Game Thread Chapter One - Midsummer Eve

DraconigenaArma · #1 Nov 10th, 2019, 11:45 AM

Night, Déardaoin, 14th of Midsummer 1022. High 99, Low 72; moderate wind; mostly cloudy

Earlier today there was a crowd The Bungled Hare is packed. The afternoon before it was Midsummer busy, but the word of a celebrity at the inn has it beyond capacity. Chairs and tables were removed to allow more standing room. With the stew having been eaten up within a matter of minutes, the only thing left is the alcohol, which flows as free as the taps will let the liquid fall. The old dwarf could retire off today's earnings alone. Starchild lives up to her acclaim, as he weaves stories, stand up comedy, and news about the world in expert timing and balance.
At the moment she is recounting bawdy tales, having read the drunkenness of the audience well enough to gauge their greatest impact. Outside, the celebration continues, as raucous shouts carry on the night air. Warmed by the firelight after a long day, any levity comes as a welcome reward to the rough, earthy souls of this riverside trade town.
“So there I am, thinking, when will I ever be able to talk to a bear again? So before the grizzly can stand back up, I turn to it and say, ‘All I need is the honey. You can keep the bees!’” The room erupts into laughter as Starchild finishes her winding story and takes another drink from her tankard. “But it’s fine now. All’s good. She named a cub after me. Someday I’m going to have to check in on little Ow Oh Gods That’s Too Many Bees.” There is a lull in the presentation as Starchild lets the room wind back down, and realizes her cup is empty. She wanders the room a bit, as she has done before, creating an intimate atmosphere despite the theater like environment. As soon as her mug is full and the slew of personal stories her tale brought up subsides, she'll be back to it with another astounding story of some sort.

OOCWelcome to the game thread! This momentary respite allows the PCs a chance to mingle enough to check in. I'll move on once I have a post from every player so I'm certain we're all in the correct thread and ready to roll. There is little downtime in this chapter, so make sure your character sheets, whatever mini-stat block works for you, and your keyboards are ready to go.

silverfeathers · #2 Nov 11th, 2019, 10:07 PM

Lily: Still on Duty

Initially Lily didn’t understand Eleania’s pantomime after dropping her friend back off at The Hare. But it soon reached her ears as she did her late afternoon rounds of the festival that Starchild was making an appearance at the Bungled Hare later that day. If the buzz and excitement of the Midsummer festival itself had been a hive of bees it was now a roar of a disturbed hive as the rumor of Starchild spread like wildfire from person to person and stall to stall.

The deputy propped herself up in the doorway of the Hare keeping one eye on the huge crowd inside and one on the busy street and huddled mass around the windows. Everyone was sufficiently buoyed by the kegs, several empty ones now being used as impromptu seating, except Lily. Still she was enjoying the songs and tales the bard was reciting. How could she not when such a rare treat came to Bridgetown. Now she could at least say she had seen Starchild perform once.

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dalarangreen · #3 Nov 12th, 2019, 11:16 PM

Ulfar Arjax

"Come 'ere son!" Ulfar shouted boisterously, grabbing his son Derdric and tussling his hair affectionately. The public display of fatherly love was probably embarrassing to the young man, but Ulfar didn't care. For the first time in a long time, Ulfar was letting loose. Normally he was tied to his work, a man who diligently put his effort into his trade skills for the Brigade. He worked long days and sometimes evening hours. Ulfar had scarcely seen his son in the past few days, so Derdric ought to be grateful in any case.

But why the sudden change? Because of Starchild's magic. Ulfar, despite his typical gruff personality had a child-like love of stories which captured the imagination. Starchild had the capacity to spin the most wondrous tales, a skill which brought out a different side of Ulfar. Ulfar was already on his eighth pint and going strong!

"Starchild! Give us another one! My son's liable to be gettin' himself into trouble these days: I'm sure you got one of the fables that'll help him see the virtues of hard work!" Ulfar chuckled,letting himself get pulled by the ebb and flow of the crowd at the Bungled Hare. Maybe he ought to do this more often!

ricktur63 · #4 Nov 13th, 2019, 10:14 PM

Darshee Wynren

The blonde Sorceress was pleased when she finally received the stew she'd ordered so long ago. If she were to be perfectly honest, she had nearly forgotten about the stew when it finally arrived. She actually smiled at the young girl serving her stew. The child did seem a bit familiar to her. Perhaps she'd seen her speaking with Franklin before.
The elven woman was clearly enjoying herself this evening. The drink was flowing and Starchild was there telling epic tales. To her sudden surprise the famous bard was possibly out of drink. Nobody likes to be without drink, especially a person who makes her coin speaking. When she moved close to Darshee's table the woman held up her bottle of wine for the bard. "Here you go! Have a drink from my bottle. Its not a bad vintage for this town."

Caecielien · #5 Nov 14th, 2019, 03:23 PM

Big night, small bar Starchild was positively enchanting. She somehow managed to be both knowledgeable and innocent, refined and bawdy, scathing and encouraging all at once. El drifted through the crowd, keeping cups full, distracted just enough by her work to avoid the full rapture of the performance and marvel at how well the other woman managed the crowd. She played the people with just as much passion and skill as her instruments. Be it skill or magic, Starchild had an effect on the souls she performed for. Folk El knew to generally be hardworking and stoic let their guises slip into rare moments of joy and unguarded expression.

Eventually there is a brief lull, as the bard meanders through the venue dishing out more intimate quips and sharing cups with her admirers. "She's amazing!" El manages to breathlessly share with Lily while passing her perch. "Maybe we should go to the capital after the festival? Just to see more..." She trails off pensively, obviously lost for the moment in some small fantasy inspired by Starchild. This was a new sentiment for El, who had rarely given much attention to the land outside of her domain.

silverfeathers · #6 Nov 17th, 2019, 02:10 PM

The deputy had become ingrossed in the storyteller and took a moment as her friend past to clear her head. "The capital?” She had never heard that come from Elaenia before. The other woman had always seemed more like a homebody to Lily. Or more like a forest walker. But regardless the mention of the capital had caught her off balance.

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Caecielien · #7 Nov 18th, 2019, 11:07 PM

A Bungled Bunch, Hypnotized at the Hare"Maybe it's just how she tells it," El concedes to Lily's questioning tone. "But doesn't it make you want to see the sun reflecting off of Kingseat at least once?" she inquires earnestly of her friend. Everyone in Bridgetown had at least heard of the capital's reflective splendor, but to hear it from Starchild just made it more tangible. As though with a simple hop, skip and jump one would land themselves right smack in the middle of all that wonder that had been hiding right around the corner.

The ebb in activity that had allowed for the two women's brief conversation seemed to be reversing itself as a fresh series of hands shot up demanding service. With a small sigh, Elaenia adjusts her skirts and turns back to her work. "I know you will be up late keeping an eye on all this," El predicts of her friend, giving Lily's forearm a comforting squeeze. "Come find me at closing, yeah?" she tosses over a lean shoulder to her friend while wading back into the crowd.

DraconigenaArma · #8 Nov 21st, 2019, 12:00 PM

While a crowded bar is always a torrent of different sights, a cacophony of competing sounds, and a nauseating concoction of various smells; a ripple of something imperceptible washes across the room. Across the din of revelry something just outside of perception tugs at the back of the mind; a palpable change in the sounds and the tone of the very space around. Before anyone has a moment to process the shift the front door explodes into shards of wood. A cry, not in jubilation but in agony pierces the chaos. Starchild drops her fresh filled tankard and slumps to the floor with her back to the bar, gasping and clutching at the blood gushing from a wound in her chest. No less than ten others in a straight path from the door lie in various states of carnage.
A ballista bolt quivers in the wall behind the bar, dripping with blood and the top shelf spirits from the bottles it busted. Two hobgoblins in military dress stand beyond the shattered door, blades drawn. Their swords already drip with blood, and the bodies of those reveling outside lie scattered in the street. Behind them, lit by the glow of burning homes, countless hobgoblin soldiers flood the town as far as the eye can see. Bridgetown is ablaze. The sight of the hobgoblins causes pandemonium among the tavern folk. The bar fills with a deafening din of panicked screams and the wails of the dying. As the two soldiers enter the tavern the ballista is rolled away down the street by a crew of hobgoblins in matching uniforms.
Brandishing their swords the two hobgoblins saunter in with the swagger and arrogance of those drunk on sadistic power and control. They growl at the crowd, the malicious intent dripping from their tone regardless of the unintelligibility of their goblin-language. They have wicked grins on their faces as they take unabashed glee from the way the wall of people recoil from them. The panicking townsfolk cower or run, crawling over each other and rushing up the stairs. A chair is thrown through a window to provide a method of escape. The proprietor is running to the back room. All the locals know there’s a root cellar under the pantry.

OOC
Hobgoblin 1: 17/17 HP; AC 16 (12/14); F/R/W +5/+2/+1; CMD 15
Hobgoblin 2: 16/17 HP; AC 16 (12/14); F/R/W +5/+2/+1; CMD 15
Starchild: 10 hp Stunned, Bleeding 2
Citizen 1: 0 hp Stunned, Disabled, Bleeding 1
Citizen 2: -4 hp Unconscious, Bleeding 3
Citizen 3: -3 hp Unconscious Bleeding 1
I will get a map with moving character tiles up on roll20 when I can. The two hobbies are at the door at the bottom. Movement is difficult terrain because of all the people. The three civilians who are still alive are scattered in the line between the door and the bar (the ballista bolt came in at an angle). The rest are done-dead.
The Hobgoblins have each spent their turn this round entering the room and demoralizing the nearest hapless victim. It is your round. The kitchen has knives in it, (the F area) which will function as daggers. Bottles, trenchers, plates, tankards, etc. can be used as improvised bludgeons doing d4 damage. Chairs can be used as improvised clubs doing d6 damage. After a successful hit they receive the broken condition.

Roll a Knowledge (Local) or (History) DC 16. Success reveals the spoilerbutton below:

silverfeathers · #9 Nov 21st, 2019, 06:11 PM

At first Liliane did not notice the change in the noise and revelry outside. Then again she had also left her post by the door to get a drink before starting her evening rounds of the tent city and say goodbye to El. But before she could start wading through the crowded common space a scream, shrill and short, was heard outside and the door, where Lily had been just a few minutes before, disintegrated into a thousand shards spraying everyone in the space.

The half-elf shielded her face with her arms, lowering them once the clatter of wood stopped. There in the doorway parting the assembled townsfolk like a rock in a stream were two hobgoblins. The deputy was frozen for a few moments as her brain processed what was going on. The door falling to pieces, goblins in town. Was that fire outside? People began to push past her to the back door and cellar for escape. Some did not move, either dead or dying. She had read about hobgoblins in books and Garraint had shown her some old relics once but she had never seen them up close or alive.

Dice knowledge local:

1d20+3

(13)+3

Total = 16

They were uglier than the pictures in the books.

Her brain finally kicking into gear, the deputy only managed to move forward a step or two as those able to move rushed past. She looked up at the wall behind the bar to see the bolt. That could have been me on the end of that. She drew her long sword and realized she was probably one of a dozen armed individuals scattered through Bridgetown. This was also the first time she had drawn her sword outside of training. Lily felt under prepared to say the least as she did her best to put up a strong front against the hobgoblins.

"El, Undermountain get the people out of here," she shouted.

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ricktur63 · #10 Nov 21st, 2019, 10:19 PM

After the blast and aftermath of fleeing patrons and locals, Darshee was stunned by the carnage she witnessed there in the Hare. With the death of Starchild and the others, the elven woman's blood began to boil. The wine in her system seemed to evaporate almost instantly. She reached for her sword only to realize she wasn't armed with her longsword. She sidled over to stand next to Liliane as the woman drew her weapon. Darshee retrieved a small piece of hardened leather from her purse. She chanted softly for just an moment and then released the power of her spell with a gesture from her other hand.
The blonde woman spoke up in the common tongue in order to be heard above the fleeing citizenry. "You boys picked the wrong pub and the wrong town. I'm gonna make you pay for this!" Darshee gestured toward the carnage that used to be the common room of the Bungled Hare. "I'll burn your bodies to a charred crisp." She whispered to Liliane beside her. "Stay beside or behind me dear child."

dalarangreen · #11 Nov 22nd, 2019, 01:57 PM

Ulfar Arjax

Horrors from a previous life come spilling forth into Ulfar's brain, and though he's momentarily traumatized, his previous training takes over his body as he kicks over a table and instinctively drops behind it.

"No! NO!" Ulfar shouts, grabbing his son and pulling him down behind the table. Derdric was livid with rage and Ulfar saw in his eyes the stupid bravery of his own blood.

"But da! They... they... Someone has to defend the town!" his son sputtered.

"Listen to me," Ulfar replied, grabbing his son with both hands and shaking him, "Listen ta me! Don't do anything stupid! 'Dese hobgoblin's are military. They're SOLDIERS: you ain't a soldier, my son! We've gotta get out of here..."

Derdric searched his father's eyes, tears forming in his eyes, starting to believe for the first time that maybe his father wasn't actually the Hero he thought he was. Ulfar felt his son's gaze piercing his soul, slowly grazing along the surface of Ulfar's past regrets and woes. Things Ulfar had hoped to hide, never to see the light of day, left in a dark closet to rust forever.

All this happened in a moment, elongated by the chaos and confusion encircling them. Ulfar found his resolve, he pulled his son into a close embrace. "You ain't a soldier, and I ain't a Hero. But I swear, on yer mother's grave, I'll do something about all this."

Ulfar pushed his son away, "Now get outta here and survive!"

"Though death looms at dis soldier's door,
May we who band together
Find courage in yer presence!"

It had been a long time since he had called on Myketa, and though it was not the most glamorous of prayers, it had the desired effect: those who were fleeing felt slightly less panic; those who were turning to fight felt slightly more resolve. Ulfar could only hope that the blessing would give them some small measure of protection against this overwhelming onslaught.

Caecielien · #12 Nov 22nd, 2019, 02:52 PM

NightmareThere was a single drop of blood in the pitcher El was holding. She watched, hypnotized, as the crimson blob fought through time in its decent into the wheat-beer. Its color was strangely orange, the deep, primal red filtered by the pale amber of the beverage. She wondered if came from Ron Gerge, her parents neighbor for the past seven years, or the out of towner he had been drinking with. Most of Ron's neck was missing. The stranger, somewhat taller, instead had hole torn through his chest. El had just filled their cups, which sat full and undisturbed on the table, oblivious to the men's fate. There was a large splinter lodged in the back of El's hand, and the puncture was starting to well with its own scarlet liquid. Some detached part of her mind pondered if it had come from the door. That was when the screaming started.

El was one of the first to see the hobgoblins, eyes tuned to the mundane habit of checking as customers enter responding habitually even as her feet refused to move. The creatures affect's drips malice, and their entrance sends the erstwhile audience into panicked flight. I should run, she thinks, still rooted in place, even as she watches Lily draw her own weapon and interpose herself between the creatures and fleeing crowd. The other woman is saying something to her, but the words are not making sense. Sounds were dulled, and everything was fuzzy in her vision except the evil, leering smirk on the face of the hobgoblin approaching as she stood petrified. "Lil..." El wanted to tell her friend that Ron and the other man were dead, but the words would not form on her tongue. She just stood there, steadily holding a pitcher of beer, as her world imploded.

She might have stood there longer, but either Berus pushing up against her knee or the danger threatening her finally roused El to some form of panicked action. One of the monstrous humanoids was advancing on her with its sword raised high, intent on hacking down the lone woman foolish enough to be frozen in place in the center of a rapidly emptying room. "NO!" The shout was short. A scared, desperate demand of either the hobgoblin or fate, whichever happened to be listening, that coincided with her pitcher shattering on the floor. She could feel the swell of energy move through her being as her will became manifest. It was like when she made water, but orders of magnitude more draining, and El gasped at the sudden void in her essence when the magic left her. Whatever she had done worked though. The weapon slipped from the assailants fingers mid-swing, clattering to the ground with exaggerated loudness. Surprised by her own success El pauses, unsure what to do until Ulfar's foreign litany pierces her fogged mind. In a moment of clarity El scrambles backwards, dragging a snarling Berus with her, until she is within the protective radius of the sword-wielding Lily and pugnacious elf that had just cast some sort of protective conjuration.

DraconigenaArma · #13 Nov 27th, 2019, 10:31 AM

The abrutpness with which the bar is able to clear out is a testement to a creature's natural will to live. Between the back room, the windows, and crawling behind the Hobgoblins through the front door itself in almost ten seconds most of the room is empty. Both Hobgoblins were ready to kill fish in a barrel, and make no effort to enter the room any deeper than they need to. There is plenty of helpless prey in front of them. They either don't notice or don't care as the trio of ladies form up at the back of the bar. The one hobgoblin, who drops his sword, scratches his head in a perplexed way and looks at his hands as if they were playing a prank on him, and reaches down to pick it back up. Fumbling again he releases a string of curses no one needs to know Goblin to know is profanity. The other one lops the head off a nearby citizen with a practiced swing against a cowering victim.

OOC
Hobgoblin 1: 17/17 HP; AC 16 (12/14); F/R/W +5/+2/+1; CMD 15
Hobgoblin 2: 16/17 HP; AC 16 (12/14); F/R/W +5/+2/+1; CMD 15 (DISARMED)
Starchild: 8 hp Stunned, Bleeding 2
Citizen 1: -1 hp Stunned, Disabled, Bleeding 1
Citizen 2: -7 hp Unconscious, Bleeding 3
Citizen 3: -4 hp Unconscious Bleeding 1

Another citizen dead. It's thinned out enough the room is no longer difficult terrain. Next round it will be empty of anyone who didn't decide to stay.

The kitchen has knives in it, (the F area) which will function as daggers. Bottles, trenchers, plates, tankards, etc. can be used as improvised bludgeons doing d4 damage. Chairs can be used as improvised clubs doing d6 damage. After a successful hit they receive the broken condition.

My computer at home is giving me all sorts of hell. Hopefully this is the last MS Paint map we have to suffer through.

silverfeathers · #14 Nov 28th, 2019, 02:50 PM

Liliane: attempted rescue

Everything was happening quickly and slowly at the same time. A table was flipped over in the far corner from Lily, was that Ulfer behind it? Darshee, the old elf from the woods was next to her all of a sudden. Lily didn’t catch everything she said only the last bit about staying behind or beside the other. What was going on here? What did Darshee know about fighting hobgoblins that Liliane didn’t know?

One of the hobgoblins dropped his sword, was it just clumsiness or something else? The other seemed ticked off about the situation and cut down another citizen of Bridgetown. Lily stiffened and raised a hand as she watched the goblin’s blade swing through the air but could nothing to stop him. She turned and locked eyes with Starchild still propped up against the bar. The deputy’s brain was telling her to stand and fight. Her gut was telling her to run, grab somebody, anybody and run. She needed to save at least one person and the bard was the closest person that was injured.

Ignoring the instructions Darshee had just given her Liliane ran up the storyteller, grabbing them under the arm and began to pull them along the bar to the back door. Perhaps she could pass Starchild off to El she was at the end of the bar as well. Maybe she could get her friend out with Starchild. Lily wouldn’t know what to do with herself if she lost Eleanie.

Statblock

dalarangreen · #15 Nov 30th, 2019, 01:53 PM

Ulfar Arjax

Now that his son was on his way out of the bar, Ulfar realized that his promise was easier said than done. He had no armor and no weapons. On the other hand, these two soldiers were fully armed and beheading people. Being a "Hero" in this case seemed like a death-wish.

Looking around, Ulfar realizes that he is the closest to the kitchen. And the kitchen meant knives!

He doesn't waste a moment. Without missing a beat he turns the corner and collects as many knives as he can safely put on his workman's belt and picks up two in each of his hands.

Are you confused and wondering what is going on here? Check out this YouTube video to get the scoop.