Sagiro
Rodent of Uncertain Parentage
I allowed the spell as written, but with the interpretation that the line "making the chains dance and move as she wishes" is flavor text, and not an indication that the chains gain a movement rate. As such, Grey Wolf must first arrange to get the chains to within 15' feet of whatever it is he wants them to attack, whether by placing them himself, throwing them, or having Edghar carry them. I think that will be a sufficent mitigator, though I reserve the right to make further changes if the spell still seems too strong.Dr_Rictus said:
Hey, while I'm here, here's a short but action-packed update:
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 199
The Company spills out of a rectangular blue portal into a dark expanse. As Tog warned, they do seem to be inside a large cave – huge, in fact. The ceiling is high enough to be beyond the range of their darkvision, as are any walls in front of them. Here and there are wide columns of stone rising up into air and vanishing as they extend beyond their sight.
There is stone beneath their feet, and something else as well, something lumpy and clanking. Dranko quickly glances down hoping to see a treasure hoard, but it looks that though they are treading on the rotting remains of about four humanoid creatures. There are some coins and glimmers of metal mixed in, but now is not the time for a close examination.
The smell is horrific. It’s a combination of rotting death and the stink of a monstrous living creature. Everything is pretty much as Tog warned them it would be – except that there is no beast in sight, and no lightning blasts coming from the darkness. Outside of their own sounds the cave (if that’s what this is) is strangely quiet.
Grey Wolf glances behind him, and sees that the glowing portal is only ten feet in front of the (relative to them) back wall of the cave. That wall stretches out to the left and right as far as they can see. High up some faintly-glowing fungus clings to the stone. Morningstar casts a Rary’s telepathic bond connecting her with Dranko, Flicker, Aravis and Kibi. Aravis casts a mass haste on everyone.
“Spread out,” says Grey Wolf. The Company does so, suspecting that somewhere out there is a creature that would love to find them in lightning bolt formation. Ernie activates the fly spell on his shield and soars off to the right, hoping to spot the Beast. He sees more columns, numerous stalagmites, and a disappointing absence of enemies given that the clock is ticking on their spells.
“Hey monster!” he yells. “Tasty halfling here! Yum, yum!”
Kibi scans the cavern with see invisibility as he moves out to the left. Nothing.
Dranko picks up on Ernie’s tactic.
“Oh woe is me!” he shouts. “Just a poor young orc wandering into this cave. I’m tasty too!”
“And I wish to steal things,” he adds as an afterthought.
“And he’s a little slow,” says Kibi helpfully.
Dranko glowers, stays close to Aravis, and sets his back to a tall stalagmite. “Oh, look!” he shouts, getting even more into the spirit. “I accidentally brought this small tasty goat with me, and a lot of gold!”
Kay hastily looks for tracks as she moves but still can’t see any sign of a large beast. No fewments, no scales, no claw marks – but it’s difficult for her to track by the black-and-white translation of the darkvision. Step stops to detect evil but senses nothing within sixty feet. Kibi, invisible, advances forward a bit further as everyone continues to spread out …
There is a growl. A low, almost sub-sonic noise, deep and resonant and echoing through the cavern. It’s coming from somewhere back in the darkness beyond their vision
“Woe is me!” calls Dranko. “My elven maidens can barely carry all this gold!”
At the edge of Kibi’s vision, a giant shape comes into view. It has two red glowing eyes some fifteen feet off the ground. The front of it (all he can see) has a huge head, enormous tusks, and thick forelegs with sharp claws
“I see something. It’s pretty big!”
Lightning flashes without warning from the creature’s eyes. The bolt strikes Aravis and then arcs to Morningstar, but their protective spells (energy buffer and resist elements, respectively) absorb all the damage. Aravis thinks it was a chain lightning, but not particularly potent. He and Dranko (still staying close to maintain the shield other) move forward towards the beast. Aravis stays back somewhat but Dranko (improvedly invisible) gets close enough to see the creature clearly. It’s every bit the nightmarish monster they expected, an oversized, hunched behemoth standing twenty feet tall on four thick legs. It looks like a cross between a boar and a giant rat, with rough rocky skin and blazing red eyes. Its tusks are as big as a grown man. Dranko readies his whip to strike.
Aravis lets rip with a sonically-substituted chain lightning, unconcerned about the lack of secondary targets. The stale air ripples with the thunderous noise of the spell. Fierce energies play around the body of the Beast.
It’s unharmed. Either the creature is immune to sonics, or it resisted his spell outright. It swivels its head to observe Aravis.
“Oh, sh*t,” he thinks over the mind-link.
The Beast lumbers toward Aravis, its claws scraping on the stone floor. But it doesn’t reach the wizard, instead pausing as it brushes against Dranko. It sniffs the air for a second, bellows, and spears the half-orc with one of its mighty tusks! Blood splatters the stones, and Dranko sends a thought of pain over the mind-link. But he has the presence of mind to think to Flicker: “I’m on its left, near the front of it, and it knows where I am. Flank!”
Flicker, fortunately close by, dashes around to the other side of the Beast, tumbles into position, and stabs its ankle with his short sword. Tendons and sinews snap, spraying thick black blood. The Beast roars in pain, whipping its head back and forth. Flicker feels the wind as its tusks whoosh over his head. Noxious spittle flies from its mouth.
Morningstar checks over the mind-link that the two rogues aren’t near the creature’s back-end, and then casts a blade barrier that overlaps the monster’s rump. Dranko and Flicker hear the revolting sound of brutally-carved meat from the back of the creature, the roars of which increase in volume.
Step’s eyes light up. Here is a fight that makes sense! He grips his broadsword and charges the beast, hardly caring that it rips into him with a tusk as he approaches. He hacks viciously at its lowered jaw beneath the left tusk. Grey Wolf, Kay and Snokas, emboldened by the paladin’s rush, also charge forward to attack.
“Destroy that beast!” the sword Bostock says exultantly in his owner’s mind, but Grey Wolf is too far away to reach it for now. Kay and Snokas strike the beast with their weapons, and Ernie (still in flight) joins them, slicing its flank with Beryn Sur. The beast bellows its pain and frustration, bleeding from its many wounds.
Kibi figures he can end this quickly. Surely this behemoth has a small brain! He casts hold monster, but the creature’s natural spell resistance foils the spell. He follows it up immediately with confusion, but with the same lack of results, and for his troubles he is now visible.
Still, this fearsome beast seems like it will be no real match for the superior numbers of the Company. From the look of it’s gashed body, it may only be another few seconds before…
ZZZZZZAAAAAP!
Another chain lightning comes crackling through the darkness, from somewhere off to the right of the beast. Step, Kay, Snokas, Flicker and Ernie are all caught, though Ernie is completely shielded by a resist elements and Flicker evades the blast. But while the Company is relatively unscathed by this new attack, it’s a rude revelation that there’s a second beast in this cave.
Well, at least for another few seconds there is. Dranko, invisible, takes careful aim at the wounded monster with his magical whip and lashes out with four sneak attacks. The first whips around the tusk already loosened by Step’s blade; he yanks back and feels it start to tear from its head. The second lash of the whip nearly pulls the tusk out entirely; it’s hanging by some strings of flesh, blood gushing out. The third attack cracks directly into its left eye, bursting it. And the fourth wraps around the other tusk; he yanks with all his might, and it’s massive head snaps to the side. The Beast wobbles, topples, and crashes to the cavern floor.
Kay and Snokas look like they’re about to go charging off after the second monster, but Dranko, guessing the monster's claws and tusks are more deadly than its spells, shouts out “Let it come to you!” The two warriors pull up short. Aravis takes advantage of the opportunity to put a stoneskin onto Kay.
Out of the darkness to their left a small red pellet streaks into their midst. Half the party is caught in an exploding fireball! Flicker emerges unharmed, Aravis and Kay are burned, and Step is looking very badly off. Dranko, while he managed to dodge the flames, takes some sympathy damage from his shield other on Aravis. There’s a torrent of babble, half-spoken, half-thought over the mind-link. A mage is here with the two beasts! Its handler, maybe? And Grey Wolf thinks the spell came from high in the air; the mage is probably flying.
Morningstar advances until the remaining beast comes into view. She fires off a pair of searing darknesses, and both of them penetrate its spell resistance. It roars in pain as blood boils out of the wounds. Grey Wolf activates his vest of improved invisibility while Step lays hands on himself, bringing his health back to serviceable levels. He grips his broadsword and peers toward the beast, licking his chops. A voice in the back of his head whispers words of caution, words which he stubbornly ignores. Kay fires off a volley of arrows; two bounce off the thick hide of the monster and a third sticks in unnoticed by its victim.
Kibi moves toward the source of the fireball, hoping to catch a glimpse of the enemy mage, but what he sees is a third enormous beast! It must have launched the fireball from its eyes. He yells his discovery to the others, thinks for a second, and casts a wall of force (20 feet high and 50 feet long) to separate the third monster from the rest of the battle.
“Hey Scree, let me know if you sense any other big creatures in here!”
“Okay.”
Scree sinks down into the ground.
The group of heroes in the center of the battle, which has been waiting for the beast to charge, is engulfed in a white fog. Has the second beast cast obscuring mist?. No, not exactly. This mist is hot, roiling, shot through with sheets of orange flames. Flicker, Dranko, Step, Kay and Aravis find themselves not only unable to see, but trapped in the inferno of an incendiary cloud. Dranko hears the sound of magical blades whirring nearby; they stir up the fog behind him.
Realizing the creature is just going to hang back and cast spells, Dranko charges out of the fog. He escapes the mist and the smell of hot cinders is replaced by the nauseating odor of the beast. Aravis also sprints from the hot cloud; as soon as he’s clear of it he casts another sonic chain lightning. For a second time he fails to penetrate its natural resistance to magic. He follows it up with a cone of cold, which not only fails to affect the beast, but which catches the invisible Dranko in its area.
“Excuse me!” shouts Dranko, who fortunately manages to evade the frigid blast.
Flicker and Ernie are next to flee the incendiary cloud. Ernie flies in the direction of the third beast and casts holy smite on it when it gets within range. His spell strikes the wall of force and fizzles harmlessly.
“Arg! Kibi! Stupid wizards, you’re getting in the way of my smiting!”
“We’re going to have to close,” shouts Dranko. “It’s not coming near us.”
Step tightens his grip on his sword and smiles.
The third beast snarls at Kibi and charges, slamming into the wall of force at an angle and sliding along as it runs. Kibi looks on in alarm as the creature scrabbles along the wall until it reaches its edge, where Kibi is standing. It reaches around the edge of the wall and rakes the dwarf with a mighty claw. His cry causes Morningstar to change targets; she whirls around and brings a flame strike down on its head. And where Aravis has had no luck penetrating these beasts’ magic resistance, Morningstar has had no problems. Whooomph!
Despite the urgent suggestions from Bostock (“Charge it! Hack at its flesh!) Grey Wolf looses the sack of chain from his belt and throws it at the foot of the beast. From a safe distance he casts dancing chains; the two chains grow to fifteen feet in length and tear free of the bag, covered with razor barbs and writhing in the air. At Grey Wolf’s bidding they scrape against the monster’s thick hide.
On the other side of the battlefield Kibi steps away from his attacker and back behind the wall of force. He casts Mordenkainen’s Lucubration to recall his wall of force and brings forth a second wall, extending the protective barrier another fifty feet into the darkness.
Step, having emerged from the fiery cloud, charges at the nearer foe. He knows that it will likely attack the first to approach; better it be him. He has convinced himself that he can dodge the tusks this time, having seen them in action once already.
not yet
The voice of doubt sounds again in his head. Is it warning him?
“I am redeeming myself,” he tells the voice.
you are fooling yourself
Step charges. He follows the movement of the beast’s head as he runs up, planning when to duck, how to avoid the… aaaahh! He skids on a patch of ground made slippery by blood, just as the enormous head of the monster turns to gore him. Its tusk tears into his shoulder. Step doesn’t care. He swings his sword and opens an enormous gash in its face. Its red eyes glare down at him. The Company watches as Step and the Beast face each other, both covered in blood. Kay runs up and casts a small healing spell on him, hoping it will be enough.
It isn’t. The beast whips its head forward and up, impaling Step on an enormous tusk. It leans back on its hind legs and tears at the paladin with his its claws, tearing off chunks and savaging them with its teeth. As the Company looks on in horror it roars and shakes its head and spits out pieces of flesh in a spray of messy gobbets. As the paladin's torso and head fly through the air they trail a dim smear of soft glow, no brighter than a light spell, an afterimage, a last careless brushstroke.
The light of One Certain Step dwindles and goes out.
…to be continued…
