Tiny does his best to suppress a grunt as he fights back from inside the plant with scraping blows from his hands as his world is suddenly turned upside down.
Tiny adopts his best stance and tries to slash his way free. He fails to do it on the firs,t but on the second he slashes an opening wide enough to free himself and then some!
Round 1:
Plant: Feed me Seymour
Chark: Go
Dendillion: Go
Haldan: Go
Tiny: Free!
Charlie: Go
Plant: 10
Dendillion sighs. "Well, here goes nothing."
The bard begins to play a hauntingly beautiful little tune on his lute. The song that come from the instrument evokes emotions of loss, abandonment, and loneliness. And yet, it somehow calls on the soul. And that call is answered when a nine inch tall sprite appears from the nearby bush!
"You called me? Why?" the fey creature asks, seemingly surprised by what's going on.
"Please, quickly! That plant has been corrupted! Please stop it from eating us!" Dendillion begs for the fey creature's help.
The sprite looks at the plant, then says, "Well I suppose I can try." With a gesture and a snap of its fingers a kaleidoscopic spray of colour fans over the carnivorous plant!
Critical Success: The creature is unaffected.
Success: The creature is dazzled for 1 round.
Failure: The creature is stunned 1, blinded for 1 round, and dazzled for 1 minute.
Critical Failure: The creature is stunned for 1 round and blinded for 1 minute.
Dendillion's fey friend washes the plant in a wave of colors. The plant freezes for a second, totally out of sorts!
Round 1:
Plant: Feed me Seymour
Chark: Go
Dendillion: It's a kind of magic
Haldan: Go
Tiny: Free!
Charlie: Go
Plant: 10 The creature is stunned 1, blinded for 1 round, and dazzled for 1 minute.
Charlie leaps Goliath head first into the plant. The seemingly large bear bashes right into the it, a soft crunching sound filling the air.
HP 29/30
AC 19 (21 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield [AC Bonus +2] [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Hero Points 0/3
Goliath
HP 13/24; -2 CHA (Wounded 1)
AC 16
Charlie and Goliath move in to death with the plant. The slash from whip and claw cut deep, as a sap-like liquid begins to ooze out.
Round 1:
Plant: Feed me Seymour
Chark: Go
Dendillion: It's a kind of magic
Haldan: Go
Tiny: Free!
Charlie: Big hit
Plant: 31 The creature is stunned 1, blinded for 1 round, and dazzled for 1 minute.
Draining Hermann of some energy, Haldan regains the ability to cast Shocking Grasp. He gives himself some guidance on this, and casts.
Haldan reaches out with his spell. The creature reacts quickly to the opportunity:
and
It stabs and dissolve's the gnome's flesh, but that doesn't stop Haldan from unleashing his magic. The shocking grasp completely electrocutes the plant!
"I am going to need healing and my skills are not strong here."
Hold still, Chark gently chides the gnome.
Charlie helps Tiny up to his feet. "That was a big plant! N..n..nearly ate you. Maybe if we take out the halfling these p.p..p..p..plants and elements will all calm down."
No sounds come from the barn, at least not that you can hear. The plant makes for a seriously large corpse. Clearly, it's eaten well.
Charlie creaks the barn doors open to take a look inside. "Doesn't s..s..sound like anyone is hear?"
This large, dark barn has a row of animal stalls along the west wall and three large cubicles for hay and food storage to the east. A table and chairs are tucked into the northwest corner of the barn, and the walls are covered with hooks and shelves for harnesses and other equipment useful for keeping animals. A loft twelve feet above the floor circles the barn’s perimeter. Two ladders provide access to the loft: one in the southwest corner of the barn, and one in the northeast.
A gravelly but high pitched voice speaks out from the back corner, "Mistress Nemmia? Is that you?"
Charlie holds up his hand to stop Goliath from going in further. He looks back to Chark, shrugging his shoulders.
Chark strides forward in the direction of the voice, past Charlie and his companion. I'm afraid any conversation you have with Mistress Nemmia will be a trifle one-sided.
She draws her scimitar and looks back at the others, motioning them forward.
Tiny moves up as well.
Dendillion moves in after Chark. He rests a hand on her shoulder and gives her a pleading look. "Parlay, first?"
"Please, step out. We mean you no harm, and are simply looking for answers to some questions. Can you help us?"
"That's NOT her voice."
"So what do we do?."
"We brain'em."
"okay."
A higher pitched voice, from another corner,
"Typical."
From the second story a pair of creatures emerge. They're small humanoid creatures with thin, leathery wings, small horns, and a mischievous smile. The first voices also make themselves known. They're similar in appearance, but the pair from the ground floor are brown while the upstairs pair are red.
The red pair fly down while the brown pair rush in.
Round 1:
Hostiles: Close
Haldan: Go
Chark: Go
Dendillion: Go
Tiny: Go
Charlie: Go
(Scout)
(Search)
(Avoid Notice)
(Detect Magic)
(Search)
Seeing the threat Goliath shoves Chark against the wall as the small bear squeezes past her to get into position. A loud growl comes from the bear's throat as it snaps its jaws at the creature.
HP 29/30
AC 19 (21 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield [AC Bonus +2] [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Hero Points 0/3
Goliath
HP 13/24; -2 CHA (Wounded 1)
AC 16
Charlie's direction gets Goliath into the fight, and immediately the bear gains purchase with its teeth. His bite isn't as effective as he hoped though...
Round 1:
Hostiles: Close
Haldan: Go
Chark: Go
Dendillion: Go
Tiny: Go
Charlie: Hit
Black: 4
Dendillion wants to sigh, but instead he moves back and puts his music to the test. He begins with a series of power chords that fill the group with courage!
You call this a parlay...? Chark says, casting a spell on her scimitar and taking a swing at Black.
Tiny drops into his tiger stance as he moves into position and makes a pair of claw attacks.
Magic Missile to the enemy in front on the left.
Haldan's missiles strike the other earthy looking creature, eliciting a yelp from it, and giggles from the red foes in the back.
Dendillion spurs the party to more impressive feats as he finds a better position. It helps Chark who immediately delivers a bifurcating blow with her scimitar!
Not expecting to have to close, Tiny drops into his stance, then has to step to strike. He strikes with a stunning blow, but his opening salvo is enough to kill the creature!
The two kills immediately shut the remaining two up. They close distance, open wide, and both breath out a cone of flame!
and
and
Round 2:
Hostiles: Close
Haldan: Go
Dendillion: Go
Chark: Go
Tiny: Go
Charlie: Go
Red:
Yellow:
In the midst of the battle, a chorus of voices start calling out from somewhere on the eastern side of the building, "HELP! HELP! FREE US!"
Goliath moves to block Charlie's path, using his larger frame to take most of the fire into the side of his body. the bear roars in pain and snaps back at the fiery creature.
HP 25/30
AC 19 (21 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield [AC Bonus +2] [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Hero Points 0/3
Goliath
HP 7/24; -2 CHA (Wounded 1)
AC 16
"Uff." grunts Tiny as the horrible creatures breath on him.
Tiny responds with a heroic leap between them.
Being stuck in place Tiny instead continues the assault.
Tiny then does his best to patch up his own wounds.
Goliath's teeth chomp down, but the creature's mystical nature protects it from harm!
Tiny's first strike gets through though the creature keeps his wits.
Round 2:
Hostiles: Close
Haldan: Go
Dendillion: Go
Chark: Go
Tiny: Hit
Charlie: Bite
Red: 3 Reset: 1d4 ⇒ 3
Yellow: Reset: 1d4 ⇒ 3
Chark gives a bit of healing to Goliath in an effort to keep the bear in the fight.
Then conjures up a shield of force to use if needed.
Dendillion continues his inspirational tune, power chords filling the group with courage.
Bolstered himself, he plays a familiar riff that allows him to lift a bit of debris and hurl it at the left-most creature.
"Hang on, we're coming!"
Haldan moves up and removed a card from out of nowhere and launches the flaming projectile at the enemies, striking true.
Chark patches up some of the wounds Goliath has taken, then protects herself. Dendillion lands the attack, clearly wounding the creature, but Haldan's flaming card seems to do nothing, despite landing square on!
The two nasty little creatures lash out with sharp, needlie-like teeth:
for and
MISS
for and
MISS
The creature on the left looks extremely wounded as they move to protect it.
Round 3:
Hostiles: ATK
Haldan: Go
Dendillion: Go
Chark: Go
Tiny: Go
Charlie: Go
Red: 12 Breath on Round 5
Yellow: Breath on Round 5
Goliath shifts just out of the way as Charlie snaps his whip at the yellow fire breather. "N..nasty little ones."
HP 25/30
AC 19 (21 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield [AC Bonus +2] [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Hero Points 0/3
Goliath
HP 14/24; -2 CHA (Wounded 1)
AC 16
Haldan sees the cards won’t cut it this time, he drains some lifeforce from Hermann and moves forward with the Shocking Grasp.
Charlie and Goliath work as a team, seriously wounding the creature, though the attack might have slain it quickly with just a little more luck.
Haldan's ensorcelled hand misses by a hair!
Round 3:
Hostiles: ATK
Haldan: Miss
Dendillion: Go
Chark: Go
Tiny: Go
Charlie: Hit
Red: 12 Breath on Round 5
Yellow: 7 Breath on Round 5
Tiny plays leap frog with the bear as he goes over it's head into a pounce on their enemies.
Then Tiny takes a little leap again to the far side.
With two powerful blows, Tiny destroys the heretofore hale looking foe! The remaining creature is on the ropes!
Round 3:
Hostiles: ATK
Haldan: Miss
Dendillion: Go
Chark: Go
Tiny: Kill
Charlie: Hit
Red: 12 Breath on Round 5
Action 1: Inspire Courage
Action 2-3: Telekinetic Projectile
Dendillion keeps the power chords ringing in the ears of his friends. Their blood pumps with the heroic sound.
Layered over top those chords is a riff that flings more debris at the remaining foe.
Chark steps forward, scimitar in hand, hoping to finish the creature off. An arc of bright white flame erupts from her hand at the fiend.
Chark then conjures up a shield of force to use if needed.
Dendillion's projectile strikes the creature in the face! It turns to ash and the barn goes silent - but only for a moment "Help!"
Tiny rushes forward, looking for the source of the plaintive cries for help.
"We're coming!" Dendillion calls back, hurrying forward to help the caller.
A thought floats in the back of Tiny's mind as Dendillion's words echo past him. Announcing I was coming... that would've been a good way not to get smacked in the face while coming to the rescue... what a good idea.
The voices come from a clear direction, so the party hustles to the center area on the right. Upon opening the door, you find a trio. It looks like a man, wife, and teenage child, "Thank all the gods!"
They're all tied to a post in the center of the room. The father speaks up, "I... I'm Rickart Hawfton. This is my wife Seirah, and our daughter Aima. Please do you have any water? My baby girl hasn't had any in days."
Ignoring the hyperbole of his daughter's water situation, as she'd be dead if it had been literally days, Dendillion offers the girl his waterskin. "Please, drink up. You're safe now. But I have to ask: how did you end up here?"
Seirah speaks up, "A wicked halfling named Nemmia took us from our home in Abberton. She said that we were part of the 'evil machine' of civilization. She had creatures she called mephits. They were the ones guarding us."
Rickart adds, "She was insane, and made little sense. We're also not the only ones she took. The Lindell brothers, the two who own this barn were here, but.... but... she did something horrible to them. They're... they're not themselves any more."
Seirah jumps back in, "I think she used this as her base for some kind of plot because it's secluded. We've been here for nearly a week now. We're fine now. You may find more looking around. I don't think there are any more guards."
Rickart, "The sheriff may be here too. We heard his voice the other day, followed by the sounds of awful violence."
The couple look at each other, then to their silent daughter. Rickart adds, "We want to reward you. We're reasonably well off, and want to show appreciation. Please do not say no."
Remembering what it's like to be a poor minstrel, and realizing that he's currently a poor circus performer, Dendillion does not say no. "Your kindness is a patronage to the arts, and we thank you in advance. If you are well, we had best keep searching. And I know you probably wish to leave, but please wait here until we have made sure there are no more threats."
To the others he says, "We had best search behind all the doors. There's at least three others to find." He then moves to a door and opens it.