Ash considers this... “I can fight fine without armour. We might even find some below! And with a proper sleep I’ll be on top form again.... ... ...I say we do it!!”. She says this with a wide Cheshire Cat grin, showing her teeth, and her eyes glinting.
Ess looks around a few more times, then responds to Ben"uh, yeah... yeah. I'm fine. We're fine, bros." and he looks around again uncontrollably making sure no one is coming.
Ess responds to Ben's plan "Alright bro. I mean, there must be something in that basement if those guys are so paranoid about folks getting in, but dudes, they gonna be ready for us. I can watch the house if ya's want while you camp in the woods, but I'm going to need at least a few hours of shut-eye before we do this, bros."
((if you leave the house in a loud manner, that will be noted, and no one will engage you as you leave. There will be no issues camping a-ways from the house, and we won't bother with encounters for the night. Are you planning on short resting and heading back say before midnight? Or long resting and heading back in the wee hours of the night? During Ess's lookout of the house, he would've saw strange 'errie' (as he describes) lights coming from the house, and if he was close enough he would've heard screams and shrieks echoing from the house.))
He would say once he returned from the lookout and everyone woke up "BROS AND ASH. There were weird ass lights coming from the house, and I also heard some crazy screams. Dudes... what if they are some sick cult bros?! You sure you wanna do this?"
((Long rest, that way everyone can be back in full fighting form!
Ben would have also taken a watch from Ess, especially since Ess doesn't have darkvision.))
"We already know they have some sort of game of trying to scare people off, so the lights and that seem on point. Kay, did the one shooting at you look like a cult member or a goon?"
He looks in the direction of the house,
"We should at least check, if it is a cult we might be able to get something from the locals in revealing it."
((I think Ash used all her HD to heal earlier, so would be stuck at less than half HP unless she wants to swig a potion. Korrik has 1 HD left, but likely to be less that fully topped off even with that plus song of rest. Could we make camp early, get a long rest in (and get rid of this exhaustion), then approach the next morning sometime before dawn? If Korrik is able to wake, cast darkvision on himself and SR to get back the two ki, that'd be ideal for his start to the next day.))
"It was a real quick glimpse, he was mostly hiding behind the wall, but they weren't yelling stuff like 'Bring forth the sacrifice! Halfling blood for the dark god!' or any nonsense like that, so maybe more goon than cult? Or someone the cult hired for muscle?"
((I was thinking that the party could manage a long rest and still have a few hours of darkness left in the early morning hours to head back to the house.))
Ess says "Well Kay, I guess there's only one way to find out." he looks more serious now and he feels ready given his rest. "Didn't miss sleeping in the tent though bros!"
((right, I forgot about Ess's lack of darkvision. He used the light of the moon and the lights from the house along with a torch (-1 from inv.) to get to the house watchpoint and back, but yeah for the watch during the sleep he'd be quite useless as far as a watch goes unless we kept a small fire going all night. Ess has a 2 person tent, so he'd be happy to share it. And the horses were fine.))
-Long Rest-
Feel free to RP as much as you want beforehand, but once you are all ready to head back to the house, what will the plan of action be? How will you approach the house, etc.? Let's assume you tie off Betty and Swiftwind back a bit out of plain view of the house during the approach. The moonlight is bright, so Ess can kind of manage with the moonlight outside, but once you get into the house, he will have to rock a torch. At least on the main and upper floors.
((If Korrik goes to sleep ASAP, would it be feasible to wake after a long rest, cast darkvision on himself, rest and meditate for a short rest as the others are finishing their rest, then cast it on Ess, and meditate rest another short rest before they break camp and head back? If you're not comfortable with that and he can only get one short rest, he can either cast it just on himself, and have full ki, or cast it on both of them and be down to 1 ki until after the next short rest. If Ben takes one hand and Kay takes the other, could we sufficiently guide Ess through the dark without a torch when we make our approach into the house? After reaching 4th level, he'll have the ki to cast it on both of them, then SR to get the ki back.))
((Ben would like to have his magic eyes ready just before he heads in.))
Ben isn't particularly tired and plays a few quiet songs for the group before calling it and crashing before trading watches with Ess.
He would suggest,
"They have two ways down, I would guess. The stairs in the kitchen they set an alarm on and the trapdoor. The ones Kay saw came from the trapdoor. So the question is which way do we take down? If they haven't reset the alarm the trapdoor will probably be quieter but they may also be right under it. The other way is going to make more noise unless we can jump the alarm. Thoughts?"
((Could the one on the stairs be jumped if Ben directed people?))
"I think we need to let you see if they're still up... they didn't trigger the one we set off yesterday when they came up, but maybe it resets after a couple hours on its own, or it knows not to threaten them, or they had time to redo it. If they're both up, we could try getting past the one on the stairs, maybe tie off a rope and swing down past it?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
"Once we get in there I will be able to tell if they put it back up, but good to have our plans ready. Maybe a swing in will do it if we can't just hop it."
((to make it easier, lets say there was just enough time for the 8hrs of long rest time plus 2 hours for the two short rests which allow you to get Ess darkvisioned up. It makes sense as it was still quite bright out when you were in the house the day before.))
"Woah, dude, thanks man! This is awesome. Even better than when I was ratty."
((if you guys approach the house the same way, Ben you would see the magic aura again around the trapdoor.))
I have updated the Battlemap 1 tab. Please excuse the 'daylight' as it's a little after 4:00am right now.
After peeking inside at the trapdoor Ben will report,
"Magic is back on the trapdoor. So I guess we try for stairs and see if we can avoid it? Or we could just rush down through the trapdoor and surprise them, unless there is a whole cult's worth down there."
He elbows Ess good naturedly.
"We can try on the stairs but if we trip them we can rush down and see if we can hide or catch them sleeping."
Ash nods thoughtfully (looking far more refreshed than she has up until now). “The ‘scary mouth’ might be back??... Then I agree. We try and avoid whatever’s set on the stairs, sneakily. But if it triggers, we push on in. And either hide, if no one’s there, or attack if faced immediately with resistance”. She looks each of the men calmly in the eye. “I don’t mind taking point... If I can climb over and get a good hiding place, I can cover you guys and watch ahead for dangers while you get in. I’m easy, but that’s one option”.
"Actually... I can make that alarm thing a non-issue. We could open the trapdoor with no sound being made at all... of course, if someone's still awake and watching it, they'd see us, but I can make it so the alarm makes no noise at all. Or we can go in the back first. Like Ash said, it's one option. Could still have you sneak in first, if you'd like."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
"Yeah, I should have remembered it earlier, but... I've not actually done it before, like for real. But I'm sure it'll work, the crate works and the thing with our eyes works, right Ess?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
“One other thought I had, was to prank one entrance while piling in through the other. Might cause enough of a distraction or confusion to thin the resistance at the other end, but not the subtlest of options overall! I’ve not thought it right through, but it’s something else on the table..”. You can really see the cogs working now behind Ash’s eyes.
"Yeah, that thought crossed my mind too, but triggering either of them is going to put a lot of blades and crossbows in hands, we're probably better served by stealth. So I could knock out either one, but it does take a bit out of me, like when I did the thing with our eyes, so I'd be a bit limited in what I can do later. I can also make us super super sneaky, but don't think it'd be enough to sneak past a magic alarm. But if we can drop in behind the one on the stairs, might get us pretty far if we need it. Maybe we try that first, see if we think we can get past it, then see what's down there?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Ash considers this... “I can fight fine without armour. We might even find some below! And with a proper sleep I’ll be on top form again.... ... ...I say we do it!!”. She says this with a wide Cheshire Cat grin, showing her teeth, and her eyes glinting.
GILLAIN OF ATHKATLA - Human Paladin - Into the Mists PHILLIP THE GRUNG - Grung Eldritch Knight - Tomb of Annihilation
ROBWIN WINDROBE - High Elf Wizard - Dragon of Icespire Peak EVE DARKSHORE - Tiefling Warlock - Rime of the Frost Maiden
ASH OF THE FIRE - Tabaxi Rogue - Ghosts of Marshswamp LIA STARBORN - Aasimar Bard - Out of the Abyss
Ben gives Ash a smile then turns to Ess and Kay for their takes.
Ess looks around a few more times, then responds to Ben "uh, yeah... yeah. I'm fine. We're fine, bros." and he looks around again uncontrollably making sure no one is coming.
Ess responds to Ben's plan "Alright bro. I mean, there must be something in that basement if those guys are so paranoid about folks getting in, but dudes, they gonna be ready for us. I can watch the house if ya's want while you camp in the woods, but I'm going to need at least a few hours of shut-eye before we do this, bros."
((if you leave the house in a loud manner, that will be noted, and no one will engage you as you leave. There will be no issues camping a-ways from the house, and we won't bother with encounters for the night. Are you planning on short resting and heading back say before midnight? Or long resting and heading back in the wee hours of the night? During Ess's lookout of the house, he would've saw strange 'errie' (as he describes) lights coming from the house, and if he was close enough he would've heard screams and shrieks echoing from the house.))
He would say once he returned from the lookout and everyone woke up "BROS AND ASH. There were weird ass lights coming from the house, and I also heard some crazy screams. Dudes... what if they are some sick cult bros?! You sure you wanna do this?"
((Long rest, that way everyone can be back in full fighting form!
Ben would have also taken a watch from Ess, especially since Ess doesn't have darkvision.))
"We already know they have some sort of game of trying to scare people off, so the lights and that seem on point. Kay, did the one shooting at you look like a cult member or a goon?"
He looks in the direction of the house,
"We should at least check, if it is a cult we might be able to get something from the locals in revealing it."
((I think Ash used all her HD to heal earlier, so would be stuck at less than half HP unless she wants to swig a potion. Korrik has 1 HD left, but likely to be less that fully topped off even with that plus song of rest. Could we make camp early, get a long rest in (and get rid of this exhaustion), then approach the next morning sometime before dawn? If Korrik is able to wake, cast darkvision on himself and SR to get back the two ki, that'd be ideal for his start to the next day.))
"It was a real quick glimpse, he was mostly hiding behind the wall, but they weren't yelling stuff like 'Bring forth the sacrifice! Halfling blood for the dark god!' or any nonsense like that, so maybe more goon than cult? Or someone the cult hired for muscle?"
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
((I was thinking that the party could manage a long rest and still have a few hours of darkness left in the early morning hours to head back to the house.))
Ess says "Well Kay, I guess there's only one way to find out." he looks more serious now and he feels ready given his rest. "Didn't miss sleeping in the tent though bros!"
((right, I forgot about Ess's lack of darkvision. He used the light of the moon and the lights from the house along with a torch (-1 from inv.) to get to the house watchpoint and back, but yeah for the watch during the sleep he'd be quite useless as far as a watch goes unless we kept a small fire going all night. Ess has a 2 person tent, so he'd be happy to share it. And the horses were fine.))
-Long Rest-
Feel free to RP as much as you want beforehand, but once you are all ready to head back to the house, what will the plan of action be? How will you approach the house, etc.? Let's assume you tie off Betty and Swiftwind back a bit out of plain view of the house during the approach. The moonlight is bright, so Ess can kind of manage with the moonlight outside, but once you get into the house, he will have to rock a torch. At least on the main and upper floors.
((If Korrik goes to sleep ASAP, would it be feasible to wake after a long rest, cast darkvision on himself, rest and meditate for a short rest as the others are finishing their rest, then cast it on Ess, and meditate rest another short rest before they break camp and head back? If you're not comfortable with that and he can only get one short rest, he can either cast it just on himself, and have full ki, or cast it on both of them and be down to 1 ki until after the next short rest. If Ben takes one hand and Kay takes the other, could we sufficiently guide Ess through the dark without a torch when we make our approach into the house? After reaching 4th level, he'll have the ki to cast it on both of them, then SR to get the ki back.))
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
((Ben would like to have his magic eyes ready just before he heads in.))
Ben isn't particularly tired and plays a few quiet songs for the group before calling it and crashing before trading watches with Ess.
He would suggest,
"They have two ways down, I would guess. The stairs in the kitchen they set an alarm on and the trapdoor. The ones Kay saw came from the trapdoor. So the question is which way do we take down? If they haven't reset the alarm the trapdoor will probably be quieter but they may also be right under it. The other way is going to make more noise unless we can jump the alarm. Thoughts?"
((Could the one on the stairs be jumped if Ben directed people?))
"I think we need to let you see if they're still up... they didn't trigger the one we set off yesterday when they came up, but maybe it resets after a couple hours on its own, or it knows not to threaten them, or they had time to redo it. If they're both up, we could try getting past the one on the stairs, maybe tie off a rope and swing down past it?"
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
"Once we get in there I will be able to tell if they put it back up, but good to have our plans ready. Maybe a swing in will do it if we can't just hop it."
((to make it easier, lets say there was just enough time for the 8hrs of long rest time plus 2 hours for the two short rests which allow you to get Ess darkvisioned up. It makes sense as it was still quite bright out when you were in the house the day before.))
"Woah, dude, thanks man! This is awesome. Even better than when I was ratty."
((if you guys approach the house the same way, Ben you would see the magic aura again around the trapdoor.))
I have updated the Battlemap 1 tab. Please excuse the 'daylight' as it's a little after 4:00am right now.
After peeking inside at the trapdoor Ben will report,
"Magic is back on the trapdoor. So I guess we try for stairs and see if we can avoid it? Or we could just rush down through the trapdoor and surprise them, unless there is a whole cult's worth down there."
He elbows Ess good naturedly.
"We can try on the stairs but if we trip them we can rush down and see if we can hide or catch them sleeping."
"How's it look Ben? Do we try the other one?", Korrik whispers.
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
((Cross post?))
Ash nods thoughtfully (looking far more refreshed than she has up until now). “The ‘scary mouth’ might be back??... Then I agree. We try and avoid whatever’s set on the stairs, sneakily. But if it triggers, we push on in. And either hide, if no one’s there, or attack if faced immediately with resistance”. She looks each of the men calmly in the eye. “I don’t mind taking point... If I can climb over and get a good hiding place, I can cover you guys and watch ahead for dangers while you get in. I’m easy, but that’s one option”.
GILLAIN OF ATHKATLA - Human Paladin - Into the Mists PHILLIP THE GRUNG - Grung Eldritch Knight - Tomb of Annihilation
ROBWIN WINDROBE - High Elf Wizard - Dragon of Icespire Peak EVE DARKSHORE - Tiefling Warlock - Rime of the Frost Maiden
ASH OF THE FIRE - Tabaxi Rogue - Ghosts of Marshswamp LIA STARBORN - Aasimar Bard - Out of the Abyss
"Actually... I can make that alarm thing a non-issue. We could open the trapdoor with no sound being made at all... of course, if someone's still awake and watching it, they'd see us, but I can make it so the alarm makes no noise at all. Or we can go in the back first. Like Ash said, it's one option. Could still have you sneak in first, if you'd like."
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
“Hmmm... interesting! That does change things. Two options then”. Ash looks around the group, thinking, and towards Ben and Ess for thoughts.
GILLAIN OF ATHKATLA - Human Paladin - Into the Mists PHILLIP THE GRUNG - Grung Eldritch Knight - Tomb of Annihilation
ROBWIN WINDROBE - High Elf Wizard - Dragon of Icespire Peak EVE DARKSHORE - Tiefling Warlock - Rime of the Frost Maiden
ASH OF THE FIRE - Tabaxi Rogue - Ghosts of Marshswamp LIA STARBORN - Aasimar Bard - Out of the Abyss
"Yeah, I should have remembered it earlier, but... I've not actually done it before, like for real. But I'm sure it'll work, the crate works and the thing with our eyes works, right Ess?"
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
“One other thought I had, was to prank one entrance while piling in through the other. Might cause enough of a distraction or confusion to thin the resistance at the other end, but not the subtlest of options overall! I’ve not thought it right through, but it’s something else on the table..”. You can really see the cogs working now behind Ash’s eyes.
GILLAIN OF ATHKATLA - Human Paladin - Into the Mists PHILLIP THE GRUNG - Grung Eldritch Knight - Tomb of Annihilation
ROBWIN WINDROBE - High Elf Wizard - Dragon of Icespire Peak EVE DARKSHORE - Tiefling Warlock - Rime of the Frost Maiden
ASH OF THE FIRE - Tabaxi Rogue - Ghosts of Marshswamp LIA STARBORN - Aasimar Bard - Out of the Abyss
"Yeah, that thought crossed my mind too, but triggering either of them is going to put a lot of blades and crossbows in hands, we're probably better served by stealth. So I could knock out either one, but it does take a bit out of me, like when I did the thing with our eyes, so I'd be a bit limited in what I can do later. I can also make us super super sneaky, but don't think it'd be enough to sneak past a magic alarm. But if we can drop in behind the one on the stairs, might get us pretty far if we need it. Maybe we try that first, see if we think we can get past it, then see what's down there?"
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock