LiLNasY

The Rise from the Ashes

I stepped outside and saw Meli. She looked small. Three children were crowding her. They poked her and pulled her hair like she was a petting zoo animal. Meli just swatted them away weakly. It made my blood heat up. She was grieving and scared and these children were treating her like a toy.

I walked over with long strides. I stood between Meli and the children. I drew myself up to my full height. I remembered Isolde's lessons on posture and tone. I looked down at the children with a cold hard stare. I did not yell. I spoke with the quiet authority of a prince even if I had no throne.

"That is enough."

I stared at the child who pulled her tail.

"You are being rude. Go back to your parents before I find them myself and tell them how you behave."

I let the silence hang for a moment to let them feel the weight of my words. I hoped they would run.

I turned my back on them and looked at Garrick and Meli. I handed Garrick the tags for the horses.

"The room is paid for. Elena and Isolde are holding a table for us inside. Let's get out of the cold."

Where Wishes Fall (D&D 5e)

Garrek listens to your warning. He looks confused. He scratches his head.

"Yellow eyes?" Garrek whispers back. He sounds uncertain. "That... that does not sound like Vane's boys. They usually just kick the front door in and break things."

He looks at you with respect. "But you are the one with the magic. If you say something is there, we should tell him. We can't leave him alone with it."

Before you can agree, a loud noise interrupts you.

"Ahem!"

Miller is leaning over the counter. He glares at both of you. It is clear he cannot hear your words, but the whispering annoys him. He picks up one of the gold coins you gave him. He brings it to his mouth and bites down hard on the metal to test it.

"Is this a prank, Garrek?" Miller asks sharply. "First the lady grabs my hand weirdly. Now you two are whispering in the corner like mischievous children."

He drops the coin back onto the wood. It makes a solid ringing sound.

"Is this gold real?" he demands. "Or does it turn to lead when you leave?"

X-tras: The B-Team Protocol (Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game)

Yaaaay! Great to have you as well! @rush99999

Drowned Gods (D&D 5e)

The Monitors tremble. The sheer weight of your divine authority crushes their hesitation. A command of such magnitude cannot be ignored. The concept of the Biggest Order overrides every instinct of self-preservation they have.

"The Biggest Order..." Gurgle-Thump whispers. He sounds like a child who has just learned a terrible secret. "We obey. We obey the Biggest Order."

"Please do not tell the Eel," Splosh-Krack adds weakly.

Together they turn to the heavy stone door. They grip the iron rings with their massive hands. They heave. Muscles bulge beneath scarred scales. The stone grinds against stone with a sound like a mountain screaming in pain.

The door cracks open.

The smell hits you first. It is thick. It tastes of copper and old blood. It tastes of rot that has been sealed away for a very long time.

Water instantly rushes out. It swirls around your boots. It is cold and oily. But as the door swings fully open you see something impossible. The room beyond is flooded. The water level is waist high inside. By all laws of nature it should come crashing out into the hallway and sweep you away.

It does not.

The water hangs there. It bulges at the threshold like a wall of dark gelatin. It ripples and shimmers but refuses to drain. It is held in place by a pressure you can feel in your teeth.

You look inside.

The chamber is vast and circular. The water is black and still. It acts like a mirror for the horror above.

Floating in the center of the room is a statue. It hovers a few feet above the surface. It is carved from a strange material that gleams with a wet pearlescent salmon pink luster. It has the body of a woman. The curves are elegant. The posture is graceful. Her hands are clasped in prayer.

But the face is a nightmare.

Where a face should be the material has exploded outward. It looks like a flower made of bone and calcified flesh. Jagged plates of pink stone layer over one another in a chaotic blossoming pattern. It looks like a fungus that has burst from the skull. There are no eyes. There is no mouth. There is only this blind eruption that splits the head apart.

And beneath it the water is full of death.

Bodies of Kuo-toa float in the dark liquid. They are arranged in perfect concentric circles around the statue. The ones in the outer circle are fresh. They float face down. Their scales are dull.

But as your eyes move inward the horror grows.

The next circle of bodies is bloated and gray. Their skin has started to peel away. The circle after that is worse. The flesh has turned to sludge. Ribs stick out of the water like white cages.

And the bodies closest to the statue are nothing but loose bones and drifting scales held together by slime. They bob gently in the water. They bump against each other in silence.

The statue rotates slowly. It turns toward you. The exploded face seems to twitch.

The sickness hits you again.

It is not just nausea this time. It is a physical blow. The gravity in the room seems to double. The air is heavy with the taste of spores and death. That invisible force reaches out from the statue. It grabs you. It tries to wring the strength from your body like water from a rag. It wants to pull you into the circle. It wants you to join the floating dead.

OOC

Please make a Constitution Saving Throw.

There are three tiers of success or failure for this check:
DC 11
DC 14
DC 17

The specific effects of the strange force will be revealed based on your roll result.

Drowned Gods (D&D 5e)

Give me an intimidation check with advantage

The Rise from the Ashes

I took the keys and the tags from the counter. I nodded to the Harengon.

"Thank you Pacer. We appreciate it."

I turned to Elena and Isolde.

"Please find a table where the five of us can sit. We will join you in a moment."

I walked back outside to where Garrick and Meli were waiting. I held up the tags so they could see them.

"We have rooms. Pacer gave us these tags for the horses. We need to pin them to the riding gear so the staff knows we paid."

I moved to help them attach the tags. I intended to go with them to the shed to make sure the horses were settled. If everything went smoothly at the stables I planned to lead Garrick and Meli back inside to find the table.

Di'Siveks: The Promethean Hound (A D&D 5E Game)

The maze of thoughts was overwhelming. It was not a stream of consciousness. It was a storm. I saw strange dice. I heard contradictory thoughts about servants. I felt a vague sense of perseverance. But mostly I felt a sharp pain in my own head.

I cut the magical connection instantly. I felt like I might fall if I stayed inside his mind for another second. The dizziness lingered for a moment. I had to steady myself against the railing.

I felt a surge of frustration rise in my chest. First I had spent my time staring at an ice sculpture because Flurry acted strange. That turned out to be nothing. Now I had risked my own mind to look into my grandfather s thoughts. That was for nothing too. Every effort I made today seemed useless.

"Yes, it does," I said. My voice sounded a bit strained. "But we should not overthink it. It is a party after all. We should just enjoy the moment."

I took a long drink from my glass. I needed to wash away the taste of the failed spell and hide my annoyance. It was better to just stand here and wait for the ceremony to begin.

OOC

Viktor immediately drops concentration on Detect Thoughts to avoid any negative effects.

Di'Siveks: The Promethean Hound (A D&D 5E Game)

roleplayerguild.com/rolls/29697 - Re-rolled and it was an 11
roleplayerguild.com/rolls/29698 - Wisdom save 14

Where Wishes Fall (D&D 5e)

Miller looks surprised when you grab his hand. His grip is dry and rough. He expects a quick shake, but you hold on.

You start to trace the letters on the back of his hand. You move your finger carefully to spell the words. Miller frowns. He looks down at his hand and then back up at your face. His eyebrows bunch together in deep confusion.

He can feel your finger moving with purpose, but he cannot make sense of the shapes.

He pulls his hand away from yours slowly. He takes a half step back behind his counter.

"Pale?" he asks. He reaches up and rubs his own cheek. "I feel fine, Miss. I had a full bowl of porridge just an hour ago."

When you invite him to breakfast to get him out of the shop, he hesitates. The tone in your voice is warm, but his confusion about the hand squeezing makes him pause. He looks at the open door and then at his stacks of fabric.

"That is very kind of you," Miller says slowly. He sounds unsure of how to react to you now. "But I cannot just leave the shop. The morning rush is starting soon. I have to stay here and work."

He gives you a polite but awkward nod. He clearly thinks you are acting very odd.

Garrek leans in close to you. He looks between you and the confused shopkeeper.

"Uh, Kalila?" Garrek whispers loudly. "Are you okay? You are acting a little funny. Is it the magic?"

---

OOC

Miller's Intelligence Check: 12
Roll Link
Miller felt that your movements were deliberate and not just a caress, but he could not visualize the letters or combine them into words in his mind. He has no idea what you tried to tell him.

Kalila's Persuasion Check: 14
Roll Link
The roll was decent, but because he failed to decypher your "secret code" , he is too bafled to accept the invitation. He thinks you are just being strange or overly friendly.

Di'Siveks: The Promethean Hound (A D&D 5E Game)

The events Grandfather listed were not recent. The wedding and the pregnancy and the pupil leaving happened nearly thirty years ago. His memory was clearly damaged.

But the founders were here today. If they got upset, it was likely because something he said struck a nerve in the present. Words were unreliable right now. I knew that pure thoughts might be more telling than the workings of an old brain.

"That sounds like a very full conversation, Aldric," I said softly, encouraging him to stay on the topic.

I rested my hand on the railing of the gazebo. The sapphire gems on my arcane glove pulsed with a faint, brief light. I focused my will to reach out with my magic. I wanted to brush against the surface of his mind. I needed to see what was truly happening inside his thoughts when the mood shifted.

OOC

Viktor is casting Detect Thoughts. DC 13 approx if save needed, though usually no save for surface thoughts unless probing deeper. He is focusing on the specific memory of the conversation with the founders, trying to identify exactly what was said or thought at the moment they became upset.