The Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #308} Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood...

"Ixin, thank you for that potion," Feln said with a polite bow of his head. "I will have to find more of that elixir; it saved my skin... or what's left of it." He gingerly touched the swath of acid-scarred flesh that now adorned his torso.

"Think nothing of it," the mage replied. "I only wish I had more to offer you; that was the only vial I purchased. I do have a healing draught or two that..." Feln stopped her with a wave of his massive hand.

"I will take Ledare to the Great Oak and ask for healing and information," he said, noticing the crimson that slicked the Janissary's left leg. "I think those of you who are less or unhurt should find out how those things got in here."

"Maybe the frogs were a distraction to make Great Oak vulnerable," Vade said as he reappeared in their midst. "There could be more creatures around."

"We need to do some reconnaissance," Ixin agreed. She scanned the trees nearby for sign of her familiar, spotted him and called the owl to her. "Martivir, these chaos creatures somehow infiltrated this holy place and caused unholy damage," she told the attentive creature. "See if you see any more or anything else unusual that may tell us what they were doing, how they got here, and who sent them." The owl hooted a response and took to the sky.

"Be very careful, Martvir!" she called after the bird. "And come right back!"

Karak wondered over to the breached building and poked - randomly, it seemed - through the rubble.

"Vade, can you gather the goblins and make sure they are at peace," Feln suggested. "They may need someone to help guide them. Can you do that?"

Vade scrunched up his face and scratched his head. "Uhhh... Okay. I guess," he muttered until Ixin stepped up to his rescue.

"I will help in that," the drakeling said, laying a scaled hand on the halfling's shoulder. "I am better versed in the art of diplomacy than Vade."

"Yeah!" Vade's mood brightened. "I'll look around here a bit. Find out how many goblins got hurt. Check out this building." Ledare's head turned at the latter.

"I would like to be party to that search," she said, limping awkwardly on her good leg. Karak harrumphed as he stepped away from the ruin, ducked around Vade, and came up to Ledare.

"Nothin' special 'bout tha' pile o' stones," the dwarf told her in a low voice. "Let Vade poke about if 'e likes. It'll keep 'im outta trouble."

"Ledare, I think you should return to Great Oak and consult the tree," Morier said as he carefully cleaned his greatsword of the frog-creatures' foul blood. "As Ixin suggested, we need to get his opinion on the various clues we've collected and you're the most knowledgeable on that subject."

Reluctantly, Ledare allowed herself to be led away, the fact that she had been on this quest the longest coming home to her once again.



"Ye what?!" Karak bellowed, a ropy vein throbbing on his forehead.

"I had the goblins release the Sscree that were imprisoned in the School's vault," Great Oak said again calmly. "They have been trapped there since the School was founded, a roiling blot of chaos trapped within the Green."

"But why did you let them out?" Ledare asked. "Several goblins were killed and we were injured."

"But you lived. And the Galchutt were destroyed," Great Oak sighed. "Your group was faltering, splintering apart. You could not have defeated the challenges that lay ahead of you but that you were united as you were by a common foe: the Sscree."

"But we might have been killed," Ledare countered.

"If you had been killed, then I would have known that you were not the ones for whom I've waited," the tree replied. "But you weren't killed which means that you could be the ones. Which means that you at least have a chance of surviving the Purging in the Grove of Renewal."

"You mentioned the Grove of Renewal before," Ledare said, her curiosity piqued.

"Yes. There are answers there for you. If you have the strength to take them," Great Oak told her. "But it is not through strength of arms that you will win knowledge from the Nature Seers, but rather through strength of spirit and body."

"You said before that we weren't ready to face the Grove's tests," Feln reminded and Great Oak's leaves rustled overhead.

"The sapling grows into the mighty tree given time," it spoke into their heads. "You are not the same callow folk who stood beneath my branches a moonsdance ago. Your experiences have fueled your growth as surely as sun and rain nourish the tiny seed."

"So now we're ready?" Morier asked.

"Perhaps," the tree said. "There is a chance now that you might succeed. Although, too, some of you might not survive the challenges of the Purging."

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

"Perhaps," the tree said. "There is a chance now that you might succeed. Although, too, some of you might not survive the challenges of the Purging."

Hmm.... I don't think I'd survive that kind of challenge either.

 

[Jon Potter]

Hmm.... I don't think I'd survive that kind of challenge either.

THE GROVE OF RENEWAL can be found on the WotC site - I believe it's a web enhancement for Magic of Faerun - and it has some interesting challenges. I really wanted to hammer home the fact that hack-and-slash ain't necessarily gonna save 'em if they opt to head there.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #308a] And Sad I Could Not Travel Both...

"Great Oak, could you spare a straight branch or something from yourself so that I could wield a weapon?" Feln asked. "I am pretty good with a quarterstaff and I figure what better stick to whack the chaos with then a branch of the Ol' Big Oak!" He grinned hopefully up at the branches.

"I do not ask you to give up your arm to aid me, Feln Twiceborn," the tree replied. "My limbs are precious to me, as yours are to you. Do not suppose that to be otherwise simply because our forms are different."

"Hey! I didn't mean anything by it," Feln countered, holding up his hands on defeat. "How about any magical artifacts that could give me more life... or help me sustain more damage with out falling."

"Two lives are not enough for you?" the tree spoke into their heads and they could feel its growing anger, like a hot ember glowing in a nest of tinder. "I have given you already twice what most creatures enjoy and still you ask for more?"

"Good work, ye great git!" Karak grunted to Feln as he shouldered his way passed the half-ogre's thigh and spoke directly to the tree. "Is it Pellham you suggest we go next to fight the taint? If so, where be the mounts you spoke of, it is time we go."

"My entreaties to the Horselord have so far gone unanswered," the Great Oak replied. "It will be on the 'morrow at the earliest that your mounts will arrive. Until then, you are welcome to stay in your current quarters."

"What about my gold?" the dwarf asked, his axe haft planted between his steel-shod feet.

"With the vault free of the Galchutt, the goblins will be able to retrieve your reward," The Great Oak said. "You shall have your gold, Karak, son of Kignar."

"Well, there is one more small matter of some scattered verse," Ledare added. "Perhaps your great intellect can find sense where we have failed?"



"OH MY GOD!" Vade shouted, both his eyes and grin were so wide that they seemed ready to stretch right off his face. "I WANT TO TAKE OFF ALL MY CLOTHES AND ROLL AROUND NAKED IN-" He stopped and looked nervously around, realizing suddenly that he was speaking out loud.

"Did you say something, Vade?" Ixin called in through the ruptured side of the building. She was outside with the goblins who had been arriving steadily onto the scene. She could not see what Vade could see. She knew nothing about the open trapdoor in the floor of the damaged structure. She couldn't see the vault that was hidden below that trapdoor.

And she certainly couldn't see the vast mounds of treasure that vault concealed.

For a moment, Vade wavered at the edge of the opening in the floor, gazing longingly into the glittering depths below. Then a rare thing happened...

He reconsidered.

"Hey Ixin!" he called over his shoulder. "Get a load of this!"

"To seal the fate of the Black Queen's doom,
First free Beast's twin from Her cold prison tomb,
To spill salvation from Her fruitful womb."​

Ledare lowered the scrap of parchment on which she had transcribed the snippet of poetry and looked up at the Great Oak expectantly. "I think this might have to do with the Grove of Renewal," she suggested. "You previously mentioned Dridana's imprisonment. And 'imprisonment' and 'cold prison tomb' are awfully close."

"It seems likely," the tree sighed. "Dridana is the twin to Brogine, God of Beasts."

Ledare grinned at the others, pleased that they were finally, it seemed, getting somewhere. "What can you tell us of this idea: freeing beat's twin from her cold prison tomb?" she asked. "Might it have something to do with the Grove of Renewal?"

"It does," Great Oak said. "Only the Guardians of the Grove - the Nature Seers - know the way to free Dridana."

"Perhaps that should be our next course of action?" Ledare pressed. "If you feel we are ready."

There was a pause during which the tree's epic branches groaned in the breeze. "I can put you on the path to the Grove if you wish it," Great Oak told her. "But be forewarned, it is a place of testing; only by surviving the rigors of The Purging will you learn the answers you seek. Many who travel there never leave."



"Better not tell Karak," Vade chuckled as he and Ixin peered down into the vault of riches he had uncovered. "He would want to trade one of us for it." Ixin grinned at the halfling and stood up.

"Let's go take a look!" Vade urged and started to clamber down into the treasury.

"Vade, our first priority is to insure the safety and wellbeing of the goblins," Ixin said, with a disapproving shake of her head. "Let us attend to that task before we plunder any hidden riches."

Vade hesitated, looking from Ixin to the vault and back again. "I really want to sneak down there and get something, but I remember what Morier said about being a team... and I'm a little worried about there being some more frogs in there."

"Quite sensible," the drakeling told him and patted his shoulder. "Once we can be satisfied that the goblins are safe and attended to, let us go together to look beyond the trap door. But remember, the items are for us to note my firend, not to take." Vade looked pained by that suggestion.

"I wonder whose it is?" he asked as Ixin led him reluctantly away from the trapdoor. "If it belonged to the frogs could we take it?"

"Stealing is a chaotic action," the mage argued. "We can not afford to put more of that into this world." The halfling's expression became even more stricken and he looked longingly back at the hole in the floor - little more than a darker square of shadow in the darkened interior now that they were moving toward the exit.

"I want to ask the Great Oak..," he started to say and then laughed at himself. "I don't believe I am asking a tree if I can take treasure. I should write this one down... or, better yet, a song! Karak will love it! Wonder if Great Oak has any paper or a pen?"

"Perhaps it is best not to discuss paper with the Great Oak," Ixin suggested.



"Sir Oak, what about the wierd mixy beasts we have been encountering.," Feln spoke up, his voice dripping with humility as he addressed the ancient tree again. "We came across a machine scorpion... it was guardin' a big wizard's lab." He turned to the others and stage whispered, "That's what that was, right?" they nodded and Feln turned back to the Great Oak.

"Anyway, Oak sir, we was wondering if you knew who might be able to wield that kind of power or heard of anything similar happening in the realm?"

The tree creaked as it pondered. "The unnatural fusing of flesh and metal is a common technique of Chaos. Many who crave power are lured to the darkness by the empty promises of chaositech," the tree told them. "But I have not heard of any such betrayals of flesh in recent memory. Still, a druid, Darig, spoke of unnatural mutations arising amidst the animal populations near the Shrouded Lake, and oftentimes the two blasphemies go hand in hand."



"Has everyone been accounted for?" Ixin asked Gorguul, and the old gobliness nodded in reply.

"Three are dead,"she replied in gobbledy. "They were weaker and older than I. They were a drain on our resources. They will not be missed."

Ixin was somewhat taken aback by Gorguul's cold demeanor, but she said nothing. She'd witnessed far more callous cruelty on Mid'Gaard. "Do you have any idea who these creatures were or what they wanted?" she asked. "Are there more of them about?"

"The tree warned us to stay away," the gobliness explained with a shrug. "Tree say that monsters were in hidden room. Too strong for goblins to face. Strangers would deal with monsters."

"I see," Ixin replied and spoke loudly so that all the goblins gathered nearby could hear her. Thanks to her magical cutlass, she knew that they would all understand her words. "Friends of Great Oak," she called, "Chaos beings entered this sacred place. We fought and killed them. If there are more, we will kill them too. But now we must re-establish the sanctity of this place. Let us clean it, bury your dead, and tend to the wounded!"

"Can we check out the treasury now?" Vade asked, tugging insistently on Ixin's cloak.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #309] Seeking the Grove

"Great Oak, I will nae beseech you any more," Karak said, crossing his thick arms over his great barrel of a chest. In dwarfish he added, "Maz jorhurnden kaglem bak arausamryn." Not Ledare, nor Feln, nor Morier spoke the language of the stone folk, so they did not understand the gratitude that Karak was heaping upon Great Oak. But he continued in a similar vein when he switched back to the common tongue.

"I will use your gracious gift to smite chaos," he said. "I also thank you for the life of Feln; he is even uglier than before, which will entertain me on our long journey." Karak elbowed Feln's kneecap and chuckled at his own joke. The half-ogre bared his teeth disapprovingly.
"Once we have reached Pellham, do you wish us to report back to you of what we find?" the dwarf went on. "I remember you told us you sensed a disturbance that required investigating."

"Hold on, Karak," Morier interrupted. "I think that this Grove of Renewal might be worth investigating first." Karak harrumphed.

"I've nae fear of risking my life, elf," the dwarf told Morier. "But neither am I eager to die foolishly. There's little reason to put ourselves in harm's way to get answers what we can find by lookin' elsewhere!"

"I for one would welcome the opportunity to test myself against whatever challenges the Grove poses," the Eldritch Warrior persisted, and storm clouds seemed to be roiling behind his eyes as he considered the prospect.

"An' I think ye're a fool for seekin' yer own death," Karak spat.

"I don't know, Karak," Feln spoke up. "In my youth, the monk brothers would set up challenges. They always said it was a test against yourself, but as I remember it, either I was bloodied or another youth was." The martial artist paused, considering the implications of that and Karak snorted derisively. Finally Feln shrugged his massive shoulders and added, "In any case, I will not shy from a challenge, I say we take it. Ledare, what do you suggest?"

Ledare took a deep, cleansing breath and emptied her mind. She opened her spirit to her newfound goddess, hoping that a drop of divine insight would fall into the well of confusion that seemed to fill her. But nothing came.

She scowled and opened her eyes to see the others looking at her rather strangely.

"Well?" Feln asked.

Ledare had just recently been through her own grueling emotional test, and she wasn't eager to face another so quickly. On the one hand, she supported going to the Grove of Renewal, as it would hopefully reveal the information Great Oak mentioned about freeing the imprisoned goddess, Dridana. On the other hand, it was difficult to know if this was an appropriate juncture for a personal test of her newfound faith. She had hoped - expected even - that Flor would take her by the hand and show her where to go and what to do. She longed for the same guidance that the others sought from her.

She pushed aside her disappointment and came to her own decision. "Let's find Vade and Ixin," she said. "Tomorrow we'll leave for The Grove."

Both Vade and Ixin were eager to visit the Grove, but for different reasons. Vade was excited because it presented a new interesting place to explore; his curiosity was piqued. Ixin was intrigued by the prospect of getting some answers and being able to strike a major blow against Aphyx's forces.

Karak received his reward in a good-sized coffer and he spent the rest of the day counting and recounting it. And guarding it from Vade, of course. Morier and Feln busied themselves crafting a quarterstaff sized appropriately for the half-ogre's use. Both of them had spent a good deal of their youth learning to craft weapons, so collaborating they were able to create a serviceable quarterstaff by nightfall. They both agreed that, working together, with the proper tools and a few days' downtime, they could likely craft a weapon that even a master weaponsmith would be proud of.

Freeday, the 20th of Reaping, 1269 AE​

Of course, the Great Oak took away some of their excitement the next morning, by reminding them that weapons weren't needed during the Purging. He advised them to leave their arms and armor behind, but did admit that the last person to enter the Grove and succeed at the tests was Trint Aiko, an elven archer of some renown. The elf had taken his bow with him although he'd left the Grove without once laying arrow to bowstring. That had been some 150 years ago.



They gathered in front of the ancient dolmen that the tree had explained was the portal to the Grove of Renewal. It looked like many of the other standing stones in the ruins of the Aronerai School, standing half-hidden and vine-choked amongst the trees. But they could all sense the power coming off the ancient dolmen. They didn't need Ixin's innate sensitivity to the Weave to know that this was a potent nexus of energy - it did everything but glow with elder magic.

As they stood there, they remembered Great Oak's final warning: "Once you step through the portal, the Purging will begin. You can turn back at any time, but if you retreat back to this place without completing the test, you may not enter it again; this portal works but once."

One-by-one, they took deep breaths, tossed onto the ground the fat, red berries they had brought as payment for the portal's fae guardian (who remained unseen throughout), stepped through the dolmen and disappeared.

 

[Jon Potter]

Reader Question

Okay, as anyone reading along might have guessed, several of the PCs are planning to undergo the tests in the Grove of Renewal. Since the challenges are individual in nature and essentially the same for everyone involved, I don't want to post write-ups of everyone's experiences. I'd like to do one of two things.

1) Pick one character and follow them through the challenges; or

2) Cycle through the characters with each challenge (ie., focus on one character on the first challenge, another on the second, and so on).

Is there a preference among the readers which path I choose? If the former option wins out, I'd need to know which character you'd like to see undergo the Purging.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

 

[Funeris]

Well Jon, since you asked, I'd go with the cycle of characters. That way, everyone gets a fair share of time and we can see each character's thought processes for each challenge. But, maybe I'm just weird

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

I vote #2 as well.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #310] Vade's Fire Walk

Karak had opted to stay behind. Vade could easily picture the dwarf sighing as he planted his axe between his feet and looked at them intently. The halfling was expecting another of Karak's speeches about fighting chaos and the value of striking often and hard, but he was unprepared for what the dwarf had really intended.

"Alas, lads, I have something to tell you that you may not expect from me," Karak had said, pausing as if he was uncertain of his words. "I have decided I will nae be going with you on this small adventure." There had been gasps of surprise and a few half-voiced protests at his revelation, but Karak silenced them with a stern shake of his head.

"To a dwarf, to enter a grove seeking answers without axe and armour be very unnatural. I do still seek the trials of this world 'ere with my axe and companions by myside," he explained. "I do admit that if'n it be a cave hidden with mystery and monsters, I will nae turn it aside, but this portal and grove feel very unnatural to me."

"I have made peace with my chalak's death and my Goddess. I know who I am to be now. I do nae want to rush it or skip ahead on my life's path," he went on. "I will wait for ye that be for certain. But I wait to fight chaos another day without the gains I hope you will find. It is decided, it is to be just me and my wits, my Goddess, and my axe, without the aid of the Grove, then that be what it is. To all of you good luck and see you on the other side."

At the time, Vade had been surprised, but now, standing in what he could only describe as hell, he wondered if Karak hadn't had the right of it, after all.



Feln had been the first to step through - well, charge through, really. "Back into the belly of the beast, it seems," he'd chuckled to the others. "If you don't mind I would like to step through first. I am compelled to start this challenge."

And so he had, carrying nothing save the meager clothes on his back and his freshly-crafted quarterstaff. Vade followed on his heels, sparing one last jab at Karak. "Don't take my stuff, dwarf!" he laughed and darted through the dolmen before Karak could do more than look cross. There was no transition. One moment he was charging beneath the dolmen and the next he'd left the cool damp of a sylvan morning for the nigh unbearable heat of a volcanic cavern,

The place was vast with a ceiling whose height could only be guessed at; it was well beyond the range of his vision. Thin black smoke was everywhere, making the chamber seem murky despite the hellish glow provided by a lake of lava dominating the center of the chamber and bisecting it from end to end. There was no bridge, but a series of small islands meandered across the burning rock like stepping stones.

It seemed like a relatively easy jump to go from stone-to-stone; Vade had jumped further. But it would be made difficult by the obscene heat and the way the heat made the very air seem to warp distance. A misstep here would spell his quick and utter destruction.

Vade turned back to see if the others were following him and saw that, while the portal was there, it looked out onto a forest at night. There was no sign of the others.

Cautiously, he crept toward the lake of fire, favoring the concealing shadows of the numerous stalagmites that sprouted like a forest of stone on the near side. As he approached, his eyes could just pick out the existence of another dolmen on the opposite side, about sixty feet away. Being separated from him by an expanse of glowing lava made the distance seem much greater.

He was deciding whether or not to attempt the jump when lake of lava was rent from below and a creature of nightmarish legend rose from the fiery depths. It was a dragon of incredible size. Its head was easily the size of a wagon and surmounted by great backswept horns that were each taller than a man. The scales plating its muscular neck shown brightly in the dull red glow of the lava flow as it drove the fearsome head up and up until it towered a hundred feet or more above the hapless martial artist. Vast membranous wings, each rivaling a galleon's mainsail in size, spread out behind it, momentarily obscuring Vade's view of the second dolmen.

Helplessly, he felt his gaze drawn upward to the nightmarish jaws above. Looking into its mouth was like looking into the stoked heart of a forge; fire dripped from its glowing, yellow eyes. And when it roared, filling the cavern with thunder and causing stones to fall from the ceiling, Vade felt the dragonfear wash over him. Despite the unimaginable heat, the halfling's guts turned to ice and only the slimmest of margins kept him from running from the dragon in abject panic.

Vade knew he stood no chance against a dragon and instantly regretted his decision to leave the Ring of Invisibility behind. He was relatively confident that he could jump across the stones without too much risk of being burned beyond all recognition. At least under normal circumstances. Being attacked by a dragon was pretty far from normal circumstances; they were supposed to be extinct after all. So Vade swallowed back as much of his fear as he could and did the only thing that he felt he could.

"Hello, Mr. Red Dragon," he said, his voice quavering slightly as he spke. "My, you sure are big and powerful." The dragon roared again in response and breathed a cone of fire up into the air above, momentarily lighting up the cavern as if it were noon. That did nothing to ease Vade's mind, but he persisted.

"I bet you can fly really high," he stammered and then his brain caught up with his mouth and he formulated a plan. "But maybe not as high as I have seen other things fly. Why once I saw a griffin fly straight up so that he was only a tiny little spot in the sky and, boy, he was big. I do not think a dragon could go that high, but I bet you could go close."

The dragon spread its wings again and fanned them once, generating enough wind to send Vade tumbling backward against a stalagmite. Clouds of obscuring grit filled the air and the halfling found himself coughing as he spoke next.

"Wow! I bet I could write a song about you!" he choked as he got back to his feet. "Everyone would love to hear about the power and glory of being a dragon!" The great creature narrowed its glowing yellow eyes, regarding Vade as a man might look at an ant. Not entirely a good thing, but at least the dragon hadn't raised its foot to squash him flat yet, so he had that going for him.

"I bet you would like gold. I know where there is lots of treasure," the halfling said, trying to change tacks quickly before the dragon started thinking that extra crispy halfling was on the menu. "Man, it was more than I have ever seen... knee deep in coins... even for your knees, Mr, Drago-"

"SILENCE!!" the dragon bellowed, tongues of flame licking from its mouth as it spoke. Both ends of Vade's alimentary canal clamped tightly shut at the command. It angled its great head toward the second dolmen, just barely visible across the cavern. "You must pass," it said simply.

"Oh, how nice of you to let me pass," Vade said, regaining his composure quickly. He indicated the series of islands that meandered across the lava flow, adding, "I will just be on my way across the stones."

He stepped up to the edge of the volcanic pool. Standing there and staring into the wavering orange haze was like standing too close to a campfire. His skin protested, feeling taught and papery, his eyes burned as the moisture was drawn off them, the smell of burning rock filled his nostrils. Gulping loudly, he backed up a dozen paces, got a running start, and leapt.

His foot slipped on the last step and he flailed in the air, realizing with horror that he wasn't going to make it. He lurched for the island of stone and landed hard on his belly. For an instant he thought that he had made it after all, but then the pain slammed into his like Grumblebutt's club and he screamed as the flesh burned on his left foot and leg.

Reflexively, he went to scrape the cooling rock from his tortured limb, burning his hands in the process. The stench of his own cooking flesh came to his horribly as he worked, shrieking in pain all the while. When he was done, his fingers were raw and blistered and the skin hung in ragged strips from his leg and foot, exposing the meat beneath.

He looked back. One jump to retreat and four to press on.

Vade laid down for a few minutes to collect himself. “You are probably loving this, Mr. Dragon. Why don’t you just fly me across?” Smoke bellowed out of the creatures nostrils. It was hard to tell if he was angry or laughing at Vade.

The hobbit felt immense pain from his burns and hoped it would not affect his jumping. He was concerned that he could not make the jump back with such severe injuries... but, on the other hand, if he could not make one how could he possibly make four?

“Well, Papa always said can't get the gold ring if you never reach for it," he said aloud, belatedly adding, "or the ruby necklace or diamond earrings or full purses for that matter. I would much rather die striving for greatness than from fearing failure.”

Vade sat contemplating his decision and pulled a small piece of fruit from his pocket. He ate it and watched the dragon. The dragon appeared to be growing impatient as it loomed overhead. Which, the halfling mused, was not unlike his companions' attitudes when confronted with some of his actions and comments. “I wonder why I have that affect on people?” he wondered absently.

He finished his apple and disposed of the core in the lava out of curiosity. It quickly disappeared into the molten rock with a flash of smoke and flame. “Ooooh...” Vade moaned with fear. Then he collected himself, took out is lock pick and scratched his name on the stone he was standing on adding the initials 'VQS' beneath. Perhaps he'd just marked his grave, he thought morbidly.

"Might as well give it a shot," he said as he got painfully to his feet. The Halfling stood at the back of the stone, took a preparatory breath, then trotted forward and leapt into the air with all of his might.

As he left the ground his impish smile disappeared.

He knew he would have had trouble making the jump had he not been injured. But as it was he had little feeling and apparently little strength left in his body to make the distance. He covered his face as he headed towards the lava in those final seconds wishing his friends more success than he had. “I should never have taken this test,” Vade had time to think. “Halflings aren’t much for jumping… well, except for Trey. He really was quite fast."

He would have thought longer about that topic but then the halfling disappeared with an unwholesome sizzling sound into the lava, several feet short of solid ground.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Bad rolling, or too high of DC? or both?

You know, when Vade tried flattery, Shreck immediately came to mind and the play in my head turned Vade from halfling to donkey.