The Strange: Realms Beyond Reality (Inactive)

Game Master Darkfire142

Indeed the water of this lake is quite reflective. Armand appears to be a muscled looking individual with grey stone skin but masterfully chiseled and flawless in its craftsmanship. His body appears ripped with muscles, his fingers also unusually thick although he has the same number as human being. What does surprise him is that his head is that of a male lion and his eyes are golden orbs with no irises. His clothing or what little of it is some kind of loincloth although its crafted into his body. He suspects he could wear clothing over himself if he could find some. Ah yes, he doesn't see any "Junk" on his body either nor does he have any kind of sexual urges he used to have. It is rather disconcerting to say the least.

"Well you look a little odd, but I think that statement applies to all of us. Hopefully we're not odd for wherever we are, because I really don't want to get shot at again."

By the way, folks call me Dr. Bayou offering his hand to his new companions, careful not to use his real name, not until he knew more about where he was and if his new companions could be trusted. I picked up a gem that fell from the larger skeleton, does anyone know what this is besides me...Seems we know some things we didn't know before wondering what else they might know or if his knowledge was unique.

Have I lost any accent I might of had?

"You actually look like a moving statue, and I look like Mr Tumnus. It's a bit disconcerting, really."

Your voices do sound different although you still would have some inflections of your previous form as voice is not necessarily the body but how you pronounce things.

Same here man, I don't like being shot at with anything bigger than a BB gun. laughing to himself as he's reminded of his youth and his response to Marcus.

Turning to the lady he thanks her for her honesty and replies to her own opinion of herself, I never heard of no Tumnus, but I still reckon you look attractive for whatever species you are here

Looking at the fish he thinks they look edible, better looking than catfish. Though he had no desire to eat any more physically, he couldn't help but mentally cling to old habits and pleasures.

If someone has some rope that could attach to one of my arrows we might be able to shoot some fish, I imagine creatures of your size have high metabolisms and calorie demands. You should eat while we can.

"I do actually have rope, doctor, though I'm not sure it's suitable for fishing," Siobhan rummages around in her pack, and hands over the coil of rope.
She then stares out over the lack scrutinising it as far as she can see for any sign of civilisation (buildings, lights, camp/cooking fires).

Siobhan speaks with an slight Irish accent that comes from practice rather than naturally. She's fourth generation American-irish, though likes to present herself as more. I imagine her Qephilim voice has a slight echo/reverb, kind of like the stargate goa'uld, though I can find scant info on what the specifically look like, never mind sound like.

"My father took me fishing once. We didn't really catch anything, but it was fun just talking with him in the boat. This me does not seem to be prepared to for wilderness travel, which makes me think that there is civilization nearby. We should probably keep looking around to see what is going on."

Speaking of looking around, it appears there is some lingering impressions in the dirt of some kind of wagon or something that came through here in the past few days. The tracks vaguely head off in a southwestern direction.

"Wagon must be travelling between towns, I suggest we follow it's tracks.
We could always go back, along the way it came, but there's no telling how long it's been travelling for and the tracks will be fresher if we go after it. We may also be able to catch up to the wagon, find something out from the driver."

Siobhan looks around for opinions.

Agreed friend, it's the best lead we got. hey says, readying his things and prepared to move out after they've finished fishing and talking.

So if you're going fishing, how are you going to go about it? Do you want to make some makeshift fishing rod or do you want to try and Spear-Fish something that might swim by you?

"I think we should follow the tracks. If I had to guess, it's not going to stay daylight forever, and I for one don't want to know what sort of thing appears after dark."

"And Mr. Tumnus is a character in the book 'The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe'. My class was reading it."

"A supernatural black market auction is an interesting place for a teacher to find herself at." Marcus notes while counting how many fingers and clawed toes his new form has.

"I wasn't always a teacher."

Marcus checking himself out he has five fingers with reptilian like claws. His feet only have 3 toes though like a lizard. He does have clothing on though so he has to take off his boots to actually see this. The scales on his skin are hard but pliable. When he speaks he has a bit of a lisp in his words.

Speaking of which the clothing definitely has some resemblance to the middle eastern style although more archaic than that of modern day clothing. Probably something that would be worn in a Classical Age sort of society.

Deciding not to try your luck at fishing those of you who need to take a drink of the fresh mountain spring water and then head off to follow the trail. As you walk away from the lake though you hear the flapping of wings and a cry go through the air. Flying out from behind a mountain comes a massively large bird with two pairs of wings, one pair a large set, the other pair a smaller set at its rear. The creature crackles with some electrical energy. The massive bird-like creature swoops around and heads in your direction. Its claws are massive, probably the size of a person and its head looks much like a hawk.

Currently the creature is at long range. Give me an initiative roll, TN 15 to act before it strikes.

Here is what the creature looks like (Minus the person in its grip)

creature image

Initiative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 We're treating trained as +3 for init, yes?
Siobhan is apparently oblivious.

Yes trained gives a +3, Specialized gives a +6

Armand hears something but isn't fast enough to react before the creature can strike.

1d20 ⇒ 9

Get into cover! he yells, looking for any trees they could hide under to force it down and take away its flight advantage.

Time to test this new form he says to himself, eager to push the new limits of his body and see what he can really do.

Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Faun-Cassie just stands there agape as the massive flying creature bears down on the group, awestruck for once.

1d20 ⇒ 2
Marcus is busy counting digits.

1d4 ⇒ 4

Looking down at Siobhan Quinn it seems to see her as a tasty morsel. The giant bird-like creature swoops down towards her and reaches out at her with its talons.

Give me a speed check, DC 15 to avoid being hit by its talons.

Does my shield count as an Asset for this? Applying a level of Effort to boost my roll anyway.
dodge: 1d20 ⇒ 19

Yes the shield counts as an asset as you can use it to partially deflect the attack.

Siobhan dodges out of the way as the massive talons swing by along. There is a slight smell of ozone in the air as it passes her.

There are no trees around unfortunately although there is some shrubs and small bushes that can be used to hide.

First to go is Armand. As this creature is currently close to the ground you can try and melee it before it gets some distance. At the start of the next turn it will move a short distance away.

1d20 ⇒ 6

Armand's thought of his new form does more than he knows as he lunges for the creature, his body suddenly exploding with electricity as he throws all his weight and new found strength into an attack, trying to keep it from flying away.

Adding electric damage and one might effort for damage

Armand takes a swing at the flying bird-beast but despite his efforts the creature is moving too fast and too elevated to strike an efficient blow and his fists hit nothing but air.

Next in the order is Cassie, what does she do.

To speed up combat I am suggesting everyone declare their actions whereas they will be resolved in initiative order or retconned if impossibilities come up

Cassie will draw her greatsword and prepare to leaping charge the flying critter.

Siobhan drops into a defensive stance, with sword and shield, ready to strike when the creature pulls within range.

Ok Cassie I'll say you can take a swing at the creature as you're charging it. As Siobhan is taking a defensive stance she'll have to wait until it comes within range to do her attack. Remember as this creature is many times your size you do +3 damage with your attacks against this thing.

Attack Roll: 1d20 ⇒ 6

Well, that's not so great.

Cassie takes a swing with her sword but the bird-creature carries itself too high in the air to strike with a solid blow.

I am going to NPC Marcus so we can continue the combat

Marcus pulls out his bow and takes a shot at the bird after it flies by the party

Arrow Shot: 1d20 ⇒ 13

The arrow gets close but wizzes by the wing of the giant bird-creature landing somewhere in the dirt.

The giant bird swoops around and turns to attempt another pass at the party. This time she attempts to take a grab at the bull-woman Cassie hoping she is a better target.

Make me a Speed Roll to avoid the talons of the giant bird-creature Cassie, TN 15. If she fails she will have to make a might roll at the same difficulty to avoid being grabbed.

Speed Roll: 1d20 ⇒ 13

Cassie stands her ground and then rolls out of the way at the last moment.

I'm sorry, I thought Siobhan went before me, but I missed their post

The bird-creature once again swoops by the party its talons failing to hit a target. You may declare your counter-attacks as you will against the creature if you wish as it passes over you.

1d20 ⇒ 11
Marcus looses another arrow, but it flies to the side as he focuses on dodging the massive bird.

Siobhan lunges out with her blade as it flies above her.

1d20 ⇒ 6, though she's a little too slow.

Cassie again readies to hit the flying creature

Attack with 2 levels of effort: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Cassie, Siobhan and Marcus attack with their respective weapons but find despite the size of the bird-creature its actually quite agile and striking a blow is difficult.

Jesus, you have a 1/4 chance to hit this thing without effort. You really got to improve your rolls

1d20 ⇒ 11

Armand waiting until it's closer attempts to jump on the creature, reaching for its neck, attempting to wrangle or weigh it down with his own enormous weight, putting effort into his lunge, hoping to ground the beast or buy time for his companions.

Trained in jumping, applying effort, hopefully that's enough to grab hold and ride it like a bull, no matter what he doesn't let go. I'm electrified still if that matters. Effort is speed or might? I prefer might. Next I'll attempt to bite it as I hold on for dear life.

"Elan was it? I'll try and pull the bird towards me, you hit it."
Siobhan then tries to get the bitds attention, waving her polished shield around and hoping it likes shiny things like a lot of earth birds.

Trying to aid Elan's next attack, looking at p118 can I distract it as a complimentary action?

Also with my Find the Flaw feature, does the creature have any straightforward weakness?

Cassie will wait until the creature swoops at Siobhan and then charge it, bringing her blade down in what she hopes is a lethal blow.

Attack Roll with 2 levels of Effort: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Armand is able to jump and grab ahold of the leg of the bird-like creature and squeeze. This weighs down the creature but does not cause it to fall out of the sky. However it does cripple its movements somewhat allowing everyone else to get advantage on the creature so long as Armand has it grappled. On his next turn he can attempt another check (With the advantage) to scale onto its back.

With Effort and a skill advantage the difficulty was a 9 as it reduced the difficulty by 2 steps (6) from these advantages. Yes
Siobhan Quinn can apply a complementary action (Give a +2 bonus) to Elan although you'll need to make me some kind of trickery intellect check to draw its attention. I will give an advantage. As for its weakness, the creature is not overly intelligent so it can be fooled.

The creature with Armand on its leg tries to kick him off. He'll need a might check to hold on. Other than that it tries to turn toward the party for another pass.

Armand make a might check to see if you can avoid being dislodged from the giant bird-creature.

1d20 ⇒ 3
Marcus tries to nock the arrow, but by the time he takes his shot the bird is far too distant to hit.
"Augh! Come on, you stupid piece of wood!"

1d20 ⇒ 14

Armand attempts to hold on to its leg and keep his grip, seeing his effect on the bird, his mind quickly assessing the risk, he readies himself to bite into the birds flesh.

Will apply effort if necessary, not sure if it's still TN 15 for my actions or just actions opposing it.

Armand sees an arrow fly by him Watch your shots! he yells to his companions.

Intellect: 1d20 ⇒ 11 I imagine my training at Deception is for intelligent targets, but I'll use it if I can.

The TN is 12 due to Armand already having an advantage for grappling the bird to begin with.

Armand scales onto the bird-creature's leg and bits into it with his sharp stone teeth and rips a chunk of flesh off. Blood bleeds from the open wound and the creature cries in pain. The bird-creature also takes a jolt of electricity from Armand as well.

He would have an advantage for having the creature for having it grappled so yes 14 does hit. He does 4 points of damage to it after armor as the bite counts as a medium weapon and he has his electrical power active.

Siobhan is able to draw its attention with her motions and with that provides a +2 bonus to everyone attacking the creature this turn.

Cassie with the bird-creature thoroughly distracted and grappled leaps up and slices a strong cut across its torso with her talwar. The weapon strikes a gaping wound into the beast sending blood and feathers flying through the air. The creature yet lives but you can see the wound is a serious one.

The bird-creature takes 8 points of damage after armor. 6 from the weapon, 3 due to it being a large sized creature which allows her Dragon Bane to be used effectively.

The arrow from Marcus though wizzes by the bird-creature doing no harm to it.

Ok the next round

The Bird-Creature clearly wounded and angry starts to crackle with electrical energy. Armand, you have a choice, either you can let go of the Bird Creature and fall to the ground or make a might defense roll DC 15.

On a failure Armand will take 4 points of might damage (ignoring worn armor but not your natural armor for being a Golem) due to being shocked by an electrical burst.

In addition you see that some of the wounds on the bird-creature start to close, it regenerates 2 points of damage. Other than that it flies a short distance away from the party dragging Armand along with it if he does not drop. As a result to melee the creature you spend a full round action to get to the Bird Creature. (As moving a short distance takes 1 turn of action unless you have the Fleet of Foot move and wish to use it)

You all can declare your actions now. If Armand choses to maintain his grapple you all have an advantage when attacking the creature.

1d20 ⇒ 8
1d20 ⇒ 15
Armand feels an electric shock and is unable to resist the pain, he cries out in anger, furious at the beast resilience and fascinated by its cellular regeneration.

takes 3 points might damage.

As the bird begins to flee he maintains his grip with a renewed focus and takes another bite of flesh, his pain fueling his attack and ferocity.

applying might effort to damage