Masters of the Wild IC

[Diceomancer]

Glim draws and loads his crossbow while speaking in calming tones to the cub.

[SunderedWorldDM]

The cub is looking a bit worried now, what with the raging line of fire separating it from its mother. It cowers behind you, large brown eyes looking out into the woods. The mother lets out a roar- it's nearly upon you.

[WhismurWanders]

"This doesn't have to go down violently," Caspar declares. He makes his way towards the line of fire and stands close to Faye, attempting to make himself the first thing the owlbear could attack. Let's just hope it doesn't... he thinks to himself, gulping as he focuses his magic. Calming energies, a soothing aura ... his eyes lit up in the darkness as he seemed to radiate unearthly serenity.

Spoiler: This will end either really well, or really badly

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I'm going to Ready my Hypnotic Gaze. If Momma Owlbear comes within 5' of Caspar, she needs to succeed a DC 12 Wisdom Save, or her speed will drop to 0, and she will be charmed and incapacitated unless she takes damage.

[sandmote]

Seeing Caspar shield the party with, apparently, himself, Elmir prepares to cast Faerie Fire.

[SunderedWorldDM]

The mama owlbear approaches, letting out a terrifying roar. She seems to back off from the wall of fire, but not before Caspar slowly steps forward, keeping direct eye contact with the creature. He tilts his head slowly to the side.

Spoiler: Wisdom Save

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(1d20+1)[14]. Did it save?

Meanwhile, the child appears to grow more frantic as the time continues, letting out concerned coos and looking around in fear. It look for guidance between Glim and the raging mother, seemingly torn between the two.

[SunderedWorldDM]

Despite Caspar's arcane attempts, the owlbear seems unconvinced of his friendliness and seems very bent on mauling everyone keeping her from her son...

We're going to go in to a skill challenge to resolve this conflict.

Spoiler: Skill Challenge Rules

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You all will go as you would in combat. As an action, instead of taking a combat action, you can roll a skill check instead. You can't use the same skill twice, and you can't use the skill the last person used. If you succeed, you gain one success, and we all know what happens if you fail... The DC for this challenge is 15 and you need 5 successes before 3 failures to sate the owlbear. If you resolve the problem outside of the skill challenge, then kudos to you. If you have any questions, let me know.

Your party can act first. How will you sate the raging owlbear and keep her terrified son safe?

[MintyNinja]

As he watches the scene below, Tek's attention is pulled to the side as a hare bolts from cover to flee from the massive predator. A half-formed idea of baiting the creature away with a meal barely coalesces in his mind as the hunter's arrow flies after the fleeing creature.

Spoiler: OOC

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I don't know what else I can do from my position, other than make things worse. So here's hoping I can use Survival to hunt bait / snack for the Owlbear.

If it's just Survival: (1d20+5)[24]
If it's a Ranged Attack: (1d20+5)[22]
If Advantage still applies for being hidden: (1d20+5)[19]

[SunderedWorldDM]

You watch as from the trees an arrow flies and strikes a small creature a few paces from the owlbear. She glances over and dives at the meat, gulping it down in one heave. She looks slightly more pacified, but is still snarling at the fire line separating her from her child.

[Illven]

Rebecca will move to where some of the meal was left, sliding it towards the beast.

Spoiler

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Cooking plus wisdom? (1d20+6)[25]

[Rogue227]

While Rebecca is drawing mother owlbear's attention with the left-overs of yesterday's meal to one side of the fiery circle, Faye quickly removes one or two of the torches on the opposite side, creating a gap in the flame barrier large enough for the pup to fit through.

Stepping aside to give way, she turns to Glim: "Hurry, Glim, lure it out now!"

She casts a worried glance over her shoulder to make sure the elder owlbear is still distracted, ready to reinstall the torches in time, if need be.

[SunderedWorldDM]

Rebecca tosses some scraps of her meal, seeing that if your party can appease the mother with food, the situation will become a lot less dangerous. She tosses out some eggs and meat from the meal. The mother gobbles it up. She now looks less raging and more peeved.

Spoiler: OOC

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Skill challenge is 2 for 2! Keep it up. Faye, I'd like you to make a Dexterity (Persuasion) check in order to get Glim's attention quickly, because that's the best way I can thing of to resolve that action.

[Rogue227]

Spoiler: Roll

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Dexterity(Persuasion): (1d20+3)[5]

Spoiler: OOC

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Of course, Faye's plan is to quickly put the torche(s) back in place once the pup leaves the circle.

[SunderedWorldDM]

Spoiler: Roll

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Dexterity(Persuasion): [roll0]

Spoiler: OOC

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Of course, Faye's plan is to quickly put the torche(s) back in place once the pup leaves the circle.

Faye tries to get Glim's attention, but he's too preoccupied with the cub. Faye, are you keeping the gap open, or closing it again?

[Rogue227]

The opportunity had been there, but it had taken her too long to seize it.

Noticing the owlbear mother engulfing the food and refocusing her attention on her cub and the party once more, Faye swiftly closes the gap again. No need to take chances here.

"There's not enough time. Never mind."

Frowning, Faye tries to think of another way to safely reunite the mother with her pup.

[sandmote]

"Let's try that again." Elmir smooths the pelt, pulls out some food, and tries to get the cub's attention "Here little cub, uh, owlet, uh, whatever you are."

Spoiler: Roll

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I'm hoping for animal handling? [roll]1d20+5[/roll]

[SunderedWorldDM]

The cub looks over at Elmir, holding out a food pellet and soothing it in soft tones. Despite this, the cub looks back at its roaring mother and cowers, not accepting the pellet.

Spoiler: OOC

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2 failures, 2 successes! You need 3 more successes before you fail or bad things happen...

[Diceomancer]

Glim pulls out his fiddle and tries to calm things down with a soothing melody.

Spoiler

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Performance: (1d20+5)[25]

[SunderedWorldDM]

Glim pulls out his fiddle and tries to calm things down with a soothing melody.

Spoiler

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Performance: [roll0]

In an impressive display, Glim quickly flips open his fiddle case, tightens his bow, rosins the hair, and goes into a dazzlingly playful and fast melody more beautiful and complicated than most any music you've heard before. The overtones created almost form a shifting chordal background to the glissandos and arpeggios, shifting key and meter often to keep the piece alive and vibrant. Everyone, owlbear or humanoid, stops and stares at the small fiddle player. Finally, after soaring stratospherically high on the neck of the instrument, Glim elegantly flies back down, fingers dancing intricately along the neck of the violin. After a couple more key modulations, he plays the final triumphant chord, out of breath.

There is silence for a couple moments.

Then the mother sits back up and half-heartedly plods towards the ring of fire. She looks dazed, and nearly done chasing after her progeny.

Spoiler: Almost there!

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The next roll will make or break the skill challenge! If they succeed, you succeed. If not, well, we'll see...

(And yes, I counted the crit as 2 successes.)

[WhismurWanders]

Caspar carefully takes a step back from the mother. He focuses and stretches out his arms beyond the world around them. The music just now, he had a feeling there was something just barely out of reach that had made the moment so incredible. If he could just ... reach into the Weave and amplify that moment so the smaller of the owlbears could understand the emotions involved in all parties...

Spoiler: Arcana

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(1d20+4)[8]

[SunderedWorldDM]

Instead of pulling out the love, Caspar closes his eyes and throws is hands forward, yelling a powerful and ancient word as a ripple of red energy cascades from his hands and slams into the mother, welling up her anger and hatrd towards those who keep her from her cub. Her placid expression becomes contorted and furious as she leaps through the circle of fire, taking a claw swipe at you.

Spoiler: Rolls and OOC

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Claw attack roll: (1d20+7)[10]
Damage: [roll]2d8 + 5[/roll]
Damage from the fire to the owlbear:(1d6)[3]

[MintyNinja]

Tek's grip on the branch above his head tightened with every little offering his allies offered the beast, and once it leapt through the flames he knew it was all for naught. He rolled out of the tree and caught the air with his wings before landing roughly on the ground below. Bow up, arrow nocked, and release! He fires his arrow into the hulking mass of rage outlined by bright torchlight.

Spoiler: Actions

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Move: Fly 20 feet to the ground, preferably in a straight line from the mouth of the cave, approximately 25 ft away from the Owlbear.
Action: Longbow Attack: (1d20+5)[13] Damage: (1d8+3)[10]
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Tek
Aarakocra Ranger 2 CG

AC 15 HP 17/18 Speed 25/50ft

[SunderedWorldDM]

Tek's grip on the branch above his head tightened with every little offering his allies offered the beast, and once it leapt through the flames he knew it was all for naught. He rolled out of the tree and caught the air with his wings before landing roughly on the ground below. Bow up, arrow nocked, and release! He fires his arrow into the hulking mass of rage outlined by bright torchlight.

Spoiler: Actions

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Move: Fly 20 feet to the ground, preferably in a straight line from the mouth of the cave, approximately 25 ft away from the Owlbear.
Action: Longbow Attack: [roll0] Damage: [roll1]
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Tek
Aarakocra Ranger 2 CG

AC 15 HP 17/18 Speed 25/50ft

The arrow sinks into a burnt portion of feathers as the mother roars in pain. The cub lets out a squeal of terror.

Oh yeah, every time you attack the mother, I give the cub even more emotional scarring. Have fun knowing you're making an orphan of an intelligent monster in front of its young, innocent eyes!

[Diceomancer]

Glim uses minor illusion to cause a nearby section of the cave wall to appear to thicken by about five feet, except for a small section large enough for the cub to fit in with good clearance between it and the edges. He then ushers the cub into this nook to prevent it from seeing the rest of the battle.

[sandmote]

Elmir isn't watching the cub at this point. "Get the baby out of here!" His cloak is shaking wildly.

Chanting, he casts a spell, and an area near the flames becomes outlined in blue light.

Spoiler: OOC

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He's casting Faerie Fire, requiring a DC 13 Dex save for the mama owlbear. I'm assuming he can position the cube to not affect anyone else. If not, they need to make the same save.

As review, anyone who fails the save is outlined in blue, can't turn invisible, and anyone who can see them gets advantage on attacks against them.

[SunderedWorldDM]

The owlbear tries to jump out of the way of the blue light.

Spoiler: Rawlling dem bawnzz

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(1d20+1)[20]

EASILY evading the magical attack, the cloud of blue fizzles without effect.

[Illven]

Rebeca winces before pulling out a javelin and whipping it towards the owlbear.

Spoiler

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Javelin
(1d20+5)[24]
Damage (1d6+3)[4]

[SunderedWorldDM]

Rebeca winces before pulling out a javelin and whipping it towards the owlbear.

Spoiler

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Javelin
[roll0]
Damage [roll1]

The javelin sinks into the mother's side as she roars in pain. You hear a squeak of alarm from the false section of cave.

[Rogue227]

"No!"

Faye leaps over to stand next to Caspar, her staff held outstretched defensively in her left hand, trying to guard the magician against the owlbear's angry attacks. In her right hand, she's still carrying a burning torch.

There must be another way.

Yet, she can only look on helplessly as her companions' missiles strike the creature's body. Behind her, she hears the feeble cries of the cub. Tears well in her eyes. "NO!"

"Back off!" she yells at the owlbear mother, desperately brandishing the torch to drive her back. "Don't you see? You're gonna get killed!"

Spoiler: OOC

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Faye is not trying to hit the owlbear with the torch but to drive her off. Not sure if this qualifies as a Persuasion attempt, but if so, here's the roll:

Persuasion* (1d20+2)[12]

*: If Intimidation or Animal Handling is more appropriate, the modifier's the same.

If there's still an action left to take, Faye will go with Dodge.

[SunderedWorldDM]

The mother roars in anger, not hearing the meaning behind the monk girl's words. She lashes out with her claws at the woman.

Spoiler: Attacks!

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Hit:[roll]1d20+7[roll]
Damage:(2d8+5)[17]

She appears furious as the firelight illuminates her feathers, reflecting in her eyes, like black pools of hatred. The cub has fallen silent from his position in the fake cave wall.

[MintyNinja]

"She must be tougher than an average bear," Tek calls to the others inside the cave. "I don't know if we'll be able to just knock her out after all this!" With a deep, centering breath he speaks an arcane word and feels the compass-like pull from behind his eyes as he fires an arrow at the creature's flank.

Spoiler: Actions

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Bonus Action: Hunter's Mark.
Action: Longbow Attack: (1d20+5)[13], Damage: (1d8+3)[6] +(1d6)[3]
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Tek
Aarakocra Ranger 2 CG

AC 15 HP 17/18 Speed 25/50ft
Spell Slots Used: 1st [1/2]