# Rise of Tiamat - Intro



## Envisioner (Mar 1, 2020)

Ashur, you're patrolling your current woodland home somewhere in the western Dalelands, far easy of the Misty Forest where your friend and mentor Brand died in a horrible festering mass of poisonous vapor, exhaled by a monstrous specimen of _Draco venenatis viridis _before he could strike a single blow in defense of the local elves. You escaped alive, barely, but the loss of your partner was a sobering setback, and the pain of this tragedy still haunts you even after several tendays.  You revisit the question of whether it's worth going back to the Hunt on a daily basis; the answer frequently changes several times within a single hour.

Your brooding is interrupted by the realization that a body is winging its way directly in your direction.  From a distance, it looks like a raven, its wings shining in the sunlight as it soars just above the canopy upslope, its path clearly taking it toward the lowland clearing where you're currently located.

***********

Annaliese, you're on a road running alongside the forest, currently between tasks, when a flash of silver crosses your field of vision.  You see what looks like a raven flying low across the field ahead of you.  However, when it reaches the treeline, it suddenly turns a 90-degree angle and zooms straight up into the sky, not leveling off again until it's just above the highest branches.  Your hawk has been watching from its perch, and after observing the creature's strange motion, it gives you a single meaningful glance and takes off after the corvid.


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## Skarsgard (Mar 1, 2020)

Ashur was replaying the events of his friend and mentors death, over and over in his head. Searching for some clue as to what else he may have done to save him. Guilt drove bile to the back of his throat and he spat it out, the sting drawing moisture to his eyes.

As he wiped his eyes clear, his attention was drawn by the odd behaviour of the bird flying towards the clearing. He slowed and stopped, instinctively moving to the the shadows of the trees, his eyes scanning the clearing for signs of what may have drawn the ravens attention.


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## Envisioner (Mar 1, 2020)

The bird begins to wing its way down toward you, and you realize that it's flying pattern isn't the only odd thing about it.  Ravens are normally black-feathered, and you assumed that this one was simply shining in the sunlight because its feathers were glossy with health, but as it comes close enough for you to get a good look at it, you see that the "bird" is actually some sort of facsimile of an actual animal, made out of a glimmering metallic substance.  Once it dips into shadow, it assumes a color that could be called "black", but it only resembles an actual living raven to the same extent that a statue carved out of mica would have resembled it.  The silvery surface of the creature's wings makes it clear that what you took for a creature is actually some sort of magical construct, an inorganic creation cunningly crafted right down to every individual feather, so that it exactly mimics the flight function of the corvid, but clearly stands out as an artificial creation.


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## Envisioner (Mar 2, 2020)

(OOG:  I thought for sure I had put this in Playing the Game...)


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## Skarsgard (Mar 2, 2020)

Intrigued by this metal bird Ashur breaks from cover. Whatever this construct was he wasn't going to learn anything more by hiding. Indeed with the proximity of the bird to his location, he wasn't at all confident that he was indeed 'hiding'. 

He had heard of constructs like this being used to ferry messages to other people, but was at a loss as to who this may have belonged to.

With purpose, he strides to the metal construct his glaive held casually.

"Do you have a message for me?" he asks.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 3, 2020)

*"How did that bird fly lik-- Hey, where are you going, Roo?"* Ana says as the bird flies off. She looks around suspiciously. _Anyone around who might own the raven,_ she wonders. She tries get a good look at the bird.









*OOC:*


She is trying to look carefully at the raven. Perception: 1D20+5 = [10]+5 = 15 
Remember she has this ability: _You can see clearly up to a mile away seeing details as if they were only 100 ft away. _


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## Envisioner (Mar 3, 2020)

@jmucchiello








*OOC:*


This is roughly equivalent to distinguishing the difference between a real person (who happens to be standing completely still) and a well-made mannequin, which would be a bit challenging even at only 100 feet.  But I have no desire to delay the partying-up, and by 5E standards a roll of 15 is decent, so I'll say your character is able to gain the same information that Ashur got in my second post up above - the raven is clearly artificial, with a silver sheen on its feathers which no real bird could have.

Does your familiar speak verbally, communicate telepathically, or only send and receive emotions?







@Skarsgard 
The raven does not directly answer your question, but the truth becomes apparent enough when it speaks, not in the kind of croaking voice with which a well-trained raven can manage to imitate human words (while, ordinarily, having no more idea what the words mean than the raven's trainer has of its cawing), but in an obvious magical duplication of a person's voice - probably an elf, to guess by the extremely aristocratic accent and the high masculine pitch.  "Brand's Apprentice!  Misty Forest's King Melandrach invites you: attend him in Waterdeep, regarding possible assignment."  These are fifteen of the message's twenty-five total words; the remaining ten words detail a window of dates, covering when you could arrive in the "City of Splendors" in order to meet him.

Clearly the message was compacted artificially in order to suit the restrictions of a spell; perhaps if you spoke Celestial, a tongue which is supposed to be so vast in vocabulary and precise in disambiguation that it can fit entire sentences of Common meaning into a single precisely-drawn glyph, this Melandrach could have spoken in that language instead.  Then perhaps you would have a bit more detail about exactly what this "possible assignment" entails.  The fact that he refers to your deceased friend/mentor/whatever, and calls you an "apprentice" (certainly not a word that Brand ever used) may well simply be one of these verbal economies; you doubt it can be meant as some sort of slight against you.  It's certainly not as flattering as if he had asked for you by your _own_ name, but who knows; elves are weird, and this isn't really enough information to be sure what's going on.  Still, whatever else is true about him, a king is a source of wealth, influence, and all manner of other forms of power; if he wants some kind of service out of you, it's likely to be a well-paid one.  Particularly given the arcane and probably expensive method he chose to use in making contact....

The raven sits patiently, as if waiting for you to reply.  It's likely that the 25-word limit which Melandrach was clearly working around, with substantial inconvenience, would apply to whatever response you might choose to send back to him.

(Feel free to expound upon your character's backstory, and volunteer any appropriate rolls you'd like to explore for more detail; I'm being intentionally vague so as to give you a lot of potential directions to take this.  As long as the direction you choose isn't "directly away from the entire plot", I can work with pretty much anything else.)


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## jmucchiello (Mar 3, 2020)

*OOC:*


Familiars no longer have communication options. In 5E, all familiars communicate telepathically when within 100 ft of their master.


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## Envisioner (Mar 3, 2020)

@Annaliese:  Your hawk states with considerable confidence that this raven isn't really alive, but its curiosity is still aroused, and it continues pursuing the bird across the treetops, soon getting far enough away that you can no longer maintain contact with it.

@Ashur:  While you're still thinking about the raven's message, a hawk descends from the sky to perch in a branch not far from you, and keeps a close eye on the ersatz corvid.  While not as obviously unnatural as the metal-feathered construct, the hawk's behavior does seem out of the ordinary; most raptors would either have tried to attack something that looked like a prey animal, or lost interest immediately upon discovering that it wasn't really edible.  Instead, this one is just...staring at the thing.  Kind of like you're doing, actually.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 3, 2020)

Ana follows after the hawk. _I should snap you back to the feywild, Roo. But I'm curious about that bird, too._ She thinks.


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## Skarsgard (Mar 3, 2020)

Ashur ran his hand over his stubbled chin and pondered the message. A new assignment could be welcome as pickings had been low of late and coin was starting to become a problem. His relationship with elves was somewhat strained; he had brought in many an elvish criminal and whilst on the surface the elves were appreciative of his efforts, he had always suspected that they secretly resented the fact that a 'mere human' was able to hunt down their kin.

He smiled as he formulated a response that he knew would potentially irritate the originator of the message.

"Understood," he answered curtly grinning to himself. He was about to turn away when the hawk landed nearby, there was something unnatural about it as well but he couldn't quite put his finger on what.

_Another strange bird,_ he thought to himself. Turning to the hawk, "Are you a messenger as well?"


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## Envisioner (Mar 4, 2020)

(For some reason I'm not getting notifications on this thread, or I'd have responded much sooner.)

The hawk makes no response, but you do hear someone approaching through the woods.  (Analiese can make a Stealth roll if you'd like, but even if you roll a natural 20, I'll just say that means Ashur doesn't hear you until you've almost reached the clearing.)

At the same time, someone else also hears the stranger's approach.  Bannor has been meditating nearby, enjoying the stillness of the deep wildlands; he wasn't watching the sky, so he has no idea about either the Silver Raven or the familiar Hawk, but his level of awareness cannot help but take note of a person (by his standards) blundering through the underbrush and creating a ruckus.  (He's somewhere between where Ashur is and where Ana was, so he isn't aware of Ashur yet, though it won't take long once he figures out where Ana is headed.)

(I'm going to have Robyn and Dumos meet each other somewhere else, and then join up with the party shortly thereafter.  Unfortunately the well of my inspiration has run dry; I have to head home for the day, and I work tomorrow, so it will be Friday at the soonest before I can post an intro for you guys, unless you'd just like to write your own intro scene at some random village somewhere.  I can certainly do better than that, if you're content to wait.)


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## jmucchiello (Mar 4, 2020)

*OOC:*


Stealth is compared against passive perception. I don't think Ashur's or anyone's passive perception is 20 unless they took the observant feat.
Stealth: 1D20+7 = [17]+7 = 24 
Now, granted, Bannor will not be surprised because he has alertness. But he does not know Ana is there until she does something that breaks stealth.






Ana is suspicious of what is going on. As she approaches a clearing she sees a human looking a Moperoo. He seems curious. Ana steps into the clearing, weapons sheathed. "I see you've found my hawk," she says. She makes a low whistle and mentally tells Roo to fly to her shoulder.


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## Skarsgard (Mar 5, 2020)

Ashur turns at the low whistle, seeing the bird take off and fly towards the woman appearing out of the trees. The metal bird didn't seem to react to the newcomer so he doubted it was hers. 

"Good day, lady," Ashur bows slightly. The woman seemed to be an adventurer like himself and moved with easy grace in the wild. Not some tavern maid this one. "I take it this one _isn't _yours?_"_

 He indicates the metal bird perched nearby.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 5, 2020)

"No," Ana says. "Little Roo here spotted that one and gave chase. I guess it doesn't belong to you either. Not a natural bird. Is it?"


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## Skarsgard (Mar 5, 2020)

Ashur shook his head and turned back to the metal bird.

"No, not natural." he agreed. "But is is a messenger. It has delivered its message but it still lingers."

He considers the newcomer, "My name is Ashur. This construct gave me a message as I approached it but it still lingers. Maybe it has a message for you too?"


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## jmucchiello (Mar 5, 2020)

"Perhaps, Ashur," Ana says. When the bird looks her way she says, "Hello, I'm Annaliese Claymoor." Then she looks at Ashur, "But you can call me Ana."


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## lowkey13 (Mar 5, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Envisioner (Mar 5, 2020)

OOC:  I am _still_ not getting notifications for this thread, despite having it Watched.  This may become a problem.

After hearing the 25th word spoken between Ana and Ashur, the raven takes off and flies back in the direction from which it originally came.   Analiese senses Roo's desire to pursue the target, but it's just a momentary twitch before the raptor's magically-constructed sentience overcomes its innate predator instinct.  The artificial bird never sees Bannor, nor vice versa (though he might hear the whistling of its flight overhead, past a thickness of canopy sufficient to block his view, shortly before he arrives in the clearing).

*Meanwhile*

Dumos and Robyn have met on the road, both independently en route to Waterdeep.  The tiefling has gotten a letter from some mid-ranking noble, who mentions that he was recommended to her by a lower-ranking noble whose holdings Dumos recently protected (not that this was really the reason why he was there; killing the monster was his priority, and he just managed not to inflict any real degree of collateral damage in the process, so the locals remember him more fondly than they otherwise might have done).  The missive was quite vague on the details, but Dumos can likely assume that the intended mission will involve both coin and trouble, so he's certainly inclined to go check it out, having no other immediate priorities.  The cleric of course has a more personal and hard-to-ignore summons motivating his travels; Selune's whispered voice is often hard to clearly make out, but one particular moonlit evening's prayers, he was quite specifically pointed in the direction of Waterdeep, with a highly unusual degree of urgency, as if the fate of many innocents depends on his making his way there as soon as reasonably possible.  As tends to be the way of things in Faerun, the two traveling adventurers crossed paths coincidentally, shared a campfire meal or three and traded stories, and have established at least the beginnings of an acquaintanceship, so they now approach the local trading hub of Westwater together.

As the holy man and the somewhat-less-holy spellsword approach within a mile or so of the city, they notice that the air smells worrisomely of ash and smoke.  They are relived when they finally spy the walls, but somewhat less so when they see the closed iron gates on a settlement which usually has nonstop trading caravans passing through in both ways, with spear-carrying guards walking the battlements only 15 or 20 yards apart, and a distinct haze of pollution in the air overhead which the summer breezes have yet to dissipate.  Clearly, something unpleasant has happened here, or perhaps it's still happening....


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## jmucchiello (Mar 5, 2020)

*OOC:*


Unwatch the thread. Then watch it again. Make sure email notifications are enabled when you confirm the watch. If you've already tried this, post in the Meta forum about issues with email notifications.

(I disable all notification everywhere on the Internet so I can't tell you if notifications are working.)


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## Skarsgard (Mar 5, 2020)

Ashur turns at the arrival of the newcomer. _'Another one,' _he thinks to himself.

"Well met, I am Ashur," he turns to look at Ana. "Well, this is looking less and less like a coincidence, don't you think?"

"I guess the construct didn't have a message for you after all." he shrugs. "Well, are either of you bound in the direction of Waterdeep? I have business there and would welcome the company."


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## jmucchiello (Mar 5, 2020)

"Haven't been to Waterdeep recently," Ana says. "Sure, it's a good place to visit." To the newcomer she says, "I'm Ana."


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## lowkey13 (Mar 5, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## billd91 (Mar 6, 2020)

Envisioner said:


> As the holy man and the somewhat-less-holy spellsword approach within a mile or so of the city, they notice that the air smells worrisomely of ash and smoke.  They are relived when they finally spy the walls, but somewhat less so when they see the closed iron gates on a settlement which usually has nonstop trading caravans passing through in both ways, with spear-carrying guards walking the battlements only 15 or 20 yards apart, and a distinct haze of pollution in the air overhead which the summer breezes have yet to dissipate.  Clearly, something unpleasant has happened here, or perhaps it's still happening....




Robyn looks about, takes a deep sniff of the air and coughs as the excess smoke tickles his lungs. "It looks like we've come at an unopportune time, Dumos. I wonder what is amiss," he says, keeping the tone of his voice light so as not to raise the specter of excess fear and concern. "I had been hoping to obtain a comfortable bed at the end of our day with a good meal and beer. Now I worry that those comforts will need to be deferred. Let's hasten to the gates and learn what there is to learn."

Robyn picks up the pace on the road, striding straight for the town gate. As he does so, he scans about for any further sign of what the trouble could be or any other travelers who may have preceded him and Dumos and arrived at the town earlier.


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## Envisioner (Mar 6, 2020)

*OOC:*


Seems to be working today, at least for this thread, though I'm not sure about the Rogue's Gallery. That one's not a big deal anyway.

I'll wait for Mips to post before advancing the Westwater story.







Ashur, Analiese and Bannor, as they await the inevitable arrival of someone whose name starts with C, begin heading in the general direction of Waterdeep, which is going to be a fairly lengthy but not unachievable walk from this region.  Emerging from the forest, you manage to find your way to a dirt pathway across the surrounding meadows; The Long Road which carries trade to Waterdeep from the far north is some distance ahead, and once you reach such a thoroughfare, you can likely hook up with a caravan and rent some horses or something, but for now you're still on a barely-paved wagon track that connects the local villages and towns...not purely rustic, but definitely pastoral.

You pass occasional sites of minor interest, which might have once gotten your attention - a tree with a face carved into it, a roadside shrine to Shaundakul, a surviving post from some otherwise-rotten farm fence, or a set of colorful ribbons tied around a large rock - but in all cases you are able to quickly assess what you're looking at, find that it has no particular pertinence, and move along.  The pattern is broken, however, when you come upon a wooden sign nailed into position beside the road.

*BEWARE THE DEADLY 

________________________ 

HELD CAPTIVE HERE*

The blank in the above message once held a single word, carved into the plank with a larger and probably fancier typeface than the words around it, but has also been almost entirely obliterated, as if someone hacked into the sign with a flaming sword or the like.  The blackened gashes form a crude shape, with the illegible remnants of the original word making it difficult to identify the shape which the vandal was trying to gouge into the wood.  You think it's probably meant to be the head of a beast of some sort, something long and low and covered with spikes.  Next to the rough graffiti, however, is a far clearer sign also burned onto the lumber's surface...a symbol of five wavy lines, like double-recuved "S"es, all coming together into a single central point with a circle drawn around it.  It's crystal-clear, as if a specially-forged metal brand was used to create this sigil.

Everyone give me an Intelligence roll.  Characters who have certain things on their character sheet automatically succeed on this roll, but I don't want to say what things those are, so post a roll regardless, and then I'll announce who knows the answer and what that answer is.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 6, 2020)

Intelligence roll: 1D20+1 = [15]+1 = 16 

Annaliese looks at the sign. She's not sure what the wavy lines symbol is and wonders if the others might know. She runs a finger along the wavy lines, speculating it was done with a branding iron.


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## Envisioner (Mar 6, 2020)

Ashur doesn't need to roll, by the way.  Bannor does, and Annaliese did.  Her roll is probably sufficient, but I'll wait until Low Key checks in before I give it away.


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## lowkey13 (Mar 6, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## jmucchiello (Mar 6, 2020)

*OOC:*


Die rolling on ENWorld has not been available since the last server update.  There are "working on it"


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## Envisioner (Mar 6, 2020)

Annaliese has heard rumors of a group that has been engaging in vicious attacks on some of the larger towns throughout the region, and they're rumored to use a sign akin to this; they're supposed to mostly appear in black armor, though sometimes they're robed in black or purple like sorcerers, and "a five pointed wavy star", which fits this description, is often burned, either with fire or acid, into surfaces near where they've attacked.

Ashur, meanwhile, speaks Draconic, and he recognizes this asterisk-like symbol as the _ghvarach_, a mark of emphasis used in the language (loosely similar to an exclamation point IRL, with it placed both before and after the word as in Spanish, though not inverted in this case).   A word flanked by _ghvarachi_ is spoken with the first and last syllables stressed, whereas Draconic words tend to only emphasize the first syllable.  Thus, you might say "wer MALsvir TURalisj DARastrix", meaning "the big evil dragon"; if you instead say "wer MALsvir _TURaLISJ_ DARastrix", you're saying it's a REALLY BIG evil dragon, while "wer _MALsVIR_ TURalisj DARastrix" means it's a REALLY EVIL big dragon.

Looking closer at the sign, it looks like the vandal tried to carve the _ghvarachi_ both before and after the symbol they were carving, which you now realize is probably meant to be a dragon's head and a bit of the neck. The one beforehand was ruined in the process of trying to cut/burn the wood on that end of the sign, and the "artist" tried to work the damaged area into the dragon head in order to make it more head and less neck, but only succeeded in making the glyph as a whole less recognizable. Regardless, by cross-referencing the fact that this "new army in black" uses the symbol and that the symbol is a Draconic punctuation mark, you're left with little doubt that this group must be responsible for the vandalism. And, while the dirt road is pretty dry and windswept and doesn't hold tracks very well, looking about at the ground now, you do realize that there are some rather old but still barely-visible footprints, suggestive of either tough all-terrain boots or spiked metal sabatons, both of which these raiders are said to wear.


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## Skarsgard (Mar 6, 2020)

Ashur runs his fingers over the sign, tracing out the imprints. 

" Dragon?" he whispers to the others. "servants of a dragon did this"


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## jmucchiello (Mar 6, 2020)

"Yes." Ana says. "Worse, they went that way." She points to the tracks and points down the road.


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## Skarsgard (Mar 6, 2020)

"Should be follow?" Ashur asks. "The tracks look older but there may still be something to learn and there may be survivors if this was an attack."


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## jmucchiello (Mar 7, 2020)

"It's not out of the way to follow them," Ana says. "So why not follow them?"


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## lowkey13 (Mar 7, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## mips42 (Mar 7, 2020)

The smoky haze suits Dumos' atitude just fine. _There's coin to be had and they've locked the doors. typical. _Looking grimly at his traveling companion, "Ash and smoke are only rarely in the best interest of civilized people. Smells like money, to me. Let's see what's going on." Pulling his traveling cloak around and over his large form as much as possible, Dumos approaches the guards and, in a quiet, calm voice "Say there, private. My companion and I have business in this place. Why are the gates closed?"


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## Envisioner (Mar 7, 2020)

@lowkey13:  You get inspiration for that line; I can see your character is going to be leaning on the fourth wall a lot.  (Turns out the Buddha wasn't kidding when he said "all is illusion", though I doubt he expected this kind of thing....)

IC to Bannor's group:  You find the tracks along the road itself so faint that it's impossible to tell which direction they were traveling in; you didn't pass a group like this, but the traces have been here for long enough that this really doesn't mean anything, as they could have gone any number of other places that you've already passed without leaving any obvious signs.  On the other hand, there's a depression a short distance past the sign (away from the road, but close enough to be in view) where the ground is low enough to have gathered a puddle of rainwater from a few days ago which has yet to fully evaporate.  Ashur at least recognizes the potential of such a spot, and sure enough, closer inspection proves that the mud around the puddle holds tracks beautifully; at least one member of the group did head off across the field toward some nearby hills, where the Deadly Whatever is presumably shackled.  The prints are shod rather than sabatoned, and close to the remaining water at the bottom of the low area, one bootprint has a circular hole next to it, more than a full inch deep, exactly as might be made if someone leaned on a thick cane or thin staff in order to pull their foot out of the wet earth.



mips42 said:


> "Say there, private. My companion and I have business in this place. Why are the gates closed?"




As Robyn and Dumos pull up to the gates, the two guards (one a typical-enough looking human with a red face and a thin mustache, the other a gray-skinned half-orc who you think is probably a woman, though the shapeless breastplates both are wearing make it difficult to be sure) eye them with a degree of suspicion, particularly lingering upon Dumos.  While tieflings are far from unheard-of throughout the Realms, and most people understand that they are capable of good or ill just as most folk are, they haven't had a "Drizz't" for their culture to help break down old suspicions, so they face almost as much undue scrutiny as the rare surface Drow used to do, before tales of the famous ranger became ubiquitous bardic fare.

The guards keep their halberds pointed upright, but are distinctly less than relaxed as the two newcomers approach.  Still, they seem satisfied enough to let you get within speaking distance.  It might have been better to let Robyn speak first, but too late now.  The half-orc remains as silent as a stone statue (and barely more mobile) at your address, but the human hesitates only a second or two as he considers your words.  "The town's been under attack, to put it mildly.  Things seem calm for the moment, but tensions are high, and we've become aware of some serious lapses in our security.  You look average enough for travelers, but I think I'd better call the captain over before we think about letting you two in."

Fortunately you don't have to do any waiting, because the captain was apparently just walking by up atop the wall, and his ears are sharp enough to have caught the exchange.  For all of the things Dumos and Robyn have seen in their travels to date, both are almost certainly a trifle flabbergasted when the half-elf jumps between two crenellations and plummets the twenty feet to the ground, his golden cloak billowing behind him as he proceeds to make a perfect superhero landing, with barely enough of an impact to be heard.  He straightens back up with a self-satisfied grin.  "That oracle was worth every penny we paid her," he says by way of introduction.  "A tiefling and his compatriot, right on schedule.  There's not a prayer we would let you through this gate yesterday, or if you were coming from the same direction where she entered the town.  But unless you're both wizards who can teleport, I can safely assume you're not any confederates of hers, so if a holy prophet vouches for you sight-unseen, I'm willing to trust that.  OPEN UP!" he finishes, yelling up to the men atop the wall (none of whom, by the way, showed the slightest surprise that their commander lacks the patience for stairs; apparently this is his usual practice).

The gates creak open slowly, and you begin to see the source of the guards' high alert.  While the marketplace seems reasonably calm (if still borderline empty) at the moment, the two massive carcasses heaped at the far side of it make clear that the peaceful conditions are a recent development (within 50 hours, according to the commander's timeline).  Both massive mounds of meat and bone are partially surrounded by hastily-constructed scaffolding, swarming with workmen who far outnumber the villagers going about their business normally (at least within the small window of your current view).  The stench of burnt flesh and caustic fluids is at a bare minimum for the moment, reaching you only when the wind shifts in your direction, but you can't imagine how bad this place is going to smell in another day or two, if those laborers don't finish stripping the skeletons fast and then find somewhere to put all the meat.

(I don't mean to ignore Robyn's contribution to the scene; feel free to make either a Perception roll, as indicated by your earlier mention that you were looking around, for any details beyond what I've just laid out that might interest you...or else a Religion check to recall information about prophets and/or oracles, since apparently one of them is the only reason you're getting into town tonight.)


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## mips42 (Mar 7, 2020)

*OOC:*


_: 1D20+2 = [18]+2 = 20







"Oracle?" Dumos peers intensely at the half elf.


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## Envisioner (Mar 7, 2020)

*OOC:*




mips42 said:


> "Oracle?" Dumos peers intensely at the half elf.




Well I meant that for Billd's character, but I guess I can give you something for that roll.  It'll be Monday before I have time, though.


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## billd91 (Mar 7, 2020)

*OOC:*



Perception on approach to gate: 
Perception on walk up to gate: 1D20+7 = [6]+7 = 13

Religion check: 
religion: 1D20+1 = [15]+1 = 16








Robyn returns Dumos's look, "When we are heralded by the gods, who are we to argue? After you." And he gestures for the tiefling to lead the way. 
As they clear the gate, Robyn tries to engage the captain, "We do appreciate your hospitality at what is clearly a time of trouble. Perhaps if you could tell us more about the nature of the attack upon the town, we would be able to render suitable assistance."


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## Envisioner (Mar 8, 2020)

(Incidentally I missed that Robyn was a half-elf when I put the guard captain in here; I'd have made him a full elf if I'd thought of that, just for clarity.  I assume that Dumos's one-word question was aimed at Captain Elferica here.)

As you walk a short distance into the town square, the obvious extent of the disaster the city has suffered becomes obvious, and the two massive carcasses come more clearly into view; while they've been stripped of every scale where it was even vaguely intact, there's enough charred or corroded or otherwise ruined hide in view that they can now be clearly identified as two dragons, one black and one red, both long since beheaded and otherwise butchered by the miserable, masked and fully-suited and thoroughly blood-splattered work crews that are taking them apart and trying to get them cleared away.  The black one appears considerably smaller (roughly thrice the size of a horse) and stinks significantly worst, so the laborers have gotten that one down to barely more than a skeleton; the red still has plenty of livid meat left on the massive bones, slowly dripping mostly-congealed blood, thus that even the partially-stripped corpse probably outmasses a live oliphaunt.  Besides the workers on the scaffold, nearly every person you see is working on rebuilding the town's more important buildings; women, children, and others who lack the skills to wield a hammer (or the stomach to use a meat cleaver) are rushing back and forth with supplies for the construction crews and the corpse-removal detail.  You take in this entire sight over quite a length walk into the town's atypically underpopulated market square, as the caped guardsman vociferously fills you in on recent happenings.

"This town has been through quite the wringer.  It seems that for months, the Cult of the Dragon has been infiltrating Westwater's citizenry and government, particularly the militia's command structure.  We never had a clue there was anything strange about the individuals who started to trickle in a year or so ago; they showed all sorts of civic pride, took on the least desirable duties, volunteered for extra shifts, and generally behaved like model citizens.  Naturally, this meant a few of them were elevated to positions of some authority, whereupon they began quietly promoting others of the same contingent, who were not suspected of having any prearranged relationship with them, having arrived from different directions at different times.  It was a more or less perfectly executed plan; they were probably only a few weeks or even days away from staging a complete takeover and lockdown of the entire city.

"And then, the morning before yesterday, some random red dragon, who we'd had no idea was sleeping in the mountains to the Northeast for something like a century, woke up and decided he was going to make our fair municipality his first conquest.  Flew down right in the middle of the town square and started making the typical arch-villain speech...'you live only to amuse me, tremble before my glory, give me all your treasure, even the slightest defiance means death', the whole spiel.  Well, I guess these cultists didn't worship that particular dragon - he naturally announced his name right off the bat, all twelve syllables of it, but none of us had ever heard of him, seemingly including the invaders.  Rather than have their obviously-well-planned conquest snatched away by some wandering monster at the last moment, they apparently decided to launch their operation on the spot, before they were quite ready.  Their soldiers, wearing armor that they'd clearly donned in a hurry, came streaming out of every barracks door and converged on the red, like so many mosquitos trying to bite a grown man to death.  Meanwhile, some of their spellcasting buddies used up every scroll they could loot from our magic stores, and managed to call in one of the wyrms that the cult did have some kind of influence over; he came winging in from the northwest after just a few minutes of the firedrake slaughtering the cult's warriors by the dozen, while they did their best to harry him in a well-executed but clearly desperate delaying action.

"The new arrival was much younger and weaker than the red, and probably exhausted from the long flight, but the red never saw him coming and he made an absolutely devastating surprise attack on the old bastard, who was cut up pretty bad due to the cult's sheer numbers, even though about ten of them died for every one that managed to score a decent blow through his armored scales.  The two dragons fought for most of an hour, drenching the whole market in blood and fire and acid; most of the property damage you see is the result of that struggle.  In the end, the red managed to kill the black, but was barely standing by then; the cultists had been hiding and patching up their wounds the whole time, so they sortied back out and finished off the 'not-theirs' dragons, by which time the loyalists in our own militia (who were presumably a day or three away from getting a 'join us or die' speech as the cult army launched their intended takeover) had managed to get organized and converge on the site.  Rather than surrender, the last couple dozen warriors barricaded themselves in a storehouse and set off some kind of alchemo-magical bomb, leaving us no prisoners to interrogate and barely any leftover gear we could salvage.  The town did manage to arrest a few of the less combative cultists, but they were also the most fanatically loyal and obviously insane, so we haven't been able to get anything useful out of them."


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## Skarsgard (Mar 8, 2020)

Ashur offers Bannor a tense smile. "Well the trail certainly looks easy enough. As if they have no fear of being found out or spotted."









*OOC:*


 Can Ashur determine how many people went this way? If it is forested he can automatically tell how many and if they are elves, humans or dragons he had advantage on tracking roll. 













*OOC:*




Tracking: 1D20+3 = [3]+3 = 6
1D20+3 = [12]+3 = 15


So 6 or 15 if I have advantage.







"They may be a large group, give me a few moments to look around and see what I can find out."


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## Envisioner (Mar 8, 2020)

Though a few tracks are evident (and the stride length is consistent with humans, though there are other creatures that would walk little different if they wore human-style shoes), the only clear trace is the one through the mud, which was only a single individual.  It's possible that the group dispersed, or else they continued on down the road, which turns into harder and dryer dirt that wouldn't retain footprints well.  The only thing that's for sure is that someone (perhaps the leader with a ceremonial staff of office, or a spellcaster with a not-so ceremonial one, or even a standard-bearer) went at least briefly in the direction of those hills.  Beyond that, you can only speculate.


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## Skarsgard (Mar 8, 2020)

Ashur looks towards the hills. "One clear trail that way. See the imprints here of some sort of staff or walking stick."

He hefts his glaive and looks at the others. "Shall we?" he asks before setting off at a jog towards to the hills.


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## lowkey13 (Mar 9, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## jmucchiello (Mar 9, 2020)

"Sure," Ana says. "It's still sort of on our way to Waterdeep."


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## billd91 (Mar 9, 2020)

Robyn shakes his head in astonishment at the captain's tale. "I would have thought you were telling a fanciful fiction or raving like a madman if I didn't see the aftermath before me. It does seem quite the odd coincidence, though, doesn't it? Imagine a dragon waking up at just the right time and coming to just the right town to interfere with the machinations of another evil dragon cult and be slain for it."

The priest looks about at the destruction. "I am neither a butcher nor a carpenter nor even a stonemason. I can offer little out here but the strength of my back. I am a healer and I figure that is where you can best make use of me. Is there a church or infirmary where people's injuries are being attended to? I would like to be of service."


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## mips42 (Mar 9, 2020)

_Gods. What have the Gods done for their followers but fill their heads with hopeful dreams while the priests empty the pockets. _Dumos stands, almost motionless, during the tale of the two dragons. Staring out across the burned and melted town, not to mention the two large carcasses, his face moves not at all. "Quite the interesting tale and I agree with bird, here," he motions at Robyn. "Seems somewhat convenient if, perhaps, more than a little ironic, for a dragon cult to fall to a dragon. No matter." Dumos quietly shows the letter to the Guard Captain "Would you happen to know the individual who sent this or where I can find someone who does?"


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## Envisioner (Mar 9, 2020)

As the three wild-dwellers proceed across the fields behind the roadside sign, warning of a Deadly Something Shackled Ahead, they begin to notice a distinct absence of large wildlife in the area.  There are still small birds aplenty, flitting twitchily about in search of edible seeds or the like, and you spot the occasional prairie vole popping its head up out of a burrow, giving a quick look around, and then frantically dashing toward another hole it can vanish into.  But no deer, no goats, not even a jackrabbit.

The walk takes several minutes, and the trio is beginning to consider heading back to the road, when they crest a low rise and behold a shallow depression in the land, about a hundred feet across, bounded on one side by a thirty-foot cliff (just barely invisible from before topping the lower ridge opposite it, upon which you now stand), and on the other side by a twenty-foot-wide pond.  About five feet away from the pond shore, you see a large boulder that was clearly quarried away from the rocky escarpment and dragged to its current position; the intermittent rays of the sun glint periodically off something metallic on or near the big rock.  There's also a dark object, difficult to identify at this distance, lying right next to the boulder, and an odd shifting effect in the air around and above it, vaguely resembling heat haze - or a cloud of swarming insects.

******

The guard captain, who eventually gets around to mentioning that his name is Garwynn, considers Robyn's offer.  "Yesterday I would have gladly taken you up on that; our healers have struggled mightily to get anyone with minor injuries up and about.  At this point, however, almost everyone who can be patched up has been; unless you have the capacity to regrow missing limbs, I doubt you could do very much more than is already being done.  And, given how we were infiltrated, folks are in a rather paranoid mood with regard to strangers right now; you saw how the guards reacted when you got here.  I'm perceptive enough to be satisfied with the two of you for now, particularly thanks to the prophetess I mentioned, who vouched for you specifically (not by name, of course, but she said that a tiefling would arrive along with a 'helfer' like myself, and even implied that you might have a moon-symbol like that on your shield).  But our healers are feeling especially protective, and any time that you saved them by helping out, you'd likely first have to waste by taking them away from their patient long enough to become certain that you're not assassins come to finish the job, or some similarly neurotic fantasy.  Probably better just to stay out of their way for the moment, until the people start feeling safe again.

"Irony?  I'll agree to that easily enough.  From what little sense we've been able to get out of our handful of prisoners, this cult fancies itself the chosen of dragonkind; not all of the actual dragons seem to share this opinion, though.  The timing is bizarre, but then, we have a Temple of Mystra here in town, which survived miraculously unscathed while half the buildings around it were demolished entirely; Fate is a real thing, or so we've had good reason to believe."  Finishing his little tirade (he does seem to enjoy the sound of his own voice, though you can hardly blame him for that, as it is a rather musical and resonant one), the Captain looks at Dumos's letter with what seems a calculatedly noncommittal expression, at least at first.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 9, 2020)

"Notice the lack of game?" Ana says. "That could me a large force came through here and depleted the area."

As they crest the hill, the group stops. Ana pauses a moment to try to make out what's on the bolder.









*OOC:*


Again, what does Ana see with her 52.8X vision (1 mile = 100 feet)? If we can make out a 20 foot wide pond, the boulder would seem to be no more than 10 feet away to Ana's sharper vision.
Perception: 1D20+5 = [7]+5 = 12


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## Envisioner (Mar 9, 2020)

*OOC:*


(Sorry, I keep forgetting that you had those eyes that Horus misplaced in the movie "God of Egypt" - which I recommend by the way, it's very D&D-ish.)









Spoiler: put this in your own words when you tell the others



Analiese can see that the gleaming objects on the rock are the links of a chain, very sturdily-forged from the look of it, with little occasional flecks of red here and there along the gleaming silvery metal, whose nature isn't apparent from any distance.  The chain is fastened to the rock with spikes driven through the links, thus that anything short of a frost giant wouldn't be able to pull them apart.  Ana can also tell that the cloud obscuring the dark object is a mass of flies swarming over some kind of carrion or offal, but someone would have to get pretty close and/or drive away most of the bugs before they could see what exactly it is.


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## Envisioner (Mar 9, 2020)

*Dumos/Robyn*
After a few moments of reading, Captain Garwynn looks up at Dumos with an eyebrow raised.  "A personal request from Grand Marshal Ravengard of Baldur's Gate?  That is high praise indeed for any soldier, let alone one with such....controversial ancestry, if you'll forgive me being so gauche as to mention it.  I'm intensely curious, though of course you don't owe me an answer; still, I can't help but wonder what exploits could have made the Flaming Fist himself esteem you so highly.  You can't be just anybody, if he's asking you to meet him in Waterdeep 'with all reasonable haste', instead of simply having you await his return to his usual seat of power.  Just what have you done to earn such honors?"

(Feel free to invent some exploit that your character might have undergone, which is vaguely feasible for a 6th-level fighter who dabbles in spellcasting, and would have been impressive enough that one of the highest-ranking fighters in Faerun would not only know who you are, but would give you a summons of this level of importance.  If you describe something which I agree is really neat but in no way implausible, you'll get Inspiration out of it; if you yourself are not feeling inspired, your character won't be either, but I can come up with something appropriately impressive, if you don't mind me taking a few minor liberties with your backstory.)


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## jmucchiello (Mar 9, 2020)

"Look at those thick chains, embedded in the stone with thick spikes," Ana says as if they can see what she can. "Something big and strong, like the legendary giants of the great North, tore them apart like they were nothing."

"I wish I could make out what was in the darkness. Flies or other carrion are covering whatever is there."


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## lowkey13 (Mar 9, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Envisioner (Mar 9, 2020)

*OOC:*


There are no shadows of any relevance, just an object covered in bugs.
Analiese knows this, even if Bannor does not.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 9, 2020)

"Those aren't shadows. Those are bugs." Ana says. "Sorry if I mischaracterized it before.

"It seems we three are all adept at stalking quietly through this terrain. We can all approach together. Probably circle along that line using the bolder for cover as we approach whatever is possibly being devoured by the insects."


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## Skarsgard (Mar 9, 2020)

"Those chains sound like they are designed for a pretty serious job," Ashur agrees. "However, it could also be bait for a trap for something large."

He ponders for a moment, "If you would indulge me, I will check the area to see if anything..... odd.. is nearby."

He sits on the ground with his glaive across his lap, closing his eyes he extends his senses out into the wild, searching, feeling for the presence of those creatures that are unnatural.



Spoiler: Primeval Awareness



Using

*Primeval Awareness*
Beginning at 3rd Level, you can use your action and expend one Ranger spell slot to focus your awareness on the region around you. For 1 minute per level of the spell slot you expend, you can sense whether the following types of creatures are present within 1 mile of you (or within up to 6 miles if you are in your favored terrain): Aberrations, Celestials, Dragons, Elementals, fey, Fiends, and Undead. This feature doesn't reveal the creatures' location or number.


To see if any of the above creatures are within a mile of them.


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## Envisioner (Mar 10, 2020)

*Ashur:*








*OOC:*


This is a case where a strict reading of the rules indicates that I should tell you nothing whatsoever, but I kinda want to give you a hint, without tipping my hat too far.  I think I'll let the dice decide; rather than spending your spell slot, please make simultaneous Nature and Arcana checks to understand what your mystical senses are telling you.  In the meantime, the sense in question is definitely active, so please proceed with your physical actions.







*All three of you:*








*OOC:*


Everyone make your Stealth checks for your approach to the boulder; you won't be attacked immediately regardless of the result, so as soon as you all say you're approaching, I'm going to move forward with what you find in the short term, and then your Stealth check will govern what happens once initiative is rolled.  Don't take these checks as proof that you're about to be ambushed; we have a 1-mile radius to deal with here, so you might be safe for the next minute or the next four hours, you don't know which, so by adventurer standards, you feel completely safe.


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## Skarsgard (Mar 10, 2020)

Spoiler: Rolls



Nature 13, Arcana 15, Stealth 22

http://roll.coyotecode.net/lookup.php?rollid=235344]Nature and Arcana: 1D20 = [13] = 13
1D20 = [15] = 15
[/url]

http://roll.coyotecode.net/lookup.php?rollid=235345]Stealth: 1D20+5 = [17]+5 = 22
[/url]


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## lowkey13 (Mar 10, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## jmucchiello (Mar 10, 2020)

Ana: Stealth: 1D20+7 = [10]+7 = 17








*OOC:*


Char with least bonus gets best rolll, of course. LOL


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## mips42 (Mar 10, 2020)

Envisioner said:


> *Dumos/Robyn*
> After a few moments of reading, Captain Garwynn looks up at Dumos with an eyebrow raised.  "A personal request from Grand Marshal Ravengard of Baldur's Gate?  That is high praise indeed for any soldier, let alone one with such....controversial ancestry, if you'll forgive me being so gauche as to mention it.  I'm intensely curious, though of course you don't owe me an answer; still, I can't help but wonder what exploits could have made the Flaming Fist himself esteem you so highly.  You can't be just anybody, if he's asking you to meet him in Waterdeep 'with all reasonable haste', instead of simply having you await his return to his usual seat of power.  Just what have you done to earn such honors?"



"You're right. I owe you nothing. But, as you have been helpful, I will tell you that there was a problem with the dead." Dumos looks down at the Guard captain. "They weren't staying in their graves. I put them back where they belonged."


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## Envisioner (Mar 10, 2020)

*OOC:*


With that roll, Ashur is aware there are no fey, celestial, undead or fiendish presences in the area.  There is _something_, but making sense of what it is is difficult, and you're not certain if it actually is a creature, or just a presence indicating one that used to be here, akin to the reptilian stench that lingers in a dragon's lair for weeks after the creature is slain and its carcass hauled away.  The palpable disruption in the local harmony of the elements is not akin to that you'd experience around a major Aberration against the natural order - you know how to spot an Eye Tyrant or a Slaver Fish right off the bat, these are akin to tangible wounds in the "flesh" of the world, whereas this can better be equated to a minor rash with no apparent cause.

And congratulations, I've just decided to invent a new class feature or feat or something, which you will get for free in addition to your regular Ranger abilities, whenever I get around to figuring out exactly how I want it to work. Eventually I'll get it written up and maybe publish it on DM's Guild or something, but Ashur will have it before anyone else, and not have to give anything up to get it.







Ashur vanishes effortlessly into the low scrub that runs along the ridgeline down toward the pond; he can't get all the way there without emerging into the open, but he should be able to work his way close enough for a good look, and displays a preternatural skill to move through the tangled bushes without so much as rustling a leaf.

Bannor meanwhile manages to immediately step on a branch which bends under his weight with a loud creak, then promptly springs back up and whacks him in the butt as soon as he gets off it.


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## Envisioner (Mar 10, 2020)

*The three in the fields*
Ana doesn't vanish from view nearly as skillfully as Ashur, but both of them are effectively able to camoflauge themselves, particularly with Bannor acting (however unintentionally) as a distraction from their own movements. Eventually, both of the outlanders are able to approach to within about 20 feet of the pond, close enough to make out the scene in full detail.  The chain hammered into the rock is clearly enchanted, with gleaming red sigils enameled onto every link; it leads away from the boulder to a length of about five feet before having finally broken, the end lying coiled in a patch of brown-stained grass and dirt right next to the mound of carrion.  Eventually Bannor finishes tripping over his own feet and wanders close enough to the site that his approach disturbs the flies, who disperse and reveal the object - a massive goat's head, covered in black fur and bearing four imposing horns, all of which are ruddily stained with ancient blood.

*Dumos*









*OOC:*


I don't want to get too far ahead of Robyn before BillD posts, so this is just a very minor reaction.







"That sounds borderline prosaic for the kind of work the Flaming Fists tend to do.  Unless...this wasn't during their recent Chultan campaign, by any chance?  I heard an entire encampment was wiped out by something called the Order of the Crocodile or whatever; supposedly even the ever-so-immaculate Order of the Gauntlet degenerated into borderline barbarism, out of sheer terror of whatever was picking them off in the night.  You weren't involved in that insanity, were you?"    (Yes, he really does say "or whatever; Garwynn Haladriel isn't exactly your average half-elf.)


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## mips42 (Mar 10, 2020)

Dumos' stoic visage cracks and a infinitesimally small smile touches his lips. "Those were good days."


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## Envisioner (Mar 10, 2020)

Garwynn looks more than a little disturbed, but lets the subject drop.

(Waiting on *Robyn*.)


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## Skarsgard (Mar 10, 2020)

Ashur grimaces at the scene. This smelt wrong and something unnatural had occurred here. Scanning the ground he looked for any tracks that might still remain.



Spoiler: tracking



Rolled a 5.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 10, 2020)

"Never seen a goat head so big," Ana says. "Chimera? But if so, did it chew off it's own head to escape perhaps? And who caught it in the first place?"


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## billd91 (Mar 11, 2020)

Robyn decides to broach the subject of the oracle. "Captain Garwynn, when you let us in at the gate, you said our coming was heralded by an oracle. I do not know any particular oracles nor why our arrival would be fore-ordained. Is there more you can tell us of this holy woman?"


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## lowkey13 (Mar 11, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Envisioner (Mar 11, 2020)

As the flies clear out, it becomes visible to everyone that the huge goat head isn't the only piece of animal carrion present here; many bloodstained or sun-bleached bones are scattered about in the lee of the cliff, as if dozens of ruminants have been devoured by whatever was chained here.  The bones have been stripped of even the tiniest scrap of flesh and cracked open to get at the marrow; clearly whatever was here had a hunger that was not easily sated.

While Analiese and Ashur whisper to each other in the bushes, and Bannor squats beside the head, seemingly oblivious while he scrutinizes it, a quick motion on the cliff overhead is noticed by....





__





						CoyoteCode Dice Roller
					





					www.coyotecode.net
				




...just Bannor!  His pretense of a helplessly oblivious victim is sufficiently convincing to the long-necked head that peeked around the edge of the hill and then ducked out of view again.  Innish rolls, everyone!





__





						CoyoteCode Dice Roller
					





					www.coyotecode.net
				




You're trying to beat an 8.


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## lowkey13 (Mar 11, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Envisioner (Mar 11, 2020)

*OOC:*


On top of the cliff overhead.  Within about 50 feet of you, as the "crow" flies, but if you tried to get up there you'd have to travel about 70 feet (thanks, Pythagoras!), plus spend extra movement climbing up the cliff, so it'd take something in the neighborhood of 100 feet of movement.


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## Envisioner (Mar 11, 2020)

billd91 said:


> Robyn decides to broach the subject of the oracle. "Captain Garwynn, when you let us in at the gate, you said our coming was heralded by an oracle. I do not know any particular oracles nor why our arrival would be fore-ordained. Is there more you can tell us of this holy woman?"




"Not much, I'm afraid.  Her name is Qwynneth, she claims to be a servant of Mystra; apparently there still are any of those, contrary to what I heard about that ancient goddess having been killed in the Troubles.  Since our town didn't have a temple to Mystra even before her ostensible death, Miss Qwynn has been taken in by the clerics of Oghma, Deneir and Azuth, all of whom collectively run our 'House of Illumination'. Unfortunately, as one of the more flammable locations in town, it was placed behind some sort of lockdown forcefield as soon as the trouble broke out, and though the wizards and priests and various combinations thereof inside are presumably monitoring the situation, they have so far not seen fit to lower their defenses. The field opened momentarily for Qwynn, but has yet to lower for anyone else."


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## Skarsgard (Mar 11, 2020)

*OOC:*



Initiative : 1D20+2 = [20]+2 = 22

lol


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## jmucchiello (Mar 11, 2020)

*OOC:*


Initiative: 1D20+3 = [17]+3 = 20 
We are alert.


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## billd91 (Mar 11, 2020)

"House of Illumination, eh?" Robyn muses. "Dumos, I think we should perhaps visit this place. Captain, if you could point us in the right direction, we would be obliged. If they welcomed Qwynneth, perhaps they will welcome us as well."


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## mips42 (Mar 12, 2020)

"Agreed, Sparrow."


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## lowkey13 (Mar 12, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Skarsgard (Mar 12, 2020)

"What?" Ashur whispers as Bannor takes cover. Dropping into a defensive crouch he readies himself for danger.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 12, 2020)

*OOC:*


Map? What map?


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## Envisioner (Mar 13, 2020)

*The Three*

As Bannor begins his movement, a tawn-and-rust body sails out from beyond the cliff edge and glides down to land in the plain, about ten feet from where he stood a moment before.  Landing with its rump toward its former hiding face, it quickly whirls to face its intended victim, only to find him making tracks away from it toward the same bushes in which Annaliese and Ashur are effectively concealed.

The beast which has revealed itself has a long, low leonine body, except at its rear end, which rises awkwardly upon two black-furred legs ending in cloven hooves, whose upright position holds the creature's hips nearly twice as high as its shoulders.  Such awkwardness doesn't seem to bother it much, however.  A stripe of reptilian scales in a bright vermillion hue covers the beast's long, lashing tail, spreads out across its recurved spine, flares into the broad wings which carried it down from its perch, and continues up to the nape, where it suddenly curves to the right (from his own perspective, meaning it's on the left side of the body from your viewpoint) and emerges from the monster's front flank, as the long flexible neck and dragon-like head which peeked at Bannor a moment before.  Just to the right of this weirdly misplaced visage, the head of a lion hangs from the front of the monstrosity's body, its eyes glazed and motionless, its tongue lolling limply from a mouth slackly agape.

A rune-studded metallic harness, obviously forged by the same smith as the chain, surrounds both the base of the snaky dragon head and the clearly-broken neck of the lion head, while a third opening frames a massive scab still framed with a few ribbons of torn flesh.  Six lengths of chain hang loosely from various points on the sturdy yoke, two of them ending at a heavy iron ring which presumably connected all of them, as well as the broken end link of the chain around the rock. The apparatus was clearly designed specifically for this creature, and is robust-looking enough that it ought never to have broken; somehow, the chimera was able to exceed the usual limits of its strength and tear free, but not before snapping one of its own necks and completely severing another head in the struggle.  Only the reptilian head survived, specifically because it emerges from the body at such an unnatural angle that it escaped the strain of breaking free.

Bannor, your flight to freedom was effectively during the same surprise round in which the monster moved into view.  So you get to act again, after which Ashur and Annaliese can go, before the chimera gets a turn.

As Bannor streaks clear of its landing site and dives into the brush, vanishing from view with preternatural completeness, the chimera roar-hisses in frustration from its one still-living mouth, its tail lashing angrily behind it.  The creature's body has a gaunt look which suggests it's not eating nearly enough to sustain itself, so you doubt it will leave the scrub-bushes alone just because it doesn't know exactly which one Bannor is hiding under.


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## lowkey13 (Mar 13, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Envisioner (Mar 13, 2020)

*The Two*

Captain Garwynn escorts Dumos and Robyn to the House of Knowledge, an impressive marble edifice with a triangular pediment, decorated in seemingly mystical glyphs, above a portico surrounded in pillars whose tops and bottoms resemble scrolls.  A statue stands in the square before the entrance, carved in the likeness of an old man in a voluminous toga, his pate bald but fringed in hair that falls past his shoulders, and with a beard down past where his belly-button should be.  The old man's right hand is upraised, with one finger lifted and tipped in a Continual Flame (this relatively cheap and extremely useful permanent spell is instantly recognizable to anyone with even an Eldritch Knight's level of arcane education).  The rest of his hand is curled around the top of an open scroll, whose unfurled expanse is completely blank.  His left hand holds the loop of a wall sconce, topped with a candle that bears another Continual Flame, this one intentionally flickering side-to-side like an actual burning candlewick, while the one on his finger is a geometrically perfect teardrop of light that bears only the vaguest resemblance to a real fire.

Garwynn gives a sweeping "behold my city's tourist attraction" kind of wave to the statue and the building behind it as he walks in front of you, then folds his arms and very casually leans back against nothing whatsoever (Dumos at least is bright enough to realize that his wave probably allowed his fingertips to brush against whatever invisible wall is now supporting his entire upper body, so he knew it was there before he risked falling over and looking like an idiot - then again, given what you've seen of this fellow, maybe he was comfortable with such a danger).  "Quite the sight, isn't it?  But at the moment at least, the rule appears to be 'look, don't touch'.  Qwynneth touched this barrier once and then walked through it as if it wasn't there, but nobody else has been able to figure out how.  We've been worried enough that we would have used the town's emergency Sending scroll to try and reach the temple's head, Sedrick Arkhelane, except that the Cult of the Dragon apparently knew where to find that, and used it to call in their pet dragon as soon as they were sure that the non-pet dragon was too tough for them to cut down.  And, naturally, the task of scribing a replacement would fall upon Sedrick himself or one of his subordinates.  So besides going and getting in touch with Qwynny, I'd appreciate it if you could find at least one of the clerics (and/or wizards) in there, and just sort of politely remind them that the rest of the town still exists."


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## jmucchiello (Mar 13, 2020)

Ana whispers to Ashur, "That dragon head could exhale fire. We should split up. You circle to the right, I'll circle to the left. Hopefully we can stay on three sides of the beast."









*OOC:*


Yes, an injured, hungrey beast is not going to parley.


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## lowkey13 (Mar 13, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Envisioner (Mar 13, 2020)

*OOC:*


  While I understand the temptation to cut down on die rolling, doing it this way makes it challenging to figure out which attacks actually hit and therefore did damage.  I'm not saying you can't do it this way again, but I'd prefer you posted individual rolls, if you're willing to go to the extra effort, particularly after the target's AC has become public knowledge.







The chimera's hide is tough, but not tough enough.  Two of Bannor's blows-like-hammors strike true upon the beast's vital organs, while two others are deflected by the bunching and coiling of the muscles beneath its skin.  The creature's dragon head gives a very un-dragonish-sounding yelp as you deprive it of 14 hit points.  Your attempted acrobatics then promptly land you Prone between the creature's wings, where a successful Athletics check will enable you to hang on for dear life rather than being thrown to the ground, where you would quickly become an easy victim.  The DC is only 12, since the creature's spines and scales give you ample places to grab hold, but you will forfeit one of your attacks next turn since one of your hands will be occupied (I'm presuming your other three fists include your feet).


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## billd91 (Mar 13, 2020)

*The Two: Robyn*



Envisioner said:


> "Quite the sight, isn't it?  But at the moment at least, the rule appears to be 'look, don't touch'.  Qwynneth touched this barrier once and then walked through it as if it wasn't there, but nobody else has been able to figure out how.  We've been worried enough that we would have used the town's emergency Sending scroll to try and reach the temple's head, Sedrick Arkhelane, except that the Cult of the Dragon apparently knew where to find that, and used it to call in their pet dragon as soon as they were sure that the non-pet dragon was too tough for them to cut down.  And, naturally, the task of scribing a replacement would fall upon Sedrick himself or one of his subordinates.  So besides going and getting in touch with Qwynny, I'd appreciate it if you could find at least one of the clerics (and/or wizards) in there, and just sort of politely remind them that the rest of the town still exists."




Robyn takes a few steps forward to place himself about the same distance from the edifice as Captain Garwynn. "An invisible shield? I am impressed," he says as he reaches out to feel the barrier. "Since you said this was _*some kind*_ of forcefield, I'm guessing this wasn't a well-known aspect of the House of Illumination's defenses? At least, not to the point where you or the people under your authority knew of it or could conduct training or drill around it?"


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## Envisioner (Mar 13, 2020)

"We had a general idea that the temple had defenses of some sort," Garwynn admits.  "But no, there's never been any active attempt at coordinating their intrusion countermeasures with overall city security.  Sounds kinda stupid now that I say it out loud - but then, I was just a random private four days ago, so I've never really tried to fathom the logic behind how we do things.  The fact that my boss, my boss's boss, and my boss's boss's boss were all impostors, who moved to Westwater specifically for the sake of betraying it...I don't know what makes sense anymore.  Especially since I wouldn't have thought a town like this was 'on the map' enough that we'd merit such attention."


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## jmucchiello (Mar 13, 2020)

*OOC:*


Waiting for Ashur.

On coyotecode, you can have multiple die rolls at once. just separate them by a semi-colon:

_: 1D20+7 = [2]+7 = 9
1D8+6 = [1]+6 = 7
1D20+7 = [11]+7 = 18
1D8+6 = [5]+6 = 11

I usually edit the cut/paste:

_:
1D20+7 = [2]+7 = 9; 1D8+6 = [1]+6 = 7
1D20+7 = [11]+7 = 18; 1D8+6 = [5]+6 = 11

(These will be Ana's attack rolls on her turn.)

Oh, and RAW, monk attacks can be all one fist, all one foot, two right fists and two left kicks, elbow smashes, head butts, even bites, etc. Whatever the monk wants.


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## Skarsgard (Mar 13, 2020)

Ashur nods to Ana and darts to the right, glaive leveled and the unnatural creature. With a primal snarl he in-cants a spell, as he points the head of the glaive at the creature and as it is released he launches his attack.

The spell allowed him insights into his foe, and showed him vulnerable spots he may have otherwise missed. 

He uses Bannor's distraction of the creature to stab at it. Keeping it at bay with the length of the spear.




Spoiler: Rolls



Casting Hunters Mark as a bonus action.

Two attacks, hitting AC 22 and 18 


_: 1D20+ 7 = [15]+7 = 22
1D20+ 7 = [11]+7 = 18
 

For 8 and 18 damage respectively. Note: Extra d6 is from hunters mark.

Damage: 1D10+1D6+4 = [2]+[2]+4 = 8
1D10+1D6+4 = [9]+[5]+4 = 18
 

Now, if the first attack hit. Then it takes an extra d8 damage from colossus slayer

Colossus: 1D8 = [3] = 3
 

Sorry its a bit mathy.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 14, 2020)

As Ashur charges straight at the creature, Ana pops out to the left and levels her bow at the creature attempting to circle around as far as she can and still get her shots off.

The first shot misses (AC: 9) and the second one strikes true (AC: 18 for 11 piercing damage). She then stows her bow and gets to close in with her sword.









*OOC:*


Rolls are in prior post by me

action fire bow twice
interaction action is to stow the bow.


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## Envisioner (Mar 14, 2020)

*OOC:*


I'm aware what the rules say about a monk making unarmed strikes.  I'm also aware that the rules say nothing about what happens when the monk makes a completely unnecessary Acrobatics roll because he wants to stunt-jump over the monster, and then fails that roll.  (He had inspiration, he could have succeeded if it was that important to him.)  They also say nothing about what's involved in hanging onto a monster's back so that it doesn't throw you on the ground; my ruling is that he can do this at the cost of one of his attacks, which is a better deal than if he fell prone and had disadvantage on all four attacks.







Ana's arrow doesn't even merit a flinch from the creature; it draws a trickle of blood but that's all.  Ashur, however, makes a decent impact on the beast, scoring two deep furrows into the chimera's hide, and then causing a small jet of blood to fountain out of the intersection point, as the action of the monster's own muscles tears its wound a little deeper.









*OOC:*


The chimera is down 55 HP thus far.







Having barely noticed Ana's attack, and currently unable to get at Ashur, the Chimera orients entirely on Ashur with its attacks, rearing up part-way and then raking down with its mighty forepaws.  The ranger's quick reflexes carry him largely clear of the blow; his armor squeals as the claws scratch across it, but he remains unharmed. 

However, as he's dodging the more obvious attack, the hunter's peripheral vision falters for a single crucial second, and the flexible neck of his asymmetrical foe seizes the opportunity.  The dragon head darts past his left ear and behind him; teeth halfway between a serpent's and a shark's fasten themselves into his right shoulder, cruelly tearing away a fist-sized chunk of his flesh, which the beast greedily swallows.









*OOC:*


Back to you guys, starting with Bannor.


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## lowkey13 (Mar 14, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Skarsgard (Mar 14, 2020)

Ashur cries out as the serpentine head bypasses his defences.  That had caught his unaware and the pain almost made him loose focus on his spell.

The mark remained and showed him where to strike and to strike deep. Arching his back he thrust at the monstrosity hoping to break it's hold on him.





Spoiler: rolls



Concentration passed.

Concentrate : 1D20+5 = [10]+5 = 15


Attacks and damage a.c. 16 and 19 for a damage of 19 and 23 respectively 

Attack and damage: 1D20+7 = [9]+7 = 16
1D10+1D6+4= [9]+[6]+4= 19
1D20+7 = [10]+7 = 17
1D10+1D6+4+1D8 = [10]+[3]+4+[6] = 23

[/spolier]


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## mips42 (Mar 14, 2020)

Dumos grunts noncommittally at the sight of the apparently unreachable temple. "What have you done in your attempts to reach those inside?"


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## Envisioner (Mar 15, 2020)

*Ashur*








*OOC:*


I seem to have left the house without my PHB this morning, but I thought I remembered the DC of the concentration check being based on the amount of damage taken, so how does a 15 pass when you were hit for 20?  Forgive me if I'm mistaken, I'm just trying to relearn the rules of a game I haven't played in a while.







*Bannor*








*OOC:*


You still get one or two more attacks if you want them; I said you lost one attack, not "all but" one.  I'm a little unclear whether you usually punch three times or four, but this time you can do two or three.






The chimera hisses snakily as Bannor's knee corkscrews into its wounded side before he leaps clear.  The elegance he sought a moment before no longer eludes him, as he lands on one foot in a perfect "crane style" stance just beside the monstrosity, and remains ready to strike again.









*OOC:*


By default, a chimera has 114 hit points; this one is badly injured and half-starved, so I intended it to have significantly less than the maximum, but I never got around to actually mathing out exactly how much less. Assuming Ashur is indeed still concentrating on his spell, the 42 damage he just did, combined with the 54 previous to that, and Bannor's 6 just now, totals 102.  This should probably be enough to take him out, but given the rules confusion, I'll say he has 1 hit point left, which either Bannor or Analiese will get to deprive him of. Unless it turns out that the Hunter's Mark did indeed go down, in which case we'll have to recalculate, and it might take both of them to beat the beast.

Meanwhile, in case she ends up having nothing else to do by the time she gets her turn, Ana can give me an Intelligence-based Perception roll to notice something unusual, even amid the chaos of combat.







The chimera shrieks in anguish and probably a bit of unaccustomed fear; it already had to maim itself to escape captivity, and it expected one easy victim rather than two dynamoes of violence (plus an archer which it has barely noticed).  As it begins to back away sidelong, still too hungry to outright abandon its intended meal and the victim that it has already tasted, both men see an orange glow beginning to shine out from between its slightly-parted jaws.

**************

*Dumos & Robyn*

Garwyn maintains his nonchalant pose, leaning against the invisible barrier, and says in answer to Dumos, "Well, we've tried just about everything we could think of," and then promptly falls over backward upon the flagstones of the courtyard.  "Except that (ow)," he adds, while creakily getting back up and dusting himself off.  "(ow) Never thought to (ow) try doing that.  Looks like somebody in there just got the all-clear memo, or else your arrival was expected.  I'd better get back to my post, give Qwynny and the various clerics my regards."


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## jmucchiello (Mar 15, 2020)

*OOC:*


Concentration is 1/2 damage taken, minimum 10. In this case DC is 10 either way. But Ana will still take her action if you like.







Ana rushes forward. Her rapier sings from its sheath as she stabs into the beast twice.









*OOC:*


Attacks on Chimera:  
1D20+7 = [18]+7 = 25; 1D8+4 = [5]+4 = 9
1D20+7 = [10]+7 = 17; 1D8+4 = [8]+4 = 12


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## Envisioner (Mar 15, 2020)

*OOC:*


Ana's Perception roll?







Ana's rapier strikes the chimera's harness and slides off, vibrations painfully reverberating up her arm.  She tries another stab, but the blade lodges between two scales and bends severely before finally sliding free.









*OOC:*


Waiting to confirm whether Bannor is going to make further attacks.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 15, 2020)

*OOC:*


Perception: 1D20+5 = [18]+5 = 23

To my knowledge, Chimera's are not immune to piercing damage


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## Envisioner (Mar 15, 2020)

*OOC:*




jmucchiello said:


> Perception: 1D20+5 = [18]+5 = 23
> 
> To my knowledge, Chimera's are not immune to piercing damage




Ah, I see what happened.  I did warn you that I find it hard to read those rolls when they're all jumbled together; in this case, I mistook your damage totals for being your to-hit numbers.







Between the efforts of Bannor, Ashur and Annaliese, the Chimera doesn't stand a chance.  Before it can so much as burp sulphurously, it bleeds out from several deep puncture wounds, its innards having already been pulverized by blunt force trauma.  The creature's maimed body lies broken at the party's feet, only a yard or two from the spot where it was chained for however long, since the smith of the peculiarly engraved mantle and chain bound it here.  Perhaps you could find out who erected that sign, and they could tell you of how this happened.  One clue presents itself; as you examine the corpse, you get a look at the underside of the collar, and find that among the red-enameled mystical runes, there are two easily-recognizable Thoross letters (the alphabet of the Common Tongue).









*OOC:*


Again, don't count on me continuing to include Thoross in the game forever, as it's detailed in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and not in the corebooks.  But since I do still have SCAG, I'll describe the two letters:  the first looks like the Euro symbol (a capital E in a rounded style like a C), but with a longer and slightly curving middle line, while the second is a 7 with another 7 rotated 180% degrees right next to it, so that together they form something resembling a Z.  Not that any of the letters I just named represent the meaning of these characters in Thoross, of course; that would be far too easy.  Instead, they are the letters N.H.







With her interest in magical lore, Analiese is the first to look up from the defeated enemy and scan the area for signs of its lair.  Though you don't manage to find where it sleeps, you do come upon a small cache of valuables that the dragon-like beast hoarded from a few of its kills; it mostly preyed upon livestock, but apparently at least one adventurer succumbed during its rampage, however long this lasted.  (Bannor might well have been the second one, if he were alone; he would have been hard-pressed to survive one or two blasts of dragonfire right in his face, especially if the creature managed to pin him beneath its claws first.)  In the pile of bones and dry grass that's nearly concealed beneath the lee of the cliff, she finds 20 loose gold pieces and a pouch containing several hundred coppers, as well as a potion, a scroll, and a divining rod.  The latter is easily recognizable to Ana as a Wand of Secrets, an extremely common and prosaic magic item, used to detect traps and hidden passages.  The other two items will need to be identified, although a glance at the symbols used on the scroll suggests that it's some form of druidic magic, probably usable by Ashur, but also likely to be a Ritual which she could study and learn.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 15, 2020)

"I found some ale money here," Ana says, holding up the coin pouch. She added the 20 gold to the pouch or her own pouch if it doesn't fit. "There's also a scroll, a wand, and potion. Wand is a Wand of Secrets, it helps in the detection of traps and hidden passages. Not sure what the others are. When we camp, I'll try to identify them."

She hands each of the men 7 gp. "Here's your share of the gold."


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## Skarsgard (Mar 15, 2020)

Ashur grunts in pain, stripping his armour off gingerly he washes the wound with some water before examining it. 

With some effort he dons his armour again, "Well, that solves that mystery. I wonder if the person whose prints we followed released the creature?"  The after a moments pause, "Or was the former owner of these things?"


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## jmucchiello (Mar 15, 2020)

"I think the creature released itself by gnawing off one of its own heads and damaging the second one," Ana said. "The question is who tied a chimera to a rock. Not something I'd want to attempt to do."


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## lowkey13 (Mar 16, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## jmucchiello (Mar 16, 2020)

"I suppose we continue to Waterdeep," Ana says. "I wonder if that body belongs to the man who made the bootprint we were following." Ana gives a look to the dead man's boots.


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## Envisioner (Mar 16, 2020)

*OOC:*


Bannor keeps doing things that make me want to give him inspiration, but he already has it....







The dead man's shoes are clearly ordinary trail-wear, not the borderline military boots (or actual military sabatons) that made the tracks.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 16, 2020)

"Guess not," Ana says.

"Whatever armed force we thought we were following must have gone a different way or they would have been attacked by the chimera. Whenever you are ready Bannor."









*OOC:*


It's still day time, right? We don't need to camp soon, do we?


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## Envisioner (Mar 16, 2020)

*OOC:*


Correct on both counts.







Lacking other evidence of where the army could have gone, you're left with little choice but to continue on toward Waterdeep.  Well before arriving there, however, you find a settlement called Armighast, where asking around a bit reveals that the locals were the ones who detained the chimera and put up the sign, both having happened several years ago.  The chimera was defeated by a wandering adventurer whose name nobody can recall, but who insisted "for religious reasons" that the creature should not be killed. Instead, a local smith and mage by the name of Ninuel Hartleigh (presumably this is the "N.H" magemark that was on the creature's bindings) was commissioned to build a set of chains which would hold the creature forever; one of the tasks that the community assigns to its lowest-status citizens soon became leading a sickly cow or goat out to the site and throwing it off the cliff, where the fall would either kill or injure it, allowing the chimera to eat the animal and thereby avoid starvation.  Everyone agrees that this practice was a little screwed up, putting all the blame for the questionable idea on the unidentified cleric, who you get several vague and largely contradictory descriptions of.

Nobody in town recalls having seen an army march through nearby, and the loamy soil near the town contained no tracks evocative of the suggested force; evidently they peeled off in some other direction somewhere in the intervening leagues of dry, rocky terrain, where following them was impossible.  A few imaginative locals make the connection that some member of the force you alluded to must have freed the chimera somehow, since all of those you spoke to were very confident that Hartleigh's mystical collar should have contained it indefinitely.  If you wish to question Hartleigh himself, he does have a shop in town, although he's frequently busy with commissions from the Lord's Alliance, who patronizes his work directly since the locals can't really afford him (his apprentices tend to do the more mundane smithwork that the town requires; none of them have any of his magical talent).


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## lowkey13 (Mar 16, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Envisioner (Mar 16, 2020)

*OOC:*


I hope you know that is officially your catchprase now....


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## jmucchiello (Mar 16, 2020)

"I believe the smith and the wizard were two different people," Ana says. "They may wish to know we put the poor beast out of its misery after it chewed its own head off. But we should wait until morning to call upon the wizard."









*OOC:*


Oops, forgot about the pearl needed for identify. Ana can't afford to buy one. Identify must be one of the most recent spells she transcribed. So no casting identify tonight.


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## mips42 (Mar 16, 2020)

"The shield is down. Let us go and see this Oracle." Dumos quickly looks for an entrance.

[ooc}
Perception: 1D20+1 = [19]+1 = 20
 ]/ooc]


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## Skarsgard (Mar 16, 2020)

Ashur grins as Bannor mentions that he is not a people person. Scratching his stubbled chin he laughs.

"Well I guess we are out of luck then, Im more of a people catching person." he shrugs and pulls out some gold. "But I find this usually is a pretty good substitute for charm."

"We should at least let him know that the situation is changed."


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## billd91 (Mar 17, 2020)

mips42 said:


> "The shield is down. Let us go and see this Oracle." Dumos quickly looks for an entrance.




"Agreed, Dumos," Robyn says, "The way the captain was unceremoniously dumped on the ground was a bit of a surprise. I suppose that's what he gets for cavalierly leaning on an invisible, magical field. But just the same, we should be wary of trouble. It's possible the magic field kept trouble in as much as kept it out."
Robyn shifts his shield into position just to be ready in case of danger.









*OOC:*


Perception: 1D20+7 = [6]+7 = 13


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## Envisioner (Mar 20, 2020)

*OOC:*


Okay, this is hacky as all naughty word, but I will have enough trouble getting this game anywhere near a conclusion with only two parties, so I'm not even going to try to maintain three.  I had thoughts of making quite a dungeon out of this temple for Dumos and Robyn, but it's not worth sticking with that plan under these dubious circumstances.  So instead, here goes nothing.







Though cautious at first, Dumos and Robyn quickly find the Temple to be deserted and tranquil, with only the sounds of a single conversation echoing through the quiet halls.  Following the hushed words until they begin to become intelligible, at which point they quickly conclude, the two soon walk into a room where two figures sit, one quite obviously the chief cleric of this temple, an ancient greybeard wearing all three holy symbols.  The other figure is a middle-aged woman, her red hair in a conservative bun; nothing much suggests that she's an oracle, beyond the fact that she looks up exactly as you walk into the room, despite your feet having made no noise on the carpeted floor.  "Welcome, both of you.  I will spare you the bother of introducing myself; suffice to say that Mystra has preordained my intercepting you here.  You have an urgent appointment to keep with three other individuals of similarly heroic stripe; you will find them at the forge of Ninuel Hartleigh in Chimera Village.  It would be days away by conventional transport, which is why I foresaw the need to bring this scroll.  I presume one of you can activate it, but if not, Master Maes here can do the honors.  It will send you to rendezvous with your peers, and from there you can proceed onward to Waterdeep, where your journey truly begins."


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## mips42 (Mar 20, 2020)

"Preordination is a scam. Nothing happens for a Reason. It's all chaos. Just the way I like it."


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## billd91 (Mar 20, 2020)

*The Two*

"I don't know that I like an overabundance of chaos, but I am curious what you think we are preordained for, Qwynneth. What else have you seen?" Robyn asks, keeping in mind his own divine inspiration drawing him here.


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## Envisioner (Mar 20, 2020)

"Substantial evidence that superficially appears to support your tiefling friend's worldview, despite how fundamentally wrong he is."  The oracle's self-satisfied smirk makes it clear that you're unlikely to get anything more helpful out of her than that, a fact which the head mage-priest acknowledges with a sympathetic shrug.


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## Envisioner (Mar 21, 2020)

*OOC:*


Are you guys all waiting on me?  I've been hoping you'd roleplay among yourselves until I became inspired.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 22, 2020)

*OOC:*


I was expecting the TWO to arrive where the THREE are before continuing. The THREE have been on the road for a couple days together. We don't have much left to talk about unless there's someone else to interact with.


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## mips42 (Mar 22, 2020)

Dumos to this point has been attempting to appear smaller than he naturally is (By hunching his back and bending his knees) but now straightens, inclines his head so that his ashen horns are mostly upright and peers down at the woman. "You talk in circles when a straight line would better serve all of us. If we are needed at Chimera Village, wherever that may be, why were we summoned to this place and not there. Furthermore, if our true destination is Waterdeep, why go to this village? There are too many things here that do not make sense, woman." Dumos with quickly and quietly use Thaumaturgy to make his eyes glow a reddish-yellow. "I suggest you start making sense."


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## billd91 (Mar 22, 2020)

"Peace, Dumos. I do not think threats will serve us here. I do not fully understand what draws us, but I am content that here is but a stage on our journey elsewhere. Had we continued on the road, I have no doubt we would have still been on the way to Waterdeep," Robyn says in an effort to assuage Dumos's frustrations. "I too would hope that the soothsayer would speak more plainly, but that doesn't seem to be her way. I've rarely heard of one that makes unambiguous statements. It is usually a fog that the listener is forced to interpret on their own. We might as well accept the magical transport in the hope that it takes us someplace where our skills will be needed."


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## Envisioner (Mar 22, 2020)

The oracle is not cowed in the slightest by Dumos; she simply smiles.  "The seeds of the maple tree are carried by the wind, far from where the branch originally drops them.  If you are meant to have been there, but first you are here, then that too may have been meant.  Or it may simply have been happenstance; Destiny does not bother to control everything, or why would mortals ever have been granted free will?  I lost a daughter many years ago, and I show less resentment toward the cosmos for taking my little girl away, than you are over a brief detour on your path to greater glories.  I can see the mark of the Flaming Fist in both your past and your future; were I in your shoes, I wouldn't try to rush such a reunion."


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## mips42 (Mar 22, 2020)

"Hmph. Trees and Destiny. Again with the nonsense. I am done with this. Transport us if that is your aim. Otherwise, the flames and I will journey together, as we have before."


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## Envisioner (Mar 24, 2020)

*OOC:*


Sorry for the long delay guys; inspiration, like toilet paper, is in short supply these days.  Also, small continuity gaffe on my part; in the Oracle's speeches to Dumos and Robin, she spoke of Chimera Village as if that was the actual name of the town, because I forgot that I had properly named the place.







Having quickly exhausted the possibilities of Armighast's pitiful marketplace, wherein seven gold is a fortune so vast that it's impossible to spend any of it, you are repeatedly directed to the forge of Ninuel Hartleigh.  His is pretty much the only business in town that caters to the "adventurer economy", though even he is more often contracted by aristocrats looking for fancy ceremonial armors and the like.  Located on a hill outside the village proper, the smithy has an outhouse tucked away in a copse of trees behind it, which a group less accustomed to woodlore would most likely never have spotted; the building itself is a solid red-brick edifice with a large open-air receiving area that contains the actual forge, as well as a series of very secure-looking chambers that presumably contain the less replaceable (and more portable) supplies needed for the arcane side of his business.  Finding several apprentices laboring in the sweltering enclosure, you persuade one of them to go fetch the smith himself; she returns a few moments later with a tall, slender man wearing a leather apron over silk trousers, with nothing above the waist.  His skin is the color of polished mahogany, and has not a hair upon it below the scalp, where long straight black tresses are slicked back with a pleasantly musky-smelling pomade.

Ninjuel opens his mouth to speak, and Dumos and Robyn are immediately teleported into the space between him and his other three visitors.  The smith stands there with his mouth hanging open as the tiefling and half-elf momentarily adjust to their new surroundings, leaving the three humans little more combobulated than Hartleigh.


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## billd91 (Mar 24, 2020)

"I smell charcoal, hot metal, and sweat. We are either in the Spider Queen's torture boudoir or a smithy. And I sure hope it's the latter," Robyn says as he looks about at the assembled people. "Well, don't just stand there with your jaws agape, where are we? If that oracle sent us to the wrong smith, she'll have a debt to pay."


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## jmucchiello (Mar 24, 2020)

"What are you talking about? What Oracle sent you?" Ana says. He had falls to the pommel of her sword but she does not draw it immediately.


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## mips42 (Mar 24, 2020)

Dumos moves as close to the forge as possible without actually being in the way of the smith.


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## billd91 (Mar 24, 2020)

"We met the oracle in Westwater in the wake of some kind of dragon attack. Her name was Qwynneth and she said we had an urgent appointment to keep with three other people at Ninuel Hartleigh's forge. That was about the most explicit information we could get out of her otherwise cryptic speech," Robyn shrugs. Seeing a bit of wariness, he adds, "But rest assured, we come peacefully, if somewhat abruptly."


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## lowkey13 (Mar 24, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Skarsgard (Mar 24, 2020)

Ashur looks about, something was moving them into place. The messenger bird, the arrival of these two. 

"Im Ashur, and we were on our way to Waterdeep when we came across a monstrosity bound by chains crafted in this forge." He shrugs. "I dare say Master Smith that your day just got a little more interesting."


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## Envisioner (Mar 24, 2020)

"Qwynneth?  You met her?" Hartley asks in a tone of mild incredulity.  He then turns to Ashur when he speaks.  "Yes, our slightly-famous Chimera.  It was Qwynn who defeated the beast; how odd that she wandered on from here, and two years later she sends a couple of agents back here to check up on me.  How did she look?" he finishes to Robyn, his voice clearly tinged with anticipation.


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## billd91 (Mar 25, 2020)

"You know her?" Robyn's eyes narrow. "You aren't having a "sale", are you?" he asks, unable to resist a little joke. He shrugs, "She looked fine. Reasonably calm and collected, maybe even prim. She wore a bun. Very librarianly."
He addresses Ashur, "I am Robyn and this," he indicates his companion, "is Dumos. Our journey may have been a bit adventurous, but it did not involve fighting our way here."


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## jmucchiello (Mar 25, 2020)

"Wish we could say the same," Ana says. "The chimera had chewed off one of its own heads to get free and was menacing the area."

"I'm Ana. This is Ashur and Bannor."


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## Envisioner (Mar 25, 2020)

Hartley looks bemused by Robyn's description, and seems about to respond, but when Analiese speaks, he stops, turning quizzically to her, and says after a moment's pause, "That's impossible...."


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## jmucchiello (Mar 25, 2020)

"The goat head was on the ground covered in maggots. The lion head looked like its neck had snapped. Only the dragon head was alive when we fought the beast. It was very hungry, I think." Ana says.


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## lowkey13 (Mar 25, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Envisioner (Mar 25, 2020)

"The enchantment specifically prohibited the creature from attacking itself; otherwise it could have just breathed fire on the collar until the metal melted.  And the chains were also specifically calibrated to be so strong that the chimera couldn't break them.  How could it have..." the wizard trails off in thought.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 25, 2020)

"I can only tell you what I saw," Ana says. "Though, I don't think we checked to see if there were actual bite marks on the creature's neck. Mayhap someone came along and cut it loose in a morbid manner."


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## lowkey13 (Mar 27, 2020)

*Deleted by user*


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## Envisioner (Mar 28, 2020)

lowkey13 said:


> I'm heading out, everyone. Take care. If you find someone else to take over Bannor, please feel free to let him do so.












*OOC:*



Well that was abrupt and unfortunate.  But don't worry, Bannor's legend will live on.


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## Envisioner (Mar 28, 2020)

In his extradimensional observatory, the mad mage Mordenkainen watches with bemusement as the corridors of space and time fold around Bannor, removing him temporarily from the Forgotten Realms. Nobody else notices the seam in reality appear or disappear, leaving no trace of the vanished monk's immediate presence in the minds of his former companions. They all remember him battling the chimera with them, but assume he must have wandered off at some point thereafter, without knowing or caring exactly where and when.

Ashur, Annaliese, Dumos and Robyn are left standing around in the forge of Ninuel Hartley, as he insists that his magical collar could not have failed in containing the chimera forever.  "I'll be happy to show you the old papers that I used to perform my calculations, assuming any of you is sufficiently grounded in transmutational abjurantics to understand the symbology.  Qwynneth predicted that she would subdue the creature, but first I had to prove that I could build a harness that would hold it in place for 'as long as necessary, no matter how long that might be', those were her exact words.  And that's what I did, I crafted an enchantment into the steel which made it adapt instantaneously to the monster's own strength, so that nothing it could do would allow it to escape.  Someone else must have deliberately freed it, but who on Toril would ever do such a thing?"


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## jmucchiello (Mar 28, 2020)

"I'm sorry we did not bring the collar with us," Ana says. "But the creature was missing its goat head and the neck of the lion head was snapped. The creature was flying free and there was no small game in the area. Did someone come along and free it? We don't know. And the creature is now dead. So I'm not sure it matters now."


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## Skarsgard (Mar 28, 2020)

Ashur nods in agreement. "Yes, the collar was a missed opportunity.  There was that large group of people in the area. And someone did split off and go that way."

he turns to the mage. "In my experience, there is nothing that is inescapable or unbreakable.  There is always a way. Perhaps it would be worth heading back to examine the chains?"


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## Envisioner (Mar 28, 2020)

"Sounds like a wise step to take.  Perhaps I can also help find these others you seek.  Sadly my skills do not extend to teleportation, but if you wish to hire horses from the town stable, you needn't provide one for me."  The magewright turns to his first apprentice, a powerfully built young man with a shock of wild black hair, who is currently laboring upon a helmet adorned with bull horns (much of the work being done in the shop is likewise fanciful; this isn't your basic function-over-form rural blacksmithy, but a specialty store famous throughout the region).  "Gantry!  You're in charge until I show up and say otherwise."  The young man looks startled for a second, then grateful, and finally nods without speaking.


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## Envisioner (Mar 30, 2020)

*OOC:*


Still waiting to hear from everyone, particularly Dumos and Robyn, about the latest post or two.


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## billd91 (Mar 30, 2020)

"Perhaps the chimera was deliberately freed. It may seem the work of insanity, but there has been plenty of that about lately. We just came from Westwater where they recently witnessed a fight between dragons that exposed a dragon cult operating within the town leadership. We may be seeing strange days ahead and that probably means strange deeds," Robyn suggests.
"I am curious to see this beast and the magical collar used to restrain it. Do you mind if I join you?"


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## mips42 (Mar 30, 2020)

Dumos soaks in the heat of the forge. Basking in its warmth, just gives a non=committal grunt.


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## jmucchiello (Mar 30, 2020)

"It was a lovely walk coming from the valley. Going back should be just as lovely," Ana says.


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## Skarsgard (Mar 30, 2020)

"Well on the plus side, we are already packed." Ashur laughs.


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## Envisioner (Mar 30, 2020)

The party soon reconvenes at the stables outside of town, Hartleigh having said he'd catch up with them shortly. They mention his involvement and the groom agrees to defray payment for the horses and tack; he seems to think that being fondly remembered by adventurers, and clients of a businessman who makes more than the entire rest of the town put together, will put their village on the map and get him far more new custom than he could possibly ask you for anyway.

You've completely finished selecting your mounts, getting them properly tacked and harnessed, and are ready to ride out when Hartleigh shows up, aback a creature that is the right size and shape to be a horse, but seems to be made entirely of interlocking plates of metal over a frame of black wood, with tiny jets of steam shooting out of one or another of its joints every so often.  The mage has traded his forge-cladding for a tough traveler's jerkin and a utility belt full of potions and wands and scrolls; you also recognize a few tools of the thief's trade which seem a trifle incongruous, but then you know that the forgemaster has come quite a long way from whatever his origins were.  "Well, as Qwyn always used to say, destiny never waits on our pleasure; shall we follow its call?"


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## mips42 (Mar 31, 2020)

Dumos looks at the mount chosen for him with a look you've likely never seen before: care. He slowly and gently walks up to the beast and begins stroking the horse and whispering lightly to it to ensure that the horse knows him, knows his smell, and knows that he will not hurt the animal. "Fate and Destiny are words used when people try to face what they feel they cannot control. They use these words to try to tame the world, as they do its' creatures. I do not know this animals' name. So, I shall call it Destiny and I shall ride it where I choose." With that, Dumos leads the horse out into the yard and deftly hoist himself atop it. "Lead on, Smith."


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## Envisioner (Apr 1, 2020)

*OOC:*


Great post, Mips.  Still waiting on the other three.


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## jmucchiello (Apr 1, 2020)

"Everyone have their horse?" Ana says. "Let's go."


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## Envisioner (Apr 1, 2020)

*OOC:*


Lowkey!  If the fact that your posts are now showing you as a Guest means that you've reconsidered your departure, I would very much welcome you coming back.  At least long enough to drop me a PM with some contact info for you, so we can speak elswhere.


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## billd91 (Apr 1, 2020)

"Your choice is fitting, Dumos. I believe I shall name mine Wayward," Robyn says as he mounts up. "It will remind me of my past and how it shapes the person I have become."


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## Skarsgard (Apr 1, 2020)

Ashur looks at the mount with suspicion and a little fear, the others had mounted so confidently that it seemed silly to hang on to his childhood fear. He looks the creature in the eye, noting it's malevolent, baleful glare. Its teeth chomp down with anticipation and the deadly hooves paw at the ground.

Bile rises to the back of his throat and his stomach clenches. Turning to the others, "I will proceed on foot, horses can't run all day where as I can. I'll scout ahead."

With that he whispers some phrases as he picks up a handful of dirt from the ground. His hand flicks out and the dirt seems to hang in the air a moment before settling to the ground at his feet. As it does he sets off at a blistering pace, unerringly travelling to the site of the chains.



Spoiler: OOC



Casting Longstrider spell to boost speed and using wanderer background feature to navigate to site.
Longstrider only lasts an hour so let me know how many I need to cast to keep pace with the horses.
When the horses need to rest, he'll keep going, leaving a trail for the others to follow.


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## jmucchiello (Apr 1, 2020)

"I'll lead his horse, just in case," Ana says, grabbing hold of the reins and tying her horse together with Ashur's.


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## Envisioner (Apr 2, 2020)

*OOC:*


Was Ashur's fear of horses mentioned in his backstory at all?  If so, I missed it.  it's not like this is a half-green-dragon horse or anything...no, that was going to show up in a MUCH later chapter....


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## Skarsgard (Apr 2, 2020)

*OOC:*



No not something in the backstory, but I had an idea and went with it. So now it's cannon.


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## Envisioner (Apr 3, 2020)

*OOC:*


Okay, my GM skills and the very minimal rules guidance in the DMG is leaving me a bit lost here. Ashur has the default run speed of 30 feet, and Longstrider boosts that to 40; assuming he takes the Dash action every turn, he can make 80 feet per turn, but even a slow horse has a speed of 50 and can Dash as well, so there's no way he can outdistance the horses.  Plus, while we could fiat a little based on ranger status - although Ashur's selected terrains are Mountains and Forest, not Plains and Hills, but forget that for a moment - in any event, it stretches credulity that a human traveling across a long stretch of land can outdo a horse, given that they have hooves and we just have shoes.  I'm having a hard time seeing any way this scenario can work out, other than the horse-riders passing Ashur and making him look silly.  I think probably the best thing to do is to just sweep this whole episode under the rug and move on.







The group makes their way back to the site of the chimera battle, but before they arrive they come within sight of a large brown balloon parked in midair over the area, with a line descending from the basket to the ground.


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## Envisioner (Apr 3, 2020)

*OOC:*


I'm guessing that you guys are perhaps not getting your email notifications for this thread?


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## jmucchiello (Apr 3, 2020)

Ana tries to look at the balloon with her supervision but there's apparently a glare from the sun preventing it. "Can anyone see if there's anything special about that balloon? I can't make it out."

Perception check on balloon: 1D20+5 = [1]+5 = 6


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## billd91 (Apr 3, 2020)

Envisioner said:


> *OOC:*
> 
> 
> Okay, my GM skills and the very minimal rules guidance in the DMG is leaving me a bit lost here. Ashur has the default run speed of 30 feet, and Longstrider boosts that to 40; assuming he takes the Dash action every turn, he can make 80 feet per turn, but even a slow horse has a speed of 50 and can Dash as well, so there's no way he can outdistance the horses.  Plus, while we could fiat a little based on ranger status - although Ashur's selected terrains are Mountains and Forest, not Plains and Hills, but forget that for a moment - in any event, it stretches credulity that a human traveling across a long stretch of land can outdo a horse, given that they have hooves and we just have shoes.  I'm having a hard time seeing any way this scenario can work out, other than the horse-riders passing Ashur and making him look silly.  I think probably the best thing to do is to just sweep this whole episode under the rug and move on.












*OOC:*


It's just heading back to a particular location and setting tone/character quirkiness. Time isn't that important. So don't sweat it.


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## Skarsgard (Apr 4, 2020)

Ashur looks around. "we're we expecting company?"


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## Envisioner (Apr 5, 2020)

"Hm; rather primitive-looking,"  Hartleigh the smith says of the balloon.


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## billd91 (Apr 5, 2020)

"Let's get closer and find out," Robyn suggests. "They may be just curious, but even so, I will be prepared." As he says this, he makes sure his shield is strapped firmly.


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## Envisioner (Apr 6, 2020)

*OOC:*


Waiting on Mips.


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## mips42 (Apr 6, 2020)

*OOC:*


 sorry, didn't realise you were waiting on me.






Dumos stops his horse as soon as he sees the balloon, turns to the smith "What is this, Smith?" He moves his horse to one side, trying to gain at least a little cover and readies *Darkness*.


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## Envisioner (Apr 6, 2020)

"Good question.  Not a lot of people have the resources or knowledge to create such a vehicle; even fewer would do such a shoddy job of it.  The thing looks like it was woven out of burlap or somethng; anybody who can't manage to build a decent-quality airship really ought to reconsider trying to conquer the sky.  Still, they were competent enough to get off the ground, so they have to have some sort of organizational backing.  Well, if they're even vaguely aware of their surroundings they've probably managed to spot our approach even from this distance.  I'm no warrior, so I'll defer to you fellows; how do you think we should proceed?"


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## jmucchiello (Apr 6, 2020)

*OOC:*


We didn't see them in the sky before we approached the valley? How high up are they? Basically I want to know if they would have seen us approaching or if we had cover before coming into the clearing and thus neither side could have seen the other until this point. If something was hanging in the sky we probably would have stopped as soon as we spotted it.







"If you think they are aware of us, we should just shout a 'hello' and see if they respond," Ana says.


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## Envisioner (Apr 6, 2020)

*OOC:*


They're not very high up; Hartleigh's statements that they have probably spotted the party are his own opinion, not necessarily accurate.  There isn't much terrain that you can use for cover, beyond the mildly hilly ground and a few low scrub-brushes that even a halfling would have trouble hiding under.  As to the rest, well, you _did_ stop as soon as you spotted it, which is right now.


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## jmucchiello (Apr 6, 2020)

*OOC:*


Not important but I'm not seeing the lay of the land. If they are in the air, and we are in plains, we would have seen the balloon at least a mile away, especially with Ana's extended vision. If there are hills that prevent that I suppose that works against us spotting them early but it would still be us coming over the hill and seeing them potentially before they are aware of us. In any case, Ana will just call out to them.







"Hello?" Ana shouts. "Anyone in the balloon? Hello?"


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## mips42 (Apr 6, 2020)

"If they weren't aware of us before, they are now."


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## Envisioner (Apr 8, 2020)

*OOC:*


Anything from Ashur and Robyn before we continue?


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## billd91 (Apr 8, 2020)

Envisioner said:


> *OOC:*
> 
> 
> Anything from Ashur and Robyn before we continue?












*OOC:*


Not from me. Nothing's really changed since my last post...


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## Skarsgard (Apr 9, 2020)

*OOC:*


 same here


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## Envisioner (Apr 9, 2020)

There's no immediate response from the balloon after you halloo, so you eventually make a cautious approach somewhat closer.  Getting close enough to look down into the little cup of land where the chimera had been chained, you see that its body has been removed, and a half-dozen or so individuals are fanning out across the area, engaged in various tasks, two of which are working their way in your direction.  Ashur recognizes a lot of the general trappings of his trade in several of these individuals, and in particular one of the two coming toward him looks familiar.









*OOC:*


I'll just go ahead and tell you right now that these guys are with the Emerald Enclave; I don't see this faction as being likely to fly their flag anywhere outside of a council chamber, so their balloon isn't marked with a stag's head or anything, but they aren't keeping secrets and this fact will come out in dialog within five minutes, so I might as well just spit it out.  I'm not feeling super inspired, so I don't particularly want to invent all six of these individuals or detail exactly what they're doing; all of you are invited to make suggestions.  The only specification I will place is that somewhere between three and five of them are Rangers, no less than two of them single-classed and the rest possibly multiclassing.  The group has no high-level druids, so they don't rely on magic to solve their problems; instead they're investigating things the hard way.  I'll get into what they're doing here later, but the descriptive details are something I'm more than happy to crowdsource, particularly given that I am neither super-familiar with the Forgotten Realms nor particularly fond of it.  These guys are just a vehicle to move you toward the main plot, which is why I'm not getting hung up on making sure they come out right, but neither do I want to handwave them entirely.  I'm also purposely dragging my heels a bit on advancing the plot for this group, because I want to give the other group a chance to catch up, which is a bit awkward given that they're doing a far more detail-intensive scenario.


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## jmucchiello (Apr 9, 2020)

"Anyone recognize these guys?" Ana says to the party as the two men approach. "Most of them look like woodsmen. And they cleaned up the beast already. I think that one, in leathers is in charge."

(I assume there's a minute or two for us to chat before the guards arrive.)


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## Skarsgard (Apr 10, 2020)

"they look like rangers, well at least some do. I think the big one over there is emerald enclave." Ashur points at one of the approaching figures.


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## mips42 (Apr 10, 2020)

"Hmph. WHat do they want?"


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## jmucchiello (Apr 10, 2020)

"We'll know when the get closer," Ana says. "Sheath your weapons as I suspect this won't be a fight."

When they get close enough, "Hello. May I ask what you've done with the chimera?"


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## billd91 (Apr 10, 2020)

"They don't normally clean up dead beasts in the wild, do they?" Robyn asks, somewhat rhetorically. "There must be something else up. Maybe they're tracking the beast that must have mangled the chimera before you fought it."


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## jmucchiello (Apr 10, 2020)

"Cleaning up normal creatures, that wouldn't make sense," Ana says. "But I'm sure a chimera can fetch some gold from academic and alchemist types."


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## Envisioner (Apr 10, 2020)

*OOC:*


Okay fine, don't help me with the setting-building.  







Two figures have been steadily stalking up the hill toward you, and finally get close enough for you to get a clear look at them.  There is a big, burly woman with a hooded green cloak and darker green leather armor, form-fitted sleekly over a large-breasted and wide-hipped frame, with a plain-looking face that bears more than a couple of scars.  Next to her is a half-orc boy who looks to be about twelve, though anyone familiar with orc biology knows that they reach maturity in something like three years, so an adolescent-looking person with half human and half orc blood could be as young as six (and there are such things as three-quarter orcs or even seven-eighths orcs).  Though he has the gray skin and slightly protruding tusks, his build is whip-thin and wiry, not at all the stocky muscularity one expects from an orc, and he's dressed in brown traveler's clothes which have none of the martial trappings of the woman's gear, although he does have a shortsword on his belt.

Getting to within about a hundred feet, the two pause and the woman hails you in a loud, contralto voice.  "Ho there; you lot look like expeditionaries.  Do you know anything about the army that marched through this area several days ago?"  "Hey Shel, you might at least offer greetings first; you don't know that they had anything to do with this," the hybrid youth interjects, his own voice quiet and yet resonant, carrying just as well across the distance while being much less hard on the ears.  "They're armed, they're armored, and one of them has a clockwork horse.  I doubt they're completely innocent."  "Nonetheless, you could better do honor to our own cause by observing polite formalities."  "Hmph.  Fine.  I am Fiona Shelterweight of the Emerald Enclave, holding the rank of Second Commandant in the White Pangolin Division, Tenth Contingent, based out of Ardeep Forest.  This is my tertiary adjutant, Private First Class Nevek.  Now, you know who we are; who are you?" she finishes with her hands on her hips, clearly bristling with skepticism that borders on hostility.


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## jmucchiello (Apr 10, 2020)

"Greetings Fiona and Nevek. I am Ana. We have no idea what army marched through here," Ana says. "Ashur--" she points to Ashur "--and I noticed the soldiers' tracks yesterday as we passed this way. But we never saw the soldiers. We did find the creature loose from its chains and starving. We had to put it down. In the town of Armighast, back that way, we were told about the history of the chimera. This man, Ninuel Hartleigh, created the spells to bind the creature in the first place. He was surprised the creature got loose and we were going to show it to him but there seems to be little evidence left now."


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## Envisioner (Apr 11, 2020)

"So you were the irresponsible sots who just left the thing out in the open to rot?" "Shel, c'mon, that attitude's not helping.  I was one of the ones who dug the grave, and you don't see me complaining."  "Quiet!  Just who do you lot think you are anyway?  You think you have the right to come stomping through here and mess up an already-FUBAR situation with your unprofessional actions?"  "Miss Shelterweight, please.  If anyone has the right to a stake in these proceedings, it is me; I was the one who forged the chain to restrain the chimera here, and if anyone is responsible for the fact that the bonds were somehow circumvented, I am at fault and I would like to know how it happened.  Do you still have the harness itself?  As the 'professional' onsite, as you put it, I would like to examine the device and its enchantments, to see if I can get to the bottom of everything."  The militant ranger seems distinctly unhappy, but apparently Hartley's approach to disarming her hostility was the correct one; Fiona turns and waves him to follow, and heads back down the ridge with the smith and his clockwork horse trailing behind.  Nevek is left to talk to those of you who remain, and he seems vastly more approachable.


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## billd91 (Apr 11, 2020)

Robyn turns to Ana, “An army came through, eh? I wonder if they had anything to do with freeing the chimera. It would seem pretty irresponsible, but such a thing might tell us something about the nature of the army.”
”Hey, Nevek, is Shelterweight always this pricky or is she particularly wound up by something? I didn’t come this way so all of this is news to me.”


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## jmucchiello (Apr 11, 2020)

"We have no idea, Robyn." Ana turns to Nevek. "I'm guessing you had a shovel, unlike the two of us. What crawled up the Second Commandant's ass, Nevek?" After he answers, she presses forward to follow the mage and doesn't let Nevek stop her.

(OOC: Damn, Ana was going to press Fiona hard about her hardass tactics. She probably would have cut off Ninuel before he could make nice.)


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## Skarsgard (Apr 11, 2020)

Ashur starts to laugh at the tirade. The normally quite hunter is finding the situation hilarious. 

Wiping tears from his eyes he retorts " I notice you didn't arrive while it was loose and killing people. Too busy flying above the world's problems?"


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## mips42 (Apr 12, 2020)

Dumos pointedly ignores the commander and goes to the folk who are dealing with the dead chimera. "Burial is for those left behind. This creature has no-one left behind to mourn it. And, if you just leave it in the bushes, the local predators will do the job for you."


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## Envisioner (Apr 12, 2020)

*OOC:*


Mips, the Chimera is already buried, so your post is out of continuity, but please leave it up because I think it's good characterization; we can just assume you said something of this sort to someone in your past at some point.







The half-orc boy Nevek smiles, sitting down upon a rock that's far too small to make a comfortable seat for pretty much anyone human-sized.  "Shel's got a right to be cranky, but not to take it out on you, since you're clearly not part of the Dragon Army.  We think they were the ones who let the chimera loose, but we still don't know why; they've been making quite a lot of trouble, and our Enclave is one of those who are trying to disrupt their operation.  She'd have liked to have been one of the frontline soldiers who actually engaged with these enemies and forced them to retreat from one of our sanctuaries, but by the time we got word of the attack it was already over.  Anyway, from what we've observed, the group that we battled with was only a diversionary arm of the main force; we don't know where exactly they are, but we've gotten a lot of reports of small villages being pillaged of all their valuables, and more than a few of our contacts have disappeared in circumstances that suggest they might well have been abducted or killed simply to silence them.  It's bordering on a full-fledged war, but not one that anybody bothered to declare openly.  And we still don't know who exactly they're fighting for."




Spoiler: jmuchiello ooc



Not sure who you think the mage is; if you meant Fiona, there's no evidence she has any magic, or at least any more than an average Ranger.  The way I figure, if this bunch had any significant amount of magical power, they wouldn't be traveling by balloon.


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## mips42 (Apr 12, 2020)

*OOC:*


 Fair point. 





 "Dragon army? The last place we were had a dragon cult, a dragon they were in league with and was attacked but a different dragon. I thought dragons were rarer than they seem to be."


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## jmucchiello (Apr 12, 2020)

*OOC:*


Even already buried, he could have just been saying they could have just left the creature. Ana was going to say that exact same thing but Fiona walked away too quickly and I had to edit it out of my initial response to Robyn and Nevek


Spoiler: Response to spoiler



I had a bunch text Ana was going to say in response to Fiona being bitchy but after writing it noticed she had already walked away. So what I said above is if we were sitting around a table, when the mage Ninuel said "Miss Shelterweight", Ana would have cut him off and laid into Fiona asking her how two people with no shovel would bury a 5-10 ton creature? But we're not at the table. So I deleted it and wrote something about talking to Robyn and Nevek instead. No big deal. And I know who is who.










"This is the first I'm hearing about this," Ana said as she followed after Ninuel and the Second Commandant.


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## Envisioner (Apr 12, 2020)

*OOC:*


Oh right, that mage.  I keep forgetting my own NPC is in the scene, that's always a great sign.  Welp, I'm too tired to write any more at this point, so I'll give Ashur and Robyn's players another chance to respond, and if they don't I'll eventually respond to Mips's point.


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## billd91 (Apr 14, 2020)

"Sounds like we could all use a briefing on this subject. Let's all follow along and we can badger Shelterweight together. What can go wrong?" Robyn asks with a grin. He turns to Nevek, "Why don't you come along, son. You can fill us in on any more details if you have them. I suppose this is an army of men or other humanoids, not dragons. So what can you tell us about the nature of this "dragon" army? They worship or revere dragons or just fly standards bearing them?"


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## Envisioner (Apr 15, 2020)

Nevek looks thoughtful at the tiefling sellsword's question.  "Rare isn't quite the right word.  'Retiring' is closer.  They're numerous enough, on the global scale at least, but they tend to spend most of their time in hibernation, brooding atop their treasure hordes.  While their metabolism is partly magical, they're still flesh-and-blood creatures, so they need to burn energy in order to function, the same as any animal.  To live for centuries as they do, they spend most of their time asleep, which means those who have political aspirations work through intermediaries a lot.  Thusly, they're assumed to be rare, because nobody sees them most of the time.  Presumably the battle you describe involved one dragon who was in league with this army of cultists, and another who was out of the political loop and thought he could succeed through his own sheer power.  Both of them appear to have died for their respective ambitions, but the one who sided with a human faction may still have some allies surviving to carry on his goals, if he had any which were not completely selfish.  There's a lesson in there somewhere, I'm sure..."


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## mips42 (Apr 15, 2020)

"You seem to know a lot about dragons."


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## Envisioner (Apr 15, 2020)

"Not directly.  Our expert on the subject is back at Home Tree, but when he talks, I listen.  My specialty is people, which means paying attention to others who specialize in something else."


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## Envisioner (Apr 17, 2020)

*OOC:*


Skarsgard?  Jmuchiello?  Anyone?


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## mips42 (Apr 17, 2020)

"And what of the army.Sparrow here asked abour?"


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## jmucchiello (Apr 17, 2020)

*OOC:*


Ana is following the commandant. She was talking to the mage. Ana is waiting for something interesting to happen. The commandant is so unfriendly, Ana sees no reason to get yelled at again by her.


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## Skarsgard (Apr 18, 2020)

"surely a large force is easy to spot from the air?" Ashur points to the balloon


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## Envisioner (Apr 20, 2020)

Ana tags along after Shel, who ignores both her and Hartleigh completely (which, if nothing else, is a surprising reaction to a clockwork horse, something that the vast majority of Realmsfolk would gawk at in bafflement).  The commandant proceeds to round up the other four individuals who have been dispersing around the area; one of them is carrying a small bag, another holds a halberd, the third is an elf, and the fourth has glowing red eyes, but otherwise they all seem pretty nondescript.  The half-orc boy Nevek gets up and ambles toward the gathering, waving for Ashur, Robyn and Dumos to follow him; assuming they do, the total of 11 individuals gathers around a large rock, which the Emeralds are treating as if it was a council table.

"Report," the husky woman says without preamble to her subordinates, who begin describing their findings as if they were little more than a team of land surveyors.  It's mentioned that the chimera was found, "samples" were taken, and the remains were "sanctified" and then buried; presumably all this happened well before you got within visual range of the operation.  Eventually the discussion comes around to the bagman, the most ordinary-looking of the six Enclave agents by far (the halberdier is at least noticeably more muscular than the human average, though not to the same extent Shel is).  He places the sack up on the rock, opens the drawstring, reaches into it, and pulls out Hartleigh's collar, which is obviously too large to have fit within the physical space of the sack itself.  As veteran adventurers, you've all heard of storage devices like this, but it's likely that none of you has actually seen one yet, and the reality does not disappoint compared to the tales.

Hartleigh immediately gets off his horse (which, being a construct, stands absolutely still while waiting for him to remount it), walks up to the table, and attempts to take the collar from the bagman - who does not relinquish hold of it.  The two stare at each other for a moment, but for now they don't attempt to make an issue of things, and Shel seems content to move on with the meeting.  You're not sure if she plans on getting around to your questions at some point or not, although Nevek gives you a sympathetic look that _might_ suggest she probably will get to you, once the formalities of her job are attended to.


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## jmucchiello (Apr 20, 2020)

"Let him examine the collar. He originally made it." Ana says.


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## Envisioner (Apr 20, 2020)

Shel nods curtly, and the bagman relinquishes the item.  Hartleigh begins scrutinizing the runes with a jeweler's loupe, experimentally tapping the metal with a tiny hammer, and so forth; the discussion moves on around the table, and finally comes to Nevek, who is clearly the juniormost voice on the council.  "If it please the commandant, I believe these worthies would like a few of their questions answered at this point."  Frowning, the dictatorial woman gestures her grudging assent.

"We were on routine patrol between Ardeep and the High Forest when we got word that the Enclave's forces here in the south had engaged a hostile force and sustained heavy losses.  We're not a full military detachment, and we were among the last to arrive anyway, so we never actually saw any fighting, but since then we've been helping out with the cleanup operation.  Somehow the surviving hostiles have gone to ground - without their costumes, most of them just look like anyone else, and they clearly have some sort of intelligence network supporting their efforts to stash their materiel and disappear.  Since then we've been scouring the areas where they had done their marauding, trying to find clues that would help us figure out who exactly they are and what they're up to."

The red-eyed person chimes in at this point.  "If I may, Commander; another aspect of our current mission involves making contact with an individual who matches the description of your friend here," he finishes with a gesture toward Analiese.  "I hope I do not speak out of turn, ma'am, but if you are indeed the so-called Heroine of Brasspool, then our mutual friend Mr. Harkness speaks very highly of you.  I believe there is a connection between this apparent 'dragon army' and the directive we have received from Grand Elder Hachiman, indicating that there is a matter of quite literally global importance being decided in the city of Waterdeep.  The directive calls for us to make contact with certain persons of reputable merit, and Mr. Harkness's tale of your deeds in Brasspool indicate that you could be just such an individual as we wish to employ."  The man's references to Brasspool and Harkness are instantly recognizable to Ana, as being among the more famous of her previous exploits.









*OOC:*


I'll let you figure out what exactly you could have done in the last level or two which would have bought you the near-unconditional recommendation of an Emerald Enclave agent, albeit clearly not a particularly influential one.  It's no coincidence that the guy who apparently wanted to recruit you had to wait until his squad leader was willing to permit him to broach the subject; very clearly she doesn't share his high opinion of you, even if it's only secondhand.


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## Skarsgard (Apr 20, 2020)

"So these people who have gone to ground may wish to cause distractions and diversions?" Ashur asks. "Like releasing a very dangerous monstrosity like this chimera?"

After a pause, he moves over to the chains. "Master Hartleigh , have you managed to find out anything?"


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## jmucchiello (Apr 21, 2020)

Ana bows her head and closes her eyes in memory of Brasspool. She had not saved them all and in some ways it reminded her of her own family's demise. Heroine of Brasspool they had called her and yet all she can remember is the eyes of the dead who she had not saved.

She looks at the red-eyed man. *"Yes, I am Annaliese Claymoor, the so-called Heroine of Brasspool. It was a bloodbath. I noticed the invaders in time to get some of the civilians to safety and to muster the militia on time to stop them before they entered the city streets. The fight took place in a field along the main road and we were able to contain them before they scattered inside the town.

"I also led a raid against their camp the next night. Gerrand, Mr. Harkness, made sure I received an accolade for that. I gave it to a child who lost his parents in the initial raid. As much as I did, it was not enough. It's never enough. They just keep dying.

"Excuse me,"* Ana gets up and disappears into some bushes. Some with high perception might notice she is crying.

Stealth: 1D20+7 = [15]+7 = 22


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## Envisioner (Apr 21, 2020)

Nothing is said, but Nevek gives Shel a distinctly reproachful look.  Mr. Red-Eyes closes them and lowers his head respectfully.


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## mips42 (Apr 21, 2020)

"If we don;t know who or where this group is, the option I see is to bring them to us. the question is, how?"


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## billd91 (Apr 21, 2020)

"A matter of global importance and you look for a lone woman and, by association, us?" Robyn retorts. "Half the people we meet, Dumos, speak in riddles and portent and less in plain speech."
He sighs. "So what is it you would have Ana do, Shelterweight? Find these marauders or travel to Waterdeep to try to settle a matter of global importance?"


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## Envisioner (Apr 22, 2020)

billd91 said:


> "A matter of global importance and you look for a lone woman and, by association, us?" Robyn retorts. "Half the people we meet, Dumos, speak in riddles and portent and less in plain speech."
> He sighs. "So what is it you would have Ana do, Shelterweight? Find these marauders or travel to Waterdeep to try to settle a matter of global importance?"




"The latter," Shel says promptly.  "I wasn't sure at first, but I was told to look for certain things, and you lot appear to fit the profile I was given.  The Enclave as a whole will go digging around to try and figure out where this army melted away to, but in the meantime, we need to get in touch with our representatives in the big city, and since we can't spare one of our delegates from the current operation, your arrival is fortuitous.  I can give you a letter of recommendation which will put our 'Dhavian agents in a cooperative mood when you meet with them."


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## jmucchiello (Apr 22, 2020)

Ana returns to the circle at the end of that. "So first we're irresponsible sots whom you doubt are completely innocent and now you need us to do something important?" Ana says, looking a Shel expectantly, but deep down not expecting an apology.


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## mips42 (Apr 23, 2020)

"I hope we can handle it without getting lost. Oh, look, butterflies."


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## Envisioner (Apr 23, 2020)

jmucchiello said:


> Ana returns to the circle at the end of that. "So first we're irresponsible sots whom you doubt are completely innocent and now you need us to do something important?" Ana says, looking a Shel expectantly, but deep down not expecting an apology.




"You read far too much into my demeanor, ma'am.  I regarded you with no more contempt than I would display toward any civilian."


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## Skarsgard (Apr 23, 2020)

"I would hope that someone in your position wouldn't hold _anyone_ in contempt," Ashur sighs and rubs his chin. "Be that as it may though, and despite your demeanour to those you ask for aid; I think we have bigger issues than civility towards one another."

"So if you can't be polite, at least be professional!"


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## jmucchiello (Apr 23, 2020)

"Waste of time, Ashur. She has no empathy for people she deems beneath her, such as her own men. She risks her life as a soldier so she can feel superior to the little people," Ana says to Ashur. To the red-eyed man she says, "I did not get your name, sir. As soon as we have the message we are to deliver to Waterdeep, we will depart."


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## Envisioner (Apr 23, 2020)

*OOC:*


Anyone who has seen Star Trek: the Next Generation should picture Shel as having rather the general attitude of Worf.  Lack of empathy is certainly a reasonable impression to come away with; she does have other virtues beneath the surface, but they aren't coming out in circumstances like this.







Red eyes gives his name as Killian.  There isn't a specific message to be delivered, more of a general indication that you should check in with this "Council of Waterdeep", and if nobody else is cooperative, you can at least give them proof that you've been authorized by the Enclave to respond to the Council's issues.  The group doesn't have a lot of specifics, but the dragon cult is clearly part of a larger problem, and the Council is an organized effort across multiple power groups, intended to address the rising threat.


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## jmucchiello (Apr 23, 2020)

*OOC:*


She accuses people she doesn't know of being untrustworthy. She openly says she has contempt for peasants. She is nothing like Worf.


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## Envisioner (Apr 23, 2020)

*OOC:*




jmucchiello said:


> She accuses people she doesn't know of being untrustworthy. She openly says she has contempt for peasants. She is nothing like Worf.




I didn't say it was an exact parallel.  Think of her as kinda like Season 1 Worf, before they started to develop his character properly.  I didn't develop much of a character for her either.  And this whole scene has gone on way longer than it should have, and I never really intended it anyway.  I'm trying to get us on to the real action, without completely dropping all the leads you guys chose to follow up on.  I'm okay with Ana wanting to get out of there; this is much of why Shel isn't trying to defend herself in-character.


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## Envisioner (Apr 24, 2020)

*OOC:*


bump - anybody waiting on me?


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## jmucchiello (Apr 24, 2020)

Ana accepts the letter of recommendation from Nevek and places it in her backpack. "Find yourself a new commander as soon as you can, Nevek. I know your instinct is to defend her after I said that. Don't bother. Be safe." To the mage, she says, "We'll accompany you back to town. It looks like it'll be sunset by the time we arrive. We will depart for Waterdeep in the morning." To the rest of the group, she says, "Let's mount up and be off."









*OOC:*


I took some liberties. I assume others will say their good byes in their own posts.


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## Skarsgard (Apr 24, 2020)

Ashur shakes his head, this day was a great reminder why he normally preferred hunting people to talking to them.

"Good luck ." he seemed about to say more but shook his head again. The commander concerned him with her casual disregard for the average people.

"Commander, bear in mind that these non combatants are the true heroes. They build the future while we destroy.  They battle the elements every day to ensure there is a future. 

what people like us do requires no courage at all, it is weakness that drives us to this life. Strength is planting trees that you may never see to maturity because it is the right thing to do. Strength is hacking a life out of the wild , burying children as you go.

what we do is the farthest thing from strength. I hope you learn that before it is too late. "


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## mips42 (Apr 25, 2020)

Dumos silently climb back onto Destiny and follows back to the town.


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## Envisioner (Apr 26, 2020)

*OOC:*


Well I was planning on having them offer you a balloon ride, but since time isn't a critical factor and at least two of you seem determined to shun further contact with the Enclave, all because of your dislike for one hardass NPC who I didn't think was ever remotely over the line for a stock character, we'll just say that you go ahead and make your own travel arrangements, probably with Hartleigh arranging for you guys to join a carriage-crew for one of his clients or something.  In whatever fashion, this entire "prelude" to Rise of Tiamat is now complete, and we can commence the main plot with your arrival in Waterdeep.


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## mips42 (May 4, 2020)

*OOC:*


 soooo... are we going? {/ooc]


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## Envisioner (May 4, 2020)

mips42 said:


> *OOC:*
> 
> 
> soooo... are we going? {/ooc]




No, my life is in rough shape right now, and I can't devote my time and energy to running D&D at this point.


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## mips42 (May 4, 2020)

*OOC:*


 Oh, sorry to hear that.do what you need and we'll do this later. Be as well as you can.


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## Envisioner (Jun 9, 2020)

whoops wrong thread


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