WotBS Tormyr's War of the Burning Sky campaign [spoilers abound]
Rantle to the rescue
Yup. I have a house rule for falling damage that does more damage per foot but allows a creature to negate damage up to the value of an acrobatics check. Rantle jumped off the 20 foot roof, risking up to ~15 points of damage, but he stuck the landing. That and his dashing good looks and swagger caused Dro'marri (or more likely his player) to declare, "I already hate this guy."
Immediately, Rantle swung into action. He told Trinja and Zed to attack a single target in the middle (showing off the Commander's new Leader Tactics) and organized them into picking off one at a time. Dro'marri was surrounded and almost knocked out. He disengaged and ran behind some allies while Byron used his Wayfarer's Step to teleport to the top of a roof. He hurled vicious mockery while avoiding the melee. Rantle dropped a healing potion at Dro'marri's feet while taking swings with his greatsword. Slowly the tide turned, and a worrisome fight turned to a victory as they surrounded the mercenaries and knocked out or captured 7 of the mercenaries; the last one escaped down an alley.
Rantle helped the heroes tie up the mercenaries and offered to turn them over to the authorities if the heroes would do him a favor. He heard about the events at the pub the night before and had an idea that the heroes were on a mission to Seaquen. He asked them to deliver a scroll case containing a message and a scroll of fireball to his sister who had been heading to Seaquen but dropped out of contact a week ago. He also told them that he would make sure the thieves' guild would not harass them as they tried to leave the city. They agreed and headed on their way.
Council member Erdan Menash had a relatively successful career as a merchant specializing in outfitting adventurers before turning to a life of politics. His three-story house with an iron fence around it would be what you would expect of someone with that career...if not for the green, yellow, and purple paint job. The guards at the front gate sported the same colors in their livery. Taking a deep breath to not burst into fits of laughter, the introduced themselves at the gate and requested an audience with Council member Menash. One of the guards escorted them to the door, where a servant showed them to a reception room. As Byron started to think of a way to sneak around to find some documents of Menash's to forge a signature of off, the servant returned with refreshments and said that while Council member Menash was out, he was expected to return soon. The heroes settled in to wait.
About 30 minutes later, Erdan Menash burst in through his front door, loudly cursing at the council who was going to give in to the Ragesian demands. Then he noticed his guests and brightened considerably. He asked them what their business was. They explained the situation and their need to get out of the city. Menash started to come up with an idea and got sidetracked. He gave the heroes an impromptu tour of his home. The second floor contained his workshop which included dozens of decorations for the day's now cancelled Festival of Dreams. The other side of the second floor contained a remarkable array of weapons and armor. Byron and Trinja complimented him on his amazing collection.
Beaming with gratitude, Menash remembers the need to get back to business. He gets to work on orders for Captain Herreman, a leader of a nearby barracks and a good friend of Menash. As he finishes the orders, he tells the heroes that he feels that dark times are ahead for Gate Pass, and he wants his weapons to be used against the Ragesians. He offers the heroes a choice of any of his weapons or armor. Torrent chooses a falchion that looks like a dolphin with the pommel as the head and the sweep of the blade as the body. Trinja chooses a breastplate that is stylized to look like a rhino head. D'buld chooses a pair of whips with heads like scorpions and blades embedded all the way through the whips. Zed chooses the prize of the collection, a heavy crossbow that looks like a porcupine that shoots bolts out its back end. He also purchases a green, yellow, and purple lance. Byron chooses a hand crossbow that looks like a mosquito with the bolt being the probiscus. Dro'marri, the blacksmith, thinks all of this is dumb: weapons and tools should be functional, but keeps his opinion mostly to himself.
They thank Council member Menash for his help and head to the barracks. Captain Herreman is a gruff, half-orc soldier, but as he reads the note from Menash, the corner of his mouth curls into a smile. He explains that he will outfit the heroes as city guard and provide them with horses. He gets all of the needed supplies together while the heroes grab a nap before they all head out with Herreman's patrol at sunset. After a hard 30 hours, the exit from the city went uneventfully. Herreman sent them on their way and advised them of a campsite to sleep as they, "looked like hell." The heroes thanked him and set up camp. Zed took the first watch and dozed off. He came to and didn't see anything amiss. So he woke up D'buld for his watch. D'buld took over for 30 minutes before the sun came up. Thankfully, nothing happened in the night.
They proceeded south towards the fire forest of Inennotdar. The trail wound through a narrow valley as the heroes talked among themselves when suddenly *BOOM*, a thunderstone exploded in their midst. The horses of Byron, Zed, and Dro'marri spooked and galloped down the valley. The Black Horse scouts hidden on a precipice above started raining down crossbow bolts into Torrent. After half the heroes' horses took them down the valley, another mercenary and someone in a horse-themed armor attacked Torrent as well. Torrent was hit heavily. Zed and Dro'marri abandoned Byron and went back to the rest of the group. While Byron still tried to get his horse under control, more mercenaries down the path surrounded him, and the rest of the heroes circled around Torrent. If the heroes could keep the cleric alive, they had a chance.
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Rantle helped the heroes tie up the mercenaries and offered to turn them over to the authorities if the heroes would do him a favor. He heard about the events at the pub the night before and had an idea that the heroes were on a mission to Seaquen. He asked them to deliver a scroll case containing a message and a scroll of fireball to his sister who had been heading to Seaquen but dropped out of contact a week ago. He also told them that he would make sure the thieves' guild would not harass them as they tried to leave the city. They agreed and headed on their way.
Council member Erdan Menash had a relatively successful career as a merchant specializing in outfitting adventurers before turning to a life of politics. His three-story house with an iron fence around it would be what you would expect of someone with that career...if not for the green, yellow, and purple paint job. The guards at the front gate sported the same colors in their livery. Taking a deep breath to not burst into fits of laughter, the introduced themselves at the gate and requested an audience with Council member Menash. One of the guards escorted them to the door, where a servant showed them to a reception room. As Byron started to think of a way to sneak around to find some documents of Menash's to forge a signature of off, the servant returned with refreshments and said that while Council member Menash was out, he was expected to return soon. The heroes settled in to wait.
About 30 minutes later, Erdan Menash burst in through his front door, loudly cursing at the council who was going to give in to the Ragesian demands. Then he noticed his guests and brightened considerably. He asked them what their business was. They explained the situation and their need to get out of the city. Menash started to come up with an idea and got sidetracked. He gave the heroes an impromptu tour of his home. The second floor contained his workshop which included dozens of decorations for the day's now cancelled Festival of Dreams. The other side of the second floor contained a remarkable array of weapons and armor. Byron and Trinja complimented him on his amazing collection.
Beaming with gratitude, Menash remembers the need to get back to business. He gets to work on orders for Captain Herreman, a leader of a nearby barracks and a good friend of Menash. As he finishes the orders, he tells the heroes that he feels that dark times are ahead for Gate Pass, and he wants his weapons to be used against the Ragesians. He offers the heroes a choice of any of his weapons or armor. Torrent chooses a falchion that looks like a dolphin with the pommel as the head and the sweep of the blade as the body. Trinja chooses a breastplate that is stylized to look like a rhino head. D'buld chooses a pair of whips with heads like scorpions and blades embedded all the way through the whips. Zed chooses the prize of the collection, a heavy crossbow that looks like a porcupine that shoots bolts out its back end. He also purchases a green, yellow, and purple lance. Byron chooses a hand crossbow that looks like a mosquito with the bolt being the probiscus. Dro'marri, the blacksmith, thinks all of this is dumb: weapons and tools should be functional, but keeps his opinion mostly to himself.
They thank Council member Menash for his help and head to the barracks. Captain Herreman is a gruff, half-orc soldier, but as he reads the note from Menash, the corner of his mouth curls into a smile. He explains that he will outfit the heroes as city guard and provide them with horses. He gets all of the needed supplies together while the heroes grab a nap before they all head out with Herreman's patrol at sunset. After a hard 30 hours, the exit from the city went uneventfully. Herreman sent them on their way and advised them of a campsite to sleep as they, "looked like hell." The heroes thanked him and set up camp. Zed took the first watch and dozed off. He came to and didn't see anything amiss. So he woke up D'buld for his watch. D'buld took over for 30 minutes before the sun came up. Thankfully, nothing happened in the night.
They proceeded south towards the fire forest of Inennotdar. The trail wound through a narrow valley as the heroes talked among themselves when suddenly *BOOM*, a thunderstone exploded in their midst. The horses of Byron, Zed, and Dro'marri spooked and galloped down the valley. The Black Horse scouts hidden on a precipice above started raining down crossbow bolts into Torrent. After half the heroes' horses took them down the valley, another mercenary and someone in a horse-themed armor attacked Torrent as well. Torrent was hit heavily. Zed and Dro'marri abandoned Byron and went back to the rest of the group. While Byron still tried to get his horse under control, more mercenaries down the path surrounded him, and the rest of the heroes circled around Torrent. If the heroes could keep the cleric alive, they had a chance.
One of the scouts sounded a horn down the canyon. A few seconds later, Byron heard the thunder of hooves echoing from further down the valley. He turned tail and galloped back toward his allies. The mercenaries fired at him struck at his horse, and tried to pull him down, but he managed to continue. A trio of mercenaries formed a line to block him from rejoining the group, but he managed to have his horse trample through the brush at the side of the path and go around them.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the heroes worked on neutralizing threats. D'buld rode around a mercenary and engaged their leader in melee. The leader panicked and fired an arrow into his own leg.
Dro'marri rode to the precipice where the scouts were firing down at them. He stood on his horse and jumped up to the precipice. Making a charge, he shoved the most injured of the scouts off the ledge.
As the battle continued, Dro'Marri managed to shove the other two scouts off of the precipice, landing one on top of the other. They got up and engaged Trinja. One of the scouts scored a critical hit, but it was absorbed by one of Trinja's mirror image's. Dro'Marri saw they three scouts were in a line and decided to try to kick off of each of their heads, one after the other. Unfortunately, he mistimed his leap but landed on his feet.
Byron arrived on the scene and cast a healing word to keep Torrent in the fight. Behind him, Kathor Danava galloped into view. Byron, already injured, cast charm person on Kathor in an attempt to not be hit by the scary warrior. Kathor veered of toward Zed, telling the mercenaries to be sure not to kill "my friend over there." Zed having hacked away at several mercenaries turned and attacked Kathor. This broke the spell on Kathor, but it didn't matter as a mercenary's crossbow bolt pierced Byron, and he fell off his horse. A mercenary, not wanting to miss out on a 100gp bounty, rushed over and stabilized Byron.
Torrent, seeing Byron fall, panicked and charged the Black Horse leader. She finally landed a solid hit. Trinja, followed her lead and dealt the leader with a solid blow, knocking him unconscious. Seeing the leader fall, Kathor called out for everyone to stop and gave the mercenaries' surrender. A mercenary complained and was knocked out cold by Kathor's gauntlet. Kathor explained to the heroes that his father was the general of the army attacking Gate Pass and that he had left for reasons that were his own. He fell in with the Black Horse as they were the first people to appreciate his horsemanship skills. He soon found himself regretting that decision as the mercenaries only cared about money and lacked any real sense of honor. He told the heroes to tie up the mercenaries and gave up the location of their base before riding off back toward Gate Pass.
The heroes easily found the camp set up at the entrance to a grotto. Inside the grotto, the found a set of locked gates. The realized that these makeshift rooms would have been used for storage of the clay pots from the festival of dreams. Inside one room, the found a sleeping person that they could not wake up. A search of the mercenary leader's tent revealed a key, and they unlocked the gate. The found that the man was dead from exposure with his cat familiar dead beside him. He had wrapped a faded silk shroud around himself in a vain attempt to stay warm. The heroes respectfully pulled the body out and dug a grave. After finishing with the burial, the shroud, which they kept, glowed briefly. The realized that their actions had somehow divinely blessed the shroud and made it a minor magical item.
After taking a short rest, they released all the mercenaries' horses, sent the unconscious mercenary leader and his horse on their way and untied one of the mercenaries. They continued their travels south for several hours. One mile from the fire forest, they emerged from the mountains to warmer air and were able to shed their heavy winter gear. They could see the forest ablaze in the distance, and ash wafted toward them. A half-mile from the forest, they came upon a farmhouse. A young woman with dark hair and clutching a black staff stood out front.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the heroes worked on neutralizing threats. D'buld rode around a mercenary and engaged their leader in melee. The leader panicked and fired an arrow into his own leg.
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Dro'marri rode to the precipice where the scouts were firing down at them. He stood on his horse and jumped up to the precipice. Making a charge, he shoved the most injured of the scouts off the ledge.
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As the battle continued, Dro'Marri managed to shove the other two scouts off of the precipice, landing one on top of the other. They got up and engaged Trinja. One of the scouts scored a critical hit, but it was absorbed by one of Trinja's mirror image's. Dro'Marri saw they three scouts were in a line and decided to try to kick off of each of their heads, one after the other. Unfortunately, he mistimed his leap but landed on his feet.
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Byron arrived on the scene and cast a healing word to keep Torrent in the fight. Behind him, Kathor Danava galloped into view. Byron, already injured, cast charm person on Kathor in an attempt to not be hit by the scary warrior. Kathor veered of toward Zed, telling the mercenaries to be sure not to kill "my friend over there." Zed having hacked away at several mercenaries turned and attacked Kathor. This broke the spell on Kathor, but it didn't matter as a mercenary's crossbow bolt pierced Byron, and he fell off his horse. A mercenary, not wanting to miss out on a 100gp bounty, rushed over and stabilized Byron.
Torrent, seeing Byron fall, panicked and charged the Black Horse leader. She finally landed a solid hit. Trinja, followed her lead and dealt the leader with a solid blow, knocking him unconscious. Seeing the leader fall, Kathor called out for everyone to stop and gave the mercenaries' surrender. A mercenary complained and was knocked out cold by Kathor's gauntlet. Kathor explained to the heroes that his father was the general of the army attacking Gate Pass and that he had left for reasons that were his own. He fell in with the Black Horse as they were the first people to appreciate his horsemanship skills. He soon found himself regretting that decision as the mercenaries only cared about money and lacked any real sense of honor. He told the heroes to tie up the mercenaries and gave up the location of their base before riding off back toward Gate Pass.
The heroes easily found the camp set up at the entrance to a grotto. Inside the grotto, the found a set of locked gates. The realized that these makeshift rooms would have been used for storage of the clay pots from the festival of dreams. Inside one room, the found a sleeping person that they could not wake up. A search of the mercenary leader's tent revealed a key, and they unlocked the gate. The found that the man was dead from exposure with his cat familiar dead beside him. He had wrapped a faded silk shroud around himself in a vain attempt to stay warm. The heroes respectfully pulled the body out and dug a grave. After finishing with the burial, the shroud, which they kept, glowed briefly. The realized that their actions had somehow divinely blessed the shroud and made it a minor magical item.
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After taking a short rest, they released all the mercenaries' horses, sent the unconscious mercenary leader and his horse on their way and untied one of the mercenaries. They continued their travels south for several hours. One mile from the fire forest, they emerged from the mountains to warmer air and were able to shed their heavy winter gear. They could see the forest ablaze in the distance, and ash wafted toward them. A half-mile from the forest, they came upon a farmhouse. A young woman with dark hair and clutching a black staff stood out front.
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The young woman had a faraway look in her intense blue eyes as she told the heroes that she had seen them pursued by Ragesian inquisitors in a dream. She then snapped out of it, blushed, and apologized, explaining that she sometimes has visions that come to her. She introduced herself as Crystin and asked the heroes to take her father and her with them as she saw it was a place of safety. She brought the heroes into her house to meet her father.
Haddin was a cold, calculating man with a disregard for the lives and well-being of others. When Dro'Marri heard Haddin's name, he recalled a story from almost 20 years ago in which Haddin, an upstanding member of society, was accused of using a domination spell to forcibly reform his criminal half-orc half-brother. A riot formed as people were afraid they had been mentally controlled by Haddin in the past. Haddin's brother tried to defend him and was killed by the mob. Haddin fled Gate Pass with his pregnant wife. Crystin was about the right age to be Haddin's daughter. The old, overweight man looked like the years had crushed his humanity.
Haddin refused to leave his home and vowed to defend it against whoever came. When Crystin tried to interject, Haddin told her to be quiet, and she instantly stopped talking. As the heroes argued with Haddin, Dro'Marri and D'buld watched the road outside. They noticed a small figure, a goblin, scurrying around the perimeter toward the back of the house and some movement behind one of the 10-foot-tall mounds along the road. Dro'Marri circled around back while D'buld investigated the road. Crystin's head snapped up as she said, "They're here."
A booming voice from behind the mounds along the road reverberated into the house. "Send Haddin out, and nobody will be harmed! Refuse, and everyone dies!" There was 30 seconds of silence as everyone inside argued about what to do while D'buld and Dro'Marri dove for cover. A group of skeletons advanced on the house with another goblin. Inside, the heroes heard a click as a floating key held by Haddin's mage hand locked the door. Trinja, Byron, and Zed demanded to be let out, but Haddin wouldn't budge.
Byron looked through the keyhole and used misty step to pass through the locked door. He found himself in the middle of a battle with D'Buld surrounded and an inquisitor concentrating on a half-cast spell. He tried to send a healing word to D'buld, but the inquisitor released his cancel and the healing spell fizzled. Eventually, the heroes inside the house managed to convince Haddin to let them out.
D'buld was now dealing with a menacing half-orc and a number of orc Ragesian soldiers as well. Torrent ran outside and failed to turn the skeletons but managed to bury her axe in the chest of a soldier. Byron used misty step to get on the roof and let loose a constant volley of vicious mockery. Suddenly, Haddin ran outside, shut the door behind him, mounted a horse and rode it around the back of the house as a bloodied Dro'Marri finished knocking out the goblin who had taken up a position in the stables. The inquisitor roared at his minions to capture Haddin, and the chase was on.
The rest of the heroes tried their best to hold off the Ragesians, destroying half of the skeletons and soldiers and the hulking half-orc, but they were horrified to see the inquisitor heal the half-orc who drank a potion of growth followed by raging. The huge half-orc started smashing his way toward the heroes. Haddin rode away on his horse, and the huge, half-orc barbarian gave chase, stopping on the way to hit Byron who was at chest level on top of the house. He landed a devastating blow, knocking Byron unconscious. Byron rolled off the roof, landing on Dro'Marri and knocking him out as well.
Hearing the bumps on his roof, Haddin decided it was time to head out the back door and take the advantage. Everyone did a double-take as a second Haddin emerged from the back door of the house and dominated Smiley. Haddin ordered Smiley to kill the inquisitor and any other Ragesian or skeleton on the way. Smiley turned and charged at the inquisitor. When the inquisitor's rebuke magic failed to dispel the domination on Smiley, he turned, jumped on a horse, and rode around to the back to find the spellcaster.
Haddin ran back inside the house and closed the door while Zed and Torrent stabilized Byron and Dro'Marri. The inquisitor cast shatter and blew apart the back door, catching Haddin in the blast. He lost concentration on the domination spell. Crystin, kneeling over her father, cast a magic missile at Smiley, knocking him out. The fake Haddin on the horse fired an eldritch blast, and everyone surrounded the inquisitor, knocking him unconscious before D'buld finished him and Smiley off.
Haddin decided that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to leave the region for a while. Battered and bruised, the heroes decided to rest for the night at Haddin's house before heading into the fiery forest of Innenotdar.
The next day they set out. Each of them drank a potion of stand the heat which protected them from the oven-like heat if not the fire. They had enough potions for two days of travel, which should be enough. As they entered the forest, they could still feel the heat even if it did not harm them. After a quarter mile, they came on a trio of corpses. Two of them were torn apart, and one had flames playing over its surface. Byron decided to search the corpses, relying on his fire resistance to protect him.
Suddenly, the corpse on fire reached up toward him, saying, "Kill me!" Byron, partly on reaction, obliged and sliced off the humanoids head. The body collapsed, and the flames on it slowly died out. Byron continued to search the corpses, scorching his hands in the process. After he was done, Haddin said, "You know, it was funny watching you burn your hands on them when you could have just had me do this," and he searched the bodies with mage hand.
The heroes had not expected to run into anything in the burning forest, but this experience shook them. What was going on in the forest?
Haddin was a cold, calculating man with a disregard for the lives and well-being of others. When Dro'Marri heard Haddin's name, he recalled a story from almost 20 years ago in which Haddin, an upstanding member of society, was accused of using a domination spell to forcibly reform his criminal half-orc half-brother. A riot formed as people were afraid they had been mentally controlled by Haddin in the past. Haddin's brother tried to defend him and was killed by the mob. Haddin fled Gate Pass with his pregnant wife. Crystin was about the right age to be Haddin's daughter. The old, overweight man looked like the years had crushed his humanity.
Haddin refused to leave his home and vowed to defend it against whoever came. When Crystin tried to interject, Haddin told her to be quiet, and she instantly stopped talking. As the heroes argued with Haddin, Dro'Marri and D'buld watched the road outside. They noticed a small figure, a goblin, scurrying around the perimeter toward the back of the house and some movement behind one of the 10-foot-tall mounds along the road. Dro'Marri circled around back while D'buld investigated the road. Crystin's head snapped up as she said, "They're here."
A booming voice from behind the mounds along the road reverberated into the house. "Send Haddin out, and nobody will be harmed! Refuse, and everyone dies!" There was 30 seconds of silence as everyone inside argued about what to do while D'buld and Dro'Marri dove for cover. A group of skeletons advanced on the house with another goblin. Inside, the heroes heard a click as a floating key held by Haddin's mage hand locked the door. Trinja, Byron, and Zed demanded to be let out, but Haddin wouldn't budge.
Byron looked through the keyhole and used misty step to pass through the locked door. He found himself in the middle of a battle with D'Buld surrounded and an inquisitor concentrating on a half-cast spell. He tried to send a healing word to D'buld, but the inquisitor released his cancel and the healing spell fizzled. Eventually, the heroes inside the house managed to convince Haddin to let them out.
D'buld was now dealing with a menacing half-orc and a number of orc Ragesian soldiers as well. Torrent ran outside and failed to turn the skeletons but managed to bury her axe in the chest of a soldier. Byron used misty step to get on the roof and let loose a constant volley of vicious mockery. Suddenly, Haddin ran outside, shut the door behind him, mounted a horse and rode it around the back of the house as a bloodied Dro'Marri finished knocking out the goblin who had taken up a position in the stables. The inquisitor roared at his minions to capture Haddin, and the chase was on.
The rest of the heroes tried their best to hold off the Ragesians, destroying half of the skeletons and soldiers and the hulking half-orc, but they were horrified to see the inquisitor heal the half-orc who drank a potion of growth followed by raging. The huge half-orc started smashing his way toward the heroes. Haddin rode away on his horse, and the huge, half-orc barbarian gave chase, stopping on the way to hit Byron who was at chest level on top of the house. He landed a devastating blow, knocking Byron unconscious. Byron rolled off the roof, landing on Dro'Marri and knocking him out as well.
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Hearing the bumps on his roof, Haddin decided it was time to head out the back door and take the advantage. Everyone did a double-take as a second Haddin emerged from the back door of the house and dominated Smiley. Haddin ordered Smiley to kill the inquisitor and any other Ragesian or skeleton on the way. Smiley turned and charged at the inquisitor. When the inquisitor's rebuke magic failed to dispel the domination on Smiley, he turned, jumped on a horse, and rode around to the back to find the spellcaster.
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Haddin ran back inside the house and closed the door while Zed and Torrent stabilized Byron and Dro'Marri. The inquisitor cast shatter and blew apart the back door, catching Haddin in the blast. He lost concentration on the domination spell. Crystin, kneeling over her father, cast a magic missile at Smiley, knocking him out. The fake Haddin on the horse fired an eldritch blast, and everyone surrounded the inquisitor, knocking him unconscious before D'buld finished him and Smiley off.
Haddin decided that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to leave the region for a while. Battered and bruised, the heroes decided to rest for the night at Haddin's house before heading into the fiery forest of Innenotdar.
The next day they set out. Each of them drank a potion of stand the heat which protected them from the oven-like heat if not the fire. They had enough potions for two days of travel, which should be enough. As they entered the forest, they could still feel the heat even if it did not harm them. After a quarter mile, they came on a trio of corpses. Two of them were torn apart, and one had flames playing over its surface. Byron decided to search the corpses, relying on his fire resistance to protect him.
Suddenly, the corpse on fire reached up toward him, saying, "Kill me!" Byron, partly on reaction, obliged and sliced off the humanoids head. The body collapsed, and the flames on it slowly died out. Byron continued to search the corpses, scorching his hands in the process. After he was done, Haddin said, "You know, it was funny watching you burn your hands on them when you could have just had me do this," and he searched the bodies with mage hand.
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The heroes had not expected to run into anything in the burning forest, but this experience shook them. What was going on in the forest?
Shaken by their encounter with the burning man, the heroes proceeded further down the Elfroad. The fires burned all vegetation without consuming it, but the fires on a particular bush or tree seemed to curiously weaken as they walked by before flaring back to full strength behind them.
After a mile, a screaming creature flew out of a burning tree toward Byron. The magma mephit was screaming in Ignan, and two giant bats, their bodies fully engulfed in flames flew after the mephit. The heroes fought the bats while the mephit used Byron as a shield. After a short fight, the bats lay on the ground, the flames still playing over their fallen forms.
Then, to everyone's horror, the bats got up again. The heroes quickly smacked the bats down again, and this time they hacked the bats apart for good measure. The flames engulfing the bats died down and were extinguished.
D'buld stepped forward to address the mephit. After a brief discussion, he learned that most creatures in the forest were like this: engulfed in flame and refusing to die. It told the heroes about a little bit about the lay of the land, including the forest, a river that was coming up in a few miles, and the village downriver with the annoying singing. Considering its debt paid, the mephit flew off into the burning forest.
The heroes came up to a bridge that spanned a 60-foot-deep gorge. The bridge had a section on the right that had broken away. A crashed cart in the gorge below showed the means by which the bridge had become damaged. Further inspection by Zed indicated that there were several weak points on the bridge where it was not structurally sound. D'buld decided to test a section to see what happened when it was stepped on. After a bit of effort, a section of the bridge crumbled away. Unfortunately, the falling stones disturbed hundreds of bats.
The bats, like their larger brethren, were on fire. They swarmed the heroes and their companions, Haddin, Crystin, and Torrent. The heroes swatted at the bats but were finding themselves overwhelmed. Haddin succumbed to the bats fiery bites, and Torrent quickly healed him. Dro'mari called for everyone to make their way across the bridge. D'buld sprinted across the bridge, but he missed a weak section of the bridge. The stones gave way, and D'bud slipped through the hole, hitting the far slope on the way down and falling unconscious among the burning brush.
With his new comrade fallen to the bottom of the gorge and moments from receiving mortal burns, Byron sprinted across the bridge. Leaning through the new hole, he cast healing word and revived D'buld. D'buld scrambled up on the crashed cart and put out the flames. The heroes finally managed to kill the bats, smashing any that looked like they were starting to get up again.
Nothing seemed to follow the natural order of death here. As the heroes and their companions carefully crossed the bridge. Haddin seemed pensive after having just faced death.
After a mile, a screaming creature flew out of a burning tree toward Byron. The magma mephit was screaming in Ignan, and two giant bats, their bodies fully engulfed in flames flew after the mephit. The heroes fought the bats while the mephit used Byron as a shield. After a short fight, the bats lay on the ground, the flames still playing over their fallen forms.
Then, to everyone's horror, the bats got up again. The heroes quickly smacked the bats down again, and this time they hacked the bats apart for good measure. The flames engulfing the bats died down and were extinguished.
D'buld stepped forward to address the mephit. After a brief discussion, he learned that most creatures in the forest were like this: engulfed in flame and refusing to die. It told the heroes about a little bit about the lay of the land, including the forest, a river that was coming up in a few miles, and the village downriver with the annoying singing. Considering its debt paid, the mephit flew off into the burning forest.
The heroes came up to a bridge that spanned a 60-foot-deep gorge. The bridge had a section on the right that had broken away. A crashed cart in the gorge below showed the means by which the bridge had become damaged. Further inspection by Zed indicated that there were several weak points on the bridge where it was not structurally sound. D'buld decided to test a section to see what happened when it was stepped on. After a bit of effort, a section of the bridge crumbled away. Unfortunately, the falling stones disturbed hundreds of bats.
The bats, like their larger brethren, were on fire. They swarmed the heroes and their companions, Haddin, Crystin, and Torrent. The heroes swatted at the bats but were finding themselves overwhelmed. Haddin succumbed to the bats fiery bites, and Torrent quickly healed him. Dro'mari called for everyone to make their way across the bridge. D'buld sprinted across the bridge, but he missed a weak section of the bridge. The stones gave way, and D'bud slipped through the hole, hitting the far slope on the way down and falling unconscious among the burning brush.
With his new comrade fallen to the bottom of the gorge and moments from receiving mortal burns, Byron sprinted across the bridge. Leaning through the new hole, he cast healing word and revived D'buld. D'buld scrambled up on the crashed cart and put out the flames. The heroes finally managed to kill the bats, smashing any that looked like they were starting to get up again.
Nothing seemed to follow the natural order of death here. As the heroes and their companions carefully crossed the bridge. Haddin seemed pensive after having just faced death.
RangerWickett
Legend
Ah, good, good. It's good when the Fire Forest is horrible and terrifying.
One of my players has a friend who used to do concept art for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. As a Christmas present to everyone, he commissioned her to do line art of all the characters and then inked them himself. They turned out pretty well and became our tokens on Roll20. I updated the first post with the character art.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...ampaign-spoilers-abound&p=7392032#post7392032
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...ampaign-spoilers-abound&p=7392032#post7392032
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The heroes followed the road, the burning forest forcing them to stay on the path. They came upon another bridge, which they gingerly started to cross. On the other side, a hell hound padded out of the burning forest up to the bridge's exit. The heroes froze, waiting for an attack before they realized it was taking no hostile action and was carrying a large bone in its mouth. The hell hound dropped the bone at the end of the bridge, backed up 30 feet, and sat down to watch the heroes' reaction.
Byron, the most resistant to fire and best at escaping, slowly walked forward and examined the bone. Its work finished, the hell hound retreated into the forest. The bone was the femur of a humanoid, and a note was scratched into its surface.
They did not know who the message was from, and complying was going to be a problem as they did not have the case with the Ragesian intelligence. In any case, they decided to carry the bone so they could initiate dialog with the sender. Ten minutes later, a green bearded devil appeared in their path. He introduced himself as Kazyk, a humble servant of Ragesia, and demanded the case in the nicest way possible: with honeyed words and veiled threats. The heroes tried to explain that they only had a few pages instead of the entire book, but the devil sighed and said he would have to make sure of that to fulfill the requirements of his contract. He summoned some imps and directed them to attack.
The imps turned invisible and flew toward the heroes. Meanwhile, Kazyk used misty step to jump into the burning forest and flank the heroes. The heroes circled up and tried to defend themselves, but Kazyk would run up, attack with his glaive, and misty step back to the safety of the forest. Meanwhile, Zed dropped his battleaxe at his feet and switched to his porcupine crossbow. One of the invisible imps flew between his feet, grabbed the battleaxe, and dropped it 30 feet away in the burning forest.
The heroes managed to destroy the imps, but Kazyk handily beat them. After striking each of the heroes with nary a scratch on himself, Kazyk bid the heroes farewell and warned them to be more helpful in the future.
The heroes picked themselves up, nursed their wounds, and continued on. Byron ran into the forest and retrieved Zed's battleaxe. They were worried about what they had gotten themselves into. The forest's worst problem was supposed to be that it was forever burning, but the inhabitants of the forest seemed much more dangerous.
Byron, the most resistant to fire and best at escaping, slowly walked forward and examined the bone. Its work finished, the hell hound retreated into the forest. The bone was the femur of a humanoid, and a note was scratched into its surface.
They did not know who the message was from, and complying was going to be a problem as they did not have the case with the Ragesian intelligence. In any case, they decided to carry the bone so they could initiate dialog with the sender. Ten minutes later, a green bearded devil appeared in their path. He introduced himself as Kazyk, a humble servant of Ragesia, and demanded the case in the nicest way possible: with honeyed words and veiled threats. The heroes tried to explain that they only had a few pages instead of the entire book, but the devil sighed and said he would have to make sure of that to fulfill the requirements of his contract. He summoned some imps and directed them to attack.
The imps turned invisible and flew toward the heroes. Meanwhile, Kazyk used misty step to jump into the burning forest and flank the heroes. The heroes circled up and tried to defend themselves, but Kazyk would run up, attack with his glaive, and misty step back to the safety of the forest. Meanwhile, Zed dropped his battleaxe at his feet and switched to his porcupine crossbow. One of the invisible imps flew between his feet, grabbed the battleaxe, and dropped it 30 feet away in the burning forest.
The heroes managed to destroy the imps, but Kazyk handily beat them. After striking each of the heroes with nary a scratch on himself, Kazyk bid the heroes farewell and warned them to be more helpful in the future.
The heroes picked themselves up, nursed their wounds, and continued on. Byron ran into the forest and retrieved Zed's battleaxe. They were worried about what they had gotten themselves into. The forest's worst problem was supposed to be that it was forever burning, but the inhabitants of the forest seemed much more dangerous.
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RangerWickett
Legend
The art doesn't show for me.
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