D&D II Act One Scene IV(a) - The Dead in Osinzir

OldGoat

Fourier wrote: »

The righteous chords erupt into the air, the soft jungle soil yielding to solid rock as it is thrown backward into the sky. The cube of force expands and shields at least a hundred people, many of whom look at Mags in awe.

The emperor of Osinzir salutes from across the valley.

The main valley itself has its surface melted.

A captain of the guard shouts to Mags.

"The main shockwave and dust debris should be on us soon mighty Bard"

"Fly, you fools!"
Mags runs for whatever cover he can see.

Fourier

OldGoat wrote: »

"Fly, you fools!"
Mags runs for whatever cover he can see.

OOC: Dex check

OldGoat

Fourier wrote: »

OOC: Dex check

OOC: Can I cast 'Enhance Ability - Cat's Grace' on myself to get advantage on the DEX roll?

Also, would running away and hiding behind something big and strong be more of an STR (Athletics) roll rather than a DEX roll? With a STR check I'd get a +3 modifier and a +1 using Jack of all trades rather than a paltry +2 proficiency bonus for DEX.

Am I doing this right yet?

Fourier

OOC: I'll go with the STR(Athletics) check, it would be an alternate way of doing it. Target 15

OldGoat

OOC: I rolled a 6.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

"Jungle, Retty, my claws were meant to grip soil"


She sees none in her vicinity, though as Hetyaro rises he sees some ahead of her having just left Iltsu. He swings around and sees that the majority are behind her, trying to contain the fallout from the explosion and continue the race.

"Ok, jungle it is then. Zhulugal is directly west if you don't mind a bit of foliage"

Ooc : at this point we should be getting towards familiar territory that Retula has been through before and would therefore have some degree of Outlander-sense for that might help her identify the quickest route.... Right....? right...?

"These boots look a little flimsy for this kind of offroading. We should hit the main road to Osinzir just outside of Zhulugal though, I'll give 'em a try then. You guys follow as best you can or pick me up and drag me if they're some kind of paralysing deathboots!"

She looks back at the mushroom cloud.

"I hope no one got hurt.... The last thing that Oni needs is more paperwork..."

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

"Ok, jungle it is then. Zhulugal is directly west if you don't mind a bit of foliage"

"No problem!"

He picks up the pace a bit an clears Iltsu's residential area, passing the last few wooden hits near a stream and heading into the jungle.

Banjo wrote: »

Ooc : at this point we should be getting towards familiar territory that Retula has been through before and would therefore have some degree of Outlander-sense for that might help her identify the quickest route.... Right....? right...?

OOC: I'll accept that, survival roll.

Banjo

Ooc : me and my big mouth. 6.

Fourier

Tsoin stops quite suddenly looking around after following Retula's directions for a bit.

"Zhulugal should be in sight now right? We've gone a bit off course I think, any ideas Retty or will I just use my instinct?"

Banjo

"dude, If I had an itchy hole i couldn't find it to scratch it right now. Lead on"

Fourier

Tsoin gets them to Zhulugal fast enough, thirty or so racers lie between them and the finish line at the Ziggurat, a ten minute journey at Tsoin's current speed.

Banjo

"ok, last leg. The important thing is that we all had fun taking part and that I mostly didn't kill almost anyone directly. And that i win. With that in mind, let's try these boots out. Follow me! And if it doesn't work, we can always hit the Pagoda and spend the next few millennia training."

She wonders whether those other 30 racers are all future hers from the past still desperately trying to beat herself....

Ooc : time to find out if the boots maketh the man

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Ooc : time to find out if the boots maketh the man

OOC: CON check when using the boots

Banjo

Ooc : Natural 20 baby! 22 with mod. I thought she put them on yesterday though...

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Ooc : Natural 20 baby! 22 with mod. I thought she put them on yesterday though...

OOC: Sorry it's a check for using them, not putting them on, I'll edit the above. Thought "use" but typed "put"

Fourier

Retula darts past most other racers at massively high speeds, she nears the leading two. A mage clad in odd armour:



And a blue dragon.

The mage, seeing her approach, reaches into a satchel and reads a scroll aloud, presses his hand to his earth elemental mount and strange symbols appear. The area near the finish line vanishes, a couple of feet squared in total, the finish line with it. The dragon digs its claws into the ground to stop, looking around desperately.

The mage dismisses the earth elemental, summons an air elemental and takes to the skies.

Banjo

Retula runs as fast as her little feet will carry her and jumps.

Ooc : I know, I know, at normal speeds her jump distance is terrible with her pitiful strength but with a faster base movement rate maybe it's.... better?
If feasible she will attempt to Thorn Whip the Elementalist or his mount and Indiana Jones across the shortfall. Worst case scenario she can Blessing of The Raven Queen to the other side as a bonus action if she's not going to make it. Not sure if it conserves momentum

"Even brown dragons can fly, don't be such a pussy!" She shouts, realising as she says it that maybe it's not the jump he's afraid of.
"Luuuuuuuummmmmoooooool!"

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Ooc : I know, I know, at normal speeds her jump distance is terrible with her pitiful strength but with a faster base movement rate maybe it's.... better?
If feasible she will attempt to Thorn Whip the Elementalist or his mount and Indiana Jones across the shortfall.

OOC: Just in case this alters your action, you have to break the Finish line rope to win.

Banjo

Ooc :...so this is how it feels to be a blue dragon!
They can fly, can't they?
Cause browns can and they ain't gotta no wings...
When I said "don't be such a pussy" I misspoke. What she actually said was

"Follow that line stealing son of a glagnorp!"
As she attempts to inverse-flinstone up the dragons back into a riding position, or at least get close enough to to BotRQ into position to land on the Elementalist

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

As she attempts to inverse-flinstone up the dragons back into a riding position, or at least get close enough to to BotRQ into position to land on the Elementalist

The Blue Dragon turns to Retula, a bit dumb founded, but quickly realises her meaning and looks up. Enraged, he takes to the sky, Retula managing to run up his tail quick enough with the boots. He pursues the mage with almost murderous intent.

The mage turns and with his right hand gestures at the finish line, pushing it further into the sky. Urging his elemental onward. The dragon is faster though and slowly gaining on him.

In desperation, he summons a huge ball of flame and hurdles it at the dragon....

Banjo

She summons Mr H 30ft in front of her, accounting for the Wile E effect and gravity, to intercept the fireball.

"Im sorry, dude. We had a good run but her will be done..."

Fourier

Mr. Hurumphalgrumps looks at the enormous fireball approaching him. He turns and winks at Retula.

"No problem pardner, gotta a job to do, ye gotta do it and do it well. It was all just a dream anyway..."

The flash fills the sky.

Spectators below gaze in awe as Retula atop the dragon bursts through the after-smoke toward the Mage...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdHHIVMJ_VQ

Fourier

The Mage turns, clasps his right hand above his head and dives off the elemental toward Retula, summoning spell charging...

Banjo

As soon as he's in range, bonus Hex and Eldritch Blast. Break his Concentration....

"Only one of us can win, Blue. Let's make sure it's not him!"

Edit : wait! Missed that! Edit incoming!

Seeing the Elementalist leap, she dismisses the KRAAAAW! that may or may not be in her head. Sure the repulsion trick would be fun but like when would it ever be useful? Shwah! Shut up, Hetyaro!

"Blue, when it happens, break hard right, fast!"

She points her right hand at the mage and shouts "THE SHADOWS VEIL!"

OOC :casting Darkness on him using bound spirit and hopefully he'll miss us

"Hey can't you breath zap him or something?"

Fourier

The sphere of black covers the Mage, who spins out of control. The blue dragon turns a hard right as the mage falls toward the ground, dying on impact.

Retula then sees four figures of shadow appear on the back of the dragon. One speaks to her.

"You aren't winning Retula. You're immortal here, but we can still drag you from the mortal plane. For we are psychopomps like yourself."

They begin to pace around her, waiting to strike....

Banjo

"The **** you will!"
She takes 5 flowers from her bag.
"My lady, it's time, five gifts you bestow, 5 blessings you bequeath"
She bites the head off the orchid and chews defiantly.

In her mind she thinks "the Elementalist, the wings of shadow" and hopes her scribe and book holder are listening.

Fourier

The orchid rushes through Retula, clearing her mind and cleansing her body.

OOC: +2HP permanently

Seeing her improvement after one flower, they rush to take the others, consuming them with greed.

The sickening feeling they then get is enough to tell them they've messed up.....

Banjo

Hex on the nearest one and EB if he's outside 5ft

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Hex on the nearest one and EB if he's outside 5ft

The hex combined with whatever the lotus is doing to him, causes him to double up in pain, so that when the Eldritch Blast hits him, he loses his balance and falls from the dragon.

The other three hold out their arms to the one on their left, a line of black energy passing between each one, forming a triangle, which then begins to fill with black energy inward toward Retula....

Fourier

OldGoat wrote: »

OOC: I rolled a 6.

A gush of powerful wind, carrying soil and tree roots, smashes into the crowd. Mags takes a decent brunt of it, but to no major damage.

OOC: 4HP lost

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

The hex combined with whatever the lotus is doing to him, causes him to double up in pain, so that when the Eldritch Blast hits him, he loses his balance and falls from the dragon.

The other three hold out their arms to the one on their left, a line of black energy passing between each one, forming a triangle, which then begins to fill with black energy inward toward Retula....

Ooc : I'm not sure how big a dragons back is. Does this work, spatially?

She waits until the triangle almost has her trapped, then using the Blessing of the Raven Queen (bonus) Retula steps to
(If they are tangible beings) just behind the shadow nearest the dragons head, grabbing him and jumping off the dragons back.
Ooc : the idea being to pull the black triangle over the dragons head like a hood. Putting a lot of faith in the Scribe being active and that Elementalist being at least L5 so good for a cast of Fly as per his binding above

(If they are intangible) up to 9 feet behind the shadow nearest the dragons head, using thorn whip (action) to accomplish the deplanarisation instead.

Fourier

OOC: STR(Athletics) check

Banjo

Ooc : bastard! My biggest weakness!

Edit : 5-1=4

Banjo

(just in case you read pre-edit, it was a 4. Tension is killing me! I'd bite off my fingernails but they're metal )

Fourier

Retula and the shadow being struggle, during which his shadow hood comes loose and she sees a woman with the same ink skin and white bone tattoos that she herself has sprouted.

"You don't deserve to be one of us Warlock, this is our afterlife, not for beings we've never met to meddle in...tell..." she begins to overpower Retula "...your Queen..." she manages to get a hand free that she places on Retula's stomach "...you failed..." She casts a spell of force that blasts Retula from the dragons back. Sending her tumbling toward the ground....

Fourier

Retula halts after only a few feet, she can see Zassan itself on the distant horizon this far up. The Dragon however continues in its flight upward toward the finish line.

Banjo

Ooc : all out of tricks - unless the groundhog scroll works retrospectively...?

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Ooc : all out of tricks - unless the groundhog scroll works retrospectively...?

OOC: It does, repeats a minute containing the current moment, until something occurs of your choosing. The current moment can be at the end or start or middle of the minute.

Banjo

Ooc :I got you babe... I got you babe
Activate groundhog, either till the plan works if that's not too long ago, or till the psychopomp rolls a critical fail on that force palm, sending her backwards and planeshifting the dragon tail first.

Fourier

Retula finds herself back on the dragon and makes an attempt at the tackle again. This fails twice, as even when breaking the grapple she is blasted from behind, until the third time Retula ducks it and has enough intuition for the one she is tackling that she deflects all his attempts to break free.

The planeshifting spell is dragged over the dragons head as Retula and the shadow figure fall off, him toward ground, Retula halting in midair thanks to the Elementalist.

A quiet enough implosion and the dragon and the remaining two shadows are planeshifted to the afterlife.

Retula floats in the quiet of the high atmosphere, a mile above her the finish line and the soil that was beneath it hover, the deserts south of Zassan stretched out below her. .

Banjo

Retula tries flying towards the finish line, occasionally looking to see if there's any sign that the 1st of the 4 psychopomps died horribly when they fell. (Ooc : it feels like she'd know if she could move her hex to another target. Should have specified, hex his dex, so he at least bumps his arse on landing! Anyway, if he's dead she can bind him, but I realise it's in the job description that he's probably still alive...)

Fourier

The first psychopomp had his material body shattered on impact, sending him back to an immaterial. Binding him seems to be impossible, his name disappears from her book as it is being written in, the hex has left him.

As she reaches the finish line, she hears Yumjin in her head.

"RETULA!!, please listen..."

Banjo

"you're in my head, I don't have much of a choice. But I'm not stopping."

Fourier

"I'm trying to unify the afterlives, not just here, but even those of Zassan and the towns and cities of Kyrtin. I can do this, despite the number of religions in Bandysia even. One consistent afterlife for everybody in these lands. And eventually maybe pull it South and even into the Inner World. Just humans for now, but even that may change.

One single afterlife that's our, not the construct of Gods, or even worse multiplanar beings who treat us like toys, at least the gods are natives. Please Retula!!"

The finish line is now only seconds away.

Banjo

"cry me a river, Yumjin - I'll paddle you down it like a canoe all the way to the dont-give-a-**** delta."

Ooc : ie she crosses the line

Fourier

From her own perspective Retula clears the rope almost in slow motion. The ribbon breaks as she flies through it, high enough to see the seven moons in all their glory.

As the winner, the Gods of Osinzir release their hold on the land, her magic is free to act without any impediment from their laws. Normally this is used to increase the crop yield, enchant the army for another year, but this year is different.

Via the pact, clause 47, the Raven Queen seizes control of Retula's body and begins working a powerful counter hex across the entire empire, cancelling Yumjins enormous spell spread across two continents.

With the power granted to her as a psychopomp, she sees death magic being cancelled all the way up to Zassan and beyond the sea into Kyrtin. The final parts of the spell resist the Raven Queen as much as they can, Yumjin himself attempting to push back against her.

He seems to be winning, but she is only using her extension in this plane, seeing his effort she brings part of her true multiplanar self to bear. The colossal powers that run through Retula almost shatter her mind, the Queen modifies the pact to help her withstand it (OOC: Level 5) and the spell is shattered almost instantly.

The Queen leaves her body, the Gods regain the land, but as a gesture yield Yumjin's soul to the Queen. Retula plummets toward the ground, but is grabbed mid air by a beefed up Hetyaro and delivered to the initial valley, now cleaned up somewhat by court mages, where the crowds cheer. She lies in the soft soil next to Mags, unconscious.

Fourier

The Queen's plans are set into motion and the Gods in act one final gesture as thanks. A golden musical portal opens next to Mags and his mind is infested with draconic drums. Desperately trying to get the tune out of his head, he beats it on his armour. The portal surface now showing Vrakrash in a strange valley.

Hetyaro lands as the people pet him, now almost as tall Retula. The emperor asks him to give Retula their thanks, before he grabs both her and Mags in his talons and flies into the portal.

Fourier

OOC: Both of ye are here:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057893048&page=3