A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast

[EvilMoogle]

"Your punishment is over," Zyn says firmly but calmly. "We bring much change to this place. Not all of it will be pleasant." His words were simple, little room for poetry or flare, but it was only right the child know the truth. "If your father is down here, he will be caught up in the change and our hands may be tied."

"It is difficult, but I must offer you a choice: If you wish, I can send you to safety in the town above, what happens down here will happen out of your sight. If you wish you may come with us and see this through to the end, however that end may be." He tone was subdued seriousness. While he understood a child likely would have minimal understanding of the depth of such a choice, the choice was not anyone else's to make.

#Zyn Charisma/Persuade: 1d20 (9) + 0 Total: 9
((See, this is why Zyn typically defers social engagements to others ))

((Zyn has no stake in the boy's decision, at this point. He understands this will likely scar the child either way and feels it is better for him to make the decision.))

 

[strongarm85]

"Dad?" Callen repeats, panic and worry creeping up on his features. "Who is your father...? One of the men that wear these cloaks?"

"I certainly hope he wasn't in this general direction then," Lola says gesturing with her wand toward the area where her Ice Knife landed.

"Or maybe I do," she adds under her breath.

"Umm, Zyn, Love? Maybe we all need to come up with a sign or tell of some kind, because my heart nearly leaped from my bosom," she says. She moves around, still muttering. "I guess being nearly killed and then turned into some kind of bloody yuan-ti woman and tortured kids are just my life now!"

"Does anyone want to help me secure Grund between two of those portcullises?" Lola asks.

"Your punishment is over," Zyn says firmly but calmly. "We bring much change to this place. Not all of it will be pleasant." His words were simple, little room for poetry or flare, but it was only right the child know the truth. "If your father is down here, he will be caught up in the change and our hands may be tied."

"It is difficult, but I must offer you a choice: If you wish, I can send you to safety in the town above, what happens down here will happen out of your sight. If you wish you may come with us and see this through to the end, however that end may be." He tone was subdued seriousness. While he understood a child likely would have minimal understanding of the depth of such a choice, the choice was not anyone else's to make.

#Zyn Charisma/Persuade: 1d20 (9) + 0 Total: 9
((See, this is why Zyn typically defers social engagements to others ))

((Zyn has no stake in the boy's decision, at this point. He understands this will likely scar the child either way and feels it is better for him to make the decision.))

The boy explains, "The Believers are made up of the most important people in town. They guard the room of moving stones. The stones move on their own and it always means bad things. The Believers try to interpret what the moving stones mean to try to avert danger. Ever since Larrakh and the bringers of woe showed up they've begun moving all the time."

He boy points to the closed door opposite of where you walked in, "The room is past three more stone doors in that direction."

"I'll get out of here, I know the way out."

Grund stands in the hallway after the boy leaves to make his way out the way you came and allows himself to be captured easily by falling portcullises. Making them fall only relies on pulling two sequential levers near each other.

With the entrance to this room barred by the Portcullis the only way out of the room is the way forward threw the stone door.

 

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

"Well, we've all trapped ourselves," Lola says, standing near the portcullis. She glances to Grund. "We're not going to go through those doors to find a pressure plate that's going to turn us into a pin cushion or some kind of pit trap, are we?"

 

[Dragon D. Luffy]

It's okay if it turns our enemies into pin cushions though, just let us know so we are not the first ones to step on it!

 

[Hidden Nin]

"It might've helped to ask that before letting the portcullis fall," Callen says with a sigh. "The new names seem more dangerous than the local cultists in town. And killing the butcher, innkeeper, armorer, or whoever constitutes the most important people in town probably won't fly with the sheriff either, or leave this place in tact."

Callen begins sharpening his shortsword idly, turning to Walnut. His grim, ornery demeanor was fading in favor of his true, skittish paranoia and wit. "Do you recognize that name? Larrakh? Bringers of woe? Does anyone?"

 

[strongarm85]

Walnut, who is still in the form of a dire wolf, whines and shakes her head.

 

[WorkingMoogle]

Zyn will ready his shield and rapier now that subterfuge seems unlikely and will inspect the door prior to pushing it open once everyone is ready for him to do so.

#Perception 1d20 (18) +3 Total: 21

 

[strongarm85]

The door, made of fine dwarven craftsmenship, slides open effortlessly.

This fifty-foot-square chamber is hewn out of rock. The floor is rough but flat, the walls show the chisel-marks of the original builders, and the ceiling is about ten feet high. Identical stone doors with iron pull-ring handles stand in the middle of the east, north, and west walls. You are entering the door from the West, so there is a door to your left and right.

In the center of the room stands a life-sized and lifelike statue of a dwarf warrior wearing a chain shirt, helm, and big boots. He carries a shield on his left arm and a battleaxe in his right hand. The statue has clearly been broken into, roughly, the head and upper torso, lower torso, and legs. These pieces have been reassembled and held together and upright in a stout wooden frame. A dagger along with several coins and gems lie on the floor in front of the statue, surrounded by an ring of fine gravel.

The dwarf does not appear to be stylized himself, he looks incredibly lifelike. There is an inscription on the plaque in front of the dwarf reads "Petrified Ironstar (?) dwarf, found 1459 DR in Red Larch West Quarry in broken condition. "

Surrounding the statue is a good amount of treasure. Hundreds of coins, several gemstones. 440 Copper Pieces, 253 Silver pieces, and 9 gold pieces. There are 6 Agats worth 5 gold pieces each, and 2 polished Moonstones worth 50 gold pieces each. The Dagger is decorated in Star Motiffs, the blade has blood and gore that still hasn't been cleaned from the blade, the grip of made of night blue leather. Engraved on the pommel is the word "Reszur".

 

[Hidden Nin]

Callen follows Zyn's approach steadily, both his shortswords drawn. He pauses when they come upon the scene in front of them, however, raising a brow as he lowers his weapons slightly. Inspecting the room, he takes a step inside and glances around, trying to recall any tomes or passages he's ready detailing a set up like this in Dwarven strongholds.

#History: 1d20 (18) + 4 Total: 22

 

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Lola chuckles. "I thought so before, but this is really it. This is part of the Dwarven settlement that I was searching for. We're probably not at one of the main entrances, but this is a step in the right direction."

 

[Dragon D. Luffy]

"Uh guys, am I the only one who can see the pile of free money in front of us?"

Falwin doesn't immediately think it might be a trap of any kind. He notices his party doesn't pay much attention to it though, so he asks.

 

[strongarm85]

As everyone's milling about the room deciding what to do, the door on the East side of the room swings open. Out walk 6 figures burst in the room. They all wear Dark leather armor and wear hoods to and masks to cover their faces. Their armor all bear the symbol of the Black Earth Cult, a pyramid with a line extending up from the middle towards it's center.



One of them calls out, "We are the Bringers of Woe, and we have come to reward your curiosity!"

The three of them move forward with Drawn Scimitars to make a deffensive line and draw people into Melee with the other three stand back to take aim at Lola, Garallel, and Falwin.

Garallel Taps Lola and Cast Shield of Faith on her as a bonus Action and gets ready to cast a Sacred flame on the cultist targeting her.

Walnut moves up to bite the cultist moving to cut her off from reaching the back line.

 

[Hidden Nin]

Once the cultists reveal themselves and Callen recognizes their crest...all apprehension melts away from his expression. Whereas he'd as of now played the part of the impassive and cruel warlord, here his emotions weren't able to be kept in check. Abject and ugly emotions spill out over his expression as he throws back his hood. "VIZAAN!?" he bellows in his strangely deep voice, frustration, panic, and anger all spilling out in equal measure. "Show yourself!"

He stabs at the cultist Walnut engages, both his short swords whizzing like taut, razor sharp wires.

#first attack: 1d20 (7) + 5 Total: 12
#TWF attack: 1d20 (2) + 5 Total: 7

#damage: 2d6 (6, 1) + 3 Total: 10

 

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Lola uses the magic missile wand to fire off two charges from it, she takes aim at a single ranged attacker across the room.

Damage:
Result: 4d4 (2, 3, 2, 1) + 1
Total: 9

 

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Falwin stops paying attention to the gold and uses the new spell he learned to neutralize some of the enemies. He tries to put all 6 cultists to sleep before they start moving torwards the party.

Sleep: 5d8 = 15

 

[EvilMoogle]

Zyn charges in to protect the back rank. He'll endeavor to strike non-lethally if possible, while he doubts the woman he's after is among these, they badly need more information of what is going on.

#Zyn Attack: 1d20 (10) + 5 Total: 15
#Zyn Damage: 1d8 (5) + 3 Total: 8

 

[strongarm85]

The three bringers of woe in the back bring their shortbows to bare on the Lola, Falwin, and Garallel. Two of them miss, but Garallel's leather armor absorbs part of the impact of the arrow that hits her (She takes 4 damage and maintains concentration on Shield of Fiath).

Lola's releases 4 magic missiles from her wand that streak out and strike the Bringer of Woe in the back middle. The are toast.

Garallel's Sacred Flame flares up around one of the cultists in the back (he gets an 12 on his save, which fails and takes 7 damage).

Falwins sleep spell goes off dropping causing the Cultist Garallel targeted with Sacred flame, and a 2nd untouched cultist in the back firing short bows fall asleep.

During the calash that happens in the middle of the room, everybody manages to land their attacks.

One attacking Zyn Lands his attack catching in Zyn in the open with a blow to the side (Bringer of Woe rolled a critical hit, but rolled low on damage so Zyn only took 4 damage), but it didn't have enough power behind it to penetrate his Armor. Zyn's counter attack clocks his opponent in the head with the pommel of his sword, his target is dazed but not down.

The one attacking Walnut lands a blow on her direwolf form (dealing 4 to Walnut) as Walnut's teeth sink into him (dealing 6 damage to the cultist). Zyn's sneak attack does a devastating amount of damage killing the cult member.

The other final member of the Bringers of Woe lands a blow on Callen (3 damage)

 

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Using the Magic Missile rod as a casting focus, Lola tuts her fingers and mutters the words to cast Mind Sliver.

DC: 14 INT Save
Damage: 1d6 (6) [magical psychic] = 6
Effect: Mind Sliver [2 rounds] (Save Bonus: -1d4 [mind sliver]) - Subtract 1d4 from the next saving throw it makes before the end of Lady Lola Bellevue's next turn.

"Hang in there Gara!" Lola says.

 

[Hidden Nin]

"MIRAJ?!" Callen bellows this time, whirling on the foe that had struck him with both blades drawn. "You muddy shit stain, show your face!" He again attacks without mercy, blades whirling.

#attack 1: 1d20 (6) + 5 Total: 11
#TWF: 1d20 (8) + 5 Total: 13
#sneak attack: 2d6 (4, 5) Total: 9

 

[WorkingMoogle]

Zyn continues his work at attempting to bludgeon his opponent unconscious.

#Zyn Attack: 1d20 (19) +5 Total: 24
#Zyn Damage: 1d8 (1) +3 Total: 4

 

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Seeing Callen being damaged, Falwin runs to where he is to back him up.

Rapier attack: 1d20(5)+5=10
Damage: 1d8(5)+3=8

 

[strongarm85]

Lola targets the cultist fighting zyn with her spell. After the pyschic onslaught blood begins to gush out of his hears for a second and fall over dead.

Garallel targets the last one standing with her sacred flame spell, but he manages to avoid the spell. That Cultist makes one final swing at Callen... and then get Annihlated everyone else's attacks. He get stabbed by Callen and Falwin. At that point he was already mortally wounded. Then Zyn clocks him in the head, and gets his arm bitten off by bitten off by Walnut.

So with that the combat situation is controlled, as the only two hostile targets left are unconscious.

 

[Dragon D. Luffy]

You know, if those guys were smart they wouldn't come at us in small waves like this.

He looks at his teammates.

You wanna interrogate them, I assume? But let them live, please. I could use more recruits for my faction.

 

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

"It's doubtful you're going to be able to recruit actual cult members to your cause, they're best put down so we don't have to watch our backs," Lola says.

She checks the door where they came from, just peeking through there to see what's on the other side.

 

[Dragon D. Luffy]

My cause is money, baby. I think you will have a harder time finding people who won't share it.

 

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

"Bringers of Woe, that's what they asked us if we were. These people were some special group within one of the cults, probably enforcers of some kind or...perhaps priests of some special order. Money might not matter to them all that much and they may sooner kill themselves than answer our questions--you might want to get their weapons," Lola says before checking through the door.

 

[strongarm85]

((which Door is Lola checking?))

None of the members of the bringers of woe now that they've had a moment to be disarmed and unmasked are the woman that Zyn is looking for, nor are they Miraj. They do look familiar to the people who stayed at the bunk house (aka the cheap in town). All six of them where staying there.

After you've had a moment to disarm the surviving members of the bringers of woe they wake up. Walnut looks ready to rip them apart if she needs to. They look at each other and without a word they try to get up and attack you, unarmed even. Even unarmed these cultists have little regard for their own lives and lash out in the face of death. They scream out, almost in unison, "For Ogremoch!" And rush at you with their fists raised!

What do you do?

 

[Hidden Nin]

Callen is quick to remove masks and disarm the cultists while Falwin and Lola converse, waiting for them to rouse so he can begin his questioning. "Where is Mir-" he manages to get out before they both rush them. The tiefling grimaces as he turns the flat of his blade to one of the cultists, bonking them soundly on the head. "Listen to me!"

#nonlethal bonk: 1d20 (4) + 5 Total: 9
#TWF: 1d20 (9) + 5 Total: 14
Result: 2d6 (5, 5) Total: 10

 

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

"For Sune's sake, cut it out or we will kill you!" Lola yells at the two cultists. Her voice kind of goes raspy at the end of her sentence and she doesn't have the full force of her personality in it.

She brings up one of the daggers from her belt, turning it over in her hand and flinging it at one of them haphazardly.

Intimidation:
1d20 (4) + 4 = 8

Dagger Attack:
To Hit: 1d20 (7) + 4 = 11
Damage: 1d4 (1) + 2 [piercing] = 3

 

[Dragon D. Luffy]

Falwin sighs.

Yeah they don't look like they would care about money.

He attacks the nearest one with the shortbow he just took. He tries not to aim them at any vital point, but he won't mind that much if he hits one.

Shortbow: 1d20 (4) + 5 = 9
Damage: 1d6 (3) + 3 = 6