| Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold | |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 10:23 pm | |
| Hunter, stunned, doesn't even notice Zoe do that this time. It passes shortly and he gives Gilly a friendly smile. "Hey Gilly. How's tricks?" |
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Zeiss
Posts : 5013 Join date : 2007-01-26
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 10:32 pm | |
| By now, Kathryn has finished covering herself in blood. Her armor shines of a dark red, and the blade of her sword received the same treatment. Thankfully, she had already attached her hair into a tight bun, so they're mostly clean; that is, until the ambush begins.
While Hunter and Zoe attempt to contact the naiads, Kathryn kneels into a bush with her sword and shield ready in her hands. |
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Kolson
Posts : 3529 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 10:41 pm | |
| Gilly's eyes twinkle in laughter as recognition dawns. "Oh, Young Ben. Though not so young anymore I see. Are you here to destroy the bullywugs then? Last I heard you had left."
Zoe is shocked by the name reveal. "Wait, your birth name is Ben?"
Gilly looks at Zoe her eyes light up in happiness., "Who's your girlfriend Ben?" |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 10:54 pm | |
| Hunter's blushing a little, but neither of them can see it. "I'm working as a caravan guard now. We're on our way to Fallcrest. Zoe, this is Gilly, the coolest naiad in Albridge. Gilly, meet Zoe. She's a priestess of Avandra. And the name is Hunter now. Please tell the others, okay?" |
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Kolson
Posts : 3529 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 10:59 pm | |
| The cleric gives a little wave to the naiad in greeting. "Nice to meet you Gilly."
"Pleasure. I'll be sure to pass it on, Hunter." The way she says his name makes it sound like she's tasting it. Maybe she is. Either way she says, "Given the area I assume this is about the bullywugs then." |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 11:08 pm | |
| A familiar feeling comes unbidden when she does that, but the city boy forces it down. "That's right. Leo gave us the job. And you're keeping an eye on things, I take it?" |
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Kolson
Posts : 3529 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 11:17 pm | |
| "It's been good hunting. Ever since Brooke killed the leader's mount, they've avoided defiling Mother. A shame, they make for good target practice." Her eyes flash dark blue at the thought. |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 11:23 pm | |
| Hunter smirks and nods curtly in appreciation of the statement. "Good. Did you get a head count of the remaining?" |
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Kolson
Posts : 3529 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 11:29 pm | |
| She shrugs. "I'd be shocked if there was less than thirty left. This was an unusually large warband. Whatever they are up to it can't be good." |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 11:32 pm | |
| "Crap, I was hoping there'd be less than that. We're planning to split into ranged and close combat teams and set up an ambush. Is there anything you know or have that can help us out?" |
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Kolson
Posts : 3529 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 11:44 pm | |
| "Land really isn't our domain Hunter. But if you can push any to this side of the treeline, we'd be happy to do the rest. That I promise you." |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 11:47 pm | |
| Hunter stands up. "Got it. We'll goad them into rushing toward the water. We'll try to signal you if we can." |
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Kolson
Posts : 3529 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Fri 25 Jan 2019, 11:59 pm | |
| "We'll be waiting." She slips back into the water. "Give me twenty minutes. I'll gather as many of my sisters as I can." |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Sat 26 Jan 2019, 12:03 am | |
| "Will do. Still have to scout." He waves goodbye. |
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Zeiss
Posts : 5013 Join date : 2007-01-26
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Sun 27 Jan 2019, 6:02 pm | |
| Hunter goes to scout ahead and discovers that seven bullywugs are guarding the entrance to the cave—two of them looking bigger and stronger than the others. After Hunter sneaks his way back to the glen, the party members discuss how they should set up the ambush. They deliberate for a few minutes and decide on an unconventional plan of action. The ranger returns to the entrance and hides in the bushes. A squirrel almost gives away his position, but luckily for him, the animal keeps its calm—it turns out it's also sneaking. Now that everything is ready, Hunter nocks an arrow and aims it at one of the smaller aquatic monsters. Whish!The arrow flies out and buries itself in the bullywug's shoulder. It's knocked on its butt from the force and is now on the ground, crying in pain. The others are staring in shock at their companion. The squirrel has climbed a tree and is now observing this scene while nibbling on a nut. Hunter turns around and starts mooning the monsters and flailing his tail around in a mocking display. " Hey toads, your last offering sucked! Sacrifice your fat brood mother or face nature's wrath!" The bullywugs might not understand any of these words, but one of the big ones nevertheless croaks in rage and hisses orders at the others in the ugliest language Hunter has ever heard before motioning at him. They all start hopping forward, croaking their war cries. Hunter doesn't waste any time—he quickly pulls up his pants and skedaddles east as if he was chased by the father of his latest conquest. These are slow creatures however. So the tiefling decides to give them enough of a lead to follow him and taunts their lack of grace and speed by moonwalking in front of them. This makes the bullywugs even more enraged, and some of the smaller ones are running ahead of their fellows. Whatever formation they might have been trying for has completely disintegrated. Hunter leads them on a southern trajectory until he's ready to head north/northeast, after which he leaves them in the dust, booking it while forcing a laugh all the way back to the clearing. He then immediately shuts up, sneaks into the bushes where the rest of Team B is lying in wait, and casts his spell. His magic projects a bullywug's voice right on top of the mutilated corpse in the clearing. To the very much alive bullywugs approaching the glen, it sounds like whoever made that noise just saw a freaking mooncalf descend upon it before dying an excruciating death, punctuated by a bloodcurdling cry. They come crashing to a halt, their throats beginning to rapidly inflate and deflate. They start looking around and their eyes are drawn to the lone figure in the clearing. A white-haired woman, clad in armor and covered in blood, stands over the bullywug's corpse. Even her cheeks glisten red, as if she had used the blood as war paint. The aquatic creatures realize after a few seconds that she's holding the intestines of their fallen tribesman's in her hand. She greets them with a vicious smile. " Come to die?" she asks. She lets the guts slowly slip from her hand until they fall to the ground in a mushy splash . She then grabs her sword and starts casting a spell. " Oh, Pretty Dwarf of the Far East Mountains, your Master summons thee! Dinner has arrived!" A blue fire erupts in her hand as she begins her incantation. It explodes in a whomp of sound, and a portal opens behind her from which a new horror steps out of! - The Pretty Dwarf:
One heavy step. Two steps.Slowly, the creature scans its surroundings with the weathered calm of pure evil. It finally locks on to its target, the large party of bullywugs. ZORGULMIR raises a pointing hand at them and utters in a mechanical and grating voice, " ...FROG LEGS, COMING RIGHT UP." The bullywugs are scared shitless. One of the small ones pisses himself he's shaking so badly. Kathryn hasn't stopped smiling. She raises her shield and sword, and bodly charges forward at the biggest bullywug she can see. " I WANNA EAT YOUUUUUU!" Hammer in hand, ZORGULMIR boldly steps forward in a stride and follows his master. As the two apparitions from their worst nightmares charge at them, the bullywugs throw down their spears and run towards the river—they've completely forgotten about the Naiads and the danger there. It's the last mistake they'll ever make. Once they've disappeared through the shrubs and tree branches, the adventurers hear a horrible whooshing sound and see a highly pressurized geyser of water comes crashing through the trees. Parts of bullywug fly in all directions as their bodies are blasted apart by the powerful water attack. A piece of... something, lands on the bush Hunter is hiding in. Surprised, he gets up to look at the carnage and is disquieted by the sight. One such body part almost hits Kat's face, but she successfully blocks it with her shield. " Golly gosh!" she exclaims. ZORGULMIR skids to a stop as all he gets splashed by the geyser and his work is done for him, a few bloody chunks bouncing off his armor. His ghastly bony jaw hung open as evil flames spout from it. " Well..." he says, slightly disappointed " ...I guess we're done." |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Sun 27 Jan 2019, 10:21 pm | |
| "Those were the guards posted at the mouth of the cave. With them gone, we can shimmy on up and poke our heads in." |
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Zeiss
Posts : 5013 Join date : 2007-01-26
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Sun 27 Jan 2019, 10:23 pm | |
| Kat stares dumbfounded at the river until the rest of the party joins her in the clearing. She nods at Hunter and says, "Yeah, let's get to that."
She then turns to Jojo and Carlos and adds, "Nice work you two." |
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K
Posts : 3812 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Sun 27 Jan 2019, 10:26 pm | |
| Carlos shrugs - "Well, you were so committed, i had to bring out Zorgulmir." |
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Kolson
Posts : 3529 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Mon 04 Feb 2019, 1:11 am | |
| The party marches its way into the cave, destroying all opposition the Bullywugs throw at them. They take a counterclockwise approach, eventually ending up at their enemy's camp on the western side of the cave. After disarming a few traps, they discover a man named Bill and two haflings named Manny and Maria being held prisoner inside a crude, but sturdy cage. - The Halflings Manny and Maria:
The first two are halflings, a man and a woman. The man looks to be in his 60s (human 40s) and has a mustache, brown hair, and is wearing the dirty remains of a boatman's outfit. The blonde woman is wearing the same outfit, also dirty and holey, and her curly blonde hair is a tangled mess. She bursts into tears when she sees that it's a human warrior and not their bullywug captors.
- Bill:
The third prisoner is a tall human man, almost 7 feet tall, wearing the undershirt and pants of warrior, the stuff they'd wear beneath armor. His grey hair is cut short as his beard. He's very muscular and his voice is a deep bass. "There's no slimejumpers in here lass. Just three prisoners who could use a hand."
After being freed, Bill tells the party that a woman named Sarah has been dragged below for sacrifice and that the bullywugs had been at it for a while using halflings instead. After making sure the surviving halflings can make it to the cave entrance, the party rushes downstairs to confront the lizardman bog shaman. In the chamber below, they find a shrine to Tiamat, the goddess of avarice and greed, along with a sacrificial ritual for good measure. - Shrine:
A green lizardman, almost 9 feet tall is standing over a stone table. He's wearing a necklace of osprey feathers and human skulls and a crown made of woven reeds and eagle feathers. He's holding a great spear, who's head is carved from some kind of animal bone and etched with designs. Its serrated edges have blood dripping from them. A pile of corpses has been haphazardly thrown against the wall near the shrine, all halflings dressed like those above. Blood is everywhere on the shaman and the table. At the shrine itself are five dragon skulls, fangs barred, and each the size of a large carriage. It's clearly a shrine to the evil goddess Tiamat, god of greed and avarice.
A human woman is currently strapped to the table, screaming for all she's worth. She's been stripped of her armor and is wearing clothes similar to Bill. Her brown hair has come loose from its bun, and she's cursing up a storm in Nerathi.
A bullywug looks on, but is startled by your sudden appearance. The shaman stops chanting and glares at you.
" Shadowmire will not answer today!" Kat shouts in Draconic. " The Sun has blinded him!" " What she said!" yells Carlos, with no idea of what Kat just said. The shaman's eyes go wide in shock at not only the party rushing in during the middle of his ritual, but also that he was addressed in his own language by the scary armored lady covered in bullywug blood. He hisses something ugly in Primordial at the Mucker and pulls a black orb from a satchel at his waste. He presents it towards the woman on the table and it immediately starts clouding over with blue-black mist... Hunter, Kat, and Carlos all act to try to knock the orb from the shaman's hand, one arrow and two thrown handaxes flying towards the lizardman's hand. It's Carlos that strikes true, knocking the orb to the ground and taking more than a few fingers with it. The heroes then battle the shaman and his bullywug allies. After Hunter wounds the shaman enough for him to collapse, the frogmen lose heart and are killed almost to a man. Once the fighting is over, Bill limps over to Sarah and uses his sword to free her. " I got ya Sarah, don't worry." She hugs him desperately once free, though she doesn't try to lift her left arm, and says, " Bill! You're a sight for sore eyes." " I'll remember this next time you have me up on charges again." " And you ruined the moment." She breaks the hug and frowns at him. " Heh, that's not all I ruined." He draws her attention to the bullywugs he killed and to the shaman Ilyanna is furiously trying to keep from bleeding out on the ground while the party looks on. - Sarah:
The alchemist pops the top on a particularly foul smelling vial of purple liquid and dumps it all over the lizardman's shoulder wound. It hisses in great pain, and hisses out several insults in Draconic about Ilyanna's parentage, which she cuts off by stabbing a syringe full of orange goop into its neck. The lizardman relaxes, out cold, and the young woman smiles and stands up, declaring, " I have saved his life!" |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Mon 04 Feb 2019, 1:43 am | |
| "I hope you're in the mood for interrogation," Hunter replies to Ilyanna. He aims an arrow at the last of the swamp scum cowering on the ground. The one they agreed to spare. |
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Zeiss
Posts : 5013 Join date : 2007-01-26
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Tue 05 Feb 2019, 8:44 pm | |
| Kat watches the reunion between Bill and Sarah, content that she and her friends were able to save at least one person from this vile ceremony. When she hears Hunter mention the interrogation, she turns to Illyana and says, "Don't worry, you don't have to watch if you don't want to." She puts a hand on the teenager's shoulder and adds, "Also, thank you for keeping that lizard alive." |
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K
Posts : 3812 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Tue 05 Feb 2019, 10:16 pm | |
| "Oi John, wanna take the señorita upstairs to get some air?" |
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Kolson
Posts : 3529 Join date : 2017-05-16
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Tue 05 Feb 2019, 10:30 pm | |
| John nods at Carlos and replies quiet-like, "Right, that sounds like a good idea. I'll get all the injured in one place. Maybe the Naiads can help with the healing." He speaks up again, "Ilyanna, help me get Sarah and Bill up to the halflings. It should be easier for us to treat everyone all in one spot."
"Oh, okay. Good idea." They walk over to the two injured warriors and begin a quiet conversation, ending in Ilyanna giving them both healing draughts. They cough at the flavor, and the sound of Sarah's left arm forcibly popping back into place is rather gross, but soon enough the four leave for the surface.
Zoe is standing over the lizardman, arms akimbo, and giving him the stink eye. "What now Kat?" |
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RorytheRomulan
Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Tue 05 Feb 2019, 10:37 pm | |
| When Hunter hears Sarah's arm pop, he's about had enough. He aims a sucker punch for the eye of the nearest enemy - the bullywug cowering in front of him. |
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Zeiss
Posts : 5013 Join date : 2007-01-26
| Subject: Re: Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold Tue 05 Feb 2019, 10:40 pm | |
| Kathryn gives Hunter a disapproving look and says, " Please don't do that." She then faces Zoe to answer her question. " Well, we interrogate it, but before that... Jojo, can you take a look at this?" She takes the obsidian orb out of her pack and presents it to the wizard. - OOC:
Roll nature to figure out if there's any way to bargain for information with a lizardman that doesn't require letting him go free. For example, could we threaten to give him to the Naiads instead of a quick death? Would he consider talking then?
Die: 7 Nature: 1 Total: 8
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