands are bulky flipper-like appendages, which also grasp a strange staff. This one is formed of some blend of flesh, bone, and another material you can't be sure what it is. These same hands look strangely clumsy and painful to use if trying to manipulate other things. However, you can tell this creature does't need to.
The second is a much larger creature, who is ogre-like in stature. Its glistening translucent skin reveals a muscled form devoid of any fat. Pale and seemingly lidless eyes glare balefully from a face distorted by too many teeth and too little a nose.
The third one is the mind flayer who escaped your grasp earlier. It is the closest enemy to the group and it is not levitating as it was before.
@Shai: As soon as your feet touch the Far Realm, you activate your prepared Detect Thoughts ability. Even though you can see four enemies, you can only detect the presence of one thinking creature who is not part of the rrakkma: the mind flayer who stands about 30 feet from you. The other three creatures are beyond the range of your spell at the moment. No other non-rrakkma presence is felt within your range.
The four vanguard members get a sense that the two more strange enemies did not notice their shrouded arrival (using passive stealth for Kalak.), but the closest enemy, the mind flayer, did notice at least Shai and Kalak. At any rate, as soon as the vanguard sets foot into the Far Realm, the distant ulitharid yells a mangled blurb of words that calls everyone's attention to your arrival. The mind flayer does as it had planned:
The rrakma was prepared for this very possibility, and their caution largely pays off. The only exception is Shai, who falls short of resisting the Mind Blast. (Shai takes 19 psychic damage and becomes stunned for 1 minute, but can repeat the save at the end of her subsequent turns.)
-> Shai's concentration check {DC 10}: 13 - Never mind the roll; concentration is lost anyway because Shai is incapacitated.
(We'll roll for initiative next, but there are two additional points I want to clarify, so it will all come in a separate post.)
DM's Screen:
14, 4, 9, 4
First additional point: the blurry an disorienting nature of the Far Realm affects your ability to initially take stock of your bearings. Mechanically, this means that initiative checks are made with disadvantage. This will also apply to Kandalou and Quadere once they enter the portal at the very end of the first round.
Second additional point: experiencing the Far Realm is not for the weak of mind. It affects those foreign to it in an almost incomprehensible way. Mechanically, this means that each of you must start every single turn by rolling a WIS saving throw {DC 15}. If you fail this check, you'll also need to roll a d10. I will then tell you what random effect you are affected by that turn, akin to but not exactly the same as the confusion spell. I'll preemptively say that if you fail the saving throw, chances are that you will not be able to take any actions that turn, but the random effects vary a bit.
With these out of the way...
ROLLING FOR INITIATIVE:
(Vishnu is up first.)
Wisdom save: 19
Quasi-confusion check: 9
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Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
@Shadow: Vishnu doesn't move or take actions this turn.
The transition into the Far Realm proves to be quite an unsettling event for Vishnu. She is unable to move for the first few seconds after going through the portal, let alone threaten her opponents.
(Seer goes next.)
From its position far away from the portal, the Seer raises its fleshy staff but refrains from doing anything at the moment. For now, it observes.
(Belthomias and Kalak are up next. Please don't forget to start your turns with the WIS saving throws {DC 15} described above.)
Wis save: 4 + 3 (bless)
Confusion: 8
Currently Playing: Regdus Ironfist (Greyhawk) Lvl 1 Storm Sorcerer ; Goraseth Drerjoxian (Icespeak) Lvl 3 Paladin Oath of Glory; Lerak (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight) Lvl 3 Barbarian Wild Magic
In Pause: Grimnir " Shadow-Feet", Lv 11 Owner of "The Basilisk & the Monk" (OotA) - Kurma Kappa, Lv 8 Priest of Oghma (ToA)
Currently DM'ing: Princes of Apocalypse >> Tomb of Annihilation
Wisdom save: 13
(YES! I can do stuff!)
Despite dealing with a different kind of mental pressure, Kalak sees the two figures in the back and sees them as a greater threat than the cowardly mind flayer. Keeping to the plan and moving away from the group (To AU-47), he then detonates a furious explosion in between the hulk and the seer.
Fireball (upcast 5th level) Dex save [DC16]: 26 save for half
Extended Signature