jmucchiello
Hero
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Rise of Tiamat - Intro
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Envisioner
Explorer
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.
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
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Envisioner
Explorer
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."
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."
jmucchiello
Hero
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."
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lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
Envisioner
Explorer
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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).
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
The Two: Robyn
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?"
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?"
Envisioner
Explorer
"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."
jmucchiello
Hero
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