Lojainne, you've got about four wolves on you. You can either take their bites (multiple enemies deal only the highest damage die among them, for reference) or drop your defensive stance to outrun them.
You can still spend hold. You're still the front line, after all. Deal with the Wolf pack bites: 4d6k1 = 6 damage as you see fit. (Apply armor before you spend hold.)
There isn't much room in the pass for the wolves to get around Lojainne, but they're certainly trying. Who's going to help hold the line, and who's going to spike or bar the door?
Severik, with the opening from Lojainne you cut one of the wolves in half. Just bam, out of nowhere. There's still that howl coming from the forest, but the wolves in the pass are looking less and less sure of themselves. You've bought yourself a little time, at least.
Severik did something dramatic, but the setup hasn't changed much. The wolves may have paused in their advance, but they still need to be held back until everyone gets through the door and it gets held shut, somehow. What's everyone doing?
As Bloodletter takes a life, a new stain sinks into the axe's blade. "Astrafel, you OK back there? I think you've another stanza in the making." Severik swings his shield forward, Bloodletter ready to lash out at any so foolish as to charge.
Yeah, everybody's free to head inside. Lojainne and Severik are keeping the wolves back until you can get the door bar into position.
Blennid, bears aren't particularly known for their manual dexterity, but if you want to use the bulk of a bear to bar the way until everybody can get the bar into place, or some door spikes, go ahead and transform.
If you pull that off I'll ask for one last Defy Danger from Lojainne and Severik to get through the door and not get wolved, and you'll be inside the cave in what, as far as you know, is safety.
Blennid fades a bit, seeming to sink into the rock around him, before surging up, drawing on the mountain's energy, growing much larger than his usual size. His form quickly stabilizes into that of a bear, which lets out a rumbling growl, staying ready at the door.
Seeing the chaos near the door, Astrafel begins an old elven battle chant, used long ago in the Autumn War. The melodic syllables ring out and reach Lojainne's ears, giving her sudden clarity.
--
I'll weave my performance into a spell to aid Lojainne: roll+Cha: 2d6+310
edit: oops, typo. That should be a 9.
Astrafel, bardic music just improves the Aid move. I'm taking that as a regular Aid at +bond, which is enough to take Lojainne above failing.
Severik, just give me a Defy Danger and you're in the clear.
Lojainne, you've got to tear yourself away from the wolves and fit through a closing door in a bit of a hurry. Pick any one item (or one use for an item that comes in multiple uses) for the wolves to rip away from you.
The Angel Rule is a general catch-all. If someone needs to be bumped up a point, anyone can use the Aid move (roll +bond) after the fact to do it. If someone needs to be bumped up two points (if Lojainne had rolled a 5, for instance), Astrafel can make an Arcane Art attempt to empower someone else's Aid. If someone needs to be bumped up three points, well, tough. Aid moves don't stack with each other.
Severik, same deal. One item, or one use of an item, for the wolves to rip away. And then you're inside, and Blennid holds the door shut while you bring the bar back into place.
There's some battering and clawing as the wolves attempt to get through the door, but it quickly dies down. Seems like they've given up.
The stair itself makes about two and a half slow revolutions around the wall of a massive cave. After the first turn you can see the floor below is rough and white. After the second turn you can see that it's... covered in bones.
Old, crumbling bones. None of them seem particularly animate at the moment.
A bit offset from the center of this massive cavern is a stone dais, with no bones on it. A closer examination might reveal more details. Among the many rough shadows on the wall is one that looks to be deeper and darker, a passage leading away to... somewhere.
What are you all doing? Everybody who wants their own torch is free to dip into adventuring gear for it. One use gets you a bundle of 6, each lasting one hour. (Or a lantern and a pint of oil, if you'd rather. Same 6 hours.)
I'll take the bite. Defend action doesn't apply, but does armor?
Well, if what you pick to lose is "a succulent portion of yourself", like another finger, or perhaps a toe, I could let you get away with Wolf bite: 1d6 = 4 damage through armor. Earlier offer still stands though.
A chance to make Severik even more maimed? I'll take it!
His bad knee buckled, sending Severik sprawling into the gravel. One of the damned wolves was on him in a flash, teeth going for the back of his neck, skittering off the leather gorget Severik wore for just such an occasion. He shook the beast off himself, pushing up with arms and legs, but the thing's teeth tangled in his hair. It jumped free, taking with it a souvenir: a sizable hank of hair and good portion of Severik's scalp.
Inside, the elf took a moment to address the injury. He lit a torch, and held his dagger over it until the blade glowed from the heat.
"Astrafel. Care to serve as barber as well as bard?" Severik offered him the dagger.
Look updated: Wild Hair, long on one side, partially shorn on the other. Large, irregular bald spot covered in scar tissue.
Quarol, you see something a little odd in the dais: four notches, roughly equidistant, in the rim, that look like they were carved there or perhaps broken off after the dais was constructed. That gets you looking for patterns in the bones that might denote some kind of whole-room trap.
Not that you spot one. But what you do spot is a modest disturbance in the fairly uniform carpet of bones; going over to it, you actually find a completely clear stretch of cave floor, and a wrought-iron ring, as thick as three fingers and big enough to put your hand through, with four smaller protrusions on it, covered with fairly intricate-looking metalwork. It doesn't look to be attached to anything, just discarded there, and time doesn't seem to have affected it at all.
"Hah!" Astrafel laughs, for the moment forgetting their macabre surroundings. "After what happened last time I'm surprised you would trust me near your hair again. But fear not! For I shape words, and also locks!" Astrafel takes the dagger and works quickly, letting his voice ring out through the chamber as he sings a song of healing. His barding is better than his barbering, but then there's a reason he's one and not the other.
--
Okay, now I'll weave my performance into a spell. This time I'll do so to heal Severik. roll+Cha: 2d6+27 to heal: 1d87 damage.
Der Waffle MousBlame this on the misfortune of your birth.New Yark, New Yark.Registered Userregular
"Please be careful about what you touch in here. All these bones are giving me a bad feeling about this"
He will move towards the clear area for a closer look at the ring. First checking the floor around it, then using a dagger to see if its connected to anything below it.
Astrafel, the acoustics in this cave are pretty good. ...a little too good. Your song echoes far more clearly than you probably mean it to, and from down the darkened passageway, after your song has died away, you hear a single, plaintive moan. But not much else.
Quarol, a cursory examination with your dagger reveals no obvious catches on the ring and nothing that will prevent you from picking it up.
GrogMy sword is only steelin a useful shape.Registered Userregular
Lojainne stifles a curse when she finds her pack of rations almost torn in half, though after counting them she gives thanks that more weren't lost.
At the sound of the moan she takes up position at the passageway. Her eye, however, is on the iron ring Quarol is inspecting "Lumnos spare us these foul traps."
--
Will lose 1 use of my dungeon rations (4/5 left) and I'll ask "What here is evil?"
Astrafel looks toward the passage and frowns. "Usually I like it when someone joins in, but that didn't sound like singing." He stands up and begins looking around the room, hand resting on his rapier. Something about this place sparked his memory...
--
I'll use my elf move to ask for one fact from the history of this location. If I have to be specific, "Who built this place?"
Lojainne, despite the giant piles of bones and the creepy moaning, nothing here is evil. You even take out your mark of Lumnos and its tiny bit of frozen moonlight to make sure. Something about that ring seems familiar, all the same. How are you at comparative religions?
Astrafel, you don't have to be specific. You remember one of your teachers - what was their name? - telling you about the real story behind that ballad, "The Stone Beneath The Stair": long in the past, before the memories of man but not the memories of elves, a brave hero and a forgotten religious order gave up everything combatting an army of undead. What they could destroy, they did; what they could not, they sealed.
GrogMy sword is only steelin a useful shape.Registered Userregular
Lojainne's theological teachings were mainly concerned with Evil cults (know thine enemy), and all the joyful praise of the other Good churches always seemed so... impractical. She may know a little of other Lawful religions through contact with others in the field, but nothing academic.
Okay, Quarol, you're going to have to tell me how you came to learn this, because I'm curious.
The iron ring is the holy symbol of an ancient and now-vanished celestial religion - Lumnos the moon god is the last member of its pantheon that is actively worshipped. Further, this particular symbol has been weaponized - through some sort of cunning artifice, probably dwarven, it contains lengths of fine chain that slide out whenever it's spun just so, turning it into a scourge.
I'll have something up soon. sorry been having rl problems
let me get caught up
0
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GrogMy sword is only steelin a useful shape.Registered Userregular
Can we assume party knowledge? Like if you've given Quarol a bit of information like that do we assume he's gone ahead and told the rest of us without him having to explicitly say so?
Yes, you can assume party knowledge. Basically somebody making one of these rolls is working it out for everybody, and only doesn't share if they say so.
Posts
Edit: and halve the damage if I can?
There isn't much room in the pass for the wolves to get around Lojainne, but they're certainly trying. Who's going to help hold the line, and who's going to spike or bar the door?
--
Spend 1 hold to give an ally +1 forward to attack one of the wolves. Now at 22/25 hp.
Hack and slash at a wolf: 2d6+2 9
Hack and slash at a wolf (damage): 1d10+1 6
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Quarol will hurriedly snag the bar down the stairs.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
--
Is there enough room in the passageway for him to turn into a bear?
Blennid, bears aren't particularly known for their manual dexterity, but if you want to use the bulk of a bear to bar the way until everybody can get the bar into place, or some door spikes, go ahead and transform.
If you pull that off I'll ask for one last Defy Danger from Lojainne and Severik to get through the door and not get wolved, and you'll be inside the cave in what, as far as you know, is safety.
--
Change your shape, 2d6+2: 9 - Hold 2
-
Defy Danger: 2d6+2 6 ruh roh.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
--
I'll weave my performance into a spell to aid Lojainne: roll+Cha: 2d6+3 10
edit: oops, typo. That should be a 9.
Severik, just give me a Defy Danger and you're in the clear.
Lojainne, you've got to tear yourself away from the wolves and fit through a closing door in a bit of a hurry. Pick any one item (or one use for an item that comes in multiple uses) for the wolves to rip away from you.
The Angel Rule is a general catch-all. If someone needs to be bumped up a point, anyone can use the Aid move (roll +bond) after the fact to do it. If someone needs to be bumped up two points (if Lojainne had rolled a 5, for instance), Astrafel can make an Arcane Art attempt to empower someone else's Aid. If someone needs to be bumped up three points, well, tough. Aid moves don't stack with each other.
Using his shield to push back the wolves and give himself a momentary advantage, Severik turns and follows Lujainne towards the door.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
There's some battering and clawing as the wolves attempt to get through the door, but it quickly dies down. Seems like they've given up.
The stair itself makes about two and a half slow revolutions around the wall of a massive cave. After the first turn you can see the floor below is rough and white. After the second turn you can see that it's... covered in bones.
Old, crumbling bones. None of them seem particularly animate at the moment.
A bit offset from the center of this massive cavern is a stone dais, with no bones on it. A closer examination might reveal more details. Among the many rough shadows on the wall is one that looks to be deeper and darker, a passage leading away to... somewhere.
What are you all doing? Everybody who wants their own torch is free to dip into adventuring gear for it. One use gets you a bundle of 6, each lasting one hour. (Or a lantern and a pint of oil, if you'd rather. Same 6 hours.)
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Well, if what you pick to lose is "a succulent portion of yourself", like another finger, or perhaps a toe, I could let you get away with Wolf bite: 1d6 = 4 damage through armor. Earlier offer still stands though.
His bad knee buckled, sending Severik sprawling into the gravel. One of the damned wolves was on him in a flash, teeth going for the back of his neck, skittering off the leather gorget Severik wore for just such an occasion. He shook the beast off himself, pushing up with arms and legs, but the thing's teeth tangled in his hair. It jumped free, taking with it a souvenir: a sizable hank of hair and good portion of Severik's scalp.
Inside, the elf took a moment to address the injury. He lit a torch, and held his dagger over it until the blade glowed from the heat.
"Astrafel. Care to serve as barber as well as bard?" Severik offered him the dagger.
HP 21/25
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
He holds a hand up to the others as he looks around the room.
Not that you spot one. But what you do spot is a modest disturbance in the fairly uniform carpet of bones; going over to it, you actually find a completely clear stretch of cave floor, and a wrought-iron ring, as thick as three fingers and big enough to put your hand through, with four smaller protrusions on it, covered with fairly intricate-looking metalwork. It doesn't look to be attached to anything, just discarded there, and time doesn't seem to have affected it at all.
--
Okay, now I'll weave my performance into a spell. This time I'll do so to heal Severik. roll+Cha: 2d6+2 7 to heal: 1d8 7 damage.
He will move towards the clear area for a closer look at the ring. First checking the floor around it, then using a dagger to see if its connected to anything below it.
Quarol, a cursory examination with your dagger reveals no obvious catches on the ring and nothing that will prevent you from picking it up.
At the sound of the moan she takes up position at the passageway. Her eye, however, is on the iron ring Quarol is inspecting "Lumnos spare us these foul traps."
--
Will lose 1 use of my dungeon rations (4/5 left) and I'll ask "What here is evil?"
--
I'll use my elf move to ask for one fact from the history of this location. If I have to be specific, "Who built this place?"
Astrafel, you don't have to be specific. You remember one of your teachers - what was their name? - telling you about the real story behind that ballad, "The Stone Beneath The Stair": long in the past, before the memories of man but not the memories of elves, a brave hero and a forgotten religious order gave up everything combatting an army of undead. What they could destroy, they did; what they could not, they sealed.
Quarol lets out a rather audible "hmmmmm"
The iron ring is the holy symbol of an ancient and now-vanished celestial religion - Lumnos the moon god is the last member of its pantheon that is actively worshipped. Further, this particular symbol has been weaponized - through some sort of cunning artifice, probably dwarven, it contains lengths of fine chain that slide out whenever it's spun just so, turning it into a scourge.
let me get caught up
--
Discern realities: 2d6 6