GM Rennai's Reign of Winter (Inactive)

Game Master Rennaivx

Evelina moves next to Maddie, trying to guard the bag. "Hey! That's ours! Better back off or you're gonna be in for a hurting!"

Intimidate (Demoralize) : 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

She stands looking prepared to retaliate if struck.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Martok, though taken by surprise, galvanizes himself into action and hurls a sling bullet at the huge bird, but his shot goes wide, sailing off into the trees. Evelina moves in to guard the bag of holding and prepares to strike the bird as it approaches again. She tries to scare it away with threats, but at the harsh words the beast lets out a croaking laugh. Little no-wings girl doesn't frighten me! Magic is better than knives, better! You carry strong magic...but my magic is inside me! It croaks out an incantation, and its outline begins to blur and shift as a myriad of illusory duplicates begin to swirl around it. Casts mirror image! For simplicity's sake, I'll handle the "witchcrow or image" rolls for each attack that hits.

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knowledge arcana: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
spellcraft, DC 16: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
Using one MP for flexible counterspell, giving up Shocking Grasp

Matt had no idea what the strange bird was, but he recognized the spell it was using. Drawing upon the reserve of knowledge and energy imparted on him by the Ebon Knight, Matt reflexively threw a counterspell at the bird. Naissus ainera!

The mirror image spell fizzled, and the five illusory birds vanished from the woods.

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Freyja also is unsure what the annoying bird it but knows its a threat and pulls her bow, imbues it with magic and begins to sing. Mythic Inspure Courage +2

Martok protectively stands, his stoic face a wall and the boar-spear in his hands ready to attack should the bird fly down again.

"Shoo, shoo! No dinner here for you."

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Maddy's instincts were all that kept the bag of holding from falling into the talons of the huge bird that dive-bombed her. As the witchcrow approaches her, she catches a glimpse of something black out of the corner of her eye that is moving quickly. She manages to shift out of the way at the last minute which is why it can't get a good grip on the satchel.

Since it is a flying foe, Maddy reaches for the throwing axe at her side. Confusion floods her mind as one giant bird becomes five. She has a fleeting thought about which one she should target when Matty's voice sounds behind her. Thankfully the five witchcrows once again become one. Grinning in satisfaction that she has an obvious target again, she heaves the axe at the giant bird.

thorwing axe: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

She then draws her greatsword and waits for the huge black bird to make another attempt to steal the bag that she carries.

Cithembi follows the action, then takes up position near Madison, ready to show it his own magic.

Readied action to color spray it if it comes in range.

Matthew attempts to use his magic to counter the bird's own - but for some reason, he cannot feel a weakness in the witchcrow's spell. Realizing that the bird's magic is different from his own, he is able to withdraw his own arcane energy in time before it dissipates. Mirror image would need to be countered by a 2nd-level or higher spell - and this is a spell-like ability, which cannot be counterspelled. Keep the MP and spell. Madison draws out a sleek-honed axe and hurls it at the creature, but it turns out her target is an illusion, not the real bird. The axe sails harmlessly past, clattering against a tree trunk behind, and the image disappears with a faint pop.

Freyja draws forth her bow, inspiring everyone else to fight with her song. Meanwhile, Cithembi, Martok, and Evelina stand ready to strike, anticipating that the bird will approach again. And their instinct proves sound - seeming to trust wholly in the spells encircling it, the witchcrow darts forward again, intent on the bag at Madison's back. But as it draws close, Cithembi lets loose the magic energy he had been holding back. An image of stars and swirling galaxies envelops the bird as it flies, and it goes still and falls as the images overcome its senses for a moment. Momentum carries it forward, and Martok and Evelina take their chances to strike - Evelina's rapier goes wide as it falls faster than she'd anticipated, but Martok times it right, misses the flashing images, and scores a deep blow to the creature's chest.

Witchcrow is stunned! Mirror image remains in effect, though.

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please add damage from bard song if you did not GM Rennai. That is +2, or +6 total if that threat confirmed.

With the bird on the ground Freyja, still singing, drops her bow and advances pulling her sword.Imbuing it with arcane energy she strikes at the bird. She will move to flank the bird if possible.

MW Longsword: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 6 + 2 = 171d8 + 3 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 1 + 2 = 9 +2 more to hit if flanking is a thing

When CIthembi disables the creature, Evelina quickly moves to seize on the opportunity. Moving to try and surround the one she thought she saw Martok strike. "It's not a knife. Its a rapier, dummy!" she says as she tries to strike him or at least eliminate a duplicate. "An' I ain't so sure your magics are better than ours..." she says mockingly towards the stunned creature.

1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 8 + 2 = 23 +2 from inspire courage, add +2 if flanking is possible.
1d6 + 3 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 3 + 2 = 10 +3 from precise strike, +2 from inspire courage

Should be back to a normal posting frequency now, fyi.

Seeing the illusion for what it was, the shaman quickly tried to dispel the fake images of the witchcrow while it was more or less helpless. He rushed to it and started poking it with this spear...

"Are you real? And are you real...?"

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Just trying to pop the images. I don't know how many images I can touch but no real damage will be done to them. Will this work?

nope. You have to attack the images. But they are easier to hit than the real creature. So just attack. With luck you hit the bird. Otherwise you pop an image, unless you outright miss.

Annoyed that his estimation of the bird's magic was wrong, Matt was at least glad he'd realized it before wasting his energy. He needed to figure out which image was the correct one. With everybody attacking the dazed bird, it wouldn't take long to dispell the illusions. Matt picked one that hadn't been targeted, and tossed a small orb of acid at it.

acid splash: 1d3 ⇒ 3

I feel like garbage and want to make sure I get a post in while I can, so this'll be only a partial round to give Madison and Cithembi a chance to post. Thank you for pointing out the increased damage, Freyja. And Freyja is correct - you cannot intentionally attack the images. You simply make your attacks as normal, and I roll to see whether you've hit the witchcrow or an image.

With the bird momentarily disabled, the party takes their chance to try and dispel the illusory birds without retaliation. Freyja, Evelina, and Martok strike with the weapons they have in hand, and Matthew conjures a glob of acid and hurls it at the witchcrow...and as all the attacks fly in, the swirling illusions manage to dart between blade or magic in time, disappearing with a series of pops as they are struck. No one is lucky enough to strike the witchcrow itself, but the flurry has the intended effect - the witchcrow now lies motionless and alone on the ground, all the false images gone.

Madison and Cithembi are up before we go to the next round. Others are free to speak as they wish.

Maddy joins the others in surrounding the ginormous bird and striking it with her weapon. Part of her regrets the apparent slaughter but the witchcrow hadn't seemed friendly and it tried to steal from them. Besides, it could talk and they didn't need it telling anyone that they were here.

MWgreatsword: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26
Damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (3, 2) + 3 = 8

Cithembi hangs back for now, not wanting to crowd in with the others. Instead he pulls out his crossbow and loads it, ready in case the bird manages to escape with something important. Given that it can speak he'd rather they scared it off, but if it steals something before it flees they'll need to bring it down.

Still, he hopes it gets the point of being surrounded by people with weapons and gives up.

Maddy, You forgot to add in the +2 to hit and damage from the bard song. I know its hard to remember but it takes a standard action to get the song going so I do not want people to forget. Any ideas on how to best remember? Maybe just get used to it because you will have it more times than you will not.

@Freya: Thanks for the reminder. I didn't realize the bonus was to attack and damage, I thought it was just for attack. I'll remember moving forward.

The witchcrow comes to with a mighty shake of its head, as if it's trying to dislodge something from between its ears. Then it looks around, seeming to take in the crush of people and weapons surrounding for the first time, and a loud cry of panic rips forth from its throat. Fine - no magics! Nothing for the egglings... Seeing a small gap between Freyja and Evelina, it takes its chance and shoots through. As it begins to move, it ducks warily around the blades surrounding it, but as speed increases it becomes harder to stay careful, and Madison and Freyja find themselves with openings to swing as the bird makes its bid for freedom. Freyja swings and misses, but Madison's sword thwacks into it; the wound is serious, but the bird manages to keep to wing and flies off into the wood.

Full withdraw from the circle surrounding it. Withdrawal means it avoids eating the entire circle of AoOs, but since it moved between Madison and Freyja they've each gotten an AoO as it leaves its second square of movement. Freyja misses, Madison hits, and it continues to withdraw to about 120 feet away. If anyone wants to try and do something over that distance, feel free; otherwise, combat is finished.

Freyja sheaths her longsword and retrieves her bow and the last of her song lingers in the air. Perhaps that one has learned its lesson and will not be back. I wonder if we might track it to its next and liberate an item or two it has stashed away there. Turn about would be fair play I think. Freyja has no way to track a bird in the air though. I only we had a bird of our own... :)

Martok knew that his chances of hitting the bird with his sling at this distance was slim to none so he put away his weapon and turned to the bird-sister.

"Is everything OK? I think that bird won't come back."

Maggie flapped excitedly after the bird for a few meters, cawing, "Yeah, you better fly!" She looked eager to chase the creature, but Matt called her back. "Maggie! Get back here. We don't know what else might hiding in these woods."

The mottled raven landed on a tree branch. "But the pretty one, she said there might be magic things! Could be useful. Can I look? Please?"

Matt shook his head. "No, please come back. We need to stick together." Reluctantly, Maggie returned to the group. Matt shook loose snow from his snow shoes and said, "Well, I guess we'd best be on our way. Hold tight to that bag, Maddy, in case it comes back."

Evelina sprints after the bird for a bit, waving her rapier at it. "Yeah, you heard her! Get outta here an' don't bother us again!" However, realizing that she is quickly putting a bit too much distance between herself and the party and that she is probably being a bad influence on little Maggie, she frowns and makes her way back to the others.

"Whattaya mean? Like take his stuff?" Evelina asks Freyja, "We could...I mean, It's pretty tempting to mess with the little jerk...but then he might keep buggin' us, tryin' ta get it all back, right?"

If there wasn't (I'm assuming) difficult terrain, I could probably actually keep up with the bird. That might freak him out a bit ;)

Cithembi watches it go warily, then turns to his friends with a smile. "It should not trouble us again, yes?" he says, not realizing that two other people had already said that while he wasn't looking.

Maddy echoes Matty as Maggie begins to fly away. "You need to stay within eye sight, Maggie. We can't lose you again and that bird, even though it's hurt, is a lot bigger than you."

Once Maddy is certain Maggie isn't going anywhere, she looks to see if she can collect her axe.

Maddy resists the urge to roll her eyes at her brother as he tells her to keep a close guard on the bag. As if she is just waiting to give it to the first stranger that asks for it. But she bites back a retort and just says, "Of course, big brother."

Following the witchcrow shouldn't be too difficult of a task if you guys want to - a DC15 Survival check would be adequate to track it using disturbed branches and so on. But it would be more time and trouble.

Still a creature that pads its nest with magic items... Anyone want to try?

Survival: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19

It went that way! Freyja says obviously eager to follow it.

Evelina looks at the others uncertainly, before beginning to protest. "But Freyja! Aren't we 'sposed to be..." Her voice trails off as she realized the enthusiastic bard is already on the pursuit. "...headin' straight for the tower..." she mutters quietly to herself, before trudging through the snow to follow her. I guess maybe magic items could help at the tower...I dunno about this, though...

Matt was about to insist that they continue straight to the tower, but Freyja was so eager to look for magic items that he didn't have the heart to argue. Besides, they had already defeated the bird once, and they might find something useful. Enjoying the sight of the willowy bard gracefully snowshoeing ahead of him, Matt tried to stay focused on the woods around them, with little success.

With Freyja enthusiastic about the possibilities the witchcrow's hoard could hold, she barrels forward into the woods, following the trail of debris the crow has knocked loose in its flight. The path is not difficult to trace, but it does lead some distance into the woods. Finally, ahead the party spots a large nest in a crook between two hefty branches of a pine tree. Some distance separates it and the ground, but the limbs are heavy, and someone with some strength and grace could make the climb without significant trouble.

Between the more ordinary boughs and leaves, you can see a few slips of parchment in the nest's structure, and even what looks like a short scarf woven in between branches. Atop the nest, you see a dark-feathered form settling in, and a soft cooing speech floats downward on the wind. Big magic in the bag, there was, bigger than ever, but none for us, not today... Soon you'll get more, my babies, soon...then you'll be big and strong like me... The words trail into a lullaby with a strange, lilting tune.

The nest is about fifteen feet up in the tree. There is room for one melee combatant next to the nest with a bit of climbing. Actions?

Martok was not happy about chasing the bird and even less happy when he heard the bird talking to its young ones.

"I could levitate up there and kill the bird but is it really worth it? Maybe she needs magic to feed her offspring. Yes, she acted like a predator but are we going to kill every predator in the woods?"

He looked at Freyja, "What do you want to do?"

Freyja casts Detect Magic and studies the nest for a few rounds as she explains Whatever is in the nest might be critical to our success as we go forward. And would you leave this thief to harass others who might be less likely to fend it off? I'm sorry to say but such a threat should not be left to reproduce.

Maddy trudges after the others, dragging her feet both mentally as well as through the snow. Yes the bird was misguided but it had been acting on instinct as all animals do. When she hears that the bird has hatchlings she is even more hesitant.

Addressing Freyja's comment she says, "But it already has had babies. So is your plan to outright kill the entire family or just the mom and let the babies starve to death?" Maddy isn't so sure that the killing of an entire family is worth a few possible magical items.

Evelina also seems reluctant as they track down the nest. As she hears the lullaby she grows even more uncomfortable. She nods in agreement when Martok and Maddie challenge this ethics of the scenario, "Yeah...I dunno about this Freyja. It ain't like just exterminating a pest. This thing talks like a person...an' it seems like its just thinking 'bout its kids. I mean, it tryin'ta steal from us ain't good. I'll give you that. An' I'm all for givin' it a stern talking to for that. But it didn't really try to hurt us. Just grab the bag...." Letting out a breath, she continues, "An' sure, it might have useful stuff... But we ain't got no right that stuff any more than it does. If we just go up there and just take it, how's that any better than what it tried to do to us...?"

man you guys are making me feel bad. lol. Waiting to hear from our GM about the Detect Magic. OOC I am pretty sure these things are more like demons that birds. They are are magical beasts and I am pretty sure they are chaotic evil.

"Let us leave it be," Cithembi agrees, "Unless Nadya knows of these things?"

man you guys are making me feel bad. lol. Waiting to hear from our GM about the Detect Magic. OOC I am pretty sure these things are more like demons that birds. They are are magical beasts and I am pretty sure they are chaotic evil.

Martok stomps his foot and tries to look down at the obviously taller Ulfen woman. :)

Ah, the fun of RPing. :)

FYI, I'm traveling out of the country for a few days. It is my intent to post once a day but don't be alarmed if I disappear for a couple of days. I'll be back home on May 9th, when posting should be back to normal, or at least as normal as possible considering I'll have to catch up at work. :) Please do not hesitate to bot my PC as necessary.

Thanks for the word on travels, Martok!

Looking back, I realized I set the bar on the Knowledge checks too high - the spoilers should be for DC13 and DC18 respectively, which means both Freyja and Matthew have the information in the first spoiler at their disposal. The DC13 is also enough to reveal that witchcrows are typically chaotic evil. Freyja's detect magic reveals that there are several magic auras in the nest: two faint transmutation auras, two faint evocation auras, and a faint evocation aura.

At this point, it looks like group consensus is to leave it be for now, but I'll leave a chance for IC knowledge to affect the result, since you didn't have it before.

After her concentration is complete Freyja announces Well, is outvoted I am in this. But I'll remind you that in that tree is an evil magical beast that will not simply raise her young in happy bliss. The songs say that the Witchcrows are harbingers of misfortune. They enjoy stealing not only possessions but also the hopes of dreams of their victims. They are without conscience and delight in causing pain and anguish. This one has stolen at least 5 magical bobbles from hapless travelers. Are we truly to leave it here, so near a town of victims?

Casts the spell Transfer Guilt. :P

Evelina looks troubled by Freyja description of the creature, but still remains unconvinced. "We ain't seen it do any of that stuff though. All it tried to do was nick a bag. An' if that was a crime with the death penalty, half the kids I grew up with wouldn't have seen their 15th birthday..." She lets out a sigh. "Look. If you want to take its stuff...I ain't gonna stop you. I just ain't gonna help. Just...please don't kill it..." Evelina breaks eye contact and looks at the ground, "Kids are 'sposed to have parents..."

I see your greater good guilt and raise you with sad orphan eyes :p. Ah, the good old goblin baby dilemma. All jokes aside, I know you want the items. If you go for them, I promise it won't turn into a fight or long drawn out feud. I'm just hard pressed for a good RP reason why Evelina as a character would be supportive of this. She's more flighty, idealistic orphan than eye-for-an-eye, crusader against all evil forces.

Now that they were here, listening to the unholy chatter of the bird, Matt had to agree with Freyja. "They are called witchcrows for a reason. Just because they have feathers, we can't be lulled into thinking of them as harmless animals. They are evil, and dangerous, and we will be doing Nadya and her family, and their whole village, a favour by ridding them of that menace, and her spawn. However, the question becomes, if we want to salvage her trove, how to kill her without destroying the nest?"

Matt eyed the climb, "I don't think I can make that, though I could levitate up. Or perhaps Martok could, as he could knock the nest down. Or is one of you good at climbing?" His eyes lingered on Cithembi, assuming the catfolk would be excellent at climbing trees and chasing birds.

With the talk of evil, witches, and especially a potential threat to Nadya and her family - Maddy starts to change her mind. She still isn't happy about slaughtering the supposed bird family but it seems to be the best choice. Although she probably wouldn't have been so easily swayed if her brother hadn't changed his point of view. "If finishing it off will help protect Nadya and her family then I'll help. But I don't want to be the one to kill the babies, nor can they be left to starve." She looks at Freyja as if to say that will be your job.

She eyes the climb. "Shouldn't be too difficult to climb that and flush out the bird. I can go but then someone else should take the bag. No sense taking it right to them."

Matt handed the bag to Martok, who looked the strongest of the bunch. "Be careful, sis. These things are tricky."

Perhaps the young can be saved and reared with a different outlook on life? They might even make good companions for wizards and the like. Can they become familiars?

As Freyja speculates she readies her bow and will begin to sing as Madison gets close to the nest.

Cithembi frowns, unhappy with the conversation, but has no words to add to it.

Cithembi is not a fan of killing things just because they're evil, but neither is he going to speak against it.

Before climbing, Maddy confirms with the others. "If I do this, who is taking responsibility for the young? Otherwise I think we should move on and leave them be, all of them."

Not my fault you guys went for the nest - this goblin baby scenario is y'all's doing. :P Witchcrows are typically evil (and kleptomaniacs), but not necessarily inherently so like an evil outsider would be, so it's quite possible that if they were raised from an egg by good influences nurture could win out.

By RAW they aren't available as familiars, but looking at the statblock the smaller ones would be a decent candidate for a 7th level improved familiar. The bigger ones (like the one you're fighting) are probably a bit too powerful for familiars, though I could see one as a cohort. There's always the possibility of seeing if you could find a buyer or caretaker for the eggs, too, to avoid the need to figure out how to raise them yourselves.

With the bag of holding handed off to Martok, Maddie approaches the nest and prepares to climb. But before she can even get a foot onto a tree limb, there is a sudden rustling from above, and a raucous cry echoes from the nest. To the rest of the party, the effect is simply one of eerie apprehension. But Maddie finds herself almost completely disoriented, and a weight of dread descends over her soul like a blizzard over the Irriseni landscape. Every failure of her past flashes through her mind in a cavalcade of images, and with each comes a deepening sense of shame and inadequacy, the witchcrow's laugh echoing through every awful memory... Failed save v. Misfortune hex!

Everyone is up!

Martok didn't want to kill the offspring nor did he want to raise orphaned birds. heck, he didn't want to kill off the mama witchcrow.

And so he waited, ready to assist anyone who needed healing or ready to defend them in case they were attacked.

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delay

If they can be saved I'll be responsible for the young. Freyja agrees. Now let us do this thing if we are going to do it. She keeps her bow trained on the nest and begins to sing as Maddy gets to within melee range.

spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Can Matt determine what happened to Maddy?

The witchcrow cawed, raising the hairs on his neck. Matt noticed almost immediately that something was wrong with his twin. Her determined climbing had lost focus, and even from below, he could tell that she was upset. "Madison! What is it, what's wrong? Did that creature cast a spell? Whatever it said to you, it't not true."

I have to shut that thing up, Matt thought, and decided to put it to sleep. Looking carefully at the nest, he centred the spell just above it, so that it would catch the nest's occupants, but not his sister. Hopefully. "Sroon," he intoned, and hoped that the witchcrow would fall safely asleep.

Casting Sleep, will save DC 15