The Harbinger of Ferocity

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

So, is it decided then? And if so, what approach? We have been dawdling for too long on this without enough input.

D&D 5e - The Lost Lands

Skittering almost upon all fours, the last and only undefeated shadow of Haemar's contest found itself a new target; the back of the Templar. Not by any obvious means of course, these fiends played not with any sense of reason or logic, but rather untampered and untested instinct. They learned nothing, but their persistence was what made them a threat. You could run, you could hide, you could fight, you could do anything in truth, but they would not cease their pursuit. For them, like a moth to the flame, the light in the darkness was too hard to ignore; too tempting to touch.

And that is exactly why the collision between shadow and servant of light happened.

The small being leapt up to strike at Theodore with its limbs outstretched, but in its haste, it closed the gap too well and rammed into his back, throwing itself to the ground. At most the man stumbled, only to see the being leap back to its feet swiftly and stare at him with dim, emotionless response. Curiously, like the others before it, there was something oddly familiar about its blank, featureless face; no nose, no mouth, no ears or eyes really. It wasn't unsettling, just... off.

During that exchange, the second remaining figure of darkness moved to one side then the next with the bard, the two engaged in a duel. Despite being woefully matched, the shadow displayed no sense of self or desire for preservation; it dove in for an attack and was casually sidestepped. It turned about, only to cock its head to one side at the man who kept it beyond point of his sword. It scratched itself with its seamless claws, responding to his words in some fashion, but was clearly as eager as ever to attack again the moment after, none too sure what the challenge was to have really meant.

But then came the shock of darkness that threatened to sunder the brick pathway once more.

Thea did, just as she intended, draw the attention of the giant beast and perhaps for the best, she stepped into the way more - sword before her - as it hurled the dark energy in its hands. The resulting explosion enveloped her, Wick, and Katia, drowning out the feline monk and the prone woman in a flurry of black fog that jolted with ebon lightning. The blast was so immense that pieces of their decrepit world fell off into the darkness, leaving those in the black precariously placed until a beam of radiant light shot out with startling force. It pierced the shroud of seeming defeat and struck the giant through its chest, clearing out the other side and off into infinity like a shooting star.

For those who could see in full view, namely the wizard Haemar, but both Theodore and Cesar too, the effect was a resounding sign of hope punctuated best by the fact that the leviathan burst into violet flame and in a breath, the entire figure vanished into nothing, burned away completely.

Yet, the air of victory changed radically from inner celebration and jubilation to shock; the boundaries of reality shuddered violently and burst into pieces as a great unlocking boomed louder than any other sound they knew. Then, every brick, every stone, every bit of mortar and craft, ripped apart beneath them and the six heroes fell into the abyss. Time itself, twisted by altered fates, came to a slow crawl...

... and all they could see above them, as they all went together, was the light of the white doors above cast open; a lone figure standing in its threshold, hand outstretched.

Effects

Map
Turyn's Keep

The last of the Shadows that Haemar had fought off earlier pounces at Theodore. It instead rams into him and falls, springing back to its feet and inflicting no damage. The other Shadow, the one beside Cesar, jukes to one side and swipes at him, missing entirely. The creature appears to be fixated upon him.

The Dark Leviathan hurls its Shadow Orb at Thea, critically striking her for 33 necrotic damage. Thea, Wick and Katia all need to make Dexterity saving throws at DC 10 or suffer 6 necrotic damage, half damage on successful save, as it explodes upon them in a 10 foot area.

Katia's Golden Surge ability strikes the Dark Leviathan in a brilliant burst of light, shooting clean through it. The Dark Leviathan is defeated and a tremendous unlocking sound is heard. The last shred of existence shatters and the six heroes fall into the empty void, left only to see a mysterious figure reaching out to them from the doorway that soon disappears from their freefall.

---

Unknown

Unknown,
Currently

For how long they fell, none of them could recall.

The world, the doors, their friends... they all seemed to fade away, separated in the endless dark. It was not until the sound of whipping wind and the course of it around their bodies did they realize they were plummeting through the sky; opening their eyes again, above them they witnessed great clouds and a vast blue sky, more broad than anything they had ever seen. Faster and faster they fell, until the reached the sudden stop at the bottom.

First fell Theodore, a cloud of bolts and his crossbow tumbling beside him, who hit the rolling grassland hill with such force he skidded for a ways before he rolled to a stop, his gear careening past him and scattering. Next came Haemar, who landed not far beyond the Templar and rolled with the impact not from any sense of training, but from his arcane ward trying to resist the earth under him. After that, the body of Wick collided with the wizard, who found himself pushed further backward across the land, sliding beyond control, but neither were worse for wear either. Thea too arrived, rolling head over heels until she slid to a halt just before a large, crystal lake; her greatsword penetrating the earth like a missile next to her, fixed in the soil up to half its blade.

Cesar was not so fortunate, for on his whistling fall from the heavens above, he struck the water in full dive at an angle. A great geyser erupted from this, showering the lake in freed droplets and creating waves; some of which the monk caught as she passed overhead and landed on the other side, crashing through a few of the tall, aged branches of pines until she found herself in their boughs. The long, evergreen needles made for a soft nest, so perhaps it was worth her fur being covered in them and their sticky, sweet sap. Only a few jays squawked in astonished protest as they took flight away from Katia's arrival.

Through some miracle, not a single injury marred them. Not the impact, not the collisions, not the... anything.

However, they were somewhere unknown, somewhere strange and somewhere most certainly not home, as before them stretched a great track of land, distinctive by its vast snow crested mountains in virtually all directions, rolling pine hills and bright, warm sun with the faintest of breezes that wafted. For a place of clearly thin air there was no difficulty in breathing here, not in the slightest, and not even the cold water of the lake proved anything less than startlingly refreshing.

Effects

Score
Daylight

Map
???

The player characters are now 3rd level, are fully rested, and have arrived in a mysterious land of soaring mountains, vast fjords and exceptional beauty. None of them recognize or know any land by this description or design, at least not to such a near exaggerated extent.

@Big Dread, @Cu Chulainn, @Gordian Nought, @Hekazu, @JBRam2002, @Zverda

You rent a shared apartment, and when you go in for the first time, the profile pic above is your new roomate

ha lions can't eat eat me 'cus I'm invisible

@RinOkumara

My company seems to assume I lack keen sense of smell, sound and vibrational detection. Also assumes I am a lion.

Oh this will be an amusing next few months.

You rent a shared apartment, and when you go in for the first time, the profile pic above is your new roomate

Provided you do not spend the rest of your time skulking about when you are not drinking alone with your pipe in the nearest tavern, I doubt there would be that much issue.

Modern Military Epic

Hell, I might even throw in a couple of vaguely supernatural elements for shits and giggles.

@TheMadAsshatter

>Implying this is not a surprisingly regular occurrence.

Digressing, this is a novel concept that I do not think I have heard done before on the Guild or even mentioned. If you plan on including some aspects of the unexplained, do inform me.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

You heard here first, folks; the center right doesn't believe in earth "Flat Earth" pseudoscience.

@Vilageidiotx

If you're going to twist words, at least do so correctly and call me an "alternative facts" pusher.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@The Harbinger of Ferocity exactly how far do you teeter into 'flat earth theory'

@Dynamo Frokane

My humor is feline centric, so this should come as no surprise. My take away from "Flat Earth" is that there isn't one, but it makes for an amusing discussion and thought experiment. That's about the most credibility it has to me.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

I have to admit, I do not consider myself to fall square in any of that territory, at most I teeter a bit to each side in each, @Dynamo Frokane. Your beloved cake might be in jeopardy after all.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

According to everything personal studies have shown me, I am a right leaning centrist, @Dynamo Frokane.

Unfortunately in this day and age, that characterizes me as an "Alt-Right Nazi", "racist", "misogynist", "Islamophobe", and "homophobe" among others, despite my open disdain for any communist or socialist system, belief race, gender, faith, creed, and what-have-you is irrelevant so long as you can meet the criteria of the end state goal, and that the federal, as well as state, government is not an all powerful evil but rather a necessary one for the good order and conduct of society.

Personally, this sounds all very rational to me, but there's been plenty who view this as somehow "extreme".

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

If you are talking about the river dividing us, that actually is a pretty wonderful advantage assuming we are not outlined in it by the moonlight or having to maneuver through it in combat or with haste; after all, who attacks from water? Least likely route of approach and a false sense of security, because anyone who can maneuver through it can leverage it. From what it sounds like, with the amount of smoke present obscuring ambient star and moonlight, if we went further down west, off the map, crossed the river and came around in a hook and formed an "L", they would need to maneuver either down the road or across the water - the former I can only imagine they would favor.

In that case, the raven can also be our eyes from above to see if there's more marauding bands further down the road before we attempt to strike, that way if they do flee, we already know what the consequences are. If done correctly as a close ambush, with someone like Orchid on the furthest part of the "L" to the east, he should be able to mostly entrap them. However, reasonably, Brannor as a character could get as far as outflanking the enemy, maneuvering through the water out of sight and attacking them from the side and behind. Trying to use tactics beyond that are safely beyond his expertise, but between everyone present I think the notion of an ambush and checking to see what is further down the road is reasonable.

As for it being a trap? It is already clear our paladin is present simply because he would rather not see these people he's fought beside needlessly perish. To hell with the mill and "capturing" a person. Parum and Kyra are the only two convincing him it is of some importance.