Semndor first yells at the trees, " Go back to sleep you stupid animals I will not be all that good to eat! Smednor is also making all kind of noise.
Perception: 1d20+10
Your shouting seems to have obsfuscated your Perception somewhat...(-2 penalty). Nevertheless, it may be enough to detect the stealth of what is comming and so prevent a surprise round until things run into initiative.
Stealth Roll...
IF it beats your Perception then we'll need to roll Initiative. If the creature is succesful, here is its Initiative...
Init:
Semndor first yells at the trees, " Go back to sleep you stupid animals I will not be all that good to eat! Smednor is also making all kind of noise.
Perception: 1d20+10
Your shouting seems to have obsfuscated your Perception somewhat...(-2 penalty). Nevertheless, it may be enough to detect the stealth of what is comming and so prevent a surprise round until things run into initiative.
Stealth Roll...
1d20 + 12
IF it beats your Perception then we'll need to roll Initiative. If the creature is succesful, here is its Initiative...
1d20 + 3
The -2 to penalty beats your Perception, by 1 point. As such, it gains a surprise round on you. It's iniative is 7 for next round. It's first attack is the surprise round:
If it does damage
If it hits it will start a grapple as a free action without AoO. It is large snake, and it is leaping on you.
Grapple CMB
Without the Dexterity modifier, it hits you at 20. You suffer 7 points of damage. You are not constricted. The creature is attacking again, as his initiative beats yours by one point.
Attack
IF it hits; damage
Grapple attempt CMB
Initiative Roll:
Without the Dexterity modifier, it hits you at 20. You suffer 7 points of damage. You are not constricted. The creature is attacking again, as his initiative beats yours by one point.
Attack
1d20 + 5
IF it hits; damage
1d4 +4
Grapple attempt CMB
1d20 + 9
You are now grappled.
It makes a "constricst attack on you".
Hopefully someone heard your shouting...
Initiative Roll: 1d20+1
Yeah, because I was writing before I read your response. Accident is all... no worries.
Brett and Hermia...
Make a "perception check" to see if you hear Smendor.
Target number for being a half mile away will be 18...
Brett's Perception...
Hermia perception
Very well. You're not grappled, and only took the 7 points. What is your next move?
Hermia perception 1d20+4
Both you and Brett have heard Smendor shouting down the trail. You are free to move to help him at this time, though it will take time to get there.
The fire did not go boom so I will use my shield.
Fire:
Attack:
Damage:
Hermia grips the reins of her horse sharply. "I pray that Master Smendor will be able to persist until we arrive. Let us make all haste, Master Brett," she says, determined to assist their companion.
Hermia grips the reins of her horse sharply. "I pray that Master Smendor will be able to persist until we arrive. Let us make all haste, Master Brett," she says, determined to assist their companion.
"Fast enough, lass... but not too fast that we break a leg... keep moving, quick as can be, but watch yerself on account of holes or roots... damn swamp lands..."Brett growls even as he moves forward faster.
A sudden whoosh of flame goes up in the distance.
"Ah helll..."Brett mutters.
The fire did not go boom so I will use my shield.
Fire: 3d4
Attack: 1d20+7
Damage:1d10+3
Reflex save for half Damage
Snakes rebuttal...
IF he hits...
Grab CMB
The fire did not go boom so I will use my shield.
Fire: 3d4
Attack: 1d20+7
Damage:1d10+3Reflex save for half Damage
1d20 + 6
Snakes rebuttal...
1d20 + 5
IF he hits...
1d4 + 4
Grab CMB
1d20 + 9
Snake takes half fire damage, and now rolls to confirm Critical.
You are not currently grabbed or grappled.
Snake has not confirmed... you have taken 8 damage, plus the 7 damage. The snake made his Reflex roll, and seems to have only taken half damage on the fire.
The trees behind you and around you are now burning badly, the "blue light" of the fire seems much more prominent... the flame is reaching from tree to tree... and it is burning hot and bright, though you yourself have not taken fire damage (remember, you have a DR 1 against fire damage if you have your shield).
Brett and Hermia...
With the fire, you can clearly see what is going on. With a good run, you can make it there in two rounds... you have been moving quickly, but now that you see the flame, you are able to run fairly quickly... it is lighting up the woods pretty well and you can see fairly clearly.
"Great Mother, the trees!" Hermia hisses, seeing the trees burn. She shakes her head and begins running towards the origin. For the moment, her worry for Smendor is greater than the worry that the wood will burn down around him, and she recognizes that her need in this particular situation is great.
Smendor goes with the same attack sequence.
Fire:
Attack:
Damage:
Hahah burn burn burn
Smendor goes with the same attack sequence.
Fire: 3d4
Attack: 1d20+7
Damage:1d10+3Hahah burn burn burn
Snake will use his Reflex Save...
Snakes attack
IF it hits
Damage
Grab CMB
Hermia and Brett will get there next round...
Die ya long monster
Fire:
Attack:
Damage:
Smendor goes with the same attack sequence.
Fire: 3d4
Attack: 1d20+7
Damage:1d10+3Hahah burn burn burn
Snake will use his Reflex Save...
1d20 + 6
Snakes attack
1d20 + 5
IF it hits
Damage
1d4 +4Grab CMB
1d20 + 9
Hermia and Brett will get there next round...
Snake is still "up" though barely... very barely...
You have taken a total of 23 HP. You are not entangled. The fire has spread in EXTREMELY wide blume... it is burning very hot, and is spreading throughout the pourous and widely burning wood; the flame has expanded very far, and the forest is now burning badly.
The blue flamed fire is now smelling very noxious, almost a toxic smell, like burning paint. Please toss a Fortitude save with your next attack.
Die ya long monster
Fire: 3d4
Attack: 1d20+7
Damage:1d10+3
No worries, just toss up the Fortitude roll... you have finished the snake.
Fort Save:
Fort Save:1d20+7
The smell of the blue flame is nearly overpowering... you collapse to your knees and struggle to breathe, choking and gasping.
You feel dizzy, and are currently considered "staggered", yet you are up and able to move.
Where do you go and what do you do?
Smendor will make his way down to his horses.
Smendor will make his way down to his horses.
The fire has expanded widely... without propper "containment" for the fire, it has blossomed and moved fast through the swamp territory. The wet wood is creating a massive ammount of smoke and the noxious fumes are foul at least, even as you stagger for your horses.
As you stumble forward, Brett and Hermia are able to move into the massively spreading fire, and they can see Smendor coughing and choking as he staggers.
Smendor is staggering around, and as he does so, you are able to grab him and take him on your horses, if you choose to. (Hermia, yoru call here).
Smendor, you can hear your allies calling to you, even as you stagger around. You are having trouble seeing, and the fire has spread around you. You still have what gear you are carrying on your person, but your horses are currently (you presume) 270 feet down the path from you... Even though the fire has spread to a large area.
Smendor, your friends are calling to you and telling you they will get you on the horse and drag you out of there.
NOTE: If Brett, Hermia and the horse stay there longer then a three rounds I will need a Fortitude roll from them as well.
Hermia, Brett is calling for Smendor to get him on the horse. Hermia, what do you do now?
Smendor will get on the horse and move away from the smoke.
Hermia will make a knowledge (nature) check to see if she can do anything about the fire that threatens to consume the wood.
knowledge (nature)
And then touch herself and expend one use of her Knowledge domain power to burn a standard action to reroll for herself,
knowledge (nature)again
and begin helping Master Smendor towards her horse, since she is sure that Brett's pony is not going to be able to handle the weight... and currently Brett's pony is our source of light once we get out of the burning woods.
Hermia will make a knowledge (nature) check to see if she can do anything about the fire that threatens to consume the wood.
knowledge (nature) 1d20+9
And then touch herself and expend one use of her Knowledge domain power to burn a standard action to reroll for herself,
knowledge (nature)again 1d20+9
and begin helping Master Smendor towards her horse, since she is sure that Brett's pony is not going to be able to handle the weight... and currently Brett's pony is our source of light once we get out of the burning woods.
Smendor, you are now on Hermia's horse.
Brett is turning Stybba around and riding fast back to the others to warn them of the massively growing forest fire. He is still only moving at normal movement speed (fast for the situation) so that he doesn't have a "mistep". Even in the light, this is still difficult terrain.
Hermia, you are next to Smendor, you can either ride with him or run alongside him, but your horse and you can see far enough in the growing fire that you are clear that you will not make a mistep in the dark if you move your normal movement speed.
Hermia; in answer to your question... The gases that Smendor detected when he made his camp fire allow the fire to burn twice as hot and twice as fast. This is very bad, because the wood would be otherwise damp and hopefully prevent the spread of the fire. But because of the consant use of flame bursts into trees that were both rumored and proved to be highly flameable, the fire is spreading quickly.
Hermia; remember, this is just the "circle of life". You are able to take SOME comfort in that fact, even as Smendor lays across your horses back. Forest fires are regular occurances, and they clear out the scrub and other problems that infest forests... You also know the best solution is to try to hunker down in the rivers or streams and hope you don't catch on fire, and stay safe from smoke inhalation.
One other thing... if you are truly worried, you can try to pray.
To those at the boggard's camp
Alaric and Ariarh... You can see a massive fire burning to the north about a mile away. It is spreading quickly, and you don't know what has caused it, or what has happened. What do you do?
Your presumption is incorrect. The others have not seen your horses, or I would have mentioned that when they came up the path to see you. Though Brett did see animal tracks that were not your horses, that were following you. And, bearing that, you are not on Hermia's horse then. You are staggering on the ground. Brett is on his pony and riding back to the group. You are free to walk if you want, Hermia, you are free to do what you wish as well.
Hermia; in answer to your question... The gases that Smendor detected when he made his camp fire allow the fire to burn twice as hot and twice as fast. This is very bad, because the wood would be otherwise damp and hopefully prevent the spread of the fire. But because of the consant use of flame bursts into trees that were both rumored and proved to be highly flameable, the fire is spreading quickly.
Hermia; remember, this is just the "circle of life". You are able to take SOME comfort in that fact, even as Smendor lays across your horses back. Forest fires are regular occurances, and they clear out the scrub and other problems that infest forests... You also know the best solution is to try to hunker down in the rivers or streams and hope you don't catch on fire, and stay safe from smoke inhalation.
One other thing... if you are truly worried, you can try to pray.
Yes, Hermia is aware that forest fires happen. Forest fires burning everywhere and leaving the party no place to rest, heal and for Hermia to examine each and every party member for evidence of disease that was prevalent at the former location is more of a priority at this moment than being a crazy Bruce Dern in Silent Running type that cares more about trees than her party. If we can all get out of this alive, I will pray, and... not get my spells back since I was not allowed to meditate this evening.
Hermia runs alongside her horse to get both her and Smendor out of the thick of the woods before they both become horrible caricatures of 'mallows near her horse, the smore.
As far as Hermia is concerned, it is likely better that these gasses are burning now than later, when we try to settle this area, when human lives and homes would be put in danger. It does char her a bit that they may be alerting any enemies to their location, however. This is still an extremely difficult situation.
Hermia; in answer to your question... The gases that Smendor detected when he made his camp fire allow the fire to burn twice as hot and twice as fast. This is very bad, because the wood would be otherwise damp and hopefully prevent the spread of the fire. But because of the consant use of flame bursts into trees that were both rumored and proved to be highly flameable, the fire is spreading quickly.
Hermia; remember, this is just the "circle of life". You are able to take SOME comfort in that fact, even as Smendor lays across your horses back. Forest fires are regular occurances, and they clear out the scrub and other problems that infest forests... You also know the best solution is to try to hunker down in the rivers or streams and hope you don't catch on fire, and stay safe from smoke inhalation.
One other thing... if you are truly worried, you can try to pray.
Yes, Hermia is aware that forest fires happen. Forest fires burning everywhere and leaving the party no place to rest, heal and for Hermia to examine each and every party member for evidence of disease that was prevalent at the former location is more of a priority at this moment than being a crazy Bruce Dern in Silent Running type that cares more about trees than her party. If we can all get out of this alive, I will pray, and... not get my spells back since I was not allowed to meditate this evening.
Hermia runs alongside her horse to get both her and Smendor out of the thick of the woods before they both become horrible caricatures of 'mallows near her horse, the smore.
As far as Hermia is concerned, it is likely better that these gasses are burning now than later, when we try to settle this area, when human lives and homes would be put in danger. It does char her a bit that they may be alerting any enemies to their location, however. This is still an extremely difficult situation.
We're still waiting to see what Smendor is doing... Is he running along side, or did he get on your horse? As he is still staggered from the fumes, it seems wise for him to get on your horse as you now try to move back to where his horses are.
The fire is slowing down behind you, or at least, you seem to be outrunning it... In either case, you move down the track. I really need to know from Smendor if he will ride the horse, or look for them, or what.
Smendor will get on the horse for 4 rounds so he can get back to where his own animals are at.
Smendor will get on the horse for 4 rounds so he can get back to where his own animals are at.
Fair enough, this leaves Hermia running behind you... you are all moving at half movement speed. This will take a bit, but as I mentioned before, you don't see the horses.
They may have been attacked while you were at your camp. They may have torn their ropes and run off when the forest errupted in flames... or they may have been captured by other creatures in the wild.
You recall the presence of many eyes staring at you while you made your fire, and wondered what they were. You may still wonder... and it may be that your horses are alive in the wilderness and are not far off...
Brett is still riding quick back to the others to warn them what happened as you come to this point. What do you do?
To those at the boggard's camp
Alaric and Ariarh... You can see a massive fire burning to the north about a mile away. It is spreading quickly, and you don't know what has caused it, or what has happened. What do you do?
I hope Brett, Hermia and Smendor aren't trapped in that fire.
"Alaric! The fire is moving fast and we're right atop a concentration of swamp gases. If it reaches us, this whole place will go BOOM! We need to get Gan and speak with Garum and have him understand he needs to leave immediately. We can't just abandon the boggard to perish in the fire."
"Alaric, can you get some light up so we can see around camp and possibly further afield? Apologies, I didn't memorise a light spell, yesterday. I don't want us breaking a leg or injuring ourselves as we work at removing ourselves from this area as quickly as possible. Maybe, we can employ Dior as our eyes in the sky. He has a better vantage point up there. What say you?"
Alaric will curse and then cast light upon his signet ring. What in the nine hells did they do?!? Alaric runs over to Garum and Gan to warn them as Ry suggested.
The boggard lets out a croak, and hurries to the edge of the camp.
He goes running from the sight of the forest fire in the north and hurries away from you somewhere in the south. It rushes toward the water and dives in and swims off in the bog.
Dior looks up at the encroaching fire, and lifts his leg urinating at it, nodding sagely as if to say "Well, that ought to do it..."
Then, he looks sternly at you, lets out a squawk, and flaps his wings and lifts off into the sky, flying above you all.
I will try to adress your points, one at a time.
1. You said you would ride north until sundown, at which point you would make camp where you could.
You did. (Sundown being on or around 6:30).
2. You then decided to park your horses 400 feet from you, or rather, you parked your horses and walked 400 feet away. In either case, you have hitched your horses somewhere and decided (presumeably) to set up use your silks to waft the breeze, wrap yourself in wet cloth, and then set up a campfire. I will asume this entire procedure (including finding a place to set up camp, visa via the use of Knowledge Nature to detect somewhere safe, then waft away the gases, and then set up the fire) would take no more then ten minutes at best. This puts us roughly 6:40.
At this point I said that while you are in the area of the fire that you have seen many eyes around you. I said that you feel that if you leave the presence of the light, that though the creatures will avoid the fire, they may not avoid you, if you walk away from the campfire. I also said the fire is growing eerie blue light.
You now know that:
A; the wood you are burning here has a weird compound in it, or at least the part of the campfire has a weird component in it, or something in the air.
B; there are many eyes in the swamp staring at you from the edge of the fire. Not getting too close, but at the same time not avoiding you.
At this time you elect to leave the fire and walk back down the trail to where your horses are tied up. As you leave where your campfire is behind you, you got hit by a wandering monster.
The wanderin monster attacked you roughly at 6:45.
Sometime nearing dark Brett and Hermia noticed you had wandered off and while Ariarh, Alaric, and Gan stayed to question the boggard they followed you up the trail.
But by now it was dark; as I said before you even got to the buildings, comming down the path in daylight is difficult terrain, so they can't move very fast. So even though you are only (roughly) one mile north of the camp, it will still take them time to get to you (roughly half the time you took... 1/4 movement speed, because they are moving at half movement speed to begin with, and Brett is trying to track every so often, because no one knew where you went, because you didn't tell anyone where you are going).
At which point, on the way to the horse you got hit with a rather mundane wandering monster, as is not unusual with the eyes staring at you from the fire, and seeing that you walked into the dark without a torch, you were hit.
You then decided to use the shield, to defend yourself, and caused the wood all around you to burn. But as you already knew, there were "eerie" properties in the wood that caused the flame to "glow blue" when you burned it back at the campsite, and caused your fire to burn twice as hot and bright (and in fact, was what prompted you to go back to your horses; to get fire wood, you said, which were on the horses).
By now, you have effectively cast "burning hands" three times into the woods around you, a large cone-like burst of flame into trees that are known to have extremely high burning properties. Further, as you have traveled further down the path, you may even be getting close to your "explosive" gases. You noticed this the very first burst, and yet continued to use the ability, causing more trees to catch fire and burn.
At this point Hermia and Brett were just examining tracks on the ground by some sort of strange creature that was following you. Brett had just pointed it out to Hermia, warning her to be cautious, saying the "trail" was most likely an animal path anyway, and it likely there are animals that use it besisdes you all. The next thing they see is a big burst of flame in the sky (again, roughly 6:45).
It was at this point that they were getting close to you, but I fast-forwarded a bit, to have them move to you and lend a hand, if necessary, presuming you might need help, saying they would reach you in 2 rounds, both of which you used your shield.
They reached you just as you finished the snake. The place is burning, and it is roughly 6:47 at this time when you move down the trail. As you are on Hermia's horse, and she is forced to walk, and the horses are moving at normal movement speed, as is Hermia, she can only move 30 feet a round, which means for her to get the remaining 270 feet from where you were would take her a total of 9 rounds, or roughly a minute, give or take.
At the same time the party has seen what is going on from the boggards camp, including the boggard, who has now fled.
As you move back to where your horses should have been, you don't see them. They may have torn their bindings, but it seems likely that they may be missing for other reasons.
The only disconnect, as I see it, was when I foolishly decided to assume that the party would stay together and interview the boggard, asking him questions and getting valueable information out of him. If that had gone as planned, the interview would have lasted until roughly 8:00 PM. However, the interview DOES NOT last that long, given what has happened above. I will allow you to learn what you did from the boggard, but he certainly is not there to map out the rest of the map that he would have done otherwise.
I am currently on Skype now, by the way, and can answer any other questions you have. Though I hope this clears things up for you and everyone via timeline and so forth.
Alaric will curse and then cast light upon his signet ring. What in the nine hells did they do?!? Alaric runs over to Garum and Gan to warn them as Ry suggested.
Argh. I can cast . My mind is scattered. Clear your head, Ariarh! Ariarh admonishes herself, silently, and then shouts down to Alaric and Gan, "I will cast daylight! This should afford us more light and better visibility. Apologies for not thinking of it sooner."
Yikes! A second disconnect that I should add is that you didn't specificy you were using your tinderbox to test it like a match. I presumed you would set up camp, and make a fire.
However, if you weren't making a campfire, then you wouldn't have seen the eyes. The creatures surrounding you wouldn't have "stayed out of the light" that wasn't there, and you wouldn't have known about the properties of the flame even as you kept casting your shield burst.
Basically, you would have either known about the creatures in the night, and the properties of the flame; or you wouldn't.
But that doesn't change the fact that walking back to your horses, more then 100 yards away in the dark, you would be hit with a snake, and you decided to use your shield burst three times. Of course, the first blast would have shown you "blue eerie fire" and you could have decided not to use it the other two times... but then, you already knew the flame was "eeire blue flame" when I presumed you made a campfire.
Chances are also if you didn't make a campfire, you would have also not seen the eyes around you at all, as there would be no light reflecting on them.
There is SOME confusion here; but what IS clear is that your horses were on an animal path hitched somewhere 400 feet from you... You tried to make camp and came back through the woods and were attacked... You defended yourself using a flame spell in wood that has highly flamable properties.... and that while your allies came up to find you, they saw something moving behind your tracks that may or may not have taken/spooked your horses to tear away their guidlines.
Again, I am on Skype, if you are able to use it...
Witnessing Garum's exit into the bog,
"Err, it seems our boggard friend has his own escape plan. From what I know about boggards they are pretty good swimmers and can hold their breath under water. I think he'll be safe enough. That just leaves us (and Puck Sparrow over yonder reading his books) and our three "missing" companions."
Thinking some things over, Ariarh looks at both Alaric and Gan,
"We cannot allow this fire to keep spreading or to reach this highly combustible spot. Maybe if I can get close enough to the fire, I can cast a spell and keep casting until it puts out the flames. But, I need to be in close range. I need to ride toward the fire which seems a foolhardy thing to do but I can't rightly think of another way to get it under control. Unless you have other ideas, my friends? I am open to hearing them."
Where are Brett, Hermia and Smendor?! Ariarh is worried. Dior is circling in the air above them.
It's okay... take some time then. I am going to get some dinner, because I haven't had anything to eat for several hours.
I should be back in about 30 minutes or so. I can be on Skype if you would prefer to chat about it.
You may find your horses, it all depends on what happens. The size of the fire that is going has (at the least), spooked the horses and they are not there (presuming they didn't get eaten or something worse)...
But we can get things settle over Skype tonight, if you'd like, or if you need a breather, we can have you jump in tomorrow and I can NPC you for the evening.
To all
These things can be crazy, one of the problems with PbP is that even the smallest misunderstood detail can throw the whole thing off. I don't want a simple hiccup in the game to ruin everyone's good time. But at the same time, there are consquences, too. Using "burning hands" three times in the woods when you know the woods to be extremely flamable, if not downright explosive... things happen. But the bottom line is we all want to have fun. I don't intend to ret-con this, but there is still the possibiity of finding the horses, depending on how the rest of the night is played out.
I need to get some food, but will be back in about 30 mintues, Skype if you need to, email if you need to, and I hope to see your psosts soon.
After the initial panic of getting Smendor to safety has abated, and sure that Brett would ride to warn the others of their predicament, Hermia's mind races to attempt to divine a method of stopping the fires.
The gases of the swamp provided the greatest hazard. As with magic, no amount of water could abate a gas fire, at least, no amount of water she might create in her limited capacity. Nay... to douse this flame, they would need a prodigious amount of water, and even then, the rate of success was incredibly slim. To stem this inferno...
Good Lord Erastil, father of the wood, and master of the hunt, and you, Great Mother, please lend us your divine grace, Hermia prays as she runs. The flames, they seem to lick at her even know, burning her lungs with each gasping breath she draws. Fire was a part of nature, she knew, but so were she and her companions, and if they were meant to claim this land and secure it to found a community, they would each require their lives. I beg of thee, Lord and Lady, send your host of rain, and smother these flames!
In her mind, the scene and her need is very much redolent of her encounter with Ioana. Her terror is palpable, not for herself. Her body is dust, and will return to ash when she is consumed, but for her companions who have sacrificed all to retrieve her from the brink of death.
Great Mother, Good Lord, hear my prayers!
After the initial panic of getting Smendor to safety has abated, and sure that Brett would ride to warn the others of their predicament, Hermia's mind races to attempt to divine a method of stopping the fires.
The gases of the swamp provided the greatest hazard. As with magic, no amount of water could abate a gas fire, at least, no amount of water she might create in her limited capacity. Nay... to douse this flame, they would need a prodigious amount of water, and even then, the rate of success was incredibly slim. To stem this inferno...
Good Lord Erastil, father of the wood, and master of the hunt, and you, Great Mother, please lend us your divine grace, Hermia prays as she runs. The flames, they seem to lick at her even know, burning her lungs with each gasping breath she draws. Fire was a part of nature, she knew, but so were she and her companions, and if they were meant to claim this land and secure it to found a community, they would each require their lives. I beg of thee, Lord and Lady, send your host of rain, and smother these flames!
In her mind, the scene and her need is very much redolent of her encounter with Ioana. Her terror is palpable, not for herself. Her body is dust, and will return to ash when she is consumed, but for her companions who have sacrificed all to retrieve her from the brink of death.
Great Mother, Good Lord, hear my prayers!
You halt somewhat in your rush, and you move to a slow advance to offer your prayers to the gods above.
You close your eyes and lift your hands to the air...
You feel nothing direct, but a sudden sense of peace... but then a sudden gust of gentle wind from the waters of the stream. As you see the smoke above you; you see a rising mist from the waters...
The flames move behind you, moving closer and closer, you sense the heat, but you still wait, offering prayers, concentrating more and more... pouring your hear on soul on the altar of your divine patrons.
Yet even as you do this, a sudden thunder in the skies startles you from your focus.
Looking up at the heavens a drop of water splashes over your cheek, and as the rain begins to fall, they mix with your tears of grattitude.