Barbarian Chaos

[TheOneTrueGod]

Hello,
My group has recently been separated physically, but we wanted to continue our DnD campaign, so we decided to try out a forum based method. So, this is our efforts towards that. The basic idea is that any in character things will happen here, and out of character things will happen over MSN or something along those lines.

I'm TheOneTrueGod, and I will be handling the role of the DM. My "in-character" text will appear in black. A note for my group: I'm going to try marking some things in spoiler tags. If you don't meet the prerequisites, don't view the tag.

For those reading, and for my group, I will post a quick synopsis of what has happened so far.
The World

The important part of the world is set up in a pretty basic formation. The capital, Albington is located in the centre. It is surrounded by plains and farming land. There is a forest to the west, and beyond that, The Great Marsh. There are mountains to the north, and a sea to the south. To the east lies the desert. The basic synopse is that the world is still developing, but Albington is the current "centre of the world".

The beginning

The group were travelling together to the town of Westborough, [Conveniently enough, located west of Albington, in the forest] when they noticed an overturned carriage up ahead, with a group of people standing around it with weapons drawn. Naturally, being adventurers, they walked up and discovered that it was a group of bandits mugging the carriage. After routing the bandits, the group revived the unconcious person who was travelling inside of it. His name was Lord Lightbrooke, and he asked if they would escort him to Albington, since his escorts were a little dead. After the group agreed, he entered the carriage, and came out with a fist-sized orb, which he quickly hid in his robes.

When they got to Westborough, the town was boarded up and guarded. Lord Lightbrooke used his influence to get them into the town, and there they found out that the town was being raided nightly by barbarians. These barbarians weren't usually a problem, but lately they've been organized by someone. The group decided to stay and help fight them off, and Lightbrooke decided to leave the group and head for Albington himself.

They trained the locals, and prepared traps, and when nightfall came, sure enough, the barbarian attacked. There were many casualties, but in the end, the group was victorious, save for one small problem. The enemy leader, Aurora, a human with dark purple hair, had penetrated their defences with relative ease, and abducted the town elder.

On the road again

With the barbarians hopefully routed, the group continued to Albington. They got there with relatively little incident, and then met with Lord Limestone, the man in charge of the town, and with Lord Lightbrooke. Limestone explained that the town's guards had been stretched thin, dealing with various barbarian attacks throughout the land. He was worried about these attacks, and asked the group to help out. The group accepted, and they were offered a variety of tasks that could aid the town.
Set 1) (Diplomacy) The town needed allies. The group was asked to go and get aide from either the elves, the fey, or from overseas.
Set 2) (Aggression) The group could go and talk to the barbarians, and if necessary, take out some of their camps.
Set 3) (Legend) The group could go to some locations rumoured to contain equipment of legend, to strengthen them against the barbarians.

The group chose to go and hunt down some legendary equipment. The first task took them to the tomb of heroes, where they were each issued a challenge, and upon succeeding, they were given a unique power to help each of them out.

They then went to the tomb of the dead, and wrested the book of the dead from a horde of skeletons. Upon exiting the tomb, a group of barbarians were waiting for them. They demanded that they return the book to the tomb. One of the group, still self-mourning from his failure in the tomb of heroes, attacked the barbarians. It took an intervening miracle, in the form of the group Deva, to save the rest of the party.

A little sidetracked

The group woke up in Rocksmouth, a town to the north of Albington. There they discovered a "heroes guild" which turned out to be a small startup company, created by a few teenagers. They did have two tasks of interest, the slaying of a young blue dragon that was harassing farmers in the region, and negotiations with a barbarian camp. The group went out, dealt with the dragon, and collected the bounty for it. They then decided that, given their previous engagements with barbarians, they didn't want to deal with any more. So, they headed back to Albington.

They noticed something strange along the way -- There were random portals that seemed to be opening to the realm of fire, and fire elementals kept coming out, and were running around committing random acts of destruction. The group fought them, but every time they killed one, another one would take it's place, coming out of the portal. They found that they could delay the time it took for the elementals to come back by killing them using ice spells, but in the end, the group ran for Albington, faced with constantly growing odds.

Never split the party

When the group got close, they ran into a small problem... The town was surrounded by barbarians. Two of the party wanted to run away and leave the town to its fate. The other two wanted to go in, and see if they could rescue anyone. So, the party split. The Rogue and the Wizard stayed a decent distance away, while the Cleric and the Paladin went in. Along the way, the Cleric noticed Aurora and decided to go try and talk to her, while the Paladin found a strong barbarian that challenged him. Before the cleric could get to Aurora, Lord Limestone flew overhead on a griphon, wielding the orb that Lightbrooke had brought. Aurora jumped up at him, and knocked him off of the griphon, grabbing the orb.

Following that, the two watching from a distance noticed a huge flash of light followed by an explosion. When they regained their vision, nothing was left, save for two figures off in the distance. They decided to sneak in to town to see what happened. While doing this, they kept their distance from the two figures, but were unable to identify them because of this. Once in the town, they found most of the place pretty destroyed. Several houses were burning, and they found no signs of life. They headed up to the castle, where they found one person alive -- Lord Lightbrooke. He didn't know exactly how he survived, or what happened, but he explained that he had access to magic, and he had warded the area before all hell broke loose, so it may have helped.

He started bringing them to ground level, when the castle started being rocked by meteors from outside. Lightbrooke explained that there was a portal to the feywild downstairs, but that it might not be active. The three of them headed downstairs, where they found the portal, but, sure enough, it wasn't active. After a few minor troubles, they found the components necessary to activate it, and they escaped.

Meanwhile, the Cleric and the Paladin woke up in a strange, empty area, with only an unconcious Githyanki beside them. Wondering what had happened, they tried to revive him, but were met with little success. They decided to wander around for a while, but everything around them simply glowed with a luminescent purple, no matter where they went. After a few more hours of trying, they finally revived the Githyanki, who explained that he had brought them to the Astral plane to keep the Cleric alive. He explained that she was the keeper of the elemental orbs, though that was several lives ago, and she was needed now to restore the orbs to their rightful locations. He also brought them to his tribe, where the two recieved some training from the locals.


And that is where we are now.

The other thread is here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7679415#post7679415).

This thread is for the Wizard and the Rogue, but I would like all 4 of them to introduce themselves here.

[ThorThurn]

My character's name is Jim Darkmagic, originally created by Mike Krahulik (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/06/15/). I appropriated Jim after listening to Mike and Jerry's D&D4E podcasts, and adapted his background to our story:

The Backstory of Jim Darkmagic

Born into the wealthy Darkmagic family of New England, Jim Darkmagic grew up in a family of wizards at the ancestral Darkmagic estate - the White Cathedral. His father was a wizard. His grandfather was a wizard. And every single other paternal ancestor of his that anyone would care to discuss was a wizard. So when Jim Darkmagic announced that he was considered wizardry as a career path, nobody was particularly surprised. Jim wields the signature implement of the Darkmagics (known for their mastery of cold magic) in combat - a Staff of Winter named Iceweave.

Jim's family money has allowed him to travel broadly as a young man. He studied at one of the world's most prestigious magical schools, the Academy at Hroth Travok, the capital of the Dwarven kingdom of Loktharia, where he was an apprentice of the dwarven paragon Thoradin Redfeather, a legendary wizard of the spiral tower. Under Thoradin, he learned to follow the teachings of Corellon. Upon his graduation, he was give a gift from the Feywild - Fireburst armour, magically woven from threads of arcane fire.

A few months after graduation, word came to the White Cathedral of a call from the Lord of Albington, Lord Limestone - a call for heros, promising riches. Jim had spent his youth reading stories of great heroes of past ages, like Lotherian the Dragonslayer. Seeing an opportunity to make his mark on the world, Jim bid his family farewell, borrowed a horse and some basic provisions, and set off to Albington to make his destiny.

A week's travel later, Jim found himself riding at dusk into the in the rainy hamlet of Cheville, where he got a room at the Jumping Boar. That night, over a round of drinks, he met Iraya, Zxrrgln, and The Wanderer for the first time - he learned that they were also responding to Lord Limestone's call. Jim knew that the next leg of the journey would pass through the Locksmith Woods, so he proposed that the four travel together for safety.

[shdwfeather]

Iraya is a deva, a celestial creature bound in mortal flesh. Though at first glance humanoid, her preternatural origins are soon evident. Her hair is a silvery cascade that ends at her shoulders, and the violet cast of her skin is offset by her pupil-less eyes of the palest lilac. Her face is unusually free of markings that is common in her race; however, a pale ribbon of silver traces up her spine and winds around her throat like a collar.

In the early days of her current incarnation, Iraya studied in an academy to become a historical scholar of fair repute. However, as her colleagues and friends aged and passed on, she became listless and forlorn, and forsook mortal company to wander the ruins of old civilizations. During this time, Iraya became somewhat obsessed with recovering the memories of her past lives, and her sole purpose of existence was to hunt down the flickers of her subconscious mind.

This all changed when her hunt took her to an ancient and remote temple of Bahamut. Upon her visitation, a priest took pity on Iraya's sad existence and persuaded her to stay and become an initiate of Bahamut. During the course of her studies, Iraya discovered a new meaning for living; righting the evils of the world. When she finally left the temple as a Cleric of Bahamut, the old priest gifted her with an image of the Platinum Dragon wrought in shining silver, and a magical Amulet of Health.

Although Iraya travelled from place to place helping those in need and punishing evil she encountered, she felt a need to enact a greater change upon the world. When a call for heroes by Lord Limestone of Albington reached her ears, Iraya took this as a call to her destiny and travelled towards the city, meeting Jim, Zack and the Wanderer on her way.

Quick Reference
Name: Iraya
Race: Deva
Gender: Female
Age: 328
Appearance: 6'3". Mostly purple. Silver hair and pupil-less pale lilac eyes.
Personality: Solemn, usually level-headed but stubborn. Fixated on her past lives. Disdains tomfoolery.
Alignment: Lawful Good
Class: Cleric
Deity: Bahamut

[shadowminion]

My character does not share his name, and is known to others as The Wanderer. Like his name, he chooses not to share much about his past. He is an elven rogue who is laid back and travels just to see where it will take him.

Backstory: He was raised in the elvish forests and at an early age learned he had a knack for getting into places he shouldn't be and was quite mischievous. He led a comfortable life "treasure hunting". Still young and foolish, he thought to steal a grand jewel from one of the elven lords to give to love of his life. Unfortunately he was caught and exiled, and not to shortly afterwards found that a long distance relationship would not be possible. Since then he has been traveling with no real direction... just adventure in mind.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Alright, I guess we can start this thread.
This thread is for The Wanderer and Jim.

----------
The portal consists of a variety of swirling colours. With little time to think it through, you, along with Lord Lightbrooke, step into it, and feel an immense pulling sensation as everything goes completely white before your eyes.

All of a sudden, the pulling sensation stops, and the bright light slowly goes away. You are standing in a clearing in the middle of an exotic forest. Everything looks dangerously brightly coloured, and slightly menacing. The ground outside of the clearing is meshed with waist-high vines. Each vine has thousands of tiny barbs on it, making walking through them seem highly unappealing. There is, however, one break in the foliage. What looks like it used to be a well travelled path is now little more than an small break in the forest wall.

What do you do?

[ThorThurn]

DM: Is there any trace of the portal that brought us here?

[TheOneTrueGod]

As you look around for it, you notice a quickly fading bright spot. Once it clears, there is no longer any trace of the portal.

[ThorThurn]

"Well", I say, turning to my companion. "I don't see any point in standing around. I'm not exactly sure if they have 'night' here, but sleeping in the jungle is an unattractive prospect for me. Shall we press on, following this path?"

[TheOneTrueGod]

Lightbrooke: I agree. I've never been here myself, but I've heard many tales of this area. There should be either a way to the Eladrin city, or at least an outpost where we can find some hospitality.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Assuming The Wanderer agrees to continue with you,

The path is extremely narrow, such that you have to walk single file to avoid brushing against the thorny vines that have infested most of this forest. The path continues for a way, then starts to curve. Eventually, it begins to widen, enough for you to walk beside each other.

OOC: Let me know what order you will walk in.

After about an hour of walking like this, the path suddenly reaches a dead end. Thorny vines have grown straight across the path, and are blocking your way. They are about chest-high.
You can see that the path continues after the vines.

[shadowminion]

"I'm pretty wounded, so I'll take up the rear."

Upon reaching the dead end "Normal vines don't just grow this high across a worn path. We should be careful, and avoid cutting the vines if we can. Maybe we can flatten them a bit to make it easier to get over."

[roll0] to see if they are just normal vines or not.

[TheOneTrueGod]

You've never seen these vines before, but you remember stories of them from when you were a younger elf. These are Bloodthorn Vines. They are semi-sentient, and carnivorous. They will probably react to being touched.

[shadowminion]

"On second thought, I recall hearing of vines like these. I don't think we should be touching them at all, although I don't see much of an alternative. Jim, if you can freeze the vines in place, maybe we can cut through and make a run for it."

[ThorThurn]

It's worth a shot, friend... but be ready to beat a hasty retreat.

DM: I step well back from the vines (call it 20 feet) and target a ray of frost at them.

[shadowminion]

I ready my sword to cut through the vines once they are frozen. To lightbrook: "get ready to run".

[TheOneTrueGod]

(The path is roughly 15 feet wide, so you are at most 7.5 feet from vines at all times.)
As soon as Jim begins channeling the energy for his spell, the forest begins moving around you. You can hear a rustling sound of plant scraping against other plant material, and the deadly looking vines creep rapidly, as far as plants go, inwards towards Jim. They are less than 3 feet away, when his spell goes off as planned. The plants are hit by it, recoiling from the damage. The three of you make a mad dash through the hole as it begins trying to spread across the path again.

The plants that were closing in on you, however, were faster than you anticipated. At the last second, they suddenly burst forward to try and entangle you.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[roll4]
[roll5]

[TheOneTrueGod]

((Unlucky on the attack rolls))
You hear pained shouts from your companions, but with the vines closing ahead of you, you ignore them and carry on your way. All of a sudden, a vine shoots out raking across your leg, causing you much pain, but you shoulder on through, and make it to the other side. There is no time to stop and celebrate, however, as more vines from the side continue to close in on you. You race along the path as fast as you can, and soon the forest calms around you again. You look back and see your companions catching up, out of breath.

Stopping to rest for a moment, you realize it is beginning to get dark.

Lightbrooke: Crap... Nightfall is approaching. This is bad. The forest gets very... wait, what is that?

Ahead of you you see a bright light floating out from within the viney forest. It stops in front of you, hovering for a moment. It dims, then brightens again, and then begins floating to the vines on the other side. However, as it approaches the vines, they clear away from underneath it.

[ThorThurn]

Friends, I fear I am very close to death from my injuries... but I think we only have one chance. Follow that light!

[TheOneTrueGod]

Lightbrooke: "I've heard of these things... They're Wil'o wisps. If it is under command of the Eladrin kingdom, then it should be perfectly safe to follow. But, if it isn't, then it would mean the death of us to follow it."

Assuming you follow it anyways
You huddle close together underneath the light, following it along. It winds its way through the vines, seemingly completely at random. All of a sudden, you see three bright lights off in the distance. The wisp you are following steadily winds its way towards them. As you approach, you can see there are four large pillars with those lights above them. When the wisp you are following finds its way into the clearing, it moves on top of the fourth pillar without a light, and stops right there. None of the plants can seem to get into the clearing, however, there doesn't appear to be any way out.

On each pillar is something that looks like writing, in a large flowing script.
If you can read elvish
They say Home for the weary


If you don't follow it
You ignore the wisp, and follow the path as it heads through the forest. Eventually, you come to a fork in the road, with no openly available signs to tell you where to go. Each of you can make a nature check (DC 20) to try and gain more insight into where the two paths lead.

[shadowminion]

"It looks better than those vines. Let's go."

[TheOneTrueGod]

((Read the "Assuming you follow it" spoiler.))

You plan on switching shifts on watch in thirds of the way through the night, in case something happens. The wanderer goes first, however, mere minutes into the shift, your eyes grow heavy and you fall into a deep slumber.
One Extended Rest Later
The three of you awake with dawn, feeling extremely refreshed. The four pillars have completely disappeared, and you are back on the path surrounded by vines. There is no trace of the wisp from before, and there are no distinguishing marks on the path.

Your bedrolls are, however, all facing the same direction. Your feet pointing one way down the path, and your heads the other way.

Lightbrooke: I never really believed the tales of this place... It gives me the creeps. Let's try and find our way out of here as soon as possible.

[ThorThurn]

Let us press on along this path, then. I, for one, see no alternative.


DM: I'm assuming I'd have expended my remaining healing surges before sleeping.

[TheOneTrueGod]

((There are two directions before you.))

[shadowminion]

[roll0] to find out more about where the paths might lead.

[TheOneTrueGod]

((Natural 1. Ouch.))

You look around, utterly confused by the landscape.

(One way is as good as the other based on this information, so I'll randomly select a direction for you based on a dice roll.)

[roll0]

[TheOneTrueGod]

Lightbrooke: "Hmm, well, if this area is completely foreign to us, then I can only assume that we were brought here for a reason -- The same reason we were brought to that encampment last night. Let's walk in the direction our feet were pointing in when we woke up."

So, your group sets off. As you walk along, the only things you can hear are the sounds of your footsteps. And that's when it hits you. There aren't any sounds at all in this forest, save for you and the occasional shifting of the vines in the forest. And they are growing thicker.

After about an hour of walking, however, you round a bend and there, off in the distance, you notice a huge... something looming over the horizon.

Lightbrooke: "It... can't be... The Eladrin palace? If it's been overrun... Maybe there are survivors. We should go take a look, and see if we can get in."

[ThorThurn]

Lightbrooke, what do you know of the Eladrin society and its government?

[TheOneTrueGod]

Lightbrooke: I can only tell you what I have heard. Keep in mind that none of this information is first-hand. Only what I have heard or read about.

They have a way of life that is much different from ours. Instead of having a single king or leader, they decide matters through council -- Each family sends a representative to any given meeting. Back when they used to meet with us, they would send two or three diplomats. They are very peaceful -- they would rather let their enemies die in the forest than do anything to stop them.

If I am correct, what is ahead is the outside walls of their city. They live inside stone structures, one per family. There can be anywhere from 3 to 30 people in one family, and a family usually represents more ideological views than actual bloodline, but of course smaller families are almost entirely of the same blood.

The Eladrin can also communicate with the wildlife of the area through complicated rituals. They use them as scouts, usually.

There are also the outcasts. They spurned the ways of the Eladrin and live in the forest. I do not know much about them, save that they are far more dangerous.

I do not know for sure why they stopped sending diplomats. I've only heard some stories second hand, but the one I am most apt to believe is that during one of their negotiations, Lord Limestone offended them somehow, and they withdrew entirely. They haven't been heard from since.

[ThorThurn]

I suppose we should look for survivors, then. But keep your wits about you... this is a dangerous place.

[TheOneTrueGod]

As the vine-coated palace looms higher and higher over the horizon, the trees start to thin out a bit around you. The vines are still as omnipresent as ever, but you soon hit a stone wall with an open arch in it. This stone wall is also covered in vines, and they create an impassable barrier across the arch. As you approach, however, they retract back towards the wall, creating an opening for you to pass through.

Lightbrooke: That was strange...

You can see inside the city now, and there are several small, rounded houses here. The walls are made of expertly crafted stone, and the roofs of giant leaves. Every single house has one exact same feature, however. They all share a coating of vines. Farther in, the houses get bigger and bigger, and at the end of the centre path that you were travelling down, you can see the entrance to the palace.

The path towards the palace is the only one not covered by vines. The base of the palace is covered in slightly different vines than the usual ones. From here, you could swear that they look red.

[ThorThurn]

Ominous, indeed. I suggest we investigate the palace. If there are answers to be had here, we'll get them from there.

[shadowminion]

"Alright, let's check out these weird red vines"

[TheOneTrueGod]

You approach the castle, keeping a watch out for any movements nearby. There are none, only the deathly still that you've been feeling all along.

Investigating the red vines (from a safe distance, of course) you discover that they are much larger than the rest. These ones are about as thick as your arm. And they are not naturally coloured red, simply stained that way.

Lightbrooke:Is that... Blood?

As soon as his voice pierces the silence, the vines part, revealing what used to be the doorway into this palace. You hear movement behind you, and when you turn around to investigate, you find that the path has all but closed up behind you.

Lightbrooke:I can't help but feel that we are walking into a trap... A trap that we have no way out of anymore... I guess there is only one way to go from here.

Upon entering the castle, you notice that it could have once been a strikingly wonderful place. There is broken stained glass on the ground, and huge holes in the ceiling where it used to be, now covered by the blood-stained vines. The entranceway is huge and circular, with a large rug in the middle, and beautiful statues (some knocked over and broken, some where they used to be) in cubbyholes around the area.

As you enter, you hear, again behind you, the vines covering up the entrance. The only way uncovered by vines leads down a flight of stairs at the back end of a hallway after the entranceway.

So, with a sinking feeling that your path is being heavily controlled, you follow it. When you get downstairs, you notice that the room looks extremely familiar. It looks almost identical to the Albington palace basement, where the portal that took you here was. There is even another dulled out portal here as well.

Lightbrooke: "Hmm, There is something weird going on here. We could try and open the portal I guess, to take us back. Like last time, we'll need something attuned to our plane, and something that belonged to the owner of this portal.

And, upon Lightbrooke uttering the last part of his sentance, you hear some vines moving above you.

If you go up to check
The vines have cleared away from some stairs going up.

What will you do?

[ThorThurn]

It doesn't look like we've got many choices here, friends. Someone or something seems to want to make them all for us. Be that as it may, I don't really see any alternatives. Let's head up these stairs.

OOC: Email notifications for this thread seem kind of sketchy. I seem to only get them occasionally.

[TheOneTrueGod]

((That's weird... Chances are high that I will respond at least once a day, so checking back here at the end of the day is the easiest thing to do. I can try sending out an E-Mail with each update, but that might get kinda spammy. Let me know what you'd prefer.))

As you're heading up the spiraling staircase, you hear the shifting and moving of more vines on the upper floors. There are a few portraits of Eladrin in various regalia along the staircase, all of them looking far too merry for their apparent status.

When you get to the first opening in the staircase, the vines block your path from continuing upwards any farther. There is a stone hallway in front of you, with a series of doors, approximately four on each side, and one at the far end. There are also several arched windows along the left wall, in between the doors. A refreshing breeze is coming in these windows, much in contrast to the dankness you felt from the lower levels.

Most of them are fairly large double doors, and are pretty fancily embroidered. There are two doors that stand out. One is a pretty ugly, at least in comparison to everything else in this hallway, wooden door, with large metal bracings on it. The other is the doorway at the end. It is larger than most of the others, and has a large portrait of an Eladrin in bright red robes, wearing an extremely fancy silver circlet. There are vines coming in from the window, and they coil in front of the door, blocking it off.
For DM purposes. No looky.
[roll0] vs DC 13 (thick door blocking hearing)

[TheOneTrueGod]

You hear some movement, this time not plant-based, coming from the far door, and it is then followed by some banging. At this sound, the vines rapidly move to form a 2-3 foot thick wall of plant material blocking you from seeing the door at all, and muffling the banging sound.

What do you do?

[ThorThurn]

DM: I target a magic missile at the vine wall, and yell for my companions to attack.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Make an attack roll, and both of you roll initiative, and an insight check. Thor gets a surprise round, and after that combat will continue as normal. The hallway is 10 squares by 2 squares. There are four sets of doors, four sets of windows, and two squares worth of vines at the far wall.

Lightbrooke: What are you doing?! Angering these vines when surrounded by them doesn't sound like the best strategy...

The colour begins draining from his face as you finish casting your spell.
Well, it's been nice knowing you two. Could I, per chance have a weapon so I can die fighting?

[TheOneTrueGod]

Again, DM purposes. No looky.

1d20 + 8 vs DC 11
[roll0]
[roll1]

[shadowminion]

"Oh boy" I toss Lightbrooke my longsword.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[TheOneTrueGod]

In a stroke of genius, you realize that if the plants are coming in the window, then they have access to this floor. You'll need to find a way to block off the windows (Most importantly the one that they are currently connected to) in order to keep more plants from coming in.

((Jim, don't bother rolling insight.))

[TheOneTrueGod]

Editing a roll in didn't work, so here it is:
[roll0]

[ThorThurn]

Something's trying to get out of that room, Lightbrooke. And if the vines don't want it getting out, then it's an enemy of our enemy.

[roll0]

[roll1]


[roll2]

[TheOneTrueGod]

Your attack flies towards the vine, but you miscalculated the angle you had to aim to hit the vine, and your missiles hit the ceiling.

You two have the first initiative. Consider the vines as two individual creatures with their own set of stats when determining how to attack.

[ThorThurn]

Perhaps we could cut off the vines at their source by blocking the windows with these large portraits?

[ThorThurn]

DM: Are the portraits of Eladrin close in size to the windows? Do they look like they are strong enough to hold back the vines?

Or we could try our luck with this door... what do you think, friends?

[TheOneTrueGod]

((Most of them are as big as or larger than the windows.))
Lightbrooke: "They might be strong enough to hold back the vines for a little while, but how are we going to fasten them to the wall?"

[ThorThurn]

Not sure. Do you have any ideas, Wanderer? I suppose we could just hold them in place with brute strength...

[shadowminion]

"We may be able to use my spare Daggers to essentially nail these portraits to the wall over the windows"

[ThorThurn]

Worth a try! Grab that portrait and let's give it a shot.

[TheOneTrueGod]

((It'll take a combined standard and move from both of you to move it in front of the window, and nail it down, as well as a minimum of 2 daggers [with 4 being ideal] to hold it there. (Also, the slowest of you two needs to have enough movement to move to the portrait, then to the window with a single move action.) Count your daggers -- You'll need 8 to 16, depending on how secure you want each window to be.))

Lightbrooke: "Alright... I'll try and fight back the vines...

As you move to grab the portrait you find, fortunately enough, that they are backed with wood. You move it in front of the window and, with a bit of effort and shoving, nail it into the frame.

Lightbrooke charges forwards, and you hear the vines shifting and moving, and when you look up, they are uncomfortably closer than they used to be.

You two are up in the initiative order.

[ThorThurn]

Lightbrooke you blood fool! Do you have any combat experience to speak of? One of us should hold off the vines while you help with the windows.


DM: I'll continue with the portrait plan... for now.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Lightbrooke: "I have neither the dagger supply, nor the arm strength to get those daggers through wood and into wall, so it'll have to fall to you two."

Lightbrooke begins hacking at the vines, as they begin trying to entangle and slash at him.

Meanwhile, the two of you manage to pin up another portrait.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Looking up after your success, you notice that Lightbrooke is bleeding, and one of the vines has a hold on his leg, carrying him forward as the vines move. He has managed to sever some of the vines, though.

Lightbrooke: "Hurry up and block off the last window you two!"

[ThorThurn]

DM: I move to the last window. Hopefully Lightbrooke knows what he's talking about.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Moving to the last window, Lightbrooke is pushed back against you by the advancing vines. Jim must make a dex check (DC 10) in order to hold the portrait where it is. If he fails, the wanderer can make a strength check (DC 15) to do it by himself.

[ThorThurn]

Edit: I am bad at rolling with case-sensitive tags :(

[ThorThurn]

[roll0] (this message was too short)

[TheOneTrueGod]

With a bit of struggling, the second last portrait is nailed into place. Only one remains now, and it is behind about 20 feet of vines now. You two are up in the initiative order.

[ThorThurn]

Perhaps we should retreat into one of the nearby rooms? What say you, wanderer?

[TheOneTrueGod]

Lightbrooke:"I wouldn't want to get trapped in one of those rooms... But I don't know if I can hold these vines back much longer...

[shadowminion]

"I agree with Lightbrooke. For all we know, there could be more vines in those rooms anyways. We should try to fight our way through these vines."

[ThorThurn]

DM: I'll target a Chill Strike at the vines, in that case.

[TheOneTrueGod]

((Make the attack roll as if they were a creature occupying that square. Also specify if you'll target the north cluster or the south cluster.))

[ThorThurn]

Target north section.

[roll0]

[roll1]

[ThorThurn]

Whoops, damage is actually:

[roll0]

And the target is dazed.

[shadowminion]

"Mind stepping out of the way first? I want to take a swing at these things."

[TheOneTrueGod]

The vines begin shrivelling back under the barrage of your magical assault.

Lightbrooke takes a step away from the vines, giving you some room to go in.

((The vines that were in O1 no longer exist.))

[shadowminion]

Moving to N1.
Dealing a tortuous strike to the vines in 02.

[roll0]

[roll1]

[TheOneTrueGod]

You hack away at the vines, severely reducing their density.

Lightbrooke: "Now's your chance, take it out!"
The wanderer can use an additional standard action.

[shadowminion]

I deliver a piercing strike against the vines.

[roll0] vs Reflex

[roll1]

[TheOneTrueGod]

Again you hack away, but it is not enough to take out the vines.

They quickly regrow back into O1, and then writhe and slash at whatever they can reach.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

[ThorThurn]

DM: I am going to fill the square containing the vines with a Cloud of Daggers. Do I need an attack roll to do this or what?

[TheOneTrueGod]

((I believe cloud of daggers requires an attack roll for the first round and then does damage per round after that, as long as it is sustained.))

[ThorThurn]

Ok, let's do that then: [roll0]

[TheOneTrueGod]

[roll0]
You see the vines begin writhing a bit as your daggers slash around randomly at them.

((The daggers will deal Wis mod damage + 5 at the beginning of the vines turn -- let me know how much that is.))
((The Wanderer is up in initiative order.))

[ThorThurn]

((My wisdom modifier is +1))

[shadowminion]

I'll make a reposte strike against the vines in O2.

[roll0]

[roll1]

[TheOneTrueGod]

The vines in O2 pull back from the fury of your attack.
Lightbrooke uses his second wind.

The vines in P2 grow forward to fill O2.
The vines in O1 slash at Jim, even as they are hacked at by his daggers.
[roll0]
[roll=Damage on Jim]1d8+5[/damage]

Lightbrooke: "They're growing as fast as we can get rid of them!"
However, over the sound of his voice, you can hear a very muffled THUD sound coming from behind the vines, and then the vines that you can see squirm for a bit before standing strong again.

Lightbrooke: "What was that?"

You two are up. The vines in O1 are moderately damaged, the vines in O2 are not at all.

[TheOneTrueGod]

[roll0] *Oops. There's the damage roll.*

[ThorThurn]

I will step back 5 tiles, sustain the cloud, and lob a Magic Missile at the O2 vines.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[shadowminion]

"We have nowhere else to go but forward, and it sounds like we may be getting some help from whoever is behind that door."

I'll attack the vines in O2 with a riposte strike.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[TheOneTrueGod]

Lightbrooke: "I concur. Let us push the offensive!"

And with that he steps in and hacks away at the vines in O2.

The vines begin squirming again as they are attacked from behind, and you can feel some heat coming from the area, and smell smoke. You hear the sounds of chanting, and a jet of fire erupts through the vines in row 2.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[TheOneTrueGod]

Singed, the two of you stagger back a step, when all of a sudden an eladrin appears before you.
"Follow Me." he says, running towards the stairs.

He stops at the top of the stairs, fires off a quick jet of fire burning the vines beside him, and quickly gets out: "My name is Faerinaal. Do you have any food on you? And you, wizard, I assume you got here somehow. Do you have the knowledge to open the portal in the basement?"

Once he stops moving, you get a chance to look at him. He is fairly tall, and looks like he was extremely well-built, but he is currently quite thin. He also has scars all around his arms. He is wearing pretty plain looking plate armour, as far as eladrin armour goes, but is wielding a beautifully crafted longsword, that practically reeks of enchantment. His eyes blaze with the passion of a warrior who has seen much battle.

[ThorThurn]

We are lost travelers, friend. We escaped disaster into the Feywild, although it appears that disaster has grown fond of us, for it seems to have followed us here. As for the portal, we operated one similar to it while on the Prime Material Plane. An item attuned to the destination plane is required to perform the ritual... let us hope it leads home and not to another of the Six Planes. We also require something that belongs to the owner of the portal. I don't suppose you have any suggestions as to what that could be?

[TheOneTrueGod]

Faerinaal: "The portal in the basement will lead us back to your plane. I do not know where exactly, but it will get us there. As for something that belonged to the owner..."

He kicks down the door beside you, swiftly walks in to what looks like a bedroom area, grabs a robe out of one of the closets, and walks out. He briskly walks down the stairs before you get a decent chance to look around. He evidently expects you to follow him.

Faerinaal: "Hopefully this will do the trick." he says, without turning around. "It wasn't exactly owned by anyone, but emissaries used it all the time, so hopefully this travel robe is attuned enough to it. As for something from your plane, I believe you brought all sorts of objects from there with you.

Please though, do you have any food? I haven't eaten in several weeks..."

[ThorThurn]

I'm not exactly sure about our food supplies. You'd have to talk to the rogue about that, he's in charge of the mundane necessities. That's why I keep him around! Tell me, though, who is the owner of this place?

[TheOneTrueGod]

Lightbrooke: "I guess we follow him..."

Faerinaal: This is the citadel of Evereska, the greatest of all Eladrin Cities! Or at least... it was... until these vines came in. We do not have any single leader, as you humans do. However, the entire council is dead as far as I know. But there is no time for talking of this now. We can discuss more once we are out of this nightmare." The Eladrin finishes as you reach the bottom floor.

The vines are subdued down here, and there is a clear path down to the basement.

Faerinaal: "That's... odd... were they doing that when you first came up here?"

[ThorThurn]

Their mood has apparently improved recently. Damned things are probably happy to see us go. Let's just go to the portal so I can initiate the ritual... it takes some time to perform. And someone hand me something from the Prime Material Plane.

[shadowminion]

"Sorry that my companion is so inconsiderate." I hand faerinaal some of our bread.

Handing Jim one of my shurikens, "this should be able to get us back."

[TheOneTrueGod]

Faerinaal devours the bread with more gusto than you've seen in a while. Walking through the main hallway, you enter the basement again.

Lightbrooke: "I wonder where this one will drop us... Hopefully it won't put us back in the castle.

((This is aimed in... second-person maybe?... at Jim.))

You recall the ritual with relative ease, as Faerinaal hands you the mirror, and The Wanderer a shuriken. The time passes in relative silence, as the two "elves" watch the staircase down for movement. When the ritual is complete, the portal opens and the three of you step through it, eager to get out of this forsaken forest.

((Make an arcana check, DC 15 to keep the shuriken.))

When you step out of the other side of the portal, you take a moment to realign yourselves, and then take a look around. You are standing near a forest, on a hill. Off in the distance are the smoldering ruins of Albington.

Lightbrooke:"Is that... Albington? This is terrible..."

Faerinaal sits on the ground and rests for a moment.

Faerinaal: "I see this world is having some troubles too... Pray tell, what happened here?"

((Both of you make an Arcana Check (another one)))

[ThorThurn]

[roll0]

[roll1]

We're still not entirely sure ourselves, friend Faerinaal. The city was beset by barbarians, but the combatants vanished in a flash of light. We entered to investigate, and meteors fell from the sky, necessitating our hasty exit to your plane. Truly, mysterious forces are at work here.

[TheOneTrueGod]

You detect extremely strong magical energy coming from almost this entire field. There are, however, two locations of intense focus for this magical energy. One of the two is where the figure was standing. (when you first came through the portal)

The other one you cannot identify, and it is in the field near the entrance to the town.

[ThorThurn]

((I inform my companions about this fact)

We should investigate. Which do we head to first, though?

[TheOneTrueGod]

((If you plan to investigate both, it doesn't matter. :P))

Lightbrooke: "It matters not to me..."

Fearinaal: "Nor I."

((Make an Arcana check at each one, and label which arcana check is for which location. Also, both of you make a Perception check))

[shadowminion]

"Well, we might as well flip a coin."

1: To the figure
2: To the entrance

[roll0]

[shadowminion]

[roll0]

"Unless you can figure out anything else about the two magic sources"

[TheOneTrueGod]

((Oh, right, there's two others in your party. :P))

[roll0]
[roll1]

[ThorThurn]

[roll0]

[roll1]

[roll2]

[TheOneTrueGod]

Investigating where the figure was standing, you determine that this was the source of most of the magical energy radiating over the field. It is probably also where the spell that destroyed the town was cast from.

The other location is more interesting. The spell was cast from somewhere else, and it seems like it was some sort of teleportation spell.

[ThorThurn]

((I inform the others))

Interesting, yes. But questions remained unanswered. What is our next move?

[shadowminion]

"Where the figure was standing? Maybe it will give us some idea of who did this."

[TheOneTrueGod]

There isn't anything physical in the area around where the figure was. Only the steadily fading magical residue in the entire area.

[shadowminion]

I'll make a check for any natural remnants of what was here (footprints, burn marks, and the like)

[roll0]

[TheOneTrueGod]

Around the figure, there are only the signs of the battle. If there was something to be found, they obscure it far too much.

Around the entrance to town, however, you do notice a single set of footprints, lightly planted into the ground. They headed towards the town in an indirect manner, but you lose track of them after you get a bit closer to town, where there is a more definite path, and footprints have no chance to be implanted into it.

[ThorThurn]

I suggest we search the town. Perhaps we will find clues there that will lead us back to our friends.

[shadowminion]

"Sounds good to me."

[TheOneTrueGod]

Perception checks all around.

[roll0]
[roll1]

The town is in a state of disaster. Those meteors that were striking the castle seem to have hit the entire town. Most of the houses are crushed, and it's a pretty depressing sight.

[shadowminion]

[roll0]
:smallcool::smallcool::smallcool::smallcool:

[TheOneTrueGod]

((Hey, you can see something!))
As you approach the town, you see something through the lightly smoking ruins. There appear to be a couple of humanoids up ahead. They look like they are looting the place.

[ThorThurn]

((Point at the Wanderer))

I suggest you sneak up there and see what's going on. Then report back before making contact.

[shadowminion]

"Alright. Hey, have any of you seen my ring? I don't remember taking it off, but it's not here any more."

I'll attempt to sneak up to them to get a better look at what is going on.

[roll0]

[TheOneTrueGod]

Ducking behind the rubble of the buildings, you move from ruined heap to ruined heap trying to keep out of their line of sight. You get as close as you dare, and try to take a good look at them.

((Insight check please Max.))

[shadowminion]

[roll0]

((I'm in Vegas so nore posts from me till Monday))

[TheOneTrueGod]

Now that you've had a chance to get a better look at them, you realize that they are your two companions -- Iraya and Zack, however they look a little beat up since your last encounter with them. They seem to be cautiously looking over the other three members of your party.

[ThorThurn]

I continue sitting around waiting for the Wanderer to return.

[TheOneTrueGod]

Lightbrooke: "So, Faerinaal, how did you come to become trapped in that room?"

Faerinaal: sighing, he regales you with his story,"I used to be an elite warrior for our great nation. I was sent on many expeditions around the feywild, or as an honour guard whenever someone important needed to be transported somewhere. It was during one of those missions that the troubles started...

As we were following the trail away from the palace, those bloodthorn vines you saw suddenly charged our caravan out of the darkness. I fought as hard as I could against them, but it was to no avail. They easily overpowered our caravan, and I barely escaped with my life. I ran back to the palace to inform whoever I could of the blight. The vines move very quickly, and they grow with an unbelievable pace, but they couldn't keep up with me. I got to the palace with about a day to spare before the plants made it there. We set up some defenses as quickly as possible, but obviously they proved to be of no use. I watched as slowly but surely the vines broke through every opening they could find, and all of my companions who had stayed around perished, one at a time.

I pulled back when I saw things were getting far too desperate at the front of the castle, and retreated to the room you found me in, along with the few survivors who were left. We sealed up the windows and held out as long as we could, but just as inevitably as the front of the palace fell, the vines would steadily break their way through the windows. One by one, across the week, the remainder of us fell, until I was the only one left. You three were the first sound of life that I had heard in several days."

((OOC: You're more than welcome to talk to your party members while waiting for The Wanderer to return. :P))

[TheOneTrueGod]

@Jim
One of them approaches, and as she gets nearer, you recognize her as your companion Iraya. She calls out a tentative "Hello?", as the three of you are obscured from her by the rubble.

[ThorThurn]

Iraya!? Where in the name of all the gods have you been?

[TheOneTrueGod]

((Let's switch over to using their thread.))