Somewhere else...

[MENTION=6775039]Binks[/MENTION], this is our play by post thread for your Heroic Tier 4e game starting at level 6. When you are able, please:

1) Post your clipboarded version of your character and attach PDF.

2) Post a brief backstory with thematic hooks that leaves a lot open. I know you're an elven warrior, hunter, and mystic from the Feywild (with a bear), who is now trapped in the material world due to some event. What else?

3) Post 3 pithy, descriptive statements that are cornerstones of the character. At least 1 needs to be a statement of ethos/belief or an oath. Beyond that, you can invoke a relationship with a person/place/thing/virtue/vice, something relevant about your race/clan, something precious lost that is defining, something you relentlessly are pursuing or avoiding, etc. Draw me in.

4) Pick 3; gnolls, orcs, goblins, the untamed wilderness, bandits, human barbarians/marauders, tainted wild things, abominations from the Far Realm.

5) I need two scene openers:

a) We will start the game in the present, at some seminal event that play will work up toward. This needs to have some fixed details but leave most things vague (as we have no idea how we're getting there nor what precisely it will be), ending with your character thinking on what is about to happen and reflecting on the past, the beginning of it all...which is your second scene opener.

b) The second opener needs to be the moment you were shunted into this world from the Feywild. This is going to be another seminal, thematic conflict that will drive play towards the climactic events of that first conflict (a). Your scene opener needs to be much more fleshed out but still leave some things open. I will fill in the details you leave open and then we will begin play with the resolution of this conflict.

1)
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Saeri Woodwalker, level 6
Wood Elf, Fighter (Slayer)
Associate: Trained Young Bear
Moonstruck Hunter (+2 to Perception)
Theme: Fey Beast Tamer

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 12, CON 13, DEX 18, INT 14, WIS 16, CHA 10

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 12, CON 13, DEX 15, INT 14, WIS 13, CHA 10

AC: 23 Fort: 17 Ref: 18 Will: 17
HP: 58 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 14

TRAINED SKILLS
Athletics +9, Endurance +9, Heal +11, Nature +13

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +10, Arcana +7, Bluff +5, Diplomacy +5, Dungeoneering +8, History +7, Insight +8, Intimidate +5, Perception +14, Religion +7, Stealth +11, Streetwise +5, Thievery +9

POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Elf Racial Power: Elven Accuracy
Multiple Class Attack: Power Strike
Fighter Utility: Mobile Blade
Fighter Utility: Battle Wrath
Heal Utility 2: Iron Resurgence
Athletics Utility 6: Mighty Sprint

FEATS
Level 1: Melee Training (Dexterity)
Level 2: Learned Spellcaster
Level 2: Ritual Caster
Level 4: Master at Arms
Level 6: Jack of All Trades

ITEMS
Magic Greatsword +2 x1
Drakescale Armor of Eyes +2 x1
Essence of the Scout +1 x1
Bracers of Mighty Striking (heroic tier) x1
Acrobat Boots x1
Longbow
Thieves' Tools
Adventurer's Kit

RITUALS
Bloom
Pass Without Trace
Traveler's Camouflage

COMPANION
Trained Young Bear
Medium fey beast
HP 29 (your bloodied value)
Initiative equal to yours
AC 19 (13 + level), Fortitude 21 (15 + level), Reflex 17 (11 + level), Will 21 (15 + level)
Perception 16 (equal to yours +2)
Speed 6 darkvision

Ferocious Companion Aura 1
Allies gain a +2 power bonus to damage rolls against enemies in the aura.

Claw At-Will
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); + 11 (your level + 5) vs. AC
Hit: 1d12 + 3 (one-half your level) damage.

Str 20 Dex 12 Wis 14
Con 17 Int 2 Cha 6
====== End ======

2) Backstory

I'll do more later. This is what I have for now:

Last night was my last evening on my monthlong recon patrol. The moon was full as I chanced upon a spectral stag. Thinking it a sign from Melora, my curiosity got the best of me as I followed it deeper into the wilderness. The trees gave way to a moon-washed clearing where the stag revealed itself to be a Saty. The fey promised to reveal a mystery that had been courting me in my dreams since I was a child. From its longcoat a perfect sphere emerged. I looked into its foggy depths. Sleep took me. I dreamed the same dream...running with reckless abandon in a rain-soaked forest..from what?..to what?..I know not. This time, the rain and the forest...they are real...

3) Cornerstones

a - Curiosity is the cornerstone of learning...but the blood of countless cats reds its hands.
b - The law of nature outweighs the law of rulership.
c - Value reason and sound thought over emotion and rash action.

4) Bandits, sinister fey *, tainted wild things.

5)

Present scene: Moonlight cuts the darkness. Driving rain. Looming pines. All too familiar. I pull my cloak tighter around my head and stick my tongue out to taste the rain that cascades from its tip. It is the sweet rain of what was my home.

I lean my weight against a mighty fir tree and breathe deeply. The massive trees sway around me, as if saying goodbye. Between the movement of the trees I can see the group of cloaked figures at the center of the garden. The wind picks up and I work my way forward. I take in one more breath of the sweet rain and savor it. The blood that is to come won't smell as sweet.

Past scene and the beginning of play: Below in new post.

* wasn't on list

Past scene and the beginning of play:

Moonlight cuts the darkness. Driving rain. Looming redwoods. Where am I? An ominous presence beyond my sight. Bloodcurdling scream. Is that chanting? Relentless fog. Soaked to the bone. Trees tearing at my skin. Was that another scream? Slow down. Breathe.

Breathe...

I lean my weight against a massive foreign tree and slow my pulse. All around massive trees sway in the stormy winds, allowing flighty permeation of moonbeams. The movement of the moonlight contrasts with a constant distant glow of an orange light beyond the tree I lean against. The wind picks up and I can hear the gentle chanting again. And smell blood.

That looks great. You can flesh out the other elements of backstory later. We have enough material to begin play at this point. You've put your cornerstones at tension with one another. That is excellent. The scene bangs (openers) are perfect. Once we have more to go on, we will devise Minor and Major Quests for you. For now, let us begin

Binks said:

Past scene and the beginning of play:

Moonlight cuts the darkness. Driving rain. Looming redwoods. Where am I? An ominous presence beyond my sight. Bloodcurdling scream. Is that chanting? Relentless fog. Soaked to the bone. Trees tearing at my skin. Was that another scream? Slow down. Breathe.

Breathe...

I lean my weight against a massive foreign tree and slow my pulse. All around massive trees sway in the stormy winds, allowing flighty permeation of moonbeams. The movement of the moonlight contrasts with a constant distant glow of an orange light beyond the tree I lean against. The wind picks up and I can hear the gentle chanting again. And smell blood.

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Your Passive Insight (18) is sufficient to pass the Medium DC (15). You can discern that the cadence of the chanting is undoubtedly ceremonial in its delivery. All of the voices are in lockstep. The language is unfamiliar to you. Although, the voices are distinctly human, there is a level of disturbing detachment to it.

Your Passive Perception of (24) is sufficient to pass the Hard DC (23). The soaked, but warm, tufts of your bears fur press against you. You only now realize he is here as well and it is a comfort. His sense of smell is the keenest of all the animals you have been around (passive perception 26). He sticks his nose to the air and he rears onto his hindlegs momentarily; a telltale sign that all of the natural smells inherent to acts of aggression and fear in the animal kingdom are afoot.

The distant orange glow is clearly a controlled fire, and not a small one. The screams are multiple. They are male and female. And they are younglings.

You don't know where you are. Your head is a thick fog but your senses are locked in. What is your intent here? Are you wishing to perform stealthy recon on what is happening at the fire? Something else?


On Format

If you would, please sblock all mechanics under a "mechanics" header and quoteblock your relevant narration of events. Any exchanges between you and I for clarification of rules, scene/situation/setting material, or of intent of action, we can just use standard text.

Manbearcat said:

What is your intent here? Are you wishing to perform stealthy recon on what is happening at the fire? Something else?

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It seems like there is some sort of ritual at play here. The fear and screams of the younglings compels me forward. If they are afraid and are screaming then whatever is going on is against their will. I won't stand by and let this happen. I've seen enough death and heard enough cries of despair that I am haunted. Haunted into action.

But I need a better vantage to find out exactly what is at work here. The trees should give me that vantage point. I signal my bear to shadow me quietly on the ground while I take to the trees. With the adrenaline of the moment and dozens of deadly recons in hostile territory behind me, I attack the nearest redwood with the grace of a leopard, scaling it with ease (hopefully). If I make it into the interconnecting limbs that canopy the forest, I want to stealthily move closer to the blazing fire, the chanting, and the cries of the children.

[sblock]

Athletics check of + 9 and I'm using Mighty Sprint for a + 5 bonus. + 14 total.
I rolled an 11. 11 + 14 = 25.

Stealth check of + 11.
I rolled a 4. 4 + 11 = 15.

[/sblock]

If all of that works out, I'm going to see what I can make of this scene before me.

@Binks , so you're trying to perform a successful reconnaisance of the situation to (potentially) rescue what appears to be at-risk youth. The stakes here will be your successful reconnaisance and any fallout (possibly the compromising of those you believe you are trying to rescue).

We'll handle this as a Complexity 2 Skill Challenge to determine the outcome of this conflict. You need 6 successes before 3 failures and 1 success at the Hard DC.

The scaling of the massive tree would be an arduous but managable climb under normal circumstances as the Redwoods do not have any low-hanging branches. However, their trunks are slick with rain.making the effort a treacherous one and the effort to remain quiet compounds the difficulty.

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[sblock]This Athletics check will be your Hard DC. You pass with a 25. [/sblock]

Despite the cover of the foliage, the thick rain pounds against you. Nonetheless, with practiced ease you reach your target point, dozens of feet off the ground where the branches of each tree are an obscured, elevated highway.

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[sblock]Your Stealth check of 15 passes the Medium DC. [/sblock]

You move in, picking the sturdies branches that will not yaw under your weight. No sound is made. The chanting, the screams, the massive bonfire, and the scent of fresh blood is an overwhelming sensory collage. Coming into plain view before you (within bow range) is a deranged scene from a nightmare made real. Multiple children are prone on their backs, held rigid to the ground near a bonfire. Their small, naked bodies are firmly in place with ropes anchored by stakes. Around the central fire are multiple figures in cloaks of blood red. Your acute vision clearly marks their wolf-faces as crude masks. They are chanting as a single figure moves from child to child, bloodletting with a deft, nonmortal touch.

The fire continues to grow. A howl. somewhere in the distance, cuts the cold of the night with a biting chill.

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Originally posted by Manbearcat
The fire continues to grow. Somewhere in the distance a howl cuts the cold of the night with a biting chill.

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The piercing howl catches my attention. I quickly draw upon my knowledge of beasts, natural and other, and attempt to identify this call, the nature and movements of the beast that made it.

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Is it a reaction to the scene before me? The smell of the blood? The chanting? The fire? An answer to any of those questions is what I'm looking for.

[sblock]I'm trying to use Nature as I believe it would apply here. If so, my check is a 24. My modifier is 13 and I rolled an 11. That passes the High DC of 23.[/sblock]

Originally posted by Manbearcat
You move in, picking the sturdiest branches that will not yaw under your weight. No sound is made. The chanting, the screams, the massive bonfire, and the scent of fresh blood is an overwhelming sensory collage. Coming into plain view before you (within bow range) is a deranged scene from a nightmare made real. Multiple children are prone on their backs, held rigid to the ground near a bonfire. Their small, naked bodies are firmly in place with ropes anchored by stakes. Around the central fire are multiple figures in cloaks of blood red. Your acute vision clearly marks their wolf-faces as crude masks. They are chanting as a single figure moves from child to child, bloodletting with a deft, nonmortal touch.

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I'm assuming I was successful with the above effort as I passed the High DC. So I will continue as what I'm looking to uncover next doesn't have to do with the above action.

As the howl washes over me and I take in this unsettling scene before me, my gut instinct leads me to believe that this is some kind of ritual and the children are being sacrificed to whatever has let loose the howl beyond my sight. I reach deep into my mind and the tutelage of my great grandmother, a priestess of Corellon, who was well versed in all manner of subjects, including religious rites and ceremonies. I spent many an hour listening to her stories. Does what I behold before me strike a chord with any of those lessons?

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[sblock]I'm trying to use Religion as I believe it would apply here. If so, my check is a 23. My modifier is 8 and I rolled a 15. That passes the High DC of 23.[/sblock]

I'll wait for your resolution of the two checks and see where that leads us.

Binks said:

The piercing howl catches my attention. I quickly draw upon my knowledge of beasts, natural and other, and attempt to identify this call, the nature and movements of the beast that made it.

Click to expand...

Is it a reaction to the scene before me? The smell of the blood? The chanting? The fire? An answer to any of those questions is what I'm looking for.

Click to expand...

Your Nature check is successful.

The depth and fullness of the howl informs your mind immediately that It is undoubtedly that of a wolf. Wolves sense of smell is keen and the chanting would inevitably draw their curious, ever-ravenous nature. But the fire...the fire should keep them away...not draw them in. And where is the answering call? You know all lupine creatures hunt in packs and answer each other with immediacy.

Most unnatural...this is no mere wolf...

Binks said:

As the howl washes over me and I take in this unsettling scene before me, my gut instinct leads me to believe that this is some kind of ritual and the children are being sacrificed to whatever has let loose the howl beyond my sight. I reach deep into my mind and the tutelage of my great grandmother, a priestess of Corellon, who was well versed in all manner of subjects, including religious rites and ceremonies. I spent many an hour listening to her stories. Does what I behold before me strike a chord with any of those lessons?.

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Your Religion check is successful.

Once upon a time, your great grandmother told you of The Beastlord; an ancient being, perhaps a lost deity, an archfey, or an elder primal spirit of animal savagery...ever cloaked in the blood of his kills. Those who would venerate him would wear his red, don masks of his various forms, and give up "offerings" unto him. The greatest honor one could attain would be evisceration by his primal fury...and to be consumed...

The canopy of the trees provides the massive bonfire moderate protection from the deluge, but it wavers as a stray gush of rainwater is released from the weighed-down foliage; a weird illuminating effect of dancing flames and shadows flits across the deranged proceeding before you. The scant bushes gives way to a great wolf, red of muzzle, shape wildly disproportionate from its more natural kin. The crowd of red robed figures do not miss a beat. Their chanting grows urgent, more insistent, more reverent. The children's terror heightens in unison. Their chorus of unhinged screams cascade upward to your position in the trees. The creature's features elongate further and it becomes bipedal, grotesquely long arms scraping the ground with the wickedest of claws. Its muzzle moves from child to child, sniffing the aroma of their blood, terror-stricken perspiration, and the rawness of their fear...taking it in like the bouquet of a fine wine.

Your grandmother's stories made an impact on you. Ever since you have always been sure to keep a few silver-tipped arrows in your quiver...just in case...

Your stealthy reconnaissance has been successful thus far. You move about unseen and have assessed your foe. The moment you were concerned about is upon you. The children are in peril. What are you doing?

FYI, if you're going to perform an RBA with your next action, you will get a + 2 for CA. Your target DC would be 21. Please perform your next action only as climax is impending.

Manbearcat said:

The canopy of the trees provides the massive bonfire moderate protection from the deluge, but it wavers as a stray gush of rainwater is released from the weighed-down foliage; a weird illuminating effect of dancing flames and shadows flits across the deranged proceeding before you. The scant bushes gives way to a great wolf, red of muzzle, shape wildly disproportionate from its more natural kin. The crowd of red robed figures do not miss a beat. Their chanting grows urgent, more insistent, more reverent. The children's terror heightens in unison. Their chorus of unhinged screams cascade upward to your position in the trees. The creature's features elongate further and it becomes bipedal, grotesquely long arms scraping the ground with the wickedest of claws. Its muzzle moves from child to child, sniffing the aroma of their blood, terror-stricken perspiration, and the rawness of their fear...taking it in like the bouquet of a fine wine.

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While I don't--nor do I ever expect to--call any lycan a friend, my blood runs cold at the scene that unfolds before my eyes. My home in the Brokenstone Vale lends me a life where I live alongside and trade with lycanthropes. Due to the thorough education provided to me by my great grandmother, this had always been a relationship wrought with caution, if not necessity. Regardless, our consistent interaction has made me accustomed to their savage and brutal nature. But not when it was directed at younglings.

The cold in my veins folds into steel. As I pull a silver tipped arrow from my quiver, I signal my bear to charge the crowd. With the arrow notched in my bow, I aim a warning shot at lycanthrope's flank, and release.

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I use my bear as a distraction while I shoot a silver arrow at the werewolf.

[sblock]
As a secondary check, I want to send my bear in to distract and terrorize the group before me. My intimidate is +5 and I rolled a 17. That passes the Low DC.

Simultaneously, I am going to notch a silver arrow and release a shot into the flank of the beast with a +2 from CA and a +2 from my bear's successful distraction.
Hit: My modifier is +11 and I rolled a natural 20, which makes it 35.
[/sblock]

I'll wait for your response.

[sblock]GIven the stunning success of your RBA, I'm going to give you a + 2 to your next check.[/sblock]

Your "warning shot" sinks deeply into the breastbone of the werewolf, nearly taking it from its feet. Despite the roars and rush of your bear, the beating rain, the flickering flames, and the screaming children, the beleaguered yelp of the beast is a palpable thing and all of the red-cloaked figures gasp. As they take measure of their senses, they each tear their masks off, almost in unison, revealing an assemblage of mundane human faces. They scramble to get out of the path of your bear and stumble out of the clearing, each running blindly in the dark.

The silvered-arrow is buried deeply in the chest of the beast, it can barely get to its feet. When it does, it appears to have abandoned whatever original intent brought it here. It lopes into the dark of the stormy night and out of the clearing. One figure remains...the red-cloaked, still-masked figure who blood-let the children. He still possesses his wickedly curved blade. Quickly using it he chops the bonds of the nearest child, hauls him roughly to his feet, puts the child between the direction of where the arrow was fired and himself, and begins a lurching, dragging effort to get out of the clearing and into the cover of the trees.

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You're up [MENTION=6775039]Binks[/MENTION]. If you have any questions about scene features/elements before you act next, let me know and I will answer them.