Bellamy steps forward and swings her warhammer with all her strength, but it isn't enough to break through the magic barrier protecting Confire's pale form. It wasn't long now, she didn't think, before his body dropped. Though the loud-mouthed mage was possessed and his constitution seemingly bolstered by the magic, the physical body simply had its limits and it was clear that Confire was reaching his.
Doc regards him with grim determination and the scythe floats forward across the courtyard, slowly closing the distance between it and the one-armed mage.
Bellamy Hannan Level 5 Half-Orc Blood Cleric HP: 19/38 | AC: 16 | Speed: 30ft | PP: 13 | HD: 5/5 d8+2 Status: Concentration: Feats:When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.Relentless Endurance, When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.Savage Attacks, When you use a spell of 1st lvl or higher to inflict damage on any creature with blood, deal an additional 2 + the spell's level necrotic damage. Bloodletting Focus, You master the physician’s arts, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You gain proficiency in the Medicine skill. If you are already proficient in the skill, you add double your proficiency bonus to checks you make with it.
During a short rest, you can clean and bind the wounds of up to six willing beasts and humanoids. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check for each creature. On a success, if a creature spends a Hit Die during this rest, that creature can forgo the roll and instead regain the maximum number of hit points the die can restore. A creature can do so only once per rest, regardless of how many Hit Dice it spends.
As an action, you present your holy Symbol and speak a prayer censuring the Undead. Each Undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.
A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can't willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can't take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there's nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.Turn Undead
Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to briefly control a creature’s actions against their will. As an action, you target a Large or smaller creature that has blood within 60 feet of you. That creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or immediately move up to half of their movement in any direction of your choice and make a single weapon attack against a creature of your choice within range. Dead or unconscious creatures automatically fail their saving throw. At 8th level, you can target a Huge or smaller creature.Blood Puppet
Watching a flurry of attacks batter at Confire, Ada felt a strange sorrow wash over her. Here we are, trying to crush our friend. This evil will be the end of everyone if we don't stop it.. Her mind went back to the visions momentarily.
No. This isn't the time to despair. We're strong. She glanced around to her allies that had stood without hesitation against the beast from beyond. Summoning some of the Dawnfather's light, she knit her wounds with holy energy. "Healing Word on self, 3rd level - 9 HPLight and life.."
There's only one more source of evil here, and we need our friend back. Shifting to the northwest to prevent Confire's escape, she held her lamp aloft, Sacred Flame - DC15 Dex save or take 7 radiant damagebathing the shielded warlock in holy fire.
Movement: Shift to the left to prevent Confire from leaving to the Northwest
Action: Sacred Flame on Confire. DC15 dex save or 7 radiant dmg.
Bonus Action: Healing Word on self, 9 HP
Reaction: Warding Flare if attacked within 30 ft.
Active Effects:Aid: +10 max HP
Ada Proudwind | Human Cleric Lvl. 5 - HP:26/43 | AC: 17 (15 w/o shield) | HD: 1/5d8 | Inspiration: [ ] Initiative: +2 | Speed: 30ft | Senses: Passive Perception 17 Saving Throws: Str +0, Dex +2, Con +1, Int -1, Wis +7, Cha +5 Abilities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 18, Cha 14 Weapons: Mace: +3 (1d6 B) | Dagger: +5 (1d4+2 P, Rng: 20'/60', Ammo: 2/2) | Light Crossbow: +5 (1d8+2 P, Rng: 80'/320', Ammo: 20/20)
The assassin looks out from his position of cover near the well. Confire’s body, possessed by that…something…still floats serenely in the center of the courtyard, his robes and hair billowing as though not bound to this world like the rest of them.
Spitting out an oath, Cyprian curses that damnable shielding spell. Between that, and the press of his allies around the warlock, this would be a near impossible shot with a bow. Rising up from behind the stone protrusion of the well, Cyprian draws his rapier and runs toward the battle. Thinking he sees an opening, he thrusts with the thin blade, but it is knocked aside by an elbow in the fierce fighting.
Cyprian knows that no good can come of remaining so close to the void-crazed Confire right now. Foregoing a follow-up thrust with his dagger, he runs to the north near the tavern to help Ada cut off any escape.
With a wild ferocity, Thadulos rears up on his hind legs, kicking with his forelegs at Confire. His hooves strike the shimmering shield of energy but not the warlock. Pointing his pike at Confire’s shoulder, the grim blacksmith sets the haft under his arm and falls forward with all of his weight! A half-ton of horse and man-flesh concentrated on the tip of the pike forces the point through the invisible barrier, through the weightless robes of the man, and into the flesh beneath!
Giran throws down his shield in disgust and grips his longsword with two hands as he runs to find an opening in the mass of fighters and weaponry surrounding Confire. He brings the heavy blade down again and again, but each time it is turned aside. Panting heavily and appearing on the verge of collapse, the old veteran struggles to hold the sword up.
Confire would have half cover against Cyprian for a ranged attack so Cyprian used his movement to close to melee and make a rapier strike. It missed badly. Since I don’t want to be responsible for leaving him too much in harm’s way, and because he is a tactician, Cyprian bonus action Dashed around to help cut off any escape.
Thadulos scores 7 points of damage with his pike but missed with his hooves. Giran missed with both longsword attacks. Confire has 25 hit points left.
Last edited by 4eyedBadger; Jun 4th, 2019 at 12:57 PM.
Although its body seemed to be ready to collapse there was no change of expression on the face of Confire as it spun the staff in front of itself. It had evaded most of the attacks launched against it, but these fleshlings were proving tenacious. It spun in place, the staff trailing darkness behind it so that it was blanketed and suddenly it was gone… but a little away it reappeared with a small thunderclap.
"Unapproachable and unknowable, none can see her draw near. In her presence, even the mighty are brought low! The kings of men forget themselves before their lances can pierce her. They grovel at her feet like mewling animals, waiting their turn to be slaughtered and fed to her children." it said as it launched a foul mote of darkness back at Giran, gliding backwards towards the gates as it did so. The darkness engulfed the old warrior, sending him down into the dirt, and still Confire gave no indication it even noticed.
Move: 60 feet south east (30 void step, 30 move) Action:Void Strike on Giran, hit for 14, 16 damage Ready Action: Bonus action: Void Step 30 feet south east. Reaction: Interaction: Contingencies: Notes: AC 16
__________________
Everything’s good <double thumbs-up>.
Giran spins around to see where Confire got to. Just then, the Void fragment strikes him full in the chest, the empty blackness swirling around his torso as the tendrils work their way up into his face and eyes. The darkness is not enough to obscure the look of absolute horror that spreads across the old soldier’s face. Filled with visions of madness and pain, Giran’s mouth falls open. A distant, piercing scream rises from his lungs, building steadily as the doomed man tries futilely to vent the insanity that suddenly fills him!
Suddenly, the scream cuts short. A small rattle escapes Giran’s pale lips and he collapses, dead, onto the hard-packed soil of the yard.
The area around the treacherous mage is getting crowded with people trying to bring him down, with little success. If Ron had been at all concerned with why that is he might have wondered how the frail Confire manages to deflect the attacks with magic he hasn’t used before. But Ron isn’t thinking about that. In fact, he’s not thinking much at all as he takes a big swing at the man, only to have Ronda whistling through the space the mage occupied only moments before.
Confused, even more so than usually, Ron looks around as he hears the drunken guard whose name he’s already forgotten screaming in anguish as he dies. And then he sees Confire, close to the gate, making a run for it. Ron’s face doesn’t show any emotion, but the enforcer doesn’t waste a moment as he rushes after Confire.
As the first axe bounces off the man’s back, causing him to stumble a little, Ron’s other axe is already in his hand, and moments later spinning through the air. Thrown axe hits AC 21 and does 8 slashing damageIt too hits the target, but a little lower than Ron would have hoped, had he been hoping much of anything, striking Confire in the back of his thigh. It slows him down some more as the blade of the axe cuts a shallow line of blood into the outside of the thigh. Ron has never been that good at throwing things. But experience chasing after running people, usually screaming something about getting the coins they owed soon, has taught him the value of practicing throwing heavy things to stop them.
Movement: 40’ directly towards Confire Action: Throwing two handaxes at Confire. They hit AC 22 for 7 damage and AC 21 for 8 damage. Bonus Action: None Reaction: Attack of Opportunity against opponents even if they disengage, as well as against opponents within 5’ that attack targets other than Ronald. The speed of any creature hit by an Attack of Opportunity is reduced to 0 for the rest of that turn. Current effects: Rage (round 4/10), Reckless Attack
Stats: Str 18/20 (+4/+5), Dex 14 (+2), Con 16 (+3), Int 8 (-1), Wis 10 (0), Cha 8 (-1)
Saving Throws: Str +7/+8, Dex +2, Con +6, Int -1, Wis 0, Cha -1
Ability Use: HD 3/5 (D12) | Rage 1/3
Languages: Common, Goblin, Giant (from Ronda)
Abilities:Barbarian: In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action.
While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor:
• You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
• You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while raging.
Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven’t attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action.
Once you have raged the number of times shown for your barbarian level in the Rages column of the Barbarian table, you must finish a long rest before you can rage again.Rage, Barbarian: While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.Unarmored Defense, Barbarian: You can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make your first attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.Reckless Attack, Barbarian: You gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger.
You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.Danger Sense, Barbarian: You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.Extra Attack, Barbarian: Your speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing heavy armor. Fast Movement, Barbarian Path: While raging, you have resistance to all damage except psychic damage. The spirit of the bear makes you tough enough to stand up to any punishment.Totem Warrior - Bear, Feat: You have mastered techniques to take advantage of every drop in any enemy’s guard, gaining the
following benefits:
• When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature’s speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
• Creatures within 5 feet of you provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
• When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn’t have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature.Sentinel, Urchin: You know the secret patterns and flow to cities and can find passages through the urban sprawl that others would miss. When you are not in combat, you (and companions you lead) can travel between any two locations in the city twice as fast as your speed would normally allow.City Secrets,
Relevant Equipment:Heavy Warhammer (Maul) +1, The Soul of Mooguor: +9 to hit, 2d6+6 bludgeoning damageRonda, Handaxe: +8 to hit, 1d6+5 slashing damage, range 20/60Handaxe, Dagger: +8 to hit, 1d4+5 piercing damage, range 20/60Dagger, Sling: +5 to hit, 1d4+2 bludgeoning damage, range 30/120Sling.
__________________ People say I'm evil and twisted, but I really have the heart of a young boy. In a jar, on my desk.
As Confire's bolt of dark magic flies toward them, Doc goes to leap out of the way but the dark fire goes past her and strikes the drunk warrior, Giran and engulfs him in a roiling darkness. He screams and his screams go quiet, before Bellamy can react. He begins to fall and though she fears the worst, Doc rushes forward.
"Fast Bind!" She says, reaching out a hand and willing his body to heal. She comes to his side, unable to tell whether her magic has worked and reaches for another, gentler magic. "Breath." She passes a hand over his body, feeling the warm presence of her occult power curtain over his still form while her eyes search desperately for any hint of life.
Move: --> to Giran's side Action: Cast Spare the Dying on Giran Ninazu’s Move: Ninazu’s Action: Bonus Action: Cast Healing Word on Giran - Regain
Dice Roll:
1d4+3
(2)+3
Total = 5
(5) HP Reaction: Interaction: Contingencies: Notes/Rolls:
Bellamy Hannan Level 5 Half-Orc Blood Cleric HP: 19/38 | AC: 16 | Speed: 30ft | PP: 13 | HD: 5/5 d8+2 Status: Concentration: Feats:When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.Relentless Endurance, When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.Savage Attacks, When you use a spell of 1st lvl or higher to inflict damage on any creature with blood, deal an additional 2 + the spell's level necrotic damage. Bloodletting Focus, You master the physician’s arts, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You gain proficiency in the Medicine skill. If you are already proficient in the skill, you add double your proficiency bonus to checks you make with it.
During a short rest, you can clean and bind the wounds of up to six willing beasts and humanoids. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check for each creature. On a success, if a creature spends a Hit Die during this rest, that creature can forgo the roll and instead regain the maximum number of hit points the die can restore. A creature can do so only once per rest, regardless of how many Hit Dice it spends.
As an action, you present your holy Symbol and speak a prayer censuring the Undead. Each Undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.
A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can't willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can't take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there's nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.Turn Undead
Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to briefly control a creature’s actions against their will. As an action, you target a Large or smaller creature that has blood within 60 feet of you. That creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or immediately move up to half of their movement in any direction of your choice and make a single weapon attack against a creature of your choice within range. Dead or unconscious creatures automatically fail their saving throw. At 8th level, you can target a Huge or smaller creature.Blood Puppet
Confire was on the move again, and Alys bit off a curse. The blasted mage couldn't just stay still?! The thunderclap told her all she needed to know about his location, but it was on the other side of the courtyard and Alys' body fought against her will. It was too much, too far. She couldn't feel the flow of the water that usually pushed her forward. Dammit, Confire.
He'd killed the drunk, or at least it looked like he had. Doc was trying to keep him alive, but Alys' stomach still churned at the sight. They hadn't been fast enough, after all. She forced herself to move, in a careful pace rather than a sprint. She took shelter by the well near the center of the courtyard; if he moved again, she'd be ready to head him off, hopefully.
She raised her head, shouting for the...thing's attention. "Will you just stand still for a bit?!" Alys punctuated the shout with a dart she pulled from her belt. Despite the distance and her exhaustion her aim with the small weapons remained pinpoint accurate, catching Confire's body in the throat. Maybe that will shut him up, for once.
Level 5 Water Gensai Alys HP: 24/43 [53] | AC: 15 | Speed: 40ft | PP: 12 | Initiative: +3 | Ki: 0/5 | HD: 2/5 Status: Background FeatureYou can travel twice as quickly through cities when not in combat. City Secrets Abilities:Roll a d6 for unarmed, gain a bonus strike with monk weapons/unarmed attacks as a bonus action.Martial Arts | When using the Attack action, attack twice.Extra Attack | After attacking, spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.Flurry of Blows | Spend 1 ki point to Dodge as a bonus action.Patient Defense | Spend 1 ki point to Disengage or Dash as a bonus action.Step of the Wind | As a reaction, dodge or catch a projectile attack, reducing damage by 1d10+DEX+Monk level. If damage is reduced to 0, you can spend a ki point to make a ranged attack as with a monk weapon, 20/60 range.Deflect Missiles | As a reaction, reduce fall damage by 5x monk level.Slow Fall | Increase Dexterity by 1, double proficiency bonus to Acrobatics, DC15 bonus action check to ignore difficult terrain for the turn.Acrobat | As an action:
Create a harmless, instantaneous sensory effect related to air, earth, fire, or water, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, a spray of light mist, or a gentle rumbling of stone.
Instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
Chill or warm up to 1 pound of nonliving material for up to 1 hour.
Cause earth, fire, water, or mist that can fit within a 1-foot cube to shape itself into a crude form you designate for 1 minute.
Elemental Attunement | Spend 2 ki points and an action, a creature within 30 feet must make a DEX saving throw. Deal 3d10 damage and pull 25 feet/knock prone, half damage and no movement on success.Water Whip | Spend 1 ki point when hitting with a melee weapon attack; target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, target is stunned until the end of the next turn.Stunning Strike Proficient Skills: Acrobatics +8 | Athletics +2 | Sleight of Hand +6 | Stealth +6 Proficient Tools: Disguise Kit | Thieves' Tools | Flute Languages: Common, Primordial Readied Weapons:Short Sword (to hit: +6, damage: 1d6+3) Dagger (to hit: +6, damage: 1d4+3) Unarmed (to hit: +6, damage 1d4+3) Darts (to hit: +6, damage: 1d4+3, 20/60)
Giran collapses under Confire's assault, and thankfully, Bellamy is on him in an instant. I've got to stop him. Another flurry of attacks cut the man to ribbons, but he shows little sign of quitting.
She grits her teeth in anger, moving after the wayward mage. Alys sticks a dart into Confire, and it looks as though his physical form is nearly spent.
Summoning the last bit of power she has, she launches it after him, the brilliant bolt of holy energy Guiding Bolt - 15 to hit, miss.clipping through his clothing, but impacting on a far wall. Ada tries to catch her breath, the latent energy within her utterly spent.
Movement: Move to follow Confire.
Action: Cast Guiding Bolt. Miss.
Bonus Action:
Reaction: Warding Flare if attacked within 30 ft.
Active Effects:Aid: +10 max HP
Ada Proudwind | Human Cleric Lvl. 5 - HP:26/43 | AC: 17 (15 w/o shield) | HD: 1/5d8 | Inspiration: [ ] Initiative: +2 | Speed: 30ft | Senses: Passive Perception 17 Saving Throws: Str +0, Dex +2, Con +1, Int -1, Wis +7, Cha +5 Abilities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 18, Cha 14 Weapons: Mace: +3 (1d6 B) | Dagger: +5 (1d4+2 P, Rng: 20'/60', Ammo: 2/2) | Light Crossbow: +5 (1d8+2 P, Rng: 80'/320', Ammo: 20/20)
Giran, Sergeant of Spears and veteran of a dozen campaigns against the enemies of Westruun, lies still and unbreathing in the blood-stained soil. Bellamy reaches him. Her hand on his chest is a conduit through which the healing magic flows. She can feel the wounds on his body knit back together. But the dark magic that dropped him left no cuts to heal, no bones to mend. It had gone deeper, into his very being.
Through the spells, Bellamy searches for that injury. The wound on Giran’s mind. Her consciousness flows with her magic. The world around her becomes distant as she reaches for the soldier’s spirit. The seconds pass slowly as she probes the darkness. There! There he is!
But something is wrong. Giran’s spirit flees from her healing energy. In it’s wake she can feel the intense fear and horror emanating from him. It’s on the move like a wild animal. And Bellamy, Huntress of Souls, knows she has only seconds to return it to the man’s body before it is lost forever!
Confire’s body stops moving, floating in the air a few inches off the ground. Slowly, his starlit face turns to look first at Alys, then at Ron. The warlock’s weightless hair flows behind him as his worlds-distant voice speaks softly. "This vessel is broken."
Suddenly, Confire arches his back and convulses in the air violently! So violently that Ada is certain he will break his own back! His voice struggles to scream as he thrashes in pain! The light and emptiness that had filled his face stretches upward, tearing away from the battered and broken body. Inch by inch, the Star Spawn rips itself out of the man. As it does, Confire’s scream finds voice, rising in an expression of pure, pitiful agony. Finally, the Star Spawn pulls free.
The natural bond of Exandria reasserts itself on Confire’s limp form. He falls to the ground with a thud and lies motionless.
The Star Spawn Seer rises higher into the air, a being of pure starlight and swirling, deep, emptiness. It holds the Voidstaff in one outstretched limb. The voice is without passion or wrath as it resonates in the mind of everyone in the courtyard. She has seen you. Woe to all who fall under her gaze.
With that, the Seer points his staff at Ron. Two orbs of light and darkness fly at the raging barbarian. In his fury, Ron does not bother to avoid them. One strikes him full in the face, the other in his chest as he arches backward in surprise at the sudden violence of the attack! The blind rage of the enforcer is twisted into an expression of abject fear, so out of place on the man. Ron nearly stumbles, but somehow does not succumb completely. He looks up in wondering horror as the Star Spawn disappears in a flash of starlight.
Doc’s healing spells worked, but Giran’s injured spirit is reluctant to return to life. Bellamy has one chance at saving him. Make a Wisdom check and add your proficiency bonus please. Also please describe the approach Bellamy takes to wrangle the wayward soul (this will affect the DC of the Wisdom check).
The Star Spawn abandoned Confire as its host. Without it to animate his broken body, Confire falls unconscious and needs to make death saves.
Before it fled back to the Void, the Seer launched two Psychic Orbs with Advantage at the recklessly raging Ron. Both hit, with a natural 13 and a natural 16. Each does 3d10 psychic (no resistance!) damage. I rolled better than average (10, 9, and 6 for the first, and 5, 6, and 7 for the second) for a total of a full 43 points of psychic damage to the barbarian as a parting gift!
The Seer seems to be gone. The tablet artifact lies in the dirt next to Confire. I will also say here (in case I’m asleep when it happens) that you may heal Confire’s body and stabilize him, but he is not going to regain consciousness right away. His mind will need time to recover from the shock and trauma he just went through.
We are now out of combat and initiative order and back into narrative posts. I’ll get the K’Tawl post up later today, hafrogman. Sorry, this one ran long and I need to sleep a bit.
Last edited by 4eyedBadger; Jun 6th, 2019 at 02:28 PM.
Bellamy remains kneeling by Giran's side, her open hands hovering over his still body. It had been seconds since she'd first come to his side, but it was obvious that the half-orc was focusing intensely on something. Her eyes were closed and the beads of sweat that had sprung up on her neck and forehead in the battle moments before seemed renewed by some other exertion.
"I can feel him," Doc whispers. A frenzied excitement edges into her voice. "I can feel him!" She'd healed the flesh. Moved the dead by their blood. But this...this was death. Giran's shade hoveres just beyond the veil. Her bond with the Giran's spirit, through his blood, deepens and the warmth of her healing magic flows through her fingers. I can't describe it...It's like I've opened new eyes...
Her mouth snaps shut as Giran's shade recoils from the draw of her magic - waves of sick fear wash over her and she realizes that he does not wish to return. For a second she reaches forward with her power, preparing to wrest the old drunk back to life by sheer force of will. But then she hesitates and, struck by a sudden instinct, begins to sing.
It's an old song. Of the few memories she had of her mother, being sung to sleep each night on some long journey over land was the strongest. That and her hair. The old mercenary's soul trembles on the brink of the abyss like a child driven from their sleep by nightmares. Bellamy's voice, harsher and less even than her mother's,
Bellamy Hannan Level 5 Half-Orc Blood Cleric HP: 19/38 | AC: 16 | Speed: 30 Ft. | Senses: Darkvision (60 Ft.) | PP: 13 | HD: 5/5 d8+2 Status: Concentration: Feats:When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.Relentless Endurance, When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.Savage Attacks, When you use a spell of 1st lvl or higher to inflict damage on any creature with blood, deal an additional 2 + the spell's level necrotic damage. Bloodletting Focus, You master the physician’s arts, gaining the following benefits:
Increase your Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You gain proficiency in the Medicine skill. If you are already proficient in the skill, you add double your proficiency bonus to checks you make with it.
During a short rest, you can clean and bind the wounds of up to six willing beasts and humanoids. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check for each creature. On a success, if a creature spends a Hit Die during this rest, that creature can forgo the roll and instead regain the maximum number of hit points the die can restore. A creature can do so only once per rest, regardless of how many Hit Dice it spends.
As an action, you present your holy Symbol and speak a prayer censuring the Undead. Each Undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.
A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can't willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can't take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there's nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.Turn Undead
Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to briefly control a creature’s actions against their will. As an action, you target a Large or smaller creature that has blood within 60 feet of you. That creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or immediately move up to half of their movement in any direction of your choice and make a single weapon attack against a creature of your choice within range. Dead or unconscious creatures automatically fail their saving throw. At 8th level, you can target a Huge or smaller creature.Blood Puppet
It is late. Verdigris lies on a mattress of grass, with cypress trees for his bedposts, and the dense canopy for his curtains. Life is simple here. What had he thought he would find by remaining? What was he still searching for? Maybe he was searching for questions, as much as for answers.
These thoughts occupy him as he relaxes his swim-tired body. Solitude. He had sought solitude. To learn about who he was. It had taught him nothing. He was Verdigris. Every important moment in his life has revolved around others. His triumphs. His failures. Could self have any meaning without others? Could you really even be anything in a vacuum?
Verdigris falls asleep pondering the apparent paradoxes of existence and being. In his fatigue, he does not notice the distant ripple of the water…
Moving slowly through the water, the fishmen zombies enter the ethereal plane. Their translucent skin and yellow eyes disappear, leaving only a pale purple outline of their forms as they approach the sleeping ravenite. In this state, they are silent, and Verdigris’ sleep is undisturbed. Stepping onto the shore of the island, the lead zombie suddenly recoils in pain!
He is floating. Verdigris opens his eyes. The endless Void stretches infinitely in all directions. He is adrift. Alone. He is not the Void dragon, powerful and mad. He is the bronze ravenite. He is himself, but powerless against the emptiness. Direction and distance have no meaning here. Verdigris tries to swim, but the cups of his hands find no purchase in the Void, and he only flails, a forgotten piece of flotsam in a vast sea.
He cannot breathe. The pressure in his lungs causes him to expel his last precious breath. He is freezing. He will die here.
A hand reaches into the Void as though it is a curtain. The hand’s owner is hidden behind that curtain, but the hand is delicate. The perfect flesh is the color of grass, and flowering ivy winds around the wrist and through the fingers like jewelry. Verdigris reaches desperately for the hand, and clasps it! He pulls, and the hand pulls, but the strength of the Void holds him on this side of the curtain.
But then, a second hand reaches through the veil, different than the first. Still thin and feminine, this hand is mailed in a steel gauntlet of shining plate! It grasps Verdigris’ forearm with the strength of unyielding iron and, together with the delicate green hand, pulls the dying ravenite from the Void!
Balance.
Verdigris wakes with a gasp as he fills his lungs with the thick, pre-dawn air of the K’Tawl! Bolting upright, he breathes deeply several times, assuring himself that he is indeed alive. The dream had been so vivid!
He stands on shaky legs as the first pale light of morning touches the sky. Looking around at the branches, Verdigris thinks for a moment that he must still be dreaming. But no. This is real. Every tree, every shrub, every wildflower on this island is in full bloom!
I debated whether Verdigris or anyone in a pre-industrial setting would even have the concept of a vacuum. In looking into it, the Wikipedia entry on vacuum was really interesting. The section on the Historical Interpretation of the idea was amazing. Apparently the ancient Greeks debated whether such a thing was possible. Medieval scholars wondered what existed between two plates as they were pulled apart before the air rushed in to fill the space. And Islamic scholars experimented with plunger generated vacuums as early as the ninth century!
Words can’t convey what Confire was going through as words are by nature things of logic and reason. They allow us to categorise and organise the world, they don’t just describe it, they make it make sense. But Confire had touched something else, something which had no rules, which obeyed none of the laws recognised by men. It was wild and twisted and oppressive, except that all of these words described something which fits within the confines of human experience, so really it wasn’t anything like that at all.
Over the past minutes he had been aware of the presence controlling his body. His mind had receded and nearly shut down in defence, until all that was left, huddling at the core of his being, was the frightened little animal part of him, the most basic instincts. But now, as the presence retreated, more of his mind was starting to come back and it didn’t like what it found. Its memories were still there, but tainted now with the madness. Things which he had looked back on fondly had twisted so that a new, more sinister edge was revealed. His most cherished ideals were shown to be illusions and his deepest fears had become little more than shadows. In our minds context is everything, and now Confire had found that the context which had underpinned his whole life had been stripped away.
His body was beaten nearly to a pulp, but the damage to his mind was worse.
But we are nothing if not resilient, and slowly the memories of these past few minutes were being shunted into cold storage. When the memories were gone the original context would be restored, forcing the madness aside. The healing had begun. In time he would begin to dream again.