The Fey, the Far, and the Ugly Space In Between

[Binks]

End of Session

* Bonds

When Otthor was in dire straits in the fight with the aboleths and the remorhaz, I came to his aid and protected him from the burning steam. I resolved one of my bonds with him then; I let Otthor down when the crevasse claimed him. I will restore his faith in me.

1 xp

My new bond in its place will be:

Otthor had bonded with Lucky. I will find Lucky’s primal spirit so the two may be together again.

I’ve witnessed two families endure the harshness of winter in this unforgiving land. They’ve transited the most inhospitable environments for the sake of each other. More incredible than that, they have somehow survived their harrowing journeys. Their bravery, mental, and physical fortitude is something I will remember, and be inspired by, for the rest of my days. I’ve resolved the following bond; The layfolk of this world are brave souls, I have much to learn from them.

1 xp

My new bond in its place will be:

The doomsday cult of Ranyon Argoth has ushered in the evil I came to this world to defeat. I will end this cult as surely as I will prevent their doomsday prophesy from coming true.

* Alignment - "Defeat a Tyrant" I haven’t accomplished this yet. But I have a feeling that I will soon enough!


* Did we learn something new and important about the world?

...I confirmed that there is a doomday cult in the Coldlands ushering in the end of the world. Their tyrannical leader is the man that violently left the community at World’s End Bluff many years ago, Ranyon Argoth, who is apparently a powerful warlock sponsored by Far Realm entities. They believe that the end of the world is nigh.

1 xp

* Did we overcome a notable monster or enemy?

Three Aboleth Overseers, one Remorhaz, and one Ice Troll! If you include overcoming an Ancient White Dragon’s urge to eat us, and allying with him instead, that would be another!

1 xp

* Did we loot a memorable treasure?

The aboleth’s arcane prophecy at the bottom of the meltwater lake probably doesn’t qualify. So nope!

So that is 12 xp total now.


Level Up

13 xp

Current level 4 + 7 = 11

13 - 11 = 2 xp and I level up.

I'm going to take the Ranger move Viper’s Strike because necessity is the mother of invention and rangers are the ultimate improvisers! I’ll need it without my trusty bow!. I'll raise Dex by 1 to 18, so that is + 3 now. Also, I’m going to grab one of those feather adorned spears from the slain barbarians. I can use that to Volley until I can get my hands on a bow. Spear – reach, thrown, near.

After Rest and Level Up and after supply changes

Saerie – level 5

HP 19/21
AG 3
AM 3
DR 24
XP 2

---

I’m going to tell my goblin companions and our prisoner what the plan is. Exel and Xanob are going to stay here and oversee our prisoner’s ritual to dispel the Far Realm ward that he had enchanted this bog with. They’ll have him tied with ropes to his neck and around the waist like collars, each of them holding one. If he gets even slightly funny, they have my authority to slay him. I make that emphatically known to the prisoner before I leave. Otthor will not suffer the foul enchantment that he placed on the bog. After the ritual is dispelled, the prisoner will be tied back up to the chair inside. The goblins will wait for Otthor and then they’ll make their way to me. I’ll have located the caverns where these barbarians have the refugees and I’ll have performed reconnaissance on the situation before us. I’ll mark the trail there same as before. They already know which way to go at the fork, right, thanks to our captive.

After all is clear, in the morning Rawr and I will wish our goblin companions well and we'll set out to the fork, taking the right path when we arrive. There is inevitably going to be a lot of foot traffic through these areas with signs of passage. I’m looking for wear and tear on the ground, torn clothing or other objects left behind. Stuff like that. I’ll use that to Hunt and Track my way there.

[sblock]Hunt and Track (Wis)
2, 3 + 2 = 7

You follow the creature's trail until there's a significant change in its direction or mode of travel.[/sblock]

 

[Tecklenburg]

I see what you're getting at. You'll have to expend some AG if you're going to do something like I think you are.

In order:

1) They aren't near each other currently, no. Far range from each other. However, yes, they'll have to be at Near range (your teleport range) if they're going to attack you with their tentacles while you're physically engaged with the opposite Unfettered Kraken.

2) One of them is Near the bluff while the other is Far (over the water).

3) Vertically, they're both probably just above the bluff. Maybe 100 feet up?

If you're going to have the dragon do a fly-by so you can hop off onto one of their mantles, both you and the dragon are going to have to DD (tentacles).

Alright, lets start this thing off.

As we approach the horde of enemies that await us, my bow is ready with an arrow strung. By the light of the moon, I take in the vastness of the task before us and breathe a steadying breath. If this is to be my last fight, I vow to take every last enemy with me that I possibly can.

[sblock]Volley (Dex) on the Unfettered Kraken near the bluff
4, 3 + 1 = 8

d8 damage and I'll go with reducing ammo by 1. 5 - 2 = 3 damage.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
You have to fire a few shots to penetrate the thick hide of the flying kraken near the bluff, but the last one elicits a strange keening sound from its beak, confirming to you that the creature felt it.

You can hear the noise of the Sahuagin below you. It is an odd hiss-chanting sound that is broken up up by the gurgling one might expect from submerged creatures. It fills the cold night air with frenzy.

Both krakens move to engage you.

From my position on his upper back, I shout to Averandox. "The left one! Near the bluff! Bring me in as close as you can!"

As the creature's 60 foot long tentacles come at us, Averandox buffets the blow with his mighty wing while I stand up and take evasive maneuvers. Preparing for my leap onto the creature, I crouch for a short sprint. I then make a diving leap through the air, tucking and spinning between the thick appendages, hoping to land on the mantle.

[sblock]Otthor Defy Danger (Dex)
5, 5 + 1 = 11

Averandox Defy Danger (Con)
1, 5 + 2 = 8

Success but a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
As its huge, black eyes track your tentacle-defying movement through the air, you land softly on the bulbous mantle that serves as the creature's "torso".

Averandox's wing buffet deflects one, two, three tentacles. However, a fourth and fifth grasp at the base of his wing pulling him with alien might, causing him to lose forward momentum and lift! You're going to have to defy some danger to stay aloft and not crash hard into the frozen earth below.

First me on the back of the injured kraken.

Upon landing on the spongy body of the creature, with my feet firmly beneath me I begin my blade dance, moving to the silent dirge of the creature that only I can hear.

[sblock]Flawless Bladework (Int)
3, 1 + 3 = 7

d8 damage, 1 technique, and counterattack. 7 - 2 = 5 damage.

Torrential: Your attack ends with a flurry of strikes that your opponent must dedicate effort to blocking or avoiding. If they instead attack you in response to your attack, deal your damage again (this does not apply techniques).

d10 + 5 (Forceful) Counterattack on me. 7 + 5 - 2 = 10 damage. Ouch.

d8 Torrential damage. 8 - 2 = 6 damage.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
As your blade tears into the creature's mantle, thick, dark blood sprays everywhere. When multiple tentacles rise up from below to wrap you in a deadly embrace, your dizzying flurry of strikes rends the first few to pieces...but the third grasps you around the legs and the length of it mummifies you fully, squeezing the life from you in a crushing grapple.

You can't possibly hope to attack without getting out of this things crushing grip. I'll tell you up front, if you get a 7-9, great...you're free. But your delicate little healing potion is going to be crushed to bits!

Well, then lets not roll a 7-9 eh? A 10 + would have really been nice there. I don't get the chance to roll for any Bladesong...which could get me out of this mess with some a port...I lose an extra technique...and I eat 10 damage and a deadly grapple! I'm at 6 HP...

I writhe and wriggle but can't get my sword free or get to my knife. With all the strength I can muster I attempt to burst the creature's grasp!

[sblock]Defy Danger (Str)
4, 4 - 1 = 7

Success but a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
You muscle out of the tentacles grasp but you simultaneously hear the sickening sound of breaking glass and feel the wetness of your healing potion running down your leg...

Alright, to Averandox right quick.

The mighty dragon has rarely felt such strength before. He has dueled many other wyrms who would challenge his right to rule. Only those worthy challengers have wrenched him so. He dives to gain speed and lift, intent on circling around and raining frozen hell down upon the aboleth's army of fish-men!

[sblock]Defy Danger (Str)
6, 5 + 2 = 11[/sblock]

He swoops hard right as he regains his speed and left, in a broad turn.

Per Manbearcat
As Averandox comes about to deliver wintry ruin upon the Sahuagin, a volley of javelins are ready to be unleashed at the same time he gets in range to breath frost.

You can go ahead and do your frost breath, but you'll have to defy danger versus 10 javelins (d6 + 4 + 10 due to numbers, 1 piercing) for getting into Near range. On a 7-9, half of the javelins find their way home so + 5 instead of 10. You can get 10 of the platoon of 30 in the cone of your breath.

Averandox doesn't fear puny javelins! Are you kidding me?! And the other 20 will know fear as the force of his flyby and his mighty roar send their ranks into a terror-stricken panic!

[sblock]Defy Danger (Con)
5, 1 + 2 = 8

Success but a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.

d6 + 4 + 5, 1 piercing. 4 + 4 + 5 - 2 = 11 damage.

Frozen Breath
2, 3 + 2 = 7.

2d6 damage, ignores armor to 15 Sahuagin. 1 + 4 = 5 damage. 10 Sahuagin dead.

- 1 ongoing to Frozen Breath.

Aura of Terror
3, 6 + 2 = 11

They flee in terror of your awful presence for a moment.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
As the volley of javelins clang against the thick scales of the mighty frost wyrm, a heaving blast of freezing sleet from his mouth lays low a third of the fish-faced, four-armed, humanoid platoon. The other 20 break ranks as they chaotically scurry away, scrambling over each other in attempt to get away from the terrifying Frozen Wind of the North.

Averandox sees a shimmering image emerge from illusion as an extraordinarily powerful bout of mental energy threatens to take his senses from him. A mighty aboleth possessed of otherworldly psychic power hovers dead ahead in the path of the mighty wyrm (Near).

Going to have to DD for Avernadox.

With Otthor, the other Unfettered Kraken is moving into range (Near) shortly so damage will be + 1 after this next move for you. Further, after this coming move, if you're going to be attacking the kraken that you're on, you're going to have to defy some danger from the other kraken moving in on you.

I'll do Otthor again and we'll pick up on Averandox later.

I land soft on the flying kraken's body. As the other one quickly approaches, I realize that I have to finish this one off or it will be me that is finished. Sword and spell tear into tentacles that assail me and my dance takes me to one of the eyes for a messy gouging!

[sblock]Flawless Bladework (Int)
6, 5 + 3 = 14

d8 damage, 2 techniques. 6 - 2 = 4 damage.

Burst * 2: Your attack deals an additional 1d4 damage and gains the ‘forceful’ tag. 2 * 2 = 4 damage. Dead.[/sblock]

Can I use both forceful tags from Burst * 2 to use force magic and throw the creature near the edge of the bluff so I can just jump down to it?

Per Manbearcat
Sure, you're Near it already. You can use your force magic to surf the kraken on the waves of force magic over to the bluff and jump onto it. No need to DD.

The other Kraken will be in quick pursuit to the edge of the bluff however.

Alright, as I slay the first kraken, I fling my hand out wide toward the edge of the bluff and the falling body makes it to the edge before it splats onto the earth far below. As I step off, I feel the pull of the Bladesong rhythmically guiding my movements.

[sblock]Bladesong (Int)
4, 1 + 3 = 8

1 Bladesong for any of:

* Void Note - Teleport somewhere nearby within your line of sight.
* Guarded Flourish - When you have no weapon or shield in your offhand and you take damage, take + 2 armor.
* Blade Crescendo - When you deal damage to an enemy within your melee weapon's range, gain 2 piercing.[/sblock]

Going to stop with Otthor at the edge of the bluff, caught up in the trance of the bladesong, second Unfettered Kraken coming into Near range.

Here is Averandox's Defy Danger for the powerful aboleth enchantment:

[sblock]Defy Danger (Wis)
6, 3 + 2 = 11[/sblock]

Averandox scoffs at the pathetic mental intrusion, beats his wings once hard and flies a bee-line for the foolish, squishy aboleth!

 

[Manbearcat]

I’m going to tell my goblin companions and our prisoner what the plan is. Exel and Xanob are going to stay here and oversee our prisoner’s ritual to dispel the Far Realm ward that he had enchanted this bog with. They’ll have him tied with ropes to his neck and around the waist like collars, each of them holding one. If he gets even slightly funny, they have my authority to slay him. I make that emphatically known to the prisoner before I leave. Otthor will not suffer the foul enchantment that he placed on the bog. After the ritual is dispelled, the prisoner will be tied back up to the chair inside. The goblins will wait for Otthor and then they’ll make their way to me. I’ll have located the caverns where these barbarians have the refugees and I’ll have performed reconnaissance on the situation before us. I’ll mark the trail there same as before. They already know which way to go at the fork, right, thanks to our captive.

After all is clear, in the morning Rawr and I will wish our goblin companions well and we'll set out to the fork, taking the right path when we arrive. There is inevitably going to be a lot of foot traffic through these areas with signs of passage. I’m looking for wear and tear on the ground, torn clothing or other objects left behind. Stuff like that. I’ll use that to Hunt and Track my way there.

[sblock]Hunt and Track (Wis)
2, 3 + 2 = 7

You follow the creature's trail until there's a significant change in its direction or mode of travel.[/sblock]

You pass the avalanche and the dead ice troll. Carrion birds are picking at the carcass and making quite the noise, thus drawing your attention. In the morning sun, a glint of light on a fine piece of filament catches your eye as you do. It is attached to a splintered piece of perfectly polished, worn wood. The Fey Panther cat-gut string of your destroyed bow.

You mark your way for your companions easily enough with your charcoal (or whatever it was that you spent the AG on). The well-worn path of travelers cuts through a dizzying array of forks, but it is not difficult for an accomplished tracker to follow. You find the end of the trail through the sparsely snowed canyons an hour into your trek. You're looking up at a sheer climb some 100 feet. At the top is a simple elevator with a winch and pulley system and a medium-sized boulder as counterweight. You could attempt to climb the thick ropes that are tied to the boulder but they are clearly covered in a sheen of ice. The stone-face before you would take more time to climb, and is also icy here and there, but it is indented and notched all over so hand holds are readily found.

There is a 60 linear foot, field-stone wall spanning the landing up top and there are no signs of any monitoring guards or laborers.

 

[Tecklenburg]

FYI, I screwed up with that first Volley. I gave my last 3 Ammo to Saerie so I didn't have any left!

Per Manbearcat
That is fine. I don't care to retcon the entire thing. Obviously we'll just remember that going forward.

Alright, to Otthor.

I'm going to sprint a few paces toward the center of World's End to draw the flying kraken toward me so that if I fall it's just 30 feet or so onto the bluff. I pass the burned out ruin of the common building and head for the central square. When I feel the creature's tentacles coming for me, Near range to each other, I'm going to step through the veil of this world and teleport onto his mantle, sword and spell tearing into him.

[sblock]Spent my 1 Bladesong for Void Note

Flawless Bladework (Int)
1, 6 + 3 = 10

d8 damage and 2 techniques.

6 - 2 = 4 damage.

Soul-Siphoning * 2: Your attack heals you for 1d4. Heal 1d8 instead if this attack kills your target. 2 + 4 = 6 HP returned.

Bladesong (Int)
6, 6 + 3 = 15

3 Bladesong. Spend 1 for 1 to:

* Void Note - Teleport somewhere nearby within your line of sight.
* Guarded Flourish - When you have no weapon or shield in your offhand and you take damage, take + 2 armor.
* Blade Crescendo - When you deal damage to an enemy within your melee weapon's range, gain 2 piercing.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
The creature's tentacles grasp at nothing as you BAMF onto its mantle. It begins lurching wildly at your physical manifestation on top of it's head (You going to need to have to DD to start your turn) but you keep your feet long enough to deliver your initial onslaught.

Your blade and necromantic energy go to work, ruining the creature as you are reinvigorated.

The echoes of the bladesong reverberate in your mind and through your body, carrying you unconsciously to your next move.

As the creature's body writhes, flips and lurches, I know I can't stay on this one too long. He, she, it is much more lively than the last one. I look for if we're nearing one of the shelters of the settlement so that I might drop down on the ridge of the roof.

[sblock]Discern Realities (Wis)
1, 2 + 0 = 3

Mark 1 xp[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat,
Unfortunately, you are Far range from the nearest shelter and there is little cover to be found in the burned out husk of the common building.

However, plain as day, you do see a patrol of aboleth mind-slaves, 5 multi-arm/trident-toting Sahuagin, top-side with you. They emerge from cover and rush into the central courtyard, Near range from you. They unleash a volley of small tridents at you while you're on top of the flying kraken!

This actually might be just what the doctor ordered! I can tear through these guys and use them to get back my hit points! Feeling for the thinness between this world and the Feywild with my senses, I leap off the bucking kraken into a portal, and appear in the midst of the surprised Sahaguin.

[sblock]1 Bladesong for Void Note[/sblock]

I set about their demise immediately.

[sblock]Flawless Bladework (Int)
5, 6 + 3 = 14

d8 damage and 2 techniques.

Spending 1 Bladesong for Blade Crescendo to gain 2 piercing on this attack.

5 - 2 (cancelled out by 2 piercing) = 5 damage. Dead.

Soul-Siphoning: Your attack heals you for 1d4. Heal 1d8 instead if this attack kills your target. 8 HP returned. I'm at 20/21 now.

Flowing: If your attack kills a target, you may immediately attack a new target as if you had gotten a 7-9 on the move you initially used.

d8 damage, 1 technique, and counterattack from the remaining 4.

1 - 2 armor = 0 damage.

Burst: Your attack deals an additional 1d4 damage and gains the ‘forceful’ tag. 4 damage. Dead.

Counterattack versus me: I'm spending my last Bladesong for Guarded Flourish so + 2 armor. d6 + 8 (1 piercing). 3 + 8 - 4 (less 1 piercing) = 8 damage to me. Back to 12 HPs!

Bladesong (Int)
3, 6 + 3 = 12

Gain 3 Bladesong[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
You teleport off the Unfettered Aboleth, leaving both it and the patrol of Sahuagin mind-slaves startled and confused. Steel rings out in the moonlit night. Sword against triton and armor. Triton against the guard of your blade and your fine elven chain. When the dust settles after the initial exchange, the Sahuagin numbers are diminished by 2. Enraged, they all flurry with the remaining tritons in the bottom pair of their 4 arms.

Not to be outdone, the flying kraken speeds a pair of angry, hooked tentacles in your direction, intent on making a live meal of you before the fish-men can eviscerate you!

You're going to have to Defy Danger both from the Sahuagin and the Kraken

I'll do this one here with edits and catch up Averandox later in a post below. I'm thinking he is going to obliterate that aboleth. Messy tag!

Back to it!

I stand my ground with the Sahuagin, blade before me in a defensive posture, ready to defend and counter the moment they leave themselves open. I pay close attention to the subtleties of their attack modes so I can parry and hopefully deliver a devastating riposte.

All the while, I mark the incoming tentacles so I can leap out of the way at the last minute and hopefully an unlucky Sahuagin gets some collateral!

[sblock]Riddle of Steel take + 1 to Discern Realities when I cross swords with humanoid opponents.

Discern Realities (Wis)
4, 3 + 0 (+1 RoS) = 8

1 question and + 1 forward. Question from Riddle of Steel list:

* What is this person about to do?[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
The Sahuagin are frenzied berserkers. Their moves are somewhat slowed, uncoordinated, and rendered predictable due to the domination effect the powerful aboleth has enchanted them with. Otherwise, you can see the frightening potential in their fury (Forceful, Messy tag without the enchantment).

I've fought dozens of lumbering berserkers in the Feywild. They easily give up their lives to a master swordsman with a little patience. I let them end their own lives.

[sblock]Defend (Con) myself against Sahuagin
2, 6 + 1 (+1 DR via RoS) = 10

Hold 3. Spending hold to:

• Halve the attack’s effect or damage
• Deal damage to the attacker equal to your level

Spending 1 Bladesong for Blade Crescendo to gain 2 piercing and another for Guarded Flourish to take + 2 armor.

Damage to me: d6 + 6 (1 piercing) = 9/2 = 4 - 4 (less 1 piercing) = 1 damage to me. 11 HP left.

Damage to them: 4 - 2 (less 2 piercing) = 4 damage. Another one is dead.

Defy Danger (Dex) againt Unfettered Aboleth's Forceful Tentacle attack
4, 2 + 1 = 7

Success with a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
The Sahuagin's furious retort leaves another of their number bleeding the snow red at your feet. But the pace of their relentless assault is wearing you down. How much longer can you keep this up before something gets through and puts an end to the fight?

You throw your body nimbly sideways as the massive tentacles slam into the earth that you just left. The force fo the blow and the massive creature's follow-up leaves the three of you sprawling on the ground, weapons just out of hand's reach.

This is as good of an opening as I'm going to get. I could probably get to my blade and end one of their lives, but the other would fall on me immediately thereafter. I've got to put some distance between myself and them...RIGHT NOW. The kraken could kill me with a single well-placed blow.

As soon as my fingers touch my blade, I harness the last chord of the song and disappear, reppearing somewhere further away, nearer to the cabin that we stayed in several days ago than I was just a moment ago.

[sblock]Spend last Bladesong for Void Note to teleport Near.[/sblock]

With this distance between myself and the sprawling Sahuagin, and the further distance between myself and the flying aboleth, I call upon blades of cutting air to finish off another Sahuagin.

[sblock]Wind Slash (Int)
5, 1 + 3 = 9

I'll deal my damage and 1 technique but put myself in danger as my complication.

d8 damage. 5 - 2 = 3 damage. Dead.

Soul-Siphoning: Your attack heals you for 1d4. Heal 1d8 instead if this attack kills your target. 5 HP returned. I'm at 17/21 now.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
As you slay one of the last two fish-men, the remander hastily grabs his triden, gets to his knees and heaves it at you.

[sblock]Defy Danger (Dex)
4, 5 + 1 = 10[/sblock]

I nimbly dodge the feeble attempt and finish off the last of the aboleth's mind slaves alotted against me. I call forth force magic and several blades of cutting air rend him to pieces...hopefully!

[sblock]Wind Slash (Int)
2, 3 + 3 = 8

I'll deal my damage and 1 technique but put myself in danger as my complication again.

d8 damage. 5 - 2 = 3 damage. Dead.

Soul-Siphoning: Your attack heals you for 1d4. Heal 1d8 instead if this attack kills your target. 5 HP returned. I'm at 21/21 now.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
As the last of your humanoid foes falls dead to the frozen central coutyard of World's End, the aboleth speeds through the air toward you as quickly as the mighty predator would in the sea. It is upon you in a flash, beak agape, tentacles leading.

Hoping I'm the faster, I turn to sprint toward the cabin as it bears down on me. I'm wanting to get in the front door and secretly slink out the window as the kraken batters the structure in attempt to get at me.

[sblock]Defy Danger (Str)
5, 4 - 1 = 8.

Success with a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
The tentacles rake the air all around you as you sprint away. One of the nasty hooks catches your backpack and rends it in half. Your backpack is ruined and all of your Adventuring Gear falls to the cold ground behind you. It is undamaged, but you have no access to it currently and no where to store it in the future!

I rush to the door and grab the iron pull. With just enough room to get my body inside, I enter. With a sneaky bit of misidrection, as the creature begins to lay into the building with its tentacles, I'm going to open the rear window and slink out toward the nearby adjacent cabin. I'll scale it and deliver a Wind Slash to him.

[sblock]Defy Danger (Int)
6, 2 + 3 = 11[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
Just as you predicted, the creature hammers at the building with destructive might. Stone foundation is shaken to the core. Heavy timbers splinter like matches. In short order the building will fail and fall upon (not) you. As you scale the building nearby, you can almost feel an ominous glee as the flying kraken destroys the building, thinking you crushed inside!

You can take 1 to your Wind Slash.

Then he isn't going to like this!

[sblock]Wind Slash (Int)
2, 5 + 3 (take 1) = 11

d8 damage and 1 technique.

d8 damage. 5 - 2 = 3 damage.

Burst: Your attack deals an additional 1d4 damage and gains the ‘forceful’ tag. 3 damage.

Bladesong (Int)
1, 4 + 3 = 8

1 Bladesong for:

* Void Note - Teleport somewhere nearby within your line of sight.
* Guarded Flourish - When you have no weapon or shield in your offhand and you take damage, take + 2 armor.
* Blade Crescendo - When you deal damage to an enemy within your melee weapon's range, gain 2 piercing.[/sblock]

I want to use my forceful tag to throw the creature from the roof to the ground with force magic.

Per Manbearcat
That's fine. The frame of the building fails and it comes tumbling down. You send the massive sea creature to the earth with it. It slams into the earth, quite surprised by it all.

You can continue.

The opening strings of the Bladesong fill me with supernatural power. I step through worlds from the roof some 30 feet away and end up right next to the creature, intent on slaying it.

[sblock]1 Bladesong for Void Note.

Flawless Bladework (Int)
1, 6 + 3 = 10

d8 damage and 2 techniques.

7 - 2 = 5 damage.

Burst * 2: Your attack deals an additional 1d4 damage and gains the ‘forceful’ tag. 3 + 3 = 6 damage. Dead.[/sblock]

I watch the flailing tentacles of the dieng creature momentarily as I catch my breath. I wince sentimentally when I look at the ruined cabin. I then sprint for that elevator in the cellar. That should be the fastest way to lake-side and the battle raging there. I can hear the sounds of the frenzied mer-men and the roars of a raging Ancient White Dragon.

We can do Averandox's next turns, starting with a Hack and Slash on the aboleth, some time later. I'll start a new post for that.

 

[Binks]

You pass the avalanche and the dead ice troll. Carrion birds are picking at the carcass and making quite the noise, thus drawing your attention. In the morning sun, a glint of light on a fine piece of filament catches your eye as you do. It is attached to a splintered piece of perfectly polished, worn wood. The Fey Panther cat-gut string of your destroyed bow.

You mark your way for your companions easily enough with your charcoal (or whatever it was that you spent the AG on). The well-worn path of travelers cuts through a dizzying array of forks, but it is not difficult for an accomplished tracker to follow. You find the end of the trail through the sparsely snowed canyons an hour into your trek. You're looking up at a sheer climb some 100 feet. At the top is a simple elevator with a winch and pulley system and a medium-sized boulder as counterweight. You could attempt to climb the thick ropes that are tied to the boulder but they are clearly covered in a sheen of ice. The stone-face before you would take more time to climb, and is also icy here and there, but it is indented and notched all over so hand holds are readily found.

There is a 60 linear foot, field-stone wall spanning the landing up top and there are no signs of any monitoring guards or laborers.

I look at the cat-gut string slack-jawed. A gift from Correlon no doubt. I say a quiet prayer of thankfulness, detach it from the shattered remnants of the bow, coil it, and place it in my pack.

I stare up at the cliff face, looking back and forth between it and the heavy ropes of the counterweight which are covered in the ice sheath. It doesn't take me long to figure out my course of action.

"Rawr, stay here. When I get to the top I'll lower the elevator for you." I go through my pack and grab climbing gear, basically climbing clamps to fit onto nodules and ease my climb - spend 1 AG. I'll then peruse the sheer wall for the best course to the top.

[sblock]Discern Realities (Wis)
3, 2 + 2 = 7

1 question and + 1 forward when acting on it.

* What here is useful to me?[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
You've climbed hundreds of precarious faces like this, though mostly less frozen than the wall before you. You pick an expeditious and safe path in short order. But it will take some time getting to the top...perhaps 15 minutes.

You can take + 1 for your AG expenditure.

"I'll have you up there with me in no time" I say as I scratch behind Rawr's ears. I know he doesn't prefer it this way but I'm unnerved about climbing right now due to the loss of Lucky.

[sblock]Defy Danger (Str)
1, 6 + 0 (+ 2 AG and DR) = 9

Success with a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
The first three quarters of your climb are unremarkable. But Rawr grows impatient and unnerved (stubborn tag from Instincts)...

The burly bear suddenly leaps to the cliff face and with amazing ease and strength, he scales the pocked face with relative ease. But it's a noisy climb and several rocks fall beneath his girth.

You hear movement above you. A grim faced barbarian peeks over the edge. He sees Rawr first and then locks eyes with you, some 30 feet below him. You lose sight of him momentarily but when his upper body emerges from behind the cover of the field-stone wall, he has a large stone hefted above his head. With a cruel look on his face he casts it down at you!

I flatten myself against the stone face, realizing that I have little options but to absorb the blow and hope it only grazes me....

[sblock]Defy Danger (Con)
5, 1 + 1 = 7

Success with a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
Rawr...well roars...in defiance and begins to double time it up top.

The stone clips your shoulder and bounds away. You keep your grip and your wits, but your the impact smarted.

Roll 1d4 damage, armor applies.

[sblock]2 - 1 = 1 damage to me.[/sblock]

I let go with one arm and grasp the spear that I won from the slain barbarians. I toss it up an inch to adjust my grip and heave it at the barbarian above me.

Per Manbearcat
He takes + 1 armor for cover and you're going to get an awkward tag due to this situation so take - 1.

[sblock]Volley (Dex)
3, 4 + 3 (- 1 awkward) = 9

d8 damage and I'll take danger as my complication.

6 - 2 armor = 4 damage. Dead.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
Your spear catches him clean, just under the collarbone, and he falls away from the wall. However, the force with which you have to propel the spear causes your feet to slide on the icy cliff face. Your other hand slips for a moment. If you don't catch yourself, you're falling 70 feet (1d10, no armor applies and DD for debility)!

Not much choice here but to roll the dice and cross my fingers!

[sblock]Defy Danger (Dex)
6, 1 + 3 = 10[/sblock]

When we get up top, I want to inspect the barbarian carefully.

Per Manbearcat
Your elven alacrity and ranger poise saves you from a terrible fall. In short order you're over the field-stone wall with Rawr.

The barbarian has several fresh wounds on his forearms and there are several pools of, must be, his own blood. His fingers are wet in that blood and he appears to have been drawing symbols of animals. Suddenly, his eyes open and he coughs up several mouthfuls of blood. Gurgling his last words, he says "...please..."wood-witch"...bless me with a primal word...don't let the others take my spirit to their world..."

There is a small stone table with an uncomfortable earthen "chair" for sitting. On the table is an unfolded cloth with smoked, dried meat (1 ration)

I kneel and hold his hand, quickly and loudly blessing him with a primal prayer to the elder spirits requesting that they claim him and let him pass to their secret realm.

I hold his hand until he is gone. I look to Rawr and say "where there is one, there are bound to be more. I imagine many of the people of these ancient, primal lands will not forsake their heritage for a madman. Perhaps they will aid us against him."

I'm going to see what tracks I can find that lead to the village. I'lll scout things out, perform some reconnaissance, perhaps make contact if I can find more primal people, and come back to this place so I can wait for Otthor and the goblins. I'd rather them use the elevator than climb the wall.

[sblock]Hunt and Track (Wis)
2, 4 + 2 = 8

You follow the creature’s trail until there’s a significant change in its direction or mode of travel.[/sblock]

 

[Tecklenburg]

Here is Averandox's Defy Danger for the powerful aboleth enchantment:

[sblock]Defy Danger (Wis)
6, 3 + 2 = 11[/sblock]

Averandox scoffs at the pathetic mental intrusion, beats his wings once hard and flies a bee-line for the foolish, squishy aboleth!

Picking back up where we left off...

Averandox is looking to tear the creature's soft, squishy tentacles from its body so it can't latch on to him. He didn't like the taste of the Mucus Haze from the last aboleths he fought so that is priority number one.

[sblock]Hack and Slash (Str)
6, 1 + 2 = 9

Jaws (b[2d10] + 3 damage, piercing 1) Forceful, Messy, Reach and counterattack on Averandox. 7, 5. 7 + 3 - 1 (1 piercing cancels armor) = 10 damage + forceful and messy.

Counterattack: Mental Lance (1d10 ignores armor). 3 damage.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
Averandox flies like a bullet into the Aboleth Mind Mage. It is a titanic collision as the two monstrous creatures slam headlong. The ancient wyrm's heavy jaws rend black rubbery flesh in a horrific display of gore. Tentacles are torn from the creature's large, fish-like purple body. Momentarily, its many red eyes go wide at the brutality.

Then it is Averandox's turn to have his eyes go wide as the creature trivially opens his mind like a mussel shell. The aboleth tears some of the dragon's persona from him like a professional shucker might do to the soft tissue of the mollusc with their knife.

As the Aboleth Mind Mage is briefly in Averandox's mouth, he gets a taste of the revolting, senses-stupefying mucus haze...

Need DD (Con).

Averandox growls at the mental intrusion. How dare this creature violate The Frozen Wind of the North!

[sblock]Defy Danger (Con)
4, 1 + 2 = 7

Success but a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
The huge collision with the titanic aboleth slows the great white wyrm's forward air speed that he stalls out entirely. As he spits the aboleth out of his mouth, the two of them go crashing to the frozen tundra below, leaving a scar for a few hundred feet as they finally come to rest, disjointed, near the water's edge and not far from where the elevator comes down to the bottom. Aboleth Mind Mage Near range.

The fleeing chaos of the terrified mer-men has not yet rounded back into form, but it won't be long. When they do, their charge won't take more than 10 seconds to reach you.

To take wing right now, you'd need to make a move as you're all crumpled and disjointed after the mighty tumble. Takes time and space for him to get going and get fully airborne (like a jumbo jet).

Also, a bit more mechanics for Averandox:

[sblock]On Hack and Slash 10+, just as you can eat a counterattack for an extra 1d6 on the initial target, you can do the same for him, but you can put that 1d6 on an adjacent target (with piercing 1) like a cleave attack.[/sblock]

He's focused on getting this Aboleth Mind Mage dead. The northern elements are at his beck and call. He bends them to his will and summons the galeforce winds of a blizzard to smash his dangerous, otherworldly enemy into the nearby cliff and bind him so he can't magically fly away.

[sblock]Frozen Wind of the North (Wis)
2, 3 + 2 = 7

Choose one:

* The effect you desire comes to pass
* You avoid paying nature’s price
* You retain control

I'll choose the first.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
Old Man Winter's fury is unleashed on the surrounding area. From nowhere comes the wind of a once in a century storm. But this destructive power could not possibly be fully harnessed. The aboleth slams into the base of the bluff (roll 1d4 environmental damage and ignores armor) and the swirling, chaotic winds constrain from every direction. There is no hope for the creature to take to the air. But the same goes for the dragon that summoned the northern winds...

Alright, no flying. Got it. I'll roll damage and we can pick this up later.

[sblock]1d4 environmental damage and ignores armor on Aboleth Mind Mage. 2 damage.[/sblock]

 

[Manbearcat]

I kneel and hold his hand, quickly and loudly blessing him with a primal prayer to the elder spirits requesting that they claim him and let him pass to their secret realm.

I hold his hand until he is gone. I look to Rawr and say "where there is one, there are bound to be more. I imagine many of the people of these ancient, primal lands will not forsake their heritage for a madman. Perhaps they will aid us against him."

I'm going to see what tracks I can find that lead to the village. I'll scout things out, perform some reconnaissance, perhaps make contact if I can find more primal people, and come back to this place so I can wait for Otthor and the goblins. I'd rather them use the elevator than climb the wall.

[sblock]Hunt and Track (Wis)
2, 4 + 2 = 8

You follow the creature’s trail until there’s a significant change in its direction or mode of travel.[/sblock]

The young man dies as peacefully as a nasty sucking chest wound will allow. His eyes flash with their dieing light. His body caries on it's futile efforts to live after the soul has fled. Then it ceases completely. Perhaps you give him some solace with your requiem for the repose of his soul. Maybe one day you'll know.

Rawr looks at you when you address him and then turns to regard the distance forlornly. It is quiet save for the wind. And it is very cold. White covers the ground everywhere. Again, this is like the Hindu Kush mountain range or NE Afghanistan and the people of the highlands and Giliad's Rest are basically the equivalent of our world's Pashtuns...in complexion, culture, and disposition. Their world has been a harsh one. They have been steeled by the elements, a tight culture that has perfected the art of living in such an inhospitable realm, and by their violent history in order to survive it.

When you and Rawr set out, a light snow flurry dusts the air before and all around you. The trail is not a difficult one to follow as everywhere else it is extraordinarily dangerous or outright impossible passage. Your sense direction tells you that you are ascending on a due northerly course. After a winding ascent of thirty minutes, the trail ends at the edge of a rise. As you approach the edge, your nose, eyes, and throat become suddenly irritated. You feel a wave of warmth and your nose takes in the distinct smell of sulfur.

You hear the sounds of children (10) laughing and splashing in water while their mothers (3) playfully scold them. The rise gives way to a drop some forty feet below you that must be hand climbed or rappelled down. The women are washing linens in hot springs and singing songs. While their dialect of the Common tongue is a bit rough for you at first, the vernacular is not beyond your means. Their songs venerate the Elder Primal Spirit of Fate and Uncertainty. Those of an optimistic bent venerate her as Grandmother Spider. These are not those songs. This particular ode is to the Fate Weaver and is about her impartiality in the affairs of mortals...about her indifference to their plight. It is a song of self-reliance, of pride in the understanding that there is an organization to existence at all and that they have a role to play, however meager.

They are unguarded, but the women all have spears within hand's reach. These are not soft city-folk. Any one of these women would slay a good-sized boar with no trouble...and three apiece if their little ones were threatened.

 

[Tecklenburg]

Per Manbearcat
Old Man Winter's fury is unleashed on the surrounding area. From nowhere comes the wind of a once in a century storm. But this destructive power could not possibly be fully harnessed. The aboleth slams into the base of the bluff (roll 1d4 environmental damage and ignores armor) and the swirling, chaotic winds constrain from every direction. There is no hope for the creature to take to the air. But the same goes for the dragon that summoned the northern winds...

With full winter's fury, Averandox tears at the restrained Aboleth Mind Mage with massive claws like three poleaxes strapped to a falling boulder...

I'll go ahead and roll his DD (Con) for Mucus Haze as well.

[sblock]Hack and Slash (Str)
3, 3 + 2 = 8

Claws, (b[2d10] + 3 damage, piercing 1) Forceful, Messy, Reach. 6, 9 + 3 - 1 (less 1 piercing) = 12. Aboleth Mind Mage dead.

Counterattack: Mental Lance (1d10 ignores armor). 6 damage.

Defy Danger (Con) Mucus Haze
6, 2 + 2 = 10[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
In a vortex of violence and gore, the huge aboleth is eviserated. But it leaves a parting gift in the way of one last psychic scar on mighty Averandox's overwrought sense of self.

The great wyrm, carrying the weight of the battle on its body and mind sneers proudly as the dying aberration's pestilential aura affects him not. Wheeling at the sound of frenzied Sahuagin, he sees the 20 remaining fish-men, now free of the aboleth's mind-control, bounding and sprinting toward him, a volley of javelin's cocked at their ears while their lower arms hold their deadly tridents. In the chaos and destruction of their mental recovery from being mind slaves, 2 of their 20 are cut down by friendly fire butchery...a byproduct of the ferocity of their own charge!

[sblock]Be forewarned, Messy tag to their melee attacks.[/sblock]

You can act before they get to you (they're still at Far), but you cannot fly to the tempest that you momentarily conjured.

Averandox is in a bad way. He has 4 HPs left. Three questions:

1) If I bring them in close, Defend against their charge and survive, how many can I get of the remaining 18 in his Frozen Breath?

2) How long until Otthor is on the scene? This is all taking place below the elevator, yes?

3) If I Defend, what level would I be Defending at if I get a chance to spend hold on deal damage equal to your level ?

Per Manbearcat

1) You can get 2/3 of them, so 12 of 18, in your Frozen Breath.

2) Otthor would not be finished with his battle yet. Lots of stuff went down top-side. A bit longer for sure. Let us say maybe a move after they finish their charge all the way to the bluff's sheer facing.

3) Let us call it 10. You could spread that out amongst 2 of them as well, killing them.

The math here just doesn't work out for me I'm afraid. I'm going to need to successfully kill 12 of them with Frozen Breath and then successfully Defy Danger from their javelin volley.

Let me think about it. I may just Defy Danger and climb up the cliff face to the top of the bluff. I can regroup there and then rain hell down on them. I'll get back to you.

EDIT - Ok, back to it. Here is what I want to do. Averandox is going to harness the elemental forces of winter again and summon a wall of wind from a raging blizzard that repels the volley of javelins. Then I'll blast them with a cone of frosty death!

[sblock]Frozen Wind of the North (Cha)
2, 6 + 2 = 10

* The effect you desire comes to pass
* You avoid paying nature’s price

Frozen Breath (Con)
4, 2 + 2 (- 1 ongoing) = 7

Frozen Breath is now - 2 ongoing.

Frozen Breath
Forceful, Near
Shards of ice envelop everyone nearby, inflicting 2d6 damage which ignores armor.​

3 + 2 = 5 damage, ignores armor. 12 dead.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
The wall of winds sends the javelins away from Averandox like matches in a stiff breeze. Its eruption from nowhere gives pause to the piranha-faced, 4-armed humanoids. That coupled with the intensity of the gale has left them struggling to advance on the great wyrm.

When dragon's breath, razor-shards of ice and hail the size of an ogre's head, takes two-thirds of their numbers, the six remaining begin to think better of things. They break rank and three begin to head for the only refuge they know here; the freezing depths of the lake. The other three are committed to their bloodlust and a savage end...for you or for them.

Far range and advancing...slowly. No more javelins. Their range is Close with their tridents.

If Averandox can't take to the air, he'll simply scale the bluff. If they're foolish enough to climb after him, he'll start an avalanche and bury them. They're slowed due to the blizzard winds. Do I need to DD for Averandox to climb the 100 ft cliff or can he just gouge the rock with his massive claws at his draconic leisure. A 100 ft climb on a freezing sheer wall for an ancient white wyrm seems like a walk in the park.

Per Manbearcat
Averandox makes it to the top of World's End Bluff with neither harrassment from the wind-restrained Sahuagin nor difficulty from the climb. Upon cresting the top, Otthor sees him right as he as about to open the double doors to the cellar.

The three Sahuagin, give chase and stand there enraged for a moment under the slight overhang of the bluff. The three of them grasp the icy face of the sheer cliff and futilely attempt to climb for a moment before sliding back down to the bottom.

[sblock]When you bring down the bluff's overhang on your foes, roll +Str (+2). On a 10 +, they're buried...but not alive. On a 7-9, choose 1:

- they take 1d6 damage (ignores armor).
- you don't risk going over as well.[/sblock]

Hopefully that is pretty clear. What I also want to make clear is that on a 6-, you're going over automatic-like and taking 1d10 damage (ignores armor)...you can probably figure out that isn't good.

Averandox will wait for Otthor to come over. Otthor will peer over the side when he arrives. The aboleth is nothing but a pile of gore on the rocks below. Corpses of the Sahuagin litter the frozen tundra. Noticing the mighty dragon's raised tail and look of contempt at the clumsy mer-men, he fears that the dragon will damage the settlement, possibly irreparably, with his rage. Also, Otthor is thinking about the etchings that he read foretelling of the end of the world in just three, now two, day's time. He doesn't need anything complicating their return journey...such as a dead dragon that gannot fly him back!

He shouts over the screaming wind. "Let us go. With the aboleth destroyed, our work here is finished. Surely you have a lair in these parts where we could rest before returning in the morning."

Per Manbearcat
You're going to need to Defy Danger (Cha) if you're going to convince Averandox to not do something rash and destructive here. These creatures made him bleed. He wants their annihalation, nothing less.

Alright.

"The people of this settlement are an important part of your claimed realm. If they have no home to come home to..."

[sblock]Defy Danger (Cha)
4, 2 + 1 = 7

Success but with a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
Angry brow narrows. Teeth clinch with a terrible grinding. Coming in close he growls..."you will bring me their heads...and then I will spare your precious ruin of a village..."

Far enough.

I nod grimly to the great white wyrm and take off to the cellar and the elavator which will bring me to the lake's shore.

We can finish this up tomorrow.

 

[Binks]

The young man dies as peacefully as a nasty sucking chest wound will allow. His eyes flash with their dieing light. His body caries on it's futile efforts to live after the soul has fled. Then it ceases completely. Perhaps you give him some solace with your requiem for the repose of his soul. Maybe one day you'll know.

Rawr looks at you when you address him and then turns to regard the distance forlornly. It is quiet save for the wind. And it is very cold. White covers the ground everywhere. Again, this is like the Hindu Kush mountain range or NE Afghanistan and the people of the highlands and Giliad's Rest are basically the equivalent of our world's Pashtuns...in complexion, culture, and disposition. Their world has been a harsh one. They have been steeled by the elements, a tight culture that has perfected the art of living in such an inhospitable realm, and by their violent history in order to survive it.

When you and Rawr set out, a light snow flurry dusts the air before and all around you. The trail is not a difficult one to follow as everywhere else it is extraordinarily dangerous or outright impossible passage. Your sense direction tells you that you are ascending on a due northerly course. After a winding ascent of thirty minutes, the trail ends at the edge of a rise. As you approach the edge, your nose, eyes, and throat become suddenly irritated. You feel a wave of warmth and your nose takes in the distinct smell of sulfur.

You hear the sounds of children (10) laughing and splashing in water while their mothers (3) playfully scold them. The rise gives way to a drop some forty feet below you that must be hand climbed or rappelled down. The women are washing linens in hot springs and singing songs. While their dialect of the Common tongue is a bit rough for you at first, the vernacular is not beyond your means. Their songs venerate the Elder Primal Spirit of Fate and Uncertainty. Those of an optimistic bent venerate her as Grandmother Spider. These are not those songs. This particular ode is to the Fate Weaver and is about her impartiality in the affairs of mortals...about her indifference to their plight. It is a song of self-reliance, of pride in the understanding that there is an organization to existence at all and that they have a role to play, however meager.

They are unguarded, but the women all have spears within hand's reach. These are not soft city-folk. Any one of these women would slay a good-sized boar with no trouble...and three apiece if their little ones were threatened.

Rawr and I lay down on the rise, quietly and carefully observing them with our eye-line just high enough to take in what is before us. I want to approach them in time but I need it to be on good terms immediately. I'm thinking on my understanding of the primal spirits and of the cultures that venerate them. What do those cultures appreciate. What do they consider peace offerings?

[sblock]Spout Lore (Int)
4, 2 + 1 = 7

The GM will only tell you something interesting—it’s on you to make it useful. The GM might ask you “How do you know this?” Tell them the truth, now.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
The people who venerate primal spirits have diverse cultural practices depending on what spirits they venerate or how they prioritize multiple Elder Spirits. Typically a peace offering would be some sort of animal, natural tool, or construction of natural materials that are of value. These might be beads, shells, a pot of sacred river clay, a fertile mare, etc. It is always associated with the spirit's portfolio/shtick. Remember, this is the Fate Weaver...and the form of that spirit that invokes its inevitable march.

How did you learn this?

I've been on the prime world for many years now. The people of Giliad's Rest and the surrounding territories all have a strong undercurrent of primal spirit worship. They may appreciate the Gods from afar, but there is little in the way of clergy here. The Gods are distant things to them while the primal spirits connect to their everyday lives.

What's more, receiving my ranger training in the Feywild taught me to be close to all things natural. Although the Fey Courts are the powers of my homeland, I learned of the spirit world long before my time here. One of the primary reasons I was chosen for this particular mission was because of my understanding of the people of this world, their primal spirits, their Gods, and their ways of life. I could easily assimilate into their ways of life through that common connection.

While I'm watching and listening to them, I'm getting out a length of rope to deconstruct. I'll spend 1 AG for this. I'm going to attempt to quickly, but expertly, make ten dreamcatchers in the motif of the Fate Weaver. One for each of the children. Veneration of primal spirits means that dreams are a sacred thing and vulnerable to evil spirits just as well as good. I'm going to use the dreamcatchers as a peace offering.

Hopefully I have time to listen to the women talking. Hopefully they have something insightful for me. I want to specifically pay attention to any dissension in their ranks regarding the death cult and the Far Realm presence. Primal people should be aghast at such a marriage I would think?

[sblock]Discern Realities (Wis)
6, 5 + 2 = 13

3 questions and + 1 forward when acting on each.

* What happened here recently?
* What is about to happen?
* Who’s really in control here?[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
They spend the next several hours at the hot springs; playing, washing and hanging linens, chatting the remnant morning and early afternoon away. Those hours give you the time to make your dreamcatchers.

You can take + 1 forward with their use.

Your reconnoitering of their conversations yields the following:

1) There was a coup by Ranyon Argoth within the last few years. Each of these womens' original husbands, who all venerated the primal spirits, were slain. The women all swore allegiance to Ranyon Argoth and his foreign gods. They did this so their children would be spared. They aren't mistreated and have had a place in this society.

2) Ranyon Argoth has grown more and more reclusive, nary to be seen in the last several months. He seems to speak solely in a mysterious tongue anymore and almost seems possessed of a spirit...maybe one of his foreign gods.

3) Their adoption of their leader's religion is appearance only. The women all secretly still revere the primal spirits. They tell their children stories, sing songs, and practice their heritage on these "getaways." They still must hide all vestiges of it in their daily lives though.

I'm going to take all of my weapons off and place them on this side of the ridge that I'm looking over. I'll bundle up and thread each of my dreamcatchers over every one of my ten fingers, one for each child, so they are hanging. I bear the look, and smell no doubt (!), of a primal creature through and through so I have no doubt of my appearance.

I'll walk down the hill and invoke one of my teachers, inspired by Albert Einstein of course (!), when addressing the women and children as they look at me.

"Coincidence is the Fate Weaver's way of remaining anonymous." I'll pause to look them over and gauge their response.

Per Manbearcat
Stunned. The splashing play and chatter stops abruptly...but no one grabs or brandishes weapons...yet...

"It is good fortune that I have come upon you." I put my hands out before me revealing the ten suspended dreamcatchers. "These are for them." I nod to the children.

** These next words I speak quietly as I approach the three women so the children cannot hear me, "But freedom from your captors and from a fate far worse than death...one not of the Fate Weaver's designs...and the right to openly worship the primal spirits is what I promise you and your children if you will but hear me out."

[sblock]Parley (Cha)
5, 5 - 1 (+ 2) = 11.

I merely want them to regard me as non-hostile, hear me out, and take what I'm about to say seriously.

Leverage is my invocation of their totem spirit as the force behind our meeting and the sincere offering of the dreamcatchers for the children.[/sblock]

Per Manbearcat
I'll update with a post later or tomorrow.

** Small edit.

 

[Manbearcat]

SAERIE

"It is good fortune that I have come upon you." I put my hands out before me revealing the ten suspended dreamcatchers. "These are for them." I nod to the children.

These next words I speak quietly as I approach the three women so the children cannot hear me, "But freedom from your captors and from a fate far worse than death...one not of the Fate Weaver's designs...and the right to openly worship the primal spirits is what I promise you and your children if you will but hear me out."

[sblock]Parley (Cha)
5, 5 - 1 (+ 2) = 11.

I merely want them to regard me as non-hostile, hear me out, and take what I'm about to say seriously.

Leverage is my invocation of their totem spirit as the force behind our meeting and the sincere offering of the dreamcatchers for the children.[/sblock]

It is basically the C3PO and ewoks scene from Return.

The three women slowly rise, jaws agape, from their stooped position, dropping their linens into the hot springs. They listen to your words and when you're finished, they immediately drop to their knees and begin chanting deferentially. They think you're a primal spirit.

The little ones have no such deference nor compunctions about approaching you. They all quietly come near you, wide-eyed, touching your skin where it might be bared and feeling your hair. One by one they take the dreamcatchers you made for them and back away, marveling at them. One of the little girls wondrously asks "...is it magic?..."

The women don't scold them or anything. They're far too awe-stricken and don't appear to have any fears that you'll harm the children.

The floor is yours.

---

OTTHOR

Originally Posted by Tecklenburg

Per Manbearcat
Angry brow narrows. Teeth clinch with a terrible grinding. Coming in close he growls..."you will bring me their heads...and then I will spare your precious ruin of a village..."

Far enough.

I nod grimly to the great white wyrm and take off to the cellar and the elavator which will bring me to the lake's shore.

You take the elevator to the frozen surface at the base of the bluff. Around the bend from you comes the sounds of the incomprehensible, watery language of the pirhanna-faced Sahuagin. Whatever conversation they are having sounds heated. However, it is just as likely that that the tone is a product of the coarseness of the language or the volatility of their typical demeanor as it is the immediate circumstances. The loudness of their raised voices and the recessed nature of the elevator into the bluff's stone mitigates the relative noise of the elevator's machinery.

When you round the bend, you see them hefting their tridents in their bottom set of arms while gesticulating wildly with their top set of arms. The largest one, a full head taller than you, is speaking menacingly and clacking his razor sharp teeth with every word. They are at the shore-line of the expansive lake at Far range from you.

** EDIT TO INCLUDE BOTH OF YOU