Casually deflecting the scorching ray with his shield, Jarprax sets himself for the charge of the tiny xvarts, making sure he is a safe distance away from his friends for what is to come.
As the little creatures swarm over him, trying to pull him to the ground, Jarprax shouts with laughter: "HAHA! Oh, little ones, it is time -" and, pushing his helmet more firmly on his head, "- for you to be tested by the storm!"
Jarprax's eyes darken with storm clouds, randomly flecked with golden lightning. He slams warhammer to shield with a swift crack that is followed immediately by a bone-shakingly deep kra-
Jiro manages to duck and dodge and wiggle out of the way. Looking up and expecting to be staring down the vulture's gaping beak, he's relieved to find it not upon him yet.
Glancing over at the snoring xvart, the kobold decides that seems like an excellent idea, and casts sleep as well.
Tana tells the group,
I did not realize they spoke Abyssal!. The Medicine Man said that we are liars and thieves trying to steal their precious stone. I have no idea what stone they mean.
Tana pleads with the Medicine Man one more time in Abyssal,
Bitte warten Sie einen Moment. Wir wollen dein Volk nicht verletzen und wir wissen nichts über deinen Stein. Wir möchten Sie nur nach dem Weg fragen. Hör auf zu kämpfen, bitte!
In Common Tana tells the group,
I told them, "Please, wait for just a moment. We don't want to hurt your people, and we don't know about your stone. We only want to ask you for directions. Stop fighting, please!"
Tana will wait for the reaction of the Medicine Man. At the first sign of the Medicine Man reacting aggressively to her words Tana will draw her Quarterstaff and position herself near Antonio and stand prepared near him. She will hold an Attack action and react to whom ever attacks her or Antonio.
If Tana has to react to the Medicine Man's aggressive response to her plea:
Quarterstaff 2 Handed
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Two of the little creatures hunker down, weathering Jarpax' thunderwave, but the last gets thrown a good 10 feet, landing like a broken doll!
Jiro sings a kobold lullaby, putting the remaining two Xvarts threatening him asleep, as well as the two that survived Jarpax' onslaught.
The three remaining on Antonio notice that the are the only remaining and look panicked, deciding whether they should stay or run!
At that time, the culture spreads its wings and descends upon Antonio!
The beak tears into Antonio's neck, a vicious bite, but it is not enough to take down the stalwart fighter. The warrior's luck does not hold as the creature's talons dig into his chainmail! Antonio falls as the giant vulture stands over its kill!
Tana speeds toward her fallen comrade, striking at the carrion bird! Her staff strikes true, but the creature's buffeting wings disrupt her follow-up strike!
Initiative Order
Tana -> Blacklock / Xvarts -> Zar -> Jarpax -> Jiro / Shaldinari -> Antonio -> Giant Vulture
As all of the xvarts around himself and Jiro drop, Jarprax raises his arms over his head and shouts in exhilaration and triumph: "YESS!! I AM THE STORM! I AM -- KZZZZZT" His frenzy reaching a feverish state, he spits lightning at the vulture before moving to stand within melee range of it:
”Yikes! That’s not good.” Jiro really considers whether he should start running or maybe even see if the xvarts could use a new medicine man. But figuring the language barrier might be a problem, the kobold hurries over to Antonio. Then he grabs a random holy symbol out from under his vest, mutters something that might resemble a prayer if you weren’t familiar with actual prayers (intermixed with “pleasedonteatme pleasedonteatme”), and starts trying to cover and bind Antonio’s wounds with any spare cloth he can find, preferably Antonio’s or a xvart’s. After all, his shirt is still pretty new.
”Uh oh. I think Antonio’s dead. Sorry, gang.”
Tana sees Antonio get attacked by the vulture. On her next turn, provided she has the opportunity to do so without the vulture or villagers attacking her, she will administrator the 1 healing potion she has to Antonio.
If she perceives an attack coming her way she will hold off giving Antonio the healing potion and prepare her Quarter staff instead.
Zar frowns when he sees only one xvart succumb to his sleep spell. "Maybe I'm too drained from travel or this fog somehow weakened it," he thinks to himself. He seems to get more irritated when Jiro puts 4 of them to sleep with his song. "They must have been weakened by Jarprax's attack," he says to himself to justify why the bard was able to do so much better than him. He quickly refocuses when the vulture takes down Antonio. Seeing the giant creature as the biggest threat, he casts another spell, sending 3 magic missles at the bird.
With a satisfying nod toward the smoldering xvart medicine man, Shaldinari adds her fire to those attempting to bring down the big bird.
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Blacklock's arrow strikes true on the vulture eliciting a squawk as the arrow thuds in its flank!
At the same time, separated by the massive raptor, one brandishes its blade at Jiro and the other at Jarpax!
Jiro lets out a Yelp as the blue creature slashes his arm!
Jarpax slaps the wicked curved blade aside!
Zar, weaving the arcane threads of his magical, hurls three silvery bolts at the giant vulture! The three bolts tear through the beast, punching through its head and chest! It teeters a moment then falls over before Jarpax can even breathe his lightning breath! Making a slight adjustment, the cagey Dragonborn priest lines up the two remaining Xvarts and belches the bolt at the evil creatures!
You all watch in horror as they die screaming, electrocuted to death!
The remaining Xvart-folk in the village go running off, screaming in their Abyssal tongue!
Combat over.
Tana is able to rush over and administer her healing potion, bringing the big man back to consciousness.
After Tana administers the healing potion given to her by Mother Protector. She is now kneeling with his head resting against her legs. She waits for Antonio's reaction and asks him,
Antonio, how do you feel?
Antonio falling in darkness that feels like forever, suddenly feels something wrap around his body like a soft warm blanket and then he shoots upward.
Antonio's eyes flash open as he takes a deep breath. Glancing around seeing that almost everyone else is unharmed. And his eye drop on his clean unused sword.
"I am sorry, I failed you all. I don't know what happened last thing I remember was a lot of feathers all around me.
Thank you for your kindness but I am not sure if it it deserved."
Slowly getting getting up Antonio looks at his torn armor knowing that he will need to do some repairs. He picks up his sword and with disgust he sheaths his sword.
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When you examine the gigantic stone in the center of the village, you find chiseled text in Common three feet from the ground near the center of its southern face. The text reads:
I am born in fear, raised in truth, and I come to my own in deed.
When comes a time that I’m called forth, I come to serve the cause of need.
Watching the last of the small blue creatures disappear into the scrubland, Shaldinari walks down into the village to join the others and get a closer look at the stone they've come to find.
"Hmmm....seems the Mother Protector was right when she said there would be a riddle." She says rubbing her chin in thought.
"Could the answer be death? Power, perhaps. There is a power in fear and it is often called in times of need...." She continues mulling over the riddle as Antonio recovers his feet and grounding back in the material plane.
As the remaining xvarts scatter, Jarprax runs along behind for a dozen feet or so, clanging his warhammer against his shield: "Run along little ones! HA! HA!"
Returning to the group in time to help heave Antonio to his feet, Jarprax gives him a nod of reassurance: "You fought bravely friend Antonio - I would help you with some healing, but I'm afraid I've spent my favour with Stronmaus for the day."
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Later, as Shaldinari and the others ponder the riddle, Jarprax taps roughly near the words with his warhammer: "Here, see! This obviously refers to the sun - Stronmaus grasps the ball of fire from the fearful darkness and hurls it across the skies, revealing the truth of the world. It comes to us in our time of need! So, now...", looking from the stone to the sky and back, "... now we open the stone using the sun??"
Frowning deeply: "Bah, let's just break it - that sounds easier."
Tana says to Antonio,
There is no shame in standing aside your comrades in preparation for battle. And there's certainly no shame in being wounded in battle. I am certainly confident in your abilities,
and am proud to have you in our group. We are a team. Our success will arise out of our combined efforts. Most importantly we should not leave anyone of us behind, nor should we allow any one of us to fall in battle and not try to provide medical assistance. Committment to one another is a powerful advantage for any team!
Tana walks over to Shaldinari and says,
Shaldinari, the Medicine Man must have some potionsor other valuables. For example, he mentioned a Stone. I'm going to check the huts and the general area to see what we can use. Did you want to join me?
Tana will search the huts and look around the village for potions, gold, silver, valuables, rations, books, clothing, weapons and possible magic items.
After that, if circumstances are favorable she will ask the others if she can take a rest.
"The disks that we seek are fear, hatred, and tyranny. Could the answer be on of them? Or bane himself?" trying to make figure out the riddle.
"Hold on Tana I will go with you, maybe not all the Xvarts have left." As he jogs after Tana.
Tana seeing Antonio approach says,
Thanks for joining me in the search of the village! How are you feeling?
Tana is happy to have company.
With a nod to Tana, Shaldinari steps away from the riddle and opens herself to her fey site. The world suddenly becomes a stark black, white, and gray. As she and Tana search the medicine man and the huts, she looks for any sign of light or color that would be the telltale sign of something imbued with arcane or other magical energy.
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When Shaldinari focuses her senses, she finds herself pulled toward the medicine man's stick. As she gets closer, she finds that it is actu89ally a bundle of reeds twisted together and bound in twine.
At the center is a slim stick that she sees a little wispy sprite yanking on! When it sees that it has drawn the warlock's attention, it squeaks and disappears in a puff of faerie dust!
"Ahhhh....now what's this?" Shaldinari says after shooing away the little sprite and getting a closer look at the medicine man's 'stick.' "A useful find, this." She adds showing the wand to Tana. "Just point, activate and little darts of force strike your enemy. Similar to Zar's spell he just used." She gives the mangled body of the xvart medicine man a thoughtful look. "I wonder how he came about such an item?"
She slips the wand safely into her belt for the moment. "No matter now, I suppose. Let's see if Blacklock has opened the stone yet."
Thanks for joining me in the search of the village! How are you feeling?
"I still hurt some, but I should be ok. I just feel like I failed everyone. That bird knew right where the kinks in my armor was, and took me out with out me striking back. I will not let that happen again. I swear it."
Standing a little straighter and taller."You found a what Shaldinari? It looks just like any other stick to me."
Frowning only slightly as Blacklock places his hand on the stone and speaks, Jarprax reaches out next to the rogue and says: "Sun?"
Meeting Blacklock's eyes, Jarprax laughs loudly and slaps the man on the arm: "HA! Go again!"
Tana replies to Antonio, I have complete faith in you!
Tana then turns Shaldinari and asks, Did you find anything interesting, Shaldinari? Referring to her new found stick.
Tana awaits Shaldinari's reply. Then she suggests to both Antonio and Shaldinari, Let's check this hut! Referring to one closest to them.
Zar contemplates the riddle. "It would seem to me the answer might be the opposite of the disk that it is hiding. The disk here could be the "fear" one based on the start of the riddle. Blacklock, I think you were going in the right direction with bravery," he says as he places his hand on the stone. "Bravery," he states and waits for a reaction.
As the three of them head for the hut. Antonio sees Zar trying to get in the stone, he call out to those at the stone.
"Do you think you need to say it in that language that the blue guys were talking?"
Inside the hut he looks around
"Do you think you need to say it in that language that the blue guys were talking?"
Walking over to catch the last bit of the conversation around the rock, Shaldinari thinks for a moment. "Well these wizards were from Thentia correct? A person is most likely to use his native tongue just out of laziness. We could also rule out Abyssal and anything else native to creatures around here. After all, they wouldn't want it to get triggered just by accident." She pauses for a moment and looks at Zar.
"But I think he's got a good point." She says pointing to the bookish wizard. "Let's see what happens when he tries courage or valor?" She says leaning back against a post to see if any of Zar's attempts work.
Tana says to Antonio and Shaldinari,
I'm sorry I didn't mention it sooner, but just to let you know, I speak and read Abbyssal and Infernal, in addition to Common, of course. Let me know if you need me to translate those languages in future. I'm always willing to help!
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Tana and Shaldinari are examining the medicine man, while they hear Jarpax call out words while Blacklock presses his hand against the stone in the background. As Shaldinari examines the walking stick, Tana produces a money pouch with a few emeralds. Examining the rest of the Xvart corpses yields a handful of coin, and a monogrammed coin purse with a handful of platinum.
Upon Blacklock calling out bravery, the letters glow and pulse with a bluish light, and the entire surface of the rock begins to exude a fine white mist. A sudden updraft pulls the mist to the peak of the stone, where it coalesces into the form of a huge white dragon. The beast flexes its wings and speaks. So, you seek the Tenet of Bane. You have shown courage. Now we will see how brave you truly are!
Let's start with Wisdom saves!
"Whoa - a chromatic dragon! Stronmaus give me strength against our ancient foes."
And the dice gods hate me.