D&D 5E EB's KotB: (Group 2) Soul of the Lions

[EarlyBird]

​

Welcome to the second IC thread for the Keep on the Borderlands game. Should be an interested group of like minded characters here which led to me drawing out something very special for the inaugural game.

As I said in the first groups IC, this will have different adventures, and sometimes different players as we change out and people get reassigned. Not sure how all this will work, but we will crash through and change, tweak, and upgrade as we go. So hang on for what I hope is a fun ride.

Party at the moment:
@Li Shenron @KahlessNestor @Radaceus @JustinCase @jonathonhawke
LINKS:
General OOC
The Lion's Den - IC
And the RG

And we are off....

 

[EarlyBird]

placeholder

 

[EarlyBird]

Your only about thirty minutes from Kendall Keep when the road crew turns of the Trade Road and heads for the southern edge of the Hullack Forest. Spirits are high as the cool and cloudy day will make for good working conditions for the crewmen, who take it as an omen for an untroubled start to their work.

Along the way here you were told about the edge of the forest where the road has been planned to detour. It really is just lines on a map as no one has ever gone into the forest in over ten years. There was just a known game trail that led into the trees, but no one has ever taken the path to see where it leads or what made it. Your group now stands before just that path (see picture above), whiel the crew sets up a temporary base camp and starts pulling out long saws to get a few trees down today.

How to explore the forest an determine it is safe has been totally left up to all of you. Where to start?

OOC: Please think of how you want to explore the forest, you really have just two sides - a small southern side. And the northern side, of the planned road (a lot of ground there). The entire path is only about 1/3 a mile long, so barring no interruptions the work crew should be done in about ten days.

 

[jonathonhawke]

"I recommend that we first survey the path that the new road will be taking."

 

[JustinCase]

Sahrax nods, the elven wizard seeing the wisdom in exploring the woods where the road is planned to go.

"Do any of you know if elves, treants or other woodland guardians call this forest their home?" he asks his companions whom he feels could know these things - which is all of them. As a high elf, Sahrax realizes he grew up too removed from actual wild nature, and his recent years of wizard study has done nothing to improve that.

"If so, we should discuss the road with them first. Either way, we should see if any hostile creatures have made their lair along the path."

OOC: From his time in the Underdark, does Sahrax perhaps know of any places nearby that may connect the surface to the world below? If you need a roll for that, here's a Nature check (although it could be something else entirely, of course): [roll0] [sblock=Today's Portents]17, 18[/sblock]

 

[jonathonhawke]

Erevan looks at the woods, seeking boundary markers such as would be set by elves, druids, or other guardians.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Tassarion Liadon
Hullack Woods
Morning
Round 0

Tassarion nodded in agreement with the others and started along the game trail that would become the road to search for danger. He opened his finely attuned senses to see if he could detect the presence of any fey portals or crossings nearby.

[sblock=Actions]
Saves:
Move:
Action: (Extra Attack)
Bonus Action:
Free Object Interaction:
Reaction:
Conditions:
Inspiration:
[/sblock]

[sblock=Mini Stats]
AC: 15
HP: 37/37
HD: 5/5 1d10+1
Arrows used: 0
Action Surge (1/R)
Second Wind (1/R)
Arcane Shot (2/2/R): Grasping Arrow or Seeking Arrow
[/sblock]

 

[Radaceus]

As the others scouted the trail, Üngar made his way to the forests edge where he sat himself down slowly. Rubbing his head, he focused through the dull ache of last night, and began to chitter chant the sounds of woodland creatures.

[sblock="Actions"]
Ritual casting speak with animals (10 minutes, lasts for 10 minutes
hoping there are squirrels or birds or some such common animal around. will ask them if they know of any dangers nearby or down the trail, and any details a common animal might parlay.
Persuasion Roll : (1d20-1)=19
[/sblock]

Character Sheet

 

[EarlyBird]

[sblock=Sarhax Knowledge]
Cormyr and Sembia are located above the Underdark realm known as The Deep Wastes.

Sschindylryn is a drow city under the King's Forest in Cormyr known for its use of portals to explore and conquer other parts of the Underdark. During a battle with Menzoberranzan, the portal was damaged, and it is unknown if it has as yet been repaired.

The only known way into the Underdark is through Plungepool (a waterfall). A river in the King's Forest falls into the Underdark. The falls eventually lead to an underground lake known to the drow as Daerbraun. [/sblock]

Tassarion and Erevan finds no boundries or other markers, so they believe this to be an untamed forest. But both know of an elven wood inside the Hullack Forest. (Note different coloration north of Kendall Keep on map in the RG, that is were the elven wood is locacted.)

Ungar takes the time to draw out a ritual circle and then prays for the ability to converse with the animals of the woods. As he does so the others watch as creatures of the forest, mostly rabbits, squirrels, and song birds, come out to encircle the dwarf as he calmly envokes this ability. When he finishes, to the onlookers it seems all the animals are chirping, chittering, or chattering at the dwarf to no avail. But to Ungar he has made many friends this morning all of who are telling him all about thier lives and the forest they live in.

Only one topic of special note puts the nature cleric on guard. The animals warn Ungar of the Swamp Giant, that comes out of the bog to hunt in the southern edge of the forest. It is mean, grumpy, and eats anything it can catch.

 

[Radaceus]

The dwarf chuckles at all the woodland creatures excitement, in telling trivial matters that means so much to them. life was so much easier when he was a cub. Hidden among their excitement, a dark warning, " Oh Big Grumpy comes out here and he's not very nice," a songbird noted. "yeh, that mean old swamp giant ate my cousin just two days ago!," exclaimed a squirrel. "Yeh?" the bird cocked its head at the squirrel for a split second, returning it's attention to the dwarf, "... anyways...let me tell you a story about the biggest worm I ever caught!"

As his spell subsideded, the animal voices slowly faded into indiscernible singsong and chitter chatter. He acknowledged each of them with a smiling nod, as the animals slowly went back to their daily routines. He returned to his civilized associates and reported the news with possibly to much enthusiasm, and maybe not enough words, but one thing was certain - he liked the idea of dealing with this giant.


[sblock=Mini Stats]
HP: 51/51 AC:16/18 (chain 16, Shield+2) Speed:25 Size: Medium
Languages: Dwarven, Elvish, Common
Saving Throws: Wisdom. Charisma
HD: 5/5 1d8+3

Shield in Hand: Yes
Weapon in hand: Spear (1d6,Thrown, range20/60, versatile (1d8))

Chanel Divinity (1/R)
Spell Attack Modifier= +6 Spell Save DC= 14
Spell Slots: (4) 1st, (3) 2nd, (2) 3rd

Character Sheet
[/sblock]

 

[JustinCase]

With some amusement, Sahrax watches Üngar interact with the small animals. They appear to trust the dwarf, which Sahrax takes as a good sign.

Then he listens intently as the dwarf relates the animals' news.

"A swamp giant? Does that mean a giant, or merely much larger than these animals? Either way, I think we should seek it out to see if the workers would be in danger from it. Let's check out the path and look for giant tracks on the way."

 

[KahlessNestor]

Tassarion Liadon
Hullack Woods
Morning
Round 0

Tassarion listened quietly to Ungar’s report of a swamp giant. It didn’t sound familiar to anything he knew. Sahrax suggested they should hunt it, and Tassarion finally spoke up, perhaps for the first time, his voice cracked and hoarse from disuse.

“We should not get far from the workers,” he said. “We are here to protect them, not range about hunting. If it be a danger, it will come to us. Otherwise hunting should wait until road is complete.”

[sblock=Actions]
Saves:
Move:
Action: (Extra Attack)
Bonus Action:
Free Object Interaction:
Reaction:
Conditions:
Inspiration:
[/sblock]

[sblock=Mini Stats]
AC: 15
HP: 37/37
HD: 5/5 1d10+1
Arrows used: 0
Action Surge (1/R)
Second Wind (1/R)
Arcane Shot (2/2/R): Grasping Arrow or Seeking Arrow
[/sblock]

 

[JustinCase]

Surprised, Sahrax looks at the wood elf. Having accepted that his sylvan cousin would remain silent throughout their mission, the wizard did not expect him to voice his disagreement on this subject. Apparently Tassarion feels strongly about this, and Sahrax finds himself nodding in agreement.

"Of course, their safety is our priority. I will cast a ritual that will alert us to danger that approaches from the forest."

With that, the diviner draws forth his spellbook and, flipping through the pages, walks towards the edge of the wood and just a bit beyond. Estimating the speed of building the road for one day, Sahrax decides on a spot just a bit further, then starts droning out the incantation, occassionally making arcane gestures or drawing forth some mysterious components from a small pouch.

OOC: Ritual casting Alarm in a 20-foot area in the forest just beyond where Sahrax expects the workers to reach by the end of this day. He makes sure that both the party and the workers do not trigger the alarm, but any other Small or larger creature does.

 

[jonathonhawke]

"How far away can you hear the alarm?"

 

[JustinCase]

"A mile or so," Sahrax answers after he finishes his ritual, closing his spellbook and tucking it back into his tunic. "It's a mental warning I receive, otherwise we might miss the sound."

 

[EarlyBird]

OOC: The path through the woods is only a bit over 500ft long. So you could transverse it a couple times, i.e. walk patrols, and check in on the road works every trip back.

 

[jonathonhawke]

OOC: I thought that is was about 3.5 times that long. 1/3 mile.

 

[EarlyBird]

OOC: Rechecking....rechecking.... hmmm. I did change the scale on the map they had everything really close. It "was" 500ft before it is around 1,250 ft now. Thanks for checking up on me. So you should be able to transverse the path from start back to start in say 20 minutes or so.

 

[jonathonhawke]

OOC: Let's see: 1250' / 25'/rd = 50 rd = 5 minutes each way. So...difficult terrain?

 

[EarlyBird]

OOC: Don't use normal combat movement, but the traveling rates. Normal 3 miles/hour and still able to make Perception and Stealth checks without disadvantage.