The Harbinger of Ferocity

D&D 5e - The Lost Lands

The Vale

The Town,
Currently

It was not long as the adventurers and heroes of the light set about on their early morning in this strange land that the emptiness caught up with them. Like a town inhabited at most by wayward ghosts, no more did a candle burn or a fireplace billow. It was silent, lit only by the dawning radiance of the great sun's golden beams as they shown down from the impossible mountain tops well beyond in the distance. This, despite their welcome warmth and protection, did not erase the feeling of unease that they held with them; that every dark corner was an avenue for the Kingdom of Darkness to spring a trap from.

The guide that was the purple gnome however, offensively dressed as he was in such a humble neck of the wild wood, marched himself out the door and saw it fit to collect one of the feathers of the great birds they had cast out the window. Admiring it, almost as large he himself, he presented it to the entourage of fellow wanderers.

"Yep! Just as I thought! They still came back to life when the dawn arrived!"

He looked about for a moment, noting a few others and then the place the midnight orb had landed. Now not a trace of it but the earth's indent remain, instead the tremendous tracks of avian feet and but a few more pitch feathers. The gnome gathered a few more and pocketed them, presumably to serve as quills for his appetite of magical inscription or even for some sort of arcane ritual; Wick and Haemar were the most likely to know of such things if at all.

"Anyway... on to the Hall we go, hopefully the Green Man will meet us-"

The gnome leapt back as darkness erupted from all around them, their walk through the town not having gone far. Shadows twisted and manifest, bleeding up from the ground into roughly human silhouettes and shuddering to life. More worrisome, something different accompanied them; it stood beside the two dark soldiers and their shadowed blades and shields, yet instead it carried a sizable axe, one that could easily strike down a man in a fell blow like an executioner's stroke.

"Not good, not good!" Birbin chimed in as he stepped back anxiously, looking to his cohorts, of whom by comparison were far more heroic in nature. "They're out too soon! We need to hurry!"

Effects

One mysterious midnight shadow wielding a black greataxe is accompanied by two Shadow Soldiers and six Shadows. They used their surprise round, having succeeded on their Stealth check, to manifest and appear in position. Theodore is now the first one in initiative after the surprise round.

Score
To Battle

Map
Town

Initiative Order

• Theodore (19)
• Katia (16)
• Shadow Soldiers (15)
• Thea (14)
• Night Fury (13)
• Wick (9)
• Birbin (9)
• Haemar (8)
• Cesar (4)
• Shadows (4)

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

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Having at last won a second hard fought battle, the knight of the wild at last collapsed.

The keened ears had awaited their departure, listening closely for every footfall's step and word distant they made themselves until there was no more resistance to be had. Brannor caught himself upon his hands and coughed, the fierce burn of power leaving his body and residing again only in spirit; it was no pleasant sensation to touch, to taste something that powerful and then have it violently ripped away. There was no taming that strength within, not now at least. Grasping for what solitude he could, his eyes and jaw remained clenched and tight until, minutes after, all was as it appeared again.

The man rolled only then to his back and leaned against the wall of the small chamber, rattling his bloodied piecemeal armor until it ground to a halt against the stones, its noise absorbed only in slight by the thickness of the battered cloak. There Brannor sat, at last alone again to himself.

No great surprise washed over him as he removed, bit by bit, his vestments; it was no revelation that he survived. No disappointment that he failed to kill the dragon. No shame in having scorned its notions of "honor" either. Had things been ever so slightly different, the predator in him would have killed the beast without mercy. The stakes were as simple, to his vibrant golden eyes even as mere man, that nature's balance was cosmic and all encompassing. Good, evil, everything in between, all mechanisms of the eternal and changing cycle. The only role he had was to pursue what he was born to do.

Now that, that would take true sorting out.

Diving deeper into the soul, calling out to the savage heart within as he had so briefly, was the only way to do so. It made all things clear, even where he could not see them when he looked upon his tired hands. They trembled ever so gently from the lingering rush of primal might and the onset of fatigue.

"So," Brannor's dry lips began, closed eyes now leaving him alone in the dark, "That was why I was led here...

Even in the black he could see himself for what he was in reality, "I understand now."

He rose slowly to standing, first to a foot and a knee, never taking his mind's eye off and crept to where last he knew the humble bedding to be. It was no rolling green beneath a sea of stars or under a bough, but it was a den made of quiet and darkness that could give him the time to mend his wounds and continue to look inward.

"... thank you."

@Hekazu@Ryonara@Lucius Cypher@Gordian Nought@Norschtalen

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@Didgeridont

That is the most likely scenario, that most if not everything we are legitimately concerned with would be intercepted or disabled before it could land on target - assuming it could even do so at all given just how complex the ballistics are, let alone the required nuclear physics. The only way to inflict any real damage would be a massive attack, perhaps in conjunction with it, but there would be no real point to do so because of the retaliation received; the whole northern peninsula becoming one giant swath of angry allied forces and assured global condemnation in its varied forms beyond the usual received.

Nuclear deterrence is alive and well, even today.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@POOHEAD189

Yes, this I am aware of, but my point is that even if he attempted to act, his actions are unlikely to be as drastic as people are making them out to be. The level of "drastic" he is capable of is measurably less powerful than that of the old superpower or its modern legacy. In addition, the hardline stances like those of the United States, that of which is no longer taking his rhetoric or behavior as acceptable, are likely to change his behavior; the consequences are clear cut.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@Penny

The exact reason such an attack at this stage would be very ineffective. They would need to hit as many of their targets all at once with a massed attack. That isn't going to be viable and any potential nuclear threat is going to be eclipsed by the conventional, chemical and potential biological one on, almost exclusively, South Korea. North Korea is attempting to dissuade the United States as a whole from even acting at all because it can threaten targets, even if it cannot actually land a blow on them. It is attempting to cow the populace.

In short what it is I am saying, is that they have not a way to succeed with any attempt at nuclear arms being employed because of a retaliatory attack of equal or greater vengeance. They know too well the risk. This is nothing but talk to induce fear and concern. Their best option, if they do choose to act at all, is unleash their standard array on the southern hemisphere; it is the only one that does not end in parts of North Korea being reduced to carefully aimed crater while they miss the majority of, if not all, their desired targets.

An actual nuclear war, with an exchange, is more unlikely now than before.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

The United States is not, I say again, not staring down the barrel of any metaphorical gun in the nuclear age. Of the nuclear powers, both those official and unofficial to include North Korea, the capabilities strongly favor the United States' offensive and defensive mechanisms. The United States for years faced a far superior enemy to North Korea in the vein of the Soviet Union who is still the other most advanced and dangerous nuclear power. Even China, an emerging first world nation, with its enormous economic and military power is not even close; that is to include their remarkable ability to replicate what technologies other nations have, be them the United States of America or the Russian Federation.

North Korea poses little to no actual threat to the United States, but they do have the intent and potential capability to make an attack against them despite almost assured failure. While said attack is likely to be extremely ineffective, enough so that nuclear retaliation by the United States is not guaranteed (instead merely an option), the greater consequences are more of a realistic concern. Due to the proximity of the two Korean nations, the only real targets held at risk are South Korea and Japan. The former is at more risk due to conventional threats and other forms of weapons of mass destruction, such as North Korea's massive amount of artillery, which can and likely would include chemical and biological weapons. Japan stands far better odds due to positioning and the ability of their allied forces, as well as their own defensive forces, to intercept and take out intercontinental ballistic weapons.

The biggest threat any of this poses to anyone is, strangely enough, an economic one. In the event North Korea did opt to engage the United States, who then reciprocates in kind (where I need note the infamous "Mutually Assured Destruction" is not American doctrine any longer since the late 1960s and is more along a "flexible response" that could vary greatly based on war plans), the worst scenario is immense regional damage to South Korea and potentially Japan. China has repeatedly stated they have no interest on joint Korean-American forces taking the peninsula, as has Russia. Such a large scale incident would cause great harm to the globalized economic environment and grind the gears to a halt.

There is little doubt the United States would be extremely effective in committing to a limited retaliatory strike, significantly minimizing civilian losses, environmental contamination, political ramifications, because of the policy on the matter, yet the real danger was that North Korea did anything at all. It is reasonable to assume that if they do take any hostile actions, it will not simply be one missile or even their entire inventory, of which is very primitive I might note, but instead such an attack that would likely be coordinated with an all out attack against their enemies. Doing so almost assures that South Korea and potentially Japan are affected, the continental United States as well as Alaska an Hawaii being probably without real danger.

This is far from an unwinnable war and the only people who are going to really suffer are those who deserve it the least; the people of North and South Korea, to include Japan in worst case credible scenarios. Militarily, despite the immense fortifications of the northern region, there is years and years of planning the United States has made to counter this and innumerable more technologies in the inventory, as well as those only alluded to.

A war is going to hurt. That much is likely.

But a catastrophic war? Very unlikely.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

The "Trump chicken" has already been acquired for memetic warfare. Certainly not one of my memes, given those are all cats as one would reasonably expect, but this was an impressive turn around after yesterday's incident. There is no shortage of people now using it to further the administration rather than humiliate it. Interesting exercise in understanding how memes work.

Large Image

D&D 5e - The Lost Lands

The Town

The Mystical Martin,
Currently

The liveliness of the morning signaling that their adventure was once again on its way, the merry band - or as much as they could be in what was no easy business - were wholly awake in full. Now of course this did not mean they were quite prepared to go on their way, having some time, but the immediate interruption of their careless gnome was not readily overlooked. This came from the clumsy wizard, weighing himself against a door to open it and let himself out, slamming it broad open. The dense wood of the Martin knocked and below, in the tavern, all of the glass shuddered. Birbin however, was no worse for wear and instead hurrying along down the few stairs that led to the few tables of the dying fireplace.

"No time to waste, up, up! We need to go get the Green Man... or go to the Hall... or both? Or was it to stop the shadows?" The gnome shouted, already a flurry of activity from having been perfectly still in sleep the entirety of the night, "Or maybe it was that other person..."

The pattering of his feet moved to and fro as he went about gathering things from downstairs, crusted bread and a few bottles of ale specifically, "Birbin cannot recall, but this is why friends are great! Surely you remember!"

Just as fast the little man packed them away into a bag as large as he, larger in reality and made up of old leather and iron buckles. He continued muttering to himself, adjusting his broad brimmed had here and there, but leaving no moment without deeds done. If anything his chaotic energy was... motivating, at worst nothing more than potential untapped. He paused only for a breath, surveying his work before fumbling around in his pocket for coinage which he then cast into the box of the inn's owner; it clattered in, not atop other coins as it well should have, but on to wood. At least that much was apparent truth although it only opened up more questions rather than any answers.

"No matter which way you choose, Birbin can get you there. We need to do all the things! Especially before night." His voice trailed off, becoming almost impossible to determine as he rummaged through his own pack which he buried himself into and retrieved pages of what seemed to be spellbooks.

Thumbing through them, his beady, energetic eyes poured over the arcane formulae and perhaps insane writings; even to other wizards a gnome's spellbook might not be worth the effort to decipher, at least not this one. After reading it for a moment, he looked up to find himself atop the stone floor not far from the fire.

"When you are ready, just say the words and we will go, yes!"

Effects

The party may determine what route they wish to pursue first. Do they wish to find the Green Man, explore the Hall, or seek out the shadows and the stranger? It seems all of these will undoubtedly be accomplished, but just what is priority? Once determined, all players must roll initiative in preparation for any battle that might take place while headed there or there.

Score
Town

Map
???

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

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

It should also be of note that while the United States might be within range, the effectiveness of North Korea's weapons are unlikely to land on target or with any real accuracy; let alone a reasonable yield. Now, this does not render the regime a non-threat, but people are being hysterical about this. "Get your disaster kits." is a statement that is more hyperbole than fact, this is of course ignoring that one should always have said thing ready, but the point is, is that Americans would likely not be affected directly by such an attack - just that it happened at all.

For the prospects of a Third World War, North Korean hostility would result in that very "fire and fury". There would be no escaping the reality that almost the entire world would, in some way, come after the regime.

If anyone should be legitimately concerned it should be the North Koreans, for the actions that led here, and then South Korea and Japan due to their proximity to their enemy and that their ballistic defense is not nearly as in-depth as the United States. The hardline stance presented by the President of the United States is just an aspect of nuclear deterrence. Nothing new to the game and highly effective; North Korea is well aware of the consequences as is the public. People just tend to forget, and or not know, how the tenants of it function.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Unfortunately @Dynamo Frokane, I admit I am closer to Paul St. Peter in both diction and actual tone (Xemnas was the character they referred to, which is surprisingly not far off). Not that I am complaining of course, if anything I do appreciate the comparison in vocal talent. The only rational explanation I have is that I spent many formative years trapped within a library.