Gameplay goes here.
Introduce your character & roll a d6 for each relationship point. You're hoping for 6s while I'm hoping for 5s
Dernaras is still fairly young for an elf, but her ears aren't quite pointed enough, and her eyes... there's something off about them, too. She carries herself with the grace and dignity of a noble, her long white hair streaming behind her in the wind. On her finger a ring, bearing an ancient elven crest, shines with greens and blues and a hint of autumn gold as it reflects the afternoon sun.
Arayas is a half elf scout in the north. Was supposed to be a way to form a common bond between the High Elf scouts and the Human Scouts. Has been used as a spy for the human's who she was raised with and who's organization she joined. Conflicted with this though, and is unsure she's doing the right thing.
With human/elven tensions at an uncomfortable high, the High Druid has put together a diplomatic contingent to help calm things down. While not a diplomat herself, Arayas's experience as a Oryias Sentry gives her invaluable insight into human/elven relationships.
The High Druid has even put together a crate full of various healing supplies for Arayas to provide as a sign of good will, along with a a sample healing potion for Arayas to demonstrate with.
Dernaras, having retired to the business of candlemaking one day finds her grizzled commander in her shop, not having seen him since the war.
"Remember the Black Phoenix?"
How could Dernaras forget. The Black Phoenix was a deadly and nigh unkillible assassin. Dernarashad almost got her once...
The old commander explained how he had tracked down the Black Phoenix, and that she would be at this peace summit and that Dernaras would have another chance.
"Take this blessing, and may the forces of light prevail"
He proceeded to bless Dernaras's chipmonk necklace.
Arayas & Dernaras find themselves sharing a carriage on their way to the High Druid's summit. A rather cramped carriage as the nice one they were supposed to have been in was given to some noble named Dante.
Suddenly there is a howling wind, followed by the warm summer day turning suddenly to snow and frost! Everything goes black for a moment as your world feels covered in ice.
As Arayas and Dernaras stumble out of their ruined carriage, one of the first things they see approaching them is the rotting flesh of the living dead!
AC 14
PD 12
MD 8
HP 10 (Mook)
They are mooks so they share an HP pool. Everytime you do 10 damage, a zombie shuffler will drop.
AC 15
PD 13
MD 9
HP 60
The living dead stumble towards our disoriented heroes, a pair of rotting disjoined zombies, followed by a slow hulking beast of a zombie that was once likely human...
Initiative
Arayas
Dernaras
Shufflers
Zombie
Arayas and Dernaras are up!
Dernaras sits in the carriage quietly, politely gazing out the window but watching her companion out of the corner of her eye. So the Black Phoenix is still alive... Even though she'd visited the human town of Filder's Crossing before, she wasn't much looking forward to this trip and wondered why they couldn't have required the humans to come to their city instead. Or just given her a separate carriage. At least her former military position gave her the freedom to bring her weapons and armor along.
When the carriage begins to shake, Dernaras starts and begins to look outside in earnest. So cold... she thinks to herself, a moment before the wooden door breaks off and Dernaras is tossed out, barely landing on her feet near the shambling undead. Trying to process it all, she grabs her spear and steps forward to engage the nearest, hoping her hands remember their old skill quickly.
Dernaras moves up to one of the shamblers and makes 2 quick strikes with her spear, missing both times, but honing in on its weak spots.
Arayas sits opposite Dernaras in the carriage, fidgeting, staring out the window and sighing occasionally. Boredom having set in much earlier during the trip...
Staring at the fellow half elf across from her, she can't help but wonder why Oryias leadership had sent her. She should be in the frost with her companions, not sweltering in a...
Her annoyance is interrupted as the carriage breaks. She falls into a the snow, surprised despite her familiarity with cold weather. Looking up she sees the undead, quickly fumbling for her bow and quiver.
"What is this?" she stammers as she pulls an arrow free notching it and aiming at the zombie nearest her.
Cursing as the arrow misses it's target, she fires again.
After a flurry of misses from our protagonists a second shuffler shuffles up to Dernaras and the two of them go after her brains.
Neither is able to get past Dernaras's armor but they are able to scrape frozen mud all over it.
The bigger zombie shuffles over to Arayas and gives a big swing with its rotting fist.
It is unable to connect with the nimble half-elf though.
Initiative
Dernaras
Arayas
Shufflers - 2
Zombie - 2
End of Round
Dernaras and Arayas
Dernaras focuses on the weaknesses she's spotted in the creature, dodging aside as she tries to exploit them and drive her spear home. She shakes her head. "Don't know," she responds quickly, unable to spare the concentration for a better reply. I have some ideas... there! Stab!
Dernaras strikes home on a shuffler and takes it down, still working on finding the perfect place to strike.
Initiative
Arayas
Shuffler - 4
Zombie - 2
End of Round
Dernaras
Arayas is up
Arayas curses as she barely manages to avoid the larger zombie's swing. She scrambles back, as she pulls out another arrow, notching it, aiming at the larger zombie.
Breathe... she tells herself, pulling back the arrow and letting it free.
You can always simply move away from the foes that engage you, but you draw an opportunity attack from each of those enemies when you do. If you don’t want to risk an opportunity attack, you can use your move action to attempt to disengage (a disengage check). If you choose to disengage, roll a normal save (11+). You can disengage from more than one foe with a single successful check, but your roll takes a –1 penalty for each foe beyond the first that you are disengaging from.
If the disengage check succeeds, you can move without drawing opportunity attacks from the foes you were engaged with. Use your move normally. If you fail the disengage check, you don’t move, lose your move action for that turn, and remain engaged, but at least you don’t take opportunity attacks. At this point, the safest choice is usually to just attack and end your turn, but if you wished you could use your standard action either to move, taking the opportunity attacks, or to attempt to disengage again.
Arayas tries to disengage from the zombie and manages to scramble back before it can connect with a meaty fist.
Arayas sees an opening and fires a shot right into the zombie's head... which explodes!
Zombie goo is everywhere.
Arayas plugs the remaining zombie with her second arrow dropping it as well!
Combat over.
About now Dante emerges from the wreckage of the second wagon...
"What is this?" Arayas repeats in disbelief, slowly lowering her bow looking around at the fresh layer of snow on the ground
She moves to the large zombie, yanking the arrow from it's rotting head, allowing herself a quick satisfied smile seeing her accuracy. Walking back to her wagon, she pulls free her bags and the small crate of vials, checking the contents for any damage.
She shivers in the cold, looking up at Dernaras across the field, "You alright?" she calls to her, quickly going back to checking the bags and crate.
What is going on here...? In all my years near the Frost I've never seen anything like this.
Pulling her coat from one of the bags, she notices the human pulling himself from the other carriage.
Dernaras stoops to clean off her spear and study the foul creature it felled, then moves to the other and pulls the other woman's arrow from its chest. With a nod in response to the inquiry, Dernaras hands over Arayas' other arrow and then turns her attention to the former occupant of the other carriage. "You shoot well," she comments, her gaze still on the new arrival, her spear poised in case the movement indicates another undead creature.
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A mangled corpse falls beside the other carriage, falling due to the boot which shoves it away. The tip of a blade is visible, covered in zombie goo thanks to having gotten stuck in the zombie's skull.
A dark-haired gentleman emerges from the carriage. He looks around, taking account of the full weight of the scene, while he retrieves a cloth for wiping away splotches of zombie goo from his face, as well as from his blade.
He folds the cloth, puts it away, sheathes his blade, then fixes his white cravat.
"Some welcoming party. Are you hurt, ladies?" he asks, before going to check on the driver.
That one is no Lady... ah, but he is using the human turn of phrase, not the title.
Dernaras inclines her head ever so slightly in a graceful acknowledgment of the question. "I am not. You are, I would surmise, also surprised by this... turn of events?"
"Thanks..." Araryas says taking the arrow from Dernaras, "Glad you could keep up."
Placing the arrow in her quiver she stands, putting on her coat, immediately feeling more at ease in her familiar clothing and environment. She stands, looking to the human who has pulled himself free, relieved to see a seemingly friendly human.
"No..."She says answering his inquiry, before glancing at Dernaras, deferring to the older woman by instinct. "So what do we do now? Clearly something's happening here... and none of it's good."
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"I am not. You are, I would surmise, also surprised by this... turn of events?"
"It was summertime, when last I checked. Snow and ice at this time of year is rather unusual."
Dante climbs up to check on the driver of his carriage.
"So what do we do now? Clearly something's happening here... and none of it's good."
"Well, we probably shouldn't linger, and we won't get far on foot. We should take stock of what we have and what we can still use. I hope the cold spared at least a couple of horses. Are either of you skilled at riding?"
Dernaras begins to sort through the carriage's supplies and pull out items of use like the driver's spare blanket and lantern. This is bad... we've got to reach the 'negotiations' in time. Is this the Phoenix's doing? Does she already know I'm coming for her? Perhaps these two are under orders...
The woman frowns slightly at some inner thought, then nods. "Yes, I have ridden before. The horses cannot have strayed far, if they still live... though it has not been cold long. Where are you bound?"
She looks at Dante and Dernaras, "Yeah...She says slowly, "Same village..."
"But I agree, we should try to find the horses. I know how to ride, and we'll need to find you two shelter before you start freeze..."She scans the snow covered land.
Arayas bends down to her pack, pulling an extra pair of gloves from it, tossing it to Dante, "You two will have to share." she says with a smile, packing the small crate into her bag, pulling it onto her back and picking up her spear.
A strange coincidence... or is it? Yet he seems to truly not know... and he'll find out soon enough.
Dernaras bristles slightly at the other woman's words. "I do not intend to freeze," she replies a bit crisply. Nodding in satisfaction at her salvage job, she stands and hoists a rolled blanket to her back, an extra coil of rope providing handy straps. Pausing, she surveys the group's surroundings and tries to determine which way is their best bet of finding the horses.
They don't act like they know one another... it'd be quite a complicated arrangement to have planned all this just for me. The Phoenix is cunning, though...
The white-haired elf accepts the gloves, her eyes flickering over toward Arayas for a moment before she pulls them onto her calloused hands. "Well-made, too," she adds. It is cold... it would be foolish pride to turn them down... the type of foolish pride Father always talks about. 'You are a noblewoman; act nobly!'
"Over with? I'm not sure, but whatever is happening, it's not natural and it's best to be prepared."Arayas smiles, "Trust me... I've seen some snow."
She watches Dernaras pull the gloves on Great... a couple of city dwellers to babysit.
Arayas steps towards Dante, having only heard of him by name at this point. "I'm Arayas..." she says extending a hand to shake, her spear leaning against her shoulder.
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Well, well. If she wants to be treated like a man, I'll shake her hand like a man. But call her a lady.
"Dante d'Apcher," he says, along with the manly handshake. Something about it says that Dante has not spent his entire life in comfort and luxury.
"I'm rubbish at corralling horses. I'll take stock of the supplies. Would you like to join me or Arayas? Either way, what shall I call you?" he asks Dernaras.
Her own spear held easily in one gloved hand, Dernaras gives a nod to the polite human. "Dividing our group might not be wise. What supplies are essential can be carried, and we can return here if we find the horses and require something more from the carriages."
Tilting her head fractionally toward the man in greeting, she studies him with her dark eyes for a moment before relaxing slightly. "I am Dernaras." There's almost a hint of... challenge, perhaps, in the introduction.
Unfortunately none of the horses or drivers seemed to have survived the sudden cold snap.
Looking around though, in addition to the snow the landscape is not how you remembered it. Additionally there is no sign of any of the other carriages. There are some supplies, enough to last the 3 of you for at least a week, longer if you rationed it. You feel like you're somewhere else, but you're not sure where.
Despite the ground being covered in snow the sky is crisp and clear, and you think you can see a little bit of smoke rising up in the distance. Probably several miles away at least.
After the dead horses have been found, Dernaras shakes her head. It's lucky we have enough food, and don't need to butcher the horses... yech, horsemeat.
"All very strange, but there are no answers here. We can make some progress toward the nearest village before nightfall if we leave now..." Dernaras looks around at her two new 'companions' in silent inquiry as to their readiness.
"I agree." Arayas says looking towards the smoke, "Whatever's happening here, it's best if we don't linger. I don't want to be caught out here at night. Especially with these things out."
She bends down packing some of the rations into her bag, "Gather what you can, and follow me." she says confidently moving through the snow with ease.
Hopefully you two won't slow me down... she thinks to herself.
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"Weren't there four carriages when we set off?" Dante comments as they gather the supplies.
"Neither the drivers nor the horses turned into undead, instead perishing to the chill, and the three of us were unharmed by the blast of cold. It seems that the Lady has intervened on our behalf. Or some other force," he muses.
"Either way, we had best head towards town."
Dernaras pauses just a fraction of a second, watching Dante to see if he's planning to move first. If he seems to be waiting for her, she moves ahead, her large spear parallel to the ground as she grasps the blanket-roll rope with her other hand.
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Dante takes a moment to make sure that he's all bundled up for the cold, his gloves are nice and secure, his cravat is straight and properly-fastened, and his sword and daggers are freely accessible. His shoulder-guard displays a silver wolf's-head crest, the wolf holding a rose in its jaw.
Then he's ready to set off beside Dernaras, as they follow Arayas.
The white-haired Lady glances over in surprise as Dante moves up beside her, then turns her attention back to the trail. An assassin would have chosen to walk behind me. No, there's certainly more going on here.
]
It's cold and dangerous out there.
One of you should describe an obstacle that your party encounters but overcomes. The next player needs to make a skill check to see how well they do overcoming that obstacle, and then describe the next obstacle, until we get back around to the first player who describes how they overcome the last obstacle.
A mile or so along, the group comes to a fairly steep ravine with a stream at its bottom, seemingly flowing precisely perpendicular to their path. The brush is heavy on either side, but not impassable, and there are a few visible game trails on either shore.