The conversation was tiring Morthos. Somewhere down that pit, Caelia was awaiting their rescue. They could not dawdle any further.
Morthos says, "The final decision to up to you. However, who knows what she will do if she comes with us? Lilandra still has the chalice; if things go south, it wouldn't be too hard for her to take it and run. Dangling from a rope is a mild punishment for murder and kidnapping. When you travel to foreign cities who choose to parade their criminals through the streets, you will learn the true brutality of the word torture."
The memory irked the well-traveled bard. He leaves the conversation and heads over to the pit, looking down into the gaping darkness, while Lilandra prepared to climb the ropes He says to her,"Wait. I don't want to go into this blind."
Morthos finds a stone and hands it to her.
"If I threw a torch down there, the flames would sputter out in an instant. Magic can be very useful in this case. If you have a spell that can light up this rock, we can toss it down and see what's below."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral-Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries;Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
The deep, stone-walled hole is filled with a swirling fog. Any lit-up stone tossed down would quickly be swallowed by the smoky obstruction, although it would surely act as a becon of sorts to indicate the bottom of the pit once they got close enough.
[And just checking, was Morthos still using Feather Fall? If expediance is your goal, that would be much faster (and easier) than climbing down a rope. The rope could still be left behind as an option for the return trip if you want. Up to you guys of course, just laying out options.]
(If everyone agrees to jump down the hundred feet deep hole, Morthos will cast Feather Fall. However, he understands that it would be a...leap of faith. *wink)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral-Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries;Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
"Let us go already." The impatient Morgan mutters. He has been trying to get the group to get moving for a bit, so moves to the hole. Glancing around. "I am going to jump, will you use your spell?" He prepares to jump, if given the go-ahead that the spell will be used. If given the go, he jumps.
(That part already seemed decided to me. Just needed people to actually move on, and now that's happening too. So I'll cover that and what you discover next in my upcoming post here soon.)
Thad nods, although not entirely convinced to leave the goblin behind, he agrees that it's not civil to hang him in the cavern and that taking the prisoner with them would only slow them down. He walks to the edge of the pit and looks down. Memories from just minutes prior flood back of his fall. He looks to the others, nods, then back down into the pit and takes a deep breath as he prepares to jump.
"My suggestion, warrior to warrior, is not to be here when we return." Morgan says to the goblin-elf, meeting her eyes with his own just before the jump. "If you truly wish to find a way out of the life you have been in, then go to my family's villa and let them know I sent you. Tell them that I hired you on as a family retainer." he shrugs. "The house always has need of people to do things, some of it might be bloody work, some of it boring work, but you will never have to worry about not having something to do." He holds her gaze a moment longer, then jumps with the rest.
Kithri’va was speechless as Morganand the others jumped down, eyes glistening with gratitude and adoration, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the nobleman’s gift. A home, a purpose, a second chance. What was next? Friends?
“Thank you, and good luck,” she whispered into the darkness of the pit, before adding wistfully. “…my lord.”
The descent through foggy blackness lasted several long moments, revealing the depth of this pit beneath the monolith to be considerable. Eventually, those with darkvision would notice the width of the pit suddenly balloon out as the group emerged above a high, vaulted circular chamber.
Rapidly approaching underfoot was the platform. The glow from its morbid carvings was gone, and it remained inert upon the back of some huge, hunched over statue. In the corners of the chamber stood four other statues, 30ft tall, depicting horrifying fiends that loomed menacingly over the center.
The group soon alighted upon the platform, and thanks to Morthos’s magic the landing was as easy as stepping out of a carriage. From there they would notice a narrow ramp of stone spiraling around the statue holding the platform, allowing them to descend the remaining 10ft to the floor of the chamber.
To the north, there was a closed set of high-arching double doors. To the east and west, long corridors could be seen stretching into the dark. And to the south, a 10ft by 10ft alcove could be seen with some kind of large, motionless shape within.
[Each square is 5ft, up is north, down is south, right is east, left is west. Don’t forget to include skill checks relevant to your activities in your posts so I don’t have to ask for them separately. Lighting conditions are total darkness.]
[EDIT: Having issues making it appear as an image, so I'm just including a link for now. First time trying to make a custom digital map, which is part of why this post took so long, so apologies if it's a little on the rough side.]
As darkness closed in around him Morgan growled in frustration. He could see nothing at all, not even those who fell with him. The fall seemed to go on for an eternity, but then he felt solid, something, under his feet. He guessed it was the platform, but could see nothing in order to confirm that.
Pulling a torch from his pack he quickly lit it, allowing him to see the area nearby under its flickering glow. "Looks like we go down the ramp there." Morgan commented to the others, nodding to the path descending from the platform. He could see little beyond that though, as his torchlight did not light up much of he area.
Thad peers into the darkness with his dark vision. "There appears ta be somethin' ta the south there. A statue or somethin'. Maybe we take a quick look at that an' then make our way either ta the doors or down a hall?" As he says this, Thad slowly, cautiously makes his way forward to the motionless shape.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
(I like the map! Try adding .png/.jpg to the end of the image link to make it appear in D&D Beyond).
Morthos scans the nearby area, his elven darkvision filling in the areas where Morgan's torchlight doesn't touch. He says, "Hold steady. Dakara's been down here already, and yet there's no sign of him. Also, this place may be trapped. Let me take a look."
The half-elf watches his step as he searches the area for traps, looking especially at the doors and the floor. As he does so, he also searches for Dakara's tracks- footprints that may show where he went.
Perception: 18
Survival: 18
Assuming he finds nothing threatening, he approaches the shape with Thaedren, rapier in hand.
(If you also want me to make a Perception check: 17)
As everyone settles to the underground tunnels Lilandra will ruffle in her component pouch and take out a firefly in her hand. She presses it against her armor and speaks the words From darkness to light.
When she pulls her hand away and opens it the firefly is gone and her armor lights up. In the moments after dozens of fireflies emerge from the armor flying around Lilandra to light the area so everyone can free their hands of torches.
Lilandra then moves with the group and all the fireflies floating around her follow her movement. She will stay in the back, letting those with darkvision lead the way.
As Morthos starts to search the area for traps Lilandra will move slowly as well, holding her shield up and making sure to look behind the group every few seconds. Lilandra will also look at the walls as they walk through the south tunnel. Does she see any torchers on the wall for any lights?
Movement: Following the group. Action: Cast Light on Lilandra's armor.
Between Morgan’s torch and Lilandra’s luminescent chain shirt, the chamber was now lit well enough to investigate properly. The space appeared to serve as some kind of vestibule or atrium for Gernacht’s subterranean cathedral, and as befitting its architect its design was equal parts grandiose and horrific.
As they carefully descended the spiral ramp around the central statue, it became apparent that said statue was crafted in the larger-than-life form of a man prostrated in submission to the towering devils surrounding him with the elevator platform supported on his back. In the northeast corner, a stone figure wrapped in meticulously carved chains leered down at the human. In the northwestern corner, a skittish-looking, beer-bellied statue covered all over with barbs and spikes howled silent insults. The statue in the southwest corner was a heavyset creature with long tentacles writhing from its face. And from the southeast corner, a statue cloaked by its own wings with a pair of massive, sweeping horns had its mouth twisted into a wide grin that could only be described as sadistic.
Lilandra will also look at the walls as they walk through the south tunnel. Does she see any torchers on the wall for any lights?
Flanking all four giant statues ringing the chamber is a pair of wall sconces shaped like long-nailed hands clawing at the ceiling. Inside the palms of the hand-sconces would be a small pile of presumably incendiary material. There were also identical sconces in the east and west corridors - two (one on each wall) in the middle of each hall, and two more at the end next to the doors.
The half-elf watches his step as he searches the area for traps, looking especially at the doors and the floor. As he does so, he also searches for Dakara's tracks- footprints that may show where he went.
Barring any sort of in-depth examination, there wasn’t any obviously threatening detail to the environment based on the half-elf’s cursory visual sweep. Two points of curiosity did arise, however. The first being that the floor of the western hallway appeared to be paved with very pronounced five-foot tiles. And secondly, there were wet spots shimmering in the light – suspiciously boot-shaped puddles that splattered their way out from the eastern corridor in a trail that led all the way to the ornate, high arching doors to the north.
Assuming he finds nothing threatening, he approaches the shape with Thaedren, rapier in hand.
Moving towards the large southern alcove, the half-elven bard and righteous dwarf discovered a bizarre contraption dominating the space. It was a bloated mound of machinery partially draped in a tattered black tarp. It had an oversized metal skull construct stuck onto the side at an angle, and in the forehead of this skull was a smooth, round black rock. This mass of metal rested on top of a squat stone pedestal that had a deep groove running along its rim. And from somewhere behind the pedestal, Thad and Morthos could catch a glimpse of light.
It was a momentary pulse of glowing pink, a hint of something white darting out of sight, and the distinct sound of a soft voice squealing,“Eep--!!!”
Morgan nodded his thanks as the druid cast a light spell on their armor. He kept his torch in hand for now, moving to one of the strange wall places tha tlooked like it might be lit. He would try usin ghis torch on it and seeing if the material inside did light up with the flames applied.
He would follow along towards the south as the group made their way in that direction.
Upon meeting the flame of his torch, the material in the hand-sconces would indeed ignite. After the initial fiery swell, the material would immediately emit green sparks and the very color of the fire itself would change. As such, once lit each sconce would look like a claw holding a ball of GREEN FLAME.
[OOC: Inspiration to the first player with the appropriate response! Just give an OOC shout out!]
The conversation was tiring Morthos. Somewhere down that pit, Caelia was awaiting their rescue. They could not dawdle any further.
Morthos says, "The final decision to up to you. However, who knows what she will do if she comes with us? Lilandra still has the chalice; if things go south, it wouldn't be too hard for her to take it and run. Dangling from a rope is a mild punishment for murder and kidnapping. When you travel to foreign cities who choose to parade their criminals through the streets, you will learn the true brutality of the word torture."
The memory irked the well-traveled bard. He leaves the conversation and heads over to the pit, looking down into the gaping darkness, while Lilandra prepared to climb the ropes He says to her, "Wait. I don't want to go into this blind."
Morthos finds a stone and hands it to her.
"If I threw a torch down there, the flames would sputter out in an instant. Magic can be very useful in this case. If you have a spell that can light up this rock, we can toss it down and see what's below."
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
The deep, stone-walled hole is filled with a swirling fog. Any lit-up stone tossed down would quickly be swallowed by the smoky obstruction, although it would surely act as a becon of sorts to indicate the bottom of the pit once they got close enough.
[And just checking, was Morthos still using Feather Fall? If expediance is your goal, that would be much faster (and easier) than climbing down a rope. The rope could still be left behind as an option for the return trip if you want. Up to you guys of course, just laying out options.]
(If everyone agrees to jump down the hundred feet deep hole, Morthos will cast Feather Fall. However, he understands that it would be a...leap of faith. *wink)
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
"Let us go already." The impatient Morgan mutters. He has been trying to get the group to get moving for a bit, so moves to the hole. Glancing around. "I am going to jump, will you use your spell?" He prepares to jump, if given the go-ahead that the spell will be used. If given the go, he jumps.
"Let's go," says Morthos. He gives the go-ahead to Morgan.
(I know that the goblin is taking a lot of time; could we make an OOC decision so it doesn't hold up the game?)
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
(That part already seemed decided to me. Just needed people to actually move on, and now that's happening too. So I'll cover that and what you discover next in my upcoming post here soon.)
Thad nods, although not entirely convinced to leave the goblin behind, he agrees that it's not civil to hang him in the cavern and that taking the prisoner with them would only slow them down. He walks to the edge of the pit and looks down. Memories from just minutes prior flood back of his fall. He looks to the others, nods, then back down into the pit and takes a deep breath as he prepares to jump.
If Lilandra sees the others jump down while she is climbing down she will also let herself fall down, trusting in Morthos's magic.
"My suggestion, warrior to warrior, is not to be here when we return." Morgan says to the goblin-elf, meeting her eyes with his own just before the jump. "If you truly wish to find a way out of the life you have been in, then go to my family's villa and let them know I sent you. Tell them that I hired you on as a family retainer." he shrugs. "The house always has need of people to do things, some of it might be bloody work, some of it boring work, but you will never have to worry about not having something to do." He holds her gaze a moment longer, then jumps with the rest.
Kithri’va was speechless as Morgan and the others jumped down, eyes glistening with gratitude and adoration, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the nobleman’s gift. A home, a purpose, a second chance. What was next? Friends?
“Thank you, and good luck,” she whispered into the darkness of the pit, before adding wistfully. “…my lord.”
The descent through foggy blackness lasted several long moments, revealing the depth of this pit beneath the monolith to be considerable. Eventually, those with darkvision would notice the width of the pit suddenly balloon out as the group emerged above a high, vaulted circular chamber.
Rapidly approaching underfoot was the platform. The glow from its morbid carvings was gone, and it remained inert upon the back of some huge, hunched over statue. In the corners of the chamber stood four other statues, 30ft tall, depicting horrifying fiends that loomed menacingly over the center.
The group soon alighted upon the platform, and thanks to Morthos’s magic the landing was as easy as stepping out of a carriage. From there they would notice a narrow ramp of stone spiraling around the statue holding the platform, allowing them to descend the remaining 10ft to the floor of the chamber.
To the north, there was a closed set of high-arching double doors. To the east and west, long corridors could be seen stretching into the dark. And to the south, a 10ft by 10ft alcove could be seen with some kind of large, motionless shape within.
MAP
[Each square is 5ft, up is north, down is south, right is east, left is west. Don’t forget to include skill checks relevant to your activities in your posts so I don’t have to ask for them separately. Lighting conditions are total darkness.]
[EDIT: Having issues making it appear as an image, so I'm just including a link for now. First time trying to make a custom digital map, which is part of why this post took so long, so apologies if it's a little on the rough side.]
As darkness closed in around him Morgan growled in frustration. He could see nothing at all, not even those who fell with him. The fall seemed to go on for an eternity, but then he felt solid, something, under his feet. He guessed it was the platform, but could see nothing in order to confirm that.
Pulling a torch from his pack he quickly lit it, allowing him to see the area nearby under its flickering glow. "Looks like we go down the ramp there." Morgan commented to the others, nodding to the path descending from the platform. He could see little beyond that though, as his torchlight did not light up much of he area.
[A torch sheds 20ft of bright light and 20ft of dim light beyond that, so that's enough to see 8 squares in any direction.]
Thad peers into the darkness with his dark vision. "There appears ta be somethin' ta the south there. A statue or somethin'. Maybe we take a quick look at that an' then make our way either ta the doors or down a hall?" As he says this, Thad slowly, cautiously makes his way forward to the motionless shape.
[PERCEPTION CHECK - THAD]
(I like the map! Try adding .png/.jpg to the end of the image link to make it appear in D&D Beyond).
Morthos scans the nearby area, his elven darkvision filling in the areas where Morgan's torchlight doesn't touch. He says, "Hold steady. Dakara's been down here already, and yet there's no sign of him. Also, this place may be trapped. Let me take a look."
The half-elf watches his step as he searches the area for traps, looking especially at the doors and the floor. As he does so, he also searches for Dakara's tracks- footprints that may show where he went.
Perception: 18
Survival: 18
Assuming he finds nothing threatening, he approaches the shape with Thaedren, rapier in hand.
(If you also want me to make a Perception check: 17)
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
As everyone settles to the underground tunnels Lilandra will ruffle in her component pouch and take out a firefly in her hand. She presses it against her armor and speaks the words From darkness to light.
When she pulls her hand away and opens it the firefly is gone and her armor lights up. In the moments after dozens of fireflies emerge from the armor flying around Lilandra to light the area so everyone can free their hands of torches.
Lilandra then moves with the group and all the fireflies floating around her follow her movement. She will stay in the back, letting those with darkvision lead the way.
As Morthos starts to search the area for traps Lilandra will move slowly as well, holding her shield up and making sure to look behind the group every few seconds. Lilandra will also look at the walls as they walk through the south tunnel. Does she see any torchers on the wall for any lights?
[Aha! Thanks Razor! Map works now!]
Between Morgan’s torch and Lilandra’s luminescent chain shirt, the chamber was now lit well enough to investigate properly. The space appeared to serve as some kind of vestibule or atrium for Gernacht’s subterranean cathedral, and as befitting its architect its design was equal parts grandiose and horrific.
As they carefully descended the spiral ramp around the central statue, it became apparent that said statue was crafted in the larger-than-life form of a man prostrated in submission to the towering devils surrounding him with the elevator platform supported on his back. In the northeast corner, a stone figure wrapped in meticulously carved chains leered down at the human. In the northwestern corner, a skittish-looking, beer-bellied statue covered all over with barbs and spikes howled silent insults. The statue in the southwest corner was a heavyset creature with long tentacles writhing from its face. And from the southeast corner, a statue cloaked by its own wings with a pair of massive, sweeping horns had its mouth twisted into a wide grin that could only be described as sadistic.
Flanking all four giant statues ringing the chamber is a pair of wall sconces shaped like long-nailed hands clawing at the ceiling. Inside the palms of the hand-sconces would be a small pile of presumably incendiary material. There were also identical sconces in the east and west corridors - two (one on each wall) in the middle of each hall, and two more at the end next to the doors.
Barring any sort of in-depth examination, there wasn’t any obviously threatening detail to the environment based on the half-elf’s cursory visual sweep. Two points of curiosity did arise, however. The first being that the floor of the western hallway appeared to be paved with very pronounced five-foot tiles. And secondly, there were wet spots shimmering in the light – suspiciously boot-shaped puddles that splattered their way out from the eastern corridor in a trail that led all the way to the ornate, high arching doors to the north.
Moving towards the large southern alcove, the half-elven bard and righteous dwarf discovered a bizarre contraption dominating the space. It was a bloated mound of machinery partially draped in a tattered black tarp. It had an oversized metal skull construct stuck onto the side at an angle, and in the forehead of this skull was a smooth, round black rock. This mass of metal rested on top of a squat stone pedestal that had a deep groove running along its rim. And from somewhere behind the pedestal, Thad and Morthos could catch a glimpse of light.
It was a momentary pulse of glowing pink, a hint of something white darting out of sight, and the distinct sound of a soft voice squealing, “Eep--!!!”
And then the glow was gone.
Morgan nodded his thanks as the druid cast a light spell on their armor. He kept his torch in hand for now, moving to one of the strange wall places tha tlooked like it might be lit. He would try usin ghis torch on it and seeing if the material inside did light up with the flames applied.
He would follow along towards the south as the group made their way in that direction.
Upon meeting the flame of his torch, the material in the hand-sconces would indeed ignite. After the initial fiery swell, the material would immediately emit green sparks and the very color of the fire itself would change. As such, once lit each sconce would look like a claw holding a ball of GREEN FLAME.
[OOC: Inspiration to the first player with the appropriate response! Just give an OOC shout out!]
(Meme from Chris Perkins of Acquisitions Inc? The reason Green-Flame Blade is green?)
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd