Benny
AC 14 (19 with shield spell used as a reaction)
Spell Save DC 13
HP/HP 14/17
Passive Perception (PP): 13
HD/HD; 2/2
Maximilian
AC 13 Magic Resistance. The sphinx has Advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Resistances: Necrotic, Psychic, Radiant
HP/HP 6/24
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 11
HD/HD; 1/7
Condition: Blinded
Max, blinded, flies up to ensure he is relatively safe. Benny feels despair as his mentor is burnt and blinded. Use your powers Benny Max wisely says. Benny concentrates and Max disappears. Moments, later, Max reappears next to Benny, his beautiful pelt singed from the hellish spell.
OOC:
Benny makes Max go to a pocket dimension, and recalls him the next round.
While it is only a few days after the Solstice, it is after dinner time and the sun is slowly making its way towards the horizon but, the clouds that hang in the sky are dark, blotting out most of the sunlight and casting a shadow on everything.
People are hurrying from the gate to the Inn, "The Pudgy Pig". The gate isn't manned by anyone. The people who had closed it had been a random man and two acolytes of Pelor who happened to be standing near the gates when the comet fell. The two wear bright yellow ceremonial robes with purple sashes Purple being the colour of mourning. They are in their twenties and look scared as they talk in hushed tones to each other, looking warily at the shadows of the adjacent buildings and streets and make their way to the Inn.
From the gate a main avenue stretched north through town and, from this vantage, you can see a walled fort up on a rocky hill in the middle of town.
Benny recalls Maximillion. He's badly burned and can't see but, very quickly, his sight returns. He reassures Benny that he will be fine and that he just needs a chance to rest.
Moving to the Inn, the balding man greets everyone as they enter. He has a concerned and caring look on his face,
"Come in, find a place to sit... I'll find bandages for that....I'll get you something to calm your nerves ma'am"
The inn is comfortable with a large fire place and many round tables. There are a few recessed areas with more private booths. There is a bar at one end of the room and a set of stairs that goes up to another level. It feels warm and welcoming but, even so, people loiter in the middle of the room, talking in hushed tones or crying or consoling others.
When the last of the group comes in, the innkeeper does a final look outside and then shuts and barres the door.
"Hello, everyone! I know we're all scared but we should be safe in here for now until we figure out what to do."
At that, there is a crashing sound that comes through a door behind the bar. He looks over with mild panic on his face,
"Oh. And please stay out of the kitchen...the cooks are just.... trying to get things sorted for everyone...I'll gather supplies if anyone has wounds that needs tendin'"
The two acolytes of Pelor make their way through the crowded room to a booth where an older man in black robes is sitting. He stands up a moment to greet them and, as he does so, you can see that he is a priest of Wee Jas, goddess of magic and death. The three men sit down together.
Just then, the young Knight of Pelor walks up to the group. He is young, hardly eighteen, and looks pale and shaken. He has blood on his hands and he has red puffed eyes with streaks under them. He wears a breast plate that is battered and it is obvious to see now that his livery is mostly ceremonial.
"Hi," he says awkwardly, "I just wanted to thank you for saving me."
About the town:
In the centre of town is a fort and very little is known about the origins of the fort itself but it now
acts as a temple to both Pelor, god of the sun and Wee Jas, god of magic and death and law. It has done so for hundreds of years. It houses monks and priests who tend the dead. The surrounding lands are filled with mausoleums and crypts most of which predate the clergy's acquisition of the fort. The beacon was built as a way to shine Pelor's light on the valley and as a way to ensure that the dead rest peacefully.
The temple proper is a place for pilgrims to visit and to see the beacon or pay to bury their dead in the valley within the temple's light. The village itself is small. Its residents make a living supporting the temple and selling their wares to visiting pilgrims. Basically, It's a tourist town with Casket building as a main industry.
It's not exact - there are more buildings and stuff but it gives you the general idea
Tavern: The pudgy pig.
Replace the giant skull over the fireplace with a large painting of a fat pig dancing with a mug in its hand.
The badly singed sphinx contemplates the boy-knight: “I’m glad you’re with us, I’m Maximilian, and this is Benny. I’ll let the others introduce themselves”.
Benny is clearly shaken by the events. Shedding aside all decorum he blurts out: “We need more holy water! It really hurt them! Where can we find more? And where can we find arcane components?”
Max almost interrupt him . “Wait boy, give the man a second to sit!”. And the sphinx, sitting on Benny’s lap, raises a burnt paw to point towards a chair.
Stratus sighed with some relief. He invited the others who had been near him during the worst of it to sit at a table and pulled up a chair. It was a large oak thing, but it looked much too small for him.
Anson is late to arrive at the Inn (if indeed he does arrive). He's helping those at the gate, and (if he can) getting on top of the battlement to see if the zombie creatures are continuing to flock/cluster/mob themselves at the gate. If it is an ongoing threat, he is going to think of ways that he might deal with it. Can he spam Burning Hands to thin the crowd out, or at least relieve pressure on the doors? Are they relentless, or are they wandering off, scattering across the countryside. That of course would be a different problem, but one that need not be solved right away. But he wants to make sure that the acolytes and anyone else feel supported, and that there are no ongoing threats at least at this gate.
Anson has never been here before, and it occurs to him... "Are there other gates or ways into town? We wouldn't want our carelessness to lull us into complacency." If necessary, he'll pick the smallest person and ask them to run to the other gates and make sure they are okay, and to report back.
Deirdre looked around the establishment. She had little experience with human settlements. The sounds and smells were almost overwhelming. Clenching her jaw, she resolved not wrinkle her nose.
Hearing the squire and Benny, she turned to them and spoke. “Tell us squire, what do you know of the town’s defenses? Where might we organize a counterattack to drive the undead out?”
Havoc took to the bar immediately, taking a bottle of grog (or rum and lime if no grog) and a mug. Seeing the young knight approaching, he finds another and as the youth thanks them, he puts a mug into his hands and loads up without words.
Only after raising a toast to the youth he speaks gravely "You saved all those people. It would be wrong to just leave you. You did the hard part. Drink up!"
@Kobold Stew
You look around and a few undead are hammering at the gates but you know the effort is futile because, despite only being 15 feet high, the walls and gates were designed to withstand a siege.
Other zombies are milling about and, while you are tempted to start shooting, you wonder if it might just draw their attention. You aren't sure if they would climb. You also note, far off that there is other movements. Other, older, dead are moving out of some of the open mausoleums that dot the landscape. You think attacking them might thin things out a bit at the gates but the effort may be futile.
"Hey, there, young man." calls a man in a loud whisper. It's the innkeeper and it looks as if he's about to close and bar the door. Everyone else has has gone in.
"Are you coming in? I'm going to lock the door. There's more inside the town...I've seen them. You're not safe!"
Sure enough, to punctuate his point, you think you hear a groan from somewhere behind you, among the buildings of the village.
Anson has never been here before, and it occurs to him... "Are there other gates or ways into town? We wouldn't want our carelessness to lull us into complacency." If necessary, he'll pick the smallest person and ask them to run to the other gates and make sure they are okay, and to report back.
"No, sir, this is the only way in." He starts waiving his hand at you to hurry and come. He's looking about the darkening streets with a mild panic.
You can stay out and explore further but it will become more dangerous the longer you stay out. There are more undead inside the town wandering about. (which I hinted at previously) Also, you'll need a short rest to level up.
Havoc took to the bar immediately, taking a bottle of grog (or rum and lime if no grog) and a mug. Seeing the young knight approaching, he finds another and as the youth thanks them, he puts a mug into his hands and loads up without words.
Only after raising a toast to the youth he speaks gravely "You saved all those people. It would be wrong to just leave you. You did the hard part. Drink up!"
Havoc goes to the bar and helps himself to a couple of drinks. He thinks he hears another crashing sound from the kitchen, which he thinks is odd. But the Innkeeper definitely told everyone to stay out of the kitchen and leave the cooks to their work.
The squire takes the drink, "Thank-you, but I really didn't do anything. I just watched it kill everyone...I mean, I tried..." he seems like he's going to fall apart but then manages to compose himself and sit down with Stratus and the others.
"I'm Oliver. I'm a...was...a squire to High Templar Greyheart. But he's dead now."
Deirdre looked around the establishment. She had little experience with human settlements. The sounds and smells were almost overwhelming. Clenching her jaw, she resolved not wrinkle her nose.
Hearing the squire and Benny, she turned to them and spoke. “Tell us squire, what do you know of the town’s defenses? Where might we organize a counterattack to drive the undead out?”
With the number of humans crammed in here (there's the occasional dwarf), the smell isn't likely to improve. Especially if some of those wounds get infected.
"I don't know the defenses. says Oliver, "I've never been here before. I've heard the whole town is walled in."
"Then you've heard true!" The voice is strong and it comes from a man in one of the back booths. Everyone's voice quiets down. It's the man in black robes. You note, on the table is the shattered remains of his holy symbol.
"The town has only one entrance and the gates will remain shut, lest we or anyone else open them. But don't you believe we are safe! We don't know how many of the villagers were turned by Green Death. Not everyone in town trust in their gods..." he indicates to his broken holy symbol, "and many visitors have swollen the town to capacity to attend the burial ceremony of Radiant Servant, Levinshire. The best way to organize a counterattack is to relight the Beacon. That will drive the dead back to their dark haunts and let us hunt them down."
@Neurotic make a perception or investigation, dc 13. If you want to peek in the kitchen, make a sneak check, dc 10 instead.
Also, those who didn't make a religion check, do so now. DC: 15 to know who Kyuss is and other random religion stuff if you roll high enough. Steve Gorak already made his.
The badly singed sphinx contemplates the boy-knight: “I’m glad you’re with us, I’m Maximilian, and this is Benny. I’ll let the others introduce themselves”.
Benny is clearly shaken by the events. Shedding aside all decorum he blurts out: “We need more holy water! It really hurt them! Where can we find more? And where can we find arcane components?”
"The best place to get that," someone at the next table whispers to Benny, "is the market. They have lots of things. It's at the foot of the gates to the Temple Fort...if you dare go there."
WILL UPDATE TO LEVEL 2 TODAY
AC16 Passive Perception 15
HP 11/12 HD 1/1
SSdc13 Slots 2/2
Hunters 2/2 Healing 1/1 Teleport 2/2
OOC:
Sorry for the late post- had RL interruption. Catching up with this. Will do L2 afterwards.
The Blackstaff had protected Caer Droea from the risen horde, and just as the gates closed he entered the shadow and moved himself into the sanctuary of the walls. Caer immediately slumped over. Sanctuary? I am behind these walls now, trapped like the rest, and inside this festering wound on nature.
Seeing that the others are moving in the direction of an inn, Caer gathers himself, stands,, and walks into the inn after the others just before the innkeeper bars the door. He stands in a corner of the inn, holding the Blackstaff, and steels himself against the assault on his senses. So many people and noises and metal and ... things. Caer focuses on the sturdy Blackstaff, feels the living wood of his shield give him succor, and then focuses his attention first on the curious man who invited them in, before expanding his attention to their new surroundings.
I do not trust this place anymore than the hunger of the dead.
And then looks at all the surroundings, to see if anything is out of place, dangerous, or has the possibility of allowing for an attack: Perception (Surroundings): 1D20+5 = [2]+5 = 7
Eh, would've preferred the reverse, but we'll see.
