To Prove D&D Exists for Echolon

OOC: Holy Effing 💩 Batman! Made one li’l ol’ suggestion and suddenly this place started jumpin’ while my back was turned for 20 measly hours.

Quote from Yurei1453>>

"...Tootsie. We ain't killingMthe Saint of the North. That's sorta maybe th' very definition of 'naughty', wouldn't ya think?”

”Not if he says it’s okay.”

OOC: Informed Consent: Strong enough for a Doctor, legally balanced for everyone.

Quote from MidnightPlat >>

"Ooo, do we have any diamonds leftover from the haul we gave to Layla for ... admission to the worst fun ride of all time?"

 
“Sure, I got a whole mess of ‘em in my purse. Would 9,300 gp worth of diamonds be enough?”

Quote from Wysperra >>

Layla is beyond herself when she sees The Saint of Winter. The clatter of her paws on the stone floor is almost deafening. Santa gives her a hug and whispers comforting words to her before softly patting her back.

 
OOC: As part of her private, socially distant parting words to 9,^1 Toots had told him to hang out with Layla and stay safe (basically forever). Was 9 there with her? If so she would have hugged him, said a proper goodbye, and told him to keep a Layla company so she won’t get lonely without her mate. As the group continued walking Toots would have sided up to The Jolly One for a li’l private palaver:

”Hey sir. I never asked you to bring me anything my whole life, partly ‘cause I didn’t think you were real, partly ‘cause I didn’t have a home, let alone a chimney for most of my life, and partly ‘cause I figured I was on the wrong list anyway. But seein’ as how I’m not on the wrong list after all, and you are real, and the room I rent even has a chimney and everything… can I ask for somethin’ this year? It’s not for me though, what I really want isn’t yours to give me.” Toots’ eyes dart to Elyona, a slight blush climbing her cheeks.

Turning back to my he avatar of childhood wonderment she continues:“Do you think you could maybe give 9 a spark-maker though? He could really, really use one. And you know the Clementines and their houseful of kids who don’t have to grow up without a home?^2 Do ya think maybe you could drop off a li’l extra cheer for the kids this year? And maybe something special for the Clementines too? And if it’s not too much, maybe replacements for the stuff Ely and Ily gotta turn in when we get back. They’re both really fond of the stuff they found. And somethin’ for Tom’ry too please. What do you think he would like…?” Toots’ expression becomes pensive before suddenly snapping to excitement. “Actually, there is something I would like for me, but I don’t know if you can give it to me. I wanna learn how to cook good an’ proper like, same as the students at the Clementines’ school do. I love eating, but I can barely boil water without burnin’ it….”

OOC: When suddenly-

Quote from Wysperra >>

"Did sssomeone sssssay fire?" 

A long sinuous form flows down from above, snake-like but with many legs. Its red and orange scaled body flickering with fire, eyes ablaze over a mouth filled with long, jagged teeth.

"Oh dear."

 

ROLL INITIATIVE!!

 
(23)

”WhatdoIdo, whatdoIdo…?”

Quote from Wysperra >>

The creature shakes its head in confusion and pain, then flees at high speed up the chimney!

Toots and Elyona!

 
“Oh…. Yay win?”

OOC: I’m assuming not yet, but…. 🤷‍♂️

1. ^(https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/99658-to-prove-d-d-exists-for-echolon?comment=3418)
2. ^(https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/99658-to-prove-d-d-exists-for-echolon?comment=1072)

The creature is still present and now angry. It is 40 feet away.

Do something =)

OOC:  Sorry; must not have checked in before I went to bed

Elyona Initiative (if it matters at this point) 10

Elyona presses the button to turn her rod into a Battle axe, runs up to the beast, shield on one arm, axe in the other and makes two attacks:

Attack: 19 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.

Attack: 29 Damage: 11

Elyona glances at Santa, he gives her a nod, and she takes off in a sprint right at him. She take a short leap, The Lord of Winter cups his hands, catches her foot and flings the Paladin through the air like an enraged valkyrie. 

Shrieking her battle cry, Elyona swipes at the creature, splitting it open chin to gut! She tumbles back to the ground, landing on her feet and shield *WHAM*! taking 14 gravity damage. Elyona grunts in pain but you see a glint of satisfaction in her eye as the fiery creature's corpse tumbles around her like a macabre rope.

YAY WIN!

"Oh, good!  That went so much quicker than some'a these things tend to!  Nice work, team!" Ilyara said, if not without a brief fulminating glance at Tommary.

She turned back to Santa, still visibly worried about the scarab.  "We can start a fire easily enough, but are ye sure it'll help with that...thing...still there?  I mean, technically we're supposed t' take it back to Cliffside, but..." she wound down, unsure how to proceed.

OOC: Okie dokie, lemme make sure I got all’a this straight:

• Toots can see the monster.
• It is currently flying 40 feet up in the air.
• It apparently can’t make a Wis save to save its life. (Like, literally.)

Assuming all of that👆is correct, that jive-suckah turkey’s about to have a really bad 6 seconds.

IC: Toots right shoulder shrugs hard to swing her lute ‘round to the front, the motion rote from use. However, the neck does not cone to its customers soft rest in her usually waiting left hand, ready to play. Instead, Toots flicks her right shoulder back again, arresting the the instrument’s arch and revering it’s trajectory. As Toots’ lute reaches the end of its parabolic motion, she again flicks her shoulder to swing it forward once more only to repeat the cycle over. Toots stands there, still save for the rhythmic sway of her shoulder and the swinging lute. Her eyes peer at the creature from below the brim of her large hat with the still intensity of a snake’s fixed on a mouse soon to be dinner, her atypical silence just as unnerving, her grin just as anticipatory.

A twisting pattern of colors momentarily weaves through the air around the creature and then suddenly vanishes. It must succeed at a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or become charmed, incapacitated, and its speed drops to 0 for an irrelevant duration, or until it takes the 4d6 “gravity damage” (OOC: 😂😂) from its second rapid reintroduction to the ground this round. (OOC again: Fire serpentipede go down da hole.)

Or never mind that. Serves me right for taking a half hour to narrate my turn.

"Man, this holiday is always such a rush! Woooooo!"

OOC: thanks Santa for the save. Not sure how I missed the 40 feet away….

As an encore to Elyona's performance, Toots makes a brilliant display of colors and fireworks! *Pish Pish* *FOOM!*

Hands on hips Santa cheers, "Nicely done!" He rubs his hands together and looks at you expectantly, "Now, how about that fire?" he looks up, and you hear him mutter, "yup, this boy don't climb."

In answerance, Ilyara fishes her tinderbox out of her pack.  "If we can find some dry fuel, I can get a fire going real quick.  Pro'ly best not to do magical fires, that kinda seems like cheatin'.  It ain't a chimney if it ain't taking smoke, after all.  Anybody got any wood, or dried bone if there's nothing else?" Ilyara muttered, looking around herself for fire fuel.

”if we need to, we can probably sacrifice a few crossbow volts to the fire.  Oh, and I have some torches. “

"Ohh, yeah!  Four or five torches should make for a good, cozy little fire!  Got some oil with me I can use to get 'em going nice and quick, get Mr. Klaus back on his way!"

Seeing the fire and smoke waft up into the hole in the ceiling, he grins, puts his finger beside his nose, "Thanks boys and girls." and makes a little hop...

Then another...He grunts in irritation and growls "This thing is taking my magic. I can't get out of here with it stuck to me." Holding his shirt open, he looks at you imploringly.

"...I got no ideas left for gettin' it free, other'n the hard way...without knowin' how t' turn it on or off, all I can do is try an' pry it free...do any of you maybe remember anything 'bout this supposed 'treasure' of the nobility's?  Maybe something like a command word, or some other way'a gettin' the blasted thing to let go?  Or, maybe...I'm gonna try something.  Let me be for a little bit."

Ilyara wanders off to find a somewhat more secluded corner, settling down into it and pulling her icon of the Traveler off from around her neck.  Perching it on her bag of bearings, she sets out three of her candles in a triangle around the propped-up icon and lights them with a flinder from the fire, creating a tiny little impromptu shrine to the Traveler.  Perching cross-legged with her wonderful, shimmery new blade in her lap, Ilyara folded her hands over the weapon, closed her eyes, and sought to reach out to her deity, praying to the Traveler.

"Traveler...Wayfinder...Seeker of Lost Roads...I beg you, I need your help.  Whoever's in charge of this horrible mountain has captured th' Saint of the North, and we're the only people who can free him in time to save Christmas.  Stories of the Saint, tales of Christmas miracles...whimsy's real hard to come by down in Lowtown, down where children are thrilled if'n they can get a little meat in their nightly bowl'a gruel.  It's a hard life, but the Saint makes it just a little softer.  Please, Goddess.  I don't want to hurt th' Saint of the North...I don't want to hurt Santa Claus.  I want to free him from this benighted place, send him back to th' roads he's meant to travel instead'a being cooped up here to rot.  I know I ain't played any good tricks lately, and I went and got my dumb self captured for a while like an unclever bint...but I promise to make it up to you.  Please...just a hint.  Please, point us at what we're missin'.  Let us have one last chance to save Christmas."

Ilyara gets an image in her mind, a scene in which a child is fearful before her mother; a worn bandage wrapped around her arm covered in dirt and grime.

"I'll lose my fur momma!" 

"Don't worry child, fur grows back. If I don't change the bandage, the cut will go foul and you might lose your arm."

"OKOK..wait wait!"

"On three...one...two..."*rip*

...

The fox girl scratches a line of white fur on her upper arm, a scar from long ago.

Ilyara's eyes opened, her chin tilting up.  She grinned, reaching out to douse her candles, and reclaimed her amulet of the Traveler, bringing it up to her lips for a brief, soft kiss.  "Thank you," she whispered, before turning back to the group at large.

"Okay!  Elyona, you an' I're on fixin' duty.  I'm real sorry, Mr. Claus...but the only real way this happens is the hard way.  I've got enough of the Traveler's fire left in me to patch you right back up though, and if I don't Ely here sure will.  I...I hope you won't think less of me for this, but I won't mind too much if you do.  Just make sure some'a the street rats down in Lowtown get an extra piece of candy in their stockin's this year, if I could ask...?"

Once the others were ready, Ilyara grit her teeth, steeled her mind, and silenced her wailing inner child...and turned to Elyona.  "Hey, could you...maybe do it?  I don't got the biggest muscles, but I've seen those hammers in your sleeves...don't wanna risk messing it up and hurtin' Mr. Claus worse than we hafta..."

"If I understand you correctly, Ilyara, you want me to try to yank that thing off.  Is that correct?  Are you o.k. with that, Mr. Claus?"

"Please."