The silent observer realizes his cover is blown as Tratch points at him and calls out.
The tall humanoid grunts and growls and draws a large, ornate silver greatsword, charging at the group.
He takes two swings with the sword, targeting Tenchi and Aterro as he recognizes them immediately as fellow warriors and the likeliest to cause trouble.
Greatsword Attack Tenchi:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Greatsword Attack Aterro:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
However, he misjudges the distance, affected by the nearby temporal distortions and misses both as his sword twice slashes air.
As he comes into better light, you are able to fully see your attacker. He's tall and slender, but looks to be solid muscle. His skin is tight and pale yellow. His head is a shock of spiked brown hair and a braided beard. His ears are large and pointed and his eyes sunken. He is covered in jeweled silver armor plates.
As the group slowly catches up to Riven, the Warforged peers into the adjoining open doorway on the east wall.
Riven:
The room is rather dark, the walls lined with books. Standing in the center of the room is a full suit of plate armor, gray-black. You can see moving wisps beneath the armor along the seams and openings like thin clouds, suggesting some sort of entity inhabits it. But otherwise it stands perfectly still and shows no response to your presence.
You see another open doorway on the north wall, but a clear view is blocked by the armor.
Perception DC19, everyone but Riven:
The door immediately north of the silver swan opens slowly. You detect a tall, thin humanoid figure peer from behind the door and you and catch glints of a large silver blade and plates of armor on it. It has noticed you and is quietly watching.
Hi guys. This week got away from me. I'm on a brief road trip today and tomorrow and I'll have spotty internet access. I probably won't be able to get a post up until Friday night at the earliest.
You explore the remnants of the gift room while waiting for your comrades to catch up.
The southern room has some decayed scraps of boxes and molded remnants of wedding gifts. Everything in the room is broken and decayed save for a large, asymmetrical golden chandelier that hangs on the ceiling. It has empty spaces for numerous candles.
You ascertain it would be worth about 10,000 GP if it can be moved. There doesn't appear to be anything else of value in the room, as it looks to have been looted long ago.
While you see an open doorway on the eastern wall close to the entrance, you also notice a section of the wall farther down that's uneven with the rest of the surrounding area and deduce it's a secret door.
Through the open doorway you see a darkened room. From the ambient light you can just make out some nearly empty shelves containing a small number of dusty books.
The group slowly makes its way through the edge of the octagonal room, one following the other. As you move through, you see about five golden spectres enter the buffet, roused by Vehemence's loud arrival. They float closer but stop at the entrance of the octagonal room, seemingly trying to avoid the temporal distortions.
One thing is certain for now, there's no turning back unless you wish to fight the spectres again and risk possession.
It takes you about five minutes to get through the chamber to the other side, though you are unsure because the distortions have thrown off your time perception slightly.
Once through to the other side, you see up close the large silver swan, floating on an endless stream of what looks like red wine that continues to cycle through a trench in the white marble floor. Neither appears to be touched by the passage of time.
Ashlyn and Vehemence both sense strong magic coming off the swan, suggesting that it's definitely enchanted.
Vehemence:
You feel a tinge of recognition upon seeing the swan. You vaguely recall an ancient wedding tradition practiced by some cultures where the souls of the couple-to-be are magically bound in silver swan during the wedding ceremony and released back when the marriage is sealed with a kiss.
You see Riven in the darkened room just south of you exploring quietly.
The first things Vehemence sees besides several of his comrades is the room he's in, with an assortment of tables covered in molded gray remnants that may have once been food, with a large, perfect white wedding cake in the center that appears unspoiled.
Along the eastern wall is a doorway opening to an octagonal chamber, the current interest of the party. It contains a young couple held in a frozen, eternal embrace, just moments from sealing their wedding with a kiss. They're surrounded by dust and particles held in suspension and several burnt but standing corpses in various phases of temporal distortion. Several foreign objects are held in suspension near the couple, signs of the group testing the temporal field which holds them.
To the other side of the octagonal room is a large, silvery swan which floats upon a neverending stream of wine. Riven has already made his way to this room and waits for the rest to join him.
You can throw in your attempt at recalling a tidbit of information. Also, for anyone who hasn't rolled yet, you can do a skill assist to improve the chance of recalling this piece of lore.
Religion DC18:
You suddenly recall learning once about an ancient wedding tradition where the souls of the couple-to-be are bound together inside a large, enchanted swan upon betrothal. The couple are married, they seal the marriage with a kiss, and the swan releases their souls back to them.
Without warning, you all hear a high-pitched hum near the entrance of the octagonal room. Sparks of energy form in a circle about 5 feet wide on the ceiling. Within the circle a smoky vortex rotates faster and faster, as a bright white light widens within.
You hear a familiar voice scowling as he gets closer to the opening, finally dropping through to the floor below as the vortex then closes as quickly as it opened. The impact rattles some of the nearby tables, kicking up a fair amount of dust.
A cloaked figure slowly stands, brushing himself off, looking up at the closed portal.
The summoned owl flies boar wanders over to the swan. It takes several minutes longer than usual due to the time distortions.
Riven can see Gamma on the other side, hovering above sniffing at the large swan. It appears to be a construct of some kind that's floating atop a stream of unidentified liquid.
It takes Riven about five minutes to work across the edge of the octagon due to the time distortions.
When he reaches the room he sees the swan is ornately constructed out of some kind of seamless, smooth silvery metal. It floats on a looping stream red wine that's in a narrow trench in the middle of the white marble floor.
The small chamber is in a reverse "L" shape with a small doorway on the south wall and a closed door on the north wall around the bend.
The southern room has some decayed scraps of boxes and molded remnants of wedding gifts. Everything in the room is broken and decayed save for a large, asymmetrical golden chandelier that hangs on the ceiling. It has empty spaces for numerous candles.
There's another closed door on the southeast wall of the gift room.
I'm not really in a position to complain about punctuality. :)
Aterro throws the objects into the time field, and in each case they slow as they get closer to the couple, coming to a complete stop about a foot around them and floating in suspended animation.
Likewise when he pushes in the table leg, it comes to a complete stop just a foot from the couple. He can move the end of it in real time, but sees it ripple and freeze as the chronal effects of the field take hold. He tries to withdraw the leg, only to find that the far end won't move. Well, perhaps in several centuries.
Riven pulls another fuzz ball from the bag of tricks and throws it against the floor.
1d8 ⇒ 1
This time the fuzz ball becomes a rat.
Tenchi throws an object into the room as well, only to see it slow to a complete stop as it nears the groom.
At this point you realize that it may well be impossible to move the couple without breaking the magic that holds them as time has completely stopped and what you see is a single moment that's held fast for years upon years.
You suddenly recall learning once about an ancient wedding tradition where the souls of the couple-to-be are bound together inside a large, enchanted swan upon betrothal. The couple are married, they seal the marriage with a kiss, and the swan releases their souls back to them.
Riven is able to discern that the closer things are to the embracing couple, the more frozen they are, until the very air itself is hardened immediately around them, holding them in suspension.
This appears to be the work of very powerful magic that may have been deliberately cast to freeze the couple in a single moment of time and prevent the terrible fate that has befallen the rest of the wedding party.
There appears to be a gap of about 3 feet on the perimeter of the octagonal room where time is only barely slowed, which should allow passage to the adjoining room and the large floating swan, albeit slowly (Movement is reduced by half).
The specter moves around the room briefly between the walking corpses and returns to the dark, eastern room, floating upward.
Within the eastern room you see multiple glowing spirits (about 10, but it's hard to be certain) circling the ceiling about 15' up. Your instincts tell you it's probably best to stay away.
Aterro notices that the large octagonal room off the buffet (179) contains a decaying arch and the pale bodies of a man and woman, dressed as bride and groom, held in an eternal embrace, just about to kiss, but unmoving.
Dust hangs around them like a starfield, and they're watched by a ring of blackened corpses, several frozen in place, others moving at a glacial pace, as though something is altering time within the room.
The far end appears to open to another room containing what looks like a large swan floating on something.
You notice a shimmering gold spectre float into the dead wedding room (177) from the next room to the east.
If you are reading this you have advantage on initiative to attack as it hasn't noticed the group yet and is floating around in response to noise it's heard.
Hi folks. I've been dealing with some health issues the past several weeks that seem to finally be resolving. It's been a struggle to get my other game back on a regular posting schedule.
I think I'm at a point where I can continue with this game if everyone is still willing to do so. If we want to just call it quits I completely understand.
I'll wait a few days for some input/consensus before either moving forward or ending the game.
Thratch inspects the remains of the wight. They don't seem to have made any difference on Tyko's presence.
Meanwhile, Riven inspects the jug, not being able to discern much apart from it feels magical. It may require longer inspection to learn more.
Ashlyn approaches Tyko and feels the smallest sensation of his hand as she grasps it. Tyko looks at her blankly and gestures east in response to her question, but does not move.
Aterro, curious about the cake, questions a guest, who barely notices him and quietly rasps,
"Perhaps when the happy couple arrive any minute now."
"Are you with the officiant?" it also wheezes at the cleric.
A familiar voice calls out from the cloak room, a lost tiefling warlock,
"I MUST BORROW THE BARBARIAN! IT'S QUITE URGENT BUSINESS!"
"BOY! It pleases me that you've escaped your captors! Stay with this group and look out for them!" the voice adds.
In the back corner, under soot, rubble and the remains of some plates and what appears to be bone fragments, Riven spies a large dusty ceramic jug with strange markings on it. It feels to be full of liquid.
He also notices tiny puncture marks on the dried skins that appear to be in consistent patterns of some kind.
Riven throws another fire bolt at the wight, missing it.
Tenchi attempts to strike at it within the room, but it ducks under a table and crawls out of the way.
Thratch, though still in shock from the creature trying to drain his life-energy, looses an arrow that hits hard. Very hard. He hears the wight howl and hiss as it staggers forward and flops face-down before shriveling into a pile of moldy leather goo.
I'm not really keen on luck transference, since it's pretty far outside the feat as defined. But if Aterro wants to be noble and throw himself between Thratch and the wight, then perhaps a small misfortune involving a dead bat may have happened.
Thratch rolls the lit charcoal into the southern room, and it casts light upon the chamber. What he and anyone else looking on sees is unsettling.
In the glow of the light, you can see several small, child-sized tables, rows of tiny chairs and remnants of toys in the corner. Blackened soot covers everything and you see small ash piles and graphite lumps on the furniture and floor.
The walls are covered in the same ash blast patterns as the other rooms. The walls are also decorated with fairly fresh blood and what appears to be dried adult humanoid skins, much newer than the ash.
In the middle of the room is what appears to be a small child, nearly identical to the ghost of Tyko Wort, but in physical form. He appears mummified, twisted flesh pulled tight over bone. His teeth and fingertips are narrow, long and sharp, and caked in dried blood. His eyes are sunken and burning with cruelty. He grins at you and hisses slightly when the light hits him. He's holding the string with the key attached.
He begins to back away from the light toward a darkened corner.
Arcana or Religion DC10:
This creature is a wight, one of the undead that can drain life-force from the living.
Thratch inspects the string tied to the key. It follows south in a straight line to the next room, which is obscured by darkness.
As Riven instructs Beta to retrieve the key, it is suddenly yanked away into the southern room.
Meanwhile, Aterro walks over to inspect the wedding cake. It stands out in it's seeming perfection amidst the grey, dusty lumps that may have once been edible food. He detects the slightest hint of enchantment on the cake, beyond its preservation through the ages.
Investigation DC12:
You start to see patterns to the black ash along the floors and walls, as though a powerful explosion had happened at one point. The blast patterns suggest the source was northeast of here.
As you enter the chamber (177), you see what Riven caught before.
The large room is decorated in colorful buntings and ribbons along the walls.
This provides a stark contrast to the occupants of the room, an assortment of blackened figures with carbonized flesh and bones that resemble graphite. Some are haloed in shimmering sheets of stained gold. Several carry the remnants of glassware that appears to have been long ago shattered.
The figures make little noise except some low, wheezing whispers to each other as though trying to have conversations.
One of the charred corpses shambles by slowly and looks at the group before uttering barely audible gasping dry moans that faintly sounds like "And what do you do?" with feigned interest.
You overhear another pair nearby exchanging raspy quiet moans about how "The happy couple should be here any minute."
You notice the floor is covered in black ash and bone and most of the figures seem disinterested in you.
You see other open chambers to the south of you:
(175) This small room contains a golden key in the middle of the floor with a large label reading "Treasury" in the common language. There appears to be a string tied to it leading farther south.
(178) This large room holds several tables with rotted foodstuffs on them. In the center on a table is a large, perfect-looking white cake, multi-tiered and cleanly cut. It looks impeccably fresh. Atop the cake are the figures of a man and a woman and below their linked hands a model of a swan.
Perception DC15:
You spy shimmers of gold floating around the next chamber immediately east of the wedding chamber that look identical to the specters you just fought off.
"Well of course there's a wedding going on! It's been going on for … ages! It's just how they do things in their … their tradition."
"And who are you to talk to me of corruption when you're obviously trying to crash the wedding of … the beloved couple!"
"Look, you can stay for one drink and have a quick look around, but then I suggest you be on your way before you make a scene! The couple shouldn't be upset on their most joyous … day."
The peacock trails off and gestures toward the east chamber, still looking annoyed.
Perception DC10:
The peacock seems to not remember any details about the wedding itself. You suspect it's just playing along and trying to cover as it doesn't know what else to do.
Perception DC15:
You catch a glimpse into the next room to the east. Amidst bunting and ribboned walls, you see blackened and charred figures walking around as though they're talking with one another. You hear only faint whispers coming from the room, and nothing intelligible.
Riven's fire bolt destroys the nearby specter, already weakened by previous attacks. It shrieks as it dissipates into a fine gold powder which sprinkles onto the ground.
Meanwhile Ashlyn and Aterro both hit the other specter, weakening it considerably.
The Chameleon Women draw their machetes, which all have a faint glow, and take turns slashing at the creature.
Two of them successfully hit with their weapons and destroy the weakened creature, which turns also turns into a gold powder like it's pair.
End of combat.
The Chameleon Women quickly gather the dust into a small pouch and tie it up.
"Not too bad, mammals. We're keeping an eye on you. Try not to get yourselves killed to quickly." one of them says as they duck out the door heading north and crawl up the walls into the shadows.
"We're watching if you run into trouble again." another faintly cackles as they scurry off.
Moq and Tenchi slowly begin to stir from their slumber.
The mechanical peacock suddenly pipes up,
"This is intolerable! They didn't have invitations to the wedding either! I cannot abide by this!"
We're not dead yet, I hope. I had a health scare in the last week that turned out to be much less serious than I feared. I'm still working on getting back to things.
If the consensus of the group is that we're done I completely understand. If you're willing to bear with the glacial pace a bit longer we'll pick back up soon.
I apologize for the lack of updates. I've had much going on that's left me pretty fried and not in much of a mindset for gaming.
Jets of magical flame shoot from Vistra's hands, causing several onlookers to gasp and scream, and several whispers of "Witchcraft!" and "Sorcery!"
Five of the men are immediately engulfed in flames and drop to the ground dead.
The remaining six duck the brunt of the flames but their clothes and gear ignite. Two of them run off to douse themselves in the flood water.
The air is thick and heavy with the semisweet metallic smell of charred flesh.
The man with the child tries to run during this chaos, but Carric's arrow finds its target, piercing the back of his head and lodging in his mouth. He instantly falls forward, dead. A large knife caked in dried blood falls from his clothes as he hits the ground.
The child screams in terror and runs off toward the now calmed lynch mob.
One of the remaining burned men screams loudly, "Kill the witch!" and hurls a hatchet at Vistra.
When Cade casts mage armor the crowd recoils at the sight of the magical shimmering across his body and they step back and grow quiet.
The accused sailor pipes up, “I didn’t take any bloody pack! It’s probably getting trampled in the mud!”
He raises his arms up and pats down his clothing to try and show he's not concealing anything. Most of the mob just looks at the ground and grumbles.
“He looked like he took it, he did!”
“Everything’s gone crazy! Maybe the Optical God is angry with us.”
“Shut up, Tic! You say that about everything!”
“Does this mean we're not gonna have a hangin'?”
“Help look for Throng's pack on the ground. That idiot always loses things.”
--
Shannaira, he looks like he could be anywhere between 10 and 12, at best guess. He's quite filthy and looks like he's probably lived more life than a kid his age should have.
Wit stands at attention with a mock salute at the druid.
“Deal! I'm good at disappearin', you'll see!” He then turns and wanders to assist Kortin.
Shannaira then conceals herself to observe the two men who've broken off from their group. They make their way to the abandoned building, stop to look around when they reach the door, fumble with a padlock, then disappear inside.
She then female voice yell nearby and sees a woman in soldier's clothing surrounded by five mercenaries -- three men and two women, all armed with longswords. She brandishes her own sword at them.
“I will not give in to your demands! We need to unify to help the townsfolk in this disaster!”
One of the men replies, “It seems this town needs protection! And we're going to handle it now!”
--
Carric confronts the man with the child and draws his longbow on him.
In response to his threat, three of the other men step forward and draw weapons -- one a longsword, another a pair of hatchets and the third a machete (treat as a short sword).
“Stay back, elf! Bad enough they let you freaks around here, but you ain't gonna get in our business!” the man with the longsword snarls as he points his blade at the ranger. The remaining men step forward and draw an assortment of long and short swords, knives, hatchets and machetes.
Players have initiative if you wish to enter combat. Vistra and Carric may act immediately, the others will require 2 rounds to reach the combat area unless using ranged weapons with at least 60’ range.
--
In the distance, atop the church, an old man wearing ceremonial garb and a mitre waves his arms from the roof and yells to anyone in earshot.
“I've lost the relic that can save us! I've disgraced myself in the eyes of the Optical God!”
--
There's noise from another crowd of survivors rushing at a ship banked farther up the river.
The crew draw swords and prepare to defend themselves against the advancing mob.
"Piss off and mind yer own business!" the man with the child grunts at Vistra as he picks up his pace. He puts his hand against the child's back to nudge him along faster.
The other men wandering away begin to slow down and flank Vistra, forming a human wall.
As far as taming the crowd, it'll take some effort, and a DC15 in either Persuasion or Intimidation to try to talk them down from their frenzy.
One of the now angry mob tosses their rope over a tree branch and another helps them thread a noose on one end.
So I promised myself I'd get all my games finally back on track today. Here goes.
Three serpentine women’s voices begin chanting in unison from behind you in the doorway. You look and see four Chameleon Women have quietly entered the room. Three of them chant and bleed lightly, and both Moq and Tenchi drop to the floor, asleep. The other Chameleon Woman drops a large barbed net over Moq, as Tenchi is still both tied up and held by Aterro’s spell.
The two specters abandon their hosts and rise into the air, crackling with swirling gold energy.
”Mammals! We’ve been sent to help to honor this truce that’s been brokered.” one of the Chameleon Women hisses. ”And it seems like you needed it pretty badly.”
The specters try to possess two of the Chameleon Women sorceresses with no avail and bellow loudly in frustration.
End of round 2. Players are up for round 3. Tenchi and Moq are asleep for 6 rounds and restrained.
Apologies. Work continued to be crazy. I'm starting to get my life back on track this week.
Vistra walks over toward the suspicious man as he walks off with the child, away from the gathering crowd of survivors.
Vistra:
You notice the man has a machete and other sharp tools hanging off a leather belt, similar to the crew digging in the ground.
--
Meanwhile, Shannaira has noticed the other men are armed with the various sharp implements, and grills the young boy.
”I don’t know nothin’ about what they’re up to, mum! Seen ‘em around, but they looked scary enough that I stayed away from them. No good by the looks of it though. By the way, my name’s Wit Tamdoun. What’s yours? And have your really got more food with you? My folks are gone a while now, so it’s just me. But I get by! I’m real clever, see?”
He pulls out a small pouch that Shannaira recognizes as hers, containing most of her money.
”How about that? I can work for the lot of you! I’m quick with me hands, and know lots of tricks, and I can get in and out of tight spaces real easy. I’ll trade me skills for more food.”
”You look like you’re looking for something, heading up this way. Nobody comes around here unless they’re looking for something. And I can help you out! Whaddaya say?”
He’s now grinning ear to ear, trying to convince the druid of his usefulness the best he can.
--
The crowd of survivors grows increasingly chaotic as Kortin tries to clumsily tend to the injured, while Carric grows restless waiting.
As Cade joins them and shares his observations, he notices the digging me looking at him with increasing hostility as they keep at their work. They slowly start to disperse from the unwanted attention and make their way closer to the other strange man walking with the child.
Perception DC10:
At least two of the men split off from the group and try to do so discretely, heading toward a run-down building that’s on a dry section of land and looks abandoned.
--
A woman farther away has a spyglass and appears engrossed in a column of cloud rising up far upriver. A skinny child appears to be raiding her satchel.
--
Suddenly, from the crowd of survivors a shout rings out.
”THIEF! THIEF! THIS MAN STOLE MY PACK!”
This leads to rabble and more unrest amongst the crowd as others join in yelling ”THIEF! THIEF! LYNCH THE THIEF!”
A man who appears to be a sailor is getting cornered against a tree by the angry crowd as someone produces a length of rope.
"We're looking for disappeared family!" several of the men pipe up at Vistra and Kortin.
"But you want to tell us all about your woes, we'll listen while we work." another adds with a hint of sarcasm.
It becomes quickly apparent that the men are preoccupied with their own task and they're not willing to stop and help anyone else.
Perception DC10:
You notice that aside from the shovels and picks they wield, several of the men are armed with an assortment of hacksaws, hatchets, cleavers and large knives.
Cade, no additional bonus since you're not proficient with the healer's kit.
Cade attends to the woman's injuries, despite not being skilled with the kit. He fumbles a bit but his efforts are successful and the woman coughs up some water and gasps loudly as she draws breath. Her children rush in and tearfully hug him for saving her from drowning.
Vistra calls over to the men hauling the wood as she sees the beam come loose, but it's too late, as it hits the ground hard and she hears a man scream horribly while others around the scene gasp loudly.
Meanwhile, Kortin and Carric move in to inspect the moving mound of earth as Shannaira looks on with caution.
As they get closer to the mound to see what's going on, they spy several men with shovels digging into the muddy ground. It's hard to tell at first glance exactly how many there are, but there look to be nearly a dozen men total.
Kortin looks around, and spies higher ground just south where the wagon was left, toward the road leading away from Carrowmore. There are several wooded hills surrounding the dirt road as it twists and turns away from the town. It looks to be perhaps just around a half mile of walking to reach dry land. The children continue wailing despite their teacher's frustration, and the other survivors look on helplessly.
Shannaira interrogates her would-be pickpocket, and he responds well to the offer of food.
"We got flooded is what happened, mum! Early this morning after all the heavy rains, the river rose and rose. I heard there's a dam farther upriver, and someone was screaming that it cracked. That's all I know, I swear!"
"So, uh, hows about that food now?"
Meanwhile Cade walks over to the old man looking at the graves.
"What happened here?" he hurriedly asks as he sees Cade approaching.
He runs up and grabs the sorcerer's coat, tugging at it.
"You! You find out what's going on, yeah? I've got gold hidden away! You bring me the source of what caused this and half is yours!" he declares wildly.
And if things don't seem bad enough, you see further events unfolding nearby amidst the chaos.
1. A grave mound of soil and pale drowned flesh. Something moves!
2. A suspicious man talking to a child.
3. Men haul beams of wood, from a rats nest of smashed buildings, you see one about to fall!
Thratch's rope weaves around Tenchi and tightens around the samurai, pinning his arms tightly against his torso. The spectral intruder is clearly unhappy about this and begins grunting and growling.
Moq will get a CHA save every two rounds. I'm granting Tenchi one every round because his psychic abilities would offer him some additional defense against his possession.
Tenchi CHA Save DC15:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14
Tenchi struggles internally. His will asserts itself for a brief moment, nearly kicking out the unwanted presence, but it's not ready to leave just yet.
Meanwhile, Riven hurls a fire bolt at Moq, hoping that the barbarian's resilience will be sufficient to prevent any critical harm, but perhaps enough to force the alien presence out of his head, though to no avail.
With combined effort, the group manages to pull the woman's body to shore. She's alive but unconscious. Her four children look on with a combination of fear and relief.
It looks like some form of healing will help her regain consciousness.
In the background, more commotion stirs.
A woman leading a group of various children starts losing control as they scream and shout around her. By her dress she appears to be a school teacher.
An old man stands by some hastily dug shallow graves in what appears to be a mostly dry patch of land. He tears at his hair, staring at the graves.
Shannaira notices a tug from behind on her clothing, and glances to see another child attempting to pick her pocket. The child looks extremely thin and hungry.
Moq feels the alien presence creep through his head, ignoring his thoughts, almost like metal against metal, the screeching drowning out his inner voice.
He feels his limbs move without him with sudden jerks, almost painfully.
It feels awkward, to say the least, as though the presence in his head isn't really sure what to do with his raw power and chooses a simple route while getting familiar with its new host.
Moq feels his body shift as he lets out a low-pitched grunt and strikes at Riven with his short sword.
"Follow the river north. The tombs are past the hill, between Pollingacrum Village and Pollingollum Village, just past a tall oak, across the bank from the corn fields."
--
Cade:
You recognize the symbol as belonging to the Church of the Optical God. It seems to be a regional monotheistic religion, not well known outside this area, but accepted as a good-aligned religion and feared by the undead like similar faiths.
Cade hurries over to the children struggling with the floating body. It's a woman and may possibly still be alive.
--
Carric and Vistra overhear the old cleric's directions and mention of corn fields.
--
The survivor who screamed "Unclean meat!" shouts it again, adding, "She didn't eat them!"
The other woman continues to fish by the ruins.
"Show you my catch, I will, if you come closer." she calls out.
"She was right." the man says, tearfully. "My wife here, rest her soul, she was a fortune teller." he continues.
"She told me never to take her body to the family tomb myself, that strangers would help me with the task. She was right!"
"Will you help me by taking her to our tomb?"
--
Cade, I'll allow using your spellcasting modifier for the mage hand.
Cade manages to use his magically summoned hand to float the rope to the old cleric. While it's not strong enough to pull the log to shore, it does manage to secure it and the cleric is able to pull himself to shore.
"I thank you, good fellow." he gasps as he climbs off. "I must go see about my church."
He wears a strange holy symbol.
--
Working together, Carric and Vistra manage to secure the raft and drag it to shallow waters.
The elderly passengers and children climb off and seek dry ground. One of the children stops and whispers to Carric before moving on.
Carric:
"Once there was a bad old woman who lived in the corn and hated rhymes. She made all the mums and dads into ghosts. So all the children killed her. She had nine lives and couldn’t die the same way twice. They poisoned her first. Then they stabbed her and smashed her and burnt her and drowned her. They killed her seven times and threw her in the well. That. Makes. Eight. If you kill her once more that’s it!"
--
As you all work on assisting the flood victims, you see further events unfolding.
1. Children scramble for a floating body shouting "Mother!'
2. A grief-struck survivor wanders past screaming of "Unclean meat!"
3. A woman is fishing in the ruins by the death-choked river.
Tenchi and Aterro's attacks on the spectre leave it fading out as it clings to unlife.
Thratch's rope slowly winds around the spectres as Ashlyn retreats into the shadows, disturbed by the possession attempt.
The nearly dying spectre weaves its way towards Moq, covering him in the same sickly gold glow.
Moq CHA Save DC15:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1
The creature vanishes into the large man as his eyes take on a golden hue. Moq convulses as his mind is overwhelmed by the alien presence.
Moq, since you're laid up for a bit, I can make you an NPC while you're possessed.
The second creature makes a move for Tenchi and attempts to possess the samurai.
Tenchi CHA Save DC15:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9 Tenchi CHA Save DC15 ADV:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
Tenchi fights with all his strength but is also overwhelmed by the creature and his eyes take on the same golden hue.
Tenchi:
I'll leave it to you if you want to be an NPC or play as possessed. You feel a strong alien presence in your mind, compelling you to attack your companions. You may roll a CHA save every round to expel the creature.
As you survey the area by the river, you see that it's mostly flat land apart , but there are several trees along the bank on either side which may provide suitable anchors for ropes. The raft and the cleric floating on the log look to be about 20 feet from what was once the shore, or at least a spot where the water is shallower.
If you're trying to physically grab a raft in the water, it'll be Athletics DC12. Likewise trying to toss a rope it'll be Acrobatics DC12.
Assisting each other grants advantage on the roll.
